Latest / WOC and Allies: Business and Career Realtalk with Elaine Lou Cartas / 84: How I Redefined “Success” For Myself and How You Can Too

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84: How I Redefined “Success” For Myself and How You Can Too · WOC and Allies: Business and Career Realtalk with Elaine Lou Cartas

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_03: Here's the fact our definition of success and happiness changes as we grow older.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_03: Mine has.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_03: When I was in high school, my dream job was actually being a waiter.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_03: And I graduated college around the recession.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_03: And at 22, I was the youngest director for an organization.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_03: Not only was I the youngest, I was the only, not just woman, but person of color at the decision-making table.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_03: And then I transitioned working in politics to the nonprofit sector.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_03: I was at a trajectory of wanting to lead a nonprofit.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_03: That's why I got my master's.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_03: But then the day I graduated from my master's, I realized I wanted to own my own coaching business.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_03: And even in the past couple of years, my definition of success and happiness has changed.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_03: And I realized wait, it's more than just work.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_03: I just came back home from being at my parents' home for two weeks.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_03: I was choosing and helping my dad out, who had knee replacement surgery.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_03: And even in this year, 2024, I'm working on some personal goals, including doing more Muay Thai, which is Thai kickboxing.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_03: So this episode is a little different.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_03: I'm being interviewed from my friend's podcast, Matt Story, who's the VP of Visa, and his podcast is called What's Your Story?
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_03: So I figured, why not showcase and let me be in the interviewee seat instead?
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_03: So he's interviewing me on my story.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_03: And before we drop the beat, don't forget to hit that follow button.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_03: So pause, hit that.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_03: All right, now we can drop the beat.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, I'm Elaine Lucartas.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_03: I'm a business and career coach for women of color and allies.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_03: Elaine Weakley awarded me the number one thought leader, and Apple News named me one of the top five business coaches.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_03: Done doing the most as a woman of color or ally, and you want to create your own definition of success and happiness?
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_03: Well, grab your coffee tea or boba and let's do some business and career real talk.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: My guest on the pod this week is a trauma-informed career and leadership coach that supports BIPOC women in moving from the supporting role to the leading role in their lives.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: She's been recognized by Apple News, LA Weekly, and LinkedIn as a top voice and thought leader.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm really looking forward to hearing more about her story.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: So please welcome Elaine Lou Cartas to the show.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you, Matt, for having me.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Before we get into learning more about your journey, I'd love it if you could just share a story about your background and maybe take us back and give us a glimpse into what little Elaine was like.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_03: I love when I hear these questions in your interviews.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_03: So for me, I'm a first-gen immigrant, Filipino American.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_03: My parents and my grandparents immigrated from the Philippines to Central California to work in the farm to be grapevine workers.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_03: And I was the first child, like first person in this generation to be born in America.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_03: And I was born into both my grandparents, my mom and dad, and my mom, my aunt and uncle.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_03: So six adults, I was the first child.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_03: And since I was born, I felt that pressure of fulfilling the American dream, also feeling the pressure of six adults we get to start all over and we don't have to live in this world where we are in a country where it was so poor and we didn't have that much opportunity.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_03: So feeling that pressure, and don't worry, I went to a lot of therapy for that.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_03: Thank goodness, is surviving and thriving.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_03: There's this wonderful quote.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_03: I forgot who quoted this, but our grandparents survived so our parents could provide.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_03: Our parents provided so we can thrive.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_03: And I felt like I was my parents' and my grandparents' dreams to thrive.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's beautiful.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the idea of that pressure, and it's twofold because it is a source of motivation, but it is, it can also be a source of, I'll say, baggage that we carry.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: That those to the left and right may not may not also carry.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm I'm curious for for you, even you know, at those, at those early ages, did you have an idea of like, in order to thrive, I want to be this, or in order to make them proud, I want to be, you know, this type of career or following this path.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I I had a lot of those questions.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_03: And I mean, you've shared this.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_03: We get to redefine our own version of success and more importantly, understand what our version of success is in different stages of our life.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_03: I wasn't really aware of it.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_03: I just knew I couldn't live what my parents went through because it was so hard for them at the dinner table because I was a teenage girl, right?
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, I didn't finish all my rice.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_03: And my dad's like, why don't you finish rice?
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_03: And I at the time, like, I need to be skinny like all the other girls at school.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_03: And I was just thinking, okay, what would make that make me successful, make them happy?
