Hey, everybody. Welcome to Good News York. I'm
Matt from Clickstream Studios. This has been
an exciting week. If you didn't notice or follow
us anywhere, which you really should be, we were
on the news yesterday. So Channel 9 came by and
checked out our new space at the former Spaghetti
Warehouse. I really got to stop saying that and
just start branding our Clickstream Studios space
on North Clinton Street in Syracuse. But they
came by and did a great tour. Shout out to the
whole Channel 9 crew. I literally loved everything
they did. They even did an awesome shot in the
train. I don't know, that was pretty cool. So
I can't thank them enough. But without further
ado, you might notice that Mike's not with me
and we have a incredible guest today. I'm very
excited. We've talked about... this incredible
woman a little bit on this podcast before. Her
name is Alex and you've probably seen her if
you're from Central New York because she is doing
an incredible job with content and her podcast
and her incredible CNY women's group that we're
gonna hear all about. But without further ado,
Alex, go ahead and just introduce yourself and
tell folks what you're all about. Yeah, thank
you, Matt, for having me. I'm super grateful
to be here today. I absolutely love what you've
done too here in the local Central New York community.
I'm Alex Canavan. I am the founder of the CNY
Women's Network and the host of Cultivate CNY,
which is another local podcast here that is a
platform for leaders and changemakers to be seen
and celebrated. And I've been doing that podcast
for a little over two years now. We just hit
100 episodes this past September. It's been a
lot of fun, as you know, growing a podcast. Basically,
what I do, who I am, I consider myself a connector.
I'm in the middle of the business community here
in Central New York. built my career off of growing
a platform for business leaders to be seen, celebrated,
and supported. That's incredible. That's incredible.
We're going to talk more about this in a minute
because you have an incredible event that you've
done for a number of years now. I'd love to know
what came first. Was it the podcast? Was it the
Women's Network? What was the chicken or the
egg here? Yeah. Well, you know what actually
came first was this event that you just mentioned
was the CNY Women's Summit. It was 2022. I was,
gosh, how old was I? I was 23 years old. I was
in business school because I started my degree
later than most. And while I was in business
school, I was interning at a local financial
services company here in Syracuse. And I pitched
an idea to them to host the first annual CNY
Women's Summit, which was an event that I really
needed to go to at that time. I was in a place
in my career where I was pivoting, and I really
wanted to find a mentor because all the podcasts
I listened to told me, if you want to be successful,
find a mentor. Fair. So it was really an event
that I needed, but I pitched it to them as a
really awesome recruitment strategy. and they
loved it. So, long story short, we hosted the
first annual CNY Women's Summit on International
Women's Day back in 2022. And this year, we're
going to be hosting it for the fifth time on
March 27th. And after the first summit, I noticed
that there was definitely an opportunity there
and it was going to be called the CNY Women's
Network, but I didn't really know what it was
going to be. And I didn't start the company until
after our second summit in 2023. I will say that
when I started it, it was the vision was not
nearly as big as it is now. I have a lot more
clarity, a lot more data and a lot more direction
now. So it is still definitely a baby company,
but we are now a media and PR company that operates
out of the mission to create more connections,
opportunities, and inspiration for women across
upstate New York. That's incredible. And the
podcast really started, once I decided to start
the CNY Women's Network, I knew I also wanted
to start a podcast. So the podcast started at
the same time. And I knew that I, the reason
why I, I mean, first of all, I always wanted
to have a podcast. I was a big consumer, still
am, huge consumer business podcast. I love entrepreneurs.
I love hearing their stories and how they got
to where they are. Because I started school late
and I don't consider myself to have like the
traditional higher education background than
most people do in this region. I really, you
know, I feel like I had to be pretty resourceful
when it came to educating myself in business.
