November 29, 2024 • 34 mins
Imagine stumbling upon a global network through a simple family connection. That's exactly what happened to Alyssa Weathers-Murphy, our guest and president of the Oklahoma City Midtown Rotary Club. Alyssa takes us through her decade-long journey, from discovering Rotary via her husband to leading innovative projects like the "Spelling Beer," a fundraiser that cleverly mixes spelling bees with craft beer tastings to support community initiatives. Alyssa underscores the importance of understanding community dynamics and setting solid foundations to amplify their impact, offering listeners valuable insights into the world of community service.
Transitioning from a small-town family business to the bustling corridors of corporate America might sound daunting, but it's a journey marked by self-discovery and growth. Listen as we unfold the story of an individual who navigated the marketing landscape, fueled by a passion ignited in their family's TV repair shop. Her career path led her through prominent names like MAC Cosmetics and Dillard's, where she found her footing and built a successful corporate career. This narrative not only celebrates personal growth but also underscores the importance of embracing one's roots while chasing new horizons.
As we wrap up, we shine a light on inclusivity within Rotary clubs. Emphasizing the need for diversity and a welcoming environment, we discuss how Rotary can foster a sense of belonging for women, young people, and people of color. Through personal stories and experiences, we champion the value of mentorship and the impact of creating a supportive community. With heartfelt gratitude, we acknowledge those who make this podcast possible and extend warm holiday wishes to all listeners, inviting everyone to join the conversation and contribute to a more inclusive Rotary world.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brian Triger (00:27):
Welcome to the Rotary Spark Podcast.
I'm your host, Brian Schrager,and with me today is the
president of the Oklahoma CityMidtown Rotary Club, Alyssa
Weathers-Murphy.
How are you doing today, Alyssa?
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (00:40):
Hello, and happy what's today?
Friday?
Brian Triger (00:44):
Happy Friday to you as well.
So, so let's see.
Yesterday was Thanksgiving.
Do you have any holiday plansthis weekend?
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (00:51):
Yeah, in fact, right when we wrap here
today, we're going to hop in thecar and drive up to Joplin,
missouri, to go visit somefamily and spend the weekend
eating too much food and sippingsome Prosecco and sharing
stories Eating too much food andsipping some Prosecco, and
sharing stories.
Brian Triger (01:06):
That sounds like a lot of fun.
So let's see.
Tell us a little bit about howyou discovered Rotary for the
first time.
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (01:16):
Yeah, I've been a member of Rotary for
10 years now.
I found Rotary through myhusband, who was my boyfriend at
the time.
My husband's name is MattMurphy and he told me about his
Rotary Club that he visitedevery Tuesday at McNelly's at
six o'clock and was getting backinto it.
He had taken a little bit oftime away from it but he was a
(01:38):
charter member of the OklahomaCity Midtown Rotary Club and I
joined him a couple times justto visit and see what it was all
about.
And I was.
I got kind of hooked.
I really liked that this groupof people got together every
Tuesday to hear somebody fromthe community whether it was an
artist or a nonprofit or someonewith a cool mission or a
(01:59):
business in the area.
They would come and speak tothe Midtown Rotary, tell them
what they were doing, and itjust felt number one.
It felt kind of inspiring tohear what somebody was doing in
our city to make it a betterplace.
And then every month they wouldcoordinate a volunteer
opportunity.
And I had just graduatedcollege at the time, so I had
all this free time and energythat I wanted to do something
(02:20):
good with and it was just kindof history.
From there.
I joined pretty quickly aftergraduating college.
Brian Triger (02:27):
Wow, and apologies if I missed the detail in that
story.
How long have you been aRotarian?
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (02:34):
10 years .
Brian Triger (02:35):
Wow, 10 years all the way back to college and
meeting your husband.
Uh, that's, that's quite ajourney, Yep, Uh, let's see.
So, uh, tell us a little bitmore about uh, please tell us a
little bit more about yourjourney to rise to presidency
(03:00):
and uh, also, maybe some of theof your favorite projects that
you worked on or that you'reworking on right now.
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (03:08):
Yeah, I joined the Midtown Rotary just
right out of college, like Imentioned, and I discovered that
coming out of school one of thebest things that I did I
learned later on after doing itwas getting involved and just
asking how can I help, how can Ibe a part of this?
(03:30):
Can I help you all withanything?
And we know as volunteers thatalso means with stepping up into
a board position as a volunteer.
So I did that.
I joined the membershipcommittee and just helped them
do whatever they needed me to do.
I went to meetings everyTuesday and I did this with
(03:50):
another organization too.
My professional tradeorganization was the American
Marketing Association ofOklahoma City and that's my.
That was the first you knownon-profit volunteer
organization that really helpedto propel my career and open
doors for me in more of the youknow marketing space
(04:11):
particularly.
But with Rotary, rotary reallyhelped open the doors for me to
realize what it takes to makecommunity change happen, whether
it's raising money for kids'instruments in classrooms or pay
for a piece of public art, justlearning about the systems and
processes that go into it, allthe paperwork side of things,
(04:34):
all of the you know sometimesthe politics and bureaucracy
that happen with it to makethings move forward, or where
things get stuck.
It's such an eye-openingexperience and it also is really
educating if you're somebodywho wants to figure out how to
make a difference on your own.
So in my club our two bigfocuses, so every Rotary Club
(04:56):
has a focus and the OklahomaCity Midtown is known for our
involvement in arts andeducation efforts.
If there's something to do withthe arts or something to do
with educating kids or maybeit's arts education, maybe it's
educating kids about the arts Ifit's got those two elements to
it with also some element ofcommunity impact, those are the
(05:18):
kinds of projects that we giveto.
So every Rotary Club has itsfocus and also every Rotary Club
has its own fundraiser.
Our fundraiser is the SpellingBeer, which is we own the
trademark.
One of the members of our clubsis an intellectual property
attorney so he helped us securethe trademark for it.
(05:38):
But it's literally a spellingbeer, so a spelling bee where we
also have breweries who providetastings for beer.
And that money that we raise wehave a goal every year to raise
$20,000 or more.
That money goes into ourfoundation so that we can figure
out what types of projects andopportunities we want to fund
(05:58):
throughout the year.
So our club does have afoundation that my husband was a
huge part of setting up.
That was his baby getting thefoundation put together so that
we had the tool in place to workwith Rotary International on
getting matching opportunitiesthroughout our fiscal year, and
(06:20):
that has really allowed us toget involved in some bigger
projects too.
So things with other clubs,things within the district,
things that we're able topotentially get matching funds
for from Rotary International,it really helps to double our
impact or significantly increaseour impact with whatever
projects we decide to dothroughout the year.
Brian Triger (06:42):
That's a lot of great information, I think,
regardless of where a rotarianis on their journey as a new,
newer member, it opens up myeyes to, uh, just community
connection within ourorganization, out of curiosity,
whether it's my midwest cityrotary club or any of the other
(07:03):
30 plus clubs in the district,not to say that they're not
already helping, but if all ofus could help your club more,
what are some areas, whetherwith the Spellingbeer
specifically, or any of theother projects, that really
contribute to the foundation asa whole?
What could we do to help?
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (07:24):
I think there's always an opportunity to
do more cross club grantsgrants together as clubs in our
district and, to be honest withyou, that's an area where
understanding all of the ins andouts of it is still something
that I'm learning, still being amember and now a president of
(07:45):
our club.