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_03: It's like straight A's, Valedictorian, let me go play the violin, do all these things for me to look good when I apply for college.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_03: And then do the checklist of what looked good for college.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_03: And then I graduated around the recession, realized, wait, hold on.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_03: I did the checklist of what people wanted for my success.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't ask the most important question.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_03: What is my definition of success?
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_03: What do I want?
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_03: And throughout my life, there were so many different stages where people would ask me, What do you want?
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, I realized, oh no, I've been listening to what everyone else wants and I've been people pleasing.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_03: And it just helped doing all that reflection and therapy to ask, what do I really want?
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_03: Am I doing this because my parents told me to do it?
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_03: Because my boss told me to do it, because this looks good on social media, or is it because I really want to do it?
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's like it there's almost like you you're given a script that you follow from your parents up until the point you get a job.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then the script is kind of done.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: But there's more seasons and there's more chapters to be written that it may become it becomes a challenge.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm curious, one once you made your way into the work world, like what was that experience like when kind of the the the script from your parents probably it didn't go beyond that because in their eyes, you had been successful.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: You're a valedictorian, you got the you know, the degrees and you got the job and like job done.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: But for you, you had to still go forward.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_03: I realized the privilege I had that my parents, maybe my grandparents didn't have is choice.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_03: Like I have choice to choose what career I'm gonna have, how I'm going to make money.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_03: My parents, not so much.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_03: They're like, we need money, we need to pay for bills.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_03: We have this daughter, now we have two sons, we have a mortgage.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I know we have all those pressures, but they didn't have that op that buffet of choices.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_03: And I realize I have that choice being in this country.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_03: So I know the privilege I have.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_03: So when I got into the workforce, I I worked in, I used to do political campaigns.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_03: So that's why I lived in Indiana.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_03: I lived in Iowa.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_03: I I did the different storyline that you had from going to the Midwest to living in the West Coast.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_03: I went from the West Coast moving to the Midwest and working on different campaigns.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_03: And there was a congressional campaign that we won.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_03: And my former boss asked me, Elaine, so what do you want to do?
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_03: I want to help you get whatever job you want.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, oh no.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, I don't know.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_03: You don't know.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_03: And that hit me where I realized, oh my gosh, I've been listening to what other people are doing.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_03: Now, mind you, I am not blaming other people for my choices.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_03: I was just people pleasing.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_03: And I realized I do not want to work in politics anymore.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_03: And I got into the nonprofit sector working at fundraising.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_03: I worked at Passing City College Foundation.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_03: And I, how I got that job is I was working with a coach and I learned to do informational interviews, networking with people.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_03: I'm happy to delve deeper on how I did that.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_03: And I got my first six-figure job at Passing City College Foundation.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_03: And it was my dream job.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_03: I had the most incredible boss, an ally.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_03: Her name is Bobby Abram.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_03: I just had dinner with my ex-boss.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_03: It's weird when people hear that.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_03: You had dinner with your ex-boss, you have your own business.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, she taught me leadership.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_03: She taught me, she was one of those people when you were at a board meeting and she had a different view or perspective to everyone else.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_03: She got out of that meeting with respect.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_03: The way she just communicated.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_03: But she was mentoring me to be like her, to be an executive director for a nonprofit in the future, to where I got my master's in leadership and management, because in the government sector, when you get a graduate degree, you get paid more.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm like, okay, I'll go get it.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_03: I paid that out of pocket myself.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_03: And then it happened again the day I graduated from my master's.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_03: I wasn't hungry.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_03: I wasn't happy.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_03: And I had a oh no moment.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_03: I don't really want this.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_03: I did this to please my boss.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm not blaming Bobby.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_03: That was on me.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_03: And then I finally really deep down asked the question what do I want?
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_03: I want to start my own coaching business.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_03: And the reason why I wanted to start my own coaching business was because I wanted to work specifically with women of color and allies.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_03: Because at the time when I hired my own coach, I didn't.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_03: She was amazing, but she wasn't a woman of color that understood those lived experiences.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, what if I just do that?
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_03: And it was also hard to break out of the mold as a first-gen immigrant.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_03: You shouldn't hire someone to help you.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_03: You should figure it out yourself, right?
