Episode 31: A Seat at the Table

Dive deeper into the vital intersection of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) with hosts Kristelle and Jace in this compelling follow-up podcast episode. Brace yourself for a riveting conversation featuring Grace Garner, the trailblazing first Latina council member and mayor of Palm Springs, alongside Lauren Bruggemans, the visionary Director of Sustainability & Community Engagement at Visit Greater Palm Springs. Together, they explore the profound impact of DEI on various facets of society, from business and tourism to the overall success of a city.

About Our Guests

Grace Garner, First Latina Mayor of Palm Springs & Council Member
Social: @wewinwithgrace
https://wewinwithgrace.com

Lauren Bruggemans, Director of Sustainability & Community Engagement at Visit Greater Palm Springs
Social: @laurenbruggemans
Email: LaurenB@VisitGreaterPS.com
https://www.visitgreaterpalmsprings.com

A Siarza Production
Hosted by Kristelle Siarza Moon & Jace Downey
Executive Producer: Kristelle Siarza Moon
Producer: Jace Downey
Video/Editing: Justin Otsuka

Watch episodes at siarza.com/siarza-podcast
Follow us on FB, IG, TT, YT and TW @siarzatheagency
Follow Kristelle @kristellesiarza
www.misskristelle.com
Follow Jace @jacedowneyofficial
www.jacedowney.com

Transcript

Kristelle: 0:00

another great episode of Story of Success and stuff, but this one feels like the aura of bad assery, right, that's right for a look for that one. Yeah, I didn't see that coming.

Jace: 0:11

I was like what are we at the aura? It's true, these are some very impressive ladies that we're getting to talk to today. Yeah, like they're almost like I would say they're intimidating, except for they're so nice and sweet and awesome and they're just all they're like if your heart was a human on the outside trying to do wonderful things in the world. That's our guest today.

Kristelle: 0:35

So I think we should have a recurring theme of bad assery with our guests, and today's guest is council member Grace Garner from the city of Palm Springs. And just to even say that that we have that high profile of a guest is like holy smokes.

Jace: 0:52

It's our first politician, our first politician amazing.

Kristelle: 0:56

I call it Silver Servant, you call it politician, that's same same. And then the vice president of director excuse me, the director of sustainability. I just gave you a promotion, director of sustainability and community engagement, for visit Palm Springs. Ms Lauren Bruggeman, we had the pleasure of talking to them today. What did you think? What do viewers have to expect about what they're gonna hear in the next couple of minutes?

Jace: 1:22

The producer in me wants to like make it really so lacious so people will watch. But it's worth. It's definitely worth kicking around.

Kristelle: 1:30

We do. I was gonna say we don't, but maybe I'm like how can we like, really sell it?

Jace: 1:34

No, we're continuing our conversation from last week where we're talking about diversity, equity and inclusion and in this episode we're broadening that out not just to businesses, but we are including the economic component of it, but the importance of that in a city, not just the moral implications of that, but how does it actually build a better, larger community, city, tourism, hospitality, jobs, by, simply, I still don't understand why we're so upset. But like letting more people be involved. Don't freak out like that's what DEI is like. More people get to be involved, people get to say in the things that impact them, yes, like, oh God, like what?

Kristelle: 2:25

are we fighting about here, but?

Jace: 2:26

and they're talking about this in. I know that there's a keynote and then a fireside chat at Counselors Academy where you're gonna be kicking it with them in April. Can you share a little bit, because I know we've touched on that here and there? Counselors Academy that's a really big part of your service work as well. What, just real quick. What is that?

Kristelle: 2:47

Yeah, the Counselors Academy is a special section in the National Public Relations Society of America and what's great about the reason why we're having a series of folks, ken being actually first part of the series? We wanted people that are interested in attending the 2024 Spring Conference to actually get a taste of some of the conversations that we're gonna have with some of the guests. So, ken, big leader energy, ken Jacobs was a great guest of ours from last week I was using it two weeks ago Council member Grace, elena Garner and Lauren is incredible because Lauren's gonna give a keynote about the importance of sustainability, especially as a person that works in hospitality and tourism, and people forget that that's a big part of public relations. So owners get to really get her perspective of, like, what are some of the changes in milestones that she's gonna be implementing in Palm Springs. And then, of course, council member Grace Garner and Lauren are actually really close friends. They're best friends, they're like sisters, right?

