1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,800 Welcome to the Why Not Today podcast where we celebrate courage determination and the 2 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:08,760 power of saying why not today. 3 00:00:08,760 --> 00:00:13,960 I'm your host Leslie Kane and in each episode we dive into inspiring stories of individuals 4 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:18,800 who have taken bold steps, faced the fears and embraced the possibility of today. 5 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:23,200 From entrepreneurs to artists, dreamers to doers, we explore the moments when they said 6 00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:25,960 enough waiting, why not today. 7 00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:30,120 Join me as we uncover the heartwarming, audacious and the transformative. 8 00:00:30,120 --> 00:00:34,720 Whether it's pursuing a lifelong passion, overcoming obstacles or simply choosing joy, 9 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:37,160 our guests share their journeys and inspire us all. 10 00:00:37,160 --> 00:00:42,440 I started this podcast and honor my father, Patrick Kane, who often did say why not today. 11 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:47,320 I always share, remember you're just one decision away from changing your life. 12 00:00:47,320 --> 00:00:51,600 And before we start the podcast, I just want to remind everybody listening, watching to 13 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:53,200 share it with a friend. 14 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:57,720 After this podcast, tell a friend to listen to it and check out all the why not today 15 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:03,680 podcast stuff at the website, which is whynottodaypodcast.com, but review it, like it, share it. 16 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:06,840 If you know somebody that could be encouraged by this. 17 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:09,720 And today it's going to be an interesting conversation. 18 00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:11,680 I have my guest Sharon Ferrara. 19 00:01:11,680 --> 00:01:13,640 Is that pronounced correct? 20 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:14,640 Okay. 21 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:18,200 And she, we're going to talk about her courage stories. 22 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:20,000 We're going to talk about the business. 23 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:22,240 We're going to talk about a nonprofit she started. 24 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:27,800 And then we're also going to tie in some personality assessments with the disc personality. 25 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:29,920 So we're going to do a lot today. 26 00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:30,920 So I met Sharon. 27 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:32,640 I don't even remember where I first met you. 28 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:33,640 I don't need to. 29 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:35,640 Networking something with your nonprofit. 30 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:36,640 Yeah. 31 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:41,360 And then we keep just crossing paths and then recently reconnected and had coffee the other 32 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:43,920 day and just really connected. 33 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:48,680 And I love the nonprofit you and your husband and daughter have started and your message, 34 00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:53,400 but also you've got a powerful training business that you and your husband run. 35 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:56,640 And you've had an interesting life journey. 36 00:01:56,640 --> 00:01:59,760 I know the journey with your daughter and the nonprofit. 37 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:02,240 We'll talk a little bit about that. 38 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:05,760 But I think I was reintroduced to you several years ago when I went through the leadership 39 00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:08,440 pro Fairfax program. 40 00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:11,000 So just, yeah, my life. 41 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:14,680 And then we ran into each other in a movie theater and we were comparing the popcorn 42 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:17,040 and service of the movie theater journey. 43 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:18,040 Yes. 44 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:19,160 But it wasn't too good. 45 00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:21,160 We won't do it. 46 00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:25,000 But so Sharon, why don't you introduce yourself, give us a little bio of you, and then we'll 47 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:27,320 go through and talk about courage and. 48 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:28,320 Okay. 49 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:34,280 And I come from upstate New York and a fun fact. 50 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:36,160 Leslie is always about fun facts. 51 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:37,160 I am. 52 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:39,640 And I met my husband. 53 00:02:39,640 --> 00:02:41,280 The first year we knew each other. 54 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:42,680 We didn't know each other's last name. 55 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:44,320 We just kept running into each other. 56 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:47,240 He managed a store and I would stop in every once in a while. 57 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:49,720 Turns out we have the same last name. 58 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:51,280 Really? 59 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:54,920 So that sort of started our journey together. 60 00:02:54,920 --> 00:02:59,000 We both ended up in the big brother, big sister programs separately. 61 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:02,080 And then we kind of realized we both were doing that. 62 00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:05,360 And so it just seemed like it was meant to be. 63 00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:09,960 We moved down here for his business work in 1984. 64 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:13,440 And listening down here means Northern Virginia. 65 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:14,440 Oh yeah. 66 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:15,440 Yeah. 67 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:16,440 Right. 68 00:03:16,440 --> 00:03:18,520 And we both were in Albany at the time. 69 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:23,720 And we both, you know, just kept working, working, working, commuting, commuting, commuting. 70 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:27,760 And at one point we were trying to look for the perfect time to have our daughter, which 71 00:03:27,760 --> 00:03:31,040 you know, when you're trying to have a child, there's no perfect time. 72 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:33,360 And his job changed soon after she was born. 73 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:35,680 He wanted to run his own business. 74 00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:39,280 And then three or four years later I said, you know what, I'm going to do that too with 75 00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:41,600 you and I joined him. 76 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:47,880 So we've had this blessing of a business, a training business since then. 77 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:53,240 And then we had developed this blessing of a foundation. 78 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:57,040 And I have a very strong faith. 79 00:03:57,040 --> 00:04:03,800 That's really the foundation of everything for me, walking in God's love. 80 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:08,600 And you know, that's all part of the courage philosophy. 81 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:14,520 And you know, just keep busy here, work out in my home and love reading and gardening 82 00:04:14,520 --> 00:04:17,400 and praying and working out. 83 00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:19,400 Oh, so funny story. 84 00:04:19,400 --> 00:04:23,280 And I love all the connections that I was talking to one of my neighbors the other day. 85 00:04:23,280 --> 00:04:26,240 And she's been to the lunch a couple of times and I'm like, you need to come to this one. 86 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:30,240 She goes, well, I know Michael and I know Sharon and their daughter. 87 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:31,240 She's a spin. 88 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:33,240 Oh, at life. 89 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:35,600 That's who Michael knows. 90 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:36,600 Yeah. 91 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:37,600 Yeah. 92 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:40,600 And I'm also Melanie's dog Bosco and my dog are best friends. 93 00:04:40,600 --> 00:04:42,600 Oh, all the connections. 