CEOs You Should Know - Kalyn Asher - Asher Media

Kalyn Asher, founder of Asher Media and Avalanche Media Group, joins us to share how she's spent more than three decades building brands, forging partnerships, and redefining what an independent media agency can be. From her unexpected start at Texas A&M to finding her way to UT and eventually founding her Dallas agency in 1999 out of her living room with one client and her first employee Jackie Barrera by her side, Kalyn breaks down the entrepreneurial grit, relationship-driven approach, and people-first philosophy that have defined twenty-six years of Asher. We talk about what it really takes to build lasting client partnerships, how winning a ten-million-dollar account as a two-person operation changed everything, and why being a good steward of your client's money is the foundation of everything they do. The conversation also covers the honest realities of balancing founding a company while starting a family, navigating the personal challenges no one warns you about as a business owner, and what it looks like to build a team so strong you can step away and come back to find everything still standing.

Plus, Popcorn Roulette, the Aggie secret Kalyn has been keeping, and the one song that got her through the earliest days of building something from nothing.

CEOs You Should Know DFW features candid conversations with leaders shaping business in North Texas and beyond, hosted by Chris Long, Region President of iHeartMedia Dallas/Fort Worth. Follow, Rate, and Subscribe on the podcast platform you are listening on!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, I want to welcome everyone to CEOs. You should
know my name is Chris Long and I am the
region president for iHeartMedia Dallas, and I am very lucky
today to be with my friend Kaylin Asher, who is
the founder and CEO of Asher Media and Avalanche Media

(00:20):
here in Dallas and Austin.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Kaylen, Welcome, Hey, welcome, Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
Absolutely so we're going to get started. I know you
have a busy schedule today and I want to keep
us on task. But I have to ask a really
important question as it relates to iHeartMedia, so as the
number one audio entertainment company with more than eight hundred
and sixty radio stations across one hundred and sixty markets,
covering every format, every spoken word category, every podcast genre,

(00:50):
a lot of audio. Basically, I have to ask this question,
what was your first concert and what podcast do you
listening to right now?

Speaker 2 (01:02):
All right? First concert? I have to think it was
the Osmonds, which really really dates me. I know, but
you know your kid, I'm big Donnie Osmond fan had
the poster, the pillowcase, lunchbox. Probably I don't think I had, like,
you know, his favorite colors, purple, his birthdays in September.

(01:24):
Puppy Love was the song, and you know, he had
the whole. It was like even the pre Donnie Marie stuff.
It was a whole Osmond's and it's like that was
you know, I'm sure I was eight, I don't know,
but here in Dallas and but my lifelong dream of
meeting him got to come to Fruition one year because

(01:45):
when he started hosting a game show and then he
was making the tour around the markets and TV station
had me down and we got to have lunch with
Donnie Osmond and meet him, and I, I don't know,
had to drawing and I won his album that he signed,
and I was just you know, I got to meet him,

(02:05):
so it was pretty cool.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
So, folks, this wraps up this episode of Donnie Osmond
Fan Fast, brought to you by Kaylan. I'm kidding, so
it's funny. I asked that question and didn't see that
one coming because I had Johnny Cash and Pink Floyd
as my first two guests. Okay, but Donny Osmond's good
as gen xer as I see it. I remember they
had the show The Osmonds Versus The Jackson Five. Yeah,

(02:27):
we grew up with that.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Yeah, So, I mean, I wouldn't say it's my favorite concert.
But and I'm going to a concert tonight Jimmy Dale
Gilmour in Austin, So West Texas. He's actually touring with
West Texas Exiles, which his son belongs to.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
That's fun.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
But Joey Lee just recently passed, and he was part
of the Flatlanders band and that there were just we're
just a huge fans of that group, of that band.
So but yeah, I've probably seen him about ten times.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
So big music fan, clearly.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, I think so. But okay, so cast.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
Look at you taking control of the podcast. Well, I
love that.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
I don't listen to podcasts, Okay, So I know I
don't know it like I don't have time or the
times that I when I do have time, I I don't.
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
Okay, So this is now becoming an interesting fact. So
you're my third guest, Okay, does ago okay, second in
a row that this is the first podcast they'll listen to,
will be the one that they're being I.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Mean, I have I'm smart you know, smart list or whatever. Okay,
So I have I've checked them out. I think I
just haven't dedicated the time, and I tried to find
the time, and like when would I and people talk
about their greatest podcasts and like, oh, this sounds like fun.
It's sort of like, hey, you need to read this book.
And I'm like, okay, so I might. You know, I
get lucky if I get to read a book, maybe

(03:49):
two a year and so and so really, now I
do have a long drive for the office. I used
to never have a long drive. Ye here in Dallas,
five minutes of the office whatever. But from Austin my
house there to the office in Austin, my drive is
good forty five minutes. I just like peace and quiet
and it's I don't I mean or really I like

(04:11):
traditional radio. So I'm listening to mention I no I do,
and so I do, and so I'm I'm I am
rotating stations. Actually, so I'm not a Spotify person. I
don't have a subscription interesting Pandora. No, I'm an iHeart
at person, but I don't pay for it. So I

(04:33):
hear the ads, which is important to me.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
Okay, So that's funny because my kids all have different
services which they pay for. Yeah, and I think we're
from an era in this business where it's like, hey,
I need to be listening to what's going on, whether
it's for competition, it's something running right or whatever.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah, I want to see how many ads I'm going
to hear, you know, over and over again? And are
you really targeting me? Right? But I mean that's my workout,
you know. So I'm working out and I'm listening to
the whatever the workout station is, or the seventies station
or the eighties station, yeah whatever.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
But yeah, okay, I'm going to get into the no, no,
no, no no, because I get to this run just because
you and I are both gen xers. What would be
the one concert if you could do it? Just answer, like,
if it's like I'm going to this one concert from
that era, what would it be?

Speaker 2 (05:23):
My god, Well, I can tell you my husband's, which
is Rush and he goes all the time. Okay, so
that's a no brainer. Does it have to be one
I've never been to or just.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
Any any.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
So hard I'm so influenced by what I've late seen recently.
I think there's one concert I don't know. All right,
we'll come back, We'll have to come back, because I mean,
right now, i'd say, Bruno Mars, just because I have
seen him and he's amazing. Well, I saw him at
the iHeart the concert you do in September in Vegas

(05:59):
Music Festival, or to the very first one I've been to,
like a couple and I love that you get to
see twenty artists, you know, And so that's where I
was like, oh, I get a little bit of Lady Gaga,
I get a little bit of Bruno Mars, and then
you get a tidbit of like, oh, their whole concert
would be amazing. So that's where I kind of picked
up on that. But Okay, I'll have to come back
to that.

