Latest / The Mami Collective / How to Build a Career That Actually Fits Your Life with Lauren Dietz
Transcript
- Paulina: The Mommy Collective Mommy Dinner Plug series in Chicago is back on March 11th. It's a curated, intimate night, a real dinner with moms and women who are building, working, creating, and trying to do it all without losing themselves in the process. You'll walk in, get settled, and actually have an easy way to meet people. No awkward networking. No shouting over a crowded bar. No pretending you're fine when you're running on fumes. Just good conversation, good food, and the kind of connections that don't feel transactional. Seats are limited on purpose because the room matters. Grab your seat and head to themommycollective.com slash events. Welcome to The Mommy Collective. I'm Paulina Rowe, radio host, TV contributor, writer, and mom of one. This is where ambitious moms come to keep their identity intact while navigating motherhood. Here we talk about the real stuff, career. money, relationships, identity, and everything that gets messy in between. You won't find sugar coating or cliches. What you will find are unfiltered conversations, real resources, and proof that you don't have to lose yourself to be a good mom. The Mommy Collective is here to remind you, you can be ambitious, you can take up space, and you can thrive in motherhood and in everything else that makes you, you. Before we get into the episode, make sure you're following The Mommy Collective on Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram, and share this podcast with a mommy in your life who a little inspiration or just a reminder that she's killing it. Also, don't forget to sign up for our newsletter and leave us a review so we can keep showing up and reach every ambitious mom out there doing big things. Let's get into it. Thank you for joining us another new episode of the Mommy Collective. We are back and today I'm so excited to chat with my guest. I am talking to the VP of Strategy and Operations at Skill Up Coalition, Lauren Dietz. How are you? I'm great. Thank you so much for having me. I'm very excited to be here today. I'm so excited to chat with you. We've got a lot of ground to cover. So I want to talk about you and your motherhood experience. And then I obviously want to talk about Skill Up. And I really want to talk about the importance of what you do specifically, because I was doing a little research on you and I got to know you a little bit. We're going to know each other very well by the end of this. But I am just so excited to sort of be able to provide resources, maybe even answers, maybe even some form of hope. And that's what I feel like this podcast really has become, too. Two moms, right? And moms of different walks of life, different stages. of, well, I guess I'm not a newborn mom anymore. I'm a toddler mom now, right? Because as our kids grow, it's just like different things, different stages of not only our children, but of us too. So I'm so excited to chat with you. So Lauren, if you don't mind, can you give us a little bit of a background about yourself and your current role? Yeah, absolutely. I started my career with a big publishing company and really focused on digital education. And with that particular role, was able to not only help customers in the United States, but around the world. And so lived outside of the United States a few times with that job. It always was something that really brought me back to the foundation of the significance of education, right? And the role that plays in every single one of our lives, women obviously being kind of front and center of a lot of that. And so it's been a journey from really working with big companies, working internationally to... getting back to community and working with communities, how do we stand up options and educational references in certain locations around the US? so landed at Skill Up with the intention really of saying, okay, now I've been in higher education, I have been in K through 12, I have worked in marketing, I have worked in customer service roles, relationship management roles, how do I get back to some of what I love around being a relationship owner, being someone that's helping to stand up processes, procedures, and really create something, build it, grow it, and do that again, kind of at the local level, right? How do we scale something? And Skill Up Coalition is an organization that's afforded me that opportunity to get back to working with local communities, to being, you know, a brand new business in 2020, to now having over 4 million users across the US. And so it's kind of given me an opportunity to do all the things that I wanted to do in one place. I love it. So you're the perfect person to bring on the pod because we've got, you know, we've got moms here too, but we also have a lot of women, right? Who are not moms and they call themselves the mamacitas. They're like, I'm a mamacita. And I'm like, yeah, I love it. Cause they really just connect with the mission, right? Of, of growth. And I think that you're someone that would be really good to talk to you about that topic just in general. So I love it. I want to kind of rewind a little bit and I want to talk about your your motherhood journey, right? So you're a mom of two. And I'm curious, what does a normal weekday kind of look like for you at home? Like, what does that look like for Lauren? Yeah, it's amazing because I feel like, you