Latest / Leaders In Payments / Aubrey Amatelli, Founder & CEO of PayRio | Episode 283

Transcript

Aubrey Amatelli, Founder & CEO of PayRio | Episode 283 · Leaders In Payments

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Leaders in Payments podcast, where we talk to C-level leaders from across the payments landscape.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: We'll be discussing the products and services that impact the payment space today, as well as trends and predictions for the future of payments.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: We will also hear stories from our guests about their journeys to the top.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: But until then our solution is one of the only solutions available.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: So I guess the future is that we'll be able to process payments in Canvas the way we do with CBD.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: It'll still be high risk, it will still have its nuances, but ultimately you will have processors like Payrio who are willing to support Canvas with dispensaries as the merchant of record through the normal payment rails.
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: That was Aubrey Emmetelli, the founder and CEO of Payrio, and she is my special guest on this episode, episode 283 of the Leaders in Payments podcast, and I'm your host, greg Myers.
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: Payrio is the first payments provider exclusively focused on cannabis, cbd and alternative medicines.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: Aubrey and I talk about her payments background and how that led her to starting Payrio.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: We also discuss the unique nuances of operating in high risk categories like cannabis and CBD.
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: Aubrey also shares her passion for soccer and her kids and, of course, her passion for payments.
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: We've got a great episode ahead, so let's get started.
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: Hi, aubrey, thank you for being here and welcome to the Leaders in Payments podcast.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: Hi, greg, happy to be here.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: So let's dive right in, if you don't mind.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: Tell our audience a little bit about yourself, maybe where you grew up, where you went to school, where you currently live, a few things like that, and then we'll circle back to your professional career in a few minutes.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: So I grew up in the Silicon Valley.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: Born and raised in San Jose, california, I went off to the East Coast, to Seton Hall University, to play soccer there.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: Actually, I got a full-ride scholarship to be on the women's team, which was always a goal of mine as a little girl.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: So lived out in the East Coast for six years, loved it there.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: I always feel like I'm a Jersey girl at heart, left the East Coast and actually lived in Hawaii, on Oahu, for a year to get my MBA in nonprofit management.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: After I finished that, the Silicon Valley was calling me home, so I moved back to the Bay Area, worked in San Francisco and now I am in a cute little town in the East Bay of Northern California called Danville, and that's where I reside with my three kids.
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: Well, let's talk about the company Payrio, so tell the audience what the company does.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: So Payrio is a payment processor that focuses in on the cannabis and alternative medicine industry, so we support dispensaries as well as alternative medicines in the e-commerce space like CBD, psilocybin spores, cannabis seeds to find compliant payment solutions, which are really hard to find in these high-risk industries.
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: So is it all e-commerce or is it retail as well?
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: So on the dispensary side and the cannabis side it's all retail.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: So we support hundreds of dispensaries in 28 states across the country.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: So that's all card-present retail and the other piece of our business, the alternative medicines.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: That's actually all e-commerce.
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: So maybe define alternative medicine so people know exactly what you're talking about.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: I wanted to cover just the health and wellness space.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: That's really was the mission of Payrio from the start, about a year and a half ago, and I quickly realized there were two industries that really needed support.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: One is the dispensaries that we talked about on the cannabis side and the alternative medicines.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Those are things like CBD, cannabis seeds, psilocybin, ketamine treatment centers, and then all of the ancillary products that support THC or the other medicines we're gonna talk a minute about your payments background book, kinda what led you to this specific industry so when I decided to launch pay real which is definitely a story in itself that we can talk about I originally wanted to focus in on the cbd vertical as time has gone on, and very into health and wellness, and I thought cbd would be a great place to dip my toe in launching my first company.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: I know payments well.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: I spent my whole career on the payment side and I quickly dove into the cbd industry and all of the prospects and the cold calls I was making.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: We realize that Cannabis was an area and payments that really had a hard time finding a compliant payment solution.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: Even to this day very hard to find a complaint payment solution like ours in cannabis.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: So quickly pivoted to support that industry but just very passionate about health and wellness.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: Being in northern california, cannabis has been a part of my life since 2012 and so it's really great to marry my passion of payments and the alternative medicine industries together and support it moving forward with great payment solutions.