And one of the ways I did that was just listening
to a ton of podcasts and just listening to people's
stories. So I took a lot of inspiration from
the podcast I listened to and really saw a gap
here in this community and I knew that there
was a true need for people like myself, young,
emerging, ambitious people in central New York
to go and get inspired by the people right here
in this community and you know, I'm born and
raised here and I also kind of wanted to change
the narrative that Syracuse is actually a great
place to be, especially for dreamers and doers,
and you can build the career of your dreams here.
You just have to really, to be scrappy, and you
just have to try, right? So I just think that
podcasts are awesome for inspiring others, but
I really, Cultivate CNY was really this thing
that I knew I needed to create, so. people like
myself could look up to people in the community
and just hear their stories and realize that
there are cool people here doing really awesome
things. Yeah. So that's the vision. I love it.
I love it. And it's doing incredibly well. You
know, it's I feel like it's delivering on that
mission. I see so many people that I know and
even people I wasn't familiar with on your show
who have just these incredible, inspiring stories.
And that's I feel like you're you're hitting
all the marks with that. So so it's a great job.
One of the things I wanted to ask you is, and
I've seen you talk about this a little bit on
one of your episodes, but this is something that
I talk about all the time with our clients and
things like that in terms of how the podcast
can help your business as a creator and making
those connections with people that you might
not otherwise make connections with, right? Absolutely.
Can you talk about that piece a little bit? Yeah,
so I didn't realize until I was like at least
six months into... hosting the podcast that it
was actually my greatest tool for networking.
It is like truly the best networking hack you
can do because you're inviting people that you
admire onto your show and you're giving them
an opportunity. And it's, I would say, you know,
you're coming into the relationship with making
a deposit, right? You're not, there's nothing
wrong with this, but you're not, you know, asking
someone a coffee so you can... pick their brain,
especially if they're super influential, busy
people. You want to come into that relationship
providing value in some way. And I think hosting
a podcast is a great way to do that, especially
if it's really well produced and is, you know,
you're delivering the content to them and say,
hey, you can use this at your will. I'm just
happy to, you know, have had some of your time.
And I, you know, I tell people that all the time
is this is my best networking tool. And, you
know, at first I was simply interviewing people
that I admire and I still do, but now it's a
little bit more strategic as I continue to grow
the business. Yeah, and I think that's incredibly
smart. I've been trying to preach that for a
long time because, you know, the way I describe
it is I can call up a business owner and go,
hey, can I come pitch my services to you? And
they're like, no, I don't have time for that.
You know, they get those calls 100 times a day.
You call them up and, hey, would you like to
be a guest on my podcast and talk about yourself?
Yep. It's hardly ever a no. It's so easy. And
I've picked up so many clients and friends, honestly,
in having conversations like this. We're not
even talking about what I do or what I sell or
anything like that. But by the time we're done,
we're friends. And I can't tell you how many
folks have said, well, so now what are you doing?
How can you help me with whatever? And it becomes
just such an incredible relationship builder,
which as we know is the key to everything is
relationships and networking, which is your whole
home base, which I love. Tell us if you could,
Alex, a little bit about, as we jump around a
little bit, a little bit more about your summit.
So you've got one coming up, I believe the fifth
one, right, in March? It's gonna be the fifth
annual summit. I can't believe it's already been
five years. That's pretty awesome, just on its
own. It's really impressive. And I will say,
I mean, the summit is... It represents so much
to me for a few different reasons. I really think
that the first summit that I, you know, this
was the first opportunity that I felt like I
got to do something in my career that was big.
Before I did any of this, I was a professional
makeup artist. I started building that business
at 19. So I, you know, I would consider myself
Business person since the start sure, but you
know the summit the first summit, you know to
be young and Creative and to pitch in this big
idea that at the time Was kind of crazy because
we were actually still wearing masks in public
and there was no events happening. Gotcha, but
you know between pitching the idea and execution
there was six weeks total and Two weeks before
the summit happened. The mask mandate was lifted
And this event was one of the first events, community
events that happened in Syracuse since the pandemic.
