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We have had a lot of women come in and say like

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literally I'm the only woman in this is myself too

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like I am the only woman in the room a lot of the time.

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Even though it might be a virtual room,

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I mean a lot of the time.

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And it is very refreshing

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sometimes to just go into a room of women

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and just it is a different feeling

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Our guest today is someone who understands

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that growth isn't just about strategy

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it's about people, timing and trust.

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Meg Chamblee is an executive vice president at UDig.

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Where she established

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and leads the firm's Nashville office.

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Meg drives strategy and growth across a diverse

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portfolio of enterprise clients,

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her work sits at the intersection of strategy,

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software, data,

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AI and automation,

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helping turn big ideas into real measurable impact.

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What makes Meg's perspective unique

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is the path she took to get here.

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She started in human resources,

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built recruiting teams from scratch,

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moved into business development

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and ultimately

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into leading this technology consulting organization.

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In our conversation,

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we talk about two things that don't get enough

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airtime: 1

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how building a market is really about relationships

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before results;

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and 2 how leaders

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who understand both people and technology

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are the ones creating durable growth

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right now. Let's jump into this conversation with Meg.

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Where's one of the biggest impacts

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your community and your network and

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 that effort you put in,

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what's one of the biggest returns that you've seen in a

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in a tangible way?

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In a tangible way? I mean,

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yeah, my first thought is more about like

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professional experience and growth and stuff,

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but like there are certainly like networking tangibles.

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Like I met this person through this way

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and that lead to actual business that we're doing,

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that's happened quite a bit, honestly.

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It's almost hard to track

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it happens so. When it's so interconnected,

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like I think about

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our work with Tractor Supply is pretty public

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so that's probably a good one to think about.

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I first met 

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Glen Allison at an NTC event

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like when I first moved to Nashville,

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and then I met Marla Lamont

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who was a tractor recruiter at the time

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through a WiTT event in Nashville.

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And then I'm I don't even remember

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I met a bunch of other people in other ways

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from the NTC to WITT to Leadership Brentwood

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later

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I did Leadership Brentwood through the Williamson, Inc.

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group and met even more people.

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So this is like eight or nine years

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of meeting people and exploring things

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but never actually working together

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and then at a Leadership Brentwood event

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I ran into Glenn and we were like hey

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we should do this together,

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and then like three months later

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we were working together.

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And for us as UDig and we're

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you know I

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I joined UDig

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to start the Nashville office about six years ago,

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and we're starting to you know

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build out our client base and our team and everything

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that was just a huge

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it made a huge impact on our office on our company,

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and now that was three or four years ago

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and we're doing more and more with them.

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And it's been incredibly impactful,

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but I definitely originated in community.

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There are some things you give to that don't give back,

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and there are some things that you give to that

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have a return. We're talking about what is the return?

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But I haven't I've been here for 25 years

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I haven't seen anything that I gave to

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in Nashville that didn't give back in some way.

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I was gonna say yeah

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I feel like everything has a return,

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it's just sometimes it's tangible

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There's these organizations that are all kind of

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sort of

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purposed to make sure that this is fertile ground.

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And I'm

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I just wanna ask more I mean

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have you ever been in a situation where you didn't

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experience this return,

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this growth sense the sunshine on

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on the thing that you planted?

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Hmm it's a good question.

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First of all I

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it's not like everything I go to

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I think ooh,

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you know what am I gonna get out of it?

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I which I feel like is a really important part of

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it's a huge the mindset

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and I think that's where people get frustrated,

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as they have the wrong expectations.

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You know I think

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if your motivation is just

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I don't know,

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I just feel like I wanna be a part of whatever this is

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and you know

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at the end of the day what I'm

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what I'm looking for is not something like

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I want to sign a deal after this thing. Right.

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I just wanna learn,

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I wanna get more involved,

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I wanna see how I can help.

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but it was more like that

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seems to me to be the spirit of what you brought to

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everything and so it continues to circle back. Well

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I think the this is sort of my WiTT example.

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So, when I first moved moved here, and I was everywhere.

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I mean Bryan Huddleston used to make fun of me, like

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there's Meg again, like she has nothing else to do.

