August 11, 2025 • 35 mins
Katie Cashman Fitzsimmons is exactly one half of The Cashman Auctionisters, the auctioneering sisters. Her partner in crime is her Bozeman-based sister Missy. Since 2016, Katie and Missy have auctioned at over 250 events for charities, non-profits, organizations, and individuals. Those auctions have brought in over $18,000,000, allowing those groups to further the good work they each do for their communities.
Katie resides in Bismarck, North Dakota where she serves in her day job as the Director for Student Affairs for the North Dakota University System. In this role, she works with the 11 state colleges and universities (who enroll roughly 45,000 students) to advance all the initiatives that take place outside of the classroom. That includes substance misuse prevention, sexual assault prevention and intervention, student mental health, initiatives that support belonging and community, student health insurance, student access to voting, and many other things that pop up along the way. This would also involve briefing the State Board of Higher Education and developing policy that they approve which are in effect for the campuses. In addition to that, Katie serves on the legislative team for the System Office which consumes an inordinate amount of time every other year.
Auctions and higher ed aside, her real full-time gig is wife to her firefighting husband Owen and mom to their three young kids, Maggie (9), Connor (8), and Tommy (5). Katie has summited Mt. Kilimanjaro, used to enjoy running half marathons (ha! As if my joints would tolerate such abuse now), and holds the title of “First to all Fifty States” amongst her five siblings (but is tied with her sister Missy on the continent count). Katie loves playing cards, hiking, long walks paired with a podcast, baking, and spending time with her family. She is terrible at going to bed but really good at sleeping; she’s also terrible about planning meals but really good at eating; and she loves talking a bit game with Christmas lights but chickens out when it gets too cold and slippery.
Katie resides in Bismarck, North Dakota where she serves in her day job as the Director for Student Affairs for the North Dakota University System. In this role, she works with the 11 state colleges and universities (who enroll roughly 45,000 students) to advance all the initiatives that take place outside of the classroom. That includes substance misuse prevention, sexual assault prevention and intervention, student mental health, initiatives that support belonging and community, student health insurance, student access to voting, and many other things that pop up along the way. This would also involve briefing the State Board of Higher Education and developing policy that they approve which are in effect for the campuses. In addition to that, Katie serves on the legislative team for the System Office which consumes an inordinate amount of time every other year.
Auctions and higher ed aside, her real full-time gig is wife to her firefighting husband Owen and mom to their three young kids, Maggie (9), Connor (8), and Tommy (5). Katie has summited Mt. Kilimanjaro, used to enjoy running half marathons (ha! As if my joints would tolerate such abuse now), and holds the title of “First to all Fifty States” amongst her five siblings (but is tied with her sister Missy on the continent count). Katie loves playing cards, hiking, long walks paired with a podcast, baking, and spending time with her family. She is terrible at going to bed but really good at sleeping; she’s also terrible about planning meals but really good at eating; and she loves talking a bit game with Christmas lights but chickens out when it gets too cold and slippery.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to These Are Your Neighbors, a podcast hosted by
the City of Bismarck's Human Relations Committee and produced by
Dakota Media Access. The purpose of the podcast is to
celebrate change makers in Bismarck whose contributions break barriers, build connections,
and redefine what is possible for our community.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Welcome to These Are Your Neighbors, a podcast hosted by
Tia Jorgensen and Sargiana Wooski, both members of the City
of Bismarck's Human Relations Committee. Thank you for joining us
as we highlight the individuals driving positive change and making
a lasting impact on our community. Their stories inspire progress
and shape the future of our city.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Our guest today is Katy Cashman Fitzsimmons. Katie is exactly
one half of the Cashman auction Easters, the Auctioneing Sisters.
Since twenty sixteen, Katy and her sister Missy have auctioned
at over two hundred and fifty events for charities, nonprofits, organizations,
and individuals. Katy is the Director of Student Affairs for
(01:05):
the Northakota University System. In this role, she works with
eleven state colleges and universities to advance all the initiatives
that take place outside of the classroom. Her job also
involves briefing the State Board of Higher Education and developing
policy that they approve which are in effect for all
the canvasses. In addition to that, Katy serves on the
(01:26):
legislative team for the System Office, which consumes an inordinate
amount of time every other year auctions and hire at Aside,
her real full time gig is waife to her fire
fighting husband Owen, and mom to their three young kids.
Kitty as summited mot Kilmajaro, used to run half marathons
and holds the title of first to all fifty states
(01:47):
amongst her five siblings. Katy loves playing cards, hiking long
walks paired with the podcast, baking, and spending time with
her family. She is terrible at going to bed, but
really good at sleeping. Also terrible about planning meals, but
really good at eating. And she loves talking a big
game with Christmas lights, but checkings out when it gets
too cold and slippery. Welcome Katie, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
So, I guess my first question would be why did
you come back to Bismarck after college.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
I came back I had just graduated from college and
spoke in Washington, and they came back to work for
my dad at cash my nursery and landscaping, and yeah,
coming back to work for the family business and kind
of sort of figuring out what would happen next.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
So with that, with your college education, you went on
to get your master's degree. So what made you get
your master's degree in the specific field of leadership and
student affairs? And did that degree play a role in
your employment following that?
Speaker 5 (02:49):
Yeah, it really did.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
So when I was a freshman at Gonzaga University, my
very first class and they it's pretty common to have
it at universities and colleges now the last twenty five
years or so, they always have like a college one
oh one class and it was called Pathways for us,
like a first year experience class. And the woman who
taught it, so the goal of the class is to
(03:13):
teach about the history of the school and kind of
teach you how to be a college student, how do
you study, where do you go? You know, how do
you navigate your way around campus? And the woman who
taught it was doctor Susan Foster Dell. Ironically enough, she
was married to a firefighter as well, which is interesting,
kis myth and foreshadowing I guess into my life. But
(03:33):
she was the denas students there or the vice president's
student affairs, whatever her title was, and I got to
know her really well, and I was like, so, how
do you get a job like yours? Like, how do
you have this job where you just sort of facilitate
a positive college experience for students? And she's like, why
you get a master's degree in it? And if you
(03:53):
want to be like me, you can get a doctorate
in it, and.
Speaker 5 (03:56):
So I did.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
So I always had that in the back of my mind.
I was a history major, and I thought no. I
originally went to school, I wanted to be a math
teacher for the deaf, and then I found out.
Speaker 5 (04:07):
I'm not very good at math, and I didn't.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
No sign language. I thought I could learn, and I
learned actually quite a bit of sign language. But anyway,
I as things evolve in college, I became a history major,
and I thought, well, I could teach history. But as
my mother pointed out, if you're going to be a
history teacher somewhere, you so have to usually coach something.
Speaker 5 (04:31):
I'm like, I'm that exactly an athletic specimen. Anyway.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
So when I came home from college, worked for my
dad for a couple of years, and that sort of
drove me to think, Yeah, I think I want to
do something else back in the higher ed sphere. So
I went to graduate school at the University of Saint
Thomas in the Cities, and then that led me to
take a job in residence life. So the two years
I was at Saint Thomas, I worked student activities. I
(04:57):
worked with the school mascot. That was kind of a trip.
I learned all about the mascoting world, which is fascinating
in and of itself.
Speaker 5 (05:05):
Channed up come sure.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Yeah, I had to get in the suit if my
students didn't show up, and they'd be like, wow, Tommy,
the mascot is really small today because it's like this
famous gray tiger looking thing. So you have to be
at least like five foot ten to fit into this suit.
And I'm five four on a good day, so it
looked like a little kiddy cat and I would have
(05:27):
to be in it anyway. But yeah, So I took
a job at the University of Portland out in Portland, Oregon.
After I graduated from grad school to work in residence life.
