March 16, 2024 • 42 mins
Welcome back to Chapter 8 of Raising Rebeca Books! In this chapter, we meet Crystal Canney, the Executive Director of The Retta Collective, a new non-profit whose mission is to address cultural equality and justice through the lens of storytelling. The Retta Collective believes that women, minorities, and rural communities deserve an enhanced voice in the multimedia landscape as stakeholders, witnesses, and agents of change. The Retta Collective accomplishes this through a diverse set of storytelling platforms, including publishing, film, TV, podcasting, educational opportunities, and digital products.
For more information about The Retta Collective and how to help, visit https://rettacollective.org. Crystal Canney can be reached via email at crystal@rettacollective.org or by phone at (239) 431-0616.
Raising Rebeca Books is a production of the 1C Story Network. To learn more about Rebeca Books, visit https://rebecabooks.com. To learn more about the 1C Story Network, visit https://justonec.com.
For more information about The Retta Collective and how to help, visit https://rettacollective.org. Crystal Canney can be reached via email at crystal@rettacollective.org or by phone at (239) 431-0616.
Raising Rebeca Books is a production of the 1C Story Network. To learn more about Rebeca Books, visit https://rebecabooks.com. To learn more about the 1C Story Network, visit https://justonec.com.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
[music]
(00:20):
Welcome to the eighth chapter of Raising Rebeca Books, the birth of a publishing house.
This is the audio story of me, Rebeca Seitz, building a traditional royalty-paying publishing house from the ground up, told to you as it unfolds.
In the previous episode, I promised to introduce you to Crystal Canney.
So right after the ad break, you'll hear our conversation about the nonprofit we founded, Retta Collective.
(00:46):
It addresses cultural equality and justice through the lens of storytelling.
The formation of this new organization has come about almost on its own.
It still astounds me, how people and activities simply align and happen when I hold my intentions and leave space for them to unfold.
It shouldn’t, to be honest.
(01:08):
As a storyteller, I know we can and do write things into existence.
A human's ability to think and then bring that thought into reality is, I think, one of the most powerful and underused elements of our existence on this planet.
But that's an idea for another day. For now, please meet Crystal Canny.
(01:35):
You are listening to "Raising Rebeca Books," the birth of a publishing house on the One C Story Network. One C is made possible in part by the support of the following sponsor.
Welcome to "Raising Rebeca Books." I'm so glad you're here.
(01:58):
Thank you so much.
REBECA (02:00):
I have told these fabulous listeners who are sticking with me on this insane journey, mainly by caffeine and insanity, that you were coming.
So, yay, Crystal Canny is here.
Yay!
Right in the house.
But I would love to start with how we met.
Because I think it's weird. Is it weird? Have you met a lot of people?
(02:22):
Oh, yeah.
No. No, no, no, no. That was a first for me.
Like, online dating over 40, right? Yeah, I'm a bit.
You just don't do it.
Little bit. It was like, when I first got the note, so you sent me a note on LinkedIn.
And I normally don't read them.
Not because I'm like that. I'm so big and bad and important that I don't read notes.
(02:45):
There are a lot of people trying to sell you a lot of things on LinkedIn.
Very, very much so.
And I don't have an assistant.
So, I just usually, like, maybe once a month or once every two months.
It's like, let me go over there and see what's over there.
And it just happened to be that the time that I went over there was the very day after you had messaged me.
And you were at the very top of the list.
(03:06):
Thankfully, I was not buried under a pile of offers and deals.
Well, I knew it was like, you didn't say this, but it was very clearly she's not trying to sell me anything.
Which was very nice.
It was an actual note from an actual human actually wanting to communicate.
Yeah.
And you said, so what did made you reach out to me?
Well, I had been poking around in the publishing industry a little bit.
(03:28):
I love to learn.
And I saw that you had that history.
And I said, wonder if this woman would just give me a few minutes of her time.
She has quite an interesting history on LinkedIn.
And if nothing comes of it, that's fine.
But I always, I love to talk to people.
And I love to hear their stories and how things happen.
And sometimes it's karma.
(03:49):
Sometimes it's just coincidence.
And sometimes there's nothing there at all.
But as a former journalist, you know, curious mind.
So, former journalist, I haven't told them all about your background.
Oh, no, I have with that.
No big secret.
No, but it's very cool.
You have an incredible background.
So tell me, how did you start it in television journalism?
(04:11):
Is that right?
I did, but don't you want to tell the listeners that you actually responded to that email?
Did she?
She wanted me to talk to her about a specific publishing house that she,
you could tell I had done some work with over the years.
And I, you know, I'm always about women helping women.
So, or I am now, I mean, I was not always about that when I was young.
Let's be real about that.
(04:32):
I was very competitive.
But these days, it's much more about collaboration than competition.
And so I was like, absolutely, this woman needs some information.
And I've got it.
And I'll share it.
And so I responded and said, yeah, let's get on the phone.
And it was fantastic.
I was like, ooh, interesting.
One day and a yes.
Little did you know what you were getting roped into?
(04:55):
Hello, cliff.
Yeah, when I hung up with you that day, I went to my husband and I said,
"I think I've just met a woman who's going to be very integral to what we're doing."
And he said, “Oh, how long have you been talking to her?"
"10 minutes.
The past 30 minutes, maybe."
(05:16):
But you just know sometimes, right?
Yes, you're like, this is somebody.
Yes, you do.
This is somebody who's supposed to be here.
Now we just have to figure out what here looks like.
And so then you came to Naples and we sat down for our marathon, three hour lunch.
And really, I had googled you in between the phone call and the lunch.
(05:37):
And that's when I found out.
Good.
Right?
Thankfully, not a serious stalker of any kind.
I mean, you know, just a little, but that's when I found out, truly, that you had such an incredible background.
And I was like, this is an incredibly cool cat of what she's done with her life.
I mean, I really kind of came away from it going, I'm not really sure why she reached out to me because I'm not quite at that level.
(05:59):
But okay, that's.
That's what I'm saying.
Oh, you are being very, very bashful on that.
You most certainly are.
So you started TV journalism, right?
Yeah.
Sure.
And it was telling stories, right?
Mm-hmm.
And I think for a long time that was my passion in video and brought in the broadcast medium.
(06:20):
But we were, you know, sold to a company that at one point, I just didn't agree with their philosophy of news.
And I left to be the communications director for a governor.
But while I did it, I loved it.
And the mission statement around Retta Collective is everything I believed in and have believed in for a very long time.
(06:42):
It's about that opportunity to give people who don't have a chance a voice.
Mm-hmm.
Right?
That might never be heard.
I don't want to gloss over that you said.
So I just went to be communications director for a governor.
Oh, I like everybody just.
[Laughter]
Well, let me just.
What are you doing there?
So when I was growing up in Bangor, Maine, we used to go to a restaurant called Mamma Baldacci's every night.
(07:06):
Every Friday night, not every night.
It was Italian, you know.
[Laughter]
Every Friday night.
And it was the future governor's restaurant and his whole family worked there.
So while, yes, I went to work for a governor.
And that carries with it an incredible responsibility if you do it right.
It was also someone I had kind of grown up with.
(07:29):
So it wasn't an intimidating thing at all.
I watched him serve me, you know, manacotti for about 10 years.
[Laughter]
And it was delicious.
And he was a good man.
And our company had, you know, our newsroom had just been sold.
And I worked in three different markets.
But that was the last one that I worked in in Portland, Maine.
And I was ready.
(07:50):
And he had approached me before.
And I wasn't ready.
And you do have to take when you leave journalism.
Which I was a purest.
You know, I held it very dear.
I felt it was a huge responsibility.
But when you make that jump, you know, you become a PR person,
which is a whole different world.
(08:11):
And then you also went to DC, right?
Yeah.
So I left the governor's office.
I right in the middle of the recession.
[Laughter]
I was looking up at John.
And I'm like, now's the time to start a company.
Never having been a businesswoman, right?
In the middle of the recession with a secure job for four years.
