Voice First World

This is Episode 96, the final episode of the Speak with Presence Season 3 podcast, KC Voices. This is our anniversary, three years of Voice First World being in business and JRT and I go down memory lane a bit and laugh and ask each other some questions that highlight our differences and how much we are opposite. We think if you can communicate with those who are opposite of you, you have a leg up in the communication realm. So, take a listen and let us know if you like it.  Here’s the episode.

We’d gone the wrong direction. So, we pause and we think, and we’re both like thinking, hmm, it’s going to take a little longer to get home. And at the exact same time, after a long pause of continuing to drive, we say these things at the same time? Maybe we should sing something. We should look at the GPS. No, you didn’t hear that. She says, let’s look at the GPS. And I say, maybe we should sing something.

Welcome to the Speak with Presence podcast. I’m Jen Vellenga. And I’m Jennifer Rettele-Thomas. On this podcast, we believe perfection is overrated. Leaders listen. And we all speak up to influence change.  We are in the studio of our favorite place, that is Real Media, KC, today. And we are ready to party like rock stars for our 96th episode.  I was totally going to bring one of those little things and I forgot.  Celebration. Okay. So 96th episode. Uh, it would be very cool if it was 100, but this way, are you ready? Okay. Now you’re going to be so impressed. It’s divisible by three. 96 for a three-year anniversary. That’s some heavy math. I know, I knew you’d be impressed.  

Wow, yes, our three-year anniversary, Jen. I mean, on June 1st of 2021, we resigned from our jobs in higher education to focus on Voice First World full time.  We resigned on the exact same day.  We celebrated. We had a little tears. And for the most part, the rest is history.

I was recently asked by somebody to recount the first time we met because we worked together in the university environment for 10 years. Yeah, a decade. And they’re like, okay, but not your first day of your business. But when is the first day you met?  And I, do you know the story about the ballroom, the university ballroom? Sadly, I have heard this story, Jen. But please do share this with our listeners. I will.

I don’t have it scripted, but I can tell the story. So, I love this story. I was a brand new faculty member at the university that we both worked, and I was having to go to, this is probably 2011, and I had to go to a scholarship training session that the University Foundation was putting on. That was a very good training, very good training. It was on how to implement funds for students who are getting scholarships. And so of course, I was running behind. Dropped my son at school. I’m like, running up the stairs trying to find the ballroom, new faculty member like, push open those double doors. There I am in my Birkenstocks and my backpack.

And I go in and it’s like, you know, those round tables with the table cloths and the school colors and mostly men with, if you could imagine, I’m sure it was summer and they weren’t wearing this, but just picture in your mind, the corduroy jackets and the leather elbows and the whole deal, the way faculty are, and I bust through the door and I realize it’s already started.

And I’m so completely embarrassed and so I slink into a seat and I start putting my stuff down and I look in my hand and I realize I am holding, what am I holding? You’re holding the Spider Man lunchbox. I was holding it. Which is not yours. It was not mine. Although I’m not, it’s not beneath me to bring a Spider Man lunchbox. Not this time. This time it was not mine and I realized, oh. My son at a brand-new school has no lunch today. So this tells you a lot of things about me.  So then once I settle myself down and everyone stops staring at me for being late and causing a ruckus.

And I know you well enough, I don’t remember you walking into the room late. Of course not, because you were focused on your presentation.  Maybe you were tripping over a few things. I mean, who knows? I mean, it could have been quite the ruckus. Yes, it was a ruckus. And I look up and this woman is presenting and I’m like, oh, I hate her. I hate her. She’s tall, skinny, blonde, beautiful coiffed hair, manicured nails, gorgeous jewelry, and high heels that I always say sent a spontaneous bolt up the center of my heel in my little Birkenstocks and these like tall heels.  And I’m like, I hate her. But then I’m like, how can she present? Will she be a good presenter? Because you are very critical. You are a very, I dare you? You are very critical. How dare you? I don’t critique other people when they’re on stage, only when I’m directing. Okay.  Okay. Once a director, always a director.