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: And what is some of the challenges?
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: I mean, I assume there's a lot of regulatory challenges, but maybe you said they're hard to find what.
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: Why are they hard to find?
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: so today can abyss and we can maybe focusing on that first is still considered federally illegal.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: So that means that the payment brands visa, mastercard, american express and discover of don't support transactions in the space.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: There's no mcc code or merchant category code for cannabis today.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: So in order to accept payments in the cannabis industry at dispensaries, you need to find a unique solution that is both unique and compliant, which we have done In the past.
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: Because there's no mcc code, what processors have done is falsify mcc codes or use cryptocurrency, and all of those processors have since been shut down.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: But in the cannabis industry, those businesses just want to find a way to accept cards.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: It's really hard to florist with cash only, and so they'll trust.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: A payment processor comes in and promises the world, not really knowing what to vet, how to vet if it's a compliant solution or not, and that's where we've made a mark in the industry.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: Just give my background at jp morgan being there for over a decade at their payments division.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: I know compliance, I know exactly what to look for and I found an amazing technology partner that's able to bring compliant solutions to cannabis without falsifying mcc codes, are using cryptocurrency, but this unique funds flow that works and is compliant in the industry.
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: I mean, I'm sure there are at least a few other players out there.
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: So what would you say differentiates your company from your competitors out there?
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: So there actually aren't.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: It's the cannabis payment space over the past 12 months, but especially the past 90 days, has been weeded out to only the compliant solutions left.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: So mastercard just shut down all the pin debit cannabis payment processors around the country 90 days ago.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: So I would say there's only about three players left.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: One of them is an ACH solution I call the zeal of cannabis.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: We have some players using a cashless ATM solution, which is essentially putting an ATM in terminal form and rounding to the nearest five to process a transaction.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: And then there is our solution.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: That's a wallet technology on the back end for credit and debit card.
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: Well, where do you see this heading, do you think?
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: I mean, obviously there are only certain states that you can operate in that's federally still illegal on the cannabis side.
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: I mean, where do you see all this head in the next couple of years?
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: So until cannabis is considered federally legal and there is an MCC code for cannabis, this is the options that are available today, including ours are the only options out there.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: But there's something called the Safer Banking Act that we're waiting to see gets approved.
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: It's on the ballot and could be potentially approved by the end of the year.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: If the Safer Banking Act passes, that means that banks will be able to safely bank cannabis the cannabis industry without the risk of fines and high fines and fees.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: Banks are able to support dispensaries around the country, but at a very high cost.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: So the first step in the industry becoming legitimized, where the dispensaries can be the merchant of record and there will be an MCC code and Visa and Massacard will recognize the transactions, the first step is for the Safer Banking Act to pass.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: Once that passes, it will take the payment brands and banks and the other processors the big players like Square and Stripe and Addian JP Morgan time to vet the industry and feel comfortable with it.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: But that will open it up to the normal payment processing rails that we're all used to.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: But until then, our solution is one of the only solutions available.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: So I guess the future is that we'll be able to process payments in cannabis the way we do with CBD.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: It'll still be high risk, it will still have its nuances, but ultimately you will have processors like Payrio who are willing to support cannabis with dispensaries as the merchant of record through the normal payment rails that we're all used to.
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: How much of your business is cannabis versus the alternative medicines?
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: About 75% of our business right now is cannabis.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: The other 25%, supporting alternative medicines, is really a passion project of mine as well.
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: At my time at JP Morgan I was in the commercial banking enterprise team and I started my way from a salesperson calling.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: I remember my first cold calls were auto body shops that had gone into the small business bank and asked for a merchant account two years ago.
