Latest / The iAlign Podcast with Flint Mitchell / #13 - Is That a Picasso... or a Different Perspective? With Juliana Burton

Transcript

#13 - Is That a Picasso... or a Different Perspective? With Juliana Burton · The iAlign Podcast with Flint Mitchell

0:10
SPEAKER_04: What's up, y'all?
0:11
SPEAKER_04: Welcome to Seeking Authenticity.
0:13
SPEAKER_04: My name is Quent Mitchell, and I get absolutely spiked by having conversations with authentic people that I admire about the things they value.
0:21
SPEAKER_04: Their stories and perspectives don't just make me smile, laugh, and think.
0:26
SPEAKER_04: They inspire me to wake up earlier, listen better, focus, and work harder, and help make me a better version of myself.
0:33
SPEAKER_04: And it's my hope that sharing these conversations through this podcast might do the same thing for you.
0:41
SPEAKER_04: In this episode, I talked with Juliana Burton, a good friend of mine who has consistently inspired me with her steadfast work ethic, strength, and addition.
0:49
SPEAKER_04: I think one of the reasons it's so fun for me to hear her perspective now is because it'll be cool to compare that with the tech in the future, which is inevitably at the head of a company, which influences lots of people, however she chooses to do that.
1:02
SPEAKER_04: At just 25 years old, Juliana is a senior financial analyst for Intel and on the board of directors of the Network of Intel African Americans.
1:10
SPEAKER_04: From my view, even with a difficult task, she does a pretty great job at finding that balance between excellent in her own work and trying to enjoy life in the present moment by traveling and adventuring.
1:21
SPEAKER_04: Here, we talk about her experience posting a textile talk, about trying to find a line between hard work and exhaustion, and about the long-term perspective it takes to seek out lasting change on larger and heavier issues like social reform.
1:34
SPEAKER_04: Juliana is a bright, fun, and motivating person to talk with.
1:38
SPEAKER_04: I left this conversation with better methods for asking questions and reflections on my own personal goals.
1:44
SPEAKER_04: And I hope you do too.
1:46
SPEAKER_04: Enjoy.
2:24
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's crazy.
2:25
SPEAKER_03: Then when you come in, you're like, oh, no, that's what it feels like to be alive.
2:31
SPEAKER_03: You know, like this is just a part of life, like that is just fine.
2:34
SPEAKER_03: I think that's the biggest way in which the TED Talk has prepared me for this time.
2:37
SPEAKER_03: It's just being truly okay with being uncomfortable.
2:41
SPEAKER_03: Because you can't change unless you are uncomfortable.
2:44
SPEAKER_04: So thank you for doing this with me, Julian.
2:50
SPEAKER_04: I'm I'm really grateful to have you on the podcast.
2:52
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
2:52
SPEAKER_04: You are a really strong and independent person.
2:56
SPEAKER_04: I don't think there's anyone who meets you and doesn't get that vibe immediately.
3:00
SPEAKER_04: And though we met in college, it's really been fun to get to know you over the past couple years quite a bit better because it's been kind of an inspiring, added element to my life.
3:11
SPEAKER_04: And something that kind of struck me as really interesting that I wanted to hear more about was your experience being a TEDx speaker.
3:22
SPEAKER_04: And I was wondering if you could tell me a bit about how you got chosen for that or what led to it, and then about the experience itself.
3:30
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
3:31
SPEAKER_03: Well, first of all, happy to be here, happy to be on the podcast.
3:35
SPEAKER_03: Um let's see.
3:38
SPEAKER_03: Uh okay, experience itself was like completely crazy, nerve-wracking.
3:45
SPEAKER_03: Like I wanted to throw up probably for two weeks straight leading up to it.
3:49
SPEAKER_03: Um, but all in all, pretty great experience.
3:52
SPEAKER_03: Um, so kind of to start from the beginning and how I got roped into it is I guess just through some of the other roles I have at Intel, like being on diversity and things like that.
4:05
SPEAKER_03: Somehow someone put in my name and like nominated me that I would be a good candidate of someone that should speak at our women in finance conference at Intel, which pretty much houses all the women in finance.
4:17
SPEAKER_03: They all come out to Santa Clara headquarters, and we just have this great conference networking, this learning experience.
4:24
SPEAKER_03: Um, so, anyways, I got nominated for that.
4:27
SPEAKER_03: And it was, yeah, it was kind of nice.
4:30
SPEAKER_03: And it was right after I had this talk with one of my managers, and he was like, Yeah, like in order to get your next promotion, like I think that an area you should work on is um, you know, doing some bigger presentations or things like that.
4:43
SPEAKER_03: And his head, he was thinking, like, you know, maybe 15 people and giving kind of like an acumen presentation.
4:50
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
4:50
SPEAKER_03: Um, yeah, he wasn't quite expecting me to come back a week later and be like, hey, how about I do a TED style talk to hundreds of people and have it be webcasted across Intel?
5:02
SPEAKER_03: He was like, uh, yeah, I think that counts.
5:04
SPEAKER_03: So, anyways, that's what really kind of drove me to accept it.
5:09
SPEAKER_03: Cause I was like, wow, I feel like opportunities align right when you need them to.
5:13
SPEAKER_04: Um kind of manifested it.
5:16
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
5:17
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
5:18
SPEAKER_03: Um, and I don't know, I always try to do uncomfortable things and it felt very uncomfortable.
5:24
SPEAKER_03: So it was a couple weeks of kind of brainstorming what I wanted to talk about, and I figured kind of went through a ton of different topics, but one in particular, I was like, I don't ask enough questions in the conference room or in meetings, and I was like, and I want to know more about why, and I want to know why people think that there's such a thing as a stupid question, or how can I ask better questions and feel more confident with it?
5:51
SPEAKER_03: And why do women feel this inability to ask good questions?
5:57
SPEAKER_03: Like we feel this pressure to not speak up.
6:00
SPEAKER_03: Um so I was like, Yeah, this sounds like a pretty great place to start, and also a way for me to improve my question asking skills.
6:07
SPEAKER_03: So pretty much just yeah, did a ton of research and kind of hopped on in with that.
6:14
SPEAKER_03: Um that was kind of the beginning point of it, and yeah, just discussed different ways to ask questions, how to think about different situations and view them from different aspects, because all those things kind of help you generate questions.
6:30
SPEAKER_03: So sure.
6:32
SPEAKER_04: Did you find any specific maybe method of doing that that worked best for you?
6:38
SPEAKER_04: Um method of asking questions, yeah, or getting a different perspective.
6:42
SPEAKER_04: Sounds like that was an element.
6:45
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
6:45
SPEAKER_03: Um so one method I found was to kind of view meetings and problems as if they were a painting.
6:56
SPEAKER_03: So what I would do is kind of take a step back and like say if we're at an art gallery and we were trying to figure out if we wanted to buy a piece of art, like the first thing I would kind of do is identify, okay, well, is this what I'm looking for?