It's there are a lot ofdifferent opportunities, things
that we could do more oftogether.
My husband is absolutely thetopic that is.
That is his baby, so that ishis area of expertise.
And then our giving chairgiving chair this year her name
is Sylvia Sterling and then LeeMorgan, who has been the giving
(08:06):
chair in our club off and on forthe past 10 years, is just an
absolute juggernaut when itcomes to understanding how to
get things organized, how to runthe paperwork, how to
collaborate between clubs and adistrict.
I think that our club wouldabsolutely be more interested,
or interested in doing more um,more grant opportunities with
(08:27):
other clubs, so for sure.
Brian Triger (08:29):
Okay, well, um, I have limited knowledge right now
, but please feel free to use meas a resource if I can, uh, you
know, just even be a messengerto kind of knock on some doors
within my own club, or any otherclubs because as I learn more I
do see I get excited aboutthose cross club opportunities,
(08:51):
especially with the privilegesthat I have kind of seeing some
things on the district level.
I think it's it's really coolto just have the opportunity to
stay plugged into the biggerpicture.
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (09:02):
Yeah, and I think another way that
anyone could help is just cometo come to our fundraiser and we
need to go to other.
We've, I think as a club we'vebeen better about getting out to
other clubs fundraisers, like Iknow the Midwest city club does
.
Is it the crawfish boil?
Brian Triger (09:15):
Uh, I believe it is the.
So I've been to the shrimp boilonce and I know that, uh, uh,
if I'm not mistaken, it mistaken, it's happening again next year
.
That's the big fundraiser thatI'm aware of.
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (09:29):
Yep, I think it's neat to see each
club's fundraiser, ours beingthe Spelling Beer.
That's just our kind of flavorof it.
It makes sense for our brandbecause we're a club that meets
at McNelly's you know what Imean On Tuesday in the evening,
so doing something with beer wassuper interesting to us.
And then also supporting allthese awesome breweries that we
(09:52):
have here in our community thathave really taken off the past
10 years, where we've got areally awesome group of brewery
owners who will kind of taketurns participating and donating
beer and showing up and doingtastings yeah, no, that's really
exciting.
Brian Triger (10:07):
And then I also see the opportunity not to say
that it's relevant right now,but for a prospective member or
a new member that might bespinning up a satellite club or
building a new charter for a newclub within the district just
being able to develop thatcamaraderie and understanding
the relationship component tiedto what you guys are doing or
any other clubs are doing, sothat if you know there's a
(10:31):
offshoot at some point andthey're you know a new
fundraiser comes to be, or evenif someone wants to redesign the
fundraiser within their ownclub, just participating, having
a good time and then justhelping with some of the
logistics it it makes, makesthat creation a little bit more
possible.
Alyssa Weathers-Murp (10:46):
Absolutely .
Brian Triger (10:49):
So let's see, tell us you mentioned marketing.
I know from Light Exposure thatyou're the owner of Siren Media
.
Is that correct?
Yeah, tell us a little bit moreabout the beginning, all the
way up to maybe now, justanything that you're willing to
share, tied to the creation ofyour organization.
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (11:08):
Yeah, so , like you said, I'm the owner
and founder of a local Oklahomacity-based marketing agency.
It's called Siren Media.
We actually just celebrated sixyears two weeks ago.
Thank you.
The date crept up on us.
I didn't do a big event thisyear.
We'll do something in January.
It snuck up on me but yeah,I've been.
(11:28):
I've been working on this for along time.
I started out in the marketingworld.
I went to school to studybusiness and marketing, so it
was something that was veryinteresting to me.
Um, my family kind of inspiredme to go down the business route
, because I grew up in a smallbusiness.
My grandpa started this TVcompany, a little TV repair
(11:51):
business called Weathers TV andAppliance in downtown Edmond,
and it's still there to this day.
My family doesn't own itanymore but it's still there in
existence and it has a.
You know people in Edmond whohave lived there for a long time
know no Weathers TV andappliance.
I grew up in the shop.
You know what I mean, likeanswering phones and helping my
(12:11):
parents with invoices, taking in.
You know broken VCRs and TVs,writing tickets, calling,
calling customers and greetingpeople as they walked in the
door.
My dad joined the business.
Probably I think it was late80s, early 90s.
He helped my grandpa, mygrandpa, my papa, so I call him
papa.
(12:32):
So when I say papa, that's whatI'm talking about.
He had the repair side of thebusiness and my dad had a knack
for selling and getting thisthing built out and making it
more of a showroom.
So when dad joined the businessit kind of made it, I guess,
double force.
You had, you had the placewhere you could go and take any
of your broken appliances or youcould go and hang out with my
(12:55):
dad and buy new appliances, andthis would have been early
nineties to mid nineties andthen that's when home audio
video really blew up.
So we're talking.
I saw things from, you know,the Laserdisc era all the way to
the first DVDs that hit themarket in the late 90s.
I got to grow up in a showroomand I was always interested how
(13:16):
they kept the phones ringing andlike what made this building a
place where people would come inand out of.
So it kind of made me tick as akid.
I didn't realize until Igraduated high school.
I didn't realize how I justdidn't have a really strong.
I didn't have a strong sense ofidentity and I didn't really
think I was very smart.
(13:36):
I didn't know that about myselfuntil I got into the workforce.
I took a semester off betweenhigh school and college, the
workforce.
I took a semester off betweenhigh school and college and I
needed to take some time.
My parents went through adivorce and there were all kinds
of things going on in thefamily and I just needed to hang
out for a minute before Idecided to go to college.
So I took that fall semesterjust to kind of inventory and
(13:59):
evaluate what I wanted to do,what I wanted to study.
I got my first job in working inbeauty retail.
So my first job was for a bigcompany called Beauty Brands and
my job was a customer serviceretail associate and my job was
to literally stock the shampooand the products, check people
out at the counter and make surethat customers had a good
(14:19):
experience.
Try to give them a tour of thespa in the back.
Beauty Brands is no longeraround.
But what I learned about myselfthat first job out of college?
I learned that I was smart.
I went to a good high school.
I thought that my GPA was fine.
I was probably like a 3.2, 3point something GPA.
But I just didn't think that Iwas smarter than my peers and I
(14:42):
guess I had kind of a lowself-esteem.
So I say that to say and Ishare that part of my story
because you've met me and youmight've developed a first.
You know, I don't know, youmight have had an assumption or
thought, oh, she's a reallyconfident person.
I was not always that way, butwhen I got into the workforce I
realized that I'm actually verysmart.
(15:02):
I'm a very hard worker.
A lot of those customer serviceprinciples my mom and dad
taught me when I was reallyyoung set me up for success.
So, though, I started out inbeauty retail and I moved up the
ranks and I got to work forsome really awesome prestige
beauty brands like MAC Cosmetics, like Prescriptives and other
(15:24):
Estee Lauder brands.
When I went on my way up toDillard's so I worked for
Dillard's, which is every singleone of these companies I worked
for I learned a little bit moreabout how to run a business,
because you're running a smallbusiness within a bigger
business.
When you work for one of thosebeauty counters, you're learning
how to run a small businesswithin this bigger umbrella.
(15:45):
So I learned that I was good atit.
