Latest / The Ric and Dan Show / "Connecting with people is a dance": Biguita Hernandez-Smith of the City of Bangor

Transcript

"Connecting with people is a dance": Biguita Hernandez-Smith of the City of Bangor · The Ric and Dan Show

• 0:01
  (Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) He's Rick Tyler and he's Dan Cashman.
• 0:04
  And I am Begita Ednanda-Smith, Economic Development Officer for the City of Bangor.
• 0:10
  And I am on The Rick and Dan Show.
• 0:12
  In Maine, we often hear, you can't get there from here.
• 0:15
  These are the stories of the risk takers, the trailblazers,
• 0:19
  those who turn obstacles into opportunities every day
• 0:22
  and found their way to get there from here.
• 0:25
  And today, they're on The Rick and Dan Show.
• 0:28
  Here I am, all alone in the studio, talking to myself
• 0:32
  because Dan is running late and our guest is still sitting in the Yabey Lounge
• 0:39
  and Elizabeth is yapping her ear off.
• 0:43
  I guess I'm going to set some waters up for everybody.
• 0:45
  That'd be good.
• 0:47
  Welcome to our studio.
• 0:49
  You're sitting right over here.
• 0:50
  Well, look, the President and CEO of Southern and Western has a bag of swag for you.
• 0:54
  There's something lovely from our sponsor, Coffee Hound Coffee.
• 0:57
  Medium roast because we figure that you've got enough caffeine going with you,
• 1:01
  the energy level that you have.
• 1:02
  That's good. Thank you so much.
• 1:05
  And this is a Christmas one.
• 1:06
  It's an air freshener, actually.
• 1:08
  If you want to hang it on your tree, you go right ahead.
• 1:10
  One of the Rick and Dan air fresheners.
• 1:12
  And Dan will be here in just a second.
• 1:14
  I'm supposed to say, guests of The Rick and Dan Show receive our home game,
• 1:18
  which is really just sitting around and talking to yourself,
• 1:21
  and lovely gifts from Coffee Hound Coffee, our sponsor.
• 1:24
  And in a moment, Dan will walk through the door and say the three words he's supposed to say.
• 1:27
  Then he'll say Coffee Hound Coffee Co.
• 1:29
  And then he'll say their website.
• 1:31
  Wander, caffeinate, explore.
• 1:34
  Coffee Hound Coffee Company.
• 1:35
  Find them online at coffeehoundcoffeeco.com.
• 1:38
  Before buying a car, some people will test drive a car.
• 1:41
  Before adopting an animal, you can foster one.
• 1:44
  You took a job in Bangor without ever coming to Bangor first?
• 1:47
  I just love, I love the element of surprise.
• 1:51
  I love spontaneity.
• 1:52
  I love living life a tad on the edge.
• 1:56
  I've disciplined myself enough to know where on the edge I can live.
• 2:01
  But yeah, it's exciting to me.
• 2:04
  Would you have done that with any community?
• 2:06
  Or did you do a little bit of digging into what makes Bangor Bangor before making that choice?
• 2:13
  So caveat, and not to get, I mean, because I have to bring the facts in.
• 2:17
  The facts are that.
• 2:19
  Facts? Do we reach facts on this show?
• 2:22
  No.
• 2:24
  This will be a first for us.
• 2:26
  So the fact is, is that I lost my mom, right?
• 2:29
  So I lost my mom pretty abruptly, not expecting to lose her.
• 2:33
  She was in decent health.
• 2:36
  And so my husband and I had some really deep conversations about what's next.
• 2:41
  Should we stay in Texas? Where should we go?
• 2:44
  And I am a mother.
• 2:45
  And I am a mother like my mother, where I put my children and my grandchildren first.
• 2:50
  And anyhow, Jason knows me very well.
• 2:52
  And Jason said, I think that we need to go elsewhere.
• 2:55
  I think you need some time.
• 2:57
  And he offered me a proposal.
• 3:00
  He said, I am going to apply all over the country.
• 3:05
  And let's see where we land.
• 3:07
  And that's how we got to Bangor or to Maine.
• 3:10
  And so he was called by UMaine.
• 3:14
  And he was asked to come on campus.
• 3:18
  And I said, just take a picture of downtown for me and let me see what it looks like.
• 3:22
  And I was like, oh, it's so cute.
• 3:23
  It looks like a Hallmark movie.
• 3:26
  Do you remember what the picture was of?
• 3:27
  Which area of downtown he took?
• 3:29
  It was Even Roots because that's where they went.
• 3:31
  That's where they went to dinner.
• 3:32
  When Even Roots was Even Roots.