94 00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:47,080 Yeah, we've had a wonderful time here in getting involved in a lot of nonprofits. 95 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:48,680 We both went through leadership fairfax. 96 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:53,080 I was chair of the board for Main Street Child Development Center for over 10 years, 97 00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:59,480 which is a nonprofit center for the underserved families and have been on Northern Virginia 98 00:04:59,480 --> 00:05:03,920 Family Service Award Committee and, you know, different other organizations. 99 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:07,920 Those of us, you get involved and it helps you be a better person. 100 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:08,920 Absolutely. 101 00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:11,440 And it also, you know, it helps grow businesses. 102 00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:15,560 You don't do it if that intention, but people know like you trust you when you build that. 103 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:16,560 That's right. 104 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:19,240 So Sharon, what does courage mean to you? 105 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:25,320 You know, you ask that every month at the luncheon and it always seems to be, you know, 106 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:28,160 going through something even in the face of fear. 107 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:34,920 But recently I was rethinking it and I came across a Hebrew definition of it, which is 108 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:37,120 strength of heart. 109 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:43,920 That really hit me because for me, the heart, the foundation of myself is God. 110 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:52,200 So having the strength of God to help me get through anything is to me what courage is 111 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:53,200 about. 112 00:05:53,200 --> 00:06:01,320 You put yourself out there, you keep your foundation strong and you push through it, 113 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:06,920 whether it's, you know, a physical thing, a mental thing, supporting someone else who's 114 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:10,320 going through a hard time, which is then going to be very hard for you. 115 00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:15,560 So that's what I see as my new definition of it. 116 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:16,560 And everybody has different ones. 117 00:06:16,560 --> 00:06:20,160 And that's why I love asking this question and getting to know and they all, they're 118 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:22,640 all related and they're all different, which is kind of cool. 119 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:28,560 The only person that's ever looked it up and get, gave the definition from the dictionary 120 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:32,080 was my brother. 121 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:36,480 So you've had lots of courage journeys from business to personal. 122 00:06:36,480 --> 00:06:38,720 Let's start with the personal side. 123 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:40,760 You have a nonprofit called bite me cancer. 124 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:46,480 And I know, and this is in line with, well, you're just sharing your faith and your courage 125 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:47,480 definition. 126 00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:50,640 So let's start there and then we'll go to business and the disc stuff. 127 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:56,760 But so share a little bit about, you know, how you got the nonprofit, the journey, and 128 00:06:56,760 --> 00:06:58,560 you're still going through this journey. 129 00:06:58,560 --> 00:07:03,920 And I, my hope in these podcast episodes is when people listen to it, they can say me 130 00:07:03,920 --> 00:07:08,680 too, not that bad things happen and I know some things, but have happened to you, but 131 00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:10,320 it gives people hope and permission. 132 00:07:10,320 --> 00:07:13,640 There is a light on the other side is interesting. 133 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:18,640 I'm on my youngest sister has Down syndrome and I'm on a Down syndrome Facebook group. 134 00:07:18,640 --> 00:07:22,560 And there was some mom that reached out last night anonymously, but she's like, I'm so 135 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:23,560 sad. 136 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:24,560 I'm so depressed. 137 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:29,160 I'm, you know, her baby's 10 days old and, you know, all the things and I was just, I 138 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:33,640 was tempted and I may go back and do it as opposed to picture my sister 40 tier two years 139 00:07:33,640 --> 00:07:34,640 later. 140 00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:38,920 Like, you know, when you're a middle that you don't think you'll ever come out, but 141 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:42,640 you do and you come back stronger and I'll, but I'll help people. 142 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:47,000 So let's talk about that journey, share your courage journey and any, why not to know today 143 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:51,280 moments like those moments of your memory exactly where you were, what you're doing 144 00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:54,680 and that were pivotal into your life. 145 00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:55,680 Okay. 146 00:07:55,680 --> 00:08:01,120 Well, my daughter was 17 when she was diagnosed with a rare form of thyroid cancer in April 147 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:03,120 2010. 148 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:07,880 So that was very surreal, quite a shock, devastating. 149 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:11,160 And there was no treatment available for her kind of cancer back then. 150 00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:16,600 So it was basically go in, have surgery and then who knows what will happen. 151 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:23,360 So there were a lot of very strong faith moments from the day of the diagnosis that just kept 152 00:08:23,360 --> 00:08:28,880 giving me these messages of hope and to keep going. 153 00:08:28,880 --> 00:08:33,200 She was a trooper the first evening of the diagnosis. 154 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:38,640 This is a good example of how she pushed us and we helped her. 155 00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:43,400 She had wanted to go watch a soccer game at her high school because her history coach 156 00:08:43,400 --> 00:08:45,120 was the coach. 157 00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:49,200 Her history teacher was the coach and if you showed up, you got extra credit. 158 00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:55,000 So as we were going to the doctor to get her fine needle biopsy to find out if this really 159 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:59,640 was cancer, she had taken Valium and she on the way, she was like, Oh, can I still go 160 00:08:59,640 --> 00:09:01,320 to the soccer game when I get back? 161 00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:04,840 We're like, okay, maybe. 162 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:08,600 And in my head, I'm thinking, well, geez, I don't even know what we're going to learn. 163 00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:14,280 So on the way home, after we learned of the cancer diagnosis, my husband had to get ready 164 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:15,720 for a trip the next morning. 165 00:09:15,720 --> 00:09:17,840 He had to go get a haircut. 166 00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:23,040 And so I took her home and we ordered pizza and I was just, I was saying to her, you know, 167 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:25,440 this can be whatever you want this to be. 168 00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:29,520 You hear people on, you see people on television say, this was the best thing that ever happened 169 00:09:29,520 --> 00:09:30,520 to me. 170 00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:31,520 It changed my life. 171 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:37,000 I said, you can be mad, you can be sad, you can, you know, turn this into something positive. 172 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:41,360 But you have permission to do everything and we will do all that we can to learn all that 173 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:42,800 we can. 174 00:09:42,800 --> 00:09:46,600 So then a few minutes later, I was over in the kitchen and she said, hey, mom, can I 175 00:09:46,600 --> 00:09:49,240 still go to the soccer game? 176 00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:53,000 And I turned around and I was, I was like, that's what I mean. 177 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:54,600 You can do whatever you want. 178 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:55,600 This is it. 179 00:09:55,600 --> 00:10:00,040 She's just looking at me, rolling her eyes and she said, no, I just need to know if I 180 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:03,080 can still drive since I took Valium. 