Together Digital Power Lounge, Women in Digital with Power to Share
Digital is a demanding and competitive field. And women are still grossly underpaid & underrepresented. But we are not powerless; we have each other. Together Digital Power Lounge is your place to hear authentic conversations from women in digital who have power to share. Listen and learn from our amazing guests along with host Amy Vaughan, Owner and Chief Empowerment Officer of Together Digital. Together Digital is a diverse and collaborative community of women who work in digital who choose to share their knowledge, power, and connections. To learn more, visit www.togetherindigital.com.
Together Digital Power Lounge, Women in Digital with Power to Share
How Wellness Drives Success
In today's episode, "How Wellness Drives Success," host Amy Vaughn chats with Brooke Daniels, founder of Holistic Hustle and experienced in venture capital and tech. They delve into the link between wellness and business success, exploring the impact of mindfulness, meditation, and holistic practices on well-being and productivity.
Brooke shares her journey from severe burnout to rediscovering purpose, highlighting the drawbacks of grind culture and the influence of Michael Singer's "The Surrender Experiment." They discuss practical strategies like work compression, mindfulness techniques, and balanced leadership to manage stress and enhance efficiency. Whether in venture capital, startups, or handling multiple roles, this episode provides insights and advice for a balanced and fulfilling life. Tune in as we redefine success through wellness and intentional living.
Featured in the Episode
Brooke Dani
Brooke’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrookedaniels/
Website: https://newsletter.holistichustlers.com/newsletters
Amy Vaughan,
Owner & Chief Empowerment Officer
Linkedin:** https://www.linkedin.com/in/amypvaughan/**
Brooke Daniels
Quotes
"A solid power-down routine clears tasks, sets up the day ahead, and prioritizes key actions by scheduling them first." -Brooke Dani
"Embracing diverse work styles, it's crucial to foster genuine collaboration within team settings."-Brooke Dani
Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
05:06 - The Art of Attentive Listening and Supervisor Consultation
00:00 - Join Brooke Daniels to challenge toxic grind culture.
07:41 - Career paths are flexible; networking is crucial.
16:23 - Balancing basics, health, family, work, preventing burnout.
19:19 - Routines, meditation, purpose, effective productivity for leaders.
25:39 - Discussing mindfulness: non-attachment and non-judgment principles.
29:04 - Discussing VC pressure, CEO roles, and overwork impact.
40:43 - Effective power-down ritual prepares for next day.
43:39 - Prioritize big tasks first thing each morning.
52:26 - Human, resilient leadership matters; embrace vulnerability.
57:23 - Scheduling messages for normal business hours consideration.
01:01:22 - Outro
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All right. Hello everyone and welcome to our weekly Power Lounge. This is your place to hear authentic conversations from those who have power to share. My name is Amy Vaughn and I am the owner and chief empowerment officer of Together Digital, a diverse and collaborative community of women who work in digital and choose to share their knowledge, power and connections. You can join the movement at togetherindigitalcom.
Speaker 1:Today, we have a very special guest. I'm super excited for all of you to meet Brooke. She is no stranger to our community, as she will be our closing keynote speaker for our upcoming Illuminate National Conference happening October 17th. I'm excited and I hope that all of you take the chance and the time to come and join us in Cincinnati for that. But for right now, we have the privilege of having a more intimate conversation with Brooke, as she shares powerful insights on a very critical topic challenging the toxic grind culture that has far too long been glorified.
Speaker 1:Brooke Daniels brings over 15 years of experience working at top companies like Salesforce Ventures, but beyond her impressive corporate background, she has faced her own battles with burnout and loss of purpose. This is going to sound familiar to some of you who are listening, so I hope you are tuned in and ready to take some notes and maybe ask some questions, live listeners. Throughout that journey, Brooke has witnessed the transformative power of prioritizing wellness. And now, as the founder of the Holistic Hustle and a Deepak Chopra wellness, and now as the founder of the Holistic Hustle and a Deepak Chopra certified coach, Brooke is on a mission to provide us with actionable steps to break free from the pressure filled hustle mindset. She'll reveal some concrete practices to integrate self-care, unlock our potential and redefine success.
Speaker 1:This conversation couldn't be more timely. Success. This conversation couldn't be more timely, as a lot of us are really experiencing a lot of what I just shared and Brooke's insights are a much needed wake up call, which is why we're excited to have her here today with us and we're excited to have her again as our closing keynote speaker for our conference. So everyone, let's get ready to dive in and hear what Brooke has to share.
Speaker 2:Welcome, Brooke. Thank you so much, Amy. I'm super excited to be here and excited to also join you for the conference in October, which will be here in no time. It's like six weeks away.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, I'm getting like. It's like that skited. It's scared and excited all at the same time. I love it. It's like always ends up being the best day, but, as anybody who plans events knows, it doesn't matter every year. It's just the same anxieties, but then, at the end of the day, the day comes and it's just, it's a beautiful experience. And, brooke, as soon as I, you know, received your information and learned more about you and your background and what you do, I just thought, gosh, yeah, she's so aligned with our community and what we talk about and what we do, because we have a lot of very hardworking, focused, driven women that are just dealing with and balancing a lot of things. So, yeah, I couldn't think of somebody better to have join us on the Power Lounge and, as I said, close us out at the conference. But to start off, why don't you give our listeners a little bit more about your background and your career journey so far and what kind of led you from Silicon Valley to your current role as the founder of Holistic Hustle?
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I'll take a quick tour through, but I always like to start it out and just grounding where I'm from, which is a town called Rock Hill, south Carolina. I was actually a broadcast major, german minor, so German's the only other language I'm fluent in beyond English, and at one point I thought I wanted to be a reporter, and I share that, because I think so many times in our life we feel like we can't attain something or go somewhere we want to go because of where we start, and so people are like you're a liberal arts major but you ended up as a venture capitalist. Yeah, like, yeah absolutely Right.
Speaker 2:Everybody's path looks different, so I always humbly share where my roots started at. But after coming back from doing a year long immersion program in Germany it was like a youth state department ambassador program I stumbled into tech. Didn't know what SAP was we were working on a deployment at that time. My manager told me to go buy a book and figure out what it was, which, if you know what SAP is, this is a massive technology system, right, Not like floppy disk or anything like that.
