August 27, 2024 • 40 mins
In this episode, I chat with Brittany Winfield, a millennial social media manager and solopreneur hailing from the wilds of Vermont. Brittany gives us the lowdown on her journey from dabbling in social media as a teen to running the show at Winfield Creative Agency.
What really makes Brittany stand out, besides her knack for hashtags, is her love for comedy and performance. When she's not managing social media, she's mixing up drinks as a bartender and strutting her stuff with the comedic burlesque troupe "Tits ‘n’ Bits." Brittany talks about the exhilarating experience of performing on stage, where she uses humor to connect with the audience and embrace her body. This unique gig has boosted her confidence and sharpened her skills as a public speaker, which she brings to her social media workshops and keynotes.
During our conversation, Brittany and I discussed the importance of keeping it real in today’s digital world. She discusses using tools like speak-to-text to capture her authentic voice rather than striving for picture-perfect posts. We both agree that letting go of perfection and adding a dash of playfulness to social media can help entrepreneurs stand out and truly connect with their audience.
About Brittany:
Meet Brittany Winfield, social media manager and mentor, and owner of The Winfield Creative, a Vermont-based digital marketing agency. When she's not building her women and community-focused business, Brittany enjoys making people laugh while taking her clothes off as a performer at the Vermont Comedy Club.
Interested in possibly being a guest on the show? Click the link to get started!
https://forms.gle/V1yGLH9W9Ck2m4TP7
Let's Connect!
Web
Instagram
Facebook
TikTok
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kristen Daukas (00:00):
Kristen, welcome to Conversations on the rocks,
(00:06):
the podcast where the drink isstrong and the stories are
stronger. I'm your host, Kristendaukas, and this isn't your
average chat fest. Here, realpeople spill the tea alongside
their favorite drinks, from thehilarious to the heart
wrenching, each episode a wildcard, you'll laugh, you may cry,
but you'll definitely learnsomething new. So grab whatever,
(00:26):
what's your whistle and buckleup. It's time to dive into the
raw, the real and theridiculously human. Let's get
this chat party started. Heyeverybody, it's Kristen daukas,
and you are listening to thisweek's episode of conversations
on the rocks, the conversationand podcast that is as random as
(00:48):
the thoughts that ramble throughmy head and Friends, let me tell
you today, they are rambling. Ijust got back from a trip I'm
running on just a handful ofhours of sleep. I had to go from
West Coast to East Coast, andthat's a rough thing. So and if
you're watching this on YouTube,you can see that I am in my not
in my normal glamorous Hollywoodself. I am down and dirty. I
(01:10):
look like farmer Jane, but weare not gonna let that stop the
fun I have with me. One MissBrittany Winfield, and here's
something cool. Brittany and Inever met before she came. She
was introduced. We wereintroduced through a mutual
friend of ours. So I'm gonna letyou introduce yourself to
everybody, Brittany, and then weare going to talk about some fun
(01:32):
stuff. Heck
Unknown (01:32):
yeah, I love it. And thanks so much Kristen for
having me on podcast on therocks. I've got my rocks glass
full of H, 2o here. Ready tohydrate. Got
Kristen Daukas (01:41):
mine here too?
Yeah,
Unknown (01:43):
I love it. Yeah. So my name is Brittany Winfield. I am
a social media manager with theWinfield creative I'm a solo
entrepreneur based out of mytown, home in South Burlington,
Vermont. And yeah, I do a lotmore than just social media,
though, which I think we'regonna talk about some of those
things on this episode. We are,but we're
Kristen Daukas (02:03):
gonna, we're gonna talk a little social
media. We're gonna talk a littleworky work first, because we do
basically the same thing. Howlong have you been working in
social media and how long haveyou been a solopreneur?
Unknown (02:16):
Yeah, so solopreneur. I filed my LLC july 2021 I
actually come from the MentalHealth admin background, working
for a designated agency inVermont for five years
beforehand social media, though,I have always dabbled in it. I
mean, I grew up with, literally,Facebook was launched when I was
(02:38):
in seventh grade, and that waslike the new thing, and we never
went back to that world.
Instagram launched when I was asophomore in high school, so I
literally grew up with socialmedia at the palm of my hands,
at the good years. I still had achildhood, so I still went
outside and was told to come inwhen the street lights went on.
Okay, I know that saying and,yeah, but all throughout
(03:01):
college, I designed webwebsites. Also loved doing that.
It was actually my hobby. As akid, I trained myself how to use
Microsoft Publisher and came upwith, like, fake businesses with
my cousins, where I was, likethe head of marketing. So I've
been a CEO since like age eight.
No big deal. And yeah, it justkind of transformed into working
(03:26):
at a radio station at mycollege. I was the promotions
director, did a lot of socialmedia work with that, so got
some professional experience.
Did worked in the insuranceagency for a hot minute. Me too.
So 30 seconds, so fun. Yeah, Ifor a three month internship,
paid. Thank you, nice and gotthe heck out of there. And it's
a
Kristen Daukas (03:46):
crazy world.
That's a crazy world. So are youmillennial or Gen Z? Yeah,
Unknown (03:51):
I consider myself a millennial. I was born in 94 so
some could argue I'm on theline, but I definitely would
consider myself a youngermillennial. My sister, who is
two and a half years youngerthan me, she is definitely,
like, more of a Gen Z er, likethe language difference is
apparent. So, yeah, I wouldconsider myself a millennial.
Kristen Daukas (04:14):
So I am working on, and because of this trip,
I'm a week behind. I'm workingon a month long thing of Gen Z,
of Zoomers, right? So mydaughter will be the first one,
and then I have a fantasticyoung lady who will be the next
one, and then, but interestinglyenough, the one that will end up
hitting at the end of the month,she's, she's like, You, she's
(04:36):
your same age. So maybe I needto, like, nestle it and make it
a millennial Zoomer month.
Unknown (04:41):
I'm like, there's this new like in between, like
millennials, and I'm actuallypart of a Facebook group that is
all millennials, and I feel likeit's a nice little line to
cross, like you're just walkingthe line between the two. But I
consider myself lucky and beingpart of the generation that I
had a childhood. Yeah, and itwasn't until I hit those teen
(05:02):
years that social media poppedup. So, you know, I come from
the aim world. That's how Iconnected with friends after
Yeah, but you know, you stillhad to have your parents
coordinate, like Hangouts andstuff like that, over over a
landline phone. So, you know,walking and towing that line, I
feel very privileged to stillhave a childhood that I'm not,
(05:25):
you know, in front of a phonescreen, I put picked up books,
and I still love books because
Kristen Daukas (05:30):
of it. Yeah, it's interesting, because my
oldest was born in 98 so she'sjust a few years younger than
you, and in our conversation, Ipointed out I was like, you
know, you're the only one ofyour three sisters that did not
have, like, we had somethinglater, like, but she was still,
you know, so she, she probablyhit about, I would say, seven
(05:51):
eight. She definitely didn'thave anything by second grade.
But I distinctly remember beforeshe went into the sixth grade,
and that was more for me, goinginto middle school that. So that
was about sixth grade for herfifth, sixth grade for her. But,
man, some of those kids, and Iremember when we were living up
in Pennsylvania at the time,there were kids, some of her
(06:13):
friends, you know, that theywould do a sleepover, mall date,
like a shopping, birthday partytype thing. And I remember being
gobsmacked that one of the kids,who, I guess at that point, she
was six, had a phone. I'm like,wait,
Unknown (06:26):
it's wild in you know, I moved from, I'm from New
Jersey originally. My parentsmoved me my sister, from city to
country of New Jersey, veryrural area, when I was 10, and
on my 10th or 11th birthday,that's when I got my first cell
phone. But back then, they were,like, Nokia flip phones, right?
Weren't iPhones. They weren't,they didn't have all these apps.
(06:50):
They didn't have, like, Snapchatand, yeah, they were this big.
You you would hit the internetbutton and say, oh shit, oh
shit. And like, my parents aregonna kill me. Like, Exit, Exit,
like, that's, that's the realityof, you know, I had a phone, but
only to make sure my parentsknew where I was, because I was
in a brand new geographiclocation, brand new school, all
(07:10):
that. But it wasn't until I wasin high school that the iPhone
came out. And, you know, Ididn't get my first phone
without buttons until college.
It, you know, you still had theNokia flip phones. You still had
the envys and the envy twos andthe chocolate. Oh my gosh, yes,
I miss those so much. I feellike we need to bring those
(07:30):
back. Blackberries can staywhere they were, but we need to
bring back like the Nokia. Ijust want the envys, the teen
nines. I just the sidekick,please. T Mobile, if you're
listening, bring back thesidekick, please.
Kristen Daukas (07:49):
And it was, you know, while I was out in Spokane
with Cassie, we had to, ofcourse, go to Verizon, because
she had to. That's when shechose to upgrade her phone or
something, or his nature. Andthere was a man in there, and
I'll just refer to him as madamswift would be, which he was
definitely a brand or Chad,right? And he's going at these
(08:10):
two people, right? And so, ofcourse, you know, Cassie and I
are on one side of the story. Wesee it. We're like, he's giving
them a hard time, because heapparently, and I'm just putting
some of this together, butapparently they must have gone
somewhere where in Australia,where his kid, his daughter,
(08:30):
ended up. So it must have beenlike this huge charge,
international phone charge, andI looked at cat, and I remember
one time we did a cruise and Igot back to the states and ended
up with like a $2,000 because wetold them, Do not turn your
phones on, right? And of course,what are they gonna do? They're
like, I'll just do it real fast.