So I ran a residence hall, you know, running a
building of a bunch of eighteen year olds. That's always
an adventure. We could have a five hour podcast about
stories that I have from that. So I did that
(05:47):
for about three years, and then I moved back here
and I took a job at the University of mary
And so that's sort of what led me back here
and then I things kind of evolved from there to
where I'm at now.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
So then to follow up with that, what does your
current role as the director for student Affairs for the
North Skotia University System entail? And I guess I would
also like to know have any of the programs been
impacted by any budget cuts?
Speaker 4 (06:16):
Yeah, so my job is very interesting. What my boss
and I like to call the sex, drugs and rock
and roll of college campuses. So we work, I work
specifically with all the campuses in our state in the
university system. So they eleve in schools with things regarding
student mental health, sexual assault prevention and intervention, you know
(06:38):
Title nine type enforcement stuff, substance misuse in prevention type programming,
student voting, all other kinds of sort of initiatives that
sort of impacts students and how to be a successful student,
how to be a successful citizen outside of the classroom.
And then, like you said in my bio, I get
to work on the legislative team, and that really kind
(06:59):
of plays into the job I had right before I
worked for the university system. I got to work for
the North Coda Medical Association with some really wonderful, wonderful
ladies there who really taught me the ropes about how
to lobby, how to work the legislative process, how the
whole process works. So I never thought I would like
that process, you know. I was always one of those
(07:20):
people like I don't want to talk politics. I don't
want to get into politics, but I don't want to
be a politician. But I don't mind working the process.
And it is sort of an interesting way to see
how the sausage is made. But as far as impacts
to our office with federal cuts and things like that,
I mean right now, I mean I just watched the
emails every day about the cuts to the Department of
ed seeing how things in the title nine realm will
(07:43):
be impacted different funding that might happen. So the one
piece of major federal legislation is the Drug Free Schools
and Communities Act of nineteen eighty nine, and that's what
requires all campuses, you know, to be drug free. So
regardless of what your cannabis or marijuana laws are in
(08:03):
your state, because marijuana is still a federal one scheduled narcotic,
it's not allowed on college campuses because it would impact
your federal funding and federal financial aid. So there's certain things,
you know, different pockets of where state law and federal
law are incongruent. Right, So that's what I'm really watching
right now, and so that's what's also really important with
(08:23):
the legislative process. When legislators want to bring laws forward
that are not congruent with federal law, we are in
a real pickle because in order to maintain our funding
and for students to be able to get financial aid,
we have to follow federal law. And so it's something
we get to explain every two years, all the time
to legislators.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
So, what are some of the things that you lobbied
for this past session?
Speaker 4 (08:47):
Yeah, and I guess it should caution maybe I shouldn't
use the word lobby because I work for a state agency.
We're not really lobbyists, but the things that we really
advocated for. I'm always assigned all the bills regarding firearms.
Every session, there's always a bill. At the last three
four sessions, there's been bills regarding allowing the open possession
and carry of firearms on college campuses and good.
Speaker 5 (09:09):
Bad, or ugly.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
So that's something that all of our college presidents, nearly
all of our college presidents have taken a stance to
not want to have or at least not have it
codified into state law and have campuses in the state
board make that decision as to what's best for their
campuses and their campus communities. So that's always that takes
up a lot of time. The biggest one off the
bat was the one regarding sports betting. And this could
(09:34):
get very controversial, but if you read the research on
sports betting, it's really it's really terrible. It's really really bad,
and it's particularly beyond impactful in the worst way possible
for young men between the ages of eighteen to twenty five.
As you can imagine, think about impulse control, you think
(09:57):
about an I could really get into it, but that
was one bill that I was really involved with at
the very early part of the session. Those are the
two biggest areas. There weren't as many of I I
sort of get assigned all like the culture War kind
of bills too, because again how they impact federal regulation
(10:19):
and state law and trying to be equitable and inclusive
of all different types of communities on campuses. So that
gets a little sticky and tricky. But those are the
those are the bigger areas that I followed this last session.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
So this might be a dumb question, but when you
were talking about like sports betting and how that is
it just overall that like you were advocating for or
like something that they can't do on campus type situation.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
So the main reason why we got involved with it
the former chancellor Mark Hagarot, who just retired in April.
This has been a real personal issue for him over
the last He was really against it in the previous session.
He was very against it this session too. But where
we really see the impact is on student athletes. So
(11:10):
the rate of violence and death threats for student athletes
is up like three hundred percent, Like you see especially
for female college athletes. You wouldn't believe the stuff that
happens to these women. When's betting is involved, there's stocking,
there's harassment, there's physical art altercations, there's a lot of injuries,
(11:35):
there's been deaths. It is really not good. So we
really came at it from the perspective of we wanted
if this were to pass, we don't want this happening
in K twelve sports because in some states they allow
betting on K twelve sports, which is just insanity, and
then at least in my opinion, it's insanity, and then
(11:56):
on college athletes. So where that ties in with that
betting as especially for young men. If I'm at und
and I'm friends with the whole hockey team, i think
I've got insider information as to how well they're going
to do or how badly they're going to do. Right,
and it's really easy for friends to say, hey, man,
(12:17):
can you just miss two shots in the first period
because I could make a thousand bucks. You wouldn't believe
how many times it's happening to college athletes around the country.
So we're talking about major throwing of games. We're talking
about and then if this student athlete doesn't do it
because they're just trying to play the game, their friend
(12:38):
is it's a mess. It's a mess. And then we've
had there's plenty of stories. ESPN has a whole series
on it, maybe a thirty for thirty on it about
college athletes that start to get into sports betting and
they're not supposed to write, like they sign all this
paperwork saying they're not going to bet on anything, they're
not going to bet on themselves, they're not going to
bet on their team, but people still do.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
It's so easy to do, so.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
We would really see it's already so difficult to be
a college student athlete. It's a full time job in
and of itself on top of being a student, so
to have this added stress, we just don't want to
see that on our campuses. So we are asking for
protections in the bill to at least for it not
to happen with college athletes. Like go ahead professional sports,
(13:25):
but even professional sports, the data is insane. I can
send you my testimony is some really interesting article.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
You'll have to Yeah, because like the thought of somebody
betting on my nephew's, you know, high school soccer team.
They're a brand new team up in mine, not so
they're just establishing. So like that would be easy betting
on easy betting, But it just blows my mind. So
then you talked about kind of what you advocate for
(13:53):
at session or during session, But does that also do
any of the bills then impact the news for students
or I guess programs that you have at the university.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
Yes and no.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
So there's been some things. It's difficult because there's some bills.
And I will say this off the bat, to be
an elected official is not an easy job. I don't
envy them. I don't want to be them. I know
that they are responding to concerns from constituents. So there's
been plenty of constituents said we want sports betting because
(14:28):
there's money to be made. People could stand and make
a lot of money, but people stand to lose a
whole lot of money. But there's always upsides, right, there's
upsides and downsides to everything. So I know that there's
plenty of legislators that they hear from a constituent saying, hey,
this was the experience of my student of my kid
when they were at this campus, and can you do
(14:49):
something about this. This was a really bad thing that
happened to them, or this was just a bad process.
So there's always bills like that that come forward, whether
it's about the application process or student conduct, like students
being able to allowed to have a lawyer with them
if they're in an expulsion hearing, things of that nature.
(15:10):
So we've had bills like that, which at first blush
that you could really see is kind of an encroachment
and it's unconstitutional because the State Board of Higher Education
has constitutional authority to make those types of policies and procedures.
Speaker 5 (15:25):
We're hire it is this weird.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
Little enclave in the state government, right, Like we're not
a regular state agency or not like the Department of
Health and Human Services or the Labor Department or something
like that that has a commissioner or someone that was
either appointed by the governor or elected by the public.
