So She Did: Skylar Romines on Mindset, Resilience, and Entrepreneurial Success

Danielle Sprouls sits down with Skylar Romines, the dynamic founder of ATW Advisors, to delve into her transformative journey in the commercial insurance industry and the bold decision to start her own firm. Skylar opens up about the unique, hands-on approach of ATW Advisors, emphasizing their role as an owner’s insurance representative firm committed to providing personalized and involved service to their clients.

Skylar's narrative is one of resilience and action. She shares her powerful insights on the critical role of mindset in achieving success, encouraging listeners to believe fiercely in their own abilities and to take decisive steps toward their goals. Her story is a testament to the power of determination and the impact of shared experiences, themes vividly brought to life in her book, *So She Did*. This compelling read showcases the grit and perseverance of women from various industries, underscoring the strength found in community and shared journeys.

Join us for this thought-provoking conversation that not only highlights Skylar’s remarkable journey but also serves as a rallying call for all aspiring entrepreneurs to take action, overcome imposter syndrome, and build a supportive network around them.

Get your copy of  Skylar’s new book “So She Did” here! 

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Danielle Sprouls

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What is Unscripted Pivots: Inspiring Stories from WTF [Women That Flourish]?

If you’re looking to find connectivity in the female experience, you’ve found the right podcast. Unscripted Pivots (UP) takes a deep dive into how women can masterfully chart their lives only to end up in the most unexpected places. "Life is what happens while we are busy making other plans" and the most unpredictable detours, our “WTF” experiences, can shape us in ways we never dreamed possible. My podcast invites women to redefine “WTF”, calling them “Women That Flourish” moments instead. I’m your host, Danielle Sprouls, aka "The WTF* Lady", and my mission is to bring you weekly interviews with inspiring stories of women empowerment, identity loss, entrepreneurship, leadership, mental health, and more. We’re here to celebrate a woman's adaptability, resilience, and perseverance. No matter our unexpected detours, we can always move UP.

Danielle Sprouls (00:01.166)
Hello and welcome to another episode of Unscripted Pivots where we explore the transformative journeys of women that flourish. Today, I am thrilled to introduce our guest and I love this woman, Skylar Romines. Skylar is a powerhouse in the commercial insurance industry and the brilliant founder of ATW Advisors. With a career spanning 17 years in commercial insurance brokerage, Skylar made a bold leap to establish her own firm.

Skylar (00:24.101)
Thank

Danielle Sprouls (00:30.43)
advocating for business owners with unparalleled expertise and integrity. She's also the inspiring and new author of the book titled So She Did, where she shares her insights and experiences to empower women everywhere and the men that support them. Skylar's dedication to mentorship, her strategic mind, and her passion for helping others navigate the complexities of risk management make her a true leader in her field.

And to top it all off, she's a prominent voice on ex, know, formerly known as Twitter, where she's engaging and enlightening her followers with her wisdom and her wit. Skylar, welcome to Unscripted Pivots.

Skylar (01:03.544)
Thank you.

Skylar (01:11.688)
Thank you. That was quite the introduction. Can I just bring you around with me everywhere from now on? That would be awesome. Just come to every meeting with me and do that before we start talking about anything. That would be great.

Danielle Sprouls (01:15.034)
And it's so true, right? All of it's true. And then someone will dive into all of the greatness that makes you, you, you. I usually start the episodes telling the listeners how I met who I'm interviewing or chatting with. And we met at a Crew Orange County event. We probably

before the first recollection of me meeting you was when we were kind of like going in and we were sitting there in that auditorium and there was a panel discussion and you just like kind of popped in and you sat to my left and I was going through some crazy stuff at the moment. But in those five or 10 minutes in our whispering conversation, I got to know a little bit about you. And what I knew right then and there is I wanted to know more. You had like, you know, mentioned you had a book going on and that was always, you know, it's on my to -do list and.

some things that you saw on the horizon. And I said, this is a woman on the move. And boy, are you on the move. 2024 has brought so many new adventures your way, really curated by your brilliance and your intentional strategy to make things happen. So just welcome, welcome. We have so much to talk about, and I don't even know what order I want to talk about it because she's really been doing a lot of new stuff. Let's talk about...

Skylar (02:27.966)
Thank you.

Danielle Sprouls (02:36.686)
your new company. Okay, so what inspired you after a successful like 17 year career in commercial insurance brokerage to start ATW advisors and tell the listeners how you came to choose that name?

Skylar (02:38.396)
Okay,

Skylar (02:51.998)
Sure. So the name was, you know, something that I thought about for a little while. A, you go through a lot of different ideas and then you, you know, you get on the secretary of state website or you start Googling and realize like, I can't have this name. I can't have that name. That's already taken. So there were a few that I really wanted before that, that ended up not being options, but I ended up loving ATW and what ATW stands for. Cause a lot of people ask, they're like, do you have partners who are AT &W? What does this mean?

Danielle Sprouls (03:17.568)
Mm -hmm. Yeah, sure.

Skylar (03:21.708)
And what ATW actually stands for is All The Way. And that kind of represents a few different things for me, right? In terms of how we serve our clients and kind of our slogan, if you will, is we're with you all the way, right? We want to represent your firm in the best possible light. We want to be with you from the ground up. We want to be really involved in your core business. And so that's kind of a critical thing. And then, you know, on a personal note as well, I don't share this with as many people, but since we're here, for me, it also represented

Danielle Sprouls (03:32.504)
Mm -hmm.