Kristelle: 3:47

Yeah, it's super cute and she's the first Latina mayor of Visit Palm Springs, and so one of the great things that Latricia Harper Woods, our great ex-com member of Councilor's Academy, incorporated in New Orleans, was you bring the city, you bring the vibe of the city, the culture of the city. You bring the electricity of the city into the conference because we're so busy learning that we're really, really thrilled to have visit like the Palm Springs leaders come to us and use their stories as case studies for what you can do as owners. So I'm very excited to have them and have you read their impressive we will post this whole thing in the description because they're so cool.

Jace: 4:29

But yeah, let's share a little bit about who's gonna be on the show today.

Kristelle: 4:33

Okay so Council member Grace Elena Garner is a second generation Palm Springs resident, first elected in 2019, representing District 1. The cool thing about her is she was mentioning is that District 1 is actually one of the most diverse districts and talking about leading people that are underrepresented, like finally, they have that sense of representation, which is awesome, and some of the things that she's championing affordable housing, improving community facilities, more focused youth programming, neighborhood needs. As the mayor, she was ensuring for timely and centered meetings around joy and community involvement. Like community involvement is my jam, I was so excited to hear that Incredible, incredible woman.

Jace: 5:12

Absolutely. She also made sure to involve not just adults but young people as well. I mean, she grew up in Palm Springs she's second generation, so like that's her town. She was all of the services that she helps with today. She used as a child the schools, the parks, the public library. It's such a deep passion for her to be in service to her city, which I think is just super sweet. As someone who's recently fallen back in love with my hometown like to hear, that passion is really great. And she makes sure to involve the young people as well, whether that's leading the Pledge of Allegiance at the city council meetings or she developed and manages a paid internship so that college students can come work in government.

Kristelle: 5:56

I can't tell you how like impactful that is, because government can be incredibly intimidating and we talk about this in the show, which we're really excited for you to hear the interview. But the piece that I felt very attached to Grace was when she said, or when we talked about how people need to look like her, or like you're at the table now, Like and there's a lot of people that can find leadership or example from her, from being in that position, which I thought was really incredible and then I would say she's a go-getter too.

Jace: 6:25

When Tropical Storm Hillary hit over there and there was all of the damage, she really did step up as a voice for different communities and helped bring in $50 million to the city to help with cleanup and infrastructure.

Kristelle: 6:38

People don't realize how big of a lift that is to get that type of money from federal, regional, wherever that might be. Aid in general for a community that doesn't seem like it needs aid Like the fact that she did. That is huge. But then let's talk about her badass best friend, dynamic duo super combo yeah.

Kristelle: 6:58

Lauren being the director of sustainability and community engagement for Visit Palm Springs. I think what's really cool about it is that not only does she give us some practical advice on, like the how of DEI, right Implementing DEI but she's living it. And there's a lot of organizations that are cutting funding out of DEI practices and thank God Visit Palm Springs didn't and is really putting their money where their mouth is, which she talks about in this part, and she talks about being. She was a former ED of a hospitality foundation. Like what's really cool is that, as a Filipina and she's partly Filipina it was really cool about learning about her, or what you're about to learn about her is the fact that hospitality tourism is actually very important to the Filipino culture, so she's leading, with Filipino culture in mind, for the dynamic work that she's doing.

Jace: 7:46

And she's lived all over the world as well and has had hospitality as such a big part of her own background, but her family as well. So it's like she lives, sleeps, eats and breathes hospitality and it goes so much deeper than I even think. You know. Maybe we travel, go to a hotel and you don't really think about the people involved. But like, look around when you are Like it is such a wide canvas of different demographics and all of these things that are behind the scenes and enjoying it as well. I mean, she went over to Indonesia and started like built a school, talk us through, like give a little piece of what she was doing over there.

Kristelle: 8:27

She went to Eastern Indonesia. She worked for the innovation, or she won an award for innovation for the UN World Tourism Organization in 2018. And then, after and then, she was the executive director of Semba Hospitality Foundation, which was the one that won the award from the UN, which is incredible. She was also okay, this is cool Campaign manager for her best friend.

Lauren: 8:51

Like not that she has.

Kristelle: 8:52

What she loves. Yeah, that's incredible, like talk about uplifting each other Absolutely, and it really was very grassroots for her to be elected and to lead the charge.