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_03: You live in this country, there's a buffet of opportunity.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_03: You should figure it out yourself.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_03: Well, there's also too much.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know where to go.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:09
  unknown: No.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a couple things in there I want to, I would do want to dig into.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so the the first piece around the this idea of getting help.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I and I think it is something I can only speak from my own personal experience of there's this idea that like if I work hard, opportunities will present themselves, even though many of us are in rooms that our previous generations have never entered.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_03: Correct.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: So we can't just rely on hard work.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so I do want to hear about how you overcame this idea of getting help and particularly getting a coach.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think if you were, and we'll talk a little bit about your kickboxing, but like if you were in sport, it's it's a no-brainer that you get a coach.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like you need someone to guide you, you need a trainer, you need, you know, someone to drop the plays.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: And like that's kind of just expected.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: But in the work world, it's almost like, well, that's saying something is wrong with me.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'd love it, love it if you could go into that.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_03: So I was working on a campaign and I was a fundraiser in this campaign.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_03: And we, I was, I was hitting my numbers like over the top, doubling the fundraising goals.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_03: And I knew not just intuitively, but also looking at the spreadsheet and data, like I need a raise.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_03: And so who do we go to as not just kids, but even young adults for advice?
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_03: We go to our parents, right?
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_03: And I asked my immigrant parents, hey, how do I ask for a raise?
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_03: And their immigrant response is, work hard, they're gonna give it to you.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, that's not how it works in this country.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_03: And I and I'm not blaming them.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_03: I also understand that they were taught that from their own parents, my grandparents.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_03: So when I was like, okay, there has to be a different way.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_03: And Filipinos are very emotional and reactive.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_03: So when they want something, they'll like, I want a raise, I want chocolate ice cream.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_03: Like we yell and we're very expressive.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_03: And I knew that that is not how you communicate and ask for a raise.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm like, hmm, I've heard of actually, I brought this up in therapy session and I asked my therapist, how do I do this?
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_03: Have you heard of what a coach is?
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_03: And it was actually my therapist who Googled and found a coach to talk to.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_03: See, I was even using my resources of what I was spending money on talking to my therapist.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_03: And I really appreciated that my therapist was honest that she couldn't do that for me.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_03: And then therapies, for those of you that don't know the difference between therapy and coaching, therapy heals any blocks that might be affecting you at present moment to hit your future goals.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_03: And coaches help you with getting your future goals.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_03: But if you're mindful that there's some blocks, then work with a therapist.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_03: Highly recommend both.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_03: If I had to choose one over the other, work with a therapist, because if you don't heal your stuff, it shows up in your daily life.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_03: So I interviewed this coach and I told them what I wanted.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_03: I wanted to ask for a raise.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_03: And I hired her.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_03: I was scared.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_03: It was a lot of money.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_03: Mind you, sorry, anything is a lot of money in perspective.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_03: But as a woman of color, as a first-gen immigrant, as a person of color, we're not taught that it is okay to hire a coach.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_03: So that's not a norm for us.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_03: So hired my coach.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_03: The first session she taught me how to ask for a raise.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_03: And how I asked for the raise, because I know your listeners love steps, is we did something called a brag sheet.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_03: A brag sheet, think of it like a memo where you're bullet pointing everything that you've accomplished since you started your job.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_03: So print out your job description and then make a memo of everything you've accomplished and exceeded and done beyond that.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_03: Also do research on what other competitors are charging.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_03: So I also did research.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_03: I printed out what competitors were charging.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_03: And then I asked for a raise that was$10,000 more than I was making.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, hey, I like thank you so much for this opportunity for the past year.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_03: While at the same time, I've been able to exceed goals doing A, B, and C.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_03: And then I even showed the memo.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_03: I deserve a$10,000 raise.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_03: And then I got it.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, oh no, this works.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_03: Asking for help, getting the tools.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_03: I would not have ever been able to figure it out.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_03: But what was fascinating during that story of me getting the raise I wanted and getting the money I wanted, that's when I realized I don't like the industry I'm in.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_03: I don't care how much money they're giving me.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_03: And that's when I realized I need to change industries.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_03: And I started putting a list of other fundraisers in different sectors, doing informational interviews of like, hey, I want to know more of what you do.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_03: And then I realized I needed to get out of politics and then learned more about the nonprofit sector.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_03: And then through one of my political contacts, they connected me with the executive director for Pessing City College Foundation.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_03: I interviewed her.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_03: I was just asking questions, as if a podcast interview.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_03: Tell me how you got into fundraising.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_03: What do you love about it?
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_03: And then I had no intention to apply for a job, but she said, I actually have an opening.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_03: Do you want to come in and have a formal meeting?