But here's the deal about who I am.
(08:33):
And that is, I could have stayed there for another four years.
He promoted me to the Associate Commissioner of Finance.
And he said, you know what?
He said, you know policy.
And he said, we have people who know numbers.
He said, I need you to run these policy initiatives.
So I did.
And then I decided once we were done, there wasn't a lot left to do.
(08:54):
And you do not want to be the last one to turn off the lights in politics.
That is really down.
And I had accomplished what he asked me to accomplish.
So I said, okay, what's next?
Which is something that I do a lot.
How can I learn?
How can I grow?
How can I, you know, formulate what I want for my life?
And I started my own company in the middle of a recession.
(09:19):
It was going great.
And Angus King, who's now a US Senator, I had always wanted to work with him.
He preceded, preceded with all that.
No, he came after all that.
And so he asked me to do his campaign.
And I had started doing campaigns at that point in my company.
So I did.
Then he said, can you come to Washington and start the communication shop for a year.
(09:43):
I had a daughter at home, a husband at home.
And so I was like, what's next?
(10:04):
So when you came down, what you did not know was going on in my life is that was what I've shared on the previous episode about how there had been months of people saying you really should think about doing this as a nonprofit and me saying I really should not thank you very much for that.
(10:26):
Yes, thank you, no problem.
Because I just, I have run, I had, that was a, you know, a job of mine not so many years ago of I ran a pretty major nonprofit down here.
And it's just running a nonprofit is requires a certain mindset.
And it is not a mindset of a for-profit business owner.
(10:48):
And prior to running the nonprofit, I had only started and run my own nonprofit, my own for-profit, and I had only worked in major for-profits.
And I grew up with parents who were in the nonprofit sector my entire life.
So I knew it from that standpoint, but not from actually being the president of a nonprofit.
And it just, it's just different, it's a different skill set.
(11:12):
It really is to run a nonprofit.
And I knew when that, when that, my time there was over, I never wanted to do it ever again.
There's some things that you just know.
Now, as part of the Knight-Canney Group, which is my company, I have been the executive director and still the executive director of Protect Me and Fishing Heritage Foundation.
(11:33):
And I helped to sell a mountain under, at Saddleback in Maine, under a foundation.
And I was the executive director there as well, Saddleback Mountain Foundation.
And it's different.
And I will tell you, I understand that transition is hard.
It is hard.
It is a whole different way of dealing with people.
And I'm really looking forward to putting my skills to work.
(11:57):
I love when you said you enjoy your work with the nonprofit.
I was like, oh, I have found the whole thing.
I do because I really feel, you know, with people in particular, everybody's going to different motivation.
Everybody's going to different story.
And I love listening.
And you have to be a good listener if you want to survive in a nonprofit.
That is very true.
(12:18):
And I think it's, you know, in the for-profit world, I'm so just accustomed to, I make the thing, I sell the thing, I make the thing, I sell the thing.
And so the relationships are with the creators of the things.
Right.
And that's great.
But that's just a different mindset than donor cultivation and grant writing and things like that.
It's just different.
They're both great.
I'm just not good at the one.
(12:39):
That's just a bit of a rule about that.
But I want to be very clear because I think it can, it could get very confusing for people very quickly.
Rebeca Books is the books division of the 1C Story Network.
And the 1C Story Network is a for-profit company.
But what we're talking about today is a wholly separate company that is a nonprofit that is called Retta Collective.
(13:05):
And the Rtta Collective has its own mission, which is, do you have it?
I have it in front of me.
I have it right here.
Of course you do.
Of course you do.
Well, actually, you know, it's funny that you say that.
It's like, I look at this mission statement a lot.
I do too.
I actually taped it to my computer.
So much ownership and pride in exactly what we're trying to do.
(13:26):
And we haven't started yet really, where the process of getting set up.
But you know, boy, it's everything.
My husband used to say to me, get off the soapbox.
Oh my God.
Where's your soapbox?
Oh my God.
Where's your soapbox?
Because I know.
You know, always have a lot to say.
But this mission statement is very little soapbox.
I've dragged out free.
(13:47):
Me too.
Me too.
And it's before you read it for everybody, I just want them to know, you texted me one day.
And you texted me the initial mission statement.
And I don't know what prompted it.
I have no idea what was going on.
But you just texted me a mission statement.
And I was like, okay, we're doing a mission statement now.
And so I had like, I think two words that I said, what about this word instead of this word?
And you're like, yep, I like those words too.
(14:08):
And I think in a matter of like five minutes, we both were like, that's it.
That's exactly what we mean.
And we both feel so much rightness about this is what we want to be a part of.
It's the easiest thing I think that's come together for me in a long time.
I was just like, did we just make a whole mission statement in five minutes?
Me too.
I mean, I feel exactly the same way.
(14:30):
This has been, so this is an interesting thing.
This conversation that started on a LinkedIn message and every conversation after.
And I'm sure everything will not be easy.
True.
Because nothing in life ever is.
We're going to hit road bumps or whatever.
And that's fine.
Because this mission statement is everything.
And because we both believe in it, whatever the road bumps are, we'll work around it.
(14:55):
Yeah.
Because we're going to get it done.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Okay.
I hope we haven't built that too much.
Tell them the mission statement.
Here it comes.
Okay.
The Retta Collective addresses cultural equality and justice through the lens of storytelling.
Women, minorities and rural communities deserve an enhanced voice in the multimedia landscapeas stakeholders, witnesses and agents of change.
(15:18):
The Retta Collective accomplishes this through a diverse set of storytelling platforms, including publishing, film, TV,
podcasting, educational opportunities and digital products.
What could be better than that?
It's such a killer.
Everything is in there.
(15:40):
And it's still so succinct.
And it's just everything is in there.
Because the part of it, I'll have to confess.
The part of it that I loved was you added the rural communities part.
And I think, you know, that's me.
I grew up on a farm.
And I'm from rural community.
I'm as country girl as it gets, from Tennessee.
Not that I live there anymore right now.
(16:02):
But still, those are my people as we say back on the farm.
And I think that informs who I am.
Therefore, it informs everything that I do.
But I think because I live day in and day out in this very large media landscape,
even I start to take it for granted and start to think, well, you know, if you want a voice, then you can go out there and get one.
(16:25):
And you can go out there and get, nope, we get marginalized all the time.
I mean, it's like the last person that you can really use a complete stereotype about in media is a southern person.
They're going to be stupid.
They're going to be backward.
They're going to talk without any level of, as if they've never picked up a book, which is simply not the truth of who people,
(16:49):
rural people in the south anyway.
I can speak to those because I am one.
They are. There's a lot of wisdom in the rural south.
And there's a lot of being overlooked, especially as a female in the rural south.
And so I really appreciated that idea of rather than fly over our rural communities and ignore the rich storytelling that is in rural communities,
(17:13):
and the wisdom that is embedded in those communities and has been generation after generation that were instead going to focus on those communities.
Tell us your stories, tell us your wisdom, and then let's figure out a way to bring those stories in that wisdom to a larger audience,
depending on what, you know, media platform makes sense for that.
(17:34):
I just, I really appreciated that you added that audience into women and minorities because it's so, I was like, she gets it.
She knows what it's about.
Well, the rural communities, peace, speaks to me as well.
Rebeca, because Maine is highly rural when you talk to people from away as we like to say before I moved to Florida.
Thank you, thank you.
(17:55):
But, you know, they were at the end of the, Maine is at the end of the pipeline.
People usually think it ends at Boston.
You know, when you say northern Maine and they're only halfway up the state, when they come to Maine, they're like, oh, we're in northern Maine and you're only halfway into the state.
Like, no, you've got another five hours to go.
(18:16):
But there's so, so much rich history everywhere in rural communities, whether it's Maine or the south or, you know,
and giving voice and allowing people to have voice from those communities makes us all better.
Yes, yeah, it's like acknowledging that we're an entire large country.
We don't just live in cities.
What do you know?
