July 24, 2024 • 24 mins
Ever wondered how a shared love for local farmers' markets can spark a lifelong friendship? Or how intention and impact can transform lives? In this episode of "How I Met My BFF" Leisa and Tamara chat with the incredible Divya Parekh, a powerhouse speaker and businesswoman who is a member of the International Speaker Network.
We kick things off with some fun updates—Tamara's bracing for fire season in Montana, while Leisa's gearing up for a sun-soaked trip to Cabo (and teasing some exciting personal news!). Then, we dive deep into Divya's inspiring journey of helping others create impact and income through writing, media exposure, and AI.
Listen in as Divya shares the heartwarming story of her friendship with Michelle, a bond forged over shared passions and mutual admiration. From farmers' market adventures to heartfelt conversations, their friendship is a testament to the power of connection and community.
Plus, get the scoop on an exciting collaborative project between Divya and Leisa—an anthology book titled "Speak Your Brilliance." This episode is packed with insights, laughter, and a whole lot of love.
Don't miss out—tune in now and get inspired to nurture your own impactful friendships! We'll be back after Leisa's much-needed vacation!
To apply to have a chapter in the book, Speak Your Brilliance, click here ==>> https://getpublishedwithus.com/speak-your-brilliance/
See Ya Bestie,
Leisa & Tamara
Visit our site at howimetmybff.com
Help support our show by getting some of our exclusive swag found here!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Lisa (00:01):
Hey, besties. My name's Lisa.
Tamara (00:03):
And my name's Tamara, and we're BFFs.
Lisa (00:06):
Tamara and I met when we were about 12 years old growing
up in good old Fairbanks,Alaska.
Tamara (00:11):
And we've been best friends forever since.
Lisa (00:13):
That's right. And that's why we've decided to have some
fun, friendly conversations withthe bestest of best friends.
Tamara (00:18):
We'll talk about how we became best friends, our
experiences together, and haveother best friends on the show
to share how they met. Whoknows? You never know
Lisa (00:28):
when you'll meet your next BFF.
Tamara (00:30):
Now let's get into it, how I met my BFF.
Lisa (00:34):
Welcome to another episode of how I met my BFF. Hi, Tamara.
Tamara (00:39):
Hey, Lisa. How's it going?
Lisa (00:41):
It's good. How are you? Are you hot over there in
Montana finally?
Tamara (00:46):
Yes. We're having about, like, 95 to a 100 degree days,
And unfortunately, the fireshave started. We have a fire
actually pretty close toMissoula. So it's been smoky. So
it's been a bummer, but notsurprising with we had a pretty
light snow winter and we didhave a lot of rain in spring,
(01:09):
but anyways, it's fire time.
Lisa (01:13):
Oh, no. Hot land hot I was gonna say Hotlanta, but it's Hot
Tana.
Tamara (01:18):
Hot Tana? Yeah. Yep. What about you?
Lisa (01:21):
Ariana is on her way to Montana, but just not Missoula
today, so she'll be experiencingthat. She's gonna go to
Yellowstone and visit one of herfriends.
Tamara (01:30):
Nice.
Lisa (01:30):
And I'm heading to Cabo for some time in the pool and
relaxation. Nice. And I'm reallyexcited about that. And we've
had you know, eventually, I willI will share, but we have some
exciting news in our householdas well. No.
I'm not pregnant. That's sofunny. I'm 51. That's not that's
(01:51):
not the news, But, if you keeptuning in, you'll find out what
it is in a couple of weeks. Andthen I've had it's weird.
I've had a lot of techchallenges these last few days.
It feels like in the last 10days and I think is like it
Mercury retrograde or just it'sreally random. These weird
(02:13):
things keep happening. So I'mhoping that we'll just clear all
that out and it all is gettingresolved and all the wires the
correct wires are connected toeach other, so that, all of us
have communication andtechnology that works for the
rest of us. So I'm sending thatout to all our besties today.
(02:33):
So all your communications andtechnologies are gonna work the
rest of the week. Alright. Yeah.Today, I'm excited because we
have Divya Parak in our studio,and she's got a fun BFF story
about her friend, Michelle.Michelle's not joining us today,
but that's okay.
She's still she's still with us,just not in not live on the
(02:55):
show. Welcome, Divya.
Divya Parekh (02:58):
Well, lovely connecting with you, Tamara and
Lisa. Of course, we know eachother. So it's great to see you,
and thank you for having me.
Lisa (03:08):
Yeah. And Divya and I met through the International
Speaker Network, and yes. She'sa speaker, supports speakers,
does all kinds of cool businessthings. I remember the first
time I met you, Divya, I hung upor, you know, hung up
metaphorically. We're on a Zoomcall and I was like, wow, she is
really smart.
Like, you're really, in myopinion, a very smart
(03:32):
businesswoman. Do you wannashare a little bit about what
kind of brilliance you put intothe world?
Divya Parekh (03:37):
Oh, so, well, thank you for asking me. And
here's what I share is thathelping others is my passion,
and I operate on a principle of,like so the first step is you go
ahead and have intention ofwhatever you wanna do. The next
piece comes is information. Butinformation doesn't do you any
(04:01):
good because the whole Internetand the whole web is filled with
information. But now you gottatake the juice out of it and
make the insights.