Jace: 9:01

We talk about that with different people when they're pioneering something. It is an uphill climb, and so I love that they did that together and they got the community involved. Like you're going to hear that word a lot in this episode. It's very, very dear to their hearts, as it is for ours as well. And then, after she did that, she went right back.

Kristelle: 9:22

To Palm Springs.

Jace: 9:23

Well, they were in Palm Springs, but after she did the campaign she went right back into the hospitality industry and doing education around it as well and, like she, ran the school over in Indonesia and they also had an eco-friendly resort on site so that the students could practice what they were learning in the school with sustainability in mind 100%.

Kristelle: 9:43

So we're really excited to kick it off and we hope that you enjoy this great interview with Grace and also with Lauren. But before we jump into it, don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast channel on YouTube or follow us on CRScom for more information on stories, success and stuff. You can find this there. I'm going to thank Council Member Grace Garner and the Director of Sustainability and Community Engagement, lauren Bruggeman. Thank you so, so, so much for being here today. We're so excited and how it's all coming about. Of course, we're going to see each other at the Counselors of Canterbury Spring Conference in April, located in Palm Springs, and, of course, jace has had the pleasure of talking to you all beforehand. But one of the big questions is a common theme of the show stories, success and stuff. We always like to hear stories of success and stuff.

Lauren: 10:39

And most of the stuff.

Kristelle: 10:40

So I wanted to ask how do the two of you, independently or together? Part one to the question is how do you define success for yourselves? And then, how do you define success for your city? Who would like to start on that heavy question? Oh wow.

Lauren: 10:59

OK, all right, individually we were talking about this before we're really both driven by community and by equity, and promoting equity. It's a common thread in both of our work. So I'm coming at it from the hospitality and tourism lens. So for me, success is bringing up others around me and ensuring that people of color are in leadership positions and that we're growing hospitality and tourism leaders locally from the Coachella Valley. It's our number one industry here. It's a really driving economic force and we want to be sure that tourism and hospitality is really for everyone. So for me personally, that's success and just kind of centering community.

Grace: 11:44

Definitely that community impact is really big right and making sure that people feel heard. So for me it's success when I have residents coming up to me and saying that they want to participate in our city, that they have ideas and they feel empowered to share them with me. That's a huge, huge part of it. When I first started on the city council, we often didn't hear from certain communities and then, once I got on because my connection to Palm Springs is very different than the rest of the council we started to hear more of those voices and people would just come up to me privately and say they were interested in serving on commissions or getting involved more. And so for me that's a big part of our success. And for the city, what success is? Making that impact and making sure that everyone feels like they have a place in Palm Springs, that everyone has a safe place to live, that they have quality work that they're able to do and just feel welcome in the city. And I think that we're making really good strides to get there for everyone.

Jace: 12:45

Y'all will actually be welcoming me to the city in March. My best friend and his husband live out there, and so I'll actually be coming to Palm Springs To visit y'all. Yeah, it's a great town.

Kristelle: 12:56

Yeah, and myself in April I was telling Jace I was like I landed and I saw the airport and I'm going wait what's going on and it was very welcoming and so mission accomplished from an aviation person.

Jace: 13:10

Yeah, I would say I love the Palm Springs airport. However, and because I have you, my best friend travels in and out of there a lot often and he was just saying this very morning that the internet connection in the airport is not ideal and goes who do I talk to about this? And I'm like I don't know, but I got these ladies in front of me so I'm going to just throw it out there. Eric, I got you, brother.

Grace: 13:32

So we're actually doing a whole airport master plan. So the entire airport is being renovated and expanded. So that's what's going to leave you Wi-Fi? Ok, see me using my fame to help my friends.

Jace: 13:42

So that's, I'm getting in there. You guys do love community so much. It's such a big part of your lives and your connection to the city and to the community. How did that play a role in your work with the Caravan Surai project there and do you want to explain a little about it? It's such a cool project.

Lauren: 14:01

Yeah, I'd love to so Visit. Greater Palm Springs is the representative for the tourism and hospitality industry across the Coachella Valley. Palm Springs is actually part of a nine city valley and we really wanted to support small businesses and particularly underserved entrepreneurs to be a part of that thriving tourism and hospitality landscape. So we partnered with Caravan Surai Project and they're a nonprofit that provides business training and access to capital to underserved entrepreneurs and we sponsored a cohort of 30 Spanish-speaking entrepreneurs with small businesses in the ecosystem and really wanted to broaden what a hospitality business is. So six of our businesses were child care businesses, because we know that access to affordable child care is really a barrier to our workforce. So we worked with them to support this cohort with training and, again, access to capital and a network.

