August 8, 2023 • 54 mins
Arlene Blake is the founder and Executive Director of Women on the Rise. This organization helps women to strive for excellence. Women On The Rise was formed with the purpose of providing educational and motivational events for women, with a focus on our four pillars: women’s financial literacy, career development, entrepreneurship, and personal wellness. During our interview, I asked what she is most grateful for. Her response is a sobering reminder to be grateful for life. She "watched life exit from a person and their fight for life. and realised how much she appreciates every single breath."
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Episode Transcript
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(00:10):
Hi, my name is Isabella Johnstonand I'm called The Intern Whisperer.
Our show is brought to you by Employersfor Change, and we are continuing
our tips series on unconscious bias.
So today's tip of theweek is about anchor bias.
Now what that means is when someoneholds onto an initial singular piece
of information to make decisions,an anchor bias commonly occurs in
(00:35):
the hiring process When comparingcandidates, a recruiter may see one
aspect of a candidate and then cannot.
Unsee that characteristic whileconsidering other applicants, for
example, the first applicant, a recruiterconsiders may request a significant lower
salary than the following candidates.
(00:55):
This can create an expectationcalled anchor bias.
The latter candidatesare asking far too much.
So how do we avoid this type of bias?
To avoid anchor bias, try to compareevery aspect of a candidate and
never rely on one singular piece ofinformation as the deciding factor.
(01:16):
If you find yourself.
Coming back to that one piece ofinformation you're comparing it against,
try omitting the anchoring piece ofinformation and compare candidates
based on other characteristics andqualifications such as their skills
and the experience that they have.
Welcome to The Interim Whisperer.
(01:37):
Our show is all about the future of work.
So today's guest is Arlene Blake.
She is the Executive Director ofWomen on the Rise International.
She is a visionary entrepreneur, salesleader, and creative strategist that is
passionate about engaging, inspiring,and empowering women around the world.
I'm so excited to have you.
I met you at the 100 Women Strong and I.
(01:59):
Found your speech, so Oh, so moving,and I just really enjoyed it and went,
I have to have her on my podcast,so I'm thrilled to have you here.
Yes, thank you so much for having me.
I'm excited.
Okay, so we always kick offour show where we talk about.
Five words you get to sharewith our listening audience.
Five words that describe youand why did you pick those?
(02:21):
And I did write 'em down soI can prompt you when needed.
Absolutely.
So some of these words I may not havenecessarily chosen for myself, but other
people have described me using thesewords, but bubbly, for sure, direct.
It's because I'm an Aries.
Mm.
Um, enthusiastic visionary.
(02:41):
Deeva, and I don't mean like, I liketo often say the Mariah Carey Diva.
Mm-hmm.
Um, this is D E E V A, which is theHindu term for goddess because I feel as
though every woman has a goddess withinthem that is waiting to be unleashed.
So that's my client term.
I really like that.
And since you explained it, we startedbackwards, so that's even better.
(03:03):
That's great.
So why do people describe you as bubbly?
I have always had thisreally energetic personality.
Um, if I'm very quiet, peoplethink something is wrong.
Um, but it's just, I don't know.
I have great enthusiasm towards life.
(03:24):
And so, I don't know, my personalityhas just always been very bubbly.
I love to laugh.
I love to be joyful.
Um, there's so much to be gratefulfor just to be here every day.
So, um, bubbly is definitelya key word to describe me.
Yeah.
I would also say energetic.
I know you came in with alot of energy that day, so,
(03:44):
um, I would use that one too.
Okay.
I like the word direct.
I describe myself that way,and I think it's, uh, a more.
What would be a balanced word that we canuse instead of saying, oh, she's this,
which may not have a positive meaning.
Yeah, yeah.
Um.
I feel as though I've had tobecome more direct mm-hmm.
(04:05):
In leadership, especially since Ihave, um, founded Women on the Rise.
It is something that everyoneexpects me to lead and make
the executive decisions mm-hmm.
On everything.
And so I oftentimes have to bevery direct to keep the, the
needle moving forward and get.
Things done.
Um, and then also it's just kindof a little innate being in Aries.
(04:29):
I don't know if you know many Aries,but we're typically pretty direct.
Mm.
I am Libra.
The balance, you know,the scales of justice.
So yes, I think directis a very good thing.
Yes.
Yeah, definitely.
I, I get it.
Um, enthusiastic.
Why that?
I feel as though if you'regoing to do something, you
(04:50):
have to go all the way with it.
And I feel as though you have to give itall of your effort, all of your energy,
and that's really, really exciting.
And so I'm typically prettyenthusiastic about everything that I do.
Um, and it's come through evenwith my six-year-old son, he
always has this great enthusiasmabout everything he's a part of.
(05:10):
And so when people see him, they'realways like, that is definitely your
child, because we both share that.
Same level of enthusiasm.
That is a, a fun thing to have too.
And sometimes it can, I, I can imagine itcan also be a, a clashing point, but yeah.
You know, the good and the bad.
Yes.
Finding balance for sure.
Yeah.
Okay, so the next one, visionary.
(05:31):
You had to be, you started aninternational group, you know, The
interesting part is at first itstarted off where I just had an idea
for something very small and then youknow, next thing you know, people are
asking me questions about what's next,and I'm having to keep on creating this
vision and expanding it and growing it.
(05:52):
And listening to the needs thatexist within the community and
creating all of these opportunities.
So I have kind of been pushedinto the visionary position.
Mm-hmm.
I've always been extremely creative.
Um, but now I actually have to execute.
Yeah.
Um, but I have always been a dreamer and,um, I'm fortunate that my parents allowed
(06:16):
me to really kind of sit back and, andcreate ideas and to be able to, you know,
work on them to bring them to fruition.
And I have a very supportive groupand team around me that allows
for me to be that visionary.
So, Hmm.
Yeah.
That is a great story there.
Yeah.
Um, so where did, wheredid you go to school?
(06:36):
Mm-hmm.
Um, sometimes people don't gonecessarily the college route.
Never a problem.
But, you know, how did you get from schoolto where you're now, and let's make sure
you spend a little bit more time talkingabout Women on the Rise International.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Um, so I'm a knight.
I went right here toUniversity of Central Florida.
I came from Jacksonville.
(06:57):
Uh, I had a few different optionsof universities to go to, but
U C F was calling my name.
Some of the other, you know, collegetowns became very dead during
the summer and holiday breaks.
And I was thinking, okay, I'vealways loved the theme park, so
during the summer I could go toUniversal Studios and Disney.
Why wouldn't I choose Orlando?
(07:18):
So, um, I came out here and I thinkwhen I first moved to Orlando,
there was still, um, a lot ofpastures kind of on university.
It is definitely not what it, no,there's no more what it's today.
Um, but I came to U C F to goto school for legal studies.
I was.
passionate about becoming a lawyer.
I was on the debate team in high school.
(07:41):
You couldn't tell me that I wasn'tgonna become an, uh, an attorney.
That was my passion.
And then business was my minor.
So, um, yeah, that'swhat I went to U C F for.
And I graduated, uh, class of '06..
I immediately went to go workfor a law firm after that.
I will say that while I was at UC F I was very, very involved in
(08:04):
different women's groups on campusand I was very involved in planning a
lot of the events that we would have.
So I got that bug kind of early.
So initially it was, okay, I'm gonnago to law school after I graduate.
And then that little itch for eventsreally got to me and I said, I
think I wanna be an event planner.
(08:24):
And at this time you had allof the wedding planning shows
that were on T L C and so forth.
I was like, well, maybebe a wedding planner.
But I started a wedding planning businessbecause I couldn't find an internship
with any of the local companies.
So I created my own opportunity, starteda business, and I started to get clients.
This was all while I was workingfull-time, managing a law
(08:47):
firm in Winter Park, Florida.
Um, well I'll ask you about that offline.
I used to work for attorneys andone of them was in Winter Park also.
So yeah.
What kinda law were you, uh, working in?
Personal injury.
Okay.
Maybe it was the same one.
So, you know, I, I know there'smore than one down there, but
you know, that's what I did too.
Yes, we did productsliability and personal injury.
(09:09):
Oh, fantastic.
Yes.
Yeah.
I was there for likeeight, almost eight years.
That would be so funny.
That would be really funny.
Yeah.
So funny.
Yeah.
I worked for, uh, quite a few lawyerswhile I was putting myself through school.
Okay.
You know, the, um, the undergrad, the, uh,master's and then a little bit into a PhD.
(09:30):
Okay.
Yeah.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm one of the, but I was in education.
Okay.
I did wanna be an attorney though, but Ichose to go and be a classroom teacher.
Yeah.
I love that you're in nonprofitthough too, because that's just huge.
You, you did a whole shift fromgoing from, you know, law and event
planning, which event planningdefinitely ties into nonprofit.
(09:52):
Yeah, it did come in handy.
It definitely did.
But it was all by accident.
There was, yeah, it wasnot intended originally.
Um, it's interesting to look back and,and say to yourself, I never knew that
this is where I was going to end up.
Right, right.
So crazy.
So how did Women on the Rise getstarted and how old is the organization?
(10:13):
So we're in our eighth year right now.
Wow.
Um, and so, you know, during thattime when I was at the law firm,
there were a few different thingsthat were happening in my personal
life and with our senior partner,who I consider as one of my mentors.
Um, he became ill with Alzheimer's.
And he passed away.
He passed after mymother passed of cancer.
(10:37):
Next was my father that passed of cancerand then he passed from Alzheimer's.
And this is all withinlike a five year period.
That's a lot of significant people.
It was a lot.
And um, I've always consideredmyself to be a fairly strong
person, but that almost took me out.
And so I remember I was working a salesjob after that because when, um, after
(10:58):
he passed, they were closing the law firmand I decided to just do like a complete
shift and change, um, I also decided toclose my event planning business because
I was, you know, like a, um, a solopractitioner sit, uh, basically, and when
my mom was sick and my dad was sick, Istill really had to keep the business
going on my own even though I'm strugglingwith dealing with the loss of my parents.
(11:22):
Right.
And I am in the biggest celebrationof many individuals' lives,
and I'm still having to carry.
You know, all of this happiness andcheerfulness and it was difficult.
Um, and so I decided thatI was going to let that go.
I finished all of the events that I hadon the books after my father passed,
um, and I closed up shop and I wentto an event and it was for, um, those
(11:43):
in professional sales, um, like, youknow, pharmaceutical, medical device,
um, uh, industrial sales and so forth.
I go to an event and they told meabout a big conference that they
were about to go to, and I decidedfive days after my father passed,
I was gonna go to that conference.
I bought a last minute ticket,last minute plane ticket, revamped
my resume within two weeks.
(12:03):
And I went to this conference and Igot hired by, um, a major brand there.
And I took on a role doingindustrial sales and that kind
of, changed a little bit of thetrajectory of my life at that point.
Um, and so now I'm a salesperson.
Mm-hmm.
Um, but during that time I foundmyself in a really negative place
(12:25):
because one, that's not an easy job.
Mm-hmm.
Let's, let's be clear, right.
Um, there's a lot of obstaclesthat you, um, encounter, a lot of
objections you encounter, and sometimesit can be a lot on the spirit.
And then I already was strugglingbecause I had lost all of these
people who meant so much to me.
Mm-hmm.
And so I decided to do therapy.
In therapy, um, I made the decision, one,I was going to hire a coach, which I am
(12:52):
like the biggest advocate for coaches.
Mm-hmm.
So I hired a personal coach whowas going to help me figure out
what's the next step for me.
Right.
And so she really helped me, um,with the job that I had to be
able to go in and articulate.
What I was going through or what Ineeded from my manager so that I was
(13:13):
able to be successful in my role.
Mm-hmm.
That completely changed becauseI went from being, um, you know,
on the chopping block mm-hmm.
To being the number one personin our whole southeast region.
Oh.
Within maybe like a five month period.
So that was huge.
Um, in addition to that, as I'm going tothe group therapy sessions, I found myself
(13:35):
being more positive every time I came in.
