Latest / Daily Influence / 599. Rewriting Your Story: Christy Clark on Courage, Growth, and Conscious Influence

Transcript

599. Rewriting Your Story: Christy Clark on Courage, Growth, and Conscious Influence · Daily Influence

• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the daily influence where our mission is to deliver a daily dose of positive influence that can uplift you personally or be shared within your sphere of influence.
• 0:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: While not every episode may directly apply to your unique circumstances, we strive to provide insights and inspiration relevant to most people's daily, weekly, and monthly lives.
• 0:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Whether you are tuning in during the morning, noon or night, the daily influence is here for you.
• 0:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Listen, share, and embrace the power of influence in your life.
• 0:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to Daily Influence, I'm Greg Collino.
• 0:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Today, I'm joined by Christy Clark.
• 0:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Christy's journey is one of courage, resilience, and conscious growth.
• 0:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: At 41, she chose to become a single mother, and through that decision, not only built a beautiful life with her daughter, but also embraced a path of self-awareness, healing and empowerment.
• 1:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: Christy is passionate about clearing negative self-talk, valuing her worth, and leaning into discomfort as a catalyst for growth.
• 1:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Her story reflects the true essence of responsible influence.
• 1:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: living authentically while creating space for others to do the same.
• 1:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm so excited to welcome Christie to the podcast.
• 1:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Christie, welcome to daily influence.
• 1:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
• 1:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's a pleasure to be here.
• 1:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: Can you share a bit about your background and what led you to where you are today with our listeners?
• 1:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: I am from Western Pennsylvania, very small town of 5,000 people in the middle of nowhere.
• 1:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: Went to college in Drexel University, bit bigger city of Philadelphia,
• 1:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: I moved shortly after graduating college and came to Chicago.
• 1:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I've been here about 20 years and spent about the last 23 years in the finance industry.
• 1:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: The last 13 years I have been specifically in private wealth management, 13 years with Goldman and then more recently I've transitioned over into a role with a client advisor role with Caprock.
• 2:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: which is a smaller investment management, more like a multifamily office here in Chicago.
• 2:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for sharing it.
• 2:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: You spoke in about the decision to become a mother at 41 and how your personal journey, including therapy and self-discovery, prepared you for it.
• 2:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: How is that decision shaped your perspective on influence and leadership in your life?
• 2:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: I was 36 years old and I was in an unhappy marriage.
• 2:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: And it was time for that to end.
• 2:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: And it really led me to therapy, kind of to look at my whole life and say, you know, what caused all this?
• 2:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: What made me stay, you know, what were my decisions going into this?
• 2:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: But really where I ended up is it opened up this base inside of me of like, I'm going to rewrite my whole story and this,
• 3:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: this chapter that I didn't love parts of it is just one chapter in what I can create as a beautiful story and a beautiful book.
• 3:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so a kind of went from this victim mentality to I have the choice to create.
• 3:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so I was doing some dating at 36 years old and things weren't really sticking.
• 3:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then I just decided, especially being in the financial industry.
• 3:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: I was doing analysis, protocols that are on numbers and how long you have to date to, you know, get to the point where you're going to have a husband.
• 3:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I said, I'm just going to do this on my own.
• 3:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I had one thing when you talk about, you know, influence and leadership in your own life,
• 3:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: I told a lot of people about what I was going to do, and I had a couple people say,
• 4:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, this is a really, it's really hard to be a parent of a couple versus a single parent.
• 4:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I just really, with rewriting my story, that, well, it is whatever I choose it to be.
• 4:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: They had said, why don't you go and talk to this person who's a single mom and that person is a single mom?
• 4:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I really just decided, like, the answer for me was no.
• 4:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm not going to.
• 4:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: I want to,
• 4:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: engage in embrace with people that are going to encourage me with my choice and my decision, because I knew where I was going.
• 4:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: And whether I was, you know, able to have a baby you're not, I wanted the encouragement of that positive, like you can do this.
• 4:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so really that was my biggest thing there is just when I lead in my life is just watching who I allow to speak influence to me as
• 4:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: and keep me on a positive path versus that negative influence.
• 5:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: Sometimes, can crush a dream before it even starts.
• 5:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's so true.