Nobody will know. And so, like,have all these data charges. And
I'm like, Dude, you knew. Like,don't give these people a hard
(08:51):
time. But it's so funny, kidswill do that stuff, right? I'm
like, I
Unknown (08:56):
remember the days where we had to pay per text message
that we did, and the amount oftimes that, you know, I didn't
get grounded a lot, but when Idid, it was always because I
went over my phone bill. Ialways I was capped at a certain
amount of messages. I'm like,Mom, I can't help it that you
raised a social child. Youshould be happy that I have
friends. Isn't this what youparented me on?
Kristen Daukas (09:19):
She's just like, come on me your phone.
Unknown (09:21):
Yeah, I'm like, fine.
It's fine. You know, I can waittill tomorrow to see them. It's
fine. And now, you know, wecan't escape it. Now we have
means of technology to like, DoNot Disturb did nobody bother
me. Like, I don't want to besocial. Let me recharge that
battery well,
Kristen Daukas (09:40):
and especially with what you and I do. And, you
know, somebody like, usually mymom will be something like, oh,
did you see such and such onFacebook? I'm like, believe it
or not, I'm not on there. I'mlike, I'm on there for my
clients when I have to be andthen I'm out. And it's just so
funny, just being I mean, I'vebeen doing this for 15 years
now, so I am so tapped out. I.
On it and like, you know, I'llpost Instagram and cross, you
(10:01):
know, I do all the things that Itell my clients not to do, don't
cross post. But it's just, it's,it's so exhausting, and
especially now with all thedifferent things coming at it,
what is your favorite platform?
Right, as a user and as aprofessional,
Unknown (10:18):
Instagram the golden app. To me, I love Instagram. I
love it as a scrapbook of my ownpersonal life and connecting
with people. I love it onprofessional level and
connecting with smallbusinesses. I love Instagram to
consume. It's definitely Tiktok.
I can go down a Tiktok rabbithole like no other person, and
(10:38):
that's how, honestly, I find alot of my information.
Kristen Daukas (10:44):
That's great.
Yeah, it's interesting. Becausewhen you know coming out of the
pandemic, I'm actually kind ofglad somehow my algorithm got
changed, because it saved me somuch money. But, man, let me
tell you something. The Househacks and organization hacks on
Tiktok, me and home goods. Wewere BFFs. I was like, Oh, I
gotta go get that. I have to putmy crackers into a plastic
Unknown (11:09):
like you should see, my egg carton. It's not a carton.
It's like, egg house. It'samazing.
Kristen Daukas (11:16):
And why? Why did they decide on 14? Yeah, stupid.
Why? Why? I mean, like, what
Unknown (11:22):
am I more eggs at $7, a carton, right? I'm
Kristen Daukas (11:25):
like, What's up with that? Y'all So, okay,
beyond social media, let's talka little bit. What does it do
for fun? I know what you do, butI want everybody else to know,
Unknown (11:35):
yes. So what Kristen's getting at is, I am a bartender
slash performer at Vermontcomedy club in downtown
Burlington. Vermont and I am afounding member of tits and
bits, which is the in houseburlesque comedic burlesque
troupe. Yes, that's, you know, alot of thinking went into that
(11:56):
name, believe it or not, andthere was no going back once it
was on the poster to clarify
Kristen Daukas (12:01):
is that tits and bits are tit and bit. Tits
Unknown (12:05):
and bits so and but like the cool way of spelling it
with an N apostrophe, becauseit's comedic. So not only are we
showing our beautiful bodies,but we're being hella funny
while we do it. It's a lot lesspressure. Yeah, I, you know,
people ask me because, you know,I've dabbled in stand up, I've
dabbled in improv, I've dabbledin burlesque, and people are
(12:27):
always like, what's yourfavorite? I bet it's stand up.
Guess what? That's my leastfavorite. Actually, it's too
much pressure, you know, you'reone person on stage, and you're
kind of, like, forced to, youknow, make people laugh. That's
a lot of pressure on somebodywhere comedic burlesque there.
The last show I was in, my bradidn't come off, like, the hook
(12:48):
got stuck on the lace, becauseit was a super lacy bra. And
guess what? I played into it.
And it was even funnier becausethen I got really frustrated,
frustrated about it, and peoplewere like, look at her. She is a
woman who can't even take a braproperly. Like, yeah, of course,
it's funny, and I'm gonna leaninto it, and that's how I get
the laugh. The easiest part isthe taking your top off, believe
(13:08):
it or not. The hardest part isthe bit part of it. So how are
our structure runs? Which is alittle different than other
burlesque performances that youmight have seen is there's a
theme to the show. So forexample, our Valentine's weekend
show is tits and bits presentsmost eligible singles. It's my
favorite one to perform atbecause it's a very generic
(13:30):
theme. You can kind of pick whatyou want, pick a character,
develop a character that is verymuch like your personality.
That's what I choose to dobecause it's easier to act kind
of as an expansion of yourself.
So last year, this year, I did adifferent character. But last
year, I was like, What would andI was single both times. So I
was like, hmm, what is the mostlike, epitome of Brittany being
(13:54):
a single woman at the age ofwhat 28 I was at the time, I was
like, you know, it'd be funny ifI delivered a eulogy, but people
didn't really know who I wasdelivering a eulogy to. And
you'll see where I'm going withthis. So there's a theme. We
have a host who is named titsybits. She plays this like, you
(14:19):
know, the mother hen of all ofher dancers, and she introduces
us. It's my friend Brit Flynn.
Big shout out to Brit. She'shilarious. And, you know,
there's the roster of girls. Sonormally, the funnier ones are
up at the top. You know, theyyou know, we mix them up to make
sure that everybody'sentertained throughout. And it
depends on your music choice andall that stuff. So you come out
as your character, and you givea, you know, one to three minute
(14:41):
monolog to really set the sceneas to who the character is, that
we are, that we are beingintroduced to before the dance.
And then you dance to a song ofyour choosing. So I come out.
This is my first show at. Everlike before this, I did
burlesque as my first everpublic performance before even
(15:04):
trying improv or trying standup. Amazing, first time on
stage. Yeah, to a sold out roomof like 160 people. Wow, yeah,
it was nuts. Um, full black onblack on black, like veil, slip
dress, thigh highs, lace, armgloves, bouquet of roses in my
(15:26):
hand, and I come out, and Ideliver a eulogy to my friend
bunny, who she is, just asmooth, no frills kind of gal,
you know, only the good Thaiyoung I go into all the
euphemisms, and at the end of mymonolog, I pull out from the
middle of the bouquet of rosesmy vibrator from when I was 18
(15:49):
years old that had recentlydied. And that's, in fact, who
Bunny was, but you're my teambunny. Oh, yeah, and I laid her
to rest on stage, and that washer funeral. Rest in peace too
soon. And you know, it's abouthaving a little bit of fun with
the audience, having fun withyourself, and it really should
(16:10):
be an expansion of who you areas a person. And as you know, a
single woman at the time whouses vibrators, spoiler, so, you
know, but that brings us
Kristen Daukas (16:23):
a fine point, you know, I think one of the one
of the biggest issues we haveright now is that not only do
people take themselves to everythe world too seriously, they
take themselves too seriously.
It's like, yeah, I take what Ido for my clients seriously, but
not me. It's like, okay,whatever you know, I'm that type
of person as well. You know,give it. Let's just go make fun
(16:44):
of me. Yeah, let's just exactly,life's too short, man, if you
want to whip your vibrate aroundof a bouquet of roses, do it.
Who
Unknown (16:54):
cares right now? You
Kristen Daukas (16:55):
know what?
You're never and I always saythis to myself and to my girls
and to everybody, I'm like,You're never gonna be as young
or as cute as you are today?
Unknown (17:02):
Heck yes. And you know when I was present, actually
Kristen Daukas (17:06):
look cuter tomorrow, because this,
Unknown (17:10):
you're the exhibit today. When I was presented with
this opportunity, I was like,oh, like, there's no going back.
I signed up to do this, and Ihave no dance experience I had
very limited. The only comedyexperience I had was working at
the Comedy Club as a bartenderslash server. Like, I had no
experience whatsoever and to besurrounded by women that were
(17:34):
like, we've got you. These weremy friends. These are all staff
members of VCC, like, not juststrangers, auditioning for a
troop, like we built this trulyfrom the ground up. All I had to
do was look at them right beforeI went on stage. And oh my gosh,
you would think I would benervous, but this sense of calm
just came over me, and thengoing onto stage, being like,
Okay, I'm the baddest bitch inthis room right now. Like,
(17:56):
literally nobody can touch me,and even if I mess up, it's
comedic burlesque. Who cares?
They don't know what my set is.
Only I know what my set is.
That's exactly right. It's evenfunnier if I if, if something
were to go wrong, and the worstthing you could do is picture
the audience naked, buthonestly, they were just
picturing me naked, so just,let's make it happen,
Kristen Daukas (18:18):
right? Well, yeah, you think about that. I
mean, who was the queen ofphysical comedy, Lucille Ball.