7:11
SPEAKER_03: Am I looking for a painting or a sculpture?
7:14
SPEAKER_03: Is this, does this fit the space that I have?
7:16
SPEAKER_03: So it's kind of understanding is this problem, is it, is it relevant to what you're currently doing?
7:22
SPEAKER_03: Is it relevant to the environment, to the business environment, financials, whatever's going on?
7:28
SPEAKER_03: Um, and then the second aspect is evaluating, okay, well, I like it, but what do other people think about this?
7:36
SPEAKER_03: Like, how will other people judge it when they come into my apartment and they see this huge Picasso painting?
7:42
SPEAKER_03: Like, how does it affect them?
7:43
SPEAKER_03: Um, and kind of back to business is kind of how will what will the engineers think of this problem or our solution?
7:51
SPEAKER_03: How will this affect marketing?
7:53
SPEAKER_03: How will this play a role in the sales?
7:55
SPEAKER_03: So these different aspects and shoes.
7:57
SPEAKER_03: Um, and then it was looking in at, you know, why do I feel like this is the right one?
8:06
SPEAKER_03: What other possibilities are there?
8:08
SPEAKER_03: So evaluating alternative options, kind of bringing up that question of what else have we looked into?
8:14
SPEAKER_03: Um or you know, is this actually the correct problem that we should solve?
8:20
SPEAKER_03: Is this too small or is it too big for us to handle alone?
8:25
SPEAKER_03: Um, so just kind of taking myself out of the business mindset and putting me into a completely different situation where I would evaluate something very differently, but I would come up with questions that could relate to how I look at business problems.
8:40
SPEAKER_04: Interesting.
8:40
SPEAKER_04: So it's more about the perspective of the problem or the issue that you're trying to ask a question about.
8:46
SPEAKER_04: Just focusing about understanding that from a different perspective.
8:51
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
8:52
SPEAKER_03: Um understanding that from a different perspective, and then just kind of opening up your mind to other avenues.
9:00
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I guess that pretty much sums it up well.
9:02
SPEAKER_03: It's just a different perspective.
9:04
SPEAKER_04: Totally.
9:05
SPEAKER_04: And so what other things did you do to prepare besides research good ways to ask questions?
9:12
SPEAKER_03: Well, I started asking questions and realized, like, okay, if I ask a question and if I ask a question like why are we looking into this problem?
9:25
SPEAKER_03: Like in some cases that might kind of sound a little like blunt to kind of sound like I'm coming in completely uninformed.
9:35
SPEAKER_03: But asking this question as, hey, what have our engineers and what have our hardware engineers said about this?
9:42
SPEAKER_04: Oh, interesting.
9:44
SPEAKER_03: So it just is a better way to kind of ask a similar question.
9:47
SPEAKER_03: So I felt more confident because I was like, oh, it sounds better.
9:50
SPEAKER_03: Um, and it's a question that not many other people would think of in the conference room, but I'm still getting an understanding of you know, why is this relevant?
9:59
SPEAKER_04: Totally.
10:00
SPEAKER_04: And so you did your own research, you probably asked around.
10:03
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, read some books, asked.
10:06
SPEAKER_04: Really?
10:06
SPEAKER_04: What books did you read?
10:09
SPEAKER_03: Oh, I'm blanking.
10:10
SPEAKER_03: I heard I think that the name of the book was like uh how to ask good questions.
10:15
SPEAKER_03: It was something very blunt and on the other.
10:17
SPEAKER_04: This is the first Google search that came up.
10:19
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
10:22
SPEAKER_03: I'd probably be able to find it on the Amazon list.
10:24
SPEAKER_04: But did you did you prepare in any way for the actual speaking element of it?
10:28
SPEAKER_04: Or maybe for the presentation?
10:30
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
10:30
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that was the bigger part of it.
10:32
SPEAKER_03: Um, so I had consulted with a TED Xile consultant.
10:39
SPEAKER_03: Um it was an individual at Intel who has done a lot of these talks before and has a lot of insight, and he's also mentored and coached a lot of individuals to do them.
10:48
SPEAKER_03: So him and I worked very closely throughout the whole process and understanding, you know, how I want to convey this, how I want to bring in my own personal stories for it.
10:58
SPEAKER_03: And then after that, it was a ton and ton of practicing.
11:02
SPEAKER_03: Like I met with, like I had my roommate sit down and I gave them the talk.
11:06
SPEAKER_03: Like I gave the guy that I was dating at the time, like the whole spiel.
11:11
SPEAKER_03: Pretty much anyone that would listen to me, I would just like do my full presentation to have them ask questions, critique me.
11:18
SPEAKER_03: And then I actually booked time in the auditorium.
11:22
SPEAKER_01: Really?
11:23
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
11:24
SPEAKER_03: And the night before I went in and like set up everything and then just got used to walking on the stage and being comfortable in that setting.
11:34
SPEAKER_04: Did you think about doing those things yourself?
11:36
SPEAKER_04: Did you get that advice from the consultant?
11:40
SPEAKER_03: Um I it I guess there's a little bit of the both of them.
11:46
SPEAKER_03: Because he had recommended that, but I was already thinking it prior.
11:50
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
11:50
SPEAKER_03: Uh, for me personally, public speaking can be quite intimidating.
11:56
SPEAKER_03: So I love to practice in the moment, practice exactly where I'm gonna be.
12:00
SPEAKER_03: Um, and I feel like once I do it there, it becomes less daunting.
12:04
SPEAKER_03: Because I I know the feeling of it being on stage.
12:07
SPEAKER_03: I can look out, I can, you know, I won't get as frazzled or forgetful because I feel like I've been there before.
12:14
SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
12:15
SPEAKER_04: No, that's really smart.
12:16
SPEAKER_04: I wouldn't have even thought to do that.
12:18
SPEAKER_04: That's why I ask.
12:21
SPEAKER_03: It's kind of like how psychiatrists psychologists say that you should study in a similar environment of which you would take the test.
12:30
SPEAKER_04: So that makes sense.
12:32
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
12:33
SPEAKER_04: That's interesting.
12:34
SPEAKER_04: And so did it go as planned?
12:35
SPEAKER_04: Is it did it go as practiced?
12:38
SPEAKER_03: Not quite.
12:39
SPEAKER_03: Um, so I went out there with a a lot of confidence, but unfortunately, my mic kept glitching.
12:45
SPEAKER_03: And so it was like sounding like really weird from my end.
12:49
SPEAKER_03: And at first I was like, Can everyone hear me okay?
12:51
SPEAKER_03: And everyone kind of nodded, and then I was like, no, this really does still sound weird.
12:55
SPEAKER_03: But I like continued on, uh, gave my TED talk, and about halfway through, I just was like, I don't think this mic is working properly, and then I adjusted it and I was like, Oh, this is so much better.
13:08
SPEAKER_03: Everyone kind of chuckled, and I was like, Okay, back to it.