Speaker 1 (06:18):
Okay, so heavy music influence in the first part. But
I think it's pretty impressive to sit here and talk
about what you've accomplished as a CEO and founder. But
even you know, looking at your background, I mean your
UT grad, you know, the the Dartmouth Tuck Executive Program,
Goldman Sachs ten thousand Small Business program. You know, you've

(06:40):
done a lot and it's pretty impressive. And i'd imagine
looking back when you're being questioned for the podcast, what
did it make you think about when you look at
that timeline of work you've done education preparation. All of that.

Speaker 2 (06:56):
Make me think of how old I am and how
long I've been doing this.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
Annie Osmond might have done that.

Speaker 2 (07:01):
Yes, sorry, that would for sure do it. Yeah, it
made me think. It was like, okay, I've been you
know when I been doing this for thirty six years now,
owned my own agency for twenty six years now.

Speaker 1 (07:12):
Ye.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
So loved that. I got the opportunity to go to
Dartmouth twice and do like an executive business owner kind
of a CEO thing there, which was really awesome. Learned
a lot from other really amazing women business owners there
as well, so that was great. The Goldman Sachs opportunity

(07:37):
was also really awesome. Met some really great people in
that in that cohort got to go to DC really
support small businesses. So it's just a way to continue
to continue my education outside of just running an agency yep.
And how we can contribute back to our community, you know,

(07:58):
take things back to the the city we live in,
or help bring up others that we're working with or
partner with. So those are just great experiences. I love
my UT experience. Good Longhorn fan. Obviously, I went back
to Austin, and yeah, it's just I feel very fortunate
to have had all that and then fortunate to just

(08:21):
meet all the folks that I work with in my office.
They're all amazing.

Speaker 1 (08:24):
In shout out to Jackie Brera.

Speaker 2 (08:26):
Yeah, definitely Jackie Brera.

Speaker 1 (08:28):
I mean, yeah, do you know what Jackie used to
do to me? No, I did it.

Speaker 2 (08:31):
I probably I won't be surprised.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
So this shows how a couple things and we'll talk
about it in a minute, relationships and how they're started,
sustained and all of that. So I moved here in
two thousand and two to Dallas, and a couple of
years later I was at jack FM when it launched.
Jackie was a big jack FM person and she loved

(08:54):
the Killers. Yeah she does, and I remember she would
talk about it and I think Quiver negotiating something fairly substantial.
So I would go in every day to the music logs.
But when I got to the to the station and
I would write down what time the Killers were being
played on jack FM, and I would Jackie, here are

(09:14):
the five times the Killers are on jack today?

Speaker 2 (09:16):
Oh my god.

Speaker 1 (09:17):
See.

Speaker 2 (09:18):
But she would be very impartial, and that would not whatsoever.
She would appreciate that, but that would not sway her
to give you more of that buye.

Speaker 1 (09:27):
So I know that that she would be upset if
I did not mention her in the podcast.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
Well, I mean you can't. So you can't talk about
Asher Media without talking about Jackie Barrera because so she
was the first employee and we were working together another
agency and went I decided to leave, and I just
you know, i'd put in my notice and whatever, and
I went to her, you know, respectfully, just to let

(09:54):
her know, by the way, I'm leaving. And she's like,
I'm coming with you. And I'm like, I didn't tell
you where.

Speaker 1 (10:01):
I'm going off right.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
I was like I'm like I'm sorry, what. And she's like,
I'm coming with you. And I'm like, well, I'm just
going to go work for my house and just kind
of like you know, do my own thing and start,
you know whatever. And she's like I'm coming with you.
And I'm like, okay, I can't ask you to do that.
She's like huh, I'm coming, like okay, and so, uh
so I left and just really was working out of

(10:25):
my house and had some former clients wanting to work
with me, which was great. And and then the agency
we were working for started to have some layoffs and uh,
and so she took her package and like two weeks
later was working out of my house. So it was
the two of us at my house from the very beginning.
And we had you know, we had husbands, but we

(10:46):
didn't have kids, and so we were we were up
late in the house working till midnight, listening to the
tirosa Tortilla buys that she had just finished putting on air,
Like how many times we were hearing it and stuff
on the radio, and uh, and we just started getting
more and more business, got more and more and more
people and but we got to like seven people who

(11:09):
then we all kind of had to get out of
the house at that point.

Speaker 1 (11:11):
Yeah, the kind of probably got little a little bit.

Speaker 2 (11:12):
My husband was a little like, I mean, again, you know,
no kids at the time, but people work. But we
would come out of the room like at ten o'clock
at night and see him sitting there on the sofa
and he's like, crap, I didn't know somebody was here.

Speaker 1 (11:24):
So okay, so this is this was a good segue.
You know, you started your career, you know, you worked
at you know, some of the big agency names in
the business, you know, for you know, just about a decade. Yeah,
what what was the moment? You know, you told us
what happened after, But what was the moment that made
you say, you know what, I'm going to leave big agency, media,

(11:44):
big brand named. You could have worked your way up there,
oh totally yeah, yeah, No, what made you? What was
the moment that made you a within the advertising world
say I'm going to leave and start my own thing.
But also, as you know, a potential founder and female
founder of a company. What were the moments that led
to that?