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she's just done all the events.

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But through that I met a lot of people,

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I got involved in things

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and I wasn't like a career salesperson,

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I was in HR,

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I did some recruiting, like I wasn't, you know.

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And so where

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I felt like I could be helpful

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was in helping people with

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campus recruiting, or like

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you know

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I was trying to think of things that I could do

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to be helpful. But in the end

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it was just like literally anything

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and when you get into an organization like WiTT

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like I'll help with registration or I don't know

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what do you need like I'm around

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I can do things.

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And eventually Beth Hoeg

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somebody referred her referred me to her

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as they were looking for board members for WiTT.

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And she was like hey

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you know would you be interested in this?

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And that was the first board

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I had ever been asked to be on

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I like couldn't believe it,

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I was like oh my gosh

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the board, I can't believe they would ask me.

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Little did I know, like it's a job. You cannot refuse.

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It's I want you to work for free

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like how do you feel about that?

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But it was great and that was a game changer for me,

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and then eventually I became president of WiTT,

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which gave me so much experience.

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I got to manage a PNL, I got to

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you know you're really leading a team

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it's an all volunteer board,

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we don't have a staff, there's so much work to do.

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I did that during the pandemic.

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I mean there was just a lot that I learned

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through that experience that's to me

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way more valuable than any like

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client or like relationship.

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Cause it just taught me a lot about myself

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and who I am as a leader who I wanna be.

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I it's just been what's.

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What's the conversation?

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you wanna be driving in Nashville

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I'm trying to think about that.

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I know what the answer is.

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What is it? She's already doing it

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and it is it's

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it's helping grow leaders,

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helping grow followers, helping grow you.

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I've watched you help grow people.

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and I want your input on this

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I think it we've talked a little bit about

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you know what

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why we go to the networking events and what we do,

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and the people that don't get our eyes on it

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and I think it's about intent.

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And I think if I heard you right

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it was mostly about

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go in with no expectation of a return

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that's the only way to get a return? Yeah.

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Is to go in with an expectation of no return.

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And I've watched you play that out, where Meg's just Meg

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and she's there to help and it's.

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 You get grabbed at a lot

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it's like an open bag of candy sometimes and you know

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everybody wants

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everyone knows Meg can help

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so everyone's gonna ask for Meg's help.

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We've had that conversation.

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So tell me about a time you had to say no. Well

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you remember this time maybe?

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So if you don't know

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John and I along with Joanne Ecktonn and Suzi Earhart,

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put together this elite program for the NTC

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the Emerging Leaders in Technology Program. And

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and now it's like 10 years.

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Is it? We are at our 10th year. Yeah.

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So very rewarding, great experience with again

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the goal of like you know

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there's a there's a layer of leadership

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that's not getting addressed

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or connected. Like we have CEO groups

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we have user groups for practitioners

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but like new leaders, middle managers

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those people need some love too.

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And so we kind of put this thing together.

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And so a few years in,

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I think I was pregnant with my second child,

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when we were putting Elite together the first time. And

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 I was on the board of WiTT at that time,

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there was a lot I was already doing.

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And I didn't leave any of those things

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I took maternity leave you know

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and then I

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I went back to all of it, WiTT, everything.

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And

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after maybe a year or two of that

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I was just like oh my gosh

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like I cannot, this is too much

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I can't do it. You know,

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now like I have clients, I have like

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I have more to do, I have like two kids,

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I have this is pre covid

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so it's all in person you know

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and I'm like the screeching in mom at the daycare

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like 5:59 before I'm gonna get charged like $30.

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And I called we were on a call, and I was like OK

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I have to bow out of Elite,

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it's too much time like I

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I cannot, I can't commit to this.

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And I think it was maybe all of you?

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But I remember Joanne saying,

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"you know, you don't have to do as much as you're doing,"

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like you can still be involved and not be

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you know 

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and just be around. Like you don't have to do so much of.

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You know maybe your expectations are too high.

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Like you don't have to be at every single Elite thing

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every single time.

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It was just this permission to still be involved

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but not like work so hard at it almost

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or spend so much time on it.