Alright. So now you have theinsights. What do you do with
that? You gotta implement it,and you gotta implement it the
right way. And once you haveimplemented it, then it's
(04:21):
important to have impact onpeople.
Because even if you'reimplementing it and it does not
impact anybody else, it doesn'tdo you any good. And when you
combine all of these thingstogether, it automatically
results in income. And so whatdo I do is I help people create
(04:42):
impact and income or increase inincome and prosperity is a
byproduct. I help them do thatthrough writing authority
building books because there are2 aspects to it. 1 is the
authority, which is thefoundation that establishes your
expertise, and then credibilityis that how you're consistent
(05:03):
and how do you keep on buildingupon that authority?
So I help people with authorityand credibility so that they can
put the trust in People's Bank.And once you have the trust in
People's Bank, there's nothinglike it. So we do do that
through authority buildingbooks, best selling books, media
(05:23):
exposure, and through artificialintelligence.
Lisa (05:27):
Yeah. That's the part that's really cool. You've
harnessed that piece that a lotof us are still learning and is
just ever changing, so that'sone of the things I thought,
wow. She's really ahead of thecurve because this was, you
know, you've you've been usingit for a really long time. So I
know that's not what we'retalking about today.
We're talking about friendship,but certainly these these
components are affecting ourdaily lives. So I'm glad that
(05:50):
you're there supporting peoplewho want to get their message
out there, make an impact, makean income. Now tell us a little
bit about your friendship withMichelle. How did you first meet
her?
Divya Parekh (06:04):
It goes back a long time back. So we were
actually working together, andwe would be sitting in the
meeting rooms together. And weboth are trailblazers in the
sense is that we push thelimits. And because we do that,
as we started to getting to knoweach other, we definitely found,
(06:28):
like, oh, yeah. You think likeme.
Oh, yeah. You think like me. Andit's like, yeah. How does the
other person doesn't see that?So we had that commonality.
And another biggest thing thatwas common within us was the
desire to do our best withoutany incentive. It again goes
(06:48):
back to having that impact. Sothat intention was there, and
then, you know, we hopped out,and then we found out we both
love nature. We found out wehave to support local farmers.
And so there were a lot ofdifferent things, and that's how
we got into friendship.
Lisa (07:10):
Well, tell us a little bit more about the local farmer
thing. That's interesting. Whatdo you mean by that?
Divya Parekh (07:15):
Well, here's the thing. So as you all know, you
we can go to supermarkets, pickup the food and all that. And
what we love about is, like, youknow, when we talk about nature,
it is ocean, planet Earth, Howwe can give back? And both of us
(07:38):
are into just not like, okay.Oh, I gotta make my life great,
and then I'm done.
It's like, how are the nextgenerations going to be
impacted? What is happening inthe local economy? What are we
supporting? So as more and moresupermarkets have been coming
into play so some local farmershave connections with
(08:01):
supermarkets, so that's onething. And then no matter what,
if you think the whole supplychain, you'll find that the food
that's sitting in thesupermarkets has traveled quite
a bit.
So it's not directly from farmto table. So we would just kinda
go to the farmers local farmersmarket because we wanted to
(08:23):
support the local farmers. Notonly that, but have a fun
outing. Yeah. Yeah.
It's fun. I mean, of course, wewent for coffee. You know, both
of us love coffee, and we alsolove good food and all of that.
But this was just something wewould just go and enjoy. Like,
(08:44):
go we would just, first of all,walk around, and so many times,
they've got these differentplants.
So we would, like, soak in allthe different aromas. You know,
there's so many people bringingfresh baked goods, people with
fresh produce. So and sitstanding there, talking to the
(09:10):
farmers, like, you know, whereyou're coming from. What's their
story? And it became such athing that there were, like,
couple of stalls that we wouldjust visit.
We wouldn't go anywhere else. Soforming those friendships. And
it is just a differentexperience because when you go
to a supermarket, it is sosterile. Whereas this is it
(09:31):
touches your heart, and peopleare smiling. And it it's just a
different environment.
And what you soak in, it makesfor such a wonderful experience.
Lisa (09:42):
Yeah. I think it brings back, like, that sense of
village or community, back when,you know, we before we had all
this separation, right,
Divya Parekh (09:51):
of
Lisa (09:52):
of space between us and all the people. So, I can really
relate to that. So then so youguys met at work. You 2 met at
work and then started to realizeyou had other things in common.
How long have you been friendsnow?
Divya Parekh (10:08):
Probably over 10 to 12 years, maybe more. I don't
remember exactly what
Lisa (10:14):
anymore. Right? You you don't work at the same company?
So No. How did you how did the how did you decide, like,
oh, I think we're best friendsnow?
Divya Parekh (10:23):
Oh, gosh. We didn't put a time on it that we
are best friends. We just foundthat we enjoy doing things
together. And at at one point intime, we both didn't find that
fulfillment in the corporateworld. So we decided that let's
step into the entrepreneurship,and let's build a company
(10:47):
together.
So we actually did that
Lisa (10:51):
for
For the company?