Danielle Sprouls (03:47.426)
Mm -hmm.

Skylar (03:49.844)
you know, my leap, like you mentioned from 17 years in corporate America, big brokerage, et cetera, into entrepreneurship. And for me, it was like, we're doing this all the way, right? We're burning the boats. yeah, right. Burning the boats, so to speak. There's nowhere to go back to. We quit the job. We're taking the leap and we're doing it and sink or swim. We're going all the way. So it represented a few different things for me. And, and, you know, I think it's really special. So I'm glad you asked

Danielle Sprouls (04:03.4)
Yeah.

Danielle Sprouls (04:18.442)
It's so funny because I wouldn't even say that there's just one or two of us. There seems to be this movement in that direction. Mostly, I mean, I'm more cognizant of what women are doing than what the guys are doing. Maybe they're doing this too. But we're really coming into our own space and taking our skill sets and our relationships and building our own fortune. I mean, our own way, right? And

And what I'm going to say about that is not at the expense of the companies or relationships that we had intact, it's more of an expansion than it is a replacement. And what I've noticed about your journey right out of the gate is all the advocates that you have at your side, including the people that you used to work with, which is a testament to their support in your journey. Right? So it's not one of those like,

you know, showing somebody the finger while they're showing you the door, it was more like, you know what, I've got something else to offer and I want to work alongside. So you're leaving something where you felt inspired and trained and educated and you're you know, you're like flying the nest and there's so much support for you in that space. And that really, really is great to see.

Skylar (05:36.318)
Thank you, Danielle. Yeah, that means a lot to me. And it's something that I was actually really nervous about and had to be really intentional about, right? Because this kind of niche that I've carved out with ATW is something that's different than what we've had in our industry before. And, you know, I wanted to be able to represent my prior clients who were asking for this service, right? And just to get a little bit into the background of what ATW does, right? We're different than a brokerage. We're an owner's insurance rep firm.

So a lot of people will call it insurance consultancy, but it's really a little bit different than that where we're truly involved in the client's core business to a degree that I've never seen another firm do before. And I had clients on the brokerage side who were asking for referrals for this for a couple of years. And I kept saying, it doesn't really exist, right? No one is doing that.

Danielle Sprouls (06:15.813)
Okay. All

Skylar (06:23.206)
And so finally it got to the point where I started thinking, God, if no one is doing this, someone needs to, and if someone needs to, why not me? Right? And that's kind of how ATW was born. That mixed with the fact that I've always wanted to work for myself, but it was never the right time. And you know, have these self doubts and there's always something going on and you wait till this, you wait till that, and then it ends up never happening. Right? And so it finally was just time to do the thing and make the leap. But, you know, one thing I was really nervous about is a lot of insurance consultants or third party reps or even, you

Danielle Sprouls (06:28.461)
Mm -hmm.

Danielle Sprouls (06:36.962)
Mm -hmm.

Skylar (06:52.892)
owners reps within certain firms kind of have this adversarial relationship with brokers. And like you mentioned, I've been like blessed and extremely grateful for a ton of support from, you know, my prior employers, the people within my industry, you know, over almost two decades, you build this network, you know, and I know people from brokerages across the country, retail brokers and wholesale brokers and carriers. And this is why I was successful on the broker side to begin with, right? It's all those relationships, but

Danielle Sprouls (07:10.606)
Mm -hmm.

Skylar (07:20.338)
I was a little bit fearful that, if I go out and do this, you know, and a couple of people have talked to me about it, you know, in private, are you saying that brokers aren't doing a good job advocating for the clients? Why do you need this extra person in between? And are you going to be a barrier between the clients and their brokers? And I've heard that word a lot. And kind of the messaging that I leaned into, and it's the truth, right? And so whenever you're leaning into the truth, it's easier to move forward with and kind of stand in.

Danielle Sprouls (07:26.776)
Mm -hmm.

Danielle Sprouls (07:47.17)
Yes.

Skylar (07:49.65)
We're not here to be a barrier, we're here to be a bridge, right? There is something lacking in our industry where even the best brokers are kind of torn between their clients, their wholesale brokers, their TPAs and their carriers and different people that they need to be responsible for in different relationships. For us, for ATW, the only person that we're representing is the client.

Right? And we can kind of dig into their business and be involved to a degree that brokers aren't staffed to do. And frankly, a lot of them don't want to do. And what's funny is, you like you mentioned how much support I've had from my previous industry, my biggest referral partners so far are commercial real estate brokers and insurance brokers. And the insurance brokers come in and they say, hey, either we have this RFP and we want, you know, an added thing to bring that no other brokers are going to bring to the table. And that can be you because you're a resource for the client that nobody else has.

Danielle Sprouls (08:18.818)
Mm -hmm.

Skylar (08:40.196)
or a couple of you have even come to me and said, hey, we're happy to pay your fee if you'll help this client because they don't want to pay for it. They don't see the value yet, right? But we need help getting the right information from the client. And we want them to have the best representation in the market. And for them to be able to do that, they need to really understand how to present themselves in the insurance space to a degree and to a different level than someone in -house can do. And that's kind of the complaint that we were hearing from a lot of people was the insurance procurement process is just so opaque.

Danielle Sprouls (08:44.844)
Look at that.