Speaker 2:And upon coming back to the US I started working in telecom sales at AT&T and they transferred me out to Napa Valley and so I had no idea really that there was this vibrant, booming tech scene happening. It was just so far removed from my life sphere. And bumped into who would be my next boss at a Starbucks and he pretty much recruited me to come work for his tech company. That was a private tech company and that's how I got into Silicon Valley Tech and so worked at this pre IPO company as an early employee I was employee 65 was before we took on private equity money and so a very special time and led the initiative to start our customer success program, and then after that I went into sales and help launch new markets and then from there, after I got my MBA, became a practice group lead and so by this time the company has gone through all of this M&A activity, We've launched all of these new products and so I've kind of been getting a firsthand look, do you know, at what actually happens in high growth tech companies, because I've just been living it for seven years and at that point I was reporting to COO.
Speaker 2:I had a really good run, but I felt like I wanted to see tech at scale and had a really good friend at Salesforce who convinced me to come over and I joined in a go-to-market role and part of this will kind of tie into my journey with burnout but ended up going over to a business unit we acquired called MuleSoft it was at that time the largest acquisition in Salesforce's history and I helped with some of the joint M&A activity and also go to market, which is why we were traveling so heavily.
Speaker 2:At that time. I think my peak was probably 75 to 80% of the time, so on the road every single week. And then at that point was really when I did hit burnout and I will revisit that burnout story and that's what led me to really start thinking about more purposeful work versus just kind of moving up the sales ladder, which is the path that I was on, and so that's why I wanted to go into venture capital. I have such a passion for equitable access to capital. I think people are so smart, so many people have great ideas, but unfortunately we all don't have the same access to resources or networks, and I'm sure you will tell people, Amy, as a business owner yourself that is the difference, right Many times, between success or failure.
Speaker 2:A hundred percent Absolutely, and so that's what took me to venture capital was wanting to be on the other side of the table. The venture capital industry. For people that don't know it, less than 2% of the trillions of dollars that invest it go to women and minorities. Combined, combined, that's insane right, and so just felt like I wanted to be on the side of the table to help create more opportunity for people that look like me and for more women and minorities to be able to get that access and help their dreams come true.
Speaker 1:I love that so much and this is always my favorite question to ask, and it's always where we start exactly, for the reason you shared is that no one's trajectory or careers like path is ever straight and narrow and set, and you can definitely major in one thing and then end up kind of growing and learning new skills and transferring them into another. And this conversation comes up over and over and over again but somehow it doesn't always sink in for us ladies, so I'm just going to keep harping on it until at some point I start hearing it in my one-on-one conversations and like coaching and mentoring within our peer groups. But I love that and I also love what you're doing within venture capital. Gosh, that could be like a whole nother conversation for sure, because, like you said, it's a it's a very limiting space for those who don't have like access to the connections too, and I think that's where you and I sync up well too is like I'm a huge proponent of networking and relationship building and I think we as women tend to kind of avoid it because, like sales, it feels a little icky at times to us maybe, but it's really more of a mindset.
Speaker 1:But it's so critical because it's not what you know. Always it's who you know. You know it's being at the right time in the right place, with the right people. That can take your idea from nothing to absolutely something, and it's an advantage that I would really wish I do. I agree with you. I wish more people would have.
Speaker 2:It's true, we have to adopt that mindset. I feel like earlier for a lot of folks in our career. Usually we hit, you know, a moment where it's like, oh yeah, this is, but we should just always be selling. And I tell people all the time what the mindset shift for me in sales was around not thinking of it as like, oh, I'm selling someone something that they probably don't need or they don't want, but more so just focusing on the impact. And if it's not something that you think is impactful to people, then don't sell it Right.
Speaker 2:Whether it's your own product or someone else's or service, but if you believe in it, then you know that you're going to help someone with something that they could really be struggling with, and so if you can stay in that mindset, versus feeling like you're pushing something, it helps a ton.
Speaker 1:I agree. I agree, I found that too, for those who struggle with public speaking. I was at a public speaking coaching event with with Michael and Amy Port, who wrote public speaking check them out. It's really awesome. And one of the things he said that really helped me not that I had a ton of problems with public speaking, I just didn't always like the light shone on me so much when I was dealing with all of that. He was like think about not the fact that you were up there on stage, think about the experience that you're creating for people and the moments and the opportunities that you're creating for folks by getting up and sharing your story and being vulnerable and putting all that you have into it. And that helped motivate me.
Speaker 1:Find the right kind of motivation. I think that's the key right. It's like finding, like, what is your true core, like value and motivation, whether it be sales or public speaking. And then you're like, oh, okay, yeah, I'm doing this to help them reach a goal or feel inspired or feel informed, and so, honestly, like the nerves kind of go away a little bit more when I think about it from that angle, because it's like, oh, what have I got to lose? I'm only trying to help them out. You know, right, yeah, in past conversations you've mentioned that your time in corporate you had personally experienced some burnout and loss of purpose. So let's dig into that a little bit more about what that period was like for you and what made you realize a change was needed. We've talked a lot I mean, this is a women's organization. We talk a lot about burnout. We're kind of burnout on burnout. We know it looks different for everyone, so how did it look and feel for you?
Speaker 2:Definitely, and I'll keep it pretty brief, we don't have to beat it, I know we get to a point where sometimes it's like we're kind of done talking about the problem.
Speaker 2:I want to talk about the solution, but there is, to your point, around public speaking. I do think there is benefit in all of us being able to connect and know we're not alone with our experiences. So for me, burnout hit in 2019. And really it was building over a very long time of just running, sprinting for what was actually a marathon, do you know, in my career, and so at the height, I tell people I was traveling for my job, full-time. I was, and this was traveling, at least probably at that point, 50 to 60 percent of the time. I was getting an executive mba, part-time, which required face time, so we were in person every third weekend. Um, my husband and I were launching a food truck, because he was a chef, and so at the same time, we're launching a food truck business and I was a coach for competitive dance team and so I was in the studio.
Speaker 2:Wow on the weekends around this, like really crazy, insane schedule and Nowhere my mind did I not think that was normal and so that compounds. You know, you just keep living at that pace, living at that pace and by 2019, I was absolutely exhausted and what that looked like was probably where I started to see it the most was in my personal relationships, because I just had no time for anyone. I had no time for my husband, I had no time for my family, I had no time for myself. At that point I had a really close friend that was going through a really tough life moment and really needed some support, and it was in that moment when I realized I was too broken to even be supportive to her. I was like what is going on in this moment that the light bulb started to come on where I was recognizing my own burnout that I was dealing with and loss of purpose. And it was the same thing. I'd really shifted once I came back from Germany and kind of sharing that career story and getting into tech, I'd really kind of push to the side passion because there was just so much opportunity to break into Silicon Valley tech, and so I just shifted my mindset to say, hey, we're climbing this career ladder. I was very passionate about getting to the top. I've always been ambitious, always wanted to be number one. That's just part of who I am. And so I just kept working that way.