I learned that I was good athitting business goals, I was
creative, I was very hardworkingand I had good customer service
and good work ethic, like allthose things I started to learn
about myself and I had goodcustomer service and good work
ethic.
Like all those things I startedto learn about myself, and I
developed an appreciation forthe fact that I was not this,
you know, small minded personfrom a small town in Oklahoma.
(16:10):
I was actually smart andcapable.
So when I built my confidence,learning that I was capable of
doing all these things, Istudied marketing.
I got my degree in marketing.
I took a minor in professionalselling.
Uco was the first school in thestate that had a sales program,
so I was in one of the firstgraduating classes who could
(16:31):
take it as a minor.
I'm so glad that I did thatbecause I was learning a lot
about selling, you know,individual items, so my job was
to sell beauty products.
So we're talking about mascara,foundation powders, and
learning the world of sellingsmaller items to how to sell
bigger things, how to sell bigcontracts, how to sell bigger,
(16:55):
more complex, complicated thingsprofessionally really, really
excited me.
So that set me up when Igraduated in 2013 to start
working in corporate America.
Brian Triger (17:10):
As a new business owner.
It's just an inspiring story,so I'm just kind of catching
myself and processing theinformation, seeing other people
succeed that are in or close tothe community that I live in,
it's just uh uh.
It's a lot in a good way.
So thank you for sharing that.
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (17:29):
It's in it I like to share.
My husband kind of makes fun ofme because I tell stories from
when the earth cooledperspective.
I give a lot of context becauseI think it's important.
I think it's really unfair forme to be this, you know, loud,
brazen lady who wears hot, pinkand black all the time and can
be a little bit loud andoff-putting to people.
I like to share who I was andwhere I came from, because I
(17:53):
didn't have any plans to be abusiness owner, didn't want to
number one, didn't think I couldnumber two, and avoided it like
the plague.
It actually took a series ofevents for me to decide to try
and do this on my own.
So yeah, I like for people tounderstand that I was a young
girl from Edmond, oklahoma.
I did not have huge aspirationsfor myself.
(18:13):
I didn't have a lot ofconfidence about who I was, but
I learned by trying and doingthings that I was way more
capable than what I thought.
The genesis of Siren Media wasactually the result of me
spending a relatively short timein corporate America.
In the grand scheme of things,I've been a business owner for
longer than I have been workingfor other people in corporate
(18:34):
America.
So I started out, got my degree.
I was approached by a smallmarketing company in South OKC
where I learned how to sellwebsites and social media
contracts and that was a reallygood opportunity just to get my
foot in the door.
But it was a very small companyand I wanted the opportunity to
(18:56):
make more money.
I wanted to try working for abigger company.
One of my friends who I workedin cosmetics with her husband
worked for a media division ofour local cable company.
So he sold TV ads, tv ads anddigital advertising packages.
And I was talking with them oneday as I was visiting them,
(19:16):
catching up and kind ofcomplaining about wanting to
find a bigger opportunity, andhe said well, you know, my
company is hiring and we'reactually looking for recent
grads and people who could selldigital products, digital
advertising products.
Maybe you should apply.
That was a huge lesson for mein that all the career
opportunities, the best careeropportunities that I've come
(19:38):
across and the best businessopportunities that have come
across my um come across me havebeen from people that I had.
I would have never had any idea.
So my friend who I worked within the beauty world for years
her husband ended up setting meup with a way for me to get an
interview with that company andI I got the job.
(20:00):
I was so excited.
I worked there for almost fouryears, but I learned so much
about the marketing world, theagency world, um, the
advertising world.
This was 2014.
And that era was a was a timewhen people were cutting their
cable subscriptions.
So you're the lady selling theadvertising package that's going
(20:25):
on cable and satellite homes.
It was a challenge.
It wasn't like the salespeople.
It was a different challengethan the salespeople who were
selling your broadcast TVadvertising packages here
locally.
They'd be like Channel 4,channel 5, channel 9, fox, cw
2534, like all those networks,those affiliated networks with
(20:46):
these larger media companies.
Those advertising reps had adifferent set of challenges than
the advertising reps who wereselling cable advertising, which
go to wired homes only just inthat metro area, and our
argument was always well, thesepeople pay their bill, they have
(21:08):
more income.
We can target more specifically.
If you're just trying to reachpeople in the Oklahoma City
metro, it's less wasteful as anadvertising message because your
broadcast message goes to alarge portion of the state.
So if you're a plumber, forinstance, and your service
footprint is only in theOklahoma City Metro, you're
better off buying my productthan you would be trying to
(21:30):
figure out how to make yourdollar go far in an advertising
footprint that hits most of thestate.
But it was certainly achallenging time because I would
meet business owners all thetime that were, like my dad and
my papa, just trying to figureout how to make the phones ring,
keep the business open, andthey didn't have a website or
they wouldn't have a very goodbrand or a logo or they would
(21:51):
have no social media.
And to me I felt it wasunethical to push my advertising
package on people who weren'tready for it.
Because what's going to happenwhen somebody sees a TV ad and
they go, oh, I actually do needa plumber, I'm going to call
them.
They're going to go type itinto a search engine or a social
media platform and when nothingcomes up, they're going to go
(22:12):
to the competitor.
So I learned that theadvertising space though it's
really exciting, the advertisingand marketing world is not the
most ethical space.
It is deeply unethical in many,many regards.
And when you're a salespersontrying to meet a sales quota on
(22:34):
the backs of small businesses, Idid not like where that put me
mentally.
I started seeing people as youknow, my clients and prospects
everybody just has a dollar signabove their head like what can
I get out of them?
I didn't like that, so I didget out of the advertising world
selling TV advertising productsand digital products and I
(22:56):
think it was the right move.
I learned so much about sellingbig the right move.
I learned so much about sellingbig contracts.
So I'm so glad that I had thatopportunity.
You know, I think everybodyshould have the opportunity to
sell or work in an environmentwhere there's a bunch of gray
cubicles around you, a littlegray cubicle farm, because it
gives you.
Brian Triger (23:15):
It gives you structure, it gives you a way of
seeing things and then you candecide if that makes you happy
or if you want to go and dosomething on your own.
Yeah, no, I mean, aside fromthe story, I'm processing the
idea of a gray cubicle farm.
I would say that not everyone'sthe same.
No disrespect to the graycubicle farm.
One of the best motivators formy personal growth is that farm,
(23:39):
because I, you know, afterspending 10 or 15 minutes
sitting in a cubicle farm, Ijust I want to break out of it
in the most peaceful waypossible.
But it but it's also cool tokind of, I would say, on the
positive side, seeing that thatuh, interactive hive mind just
seeing all the little componentsand stuff like that and realize
(23:59):
that you know everything has astarting point, it does.
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (24:02):
Yeah, one of my greatest teachers in
life was just learning what Ididn't like and what I didn't
want to do.
Brian Triger (24:08):
Sure.
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (24:09):
I think that's true for all of us.
Brian Triger (24:11):
Well, you're a far way away from a cubicle farm.
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (24:16):
Now sitting in my office where we've
got like lots of light andplants and a pink neon down the
hallway.
Brian Triger (24:23):
Yeah, the boxes get bigger and better.
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (24:26):
They do, they can, they certainly can.
Brian Triger (24:29):
So I think we're almost done.
But what's your favorite boardgame if your family has one?
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (24:36):
Favorite board game?
That's a good question.