(18:37):
I don't know.
Shocking news.
It's breaking here first with Rebeca's signs.
Yeah, I just, I really, I just really appreciated that you added that part to it because I think it's much needed.
And I also love, so we should explain how these two entities can work together because again, these are separate.
(18:59):
Retta Collective is not a part of the 1C Story Network.
It is separate.
So why are we talking about Retta Collective on a podcast about Raising Rebeca Books?
You want to get into that?
Well, as I understand it as we're going forward from our mission statement, you know, we will be funding projects that meet our mission statement, regardless of what they are.
(19:20):
And where they come from.
And so I'm looking forward to finding those voices and helping to fund those projects.
And I'm sure Rebeca Books is going to fit into that.
And I'm happy about it.
I'm pleased.
I think there will be, I hope there will be a lot of overlap between the book projects, film projects, podcast projects.
(19:47):
What we're doing, the media we're creating inside the 1C Story Network.
And the media that Retta Collective is starting up to support.
Now, to be clear, I don't think there's going to be 100% crossover because Retta Collective has educational opportunities in its mission.
And 1C doesn't really exist to educate people, we exist to create media.
But I can envision where, you know, if there's a writer or a story coming, let's say from a rural community.
(20:14):
And we are wanting to publish that book and then flip that book into a film.
All of that costs a lot of money for us to do.
And Rebeca Books is a startup as well.
And 1C itself is only, it's not even five years old yet.
And so I can see how individuals who also want to support the creation of that kind of media.
Having the ability to go to a nonprofit and make donations toward the creation of that kind of media.
(20:39):
Can be helpful because Retta has that easy entry into 1C to say that we want to support this kind of media that you're making as well.
What about this book? What about this film? What about this TV?
And we're coming with some of the financial support for it.
So I think there can be a lot of overlap between what we're doing together, even though there are two very, very separate things and engaged in some separate things like educational opportunities.
(21:05):
I think workshops and conferences and things like that.
I think that's happening in Reta Collective to help educate people as to how the industry works, how to write better, how to be producers and publishers and all that fun stuff, which we don't do inside 1C.
That's not going to happen over here.
And there's some really interesting opportunities.
So I was traveling down the coast for a variety of reasons in the last week.
(21:30):
And we'll leave it at that. And you know, I'm looking at some of the communities. Right.
Barrow Beach is very nice community. Navy's for is very nice community.
And it's not that they're not nice communities in some of the areas, but they are challenged communities.
And I could see and I'm really I've not discussed this with anyone yet. So forgive me if I'm winging this at you.
(21:54):
You're fine. You're fine.
There's a great organization called The Telling Room in Maine. And I can see a replication of that down here where we engage students and help them tell their stories.
And then, you know, hold a big event at the end of the year. So people can see just how diverse this world is.
(22:16):
It's very comfortable for a lot of people just to stay in their community. And one thing I love to do is get out into either a rural or more economically challenged community and see what's going on.
So that really excites me now. Is there a plan? Not yet.
Working on it. But every single day I'm thinking about it.
(22:40):
Well, it should be let's see by the time this episode airs, which is not the day that we're recording this.
You should even right now, I think you can go to rettacollective.org and there's a landing page.
Yes.
But I know that behind the scenes, there's a woman who's working on there's a woman. Did you catch that? There's a woman who's working on the website as well.
So there will be much more lots of layers of information on that website eventually.
(23:05):
And there's a woman attorney, also a woman attorney who's setting this up for us, which is very exciting. She's lovely to work with and seems to be like it's going forward just fine.
I love that we have we're able to find so many women to work. It kind of dispels that myth of, well, I would hire a woman or I would hire a minority if there just was one to hire.
(23:28):
And it's like, no, there is. You just sometimes have to look a little bit harder. It's just, it's, you know, talk to some people. That also helps just talk to people.
Maybe don't go with the guy that's on the billboard, you know, maybe don't do that.
Okay. So in Retta Collective. So how do you see that with donors? How do you see that working with donors? Are you still fleshing that out?
(23:49):
I'm fleshing it out. I have a list of ideas in terms of events that we will hold. And, you know, hopefully we'll help film that we can not film anymore digital.
Right.
I'm just doing myself digital works that we can, you know, host events around so that people the broader community can get a sense of what we're doing. And so that is still being fleshed out, but I have started the list.
(24:17):
Okay. So if somebody will put this in the show notes, the answer you're about to give to me. But if somebody at the moment, because Retta Collective, the website and everything is still being fleshed out, how does somebody get in touch if they are like absolutely I want to support the creation of these stories or I have story ideas or I have thoughts I want to share.
How do they get in touch with you? I do want my number. That is why you are the executive director.
(24:40):
Yes, yes, yes, I see how I'm going to email. Let's see. Well, you'll have your crystal@rettacollective.org. Yeah, what it's is that what it's going to be crystal@rettacollective.org.
I believe it is. Yes, I think we're working on setting that up.
I'm just very, I've said this a lot on this podcast, but I'll say it again, this whole concept of not pushing things into existence and letting things happen.
(25:07):
This is the kind, these are the kinds of relationships. These are the kinds of business developments that happen when I just keep my hands off the wheel.
I have a destination, I've pointed the car toward the destination, but I don't have to be completely in control of things because there's no way on God's green earth that I ever would have known to even approach you.
It was more just I knew we needed to have something like this, but I knew I wasn't the one and eventually there would be a one.
(25:33):
Some, some, the right one would come along and that would signify, okay, that you need to pay attention to that goal now.
And that that's the person that's going to be able to move it forward. You need to have conversation with that person. It's just such a different way of being.
I'm still not great at it, but I love it.
It's really interesting because I share your amazement with that.
(25:55):
You know, I'm political, I was a political animal. I was a journalist. So aggressive by the very nature, survival pretty much especially in the political world.
And this I can't even tell you just when I saw your name and I saw it, it's like, you know what, this is somebody I need to talk to.
And it was so organic and authentic that I knew what was right.
(26:19):
And sometimes, you know, this is a lesson that's taken me a while to learn. Sometimes you need to let things breathe a little bit to end up where you need to end up.
And I'm a full believer in that now. I really am. Very true. I was talking to another publisher earlier today, woman publisher, because we collaborate. That's what we do.
(26:40):
And imagine we don't compete with but collaborate. And she put it so well. She said, you know, she just celebrated her 60th birthday. And she said, I have found in my career that I'm not quoting her.
I'm paraphrasing, but she said, I found in my career that me continually calling someone and checking up on something usually doesn't get it done any more quickly than it would have been done anyway.
(27:04):
And if it does, it probably got it done with the wrong energy. And I thought, how many times in my life have I prodded and pushed and poked and have you gotten to this yet? Have you gotten to this yet? I need to get to this yet instead of letting things have the energy that they have and the timeline that they have.
And going over here and doing something else while I wait on something to come to fruition. It's just it's a very different way of being for somebody like me who's pushed things into existence the first forty years of my life.
(27:31):
But I'm going to keep singing. I will keep beating this drum. It is a much better way of being to just let things happen.
And I think a much healthier way.
They say cortisol and stress is not good for you. Right. Somewhere that when you have an anger episode, another word time, anger or time of stress, but when you have an anger episode that it takes like 22 to 24 hours for those those anger hormones, the cortisol to leave your body.
(27:57):
That's not easy. Not good. Not good at all. That's I feel like I probably need to get a better handle on my temper.
I haven't seen it yet. But I don't look forward to it. I'll let people in my house really understand that. I always take it out close on those closest to you. I get tens to not get outside my front door.
I keep her right here. And then your husband is so fortunate. We such a good man. He is such a good man.
(28:26):
But I also think that's another thing that's come with age is there's like this calculation that happens in my brain now of is it really worth the energy it's going to take to let myself get angry like do I really have the energy to do this right now.
And most of the time the answers know it's just just never mind. I just won't think about that anymore right now because I don't have the energy to spend on it anymore. I'm not going to.