And prior to that, when I would behaving conversations with friends
and family, I was always that personthinking of everything negative.
It was like the glasswas always half empty.
Hmm.
And I didn't like the reactionsthat I was getting from others.
As I was having those conversationswith them, 'cause oftentimes we
(13:55):
don't recognize the fact that we'renegative or we're being negative.
That's true.
So I started to kind of be a littlebit more self-aware and I started
realizing the reactions that Iwas getting and that's when I knew
therapy was gonna be my only option.
Therapy was not something I hadever heard of in my family, but
it was the only thing that I couldthink of to keep myself going.
(14:16):
Yeah.
Um, and so I did that.
But again, as I'm coming to eachsession, I'm more and more positive.
I'm having encouraging words tothe other women that were part
of the therapy group as well.
The therapist put a calling onme to do something to bring women
together on a consistent basis.
Hmm.
To where we would have that same kindof encouragement and empowerment.
(14:38):
And that really sat with mebecause prior to my mom getting
sick, and let's say this was 2015.
In 2009, right before my mom was diagnosedwith pancreatic cancer, I had started
planning a women's empowerment day.
Hmm.
And I had all of these like requestsfor proposals and agendas and all
(15:01):
these things that were put togetherin a binder, and I shelved the idea
when I found out that she was sick.
And so now I have this person who'sspeaking into me saying that she
thinks I should bring women togetherin this positive environment.
Mm-hmm.
I bring this up to my coach andshe said, well, Arlene, I think you
should go out and create the event.
And so she went ahead andput some goals behind me.
(15:22):
I had to have a venuebooked by a certain date.
I had to have my agenda created andall of these milestones I needed to
do in order to make this event happen.
And I did.
So in March, women's Historymonth kickoff of 2016.
Perfect.
We had, um, what was our first event?
And again, it was onlysupposed to be this one event.
There wasn't supposed to be eventsthat were coming after that.
(15:45):
Mm-hmm.
But we had a hundred, orI had 123 women show up.
That's a lot for first event, not No.
They showed up for this first event.
That's crazy.
And they were so, it was crazy.
And they were so excited aboutthe event and I began to get
emails afterwards and they wereasking me, when's the next event?
(16:05):
Um, you know, how can I volunteer?
How can I be a part of this?
And I'm like, huh, what?
And so I continued to create additionalevents and then one of my mentors said,
Arlene, I think this is a nonprofityou have, like at each of these events,
you're teaching women different things.
You're providing a platform for otherwomen to share their stories, to educate
(16:28):
and inspire and empower other women.
This is a nonprofit.
Yes it is.
You know?
And so I was like, okay.
I went ahead and hired an attorney,Audrey Chisholm, here in Orlando,
and she helped me to get everythingtogether so that we could go ahead
and file our 5 0 1 C three paperwork.
And July of 2016, we were official.
(16:51):
Congratulations.
Thank you.
And December of 2016,we opened up membership.
So that was something that I hadn'tintended on doing, but I had people
who kept on sending emails andasking how can we be more involved?
Is there a membership?
Like what?
I had to go to the drawingboard and create that.
And uh, one of the amazing things is thefirst person who registered as a member,
(17:16):
um, her name is Nicole Hill Eugene.
She is, I know still, I.
Yeah.
Um, she was our first member.
She's still a member.
Um, she serves on leadershipwithin Women on the Rise.
So it's, it's a fun fact.
Yeah.
I like the website.
I just opened it up because,well, I, I've looked at it
before, but I love the colors.
(17:37):
I mean, it's not, it's not all pink.
It's got this nice balance oforange so our listeners can see it.
You'll see it on
her, uh, her logo when youwatch it on YouTube also, but,
It's very modern looking and
it, it's just a hint of Barbie,if you will, like the Barbie pink.
I loved Barbie growing up, you know?
(17:58):
Yeah.
So, my God.
And uh, what was the other one?
There was one with ReeseWitherspoon in and Legally blonde.
There you go.
One of the best movies ever.
Yes.
I could not agree more.
Yeah.
It's got a little bit of a hint of thatkind of pink going on because it's like
snap, snap, snap, all business here.
That's definitely part ofthat bubbly side of myself.
Um, yeah.
Yeah, I can, I candefinitely see that for sure.
(18:21):
Yeah.
So anyway, now you have members,how, how fast was it growing, I
wanna say by, um, By the summer ofthe next year, we probably had like
60 paid members of the organization.
Wow.
We were having, um, monthly meetingsand these meetings were packed out
and they weren't all just registeredmembers of the organization.
(18:44):
It was other women in thecommunity who wanted to just come.
They may have had likea fear of commitment.
Mm-hmm.
But they would come, they wouldenjoy the meetings and so forth.
Um, and it was a great time offellowship just to be around other
like-minded women who were all aspiringfor something, something greater
or who just wanted to, to give backor just be around positive energy.
(19:07):
So, um, it was always a really,really great environment to be
a part of and it fed my soul.
Mm.
I love that.
I love it.
Yeah.
And, and I'm even looking atthe membership, page, you got
a lot of benefit that's here.
Yeah.
At a very affordable price.
Right?
Yeah.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Um, we were just talking about that lastnight at a leadership team meeting we
(19:27):
had because, and I know we'll get intothis later, we had a whole workshop on.
AI and leveraging Chat G P T.
And so we did this intensive workshopand I, I asked people, okay, what are
you working on right now that's likecausing some something blocks for you?
And then we broke it down withchat G P T and the minds that were
(19:47):
blown from what we were able to do.
Was crazy.
And so, um, just really being ableto provide some of that insight for
our members as an added benefit.
Because you'll see oftentimes, and oneof our board members said this, I don't,
I don't like things that are surface.
So if we're gonna do a workshop, if we'regonna do an event and we're going to
(20:08):
educate, there's not an upsell afterwards.
We're diving all the way in.
When you walk away, you're gonna feellike, man, that's something that I
probably should have paid $5,000 for.
Right?
Yeah, I know.
Exactly.
Value is huge.
Yeah.
And so I always wanna make sure that we'reover-delivering and that our members.
They feel that value, they understandthat value that they're getting.
(20:31):
Um, and it allows for them to be moresuccessful in everything that they do.
Hmm.
I love it.
Yeah.
Love it.
Love it, love it.
Okay, so what are thebigger plans for the group?
'cause I know you just had a gala.
Yeah.
Tell us about the gala.
So essentially the gala is an opportunityfor the community to come to our website.
Nominate a woman that is excelling in hercareer and giving back in the community.
(20:54):
And so the individuals getto nominate all these women.
We take it down to thetop 5 in each category.
We invite them to a beautiful nightof celebration, of sisterhood,
um, and we honor them and we dochoose a winner in each category,
but we also honor and celebrate.
Each of those nominees thatevening, and it's just a
(21:15):
beautiful night of celebration.
Hmm.
Um, I have to say this becauseit was, it was so amazing.
Um, Mayor Demmings here, um, inOrlando, he came to the gala.
He was one of our, um, special guests.
And he, he had let us knowthat he was only gonna be there
for a small period of time.
He was there for the whole entire event.
(21:35):
Whoa, what an honor.
But I watched as he had the programbooklet and he was intent on reading
about each person and pointingout each person that was there.
And it was amazing to see how.
Excited he was.
And I think that also excitedeveryone that was there too, to see.
Yeah.
That same level of excitement.
It was a beautiful, beautiful evening.
(21:57):
We had it at the Dr.
Phillips, um, center for Performing Arts.
Mm-hmm.
Right here in downtown Orlando, whichif you haven't been there, it's an
absolutely so beautiful, beautiful space.
And so, um, I don't know, it was.
It was just absolutely beautiful.
And so we were excited about thatand I know all of the nominees
and the finalists felt veryspecial by being celebrated there.
(22:18):
So who are the finalists?
Who, um, so should I pull up the page?
'cause I'm not sure.
So I, I can tell you who, um,the, the winners for the gala are.
That's what I'm really wondering.
Um, Actually, we were just sendingout an announcement, so I will
go ahead and just read that off.
Um, let's see here.
(22:41):
Let me get that.
Is it on the website yet?
It is not.
It is not.
Lemme tell you, we have so many pieces.
Do you have to be a member to win also?
No.
So you can anybody, any woman that livesin Orange, well not in Orange County, but
anyone that lives in the Orlando mm-hmm.
Metro area is able to be nominated.
(23:05):
Um, so our young achiever, college deeva.
So that's a young lady who's either asenior going off to graduating, going off
to college, or who's in college currently.
Um, was Roxy Richburg.
She won a $1,000 scholarship.
We also raised funds through the gala,um, that we split between all six mm
(23:26):
of young, um, achiever, college deeva.
So they all receive a scholarship check.
Very nice.
Um, yes.
And next year our goal is to raise$20,000 that we can do 20 scholarships.
Um, uh, community Impact Leader Award,Mia Poinsett Top in real estate.
We actually had a tie betweenDeidre Gray Bill and Darlene Dykes.
(23:49):
Our deeva to watchwinner was Tamara Boone.
Our inspirational deevawinner was Mia Ette.
Our entrepreneur Deeva was Cherise Wilkes.
Oh, I know her.
I just recorded herpodcast before you came in.
I love Cherise Cherise.
She's amazing.
Yeah, I know.
Cherise and I worked togetherout of, uh, O M G labs.
(24:11):
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's so funny.
She was just here.
You guys would've seen each other.
Okay.
She's amazing.
Um, leading deeva in tech.
Renee Overton Palma, talented deeva.
The Cessandra Lewis, um, topeducator, Jacqueline Russell, and
then Deeva Influencer Leslie Pittman.
(24:33):
Very nice.
Yes.
Yeah.
Well, thanks for sharing that and alittle shout out to all those women too.
Yes, they are all absolutely amazing.
All of the finalists from that evening.
Equally amazing.
Um, we had a great group of womenthat were nominated this year, and
all of them should be celebrated forall of the work that they do and, and
way they give back in the community.
(24:54):
Hmm.
Is it, um, how do you decide?
Is it by a popular vote?
Is it by a committee?
Is it by all of those things?
So there, there's a panel of judges andthey have a scoring rubric, and so, okay.
They basically, um, the nominationforms that they receive, they have
to go through that and they haveto score it based on the values
that are given in each category.
(25:15):
Got it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, I, I really, it appreciateit's very scientific and technical.
Yes.
And it, it should be though, right?
So that it's, you know, really.
Fair.
And then we have tocalculate it like 3 or 4
times just to make sure.
And yeah.
So yeah, it gets, don'twanna have any mess ups.
We don't want any mess-ups.
So we're gonna move on to acouple of other questions that I
(25:36):
typically ask in the second, wellin the first half of the show.
So I like, uh, David Letterman'smethod of interviewing.
So my questions come from thatarea, really a deeper dive,
getting to know the guest.
Okay.
What is a favorite quote that you live by?
Just start.
So why that one?
Um, it actually comes back from,um, when my mother was still here.
(26:00):
Mm-hmm.
And I would make a big dealout of a little, right?
Mm-hmm.
Um, I would overthink things in my head.
Mm-hmm.
And my mom said to me, Arlene,you know what you need to do.
You have everything thatyou need, just start.
Yep.
And I have carried thatthrough with Women on the Rise.
(26:22):
I try not to overthink things too much.
You just have to take the first stepin getting things going and started.
Mm-hmm.
Um, I've helped others as welltoo, as they've created concepts,
created businesses, created their ownevents, um, extended their platforms.
Don't overthink it.
Just take the first step to get it done.
(26:42):
Just start.
So that is definitely one of thosequotes that I live by, you know?
I like that you referenced that itwas something your mom always said,
because I'm sure I have little wordsthat I use too, and it always takes
me to, this is what my mom said,this is what my grandparents said.
Like I have words too.
And my mom died also.
Um, of cancer, different type.
(27:04):
Sorry, we, we feel together here anyway.
