March 18, 2024 • 49 mins
Travel has a way of weaving the fabric of our lives into a richer tapestry, and who better to share this with us than Angela Malfi, CEO of Threads Worldwide. Our heartfelt conversation unwraps how Angela's adventures across 56 countries have not just influenced her, but how they've become the backbone of a company that intertwines the empowerment of women with the fair trade of artisanal goods. As we share laughter and candid moments, Angela's stories reveal the profound impact of cultural connections, the power of presence, and the unparalleled joy of co-creating a business that changes lives globally.
Angela opens up about the seismic shifts in family dynamics and societal structures when women step into economic roles, particularly in developing countries. These aren't just tales of business; they're narratives of escape, respect, and the legacy of women who reinvest 90% of their income back into their communities. Angela's accounts, steeped in the principles of fair trade, shine a light on the fundamental changes that ethical business practices can kindle, from safe working conditions to fair wages.
The pandemic has rewritten the rulebook for many entrepreneurs, and Angela is no exception. Listen in as we explore the recalibration of work and family life, the substitution of promises for boundaries, and the lessons learned from the pressures of running a business during unprecedented times. Yet, it's not just about the struggles; it's also about the victories, the moments of self-discovery, and the incredible power of consistent support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everyone and welcome back to the A Word to
the Wise podcast, a space wherewe curate conversations around
mind, body, spirit and personaldevelopment.
I'm your host, jumi Moses.
On the show today is CEO andco-founder of Threads Worldwide,
angela Malfi.
In 2011, angela founded ThreadsWorldwide with her two best
(00:20):
friends, cara and Lindsay, andthey had the intention to create
life-changing work andconnection with women around the
world through the fair trade ofartists and jewelry, bags and
home goods, and in ourconversation, angela and I
discuss the why behind ThreadsWorldwide more in depth.
We talk about what it means tobe a global traveler and why
(00:42):
that is important.
We also discuss what it meansto be a social prenuer
navigating comparison, purpose,work-life balance and boundaries
.
Let's get into the show.
Threads Worldwide was somethingthat you started about 10 years
(01:13):
ago.
It's been a decade now sinceyou've been working on this and
it started off as a side hustle.
So how did you develop apassion for Threads Worldwide
and what is it?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
first of all, yeah, so what we do is what we are is
we create work with women ineight countries and I would
actually say nine, because womenhere in the US work with us to
create the work around the world, and everything that we sell is
fair trade.
So we have fair trade jewelrythat's our main staple.
(01:48):
Then we have home goods and wehave handbags as well, and the
model that we use is calleddirect sales, so women can come
on as a side hustle Everyone'slooking for a side hustle these
days and earn an income bycreating impact and work with
women around the world.
So that's what we are, who weare.
And then how I developed thispassion is I've traveled a lot.
(02:11):
I've been really fortunate andit's also been just a major
priority of mine to travel, andI've been to 56 countries around
the world, and I did thatthrough quitting jobs, taking
sabbaticals, whatever it wasthat I needed to do to be able
to travel and it was on thesetravels that I would be a lot of
(02:32):
times with my two best friendsthat I started with, and we
would be sitting in a coffeeshop and we always joke that we
were just killing time betweenmeals.
When you travel, there's not somuch to do, and so we would be
sitting in the coffee shopsdreaming about how we could work
together and thinking about abunch of ideas that we could do,
and luckily none of them workedout before Threads Worldwide.
(02:57):
But it was really on thesetrips that we would look and we
would see all of these beautifulthings that people made, and
then the way that they wereliving was just not correlate.
They had so much talent and yetsuch a small market, a limited
market selling to tourists, andso we thought, well, if we could
(03:19):
connect this amazing talent toa strong market here in the US,
it could really make adifference and it could be a
really fun way for women here tocreate community by joining in
and doing it all with us.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
The thing I like about Threads Worldwide is that
you created it with your friends, which I think is amazing.
Through traveling, or bytraveling, traveling all over
the world kind of sparked theidea within and you guys were
great, which I think is amazing.
I'm also fascinated by peoplewho travel the world, because I
(03:55):
do think it's very important forpeople to travel as much as
possible, because you get toimmerse yourself in different
cultures, you get to see howpeople are living all over the
world and it just gives you anew found perspective.
So I'm curious to know whatwere some of the things that you
kind of learned, or what aresome values or insights or aha
(04:20):
moments that you kind of pickedup along your journey through
these 56 different countriesthat you've traveled to so far.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yes, what a good question.
Let's see.
I think the thing I'll startwith what I learned about myself
is that I really like myselfmost when I'm traveling.
When I'm in travel mode,there's no agenda, there's no
(04:49):
deadlines.
I mean, maybe it's catch aflight, catch a train, but
that's it and so everything.
I find myself coming intosituations with pure curiosity
and where, if I'm standing in acheckout line in Denver and
somebody's taking too long, Iget frustrated.
When I'm standing in a checkoutline in Hanoi, Vietnam, and
(05:10):
somebody's taking too long, I'minterested in what's happening.
I wonder what they're talkingabout, because obviously I don't
speak Vietnamese, and what istheir money like and what
interesting things they have onthe shelves and what interesting
footwear people are wearing.
I mean all the things.
There's just time to really bein awe and be in wonder, and
(05:33):
it's something I work on here inmy day to day, and it just
comes so naturally when I'mtraveling, which is one of the
things that I love and I'vediscovered while traveling, and
then just the way that peoplegreet each other, I mean just
(05:56):
the day to day elements.
I find so intriguing the waythat they celebrate different
events, like we were speaking ofVietnam, we were in Vietnam and
it was the new year, and I meanit was I don't know, it was 20
years ago or so, so I can'tremember exactly but it
seemingly was a five to six weekholiday where everybody was off
(06:21):
.
They were on differentschedules for everything.
There was the regular scheduleand then there's the New Year
schedule and just thisappreciation for, oh, wow,
really celebrating life,celebrating the New Year,
celebrating everything you know,just being together with family
, and when in the US do we everstop for five or six weeks?
(06:43):
I can't think of a time, and sothat's something else that I
find interesting is to see howpeople relate to time, relate to
celebration and gathering andgetting together.
Just every aspect when I'm outof the country is fascinating to
me.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Yeah, something I've learned in the little travel
that I've done I'd hope totravel more is that people are a
lot more patient in generaloverseas and really take time to
be more present and enjoy lifeand celebrate life in a way that
I just don't think it's thesame in the US.
Can't speak for every statewithin the US, but we have this
(07:23):
go, go, go, go go mentality,whereas in a lot of different
countries it's pause, enjoy,celebrate, being the present,
which is something that I really, really appreciate.
So I'm glad that you broughtthat up.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
And it really takes something.
You know, if you compare it tofood or something, it's hard to
eat foods that don't havepreservatives.
Here it's hard to eat healthy,just naturally, like what we
have at our fingertips so easily, is fast food that comes with
preservatives and all of that,and in other countries they just
don't have that.
(07:57):
They go to the grocery storedaily because their bread will
rot.
You know, I found I'm a mom oftwo and more than once I found a
string cheese at the bottom ofmy bag in perfect condition that
it's actually grosser to me tofind it in perfect condition
than to find it all moldy, whichis what you would expect and
(08:18):
hope of food that you're givingyour kids.
So just like that with health.
Here it's the same.
It's hard to get out of theculture of go and I work at
least 40 hours a week and I onlyhave two days a weekend and I
only have two weeks a month andeven when.
I'm taking my vacation, I'mstill really on and it's hard
and it's something that I'mworking on and really taking on
(08:40):
this year.
Well, I've been taking onreally for the last, I'd say,
almost two years, but evenleaning into it more in 2024,
because my gosh, especially mykids, they're growing up and I
do not wanna miss it.
For even for something aspassionate as I am about threads
, I still have the rest of lifeto save her.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Yeah, something I wanna ask you because I'm
curious about this, how youbackground in psychology and
something people always say whenthey travel overseas is that,
although in the US it seems likewe have a lot more resources no
place is perfect, obviously,but although in the US it seems
like we have a lot of resources,people scribe people that
(09:22):
they're observing in othercountries while they travel as
having better mental health.
Have you observed that as well?
Do you think that there's sometruth to that?
Speaker 2 (09:33):
You know, I don't know if I have had that lens
anecdotally when I'm traveling.
I mean, like sorry, I didn'tsay that, sorry, but I don't
know if I've had that lens andbeen looking for that when I'm
traveling.
And when you ask the questionand like looking back
anecdotally, I would say yesalso.
I mean statistically.
They talk about how much morepeople depend on each other in
(09:56):
other countries.
We have so much space here, wehave so much wealth, most a lot
of people, and it's all relativebut that we can spread out and
we don't live in our familyhomes and when I think about
when my kids grow up, I wantthem to have a home or a condo
or whatever next door to me andthat's just not predictable
(10:18):
about how that's going to go andin other countries.
When we were in India I went tovisit one of my friends.
She was born in the US, most ofher family lives in India and
she connected us to them when wewere visiting and their whole
generations lived in this onebuilding that had an open
courtyard and everybody faced in, and to just think about the
(10:39):
level of community andconnection that you have with
people who you grow up with, youcould only imagine that that
would improve your mental health.
So yes, I observed it, butreally it's sort of in
retrospect that I can answer andsay, yeah, I think they do.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Yeah, there's such a huge emphasis on family and
community and a lot of otherparts of the world, so I think
what you said there makes a lotof sense that leaning on
community is it's not.
People are not as hyperindividualistic as they are in
the United States.
So, and speaking of travelingand also threads worldwide and
(11:26):
the concept of threads worldwide, especially connecting with
women or empowering femaleentrepreneurs, I wanna know why
women?
Why did you guys zero in onhelping or giving a voice or
giving opportunities to womenentrepreneurs in these eight
(11:47):
other countries that you work in?
Speaker 2 (11:50):
The main reason is this statistic and it is that
women reinvest 90% of theirincome back into their families
and communities.