Speaker 2:But then you do that for 10 years and when you pause you're just so far away right From who you are, where you started, what motivated you? And you're like how did I even get here? Like what am I doing? And so that's what happened for me. I had insomnia for years to the point where I would take sleeping aids to sleep, triple quad latte in the morning and get it going and it just crashed. And then it got to the point from that recognition and that friend situation of like I actually can't show up for her because I'm at a point of distress. That then led to me getting to such a severe point of burnout that I was becoming ineffective at working. So I would wake up and I'd have a hard time just getting out of bed and sometimes I'd sit in front of my laptop and I just could not focus or be productive. And it was terrifying because this way of working had worked for so long. And so I'm already hitting this crash and starting to realize I've got to do things differently. My life is kind of crumbling.
Speaker 2:Then, on the heels of that, we come into 2020. Covid right, and during COVID, I was actually working with the healthcare industry. So I was working with pharmaceutical companies LabCorp was actually one of my clients at that time and then also working with hospital systems, and so we're in the mix, trying to talk about technology, and every day we were like lead with empathy, lead with empathy, and it's like what does that actually mean in this moment of like unknown crisis? And then, a few months after that, my older sister passed away. She had a stroke at 39. And so the burnout, compounded with COVID and just everybody, I think, feeling that exhaustion when we paused, and then grief, all of those things combined is really what kicked off my wellness journey.
Speaker 1:Wow, I am so sorry for your loss. That's yeah, that's so hard and I can agree with you on that whole sense of blind ambition, I think for so long. Right, we're conditioned and told this is the job, this is the salary chase it get, it all costs. Don't look back, don't put your head up and look around, and it's so easy to get lost. And I think one thing I've learned throughout the last four or five years kind of going through you know experiences of up and downs with you know family and business and life and COVID and all of that as well, is that it's like we're always in cycles and you're always living some kind of cycle and it's either a good one or a bad one and there's like the one that you know you need. So like right before we got on this call everyone, I was talking to Brooke about how, recovering from COVID this week so yay, so, but then, like knowing that my I need to get back to, like my basics for a moment before I go like whole hog into, like straight back to where I would like to be, which is working and focusing on our conference etc and my kids and soccer, because we're coaching this year. Oh, my goodness, it's going to be really fun this weekend.
Speaker 1:But you know, I think, looking at the cycle that you're in and seeing whether it's a good, healthy cycle, are you getting your sleep? Are you getting your movement? Are you hydrating? Are you getting the time with family that you need for connection? Are you hydrating? Are you getting the time with family that you need for connection, or is it nothing but work? And I worked to numb for so long and my burnout was just pure numbness, to like everything in the world, with the exception of anything that had to do with work, and like work was my fuel. And as soon as work got quiet, I got super anxious because I didn't know why. I was like why am I here? What do I need to do? Do I have a purpose? Do I have? And it's like oh, no wait, this is not a healthy cycle, this is not a good way to be living.
Speaker 1:So I think, recognizing the cycle that you're in and all of us, we're going to kind of come in and out of that right, no matter where we are in our wellness journey, but starting to see that, where you are in that cycle, what does it look like? And then it's just for me it's been like a series of constant, like resets. But I'm excited to hear more about your thoughts on the grind culture too, because you know my agency background, your background and experience in tech and venture capital. You know it's very common, you know place for us to be working 60, 70 hours a week, traveling a ton. You know you put in the time, you put in the face time. That's how you, that's how you climb right. Is that you? You are there and sometimes as a, as a, as a woman, as a mom, eventually, if that's a part of your plan, becomes a difficult thing. So how would you say that maybe grind culture became something that you decided to challenge the narrative and then maybe take a different approach on?
Speaker 2:Definitely. I think it was one again, and I hate that so many people have to hit that place of rock bottom, like I really want to meet people before.
Speaker 2:So you're not there, you don't have to go there to change. I really don't want people to experience what I had to go through, because it's a climb out of getting there. But it's when you start to really question the narrative and realize that those tactics of grind culture aren't sustainable. It's when you really start to rethink what's out there and the research really proves it right when you get into it. And so I guess one step back.
Speaker 2:I started going into because now I would say holistic hustler is a combination of meditation, mindfulness, purpose strategies, but we combine that with flow state coaching. That's all around high performance. How do we get more done? How do we get into those flow states where we've been proven to be 500% more productive? And so for me, when I started actually learning what the research shares with us about what's actually effective in productivity and getting more done, and then you look at all of these leaders out there, like at the top, and we're like, well, how come they're so relaxed, but they're CEOs of all these companies and like, what top? And we're like, well, how come they're so relaxed, but they're CEOs of all these companies and like, what is it they're doing? And just about all of them will be very clear on their routine, how they start their day. They're doing something they love meditation is usually involved, right. Then they're like, yeah, I've got, you know, four hours of work time and then I've got this, but they're already adopting a lot of those practices.
Speaker 2:And so for me it was learning, kind of stepping out of just what society has told us or just messages pushing down in corporate and saying what is the actual research around productivity flow states being connected to purpose, and then you just have to have the courage to do it. And so I feel like we underestimate how much power we actually have in our lives, maybe especially as women, if I could say that, because so many people depend on us and we always tend to put ourselves last. And so it's like I've got to be the mom and I've got to be a daughter and I've got to be a partner and all these different. I've got to be the great friend and I'm the great worker Before I. Just I just got to be the great friend and I'm the great worker before I.
Speaker 2:Just, I am just got to be right and um, just changing that mindset and then I think it's one of those things too is like once you dip your toe in and you get a little bit, you're like this feels great, like why have I been doing this forever? And it's that motivation you need to kind of keep doing it. And then for me it was like I don't just want this for myself, yeah, I want it for my family, I want it for everyone. And that's when I started kind of on my journey to coach.
Speaker 1:I love this, I love all this so much. Yeah, because then you feel like some kind of crazy convert, right? Because then you're going around telling everybody. You're like you just don't even know how amazing it is and it's like you could actually have more time to sit back, reflect, be with yourself, be with your friends and family, be more present in your day to day, and then still get a crap load done. And then you're not people like oh my God, I know you're so busy and you must be so tired, and you're like yeah, no, no, actually I'm OK. Like that to me is just kind of finding and really working. What I wrote down as you were speaking, you just inspired this idea, this question of are you running on the right kind of fuel, like, are you running?
Speaker 1:To me, purpose is definitely a stronger fuel for so many of us than and our values, than even our paychecks. I know our paychecks are essential and groceries are expensive and gas. You know it's all hard right now, but at the same time, like at the end of the day, we're still human and there's still needs beyond just even those more basic needs. And so to me it's like flow state comes when you know that you're running on the right kind of fuel.