13:11
SPEAKER_03: Here we go.
13:12
SPEAKER_03: So there were definitely were a few glitches, literally.
13:17
SPEAKER_04: Technical difficulty difficulties.
13:19
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, but I think adding a sense of humor um helped.
13:24
SPEAKER_03: So sure.
13:25
SPEAKER_04: So it was even kind of beneficial in a in a way.
13:29
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it almost made it seem like I was more natural about it that I was able to navigate the glitches and still seem fine when internally I was freaking out and panicking.
13:41
SPEAKER_04: No, and you had probably ended up well, at least.
13:44
SPEAKER_04: Probably gave it a good conclusion.
13:46
SPEAKER_04: Did you have any fun stories that happened because of it?
13:50
SPEAKER_04: Like people that came up to you afterwards, maybe at the event?
13:53
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
13:54
SPEAKER_03: Um I guess at the event, the head of HR for Intel.
14:01
SPEAKER_03: Oh, okay, wait.
14:02
SPEAKER_03: Immediate fun story was right after I gave this talk about asking questions, um, the next person to speak after me was the CFO of Intel.
14:12
SPEAKER_03: Wild.
14:13
SPEAKER_03: And tough act to follow.
14:15
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
14:16
SPEAKER_03: Oh I was like, I hadn't fully realized that he was a person after me because there's been some changes with his schedule.
14:25
SPEAKER_03: So they were kind of putting him in where it it worked in his schedule.
14:29
SPEAKER_03: So of course he has a QA, and I just gave a TED talk on asking questions.
14:36
SPEAKER_03: Well, I have one minute to think of a question and ask our CFO a question right now in front of everyone, because everyone's quiet, and he's like, Okay, who wants to be the first person to ask questions?
14:46
SPEAKER_03: And how many times everyone like kind of looks at me or kind of is like, oh, like, I wonder if she'll do it.
14:52
SPEAKER_03: Um in the actual room, there's a couple hundred.
14:57
SPEAKER_04: Um, that's big.
14:59
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
15:00
SPEAKER_03: So you've got a couple hundred people staring at you in the middle of the yeah, I'm in like the front row where all the speakers are, and so I can kind of tell, like so.
15:09
SPEAKER_03: I got up and I was like, okay, fine, I feel like I should ask a question because I just gave a TED talk on this, and everyone kind of chuckled.
15:16
SPEAKER_03: And um I asked him just like a quick question about retention and what Intel is doing to retain some of its high-performing engineers, even though there's been a lot of movement and a lot of turnover, it feels like.
15:32
SPEAKER_03: So, you know, specifically for the high performers, what is Intel doing differently?
15:36
SPEAKER_03: Um yeah, so that that ended up working out.
15:40
SPEAKER_01: That's fun.
15:41
SPEAKER_03: But that definitely was very probably more nerve-wracking than the TED talk because I just was completely unprepared for that.
15:48
SPEAKER_03: And yeah.
15:50
SPEAKER_04: Sure.
15:51
SPEAKER_04: I'm sure your work prepared you to ask a thoughtful question.
15:54
SPEAKER_04: Plus, you've done all the research, you know.
15:56
SPEAKER_03: Yes, yes.
15:59
SPEAKER_04: Have you s have you seen the research you've done or the practice you did in asking questions now impact your actual work?
16:07
SPEAKER_04: Maybe in now that you're in meeting rooms afterwards, are you asking more questions?
16:14
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
16:15
SPEAKER_03: Um definitely so.
16:18
SPEAKER_03: I kind of wish now that I've if I looked back at it, I think another part of the TED talk would also be saying like it's okay to know that like to not be so hard about it.
16:33
SPEAKER_03: Um and know that if you don't ask a question like within that one conference, and like you want to ask someone individually later on, like that's okay.
16:41
SPEAKER_03: Like the point of the my TED talk wasn't to say that you have to ask all these questions in the conference room.
16:46
SPEAKER_03: Like you can ask individuals later on as well or the long time.
16:51
SPEAKER_03: Um, I think that's something that I kind of wish that I had spoken to a little bit.
16:57
SPEAKER_03: Um, because there's been some times that I just like felt so guilty or like hard on myself for not asking a particular question, even though I knew in my heart, I was like, this is a question that's better asked like on in a one-on-one conference and a one-on-one call.
17:12
SPEAKER_03: Sure.
17:13
SPEAKER_03: Um yeah, so I it's definitely had a good impact though.
17:17
SPEAKER_03: I I have asked a lot more questions and I've been able to kind of also think about problems a little bit differently, which is good.
17:23
SPEAKER_04: That's pretty cool.
17:24
SPEAKER_04: So, but going back to that point, is it then it sounds like there's a show element to asking questions.
17:35
SPEAKER_04: Like in a meeting room, it's asking questions in the meeting room, maybe there's an aspect to it of showing your colleagues or whoever's around you that you know what you're talking about or something like that.
17:50
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
17:51
SPEAKER_03: I think it's almost becomes you're asking a question just to ask a question, just to show that you can speak up in a meeting.
17:58
SPEAKER_03: Um, and that's a point I wanted to touch to is to not do that, and if you like ask the questions you do have and don't feel like you can't, or like you don't have the confidence or competence to do so, um, but don't necessarily feel like you just need to ask a question just to have your voice heard.
18:17
SPEAKER_04: Um, I think that's a really good point, right?
18:19
SPEAKER_04: It's about having content behind, you know, and behind your words, having real meaning.
18:26
SPEAKER_04: Why do you did you find that out?
18:29
SPEAKER_04: Did you find that you wanted to ask that or talk about that in your TED Talks afterwards, or was it something that you knew hand knew about beforehand and didn't have enough time to speak to?
18:40
SPEAKER_03: Uh, I think it was more afterwards.
18:43
SPEAKER_03: I'm in a new role at Intel now, which requires me to do a lot more learning on the go and be in a lot more conference calls in which I have no idea what's going on, and everyone else has a way greater understanding just because I'm completely new to the group that I'm in.
18:59
SPEAKER_03: Um, so I think now that I'm, you know, having these times where I feel like I need to prove myself to this team as well as understand things, it's kind of that cross-section of understanding.
19:10
SPEAKER_03: You know, I really do need to prioritize my questions and use them wisely because I can't derail the entire meeting.
19:17
SPEAKER_04: Um, no, that's a good point.
19:20
SPEAKER_04: So you've transitioned into a new role.
19:22
SPEAKER_04: Has it been fun?
19:25
SPEAKER_03: Uh fun is an interesting term for it.
19:28
SPEAKER_03: Uh it's been exhausting.
19:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
19:31
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
19:31
SPEAKER_03: And I actually got the role primarily because my new manager had come to the TED Talk.
19:38
SPEAKER_03: Uh part of this role is um to be able to develop great business partnering skills.
19:45
SPEAKER_03: And so he saw my ability to, you know, public speak and be very sociable um during the TED Talk as well as throughout the conference, and be able to kind of drive and inspire women to ask questions throughout the conference.