Men, it's around 40%, and Iwish I could remember who to
quote, but it's a very popularquote, so you can go and look up
that stat.
I think it's even by maybe theUN or something like that.
(12:12):
I used to know it.
But men are about 40%.
Now, men, sometimes you couldthink, well, they're spending on
all these awful thingssometimes, but not always.
And in fact we went and weobserved this.
So when we first started, wewere working with two groups in
Guatemala and one of the groupswe thought had more women than
(12:35):
they actually ended up having.
We've since completed thatrelationship because it was
mostly men in the workshop.
And so we went and weinterviewed the men and it was
really interesting.
So they were saying thank youso much for the work and for
your orders.
What we're doing with that iswe're able to expand, we're able
to buy new machinery to makewhat we're making, thank you so
(13:00):
much for expanding, whereaswe're interviewing the women and
they're saying thank you somuch for ordering.
Your orders make a difference.
I'm able to add eggs to mykids' meals so I can send my
kids to school, and it's thatlevel of investment back into
their families that really makesa difference.
And then we have so many storiesabout what happens when women
(13:23):
get that money and how it reallychanges generationally.
And then, if you think about itback, we've as evolved as a
species.
Men were out there expanding us.
They were the reason we wentand went west and we were the
reason that they got on boatsand discovered all around the
world.
And good, thank you, yay, weexpanded and we, you know, to
(13:45):
some detriment, expanded alittle bit too far and too fast,
but that's not what we think isneeded.
We really think that what isneeded is turning into the
families and turning intocommunity and investing in each
other.
And so that's the reason andwe've seen it over and over and
over again what happens whenwomen earn an income along with
(14:10):
the voice that they get youmentioned their voice.
They get a voice and get alevel of respect and partnership
if they're in a marriage fromtheir husband.
That's not typical.
In a lot of the cultures Women,particularly in Ecuador and
then Guatemala, share about howthey're no longer in abusive
relationships because theyactually are bringing money to
(14:33):
the table and seeing it asvaluable, which there's a whole
crappy side of that that.
That's what it takes, but itdoes in some places, especially
when money is so scarce.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
So not only are you an entrepreneur I think there's
a specific word for it Is it asocial?
I think I wrote it down.
Yes, social impact, entrepreneuryeah your social impact
entrepreneur, which is a lot ofwork because you're, you know
(15:08):
it's on a global scale thatyou're doing your work.
So I just want to know you saida lot of things there about
empowering women and just makingsure that they have the
necessary tools and resources tomake a living for themselves
and potentially get out of verytoxic situations.
So I know that you consideryour company a fair trade
(15:33):
company, correct?
What does it mean to be a fairtrade company and how are you
able to balance doing work on aglobal scale and partnering with
women in all these differentcountries?
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Yeah, so we are part of the Fair Trade Federation and
you can look them up I thinkit's well, just Google Fair
Trade Federation.
There's that organization andthere's one called World Fair
Trade Organization, and they'reoverriding bodies that you have
to become a part of to show thatyou're really well, that you're
(16:09):
part of that.
You're using fair tradeprinciples.
So there are nine principles,but the three that I talk about
the most are that there's nochild labor in any of our
products, that there's healthyworking conditions and safe
working conditions and then,third, that our partners are
paid fairly and paid on time,which means that we're paying
(16:31):
them what they ask.
It's a livable wage and there'sa lot that goes into this.
So it they.
You know, one of the thingsthat they consider when giving
us their pricing is what does ittake to live, to have medical,
you know, not insurance, butlike coverage for transportation
, all of these things thatactually go into living a life,
(16:53):
that goes into making ourproducts, into pricing our
products.
And then they come to us withthe price and we don't negotiate
.
The only thing that we mightsay is, if it's too high, excuse
me, if it's too high, we mightsay, okay, we can't do that.
What would it take to get itinto this price range?
So we're not asking them tolower the price without them
reducing the amount of labor ormaterial that it would, that it
(17:14):
would adjust it so.
So that's really important tous, and that's the whole supply
chain.
So we have some products thatare made from seeds.
We have some products that aremade from bullet casings.
Everybody who's involved interms of harvesting the seeds,
drying the seeds, dying theseeds, every part of that
process, they're being paidfairly along the way.
(17:35):
And so, when you think about it, though this is what sort of
shocks me awake is like, wow,how cool, that's so great that
that exists.
But what about all the otherproducts that we're using every
day that don't use thoseprinciples?
They're not saying anythinglike oh, this and this is made
from slave labor, but a lot oftimes it is.
(17:57):
If people aren't, if companiesaren't intentionally going out
and making sure that the, thatthe factors are great, we don't
even work with factories, butthat the villages are working
great, whatever, whatever partalong the supply chain, there's
probably something off there.
And then, especially, you know,if you think about, you know,
back before I started threads, Iheard myself saying this too.
(18:17):
But you know, as women, youmean people always.
You know, if they complimentyou, you can't just say thank
you, right, you have to tell thestory, right, like, oh thank
you, I got it here.
Oh, thank you, I got it for agift.
Oh, thank you, I got it on sale.
You just, we just do, which isanother reason, by the way, that
I love that we sell jewelry,because then when women
compliment our jewelry, now ourcustomers have something
interesting to share,educational, to share about
(18:41):
where these are made.
But I digress.
So if you go back and say, hey,jimmy, wow, I love your other,
so pretty, thank you.
What I would say, too is thankyou, I got it for like $12 at
Target.
But if you stop and think aboutthat now, when you hear people
say that, and if the pricesounds too low, it is.
And who's not being paid?
It's not Target, it's notWalmart.
(19:03):
They're getting their money.
So where is that money comingoff of?
And oftentimes it is the peoplewho spend all their time
creating that product.
So I don't even know whatquestion I'm answering because
I'm going off so much, but thisis something I'm so passionate
about and it's something thatI've really taken to heart and
something that's changed in mylife.
You know how I shop.
I in the last eight years Ithink, I've bought now four
(19:26):
things that were new and this isfor my kids too and we're in a
good position where people areable to pass things down to us.
I shop secondhand so much morefun that way.
But I'm just something I'mreally really passionate about
that we're looking at where arewe spending our money as a very
influential country where we canspend our money, it makes a
difference in the world if we'restarting to pay attention.
(19:47):
But what was your question?
Speaker 1 (19:50):
No, you answered it because I wanted to know why you
know social impact,entrepreneurship, and I think
you answer that so well becauseI think a lot of times when we
think about business, it's aboutprofit, profit, profit,
generating as much profit aspossible, and why I respect the
work that you're doing.
It's, yeah, profit is involved,but it's about empowerment,
(20:14):
it's about equity, it's aboutfairness, and I think that
that's important because, as we,you know, do businesses, like
you said, like you said, a lotof these companies going to
different countries andliterally exploit the people,
exploit the natural resources,and I think it's important that
we have a more fair, equitableand ethical way of doing
(20:37):
business.
And it seems like that's whatyou're doing, which I really
respect.
And I also wanted to know howare you able to do this work
while also being a mom and awife?
Right, because I assume youprobably have to travel to a lot
of these different countries inwhich you work, with all Sorry.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Get to travel, yes.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Yes, you get to travel to a lot of these amazing
countries, which I wanted toask you, by the way, what are
those countries?
But how are you able to balanceentrepreneurship, especially
the type of work that you'redoing, and also being, you know,
a mom, wife, friend, daughter,etc.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a good question and I
mentioned earlier that I'mreally focusing on on my mental
health and all and all of thatin the last and my pace of
things in the last 18 months,because it's not something I've
had a good perspective on thewhole time.
(21:40):
Before COVID, we were on thisreally great trajectory where we
were growing fast and then,with COVID, everything stopped
because everything that we do isin person.
So women will host, gettogether with their friends
where we come and we share aboutthe jewelry, share about the
artisans, and we really did thatintentionally because we want
(22:01):
this to be out in community andwe want to be having fair trade
warriors all over the placesharing about about this and so
women can start to think aboutbecause women make the most of
them.
The purchasing decisions startto think about.
Oh, I see fair trade bananasand they're 19 more cents a
pound than these non fair trade,but I learned about that at
(22:22):
that Threads Gathering.
I'm going to buy the fair tradebananas, like we want that kind
of conversation ripplehappening.
And in 2020, it all shut down.
I mean it just, you know, shutdown, and those probably two
years, two and a half years, Imean, I just was sweating
through my clothes on a dailybasis Like, yes, we're social
(22:43):
impact and, just like youmentioned, we need profit, we
need to be able to make money tobe able to pay for all the
things that we have, and and soit was very, very nerve wracking
time and I was working to thepoint where I was.
I would only go to sleep almostwhen I got that like I don't
know if you get this, but when Iget really tired, I get
nauseated a little bit.
That's when I would go to sleepevery night and I would lay
(23:06):
down to bed just swirling for awhile and finally fall asleep
and it just was not healthy.
And I remember it was July.
It was July, not 2020, so July2022.
And we're, I was outside of ouroffice talking with my, my
bestie business partner and Ijust I just remember looking at
her and saying I can't do thisanymore.
I just can't.
(23:27):
I.
My kids were even younger.
My son was like probably two,two and a half, and I just I was
realizing that I was missingthe most fun, squishy moments of
their life, where they want tobe around me all the time.
And I was missing that and andI was trying to squeeze them
into my work life versus theother way.
(23:51):
I really they're they're mynumber one and two, number ones,
I should say, and my husbandnumber one, number two, and then
then the workers after that.
But that's not how I wasprioritizing my time, and so I
just had to stop and make, startmaking promises to people,
specifically my husband, aboutI'm going to go to sleep earlier
(24:13):
.
You know, for me I'm sort of anight also like 1030 is still
earlier.
I am not staying up this lateanymore.
I am working only these hoursand just start making promises
and and sharing with people whatI'm committed to.