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Which was just very freeing

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and I'm so glad I stuck with it, because

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you know it

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it continues to be this

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I don't know

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a gift that keeps on giving in a lot of ways.

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Actually,

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all I heard was we just wouldn't let her say no.

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That's that whole story though,

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that's we wouldn't

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wouldn't take no for an answer.

269
00:11:00,700 --> 00:11:02,133
But you let me like back up.

270
00:11:02,133 --> 00:11:03,166
I mean you let me

271
00:11:03,166 --> 00:11:04,033
you know

272
00:11:04,700 --> 00:11:05,800
you let me

273
00:11:05,800 --> 00:11:09,300
hold myself to like not as high of an expectation on

274
00:11:09,300 --> 00:11:12,166
what I felt like I needed to do to like

275
00:11:12,233 --> 00:11:13,300
be helpful. When

276
00:11:13,300 --> 00:11:15,466
I think I learned this

277
00:11:15,466 --> 00:11:18,400
through some of that process as well is

278
00:11:19,300 --> 00:11:23,533
you bring an oversized value in certain ways.

279
00:11:23,533 --> 00:11:25,266
There's things we're all good at, things I'm good at,

280
00:11:25,266 --> 00:11:26,300
things you're good at

281
00:11:26,300 --> 00:11:29,500
and I think it was permission to focus on where you're

282
00:11:29,500 --> 00:11:31,200
where you brought the most value.

283
00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:33,366
Focus there don't worry about the rest of it,

284
00:11:33,433 --> 00:11:35,666
and I feel like that was that freeing part

285
00:11:35,666 --> 00:11:39,100
and I've had that same conversation for me as well.

286
00:11:39,133 --> 00:11:41,400
Is we've got all this other stuff

287
00:11:41,400 --> 00:11:43,066
but where you bring value

288
00:11:43,066 --> 00:11:45,366
focus on that and that alone. Yeah,

289
00:11:45,433 --> 00:11:46,600
I think I need to do it

290
00:11:46,600 --> 00:11:48,133
I think I need to figure that out again,

291
00:11:48,133 --> 00:11:49,000
as we've talked about.

292
00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:52,500
Because the alumni piece is where I was focused

293
00:11:52,500 --> 00:11:54,066
and then that has not

294
00:11:54,066 --> 00:11:56,400
we need to do more with the Elite alumni group

295
00:11:56,400 --> 00:11:58,033
than we're doing. And again

296
00:11:58,033 --> 00:12:01,000
I feel like there's probably

297
00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:02,333
there's probably an actual alumni

298
00:12:02,333 --> 00:12:04,500
or someone else who could step up to do that

299
00:12:04,500 --> 00:12:08,100
but it's been hard to recruit somebody to put the time

300
00:12:08,100 --> 00:12:11,266
yeah that you really need into that part of the group,

301
00:12:11,266 --> 00:12:13,466
so this is my advertisement

302
00:12:13,466 --> 00:12:16,000
if you're if you're listening Elite alumni

303
00:12:16,233 --> 00:12:19,500
call me. It's time for us to hand the torch over.

304
00:12:19,500 --> 00:12:21,600
We are tired. No,

305
00:12:21,600 --> 00:12:24,633
I think you guys have invested.

306
00:12:24,933 --> 00:12:27,833
You're looking for someone to come along in that

307
00:12:28,333 --> 00:12:29,933
diamond field that is Nashville

308
00:12:29,933 --> 00:12:33,333
and help you harvest some of the raw rocks.

309
00:12:33,333 --> 00:12:34,000
You know I mean

310
00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:34,800
this is a

311
00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:38,733
what we're talking about today about Nashville is how

312
00:12:38,733 --> 00:12:43,766
is it evolving? What are the facets of Nashville's

313
00:12:43,866 --> 00:12:45,600
technology and innovation

314
00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:47,866
culture that you see and I

315
00:12:47,866 --> 00:12:50,233
wanted to go back to something you said earlier.

316
00:12:50,466 --> 00:12:52,033
You left, you know

317
00:12:52,033 --> 00:12:53,066
you're native you

318
00:12:53,066 --> 00:12:54,833
you left, you came back

319
00:12:54,900 --> 00:12:56,300
you reestablished.