181 00:10:03,080 --> 00:10:07,120 Oh, yeah. 182 00:10:07,120 --> 00:10:12,160 She took off and I just sat there by myself thinking, what is happening? 183 00:10:12,160 --> 00:10:13,760 She's going to watch a soccer game. 184 00:10:13,760 --> 00:10:15,360 My husband's getting a haircut. 185 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:17,880 My daughter was diagnosed with this rare cancer. 186 00:10:17,880 --> 00:10:19,600 Life is still happening. 187 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:24,680 So when she came home, we started actually, it was so surreal joking saying, okay, you 188 00:10:24,680 --> 00:10:26,640 still have to do your homework even though you have cancer. 189 00:10:26,640 --> 00:10:29,680 Okay, don't forget, you still have to make your bed because you have cancer and we made 190 00:10:29,680 --> 00:10:32,040 this into this joke, at least for that evening. 191 00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:36,920 Well, within a week, she had said, you know what, I want to lead a Relay for Life team 192 00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:42,080 for the American Cancer Society and we have had her godfather had cancer and we had attended 193 00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:44,640 some of his relays in the past. 194 00:10:44,640 --> 00:10:47,640 And I'm like, no, we have to go to Johns Hopkins. 195 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:48,760 We've got to learn all this stuff. 196 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:51,120 We've got to figure out if you're having surgery. 197 00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:53,200 She said, no, I'm going to do it. 198 00:10:53,200 --> 00:10:56,520 And one night she had the laptop and she's like, I need your credit card. 199 00:10:56,520 --> 00:10:58,680 I'm going to sign up mom and dad. 200 00:10:58,680 --> 00:11:02,920 And we were joking with her how she didn't have a name for her team. 201 00:11:02,920 --> 00:11:06,800 And out of that conversation, very funny way, but I know we don't have time for all of the 202 00:11:06,800 --> 00:11:07,800 details. 203 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:11,920 The name Bite Me Cancer came up to be her Relay for Life team. 204 00:11:11,920 --> 00:11:15,920 So it turned out there was a relay in Oakden in June. 205 00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:18,760 Her surgery was May 17th. 206 00:11:18,760 --> 00:11:21,200 And even then it was like, why not? 207 00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:22,200 Like what? 208 00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:23,200 Why not today? 209 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:24,200 Right. 210 00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:25,440 Why should we stop her? 211 00:11:25,440 --> 00:11:26,720 This is what she wants to do. 212 00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:27,720 It could be terrible. 213 00:11:27,720 --> 00:11:28,720 It could be wonderful. 214 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:31,320 Well, the surgery was terrible. 215 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:33,320 She lost the use of a vocal cord. 216 00:11:33,320 --> 00:11:35,160 It had the nerve had to be removed. 217 00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:40,600 She had cancer in many other areas than the doctors ever thought possible. 218 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:46,840 And so we were devastated again, but she would not give up that relay. 219 00:11:46,840 --> 00:11:49,720 And so I said to her, you know, we'll go to the relay. 220 00:11:49,720 --> 00:11:51,680 It's an overnight event. 221 00:11:51,680 --> 00:11:53,560 You're not staying overnight. 222 00:11:53,560 --> 00:11:56,120 She's like, yes, I am. 223 00:11:56,120 --> 00:12:00,960 And so she raised the most money that really had ever raised her and her team, her dad 224 00:12:00,960 --> 00:12:05,680 and me and all of our friends over $20,000. 225 00:12:05,680 --> 00:12:09,360 That night was one of the most surreal nights. 226 00:12:09,360 --> 00:12:15,960 They do the little, you know, the lighted, what do you call those things, luminaries. 227 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:22,280 And over she slept and Michael and I walked around and we started noticing all these luminaries 228 00:12:22,280 --> 00:12:25,240 with bite me cancer and Nikki Ferrara on them. 229 00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:31,640 Turned out there were like 350 and we had only had like 20 people by them. 230 00:12:31,640 --> 00:12:32,720 It was surreal. 231 00:12:32,720 --> 00:12:37,480 And the leaders of the relay said, well, we had, you know, we had all these luminaries 232 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:39,720 and nobody was purchasing them. 233 00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:44,120 And for some reason we chose yours and your daughter and we just put her name on all of 234 00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:45,640 them. 235 00:12:45,640 --> 00:12:46,640 And that was powerful. 236 00:12:46,640 --> 00:12:47,640 He gives me chills. 237 00:12:47,640 --> 00:12:48,640 Yeah. 238 00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:54,560 So she just was focused on, okay, well now I want a foundation mom and dad since you 239 00:12:54,560 --> 00:13:00,000 guys are in other nonprofits and have led other nonprofits and now I want one. 240 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:06,320 Well, and it just gives a testament to how much kids are they catch and they say caught 241 00:13:06,320 --> 00:13:11,400 not taught how much she watched you guys and her determination and sometimes it's kind 242 00:13:11,400 --> 00:13:15,760 of like a little kid, you know, they fall down and they're okay. 243 00:13:15,760 --> 00:13:19,640 But when you make a big deal, they're like, Oh, maybe I should be upset or maybe I should 244 00:13:19,640 --> 00:13:21,120 act hurt. 245 00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:25,120 But the fact that she was just, you know, it's perfect. 246 00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:28,920 Why not today moments that she just wanted to live her life. 247 00:13:28,920 --> 00:13:33,200 And I think that's the message I really want to pass on to people like things are going 248 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:38,120 to happen, but we got to just continue to live our life and enjoy our life and not become 249 00:13:38,120 --> 00:13:39,120 a victim. 250 00:13:39,120 --> 00:13:40,120 Right. 251 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:43,760 So what is, I know, so you started the foundation might be cancer. 252 00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:46,320 So what is the goal of that? 253 00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:47,320 The mission? 254 00:13:47,320 --> 00:13:48,320 What do you guys do? 255 00:13:48,320 --> 00:13:49,560 I know you do some cool things. 256 00:13:49,560 --> 00:13:50,560 Yeah. 257 00:13:50,560 --> 00:13:54,480 So she started it September 2010 with two main goals. 258 00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:59,480 One was to help teenagers support teenagers with all kinds of cancers because they fall 259 00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:04,000 through the cracks, she experienced that herself, the younger pediatric patients get lots of 260 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:08,040 teddy bears and little coloring books and all kinds of things. 261 00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:12,320 And then you have the adult services, but the teenagers kind of are stuck in the middle. 262 00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:17,760 She was in an adult ward, even when she went through radiation, it was adult patients. 263 00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:20,560 And so she developed a teen support bag. 264 00:14:20,560 --> 00:14:23,720 And during that first year, we thought, you know, let's see if we can raise enough money 265 00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:28,800 to give out 100 bags in the local area to teenagers who deal with cancer. 266 00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:35,560 The other goal is to directly fund thyroid cancer research grants, not just give money 267 00:14:35,560 --> 00:14:40,480 to a larger organization like American Cancer Society, but actually meet the doctors and 268 00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:42,360 look at the research. 269 00:14:42,360 --> 00:14:47,600 Because at the time, and still today, thyroid cancer is one of the leading, fastest growing 270 00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:50,040 cancers to be diagnosed. 271 00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:54,320 And for a while it was actually higher up than leukemia. 272 00:14:54,320 --> 00:14:57,520 But because it didn't have, doesn't have a national thyroid cancer association. 273 00:14:57,520 --> 00:14:59,920 It didn't have the PR. 274 00:14:59,920 --> 00:15:01,840 So we've been doing all this. 275 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:05,360 And I honestly thought this would be a great project for her for her senior year of high 276 00:15:05,360 --> 00:15:08,040 school, keep her positive. 277 00:15:08,040 --> 00:15:15,280 But you know, here we are now 14 years later, we've given bags to almost 13,000 teenagers 278 00:15:15,280 --> 00:15:18,080 in every state and DC. 279 00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:25,200 We get calls and emails constantly from the teens or their parents or the child life staffs. 