Latest / ChangeMakers with Katie Goar / Episode 157: Christianne Brunini, Chief Growth Officer, 30|90 Marketing

Transcript

Episode 157: Christianne Brunini, Chief Growth Officer, 30|90 Marketing · ChangeMakers with Katie Goar

0:05
Speaker 1: This is Changemakers with Katie Gore. Finding the right solutions
0:10
Speaker 1: for the affordable housing community.
0:13
Speaker 2: Today's Changemaker is Christiane Brunini from 3090 Marketing. She's the
0:19
Speaker 2: Chief Growth Officer and a founding leader of the Magnolia
0:23
Speaker 2: State's Chapter of the Women in Affordable Housing Network. 3090
0:27
Speaker 2: works with developers, design and construction teams, public agencies, and
0:31
Speaker 2: community organizations behind projects, that shape where people live and work.
0:37
Speaker 2: Those projects can take years and involve so many different
0:41
Speaker 2: people and partnerships with a variety of different priorities, so
0:45
Speaker 2: I'm eager to hear how you make it all happen, Christiane.
0:49
Speaker 2: But first, welcome to Changemakers.
0:52
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having me today. Such an honor.
0:56
Speaker 2: It's great to have you, and you really have a
0:59
Speaker 2: unique niche here, so I can't wait to bring you
1:01
Speaker 2: to the Changemakers platform in a community. But before we
1:06
Speaker 2: get started, I usually like to ask people exactly how
1:10
Speaker 2: you got started in your career, maybe the twists and
1:13
Speaker 2: turns by which you came into your current position. Would
1:18
Speaker 2: you like to start us off first there?
1:20
Speaker 3: Sure, sure. I was thinking about that this morning, and
1:23
Speaker 3: I think it likens itself to the Lombard Street in
1:26
Speaker 3: San Francisco with all the switchbacks. My journey was not direct,
1:31
Speaker 3: like so many of your listeners. I actually am going
1:34
Speaker 3: to take it back a little bit further and start
1:37
Speaker 3: with where I started, which was public relations. So I
1:40
Speaker 3: worked for a global PR firm in Los Angeles when
1:43
Speaker 3: I was just out of school, and I worked for
1:47
Speaker 3: high luxury clients like Tiffany and Company. And I worked
1:51
Speaker 3: for high technology clients like Sony. So I actually planned
1:55
Speaker 3: a breakfast at Tiffany's at Tiffany and Company, which is
1:59
Speaker 3: super cool. I've worn a $ 200, 000 Schlumberger necklace.
2:04
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
2:05
Speaker 3: And I got to launch really cool products at Sony,
2:09
Speaker 3: but there was just something missing. It just wasn't clicking
2:13
Speaker 3: for me. And I didn't really... know how to name
2:17
Speaker 3: it and I didn't have great mentors. And so I
2:19
Speaker 3: took a sharp left turn and I went to culinary school.
2:23
Speaker 3: So I'm actually a trained chef and, um, I worked
2:27
Speaker 3: in professional kitchens for a number of years, which taught
2:30
Speaker 3: me a lot about systems and, um, have roles and
2:36
Speaker 3: having leadership and having people in the right place. And, um,
2:40
Speaker 3: But it kind of morphed and I took my path
2:44
Speaker 3: back into marketing through employee wellness, which taught me a
2:48
Speaker 3: lot about kind of health as a foundation and community
2:57
Speaker 3: building around that. And then finally, fast forward to my husband,
3:04
Speaker 3: who is also in affordable housing, Tony Bernani. He is
3:08
Speaker 3: in affordable housing insurance. And he is a great connector person.
3:12
Speaker 3: And so he's always working with developers and talking about,
3:15
Speaker 3: you know, oh, I think you should meet this person or,
3:18
Speaker 3: you know, oh, you should really, you should try this
3:20
Speaker 3: or talk to this person. And there was this one
3:23
Speaker 3: developer that he talked to a lot. And finally, I
3:27
Speaker 3: took the phone out of his hand and I said,
3:29
Speaker 3: when are we going to work together? And she said, today.
3:33
Speaker 3: And so that is how I met Holly Knight with
3:36
Speaker 3: Knight Development. and started to learn about affordable housing and
3:41
Speaker 3: worked my way into this wonderful world that I'm here today.
3:44
Speaker 2: And you first started at 3090 just as the Director
3:50
Speaker 2: of Communications, right? And now you're the Chief Growth Officer.
3:55
Speaker 2: Why don't you tell us, first of all, what you're
3:58
Speaker 2: currently doing, what your organization is about, and then reflect
4:03
Speaker 2: on what the Chief Growth Officer role entails for you
4:06
Speaker 2: on a day-to-day.
4:08
Speaker 3: Sure. So as I came to 3090, I was thinking
4:12
Speaker 3: about hanging my own shingle and so running my own show.
4:17
Speaker 3: And my specialty was affordable housing. But I also have
4:23
Speaker 3: a lot of leadership and strategic planning in my background.