320
00:12:57,233 --> 00:12:58,700
There was a different place to live

321
00:12:58,700 --> 00:12:58,900
I mean

322
00:12:58,900 --> 00:13:01,533
Nashville had places that you didn't want to live,

323
00:13:01,533 --> 00:13:04,133
and now there are almost very few to know

324
00:13:04,133 --> 00:13:05,600
places that you don't want to live,

325
00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:08,166
I mean I live in East Nashville that

326
00:13:08,400 --> 00:13:10,333
that would like what are you talking about.

327
00:13:10,333 --> 00:13:12,033
At some point in the past

328
00:13:12,033 --> 00:13:14,133
the city has just continued to evolve

329
00:13:14,133 --> 00:13:15,733
and the closer you are to the city

330
00:13:15,733 --> 00:13:17,133
the more dynamic it is and

331
00:13:17,133 --> 00:13:21,166
 and so you reestablished yourself,

332
00:13:21,500 --> 00:13:25,866
and you created a new energy center that

333
00:13:25,866 --> 00:13:28,400
you could give and and it would support you.

334
00:13:28,400 --> 00:13:29,933
So how did what

335
00:13:29,933 --> 00:13:32,900
what did you see in that experience that was different?

336
00:13:32,900 --> 00:13:33,433
You know

337
00:13:33,433 --> 00:13:36,233
what about Nashville has changed in your mind,

338
00:13:36,233 --> 00:13:37,400
most recently and in

339
00:13:37,400 --> 00:13:39,133
over that window of time where you got

340
00:13:39,133 --> 00:13:40,033
re established?

341
00:13:40,033 --> 00:13:44,200
So I moved back in 20 like early 2014,

342
00:13:44,200 --> 00:13:46,366
so Nashville was already different.

343
00:13:46,366 --> 00:13:47,700
But since then obviously

344
00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:49,333
has become very different.

345
00:13:49,633 --> 00:13:50,333
So

346
00:13:50,333 --> 00:13:51,333
I mean you know

347
00:13:51,333 --> 00:13:53,333
Nashville itself different,

348
00:13:53,333 --> 00:13:55,366
but I think also I was different, right.

349
00:13:55,366 --> 00:13:56,366
Like I you know,

350
00:13:56,966 --> 00:14:00,000
ten years later I'm a different person,

351
00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:02,500
like I'm married I have children,

352
00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:04,800
and so I think it was also like okay

353
00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:06,266
which part of Nashville

354
00:14:06,266 --> 00:14:08,466
is gonna be the right thing for me now

355
00:14:08,466 --> 00:14:11,566
that maybe isn't what I would have expected

356
00:14:11,566 --> 00:14:14,033
when I was graduating high school.

357
00:14:14,033 --> 00:14:16,333
And like making assumptions that if I was here

358
00:14:16,333 --> 00:14:18,933
I would just have whatever this life is that I had

359
00:14:18,933 --> 00:14:21,233
before. For an example

360
00:14:21,233 --> 00:14:22,633
so I went to Harpeth Hall

361
00:14:22,633 --> 00:14:26,366
I went to all private schools when I was here,

362
00:14:26,600 --> 00:14:29,633
I left, you know my husband went to public school

363
00:14:29,633 --> 00:14:31,633
we were that was kind of our track in

364
00:14:31,633 --> 00:14:33,233
in Birmingham where we were living

365
00:14:33,233 --> 00:14:34,933
we moved back and it was like okay

366
00:14:34,933 --> 00:14:37,466
well I guess we should live over here,

367
00:14:37,466 --> 00:14:40,033
like this is what my friends are doing,

368
00:14:40,033 --> 00:14:40,633
you know like

369
00:14:40,633 --> 00:14:43,933
let's figure this out. But then I'm working in like

370
00:14:43,933 --> 00:14:46,733
so that's like Green Hills, and I'm working in Franklin

371
00:14:47,566 --> 00:14:48,333
it was just

372
00:14:48,333 --> 00:14:51,366
it just wasn't really working for us the way that

373
00:14:51,366 --> 00:14:52,866
that we needed it to for our family,

374
00:14:52,866 --> 00:14:54,600
and then you know

375
00:14:54,600 --> 00:14:56,466
I mean Brentwood was around when I left,

376
00:14:56,466 --> 00:14:59,866
but I didn't live there. And so now that's where

377
00:14:59,866 --> 00:15:00,833
that's where we are

378
00:15:00,833 --> 00:15:02,800
and we're in the public schools and it

379
00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:05,000
it just it works so much better for our family.