280 00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:30,800 We're actually stuffing 350 bags on this weekend to send out. 281 00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:36,680 And we have run our 10th thyroid cancer research grant as well. 282 00:15:36,680 --> 00:15:43,640 So we've been able to expand some of our support services for teenagers, taking them to baseball 283 00:15:43,640 --> 00:15:51,800 game or hockey game, have some fun events at Dave and Buster's, all due to donations, 284 00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:57,080 either corporate suites or just donations that help us pay for things. 285 00:15:57,080 --> 00:16:00,400 And yeah, here we are, we keep going. 286 00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:06,600 This month next month is our 10th annual wine dinner, which is a fundraiser to focus specifically 287 00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:10,200 on raising funds for these teen support bags. 288 00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:15,240 And she still wants to do it every year we ask her because now she's 31. 289 00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:16,440 Thank God. 290 00:16:16,440 --> 00:16:21,320 She still deals with cancer, has to take oral chemo pills every day. 291 00:16:21,320 --> 00:16:24,200 That's been since 2014. 292 00:16:24,200 --> 00:16:25,200 And it's been great. 293 00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:30,600 At least there's treatment now until, you know, those first four years we had nothing. 294 00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:31,600 Right. 295 00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:35,160 But every year she says, mom, if we don't do this, who's going to do this? 296 00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:38,160 We can we can do it. 297 00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:39,160 So yeah, it's awesome. 298 00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:40,160 Here's where we are with the foundation. 299 00:16:40,160 --> 00:16:41,160 Love it. 300 00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:45,120 I love that, you know, she's committed to it. 301 00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:49,000 And I love the connection her and Michael and they're working out. 302 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:54,160 And as we talked about the cycle studio or cycle spins teacher that's been. 303 00:16:54,160 --> 00:16:55,160 Yeah. 304 00:16:55,160 --> 00:16:59,000 So do you want to talk about Michael and his newest journey? 305 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:00,000 Do we want to share that? 306 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:02,160 Yeah, we can share a little bit of that. 307 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:06,120 We don't have all the details of the treatment plan until tomorrow, but he was diagnosed 308 00:17:06,120 --> 00:17:13,000 with prostate cancer a little over a month ago, which was quite a shock. 309 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:19,680 And for me, it's been another surreal moment of now I have two out of the three of us dealing 310 00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:20,680 with this. 311 00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:23,080 But, you know, he is who he is. 312 00:17:23,080 --> 00:17:26,600 So he's been sharing his story online. 313 00:17:26,600 --> 00:17:32,160 He's very focused on educating other men about getting your PSA, keeping up with your 314 00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:34,320 medical treatments. 315 00:17:34,320 --> 00:17:39,440 And he's doing the same thing that we wanted to do with the foundation and, you know, try 316 00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:42,000 to help others and give back. 317 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:46,840 They won't, you know, a lot of people who get prostate cancer get a lower level of it 318 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:52,000 and it's kind of an in and out thing, but his is a higher level. 319 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:55,320 It's not spread yet, but he's got to have a bigger treatment plan. 320 00:17:55,320 --> 00:18:01,720 So I think it was mid August, he had to go get a pet scan done. 321 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:07,760 And my daughter, you know, she still has to get scans done and doesn't enjoy going even 322 00:18:07,760 --> 00:18:12,640 into the buildings to get them because it's, you know, little PTSD moments here. 323 00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:15,520 And he was joking with her about how, you know, I used to go with you when you were 324 00:18:15,520 --> 00:18:19,440 little, I would take you, you know, at all your scans, you want to go with me. 325 00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:21,320 And in the background, I'm thinking, oh, no way. 326 00:18:21,320 --> 00:18:23,720 And she goes, I will, I will be there for you. 327 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:25,400 You've been there for me. 328 00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:32,000 And to watch them both drive off together to go to that scan that day was just to my 329 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:33,000 heart. 330 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:34,000 I couldn't believe it. 331 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:37,240 But, you know, I love that. 332 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:41,320 You're, you guys are sharing your story. 333 00:18:41,320 --> 00:18:44,160 And that's why I wanted to have you on the podcast that one, you're sharing your story 334 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:45,400 and you're trying to educate. 335 00:18:45,400 --> 00:18:51,520 I love Michael's Facebook live of sharing story and encouraging other people because 336 00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:59,760 often, and I don't want to, what in the experience I've seen is men are often not as forthcoming 337 00:18:59,760 --> 00:19:03,160 with going to the doctor. 338 00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:04,160 Absolutely. 339 00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:11,360 And there were two people that had prostate cancer or colon cancer, sorry, both diagnosed 340 00:19:11,360 --> 00:19:13,640 within a year. 341 00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:19,360 And they got to the point they both, when they were diagnosed were almost dead. 342 00:19:19,360 --> 00:19:21,520 Because of not getting treatment. 343 00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:22,640 One is doing great. 344 00:19:22,640 --> 00:19:24,760 And unfortunately, the other one passed away. 345 00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:27,360 And so, you know, educating other people. 346 00:19:27,360 --> 00:19:33,920 And I think if we can share the message and get educate people and like, let's be aware 347 00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:35,760 and let's talk about these things. 348 00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:37,520 Yeah, for sure. 349 00:19:37,520 --> 00:19:38,520 Everybody has stuff. 350 00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:40,440 Yeah, we all do. 351 00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:43,320 And I found we're talking to people, there's always a story behind the story. 352 00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:44,320 Yeah. 353 00:19:44,320 --> 00:19:45,320 Yeah. 354 00:19:45,320 --> 00:19:51,240 I mean, I think I've never really put myself in the why us, why me, why her, especially 355 00:19:51,240 --> 00:19:56,800 having the foundation, we hear from so many families, even who have, you know, two year 356 00:19:56,800 --> 00:19:59,920 olds, four year olds who have passed away from cancer. 357 00:19:59,920 --> 00:20:04,480 So it is a constant reminder of how blessed we are. 358 00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:11,800 I don't, for a moment, I'm not glad we're going through this, but, you know, there were 359 00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:17,360 times when when my daughter started college, that was a hard thing to let her go away to 360 00:20:17,360 --> 00:20:18,360 college. 361 00:20:18,360 --> 00:20:19,360 She went to JMU. 362 00:20:19,360 --> 00:20:23,840 But in that first month, there must have been eight students on campus who died from different 363 00:20:23,840 --> 00:20:24,840 things. 364 00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:30,040 All freak accidents fell off a skateboard, hit their head, walked in front of a bus, 365 00:20:30,040 --> 00:20:31,040 all these things. 366 00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:36,360 And I remember on the last one, which was a freshman from our area, who we didn't know, 367 00:20:36,360 --> 00:20:38,440 but it really hit my daughter. 368 00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:40,960 And I hung up the phone after she told us what happened. 369 00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:44,520 And I said, I hope those parents were grateful for every day. 370 00:20:44,520 --> 00:20:47,960 If this journey didn't teach us anything, it taught us that. 371 00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:52,800 Well, I think that's really what I want to do with this podcast and the why not take 372 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:54,480 message is encourage people. 373 00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:56,080 We got to live our day, our life. 374 00:20:56,080 --> 00:20:58,160 We are not promised tomorrow. 