But when you say it, youalways think of your mom.
Mm-hmm.
It's a way that you honor your mom.
Yes, absolutely.
It's so cool and interesting.
Um, fact, too, women on the Rise, our namestarted off as the Paula Blake Empowerment
Initiative named after my mother, andwe did evolve and change the name, but
(27:26):
it was always created in her memory.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Love that.
So the hardest lesson that youlearned that changed your life
hopefully for the better too.
Yeah.
Um, never take a, a moment for granted.
Mm-hmm.
Um, I would say I, I don't have anyregrets per se, but, um, having lost.
(27:54):
Both of my parents to cancer, toput it into perspective, my mother
was only 48 when she passed.
Whoa.
And my father was 56.
And so to have parents that are veryyoung to pass away that early on
in my life, um, there's been somehard lessons that I've had to learn.
I've haven't had that crutch that Iwould say some people sometimes have.
(28:15):
There's a lot of growingup that I had to do.
You know, um, by myself in a sense.
Mm-hmm.
There was a, a post that I saw recentlyon Instagram where the person said they
never realized how much they would'veneeded their parents in their adult years.
Oh gosh.
Yes.
And I felt that so much.
(28:35):
I feel like I have neverneeded my mother more.
Um, you know, my son.
His, you know, both of his grandmothers,um, were deceased both from cancer
before he came into this world.
Wow.
And so not knowing what to dowith a, a newborn baby, you know?
Mm-hmm.
I depended on the nurse atthe hospital to help me.
(28:56):
I depended on the persons at the daycareto tell me what needed to be done.
I didn't have that.
And so, um, those are some of thoselessons that I wish I would've had
someone, um, You know, there, whichI would have my mom there to be able
to support me through those things.
So some hard lessons that I've had tolearn alone, um, that, you know, had she
had been here, I probably wouldn't havemade all the mistakes that I've made.
(29:20):
Um, but I, I'm probably thestronger for it, but, mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah, definitely.
Um, I think that when we get older,we begin to become more of a peer
relationship with our parents.
We don't.
Hopefully they don't see us as babies,but they're, we're always their child.
Right.
Or their baby.
But hopefully they always seeus as, you know, Hey, I'm, I'm
(29:40):
here to take care of you also.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's, it's a sweetrelationship that you can have.
It really is.
One of the things that Iremember from when my mom was
sick was we held hands a lot.
Yeah.
And I, I can still feel her hand in mine.
And so my son and I, wehold hands all the time.
Like, that's so important to me.
(30:00):
Um, 'cause that's something that,well, I'll always have, you know,
and you'll, it's very intimate.
You only hold hands with a personthat's very, very close to you.
Yes.
I, for me, I know that, I don'tknow what anybody else thinks.
I think that holding handsis more intimate in a, uh,
relationship than, than sex.
Yep.
Because like, you really love that person.
(30:21):
Absolutely.
Mm-hmm.
What are you most grateful for then?
That's a hard act to follow withthe first one that you just gave us.
Yeah.
I'm grateful for life.
Um, I think when you havewatched life exit mm-hmm.
From someone's body withyour own eyes mm-hmm.
And, and you, you watch themfight it, you appreciate life.
(30:45):
Yes.
You appreciate every single breath.
Um.
And so that's what I'm most grateful for.
I'm grateful to wake up everyday to my both my feet work.
Mm-hmm.
I'm able to breathe my, you know, Ijust, When you've seen others suffer, you
respect and you appreciate life even more.
(31:06):
Mm-hmm.
I do something that, um,I call a gratitude walk.
Now, I haven't done it in a while.
I'm gonna be honest.
I have to get back on it.
Um, but I would go and walk foran hour and for that hour I would.
Sit there and say, okay,God, I'm grateful for this.
I'm grateful for this.
Just like you said, you know, the abilityto walk for my feet, for, you know,
the health that you give me, there'sso much we have to be grateful for.
(31:30):
An hour would never be enough time.
Yeah, most definitely.
Yeah.
That's why it's great tosometimes just in quiet.
Allowing yourself to reflect andto, to think about all of those
things that we oftentimes take forgranted or are moving too fast to
truly acknowledge and appreciate.
So, so here's something, Iread this statistic last week.
(31:51):
Your kids you have will onlybe with you for 18 years.
Typically, they go off to college.
That is the, you will have about 20% oftheir time with you in your lifetime.
Mm-hmm.
You raised them to leave you, right?
Yeah.
Yeah, that's true.
So you only see them in that.
And I went, wow, that is a very powerfulstatistic because when you think about.
(32:16):
How much time you had with your own mom.
Yeah.
And you have a young one also that itmakes somebody stop and think, oh my gosh.
And you just said it, thathow quickly things move.
He's how old?
5, 6.
He's 6 right now.
Yeah.
6.
Yeah.
He will only be 6 for this one year.
And we, we have to instill so much intoa young, Child or a middle school or a
(32:41):
teenager, and I used to teach middle andhigh school and I would go into these
parent conferences and I said, yourchild needs you more now than they did
when they were in elementary school.
And don't for one minutethink they aren't hearing you.
Mm-hmm.
They hear you.
It's part of the separationthat has has to happen, but.
(33:01):
You know, if you really wanna have bigimpact, and I'll pass this one on to
you, is if you spend one hour a monthin the school where your child is in
middle and high school, you will neverhave a discipline problem because every
teacher will know you are the motherof that child and they say, so I'm
having a little problem with Johnny.
(33:22):
He is very social and whatthey mean is he talks a lot.
Yeah, that's mine.
Yeah.
So, so it really, and you willalso know who your kids are hanging
around with the, the good ones andthe ones that you would question.
Is that a good decision?
Um, so just kind of keep that in mind.
If you really wanna know, and I don't knowwhere your, your child goes to school,
(33:46):
um, but just remember one hour a month.
It turns everything around.
I actually volunteer everyopportunity that they give me.
Yeah.
Um, so all of the kids in hisclassroom knew me very well.
Yeah.
Well keep doing that.
Keep it, because many times parents,they do it when they're in elementary
(34:06):
school, but they see these big bodieson these kids and they go, yeah.
He, he's like, you know, 5'10"and he's in seventh grade.
Doesn't matter.
Yeah.
Show up.
You still show up.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
And you know, I've always loved mentoring.
Mm-hmm.
Um, I have done it majority of my life.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and so I hope to continue todo that even in spaces that, you
(34:29):
know, he'll allow me to be in.
Right.
We'll see what happens.
Um, you know, I am, I getextremely passionate about our
high school students as well too.
Um, when I went off to college, I appliedfor 24 scholarships and I won 20 of them.
Holy cow.
Yeah.
And so my parents, I.
Never had to, you know, raise adime to send me off to college.
(34:52):
And they were quite nervous when theyknew what was going on to college.
Um, and there were a lot of smallscholarships that I won and they added
up to completely taking care of me.
Um, in addition to the scholarshipthat I got from, U C F,
'cause I was, I was a scholar.
I went to a college preparatoryschool in Jacksonville.
Um, and so I just knew,like I said earlier, I was
(35:13):
gonna be an attorney, right.
I was going to be my thing.
Um, and so I get really passionateabout talking to our young people
about what is that next step for them.
Mm-hmm.
How are they paying for college?
How are they creating exceptionalexperiences during their high school
experience that they can share as they'redoing their college essays mm-hmm.
And so forth, right?
(35:33):
Mm-hmm.
And so that, I, I love being around our,our youth and sharing that and encouraging
them to put that best foot forward.
And it's interesting too because,um, I told you I applied for
24 and I only won 20 of them.
Mm-hmm.
So there were four I did not receive.
So the question I always ask is, when doyou think I applied for the four that I.
(35:55):
I did not get, it was the first four.
Mm-hmm.
The first four scholarships Idid not get, but I continued on.
Mm-hmm.
And then I won 20 consecutivelyafter that, so I always
tell them, don't give up.
Right, right.
You may not get the first, the second,the third, or even the fourth, but
at some point it's going to happen.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Uh, that's very inspiring forentrepreneurs, for people raising money.
(36:18):
I'm raising money.
I'll have to tell youmore about what I do.
Yeah.
Off off this show.
Yeah, absolutely.
At another time.
Alright, so the next questionI have is, who in your life
has had the biggest impact?
And I know you told the first three.
Yeah.
You know, your boss, previousboss, and then your parents.
I can't imagine that it's not those three.
I'm gonna.
(36:39):
Shift a little bit.
Okay.
Um, my fourth gradeelementary school teacher, Ms.
Lucco, um, I'm gonna give hercredit here and I'll tell you why.
I remember I wanted to be a news anchoron our school television show, which
was Wake Up Alimacani Elementary School.
Mm-hmm.
(37:00):
And I never received theinvite to come and interview.
And, um, I'm having a conversation withmy teacher and I share this, and she said,
You, you weren't invited to interview.
She pulled the whole class together,marched us all down to that media
center and she approached the mediacenter specialist and she said Arlene
never had a chance to interview.
And so she put me on the spot andinterviewed me right then and there.
(37:23):
I'm a fourth grader.
Right?
Wow.
And I became the lead anchor ofWake Up Alimacani Elementary School.
And I think one, seeing someonewho believed in me like that.
Really allow for me to just takeevery opportunity understanding
that there's going to be someonethere that's gonna support me.
(37:43):
Yeah.
In addition to that, um, youknow, you have to speak up.
Mm-hmm.
If I hadn't said anything, thatopportunity would not have been created.
Mm-hmm.
And then to also then be the lead anchor.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But I'm 39 years old and I'm stilltalking about my experience at Wake
Up Alimacani Elementary School,so it definitely made an impact.
(38:05):
Yeah, definitely.
And we never know how one person canmake a, a major shift in our life.
Yes.
That's what you're really, again, I wasa teacher and I could see that happen.
I have this box of letters that the middleand the high school kids would write
me, and honestly, they're so meaningful.
I pull 'em out and I go,oh yeah, that's right.
(38:26):
That's why I did this.
You know?
Yeah.
Because it's like I missthem, but I've also.
I'm so grateful for them.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Okay.
The next question, what do you wantto be remembered for in your life?
This one's usually thetough one for people.
You know, I want to be rememberedfor how, um, how I made
(38:51):
others feel, and I don't mean.
The moment when I stretchedthem and they felt like they
couldn't be stretched anymore.
Yeah, I mean, from when they have listenedand they followed and they've executed
and they have seen the fruits of thatlabor, um, what they feel in that moment
is what I wanna be remembered for.
(39:13):
Um, I have definitely been that person whocan identify amazing potential in others
that they may not see in themselves.
And I'm gonna be that person who's goingto stretch them past their comfort zone.
Mm-hmm.
Because I wanna see them excel andoftentimes I see them excel past
anything that I've ever achieved myself.
But it brings, I, I don't, I can'teven put it into words, but I feel so
(39:38):
grateful to be in that position to feel.
Um, confident and comfortable in myown skin to be able to even do that and
feel that way and feel excited and tobe able to celebrate others in that.
Um, but that's what I wanna be known for.
I think that's part of the legacythat I wanna be able to create.
Mm-hmm.
And I want for others tobe able to do the same.
(39:59):
Mm-hmm.
Um, to be able to uplift others in,in moments where it might be hard
for them to celebrate what's goingon in their own personal lives.
I actually had a conversationwith a girlfriend recently.
She was struggling where, um, some othersaround her couldn't celebrate her in a
moment when she was receiving the biggestsalary she had ever received in her life.
(40:20):
Um, and she was just reallyexcited as to where she was going.
And I was in a position thisparticular year, and this was during
C O V I D, where I didn't knowhow I was gonna pay my mortgage.
Hmm.
But I celebrated her.
I was so excited for her.
I shared with everybody, can you notbelieve she's gotten this great salary?
This is what can happen.
(40:40):
You know?
I was just so proud of her.
Mm-hmm.
And it didn't matter the positionthat I personally was in.
I could look past that and stillbe able to celebrate someone else.
