Latest / Marci talks money (and life) / Passion, Resilience, and Lifelong Learning with Kathy James
Transcript
- Speaker 1 (00:06.99) He Speaker 1 (00:10.862) Hello, welcome to Marci Talks Money and Life. I'm Money Marci. I'm so pleased to welcome Kathy James. Kathy is a learning program manager, TEDx speaker, resilience speaker and author with experience in instructional design, project management, technology training and associate onboarding. She is passionate about leveraging technology to simplify process adoption, enhance the learner experience and drive measurable business outcomes. Kathy thrives in collaborative environments where building strong relationships, influencing change, and driving operational success are valued. Her newest project is the creation of CatapultU, which we will talk about a little later on. But first off, welcome Kathy. Thank you, Marci. And yeah, we're getting through these technical difficulties, but I'm really excited about being here. Well, you're a technical training person, so you should be able to make everything work, Hey, we were able to pivot quick, right? Speaker 1 (01:19.2) We got this. So Before we go into the projects that you're doing now, how about you tell me where you came from and how you got here, your interest in all of these projects, because you're fascinating. We met a few years ago when I was in that video series you were doing to help young adults learn. Learning projects are a passion for you, not just a job. So tell us about yourself. Well, I guess I'll back up a little bit because although I am, as you told the audience, although I am in corporate learning and development, That was something that was far out of reach for me. I would have never imagined that I would be here today where I am because I came from a home that was surrounded by violence and addiction, severe mental health issues, very unstable. Majority of our family relied on some sort of government assistance, whether it was food stamps or disability or medical support. And I started to mirror those behaviors very early on becoming a bully, a single mother, a borderline alcoholic by the age of 19, a teen mother, not just single mother, teen mother at 16, borderline alcoholic by 19, married by 20, severely financially unstable. And I saw no end in sight, right? I was just self-sabotaging my career, the lack thereof, should I say, jumping from job to job. yeah, just making up every sort of excuse the world is against me. I had that mentality for many, many years. And I actually found myself, funny fact, not funny fact, how things come full circle. Very early on when I was a mother, I found myself unable to even read. Speaker 2 (03:35.564) a simple children's book like Berenstain Bears to my toddler son. And all of those insecurities were weighing down on me pretty heavily. Speaker 1 (03:49.166) That's a lot, you didn't let that define you. You used that as a starting point and you pivoted. You found ways to get to a better place. Yep. So for the longest time, I pushed any type of support away. I didn't feel like I needed any type of change. But I compared myself to my other family thinking that I was better. But I absolutely was not. I was heading down a similar path pretty quickly. And I remember One of the pivotal moments in my life was early on in my marriage, my husband and I, we had this roller coaster relationship. He was an amazing father, amazing man even, but the two of us clashed. We both had our own baggage that we brought into the marriage. We both had our own ways of rearing children, the finances, relationship baggage, family baggage. And I remember screaming to the top of my lungs one night at him, you know, and, and my mind screaming that I didn't want to do this anymore. And in that, in that I don't want to do this anymore. It was packed with all kinds of different things. It was, I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to be married to you anymore. I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want this financial situation anymore. I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to live anymore. There was so much involved that came out of that, that, that, that moment. I will say that I I I have spiritual moment. We won't go dive deep into that that's not what we're here for but I had I kind of surrendered myself to a higher power in that moment and from that moment on not to say that everything changed overnight, my mindset changed. I started saying, okay I'm sorry. I'm actually getting a little choked up. I in my book my first book My Fight Against the Odds I called this my pity party moment or my Speaker 2 (05:59.298) pajama pity party moment because I was in my pajamas, the lights were out, I'm sulking and all of a sudden I had this, you know, this defining moment for my journey and I started embedding myself in a community of individuals that cared truly about me. And I started actually taking their help, you know, accepting and embracing their warmth and their care. And I started to notice that I wanted something deeper. I felt like they had something that I didn't in their homes and their families and their careers and their finances. And I started to thirst for growth. And eventually, even the situation where I found myself unable to read to my son that would you know, that that happened multiple times, but there was