Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
iHeart Media presents CEOs you Should Know. Welcome to CEOs
you Should Know today. Daniel fiercet Ot joins us from
I elevate. Good morning, Daniel, good morning. So explain. We'll
start off with what what does OT stand for?
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Occupational therapy?
Speaker 1 (00:18):
I see and I elevate. Explain to our listeners what
I elevate is.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
I elevate is my coaching practice for young adults who
are nerdivergent.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
And so you spend a lot of time with you know,
dealing with with people that need help.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
I would assume, right, yes, So as an occupational therapist
you can work in multiple different realms. I ended up
in pediatrics, and during COVID, I actually lost my own
job because I was thinking about doing travel therapy in
the industry almost shut down. And I had noticed that
a lot of the teens that I was working with
(00:54):
who had disabilities were coming in and there just wasn't
a very structured way to do therapy with them, and
then there was a stigma around going to do therapy
in general when you're a teenager. And I started talking
with them about what they wanted to do with their lives,
and that's what led me into a elevate now neurodivergent.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
That can encompass a lot of different areas of your practice.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Right, Yes, for the most part, I work with young
adults through autistic or have ADHD.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
And what are some of the challenges that they face.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Well, there's about an eighty five percent unemployment rate for
young adults through autistic in the United States, and a
lot of it has to do with just difficulties understanding
their cognitive strengths and their neuroprofiles and then being able
to kind of execute on what career would optimize those. Also,
(01:47):
there's you know, the social emotional learning piece of being
able to socialize with coworkers or supervisor. So the sort
of the gray area of the career can be really
tough for somebody who's a black and white thinker.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Now, we hear a lot about the spectrum, but I
think a lot of people probably aren't even familiar with
what the spectrum is. Explain the spectrum in what you
know from one from point A to point B on
the spectrum for us, sure.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
I mean autism spectrum disorder. The diagnosis has changed. The
language person centered, person first language that's changed over the years.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
You know, there was.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
We used to call it aspergers for young adults who
you know, you think of like rain Man was a
movie that the community talks about a lot as being
it's something that really didn't typify a young person with
autism in a great light, but it got conversations started
around what that was. And then now, like fast forward
(02:52):
to today, we just kind of all say, oh, it's
a spectrum.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Right.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
It's like, we all experience our environment and our sensory
process in unique ways, and we also, you know, we
all have different social capacities and emotional capacities and then language, speech,
language skills, and so when you think about a child
that might have an intellectual disability and maybe also a
diagnosis of autism, you're looking at a different type of
(03:19):
profile than if you're looking at somebody who maybe even
hasn't had a diagnosis, but is like the CEO of
some biopharma company. Right, And so it's a really big
spectrum there, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
I mean you go from people that are almost fully
functional with just some challenges to overcome to people with
a lot of challenges to overcome, right, right, And out
of those people, you know how many have and I
don't know whether to call it a malady, what would
be the correct term for you know, what's affecting them?
Speaker 3 (03:49):
I mean, I think what we're headed toward right now
is a profession and just in general in society is
we're thinking more about people's strengths instead of deficits. And
in general, I mean, like I was listening to a
great Ted talk and it was thinking about the world
is instead of talking about disability. We wouldn't even have
that word if we had been designing society for those
(04:12):
who you know, for the minority from the beginning, right.
And so when you think about the lifespan, all of
us are going to experience disability at some point in
time where you might break your leg or sprain your
ankle and then that's a disability, right, Or maybe you
get sick and you're in the hospital for a couple
of weeks, you're not able to access work. So access
(04:33):
to community, access to school, access to relationships, access to
work is at the heart of what occupational therapists really
think about. And so that's what the focus of my
practice is on, is actually helping a young adult access
society despite maybe a challenge that they're facing. It could
(04:55):
be physical, could be cognitive, but how can they access
their full potential?
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Yeah, and I always thought it was kind of unfair,
you know, the way the system is designed, because we'll
just use school as an example, you know, if you
don't get into if you don't do well in the
standardized testing, or if you're not keeping pace with the
other students. You know, I'm somebody that was. I started
kindergarten when I was four, and so they kept saying, well,
(05:20):
you need special education, he needs these things. And I
think back on it now and it kind of makes
me angry because I'm like, I was four years old,
you know, and you expected all of these things from
me when I was four. Some of my classmates were
most of them a year older, some even older than that,
and you're expected to keep up, and if you don't
keep up, then you're labeled as being disabled or with
(05:45):
you know, or handicapped or whatever it might be.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Yeah, I mean I think too, we're even we're moving
so much further beyond that as well, like just in
terms of I think rethinking what special education could be
in the future. Spend a lot of time talking to
other therapists about the IEP.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
System, and.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
You know, just kind of it's been really fun to
have my own creative practice outside of the traditional norms
of clinical practice, which has been scary in some ways
as well, like putting myself out there a little bit,
but just also being on the forefront of progressive change
as what it means to be an occupational therapist and
(06:27):
work with people who have classically disabilities, right, And so
how will society shift and how are we going to
move society forward in a more inclusive way?