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, yes, please get me out of this industry that I do not love.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_03: But what I want your listeners to hear is I was brave enough to ask those questions and be unattached to the result of it.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_03: I was unattached to, I'm going to get this raise.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_03: I was unattached to, I need to get a job.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_03: And it just came.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_03: And in this world of, I'm very grateful that you and I were around the same age, that we lived in a world before social media, that a lot of powerful things happen when we're in relationship and we're connecting and talking to people and just asking questions and letting the answers unfold.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the the interesting thing about what you're saying is, well, one, and you said this a couple of times, like it isn't the person who told you to work hard, or isn't the person that you know said go get the masters that that there's fault in that.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: You were actually collecting feedback and you were getting data about the thing you were doing.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: And eventually you got enough data to say, this isn't for me at this stage.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: It may have been for me when I started, it may be for me in the future, but right now it isn't for me.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: And looking at things as data or feedback versus it being, I've made a mistake, because I think we can sometimes look at our career and expect it to be up and to the right.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: And no career is like that.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: And you're going to get to the point where you get enough feedback to say, I need to, to your point about choices, I need to make a different choice.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I think being okay with that, and to your point, separating yourself from that to be able to know, like, okay, I can make a different choice because I now have this data, as opposed to we can sometimes associate with our identity and say that I've made a mistake or I'm at fault here.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think that's powerful.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm I'm curious how you were able to really be comfortable asking the questions and putting yourself out there, because I think that's the other piece of it's sometimes challenging to tell someone what we want or to tell someone what we're interested in because we're afraid that they may, you know, judge us or they may say, well, you can't do that, or we they may, they may not accept it in a way that we, you know, ultimately want to get to that point.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so sometimes we'll keep our ideas or our interest or our passions to ourselves and we don't share it with enough people.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, most people you talk to, they want to help.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: And they, especially those that have been where you want to go, they want to say, hey, because you actually there selfishly you get something out of helping someone.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: It feels good and you feel like you've done something.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: And if we don't tell people those aspirations, they can't help us.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so how did you overcome that?
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, again, it was probably initially awkward to ask for, hey, I'm interested in this sector.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: Can you tell me more about this?
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: Because you didn't go in asking for a job.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: You just wanted to understand.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: And as that person got to know you, then in their mind they click, well, I actually have a position.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: So how did how did you jump over that hurdle, so to speak?
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I was just over it in my head.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, I can't, I don't like anxiety.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know about you, Matt, but I don't think anyone here likes anxiety.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_03: I was just over trying to figure this out, the anxiety that was happening.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, what if I just ask?
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_03: And just being in my career and seeing the people that were at the top, what made them successful?
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_03: They asked questions.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_03: When I was at those powerful meetings, they didn't know the answer.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_03: They asked questions.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_03: So if they were asking questions, I figured, why not ask questions?
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_03: Mind you, there is also the like the therapeutic stuff of like shame, judgment, how are other people gonna feel?
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I had to do a lot of that because I shared my story.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_03: I felt that pressure of doing the American dream.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_03: And then I also want to share this is yes, we have choice, that beautiful privilege.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_03: And we, as you were saying, collecting data.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_03: I was collecting a lot of data.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_03: What I sometimes forgot to do when I was younger that I wish someone reminded me is as you're collecting data from people asking those questions of what you think you want to do, take the time to pause and reflect with yourself and ask yourself, is this what I want to do?
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_03: Cause so often we collect data from all these big names, like, okay, if they're successful, I need to be exactly like them.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_03: And there's nothing wrong with someone else's path, but check in with yourself intuitively of wait, do I do, do I think I'm gonna enjoy that?
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_03: Well, what Matt's doing is really cool.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so happy for him, but I don't think I would like doing the same thing.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_03: But what did I get from Matt's interview?
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, I got that I'm really good at this, this, and this.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_03: So maybe I explore it this way.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_03: So don't just collect the data, but reflect and then make that choice.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_03: Legacy leader.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_03: I know what you're thinking.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_03: Elaine, you have such good stuff here.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_03: I want more.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_03: So if you want more tips and advice for your business career in life, sign up for my gifts and gifts newsletter at elenelew.com forward slash join.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_03: That's J-O-I-N.