19:59
SPEAKER_03: So yeah, he brought that up in our interview, and that was one of the main things that um kind of made him think that I'd be a great candidate for the role.
20:11
SPEAKER_04: Sure.
20:11
SPEAKER_04: And then that must be that must be pretty cool than seeing that.
20:18
SPEAKER_04: Right.
20:18
SPEAKER_04: I mean, maybe your boss was the one who who asked you to do a bit more public speaking, but you were the one who took the reins and did it an order of magnitude greater than he would have expected.
20:27
SPEAKER_04: And then that leads to potential opportunity.
20:30
SPEAKER_04: That's pretty cool.
20:32
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it is.
20:33
SPEAKER_03: It's amazing when you do things that the majority of the people won't do.
20:38
SPEAKER_03: You get opportunities that the majority of people don't get.
20:40
SPEAKER_04: That's pretty eloquent.
20:43
SPEAKER_03: Why, thank you.
20:44
SPEAKER_04: Do you see I saw that on a Pinterest quote when I'll just we'll just say that's actually a quote from Juliana Burton.
20:51
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
20:52
SPEAKER_04: As of now.
20:53
SPEAKER_04: Um, did you or do you now see public speaking?
20:58
SPEAKER_04: Or it sounds like in your interview is about one of the reasons he was interested in you was this ability to connect people by speaking, or maybe just by making your voice be heard.
21:09
SPEAKER_04: Do you see that now as a larger role for you or a larger desire for you to speak in public?
21:16
SPEAKER_03: That's a great question.
21:17
SPEAKER_03: I've been recently thinking about that more, especially with kind of how my role has evolved with my kind of leadership role in the diversity team, and kind of thinking about wow, maybe I should just become a motivational speaker, or maybe I should just do like conferences or something like that.
21:38
SPEAKER_03: Um I don't know.
21:40
SPEAKER_03: I've always really kind of liked that aspect.
21:43
SPEAKER_03: It still terrifies me to public speak, don't get me wrong.
21:46
SPEAKER_03: Sure.
21:47
SPEAKER_03: Um but I don't know, I think that there's something that can be really interesting from it.
21:52
SPEAKER_03: Um and I like the idea of being able to inspire a lot of people at one time.
21:57
SPEAKER_04: Totally.
21:57
SPEAKER_04: I think that's a big aspect.
21:59
SPEAKER_04: And honestly.
22:00
SPEAKER_04: That's probably the one of the, if you think about it, one of the reasons it's so terrifying is not only the fact that you're in front of tons of people, but also that they're listening to you.
22:13
SPEAKER_04: Like you might actually change what they have to think.
22:17
SPEAKER_04: That might actually be one of the real fears of doing it.
22:20
SPEAKER_04: You might, that's like maybe an insecurity of someone being like, I don't know if I really want to them to change their mind based on what I have to say.
22:29
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
22:30
SPEAKER_03: Or vice versa.
22:31
SPEAKER_03: And you don't want to feel like what you have to say is so irrelevant that someone can't listen to it, that you just become another speaker at a conference that people just write emails to.
22:42
SPEAKER_04: That's a really good way of looking at it as well.
22:44
SPEAKER_04: I didn't think of that.
22:46
SPEAKER_04: But it's cool for you that then you see that that's a desire.
22:49
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I'm sure you'll get the opportunity again if it's something that you're interested in.
22:54
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
22:55
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
22:56
SPEAKER_03: We'll see.
22:56
SPEAKER_03: We'll see where my public speaking skills take me.
23:01
SPEAKER_04: Do you think it's helped you maybe in the leadership roles that you've started to take on?
23:05
SPEAKER_04: I know your job started to maybe a bit be aimed a little more towards management or managing people.
23:13
SPEAKER_03: Um yeah, and just to clarify, my new role isn't necessarily managing people.
23:17
SPEAKER_03: Sure.
23:18
SPEAKER_03: Um my new I'm still in kind of the same leadership role within diversity.
23:22
SPEAKER_03: It's just been amplified given recent events.
23:25
SPEAKER_03: Um sorry, I just got really ADD.
23:28
SPEAKER_03: What was the question?
23:30
SPEAKER_03: No, it's no worries.
23:32
SPEAKER_03: Looking at this tie-dye thing over here, like, wow, it's nice.
23:35
SPEAKER_04: That actually leads to a way better question, then, which is there is this really intense racial climate right now, and you to have leadership roles in in organizations, you know, on that subject.
23:47
SPEAKER_04: Has your experience I think it's more than your experience just doing this TED Talk, but it's kind of your experience now asking better questions and becoming a better speaker.
23:58
SPEAKER_04: Has it helped you in this position?
24:01
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, uh I think the way that it's probably helped most isn't necessarily like being able to speak in front of a lot of people or to develop these questions, but it's to feel okay with being uncomfortable and to like understand that being uncomfortable is really just a thought, and thoughts can be changed.
24:26
SPEAKER_03: Um, and I think that that's kind of one of the biggest things that this new well, not new, it's this racial climate has just been going on for a while.
24:35
SPEAKER_03: It's just now getting umplified attention, yes.
24:40
SPEAKER_03: Um, and because of it, it's there's a lot of uncomfortable conversations and a lot of uncomfortableness between what I'm talking about with my managers, or even you know, things that my friends will bring up to me, or there's just this whole area and just knowing that I'm okay with that, and that you know, like this is just a part of life like that is just fine.
25:06
SPEAKER_03: I think that's the biggest way in which the TED Talk has prepared me for this time, it's just being truly okay with being uncomfortable because you can't change unless you are uncomfortable.
25:16
SPEAKER_04: So do you think that you think that's true?
25:18
SPEAKER_04: You can't change unless you are experiencing discomfort.
25:24
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
25:25
SPEAKER_03: I think discomfort comes in different forms and different um magnitudes.
25:31
SPEAKER_03: So it might not just be you feeling like you know, say if you have body images that you wanna you wanna change, like you don't have the self-esteem you want about your body because you feel uncomfortable in it, or you feel like people look at you in a certain way, and that makes you feel uncomfortable.
25:49
SPEAKER_03: Like that's a very different feeling, and like because of that, you can choose if you want to change or not.
25:55
SPEAKER_03: Or like if you I don't I truly, yeah, I do think it.
26:03
SPEAKER_03: I'm trying to think of a circumstance in which being uncomfortable in some sort of magnitude or feeling like you can't speak up, and that's kind of in a way a form of being uncomfortable, feeling like you can't do something that you normally would do.
26:16
SPEAKER_03: Um, all these ways that people might feel uncomfortable prompt change.
26:21
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, absolutely.
26:22
SPEAKER_04: Are there any experiences in your life where you feel like maybe outside of this speaking experience that discomfort had like are there any stories you have where discomfort has kind of made you a better person?