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: It was a really great learning process.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: I was interviewing for the commercial banking role and I put together this portfolio of all of my accomplishments.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: It makes me laugh to look back now.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: I was so proud of those deals that I made with those auto body shops that were earning $20 a month in net revenue back then.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: But it was just accomplishment, going from not knowing payments to figuring out how to close a deal.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: But I worked my way all the way up to leading a commercial banking team for the Western US.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: So I worked my way up from cold calling all the way to leading a commercial banking team and at that time we supported a lot of the business I did.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: The majority of the business I did was e-commerce.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: So I really fell in love with e-commerce payment processing.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: So I knew when I launched Payrio, the big opportunity I quickly found out, as I mentioned, was in the cannabis space, but I wanted to continue to challenge myself on the e-commerce side, supporting ancillary industries to cannabis.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: So that's why 25% of our volume, or our customers, are in CBD, psilocybin spores, cannabis seeds.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: I was able to uncover technology partners and bank sponsors who specialize in those industries and let me tell you it's like finding a needle in a haystack.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: But once we found it and I felt confident with the processor and the bank sponsor, my team was all hands on deck, getting out into those particular industries to support them on the e-commerce side.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: For example, cannabis seeds.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: We've spoken to dozens of customers where it's considered legal to sell cannabis seeds online because they are less than 0.30% THC, but it took a long time for processors and bank sponsors to feel comfortable selling that online.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: So many of our customers prior to working with us would accept orders online and wait for a check or cash to come in the mail and be delivered to their business before they sent the seeds out.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: And this is in 2023.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: So it's just been an honor to be able to take my knowledge from the e-commerce side of the house at JP Morgan, being the largest credit card processor in the world to these industries that we're supporting now at Payrio, who are very, very new to payments they're almost the last industry standing that are.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: Some of them haven't even been able to get a proof or merchant account before, and here we are helping them out with a solid solution.
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: So is there a roadmap or a timeline from, let's say, this Safer Banking Act passes and have you, do you have a vision of how long it would take for the Master Cards and Vs of the world to get on board with this?
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: So there is a chance that it could pass in Q1 of 2024.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: It's been up to be passed for the last couple years and hasn't gone through.
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: But say it passes in Q1 of next year.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: I still think it's going to take six to 12 months for the major players to get on board.
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: But even beyond that right, if we look at the CBD market at JP Morgan Square, JP Morgan was a back-end processor for Square when I was there, or one of them, and Square was able to support the CBD market.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: But even through that time frame, Square's rules and regulations via JP Morgan's requirements changed and a lot of the CBD customers that were supported by Square were dropped or let go.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: So even in industries where there is an MCC code but it's considered a high risk in the spaces that we cover, they're not fully baked yet and it's been many, many years right.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: So although the Safer Banking Act, when it passes, it will open up to more processors being interested in supporting these industries, I do think it's going to take a while to get to a normalized payment option for cannabis.
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: Well, let's switch gears a little bit and talk about you.
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: So you left the West Coast, went East, played soccer and started your professional career.
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: So maybe walk us through sort of from that point in time to where we are today and then follow on question will be tell us the founding story, of founding the company.
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: But yeah, walk us through your kind of professional journey there.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: So I went to Seton Hall and graduated with a business degree, a marketing major, and right out of Seton Hall Chrysler Corporation at the time was recruiting from the top students in the business school.
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: So I was able to hop on board with Chrysler Corporation.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: The caveat was I was a great job out of college.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: The salary, I think at that time was $52,000 a year and I was so pumped to make $1,000 a week and they also offered a free car to drive around your territory and a corporate card.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: So I was a very poor college student, playing full-time soccer, getting a 3.9 GPA and working two jobs, and so it was great.
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: It all paid off when I got my car, got a great job at Chrysler Corporation and got to support those dealerships.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: But the other caveat was if you take this job, we can place you anywhere in the Northeast and I got a little scared at that because I could be placed all the way in Maine and I'd never been to Maine.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: But I was lucky enough to be placed in New Jersey, which is right where Seton Hall was.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: So I got to stay local.
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: I worked there for a couple years but it was at the time when the economy was crashing, so the housing industry went first, car industry went next, and so after two years Chrysler Corporation gave every employee a voluntary termination package and this was like winning the lottery for me.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: It was a year's salary and a free car any car we wanted.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: So I got a four-door Army green Jeep Wrangler and I took that, I packed it up and I drove cross country.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: It was my way to get back to California.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: I use that bonus or the package to study for my GMAT so I could get my MBA, and then rolled that money over to support myself while I went to Oahu and got my Masters of Business Administration in nonprofit management.
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: I really enjoyed living in Hawaii for that year.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: I did study on the beach every day.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: I was a cliche but I had to because I lived right there.