Speaker 1 (06:37):
So what was it that motivated you to be different
than say, having a standard practice and you know, be
more individual and go out on your own.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
I really think it was a god thing.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
I think like circumstance, right, I mean I talked about
COVID a little bit of the beginning of this, and
just kind of having the idea. I started reading books
on coaching. I read a book called Coactive Coaching. I
like the idea of having a collaborative conversation with my
client and trying to come alongside them for a longer journey,
(07:09):
rather than just looking at them for what's wrong in
their life or a diagnosis or sort of our western
medical model, right of like looking at all the deficits
and then treating a deficit. What if we looked at
all the strengths and how much better would would that
person's life be if they were if we were focused
on the positive angles and try to support them in
being able to access what they love.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
I think it's really interesting and you must get a
certain kind of special insight and satisfaction out of dealing
with your clients.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Yes, definitely, I think it's when you are a therapist.
There's definitely a high burnout rate for healthcare providers in general,
as well as teachers, I think. But one of the
key factors to staying in the profession for me has
just been seeing change over the long period of time,
(08:01):
like following up with a client after six months and
finding that they moved into their own apartment and got
a full time job. Or one of my clients he
ended up getting his master's degree in sports management and
he got engaged. So it's just so fun to see
people hit their milestones and just I can't think of
a more rewarding thing in life than to come into
someone's life who's deeply struggling and stay with them and
(08:25):
come alongside them and then see them come out through
the other side of that struggle, and so it honestly
just became like an ethos for the way I wanted
to live my life.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
I think that's awesome. And has there ever been any
big surprise where something totally came out of left field
from one of your clients that you didn't expect.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
That's a good question.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
I had a client who lost his job at Google,
and it was a long one year of working with him,
and then it ended up being that he found his
own job and is still working there and loving it.
And that was kind of left field because because I
wasn't expecting when he ended up landing.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
I was not expecting that.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
One time I worked with the guy whose parents hired me,
and he was staying up late in the evening. He's
a musician, creative designer and just was not was struggling
with college, didn't know what he was going to do,
and I thought for sure he was going to go
into design, and he ended up joining the military, and then,
you know, two years later contacted me and said, hey,
you know, I ended up leaving the military, but I
(09:26):
just want to tell you thank you for supporting me,
and like, here's all the stuff that I learned from
that from that experience in my life, and so that.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Did come out of left field.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
But like I think that's what's so fun about it too,
is God works in people's lives in different ways, and
so it's not really when you think about like a
typical clinical approach, it used to be that you walk
in the room, You've got your treatment plan, you've got
your assessments, you've got your evaluation.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
This is much different.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
This is really putting like the clinician on the back
seat and putting the client on the front seat and
then seeing where the process leads them and try to
support their process.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Well, I think it's very interesting and we could talk
for literally ever probably about the business side of this
and the clinician side of this, but it's called CEOs,
you should know, so we also get into the personal
side of things. What's your background? Where did you grow up?
Speaker 3 (10:18):
I was born in Fairfax, Virginia, and then lived on
the Outer Banks for a little while. It's not exactly
like the Outer Banks show on Netflix, which was actually
filmed in Charleston. And then when I was twelve, I
moved to Charleston. I attended Ashley Hall.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
And what about your parents? What kind of household. Did
you grow up in brothers, sisters, nuclear family or I
have a.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Big family on my mom's side, mostly Italian and German.
On my dad's side, all men, so very different environments.
I am an only child actually, so my family lives
here in Charleston.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
And what did your parents do?
Speaker 2 (10:50):
My dad's a social worker.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
He started his own company as well, so the acorn
didn't fall very far from the tree. I actually didn't
plan to become an occupational therapist. In college, I studied engineering,
design and entrepreneurship and my project was an assistive technology
app for kids with autism. So that's what led me
into OT.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
I see in what about your mom?
Speaker 3 (11:14):
My mom worked in She worked for the CIA for
a period of time and passports and affairs, and then
she worked in banks. She actually worked for a Wells
Fargo bank for a long time.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Fast forward to now.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
It's kind of interesting to see that Wells Fargo is
actually the one of the first corporate banks in the
country to really embrace the neurodiversity hiring program. We actually
had a client land with Wells Fargo and got in
through their neudiversity program three years ago, so that.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Was really cool.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yeah, and I always liked to dig a little bit.
