Family, Faith, and Future: How Victoria Whitehead Is Shaping Lubbock's Development

When Victoria Whitehead was just eleven years old, her father had a heart attack that changed their family's trajectory. Recognizing the precariousness of their situation, he established a forward-thinking estate plan that gave each child ownership of semi-trucks and trailers leased back to the family business. This early entrepreneurial education would shape Victoria's approach to both business and family planning for decades to come.

Now an attorney, policymaker, and CEO of the West Texas Home Builders Association, Victoria brings a wealth of experience from working at both the Texas Legislature and in Washington DC. Her journey reveals the stark differences between policy-making in these environments and why the Texas approach tends to foster more collaboration and practical solutions.

What makes West Texas special? It's a question that weaves throughout this conversation. Victoria articulates how Lubbock's growth stems from more than just business-friendly policies and tax advantages. The region offers a unique combination of economic resilience, affordable housing, strong infrastructure, and most importantly, a community that genuinely cares about its future. Unlike larger metropolitan areas where posturing often replaces action, Victoria describes how West Texas maintains its "cowboy spirit" – a commitment to hard work, integrity, and reinvesting in the community.

The discussion also explores Victoria's innovative approach to estate planning for her own children, her leadership philosophy centered on purpose rather than accomplishments, and how she manages the delicate balance between professional ambition and family life. For anyone interested in community development, family wealth planning, or understanding what makes certain regions thrive while others struggle, this conversation offers valuable insights from someone who's both shaping policy and living its results firsthand.

Episode Transcript

Addison Thom (00:00):
Welcome to another episode of the Wealth Blueprint
.
Today I'm honored to have ourguest as Victoria Whitehead.
Victoria is an attorney, apolicymaker and the CEO of the
West Texas Home BuildersAssociation.
She provides a lot of insightson the growth and expansion of
Texas and West Texas in generaland some of the changes we can

(00:22):
expect to see in the comingyears.
So I hope you enjoyed thisepisode.
Please welcome, victoriaWhitehead.

Victoria Whitehead (00:39):
And then nine times out of ten.
It's not good.
I'm like.
This is why you're gettingheadaches.
You're not drinking enoughwater, You're not getting enough
protein or nutrients.
He's like well, one nugget'sgood like no, it's not.

Addison Thom (00:51):
How old is your son?

Victoria Whitehead (00:53):
six and three.

Addison Thom (00:54):
The oldest is six I have a six, three and two.
Oh nice, you're old and we'reworking on girls right now.

Victoria Whitehead (01:00):
I have all girls.
Okay, yeah, I have all girls.

Addison Thom (01:01):
Okay, yeah, I have all girls Uh, but my IVF, our
IVF, my IVF doctor, my wife's itcould be yours.
I mean, I'm represented by them,but they, they belong to my
wife, yeah, um.
So they called yesterday.
We've been waiting.
So we got like eight eggs or 10eggs, sorry, and sent them off

(01:27):
to be tested and all that stuffand I've got six boys all
healthy and four girls allhealthy, so all 10 of them are
viable.
I'm like, should I go for 10?
Should we just do all 10?
My wife was like no, we'll haveto get surrogates if you want
to do that.
But we wanted to have a boy.
So that was the whole plan andthe healthiest one is a boy.

(01:51):
So I'm very hopeful about that.
You got to even the playingfield in the house a little bit.

Victoria Whitehead (01:55):
Yes, I'm the only girl of four boys.
So I think the dynamic of likeall one gender and then one
other is pretty it's a prettyfun dynamic.

Addison Thom (02:05):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
What was that like growing upwith your?
You have three brothers.
I have four brothers.
You have four brothers.
Okay, what was that like?
Are you the youngest?
I knew how to fight really fast.

Victoria Whitehead (02:14):
Yeah second to the youngest.
Okay, yeah, but, um, I thoughtit was great like I I grew up, I
think, having a, an environmentaround me where, like I was, I
was raised to be tough and I wasraised to be, like, confident
and, um, I had to make sure thatI could hold my own, um, but
also like I had the biggestprotectors in my corner, um, but

(02:38):
it was great.
And like we range 47 to 31.
So, like I was, you you know,in elementary school, with a
cool brother who played forhereford high school's football
team and so it was just coollike dynamics yeah, um gives you
like an elevated status inschool a little bit.
Yeah, like you don't mess withme, I've got a guy who's a

(03:00):
lineman on the high schoolfootball team as my brother.

Addison Thom (03:04):
I'm sure dating you in high school was probably
a scary proposition.
She's got four brothers.

Victoria Whitehead (03:09):
Just a little bit, a little bit.

Addison Thom (03:12):
I had all sisters.
I was the only boy.

Victoria Whitehead (03:15):
Okay, so that would be your dynamic.

Addison Thom (03:16):
Yeah, right, okay.

Victoria Whitehead (03:18):
How many sisters?

Addison Thom (03:19):
I have two sisters , but then I had three
stepsisters, okay yeah, so I wasin a house with all women and
then, when my mom and dad gotdivorced, she left my dad and
got into a gay relationship.
So I had two moms and then fivesisters total.
So that was insane.

Victoria Whitehead (03:42):
After I had my first and we had two boy dogs
yeah and like I really wanted agirl, because in my head I was
like, okay, if I have a boy anda girl, then I solidly know
we're okay to be done.
Um, but came up with a boy,which absolutely love him.
Uh, but I sat there and likejeffrey got so mad because, like
the next week I was like goingto home, I'm gonna, I need a

(04:04):
feminine up my house, like Ineed like soft curtains.

Addison Thom (04:07):
Like when got a bunch of day course that?

Victoria Whitehead (04:10):
no, I didn't , because I was like now I know
we're having a boy and it's likea boy fest in here I need to
like make our house have alittle bit of a feminine appeal
to it because, I don't know, mystyle is like very modern, um,
like woodsy, I don't know,modern wood, earth.
But I was like we need here'ssome flowers, like we're going

(04:30):
to put some flowers on the wallto make it girly, because this
is the only girlies that I have.

Addison Thom (04:34):
Yeah, my house is very girly, and so I just stay
at my office the whole time.
I light candles that smell liketobacco and leather, and that's
mainly as it gets.

Victoria Whitehead (04:49):
And you're in financial planning.

Addison Thom (04:52):
No, real estate development.

Victoria Whitehead (04:53):
Real estate development, yeah, so do you
have specific areas of yourportfolio where you're like this
is girl A's wedding plan, thisis girl B's wedding plan.
Do you plan business-wise?
That is a great question.

Addison Thom (05:04):
Yes, I do, um, so I set up companies for each one
of my kids and I own property inall of those companies for
their benefit.
Basically, um, and yeah, that'slike their college savings plan
, but like another reason I setup this podcast and like the

(05:25):
Instagram channel, and all ofthat is because you can actually
like.
If your kids are on you knowcamera and on your Instagram
account, you can pay them up to$15,000 a year.
Oh, yeah.
As like a marketing fee or, likeyou know, modeling or whatever.
And so I started doing that sothat one I could teach them how

(05:48):
to manage money and then also,like, once they have money in
there, they're going to have tomake a decision on where they go
to college and how to pay forit, and it's going to come out
of their own money.
And then, from that 15,000, youcan contribute $7,500 a year to
a Roth IRA and so that can growtax free, um, and whatever they
invest in.

Victoria Whitehead (06:08):
We do that, um, and that we had started that
with my six year old, when hewas four and when I was working
with our financial advisor lastyear so son would have been too
I was like hey, I mean he pickedup sticks at the ranch, like is
that not work?
And she goes yeah, it does work.
I was like solid 15 grand apair, like yeah.
But when I grew up in Herefordbig ag feedlot area, my dad like

(06:36):
I think he had heart attackswhen I was 11.
And so he had this likerealization that, oh crap, like
we have a small family businessit was a trucking company at the
time, okay, and he was like ifI died, you guys are literally
screwed because no one elseknows how to run this business.
Yeah, so he was on this hugemission of getting everybody set

(06:58):
up, but basically it was like awheel and spoke type system for
a family business where heowned the trucking logistics
company, for a family businesswhere he owned the trucking
logistics company.
And then each one of us, evenat 14 to 17, owned semi-trucks.
We all had semi-trucks andtrailers and we leased those
back to the family business thatthen operated it, which helped
from a financial securityperspective if you had issues

(07:19):
with one of them or differentthings.
That's what helped pay for myundergrad.
I went into undergrad withthree semi-t semi trucks and two
trailers.
That made revenue that I didn'thave to necessarily manage
because I leased it to thefamily business.
Um, but a huge passion to makesure.
Like hey, I'm setting you upwith your own little company so
that you had income streams anddidn't have to necessarily go

(07:41):
waitress throughout college.

