Latest / Influencer Confidential / @CreateCultivate CEO Reveals the Power of Personal Branding, Community, and Women Empowerment 💪 [Creator Currency Ep. 12]

Transcript

@CreateCultivate CEO Reveals the Power of Personal Branding, Community, and Women Empowerment 💪 [Creator Currency Ep. 12] · Influencer Confidential

0:00
Speaker 1: When I first learned about Create Cultivate, it was through
0:02
Speaker 1: a simple Google search when I was looking up women conferences.
0:06
Speaker 1: I was looking for space in real life, in person,
0:09
Speaker 1: where women, especially women founders, could connect and meet, and
0:13
Speaker 1: that's where I learned about Create Cultivate. It's so exciting
0:16
Speaker 1: for me here today at Influencer Confidential to now be
0:19
Speaker 1: able to interview the CEO of this very business I
0:22
Speaker 1: was researching years ago on Google. Marina Middleton is the
0:26
Speaker 1: CEO and partner at Create Cultivate, the largest events and
0:30
Speaker 1: media platform advancing women by providing accesses to resources, connections,
0:36
Speaker 1: and opportunities. Within six months of becoming CEO, Marina secured
0:40
Speaker 1: venture capital, which was a huge achievement as a first
0:43
Speaker 1: time CEO and first generation Egyptian in a landscape where
0:47
Speaker 1: only zero point thirty nine percent of venture capital is
0:50
Speaker 1: secured by women of color. In today's episode, we're not
0:53
Speaker 1: only going to learn about Marina's journey, the importance of
0:56
Speaker 1: networking in real life, the importance of in person events.
1:00
Speaker 1: We're also going to dive into the Create Cultivate Festival, which,
1:04
Speaker 1: under her leadership, is basically been dubbed as the Coachella
1:07
Speaker 1: for women. In business, think learning, think wellness, and a
1:11
Speaker 1: hybrid of all the things that us women in business
1:13
Speaker 1: are looking for Before acquiring Create and Cultivate in twenty
1:16
Speaker 1: twenty three, she also built digital media campaigns for Fortune
1:20
Speaker 1: five hundred companies at Yahoo Tumblr. She's consulted hundreds of
1:24
Speaker 1: female founders helping them scale their businesses, and she is
1:28
Speaker 1: going to dive into all of that and much more
1:30
Speaker 1: in today's episode. I can't wait for you guys to
1:33
Speaker 1: listen and learn the gem she's going to be dropping. Marina,
1:36
Speaker 1: Welcome to the show. So I want to kind of
1:38
Speaker 1: start off with your journey and like kind of how
1:40
Speaker 1: you got into this. I read somewhere, I think it
1:42
Speaker 1: was on your Instagram, that butterfly effect and that feeling
1:45
Speaker 1: of you know, you said, if you weren't laid off
1:48
Speaker 1: from some position that you were in, you would never
1:50
Speaker 1: be the CEO of Create and Cultivate. So can you
1:53
Speaker 1: kind of walk us through that moment and how it
1:56
Speaker 1: changed everything for you.
1:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's funny because I love this trend that was
2:00
Speaker 2: happening of butterfly effect, because I think as we're living
2:03
Speaker 2: day to day, it's really hard to take a step
2:05
Speaker 2: back and be like, oh wow, like this happened for me,
2:08
Speaker 2: not to me, you know, like this is such a
2:10
Speaker 2: great opportunity that like I got laid off. Nobody ever
2:13
Speaker 2: gets laid off or gets broken up with or whatever,
2:16
Speaker 2: and they're like yay, like that was amazing. And so
2:19
Speaker 2: I think hindsight, you know, it was twenty twenty and
2:22
Speaker 2: it you know, I got laid off from Yahoo, which
2:25
Speaker 2: was a job that I loved. I never thought about
2:28
Speaker 2: really being an entrepreneur because I had in my community
2:31
Speaker 2: on social and I was building that and I was
2:33
Speaker 2: you know, influencing in my own space and then I
2:36
Speaker 2: was working my nine to five's and it was awesome.
2:38
Speaker 2: And so when I got laid off, it wasn't like, oh,
2:40
Speaker 2: I'm going to be the CEO of Creighton Cultivate Like
2:43
Speaker 2: that wasn't my first thought. My first thought was that
2:45
Speaker 2: I wanted to be, you know, a lifestyle content creator
2:48
Speaker 2: and I was gonna really focus on creating content and
2:51
Speaker 2: being a blogger and traveling and all and highlighting all
2:53
Speaker 2: the things that you know, happened in my life. And
2:55
Speaker 2: so kind of now looking at it, six years that
2:59
Speaker 2: went by, so much has changed, and I think it's
3:03
Speaker 2: like I'm so grateful for that layoff, for.
3:04
Speaker 1: That moment that made everything for you. And then how
3:07
Speaker 1: did you discover Crete Cultivator or like how did you
3:09
Speaker 1: kind of find your way within the company and rise
3:12
Speaker 1: to where you are right now? Because that's EO.
3:15
Speaker 2: Yeah. So it's funny when I I had just touched on,
3:18
Speaker 2: like I wanted to be a lifestyle content creator and
3:20
Speaker 2: I did that for or tried to do it for
3:22
Speaker 2: about a month, and I think, now it's funny. I
3:25
Speaker 2: don't think people realize how hard full time influencers or
3:29
Speaker 2: content creators have it. Like it's a lot of work.
3:33
Speaker 2: You know, my team marking side is like, hey, can
3:36
Speaker 2: you create content for us like a day in life?
3:38
Speaker 2: And I'm like, I'm rushing yesterday.
3:40
Speaker 3: I'm trying to you know, put my tripod on, do
3:43
Speaker 3: the thing that I'm doing, Go grab the tripod and
3:45
Speaker 3: get it.
3:46
Speaker 2: You know, it's a lot of work, and I don't
3:48
Speaker 2: think people realize the amount of like effort and thought
3:51
Speaker 2: and creativity and like everything that went into it. And
3:54
Speaker 2: so after you know, trying for a month, I was like,
3:57
Speaker 2: I don't know if I can do this, you know,
3:58
Speaker 2: let me, let me pivot. And I think that that
4:01
Speaker 2: is really what allowed me to step into this like
4:03
Speaker 2: new season of my life. So I ended up pivoting.
4:06
Speaker 2: I started a company called Empowered Confidence, and it was
4:09
Speaker 2: focused on helping women build their personal brand and show
4:12
Speaker 2: up on social and market their expertise and then eventually monetizes.
4:16
Speaker 2: I had courses, masterminds, retreats, and I was really like
4:19
Speaker 2: so grateful for the success that I had for Empowered Confidence.
4:22
Speaker 2: But during that I googled like women conference or women
4:26
Speaker 2: Empowerment conference, women in business conferences, and creating Cultivate came up.