Speaker 2 (12:03):
Yeah? It was moments, and so I can the first
moment I can pin back to why I am sitting
here today probably is working for Tracy lock great agency,
working on GTE account which would now be called Verizon
for those who don't know what GT was back then,
big telecom company, and having a conversation with the most

(12:30):
senior boss on the headed up from a media perspective
on the account yep, and talking about the ability for
women and people but women who you know want to
have a family and want to work, but need that
flexibility of you know, I'm sorry, I'm not going to

(12:52):
walk in the door at eight o'clock in the morning.
By the time I it's okay, I'm going to get
my job done. I'm going to do a really gas job,
but I'm really going to need the flexibility at some point.
So I was just envisioning this, you know. I guess
we were having a conversation about women working and being
able to stay at home and work back then in
nineteen ninety four, you know, at a big agency, they're

(13:16):
not thinking about that, correct, That did not exist. So
I just and she was like, Oh, that will never happen.
You will never do that. So I did come to
find out in my life that as soon as someone
told me you won't do that, I guess it just
goes inside me and I'm just like, I don't why
would you say something like that? And so so I
was told like, oh, that will never happen, You'll never

(13:38):
do that, and I'm like, well, hell yeah, Well, you know,
move on. Great experience there. Moved over to head up
Pizza Hut for a year and a half. Great experience there.
Then I got asked to kind of help start a
media company. I'm a creative agency here mid size and
wanted to start a media company and wanted me to

(14:00):
come in and run it for him, and so I
went over as vice president UH, heading up planning to
buying and and it was a great experience. I learned
a lot because you're so much closer to all the
decisions that are really happening. And that's kind of a
mid size agency versus the larger one, correct you're seeing

(14:23):
the full picture. I was working with the president at
the time of the media company, who you know, confided
in me and in all the aspects of the business,
and I learned more about how, you know, things were
formed and how they worked and so. But then she
decided to leave, UH, and then they didn't replace her,

(14:43):
and next thing, I know, I'm kind of running all
this and I was bringing in a lot of big
accounts from a media perspective, but the on the creative side,
they weren't really bringing in a lot of accounts. So
the moment that kind of came up was when the
CFO who The way the CFO saw the agency was,

(15:07):
y'all are I just saw people and hey, you've got
money over here on this media side, but you don't.
We don't have anything on the creative side. We're just
going to take people from one resource and just move
them around to others, right, And I'm like, I'm sorry.
There's the reason people are creative is because they don't
want media, they don't like math, vice versa. So trying

(15:28):
to give me a creative person or trying to take
a media person and put them over into creative is
just a failure. So you can't run an agency that way.
So you can start seeing some little signs here about
what's about to go down. And then there were a
lot of things that I saw where they promised clients
contractually things that they could get and we didn't have

(15:48):
those resources, we didn't subscribe to those resources.

Speaker 1 (15:51):
And I'm like, weird over promising.

Speaker 2 (15:53):
Yeah, I'm like, this is not right. I'm like so,
so I didn't necessarily care for how they really treated
the clients, how they treated the employees. I did watch
them not treat me so well, and the CFO had
to take me to lunch one time and apologize, and

(16:14):
I'm just like, when was this nineteen ninety eight? Nineteen
ninety eight, and I could just see the writing on
the wall. So I'm in Seattle, it's my birthday, I
think my thirtieth and I love my I love Seattle.
I have to go there and business all the time
back then, and I I'm there and I'm talking to
my husband and I'm just like, I don't want to

(16:36):
do this. I just wanted to. So he will tell
you that's the moment. We were sitting in this cafe
and I'm saying, I think I'm just gonna I'm gonna
do my own thing, and he's like really, and I'm like, yeah,
it's like, do you think you could do that? I
think I can. You know, Like, I just I've got
great connections and I've got trusted people who love, you know,

(16:56):
the strategy that I bring to them. And I said,
you and I are trying to have a family who
are having trouble doing that right now. The stress is
probably not going to do it. I'm not going to
be able to really have these kids that we want
to have and and have the pressure that they want
me to carry in that organization the way that they're
doing it. So I need to kind of control that.
And he's like, all right. So he had an amazing job,

(17:19):
he had great benefits. So I got really fortunate that
my husband was there as the as the the great
partner to help kind of make that happen because not
everybody has that. And so I came back. I was
labor day and I said, I'm done.

Speaker 1 (17:37):
Interesting.

Speaker 2 (17:38):
So, you know, it just there were certain things in
life that it was more important for me to help
figure out how to get pregnant and have the kids
and have the ability to be the mom, be the
class mom, be the dance mom, be the soccer mom,
be all those things and be able to run the business.

Speaker 1 (18:02):
So that's it's interesting. So last episode we spoke to
doctor Harrison from dentistry founder as well, and it's it's
interesting hearing those moments of clarity of like, yeah, this
is what I'm and what the motivation was. Yours seems
like it was more over a timeline of events kind

(18:24):
of started building the painting the picture for you.

Speaker 2 (18:27):
Correct, it was never I'm going to start an agency. Yeah,
that was never a goal in my life.

Speaker 1 (18:31):
What Okay, So when you got there, what was your
vision for the agency? I mean, you know, top line?
I mean, yeah, you want to have success and you
were trying to start a family, and there's a lot
of factors in play here, but like when you thought
about it, what did you see as the vision, what
was your goal the road?

Speaker 2 (18:47):
So the goal always was being able to provide a
life for people who love to do what we do
in a way that allows us to still be active
in our families at home. So it's more of this
trusted you're really good at what you do, Just keep

(19:07):
doing what you do if you need to do it
at ten o'clock at night because of your life schedule, whatever,
I'm good. And then the clients are happy because you're
doing it in the time that you can do it
and meeting your deadlines and whatever, and they're getting the
best of you. And then then your family's also getting
the best of you. So it really was trying to

(19:28):
figure out a way to give that work life balance
and for people to be able to understand that you
can be happy at work, you can like what you do.
And what we found is as long as you love
what you do, it's not work. And so if you
can make it an atmosphere for people to really enjoy

(19:48):
what they do, part of that enjoyment is the fact
that it allows them to have a bad day. It
allows them to have an emergency in life and they've
got to go take care of somebody come back and
they still have a job and they don't worry about
that job. So I think it was just being able
to show that you can be successful and you don't

(20:09):
have to do that in the world of the big corporations,
where someone's waiting on an elevator at eight o'clock in
the morning waiting to see if you're walking out the
elevator on time. I get care less if you got
there at eight in the morning. I worry when you
say you're supposed to be in around nine and I
don't see you, then I'm kind of like, are you okay?
You know? So it's it's more that you really can

(20:32):
have a life and work and make money and have
it all. You just don't need to go somewhere else
and do it under a different way.

Speaker 1 (20:42):
I guess, no, that's that's great, And I'm going to
do something that camera, my executive producer is going to hate.
But I'm gonna go off on a completely different tangent
based on.

Speaker 2 (20:51):
What you've learned. You're going to do.