know, ⁓ my mom of two and I have kids that are eight and almost six, right? And so every mom out there knows those chapters change. You know, year over year, your routine is different, what your day looks like, the mental load, all shifts year over year. And so Right now, I'm at that incredible pivotal point with kids that are becoming more more independent. so my morning used to be you wake up, you get them ready, you get everything ready, you sit down. For me, I'm a remote employee, so I am at home, pros and cons to that environment, but I'm at home. And then it's me picking up kids, getting them to sports practices. I say mental load has shifted a little bit. Now it's more of a dialogue with my kids. know, are you going to help with making breakfast in the morning? Okay, great. Do we want to walk to school? Do we want to drive to school? What does our afternoon look like? Do we have sports? Do we not have sports? And so my day, Monday through Friday is very much like mom mode, employee mode, mom mode, kick it off again, right? Working for a remote company has some flexibility. Often I'm finishing a proposal when I'm at swim practice. Right? But I also am able to pick my kids up at three o'clock in the afternoon and get them home before the insanity of after school starts. so day over day, slightly different, but in a position now where that Monday through Friday has a little bit of consistency and less intensity given I have kids that are involved in the process of getting themselves out the front door and then able to just walk upstairs and start my day. for sure, you kind of opened up a conversation that I would love to just kind of briefly touch on, but I know a lot of times we do mention like the working mom, right? So like I technically work outside the home for my radio show that I'm on for I Heart Here in Chicago. So that's like a morning thing, you know, that I come home and then, you know, we've had the stay at home mom that we hear of who does the labor, the mental load, like you mentioned, that handles all of that within the home, which is work, by the way, anyone listening who doesn't think that's work, that is work. And then you also are a work from home mom, which I think is like almost like a third new category that the conversation sort of starts to, you know, around too, because that's like another form of working mom. I'm just curious when your kids were a little bit younger and before they went to school more full time and more throughout the day, how did you do it without losing your mind? Because I know that's a big conversation right now. Yeah, I think it's so hard. It truly is. I think that there are some women that are just built for that flip. They can go in and out of mom to employee really, really successfully. I am not one of those women. so creating really strong boundaries was very significant for me in order to be able to be focused on one element, right? Like one part of who I am day over day. That took a really long time to get to that point. You think about like pandemic. I had a brand new baby in 2020. So things like nursing or feedings, you crying and hearing tears in the background, all of that, right? As women you hold it, you can feel it. That cry hits and your immediate response is to go and help while you're on a conference call, right? A lot of it was just getting to the point where one kind of saying, all right, there is a structure to my day that I have to really get down, right? And I also have to then embrace the flexibility and the benefits and the joys of being at home. and take advantage of that. think when you can kind of figure out where your limits are, but also then fit in some of that flexibility, it enables you to have less of that stress around like, if I don't do this right now, or if I'm not mom for the next hour, or if I'm mom for 30 minutes only, right? If you start to say, I'm gonna weave those in, right? I've got my structure, I've got my benefit, but you know what? Right now I hear a kid that's really crying that let me just go run and double check and make sure. some of that pressure is taken off. think it's a unique position to be in. Some people really, again, personality-wise, are completely capable of doing both. I have a best friend who owns her own business, and she is queen of mom and professional at the same time. She knows her strengths, she understands how that operates and how she works. I know my weaknesses, I know my strengths. You apply it to your day to day. 100%. Are there any boundaries that you, whether it was, you know, six years ago, pandemic, right, newborn, or even, you know, today, are there any boundaries that you set within like the work life, right? And then like the home mom life, because like you aren't leaving an office or you're leaving a bedroom, essentially, you're still in the home, right? You're not like walking out the door type thing. How do you set those boundaries? Yep. Great. Great question. I mean, the first is simple. The door is shut. If the door is shut, I am in work mode. That means that I cannot be disturbed. That means that now is not a good time. So that's, think, the first one. I think hours and structuring your day really around those times. When you are available, when you are high peak performance, things like that. so my schedule starts a lot later than some of my coworkers and ends a little bit earlier from a meeting perspective. I will also say that I've had to put boundaries in