4:31
Speaker 2: And so I went to a New York event October
4:33
Speaker 2: of twenty twenty one, and I was like, I love
4:35
Speaker 2: this place, Like this is amazing. And I've been to
4:38
Speaker 2: a lot of conferences and a lot of events, especially
4:40
Speaker 2: in corporate, and they're either all male dominated, they're in
4:44
Speaker 2: like shitty conference rooms, They're not really geared to the
4:47
Speaker 2: content that I want to learn about, and so you're
4:49
Speaker 2: like kind of pigeonholed to learn one specific thing. Creating
4:52
Speaker 2: Cultivate was different than that, right. It was a bunch
4:55
Speaker 2: of women that had big goals somewhere in corporate and
4:58
Speaker 2: wanted to grow some more new moms others were influencers
5:03
Speaker 2: that are now building empires. So it was just a
5:06
Speaker 2: really cool melting pot of different types of women specifically,
5:11
Speaker 2: and so I loved it. I kept going to all
5:14
Speaker 2: the events, ended up making connections and really networking, and
5:18
Speaker 2: ended up meeting Jacqueline Johnson, who was the original founder
5:21
Speaker 2: of Creating cul Fate, but when I found the business,
5:25
Speaker 2: she had already sold it to private equity, so she
5:27
Speaker 2: wasn't really operating the business or anything like that, and
5:29
Speaker 2: so we connected. I pitched her an idea to start
5:32
Speaker 2: a Mastermind. We started it, and we had the opportunity
5:36
Speaker 2: to buy it. She's like, Hey, do you want to
5:37
Speaker 2: buy create and cultivate with me and back from private equity?
5:40
Speaker 2: And I was like absolutely, And she's like, do you
5:42
Speaker 2: want to operate as a CEO? It was like yes,
5:44
Speaker 2: like one hundred percent, And so it was definitely a
5:47
Speaker 2: full circle moment. Yeah, to say the.
5:49
Speaker 1: Least, Yeah, there are no coincidences though, you know, like
5:53
Speaker 1: it's all just kind of this divine intervention meant to
5:56
Speaker 1: be sprinkled with persistence, preparation and every thing that you
6:00
Speaker 1: know you did to get you to this perfect storm
6:03
Speaker 1: or this perfect spot. And I love this story and
6:05
Speaker 1: it just feels so relatable and attainable, Like how many
6:08
Speaker 1: times do we think something is bigger than what it is?
6:11
Speaker 1: But then like you went to these events, You're like, wait,
6:13
Speaker 1: I know these people, they think I'm cool, we vibe
6:16
Speaker 1: oh wait, Like there's that connection that I think really
6:19
Speaker 1: truly manifests in the best possible way in real life.
6:22
Speaker 1: You know, I always tell my community of creators like,
6:25
Speaker 1: get out there, meet people, make those random connections. Like
6:28
Speaker 1: your story is the perfect example of you going to
6:31
Speaker 1: the events, being the customer, finding a connection with you know,
6:34
Speaker 1: the founder, and then building something two point zero together.
6:38
Speaker 1: Like I love that. It just shows that these moments,
6:40
Speaker 1: these moments of magic happen in person. And I want
6:43
Speaker 1: to talk a little bit about you know, today's digital
6:45
Speaker 1: landscape feels so digital. It feels so driven by the
6:49
Speaker 1: AI and the screen and the zoom calls, and we're
6:53
Speaker 1: lacking humanness. And that's what I love about creat Cultivate
6:56
Speaker 1: because you guys are like the og about in person
7:00
Speaker 1: when it comes to in person around female especially millennial
7:03
Speaker 1: women in business, Like I'm your target demo. You guys
7:06
Speaker 1: really understand the in person So can you talk to
7:08
Speaker 1: us also just from networking for the creators listening the
7:11
Speaker 1: importance of the magic in person and real live events
7:16
Speaker 1: and how that should be something that people are also
7:18
Speaker 1: investing in as part of their brain power, you know,
7:22
Speaker 1: to get out there and meet more people in person.
7:24
Speaker 2: One hundred percent. I mean, so Creating Cultivate is the
7:27
Speaker 2: largest events in media company for women. We have one
7:30
Speaker 2: of the largest communities of creators and influencers ranging from
7:34
Speaker 2: all all sizes, right from just starting out they're ideating
7:38
Speaker 2: all the way to these like massive, massive creators that
7:41
Speaker 2: have built empires. And so they all started and have
7:43
Speaker 2: grown with Creating Cultivate. And which is why I love
7:46
Speaker 2: the business and the community and the brand so much.
7:48
Speaker 2: It's not because you know, I'm a big believer that
7:51
Speaker 2: community is a byproduct of your business. You can't force community.
7:55
Speaker 2: You cannot fabricate community, just like that's not how it works.
8:00
Speaker 2: And so what we do for creat and Cultivate, and
8:03
Speaker 2: I kind of to answer your question of why it's
8:04
Speaker 2: so important, is like our number one goal is to
8:07
Speaker 2: give you access to great people, like unbelievable people that
8:11
Speaker 2: could help change your life. Give you access to tools
8:14
Speaker 2: that maybe you're not using that could simplify how you
8:17
Speaker 2: do business, simplify how you show up for your family,
8:21
Speaker 2: for yourself. We introduce you to products that are unbelievable,
8:25
Speaker 2: whether it's skincare, hair like everything. Personally and professionally, we
8:29
Speaker 2: got you covered. And so what we do is dive
8:32
Speaker 2: into all of the brands that exist, all the information
8:36
Speaker 2: that exists, and we curate the most unbelievable activations to
8:39
Speaker 2: make it easier for you to go in and say, Okay,
8:42
Speaker 2: I really need to figure out like my banking and
8:44
Speaker 2: so I'm going to work with Chase Inc. For credit cards,
8:47
Speaker 2: like I know, I'm going to work with them. Rare
8:49
Speaker 2: Beauty has the best new fragrance. I haven't been able
8:51
Speaker 2: to get in store and to try it, so I'm
8:53
Speaker 2: going to try it. So it allows you to kind
8:55
Speaker 2: of like take a breath from all of the noise
8:59
Speaker 2: and all of them that's coming to you online. The
9:02
Speaker 2: other aspect of it why this is so powerful is
9:05
Speaker 2: not only do you get like a more organized way
9:08
Speaker 2: of consuming content like the panels and the sessions and
9:11
Speaker 2: the workshops and like all of those stuff, but outside
9:14
Speaker 2: of all of that, you're in a room of people
9:16
Speaker 2: that are literally forcing you to dream bigger, Like you're
9:20
Speaker 2: getting in there and you're like, my biggest dream was
9:23
Speaker 2: to speak on the Crane Cultivate stage. That was hands
9:25
Speaker 2: down like I went and I was like, I want
9:27
Speaker 2: to be on that stage. That dream felt more attainable
9:31
Speaker 2: the more I was going, the more I was being
9:33
Speaker 2: surrounded with these women, and I was like, oh, wow,
9:35
Speaker 2: like it really does matter getting in the room that
9:38
Speaker 2: it doesn't matter how hard I work online, how great
9:42
Speaker 2: my content is. If people don't have that human interaction
9:46
Speaker 2: with me, they're never gonna know really who I am
9:49
Speaker 2: and the energy that you cannot really show online. And
9:52
Speaker 2: so that's kind of where the like aha moment or
9:56
Speaker 2: the light bulb goes off. For these creators and influencers
9:59
Speaker 2: and business own that are coming to create and cultivate,
10:01
Speaker 2: they're like, oh, I get it, Like I get to
10:03
Speaker 2: show up as myself, I get to meet other creators,
10:06
Speaker 2: people start businesses together, they find brand partnerships in person,
10:10
Speaker 2: they create their content. Like it's just a really cool experience.