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: And why not?
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: I graduated from Shamanon University with my MBA nonprofit and moved back to the Bay Area and worked at Susan G Coman for the Cure and Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: So I was able to work at those nonprofits.
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: But I very quickly realized that the salary there could not support San Francisco living, and so I made a promise to myself to start a nonprofit one day in the future, which is still a goal of mine.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: But I transitioned from the nonprofit world to a company called Bloom Spot, which is a fast growing tech company in the daily deal craze.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: So if you remember Groupon or Living Social, yeah, bloom Spot was number three in the industry in seven select cities across the country.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: It was unique from Groupon and Living Social at the time where it was customized deals, so based on the consumer's preference, we would send them deals they were interested in.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: They wouldn't get a blanket deal or an offer of something they wouldn't be interested in based on their preference.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: So it was a really customizable daily deal company, and night and day.
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: From a salary side of the house, because I was able to make commission and it was on cap commission.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: So it really opened my eyes to help me learn.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: The harder you work, the more calls you make, the more deals you close.
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: Right, the close ratio might always stay very similar, but if you make 100 calls versus 10 and you have a 10 percent closing ratio, you'll close 10 deals versus one right.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: So I knew in sales, the more harder you work, the more hours you work and at that time, super young the more money you'd make.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: So that was an amazing opportunity to work in the startup world and be one of the first couple dozen employees, and we were then purchased by JPMorgan for the technology.
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: Jpmorgan was very interested in doing daily deals to their card holders, to their Sapphire card holders.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: So we were folded into the JPMorgan world and at that time I was having my first child.
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: So I was very excited to be part of a big corporation a little less risk from a financial standpoint, and I was folded into payments.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: I always say at the time JPMorgan purchased Bloom Spot, I had no idea what happened after I swiped my card when I paid for something.
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: But since then, 12 years ago, 13 years ago I've lived and breathed that millisecond of technology and that's all I know and it excites me very much.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: So I was folded into JPMorgan and worked my way up, worked really hard, and during my time at JPMorgan I have three children, so I am a mom of three.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: I ended up becoming a commercial banker in their technology and disruptive commerce group at the end of my time at JPMorgan, and that's a group that Jamie Dimon put together to go head to head with SBB.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: So it was a really awesome experience going from merchant and payments for 10 years over to the commercial banking side and able to support FinTechs with their payment strategy.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: From there I got an opportunity to interview as a chief revenue officer at a FinTech called QuickFee and got the role.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: So, with the full support of the JPMorgan family, left the big bank to be part of a startup, and that is where my eyes opened and really what fueled the fire for me to start my own company.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: Coming from JPMorgan into the startup world, it's really like the Harvard of Education for everything, I would say.
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: I came into that startup.
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: All I knew was a JPMorgan way and just implementing that JPMorgan way into a firm.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: I came into a fast growing company, really turned it around and helped grow their revenue, or significantly.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: So I knew I had a superpower there when it came to payments and was ready after about a year to start PayRio.
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: A big part of why I started the company is because I believe there is a real need for female leadership in payments and in technology.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: And at my company at the old company QuickFee I was the only female in the entire C-suite board and at that time it didn't look like that was changing.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: So I knew I wanted to take that into my own hands and start PayRio and have a very female forward focus on the company.
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: I hire and have a lot of stay at home moms who work while their children are at school to support, to help contribute and support their family.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: I have moms that are single moms that are empty nesters, that are able to make a really good living working at PayRio.
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: Have a bunch of amazing men on in the company as well, but that's a big mission of mine is to be able to have this female leadership and support women in business.
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: Just in case you didn't know, we have a women leaders and payments month every year.
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: We have for, I guess, three years now, so we'll have it again in 2024.
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: So might have you back on the show for that.
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: I think it would be interesting.
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: It was an area within payments that I felt was underserved.
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: So we have a month where we dedicate it purely to female leaders in the space and doesn't have to be CEOs, but a lot of times it is, but definitely senior leaders in the space.
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: So so definitely would want to talk to you about that coming up in a couple of months.
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: Well, thanks for your support there, Greg.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: It's really needed.