Skylar (09:09.076)
even people who have been buying insurance for decades, in a softer market really weren't paying attention to it because it was just a line item every year. And a lot of times you were paying less and less every year, right? And then all of a sudden you're paying 30, 50 % more every year. And now you really have eyes on it. And you really have the decision -makers eyes on it. Whereas you didn't have that a few years ago. And so I think people are realizing the value more and more of having someone in their corner and truly the difference it can make.

Danielle Sprouls (09:16.119)
Mm -hmm.

Danielle Sprouls (09:34.595)
You know, that's so insightful of you to recognize the gap that existed and to fill it, right? And so it's not duplicative in many ways to other things that are going on. I could see where there's some hesitancy, where somebody thinks you may be taking a little bit of a piece of their pie. But the way that you've just articulated it shows that it really is not even just like an add on, it's a necessity. And I think that you're going

be leading the charge in this. There probably will be people that will follow over time because the demand is going to be that great. But you're at the forefront. You're like literally a pioneer in this space. for that, it reminds me of the title of your book, So She Did. So She Did, right?

Skylar (10:14.974)
Thank

Danielle Sprouls (10:23.406)
Let's morph a little bit into your book. you know, for those of you listening, this woman is just fascinating and she just rolled out a book. You know, I think it was within weeks of rolling out her company. mean, 2024 for Skyler has been explosive, like literally so explosive. The book is fantastic. And getting back to our Crew Orange County relationship, a lot of the stories within there are, you know, testaments to the journey of the women that, you know, were with Crew.

And if I have your permission, I want to read something in the beginning because it really caught me. In the beginning of your book, in the introduction, one part she says, throughout my career, I have been fortunate to witness firsthand the resilience, determination, and brilliance of countless women. Yet despite these remarkable qualities, many of these women faced significant obstacles that often seemed insurmountable.

It was during these moments of struggle and triumph that I recognized the power of shared experiences and collective wisdom. This book is a testament to that realization. And when I read that Skylar, it just like stopped me in my tracks because you literally articulated what I feel about why I started my own podcast and have it about women and the WTF people that we are. And so it was like you were speaking my words, which just tells me that,

There's so many of us that want to shine a light on that. And that's not at the exclusion of men, but at the celebration of women. And it's so important to mention that even though it's the stories about females in your book, it really behooves men to take a deep dive. And I know they already are, because you already have these great reviews from men, to even better understand

where is that we are because this is the only way like for the future to actually be as strong as it can, right? We exist in the same space and year by year because you know I'm a bit older than you, I see right across not only the commercial real estate industry but just by and large that equalization to some degree where men are just getting it's kind of ordinary that the boys I have raised you know they're now what 33, 31, 29.

Danielle Sprouls (12:41.816)
They grew up with women side by side. didn't look the way it looked like when I was going to law school and things like that. so it really, you're educating everybody through your book. And as you describe in your book, it's also a call to action, which really makes it important for men to participate in reading it. So tell us a little bit about why did you write the book and what incited you to?

take the time you don't have because you're a very busy woman and you're a mom of twins and you've got this full -time career that is extremely demanding and now you're an entrepreneur. What made you think that you were going to do this? What inspired you to dedicate your time and resources?

Skylar (13:09.566)
you

Skylar (13:23.902)
Sure. You touched on so many different things there, Danielle. So I'm going to try to address them all. I'll go back to one thing first, if I can, which I think is really kind of interesting is we did meet through crew. I was thinking before we started the podcast today, like what might come up? You're always kind of wondering what things you might touch on. And I thought about my first impression of you versus probably what your first impression of me was. And this is something that's a little bit vulnerable for me to share.

Danielle Sprouls (13:33.154)
Mm -hmm.

Danielle Sprouls (13:52.852)
Okay.

Skylar (13:53.78)
blow dry my hair and thinking like, do I get into this? And then I thought, you know what, like you mentioned 2024 has been a critical year in my life. I actually just did a Twitter post about this this morning. So it's funny that you mentioned it, but my life has changed more in the last year, year and a half than it did in 35 years before that. And I can say that like without any question or hesitation. And that includes even the year that I had my twins, you know, almost 11 years ago now or anything else, you know, any major life event that I've gone through.

doesn't compare to everything that's changed for me in the last year. And the thing that really changed that set all that emotion was just a mindset shift, right? Of just realizing that you can literally do anything that you wanna do, you just have to freaking do it. And you have to do it scared and you have to do it lonely sometimes and you have to do it not knowing, know, knowing that there's a beginning and an end, but not being able to see the next stone in the path or even, you know,

Danielle Sprouls (14:41.858)
Yeah.

Skylar (14:50.76)
breaking down the stones and laying them as you go, you have to be willing to kind of solve all these problems in real time and figure out what to do, but just building enough resilience and changing your mindset within yourself to believe that, you know, I used to think like, I don't know if everything's going to be okay, so I'm just going to wait until, you know, it's the better time or people aren't looking at me under such a microscope or this or that is different. And now it's

you get to a place within yourself where like you have this, it sounds corny, but like this fire and like this energy burning inside where you realize like, it doesn't matter what I run into. I'm gonna run into a lot of struggles on my path. I know I am. There's no question about that. What matters is I know that no matter what happens, and I don't know what the hell it's gonna be, could be a million different things, I can get through it. And not only am I gonna get through it, I'm gonna be better on the other side.