26:32
SPEAKER_04: It sounds like it's pretty important to you.
26:36
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, uh, I think a lot of it, a lot of my stories kind of come from my role in diversity.
26:47
SPEAKER_03: Like when I had first started on like the board of directors for Intel's African American group, I I'm from Boulder, Colorado, which is predominantly all white.
26:58
SPEAKER_03: I went to a school and was in a sorority that was predominantly all white.
27:02
SPEAKER_03: Like being a part of black culture has never been a part of my life.
27:10
SPEAKER_03: It was it was an option, but it was always so much harder to seek out for me.
27:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
27:14
SPEAKER_03: Um, and so then all of a sudden I decided just to go full throttle into it and then be put in these situations where I'm like, I feel like this is half of my heritage.
27:23
SPEAKER_03: I should know so much more about black heritage, black culture, everything that all these people are talking about.
27:30
SPEAKER_03: And I just kept feeling like such an outsider, and that's probably a very uncomfortable feeling, or going to like this all black conference in November.
27:41
SPEAKER_03: And this is after two years of being on the board of directors.
27:44
SPEAKER_03: So I'm like, oh yeah, like I feel great and confident in this, and all of a sudden it's me and 4,000 amazing black individuals that I am just like their style, their intelligence, their swag, they're everything.
27:59
SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, okay, like I do not fit in.
28:03
SPEAKER_03: I look like this little preppy girl that here, like, oh, hey guys, like I'm trying to get Intel involved, and uh, so situations like that.
28:14
SPEAKER_02: And then you just you just push through.
28:16
SPEAKER_04: And how did that play out?
28:18
SPEAKER_04: Like, what how how did you bond then if you felt like an outsider in that moment?
28:23
SPEAKER_03: Uh I think for me, I did what I always kind of do when I feel like an outsider, and I just, you know, get extra smiley and just start talking to someone because I I never want to look like an outsider.
28:38
SPEAKER_03: That's also like I don't want to look like I seem uncomfortable.
28:42
SPEAKER_03: So if I'm talking to someone or um, you know, engaging with a different company at a different booth, like all those things kind of made me feel more at place because I didn't look uncomfortable.
28:55
SPEAKER_03: And then the more and more I did that, the more I felt comfortable.
28:58
SPEAKER_03: So I was like, oh, like these, like this is this is fine.
29:03
SPEAKER_03: This is what I'm here for.
29:05
SPEAKER_03: And like then I got to kind of celebrate it more and kind of step out of okay, get over yourself.
29:10
SPEAKER_03: You don't need to be uncomfortable for this.
29:11
SPEAKER_03: Like you celebrate.
29:15
SPEAKER_03: Um, oh, just like celebrate just black individuals.
29:19
SPEAKER_03: Um yeah.
29:21
SPEAKER_04: And so just by putting yourself out there and then not only did you get comfortable, you probably started to bond with people and maybe find common ground, right?
29:29
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, completely.
29:31
SPEAKER_03: And yeah, it's kind of like your first day at college, you know, when you're like, oh gosh, everyone, like it already looks like everyone has so many friends.
29:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
29:40
SPEAKER_03: You kind of feel nervous, and then you realize, oh, no one really actually has friends.
29:43
SPEAKER_03: They're all just like standing around these people, and and you start standing around people, and then all of a sudden it looks like you have friends, and then you have friends, and yeah.
29:52
SPEAKER_04: Are there any experiences outside of work or outside of these initiatives that have made you uncomfortable?
29:59
SPEAKER_03: Um, I started swimming in the ocean.
30:02
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
30:03
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
30:04
SPEAKER_03: That definitely feels uncomfortable.
30:06
SPEAKER_04: Why'd you start doing that?
30:08
SPEAKER_03: Well, swimming is um an exaggeration.
30:13
SPEAKER_03: Um a few months ago, I started jumping into the ocean whenever I'd get a lot of anxiety or something, just to completely take me out of my reality and try to learn how to breathe.
30:27
SPEAKER_03: Um, yeah, that's uncomfortable on many levels, physically, very uncomfortable.
30:32
SPEAKER_03: Also, everyone's like looking at you as if you're a crazy person.
30:36
SPEAKER_04: Um were you doing it in aquatic park?
30:39
SPEAKER_03: Uh no, just Chrissy Field.
30:42
SPEAKER_04: Uh, right on the beach.
30:43
SPEAKER_03: Mm-hmm.
30:44
SPEAKER_03: That's fine.
30:45
SPEAKER_03: Ron, hop on in.
30:47
SPEAKER_04: Did you what made you decide to do that to make you uncomfortable?
30:51
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I there's like a lot of potential benefits of it.
30:54
SPEAKER_03: I'm just thinking about things that have made me uncomfortable recently.
30:57
SPEAKER_03: Um, not which is a very physical example.
30:59
SPEAKER_04: Uh yeah, but why'd you choose to go jump in the ocean?
31:02
SPEAKER_04: Was it like I you saw the ocean and you said I should go jump in that?
31:07
SPEAKER_02: Uh no.
31:09
SPEAKER_02: Definitely wasn't my first train of thought.
31:12
SPEAKER_03: Um but I I think I just wanted something completely new.
31:19
SPEAKER_03: I think my normal way of coping with anxiety has been to either overthink things or, you know, vent to friends about it, or do these things that don't necessarily I don't know, it just didn't feel like it was still taking me out of my anxiety.
31:39
SPEAKER_03: Like it helped to talk about it, um, it helped to think about it, but it was still there, it's still in my head, uh, it's still present.
31:47
SPEAKER_01: Right.
31:48
SPEAKER_03: Um, and so I don't know, when I would jump in the ocean randomly, it would, I wouldn't think about, I wouldn't think about anything.
31:56
SPEAKER_03: I would, it's just survival mode.
31:57
SPEAKER_00: And it's cold, yeah.
31:59
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and that's like that feeling of like having the you know it so well when like the breath escapes you, and you're like you feel like you're kind of suffocating, and then you realize, yeah, you're like, I'm just fine.
32:10
SPEAKER_03: I am alive.
32:11
SPEAKER_04: I'm like standing on the ground.
32:13
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, it's crazy.
32:15
SPEAKER_03: And then when you come in, you're like, oh, no, that's what it feels like to be alive.
32:20
SPEAKER_03: Like, that's what it feels like to be completely away from this anxiety, and then for the rest of the day, it's like, oh, like, yeah, like that, that's I can conquer that.
32:32
SPEAKER_03: No, that's I can jump in the ocean.
32:34
SPEAKER_04: That's fascinating.
32:35
SPEAKER_04: It's I love the the separation of those two avenues.
32:42
SPEAKER_04: One is because obviously when you have anxieties or issues, it's always helpful to talk about them, but sometimes you know, the other avenue you actually do have to get out of your head sometimes.
32:53
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and kind of get away from those.
32:55
SPEAKER_04: You can't always be fighting, right?
