Finding meaning while leading

[00:00:04] Speaker A: Opinions expressed in this episode are personal. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this streaming platform. [00:00:14] Speaker B: Good day, everyone, and welcome to another edition of let's be diverse. I am your host, Andrew Stout. This episode is dedicated to all my loved ones who supported me through this journey. As you all know, I'm really much into leadership, HR, workplace topics. Today. I kind of looked at something. I've been thinking about it for a while, and I know leaders, when they're trying to figure stuff out, they always have to have, I say, clarity, and they also have to have a little bit of meaning in themselves so that they can deliver and be the best for their team. So today's topic is going to be finding meaning while leading. And I'm so happy to have as my guest today, Raquel Boris. Now, Raquel is a dynamic speaker who shares her stories and insights across topics like mental health, anti bullying, environmental activism, volunteer service, and more. Raquel specializes in working with teens to help them learn how to turn their struggles into strengths, to stand up for their beliefs, and to activate their talents and voices in their communities. She believes in music, poetry, art, and dance that helps teams celebrate their identities, gain the courage to rock the boat for good. By the end of her time with them, her students feel seen, heard, motivated to enact their bold vision to improve their world. I know in this beginning, I've said that she specializes in working with teens, and I feel like she doesn't just motivate teens. I feel like she motivates everyone, every individual. If you never had a chance to listen to her speak or watch any of her videos or listen to her lives, I feel like you're missing out. She is a truly inspirational individual, and I am so happy to have her on the show today. Welcome to the show, Raquel. Thank you so much for coming on today. [00:02:12] Speaker A: Thank you so much for having me. I know that we've, it's been a while that we've been trying to get this on the book, so yay. Finally. [00:02:21] Speaker B: It's okay. [00:02:21] Speaker A: You know what? [00:02:22] Speaker B: I always believe that good things come to those who were patient and those who wait. So I knew that it was going to come. It just didn't happen at the time. And that's okay. So it just means that it just wasn't the time for it. Today is the day. So I'm super thrilled. [00:02:36] Speaker A: Thanks. [00:02:36] Speaker B: You're welcome. You're welcome. How are things with you, Raquel? I want to know what's going on in your world, what's happening? Give us the deets. What's going on. [00:02:44] Speaker A: Gosh, so much going on, but all wonderful things besides everything you just mentioned, I do have a full time job doing social media and marketing for a mortgage company, and that's going really well. And then I have, you know, my passion project of rock the boat. And I'm just really blessed that I'm working for a company that believes in what I'm doing with our youth empowerment. So I'm able to do both. So I'm very, very grateful for that. [00:03:13] Speaker B: I think it's super awesome that your company realizes that and realizes your passion and promotes it and helps you to grow and be innovative and creative. I really feel like that's super important. I feel like a lot of leaders and companies don't allow their employees to be like that. So to be working for a company that allows you to do that is super awesome. [00:03:34] Speaker A: Yeah, it is super awesome. [00:03:36] Speaker B: Well, I'm glad to hear that things are going well with you. You're always in such a great mood and always having fun, and I just love that. And one of the things I enjoy about you is that you smile. And I wish I was telling somebody the other day, I wish people would smile more because it just makes people feel so good when somebody's smiling while they're talking to them. Makes the other person feel so welcomed and appreciated. So I appreciate that you do that. And like I said, I wish that people would do that way more often. [00:04:10] Speaker A: I didn't realize until you said it. I guess I do smile a lot as I'm sitting here listening to you and smiling. Yeah. [00:04:18] Speaker B: Well, that's good. There's nothing wrong with it. Like I said, I wish people would do it way more. So keep doing what you're doing. [00:04:24] Speaker A: Thank you. [00:04:26] Speaker B: You're welcome. So before we begin, Raquel, I always have a fun question to ask my guests to get things going. Are you ready for yours today? [00:04:35] Speaker A: I think so. [00:04:40] Speaker B: So my question to you is, do you think the world would be better or worse if everyone thought the same way? [00:04:49] Speaker A: Oh, gosh. Worse if we all had? I mean, obviously I would want it to be good thoughts, not bad thoughts, but, yeah, no, I do appreciate that we all have a different