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: I'm happy to be able to contribute in my small way, but I'm proud to be able to do so.
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: So tell the audience, maybe some things you're passionate about.
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: So maybe a personal passion and a business passion.
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: Personal passion.
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: I still can't let go of my love for soccer, so I played ever since I was five years old.
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: I still play on a co-ed team.
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: It's my happy place Growing up.
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: It was just so much fun and I always enjoyed it.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: I was that kid that would get home from school and practice by myself for an hour because I wanted to become Mia Hamm and Julie Fowdy and Brandy Chastain one day.
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: It's a little bit in my blood too.
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: I actually have three generations of Olympians in my family.
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: My great-grandfather played for the Netherlands, my grandfather for the US and he's in the US Soccer Hall of Fame and my uncle for the US.
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: So always wanted to be that fourth generation Olympian.
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: I got close, but by the time soccer came to me, female soccer in the US was just so big and I'm just happy to be able to continue to play.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: So that's a big passion of mine and my co-ed team just won the league, so it brings a smile to my face.
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: And the other passion of mine is my three kids.
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: So I'm a proud single mom of three and I have my children with me 95 plus percent of the time and I'm just passionate about being the best mom I can and that's the way I learn how to do that is just to stay happy, do what I love and keep myself strong, because a strong mom is a good leader for the kids and happy mom, I think, translates to happy children.
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, I would say my three kiddos in soccer are my little personal passion and, from a business standpoint, yeah, it has to be my company or it's a year and a half year and a half old.
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: We employ over 20 people.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: Now it's surreal to think a year ago today I had one customer processing and three employees.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: Now we have hundreds and, as I mentioned, over 20 employees and I care for each and every one of them and I'm just so proud that I've built something that can help support them and their families and their personal lives as well.
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: So, really passionate about my company and I love that I can wake up every day and do something I love and support industries that I love as well.
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: So, aubrey, final question, and I like to ask people this because I think everyone brings a unique perspective and obviously, having started a company and you're in the payment space, curious what your answer would be.
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: But if someone comes to you and says, hey, I'm interested in starting a career in payments, what would you tell them they need to do to be successful in our industry?
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: So I'm going to give credit to one of my favorite leaders in my career.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: Shout out to Jim Cho out there but he taught me very early on to be actively curious when it comes to payments, and he's spot on.
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: Payments is an ever-changing, super dynamic industry.
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: Even after the decade plus that I've been in payments, I'm learning something new every day and I love it.
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: So if you want to be on your toes and learning at all times, and if something pops up that you've never heard of before and you're shocked because you've been in the industry for a while now, be curious, dive deep, learn more about it.
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: But payments is an ever-changing industry, which makes it so exciting.
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: You're never going to get bored and make sure that you continue to stay curious and learn and grow, and add your email address to all those newsletters.
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: Spend 10 minutes in the morning waking up reading what's new in payments, what's new in your particular industry that you work in and continue to be curious and teach yourself along the way, and that will help you be very, very successful at your job.
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: I love that answer.
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: Well, aubrey, we've covered a lot of ground, obviously, about the company and the industry and you and your professional and personal journey.
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: Is there anything else you'd like to add before we wrap up the show?
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: I just want to say thank you again, greg, for bringing together leaders and payments.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: A double thank you for having a female focus month.
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: I want to thank everyone for listening.
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: I'm super easy to get a hold of.
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: I really want you to know you can reach out at any time.
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: You can find my direct calendar on our website.
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: I'm not far away from having a conversation with and I'm happy to talk to anyone about payments, about cannabis or alternative medicine payments.
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: If you can't hear it through my voice, I am smiling big, just having the opportunity to share what I've learned and what I do, and I'm happy to share it with you all on a one-on-one if you're interested.
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: Well, your passion definitely comes across.
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: That's a given for sure.
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: Aubrey, thank you so much for being on the show today.
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: I know your time is very valuable, so I really appreciate you being here.
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: Thank you and to all you listeners out there.
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: I thank you for your time as well, and until the next story.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us this week on the Leaders in Payments podcast.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: Make sure you visit our website at leadersinpaymentscom, where you can subscribe to the show and where you'll find our show notes.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: If you enjoyed listening, please share on your social channels as well.