actually a moment, even then that one night when I pulled a book from the bookshelf, it was I had had enough. The next day, I was just like, I'm done. You know, and so I started to grow and seek out healing mentors that would help me to heal from the trauma of my past. I took I took up financial classes and I started going to the library because I realized that I didn't have the finances to be able to pay for a class, but I needed to do something. And I really don't know how I got the idea. Maybe somebody told me, gave me the advice or gave me a tip, but I started going to the library and bought myself a dictionary and I started writing on flashcards. I'd write a, like in, Speaker 2 (07:44.344) Like in literary, you know, what is it? In elementary school or primary school, whether you would have a flash card and on the back, you would flip it over and have the definition. I was doing that when I was 22. you know? And so I started building a foundation and here I am, a corporate trainer. It's mind blowing to me. This girl will be a corporate trainer. I mean you But we can go back to, let's talk about baseball. The best coaches are not always the best players. They're the people who had to work the hardest to get there because they're the ones who had to learn the fundamentals step by step rather than the people that it came naturally to. or that just had things paved over so smoothly that they never noticed they were, if they put in any effort, it was just always there. When you have to learn something and learning it at 22 when you had, did you have one or two kids at that point. It was two, my second son was like an infant by then. They do. They do. Speaker 1 (08:51.222) Well, infants take up a little bit of time. At that point in time, you're like, okay, it has to change. And you put in the effort and you made a change. I mean, baggage, we all come in with baggage. No matter where you come from, no matter how wonderful of a life you've had, you have baggage. It's the fact of life. It's a matter of being able to acknowledge it and figuring out how you're going to step forward from it. That you got to that point where you were able to accept help. and find and accept mentors, I mean, that's huge. That is as big of a defining moment in your in your huge pivot as saying, okay, I need to make this change. So, yeah. And I didn't even know what the word mentor was. I just knew I needed somebody to help me. And I started looking for the women. And when We were going to church and we'd go to Wednesday Bible study or whatever, and I started looking at the women in the room. I was just, Who might be the sucker that I could gravitate to and suck the life out of so that I could grow? And it just started. And it just, that was, And when I started noticing little changes, boy, you know, it was just like, if I could do that, my confidence grew. if I can do that, I can surely do this, you know? And I'd have setbacks on the way. I'd have moments of where I was stagnant and or overwhelmed. It felt like I was going backwards rather than forward. But in all reality, I was constantly able to continue to grow. And here I am, you know? And I've got three boys. They're not boys anymore. Speaker 1 (10:44.982) Hahaha! Two of them decided to go to college at the same time instead of staggering it. you know, and Both of them graduate next year. My youngest son graduates from high school this year, actually June 7th will be, he'll be walking across that stage and we'll be celebrating him. And they are, thank you. They are My nieces, which are actually my cousins because I was raised with my aunt, more so like a sister by my grandparents. Her daughter was the first to graduate high school, was the first to graduate college with my oldest son right behind her. And those are just huge pivots in our family and the generations to come. So It's an amazing feeling, you know. So, and then to realize, because I talked about my book earlier, that I couldn't read a simple children's book to having published one in December 2023 is just, by the way, you're the first to know I'm writing my second now. Well, that's not just me. This is a podcast. So other people are going to know too. We're all going to be waiting for it. Speaker 2 (12:05.046) Yeah, I have been kind of putting content aside; ideas, stories, experiences for some time now, but I actually started to put structure to it. That's awesome. It's around my finance and professional development. That's all. Speaker 1 (12:27.07) Okay, well, so I don't have to ask you about the financial lessons you learned growing up because it sounds like all you learned from that would have been bad habits. Yeah, now Today though, my gosh, I'm a beast at managing my budget. And I set a goal to get myself out of debt and to increase my credit score because I saw someone, I didn't even think that home ownership was even a thing for women, know, much less single women, you know, because obviously somewhere along the line, I ended up divorcing. now getting a divorce, even though he was an amazing father, amazing individual, we just kept going through that same cycle and we both felt like we needed a change and it actually improved our relationship. for the better. But I set a goal because I wanted to be one of the first in the family and to prove to myself that I could to get out of debt, to