4:27
Speaker 3: But we had a mentor in common. So Rachel Lede
4:32
Speaker 3: is the owner of 3090. 3090 is is, specializes in
4:37
Speaker 3: working with AEC firms. So architecture, engineer, contractors, and developers.
4:44
Speaker 3: And we had someone in common who said, you know what, Christiane,
4:48
Speaker 3: I will be your client. If you want to do this,
4:50
Speaker 3: I will absolutely be your client. But I think you
4:52
Speaker 3: should talk to this person. She kind of does what
4:56
Speaker 3: you do, but a little bit differently. And I think
4:57
Speaker 3: you would complement each other really well. And so we
5:01
Speaker 3: had one fantastic conversation that led to the next. And
5:04
Speaker 3: so 30, 90, here I come. And so I started
5:08
Speaker 3: out just as a communications director, just as, focused on that.
5:14
Speaker 3: And it gave me time to really learn the company
5:16
Speaker 3: and help formalize and shape how we talk about ourselves differently,
5:22
Speaker 3: focus on the website, kind of really do some internal
5:25
Speaker 3: focus and building the team and we're growing and thinking
5:30
Speaker 3: about how we want to grow. And so that really
5:32
Speaker 3: led into... my role now, which married my chief business
5:38
Speaker 3: development role at Knight Development with what I do today.
5:42
Speaker 3: So helping us grow internally, helping us grow nationally, and
5:47
Speaker 3: figuring out how we want to present ourselves.
5:50
Speaker 2: I love the twists and turns of your career path.
5:55
Speaker 2: It reminds people that, you know, it says, hey, I
5:58
Speaker 2: can take what I learned here, what I did well here,
6:02
Speaker 2: What I heard myself, you know, not fitting, right? And
6:06
Speaker 2: then make ebbs and flows. So many of us feel
6:09
Speaker 2: like we have to like stay in this one lane
6:11
Speaker 2: or stay in this one path. And I like how
6:14
Speaker 2: you've shown that you can actually keep building and building
6:18
Speaker 2: and refining what you want to do. I'm curious when
6:21
Speaker 2: you first came into affordable housing, like what was your
6:24
Speaker 2: first take on like what in the world is this?
6:28
Speaker 2: Or what have I done? Like, what was your, going
6:33
Speaker 2: through your mind first when you first came in?
6:36
Speaker 3: Well, first it was, what are all these acronyms and
6:40
Speaker 3: what do they mean? And what do I do with
6:42
Speaker 3: all of that? But as you say, it really, the
6:46
Speaker 3: wonderful thing about affordable housing is that all these layers
6:50
Speaker 3: that I have been developing unlocked. And so through affordable housing,
6:55
Speaker 3: I was able to show or utilize all of my
6:58
Speaker 3: talents cohesively. So within the development process, from the application
7:05
Speaker 3: that goes into the ribbon cutting, it utilizes all of
7:09
Speaker 3: my talents throughout the pathway. So writing, I'm a literature major, right?
7:16
Speaker 3: English degree. to the event planning and understanding stakeholder organizing
7:22
Speaker 3: and really being able to shape stories. All of that
7:26
Speaker 3: comes together. And so for me, affordable housing unlocked success
7:32
Speaker 3: in me and it made it really exciting for me
7:35
Speaker 3: to unlock success for developers, for communities, for residents. And
7:39
Speaker 3: so I was able to really, I don't know, it just,
7:43
Speaker 3: it's a beautiful mashup. So affordable housing to me has
7:47
Speaker 3: turned into this incredible community of people that help shape community.
7:53
Speaker 3: And so it makes coming to work every day incredible.
7:57
Speaker 2: So when a client comes to you and your firm,
8:01
Speaker 2: what are they typically struggling with? Because I find it
8:07
Speaker 2: unique with all of your communication and your strategy and
8:11
Speaker 2: your writing and everything. You've got this skill set. And
8:15
Speaker 2: then how do you solve that when a client comes
8:18
Speaker 2: to you? What are they asking? How are you solving that?
8:22
Speaker 2: Do you want to give us a sneak peek into
8:23
Speaker 2: some of that?
8:24
Speaker 3: Of course. So affordable housing is one part of what
8:29
Speaker 3: we do. But like I said, we work with AEC
8:32
Speaker 3: and D. So people come to us when they are
8:37
Speaker 3: at a growth period. And growth can mean even downsizing, right?
8:42
Speaker 3: It's a change. And so whatever that piece of change
8:46
Speaker 3: that they're focused on, what we do at 3090 is
8:50
Speaker 3: brand infrastructure. That's what we call it. And so we
8:54
Speaker 3: take that one ask that you're asking for, and then
8:57
Speaker 3: we start asking questions. And so you might come to
9:00
Speaker 3: us and say, well, I think I need a new website.
9:03
Speaker 3: And we're going to say, well, okay, why? Who are
9:06
Speaker 3: you trying to speak to? What are you trying to accomplish?
