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Esther Sarpong: Standing Boldly in Your Praise · The Bold Lounge

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Bold Lounge Podcast.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: My name is Lee Burgess, and I will be your host.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: If you're anything like me, you love hearing inspiring stories of people who have gone on bold journeys and made a positive impact in the world.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: This podcast is all about those kinds of stories.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: Every week will hear from someone who has taken a leader and work on their ordinary.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: In addition to hearing their stories, also learned about their bold growth mindset, that they get to make things out.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: Whether they face challenges or doubt about the way that they protect and ultimately achieve their fault.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: These impactful stories are motivated and inspired to pursue your own culture.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: I believe everyone has a bold story waiting to be told.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: Tune in, get ready to be inspired.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Bold Lounge.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: Today we have Esther Starpong, who is the Director of Experiential Retail for the portfolio of Brookfield Properties.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: So thrilled to be here.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so excited that we're connecting.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: Excellent.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: I'm excited to share your journey and your bold story, but wanted to first start up with your role because some folks may not know what that role means.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: So when you're the director of experiential retail, what does that mean?
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: And what does your portfolio look like?
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's a great starting point.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: My job is to really connect and bring together location-based entertainments and experiential companies to secure spaces within our portfolio.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: But it's actually bigger than that.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: We think about our venues as venues with a vision.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so we want these experiences to not only drive incremental foot traffic, but to really transcend and push our shoppers and diners to look beyond just traditional retail, but to del to see our experiences as places where they can engage with immersive ticketed experiences that showcase art, culture, theater, and so much more.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, we really want to reimagine our spaces and we partner with companies that help us do that.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I my job is to identify the right partners and to reimagine our spaces, like the Michael Angelo Assisting Chapel exhibits, the Van Gogh exhibits.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: We just recently opened up Fantasy Lab, which is an immersive space of fifty about 15,000 square feet, which includes futuristic rooms where you kind of walk in with the projection screens and it just makes you kind of go into this unique space.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: And that's open in Fashion Show Las Vegas.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: So we just reimagine our spaces to just kind of transcend into these unique rooms that really helps you to escape.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: I think we all learned in a pandemic we wanted to kind of touch, feel, and connect.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what these spaces allow you to do.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: Great.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the Van Gogh is probably one folks my listeners probably know the best.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: I know a lot of people have gone to that.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: So okay, excellent.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: So tell me a little bit about your definition of bold.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: What does bold look like in your life?
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Well, bold looks like being intentionally fearless.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Bold looks like for me, just being confident and feeling okay to step outside the box, feeling brave, and knowing that sometimes that inner feeling that tells you, oh my goodness, this might be uncomfortable because it's outside of the norm.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Silencing that and understanding that I have to focus on the purpose and the vision and what I am working on to better my community, to better my family, to better my business responsibilities, and letting that be my superhero jacket, you know?
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, nice.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: I love the part about focusing on the purpose and the vision, right?
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: And walking through or leaning in my words, but being confident and brave when some things may come up where it just doesn't feel comfortable, right?
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: Because being bold does not usually equal comfort.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: It definitely does never equals comfort.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm usually not in my PGMs and fuzzy socks going, man, I fear bold right now.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, with the cup of coffee in your hand.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's not a bold moment.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: Not at all.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's like that pitting your tummy that you just say, you know what, I'm gonna push through.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and that's what being bold is just creating a path that's unique for unique for what is considered the normal.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: So when was the first time, based on your definition, that you remember being bold?
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: What'd that look like?
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, you're taking me back to a time because when we when I was thinking about this, I was thinking, oh my goodness, how far back are we gonna go?