And you know, you know, whenyou speak things out loud, they
start to to happen.
And so I started doing thatover and over and over and just
prioritizing that.
And now, from time to time, likewe just had our annual
(24:35):
conference and I told my husbandI'm going to be up every night
this week.
It's just, it's just what I'mgoing to do, and that's okay
from time to time, but it's notthe norm.
And and I really I think it waslike just making that
declaration of of, of bringingmy priorities back into
alignment.
That shifted my wholeexperience at our business and
(24:57):
we've been growing.
Like me, burning the midnightoil and being nauseatingly tired
turns out didn't Do anythingmore than what we're doing right
now.
I just get to prioritize mytime in a better way.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
I Love that you said that, because I think sometimes
If we're not stressing aboutsomething, we feel like we're
not moving the needle, butactually what we need to do is
step back and relax and rest andactually To be able to move
forward even faster.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Do you know, just maybe think of this like I used
to be scared of flying andsometimes, when I'm not scared,
I think it's like a superstition, like oh no, the plane's gonna
go down, like as if my worry iswhat's keeping it up in the air.
It's that illogical to compareto what you just said.
Yeah, if I'm not stressingabout this company, then it
(25:47):
won't be growing, and that's nottrue, and that's something else
I'm really Working on and Iwould give myself like a C-minus
on, you know, like how do I getinto this ease and flow?
But at least it's like on myradar to really really Focus on
in 2024.
This is my year, jimmy, tobecome a woman that I've always
wanted to be.
Like this is it?
Speaker 1 (26:08):
I'm declaring it now and you will, you will.
Something that you mentionedthat I wanted to ask you about
is you said that you startedmaking promises to your husband
about, you know, taking bettercare of yourself and getting
your rest, and something thatyou're very passionate about
talking about is the notion ofPromises promises versus
boundaries and I kind of want toget into that a little bit.
(26:30):
What do you mean by peopleshould start making more
promises and not just focus onboundaries?
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Yeah, I, I think.
So boundaries and I haven'ttalked about it a lot, so I'm
gonna stumble a little bit here,but but you know, with
boundaries I think that that's abig term right now is, you know
, set your boundaries and keepyour boundaries, and it's
important and and and I, justwhen I think about boundaries is
sort of like it is meant tokeep people out, right, and so
(26:58):
like, like, keep something atbay.
And so I think, when you say aboundary, it's like this is me
and you should not step overthat boundary, or otherwise, x,
y, z, whatever there's some kindof almost consequence.
And when I think about apromise, it's like we're in this
together, like I'm saying,jimmy, I, I promise that this is
(27:22):
how I'm gonna show up in ourrelationship.
Or Even like a request, likeJimmy, I'm gonna show up this
way and I request that you Showup this way in our relationship.
So now it's like we'reco-creating it and you actually
have a say in accepting myrequest or Not, whereas the
(27:43):
other way, the only way that wecan have a relationship in a
boundary, is you crossing it ornot crossing it.
But I don't know what do youthink about that?
Speaker 1 (27:51):
I actually really like that notion because
Boundaries seem so daunting forthe person enforcing it and the
person receiving it, becauseit's like, oh my god, this is,
this is a hard line here and youknow I can't cross it it.
It adds some sort of tension toit, not always, but a lot of
times.
I think that's what comes withboundaries.
(28:14):
But I like what you're sayingabout the promise thing, because
it seems like you saidco-creating, both people kind of
have like have a say in somesense to do better and there's
room to kind of adjust it.
There's also room to adjustboundaries, but it feels less do
or die and there's somethingabout upholding a promise.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Yeah and yeah, and you're like accepting the
promise or accepting the requestor whatever, and then if you
don't do it, like you have a sayin it as well, versus like you
cross my boundary.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Yes, I like that, I think.
Yeah, I do like that.
It seems a little bit morecollaborative.
And if someone cannot, if youpromise someone something and
they cannot uphold their end ofwhatever promise they need to
make back to you, then that'sfor the person or Both parties
(29:12):
to decide whether or not theycan tolerate that.
But I do like what you'resaying about the promise thing.
I it's a new way of thinkingabout boundaries are looking at
it from a different angle.
I really like that.
You didn't stumble at all.
Something else I wanted to askyou to is this whole idea about
comparison.
You obviously working as anentrepreneur I'm sure this
(29:37):
happens to a lot of people.
We tend to kind of look at whatother people are doing and how
fast other people are growing.
So have you ever struggled withcomparing yourself to other
people and why do you thinkcomparison is more of?
Why do you think it's importantfor people to use comparison to
kind of Be better rather thanuse it to kind of feel bad about
(30:00):
themselves?
Speaker 2 (30:01):
themselves down.
Yeah, so you've really done yourresearch.
So, with the with that, I I dida talk on using comparison as a
guide to joy, as opposed to thethief of joy, and I was just
noticing I was talking with oneof my friends and I was noticing
that when I was jealous ofsomebody, or when I was
(30:24):
comparing myself in a way thatmade me feel bad, it was when I
really, like, looked back andlike, like could break it down.
I I saw that I was only doingthat with people that I admired
something about, and and it wasin a way that I thought that I
could or should be that way.
So, as compared to, for example, if I was talking to an ultra
(30:48):
marathoner or, you know, operasinger, I would only be, you
know, amazed at them.
I would only be enthralled atwhat they were doing, and with
curiosity, no comparison,because I don't, I don't have
the voice for an opera singer, Ihave no desire to be ultra
marathoner, there's nothing tocompare there.
And so then, when I looked atthe people that I was comparing
(31:12):
myself to, it was because Ithought, oh, I could be that way
, I should be that way.
Now, I know should not a wordthat we want to use and all that
.
But when I looked at I was like, oh, it's because I think that
I possibly could.
So what could I do thatactually has me take a step more
towards what they have or whothey are, who they be in the
(31:32):
world or situation that would.
That would actually feed andhave me expand myself in that
way.
And just recently, like as inSunday so this is hot off the
presses in terms of mybreakthroughs I was in this at
our conference.
We had this woman come in andspeak about quantum jumping.
(31:55):
Jimmy, she's somebody that youshould interview.
Her names Ali Duncan.
Oh my gosh, she's amazing.
I can introduce you, but sheWas did this meditation with us
and one of the things that shewas talking about is going
towards joy and going towardsgratitude in life and pleasure
in life.
And I was thinking about all ofa sudden in this meditation.
My two besties, who I startedthis company with, are Some of
(32:17):
the funniest people you've evermet, so fun, so funny.
Just met those magneticpersonalities and Sometimes,
when I was around them, I wouldfeel not that like, oh, I'm the
boring one, oh, I'm the lame,right, something like that, and
then I didn't want to feel thatway because of my besties and
okay.
So you can see the whole spiraland I got in this meditation oh
(32:40):
, being around people like thatand they're not the only ones in
my life, but like being aroundpeople like that it's, it's me
going towards pleasure, goingtowards joy.
The fact that I have attractedthose kind of people in my life
is actually a testament to meand that I'm doing what brings
me joy and pleasure in life bysurrounding myself.
(33:03):
So that was just another slicethat I got as of Sunday on
looking at comparison and how,how to actually not have it beat
us down because we're going tohave it, trying to avoid
Comparing ourselves.
And you know, you're good, yeah, everybody run your own race
and it's the thief of joy.
Well, good, yeah, how much hasthat done for us?
(33:25):
Not a lot.
So how can we actually sort ofleverage comparison to focus us
on what's really most importantto us?
Speaker 1 (33:31):
I Love everything that you just said and as you
were talking actually I thinkyou said the word expand, and
there's this woman that Ilistened to.
Her name is Lacey Phillips, Ibelieve.
She has a podcast calledexpanded.
She's like a manifestationexpert and one of her Lessons or
tips when it comes tomanifestation Is that whenever
(33:54):
you see someone doing somethingthat you want to be able to do
or you like the way they'redoing it, they're your expanders
.
They're basically showing youthat whatever you want is
possible.
And I was like, oh my god,that's so true.
I've I've always kind of hadthat in my mind is like you know
, whenever I see someone who hasthe number one podcast in a
(34:16):
specific space that you knowlooks like me and you know All
of that stuff, I'm like, oh okay, I can do this.
They're, they're my expander.
They're showing me that thisreality is possible.
And, like you said to with yourbesties in your life, with how
Amazing they are, is really atestament to you, because your
energy had to match their energy, and if you're saying that they
(34:39):
are these wonderful people, itonly means that you're just as
wonderful as they are.
So I love everything that youjust said there.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Yeah, yeah, yes, I mean again our expanders.
I love that they they'reshowing us that, that we can,
that that's possible, we can dothat.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
I love that, yeah, okay, so I have to ask, because
I had a conversation with a guyrecently I'm forgetting his name
, brett Mac magpiong, and he isa coach that specializes in
purpose right, and he sayspurpose can be defined with
three Ps passion, priorities andprinciples.
(35:19):
Do you feel like, with the Redsworldwide right now, you are
working in your purpose?
Speaker 2 (35:25):
So passion, principles and priorities, yes.
If I define it by that, I wouldsay yes, except for.
I'm really looking Except for,like what I talked about with my
kids.
My kids are my priorities andthey're not in the business yet,
but I am thinking about ways.
(35:46):
My daughter's seven and so I'mthinking about where my sons
four and a half, but but mydaughter, I'm thinking about
ways to incorporate more kidsinto what we're doing and and I
think when that happens, likethe sees will part and I will
ascend, it will be like the, theperfect company when all of
(36:06):
that comes together.
And Except for that, I wouldsay yes.
I mean I get to work in acommunity of women who are
big-hearted, you know,mission-driven, up to something,
women and willing to Growthemselves.
This last weekend we were atour conference and it was all
(36:26):
about just stretching ourselvesand growing ourselves and
getting out of that comfort zone, and that's who I get to spend
my time with.
And you know we've had multipleopportunities to shift the
business model.