375 00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:03,400 And you know, cancer is one thing that affects a lot of people, but there's other things 376 00:21:03,400 --> 00:21:11,680 that happen and deaths and, you know, several moms that have lost sons. 377 00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:13,240 And it seems to be a lot of sons. 378 00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:18,200 And it just again, freak accidents and in their twenties. 379 00:21:18,200 --> 00:21:23,600 And so one good friend of mine, I've had around the podcast before Jodi, lost her son. 380 00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:24,600 He was 22. 381 00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:29,480 It was, I think, six or seven years ago. 382 00:21:29,480 --> 00:21:34,000 But you know, she shares it on social media and shares pictures of him. 383 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:37,840 And one of the things she says is take the pictures and the goofy pictures and the dumb 384 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:39,080 pictures and save them. 385 00:21:39,080 --> 00:21:42,000 Don't get rid of them if you're not perfect, because you're going to see the last year 386 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:46,080 in the happy and yeah, yeah, we got to live her life. 387 00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:51,360 I actually went on when Nicole was three, I started a journal. 388 00:21:51,360 --> 00:21:56,440 I don't remember where I got the idea from, but it was to write down all her little comments 389 00:21:56,440 --> 00:21:59,720 and antics, the good, the bads. 390 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:02,160 And I thought at the time, oh, this will be great for her. 391 00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:04,720 Like at 18 years old or 21, I'll give it to her. 392 00:22:04,720 --> 00:22:10,040 But it was really ended up to be for me when people talk about life is short. 393 00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:14,640 You know, when I go back through that, there are so many details and blessings and things 394 00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:21,240 I would never have remembered now that fill my memory bank and fill my life with her. 395 00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:23,040 With so much more. 396 00:22:23,040 --> 00:22:24,760 And I have yet to give it to her. 397 00:22:24,760 --> 00:22:25,760 She jokes about it. 398 00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:26,760 She's like, may I ever get that? 399 00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:27,760 I'm like, well, I don't know. 400 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:30,360 I love to read it still. 401 00:22:30,360 --> 00:22:35,160 The other quick thing I would say that from the day of diagnosis, actually from the two 402 00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:40,000 days before that, which was Easter, there's a whole nother reason. 403 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:48,840 The Bible verse John 3 16 came to her on Easter and then came to me on the day of diagnosis. 404 00:22:48,840 --> 00:22:54,200 And then to the next year would pop up like on the way to surgery. 405 00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:57,280 All these that to me is like the foundation of life. 406 00:22:57,280 --> 00:22:58,600 John 3 16. 407 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:05,680 And so it almost was like, okay, we're, we're headed, you know, the bigger picture is beyond 408 00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:06,840 what we're dealing with right here. 409 00:23:06,840 --> 00:23:07,840 I got you. 410 00:23:07,840 --> 00:23:09,560 That we, we just go for it. 411 00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:10,560 Yeah. 412 00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:14,360 And I felt like I was given a gift of being the caretaker for my daughter. 413 00:23:14,360 --> 00:23:15,640 She was not mine. 414 00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:18,240 She was, she came from God. 415 00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:20,440 And she was a gift to me. 416 00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:25,120 So that really is like the biggest picture of how I live life. 417 00:23:25,120 --> 00:23:27,640 I love the story. 418 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:32,000 And I love how you guys just turned it around and are positive about it and share it. 419 00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:33,000 All right. 420 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:35,640 So we're going to pivot completely and go to business. 421 00:23:35,640 --> 00:23:39,640 So you and your husband have a leadership training business. 422 00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:40,640 Yeah. 423 00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:48,840 So he started building leadership management training company that he started in 1995. 424 00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:54,400 And when you were asking, you know, what would be my, what was an example of my why not today 425 00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:55,400 moment? 426 00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:57,960 It has to do with the business. 427 00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:04,360 At the point where he started the business, I was an executive at a telecom trade association 428 00:24:04,360 --> 00:24:05,360 in Old Town, Alexandria. 429 00:24:05,360 --> 00:24:08,480 So it was about a 45 minute commute on a good day. 430 00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:12,440 Our daughter was just a couple of years old when I took that job. 431 00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:16,240 And we merged immediately with another association and I was put in a higher level and I was 432 00:24:16,240 --> 00:24:20,160 commuting between DC and Virginia and all over the place. 433 00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:23,960 And over the next few years, I was realizing like, oh, this is really not what I want to 434 00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:25,720 do with my life. 435 00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:28,400 And I kept thinking, is it, you know, I just want to work closer to home. 436 00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:29,600 Do I hate telecom? 437 00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:33,160 This was when cell phones and pagers were still two separate things. 438 00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:35,160 My back one. 439 00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:36,160 Yeah. 440 00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:40,840 And I was finding, I was actually starting to get headaches, stomach aches. 441 00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:46,600 And there was one, I took a week off and did a staycation, planted flowers, walked in a 442 00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:50,600 craft store looking around like, oh, people do this like all day long. 443 00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:53,000 And went back to work refreshed. 444 00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:59,560 And the next day, there I was back in all the physical stress elements again. 445 00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:05,240 One day I was driving to work and I put on a Tony Robbins tape. 446 00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:10,360 And one of the questions was, if you could do anything you want, knowing you're not 447 00:25:10,360 --> 00:25:12,880 going to hear, no, what would it be? 448 00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:14,680 And so I was sort of laughing. 449 00:25:14,680 --> 00:25:16,080 I'm like, oh, this will be fun. 450 00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:17,080 Let's see. 451 00:25:17,080 --> 00:25:18,440 I want to work at home. 452 00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:21,040 And this was long before people really worked at home. 453 00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:22,040 Right. 454 00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:23,840 I want to take a vacation when I want. 455 00:25:23,840 --> 00:25:27,760 I want to be done by like three o'clock so I can be with my daughter after school. 456 00:25:27,760 --> 00:25:28,960 I want to do this and that. 457 00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:31,480 And there was like five or six things. 458 00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:34,200 And I was just laughing thinking, yeah, that'll never happen. 459 00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:40,680 And all of a sudden I had this eye-opening thought of, oh, my husband has a business. 460 00:25:40,680 --> 00:25:43,240 Why don't I just work with him? 461 00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:47,080 So I came home that night and I said, hey, I got to tell you what happened on the way 462 00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:48,080 to work. 463 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:49,080 And I told him all this. 464 00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:52,680 And he goes, yeah, yeah, maybe like four years from now you can do that. 465 00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:56,920 And I said, yeah, no, I'm going to do it like within three months. 466 00:25:56,920 --> 00:25:58,160 Good for you. 467 00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:00,040 And he's like, what are you talking about? 468 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:01,120 We can't afford that. 469 00:26:01,120 --> 00:26:02,960 Because I was really pulling the. 470 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:06,840 I was almost at $100,000 back in 1995. 