Oh yeah.
Find the joy.
Find the joy.
And, and I have seen over the yearswhere individuals struggle with that.
Um, but I feel like blessings comewhen you're able to celebrate others.
Mm-hmm.
Even during those lowmoments for yourself.
(41:00):
So I could not agree more.
Absolutely.
I could not agree more.
I'm in this place where I've hadso many things that are in the
past two weeks, uh, have happened,and I said to somebody in, in my.
This, this little circle.
I said, I have never felt so supported.
Mm.
And, and, uh, Like a warm blanket hasbeen wrapped around me and, and I feel
(41:24):
that so much weight has been taken off.
It has energized me so much, and so Ifeel like that's what ends up happening.
Yeah.
Is when we, we have that kind of joy with.
I've had so many people in my lifetoo that I have celebrated with
them and I'm just happy for them.
Yeah, just happy.
Yeah.
I mean, we can be happy for others evenif we're going through stuff that's hard.
(41:46):
Absolutely.
And one more thing that I haveto bring up here too is sometimes
support can come from those whoyou didn't expect it to come from.
So sometimes we'll have peoplewho are very close to us and
they may not show up in the waythat we are expecting or needing.
But there are others who are there tosupport and uplift us in those, in those
(42:09):
moments where we need to feel supported.
And so sometimes we have to extendgrace to those who are in our company
and allow for others to be ableto step in and share joy with us.
Mm-hmm.
Agree.
Well, we're gonna take a short momentto acknowledge our sponsor Transcend
Network, and we will be right back.
Transcend Network helpsearly stage startup
founders find product marketfit through weekly experiments,
(42:33):
receive fundraising support
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The Intern Whisperer is affiliated with
Employers for Change and wethank Transcend Network for
being a sponsor of our show.
Now we're back to the second halfof the show where we talk about the
future of jobs and industries in 2030.
(42:55):
So what do you think2030 is gonna look like?
So hard to believe It's only 6 1/2 years.
I know.
The interesting thing is we had,um, a meeting a few years ago where
for women on the Rise Internationaland we were talking about what the
job market would look like in 2030.
Yeah.
One of our board members, MichelleBeatty, of the Career Tipper podcast
(43:16):
was there and she was sharing whatthe job market would look like.
And I think people were lookingat Michelle like, she was crazy.
Like, yeah, my job's notgoing away, my job's.
And then we've seen Yep.
Over the last few years, somany jobs being eliminated.
Mm-hmm.
And now people are like, ohmy God, what am I gonna do?
And so we have to be flexible.
We have to pivot.
(43:36):
Um, as, as most things have happenedover the course of the last a
hundred years, you know mm-hmm.
Every cell phones have changedhow we do so many things.
Yep.
Tablets we're always havingto pivot and to be flexible.
Um, and so I think this is just anotherone of those, those times where we have to
figure out where we fit in and how we canleverage the technology that is in front
(43:57):
of us so that we can still be successful,create an income, um, and survive.
Quite frankly.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
And it doesn't always mean that you'rean influencer, let's just say that.
I mean, influencers are importantalso, but uh, on the same hand, yeah.
It doesn't mean everybody'sgonna be an influencer because
somebody has to do the other stuff.
(44:17):
You know, like make the products that theinfluencers, you know, touting whatever.
Yeah.
It's funny 'cause when youtalk to, um, the kids, yeah.
Like my little brother, he's 20,um, he'll be 21 later on this year.
And when he was graduatingfrom high school, I was
asking, what do you wanna do?
I wanna, I wanna create YouTube videos.
Oh, really?
Okay.
Well, how many I could create it?
Yeah.
None.
(44:39):
Yeah.
So, yeah, that's, that's what thelay of the land looks like right now.
But, um, absolutely.
I mean, one of the things that we'retrying to do within our organization
and for our members is havingsessions on how do you leverage ai?
Yes.
Right.
There's so much information outthere, but it's a little convoluted.
Right.
People wanna know.
Exactly.
It's so new.
It's so new.
Right.
And so, um, I've been blessed andfortunate that I've had people
(45:02):
who have been willing to shareinformation and it has blown my mind.
And I think I sat there in front ofthe computer one day and I just tried
everything that I could try to seewhat worked and what didn't work.
Mm-hmm.
And I am one of those peoplewho I just love to share.
Mm-hmm.
And so I freely share, um, in ourmasterminds, in our Canva workshops
now, our AI workshops and, um, Beenable to work with the ladies on, what
(45:28):
are some of the skills that you havethat are transferable into something
that creates money for yourself?
Mm-hmm.
Or creates, um, streams of revenue.
We have a teacher who wanted to create,um, some curriculum that she could sell.
And so she kind of had some ideas.
They weren't fully vetted, and so weactually utilized AI to create a formal
curriculum, um, and that she was able togo and ask it certain questions to, um,
(45:52):
like regenerate the responses that sheneeded to really create a final product.
And she was blown by what we wereable to do, um, and then figure
out what the next person neededand working with them through that
and allowing everyone else in the.
Call to be able to see how it workedand how they could leverage it.
I'm all about creatingadditional streams of income.
'cause to be quite frank,most nine to fives now mm-hmm.
(46:15):
Are not covering person's expenses.
Right.
Especially if you're a single momlike myself and you're, it's only you.
Right.
Taking care of your household with therate of inflation that we're having.
Especially here in the stateof Florida, you have to have
additional stream of income, right?
Mm-hmm.
And so my whole goal is to help women tofigure out what are the skills that you
(46:35):
have, what is the knowledge that you have,that you can create additional streams
of income to support you and your family?
And we're leveragingAI to help us do that.
Yeah.
One of the things that I've also, I useAI in a lot of what we do here, um, in
my, and I have multiple companies too.
Yeah.
Just like what you're describing.
So.
I'm working with some high schoolstudents that are learning how to
(46:56):
create, um, content and I encourageeverybody to use chat G P T for sure.
And I said, so just so youknow, it can create an article
for you in like two minutes.
It doesn't mean that it's right.
It's pulling good informationand bad information out there.
Your job is to use it as just aninitial piece that gets your brain
flowing and then make sure you factcheck it because you don't know,
(47:21):
there's no citations in there.
It could be pulling bad stuff.
It's everything in the internet.
Absolutely.
And I actually like the way thatI've taught individuals to do is
to create their own initial draft.
And then to have chat GP T rewrite that draft.
Mm-hmm.
And then to say, well actually what aresome examples of blah, blah, blah, blah.
Right.
(47:41):
Like, and you ask chat G P Tto rephrase it in that way.
Right.
Or to bring up those additional ideas.
And then you start to create pieceby piece your final product, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, so that's the waythat I like to use it.
And everyone is different.
Yeah.
How they do it, which makes itsuch an awesome tool to use.
Yeah, it's nothing to be afraid of.
We need to embrace it.
(48:01):
It's not going away.
We do now.
I mean, there's probably some other thingsthat we should probably be writing about,
but that I think, um, is definitely great.
Um, and a great tool to be used.
Okay.
So what ethical de dilemmas doyou think that can come up because
of all of this AI and things thatare happening in the workplace?
(48:22):
Well, you have to wonder where.
Is the information coming from mm-hmm.
Is it someone else'scopyrighted work product?
Um, we've seen AI technologybe used in creating artwork.
Right, right.
Well, it's taking others, you know,signature, um, you know, pieces
of art in creating new things.
We've seen proprietary,proprietary information.
(48:43):
We've seen, um, you know, musicartists where Yeah, their sounds,
they're royalties creating new.
Music from someone else's voice.
Yeah.
Um, there was a video thatwas kind of scary to me.
Um, you know, if they were sayingthat they could take your voice
and they could use it, it was on,it was honestly on Black Mirror.
(49:04):
Was that on Black Mirror as well too?
I saw something like that too.
Yeah.
This was on Instagram.
And so I tell my son, I don't care if youhear my voice, if you don't see my faith.
Mm-hmm.
You don't listen to that.
Right?
Mm-hmm.
And so, um, it's just so many thingsthat could potentially happen, right.
You know, you don't think about.
(49:25):
And I'm hoping that it doesn'tgo that direction, but I wanna be
cognizant of it so that we can, youknow, Just make sure that we're safe.
Be aware.
Be aware.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Totally.
Well, what is the best mentoringadvice that you would like
to share with our listeners?
Um, keep in mind they're from 23 to about65 plus we have men and women a little
(49:47):
more on the male side, just so you know.
And it's usually CEOs, HRprofessionals, futurists.
Yeah, I think my best piece ofmentoring advice is your mentors
won't always look like you.
Hmm.
And that is okay.
Um, you know, some of my, my biggestsupporters and advocates and those
who have poured into me, um, were notthe same sex and did not look like me.
(50:11):
Mm-hmm.
Um, and I, I have a, a plethoraof different mentors from
different backgrounds andlife experiences that share.
Their unique experience.
That really helps and speaks tome as I craft what this next phase
of my life looks like as I'veachieved certain goals in my life.
Right?
(50:32):
Um, and I, I encourage othersto go into rooms where everyone
doesn't look like you, right?
Um, you know, learn from others withdifferent experiences that, that
really helps to shape your mindsetand how you see and view the world.
So that's one of the things that I would.
I would share with individuals.
I love that.
And mentoring.
Um, there is, I use peer andreverse mentoring in my platform
(50:55):
and in my own academy that we have.
And mentoring goes both ways.
I learn from people that are wayyounger than me, and part of what I
do is I, I love to work with threeand four year olds at my church.
Yeah.
I get my best lessons of how to work withadults by working with those little ones.
Yes, absolutely.
Yeah.
So super important.
Age has never been one ofthose things that I have.
(51:18):
Really acknowledged.
Um, you know, in, in our organizationwe usually don't talk about age.
And so recently one of our, um,leadership team members was, you
know, Arlene, I'm 65 years old.
I.
Yeah, I would've never known, Iwould've never thought about it.
And honestly it doesn't really matter.
(51:39):
Right, right.
Um, and so I just love the factthat we're all able to connect
in so many different ways.
Yeah.
Um, my therapist, for instance, Ithink she is absolutely amazing.
She's significantly younger than I am.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
But she's still knowledgeableand she still does everything.
Really, really exceptionally well.
Um, and so I don't want age tokeep us from allowing a person
(52:02):
to be able to have some kind ofimpact or influence in our life.
It should not, right?
Yeah.
It should not be one of those variables.
It's always, um, I designed my platformaround head smarts and hearts smarts.
Mm-hmm.
That's what I call it.
So what's in your headand what's in your heart?
Those are the things that we shouldall be looking at in people because
it's the things that we don'tsee, not the things that we see.
(52:23):
Absolutely.
So how can our listeners find you?
We usually always supply your
personal LinkedIn profile, butwe pulled your certainly women
on the Rise INC.org website.
What else would you like?
Yeah, so, um, that websiteis W O T R I N C.org.
Um, you can follow us there.
(52:44):
And then it has all of our socialchannels that are linked there too.
I've pulled those two, our YouTubechannel, our Instagram page, our.
Facebook page, our Facebook grouppage, all different places to be able
to follow and see what we're doing.
Um, and then LinkedIn is also a greatplatform to connect with me personally.
Alright, well I wanna thank you somuch for being a guest on the show.
(53:05):
This has been delightful.
Yes, thank you so much.
I appreciate this opportunity.
Oh, you're very welcome.
I look forward to connectingwith you through your group too.
Yes, it'll be awesome.
Thank you.
Join Women on the Rise.
Excellent.
We love this.
I love that you're, uh, getting abudding entrepreneur right up here.
I'm pretty sure he is gonnabe your marketing director.
(53:26):
He absolutely is.
Every time we go somewhere andhe sees a woman, he said, mommy,
is she part of Women on the Rise?
Very nice.
Hey, what's your name?
Just first name only.
Evan.
Evan.
Nice to meet you Evan.
Click that subscribe button.
Okay.
(53:46):
Thank you to our sponsor, Cat 5 Studios.