(28:49):
And it's often counterproductive. So you know why do that it is. I will say I do tend to get.
Not as easily as I used to but something that can get me angry more easily than other things is still when I see the failing up that is allowed by males in our industry.
(29:13):
That I look at them in their leadership positions and see sweet positions not because there's anything in the resume that shows that they should be in that position but because it's a white man.
So the next step was to make him this or making that. And it's so frustrating because it's like if you I guess if everybody was allowed to fail up in that way.
(29:34):
But next to problem with right yeah it tends to you know 95% of the time at least in what I observe there's only one type of human that's allowed to fail up and it is frustrating beyond belief it will I'm getting angry thinking about it.
Well stop that. And you know you you touch on a really good point because without naming any names but in the political world. I have had people say to me.
(30:02):
You know so and so has a not such a nice way about her she just you know she just goes along and and you don't want to be seen as too aggressive and you don't want to be seen as shrill.
Oh sure.
And you don't you don't you don't you don't you don't well I'm sorry do I have a voice in my opinion difference from yours is that what we're talking about here.
(30:23):
I actually remember being in a car when this conversation went on for 15 minutes with this particular particular election.
It said it was being framed in the context of you know just a general conversation I said well I think you're talking about me right is that what you're trying to tell me.
(30:46):
Oh hi. I'm not. You wonder why Taylor Swift so possible. She did. She did.
Exactly right. It's it's me and oh no no no no because the person wasn't person enough to admit what they were trying to say they just wanted to sink in that you want to be softer you want to be you want to be not so aggressive you don't want to be so loud you know you can have an opinion but let's sign that opinion if you know I'm not.
(31:15):
And if you know I'm around other people that might not agree with you and it's like you know that's that's really tough and I have talked to my daughter a lot about this be an owner don't be an employee eventually you know be your own boss help other people along the way lift that hand you know and give someone a hand kindness is everything.
(31:39):
So yeah I did you get the don't be did you get the don't be intimidating line. Oh god for years but here's my god I capital I me on over my head.
And have you have you ever in your life tried to be intimidating like was that on purpose. No you know not intentionally but no like why I'm having a opinion so I guess I am exactly it's like well I think they're just intimidated and it's like well first of all that's not my problem you chose to feel that way.
(32:15):
I don’t choose your feelings you choose your feelings but second of all why are you intimidated because I waited until I knew what I was talking about to open my mouth I'm pretty sure you should do that too why are you intimidated when you encounter that and why is that only that
character why is that continually applied to women who are leaders all the time because the message at least the message that I receive over and over and over was oh well that means I need to make myself smaller so I'm not intimidating and it took me a long time to realize no if you deserve to be where you are and I deserve to be where I am then neither one of us should be intimidated we should just be collaborating now if I miss speak or something like that absolutely tell me I you know I need to dial it down I remember
(32:58):
100% but this idea of I'm intimidating because I exist I want me to do with that how did I can't exist what does that mean I've never I would know no you can exist but only in the context of their comfort yes what is up with that no see
this is why we have Retta Collective it's like no you exist come here show up exist how you are and in this space that will be welcomed and celebrated and elevated that's it just makes me so excited because it's like no I'm so over this idea of no you need to be quiet and you need to sit down and you need to be less and you need to
(33:40):
make it easy for me to me the the person who's in charge you need to make it easy for me to let you in the room when it's like maybe not maybe we just let you in the room maybe you
should have been in the room all along and we should listen to whatever story it is you're telling us and it was so it was so fascinating to me like as a reporter how dare you ask that question well that's what I do
(34:05):
and I'm a good reporter so I'm probably going to ask questions that you may think are offensive because I do dig underneath now you know that's that's the nature of the job that was the nature of the job
but I got that a lot when I was a reporter you know I can't believe you asked that question how dare did you follow up you know with that in fact it was so interesting to me one of the last experiences I had in
(34:32):
me a reporter from a small television station came to talk to me for one of the nonprofits and they said it was a woman and she said to me she said is it okay if I ask you this question
up now my job was to spout out a certain answer but I couldn't do it I said wait a minute turn the camera off took her side and I said why you asking me if you can
(34:59):
answer the question this is what you do I say get in there it's my job to be able to respond correctly but you need to ask the question but it was mind blowing to me because I never operated like that I felt you know that that was my job that was my
responsibility to the public was to ask the tough questions and I certainly never asked anyone for permission to ask a question yeah I think it's maybe it hopefully it's specific to our generation I don't know
(35:28):
let me know but I think this idea of being so grateful this is telling you from my perspective you know being so grateful to have found my way into the room and to the table and I was so scared to do something that
I would affirm what I knew was the idea of a lot of the men in there which is I didn't belong there in the first place because I was a woman and and I'm one of those women that looks like a girl
(35:59):
sometime because I have naturally curly hair and that sort of thing and it would I was so concerned with please don't kick me out of here and please take me seriously and when you have all of those
in your mind it is very hard to show up and just do the job and we have a lot of work to do. Rebeca it's it's this generation that's still asking those questions I think some of them do I think because it's so ingrained in the way of being in the workforce because the workforce
(36:32):
there are you know I think the workforce is over half female now which is amazing but we're all still operating in this unspoken mindset of the other we are the other when we come into the room we're not the norm because the norm would be the the male that's in the room
and I think we just have to get out of that mindset and it brings me back to Retta Collective and 1C and Rebeca Books of I think the more that we approach people in those
(37:00):
rooms, women, minorities, real community members who are in those rooms as if it is a given and normal that they're there just as given and normal that they're there as the ones who were originally in the room
and we tell those stories and we give those people a presence and an identity in our media landscape the more I think we do away with this idea that anybody other than a white male
(37:29):
in that space you know it's all in right you said it so well I mean that's it that's it right there it's elevating the voices of the people who haven't had a voice yeah
and I want to be clear I love white males, I'm married to one, he's fantastic, and I gave birth to one and raised one. I love them they're great. I'm not there's this weird thing that happens in the conversation when we have these conversations where some white males start feeling as if
(37:58):
we're lessening their value when we're simply equating their value to everyone else it's a very often that happens. I just want to be clear I'm not saying white men don't have value or are less value that valuable than anything else or any of that less worthy of that, it's just there's a whole world of people out there that haven't had a presence and a representation and a voice who also live on this planet and also have stories.
(38:27):
And those stories need to be shared. That's all I'm saying that's it that's it it's all I'm talking about anyway thank you. Did you do something about a soapbox a second ago man I get a whole lot yeah I see you have your own soapbox which you take out from time to time it's a good thing to have a soapbox I do have one and now we're going to pass the plate make your donations to Retta Collective.
(38:56):
You need now seriously that we joke about that but but Retta Collective will exist, you know, at the at the pleasure of donors. I mean it's a nonprofit, it's 100% a nonprofit, so if you have any questions about it again we're going to put Crystal's email address in the show notes you can email crystal@rettacollective.org. I’m not going to put her phone number in the show notes because then you'll get spamed.
(39:25):
Oh I get spam anyway if I get one donor out of 10 calls I'm happy so go ahead all right I'm putting your phone show it's fine just do it we just wait until the crazy's come out of the woodwork you're going to be like please please can we remove my number of the show notes we will see but you know it's okay it's a good cause
(39:46):
hey that one person might reach out to you on LinkedIn that's right one person listen go through a campaign or two where you have the opposition spamming your phone so you can't do your job for the campaign, oh my gosh I had to think about that oh yeah oh this will be nothing.
(40:08):
Oh I love that we so have the right person for Retta Collective. Thank you for taking the time to come on here. I know you're busy getting the thing running. I just really wanted people to understand that while it's not the same company it the two companies are collaborating and working together when when there's crossover between what we're working on and there's a lot of crossover between what we're working on. Anything else we make space for you to say anything else I haven't covered. No I'm just thrilled happy content I know it's the right thing that's it better be or you're really
(40:37):
regret that note no I'm you know I just I know this I know this in my bones my grandmother would say I know this in my bones and I know this in my bones I think it's great. I think we have to end there because ending on a grandmother quote yeah that's that's a right way to end a Rebeca Books podcast episode right there.
