Some of the most remarkable traits that our combat-wounded Veterans share are bravery, fortitude and resilience. On this latest episode of the WWIA Podcast, we are honored to introduce you to a special guest whose journey has been fraught with numerous challenges and extreme obstacles both personally and professionally. And despite all of it, she has pushed through with strength and determination, overcome trials, and found uncommon success in life.
WWIA Founder and CEO, John McDaniel is proud to welcome friend, entrepreneur, speaker, and author Serena Mastin to the podcast. Serena started her life in witness protection and nine different foster homes, leading to teenage addiction and homelessness, and most recently walked through the devastation of her husband's suicide. Serena has faced unimaginable adversity. Yet, despite her challenges, she found a real sense of purpose along the way.
The most inspiring part of her story is her strength, resilience, and authenticity. She brings a wealth of knowledge and insight from industries across the corporate landscape - with over twenty years of experience climbing the corporate ladder, Serena's career has included being knocked down and climbing back to executive leadership roles with Fortune 500 companies before carving her own path by founding Pulse Marketing Incorporated. in 2013 - an award-winning marketing and advertising agency connecting people with brands by creating engaging content, purposeful graphics, thought-provoking web designs, and meaningful advertising campaigns that capture the heart of every business.
In addition to being a visionary entrepreneur, Serena recently published her first book, Exposed: You Can't Heal When You Hide, a memoir recounting her life story in harrowing detail.
In the book, Serena discusses her experiences with assault, addiction, homelessness, infidelity, mental health, and, ultimately, profound healing.
Serena’s thought-provoking story encourages and empowers others to embrace challenges and do it with passion. We are excited to share her story and know it will resonate and inspire you.
Takeaways:
- In this episode, we delve into the remarkable journey of Serena Mastin, who overcame a childhood filled with adversity, including foster care and addiction, to become a successful entrepreneur.
- Serena's memoir, "Can't Heal When You Hide," recounts her harrowing experiences with trauma, emphasizing the importance of authenticity in healing and personal growth.
- The podcast highlights the significant role of resilience and determination in navigating life's challenges, particularly for combat-wounded veterans who share similar struggles.
- We discuss the critical nature of self-care and the necessity of addressing one's own mental health before being able to support others effectively.
- The conversation underscores the idea that overcoming personal demons is essential not only for individual healing but also for fostering a supportive community around those in need.
- Serena's story serves as a powerful reminder that vulnerability and openness are key components of true connection and healing within our lives.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Wounded Warriors in Action
- Pulse Marketing Inc.
- Hot Topic
ABLEnow
This episode of the WWIA Podcast is sponsored by ABLEnow. ABLEnow is a national ABLE savings program designed specifically for people with disabilities. It allows eligible individuals to save and invest money in a tax-advantaged account without risking certain means-tested benefits, such as SSI or Medicaid. ABLEnow is available nationwide and serves eligible individuals in all 50 states. Learn more about ABLEnow: https://t.co/r5071ltB0G
Mentioned in this episode:
ABLEnow
This episode of the WWIA Podcast is sponsored by ABLEnow. ABLEnow is a national ABLE savings program designed specifically for people with disabilities. It allows eligible individuals to save and invest money in a tax-advantaged account without risking certain means-tested benefits, such as SSI or Medicaid. ABLEnow is available nationwide and serves eligible individuals in all 50 states. Learn more about ABLEnow: https://t.co/r5071ltB0G
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Foreign.
Hello and welcome to the WWIAPodcast. We're honored to have you
join us in our mission tobring honor, connection and healing
to America's combat woundedPurple Heart heroes. If this is your
first time listening to thispodcast, we welcome you. If you're
(00:21):
a returning listener, thanksfor coming back. Please be sure to
tell others about our podcastand leave us a review if you're enjoying
what you're hearing. Some ofthe most remarkable traits that our
combat wounded veterans shareare bravery, fortitude and resilience.
On this latest episode of theWWIA Podcast, we're honored to introduce
(00:43):
you to a special guest whosejourney has been fraught with numerous
challenges and extremeobstacles, both personally and professionally.
And despite all of it, she'spushed through with strength and
determination, overcometrials, and found uncommon success
in life. WWIA founder and CEOJohn McDaniel is proud to welcome
(01:05):
friend, entrepreneur, speakerand author Serena Mastin to the podcast.
Serena started her life inwitness protection and nine different
foster homes leading toteenage addiction and homelessness,
and most recently walkedthrough the devastation of her husband's
suicide. Serena has facedunimaginable adversity, yet despite
(01:29):
her challenges, she found areal sense of purpose along the way.
The most inspiring part of herstory is her strength, resilience
and authenticity. She brings awealth of knowledge and insight from
industries across thecorporate landscape. With over 20
years of experience climbingthe corporate ladder, Serena's career
has included being knockeddown and climbing back to executive
(01:52):
leadership roles with Fortune500 companies before carving her
own path by founding PulseMarketing Inc. In 2013, an award
winning marketing andadvertising agency. Connecting people
with brands by creatingengaging content, purposeful graphics,
thought provoking web designs,and meaningful advertising campaigns
(02:13):
that capture the heart ofevery business. In addition to being
a visionary entrepreneur,Serena recently published her first
book, Can't Heal when YouHide, A memoir recounting her life
story in harrowing detail. Inthe book, Serena discusses her experiences
with assault, addiction,homelessness, infidelity, mental
(02:35):
health, and ultimatelyprofound healing. Serena's thought
provoking story encourages andempowers others to embrace challenges
and do it with passion. We'reexcited to share her story and know
it will resonate and inspireyou. So let's jump into the conversation
with John and Serena now.
(03:00):
Hi, I'm John McDaniel, founderand CEO of the Wounded Warriors in
Action Foundation and this isour podcast, Honor Connect, Heal.
Today I have a very specialguest with me, Serena Mastin. Welcome
to the program.
Thank you. I'm honored to be here.
Yeah, you Know, I gotta tellthe story because this just, it's
(03:25):
unique. You know, we connectedon LinkedIn and when I read your
profile, I said to myself,wow, this person's got something
to say. And you are a founder,you're a speaker, and you're an author.
(03:46):
So you got, you've got a lot.You've got a lot going on, don't
you?
Yes, a lot. And the, theauthor part, I never thought I would
be an author, and I stillthink it's a little weird to say
author, but yes, I. I wrote amemoir about my personal story.
Did it get published?
(04:07):
Yes.
How do we find. How do we findthat? Where, where is that? Where?
It's on Amazon. Yeah. Or youcan actually just author website.
Serena Mastin.com and it'lllead you to where the book is.
Wow. How long is the book?
It is. Oh, that is a goodquestion. How long is it? Thirteen
(04:32):
chapters. Thirteen? Yeah.
Wow.
It felt like forever.
Right? You know, I've thoughtabout doing enough. Some people have
encouraged me to do it and Imight someday, but it's like the
idea of just writing a book islike, oh, man, it's just like, where
do you start? And it justseems like it's so hard to do, you
(04:56):
know, to get it moving.
It was. I had a book coachbecause I needed someone to hold
me accountable.
Yeah. And then I've beenapproached by the book coach people.
I don't know who that, youknow, Forbes and all that. You know,
I don't know, I just go, ah,you know, right now, got too many
(05:17):
fish to fresh. Let's just getlet. I want to. I'll tell you why
I was really interested and wereached out to you and said, please
consider, you know, being inour podcast, because. Why. That's
what I think I want to telleverybody right up front, you know,
get. I like to get thepunchline right up front, you know,
so people aren't struggling,you know, tell them what you're going
to tell them. Tell them andthen tell them what you told them.
Right. That's the best way.And so, you know, when I was reading
(05:42):
your story and getting to knowwho you. You were, what struck me
was, you know, the tragedythat. And the challenges that you
have been through in yourlife. I mean, we could even use words.
I think they might be yourwords. Devastation, you know, was
is a word that, that I, that Iread. Adversity, of course, and tragedy.
(06:05):
And a lot of our combatwounded Veterans have been through
that. Right. And in spades,you know, and so that's what immediately
struck me. And then here'sthis very successful woman who's
gone on to. Who's an author, afounder, a speaker, and you fought
(06:29):
your way through a lot of thebad stuff. Right. And you powered
your way through that andrecovered. And that's a story of
resiliency.
Yeah.
And. And that. That's what ourheroes have too, you know, and they
don't always look at it thatway, I'm sure, but that's way I like.
(06:51):
That's the way I see it. Andso I thought, wow, this is going
to be a great chat. We cantalk about that. And if we could
start there and just get like,right into some of it, because I
think there's probably a lotof lessons.
Yes, right.
So if we would. If you would,please. I mean, in your bio, I'm
(07:14):
like, I was gonna start offwith this and let you roll with it.
I said in the pre shows, like,your bio says that you were in nine
different foster homes.
Yes.
So, you know, if you were justin one, that's bad. Two, that's horrible.
Three, I don't even know, butnine, that's like, you ought to have
a. Like you have achampionship ring or something. Right?
(07:35):
Tell us about. Tell us abouthow it.
How that started.
Yeah, yeah, tell us about that.
So my biological father wasthe leader of a satanic cult, and
he sexually abused me, takingmy innocence before the age of five.
(07:58):
And my mom was trying to getus out of this environment, but he
had cameras all over thehouse. He had people following us
if we ever left the house. Andso when she finally was able to get
us out, she had to earn herrights back as a parent. And through
(08:19):
that process, I was put intothe foster system. And so, yeah,
that was the beginning.
I don't even know what to say.I had no idea that I was going to
learn that. I have to say howmuch courage it takes to say what
you just said and to be whereyou are. And having had dealt with
(08:44):
those things, because on ascale of one to 10, one being mild
and 10 being. Oh, my God,you're pushing. You're over the 10
scale.
That's just the beginning.
The scale. That's thebeginning. Oh, my gosh. That's the
beginning. Wow. Okay. Well,please continue on. I don't have
(09:08):
anything to say.