So yes, I’m looking up, I’m like, how does she present? And I look and I’m like, she’s really good, but she’s got this. She’s done this a million times. She’s got it. And then the questions start coming and I’m like, how is she going to engage with her audience? And you, this, of course, this person was you and you were awesome.

You were like, well, tell me more about that. How can I understand that better? Well, that’s an interesting question and you just really engaged everyone so authentically and you built rapport and I was like, man, she’s good. I hope I never have to see her again.  We’re done. She just makes you feel terrible about yourself because she’s so perfect in every way.

I’m like, I bet she didn’t forget her son’s lunch and you probably didn’t.  Well, maybe not that day, but I probably went through the drive thru at Sonic, had him sit under my desk, and I told him to be quiet while I started my day until I could get him to school. Feeding him tater tots under the desk? Like a dog. Here, here’s a tater tot. Because you were in the office at 6:00 and he didn’t go to school until 8:00 and you’re like, sit there, be quiet. Yeah, just be quiet. Here’s another tater tot.

I’m sure we’ve said it before, but we ended up working together and when I saw you, I was like, oh, her again.  Yeah, I’ve heard that story too. It makes me feel good. No, but one of my coworkers or employees at the time, said, you know, Jenny, I know how you like to work. You don’t like to do anything twice. You like to do things unique and really customized for these amazing donors that we were able to serve. And she goes, I don’t know why we’re not working with the theater department.

And I was like, hmm. I didn’t think about it. And so I said, sure, sure, let’s get something set up. And so a couple of weeks later, Jen Vellenga and a couple of her faculty members show up in this room and it was such a great first meeting just to be able to talk about what we try to envision and I just loved learning so much more, even though I should understand theater, it was just great to really understand how everything we were attempting to do from a storytelling and a unique way to bring to life different segments of our donor base was really exciting.

So we started working together and over 10 years, definitely had you do a lot of contract work in partnership with the organization. And then it kind of led to COVID and I just remember, thinking to myself, okay, we think we’re going to be home for a while and somehow we have to say thank you.

And at this point, right, we’re like, is it $1.6 or $1.7 billion and how are we going to do this? And I so desperately asked you to come over and sit on my driveway with no lawn chairs. And I did this puppy dog look because I know you had a really tough semester that semester. And I said, I don’t know how in the world we’re going to possibly say thank you, for this amount of money without you.

And you said yes. So we move on and we do a bunch of filming and Jen and I always say that we’ll never forget the day. We both love being outdoors. I would say I’m more the ag girl than Jen V.  I like recreational outdoors, you know, being on a canoe, hiking. You’re more of a get on the tractor and pull weeds. Right. And a boat that has a motor. And a boat with a motor. Yeah. Opposites in pretty much every way. 

So we’re out in the middle of this ag field and we’re shooting the last scene for us all these video series. And the group that we had hired to do some of the video shoot out of the blue in the middle of this ag field, Jen and I could take you to the spot right now, looked at us and said, you realize you guys have something really unique.  And we were like, we laughed it off, like as always, because we’re a hot mess. Oh, yes. But anyway, it just kind of took us down this path.

And so we were excited to be able to say, okay, Jen, we have no life during COVID and we’re in the same bubble. So why don’t you come to my basement every Saturday and let’s have fun thinking about a side hustle and we don’t need to go on to all this.  The side hustle did its thing and got everything in place and it was going to be a side hustle because Jen was a full professor, the head of a theater department. I was in a leadership role. So we had our gig, right? And then as we went to launch, we realized that it was going to get bigger than we had ever expected. And we had to make a decision. And thus, on June 1st, back to the beginning of our podcast, we stepped away and we’ve never looked back and it’s been an incredible journey.