Lauren: 15:00

And we had a wonderful showcase event at the Palm Springs Art Museum. Grace had the city council provide a proclamation. She came and spoke and the entrepreneurs were so touched and humbled by her presence there and saw her as inspirational as the first Latina mayor, the first Latina council member of Palm Springs. And the city of Palm Springs is continuing their engagement with Caravan Surai Project.

Grace: 15:26

We are. So the city is now working with them directly to impact the Northern part of our city, where we have a large Black and Latino population, and we're trying to work with them to provide some more entrepreneurial resources for them as well. We have a lot of people who sell food out of their homes, and a lot of other people in the community don't know about it. It's really just their neighbors. So how do we help them to establish broader businesses? We have someone who does taxes in our community but has to rent space from a nearby city instead of in Palm Springs. How do we help him? There's lots of different people we've already identified who could use these resources, and so now Caravan Surai is going to go in and really work with them.

Kristelle: 16:10

Well, when I get there in April, I'd really love to sit down and learn about how you all did that, because one of the things that Jace and I were talking about beforehand is that we're starting to see the common threads that New Mexico has versus Palm Springs different in many different ways, but similar.

Kristelle: 16:27

A lot of the challenges that you're trying to solve is a challenge that we're trying to solve here in New Mexico, so I'd love to compare notes. But one of the things that was fascinating that I can hear about in this project, caravan Surai, is that, and also in your bio and this question is for Grace you have the opportunity to leave Palm Springs. Same thing with you, lauren, and I know that you came back and in New Mexico we have this challenge of the brain drain, the brain drain being people leave the area and then they either come back we call them return descenders because they're coming back to mom or multiple times or multiple times, yeah right, or they decide that they stay in their community because they know that they can make differences in their communities.

Kristelle: 17:13

So the golden question that I have based off your bio, based off of the project on Caravan Surai why did you decide to stay, grace? As a Latina, that is constantly. I know that we don't know each other deeply yet, but it seems like you're constantly going against the grain with a lot of the challenges of a community that doesn't quite embrace DEI quite yet and you're being on that forefront, right. So why did you decide to stay in Palm Springs?

Grace: 17:41

Well, I did leave Palm Springs, so I lived in Washington DC for quite some time and then I came back. But I always knew I wanted to come back and I wanted to be able to really represent the community that I knew in Palm Springs. And watching there be a shift in the community, having a lot more people come in and retire there and really kind of be at the forefront of leadership, made me realize that there were voices missing. It had been many years since we'd had anybody on the city council that had grown up there or had been living there for a really long time, and so there was this lack of connection to the people that I knew. I didn't know wealthy people. I grew up in a pretty modest background and the people I knew were hospitality workers, they were maintenance workers, they were janitors, they were doing service work, and I didn't feel like their voices were being represented as well as they could be. And so much of that is just that connection.

Grace: 18:47

When you don't know anybody in these leadership roles, you don't even know who to go to. Are they even going to care? And it really takes a level of privilege, I think, for people to feel like they can reach out to their city council member and that their city council member will then listen. So for people who are in communities that don't generally have those connections, it can be hard for them to even take that step to feel like, oh, you're working for me, right. So for me it was a big part of making sure that I was representing all of the voices in Palm Springs and really asking the question who's not here? The same people often come to our meetings and their voices are important as well, but it's like who's not here and what do they have to say? And sometimes that means going out and doing that work to be near those folks and just ask them directly what it is that they want or need.

Kristelle: 19:43

Well, owen, I think what's really powerful too and I'll toss it to Jayce here in a second for you, lauren but what I think is really powerful in what you said is I'll never forget the first Asian city councilor that just got appointed, maybe three years ago during the pandemic, and the city has been around since it's at least 300 years old. And as long as you see somebody that looks like you that's leading the charge and I think what you said was very powerful you feel like you have to have a sense of prestige or you have to have a place at the table. Where you're saying is or at least from my interpreting, is as long as you see somebody that's up there, you don't have to force yourself to the way to the table. I think that's incredibly powerful.