Divya Parekh (10:53):
The company was around leadership, executive
coaching. We did that for coupleof years, and then it what had
happened was the way the wholesystem and setup was there. So
it was not that we couldn't worktogether, but just the setup,
the legalities didn't work out.So we separated out, but still,
(11:14):
we would work together on ourbusinesses together. We would be
sitting down and doing Lean 6Sigma together.
As part of Lean 6 Sigma, youknow, you're running the value
streams and where the redundancyis, where's the obstacle, and
how can we streamline theprocesses, how can we make
efficiency the second name ofthe business, and we would do
(11:37):
that together. We would workside by side and continued
working till she went back tothe corporate world.
Lisa (11:46):
Wow. Do you still get to hang out on a regular basis?
Like, are you nearby each other?
Divya Parekh (11:52):
So we are nearby each other, but that said,
because now she has differentschedules, I have different
schedules. We do make an effortto connect with each other.
We'll go to farmer's market fora walk or for that lovely
coffee, you know, where you'rejust sitting there. And she
(12:13):
loves experience. I loveexperience.
We used to go to the beach beachtogether. So we make an effort
to kinda redo the things that weenjoy doing it together.
Tamara (12:27):
So I'm wondering for our listeners, why is she not with
you today on the podcast?
Divya Parekh (12:34):
Well, here's the thing. It's, she's still
working.
Lisa (12:39):
Yeah.
Divya Parekh (12:41):
And and that happens with the time constraint
is that the friendship is see,for us, the we have a friendship
of that time. Like, let's sayeven if 5 years were to pass by.
It doesn't happen, but I'm justkinda saying I am very fortunate
to have those type offriendships where even if I were
to pick the threads back up evenafter 10 years, it would just be
(13:03):
like we had met yesterday. Sothe distance is not the key. It
is how you understand eachother, how you align with each
other, and how there is thattrust, and how is that
understanding that you can pickright back up?
You wish the best for them.You're there for them. Like,
(13:25):
let's say if I were to pick upthe phone, she'd be right here.
So that's the type of What wouldyou say
Lisa (13:32):
are oh, sorry. What would you say are the, like, top three
qualities that you absolutelylove about Michelle?
Divya Parekh (13:40):
Oh, what I love about her is that she'll tell
you as she sees. And it's soimportant to have people like
that in your corner because somany people want the best for
you. They love you, but theywill not tell you what you're
doing wrong. And she will nothesitate telling me that. And
(14:02):
the second thing is that whenshe tells me that, it's coming
from a place of love without herjust kinda ripping me apart.
She doesn't do that. She'll tellme. She'll tell me as she sees,
and yet she has this beautifulway of sharing that. And third
thing is that how she's atrailblazer. She will push the
(14:25):
limits.
She will not just kinda let'ssay somebody's talking
mainstream. Like, oh, this ishow it is. So she's not just
going to blindly follow. She'ssomeone who will take the
information herself, think aboutit, and has her own independent
thinking. But she'll be like,you know what?
(14:45):
Yeah. Even if it goes againstthe whole mainstream idea, I'm
okay with that and thatconfidence in herself. She's a
Lisa (14:55):
leader. Love that. What do you think she would say or three
things she loves about you?
Divya Parekh (15:02):
Well, she has told me that quite often. So one is
she always tells me that, like,I would not be able to strike up
a conversation with just astranger. So I'll just kinda
share a story. I'm going to putout a blog on that pretty soon.
So there is one of the trailsthat we walk on, and there's
(15:22):
this phenomenal lady, Jennifer,where she is on a bike, and as
she's traveling, she will justgo good morning, you know, with
so much energy and enthusiasmthat when you look at her, when
she looks at you and wishes yougood morning, you feel like
you're the only person in thatmoment.
(15:45):
So today, what I did was, like,you know, this has been we've
been wishing and greeting eachother for almost, like, I think,
so year, year and a half. I justwaved at her and said, like, do
you have couple of minutes tochat? And she stopped by, and I
said, like, you know, I wouldreally love to give you a shout
out. Would you be okay if I tooka picture with you? And she
goes, sure.
(16:05):
So we got to talking, and now weare going to be going for a
walk. So, walk together. Sothat's one of the things she
just loves about me that I don'thave any inhibitions. Like, if
people will make faces at me, ifI smile at them, I'm like, fine.
What I wanna do is that I wannamake an impact, and sometimes
(16:29):
people are not ready for it.
It's alright. I understand that.So that's one of the things. And
second thing is, again, we arevery much similar in that. Like,
I just don't like, somebody isgoing to fill my ears.
That, oh, that person is likethat. That person is like that.
I'm not just going to take themat face value. I'm going to sit
back, understand the person, andthen make my own decision. And
(16:53):
then third thing is, again, thetrailblazer, which we both
admire in each other.
Lisa (16:58):
Love that. Wow. If you guys were together, what would
you be doing?
Divya Parekh (17:07):
Most likely, we would either be going to
farmer's market
Tamara (17:11):
I was gonna say that.
Divya Parekh (17:14):
Or going for a nice coffee or to the beach or
walking in one of our favoritenature trails.
Lisa (17:24):
Oh, fun. Love that. Alright. I can't wait to meet
her someday.
Tamara (17:34):
I know. You might get to meet her. Yay. Yeah.