And thank you to our video team GabeLaPorte music is by Sophie Lloyd.
Be sure to visit Employers 4 Changeat www.E4C.tech to learn how you
can create real diversity andinclusive culture while skilling
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Thank you for supporting me.
The Intern Whisper, by subscribingto us on Podbean, our Employers for
(54:10):
Change, YouTube channel or streamfrom your favorite podcast channel.
Hi, my name is Isabella Johnstonand I'm called The Intern Whisperer.
Our show is brought to you by Employersfor Change, and we are continuing
our tips series on unconscious bias.
So today's tip of theweek is about anchor bias.
Now what that means is when someoneholds onto an initial singular piece
of information to make decisions,an anchor bias commonly occurs in
(00:35):
the hiring process When comparingcandidates, a recruiter may see one
aspect of a candidate and then cannot.
Unsee that characteristic whileconsidering other applicants, for
example, the first applicant, a recruiterconsiders may request a significant lower
salary than the following candidates.
(00:55):
This can create an expectationcalled anchor bias.
The latter candidatesare asking far too much.
So how do we avoid this type of bias?
To avoid anchor bias, try to compareevery aspect of a candidate and
never rely on one singular piece ofinformation as the deciding factor.
(01:16):
If you find yourself.
Coming back to that one piece ofinformation you're comparing it against,
try omitting the anchoring piece ofinformation and compare candidates
based on other characteristics andqualifications such as their skills
and the experience that they have.
Welcome to The Interim Whisperer.
(01:37):
Our show is all about the future of work.
So today's guest is Arlene Blake.
She is the Executive Director ofWomen on the Rise International.
She is a visionary entrepreneur, salesleader, and creative strategist that is
passionate about engaging, inspiring,and empowering women around the world.
I'm so excited to have you.
I met you at the 100 Women Strong and I.
(01:59):
Found your speech, so Oh, so moving,and I just really enjoyed it and went,
I have to have her on my podcast,so I'm thrilled to have you here.
Yes, thank you so much for having me.
I'm excited.
Okay, so we always kick offour show where we talk about.
Five words you get to sharewith our listening audience.
Five words that describe youand why did you pick those?
(02:21):
And I did write 'em down soI can prompt you when needed.
Absolutely.
So some of these words I may not havenecessarily chosen for myself, but other
people have described me using thesewords, but bubbly, for sure, direct.
It's because I'm an Aries.
Mm.
Um, enthusiastic visionary.
(02:41):
Deeva, and I don't mean like, I liketo often say the Mariah Carey Diva.
Mm-hmm.
Um, this is D E E V A, which is theHindu term for goddess because I feel as
though every woman has a goddess withinthem that is waiting to be unleashed.
So that's my client term.
I really like that.
And since you explained it, we startedbackwards, so that's even better.
(03:03):
That's great.
So why do people describe you as bubbly?
I have always had thisreally energetic personality.
Um, if I'm very quiet, peoplethink something is wrong.
Um, but it's just, I don't know.
I have great enthusiasm towards life.
(03:24):
And so, I don't know, my personalityhas just always been very bubbly.
I love to laugh.
I love to be joyful.
Um, there's so much to be gratefulfor just to be here every day.
So, um, bubbly is definitelya key word to describe me.
Yeah.
I would also say energetic.
I know you came in with alot of energy that day, so,
(03:44):
um, I would use that one too.
Okay.
I like the word direct.
I describe myself that way,and I think it's, uh, a more.
What would be a balanced word that we canuse instead of saying, oh, she's this,
which may not have a positive meaning.
Yeah, yeah.
Um.
I feel as though I've had tobecome more direct mm-hmm.
(04:05):
In leadership, especially since Ihave, um, founded Women on the Rise.
It is something that everyoneexpects me to lead and make
the executive decisions mm-hmm.
On everything.
And so I oftentimes have to bevery direct to keep the, the
needle moving forward and get.
Things done.
Um, and then also it's just kindof a little innate being in Aries.
(04:29):
I don't know if you know many Aries,but we're typically pretty direct.
Mm.
I am Libra.
The balance, you know,the scales of justice.
So yes, I think directis a very good thing.
Yes.
Yeah, definitely.
I, I get it.
Um, enthusiastic.
Why that?
I feel as though if you'regoing to do something, you
(04:50):
have to go all the way with it.
And I feel as though you have to give itall of your effort, all of your energy,
and that's really, really exciting.
And so I'm typically prettyenthusiastic about everything that I do.
Um, and it's come through evenwith my six-year-old son, he
always has this great enthusiasmabout everything he's a part of.
(05:10):
And so when people see him, they'realways like, that is definitely your
child, because we both share that.
Same level of enthusiasm.
That is a, a fun thing to have too.
And sometimes it can, I, I can imagine itcan also be a, a clashing point, but yeah.
You know, the good and the bad.
Yes.
Finding balance for sure.
Yeah.
Okay, so the next one, visionary.
(05:31):
You had to be, you started aninternational group, you know, The
interesting part is at first itstarted off where I just had an idea
for something very small and then youknow, next thing you know, people are
asking me questions about what's next,and I'm having to keep on creating this
vision and expanding it and growing it.
(05:52):
And listening to the needs thatexist within the community and
creating all of these opportunities.
So I have kind of been pushedinto the visionary position.
Mm-hmm.
I've always been extremely creative.
Um, but now I actually have to execute.
Yeah.
Um, but I have always been a dreamer and,um, I'm fortunate that my parents allowed
(06:16):
me to really kind of sit back and, andcreate ideas and to be able to, you know,
work on them to bring them to fruition.
And I have a very supportive groupand team around me that allows
for me to be that visionary.
So, Hmm.
Yeah.
That is a great story there.
Yeah.
Um, so where did, wheredid you go to school?
(06:36):
Mm-hmm.
Um, sometimes people don't gonecessarily the college route.
Never a problem.
But, you know, how did you get from schoolto where you're now, and let's make sure
you spend a little bit more time talkingabout Women on the Rise International.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Um, so I'm a knight.
I went right here toUniversity of Central Florida.
I came from Jacksonville.
(06:57):
Uh, I had a few different optionsof universities to go to, but
U C F was calling my name.
Some of the other, you know, collegetowns became very dead during
the summer and holiday breaks.
And I was thinking, okay, I'vealways loved the theme park, so
during the summer I could go toUniversal Studios and Disney.
Why wouldn't I choose Orlando?
(07:18):
So, um, I came out here and I thinkwhen I first moved to Orlando,
there was still, um, a lot ofpastures kind of on university.
It is definitely not what it, no,there's no more what it's today.
Um, but I came to U C F to goto school for legal studies.
I was.
passionate about becoming a lawyer.
I was on the debate team in high school.
(07:41):
You couldn't tell me that I wasn'tgonna become an, uh, an attorney.
That was my passion.
And then business was my minor.
So, um, yeah, that'swhat I went to U C F for.
And I graduated, uh, class of '06..
I immediately went to go workfor a law firm after that.
I will say that while I was at UC F I was very, very involved in
(08:04):
different women's groups on campusand I was very involved in planning a
lot of the events that we would have.
So I got that bug kind of early.
So initially it was, okay, I'm gonnago to law school after I graduate.
And then that little itch for eventsreally got to me and I said, I
think I wanna be an event planner.
(08:24):
And at this time you had allof the wedding planning shows
that were on T L C and so forth.
I was like, well, maybebe a wedding planner.
But I started a wedding planning businessbecause I couldn't find an internship
with any of the local companies.
So I created my own opportunity, starteda business, and I started to get clients.
This was all while I was workingfull-time, managing a law
(08:47):
firm in Winter Park, Florida.
Um, well I'll ask you about that offline.
I used to work for attorneys andone of them was in Winter Park also.
So yeah.
What kinda law were you, uh, working in?
Personal injury.
Okay.
Maybe it was the same one.
So, you know, I, I know there'smore than one down there, but
you know, that's what I did too.
Yes, we did productsliability and personal injury.
(09:09):
Oh, fantastic.
Yes.
Yeah.
I was there for likeeight, almost eight years.
That would be so funny.
That would be really funny.
Yeah.
So funny.
Yeah.
I worked for, uh, quite a few lawyerswhile I was putting myself through school.
Okay.
You know, the, um, the undergrad, the, uh,master's and then a little bit into a PhD.
(09:30):
Okay.
Yeah.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm one of the, but I was in education.
Okay.
I did wanna be an attorney though, but Ichose to go and be a classroom teacher.
Yeah.
I love that you're in nonprofitthough too, because that's just huge.
You, you did a whole shift fromgoing from, you know, law and event
planning, which event planningdefinitely ties into nonprofit.
(09:52):
Yeah, it did come in handy.
It definitely did.
But it was all by accident.
There was, yeah, it wasnot intended originally.
Um, it's interesting to look back and,and say to yourself, I never knew that
this is where I was going to end up.
Right, right.
So crazy.
So how did Women on the Rise getstarted and how old is the organization?
(10:13):
So we're in our eighth year right now.
Wow.
Um, and so, you know, during thattime when I was at the law firm,
there were a few different thingsthat were happening in my personal
life and with our senior partner,who I consider as one of my mentors.
Um, he became ill with Alzheimer's.
And he passed away.
He passed after mymother passed of cancer.
(10:37):
Next was my father that passed of cancerand then he passed from Alzheimer's.
And this is all withinlike a five year period.
That's a lot of significant people.
It was a lot.
And um, I've always consideredmyself to be a fairly strong
person, but that almost took me out.
And so I remember I was working a salesjob after that because when, um, after
(10:58):
he passed, they were closing the law firmand I decided to just do like a complete
shift and change, um, I also decided toclose my event planning business because
I was, you know, like a, um, a solopractitioner sit, uh, basically, and when
my mom was sick and my dad was sick, Istill really had to keep the business
going on my own even though I'm strugglingwith dealing with the loss of my parents.
(11:22):
Right.
And I am in the biggest celebrationof many individuals' lives,
and I'm still having to carry.
You know, all of this happiness andcheerfulness and it was difficult.
Um, and so I decided thatI was going to let that go.
I finished all of the events that I hadon the books after my father passed,
um, and I closed up shop and I wentto an event and it was for, um, those
(11:43):
in professional sales, um, like, youknow, pharmaceutical, medical device,
um, uh, industrial sales and so forth.
I go to an event and they told meabout a big conference that they
were about to go to, and I decidedfive days after my father passed,
I was gonna go to that conference.
I bought a last minute ticket,last minute plane ticket, revamped
my resume within two weeks.
(12:03):
And I went to this conference and Igot hired by, um, a major brand there.
And I took on a role doingindustrial sales and that kind
of, changed a little bit of thetrajectory of my life at that point.
Um, and so now I'm a salesperson.
Mm-hmm.
Um, but during that time I foundmyself in a really negative place
(12:25):
because one, that's not an easy job.
Mm-hmm.
Let's, let's be clear, right.
Um, there's a lot of obstaclesthat you, um, encounter, a lot of
objections you encounter, and sometimesit can be a lot on the spirit.
And then I already was strugglingbecause I had lost all of these
people who meant so much to me.
Mm-hmm.
And so I decided to do therapy.
In therapy, um, I made the decision, one,I was going to hire a coach, which I am
(12:52):
like the biggest advocate for coaches.
Mm-hmm.
So I hired a personal coach whowas going to help me figure out
what's the next step for me.
Right.
And so she really helped me, um,with the job that I had to be
able to go in and articulate.
What I was going through or what Ineeded from my manager so that I was
(13:13):
able to be successful in my role.
Mm-hmm.
That completely changed becauseI went from being, um, you know,
on the chopping block mm-hmm.
To being the number one personin our whole southeast region.
Oh.
Within maybe like a five month period.
So that was huge.
Um, in addition to that, as I'm going tothe group therapy sessions, I found myself
(13:35):
being more positive every time I came in.
And prior to that, when I would behaving conversations with friends
and family, I was always that personthinking of everything negative.