And so there was this true sense of like excitement
and you could see that there was such a desire
for it. And so, and honestly, that summit changed
my career, changed my life, gave me the opportunity
to start this company, which has been an absolute
dream. I will, I'm not too afraid to admit that
I have always wanted to build a brand. And there's
so many, I've listened to so many entrepreneurs
talk about, you know, their journey and they've
always said, I would have never imagined building
this company or building a brand. But I will
say like, this is, once I saw the opportunity,
I realized this is the opportunity of a lifetime.
And so after the second summit, I could feel
that there was really something there with substance.
And I realized that I needed to you know, act
on this opportunity before someone else did,
because there was, you could feel the energy
at the second summit. And so I decided that I
was going to drop out of school. I was gonna
slowly close down my business and quit my other
part -time jobs, because I had like a million
things going on. And I was gonna double down
on this and really take a leap of faith and try,
you know? So this summit, you know, the first
summit happened after hours, 4 .37 p .m. Now
the summit is a full day event that happens,
you know, from 9 a .m. to 6 p .m. and includes
all the things, really awesome keynote speakers,
multiple stages and different breakout rooms.
So it's kind of now become this build your own
experience for women that attend and, you know,
panel discussions, breakout sessions, master
classes. This year, we are elevating the event
through really our programming. The event is
going to bring in around 500 women leaders and
entrepreneurs. We are including speakers from
across the whole center state region. So we're
hoping to bring attendees in from all over into
Syracuse for the whole weekend. That's awesome.
And I'm really excited because we've gotten a
little bit more intentional with our programming
this year and I really want all women that attend
to walk away feeling like They learned something
and they really they're gonna they got something
at least one thing there that they're gonna take
with them into the rest of their careers and
You know in terms of who attends this event.
It's such a wide range of women professionals
and Executives you have early stage women professionals
that are really needing to network and make connections
and then you have you know high -level women
executives that are speaking at the event and
staying all day because they just want to support
me and show their support. But this year we have,
we added on a ticket tier that we're calling
our executive level ticket tier. And there's
going to be programming that's only available
for those ticket holders. That's really going
to be some high level stuff and you know, some
hot seat coaching and some really influential
speakers that we're bringing in for those people.
But yeah, it's been. It's been a journey. And
this time of year right now, my life is pretty
consumed with this event. And, you know, it's
I honestly, my whole year revolves around this
event. Yeah. My, you know, your Super Bowl, the
way it is. It's my Super Bowl, the summit, you
know, that's what we call it. All right. It's
summit season. Let's go. And it really feels
like I in terms of, you know, what my life is
like and what my nervous system is like. it's
truly just builds up to this moment. And it feels
like you've hit the summit on a mountain that
day, it really does. And then you gotta come
down afterwards. So it's a lot of fun and this
event is really special and I know it's special
to a lot of other people too, the stories I've
heard. We'll definitely get all your plugs before
we're totally done, but just real quick, if folks
wanna get tickets, they wanna find out more about
that event specifically, where do they go? So,
you're going to go to cnywomensnetwork .com forward
slash summit. You can also check out our social
media. We have all the links. So, at CNY Women's
Network, if you want to follow the podcast, it's
at Cultivate CNY. If you want to follow me, alexandra
.canavan is my username. That's awesome. That's
awesome. And is it, am I correct in thinking
it's at the On Center? Yes. Your event? Yep.
Awesome. At the On Center, March 27th, 9 a .m.
to 6 p .m. Get your tickets. Outside of that
massive event, I see you do some other things
with the group, right? Some get togethers and
you're getting outside and you're doing all kinds
of cool things, right? Absolutely. Aside from
some of the marketing PR services that we offer
behind the scenes, forward -facing, we're a community
first. This whole brand has been built off of
creating community. We have taken a really holistic
approach to that. You know, there's so many ways
to create connection and to build your community.