You know, with successful driven people such as yourself. You know,
the environment that they grew up in at home was
it was it a strict environment or you know, were
you allowed to kind of go at your your own
pace and your own pleasure.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
So my parents encouraged me to follow my passions wherever
they led. I was never told what to do as
a kid, which I'm actually really thankful for. It was
kind of a socratic method process of like where I
was headed.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
With my life.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
I can't remember having any like major arguments with my
family about, you know, being strict about like what I
was going to pursue. It's not like they told me
you have to be a doctor, you have to be
a lawyer. And I know a lot of kids experience that.
So I was really lucky in the sense that I
got to pursue what God called on my heart. But
I will say having grown up with a father who
(12:37):
started his own company, I was kind of used to
the idea of entrepreneurship from a young age. And I
you know, some months we would be we'd be doing well,
and some months we'd be eating at home, not going out,
you know, putting out the newsletters together as a family,
doing group mailings, like I was kind of a part
of that.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
But when you're a kid, you don't really know.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
You know that this is different, and then you know
the other thing too, is I got into public speaking
from a young age. My dad enrolled me into four
h and I ended up becoming like a gold level
medalist state speaker at the In fifth grade, I actually
won my my elementary school's entrepreneurial contest. I started a
(13:22):
magic show and I was I did magic card tricks
for my peers when I was a little girl, and
I won that competition and I went on to do
model un and mock trial and I won the best
Attorney in like eighth or ninth grade for the state
of South Carolina at Ashley Hall. And so I think,
like it's funny because you look back and maybe I
(13:44):
was pushed. I definitely think my parents did challenge me.
I was in all honors classes. I graduated top of
my class. I went to toughts. I mean, the only
child like perfectionist syndrome does exist, I think for sure,
But you know, God uses those things, and like now,
all I didn't plan on starting my own company. I
just was really passionate about this one particular thing. And
(14:06):
you know, everyone has something that they're good at, so
that ended up being my calling.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
I think that's awesome. And it sounds like you were
more accomplished than a lot of people I know by
the time I even got to high school. The uh.
And it's too bad that you know, this is an
audio platform and not a visual one, or you could
do some magic tricks for us.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Oh yeah, I only really remember one, so don't press
too hard on.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
So I also see that in high school your senior
project was in Lego robotics, and that's interesting to me too.
And you named off all of the you know, the
different things that from public speaking to lawyering and four
h and all of these things and the Lego robotics.
So is there a parallel that you found. I have
(14:52):
multiple careers and I can see where they intertwine sometimes
and I might not even be able to our t
you know, those crossroads where they come together. But do
you do you ever see anything where you see a
kind of a parallel between the robotics and what you
do now?
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Yeah, interesting question, actually, to be honest with you, my
senior year project at Ashta Hall. We had the choice
of doing a thesis or a project. I chose the project.
I've always loved projects, and I did it for the
educational development piece. You know, I wanted to love engineering more.
I wanted to love robotics more. I was like, Oh,
this is something I should like. I should love this one,
(15:32):
but I actually didn't. I really loved program development. I
loved so in order to launch that project, I had
to partner with Tufts University, which is how I ended
up going just to Tuft's university. Doctor Chris Rogers believed
in me, and he sent me a bunch of lego
robotics kits from his Center for Engineering, and he sent
me a curriculum outline as an example of how to teach.
(15:55):
And then I put together a program to teach fifth
grade girls about roots. But really the lessons were simple
because I wasn't into the robot piece. I was into
teaching them about their careers and what they could do.
And one of the girls in my group she ended
up founding she she loved engineering, which is great. I
inspired her so she became an engineer and she ended
(16:17):
up founding the Robotics club at Ashley Hall, which at
the time we didn't have a strong math and science program,
and there was no such thing as a coding class
at Ashley Hall either. So by the time I got
to college, you know, everyone was already learning computer science.