(41:01):
Okay you guys check the show notes get in touch with Crystal help support the projects. Thank you Crystal, take care.
You heard her friend. Give Crystal a call or shoot her an email. She would love to hear from you. I'm Rebeca Seitz. Thank you for coming along on this journey with me.
(41:25):
You've been listening to Raising Rebeca Books, the Birth of a Publishing House, from the 1C Story Network. Subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts and learn more at RebecaBooks.com
(42:10):
[music]
(00:20):
Welcome to the eighth chapter of Raising Rebeca Books, the birth of a publishing house.
This is the audio story of me, Rebeca Seitz, building a traditional royalty-paying publishing house from the ground up, told to you as it unfolds.
In the previous episode, I promised to introduce you to Crystal Canney.
So right after the ad break, you'll hear our conversation about the nonprofit we founded, Retta Collective.
(00:46):
It addresses cultural equality and justice through the lens of storytelling.
The formation of this new organization has come about almost on its own.
It still astounds me, how people and activities simply align and happen when I hold my intentions and leave space for them to unfold.
It shouldn’t, to be honest.
(01:08):
As a storyteller, I know we can and do write things into existence.
A human's ability to think and then bring that thought into reality is, I think, one of the most powerful and underused elements of our existence on this planet.
But that's an idea for another day. For now, please meet Crystal Canny.
(01:35):
You are listening to "Raising Rebeca Books," the birth of a publishing house on the One C Story Network. One C is made possible in part by the support of the following sponsor.
Welcome to "Raising Rebeca Books." I'm so glad you're here.
(01:58):
Thank you so much.
REBECA (02:00):
I have told these fabulous listeners who are sticking with me on this insane journey, mainly by caffeine and insanity, that you were coming.
So, yay, Crystal Canny is here.
Yay!
Right in the house.
But I would love to start with how we met.
Because I think it's weird. Is it weird? Have you met a lot of people?
(02:22):
Oh, yeah.
No. No, no, no, no. That was a first for me.
Like, online dating over 40, right? Yeah, I'm a bit.
You just don't do it.
Little bit. It was like, when I first got the note, so you sent me a note on LinkedIn.
And I normally don't read them.
Not because I'm like that. I'm so big and bad and important that I don't read notes.
(02:45):
There are a lot of people trying to sell you a lot of things on LinkedIn.
Very, very much so.
And I don't have an assistant.
So, I just usually, like, maybe once a month or once every two months.
It's like, let me go over there and see what's over there.
And it just happened to be that the time that I went over there was the very day after you had messaged me.
And you were at the very top of the list.
(03:06):
Thankfully, I was not buried under a pile of offers and deals.
Well, I knew it was like, you didn't say this, but it was very clearly she's not trying to sell me anything.
Which was very nice.
It was an actual note from an actual human actually wanting to communicate.
Yeah.
And you said, so what did made you reach out to me?
Well, I had been poking around in the publishing industry a little bit.
(03:28):
I love to learn.
And I saw that you had that history.
And I said, wonder if this woman would just give me a few minutes of her time.
She has quite an interesting history on LinkedIn.
And if nothing comes of it, that's fine.
But I always, I love to talk to people.
And I love to hear their stories and how things happen.
And sometimes it's karma.
(03:49):
Sometimes it's just coincidence.
And sometimes there's nothing there at all.
But as a former journalist, you know, curious mind.
So, former journalist, I haven't told them all about your background.
Oh, no, I have with that.
No big secret.
No, but it's very cool.
You have an incredible background.
So tell me, how did you start it in television journalism?
(04:11):
Is that right?
I did, but don't you want to tell the listeners that you actually responded to that email?
Did she?
She wanted me to talk to her about a specific publishing house that she,
you could tell I had done some work with over the years.
And I, you know, I'm always about women helping women.
So, or I am now, I mean, I was not always about that when I was young.
Let's be real about that.
(04:32):
I was very competitive.
But these days, it's much more about collaboration than competition.
And so I was like, absolutely, this woman needs some information.
And I've got it.
And I'll share it.
And so I responded and said, yeah, let's get on the phone.
And it was fantastic.
I was like, ooh, interesting.
One day and a yes.
Little did you know what you were getting roped into?
(04:55):
Hello, cliff.
Yeah, when I hung up with you that day, I went to my husband and I said,
"I think I've just met a woman who's going to be very integral to what we're doing."
And he said, “Oh, how long have you been talking to her?"
"10 minutes.
The past 30 minutes, maybe."
(05:16):
But you just know sometimes, right?
Yes, you're like, this is somebody.
Yes, you do.
This is somebody who's supposed to be here.
Now we just have to figure out what here looks like.
And so then you came to Naples and we sat down for our marathon, three hour lunch.
And really, I had googled you in between the phone call and the lunch.
(05:37):
And that's when I found out.
Good.
Right?
Thankfully, not a serious stalker of any kind.
I mean, you know, just a little, but that's when I found out, truly, that you had such an incredible background.
And I was like, this is an incredibly cool cat of what she's done with her life.
I mean, I really kind of came away from it going, I'm not really sure why she reached out to me because I'm not quite at that level.
(05:59):
But okay, that's.
That's what I'm saying.
Oh, you are being very, very bashful on that.
You most certainly are.
So you started TV journalism, right?
Yeah.
Sure.
And it was telling stories, right?
Mm-hmm.
And I think for a long time that was my passion in video and brought in the broadcast medium.
(06:20):
But we were, you know, sold to a company that at one point, I just didn't agree with their philosophy of news.
And I left to be the communications director for a governor.
But while I did it, I loved it.
And the mission statement around Retta Collective is everything I believed in and have believed in for a very long time.
(06:42):
It's about that opportunity to give people who don't have a chance a voice.
Mm-hmm.
Right?
That might never be heard.
I don't want to gloss over that you said.
So I just went to be communications director for a governor.
Oh, I like everybody just.
[Laughter]
Well, let me just.
What are you doing there?
So when I was growing up in Bangor, Maine, we used to go to a restaurant called Mamma Baldacci's every night.
(07:06):
Every Friday night, not every night.
It was Italian, you know.
[Laughter]
Every Friday night.
And it was the future governor's restaurant and his whole family worked there.
So while, yes, I went to work for a governor.
And that carries with it an incredible responsibility if you do it right.
It was also someone I had kind of grown up with.
(07:29):
So it wasn't an intimidating thing at all.
I watched him serve me, you know, manacotti for about 10 years.
[Laughter]
And it was delicious.
And he was a good man.
And our company had, you know, our newsroom had just been sold.
And I worked in three different markets.
But that was the last one that I worked in in Portland, Maine.
And I was ready.
(07:50):
And he had approached me before.
And I wasn't ready.
And you do have to take when you leave journalism.
Which I was a purest.
You know, I held it very dear.
I felt it was a huge responsibility.
But when you make that jump, you know, you become a PR person,
which is a whole different world.
(08:11):
And then you also went to DC, right?
Yeah.
So I left the governor's office.
I right in the middle of the recession.
[Laughter]
I was looking up at John.
And I'm like, now's the time to start a company.
Never having been a businesswoman, right?
In the middle of the recession with a secure job for four years.
But here's the deal about who I am.
(08:33):
And that is, I could have stayed there for another four years.
He promoted me to the Associate Commissioner of Finance.
And he said, you know what?
He said, you know policy.
And he said, we have people who know numbers.
He said, I need you to run these policy initiatives.
So I did.
And then I decided once we were done, there wasn't a lot left to do.
(08:54):
And you do not want to be the last one to turn off the lights in politics.
That is really down.
And I had accomplished what he asked me to accomplish.
So I said, okay, what's next?
Which is something that I do a lot.
How can I learn?
How can I grow?
How can I, you know, formulate what I want for my life?