And it really has a lot to do with what your
values are. You know, if you value your fitness
life and your health and getting outside, then
we have events for that. If you value, you know,
professional development and skill development,
there are events for that. So we offer so many
things. A lot of our events are like event series.
We host around at least four events a month.
Oh, wow. And, you know, those range from coffee
meetups to we do these pop -up fitness classes
where we collaborate with local boutique studios
and offer an opportunity for our members to take
a free class there. We have the CNY Women's Walking
Club, which is a six -month weekly, honestly,
now it's going to be twice a week, six -month
meetup event series. Wow. And that's our You
know our largest free accessible option for women
to get together and move their bodies and do
something good for themselves, but just have
Authentic conversations along the way and get
out and enjoy the beautiful You know landscapes
and nature that we have here in upstate New York
So we host walking meetups all around central
New York from May through October But we also
host hiking meetups once a month, and those are
always so much fun. I think I've seen some of
those videos. They're so much fun. And those
really, honestly, I think those meetups were
the highlight of my year. I really had a lot
of fun planning them because I'm super passionate
about travel. And this year we're going to be
venturing out a little bit further, especially
since our goal this year is to start expanding
our reach beyond central New York. We're gonna
be doing a hiking meetup at Letchworth State
Park. And I definitely wanna get out to the Adirondacks.
And that'll be something that's more of an excursion.
We wanna figure out organizing a shuttle and
a lunch situation so we can make a day of it
and keep everyone in one piece too. That kinda.
That's great. Gotta keep our people safe. Yes,
absolutely. That's awesome. I love that. I love
hearing about all these things and what's. What
I like the most I think honestly is, as you sort
of mentioned, you took a leap of faith or you
just did it. And there's so many brilliant people
who have great ideas who never do anything and
they're an accountant. You know, like, there's
nothing wrong with being an accountant. We need
accountants, yes. But I just have so much respect
for people that take that leap and do these unique
things. That's the only way it'll happen. And
you know, sometimes it doesn't work. your case,
it's working really well. So it was a great leap,
but I just really admire that. And I think that's
something we need more of, especially in central
New York, as we talk about trying to really show
off how incredible this place really is. And
we definitely share that goal. But it's such
a great, great thing that you're doing. I think
you're in a great place, especially as Syracuse
is rapidly rising now. I've been talking about
Micron for years and now it's legit. There's
equipment moving and things happening right now
and business is following rapidly. Absolutely.
It's so exciting. To build these networks, that's
how all of us make those connections, get those
positions in those projects and things like that
is through networking. What you're building for
women and honestly for everyone in central New
York, it's really cool to see. Thank you so much,
Matt. Alex, before I let you go, give us a little
tease of the podcast. Who's coming up? Who's
some coming guests we can look forward to? Yeah,
so we are getting, we're getting super intentional
this year for the podcast. My goal for the podcast
is also to start expanding outside of central
New York. So we're gonna start bringing in people
from Rochester, Albany, Buffalo, all the things.
There's going to be. in terms of who's coming
up. A lot of the speakers that are gonna be at
this year's summit will be coming up. And I'm
also gonna start doing some more solo episodes.
So I'm really excited about that. My goal is
to host at least one solo episode a month. And
I think that's gonna be, it's a long time coming.
Every year I've said, I'm gonna invest a little
bit more into my personal brand and developing
myself as a thought leader in the space. As you
can tell, I love to talk, but I just feel like
sometimes when you're interviewing people all
the time, you don't really get to share some
of your deeper thoughts and ideas, and that's
something I definitely want to do more of this
year. That's great. I love to see that. As you
know, being a marketing and PR person today,
a personal brand is huge. They're starting to
get that message, executives of big companies
starting to work hard to build their personal
brand because that helps everything. I think
you're absolutely on the right track. And I love
to see you doing a great job at it. So that's
the coolest part. One last thing I want to ask
you. If you wouldn't mind or if you'd like to,
let's shout out your production team because
your content is phenomenal. It looks great. So
I'd love to just give them some love for all
the hard work. Definitely. You know, I will say
this 100%. I would not be able to be as consistent
if it weren't for these guys. I mean, so many
people sing my praises for how consistent I am.