Addison Thom (07:43):
Yeah, that's genius.
So you're an attorney, right?
Yeah, so you went to undergrad,and then did the trucks pay for
law school too.

Victoria Whitehead (07:52):
No, law school was more expensive than
the trucks and at that time Idecided I was like, on this
mission of, like I'm going to godo my own thing, so I sold them
, Sold them so that I could kindof help fund.
I actually went to law schoolbecause I wanted to work in
policy Um, in undergrad I hadworked two legislative sessions

(08:12):
and worked in DC Um, so that'sfree labor in many instances.
So wanted to go that route but,uh, ended up doing debt for law
school One of the worstdecisions I've ever made on the
debt side of things.
But wanted to go for policy andso had to kind of fund working

(08:34):
in government, which issometimes very poor.

Addison Thom (08:37):
Yeah, you need some like rich benefactors to
really make that work out whatwas that like working in policy
in DC, like seeing how the youknow the sausage is made, so to
speak.

Victoria Whitehead (08:50):
Absolutely loathe DC, so I had worked in
Austin for a season.

Addison Thom (08:55):
That means you're a good person, I think, the fact
that you hate Washington DC Isay that about people that hate
Los Angeles too I'm like, oh,you're probably a good human
being.
Well, I mean, I'd gone toAustin.
I'm like, oh, you're probably agood human being.

Victoria Whitehead (09:05):
Well, I mean , I'd gone to Austin, I'd worked
for a senator who is anexcellent leader from West Texas
, and it's 180 days, start tofinish, no matter what.
And so you saw like within thattime frame, bills start and
bills end, and like you have towork hard because if you don't
finish it by the end, it's ayear and a half, two years
before.

Addison Thom (09:24):
Oh, you're working on actually passing, or putting
together legislation to pass asa policy.
Yeah, Wow.

Victoria Whitehead (09:31):
So I saw that whole process in Austin and
it was awesome because wesolved problems in 180 days and
then went to DC to work forSenator Hutchison, and it was
right after Obama's secondreelection and I worked for a
Republican Senator, so there wasabsolutely nothing going on.

Addison Thom (09:51):
Yeah, everything was stonewall oh stonewall.

Victoria Whitehead (09:54):
I mean I was there during a cool historical
time Like that was when theAffordable Care Act went through
the Supreme Court and gaymarriage went through the
Supreme Court.
So I was there during like acool season to see a lot of
history.
But from a policy perspectiveit was so disheartening because
I was like I literally did.
I didn't do anything to helpanybody, so immediately went

(10:15):
back and worked anotherlegislative session and found
passion there.

Addison Thom (10:19):
Do you think that that's like why the system works
so well, though, is becauseit's hard to make changes like?
I know that there's a coupledifferent like theories about it
, but basically the way that theconstitution's written is that
making any big swinging changesis hard to do, and that's been,
you know, loosened a lot, Ithink over probably the last

(10:41):
like 20 years.
But do you think that's thepurpose?
Is like make it hard to getanything through, and then, when
you do get something through,it's so chalked up and, you know
, edited that you know only 15percent of your bill still
remains.

Victoria Whitehead (10:56):
Well, I think it's.
It's set up to make sure thatmore minds come together so that
greater representation is hadto make sure like policy is
actually good for the whole.
I think you see a lot ofusurping of that nowadays with
the amount of executive ordersthat presidents do Like.
This it's, I think if you talkto most especially like

(11:16):
conservative Republicans, likeexecutive orders, while do serve
some benefit to help push somepolicy that is needed, it's not,
that's not how this is supposedto be, and it's easily reversed
when the next administrationcomes in, and then they're like
oh, we're going to double theamount of executive orders and
it skews, I think, for theAmerican public, the idea of how
law is actually made, becauseit seems like, okay, well, I can

(11:40):
elect this guy, and then I canelect this guy and things are
going to happen.
And it's like, well, it's nottechnically the process, it
needs to like go through Houseand Senate, but even in Austin
most like really good majorideas.
I mean, it's always a generalrule with them that it takes
three sessions for it to pass.
So you like you do one sessionwhere you plan it, you start the

(12:01):
discussion.
The second session, you reallylike grow the idea and the third
is like all right, let's get itpast the finish line.
Um, so a lot of like your biggerreform type stuff.
Like it takes, it takes a while.

Addison Thom (12:11):
So do you think that the Texas house of
representatives and the waybills are passed here are more
efficient than DC?

Victoria Whitehead (12:19):
Oh yeah, yeah Like in in comparison.

Addison Thom (12:23):
How would you compare them?

Victoria Whitehead (12:24):
Well, and if you look at Texas and general
statistics, like we stillactually and you don't see it in
the news media, it's notreflected accurately, but
there's really only 10 to 20bills a session, the last couple
of sessions that actually getpassed on party lines, and
almost everything else is passedum unanimously or super

(12:48):
majority Um, and you don't seethat cause.
That's not the story.
It's like the party line billsare the ones that get 90% of the
coverage, um, but like weactually still work together Um,
and and a lot of times too,it's not necessarily ours versus
these, it's rural versus urban.
That's interesting.

(13:08):
You don't see that in DC.
I didn't even think about that.
I mean, if I was a Republicanin DC and I voted for a D bill,
I am going to have mailers atthe wazoo against me next
election cycle saying I votedwith the Democrats and it's like
, well, it might've been a goodbill.
It might've been for, like ahighway coming through Lubbock,
texas.

(13:28):
Isn't that crazy Um but it'sjust, it's a different, it's
just such a different beast.

Addison Thom (13:33):
Um yeah, Like you're you're supposed to be,
like, so loyal to your team thatyou would never vote for, even
if it's a really good idea thatyou would never vote for
something proposed by a Democrator Republican.
If you're on the other side,that's.
But you know, maybe that's, youknow, slows the wheels of
change.

Victoria Whitehead (13:53):
Well, and I think that's like, uh,
especially in, even in out herein West Texas, and home building
and different things likepolicy is not politics.
Um, so, like when we talk aboutschool vouchers or we talk
about impact fees.
When we talk about schoolvouchers or we talk about impact
fees, we talk about all thesethings like when you're looking
at policy, it's you know, schoolvouchers can be upwards of 1400
different ideas in one.

(14:14):
Yeah, we talk about it as, oh,it's just a school voucher
program, it's one you're eitherfor it or against it, and it's
like well, what are, what's thepolicy and the details you know,
and how does it affect me andhow does it affect this person?
I mean, there's so manydifferent dynamics that go into

(14:36):
it.
So to generalize, some of thatstuff is so tough and and that's
how elections get won in someinstances, but um, it's because
we have short attention spans.

Addison Thom (14:41):
They're just like give, give.

Victoria Whitehead (14:43):
we need three talking points on a very
complex yeah I used to do a tonof work in groundwater um in
austin and it's like groundwater, even like something so general
, is so different across thestate.
So it's like, okay, so we'regoing to regulate something
statewide that when you pump itin Hereford, texas is different

(15:05):
than Abilene, is different thanDallas and the coast, and so you
can't necessarily regulate itall the same because it's just.

Addison Thom (15:12):
but so do you still work in policy in your law
firm?

Victoria Whitehead (15:16):
So law firm um is closed now.
Um so when I took over as CEOof the Home Builders Association
, wound that down a little bit.
But at Home Builders, though, Istill do legal and lobby work
as part of my job.

Addison Thom (15:33):
How did that change come about?

Victoria Whitehead (15:39):
How did you make the transition from owning
a law firm was geared towardsgeneral counsel services for
small businesses as well aslobbying efforts from a local
perspective.
So one of my clients was theHome Builders Association and so
I represented them for almosttwo years prior to coming into

(16:01):
this role, with all of theirwork before the city.
So when this opportunity cameup, they saw like and it's a
general trend in businessassociations to kind of have a
different hire as your CEO,someone who can do the legal and
lobby work in addition to likemanaging the association.
So when it came up, I voluntoldGod voluntold me.

(16:26):
Like it was just kind of a itwas.
It was a lot of things comingtogether at once from a journey
perspective, but also aprofessional perspective.

Addison Thom (16:33):
And so that's been what?
Two years now.
How long have you?

Victoria Whitehead (16:36):
been Almost two years in August.
Okay, um, yeah, wow, two years.

