Latest / Build Your Own Fairytale / Music, Marriage, Motherhood & a Mission

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Music, Marriage, Motherhood & a Mission · Build Your Own Fairytale

• 0:10
  Kristen: You have a great life, maybe even perfect life on paper.
• 0:14
  Kristen: Yet, do you ever feel like you're not doing enough either at home or at work?
• 0:18
  Kristen: Have you followed all the so-called"rules" yet somehow feel like you're missing something?
• 0:23
  Kristen: Don't worry.
• 0:24
  Kristen: You are not alone.
• 0:26
  Kristen: Because guess what?
• 0:27
  Kristen: The traditional path society let us to blindly follow were not designed for today's women.
• 0:33
  Kristen: We are dreamers.
• 0:35
  Kristen: We are doers and we get to write our own stories.
• 0:39
  Kristen: And this podcast is about taking ownership of your beautiful life, prioritizing your dreams and building your own fairytale.
• 0:46
  Kristen: Hi, I'm your host.
• 0:47
  Kristen: Kristen Lettini.
• 0:48
  Kristen: Join me each episode and we'll learn from real people who have boldly gone before us and share candid stories from their journeys.
• 0:54
  Kristen: Because this is a team sport.
• 0:56
  Kristen: When one of us wins, we all win by carving out new pathways for ourselves, our friends and our children.
• 1:02
  Kristen: There's room for everyone to build their own fairytale.
• 1:05
  Kristen: And listen, I get it because I'm a wife, a twin mom and a cat mom.
• 1:09
  Kristen: I've worked in a small company and I've worked in a massive global company.
• 1:13
  Kristen: I've gotten the degrees.
• 1:14
  Kristen: I've been the primary breadwinner.
• 1:16
  Kristen: I've also stayed at home with my kids briefly.
• 1:18
  Kristen: I called in my summer of fun though.
• 1:20
  Kristen: Technically it started out pretty far from that with the whole family getting COVID.
• 1:24
  Kristen: But anywho- now I've changed my current status to entrepreneur, which is super exciting and scary at the same time.
• 1:31
  Kristen: I'm calling time on sitting around and waiting for someone else or some one to swoop in and make it all happen.
• 1:38
  Kristen: Because unlike those stories, we own the pen to this one.
• 1:42
  Kristen: So consider yourself sprinkled with fairy dust and let's go.
• 1:47
  Kristen: Welcome back to another episode of Build Your Own Fairytale.
• 1:51
  Kristen: I hope you had a chance to check out last week's episode with Dori Stewart, where Dori shared her Cinderella-like transformation from mom managing through divorce and trying to grow a business to full-blown franchise success.
• 2:03
  Kristen: Today, we are talking with Delana Green, Alaska native and holder of many titles- wife, mom, music, educator, singer business owner.
• 2:12
  Kristen: And there are probably a few more I should add.
• 2:14
  Kristen: But what I thought you should know is Delana is super fun and determined to make things happen for herself and her family.
• 2:21
  Kristen: The more I learned about her story, the more I was inspired and I hope the same is true for you.
• 2:26
  Kristen: Without further adieu, please welcome Delana Green.
• 2:30
  Kristen: Delana, thank you so much for being here today.
• 2:32
  Kristen: I'm very excited.
• 2:33
  Delana: Absolutely.
• 2:33
  Delana: I'm excited, too.
• 2:34
  Kristen: First set the picture for us.
• 2:36
  Kristen: I know, from what I have learned about you, it feels like you're in this little, sort of a fairytale state right now.
• 2:42
  Kristen: So tell us current state, and then we're gonna hear how great that is.
• 2:45
  Kristen: And then I'm gonna ask if you can take us back to how we got to this state.
• 2:49
  Delana: So I definitely think that right now has probably been one of the best years that me, myself and my family has had, it's been extremely difficult.
• 2:58
  Delana: Don't get me wrong.
• 2:58
  Delana: We've had a lot of like sickness in our house and everything.
• 3:01
  Delana: We've just got over COVID again last week, but.
• 3:05
  Delana: It's the first time since I've been married that my husband and I have actually had legitimate time together.
• 3:12
  Kristen: Wow.
• 3:13
  Delana: It's insane.
• 3:14
  Delana: We've had, we've had quite a journey.
• 3:15
  Delana: So here we are, my husband quit his job he was working at for 10 years in January.
• 3:22
  Delana: He was a retail manager and it was just basically killing him.
• 3:26
  Delana: Like it was just so not okay.
• 3:28
  Delana: and we kind of sat down as a family and decided.
• 3:34
  Delana: He was done.
• 3:35
  Delana: And we had made that decision a year ago, but we were gonna be looking for jobs in the last year.
• 3:40
  Delana: This time we just decided, you know, he can be a stay at home dad and we can launch the things that I've really wanted to launch the last couple years in my business.
• 3:49
  Delana: But haven't been able to, because I've been a full-time mom and a full-time business owner at the same time because his work schedule was so insane.
• 3:56
  Delana: So you know, we're, we've launched this new section or this new adventure in my business, and it's so amazing to have him home and to support me.
• 4:07
  Delana: And then my kids are home and we get to spend a lot of time this year as a family, because we took this huge.
• 4:15
  Delana: Incredibly scary leap.
• 4:16
  Delana: I have never 100% been the breadwinner.
• 4:19
  Delana: It's always, he's had this secure job.
• 4:21
  Delana: You know, we had a paycheck every week and mine was the, like, it changes week to week, some months I get this amount some months I get this amount.
• 4:29
  Delana: So it was definitely a dynamic change.
• 4:31
  Delana: And I had to.
• 4:33
  Delana: Focus more on getting more clients or working different sections of the business and, and this huge launch that we just did with online piano courses.
• 4:44
  Delana: It's been amazing.
• 4:46
  Delana: We've been kind of trying to figure out if he has necessarily a place in the business.
• 4:50
  Delana: Right now he's mainly just been my manager he went from being a retail manager to being my manager.
• 4:58
  Delana: He's OCD.
• 4:59
  Delana: I am aDHD.
• 5:02
  Delana: I jump from thing to thing.
• 5:03
  Delana: And sometimes he's like, okay, Delana here are your tasks to complete today, which I'm so thankful for, because if I didn't have him kind of reeling me in and helping me focus, I would just be going off the walls with everything.
• 5:16
  Delana: So that's sort of been his main job right now.
• 5:18
  Delana: And then also we have two toddlers that.
• 5:21
  Delana: He's kind of being the main, like I'm taking care of their nap times and everything and their meal times.
• 5:27
  Delana: And then we have a little 10 month old baby, and so I've been able to spend a lot more time that's precious with her.