10:13
Speaker 2: And so for any of the creators listening, it is
10:16
Speaker 2: so much easier to like even though that's hard, but
10:19
Speaker 2: like so much easier to be home create your content,
10:22
Speaker 2: go out with your like on your own create your
10:24
Speaker 2: own like content on your tripods, all that stuff. But like,
10:27
Speaker 2: you gotta get into the room. You just have to
10:30
Speaker 2: so people know exactly who you are. I say this
10:32
Speaker 2: all the time. It's a quote that like really has
10:34
Speaker 2: stuck with me for the past four years. But best
10:37
Speaker 2: known beats best, Like best known beats best. The more
10:41
Speaker 2: people know you, the better people know you, the more
10:44
Speaker 2: that you're out there. It doesn't matter how good you
10:46
Speaker 2: are at anything, if people don't know you, doesn't matter.
10:49
Speaker 1: So but it's it's so powerful, and I feel like
10:51
Speaker 1: it's a wake up call too to not get complacent,
10:54
Speaker 1: to not just sit and wait to be invited. So
10:57
Speaker 1: many of us feel like we need to be invited
10:59
Speaker 1: or wait to meet our future people. And I think
11:02
Speaker 1: one of the key messages you're really honing in on
11:05
Speaker 1: is no one's gonna do it for you. You got
11:06
Speaker 1: to put yourselves in these rooms, you know. And the
11:09
Speaker 1: beauty is everyone's there kind of together figuring it out. Excitement.
11:13
Speaker 1: It's like fashion week, there's like an energy that's exciting.
11:16
Speaker 1: Maybe after fashion week everyone's like closed off and scary,
11:18
Speaker 1: but like during it, you're like let's vibe. Here's my card. Like,
11:22
Speaker 1: there's just this power and magic that happens. It's kind
11:25
Speaker 1: of like live theater, you know, there's magic that happens
11:28
Speaker 1: at these events where I find people are open, People
11:31
Speaker 1: are open to collaborating, opening to handing out their contact.
11:34
Speaker 1: Like I've got some contacts at events, and I'm like,
11:37
Speaker 1: that person would never give me their business card, but
11:39
Speaker 1: at an event because I'm all, like, you know, just
11:42
Speaker 1: connecting human to human. I think that it's important to
11:45
Speaker 1: not wait, you guys, it's to also not wait to
11:47
Speaker 1: be invited. You don't need permission to go. Go go
11:50
Speaker 1: if it's alone, go if you need Yeah, you know,
11:53
Speaker 1: being going to events alone as a vibe. Like for
11:55
Speaker 1: some people that's scary, there's mindset around it, you know.
11:58
Speaker 1: But I think what makes communities like yours that are
12:00
Speaker 1: doing these events, you're creating safe spaces for people to
12:03
Speaker 1: jump on in. And one thing that I love that
12:05
Speaker 1: you said about like the activations, I know for me,
12:07
Speaker 1: I'm busy. You know, I don't have time to go
12:09
Speaker 1: to ulta and shore and try things. I literally don't
12:12
Speaker 1: and the only time I do is because my eleven
12:14
Speaker 1: year old is like I want to try something and
12:16
Speaker 1: like what your eleven? No, But the point is is
12:19
Speaker 1: like to be able to have like this space where
12:21
Speaker 1: we can try these I want to try cool stuff,
12:23
Speaker 1: like I want to try the new rare beauty, so
12:26
Speaker 1: and so. I mean, but from a founder perspective, our
12:29
Speaker 1: time is limited. So it's like this space where we
12:31
Speaker 1: can have a little bit of everything. I think what's
12:33
Speaker 1: interesting is that you guys have been able to kind
12:36
Speaker 1: of create a space for women at every stage, because
12:39
Speaker 1: I think that's the hard part, right, Like it's being
12:42
Speaker 1: able to say you're an intern, Hey, you're a CEO,
12:45
Speaker 1: Hey you're a creator, you're a founder. You know, you
12:48
Speaker 1: guys have been able to find this like common thread.
12:50
Speaker 1: I'm sure this was strategic to create this sort of vision,
12:53
Speaker 1: but how are you enabling people at all spaces, all
12:57
Speaker 1: levels to be seen? You know? How do we do that?
13:00
Speaker 1: How do how do we create a space that from
13:02
Speaker 1: the intern to the CEO there's something for everyone.
13:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's funny. That was one of the questions that
13:08
Speaker 2: I really had when I bought the company of just
13:10
Speaker 2: like what can we do differently and how can we
13:14
Speaker 2: as a company grow with her? Right, whether she's a
13:18
Speaker 2: new mom, whether she just started out and needs like,
13:22
Speaker 2: you know, support growing her business, figuring out how to
13:24
Speaker 2: do brand partnerships, figuring out how to climb the ladder,
13:27
Speaker 2: or maybe she's a seven figure founder now and you know,
13:30
Speaker 2: she's she's built the business and now she's looking to
13:33
Speaker 2: build her personal brand. And so we really questioned through
13:36
Speaker 2: all of the different like journeys and stages of a
13:40
Speaker 2: modern day working woman, you know, like what does that
13:43
Speaker 2: look like and what are the conversations that she needs
13:46
Speaker 2: to hear. We ended up creating different formats of events
13:50
Speaker 2: for them, so each type of persona or person has
13:53
Speaker 2: an experience. So if you're just starting out, we have
13:56
Speaker 2: the Blueprint, Mastermind Accelerator. This is like really the coaching,
13:59
Speaker 2: the mentorship, the handholding, six months of working and supporting
14:03
Speaker 2: you to grow. Then you're now a six figure business owner.
14:07
Speaker 2: We have the six figure Founder Retreat, we have the
14:10
Speaker 2: seven figure Founder Retreat. We're spoiler alert launching a mom
14:13
Speaker 2: retreat that's happening in October that we're really excited about
14:16
Speaker 2: called Haven. We have the Future Summit that's all about
14:19
Speaker 2: like our innovation and creativity.
14:22
Speaker 1: That happens.