place too, knowing that I'm in an office and at home that like when my kids get home from school and that kind of, you know, 430 ish to 730, once we are like, you know, 90 % away from kind of bedtime, I'm not working. Right. And so if there are things that I didn't finish that I didn't get done in my normal work hours, I'm jumping back on to complete them once I am done being focused on being mom. Right? so, you know, and I think that that again, structuring your schedule in that way creates some of those boundaries. Again, going back to that idea of having a little bit of flexibility, nobody wants to be working at 830, 10 o'clock at night, whatever it is, but there are times, right, where you have to do that. And so I think it's just a matter of really being thoughtful around those boundaries being priority number one. But knowing that in life you've got to have a little bit of flexibility and bend those boundaries, you know, when a huge work project comes up, for example, but that coincides with your kids, you know, afternoon, you know, race or party at school where you had to take off, you know, an hour to go and be present for your children. Again, door shut, minimal small boundary, structured schedule and making sure that you're doing your meetings within an hour where you can be really focused. and then being a little bit flexible on the back end to take things on when you need to. I agree. I think that's great advice. That is so good. No, I love it. And I want to kind of dive in now into skill up, right? Scub Coalition and what it really is for women and moms. And we're based here in Chicago, but people can hear us pretty much everywhere, which is amazing. But what necessarily is that? for moms and women, right? Like I'm a mom and a woman and I'm gonna check you guys out. What can you guys really help provide and not everything that would benefit me? Yeah, absolutely. I'll start with a little bit of just what Skill Up's mission is, right? And I think why we do what we do. And then I'll tie it back to moms in general, women across the US and women in Chicago. So Skill Up was born in 2020 in the summer. with the intention of getting individuals that were impacted by the pandemic back into better work than they had left, right? And we knew the urgency of doing that, right? Everybody needed a job, they needed a job now. And so the idea was how do you rapidly re-skill individuals in order to get them into those good jobs? And so that has evolved, you know, the mission is still very, very much that. but how we achieve that, how we execute on that has evolved. So the whole idea is to say, if you are a mom coming to us and you have been in a job, maybe an entry-level type of job, you know, if you're in hospitality, for example, or, you know, maybe food services, something like that, and you know you want another job, well, how do you actually figure out what a good job is? How do you actually understand what the requirements are for that job? How your skills... can translate into you being a quality candidate. So Skill Up's entire intention is to say, okay, let's look at what is happening in Chicago and let's say, okay, what are the jobs that are out there that are, like actually pay a living wage, have high growth so they're not gonna decline year over year. A lot of that, for example, is making sure that they're AI proof, right? And then- something I knew earlier too, right? Like- Yeah, this is very- You got it exactly. How we've had to evolve is really saying, OK, well, what does that AI disruption look like to these careers that we're promoting? And then the last part of it really is, can you actually upskill into that role quickly and for low financial investment? And so in the world of skill up quickly means that it's less than a year. right, to obtain that credential. And then, you for low cost, it's less than 10K. We have free programs and the majority of our training catalog actually is under $5,000. But again, it removes those traditional education barriers. You don't need a two or a four year degree to get a good job that actually can sustain your family. So that's ultimately the goal. If you look at women and the engagement that we have with women, they're majority women on our platform. In Chicago specifically, 55 % of our population are women. 90 % of the women coming to us are looking for a better job. And close to about 60 % of those women are saying, I will invest in myself through training. And that's that of that path to employment. And so the goal and the idea is to de-risk the process, right? Especially when we're talking about moms, you have nine million things to do. The time, the energy, the effort needs to be low, but the reward needs to be high. And so that's our mission is to really kind of create the most direct path and one that is actually going to have a return on the investment. I love everything that you're saying. It aligns with our mission so much at Mommy Collective because I feel like... We, you and I have said this, maybe it was even off camera, but like your identity just changes so much when you become a mom, right? And with that being said, so does everything else. And I agree, or there's this one thing that I saw, right? And it was a meme one time and I love it. And it said like, do you wanna get S done? Hire a mom if you wanna get S done. And I feel like this correlates with exactly what you're saying. And I kinda wanted to ask too, because a lot of moms, who