Direct sales doesn't alwayshave the best reputation, you
know.
So not often, but sometimespeople say isn't that a pyramid
(36:48):
scheme?
It's like no, pyramid schemesare illegal and this is the best
way to have women Involved andreally to have everyone paid
Based on their talents, you know, not based on where did they
interview?
Well, or or whatever, you know,I don't know certain, certain
person has to leave the companyfirst.
It really is the best way forwomen to be able to be in
(37:11):
community.
And so We've had so manydifferent times to change the
model and I just keep comingback to it and thinking I do not
want to do this on my own.
If this model goes away, Ithink we'll just we would shut
down threads because that is themodel.
Like, yes, it is about the womenthat we work with, but it's so
much, so much of it and so muchmore shifting towards what women
(37:34):
here in the US get.
You know, women need a littlebit extra money.
Women are we're chronicallyfeeling disconnected, like we
talked about earlier.
I just read the study 85% ofwomen or no, sorry if people 85%
of Americans say that they areGenerally satisfied with life,
which at first I thought, well,that's a lot more than I thought
(37:57):
, like that's high.
But then, when I thought aboutgenerally satisfied, that's like
saying fine, that's like how'swork fine, how's your marriage
fine, harry, kids fine.
Like how's life?
It's fine, when only 20% saidthat they're passionate about
work, and I want to change thatnumber.
I want to find, I want to be aplace where women can come in
(38:20):
any way that they want, to plugin and be led by their passions.
Instead of this trajectory,this life of fine.
And so, yes, I would say thatit has all of it has my
principles, it has my, mypassion and 90% of my priorities
.
Speaker 1 (38:39):
I Mean 90% is huge.
So, yeah, I'm happy that you'reworking in your purpose and you
know purpose looks different,different stages in life and we
can have multiple purposesrunning at the same time.
But I was just I what.
It's nice to know that you'repassionate about the work that
you're doing and you're makingchange with it.
So in the ten years that you'vebeen doing this business, what
(39:03):
Things have you learned aboutyourself?
So, for example, in podcastingnow for the last two, three
years, I've learned that I'mable to be consistent in
something that I really enjoydoing.
If you had asked me that priorto podcasting, I probably would
have been a lot harder on myselfand thought, oh, I don't, you
know, stick with something, butI've learned that I can stick
(39:26):
with something.
Um, I learned that I loveconnecting with people and
having profound conversations.
So in the ten years of youdoing this work, what are some
things that you learned aboutyourself that you didn't know
before?
Speaker 2 (39:39):
Well, can I ask you a question back first is how has
that trickled into other areasof your life, like the being
consistent?
That's such an incredible Thingto be.
First of all, that's I mean,there's some quote I think is
maybe Woody Allen, at 80% oflife, is showing up.
Okay, so that's huge.
But then it's also like whereto know yourself as somebody
(40:01):
who's consistent.
How is that affected otherareas of your life?
Speaker 1 (40:05):
Wow, that's an amazing question.
So it's affected my self-esteem.
I have Grown so much in thatself-esteem space, in that
self-love space, because I'veshown myself that I can show up
and Honor the things that I'mpassionate about.
It's also trickled into healthand wellness.
(40:27):
So Making a promise to myselfand staying consistent with
working out and trying to eatbetter All of that it's just
been a snowball effect in thatas well being consistent and
showing up in my Friendships, inmy family relationships,
keeping my word Right.
When I say I'm gonna dosomething, I'm going to do it.
(40:48):
So it's really affected myrelationships in a positive way
and my relationship to self hasDramatically increased.
So that's such a beautifulquestion because I had never
thought about it until you justsaid that just now.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
Yes, and now you can claim that for yourself like
that's who you are.
Yeah, from podcasting.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Yeah, it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
It's amazing.
Yeah, it's really cool.
Yes, yes, yes, I love that, Ilove it.
I love it.
So, so for me, I would say Ithink I've been tested with my
(41:30):
perseverance and my ability tofocus.
I do not always, and I do knowthat I can focus and get things
done.
I've also learned that I reallyI've learned that I love being
(41:53):
around people.
I don't know if I wouldn't havesaid that before, but just more
and more making that choice andbeing so lit up when people win
themselves that again, I thinkthat this model is the perfect
match for my personality of whatI don't.
I don't.
(42:13):
I don't love being in thelimelight, and I love being in
the limelight if it's meshouting somebody else out,
cheering somebody else on, whichis more comfortable, and so one
of the roles that I say that Iplay is I fan people's flames
around me Like I want otherpeople around me to do well, and
I've, I've, consistently seenmyself do that sort of
(42:36):
organically and again, I don'tknow that I thought I would have
said that before.
It's, it's fun when you can seeand claim that I had a coach
who said this, like when you canclaim something for yourself,
then that's that's who youbecome and that and that's who
you start showing up asconsistently in other places,
like you talked about, and so,claiming that for myself, even
publicly here with you, it sortof makes it more and more true.
(42:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:01):
Yeah, I love that.
I think they're not a lot ofpeople who, well, I don't want
to be dramatic, but I you don'trun into a lot of people who
don't want the spotlight forthemselves necessarily and want
to champion other people justbecause of the society we live
in.
You know, I think we don't feellike we're successful, we don't
(43:23):
feel like we're doing the rightthing or reaching a certain
level on this.
We're in front of the limelightbut I love that you have found
that you really like upliftingpeople and you know making and
highlighting other people'slight.
I think that's a profound andamazing quality to have as a
(43:44):
person.
Speaker 2 (43:45):
Yeah, and on, truthfully, like you just said,
I think it's probably alsocompensating for something of
you know I don't know what theterm is imposter syndrome or
like not good.
It's like compensating in someway.
I think I'm like don't look atme, I'm not great, but look over
, there they're.
You know, they're great.
Speaker 1 (44:02):
That's an interesting perspective.
So do you still struggle withimposter syndrome?
Speaker 2 (44:08):
Yeah, I mean, I think you know I just in my life I've
been put in various leadershippositions like one I can think
about in volleyball.
I was asked to be the teamcaptain on one of these teams
and I just remember being like Iam full of it.
I'm going to go into the huddleand ask people to do a certain
cheer or pump people up, likewho am I to do that?
(44:29):
And I think that that's notsomething, that it's not
something I've fully quieted yet, and so it's something, yeah,
that I work on.
Of like what we have here isamazing.
The community we have here isamazing.
People want to participate inthis like go cheer it on.
This is one of the reasons Ifeel awful at social media,
which is a big thing I'm takingon in 2024.
(44:51):
Of like I need to start gettingout there and sharing about
what it is that we're doing, andit's just not, it's not natural
Like I want to share againother people's posts or about my
kids, but nothing about likelook over here.
Speaker 1 (45:05):
Yeah, you know, I'm the same way.
Funny enough, which is ironicbecause I have a podcast.
Yeah, but I struggle withsocial media as well and
whenever I have to like postmyself, I'm like cringe in the
sense of like.
I don't want people thinking,oh, here she comes again, or who
does she think she is.
(45:26):
It's a lot of negative thoughtsthat are not true.
We're meant to take up spaceand I think a lot of women
actually struggle with taking upspace.
So I'm with you.
This is our year to take upspace, Angela.
Speaker 2 (45:38):
Okay, all right.
All right, we have to follow itall.
Speaker 1 (45:41):
Yeah, exactly, we have to keep each other
accountable.
This has been such a greatconversation with you.
I enjoyed it so much.
I always like to ask my guestsfor final words of wisdom.
It could be about what we'vebeen talking about or something
completely different that youkeep in your back pocket as you
go through life.
Speaker 2 (46:01):
Yeah, I think, just to go back what we said, you
know, looking where you can makepromises and make requests of
people where they have a chanceto participate.
Even when you were talkingabout your health and well and
wellness and I don't know if yousaid something about what you
were eating or if I just broughtthat into my mind of like, what
kind of requests and promisescan we make of ourselves around
(46:21):
what we eat and we don't eat,and when we work out and when we
don't work out, and things likethat.
I just think that's such apowerful structure.
So that's one thing I just wantto reflect on.
And then, when I was thinkingabout a quote, there's three
quotes I love.
One is by Tom Petty and itdoesn't apply anymore because
he's now gone, but he said I'mglad I'm getting older because
(46:43):
at least I'm not dead, and sowhenever I think about getting
older I'm like, well, that'strue, at least let's age that
way.
That's one.
The second one is in a song bythe Eagles and it says you can
see the stars but still not seethe light.
And I don't know.
There's something about it thatfor me it's like you can start
to see what's coming but youreally have no idea.
(47:04):
And just be open into thatcuriosity and expansiveness of
what's possible.
And then my final one is if youwant to go fast, go alone, and
if you want to go far, gotogether.
And that's an African proverbwhich is just so perfect for the
work that we're doing about howdo we bring more people into
what we're trying to do and howwe're trying to spread light
(47:28):
around the world.
Speaker 1 (47:31):
I love all of those quotes.
I'm a quote junkie, I'm alwayscollecting quotes, so those are
all so good.
Where can people find you ifthey want to shop thread
worldwide and if you're alsocomfortable?
One thing I wanted to touch onbut forgot to I don't think I
asked you what countries do yousource your products from?
Yep?
Speaker 2 (47:50):
So I have to do it by continent.
So we're in Ecuador, Bolivia,Guatemala, Uganda, Ethiopia,
Vietnam, Indonesia and India.
Speaker 1 (48:00):
Awesome Yep.
Speaker 2 (48:02):
And people can shop from us at threadsworldwidecom.
That's our Instagram, that'sour Facebook, and then I'm on
Instagram atangelathreadsworldwide.
So pretty easy to find and Ipromise to start posting more
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (48:18):
I'm going to link all of that in the show notes.
Thank you again for stopping bya word to the wise.
Thank you so much, jimmy, itwas fun.
Speaker 2 (48:25):
Thank you so much, jimmy, it was fun.