I've got her signed portraitright in front of me, and it was
in a lot of and I I'm so jealousof you. Well, one, I took a
burlesque class right before theworld shut down, right? Nobody
knew it was gonna shut down. Iwas like, and that feeling. I
loved it. It was so great, and Iwas totally down for doing more,
(18:43):
and then covid, but it just andto this day, anytime I hear foxy
lady, I'm like, I know this. Iknow this. I know how to dance
to this. I know the room to get.
But I love improv, and I wish,and that's crazy. I mean, my
town is 250,000 people. Whydon't we have improv here? I
love improv, one of my favoriteshows. And I know, you know it
(19:05):
was whose line that was, yes,without a doubt, one of the
greatest shows of all time. Andyou know The Drew Carey, you
know, all of those guys, theywere just amazing. All amazing.
And I'm like, we need more stufflike that with improv. I mean,
because I I enjoy improv morethan I enjoy enjoy, and I used
to live in Chicago. I lived inChicago when I was around your
(19:27):
age, and, you know, there wassecond city, and there was
always the improv troupe, andthat I used to bartend at one of
the bars that had the secondcity improv. And it was just
unbelievable. I was just, and Ijust, I would love to do that. I
need to look but I know we don'thave anything like that here. I
wish we did. Um, you remind meso much of my friend Suzanne,
because she's, you know, that'sher. That's her jam as well.
Unknown (19:50):
Yeah,
Kristen Daukas (19:51):
okay, I'm sorry I interrupted. Keep going. It's
all good,
Unknown (19:54):
but yeah, literally, that moment I remember, you
know, taking off the bra andjust holding it. Up like Lion
King style with my bra in theaudience. Like that feeling is
better than any drug I've everdone in my life. Like the amount
of rush you get with the youknow, empowerment, the freedom
(20:16):
that is just like here I am. Youknow, this is the body that
higher powers put me in. Like,enjoy. I'm a body for the people
right now, but more so aboutmyself. Like, you know, I don't
want to say it was likevalidation. Like, obviously it's
validation, but like, the energythat you feel from people,
you're like, Oh, the rush, theadrenaline rush. Yes, I sucked
(20:39):
in all that energy, and we stillhad the ending finale dance to
do. I was the second person inthe lineup of maybe, like six or
seven girls. I held that energyafter my individual dance, I got
off stage, and I'm like, Okay,let's fucking go. Like, I'm
ready, and that group dance atthe end was the best I've ever
(21:01):
danced in my life. I was like,okay, the hardest part is over.
I got what I needed, like and weall and you didn't die, and we
didn't die, you didn't die. Wedanced our little asses off. And
you know what? Like, I neverfelt sexier in my life. Like
that was better than any likephysicality I've had with
another person, and I did thatall like, that was me. I made
(21:24):
that happen. And it's just like,such it. It is such a motivator
to get up and do other publicspeaking engagements. Now, as a
business owner, and I was reallyafraid to speak about it after
I'd had that experience, like, Ididn't even talk about it on the
Winfield creative, and I wasactively, like, growing my
(21:46):
platform. I did not talk aboutthe fact I was going to be in a
burlesque show beyond, you know,my personal Facebook page, but I
didn't put it anywhere on theWinfield creative until
afterwards. I'm like, Hey guys,I need to be honest about you.
Honest about how I spent myweekend with you, and the
response that I got from people,I was like, Oh, they're gonna
(22:08):
judge me. They're not gonna lookand see me as a professional.
They're just gonna see me aslike a 20 something year old,
like taking her clothes off out,yeah, for attention and a little
bit of money legally, you know,we do get tips. Okay, I do
deserve something for that. And
Kristen Daukas (22:25):
yes, she does claim them on her IRS, because
30% it's annoying. Government'ssucking on the teats of
everybody. What else is now?
Unknown (22:35):
Hashtag me too. Oh, my God, free the titty please from
taxes as well. I have never seensuch a positive response from
the women community. You know,of course, I had some of the
trolls being like, but like, allthey were like, cis white men,
typical. Of course, we expectedthat, but all the women were
(22:58):
like, wow. I wish I had thecourage to do what you do, like
that was basically the responseoverall that I got. And I was
like, Oh, why don't I talk aboutthis more on the business's
platform? Like, it's not justabout, you know, taking your
clothes off. It is more aboutbeing a woman and showing up as
(23:19):
a woman with an awesome body,who, you know, is funny and is
charismatic and is opening upconversations about vibrators
too, because, like, that's not avery open conversation, as we
said, and putting herself outthere, you know, with her, with
the community of her friends,being on stage with her, and
trying something new like that,again, was my first time really
(23:40):
ever being on stage and dancing.
I'm not a dancer. That's why Isay on tiktoks, I refuse to
dance. I'm not a Tiktokinfluencer in that regard, like
no way. And it was still so sucha good experience that, of
course, when the opportunitycame the next year, I was like,
yes, Sign me up. I'm ready togo. I already have so many ideas
(24:02):
of characters I want to do,which, this past year I went as
my DND character and made that avery sexy Bard with a wand and
grinded on it. Thank you verymuch. Ate a lot of people in
that room very happy. They werevery glad they left, you know,
their homes for that thatevening. Yeah, it's just such a
(24:23):
fun experience, and now it givesme the confidence to go do
keynote speeches at businesses.
Kristen Daukas (24:36):
You know, if you can grin on a wand and, you
know, deal with, you know,malfunctioning wardrobes. What
is a speech in front of a bunchof sales? I mean, it's nothing.
And, you know, I guarantee youthat you get a better rush doing
the tits and bits than you doit. You know, you know,
performing presenting at SocialMedia Examiner, right? Or social
(24:58):
media world, right? It's. Ohyeah. Again. You know what we do
is just so it can be verymundane. And you know that day
to day? Yeah, sure. You wouldthink that, oh, you get to come
up with different stuff. And I'mlike, Oh my God, if I have to
figure out another way to saythe same thing that I've been
(25:19):
saying for the past 10 years,I'm going to poke my eyeballs
out, but, you know, and Ithat's, you know, one of the
reasons why I relaunched mypodcast is I don't have that. I
used to blog all the time. Ilike, I was an influencer before
influencer was an actual word,but they just called them mommy
bloggers, right? And, you know,that used to be my creative
outlet. I used to get a rushfrom that, but I just don't do
(25:41):
it anymore. A lot of it'sbecause I don't, I'm not
actively parenting, but I, youknow, to have a creative outlet
like that for you, it has got tohave such a positive impact on
your business. Oh, yeah, becauseyou get those juices flowing and
all of a sudden you're thinkingof things. And, you know, I'm
not gonna say you'd be afraid.
But, you know, there are timesas social media managers and
(26:02):
strategists that you know we'relooking at a piece of content,
you go, man, I really wish Icould just say how I want to
like, for instance, oh, I had tocreate a post for one of my
clients today that is because ofthe hurricane Debbie, or
tropical storm Debbie, becauseI'm down in North Carolina and,
you know, I just kind of,because I've been on for several
(26:22):
days and away from, I was like,not to be a Debbie Downer, but
guess what? We're gonna be closetomorrow, because of, that's
right. And you just, it givesyou, you're just like, okay,
that's fun. You know, that's thething about what we do, is it's
supposed to be fun. I mean, it'sfreaking social media. It is not
the Washington Post. It's notthe New York Times. It doesn't
(26:45):
have to be a byline. It seems tobe fun and engaging. So, you
know, doing something like thatthat has just got to get those
juices.
Unknown (26:56):
Absolutely pun intended. All the puns intended,
true? Oh, of course. Oh, mygosh. And that's absolutely
true. Like, you know, I do a lotof mentoring, host social media
workshops, education, that's ahuge part of my platform. And I,
if I I've been to so manyworkshops that I'm just like,
(27:18):
I'm about to fall asleep. It'syeah, head banging against the
wall, exactly. And I'm like,this type of comedic experience.
That's why I talk about it. Icombine comedy and mental health
advocacy, which are, you know,my former life and my current
life. Because, yes, my goal isto teach you social media, so
that way you spend less time.
But I don't want to be likeeverybody else on the internet.
(27:41):
There are so much noise onsocial media from quote, unquote
gurus who are just repeating thesame thing over in the same way.
That doesn't make you unique,that doesn't make you fun, and
it's not gonna make what you'reteaching in workshops memorable.
So you know, putting a littlecomedic spin on it, it makes you
more memorable. It's likeremembering your favorite TV
scene, of course, like you'regonna remember a train wreck a
(28:05):
lot more than, yeah, not thatI'm a train wreck. But still,
you know, like, if you throw ina little bit of fun and
creativity, it needs to comefrom somewhere. And also, it's
like free therapy doing comedy,
Kristen Daukas (28:21):
I'm not sure.
Unknown (28:22):
Oh my gosh. I'm like, if I get to, like, go on stage
and be a squirrel one day, sure,like, that's cool. You know, you
get to process, you get to becharacters and take yourself out
of reality a little bit. Andit's a fun break from all the BS
that you go through just in lifeas an entrepreneur. You know,
just life happening.
Kristen Daukas (28:42):
Let's just stop it at life, especially
Unknown (28:45):
exactly with all of like, what we're dealing with in
the world. It's a way to put thephone away, because, like,
you're not going to be on yourphone on stage. You know,
whenever I go on stage, at leasttwo hours before I perform, I
shut my phone down. I go on, donot disturb. I don't check
messages from the outside world.