• 5:34
  Delana: And so kind of splitting responsibilities to where he's playing Mr.
• 5:38
  Delana: Mom a little bit more than he ever has.
• 5:40
  Kristen: Just to do the math a little bit.
• 5:41
  Kristen: Cause you said he left in January and you have a 10 month old-it's August.
• 5:45
  Kristen: So literally he left this stable secure paycheck when your infant was what?
• 5:52
  Kristen: Two months?
• 5:52
  Delana: Yeah.
• 5:53
  Delana: Actually it was like when she was a week old that he came to me because he was able to do paternity leave for 12 weeks.
• 6:01
  Delana: And the majority of that 10 weeks of that 12 was not paid, but he could take that much time.
• 6:08
  Delana: And so it was like when she was a week or two old, and I got this incredible scholarship to do this launch.
• 6:13
  Delana: That's when he was like, I think we could do this.
• 6:16
  Delana: I'm gonna plant this idea in your head.
• 6:18
  Delana: You think about it, you pray about it.
• 6:20
  Delana: See what you think, and then we'll talk about it in another week.
• 6:23
  Delana: And then it takes me a while to like process it and think about it, go to the worst case scenario, go to the best case scenario.
• 6:29
  Kristen: Yeah.
• 6:29
  Delana: And then get back to him.
• 6:30
  Delana: So she was like a week or two old when we really started thinking like, okay, I think he could quit his job and not go straight to another one.
• 6:39
  Delana: Cause we've been looking for a year for another job, but.
• 6:41
  Delana: So that was terrifying.
• 6:42
  Delana: He's had this secure job and we have a newborn, we have two toddlers and he's like, I wanna quit.
• 6:52
  Kristen: that's an emotional time as it is you adding the whole job piece to it.
• 6:55
  Kristen: It can be a little crazy, so, oh my gosh.
• 6:57
  Kristen: Okay.
• 6:57
  Delana: Yeah.
• 6:58
  Delana: And he's been at this job for 10 years.
• 7:00
  Delana: So this has been our whole relationship.
• 7:03
  Delana: He's been here.
• 7:04
  Delana: He was planning on staying at this job.
• 7:05
  Delana: He was gonna retire here.
• 7:07
  Delana: And so it was a big leap.
• 7:08
  Kristen: And also clarify where"here" is for our listeners.
• 7:11
  Delana: Your ears are about to perk up if you're listening, because I live in the great state, the 49th state of Alaska.
• 7:20
  Delana: And Alaska is incredible.
• 7:21
  Delana: It's gorgeous.
• 7:22
  Delana: Most people, they either have never been to Alaska and they're like, oh, I've always wanted to go.
• 7:27
  Delana: They're like, oh, is that even part of the United States?
• 7:30
  Delana: Or they say, Hey, I know someone that went on a cruise to Alaska and they said it was the most incredible place.
• 7:35
  Delana: And that is the most accurate it is gorgeous.
• 7:38
  Delana: There's a lot of misconceptions about it.
• 7:40
  Delana: There's the whole question of, oh, do you get 24 hour daylight or 24 hour nighttime?
• 7:44
  Delana: And there are places in Alaska where like three months of the year they get 100%.
• 7:50
  Delana: 24 hour light.
• 7:52
  Delana: And that's gonna be the most Northern part of Alaska.
• 7:55
  Delana: And then in the winter they get like 100% dark.
• 7:58
  Delana: The sun won't rise again for a while.
• 8:00
  Delana: And again, that's like north pole, we're talking Barrow, Alaska my area because Alaska is huge.
• 8:07
  Delana: The coast to coast matches the United States.
• 8:09
  Delana: My area it's called the Kenai peninsula and it's known as the Alaska playground and it's because it's the best fishing.
• 8:16
  Delana: in probably the whole United States we have a huge tourist population that comes every single summer.
• 8:22
  Delana: And we have a lot of different activities.
• 8:24
  Delana: We have mountain climbing that you can do.
• 8:26
  Delana: We have like you get to go water rafting.
• 8:28
  Delana: There's zip lines.
• 8:29
  Delana: I mean, it's just, it's a gorgeous place.
• 8:31
  Delana: I absolutely don't think I could see myself living anywhere else in Alaska than this area.
• 8:36
  Delana: And it will get to like 90 degrees in the summer.
• 8:39
  Delana: And the worst it gets typically is around negative 20.
• 8:43
  Delana: And I say that like, just whatever, but I actually hate it when it gets up.
• 8:47
  Delana: I don't like the cold cold.
• 8:48
  Delana: Yeah.
• 8:48
  Delana: That's pretty cool.
• 8:49
  Delana: But I mean, most of the time it's like negative 10 is what we'll see kind of the majority of the time or zero.
• 8:56
  Delana: But all of us, we love our summers.
• 8:59
  Delana: Everyone has to get out in the summer to kind of like store up almost that vitamin D to last the dark winter.
• 9:05
  Delana: Cause it does get pretty dark here in the winter.
• 9:07
  Delana: It gets dark around 4:30 and it doesn't rise until maybe 8:30/9:00 o'clock you get kind of used it.
• 9:13
  Delana: You don't think about it, but in the summer it stays light until about 1:00 AM.
• 9:17
  Delana: And it gets light early in the morning as well.
• 9:20
  Delana: So it's just, there's these different.
• 9:22
  Delana: It's a completely different climate than what you see in other places.
• 9:26
  Kristen: Well, this was the whole unexpected education on Alaska, so I'm very grateful for it.
• 9:30
  Delana: I know everyone, everyone always has so many questions about it and that answers basically the majority of it.
• 9:36
  Kristen: Awesome.
• 9:36
  Kristen: And so you were born and raised there and then you also competed in what pageant?
• 9:41
  Delana: I competed in Mrs.
• 9:43
  Delana: Alaska.
• 9:43
  Delana: It was the first time I've ever done any kind of pageant.
• 9:46
  Delana: I had some friends tell me I needed to do it because I've always been involved in theater and film and just a very on-stage kind of person and personality.
• 9:55
  Delana: So I had a lot of friends suggest it and my husband, it was our first year of marriage.
• 9:59
  Delana: He's like I guess, you know, he a little bit more pliable that first year and I was actually nine weeks pregnant with our first baby when I did it.
• 10:07
  Delana: And we hadn't told anyone yet.
• 10:09
  Delana: That weekend it was Mother's Day weekend and we told our family when they all came to it was in the big city of Alaska, which is Anchorage and that's three hours north of where we live.
• 10:21
  Delana: And they all came up there to watch me in this competition, this pageant.
• 10:25
  Delana: I was like on cloud nine, the whole weekend.
• 10:28
  Delana: I had this glow because we were gonna tell our family that we're pregnant and that was super exciting.