We're more card players on mymom's side of the family.
Brian Triger (24:43):
Okay.
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (24:44):
We played a lot of poker.
Brian Triger (24:48):
Okay.
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (24:48):
We play a lot of oh gosh.
There's one card game.
It's not 21.
It's a number that we used toplay all the time and if not,
that it's usually a game ofpoker that my mom's side of the
family likes to play.
If there were a board game, I'dhave to think about that one.
Now I don't feel very gamey.
(25:10):
Okay, I do love Candyland.
I am a Candyland girly.
Brian Triger (25:14):
Candyland it is.
And Uh, let's see last uh comboquestion Any, any tips for
newer perspective Rotarians andwhat, if anything, would you
like to see change within Rotary?
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (25:30):
I have a big heart for young people who
are trying to figure out whatthey're going to do next in
their career.
That was such a formative, youknow, part of my life and I
think I think back and ifcertain people didn't help me
along the way, my life would bevery different.
So one thing I would say is, ifyou're looking for a way to
(25:52):
give back, you have some timeand energy and you want to get
plugged into a reallystreamlined organization, but
you want to also make it yourown.
Rotary and Rotary Clubs are agreat way to get involved.
Your own Rotary and Rotaryclubs are a great way to get
involved If you are maybe acollege kid looking to, or
somebody who's just in the inthe workforce, looking to expand
more and meet like-mindedpeople so that you can, you know
(26:14):
, increase your impact on theworld.
Rotary is an awesome place todo that and it's also a great
place to find um, just to findyour people.
You know you, you findlike-minded people and there's
power in that A lot of thepeople in our club.
We share life events, lifemilestones and life events
together.
I would like to see my clubright now we're talking about
(26:38):
maybe helping to get an interactor Rotaract group off the
ground.
You know, helping young peopleget involved in the community
doesn't just make the world abetter place.
It can make your life a betterlife because you're building
connections and relationshipsthat can impact your life long
term.
So I would say don't viewpeople as transactional.
(27:01):
View people around you as aninvestment in yourself, your
community.
Give as much as you can yourtime.
If you have time, help a youngperson trying to figure it out.
Go do coffee with somebodywho's struggling and is looking
at maybe changing careers.
I do that a lot, just being agood sounding board.
Helping people doesn't meannecessarily you know that you
(27:25):
have to feed everybody or youhave to clothe everybody.
Sometimes it's hey, are youdoing?
Okay, I know that you.
Just I know you just lost yourjob or you just went through a
layoff.
Like, how can I help you?
What are you looking for?
Sometimes it's just that beinginvested in somebody else and
checking in that can make allthe difference.
Being invested in somebody elseand checking in that can make
all the difference.
Brian Triger (27:43):
I like that a lot.
Sometimes being calculated, atleast for me, can definitely be
a way of being so just beingchallenged in that way is really
good.
So tying into the change and orwhat's on the horizon part of
the question uh, what changes,if any, would you like to see?
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (28:05):
yeah, within rotary the change I would
love to see with rotary, Ithink would be it kind of
dovetails to my wanting to helpyounger people.
It does seem like rotary clubsthey obviously as rotary we have
brand awareness issues.
We we have some preconceivednotions out there about what a
(28:26):
Rotarian is, what a Rotarianlooks like.
I'd love to see more women.
I'd love to see more youngpeople.
I'd love to see more people ofcolor.
When we walk into any of ourclubs and I think I think we're
all as clubs starting startingto see differences.
But just being welcoming my club, I'm really really big about
(28:49):
making sure that every singleperson that walks through the
door feels welcome.
When you walk up those stairsyou should feel like you're
walking in to meet with friends,to have dinner and catch up.
That's how it should feel withfriends to have dinner and catch
up.
That's how it should feel.
Too many times have I gone intoa Rotary setting where you know
the Rotarians who are members ofthat club treat each other like
(29:10):
family and they all have.
You know their inside jokes andeverything else, but it can
kind of feel unwelcoming oruninviting to somebody who's
just visiting.
So I think that as anorganization, every club has got
to step up to the plate to makesure that people feel welcome,
(29:31):
because if you're making peoplefeel welcome, they're going to
be more excited about whateveryou're working on and the
likelihood that they want tojoin just is so much greater
than if they walk in and theyfeel unwelcome.
They don't understand yourinside jokes, they don't
understand why you're singingsongs or they don't understand
some of your traditions.
(29:51):
It's off-putting.
It doesn't make them feel likethey're a part of that
experience.
It can really turn people off.
Brian Triger (29:59):
That's really good input.
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (30:00):
I can connect with pretty much all of
those points within the lastyear and a half of being a
member, have you visited a lotof clubs out there.
Brian Triger (30:09):
Not too many.
So I've been to Bricktown, I'vebeen to, obviously, my club
Midwest City, I've been out toTwo great clubs by the way To
Weatherford and I believe Gageas well.
I've been to Waxahachie, so outin Texas, wow.
Okay, I believe Gage as well.
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (30:26):
I've been to Waxahachie so out in
Texas.
Brian Triger (30:27):
My friend Nancy Lane, was inducted within the
last couple of weeks and some ofthe district chain came with me
.
So that was a lot of fun andI'm getting exposure digitally.
So, whether it's AlbertHernandez who inspired this
project out in District 5280, orconnecting with Andre Boyd,
who's in Piedmont right now buthe's the next district governor
(30:49):
for the panhandle of Florida,and then just kind of connecting
in different ways, I'm tryingto mix it up and get outside of
my comfort zone a little bitmore.
Get outside of my comfort zonea little bit more.
I really would like to come toyour club and uh, uh, I want to
(31:10):
do, uh, I want to visit uh club29 at least once.
Even though they're on thesurface, it seemed it's a little
bit intimidating Uh, but uh, Iwould say I I've visited a
handful Uh, so I just I have mylimited experience within the
last year and a half, but I do.
I can see those points uh,especially if I talk to other
members within other clubs andthey're listening to some of
their perspectives.
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (31:29):
Well, if you ever would like, or if
anyone out there any of yourlisteners would like, come and
visit the Oklahoma City MidtownRotary Club.
We meet Tuesdays.
I tell people to get there at530 so that you can order dinner
.
If you'd like to order somebeers or whatever you want to
enjoy with your meal, do somenetworking, get to meet people.
If you get there around 5.30you're able to meet people and
(31:52):
have light networking and thenthe show starts at six o'clock.
So I run a pretty strict agendato make sure that we get out by
seven o'clock.
Especially when we've got boardmeeting nights.
I try to make sure that we getout by seven o'clock.
Especially when we've got boardmeeting nights.
I try to make sure that we'rewrapped up a little bit before
seven so we can go right intoour board meeting.
But our club is very muchdedicated to hearing from
(32:14):
nonprofits that are doingsomething in the art space.
We love having artists come andspeak.
We have people come and talkabout if it's a public official
like, give us an update onwhat's happening on a project in
Oklahoma city.
We've had people come and talkabout maps.
Uh, before scissortail park wasa thing, we had them come out
and talk.
So we we do um.
I think our our programmingchair does an amazing job of
(32:38):
keeping keeping um really coolspeakers in our lineup and
that's um's just a really coolway for our members to take
value out of their week,understand who's out here in our
community making a difference,making it a great place to be.
It's an inspiring feeling.