We hadn't had that exposure. You know, this was over
fifteen years ago, so we hadn't had that exposure at
(16:39):
Ashley Hall at that at that point as women. So
it was it was a big deal. And I think
for me, it's not the engineering piece that really inspired me.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
It was the the.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Putting together a new type of program, getting students involved
in it, teaching my mom. You know, my mom was
a teacher for a period of time. I'm in my
school when I was growing up. My grandfather was the
principal of Branford High School, and all of my aunts
taught in special education, so and I have a cousin
with special needs as well, so you know, the educational
(17:14):
and curriculum development side has always been my passion.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
And that's very interesting that you brought up that avenue
in that parallel, because I think so oftentimes that people
think that they have to get on a know what
their path is ahead of them. And I've always been
of the mind that set about on a path and
it might take you places you never expected, and the
(17:39):
most important thing to do is just move forward. It's
not to always have that end goal in sight. It's
just to get moving down the path.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
One of my sailing coaches and friends, she said to me,
just get out of the breakdown lane.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
And I love that.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Expression of like, if you're stuck and you're in the
breakdown lane, just choose thing, get out, and don't worry
so much about like where it's going to take you.
I think, you know, it's easier said than done, but
definitely allowing your career just sort of unfold. And I
am glad. I you know, spend some time in engineering
classes and in robotics projects, and I've done I've done
(18:18):
research in robotics and assistive technologies, and I think that's
helped me be a more well rounded clinician and coach
and educator, because if you don't have the insight into
the other side of the way the mind works, that
can be really tough to relate to. You know, a
lot of my clients who are autistic are engineers, They
are software developers, it's important to be able to understand
(18:39):
their side of the house.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
You know, we may have already covered it right there,
but I was going to ask what advice you would
give to an aspiring entrepreneur.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Don't try to do everything I did. Try to do
what you're really great at and then outsource everything else
to other people that are great at those things, and
focus on your team, the team everything. And I don't
believe in the self made man. I think it's a
complete myth. I think it's all smoke and mirrors and
self reliance is just it's this myth, and I think
(19:09):
we love to continue to propagate that in the United States,
but we really need each other, We really need community,
and especially as an entrepreneur, you're going to run a company,
You're going to find out really quickly that it won't
be anything unless if you bring in great people. And
I think that's really been a huge lesson for me,
(19:30):
and I just like I'm humbled every single day.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Well, it sounds like you're very driven and very busy.
Do you have any free time. What do you do
when you're not working?
Speaker 3 (19:37):
Yes, I am a little bit of workaholic, so I
like to work out.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
I like to hike.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
I like to I'm a sailor. I actually love fly
fishing as well. I don't do it enough, but I'm
hoping to get off that wait list for the Lady
Red competition this September. I've done that the past couple
of years. Shout out to Marshware.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Have you tied flies?
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Have you? That was always amazing to me. You know
that in some of them are so intricate and you
would believe that they're real flies. You know, it probably
doesn't take that much to fool of fish. Maybe I
don't know, but you know, some of these people that
tie flies are so intricate in there. It's an artwork.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
It is.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
I would say I am not good at it. I've
only done it about twice. Also, shout out to Hadrells.
They have free fly tying lessons and Mount Pleasant.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
If you're interested in learning how to tie fly.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Well that's cool. That's good to know. So if anybody
wants to reach out and find out more about I
Elevate or your services, or you know has a child
or a relative or even themselves that might need coaching
for neurodivergent young adults that would need those services you know,
how can they contact you?
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Sure?
Speaker 3 (20:47):
So my website is I elevate your Career dot com.
My emails on their my phone number. You know, Danielle
at I elevate tech dot com. Feel free to reach out.
I do just like a quick fifteen minute connect call
with families to see if it's a good fit. We
have a career strategy ninety minute deep dive, and then
I have a twelve week curriculum that I'm actually hoping
(21:11):
to publish our curriculum to be standalone so that you know,
providers parents can access this at any point in time
from our website. But I do run a group class
on Wednesday nights with my young adults right now. It'll
run through mid September. It's six to seven thirty and
I have them all in class and we work through
the curriculum together. But yeah, it's really it's a good time.
(21:33):
We just applied to be a vendor of South Carolina
Oak Rehab, so for young adults who have a diagnosis
of any type if that comes through, which I don't
know if it will, but if it does, then they
would be able to access the coaching services for free.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
That's great. Do you have a website.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Yes, I Elevate your Career dot com.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Well, perfect, and it's been a pleasure talking to you.
And time flies, you know when you're having an interesting conversation,
and this comes up with almost every guest is walking
in and they're a little bit nervous and they think
it's a whole lot of time to fill. And so
I'll ask you that went by a whole lot faster
than you thought, didn't it.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Yes, it did.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Well, that's because you were very interesting to talk to
and I enjoyed the conversation. Daniel fears to ot, I
Elevate Coaching for neurodivergent Talent. Thank you so much for
joining us on CEOs you should Know today.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
You've been listening to iHeart Radios. CEOs you should Know
heard every Tuesday and Saturday morning right here on this
iHeart Radio station.
iHeart Media presents CEOs you Should Know. Welcome to CEOs
you Should Know today. Daniel fiercet Ot joins us from
I elevate. Good morning, Daniel, good morning. So explain. We'll
start off with what what does OT stand for?