So we're run a little differently, and we're kind of
(15:49):
in some ways on the outside looking in, but on
in most things we're very much in the trenches with
just like everybody else in the Capitol building. So there's
always a few bills that will kind of impact a
little bit of student life, but for the most part,
legislators quickly see like this is up for campuses to
decide this is up for the state board to decide.
I still think that we are largely a state that
(16:12):
focuses on local control, and people know that what's going
to work for botanow is not going to work for NBSU.
So we have to be really careful about some policies
and procedures that we make to be cognizant of the
different student populations, the different resources, the different staffing, the
different geographical location of those campuses.
Speaker 5 (16:32):
So it can be a little tricky and sticky that
way too.
Speaker 6 (16:34):
Yeah, all right, so let's switch topics. Your family owns
cash but nursery yep, So what was it like working
for the family business? And second on the question where
you're and your siblings like course to do the commercials
or I remember those commercials perfectly, so I'm just wondering
(16:55):
how those were all.
Speaker 5 (16:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
So my dad, who just turned eighty last month, he's
been selling trees since he was eighteen years old, started
as a door to door tree salesman seventeen eighteen years
old something like that. So the family business started in
eighteen ninety five and Owatana, Minnesota, moved to Fergus Falls,
and then now is my dad is here I have
(17:19):
an uncle in Bozeman, Montana. I had an uncle and
man not who had a nursery and he passed away
a few years ago. And an uncle in West Fargo
that had a nursery too, and he retired and has
passed away also since then too. But yeah, so nearly
all of us, pretty much all of us worked out
there as kids, whether we're you know, started as transplanting,
vetting plants and tomatoes starts and all that kind of stuff,
(17:42):
and then it gets into selling, and it's retails hard, right,
but it is a lot of fun, and there would
always be customers that come in that remember buying nursery
stock from my grandfather or my dad had sold them stuff,
and so is a I think anyone who's worked in
a family business knows what it's like to sort of
carry that pride. And it's the good, bad and ugly
(18:03):
right of working with family. And it's also a really
stressful industry to be in. My dad used to call
it the hundred days of Hell, and now he calls
it the one hundred days of Opportunity because essentially he
makes his living in April, May and June. Of course,
they work all the time, and they're still planting going
on late in the summer and into the fall. Falls
(18:24):
a great time to plant. Don't forget that, but that
it's a real crunch and it's really hard and anybody
whose works seasonal work knows what that's like to But yeah,
for the commercials. So that commercials kind of started weirdly,
quite organically. My dad decided to shoot a commercial and
my brother, the oldest in our family, Casey was probably
(18:47):
I forget was he like three, four six months old
something like that, and my dad just grabbed him. He
was doing a take in like a studio at KFYR
or KIXMB or wherever he was, and he just Casey
and was just holding them you know, let's put him
in the ad. And then it kind of went from there.
So my first AD I was so I was born
(19:08):
in August and I was in an ad in the
spring of nineteen eighty two, and so I guess the
Winner of nineteen eighty one to eighty two was a
really rough winner. I think there was like fifty days
in a row it didn't get above zero. It was
like a really rough one. So my dad had me
in one of those jolly jump ups and I'm just
(19:29):
bouncing there as like a little six month old and
just hopping around. And so my dad's like Katie's jumping
for joy that spring is finally here, and blah blah blah,
he says the specials and then he says, so come
on out to cash my nursery and help me buy
Katie a new pair of shoes. You know, just the
expression of like, help me buy a new.
Speaker 5 (19:46):
Pair of shoes.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
Well, people didn't think that he had money to buy
me shoes, and we received over fifty or sixty pairs
of shoes, baby booties, and my mom still has these
little tiny cowboy boots up in the kitchen that she
keeps like pens and coins, and I mean, people gave
us a lot of pairs of shoes. So it's this
funny thing. So these things just kind of organically happened.
(20:08):
My mom's written a lot of the ads. My dad
is a real creative, eccentric kind of guy, so it
just sort of turned into a thing. And here we are,
and now the grandkids are in ads from time to time.
And but yeah, there was some there were some rough
days in middle school and high school that you get
made fun of and everyone sees the commercials and now
(20:30):
I'm like, well nobody, not as many people watch TV,
I think, or live TV, so maybe it isn't as
bad for our kids. But but yeah, there's always kids
that make funny and stuff because you have to do
those things. And every awkward stage of my life is
now captured on film forever. So thanks, thanks dad.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
So your parents are awesome, And that's kind of how
I've come to know of you was through power of
one hundred and their donations through the Christmas or Christmas
event and you doing the auctions for that. Yep, it
is such a fun a fun time. But so that's
a whole nother family business that you have is the
cash men auctioneer stairs, How did you come up with that?
(21:12):
And then also are there a lot of women in
the field.
Speaker 5 (21:15):
There are not a lot of female auctioneers.
Speaker 4 (21:17):
So my sister, Missy, so she's a at the time,
she was a radio DJ and then a morning TV
anchor in Bozeman, and she's a snowboarding instructor. She's a
little of this, little of that. But she would work
a lot of events in Bozeman as a DJ or
as an MC and so she was at this event
(21:38):
one night and it was a charity auction and she
was djaying it and she's schlepping in all this equipment.
She's the first one there, she's the last one to leave.
And in the middle of the program, this bombshell of
a woman, her name is JOHNA. Wells, and she's a
professional auctioneer out of Portland, Oregon. Walks in in a
ball gown looking like a million bucks, grabs some micro phone,
(22:00):
goes on stage, sells three four hundred thousand dollars worth
of trips and stuff and this and that drops the mic,
walks away and she's done. My sister called me at
one in the morning. I was up with my firstborn child.
She was like two three months old at the time,
so I was awake with her and Missy calls me
and she's just flying high and she's like, Kate, I
(22:22):
got it. We need to become auctioneers. And I'm like,
what are you?
Speaker 5 (22:27):
I mean.
Speaker 4 (22:30):
I It's like, what are you on right now? And
she's like no, no, no, trust me. She explains all this.
Speaker 5 (22:35):
She's like, could be a good life skill to have.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
And I was like, ah, I always thought like learning
how to play golf would be a good life skill,
but sure, let's become auctioneers. So it was kind of
a flash in the pan for her. But I started
looking into it, and sure enough I found the Missouri
Auction School in Saint Louis, Missouri is the oldest auction
school in the country. They call themselves the Harvard of
Auctioneering Schools. So obviously they had to be good, right,
(23:01):
So we signed up for June of twenty sixteen. We
went for a week. There was seventy six people in
the program, and eight of us were women. Nobody had
met women like us before. And I'm not saying that
about us, but just saying how fishy out of water.
We were in this group a lot of young guys
(23:21):
from Tennessee and North Carolina and they've got the Mountain
dew mouth and they're going to work at Pappy's auction
barn and really nice guys. We made some really fun
friends that week and still in contact with actually a
lot of them over social media and seeing what they're doing.
But yeah, we're like, we just want to do charity events.
(23:42):
We don't want to sell the dollar boxes a junk,
and we don't want to do the really hard work
that those that estate auctioneers do. That's really hard work
that I was, like, they have a whole crew of people,
They've got trailers, they've got appraisers, they you know, there's
a lot that goes into that. Like we just want
to show up at events just nice, eat a nice meal,
(24:03):
hang out with some people, and sell some fun stuff.
So that's kind of what happened, and it it it
ramped up quickly, so I should have brought the numbers.
But in twenty sixteen we did. We went to school
in June and while we were at the class, we
got a call for to be booked for our first
(24:23):
auction that fall in this for a women's group in Bozeman's.
It was a really good fit and we did two
or three events that fall, and then the next year we
did I don't know, fifteen events, and the next year
we did about fifty events. Twenty nineteen we had sixty
seventy events, and Missy quitter full time job in December
(24:46):
of twenty nineteen saying we're booked for over one hundred
events in twenty twenty What the hell am I doing?