• 10:33
  Delana: And I think that kind of helped me when I was doing it.
• 10:36
  Delana: I ended up in the winner's circle.
• 10:38
  Delana: We had three girls actually from the Kenai peninsula out of five women in the winner circle and one of them won and she actually became my friend that weekend, cuz we were always right next to each other in line.
• 10:49
  Delana: And so it was just such a cool experience.
• 10:51
  Delana: I don't know if I have the power to convince my husband to do it again So who knows?
• 10:57
  Delana: I, I haven't decided yet if that's in my future again, but yeah, I'm open to it.
• 11:02
  Kristen: I have a question for you, which may or may not have come up in the Q&A portion...
• 11:06
  Kristen: if you could be a fairytale or fictional character, who would you be and why?
• 11:11
  Delana: Okay.
• 11:12
  Delana: One of my favorite shows is Once Upon a Time and there is a particular character from that that I would absolutely love to be because she's just a regular chick that ends up having, I mean, she has magical power.
• 11:25
  Delana: She she's kind of, she slays a dragon.
• 11:27
  Delana: Like I just think she's cool and it's Emma Swan and she just happens to be Prince Charming and Snow White's daughter.
• 11:34
  Delana: So I think that is who I would be just because I think that she's just super strong.
• 11:40
  Delana: She knows who she.
• 11:41
  Delana: In the end, takes her a while.
• 11:42
  Delana: But she's just cool.
• 11:44
  Delana: Like, she's just easy to look up to and I actually hated Snow White as a kid.
• 11:48
  Delana: She terrified me.
• 11:49
  Delana: This is the first time that I ever liked Snow White was in this show and I like the version it's Ginnifer Goodwin.
• 11:55
  Delana: And I mean, I could, I would love to be her too, you know?
• 11:58
  Delana: Cause I think she's awesome.
• 11:59
  Delana: They made this really powerful Snow White character.
• 12:02
  Delana: So those two are probably my favorite.
• 12:04
  Kristen: Okay, well, that character is a first for response on this show.
• 12:08
  Kristen: And we've just prepped you for when you go back to Mrs.
• 12:11
  Kristen: Alaska.
• 12:11
  Kristen: Exactly.
• 12:12
  Kristen: yeah.
• 12:13
  Kristen: Awesome.
• 12:13
  Kristen: We got to know you a little more with that.
• 12:16
  Kristen: So hearing about this, like your friends were encouraging to do this pageant and this love of theater and things.
• 12:22
  Kristen: So take us back to, I think it.
• 12:24
  Kristen: 10 years ago, maybe you've mentioned that you had this vision or this dream tell us what was happening 10 years ago when that came up?
• 12:31
  Delana: So all my life, I wanted to be a business owner.
• 12:34
  Delana: I also wanted to be an actress and a singer.
• 12:36
  Delana: Those three things have pretty much been consistent.
• 12:38
  Delana: My whole life.
• 12:39
  Delana: You look at About Me pages when I was like in kindergarten and it asked me what I wanted to be.
• 12:45
  Delana: It was a singer and an actress.
• 12:47
  Delana: And when I was about 10 years old, I kind of realized that, oh, I don't wanna ever work for someone else.
• 12:51
  Delana: I wanna work for myself.
• 12:53
  Delana: And my dad encouraged that, both my parents are pastors in Alaska and they have been my whole life.
• 12:57
  Delana: And they were always very encouraging of, form your own path and, you know, take the leaps and bounds for, for your life and go on your journey and be strong.
• 13:09
  Delana: You know, they just had these, my dad especially, very uplifting on you can do what you set your mind to.
• 13:15
  Delana: And I think it helps that I'm a very determined person.
• 13:18
  Delana: Like I said all my life I wanted to do that.
• 13:20
  Delana: Now, when I had just gone through my first year of college, I was working at a daycare and I realized that I really liked working with the kids at the daycare.
• 13:29
  Delana: And I started taking music lessons having music students on the side, just people that had came to me because I've been playing piano since I was like five and I've been taking formal lessons since I was eight and I just really loved it.
• 13:39
  Delana: And so I started teaching kids like on this side and eventually I had enough to where I was like, I'm, I'm making more of an income doing this.
• 13:49
  Delana: And I am, you know, working 20 weeks here and I really, really like this.
• 13:54
  Delana: So I went to my boss and she was very supportive cuz she knew I wanted to be a business owner and she's like, you know, you can still work.
• 14:00
  Delana: Part-time here, you know, just be a sub.
• 14:02
  Delana: And so I was a sub for about a year as I started this business teaching piano lessons.
• 14:07
  Delana: With like$0 invested.
• 14:10
  Delana: I'd let word of mouth go and just kind of run through our town and was working on referrals basically.
• 14:17
  Delana: And I rented out this theater and it was in the middle of a mall.
• 14:23
  Delana: Our in our mall is not like, you know what?
• 14:25
  Delana: You see a lot in the lower 48 is a small mall.
• 14:29
  Delana: I think the biggest store that we had in there was a Payless.
• 14:32
  Delana: It was a lot of small businesses and we had a theater, a theatrical.
• 14:36
  Delana: So people that did plays it was called Triumvirate Theater and they were doing shows there.
• 14:42
  Delana: They kind of made this like bookstore and then you'd walk through the bookstore and there was this stage and there was a piano.
• 14:48
  Delana: And so I subleased from them and I rented from them for a couple years.
• 14:52
  Delana: And this business just kind of exploded when I was 19 years old.
• 14:58
  Delana: And.
• 14:59
  Delana: I am dating my husband because we we've been together for 11 years now.
• 15:03
  Delana: And then we got engaged and then I had to learn, oh, I need to do this business in a way that I can save for our wedding.
• 15:12
  Delana: And then we got married and it's like, oh, now I'm in a business owner and I'm married.
• 15:16
  Delana: And how does this look like?
• 15:17
  Delana: How, how do I need to adjust things so that we have this stable income?
• 15:22
  Delana: And then when I had kids.
• 15:23
  Delana: That was a whole different picture.
• 15:26
  Delana: I changed everything that, that changed everything.
• 15:30
  Delana: Everything I gotten used to, all of a sudden just flew out the window and I, my first baby bless her heart.
• 15:36
  Delana: I love her to death.
• 15:37
  Delana: She was extremely, extremely difficult and colic so I was like a stress ball trying to always make sure that she was asleep for lessons.
• 15:46
  Delana: And it ended up being basically me kind of cutting my schedule in half.
• 15:51
  Delana: but I was very thankful because through connection to the theater, I got to know these producers and these directors of Triumvirate and they ended up offering me contract jobs.
• 16:03
  Delana: So I ended up directing for the first time when I was 19.