Lisa (17:37):
Maybe well, we'll see. Well, I think, Divya, you're
across the country. I'm inCalifornia. You're in is it
North Carolina?
Yes.
Divya Parekh (17:45):
I'm in North Carolina.
Lisa (17:46):
Yeah. Tamara's in Montana, so we're all
Oh, wow. In the field.
Yeah. I
Divya Parekh (17:50):
hear that about the fires. Well, I hope y'all
have fire free. Summer because Iused to be in California long,
long time back in 9 nineties,and I remember, like, you know,
just that smoke and just thefires, they can be so brutal.
Lisa (18:07):
Yeah. They can. Well, I I have to say, I mean, you never
know when you're gonna meet youryour next best friend. It could
be someone at your work. Itcould be someone on a bike ride
or, like, on a walking trail.
Sounds like, Divvy, you mighthave a new a new friend in your
future, which is kind ofexciting. And we're just so glad
(18:30):
that you were able to be on ourshow today.
Divya Parekh (18:32):
Oh, thank you. And if I may share, like, you know,
Lisa has become a really goodfriend. And as a matter of fact,
Lisa and I are doing a projecttogether where we are helping
speakers.
Lisa (18:45):
Yeah. We're gonna do a book, an anthology for speakers
to share. It's called SpeakingYour Brilliance and they are
going to be able to share someof their brilliance in that book
and it's pretty powerful. We'revery excited. It's it's kind of
like a like one of those thingsthat I could wish about, and
(19:07):
then Divya's like, let's make ithappen.
And she has all the tools to dothat, so it was really exciting
to to put that out there forpeople who want to be an author
and make it easy and make animpact and make income. Right?
It's a it's a great way to dothat, and we'll put the link in
the show notes too so that ifanybody wants to apply,
(19:29):
depending on when you'relistening to the show, we might
still have open applications.
Divya Parekh (19:36):
Absolutely. And if I may take the liberty, I would
like to share a couple of thingsthat I love about you, Lisa.
Lisa (19:42):
Oh, well, okay. Mhmm.
So welcome
back to you.
Divya Parekh (19:45):
So, Tamara, I don't know a whole lot about
you, but you seem like a veryfriendly person. So for Lisa, I
think so now I've known her afew times, and here's what I'll
share that. Somebody hadrecommended me to connect with
Lisa, and the first time when Imet her, she puts you at ease.
It's such a powerful thing thatshe has. And and she knows how
(20:11):
to build that community, how toget those people moving.
So just wanted to share that.
Lisa (20:19):
Aw. Thank you. I appreciate that. I wasn't
expecting that. Yeah.
I I will accept that compliment.
Divya Parekh (20:31):
Awesome. Because so many women tend to shy away
from receiving the compliments,and it's important to do that.
Tamara (20:40):
Yeah. Lisa well, I I mean, I probably learned it a
lot. I'd say I learned a lot ofmy social skills. You've helped
me. And so, yeah, Lisa and I dovery well.
We have no problem meetingpeople. When we're together,
it's fun.
Lisa (21:02):
So Yeah. We have a good night.
Tamara (21:04):
Many people, you know, in a nice, lovely way, and it's
always she's very good at,having people, like you said,
respond and open up and, youknow, we just know how to ask
people the right questions, Ithink, sometimes. Mhmm.
Lisa (21:18):
Yeah. Most of the time. Yeah. I think one thing Tamara
and I have in common is a deeplike, a true authentic curiosity
about other people. And I saythat because for a long time I
really took that for granted.
I didn't think of it as aspecial thing. But there's quite
a few people who are absolutelynot curious about a spoonful.
Divya Parekh (21:41):
Yeah.
Lisa (21:41):
And that's okay. That's okay.
Divya Parekh (21:43):
I'll say that. I just wanna share one thing about
that. If you're not curious, youcan miss out on so much. The way
I see it is, like, you know,people are like a treasure
trove. The more curious you are,you can learn more.
And it's just listening to otherpeople's perspectives is so
enriching.
Lisa (22:02):
I agree. I just was listening to another podcast,
and they had the guest, and Ican't remember his whole name,
but he was the gentleman. Hisname first name is Key. He was
the gentleman in, EverythingEverywhere All at Once, and he
was in Goonies and IndianaJones. Oh my gosh.
What an uplifting interview. Heis, like, my new, like, shining
(22:23):
star, north star, per like, justlike the nicest man who's had
the most interesting,fascinating life. So, again,
always open to differentperspectives of, like, how how
we've gotten to where we aretoday. It was really cool, and
that was on Armchair Expert,podcast with Dax Shepard. Yeah.
(22:43):
A little shout out to my buddy,Dax. One day. Well, I've
actually seen him in person. Hejust didn't see me. That's okay.
That's okay. Well, besties,thanks for tuning in to another
awesome episode of How I Met MyBFF, and we will see you soon
when I get back from vacation.And, thank you Divya for being
(23:06):
on our show. Thank you Tamarafor being my best friend for so
many, many years.
Tamara (23:13):
No problem. My pleasure.
Divya Parekh (23:15):
Thank you, ladies, for having me. Appreciate it.
Bye.
Tamara (23:19):
Aloha.