9:09
Speaker 3: What's wrong with what you have now? And then we're
9:11
Speaker 3: going to start to build a bigger story around it
9:14
Speaker 3: and figure out, well, what is your ultimate goal? Who
9:18
Speaker 3: do you want to be a year from now, six
9:20
Speaker 3: months from now, 10 years from now? Because then we're
9:23
Speaker 3: going to take all of that information and say, okay, yes,
9:26
Speaker 3: we can build you a pretty website, but that's not
9:29
Speaker 3: all we can do. Because we want to take this
9:31
Speaker 3: story and we want to repurpose it maybe in your
9:34
Speaker 3: social media, or maybe we want to make sure that
9:37
Speaker 3: you've got a mailing campaign that's going with this website.
9:40
Speaker 3: So we're going to build the infrastructure that's going to
9:43
Speaker 3: stand up all of these singular ideas into a building.
9:47
Speaker 3: We're going to build that framework that's going to hold
9:50
Speaker 3: all of your dreams. So that might look like we had,
9:55
Speaker 3: for example, a build to rent developer come to us.
9:58
Speaker 3: So focused on the middle. market and they were focused on, well,
10:03
Speaker 3: we want to we sort of had this one direct
10:06
Speaker 3: funding route and we would like to expand that. We
10:09
Speaker 3: want to attract new types of funders. And so I
10:12
Speaker 3: took a look and they said, we just want to
10:14
Speaker 3: make some small edits on our website. And I took
10:16
Speaker 3: a look at the website and I said, okay, well,
10:19
Speaker 3: fundamentally what you've asked for and what you need are
10:22
Speaker 3: two different things. And so I can build you a
10:24
Speaker 3: website and I can make these edits, but what, here's
10:26
Speaker 3: what I really think needs to happen. And so what
10:29
Speaker 3: we did was we created a new framework for that
10:32
Speaker 3: storytelling and we created a new journey for those funders
10:36
Speaker 3: to find them.
10:38
Speaker 2: And you called it brand infrastructure, which is really interesting
10:42
Speaker 2: because Most people know capital infrastructure and roads and foundations
10:46
Speaker 2: of a house. And I like the analogy that I'm
10:51
Speaker 2: assuming you're making with the word is that in order
10:55
Speaker 2: for companies to grow, attract investors or for housing authorities
11:01
Speaker 2: to be able to serve the community better, we don't
11:05
Speaker 2: usually call it brand infrastructure. We call it like design
11:09
Speaker 2: or we call it communications, um, So I really like that.
11:13
Speaker 2: I mean, that really hits home exactly of what this is.
11:17
Speaker 2: Tell us more when you, you know, when you say
11:19
Speaker 2: brand infrastructure, do people get the importance of what you're
11:25
Speaker 2: conveying to them or what's that process like?
11:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that they do because once we pull
11:31
Speaker 3: on the thread and they see how all these things connect,
11:34
Speaker 3: it starts to open up and make sense. And so
11:37
Speaker 3: I kind of like to say that your messaging should
11:40
Speaker 3: be as tight as your blueprints.
11:42
Speaker 2: Right.
11:43
Speaker 3: You really need to understand where you're going, because if
11:47
Speaker 3: you just if you look at things in isolation, then sure,
11:52
Speaker 3: that door or that not let's talk about a knob.
11:55
Speaker 3: So in property management, you choose a knob as a developer. Well,
11:59
Speaker 3: that's going to make a difference to how that property
12:02
Speaker 3: gets managed and developed six months down the road, because
12:06
Speaker 3: can you easily replace that knob? Can you find it?
12:09
Speaker 3: Is it expensive? Right. Does it break easily? Does it
12:12
Speaker 3: rub off? So, you know, you really have to understand
12:15
Speaker 3: the full scope in order to really like zero in
12:20
Speaker 3: and make that one decision the most impactful it can be.
12:24
Speaker 2: I'm sure some of your clients are probably not able
12:27
Speaker 2: to communicate like, you know, they're just maybe saying, I
12:30
Speaker 2: just want this change or this is what I need.
12:33
Speaker 2: But actually at the core of it, when they start
12:35
Speaker 2: talking with you, they're drilling down. and they're realizing that
12:40
Speaker 2: maybe certain strategy pieces are missing, or maybe certain other
12:45
Speaker 2: types of features are missing. You know, they're just like,
12:48
Speaker 2: I just want it better, or I just, you know,
12:50
Speaker 2: I want it improved, but can't really explain it. Is
12:54
Speaker 2: there a point in that financing and community development when they're,
13:00
Speaker 2: you know, you've got clients who are saying, this is
13:03
Speaker 2: what I need to accomplish. You know, is there a
13:05
Speaker 2: point by which It's because, I mean, just even thinking
13:10
Speaker 2: about all the different angles of this, like, how do
13:13
Speaker 2: you decide to, like, how do you go about helping
13:18
Speaker 2: them visualize and get to the point of what they need?
13:22
Speaker 2: Or how do you help them develop out something that's
13:26
Speaker 2: so essential that they didn't see?
13:28
Speaker 3: You know, I think that's, it's different in every case.