• 16:07
  Delana: But the amount of value that I had from that with these people over me and then teaching these kids and working with these teens and everything.
• 16:17
  Delana: It's amazing.
• 16:18
  Delana: Like I learned so much from that and at such a young age, so that kind of really launched a new section.
• 16:27
  Delana: I would say a new journey into my music lessons because it just made me go up another tier as far as connecting with kids and connecting with teens at just another level.
• 16:38
  Delana: And today it took me a while to be able to say this, but I am extremely proud.
• 16:44
  Delana: Of how well I can connect with kids and how engaging I can make lessons for them.
• 16:49
  Delana: That is something that I know that I have an ability to do, and that I'm proud of.
• 16:53
  Delana: And that's not a bad thing to say, but for the longest time it felt bad, you know, you're, you're kind of like, oh, I don't wanna be too prideful, but I think it's important to figure out, like, what are you good at?
• 17:04
  Delana: And market that.
• 17:06
  Delana: And that's basically what I found out I'm really good at.
• 17:10
  Delana: I can connect with toddlers.
• 17:11
  Delana: I can connect with teens.
• 17:12
  Delana: I have this ability to do so, and I love it.
• 17:16
  Delana: So.
• 17:17
  Delana: That that's a long story, but I mean, that's all there.
• 17:21
  Delana: Just that journey of really fighting who I am as a business owner, who I am as a mom and all the, the stuff that kind of pulled into what I do today.
• 17:31
  Delana: It's, it's an amalgam of just so many different journeys of like, how does this connect to this thing?
• 17:37
  Delana: That's way the heck over here.
• 17:39
  Delana: Yeah.
• 17:39
  Delana: But you pull'em together and you have this really incredible career.
• 17:43
  Kristen: Yeah, well, and first kudos to you.
• 17:45
  Kristen: I love that.
• 17:46
  Kristen: You're able to now say it because it's, it's a beautiful thing.
• 17:49
  Kristen: And especially now to recognize it even more, so do it, having that engagement virtually as well.
• 17:55
  Kristen: Right.
• 17:55
  Kristen: Because you're offering these online and everyone now knows after COVID
• 18:00
  Delana: Yeah, exactly.
• 18:01
  Kristen: That through the screen, it's it's not easy, right?
• 18:04
  Kristen: Not everybody can.
• 18:06
  Delana: And I was thankful because I mean, as much as I'm an extrovert, so I was devastated when COVID happened and closed everything down.
• 18:12
  Delana: And I just had our second baby girl, she was born in November of 2019.
• 18:16
  Delana: And my husband went from working 90 hour-work weeks during COVID because his specific job.
• 18:21
  Delana: So like I was at home alone with two babies and only teaching virtually through zoom.
• 18:27
  Delana: I was going nuts, but.
• 18:30
  Delana: It was around that time where I was like, you know, I'm starting to, I'm starting to understand how this would work.
• 18:37
  Delana: So when our first daughter Willow was born, I had this idea again, cuz I had it when I first started.
• 18:43
  Delana: But when she was born I was like, you know, I think it would be really cool to create courses, music courses online.
• 18:49
  Delana: And around that time, I hadn't really heard of anyone really doing that.
• 18:53
  Delana: Of course now there's much more, but this was like five years ago, four years ago.
• 18:57
  Delana: And.
• 18:58
  Delana: I was like, I think I could do that.
• 19:00
  Delana: But at the time when I talked to my husband, we were both like, you know, right now, this just isn't a good time for you because it takes money to buy all the equipment.
• 19:08
  Delana: It takes the time.
• 19:10
  Delana: And it's a lot of work and I definitely, I now, after doing this for the last year, I definitely couldn't have done it at that level back then.
• 19:20
  Delana: So when COVID happened and I started getting more familiar with not only marketing online, but also creating more visually stimulating things and working with zoom and teaching kids and engaging kids over the internet that kind of taught me some things that I needed to know.
• 19:37
  Delana: And so when there was this scholarship opportunity that happened for our local chamber, they were doing this competition to kind of recreate the shark tank, but a local version and I found out very last minute, like, I think it was about five days before the deadline.
• 19:56
  Delana: And I.
• 19:57
  Delana: In labor I was in prodromal labor for a couple weeks, but this was like a couple days, like maybe a day before.
• 20:04
  Delana: And I was having contractions every six minutes or every six to 10 and I was going nuts.
• 20:08
  Delana: So in between contractions, I was filling out this intensive application to apply for the scholarship.
• 20:14
  Kristen: Stop that! In between contractions labor, contractions to give birth, you're filling out an application for a scholarship?
• 20:22
  Delana: Yeah, it's crazy.
• 20:27
  Delana: I, I, like I said, I was in prodromal labor, so I was having stop and go contractions for weeks,where I would be contracting, you know, eight minutes, seven minutes apart for like hours and then it would just stop.
• 20:40
  Kristen: I've never heard that.
• 20:41
  Kristen: That's crazy.
• 20:42
  Delana: Yeah So I was going crazy.
• 20:44
  Delana: I was trying to distract myself.
• 20:46
  Delana: So I filled out this application.
• 20:48
  Delana: And in the application you had to write up a business plan.
• 20:52
  Delana: and at the time I had two main things that I was thinking about.
• 20:55
  Delana: I was like, you know, I have all these books that I've written that I want to be able to publish, but that costs so much money.
• 20:59
  Delana: I would like to maybe do that.
• 21:01
  Delana: But also I really wanna do these courses and I kind of went back and forth.
• 21:05
  Delana: I decided I'm really gonna go into asking money for these courses.
• 21:09
  Delana: I didn't know much about this process.
• 21:12
  Delana: I'd never done it before with them.
• 21:13
  Delana: And all of a sudden, like a day later, or a couple days later after I had had my baby I get this email, that's like, Hey, out of 30 people, you and three others were chosen.
• 21:25
  Delana: I didn't know that it was like a, you had to be chosen out of all these applications, but outta 30 people, you and three others or two others were chosen to give a business plan and a presentation.
• 21:36
  Delana: In a few weeks.
• 21:38
  Delana: And I was like, well, I'm gonna have, I have this newborn with me.
• 21:42
  Delana: is that OK to bring her?
• 21:43
  Delana: And they're like, yeah.
• 21:44
  Delana: Yeah.
• 21:44
  Delana: That's okay.
• 21:45
  Delana: So I get COVID when she was just a couple days old.
• 21:48
  Delana: So I'm stuck in bed all the time.
• 21:50
  Delana: So I'm able to have a lot of time to research and make up this business presentation and work it out and find all the information on like, You know what website I'm going to use for the platform and what equipment, what cameras I need, what recording I need.