It was like the glasswas always half empty.
Hmm.
And I didn't like the reactionsthat I was getting from others.
As I was having those conversationswith them, 'cause oftentimes we
(13:55):
don't recognize the fact that we'renegative or we're being negative.
That's true.
So I started to kind of be a littlebit more self-aware and I started
realizing the reactions that Iwas getting and that's when I knew
therapy was gonna be my only option.
Therapy was not something I hadever heard of in my family, but
it was the only thing that I couldthink of to keep myself going.
(14:16):
Yeah.
Um, and so I did that.
But again, as I'm coming to eachsession, I'm more and more positive.
I'm having encouraging words tothe other women that were part
of the therapy group as well.
The therapist put a calling onme to do something to bring women
together on a consistent basis.
Hmm.
To where we would have that same kindof encouragement and empowerment.
(14:38):
And that really sat with mebecause prior to my mom getting
sick, and let's say this was 2015.
In 2009, right before my mom was diagnosedwith pancreatic cancer, I had started
planning a women's empowerment day.
Hmm.
And I had all of these like requestsfor proposals and agendas and all
(15:01):
these things that were put togetherin a binder, and I shelved the idea
when I found out that she was sick.
And so now I have this person who'sspeaking into me saying that she
thinks I should bring women togetherin this positive environment.
Mm-hmm.
I bring this up to my coach andshe said, well, Arlene, I think you
should go out and create the event.
And so she went ahead andput some goals behind me.
(15:22):
I had to have a venuebooked by a certain date.
I had to have my agenda created andall of these milestones I needed to
do in order to make this event happen.
And I did.
So in March, women's Historymonth kickoff of 2016.
Perfect.
We had, um, what was our first event?
And again, it was onlysupposed to be this one event.
There wasn't supposed to be eventsthat were coming after that.
(15:45):
Mm-hmm.
But we had a hundred, orI had 123 women show up.
That's a lot for first event, not No.
They showed up for this first event.
That's crazy.
And they were so, it was crazy.
And they were so excited aboutthe event and I began to get
emails afterwards and they wereasking me, when's the next event?
(16:05):
Um, you know, how can I volunteer?
How can I be a part of this?
And I'm like, huh, what?
And so I continued to create additionalevents and then one of my mentors said,
Arlene, I think this is a nonprofityou have, like at each of these events,
you're teaching women different things.
You're providing a platform for otherwomen to share their stories, to educate
(16:28):
and inspire and empower other women.
This is a nonprofit.
Yes it is.
You know?
And so I was like, okay.
I went ahead and hired an attorney,Audrey Chisholm, here in Orlando,
and she helped me to get everythingtogether so that we could go ahead
and file our 5 0 1 C three paperwork.
And July of 2016, we were official.
(16:51):
Congratulations.
Thank you.
And December of 2016,we opened up membership.
So that was something that I hadn'tintended on doing, but I had people
who kept on sending emails andasking how can we be more involved?
Is there a membership?
Like what?
I had to go to the drawingboard and create that.
And uh, one of the amazing things is thefirst person who registered as a member,
(17:16):
um, her name is Nicole Hill Eugene.
She is, I know still, I.
Yeah.
Um, she was our first member.
She's still a member.
Um, she serves on leadershipwithin Women on the Rise.
So it's, it's a fun fact.
Yeah.
I like the website.
I just opened it up because,well, I, I've looked at it
before, but I love the colors.
(17:37):
I mean, it's not, it's not all pink.
It's got this nice balance oforange so our listeners can see it.
You'll see it on
her, uh, her logo when youwatch it on YouTube also, but,
It's very modern looking and
it, it's just a hint of Barbie,if you will, like the Barbie pink.
I loved Barbie growing up, you know?
(17:58):
Yeah.
So, my God.
And uh, what was the other one?
There was one with ReeseWitherspoon in and Legally blonde.
There you go.
One of the best movies ever.
Yes.
I could not agree more.
Yeah.
It's got a little bit of a hint of thatkind of pink going on because it's like
snap, snap, snap, all business here.
That's definitely part ofthat bubbly side of myself.
Um, yeah.
Yeah, I can, I candefinitely see that for sure.
(18:21):
Yeah.
So anyway, now you have members,how, how fast was it growing, I
wanna say by, um, By the summer ofthe next year, we probably had like
60 paid members of the organization.
Wow.
We were having, um, monthly meetingsand these meetings were packed out
and they weren't all just registeredmembers of the organization.
(18:44):
It was other women in thecommunity who wanted to just come.
They may have had likea fear of commitment.
Mm-hmm.
But they would come, they wouldenjoy the meetings and so forth.
Um, and it was a great time offellowship just to be around other
like-minded women who were all aspiringfor something, something greater
or who just wanted to, to give backor just be around positive energy.
(19:07):
So, um, it was always a really,really great environment to be
a part of and it fed my soul.
Mm.
I love that.
I love it.
Yeah.
And, and I'm even looking atthe membership, page, you got
a lot of benefit that's here.
Yeah.
At a very affordable price.
Right?
Yeah.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Um, we were just talking about that lastnight at a leadership team meeting we
(19:27):
had because, and I know we'll get intothis later, we had a whole workshop on.
AI and leveraging Chat G P T.
And so we did this intensive workshopand I, I asked people, okay, what are
you working on right now that's likecausing some something blocks for you?
And then we broke it down withchat G P T and the minds that were
(19:47):
blown from what we were able to do.
Was crazy.
And so, um, just really being ableto provide some of that insight for
our members as an added benefit.
Because you'll see oftentimes, and oneof our board members said this, I don't,
I don't like things that are surface.
So if we're gonna do a workshop, if we'regonna do an event and we're going to
(20:08):
educate, there's not an upsell afterwards.
We're diving all the way in.
When you walk away, you're gonna feellike, man, that's something that I
probably should have paid $5,000 for.
Right?
Yeah, I know.
Exactly.
Value is huge.
Yeah.
And so I always wanna make sure that we'reover-delivering and that our members.
They feel that value, they understandthat value that they're getting.
(20:31):
Um, and it allows for them to be moresuccessful in everything that they do.
Hmm.
I love it.
Yeah.
Love it.
Love it, love it.
Okay, so what are thebigger plans for the group?
'cause I know you just had a gala.
Yeah.
Tell us about the gala.
So essentially the gala is an opportunityfor the community to come to our website.
Nominate a woman that is excelling in hercareer and giving back in the community.
(20:54):
And so the individuals getto nominate all these women.
We take it down to thetop 5 in each category.
We invite them to a beautiful nightof celebration, of sisterhood,
um, and we honor them and we dochoose a winner in each category,
but we also honor and celebrate.
Each of those nominees thatevening, and it's just a
(21:15):
beautiful night of celebration.
Hmm.
Um, I have to say this becauseit was, it was so amazing.
Um, Mayor Demmings here, um, inOrlando, he came to the gala.
He was one of our, um, special guests.
And he, he had let us knowthat he was only gonna be there
for a small period of time.
He was there for the whole entire event.
(21:35):
Whoa, what an honor.
But I watched as he had the programbooklet and he was intent on reading
about each person and pointingout each person that was there.
And it was amazing to see how.
Excited he was.
And I think that also excitedeveryone that was there too, to see.
Yeah.
That same level of excitement.
It was a beautiful, beautiful evening.
(21:57):
We had it at the Dr.
Phillips, um, center for Performing Arts.
Mm-hmm.
Right here in downtown Orlando, whichif you haven't been there, it's an
absolutely so beautiful, beautiful space.
And so, um, I don't know, it was.
It was just absolutely beautiful.
And so we were excited about thatand I know all of the nominees
and the finalists felt veryspecial by being celebrated there.
(22:18):
So who are the finalists?
Who, um, so should I pull up the page?
'cause I'm not sure.
So I, I can tell you who, um,the, the winners for the gala are.
That's what I'm really wondering.
Um, Actually, we were just sendingout an announcement, so I will
go ahead and just read that off.
Um, let's see here.
(22:41):
Let me get that.
Is it on the website yet?
It is not.
It is not.
Lemme tell you, we have so many pieces.
Do you have to be a member to win also?
No.
So you can anybody, any woman that livesin Orange, well not in Orange County, but
anyone that lives in the Orlando mm-hmm.
Metro area is able to be nominated.
(23:05):
Um, so our young achiever, college deeva.
So that's a young lady who's either asenior going off to graduating, going off
to college, or who's in college currently.
Um, was Roxy Richburg.
She won a $1,000 scholarship.
We also raised funds through the gala,um, that we split between all six mm
(23:26):
of young, um, achiever, college deeva.
So they all receive a scholarship check.
Very nice.
Um, yes.
And next year our goal is to raise$20,000 that we can do 20 scholarships.
Um, uh, community Impact Leader Award,Mia Poinsett Top in real estate.
We actually had a tie betweenDeidre Gray Bill and Darlene Dykes.
(23:49):
Our deeva to watchwinner was Tamara Boone.
Our inspirational deevawinner was Mia Ette.
Our entrepreneur Deeva was Cherise Wilkes.
Oh, I know her.
I just recorded herpodcast before you came in.
I love Cherise Cherise.
She's amazing.
Yeah, I know.
Cherise and I worked togetherout of, uh, O M G labs.
(24:11):
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's so funny.
She was just here.
You guys would've seen each other.
Okay.
She's amazing.
Um, leading deeva in tech.
Renee Overton Palma, talented deeva.
The Cessandra Lewis, um, topeducator, Jacqueline Russell, and
then Deeva Influencer Leslie Pittman.
(24:33):
Very nice.
Yes.
Yeah.
Well, thanks for sharing that and alittle shout out to all those women too.
Yes, they are all absolutely amazing.
All of the finalists from that evening.
Equally amazing.
Um, we had a great group of womenthat were nominated this year, and
all of them should be celebrated forall of the work that they do and, and
way they give back in the community.
(24:54):
Hmm.
Is it, um, how do you decide?
Is it by a popular vote?
Is it by a committee?
Is it by all of those things?
So there, there's a panel of judges andthey have a scoring rubric, and so, okay.
They basically, um, the nominationforms that they receive, they have
to go through that and they haveto score it based on the values
that are given in each category.
(25:15):
Got it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, I, I really, it appreciateit's very scientific and technical.
Yes.
And it, it should be though, right?
So that it's, you know, really.
Fair.
And then we have tocalculate it like 3 or 4
times just to make sure.
And yeah.
So yeah, it gets, don'twanna have any mess ups.
We don't want any mess-ups.
So we're gonna move on to acouple of other questions that I
(25:36):
typically ask in the second, wellin the first half of the show.
So I like, uh, David Letterman'smethod of interviewing.
So my questions come from thatarea, really a deeper dive,
getting to know the guest.
Okay.
What is a favorite quote that you live by?
Just start.
So why that one?
Um, it actually comes back from,um, when my mother was still here.
(26:00):
Mm-hmm.
And I would make a big dealout of a little, right?
Mm-hmm.
Um, I would overthink things in my head.
Mm-hmm.
And my mom said to me, Arlene,you know what you need to do.
You have everything thatyou need, just start.
Yep.
And I have carried thatthrough with Women on the Rise.
(26:22):
I try not to overthink things too much.
You just have to take the first stepin getting things going and started.
Mm-hmm.
Um, I've helped others as welltoo, as they've created concepts,
created businesses, created their ownevents, um, extended their platforms.
Don't overthink it.
Just take the first step to get it done.
(26:42):
Just start.
So that is definitely one of thosequotes that I live by, you know?
I like that you referenced that itwas something your mom always said,
because I'm sure I have little wordsthat I use too, and it always takes
me to, this is what my mom said,this is what my grandparents said.
Like I have words too.
And my mom died also.
Um, of cancer, different type.
(27:04):
Sorry, we, we feel together here anyway.
But when you say it, youalways think of your mom.
Mm-hmm.
It's a way that you honor your mom.
Yes, absolutely.