Jace: 20:30

Well, and it sets an example as well or even you saying that you're checking who's not here. As a woman, especially, my first career was in a very male dominant. I was often the only woman in the room. Nobody asked, hey, are we making sure that your opinion is being included? Nobody was looking out for me. So I kind of feel tearful just hearing that question who's not here? And that there are people thinking that way and working that way and asking those questions because there are so many that are not represented and it's scary when no one looks like you to speak up. So to have women like you in these amazing positions is so encouraging and, lauren, I know you in across the world.

Grace: 21:12

And then you came back.

Jace: 21:15

What did you discover while you were away and how have you incorporated that with regard to sustainability and DEI coming back into Palm Springs?

Lauren: 21:26

Yeah, I had the good fortune to have been born in Palm Springs but also lived abroad From a young age. My dad was in hospitality, lived in Indonesia, singapore, south Africa, switzerland, london so so lucky. And more recently, I was an executive director of a project in Eastern Indonesia. It was a hospitality school for underprivileged young people that had a really strong sustainability footprint. Grace visited me there and it was a real joy for her to experience that and it was really life changing for me to be there and the lessons actually that I learned on this small island in Eastern Indonesia about community, about not making assumptions, about what everyone wants and asking the community's opinion about what works for them.

Lauren: 22:16

I took that back to Palm Springs with me and in 2019, I ran Grace's campaign and it was a grassroots, community-based campaign and those lessons that I learned in Indonesia I brought back. Every voice matters. We knocked on so many doors, we made so many calls and we were able to get Grace elected. Grace and I have met each other when we were 13 or 14. So I came back to Palm Springs when I was a freshman in high school and she was one of the only people in my school in the school that cared about my travels. She had a curiosity for the world and for the experiences I had, and she'd always been incredibly just, brave and courageous and was a voice for those that weren't heard. So when it full circle coming back in 2019, when she was like I want to run for city council, she's like yes you've been preparing for this your whole life.

Lauren: 23:19

We've been preparing for this. We're going to do it and we're going to use all the lessons we've learned along the way to make it happen. Incredible.

Kristelle: 23:27

I rarely get speechless.

Kristelle: 23:29

That's true, and that is so cool to see a sisterhood of leadership between the two of you and who became the advocate for I mean, in our last episode we talked about diversity, equity and inclusion, and there's the statistics that are showing that a majority of the work force is by 2050, from the Kellogg Foundation says that a majority of the work force is going to be people of color.

Kristelle: 24:04

And not only that, but when we can shrink the racial gap, we know that it can be more of an equitable society. Shrinking the racial gap is part of the economic development strategies as we see forward. So I guess, while I fumble through that idea, I think one of the things that I'm hearing from you both is diversity, equity and inclusion runs really deep between the two of you, both from a public and private partnership and personal partnership between the two of you. So what investments, not only in a community like Palm Springs, but for our listeners that are across the globe what investments do you think need to be made in diversity, equity and inclusion right now, especially when folks are actually starting to take away diversity, equity and inclusion and inclusion? So, from a public perspective, from a private perspective, I am curious about what your thoughts are on that very important topic.

Lauren: 25:04

DEI, just those three little letters, have become so politicized. But when you break it down and really hone in on those values, they're so crucial, so pivotal from a number of layers, right From an ethical and moral layer. It's the right thing to do. But I think you know I work often with the business community. But it's reminding about the business case of DEI. The more inclusive we are, the more welcome we are as a destination. That's more dollars on the table, right, that's more money for everybody.

Lauren: 25:37

But it does take an investment of time, of resources to really practically embed DEI in programs like Caravan Survive Project, right, it's not keeping it up in the blue sky of you know, dei is a great thing. But how do we really really rebalance inequity? What investments from political side, from the city side, to say and recognize it, recognize that there are systemic inequities? How do we address them? And you know I'm really proud to work for an organization like VisitGrader Pump Springs that invested in a director level position to move these really important issues forward and puts their money where their mouth is on a number of levels.

Grace: 26:24

Right, it makes such a big difference in our community too. Right, when you start to include everyone, when you're making these active efforts to bring people in, that's when the ideas get better. Right, somebody brings something forward and it's new and exciting. And then there's somebody else in the room that has a lot of experience working on certain things and they can implement it. I mean, we were just talking about the Rikotela Valley Filipino Festival the other day and it's so incredible and it started off with an idea.