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know, as far as you want.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'll tell you a moment, and I think that probably relates to where I am today.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: I was president of a club in college, and one of my responsibilities was to kind of step us outside of our norm and think through things to grow our membership.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: So this is before the world had like cell phones, so bear with me here, or maybe we had cell phones, but it wasn't everybody's remember that.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I had this really good idea in my smaller liberal art school that I went to called Kenesha's College.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: I had this really good idea that maybe we should try to create a fashion show, which every college student thinks about.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: But I said, let me give a phone call to someone kind of big in the world.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: And that was a time where Fat Farm, Russell Simmons, all of that was kind of becoming a thing.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so I called their office and I said, we are a small school.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: They're probably not on your radar.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: We're putting together a fashion show.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: We want to see if you can donate something and partner with us.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: And his company actually packaged up shoes and clothes and all of that.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: When that package arrived at our little office, I was shocked to see that it actually happened because I spoke to his marketing lead when he was hopping on a train and he's like, Yeah, yeah, we'll get that to you.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I have to hop on the train.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Well, I'm pushing for it.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see what happens.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: And it arrived, and it actually was a moment where I really knew that if I set my mind to something and if I push forward and I communicate and share the purpose and the drive behind it, magical things can happen.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: And it was so awesome.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: I sent them some pictures after that.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: I sent the fat farm team pictures after that and video footage, and so thrilled that my little school, Kenesha's college, could actually put together a partnership with a major fashion design company.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: And that's when I knew I was had something that I need to continue to nurture and push forward.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes being bold to just asking, right?
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Look at that.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, like you weren't limited by the, oh, that's too big to ask, or they're too big to even reach out to.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: Because sometimes I think people and extrapolating what you did for the fashion show in your college and in your community that you're building, but I think sometimes in life, like people just don't, they feel it's too big, so they don't even they limit themselves, right?
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: So one of the things that you did was you didn't place limits on you.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: You said, why not?
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: Why not?
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: So has that kind of been pervasive then throughout your life and kind of the the next steps in your career and kind of getting to where you are now?
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm a first generation immigrant, and that means you just jump over a lot of hurdles when you first come.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: That means you hear a lot of no's, and that means that you hear a lot of you face a lot of roadblocks as you are maneuvering through career and maneuvering through what your new world should look like.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: So, my whole theme, and I would say for me, no is never a no forever for me.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I have no qualms about asking for the things that I know really make sense for the major and master goal that we're working towards.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: I usually have my eye on the prize, and I know that there are many ways to get there.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: And if one door closes, another one will eventually say yes.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: And that is kind of the same theme from the story we just shared.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: And really the theme of my whole life is just feeling like every door can open.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: And if it doesn't, another one will open and get me right through it.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: Tenacity, right?
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I think there's obviously some confidence in there, and we build that along the way, you know.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: I think our parents or how we're, you know, how we grow up either hurts our confidence or hinders it.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: I think, you know, for me, like I was always told, you just you belong at every table.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like, don't even just go sit down.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: And my mom's still that way.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's a little bit harder to manage now, but as her daughter, because she doesn't listen to me.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: But it was just very, very confident and bold.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: I think she was the original bold person in my life.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: So, where did your your boldness, your confidence come from?
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: Is it something you've honed throughout your life, or do you feel like you had a little bit of it instilled and then it just went from there?
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, like you said, right?
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: Your mom is like your bold example.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I grew up kind of watching my parents, you know, my dad had a really great job at home in Ghana.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: He was a professor at a college.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: My mom was the head of real estate, where she was basically putting all of the professors that came to teach at that same college into housing.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I watched them both kind of show this path of fearlessness.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: I am one of five kids, and all of us kind of motivate each other.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's, I have to say, my grit and my tenacity is in my blood, and it's something that I just always have had.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard to identify what it is, but where it comes from.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: But it truly is always believing that I'm a true example of not only my family, I represent my community, represent my children, I represent my husband.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't feel scary to feel like all of those, I guess, responsibilities are on my shoulders.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: I just feel more like they are my motivators to push through everything.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: So just knowing that my parents really were always driven to take that bold step to bring five children to the US.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: I have to now allow that seed they planted to blossom and push that forward so my kids can push it further.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: So it really is just something that I feel like it's innately in me, and also just from watching them, which they probably are like, calm down, girl, at this point too.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I can relate to that.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, settle down, settle down.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: But it's it's just a part of my tradition, my culture, and who I really pride myself to be.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: So one of the things that I think is coming through to me very clearly is your authenticity and your personal brand about who you are and what you're about.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's palpable.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I think people wonder like, what do I do to build my brand, or what do I do to be the my most authentic self?
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: Which I think then leads to people actually being happier and more aligned with their purpose.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe, you know, like you said, one door closes, another one opens, I just go around, right?
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know, or you may have to open or try to open four doors.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: So, kind of how did you build that?
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: Or it sounds like it's been very natural for you, but I think if you were like helping someone understand how to step into who they are, what would be some of your guidance for that?