improve my credit so that I could buy a home by myself. And, and I, I didn't even know that was possible until I, until I met a girlfriend that had her own home for many years. And I was like, I want to do that. And so that was a goal that took me three and a half years, maybe a little bit more than that. You know, I started talking to a mortgage broker, but my score was way out of range. I needed to know what I needed to work towards. Right, but I mean, that's that's how goals work. If you If you know what you want and then you get the information you need, then you can work toward it. And if it's if it's just I want a house and then you go about what you were doing before, then it's just a dream. You got to You got to come up with an action plan to make it a goal. And then if You've got to follow it, then then it becomes a reality. Speaker 2 (14:27.288) Yeah. And we had, My husband and I had talked about and tried to do things when we were together, but both of our credits were, our credit scores were horrible. We went from paycheck to paycheck. If a car broke down, there was no way that we were able to pay for it unless we were robbing Peter to pay Paul. And it just, you know, And it wasn't until I started developing my own skills that I was able to land a role that I was just like, okay, I'm gonna stick with this. And I'm there, they appreciate me. they value me. Oh, this feels good. Let me keep, let me keep repeating that process. you know, and that's, That's how I started my career and started to improve my financial situation. You know, Dollar here, a dollar there, and then, I'm able, I'm up, I'm getting promoted. That's nice. It's just, you know, And it slowly, you know, transpired to where I am today as a learning program. And yeah, so. Which is perfect. Your kids are growing up in a totally different environment than what you did. Seeing options and realities that you broke a glass ceiling and you're helping them to break glass ceilings of, we don't have to live this way. We have options, we have opportunities, and we have education. Yes. And it's funny that you say that because in having conversations with all three of my boys. They've all experienced some sort of a different version of mom, a different version financially, et cetera. Right. So my oldest who was born when I was 16 years old, he had a much different experience of mom growing up. Right. He was there when we struggled, really struggled. And then, you know, there was some progression. Speaker 2 (16:31.362) right? And then my second son was born. So he got a little different taste of mom and the finances. But all three of them know my story and the background. And it was so awesome. got a They all do this in different ways. But I got a message from my middle son the other day. And I'm going to paraphrase. And he said something about, you so he's seen so much growth. And he's so proud to have me as his mom. I'm just like, nine o'clock in the evening, I'm ready for bed, but I'm crying. And the my son's like, what's wrong with you? But it's just amazing to be able to hear that from their, in their words, in their mouth, you know, because you need that, you know. yeah, yeah, It matters so much more when you hear it from your kids. I can tell you you're fabulous, but one of them telling you absolutely means so much more. Yeah. And that they got to see the changes and see the growth over time. I mean, that's huge. Those are lessons learned. They've learned some of the red flags, they've learned some of the green flags. Yes. Yes, yes. Speaker 2 (17:50.104) Learning it with you. And Being able to see them kind of reach for their own passions in a similar way. Now they have their own struggles. know, Mom's not going to dig them out of the hole every single time. I need them to have some hard lessons of their own, but I'm also thankful that I'm in a position where I am able to help them. I didn't have that same opportunity. It's such a big difference to be able to know that you can help them and for them to be able to move forward and know, I'm not gonna jump in, you gotta figure this out. But you're not going on the street. Right, exactly, exactly. Right. So I want to talk about Catapult U. I know you haven't fully launched it yet, but I think it's such an exciting project and I am involved in it. I don't know what you'd call me, as a teacher? Creator Course Creator Speaker 1 (19:01.518) Yeah, so I'm very excited to participate in this because I think it's an amazing project, but you can tell way more about it than I can. Yeah, so Early on in my 20s, when I first started on my path of change, of healing, growth, all the things, I started envisioning myself saying, okay, I started watching evangelists on TV, right? And there was one that stuck out, Joyce Meyers. And at that time, she, was my first real experience of something like that, where a woman is sharing her story so vulnerably in front of a crowd, and she's helping change lives. And I wanted that. And I started envisioning myself speaking and having a book and not that I had anything to teach then, but teaching. I started to have that desire to give back in a real way. And I wasn't sure what that looked like. And quick story, one of the ways that I started to do that was I started to... I cleared out an entire shelf in my kitchen and dedicated the empty space to adding some sort of non-perishable items in my pantry because I wanted to say, even though we weren't in a place financially, I can put away some items to help those that are like me, right? They're in financial hardships, they can't Speaker 2 (20:50.958) you know, come up with the funds for their groceries for one reason or the other. So I started very early on, but the grander scheme of things was much, much larger impact later. 