Speaker 1 (20:53):
Yeah, sorry, I mean, I'm kind of getting known for this.
We do all this prep work and then I go off.
But you bring up a really interesting point. And you know,
you had a series of events that painted a picture
for what could be, which is great. Some of it
personal for yourself, yeah, but also wanting to build a business,
but very personal personal for everyone that came to work

(21:15):
for you. When you think about the responsibility as a
CEO and founder, you have a responsibility for your family,
your own personal life and everyone else, but also your clients.
How do you I mean a lot of people who
are leaders, you know, like say, you know I have
Grade EQ and I care about my parents, my people,

(21:37):
and you know some of us might go really I
don't know about that, but you know I know from
what you just said and witnessing it, it really is
a thing with you and with Asher. How do you
balance that? Like, I mean, you've got really got three
major focused constituency constituencies, your people, your family, and your clients.

Speaker 2 (21:56):
I do, Actually I would say there's a fourth.

Speaker 1 (21:59):
Okay, it was myself and great point.

Speaker 2 (22:03):
Because through all this I went through a lot. My husband,
I went through a lot to get pregnant, you name it,
we did it. And so that's really taxing on your body.
It's really stressful, probably the hardest thing that I ever
had to do, including starting a company. So you're going
through all that while you're starting a company. Yep, it's

(22:23):
nineteen ninety nine. The dot COM's just bust. You know,
there's a lot of challenges happening there. So you're trying
to make your clients happy because you just started and
you want to prove that you really can do this.
You want to make your employees happy, you want to
make your husband happy, you want to make yourself happy.
So that became really the struggle all throughout, especially we

(22:50):
did have kids, and you end up having to change
your priorities during certain time periods. You would have to say,
no matter what, I got to take care of myself.
I'm now responsible for this new baby. If I'm not healthy,
I can't feed this baby. You know what do I
need to do? So I need sleep, and I need

(23:12):
to make sure I'm eating, I need to make sure
I'm hydrated. Whatever. So you're kind of like, Okay, take
care of yourself because then now you've got to take
care of this baby. So it pretty much becomes number
one you and then number two the baby. Number three
is you think it's your husband. It really becomes the company,
the employees, and the clients because it's providing the financial

(23:35):
means now to the family. My husband, unfortunately is the
one who becomes last on that and it sucks and
you talk about it, and so then you've really got
to go out of your way to make moments and

(23:55):
he knows it. He knows that you've got to do
this stuff. But at the same time, you've got you
can't just disappear, So you really have to make specific
moments happen, and you have to go out of your
way to say no, I really appreciate what you do,
and you're super supportive, always a partner, definitely raising the
kids and everything. So that circle or group of priorities

(24:20):
changed depending on what was happening at the moment, and
a lot of times what was great is that as
the team at the company built up, they were all
extremely senior responsible, They could take care of things, and
that freed me up to then spend more time with
my husband.

Speaker 1 (24:39):
Well, they can take care of things except for when
they're strong arming me to find out what time their
favorite bands are playing.

Speaker 2 (24:45):
That is taking care of things.

Speaker 1 (24:47):
Actually good point, that is good point.

Speaker 2 (24:49):
So they have allowed me having this dedicated team and
this team of people who've worked with me for the
full twenty six years, or I've had four people retire.
I've had people hit their twenty years. I've got people
at the fifteen years. We've got someone who's hitting their
ten year this year. They're all just you know, I

(25:12):
can walk away and know that they're taking care of things.
They know how I like it. I trust, you know,
and they don't have to do it my way, although
they keep saying we have to do it Kalin's way.
I just trust that they're going to do it and
they do take care of it. I have had a
situation where I had to back off, step back for

(25:34):
a good couple of months about three years ago. My
dad got sick. Yeah, and I had to check out,
and they took care of everything. And you can check
back in and it's all still there and the clients
are happy. So but it takes You can't do that overnight,
and you can't do that like the first couple of years.
So you do rotate that balance and then but sometimes

(25:55):
your kids need you more, sometimes your husband needs you more,
and so I just sometimes I just need me. Yeah,
So I do make sure I take care of myself,
which is important.

Speaker 1 (26:04):
So This is really interesting because you know, this is
women founded challenges as a leader. We're not even talking
about media right now.

Speaker 2 (26:16):
No, it's just in general.

Speaker 1 (26:17):
Yeah, in general, right, these are challenges.

Speaker 2 (26:20):
And a challenge that a lot of males don't have
with the whole you know, Oh, I got to make
sure that I'm room mom or room dad or whatever.
So these are different challenges.

Speaker 1 (26:30):
Absolutely, And what's funny, And we could go down this
road of the difference between men and women and all
of that, but it's funny you can get to the
same finish line, Yeah, just different ways and still have
the concern for your people and giving great service whatever
your business is and all of that. Through all that,
what I would love to know and as you think
about the twenty five plus years of Asher and all

(26:54):
you went through, family, bringing people on and given the
way you look at your employees, challenges with them and
their lives, because I can tell you take that on
as well. Yeah, and as you as I asked the
question very quickly, highest of highs and lowest of lows
that you've seen over that twenty six years, and how'd

(27:18):
you deal with it?

Speaker 2 (27:20):
Wow? Highest of highs? You know, it's from a business perspective,
the highest of highs is when you win this major,
major account, you get super so excited.

Speaker 1 (27:30):
Never seismic moment.

Speaker 2 (27:31):
Yeah, I mean, honestly that came. I think it came
just with me and Jackie in the house pretty early
on because we had an account. Like I said, we
had been working on Tierrosa Tortilla's at the time. It
was owned by Missus Baird's Bakery, and our previous agency

(27:53):
was working on tier Rosa and that was you know,
but after a year of working on that, the client
was going to consolidate all the media with one agency.
They were kind of broken the brands up, you know.
But I left and Jackie had left, and we're just
the two people sitting in the house doing our own thing,
working on the mattress firm. And that's really how we started.
And I got a call one day and it was, hey,

(28:14):
we're putting the whole Missus Baird's account and review. We
want you to pitch for it, like you know, it's
just me and Jackie in my house, right, And they're like, yeah, yeah, no,
You've been highly recommended by Jean Leanhan with the clear
Channel outdoor. He just he really you know, you know,
I totally trust him. He totally believes in you. You
did a great job for us when you worked with

(28:36):
this other agency on one of our brands. You know,
so our team knows you already. I'm like, okay, yeah,
we're happy to pitch, and I love putting together your
first pitch deck. And it's like, we have one client. Yeah,
so you know, you go in, you do this pitch
and uh and by god, they called and we won
the whole thing.