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: Because it sounds like you you've honed that.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I would just say that we've all been through stuff.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I think part of it is really understanding your own potential.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: And what I really do a lot is write down my goals.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: I literally every year on my birthday write down goals.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: And about 30 to 40 days before my birthday, I look at those goals, I check off, I have like my little notepad, like I check off what I've accomplished, and then I scoop the others over to the next year.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I really hold myself accountable.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: I would just say write it down, set true, realistic deadlines for yourself.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: The deadline could be five years, the deadline could be 10 years, and it could just set realistic goals and then look back at that master goal sheet or goal notebook as I have, and just take pride in looking at your successes and really take the moment.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: I think we spend a lot of time sometimes looking at the moments we have not succeeded on, and we say, Oh my goodness, I didn't get this.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: Really say, tap yourself in the back, give yourself a hand clap.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: With my kids, I literally have Google clap for us every night.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: I say, Google, clap for Ivy, clap for Liam for their moments, you know?
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: So, like take those moments and clap for yourself for those successes.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then the ones that you haven't achieved, look at your timelines.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: Say, is that timeline realistic?
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Do I need to expand on it?
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Do I need to shrink it down?
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then put that on your next goal sheet.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: Always keep your goals moving forward and as a part of your, I guess, accountability tracker for yourself, and you will find yourself hitting your goals year after year after year because you are setting them realistically and you're actually taking the moment to just praise yourself on the ones you've achieved, and then you're also pushing forward on the ones you haven't.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and they're more aligned with who you are because they're I mean, your goals should be about you.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: One of the posts, I did a post this morning, and it was basically, you know, sometimes it's hard to define what we want, but sometimes defining what we don't want is just as important.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: So like I don't want to feel unhealthy, I don't want to feel this stressed out, I don't want to be away from my family, whatever it may be.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, okay, so now that you know the don't, what is the do?
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: So how do I do that?
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: And then I think some of your your guidance of breaking the you know, taking your goal, breaking it down, being realistic with the time frames.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: I myself am have been guilty of setting a very short time frame, being very aggressive, which in my uh you know, expectation of myself, which is not a bad thing, but I think it can be a limiting factor to achieving at some point if you do it too much.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I think setting those reasonable time frames is another thing I want to underscore.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: So one of the things you said was about the clapping, and it reminded me of something that happened to me at a meeting.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: It was uh a women's business group, and we were supposed to go up, give you know our update, and then they made us stand up there why when you were done.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: The point was there were you people were gonna clap for you.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: And wow, it was very uncomfortable for me, and it was like you could not you were not allowed to sit down until the clapping stopped.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know, it was weird, I don't know, maybe it was some hazing thing.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: I don't even know.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: But I like appreciation, I don't like attention, yes.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: And so something about that clapping, just that you're you know, I love that Google does that.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: But as women, do we feel like sometimes we don't deserve the clap or we shouldn't like stand through it?
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: Or what do where do you think that comes from?
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's a really good one because I think we as women sometimes we just do, yeah.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: And we do without thinking about the appreciation portion of things.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I I can relate to that, I really can because sometimes when you have the moment, like you're pushing through and you're like so goal focused, or maybe so, you know, deadline focused, and then that moment happens and you're like, oh my gosh, here's my moment.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: And people are saying, Great job! And you're thinking, Oh my goodness, you know, you want to kind of shy down.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I can understand that.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: We oh, I think a lot of women struggle with that, but I think as we are growing professionally, we're owning businesses, we're driving platforms within companies, and we have many seats at the table now that that we have to sit back and just take that clap and just be proud of ourselves.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: Standing in the applause is like what's coming to my mind.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like and like visualizing that of like just taking it in, right?
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, my team will often say when we hit goals and we hit things faster, like bigger than we thought, my team will say to me, You realize what you just did, right?
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: You you know, like bringing that out.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: So it's nice to have also people around you who can do that.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: So kind of your tribe of support and people who kind of make you stand in that applause.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I just wanted to mention that because when you talked about the clapping, I think that's fabulous because I think it's something that people probably maybe, you know, for me, like I just wasn't used to it and you know, didn't really want a lot of attention.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: Sure, tell me good job, tell me like you did a wonderful thing, but don't put me on a stage to do it.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I just I think I'm getting better at that.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe that's a little bit of the introvert in me, too.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't know.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know what?
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: Stand in your praise, stand in your success, stand in your moment.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's really special, and we have to teach our girls that we have to teach our kids that we have to teach each other that.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because I I think we all accept it from our girlfriends who send it to us in text message or call us, but it's a little different, maybe the audience isn't familiar, right?