I need to get my head in thegame. If I'm gonna do that,
guess what? I need to have alittle bit of mental and liquid
(29:07):
courage, but more mental couragethan anything, and put the phone
away. And then it's like you getto release so many emotions when
you're on that stage, whetherthey be good, bad, ugly,
whatever it may be, and then it,it recharges you in a way that
you could step into being anentrepreneur with more
(29:27):
confidence, with morecreativity, with not being I
always say, like, I don't haveshame. That's not true. I do,
obviously have a little bit ofshame, but less now, like, I it
didn't kill you. Yeah, it didn'tkill me. So, like, recording a
32nd reel being a little goofy,that's nothing. Are you kidding
me? Like, yeah, I it just, ithas helped in so many different
(29:51):
ways, and like, to anybody who'sever considered doing comedy, I,
I. It, understand it can be veryscary, find a safe space to do
it, but please try it, becauseit is so much fun and really get
you into this like kid likeplay. You know, we were talking
(30:13):
about not having a childhood orhaving a childhood like that's
an opportunity to bring somechildhood fun back into it and
play around with other adultsjust being weirdos together, no
matter where the scene ends uptaking you. Yeah? So, yeah, it's
Kristen Daukas (30:31):
like when you're with a group of girlfriends,
right? And you know, on a girl'sweekend trip, right? And
nothing's around. There's noinhibitions. You got a couple of
cocktails, and you just getsilly, and it's just such a good
and it does. It's so good foryour soul. Yeah, it is so good.
I mean, this thing has killedour creativity. It has
absolutely and, you know, AII've been using, you know, AI
(30:53):
for two years now, and I loveit, and it helps me find
different ways to say the samething that I've been saying, a
different way to say the samething I've been saying for 10
years. Saying for 10 years. Ilove it for that, but, man, I
can tell you, it has really mylike I've been writing. My
youngest is 21 I had a I've hadmy blog for 21 years. Of course,
(31:14):
it hasn't been very active, likeI mentioned earlier. But still,
man, I used to my storytellingwas amazing. And it's it's not,
it's not anymore, and a lot ofit is because I'm sitting here,
you know, in front of thiswindow so much, so that's one of
the reasons I'm really lookingforward to this trip next month,
(31:35):
because I ain't taking mycomputer and I'm too cheap to
get the data plan, so I'm gonnaget 150 minutes on that boat,
and I think that's for 14 days.
And you know what? And as I'vesaid to people before, in the 15
years that I have been doingsocial media, I can count on two
fingers how many emergenciesthat I've had.
Unknown (31:54):
Mm, hmm, yeah, it's so true. You know, I one of the
strategies I teach people islike how to detach my best
content planning clients, Iteach them how to do it with a
pen and a paper. Yes, ma'am, oldschool, baby, and it's not even
old school. Yeah, exactly. Yourbest ideas will come from taking
(32:16):
a pause, sitting down in a youknow, in a spot with a cocktail,
water, whatever fills you up,and just being one with
yourself, take a hot minute to,you know, do a mindfulness
exercise and get to the deeproots as to why you started your
business, how you can relate toyour target audience. And, you
(32:37):
know, think about what intereststhem, and write those down on a
piece of paper. That's whereyour best content will come
from. An algorithm is not goingto know that. AI is not going to
know that you have to spend somuch more time training the
algorithm of chatgpt to speaklike you instead of you just
speaking like yourself, becausethat's the whole goal of being
(32:57):
genuine and authentic on yoursocial media platforms, is to
sound like yourself. So thatway, you make your brand unique.
You make your platform unique. Arobot can't do that for you. No,
Kristen Daukas (33:08):
no. And I used to, I used that that's so funny
that you say that, becausepeople used to ask me that
question. I'm like, I literallywrite how I talk. Yeah, me too.
Me too. If you read notsomething that I've written in
the past, you could imaginesitting down and having me read
that to you, because that's justbut that's the flow. And you
know, I do. I really miss it. Iremember, I used to go through,
(33:31):
we would do these. I can'tremember the Ackerman now,
acronym now, but it basicallysaid it would, it was a the 30
day challenge of writing everysingle day. And you know it was,
I can remember sometimes sittingthere in the evening, because
that's what I would do. I woulddo a lot of my writing at night
in front of the TV and just go,God, what am I going to write
(33:52):
today? And it was always themost random things that always
did the best. My favorite, myother favorite thing too. And
I've told my clients this islike, use going back to the
phone. Like, my best ideas,obviously, are when we're not so
shower, working around thehouse, and driving right? And
I'm like, use the note app. Isaid, open it up. Use the note
(34:14):
app. I said, matter of fact,start writing it. Just talk into
it. Yeah. I said, and go backand let that. Ai work for you to
listen to what you have to sayand transcribe it exactly.
Unknown (34:26):
My friends have literally made fun of me for
years. Years now, I've gottencrap about this since I had a
phone that can do this, but mybest number one used feature on
my phone. I this is why theyneed to bring back buttons, so
that way I use them. I always dospeak to text to text, people,
(34:47):
audio messages, voice DMS. Theyare my number one like i That's
why I like podcasting, becausethe genuine authenticity of
saying how I say it coming frommy brain out my mouth. Yeah,
that's how I write all of myInstagram captions. Do I go back
and edit them to make sure thecomputer spelled them right?
Yes, obviously, of course. But Ialways speak to text all of my
(35:09):
captions because I want thelikes I like literally, the word
like the literally is the thefiller words that make Britney
sound like Brittany, becausethat's how I speak in real life.
That's why I've relied more onreels and showing up on screen
than I have been doing staticposts, right? One, it's a little
bit more personal. But also, youknow, I'm just talking into a
(35:29):
camera for 30 seconds how Igenuinely would so, you know, I
think we need to bring in alittle bit more personality into
social media, and I'm so gladthat right now, there is, I use
this word lightly, a trend ofimperfection. There is less
emphasis on having superesthetically pleasing grids
right now, and more showing upjust as yourself and I am. So I
(35:54):
really hope this stays, becauseas small business owners, we
don't have all the money andresources in the world to hire
photographers every time youwant to go post on Instagram.
No, you've got to go do ityourself. So, you know, showing
up and having less perfection, Ithink, will, you know, bring
(36:14):
down the stress a little bit theoverwhelm of having to, you
know, have everything be pictureperfect. That's not what social
media is about anyway.
Kristen Daukas (36:24):
It also comes down to the age old adage of
people don't people want to dobusiness with people they like,
right? Yeah. And, you know, Ihad an not an intern, but I had
a VA for a while that washelping me out and on my
business. Because, as marketers,obviously it's the cobbler, the
cobbler shoe thing and buteverything she did was a graphic
(36:45):
everything was, you know, andI'm like, that's just, that's
not who I am. And sat in on mymastermind today, of which I
was, like, worthless. And, youknow, cut, you know, we all
tried to hype each other up. Andso I'm gonna have to go back and
rehyped myself up tomorrow whenI'm filling up for it, that
we're all gonna try and do the32nd you know, more 32nd videos,
(37:07):
right? I can do it. I know Ineed to do it. I've been doing
it for so long, but yet I justgo and I am saying the same
things that some of my clients,you know, you said, I'm like, I
can. There's nothing out therethat I can say that hasn't been
said before. And I always tellthem, You're right, you're not
going to say anything original,however, it's going to come from
you, and that's what makes itoriginal. And I'm sitting here
(37:29):
going, okay, apparently I needto sit myself down and have my
own conversation with myselflike that. So yeah, I love it,
and I love the fact that itjust, you know, makes you a
stronger and better person foryour your clients. Yes, that's
the word. We're looking forclients, but even more so for
(37:49):
you, and it's just that's soawesome. It's such a well
rounded thing. And you know, mygirls tease me because, you
know, I'm kind of typical Gen X,or I'm like, Look, dude, we were
feral. We're latchkey kids, andyou know, they would come,
they'll come to me sometimes,and you'd be like, and I'm like,
Did you die? Okay, you're gonnabe fine. Are you gonna remember
this in a week? Okay, you'regonna be fine. You know, I have
(38:11):
to do some of the, you know,striking and mothering, but I'm
like, but did you die? Yeah,
Unknown (38:17):
no, you didn't. You're still here, and you've survived
a lot worse, that's right, andyou're a better person because
of
Kristen Daukas (38:23):
it, exactly.
That's my other favorite. Like,so far, you've survived 100% of
your worst days of your life, soyou're doing pretty good. I have
had so much fun talking to you.
Any fun closing comments beforewe sign off for the week?
Unknown (38:39):
Fun? You know, make sure check out the Winfield
creative on social. Absolutelynot all the links in the show
notes beautiful. See some trendsI really want to plug on my
email list. Every single Monday,I actually send out what I call
viral vibes. So I do theresearch for you of all the
viral trends of the week, and Isend you an entire week's worth
(39:01):
of real audios that are, infact, trending in that moment.
So if that's of interest to you,I will also make sure you have
the link, so that way you canget that in your inbox every
Monday morning.
Kristen Daukas (39:12):
I'm gonna have to do that, because I think I
need some of Brittany's energy.
I try. So all right, all right.
So that's, that's the snappingenergy that we do at the at the
poet reads, Okay, everybody, itis time to say goodbye, and as
you hear my closing, you don'thave to go home, but you can't
stay here again. BrittanyWinfield, thank you so much for
(39:35):
being here. I appreciate it, andI can't I'm so glad we're gonna
be besties. I have a feeling. Sowe're gonna be around forever.