471 00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:12,080 So I was well up there, at least in the association. 472 00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:14,360 And I said, well, what do we have to do? 473 00:26:14,360 --> 00:26:17,840 So we put a business plan together and I am a very low risk person. 474 00:26:17,840 --> 00:26:21,480 So this was not me at all. 475 00:26:21,480 --> 00:26:25,960 And so the result was we would have to double the income of the business to just be able 476 00:26:25,960 --> 00:26:29,000 to pay the bills and get through it. 477 00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:32,680 So I was like, okay, then that's what we're going to do. 478 00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:34,520 And he's like, okay. 479 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:40,800 So my my employees, my friends, they were like, oh, I remember my going away party. 480 00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:42,360 Oh my God, you're so brave. 481 00:26:42,360 --> 00:26:45,600 Oh my gosh, I can't believe you're taking this risk. 482 00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:50,760 And I remember thinking and saying, no, this is this is meant to be like this is going 483 00:26:50,760 --> 00:26:51,760 to work. 484 00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:55,800 I can't keep up the pace and the physical issues and all that. 485 00:26:55,800 --> 00:27:01,800 Well, I would say maybe within that year as we realized, oh, we're really doing this. 486 00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:09,040 I thought, wow, how stress was I that me quitting a job and working full time with my husband 487 00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:16,760 felt like the easier solution, the commerce solution, the more exciting solution. 488 00:27:16,760 --> 00:27:21,000 Even when I look back sometimes now, when I was preparing for this, I thought, I still 489 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:22,720 can't believe I did that. 490 00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:28,040 Yeah, it's definitely what I call the why not today moment that we just did it and you're 491 00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:29,040 like, I'm going to do it. 492 00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:31,240 Everybody else is like, what are you doing? 493 00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:35,960 And when you know that you know that you know, like when I quit my job, it was 25 years ago, 494 00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:37,960 people like, what are you doing? 495 00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:40,000 And I'm like, I'm going to figure it out. 496 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:42,920 And I had a team member one time that wanted to quit her job. 497 00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:46,800 And I'm like, what's the worst thing that's going to happen is you have to bless more 498 00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:49,120 people and work a little harder. 499 00:27:49,120 --> 00:27:54,040 And the business probably grew so much faster because you jumped in and you had a you had 500 00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:57,720 a half to now where you had the safety net of your salary. 501 00:27:57,720 --> 00:27:58,720 You didn't have it. 502 00:27:58,720 --> 00:27:59,720 Yeah. 503 00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:07,360 And sometimes those things happen and the journey is we have to and you just we we're 504 00:28:07,360 --> 00:28:12,720 so much more capable than we ever imagined and so much more as possible. 505 00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:13,720 Absolutely. 506 00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:15,640 We have we use so little of our brain. 507 00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:17,480 Oh, no, true. 508 00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:18,480 That is just phenomenal. 509 00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:19,680 What can be done? 510 00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:26,160 And yeah, so here we are now celebrating the 29th anniversary of the business. 511 00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:31,440 My husband jokes that we're at 41 years marriage and that's probably even the bigger. 512 00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:36,200 Yeah, six challenge that we've overcome is that how did we work together all these years 513 00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:38,160 and now really on two businesses. 514 00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:41,040 Within our home. 515 00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:49,160 And the interesting thing about the business is when the year that Nicole was diagnosed. 516 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:52,680 We were sort of like, oh my God, like how are we going to run our business because there 517 00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:56,140 was a lot more we had to give to her. 518 00:28:56,140 --> 00:29:01,480 That ended up to be our most highest our revenue year up to that point. 519 00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:03,080 Of course, right? 520 00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:05,560 It happened again in 2014. 521 00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:08,520 She had cancer challenges in her lungs. 522 00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:13,840 We had to go to surgery and then I had to go to the chemo and that ended up to be the 523 00:29:13,840 --> 00:29:15,720 biggest year ever. 524 00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:21,200 And now last year was again the biggest year ever and she had all kinds of challenges with 525 00:29:21,200 --> 00:29:25,880 her side effects from chemo last year that scared the hell out of us. 526 00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:31,600 And now this year he's got his diagnosis and now we're beating last year's and we're spending 527 00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:33,100 less time. 528 00:29:33,100 --> 00:29:37,520 Sometimes we don't spend much time at all on training or he does and I don't. 529 00:29:37,520 --> 00:29:40,800 So it's just not funny at all. 530 00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:45,400 God's going to take care of us and sometimes we just got to let it go and we can't be micromanaging 531 00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:49,120 and it just works and I found that with my business. 532 00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:54,040 I quit my job just because I'm like, like you there's a better world out here. 533 00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:59,320 Just most later my dad had a stroke and I was able to be there and be at the hospital and 534 00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:01,960 be there for family and not have to take off. 535 00:30:01,960 --> 00:30:04,120 Thank goodness you didn't have that job. 536 00:30:04,120 --> 00:30:08,280 And you guys grew the business when you did so you didn't have to depend on your salary 537 00:30:08,280 --> 00:30:11,920 but then you could step out and help Nikki when you needed to. 538 00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:12,920 Yeah, for sure. 539 00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:15,640 Like you imagine if you were working and it would have had to say, I have to take time 540 00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:16,640 off. 541 00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:21,240 Yeah, I mean just for the medical would have been a complete challenge and I still tell 542 00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:25,800 her every once in a while like when people will say, you know, this foundation is doing 543 00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:29,040 amazing things and you've raised all this money and all. 544 00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:32,680 And Michael and I look at each other like, well, if we didn't work at home and we didn't 545 00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:35,200 have all this flexibility, there might not be a foundation. 546 00:30:35,200 --> 00:30:36,200 Yeah. 547 00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:39,160 But it would be very small compared to what we're able to do now. 548 00:30:39,160 --> 00:30:40,160 Yeah, exactly. 549 00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:41,160 Yeah. 550 00:30:41,160 --> 00:30:45,200 So I know you're going to be the guest for my why not say connect to luncheon at the 551 00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:46,720 end of September. 552 00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:49,760 And so one of the things we're going to talk about is a disc personality assessments. 553 00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:51,800 And I know that's what you get. 554 00:30:51,800 --> 00:30:56,160 One of the things you guys teach and do with your company. 555 00:30:56,160 --> 00:31:00,600 So I just thought it would be fun to give kind of a big overview kind of a tease of 556 00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:02,560 what we're going to talk about. 557 00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:06,280 And you know, obviously everybody listening to podcasts cannot come to the luncheon. 