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: But that unfamiliar audience is looking up to you and feeling that moment of pride because you're setting an example for them that they can also achieve it.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe sometimes the praise is hard to accept when the audience isn't familiar.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, you might be transcending and helping audiences that are broader than your network thing, you know.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what standing in that praise and that clap means.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think that was uh I've talked about like when I first started working, and you probably have experienced this too, and just the things that you've done and the experiences you create and you know, the community and the connections you create through the experience, right?
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: Because it becomes like all inclusive, is that you know, people will say things like, you know, you inspired me, this is just what I needed.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: It was the best thing I did.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: It it took me from the space I was in to a much better space, you know, certainly the things you do in the experiential space.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: So, like for me, then it becomes a responsibility, like, okay, I gotta keep going, I gotta stand in it.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: So I just wanted to bring that up because I thought that was a really cool thing that you talked about there.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: One of the things that you talked about too was when you're being bold, like you know, you have in mind what you want to do, you're pushing forward, and you said communicate with the shared purpose.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's like the communication, this is what kind of what you did with Fat Farm and kind of saying here's what we need, here's why, here's where we connect on our purpose.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I thought there's a lot of things in our professional lives where if we did this a lot more, if we not just said what we wanted or what we're trying to do, but we connected it with a shared purpose that both of us have, we would probably get a lot farther.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: Would you agree with that?
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: When together, right?
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's important.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: People have to feel like what you're working towards also impacts their own successes as well.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: And that's how you get people's buy-in, and that's how you get partnerships.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I feel like when you are communicating professionally or with you know, people who can impact the progression of your business, you have to really understand their own goals and what they're trying to achieve and find the commonalities between what you're trying to achieve and what their purpose is to just help them feel like you guys are winning together, that you guys are partnering together, that the efforts are going to be not necessarily equally mutually beneficial, but mutually beneficial towards a broader goal that you're both working towards.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: So when you think about maybe one of the harder projects you've done and succeeded at, what are some of the skill sets that you use in with your boldness and the in the being able to communicate effectively that were able to kind of bring you through to success in a project that might have gotten bumpy in the middle, but it ended up exactly where you wanted it to be.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I feel like, you know, along the way, I've worked on a lot of collaborations.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: And what I always start with is like, what is our master goal?
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what are we trying to achieve out of this?
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: And what do you want to see?
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like when you bring together the team that you're working with and have them all kind of have a seat at the table in the concepting and the strategizing of the greater purpose, you automatically have broader buy-in.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: And when I say the team, I mean everyone from like, you know, maybe your digital team, your marketing team, your team on the ground, even your cleaning team, right?
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like your housekeeping team.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: And just having them understand the greater purpose and being a part of the concepting, or at least a part of the purpose from the start is super, super important.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the bumpy roads are gonna come and you're gonna have many of them because at different times, it might just be like you need to get together and realign timelines.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: It might be like, let's put the greater purpose of this entire project on the wall so we can all stare at it and see it and see that this is something we're trying to have.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the platform that I drive right now for Brookhill Properties Explore, it's a brand new initiative.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: My responsibility was to champion and launch this and get buy-in.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so having this responsibility meant that I really do need to have a lot of partners and a lot of team members who understand why this is important to us.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: So it included like putting together like master presentations and sitting down and sending that out and having like broader meetings with team members to just for them to understand why this is important.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: Every time getting up a call with team members, just saying, Thank you so much.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you really you made my day with that feedback and meaning it, not just saying it, but meaning it.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like I called you to be better educated to move this roadblock forward because I understand that you're the team member who can partner with me on it.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think if people feel like they are part of your marathon, your relay race, and they're really part of building something with you from concept to inception to like all the steps after that, they really will become teammates for with you from start to end.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: So that's really kind of how I think about things.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: I think about how we should communicate from the start.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: We should all come to the table.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: We should think through things together, we should address roadblocks and tackle them.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: We should create contingency plans.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then we start implementing it.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then as we hit roadblocks, we have our touch base meetings, we assess where we are, we're okay to, you know, make mistakes and learn quickly.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: And you really let everyone feel who's a part of your project, feel Like they are working in tandem with you, not to the end.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think you just really get a lot of buy-in if you operate that way.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of what you're saying, there's a lot of creating community, creating connection, collaboration, communication, a lot of literation here, which I love.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: So so, in the sense of that, like there's a lot of that being a first-generation immigrant, do you think a lot of the things that you did and had to go through and experience has led you to kind of focus in on those key things?