Wow. So when you're in witnessprotection and you're put into a
foster home, if someone findsout where you are, whether it's even
with good intention, theyimmediately move you which is why
I was transferred to so manydifferent places. And I wasn't actually
(09:28):
reunited with my mom until Iwas about 10 years old. So I spent
five years kind of bouncingaround in these, I would say, unique
environments, very foreignenvironments for a five year old
(09:49):
at the time. And by the timethat I did, you know, reunite with
my mom, it was such abeautiful experience. But I was so,
I was so independent by thatpoint and, and I, you know, I was
determined to prove everyonewrong that, you know, like I, I rebelled.
(10:12):
I just.
And like, you could do it,meaning rebelled with the sense,
right, I can do this, I'mstrong enough to do this, right?
Yes. But.
Is that right?
But, yes, but as a, a youngchild and then going into adolescence,
I pushed the boundaries and mymom, you know, turned her life around
(10:34):
and, you know, she gave herlife to Christ. And so she was instilling
a lot of those boundaries,those beliefs in me and creating
new boundaries. But in my, inmy mind, I was still emotionally
dealing with some of thetrauma that I had experienced, counseling,
(10:56):
all kinds of different thingsthat I had gone through. And by the
age of 15, I decided to leavehome. And so I said I didn't meet
anyone and I was going to doit on my own. And I know that sounds
crazy, especially knowing whatI've already been through, but I
(11:19):
did. I ran away. I lived onthe streets off and on for about
a year and a half. I enrolledmyself in high school and I had.
Where were you at this time?
I was in California.
Okay.
And I would say in the CovinaWest Covina, Baldwin park, you know,
kind of the la. Into the SanBernardino Riverside areas. And I
(11:44):
enrolled myself into highschool. I had three jobs and I would
take the bus to each job. Andthen if I didn't have a place to
sleep that night, I wouldsleep on the park bench across from
the school. And when theschool opened up, I would go in and
sneak into the locker roomshower and just pretend that I was
(12:08):
just showing up to school likeeveryone else.
Wow.
And so there's a key wordthere that, that word pretend. I,
I learned later on that I usedthat word as protection. I always
pretended that everything wasokay. I pretended that I had it all
together when in reality, Iwas struggling with drug addiction
(12:31):
at that time. You know,putting yourself in that environment
then also puts you in. Toplaces where you're exposed to dangerous
situations. And so I was, Iwas raped, I was beaten up on the
streets. You know, all kindsof the things that, that you open
(12:52):
yourself up to in that stage.But despite all of that, my mom was
my hero and just continued tolove me unconditionally, supported
me even from afar. And when Ifinally broke down and came back,
I was about 17 years old, andshe nurtured me back to health. And
(13:17):
then from there, I just ranback out and climbed the corporate
ladder.
Wow. You know, you saidsomething there that's really important.
And it is this idea of unity,you know, unconditional, you know,
love. Right. I mean, howpowerful is that? No matter how it's
(13:38):
like, you know, the good Lord. Right?
Yeah.
You know, and. And ourparents, you know, and of course,
we get that, you know, fromother people as well, and very select
few perhaps in our lives, butwe know we can count on it from God
and we know we can count on itfrom our parents most of the time.
(13:58):
Right?
Yeah, but that's. Wow, what astory. Holy smokes. And so you get.
You get through high school in California.
Yes.
And then what? And then what happens?
So then I, you know, I hadsome tumultuous relationships. I.
(14:21):
I had my son at the age of 21,and I was a single mom trying to
figure it out. By that point,I had started to get more, you know,
involved in. In business andcorporate environments and growing
on a professional level. Andso I thought, you know, another relationship
(14:44):
would help heal the personalside. And that then was, you know,
it was. It was constantly likeall of these obstacles because what
I didn't realize at the timeis that I really had to heal all
of that trauma from mychildhood or else I was going to
keep bringing it into everyrelationship. And so go ahead.
(15:09):
No, I'm nodding my head northand south. I was having to say something
because when I read your bioand the name of your book exposed,
you can't heal when you hide.When I read that, when I first read
that, I thought a light bulbwent on in my head because I wanted
(15:29):
to. I'll tell you a quickstory and then I'll turn it back
over to you for your thoughtson it. That's a way of saying you
can't heal when you hide.That's very good. And another way,
I had a close personal, Iguess, called a friend of mine, okay.
(15:49):
Who was in needing sometherapy, and she got that. And we
were chatting about theprocess at one point, and she said
to me that the therapistlooked at her and said, the process
starts when we get real. Andit's very similar to what you said
(16:15):
about hiding. That's puttingit on the table that's facing whatever
it is and real, real quick.And it doesn't, you know, it doesn't
start. The process can't startuntil we face those demons or that
demon and put it on the tableand get real about it. Right?
(16:35):
Yes. And I think the otherpart is if we think about our patterns,
right? Like when I was alittle girl and when my biological
father would come home, Iwould hide in the closet. So there's
a literal perspective as wellthat I recognize later on that whether
(16:55):
I'm actually hiding or I'mhiding behind being strong or pretending
I have it all together, hidingbehind my career, you still are losing
a part of your identitybecause you're not really facing
the pattern that's evolvedover time. And until you face it,
(17:16):
it's going to continue to seepinto every area of your life.
Yeah. When you say face it,you want to. What is it?
Well, you have to first lookinward. Right. Like you. You cannot
face anything withoutunderstanding why you are repeating
patterns. Right.
Behaving.
(17:37):
Behaving in a way that is, forinstance, attracting the wrong types
of relationships. Behaving ina way that is, you know, not authentic
and true to who you really arebecause you're trying to earn approval
or you're trying to protectwhatever that pattern is, you first
(18:00):
have to understand where itstarted and then where it shows up.
And then once you look withinyourself and understand that piece,
then not only are you aware ofit, so it makes it very blatant in
your face, but now you becomehypersensitive of when it actually
happens. And when you start torepeat the same behavior over and
(18:23):
over again, now you can startto see where you need to shift. And
so that was the beginning ofmy healing journey.
Did somebody help you withthat, or is that something you came
up with?
So many people helped me.
Isn't that how it is, really?
Yes. And so it was me justbeing determined to, you know, personal
(18:44):
development myself all the wayto success, reading hundreds of books
and trying to learn on my own.But then it was also mentors and
counselors and people thatcame in my life, even for a short
time, that taught me some ofthose things. So, yes, I would never
say I did it on my own.
No, I had to hear. I had tohear, you know, your answer to that,
(19:08):
because it's often that's thecase. It's not one thing. It's not
one person. It's just thisinterconnected series of people and
things that help you in that journey.
Yeah.
You know, Getting. Gettingthrough that tunnel and. And seeing
the light on the other side,and then, you know, really beginning
to heal. But then recognizing,most importantly, like you said,
(19:31):
those patterns of behavior,you know, you catch yourself. You
know, I'm doing it again.Yeah, it's right there, you know,
and. And that's.
And that's where themanagement and the self regulation
come in, is now that you'reaware of those things, now you have
to catch them.
Boundaries.
Yes.
(19:53):
Isn't that interesting? Yeah,Very good. Well, you know, that's.
That's just. Oh, man, that.What a crazy, interesting and amazing
story of resiliency. Right? Imean, you come out of this thing
now, you're in corporateAmerica, you've got a son, and what's
(20:17):
your first real job? What doyou get your first real job, and
what are you doing?
It was actually kind of byaccident. I. I was working in a distribution
center, answering the phones,and I got a call from a temp agency
(20:37):
that was trying to connectwith the hiring manager, and she
recruited me to go to anotherinterview. I wasn't happy in the
role that I was in. I justtook the risk. I went that day on
my lunch to the interview, gothired on the spot, and then quit
(21:00):
the other job. And that wasfor. For those that are aware, it
was the Hot Topic corporateoffice. And that was the most exciting
and like, big. Like, bigposition that I had gotten at that
time in my life.
Hot Topic?
Yeah.
(21:21):
What's. What's that?
It's like a clothing store.But this clothing store has over
200 stores at that. I haveabout 400 now. And I was. They asked
me to be the. The voice of aHot Topic, and that just meant that
I was the receptionist, butthat was my starting point.
(21:43):
You were a gate. Gatekeeper.
I was. But then from there, Igrew into the new home industry,
and I was doing marketing forresidential home builders. And by
this point, now I have mydaughter and my son. And as I was
(22:05):
growing in my career, I got,you know, at gosh, I think I was.
I bought my first house at 23,and by the age of 26, I was a VP
of marketing for anorganization that was all about corporate
(22:26):
training and culture. So I wasreally moving through, and I was
fighting because I didn't havea college background. So I had to
use my experience as thefoundation, and that's kind of how
I clawed my way to the top inthe corporate world.
(24:41):
Now let's talk about marketingfor a second, because, you know,
we don't. The foundation doesnot have, like, a person in charge
of marketing. I think you'retalking to that guy or that person.
So I've, you know, even thoughI, you know, have some education
and business behind me and allof that, you know, marketing has
(25:04):
been something I've alwaysbeen really fascinated by. Because
when you say, like, what isyour brand? Because, you know, when
I talk about when I thinkabout marketing, I then immediately
begin to think about brand.And when I think about brand, I go,
what is that? You know, what,what, what, what is that? Well, you
know, in my case, I couldtalk. We're not here to talk about
(25:27):
me today or the foundation awhole lot. But, you know, when I
do think about it, I thinkabout, okay, really the foundation
has a brand. We have a logo.That's a logo. But really our brand
is, you know, it is what you.My opinion, you know, it is what
you really do and how you doit and how you're known for doing
(25:49):
it. You know, whether, youknow, in the case of McDonald's,
you go, well, what'sMcDonald's brand? Well, you know,
you could start talking aboutthe Whopper, the Ronald McDonald,
the french fries, you know,the franchise. There's lots of things
you can say, but when you goto a McDonald's, you have certain
expectations, you know, aboutwhat that experience is going to
(26:11):
be like. And. And it's fairlyconsistent, right? You, Tupelo, Mississippi
to, you know, Anchorage,Alaska. You know, a Big Mac's a Big
Mac, right? And so there's abrand. There's a brand there, but
they throw. The big companiesthrow hundreds of millions of dollars
at reinforcing an image and anidea that becomes the brand. Nike.