Speaker 1 (28:54):
That's awesome.

Speaker 2 (28:54):
And you're like, oh my god, it's a ten million
dollar account. Ten million dollar account?

Speaker 1 (28:58):
Wait, what's just tap him? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (29:00):
And I okay, And you know I couldn't do it
I mean I couldn't have done it without Jackie. Of course,
I don't buy a broadcast. I mean I can don't
tell her that, but well she knows I really can't,
but I don't want to anyway, not like her for sure.
So you know she, I mean, she and I figured
it out. I mean we and then we started having

(29:23):
to hire some people to really help us out. And
my mom came on and we taught her how to
do all the accounting and the operations, and so she
also worked for me for twenty years and retired. I
still wish my mom was there. She's awesome and everybody
love work with my mom. But then it that was
just the high, because even the high, the high on
the high of that was understanding that was a prepaid client. Well,

(29:47):
I always make my clients pre pay. If I'm gonna
book anything, it's on my credit, your pre pay. So
they're like, yeah, we're gonna, you know, pay in advance,
the month in advance. And then we're like, great, oh
my god, this huge ass check just came in and she,
Oh my god, Jackie and I are just jumping up
and down in the office and we're like, oh my god,

(30:08):
this is amazing because they ended up needing to book
something even faster than they thought. And we're and so
we're like, holy crap, this is amazing. It was amazing.
So that is a really good high. And we've had
other hides like that along the way, but I mean,
that's one of the first, the very first high. And
went on to actually work with that client again, who

(30:28):
did higher as he left and went to Tyson and
eight years later called us and said, hey, you're still
doing that media thing. And I said like, yeah, and
he's like, all right, well let's talk. So we actually
helped them launch right Brian Bacon around the country. Yeah,
it was great. And then uh, later on he went
on came back to Texas and worked in San Antonio

(30:48):
for Kilbosa and he called one day and he's like,
you're still doing that media thing and like, yeah, I
actually have an office in Austin now too called Avalanche.
And he's like, great, let's talk. You're doing Kilbosa and
he's now tired. But it's like, you know, it's the
client that.

Speaker 1 (31:02):
Just relationships matter.

Speaker 2 (31:03):
Yeah, he he trusted, he believed we did a great
job for him, and he came back. So we call
him our three peat, which was really nice because because
he was at three different places. So, but that's a high.
Okay low Lo Lo Low Okay low is, two thousand
and twenty eighteen. Twenty eighteen was not the best year.

Speaker 1 (31:23):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (31:24):
It's interesting. Everybody has them, they do when everybody when
the economy has really rough years. I actually do, Okay,
I don't know what it is interesting. I don't know,
just because I plan ahead. I'm such a planner and
I have everything sort of like thought out. I've got it,
but but then it does catch up at some point.
So of course the eighth nine, when everything was like

(31:45):
in the tank, I was doing great. It was like
life was okay here. But also diversify a lot of
the accounts so that economically are not crushed. Of course, right,
so real estate, the real estate accounts, you know, Hillwood Victory,
that was all I got. But we had a lot
of healthcare, which doesn't really change utilities things like that.

(32:08):
So but by twenty eighteen, personally, when I when I'm
going through something on a personal side, it impacts my
ability to continue the agency going forward in a growth
standpoint correct. And so in twenty seventeen, Hence hy eighteen

(32:31):
was bad because in twenty seventeen I turned fifty and
it wasn't turning fifty, but I think it was the
I didn't know I was going through menopause, and I
had this brain fog that I didn't know was really happening,
and so I was trying to figure out what was

(32:53):
going on, and you know, what was you know, and
it really you take most of that year to kind
of go to doctors and hey, what's happening. But then
you've you, uh, you find out what it is and
you know and and uh, there's great medication to help
you get through all that. If you believe in it
and brain fog lifted, life is amazing. But now I'm

(33:15):
left with what I was. What I couldn't personally accomplish
that year. That impacts the income for the for the
next year. So every year is kind of setting up
the next year. So that became that and economically challenges
and different things, and so that was the first year
we really had to do. Yeah, and we had to

(33:37):
do a layoff, which I've never That just sucked, you know,
I mean, you do everything again we did, We've done
pay decreases, we did. You do whatever you can. And
I blame myself a lot of it. Pros and cons.
There's there's a lot of a lot of things that
go into it. But it's one of those things I
had I known, had I wished, had someone told me

(34:00):
I could have prepared for, I could have planned for
and I didn't. I know now, So it's something that
I would always tell somebody, Hey, you don't know when
you're going to go through it didn't affect you like
everybody the same way. So if you can know that
as a business owner, it might impact, you know, your
ability to continue to provide for your company and your family.

(34:22):
You might think about that in the future. But so
that to me, that was my lowest of lows, because
I never want to go to somebody and say I
can't afford to keep you.

Speaker 1 (34:32):
You know, it's interesting. You know, you work in any
business long enough and you go high enough, and I've
never been at the CEO level, but yourself as a
founder and our past guests. I was asked one time
by somebody, it's never fun to do that. No matter
how many you can do it one hundred times, it
doesn't matter. And I told somebody one time that if

(34:54):
it ever stops bothering me, I need to just not
work anymore. I need to just move on, because as
it means that there's something.

Speaker 2 (35:01):
Oh no, it should keep you up at night, it
should upset you. I mean, these are people's lives, and
these are friends. These are people that I've known as
and I and I and I still I. You know,
I talk to them. I love them. I think they're amazing.
There there are people who weren't meant to necessarily work
for an agency. They're better suited in the industry working

(35:21):
for you know, whether it's on sales or whether it's
in promotion or directly with the client. I'm all for
trying to help that person find their right path and
where they where they will be more successful. Uh So
I try to encourage them to just go where you
need to be to find that happiness. But I hate

(35:44):
when somebody should be there and I can't.

Speaker 1 (35:47):
Yeah, I mean it's I think it's one thing at
any level if you are a leader, and look, I
believe there are bosses and they're leaders, and there's a
big difference. And if you are a leader, you're having
those conversations and at any level you may have a
team of two people, right, But if you're responsible for people,
if you're having conversations and you're candid with them, yeah,

(36:07):
they're really never there can be surprises, but like at
the end of the day that you've taken care of
your responsibility of being very honest with people and clear
with them and fair. Yeah, as to the landscape, their
work and all of those things.