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: Or or or what has kind of like to me, those are powerful things that move the needle a lot faster than doing things individually or separately or giving up a lot of work.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: Can you can you tell me a little bit about that?
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: So my first sense of community was having the small community of my family in America, like going through snowstorms or going through times where we just needed only each other to figure things out.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when you come from a country and you're doing fairly well, you come to America and your your currency doesn't necessarily transform to the American dollar.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: You really need to buckle down.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so a sense of community we first had was, you know, we were young, we had a we literally had a box at home and we were all working.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: And we will come and put our babysitting money in the box to my dad's money in the box, and all of us will all put it together, and that will be our pool of money to then assess like how are we all gonna survive that month, right?
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: And just knowing that we needed to lean on each other to just, you know, American nuances, like not understanding knock-knock jokes or even like, you know, simple things in culture that I needed to understand and adjust and feel a part of the American community.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I feel like joining and coming into communities and stepping out at the right times has always been a theme in my life.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it's always been part of what's been driving my great my tenacity throughout my whole life is just understanding how to kind of rally together as a community and how to maybe, you know, understand roadblocks.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, like stocks of cash.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: We have to figure out those roadblocks all the way to like, you know, now being where I am today with my husband and my kids, and also making sure that they understand, my children understand that they aren't being raised and they are working hard for everything.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: They're not gonna be raised in a silver platter and they understand the why behind the decisions we make as a family today.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think you have generational boldness?
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_01: Because I bet you do.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe like it's somewhere in there.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, definitely.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: So, like when you think about your kids and how they are, would you describe them as bold?
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my goodness.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you how my day goes with them.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's a lot of stats, a lot of personality, a lot of opinions, but I nurture that in them.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: I want them, yeah.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I always say that I don't want to get to the college age for them.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I know we all have to worry, but I don't want to worry about them making decisions.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: I want them to feel like their morals and our core values are what is driving their decisions, and we've set a really good foundation for them.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: But yes, I do believe that being bold is essential and it's essential for us to teach, especially our little girls.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: I have a girl, the boy, but especially our little girls that because it gets challenged, or it becomes challenging for us because our boldness is always tested.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: It can be come, it can be seen as, you know, maybe sometimes, I mean, there's so many other words to use that aggressive or maybe becoming too all these other things.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes too and then do everything, right?
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: Do everything, whatever the word is that you know that challenge your boldness.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that for us, you know, when I've heard that along the way professionally, I kind of chuckle because in the moment I do say, okay, I appreciate that and I appreciate your feedback, but I know that my light won't dim from that feedback.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so I feel like we are such adaptable creatures as women that we have to, in our boldness, really accept the fact that it is a great thing to stand in your power, you know, and it might not be meant for that circle, but it'll be meant for another circle for you.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe that circle just needs to understand that your power, though they might feel like it could be and insert the word intimidating or you know, insert the word, it might be a power they need to channel later.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: So just don't let your light get dimmed.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think what I've learned as I've gotten older, wish I would have known earlier, but that's called experience.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: But is that the more people talk about those types of things, it's more a reflection of them than of you.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: And instead of dimming your light, like you know, cook it up to the next level or just leave it where it is and move your light somewhere else, right?
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I amp up the light, and sometimes I'm like, okay, I'm gonna shine over here.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, yeah.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: But don't turn it off and definitely don't dim it.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: But I think it's more about them than you, and it doesn't make it easier, it doesn't make it hurt less sometimes.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's like, oh man, I didn't mean it like that.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: I had someone told me to slow my roll with all my boldness just in the last year, and I'm like, you know, it was a very surprising group that said it to me, and I was just like, I'm trying to help people just feel more aligned with who they are, find their purpose, and be happier.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna slow that down.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_01: That actually just made me want to do it more.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, exactly.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: You have to go away you're loved, right?
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: Go away you're loved and keep pushing.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and you don't know who's watching, like you said, for our girls and you know the boys too, but I think especially for the girls, like don't dim your light because I think what happens when you do that is you're saying it's okay to not be you.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, when I think about me, like I'm sure I can be a lot for people at times, and I think I've as I've gotten older, you know, I've just figured out that's just who I am, and that's okay.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think that's the part that sometimes as you get in different careers and different you have different bosses and things like that, you start kind of almost like a chameleon, you start whatever culture you're in or what you're doing, or how do you fit in, or yeah, and I know I was always trying to like be as much me as I can and not get fired.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's a hard one to balance sometimes, right?