Danielle Sprouls (15:30.828)
And then.

Skylar (15:42.14)
And not only can I do that, because there's nothing special about me, and this was the whole point of the Twitter post I made this morning, there is absolutely nothing special about me that doesn't exist within other people. And if I can make the decision to do these things, I promise you you can too. And so if anyone takes away anything from seeing me launch this firm, reading the book, seeing me write the book or anything else, I hope that that's the message that someone takes away is just, I wasn't born with anything different. I didn't have a different network. I didn't come from a great background.

Danielle Sprouls (15:42.175)
Mm -hmm.

Skylar (16:11.262)
You know, everything that I've done is solely because I just freaking decided to do it. And the biggest difference between people who do and people who want to do is just taking that action. And there is no right time. There's never going to be a right time. People are always going to judge you. So you have to get used to the idea that you can't make everybody happy and you just got to do it. So I think

Danielle Sprouls (16:27.168)
No, that's so true.

You know, I think, and you know, I've undergone a lot of changes in 2024 as well as you know, and I think that one of the things that I got comfortable with is making failure my friend instead of my foe. That really, that's really what it boils down to. And you know, when you are as experienced as you you as me and what we've been doing for a long time and we've got a very like, you know, established stellar relationship, it is not an easy leap to get down

Skylar (16:44.233)
I love that. I love

Danielle Sprouls (17:00.888)
my God, I don't know what's going on. And to know you're going to falter and you're going to get some egg on your face. you know, sometimes that's publicly and sometimes it's not. It's within the confines of your own experience in home, but you're like, I don't know what the hell is, you know, whatever, whatever piece it is. For me, it's very much tech pieces. Every day I'm trying to figure out how to navigate something. But it's just, it's so cool. You mentioned Twitter. What did, is that what you wrote on? So do we still call it Twitter or is it called X? I don't even know. mean,

And guys, let me tell you, she's prominent on this site. And from what she has shared with me just in our casual conversations, it wasn't one of those things that she necessarily pursued, but she became a little bit of a star in this space. And so now I've added that to my whole list of social media situations. So I want you to talk a little bit about X and what you're doing on there, because it's really cool.

Skylar (17:51.796)
Yeah, thank you. I don't know as far as I'd go as far as to say a star, but I appreciate that. It's really weird. You know, I started working on LinkedIn maybe a year and a half ago and just kind of posting regularly. And I had never really utilized social media before. And someone had told me like just post every day, post about insurance, post about risk management, post a little bit about yourself. You know, what was the term that they use? 70 %

Danielle Sprouls (18:12.941)
Mm -hmm.

Skylar (18:20.536)
value 30 % viral. So basically what that means is like give your knowledge, right? The last 17 years of your career that you've shared 70 % focus on that 30 % just focus on you. Let people get to know you for you. Cause that's what people really like on social media, right? You don't want to be when you're building your personal brand, you don't want to be just this business brand. That's an important piece of it. You also have to let people see, you know, little bits and pieces of who you really are. And that's how they feel connected with you and you build real relationships, right? And that's critical.

Danielle Sprouls (18:39.608)
Sure.

Skylar (18:47.444)
So I really started on LinkedIn and then people kept saying, you know, because my business is largely focused on commercial real estate as well, and people started saying you have to get on Twitter because there's this corner of Twitter called retweet and you have to connect with people there and there's so many opportunities and you know, in my mind, I had always heard really negative things about Twitter. I'm hearing, you know, people are like arguing about politics and kind of cutting each other down and it's this negative place and for a long time I was like, I don't...

want to invite that into my life. I've spent all this intentional time and energy cutting all the negativity out of my life. Why would I sign up for a platform that's known for this negative aspect? And then finally, it was a commercial real estate broker actually based out of Chicago who has a really big following on LinkedIn who was like, you really need to get on Twitter. It's going to be beneficial for you.

Danielle Sprouls (19:18.305)
Yeah.

Danielle Sprouls (19:21.942)
Mm -hmm.

Danielle Sprouls (19:34.49)
so you were encouraged. Okay. Yeah.

Skylar (19:36.808)
I was encouraged by several people, for some reason when he spoke to me, it spoke differently. Isn't that funny about life? Like sometimes we can get the same message from different people, but you hear it from one person better than another. That's right. That's right. And you know, so I said, fine, I'll try it. I'll try it for a month. I'll try it for three months. I'm not going to put a lot of time and energy into it. I'll repost. I started by reposting my LinkedIn posts on Twitter. I was like, I'll do that for a while and see how goes.

Danielle Sprouls (19:45.356)
The teacher appears when the student is ready. It just starts the O. Okay.

Skylar (20:05.78)
kind of just like you alluded to, I didn't expect anything of it. I don't know how to grow a platform. I'm not a professional in this space in any way. I just kind of got on and was being authentic and felt a little bit more comfortable on that platform than on LinkedIn to let more bits and pieces of myself come out versus just the business side. And for whatever reason, you know, I kind of got adopted into this retweet real estate Twitter community pretty quickly. I don't have a huge following. mean, I have like 8 ,500 followers or something. You know, it's not.

Danielle Sprouls (20:33.354)
No, but that's a lot in a short time. But you also alluded, I was asking you about it because I'm not on that app whatsoever, to tell you the truth. I had the same feelings that you did. Until recently, I was just on LinkedIn. mean, that's where we did business and that's where we got educated and networked. you did something in New York recently. I mean, you're more involved than just like you posting by yourself, right? I mean, you actually have an established somewhat relationship.