Divya Parekh (23:20):
Bye.
Lisa (23:23):
Hey, Bestie. Thanks for listening. If you like this
episode, be sure to hit thatsubscribe button to get notified
of new episodes and check outcool bestie gift ideas at how I
met my bff.com.
Tamara (23:33):
That's right. And also, leave us a review. Those reviews
help us out a lot and are one ofthe best ways to support us.
Lisa (23:40):
Yes. And if you have a fun story about how you met your
BFF, send us an email at info athow I met my bff.com. We would
love to hear about it.
Tamara (23:49):
Definitely. And, hey, maybe we'll have you on our next
episode.
Lisa (23:53):
That would be awesome. Until next time.
Tamara (23:55):
Love you, BFFs.
Hey, besties. My name's Lisa.
Tamara (00:03):
And my name's Tamara, and we're BFFs.
Lisa (00:06):
Tamara and I met when we were about 12 years old growing
up in good old Fairbanks,Alaska.
Tamara (00:11):
And we've been best friends forever since.
Lisa (00:13):
That's right. And that's why we've decided to have some
fun, friendly conversations withthe bestest of best friends.
Tamara (00:18):
We'll talk about how we became best friends, our
experiences together, and haveother best friends on the show
to share how they met. Whoknows? You never know
Lisa (00:28):
when you'll meet your next BFF.
Tamara (00:30):
Now let's get into it, how I met my BFF.
Lisa (00:34):
Welcome to another episode of how I met my BFF. Hi, Tamara.
Tamara (00:39):
Hey, Lisa. How's it going?
Lisa (00:41):
It's good. How are you? Are you hot over there in
Montana finally?
Tamara (00:46):
Yes. We're having about, like, 95 to a 100 degree days,
And unfortunately, the fireshave started. We have a fire
actually pretty close toMissoula. So it's been smoky. So
it's been a bummer, but notsurprising with we had a pretty
light snow winter and we didhave a lot of rain in spring,
(01:09):
but anyways, it's fire time.
Lisa (01:13):
Oh, no. Hot land hot I was gonna say Hotlanta, but it's Hot
Tana.
Tamara (01:18):
Hot Tana? Yeah. Yep. What about you?
Lisa (01:21):
Ariana is on her way to Montana, but just not Missoula
today, so she'll be experiencingthat. She's gonna go to
Yellowstone and visit one of herfriends.
Tamara (01:30):
Nice.
Lisa (01:30):
And I'm heading to Cabo for some time in the pool and
relaxation. Nice. And I'm reallyexcited about that. And we've
had you know, eventually, I willI will share, but we have some
exciting news in our householdas well. No.
I'm not pregnant. That's sofunny. I'm 51. That's not that's
(01:51):
not the news, But, if you keeptuning in, you'll find out what
it is in a couple of weeks. Andthen I've had it's weird.
I've had a lot of techchallenges these last few days.
It feels like in the last 10days and I think is like it
Mercury retrograde or just it'sreally random. These weird
(02:13):
things keep happening. So I'mhoping that we'll just clear all
that out and it all is gettingresolved and all the wires the
correct wires are connected toeach other, so that, all of us
have communication andtechnology that works for the
rest of us. So I'm sending thatout to all our besties today.
(02:33):
So all your communications andtechnologies are gonna work the
rest of the week. Alright. Yeah.Today, I'm excited because we
have Divya Parak in our studio,and she's got a fun BFF story
about her friend, Michelle.Michelle's not joining us today,
but that's okay.
She's still she's still with us,just not in not live on the
(02:55):
show. Welcome, Divya.
Divya Parekh (02:58):
Well, lovely connecting with you, Tamara and
Lisa. Of course, we know eachother. So it's great to see you,
and thank you for having me.
Lisa (03:08):
Yeah. And Divya and I met through the International
Speaker Network, and yes. She'sa speaker, supports speakers,
does all kinds of cool businessthings. I remember the first
time I met you, Divya, I hung upor, you know, hung up
metaphorically. We're on a Zoomcall and I was like, wow, she is
really smart.
Like, you're really, in myopinion, a very smart
(03:32):
businesswoman. Do you wannashare a little bit about what
kind of brilliance you put intothe world?
Divya Parekh (03:37):
Oh, so, well, thank you for asking me. And
here's what I share is thathelping others is my passion,
and I operate on a principle of,like so the first step is you go
ahead and have intention ofwhatever you wanna do. The next
piece comes is information. Butinformation doesn't do you any
(04:01):
good because the whole Internetand the whole web is filled with
information. But now you gottatake the juice out of it and
make the insights.
Alright. So now you have theinsights. What do you do with
that? You gotta implement it,and you gotta implement it the
right way. And once you haveimplemented it, then it's
(04:21):
important to have impact onpeople.
Because even if you'reimplementing it and it does not
impact anybody else, it doesn'tdo you any good. And when you
combine all of these thingstogether, it automatically
results in income. And so whatdo I do is I help people create
(04:42):
impact and income or increase inincome and prosperity is a
byproduct. I help them do thatthrough writing authority
building books because there are2 aspects to it. 1 is the
authority, which is thefoundation that establishes your
expertise, and then credibilityis that how you're consistent
(05:03):
and how do you keep on buildingupon that authority?