Grace: 26:58

Right, I met some Filipino folks about six years ago who said we would love to do a Filipino party and we want to just get a day together to just celebrate being Filipino. And I'm like, yeah, that's so cool, I love that. And it was really just an idea that floated around for a solid five years of people talking about it, throwing out ideas. And then they got connected to a friend of ours, lauren Wolfer, and she was like, oh, I can totally make this happen. And she did.

Grace: 27:31

Right, she's not Filipino, she. But she was just like I love this, this is a great idea and I can help you get everyone together and make it successful. And thousands of people came for the first ever Filipino festival, and so I think that's what happens when you just bring people in and start talking about different ideas, but it was an uphill battle. I mean, there were people, they were asking for funding from people and they were like, is this something that we really want to invest in? And then, thankfully, when I'm in the room, I'm able to say, ok, let me give you Filipino 101, right.

Grace: 28:06

Because I grew up in Palm Springs with a large Filipino community, with a best friend, that's Filipino right. So I was able to say, like Filipinos will travel for a festival, like they will travel for their people. Like they travel for their people. But you know a lot of the people in this power decision making room.

Kristelle: 28:26

They didn't know that right.

Grace: 28:28

And then they saw the event happen and they're like whoa, this is amazing. And I try not to say I told you so, but I say it a lot in my head. I tell people directly, but in my head I'm like, well, yeah, yeah.

Jace: 28:40

You're like well, what a shock, Isn't that interesting that it turned out that way.

Kristelle: 28:44

But what's really cool is that you had an ally, right Like an ally that wasn't Filipino, that was help advocating, which she will ever be known as like Tithalorin to the Asian community 100%.

Jace: 28:57

So even like, as you're saying that and like bringing new ideas and that, that can be very exciting. It can also be really scary or upsetting or frustrating, and I'm even thinking about it's going to be real talk here for a minute, crystal, but I'll be working on a project and she'll throw an idea in, or hey, I'd rather see it this way, or whatever. And sometimes I get really frustrated with that. I'm like I already have this thing in mind and I have my timeline set out and I've got all this stuff and then I'll be like all right, chill, jay's one, she's my boss, so I got to do it anyway. But also a ton of experience in the industry and is usually right, and so I'll be like all right, let me see if I can play around that.

Jace: 29:30

How can I make that my own, whatever, and it's always better. The collaboration always makes it better. Even if my idea was cool in the first place, bringing someone else on, I'm always like, oh okay, and you would think that the next time I just go, boom, let's do this whatever you say, I'm going to do it.

Jace: 29:47

But there's something that makes, just like when you, when something gets snow globed, it's scary, and we talked about that, like even you said, like that you know a little DIY, like, oh, now everybody's freaking out and it's very upsetting to people to hear that. Diversity, equity and inclusion it's almost become a bad word and something we discussed on the last episode along with that is that part of that, I theorize, is just fear of change. Certainly the uncertainty of what that means. What does it mean for me? Is that is it taking something away from me? Am I going to be in danger? Things like that, and that people don't necessarily know how to incorporate that into their business, into their lives, or what really being an ally looks like and what it entails. And we left the conversation open-ended. We certainly don't have the answers, but how can people be consistent allies in this space?

Kristelle: 30:46

Especially in travel and tourism too. Lorna, I'll kick it to you. Like, we hear you know in marketing, we hear tool kits and guides and white papers of how we can be more inclusive. How do we honor black history without just the holiday itself, or LGBTQ Mother Pride Month, Right, Like, how do we? How do we honor pride throughout the year? So I'm curious to see how you've guided a lot of the tourism entities and visit Palm Springs and what was the how, what was what did the checklist of how look like for you?

Lauren: 31:19

Sure, yeah, yeah, art. You know Our team had been thinking about inclusion for years, pre 2020. But 2020 was a flashpoint and we wanted to be really intentional about our path forward. We didn't just want to post a black square, we wanted to really do the work because, just to go back a step, our area, thankfully, is known as a really progressive and inclusive place. It's kind of in our DNA, particularly with the LGBTQ plus community.

Lauren: 31:52

So our team at visit greater pump springs actually enlisted a consultant in the travel tourism DEI space called travel unity, and they really worked with us that. You know. It started with a survey of of everyone's sort of current baseline feelings about how we were doing with regards to DEI and then moved into how do we then embed these principles into our systems and processes, just the way we worked. And that was internal and then it's moving it externally. How do we work with our stakeholders to uplift what they're doing with regards to inclusion and equity or help them to do to do their DEI programs a little bit better with our resources?