way of thinking, for sure, but it is difficult if that way of thinking is closed minded, if you will, so. But, yeah, I do. I do believe that is important, that we all have different way of thinking to challenge each other and hopefully make each other better as well. [00:05:21] Speaker B: I agree with you 100%. I think if we're all thinking the same, then I think nothing would be I mentioned innovative and creative before, so I think people wouldn't be innovative, creative because they, you know, they wouldn't be hearing different ideas and different thoughts. So I definitely agree with you for sure. [00:05:37] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:05:38] Speaker B: Great answer. Look at you, not knowing a question. And super awesome. Super awesome. Thanks for having fun with me, Raquel. I know you're a little bit nervous about that before we started, so. But you did great. Thanks for having fun with me. [00:05:54] Speaker A: Of course. [00:05:56] Speaker B: So why don't we start off with you telling us a little bit about you, your story, and, of course, your why. [00:06:02] Speaker A: What's interesting is I didn't really have a story. I had a story, but I never shared it up until, I want to say, maybe four years ago via LinkedIn. So it's crazy how the story that I shared, there was a lot of shame around it and just the narrative around it as well. I was always kind of scared to share it because of what people were going to think of me. I didn't want to be labeled a certain way. And that story was that I suffered from clinical depression when I was a teenager. And while I was attending UCLA, my undergrad, I actually attempted suicide while I was there. And once again, just the shame. And I never lied about graduating. I was very honest that I never actually graduated from school, but I just would kind of just say that it was for medical reasons, and no one ever questioned that. They just kind of left it at that. And I just essentially kept it a secret. And it wasn't until four years ago that one of my colleagues in the mortgage space was talking about how, as leaders, it's important for us to change the narrative around mental health. And this was before COVID So this was before, you know, just the topic was such a huge topic, and I decided just to share my story on LinkedIn because that's the place where I felt that I had built a community with people that I could trust, and they had kind of followed my journey. And I just felt that it was time for me to tell people, you know, yeah, I smile all the time. I love life, and I'm a happy person, but it wasn't always the case. And so I shared it. And when I did, it was amazing. The positive response that I received, I thought maybe I would get some backlash, but I didn't. If anything, people were very appreciative that I was so vulnerable. And a lot of people, you know, reached out saying that they felt the same at times. And, you know, it's just kind of good to see that people can overcome and so that essentially, that story led me to my purpose and to my meaning, because I was telling someone a couple days ago that I honestly never really thought about why I was spared, you know, because, unfortunately, you do hear of so many stories of people taking their lives. And for me, I was like, why am I still here? You know, there has to be a reason. There has to be a purpose, a meaning. And so it wasn't until I shared it. And then, you know, talking to our youth, I realized, okay, now I know that that thing that I was ashamed of is now actually my purpose, and that is to have other people, but especially our youth, feel seen and heard and valued, because I didn't feel that way. And when you don't feel seen and heard or valued, it really can affect the way you see yourself and, you know, your just. Your confidence and just the way you move around the world. So for me, that's my meaning. My why is to. Is to help others and to give back. And, you know, I have two adults as kids now. My son's going to be 23. My daughter's 19. And just seeing them kind of navigate the world as a Gen Z in social media, and they've already had friends of theirs take their lives. They've, you know, they've had to experience COVID and all of those things. And I just realized how important it is that we need to focus more on our youth because they are our future, and we need to bridge that generational gap because I feel like it keeps getting wider, essentially, when it should be the opposite. So I'm trying to kind of help as well, to have adults see that it really isn't that difficult to be able to connect and relate to our youth. We just have to be willing to be curious and ask questions and listen and just allow them to be themselves. So, yeah, that's kind of where I'm at with that. [00:09:54] Speaker B: There's so many things I want to pack in there. First off, amazing story. Amazing to see where, you know, where you were and where you've come, and it's amazing to see that. And you just