You know you should leavefeeling nice and light and happy
and energized by the end of themeeting, and we do that most
(33:01):
weeks.
We do post our events onFacebook.
Right now we're doing a bigupdate on our website, but if
we're not meeting there for anyreason, we post about it on
Facebook first.
Brian Triger (33:11):
Well, thank you for sharing that.
We'll definitely put theinformation in the or keep the
information in the show notesand make that available to all
of our listeners.
I just want to take thisopportunity to thank you, alyssa
, and also Siren Media, forhosting us today.
I'd like to thank District 5750and all of the Rotarians within
(33:35):
our district for support andjust being in the Rotary
International community.
I'd also like to thank IT itspark for assisting with the
creation and the development ofthis podcast, and happy holidays
everyone, thank you.
Welcome to the Rotary Spark Podcast.
I'm your host, Brian Schrager,and with me today is the
president of the Oklahoma CityMidtown Rotary Club, Alyssa
Weathers-Murphy.
How are you doing today, Alyssa?
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (00:40):
Hello, and happy what's today?
Friday?
Brian Triger (00:44):
Happy Friday to you as well.
So, so let's see.
Yesterday was Thanksgiving.
Do you have any holiday plansthis weekend?
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (00:51):
Yeah, in fact, right when we wrap here
today, we're going to hop in thecar and drive up to Joplin,
missouri, to go visit somefamily and spend the weekend
eating too much food and sippingsome Prosecco and sharing
stories Eating too much food andsipping some Prosecco, and
sharing stories.
Brian Triger (01:06):
That sounds like a lot of fun.
So let's see.
Tell us a little bit about howyou discovered Rotary for the
first time.
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (01:16):
Yeah, I've been a member of Rotary for
10 years now.
I found Rotary through myhusband, who was my boyfriend at
the time.
My husband's name is MattMurphy and he told me about his
Rotary Club that he visitedevery Tuesday at McNelly's at
six o'clock and was getting backinto it.
He had taken a little bit oftime away from it but he was a
(01:38):
charter member of the OklahomaCity Midtown Rotary Club and I
joined him a couple times justto visit and see what it was all
about.
And I was.
I got kind of hooked.
I really liked that this groupof people got together every
Tuesday to hear somebody fromthe community whether it was an
artist or a nonprofit or someonewith a cool mission or a
(01:59):
business in the area.
They would come and speak tothe Midtown Rotary, tell them
what they were doing, and itjust felt number one.
It felt kind of inspiring tohear what somebody was doing in
our city to make it a betterplace.
And then every month they wouldcoordinate a volunteer
opportunity.
And I had just graduatedcollege at the time, so I had
all this free time and energythat I wanted to do something
(02:20):
good with and it was just kindof history.
From there.
I joined pretty quickly aftergraduating college.
Brian Triger (02:27):
Wow, and apologies if I missed the detail in that
story.
How long have you been aRotarian?
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (02:34):
10 years .
Brian Triger (02:35):
Wow, 10 years all the way back to college and
meeting your husband.
Uh, that's, that's quite ajourney, Yep, Uh, let's see.
So, uh, tell us a little bitmore about uh, please tell us a
little bit more about yourjourney to rise to presidency
(03:00):
and uh, also, maybe some of theof your favorite projects that
you worked on or that you'reworking on right now.
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (03:08):
Yeah, I joined the Midtown Rotary just
right out of college, like Imentioned, and I discovered that
coming out of school one of thebest things that I did I
learned later on after doing itwas getting involved and just
asking how can I help, how can Ibe a part of this?
(03:30):
Can I help you all withanything?
And we know as volunteers thatalso means with stepping up into
a board position as a volunteer.
So I did that.
I joined the membershipcommittee and just helped them
do whatever they needed me to do.
I went to meetings everyTuesday and I did this with
(03:50):
another organization too.
My professional tradeorganization was the American
Marketing Association ofOklahoma City and that's my.
That was the first you knownon-profit volunteer
organization that really helpedto propel my career and open
doors for me in more of the youknow marketing space
(04:11):
particularly.
But with Rotary, rotary reallyhelped open the doors for me to
realize what it takes to makecommunity change happen, whether
it's raising money for kids'instruments in classrooms or pay
for a piece of public art, justlearning about the systems and
processes that go into it, allthe paperwork side of things,
(04:34):
all of the you know sometimesthe politics and bureaucracy
that happen with it to makethings move forward, or where
things get stuck.
It's such an eye-openingexperience and it also is really
educating if you're somebodywho wants to figure out how to
make a difference on your own.
So in my club our two bigfocuses, so every Rotary Club
(04:56):
has a focus and the OklahomaCity Midtown is known for our
involvement in arts andeducation efforts.
If there's something to do withthe arts or something to do
with educating kids or maybeit's arts education, maybe it's
educating kids about the arts Ifit's got those two elements to
it with also some element ofcommunity impact, those are the
(05:18):
kinds of projects that we giveto.
So every Rotary Club has itsfocus and also every Rotary Club
has its own fundraiser.
Our fundraiser is the SpellingBeer, which is we own the
trademark.
One of the members of our clubsis an intellectual property
attorney so he helped us securethe trademark for it.
(05:38):
But it's literally a spellingbeer, so a spelling bee where we
also have breweries who providetastings for beer.
And that money that we raise wehave a goal every year to raise
$20,000 or more.
That money goes into ourfoundation so that we can figure
out what types of projects andopportunities we want to fund
(05:58):
throughout the year.
So our club does have afoundation that my husband was a
huge part of setting up.
That was his baby getting thefoundation put together so that
we had the tool in place to workwith Rotary International on
getting matching opportunitiesthroughout our fiscal year, and
(06:20):
that has really allowed us toget involved in some bigger
projects too.
So things with other clubs,things within the district,
things that we're able topotentially get matching funds
for from Rotary International,it really helps to double our
impact or significantly increaseour impact with whatever
projects we decide to dothroughout the year.
Brian Triger (06:42):
That's a lot of great information, I think,
regardless of where a rotarianis on their journey as a new,
newer member, it opens up myeyes to, uh, just community
connection within ourorganization, out of curiosity,
whether it's my midwest cityrotary club or any of the other
(07:03):
30 plus clubs in the district,not to say that they're not
already helping, but if all ofus could help your club more,
what are some areas, whetherwith the Spellingbeer
specifically, or any of theother projects, that really
contribute to the foundation asa whole?
What could we do to help?
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (07:24):
I think there's always an opportunity to
do more cross club grantsgrants together as clubs in our
district and, to be honest withyou, that's an area where
understanding all of the ins andouts of it is still something
that I'm learning, still being amember and now a president of
(07:45):
our club.
It's there are a lot ofdifferent opportunities, things
that we could do more oftogether.
My husband is absolutely thetopic that is.
That is his baby, so that ishis area of expertise.
And then our giving chairgiving chair this year her name
is Sylvia Sterling and then LeeMorgan, who has been the giving
(08:06):
chair in our club off and on forthe past 10 years, is just an
absolute juggernaut when itcomes to understanding how to
get things organized, how to runthe paperwork, how to
collaborate between clubs and adistrict.
I think that our club wouldabsolutely be more interested,
or interested in doing more um,more grant opportunities with
(08:27):
other clubs, so for sure.