Lauren: 32:37

But you know we have a big responsibility as a destination marketing organization. The images we project to the world are seen globally and those images can make people feel welcomed or not. So there's a real intentionality in our marketing department about showing people of color, showing people of all sizes, all sexualities, all identities, because, again, it's, if you don't see yourself here, you don't see yourself here. So you can't envision yourself in greater pump springs if you don't see those images projected. So I think there was a number of ways we were looking at it, but it's really about, I think, again, grounding Some of it's not sexy right systems and processes. How do we, how do we change a vendor contract so that there's a values alignment? How do we eliminate barriers or decrease barriers to working with, with people from underserved communities? So it's some of these things that were the way we were thinking of it, of creating the strategy, both internally and externally.

Jace: 33:41

Before we go to you, grace on, I just highlight those all in one place for our listeners and ourselves as well. There are professionals that are already studying this, working on it, they specialize it, they are for hire or for giving guidance. They exist, they're out there more and more. There are resources that are available as well to help with all of these things. Even first, specified industries, like you just talked about, people specifically have resources for that. Having a strategy in place that's actionable, they're going to follow through with is a really big part of the how. And then recognizing not just the moral but the economic benefits of more, more people, more money right, that's just. That just makes sense. And the component of them things get better and grace.

Kristelle: 34:27

I want to bring back the public part of the conversation. So, for my understanding, with working with the city, that's right. The governments are really dictating the contract for a DMA vendor right, or working with the DMA very closely to meet the city's objectives. So what do you see? I know that obviously you guys want to be friends. If you didn't agree, this was a really good investment for your city, right. But what? What are your expectations of success and having a more inclusive DMA strategy?

Grace: 34:59

I think it's just something that's really important to us on so many levels, and there's just the moral aspect of it of wanting people to be welcomed and seen in our city, but it's it's also, it is just that exchange of ideas, but we are finding that there's a lot of things that we have to do to be better at it right. So one of the things that's going to be coming before our city council soon is reviewing kind of our procurement policies and how we choose vendors for our city, because we're finding that, even though we have a local preference, it's not enough, because we're still not getting our local businesses actually doing the work that the city needs to do, and that means we're missing out on a lot of like women owned businesses and and by pop owned businesses, because our valley is very diverse and these contracts are going out to to San Bernardino County or LA County because they're the lowest bidder. But why are they the lowest bidder? Because they have the most access to resources. Right, the Coachella Valley doesn't have that same as same access, so their prices are going to be a little bit higher.

Grace: 36:03

But if we're contracting with a vendor from the Coachella Valley, we're re investing in our community and we're going to get a higher quality of work, because the people that are doing this, this, are our care about this, the work that they're doing in their community. Right, so we have, but we had, we had to kind of realize that why is it that we're not getting the people that we want to work with us? Oh, it's because the way our policy is written right now, it excludes people. So let's make these changes so that we can better reflect the community and all of the work that we're doing, even if it's just, you know, something behind the scenes, like the maintenance that we that gets done throughout the city.

Jace: 36:45

You countered an objection. I was going to throw it straight, because one of the first things people say when you talk about hiring local, going with local vendors, it's too expensive. And so what I'm hearing, if I'm hearing you correctly, is that there's a multi part combo that needs to be happening here, where there are resources available, where they don't have to have their prices so high, where they're priced out of the bid, and so it's not just on one entity, like the business, like you know, to just spend more money. It's like no, there's other things behind the scenes that can be happening to make this more realistic, including changing policies and procedures, and what I'm hearing is some like really big barriers to success when DEI is not prioritized. Have there been barriers in your own lives or with some of the people you've seen when DEI isn't?

Kristelle: 37:39

prioritized, yeah, or even stakeholders and Palm Springs, like. What are those? What are the barriers you constantly having to overcome in the positions that you have?

Jace: 37:48

Yeah, towards success.

Grace: 37:50

Yeah, I think for me, it's often that people don't necessarily value all types of work and we can focus so often on what degree do you have? Where did you get it? And not enough on what someone's lived experiences, right? So when we're looking for people to serve on our commissions or even people to work with, it's like okay, let's look at this whole person and see what it is that they can contribute, right? I mean, I think of moms. All the time, you know you have a mother who has several children. To me it's like she doesn't need to spell out that she's a multitasker, right, she's a multitasker, right.