• 5:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the IN team series, we talk a lot about how influence starts with self-awareness.
• 5:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: You shared that creating internal space and giving yourself Carol as you to better hold space for others.
• 5:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: How is this practice influence the way you show up for your daughter, your business and your community?
• 5:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: Specifically like around my daughter, I think I have to be present and hold with her, which means I have to take care of my needs, emotionally, physically and mentally, to be in a good space, to be able to fill her cup up.
• 5:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: And kids are so aware and so into with their parents and other people of their energies.
• 5:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, if I'm having a tough day at work, I might ask, you know, I might ask a friend to come pick her up at five o'clock before I get home, so I can have an hour or two to myself, to just clear it.
• 6:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then when I see her, I'm in a good space, I'm better.
• 6:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: But it is also, you know, making sure that I'm exercising and doing still the things that I love, which, you know, I love to travel.
• 6:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so I have a couple groups of friends where we go on some pretty exotic trips, but those like nurture me and fill me up.
• 6:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so I'm giving, I feel like me being whole allows her to really be herself too and see that moms okay, you know, I don't have to take care of mom, mom can take care of herself.
• 6:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: When I think about the business side of it, I started with Goldman in the private wealth group and ran a business.
• 6:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: And now I'm leaning and transitioning into more of the client advisor role at Caprock.
• 7:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: And part of the community and the clients that won space that I see for myself,
• 7:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: are women going through transition.
• 7:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: So that transition can be divorce, loss of a loved one, job transition, selling a business.
• 7:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: And those transitions bring up a lot of emotions.
• 7:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: They can be scary.
• 7:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: There could be a lot of fear, anger, depending on what the type of transition is.
• 7:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: your prospect or your client is going through, allows you to sit and hold space and know how to communicate with them.
• 7:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: And maybe today is a day, we don't talk about business at all.
• 7:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: You just tell me what's going on in your life, your frustrations, and I can hold space just so you can talk and I can just listen, and that that's all it has to be.
• 8:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I think that's kind of where I really want to hold space,
• 8:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: for people, and in any part of business, just knowing what they need in the moment.
• 8:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: From a community standpoint, I have a group, I've built a beautiful group of friends around me, especially ones that live very close to my daughter and I.
• 8:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: So they're very supportive of me, which has been amazing.
• 8:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I've never afraid to ask for help, which is, you know, is a good feeling
• 8:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: over time.
• 8:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: But I think there's four of us that are specifically close and one of our girlfriends lost her husband a couple years very unexpectedly and had two teenage, you know, young to teenage daughters.
• 8:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: And showing up there and holding space was like, okay, it's all hands on deck.
• 9:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: they had a family business and she was not very involved with the business because she was busy raising the children and she didn't know what to do.
• 9:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I mean, we circled around her and we were in working hours for her shifts for her, you know, we were like, whatever you need for us to be there for you.
• 9:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: Just just showing up.
• 9:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: And we do that with each other all the time.
• 9:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: We give a lot of grace to each other, so if plans change or things change, we don't allow the judgment to get in the way of, you said you were going to do this, now you change your mind.
• 9:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's just like kind of like allowing life to flow and it creates a deeper, you know, connection with my community and a lot of my friends have just allowing life, you know, things to flow as they as they flow.
• 9:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's amazing.
• 9:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: It sounds like you and the other ladies, friends had
• 10:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: a really positive impact on her life.
• 10:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, for short.
• 10:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's amazing.
• 10:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm grateful you were there for her and you guys could all be there for her to support her during that terrible time.
• 10:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, you've leaned into discomfort as part of your growth.
• 10:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: What have some of the most powerful lessons from embracing the uncomfortable and how can our listeners apply this to their own journeys?
• 10:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: This comfort,
• 10:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: What has wrong true for me is it is a starting point or it's a place where you get to choose to change.
• 10:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: Or it's the opportunity to change.
• 10:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's the opportunity to look at what is this Diff's comfort that I'm feeling right now, is it fear?
• 10:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: Is it a story that I'm telling myself from when something that happened to me when I was five years old, you know, is it what is it?
• 10:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: And now, how can I change it?
• 11:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I remember kind of this imposter syndrome when I started working for Goldman and realizing that I was really good at the job.