Typically, make or break it. Businesses, yeah, businesses fail in the first three to five years. Certainly, you’ll know that you’re heading downhill if you’re at the three-year mark. And there’s ups and downs for sure, but by all measures, it’s been successful.  Yeah. It’s been incredible. I mean, let’s be honest here in this relationship, I am not the creative one.  I am just the one that keeps the train on the tracks and keeps Jen V moving forward.  That is my job so that she can be in her creative mode.

So Jen, I’m a little nervous about what potentially you could have up your sleeve for today’s conversation.  Yes. Well, I have some questions for you that I thought would be fun to kind of highlight our differences, but what makes us work is how different we actually are. Ready?  I don’t know, because I never know what you have up your sleeve.

I’m waiting, Jen V.  Okay, okay. In the spirit of threes, I gave you in advance three questions to noodle on and some that I did not give you. But I created them to see if my claim that we are complete opposites holds true.  So, I want to know, are you ready for that? Yes, Jen V.  I am ready.

Okay, first question.  A story, I’ll let you answer and then I’ll answer, a story of a time that you laughed so hard, that we laughed so hard, while launching and growing our business.  Jen V, we do that every day. How would you expect for me to come up with one situation because every day I think we’re a hot mess and we just laugh through it. I mean, that’s what we do. And I think even in our mission statement it says we have to have fun. That’s in our mission statement.

Okay. So a time when we were practically peeing our pants because we were laughing so hard.  You know, I’m a little frustrated. I mean, this is where journaling could come in. I don’t remember the topic at all. But we were coming home from a training. And I’m usually the driver, and Jen is the most phenomenal navigator that ever existed. So, we are a great duo at that. It is pouring down rain, like cats and dogs.

Do you remember? Keep going, I’ll see. Okay, so here’s what happened.  Some topic came up for thus, which none of us, I cannot remember the topic, but it got so bad that I was on the verge of wetting myself. I had tears coming down. I am driving a car in pouring down rain and I’m attempting to get over. To pull over. Do you remember? Yes. To pull over.

Oh no, I remember raining cats and dogs! Wasn’t that the title? Oh no. Oh no. Okay. Okay.  Alright. Okay, let me tell you what it was.  Okay, you tell me. It’s awful. Oh god, this is awful. This is gonna have to be rated as?? Keep it clean, Jen. Okay, it was raining, we were driving, and there was, what did we see?  A cat. A white cat that got hit. And was still alive. It’s not funny. It’s not funny. It was mortifying. No, but here’s what was funny. Because we were coming back, still in the rain, and I was like, oh, I just thought of the cat. And you were like, no! Don’t ever bring up the cat again.  It was mortifying. And like, I feel like I have PTSD from that moment.

The one I remember is also ironically on the road.  We were driving back from Oklahoma. Shout out to our friends, Shannon and Lauren. We’re driving back home and it’s dark. It was late.  Like 10, 1030 at night. Super late for you. And that’s your bed. And it’s very dark. It was a dark night. There was no moon. Yeah. And we’re on a kind of a side road, not a side road, but there’s no one out. It wasn’t a main highway and we’re going along, we’re talking and talking and talking and talking and talking. Then we’re quiet for a while.  And you go, I feel like maybe this isn’t the right direction. And I’m like, hmm. We’re kind of looking, and we’re quiet, and we’re quiet, and then …  because I realized, I’m not verbalizing this, but I, at that moment, had realized that because we were talking, we had missed our turn, and we went 20 miles further on this road than we should, which meant it was going to add significant time to our already long drive home.

Yep. That’s going on in my head. We’d gone the wrong direction and so we pause and we think and we’re both like thinking, hmm, it’s going to take a little longer to get home. And at the exact same time, after a long pause of continuing to drive, we say these things at the same time. Will you say it with me at the same time? Ready? One, two, three. Maybe we should sing something. No, you didn’t hear that. She says, let’s look at the GPS. And I say, maybe we should sing something.  Jen, this is not a time to sing. We are in the middle of nowhere. I thought you were saying it’ll take us longer to get home. And I’m like, okay, well, let’s sing something.  And you were like, no, we’re gonna turn around and find a better way to get there. And we had to pull over because we were laughing so hard.  We’re a hot mess, Jen. A hot mess.