are maybe stay-at-home moms or not in the workforce or maybe like have taken a break, listen to us, right? And they're on the podcast, listen to the podcast, they're part of the community. How can a mom who's been out of the workforce or a mom who's a stay-at-home mom at the moment, how can she or what skills, more what skills can she bring to the table when it comes to looking for a new opportunity? Because she's so removed, know? I know that happens so much, you know? It's and I think I want to go back to what you said earlier, like being a mom and a full time mom is a job. Yes. Right. It is a hundred percent a job. And I go back to when my identity shifted, one of the big struggles that I had was around going back to work versus staying home because it was in the pandemic. Right. And so childcare, right. Access safety, all of those different things were a really big topic of conversation in our household. Like, how do we juggle all of these things? How do we actually continue to pay our bills and support our children and our family. And I think that moms often, when you have that new identity come into the fold, the question around priority, right? Is it family first? Is it job first? Is it you first? it, know, finance? Like all of those different, the priorities shift so dramatically. And then you really have to look at yourself and say, what are my abilities and capabilities now, right? Like, am I the type of, person that can stay home? ⁓ Could I be successful in time management, in creativity, in the mental load, in all of those different things? And so I think it's a struggle that so many women face. And on that, for the women that are staying home, that the women that have taken a break, we are seeing more and more employers saying to us, we need women or individuals, not necessarily just women, but individuals with durable skills. So durable skills think of like the term has changed a lot, soft skills, for example, right? Or, you know, non-technical skills. And when we live in a world where technology is driving things and everything is changing so fast, employers are saying, just give me somebody that communicates well. Just give me somebody that has empathy, that understands problem solving, that is a critical thinker, right? Those durable skills. four out of five times an employer is gonna hire those durable skills more so than they would for a technical skill. So for moms, right, again, like I said, if you have been able to manage that mental load, to address different emotions, to problem solve, to calm people down, to juggle multiple priorities, to run an entire household plus be a child. I remember one time I met a woman at the park and I asked her what she did and she said, I'm a domestic engineer. And I was like, that is the most brilliant way of defining stay at home moms I'd ever heard. Because again, you are engineering an entire life ultimately, right? Also there's the financial management, right? Like every single day you're thinking about. what is needed, you're thinking about coordinating appointments, you are running schedules, like all of those things that you do on a daily basis translates so well into the professional world. And the best part about it is they apply to every industry and every job, right? When we look at durable skills, things like critical thinking, it doesn't matter if you are an electrician, if you are a medical assistant, if you are in real estate, right? All of those. skills that you have developed behind the scenes, right, are going to have and pay dividends in a professional setting. And so I would always say to women that are thinking about transitioning back into the workforce, think about what you just did as a job, position it as a job, because that's exactly what it was, right? You did not lose a skillset you gained, you multiplied, right? Your abilities to manage went through the roof. Yes, ⁓ Lauren, I love this, you have no idea. And I think this gives, again, so many moms just the green light to really hone in on these skills because they come with motherhood, like you said, mean, we all do it regardless, like every mom knows. that we are time managing, are dealing with emotions, which is really funny because sometimes I feel like my coworkers or my bosses can act like my two-year-old. So I get that. I get that truly. I've experienced it. I'm like, oh boy. I'm like, we're having a meltdown. But I completely understand. So I kind of want to dive into the actual programming or what that looks like with the coaching, the resources. You did mention kind of the cost, but I really want to dive into what somebody would, from the start to almost the end. joining and I'm signing up and I'm a part of this, what does that moment look like day one until the end? Well, Skill Up as an organization is 100 % philanthropically funded. So it is free to any user that wants to come. And so first step, think, you know, if you go to explore.skillup.org, you'll get actually funneled into if you create a profile, the Chicago experience. And so I always say that's like your starting point, right? Because create a profile and then ⁓ Once you're there, then you can start to say, okay, well, am I going in the direction where I just want to explore careers? I'm not quite ready to make a commitment to applying for a job or enrolling in a training, right? So just start to explore. That's an idea. Okay, well then what are the tasks involved with that? You can go to our