• 20:10
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• 20:14
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• 20:15
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• 20:17
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• 20:21
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• 20:24
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• 20:27
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• 20:31
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• 20:34
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• 20:38
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• 20:42
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• 20:54
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• 20:56
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• 21:07
  SPEAKER_03: That's J-O-I-N.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_03: All right, let's get back to the episode.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love that.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's we always, you know, relate the professional world to the personal world because I think that they aren't separate.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: I think they actually are integrated.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: But in the business world, you do quarterly business reviews.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: And you sit down with leaders, you review progress, you look ahead.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I am a firm believer, similar to what you just said, of like we need to do that individually.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: And whether it's quarterly, it's monthly, whatever the time duration is, but making that to committed time to look at where you've been, what did the what is the data you collected, and like are you still on track?
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: And is that even the journey you want to be on?
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think we don't necessarily realize like you can change course.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: You can change that part path once you have more information.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: So so I you've worked with a number of people, over six hundred clients, twenty Three different countries.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm curious with that diversity of people and that number of people, what has been the most surprising thing to you in those engagements?
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_03: My most surprising.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm Filipino American, Asian American, right?
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_03: But like I said earlier, I work with women of color.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_03: So from different backgrounds.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_03: And the most surprising, but also encouraging and makes me feel good and gives me butterflies is when I'm on that Zoom call or I meet a client in person, they say this.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_03: And knowing, you know, I we didn't even have to go throughout the whole session, but even the first two seconds when you turn on the Zoom, it just gave that individual hope that hey, if this person was able to carve out and create their own path, I can do it too.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_03: That's been the most surprising and the best compliment I get when I coach clients.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, sure, they've made all these money, like all this money, accolades, have an incredible marriage, but that's my favorite part of coaching.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: So we talked a little bit about this before we started recording, but I do want to go back to it.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, you really focus on not just capturing accolades, but creating legacy.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm curious for you, how do you think reframing success can actually change people or even more importantly, change their behaviors?
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we were talking about the chasing accolades, right?
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_03: I said I had straight A's earlier, Valedictorian.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_03: If you look at my LinkedIn, you'll see all these media features like Forbes and Business Insider.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_03: But at the same time, even as I was getting all that stuff throughout my life, I had I had to ground myself and check in like, what is my definition of success at this present moment?
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_03: So for your listeners, even asking, what do you want right now?
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_03: So in about a month, for example, my dad's gonna have knee replacement surgery.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_03: And so what a privilege it is for me to be able to be there for the first 10 days of his surgery.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_03: And I know that sounds weird, but that's what success looks like for me right now, being able to be there for my dad.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_03: That would be so different in my like when I graduated high school where I was valedictorian, where I was just studying my butt off and not making life in my social life.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_03: Also in college, I actually stayed a fifth year in college because I realized on my fourth year, or actually third to fourth year, I was studying way too much and it was all about academics and I wasn't enjoying and having fun.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_03: And so, what does success and joy look like for you at this present moment?
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: I also think there's a shift from external validation to internal validation because that the accolades are typically for others.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's typically to credential us in someone else's mind.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas the idea of being able to say, I'm successful if I can be there for my parent, that's an internal validation that you can achieve and you can use it as your North Star to say, Am I doing the right things?
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's important and that's where I want to be.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think it's also a shift from where are you getting that validation?
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: Is it external or is it internal?
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because I I think we both probably can attest.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: Chasing external validation, you'll always be chasing that.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, there was even a point in my own business where I was realizing, oh my gosh, once again, it's not the straight A's and validatory business.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_03: I was chasing like the likes and the comments.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_03: I met up with one of my old team members.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_03: She was my former virtual assistant and she's in my team again.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_03: And I was asked, I love, I just always ask for feedback.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_03: So whether you're a business owner or career leader, I would just say, even asking your colleagues, hey, what have you noticed that has changed?
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_03: What can I do more of?
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_03: What can I do less of?
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_03: And a beautiful compliment she gave to me was it doesn't seem like you have to prove yourself anymore.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, that's so nice.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_03: I'm because I was, I was absolutely doing that in the beginning of my career and beginning of my business.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_03: I I felt like I had to constantly try to prove myself, especially as a person of color.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: So you also have a podcast.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: And anytime someone else has a podcast, I'm always curious, just like, why did you start a podcast and what have you learned from it?
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_03: I I mean, I don't have your last name, but I love the storytelling.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_03: So I just I love meeting people.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_03: I love the storytelling.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_03: And I feel like we could really understand one another.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I'm a millennial, right?