Speaker 2:And I think holistic hustle.
Speaker 1:It just sounds like such an awesome, awesome and much needed business and program for people to be looking into and checking out. If you're all sitting here nodding your heads along with us as you're speaking going, oh my God, this sounds just like me or heck somebody else that I know. You know, there's nothing wrong with a little friendly intervention. I'm checking in on your strong friends and saying, hey, listen to this good podcast. You should take a listen to it, you know. Just maybe Because I think it's easier sometimes, too, for us to see it in others before we even, you know, see it in ourselves.
Speaker 2:Definitely, definitely.
Speaker 2:And the power of the present.
Speaker 2:You spoke about that, but it's so important and I can speak for myself but also clients I've worked with when you really pause and think about how much time we live in the future and the bulk of our stress actually comes from thinking about things in the future that haven't even happened yet, but the impacts that they have on our body are real Like simulating all the stress around, like I know everybody right now, with inflation, everything that's going on, we're all thinking about runway right, how much have, and replaying this, and but when you're constantly living there, like actually today, you know what everything's paid.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know I'm healthy, everything's okay, and so being able to embrace those moments without getting too caught up in the in too far into the future with the worst case scenarios, is like such a critical component to how we start to decrease stress, release anxiety. Most people will be honest, most of their stress and anxiety comes from either thinking about things in the past or thinking about things in the future has nothing to do with the present that's in front of them, and then not only are we releasing stress, but when we get present, all these other amazing things really happen, and so we just did, with Holistic Hustler for Book Club, the Surrender Experiment, which is one of my absolute favorite books. It's by Michael Singer, if you haven't have you read that one, amy.
Speaker 1:No, sounds like my kind of jam, though I'll be checking it out. Was it the Surrender? What?
Speaker 2:Surrender Experience, experiment, experiment Experiment. It's so good. It's literally the reason why my 2024 word is surrender for the year. And it's really this guy who is in grad school recounting his story of how he found meditation and started to surrender to what was in front of him and become present and he ends up being the CEO of this like multimillion dollar company and like all these things happen in his life. But it actually came from a point of, like, being present so he could see what was showing up in front of him and then surrendering to those opportunities. And so when you're, the thing is is, if you're not present, you can't do that right.
Speaker 2:Like if you're so locked in to like what's on paper. This is the plan I'm going to go here. You're missing all these things right that are being kind of signaled to you that are actually opportunities for you, and so the Surrender Experiment is like the number one book I recommend around just the power of being present and being looking at tomorrow with optimism versus dread, like really being excited about the unknown that's out there, because you can surrender to opportunities you can't even dream of. And I have so many personal stories, amy, throughout that I just can share do share with people of how that's shown up in my life in really big ways. The biggest biggest things have happened were never things I could have planned. They happened for me.
Speaker 1:I love that so much. Yes, of course I'm checking it out and, kaylee, thank you so much for dropping the link to the book so swiftly into our chat for our live listeners. We'll be sure to include that in the show notes as well, so all of you can check out the surrender experiment. I think that aligns and makes so much sense. I have a talk that I do about a mindful approach to burnout that talks about non-attachment. You know non-judgment, non-attachment two big proponents there of you know mindfulness in general. And it's like really making sure that you aren't overly attached to an outcome sometimes because that, like you said that that means you could miss another opportunity altogether because you're so set on the way you think it should go versus the way it's really meant to unfold. And non-judgment meaning like, as things happen, don't always assume it's like happening to you, it could be happening for you. Like I was so bummed this week, you know, covid, I missed two speaking engagements and another event that I was really looking forward to, but then I kept thinking well, you know, for whatever reason, maybe I just wasn't meant to be there this week and you know, at least now I'm going to be okay for our conference next month. You know that's out of the way. So you know, it's really about how you frame things and it's like our brain wants to categorize everything. It shortcuts it right to good or bad. And it's like, once you realize that that is something that our brains just do and you just kind of allow like this book sounds like it does it's just like kind of surrender. You know, surrender this, this shit's gonna happen, folks. We kind of just got to surrender to it and see where the opportunities lie and what unfolds from it, because you kind of never know what was really meant to be all along. I love that. I'm so checking that out.
Speaker 1:I did want to back up for just a second really quickly and I wanted to kind of hear a little bit. I want to dig in for just a second deeper on kind of the hustle and going against the grind. It is very much going against the grain because I do feel, like you know, in venture capital especially, it's like a space where things they want high growth right, they want high growth, high return. I'm kind of curious, like how have you been able to sort of meet in the middle with those kinds of conversations when you are, you know, if you have people that you're coaching or mentoring that are in that kind of high growth, high stakes business type of situation but they really do want to maintain that balance and wellness, like it almost feels like I don't know, it's definitely a culture thing within venture capital, but it feels like something you just have to automatically surrender. Maybe this is just me making assumptions, but it kind of feels like the case.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's definitely a culture thing, but it's shifting and I think kind of what you were sharing with on purpose, amy same with, like, who you do business with I feel like we're getting into a space where you really can. It takes some work but there are people out there in just about every space that probably align with your values, because you know, kind of like Ariana Huffington talks about, right, her experience with literally ended up in the hospital and like passing out and hitting the floor because she was so exhausted and kept working ended up in the hospital and like passing out and hitting the floor because she was so exhausted and kept working and so there are enough people out there who are starting to be vocal about these experiences and how detrimental it is. The research has never been better and so I like to lean on. That is the one thing I'll say about venture capitalists is like they like data and facts, same in tech and so I try to really lean on. That's what I love about Holistic Hustle, where I say the mindfulness meets the flow, state coaching and the neuroscience, because we really bring in the research and when you sit down and have conversations, because a lot of that pressure in VC is on the founders, but it does start with the VCs and the LPs and the folks that are funding. And there's all this pressure of like what does it mean to be a CEO at a high growth startup? Right, and it's this image in your mind of like, what you look like and what you have to do, and you know all the things.
Speaker 2:And we really sit down and talk about the impact of overwork and one of the facts I share a lot is around the law of diminishing returns. That says, after we work 50 hours a week, we are. No, it's the same as the economic principle, right? We are no longer getting the same level of output for an input level of time, and so we talk through those things. Then some of it's practical, which is, like think about how you feel on three hours of sleep. You've been drinking alcohol all night the night before, and then you get up the next morning you pound a coffee, like, is that the person that you want making financial decisions for your company? Right, you feel awful Not saying that we can't do it when you have to do it, but should that be the norm? Yeah, what does that cause? You're probably more triggered when you work with not only your investors but your employees.