Speaker 2 (36:21):
Yeah, we just had our twenty twenty six budget meeting.
You know, I worked, you know, wrapped up last year,
worked on my budget for this year, got the projections
in sat down with the senior leadership at the agency
just a week ago and just said, hey, just letting
you know, here are the numbers, here's how we ended
last year. Here's how we're starting this year off. Here's

(36:44):
what I know. Here's what you know. Do I have
my projections rights up to you? You guys are talking
to the clients. You're telling me, but here's you know,
what we were going to need to do to to
you know, keep the year going the way it's going
or you know, any they just needed to know. They
need to know where we are financially and what's ahead
of us for the wh.

Speaker 1 (37:02):
Comes down to guidance, Yeah, and clarity.

Speaker 2 (37:04):
I mean if they don't know, you know, so yeah
for sure. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (37:07):
So this has been interesting and it went off in
a direction that I think is really important from a
founder perspective and as a woman and all that. I mean,
you know, there are different challenges. I w I dial
it back just a little bit because I wan't talk
about asher specifically. Okay, so you're hopping on a plane.
When we're done, you find out the person sitting next

(37:30):
to you and I am going to ask you if
you can explain the new Southwest flying seating regulations at
the end, because I heard you flew up here, so
and see if you can help me, that'd be great.

Speaker 2 (37:39):
I can tell you, like because my daughter works for
self West and actually excellent, it's part of the program
of how that all works, so she's on the team,
I know, So yeah, I have to offer up lots
of advice on that.

Speaker 1 (37:50):
So you're sitting next to a CMO, what's your elevator
pitch on? Asher?

Speaker 2 (37:56):
I mean, if we get into that conversation, because I'm
not really trying to push anybody into it, you know,
but you get into the what do you do that
kind of stuff? The elevator pitch on Asher is I
usually end up in more giving people advice on on
are they getting what they're supposed to be getting with

(38:16):
whoever they're working with at the time, Like whatever they're
they're usually talking to me because they have a challenge.
You know. I was like, oh, explaining this digital stuff
to me and how does it work? And so we
actually did that with a client yesterday here was in
a couple hour meeting locally and it was Okay, I'm sorry,
how does this search stuff work? And you know, when
you're trying to explain the shoes that follow you, especially
wh we're talking to women, because you do go out,

(38:37):
you look for some shoes and you're like, I don't
think so, and then you you know, you're on online
somewhere else and the next day these shoes pop up
and they're like, hey, remember me. And then three days
later it's back on you know, another device, and it's like, ah,
now I'm fifty percent off. So we're having this conversation
you know how that all works, and usually that's what
people are asking and they're fascinated and by the fact

(38:59):
that we do have all this data, we do know
how to follow you, we do know how to make
sure that you get this ad, and we do want
you to purchase this product. So that's a lot of
times that's how the conversation goes. But it's more about
is your money being taken care of? Because that's really
what we do. We are a lot of times when

(39:19):
we're saying we're glorified accountants.

Speaker 1 (39:21):
Right, are you a good steward of the money?

Speaker 2 (39:23):
That's it's huge and so so besides, are they are
they taking care of your money? Are they giving you
the right investment advice on how you're spending it. Are
they using research in a way to help come up
with that decision, whether or not you're in the right medium,
you know, should you be in radio, TV, out at home, digital, meta?

(39:45):
You know, there's so many ways. And then are you
spending it the right way? Is it being bought the
right way, which is a whole another thing. And then
are they taking care of your money so that but
they're not using it for their own operation expense of
the agency. And that's how a lot of agencies go

(40:07):
out of business is they take in their money, they
use it to pay their employees, the media money, and
then when the bill comes from the vendor, you're like, oh, well,
I'll put that off for ninety days and then it's
you know, and so never ever, never ever use clients
media money on yourself. And that was less than number one.

(40:28):
Take it put in a separate bank account. It never
touches your operating funds whatsoever. So it you know, are
they giving you the right advice, are they really taking
care of your money, which for most business owners, especially
if you're an entrepreneur versus working for a big corporation,
that is it. That is their number one expense. When

(40:51):
we worked on TXU Energy here for ten years, we
were their number two most expensive vendor. They spend more
money with us than anybody because that's the budget. Their budgets.
Media is expensive and that's what they're spending it on.

Speaker 1 (41:04):
So interesting. So given that opportunity, you're gonna ask questions
versus I am versus the tell this is what you
need to do.

Speaker 2 (41:14):
Oh yeah, I think I end up asking more questions
so that because I can't. I'm a problem solver and
I can't tell them what to do. That's what we do,
right right, I'm going to bring you a solution, right I.
I mean I can give you. I definitely can give
you thirty six years worth of off the cuff experience,
you know, tell me your your business problem, and I
can say, okay, are you doing this? Are you doing that?

(41:36):
Have you tried this? Have you tried that? But when
you did, how did you do it? Like I'm going
to just kind of dig and dig and dig and dig,
and I can say, you know, I could you could
walk off the plane and get you know, tidbits of
guidance for me that says you might want to consider
looking at this, this, this, and this, and so if
you're interested, here's mine. Never call me. Yeah, you know,
and I'm happy to go dig around and help figure

(41:57):
that out for sure. So we do. We do a
lot of that, lot of problem solving for clients.

Speaker 1 (42:02):
I mean, look at the end of the day, that
should be any sales in terms, I mean whether you're
selling cars, how whatever, What solution can I bring with
problem can I solve for you?

Speaker 2 (42:11):
And that's exactly it. We love it. We love getting
all the different problems. Yeah, and Jackie will tell you that.
I don't know what it is, but we attract the weirdest,
weirdest situations different companies and the problems that people have.
And it's like, I've never seen things like this and
should we even be doing this in media? But we
do and we love it. It's fun, challenging.

Speaker 1 (42:31):
Yeah, so I know, you've got to catch a plane.
We got a few more minutes. I do want. I
think it's important given your journey, what advice do you
give young professionals? And I would say in media, but
in any industry, when you when you look at your
career arc as both as an employee, as you started
for the first ten years and then into a founder's role.

(42:53):
What's that advice you would give them?