13:33
Speaker 3: And it has a lot to do with how we operate.
13:37
Speaker 3: So I think we are all very analytical, technical thinkers.
13:44
Speaker 3: And so we like to ask a lot of questions.
13:47
Speaker 3: And that's really how we start. And I think that's
13:50
Speaker 3: the key to any plan and any long range plan
13:55
Speaker 3: is asking all the questions to say, OK, well, what
13:58
Speaker 3: do you mean by this? What does that mean for you?
14:00
Speaker 3: If you had this one thing happen, what would happen then?
14:05
Speaker 3: So we let our clients be the experts that they
14:09
Speaker 3: are and tell us in their own words so that
14:12
Speaker 3: we can say it back to them and say, okay,
14:13
Speaker 3: I hear you saying this. Is that what you meant?
14:16
Speaker 3: And so by working through that process, we can usually
14:21
Speaker 3: figure out what it is ultimately that they're trying to
14:24
Speaker 3: get to. And through that process, maybe take... a kernel
14:29
Speaker 3: of something and turn it into something much bigger.
14:32
Speaker 2: What's the most exciting project that you're currently working on?
14:36
Speaker 2: Are you allowed to have a favorite?
14:38
Speaker 3: Oh, sure. I can have favorites. I think I'm really
14:44
Speaker 3: excited about our new partnership with the Harris County Housing Authority.
14:49
Speaker 3: They are a high performing agency that is going through
14:53
Speaker 3: a big transition. And so I'm really in love with
14:57
Speaker 3: being able to help tell that story that they haven't
14:59
Speaker 3: been telling. We forget that if we don't tell our story,
15:03
Speaker 3: other people tell it for us. And so I'm really
15:07
Speaker 3: excited to help them through that journey and find all
15:12
Speaker 3: the ways that we can uncover the beautiful work that
15:15
Speaker 3: they're doing.
15:17
Speaker 2: Is that Harris County, Texas? Yes, I've seen them very
15:20
Speaker 2: active in the Texas NARO as well. When you have
15:26
Speaker 2: a housing authority that comes to you, do most of
15:31
Speaker 2: them have a strategic plan that you're helping them implement?
15:36
Speaker 2: Or does it seem to be you're having to help
15:38
Speaker 2: them start that process from scratch?
15:42
Speaker 3: Well, to answer that, I have to say that most
15:46
Speaker 3: of my housing authority experience thus far has been through night.
15:50
Speaker 3: And so it is a specialty that I'm bringing into 3090.
15:55
Speaker 3: So we are building that experience currently with 3090. But
16:01
Speaker 3: one of the first things that I started doing at
16:05
Speaker 3: 3090 to start speaking with housing authorities was go and
16:08
Speaker 3: give a talk. Rachel and I did. at the Texas
16:11
Speaker 3: Housing Association on operational excellence. And that conversation was intended
16:19
Speaker 3: to talk about that very thing. I don't think many
16:22
Speaker 3: housing authorities have a strategic plan in the sense that
16:28
Speaker 3: a typical business does. And I think what I learned
16:34
Speaker 3: working with housing authorities through my total experience is that Unfortunately,
16:41
Speaker 3: many still rely on the HUD mission, right? Some variation
16:47
Speaker 3: of that adapting that one mission, which is true, but
16:52
Speaker 3: it is different. And it is a multifaceted thing that
16:56
Speaker 3: should be different for every housing authority. And I think
17:00
Speaker 3: in this challenging situation where regulations are changing and funding
17:04
Speaker 3: is changing and we don't know what's happening maybe at
17:07
Speaker 3: the higher governmental level all the time, that it's really
17:11
Speaker 3: important to step back and ask deeper questions about who
17:15
Speaker 3: we are right now, regardless of what's happening in all
17:20
Speaker 3: of these areas and where we wanna be in 10 years.
17:23
Speaker 3: And so that is something that we actually do and
17:26
Speaker 3: can help with. So I can't speak for all of them.
17:30
Speaker 3: I think bigger agencies, have come into this. They have
17:34
Speaker 3: leaned into this. They have more staff. They have more
17:37
Speaker 3: manpower to maybe let that breathe more easily. But I
17:42
Speaker 3: think that there is so much opportunity with the medium
17:46
Speaker 3: to small agencies to redefine what community development looks like
17:51
Speaker 3: in their community and to really show up in a
17:55
Speaker 3: different way and enjoy that process. So that is definitely...
18:01
Speaker 3: a component of the work with housing authorities that I
18:04
Speaker 3: look forward to.
18:05
Speaker 2: And it's also the type of planning and community decision
18:10
Speaker 2: making that allows them to direct efforts maybe toward grants
18:15
Speaker 2: or different types of funding or different types of projects
18:18
Speaker 2: or redevelopment. And it has that master marching orders of
18:23
Speaker 2: a plan that lets them do that. So, you know,
18:26
Speaker 2: it can be beneficial not just in you know, those
18:29
Speaker 2: macro visioning, you know, where do I want to go moments,
18:33
Speaker 2: but something in a more tangible way as well. I
18:38
Speaker 2: was also looking at one of the things that you
18:40
Speaker 2: and Rachel are doing. And I was, of course, impressed
18:44
Speaker 2: by the podcast from one podcaster to another. And tell
18:50
Speaker 2: us about what the name of the podcast is.
