EPISODE 8: TRUCK MAVEN - KIL LER

Heather Newman: Hello everyone, you are here on the Mavens Do It Better podcast. I'm Heather Newman and today we have on Kil Ler that I know her by and she is a truck driver, works for Mack Trucks. She's amazing. She's been doing a lot of really great things on tour in the country and in North America and she's a good friend and I'm so excited that you're on the podcast and go ahead and say hello to everybody. 

Kil Ler:Hi everybody. Heather, it's good to talk to you. I miss you. It's been a long time.

Heather Newman: I know, been way too long for sure. So, I know that you, you're an eighteen -wheeler driver. Yes?

Kil Ler:Yes, yes. That's correct.

Heather Newman: Absolutely. Yeah. And how long have you been driving trucks? 

Kil Ler:  I actually got my CDL on a chicken farm in North Carolina in my early twenties, so I've been driving over 20 years. So, I have driven, currently right now I'm driving eighteen wheelers, but I got my CDL, in fact, to drive for musicians. So, I've driven everything from tour buses, to eighteen wheelers, to cranes, to pumpers, to dump trucks, mixers, you name it, I get to drive it and it's awesome and it's empowering and a ton of fun. 

Heather Newman: So, it sounds like if it's got wheels you can drive it? 

Kil Ler:If it’s got wheels, I can drive it. Anything from two to eighteen. I'm not too good with the unicycle but I can do it at two. 

Heather Newman: Fantastic. So Kil Ler and I met through a mutual friend of ours, KC Mancebo at an event here in Los Angeles. Was that a year ago or maybe two now? Almost, I think. 

Kil Ler:I think it was two years ago. 

Heather Newman: Two years ago. Yeah. And we got to talking and I just was fascinated with her background and I just so exciting to me. My uncle, I think put me behind his eighteen-wheeler, Steven's Van Line truck when I was a kid and it scared the hell out of me. "Drive it!" and I was like aghhh! But it was also awesome. So, I was like, oh my God, tell me more about this. So, you have a relationship with Mack Trucks and you've been doing so much with them, will you talk a little bit about that and tell us all about Mack Trucks because that's such a huge brand in the world and everybody knows what a Mack Truck is. What are you doing with them? 

Kil Ler:So, the cool thing about Mack is Mack is made in the USA. So, it's one of the only trucks that can boast that fact that it is made in the USA. And I actually am contracted to Mack and the company I work for called (inaudible)and we work for all the major OEMs, which are the original equipment manufacturers, and the marketing department. So, what we do is we actually work all the truck shows and special events. So, Mack has actually come out with a new truck called the Anthem and it's been about 19 years since Mack has put a competitive highway truck on the market. So, they are known for the dump trucks and the power of their vocational trucks, garbage trucks, dump truck. So, to actually have a competitive highway truck that has the comfort level and still carry the power behind it, we've been touring around the country and we are getting ready to go into Canada. And what we do is we have a, I pull a demo trailer which is a simulated load of about 67,000 pounds and I have the ultra-package interior and I'm going to bore people with probably these numbers right now. I love it so much.

Heather Newman: That’s super cool. Bring it, bring it. It's all good. 

Kil Ler:And I have the MP8 445 HP engine, which is their high efficiency engine, so it's running at lower rpms and giving you a higher fuel mileage, which is fantastic. It's basically in my sweet spot I can get 11.2 miles per gallon, which is basically unheard of when it comes to pulling trucks at that weight.  I have so much pulling power, like when it comes to climbing the hills, when it comes to passing, when I step on the gas, I go. To me to drive something that has that much power, it's like nobody can touch me. It's just the most exciting thing ever, especially when you get out on the west coast, like pulling those hills is like “Later guys. I'm going to have your coffee waiting for you at the truck stop when I get there.” So, it’s awesome. And so, what we're doing is we're going from dealer to selected dealer around the country and then like I said, we're going to Canada and then we have another trailer that's the display trailer that opens up into basically a triple-wide. So, if you took three tractor trailers and put them next to each other, that's what that trailer basically essentially opens to. So, it's like three trailers parked next to each other. Once it's open, they basically have taken the customer care center from Mack and consolidated it into this trailer. So, everything's virtual and interactive. We have virtual reality where you can actually get a tour of the truck virtually.  We have a simulator where you can actually come in and build the truck that you want. The specs. We can print that out for you and you can bring it into your, into your salesperson, into the dealership and say, this is what I want. There's interactive videos and screens that tell you all about the chassis and the drive. We even give away an Anthem. They just came out with a Lego set. It's the fifth largest Lego ever built, and it's got the bulldog on it. It's a custom piece built by Lego it's 2,596 pieces and you can actually build two trucks from it. It's so cool. Like I can build the Anthem truck or you can go. Yeah, it's insane, it's like every time we go to a show and there's a Lego set just look for the Lego and everyone playing with it. It's insane.  So, what the customers can actually do is they can come in and walk through the truck and the trailer and they can see the different interiors and how they want to build their truck and what they like. And then we can actually take them out of the trailer, bring them into the trucks because we have four trucks on tour and each one of them has a different engine and a different package, so the customers are actually able to get in the truck and drive them after they've actually seen it. So, I've been doing that since, let's see, the end of January we left Allentown and our first show was February eighth or ninth I believe in Amarillo, Texas. And then we just looped around the country and I'm finally on a little bit of a break here before we go into Canada. And that's kind of a rundown, real quickly, what I've been doing the past eight months. 