Brian Triger (08:29):
Okay, well, um, I have limited knowledge right now
, but please feel free to use meas a resource if I can, uh, you
know, just even be a messengerto kind of knock on some doors
within my own club, or any otherclubs because as I learn more I
do see I get excited aboutthose cross club opportunities,
(08:51):
especially with the privilegesthat I have kind of seeing some
things on the district level.
I think it's it's really coolto just have the opportunity to
stay plugged into the biggerpicture.
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (09:02):
Yeah, and I think another way that
anyone could help is just cometo come to our fundraiser and we
need to go to other.
We've, I think as a club we'vebeen better about getting out to
other clubs fundraisers, like Iknow the Midwest city club does
.
Is it the crawfish boil?
Brian Triger (09:15):
Uh, I believe it is the.
So I've been to the shrimp boilonce and I know that, uh, uh,
if I'm not mistaken, it mistaken, it's happening again next year
.
That's the big fundraiser thatI'm aware of.
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (09:29):
Yep, I think it's neat to see each
club's fundraiser, ours beingthe Spelling Beer.
That's just our kind of flavorof it.
It makes sense for our brandbecause we're a club that meets
at McNelly's you know what Imean On Tuesday in the evening,
so doing something with beer wassuper interesting to us.
And then also supporting allthese awesome breweries that we
(09:52):
have here in our community thathave really taken off the past
10 years, where we've got areally awesome group of brewery
owners who will kind of taketurns participating and donating
beer and showing up and doingtastings yeah, no, that's really
exciting.
Brian Triger (10:07):
And then I also see the opportunity not to say
that it's relevant right now,but for a prospective member or
a new member that might bespinning up a satellite club or
building a new charter for a newclub within the district just
being able to develop thatcamaraderie and understanding
the relationship component tiedto what you guys are doing or
any other clubs are doing, sothat if you know there's a
(10:31):
offshoot at some point andthey're you know a new
fundraiser comes to be, or evenif someone wants to redesign the
fundraiser within their ownclub, just participating, having
a good time and then justhelping with some of the
logistics it it makes, makesthat creation a little bit more
possible.
Alyssa Weathers-Murp (10:46):
Absolutely .
Brian Triger (10:49):
So let's see, tell us you mentioned marketing.
I know from Light Exposure thatyou're the owner of Siren Media
.
Is that correct?
Yeah, tell us a little bit moreabout the beginning, all the
way up to maybe now, justanything that you're willing to
share, tied to the creation ofyour organization.
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (11:08):
Yeah, so , like you said, I'm the owner
and founder of a local Oklahomacity-based marketing agency.
It's called Siren Media.
We actually just celebrated sixyears two weeks ago.
Thank you.
The date crept up on us.
I didn't do a big event thisyear.
We'll do something in January.
It snuck up on me but yeah,I've been.
(11:28):
I've been working on this for along time.
I started out in the marketingworld.
I went to school to studybusiness and marketing, so it
was something that was veryinteresting to me.
Um, my family kind of inspiredme to go down the business route
, because I grew up in a smallbusiness.
My grandpa started this TVcompany, a little TV repair
(11:51):
business called Weathers TV andAppliance in downtown Edmond,
and it's still there to this day.
My family doesn't own itanymore but it's still there in
existence and it has a.
You know people in Edmond whohave lived there for a long time
know no Weathers TV andappliance.
I grew up in the shop.
You know what I mean, likeanswering phones and helping my
(12:11):
parents with invoices, taking in.
You know broken VCRs and TVs,writing tickets, calling,
calling customers and greetingpeople as they walked in the
door.
My dad joined the business.
Probably I think it was late80s, early 90s.
He helped my grandpa, mygrandpa, my papa, so I call him
papa.
(12:32):
So when I say papa, that's whatI'm talking about.
He had the repair side of thebusiness and my dad had a knack
for selling and getting thisthing built out and making it
more of a showroom.
So when dad joined the businessit kind of made it, I guess,
double force.
You had, you had the placewhere you could go and take any
of your broken appliances or youcould go and hang out with my
(12:55):
dad and buy new appliances, andthis would have been early
nineties to mid nineties andthen that's when home audio
video really blew up.
So we're talking.
I saw things from, you know,the Laserdisc era all the way to
the first DVDs that hit themarket in the late 90s.
I got to grow up in a showroomand I was always interested how
(13:16):
they kept the phones ringing andlike what made this building a
place where people would come inand out of.
So it kind of made me tick as akid.
I didn't realize until Igraduated high school.
I didn't realize how I justdidn't have a really strong.
I didn't have a strong sense ofidentity and I didn't really
think I was very smart.
(13:36):
I didn't know that about myselfuntil I got into the workforce.
I took a semester off betweenhigh school and college, the
workforce.
I took a semester off betweenhigh school and college and I
needed to take some time.
My parents went through adivorce and there were all kinds
of things going on in thefamily and I just needed to hang
out for a minute before Idecided to go to college.
So I took that fall semesterjust to kind of inventory and
(13:59):
evaluate what I wanted to do,what I wanted to study.
I got my first job in working inbeauty retail.
So my first job was for a bigcompany called Beauty Brands and
my job was a customer serviceretail associate and my job was
to literally stock the shampooand the products, check people
out at the counter and make surethat customers had a good
(14:19):
experience.
Try to give them a tour of thespa in the back.
Beauty Brands is no longeraround.
But what I learned about myselfthat first job out of college?
I learned that I was smart.
I went to a good high school.
I thought that my GPA was fine.
I was probably like a 3.2, 3point something GPA.
But I just didn't think that Iwas smarter than my peers and I
(14:42):
guess I had kind of a lowself-esteem.
So I say that to say and Ishare that part of my story
because you've met me and youmight've developed a first.
You know, I don't know, youmight have had an assumption or
thought, oh, she's a reallyconfident person.
I was not always that way, butwhen I got into the workforce I
realized that I'm actually verysmart.
(15:02):
I'm a very hard worker.
A lot of those customer serviceprinciples my mom and dad
taught me when I was reallyyoung set me up for success.
So, though, I started out inbeauty retail and I moved up the
ranks and I got to work forsome really awesome prestige
beauty brands like MAC Cosmetics, like Prescriptives and other
(15:24):
Estee Lauder brands.
When I went on my way up toDillard's so I worked for
Dillard's, which is every singleone of these companies I worked
for I learned a little bit moreabout how to run a business,
because you're running a smallbusiness within a bigger
business.
When you work for one of thosebeauty counters, you're learning
how to run a small businesswithin this bigger umbrella.
(15:45):
So I learned that I was good atit.
I learned that I was good athitting business goals, I was
creative, I was very hardworkingand I had good customer service
and good work ethic, like allthose things I started to learn
about myself and I had goodcustomer service and good work
ethic.
Like all those things I startedto learn about myself, and I
developed an appreciation forthe fact that I was not this,
you know, small minded personfrom a small town in Oklahoma.
(16:10):
I was actually smart andcapable.
So when I built my confidence,learning that I was capable of
doing all these things, Istudied marketing.
I got my degree in marketing.
I took a minor in professionalselling.
Uco was the first school in thestate that had a sales program,
so I was in one of the firstgraduating classes who could
(16:31):
take it as a minor.
I'm so glad that I did thatbecause I was learning a lot
about selling, you know,individual items, so my job was
to sell beauty products.