Okay, question two. You ready for it? I’m ready. Alright, second question.  A business challenge that has come up over the last three years that made you say, what on earth, or WTF, what on earth?

I was blown away in these very casual conversations, the number of times that people would say, so do you have a business plan? Oh, yeah. And it was like, yeah, I do.  I mean, you’ve got a solid business plan, right? And it was like, okay, this, I’m just gonna speak for myself. Because this is your thing. I mean, you are operations for our business.

So this really hits you hard. Right. And I’m like, I sit there and I think what’s close to me, right, is I’m like, okay, my husband has had his own business for way beyond before I was ever in the picture. And I’m like, I don’t remember ever once in a casual conversation, somebody saying, so Tony, do you have a business plan for what you’re doing? Never. Like that was the closest thing for me to relate to, right? Cause I mean, plenty of, as we’ve met tons of entrepreneurs and great collaboration, but it was like, they didn’t think we were capable of starting our own business. And so the first question was to challenge us on whether we had a business plan.

Yeah. And of course you think, and I feel like sometimes there was a couple of times where it was like, well, maybe we could sit down and look at that. Yes, it was both men and women. If you’d like us to take a look at your business plan, since you’re coming from higher ed. Now we could have been open and been like, sure, but it felt like it was more about judging what we could possibly come up with.

And we had, I mean, at that time, it wasn’t like, I mean, Jen and I knew our strengths and weaknesses. The great news is we’re very opposites. So, there were some time, there are areas that we still had voids and we knew we had to have people that were amazing in those areas to help us build this business and we did that from the beginning.

So we hired people, consultants and people to help. And so it was like, yeah, we’re going to admit nobody knows every aspect. You always have to have some other people that come in with expertise. And we did that because that’s what you do when you start a business. But it was just like amazing.

I was like, okay, I think I’ve been asked this now 27 times. I remember in the beginning you being very irritated by that. Yeah, because it was like we were just talking. Like I’ve never, I would never ask somebody who’s just starting. Can I see your business plan? 

So I’m always happy to help talk about it or share some of our positives and struggles and those kind of things. But just to come out and say, so do you have a business plan? Just seems a little offensive. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. That’s a good one. Judgmental. Okay, you? The job we have now, working mostly online, coaching women and sharing training, doing some in person as well. This is a job we wouldn’t have had in this way.  We couldn’t have done it without the technology that exists today. So there’s that. 

So, I was recently at an event. I don’t remember if I told you this or not, but we were at an event together. You were one side of networking with someone else. Someone and I was at the other side and this older man came up to me. He was in manufacturing business and retired and he said, um, oh, what is it that you do?

And I say, well, you know how when women get into higher levels of leadership in their organizations, oftentimes they’re outnumbered. And he was like, oh yeah, I guess. Now remember this is an older guy who’s retired. Nice guy. Nice guy. Um, yeah, I guess I never really thought about that. And I was like, yeah, so that happens when women get into higher levels of leadership.  They’re often outnumbered and then they start to second guess where they fit and sometimes they lose confidence and they need some new tools because what got you here won’t get you there. They need new tools to communicate in those leadership positions. We support those women to make sure they’ve got communication and leadership training to continue to thrive in those areas because we can’t lose any more women in leadership.

And he was kind of glazed over for a little bit. And then he was like, well, I don’t know that. I mean, I was a CEO. And we had women who were in the C suite positions. And I was like, oh, huh? How many? And he’s like, oh, um, I mean, one or two. And I said, okay, so when you’re sitting around the conference table, how many? What’s the percentage? And he goes, oh, maybe there’d be 20, 25 of us. And there may be one or two, but she, you know, the one I’m thinking of, she was great. And I was like, oh, good. He goes, she had no problem speaking up. Because I think I said something about sometimes they don’t speak up because they don’t know if they’re going to be heard.