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_03: So Zanga, live journal back in the day, getting to know those stories, as opposed to like a restricted characters on social media or 30-second reel or TikTok.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_03: You get to really know and understand people, and that's what I feel like with podcasts.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_03: And also, I'm overlooking like doom scrolling through my screen.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_03: So it's really nice to just listen and pop in your headphones while I'm doing laundry, washing the dishes, cleaning.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's funny.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: I always tell people that having a podcast is like an invitation to be with anyone.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: Because normally, if you were to just randomly email someone and say, hey, can we meet up?
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: They would probably say, I don't know who you are.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're like, I have a podcast, would you like to jump on the podcast?
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: That tends to lower the barrier.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: And they're like, Oh yeah, I'd love to do that.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so it literally is a cheat code to, as you say, making those connections and then sharing it with the world, which is, you know, obviously the the gift that we get to give to others.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_03: And I don't know if you feel the same way too, but people that have podcasts, I mean, I feel like all of us have a similar like, I I want to be like Oprah, I want to interview people like, oh my gosh, what a privilege to I mean, do we have the big billion trillion dollar production that that Oprah has?
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, exactly.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_03: Not yet.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_03: But but how great it is for us to do it with the tools we have right now and might as well do it.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: So you left that dream job to pursue your dream passion of coaching.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: And since then you, you know, you've done other things.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so what I really have seen is there's this shift, and you're one of these people that have a portfolio career.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: You're not just one thing and you're able to tap into, you know, what and how your passions are.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I think more people over time are going to move into this phase.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm curious, how have you been successful in adding products, services, offerings to what you do from a business perspective?
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: And what have been the lessons you've picked up along the way?
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I want to kind of talk about this portfolio career just to validate people who might be listening, who's like, I hate my industry or I want to shift.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_03: This is my third time shifting.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_03: But we are different from the baby boomer generation.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_03: And shout out to Gen Z, even like teaching us a lot to us millennials.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_03: But there's data that shows that we shift and change careers five to seven times in our lifetime.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_03: So just to validate those that need the data.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_03: And when I reflect back in my career, I was working working in politics as a field organizer.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_03: And then I was a fundraiser to coaching, all those experiences helped build me up for the next thing.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_03: So I know so often we think about the career ladder, but all those experiences and skill sets help.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_03: When I got into my business, I think I've changed my title probably four times.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_03: And for those that may have a business where I'm like, what if I shift or change again?
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_03: I just want to let you know nobody cares.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_03: And I don't mean that your job or your business doesn't matter.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_03: It's just no one's really thinking about that for you.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I think I think about like in and out, for example.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_03: In and out is known for burgers.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_03: There's number one, two, and three.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_03: And then there's this special ingredients.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_03: And for me, I've had to understand what I want to do and what also my audience has wanted.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_03: So when I first started, it was actually first generation millennial women I want to work with.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_03: And then as it's expanded, I was like, wait, I'm realizing I'm working with more women of color.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_03: And then I've had some allies message me, like, Elaine, I know you work with women of color, but do you know any white women I could work with?
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_03: And I was just like, actually, because you're asking that question, you can work with me.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_03: It's more so values aligned.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_03: So even listening to what people need.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_03: And in my services, I did the mistake where I did so much and a lot.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_03: I started my business when I was 28 that in this past year, I've simplified it where I only work with my clients either one-to-one or through my mastermind where there's monthly one-to-ones.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_03: And when the pandemic and COVID happened, I used to have like two-hour office hours.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_03: People would show up for the whole two-hour Zoom.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_03: I noticed in the past two years, we're recording this in 2024.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_03: So 2022 to 2024, my clients didn't want to show up for the full two hours.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_03: And even asking for feedback, hey, what's going on?
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_03: Am I not serving?
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_03: And everyone just said they had Zoom fatigue.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_03: So I noticed because no one was willing to stay for the full two hours, I shifted and said, okay, I have a 90-minute office hour.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_03: Come and go when you want to.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_03: And I had to take ego out.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_03: But even asking for feedback from my clients of what do you need?
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_03: I'm noticing this is not happening.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_03: If you don't make it mandatory and we just show up when we can, that would be great.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, okay, so it's like college.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_03: So listening to feedback, and I used to have programs where just business coaching and career coaching.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_03: And then I tested it for about six months and combined both my business and career leaders together.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_03: And it was beautiful because the common challenges they have, it actually helped and coming from different experiences where as my clients came together individually, they're like, oh, I'm not the only one going through my problem.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_03: So it felt very therapeutic for my clients too.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_03: But what I want people to hear is noticing when things change and shift, and then asking for feedback and not assuming that what you're doing is right all the time.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: Oh no, I I love it in showing the adaptability that you've had across it all where it's like you expanded, you contracted, you've morphed, you've listened, you've you've you've but you in all of that, you're providing value.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: And no matter how your customer needs change, you're providing value.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: So that that that's the consistency.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: So on that, I want to switch into your personal brand a little bit and ask you, what would you say is your superpower?