Addison Thom (16:42):
Yeah, does it feel like shorter or longer?

Victoria Whitehead (16:46):
It feels longer.
I don't know.
Yeah, Does it feel like shorteror longer?
It feels longer, I don't knowCause.
I have that merge of like.
Um, even when I was a lobbyist,I attended all the board
meetings, was very active, I wasthe program chair, Um.
So, uh, people are like you'vebeen there for just a little bit
and I'm like I've been around,been around for a little while,
but um.

Addison Thom (17:02):
So what is the home builders association
working on right now, likewhat's your, what's your
momentum?

Victoria Whitehead (17:08):
so a lot of what we're gearing up towards is
really advocacy, um andadvocating for um homes and home
building in west texas.
Um, I think we've kind of seena dynamic in in the lubbock area
of maybe just somemisrepresentation of what new
home building brings to acommunity and it's the health

(17:28):
and the heartbeat of theeconomics of the community.
How many new homes are beingsold?
You know that's what the mayorlooks at when he does his state
of the city report.
But so from an advocacyperspective we are trying to do
a much better job of like let'stell the story of what it means.
So it's not like old Lubbockversus new Lubbock, like new
Lubbock growth, while you knowit maybe puts a strain on

(17:51):
infrastructure or timing ordifferent things, like the
property tax and sales taxesthat come from that or
subsidizing other parts, and soreally trying to be an advocate
for those businesses.

Addison Thom (18:03):
And rooftops is really what drives everything
else too.
So residential rooftops drive.
Commercial investment drive.
You know infrastructure, youknow all the things that fall
after.
That starts with the rooftopand then incentivizing the city
like, hey, you need to run, youknow infrastructure and roads
further out.
That expands the city, providesmore opportunity, you name it.

(18:26):
So yeah, I love that.
And so you're not just what,what?
What is west texas like?
What's under your purview?

Victoria Whitehead (18:36):
so we have, I think, a total of like 23
counties okay um, from our hbaperspective, uh, as far as like,
because we're part of a stateand a federation, so Texas
Association of Home Builders,national Association, but
predominantly in this neck ofthe woods, like Lubbock, is the
spoke of eastern New Mexico,like eastern border of New

(18:58):
Mexico to the Cap Rock, and thenwe go as far north as like
Tulia, down to La Mesa, kind ofthat North.
That's where we hit the NorthMidland area.

Addison Thom (19:08):
Okay, and so what are you seeing from a home
builder's perspective on like,why is West Texas growing so
fast?

Victoria Whitehead (19:18):
We, we have some great resilience, I think,
from an economic perspective.
I people talk about us being onan island kind of out here, and
it's an island but it's also ashield.
So, you know, even during someof the tough recession times
coming out the last couple ofyears, and even with high
interest rates, like, there'sstill a need for new home growth

(19:39):
.
And I think it's just becausewe've got a great economy.
We've got you know, peopledon't see it, but we do have a
diverse economy.
But there's just a constantneed too, and I think the need
is also tied to ouraffordability factor.
I mean, we need new homes andpeople are growing and jobs are
coming here, mainly because, too, we can, like people can,

(20:01):
afford it.
Right can like.
People can afford it, right um,you know you can't talk to a
new home builder in town toothat hasn't sold a house to
somebody from utah or californiaor um the west coast.
I mean, there's just a lot ofpeople coming to west texas and
a lot of times looking for moreconservative, tax-friendly, um,
neck of the woods but they canactually work without regulation

(20:21):
uh, you know, restricting theirability to expand their
business too.

Addison Thom (20:26):
I mean, I see that all the time we we we've been
here seven years now, maybelonger when we first started
looking at this market,everything I do is like build
for rent.
So we build a bunch of propertysingle family duplex we lease
them out.
We either sell them toinvestors or we keep them for
ourselves, and especially duringCOVID.

(20:47):
But even still now we get somany people moving here renting
from us that, yeah, it's likeCalifornia, oregon, washington
State, arizona, you know theSunbelt States still a little
bit, but mainly you're gettinglike Northeast, southeast, uh,
in the Pacific Northwest.

Victoria Whitehead (21:06):
Oh yeah, and I saw that in my law firm.
Um, I did a lot of like newbusiness development.
So people would move here andthey're like, okay, I need to
get an LLC in Texas, and whatdoes that look like?
And man, I felt like SantaClaus sometimes because I'm like
no, you don't have to do that,you don't have to do that, you
don't have to do that reporting.
This is the only franchise tax.
This is the only thing you gotto worry about when you get

(21:27):
above this amount and they'relike, wow, I can run a.
I mean just seeing people andhow they reacted of like I can
run a business without handcuffs, and it's the Texas story.

Addison Thom (21:41):
It really is, and I think that's why you can throw
a dart almost anywhere in Texasand hit a city that's growing.
It's because it's like the waythat it's set up, business
friendly.
And Lubbock specifically andI've said this so many times I'm
sure that our podcast listenersare tired of hearing me say it,
but when a municipality iswilling to spend its money, like

(22:03):
on good infrastructure andbuilding, you know, building the
freeway system, the loop,trying to attract economic
development and encouragebusinesses to move here and set
up shop, what else could you askfor from your government If
they're doing the opposite,where they're restricting you,
regulating you, taxing you,making it hard to get licenses,
all of those things?

(22:23):
That's a great way to lose yourhigh net worth individuals or
people that could be high networth individuals in the future,
and they'll leave like aChicago.
They'll leave a Chicago.
Tyson's Chicken just movedtheir entire headquarters to
Arkansas and Southeast Missouribecause they're like what are we

(22:44):
doing?
We've got 5,000 employees, wegot to move, we got to do
something.
Yeah.

Victoria Whitehead (22:48):
Well, and even in Texas, um, we have at
the home builder association aliaison committee and we meet
monthly with leadership in thisfrom the staff, uh, with the
city of Lubbock, and we meetmonthly by monthly, monthly with
the city of Wolf earth even, um, and we sit down and we're like
, hey, you know, we understandand recognize we're partners in
this and so, you know, it's sucha great time for us to be like

(23:11):
what are you seeing here?
You know they come and say, hey, we're struggling with this,
can you guys help us?
And it's like we don't alwayshave to go do a city ordinance
to correct something.
When the business associationsays let us get communications
out, association says let us getcommunications out, let us try
to fix the problem.
So there's a huge partnershipthere and it's not always as
easy.
I mean, the city's gotstrengths and constraints

(23:33):
sometimes that, like us homebuilders, you know, with the
impact fee discussion orinfrastructure, like how do we
pay for roads?
Like what's the best solution?
Um, and it's, it's toughsometimes and they're hard
conversations to have.
But our partnership that wehave here is unique.
In texas, like you can't dothat in dallas, you can't do
that in austin, the thegovernment sometimes don't even

(23:55):
talk to the home buildersassociations and it's like no,
here we.
We understand and recognize thatfor us to both succeed, we have
to come to the table and soit's pretty cool, like I
especially as, like a government, former government staff member
or something, it's cool to seerelationship, but also like

(24:17):
healthy discussions yeah, Icouldn't agree more, I think I
mean I've built and developedreal estate in 25 different
states and I don't know triplethat in municipalities and
planning departments you have towork with and deal with.

Addison Thom (24:32):
Lubbock is so unique in the sense like they're
still kind of like a sailboatand not a cruise ship.
When you're trying to makequick turns, you know like you
can.
First of all, you have accessso you can sit down and talk,
like you were saying.
It's more of a partnership.
And then when a decision ismade even though sometimes it
takes a little longer than youwould like, it still gets done

(24:55):
and through, Whereas in othermunicipalities it's like
molasses.
You're just like oh my, this isgoing to take two years to get
through and I can't even startdeveloping until that is, you
know, through.

Victoria Whitehead (25:06):
Yeah.

Addison Thom (25:07):
So I love seeing that and I also think that, like
, the impact that can have ongrowing a community is so
beneficial when everybody islike just kind of working
together.
So what are you like?
The loop itself right, andyou're talking about putting in
roads and all of those things.
What are the impacts that thathas that people should know

(25:30):
about that.
They don't know Because theyjust look at it as like, oh,
this is going to raise myproperty taxes.

Victoria Whitehead (25:35):
Yeah.

Addison Thom (25:35):
Like what's the overall plan?