• 3:34
  So he got a gig in Orono and you got a gig in Bangor.
• 3:39
  Not quite.
• 3:41
  Oh.
• 3:41
  Facts.
• 3:42
  Stupid facts.
• 3:43
  Not quite.
• 3:44
  Set me straight.
• 3:45
  OK.
• 3:46
  Not too much detail.
• 3:48
  He got invited on campus to Orono.
• 3:51
  At that moment, I can't remember exactly the timeline.
• 3:55
  But I said, well, OK, let me do some.
• 3:58
  I mean, it wasn't really a search.
• 3:59
  It wasn't a job search.
• 4:00
  It was like, I'm going to go on LinkedIn.
• 4:02
  And this position stood out to me.
• 4:04
  It was economic development officer for the city of Bangor.
• 4:08
  And it was promoted by the International Economic
• 4:11
  Development Council, which I follow.
• 4:14
  Or I had followed and still follow and remember now.
• 4:16
  And so I was like, oh, Maine, Bangor.
• 4:20
  Didn't even think.
• 4:21
  Didn't even put it in my GPS how far the two cities were.
• 4:25
  I was just like, oh, let me open this up.
• 4:27
  What intrigued me about the position was it
• 4:28
  had some components of economic development
• 4:30
  that I had never done before, like the foreign trade zone,
• 4:34
  like international relations, working with the airport,
• 4:37
  real estate development.
• 4:38
  So I applied on a Friday night.
• 4:41
  And so the short story of a very long story
• 4:43
  is that I got an interview or was on an interview
• 4:47
  as Jason was fighting a storm in Philadelphia
• 4:50
  to get to Bangor.
• 4:52
  And in that interview, I was offered the position.
• 4:55
  Wow.
• 4:55
  On a Zoom interview.
• 4:57
  I've never been.
• 4:58
  I mean, when does that happen?
• 5:01
  Who does that?
• 5:02
  And so I was like, wait a second, guys,
• 5:04
  because I have a husband who's not there yet.
• 5:06
  And so the very next day, I had an offer letter in my inbox.
• 5:10
  And I was so excited because I love new
• 5:13
  and I love to learn new things.
• 5:15
  So he didn't reveal to me because he
• 5:17
  had to be on point for the whole interview process.
• 5:20
  But he was very stressed for those next three weeks
• 5:23
  because it took three weeks for them to offer.
• 5:27
  So he didn't have the job offer when you got the job offer.
• 5:30
  He did not.
• 5:31
  So he was up here.
• 5:32
  However, he initiated the search.
• 5:34
  But it still seems divine that the both of you
• 5:36
  got what you needed.
• 5:37
  And you're looking at the map.
• 5:39
  You're just this far apart.
• 5:40
  That is the word.
• 5:42
  Who saw that coming?
• 5:43
  You have a big job.
• 5:45
  You're attracting business and wooing entrepreneurs
• 5:49
  to the third biggest city in our state.
• 5:53
  How big a job is that?
• 5:55
  Well, first off, it's a big job.
• 5:57
  And it's way more than that.
• 5:58
  And so it's business attraction in a way,
• 6:02
  in a subtle way, to let folks know this is a destination
• 6:06
  place and you should consider it.
• 6:08
  And that's traveling nationally and internationally
• 6:10
  and talking about the city, the state,
• 6:12
  and the opportunities here.
• 6:14
  When you talk about wooing entrepreneurs,
• 6:17
  yeah, it's about continuing to ignite their passion,
• 6:20
  but also teaching them and getting them to understand
• 6:23
  how to build their business.
• 6:25
  But then it's also foreign trade zone, right?
• 6:28
  And so how do we buffer the new tariff policies
• 6:31
  and ensure that our importers and exporters
• 6:33
  are in a healthy position?
• 6:35
  And then it's also we, the city, we own city properties,
• 6:38
  and it's managing those properties
• 6:40
  and ensuring that those properties are well kept
• 6:42
  and our tenants are taken care of.
• 6:44
  And then it's also managing an innovation center,
• 6:47
  a manufacturing innovation center.
• 6:49
  And then it's also building, right?
• 6:51
  So we're building a central kitchen incubator.
• 6:53
  So it's all those things.
• 6:54
  And yes, it is a very big job.
• 6:56
  Are there any small fish or are they all big fish?
• 6:59
  Responding to people that have an interest.
• 7:01
  It could be a big corporation that's looking for someplace
• 7:05
  and you've got a dozen, more than a dozen reasons to say,
• 7:07
  hey, come look at the greater Bangor area.