And he goes, oh, she didn’t have a problem. She had no problems, no problem speaking up or anything. And I said, did you ask her that?  And he was like, no, um, but everything’s good. But here’s the thing I don’t know, uh, you know, my daughter, she’s doing some social media thing, I mean, I don’t really know what it is, something, but all I really want to know is, I’m a consultant, and you’re a consultant, right? And I said, yeah, you could call me a consultant, and he said, I just don’t know how to get people, and I’m like, hmm. Well, what are you? What are you trying to get them? What are you consulting on? And he said, the manufacturing business. And I’m like, okay, he goes, I got my business card. And I said, I’d be happy to take your business card. I don’t have any manufacturing work for you, but happy to trade business cards. 

And then he goes, yeah, I just have no idea how to get anybody. And I said, how about your daughter, who’s in social media? And he goes, oh, I don’t know what she does. And I said, I promise you, she will know how to get you clients. And he’s like, huh, I never really thought to ask her anything like that. I mean, it’s just for those kids. And I said, no, you, the way you get clients is social media. Yeah. LinkedIn, you need to be on LinkedIn. Are you on LinkedIn? Oh, I mean, I guess I think I have one.  I was like, dude. But this was my what on earth moment, just because it had a lot of things in it. Meaning it had someone who felt like he was dismissing some of the women in his organization. Okay, yeah, I’m jumping there, maybe he wasn’t. It felt like he was dismissing his daughter, and he was dismissive of us and how we capture attention through social media. Here we are in the fastest moment of technology, and we, women of a certain age, have jumped out to learn it. And here’s this guy who’s like, I’m a consultant, I just can’t figure it out. What on earth? What on earth?

Ready for the third question? I’m ready.  Share a business success that has made you proud over the last three years. I mean, for me, it comes down to the fact of what our mission and vision was for this business. We wanted to build a business that provided support for women and we do work with men. So I don’t want to dismiss that in anyway. But we provide the type of coaching, consulting and support that we only wish we had.  There’s a lot of people in this business and we have a lot of clients that come to us that have not had the best experience, right?

So they’re skeptical. Like do I want to trust? Yeah. It’s like, okay, am I going to trust them, this organization. But I think to be able to say that when we literally say we’re all in for our clients. To say, you know, when we say to our clients, you call us with updates, you have our number, email us, give us updates.  If you need us, let us know, like to feel like we are truly there for them. Not that we can just jump on at that time, right? Because we’ve got other appointments, but just to feel as though we’re that support for them, that we had only wished we had during our careers.

It’s so hard too JRT because I’ll be on a coaching call with someone and they’ll say, um, I have a talk coming up on, you know, May 30th and I’ll like quickly text you, May 30^th, so and so, talk. And you’ll be like, buzz, buzz and when I get off the call, it’s on the calendar.  So we can remember to reach out because how many times did you feel alone? Alone? The higher you go, the lonelier it gets because the people that might be closest to you in the organization, probably is not the person that you want to have certain conversations with and just from a professional standpoint and that’s absolutely the way it, it needs to be. And so to be able to have someone on the outside to have a conversation with and to think through situations, is so powerful.

I love that we have stayed true to one thing.  Lots of people have, and this happens for plays and screenplays and stuff, is everyone has an idea. Oh, what if the character did this? And what if they did that? And the message from the teacher is always, stay true to your vision. You can listen to people’s ideas, but if it’s not your idea, it’s not your idea. Write your play, not everyone else’s. And I feel the same way about business. We’re building our business, not everyone else’s. It’s, well, why don’t you do this? And I think you need to have a product at that. Or maybe you should work with this kind of, and like we said, we work with men, but it’s usually men who feel find us and say, hey, would you work with me? And we can absolutely get them results.