It's so cool and interesting.
Um, fact, too, women on the Rise, our namestarted off as the Paula Blake Empowerment
Initiative named after my mother, andwe did evolve and change the name, but
(27:26):
it was always created in her memory.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Love that.
So the hardest lesson that youlearned that changed your life
hopefully for the better too.
Yeah.
Um, never take a, a moment for granted.
Mm-hmm.
Um, I would say I, I don't have anyregrets per se, but, um, having lost.
(27:54):
Both of my parents to cancer, toput it into perspective, my mother
was only 48 when she passed.
Whoa.
And my father was 56.
And so to have parents that are veryyoung to pass away that early on
in my life, um, there's been somehard lessons that I've had to learn.
I've haven't had that crutch that Iwould say some people sometimes have.
(28:15):
There's a lot of growingup that I had to do.
You know, um, by myself in a sense.
Mm-hmm.
There was a, a post that I saw recentlyon Instagram where the person said they
never realized how much they would'veneeded their parents in their adult years.
Oh gosh.
Yes.
And I felt that so much.
(28:35):
I feel like I have neverneeded my mother more.
Um, you know, my son.
His, you know, both of his grandmothers,um, were deceased both from cancer
before he came into this world.
Wow.
And so not knowing what to dowith a, a newborn baby, you know?
Mm-hmm.
I depended on the nurse atthe hospital to help me.
(28:56):
I depended on the persons at the daycareto tell me what needed to be done.
I didn't have that.
And so, um, those are some of thoselessons that I wish I would've had
someone, um, You know, there, whichI would have my mom there to be able
to support me through those things.
So some hard lessons that I've had tolearn alone, um, that, you know, had she
had been here, I probably wouldn't havemade all the mistakes that I've made.
(29:20):
Um, but I, I'm probably thestronger for it, but, mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah, definitely.
Um, I think that when we get older,we begin to become more of a peer
relationship with our parents.
We don't.
Hopefully they don't see us as babies,but they're, we're always their child.
Right.
Or their baby.
But hopefully they always seeus as, you know, Hey, I'm, I'm
(29:40):
here to take care of you also.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's, it's a sweetrelationship that you can have.
It really is.
One of the things that Iremember from when my mom was
sick was we held hands a lot.
Yeah.
And I, I can still feel her hand in mine.
And so my son and I, wehold hands all the time.
Like, that's so important to me.
(30:00):
Um, 'cause that's something that,well, I'll always have, you know,
and you'll, it's very intimate.
You only hold hands with a personthat's very, very close to you.
Yes.
I, for me, I know that, I don'tknow what anybody else thinks.
I think that holding handsis more intimate in a, uh,
relationship than, than sex.
Yep.
Because like, you really love that person.
(30:21):
Absolutely.
Mm-hmm.
What are you most grateful for then?
That's a hard act to follow withthe first one that you just gave us.
Yeah.
I'm grateful for life.
Um, I think when you havewatched life exit mm-hmm.
From someone's body withyour own eyes mm-hmm.
And, and you, you watch themfight it, you appreciate life.
(30:45):
Yes.
You appreciate every single breath.
Um.
And so that's what I'm most grateful for.
I'm grateful to wake up everyday to my both my feet work.
Mm-hmm.
I'm able to breathe my, you know, Ijust, When you've seen others suffer, you
respect and you appreciate life even more.
(31:06):
Mm-hmm.
I do something that, um,I call a gratitude walk.
Now, I haven't done it in a while.
I'm gonna be honest.
I have to get back on it.
Um, but I would go and walk foran hour and for that hour I would.
Sit there and say, okay,God, I'm grateful for this.
I'm grateful for this.
Just like you said, you know, the abilityto walk for my feet, for, you know,
the health that you give me, there'sso much we have to be grateful for.
(31:30):
An hour would never be enough time.
Yeah, most definitely.
Yeah.
That's why it's great tosometimes just in quiet.
Allowing yourself to reflect andto, to think about all of those
things that we oftentimes take forgranted or are moving too fast to
truly acknowledge and appreciate.
So, so here's something, Iread this statistic last week.
(31:51):
Your kids you have will onlybe with you for 18 years.
Typically, they go off to college.
That is the, you will have about 20% oftheir time with you in your lifetime.
Mm-hmm.
You raised them to leave you, right?
Yeah.
Yeah, that's true.
So you only see them in that.
And I went, wow, that is a very powerfulstatistic because when you think about.
(32:16):
How much time you had with your own mom.
Yeah.
And you have a young one also that itmakes somebody stop and think, oh my gosh.
And you just said it, thathow quickly things move.
He's how old?
5, 6.
He's 6 right now.
Yeah.
6.
Yeah.
He will only be 6 for this one year.
And we, we have to instill so much intoa young, Child or a middle school or a
(32:41):
teenager, and I used to teach middle andhigh school and I would go into these
parent conferences and I said, yourchild needs you more now than they did
when they were in elementary school.
And don't for one minutethink they aren't hearing you.
Mm-hmm.
They hear you.
It's part of the separationthat has has to happen, but.
(33:01):
You know, if you really wanna have bigimpact, and I'll pass this one on to
you, is if you spend one hour a monthin the school where your child is in
middle and high school, you will neverhave a discipline problem because every
teacher will know you are the motherof that child and they say, so I'm
having a little problem with Johnny.
(33:22):
He is very social and whatthey mean is he talks a lot.
Yeah, that's mine.
Yeah.
So, so it really, and you willalso know who your kids are hanging
around with the, the good ones andthe ones that you would question.
Is that a good decision?
Um, so just kind of keep that in mind.
If you really wanna know, and I don't knowwhere your, your child goes to school,
(33:46):
um, but just remember one hour a month.
It turns everything around.
I actually volunteer everyopportunity that they give me.
Yeah.
Um, so all of the kids in hisclassroom knew me very well.
Yeah.
Well keep doing that.
Keep it, because many times parents,they do it when they're in elementary
(34:06):
school, but they see these big bodieson these kids and they go, yeah.
He, he's like, you know, 5'10"and he's in seventh grade.
Doesn't matter.
Yeah.
Show up.
You still show up.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
And you know, I've always loved mentoring.
Mm-hmm.
Um, I have done it majority of my life.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and so I hope to continue todo that even in spaces that, you
(34:29):
know, he'll allow me to be in.
Right.
We'll see what happens.
Um, you know, I am, I getextremely passionate about our
high school students as well too.
Um, when I went off to college, I appliedfor 24 scholarships and I won 20 of them.
Holy cow.
Yeah.
And so my parents, I.
Never had to, you know, raise adime to send me off to college.
(34:52):
And they were quite nervous when theyknew what was going on to college.
Um, and there were a lot of smallscholarships that I won and they added
up to completely taking care of me.
Um, in addition to the scholarshipthat I got from, U C F,
'cause I was, I was a scholar.
I went to a college preparatoryschool in Jacksonville.
Um, and so I just knew,like I said earlier, I was
(35:13):
gonna be an attorney, right.
I was going to be my thing.
Um, and so I get really passionateabout talking to our young people
about what is that next step for them.
Mm-hmm.
How are they paying for college?
How are they creating exceptionalexperiences during their high school
experience that they can share as they'redoing their college essays mm-hmm.
And so forth, right?
(35:33):
Mm-hmm.
And so that, I, I love being around our,our youth and sharing that and encouraging
them to put that best foot forward.
And it's interesting too because,um, I told you I applied for
24 and I only won 20 of them.
Mm-hmm.
So there were four I did not receive.
So the question I always ask is, when doyou think I applied for the four that I.
(35:55):
I did not get, it was the first four.
Mm-hmm.
The first four scholarships Idid not get, but I continued on.
Mm-hmm.
And then I won 20 consecutivelyafter that, so I always
tell them, don't give up.
Right, right.
You may not get the first, the second,the third, or even the fourth, but
at some point it's going to happen.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Uh, that's very inspiring forentrepreneurs, for people raising money.
(36:18):
I'm raising money.
I'll have to tell youmore about what I do.
Yeah.
Off off this show.
Yeah, absolutely.
At another time.
Alright, so the next questionI have is, who in your life
has had the biggest impact?
And I know you told the first three.
Yeah.
You know, your boss, previousboss, and then your parents.
I can't imagine that it's not those three.
I'm gonna.
(36:39):
Shift a little bit.
Okay.
Um, my fourth gradeelementary school teacher, Ms.
Lucco, um, I'm gonna give hercredit here and I'll tell you why.
I remember I wanted to be a news anchoron our school television show, which
was Wake Up Alimacani Elementary School.
Mm-hmm.
(37:00):
And I never received theinvite to come and interview.
And, um, I'm having a conversation withmy teacher and I share this, and she said,
You, you weren't invited to interview.
She pulled the whole class together,marched us all down to that media
center and she approached the mediacenter specialist and she said Arlene
never had a chance to interview.
And so she put me on the spot andinterviewed me right then and there.
(37:23):
I'm a fourth grader.
Right?
Wow.
And I became the lead anchor ofWake Up Alimacani Elementary School.
And I think one, seeing someonewho believed in me like that.
Really allow for me to just takeevery opportunity understanding
that there's going to be someonethere that's gonna support me.
(37:43):
Yeah.
In addition to that, um, youknow, you have to speak up.
Mm-hmm.
If I hadn't said anything, thatopportunity would not have been created.
Mm-hmm.
And then to also then be the lead anchor.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But I'm 39 years old and I'm stilltalking about my experience at Wake
Up Alimacani Elementary School,so it definitely made an impact.
(38:05):
Yeah, definitely.
And we never know how one person canmake a, a major shift in our life.
Yes.
That's what you're really, again, I wasa teacher and I could see that happen.
I have this box of letters that the middleand the high school kids would write
me, and honestly, they're so meaningful.
I pull 'em out and I go,oh yeah, that's right.
(38:26):
That's why I did this.
You know?
Yeah.
Because it's like I missthem, but I've also.
I'm so grateful for them.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Okay.
The next question, what do you wantto be remembered for in your life?
This one's usually thetough one for people.
You know, I want to be rememberedfor how, um, how I made
(38:51):
others feel, and I don't mean.
The moment when I stretchedthem and they felt like they
couldn't be stretched anymore.
Yeah, I mean, from when they have listenedand they followed and they've executed
and they have seen the fruits of thatlabor, um, what they feel in that moment
is what I wanna be remembered for.
(39:13):
Um, I have definitely been that person whocan identify amazing potential in others
that they may not see in themselves.
And I'm gonna be that person who's goingto stretch them past their comfort zone.
Mm-hmm.
Because I wanna see them excel andoftentimes I see them excel past
anything that I've ever achieved myself.
But it brings, I, I don't, I can'teven put it into words, but I feel so
(39:38):
grateful to be in that position to feel.
Um, confident and comfortable in myown skin to be able to even do that and
feel that way and feel excited and tobe able to celebrate others in that.
Um, but that's what I wanna be known for.
I think that's part of the legacythat I wanna be able to create.
Mm-hmm.
And I want for others tobe able to do the same.
(39:59):
Mm-hmm.
Um, to be able to uplift others in,in moments where it might be hard
for them to celebrate what's goingon in their own personal lives.
I actually had a conversationwith a girlfriend recently.
She was struggling where, um, some othersaround her couldn't celebrate her in a
moment when she was receiving the biggestsalary she had ever received in her life.
(40:20):
Um, and she was just reallyexcited as to where she was going.
And I was in a position thisparticular year, and this was during
C O V I D, where I didn't knowhow I was gonna pay my mortgage.
Hmm.
But I celebrated her.
I was so excited for her.
I shared with everybody, can you notbelieve she's gotten this great salary?
This is what can happen.
(40:40):
You know?
I was just so proud of her.
Mm-hmm.
And it didn't matter the positionthat I personally was in.
I could look past that and stillbe able to celebrate someone else.
Oh yeah.
Find the joy.
Find the joy.
And, and I have seen over the yearswhere individuals struggle with that.