occupations catalog and look at all of the jobs that again, we've deemed as high wage. So they pay a living wage. This isn't minimum wage, right? This is a living wage. I think it's about $26 an hour. So around 53K for Chicago. So everything is gonna be above that. We don't want jobs and or occupations that aren't gonna pay you enough for you to manage your day-to-day living, right? Are they growing is another part of that. And then what does it actually just look like to be in that role? And so you can explore a day in the life of, you can look at the skillset that's required. You can double check on what are those durable skills that are required. So you have an option to look across five different industries. and see what seems like it could be a fit. You can also say, you know what, 100 % I want a job. And that's the direction that I'm going. And then you can look at our jobs catalog. Okay, well, what are the jobs that are available in Chicago? One of remote jobs versus in-person jobs. And so you can do that. Think of it as narrow too though. It's not gonna be, you know, one of your big job boards because we're being thoughtful about this has to be with a good company if no requirements exist around experience or education. Well, then it has to be a good company, right? Or it's going to relate to one of those occupations that we've set a really good occupations. And then the last part is what training? Like if you know you want to upscale and if you know you want to get that certificate that's going to expedite, you know, your eligibility to get into one of those roles, well, great here, all of the training programs that actually have a credential that is going to be a good credential for that role that isn't going to take, you know, years to complete and thousands upon thousands of dollars. And so. ⁓ You can come in and explore all those things and start to set up your goals. And you'd mentioned resources. We have a coach, so twice a month you can connect in group coaching. We have local resources. And so we're looking at what's happening in Chicago and pointing you to workforce development boards that are in your neighborhood or food services, housing services, mental health services. We know that getting a job is a part of the career mobility journey, not the entire thing, right? So that's all there as well. And you also can engage via chat to help in narrowing that experience as well on the site. So the intention is to really enable you to figure out what step am I at in my career journey? And then what are the tools that I have available to me that are free, again, tools as part of this experience, and how can I really leverage them to get to where I want to go career-wise? I'd be remiss if I also didn't say like, You know, I'm sure you have listeners that are mothers of older children. Like you can use this with your children, right? If you are set in your career or you're happy, use it with your own kids, right? Let's all start talking to your young kids about, you know, alternative pathways that don't require a degree, right? The path to quality employment now takes on so many different versions. People go to school a lot later. People start school and don't finish school. Credentials are a good way to have a job that is a sustainable career. And so, you know, we're hearing more and more about the interest in non-degree pathways. That's really interesting because yeah, I have a two year old, but I think about that all the time. I'm like, I have no idea where we're going. I mean, she's two. Well, we don't know what we're doing tomorrow. But I think about that a lot. And, you know, I told my husband and he agrees. And I feel like a lot of parents have this conversation where it's like, If I almost feel like she's leaning into something and I always say like, you know, maybe she's into hair. She's the best hairstylist I've ever seen. Like I really want to hone in on like those skills, like skill up. I want to hone in on this. I want her to A, follow her passion. That's what I was, you know, I had the privilege to do. Like my mom, my mom is not from here. She's from Poland. Like she came here and I was very lucky to be able to like pursue what I wanted to do. And I'm forever grateful. I wanna pass that on right to my daughter. So I agree with you. It's like, yes, I'm very honest. I love that I went to a university, got my four year degree. Love that for myself. However, do I use my degree every single day? The answer is no. Remember I went to my job interview on the radio and I brought my degree framed because I didn't know any better. And they're looking at me like I'm nuts, but it's like you are, and that was also like what, 10, 12 years ago. So today in today's world, it is so different. I love what you guys are doing. think it's truly incredible, especially for moms, know, women listening. I think it's so important. I am curious for somebody who's optimizing for flexibility, right, versus maybe highest pay, although I'm sure they're looking for both. How do you kind of help guide that decision, right? And what advice do you have for them? Because I know flexibility is a big thing for parents. A hundred percent. And I also think it's one of those where, and you kind of nailed it when you teed up the question is, I don't think it's one or the other. Right? I don't think you have to forego flexibility for high salary. I think that having a living wage and having that comfort and having