20 years later is, and those, and those visions started to become a reality. I started to share my story more openly, being very vulnerable and the and very purposeful and be portions of my story to help others. And that led me into being able to speak on a TEDx stage and to write my book. But then it's like, okay, those are amazing things. This last year, I felt like I was going off path and taking on things that were not necessarily in alignment with what my passions and my purpose were, but I was felt like I needed to do something, right? All of these people are out here being successful at all of these things. Surely I can do the same thing. So I started gravitating to everything. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. And it was just becoming overwhelming. During a pause to sit, take a step back, reflect, reflect on my career, reflect on my passions, my purpose, I had an aha moment. I'm in learning and development. I've been preparing for that third piece to teach others, to help instill skills into them. I had been preparing for that my entire career, right? And in my mind, I felt like I had to be the one to teach them and I had to be in person with them and I had to do all the things. And then I had this epiphany that wait a minute, I can be a resource to individuals experiencing hardship sooner than later. And so I started researching and strategizing and Speaker 2 (23:00.376) Catapult U was developed. And basically Catapult U is a learning management system. It's a platform that will host online courses, similar to other platforms that you will see that I will not name because I don't want to get in trouble. Because I'm not in competition with these platforms, but they're providing professional development courses, right? But you have to pay for them and you have to know where to look for them. And I wanted to provide a space where individuals that were similar to me, my past, those experiencing financial hardship, emotional hardship, relationship struggles, where they could find education that might not be traditional, right? Might not be the way of going to go get your associate's or bachelor's degree. They might not be in a profession where they offer those types of benefits, right? I've been very blessed to have gotten into a company very early on that offers some sort of online courses for free. And I've been able to help develop my skills that way and other untraditional way. So CatapultU our mission, and I'm going to read it. I'm read it verbatim because we're still new. Our mission is to empower individuals to build resilience, overcome life's challenges, achieve their personal and professional goals through accessible education, resources, and community-driven support. Essentially, we want a world where every individual, regardless of their background, where they started, their circumstances, has the tools, the knowledge, and the launching pad to persevere, grow, and thrive. When I wanted to grow, I had to piecemeal all of the resources and tools together. It was not easily accessible. It did not land in my lap. It was very difficult to find the tools that would help me to develop to get to that next level. And I just want to make it easier and remove the hurdles, remove the barriers that would prevent someone. Speaker 2 (25:26.446) from wanting to develop and grow. You step in in a way that provides resources that will help someone in the areas of finance. And for me back way back then, my first experience of a course was was provided for free through my local church. right? But that was not a resource that I would have just landed in my lap. I don't want it just to be luck. I want someone to be able to find the resources easily. And I'm partnering with course creators, individuals that are already, they already own the content, they already own a course, or they're in the process of developing a course in the near future. And I offer free hosting to them in exchange for free access to these individuals. And I'll work with and partner with nonprofit organizations as well, because those are the individuals that are in the front. And what is it when you go to war, the front lines. they're in the front lines. They're dealing with those individuals on a day-to-day basis and they struggle to get funding. They struggle to get the resources into the hands of those people that want it the most. There are going to be individuals that are absolutely not ready for the support, right? That's where I was at one point. would just just give me the check and let me be on my way, right? I don't I don't want your warm and fuzzy. I don't want your support. I don't need your advice. Just let me go, right? There's going to be those individuals and that's fine. They'll come around at some point, hopefully, right? But for those people that are thirsty, they are like I'm ready for change. Speaker 2 (27:13.878) I'm going to be working with nonprofits to identify those