32:58
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
33:00
SPEAKER_04: I love that you chose cold water.
33:03
SPEAKER_04: Have you and you've been doing that recently?
33:07
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, uh for like the past couple months, I've kind of stopped recently because I just haven't had enough time in the day.
33:16
SPEAKER_03: Uh I used to go like during my lunch, um, or just like random times.
33:21
SPEAKER_03: Like it it wouldn't be that frequent, it'd be like once a week or something, just to jolt myself.
33:30
SPEAKER_03: Um besides that, like I would just take cold showers.
33:33
SPEAKER_03: Um, but actually jumping in the ocean, that's a whole nother that's cool.
33:37
SPEAKER_04: So you're super busy then right now.
33:38
SPEAKER_04: How are you choosing how are you trying to manage your time and kind of manage the intensity of how your time is being spent right now?
33:47
SPEAKER_03: That's a great question.
33:48
SPEAKER_03: Um, still attempting to do that.
33:53
SPEAKER_03: Uh for me, it's just prioritizing and then knowing that what I don't accomplish, it is okay.
34:01
SPEAKER_03: Like I think it's honestly having that grace of being like, it is okay to finish work at five, even though you have things, a couple more things to finish up because you are so mentally exhausted.
34:13
SPEAKER_03: Like it's okay to just stop and restart early in the morning.
34:16
SPEAKER_03: Um, so that's been kind of my way to manage the workload and stress and kind of for time management specifically.
34:25
SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's just prioritization.
34:27
SPEAKER_03: It's just working on things and then saying no.
34:32
SPEAKER_03: Um, yeah, saying no.
34:35
SPEAKER_03: It's those are three pretty challenging things to do.
34:39
SPEAKER_04: Those are three pretty great tactics.
34:41
SPEAKER_04: Saying no, prioritizing, but also acceptance that there are only so many hours in the day, right?
34:49
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
34:50
SPEAKER_03: I didn't like it took a long time to fully uh realize those three things, but yeah, it's it's what helps me.
35:02
SPEAKER_03: Doesn't mean that it's still not stressful in the moment, doesn't mean that I still have times where I feel like I have 10 billion things to accomplish at once, but totally, but having those kind of tools in your back pocket probably help you a bit of the anxiety.
35:21
SPEAKER_04: I know I whenever I'm stressed, it brings a little bit of anxiety, especially from work trust.
35:25
SPEAKER_04: Oh yeah.
35:25
SPEAKER_04: That's happened too recently for me.
35:29
SPEAKER_03: Here, I'll give you some of my anxiety.
35:31
SPEAKER_03: You can have it.
35:32
SPEAKER_04: Please, please.
35:34
SPEAKER_04: Give me some of it.
35:36
SPEAKER_04: Maybe when did you start to realize that it's okay to not finish everything in a day?
35:40
SPEAKER_04: I mean, because I coming out of college, I think most people, at least driven people like yourself, tend to have the perspective that everything needs to be accomplished.
35:50
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think definitely when I first started at Intel, I was on the mindset of anytime I was given a deliverable, like I had to complete it right then and there, get it done as fast as possible, make it as perfect as possible.
36:06
SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh, go, go, go.
36:08
SPEAKER_03: Um and then I think at some point, and I might just be this over time and just becoming more mature and just realizing that there's other things in the world and other things in my life going on.
36:27
SPEAKER_03: And yeah, you know, if I don't get to that one task today, the world will not end.
36:34
SPEAKER_03: Some of the engineers might think it's gonna end, but it will not.
36:39
SPEAKER_03: And I think it's understanding that yes, there is a time to push yourself a little bit harder.
36:44
SPEAKER_03: I mean, all of us have had those times that we've had to work really late.
36:47
SPEAKER_03: Um, but then like at once you get to a point and you burn yourself out, like you are no help to yourself or to the company.
36:56
SPEAKER_03: Like you are just like, I don't know, just struggling to survive, and then you aren't actually innovating or creating new thoughts or fully thinking through things.
37:10
SPEAKER_03: You're just like a robot.
37:12
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, no.
37:13
SPEAKER_03: So if I need to take time and go grab a chai latte or stop early and watch some TV and reset and come back fresh in the morning, like that's gonna be more helpful to the company, anyways.
37:23
SPEAKER_04: Absolutely, especially because you have so much going on outside of work as well.
37:27
SPEAKER_04: Right.
37:28
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you know, especially really emotional work right now.
37:32
SPEAKER_04: Um that if you overwork yourself at work, you won't be able to help in those facets of your life either, right?
37:40
SPEAKER_04: With a with whatever you want to do.
37:42
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, completely.
37:45
SPEAKER_04: Um have you found I'd be interested kind of on this discussion something that I'm interested in is if you're willing to talk a bit more about the racial climate, it's interesting to hear, you know, because it's a really stressful issue, I'm sure.
38:07
SPEAKER_04: How do you manage your work in that or your priorities in that with a similar perspective, right?
38:16
SPEAKER_04: Because at work, you know, there are objectives and they're relatively quick.
38:21
SPEAKER_04: Like you have things that are coming up on your desk and they have to be done by today or by the next week, or maybe a large project is like a quarterly project.
38:30
SPEAKER_04: Racism has been going on for a long time, right?
38:35
SPEAKER_04: How do you manage maybe your priorities and what you're working on and the organizations you're working with when the goals aren't necessarily short-term?
38:48
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, uh, another good question, and something honestly, I've been kind of struggling on time management-wise, because it's exactly that.
38:57
SPEAKER_03: It's you're looking at two different time periods in terms of kind of when my work deliverables are versus like the change that I'm trying and fighting for for racial justice.
39:10
SPEAKER_03: But at the same time, both of them feel very urgent and feel like, oh my gosh, I have all this pressure to complete these things now.
39:18
SPEAKER_03: I think with the racial climate, especially, it's been hundreds of years of people fighting for this.
39:27
SPEAKER_03: And for me, I've only been in this game for two years for actively fighting for diversity and actively fighting for racial justice.
39:35
SPEAKER_03: And all of a sudden, it's within a couple weeks span that the entire world is focused on it, and the entire world is driving and wanting change.
39:48
SPEAKER_03: And I think it's scary for a lot of black individuals because we've seen this before.
39:54
SPEAKER_03: We've seen times like when Trayvon Martin died, you know, there were protests at first and then nothing.
40:01
SPEAKER_03: Like there weren't major policy changes, there wasn't any of this aftermath.
40:06
SPEAKER_03: And so it's hard not to think that, oh my gosh, like this is just gonna be fleeting.
40:12
SPEAKER_03: And I think that's scary, and it adds pressure and time pressure onto it because you want to get as much impact in now while we have the attention of the world and while we while we have so much attention on it right now.
40:25
SPEAKER_03: Um, but I honestly I've just been kind of writing down about it a lot and just kind of like trying to get my thoughts and trying to help myself understand and believe.