Doing this daily grind? And then COVID hit and all
those events were canceled, so it was a.
Speaker 5 (24:59):
Bit of a kick in the pants, but she still
did well.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
We still did a lot of online events and but yeah,
we're still We're still kicking. It's a real fun thing
to do. It's to me, it's definitely how I fill
my cup. It's a lot of fun to be funny
on stage and raising money for a good cause. There
is a lot of pressure there, I mean for some
of these nonprofits. I mean they're making their whole budget
(25:23):
and it's all contingent on how well you perform that night, right,
So there can be a lot of pressure there.
Speaker 5 (25:30):
But it's it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
And I've met some really incredible people, and there's some
really incredible generous people in our community, and it's really
great to see them shine and see what it is
that makes people tick, Like what is it that makes
them pull out their wallet? You know?
Speaker 5 (25:47):
Is what cause is it that is so important to them?
Speaker 4 (25:50):
And there's some people that are tied to causes here
that you would never have any idea that this was
something so close to their heart.
Speaker 5 (25:58):
So it's it's a real interesting way.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
To get to know people and to kind of get
to know your community a little bit better.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
So you've been to all fifty states. What has been
your favorite state to travel too?
Speaker 4 (26:10):
So I've been thinking about this off the bat. I mean,
I love North Dakota. I really do. I wouldn't live
here if I didn't love it. There's such an interesting
beauty here. But I've been to Alaska several times. One
of my best friends from college is from Alaska, and
I've done three or four trips up there around this
time of year, longest day of the year. It's a
(26:31):
trippy time to be up there and seeing all that daylight, right,
But I love Alaska. I loved Maine. I loved New Mexico.
New Mexico is my last state, and I do love
that desert kind of vibe too.
Speaker 5 (26:46):
I do like that. It's a real different kind of beauty,
but I love it everywhere.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Did you do like the fifty states thing where you
have a little sign like now on the internet. That's fine,
so common.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
I know, I see that now, and no we didn't.
I didn't do anything like that. But my brother has
been to like forty seven states or something, and I
so after I graduated college way back in the early
two thousands my friend from Alaska and we went on
a trip. We called it Perimeter two thousand and three,
and we were going to drive the perimeter of the
(27:17):
United States. And we were up in Alaska for about
a month beforehand and then flew down to Seattle and
started our trip. We kind of ran out of money
around DC and.
Speaker 5 (27:28):
Sort of had to cut across.
Speaker 4 (27:32):
But with every new state that I got, i'd send
a postcard to my brother and I would just be like,
you know, it'd be from Mississippi or something, and I'd
be like number forty one and I'd send it to
him number forty two. So when I had my trip
to Arizona, New Mexico were my last two states. I
had this trip planned for eight nine months. I was
(27:53):
taking college students on a service trip down to Arizona
and New Mexico down to the border and stuff. And anyway,
I was so terrified that he was going to beat me,
and he was going to show up, and he kind
of went radio silent on me. He didn't answer my calls,
and my parents were like, Oh, he's in Costa Rica
or Dominican Republican went on some vacation and I'm like
(28:14):
I don't believe you.
Speaker 5 (28:16):
I don't believe you at all.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
But he had to get Maine, Alaska, and New Mexico
were his last three states, so I still don't think
he has them. I was like, he's in Maine, he's
going to Alaska, and he's going to beat me to
New Mexico.
Speaker 5 (28:27):
And he didn't, thank God.
Speaker 4 (28:29):
But but yeah, so it was it's a trip because
my dad beat one of his sisters to all fifty
states by one day he found out she had a
trip to Alaska, so he flew up there and beat
her there. It's a hilarious story and she was really
really mad.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
So then, what are some of the continents that you've
been to and what's when your favorite?
Speaker 4 (28:55):
So I've been to Africa, Europe, and Asia, and I
lived in Italy for a year my junior year of college,
I lived in Florence. My college had a campus there,
so you could go to school there for the same
cost as going to school in Spokane.
Speaker 5 (29:13):
So why not.
Speaker 4 (29:14):
It's not that way anymore, much more cost prohibitive. But
I mean, I love Italy. I'd love to take my
husband back to Italy. It's just a I love Italy,
I love Ireland.
Speaker 5 (29:27):
I love.
Speaker 4 (29:28):
I really enjoyed my time in Africa. So the program
I went on and to Florence for the year. A
couple of priests ran it and then they planned this
safari to East Africa and then I climb up.
Speaker 5 (29:42):
Or a hike up.
Speaker 4 (29:43):
I'm Kilimanjaro, so I got to do that was an
incredible opportunity, an incredible corner of the world to visit.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
So were you just in Tanzania? Then when you were
in Africa?
Speaker 4 (29:55):
Egypt for a hot minute, and then Kenya and Tanzania.
So we did safaris and we're on the beach in
Mombasa for a couple of days, and yeah, I had
a incredible time.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
So speaking of your husband, he is a firefighter, So
what is it like being married to a firefighter And
does he have a cool firefighter mustache?
Speaker 4 (30:15):
Well, he most definitely does have a mustache. And it's
his mustache's birthday on Saturday. His mustache will turn four
and we celebrate his mustache's birthday. I celebrate his mustache's birthday.
But well, I actually should I should have frecked that
He's not a firefighter anymore. He's now the fire Marshal
for the city. But he started out as a firefighter,
(30:36):
and so the first.
Speaker 5 (30:39):
You don't celebrate a mustache's birthday, but uh yeah. So
he was on the shift work for several years.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
So when our first when our first child was born, Maggie,
he was on shift work.
Speaker 5 (30:57):
And I'm a new mom, and.
Speaker 4 (31:00):
Those first couple of days are really hard. And I
look at all the partners of all the firefighters and
just think the shift work isn't easy. There's so many
good and bad things to it. Right, you get him
home for long stretches of time, but then they might
be gone for the one time they have to be gone.
They're going to miss the piano recital, or they're going
to miss the baseball game. And it's really hard. It
(31:23):
can be difficult depending on the shift and depending on
the station that you're at to switch things around. But
so right after our son was born, our second child,
he's transitioned to a fire marshall position and he worked
eight to five like me, And I was like, I
get you on the weekends, I get you for dinner
every night. This is so great. It was a really
hard transition for him. He was his former military, he
(31:46):
was a medivac crew chief and the army for four deployments,
so he sort of lives on that adrenaline. He lives
on that shift work. It's funny though, he has no
problem waking up to like an alarm, a fire alarm
going off, but a baby crying. He just can't seem
to hear that. It's really weird and that's funny. But
(32:09):
it's a pretty hard sleeper now, but yeah, it is.
It can be tricky when you're in a partnership with
someone that's on shift work.
Speaker 5 (32:18):
That can be good, bad, and ugly.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Again, so we are actually already out of time. Yes,
this is the last question that we ask everyone, and
it's how would you encourage others to be a good neighbor?
Speaker 5 (32:35):
I love.
Speaker 4 (32:38):
I love the expression of a good neighbor, I really do.
Speaker 5 (32:41):
And I think.
Speaker 4 (32:43):
I've talked about this before with other friends about how,
depending on where you live, it's really hard to find
a neighborly atmosphere anymore. You know, people don't hang out
on their front porches as much. My eight year old's
on his favorite movie is The Sandlot, and he just
says to me all the time, He's like, why can't
(33:04):
life be like that? Why can't there just be kids
playing baseball every day somewhere where I can go and
play with other kids. There's just not a lot of
kids in our neighborhood. It can be really hard to
sort of build this very ingrained fabric of your life
as being a good neighbor and being a good community member.