18:53
Speaker 3: The comms exchange.
18:55
Speaker 2: And what do you guys do? What do you talk about?
18:58
Speaker 2: Who are your guests? And give us just a great
19:02
Speaker 2: overview of what you're doing here. It makes absolute sense
19:06
Speaker 2: for what you guys are as a business that you
19:08
Speaker 2: guys would have this too. Yeah, yeah.
19:11
Speaker 3: So the comms exchange was born out of the idea
19:15
Speaker 3: very much like this, that we can solve problems together
19:19
Speaker 3: faster if we just talk about them. Everything starts with
19:22
Speaker 3: a conversation, and we don't want to gatekeep on solutions, right?
19:27
Speaker 3: So building connections, introducing people to new ideas, introducing people
19:33
Speaker 3: to opportunities that they haven't thought of yet. The breadth
19:37
Speaker 3: of people that we invite in cover a lot of
19:40
Speaker 3: things in communications, and that can include anything from, for example,
19:44
Speaker 3: we had Michael Hecton. He's the CEO of GNO Inc.
19:48
Speaker 3: in New Orleans, and And for anyone who doesn't know,
19:52
Speaker 3: he was very instrumental and his team were instrumental in
19:57
Speaker 3: helping shift the perception of New Orleans by galvanizing around
20:02
Speaker 3: the Super Bowl. So we all saw it live on TV.
20:06
Speaker 3: People haven't seen New Orleans that way in a long time.
20:10
Speaker 3: They've been hearing about the negativity. And so this polish
20:14
Speaker 3: came through sharing a vision, building community, and activating around it.
20:21
Speaker 3: But we also do simpler things that think about personal branding.
20:26
Speaker 3: We've had on people who focus on how do you pose?
20:31
Speaker 3: How do you show up in color? How do you
20:34
Speaker 3: think about yourself as a brand so that you can
20:36
Speaker 3: be more successful? It's all about unlocking success.
20:40
Speaker 2: You know, way back in the day, there used to
20:43
Speaker 2: be this stigma about brand management and visibility. You know,
20:49
Speaker 2: this is kind of before socialism is showing my time here,
20:52
Speaker 2: that people thought it was braggadocious and people thought it
20:54
Speaker 2: was just showy and they didn't see the link to
20:59
Speaker 2: being able to learn lessons collectively, or they didn't see
21:03
Speaker 2: the link to being able to advance your cause and
21:07
Speaker 2: your organization. And then fast forward now, and you've got
21:12
Speaker 2: every teenager with a camera and everybody's an influencer for everything.
21:19
Speaker 2: And we've broken down these walls and these perceptions about
21:23
Speaker 2: what brand visibility and storytelling is doing and what it's
21:27
Speaker 2: capable of. So give us a plug to encourage people to,
21:34
Speaker 2: especially those of us who have had to make a
21:36
Speaker 2: mind shift on how we look at brand management. Give
21:40
Speaker 2: us some redirection on the power of storytelling and brand management. 100%.
21:51
Speaker 3: So it's all about consistency. It is not about perfection.
21:56
Speaker 3: It is not about 100 takes. It is just getting
22:00
Speaker 3: out there, trying and keeping going. So I know you've
22:04
Speaker 3: done it, right? We've seen the path of your personal
22:10
Speaker 3: development and how that has morphed. And I'm sure the
22:13
Speaker 3: first time you turned the camera on yourself, you stumbled
22:15
Speaker 3: and you ummed and you ahed and you didn't know
22:17
Speaker 3: what you were going to say and you felt stupid
22:18
Speaker 3: and all of those things. But over time, you get
22:22
Speaker 3: a little better. And now everybody looks forward to your
22:24
Speaker 3: Friday fun days and truth fun days and truth bombs, right?
22:27
Speaker 3: I'm sure I said that wrong. But the point is
22:31
Speaker 3: that it is the more you show up, the better
22:35
Speaker 3: you get. It's the what is it, a thousand hours
22:38
Speaker 3: or ten thousand hours and ten thousand hours. You build
22:41
Speaker 3: your expertise. And so wherever you focus, that energy is
22:45
Speaker 3: where you're going to grow and develop. And so I
22:48
Speaker 3: by just showing up, by being consistent, by telling your story,
22:53
Speaker 3: it will improve. And the more you do it, the
22:56
Speaker 3: more you can be impactful with that messaging. And the
22:59
Speaker 3: more you can really shape the narrative that you're trying
23:02
Speaker 3: to control. And so that is true on a personal
23:06
Speaker 3: brand level. And it's true for organizations. It's true for initiatives.
23:12
Speaker 3: So it is just showing up and being consistent. That's
23:15
Speaker 3: how you build trust. It's how you build reputation.