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Occupational therapy?
Speaker 1 (00:18):
I see and I elevate. Explain to our listeners what
I elevate is.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
I elevate is my coaching practice for young adults who
are nerdivergent.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
And so you spend a lot of time with you know,
dealing with with people that need help.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
I would assume, right, yes, So as an occupational therapist
you can work in multiple different realms. I ended up
in pediatrics, and during COVID, I actually lost my own
job because I was thinking about doing travel therapy in
the industry almost shut down. And I had noticed that
a lot of the teens that I was working with
(00:54):
who had disabilities were coming in and there just wasn't
a very structured way to do therapy with them, and
then there was a stigma around going to do therapy
in general when you're a teenager. And I started talking
with them about what they wanted to do with their lives,
and that's what led me into a elevate now neurodivergent.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
That can encompass a lot of different areas of your practice.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Right, Yes, for the most part, I work with young
adults through autistic or have ADHD.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
And what are some of the challenges that they face.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Well, there's about an eighty five percent unemployment rate for
young adults through autistic in the United States, and a
lot of it has to do with just difficulties understanding
their cognitive strengths and their neuroprofiles and then being able
to kind of execute on what career would optimize those. Also,
(01:47):
there's you know, the social emotional learning piece of being
able to socialize with coworkers or supervisor. So the sort
of the gray area of the career can be really
tough for somebody who's a black and white thinker.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Now, we hear a lot about the spectrum, but I
think a lot of people probably aren't even familiar with
what the spectrum is. Explain the spectrum in what you
know from one from point A to point B on
the spectrum for us, sure.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
I mean autism spectrum disorder. The diagnosis has changed. The
language person centered, person first language that's changed over the years.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
You know, there was.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
We used to call it aspergers for young adults who
you know, you think of like rain Man was a
movie that the community talks about a lot as being
it's something that really didn't typify a young person with
autism in a great light, but it got conversations started
around what that was. And then now, like fast forward
(02:52):
to today, we just kind of all say, oh, it's
a spectrum.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Right.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
It's like, we all experience our environment and our sensory
process in unique ways, and we also, you know, we
all have different social capacities and emotional capacities and then language, speech,
language skills, and so when you think about a child
that might have an intellectual disability and maybe also a
diagnosis of autism, you're looking at a different type of
(03:19):
profile than if you're looking at somebody who maybe even
hasn't had a diagnosis, but is like the CEO of
some biopharma company. Right, And so it's a really big
spectrum there, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
I mean you go from people that are almost fully
functional with just some challenges to overcome to people with
a lot of challenges to overcome, right, right, And out
of those people, you know how many have and I
don't know whether to call it a malady, what would
be the correct term for you know, what's affecting them?
Speaker 3 (03:49):
I mean, I think what we're headed toward right now
is a profession and just in general in society is
we're thinking more about people's strengths instead of deficits. And
in general, I mean, like I was listening to a
great Ted talk and it was thinking about the world
is instead of talking about disability. We wouldn't even have
that word if we had been designing society for those
(04:12):
who you know, for the minority from the beginning, right.
And so when you think about the lifespan, all of
us are going to experience disability at some point in
time where you might break your leg or sprain your
ankle and then that's a disability, right, Or maybe you
get sick and you're in the hospital for a couple
of weeks, you're not able to access work. So access
(04:33):
to community, access to school, access to relationships, access to
work is at the heart of what occupational therapists really
think about. And so that's what the focus of my
practice is on, is actually helping a young adult access
society despite maybe a challenge that they're facing. It could
(04:55):
be physical, could be cognitive, but how can they access
their full potential?
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Yeah, and I always thought it was kind of unfair,
you know, the way the system is designed, because we'll
just use school as an example, you know, if you
don't get into if you don't do well in the
standardized testing, or if you're not keeping pace with the
other students. You know, I'm somebody that was. I started
kindergarten when I was four, and so they kept saying, well,
(05:20):
you need special education, he needs these things. And I
think back on it now and it kind of makes
me angry because I'm like, I was four years old,
you know, and you expected all of these things from
me when I was four. Some of my classmates were
most of them a year older, some even older than that,
and you're expected to keep up, and if you don't
keep up, then you're labeled as being disabled or with
(05:45):
you know, or handicapped or whatever it might be.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Yeah, I mean I think too, we're even we're moving
so much further beyond that as well, like just in
terms of I think rethinking what special education could be
in the future. Spend a lot of time talking to
other therapists about the IEP.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
System, and.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
You know, just kind of it's been really fun to
have my own creative practice outside of the traditional norms
of clinical practice, which has been scary in some ways
as well, like putting myself out there a little bit,
but just also being on the forefront of progressive change
as what it means to be an occupational therapist and
(06:27):
work with people who have classically disabilities, right, And so
how will society shift and how are we going to
move society forward in a more inclusive way?