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_03: Empathy.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_03: I know you hear this from a lot of your guests too, but being able to listen, to feel a room, to feel what someone needs.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_03: And sometimes when I'm like sitting down with a client and they might be ranting about something, I'll ask, what do you need right now?
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_03: Do you need me to be nurturing?
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_03: Do you need me to give you feedback?
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_03: What is it that you need instead of making assumptions that someone needs a solution?
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_00: Where do you think that superpower came from?
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_03: Like I said, I grew up in a, I was the first one that was born in this household of six adults.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_03: So I felt the emotions of all those adults.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_03: And then I am the oldest of two brothers, and then the oldest in terms of all my cousins.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_03: So I had to, I worked on therapy on this and even told my dad, but my dad used to call me the HR of the family.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, Dad, I am not the HR of the family.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_03: I am the daughter.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_03: I am a sister.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_03: I am a cousin.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_03: But so often family members would come to me, like, how do I talk to my mom or my dad about this?
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_03: Or I want this.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_03: How do I communicate?
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_03: Or my parents were like, why don't your brothers do this?
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_03: So often I was just navigating how to communicate different things so people would understand.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: That that's fascinating because you you were, in essence, a coach.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: You were a coach for the adults because you probably understood America more easily because you were younger than they did.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: So you were helping them adjust.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: But then because you were the oldest, you were helping the next generation coming up because you had gone through what they were about to go through.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's like they actually put you in that the the job that you end up getting.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_03: From my clients instead of my family, you know.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_03: But that I would not want to get paid by my family to coach them.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_03: They they need to do their own help.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, it it's hilarious because my mom tells me, like, because even when I was younger, back when we didn't have cell phones, I was always even on the phone getting the the cordless phones.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_03: And then when the battery would run out, I'd get the other phone talking to friends.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_03: And she's like, you're getting paid to talk.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not surprised.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I've seen that there's certain things that are consistent throughout people's journey.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: The destinations change, but there's our there's certain consistencies they could they carry through.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: So have you had a mama we made it moment?
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_03: I I was waiting for you to ask this question because you know, we're recording this after the Super Bowl, where Usher, you know, and his performance was like, Mama, we made it.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_03: My mama we made it was when I presented for the Universal Music Group.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_03: So that was my first big presentation.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_03: I want to say that was within my first year in business.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_01: Nice.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_00: Nice.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna close out and have a little bit of fun.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_00: When they turned your life story into a movie, who would you want to play you on the big screen?
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, I was thinking about this.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm gonna say when I'm younger, Michelle Shu from Everything Everywhere All at Once.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_03: And then the older version, Michelle Yo.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_03: So just that whole that whole cast there.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_00: I always like when people think about it as the full journey and like having different segments and and and chapters with different actors to to play the roles.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: What song would play in your trailer?
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_03: So the 1994 song by Desiree, You Gotta Be, right?
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_03: You gotta be bad, you gotta be bold, you gotta be wiser.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_03: That's my soundtrack.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: Nice, nice.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm a huge fan of stories.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: As you mentioned, the last name does doesn't hurt.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: But I think there's so much we can learn from hearing someone's unique experience and apply in our own lives.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: But for you, if you could sit with three people, they could be with us, they could have passed on and hear their story firsthand.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_00: Who would be your three?
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm really grateful to have two matriarchs in my life.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_03: Both of them recently passed, and I wish I could have asked more questions.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_03: There was also language barriers, but it would be both my grandmothers on both sides.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_03: And the third one's a unique answer, just because I selfishly would want it, but I would want my future self.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_03: And the reason being is that we all know this as humans.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_03: We go through some stuff in life.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_03: And I kind of want like my older version to be like, hey, Elaine, you know that time when you were like 43 and you were crying on your floor?
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_03: Actually, that was a good thing because this, this, and this happened.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_03: Like, like I want that validation of the bad.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_03: Well, no, I don't want to say bad.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_03: There's a negative connotation with that.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_03: But in the hard times in life.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_00: You you want the the wisdom to give you the ability to get through through those tougher moments.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_00: That makes sense.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_00: So is there anything I didn't ask that you want to share or anything you want to ask me?