Speaker 1 (48:28):
A big shout out to Angela Melphie for stopping by
the show.
Now, if you're interested inshopping at threadsworldwidecom,
make sure that you use thediscount code word to the wise
for 20% off through May 31st.
For more details, please checkout the show notes you can
follow, or to the Wise onInstagram and TikTok.
(48:49):
At a word to the wise pod.
We're also on YouTube.
At a word to the wise podcast.
Please be sure to subscribe Ifyou are enjoying the show.
Please rate, leave a review,share and subscribe wherever you
listen to podcasts.
Till next time, peace and love,always, always, always.
Hello everyone and welcome back to the A Word to
the Wise podcast, a space wherewe curate conversations around
mind, body, spirit and personaldevelopment.
I'm your host, jumi Moses.
On the show today is CEO andco-founder of Threads Worldwide,
angela Malfi.
In 2011, angela founded ThreadsWorldwide with her two best
(00:20):
friends, cara and Lindsay, andthey had the intention to create
life-changing work andconnection with women around the
world through the fair trade ofartists and jewelry, bags and
home goods, and in ourconversation, angela and I
discuss the why behind ThreadsWorldwide more in depth.
We talk about what it means tobe a global traveler and why
(00:42):
that is important.
We also discuss what it meansto be a social prenuer
navigating comparison, purpose,work-life balance and boundaries
.
Let's get into the show.
Threads Worldwide was somethingthat you started about 10 years
(01:13):
ago.
It's been a decade now sinceyou've been working on this and
it started off as a side hustle.
So how did you develop apassion for Threads Worldwide
and what is it?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
first of all, yeah, so what we do is what we are is
we create work with women ineight countries and I would
actually say nine, because womenhere in the US work with us to
create the work around the world, and everything that we sell is
fair trade.
So we have fair trade jewelrythat's our main staple.
(01:48):
Then we have home goods and wehave handbags as well, and the
model that we use is calleddirect sales, so women can come
on as a side hustle Everyone'slooking for a side hustle these
days and earn an income bycreating impact and work with
women around the world.
So that's what we are, who weare.
And then how I developed thispassion is I've traveled a lot.
(02:11):
I've been really fortunate andit's also been just a major
priority of mine to travel, andI've been to 56 countries around
the world, and I did thatthrough quitting jobs, taking
sabbaticals, whatever it wasthat I needed to do to be able
to travel and it was on thesetravels that I would be a lot of
(02:32):
times with my two best friendsthat I started with, and we
would be sitting in a coffeeshop and we always joke that we
were just killing time betweenmeals.
When you travel, there's not somuch to do, and so we would be
sitting in the coffee shopsdreaming about how we could work
together and thinking about abunch of ideas that we could do,
and luckily none of them workedout before Threads Worldwide.
(02:57):
But it was really on thesetrips that we would look and we
would see all of these beautifulthings that people made, and
then the way that they wereliving was just not correlate.
They had so much talent and yetsuch a small market, a limited
market selling to tourists, andso we thought, well, if we could
(03:19):
connect this amazing talent toa strong market here in the US,
it could really make adifference and it could be a
really fun way for women here tocreate community by joining in
and doing it all with us.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
The thing I like about Threads Worldwide is that
you created it with your friends, which I think is amazing.
Through traveling, or bytraveling, traveling all over
the world kind of sparked theidea within and you guys were
great, which I think is amazing.
I'm also fascinated by peoplewho travel the world, because I
(03:55):
do think it's very important forpeople to travel as much as
possible, because you get toimmerse yourself in different
cultures, you get to see howpeople are living all over the
world and it just gives you anew found perspective.
So I'm curious to know whatwere some of the things that you
kind of learned, or what aresome values or insights or aha
(04:20):
moments that you kind of pickedup along your journey through
these 56 different countriesthat you've traveled to so far.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yes, what a good question.
Let's see.
I think the thing I'll startwith what I learned about myself
is that I really like myselfmost when I'm traveling.
When I'm in travel mode,there's no agenda, there's no
(04:49):
deadlines.
I mean, maybe it's catch aflight, catch a train, but
that's it and so everything.
I find myself coming intosituations with pure curiosity
and where, if I'm standing in acheckout line in Denver and
somebody's taking too long, Iget frustrated.
When I'm standing in a checkoutline in Hanoi, Vietnam, and
(05:10):
somebody's taking too long, I'minterested in what's happening.
I wonder what they're talkingabout, because obviously I don't
speak Vietnamese, and what istheir money like and what
interesting things they have onthe shelves and what interesting
footwear people are wearing.
I mean all the things.
There's just time to really bein awe and be in wonder, and
(05:33):
it's something I work on here inmy day to day, and it just
comes so naturally when I'mtraveling, which is one of the
things that I love and I'vediscovered while traveling, and
then just the way that peoplegreet each other, I mean just
(05:56):
the day to day elements.
I find so intriguing the waythat they celebrate different
events, like we were speaking ofVietnam, we were in Vietnam and
it was the new year, and I meanit was I don't know, it was 20
years ago or so, so I can'tremember exactly but it
seemingly was a five to six weekholiday where everybody was off
(06:21):
.
They were on differentschedules for everything.
There was the regular scheduleand then there's the New Year
schedule and just thisappreciation for, oh, wow,
really celebrating life,celebrating the New Year,
celebrating everything you know,just being together with family
, and when in the US do we everstop for five or six weeks?
(06:43):
I can't think of a time, and sothat's something else that I
find interesting is to see howpeople relate to time, relate to
celebration and gathering andgetting together.
Just every aspect when I'm outof the country is fascinating to
me.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Yeah, something I've learned in the little travel
that I've done I'd hope totravel more is that people are a
lot more patient in generaloverseas and really take time to
be more present and enjoy lifeand celebrate life in a way that
I just don't think it's thesame in the US.
Can't speak for every statewithin the US, but we have this
(07:23):
go, go, go, go go mentality,whereas in a lot of different
countries it's pause, enjoy,celebrate, being the present,
which is something that I really, really appreciate.
So I'm glad that you broughtthat up.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
And it really takes something.
You know, if you compare it tofood or something, it's hard to
eat foods that don't havepreservatives.
Here it's hard to eat healthy,just naturally, like what we
have at our fingertips so easily, is fast food that comes with
preservatives and all of that,and in other countries they just
don't have that.
(07:57):
They go to the grocery storedaily because their bread will
rot.
You know, I found I'm a mom oftwo and more than once I found a
string cheese at the bottom ofmy bag in perfect condition that
it's actually grosser to me tofind it in perfect condition
than to find it all moldy, whichis what you would expect and
(08:18):
hope of food that you're givingyour kids.
So just like that with health.
Here it's the same.
It's hard to get out of theculture of go and I work at
least 40 hours a week and I onlyhave two days a weekend and I
only have two weeks a month andeven when.
I'm taking my vacation, I'mstill really on and it's hard
and it's something that I'mworking on and really taking on
(08:40):
this year.
Well, I've been taking onreally for the last, I'd say,
almost two years, but evenleaning into it more in 2024,
because my gosh, especially mykids, they're growing up and I
do not wanna miss it.
For even for something aspassionate as I am about threads
, I still have the rest of lifeto save her.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Yeah, something I wanna ask you because I'm
curious about this, how youbackground in psychology and
something people always say whenthey travel overseas is that,
although in the US it seems likewe have a lot more resources no
place is perfect, obviously,but although in the US it seems
like we have a lot of resources,people scribe people that
(09:22):
they're observing in othercountries while they travel as
having better mental health.
Have you observed that as well?
Do you think that there's sometruth to that?
Speaker 2 (09:33):
You know, I don't know if I have had that lens
anecdotally when I'm traveling.
I mean, like sorry, I didn'tsay that, sorry, but I don't
know if I've had that lens andbeen looking for that when I'm
traveling.
And when you ask the questionand like looking back
anecdotally, I would say yesalso.
I mean statistically.
They talk about how much morepeople depend on each other in
(09:56):
other countries.
We have so much space here, wehave so much wealth, most a lot
of people, and it's all relativebut that we can spread out and
we don't live in our familyhomes and when I think about
when my kids grow up, I wantthem to have a home or a condo
or whatever next door to me andthat's just not predictable
(10:18):
about how that's going to go andin other countries.
When we were in India I went tovisit one of my friends.
She was born in the US, most ofher family lives in India and
she connected us to them when wewere visiting and their whole
generations lived in this onebuilding that had an open
courtyard and everybody faced in, and to just think about the
(10:39):
level of community andconnection that you have with
people who you grow up with, youcould only imagine that that
would improve your mental health.
So yes, I observed it, butreally it's sort of in
retrospect that I can answer andsay, yeah, I think they do.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Yeah, there's such a huge emphasis on family and
community and a lot of otherparts of the world, so I think
what you said there makes a lotof sense that leaning on
community is it's not.
People are not as hyperindividualistic as they are in
the United States.
So, and speaking of travelingand also threads worldwide and
(11:26):
the concept of threads worldwide, especially connecting with
women or empowering femaleentrepreneurs, I wanna know why
women?
Why did you guys zero in onhelping or giving a voice or
giving opportunities to womenentrepreneurs in these eight
(11:47):
other countries that you work in?
Speaker 2 (11:50):
The main reason is this statistic and it is that
women reinvest 90% of theirincome back into their families
and communities.
Men, it's around 40%, and Iwish I could remember who to
quote, but it's a very popularquote, so you can go and look up
that stat.
I think it's even by maybe theUN or something like that.
(12:12):
I used to know it.
But men are about 40%.
Now, men, sometimes you couldthink, well, they're spending on
all these awful thingssometimes, but not always.
And in fact we went and weobserved this.
So when we first started, wewere working with two groups in
Guatemala and one of the groupswe thought had more women than
(12:35):
they actually ended up having.
We've since completed thatrelationship because it was
mostly men in the workshop.