said it before, like, why am I, you know, why am I here? And I think there's a reason. I believe that there's a reason for everything, and there's a reason why you're still with us. We are blessed to have you still with us. That's for sure. I can thank you. I can honestly say that for myself, I'm blessed to be connected with you. And I can say that. Honestly say that. I know that there's many others that can say the same thing, that they're blessed to be connected with you as well. The other thing I want to go into is, as you know, I'm very much into many different things, but one of the things I love is leadership. And one of the things I feel that's so important in the leader is vulnerability. And I don't know if anybody's ever told you this before, but I mentioned that in our intro that I've watched you and listened to a lot of your videos and just the way that you come across stuff and the things that you organized, and you are a leader in your own right. In my mind, I see you as a leader. And the reason why is because I truly believe that a leader should be vulnerable, and they should make people feel like they are seen, heard, valued, and understood. And I know for myself, any interactions that I've had with you, you've done that with me, and I'm sure that anybody that's listening to you speaking has felt that as well. I feel like that's super important, your story. And that's why I like to do these in the beginning, because I feel like everybody has something that they want to put out in the world, and I want everybody to understand that, you know, if you're in a rabbit hole or if you're in a circle with a, like, a mouse running in a circle, there's always a way out. And these stories are showing people that it is possible to get out of those holes. So thank you for being the leader that you are. Like I said, I don't know if anybody's ever told you that before, but in my mind, thank you. You truly are. [00:11:57] Speaker A: I appreciate that, Andrew. [00:11:58] Speaker B: You're very, very welcome. So why don't we get into this, the nuts and bolts of all this here of our discussion? So today, like I said, we are talking about leading with meaning. So how would you describe someone who is trying to find meaning while leading their team? [00:12:18] Speaker A: Yeah, that's interesting, because I do feel that there's still a lot of leaders out there that are trying to find their meaning and still lead a team. For me, it's interesting because have you mentioned that you see me as a leader? Because I don't actually have a team at work. So for me, it's not like I have this, like, managerial role, but I do see myself as being a leader just, you know, in my. With my LinkedIn community and so forth. And so that's why it is really important to essentially walk the walk if you will. So I'm not someone that feels like I have to explain certain things. I think I just try to just do them. So I essentially do the same thing when it comes to work. You know, for instance, you know, doing that, I help our loan officers with content creation and social media. I try to do what I'm telling them they should do. Like, I just do it so that they can see it. So I kind of, I'm just more of a doer, I guess, as with the leader, and I'm just sharing my journey and my story so that they can see, too, that sometimes that's what it takes. Right. It's just kind of putting yourself out there and sharing your story to kind of realize what is your meaning and your passion. I think a lot of times people struggle with that, but it's because they're not willing to maybe look at things that they've experienced or their past, if you will, just like, I try to, you know, not share my story. So I do try to just lead by example. In that case, I love that you. [00:13:53] Speaker B: Said walk to walk. I feel like it's super important to do that. I feel like, you know, we have to be genuine as a leader. And I do agree with you 100% about leading by example. I talked about this on another one of my episodes, and I'll probably date myself again here, but I remember playing as a kid, follow the leader, so I was following what person was doing. So I feel like we learn leadership at a very young age. I think we just forget about it. And I feel like when you're following somebody, you have to, you know, you have to learn that people are going to follow and mimic what you're doing. So it's kind of like your kids, whatever, right? You're growing. When they're growing up, they mimicked what mom was doing. And so, you know, as they grow up, they're mimicking what their parents are teaching them when they go to work, they mimic what they're boss is doing. So if their boss is a very calm and laid back individual, especially when there's chaos situations, then they're going to be very laid back and they're going to be like, oh, you know, so and so is, you know, so laid back in these situations. I want to learn from them. I want to learn how they do it. If you were like, you