23:19
Speaker 2: And it's just such a mind shift thing. for many
23:23
Speaker 2: organizations and for many people. And I think that one
23:27
Speaker 2: of the most difficult things is that, like you said,
23:30
Speaker 2: the consistency, you just have to put the reps in
23:34
Speaker 2: and you just have to keep putting the reps in
23:37
Speaker 2: and you have to be willing to have the flubs
23:40
Speaker 2: and the typos and the misspeaks in the beginning, or
23:45
Speaker 2: even when you've been doing it for several years, you
23:47
Speaker 2: still have to be willing to do that. But when
23:50
Speaker 2: you keep putting in the reps and you keep with
23:52
Speaker 2: that consistency, you do get better and the message gets better. Ultimately,
23:57
Speaker 2: I like to say, if you can have one myth
24:01
Speaker 2: that you bust about affordable housing, it's worth it. If
24:06
Speaker 2: you can change one person's perception about affordable housing, it's
24:11
Speaker 2: worth it. And you just keep going in, moving the
24:15
Speaker 2: needle step by step by step gradually and Or, you know,
24:20
Speaker 2: you have a platform like your podcast on this podcast
24:23
Speaker 2: where you could say, you know, let's talk about best
24:25
Speaker 2: practices because why should somebody only be in one hall
24:30
Speaker 2: of one particular session of one particular conference to learn
24:34
Speaker 2: how you moved forward a particular application or how you
24:38
Speaker 2: moved forward a financing deal? That should not be just
24:43
Speaker 2: that sole nugget of how to get something done. Right.
24:47
Speaker 2: These podcasts are forums by which we can share and
24:51
Speaker 2: just magnify how things can get done so much better.
24:55
Speaker 3: And I think that shows up in awards also, right?
24:59
Speaker 3: That feeling of braggadociousness. Why do I want to go
25:02
Speaker 3: and apply for this award? But the fact is that
25:05
Speaker 3: when you apply for that award, you are telling the
25:08
Speaker 3: story of that development. You are sharing that. the obstacles,
25:13
Speaker 3: the challenges, and what you did to achieve it. And
25:17
Speaker 3: then you are making it repeatable by sharing that on
25:20
Speaker 3: a broad scale, which does another thing, which also makes
25:24
Speaker 3: it something that you can share with the elected officials
25:28
Speaker 3: and the people who are making the decisions about affordable
25:31
Speaker 3: housing to say, look, this works. Look at this. And
25:35
Speaker 3: we should do more of this. And this is what
25:37
Speaker 3: we need in order to do more of this. So
25:40
Speaker 3: it may start small with a podcast or with a
25:44
Speaker 3: social media post or, you know, with your news page
25:47
Speaker 3: or blog. But when you build, continue to build it
25:50
Speaker 3: up and you build it to a published article or
25:54
Speaker 3: a award submission that can then be shared, you have
25:59
Speaker 3: continued to that ripple effect of that efficacy.
26:03
Speaker 2: And so many people are just like head down, do
26:05
Speaker 2: the work, do the work, do the work. They're not
26:08
Speaker 2: really talking about it or sharing about it. And that's
26:12
Speaker 2: a different leap. So they either have to find an
26:15
Speaker 2: entity like you to help them share about it. Because
26:18
Speaker 2: if left to our own demise, we just hear the
26:22
Speaker 2: horror stories of affordable housing. And that is not fair
26:27
Speaker 2: for our industry. It's not a reflection of all the
26:30
Speaker 2: good that's happening. So we do need to have I
26:33
Speaker 2: knew that Nauru, you know, this year, Sean Gilbert, he's
26:40
Speaker 2: been talking about storytelling quite a bit. And that's been
26:44
Speaker 2: one of his national messages is to encourage people to
26:48
Speaker 2: not just do the work, do the work, do the work,
26:51
Speaker 2: and not talk about it as well. So many of
26:54
Speaker 2: us are hoping that the value and the return on
26:59
Speaker 2: the investment of us talking about housing, that the momentum,
27:05
Speaker 2: it comes there. And I believe it will.
27:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, 100%.
27:09
Speaker 2: I love it. I mean, the podcast platform, you know,
27:13
Speaker 2: when I first started years ago, there was like hardly any,
27:17
Speaker 2: I don't even know that there was hardly anybody doing
27:19
Speaker 2: this just solely on affordable housing. And I love it now.
27:22
Speaker 2: People ask me all the time. They're like, oh, there's
27:24
Speaker 2: so many podcasts now. And I'm like, it didn't used
27:27
Speaker 2: to be this way. I'm like, this is a good thing.
27:29
Speaker 2: This is a good thing that there are a lot
27:31
Speaker 2: of podcasts to choose from and there are a lot
27:34
Speaker 2: of messages and, um, I guess amplification of what's going on.
27:40
Speaker 3: Yeah. You were a trailblazer.