40:40
SPEAKER_03: I think that's a bigger thing between understanding and believing, that this isn't this doesn't need to all be implemented right away.
40:50
SPEAKER_03: It's not something I need to solve within the next two weeks.
40:54
SPEAKER_03: Um I I think that that's been what I've kind of been struggling with on time management.
40:59
SPEAKER_03: Um yeah, I think for that it's just come through like really thinking about it and then also setting up meetings for it a couple weeks from now.
41:11
SPEAKER_03: And I think something about that, something about saying giving myself the time to be like, oh, I'm not gonna set up a meeting about it tomorrow.
41:18
SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna set it up two weeks from now.
41:20
SPEAKER_03: Like, you know, kind of elongating it and kind of driving this more long-term conversation, as well as with like the initiatives that we're doing.
41:29
SPEAKER_03: They're more longer term, so it kind of feels good to set these time measurement points throughout the next few months.
41:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
41:39
SPEAKER_03: I think that kind of helps alleviate the pressure of all this needs to happen now.
41:43
SPEAKER_04: And it it plays a part in what you were speaking to earlier of you don't want this to be, you know, a bunch of black boxes on Instagram and then nothing, right?
41:57
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and so trendy for now and then so setting up I think that's a really fantastic approach, or it sounds like it is, of not only easing the toll on yourself, because you have to understand that it is a toll by elongating it, but also maybe that helps successfully keep people participating.
42:25
SPEAKER_04: Right?
42:25
SPEAKER_04: The people that you pull in now and have them commit to you, or vice versa, you know, they're committed for a longer term.
42:35
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, exactly.
42:37
SPEAKER_03: And I think just the general nature nature of my discussions, um, whether it be with my sorority sisters or at a corporate level, um, have all been, you know, what can we do for long-term impact?
42:50
SPEAKER_03: Um, what can you do individually?
42:53
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and then setting measurement points, like any any goal you have, you have to have timelines and deadlines for it.
43:01
SPEAKER_03: So making that happen for this movement.
43:03
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, absolutely.
43:06
SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
43:07
SPEAKER_04: No, it's um it's a great take.
43:11
SPEAKER_04: It's a great perspective of working towards something that is meaningful to you, both in your work and in these diversity initiatives.
43:19
SPEAKER_04: And I'm sure you have other things going on in your life as well, but managing them in a way that they don't burn you out, so right, you can't help them.
43:30
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I would be interested to hear maybe your perspective on how you compel yourself to work so hard.
43:40
SPEAKER_04: Because it sounds like you're extremely busy.
43:44
SPEAKER_04: What drivers get you going in the morning?
43:51
SPEAKER_03: I think the underlying one is for me, I've always just kind of gone through my career and My life, as if you know, failure is not an option.
44:05
SPEAKER_03: And I know that that might sound counterintuitive because a lot of times you have to fail in order to succeed, but failure in the terms of like failing and not getting back up or failing and not trying another avenue, like for me being super successful in my career is like part of my mission.
44:28
SPEAKER_03: And now that my career aligns also with my values and what I want for racial justice, it just feels like there is not an option for me not to work super hard because there's more at stake than just you know, just this job, or there's more at stake than just my reputation within my company.
44:49
SPEAKER_03: Like it's you know, like this is creating futures for my kids, like my daughter.
44:55
SPEAKER_03: Like I want her to know that her mom is a boss bitch.
45:00
SPEAKER_03: Um sorry, we're probably not supposed to cuss on the butt.
45:12
SPEAKER_03: It's you know, I don't want to be just another pretty girl that gets by because she married someone rich or because she didn't care enough to actually fully invest herself in what she's doing.
45:27
SPEAKER_03: Um I want to go all out and see where I where I end up.
45:32
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, absolutely.
45:33
SPEAKER_04: I think it's uh it's fun for me to talk about.
45:37
SPEAKER_04: I I love your comment on, and I think it's wonderful that it sounds like your job and your goals are aligning kind of with your values.
45:49
SPEAKER_04: And from this conversation, it's really clear, especially from your comment, failure is not an option in the context that it means not getting back up is not an option, right?
46:02
SPEAKER_04: That and what you said earlier about discomfort is that you really value discomfort, you really value those pivot points in life where you have to make a call, right?
46:17
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think that's what my next TED Talk will be on.
46:21
SPEAKER_04: Yeah?
46:22
SPEAKER_03: Getting uncomfy.
46:23
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
46:24
SPEAKER_04: When's that one coming out?
46:26
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
46:27
SPEAKER_03: When will we be able to see people again?
46:31
SPEAKER_04: We'll do a shout-out if there's anyone listening that posts TED Talks.
46:35
SPEAKER_04: We gotta speak.
46:36
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
46:37
SPEAKER_02: Look me up.
46:39
SPEAKER_04: What other what other values would you say that your job and and your your other initiatives are lining up with?
46:47
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
46:47
SPEAKER_03: I think for me it's just kind of being able to understand my own self-worth a little bit and kind of having this role where I do feel like I have an impact, like both to Intel's financials and the diversity part, but kind of focusing more on the finance aspect of my job, like what my actual day job is in finance, is like I do feel like I have an impact.
47:14
SPEAKER_03: I get to have that say at the table or work on these projects that I think can really change what the analysts do at Intel.
47:25
SPEAKER_03: Um and that feels really good.
47:29
SPEAKER_03: Like it just it feels good.
47:33
SPEAKER_03: And I don't know if there's another way to explain it, but sometimes there's only one way to explain it, and that's a pretty eloquent way of putting it, right?
47:44
SPEAKER_04: Is that it feels good, and there's something to that, right?
47:46
SPEAKER_04: Is it's this aspect of fulfillment.
47:49
SPEAKER_04: It it's not a there's it's a hard there's no real way of describing that besides it feels good.
47:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
47:59
SPEAKER_04: Um and it sounds like it brings you a lot of pride to work in a or act in a way that makes an impact, but it sounds like to what you to how you first responded to the question was it was important to you because it you feel like it it it gave you self-worth or maybe self-respect.
48:21
SPEAKER_04: Right?
48:22
SPEAKER_04: This this delivering to other people gives you worth, right?
48:32
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
48:33
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, when you say it like that, I'm like, ooh, because it's an interesting concept that for me, you know, how I feel worthy is by I don't know if it's as much helping people, like that is one of the things that does make me feel worthy, and that's why I do the diversity initiatives I'm in.
48:52
SPEAKER_03: Um, but I'm thinking about just like my finance job, and it's not necessarily helping people, I'm not solving world hunger by you know making sure that our balance sheet ties out.
49:03
SPEAKER_04: Intel does some pretty good things for the world.
49:06
SPEAKER_03: We do, we do, but they could still do those things without me.
49:12
SPEAKER_03: When it comes, if you just look at my role as an analyst.
49:15
SPEAKER_03: Yes, it would take a very smart, intelligent analyst.
49:19
SPEAKER_03: And there are very few of us around that are capable of um kind of my hard work and intelligence and grace and poise.