380
00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:07,933
So I think none of that is really new Nashville

381
00:15:07,933 --> 00:15:09,600
but I think it was more like

382
00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:10,966
how do I fit

383
00:15:11,366 --> 00:15:16,633
my new self into the Nashville that I kind of

384
00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:18,933
am the best fit for. Yeah.

385
00:15:18,933 --> 00:15:23,000
Yeah. And in the areas that we didn't talk,

386
00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:24,500
I lived in Brentwood for

387
00:15:25,133 --> 00:15:27,933
forever in East Nashville for the last seven years

388
00:15:27,933 --> 00:15:29,900
and I look around at

389
00:15:30,233 --> 00:15:31,633
Gallatin and. Right.

390
00:15:31,633 --> 00:15:34,833
Hendersonville and these places that are,

391
00:15:34,833 --> 00:15:35,933
I mean you know

392
00:15:35,933 --> 00:15:39,533
Williamson County's got the beacon of public education

393
00:15:39,533 --> 00:15:41,200
 and great leadership

394
00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:41,933
and

395
00:15:41,933 --> 00:15:45,133
a lot of people who are contributing in so many ways.

396
00:15:45,266 --> 00:15:46,166
And then if you

397
00:15:46,166 --> 00:15:48,966
if you pull yourself out of that and look elsewhere,

398
00:15:49,333 --> 00:15:49,966
wow

399
00:15:49,966 --> 00:15:54,166
there's something really incredible going on in Jolton

400
00:15:54,166 --> 00:15:58,366
right now and in Fairview.

401
00:15:59,133 --> 00:16:01,166
Yeah places that I would have never even imagined

402
00:16:01,166 --> 00:16:05,800
they're just it's like bubbling with creativity and

403
00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:07,833
and I just a great

404
00:16:07,833 --> 00:16:10,133
it's a great place to be embraced

405
00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:11,833
I think, everywhere I look

406
00:16:11,833 --> 00:16:13,800
the communities are embracing each other.

407
00:16:13,800 --> 00:16:15,333
Yeah I think that's true too,

408
00:16:15,333 --> 00:16:19,266
and in the economic development of the whole region

409
00:16:19,333 --> 00:16:22,366
is just a huge factor.

410
00:16:22,366 --> 00:16:22,933
I mean it

411
00:16:22,933 --> 00:16:24,833
you know I think there's a lot of

412
00:16:25,800 --> 00:16:28,200
you know people might complain about growth.

413
00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:28,966
But without I mean

414
00:16:28,966 --> 00:16:30,633
we all grow with the growth.

415
00:16:30,633 --> 00:16:31,333
You know like

416
00:16:31,333 --> 00:16:36,300
because of that influx of companies that brings talent

417
00:16:36,333 --> 00:16:39,133
that creates opportunity for people like us.

418
00:16:39,366 --> 00:16:39,833
You know it

419
00:16:39,833 --> 00:16:43,400
and now my kids have exposure to new kids

420
00:16:43,400 --> 00:16:45,466
who are from California or from wherever

421
00:16:45,466 --> 00:16:48,400
and that is that makes them better.

422
00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:50,966
Like it the whole thing is more diverse,

423
00:16:51,233 --> 00:16:54,633
you know the whole community becomes more diverse,

424
00:16:54,633 --> 00:16:56,600
with all these different experiences

425
00:16:56,600 --> 00:16:58,533
instead of some other communities that might

426
00:16:58,533 --> 00:17:01,166
be well if you're not from here

427
00:17:01,166 --> 00:17:03,666
you don't understand, and so like it's.