• 22:06
  Delana: All these things.
• 22:08
  Delana: I was able to get the presentation when she was like two weeks old, we had just gotten able to get out of the house after recovering from COVID.
• 22:16
  Delana: So it was like, perfect timing.
• 22:18
  Delana: I almost didn't make it.
• 22:19
  Delana: And I gave this presentation with her on my chest the whole time.
• 22:24
  Delana: And one of my dearest friends was there with me and she goes, you know, I think that's part of the reason why you won is because they saw you carrying this child through the whole presentation and you didn't even blink.
• 22:36
  Delana: Back then when I was doing it, like, I'm great at presenting, that is something I really love to do.
• 22:43
  Delana: And so it was exciting.
• 22:44
  Delana: I was having fun and they asked this question, you know, well, you're obviously a mother, you're a mother of three kids.
• 22:51
  Delana: How, how are you gonna have the time to do this?
• 22:55
  Delana: I answered, you know, well, if I have the money investment, I can take the time investment.
• 22:59
  Delana: You know, if you don't have that financial investment, it's hard to go the extra, like, cuz it just double.
• 23:06
  Delana: All of a sudden, you go from a$4,000 investment to an 8,000 because your time is money as well when you're a business owner.
• 23:11
  Delana: And so I was able to give that answer and they came back from deliberating.
• 23:15
  Delana: And one of the things that they said, they're like, all these were great, but what it came down to was who can start their business plan tomorrow, like who can take this money and start working on it tomorrow.
• 23:26
  Delana: And I thought that was a sign that I wasn't gonna get it.
• 23:29
  Delana: My heart just like sunk.
• 23:31
  Delana: I'm like, they're thinking I'm a mom.
• 23:33
  Delana: I'm not gonna be able to do it because I'm a mom and they, they ended up choosing me.
• 23:37
  Delana: They're like, we feel like you can step up and do this starting tomorrow.
• 23:41
  Delana: And I did.
• 23:41
  Delana: I mean, I started working on stuff the very next day, but I just, my heart just like soared and I couldn't believe it.
• 23:47
  Delana: I mean, there was people that have owned businesses for years in our community that were on.
• 23:54
  Delana: That panel.
• 23:55
  Delana: And there was also a former business instructor that I had.
• 23:57
  Delana: I was kind of terrified of what he would think of me I was never good at school, so I didn't get the greatest grades in his classes.
• 24:05
  Delana: And he was the business, like head of the department for our local college.
• 24:09
  Delana: And so I was like, I dunno what he was gonna think.
• 24:11
  Delana: He ended up loving it and wanting to support me and be very excited.
• 24:15
  Delana: And so that was like, It was really cool and such a great energy to have all these business owners kind of stand behind me and say like, we believe in you.
• 24:23
  Delana: And there was just nothing like it, like holding my baby and accepting this award and having these people just say, like, I believe in you's an incredible feeling.
• 24:33
  Kristen: Yeah.
• 24:33
  Kristen: And if that's not a moment for your three little girls to grow up being like, my mom stood there, defended this business case with me on her chest.
• 24:42
  Kristen: Like, I mean, that is one heck of a role model.
• 24:45
  Kristen: And also I got a little peeve when it was like, do you think you could do this because you're a mom, like, were there men up there?
• 24:51
  Kristen: Were they asking men if they could do it?
• 24:52
  Kristen: Cuz they were fathers?
• 24:54
  Delana: There was one guy who he had a rod company, so fly, fly rods for fishing.
• 24:59
  Delana: And then there was another girl who I actually went to school with, and she's a sweetheart and she's a mom too.
• 25:03
  Delana: And I don't think she got asked that question.
• 25:06
  Delana: And he definitely didn't and I think it was because I had the visual representation probably It definitely was like a scary, that was the only question that I was kind of nervous about.
• 25:16
  Delana: I'm really great at, you know, being able to do that presentation, answering all those questions.
• 25:20
  Delana: And I actually had everything like literally written out for them.
• 25:23
  Delana: And that was another thing that I think helped me win.
• 25:26
  Delana: Versus the other people that were in the competition, but just having that visual representation probably was like, are you sure you can't even do a presentation without wearing a baby?
• 25:35
  Delana: Like, is this something you can really do?
• 25:38
  Delana: and yeah, it does.
• 25:39
  Delana: It does feel a little bit.
• 25:41
  Delana: You know, you, you hear those, like celebrities say like, oh, did you ask my co-star what he was wearing or who he was wearing today?
• 25:48
  Delana: You know, is he wearing DOL J Bon, whatever.
• 25:50
  Delana: Yeah.
• 25:51
  Delana: You know, you hear those and it does kinda, it felt sort of similar to that where it's almost disheartening for a second.
• 25:56
  Delana: Yeah.
• 25:57
  Delana: But then you get proud.
• 25:58
  Delana: You get proud of I am doing this.
• 26:00
  Delana: I am carrying my baby.
• 26:02
  Delana: I am representing moms, literally everywhere that are, you know, pumping at work while they're on the phone, talking to someone or during zoom meetings, they're breastfeeding and you can't see, like, there's, there's so many moms out there that are doing this and you don't get praised for it.
• 26:17
  Delana: You know, you just do it.
• 26:18
  Delana: It's what you have to do.
• 26:20
  Delana: You survive.
• 26:22
  Delana: I think that I was a very visual representation of that.
• 26:25
  Delana: And that was like the front page with the newspaper was me with the baby on my chest.
• 26:29
  Delana: And like baby wearing her in a microphone and her being two weeks.
• 26:33
  Delana: Wow.
• 26:34
  Delana: And that's probably one of my proudest moments that I've ever had.
• 26:37
  Delana: Honestly, I that's one of the only things that I feel like I can actually brag about.
• 26:41
  Delana: Like I did that.
• 26:42
  Delana: I am proud that I did that.
• 26:44
  Kristen: I love that you did it too.
• 26:47
  Kristen: Thank you for sharing that.
• 26:48
  Kristen: Oh my gosh.
• 26:49
  Kristen: Yeah.
• 26:49
  Kristen: So wait, you were.
• 26:51
  Kristen: You just deliver your third baby after this crazy, like come and go, contraction business, you filled out an application, you got, COVID got outta quarantine, defended the business with a pitch to the sharks, and then you won and then your husband came to you and said, okay, I think we can do this?
• 27:08
  Delana: Yeah.
• 27:09
  Delana: That that's about right.
• 27:11
  Delana: I had in fact, those, those whole three months after I had her, I was basically bedridden because I had back to back like mastitis, which is an infection.
• 27:22
  Delana: And you basically, you can, you know, it's hospitalization sometimes.