know, jumping around and losing your composure all the time, well, then, you know, your, your team is going to lose their composure as well. So. Yeah, you just mentioned that you do social media for your, for your team, and, you know, you're trying to do them, to get them to do some stuff. And I'm sure there's probably times you probably don't see it, but you're leading them to get them to do these things, and if they don't want to do it right away, they don't think that it's a good idea. You could do one of two things. You could be like, oh, my God, they're driving me crazy. I'm just going to lose my marbles here on them, and I'm just going to tell them. Or you could do it in a calm, demeaning manner and explain to them the importance of why they need to do that, why they need to get themselves out there, why they need to show themselves, why they need to storytell, why they need to be vulnerable. Then they understand it a little bit better. So, you know, you can go one or two ways, and from what you're telling me, it seems like you go the second way and being, like, in the calm demeanor, of course, there's times, I'm sure that there are stressful times, which is like that for everybody. [00:16:11] Speaker A: I do get frustrated sometimes. I. And they know that and I tell. [00:16:14] Speaker B: Them, and that's okay. I mean, I'd say it's probably, as long as it's not all the time. I feel like if you're, you know, obviously, just give me some times where you're going to be like, okay, you guys are getting on my nerves here. Listen to what I'm saying. You know, and I think that they don't. They'll understand. Okay. Like, we're getting on her nerves. Let's listen to what she has to say. But as long as it's not like that all the time, they're just following your lead. So if you're calm, you have a calm composure, then you're going to follow the calm composure, and you're going to get stuff that you need them to do done and in a. In a proper manner. [00:16:52] Speaker A: Why try to have fun with it? That's, you know, so. Because if they're having fun, then they want to do it, too. I mean, who doesn't want to have fun at work, right? [00:17:00] Speaker B: Oh, I agree with you 100%, for sure. So do you think it's the responsibility of a leader to help people find meaning in their work, or do you think it's the combination? [00:17:10] Speaker A: I feel like it's a combination because, I mean, I feel like a good leader allows you to, like, to naturally come if you will. I mean, I know for me, the people that I have worked with who were my bosses or, you know, above me, and they would always see my strengths and so they would essentially create roles for me that built on those strengths. And so because of that, like, it helped me realize my meaning quicker maybe than if they didn't. So I feel like a good leader, like, sees the good in the person and they see what they're good at and their ability and their potential. And so then I think that they do have a responsibility to at least try to get that out, you know, employees or their people. And like I said, I was very blessed to have that because that's why I do what I do, the social media, branding, marketing, because I didn't start out like that, but they started seeing my strengths in that. And so now that's what I do as my career and I love it. Like, it doesn't feel like work at all. Like, that's the really cool thing is I get to do something I love every single day. So it just never feels like I have to work. And I feel like true leaders would be able to see that in their employees and bring that out in them. [00:18:24] Speaker B: I feel like communication is probably key there, too, and rapport building. So understanding. So you mentioned seeing what the employee can do. I don't think you can see what they're doing unless you get to know them and build rapport with them and have conversations with them to see what they like, what they dislike, what their interests are, what they think of certain things, what they think of certain procedures or the way of doing things. If you're getting asked that, it's a super boosted morale because they're like, well, my leadership really depending on me and asking me what my thoughts are, that's super, super important. [00:19:05] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. I'm very lucky to have a boss that's like that. We have great communication and I'm very honest with him and he's honest with me. And because of that there's, you know, I respect him a lot and, you know, I can ask him for advice and he'll give it to me. And he knows me well enough to give me the advice that someone with my personality needs and that, and I appreciate that because, you know, everybody's very different. [00:19:31] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:19:32] Speaker A: So, yeah. And that's the thing, too, is if you feel appreciated and you feel heard and you can communicate and be honest with your, with your leader and, or your