14:23
Speaker 2: It's a free event. One of our largest events in
14:25
Speaker 2: Austin every year during south By, so we allow everyone
14:29
Speaker 2: to come together there. We have dinners that are more
14:32
Speaker 2: intimate and their application focused, so you really are like
14:35
Speaker 2: the caliber of attendees there are completely different than any
14:39
Speaker 2: other events that we have, and we have all these
14:42
Speaker 2: different formats, and it was important to create different formats
14:45
Speaker 2: for a few different reasons. Well, not everybody learns and
14:48
Speaker 2: receives content the same, so you have to share in
14:51
Speaker 2: a different way, right, create different experiences for them. Everybody's
14:55
Speaker 2: nervous system is different. So maybe like these two thousand
14:57
Speaker 2: person festivals might be overwhelmed for someone, So how can
15:01
Speaker 2: we strategically align with how they receive information and how
15:05
Speaker 2: they can kind of be in a space and so
15:07
Speaker 2: thinking through that. The other part is creating content that's
15:11
Speaker 2: relevant for you specifically, right. I touched on it earlier
15:14
Speaker 2: as like I went to a bunch of conferences when
15:16
Speaker 2: I worked in corporate and if it was an AI conference,
15:19
Speaker 2: all you're learning about is AI. If you're going to
15:22
Speaker 2: you know, see, yes, your ad week, you're focused strictly
15:25
Speaker 2: on marketing, and like, what if I want to focus
15:27
Speaker 2: on this? What if I want to go to an
15:28
Speaker 2: event that has a little bit of marketing, a little
15:30
Speaker 2: bit of finance, a little bit of tech, a little
15:33
Speaker 2: bit of sports, a little bit you know, like I
15:35
Speaker 2: want to pick my tracks and the information that is
15:38
Speaker 2: relevant for me and my goals. And so we do
15:40
Speaker 2: that for creating cultivate and so to answer your question,
15:43
Speaker 2: like we do it through different experiences, different format and
15:45
Speaker 2: different types of content to make sure you're supported throughout
15:49
Speaker 2: and we're like just with you along the ride. Like
15:51
Speaker 2: creating called phase just like simply where women go and
15:55
Speaker 2: they're connecting their learning and they're growing together.
15:58
Speaker 1: At all phases at all level. And I can't stress
16:01
Speaker 1: this enough to the viewers listening in on you guys know,
16:04
Speaker 1: live events is something I am very passionate about. I
16:06
Speaker 1: speak about it a lot all the time because again,
16:09
Speaker 1: to me, I'm like, my secret sauce is like get
16:11
Speaker 1: me in the room. Like it's always been very personality driven,
16:14
Speaker 1: Like I'm like, let me just meet someone, Like I
16:16
Speaker 1: know I can pitch or figure it out, but it
16:18
Speaker 1: just got to meet you, you know. And I tell people,
16:20
Speaker 1: you know, the email pitch is so flat. They can't
16:23
Speaker 1: feel you, they can't hear your quarks, They can't hear
16:25
Speaker 1: how your tone goes up, or maybe how you giggle
16:27
Speaker 1: when you whatever the human is that connects us. You know,
16:30
Speaker 1: I've really stress the importance of in person networking. So
16:33
Speaker 1: in terms of networking, any tips for people who are
16:36
Speaker 1: going to sort of events around networking to really make
16:39
Speaker 1: the most out of these events.
16:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, So spoiler alert, I actually get crippling anxiety from networking.
16:44
Speaker 2: I get very very irrisk to being big groups of people,
16:47
Speaker 2: especially if they're not my own events. Like my own events,
16:49
Speaker 2: I'm like, I'm loving it, i feel safe, I'm comfortable,
16:52
Speaker 2: but walking into a new space is really really hard
16:55
Speaker 2: for me, and it's something that I avoided a lot.
16:57
Speaker 2: But I also didn't realize the privilege that I had
16:59
Speaker 2: working in corporate because they kind of helped facilitate those intros.
17:03
Speaker 2: You weren't doing them on your own, and so when
17:04
Speaker 2: I went out on my own, I was like, oh, God, like,
17:07
Speaker 2: where do I meet people? How do I connect? And
17:09
Speaker 2: so I would avoid going to large events or large
17:13
Speaker 2: community gatherings or anything like that. And so one of
17:16
Speaker 2: the things that has really really helped me, especially as
17:18
Speaker 2: like an introverted extrovert, thinking through I'm going to go
17:21
Speaker 2: to this event, like one, how do I want to
17:23
Speaker 2: show up? Like literally, in the car, I'm just thinking
17:26
Speaker 2: like how do I want to show up? Like how
17:28
Speaker 2: do I want someone to like receive who I am?
17:31
Speaker 2: Maybe that is like calm and you know and like
17:34
Speaker 2: not even put together, but like calm and focused and
17:37
Speaker 2: I'm in my building stage. Or maybe I'm going and
17:40
Speaker 2: I'm just like I want to talk about motherhood at
17:42
Speaker 2: this specific connection. So just figuring out like what are
17:45
Speaker 2: the like tidbits that I want to leave. That's the
17:47
Speaker 2: first thing. It kind of grounds me in the car.
17:49
Speaker 2: But then I have a goal of either three to
17:51
Speaker 2: five connections depending on the event in person. Once I
17:54
Speaker 2: make those three to five connections, I can get the
17:57
Speaker 2: hell out of there. You know, most often than not,
18:00
Speaker 2: once you make those connections, you don't actually want to
18:03
Speaker 2: leave because you end up finding people that you really
18:06
Speaker 2: really enjoy, people that are like you know, you've been
18:08
Speaker 2: able to connect with them on a deeper level, and
18:10
Speaker 2: you're like, oh I can stay, Yeah, I'll grab a
18:12
Speaker 2: drink with you, or let's go take pictures here. So
18:14
Speaker 2: that is number two and number three, Like above anything
18:18
Speaker 2: ask others about themselves, do not feel pressure to talk
18:22
Speaker 2: about you. There's nothing scarier than feeling like you have
18:25
Speaker 2: to give this whole bio in person. Ask some where
18:29
Speaker 2: are you from? What do you do? What are some
18:31
Speaker 2: goals do you have? Like what are you working on
18:32
Speaker 2: this season? What are you most excited about? All? Like,
18:36
Speaker 2: just focus on them. The more you get from them, again,
18:38
Speaker 2: the conversation will be up like ending up being so fluid.
18:42
Speaker 2: So yeah, those are like three big ticks ground in
18:44
Speaker 2: the car before you go in, three to five connections
18:47
Speaker 2: and if you want to leave, after leave, but three
18:49
Speaker 2: ask as much questions to them.
18:51
Speaker 1: This is so epic and I love that this conversation
18:54
Speaker 1: is like really going into networking and like how to
18:56
Speaker 1: prepare and all of that. Are people still doing business
18:59
Speaker 1: car cards? Are you seeing or is that still a thing?
19:01
Speaker 1: Like I'm a print gal again, millennial business owner, target demo.
19:06
Speaker 1: I know people are like doing digital and the pupples
19:08
Speaker 1: and the this, but like I find this still to
19:11
Speaker 1: be a really exciting time to have business cards. Like
19:14
Speaker 1: do you find that your your community or that people
19:17
Speaker 1: that go to these events should have that printed? I
19:19
Speaker 1: always get asked that and I'm like, yeah you should,
19:21
Speaker 1: but maybe there are other things happening.
19:22
Speaker 2: I don't know the business cards so badly, and there's
19:25
Speaker 2: so many times that they're like, you have a business card.