that confidence that you're going to be able to put food on a table, that you're going to be able to cover the costs and the bill that you have while you're still able to take a day off if your kid is sick is what it's all about. Right? And so I think getting to a point, you know, where you have a really solid understanding of what is significant to you. Right? I think that's the first part going in. And that's a big part of what Skill Up tries to do is we try to basically enable individuals to doubt their own self doubt. Right? So like build up your confidence to know your worth so that when you're going in, you might not be asking for, you know, $2 million a year, right? But you are just asking for a living wage. And you're also asking for a schedule that enables you to take time off and to have solid benefits. And so What I would say is I would say, always go to this idea of kind of like the ideal, acceptable, and the no-go state, right? What is your ideal state? How much money in an ideal world do you want to make? What does flexibility actually mean to you, right? And then what is acceptable versus what's a no-go? That'll help you. A lot of that will help you in also just defining what career you want to go into. Okay, maybe healthcare, right? Like healthcare often has really flexible schedules. but still good wages, right? And so I think that understanding of what is significant to you and having the confidence to kind of say, I'm gonna go after a career that is built around that equilibrium for me is really, really key. And so with that, having an idea of what's significant to you, I think is step number one, but also realizing that you don't have to give up one or the other. And we live in a world now where there are really a lot of quality employers out there and people that are parents that are running businesses and they know how that works. Find those employers and come prepared to tell them what you need as an employee. That shows initiative, that shows determination, and that's that confidence we're hoping to give people. I love that you are doing that because it sounds really small, but it's actually very large. To me it is. the confidence part especially, right? Because I feel, and I actually made an Instagram post about this the other day, but it's like I have lost out on so many opportunities on literal money on the table, just things, because I didn't advocate for myself. And this was even before my child, right? So now I'm more of a shark, I've got a clear picture, I know who I am, I know what I can bring to the table, but I... It took a really long time, Lauren, for me to get here and that's something that I want to help and I know you guys do too and that's why I love everything you're saying because it's so important and sometimes we forget that part, right? The confidence or coming prepared, right? Coming determined, like again, everyone just thinks, okay, like everyone's got it, but I'll admit, maybe the first time I admit, I didn't have that for a very long time. So the fact that you are sort of adding that to your, I'm going to call it the curriculum, right? Of everything you're doing there, you're kind of putting that in there. And adding that in, I think, is so important. that's incredible. From someone who used to really undervalue herself, I think that's awesome. For moms and women, what are you seeing right now with common pivots? Where are we going? Where do you see this kind of heading? Yeah. I think one of the things that's the most fascinating to me is, again, if you kind of go back to some of those statistics, We have majority women on our site, 55 % specifically in Chicago of our users are female or identify as female. And we have 90 % of those individuals looking to get a better job within the next six months of being on our platform. And to me, that is such an indicator of women investing in their career and really doubling down on this idea of changing their trajectory. So I think to me, that's a really big pivot. It's women coming and saying, I want to do something different, right? I want to change my career. I want a better career. And I'm investing the energy and the time and the effort to do it. And so I think that that's so representative of females in general, right? And what we talk about, like every single phase of motherhood of a career, ⁓ You're looking and pursuing at learning and changing and doing something different. And I think that we're seeing that as the individuals coming to our site are very much investing in their career mobility. They're very much saying, I'm going to take that next step. I'm going to make a pivot. Right. And that pivot is done with the intention to actually improve my well-being, my family's well-being. So I say that latter part is necessarily a difference. I think most women are built kind of with that mentality of like, I'm going to to do what's right for myself and those around me. But I think that the pivot is really saying, I'm going to invest in my own career mobility. I'm going to get a better job. I'm going to go and enroll in training. I'm really focused on taking the next step to achieve the goals that I have. Absolutely. And then I am just curious, because I know that this sometimes comes up when people are looking for new jobs opportunities. But how do you help people avoid? scams or expensive programs that don't always lead to jobs. I know we hear and see a lot of that. How do you kind of help with