manager, like, what a great work environment to be in. And I think that we need more of that. Because more people would be inclined to want to stay at their job if that was the case. Right. [00:19:52] Speaker B: And I feel like when you're doing some stuff, like you mentioned, you do some social media, I'm sure you don't just come up with stuff and just say, this is what we're doing. I'm sure you come up with the idea, have a conversation with them and say, hey, this is what, the direction I'm thinking of going here. This is what I'm thinking of doing. What are your thoughts? I really feel this is a really good idea. But what do you like? What do you think? [00:20:13] Speaker A: Oh, no, he lets me. That's. That's why I'm here, is because he doesn't have to. He lets me just take the reins. He. That's the thing is he has so much trust in me that I don't ever have to go to him with anything. So any content that I create for our loan officers, anything I do for our social media, there's no layers to it. It's just I do it, and that's how much they trust me, is that I'm going to put stuff out there that makes sense and aligns with the company, but is also me. So that's why I say I'm incredibly blessed to be in the position I'm at because not many people have that. And guess what? Because I have that, I want to stay at my company and I will do whatever I can in order to. So I work harder, actually. So I try to outwork as many people as I can to prove that I deserve to be where I'm at. So that's another thing, too. I feel like leaders, if they're doing a good job, their people are going to want to work even harder because they know what they, what they have. They have a good thing, and I know I have a really good thing, so I don't want to mess that up. [00:21:15] Speaker B: That totally makes sense. That's good that they let you do your stuff and they are not micromanaging you let you do your stuff, which is awesome. Which is awesome. [00:21:25] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:21:26] Speaker B: So do you think that people find it scary to find meaning? [00:21:30] Speaker A: There's a lot of pressure, I think, for some people to find it. And especially, you know, I think with our youth, with social media, there's the pressure to maybe find the meaning earlier than maybe, like you're expected to. I feel like with social media, everything's out there, and so the comparison game is really big. And I feel like that's what is happening, too, is a lot of our youth are getting frustrated, maybe, or lost because they don't have meaning yet, but they're young. I mean, I'm going to be 49, and I'm just now finding meaning and purpose to my life. I mean, some people do find it at a younger age, which is great, but at the same time, like, I want people to understand that sometimes people's journey takes a lot longer than. Than others, and that's okay. It's life. No one should ever be frustrated or upset because they can't find it convenient, because there's gonna be some people that live the entire lifetime without truly finding it, and that's okay. Like, I think we have to give ourselves grace, you know, when it comes to that because, yeah, I feel like sometimes there's that pressure of, like, you should know your purpose and you should know your passion and you should follow your passion and all these things. It's like, yeah, that's great. But you know what? Not everyone is capable of doing that. Maybe they're not in an environment or they're not in a home or just in a community that's nurturing that or that's bringing that out into someone, either. And that's. I think we have to empathize, too, with a lot of people that they're in environments that don't promote that or nourish that. [00:23:07] Speaker B: I feel like that this is something that should be taught in school as well. Like, I remember in high school, you know, meeting with the guidance counselor when it came close to graduation, and, okay, like, what do you want to do? You know? Do you want it? What do you want? What do you want to do for your career? You know, you're moving forward. You got to go college, university. What do you want to. What do you want to do? And, you know, a lot of us were like, well, I don't know. [00:23:30] Speaker A: Yeah, usually that's young. I mean, how are you supposed to know? [00:23:34] Speaker B: How are you supposed to know what you want? So. And then you go through, you know, say, oh, maybe I'll just take this. And then he goes through university, and I don't talk to so many people that, you know, went through university, got their job, got everything, got the house, the car, the work cell phone, you know, the great salary. And then they're like, well, you know, two years in, they're like, I'm unhappy. [00:23:56] Speaker A: Like, yeah, what is this all for? [00:23:59] Speaker B: So they end up deciding that they want to change careers all together, and then you're like, well, you just spent, like, however much money in university and, you