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_03: So you have the beautiful last name story.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_03: So what is your intention for this next chapter or current chapter of your life?
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: So it's funny because it goes back to what I think is important to what you do in your day in and day out work around legacy.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to plant as many seeds as possible.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that I'm in a phase, and and you know, it takes different times for all of us to get there, but I'm in a phase where I've moved away from thinking about things in terms of what do I get out of it?
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_00: And like, you know, what is the the monetary matter with that job page, it wasn't enough.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_00: I moved away from that like monetary reward into the my reward is an impact.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_00: And how do I increase my impact that helps others with their story?
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so really just trying to think about where and how can I be strategic in planting those seeds, because there's so many places that I, as as we talked before we got on, that I think stories help us.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I just think it's a solution that is standing right in front of us.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, it's not, it's not something because of technology.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's not something because of where we are in the world today.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_00: If you even go back many, many years ago, which I like to do and think about like how stories have made a difference.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_00: Think about the civil rights movement and how stories actually moved the overall sentiment toward civil rights in this country.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think songs about it.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just think it's something that's literally within everyone's reach, but we don't go to it because we tend to think about I need to solve it with data or I need to solve it with, you know, technology.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_00: And like again, those are enablers, those are tools, but I think stories is one that is a solution.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm just trying to figure out how do I make that more prevalent in our world?
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_00: And what are the where are the places I can do that can have the biggest impact?
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_00: But but thank you for thank you for asking that.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, well, thanks for doing that already with this podcast.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, indeed.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_00: So another two questions.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_00: Who is someone that I should have on the podcast, but with one caveat?
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_00: You have to help me get them on.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'm actually thinking about one of my former clients and friends, Chayla Gage.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_03: She just became the Starbucks VP of global inclusion and diversity.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_03: Just got the job.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_03: So nice.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_03: Happy to introduce you to her, unless you know her.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_00: I don't, I don't, but I just read a headline that they're opening accessibility cafes.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_00: So which is fascinating me for a number of reasons.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, would love that connection.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_00: This is this is a new question I'm adding.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_00: I I stole it's great.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_00: I stole it from the Up and Smoke podcast that Matt Barnes and Steven Jackson do.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I unapologetically, I'm stealing, you know, another good idea.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_03: You know what?
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_03: There are clues from other people.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_03: And I don't think it's about stealing, it's about helping each other grow.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_03: And if people have a problem with that, then they're not your people.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to give them the credit.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_00: I I always want to make sure any ideas that I you know borrow from, I want to give credit.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, yeah.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_03: So if I have my own podcast, just like Matt shared.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_03: So feel free to check it out in any streaming platform.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_03: It's called W O C and Allies Business and Career Real Talk.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_03: And if you're interested in my story, if you are having challenges in your own career and you would love support, feel free to schedule a call with me at ElaineLew.com forward slash call.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_03: That's E-L-A-I-N-E-L-O-U forward slash call.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_00: Why thank you for coming on and sharing your story transparently and authentically?
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_00: It really means a lot.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, thank you, Matt.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_03: Now that you heard me share my story, how I've redefined my definition of success and happiness, I actually want you to take the time to journal and reflect on your own story, everything that has led you to this present moment, to you listening to this podcast episode.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_03: Because I know how much anxiety can happen where maybe you're like me, you've pivoted, you've changed industry, something's going on in your life.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_03: It may help you to see that timeline and how it all weaves together and makes sense.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_03: So if you found this episode helpful, here are four things you can do if you feel called to do them.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_03: Number one, you could leave a five-star review and rating.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_03: That would mean so much to me and my team.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_03: We created this podcast for accessible education for women of color and allies.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_03: And each episode takes about four hours to create.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_03: It's one hour for me to prep, another 30 minutes to one hour to record, then my team spends another two hours to edit and market.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_03: Number two, because I care about accessible education, share this episode with a friend who's probably going through a pivot or transition in their life and they want to know they're not alone.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_03: Number three, don't forget to hit that follow button because when you do, it lets the podcast platform know that this podcast is important to women of color and allies just like you.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_03: And number four, if you would like to recreate and realign your career or business by your own definition by working with me and my team, then schedule an introductory legacy business and career review call with me.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_03: I only work with 24 clients at one time to ensure each client receives the results they deserve.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_03: And you can schedule this call with me at elaneloo.com forward slash call.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_03: That's E-L A I N E L O U.com forward slash call.