Speaker 2:It's going to impact company morale. Like we start to really unpack. Do you know what? What the impacts are? And then we look at the fact that, like in a high growth startup and any company, you're looking at a seven to 10 year, right. Yeah, marathon, it's not a short journey. You're not coming in right, it's multiple rounds. It's going to be all this change. We need resilient leaders, and so what does it actually mean to be a resilient leader? Yeah, and so being able to just shift the conversations that way I have found helpful. Unfortunately, there's still the stigma, I think in corporate spaces, around mental health. Now we want to talk about supporting people through mental health, but it still seems to only be thought of when you're at extreme distress.
Speaker 2:It's like oh yeah, we have if something's like wrong, definitely go to therapy. We pay for therapy. It's like that's great. But I'm talking about are your employees well? Are they well? And before we kicked off the podcast today, amy and I were chatting. I was sharing how. There's this new research that's come out in a warning from the US Attorney General, because 41% of parents and this research is from the American Psychological Association, but 41% of parents say that they are so stressed that they can't function on most days. And so not shocking, right? I don't think any of us are shocked. None of us are no, but how do our work cultures and they're actually calling it out how do our work culture support us actually being well? And so I like to try to take the conversation from that lens. Unfortunately, sometimes using mental health or even using mindfulness and certain words just trigger the wrong.
Speaker 2:It's like no, we're actually talking about you want high performance, you need employees to do more with less. Let's actually give them tools to be successful and get it done. And it starts with having whole, healthy people. You don't get a good worker without a whole healthy person, and so let's go there first and then you really work with people.
Speaker 2:We track the progress and then you kind of build this case Start, usually with a small group and over time we expand it, but that's what I've found to be the most effective and getting little change agents in there too. So, like people like you, amy, and hopefully your listeners, we all go in, and if we can get even one person on one team to give us the space to show how this type of an approach to what like well being as a foundation of high performance works, then at some point they're gonna be like, wow, you're getting so much more done, I don't care how you're getting it done Right, and then I need more of that, and then the team, and so we become the change we want to see, and so that is how I'm trying to evangelize those messages and tackle grind culture.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm so glad you brought that article up. I shared the link as well in the live chat for our live listeners to take a look at. I agree, I think it's fantastic Ammo to have that conversation. I know it was also backed by the Surgeon General as well. So I mean it's like legit science and studies and years of research that are going behind this and to know that most parents aren't able to function on any given workday because of the lack of maybe either mental health care or support that they need for child care, child rearing and all of the stuff that we're dealing with on a day-to-day basis as parents.
Speaker 1:If you've got school-age kids, a ton of situations and fear is there. We just had another school shooting in Georgia. It takes a toll on us and it's like how are we meant to continue to function when you get a text, like I did last week, saying your kid's school is locked down and you don't know why yet and you're going to have to just wait and you're not with your children? It's absolutely terrifying.
Speaker 1:It's a different world that we live in, with a whole new set of instances of things that we have to deal with and inputs that I don't know that our parents maybe had to deal with as much you know, and so I think, learning how to find tools, you know I realize it's going to take time and effort from folks like us, brooke, to get these kinds of conversations and those of you who are listening and will take this information and kind of bring it into your own spaces. It's going to take time, but the best place to always start right is kind of with what we can control right and that's within ourselves. So I'm kind of curious, as you kind of started to prioritize your own wellness, what were some of the mind shifts or mindset shifts and practical steps that you began to take to help integrating self-care practice into your daily life and work? As somebody who was kind of in this, you know high pressure and very busy space.
Speaker 2:Definitely so. First I would say I had to almost redefine my definition of self-care a little bit, Because I think for me I was definitely doing a lot of surface soothing is kind of what we call it. I like that, I like it and so do you know, kind of just scratching that surface at, almost like putting a bandaid on it, you know, and like, oh you know, I'm going to go out and enjoy a nice meal or maybe I'm going to get a massage or just do something for, like, temporary relief in the moment. And then I was labeling that as self-care, which is nothing wrong with that. Like that is a form of self-care and sometimes that can also help us get into a state where we can actually relax right.
Speaker 2:Sometimes we need a catalyst. You know, people go on vacation or like it takes me two days before I'm actually relaxed enough to enjoy. So not knocking those practices. But for me to actually get to restorative rest right, it had to go a level deeper. And so that's when I started adding different tools to my self care kit, like meditation, like going for walks and just being out in nature. I'm also a spiritual person, so having that time to really explore my spirituality and journal and, like I've even done before, it's called mindful coloring and so.
Speaker 2:I have a coloring book where I just do that too.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I got a great like gel pen ink set. I'm gonna send you the link because they just color on. It's so soothing. I've gotten a lot of my friends hooked on them. Continue, please, Sorry.
Speaker 2:Because you've learned. People are like, oh my gosh, you just sit there and color, but you learn so much about yourselves. I've even done it with leaders and as you color and you can do it, I kind of do a guided. It's like what are you noticing about the choices that you make, right? Are you choosing to color fast and furious but you're spilling some things out of the line? Are you more meticulous and you want it kind of perfect? But those choices that we make are actually the same choices that we typically make in life and in business, right, and so you learn a lot about yourself doing it. And so for me, it's those practices, but on top of that it's also and so I recognize too that a lot of places that my journey probably and I'm still early in my journey, but sometimes I'm further along than other folks and so I also like to bring in really tactical things. For me, it's about really living my values as well, and so every day, I challenge myself to live what I believe, to live my purpose. I have a lot of faith and trust that the universe, my higher self, god, whatever you believe is also helping guide that action, because I'm so present and in purpose, and so I live from that place Now, tactically, on the flow state, high performance side. There are a couple of things that I like to to pull in that help with success, and I'll share some of these concepts, and then we would definitely have to dig into them later, amy, because some of them are going to go so against the grain of what we think.
Speaker 2:So the one that I found that was the most startling but effective is what I kind of refer to as work compression. And so there's all this research out there now that says that work expands to fill the time we have available for it, and so if you give something three hours of time, the work is going to expand to fill the time we have available for it. And so if you give something three hours a time, the work is going to expand to fill three hours of time. This is why a lot of, in a lot of moments when we procrastinate things, we somehow get it done right, right on time, cause we've given ourselves just about right squeeze to get it done.