know, you've been in the job for two years, you know, and it's not like you spent to be, I think, years ago where, you know, our parents would probably stay in a job for 30, 40 years, and even though they didn't like it, they did it because that was the job, and that's what they studied, and they stayed there. But, you know, they never talked about whether they were miserable or whether they liked it. Now it's more and more out there, and, you know, I think people are trying to, like you said, trying to find their meaning and try and understand what, you know, what they're meant to do. And, you know, I. You mentioned before leaders. I feel like leadership comes in many ways, shapes or forms. So it's not somebody who is. That's not just somebody who is a leader of an organization or a head up or whatever. It could be the person that sits beside you, could be the coach of your team, it could be a teammate, could be someone like you who runs a social media team or runs a social media for your company. And, you know, you're responsible for that. So you're leading your team as far as this is what we're gonna do to get you guys out there, and they're letting you do that. So there's so many different ways of looking at leadership. I think that people need to kind of get away from the fact of, like, you know, a leader is this. It's not. It comes in many different ways, shapes or forms. [00:25:30] Speaker A: Well, I was someone that believed a leader meant, like, okay, you were the boss of someone. I mean, I truly did. And then as soon as I started putting myself out there on social media, it's amazing how many people are like, you're a leader. I'm like, I'm what? I'm a leader. They're like, yeah, you have people, like, you're leading people by doing what you're doing and sharing your story and being vulnerable and putting yourself out there. And then I really had to kind of look at that. I'm like, you know what? They're right. I am a leader in a different way. But it did take a long time for me to realize that, because I truly felt like it meant that you had a certain position at your job. Yeah. So that's the thing, is everybody can be a leader in their own way. [00:26:11] Speaker B: Absolutely. How do you think your home town or city molded you into the individual that you are today? [00:26:20] Speaker A: You know, what's interesting is that. So I'm from southern California, born and raised, but I spent 23 years on the east coast in Virginia, and I was just telling someone, because they're like, you're very east coast. I'm like, that's really funny you say that, because when I was on the east coast, everyone kept saying, you're not East coast, you're very west coast. And now that I'm here back on the west coast, people are saying that I've kind of adopted that east coast vibe. So for me, I feel like I'm still being molded, if you will, you know, because being that I have spent those 23 years on the east coast, like, it really has molded me as well. And here, when I thought, like, I was always going to be true SoCal girl, no, I'm still. Who's to say that I moved somewhere else and maybe I'll end up in the midwest and I'll adopt some of the Midwest vibe, too. Yeah, I feel that it did mold me in the sense that being in San Diego and being so close to Mexico and having my mom be mexican and me not only bilingual, but bicultural, I feel like that has been a huge part of who I am is, you know, having both those cultures. I think it's great because it has opened up my world, like, at a very young age, because I would go to Mexico twice a year to visit my mom's family. And so I think San Diego really helped me in that way. [00:27:45] Speaker B: And so if you find it, it's kind of molded you into, like, a stronger individual. Do you find that it's helped you to continue to strive for where you are today? Like, what do you think? [00:28:00] Speaker A: Well, it's opened up my world. I think there's a lot of people, especially in the states, that never leave. Some of them never leave their hometown. And I feel it's so important to be able to see and experience different cultures, because we all are all a melting pot. And I've been very blessed to be able to travel to other countries. I was just in eastern Europe, and I got to travel alone, which was fantastic. And when you see how other people in the world live and different cultures and languages, I think it's really important, because then you are someone that can tolerate, hopefully a lot more. You know, I feel like the tolerance piece is very important and. Yeah, because there's a whole world out there of different people. Yeah. And so for me, I feel like that's incredibly important, for sure. [00:28:52] Speaker B: It certainly is. I'm with you on that. I come from a french canadian and west indian Barbados background, so I grew up in a very. In a very cultured household where it was very french canadian cuisine and west indian cuisine, and just the background, the ways that they grew