But we’re mostly targeting women because that’s been an overall mission. And I’m proud of us staying focused on one thing. It may mean we grow a little bit slower, but we know what we’re doing and we’re growing that thing. And okay, maybe this is too, but you know, I don’t follow the rules. So, I love that we are not a business that’s in debt and that’s all because of you and how smart you’ve been with how you’ve built our business from a financial perspective and even if I’ve thrown temper tantrums about the things that I want that you won’t let me have. We have been profitable and there’s still a list. There is a list. I just keep going, when can I get this? Not yet, but I’m very proud of you for getting us to the point of being a thriving business in the third year. Ah, well, thank you. And we wouldn’t have a business if it wasn’t for your amazing coaching.

So it is a great duo that we have. And I think, I feel very blessed that we haven’t had to have the brick and mortar cost. I think that’s helped us grow, but I also think it’s because we also, at the very beginning, realized very quickly what we didn’t know. Yeah. Right? So, even on the social media and the marketing stuff that both of us were looking at, it’s just going, oh my gosh. There’s still lots of things we don’t know, but we learn it. Or we hire it. As you say, you have a Ph.D. in YouTube. I do. I mean, that’s what we do. If I don’t know it, I go to YouTube. That’s right. Yep. You just gotta be resourceful and you constantly have to be making sacrifices. That’s what it’s all about. And that’s probably forever. Forever. Because you’ll always want something bigger and better and then you have to make those decisions. 

Alright, JRT, I want to go to the rapid fire. I’m looking at the time here. I answer for you, you answer for me. Wait, yes, I answer for you, you answer for me, and we’ll discuss later. So we’re going to do six questions. You ready? I’m ready. Okay, first question. Three items Jen V is going to choose, order off of a fancy lunch menu?  Salad. But if we’re at a fancy restaurant, it won’t be chicken. She will add a very lovely seafood to her salad. So that could be shrimp, that could be salmon. It’s going to be a more upscale piece of protein. Alright. I would agree with that. That’s a good answer. I will say that’s a yes.

Three items JRT is going to choose off a fancy lunch menu. Okay, we’re at lunch. It’s fancy.  If it’s fancy. I mean, chicken is the typical go-to, but I would say if it’s fancy and you trust the beef, you’re going to get a burger on a gluten free bun these days. And you want the fries, but you’re probably gonna ask for a baked potato. That’s correct. And how, yes, that is correct. Ding, ding, ding. Ding, ding, ding. 

Three jobs Jen V would be doing if she wasn’t training leaders in communication.  She would be directing a show back in the big cities, putting on a massive production.  That would be one. Okay.  Um, number two, she would be doing more playwrights with Chantal Bilodeau. Chantal’s the playwright. You’d be doing more new play development on things that you’re passionate about. Yes. Good one. Yes, you would be doing that. And traveling. You’d be going to rural, I mean, just some very unique locations to be able to gather the research, to be able to put these playwrights together. Very good. 

And number three.  Something not related to the entertainment industry. Try that. Okay.  Well, you wouldn’t be a truck driver. You would not be a doctor. I think you would do something kind of in the tech social media space, like you’ve come a long ways in three years. And there is part of you that I know enjoys it, and so, I think you would, I think you’d use your creative juices to, it wouldn’t be, like, obviously for Voice First World or something else, but I would see you trying to get more creative and learn that. Yeah. Alright, yes, those are good.

I’m gonna answer yours.  One, I think you could, would be a chief of staff for like a Fortune 100 Company.  Like a household name, chief of staff, keeping that ship running. That would be one.  Two would be a doctor, a medical professional, probably doctor, for the geriatric clientele. Yes.  Or maybe I’d focus specifically on women’s health. Oh, yes, yes. I didn’t think about geriatrics or women’s health. And since you said it earlier, you gave me an idea, or you’d be a truck driver. I’d be a truck driver. Or race car driver. Race car driver. Yeah, I’ll give you that. Okay.