And so we went and weinterviewed the men and it was
really interesting.
So they were saying thank youso much for the work and for
your orders.
What we're doing with that iswe're able to expand, we're able
to buy new machinery to makewhat we're making, thank you so
(13:00):
much for expanding, whereaswe're interviewing the women and
they're saying thank you somuch for ordering.
Your orders make a difference.
I'm able to add eggs to mykids' meals so I can send my
kids to school, and it's thatlevel of investment back into
their families that really makesa difference.
And then we have so many storiesabout what happens when women
(13:23):
get that money and how it reallychanges generationally.
And then, if you think about itback, we've as evolved as a
species.
Men were out there expanding us.
They were the reason we wentand went west and we were the
reason that they got on boatsand discovered all around the
world.
And good, thank you, yay, weexpanded and we, you know, to
(13:45):
some detriment, expanded alittle bit too far and too fast,
but that's not what we think isneeded.
We really think that what isneeded is turning into the
families and turning intocommunity and investing in each
other.
And so that's the reason andwe've seen it over and over and
over again what happens whenwomen earn an income along with
(14:10):
the voice that they get youmentioned their voice.
They get a voice and get alevel of respect and partnership
if they're in a marriage fromtheir husband.
That's not typical.
In a lot of the cultures Women,particularly in Ecuador and
then Guatemala, share about howthey're no longer in abusive
relationships because theyactually are bringing money to
(14:33):
the table and seeing it asvaluable, which there's a whole
crappy side of that that.
That's what it takes, but itdoes in some places, especially
when money is so scarce.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
So not only are you an entrepreneur I think there's
a specific word for it Is it asocial?
I think I wrote it down.
Yes, social impact, entrepreneuryeah your social impact
entrepreneur, which is a lot ofwork because you're, you know
(15:08):
it's on a global scale thatyou're doing your work.
So I just want to know you saida lot of things there about
empowering women and just makingsure that they have the
necessary tools and resources tomake a living for themselves
and potentially get out of verytoxic situations.
So I know that you consideryour company a fair trade
(15:33):
company, correct?
What does it mean to be a fairtrade company and how are you
able to balance doing work on aglobal scale and partnering with
women in all these differentcountries?
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Yeah, so we are part of the Fair Trade Federation and
you can look them up I thinkit's well, just Google Fair
Trade Federation.
There's that organization andthere's one called World Fair
Trade Organization, and they'reoverriding bodies that you have
to become a part of to show thatyou're really well, that you're
(16:09):
part of that.
You're using fair tradeprinciples.
So there are nine principles,but the three that I talk about
the most are that there's nochild labor in any of our
products, that there's healthyworking conditions and safe
working conditions and then,third, that our partners are
paid fairly and paid on time,which means that we're paying
(16:31):
them what they ask.
It's a livable wage and there'sa lot that goes into this.
So it they.
You know, one of the thingsthat they consider when giving
us their pricing is what does ittake to live, to have medical,
you know, not insurance, butlike coverage for transportation
, all of these things thatactually go into living a life,
(16:53):
that goes into making ourproducts, into pricing our
products.
And then they come to us withthe price and we don't negotiate
.
The only thing that we mightsay is, if it's too high, excuse
me, if it's too high, we mightsay, okay, we can't do that.
What would it take to get itinto this price range?
So we're not asking them tolower the price without them
reducing the amount of labor ormaterial that it would, that it
(17:14):
would adjust it so.
So that's really important tous, and that's the whole supply
chain.
So we have some products thatare made from seeds.
We have some products that aremade from bullet casings.
Everybody who's involved interms of harvesting the seeds,
drying the seeds, dying theseeds, every part of that
process, they're being paidfairly along the way.
(17:35):
And so, when you think about it, though this is what sort of
shocks me awake is like, wow,how cool, that's so great that
that exists.
But what about all the otherproducts that we're using every
day that don't use thoseprinciples?
They're not saying anythinglike oh, this and this is made
from slave labor, but a lot oftimes it is.
(17:57):
If people aren't, if companiesaren't intentionally going out
and making sure that the, thatthe factors are great, we don't
even work with factories, butthat the villages are working
great, whatever, whatever partalong the supply chain, there's
probably something off there.
And then, especially, you know,if you think about, you know,
back before I started threads, Iheard myself saying this too.
(18:17):
But you know, as women, youmean people always.
You know, if they complimentyou, you can't just say thank
you, right, you have to tell thestory, right, like, oh thank
you, I got it here.
Oh, thank you, I got it for agift.
Oh, thank you, I got it on sale.
You just, we just do, which isanother reason, by the way, that
I love that we sell jewelry,because then when women
compliment our jewelry, now ourcustomers have something
interesting to share,educational, to share about
(18:41):
where these are made.
But I digress.
So if you go back and say, hey,jimmy, wow, I love your other,
so pretty, thank you.
What I would say, too is thankyou, I got it for like $12 at
Target.
But if you stop and think aboutthat now, when you hear people
say that, and if the pricesounds too low, it is.
And who's not being paid?
It's not Target, it's notWalmart.
(19:03):
They're getting their money.
So where is that money comingoff of?
And oftentimes it is the peoplewho spend all their time
creating that product.
So I don't even know whatquestion I'm answering because
I'm going off so much, but thisis something I'm so passionate
about and it's something thatI've really taken to heart and
something that's changed in mylife.
You know how I shop.
I in the last eight years Ithink, I've bought now four
(19:26):
things that were new and this isfor my kids too and we're in a
good position where people areable to pass things down to us.
I shop secondhand so much morefun that way.
But I'm just something I'mreally really passionate about
that we're looking at where arewe spending our money as a very
influential country where we canspend our money, it makes a
difference in the world if we'restarting to pay attention.
(19:47):
But what was your question?
Speaker 1 (19:50):
No, you answered it because I wanted to know why you
know social impact,entrepreneurship, and I think
you answer that so well becauseI think a lot of times when we
think about business, it's aboutprofit, profit, profit,
generating as much profit aspossible, and why I respect the
work that you're doing.
It's, yeah, profit is involved,but it's about empowerment,
(20:14):
it's about equity, it's aboutfairness, and I think that
that's important because, as we,you know, do businesses, like
you said, like you said, a lotof these companies going to
different countries andliterally exploit the people,
exploit the natural resources,and I think it's important that
we have a more fair, equitableand ethical way of doing
(20:37):
business.
And it seems like that's whatyou're doing, which I really
respect.
And I also wanted to know howare you able to do this work
while also being a mom and awife?
Right, because I assume youprobably have to travel to a lot
of these different countries inwhich you work, with all Sorry.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Get to travel, yes.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Yes, you get to travel to a lot of these amazing
countries, which I wanted toask you, by the way, what are
those countries?
But how are you able to balanceentrepreneurship, especially
the type of work that you'redoing, and also being, you know,
a mom, wife, friend, daughter,etc.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a good question and I
mentioned earlier that I'mreally focusing on on my mental
health and all and all of thatin the last and my pace of
things in the last 18 months,because it's not something I've
had a good perspective on thewhole time.
(21:40):
Before COVID, we were on thisreally great trajectory where we
were growing fast and then,with COVID, everything stopped
because everything that we do isin person.
So women will host, gettogether with their friends
where we come and we share aboutthe jewelry, share about the
artisans, and we really did thatintentionally because we want
(22:01):
this to be out in community andwe want to be having fair trade
warriors all over the placesharing about about this and so
women can start to think aboutbecause women make the most of
them.
The purchasing decisions startto think about.
Oh, I see fair trade bananasand they're 19 more cents a
pound than these non fair trade,but I learned about that at
(22:22):
that Threads Gathering.
I'm going to buy the fair tradebananas, like we want that kind
of conversation ripplehappening.
And in 2020, it all shut down.
I mean it just, you know, shutdown, and those probably two
years, two and a half years, Imean, I just was sweating
through my clothes on a dailybasis Like, yes, we're social
(22:43):
impact and, just like youmentioned, we need profit, we
need to be able to make money tobe able to pay for all the
things that we have, and and soit was very, very nerve wracking
time and I was working to thepoint where I was.
I would only go to sleep almostwhen I got that like I don't
know if you get this, but when Iget really tired, I get
nauseated a little bit.
That's when I would go to sleepevery night and I would lay
(23:06):
down to bed just swirling for awhile and finally fall asleep
and it just was not healthy.
And I remember it was July.
It was July, not 2020, so July2022.
And we're, I was outside of ouroffice talking with my, my
bestie business partner and Ijust I just remember looking at
her and saying I can't do thisanymore.
I just can't.
(23:27):
I.
My kids were even younger.
My son was like probably two,two and a half, and I just I was
realizing that I was missingthe most fun, squishy moments of
their life, where they want tobe around me all the time.
And I was missing that and andI was trying to squeeze them
into my work life versus theother way.
(23:51):
I really they're they're mynumber one and two, number ones,
I should say, and my husbandnumber one, number two, and then
then the workers after that.
But that's not how I wasprioritizing my time, and so I
just had to stop and make, startmaking promises to people,
specifically my husband, aboutI'm going to go to sleep earlier
(24:13):
.
You know, for me I'm sort of anight also like 1030 is still
earlier.
I am not staying up this lateanymore.
I am working only these hoursand just start making promises
and and sharing with people whatI'm committed to.
And you know, you know, whenyou speak things out loud, they
start to to happen.
And so I started doing thatover and over and over and just
prioritizing that.
And now, from time to time, likewe just had our annual
(24:35):
conference and I told my husbandI'm going to be up every night
this week.
It's just, it's just what I'mgoing to do, and that's okay
from time to time, but it's notthe norm.
And and I really I think it waslike just making that
declaration of of, of bringingmy priorities back into
alignment.
That shifted my wholeexperience at our business and
(24:57):
we've been growing.
Like me, burning the midnightoil and being nauseatingly tired
turns out didn't Do anythingmore than what we're doing right
now.