So I help people with authorityand credibility so that they can
put the trust in People's Bank.And once you have the trust in
People's Bank, there's nothinglike it. So we do do that
through authority buildingbooks, best selling books, media
(05:23):
exposure, and through artificialintelligence.
Lisa (05:27):
Yeah. That's the part that's really cool. You've
harnessed that piece that a lotof us are still learning and is
just ever changing, so that'sone of the things I thought,
wow. She's really ahead of thecurve because this was, you
know, you've you've been usingit for a really long time. So I
know that's not what we'retalking about today.
We're talking about friendship,but certainly these these
components are affecting ourdaily lives. So I'm glad that
(05:50):
you're there supporting peoplewho want to get their message
out there, make an impact, makean income. Now tell us a little
bit about your friendship withMichelle. How did you first meet
her?
Divya Parekh (06:04):
It goes back a long time back. So we were
actually working together, andwe would be sitting in the
meeting rooms together. And weboth are trailblazers in the
sense is that we push thelimits. And because we do that,
as we started to getting to knoweach other, we definitely found,
(06:28):
like, oh, yeah. You think likeme.
Oh, yeah. You think like me. Andit's like, yeah. How does the
other person doesn't see that?So we had that commonality.
And another biggest thing thatwas common within us was the
desire to do our best withoutany incentive. It again goes
(06:48):
back to having that impact. Sothat intention was there, and
then, you know, we hopped out,and then we found out we both
love nature. We found out wehave to support local farmers.
And so there were a lot ofdifferent things, and that's how
we got into friendship.
Lisa (07:10):
Well, tell us a little bit more about the local farmer
thing. That's interesting. Whatdo you mean by that?
Divya Parekh (07:15):
Well, here's the thing. So as you all know, you
we can go to supermarkets, pickup the food and all that. And
what we love about is, like, youknow, when we talk about nature,
it is ocean, planet Earth, Howwe can give back? And both of us
(07:38):
are into just not like, okay.Oh, I gotta make my life great,
and then I'm done.
It's like, how are the nextgenerations going to be
impacted? What is happening inthe local economy? What are we
supporting? So as more and moresupermarkets have been coming
into play so some local farmershave connections with
(08:01):
supermarkets, so that's onething. And then no matter what,
if you think the whole supplychain, you'll find that the food
that's sitting in thesupermarkets has traveled quite
a bit.
So it's not directly from farmto table. So we would just kinda
go to the farmers local farmersmarket because we wanted to
(08:23):
support the local farmers. Notonly that, but have a fun
outing. Yeah. Yeah.
It's fun. I mean, of course, wewent for coffee. You know, both
of us love coffee, and we alsolove good food and all of that.
But this was just something wewould just go and enjoy. Like,
(08:44):
go we would just, first of all,walk around, and so many times,
they've got these differentplants.
So we would, like, soak in allthe different aromas. You know,
there's so many people bringingfresh baked goods, people with
fresh produce. So and sitstanding there, talking to the
(09:10):
farmers, like, you know, whereyou're coming from. What's their
story? And it became such athing that there were, like,
couple of stalls that we wouldjust visit.
We wouldn't go anywhere else. Soforming those friendships. And
it is just a differentexperience because when you go
to a supermarket, it is sosterile. Whereas this is it
(09:31):
touches your heart, and peopleare smiling. And it it's just a
different environment.
And what you soak in, it makesfor such a wonderful experience.
Lisa (09:42):
Yeah. I think it brings back, like, that sense of
village or community, back when,you know, we before we had all
this separation, right,
Divya Parekh (09:51):
of
Lisa (09:52):
of space between us and all the people. So, I can really
relate to that. So then so youguys met at work. You 2 met at
work and then started to realizeyou had other things in common.
How long have you been friendsnow?
Divya Parekh (10:08):
Probably over 10 to 12 years, maybe more. I don't
remember exactly what
Lisa (10:14):
anymore. Right? You you don't work at the same company?
So No. How did you how did the how did you decide, like,
oh, I think we're best friendsnow?
Divya Parekh (10:23):
Oh, gosh. We didn't put a time on it that we
are best friends. We just foundthat we enjoy doing things
together. And at at one point intime, we both didn't find that
fulfillment in the corporateworld. So we decided that let's
step into the entrepreneurship,and let's build a company
(10:47):
together.
So we actually did that
Lisa (10:51):
for
For the company?
Divya Parekh (10:53):
The company was around leadership, executive
coaching. We did that for coupleof years, and then it what had
happened was the way the wholesystem and setup was there. So
it was not that we couldn't worktogether, but just the setup,
the legalities didn't work out.So we separated out, but still,
(11:14):
we would work together on ourbusinesses together. We would be
sitting down and doing Lean 6Sigma together.
As part of Lean 6 Sigma, youknow, you're running the value
streams and where the redundancyis, where's the obstacle, and
how can we streamline theprocesses, how can we make
efficiency the second name ofthe business, and we would do
(11:37):
that together. We would workside by side and continued
working till she went back tothe corporate world.
Lisa (11:46):
Wow. Do you still get to hang out on a regular basis?
Like, are you nearby each other?