• 7:09
  Or if it's just a single person with a dream
• 7:11
  and a spark and a drive.
• 7:13
  It's all of it.
• 7:14
  So they're all big fish.
• 7:15
  It's all.
• 7:16
  It's all.
• 7:17
  It's small fish.
• 7:18
  It's small people that need a helping hand,
• 7:20
  that need someone to guide them through how to start a business
• 7:24
  or just understand and listen to their idea.
• 7:27
  So yes, that very big business that we want to attract here,
• 7:31
  whether it be from another state or internationally.
• 7:34
  Do you see any of yourself in the conversations you have
• 7:37
  with people that you're looking to attract to come here?
• 7:39
  Maybe they haven't been here.
• 7:41
  They don't know much about Bangor.
• 7:42
  Do you have that memory recall of being in that same position?
• 7:46
  And do you use that to your advantage?
• 7:48
  I can relate, right?
• 7:50
  And it's probably not my move from the Houston region to Bangor.
• 7:55
  It's more my move from New York to the Houston region.
• 7:59
  And trying to understand, okay, how do I fit in here?
• 8:03
  How can I contribute but also tread lightly to build genuine relationships?
• 8:08
  How do I bring my experience and have it be accepted?
• 8:12
  And how do I not judge, right?
• 8:15
  So, you know, I mean, we all know Nixer in the finals.
• 8:19
  You know New Yorkers.
• 8:20
  We are going to represent.
• 8:23
  We are very proud of who we are, right?
• 8:26
  And bringing, not losing that bravado,
• 8:29
  but bringing it in a way that can be accepted.
• 8:32
  And again, right, I never lived in the South.
• 8:35
  So all the stigmas of the South, slowness of the South,
• 8:39
  the inauthenticity of the South.
• 8:41
  They don't do business like how we do business.
• 8:44
  And being able to not, like to rid myself of that prejudgment
• 8:48
  and to be able to acclimate and understand the community.
• 8:52
  So I can relate to that when people,
• 8:55
  and let me caveat by saying complete transparency, right?
• 8:59
  I would never agree to be in any place or speak without being completely honest.
• 9:04
  So living in the South for 10 years in both Houston and Beaumont, Texas,
• 9:10
  a lot of my community there were concerned with the fact that this state was not diverse.
• 9:15
  Oh my God, what's going to happen to you?
• 9:18
  No one, no one there looks like you.
• 9:21
  Now what's very interesting is I had no hesitation about that.
• 9:26
  Why?
• 9:27
  Because I come from the least diverse New York borough, which is Staten Island.
• 9:32
  So oftentimes I was the only person of color, the only Latina in the room.
• 9:38
  And quite frankly, in every school that I went to,
• 9:40
  because I went to private schools that were very costly.
• 9:43
  My mother, you know, worked three jobs in order for me to go to those.
• 9:46
  I was the only one in a classroom.
• 9:48
  And the majority of my friends, probably until I was 21, were predominantly Caucasian.
• 9:54
  So this was not an unfamiliar thing for me, right?
• 9:56
  Like I know how to build relationships that I know who people are.
• 10:00
  And I really tap in quite naturally to people's humanity.
• 10:04
  And that is received.
• 10:05
  So I didn't have any doubt about coming to a city like Bangor or Maine.
• 10:10
  But what's really powerful is when I tell my story.
• 10:13
  So having been here two years and even after a year,
• 10:16
  going to places like Durham, North Carolina, and people going,
• 10:20
  what are you doing in Maine? What's going on there?
• 10:23
  And for me to tell the story about my experience and the quality of life
• 10:28
  and my opportunities and the big things, right?
• 10:30
  It's not only the quality of life. It's not only vacation land.
• 10:33
  We got some really innovative things happening over here.
• 10:36
  So when I tell that story as a person who looks like me,
• 10:40
  other people who look like me can trust it.
• 10:43
  Building those relationships takes time.
• 10:45
  How do you not get tired of, okay, I got to find the strength.
• 10:49
  I've got to go and I've got to meet again with someone.
• 10:51
  I've got to tell them the story. I've got to tell them of the opportunity.
• 10:54
  How do you get yourself jazzed up for that?
• 10:56
  I'm designed in that way. Now, I cannot do that 100%.
• 11:00
  And we talked about divinity, right?
• 11:03
  Divinity is having a husband who is not that,
• 11:06
  who is not the extrovert and who balances me and who understands that
• 11:13
  and helps me to say it's time to come home or stop saying yes to everything.
• 11:18
  You don't have to say yes to everything.
• 11:20
  Because how I'm designed naturally is that I love people and people give me joy.