• 27:26
  Delana: And so I had that back to back and I was finding that kind of systemically And so we had a lot of time to think and yeah, it was right after that, that he really came to me, was like, I think we could do this because he had been taking care of the girls, our older two for while I was, you know, sick with her.
• 27:42
  Delana: Cuz COVID hit me the hardest out of everybody and I had just given birth.
• 27:46
  Delana: So there was that too, trying to cough after you just give a birth you know, all that just, it was not fun.
• 27:51
  Delana: And it was around that time that he's like, yeah, I think we can do.
• 27:54
  Delana: this and if this launch, like if you're able to invest in this and like your time, and we can take the time to do this and everything, he's like, I think we can be successful.
• 28:04
  Delana: So now in here we are almost a year later, cuz I started working on that almost just days after it.
• 28:10
  Delana: We're almost a year later it's been about.
• 28:13
  Delana: Nine months since I got that scholarship and I've just launched because that's how long it took.
• 28:19
  Delana: It's a long process and it's a lot longer than I thought it was.
• 28:22
  Delana: And it's because, you know, I, I had a learning curve on each level.
• 28:26
  Delana: I had to learn how to do the videography for it.
• 28:31
  Delana: And I had a video camera on top, so it could look down at the piano keys and then one looking at me.
• 28:36
  Delana: And even though I've done a lot of film work in the past, I've never been the.
• 28:39
  Delana: person setting the settings or figuring out the shot that wasn't my job.
• 28:45
  Delana: So that was, that was a learning curve.
• 28:47
  Delana: And then editing, uploading and editing those.
• 28:50
  Delana: I mean, I had hundreds of gigabytes, I did 50 lessons total and it split into three courses.
• 28:58
  Delana: And so I had hundreds of gigabytes and videos to edit and.
• 29:03
  Delana: That was, that took me months.
• 29:05
  Delana: That took me much longer than I thought I would.
• 29:07
  Delana: And then it was uploading to, and building the site that I was using and making sure that everything was smooth there, that there was no broken links and I've never done site work before.
• 29:17
  Delana: I've never made a website before.
• 29:19
  Delana: And there was a lot of things there that was a learning curve.
• 29:22
  Delana: And uploading these videos and making them interactive.
• 29:25
  Delana: So kids can like press on things or, you know, get the definition that pops up to a word.
• 29:30
  Delana: I just said, get the PDF files that they could download, get a little quiz, like all these interactive things that also took about a month.
• 29:38
  Delana: So it was a much longer and in depth process, then I thought I was gonna be, but I'm ready to do it again.
• 29:46
  Delana: You know, I'm, I'm excited to do the next level of it and all.
• 29:50
  Delana: I'm still teaching full time out of my home, I have students that I see weekly from toddler age to teenager.
• 29:58
  Delana: And I have a blast with that.
• 30:00
  Delana: And so I do that and then I kind of like edit on the side or at nighttime.
• 30:04
  Delana: And right now I've been a little bit more resting after all of that.
• 30:08
  Delana: But it's, it's fun.
• 30:10
  Delana: It makes me, I am someone that has to be creative.
• 30:13
  Delana: I go and insane if I'm not creating something.
• 30:15
  Delana: That is what I am like at the core.
• 30:19
  Delana: So I always had to do it.
• 30:20
  Delana: I can't, I can't go too long without creating something.
• 30:23
  Delana: Yeah.
• 30:23
  Delana: So all the editing, all the, making the videos, everything kind of feeds that little, that little fishy of creativity inside of.
• 30:30
  Kristen: Yeah.
• 30:31
  Kristen: And I can just see it.
• 30:32
  Kristen: I can hear it in like, listening to your story because at every phase that you've talked through, I'm like, oh, there was something that could have taken somebody down.
• 30:40
  Kristen: Like, oh no, got COVID.
• 30:41
  Kristen: Oh no, got another pregnancy.
• 30:43
  Kristen: Oh, like had everything.
• 30:44
  Kristen: There was literally at least one, if not multiple obstacles that could have taken anyone else down, but you were like, no, I got this.
• 30:52
  Kristen: Let's just learn how to do video production.
• 30:55
  Kristen: Okay.
• 30:57
  Delana: yeah.
• 30:57
  Delana: You know, and I, and I have struggled with like, like postpartum depression and postpartum anxiety and those things have been very upfront and real for me and difficult.
• 31:08
  Delana: And you know, they knocked me down quite a bit to where I didn't wanna edit, or I didn't wanna do these things, but luckily.
• 31:14
  Delana: I have an incredible husband who knows how to check in with me.
• 31:18
  Delana: And I would not be where I am today without him being my partner in life.
• 31:23
  Delana: And so, I mean, he, he checks in with my levels.
• 31:26
  Delana: He's like, okay, you're looking a little low today.
• 31:28
  Delana: What, what do we need to do?
• 31:29
  Delana: Do you need to go out for a walk or, you know, he's just that supportive and it's not all been me, you know, I've, I've had an incredible support team, whether it be talk therapy, which I absolutely love, I love to talk.
• 31:40
  Delana: So you can see that I have a, I have a therapist that I talk to whenever I'm like, you know, struggling or having a hard time.
• 31:46
  Delana: You know, I am a firm believer in medication helping you, and that's made me be able to kind of get back up to who I'm meant to be and who I want to be as a mother, as a business owner.
• 32:00
  Delana: It can hold you back so easily.
• 32:02
  Delana: Like you said, all those little, those little stumbling blocks they make you trip and sometimes they can hold you down a little bit longer, but if you have the right things to go into battle with, you know, if you have that sword and you have that shield and you have the teammates, the people fighting alongside of you, you can really accomplish anything.
• 32:20
  Delana: And I think that's.
• 32:23
  Delana: You know, one of my parents would tell me, like, you could do anything you set your mind to.
• 32:28
  Delana: I think there's a little bit of an extra thing that they couldn't foresee and I didn't foresee.
• 32:33
  Delana: And that's like, you can do anything you set your mind to when you have the right people standing with you.
• 32:38
  Delana: And I have the right people standing with me.
• 32:41
  Kristen: It's it's so beautiful.
• 32:42
  Kristen: And I was thinking you do kind of have the husband of the year there when, just when he was, when he came to you was like, listen, I think you could do this.
• 32:48
  Kristen: Like, he, like, you already sort of had the ideas, but he was like, no, no, come let's go.
• 32:52
  Kristen: And he was the one planting it you said.
• 32:54
  Kristen: So I love that.
• 32:55
  Delana: And yeah, he, he does that.
• 32:56
  Delana: He's like, he's like, I'm gonna plant this idea now.
• 32:59
  Delana: I mean, he's been my best friend for like 12 years now.