49:26
SPEAKER_01: Agree.
49:28
SPEAKER_03: But in reality, that can be replaced.
49:33
SPEAKER_03: Um, I think that is an interesting question of what part of that truly gives me that feeling of self-worth, self-worth.
49:39
SPEAKER_03: And I think it's just, you know, doing it on my own.
49:44
SPEAKER_03: And you know, but all the things that I've put myself through to get to this point, and it hasn't been like this is just handed to me or anything like that.
49:56
SPEAKER_03: It's it's kind of been this fight, um, whether it was learning about finance in college and like struggling with having terrible ADD and being and failing out of my math classes in high school.
50:09
SPEAKER_03: Um to, I don't know, these just these different aspects.
50:13
SPEAKER_03: I think that's probably more of the root of what the self-worth comes from, is like, wow, I have put myself in this position.
50:21
SPEAKER_03: I've worked hard for it.
50:22
SPEAKER_03: I've realized that might not be my finance, might not be my end all be all, but like wow, I've come a very far way.
50:31
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and I think there's an aspect of that that's not just because reflection is great, and reflection can definitely bring you pride, as it should, especially when you've acted well and and worked hard, like you have to get to the place you're in.
50:49
SPEAKER_04: But also on the flip side is the excitement for where that leads, right?
50:58
SPEAKER_04: Where you put all this work in and and you get to this point and you look back and you're like, Yeah, I did all that.
51:04
SPEAKER_04: And then you look forward and you go, but what can I do?
51:08
SPEAKER_04: Right?
51:09
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'm like, if I can make this much of an impact with my day job in something that you know isn't where I'm the most passionate, you know, doing finance for at 25 years old.
51:24
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
51:25
SPEAKER_03: Like just imagining how much change and impact I can drive if I'm in a role that I am 100% passionate about.
51:35
SPEAKER_03: Like I'm like, I like that.
51:39
SPEAKER_03: I don't even know.
51:43
SPEAKER_04: That's incredible.
51:45
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
51:46
SPEAKER_04: Oh, it's exciting.
51:48
SPEAKER_04: And I don't know, it really sums up, I think, a lot of what we've talked about.
51:53
SPEAKER_04: Right?
51:54
SPEAKER_04: Because the reason you've maybe one of the reasons why you feel so proud of where you come from is you've overcome a lot of difficulties, right?
52:06
SPEAKER_04: This is this value of discomfort, and that made you a stronger person.
52:10
SPEAKER_04: And so now you're looking to the future like what it's actually pretty a while, a pretty wild perspective to think what ways can I make my dis my ways can I make myself uncomfortable so that I can continue to work hard and see what kind of impact I can make in the future.
52:27
SPEAKER_04: It's exciting.
52:29
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
52:30
SPEAKER_03: I haven't quite said it like that, but I like the way that you said that.
52:34
SPEAKER_03: Sounds very inspirational.
52:36
SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
52:37
SPEAKER_04: No, I think that's a pretty good place to wrap up.
52:40
SPEAKER_04: I guess my last question would be the topic I'm kind of interested in is this idea of who do you work so hard for?
52:55
SPEAKER_04: Right?
52:56
SPEAKER_04: Is it for yourself or is it for others?
53:01
SPEAKER_04: Or is it for anything in in particular?
53:04
SPEAKER_04: Is it not even for a person, is it for something else?
53:11
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
53:12
SPEAKER_01: That's a big question.
53:15
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
53:16
SPEAKER_03: I I think honestly, my first intuition and what I want to say is that it's for myself.
53:24
SPEAKER_03: And there's nothing wrong with that.
53:26
SPEAKER_03: No, there's nothing wrong with it, but it's I also know that it isn't like the only thing.
53:41
SPEAKER_03: I think a lot of what I do and a lot of how I get myself places is, you know, it all stems from my own self-respect and my own self-awareness.
53:56
SPEAKER_03: And, you know, a lot of the things I do, I want to gain more self-awareness.
54:02
SPEAKER_03: I want to feel out, I want to see how I can do these things, what I can do and leave this this world having accomplished.
54:12
SPEAKER_03: But then at the same time, I'm often trying to sail the boat and build it at the same time.
54:17
SPEAKER_03: So a little bit of everything all at once.
54:20
SPEAKER_04: It's a it's a I think it's a issue a lot of people empathize with.
54:27
SPEAKER_04: Life is overwhelming.
54:29
SPEAKER_02: Very much so, but I enjoy it.
54:33
SPEAKER_02: It's a fun ride.
54:34
SPEAKER_02: Keeps me on my toes.
54:41
SPEAKER_04: I want to thank Juliana for that conversation.
54:44
SPEAKER_04: She is someone who always makes me feel like I can work harder and more efficiently and still have fun at the same time.
54:50
SPEAKER_04: And I really appreciate that.
54:52
SPEAKER_04: Her analogy between viewing questions to paintings in an art gallery is a fun way of creating a new perspective.
54:58
SPEAKER_04: Likewise, it's always nice to hear from such an ambitious person that when you're truly feeling overwhelmed from work, it's okay to stop.
55:07
SPEAKER_04: Close your laptop, take a breath, jump in the ocean, or reset however else you want to.
55:12
SPEAKER_04: But take a moment or a night to clear your mind before getting back into it the next day.
55:16
SPEAKER_04: You'll be a better help to your company, your cause, and yourself if you take care of your mind.
55:21
SPEAKER_04: And that follows into a message I really took home from Juliana here.
55:25
SPEAKER_04: That asking good questions and working sustainably are just two of many methods good for creating long-term impact.
55:32
SPEAKER_04: Because that is what we're all chasing after in the end.
55:35
SPEAKER_04: Success in the long term, however you define it.
55:38
SPEAKER_04: It makes me think that if I can ask thought-provoking questions and sustain efficient work over a longer period of time, I'll be able to realize more success than I ever could by working myself into exhaustion every day.
55:50
SPEAKER_04: And maybe it makes you think of the success you might be capable of, with the same mentality.
55:55
SPEAKER_04: Thanks for listening.
56:01
SPEAKER_04: If you like this episode of seeking authenticity, that's freaking awesome.
56:06
SPEAKER_04: All I want to ask of you, the listener, in return for the time and effort I put into making it, is that you take a deep breath.
56:14
SPEAKER_04: I mean really breathe.
56:15
SPEAKER_04: Breathe so that it stretches out your shoulders and your back and your chest and pushes out your stomach.
56:21
SPEAKER_04: No more of these shallow, bullshit breaths.
56:23
SPEAKER_04: They're barely keeping you alive, my friend.
56:25
SPEAKER_04: And after you exhale, go out and soak up today.
56:29
SPEAKER_04: Because in the end, your actions and the way they interact with the world and the people around you right now are all you have in this life.
56:37
SPEAKER_04: So be authentic with them.
56:39
SPEAKER_04: Peace.