And I started my own company in the middle of a recession.
(09:19):
It was going great.
And Angus King, who's now a US Senator, I had always wanted to work with him.
He preceded, preceded with all that.
No, he came after all that.
And so he asked me to do his campaign.
And I had started doing campaigns at that point in my company.
So I did.
Then he said, can you come to Washington and start the communication shop for a year.
(09:43):
I had a daughter at home, a husband at home.
And so I was like, what's next?
(10:04):
So when you came down, what you did not know was going on in my life is that was what I've shared on the previous episode about how there had been months of people saying you really should think about doing this as a nonprofit and me saying I really should not thank you very much for that.
(10:26):
Yes, thank you, no problem.
Because I just, I have run, I had, that was a, you know, a job of mine not so many years ago of I ran a pretty major nonprofit down here.
And it's just running a nonprofit is requires a certain mindset.
And it is not a mindset of a for-profit business owner.
(10:48):
And prior to running the nonprofit, I had only started and run my own nonprofit, my own for-profit, and I had only worked in major for-profits.
And I grew up with parents who were in the nonprofit sector my entire life.
So I knew it from that standpoint, but not from actually being the president of a nonprofit.
And it just, it's just different, it's a different skill set.
(11:12):
It really is to run a nonprofit.
And I knew when that, when that, my time there was over, I never wanted to do it ever again.
There's some things that you just know.
Now, as part of the Knight-Canney Group, which is my company, I have been the executive director and still the executive director of Protect Me and Fishing Heritage Foundation.
(11:33):
And I helped to sell a mountain under, at Saddleback in Maine, under a foundation.
And I was the executive director there as well, Saddleback Mountain Foundation.
And it's different.
And I will tell you, I understand that transition is hard.
It is hard.
It is a whole different way of dealing with people.
And I'm really looking forward to putting my skills to work.
(11:57):
I love when you said you enjoy your work with the nonprofit.
I was like, oh, I have found the whole thing.
I do because I really feel, you know, with people in particular, everybody's going to different motivation.
Everybody's going to different story.
And I love listening.
And you have to be a good listener if you want to survive in a nonprofit.
That is very true.
(12:18):
And I think it's, you know, in the for-profit world, I'm so just accustomed to, I make the thing, I sell the thing, I make the thing, I sell the thing.
And so the relationships are with the creators of the things.
Right.
And that's great.
But that's just a different mindset than donor cultivation and grant writing and things like that.
It's just different.
They're both great.
I'm just not good at the one.
(12:39):
That's just a bit of a rule about that.
But I want to be very clear because I think it can, it could get very confusing for people very quickly.
Rebeca Books is the books division of the 1C Story Network.
And the 1C Story Network is a for-profit company.
But what we're talking about today is a wholly separate company that is a nonprofit that is called Retta Collective.
(13:05):
And the Rtta Collective has its own mission, which is, do you have it?
I have it in front of me.
I have it right here.
Of course you do.
Of course you do.
Well, actually, you know, it's funny that you say that.
It's like, I look at this mission statement a lot.
I do too.
I actually taped it to my computer.
So much ownership and pride in exactly what we're trying to do.
(13:26):
And we haven't started yet really, where the process of getting set up.
But you know, boy, it's everything.
My husband used to say to me, get off the soapbox.
Oh my God.
Where's your soapbox?
Oh my God.
Where's your soapbox?
Because I know.
You know, always have a lot to say.
But this mission statement is very little soapbox.
I've dragged out free.
(13:47):
Me too.
Me too.
And it's before you read it for everybody, I just want them to know, you texted me one day.
And you texted me the initial mission statement.
And I don't know what prompted it.
I have no idea what was going on.
But you just texted me a mission statement.
And I was like, okay, we're doing a mission statement now.
And so I had like, I think two words that I said, what about this word instead of this word?
And you're like, yep, I like those words too.
(14:08):
And I think in a matter of like five minutes, we both were like, that's it.
That's exactly what we mean.
And we both feel so much rightness about this is what we want to be a part of.
It's the easiest thing I think that's come together for me in a long time.
I was just like, did we just make a whole mission statement in five minutes?
Me too.
I mean, I feel exactly the same way.
(14:30):
This has been, so this is an interesting thing.
This conversation that started on a LinkedIn message and every conversation after.
And I'm sure everything will not be easy.
True.
Because nothing in life ever is.
We're going to hit road bumps or whatever.
And that's fine.
Because this mission statement is everything.
And because we both believe in it, whatever the road bumps are, we'll work around it.
(14:55):
Yeah.
Because we're going to get it done.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Okay.
I hope we haven't built that too much.
Tell them the mission statement.
Here it comes.
Okay.
The Retta Collective addresses cultural equality and justice through the lens of storytelling.
Women, minorities and rural communities deserve an enhanced voice in the multimedia landscapeas stakeholders, witnesses and agents of change.
(15:18):
The Retta Collective accomplishes this through a diverse set of storytelling platforms, including publishing, film, TV,
podcasting, educational opportunities and digital products.
What could be better than that?
It's such a killer.
Everything is in there.
(15:40):
And it's still so succinct.
And it's just everything is in there.
Because the part of it, I'll have to confess.
The part of it that I loved was you added the rural communities part.
And I think, you know, that's me.
I grew up on a farm.
And I'm from rural community.
I'm as country girl as it gets, from Tennessee.
Not that I live there anymore right now.
(16:02):
But still, those are my people as we say back on the farm.
And I think that informs who I am.
Therefore, it informs everything that I do.
But I think because I live day in and day out in this very large media landscape,
even I start to take it for granted and start to think, well, you know, if you want a voice, then you can go out there and get one.
(16:25):
And you can go out there and get, nope, we get marginalized all the time.
I mean, it's like the last person that you can really use a complete stereotype about in media is a southern person.
They're going to be stupid.
They're going to be backward.
They're going to talk without any level of, as if they've never picked up a book, which is simply not the truth of who people,
(16:49):
rural people in the south anyway.
I can speak to those because I am one.
They are. There's a lot of wisdom in the rural south.
And there's a lot of being overlooked, especially as a female in the rural south.
And so I really appreciated that idea of rather than fly over our rural communities and ignore the rich storytelling that is in rural communities,
(17:13):
and the wisdom that is embedded in those communities and has been generation after generation that were instead going to focus on those communities.
Tell us your stories, tell us your wisdom, and then let's figure out a way to bring those stories in that wisdom to a larger audience,
depending on what, you know, media platform makes sense for that.
(17:34):
I just, I really appreciated that you added that audience into women and minorities because it's so, I was like, she gets it.
She knows what it's about.
Well, the rural communities, peace, speaks to me as well.
Rebeca, because Maine is highly rural when you talk to people from away as we like to say before I moved to Florida.
Thank you, thank you.
(17:55):
But, you know, they were at the end of the, Maine is at the end of the pipeline.
People usually think it ends at Boston.
You know, when you say northern Maine and they're only halfway up the state, when they come to Maine, they're like, oh, we're in northern Maine and you're only halfway into the state.
Like, no, you've got another five hours to go.
(18:16):
But there's so, so much rich history everywhere in rural communities, whether it's Maine or the south or, you know,
and giving voice and allowing people to have voice from those communities makes us all better.
Yes, yeah, it's like acknowledging that we're an entire large country.
We don't just live in cities.
What do you know?
(18:37):
I don't know.
Shocking news.
It's breaking here first with Rebeca's signs.
Yeah, I just, I really, I just really appreciated that you added that part to it because I think it's much needed.
And I also love, so we should explain how these two entities can work together because again, these are separate.
(18:59):
Retta Collective is not a part of the 1C Story Network.
It is separate.
So why are we talking about Retta Collective on a podcast about Raising Rebeca Books?
You want to get into that?
Well, as I understand it as we're going forward from our mission statement, you know, we will be funding projects that meet our mission statement, regardless of what they are.
(19:20):
And where they come from.
And so I'm looking forward to finding those voices and helping to fund those projects.