But I think the most important thing, the best way
(33:27):
to establish being a good neighbor one is simple awareness
and seeking out that connection, seeking out belonging in your community,
whether you're involved with a nonprofit or an organization, or
a business or something that you really that you give
(33:50):
your time and your treasure too. I think that that
is one way of being a good neighbor. And once
you sort of delve into that, you start going to
fundraising events, or you go even if you don't have
much to give, maybe someday you will to really see
all the good that's happening in the community. I think
a lot of people can get very down saying there's
(34:13):
not a lot of good things happening, or they want
to focus on the crime or the addiction issues or
this and that. Well, you can be part of the solution.
You can absolutely be a part of that outreach and
it's really not that hard. I look at the good
work that like the Dream Center is doing, or other
organizations in our town that are doing what they can
(34:34):
to sort of lift people up and help them find
more connections and more reasons to be a part of
this community in a positive way. So I think for
the biggest thing, it's the awareness and really seeking out
how how can you be connected and how can you
make this town a little bit better than it was yesterday?
Speaker 3 (34:58):
A great answer. Thanks to everyone for tuning into These
Are Your Neighbors. Thank you for wanting to get to
know your neighbors as we hold these important and necessary conversations.
If you find this conversation as important as we do,
please make sure to share it with your neighbors.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
Thank you for tuning in to These Are Your Neighbors,
a podcast hosted by the City of Bismarck's Human Relations
Committee and produced by Dakota Media Access. We hope you
were inspired by the stories of citizens driving meaningful change
in Bismarck. For more info on the HRC, visit bizmarckand
dot gov.
Welcome to These Are Your Neighbors, a podcast hosted by
the City of Bismarck's Human Relations Committee and produced by
Dakota Media Access. The purpose of the podcast is to
celebrate change makers in Bismarck whose contributions break barriers, build connections,
and redefine what is possible for our community.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Welcome to These Are Your Neighbors, a podcast hosted by
Tia Jorgensen and Sargiana Wooski, both members of the City
of Bismarck's Human Relations Committee. Thank you for joining us
as we highlight the individuals driving positive change and making
a lasting impact on our community. Their stories inspire progress
and shape the future of our city.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Our guest today is Katy Cashman Fitzsimmons. Katie is exactly
one half of the Cashman auction Easters, the Auctioneing Sisters.
Since twenty sixteen, Katy and her sister Missy have auctioned
at over two hundred and fifty events for charities, nonprofits, organizations,
and individuals. Katy is the Director of Student Affairs for
(01:05):
the Northakota University System. In this role, she works with
eleven state colleges and universities to advance all the initiatives
that take place outside of the classroom. Her job also
involves briefing the State Board of Higher Education and developing
policy that they approve which are in effect for all
the canvasses. In addition to that, Katy serves on the
(01:26):
legislative team for the System Office, which consumes an inordinate
amount of time every other year auctions and hire at Aside,
her real full time gig is waife to her fire
fighting husband Owen, and mom to their three young kids.
Kitty as summited mot Kilmajaro, used to run half marathons
and holds the title of first to all fifty states
(01:47):
amongst her five siblings. Katy loves playing cards, hiking long
walks paired with the podcast, baking, and spending time with
her family. She is terrible at going to bed, but
really good at sleeping. Also terrible about planning meals, but
really good at eating. And she loves talking a big
game with Christmas lights, but checkings out when it gets
too cold and slippery. Welcome Katie, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
So, I guess my first question would be why did
you come back to Bismarck after college.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
I came back I had just graduated from college and
spoke in Washington, and they came back to work for
my dad at cash my nursery and landscaping, and yeah,
coming back to work for the family business and kind
of sort of figuring out what would happen next.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
So with that, with your college education, you went on
to get your master's degree. So what made you get
your master's degree in the specific field of leadership and
student affairs? And did that degree play a role in
your employment following that?
Speaker 5 (02:49):
Yeah, it really did.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
So when I was a freshman at Gonzaga University, my
very first class and they it's pretty common to have
it at universities and colleges now the last twenty five
years or so, they always have like a college one
oh one class and it was called Pathways for us,
like a first year experience class. And the woman who
taught it, so the goal of the class is to
(03:13):
teach about the history of the school and kind of
teach you how to be a college student, how do
you study, where do you go? You know, how do
you navigate your way around campus? And the woman who
taught it was doctor Susan Foster Dell. Ironically enough, she
was married to a firefighter as well, which is interesting,
kis myth and foreshadowing I guess into my life. But
(03:33):
she was the denas students there or the vice president's
student affairs, whatever her title was, and I got to
know her really well, and I was like, so, how
do you get a job like yours? Like, how do
you have this job where you just sort of facilitate
a positive college experience for students? And she's like, why
you get a master's degree in it? And if you
(03:53):
want to be like me, you can get a doctorate
in it, and.
Speaker 5 (03:56):
So I did.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
So I always had that in the back of my mind.
I was a history major, and I thought no. I
originally went to school, I wanted to be a math
teacher for the deaf, and then I found out.
Speaker 5 (04:07):
I'm not very good at math, and I didn't.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
No sign language. I thought I could learn, and I
learned actually quite a bit of sign language. But anyway,
I as things evolve in college, I became a history major,
and I thought, well, I could teach history. But as
my mother pointed out, if you're going to be a
history teacher somewhere, you so have to usually coach something.
Speaker 5 (04:31):
I'm like, I'm that exactly an athletic specimen. Anyway.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
So when I came home from college, worked for my
dad for a couple of years, and that sort of
drove me to think, Yeah, I think I want to
do something else back in the higher ed sphere. So
I went to graduate school at the University of Saint
Thomas in the Cities, and then that led me to
take a job in residence life. So the two years
I was at Saint Thomas, I worked student activities. I
(04:57):
worked with the school mascot. That was kind of a trip.
I learned all about the mascoting world, which is fascinating
in and of itself.
Speaker 5 (05:05):
Channed up come sure.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Yeah, I had to get in the suit if my
students didn't show up, and they'd be like, wow, Tommy,
the mascot is really small today because it's like this
famous gray tiger looking thing. So you have to be
at least like five foot ten to fit into this suit.
And I'm five four on a good day, so it
looked like a little kiddy cat and I would have
(05:27):
to be in it anyway. But yeah, So I took
a job at the University of Portland out in Portland, Oregon.
After I graduated from grad school to work in residence life.
So I ran a residence hall, you know, running a
building of a bunch of eighteen year olds. That's always
an adventure. We could have a five hour podcast about
stories that I have from that. So I did that
(05:47):
for about three years, and then I moved back here
and I took a job at the University of mary
And so that's sort of what led me back here
and then I things kind of evolved from there to
where I'm at now.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
So then to follow up with that, what does your
current role as the director for student Affairs for the
North Skotia University System entail? And I guess I would
also like to know have any of the programs been
impacted by any budget cuts?
Speaker 4 (06:16):
Yeah, so my job is very interesting. What my boss
and I like to call the sex, drugs and rock
and roll of college campuses. So we work, I work
specifically with all the campuses in our state in the
university system. So they eleve in schools with things regarding
student mental health, sexual assault prevention and intervention, you know
(06:38):
Title nine type enforcement stuff, substance misuse in prevention type programming,
student voting, all other kinds of sort of initiatives that
sort of impacts students and how to be a successful student,
how to be a successful citizen outside of the classroom.
And then, like you said in my bio, I get
to work on the legislative team, and that really kind
(06:59):
of plays into the job I had right before I
worked for the university system. I got to work for
the North Coda Medical Association with some really wonderful, wonderful
ladies there who really taught me the ropes about how
to lobby, how to work the legislative process, how the
whole process works. So I never thought I would like
that process, you know. I was always one of those
(07:20):
people like I don't want to talk politics. I don't
want to get into politics, but I don't want to
be a politician. But I don't mind working the process.