19:27
Speaker 2: I'm like, I don't really want to give you my number.
19:29
Speaker 2: Giving you my email seems like weird, like let me
19:31
Speaker 2: just give you a business card. So I definitely think
19:34
Speaker 2: you should. But I have like the digital where it's gorgeous,
19:38
Speaker 2: you know, like you know what.
19:40
Speaker 1: It doesn't have my number, it has a QR and
19:43
Speaker 1: it has a general email too, so it's like kind
19:46
Speaker 1: of our catch all. But I feel like it's cute
19:49
Speaker 1: enough creators only, you know, something you can kind of
19:51
Speaker 1: like hold on. It feels kind of lucky, you know,
19:53
Speaker 1: it feels thick.
19:55
Speaker 2: No, So I definitely see a mix I do. Really
19:59
Speaker 2: it's interesting saying because so business cards are one way
20:02
Speaker 2: digital obviously as a QR code. There's like the app
20:05
Speaker 2: called Hello that you can like create your digital business
20:08
Speaker 2: card and then it goes saves right into their phone.
20:10
Speaker 2: The reason why I don't love that is because then
20:12
Speaker 2: I don't know, I guess kind of lost of like hey,
20:14
Speaker 2: what was that person's name? And so I didn't really
20:16
Speaker 2: get it. But what I see more often than not
20:19
Speaker 2: are on site, being like, what's your Instagram, I'll connect
20:23
Speaker 2: with you on Instagram. What's your LinkedIn, I'll connect with
20:26
Speaker 2: you on LinkedIn. Those really are the two things. And
20:30
Speaker 2: I don't mind it at all because I do think
20:33
Speaker 2: people would like to know a little bit more about
20:36
Speaker 2: you before the connection, which is why your Instagram is
20:39
Speaker 2: so important and your LinkedIn and your digital presence is
20:42
Speaker 2: so important because it's a reflection of who you are.
20:44
Speaker 2: And so if someone is like, yeah, let me see
20:46
Speaker 2: your Instagram and you're like, I'm private, Like I don't post,
20:49
Speaker 2: I don't have it, it's like it might be harder
20:51
Speaker 2: for them to really understand what you do. Maybe you
20:53
Speaker 2: don't have Instagram, Maybe you have LinkedIn great, Maybe you
20:55
Speaker 2: have I don't know, a public Facebook page. Maybe you
20:58
Speaker 2: have a landing page that's your like portfolio, whatever it is.
21:02
Speaker 2: It's just like a digital presence is so important to
21:05
Speaker 2: really ensure people get to know you a little bit
21:07
Speaker 2: more after they leave.
21:09
Speaker 1: So I co sign this one hundred percent so our
21:11
Speaker 1: community comes to us. Like my niche and my specialty
21:14
Speaker 1: is brand deals and brand partnerships, pitching, pitching, pitching, Like
21:17
Speaker 1: I am the pitching gal. That's what we teach and
21:20
Speaker 1: a lot of times we tell creators when you pitch
21:22
Speaker 1: the brand is going to go check out your ig.
21:24
Speaker 1: It's like you have to audit, right. So it's very
21:26
Speaker 1: similar for in person networking. If you're doing some in
21:29
Speaker 1: person networking, audit your accounts guys before you go to
21:32
Speaker 1: make sure everything kind of looks bottled up. So when
21:34
Speaker 1: they're like, yeah, what's your Instagram? You know, your bio
21:37
Speaker 1: is ready, your profile shot is there. It looks clean.
21:40
Speaker 1: It's not just like hudy this, you know, like it
21:42
Speaker 1: has that energy so that you present professionally. Before we
21:45
Speaker 1: move on to the festival, because I'm dying to talk
21:47
Speaker 1: about that, I did just have one last kind of
21:49
Speaker 1: tie in. You mentioned about the power of the personal brand,
21:52
Speaker 1: especially when influencers are getting to a certain level or
21:55
Speaker 1: even business owners. You know, take us for example, we
21:57
Speaker 1: built Sidewalker Daily to where it needs to go. I'm
22:00
Speaker 1: branching out building my personal brand. Branding is important. Now.
22:04
Speaker 1: One thing I love about the Create Cultivate brand is
22:06
Speaker 1: y'all's branding is next level, Like give that person a raise.
22:11
Speaker 1: And like I said, I you know, I love everything
22:13
Speaker 1: you guys have done from your website, but it clearly works.
22:16
Speaker 1: So can you talk to us about the importance of
22:20
Speaker 1: branding when it comes to presenting yourself, whether it be
22:23
Speaker 1: online or offline.
22:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think what's most important is just how we
22:28
Speaker 2: want someone to feel about branding. That's actually why I
22:31
Speaker 2: went into marketing for college anyway, because I love this
22:34
Speaker 2: idea of like marketing could have could make someone do
22:38
Speaker 2: or feel something through images, colors, words like that's so powerful.
22:44
Speaker 2: And so I think your personal brand is simply how
22:46
Speaker 2: you make someone feel. And so your brand has to
22:49
Speaker 2: be consistent throughout any touch point, just has to be
22:52
Speaker 2: the same. I say that to say it is so
22:54
Speaker 2: important that you allow your brand to evolve. And so
22:57
Speaker 2: I think why people sometimes rebel against, you know, personal
23:01
Speaker 2: brands or building your personal brand or online presence or
23:04
Speaker 2: even sometimes creators and influencers get stuck in their career
23:08
Speaker 2: is because they're not evolving. They feel like, Hey, I've
23:11
Speaker 2: always showed up as a and I'll use personal examples
23:14
Speaker 2: for me, I've always showed up as a fitness competitor.
23:17
Speaker 2: I can't talk of like I can't now rebrand as
23:21
Speaker 2: a women in corporate now I'm a mom, Like I
23:24
Speaker 2: really want that to be part of my personal brand,
23:26
Speaker 2: Like how do I do that? You just do it?
23:29
Speaker 2: Now I'm a CEO. This is a new you know,
23:31
Speaker 2: so it's like really allow yourself to evolve and grow,
23:35
Speaker 2: and you can do that through photoshoots that you're getting done,
23:38
Speaker 2: like really thinking creatively on messaging, thinking creatively of like
23:42
Speaker 2: what is your tone. One of the biggest advices that
23:44
Speaker 2: I can give is in a world where social is first,
23:48
Speaker 2: just because everyone's doing video, don't feel like you have
23:50
Speaker 2: to do video just because everybody's doing photos and parsel.
23:52
Speaker 2: Don't feel like you have.
23:53
Speaker 1: To do it.
23:54
Speaker 2: If you're really good at talk to camera, do that.
23:57
Speaker 2: If you're really good at writing, maybe start a substance,
24:00
Speaker 2: Maybe go on LinkedIn, maybe have a block, you know,
24:02
Speaker 2: like double down on what you're really really good at
24:06
Speaker 2: and sure like try and test new things, but like
24:09
Speaker 2: really figure out what you're good at, because that's where
24:11
Speaker 2: your personal brand is going to shine more than ever
24:14
Speaker 2: for sure.