Divya Parekh (11:52):
So we are nearby each other, but that said,
because now she has differentschedules, I have different
schedules. We do make an effortto connect with each other.
We'll go to farmer's market fora walk or for that lovely
coffee, you know, where you'rejust sitting there. And she
(12:13):
loves experience. I loveexperience.
We used to go to the beach beachtogether. So we make an effort
to kinda redo the things that weenjoy doing it together.
Tamara (12:27):
So I'm wondering for our listeners, why is she not with
you today on the podcast?
Divya Parekh (12:34):
Well, here's the thing. It's, she's still
working.
Lisa (12:39):
Yeah.
Divya Parekh (12:41):
And and that happens with the time constraint
is that the friendship is see,for us, the we have a friendship
of that time. Like, let's sayeven if 5 years were to pass by.
It doesn't happen, but I'm justkinda saying I am very fortunate
to have those type offriendships where even if I were
to pick the threads back up evenafter 10 years, it would just be
(13:03):
like we had met yesterday. Sothe distance is not the key. It
is how you understand eachother, how you align with each
other, and how there is thattrust, and how is that
understanding that you can pickright back up?
You wish the best for them.You're there for them. Like,
(13:25):
let's say if I were to pick upthe phone, she'd be right here.
So that's the type of What wouldyou say
Lisa (13:32):
are oh, sorry. What would you say are the, like, top three
qualities that you absolutelylove about Michelle?
Divya Parekh (13:40):
Oh, what I love about her is that she'll tell
you as she sees. And it's soimportant to have people like
that in your corner because somany people want the best for
you. They love you, but theywill not tell you what you're
doing wrong. And she will nothesitate telling me that. And
(14:02):
the second thing is that whenshe tells me that, it's coming
from a place of love without herjust kinda ripping me apart.
She doesn't do that. She'll tellme. She'll tell me as she sees,
and yet she has this beautifulway of sharing that. And third
thing is that how she's atrailblazer. She will push the
(14:25):
limits.
She will not just kinda let'ssay somebody's talking
mainstream. Like, oh, this ishow it is. So she's not just
going to blindly follow. She'ssomeone who will take the
information herself, think aboutit, and has her own independent
thinking. But she'll be like,you know what?
(14:45):
Yeah. Even if it goes againstthe whole mainstream idea, I'm
okay with that and thatconfidence in herself. She's a
Lisa (14:55):
leader. Love that. What do you think she would say or three
things she loves about you?
Divya Parekh (15:02):
Well, she has told me that quite often. So one is
she always tells me that, like,I would not be able to strike up
a conversation with just astranger. So I'll just kinda
share a story. I'm going to putout a blog on that pretty soon.
So there is one of the trailsthat we walk on, and there's
(15:22):
this phenomenal lady, Jennifer,where she is on a bike, and as
she's traveling, she will justgo good morning, you know, with
so much energy and enthusiasmthat when you look at her, when
she looks at you and wishes yougood morning, you feel like
you're the only person in thatmoment.
(15:45):
So today, what I did was, like,you know, this has been we've
been wishing and greeting eachother for almost, like, I think,
so year, year and a half. I justwaved at her and said, like, do
you have couple of minutes tochat? And she stopped by, and I
said, like, you know, I wouldreally love to give you a shout
out. Would you be okay if I tooka picture with you? And she
goes, sure.
(16:05):
So we got to talking, and now weare going to be going for a
walk. So, walk together. Sothat's one of the things she
just loves about me that I don'thave any inhibitions. Like, if
people will make faces at me, ifI smile at them, I'm like, fine.
What I wanna do is that I wannamake an impact, and sometimes
(16:29):
people are not ready for it.
It's alright. I understand that.So that's one of the things. And
second thing is, again, we arevery much similar in that. Like,
I just don't like, somebody isgoing to fill my ears.
That, oh, that person is likethat. That person is like that.
I'm not just going to take themat face value. I'm going to sit
back, understand the person, andthen make my own decision. And
(16:53):
then third thing is, again, thetrailblazer, which we both
admire in each other.
Lisa (16:58):
Love that. Wow. If you guys were together, what would
you be doing?
Divya Parekh (17:07):
Most likely, we would either be going to
farmer's market
Tamara (17:11):
I was gonna say that.
Divya Parekh (17:14):
Or going for a nice coffee or to the beach or
walking in one of our favoritenature trails.
Lisa (17:24):
Oh, fun. Love that. Alright. I can't wait to meet
her someday.
Tamara (17:34):
I know. You might get to meet her. Yay. Yeah.
Lisa (17:37):
Maybe well, we'll see. Well, I think, Divya, you're
across the country. I'm inCalifornia. You're in is it
North Carolina?
Yes.
Divya Parekh (17:45):
I'm in North Carolina.
Lisa (17:46):
Yeah. Tamara's in Montana, so we're all
Oh, wow. In the field.
Yeah. I
Divya Parekh (17:50):
hear that about the fires. Well, I hope y'all
have fire free. Summer because Iused to be in California long,
long time back in 9 nineties,and I remember, like, you know,
just that smoke and just thefires, they can be so brutal.
Lisa (18:07):
Yeah. They can. Well, I I have to say, I mean, you never
know when you're gonna meet youryour next best friend. It could
be someone at your work. Itcould be someone on a bike ride
or, like, on a walking trail.