Heather Newman: That's amazing. So, it's this Mack Anthem live road tour trip. Wow, and that is amazing that they have all of that technology inside the trucks. That's so cool. Love it. 

Kil Ler:The trucks are insane. I mean they have predictive terrain, they have predictive cruise control. They are seriously, like driving Cadillacs and they're extremely driver friendly. The control for me, especially as a female, they're very ergonomically designed that everything is at my reach. They've spoke, Mack went out and actually talked to different, to their customers before building this truck and that's what took so long for them to build this truck was because of the fact that they wanted to hear from the people that actually drove them. What are you looking for? And you really feel a difference while you're driving the truck. And I love driving trucks and I'm just having a ball driving. This one especially. 

Heather Newman: Yeah, that's cool. I love that. When people build things all the time and never ask anybody their opinions about, you know, what do you like, what's your favorite, what would make this better? And that's cool, that Mack as a company, Mack Truck does that, you know? That's nice to hear because a lot of people just don't do that, you know, that's really very cool. And you're the first female driver in the history of Mack Trucks to be on their super popular wall calendar. Will you talk a little bit about that too? How'd that happen? 

Kil Ler:Yeah, totally.  So, with the company that I work for, part of the special events that we do is we do marketing shoots for the OEM. I got called out to do a photo shoot with Mack, and that was in 2015, that's when we started shooting the calendar for 2016. I am actually the first female driver to be featured on the cover driving the 2016 Pinnacle truck. And then I was actually in December and then throughout the, and then I just kept doing more and more photo work with Mack and through that I've been on the back cover of a number of different magazines. I've been in the centerfold of different magazines including Mack's own Bulldog magazine. And again, you can see me driving anything from a tanker to a dump truck to a truck and trailer to a flat bed. And it's just insane because I don't think people realize what goes into these photo shoots. I mean the photo that I'm in the December 2016 calendar, I'm driving, and they shut down the highest-grade road in the country for me. I'm driving a tractor trailer up these switchback turns that are shut down. I’ve got police escorts bringing me up and they shut that whole road down for me. I mean you're doing these crazy things where the camera man is literally hanging out the back of a car with his knuckles almost like scraping on the asphalt and you hear the walkie talkie and they're saying, and you can't see because you're that close to them. They're like, okay, hold it there, hold it there, back it down, back it down. So, we get to do these crazy photo shoots. And like in the one that I'm driving, I'm actually driving a dump truck that was going to, it went to South America. So, it was a super heavy-duty dump truck. It only went about 55 miles an hour. It had more gears in reverse than it did forward. It was just a really heavy-duty dump truck. And so, when we're doing the photo work in Dallas and they're like, "Okay, we want to get the shot of you kind of coming up this hill between two bridges, how do you feel about that?" And I was like, "Yeah, totally. This is great. I can do it." So, I walked up to the top of the hill and once you got to the top of the hill, on the other side, it completely dropped down to nothing. So, there was a big embankment that just rolled out. If I miss my turn, I'm basically gonna roll over the embankment. But if I make the turn too late or too soon, the bridge is right there and I'm going to rip the top of the truck off. 

Heather Newman: Oh, my goodness. Wow!

Kil Ler:It's insane. I'll have to send you the pictures, it's so crazy. So, I get up there and I look at it and I'm like okay. So, I get in the truck and I get up there and I hit that mark and I just did it a little too slow the first time. So, by the third time I'm like hammering down, like grabbing gears, going up this hill, and just finally made the last turn and they got the shots that they wanted. We do these crazy fun, I mean we have drones chasing us, and they shut highways down for us. I mean, it's crazy the fun stuff that we get to do for these shoots. But the thing that makes this so great is that Mack is the actual, the first one to recognize me as being the first female. So, I think that's really huge on their part as well. So, they recently just did an episodic documentary style series called Roadlife. I'm sorry if I'm just running away with this. 