• 11:24
  But as a human, our spirit needs to rest, right?
• 11:27
  So that I could be rejuvenated to do it all over again.
• 11:30
  But I don't think that everybody is made for this kind of work.
• 11:33
  He causes us to lie down by still waters.
• 11:35
  It's not that we choose to take the vacation.
• 11:37
  God says, hey, take a breather. It would be a good idea.
• 11:42
  Is that why I fall asleep when I hear you talk?
• 11:47
  Still waters. Rick Still Waters.
• 11:51
  That's what we call him. We call him Still Water Rick around here.
• 11:55
  My second favorite place in the world is New York City.
• 11:57
  My favorite place in the world is Eastern Maine.
• 12:00
  None of my friends, I'm glad Rick's taking a drink of water
• 12:02
  because he would make a joke about the lack of friends that I have.
• 12:04
  After that last crack at me, I think you just lost another one.
• 12:07
  But anyway, go on.
• 12:08
  Perfect. None of my friends can understand that.
• 12:12
  Everybody I try to explain it to, they say, well, we just don't see it.
• 12:15
  Eastern Maine is so different than New York.
• 12:17
  But I love New York.
• 12:18
  But what I'm hearing you say is that you see a lot of vanguard in Staten Island
• 12:22
  or you see a lot of Staten Island and vanguard. Is that fair to say?
• 12:25
  Yeah, big time. And even beyond Staten Island,
• 12:28
  it's a mentality that, first of all, we're guarded people.
• 12:32
  We're not going to let everyone in. Right?
• 12:33
  And even even though I'm in this work of economic development
• 12:37
  where I'm going to have an authentic conversation with you,
• 12:40
  doesn't mean that you're in my circle.
• 12:42
  But once you've reached my inner circle, I got your back.
• 12:45
  And that's how Mainers are.
• 12:47
  And our will, right, our determination to make things happen
• 12:52
  and to work hard to be able to get to that end result.
• 12:56
  And I don't know that this is necessarily a positive thing,
• 12:59
  but trying to do it on our own without asking for help or being collaborative.
• 13:03
  That's Maine right there. We're proud.
• 13:05
  And that's also Staten Island.
• 13:07
  Yes.
• 13:07
  Really? Is there any Texas in there?
• 13:09
  No. Caveat.
• 13:12
  My very dedicated and committed husband has my back.
• 13:17
  Is he from Texas?
• 13:18
  Yeah, Jason is from Houston.
• 13:20
  Staten Island has a very special place in my heart.
• 13:23
  Rick knows last year I did the New York Marathon
• 13:26
  and that was the most meaningful thing I've ever done on my own.
• 13:31
  I mean, people help me train and stuff, but you can't finish that if you can't finish that yourself.
• 13:35
  I hope that guy was behind you chasing you trying to steal your wallet.
• 13:38
  He was trying to light me on fire.
• 13:40
  That's not true.
• 13:41
  So the New York Marathon starts on Staten Island.
• 13:45
  And I was overcome with emotion several times throughout the course.
• 13:50
  And it started on Staten Island.
• 13:52
  I just started bawling at the start line.
• 13:55
  And I thought, good Lord, I'm going to be so dehydrated.
• 13:58
  Oh my goodness.
• 13:58
  This is not good.
• 13:59
  And going over that bridge that I always thought was called the Staten Island Bridge, and it's not.
• 14:04
  What's the name of it?
• 14:04
  The Verrazano to Brooklyn?
• 14:07
  Or the Gothels.
• 14:08
  You go to Brooklyn, it's two miles.
• 14:10
  So the first two miles of the race is on that bridge.
• 14:12
  And I remember looking to my left and seeing the lower Manhattan skyline.
• 14:16
  And it was just magical and spiritual.
• 14:18
  And Staten Island will always have such a special place in my heart simply because of that.
• 14:22
  How much of your heart does Staten Island have?
• 14:24
  So first of all, I really appreciate you pronouncing it correctly like we do.
• 14:29
  Not Staten Island.
• 14:31
  Staten Island, we just put it all together.
• 14:33
  Appreciate that.
• 14:35
  Wow.
• 14:35
  Thank you.
• 14:36
  My heart and soul.
• 14:37
  Oh my God.
• 14:38
  Staten Island.
• 14:39
  Yeah.
• 14:40
  My heart and soul.
• 14:41
  So I just hosted a bunch of my girls from Staten Island who came and we kayaked for the first time.
• 14:46
  And they loved Maine.
• 14:47
  And they felt kind of the same way and very comfortable here.
• 14:50
  Staten Island, I mean, it's my roots.