So we're talking about mascara,foundation powders, and
learning the world of sellingsmaller items to how to sell
bigger things, how to sell bigcontracts, how to sell bigger,
(16:55):
more complex, complicated thingsprofessionally really, really
excited me.
So that set me up when Igraduated in 2013 to start
working in corporate America.
Brian Triger (17:10):
As a new business owner.
It's just an inspiring story,so I'm just kind of catching
myself and processing theinformation, seeing other people
succeed that are in or close tothe community that I live in,
it's just uh uh.
It's a lot in a good way.
So thank you for sharing that.
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (17:29):
It's in it I like to share.
My husband kind of makes fun ofme because I tell stories from
when the earth cooledperspective.
I give a lot of context becauseI think it's important.
I think it's really unfair forme to be this, you know, loud,
brazen lady who wears hot, pinkand black all the time and can
be a little bit loud andoff-putting to people.
I like to share who I was andwhere I came from, because I
(17:53):
didn't have any plans to be abusiness owner, didn't want to
number one, didn't think I couldnumber two, and avoided it like
the plague.
It actually took a series ofevents for me to decide to try
and do this on my own.
So yeah, I like for people tounderstand that I was a young
girl from Edmond, oklahoma.
I did not have huge aspirationsfor myself.
(18:13):
I didn't have a lot ofconfidence about who I was, but
I learned by trying and doingthings that I was way more
capable than what I thought.
The genesis of Siren Media wasactually the result of me
spending a relatively short timein corporate America.
In the grand scheme of things,I've been a business owner for
longer than I have been workingfor other people in corporate
(18:34):
America.
So I started out, got my degree.
I was approached by a smallmarketing company in South OKC
where I learned how to sellwebsites and social media
contracts and that was a reallygood opportunity just to get my
foot in the door.
But it was a very small companyand I wanted the opportunity to
(18:56):
make more money.
I wanted to try working for abigger company.
One of my friends who I workedin cosmetics with her husband
worked for a media division ofour local cable company.
So he sold TV ads, tv ads anddigital advertising packages.
And I was talking with them oneday as I was visiting them,
(19:16):
catching up and kind ofcomplaining about wanting to
find a bigger opportunity, andhe said well, you know, my
company is hiring and we'reactually looking for recent
grads and people who could selldigital products, digital
advertising products.
Maybe you should apply.
That was a huge lesson for mein that all the career
opportunities, the best careeropportunities that I've come
(19:38):
across and the best businessopportunities that have come
across my um come across me havebeen from people that I had.
I would have never had any idea.
So my friend who I worked within the beauty world for years
her husband ended up setting meup with a way for me to get an
interview with that company andI I got the job.
(20:00):
I was so excited.
I worked there for almost fouryears, but I learned so much
about the marketing world, theagency world, um, the
advertising world.
This was 2014.
And that era was a was a timewhen people were cutting their
cable subscriptions.
So you're the lady selling theadvertising package that's going
(20:25):
on cable and satellite homes.
It was a challenge.
It wasn't like the salespeople.
It was a different challengethan the salespeople who were
selling your broadcast TVadvertising packages here
locally.
They'd be like Channel 4,channel 5, channel 9, fox, cw
2534, like all those networks,those affiliated networks with
(20:46):
these larger media companies.
Those advertising reps had adifferent set of challenges than
the advertising reps who wereselling cable advertising, which
go to wired homes only just inthat metro area, and our
argument was always well, thesepeople pay their bill, they have
(21:08):
more income.
We can target more specifically.
If you're just trying to reachpeople in the Oklahoma City
metro, it's less wasteful as anadvertising message because your
broadcast message goes to alarge portion of the state.
So if you're a plumber, forinstance, and your service
footprint is only in theOklahoma City Metro, you're
better off buying my productthan you would be trying to
(21:30):
figure out how to make yourdollar go far in an advertising
footprint that hits most of thestate.
But it was certainly achallenging time because I would
meet business owners all thetime that were, like my dad and
my papa, just trying to figureout how to make the phones ring,
keep the business open, andthey didn't have a website or
they wouldn't have a very goodbrand or a logo or they would
(21:51):
have no social media.
And to me I felt it wasunethical to push my advertising
package on people who weren'tready for it.
Because what's going to happenwhen somebody sees a TV ad and
they go, oh, I actually do needa plumber, I'm going to call
them.
They're going to go type itinto a search engine or a social
media platform and when nothingcomes up, they're going to go
(22:12):
to the competitor.
So I learned that theadvertising space though it's
really exciting, the advertisingand marketing world is not the
most ethical space.
It is deeply unethical in many,many regards.
And when you're a salespersontrying to meet a sales quota on
(22:34):
the backs of small businesses, Idid not like where that put me
mentally.
I started seeing people as youknow, my clients and prospects
everybody just has a dollar signabove their head like what can
I get out of them?
I didn't like that, so I didget out of the advertising world
selling TV advertising productsand digital products and I
(22:56):
think it was the right move.
I learned so much about sellingbig the right move.
I learned so much about sellingbig contracts.
So I'm so glad that I had thatopportunity.
You know, I think everybodyshould have the opportunity to
sell or work in an environmentwhere there's a bunch of gray
cubicles around you, a littlegray cubicle farm, because it
gives you.
Brian Triger (23:15):
It gives you structure, it gives you a way of
seeing things and then you candecide if that makes you happy
or if you want to go and dosomething on your own.
Yeah, no, I mean, aside fromthe story, I'm processing the
idea of a gray cubicle farm.
I would say that not everyone'sthe same.
No disrespect to the graycubicle farm.
One of the best motivators formy personal growth is that farm,
(23:39):
because I, you know, afterspending 10 or 15 minutes
sitting in a cubicle farm, Ijust I want to break out of it
in the most peaceful waypossible.
But it but it's also cool tokind of, I would say, on the
positive side, seeing that thatuh, interactive hive mind just
seeing all the little componentsand stuff like that and realize
(23:59):
that you know everything has astarting point, it does.
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (24:02):
Yeah, one of my greatest teachers in
life was just learning what Ididn't like and what I didn't
want to do.
Brian Triger (24:08):
Sure.
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (24:09):
I think that's true for all of us.
Brian Triger (24:11):
Well, you're a far way away from a cubicle farm.
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (24:16):
Now sitting in my office where we've
got like lots of light andplants and a pink neon down the
hallway.
Brian Triger (24:23):
Yeah, the boxes get bigger and better.
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (24:26):
They do, they can, they certainly can.
Brian Triger (24:29):
So I think we're almost done.
But what's your favorite boardgame if your family has one?
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (24:36):
Favorite board game?
That's a good question.
We're more card players on mymom's side of the family.
Brian Triger (24:43):
Okay.
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (24:44):
We played a lot of poker.
Brian Triger (24:48):
Okay.
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (24:48):
We play a lot of oh gosh.
There's one card game.
It's not 21.
It's a number that we used toplay all the time and if not,
that it's usually a game ofpoker that my mom's side of the
family likes to play.
If there were a board game, I'dhave to think about that one.
Now I don't feel very gamey.
(25:10):
Okay, I do love Candyland.
I am a Candyland girly.
Brian Triger (25:14):
Candyland it is.
And Uh, let's see last uh comboquestion Any, any tips for
newer perspective Rotarians andwhat, if anything, would you
like to see change within Rotary?
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (25:30):
I have a big heart for young people who
are trying to figure out whatthey're going to do next in
their career.