Speaker 2:And so the work compression strategy is saying, right off the gate, you cut the amount of hours that you work by 25%. So if you're working an eight-hour workday. Now you're working a six-hour workday and we put very hard start and stop times around it. Now I recognize this strategy is definitely easier for knowledge-based workers than if you're in something that's like an hourly service job based workers and if you're in like something that's like an hourly service job. But the same principles can apply to things in your personal life, whether it's cleaning time and you know all the other things you can still apply these strategies to. But by forcing that compression and you have to commit to very hard start and stop times, you don't go beyond it. And this is kind of the coaching and guidance that I do and you can see why community is so important.
Speaker 2:Yeah but you force yourself to use other inputs, and so we get stuck in this mindset that one input of time equals one unit of output. And it's just not true, right? But by thinking that the only thing we do is we dial up time, right, like I need more output, what am I going to do? More time, more time, more time, more time. We totally forget about all these other outputs or, I'm sorry, inputs that are available to us, like creativity, all these things that are just underutilized because we over-index on time, and so kind of similar to your senses. You know, if one of your senses goes out, the other ones become kind of stronger, and so work compression is like a forcing function to start to force us to rely on other inputs to get things done, and so it's painful for like the first week or two, because you're just out of your norm. Do you know what I mean? You're so used to overworking, or you're so used to one more call, or but once you actually One more email.
Speaker 2:One more email. You'd be amazed at how you start to get more creative about solving problems and, like even this week I was working on, we're actually launching a new mini course, so I'm actually teaching this in this new mini course we're launching next week and so we're working through all the materials and the content and the workbooks and all the things together. And something that I wanted to spend X, y, z amount of time on it got reduced by an hour. Right, I have an eight month old at home. That been XYZ amount of time on it got reduced by an hour. Right, I have an eight month old at home. That happens frequently. You might even can hear him crying in the background somewhere. That happens frequently. But guess what, amy, I got in there. I got my draft done, actually leveraged, chatgpt and a couple AI tools pulled it together, made the tweaks and I got it done.
Speaker 2:But you have to use that force and function sometimes to experience those benefits, and so tools like work compression we talk about like a, really the things we have to do and, oh, I got to do this and that. But if we have a good power down routine where we actually clear all the small things off our plate. We set our day up for tomorrow. We get our goal direct to actions. Like the most important things that we can be doing are on the calendar. First, we give ourselves dedicated time to do it those kind of practices alongside the work of purpose, getting reconnected with yourself. But now we're changing how we work. Wow Right, huge, huge effects. There's other tools in there I could talk about. The only other one I'll share super quick is around how we think ignoring something or making small decisions don't take a toll on us, when in fact, you should think about it like as if your brain, your cognitive system every time you ignore something or make a tiny decision, it's like lifting a weight.
Speaker 2:yeah, and so you wonder why in the mornings we feel so clear and then the afternoons we're getting groggy and retired. We make over 200 decisions a day just on food and so and everybody I talk to, I know I get so stressed about food decisions.
Speaker 1:Everybody I talk to is like me too.
Speaker 2:I hate it.
Speaker 1:This is why I get so triggered when my husband comes home and is like, what's for dinner? I'm like I don't want to decide one more thing. I'm like I don't want to decide one more thing. I'm done?
Speaker 2:No, and so part of what we do is around how can we eliminate some of these decisions that are actually kind of predictable? So, instead of ruminating around unproductive stuff like food or you get up in the morning and it's like am I going to drink water first, do I need to go to the bathroom or do I want to shower, like, we work through eliminating all of those really small kind of irrelevant do you know decisions and we try to automate them and like but by doing so you reduce your cognitive load and so while you're in those moments you're actually getting a much better do you know work product, more creative, it's easier to get into flow states. Oh yeah, all of these things happen, and so those are some of the more tactical tools on the neuroscience side that we bring in alongside the mindfulness.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we talk a lot about productivity within together digital to again a lot of high achieving, hardworking ladies and you know we do law. Productivity is like something that's to be of value in our society, for sure, but at the end of the day too, like it's it's. I think it's really essential to understand, like your productivity style, and that your ways of being productive are not the same as everyone else's, and what you were just speaking of reminded me of this, like philosophy and guidance I was given. That was all about eat the frog, which sounds really disgusting, because that's what it's meant to sound like. It's like a Mark Twain quote.
Speaker 1:I believe it's like the first thing you should do when you wake up in the morning is eat the frog and, like you were saying, all of those little decisions that you're making throughout the day, all those other things, the smaller nap tasks that you use to check off your list when you're avoiding the big ugly thing that you just need you know you have to do to push the needle forward, do that first. So if that's exercise for you, if the frog is exercise, then make it exercise first thing when you wake up. That way, it's like you eat the frog and it's like there's no other decisions to make and that's the first choice of the day. And then it's done and it frees you up to be able to focus on all the other things. And that could also be you know other things within, like work as well, but I just use the workout as an example, because I know that's a big thing for some.
Speaker 2:But yeah, and if I can add one thing on that, that we do that, I think, even in the eat the frog, which I really like that Right, it's research proven that, like, if you take the first step in the action that you're going to do the night before, you're much more likely to do it. Oh, okay, that's good to know, and so that's part of the power down routine. Is we're going?
Speaker 1:to take the very first step of the.
Speaker 2:So if tomorrow what I need to do in my life, if like, and that's your flow time, we always talk about our flow time before noon before you're starting to get kind of weighed down. If it's I've got to work on a deck, go ahead and open the presentation name it. Have it open so when you sit down at your computer I don't have to think about getting started. Workout outfit, lay it out. When I get up I don't have to think about picking an outfit out. Whatever that thing is. You take the first step and it's amazing how the mind works, like subconsciously, but it helps you get going a lot more. I know.
Speaker 1:Right, that's so cool, I love this so much. Yeah, and also, when you were talking about power down, that reminded me of that work commute. I think a lot of us have lost that working from home. We don't have that decompression between work and home anymore when we kind of shift like sitting in the car 15, 20 minutes, hour, 40 minutes, however long your drive might have been before. If you're working from home now, more often than not like you kind of lost that, I love the idea of the power down. All right, let's bust some myths here for a moment. What are some common misconceptions and myths that people have about what it takes to achieve success and fulfillment in their careers?
Speaker 2:What are some myths? The first one is always that working hard means that we will get ahead, doesn't mean that hard work is not required. But it's not just hard work, and that's what I'm saying. Just let's debunk this myth that time is the only input that gets us output. And I think if we can debunk that, then now we open ourselves up to a lot of different ways of what success can look like.
Speaker 1:Time is the only input that gets us output. Yep, writing that one down and add that to my sticky notes that live around my computer to look at every day, to remind me when I'm tired, I'm like really Is like 20 more minutes sitting here staring at my screen going what else needs to be done, or do I need to spend the time making my list for tomorrow? I love it.