• 14:51
  We have our own accent, right?
• 14:53
  We're New Yorkers and we were always called the forgotten borough.
• 14:56
  Not so forgotten anymore.
• 14:58
  Wu-Tang, right?
• 14:59
  Like Wu-Tang Clan.
• 15:00
  The whole St. George area is now fully developed.
• 15:04
  I'm really proud.
• 15:05
  But nothing more to say.
• 15:06
  This is where I come from.
• 15:09
  And it will always be my home.
• 15:11
  And when I go home, it's home.
• 15:13
  I get love.
• 15:14
  But I've been very blessed to have many places home.
• 15:17
  And Bangor feels like home.
• 15:19
  Bangor feels like home.
• 15:21
  Bangor, because of how small the city is, I mean, I think we're like 45,000, it was just so easier to build relationships here.
• 15:30
  And it's been two years and I have some really good relationships.
• 15:34
  I mean, it's kind of simple, the formula.
• 15:35
  You show up for people, you're present.
• 15:37
  People are going to feel that.
• 15:38
  People are going to be attracted to that.
• 15:40
  What I don't understand, and I'm going to bravely say this, you don't look like you've been in the biz for 20 plus years.
• 15:48
  I've been in the biz for 20 plus years.
• 15:51
  Did you start when you were five?
• 15:54
  Seven.
• 15:57
  Because, totally honest, 40 plus years in broadcasting in Maine and 30 years reporting.
• 16:05
  I have seen your predecessors in City Hall.
• 16:08
  They were old and gray.
• 16:09
  This job can take a lot out of you.
• 16:11
  You look pretty vibrant to me.
• 16:13
  What's your secret?
• 16:15
  Vanity.
• 16:16
  To a certain extent, right?
• 16:18
  Vanity.
• 16:18
  I always say, in terms of weight, let's just take weight.
• 16:22
  I am only going to get to a certain point because it's important to me to present a full package to the world.
• 16:28
  And that being intelligent, having the experience, being authentic and looking great.
• 16:33
  And that's important to me.
• 16:34
  And not so important to everyone else.
• 16:36
  So vanity has saved me.
• 16:38
  And in that vanity, especially getting older, I am embracing taking care of myself.
• 16:43
  Prior to this, I could New York a party girl, right?
• 16:47
  Catholic school girl.
• 16:48
  We partied.
• 16:49
  And I could look the same way from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. the next morning.
• 16:54
  But I got to take a little more care of myself these days.
• 16:57
  So I have to moisturize and I have to get good sleep.
• 17:00
  But, yeah, I say that to everyone.
• 17:03
  I have a certain amount of pride in how I present myself physically to the world.
• 17:08
  So that's why I want to ask you about your commitment to fitness.
• 17:12
  Because I first met you walking into Evolve Fitness one day.
• 17:16
  You sure did.
• 17:17
  You were coming in to take.
• 17:19
  I was in the parking lot.
• 17:19
  Yes, you were.
• 17:20
  And we walked side by side.
• 17:22
  I met you for the first time.
• 17:23
  Yeah, you were so nice.
• 17:23
  And I walked in and said to everybody, hey, I just met Bagheeta.
• 17:27
  She's from Texas.
• 17:28
  And John Baylor was there and said, oh, yeah, I met Bagheeta a long time ago.
• 17:32
  Because you had been in other classes.
• 17:34
  Yes.
• 17:34
  You not only take classes, you teach classes.
• 17:40
  And this is interesting because I think this is the first time in the history of our show we have a guest
• 17:45
  and we'd already talked to one of your bosses on a previous episode.
• 17:48
  Yes.
• 17:48
  Yeah, that is true.
• 17:49
  My girl.
• 17:50
  Sunshine.
• 17:51
  How many classes do you teach?
• 17:52
  I teach one kind of class, and that's Zumba.
• 17:56
  And it's Latin Zumba.
• 17:57
  And I teach that now three times a week.
• 18:00
  You want to know the story behind that?
• 18:02
  Yes.
• 18:02
  Yeah.
• 18:02
  OK.
• 18:03
  Pop some popcorn.
• 18:05
  For real, right?
• 18:06
  So I've been taking Zumba since Zumba came out.
• 18:08
  Like what, 25?
• 18:10
  How old am I?
• 18:10
  27.
• 18:11
  27 is what we said, right?
• 18:13
  You were Zumba when Zumba wasn't cool.
• 18:15
  Yes.
• 18:16
  Zumba was always cool.
• 18:17
  I know.
• 18:17
  I just said that.
• 18:18
  So I've been taking it.