Um, but I feel like blessings comewhen you're able to celebrate others.
Mm-hmm.
Even during those lowmoments for yourself.
(41:00):
So I could not agree more.
Absolutely.
I could not agree more.
I'm in this place where I've hadso many things that are in the
past two weeks, uh, have happened,and I said to somebody in, in my.
This, this little circle.
I said, I have never felt so supported.
Mm.
And, and, uh, Like a warm blanket hasbeen wrapped around me and, and I feel
(41:24):
that so much weight has been taken off.
It has energized me so much, and so Ifeel like that's what ends up happening.
Yeah.
Is when we, we have that kind of joy with.
I've had so many people in my lifetoo that I have celebrated with
them and I'm just happy for them.
Yeah, just happy.
Yeah.
I mean, we can be happy for others evenif we're going through stuff that's hard.
(41:46):
Absolutely.
And one more thing that I haveto bring up here too is sometimes
support can come from those whoyou didn't expect it to come from.
So sometimes we'll have peoplewho are very close to us and
they may not show up in the waythat we are expecting or needing.
But there are others who are there tosupport and uplift us in those, in those
(42:09):
moments where we need to feel supported.
And so sometimes we have to extendgrace to those who are in our company
and allow for others to be ableto step in and share joy with us.
Mm-hmm.
Agree.
Well, we're gonna take a short momentto acknowledge our sponsor Transcend
Network, and we will be right back.
Transcend Network helpsearly stage startup
founders find product marketfit through weekly experiments,
(42:33):
receive fundraising support
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The Intern Whisperer is affiliated with
Employers for Change and wethank Transcend Network for
being a sponsor of our show.
Now we're back to the second halfof the show where we talk about the
future of jobs and industries in 2030.
(42:55):
So what do you think2030 is gonna look like?
So hard to believe It's only 6 1/2 years.
I know.
The interesting thing is we had,um, a meeting a few years ago where
for women on the Rise Internationaland we were talking about what the
job market would look like in 2030.
Yeah.
One of our board members, MichelleBeatty, of the Career Tipper podcast
(43:16):
was there and she was sharing whatthe job market would look like.
And I think people were lookingat Michelle like, she was crazy.
Like, yeah, my job's notgoing away, my job's.
And then we've seen Yep.
Over the last few years, somany jobs being eliminated.
Mm-hmm.
And now people are like, ohmy God, what am I gonna do?
And so we have to be flexible.
We have to pivot.
(43:36):
Um, as, as most things have happenedover the course of the last a
hundred years, you know mm-hmm.
Every cell phones have changedhow we do so many things.
Yep.
Tablets we're always havingto pivot and to be flexible.
Um, and so I think this is just anotherone of those, those times where we have to
figure out where we fit in and how we canleverage the technology that is in front
(43:57):
of us so that we can still be successful,create an income, um, and survive.
Quite frankly.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
And it doesn't always mean that you'rean influencer, let's just say that.
I mean, influencers are importantalso, but uh, on the same hand, yeah.
It doesn't mean everybody'sgonna be an influencer because
somebody has to do the other stuff.
(44:17):
You know, like make the products that theinfluencers, you know, touting whatever.
Yeah.
It's funny 'cause when youtalk to, um, the kids, yeah.
Like my little brother, he's 20,um, he'll be 21 later on this year.
And when he was graduatingfrom high school, I was
asking, what do you wanna do?
I wanna, I wanna create YouTube videos.
Oh, really?
Okay.
Well, how many I could create it?
Yeah.
None.
(44:39):
Yeah.
So, yeah, that's, that's what thelay of the land looks like right now.
But, um, absolutely.
I mean, one of the things that we'retrying to do within our organization
and for our members is havingsessions on how do you leverage ai?
Yes.
Right.
There's so much information outthere, but it's a little convoluted.
Right.
People wanna know.
Exactly.
It's so new.
It's so new.
Right.
And so, um, I've been blessed andfortunate that I've had people
(45:02):
who have been willing to shareinformation and it has blown my mind.
And I think I sat there in front ofthe computer one day and I just tried
everything that I could try to seewhat worked and what didn't work.
Mm-hmm.
And I am one of those peoplewho I just love to share.
Mm-hmm.
And so I freely share, um, in ourmasterminds, in our Canva workshops
now, our AI workshops and, um, Beenable to work with the ladies on, what
(45:28):
are some of the skills that you havethat are transferable into something
that creates money for yourself?
Mm-hmm.
Or creates, um, streams of revenue.
We have a teacher who wanted to create,um, some curriculum that she could sell.
And so she kind of had some ideas.
They weren't fully vetted, and so weactually utilized AI to create a formal
curriculum, um, and that she was able togo and ask it certain questions to, um,
(45:52):
like regenerate the responses that sheneeded to really create a final product.
And she was blown by what we wereable to do, um, and then figure
out what the next person neededand working with them through that
and allowing everyone else in the.
Call to be able to see how it workedand how they could leverage it.
I'm all about creatingadditional streams of income.
'cause to be quite frank,most nine to fives now mm-hmm.
(46:15):
Are not covering person's expenses.
Right.
Especially if you're a single momlike myself and you're, it's only you.
Right.
Taking care of your household with therate of inflation that we're having.
Especially here in the stateof Florida, you have to have
additional stream of income, right?
Mm-hmm.
And so my whole goal is to help women tofigure out what are the skills that you
(46:35):
have, what is the knowledge that you have,that you can create additional streams
of income to support you and your family?
And we're leveragingAI to help us do that.
Yeah.
One of the things that I've also, I useAI in a lot of what we do here, um, in
my, and I have multiple companies too.
Yeah.
Just like what you're describing.
So.
I'm working with some high schoolstudents that are learning how to
(46:56):
create, um, content and I encourageeverybody to use chat G P T for sure.
And I said, so just so youknow, it can create an article
for you in like two minutes.
It doesn't mean that it's right.
It's pulling good informationand bad information out there.
Your job is to use it as just aninitial piece that gets your brain
flowing and then make sure you factcheck it because you don't know,
(47:21):
there's no citations in there.
It could be pulling bad stuff.
It's everything in the internet.
Absolutely.
And I actually like the way thatI've taught individuals to do is
to create their own initial draft.
And then to have chat GP T rewrite that draft.
Mm-hmm.
And then to say, well actually what aresome examples of blah, blah, blah, blah.
Right.
(47:41):
Like, and you ask chat G P Tto rephrase it in that way.
Right.
Or to bring up those additional ideas.
And then you start to create pieceby piece your final product, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, so that's the waythat I like to use it.
And everyone is different.
Yeah.
How they do it, which makes itsuch an awesome tool to use.
Yeah, it's nothing to be afraid of.
We need to embrace it.
(48:01):
It's not going away.
We do now.
I mean, there's probably some other thingsthat we should probably be writing about,
but that I think, um, is definitely great.
Um, and a great tool to be used.
Okay.
So what ethical de dilemmas doyou think that can come up because
of all of this AI and things thatare happening in the workplace?
(48:22):
Well, you have to wonder where.
Is the information coming from mm-hmm.
Is it someone else'scopyrighted work product?
Um, we've seen AI technologybe used in creating artwork.
Right, right.
Well, it's taking others, you know,signature, um, you know, pieces
of art in creating new things.
We've seen proprietary,proprietary information.
(48:43):
We've seen, um, you know, musicartists where Yeah, their sounds,
they're royalties creating new.
Music from someone else's voice.
Yeah.
Um, there was a video thatwas kind of scary to me.
Um, you know, if they were sayingthat they could take your voice
and they could use it, it was on,it was honestly on Black Mirror.
(49:04):
Was that on Black Mirror as well too?
I saw something like that too.
Yeah.
This was on Instagram.
And so I tell my son, I don't care if youhear my voice, if you don't see my faith.
Mm-hmm.
You don't listen to that.
Right?
Mm-hmm.
And so, um, it's just so many thingsthat could potentially happen, right.
You know, you don't think about.
(49:25):
And I'm hoping that it doesn'tgo that direction, but I wanna be
cognizant of it so that we can, youknow, Just make sure that we're safe.
Be aware.
Be aware.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Totally.
Well, what is the best mentoringadvice that you would like
to share with our listeners?
Um, keep in mind they're from 23 to about65 plus we have men and women a little
(49:47):
more on the male side, just so you know.
And it's usually CEOs, HRprofessionals, futurists.
Yeah, I think my best piece ofmentoring advice is your mentors
won't always look like you.
Hmm.
And that is okay.
Um, you know, some of my, my biggestsupporters and advocates and those
who have poured into me, um, were notthe same sex and did not look like me.
(50:11):
Mm-hmm.
Um, and I, I have a, a plethoraof different mentors from
different backgrounds andlife experiences that share.
Their unique experience.
That really helps and speaks tome as I craft what this next phase
of my life looks like as I'veachieved certain goals in my life.
Right?
(50:32):
Um, and I, I encourage othersto go into rooms where everyone
doesn't look like you, right?
Um, you know, learn from others withdifferent experiences that, that
really helps to shape your mindsetand how you see and view the world.
So that's one of the things that I would.
I would share with individuals.
I love that.
And mentoring.
Um, there is, I use peer andreverse mentoring in my platform
(50:55):
and in my own academy that we have.
And mentoring goes both ways.
I learn from people that are wayyounger than me, and part of what I
do is I, I love to work with threeand four year olds at my church.
Yeah.
I get my best lessons of how to work withadults by working with those little ones.
Yes, absolutely.
Yeah.
So super important.
Age has never been one ofthose things that I have.
(51:18):
Really acknowledged.
Um, you know, in, in our organizationwe usually don't talk about age.
And so recently one of our, um,leadership team members was, you
know, Arlene, I'm 65 years old.
I.
Yeah, I would've never known, Iwould've never thought about it.
And honestly it doesn't really matter.
(51:39):
Right, right.
Um, and so I just love the factthat we're all able to connect
in so many different ways.
Yeah.
Um, my therapist, for instance, Ithink she is absolutely amazing.
She's significantly younger than I am.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
But she's still knowledgeableand she still does everything.
Really, really exceptionally well.
Um, and so I don't want age tokeep us from allowing a person
(52:02):
to be able to have some kind ofimpact or influence in our life.
It should not, right?
Yeah.
It should not be one of those variables.
It's always, um, I designed my platformaround head smarts and hearts smarts.
Mm-hmm.
That's what I call it.
So what's in your headand what's in your heart?
Those are the things that we shouldall be looking at in people because
it's the things that we don'tsee, not the things that we see.
(52:23):
Absolutely.
So how can our listeners find you?
We usually always supply your
personal LinkedIn profile, butwe pulled your certainly women
on the Rise INC.org website.
What else would you like?
Yeah, so, um, that websiteis W O T R I N C.org.
Um, you can follow us there.
(52:44):
And then it has all of our socialchannels that are linked there too.
I've pulled those two, our YouTubechannel, our Instagram page, our.
Facebook page, our Facebook grouppage, all different places to be able
to follow and see what we're doing.
Um, and then LinkedIn is also a greatplatform to connect with me personally.
Alright, well I wanna thank you somuch for being a guest on the show.
(53:05):
This has been delightful.
Yes, thank you so much.
I appreciate this opportunity.
Oh, you're very welcome.
I look forward to connectingwith you through your group too.
Yes, it'll be awesome.
Thank you.
Join Women on the Rise.
Excellent.
We love this.
I love that you're, uh, getting abudding entrepreneur right up here.
I'm pretty sure he is gonnabe your marketing director.
(53:26):
He absolutely is.
Every time we go somewhere andhe sees a woman, he said, mommy,
is she part of Women on the Rise?
Very nice.
Hey, what's your name?
Just first name only.
Evan.
Evan.
Nice to meet you Evan.
Click that subscribe button.
Okay.
(53:46):
Thank you to our sponsor, Cat 5 Studios.
And thank you to our video team GabeLaPorte music is by Sophie Lloyd.
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