up or how they were brought up. So the way that they parented was different in their ways. Were, you know, my father was brought up in Barbados, so he parented that way of where he was brought up, so very british, where my mother was born in Quebec, so very french, very orientated. So I learned very quickly both backgrounds. And I agree with you 100%. It's helped me to be who I am as well today because I'm very cultured. And like you said, you speak two languages. I speak two languages. So I love the fact that I can speak two languages myself, and I can converse in both those languages, rate in both those languages. So I love that. I just love the culture. I love the food. I love everything. Everything about it, for sure. [00:30:05] Speaker A: Yeah, I feel very fortunate to have that. [00:30:07] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. I thought this was just such a great conversation. I really, truly enjoyed it. Do you have any final thoughts today, like, any takeaways or any special messages that you'd like to give the audience today regarding our conversation? [00:30:22] Speaker A: I think it's. A lot of it is giving ourselves grace, knowing that our journey are all very different and that, you know, some find meaning much later in life or might find it early. And that's okay. Like, I. And I feel a lot of it is also trusting ourselves and trusting our inner voice and trusting that we know what's best for ourselves, too. I think a lot of times there are so many leaders, especially on social media and so many people out there, that sometimes we get caught up in what everybody else is telling us how to live our lives or what to do. And I try not to do that too much. I mean, I try to be cognizant of that as well. I don't want to be telling someone like, this is how you should live your life, because this is how I live mine. Yes. I feel that we just. We have to trust ourselves a lot more. And that's something that I've learned in just a lot in the last several years, that my intuition and just my voice matters were before I used to kind of silence it both. I'd silence my intuition. I have a very strong intuition, like, very strong. And then I would silence my inner voice because I would think that everybody else knew what was best for me. And at the end of the day, I know what's best for me, and it's being able to live it, because that's hard, too, right? Because of the judgment factor and what other people might say or think. And I'm getting better at not caring so much. Yeah. [00:31:48] Speaker B: So I love what you said there, grace, and living on different journeys. I myself am like you. I read a lot of stuff that's on, especially on LinkedIn, leadership, workplace, you name it. And everybody has their own input, which I totally agree with you. And what I do is I just take it all. It doesn't mean that one person said, just because Raquel said that doesn't mean that I have to follow that to a t. But you take little pieces of what you think and you kind of take that. You learn from that. So I'm very much a believer in diversity of thought, that there's a different way of doing things. We just have to listen to what people have to say, and then you can kind of do it in your own way, like you said. So, yeah, I'm truly believer in that. So I want to take the time to thank you for coming on. I envisioned this conversation when we first, before we even had it, before I even, you know, once I booked you in, I had an envision of how it was going to go, and it actually went even better than I anticipated. [00:32:58] Speaker A: I hope you. I'm glad you had a low expectation. I'm just kidding. Just. [00:33:05] Speaker B: Had a very high expectation. I really felt like you were a truly inspirational individual, and I thought, okay, I just got to have her on. And I was really happy that we were able to get this done today. Thank you so much for taking the time today to have this conversation with me. And I want to tell you, keep doing the good things that you're doing, because if, even if nobody's telling you, you are reaching lots of people and you are inspiring many people. So just keep up your good work and keep smiling. [00:33:36] Speaker A: Thank you, Andrea. And I appreciate your support. You're always a big cheerleader for people, especially on LinkedIn, and I know that. I appreciate that, and I'm sure a lot of people appreciate that as well. And you're a good, kind human being, so. And I like that. LinkedIn has introduced me to people like you. So I'm appreciative. [00:33:59] Speaker B: I am appreciative of you as well. On behalf of myself and my guest Raquel, I'd like to thank you all for listening today. And until next time, remember, everyone, that if we all work together, we can accomplish anything you have been listening to. [00:34:14] Speaker A: Let's be diverse with Andrew Stout and Kate Teeves. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend and to stay up to date with future content, hit subscribe.