• 18:20
  And so it was this whole push and shove with I have this passion for dance.
• 18:25
  But I was raised during a time where dance was not a career path.
• 18:30
  It was pursuing financial opportunities and getting on top of that ladder.
• 18:35
  And so I started my career in financial services.
• 18:37
  But dance always called me.
• 18:39
  I was in talent shows.
• 18:40
  And I just loved to dance.
• 18:41
  But dance was always available to me.
• 18:43
  So I was always the student.
• 18:44
  And of course, I was always in the front row.
• 18:46
  And folks used to tell me all the time, both in New York and Texas, you need to become a Zumba teacher.
• 18:51
  But I didn't want to give up my profession, right?
• 18:54
  Like I was so proud of that.
• 18:56
  And I didn't want to make that commitment.
• 18:58
  Because I knew if I made a commitment to people, then that would be a thing for me.
• 19:02
  Until it was the kind of Zumba that I'm used to wasn't available.
• 19:07
  Right.
• 19:07
  And that's the Latin Zumba.
• 19:09
  That's the merengue and the salsa and the bachata.
• 19:12
  And I was like, oh, shoot, here we go.
• 19:14
  Now I have to I'm going to bring it.
• 19:16
  And it means so timing is everything.
• 19:18
  Right.
• 19:18
  It means so much more because I'm able to share my culture with the community that may not be as familiar with my culture as other communities that I lived in.
• 19:27
  I never thought of that.
• 19:28
  It's a way to share a love of culture.
• 19:31
  Yes.
• 19:32
  That was why I mean, that was the reason why I pursued that.
• 19:34
  And the fact that I miss Zumba.
• 19:36
  How much joy does teaching a class bring you?
• 19:38
  So much joy.
• 19:39
  Yeah.
• 19:40
  Yeah.
• 19:40
  Because you know me.
• 19:42
  You know me.
• 19:42
  Right.
• 19:43
  And this is not going to be a surprise.
• 19:44
  It's not just a Zumba class.
• 19:45
  It's like I want you guys to embrace your body.
• 19:47
  Your body's your tempo.
• 19:48
  It's a beautiful thing.
• 19:49
  I want you to flow.
• 19:51
  I want you to feel the music.
• 19:52
  And then I like anytime that I have gone to a Zumba class prior, there was no lesson.
• 19:58
  Right.
• 19:58
  It was always assumed that you would catch up.
• 20:00
  Jump in.
• 20:00
  Yeah.
• 20:01
  And so here I broke it down.
• 20:03
  When I started, it was like a whole month of like breaking down all the steps.
• 20:06
  And then we brought them together.
• 20:07
  And then we actually had a playlist of songs and they love it.
• 20:10
  Is that one of the things that you feel keeps you young is not just the doing of Zumba, but teaching it as well?
• 20:17
  Sure.
• 20:18
  Keeping me young, keeping me connected to souls.
• 20:20
  Right.
• 20:21
  And I feel like I can see there was one student in my class that after class, I took him aside and he wanted to get a certain move.
• 20:28
  And I taught him the move.
• 20:30
  And he came back to me and he said, B, he goes, I know this move now.
• 20:34
  And I feel smooth.
• 20:36
  I said, you better go.
• 20:38
  You feel smooth.
• 20:39
  That's what I'm talking about.
• 20:40
  So I love people to find themselves and to realize that they could do things that they didn't think that they could do.
• 20:47
  Developing people, not only in Zumba, but developing people.
• 20:50
  The connections that you make in your class when you teach at Sunshine.
• 20:55
  I think that dance is similar to what you must do when connecting with entrepreneurs that want to come to the region and you connect them with the government.
• 21:05
  Sometimes it's a bad word these days, but the government of Bangor.
• 21:09
  It's an entity.
• 21:10
  There are people that are running it.
• 21:12
  And you're almost a conduit between the two.
• 21:14
  You're dancing in both jobs.
• 21:17
  Revelation.
• 21:18
  I never really thought about it that way.
• 21:20
  But yes, it's a dance.
• 21:22
  I mean, connecting with people is a dance.
• 21:25
  I worked in New York City government.
• 21:28
  So government is government is government.
• 21:30
  It's going to get a bad stigma.
• 21:31
  It's going to get a stigma of no one really cares.
• 21:34
  People are not present.
• 21:36
  It's big.
• 21:37
  It's huge.
• 21:37
  It's big.
• 21:38
  It's huge.
• 21:38
  I can't access government.
• 21:40
  It's transactional.
• 21:41
  People don't communicate.
• 21:42
  And so since I've worked in government, I always wanted to eliminate that stigma.