• 11:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: And my team loved me.
• 11:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I excelled very quickly in my role and had so much respect within the firm.
• 11:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: But sometimes I'm like, are you sure?
• 11:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like, are you sure that I am this good?
• 11:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I ended up, again, looking at the discomfort of knowing my worth and looking at that and saying, yeah, I am worthy of this job, worthy of getting paid when I'm being paid.
• 11:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: I am worthy to do more and greater and create more.
• 11:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I think with even transitioning
• 11:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: my role at Caprock as a kind advisor and exercising a new muscle of being out in the community a lot more meeting with a lot of different people and learning a whole new, you know, new product lines, how the business runs over here differently.
• 12:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: There's so much learning and so much that at times my head explodes.
• 12:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: But I'm just saying, you know, I don't have there's the discomfort
• 12:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: but it's not of not self-worth.
• 12:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's now I can look at and say, this is just growth.
• 12:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: And if I want to keep expanding and doing more and creating more for my life, my career, my family, then I just lean into it and entrust the process.
• 12:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's just you keep going.
• 12:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: You keep going and keep taking to more steps.
• 12:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so I think that's how some of the ways
• 12:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: that's really good advice.
• 12:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for sharing that.
• 13:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, one of the hot topics everyone talks about today is AI.
• 13:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Are you using AI and if you are, how are you using it to support your personal or professional life?
• 13:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, I'm really leaning into the discomfort of AI.
• 13:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: Let's put it that way.
• 13:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: The firm, the firm is starting to work with some new tools that they have been pushing out to the
• 13:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think for many people, you know, just even the note taking in Microsoft teams, I think it's called co-pilot, and so that's all new to me in this role.
• 13:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: Personally, you know, I probably, you know, am old fashioned in that I just use chat, GPT.
• 13:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I know that there's so much more, but it really helps me with, like, my blood work and like, health stuff and like,
• 13:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: people giving me, you know, the doctor that I work with, like, what she recommends, um, but like I said, I'm going to lean more and more to the discomfort of AI and, uh, continue to grow with it and learn more.
• 14:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love that you said, Chad, she beat the old old school because Chad, she beat me what have you been using it maybe a year?
• 14:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 14:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 14:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've been noticing that's old school.
• 14:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, that's what, that's what I hear people say that it's old school.
• 14:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love it.
• 14:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Kristi, what message are words of encouragement?
• 14:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Would you like to share with our listeners who aspire to make a positive difference in the world?
• 14:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think that one of the greatest things that I've learned is it's like never too late to rewrite your story.
• 14:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: And you can just move on to the next chapter.
• 14:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: You can close a chapter and look at the learning that took place in the expansion.
• 14:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: And you can move on.
• 14:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: the next and create whatever stories you want to create.
• 14:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then I think it's just like nowhere you want to go.
• 14:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: You might not know the exact path, but if you know where you want to go, you know, it helps to write that story and then just be careful and bring in people into your life that can really support your growth and not diminish your dreams by whatever their points of view are.
• 15:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's great advice.
• 15:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for sharing it.
• 15:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Kristie, if our listeners want to get in touch with you, what would be the best way to do so?
• 15:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: Probably the best way would be either through LinkedIn or I can give my email and my information that you can add to the podcast.
• 15:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, we will add all that information in the show notes.
• 15:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Kristie, thank you so much for sharing your journey and wisdom with us today.
• 15:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you so much.
• 15:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: It was a pleasure to be here.
• 15:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Christie's story reminds us that influence often begins in the most personal spaces, how we speak to ourselves, how we honor our work and how we embrace the challenges that shape us by clearing negative self talk, leaning into growth and holding space for others.
• 16:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: She shows us that responsible influence is about creating freedom, beauty, and the possibility, not just for ourselves, but for everyone around us.
• 16:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: With today's episode resonated with you, please share it with your family, friends and coworkers, and consider adding daily influence to your daily routine, whether it's during your commute, a walk, or quite a moment, it's your daily dose of positivity.
• 16:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Remember, the power to make a difference begins with you.
• 16:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: your ideas, your choices, and your actions.
• 16:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Until next time, keep having a positive, responsible, influence.
• 16:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Bye-bye.