that? Yeah, the US has just been flooded with credential programs over the last 15 or so years. And to your point, some of them are predatory and don't really have a high return on the investment or they're outrageously priced, right? Where you're spending a tremendous amount of money for a credential that isn't going to result in a job. that would enable you to pay off that investment. And so for us, really grounding in this idea of quality, quality employment, quality training, quality outcomes. And the criteria that I've mentioned is really the way that we do that. So the first part of it is, is it just going to be a good job? Are you going to have access to it? Are you going to actually be able to avoid a lot of those barriers around, you don't have a degree, therefore you're not eligible for this job? And so, you know, I think making sure that we're showing occupations also, you know, that are high growth so that if you invest your time and your money in a training or in upskilling, that doesn't mean you're going to lose your job two years from now, right? That very much is the intention of starting to kind of weed out some of those jobs that aren't great. Then the training side of it, same exact thing. Like, A, does this career need a degree? Can you break into it without a degree? Right. And that to me is like a big part of how we structure that initial side of the research. Do you actually need a credential to be successful? There are some great jobs out there, but they don't necessarily have credential programming. Right. And so those aren't included in our experience. They're not to say that they're not great roles. It's just the way we're structured is very much like, there a credential that's required? And we then look at the state level, like, right. Does Illinois actually say that this is the right credential? Great. Does this training provider provide that? credential, wonderful, is that credential less than $10,000? Is it less than a year to achieve? Do they have wraparound services? Do they have financial aid? So we're starting to do, again, the majority of kind of the lion's share of that research because it's so much. I'm even in this world all day every day, and it still blows my mind how complex it is to just get to a point where you find a good job. ⁓ my sugar. It's so much time, it is so much energy, and we're really trying to de-risk it by saying this is a quality job, that this is a quality training program, and enable individuals to very quickly get from A to Z. So again, I think it's that lens, it's that research, the validation at the state level that the credential is needed. It is double checking on the providers that are giving that credential and making sure that that tracks, and also every single year. looking at what's happening in Chicago to make sure, know, maybe one year, for example, you know, a carpentry role is high demand, high wage. But the next year, like every it was flooded, there are too many people, there's not enough employment. We're going to pull that from our site. It's not going to be there anymore. Right. And so It's also staying up to date with what's happening locally. And that's like getting back to being really connected to the communities that we're in to ensure that we're actually serving up the right information for our users. mentioned connection and community. And I love it because that's what we are here, too. I'm curious, like, mom Lauren, right? You're in this all day every day. You literally said, you're like, I'm in this. What? are you teaching your kids that we can also take some advice from that, but what are you teaching them when it comes to their trajectory, their career, right? I know, I don't know how you might've grown up, but my mom and, I mean, it was always like, work hard, keep your head down, and you're gonna move up in life. And I hate every part of that for so many reasons. Like, yes, everyone should work hard. I mean, that's, I'm gonna teach my kid, we work hard, right? That's what you're gonna do, but. I didn't really ever agree with that because I'm like, well, keeping my head down really got me nowhere for a minute until I had to realize, wow, I'm really underpaid, undervalued. You know what I mean? And the list went on and on. So with my daughter, again, I'm so new and I'm learning all this, but I'm curious how you are planning on having these convos with your kids personally as a mother, and then obviously being totally in this world. My only advice that I feel like I wanna take that I remember growing up and I wanna give it to my daughter would be, to create a community or a network, right? And I know that we're networking can be a little funny for some people because you you picture like, I don't know, a man with a briefcase walking around with the tux. Like, I don't like that word, but I feel like the definition is still really relevant in today's world to have a good network. And we can expand on that too in a minute, but I really want to hear your thoughts of what you're teaching your kiddos or what you plan to. Yeah. I think that's, I want to stop on like that point that you just made, because I do think it's so, so important when we talk about kind of like that continuum that gets you a good job and all the different moving pieces. I think that that social network, like that professional network are often thought as separate and they're one in the same. Like if there's another mom at school drop off in