I just get to prioritize mytime in a better way.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
I Love that you said that, because I think sometimes
If we're not stressing aboutsomething, we feel like we're
not moving the needle, butactually what we need to do is
step back and relax and rest andactually To be able to move
forward even faster.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Do you know, just maybe think of this like I used
to be scared of flying andsometimes, when I'm not scared,
I think it's like a superstition, like oh no, the plane's gonna
go down, like as if my worry iswhat's keeping it up in the air.
It's that illogical to compareto what you just said.
Yeah, if I'm not stressingabout this company, then it
(25:47):
won't be growing, and that's nottrue, and that's something else
I'm really Working on and Iwould give myself like a C-minus
on, you know, like how do I getinto this ease and flow?
But at least it's like on myradar to really really Focus on
in 2024.
This is my year, jimmy, tobecome a woman that I've always
wanted to be.
Like this is it?
Speaker 1 (26:08):
I'm declaring it now and you will, you will.
Something that you mentionedthat I wanted to ask you about
is you said that you startedmaking promises to your husband
about, you know, taking bettercare of yourself and getting
your rest, and something thatyou're very passionate about
talking about is the notion ofPromises promises versus
boundaries and I kind of want toget into that a little bit.
(26:30):
What do you mean by peopleshould start making more
promises and not just focus onboundaries?
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Yeah, I, I think.
So boundaries and I haven'ttalked about it a lot, so I'm
gonna stumble a little bit here,but but you know, with
boundaries I think that that's abig term right now is, you know
, set your boundaries and keepyour boundaries, and it's
important and and and I, justwhen I think about boundaries is
sort of like it is meant tokeep people out, right, and so
(26:58):
like, like, keep something atbay.
And so I think, when you say aboundary, it's like this is me
and you should not step overthat boundary, or otherwise, x,
y, z, whatever there's some kindof almost consequence.
And when I think about apromise, it's like we're in this
together, like I'm saying,jimmy, I, I promise that this is
(27:22):
how I'm gonna show up in ourrelationship.
Or Even like a request, likeJimmy, I'm gonna show up this
way and I request that you Showup this way in our relationship.
So now it's like we'reco-creating it and you actually
have a say in accepting myrequest or Not, whereas the
(27:43):
other way, the only way that wecan have a relationship in a
boundary, is you crossing it ornot crossing it.
But I don't know what do youthink about that?
Speaker 1 (27:51):
I actually really like that notion because
Boundaries seem so daunting forthe person enforcing it and the
person receiving it, becauseit's like, oh my god, this is,
this is a hard line here and youknow I can't cross it it.
It adds some sort of tension toit, not always, but a lot of
times.
I think that's what comes withboundaries.
(28:14):
But I like what you're sayingabout the promise thing, because
it seems like you saidco-creating, both people kind of
have like have a say in somesense to do better and there's
room to kind of adjust it.
There's also room to adjustboundaries, but it feels less do
or die and there's somethingabout upholding a promise.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Yeah and yeah, and you're like accepting the
promise or accepting the requestor whatever, and then if you
don't do it, like you have a sayin it as well, versus like you
cross my boundary.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Yes, I like that, I think.
Yeah, I do like that.
It seems a little bit morecollaborative.
And if someone cannot, if youpromise someone something and
they cannot uphold their end ofwhatever promise they need to
make back to you, then that'sfor the person or Both parties
(29:12):
to decide whether or not theycan tolerate that.
But I do like what you'resaying about the promise thing.
I it's a new way of thinkingabout boundaries are looking at
it from a different angle.
I really like that.
You didn't stumble at all.
Something else I wanted to askyou to is this whole idea about
comparison.
You obviously working as anentrepreneur I'm sure this
(29:37):
happens to a lot of people.
We tend to kind of look at whatother people are doing and how
fast other people are growing.
So have you ever struggled withcomparing yourself to other
people and why do you thinkcomparison is more of?
Why do you think it's importantfor people to use comparison to
kind of Be better rather thanuse it to kind of feel bad about
(30:00):
themselves?
Speaker 2 (30:01):
themselves down.
Yeah, so you've really done yourresearch.
So, with the with that, I I dida talk on using comparison as a
guide to joy, as opposed to thethief of joy, and I was just
noticing I was talking with oneof my friends and I was noticing
that when I was jealous ofsomebody, or when I was
(30:24):
comparing myself in a way thatmade me feel bad, it was when I
really, like, looked back andlike, like could break it down.
I I saw that I was only doingthat with people that I admired
something about, and and it wasin a way that I thought that I
could or should be that way.
So, as compared to, for example, if I was talking to an ultra
(30:48):
marathoner or, you know, operasinger, I would only be, you
know, amazed at them.
I would only be enthralled atwhat they were doing, and with
curiosity, no comparison,because I don't, I don't have
the voice for an opera singer, Ihave no desire to be ultra
marathoner, there's nothing tocompare there.
And so then, when I looked atthe people that I was comparing
(31:12):
myself to, it was because Ithought, oh, I could be that way
, I should be that way.
Now, I know should not a wordthat we want to use and all that
.
But when I looked at I was like, oh, it's because I think that
I possibly could.
So what could I do thatactually has me take a step more
towards what they have or whothey are, who they be in the
(31:32):
world or situation that would.
That would actually feed andhave me expand myself in that
way.
And just recently, like as inSunday so this is hot off the
presses in terms of mybreakthroughs I was in this at
our conference.
We had this woman come in andspeak about quantum jumping.
(31:55):
Jimmy, she's somebody that youshould interview.
Her names Ali Duncan.
Oh my gosh, she's amazing.
I can introduce you, but sheWas did this meditation with us
and one of the things that shewas talking about is going
towards joy and going towardsgratitude in life and pleasure
in life.
And I was thinking about all ofa sudden in this meditation.
My two besties, who I startedthis company with, are Some of
(32:17):
the funniest people you've evermet, so fun, so funny.
Just met those magneticpersonalities and Sometimes,
when I was around them, I wouldfeel not that like, oh, I'm the
boring one, oh, I'm the lame,right, something like that, and
then I didn't want to feel thatway because of my besties and
okay.
So you can see the whole spiraland I got in this meditation oh
(32:40):
, being around people like thatand they're not the only ones in
my life, but like being aroundpeople like that it's, it's me
going towards pleasure, goingtowards joy.
The fact that I have attractedthose kind of people in my life
is actually a testament to meand that I'm doing what brings
me joy and pleasure in life bysurrounding myself.
(33:03):
So that was just another slicethat I got as of Sunday on
looking at comparison and how,how to actually not have it beat
us down because we're going tohave it, trying to avoid
Comparing ourselves.
And you know, you're good, yeah, everybody run your own race
and it's the thief of joy.
Well, good, yeah, how much hasthat done for us?
(33:25):
Not a lot.
So how can we actually sort ofleverage comparison to focus us
on what's really most importantto us?
Speaker 1 (33:31):
I Love everything that you just said and as you
were talking actually I thinkyou said the word expand, and
there's this woman that Ilistened to.
Her name is Lacey Phillips, Ibelieve.
She has a podcast calledexpanded.
She's like a manifestationexpert and one of her Lessons or
tips when it comes tomanifestation Is that whenever
(33:54):
you see someone doing somethingthat you want to be able to do
or you like the way they'redoing it, they're your expanders
.
They're basically showing youthat whatever you want is
possible.
And I was like, oh my god,that's so true.
I've I've always kind of hadthat in my mind is like you know
, whenever I see someone who hasthe number one podcast in a
(34:16):
specific space that you knowlooks like me and you know All
of that stuff, I'm like, oh okay, I can do this.
They're, they're my expander.
They're showing me that thisreality is possible.
And, like you said to with yourbesties in your life, with how
Amazing they are, is really atestament to you, because your
energy had to match their energy, and if you're saying that they
(34:39):
are these wonderful people, itonly means that you're just as
wonderful as they are.
So I love everything that youjust said there.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Yeah, yeah, yes, I mean again our expanders.
I love that they they'reshowing us that, that we can,
that that's possible, we can dothat.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
I love that, yeah, okay, so I have to ask, because
I had a conversation with a guyrecently I'm forgetting his name
, brett Mac magpiong, and he isa coach that specializes in
purpose right, and he sayspurpose can be defined with
three Ps passion, priorities andprinciples.
(35:19):
Do you feel like, with the Redsworldwide right now, you are
working in your purpose?
Speaker 2 (35:25):
So passion, principles and priorities, yes.
If I define it by that, I wouldsay yes, except for.
I'm really looking Except for,like what I talked about with my
kids.
My kids are my priorities andthey're not in the business yet,
but I am thinking about ways.
(35:46):
My daughter's seven and so I'mthinking about where my sons
four and a half, but but mydaughter, I'm thinking about
ways to incorporate more kidsinto what we're doing and and I
think when that happens, likethe sees will part and I will
ascend, it will be like the, theperfect company when all of
(36:06):
that comes together.
And Except for that, I wouldsay yes.
I mean I get to work in acommunity of women who are
big-hearted, you know,mission-driven, up to something,
women and willing to Growthemselves.
This last weekend we were atour conference and it was all
(36:26):
about just stretching ourselvesand growing ourselves and
getting out of that comfort zone, and that's who I get to spend
my time with.
And you know we've had multipleopportunities to shift the
business model.
Direct sales doesn't alwayshave the best reputation, you
know.
So not often, but sometimespeople say isn't that a pyramid
(36:48):
scheme?
It's like no, pyramid schemesare illegal and this is the best
way to have women Involved andreally to have everyone paid
Based on their talents, you know, not based on where did they
interview?
Well, or or whatever, you know,I don't know certain, certain
person has to leave the companyfirst.
It really is the best way forwomen to be able to be in
(37:11):
community.
And so We've had so manydifferent times to change the
model and I just keep comingback to it and thinking I do not
want to do this on my own.
If this model goes away, Ithink we'll just we would shut
down threads because that is themodel.