Victoria Whitehead (25:38):
So we're working and pretty active.
We've had two very successfulroad bonds in the last couple of
years and I think when you'relooking at like, what are my
tools in the toolbox to fundinfrastructure, texas, under
state law, gives you a varietyof things you can either like do
it as general obligation bondswith the city, and what that

(26:00):
means is like the city isactually using property taxes or
sales taxes to pay for things.
But the road bond, for example,is like a start and finish
investment from a citizen in thecommunity and we're going to
say, okay, over the next 10years we're all going to pay 25
bucks each and this is going tohelp build this road.

(26:21):
Home builders, especially newhome builders, now pay impact
fees, so it's a pure tax thatultimately it gets taken out
when you pull a permit, but itultimately goes to the homeowner
right In certain areas of townonly where the new growth is
needed.
So that's a tool in the toolbox.

(26:43):
And then so I think like we'reseeing a continued discussion of
we as a city did not vote for,did not bond, did not do what we
needed to for quite some time,and so now we're behind and the
last two road bonds I would say,get us to where we're like
caught up to today, right, um,but we're still growing, like

(27:05):
cooper isd, friendship isd,these, the schools are still
planning new schools, becausethey see the growth, they see
what's coming, and so it's like,okay, well, we have to continue
to have a plan.
So we're very active and like,okay, well, let's find a
solution, let's find a plan.
What's the best economicallywithout putting huge burdens on
the citizens?

(27:27):
I think road bonds are great.
I think it's like for me as acitizen.
I'm like, okay, I know, this isa bond, it's going to take care
of X, it's going to start hereand stop here.
What I don't like is forgovernment to say, okay, we're
going to have to, like increaseproperty taxes by X amount to
cover infrastructure.
Well, there's no like idea of,okay, well, when can that go

(27:48):
down?
Like once the infrastructure isbuilt, or and and there's so
many regulations on it.

Addison Thom (27:53):
That never goes backwards.

Victoria Whitehead (27:54):
It never goes backwards, right, and
there's regulations on when, howmuch they can, when they can't,
how much they can decrease.
So like it's not a to me afiscally manageable, good,
manageable way to pay for stufflike that and it's different
than like water, wastewater,things that are fee based

(28:14):
because the fees pay for thatand it's proportionate fees can
easily go up and down.
But roads, in particular, thatinfrastructure side, I'm team
bonds, yeah.

Addison Thom (28:26):
I like the bond as well, but so what is the impact
of putting those in like theloop going in, right?
You're saying that's helping uscatch up.
What does the future look likeafter that?
Um, like, where's the growthcoming from?
Why is Lubbock?
I have my own theory, but Iwant to hear yours.

Victoria Whitehead (28:50):
I think this is one of the best places to
grow a business, but I think thedifference that we have from
the business perspective is it'salso one of the best places to
raise a family.
I could have a solid career inAustin or DC.
I'm not raising my kids thereand I think people choose to
come to Lubbock or even Amarilloor Midland or Wichita Falls,

(29:14):
san Angelo because there arecertain environments where I
think this, especially mygeneration, is saying we want
lifestyle, we want faith, wewant community and and love.
It's got it.
So I think that's a lot oftimes what we're seeing is, yeah
, the business side is there,it's gonna be there, it's great.

(29:35):
But what's that next level?
And you're seeing people choosebased on family yep, I mean, I
can't disagree with that.

Addison Thom (29:43):
All I think that's very well said.
On the the business side, youmentioned our economy being
diverse.
But outside of medical andagriculture, what else drives
the Lubbock economy?

Victoria Whitehead (29:59):
Medical education, manufacturing.
I mean the business developmentpark up by the airport has
almost doubled in the amount oflike business occupancy out
there.
We say agriculture, but alsorecognizing that agriculture is
multiple different facets.
So you do have likemanufacturing for agriculture.

(30:21):
Leprino and the milk plant is awhole new market in agriculture
that we never had.
Growing up in Hereford and beingin the Panhandle, my
agriculture was cows and neverdid I really ever see row crops
and even when I came down herethey're like well, you didn't
grow up in ag, I'm like I grewup in cattle and they're like

(30:41):
well, this is cotton country.
So even though it's one type,there's varieties in there.
But I see huge leaps and boundscoming in here.
Also for tech, um and andopportunities.
We've got some legislationgoing through this session
that's going to help us be a lotmore marketable.
Um with lita for different techcompanies that are they keep

(31:03):
going to plano or they keepgoing to flugerville or these
places and it's like thoseplaces can't take the heat that
you're needing and they don'thave the workforce.
We do, we've got the environmentyou want, come on out here.
So I see potential expansionfor that too.

Addison Thom (31:17):
There's so much opportunity from that.
Also just like to maintain orretain the like higher education
of people graduating.
How do we keep them in thiseconomy?

Victoria Whitehead (31:30):
Oh yeah.

Addison Thom (31:30):
And I think that's going to be a huge part of it.
But the other thing that Ithink is huge and everyone
complains about it, which isseven years ago or ten years ago
, whatever it was when we firststarted coming down here, people
were complaining about trafficincreasing and they were
complaining about the city'sgrowing too fast.

(31:53):
I'm like you guys.
It's so funny because incomparison it's nothing.
I lived in Las Vegas, chicago,austin places that have horrible
traffic, and you're just likethat's.
It's not even close.
But one thing I think thatreally has a leg up here is the
location that Lubbock has on thefreeway system throughout the

(32:18):
United States, just from aninfrastructure and a logistics
standpoint.
And then if you mix that andthe other complaint that they
had was like lands getting tooexpensive, well you're still.
You can still buy land for likeeven $50,000.
An acre.
Like in the South side of townis so inexpensive when you're
talking about attracting largecorporations that one need

(32:40):
access to available land.
So where do you find that?
It's not outside of like large,major, major metropolitan areas
.
You want to be in a businessfriendly state.
You want to be on a freewaycorridor that makes sense for
your logistics andtransportation of whatever
you're producing, and you haveaffordable land with all that
infrastructure tied in, and thenyou have Texas Tech.

(33:01):
So I think I mean it's only amatter of time, but I think that
the ability to draw businesseshere and to keep them we have
such an interesting propositionfor that Like, look at what
happened with Waco.
Why did they buy in Waco?
Because you could buy land for,you know, $50,000 an acre and
you have access to Dallas andAustin and all the logistics

(33:22):
pieces.

Victoria Whitehead (33:23):
Well, and one thing too, that I'm such a
geek of like what's your story,I don't know my dad always
instilled in me like, always,like, always ask people kind of
where you're from, how'd youbuild yourself?
And like, take the nuggets thatapply to you and like, and and
and build upon your, your house.
But, um, so, like, when I firststarted over here and I'm

(33:44):
seeing talking to these builderswho are building two $3 million
homes in Lubbock, I'm like whatdo these people do?
Like what, how they're?
They're not all doctors overhere.
Like what are these people doing?
You know, like trying to figureit out.
And they're like, well, thatguy's a professional bowler,
that guy owns an oil and gascompany in North Dakota and
different.
And I'm like what the heck inthere?

(34:05):
But our airport system likethat's also a huge highlight of
Lubbock is it's super easy toget in and out.
Um, so a lot of people arechoosing, like I can come and
build an amazing house, have agreat community, raise my kids,
um have have access to to greatland resources, but if I need to
go and be transportable, it'ssuper easy to get in and out of

(34:29):
here.
Yeah, um, and I wish there wasmore direct flights to places,
but yeah those are the two threemillion people that are having
their own planes sometimes, butyeah, no yeah, yeah, we can
lobby southwest again, yeah yeah, well, yeah, if you have
private plane, it really doesn'tmatter where you live, you just
live anywhere.

Addison Thom (34:49):
But that is interesting.
I mean like, yeah, like in myneighborhood, same thing.
It's like you meet people like,oh, I own like assisted living
facilities or I have you know,everyone watches land man and
it's like, are you everyone'sjust oil and gas out there?

(35:09):
I'm like no, it's not.
But that is so.
It's such a big deal to haveconservative, business, friendly
people that made a lot of moneyin oil and gas like to build
around a community.
I think that's like.
It's so like DC everyone makesmoney by.