scrubs, that's your healthcare connection, right? Right? Like you don't have to have somebody that is in your world that you can't go and talk to. If you're curious about teaching, go to your kid's school. Right? Like what does it mean to be a librarian? Go to the public library. connect with other people even if it seems like it is very kind of outside of the norm or outside of what you've been exposed to. You'd really be surprised how many network connections you actually have. So I think you are so bright to do that with your daughter. I think it actually goes towards one of the foundational pieces of what I'm teaching my girls. When I kicked off my career, my mentality was very, very much like yours. Heads down, do my job, get a job, go move up. Move up that ladder. Always do more, be the first one in the office, the last one to leave, right? And I structured my career like that and found a tremendous amount of fulfillment. will say like I loved my first job. It shaped the rest of my career. So I will always be very grateful and appreciative, but it wasn't until like three jobs, three roles, probably later that I remember having a conversation with a female mentor of mine. And I had said to her, how have you really structured your career and your journey? And she said, well, I suppose I've always just kind of figured out what was interesting, what project sounded exciting, what group of people did I like working with, and that's how I chose my next move. And it completely rewired my brain, where I thought, if you can lead with curiosity, you will land well, right? I like that. it sees an opportunity not because it seems like it is the right next step in your career, but because you're genuinely interested in seeing where it takes you. Ask questions, take risks, do things because it's coming from a place of that will always make you a better professional. And so I think for my kids, You know, there is more of a mix of what drives you from that perspective. What is at the end of the day, what you want to do and what you want to be, not as a professional, but as a person. And then how do you actually use your career as a stepping stone in that, right? And that draws back to this idea of purpose. And we're hearing more and more about that. Your career is a part, a tool in the toolkit of purpose, but not. always the actual purpose that you have. For some people, for sure. Like your purpose is to save lives. You go and become a doctor. That tracks, right? But often your purpose is to create a better community. Often your purpose is to create opportunity, to create exposure. There are 5,000 different ways to do that. And your career is just one. So. I love her. That's such good advice. I think my bring out rewired too a little bit from what you're. previous mentor had said, because that's so true. It's so true. No, I love it. Awesome. Well, thank you for sharing that. I was just so curious as somebody who's like, you know, super in it of like kind of what, you're doing to prepare your kids, your daughters. Before we wrap up though, I am curious if a listener remembers one thing from today, right? Between you and I, what should that be? But also what should their first step be when they are heading over to your site? I think the first, right, is that everybody that is listening has a skill set. Every single person has a series of experiences in their personal life, in their professional life that even like ⁓ as an athlete, right? Or someone that is super committed to building something, right? You have a series of skills that can be applied to your next career. And so I would make sure that people come into this knowing that they have something to offer, that there is value. and that some of those traditional barriers out there, like a degree, should not stop you from finding and having a great career. And so I think the first step if you're coming to SkillUp is SkillUp is a resource that is of value or of use to you is just to create a profile. That's the very first step. Again, it's free, it's simple, right? You go to SkillUp, explore.skillup.org, and then you can start to figure out what's next from there. Like so many things in life, right? It's just building up the confidence to take that first step, knowing that you have something to offer. I love it. Lauren, thank you so much for being here with us today. And thank you again for sharing all this info. I know a lot of moms, women listeners are going to take this and run because a lot of times, you know, we feel like we're ready for that pivot. We want to, you know, take our skillset elsewhere. So I feel like this is so important and a really great conversation. Is there a Instagram handle, TikTok handle that we can follow? You can totally feel free to share yours. I would love it if you did. But I understand if you don't want to completely up to you, but also for a skill up as well. Yeah, we definitely have them. I was going to say I the skill up Instagram. Well, as like skill up YouTube, Instagram, we've got them all. The skill up explore dot skill up dot org is the website to use. And then as far as the handle goes for Instagram, our Instagram handle. is Skill Up Coalition. Perfect. Awesome. So yes, make sure to follow, make sure to sign up. is free, which is incredible. And yeah, I think that's an amazing start. So Lauren, thank you so much for being here with us today. We appreciate you. Thank you so much. It was really lovely. Lauren, thank you. ⁓