Speaker 1 (06:37):
So what was it that motivated you to be different
than say, having a standard practice and you know, be
more individual and go out on your own.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
I really think it was a god thing.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
I think like circumstance, right, I mean I talked about
COVID a little bit of the beginning of this, and
just kind of having the idea. I started reading books
on coaching. I read a book called Coactive Coaching. I
like the idea of having a collaborative conversation with my
client and trying to come alongside them for a longer journey,
(07:09):
rather than just looking at them for what's wrong in
their life or a diagnosis or sort of our western
medical model, right of like looking at all the deficits
and then treating a deficit. What if we looked at
all the strengths and how much better would would that
person's life be if they were if we were focused
on the positive angles and try to support them in
being able to access what they love.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
I think it's really interesting and you must get a
certain kind of special insight and satisfaction out of dealing
with your clients.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Yes, definitely, I think it's when you are a therapist.
There's definitely a high burnout rate for healthcare providers in general,
as well as teachers, I think. But one of the
key factors to staying in the profession for me has
just been seeing change over the long period of time,
(08:01):
like following up with a client after six months and
finding that they moved into their own apartment and got
a full time job. Or one of my clients he
ended up getting his master's degree in sports management and
he got engaged. So it's just so fun to see
people hit their milestones and just I can't think of
a more rewarding thing in life than to come into
someone's life who's deeply struggling and stay with them and
(08:25):
come alongside them and then see them come out through
the other side of that struggle, and so it honestly
just became like an ethos for the way I wanted
to live my life.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
I think that's awesome. And has there ever been any
big surprise where something totally came out of left field
from one of your clients that you didn't expect.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
That's a good question.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
I had a client who lost his job at Google,
and it was a long one year of working with him,
and then it ended up being that he found his
own job and is still working there and loving it.
And that was kind of left field because because I
wasn't expecting when he ended up landing.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
I was not expecting that.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
One time I worked with the guy whose parents hired me,
and he was staying up late in the evening. He's
a musician, creative designer and just was not was struggling
with college, didn't know what he was going to do,
and I thought for sure he was going to go
into design, and he ended up joining the military, and then,
you know, two years later contacted me and said, hey,
you know, I ended up leaving the military, but I
(09:26):
just want to tell you thank you for supporting me,
and like, here's all the stuff that I learned from
that from that experience in my life, and so that.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Did come out of left field.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
But like I think that's what's so fun about it too,
is God works in people's lives in different ways, and
so it's not really when you think about like a
typical clinical approach, it used to be that you walk
in the room, You've got your treatment plan, you've got
your assessments, you've got your evaluation.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
This is much different.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
This is really putting like the clinician on the back
seat and putting the client on the front seat and
then seeing where the process leads them and try to
support their process.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Well, I think it's very interesting and we could talk
for literally ever probably about the business side of this
and the clinician side of this, but it's called CEOs,
you should know, so we also get into the personal
side of things. What's your background? Where did you grow up?
Speaker 3 (10:18):
I was born in Fairfax, Virginia, and then lived on
the Outer Banks for a little while. It's not exactly
like the Outer Banks show on Netflix, which was actually
filmed in Charleston. And then when I was twelve, I
moved to Charleston. I attended Ashley Hall.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
And what about your parents? What kind of household. Did
you grow up in brothers, sisters, nuclear family or I
have a.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Big family on my mom's side, mostly Italian and German.
On my dad's side, all men, so very different environments.
I am an only child actually, so my family lives
here in Charleston.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
And what did your parents do?
Speaker 2 (10:50):
My dad's a social worker.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
He started his own company as well, so the acorn
didn't fall very far from the tree. I actually didn't
plan to become an occupational therapist. In college, I studied engineering,
design and entrepreneurship and my project was an assistive technology
app for kids with autism. So that's what led me
into OT.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
I see in what about your mom?
Speaker 3 (11:14):
My mom worked in She worked for the CIA for
a period of time and passports and affairs, and then
she worked in banks. She actually worked for a Wells
Fargo bank for a long time.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Fast forward to now.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
It's kind of interesting to see that Wells Fargo is
actually the one of the first corporate banks in the
country to really embrace the neurodiversity hiring program. We actually
had a client land with Wells Fargo and got in
through their neudiversity program three years ago, so that.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Was really cool.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yeah, and I always liked to dig a little bit.