That was such a formative, youknow, part of my life and I
think I think back and ifcertain people didn't help me
along the way, my life would bevery different.
So one thing I would say is, ifyou're looking for a way to
(25:52):
give back, you have some timeand energy and you want to get
plugged into a reallystreamlined organization, but
you want to also make it yourown.
Rotary and Rotary Clubs are agreat way to get involved.
Your own Rotary and Rotaryclubs are a great way to get
involved If you are maybe acollege kid looking to, or
somebody who's just in the inthe workforce, looking to expand
more and meet like-mindedpeople so that you can, you know
(26:14):
, increase your impact on theworld.
Rotary is an awesome place todo that and it's also a great
place to find um, just to findyour people.
You know you, you findlike-minded people and there's
power in that A lot of thepeople in our club.
We share life events, lifemilestones and life events
together.
I would like to see my clubright now we're talking about
(26:38):
maybe helping to get an interactor Rotaract group off the
ground.
You know, helping young peopleget involved in the community
doesn't just make the world abetter place.
It can make your life a betterlife because you're building
connections and relationshipsthat can impact your life long
term.
So I would say don't viewpeople as transactional.
(27:01):
View people around you as aninvestment in yourself, your
community.
Give as much as you can yourtime.
If you have time, help a youngperson trying to figure it out.
Go do coffee with somebodywho's struggling and is looking
at maybe changing careers.
I do that a lot, just being agood sounding board.
Helping people doesn't meannecessarily you know that you
(27:25):
have to feed everybody or youhave to clothe everybody.
Sometimes it's hey, are youdoing?
Okay, I know that you.
Just I know you just lost yourjob or you just went through a
layoff.
Like, how can I help you?
What are you looking for?
Sometimes it's just that beinginvested in somebody else and
checking in that can make allthe difference.
Being invested in somebody elseand checking in that can make
all the difference.
Brian Triger (27:43):
I like that a lot.
Sometimes being calculated, atleast for me, can definitely be
a way of being so just beingchallenged in that way is really
good.
So tying into the change and orwhat's on the horizon part of
the question uh, what changes,if any, would you like to see?
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (28:05):
yeah, within rotary the change I would
love to see with rotary, Ithink would be it kind of
dovetails to my wanting to helpyounger people.
It does seem like rotary clubsthey obviously as rotary we have
brand awareness issues.
We we have some preconceivednotions out there about what a
(28:26):
Rotarian is, what a Rotarianlooks like.
I'd love to see more women.
I'd love to see more youngpeople.
I'd love to see more people ofcolor.
When we walk into any of ourclubs and I think I think we're
all as clubs starting startingto see differences.
But just being welcoming my club, I'm really really big about
(28:49):
making sure that every singleperson that walks through the
door feels welcome.
When you walk up those stairsyou should feel like you're
walking in to meet with friends,to have dinner and catch up.
That's how it should feel withfriends to have dinner and catch
up.
That's how it should feel.
Too many times have I gone intoa Rotary setting where you know
the Rotarians who are members ofthat club treat each other like
(29:10):
family and they all have.
You know their inside jokes andeverything else, but it can
kind of feel unwelcoming oruninviting to somebody who's
just visiting.
So I think that as anorganization, every club has got
to step up to the plate to makesure that people feel welcome,
(29:31):
because if you're making peoplefeel welcome, they're going to
be more excited about whateveryou're working on and the
likelihood that they want tojoin just is so much greater
than if they walk in and theyfeel unwelcome.
They don't understand yourinside jokes, they don't
understand why you're singingsongs or they don't understand
some of your traditions.
(29:51):
It's off-putting.
It doesn't make them feel likethey're a part of that
experience.
It can really turn people off.
Brian Triger (29:59):
That's really good input.
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (30:00):
I can connect with pretty much all of
those points within the lastyear and a half of being a
member, have you visited a lotof clubs out there.
Brian Triger (30:09):
Not too many.
So I've been to Bricktown, I'vebeen to, obviously, my club
Midwest City, I've been out toTwo great clubs by the way To
Weatherford and I believe Gageas well.
I've been to Waxahachie, so outin Texas, wow.
Okay, I believe Gage as well.
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (30:26):
I've been to Waxahachie so out in
Texas.
Brian Triger (30:27):
My friend Nancy Lane, was inducted within the
last couple of weeks and some ofthe district chain came with me
.
So that was a lot of fun andI'm getting exposure digitally.
So, whether it's AlbertHernandez who inspired this
project out in District 5280, orconnecting with Andre Boyd,
who's in Piedmont right now buthe's the next district governor
(30:49):
for the panhandle of Florida,and then just kind of connecting
in different ways, I'm tryingto mix it up and get outside of
my comfort zone a little bitmore.
Get outside of my comfort zonea little bit more.
I really would like to come toyour club and uh, uh, I want to
(31:10):
do, uh, I want to visit uh club29 at least once.
Even though they're on thesurface, it seemed it's a little
bit intimidating Uh, but uh, Iwould say I I've visited a
handful Uh, so I just I have mylimited experience within the
last year and a half, but I do.
I can see those points uh,especially if I talk to other
members within other clubs andthey're listening to some of
their perspectives.
Alyssa Weathers-Murphy (31:29):
Well, if you ever would like, or if
anyone out there any of yourlisteners would like, come and
visit the Oklahoma City MidtownRotary Club.
We meet Tuesdays.
I tell people to get there at530 so that you can order dinner
.
If you'd like to order somebeers or whatever you want to
enjoy with your meal, do somenetworking, get to meet people.
If you get there around 5.30you're able to meet people and
(31:52):
have light networking and thenthe show starts at six o'clock.
So I run a pretty strict agendato make sure that we get out by
seven o'clock.
Especially when we've got boardmeeting nights.
I try to make sure that we getout by seven o'clock.
Especially when we've got boardmeeting nights.
I try to make sure that we'rewrapped up a little bit before
seven so we can go right intoour board meeting.
But our club is very muchdedicated to hearing from
(32:14):
nonprofits that are doingsomething in the art space.
We love having artists come andspeak.
We have people come and talkabout if it's a public official
like, give us an update onwhat's happening on a project in
Oklahoma city.
We've had people come and talkabout maps.
Uh, before scissortail park wasa thing, we had them come out
and talk.
So we we do um.
I think our our programmingchair does an amazing job of
(32:38):
keeping keeping um really coolspeakers in our lineup and
that's um's just a really coolway for our members to take
value out of their week,understand who's out here in our
community making a difference,making it a great place to be.
It's an inspiring feeling.
You know you should leavefeeling nice and light and happy
and energized by the end of themeeting, and we do that most
(33:01):
weeks.
We do post our events onFacebook.
Right now we're doing a bigupdate on our website, but if
we're not meeting there for anyreason, we post about it on
Facebook first.
Brian Triger (33:11):
Well, thank you for sharing that.
We'll definitely put theinformation in the or keep the
information in the show notesand make that available to all
of our listeners.
I just want to take thisopportunity to thank you, alyssa
, and also Siren Media, forhosting us today.
I'd like to thank District 5750and all of the Rotarians within
(33:35):
our district for support andjust being in the Rotary
International community.
I'd also like to thank IT itspark for assisting with the
creation and the development ofthis podcast, and happy holidays
everyone, thank you.
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