(26:36):
Just do it, you know, and. Butthose folks can afford to throw tons
and tons of money to establisha brand to reinforce a brand, and
they're often usingcelebrities to do that. Well, that's
because they got hundreds ofmillions of dollars in their budget
to be able to do it. Mostpeople, Most companies don't. So
(26:56):
when you think about branding,at least when I do, I go, you know,
your brand is every day whatyou do. You know, it's that experience,
in this case that the PurpleHeart recipient has when he leaves
the event. Wow. What was thatexperience all about? You know, always
professional from the start.They did this, they did that. I felt
comfortable. I was surroundedby other heroes. Nobody asked me
(27:19):
to really do anything besidesenjoy myself. And it was world class.
And we ate great and, youknow, wow. Everybody handled me just
really well. And I felt like Iwas part of a team, you know, and
then they walk away with thatand they form their own opinion about
what is that brand. That isthe wwia, right?
Yes.
And so that's from the bottomup. Right? So that's. That, that,
(27:41):
that to me is like organicbrand build in my way of thinking.
What is your thinking on, on,on marketing and branding. And you're,
you're, you're a professionalin this space. I'm just a rookie.
Lane, tell me, what do you think?
Well, I think that in order toreally have a brand that people resonate
(28:02):
with, you have to live and youhave to breathe in. It has to be
you. And if you look at abrand from, take it out of a business
context, but you look at itfrom an individual, it's how you
show up.
So, right.
It's like the easiest way tosay it is how do you show how you
show up? Right. Like you havecore values, you are grounded and
(28:24):
clear on what those are. Andso you show up in a way that makes
people feel your values, andthat on a personal level is a brand.
And now you just translatethat into your business.
That's just really. Well,that's well said, you know, but what
kind of, so what kind ofadvice would you give somebody who's
(28:46):
just starting out? Like, Imean, because to me, when you, you
mentioned it earlier, you usedthe word culture, right? And culture
is a very interesting word tome when I think about describing,
like, what is, you know, the.What is. What is the wwia? It has
a culture to it. And I think Ispend a lot of my time as the, you
(29:09):
know, the, the dude thatstarted it and in charge of it and
all that. But I think a lot, Ithink a lot about this idea of the
culture. What is it? How, howdo I strengthen it, how, how do I
improve it, how, how do Iprotect it? You know, this is what
I think about, like, that theculture is really important. But,
you know, it's. You ask me, ofcourse I'm going to say, you know,
(29:34):
stuff about it, positivestuff, but it's not my opinion that
matters. You know, it's thecustomers, it's the employees combination.
Right? Your brand is tellingstories, really, your entire brand
is about really connecting thedots and inspiring and empowering
(29:57):
others with stories that arevulnerable and authentic. And so
the beautiful thing is yourbrand is already there. It's just
you need to get clear on thelanguage. And normally that's when
you create your values,whatever your values are, you interweave
those into how you Communicatehow you show up and how you market
(30:22):
your company. It's all basedon your values. So, like, my values
are, you know, for my businessare like, we communicate with love.
And love is an acronym. It'sluv, and it stands for listen, understand,
and validate. That's one ofour values. So that we are always
(30:46):
open to feedback. We're alwaysopen to growth. But that's just one.
And everything that we do,whether we hire, whether we fire,
you know, or whether we'reworking with a client, that is not
the right fit. We baseeverything on those values. And so
it's just kind of one exampleof how you.
(31:07):
How you communicate thatlisten, understand, and validate
love. That's really good. So,okay, well, what about your business?
What is your business? I mean,what do you do?
Yeah, so I started.
What are you doing?
I started my business in 2013,and I left my position as a VP of
(31:28):
marketing, and my mom said,well, you should start your own marketing
company. And I said, yeah,yeah, yeah, lady. I'd like to get
a paycheck. And then she said,well, if you gave even a quarter
of the amount of time andinvestment that you give to everyone
(31:50):
else into your own business,there's no way you wouldn't be successful.
And I was like, yeah, you haveto say that because you're my mom,
you know? And she goes, well,if you're not going to do it for
you, then do it for me. And Isaid, you are so manipulative, because
she knows I'm going to do itfor her. And so my mom actually named
(32:11):
the company Pulse Marketing.And I hated it for a long time until
I recognized that it's becausewe're at the heart of Create Us,
and we pour our hearts intoeverything that we do. And so, yes,
my mom was right, and Istarted the agency.
(32:33):
Great story. All right, so I'mgonna. We're gonna. We're gonna have
a business discussion. Howabout that?
Okay.
Okay. So we have. I don't say.Most of the professional marketeers
that I've dealt with have beenpeople that reached out to us and
(32:55):
said, hey, we have this personwho really thinks that what you're
doing is a good fit for him orher. These big marketing agencies,
and they sort of try to aligna personality with a brand, and then
they try to figure out how itis that, you know, we can come up
with a way that promotes, youknow, their client and benefits them
(33:18):
and, you know, maybe benefitsthe foundation. Well, it has to.
Or I say, no. I say, thatright now. And like I said, I look
for the triple win. You know,I'm not going to say yes to something
that just, you know, pumpsomebody up and doesn't help my cause.
Why would I do that? But, youknow, I look for the, you know, the
triple win. You get to winlike you do. If you're. If you're
(33:39):
going to help us, I'll let youwin. And I know that you're going
to ask me for money becauseyou're not doing it for free, of
course. So right there, you'regoing to win. Yeah, you have to.
Yeah, that's right. Same here,you know, anyway, so that's one piece
of it. Right there is the.Yeah, I acknowledge that you're going
to win now, even if it's for.If. Even if it's for free and it's
(34:01):
philanthropy, you know, whichnever, hardly ever happens. Not in
the marketing space. And Idon't go, you know what? You guys
are really cool. We're gonnahelp you out with all this stuff.
You know, this typically doesnot happen. But if it's. Even if
it's philanthropy I put on thetable, I'm gonna. Even though you're
trying to do something reallygood, I'm gonna find a way to make
sure that you win. I'm gonnamake a way make sure that the heroes
(34:26):
win, you know, those that wereserving the combat wounded, and that
the foundation wins. Allright, so that's my tripod, if you
will. But in the business, forthis, I would say, how, you know,
if I was going to hire you,first off, I'd say, okay, you know,
what's our biggest. What's ourbiggest challenge? Let's just talk
about it. You know, these areall these conversations. That's how
(34:47):
it always goes with me. Right?I mean, let's just talk about this.
So I go, okay, My biggestchallenge in the marketing space,
I think, is reaching peoplewho don't know who we are and what
we do. Right. That's ourbiggest challenge. The people that
do know who we are and what wedo are all in, like, they love it.
They're just knocking it outof the park. And we have a tendency
(35:09):
to go back to them and ask formore help, you know, and more support.
Yeah.
And then there's only so muchblood you can get out of a turnip.
Yeah.
Right. So if I was to say toyou, like, you know, we would like
to. We would like to increasethe number of operations that we
have, so we need to find hostsout there who are Willing to come,
(35:30):
step forward, volunteer.Because that's the key in our space
is volunteering. You can payanybody just about to do anything,
but it defeats the purpose. Ahundred percent of the people that
are helping our missions,there's 42 of them across the country.
Every one of those have cometo us and said, I want to help. That's
organic growth. Now, I knowyour heart and guts are in the right
(35:51):
place, and you really do wantto help, as opposed to, hey, would
you help us with this? Whenyou ask like that, it's, you know,
you're probably going toattract the wrong person. So if I
was to say to you, how do you.How do we. How do you help me increase
awareness, you know, of ourbrand? You know, what's your answer
there? How can you. How couldyou help us?
(36:13):
Well, I would.
Sorry to put you on the screen.
That's okay. I think, youknow, my first. First and foremost,
it would be getting thestories of the people that you've
transformed, their lives outthere and doing it in a way that
connects with people on ahuman level and gives them a sense
(36:34):
of purpose. Because it's onething to tell a story, but it's a
whole nother thing to givesomebody goosebumps or tears in their
eyes, because that becomes amovement. And so it's the stories
that you already have, it'sjust now using those stories in a
way that's going to connectwith the right people and then bring
(36:56):
in that audience that you needfor support. But there's so many
methods to do that. There'svideo, there's social media there,
you know, it's revised, likerevamping your website. There's so
many. There's podcasts. Right.It's bringing those stories to life,
but in a way that's consistentand cohesive. So there's a theme.
(37:19):
So it's not just randomstories being thrown at you, but
now you're targeting thepeople who connect with a story like
that because they're in aspecific industry and that story
just touches their heart,well, now they want to give to that.
So it's really dependent onyour strategy, but it always starts
with your stories.
Yeah, that's great advice.Yeah. And if you're in the outdoor
(37:42):
sporting arena, you know, you.You. You best find those channels,
right?
Yeah.
Because that. That's what you.That's what you want to do, is you
want to find the pathways.
Some of our biggest clientsare in the firearm industry. Some
of our biggest clients are inconstruction industry, outdoor industry.
So, yeah, really? Yes. Soit's. And it's funny because you're
(38:06):
like, how is this, you know,little marketing agency marketing
firearms? And it's. It'sbecause it all connects people.
Yeah.
Love to feel like they're apart of something bigger. And when
they have something thatthey're passionate about, like, let's
say, firearms, if they're acollector or they're military and
(38:27):
police. Right.
Yeah.
You. You have to connect withthat audience on that deeper level.
You don't. You don't sell aproduct or you don't sell a service.
You share a story thatconnects and brings that person in.
Yeah. Well. Well, maybe weshould have a conversation in detail
about this and figure. Figureout how we could, you know, move
(38:50):
the needle here. Yeah. BecauseI. I also think you got to be a little,
you know, you got to be alittle, you know, or a lot focused
on. On what you're, you know,trying to accomplish, too.