Like, yes, it is about the womenthat we work with, but it's so
much, so much of it and so muchmore shifting towards what women
(37:34):
here in the US get.
You know, women need a littlebit extra money.
Women are we're chronicallyfeeling disconnected, like we
talked about earlier.
I just read the study 85% ofwomen or no, sorry if people 85%
of Americans say that they areGenerally satisfied with life,
which at first I thought, well,that's a lot more than I thought
(37:57):
, like that's high.
But then, when I thought aboutgenerally satisfied, that's like
saying fine, that's like how'swork fine, how's your marriage
fine, harry, kids fine.
Like how's life?
It's fine, when only 20% saidthat they're passionate about
work, and I want to change thatnumber.
I want to find, I want to be aplace where women can come in
(38:20):
any way that they want, to plugin and be led by their passions.
Instead of this trajectory,this life of fine.
And so, yes, I would say thatit has all of it has my
principles, it has my, mypassion and 90% of my priorities
.
Speaker 1 (38:39):
I Mean 90% is huge.
So, yeah, I'm happy that you'reworking in your purpose and you
know purpose looks different,different stages in life and we
can have multiple purposesrunning at the same time.
But I was just I what.
It's nice to know that you'repassionate about the work that
you're doing and you're makingchange with it.
So in the ten years that you'vebeen doing this business, what
(39:03):
Things have you learned aboutyourself?
So, for example, in podcastingnow for the last two, three
years, I've learned that I'mable to be consistent in
something that I really enjoydoing.
If you had asked me that priorto podcasting, I probably would
have been a lot harder on myselfand thought, oh, I don't, you
know, stick with something, butI've learned that I can stick
(39:26):
with something.
Um, I learned that I loveconnecting with people and
having profound conversations.
So in the ten years of youdoing this work, what are some
things that you learned aboutyourself that you didn't know
before?
Speaker 2 (39:39):
Well, can I ask you a question back first is how has
that trickled into other areasof your life, like the being
consistent?
That's such an incredible Thingto be.
First of all, that's I mean,there's some quote I think is
maybe Woody Allen, at 80% oflife, is showing up.
Okay, so that's huge.
But then it's also like whereto know yourself as somebody
(40:01):
who's consistent.
How is that affected otherareas of your life?
Speaker 1 (40:05):
Wow, that's an amazing question.
So it's affected my self-esteem.
I have Grown so much in thatself-esteem space, in that
self-love space, because I'veshown myself that I can show up
and Honor the things that I'mpassionate about.
It's also trickled into healthand wellness.
(40:27):
So Making a promise to myselfand staying consistent with
working out and trying to eatbetter All of that it's just
been a snowball effect in thatas well being consistent and
showing up in my Friendships, inmy family relationships,
keeping my word Right.
When I say I'm gonna dosomething, I'm going to do it.
(40:48):
So it's really affected myrelationships in a positive way
and my relationship to self hasDramatically increased.
So that's such a beautifulquestion because I had never
thought about it until you justsaid that just now.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
Yes, and now you can claim that for yourself like
that's who you are.
Yeah, from podcasting.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Yeah, it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
It's amazing.
Yeah, it's really cool.
Yes, yes, yes, I love that, Ilove it.
I love it.
So, so for me, I would say Ithink I've been tested with my
(41:30):
perseverance and my ability tofocus.
I do not always, and I do knowthat I can focus and get things
done.
I've also learned that I reallyI've learned that I love being
(41:53):
around people.
I don't know if I wouldn't havesaid that before, but just more
and more making that choice andbeing so lit up when people win
themselves that again, I thinkthat this model is the perfect
match for my personality of whatI don't.
I don't.
(42:13):
I don't love being in thelimelight, and I love being in
the limelight if it's meshouting somebody else out,
cheering somebody else on, whichis more comfortable, and so one
of the roles that I say that Iplay is I fan people's flames
around me Like I want otherpeople around me to do well, and
I've, I've, consistently seenmyself do that sort of
(42:36):
organically and again, I don'tknow that I thought I would have
said that before.
It's, it's fun when you can seeand claim that I had a coach
who said this, like when you canclaim something for yourself,
then that's that's who youbecome and that and that's who
you start showing up asconsistently in other places,
like you talked about, and so,claiming that for myself, even
publicly here with you, it sortof makes it more and more true.
(42:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:01):
Yeah, I love that.
I think they're not a lot ofpeople who, well, I don't want
to be dramatic, but I you don'trun into a lot of people who
don't want the spotlight forthemselves necessarily and want
to champion other people justbecause of the society we live
in.
You know, I think we don't feellike we're successful, we don't
(43:23):
feel like we're doing the rightthing or reaching a certain
level on this.
We're in front of the limelightbut I love that you have found
that you really like upliftingpeople and you know making and
highlighting other people'slight.
I think that's a profound andamazing quality to have as a
(43:44):
person.
Speaker 2 (43:45):
Yeah, and on, truthfully, like you just said,
I think it's probably alsocompensating for something of
you know I don't know what theterm is imposter syndrome or
like not good.
It's like compensating in someway.
I think I'm like don't look atme, I'm not great, but look over
, there they're.
You know, they're great.
Speaker 1 (44:02):
That's an interesting perspective.
So do you still struggle withimposter syndrome?
Speaker 2 (44:08):
Yeah, I mean, I think you know I just in my life I've
been put in various leadershippositions like one I can think
about in volleyball.
I was asked to be the teamcaptain on one of these teams
and I just remember being like Iam full of it.
I'm going to go into the huddleand ask people to do a certain
cheer or pump people up, likewho am I to do that?
(44:29):
And I think that that's notsomething, that it's not
something I've fully quieted yet, and so it's something, yeah,
that I work on.
Of like what we have here isamazing.
The community we have here isamazing.
People want to participate inthis like go cheer it on.
This is one of the reasons Ifeel awful at social media,
which is a big thing I'm takingon in 2024.
(44:51):
Of like I need to start gettingout there and sharing about
what it is that we're doing, andit's just not, it's not natural
Like I want to share againother people's posts or about my
kids, but nothing about likelook over here.
Speaker 1 (45:05):
Yeah, you know, I'm the same way.
Funny enough, which is ironicbecause I have a podcast.
Yeah, but I struggle withsocial media as well and
whenever I have to like postmyself, I'm like cringe in the
sense of like.
I don't want people thinking,oh, here she comes again, or who
does she think she is.
(45:26):
It's a lot of negative thoughtsthat are not true.
We're meant to take up spaceand I think a lot of women
actually struggle with taking upspace.
So I'm with you.
This is our year to take upspace, Angela.
Speaker 2 (45:38):
Okay, all right.
All right, we have to follow itall.
Speaker 1 (45:41):
Yeah, exactly, we have to keep each other
accountable.
This has been such a greatconversation with you.
I enjoyed it so much.
I always like to ask my guestsfor final words of wisdom.
It could be about what we'vebeen talking about or something
completely different that youkeep in your back pocket as you
go through life.
Speaker 2 (46:01):
Yeah, I think, just to go back what we said, you
know, looking where you can makepromises and make requests of
people where they have a chanceto participate.
Even when you were talkingabout your health and well and
wellness and I don't know if yousaid something about what you
were eating or if I just broughtthat into my mind of like, what
kind of requests and promisescan we make of ourselves around
(46:21):
what we eat and we don't eat,and when we work out and when we
don't work out, and things likethat.
I just think that's such apowerful structure.
So that's one thing I just wantto reflect on.
And then, when I was thinkingabout a quote, there's three
quotes I love.
One is by Tom Petty and itdoesn't apply anymore because
he's now gone, but he said I'mglad I'm getting older because
(46:43):
at least I'm not dead, and sowhenever I think about getting
older I'm like, well, that'strue, at least let's age that
way.
That's one.
The second one is in a song bythe Eagles and it says you can
see the stars but still not seethe light.
And I don't know.
There's something about it thatfor me it's like you can start
to see what's coming but youreally have no idea.
(47:04):
And just be open into thatcuriosity and expansiveness of
what's possible.
And then my final one is if youwant to go fast, go alone, and
if you want to go far, gotogether.
And that's an African proverbwhich is just so perfect for the
work that we're doing about howdo we bring more people into
what we're trying to do and howwe're trying to spread light
(47:28):
around the world.
Speaker 1 (47:31):
I love all of those quotes.
I'm a quote junkie, I'm alwayscollecting quotes, so those are
all so good.
Where can people find you ifthey want to shop thread
worldwide and if you're alsocomfortable?
One thing I wanted to touch onbut forgot to I don't think I
asked you what countries do yousource your products from?
Yep?
Speaker 2 (47:50):
So I have to do it by continent.
So we're in Ecuador, Bolivia,Guatemala, Uganda, Ethiopia,
Vietnam, Indonesia and India.
Speaker 1 (48:00):
Awesome Yep.
Speaker 2 (48:02):
And people can shop from us at threadsworldwidecom.
That's our Instagram, that'sour Facebook, and then I'm on
Instagram atangelathreadsworldwide.
So pretty easy to find and Ipromise to start posting more
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (48:18):
I'm going to link all of that in the show notes.
Thank you again for stopping bya word to the wise.
Thank you so much, jimmy, itwas fun.
Speaker 2 (48:25):
Thank you so much, jimmy, it was fun.
Speaker 1 (48:28):
A big shout out to Angela Melphie for stopping by
the show.
Now, if you're interested inshopping at threadsworldwidecom,
make sure that you use thediscount code word to the wise
for 20% off through May 31st.
For more details, please checkout the show notes you can
follow, or to the Wise onInstagram and TikTok.
(48:49):
At a word to the wise pod.
We're also on YouTube.
At a word to the wise podcast.
Please be sure to subscribe Ifyou are enjoying the show.
Please rate, leave a review,share and subscribe wherever you
listen to podcasts.
Till next time, peace and love,always, always, always.
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