• 21:49
  I am here.
• 21:49
  I am present.
• 21:50
  I'm accessible.
• 21:51
  I'm a person just like you.
• 21:52
  And yes, you got to balance that out.
• 21:54
  There are rules.
• 21:55
  There's regs.
• 21:56
  There's processes.
• 21:57
  But I'm going to communicate with you very honestly.
• 22:00
  Can we do this?
• 22:01
  Can we not do this?
• 22:06
  So what's interesting is that I do not run a department.
• 22:10
  I run a division.
• 22:11
  What is equally interesting is that my division consists of two people, that being myself
• 22:17
  and another person.
• 22:19
  I have never been in a position where I had limited resources, even at the start.
• 22:25
  I mean, I think my smallest team was 10.
• 22:27
  And then it went upwards of 500.
• 22:30
  So I dance with that person.
• 22:33
  So right now, I actually have a new person starting.
• 22:36
  I dance with that person in terms of what are their strengths?
• 22:39
  What is mine?
• 22:40
  And it's almost like it's hard to have this traditional, you report to me, because it's
• 22:46
  almost like a tag team.
• 22:47
  We have to be a team.
• 22:48
  And I have to get to understand what that person brings to the table beyond the interview.
• 22:53
  I hired you for a reason, but now let me get to really know you so we can do this work.
• 22:58
  And it's also a dance with my creativity.
• 23:01
  I tell this story often.
• 23:03
  I had to say, oh my goodness, only two people.
• 23:06
  And we're going to do all these things because I'm here to make impact.
• 23:09
  I'm here to do things that have never been done before.
• 23:12
  So being creative with extending a team, a team of partners.
• 23:16
  We don't want to duplicate our efforts.
• 23:17
  So who are my partners in this ecosystem called economic development?
• 23:21
  And then bringing on interns and investing in interns in a way that they can help us
• 23:25
  produce while they get the experience they need to enter the market.
• 23:30
  More teaching of dancing.
• 23:31
  Wow.
• 23:31
  Yeah.
• 23:32
  What people, and I'm very passionate about this, this means a lot to me.
• 23:36
  Don't bring on a young person who's going to be a future leader without having the time
• 23:41
  to invest in them and guide them and lead them.
• 23:44
  I have three interns now and I had to take a significant amount of time to sit and understand
• 23:49
  who they were, what they were interested in, because that's my responsibility to know,
• 23:53
  and how they can help me.
• 23:55
  And then create an actual eight week plan on what it is that we're going to be working on,
• 24:01
  what your deliverables are going to be.
• 24:03
  Just like a team, right?
• 24:04
  It's a reciprocal relationship.
• 24:06
  Yes, I need an extended team to move this work forward, but I'm here for you and you're
• 24:11
  going to be our future leader and you need to be well equipped to do so.
• 24:14
  What do entrepreneurs, what do corporations, what do businesses not realize that Greater
• 24:19
  Bangor has to offer them?
• 24:21
  It's a good question.
• 24:23
  Opportunity.
• 24:23
  There's a lot of opportunity here and there's not a lot of competition.
• 24:28
  So the markets are not saturated.
• 24:31
  Accessibility.
• 24:32
  Accessibility.
• 24:32
  So you can access government organizations, entrepreneurial organizations, innovators.
• 24:39
  There's innovation that's happening here.
• 24:42
  And this is one of the things that I want to drive home as well that I say often.
• 24:46
  You know, no shame on Maine.
• 24:48
  I think Maine is a place where the people of Maine are not superficial.
• 24:53
  They're not interested in shouting from the rooftops what it is that we're doing here.
• 24:58
  This is our state and we're doing it.
• 25:00
  You don't like bragging about it.
• 25:01
  No bragging.
• 25:02
  But promotion is not bragging.
• 25:04
  Right.
• 25:05
  Right.
• 25:05
  And so the mindset has to shift.
• 25:08
  It's about telling your story and telling it, well, we are part of the United States
• 25:12
  and we do this really well and we have a great quality of life while doing this really hard
• 25:17
  thing.
• 25:18
  Right.
• 25:18
  And being innovative and create.
• 25:19
  You know, I think of the composite center at UMaine and all the phenomenal things that
• 25:23
  are being done there.
• 25:24
  But we don't do a good enough job at consistently talking about it.
• 25:28
  I do because that's not my culture.
• 25:31
  Right.
• 25:31
  And so that's a difference in culture there.
• 25:33
  Right.
• 25:33
  New York and Maine.
• 25:34
  Yeah.
• 25:35
  We talk about it.