individuals to offer the access to these educational pieces, these courses, whether it's finance, mental health, floral arrangements. It's a skill, right? Who knows? Someone might, if you offer a course in floral arrangements, that's a career path. If you are a mechanic and you offer training on how to change an oil, know, change out spark plugs. That is a career path. It's also a skill that's very valuable to anyone. So anything that's going to help someone to thrive and grow and be successful, I want that to be housed on CatapultU's online platform. we have, you know, it's like everything's for free. We do have a plan. We do have a... Speaker 2 (28:12.008) a, what is, my gosh, I'm grasping for words now, a model that will help us to scale and sustain without needing major funding from external needs. And so I'm super excited about it. And I'm gonna pause because I said a lot. No, I am really excited to partner with you because as Money Marci, what I'm trying to do is put out there financial tidbits in manageable bites for people to find and learn and be able to start taking control of their money, making better decisions. We all, you know, Where money is concerned, people are like, when I get money, I'll learn about money, that I don't need to know what to do with it until I have it. Really with money, if you have even a little bit and you're making bad decisions with it, then you have none. But the better decisions you make, the earlier you can start making that money do things for you. Exactly. And I'll tell you when I took that, that first course, and we actually had some mentors come in and it was a group session and we had activities involved and things like that. Some of the activities were very disheartening, like create a budget out of what? This is my negative. That's very heartbreaking, but at least we knew. At least we knew what the reality was. And we, we were like, okay, how do we fix it? Were we able to fix it right away? No. Actually, we stayed in that kind of state for a long time. And this is not to talk ill of my ex-husband now, just now passed, deceased. But it wasn't until after we separated that I was, and I had a little bit of increased income and he always supported us financially. That he was never one to skip out on helping pay the bills or anything. just, He worked his. Speaker 2 (30:16.45) his tail off to the point where his, his, even his health took a dip because of it. But we did, we, we struggled financially when we were married and, I landed a job, a role. I took a step back in responsibility actually to work for a larger company, left a smaller company with way more responsibility to take a dollar raise, and to be closer to the family when we divorced. And I told myself if I just put my foot in the door there, I would I would make it work from there. And within two years, I had a ten thousand dollar increase, annual increase, and I was blown away. I took a position in a management role and was not expecting that when she when she when she provided me the when she was offering the role to me. But it took a lot for me to get there. Even when I took the role as in the department, I used that two years to learn everything that I could about the company, to find someone that could help me to find the training that I needed internally and externally for free. I started seeking out guidance from those that were in the department that I really wanted to gravitate to, but I didn't get a role in. It just happened to be better aligned with this other role that I ended up taking. But I started sitting in on meetings and learning and. learning how to build my resume and quantify the impact that the tasks that I was doing had on the company, the tasks that I had from the previous role, how that impacted, and all of those things aligned. I practiced my tail off with interview questions and I remember Speaker 2 (32:30.946) one particular interview where I actually, I had three of my girlfriends, I went over to their house, took, checked out a, what is it, a projector and I had created a presentation and I was super nervous and they sat there and I used my little clicker in their living room. And I practiced with them being my audience because I knew I had to do that in one of my interviews. So I took every opportunity to soak up what others were willing to give to me. And we found untraditional ways of helping me to grow and to get to that next level. It's amazing what you can learn when you are willing to learn it, when you are willing to take advantage of the opportunities that people are putting out there for you. I've had employees that want to learn and I've had employees that already know everything. Give you a clue, they don't. And you know, it's amazing what is available if you are just willing to learn. It's it's a You have to be self-aware, reflect often and don't be afraid to take that hard advice. even even from even the Even in the moments where I felt like the individual giving the advice was very coarse and harsh. Take a step back. Is there some reality to that. right Is there some truth? to what they have to say, no matter how hard it is. Now they might have been wrong, completely wrong in their delivery. And a lot of it might've been absolutely far left, but maybe you can find something in there to say, okay, I'm gonna learn from that. Speaker 1 (34:32.878) I