So Okay, everybody, take care ofyourselves, be kind to others,
and until next time see youlater. As the saying goes, you
don't have to go home, but youcan stay here, and that's a wrap
for this week's episode. A bigthanks to my guests for sharing
(39:56):
their story and to you forlistening. Don't forget to share
the show. Your friends andspread the words and if you'd
like to be a guest on the show,the link is in the show notes
till next time cheers you.
Kristen, welcome to Conversations on the rocks,
(00:06):
the podcast where the drink isstrong and the stories are
stronger. I'm your host, Kristendaukas, and this isn't your
average chat fest. Here, realpeople spill the tea alongside
their favorite drinks, from thehilarious to the heart
wrenching, each episode a wildcard, you'll laugh, you may cry,
but you'll definitely learnsomething new. So grab whatever,
(00:26):
what's your whistle and buckleup. It's time to dive into the
raw, the real and theridiculously human. Let's get
this chat party started. Heyeverybody, it's Kristen daukas,
and you are listening to thisweek's episode of conversations
on the rocks, the conversationand podcast that is as random as
(00:48):
the thoughts that ramble throughmy head and Friends, let me tell
you today, they are rambling. Ijust got back from a trip I'm
running on just a handful ofhours of sleep. I had to go from
West Coast to East Coast, andthat's a rough thing. So and if
you're watching this on YouTube,you can see that I am in my not
in my normal glamorous Hollywoodself. I am down and dirty. I
(01:10):
look like farmer Jane, but weare not gonna let that stop the
fun I have with me. One MissBrittany Winfield, and here's
something cool. Brittany and Inever met before she came. She
was introduced. We wereintroduced through a mutual
friend of ours. So I'm gonna letyou introduce yourself to
everybody, Brittany, and then weare going to talk about some fun
(01:32):
stuff. Heck
Unknown (01:32):
yeah, I love it. And thanks so much Kristen for
having me on podcast on therocks. I've got my rocks glass
full of H, 2o here. Ready tohydrate. Got
Kristen Daukas (01:41):
mine here too?
Yeah,
Unknown (01:43):
I love it. Yeah. So my name is Brittany Winfield. I am
a social media manager with theWinfield creative I'm a solo
entrepreneur based out of mytown, home in South Burlington,
Vermont. And yeah, I do a lotmore than just social media,
though, which I think we'regonna talk about some of those
things on this episode. We are,but we're
Kristen Daukas (02:03):
gonna, we're gonna talk a little social
media. We're gonna talk a littleworky work first, because we do
basically the same thing. Howlong have you been working in
social media and how long haveyou been a solopreneur?
Unknown (02:16):
Yeah, so solopreneur. I filed my LLC july 2021 I
actually come from the MentalHealth admin background, working
for a designated agency inVermont for five years
beforehand social media, though,I have always dabbled in it. I
mean, I grew up with, literally,Facebook was launched when I was
(02:38):
in seventh grade, and that waslike the new thing, and we never
went back to that world.
Instagram launched when I was asophomore in high school, so I
literally grew up with socialmedia at the palm of my hands,
at the good years. I still had achildhood, so I still went
outside and was told to come inwhen the street lights went on.
Okay, I know that saying and,yeah, but all throughout
(03:01):
college, I designed webwebsites. Also loved doing that.
It was actually my hobby. As akid, I trained myself how to use
Microsoft Publisher and came upwith, like, fake businesses with
my cousins, where I was, likethe head of marketing. So I've
been a CEO since like age eight.
No big deal. And yeah, it justkind of transformed into working
(03:26):
at a radio station at mycollege. I was the promotions
director, did a lot of socialmedia work with that, so got
some professional experience.
Did worked in the insuranceagency for a hot minute. Me too.
So 30 seconds, so fun. Yeah, Ifor a three month internship,
paid. Thank you, nice and gotthe heck out of there. And it's
a
Kristen Daukas (03:46):
crazy world.
That's a crazy world. So are youmillennial or Gen Z? Yeah,
Unknown (03:51):
I consider myself a millennial. I was born in 94 so
some could argue I'm on theline, but I definitely would
consider myself a youngermillennial. My sister, who is
two and a half years youngerthan me, she is definitely,
like, more of a Gen Z er, likethe language difference is
apparent. So, yeah, I wouldconsider myself a millennial.
Kristen Daukas (04:14):
So I am working on, and because of this trip,
I'm a week behind. I'm workingon a month long thing of Gen Z,
of Zoomers, right? So mydaughter will be the first one,
and then I have a fantasticyoung lady who will be the next
one, and then, but interestinglyenough, the one that will end up
hitting at the end of the month,she's, she's like, You, she's
(04:36):
your same age. So maybe I needto, like, nestle it and make it
a millennial Zoomer month.
Unknown (04:41):
I'm like, there's this new like in between, like
millennials, and I'm actuallypart of a Facebook group that is
all millennials, and I feel likeit's a nice little line to
cross, like you're just walkingthe line between the two. But I
consider myself lucky and beingpart of the generation that I
had a childhood. Yeah, and itwasn't until I hit those teen
(05:02):
years that social media poppedup. So, you know, I come from
the aim world. That's how Iconnected with friends after
Yeah, but you know, you stillhad to have your parents
coordinate, like Hangouts andstuff like that, over over a
landline phone. So, you know,walking and towing that line, I
feel very privileged to stillhave a childhood that I'm not,
(05:25):
you know, in front of a phonescreen, I put picked up books,
and I still love books because
Kristen Daukas (05:30):
of it. Yeah, it's interesting, because my
oldest was born in 98 so she'sjust a few years younger than
you, and in our conversation, Ipointed out I was like, you
know, you're the only one ofyour three sisters that did not
have, like, we had somethinglater, like, but she was still,
you know, so she, she probablyhit about, I would say, seven
(05:51):
eight. She definitely didn'thave anything by second grade.
But I distinctly remember beforeshe went into the sixth grade,
and that was more for me, goinginto middle school that. So that
was about sixth grade for herfifth, sixth grade for her. But,
man, some of those kids, and Iremember when we were living up
in Pennsylvania at the time,there were kids, some of her
(06:13):
friends, you know, that theywould do a sleepover, mall date,
like a shopping, birthday partytype thing. And I remember being
gobsmacked that one of the kids,who, I guess at that point, she
was six, had a phone. I'm like,wait,
Unknown (06:26):
it's wild in you know, I moved from, I'm from New
Jersey originally. My parentsmoved me my sister, from city to
country of New Jersey, veryrural area, when I was 10, and
on my 10th or 11th birthday,that's when I got my first cell
phone. But back then, they were,like, Nokia flip phones, right?
Weren't iPhones. They weren't,they didn't have all these apps.
(06:50):
They didn't have, like, Snapchatand, yeah, they were this big.
You you would hit the internetbutton and say, oh shit, oh
shit. And like, my parents aregonna kill me. Like, Exit, Exit,
like, that's, that's the realityof, you know, I had a phone, but
only to make sure my parentsknew where I was, because I was
in a brand new geographiclocation, brand new school, all
(07:10):
that. But it wasn't until I wasin high school that the iPhone
came out. And, you know, Ididn't get my first phone
without buttons until college.
It, you know, you still had theNokia flip phones. You still had
the envys and the envy twos andthe chocolate. Oh my gosh, yes,
I miss those so much. I feellike we need to bring those
(07:30):
back. Blackberries can staywhere they were, but we need to
bring back like the Nokia. Ijust want the envys, the teen
nines. I just the sidekick,please. T Mobile, if you're
listening, bring back thesidekick, please.
Kristen Daukas (07:49):
And it was, you know, while I was out in Spokane
with Cassie, we had to, ofcourse, go to Verizon, because
she had to. That's when shechose to upgrade her phone or
something, or his nature. Andthere was a man in there, and
I'll just refer to him as madamswift would be, which he was
definitely a brand or Chad,right? And he's going at these
(08:10):
two people, right? And so, ofcourse, you know, Cassie and I
are on one side of the story. Wesee it. We're like, he's giving
them a hard time, because heapparently, and I'm just putting
some of this together, butapparently they must have gone
somewhere where in Australia,where his kid, his daughter,
(08:30):
ended up. So it must have beenlike this huge charge,
international phone charge, andI looked at cat, and I remember
one time we did a cruise and Igot back to the states and ended
up with like a $2,000 because wetold them, Do not turn your
phones on, right? And of course,what are they gonna do? They're
like, I'll just do it real fast.
Nobody will know. And so, like,have all these data charges. And
I'm like, Dude, you knew. Like,don't give these people a hard
(08:51):
time. But it's so funny, kidswill do that stuff, right? I'm
like, I
Unknown (08:56):
remember the days where we had to pay per text message
that we did, and the amount oftimes that, you know, I didn't
get grounded a lot, but when Idid, it was always because I
went over my phone bill. Ialways I was capped at a certain
amount of messages. I'm like,Mom, I can't help it that you
raised a social child. Youshould be happy that I have
friends. Isn't this what youparented me on?
Kristen Daukas (09:19):
She's just like, come on me your phone.
Unknown (09:21):
Yeah, I'm like, fine.