Speaker 2 (42:56):
It actually happens to be an area that I tend
to do a lot. I have helped folks and their
kids as they've come out and grown up, and people
come to me for advice a lot, and I love
helping to give them career guidance and what they're looking for.
So I end up, you know, really asking them questions,

(43:16):
are you just in creative or you're interested in money
or you math? And you know kind of what your
skill set and what do you like, And so I
try to help guide them in the right path. They're
not coming out of college really understanding how advertising the
industry really works. They don't really know the difference between
a media planning a media buying. They don't know the

(43:37):
roles that people play and what's what's options are there
for them. And the digital world has exploded even more
of that. If I get another resume that says, oh
my gosh, please hire me. I really love social content
and graphic design, like, please look and see what we do.
We do not do not create content and we do
not do any creative design. So it's trying to help

(43:58):
guide them. And first thing like semi your resume. As
soon as I see you know what they've put on there,
which should be what they like to do and what
they've been trying to do. I try to help guide
them in that direction of you should talk to these
types of companies in these types of industry and give
them some suggestions. And if I know anybody, I try
to connect them. So then it's really trying to help

(44:20):
them at also on are you you know is AI
writing your resume? Don't do that, you know, use it
as a guide, but we can tell, we can totally
tell when the resumes come in and it's all AI written.
And then but do your research before you have these
meetings with folks as well. In absolutely some of the

(44:42):
interviews are just crazy. So just really trying to help
them cut through the clutter and be human, have a
conversation and talk about what you're right. So it's I
love giving them advice I have with my both my
daughters being at twenty four and twenty too, they're they're

(45:02):
at that phase and all their kids, all their friends
are graduating same yeah, And so I provide lots of
advice for them and help them out as much as
possible too.

Speaker 1 (45:12):
Yeah, okay, before we get to our last segment, I
want to talk about one last thing really quickly. I
talk to our team here about you know, improvement doesn't
always come like your story about winning the business and
that big first account. But that's not every day and

(45:32):
and I'm a big believer, and I you know, they
get tired of hearing it, but I'm a big believers.
You win in the cracks and the gray spaces. It's
getting better every day and doing that one extra call
whatever that is. How do you look at that from
running Asher and Avalanche perspective? Because the sizing movements happen
every so.

Speaker 2 (45:51):
Often they do, so we are semi seasonally. I don't know,
it's changed a lot over the years, but right now
we're in a very busy new business phase. First of
the year, CEOs cmos wake up and they're like, oh, crab,
I got a budget supposed to be spending, and they,
you know, start working on it and we start getting

(46:11):
some phone calls and so we've and there's lots of
RFPs that come out. So we're super busy right now
in talking with potential clients and so we're very active
that will die down a little bit in April, May
and June. At that point, pretty much people have already
sort of launched what they're going to do for the year,
or they've moved on to other things they need to

(46:34):
work on because the next year is not coming up.
So that's a year. That's the time period where I
usually go off by myself, focus on the business, look
at what we're doing, do some projections come back, We
tidy things up inside. Occasionally there's some new new opportunities
that come. You got to know that the say the

(46:55):
five or six that we're talking to right now, we
might get one of them correct, you know, and so
you know you're hopeful that one or two of these
are going to hit, and then you're onboarding them for
the rest of the year. Correct July, August, and September.
People come back from the fourth of July and they
are like, oh crap, my year is about to end.
I need to finish my budget. And then I also

(47:18):
need to I'm thinking about changing agencies, and I've got
to give them enough notice. So I've got to have July, August,
and September for the time period to find that new agency.
So that I give the agency I'm currently working with
their ninety day notice and start transitioning things come October
like okay, so that's a pretty busy, hey, what's going
on time period as well. And then there's a lot

(47:40):
of state government accounts whose years start in September, so
they've got new budgets that start nine to one. So
you're really kind of backing up and doing a lot
of that stuff too, which we do having an office
in Austin and whatnot, we do a lot of state
government as well. So then October, November, and December, you're
hoping you've one a few of the ones from the

(48:01):
very beginning of the year. You're hoping that you've won
a few come July, August, September, and you're hoping at
that point you're not losing anybody. And that's the other
part is at the same time that you're trying to
go out and win accounts, you have to really take
care of the ones you have. Of course, it's more
important to keep the ones you have than to go
get new ones. Oh, they're harder to get. You've already got.

Speaker 1 (48:22):
One, right, and you've already started to grow them.

Speaker 2 (48:24):
Yeah, and you don't, and you can't take your eye
off of them because it's going to cost you more
to go get a new one. Some people do have
the business philosophy of just go keep filling the pipeline, right.

Speaker 1 (48:36):
And.

Speaker 2 (48:38):
That doesn't work for us. It could, and I do
see them try to do it, but it doesn't work
for us. So we're more about maintaining strong relationships with
the ones that we have, which is why we then
end up with accounts. Our list of ten year plus
accounts are super long. We've got an original client still

(48:59):
for twenty six years, but we worked with the Dallas
Mavericks for twenty five seasons. We've worked with we grew
Wingstop for nineteen years, you know, so that's we love
the longevity of that. And so you really your challenges
in those cracks you were talking about is filling that time,
taking care of your current what's.

Speaker 1 (49:19):
Managing your timeline? And in your timeline it sounds like
you look at it very specifically. I do, and I
don't want to say formula because it's not always the same,
but there are certain underpinnings that are always going to
be the same. Like you said, timing of fiscal budgets
and government contracts and things like that. Right, it takes its.

Speaker 2 (49:37):
Change, and it takes years of sort of doing this
to kind of look and then making sure you're taking
that time to reflect back on the previous years. So
taking that time once a year to go out and
have your own personal business time that you're thinking about
your company and you're looking at numbers, and I do this.
I'm going to Saint Martin to do this for a week.

Speaker 1 (49:58):
Ramos has to do some self reflection.

Speaker 2 (50:00):
Exactly. I'm gonna look at a beach and I'm gonna
sit there and really think, because you need you need
the capacity where no one's bothering you, no family, no work,
no friends, no nothing. I'm gonna saying bothering you, distracting you,
to focus on these numbers and to focus on the
goals of what did I achieve, what do I need
to achieve, what can we make better for next year?

(50:22):
So I do look forward to those times and do
get a lot accomplished. I do enjoy going as well.

Speaker 1 (50:29):
So yeah, sitting on the beach in Saint Martin doesn't stink.

Speaker 2 (50:31):
I'm excited. Southwest is opening up flights there and they
start on I believe it's like April seventh. I think
sixth or seventh.