Yes. You have to have a plan.
Yeah. With your marketingdollars, which are, you know, very
few and far between. Andsocial media is such. You get such
(39:11):
a bang for your buck there. Imean, it's relatively. It's relatively
inexpensive, you know, and youcan boost things and get them into
the. In the space and that youotherwise wouldn't, you know, be
in. But, yeah, it's allconnected. Well, that's wonderful.
I appreciate your advicethere, and I'm going to. I'm going
to give that some thought and,you know, see what, what shakes.
(39:34):
So what is. What's next foryou? I mean, you're just grinding
this thing out. You know,where do you have an office that
you go to? Are your peopleworking virtually? Well, this is
Puerto Rico. Right. I mean,you're in Puerto Rico. My goodness.
Well, this is where that, thatend part of the story also shakes
things up is when I started myagency, my kids were still young,
(39:59):
and I was newly married, and Iwas in love. And he was like the
perfect visionary for thecompany. And so one day came home
from work early and said, Iquit my job. And I was like, I'm
(40:20):
sorry, what? And he said,well, if I'm going to sell anything,
I'm going to sell something Ibelieve in, and I believe in you.
And I said, but we don't haveany money. But that is how we started
(40:41):
this company is in our, youknow, in our house, in our home office.
And our employees actuallystarted to come to our house, and
we all. We had our loft set upfor our employees. And my husband,
he would go out and he wouldsell, and then I would manage everything
else. The operations, theculture, the process, the graphic
(41:03):
design, the web design, allthe things. And just juggling that
for so long. And we grewtremendously within the first few
years, and we did. We hadfinally got to a place where we had
this beautiful 3000 squarefoot office with the concrete floors
and the exposed ceiling and,you know, all of the cool things
(41:25):
that you would ever dream ofwhen you're an entrepreneur. But
then. Because there's always abut then when I talk about hiding,
I want to go back to hidingbehind. I have it all together. Because
the truth is that even thoughon the outside we looked like this
(41:48):
power couple, my husband wasstruggling with multiple infidelities.
He was struggling withaddiction and mental health issues.
And so I thought that the moreI could pour into him and the more
I could forgive and move pastthose things and the more counseling
(42:11):
that we got, that no one wouldever know that that was happening
behind the scenes. But thetruth is that everything in your
personal life seeps into yourbusiness, whether you like it or
not. And so even though Ipretended to have it all together,
the truth is that it was themoment that I recognized that I needed
(42:32):
to leave my husband because Ihad lost myself. I had been so broken,
and I had so many things thatI was trying to band aid together,
and it just kind of crumbled.And so when I left my husband, I
(42:56):
knew that there would bemental health issues that came up,
There would be a lot of otherissues, but I just knew that I had
to care for me first. And sowhen I walked into my office and
I informed my team, I waslike, we're going to be stronger
(43:18):
next year. We're going to dobetter next year. This is the end
of 2019. And I was like, we'regoing to go into 2020 and we're going
to, you know, we're just goingto be amazing. And this is just one
small, you know, obstacle inthe bigger picture. And they. They
started whispering. And Isaid, like, we have a no tolerance
(43:42):
policy for gossip. And like,if you have something to say, say
it. And he said that he hadalso been with one of our employees
that had just recently left,that the unfaithfulness was not just
something I was hiding, thatit was. It was happening in front
of my team and my staff. AndI. In that moment, I was just broken
(44:10):
because I already felt like hewas doing the sales for the company.
I had to figure that out,right? He had personal relationship
with every client. I Had toconquer that mountain. And then when
I found out that this wholetime that my team was afraid to say
(44:32):
anything because they didn'twant to hurt me, but that they were
watching, and they knew thatthis facade of me being strong all
the time was actually. Theyknew what was happening behind the
scenes. And it just. Itbrought so much clarity to me in
that moment. I left my husbandin October of 2019, and he committed
(44:57):
suicide in March 2020. And so,as you can imagine, when the waves
of grief come in, they knockyou down and they. They knock you
on your ass. And at thatpoint, we had. Covid. Had hit. I
was already trying to save theclients from losing, you know, like,
(45:22):
some sort of stability withthe. The reoccurring revenue. I now
was in a position where I notonly had to be there just for my
kids and my family thatremembered, no one had any clue of
what was really happening,because I kept pretending that everything
was okay. It was like a shockthat just kind of went through my
(45:46):
entire life. And I had torebuild my life again. So I had to
get rid of the office. I hadto sell the house. He had no life
insurance, nothing. So therewas. Instead, I had over 200,000
of debt personally, and I hadover a half a million of debt in
(46:09):
the business. And I think thatwas when you could honestly say that
I wasn't just hitting rockbottom. I was on the ground and didn't
even have the strength to getup. And my team rose me up, they
lifted me up, and they said,we're going to figure this out. You
(46:32):
take the time to heal, andwe'll do our best to run the company.
And that's when I wrote mybook, and that's when I really started
that next layer of the healing process.
Wow. That's incredible. That'sjust an incredible story. I'm so
sorry for, you know, to learnof your loss, of course, you know,
(46:58):
and all the tragedy, you know,that you've endured throughout your
life, and it brings you rightto today, doesn't it? I mean. I mean,
any one of those events wouldbe probably way more than one person
could handle, but you've justbeen thrown everything at you, and
(47:23):
you've come out the otherside. But to see your team, you can
imagine we talk about culture,go back to that for a second. But
here you are thinkingeverything's fine, and the reality
is you're the teamcheerleader. All these roles, right?
Yes.
And. But behind the scenes,they're aware of something that's
(47:46):
happening that'sCounterculture. It's corrosive. It's
horrible. You know, and. Andthey don't want to say anything to
hurt you. But, you know, goback to what we said when we started.
You know, the process startswhen we get real.
Yeah.
You know, and that's.
I'd rather have the ugly truthover the prettiest of lies any day.
(48:08):
And we used to say, a boss, heused to say, you know, you know,
it doesn't get better withtime. You know, bad news does not
get better with time. And so,you know, you have to brave it. You
know, is. But that part ofthat is also culture, right? I mean,
(48:29):
you want to have the kind ofculture that supports people being
honest with you and, you know,and leveling with you and telling
you the truth so that you canmake good decisions.
That was six years ago. Andthose employees, the two that really
(48:51):
rose up, are still with me today.
There you go.
So, yes, that little erosionwill start to crack the foundation,
but when you have those thatare ready to rebuild it, I mean,
that gives you the tools andthe people to rebuild a stronger
(49:13):
foundation.
Well, what a great story youhave. It's just incredible. Right?
I mean.
Well, I wrote a book. Right.
Yeah. Right. What. What wouldyou tell the average combat wounded,
you know, veteran who's beenthrough, you know, all kinds of stuff
in his life? You know, I mean,you had to put yourself in his shoes
(49:35):
for a second. Or Hershey's.There's combat wounded women out
there who were wounded incombat, but, you know, you were wearing
a uniform, you went off tosome foreign country, you got, you
know, in a direct fireconflict of some sort, and you were
wounded. And, you know, someof them are patched up quickly and
can return to duty, but mostof them cannot. And now you're, you
(50:00):
know, back on the block. Sometime is gone, you know, you might
have to have, you know, four,five, six some guys. And I just met
a guy the other day that toldme he's on his hundredth surgery.
You can't get your head aroundthat. But, you know, what kind of
advice would you give somebodylike that who might be, you know,
(50:20):
struggling, you know, to findhis or her way? What would you get?
What kind of advice do youhave for him?
I would say that when you healyourself, you heal the world because
you are the person thatcarries that weight. And when we
stop punishing ourselves andwe stop beating up on ourselves and
(50:42):
we start to recognize all thatwe've been through and all that we've
done and you give yourselfthat grace and it starts with self
forgiveness, right? Forgivingyourself for not doing this or for
doing that, whatever it maybe. Once you heal yourself, then
(51:02):
you're going to naturally justmagnify and everyone around you is
going to start to bring morejoy. It's when we allow the darkness
or the dark times to fester,to build resentment, to build regret.
(51:23):
That is what tears us down.And so it starts with healing yourself
and finding the resources todo that. It doesn't mean you do it
on your own. It means you findthe right resources to go through
that process.
That's just great. That'sgreat advice. I appreciate you sharing
(51:46):
that with us and your story. Imean, it's truly remarkable, Serena.
It really is. I don't knowwhat to say. Often it's rare that
I find myself not knowing whatto say next, but in this case, I
really just being honest withyou, I don't know what to say next
other than thank you forsharing all of that with us. And
(52:12):
you are just a beacon of lightand you're somebody. I hope that
and the rest of your travelsand things that you do in your life
are wonderful and that you'repast all the tragedy. And thank you
(52:32):
for having the courage to comeon the program and share those things
with us because I feelstronger having just chatted with
you and I hope others arelistening to do you feel the same
way? And you again, you're anentrepreneur, you're an author, you're
(52:52):
a speaker, you're a founder,you're all these things. And behind
you is this just in the wakebehind your ship that's battling
these seas is a bunch oftragedy and heartbreak and devastation.
Yet here you are forgingforward and that's very admirable.
(53:14):
And so my hat goes, yes, ofcourse, my hat goes off to you. How
did folks find you if theywant to read your book, if they want
to be part of Pulse Marketing,if they want to find your book. I
mean, tell us, how do we find you?
Easy. Serenamastin.com is myauthor website. It has all my social
(53:37):
media and a link to my bookthere and it has my direct contact
information. So I get thoseemails and, and I'm pretty intentional
about, you know, respondingand, and having those one on one
conversations because it is,it's my goal is to inspire and empower
(53:57):
others. So I'm.
Like, you knocked it out. Ithink you knocked it out of the park
today.
Thank you.
Outstanding. You're quitewelcome. I'm going to give you the
last word. Is there anythingelse you'd have any. We used to say
any saved rounds, you know, inthe. Anything in your bandolier you
(54:19):
want to expend?