Speaker 2:All right If I could add one more in there. I would just say believing that we don't have control, or buying into this mentality of one day when, like, oh, if I just suffer for another five years, you know, then I'll be able to get off the path. If I just, you know, and because we, we trick ourselves to actually missing out on life, right when we live in that space, right, there is no guarantee that we're going to reach one day when and oh, by the way, um, if you've lived, you know, some years, right, you're going to know that when you get to that point, if you're looking in the future, there's always the next point you're going to be looking for and so we have to break that mentality of one day when yeah, and
Speaker 2:actually recognize. Yeah, we actually have a lot of control over our lives right now, and that doesn't mean you can just quit your job right like right, because like oh, my job, I can just quit your job right Like right, because like, oh, I have my job, I can just quit it. Actually, technically you could, but I'm not necessarily saying encourage that, but you could do that but you do have power to start changing your circumstances, and so I just like to make sure we remember the power that we actually have to rethink how we want to achieve success.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love it Like yeah, I think a lot of us don't. Again, it's just this whole I think I don't know there's a word for it like where it's kind of like all about how society in general thinks about a certain narrative and whatnot, so that kind of lives within our collective minds, that it's like that we don't always necessarily see life as a series of summits and high points and low points and it's like, but that that is life like. That's just kind of what it's going to be. There's no ultimate pinnacle. This is it. I've reached the top.
Speaker 1:I'll never, I mean, really I hope that's never the case, because I don't know where you go from there, really, I mean, but we're always going to be wanting for, because we're human, by in, by nature, where you want, want to know what's next, we want to go to the next thing. That's why you see these serial entrepreneurs and people owning multiple businesses and moving from one industry even into another sometimes, because it's it's a number of chapters and stages and a series of summits that we're all kind of working through. So I love that reminder that it's ever, not ever one destination. It's definitely about the journey, like all those motivational posters told us, so I'm curious.
Speaker 1:You know you've got a lot going on, you've got a little one and you're running a business. What ways are you finding that you're able to model in your own life, as an entrepreneur and a leader, that balance between productivity and wellness?
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely, I'd say the biggest one is honestly grace for what shows up in front of us, and so that goes back to that feeling like constantly coming back to surrender. Yeah, right, and so, as I said, this morning I woke up, baby had a blowout smile on his face but immediately into the bath, and so that's like, oh, there's 30 minutes gone.
Speaker 2:Do you know that I thought I'd have? And then our nanny's daughter is sick and so she's out today and it's like, well, and I've got to get on with Amy, and like you know. But in those moments, what do we do? We can panic, right. We can be triggered, we can get upset, we can get frustrated, or we can say you know what? This is what's showing up for me today and I'm going to do, you know, respond and guess what. Everything's going to be okay.
Speaker 2:And so, like I didn't get a chance to meditate this morning because of that, it's okay, I'll try to get it in later this afternoon, but it's just that grace and every day knowing it's another chance to be better. So if I don't get it today, then guess what? I wake up tomorrow and it's another chance to be better and continue to have that focus on what I want life to look and feel like for me. And so I think that is the most important thing, and probably second just for me is really staying aligned to my purpose. It's so hard to man with just society and what shows up for us, I think, especially in US culture, you're fighting against conditioning, one that you've lived through your whole life but that's constantly coming at you right From TV and pop culture and all the messages. It's just some days I come home and I'm just like I just need some silence and some peace to get my thoughts together. And so it's understanding that, recognizing maybe in the moment when you start to get on that path, not letting yourself spiral.
Speaker 1:Do you know what I?
Speaker 2:mean Kind of like you have a bad day and you can feel it every morning. You're like I'm going to have that bad day and then you have a bad day, right, and I had a day like that. Maybe it was like, right after we got back where I was, like I am filling all the tombs of a bad day. What used to be the old method, right? What did I used to do? Yeah, maybe go eat some junk food, maybe have a cocktail, just all these things that are not healthy or productive at all. What did I do? This time? I recognized in the moment what was happening.
Speaker 2:I actually went to tropical smoothie and got myself a smoothie and then I sat on the car and I meditated for like 30 minutes and I did one and I was like that feels good and I was like let me do another and guess what Within an hour, back on track and so for it's those interventions in the moment, but you can't do them if you're not present. But that has made all the difference in the world for me of not allowing myself to get, because I'm still very ambitious, I'm not as competitive as I used to be, because I just am in a space of abundance where I know what's for me, what's for you, will happen for us. There's no scarcity out there. We can all win. I used to not feel that way and I think that's also sales culture. So I don't feel that level of competitiveness, but I'm still ambitious with big goals. But I just have this innate trust that, hey, I've done the best I could today and that is going to take me exactly where I need to be.
Speaker 1:I love it so much and I love that you're modeling such great like just human leadership in that way, because I think a part of the hustle culture sometimes is leaders who seem, you know, unwavering and untouchable and nothing ever happens to them and they don't have bad days and they have all this and oftentimes sometimes they do, depending on the leadership have privilege and all these things.
Speaker 1:It's like okay, it's so nice to have people who show up as human as possible, you know, while still strong and resilient, like you said, as leaders to let people know that yeah, like literally blowouts happen, shit happens, and then we kind of just have to figure out how to move on with our day, because it happens to all of us and it's really how we respond and react to all of that. I think that's so important to model, not just for, like, the leader, for us as leaders, but for our own families, for our own children. If we're having, you know, having to be bringing up kids as well, all right, you work on coaching executives. What are some of the most impactful strategies that you've seen for organizations to foster healthier, more sustainable work cultures?
Speaker 2:Well, that's a big topic it is. I know we're coming close to time too.
Speaker 1:Sorry.
Speaker 2:Culture is so important. The number one and most important thing you can do is exactly what you said, amy, which is model top-down behavior. Yeah, and so, literally in a coaching circle I was doing with a group of women ceos. There was one woman there and I just like to share stories who, yeah, shared that she was working 70 hours a week, but that was down from working like 80 or 90 hours a week. So for her she was like that's an improvement, and I know I can't do it for forever, but, like you know, I just feel like this is the only way I can get done what I need to get done in this moment. And she was still leading one startup and launching something else, and so there was a lot going on. But she's like I just don't know another way, but I don't want my leaders to do this. Like I don't want my leaders at my company, I don't want my employees to do this. I want them to rest, I don't want them to be well, I don't want them burning out. And so how can I do that?