Speaker 1 (50:42):
So yes, yeah, Caitlyn, this has been a lot of fun.
I know I took us off the roadmap that you
were given, but you have so much insight to offer,
and this has been really interesting and I really appreciate
your time. Before you go and jump on your flight.
We did a little research and found that you are

(51:03):
a big popcorn fan. I do, and so we have
a segment when we wrap up our podcast. We call
it question Relett, but we change it for every guest.
So this is going to be popcorn Roulette. Okay, we
have skinny pop we have different flavors mom for you.
But each bag of popcorn has an adjacent envelope with

(51:25):
a question. Will be your last question of the day.
So choose your favorite and then open the envelope and
there's a question in there we would like you to answer.

Speaker 2 (51:36):
I am smart food, white cheddar.

Speaker 1 (51:39):
Okay, yeah, let's see. Let's see what you got there.

Speaker 2 (51:41):
All right, it's looking my good snack on the plane,
although I do look forward to the pistachios on the plane.
Now that's an important one.

Speaker 1 (51:50):
That's my mother.

Speaker 2 (51:52):
It is new if you get a premium seat, you
get to get the wonderful pistachios. And that was my
daughter's project, the biggest project she worked on all last
ye So she's very excited about the fact that game. Well,
she did have to go through like five hundred snacks
to whittle down what you write. One was going to
be for the customer.

Speaker 1 (52:08):
So that's great.

Speaker 2 (52:10):
So yeah, if you had a wake up song, what
would it be? A walk up song? Sorry? Yeah, I
need my readers on. Oh hey, now you're a rock star.
It was the name of the song I remember. Is
it all Star?

Speaker 1 (52:28):
Okay?

Speaker 2 (52:30):
Yes, okay? And the reason is just started the company
working out of my house. You know, I'm sitting here
trying to set up bank accounts and I've only got
this like one client and Jackie part I don't even
she even started yet. And so I found myself, you know,
not working in a nine to five time period, and
I'm like, what the gym? You know? And so that's

(52:50):
a gym and I'm working out and you know, two
in the afternoon and all these people are here. I'm like,
what do y'all do?

Speaker 1 (52:57):
What do you do?

Speaker 2 (52:58):
And this is pre COVID, Like wait, where how I
didn't know all these people were on the roads and
in the gyms and going to the grocery store during
the regular work hours. I was always working nights and
weekends and so and this the song would come on
and I'm on the treadmill or elliptical or whatever, and
it was very popular. It's nineteen ninety nine, so it

(53:19):
was I guess it was very popular at that point,
and the song would come on. It's just that song
that just pumped you up to go, you are you
are a rock star, you got this, you can do this,
and so it's just it's I feel like it's the
song that continued to motivate me. That's great at the time,
And I can just kind of paint it back to
that picture and being in that gym and doing that,
and I'm like, yeah, it is a great memory. So

(53:42):
I hear I do. We hear it every once in
a while and I'm.

Speaker 1 (53:44):
Like, yeah, that was such a good check the music logs.

Speaker 2 (53:47):
Yeah, please let me know. I'll turn on.

Speaker 1 (53:49):
Okay, I do have to ask last question, then we're done.
I promise it was in one of these other ones.
Oh no, okay, as a ut grad, tell me the
one Aggie tradition that makes you nuts. Okay, Well, and
I love Aggie's. I have an Aggie as a child,
but I want to know.

Speaker 2 (54:07):
Okay, we'll see I was an Aggie. I actually started
at Texas A and M.

Speaker 1 (54:11):
Whoa scandal scandal.

Speaker 2 (54:14):
So best friend from high school was like, I'm gonna
go to A and M. Where A you're gonna go?
And I'm like, I don't know. I don't care. As
long as in Texas my dad's flying, you know, So
I like, let's go check it out. So we checked
it out, went to bonfire, had a great weekend. High
school like, yeah, I'll go here. This is great. We're
going off to A and M. So you go to
fish camp in the summer. So I'm at fish Camp

(54:34):
and and I meet John Carp. John Carp is from
Richardson and John Carp today is my CPA and has
been my CPA. He was yesher and my wedding, so
great guy. Neither one of us know how to two
step country this I'm not. I don't do country. Sorry
I can't. I can two step now, but we're having

(54:57):
to learn all the traditions at fish Camp. Howdy howdy,
everything's howdy whoop. So, but what it really was, what
it really is, the brainwashing on how you hate U Tea?
It really was. And I'm like, okay, I'm supposed to
hate you Tea, Sure, Okay whatever. Meanwhile, boyfriend back in Austin.
So where am I? I'm in Austin all the time. Man,

(55:20):
Austin is beautiful. It's fun. Look at all these things
I can go and do. College station. This is small town.
I'm from Dallas, nothing to do here. I fall in
love at Austin. I'm like, I am out of here.
I loved A and M. It was a great school.
I had a really great experience. I just loved Austin
fair And my biggest pet peeve about about it A

(55:47):
and M is their fight song, which is to solve
Varsity's arden serv it. So I'm like, first off, your
whole song is all about signing our longhorns off. And
then you left the Big twelve to go to the SEC. Yeah,
you're having to sing about these long horns that there
aren't long horns in the SEC. Now we're finally back

(56:09):
in UT's in the SEC, and I'm like, Okay, your
song makes sense.

Speaker 1 (56:12):
Now you're welcome.

Speaker 2 (56:14):
You're welcome, but you've been singing this song and it
doesn't make sense anymore. So that's been my pet peeve.

Speaker 1 (56:20):
So didn't know I would uncover that kind of scan
h question.

Speaker 2 (56:25):
I am full of surprising.

Speaker 1 (56:27):
I tell you, I didn't see that coming, you know.

Speaker 2 (56:29):
I think I still surprise my kids every time I
go to dinner or whatever and they're like, Mom, I
did not know that, and I'm like, you know, I
have had a great life.

Speaker 1 (56:36):
Absolutely you have. Well, Caitlyn, thank you for sharing some
of that with us. This is a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 (56:42):
It's fun.

Speaker 1 (56:42):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (56:43):
And look at all the popcorn.

Speaker 1 (56:45):
With you. You could read the questions and they go, oh,
thank god, he didn't ask that. Have a great flight,
thanks and we will talk to you soon.

Speaker 2 (56:53):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (56:53):
Absolutely