I would say for all those thatare listening, you do not have to
set yourself on fire to keepothers warm.
Oh, wow.
That. You just need to carefor yourself first.
Right. It's really good. Andit's so true, because leaders, even.
(54:44):
Even if you're not in aleadership position, but if you are,
you know, a lot of leaders runthemselves right into the ground
trying to do all. Be allthings to all people.
Yeah.
And. And you really have totake the time to. To take care of
yourself, you know, healyourself first.
Yeah.
And make yourself a priority.And. And that will, you know, obviously,
(55:07):
then. Then you can take careof other people.
You'll be stronger, of course,you know, and healthier.
Don't hide, right?
Yes.
Don't. Don't hide. And get real.
I love it.
Right. That's. That's. Thoseare the themes today for us. Well,
God bless you and I. I wishyou all of the best moving forward
in your life and in yourcareer. And thanks again for sharing
(55:30):
your time with us today. It'sa very powerful podcast that we did,
and I want to thank you for that.
Thank you for having me.
You're welcome. Okay. Goodluck with anything, and we might
want to circle back sometimein the future and check on you and
see how you're doing.
I'd love that.
(55:51):
All right, Outstanding. Takecare of yourself.
Thank you.
Thank you for listening to theWWIA podcast. To learn more about
the Wounded warriors in Actionfoundation and how you can get involved,
please visit ourwebsite@wwiaf.org or follow us on
(56:13):
social media, on Facebook,Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
If you'd like to comment oroffer feedback about our podcast,
or if you have a suggestionfor a future episode, please email
us at. Podcast. Thank you foryour support and for helping us honor,
(56:33):
connect, and heal our combatwounded Purple Heart heroes through
the power of the great outdoors.
Foreign.
Hello and welcome to the WWIAPodcast. We're honored to have you
join us in our mission tobring honor, connection and healing
to America's combat woundedPurple Heart heroes. If this is your
first time listening to thispodcast, we welcome you. If you're
(00:21):
a returning listener, thanksfor coming back. Please be sure to
tell others about our podcastand leave us a review if you're enjoying
what you're hearing. Some ofthe most remarkable traits that our
combat wounded veterans shareare bravery, fortitude and resilience.
On this latest episode of theWWIA Podcast, we're honored to introduce
(00:43):
you to a special guest whosejourney has been fraught with numerous
challenges and extremeobstacles, both personally and professionally.
And despite all of it, she'spushed through with strength and
determination, overcometrials, and found uncommon success
in life. WWIA founder and CEOJohn McDaniel is proud to welcome
(01:05):
friend, entrepreneur, speakerand author Serena Mastin to the podcast.
Serena started her life inwitness protection and nine different
foster homes leading toteenage addiction and homelessness,
and most recently walkedthrough the devastation of her husband's
suicide. Serena has facedunimaginable adversity, yet despite
(01:29):
her challenges, she found areal sense of purpose along the way.
The most inspiring part of herstory is her strength, resilience
and authenticity. She brings awealth of knowledge and insight from
industries across thecorporate landscape. With over 20
years of experience climbingthe corporate ladder, Serena's career
has included being knockeddown and climbing back to executive
(01:52):
leadership roles with Fortune500 companies before carving her
own path by founding PulseMarketing Inc. In 2013, an award
winning marketing andadvertising agency. Connecting people
with brands by creatingengaging content, purposeful graphics,
thought provoking web designs,and meaningful advertising campaigns
(02:13):
that capture the heart ofevery business. In addition to being
a visionary entrepreneur,Serena recently published her first
book, Can't Heal when YouHide, A memoir recounting her life
story in harrowing detail. Inthe book, Serena discusses her experiences
with assault, addiction,homelessness, infidelity, mental
(02:35):
health, and ultimatelyprofound healing. Serena's thought
provoking story encourages andempowers others to embrace challenges
and do it with passion. We'reexcited to share her story and know
it will resonate and inspireyou. So let's jump into the conversation
with John and Serena now.
(03:00):
Hi, I'm John McDaniel, founderand CEO of the Wounded Warriors in
Action Foundation and this isour podcast, Honor Connect, Heal.
Today I have a very specialguest with me, Serena Mastin. Welcome
to the program.
Thank you. I'm honored to be here.
Yeah, you Know, I gotta tellthe story because this just, it's
(03:25):
unique. You know, we connectedon LinkedIn and when I read your
profile, I said to myself,wow, this person's got something
to say. And you are a founder,you're a speaker, and you're an author.
(03:46):
So you got, you've got a lot.You've got a lot going on, don't
you?
Yes, a lot. And the, theauthor part, I never thought I would
be an author, and I stillthink it's a little weird to say
author, but yes, I. I wrote amemoir about my personal story.
Did it get published?
(04:07):
Yes.
How do we find. How do we findthat? Where, where is that? Where?
It's on Amazon. Yeah. Or youcan actually just author website.
Serena Mastin.com and it'lllead you to where the book is.
Wow. How long is the book?
It is. Oh, that is a goodquestion. How long is it? Thirteen
(04:32):
chapters. Thirteen? Yeah.
Wow.
It felt like forever.
Right? You know, I've thoughtabout doing enough. Some people have
encouraged me to do it and Imight someday, but it's like the
idea of just writing a book islike, oh, man, it's just like, where
do you start? And it justseems like it's so hard to do, you
(04:56):
know, to get it moving.
It was. I had a book coachbecause I needed someone to hold
me accountable.
Yeah. And then I've beenapproached by the book coach people.
I don't know who that, youknow, Forbes and all that. You know,
I don't know, I just go, ah,you know, right now, got too many
(05:17):
fish to fresh. Let's just getlet. I want to. I'll tell you why
I was really interested and wereached out to you and said, please
consider, you know, being inour podcast, because. Why. That's
what I think I want to telleverybody right up front, you know,
get. I like to get thepunchline right up front, you know,
so people aren't struggling,you know, tell them what you're going
to tell them. Tell them andthen tell them what you told them.
Right. That's the best way.And so, you know, when I was reading
(05:42):
your story and getting to knowwho you. You were, what struck me
was, you know, the tragedythat. And the challenges that you
have been through in yourlife. I mean, we could even use words.
I think they might be yourwords. Devastation, you know, was
is a word that, that I, that Iread. Adversity, of course, and tragedy.
(06:05):
And a lot of our combatwounded Veterans have been through
that. Right. And in spades,you know, and so that's what immediately
struck me. And then here'sthis very successful woman who's
gone on to. Who's an author, afounder, a speaker, and you fought
(06:29):
your way through a lot of thebad stuff. Right. And you powered
your way through that andrecovered. And that's a story of
resiliency.
Yeah.
And. And that. That's what ourheroes have too, you know, and they
don't always look at it thatway, I'm sure, but that's way I like.
(06:51):
That's the way I see it. Andso I thought, wow, this is going
to be a great chat. We cantalk about that. And if we could
start there and just get like,right into some of it, because I
think there's probably a lotof lessons.
Yes, right.
So if we would. If you would,please. I mean, in your bio, I'm
(07:14):
like, I was gonna start offwith this and let you roll with it.
I said in the pre shows, like,your bio says that you were in nine
different foster homes.
Yes.
So, you know, if you were justin one, that's bad. Two, that's horrible.
Three, I don't even know, butnine, that's like, you ought to have
a. Like you have achampionship ring or something. Right?
(07:35):
Tell us about. Tell us abouthow it.
How that started.
Yeah, yeah, tell us about that.
So my biological father wasthe leader of a satanic cult, and
he sexually abused me, takingmy innocence before the age of five.
(07:58):
And my mom was trying to getus out of this environment, but he
had cameras all over thehouse. He had people following us
if we ever left the house. Andso when she finally was able to get
us out, she had to earn herrights back as a parent. And through
(08:19):
that process, I was put intothe foster system. And so, yeah,
that was the beginning.
I don't even know what to say.I had no idea that I was going to
learn that. I have to say howmuch courage it takes to say what
you just said and to be whereyou are. And having had dealt with
(08:44):
those things, because on ascale of one to 10, one being mild
and 10 being. Oh, my God,you're pushing. You're over the 10
scale.
That's just the beginning.
The scale. That's thebeginning. Oh, my gosh. That's the
beginning. Wow. Okay. Well,please continue on. I don't have
(09:08):
anything to say.
Wow. So when you're in witnessprotection and you're put into a
foster home, if someone findsout where you are, whether it's even
with good intention, theyimmediately move you which is why
I was transferred to so manydifferent places. And I wasn't actually
(09:28):
reunited with my mom until Iwas about 10 years old. So I spent
five years kind of bouncingaround in these, I would say, unique
environments, very foreignenvironments for a five year old
(09:49):
at the time. And by the timethat I did, you know, reunite with
my mom, it was such abeautiful experience. But I was so,
I was so independent by thatpoint and, and I, you know, I was
determined to prove everyonewrong that, you know, like I, I rebelled.
(10:12):
I just.
And like, you could do it,meaning rebelled with the sense,
right, I can do this, I'mstrong enough to do this, right?
Yes. But.
Is that right?
But, yes, but as a, a youngchild and then going into adolescence,
I pushed the boundaries and mymom, you know, turned her life around
(10:34):
and, you know, she gave herlife to Christ. And so she was instilling
a lot of those boundaries,those beliefs in me and creating
new boundaries. But in my, inmy mind, I was still emotionally
dealing with some of thetrauma that I had experienced, counseling,
(10:56):
all kinds of different thingsthat I had gone through. And by the
age of 15, I decided to leavehome. And so I said I didn't meet
anyone and I was going to doit on my own. And I know that sounds
crazy, especially knowing whatI've already been through, but I
(11:19):
did. I ran away. I lived onthe streets off and on for about
a year and a half. I enrolledmyself in high school and I had.
Where were you at this time?
I was in California.
Okay.