Speaker 2:We had to have an honest conversation of like, guess what they are modeling, what they see from you. Whether you say it or not you give them permission to give in to burnout and overwork, because that's how you model what success looks like. And so the first step in any organization, it was the same with another leader I coached in the employee surveys. It came out that the employees didn't feel comfortable talking to management about their workload being too heavy. And he was like I have a close relationship with my employees, why is it that they can't come talk to me about it? And it's like but were you not the one, sir, who worked during your whole maternity leave? Yeah, like. And then you want, and so it's like oh, but. And so it was those conversations of how are we modeling it first, but then it's also then get into the place of giving people understanding.
Speaker 2:You hit on this, amy, with your team. We all work, work differently. We all have a different definition of productivity, and how do we create spaces that allow everyone you know to not just show up authentically but really work the way that uh works best within, obviously within the realm of? Do you know how we have to work as a team? Yeah, and so an example of that I had a sales leader in my career earlier that would send me emails about deals, instant messages going off on Slack, text messages, phone calls no right, like so OD with communication, that you're constantly here, you're constantly being interrupted, right, and you just can't work that way. And so you have to create a culture and spaces where people can actually set healthy boundaries for how they show up best, and then you have to honor them. And I guess the third thing I would share just really quickly is get into a place where you really prioritize and start to realize not everything is urgent.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Like we're not saving lives. So many things that aren't urgent, yeah.
Speaker 2:And they dilute the things that are urgent. Right, and so it's not that like. Occasionally you might have to do something for an urgent situation, but when it's every single day, right Now, what does urgent even mean? Right, we're completely spilling outside of the boundaries and now that's our new normal. It's not urgent, yes, and so just reshifting the mindset on priorities and how those are passed down, and giving employees the permission to say hey, if you need this by Wednesday, like tomorrow, then I have these other things that I've been working on. So what needs to shift right, so that we can get this done? You've got to have those conversations with people, and just those three things go such a long way and shift in the culture.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love it. Fantastic answer. A hot tip though for all of you. Like, again, if you're a business owner, I get it. You're up late at night, you're thinking of random things, you can schedule Slack messages and emails. So you're not sending emails in the middle of the night and Slack messages. And I have done this in the past where I have just I'll think of something and I'm like, oh my gosh, kaylee, I need to think we need to make sure we get this done tomorrow, cause it just popped into my head randomly and I will just schedule it as a Slack for the next morning at 9am or 10am, like when I know that she's likely to be on. So it doesn't always feel like I'm like there in the middle of the night, like sometimes I forget because I'm half asleep. But I really try to practice that of like scheduling the email or scheduling the Slack message to send at normal business hours, because sometimes you can't help the thoughts. You want to take action when you can take action so you can go back to sleep, you know. But also at the same time, like you said, you model up behavior so much All. Also at the same time, like you said, you model up behavior. So much All right, folks, we're coming up on time.
Speaker 1:If any of our live listeners have any questions for Brooke, feel free to drop them into the chat. I know we had Elizabeth said she was listening from Indianapolis or Indiana, sorry, from Greenwood. So if you have any questions let us know Elizabeth. But we're going to jump ahead to our Power Round questions. So these are our lightning round questions. These are kind of a fun chance to get to know you just a little bit better still, brooke, although we get to know you even more here in the next month. Just curious are you a morning person or a night owl?
Speaker 2:Definitely a night owl.
Speaker 1:Are you All right? All right, I think it's always good to know, like your circadian rhythms there's just some kind of unlock that happens, and acknowledging that in like not just yourself but your coworkers and partners and family, and this actually helped us with sleep training. I learned my husband very much the night out, me the morning person perfect match for dealing with a baby that's awake all night. As we were discussing before this too. All right, what is your go-to or favorite wellness practice?
Speaker 2:Definitely meditation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love it. I love it. Yeah, for those of you who are afraid to try it, just be graceful. Give yourself grace and just try it. Try walking meditation, try different kinds of meditations, see what works for you. I agree, it's one of my favorite go-tos. It's better than coffee in the afternoon.
Speaker 2:I was going to say it changes my whole day. Like the minute I like especially some of the guided ones. The minute I open my eyes and kind of come back, my outlook on the day has shifted. Yeah, it's amazing.
Speaker 1:I used to do it in the middle of the afternoon and a little huddle at my agency and that was my afternoon coffee was to go and just hide and meditate for 20 minutes in one of those huddles. All right, best career advice you've ever received.
Speaker 2:Ooh, if you're in a corporate company, it was around knowing the currency of that company and then making sure that you are participating in that currency, and so a lot of times it's relationships might not be at everyone, but like, how do things get done here? How do people get ahead? And then starting to play that game.
Speaker 1:That's fantastic. I love it All right, last question and then, if we don't have any questions from our audience, we will wrap it up. What is one thing that you're most passionate about outside of your work?
Speaker 2:Ooh, well, let's, I'll put all the work stuff in a bucket. So I won't even talk about the equitable access to VC, because that's a huge passion for mine.
Speaker 2:But, just on the fun side, it's actually dance. I grew up dancing like tap, jazz ballet danced in college, I danced competitively and now I coach dance for fun. It was actually one of the things I had given up at a certain point because I was just so burned down and exhausted, but as of last year I've been able to bring that back into my life and I absolutely love it.
Speaker 1:I love it. Yeah, bringing that passion back, I love it. I think that's always a telltale sign for me is my husband asked me about six, seven years ago, before I came into this role was do you ever, are you ever, going to have any hobbies? And I was like, oh, I don't, I don't have any hobbies. But now ask me, and it's very different it's like hiking, it's yoga, it's the adult coloring, it's meditation, it's travel, it's yeah, it's so many reading. Oh my God, I've been reading so much, so excited to grab your the book that you recommended, the surrender experiment. But, yes, I think that's a great way to kind of wrap for the day.
Speaker 1:I hope all of you that are listening have taken something helpful away from all of this. I think all of this is such a relevant continuing conversation. It's been kind of a theme throughout our last few episodes. So you know, if you can't get enough of this stuff, keep listening. Take a listen back to the one we're going to publish here soon with Tyann Talked a lot about this as well because it's all interconnected right. Our ability to achieve what we feel is success, our own personal, defined success, has so much to do with, like you said, us being able to show up, feel well and feel whole, and as much for you, brooke. I think it's a passion for me to help people find that fulfillment and feel that, because we all deserve that. So thank you so much for coming on today and sharing all of your wisdom.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. It was great. Thank you for having me, amy, and I'm so excited to see you in person and meet the community in just a couple of weeks. It's coming up fast.
Speaker 1:I know it's going to be fantastic. It's going to be a wonderful day, all right. Well, thanks everybody for listening and until then, until we see you next week, everyone keep asking, keep giving and keep growing. See you then. Produced by Heartcast Media.