558 00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:09,880 So give a little bit of information, but I'm hoping people will listen to this and say, 559 00:31:09,880 --> 00:31:12,920 Oh, I'm going to come to that luncheon and learn more. 560 00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:18,080 So what's share I know for me and my Mary Kay career, we've used a disc personality 561 00:31:18,080 --> 00:31:20,320 assessment. 562 00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:24,080 Often and they even used to have catalogs and different marketing materials and had 563 00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:25,720 four women in the four different personalities. 564 00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:31,600 So why don't you give a big over brief overview of it and then how it can relate to work 565 00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:35,040 personal knowing yours and then how you can work with other people. 566 00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:36,040 Yeah. 567 00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:40,920 And so the everything disc model is one we've used the entire time we've had the company 568 00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:42,360 and there are different. 569 00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:47,120 Disks, slightly off models, depending on who the publisher is. 570 00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:52,120 But the one we use is the is the original one and it's got a small I so it's DISC with 571 00:31:52,120 --> 00:31:54,000 a small I. 572 00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:59,760 And there's there are basically four styles, which are the DISC. 573 00:31:59,760 --> 00:32:07,240 So D is the more direct, active, sometimes skeptical, in control style. 574 00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:12,840 The I is the active, accepting, influential style. 575 00:32:12,840 --> 00:32:20,000 The S is very reflective, sensing, accepting of people stable. 576 00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:25,960 And the C is more reflective into the numbers can be more skeptical trying to like make 577 00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:28,000 dot the eyes. 578 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:35,520 And then within the expanded disc, then you have combinations of those DISC's that bring 579 00:32:35,520 --> 00:32:38,960 it more specific to you as a person. 580 00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:42,120 And when we do it in the workplace, we ask people to fill out the assessment based on 581 00:32:42,120 --> 00:32:44,800 their work styles. 582 00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:47,680 But you certainly use it in personal life. 583 00:32:47,680 --> 00:32:52,520 That is probably why my husband and I are still together after all the pressures and 584 00:32:52,520 --> 00:32:57,800 running these businesses because we we knew his style very early on before I joined the 585 00:32:57,800 --> 00:33:05,680 business and then I actually used his disc materials in my telecom association just in 586 00:33:05,680 --> 00:33:07,160 my department. 587 00:33:07,160 --> 00:33:14,680 And it was so eye opening, when you have people who talk differently, listen differently, 588 00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:16,400 are just different. 589 00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:21,160 There's a very easy way to judge and think, you know, you're right, they're wrong. 590 00:33:21,160 --> 00:33:27,720 And so when you have, I'll just use the model of my husband and I, so he's a high D, high 591 00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:29,640 I. 592 00:33:29,640 --> 00:33:35,960 So he's under stress, he will be very, you know, let's just get this done under control, 593 00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:39,360 or you know, if he was in a meeting, he would, you know, be telling people, this is what 594 00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:41,160 we're going to do. 595 00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:48,760 I am a low D, but I'm a very high S, which is the very sensing supportive person. 596 00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:50,440 And he's a very low S. 597 00:33:50,440 --> 00:33:55,760 So we joke about how when there's stress, I want to take care of it. 598 00:33:55,760 --> 00:33:58,200 And he wants to tell it somebody what to do. 599 00:33:58,200 --> 00:34:03,560 So when we're in the home together, and even with our daughter, we know like if one of 600 00:34:03,560 --> 00:34:11,520 us is under stress, so I will joke, oh, your dad's being a D again, and or my style. 601 00:34:11,520 --> 00:34:17,320 So we can learn how to interact with each other better. 602 00:34:17,320 --> 00:34:25,280 In the workplace, when I did it with my team, one of our fellow VPs was a very low S, low 603 00:34:25,280 --> 00:34:27,400 C, just give me the numbers. 604 00:34:27,400 --> 00:34:29,880 I'll tell you what to do with them. 605 00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:34,600 And I would come into her office before I learned this, and I would start chatting like, 606 00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:35,600 how was your weekend? 607 00:34:35,600 --> 00:34:36,600 How are your kids? 608 00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:39,240 Because I'm a high S. I want to know about the family. 609 00:34:39,240 --> 00:34:41,880 And we were not gelling at all. 610 00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:44,440 I was just wasting her time. 611 00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:49,040 But once we went through this, and then I talked to her about it, we both acknowledge that 612 00:34:49,040 --> 00:34:55,600 just because we have a different priority doesn't mean either as a bad person or wasting 613 00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:57,800 each other's time. 614 00:34:57,800 --> 00:35:01,600 And so we started to get along great. 615 00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:05,760 If you're in a team and somebody's the idea person, they come up with the ideas and you 616 00:35:05,760 --> 00:35:08,400 go, okay, go take that and give me a business plan. 617 00:35:08,400 --> 00:35:10,160 Well, they're not the business plan person. 618 00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:12,800 They're a very low C, so they can't do that. 619 00:35:12,800 --> 00:35:20,240 Yeah, so it's really like, so is DIC, is it something we're born with or we? 620 00:35:20,240 --> 00:35:22,600 There's a natural tendency. 621 00:35:22,600 --> 00:35:27,040 There's natural tendency, but you can adjust based on your environment. 622 00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:28,040 Right. 623 00:35:28,040 --> 00:35:30,720 And you can learn. 624 00:35:30,720 --> 00:35:35,680 And sometimes you can just appreciate where you have to put yourself out of your comfort 625 00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:39,640 zone to be a different style. 626 00:35:39,640 --> 00:35:42,240 And you know that that might stress you out. 627 00:35:42,240 --> 00:35:46,000 So you prepare for that ahead of time. 628 00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:52,080 I think that has to do with courage that you have, you know what you, how you show up. 629 00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:56,240 And it's being able to, what I've learned is then being able to figure out other people. 630 00:35:56,240 --> 00:35:58,760 So there's pretty quick ways to figure it out. 631 00:35:58,760 --> 00:36:01,400 Just have somebody walks in the room or ask them a couple of questions. 632 00:36:01,400 --> 00:36:05,640 You can pretty easily figure out and being able to adapt to their style. 633 00:36:05,640 --> 00:36:10,520 I always use, you know, with the Mary Kay example in my Mary Kay business, like the 634 00:36:10,520 --> 00:36:12,640 D personality, she's trying products. 635 00:36:12,640 --> 00:36:17,240 She wants to know how quick she can use it, how quick we're going to be done. 636 00:36:17,240 --> 00:36:22,240 Like I don't want to spend an hour doing this party, you know, if it's a party kind of situation. 637 00:36:22,240 --> 00:36:26,600 The eye is looking at herself in the mirror the entire time, not listening to a word I'm 638 00:36:26,600 --> 00:36:31,320 saying the S is more concerned like, okay, I might have to get home to my family. 639 00:36:31,320 --> 00:36:32,320 Are they calling? 640 00:36:32,320 --> 00:36:34,520 Or can I get this product? 641 00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:35,520 And is it going to work? 642 00:36:35,520 --> 00:36:36,520 Cause my family is important. 643 00:36:36,520 --> 00:36:38,520 I don't want to spend money on me. 644 00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:44,120 And the C wants to know every single flipping ingredient, which obviously I'm not a C the 645 00:36:44,120 --> 00:36:45,120 way I put it. 646 00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:46,120 Yeah, right. 647 00:36:46,120 --> 00:36:47,640 It just works, you know. 648 00:36:47,640 --> 00:36:53,240 And so knowing people's personality and be able to adjust that when I knew people's personality, 649 00:36:53,240 --> 00:36:54,440 I could adjust. 650 00:36:54,440 --> 00:36:58,960 And you know, as you go through life and work and doing events and things we talked about 651 00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:03,160 the other day, you and I were talking about people's personalities and you, you know, 652 00:37:03,160 --> 00:37:08,920 under stress, you know, how do we show up and our personality gets bigger and to know 653 00:37:08,920 --> 00:37:13,560 that you need to control it so it doesn't get big in the wrong way. 654 00:37:13,560 --> 00:37:14,560 That is right. 655 00:37:14,560 --> 00:37:19,440 And with life changes, people can have big adjustments. 