And I would say in the CovinaWest Covina, Baldwin park, you know,
kind of the la. Into the SanBernardino Riverside areas. And I
(11:44):
enrolled myself into highschool. I had three jobs and I would
take the bus to each job. Andthen if I didn't have a place to
sleep that night, I wouldsleep on the park bench across from
the school. And when theschool opened up, I would go in and
sneak into the locker roomshower and just pretend that I was
(12:08):
just showing up to school likeeveryone else.
Wow.
And so there's a key wordthere that, that word pretend. I,
I learned later on that I usedthat word as protection. I always
pretended that everything wasokay. I pretended that I had it all
together when in reality, Iwas struggling with drug addiction
(12:31):
at that time. You know,putting yourself in that environment
then also puts you in. Toplaces where you're exposed to dangerous
situations. And so I was, Iwas raped, I was beaten up on the
streets. You know, all kindsof the things that, that you open
(12:52):
yourself up to in that stage.But despite all of that, my mom was
my hero and just continued tolove me unconditionally, supported
me even from afar. And when Ifinally broke down and came back,
I was about 17 years old, andshe nurtured me back to health. And
(13:17):
then from there, I just ranback out and climbed the corporate
ladder.
Wow. You know, you saidsomething there that's really important.
And it is this idea of unity,you know, unconditional, you know,
love. Right. I mean, howpowerful is that? No matter how it's
(13:38):
like, you know, the good Lord. Right?
Yeah.
You know, and. And ourparents, you know, and of course,
we get that, you know, fromother people as well, and very select
few perhaps in our lives, butwe know we can count on it from God
and we know we can count on itfrom our parents most of the time.
(13:58):
Right?
Yeah, but that's. Wow, what astory. Holy smokes. And so you get.
You get through high school in California.
Yes.
And then what? And then what happens?
So then I, you know, I hadsome tumultuous relationships. I.
(14:21):
I had my son at the age of 21,and I was a single mom trying to
figure it out. By that point,I had started to get more, you know,
involved in. In business andcorporate environments and growing
on a professional level. Andso I thought, you know, another relationship
(14:44):
would help heal the personalside. And that then was, you know,
it was. It was constantly likeall of these obstacles because what
I didn't realize at the timeis that I really had to heal all
of that trauma from mychildhood or else I was going to
keep bringing it into everyrelationship. And so go ahead.
(15:09):
No, I'm nodding my head northand south. I was having to say something
because when I read your bioand the name of your book exposed,
you can't heal when you hide.When I read that, when I first read
that, I thought a light bulbwent on in my head because I wanted
(15:29):
to. I'll tell you a quickstory and then I'll turn it back
over to you for your thoughtson it. That's a way of saying you
can't heal when you hide.That's very good. And another way,
I had a close personal, Iguess, called a friend of mine, okay.
(15:49):
Who was in needing sometherapy, and she got that. And we
were chatting about theprocess at one point, and she said
to me that the therapistlooked at her and said, the process
starts when we get real. Andit's very similar to what you said
(16:15):
about hiding. That's puttingit on the table that's facing whatever
it is and real, real quick.And it doesn't, you know, it doesn't
start. The process can't startuntil we face those demons or that
demon and put it on the tableand get real about it. Right?
(16:35):
Yes. And I think the otherpart is if we think about our patterns,
right? Like when I was alittle girl and when my biological
father would come home, Iwould hide in the closet. So there's
a literal perspective as wellthat I recognize later on that whether
(16:55):
I'm actually hiding or I'mhiding behind being strong or pretending
I have it all together, hidingbehind my career, you still are losing
a part of your identitybecause you're not really facing
the pattern that's evolvedover time. And until you face it,
(17:16):
it's going to continue to seepinto every area of your life.
Yeah. When you say face it,you want to. What is it?
Well, you have to first lookinward. Right. Like you. You cannot
face anything withoutunderstanding why you are repeating
patterns. Right.
Behaving.
(17:37):
Behaving in a way that is, forinstance, attracting the wrong types
of relationships. Behaving ina way that is, you know, not authentic
and true to who you really arebecause you're trying to earn approval
or you're trying to protectwhatever that pattern is, you first
(18:00):
have to understand where itstarted and then where it shows up.
And then once you look withinyourself and understand that piece,
then not only are you aware ofit, so it makes it very blatant in
your face, but now you becomehypersensitive of when it actually
happens. And when you start torepeat the same behavior over and
(18:23):
over again, now you can startto see where you need to shift. And
so that was the beginning ofmy healing journey.
Did somebody help you withthat, or is that something you came
up with?
So many people helped me.
Isn't that how it is, really?
Yes. And so it was me justbeing determined to, you know, personal
(18:44):
development myself all the wayto success, reading hundreds of books
and trying to learn on my own.But then it was also mentors and
counselors and people thatcame in my life, even for a short
time, that taught me some ofthose things. So, yes, I would never
say I did it on my own.
No, I had to hear. I had tohear, you know, your answer to that,
(19:08):
because it's often that's thecase. It's not one thing. It's not
one person. It's just thisinterconnected series of people and
things that help you in that journey.
Yeah.
You know, Getting. Gettingthrough that tunnel and. And seeing
the light on the other side,and then, you know, really beginning
to heal. But then recognizing,most importantly, like you said,
(19:31):
those patterns of behavior,you know, you catch yourself. You
know, I'm doing it again.Yeah, it's right there, you know,
and. And that's.
And that's where themanagement and the self regulation
come in, is now that you'reaware of those things, now you have
to catch them.
Boundaries.
Yes.
(19:53):
Isn't that interesting? Yeah,Very good. Well, you know, that's.
That's just. Oh, man, that.What a crazy, interesting and amazing
story of resiliency. Right? Imean, you come out of this thing
now, you're in corporateAmerica, you've got a son, and what's
(20:17):
your first real job? What doyou get your first real job, and
what are you doing?
It was actually kind of byaccident. I. I was working in a distribution
center, answering the phones,and I got a call from a temp agency
(20:37):
that was trying to connectwith the hiring manager, and she
recruited me to go to anotherinterview. I wasn't happy in the
role that I was in. I justtook the risk. I went that day on
my lunch to the interview, gothired on the spot, and then quit
(21:00):
the other job. And that wasfor. For those that are aware, it
was the Hot Topic corporateoffice. And that was the most exciting
and like, big. Like, bigposition that I had gotten at that
time in my life.
Hot Topic?
Yeah.
(21:21):
What's. What's that?
It's like a clothing store.But this clothing store has over
200 stores at that. I haveabout 400 now. And I was. They asked
me to be the. The voice of aHot Topic, and that just meant that
I was the receptionist, butthat was my starting point.
(21:43):
You were a gate. Gatekeeper.
I was. But then from there, Igrew into the new home industry,
and I was doing marketing forresidential home builders. And by
this point, now I have mydaughter and my son. And as I was
(22:05):
growing in my career, I got,you know, at gosh, I think I was.
I bought my first house at 23,and by the age of 26, I was a VP
of marketing for anorganization that was all about corporate
(22:26):
training and culture. So I wasreally moving through, and I was
fighting because I didn't havea college background. So I had to
use my experience as thefoundation, and that's kind of how
I clawed my way to the top inthe corporate world.
(24:41):
Now let's talk about marketingfor a second, because, you know,
we don't. The foundation doesnot have, like, a person in charge
of marketing. I think you'retalking to that guy or that person.
So I've, you know, even thoughI, you know, have some education
and business behind me and allof that, you know, marketing has
(25:04):
been something I've alwaysbeen really fascinated by. Because
when you say, like, what isyour brand? Because, you know, when
I talk about when I thinkabout marketing, I then immediately
begin to think about brand.And when I think about brand, I go,
what is that? You know, what,what, what, what is that? Well, you
know, in my case, I couldtalk. We're not here to talk about
(25:27):
me today or the foundation awhole lot. But, you know, when I
do think about it, I thinkabout, okay, really the foundation
has a brand. We have a logo.That's a logo. But really our brand
is, you know, it is what you.My opinion, you know, it is what
you really do and how you doit and how you're known for doing
(25:49):
it. You know, whether, youknow, in the case of McDonald's,
you go, well, what'sMcDonald's brand? Well, you know,
you could start talking aboutthe Whopper, the Ronald McDonald,
the french fries, you know,the franchise. There's lots of things
you can say, but when you goto a McDonald's, you have certain
expectations, you know, aboutwhat that experience is going to
(26:11):
be like. And. And it's fairlyconsistent, right? You, Tupelo, Mississippi
to, you know, Anchorage,Alaska. You know, a Big Mac's a Big
Mac, right? And so there's abrand. There's a brand there, but
they throw. The big companiesthrow hundreds of millions of dollars
at reinforcing an image and anidea that becomes the brand. Nike.
(26:36):
Just do it, you know, and. Butthose folks can afford to throw tons
and tons of money to establisha brand to reinforce a brand, and
they're often usingcelebrities to do that. Well, that's
because they got hundreds ofmillions of dollars in their budget
to be able to do it. Mostpeople, Most companies don't. So
(26:56):
when you think about branding,at least when I do, I go, you know,
your brand is every day whatyou do. You know, it's that experience,
in this case that the PurpleHeart recipient has when he leaves
the event. Wow. What was thatexperience all about? You know, always
professional from the start.They did this, they did that. I felt
comfortable. I was surroundedby other heroes. Nobody asked me
(27:19):
to really do anything besidesenjoy myself. And it was world class.
And we ate great and, youknow, wow. Everybody handled me just
really well. And I felt like Iwas part of a team, you know, and
then they walk away with thatand they form their own opinion about
what is that brand. That isthe wwia, right?
Yes.
And so that's from the bottomup. Right? So that's. That, that,
(27:41):
that to me is like organicbrand build in my way of thinking.
What is your thinking on, on,on marketing and branding. And you're,
you're, you're a professionalin this space. I'm just a rookie.
Lane, tell me, what do you think?
Well, I think that in order toreally have a brand that people resonate
(28:02):
with, you have to live and youhave to breathe in. It has to be
you. And if you look at abrand from, take it out of a business
context, but you look at itfrom an individual, it's how you
show up.
So, right.