Skylar (20:34.556)
It's not huge, but...

Skylar (20:57.067)
yeah.

Danielle Sprouls (21:00.002)
And are we calling it X or are calling it Twitter? Is it called, is it officially really X in your community? you're an X, are you an Xer? Do you X or do you tweet? What's the verbiage that we use for

Skylar (21:08.308)
It's

Yeah, it's funny because I was never on it when it was officially Twitter. And yet in my mind, it's still Twitter, but it is technically X. And I think actually in posts, you're supposed to put X because if you put Twitter now, it can like downgrade you in the algorithm because they're trying to get rid of that verbiage. You don't want to mess with the algorithm. You want the algorithm to be your friend. So yeah, but I mean, I did, I got invited to, there was a real estate Twitter gala in New York in April. I got invited to

Danielle Sprouls (21:25.216)
Okay. there you go. don't want to mess with an algorithm. No.

Danielle Sprouls (21:35.788)
Mm -hmm. Yeah, it's a big deal.

Skylar (21:37.47)
I don't know why, but it was a huge deal. It was a great opportunity. I met so many amazing people and I will say, yeah.

Danielle Sprouls (21:41.804)
Wait, can I stop you? I'm stopping you. I'm stopping you right here. Because you said, I got invited to a real estate Twitter, okay, we're gonna call it X, gala in New York and I don't know why. And I wanna say BS to that, BS to that statement. And we do that so quickly because you may not yet have fully understood the value that you're bringing, but that's a testament to the reality.

Skylar (21:51.74)
Yeah, Rex, Rex Gala.

Danielle Sprouls (22:09.856)
you bring value. That's why you were invited, Skylar, because they see you as somebody who has something to say and you make the platform better. You may not be the biggest person on X yet, you're eligible to, YET, but I'm going to say, know, we women tend to downgrade the great things that are happening around us. And when we have

evidence outside validation and evidence. We're like, yeah, no, no. No, shame on that. Okay. We're not doing, I do it too. You just did it and I want to call BS on it. Okay. You were invited because you belonged there. You belonged there. And if I see anything about you for me, cause look, I'm not in commercial insurance. I never, well, I did title insurance for years, but we really didn't overlap in our contacts and, not even maybe in our networking a little bit. You know, that's fair.

Skylar (22:40.693)
Yeah.

Thank you.

Danielle Sprouls (23:02.21)
But what I do witness, and I don't know these people, the amount of support that you are receiving for all that you're doing, I mean, it is coming in tidal waves, not ripples. You're not having a ripple effect. You're having a tidal wave. And more than that, I know you're acknowledging it. She's nodding. And you guys that watch YouTube, you'll see this on video.

It's incredible to me that you want to share those moments as messages to others saying, too, this isn't just about me. The encouragement that you're giving during this transitional time, transformative time, right? You're taking that little spotlight, that big spotlight, I'm sorry, I'm gonna correct myself, and you're shining it on a community. You're saying publicly, this is not just about Skylar.

And that is why I so adore and respect you deeply, deeply.

Skylar (23:59.112)
Thank you. I'm going to say something that sounds a little cheesy here, but it's the God's honest truth. And it sounds crazy again, because we're going back to like, it's Twitter and people write that off so easily. The first three clients who signed with me with ATW were either directly from Twitter or referrals from Twitter. My pipeline before I left my brokerage career was seven figures directly off of Twitter.

Danielle Sprouls (24:03.054)
again.

Danielle Sprouls (24:23.253)
Mm hmm. Yeah.

Skylar (24:25.896)
the community there and some of the friendships that I've built there in the last, and I've only been on, you know, six or seven months. I mean, I haven't had a long tenure there, but even in just launching the firm, you know, I reached out to a lot of friends who have had entrepreneurial journey journeys and are, you know, a step or two ahead of me. Several of those people who gave me some of the best advice when I was getting ready to make the leap were friends from Twitter. And so again, it sounds crazy, but kind of this network I've built and it's almost, you

Danielle Sprouls (24:33.134)
It's amazing.

Skylar (24:55.604)
I was always a nerdy kid. didn't have the best family life growing up. Like I've always kind of been fiercely independent and done everything on my own. And I will say the Twitter and retweet community, and this is where it gets a little cheesy, bear with me, but it's the truth. It's one of the first times in my life and crew actually, I would put into this category as well, where I actually feel like I have a community that has like engulfed and supported me and I have so much support and I've, you know, for the first 35 years of my life, never really felt that way or had

And it's like the most incredible experience. And you just don't know where your people are going to come from. But if you get really intentional about being the type of person that you want to be and building the type of life you want to build and creating that space for new people to enter into your life, it's amazing how God or the universe or whatever you want to attribute it to will fill that space with the people that you need. And I truly feel like that's happened for me in the last year in a way that I never could have imagined. Thank you.

Danielle Sprouls (25:50.25)
So, I mean, you're just shining. You're absolutely, you're glowing. You're glowing with gratitude, not just success. You're glowing with gratitude. That's evident to me. Did you want to talk about anything about when you were younger or anything like that? I mean, it was not easy. Like you said, it just wasn't, you know, we don't need to dive too much. I mean, I know her, I know her personally. But what I love is that the connections that happen when, like you said on X Today.