(35:29):
They're like a lobbyist or likea consultant for a special
interest group.
They're not interested in doinganything for the community or
reinvesting in.
You know why is Washington?
Dc has like one of the mostexpensive, richest developments
in all of the United States andthen right a couple of miles
from there, it's like thepoorest, the most expensive,
richest developments in all ofthe united states.
And then right a couple milesfrom there, it's like the

(35:49):
poorest and most broken downcommunities, like they're not
reinvesting in their people ortrying to improve anything, and
I've seen nothing but that intexas in general, but lubbock
specifically.
That's why we stayed.
Yeah, it's like my, my kids lovetheir school, the, the people
are amazing.
I know all of my neighbors,although the other day I called

(36:12):
my trainer and I was like, hey,can you connect me with
so-and-so?
And he's like, yeah, I could,or you could walk across the
street.
He lives across the street.
I'm like I'm a horrible dude,I've never even met him.
Like I'm a horrible dude, I'venever even met him.
But like just that access andthe fact that I really do have a
genuine feeling here that, likethe business owners that I know
and that I deal with, and evenmyself, are interested in taking

(36:36):
the money that they've madefrom this community and
reinvesting it and trying toimprove it.

Victoria Whitehead (36:41):
Yeah.
Like you can't put a dollaramount on that.
I don't think, and I'm prettyactive in the nonprofit sector
here, in town and you know, itkind of goes back to that
question.
You had asked me, like why gofrom the law firm to this?
And I've always felt and myhusband he used to make fun of
me so much about it.
But I'm like I feel God'scalling to just serve my

(37:05):
community.
Like I feel God's calling tojust serve my community and so,
like, I opened my law firmbecause I saw a need to, like I
want to serve, provideaffordable legal services for
small businesses and even atlike, home builders, like part
of like where I felt God wascalling me was, you know God
says like hey, you know, here'syour 200 clients.
I'm opening a door for 700businesses like come serve and

(37:27):
and serve.
Through all of this I've gotteninvolved in nonprofit work and
stuff.
What I love about this areathat I didn't see in Austin and
I was in Oklahoma City for alittle bit, didn't see it there,
didn't see it in DC was yourbig wigs in town.
Your people with money areconstantly giving and they give

(37:48):
without any hesitation.

Addison Thom (37:50):
Or with a need for recognition, or with a need for
recognition.

Victoria Whitehead (37:53):
yeah, we run West Texas Hero Homes, which
builds mortgage-free homes fordisabled veterans and first
responders and I don't haveenough veterans signing up for
the program to meet the amountof people that want to
participate and help the programand so, like the generosity
factor there I think is sopivotal in the success of a

(38:14):
community too.
Like to say, not only do I wantto run a business here and,
like you know, pour out of thebusiness, pour out of the
community into my business.
I want to give back in becauseI see the investment of if I
bring up others in the community, it's going to be great for
everybody.

Addison Thom (38:30):
Yep, I love you, know my friends, cause I lived
in all these like large majormetropolitan areas, right, and
my friends like have nounderstanding of why I live in
Lubbock and like genuinely willnever leave.
Um, I mean, when my kids aregrown and out of college you
might have a second homesomewhere and vacation, yeah,
whatever.
But the truth is is like it isthe people and it's like it's

(38:58):
still full of cowboys and likethe cowboy spirit and real like,
not in a way that's like adrunk bunch of drunk people at a
saloon having shootouts in thestreet, but in like I'm going to
do what's right.
There's no moral posturing.
So when you go to places likeAustin or Chicago, it's a lot of

(39:19):
moral posturing of like I wantyou to know how good of a person
that I am by the things that Isay, how good of a person that I
am by the things that I say,and here you can tell the
community is rich in spirit, umand giving because of the things
people do.
There is no posturing with that.
It's like hey, I'm just goingto like build a house for a

(39:40):
veteran and they're not like onCNN, like this is what we do
past my bill, like trying toposture themselves to do that,
and I think more people couldbenefit from kind of ignoring
all of that and doing exactlywhat you said, like once your
family's taken care of, you'reraising your kids the right way.

(40:01):
You want to help your localcommunity make an impact, like
on your neighbors?
Start with that.
How about in your HOA?
Then Lubbock itself.
Like stop sitting aroundtweeting stuff and putting stuff
on Instagram about what'shappening in Washington or you
know, this senator did this.
Like just put your effort intoyour family and your community

(40:22):
and your life will improvetenfold.

Victoria Whitehead (40:24):
Yeah, I can't that was a long-wind
tenfold.

Addison Thom (40:27):
Yeah, that was a long-winded way forward.

Victoria Whitehead (40:29):
No, I absolutely love it, and kind of
like it's twofold.
We're still a community thatwill like when someone calls and
says, well, my home builder isawful, my roof is leaking, blah,
blah, blah, and I'm like, well,did you call them?
Well, no, but I posted onFacebook about it.
I'm like, no, no, no, this,well, no, but I posted on
Facebook about it.
I'm like, no, no, no, thiscommunity, you can call him or
her and they will respond to you.

(40:52):
There's two or three bad actorsout there Great, they're not
members of my association, butthere's people out there.

Addison Thom (40:58):
You want to name them right now.

Victoria Whitehead (40:59):
No, I will not be naming anybody, but I
love that spirit.
It used to annoy the heck outof me me, though, when I ran a
law firm, because I'd havepeople come in and I'm like,
okay, so now you need a contractfor your business, and they're
like, oh no, we shook hands.
I'm like gosh, I grew up withthat and I love it.
But as a lawyer, I'm like, no,don't do that, let's have a

(41:21):
one-pager, like a one-pagercontract.
We don't't gotta get crazy,right, um, but it's I.
I love it about the spirit ispeople genuinely and and when
you say cowboy spirit, that's Ithink of like like the old, I
don't know kind cowboys like,but like I'm caring about you,
but I'm gonna work my hiney offbecause I want something better,

(41:42):
um, for everybody and and sothat the grit, the mentality,
the heart of it.
You just see it and it'samazing across the community.

Addison Thom (41:53):
Yeah, and there's also like a lack of patience for
nonsense, oh yeah, which I alsothink is awesome.
You know, it's not like thissocial pandering where you know
everyone's kind of liketwo-faced you have some of that,
you have that in the South.
In general, it's like, oh,bless your heart, whatever, but

(42:14):
people actually genuinely docare and if you rub them the
wrong way, they don't have aproblem.
Just addressing that andthey're not passive, aggressive,
which I think is also important.
Yeah, like, hey, you know whereyou stand, I know where I stand
, and let's figure out if we canwork together or not, instead
of, you know, tiptoeing aroundit.

Victoria Whitehead (42:34):
Well, especially like I think a lot of
people here realize we've gotbigger, better, other things to
do, and especially a lot oftimes where I had clients that
had disagreements with otherbusinesses or different things
and they're like, well, we needto sue them.
I'm like let's just sit down ina room, let's like, hey, save
both businesses thousands ofdollars in mediation or

(42:55):
different things, and see likecan we sit down in the room and
just chat it out and I love thatenvironment because I have
lawyer friends in majormetropolitan areas and it's like
you don't even like remotelystart with that.
You start with like filingagainst them and it doesn't.
But there's, there's nothinggood that comes out of that,

(43:16):
especially when a conversationcause it's probably like a small
, just like misunderstanding,you know can fix something.

Addison Thom (43:25):
I think that is a byproduct of this new like
generation Like.
My grandparents weren't likethat.
My parents aren't like that.
It's a byproduct of like youcan say things online without
any consequence, so you're notgetting beat up at school
because of it and in fact, ifthere's a conflict at school,

(43:45):
regardless of what happened,everyone gets expelled.
It's not like learning hey,like what happened, Um, and
people don't like.
I read a statistic the other daythat like people under 25
interviewing for jobs only makeeye contact with a person
interviewing them at like 30%.
Yeah, they don't even have thesocial skill to make eye contact

(44:08):
during a conversation, so theydefinitely don't have the skill
set of conflict resolution orjust working things out.
And we have this culture thatyou just post things on Facebook
or just I'm going to sue you,let my attorney deal with it,
and you're bypassing the humanneeds of like.
Why don't we sit down?

(44:28):
Let me hear what you have tosay and let me explain how I'm
feeling.
Let's figure out if we can havea resolution here.
What do you think that is?
Why are people like hidingbehind that?

Victoria Whitehead (44:38):
I don't know Um.
I used to advise for a sororityin recruitment um efforts and
that's kind of one of the mostbrutal.

Addison Thom (44:45):
We could do a whole podcast just on that Like
literally Um.

Victoria Whitehead (44:50):
but like you know, I would sit there and
tell a young lady you know, hey,you need to talk a little
louder and like like concrete,good feedback.

Addison Thom (45:00):
Yeah.

Victoria Whitehead (45:01):
And she would quit the next day.
And it was like you didn't eventalk to me.
You didn't even like't, evenlike what's going on.
They don't know how to handleit and it freaks them out, um,
but what?
I think constructive criticism,yeah, constructive criticism
would just like send them overthe edge, but a lot of times
it's because they have neverbeen put in the situation where
they're forced to.