And it is sort of an interesting way to see
how the sausage is made. But as far as impacts
to our office with federal cuts and things like that,
I mean right now, I mean I just watched the
emails every day about the cuts to the Department of
ed seeing how things in the title nine realm will
(07:43):
be impacted different funding that might happen. So the one
piece of major federal legislation is the Drug Free Schools
and Communities Act of nineteen eighty nine, and that's what
requires all campuses, you know, to be drug free. So
regardless of what your cannabis or marijuana laws are in
(08:03):
your state, because marijuana is still a federal one scheduled narcotic,
it's not allowed on college campuses because it would impact
your federal funding and federal financial aid. So there's certain things,
you know, different pockets of where state law and federal
law are incongruent. Right, So that's what I'm really watching
right now, and so that's what's also really important with
(08:23):
the legislative process. When legislators want to bring laws forward
that are not congruent with federal law, we are in
a real pickle because in order to maintain our funding
and for students to be able to get financial aid,
we have to follow federal law. And so it's something
we get to explain every two years, all the time
to legislators.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
So, what are some of the things that you lobbied
for this past session?
Speaker 4 (08:47):
Yeah, and I guess it should caution maybe I shouldn't
use the word lobby because I work for a state agency.
We're not really lobbyists, but the things that we really
advocated for. I'm always assigned all the bills regarding firearms.
Every session, there's always a bill. At the last three
four sessions, there's been bills regarding allowing the open possession
and carry of firearms on college campuses and good.
Speaker 5 (09:09):
Bad, or ugly.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
So that's something that all of our college presidents, nearly
all of our college presidents have taken a stance to
not want to have or at least not have it
codified into state law and have campuses in the state
board make that decision as to what's best for their
campuses and their campus communities. So that's always that takes
up a lot of time. The biggest one off the
bat was the one regarding sports betting. And this could
(09:34):
get very controversial, but if you read the research on
sports betting, it's really it's really terrible. It's really really bad,
and it's particularly beyond impactful in the worst way possible
for young men between the ages of eighteen to twenty five.
As you can imagine, think about impulse control, you think
(09:57):
about an I could really get into it, but that
was one bill that I was really involved with at
the very early part of the session. Those are the
two biggest areas. There weren't as many of I I
sort of get assigned all like the culture War kind
of bills too, because again how they impact federal regulation
(10:19):
and state law and trying to be equitable and inclusive
of all different types of communities on campuses. So that
gets a little sticky and tricky. But those are the
those are the bigger areas that I followed this last session.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
So this might be a dumb question, but when you
were talking about like sports betting and how that is
it just overall that like you were advocating for or
like something that they can't do on campus type situation.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
So the main reason why we got involved with it
the former chancellor Mark Hagarot, who just retired in April.
This has been a real personal issue for him over
the last He was really against it in the previous session.
He was very against it this session too. But where
we really see the impact is on student athletes. So
(11:10):
the rate of violence and death threats for student athletes
is up like three hundred percent, Like you see especially
for female college athletes. You wouldn't believe the stuff that
happens to these women. When's betting is involved, there's stocking,
there's harassment, there's physical art altercations, there's a lot of injuries,
(11:35):
there's been deaths. It is really not good. So we
really came at it from the perspective of we wanted
if this were to pass, we don't want this happening
in K twelve sports because in some states they allow
betting on K twelve sports, which is just insanity, and
then at least in my opinion, it's insanity, and then
(11:56):
on college athletes. So where that ties in with that
betting as especially for young men. If I'm at und
and I'm friends with the whole hockey team, i think
I've got insider information as to how well they're going
to do or how badly they're going to do. Right,
and it's really easy for friends to say, hey, man,
(12:17):
can you just miss two shots in the first period
because I could make a thousand bucks. You wouldn't believe
how many times it's happening to college athletes around the country.
So we're talking about major throwing of games. We're talking
about and then if this student athlete doesn't do it
because they're just trying to play the game, their friend
(12:38):
is it's a mess. It's a mess. And then we've
had there's plenty of stories. ESPN has a whole series
on it, maybe a thirty for thirty on it about
college athletes that start to get into sports betting and
they're not supposed to write, like they sign all this
paperwork saying they're not going to bet on anything, they're
not going to bet on themselves, they're not going to
bet on their team, but people still do.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
It's so easy to do, so.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
We would really see it's already so difficult to be
a college student athlete. It's a full time job in
and of itself on top of being a student, so
to have this added stress, we just don't want to
see that on our campuses. So we are asking for
protections in the bill to at least for it not
to happen with college athletes. Like go ahead professional sports,
(13:25):
but even professional sports, the data is insane. I can
send you my testimony is some really interesting article.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
You'll have to Yeah, because like the thought of somebody
betting on my nephew's, you know, high school soccer team.
They're a brand new team up in mine, not so
they're just establishing. So like that would be easy betting
on easy betting, But it just blows my mind. So
then you talked about kind of what you advocate for
(13:53):
at session or during session, But does that also do
any of the bills then impact the news for students
or I guess programs that you have at the university.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
Yes and no.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
So there's been some things. It's difficult because there's some bills.
And I will say this off the bat, to be
an elected official is not an easy job. I don't
envy them. I don't want to be them. I know
that they are responding to concerns from constituents. So there's
been plenty of constituents said we want sports betting because
(14:28):
there's money to be made. People could stand and make
a lot of money, but people stand to lose a
whole lot of money. But there's always upsides, right, there's
upsides and downsides to everything. So I know that there's
plenty of legislators that they hear from a constituent saying, hey,
this was the experience of my student of my kid
when they were at this campus, and can you do
(14:49):
something about this. This was a really bad thing that
happened to them, or this was just a bad process.
So there's always bills like that that come forward, whether
it's about the application process or student conduct, like students
being able to allowed to have a lawyer with them
if they're in an expulsion hearing, things of that nature.
(15:10):
So we've had bills like that, which at first blush
that you could really see is kind of an encroachment
and it's unconstitutional because the State Board of Higher Education
has constitutional authority to make those types of policies and procedures.
Speaker 5 (15:25):
We're hire it is this weird.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
Little enclave in the state government, right, Like we're not
a regular state agency or not like the Department of
Health and Human Services or the Labor Department or something
like that that has a commissioner or someone that was
either appointed by the governor or elected by the public.
So we're run a little differently, and we're kind of
(15:49):
in some ways on the outside looking in, but on
in most things we're very much in the trenches with
just like everybody else in the Capitol building. So there's
always a few bills that will kind of impact a
little bit of student life, but for the most part,
legislators quickly see like this is up for campuses to
decide this is up for the state board to decide.
I still think that we are largely a state that
(16:12):
focuses on local control, and people know that what's going
to work for botanow is not going to work for NBSU.
So we have to be really careful about some policies
and procedures that we make to be cognizant of the
different student populations, the different resources, the different staffing, the
different geographical location of those campuses.
Speaker 5 (16:32):
So it can be a little tricky and sticky that
way too.
Speaker 6 (16:34):
Yeah, all right, so let's switch topics. Your family owns
cash but nursery yep, So what was it like working
for the family business? And second on the question where
you're and your siblings like course to do the commercials
or I remember those commercials perfectly, so I'm just wondering
(16:55):
how those were all.