And I'm sure Rebeca Books is going to fit into that.
And I'm happy about it.
I'm pleased.
I think there will be, I hope there will be a lot of overlap between the book projects, film projects, podcast projects.
(19:47):
What we're doing, the media we're creating inside the 1C Story Network.
And the media that Retta Collective is starting up to support.
Now, to be clear, I don't think there's going to be 100% crossover because Retta Collective has educational opportunities in its mission.
And 1C doesn't really exist to educate people, we exist to create media.
But I can envision where, you know, if there's a writer or a story coming, let's say from a rural community.
(20:14):
And we are wanting to publish that book and then flip that book into a film.
All of that costs a lot of money for us to do.
And Rebeca Books is a startup as well.
And 1C itself is only, it's not even five years old yet.
And so I can see how individuals who also want to support the creation of that kind of media.
Having the ability to go to a nonprofit and make donations toward the creation of that kind of media.
(20:39):
Can be helpful because Retta has that easy entry into 1C to say that we want to support this kind of media that you're making as well.
What about this book? What about this film? What about this TV?
And we're coming with some of the financial support for it.
So I think there can be a lot of overlap between what we're doing together, even though there are two very, very separate things and engaged in some separate things like educational opportunities.
(21:05):
I think workshops and conferences and things like that.
I think that's happening in Reta Collective to help educate people as to how the industry works, how to write better, how to be producers and publishers and all that fun stuff, which we don't do inside 1C.
That's not going to happen over here.
And there's some really interesting opportunities.
So I was traveling down the coast for a variety of reasons in the last week.
(21:30):
And we'll leave it at that. And you know, I'm looking at some of the communities. Right.
Barrow Beach is very nice community. Navy's for is very nice community.
And it's not that they're not nice communities in some of the areas, but they are challenged communities.
And I could see and I'm really I've not discussed this with anyone yet. So forgive me if I'm winging this at you.
(21:54):
You're fine. You're fine.
There's a great organization called The Telling Room in Maine. And I can see a replication of that down here where we engage students and help them tell their stories.
And then, you know, hold a big event at the end of the year. So people can see just how diverse this world is.
(22:16):
It's very comfortable for a lot of people just to stay in their community. And one thing I love to do is get out into either a rural or more economically challenged community and see what's going on.
So that really excites me now. Is there a plan? Not yet.
Working on it. But every single day I'm thinking about it.
(22:40):
Well, it should be let's see by the time this episode airs, which is not the day that we're recording this.
You should even right now, I think you can go to rettacollective.org and there's a landing page.
Yes.
But I know that behind the scenes, there's a woman who's working on there's a woman. Did you catch that? There's a woman who's working on the website as well.
So there will be much more lots of layers of information on that website eventually.
(23:05):
And there's a woman attorney, also a woman attorney who's setting this up for us, which is very exciting. She's lovely to work with and seems to be like it's going forward just fine.
I love that we have we're able to find so many women to work. It kind of dispels that myth of, well, I would hire a woman or I would hire a minority if there just was one to hire.
(23:28):
And it's like, no, there is. You just sometimes have to look a little bit harder. It's just, it's, you know, talk to some people. That also helps just talk to people.
Maybe don't go with the guy that's on the billboard, you know, maybe don't do that.
Okay. So in Retta Collective. So how do you see that with donors? How do you see that working with donors? Are you still fleshing that out?
(23:49):
I'm fleshing it out. I have a list of ideas in terms of events that we will hold. And, you know, hopefully we'll help film that we can not film anymore digital.
Right.
I'm just doing myself digital works that we can, you know, host events around so that people the broader community can get a sense of what we're doing. And so that is still being fleshed out, but I have started the list.
(24:17):
Okay. So if somebody will put this in the show notes, the answer you're about to give to me. But if somebody at the moment, because Retta Collective, the website and everything is still being fleshed out, how does somebody get in touch if they are like absolutely I want to support the creation of these stories or I have story ideas or I have thoughts I want to share.
How do they get in touch with you? I do want my number. That is why you are the executive director.
(24:40):
Yes, yes, yes, I see how I'm going to email. Let's see. Well, you'll have your crystal@rettacollective.org. Yeah, what it's is that what it's going to be crystal@rettacollective.org.
I believe it is. Yes, I think we're working on setting that up.
I'm just very, I've said this a lot on this podcast, but I'll say it again, this whole concept of not pushing things into existence and letting things happen.
(25:07):
This is the kind, these are the kinds of relationships. These are the kinds of business developments that happen when I just keep my hands off the wheel.
I have a destination, I've pointed the car toward the destination, but I don't have to be completely in control of things because there's no way on God's green earth that I ever would have known to even approach you.
It was more just I knew we needed to have something like this, but I knew I wasn't the one and eventually there would be a one.
(25:33):
Some, some, the right one would come along and that would signify, okay, that you need to pay attention to that goal now.
And that that's the person that's going to be able to move it forward. You need to have conversation with that person. It's just such a different way of being.
I'm still not great at it, but I love it.
It's really interesting because I share your amazement with that.
(25:55):
You know, I'm political, I was a political animal. I was a journalist. So aggressive by the very nature, survival pretty much especially in the political world.
And this I can't even tell you just when I saw your name and I saw it, it's like, you know what, this is somebody I need to talk to.
And it was so organic and authentic that I knew what was right.
(26:19):
And sometimes, you know, this is a lesson that's taken me a while to learn. Sometimes you need to let things breathe a little bit to end up where you need to end up.
And I'm a full believer in that now. I really am. Very true. I was talking to another publisher earlier today, woman publisher, because we collaborate. That's what we do.
(26:40):
And imagine we don't compete with but collaborate. And she put it so well. She said, you know, she just celebrated her 60th birthday. And she said, I have found in my career that I'm not quoting her.
I'm paraphrasing, but she said, I found in my career that me continually calling someone and checking up on something usually doesn't get it done any more quickly than it would have been done anyway.
(27:04):
And if it does, it probably got it done with the wrong energy. And I thought, how many times in my life have I prodded and pushed and poked and have you gotten to this yet? Have you gotten to this yet? I need to get to this yet instead of letting things have the energy that they have and the timeline that they have.
And going over here and doing something else while I wait on something to come to fruition. It's just it's a very different way of being for somebody like me who's pushed things into existence the first forty years of my life.
(27:31):
But I'm going to keep singing. I will keep beating this drum. It is a much better way of being to just let things happen.
And I think a much healthier way.
They say cortisol and stress is not good for you. Right. Somewhere that when you have an anger episode, another word time, anger or time of stress, but when you have an anger episode that it takes like 22 to 24 hours for those those anger hormones, the cortisol to leave your body.
(27:57):
That's not easy. Not good. Not good at all. That's I feel like I probably need to get a better handle on my temper.
I haven't seen it yet. But I don't look forward to it. I'll let people in my house really understand that. I always take it out close on those closest to you. I get tens to not get outside my front door.
I keep her right here. And then your husband is so fortunate. We such a good man. He is such a good man.
(28:26):
But I also think that's another thing that's come with age is there's like this calculation that happens in my brain now of is it really worth the energy it's going to take to let myself get angry like do I really have the energy to do this right now.
And most of the time the answers know it's just just never mind. I just won't think about that anymore right now because I don't have the energy to spend on it anymore. I'm not going to.
(28:49):
And it's often counterproductive. So you know why do that it is. I will say I do tend to get.
Not as easily as I used to but something that can get me angry more easily than other things is still when I see the failing up that is allowed by males in our industry.
(29:13):
That I look at them in their leadership positions and see sweet positions not because there's anything in the resume that shows that they should be in that position but because it's a white man.
So the next step was to make him this or making that. And it's so frustrating because it's like if you I guess if everybody was allowed to fail up in that way.
(29:34):
But next to problem with right yeah it tends to you know 95% of the time at least in what I observe there's only one type of human that's allowed to fail up and it is frustrating beyond belief it will I'm getting angry thinking about it.