24:14
Speaker 1: Speaking to me like I needed this today more than ever.
24:18
Speaker 1: Just doubling down because we get overwhelmed. There's so much.
24:21
Speaker 1: It's like I gotta do short form, I gotta do
24:22
Speaker 1: long I gotta do video. I gotta do this. It's
24:24
Speaker 1: like overwhelming, you know, Like this idea of like leaning in,
24:27
Speaker 1: doubling down what you're good at and just kind of
24:29
Speaker 1: drowning out the noise is aimen to that. Okay, So
24:33
Speaker 1: the festival, the festival, the festival. I am so excited
24:37
Speaker 1: to dive deep into this. It's been dubbed as the
24:40
Speaker 1: Coachella for business women, and I think that's just gives
24:43
Speaker 1: such a great visual. We could all see what that means.
24:46
Speaker 1: And I read that you announcing Dochi and Ciarra. This
24:50
Speaker 1: was like a huge career highlight for you. So what
24:54
Speaker 1: has made this festival so personal for you?
24:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm so excited for the festival. I mean, I
25:00
Speaker 2: cannot even begin to explain what we're bringing to life.
25:03
Speaker 2: So we launched the world's largest festival for women in business.
25:07
Speaker 2: It is the first of its kind. It does not exist.
25:09
Speaker 2: It's insane to think that. You know, we have over
25:12
Speaker 2: two thousand attendees there, from students and interns all the
25:16
Speaker 2: way to executives and CEOs and founders. We have companies
25:19
Speaker 2: bringing to their teams. It is really this beautiful blend
25:22
Speaker 2: of business to business and business to consumer. You'll have
25:25
Speaker 2: everybody from like I said, corporate founders, creators, influencers, celebrities
25:31
Speaker 2: across all industries. So we have four stages and I'll
25:34
Speaker 2: kind of explain really the thought process there, but we
25:36
Speaker 2: have four stages. One of those stages our center Core.
25:39
Speaker 2: It is all focused on the business of women in
25:41
Speaker 2: sports and highlighting sports as a whole. We have one
25:45
Speaker 2: all for creator. Compound is a content creation It's a
25:48
Speaker 2: two hundred and ninety billion dollar industry. Of course we're
25:51
Speaker 2: going to have a whole stage for it talking about
25:53
Speaker 2: and learning from some of the best companies and best
25:56
Speaker 2: creators and influencers. Main stage is where doci's gonna, you know,
26:00
Speaker 2: so perform and our keynotes are going to be there.
26:02
Speaker 2: It's going to be amazing. All Things Finance that's owned
26:05
Speaker 2: by Chase, Inc. And so it's really cool. We have
26:08
Speaker 2: a marketplace in food hall, We have live demos, We
26:11
Speaker 2: have a wellness DN so that allows you to have
26:13
Speaker 2: like massages and soundbath and like sensory moments throughout the festival.
26:18
Speaker 2: And so, you know, I share all of those things
26:20
Speaker 2: because they're so important to create what's so different and
26:24
Speaker 2: what doesn't exist there? Right? You know, the festivals traditional
26:28
Speaker 2: musical festivals, and there are a lot and you probably
26:31
Speaker 2: end up leaving like overwhelmed and hungover and burnt out,
26:33
Speaker 2: and you probably didn't met anybody besides your friends. And
26:35
Speaker 2: sure they're fun, but like you don't really get much
26:38
Speaker 2: out of them. Then there's the business conferences that exist,
26:41
Speaker 2: and they've always exist, and they're very stagnant and stale,
26:45
Speaker 2: even if they change their locations, like it just doesn't
26:48
Speaker 2: really land. And we know Creating Cultivate is truly the
26:51
Speaker 2: best at producing events like that is hands down our
26:55
Speaker 2: bread and butter. That's what we do. So we blended
26:57
Speaker 2: those like business conference and music festivals together to bring
27:01
Speaker 2: the world's Art as festival for women in business. I
27:03
Speaker 2: think the other thing I was going to say is
27:05
Speaker 2: like it was important for me to create it specifically
27:08
Speaker 2: in this new Create and Cultivate two point zero because women,
27:12
Speaker 2: like everyone's eyes on women right now right women's sports,
27:15
Speaker 2: in political offices, all this, like everything is like, oh,
27:18
Speaker 2: what's this woman doing?
27:19
Speaker 3: What? You know, how is she growing? How's she balancing work?
27:22
Speaker 3: How is she going to be a mom and working
27:23
Speaker 3: as a founder? Oh, she's starting her business? Like all
27:26
Speaker 3: of these that investing there's so many different things women
27:29
Speaker 3: are doing and it's all kind of magnified. However, women
27:33
Speaker 3: only get these small spaces at events, right, You'll see cs.
27:37
Speaker 2: AD week cans anywhere. It's just like a small little
27:41
Speaker 2: lounge and it's just for women, or a small little
27:44
Speaker 2: pop up just for women. It's like, no, no, we
27:46
Speaker 2: need the whole event to be focused on how we
27:49
Speaker 2: can grow. We control twenty trillion dollars worth of consumer spend, like,
27:53
Speaker 2: we literally are the decision makers. Why wouldn't we have
27:56
Speaker 2: one focus, one event that is focused on ampleing us
28:00
Speaker 2: so we can pour back into the economy. And so
28:02
Speaker 2: that's why we brought the festival to life. And it's
28:05
Speaker 2: been truly insane to see the support, the tickets that
28:10
Speaker 2: are sold, the sponsors that are doubling down on their
28:12
Speaker 2: investment in person, Like, it's really crazy, and our lineup
28:15
Speaker 2: is crazy.
28:16
Speaker 1: Obviously your lineup is insane. And I'm gonna link everything
28:19
Speaker 1: below so people that are looking for this type of
28:21
Speaker 1: immersive Coachella for business women experience, you know, can enjoy
28:25
Speaker 1: the festival. Did you guys just kind of like think
28:27
Speaker 1: of this on the sofa, Like this feels like one
28:29
Speaker 1: of those ideas that like you think of and then
28:31
Speaker 1: you're like, oh yeah, like the execution of it. And
28:34
Speaker 1: I feel like your team are just the definition of
28:36
Speaker 1: doers because everyone wants to dream but executing. So like,
28:40
Speaker 1: when did you guys come up with this? And like,
28:42
Speaker 1: was it just kind of like this aha that you're like,
28:45
Speaker 1: we need to do this because I'm like, I think
28:47
Speaker 1: about my journey as my business. Like we were talking
28:49
Speaker 1: about the other day, we're like Coachella, like love you
28:52
Speaker 1: just not where I'm at right now in my life personally.
28:56
Speaker 1: And it's not to say that I can't find space
28:58
Speaker 1: for it maybe down the road. I have my kids
29:00
Speaker 1: are in a funky age five and eleven, Like I
29:02
Speaker 1: just I'm really pouring my love into my family and
29:05
Speaker 1: my business at the moment, you know, And how did
29:08
Speaker 1: you guys kind of idea, generate this awesome concept and
29:11
Speaker 1: then decide internally as a team we're executing because this
29:14
Speaker 1: is a big endeavor.
29:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's yes, it is big, and you're talking
29:18
Speaker 2: to me ten weeks before, so this is like also
29:20
Speaker 2: a rare sighting of me because it was not actually
29:24
Speaker 2: yeah doing ten weeks now. It's it's so crazy. So
29:27
Speaker 2: the good. The one thing that like I would say
29:29
Speaker 2: is my superpower is like execution, like and Jacqueline's superpower
29:33
Speaker 2: is also like visionary and dreaming bigger. And so it's
29:36
Speaker 2: really cool to be able to build together with her.
29:38
Speaker 2: When we bought the business, she we sat down and
29:41
Speaker 2: she asked, if you could do anything, if you could
29:44
Speaker 2: build anything and change anything for creating, cultivate, what would
29:47
Speaker 2: that look like? What would you want to bring to life?
29:49
Speaker 2: And I was so so gung ho on this festival,
29:52
Speaker 2: Like I was felt so strong on making something this
29:57
Speaker 2: large and that grows year over year. We're doing this
29:59
Speaker 2: every and it's only going to get bigger. And like
30:01
Speaker 2: so we did it. We just decided like, hey, we're
30:04
Speaker 2: going to do this. This is how we're gonna do it.
30:05
Speaker 2: We're gonna build this team, we're this is a location.
30:07
Speaker 2: She really drives the creativity, what the stages look like,
30:10
Speaker 2: what's the feel of the event. I drive all financials
30:14
Speaker 2: and everything that comes to, you know, around the wording,
30:17
Speaker 2: the messaging, the marketing and the and the finance of
30:20
Speaker 2: the event. And so we kind of double team it
30:22
Speaker 2: and yeah and.
30:24
Speaker 1: Just go for it. And it's like just do it.
30:26
Speaker 1: Do it scared do it anyways? Like just having these
30:29
Speaker 1: dreams and making them come to life. I love that.
30:31
Speaker 1: And in terms of like success, you're in the ten
30:33
Speaker 1: week I'm sure, like you said, this is a rare sighting,
30:35
Speaker 1: So thank you for making the time when you guys
30:38
Speaker 1: do a reflection. And outside of the numbers, what would
30:42
Speaker 1: success look like for you all for this event? What
30:45
Speaker 1: does success look like?
30:46
Speaker 2: I think success looks like for me, And it's less
30:49
Speaker 2: financial numbers. It's more of the volume. Success will be
30:53
Speaker 2: all two thousand people there, like success will be seeing
30:57
Speaker 2: women like cry and hug and feel like they like
31:01
Speaker 2: really feel transformed. I think for us, as a first
31:04
Speaker 2: time festival, the world's largest festival, what success means is
31:08
Speaker 2: like an accomplished event that people are like, well I
31:11
Speaker 2: get it now, you know, like I get what you're building.
31:14
Speaker 2: Because there's so many people that are like, hey, we'd
31:16
Speaker 2: love to talk about twenty twenty six, And it's like
31:17
Speaker 2: always say are you sure, like are you sure listen
31:22
Speaker 2: today's or what is it? What's the what does Fat
31:24
Speaker 2: Joe say? He says, like the day prices is not
31:27
Speaker 2: tomorrow's or do you know like it's gonna go up?
31:30
Speaker 2: Prices go up.
31:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, he's not wrong. I mean I
31:34
Speaker 1: we put on like a sixty five person Creator retreat
31:38
Speaker 1: last summer, and I remember just being like saying, you
31:40
Speaker 1: know again, this is like a drop in the bucket,
31:42
Speaker 1: this is what you guys always do. And we realized, wow,
31:44
Speaker 1: in person events are so hard, yet they're so fulfilling.
31:48
Speaker 1: And I think anyone listening in, like I've said one
31:51
Speaker 1: hundred times again, the magic of the in person beats everything.
31:56
Speaker 1: You know, it just beats everything. And it's something that
31:59
Speaker 1: I know our team is going to look to do
32:01
Speaker 1: more of now that you've taken this huge undertaking. Before
32:04
Speaker 1: we wrap up today's interview, I do want to talk
32:06
Speaker 1: about an element that many of us would be like, well,
32:09
Speaker 1: how does she do this? How is she planning two
32:11
Speaker 1: thousand person event all whilst being a mother? And this
32:14
Speaker 1: concept of motherhood. I know I've read on your Instagram
32:18
Speaker 1: you talked about, you know, being a single mom at
32:21
Speaker 1: twenty three and like building your son's crib alone, and like,
32:26
Speaker 1: now look where you are, like just fast forward. Can
32:29
Speaker 1: I have it all? Can I do it all? Is
32:31
Speaker 1: this possible? I think your living proof that it is.
32:33
Speaker 1: But maybe you could share some words to the moms
32:35
Speaker 1: listening in or the parents in general, just about how
32:39
Speaker 1: that inevitable trade off that one may feel.
32:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it's interesting. I had Sebastian when I
32:45
Speaker 2: was twenty three, so like he kind of grew up
32:47
Speaker 2: with me in the sense of like and was with
32:50
Speaker 2: me throughout my career as I continued to you know,
32:53
Speaker 2: leave New York and find a job here and start
32:56
Speaker 2: working at Yahoo that was my first big corporate job,
32:59
Speaker 2: and then go out on my own and then buying,
33:01
Speaker 2: create and cultivate. Like he's kind of just like rode
33:03
Speaker 2: this out with me throughout, and so he just feels
33:06
Speaker 2: like we're just like growing up together. You know. It's
33:09
Speaker 2: like kind of one of my favorite things about being
33:11
Speaker 2: a mom. But it's interesting because I had to remove
33:14
Speaker 2: the word guilty from my vocabulary very early on. Again,
33:18
Speaker 2: I was twenty three, I was single, I was trying
33:21
Speaker 2: to find a better job, I was, you know, trying
33:24
Speaker 2: to build my life, and I always felt really guilty
33:26
Speaker 2: for doing that, and so I had to remove that
33:29
Speaker 2: and I had to shift and say, oh, it's not guilt,
33:31
Speaker 2: it's just sadness. I feel sad that I'm not with Sebastian.
33:34
Speaker 2: I feel sad that I have to, like you know,
33:37
Speaker 2: sacrifice a little time here, a little time there. And
33:39
Speaker 2: so I think over the years, I've kind of programmed
33:42
Speaker 2: on myself to understand that there's certain things that I
33:45
Speaker 2: kind of have to give to get something else. And
33:47
Speaker 2: so there's different seasons in your life. So if if
33:49
Speaker 2: you're a mom and you're listening, just know that, like,
33:52
Speaker 2: there are different seasons, and it's okay to have a
33:55
Speaker 2: tougher season to get to an easier season or more
33:58
Speaker 2: like privileged season. And so that's like one of the
34:01
Speaker 2: things that kind of keeps me grounded. I think the
34:03
Speaker 2: other thing is I have a very very very strict
34:06
Speaker 2: like boundaries that I implement, and so you know, before
34:10
Speaker 2: I do anything, like even for the year. Again, we're
34:12
Speaker 2: in events business, so we do events throughout the year.