Speaker 5 (16:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
So my dad, who just turned eighty last month, he's
been selling trees since he was eighteen years old, started
as a door to door tree salesman seventeen eighteen years
old something like that. So the family business started in
eighteen ninety five and Owatana, Minnesota, moved to Fergus Falls,
and then now is my dad is here I have
(17:19):
an uncle in Bozeman, Montana. I had an uncle and
man not who had a nursery and he passed away
a few years ago. And an uncle in West Fargo
that had a nursery too, and he retired and has
passed away also since then too. But yeah, so nearly
all of us, pretty much all of us worked out
there as kids, whether we're you know, started as transplanting,
vetting plants and tomatoes starts and all that kind of stuff,
(17:42):
and then it gets into selling, and it's retails hard, right,
but it is a lot of fun, and there would
always be customers that come in that remember buying nursery
stock from my grandfather or my dad had sold them stuff,
and so is a I think anyone who's worked in
a family business knows what it's like to sort of
carry that pride. And it's the good, bad and ugly
(18:03):
right of working with family. And it's also a really
stressful industry to be in. My dad used to call
it the hundred days of Hell, and now he calls
it the one hundred days of Opportunity because essentially he
makes his living in April, May and June. Of course,
they work all the time, and they're still planting going
on late in the summer and into the fall. Falls
(18:24):
a great time to plant. Don't forget that, but that
it's a real crunch and it's really hard and anybody
whose works seasonal work knows what that's like to But yeah,
for the commercials. So that commercials kind of started weirdly,
quite organically. My dad decided to shoot a commercial and
my brother, the oldest in our family, Casey was probably
(18:47):
I forget was he like three, four six months old
something like that, and my dad just grabbed him. He
was doing a take in like a studio at KFYR
or KIXMB or wherever he was, and he just Casey
and was just holding them you know, let's put him
in the ad. And then it kind of went from there.
So my first AD I was so I was born
(19:08):
in August and I was in an ad in the
spring of nineteen eighty two, and so I guess the
Winner of nineteen eighty one to eighty two was a
really rough winner. I think there was like fifty days
in a row it didn't get above zero. It was
like a really rough one. So my dad had me
in one of those jolly jump ups and I'm just
(19:29):
bouncing there as like a little six month old and
just hopping around. And so my dad's like Katie's jumping
for joy that spring is finally here, and blah blah blah,
he says the specials and then he says, so come
on out to cash my nursery and help me buy
Katie a new pair of shoes. You know, just the
expression of like, help me buy a new.
Speaker 5 (19:46):
Pair of shoes.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
Well, people didn't think that he had money to buy
me shoes, and we received over fifty or sixty pairs
of shoes, baby booties, and my mom still has these
little tiny cowboy boots up in the kitchen that she
keeps like pens and coins, and I mean, people gave
us a lot of pairs of shoes. So it's this
funny thing. So these things just kind of organically happened.
(20:08):
My mom's written a lot of the ads. My dad
is a real creative, eccentric kind of guy, so it
just sort of turned into a thing. And here we are,
and now the grandkids are in ads from time to time.
And but yeah, there was some there were some rough
days in middle school and high school that you get
made fun of and everyone sees the commercials and now
(20:30):
I'm like, well nobody, not as many people watch TV,
I think, or live TV, so maybe it isn't as
bad for our kids. But but yeah, there's always kids
that make funny and stuff because you have to do
those things. And every awkward stage of my life is
now captured on film forever. So thanks, thanks dad.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
So your parents are awesome, And that's kind of how
I've come to know of you was through power of
one hundred and their donations through the Christmas or Christmas
event and you doing the auctions for that. Yep, it
is such a fun a fun time. But so that's
a whole nother family business that you have is the
cash men auctioneer stairs, How did you come up with that?
(21:12):
And then also are there a lot of women in
the field.
Speaker 5 (21:15):
There are not a lot of female auctioneers.
Speaker 4 (21:17):
So my sister, Missy, so she's a at the time,
she was a radio DJ and then a morning TV
anchor in Bozeman, and she's a snowboarding instructor. She's a
little of this, little of that. But she would work
a lot of events in Bozeman as a DJ or
as an MC and so she was at this event
(21:38):
one night and it was a charity auction and she
was djaying it and she's schlepping in all this equipment.
She's the first one there, she's the last one to leave.
And in the middle of the program, this bombshell of
a woman, her name is JOHNA. Wells, and she's a
professional auctioneer out of Portland, Oregon. Walks in in a
ball gown looking like a million bucks, grabs some micro phone,
(22:00):
goes on stage, sells three four hundred thousand dollars worth
of trips and stuff and this and that drops the mic,
walks away and she's done. My sister called me at
one in the morning. I was up with my firstborn child.
She was like two three months old at the time,
so I was awake with her and Missy calls me
and she's just flying high and she's like, Kate, I
(22:22):
got it. We need to become auctioneers. And I'm like,
what are you?
Speaker 5 (22:27):
I mean.
Speaker 4 (22:30):
I It's like, what are you on right now? And
she's like no, no, no, trust me. She explains all this.
Speaker 5 (22:35):
She's like, could be a good life skill to have.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
And I was like, ah, I always thought like learning
how to play golf would be a good life skill,
but sure, let's become auctioneers. So it was kind of
a flash in the pan for her. But I started
looking into it, and sure enough I found the Missouri
Auction School in Saint Louis, Missouri is the oldest auction
school in the country. They call themselves the Harvard of
Auctioneering Schools. So obviously they had to be good, right,
(23:01):
So we signed up for June of twenty sixteen. We
went for a week. There was seventy six people in
the program, and eight of us were women. Nobody had
met women like us before. And I'm not saying that
about us, but just saying how fishy out of water.
We were in this group a lot of young guys
(23:21):
from Tennessee and North Carolina and they've got the Mountain
dew mouth and they're going to work at Pappy's auction
barn and really nice guys. We made some really fun
friends that week and still in contact with actually a
lot of them over social media and seeing what they're doing.
But yeah, we're like, we just want to do charity events.
(23:42):
We don't want to sell the dollar boxes a junk,
and we don't want to do the really hard work
that those that estate auctioneers do. That's really hard work
that I was, like, they have a whole crew of people,
They've got trailers, they've got appraisers, they you know, there's
a lot that goes into that. Like we just want
to show up at events just nice, eat a nice meal,
(24:03):
hang out with some people, and sell some fun stuff.
So that's kind of what happened, and it it it
ramped up quickly, so I should have brought the numbers.
But in twenty sixteen we did. We went to school
in June and while we were at the class, we
got a call for to be booked for our first
(24:23):
auction that fall in this for a women's group in Bozeman's.
It was a really good fit and we did two
or three events that fall, and then the next year we
did I don't know, fifteen events, and the next year
we did about fifty events. Twenty nineteen we had sixty
seventy events, and Missy quitter full time job in December
(24:46):
of twenty nineteen saying we're booked for over one hundred
events in twenty twenty What the hell am I doing?
Doing this daily grind? And then COVID hit and all
those events were canceled, so it was a.
Speaker 5 (24:59):
Bit of a kick in the pants, but she still
did well.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
We still did a lot of online events and but yeah,
we're still We're still kicking. It's a real fun thing
to do. It's to me, it's definitely how I fill
my cup. It's a lot of fun to be funny
on stage and raising money for a good cause. There
is a lot of pressure there, I mean for some
of these nonprofits. I mean they're making their whole budget
(25:23):
and it's all contingent on how well you perform that night, right,
So there can be a lot of pressure there.
Speaker 5 (25:30):
But it's it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
And I've met some really incredible people, and there's some
really incredible generous people in our community, and it's really
great to see them shine and see what it is
that makes people tick, Like what is it that makes
them pull out their wallet? You know?
Speaker 5 (25:47):
Is what cause is it that is so important to them?
Speaker 4 (25:50):
And there's some people that are tied to causes here
that you would never have any idea that this was
something so close to their heart.
Speaker 5 (25:58):
So it's it's a real interesting way.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
To get to know people and to kind of get
to know your community a little bit better.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
So you've been to all fifty states. What has been
your favorite state to travel too?