656 00:37:19,440 --> 00:37:25,120 Sometimes when there's a child or there's a firing at a work or whatever, they can change. 657 00:37:25,120 --> 00:37:31,360 But you know, it's, it can stay with you if you let it because you can learn so much from 658 00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:34,960 it and learn about people and be more forgiving. 659 00:37:34,960 --> 00:37:38,360 And you know, it's, it's not all about you. 660 00:37:38,360 --> 00:37:42,720 And as we're talking, and I'm thinking about my mother, she's got a lot of S in the detail 661 00:37:42,720 --> 00:37:49,360 and family and, and, and she often is like, well, start telling me a story and it's kind 662 00:37:49,360 --> 00:37:51,560 of a joke that she starts telling me something. 663 00:37:51,560 --> 00:37:53,280 I'm like, and what was she wearing? 664 00:37:53,280 --> 00:37:54,640 Like, get to the point. 665 00:37:54,640 --> 00:37:55,880 Like what time's dinner? 666 00:37:55,880 --> 00:37:57,360 Well, we're going to do this. 667 00:37:57,360 --> 00:38:00,080 I'm like, I just want to know what time do I have to show up? 668 00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:04,520 You know, that's the D at me is like, I don't need all the details. 669 00:38:04,520 --> 00:38:05,840 Just tell me the answer. 670 00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:06,840 Right. 671 00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:09,120 But yeah, we could talk about this all day and I'm excited. 672 00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:12,560 You're going to be at the lunch and we're going to do some fun exercises around it. 673 00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:15,280 Yeah, it's just a fun activity. 674 00:38:15,280 --> 00:38:19,240 I don't want anybody to think, oh God, I'm going to have to, you know, tell secrets. 675 00:38:19,240 --> 00:38:21,120 So I'm going to have to learn something. 676 00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:26,960 I'm going to have to like, it's just a fun game with cards with disc cards that gets 677 00:38:26,960 --> 00:38:32,960 people up and around and looking at all these different disc words to see what fits with 678 00:38:32,960 --> 00:38:34,560 each person. 679 00:38:34,560 --> 00:38:38,920 And then they can just relate to it and share it with the group. 680 00:38:38,920 --> 00:38:39,920 That's awesome. 681 00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:44,600 So how would you encourage somebody else to be courageous? 682 00:38:44,600 --> 00:38:49,360 You know, I think for me, it really does come back down to faith. 683 00:38:49,360 --> 00:38:50,920 It really does. 684 00:38:50,920 --> 00:38:55,000 I use the let go and let God a lot. 685 00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:59,440 And I feel like, you know, we hear life is short all the time and I really try to look 686 00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:02,160 at it as life is full. 687 00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:08,840 And you can be, you should always be in the now and not worrying about things that haven't 688 00:39:08,840 --> 00:39:13,360 taken place yet or might or probably will never take place if you're worried about them 689 00:39:13,360 --> 00:39:15,480 and just take step at a time. 690 00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:20,240 I mean, I've learned in this cancer journey, sometimes it's a day at a time. 691 00:39:20,240 --> 00:39:22,320 Sometimes it's an hour at a time. 692 00:39:22,320 --> 00:39:25,360 It's not usually a month or at a time. 693 00:39:25,360 --> 00:39:28,000 So you just give it a try. 694 00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:30,600 There's always something to fall back on. 695 00:39:30,600 --> 00:39:35,480 I mean, in the end, you have your faith to fall back on, but there's other opportunities 696 00:39:35,480 --> 00:39:38,560 for jobs and other things to try if it doesn't work. 697 00:39:38,560 --> 00:39:45,520 But in your heart, if you know you want to try it, then you just need to try it. 698 00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:46,520 So true. 699 00:39:46,520 --> 00:39:50,680 Well, I always try to connect this back to my dad and people are like, well, I've never 700 00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:52,840 met your dad, which did you ever meet my dad? 701 00:39:52,840 --> 00:39:53,840 Oh, no. 702 00:39:53,840 --> 00:39:54,840 I didn't know. 703 00:39:54,840 --> 00:39:59,480 I mean, he was change, started the chamber and around lots of rest and things. 704 00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:03,960 I was actually just having coffee with somebody today that I think my dad was the first president 705 00:40:03,960 --> 00:40:08,280 of the chamber and she was like the third or fourth. 706 00:40:08,280 --> 00:40:11,240 And it's interesting that two of the other ones were bosses of mine. 707 00:40:11,240 --> 00:40:13,560 So I must be following this chamber thing. 708 00:40:13,560 --> 00:40:15,520 But I always try to connect things back. 709 00:40:15,520 --> 00:40:18,040 So he did do the redevelopment. 710 00:40:18,040 --> 00:40:19,040 He was a city planner. 711 00:40:19,040 --> 00:40:23,240 Did the redevelopment of Albany, New York later on years ago. 712 00:40:23,240 --> 00:40:27,200 And then the other thing is just your determination. 713 00:40:27,200 --> 00:40:31,440 And as you guys have fought the cancer battle, and he was very much like that. 714 00:40:31,440 --> 00:40:34,240 He had a stroke in 2000. 715 00:40:34,240 --> 00:40:36,440 And I mean, he was down and out like months. 716 00:40:36,440 --> 00:40:39,400 Kometos didn't think he'd make it. 717 00:40:39,400 --> 00:40:43,160 And he did and came back strong. 718 00:40:43,160 --> 00:40:45,000 And, you know, he up calling. 719 00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:48,840 He had such a determination to fight. 720 00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:50,160 And he's like, I have grandchildren. 721 00:40:50,160 --> 00:40:51,680 I need to teach people. 722 00:40:51,680 --> 00:40:53,960 I'm not done in this world. 723 00:40:53,960 --> 00:40:54,960 People would ask, how are you? 724 00:40:54,960 --> 00:40:56,560 And he's like, I'm on this side of the grass. 725 00:40:56,560 --> 00:41:03,720 And then he was diagnosed with cancer a few months before he finally passed away. 726 00:41:03,720 --> 00:41:04,880 And he wanted to go through the treatment. 727 00:41:04,880 --> 00:41:06,480 And we're all thinking, really? 728 00:41:06,480 --> 00:41:10,160 Like, I mean, his quality of life was not that great at that point. 729 00:41:10,160 --> 00:41:12,000 But he was fighting till the end. 730 00:41:12,000 --> 00:41:17,600 And, you know, he was not going to let life, you know, he's going to live fullest till the 731 00:41:17,600 --> 00:41:18,600 end. 732 00:41:18,600 --> 00:41:19,600 And he did. 733 00:41:19,600 --> 00:41:25,080 The day he passed away, actually went to the dentist, like led a regular or normal day. 734 00:41:25,080 --> 00:41:27,840 He went to the dentist and then he passed away later that day. 735 00:41:27,840 --> 00:41:28,840 That night. 736 00:41:28,840 --> 00:41:29,840 Yeah. 737 00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:30,840 He went to the dentist. 738 00:41:30,840 --> 00:41:31,840 It happened to be his birthday. 739 00:41:31,840 --> 00:41:35,160 His appointment was on the phone talking to people. 740 00:41:35,160 --> 00:41:36,800 He was always at night after work. 741 00:41:36,800 --> 00:41:37,800 He owned his own business. 742 00:41:37,800 --> 00:41:40,600 So he'd go to the office and start making the phone calls. 743 00:41:40,600 --> 00:41:41,600 It's funny. 744 00:41:41,600 --> 00:41:48,560 I met somebody in Kathy Hutchins office and Kathy was a part of the Fairfax County board 745 00:41:48,560 --> 00:41:49,840 in the rest in area. 746 00:41:49,840 --> 00:41:53,680 And I met somebody at a Mary Kay event one time and she said she worked for Kathy. 747 00:41:53,680 --> 00:41:57,880 I'm like, oh, my dad, you know, I know Kathy, but like my dad does, he goes, what's your 748 00:41:57,880 --> 00:41:58,880 dad's name? 749 00:41:58,880 --> 00:42:00,640 And I told him, she's like, I have his phone number on my desk. 750 00:42:00,640 --> 00:42:02,240 I talk to, he calls me daily. 751 00:42:02,240 --> 00:42:06,800 But that's great to be that active. 752 00:42:06,800 --> 00:42:07,800 Yeah. 753 00:42:07,800 --> 00:42:10,720 So, well, thank you Sharon for all this and probably went a little longer, but we had 754 00:42:10,720 --> 00:42:12,280 so much to talk about. 755 00:42:12,280 --> 00:42:19,760 And so hopefully people listening will share this with other people and come to the luncheon 756 00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:20,760 if you're around. 757 00:42:20,760 --> 00:42:25,560 It's, we have a couple of weeks from when this is going to launch to the luncheon. 758 00:42:25,560 --> 00:42:29,600 So the luncheon is September 26th of Thursday. 759 00:42:29,600 --> 00:42:34,320 And so thank you everybody for joining us on this inspiring journey. 760 00:42:34,320 --> 00:42:37,360 Remember, every day is an opportunity to take action. 761 00:42:37,360 --> 00:42:38,840 Chase your dreams, make a difference. 762 00:42:38,840 --> 00:42:40,240 So why not today? 763 00:42:40,240 --> 00:42:43,880 And make sure you subscribe, like it, share with a friend, check everything out for why 764 00:42:43,880 --> 00:42:47,440 not today at the why not today podcast.com. 765 00:42:47,440 --> 00:42:52,280 And again, thank you for sharing for your story and thanks everybody for listening and watching. 766 00:42:52,280 --> 00:42:53,280 That's wonderful. 767 00:42:53,280 --> 00:42:54,880 And remember, say why not today? 768 00:42:54,880 --> 00:42:56,880 That's right. 769 00:42:56,880 --> 00:42:57,880 Bye.