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, definitely with me too.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean, and I didn't always succeed.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I think you know, from that perspective, it's like being able to like be true to you, do the right thing, support the people.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: I was big on being the voice of people who didn't have a voice and kind of fighting for it.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, multiple times I was told my crew, oh, be sure that's the hill you want to die on.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I thought that was the worst thing to save someone.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: Who about that?
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_01: Who that people do?
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my goodness.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like when you're standing up for something in a in an organization and the politics are heavy against whatever you're standing up for.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: You've kind of you've probably already been told to tamp it down a bit, but you're just like, nope, I'm pressing up on that hill.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: So I think you know, it's really just important for I think our listeners to hear that because I think you're a great example of that.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: I think not only for your own boldness, but what you do impacts other people.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: It has a ripple effect for your family, for your friends, and for the community that you're in.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_01: So, really, really important.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: So, I know we're we're coming close to time, so I want to ask you one more question.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: So, one of the things when you talked about your drive and being able to make sure that folks understood kind of who you are and what you're trying to accomplish, sometimes we could burn ourselves out, or we can like our drive is really on high all the time.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: How do you balance your life in in a way?
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I really I kind of shy away from the word balance, more alignment.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how do you stay aligned in your life?
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: What are the things that you do to take care of you?
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good question.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: Balance, alignment, you know, resetting.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's something I think women, I know me personally, sometimes that's a hard one to figure out, especially I have a four-year-old and a three-year-old who's just balancing the family.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, yeah.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know, for me, it's I love the gym.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: I do go to the gym.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: I am not in the gym to be a certain size or a certain person, but I'm in the gym for mental, for my own mental escape, as I I like to refer to it.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because I sew not with my headsets and it's just like an hour just for me.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: So that's definitely some time I take for myself.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: Also, just about every night, enough nights if I don't end up falling asleep when I put them to bed.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: I do come back down to the living room and just spend like 30, 40 minutes by myself.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's really important to me.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's like no phone zone, no TV, just some time to really reflect like on my personal day, just kind of sit back and try to just like relax the mind before I settle out.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm an extremely driven person.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: So that's it's really important in those moments to just kind of check out and space out and just have moments of gratitude, really.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: Also, I try my best to also have conversations about gratitude.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like I take the time, even when I'm putting them to bed, to say, what are five things you're grateful for today?
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I ask myself that in the night.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like, forget work, like, what are you grateful for?
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, grateful to be alive today, grateful to have had certain things that are not related to career or success that I just want to kind of end my night kind of thinking about.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I think my husband really does keep me pretty grounded too.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: He he definitely reminds me of like how to keep things light, which is always good because he's definitely the laid back version of the laid back version.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I can relate to that as well.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like someone who's just really even keel, like it's all good, you know, it's all good.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's not good, yeah, it's all good.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you know what I mean.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like online, just it's like this is not a time, you know.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we take drives together.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, We're not talking about work right now.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: We're talking about every we're talking about us, and that's what he reminds me of online.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like, let that go and focus on us right now, you know, and that's always a good reminder when the brain is like on 10 and on everything else that's a priority at that moment.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: So rest, refocus, gratitude, taking time for yourself, even if it's just a couple minutes, you know.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know, for me, like looking at the fireplace in the evening is a nice thing, just under a blanket and just yeah, just kind of like okay, it's maybe 15 minutes of doing nothing but staring at the you know fireplace.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: But like that is just for me almost like a meditation, I guess, in a way.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_01: Just being and not letting kind of the world creep into your head and just have some space to reset.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_01: So love that.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_01: Well, more information about you is below.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: Please do connect with Esther online and LinkedIn and all her socials that are below.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_01: And thank you so much for being part of the Bold Lounge.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for having me.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening to the Bold Lounge podcast.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_01: Through the continuum of bold stories, vulnerability to taking the lead.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: You will meet more extraordinary people making a positive impact on others to their unique important story.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: By highlighting these stories, we hope to inspire others to share the journey of the bold.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_01: We hope you've enjoyed this podcast and report journey of the next journey of the