Skylar (26:00.808)
Yeah.

Skylar (26:10.142)
Sure.

Danielle Sprouls (26:18.458)
I'm nobody special. I wasn't born with the silver spoon. I wasn't given a position that was elevated. I am like your regular person that knows how to work hard. And I decided to get outside my comfort zone. That's essentially what you did. There's a lot of talented people that won't do that. And we understand why. There's such a thing called fear. But what do you joke about? What were you going to say?

Skylar (26:32.52)
Yeah.

Skylar (26:37.418)
I joke.

Skylar (26:43.432)
I joke that I just don't have a comfort zone anymore. Because I've beaten the whole thing down to a point where it's just gone. All those walls are knocked down. I don't know what a comfort zone even is. You just have to, again, it goes back to being so comfortable with yourself. One example I always give is don't give me the person who is at XYZ point in their life or has achieved XYZ success. Because I don't know where they started. I don't know what they did to get there.

Danielle Sprouls (26:45.718)
Yeah.

Danielle Sprouls (26:54.966)
Mm -hmm.

Skylar (27:10.494)
Give me the person who is so confident in themselves and such a strong and resilient individual that you could drop them off naked in the forest without a phone, without any money, without anything, and they are gonna claw their way back and figure out how to be successful again. That's the person I want in my corner. You know,

Danielle Sprouls (27:24.672)
Yes, absolutely. And that's who you are. And you know what I'll add to that? You just reek of authenticity. This is why you have so many allies and like your army, your Schuyler army continues to grow. No, because you are as authentic as it gets. And I like the raw and the realness. But I want to jump back to the book because I don't want to, first of I would go buy that book. will be in the, it's on Amazon. might be probably through your website too. It'll be in the show notes.

Skylar (27:32.51)
Thank you.

Skylar (27:43.208)
Thank you.

Danielle Sprouls (27:54.264)
But I want you to talk a little bit about the women that you chose to interview for your book. Like how did they come into your path? Were you trying to, I know there's somewhat of a diverse background. You have a lot of people in the commercial real estate sector, and male dominated, right? You got the geologist and the land surveyor, and she's got all sorts of things, and somebody who works in a gym. But all these women's relative to each chapter topic, how did you come to choose who it was that you were gonna have participate?

Skylar (28:24.188)
Yeah, so I was coming up on my 36th birthday and I had been playing around with this book for a little while and I had a moment where I thought, okay, I need to, I had done the first version of the book. We've talked about this a little bit. I'd written the first version of the book with all of my own thoughts and all of the statistics and no stories and you know, first time author learning things the hard way, you know, kind of just throwing yourself into the deep end of the pool and figuring stuff out as you go.

Danielle Sprouls (28:28.258)
Mm -hmm.

Skylar (28:51.176)
you know, big mistake there. If you're going to interview people for a book and include their stories in the book, interview them first and then backfill the rest of the information around it. But I didn't do that. I did it the other way. So I started thinking about who am I going to include in here and had a few people who I talked to personally, who I knew I wanted to include. And then I thought, OK, here's what I'm going to do, because I got to a point with the book where I'd put just enough time into it that I was sick of putting time into it if I wasn't really going to do something with it.

You know, so I was like, I either need to really decide that I'm going to finish writing this book and I'm going to publish it and it's going to be a real thing. Or I need to walk away from it and rededicate this time and energy that I've been putting to this project to something else, because it can't just be this dead end. And I'm keeping, you know, continuing to put my own time and energy into it. And so I kind of, you know, broke down, a conversation with God and I know that's, you know, may not resonate with everyone, but for me, it's a very important part of my life. And I was like, Hey, I need about 30 women who have great stories.

who are either founders, CEOs, like you said, project managers, surveyors, people who are out in the field, people who are in these male dominated industries who have a story to tell. And I told God, and I talked to God this way, maybe everybody doesn't, but I said, I need 30 women in the next two weeks or I'm not doing this. Yeah. So I said, I need a sign. I need a big sign that this is either what I'm supposed to do or this is not what I'm supposed to do. And I'll take either answer, but I need to know. Like we need some clarity here. And, but you

Danielle Sprouls (29:57.698)
Yeah, I do.

Skylar (30:13.652)
Pray as though everything depended on God, work as though everything depended on you. So I did that little prayer and then I got on the crew network website. Hey, I'm writing this book. If anybody wants to interview and you have a story to share about X, Y, or Z, and it fits into one of these categories, reach out to me. I'd love to include you. Reached out to my NAWIC, which is North American Women in Construction. Same thing, reached out to them and said, hey, if anybody has a story to share, if you fit into one of these categories and you want to be in this book, let me know. And within the next two days, I had 36 women that were lined

within the next week or so. think I was closing in on 100 women that were lined up. I was like, okay, know, ask and you shall receive, right? I asked for a sign. You gave me more than the sign that I asked for. And it was like, at that point, I had so much clarity, even though I was kind of exhausted with the whole process and didn't really want to move forward. was kind of almost hoping, hey, no women come and want to share their stories with me so I can walk away from this feeling good. But I got the...

Danielle Sprouls (30:52.045)
And there you go.

Skylar (31:06.526)
the opposite sign and decided to move forward with it and it really told me that maybe you are doing something important and this is kind of part of your calling and you need to see it through. So that's what we did.