You know, with successful driven people such as yourself. You know,
the environment that they grew up in at home was
it was it a strict environment or you know, were
you allowed to kind of go at your your own
pace and your own pleasure.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
So my parents encouraged me to follow my passions wherever
they led. I was never told what to do as
a kid, which I'm actually really thankful for. It was
kind of a socratic method process of like where I
was headed.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
With my life.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
I can't remember having any like major arguments with my
family about, you know, being strict about like what I
was going to pursue. It's not like they told me
you have to be a doctor, you have to be
a lawyer. And I know a lot of kids experience that.
So I was really lucky in the sense that I
got to pursue what God called on my heart. But
I will say having grown up with a father who
(12:37):
started his own company, I was kind of used to
the idea of entrepreneurship from a young age. And I
you know, some months we would be we'd be doing well,
and some months we'd be eating at home, not going out,
you know, putting out the newsletters together as a family,
doing group mailings, like I was kind of a part
of that.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
But when you're a kid, you don't really know.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
You know that this is different, and then you know
the other thing too, is I got into public speaking
from a young age. My dad enrolled me into four
h and I ended up becoming like a gold level
medalist state speaker at the In fifth grade, I actually
won my my elementary school's entrepreneurial contest. I started a
(13:22):
magic show and I was I did magic card tricks
for my peers when I was a little girl, and
I won that competition and I went on to do
model un and mock trial and I won the best
Attorney in like eighth or ninth grade for the state
of South Carolina at Ashley Hall. And so I think,
like it's funny because you look back and maybe I
(13:44):
was pushed. I definitely think my parents did challenge me.
I was in all honors classes. I graduated top of
my class. I went to toughts. I mean, the only
child like perfectionist syndrome does exist, I think for sure,
But you know, God uses those things, and like now,
all I didn't plan on starting my own company. I
just was really passionate about this one particular thing. And
(14:06):
you know, everyone has something that they're good at, so
that ended up being my calling.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
I think that's awesome. And it sounds like you were
more accomplished than a lot of people I know by
the time I even got to high school. The uh.
And it's too bad that you know, this is an
audio platform and not a visual one, or you could
do some magic tricks for us.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Oh yeah, I only really remember one, so don't press
too hard on.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
So I also see that in high school your senior
project was in Lego robotics, and that's interesting to me too.
And you named off all of the you know, the
different things that from public speaking to lawyering and four
h and all of these things and the Lego robotics.
So is there a parallel that you found. I have
(14:52):
multiple careers and I can see where they intertwine sometimes
and I might not even be able to our t
you know, those crossroads where they come together. But do
you do you ever see anything where you see a
kind of a parallel between the robotics and what you
do now?
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Yeah, interesting question, actually, to be honest with you, my
senior year project at Ashta Hall. We had the choice
of doing a thesis or a project. I chose the project.
I've always loved projects, and I did it for the
educational development piece. You know, I wanted to love engineering more.
I wanted to love robotics more. I was like, Oh,
this is something I should like. I should love this one,
(15:32):
but I actually didn't. I really loved program development. I
loved so in order to launch that project, I had
to partner with Tufts University, which is how I ended
up going just to Tuft's university. Doctor Chris Rogers believed
in me, and he sent me a bunch of lego
robotics kits from his Center for Engineering, and he sent
me a curriculum outline as an example of how to teach.
(15:55):
And then I put together a program to teach fifth
grade girls about roots. But really the lessons were simple
because I wasn't into the robot piece. I was into
teaching them about their careers and what they could do.
And one of the girls in my group she ended
up founding she she loved engineering, which is great. I
inspired her so she became an engineer and she ended
(16:17):
up founding the Robotics club at Ashley Hall, which at
the time we didn't have a strong math and science program,
and there was no such thing as a coding class
at Ashley Hall either. So by the time I got
to college, you know, everyone was already learning computer science.