• 25:36
  And ever since I got here, I've used social media as a tool to talk about it.
• 25:40
  And it's gained a lot of attention.
• 25:42
  And I've been able to build relationships elsewhere because people are so curious.
• 25:45
  Like I've never heard of Maine in that way.
• 25:48
  I mean, what are the things that they hear?
• 25:49
  It's called lobster vacation land.
• 25:51
  It's so much more.
• 25:55
  Yeah.
• 25:56
  I feel like Maine has a low self-esteem problem.
• 25:59
  I feel like we really don't know how great the state is internally.
• 26:04
  And I think all the reasons you just mentioned.
• 26:07
  And there is so much opportunity here.
• 26:09
  I'm a believer you can do anything you want to here.
• 26:11
  You just have to adapt it a little bit to fit within Maine.
• 26:15
  But I think you really can do anything here.
• 26:17
  And I think that that message has to get out more.
• 26:20
  And you are absolutely carrying that message.
• 26:23
  How do we get that out more?
• 26:26
  We start to change the mindset that promoting and telling our story is not bragging.
• 26:32
  The other piece of this is that I do feel like there is this mindset of we don't want to be saturated.
• 26:39
  We don't want anybody and everyone coming here.
• 26:42
  However, we need to be really realistic in knowing that the state is not going to thrive if we don't increase its population.
• 26:51
  I can imagine with your experience in Texas and in Staten Island, I was intentionally mispronouncing it to make sure that I was getting your attention.
• 27:03
  That's what he always says. Facts.
• 27:06
  You're seeing other regions of the United States of America righteously, rightfully bragging a righteous pride.
• 27:14
  If we didn't call it bragging, no one likes a bragger.
• 27:17
  But you can respect someone that's proud of what they do.
• 27:19
  Sure.
• 27:20
  Maybe that's what we need to do.
• 27:21
  A righteous pride, oxymoronic, kinda, but not so.
• 27:25
  Yeah.
• 27:25
  Was it Bud Levitt that said, don't go bragging just because you're from Maine?
• 27:29
  I thought that was a song by Elton John and Kiki D.
• 27:31
  No.
• 27:32
  Don't go breaking my heart. That's what that was.
• 27:33
  Facts.
• 27:34
  I think there is a difference. I think it's promoting versus bragging.
• 27:39
  But I think it's changing the mindset of people here.
• 27:42
  What do we stand to lose if we don't change this mindset?
• 27:45
  Are we going to lose out to Rhode Island again?
• 27:48
  Are we going to lose out to New Hampshire again?
• 27:50
  I don't want to see Maine lose out.
• 27:52
  I think in my role, it's important to bring forth concrete examples.
• 27:57
  I will give an annual report to city council.
• 28:00
  And in that report, I will talk about the various places that I visited and the conversations that I had.
• 28:06
  And perhaps the people that have come to visit because of those things, right?
• 28:09
  Just show the impact and show the actual metrics around what it is that I'm saying that we need to do more of.
• 28:15
  I also think that the same qualities that Maine has oftentimes makes it hesitate on certain things.
• 28:24
  So for instance, let me give you an example.
• 28:26
  So Maine prides itself on being very pure.
• 28:28
  So this is the first place that I haven't seen a lot of social media or the social media is not used as a tool for business.
• 28:36
  It's used more as a casual, you know, this is where I am.
• 28:39
  This is where I'm going.
• 28:40
  But to be strategic and use it as a tool, I can't tell you how much response I get from being on LinkedIn and showcasing the work that we're doing and getting the credibility, not only within Maine, but outside of Maine.
• 28:54
  Right. Like we need to embrace the things that we know are not going away.
• 28:59
  Technology is not going away.
• 29:01
  Social media is not going away.
• 29:03
  Just engaging it in a way that makes you feel like you're being true to yourself.
• 29:07
  So we're being responsible, we're being truthful.
• 29:09
  But we need to be more strategic in how we do things.
• 29:13
  We have a last personal question for you.
• 29:15
  Sure.
• 29:16
  What is Shirley thinking as she looks down on her little girl and how she's helping run a region, making it better?
• 29:27
  So Shirley.
• 29:31
  So my mother was an immigrant from Aruba and I ran for office.
• 29:37
  You guys, I don't know if you know that, but I ran for the mayor of Beaumont, Texas.
• 29:41
  I ran for city council.
• 29:43
  I had some really big jobs and it was so interesting to me.
• 29:47
  It was hard for my mother to get her mind around.
• 29:50
  Her daughter was in a leadership position.
• 29:53
  And one of the reasons why I always pursued leadership is because I remember being a little girl and my mother.