Danielle Sprouls (31:15.202)
All right, so did they write in their experiences or was this like a phone call? How did you collect the information? Okay.

Skylar (31:22.49)
We did video interviews. I had a couple who I met with in person, but I interviewed women from all across the country, even one woman in the UK, so wasn't able to meet with everyone in person. So most of them were just Zoom video interviews.

Danielle Sprouls (31:34.542)
So you got to see the body language attached to the story. And that must have been powerful because one of my episodes a couple episodes ago, I asked a very simple question to a few women at a couple different events. It was really random when I was doing it, nobody knew. Anyway, I said, if you could go visit your 18 year old self, what would you tell her? And when I had the opportunity to see the facial expressions really, really change, it was something else. So I could only imagine speaking to somebody like, know, for more than one minute.

and sharing the intimacy of that space and even the celebration, the highs and lows that come with them going down memory lane as it were. That really is something else. How did you come to choose So She Did? Like where did the title come from?

Skylar (32:21.336)
I'll take a cough break for a minute. I've been holding that in. Okay. Now I'm good. Okay. We're good. I just had to get the cough out. like, my nose is dripping. I still have like a little, you know, the cold still lingering, but.

Danielle Sprouls (32:23.064)
Yeah. Take a water break. You can take a water break. You can take any kind of break you want.

Danielle Sprouls (32:34.21)
No, yeah, she, and by the way, guys, she's coming off of a horrific, I mean, a horrific, I don't think it was COVID, I think it was worse than COVID. Poor Skylar, while this is all going on, God said, you shall rest. And he literally made her bedridden, okay? And so, yeah.

Skylar (32:47.634)
No joke, no joke. But yeah, so the title, So She Did, came from the phrase, She Believed She Could, So She Did, which I think a lot of people are familiar with. And I just, loved that. And it's also, you know, a big women in construction phrase. I, you know, I'm in the insurance industry, but I work very closely with developers and folks in commercial real estate and have for the last two decades. So that phrase has kind of been repeated over and over again in my life.

I think it's so important to all of us, like you alluded to earlier, not just for women, for men too, women have, humans all have this human experience and we're all kind of learning some of the same lessons in different ways. But I think women especially, and I'm sure men especially in their own camp too, I've just never been a man, so I can't speak to that, right? But right, but for us, our experience is a little bit different. And I think a lot of times, a struggle that a lot of women have is just

Danielle Sprouls (33:18.371)
Mm

Danielle Sprouls (33:31.765)
Yeah, sure. You speak of what you know.

Skylar (33:42.248)
the kind of insecurity and overcoming this, am I good enough? Or, you if I'm too confident, I get treated this way. And if I'm not confident enough, I get treated this way. And how do you tow that line? And I think it's really critical for everyone to come to that point where it's like, she believed she could, so she did. And that's, you know, kind of what I talked about earlier was just, you just take action. You don't know how it's all going to turn out. You don't know what you're going to run into. You just believe you can and you do. And that's it. And so that's really where the title came

And then back to what you mentioned about like your 18 year old self, what would you tell them? And a story I was gonna start earlier, but we got a little sidetracked. We got on the ADHD train a little bit, but even with us and crew, and this is, you know, a little bit of a vulnerable thing, but it just shows how much can change in a year. And I think it's really important to share, even though it's one of those things that's a little bit uncomfortable to share, right? But I remember when I first joined crew, which was just a little over a year ago, and I'm a pretty outgoing person. I mean, you know me, right? I can talk to a brick wall,

Danielle Sprouls (34:16.994)
Yeah.

Danielle Sprouls (34:38.24)
yeah, sure.

Skylar (34:39.176)
But you walk into a room full of women who all kind of know each other and you don't know anyone. And I had seen you and Nicole and some of the others who were kind of, I'm not going to say mean girls because you were very nice people, but the cool girls in the group who clearly were connected and people were looking up to you. And actually the first time we met, you were doing a panel about podcasting. And you probably don't remember that, but I remember that. So that was exactly, that was about exactly a year ago. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

Danielle Sprouls (34:58.616)
sure. That was last July. No, I remember that. But that's really when I met Nicole. I didn't really know Nicole, just so you know. Yeah, that's when I met her. Yeah. We're talking about Nicole Miller, guys, and she's amazing. mean, yeah, she's, yeah, you got to her up.

Skylar (35:09.458)
But for me, and she's amazing too. Yeah, Jinx. But I was so insecure initially in that setting as well. And I was thinking like, gosh, you I really want to get more involved with this organization, but maybe I don't fit. Maybe I'm not good enough. And I'm always coming into these industry groups with the backdrop of I'm the freaking insurance person, you know, in the real estate group. so here's title insurance.

Danielle Sprouls (35:33.696)
hello, sister. I mean, you're at least the cool insurance. I was title insurance. You were the, please. Yeah. Okay.

Skylar (35:38.76)
Fair enough. But I was reflecting on that as I was getting ready, doing my hair this morning. And I was like, gosh, in a year I went from showing up being the awkward one in this group. And I remember at one point even talking to one of my good friends, Shannon, and I was like, I don't know if this networking group's a good fit for me. I'm really trying. I'm trying to reach out to people. I'm just not feeling connected. I was like, I think I'm going to go to three or four more meetings. if something doesn't click, I'm going to leave this one behind.

Danielle Sprouls (35:45.538)
Mm -hmm.