And I know it's really because I have an incredible
team. So I shout out Dime Media. Eric and Andy
are the co -founders. Evan is really our main
producer for the show. He does an incredible
job editing our content and all of our social
reels and all that good stuff. And not only are
these guys great at what they do, they really
support me. They really want to see me. you know,
grow and be successful. And so they're always
constantly working on researching more ways to
elevate the show, not just because it makes them
look good, but really because they they believe
in me. So it's awesome. It's it's been an absolute
pleasure working with them. They also shoot a
lot of our more professional content for our
events, too, and definitely will be at the summit.
So I've been working with them. This will be
our third year working with them at the summit.
And I can't say enough great things about them.
They're good people. That's great. Like I said,
you can see it in the quality of the work. They
do a great job. So I just wanted to give them
a little love for that, because it's hard work.
Yeah, there's a whole village. I mean, it takes
a village. And one of my goals this year is to
really, at least for the CNY Women's Network,
we're going to be launching an ambassador program
for our members to... take part in and that's
gonna look like our members showing up and hosting
our events and being the face of these events
and then also contributing to our channels and
kind of honing their creative gifts. I think
this is gonna be a really great way to create
more visibility for our members, but also to
continue growing the platform and putting out
good content. So it's really, I'm hopeful that
this year I can really start. to take a step
back as the face of the CNY Women's Network and
hopefully include so many more faces and voices
at the forefront, and it takes a village, right?
I love that. I love that. That's such a great
approach. I love that you got the strategy just
down for everything. You're definitely far more
organized than I am, so I have to admire that.
Well, strategy is one thing. I'm good at strategy.
It's the execution that's the hard part, though.
That's fair. Getting from point A to point B
is always the hardest part. I've got some really
cool people that I work with that hold me accountable
and also Have different gifts than I do that
are able to like really figure out Okay, what
are the what are the operations behind this thing
that we want to do and? Keeping me organized
is huge. So that's awesome. That's awesome. I
love to hear that Alex. This has been such a
pleasure I've I've wanted to talk to you for
quite a while now and it was so great that we
were able to make it happen and again to celebrate
one of the last interviews will do in this set.
So I think that's a cool, cool way to put it
to bed in before too long, maybe after the summit
when things cool down. But we definitely need
to have you back to our new place and help us
break that in. So that'd be pretty cool. I would
love that. I'm so excited to see your new space.
Congratulations on this, you know, huge growth.
Thank you. And the spaghetti warehouse is pretty
iconic. I mean, I'm really excited to see what
you do with the space. It is. We're going to
keep a number of the things that people love,
then we're gonna add a bunch of just new and
very unique things. So it's gonna get that historic
vibe, but definitely you're gonna tell there's
something new going on there. So I think it's
gonna be pretty fun if everything comes together
the way I picture it. But yeah, with that, Alex,
CNY Women's Network, follow the podcast. All
of the links and websites and stuff will be in
the description as always. And other than that,
follow us. We've got a long list of incredible
things going on. Episodes all this week leading
up to our big move. I don't even know what our
schedule, we'll take a couple days off as we're
moving, but probably not that much, so stick
around. But also, in the meantime, don't forget
to check out our boy Zach with Ads on the Go.
Getadsonthego .com is the sponsor of this show.
Zach just won an award, actually, I saw. One
of the local chambers gave him a... Rookie of
the Year Business Award and shout out to Hemi,
such a cool guy. But in any case, I'm Matt. That's
Alex. Danny's behind the board. Mike's skiing
in Alaska. I don't know. We'll be back tomorrow.
Bye.