(45:21):
Like how do you do this?
And I talk a lot with my staffabout, you know, networking,
communication, conflictmanagement, all these things
Like we don't think about it asexercise, but like these are
exercises that 4-H and some ofthese student like council, like
some of these other things thatI did and was forced into, like
made me practice and so, like Ithink, as a leader, I'm having

(45:48):
to, which the older generationsdidn't have to with us per se,
but like, as a leader, I'mhaving to coach them and saying
no, we're going to exercise thistoday.
Like we're going to exercise,like we're going to sit down and
talk about hey, you didn't meetthis expectation in the office,
let's chat through it.
Um, and I can see sometimeswhen I'm having those
conversations like distress oranxiety or different things, I'm

(46:09):
like hey, I need you to likeunderstand this is where we're
going.
I care about you early and butit's just, it's social muscles
that they've never really workedon, um, and it's not until like
I see it with the youngprofessionals sometimes, like
you go to a happy hour and itlooks like a Sadie Hawkins dance
, yeah.
Like you're in your littlebusiness corners and it's like,

(46:31):
hey, no, come on, we're going togo talk and introduce.
But it takes the leadersometimes to say, okay, hey,
we're going to go exercise thismuscle, come on, let's go meet
and learn about it.

Addison Thom (46:41):
Yeah, I have a theory about that too.
Well, that happens in largesocial situations in general.
But, like you were saying, itis a muscle you have to build
and I think that confidence anda lack of confidence are built
the same way.
It is a string of doing like,taking action and making

(47:05):
decisions, one small incrementat a time.
That builds confidence.
Like no one's born withconfidence.
No one just like comes out andis like hey, like, I'm really
good at this, like, and there'sa difference between that and
cockiness.
Cockiness is like a false senseof confidence that you like
have to explain.
But when you meet somebodythat's confident, it's like

(47:26):
understood, yeah, like they'renot boisterous.
It's like, hey, this person'sconfident in what they do.
Well, how did you do that?
You did that by doing the rightthing, having discipline, and
doing it every day for longperiods of time, like learning
how to play the guitar or hit abaseball or whatever.
You didn't just wake up beingable to do that.

(47:46):
You had to learn how to playthe guitar or hit a baseball or
whatever.
You didn't just wake up beingable to do that.
You had to, you know, learn howto do it.
And and lack of confidence isthe same thing, and I think that
the problem is is that no one'sstruggling enough to actually
build the confidence that theyneed or they don't, um
understand we're such animmediate it's an immediate

(48:08):
generation, immediate that theydon't understand that, you know,
to build that confidence.

Victoria Whitehead (48:13):
It has taken time, right, like I'm not.
Like I went and stood in frontof a big group of people this
morning and talked about homebuilders and did these things
and my new staff member was like, wow, how did you just do that?
And I'm like, well, I didn'tlearn it yesterday.
It has been 15 plus years ofpracticing and let me tell you,
Victoria at 27 wasn't doing that, but Victoria at 35 is probably

(48:38):
pretty decent at it now.
And so I think there's thatfrustration, especially when it
doesn't immediately Like well, Idid it three or four times,
yeah, they quit, I should begood.
It's like well, that's just nothow it works.

Addison Thom (48:53):
The immediate gratification culture is a
problem and, like my mom, I'llgive her huge credit for this.
But part of the reason I hadconfidence and had a foundation
to build upon that is because ifI ever wanted something I mean
from like a young age, when Iever wanted something like my
mom would make me go like orderfor myself at restaurants, go

(49:17):
into the grocery store and likego pick those things out and
meet her at the front to pay forit.
Like those like little smallthings or like you know, if I
wanted to sign up for basketballcamp, for instance, I had to be
the person that called my mom,didn't just like pick up the
phone and like negotiate.
She's like you call him, likeshe'd help to make sure I didn't
do anything stupid and tell himI was like in.

(49:38):
You know, the 15 and under iswhen I was 10 years old or
whatever.
But just allowing your kids toactually experience that social
transaction builds confidence.
And then, if you get enoughreps doing that, when you have
conflict resolution or you haveconstructed feedback or

(50:00):
criticism, you're not taking itpersonally.
Like, oh, like, I'm quitting.
It's like, oh, this is thatthing I need to do to get better
.

Victoria Whitehead (50:09):
Yeah.

Addison Thom (50:10):
And instead of looking at it as like a personal
insult, you look at it as likethis person actually genuinely
cares about my success, like howdid that get lost?

Victoria Whitehead (50:19):
Yeah.

Addison Thom (50:19):
Do they think you're just being mean instead
of like Victoria really caresthat I get better at this thing?
Like how thing?
How do you tether that backtogether?

Victoria Whitehead (50:28):
I feel like and similar to you.
My dad was that person and ifyou would ask me at 22, I'm like
man.
My dad was so hard on me, hewas tough, but now that I look
back I'm like, no, that was love, that was investment in me as a
human.
And so I think, with some ofthe young ladies that I work

(50:51):
with, it's like I got to be hard, but I also got to recognize
that I got to change the tone alittle bit or make sure they
understand the why, Because thatgeneration yearns, they want to
know the why, and so I'm goingto be hard on you, I'm going to
be tough on you, I'm going to behard on you, maybe tough on you
.
I'm going to push you.
I'm going to push yourboundaries a little bit, like

(51:13):
we're going to, we're going toput ourselves out there, but
here's the why.
And so, like I think it's kindof a cool mesh of the
generations a little bit,because, like my dad did not
have anybody telling him the why, like I told you, you're going
to do it type mentality, andthen you've got kind of this
pendulum swing of a generationof that All they care about is
empathy and understanding andrecognizing your feelings

(51:33):
recognizing your feelings andstuff, and so it's like we have
a cool opportunity to wield them, to say, hey, look like we're
going to push and move, but Iwill let you know like, cause I
also would have loved to havethat, other than like my dad's
just being hard on me, you know.
Um, but a cool opportunity tokind of mesh the two a little
bit.

Addison Thom (51:52):
So, being a leader and you know you're still very
young and extremely accomplishedbut being a leader like in this
environment what are somethings that you think are
important and have like made yousuccessful as a leader?

Victoria Whitehead (52:08):
Um, I think for me one of the biggest things
and it's really been a journeythat I've had the last two years
, um was really honing in on myidentity.
Um, you know, you look at myresume and the journey I've been
on and a lot of times I wasembarrassed of it but also

(52:29):
frustrated by it because I wouldbe sitting in a room at 30, 32,
having a resume of a47-year-old and not getting
respect because I looked 30, 32.
And it's like no, no, no, Ihave worked with the CFO at the
tech system, I understand highereducation finances, I know how
to solve this problem.
And it's like no, I'm like no,I got good Botox.

(52:52):
Like what are we?
You know, give me some credit.
Um, but you know, I used to takeso much identity in my resume,
um and uh, it used to put medown or I used to always qualify
my answers like well, based onthis experience, I think this or
in, especially as a woman, likein certain rooms, especially
being in a lot of male dominatedrooms.

(53:14):
But you know, these last twoyears like really honing in my
identity is who God has calledme to be and knowing that, no
matter where my journey has been, like, first off, he's the one
that sent me through all of that.
But my identity is to servepeople and serve his calling and
serve this community.

(53:35):
And when I reset that every day, what's on my resume and who
I've been doesn't matter.
God equips those he calls right.
Yep, you know, god equips thosehe calls right.
And so, sitting in a room andlike I used to just think, man,
they're not going to look at meor they're not going to listen
to me because I look young andit's like no, he put me here,

(53:58):
speak and lead and be whatyou're called to be in this
moment and don't let thoseinhibitors get in there.
And I think that's somethinglike cause.
My generation, like we were,had a resume like crazy by the
time we graduated high school,and so it's not unheard of.
But I see so many, especiallywomen like they.

(54:19):
They put themselves down orthey put their resume down or
they're not being the leadersthat they're called to be,
because they're mismatchingtheir identity to that of like
well, I'm the CEO or I'm this or.
I'm the mom or I'm these things.
That's like no, your, yourpurpose and your identity and
your calling are all completelydifferent things.

Addison Thom (54:37):
And you're not defined by your resume either.
No, I think so many like,especially I think people have
always done this actually whereand I've made this mistake too
where, like, you have success oraccomplishment earlier and then
you think that is like thequalification for, like, the
rest of your life's experiences.
You know what I mean.
It's like, oh well, I did thisat 25.