27:41
Speaker 2: Thank you. You started Magnolia's chapter of the Women's Affordable
27:47
Speaker 2: Housing Network. And I want to talk about a little
27:50
Speaker 2: bit about that because, um, just so many people may
27:55
Speaker 2: not realize the chapter piece and maybe just realize the
27:58
Speaker 2: national piece. So why don't you share with us? Thank
28:02
Speaker 2: you so much for starting that chapter. Tell us why
28:05
Speaker 2: you started it and what you hope to accomplish by it. Yeah.
28:10
Speaker 3: So it actually attaches to a little bit of a
28:12
Speaker 3: personal story. My father-in-law passed away and I watched how
28:17
Speaker 3: well My mother-in-law did because she was in garden club,
28:21
Speaker 3: bridge club, played golf. She had this huge sense of
28:25
Speaker 3: community around her. And I looked around and I said,
28:27
Speaker 3: oh gosh, outside of work, what do I do? So
28:30
Speaker 3: I need a hobby. I need a club and I
28:32
Speaker 3: need to be on a board somewhere. So coincidentally, this
28:37
Speaker 3: happened right before the MAP conference. So the Mississippi Association
28:41
Speaker 3: of Affordable Housing Providers. And I was sitting at the
28:44
Speaker 3: conference and And I was talking with Megan Elder, who
28:48
Speaker 3: is their administrative professional. And I said, we should do this.
28:52
Speaker 3: We should start a Magnolia chapter. So check, board check.
28:58
Speaker 3: So we did it together, which I think was really
29:00
Speaker 3: amazing to have a co-chair. Because when you take something
29:06
Speaker 3: off the ground like that, you don't realize all the
29:09
Speaker 3: 501c3 forms that you have to fill out and the
29:11
Speaker 3: groundwork that you do before you get to the fun stuff.
29:15
Speaker 3: But what has become and evolved to over time was
29:20
Speaker 3: that thing that I wanted, that sense of community that's
29:22
Speaker 3: going to lift me up and that networking capability that's
29:26
Speaker 3: going to reach across my day to day and introduce
29:29
Speaker 3: me to new people and start new relationships. And it
29:32
Speaker 3: really has just been amazing. And so I think I'm
29:36
Speaker 3: in my fourth year now and we have we have,
29:40
Speaker 3: we're no longer a toddler. I think we're a teenager
29:43
Speaker 3: now in terms of being a chapter. And so we
29:46
Speaker 3: have a full program of events that we do. Most importantly,
29:51
Speaker 3: we have our annual fundraiser, which is a clay shoot.
29:56
Speaker 3: So I looked around at what we had in our
30:00
Speaker 3: market and we have this world-class clay shooting facility. And
30:05
Speaker 3: so we pair that with the MAP conference. So we
30:08
Speaker 3: have this event the day before the MAP conference. So
30:10
Speaker 3: it brings in, it becomes an ally event. So it's
30:13
Speaker 3: not just women, but it is women getting to do
30:17
Speaker 3: something that they might not ordinarily do, which is pick
30:20
Speaker 3: up a shotgun, right? There's something incredibly powerful about that,
30:25
Speaker 3: that says, I can hold this weapon and I can
30:29
Speaker 3: use it safely. And I can feel the surge of
30:34
Speaker 3: doing something that's a little bit feels naughty, even though
30:37
Speaker 3: it's not. And it's sort of like getting women on
30:41
Speaker 3: the golf course, right? So it's a way to network
30:46
Speaker 3: at a different level with men in their world, right?
30:50
Speaker 3: So we have people, we have financiers, we have equity providers,
30:57
Speaker 3: we have developers from all across the country that come
31:00
Speaker 3: to this event, which I'm super proud of. And so
31:03
Speaker 3: it's putting women in adjacent rooms with the men who
31:07
Speaker 3: are making decisions. And so that's really what WAN is
31:10
Speaker 3: supposed to be for. It is elevating women. It's providing
31:13
Speaker 3: networking opportunities that create opportunities. So anyway, I've been super
31:20
Speaker 3: proud of it.
31:21
Speaker 2: You know, I'm registered to go to that. I know.
31:24
Speaker 3: I'm so excited that you're coming. I just looked down
31:28
Speaker 3: at the calendar yesterday and I said, oh, dear God,
31:31
Speaker 3: we are a month out from this event. I need
31:34
Speaker 3: to get my act together and I need to start
31:36
Speaker 3: reaching out to everybody who's coming and getting everybody lined up.
31:39
Speaker 3: But we're so thrilled that you're coming for this. Um,
31:43
Speaker 3: and I think it's going to be a great event and,
31:45
Speaker 3: and it's not too late. I don't know when this
31:47
Speaker 3: podcast goes live, but it's not too late to sign
31:49
Speaker 3: up or sponsor. So if you want to get out
31:52
Speaker 3: in front of the, uh, like I said, developers, contractors,
31:57
Speaker 3: financiers in affordable housing, this is the way to do it.