• 33:04
  Delana: He isn't a perfect, I'm not perfect, but we, we kind of, we mesh well together we we've kind of worked out, you know, he's hilarious.
• 33:11
  Delana: He always makes me laugh and he doesn't think I'm nearly as funny as him and hopefully he hears this and is like I was wrong, but no, it's, it's nice.
• 33:21
  Delana: He is the father and the husband of the year.
• 33:24
  Delana: I'm so incredibly thankful that, like I said, he's been home this year and it's the first time that we've really got spent time together.
• 33:30
  Delana: When we got married, our schedules were opposite, cuz I was working the theater and teaching lessons and he was working at 3:00 AM in the morning.
• 33:36
  Delana: So I'd get home at like one and then he'd go to three and we just, we never saw each other that first year when I got pregnant, I stopped doing a lot of theater and we still, our schedule finally kind of got closer together.
• 33:49
  Delana: But when our baby was born, she was a couple weeks old.
• 33:52
  Delana: He came to me and was like, Hey.
• 33:55
  Delana: Remember that program that you talked to me a while ago about you spend 35 hours a week building your house and you do that for a couple years, and then you can gain your house without a down payment?
• 34:04
  Delana: I'm like, yeah.
• 34:05
  Delana: I remember us trying to think about that.
• 34:06
  Delana: He goes, I think we should do that.
• 34:09
  Delana: she was like, she was in the hospital.
• 34:11
  Delana: What do you first mention this?
• 34:12
  Delana: And it's again, it's him kind of coming.
• 34:14
  Delana: Planting this idea.
• 34:15
  Delana: And she was a couple weeks old when we went out and we started filling our paperwork.
• 34:19
  Delana: So for the next two years, all the way to 2020, when the pandemic happened, he was working 35 hours a week building our house.
• 34:26
  Delana: With our neighbors and I was at home being the mom and working my business.
• 34:33
  Delana: So he was doing basically two jobs until April, 2020 when we finally finished our house and we were able to move in on May 1st.
• 34:43
  Delana: And then he went from doing 35 hours a week at our house and 45 at work, to all of a sudden doing 90 hours a week at work.
• 34:49
  Delana: So that whole 2020, again, we didn't see each other.
• 34:53
  Delana: And so it was 20 to 21.
• 34:56
  Delana: He finally was like, I need to cut down.
• 34:58
  Delana: And he left that department was still at the job and he was working part-time and we loved it.
• 35:04
  Delana: It was like amazing to actually see him more.
• 35:08
  Delana: And we kind of got into this routine and then it was like, I just wanna quit altogether.
• 35:12
  Delana: I wanna be home with my family and.
• 35:15
  Delana: Like I said, we would not be where we are today, if that hadn't happened.
• 35:19
  Delana: And like I mentioned before, there was, you know, postpartum, there was issues.
• 35:23
  Delana: And we decided together that we were going to make mental health in our family, our priority this year.
• 35:32
  Delana: And it has been, we've been able to have him stay home and I've been able to earn enough with my business and just.
• 35:38
  Delana: Because we made those, our main commitment, everything that we're doing together is to make it so that those are.
• 35:44
  Delana: strong.
• 35:45
  Kristen: I love that for so many reasons, because I just feel like in this COVID era of burnout and work life balance that gets old talking about we're like, I know, I know, but how do I make it happen?
• 35:56
  Kristen: I love that one.
• 35:57
  Kristen: You're you're here now, but you're you also started with like, we're in this great space right now.
• 36:01
  Kristen: We're actually, we have time with our family and the fact that you prioritized it, you took these leaps of faith and we're like, we're gonna make these things priority.
• 36:07
  Kristen: We're gonna make it happen.
• 36:09
  Kristen: And you have, like, I feel like it's just, it feels like magic when you look at it at the surface level, but to hear, you know, how much blood, sweat, tears work went into getting you guys to this point, I think it's just, it's amazing.
• 36:22
  Kristen: And I'm, I'm so proud of you.
• 36:24
  Delana: Thank you.
• 36:26
  Delana: It's it's weird saying it out loud.
• 36:28
  Delana: It's like, oh my gosh, this has been the last few years of our life.
• 36:32
  Delana: It's so surreal that we've made it through it.
• 36:34
  Delana: But when you're in survival mode for that long, you just have to keep going.
• 36:38
  Delana: And then once you leave the survival mode, it's like, oh, now we have to figure out what we were overcompensating for during that time.
• 36:45
  Delana: like, oh, I need help here.
• 36:47
  Delana: And yeah, yeah, no, it's been, it's been a journey, but it's been...
• 36:52
  Delana: but we're here, you know, and that's, that's what I could say is we're here.
• 36:56
  Kristen: Yeah.
• 36:57
  Kristen: Well, so you're here.
• 36:58
  Kristen: What bit of wisdom or advice would you have for, for someone else who may have this, this little dream, this little vision, but not yet know either what to do with it or how to act on it.
• 37:10
  Kristen: Like you had that.
• 37:11
  Kristen: I always wanna be a business owner.
• 37:13
  Kristen: Any words of wisdom you have for those of us, just starting to think about what that could.
• 37:18
  Delana: Yeah.
• 37:19
  Delana: Find people that believe in your vision to stand by you.
• 37:23
  Delana: That's that's my biggest thing.
• 37:24
  Delana: If my husband hadn't, like I said, he said no, the first time I brought this to him and he was correct to say no at that time, cuz it wasn't a good idea to do these, these online courses.
• 37:33
  Delana: And I had already done my business.
• 37:36
  Delana: But we talked about it again this last year and it was the right time.
• 37:39
  Delana: And that's because he knew that it was on my heart and he knew that it was my vision.
• 37:43
  Delana: And he also was like, I think we could actually make this work.
• 37:47
  Delana: So finding people that believe in your vision to help support you while you're going for it, because it's a hard thing, no one is wanting to be a business owner because it's an easy thing.
• 37:59
  Delana: You know, it is not easy.
• 38:01
  Delana: It is hard work and you're constantly, you know, battling statistics of will I last longer than two years, or will I last longer than five years?
• 38:11
  Delana: If you last longer than five years, then you are like in the top tier for business owners because you.
• 38:17
  Delana: You lasted that long, you didn't get, you didn't get thrown out of that circle, but finding people, I have a great support system.
• 38:24
  Delana: My sister, my parents my best friends.
• 38:27
  Delana: I have one of my close friends who, whenever I go to her with a problem and we took business classes together, whenever I'm like, I need, I need a solution here.
• 38:35
  Delana: And she goes, okay, let's do this.
• 38:36
  Delana: She uses the"we" term.
• 38:38
  Delana: She uses like, We can do this together and all this, even though she doesn't work for my business, she has that mentality of, I believe in your vision.