Sounds like, Divvy, you mighthave a new a new friend in your
future, which is kind ofexciting. And we're just so glad
(18:30):
that you were able to be on ourshow today.
Divya Parekh (18:32):
Oh, thank you. And if I may share, like, you know,
Lisa has become a really goodfriend. And as a matter of fact,
Lisa and I are doing a projecttogether where we are helping
speakers.
Lisa (18:45):
Yeah. We're gonna do a book, an anthology for speakers
to share. It's called SpeakingYour Brilliance and they are
going to be able to share someof their brilliance in that book
and it's pretty powerful. We'revery excited. It's it's kind of
like a like one of those thingsthat I could wish about, and
(19:07):
then Divya's like, let's make ithappen.
And she has all the tools to dothat, so it was really exciting
to to put that out there forpeople who want to be an author
and make it easy and make animpact and make income. Right?
It's a it's a great way to dothat, and we'll put the link in
the show notes too so that ifanybody wants to apply,
(19:29):
depending on when you'relistening to the show, we might
still have open applications.
Divya Parekh (19:36):
Absolutely. And if I may take the liberty, I would
like to share a couple of thingsthat I love about you, Lisa.
Lisa (19:42):
Oh, well, okay. Mhmm.
So welcome
back to you.
Divya Parekh (19:45):
So, Tamara, I don't know a whole lot about
you, but you seem like a veryfriendly person. So for Lisa, I
think so now I've known her afew times, and here's what I'll
share that. Somebody hadrecommended me to connect with
Lisa, and the first time when Imet her, she puts you at ease.
It's such a powerful thing thatshe has. And and she knows how
(20:11):
to build that community, how toget those people moving.
So just wanted to share that.
Lisa (20:19):
Aw. Thank you. I appreciate that. I wasn't
expecting that. Yeah.
I I will accept that compliment.
Divya Parekh (20:31):
Awesome. Because so many women tend to shy away
from receiving the compliments,and it's important to do that.
Tamara (20:40):
Yeah. Lisa well, I I mean, I probably learned it a
lot. I'd say I learned a lot ofmy social skills. You've helped
me. And so, yeah, Lisa and I dovery well.
We have no problem meetingpeople. When we're together,
it's fun.
Lisa (21:02):
So Yeah. We have a good night.
Tamara (21:04):
Many people, you know, in a nice, lovely way, and it's
always she's very good at,having people, like you said,
respond and open up and, youknow, we just know how to ask
people the right questions, Ithink, sometimes. Mhmm.
Lisa (21:18):
Yeah. Most of the time. Yeah. I think one thing Tamara
and I have in common is a deeplike, a true authentic curiosity
about other people. And I saythat because for a long time I
really took that for granted.
I didn't think of it as aspecial thing. But there's quite
a few people who are absolutelynot curious about a spoonful.
Divya Parekh (21:41):
Yeah.
Lisa (21:41):
And that's okay. That's okay.
Divya Parekh (21:43):
I'll say that. I just wanna share one thing about
that. If you're not curious, youcan miss out on so much. The way
I see it is, like, you know,people are like a treasure
trove. The more curious you are,you can learn more.
And it's just listening to otherpeople's perspectives is so
enriching.
Lisa (22:02):
I agree. I just was listening to another podcast,
and they had the guest, and Ican't remember his whole name,
but he was the gentleman. Hisname first name is Key. He was
the gentleman in, EverythingEverywhere All at Once, and he
was in Goonies and IndianaJones. Oh my gosh.
What an uplifting interview. Heis, like, my new, like, shining
(22:23):
star, north star, per like, justlike the nicest man who's had
the most interesting,fascinating life. So, again,
always open to differentperspectives of, like, how how
we've gotten to where we aretoday. It was really cool, and
that was on Armchair Expert,podcast with Dax Shepard. Yeah.
(22:43):
A little shout out to my buddy,Dax. One day. Well, I've
actually seen him in person. Hejust didn't see me. That's okay.
That's okay. Well, besties,thanks for tuning in to another
awesome episode of How I Met MyBFF, and we will see you soon
when I get back from vacation.And, thank you Divya for being
(23:06):
on our show. Thank you Tamarafor being my best friend for so
many, many years.
Tamara (23:13):
No problem. My pleasure.
Divya Parekh (23:15):
Thank you, ladies, for having me. Appreciate it.
Bye.
Tamara (23:19):
Aloha.
Divya Parekh (23:20):
Bye.
Lisa (23:23):
Hey, Bestie. Thanks for listening. If you like this
episode, be sure to hit thatsubscribe button to get notified
of new episodes and check outcool bestie gift ideas at how I
met my bff.com.
Tamara (23:33):
That's right. And also, leave us a review. Those reviews
help us out a lot and are one ofthe best ways to support us.
Lisa (23:40):
Yes. And if you have a fun story about how you met your
BFF, send us an email at info athow I met my bff.com. We would
love to hear about it.
Tamara (23:49):
Definitely. And, hey, maybe we'll have you on our next
episode.
Lisa (23:53):
That would be awesome. Until next time.
Tamara (23:55):
Love you, BFFs.
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