It's fine. You know, I can waittill tomorrow to see them. It's
fine. And now, you know, wecan't escape it. Now we have
means of technology to like, DoNot Disturb did nobody bother
me. Like, I don't want to besocial. Let me recharge that
battery well,
Kristen Daukas (09:40):
and especially with what you and I do. And, you
know, somebody like, usually mymom will be something like, oh,
did you see such and such onFacebook? I'm like, believe it
or not, I'm not on there. I'mlike, I'm on there for my
clients when I have to be andthen I'm out. And it's just so
funny, just being I mean, I'vebeen doing this for 15 years
now, so I am so tapped out. I.
On it and like, you know, I'llpost Instagram and cross, you
(10:01):
know, I do all the things that Itell my clients not to do, don't
cross post. But it's just, it's,it's so exhausting, and
especially now with all thedifferent things coming at it,
what is your favorite platform?
Right, as a user and as aprofessional,
Unknown (10:18):
Instagram the golden app. To me, I love Instagram. I
love it as a scrapbook of my ownpersonal life and connecting
with people. I love it onprofessional level and
connecting with smallbusinesses. I love Instagram to
consume. It's definitely Tiktok.
I can go down a Tiktok rabbithole like no other person, and
(10:38):
that's how, honestly, I find alot of my information.
Kristen Daukas (10:44):
That's great.
Yeah, it's interesting. Becausewhen you know coming out of the
pandemic, I'm actually kind ofglad somehow my algorithm got
changed, because it saved me somuch money. But, man, let me
tell you something. The Househacks and organization hacks on
Tiktok, me and home goods. Wewere BFFs. I was like, Oh, I
gotta go get that. I have to putmy crackers into a plastic
Unknown (11:09):
like you should see, my egg carton. It's not a carton.
It's like, egg house. It'samazing.
Kristen Daukas (11:16):
And why? Why did they decide on 14? Yeah, stupid.
Why? Why? I mean, like, what
Unknown (11:22):
am I more eggs at $7, a carton, right? I'm
Kristen Daukas (11:25):
like, What's up with that? Y'all So, okay,
beyond social media, let's talka little bit. What does it do
for fun? I know what you do, butI want everybody else to know,
Unknown (11:35):
yes. So what Kristen's getting at is, I am a bartender
slash performer at Vermontcomedy club in downtown
Burlington. Vermont and I am afounding member of tits and
bits, which is the in houseburlesque comedic burlesque
troupe. Yes, that's, you know, alot of thinking went into that
(11:56):
name, believe it or not, andthere was no going back once it
was on the poster to clarify
Kristen Daukas (12:01):
is that tits and bits are tit and bit. Tits
Unknown (12:05):
and bits so and but like the cool way of spelling it
with an N apostrophe, becauseit's comedic. So not only are we
showing our beautiful bodies,but we're being hella funny
while we do it. It's a lot lesspressure. Yeah, I, you know,
people ask me because, you know,I've dabbled in stand up, I've
dabbled in improv, I've dabbledin burlesque, and people are
(12:27):
always like, what's yourfavorite? I bet it's stand up.
Guess what? That's my leastfavorite. Actually, it's too
much pressure, you know, you'reone person on stage, and you're
kind of, like, forced to, youknow, make people laugh. That's
a lot of pressure on somebodywhere comedic burlesque there.
The last show I was in, my bradidn't come off, like, the hook
(12:48):
got stuck on the lace, becauseit was a super lacy bra. And
guess what? I played into it.
And it was even funnier becausethen I got really frustrated,
frustrated about it, and peoplewere like, look at her. She is a
woman who can't even take a braproperly. Like, yeah, of course,
it's funny, and I'm gonna leaninto it, and that's how I get
the laugh. The easiest part isthe taking your top off, believe
(13:08):
it or not. The hardest part isthe bit part of it. So how are
our structure runs? Which is alittle different than other
burlesque performances that youmight have seen is there's a
theme to the show. So forexample, our Valentine's weekend
show is tits and bits presentsmost eligible singles. It's my
favorite one to perform atbecause it's a very generic
(13:30):
theme. You can kind of pick whatyou want, pick a character,
develop a character that is verymuch like your personality.
That's what I choose to dobecause it's easier to act kind
of as an expansion of yourself.
So last year, this year, I did adifferent character. But last
year, I was like, What would andI was single both times. So I
was like, hmm, what is the mostlike, epitome of Brittany being
(13:54):
a single woman at the age ofwhat 28 I was at the time, I was
like, you know, it'd be funny ifI delivered a eulogy, but people
didn't really know who I wasdelivering a eulogy to. And
you'll see where I'm going withthis. So there's a theme. We
have a host who is named titsybits. She plays this like, you
(14:19):
know, the mother hen of all ofher dancers, and she introduces
us. It's my friend Brit Flynn.
Big shout out to Brit. She'shilarious. And, you know,
there's the roster of girls. Sonormally, the funnier ones are
up at the top. You know, theyyou know, we mix them up to make
sure that everybody'sentertained throughout. And it
depends on your music choice andall that stuff. So you come out
as your character, and you givea, you know, one to three minute
(14:41):
monolog to really set the sceneas to who the character is, that
we are, that we are beingintroduced to before the dance.
And then you dance to a song ofyour choosing. So I come out.
This is my first show at. Everlike before this, I did
burlesque as my first everpublic performance before even
(15:04):
trying improv or trying standup. Amazing, first time on
stage. Yeah, to a sold out roomof like 160 people. Wow, yeah,
it was nuts. Um, full black onblack on black, like veil, slip
dress, thigh highs, lace, armgloves, bouquet of roses in my
(15:26):
hand, and I come out, and Ideliver a eulogy to my friend
bunny, who she is, just asmooth, no frills kind of gal,
you know, only the good Thaiyoung I go into all the
euphemisms, and at the end of mymonolog, I pull out from the
middle of the bouquet of rosesmy vibrator from when I was 18
(15:49):
years old that had recentlydied. And that's, in fact, who
Bunny was, but you're my teambunny. Oh, yeah, and I laid her
to rest on stage, and that washer funeral. Rest in peace too
soon. And you know, it's abouthaving a little bit of fun with
the audience, having fun withyourself, and it really should
(16:10):
be an expansion of who you areas a person. And as you know, a
single woman at the time whouses vibrators, spoiler, so, you
know, but that brings us
Kristen Daukas (16:23):
a fine point, you know, I think one of the one
of the biggest issues we haveright now is that not only do
people take themselves to everythe world too seriously, they
take themselves too seriously.
It's like, yeah, I take what Ido for my clients seriously, but
not me. It's like, okay,whatever you know, I'm that type
of person as well. You know,give it. Let's just go make fun
(16:44):
of me. Yeah, let's just exactly,life's too short, man, if you
want to whip your vibrate aroundof a bouquet of roses, do it.
Who
Unknown (16:54):
cares right now? You
Kristen Daukas (16:55):
know what?
You're never and I always saythis to myself and to my girls
and to everybody, I'm like,You're never gonna be as young
or as cute as you are today?
Unknown (17:02):
Heck yes. And you know when I was present, actually
Kristen Daukas (17:06):
look cuter tomorrow, because this,
Unknown (17:10):
you're the exhibit today. When I was presented with
this opportunity, I was like,oh, like, there's no going back.
I signed up to do this, and Ihave no dance experience I had
very limited. The only comedyexperience I had was working at
the Comedy Club as a bartenderslash server. Like, I had no
experience whatsoever and to besurrounded by women that were
(17:34):
like, we've got you. These weremy friends. These are all staff
members of VCC, like, not juststrangers, auditioning for a
troop, like we built this trulyfrom the ground up. All I had to
do was look at them right beforeI went on stage. And oh my gosh,
you would think I would benervous, but this sense of calm
just came over me, and thengoing onto stage, being like,
Okay, I'm the baddest bitch inthis room right now. Like,
(17:56):
literally nobody can touch me,and even if I mess up, it's
comedic burlesque. Who cares?
They don't know what my set is.
Only I know what my set is.
That's exactly right. It's evenfunnier if I if, if something
were to go wrong, and the worstthing you could do is picture
the audience naked, buthonestly, they were just
picturing me naked, so just,let's make it happen,
Kristen Daukas (18:18):
right? Well, yeah, you think about that. I
mean, who was the queen ofphysical comedy, Lucille Ball.
I've got her signed portraitright in front of me, and it was
in a lot of and I I'm so jealousof you. Well, one, I took a
burlesque class right before theworld shut down, right? Nobody
knew it was gonna shut down. Iwas like, and that feeling. I
loved it. It was so great, and Iwas totally down for doing more,
(18:43):
and then covid, but it just andto this day, anytime I hear foxy
lady, I'm like, I know this. Iknow this. I know how to dance
to this. I know the room to get.
But I love improv, and I wish,and that's crazy. I mean, my
town is 250,000 people. Whydon't we have improv here? I
love improv, one of my favoriteshows. And I know, you know it
(19:05):
was whose line that was, yes,without a doubt, one of the
greatest shows of all time. Andyou know The Drew Carey, you
know, all of those guys, theywere just amazing. All amazing.
And I'm like, we need more stufflike that with improv. I mean,
because I I enjoy improv morethan I enjoy enjoy, and I used
to live in Chicago. I lived inChicago when I was around your
(19:27):
age, and, you know, there wassecond city, and there was
always the improv troupe, andthat I used to bartend at one of
the bars that had the secondcity improv. And it was just
unbelievable. I was just, and Ijust, I would love to do that. I
need to look but I know we don'thave anything like that here. I
wish we did. Um, you remind meso much of my friend Suzanne,
because she's, you know, that'sher. That's her jam as well.