34:14
Speaker 2: Like his birthday, I block off. He has soccer as basketball,
34:19
Speaker 2: like I try to make it to everything. Shonda Rhime
34:22
Speaker 2: said something during an interview that really hit me. She said,
34:26
Speaker 2: if you see me succeeding in one area, know that
34:28
Speaker 2: I'm failing in another. If you see me on stage
34:32
Speaker 2: at Creating Cultivate or at a retreat during the school year,
34:35
Speaker 2: know that I'm missing bedtime or know that I'm missing
34:38
Speaker 2: a football game, or know that I'm missing a basketball game,
34:40
Speaker 2: like those things happen. But on the flip side, like
34:43
Speaker 2: if I'm doing bedtime and making dinners, I'm not answering
34:46
Speaker 2: my emails, I'm not answering slack like know that there's
34:49
Speaker 2: something that's being like given up and that is okay,
34:53
Speaker 2: that's part of it. And so there's no like I
34:55
Speaker 2: wish I could tell everybody that they could do it all,
34:58
Speaker 2: and I think that online I show that it feels
35:00
Speaker 2: like I do it all. But trust me, like there's
35:02
Speaker 2: a lot of times that I mom facetimes while I'm
35:04
Speaker 2: traveling and I'm like, I'm sorry aboud, like I'll be home.
35:07
Speaker 2: You know, I'll be home soon, like I can't wait,
35:09
Speaker 2: and we make the best out of it. But I
35:11
Speaker 2: just pour my heart into anything that I'm at during
35:14
Speaker 2: that time.
35:14
Speaker 1: Into how old is your son? Again?
35:16
Speaker 2: Nine?
35:17
Speaker 1: Okay? So funny enough. I brought my eleven year old
35:19
Speaker 1: to like the office, take your take your daughter to
35:21
Speaker 1: work day, And when I tell you, like the eleven
35:24
Speaker 1: years I've put into my business to see her little
35:27
Speaker 1: face being like, my mom is low key cool and
35:30
Speaker 1: she's you know, proud in this this way that I
35:33
Speaker 1: was like, oh my gosh, it filled me in a
35:34
Speaker 1: way that I've never felt to see. Also, your kids
35:39
Speaker 1: look up to you in a way and see that
35:40
Speaker 1: hard work pays off. Like it is more emotional for
35:43
Speaker 1: me than any of it. I was like, it's worth it,
35:45
Speaker 1: or the office, her lighting up, being like, my mom
35:48
Speaker 1: is cool.
35:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it's so funny. So Sebastian, it comes to
35:52
Speaker 2: a lot of things with my husband, Matt and I.
35:54
Speaker 2: Matt is also an entrepreneur. He also does large scale
35:57
Speaker 2: festivals and conferences as well. And you know, we take
36:01
Speaker 2: Sebastian out for a week in September from school and
36:04
Speaker 2: every single September, We've done it for three years now.
36:07
Speaker 2: And he comes to MAT's conference and festival in California,
36:11
Speaker 2: and it's like watching this little boy just walk around
36:15
Speaker 2: and in awe of the activations and the stages and
36:18
Speaker 2: sitting through a conversation about I don't know, like wealth advisors.
36:22
Speaker 2: Like it's the coolest thing to see him see the
36:26
Speaker 2: end result. And I think that that is the biggest thing,
36:29
Speaker 2: is like he gets to see the end result because
36:31
Speaker 2: he's living in the process every single day. He sees
36:35
Speaker 2: when we're on calls, he sees when you know, we're
36:37
Speaker 2: we're traveling, and so to be able to see the
36:39
Speaker 2: end result and be like, oh, that's what my parents
36:41
Speaker 2: are doing, like they're so proud of us. And so
36:43
Speaker 2: I think it's a privilege that our kids get to
36:45
Speaker 2: see us do this for sure.
36:46
Speaker 1: And for many of us also, our children are a
36:49
Speaker 1: force of why we do what we do. We want
36:51
Speaker 1: to build better lives, we want to live the dreams
36:54
Speaker 1: our parents didn't get to, you know, all these things.
36:56
Speaker 1: And I think that for those of us that are
36:59
Speaker 1: looking to start and really ramp in our businesses, but
37:02
Speaker 1: that's why we got to invest in ourselves, right, whether
37:04
Speaker 1: it's through mentorship or in person. Yeah, also for our
37:08
Speaker 1: families because of legacy that we're building too. Instead of
37:11
Speaker 1: having that what if I could, should, I would have.
37:14
Speaker 1: You're also a role modeling for your kids. I mean
37:16
Speaker 1: therapy one oh one. Your kids get what you model.
37:19
Speaker 1: You model fear. They're getting fear. You model resilience and confidence.
37:23
Speaker 1: And my mom wants an event by herself, or my
37:26
Speaker 1: mom is doing this, or it's funny I'm talking to
37:29
Speaker 1: my therapist about anxiety. How do you prevent a child
37:31
Speaker 1: from being anxious? You got to model it. The work
37:34
Speaker 1: is on you, it's not on them. They just soak
37:36
Speaker 1: up what you are. So if we walk into spaces
37:39
Speaker 1: without fear holding us back, if we walk into conversations,
37:42
Speaker 1: if we pitch the CEO of creating cultivate and say, hey,
37:44
Speaker 1: come on a podcast, let's do this like they model
37:47
Speaker 1: these activations and it seeps into them. So a big
37:51
Speaker 1: part of entrepreneurship, especially for the parents out there, is
37:53
Speaker 1: just modeling, and we gotta do it first. We can't
37:56
Speaker 1: expect them to do it for us. We got to
37:58
Speaker 1: do it first. You know.
38:00
Speaker 2: I love that.
38:00
Speaker 1: So awesome, Marina, thank you so much for your time,
38:03
Speaker 1: your vulnerability, sharing so much around not only the festival,
38:07
Speaker 1: the power of in person events, your journey. We're so excited.
38:11
Speaker 1: I'm going to link and every thing below, but in
38:13
Speaker 1: the meantime, can you let us know how we can
38:15
Speaker 1: connect with you all.
38:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, thank you so much for having me. This
38:18
Speaker 2: was so much fun, and I hope that you know
38:19
Speaker 2: your community was able to take some nuggets away that
38:22
Speaker 2: they can borrow and implement. And you know their day
38:25
Speaker 2: to day, but you can find me on Instagram. That's
38:27
Speaker 2: kind of where I hang always. Marina A. Middleton and
38:29
Speaker 2: then in La for our festival July nineteenth.
38:32
Speaker 1: Yes, create cultivate the festival. Guys, It's going to be
38:36
Speaker 1: an epic experience and I know that so many people
38:39
Speaker 1: in the community are going to benefit. So we'll either
38:41
Speaker 1: see you in La or in the next episode. Thanks everyone,