Latest / Crafted Connections / EP 30: On-the-Go – Tracey Hanton

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EP 30: On-the-Go – Tracey Hanton · Crafted Connections

• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, welcome to Crafted Connections.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Keelan Calhoun, and this is a podcast all about storytelling and building genuine community.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Here we'll dive into the art of storytelling, unpack strategies for making meaningful connections, and hear from incredible humans who are using their story to create impact.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: So grab your favorite beverage, settle in, and let's craft some connections.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, welcome back to Crafted Connections.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's great to have you.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: I collect stories from folks in my network and in my community, and I and I share them.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: I also kind of tell my own experience of enhancing my storytelling, enhancing marketing, like leaning into my business, life stories, kind of inspo stories, what have you, but it's all circled and surrounding stories, right?
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a big believer that community is built through connection, and connection is built through storytelling.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, in order to have a strong community, you gotta lean into your stories.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: And that's that's what I do here.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: I I get on the mic, I interview people, and I share my own.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: So we are doing something just a tiny bit different here on Crafted Connections.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: So typically I'll release an episode every Thursday-ish, and it'll be either a solo episode where I'm speaking on a topic related to storytelling, related to business, related to lifing, or I will interview a guest and we will have a lovely conversation.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: We'll talk about their story, we'll talk about their their situations, they'll talk about we'll talk about their experiences to kind of connect you with them, to connect them with you, to you know, connect them and me a little bit more.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a lovely time.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: But we are going to do something I'm calling an on the go episode.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: So back in April, I attended the Grow Conference.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I am the fractional chief content officer for Grow We Wo, which is a women's organization that's all about empowering women, changing the status quo of what it's like to be a woman on this planet in this world, building community around that and and learning together, succeeding together, collaborating together is where it's at.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I've been able to do that with them for oh my gosh, what is it, September?
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: So it's been nine months now.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Nine months I've been working with them, doing some really, really fun things for the women in in our community.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I brought my podcast equipment to the Fort Wayne conference this year, 2025, and I set up a booth and I interviewed women and I asked them a few questions, and it was really fun seeing and hearing all the different answers that I got.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna feature all the individuals that I interviewed that day back in April.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: So, anyways, I love these women.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: There were about, gosh, I think I did about 14 interviews that day and to share stories on the go.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope you enjoy.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: Take a listen and see you on the other side, my friends.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm Tracy Hanton.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: I am the candle queen.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: I own praiseworthy candles, and I create hand poured soy-based candles, home fragrances that relax, renew, and transform your space.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Your Highness, I didn't know.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know I was among you.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: This is so lovely.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I've been asking everybody can you share with me a time in your life, a moment that was pivotal, significant, impactful, whatever comes to mind first, just sharing that story.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: I think what was pivotal for me was moving to Fort Wayne from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 625 miles away, just before the pandemic.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my god, how do you make a came here in November 2019?
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like what motivated that move?
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: I took a job out here at Purdue University, Fort Wayne.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: Got it, got it.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: And so coming here in November, everything was great, and then we all know 2020 hit, we know, and the world went topsy turvy.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I came out by myself.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, a lot of people did.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: So the impact was we're talking like trying to make friends, we're talking like single lady, like it's it's an experience.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, it was.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so and what like what beautiful things have come out of that?
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: Community.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: I got to meet some fantastic people.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: They recognized that I was here by myself.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't even know that they had their eye on me in a sense and was reaching out.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: I was trying to build my business out here, and I had just been struggling like a lot, but I had to show up a hundred percent for my students.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: You were teaching at Fort Wayne as well.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: I am I'm a career counselor.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Love that.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, great.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Were you born the candle queen?
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: When did you become the candle queen?
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: What's the situation there?
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I would say there was a gentleman that I met back in Philadelphia, and every time he would see me, he would just go, Oh my goodness, I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: And he just would always just start bounding.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: And he's like, You are the queen of candles, and that's kind of how it actually started.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: He actually is the one that kind of coined that name as the candle queen for me.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was thrust upon you, the title.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and he just he just said, I never knew anyone that knew so much about candles.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm obsessed with that.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Wonderful.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad that I got to hear that part of the story.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Can you do me a favor and share your definition?
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: How would you define the word alignment?
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: 2024, alignment was my word.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, nice.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: So it was for me, it was me making sure that the events that I did, yeah, that the people that I was connected to could help me go up and I could help them go up.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: And it could be this level type of elevation.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: One of the things that I had struggled with is I was just doing events, after events, and I wasn't making any money, I wasn't getting any repeat customers or anything, and I just was like, I'm out of whack, I'm out of alignment with what God needs me to be doing.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so how do I get back into alignment?
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: And it I had to stop, pause, yeah, and then start really thinking about what are the things that I wanted to be doing.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was about making money because that's what we're in business for.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: But it was also about connection and being able to make the connection.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: And then once you're making a connection, then you can kind of build those connections.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: Because as we talk about networking, networking is relationship building, and it doesn't happen overnight.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's interesting to say this to someone who sells a product, right?
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: But it's not transactional.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Because I mean, my partner, he's right over there, and he was like, pick out a candle so I can buy one for you before we leave.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, and I haven't gotten around, but now I'm like, okay, I gotta get over there now before I miss it, you know.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, that's so wonderful.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for sharing your story today.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having me.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's great to meet you.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: So there you have it.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: It has been women like these women that have put me back together.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: I really had a beautiful Dululu era that was a lot of throwing stuff at a wall and a lot of tripping and falling and failing, frankly.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: Failing that I would not have been able to put myself back together from without women like the ones you just heard, right?
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: Women like the ones I met at the Fort Wayne conference, ones I'm going to meet at the Anderson conference and speak to and connect with.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, just women outside of those circles as well, uh, have really, really put me back together.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm super pumped for this series.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you enjoy and find yourself in some of these stories.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yay! Thanks, friends.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Crafted Connections is lovingly produced by Calhoun Creative Consulting, a strategic storytelling firm dedicated to helping people and brands tell their stories in a way that resonates.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe and connect with us on Instagram at Crafted Connections Spot.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Keep creating, keep connecting until we meet again.