428
00:17:03,666 --> 00:17:04,833
 I've just

429
00:17:04,833 --> 00:17:07,166
I've been in some other communities that are just

430
00:17:07,166 --> 00:17:08,900
you know they're less

431
00:17:09,333 --> 00:17:10,566
there are fewer people from

432
00:17:10,566 --> 00:17:11,966
outside of those communities

433
00:17:11,966 --> 00:17:13,466
to bring in new ideas

434
00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:15,966
to which creates innovation

435
00:17:15,966 --> 00:17:16,266
you know

436
00:17:16,266 --> 00:17:18,000
and they end up getting a little bit more stuck.

437
00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:19,700
And so

438
00:17:20,133 --> 00:17:23,200
I think, that's probably to me maybe the

439
00:17:23,200 --> 00:17:25,833
the most beneficial thing of Nashville's growth

440
00:17:25,833 --> 00:17:28,033
is just how innovative we can be,

441
00:17:28,033 --> 00:17:29,133
and how

442
00:17:30,466 --> 00:17:33,366
how much more opportunity it creates for everybody here.

443
00:17:33,366 --> 00:17:36,666
What piece of wisdom do you wanna leave us with today?

444
00:17:38,066 --> 00:17:39,600
Oh I don't know if it's wisdom

445
00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:40,400
but I would say

446
00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:44,266
I think just the Nashville way is to pay it forward.

447
00:17:44,266 --> 00:17:46,933
I know when I got here people would say that to me,

448
00:17:46,933 --> 00:17:49,166
like they would take a coffee meeting

449
00:17:49,166 --> 00:17:51,633
because somebody took a coffee meeting with them,

450
00:17:51,633 --> 00:17:53,100
you know and I think

451
00:17:53,633 --> 00:17:56,433
and I think that's been going on for decades

452
00:17:56,433 --> 00:17:57,400
in Nashville. So

453
00:17:57,400 --> 00:17:59,266
I think that is one thing that

454
00:17:59,433 --> 00:18:02,133
hopefully is still kind of permeating

455
00:18:02,133 --> 00:18:04,666
even though people are coming in from other places

456
00:18:04,666 --> 00:18:07,333
that they're feeling that when they get here,

457
00:18:07,333 --> 00:18:10,566
that it's not like other every other city,

458
00:18:10,566 --> 00:18:14,100
you know it's a very giving town to your earlier

459
00:18:14,433 --> 00:18:15,766
statement and I would just say

460
00:18:15,766 --> 00:18:18,366
to pay that forward and keep that going,

461
00:18:18,366 --> 00:18:21,966
so that we keep Nashville the special place that it is.

462
00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:25,533
In all of these relationships that

463
00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:27,933
that we are asking you to share

464
00:18:27,933 --> 00:18:29,800
you know what is your wisdom?

465
00:18:29,800 --> 00:18:31,466
What is your observation?

466
00:18:32,533 --> 00:18:35,633
Tell us a story about one of the members of WiTT

467
00:18:35,633 --> 00:18:40,466
who you could confidently say,

468
00:18:40,466 --> 00:18:43,466
they changed their life in some way.

469
00:18:43,566 --> 00:18:46,500
What would an example of be that of that story be?

470
00:18:46,500 --> 00:18:50,966
So this was the sister of a coworker of mine

471
00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:52,833
and he had reached out and said hey

472
00:18:52,833 --> 00:18:55,300
my sister is a music teacher

473
00:18:55,566 --> 00:18:58,866
and she wants to get into technology.

474
00:18:59,433 --> 00:19:00,300
And you know

475
00:19:00,300 --> 00:19:01,900
I think you're in this WiTT group

476
00:19:01,900 --> 00:19:03,833
you know would you mind talking to her,

477
00:19:03,833 --> 00:19:05,266
and I talked to her.

478
00:19:05,466 --> 00:19:07,200
And she might have already known about WiTT

479
00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:11,200
I honestly don't remember that completely but she

480
00:19:11,500 --> 00:19:13,100
she applied for a scholarship,

481
00:19:13,100 --> 00:19:16,200
she got the scholarship, she went back to school.