Since you got to answer, I’ll say I think my third, your first two were good, and the third one was good too, but I think I’d be a kindergarten teacher. Really? Yes. Oh, I would never think that. Sure you would. Remember all the childcare stuff that came up with United WE, and I was like, maybe we should open a child care center, and you were like, not in none of my life. Not in a million years. That’s true, because you do so much with children’s theater. I love those little guys’ kindergarten. I love it. Oh, Jen, I have a new perspective for you now. Yeah, it’s a total, total, total. Love those little guys. I was at the children’s theater, but that was in theater. But yeah, kindergarten teacher is so good. Oh, painting with them and teaching them about their self-worth and making them see the world. Oh, I would love it.

Question three. What would be Jen V’s ideal bedtime? Now, I think Jen would say around 9:00. Yeah. No, just say, yeah. Okay. JRT. But were you gonna say from before? Well, from before your ideal bedtime was 12:00 am or 1:00 am. Yeah. But you don’t have to do that anymore.   I think I’m wired that way, but anymore, I think because my business partner is up so early, I get up early. Ding, ding, ding.

So JRT ‘s ideal bedtime, I would say 7:30 p.m. Now, in the middle of winter, that’s what it exactly feels like. Now comes summertime. You might push it to 8:45. I might push the lever just a little. I mean, I could go to 9:00 in the summertime. Well, it’s still light out. Light out, that’s the problem. 

And we are going to see the opening night of Little Shop of Horrors at KC Rep tonight. We’re recording this in early May. And it doesn’t start until 8, so we gotta stay up. Are we gonna nap?

This is question 4. If Jen V had $200 and two hours to herself, and she had to report back to no one. Oh, I know this answer. $200, two hours, where’s she gonna spend it, where’s she gonna go? Bookstore.  Damn, that was easy. You have $200 and two hours. You’re gonna go to a nice spa. A nice spa and you’re going to get a mani pedi facial. That’s a very good answer. Is that a good answer? Very good answer.

Five, if you had, I’m going to say $1.6 billion because that was the number that you raised at your old job. If Jen V had $1.6 billion, where would she put it? Business and/or personal. I believe Jen V would want to keep the mission of Voice First World alive but be able to bring in so many of her students that she has trained, to go out and continue to make the change that we want to make through Voice First World’s, mission and vision.  And then I do know that she would then also set up a foundation that would, I believe, be more in the route for our younger generation and probably specifically girls to help them find their voice at a much younger age. And, you know, maybe with that amount of money, we could have a Voice First World Headquarters. Yeah. 

Yes. Good, good answer. Good answer. That’s a great answer. And I mean, we’ve obviously had conversations. So what would JRT do with $1.6 billion? I mean, if we had to just go down the route, save or spend, save would be first, where Jen V might be save some, but spend most. I think you would do the same. I think you would want to see Voice First World grow. I think you’d want a foundation for girls. And it’s funny, we did not plan this. This is just a surprising question. But we’ve talked about these things. So yes, that’s what you would want. A Voice First World headquarters, ideally with marble countertops. Of course with marble countertops. I mean, come on. And Jen’s espresso machine. You would put your money towards some medical issues around women’s health concerns. I think you would put some funding there. I think you’d probably put some money towards the Catholic church. Yep.

I think you would get a cigarette boat. Yes, I would. Water is just one of those things that whether you’re standing next to it, standing next to a pond or you’re standing next to a lake.

I mean, we’re in the Midwest here. Come on. I mean, it’s not like we got great lakes. But there is just something about that that I think kind of provides some healing, as part of that process. So I think that would be something that would be important that we don’t give ourselves time to do now, but we need to give ourselves time and we would want to make sure that the team we’re building out has that same resource.

Yes, yes. Okay, last fun question, then we’ll wrap this up. When JRT was in high school,  what would we hear, what music would we hear on her car radio, cassette, or 8-track tape?  Yes, I know you know this one for me. What was it? Biggie, Biggie, Biggie. Biggie, Biggie, Biggie. Can’t you see? Can’t you see? Sometimes the world just hypnotized me. Yes, that was the kind of me, I was like kind of this rap going into college. That was what my era was, Snoop Dogg. You know, that’s the kind of music I liked.