Well stop that. And you know you you touch on a really good point because without naming any names but in the political world. I have had people say to me.
(30:02):
You know so and so has a not such a nice way about her she just you know she just goes along and and you don't want to be seen as too aggressive and you don't want to be seen as shrill.
Oh sure.
And you don't you don't you don't you don't you don't well I'm sorry do I have a voice in my opinion difference from yours is that what we're talking about here.
(30:23):
I actually remember being in a car when this conversation went on for 15 minutes with this particular particular election.
It said it was being framed in the context of you know just a general conversation I said well I think you're talking about me right is that what you're trying to tell me.
(30:46):
Oh hi. I'm not. You wonder why Taylor Swift so possible. She did. She did.
Exactly right. It's it's me and oh no no no no because the person wasn't person enough to admit what they were trying to say they just wanted to sink in that you want to be softer you want to be you want to be not so aggressive you don't want to be so loud you know you can have an opinion but let's sign that opinion if you know I'm not.
(31:15):
And if you know I'm around other people that might not agree with you and it's like you know that's that's really tough and I have talked to my daughter a lot about this be an owner don't be an employee eventually you know be your own boss help other people along the way lift that hand you know and give someone a hand kindness is everything.
(31:39):
So yeah I did you get the don't be did you get the don't be intimidating line. Oh god for years but here's my god I capital I me on over my head.
And have you have you ever in your life tried to be intimidating like was that on purpose. No you know not intentionally but no like why I'm having a opinion so I guess I am exactly it's like well I think they're just intimidated and it's like well first of all that's not my problem you chose to feel that way.
(32:15):
I don’t choose your feelings you choose your feelings but second of all why are you intimidated because I waited until I knew what I was talking about to open my mouth I'm pretty sure you should do that too why are you intimidated when you encounter that and why is that only that
character why is that continually applied to women who are leaders all the time because the message at least the message that I receive over and over and over was oh well that means I need to make myself smaller so I'm not intimidating and it took me a long time to realize no if you deserve to be where you are and I deserve to be where I am then neither one of us should be intimidated we should just be collaborating now if I miss speak or something like that absolutely tell me I you know I need to dial it down I remember
(32:58):
100% but this idea of I'm intimidating because I exist I want me to do with that how did I can't exist what does that mean I've never I would know no you can exist but only in the context of their comfort yes what is up with that no see
this is why we have Retta Collective it's like no you exist come here show up exist how you are and in this space that will be welcomed and celebrated and elevated that's it just makes me so excited because it's like no I'm so over this idea of no you need to be quiet and you need to sit down and you need to be less and you need to
(33:40):
make it easy for me to me the the person who's in charge you need to make it easy for me to let you in the room when it's like maybe not maybe we just let you in the room maybe you
should have been in the room all along and we should listen to whatever story it is you're telling us and it was so it was so fascinating to me like as a reporter how dare you ask that question well that's what I do
(34:05):
and I'm a good reporter so I'm probably going to ask questions that you may think are offensive because I do dig underneath now you know that's that's the nature of the job that was the nature of the job
but I got that a lot when I was a reporter you know I can't believe you asked that question how dare did you follow up you know with that in fact it was so interesting to me one of the last experiences I had in
(34:32):
me a reporter from a small television station came to talk to me for one of the nonprofits and they said it was a woman and she said to me she said is it okay if I ask you this question
up now my job was to spout out a certain answer but I couldn't do it I said wait a minute turn the camera off took her side and I said why you asking me if you can
(34:59):
answer the question this is what you do I say get in there it's my job to be able to respond correctly but you need to ask the question but it was mind blowing to me because I never operated like that I felt you know that that was my job that was my
responsibility to the public was to ask the tough questions and I certainly never asked anyone for permission to ask a question yeah I think it's maybe it hopefully it's specific to our generation I don't know
(35:28):
let me know but I think this idea of being so grateful this is telling you from my perspective you know being so grateful to have found my way into the room and to the table and I was so scared to do something that
I would affirm what I knew was the idea of a lot of the men in there which is I didn't belong there in the first place because I was a woman and and I'm one of those women that looks like a girl
(35:59):
sometime because I have naturally curly hair and that sort of thing and it would I was so concerned with please don't kick me out of here and please take me seriously and when you have all of those
in your mind it is very hard to show up and just do the job and we have a lot of work to do. Rebeca it's it's this generation that's still asking those questions I think some of them do I think because it's so ingrained in the way of being in the workforce because the workforce
(36:32):
there are you know I think the workforce is over half female now which is amazing but we're all still operating in this unspoken mindset of the other we are the other when we come into the room we're not the norm because the norm would be the the male that's in the room
and I think we just have to get out of that mindset and it brings me back to Retta Collective and 1C and Rebeca Books of I think the more that we approach people in those
(37:00):
rooms, women, minorities, real community members who are in those rooms as if it is a given and normal that they're there just as given and normal that they're there as the ones who were originally in the room
and we tell those stories and we give those people a presence and an identity in our media landscape the more I think we do away with this idea that anybody other than a white male
(37:29):
in that space you know it's all in right you said it so well I mean that's it that's it right there it's elevating the voices of the people who haven't had a voice yeah
and I want to be clear I love white males, I'm married to one, he's fantastic, and I gave birth to one and raised one. I love them they're great. I'm not there's this weird thing that happens in the conversation when we have these conversations where some white males start feeling as if
(37:58):
we're lessening their value when we're simply equating their value to everyone else it's a very often that happens. I just want to be clear I'm not saying white men don't have value or are less value that valuable than anything else or any of that less worthy of that, it's just there's a whole world of people out there that haven't had a presence and a representation and a voice who also live on this planet and also have stories.
(38:27):
And those stories need to be shared. That's all I'm saying that's it that's it it's all I'm talking about anyway thank you. Did you do something about a soapbox a second ago man I get a whole lot yeah I see you have your own soapbox which you take out from time to time it's a good thing to have a soapbox I do have one and now we're going to pass the plate make your donations to Retta Collective.
(38:56):
You need now seriously that we joke about that but but Retta Collective will exist, you know, at the at the pleasure of donors. I mean it's a nonprofit, it's 100% a nonprofit, so if you have any questions about it again we're going to put Crystal's email address in the show notes you can email crystal@rettacollective.org. I’m not going to put her phone number in the show notes because then you'll get spamed.
(39:25):
Oh I get spam anyway if I get one donor out of 10 calls I'm happy so go ahead all right I'm putting your phone show it's fine just do it we just wait until the crazy's come out of the woodwork you're going to be like please please can we remove my number of the show notes we will see but you know it's okay it's a good cause
(39:46):
hey that one person might reach out to you on LinkedIn that's right one person listen go through a campaign or two where you have the opposition spamming your phone so you can't do your job for the campaign, oh my gosh I had to think about that oh yeah oh this will be nothing.
(40:08):
Oh I love that we so have the right person for Retta Collective. Thank you for taking the time to come on here. I know you're busy getting the thing running. I just really wanted people to understand that while it's not the same company it the two companies are collaborating and working together when when there's crossover between what we're working on and there's a lot of crossover between what we're working on. Anything else we make space for you to say anything else I haven't covered. No I'm just thrilled happy content I know it's the right thing that's it better be or you're really
(40:37):
regret that note no I'm you know I just I know this I know this in my bones my grandmother would say I know this in my bones and I know this in my bones I think it's great. I think we have to end there because ending on a grandmother quote yeah that's that's a right way to end a Rebeca Books podcast episode right there.
(41:01):
Okay you guys check the show notes get in touch with Crystal help support the projects. Thank you Crystal, take care.
You heard her friend. Give Crystal a call or shoot her an email. She would love to hear from you. I'm Rebeca Seitz. Thank you for coming along on this journey with me.
(41:25):
You've been listening to Raising Rebeca Books, the Birth of a Publishing House, from the 1C Story Network. Subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts and learn more at RebecaBooks.com
(42:10):
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