Skylar (36:08.198)
looking back over a year, what's changed? Like now I'm co -chairing the membership committee. I'll be on the board next year. I'm actually good friends with you and Nicole. Like you guys have changed my life in some ways and we bounce ideas off of each other. We're all kind of growing on similar paths. And I've met so many more women through the organization who I consider actual friends now. And it's like, it's just a testament to like, no matter how much imposter syndrome or self doubt you're having, like just keep doing it. It's uncomfortable. It sucks. Like lean on the people you need to lean on when you need to,

Danielle Sprouls (36:20.43)
That is so cool.

Skylar (36:38.3)
If you just keep going, like these doors open for you in ways that you would have never imagined and you meet more people than you would have ever imagined and you kind of cultivate again, the circle that you need in your life versus just the cage that you were born with. And I think being intentional about those things is critical. Scary, it's terrifying, right? Like, but you have to do

Danielle Sprouls (36:57.101)
Yeah, it's scary, but do it anyway. know, one of the things that, you I heard on some show and I love this. It's like, you it's not even just about facing your fears. We're meant to ride our fears. It's like you just ride that, you know, and it's fine on the other side. But we need women like you that show us that it is possible. And there's so many women out there, you know, getting outside their comfort zone or just destroying the fact that there could even be one.

It's one thing to be aware of that negative self -talk that can come in, right? It's a whole other thing to reside there. So it's like, when those feelings come, just recognize them for what they are. It's just a bunch of noise and you keep going. You'll always find your supporters and you will always move forward as long as you keep trying. I mean, that's just really it. And we're not meant for everybody. And I think the most important thing too that I have experienced is

you know, my self -worth is not contingent upon what you think of me. It's just not. know, I have to, yeah, you know, I have to get up and look at myself in the mirror and say, okay, Danielle, the only thing that you're competing against is your version of you yesterday. Let's just, you know, do a little bit better today. And it's not that I'm dissatisfied with yesterday's version. I just know that she's got even bigger places to go. That's all. I don't compare myself to other people. That's a colossal waste of time.

Skylar (37:56.574)
Snaps for that, yeah, yeah.

Danielle Sprouls (38:19.592)
I am inspired by other people, but I don't compare myself to them. Because there will always be people that are further along on the journey, no matter what it is you're trying to tackle. So be inspired by it. Don't be envious of it. Don't be distracted by it. And don't let it hold you down. We are all walking evidence that it is possible. And you, my dear, are just, you're crushing it. And I am so excited to see how this year continues to just un

Skylar (38:42.27)
Thank you.

Danielle Sprouls (38:49.266)
like reveal itself because you came out of the gate in an explosive way and there has been no slowing down in the attention and the acknowledgement and just the feedback on your book and all the things that you're doing. It's really, it's a celebration of possibilities. You you wanted to do it and so she did. Yeah, so she did. I thank you so much for coming on Skylar.

You're such a rock star. I can't wait to see you again in person. You we're going to get another walk on Balboa or something like that. in the show notes, there will be all the information, but tell the audience how they can find you as well. So,

Skylar (39:25.63)
those walking meetings.

Skylar (39:35.304)
Sure, so you can find me on all the major social media platforms now. LinkedIn, just under my name, SkylarRomines. Twitter, at SkylarRomines. If you're gonna look at my Twitter, just be prepared. It's a little more authentic, a little more deranged, I always say. Instagram, I don't really use it, but I'm there too. Or if you wanna look up the book, it's on Amazon under So She Did.

Danielle Sprouls (39:40.364)
Yeah.

Danielle Sprouls (39:55.222)
Yes, I'll have a link in the show notes for that. Is there anything else that you want to share before we?

Skylar (40:01.658)
No, just thank you. I'm so grateful we met Danielle. Like I love your abundance mindset. Everything you just said, it's so true. Like some people are stuck in this mindset of like, you know, it's a zero sum game and if someone else wins, then I have to lose, you know, and, and, that's so not true. I mean, there's just this giant pie and everybody can have a piece of it. And the more, you know, I think some people get stuck in this mindset of like, I need to compete with XYZ versus

I can collaborate with XYZ and we can all rise up and we can all win. What do they say? A rising tide raises all ships, right? And the more we can all shift that mindset and adopt that abundance mindset and start to just collaborate and help each other and everyone grows and kind of builds life that they want. I think the world just becomes a more beautiful place and people are just happier and more fulfilled in general. And so I'm so thankful for people like you who have that mindset and are doing the things that they want to do and still hold enough space in their lives to be.

Danielle Sprouls (40:32.374)
Yes.

Skylar (40:55.292)
you know, excited for other people as well. I think that's such a huge indicator for me of the type of person I want to be around is like, are they able to celebrate other people's wins? Because that's such a beautiful thing to do, not only your own wins, but other people's as well. So just thank you. Thank you for having me on here. Thank you for being who you are. And, you know, I'm excited to see your next chapter too.

Danielle Sprouls (40:56.746)
Mm yeah.

Danielle Sprouls (41:11.374)
This is absolutely my pleasure. know we're going to just take 2025, 2024 by storm and 2025 and all the years that follow. Oh yeah, there we just lived. Let's see what that brings. No, we have no intention of slowing down. All right. Thank you so much for coming on. was a pleasure.

Skylar (41:17.844)
2025 too, yeah. We're not stopping at the end of this year, yeah. Yeah.

Thank you.