It's like the easiest way tosay it is how do you show how you
show up? Right. Like you havecore values, you are grounded and
(28:24):
clear on what those are. Andso you show up in a way that makes
people feel your values, andthat on a personal level is a brand.
And now you just translatethat into your business.
That's just really. Well,that's well said, you know, but what
kind of, so what kind ofadvice would you give somebody who's
(28:46):
just starting out? Like, Imean, because to me, when you, you
mentioned it earlier, you usedthe word culture, right? And culture
is a very interesting word tome when I think about describing,
like, what is, you know, the.What is. What is the wwia? It has
a culture to it. And I think Ispend a lot of my time as the, you
(29:09):
know, the, the dude thatstarted it and in charge of it and
all that. But I think a lot, Ithink a lot about this idea of the
culture. What is it? How, howdo I strengthen it, how, how do I
improve it, how, how do Iprotect it? You know, this is what
I think about, like, that theculture is really important. But,
you know, it's. You ask me, ofcourse I'm going to say, you know,
(29:34):
stuff about it, positivestuff, but it's not my opinion that
matters. You know, it's thecustomers, it's the employees combination.
Right? Your brand is tellingstories, really, your entire brand
is about really connecting thedots and inspiring and empowering
(29:57):
others with stories that arevulnerable and authentic. And so
the beautiful thing is yourbrand is already there. It's just
you need to get clear on thelanguage. And normally that's when
you create your values,whatever your values are, you interweave
those into how you Communicatehow you show up and how you market
(30:22):
your company. It's all basedon your values. So, like, my values
are, you know, for my businessare like, we communicate with love.
And love is an acronym. It'sluv, and it stands for listen, understand,
and validate. That's one ofour values. So that we are always
(30:46):
open to feedback. We're alwaysopen to growth. But that's just one.
And everything that we do,whether we hire, whether we fire,
you know, or whether we'reworking with a client, that is not
the right fit. We baseeverything on those values. And so
it's just kind of one exampleof how you.
(31:07):
How you communicate thatlisten, understand, and validate
love. That's really good. So,okay, well, what about your business?
What is your business? I mean,what do you do?
Yeah, so I started.
What are you doing?
I started my business in 2013,and I left my position as a VP of
(31:28):
marketing, and my mom said,well, you should start your own marketing
company. And I said, yeah,yeah, yeah, lady. I'd like to get
a paycheck. And then she said,well, if you gave even a quarter
of the amount of time andinvestment that you give to everyone
(31:50):
else into your own business,there's no way you wouldn't be successful.
And I was like, yeah, you haveto say that because you're my mom,
you know? And she goes, well,if you're not going to do it for
you, then do it for me. And Isaid, you are so manipulative, because
she knows I'm going to do itfor her. And so my mom actually named
(32:11):
the company Pulse Marketing.And I hated it for a long time until
I recognized that it's becausewe're at the heart of Create Us,
and we pour our hearts intoeverything that we do. And so, yes,
my mom was right, and Istarted the agency.
(32:33):
Great story. All right, so I'mgonna. We're gonna. We're gonna have
a business discussion. Howabout that?
Okay.
Okay. So we have. I don't say.Most of the professional marketeers
that I've dealt with have beenpeople that reached out to us and
(32:55):
said, hey, we have this personwho really thinks that what you're
doing is a good fit for him orher. These big marketing agencies,
and they sort of try to aligna personality with a brand, and then
they try to figure out how itis that, you know, we can come up
with a way that promotes, youknow, their client and benefits them
(33:18):
and, you know, maybe benefitsthe foundation. Well, it has to.
Or I say, no. I say, thatright now. And like I said, I look
for the triple win. You know,I'm not going to say yes to something
that just, you know, pumpsomebody up and doesn't help my cause.
Why would I do that? But, youknow, I look for the, you know, the
triple win. You get to winlike you do. If you're. If you're
(33:39):
going to help us, I'll let youwin. And I know that you're going
to ask me for money becauseyou're not doing it for free, of
course. So right there, you'regoing to win. Yeah, you have to.
Yeah, that's right. Same here,you know, anyway, so that's one piece
of it. Right there is the.Yeah, I acknowledge that you're going
to win now, even if it's for.If. Even if it's for free and it's
(34:01):
philanthropy, you know, whichnever, hardly ever happens. Not in
the marketing space. And Idon't go, you know what? You guys
are really cool. We're gonnahelp you out with all this stuff.
You know, this typically doesnot happen. But if it's. Even if
it's philanthropy I put on thetable, I'm gonna. Even though you're
trying to do something reallygood, I'm gonna find a way to make
sure that you win. I'm gonnamake a way make sure that the heroes
(34:26):
win, you know, those that wereserving the combat wounded, and that
the foundation wins. Allright, so that's my tripod, if you
will. But in the business, forthis, I would say, how, you know,
if I was going to hire you,first off, I'd say, okay, you know,
what's our biggest. What's ourbiggest challenge? Let's just talk
about it. You know, these areall these conversations. That's how
(34:47):
it always goes with me. Right?I mean, let's just talk about this.
So I go, okay, My biggestchallenge in the marketing space,
I think, is reaching peoplewho don't know who we are and what
we do. Right. That's ourbiggest challenge. The people that
do know who we are and what wedo are all in, like, they love it.
They're just knocking it outof the park. And we have a tendency
(35:09):
to go back to them and ask formore help, you know, and more support.
Yeah.
And then there's only so muchblood you can get out of a turnip.
Yeah.
Right. So if I was to say toyou, like, you know, we would like
to. We would like to increasethe number of operations that we
have, so we need to find hostsout there who are Willing to come,
(35:30):
step forward, volunteer.Because that's the key in our space
is volunteering. You can payanybody just about to do anything,
but it defeats the purpose. Ahundred percent of the people that
are helping our missions,there's 42 of them across the country.
Every one of those have cometo us and said, I want to help. That's
organic growth. Now, I knowyour heart and guts are in the right
(35:51):
place, and you really do wantto help, as opposed to, hey, would
you help us with this? Whenyou ask like that, it's, you know,
you're probably going toattract the wrong person. So if I
was to say to you, how do you.How do we. How do you help me increase
awareness, you know, of ourbrand? You know, what's your answer
there? How can you. How couldyou help us?
(36:13):
Well, I would.
Sorry to put you on the screen.
That's okay. I think, youknow, my first. First and foremost,
it would be getting thestories of the people that you've
transformed, their lives outthere and doing it in a way that
connects with people on ahuman level and gives them a sense
(36:34):
of purpose. Because it's onething to tell a story, but it's a
whole nother thing to givesomebody goosebumps or tears in their
eyes, because that becomes amovement. And so it's the stories
that you already have, it'sjust now using those stories in a
way that's going to connectwith the right people and then bring
(36:56):
in that audience that you needfor support. But there's so many
methods to do that. There'svideo, there's social media there,
you know, it's revised, likerevamping your website. There's so
many. There's podcasts. Right.It's bringing those stories to life,
but in a way that's consistentand cohesive. So there's a theme.
(37:19):
So it's not just randomstories being thrown at you, but
now you're targeting thepeople who connect with a story like
that because they're in aspecific industry and that story
just touches their heart,well, now they want to give to that.
So it's really dependent onyour strategy, but it always starts
with your stories.
Yeah, that's great advice.Yeah. And if you're in the outdoor
(37:42):
sporting arena, you know, you.You. You best find those channels,
right?
Yeah.
Because that. That's what you.That's what you want to do, is you
want to find the pathways.
Some of our biggest clientsare in the firearm industry. Some
of our biggest clients are inconstruction industry, outdoor industry.
So, yeah, really? Yes. Soit's. And it's funny because you're
(38:06):
like, how is this, you know,little marketing agency marketing
firearms? And it's. It'sbecause it all connects people.
Yeah.
Love to feel like they're apart of something bigger. And when
they have something thatthey're passionate about, like, let's
say, firearms, if they're acollector or they're military and
(38:27):
police. Right.
Yeah.
You. You have to connect withthat audience on that deeper level.
You don't. You don't sell aproduct or you don't sell a service.
You share a story thatconnects and brings that person in.
Yeah. Well. Well, maybe weshould have a conversation in detail
about this and figure. Figureout how we could, you know, move
(38:50):
the needle here. Yeah. BecauseI. I also think you got to be a little,
you know, you got to be alittle, you know, or a lot focused
on. On what you're, you know,trying to accomplish, too.
Yes. You have to have a plan.
Yeah. With your marketingdollars, which are, you know, very
few and far between. Andsocial media is such. You get such
(39:11):
a bang for your buck there. Imean, it's relatively. It's relatively
inexpensive, you know, and youcan boost things and get them into
the. In the space and that youotherwise wouldn't, you know, be
in. But, yeah, it's allconnected. Well, that's wonderful.
I appreciate your advicethere, and I'm going to. I'm going
to give that some thought and,you know, see what, what shakes.
(39:34):
So what is. What's next foryou? I mean, you're just grinding
this thing out. You know,where do you have an office that
you go to? Are your peopleworking virtually? Well, this is
Puerto Rico. Right. I mean,you're in Puerto Rico. My goodness.
Well, this is where that, thatend part of the story also shakes
things up is when I started myagency, my kids were still young,
(39:59):
and I was newly married, and Iwas in love. And he was like the
perfect visionary for thecompany. And so one day came home
from work early and said, Iquit my job. And I was like, I'm
(40:20):
sorry, what? And he said,well, if I'm going to sell anything,
I'm going to sell something Ibelieve in, and I believe in you.
And I said, but we don't haveany money. But that is how we started
(40:41):
this company is in our, youknow, in our house, in our home office.