Unknown (19:50):
Yeah,
Kristen Daukas (19:51):
okay, I'm sorry I interrupted. Keep going. It's
all good,
Unknown (19:54):
but yeah, literally, that moment I remember, you
know, taking off the bra andjust holding it. Up like Lion
King style with my bra in theaudience. Like that feeling is
better than any drug I've everdone in my life. Like the amount
of rush you get with the youknow, empowerment, the freedom
(20:16):
that is just like here I am. Youknow, this is the body that
higher powers put me in. Like,enjoy. I'm a body for the people
right now, but more so aboutmyself. Like, you know, I don't
want to say it was likevalidation. Like, obviously it's
validation, but like, the energythat you feel from people,
you're like, Oh, the rush, theadrenaline rush. Yes, I sucked
(20:39):
in all that energy, and we stillhad the ending finale dance to
do. I was the second person inthe lineup of maybe, like six or
seven girls. I held that energyafter my individual dance, I got
off stage, and I'm like, Okay,let's fucking go. Like, I'm
ready, and that group dance atthe end was the best I've ever
(21:01):
danced in my life. I was like,okay, the hardest part is over.
I got what I needed, like and weall and you didn't die, and we
didn't die, you didn't die. Wedanced our little asses off. And
you know what? Like, I neverfelt sexier in my life. Like
that was better than any likephysicality I've had with
another person, and I did thatall like, that was me. I made
(21:24):
that happen. And it's just like,such it. It is such a motivator
to get up and do other publicspeaking engagements. Now, as a
business owner, and I was reallyafraid to speak about it after
I'd had that experience, like, Ididn't even talk about it on the
Winfield creative, and I wasactively, like, growing my
(21:46):
platform. I did not talk aboutthe fact I was going to be in a
burlesque show beyond, you know,my personal Facebook page, but I
didn't put it anywhere on theWinfield creative until
afterwards. I'm like, Hey guys,I need to be honest about you.
Honest about how I spent myweekend with you, and the
response that I got from people,I was like, Oh, they're gonna
(22:08):
judge me. They're not gonna lookand see me as a professional.
They're just gonna see me aslike a 20 something year old,
like taking her clothes off out,yeah, for attention and a little
bit of money legally, you know,we do get tips. Okay, I do
deserve something for that. And
Kristen Daukas (22:25):
yes, she does claim them on her IRS, because
30% it's annoying. Government'ssucking on the teats of
everybody. What else is now?
Unknown (22:35):
Hashtag me too. Oh, my God, free the titty please from
taxes as well. I have never seensuch a positive response from
the women community. You know,of course, I had some of the
trolls being like, but like, allthey were like, cis white men,
typical. Of course, we expectedthat, but all the women were
(22:58):
like, wow. I wish I had thecourage to do what you do, like
that was basically the responseoverall that I got. And I was
like, Oh, why don't I talk aboutthis more on the business's
platform? Like, it's not justabout, you know, taking your
clothes off. It is more aboutbeing a woman and showing up as
(23:19):
a woman with an awesome body,who, you know, is funny and is
charismatic and is opening upconversations about vibrators
too, because, like, that's not avery open conversation, as we
said, and putting herself outthere, you know, with her, with
the community of her friends,being on stage with her, and
trying something new like that,again, was my first time really
(23:40):
ever being on stage and dancing.
I'm not a dancer. That's why Isay on tiktoks, I refuse to
dance. I'm not a Tiktokinfluencer in that regard, like
no way. And it was still so sucha good experience that, of
course, when the opportunitycame the next year, I was like,
yes, Sign me up. I'm ready togo. I already have so many ideas
(24:02):
of characters I want to do,which, this past year I went as
my DND character and made that avery sexy Bard with a wand and
grinded on it. Thank you verymuch. Ate a lot of people in
that room very happy. They werevery glad they left, you know,
their homes for that thatevening. Yeah, it's just such a
(24:23):
fun experience, and now it givesme the confidence to go do
keynote speeches at businesses.
Kristen Daukas (24:36):
You know, if you can grin on a wand and, you
know, deal with, you know,malfunctioning wardrobes. What
is a speech in front of a bunchof sales? I mean, it's nothing.
And, you know, I guarantee youthat you get a better rush doing
the tits and bits than you doit. You know, you know,
performing presenting at SocialMedia Examiner, right? Or social
(24:58):
media world, right? It's. Ohyeah. Again. You know what we do
is just so it can be verymundane. And you know that day
to day? Yeah, sure. You wouldthink that, oh, you get to come
up with different stuff. And I'mlike, Oh my God, if I have to
figure out another way to saythe same thing that I've been
(25:19):
saying for the past 10 years,I'm going to poke my eyeballs
out, but, you know, and Ithat's, you know, one of the
reasons why I relaunched mypodcast is I don't have that. I
used to blog all the time. Ilike, I was an influencer before
influencer was an actual word,but they just called them mommy
bloggers, right? And, you know,that used to be my creative
outlet. I used to get a rushfrom that, but I just don't do
(25:41):
it anymore. A lot of it'sbecause I don't, I'm not
actively parenting, but I, youknow, to have a creative outlet
like that for you, it has got tohave such a positive impact on
your business. Oh, yeah, becauseyou get those juices flowing and
all of a sudden you're thinkingof things. And, you know, I'm
not gonna say you'd be afraid.
But, you know, there are timesas social media managers and
(26:02):
strategists that you know we'relooking at a piece of content,
you go, man, I really wish Icould just say how I want to
like, for instance, oh, I had tocreate a post for one of my
clients today that is because ofthe hurricane Debbie, or
tropical storm Debbie, becauseI'm down in North Carolina and,
you know, I just kind of,because I've been on for several
(26:22):
days and away from, I was like,not to be a Debbie Downer, but
guess what? We're gonna be closetomorrow, because of, that's
right. And you just, it givesyou, you're just like, okay,
that's fun. You know, that's thething about what we do, is it's
supposed to be fun. I mean, it'sfreaking social media. It is not
the Washington Post. It's notthe New York Times. It doesn't
(26:45):
have to be a byline. It seems tobe fun and engaging. So, you
know, doing something like thatthat has just got to get those
juices.
Unknown (26:56):
Absolutely pun intended. All the puns intended,
true? Oh, of course. Oh, mygosh. And that's absolutely
true. Like, you know, I do a lotof mentoring, host social media
workshops, education, that's ahuge part of my platform. And I,
if I I've been to so manyworkshops that I'm just like,
(27:18):
I'm about to fall asleep. It'syeah, head banging against the
wall, exactly. And I'm like,this type of comedic experience.
That's why I talk about it. Icombine comedy and mental health
advocacy, which are, you know,my former life and my current
life. Because, yes, my goal isto teach you social media, so
that way you spend less time.
But I don't want to be likeeverybody else on the internet.
(27:41):
There are so much noise onsocial media from quote, unquote
gurus who are just repeating thesame thing over in the same way.
That doesn't make you unique,that doesn't make you fun, and
it's not gonna make what you'reteaching in workshops memorable.
So you know, putting a littlecomedic spin on it, it makes you
more memorable. It's likeremembering your favorite TV
scene, of course, like you'regonna remember a train wreck a
(28:05):
lot more than, yeah, not thatI'm a train wreck. But still,
you know, like, if you throw ina little bit of fun and
creativity, it needs to comefrom somewhere. And also, it's
like free therapy doing comedy,
Kristen Daukas (28:21):
I'm not sure.
Unknown (28:22):
Oh my gosh. I'm like, if I get to, like, go on stage
and be a squirrel one day, sure,like, that's cool. You know, you
get to process, you get to becharacters and take yourself out
of reality a little bit. Andit's a fun break from all the BS
that you go through just in lifeas an entrepreneur. You know,
just life happening.
Kristen Daukas (28:42):
Let's just stop it at life, especially
Unknown (28:45):
exactly with all of like, what we're dealing with in
the world. It's a way to put thephone away, because, like,
you're not going to be on yourphone on stage. You know,
whenever I go on stage, at leasttwo hours before I perform, I
shut my phone down. I go on, donot disturb. I don't check
messages from the outside world.
I need to get my head in thegame. If I'm gonna do that,
guess what? I need to have alittle bit of mental and liquid
(29:07):
courage, but more mental couragethan anything, and put the phone
away. And then it's like you getto release so many emotions when
you're on that stage, whetherthey be good, bad, ugly,
whatever it may be, and then it,it recharges you in a way that
you could step into being anentrepreneur with more
(29:27):
confidence, with morecreativity, with not being I
always say, like, I don't haveshame. That's not true. I do,
obviously have a little bit ofshame, but less now, like, I it
didn't kill you. Yeah, it didn'tkill me. So, like, recording a
32nd reel being a little goofy,that's nothing. Are you kidding
me? Like, yeah, I it just, ithas helped in so many different
(29:51):
ways, and like, to anybody who'sever considered doing comedy, I,
I. It, understand it can be veryscary, find a safe space to do
it, but please try it, becauseit is so much fun and really get
you into this like kid likeplay. You know, we were talking
(30:13):
about not having a childhood orhaving a childhood like that's
an opportunity to bring somechildhood fun back into it and
play around with other adultsjust being weirdos together, no
matter where the scene ends uptaking you. Yeah? So, yeah, it's
Kristen Daukas (30:31):
like when you're with a group of girlfriends,
right? And you know, on a girl'sweekend trip, right? And
nothing's around. There's noinhibitions. You got a couple of
cocktails, and you just getsilly, and it's just such a good
and it does. It's so good foryour soul. Yeah, it is so good.