Yes, little bit younger than me, but also just a different environment. Was that on your radio cassette or 8 track tape or CD? Maybe CD for you? Okay, let’s think about this. What were you driving? I had this very sweet S10 truck that had a CB in it. CB radio.  CB radio, because that’s what you did. For you kids out there listening, go Google it. CB radio. That means you have to have a CB radio antenna. I just had a normal radio and I do not believe in that vehicle that I had a tape cassette. I think it was just straight up AM/FM.  At least you had FM. My first car, the 1979 Oldsmobile Cutlass. Did not. It was just a beautiful AM radio. Alright.

Am I supposed to answer you now? What would Jen V in high school, mid to late 1980s, for those who are counting. What would you hear on Jen V’s car radio, cassette or 8-track tape?

Jen, I have absolutely no idea. I mean, when I think of you in music, I don’t have any idea what you would listen to in high school. I mean, it feels like it would be, I mean, I don’t see you like as the hip hop kind of a person, because you were in the arts and theater, and so, like, I see it, it’s not folksy, it’s not country.  It’s very easy if you think about it. What is it? I was probably listening to show tunes. Oh, yeah.  That’s true. A hundred percent. Show tunes, or maybe a little like U2, alternative rock kind of stuff. They Might Be Giants was a fave, but I don’t know if I listened to them until college, but it was going to be show tunes, I’m sorry to say, but that’s true.

That’s true. That was your thing. It still is. But I didn’t have a car. My brother had a Toyota Tercel. Oh, those were nice. And I would bum rides off of people, but I didn’t get a car, a Chevy Malibu Classic, until I was in college. And that was a big car. Big ole’ boat. Big ole’ boat. That thing, you’d enter one state and go into the next and the back end was still trying to come through. That’s right. 

Well, JRT, those are all of my questions. I hope you learned a little something about me and we shared a bit about our business. We’re so honored and happy to be in our business together. I can’t wait to see what the next three years brings. Oh, it’s so exciting. And when we get to that $1.6 billion so we can build the foundation for girls, like the whole thing, it’s going to be awesome. It’s going to be amazing. And the beautiful thing is, as we’ve talked today, when you think about all spectrums of the lifespan, there’s no part of it where we’re not passionate about it.  And each lifespan has something a little different. But we’re just here to want to create change and make things better for people.  Make a change.  Getting people to speak with presence. And that brings us to our podcast break. 

Yeah, talk about that, Jen. What do we do in the summer?   Well, it’s episode 96.  So as much as I would love to push us forward to episode 100 in season three, we’re going to pause at 96 and take a summer break. We’re going to push our content more to social media. So if you’re on social media, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, I’ll put some stuff on TikTok or just not really on Twitter, but maybe we’ll explore. But we’re going to spend the summer sending content to the socials and use the time that we’ve been spending interviewing people on the podcast to go direct into the social networks and then we’ll be back.

We are intending to be back in the fall. We don’t have a date yet, but we will make sure if you’re following us on the socials to tell you when we’re starting back up. Will we do an interview show? Will it be Kansas City? Will it just be us?  Surprise. It’s going to be a surprise. That’s some of what we’ll be figuring out over the summer.

But if you enjoyed hearing us just talk to each other. Let us know. You can go into your app, especially the Apple app, and you can rate and review the show, and we would love that if you felt like you wanted to give us love, we would be so appreciative of that. We will be back on the Speak with Presence podcast next season, probably after Labor Day.

Thank you so much for listening. We are grateful for every single one of you. Have a great summer. See you soon. Bye-bye.

We were literally in bumper traffic, pouring down rain, awful conditions, and some topic came up. And I literally was trying my best to get us off the road because I did not think I could see because of the tears coming down my face. And when you laugh, you have this belly laugh. Oh, my gosh. But hopefully we got home safely.  We did, because we’re clearly here.