• 38:47
  Delana: And so, so do my other close friends and my husband and then my girls.
• 38:51
  Delana: So, I mean, all of these people around me are basically the reason why I'm able to do what I do because they believe in it.
• 38:58
  Delana: And as a creative, when I start kind of knocking my own brain against a wall where I'm like, I don't know if I can do this or kind of getting negative.
• 39:06
  Delana: They're they're the ones that are there helping lift me up.
• 39:09
  Delana: and fighting alongside of me towards my vision and towards the goal that I have.
• 39:14
  Delana: So don't do it alone.
• 39:15
  Delana: If you wanna do a business and you don't have someone to like be your cheerleader or be your supporter, find a friend, you know, build that relationship and find a way to have that support because it is necessary, especially in this day and time.
• 39:31
  Kristen: Yeah.
• 39:31
  Kristen: And I think that's a wonderful piece of advice.
• 39:33
  Kristen: I so agree.
• 39:34
  Kristen: I have the, like, I'm starting on my own journey.
• 39:36
  Kristen: Right.
• 39:36
  Kristen: I had to, I'm more of the planter of the ideas in this house that I feel like the roles are reversed for me and my husband were the idea where I'm like, Hey.
• 39:43
  Kristen: I'm gonna be my steady nine to five and figure something out.
• 39:47
  Kristen: He's like okay.
• 39:49
  Kristen: I'm more of a planter.
• 39:49
  Kristen: Let me revisit and see how you feel about that now.
• 39:52
  Kristen: So anyway, he's supporting me on that way, so I'm very thankful, but I too have the friends who are in a similar mindset or friends that I know I can call who are gonna say, yeah, you can do this.
• 40:00
  Kristen: Like you can't be up all the time.
• 40:02
  Kristen: You're not always gonna as strong as you are in your beliefs.
• 40:05
  Kristen: Like some things you're gonna like, oh my gosh, what am I doing?
• 40:07
  Kristen: Right.
• 40:07
  Kristen: But if you have that group of friends, that circle.
• 40:10
  Kristen: I, I agree wholeheartedly that that is a very strong piece of advice.
• 40:14
  Kristen: So thank you for sharing that.
• 40:15
  Kristen: One more, very important question.
• 40:17
  Kristen: Tell us all about Greenhouse Music and how our listeners can find you work with you and tell all their friends, because I'm sure they're gonna be just as in love with you and your personality as I'm having these conversations.
• 40:30
  Kristen: So fill us in.
• 40:31
  Delana: Ah, thank you.
• 40:32
  Delana: Okay.
• 40:33
  Delana: So Greenhouse Music AK, as in like Greenhouse Music, Alaska, Greenhouse MusicAK.com and Greenhousemusic_AK is all of my socials.
• 40:45
  Delana: So Facebook is Greenhousemusic_AK.
• 40:48
  Delana: Instagram is Greenhousemusic_AK etc.
• 40:52
  Delana: But Greenhouse MusicAK.com is where you will find my courses, my blog my social media handles and connections are all on there as well.
• 41:02
  Delana: But these courses are currently at a discount.
• 41:05
  Delana: And it's Fairytale10 is the discount that you'll get.
• 41:09
  Delana: If you go to it and type in that for our coupon codes and that's for all of those, that's for the bundles that I have that's for each individual course that I have, but these courses are specifically, I created them for kids to learn and to have fun learning, but also that family can enjoy learning it with them.
• 41:29
  Delana: Parents come to me all the time.
• 41:31
  Delana: And they're like, man, I wish I would've kept with lessons as a kid, but I didn't how in the world can I help my child learn?
• 41:37
  Delana: And this was my solution to that problem is for the kids to have fun learning.
• 41:42
  Delana: and the parents to be able to easily understand and learn alongside them or leave'em at the computer, they need to, you know, it's it's very, self-driven you go at your own pace, but I feel like there's a big connection that happens in these classes that I'm really proud of.
• 41:58
  Delana: And the quality is something that you don't see a lot for online courses.
• 42:03
  Delana: And I'm very proud of that as well.
• 42:04
  Delana: So you can check that out.
• 42:06
  Delana: Greenhouse MusicAK.com.
• 42:09
  Kristen: Awesome.
• 42:10
  Kristen: And I think I saw it too recently.
• 42:11
  Kristen: Even if you don't have a piano, a keyboard, you even got info up there about like how to get started and where to find the keyboard
• 42:19
  Delana: That's one of the number one questions I get is I don't have a keyboard yet.
• 42:22
  Delana: Where do I find?
• 42:23
  Delana: When, how much is it gonna be?
• 42:25
  Delana: What specs do I need?
• 42:26
  Delana: And so, yes, my most recent blog post was all about that.
• 42:29
  Delana: Giving you some tips for your budget.
• 42:31
  Kristen: Great.
• 42:32
  Kristen: I love it.
• 42:32
  Kristen: And I can't wait to check back in on your journey and see how many more lives you've impacted and brought this gift of music to.
• 42:40
  Kristen: So I see great things in your future.
• 42:42
  Kristen: I can't wait to hear more.
• 42:43
  Delana: Oh, thank you so much.
• 42:44
  Delana: And thank you for the interview.
• 42:45
  Delana: I really loved it.
• 42:46
  Delana: I had fun talking to you
• 42:48
  Kristen: oh, same here.
• 42:48
  Kristen: Thank you so much.
• 42:52
  Kristen: those are some highs and lows, right?
• 42:54
  Kristen: I mean, managing three small kids is no joke.
• 42:57
  Kristen: Then you add in things like postpartum depression, prodromal labor, which I legit had never even heard of battling COVID days after giving birth.
• 43:05
  Kristen: Any one of those stumbling blocks could throw any one of us off course.
• 43:09
  Kristen: But then some of Delana's highs, I mean, winning her local shark tank scholarship.
• 43:13
  Kristen: Continually learning, expanding her business and ultimately bringing music to so many more children.
• 43:18
  Kristen: It's just, wow.
• 43:20
  Kristen: Some of my key takeaways from this discussion are 1) draft your team.
• 43:25
  Kristen: 2) decide what your priority is.
• 43:28
  Kristen: 3) you will get knocked down, but you just need to get back up again! I hope you found Delana's story as inspiring as I And if you know someone who may enjoy this episode, please share it with a friend.
• 43:39
  Kristen: You can also subscribe wherever you listen and leave a review.
• 43:42
  Kristen: These are all free and easy ways to support this podcast and help other women join us and start building their own fairytales.
• 43:49
  Kristen: I'm not giving up on my dreams and I hope you won't either.
• 43:52
  Kristen: I'm Kristen Lettini and this is Build Your Own Fairytale.