I mean, this thing has killedour creativity. It has
absolutely and, you know, AII've been using, you know, AI
(30:53):
for two years now, and I loveit, and it helps me find
different ways to say the samething that I've been saying, a
different way to say the samething I've been saying for 10
years. Saying for 10 years. Ilove it for that, but, man, I
can tell you, it has really mylike I've been writing. My
youngest is 21 I had a I've hadmy blog for 21 years. Of course,
(31:14):
it hasn't been very active, likeI mentioned earlier. But still,
man, I used to my storytellingwas amazing. And it's it's not,
it's not anymore, and a lot ofit is because I'm sitting here,
you know, in front of thiswindow so much, so that's one of
the reasons I'm really lookingforward to this trip next month,
(31:35):
because I ain't taking mycomputer and I'm too cheap to
get the data plan, so I'm gonnaget 150 minutes on that boat,
and I think that's for 14 days.
And you know what? And as I'vesaid to people before, in the 15
years that I have been doingsocial media, I can count on two
fingers how many emergenciesthat I've had.
Unknown (31:54):
Mm, hmm, yeah, it's so true. You know, I one of the
strategies I teach people islike how to detach my best
content planning clients, Iteach them how to do it with a
pen and a paper. Yes, ma'am, oldschool, baby, and it's not even
old school. Yeah, exactly. Yourbest ideas will come from taking
(32:16):
a pause, sitting down in a youknow, in a spot with a cocktail,
water, whatever fills you up,and just being one with
yourself, take a hot minute to,you know, do a mindfulness
exercise and get to the deeproots as to why you started your
business, how you can relate toyour target audience. And, you
(32:37):
know, think about what intereststhem, and write those down on a
piece of paper. That's whereyour best content will come
from. An algorithm is not goingto know that. AI is not going to
know that you have to spend somuch more time training the
algorithm of chatgpt to speaklike you instead of you just
speaking like yourself, becausethat's the whole goal of being
(32:57):
genuine and authentic on yoursocial media platforms, is to
sound like yourself. So thatway, you make your brand unique.
You make your platform unique. Arobot can't do that for you. No,
Kristen Daukas (33:08):
no. And I used to, I used that that's so funny
that you say that, becausepeople used to ask me that
question. I'm like, I literallywrite how I talk. Yeah, me too.
Me too. If you read notsomething that I've written in
the past, you could imaginesitting down and having me read
that to you, because that's justbut that's the flow. And you
know, I do. I really miss it. Iremember, I used to go through,
(33:31):
we would do these. I can'tremember the Ackerman now,
acronym now, but it basicallysaid it would, it was a the 30
day challenge of writing everysingle day. And you know it was,
I can remember sometimes sittingthere in the evening, because
that's what I would do. I woulddo a lot of my writing at night
in front of the TV and just go,God, what am I going to write
(33:52):
today? And it was always themost random things that always
did the best. My favorite, myother favorite thing too. And
I've told my clients this islike, use going back to the
phone. Like, my best ideas,obviously, are when we're not so
shower, working around thehouse, and driving right? And
I'm like, use the note app. Isaid, open it up. Use the note
(34:14):
app. I said, matter of fact,start writing it. Just talk into
it. Yeah. I said, and go backand let that. Ai work for you to
listen to what you have to sayand transcribe it exactly.
Unknown (34:26):
My friends have literally made fun of me for
years. Years now, I've gottencrap about this since I had a
phone that can do this, but mybest number one used feature on
my phone. I this is why theyneed to bring back buttons, so
that way I use them. I always dospeak to text to text, people,
(34:47):
audio messages, voice DMS. Theyare my number one like i That's
why I like podcasting, becausethe genuine authenticity of
saying how I say it coming frommy brain out my mouth. Yeah,
that's how I write all of myInstagram captions. Do I go back
and edit them to make sure thecomputer spelled them right?
Yes, obviously, of course. But Ialways speak to text all of my
(35:09):
captions because I want thelikes I like literally, the word
like the literally is the thefiller words that make Britney
sound like Brittany, becausethat's how I speak in real life.
That's why I've relied more onreels and showing up on screen
than I have been doing staticposts, right? One, it's a little
bit more personal. But also, youknow, I'm just talking into a
(35:29):
camera for 30 seconds how Igenuinely would so, you know, I
think we need to bring in alittle bit more personality into
social media, and I'm so gladthat right now, there is, I use
this word lightly, a trend ofimperfection. There is less
emphasis on having superesthetically pleasing grids
right now, and more showing upjust as yourself and I am. So I
(35:54):
really hope this stays, becauseas small business owners, we
don't have all the money andresources in the world to hire
photographers every time youwant to go post on Instagram.
No, you've got to go do ityourself. So, you know, showing
up and having less perfection, Ithink, will, you know, bring
(36:14):
down the stress a little bit theoverwhelm of having to, you
know, have everything be pictureperfect. That's not what social
media is about anyway.
Kristen Daukas (36:24):
It also comes down to the age old adage of
people don't people want to dobusiness with people they like,
right? Yeah. And, you know, Ihad an not an intern, but I had
a VA for a while that washelping me out and on my
business. Because, as marketers,obviously it's the cobbler, the
cobbler shoe thing and buteverything she did was a graphic
(36:45):
everything was, you know, andI'm like, that's just, that's
not who I am. And sat in on mymastermind today, of which I
was, like, worthless. And, youknow, cut, you know, we all
tried to hype each other up. Andso I'm gonna have to go back and
rehyped myself up tomorrow whenI'm filling up for it, that
we're all gonna try and do the32nd you know, more 32nd videos,
(37:07):
right? I can do it. I know Ineed to do it. I've been doing
it for so long, but yet I justgo and I am saying the same
things that some of my clients,you know, you said, I'm like, I
can. There's nothing out therethat I can say that hasn't been
said before. And I always tellthem, You're right, you're not
going to say anything original,however, it's going to come from
you, and that's what makes itoriginal. And I'm sitting here
(37:29):
going, okay, apparently I needto sit myself down and have my
own conversation with myselflike that. So yeah, I love it,
and I love the fact that itjust, you know, makes you a
stronger and better person foryour your clients. Yes, that's
the word. We're looking forclients, but even more so for
(37:49):
you, and it's just that's soawesome. It's such a well
rounded thing. And you know, mygirls tease me because, you
know, I'm kind of typical Gen X,or I'm like, Look, dude, we were
feral. We're latchkey kids, andyou know, they would come,
they'll come to me sometimes,and you'd be like, and I'm like,
Did you die? Okay, you're gonnabe fine. Are you gonna remember
this in a week? Okay, you'regonna be fine. You know, I have
(38:11):
to do some of the, you know,striking and mothering, but I'm
like, but did you die? Yeah,
Unknown (38:17):
no, you didn't. You're still here, and you've survived
a lot worse, that's right, andyou're a better person because
of
Kristen Daukas (38:23):
it, exactly.
That's my other favorite. Like,so far, you've survived 100% of
your worst days of your life, soyou're doing pretty good. I have
had so much fun talking to you.
Any fun closing comments beforewe sign off for the week?
Unknown (38:39):
Fun? You know, make sure check out the Winfield
creative on social. Absolutelynot all the links in the show
notes beautiful. See some trendsI really want to plug on my
email list. Every single Monday,I actually send out what I call
viral vibes. So I do theresearch for you of all the
viral trends of the week, and Isend you an entire week's worth
(39:01):
of real audios that are, infact, trending in that moment.
So if that's of interest to you,I will also make sure you have
the link, so that way you canget that in your inbox every
Monday morning.
Kristen Daukas (39:12):
I'm gonna have to do that, because I think I
need some of Brittany's energy.
I try. So all right, all right.
So that's, that's the snappingenergy that we do at the at the
poet reads, Okay, everybody, itis time to say goodbye, and as
you hear my closing, you don'thave to go home, but you can't
stay here again. BrittanyWinfield, thank you so much for
(39:35):
being here. I appreciate it, andI can't I'm so glad we're gonna
be besties. I have a feeling. Sowe're gonna be around forever.
So Okay, everybody, take care ofyourselves, be kind to others,
and until next time see youlater. As the saying goes, you
don't have to go home, but youcan stay here, and that's a wrap
for this week's episode. A bigthanks to my guests for sharing
(39:56):
their story and to you forlistening. Don't forget to share
the show. Your friends andspread the words and if you'd
like to be a guest on the show,the link is in the show notes
till next time cheers you.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Intentionally Disturbing
Join me on this podcast as I navigate the murky waters of human behavior, current events, and personal anecdotes through in-depth interviews with incredible people—all served with a generous helping of sarcasm and satire. After years as a forensic and clinical psychologist, I offer a unique interview style and a low tolerance for bullshit, quickly steering conversations toward depth and darkness. I honor the seriousness while also appreciating wit. I’m your guide through the twisted labyrinth of the human psyche, armed with dark humor and biting wit.