32:00
Speaker 3: So sponsor a team, come show up and, or just
32:04
Speaker 3: come and participate. We also have added this year our
32:09
Speaker 3: charitable focus for the Magnolia Wand chapter. We have selected
32:15
Speaker 3: Dress for Success because, again, it is about providing opportunity
32:21
Speaker 3: all the way up. So there are plenty of people
32:24
Speaker 3: out there who are looking for the next step in
32:26
Speaker 3: their career and whether or not they're already in affordable
32:29
Speaker 3: housing and Juan becomes this thing that helps you elevate,
32:32
Speaker 3: or you're still trying to figure out if affordable housing
32:35
Speaker 3: is your, is your path, right? We want to show
32:38
Speaker 3: up and we want to be able to unlock success
32:40
Speaker 3: for everyone.
32:42
Speaker 2: So at the Dress for Success, is that, tell us
32:45
Speaker 2: a little bit more about that. Is that part of that,
32:49
Speaker 2: that current program there, or is that part of the
32:51
Speaker 2: the Magnolia chapter and what is it that you guys,
32:55
Speaker 2: what's the format look like?
32:57
Speaker 3: So Dress for Success is a national organization and we
33:02
Speaker 3: launched kind of our intent to make this our focus
33:06
Speaker 3: at our last event, which was Tabas and Tequila last
33:09
Speaker 3: month in Baton Rouge. But so we took donations of
33:13
Speaker 3: gently used executive clothing and we donate that to the organization.
33:20
Speaker 3: And then hopefully we will have a member from Dress
33:24
Speaker 3: for Success be at the clay shoot to talk a
33:28
Speaker 3: little bit about what they're doing and how we can
33:31
Speaker 3: support in other ways. And so if anybody wants to
33:34
Speaker 3: donate to that separately as well, then we can create
33:38
Speaker 3: an opportunity for that. So it seems like a natural
33:41
Speaker 3: fit for our group so that we can not only
33:45
Speaker 3: enjoy ourselves, our camaraderie, but also give back at all
33:49
Speaker 3: the different events that we're doing.
33:51
Speaker 2: I love it. You're not just kind of having the
33:53
Speaker 2: normal conference panel and PowerPoint and, you know, sort of boring,
33:59
Speaker 2: boring danishes. You're really actually building, you're building in something
34:05
Speaker 2: that is allowing people to give back and learn with
34:09
Speaker 2: professional development and the networking. So you're really hitting a
34:12
Speaker 2: great a great well-rounded program there. We'll drop the links
34:16
Speaker 2: to everything. We'll still have plenty of time for people
34:19
Speaker 2: to get there. We'll make sure that we spread the
34:23
Speaker 2: word for you as well. Well, as we're closing up,
34:26
Speaker 2: is there anything that we missed that you want to share?
34:28
Speaker 2: You want to highlight?
34:30
Speaker 3: Oh gosh, I don't know. I want to highlight your
34:33
Speaker 3: book that's coming out. That would be, yes. I'm excited
34:37
Speaker 3: about that. I have signed up for my pre-order. So
34:39
Speaker 3: that's exciting. And, you know, I just, uh, I think
34:44
Speaker 3: that remembering that communications should be a line item on
34:49
Speaker 3: every development, that it shouldn't be an afterthought in order
34:55
Speaker 3: to really help change the dynamic, change perception, and be
35:01
Speaker 3: able to build more affordable housing. Really drilling in on
35:05
Speaker 3: how you can leverage communications in your organization is incredibly important.
35:11
Speaker 3: So that's how I would like to leave it.
35:14
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Well said. I think, no pun intended, well said.
35:18
Speaker 2: But the communication line is so crucial. And it's like
35:25
Speaker 2: preventative maintenance. So like for people who are in asset management,
35:28
Speaker 2: we'll give them an analogy here. It's like preventative maintenance.
35:32
Speaker 2: You know, you don't really want to think about the
35:34
Speaker 2: furnace when it's broken down. Right. Too late. If you
35:39
Speaker 2: do the right things and you change the filter and
35:43
Speaker 2: you make sure it's serviced and you do all of
35:46
Speaker 2: the proper things ahead of time, that preventative maintenance can
35:51
Speaker 2: actually save you on the long run. So we're going
35:53
Speaker 2: to say that's the same thing on the communication line
35:56
Speaker 2: item as well. If you're doing what you're supposed to
35:59
Speaker 2: be doing, then it becomes part of the preventative maintenance
36:03
Speaker 2: and it builds in that brand infrastructure that you called it.
36:09
Speaker 2: And it builds your whole organization and your team for
36:13
Speaker 2: longer term success and really preserving what you're creating. So again,
36:19
Speaker 2: I have been talking with today's Changemaker with Christian Brunini,
36:23
Speaker 2: the Chief Growth Officer with 3090 Marketing. Thank you so
36:27
Speaker 2: much for being on Changemakers and sharing the crucial aspects
36:32
Speaker 2: of communication, connection, and branding. Thank you so much. Thank
36:39
Speaker 2: you for having me.
36:41
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Changemakers with Katie Gore. To find
36:45
Speaker 1: out more about Katie, go to quadel.com. That's Q-U-A-D-E-L dot com.
36:52
Speaker 1: This has been a production of Forbes Books Radio.