(54:58):
Like, I sold my first companywhen I was 27 and like, when
travel around the world and Iwas, I just thought I was hot
shit.
You know, I'm like, I've doneall that.
I had no clue how much I stillneeded to learn.
And if you can kind of get outof your own way and not rest on
your accomplishments and stillbe humble of like, hey, I have
something else to learn, a newskillset to build, whatever, um,

(55:20):
that can go such a like longdistance for you in life in
general as a skill set, likenever.
Like my grandpa, your dad, hadthat quote I can't remember what
you said, but it was verysimilar to my grandfather's
which is basically, if you'rethe smartest person in the room,
you're in the wrong room andthe only way to get in rooms

(55:42):
that people are smarter than youis one.
You have to be humble and bewilling, like you're, not stop
being so convinced that youbelong there.

Victoria Whitehead (55:53):
Well, and there's something else too that
I think, as leaders like youdon't we don't always talk about
is like you think I'm a leader,so I'm like, I'm going up and
it's this positive trajectory,Um, and it's like I, you know,
one day, when my, my oldest sonis older, I'm going to ask his
forgiveness Because I spent thiswhole time when he was an

(56:13):
infant and a baby, like I had asix-month-old and I was
traveling to Austin Mondaythrough Thursday every week
lobbying, and like didn't have arelationship with my kid when
he was little, because I wasgoing to be this, you know, bad
day lawyer, mama.
I was going to prove that Icould do it and I'm going to be
a working mom and all thesethings.
And it's like because what?

(56:35):
The reason I hustle so hard wasbecause I saw that as a go down
.
I did not see that as like if Iwas on this trajectory as a
leader and I'd chosen thisseason to be different, that I
was failing and it's like no, no, no.
This season, succeeding meansthis, and so I think the
identity goes hand in hand withthat, but also being flexible

(57:02):
and knowing like what doessuccess mean to you in this
season?
It's not always up and down,especially as a leader.

Addison Thom (57:06):
I think every high output alpha personality deals
with that.
I dealt with it.
My wife told me a story afterour disciple group one time.
I was the same way I call it mydark passenger.

(57:29):
He's gotten me a lot of veryrewarding places, but he's also
caused a lot of damage and mywife would sit at the top of the
steps with our newborn holdingher, praying to God that the
next person I called didn't pickup the phone because she just
wanted me to spend time withthem while I was trying to, like
, build a business Right.
And that one it broke my heart.
But two, I'm like what reallyactually matters, that next

(57:53):
phone call matter, but you're soin that you know tunnel vision.
I have to achieve this nextthing.
I have to get the company tothis place that you lose sight
of the things that actuallymatter, and I think anyone that
plays that scenario out to theend without recognizing that is
like rotting from the inside out.

(58:14):
You might have all the money inthe world.
Your kids don't like you.
They don't know you.

Victoria Whitehead (58:20):
Well, and again, it's okay, it's okay for
this season to look different.
Who Victoria is when my kidsare in college or something,
it's going to be completelydifferent level, like that's
what I'm gonna open up, allthese extra businesses, all
these things that I have, likeall these ideas for.
And it's okay if that timing isdifferent, because in this

(58:42):
season, succeeding to me meanshaving a good family, loving my,
serving the community, and thepace of it is different, like
that's okay.

Addison Thom (58:51):
Yeah.
So on the leadership, I mean Ithink that's really well said
and that's also great thatyou've adjusted that, because
most people don't.

Victoria Whitehead (59:03):
Well, and I don't succeed every day.
Who does?
No, nobody, yeah.
But it's something that youknow, I strive for.
I strive for.
There's anyone who asks a womanlike how do you balance being a
mom and a working life?
The fact that there is no suchthing as a balance like

(59:24):
whatsoever.
It's what car are you on aracetrack?
Are you putting more gas in andmore nitrous in at one time?
And it's like, okay, well,gotta get the other ones to
catch up.
So I'm gonna stop fueling thiscar.
I'm gonna feel this other carso what's working for you like?

Addison Thom (59:39):
it sounds like you've put a lot of thought into
that and you're obviously stilloperating at a high level
professionally.
But how do you kind of organizethat in your life?

Victoria Whitehead (59:49):
I think for me is I do I do quarterly
assessments of my calendar, likeI.
I go back and audit my calendarand where am I spending time?
Does it match my goals?
Um, and where I want time to bespent, um.
But I've had to really like Ihave a relationship with my

(01:00:10):
calendar and I have to.
I follow it because if I don't,then I'm not meeting my goals.
So like I take my kid togymnastics on Mondays, like
that's his gymnastics, his mommyme time.
My husband and I have specifictimes every week with each other
and it feels regimented.
But for me, like if I go andlook at that quarterly audit and

(01:00:32):
say I did all that, I feel goodabout where I'm at and adjust
it accordingly.
Like we've got the parade homescoming up, so that's just going
to be 22 days of pure work, um,so you know I've got vacation
planned after that to balance itout and stuff.

Addison Thom (01:00:45):
But where's the parade this year?

Victoria Whitehead (01:00:47):
Um Crescent ranch, which is kind of South
friendship, isd, um thevineyards, which is kind of 50th
, and Upland and then Stratfordpoint over here on Quaker and
138th Gotcha.
So some cool houses.

Addison Thom (01:01:01):
Yeah, that sounds like a crazy time.
You know that's funny.
You say that, like me and mywife had to do the same thing
and it's the best thing ever,because when I first suggested
it I was like man, schedulingdate nights just sounds so
unromantic.
It's literally been the bestthing ever.
And then I take my daughter totennis practice and spend that
time and I just leave my phonein the car, I sit on the tennis

(01:01:24):
court and watch her play and Ithink it does a lot for her, but
I think it does a lot more forme.
Like just being able to, youknow, see her uh, attempting to
get better at something, andlike watching her personality
bloom has been amazing and thedate night thing, so we don't

(01:01:45):
drink alcohol.
Uh, it's something I'd changedabout, I don't know, nine months
ago.
It's been a game changer thatopens up a lot of really fun
things that you could do.
So like we'll go eat sushi andthen go get like foot massages
next door and no one in therespeaks English, or if they do,
they're you know just pullingthe wool over her eyes.
There's, like you know,speaking in Cantonese behind our

(01:02:07):
back, but we'll just like sitthere and like hold hands and
sometimes we'll talk the entirehour and sometimes we won't say
anything, and just like be ableto exist with each other.
That doesn't sound superromantic.
It's not always like a rose andlike a spontaneous date, you
know, like when you first startdating somebody, but it's been
the most beneficial.
You know, schedule item for ourmarriage and for, like, our

(01:02:31):
household.

Victoria Whitehead (01:02:33):
Um, so my dad's passed away.
But right before he passed away, uh, one of the funniest things
he said was like what is thisgypsy crap you and Jeffrey are
doing?
Um, but we were like actuallystrategic planning Um, it was a
faith-based, strategic planningtype deal um, for our family,
for our marriage, for ourfinances and all these things.
And and he was like what arey'all doing?

(01:02:54):
Like we're watching, we'restrategic planning for our
family.
And he's like that's so weird.
I'm like, but this is how, like, like this is how I think of
things.
Like I, you know, I'm aentrepreneur, I listen to
podcasts all the time like sowhy would I do strategic
planning for my business and notfor my family?
And so like for us.
Like, if Jeffrey and my goal isto make our marriage better,

(01:03:18):
well, we got to put littlemetrics in there.
And you know the date nights myhusband's a vacation dude, so
like we have to get out of town,even if it's just Rio Dosa.
That's how my wife is.
He husband's a vacation dude,so like we have to get out of
town, even if it's just rio dosa.
Um, he is like constantly, likesometimes we'll come back from
vacation.
He's like okay, let's go tosouth lake tahoe next.
I'm like I need to.
I gotta work that's a great.

Addison Thom (01:03:37):
Yeah, I love south oh, we love it.

Victoria Whitehead (01:03:39):
Celebrity golf tournament, um.
But like a strategic planningfor our marriage and so, like
you don't do that and build itin and hold it accountable to me
, I'm like we spent the yearswhere we looked up and we're
like crap, we haven't gone on adate night in five months yeah
and well, no wonder our marriageis not maybe the best yeah, no

(01:03:59):
wonder we're a little annoyedwith each other yeah yeah, great
, I love that.