Jace: 38:30

A girl can get things done, all right.

Grace: 38:32

So it's making sure that we're thinking about how all of our lived experiences impact the work that we're capable of doing. So sure, this mom may have been out of the workforce for five years helping to raise her small children, but in those five years she did a million things that contribute will contribute to her ability to execute on the job that she's now applying for, so it shouldn't exclude her. And so I think a lot of the barriers to success are often us not taking that extra moment to say, like, what are those experiences that you've had that can add to this position? And that's something that I try to raise. A lot on the council is like how do we bring people in and what are these other opportunities that we have?

Lauren: 39:21

And we were talking earlier. But you know you brought this up at the cost of education and the cost of bettering yourself, right, and what that takes if you have a family already, if you're like a sort of non-traditional student. What are all these other pieces that you have to think about? And you know from a hospitality and tourism lens, you know I also work on workforce development. You know one of our barriers is just growing hospitality leaders locally, ensuring that we're providing the skills and the tools and the knowledge and the professional development opportunities for folks in our valley to take those high level positions. And that's about sustainability too, right, growing a sustainable pipeline of trained staff. And that again, valuing all types of work, not valuing lived experience, but valuing all types of work. Every position in the hospitality industry has value In my eyes. It takes bravery, you know, strength of character to be of service to others. We don't often frame it that way, but it does. Every position is valuable, so I hope we can continue to do that.

Jace: 40:33

I know you touched on childcare as well. Expense transportation, like there's all of these things that people who don't have that in place maybe don't think about.

Kristelle: 40:43

And we're running out of time. So I do want to ask a very bold but very on-brand for story success and stuff on this podcast. And I know that folks will be able to see you at the Counselors Academy Spring Conference in 2024 in Palm Springs in April and again, we're so excited that you're going to join us for that. But this is a fun one. While you do the fireside chat, I'd be curious to see if this question does come up, especially as we have a multitude of agency owners and second-in-commands, as we call it. On your final day this is Chase's question. Ok, so on your final day, interpret that as you will. How will you know? You lived a good life?

Grace: 41:28

Yeah, For me, I'll know I lived a good life if I've invested in people, invested in community and really listening to others, in valuing their stories, their experiences and taking those moments to really connect with people, and it's not just in a professional way but in a fun way. When I lived in Washington DC, I stood out as the Californian because I never asked people what do they do for work. I just asked them about who they are and what do they like to do for fun. And I learned so much about people by not focusing on their work or their school or education, but just you. What makes you you, what do you love? And those relationships are so important to me. So to know that I've had these really wonderful experiences with people, that would make me feel just at peace.

Lauren: 42:28

And I think it's why we're best friends. We have a real curiosity and fascination with the world and with people, and I really feel the same way. Community is such a big thread and the work that we do is so important to us. But it's our friendship, it's our families, it's having fun and having balance. I don't think living a good life had a good meal and then done a karaoke session Just the two of us, which we did last Friday by the way.

Jace: 43:00

Good yeah, tell me where the karaoke bars.

Kristelle: 43:03

I need to join for this one.

Lauren: 43:06

So, yeah, it's balancing the work that we do with fun and love and joy.

Kristelle: 43:13

Ooh, that's improved Well. Thank you so much for joining us. We are so, so, so honored to have you. For the insights, for the quality of the conversation and, most importantly, if people wanted to get a hold of you or find out more about the work that you do, where do you recommend that they can connect with you online?

Grace: 43:31

Oh well, I'm Lee Wynn, with Grace on kind of every platform, instagram et cetera.

Lauren: 43:39

My Instagram isn't very robust, so my email is probably best Lauren b at visitgreaterpscom.

Jace: 43:48

Wonderful and I'll include all of that in the description as well and you can also visit in person. Go to Palm Springs. It's beautiful especially if you're in winter like we are, Get to Palm Springs. It's warm over there. Earned. March Me and April so thank you all so much, we really appreciate it, thank you, thank you.

Kristelle: 44:04

Thanks again to Grace and to Lauren for joining us, and we hope that you will see them at the Counselors Academy Spring Conference in April in Palm Springs. This is it for us, for Jason and I, for Stories, success and Stuff. We hope that you're following us on your favorite podcast, on YouTube or on CRScom. Thanks for joining us and we'll see you in next time's episode of Stories, success and Stuff. We hope that you'll watch us.