Speaker 4 (26:10):
So I've been thinking about this off the bat. I mean,
I love North Dakota. I really do. I wouldn't live
here if I didn't love it. There's such an interesting
beauty here. But I've been to Alaska several times. One
of my best friends from college is from Alaska, and
I've done three or four trips up there around this
time of year, longest day of the year. It's a
(26:31):
trippy time to be up there and seeing all that daylight, right,
But I love Alaska. I loved Maine. I loved New Mexico.
New Mexico is my last state, and I do love
that desert kind of vibe too.
Speaker 5 (26:46):
I do like that. It's a real different kind of beauty,
but I love it everywhere.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Did you do like the fifty states thing where you
have a little sign like now on the internet. That's fine,
so common.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
I know, I see that now, and no we didn't.
I didn't do anything like that. But my brother has
been to like forty seven states or something, and I
so after I graduated college way back in the early
two thousands my friend from Alaska and we went on
a trip. We called it Perimeter two thousand and three,
and we were going to drive the perimeter of the
(27:17):
United States. And we were up in Alaska for about
a month beforehand and then flew down to Seattle and
started our trip. We kind of ran out of money
around DC and.
Speaker 5 (27:28):
Sort of had to cut across.
Speaker 4 (27:32):
But with every new state that I got, i'd send
a postcard to my brother and I would just be like,
you know, it'd be from Mississippi or something, and I'd
be like number forty one and I'd send it to
him number forty two. So when I had my trip
to Arizona, New Mexico were my last two states. I
had this trip planned for eight nine months. I was
(27:53):
taking college students on a service trip down to Arizona
and New Mexico down to the border and stuff. And anyway,
I was so terrified that he was going to beat me,
and he was going to show up, and he kind
of went radio silent on me. He didn't answer my calls,
and my parents were like, Oh, he's in Costa Rica
or Dominican Republican went on some vacation and I'm like
(28:14):
I don't believe you.
Speaker 5 (28:16):
I don't believe you at all.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
But he had to get Maine, Alaska, and New Mexico
were his last three states, so I still don't think
he has them. I was like, he's in Maine, he's
going to Alaska, and he's going to beat me to
New Mexico.
Speaker 5 (28:27):
And he didn't, thank God.
Speaker 4 (28:29):
But but yeah, so it was it's a trip because
my dad beat one of his sisters to all fifty
states by one day he found out she had a
trip to Alaska, so he flew up there and beat
her there. It's a hilarious story and she was really
really mad.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
So then, what are some of the continents that you've
been to and what's when your favorite?
Speaker 4 (28:55):
So I've been to Africa, Europe, and Asia, and I
lived in Italy for a year my junior year of college,
I lived in Florence. My college had a campus there,
so you could go to school there for the same
cost as going to school in Spokane.
Speaker 5 (29:13):
So why not.
Speaker 4 (29:14):
It's not that way anymore, much more cost prohibitive. But
I mean, I love Italy. I'd love to take my
husband back to Italy. It's just a I love Italy,
I love Ireland.
Speaker 5 (29:27):
I love.
Speaker 4 (29:28):
I really enjoyed my time in Africa. So the program
I went on and to Florence for the year. A
couple of priests ran it and then they planned this
safari to East Africa and then I climb up.
Speaker 5 (29:42):
Or a hike up.
Speaker 4 (29:43):
I'm Kilimanjaro, so I got to do that was an
incredible opportunity, an incredible corner of the world to visit.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
So were you just in Tanzania? Then when you were
in Africa?
Speaker 4 (29:55):
Egypt for a hot minute, and then Kenya and Tanzania.
So we did safaris and we're on the beach in
Mombasa for a couple of days, and yeah, I had
a incredible time.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
So speaking of your husband, he is a firefighter, So
what is it like being married to a firefighter And
does he have a cool firefighter mustache?
Speaker 4 (30:15):
Well, he most definitely does have a mustache. And it's
his mustache's birthday on Saturday. His mustache will turn four
and we celebrate his mustache's birthday. I celebrate his mustache's birthday.
But well, I actually should I should have frecked that
He's not a firefighter anymore. He's now the fire Marshal
for the city. But he started out as a firefighter,
(30:36):
and so the first.
Speaker 5 (30:39):
You don't celebrate a mustache's birthday, but uh yeah. So
he was on the shift work for several years.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
So when our first when our first child was born, Maggie,
he was on shift work.
Speaker 5 (30:57):
And I'm a new mom, and.
Speaker 4 (31:00):
Those first couple of days are really hard. And I
look at all the partners of all the firefighters and
just think the shift work isn't easy. There's so many
good and bad things to it. Right, you get him
home for long stretches of time, but then they might
be gone for the one time they have to be gone.
They're going to miss the piano recital, or they're going
to miss the baseball game. And it's really hard. It
(31:23):
can be difficult depending on the shift and depending on
the station that you're at to switch things around. But
so right after our son was born, our second child,
he's transitioned to a fire marshall position and he worked
eight to five like me, And I was like, I
get you on the weekends, I get you for dinner
every night. This is so great. It was a really
hard transition for him. He was his former military, he
(31:46):
was a medivac crew chief and the army for four deployments,
so he sort of lives on that adrenaline. He lives
on that shift work. It's funny though, he has no
problem waking up to like an alarm, a fire alarm
going off, but a baby crying. He just can't seem
to hear that. It's really weird and that's funny. But
(32:09):
it's a pretty hard sleeper now, but yeah, it is.
It can be tricky when you're in a partnership with
someone that's on shift work.
Speaker 5 (32:18):
That can be good, bad, and ugly.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Again, so we are actually already out of time. Yes,
this is the last question that we ask everyone, and
it's how would you encourage others to be a good neighbor?
Speaker 5 (32:35):
I love.
Speaker 4 (32:38):
I love the expression of a good neighbor, I really do.
Speaker 5 (32:41):
And I think.
Speaker 4 (32:43):
I've talked about this before with other friends about how,
depending on where you live, it's really hard to find
a neighborly atmosphere anymore. You know, people don't hang out
on their front porches as much. My eight year old's
on his favorite movie is The Sandlot, and he just
says to me all the time, He's like, why can't
(33:04):
life be like that? Why can't there just be kids
playing baseball every day somewhere where I can go and
play with other kids. There's just not a lot of
kids in our neighborhood. It can be really hard to
sort of build this very ingrained fabric of your life
as being a good neighbor and being a good community member.
But I think the most important thing, the best way
(33:27):
to establish being a good neighbor one is simple awareness
and seeking out that connection, seeking out belonging in your community,
whether you're involved with a nonprofit or an organization, or
a business or something that you really that you give
(33:50):
your time and your treasure too. I think that that
is one way of being a good neighbor. And once
you sort of delve into that, you start going to
fundraising events, or you go even if you don't have
much to give, maybe someday you will to really see
all the good that's happening in the community. I think
a lot of people can get very down saying there's
(34:13):
not a lot of good things happening, or they want
to focus on the crime or the addiction issues or
this and that. Well, you can be part of the solution.
You can absolutely be a part of that outreach and
it's really not that hard. I look at the good
work that like the Dream Center is doing, or other
organizations in our town that are doing what they can
(34:34):
to sort of lift people up and help them find
more connections and more reasons to be a part of
this community in a positive way. So I think for
the biggest thing, it's the awareness and really seeking out
how how can you be connected and how can you
make this town a little bit better than it was yesterday?
Speaker 3 (34:58):
A great answer. Thanks to everyone for tuning into These
Are Your Neighbors. Thank you for wanting to get to
know your neighbors as we hold these important and necessary conversations.
If you find this conversation as important as we do,
please make sure to share it with your neighbors.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
Thank you for tuning in to These Are Your Neighbors,
a podcast hosted by the City of Bismarck's Human Relations
Committee and produced by Dakota Media Access. We hope you
were inspired by the stories of citizens driving meaningful change
in Bismarck. For more info on the HRC, visit bizmarckand
dot gov.
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