Addison Thom (01:04:05):
I the organization and discipline in that.
I think it's just made a hugebenefit for us.
Um and I I've even done that,like in my prayer life and um,
like scheduling that.
I know that sounds crazy but,like you know, a lot of people

(01:04:26):
do that crazy but, like you know, a lot of people do that.
I had to struggle with it atfirst because I didn't feel like
I was praying with like anintentional heart because it was
scheduled.
So I was like, okay, now's,when I'm going to pray, yeah.
Right.
And so then I had to, and I waslike what, what is going on?
Like I don't feel, like I'mlike hearing God's voice or like

(01:04:47):
you ever pray, and just likesay things that you don't really
mean fully, or like you haven'tthought it all the way through,
and you're like what am Italking about?
What have I even said?

Victoria Whitehead (01:04:57):
Well, so I was talking about this the other
day Like no one taught us, likeI got taught to pray in
Christian schools.
Like, okay, we're going to prayfor the poor, the military
bless our food, these things,and what I think is so cool
about like especially where myfamily's at in our journey and
our walk with God, is like no,we're reconnecting with the fact

(01:05:18):
that this is a relationship.
And so I struggled with like Ican't, like I'm struggling to
wake up in the mornings and havemy prayer time.
Well, that is just not when theLord has made me to do my
prayers, and refocusing myprayer is my talking with God.
And I'm like, okay, what partof my day is the most quiet, the

(01:05:39):
most calm, the most opportunetime for me to hear Him and have
conversation and grow with Him?
And it's like it's driving.
So when I drive from school towork or work, to home like close
your eyes on the road.
I don't close my eyes.
No, no, no.
But like that that's the timewhere I can you know they're on
some Brandon Lake and like, justsit in his presence and talk

(01:06:02):
with him.
And um, it wasn't.
I had a friend who we were in aCEO women's group, um, with
this entity called kingdom atwork, and um, she challenged me.
She's like I just kept tellingher like prayer times tough for
me, Cause in the mornings, likeI'm sitting here, I'm like, okay
, I'm giving five minutes.
And then I'm like, okay, it'sbeen four minutes, uh, and it

(01:06:29):
felt like such a construct andit's like, no, no, no, that's
not, that's not what it's meantto be, by any means.
Um, and so you know how do youhave?
those conversations and whatdoes it look like?
Looks different for everybody,Um, but and the.

Addison Thom (01:06:35):
I think the other aspect to that too is are you
listening for God or are youjust talking the whole?

Victoria Whitehead (01:06:43):
time.

Addison Thom (01:06:45):
I think that's a big missing part too, at least
for me, and I'm still, you know,learning how to pray also, and
and um, especially, just likewith a intentional heart and to
like sit and listen withoutdistraction.
And a couple of things that Ilearned cause I I listened to
podcasts all day long.
I love ambient noise, but I'llhave an audio book on or a

(01:07:08):
podcast on while I'm working ordoing anything or in the car.
Well, that's also a distraction, like your brain is preoccupied
with that.
Yeah, so, or I'll come home andturn a football game on or
whatever.
It is Right.
So I've tried over the last weekand this has been extremely
beneficial.
I won't watch tv in theevenings and I turn off my

(01:07:31):
podcast as soon as I like leave,work, like I'm not driving and
listening.
So I just have that quiet timein my car home just to kind of
like reset my brain.
And then I try to spend a fewminutes before I pray, like
literally, literally, just likelistening, and even if I hear
nothing, I'm like my mentalreset is like, okay, I'm ready

(01:07:55):
to pray.
I've kind of thought aboutthings I want to pray about and
ask God for, or, you know, givegratitude for, and then after
I'm done praying I try to sitthere.

Victoria Whitehead (01:08:05):
Still I'm not praying for like four hours,
I'm just saying it's like youknow and I I posed this to you
via a story, um, but I had amoment with my six year old,
probably a year and a half ago,um, and he came home and he said
mommy, I, um, I'm really sad.
My, my friend in class told mehe missed his daddy.

(01:08:27):
And I was like, and he startedcrying and I felt really bad for
him and I was like, well, whydoes he miss his daddy?
Well, his daddy died.
And I was like well, palmer,let's pray for him, let's pray,
and like, let's pray for hisheart, let's pray for him.
And he looked at me and goeswell, mommy, it's not nighttime

(01:08:48):
or dinnertime and, as afaith-based mom, I mean that was
like a stab to the heart right,Because I was like is that what
I'm teaching my kid is prayer,and so I pose that to you
because you've got some kids too.
How are you growing andteaching your kids about?

Addison Thom (01:09:09):
what prayer looks like.
So I actually I startedscheduling my prayers, uh, but I
pray all day, like literallylike I'll get in my car I'll say
like 10 second prayers or fivesecond prayers or whatever, and
so I try to do that.
I'm trying to do that with mykids, and then I try to pray

(01:09:29):
over my kids whenever I can, um,just so they one hear me doing
it, and two like so that itdoesn't feel like this is just
something that happens before weeat.
You know what I mean yeah, forsure.

Victoria Whitehead (01:09:49):
And.

Addison Thom (01:09:49):
I'll just say, like little prayers, like I'll
take my daughter to tennispractice.
I'll just, you know God, like Ihope that Charlotte has a great
time doing this and I hope she,you know, finds enjoyment from
it, and just keep her safe.
Something small and short,right, and she's like thanks.
Yeah it, small and short, right, and she's like thanks.

(01:10:15):
It's like a blessing.
My, my, my middle child, willlike be really happy when I pray
for her sometimes, and thenother times she just like mocks
me and makes fun of me becauseshe doesn't understand you know
what I'm doing.
She's like daddy, you're sosilly.
She's like why are your eyesclosed?
And you're like I have my handon her head.
She's like stop touching me.

Victoria Whitehead (01:10:31):
Yeah, I also enjoy when the kids are like
dear God, please let thisbroccoli leave my plate.

Addison Thom (01:10:39):
Amen, and I'm like that's not a prayer.
Like stop.

Victoria Whitehead (01:10:42):
That's, and put the broccoli in your mouth
Like that's not a prayer.

Addison Thom (01:10:46):
Yeah, I pray with my wife.
I'm just like please make surethat all the laundry is folded
tomorrow by 2 PM, because I need.

Victoria Whitehead (01:10:58):
I did that one time as a joke and it didn't
go over very well.
I actually prayed for our homebuilders golf tournament, uh,
before each flight, uh, witheverybody on the mic, and I was
like and Lord, please be with usand help us make good choices,
amen.

Addison Thom (01:11:06):
Everyone was like Lord, please be with us and help
us make good choices, Amen.

Victoria Whitehead (01:11:09):
Everyone was like, oh yeah, we're going to
make good choices, yeah makegood choices.

Addison Thom (01:11:17):
So, as far as your nonprofit, do you want to let
everybody know what that is andwhere they could find it, how to
donate all that good stuff?

Victoria Whitehead (01:11:20):
So West Texas Hero Homes it's actually
part of our main page.
We're building out the newwebsite right now so you find it
through home builders.
So just call me, um if you wantto support or be a part of it.
Um, we've got a build goingright now for corporal Michael
Anderson Um.
He's a combat veteran um andhis disabilities come out of his

(01:11:41):
combat service Um, and then wewill be announcing another
veteran um coming up here inabout a month and a half.
But there's lots of opportunity, whether it's financially
donating, partnering with us ina program.
We host two events a year thatsupport that.
The first one we had actuallythis past Friday Looking at me,

(01:12:03):
you may not know I am the onlylicensed combative sports
promoter, uh, in lubbock county,uh, so we had a professional
boxing like don king I you know,that's what I am uh of lubbock,
texas, and everyone's reallyconfused by it.
But, um, so we had aprofessional fight night this
past friday, um, and so we'llhave that again next spring, uh,
but in september, uh, onseptember 11th, out at cook's

(01:12:25):
garage, uh, we'll have SawyerBrown and Cat Hasty.
It's concert for heroes.
So two big fundraisers, um, andthat's really uh, we, we don't
want to like there's a lot ofthings I think that's really
cool too about the community,like there's a lot of other
chefs, so like we don't want tolike host everything.
But, um, we'll have partnershipopportunities, whether you're

(01:12:45):
someone who wants to partnerwith your hands and laying tile,
or you know framing a house, oryou want to go to a concert and
support the effort.

Addison Thom (01:12:53):
Awesome, yeah, so cool.
Well, thank you so much forcoming on and we'll have to have
you on again.
I really appreciate you.

Victoria Whitehead (01:12:59):
Thank you.
Thank you so much for the time.

Addison Thom (01:13:00):
Appreciate it.