And our employees actuallystarted to come to our house, and
we all. We had our loft set upfor our employees. And my husband,
he would go out and he wouldsell, and then I would manage everything
else. The operations, theculture, the process, the graphic
(41:03):
design, the web design, allthe things. And just juggling that
for so long. And we grewtremendously within the first few
years, and we did. We hadfinally got to a place where we had
this beautiful 3000 squarefoot office with the concrete floors
and the exposed ceiling and,you know, all of the cool things
(41:25):
that you would ever dream ofwhen you're an entrepreneur. But
then. Because there's always abut then when I talk about hiding,
I want to go back to hidingbehind. I have it all together. Because
the truth is that even thoughon the outside we looked like this
(41:48):
power couple, my husband wasstruggling with multiple infidelities.
He was struggling withaddiction and mental health issues.
And so I thought that the moreI could pour into him and the more
I could forgive and move pastthose things and the more counseling
(42:11):
that we got, that no one wouldever know that that was happening
behind the scenes. But thetruth is that everything in your
personal life seeps into yourbusiness, whether you like it or
not. And so even though Ipretended to have it all together,
the truth is that it was themoment that I recognized that I needed
(42:32):
to leave my husband because Ihad lost myself. I had been so broken,
and I had so many things thatI was trying to band aid together,
and it just kind of crumbled.And so when I left my husband, I
(42:56):
knew that there would bemental health issues that came up,
There would be a lot of otherissues, but I just knew that I had
to care for me first. And sowhen I walked into my office and
I informed my team, I waslike, we're going to be stronger
(43:18):
next year. We're going to dobetter next year. This is the end
of 2019. And I was like, we'regoing to go into 2020 and we're going
to, you know, we're just goingto be amazing. And this is just one
small, you know, obstacle inthe bigger picture. And they. They
started whispering. And Isaid, like, we have a no tolerance
(43:42):
policy for gossip. And like,if you have something to say, say
it. And he said that he hadalso been with one of our employees
that had just recently left,that the unfaithfulness was not just
something I was hiding, thatit was. It was happening in front
of my team and my staff. AndI. In that moment, I was just broken
(44:10):
because I already felt like hewas doing the sales for the company.
I had to figure that out,right? He had personal relationship
with every client. I Had toconquer that mountain. And then when
I found out that this wholetime that my team was afraid to say
(44:32):
anything because they didn'twant to hurt me, but that they were
watching, and they knew thatthis facade of me being strong all
the time was actually. Theyknew what was happening behind the
scenes. And it just. Itbrought so much clarity to me in
that moment. I left my husbandin October of 2019, and he committed
(44:57):
suicide in March 2020. And so,as you can imagine, when the waves
of grief come in, they knockyou down and they. They knock you
on your ass. And at thatpoint, we had. Covid. Had hit. I
was already trying to save theclients from losing, you know, like,
(45:22):
some sort of stability withthe. The reoccurring revenue. I now
was in a position where I notonly had to be there just for my
kids and my family thatremembered, no one had any clue of
what was really happening,because I kept pretending that everything
was okay. It was like a shockthat just kind of went through my
(45:46):
entire life. And I had torebuild my life again. So I had to
get rid of the office. I hadto sell the house. He had no life
insurance, nothing. So therewas. Instead, I had over 200,000
of debt personally, and I hadover a half a million of debt in
(46:09):
the business. And I think thatwas when you could honestly say that
I wasn't just hitting rockbottom. I was on the ground and didn't
even have the strength to getup. And my team rose me up, they
lifted me up, and they said,we're going to figure this out. You
(46:32):
take the time to heal, andwe'll do our best to run the company.
And that's when I wrote mybook, and that's when I really started
that next layer of the healing process.
Wow. That's incredible. That'sjust an incredible story. I'm so
sorry for, you know, to learnof your loss, of course, you know,
(46:58):
and all the tragedy, you know,that you've endured throughout your
life, and it brings you rightto today, doesn't it? I mean. I mean,
any one of those events wouldbe probably way more than one person
could handle, but you've justbeen thrown everything at you, and
(47:23):
you've come out the otherside. But to see your team, you can
imagine we talk about culture,go back to that for a second. But
here you are thinkingeverything's fine, and the reality
is you're the teamcheerleader. All these roles, right?
Yes.
And. But behind the scenes,they're aware of something that's
(47:46):
happening that'sCounterculture. It's corrosive. It's
horrible. You know, and. Andthey don't want to say anything to
hurt you. But, you know, goback to what we said when we started.
You know, the process startswhen we get real.
Yeah.
You know, and that's.
I'd rather have the ugly truthover the prettiest of lies any day.
(48:08):
And we used to say, a boss, heused to say, you know, you know,
it doesn't get better withtime. You know, bad news does not
get better with time. And so,you know, you have to brave it. You
know, is. But that part ofthat is also culture, right? I mean,
(48:29):
you want to have the kind ofculture that supports people being
honest with you and, you know,and leveling with you and telling
you the truth so that you canmake good decisions.
That was six years ago. Andthose employees, the two that really
(48:51):
rose up, are still with me today.
There you go.
So, yes, that little erosionwill start to crack the foundation,
but when you have those thatare ready to rebuild it, I mean,
that gives you the tools andthe people to rebuild a stronger
(49:13):
foundation.
Well, what a great story youhave. It's just incredible. Right?
I mean.
Well, I wrote a book. Right.
Yeah. Right. What. What wouldyou tell the average combat wounded,
you know, veteran who's beenthrough, you know, all kinds of stuff
in his life? You know, I mean,you had to put yourself in his shoes
(49:35):
for a second. Or Hershey's.There's combat wounded women out
there who were wounded incombat, but, you know, you were wearing
a uniform, you went off tosome foreign country, you got, you
know, in a direct fireconflict of some sort, and you were
wounded. And, you know, someof them are patched up quickly and
can return to duty, but mostof them cannot. And now you're, you
(50:00):
know, back on the block. Sometime is gone, you know, you might
have to have, you know, four,five, six some guys. And I just met
a guy the other day that toldme he's on his hundredth surgery.
You can't get your head aroundthat. But, you know, what kind of
advice would you give somebodylike that who might be, you know,
(50:20):
struggling, you know, to findhis or her way? What would you get?
What kind of advice do youhave for him?
I would say that when you healyourself, you heal the world because
you are the person thatcarries that weight. And when we
stop punishing ourselves andwe stop beating up on ourselves and
(50:42):
we start to recognize all thatwe've been through and all that we've
done and you give yourselfthat grace and it starts with self
forgiveness, right? Forgivingyourself for not doing this or for
doing that, whatever it maybe. Once you heal yourself, then
(51:02):
you're going to naturally justmagnify and everyone around you is
going to start to bring morejoy. It's when we allow the darkness
or the dark times to fester,to build resentment, to build regret.
(51:23):
That is what tears us down.And so it starts with healing yourself
and finding the resources todo that. It doesn't mean you do it
on your own. It means you findthe right resources to go through
that process.
That's just great. That'sgreat advice. I appreciate you sharing
(51:46):
that with us and your story. Imean, it's truly remarkable, Serena.
It really is. I don't knowwhat to say. Often it's rare that
I find myself not knowing whatto say next, but in this case, I
really just being honest withyou, I don't know what to say next
other than thank you forsharing all of that with us. And
(52:12):
you are just a beacon of lightand you're somebody. I hope that
and the rest of your travelsand things that you do in your life
are wonderful and that you'repast all the tragedy. And thank you
(52:32):
for having the courage to comeon the program and share those things
with us because I feelstronger having just chatted with
you and I hope others arelistening to do you feel the same
way? And you again, you're anentrepreneur, you're an author, you're
(52:52):
a speaker, you're a founder,you're all these things. And behind
you is this just in the wakebehind your ship that's battling
these seas is a bunch oftragedy and heartbreak and devastation.
Yet here you are forgingforward and that's very admirable.
(53:14):
And so my hat goes, yes, ofcourse, my hat goes off to you. How
did folks find you if theywant to read your book, if they want
to be part of Pulse Marketing,if they want to find your book. I
mean, tell us, how do we find you?
Easy. Serenamastin.com is myauthor website. It has all my social
(53:37):
media and a link to my bookthere and it has my direct contact
information. So I get thoseemails and, and I'm pretty intentional
about, you know, respondingand, and having those one on one
conversations because it is,it's my goal is to inspire and empower
(53:57):
others. So I'm.
Like, you knocked it out. Ithink you knocked it out of the park
today.
Thank you.
Outstanding. You're quitewelcome. I'm going to give you the
last word. Is there anythingelse you'd have any. We used to say
any saved rounds, you know, inthe. Anything in your bandolier you
(54:19):
want to expend?
I would say for all those thatare listening, you do not have to
set yourself on fire to keepothers warm.
Oh, wow.
That. You just need to carefor yourself first.
Right. It's really good. Andit's so true, because leaders, even.
(54:44):
Even if you're not in aleadership position, but if you are,
you know, a lot of leaders runthemselves right into the ground
trying to do all. Be allthings to all people.
Yeah.
And. And you really have totake the time to. To take care of
yourself, you know, healyourself first.
Yeah.
And make yourself a priority.And. And that will, you know, obviously,
(55:07):
then. Then you can take careof other people.
You'll be stronger, of course,you know, and healthier.
Don't hide, right?
Yes.
Don't. Don't hide. And get real.
I love it.
Right. That's. That's. Thoseare the themes today for us. Well,
God bless you and I. I wishyou all of the best moving forward
in your life and in yourcareer. And thanks again for sharing
(55:30):
your time with us today. It'sa very powerful podcast that we did,
and I want to thank you for that.
Thank you for having me.
You're welcome. Okay. Goodluck with anything, and we might
want to circle back sometimein the future and check on you and
see how you're doing.
I'd love that.
(55:51):
All right, Outstanding. Takecare of yourself.
Thank you.
Thank you for listening to theWWIA podcast. To learn more about
the Wounded warriors in Actionfoundation and how you can get involved,
please visit ourwebsite@wwiaf.org or follow us on
(56:13):
social media, on Facebook,Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
If you'd like to comment oroffer feedback about our podcast,
or if you have a suggestionfor a future episode, please email
us at. Podcast. Thank you foryour support and for helping us honor,
(56:33):
connect, and heal our combatwounded Purple Heart heroes through
the power of the great outdoors.
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