mean, One of the things to be aware of is even if they're wrong, there's a reason they got there. There is something that they saw that made them interpret it that way. And it's just, if nothing else, something to be aware of that sometimes this is how other people perceive, whether it's your result or your motive or whatever. So yeah, I mean... You are this huge success story. I Who would have thought you'd have been on a TEDx stage? Who would have thought you'd be working on, of all things, education? Right, Right, exactly. And being in the role that I've been in has really truly prepared me to be able to take that on. And I'm super excited to be able to take that on with individuals that have the same heart and the same mindset. And we can kind of grow that together, you know, and to be able to be in a place because I'm not a non-profit. I decided that I did not want to be a nonprofit, not because there's not value in it, but I want it to be in a position where I put so into the nonprofit financially. So I want to get to a place where I'm able to say, you know, So into the nonprofit in a financial way, but also obviously through the courses and resources, I'll be able to do that as well. But We've established the structure as a L3C. And this is a low-limited liability, I'm sorry, low-profit limited liability structure. And it basically says, I'm gonna put purpose and impact before profit. Before profit, but I'm allowed to make a profit. Speaker 2 (36:32.78) As long as you're putting that purpose first, you're allowed to make a profit and you're able to make that profit so you can sustain the free capabilities, but also pay yourself a little bit. Now, am I gonna make rich off of this? No, I don't want to, right? But it allows me to continue to sow back into the programs that I want to develop and sustain the free offerings. And I'm super excited about it, because I can see further down the line, once we've onboarded the courses, and we have our nonprofit partnerships established and we've created our user base of Launchpad learners that we can eventually say to those that can afford these courses and want to participate to be able to offer the courses at a either on a case by case course by course basis or through some sort of subscription. That model will come out later. And then we can filter that back into the into sustaining the technology and the operations piece, but also find a way that we can, our course creators, our course authors can benefit as well with a profit sharing type of model. So we're super excited about it. We'll be able to incorporate, I want to incorporate and I will, saying it now, I will. Interactive e-learning. So clickable. you go on, you can look at, You're not just looking at a video, you're clicking through the, and interacting with the online module, but then also social learning, being able to come into a group and of learners, you know, it might be 15, it might be 50, but being able to share that learning experience with one another. you know, so Future CatapultU, but being able to provide that for free to someone that could barely even think that they would have one course. And it's just amazing. Now there's some things that we have to work out, right? But that'll come with time. And I'm okay with that. I have a solid foundation. I have a solid strategy. I'm gonna continue to stay lean so that we can sustain. And so that, you know, over time, when the time is right, then we can scale. Speaker 2 (39:00.27) and then we can scale a little bit more. And I'm super excited. Well, my hope is I'll have you back next season or, or, you know, at some vague point in the future and you'll be able to talk about the successes and how that's working and where you see further growth with that going. I'm so excited to watch all these wonderful things that you're doing. and That you share your story is so powerful for people out there who think that these things are out of reach. And, and It's important to know that if you set your mind to it and you work on a plan for it, you set the goals and you do the work, you can change your path, change your opportunities and change your future. Yes, absolutely, very much so. So before I close up, have you got anything else you'd like to share? Speaker 2 (39:58.715) gosh. Speaker 2 (40:06.68) So I always say this and it's gonna sound so cliche. It's a saying that I say and it's in my book. I say it often. I wanna leave the audience with this. If I can win my fight with the odds stacked against me. And so can you. Speaker 2 (40:33.004) It doesn't matter if it's today or tomorrow, just start. Start and keep starting. Start as many times as you need to. Just keep going. You could have the crummiest day today and have the best day of your life tomorrow. So don't give up. Speaker 1 (40:53.794) That is like everything that you do that is that is just powerful. I appreciate your time. I appreciate you spending the time, sharing your stories and sharing your project. And I will look forward to having you on again. Hopefully my listeners are enjoying this and are as moved by this as I was. I'm going to have the link to CatapultU in the show notes so that you can check it out and see what Kathy is up to. Everyone, thank you for listening. I'm Money Marci, and this has been Marci Talks Money and Life. You got this. See ya. Thank you. Bye.