482
00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:18,666
I think it was an SS that she did um

483
00:19:18,666 --> 00:19:19,866
to get you know

484
00:19:19,866 --> 00:19:22,466
her training. And then from that

485
00:19:22,466 --> 00:19:24,866
got an internship at HCA

486
00:19:24,866 --> 00:19:27,300
and then started working at HCA

487
00:19:27,300 --> 00:19:29,000
in IT.

488
00:19:29,633 --> 00:19:30,300
And that you know

489
00:19:30,300 --> 00:19:33,433
that probably took two years, or 18 months or so.

490
00:19:33,433 --> 00:19:35,966
But you know that is life changing,

491
00:19:35,966 --> 00:19:37,900
I mean she completely changed her career.

492
00:19:37,900 --> 00:19:41,033
She then told her other teacher friend

493
00:19:41,033 --> 00:19:43,066
I feel like maybe she was also a music teacher

494
00:19:43,066 --> 00:19:44,966
and she did the same thing.

495
00:19:44,966 --> 00:19:48,033
And then it becomes this kind of ripple effect

496
00:19:48,033 --> 00:19:52,033
where you're actually getting more people who might not

497
00:19:52,033 --> 00:19:54,733
have ever considered that career path before

498
00:19:54,833 --> 00:19:58,000
and now they're in it and it's happening. And they

499
00:19:58,000 --> 00:19:58,800
you know

500
00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:01,600
surely she would have done it anyway

501
00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:03,066
if she hadn't gotten the funding

502
00:20:03,066 --> 00:20:04,833
but you know no doubt

503
00:20:04,833 --> 00:20:07,466
that funding helped make that decision for her and

504
00:20:07,466 --> 00:20:10,400
and accelerate that pathway.

505
00:20:10,766 --> 00:20:12,200
So she's she's a good one,

506
00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:14,500
but there are so many. I mean

507
00:20:14,500 --> 00:20:18,666
a lot of people who whether that made the

508
00:20:19,666 --> 00:20:25,033
whether WiTT's funding or a topic that you listen to

509
00:20:25,033 --> 00:20:26,866
or something that just made you think

510
00:20:26,866 --> 00:20:28,833
I'm gonna keep going. I

511
00:20:28,833 --> 00:20:31,366
you know I was thinking about getting out of this.

512
00:20:31,366 --> 00:20:34,000
We have had a lot of women come in and say like

513
00:20:34,166 --> 00:20:37,066
literally I'm the only woman in this is myself too

514
00:20:37,066 --> 00:20:40,000
like I am the only woman in the room a lot of the time.

515
00:20:40,033 --> 00:20:41,866
Even though it might be a virtual room,

516
00:20:41,866 --> 00:20:43,766
I mean a lot of the time.

517
00:20:43,866 --> 00:20:45,900
And it is very refreshing

518
00:20:46,100 --> 00:20:49,033
sometimes to just go into a room of women

519
00:20:49,033 --> 00:20:51,333
and just it is a different feeling

520
00:20:51,666 --> 00:20:53,066
you know.

521
00:20:53,066 --> 00:20:54,400
And I'm sure men you know

522
00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:56,466
feel the same way in different areas like it's

523
00:20:56,466 --> 00:21:00,366
it is it's just it can be more comfortable.

524
00:21:01,233 --> 00:21:04,400
So I have I have heard a lot of women say that, like

525
00:21:04,666 --> 00:21:06,866
you know okay at least I know I'm not alone

526
00:21:06,866 --> 00:21:09,166
even though I am alone at my job, or

527
00:21:09,166 --> 00:21:11,300
or wherever like I have this support group and

528
00:21:11,300 --> 00:21:14,833
and other women who can who can support me.

529
00:21:14,833 --> 00:21:19,900
And countless times of job referrals and relationships

530
00:21:19,900 --> 00:21:22,500
networking leading to opportunities

531
00:21:22,500 --> 00:21:24,366
 for sure

532
00:05:25,200 --> 00:05:28,100
Just maybe it's a bad question that I asked,

533
00:07:42,066 --> 00:07:44,600
It's just her nature. And I think it points out,