We hadn't had that exposure. You know, this was over
fifteen years ago, so we hadn't had that exposure at
(16:39):
Ashley Hall at that at that point as women. So
it was it was a big deal. And I think
for me, it's not the engineering piece that really inspired me.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
It was the the.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Putting together a new type of program, getting students involved
in it, teaching my mom. You know, my mom was
a teacher for a period of time. I'm in my
school when I was growing up. My grandfather was the
principal of Branford High School, and all of my aunts
taught in special education, so and I have a cousin
with special needs as well, so you know, the educational
(17:14):
and curriculum development side has always been my passion.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
And that's very interesting that you brought up that avenue
in that parallel, because I think so oftentimes that people
think that they have to get on a know what
their path is ahead of them. And I've always been
of the mind that set about on a path and
it might take you places you never expected, and the
(17:39):
most important thing to do is just move forward. It's
not to always have that end goal in sight. It's
just to get moving down the path.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
One of my sailing coaches and friends, she said to me,
just get out of the breakdown lane.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
And I love that.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Expression of like, if you're stuck and you're in the
breakdown lane, just choose thing, get out, and don't worry
so much about like where it's going to take you.
I think, you know, it's easier said than done, but
definitely allowing your career just sort of unfold. And I
am glad. I you know, spend some time in engineering
classes and in robotics projects, and I've done I've done
(18:18):
research in robotics and assistive technologies, and I think that's
helped me be a more well rounded clinician and coach
and educator, because if you don't have the insight into
the other side of the way the mind works, that
can be really tough to relate to. You know, a
lot of my clients who are autistic are engineers, They
are software developers, it's important to be able to understand
(18:39):
their side of the house.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
You know, we may have already covered it right there,
but I was going to ask what advice you would
give to an aspiring entrepreneur.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Don't try to do everything I did. Try to do
what you're really great at and then outsource everything else
to other people that are great at those things, and
focus on your team, the team everything. And I don't
believe in the self made man. I think it's a
complete myth. I think it's all smoke and mirrors and
self reliance is just it's this myth, and I think
(19:09):
we love to continue to propagate that in the United States,
but we really need each other, We really need community,
and especially as an entrepreneur, you're going to run a company,
You're going to find out really quickly that it won't
be anything unless if you bring in great people. And
I think that's really been a huge lesson for me,
(19:30):
and I just like I'm humbled every single day.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Well, it sounds like you're very driven and very busy.
Do you have any free time. What do you do
when you're not working?
Speaker 3 (19:37):
Yes, I am a little bit of workaholic, so I
like to work out.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
I like to hike.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
I like to I'm a sailor. I actually love fly
fishing as well. I don't do it enough, but I'm
hoping to get off that wait list for the Lady
Red competition this September. I've done that the past couple
of years. Shout out to Marshware.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Have you tied flies?
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Have you? That was always amazing to me. You know
that in some of them are so intricate and you
would believe that they're real flies. You know, it probably
doesn't take that much to fool of fish. Maybe I
don't know, but you know, some of these people that
tie flies are so intricate in there. It's an artwork.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
It is.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
I would say I am not good at it. I've
only done it about twice. Also, shout out to Hadrells.
They have free fly tying lessons and Mount Pleasant.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
If you're interested in learning how to tie fly.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Well that's cool. That's good to know. So if anybody
wants to reach out and find out more about I
Elevate or your services, or you know has a child
or a relative or even themselves that might need coaching
for neurodivergent young adults that would need those services you know,
how can they contact you?
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Sure?
Speaker 3 (20:47):
So my website is I elevate your Career dot com.
My emails on their my phone number. You know, Danielle
at I elevate tech dot com. Feel free to reach out.
I do just like a quick fifteen minute connect call
with families to see if it's a good fit. We
have a career strategy ninety minute deep dive, and then
I have a twelve week curriculum that I'm actually hoping
(21:11):
to publish our curriculum to be standalone so that you know,
providers parents can access this at any point in time
from our website. But I do run a group class
on Wednesday nights with my young adults right now. It'll
run through mid September. It's six to seven thirty and
I have them all in class and we work through
the curriculum together. But yeah, it's really it's a good time.
(21:33):
We just applied to be a vendor of South Carolina
Oak Rehab, so for young adults who have a diagnosis
of any type if that comes through, which I don't
know if it will, but if it does, then they
would be able to access the coaching services for free.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
That's great. Do you have a website.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Yes, I Elevate your Career dot com.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Well, perfect, and it's been a pleasure talking to you.
And time flies, you know when you're having an interesting conversation,
and this comes up with almost every guest is walking
in and they're a little bit nervous and they think
it's a whole lot of time to fill. And so
I'll ask you that went by a whole lot faster
than you thought, didn't it.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Yes, it did.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Well, that's because you were very interesting to talk to
and I enjoyed the conversation. Daniel fears to ot, I
Elevate Coaching for neurodivergent Talent. Thank you so much for
joining us on CEOs you should Know today.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
You've been listening to iHeart Radios. CEOs you should Know
heard every Tuesday and Saturday morning right here on this
iHeart Radio station.
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