Heather Newman: No, you're totally fine. I love it. I mean, first of all you're like a Mack Truck stunt woman, but also a real driver. You know what I mean? Like that's amazing that you get to do these. I mean, it's kind of like stunt driving, if you will in a way. Right? 

Kil Ler:Yeah, that’s how I feel.

Heather Newman: Yeah, right. So, you get that experience plus just driving in general and then being kind of an evangelist, you know, for other people and the marketing bit. And then yeah, it's on prime video, right? The Roadlife. It's a little sort of documentary series, right? 

Kil Ler:Yes. So, it's on Amazon Prime and it's also, I believe you can watch Mack Roadlife TV and it's also on YouTube, so you can watch it in three different locations now. And I’m the fourth episode which just came out last week and the cool thing about this is that they focus on, like it's real people, real stories, real lives. I've been finding the whole series so intriguing because the first episode is of the garbage truck drivers in New York City. And I had no idea that not only did they pick up the trash, but they also plowed. Like no idea. And so, they give you all these fun facts of like there's, you know, all the streets in New York basically can bring you to the tip of South America and they're plowed within 24 hours. And then they bring you into the hub center. Basically, you can tweet to them and be like, "Hey, I'm on fifth street and it's not been plowed yet." And they're keeping real time track of all the stuff to make sure. So, I was just blown away after the first episode of how much. Because driving truck, there's. So, there's so many different things you can do with your commercial driver's license. I don't think people realize or recognize what you can do or what each job entails so that there's so much like, even when it comes to driving eighteen wheelers, like you can drive a flatbed, which is completely different than driving a dry box, which is completely different than hauling a reefer unit, you know, a refrigerated trailer. Learning all these skills and understanding them. To me it's just like, Whoa, I had no idea. So, it's been really fun to watch the series and they just did one with Richard Petty because Mack Trucks is the official sponsor of Nascar, so we got to actually go up to, I've never been to a Nascar race in my life and I had a ball. So, on October 2nd you'll be able to see that on Amazon Prime as well. The final episode, the reunion episode of all the people who were involved in Roadlife and all the episodes. We get to come together and meet each other, which is so amazing because you're like meeting these people who are, like the family from Canada. I mean they're hauling these oversized heavy trailers, to talk to them and what they go through every day. It's completely different, you know what I mean? Because everybody's day is completely different. So, to get together and be like, “Whoa, that's really cool!” 

Heather Newman: Just listening to you talk. I think it's really interesting. You know, we don't always think about, something shows up in front of us, say at a restaurant or in a store or whatever. We don't have line of sight and we don't think about the fact that somebody has to be proficient in, you know, driving or hauling or moving or whatever the thing that it is and it's 100 things and thousands of people and miles and machinery and everything to get things done. You know, and I love that, that there's all these different glimpses in the series. It's so cool that. And I love it that they brought you all together. That's so neat. Like what a cool idea, right? Yeah. 

Kil Ler:It was amazing, yeah. Because everybody it's just so genuine. There's such a pride with driving a Mack, like there's such a bulldog pride. I mean it's made in America. I feel a sense of pride versus when I, when I drive that truck a lot and it means it means something. It's made in America.

Heather Newman: Sure. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, things that are made here, like the great stories of all the different things, you know, things that came out of the West. Levi's, you know, that's a great story of people's pants were falling down and so he put some rivets in there. You know what I mean?

Kil Ler:Yeah, I remember that story.

Heather Newman: Yeah, absolutely. You know, that's a great story of two people coming together. One person had the ideas and the other person had fabric and everything and that became what we all wear now, you know. Lots of people wear those driving trucks, I'm sure you know. 

Kil Ler:Exactly! I wear them.

Heather Newman: I find it interesting too, when you say driving truck, not driving trucks. Is that a thing? I mean that seems that must be the way that you talk about it, you know what I mean? 

Kil Ler:I never really noticed that. Yeah. I just say driving truck. That's interesting, I'll have pay attention to that. I guess it's because I just drive truck. 

Heather Newman: Do other people say it like that? 

Kil Ler:You should hear me on this. I don't know, maybe it’s just the lingo. You should hear me on the CB. I'm all of a sudden super southern, like I don't know where I get the twang from when I'm on a CB. My whole language just changes. There's a whole language on the CB that you have to learn. Maybe it comes from that. 

Heather Newman: I think when I was a kid watching Smokey and the Bandit with Burt Reynolds and Sally Field, right? That was like the CB. Then my dad ended up getting one and we did a lot of road trips as kids and I loved the CB. Like I thought that was the coolest thing. And then, you know, when he was going inside to get a coffee or whatever, my brother and I would turn it on and we would be like, "Breaker one-nine blah-ble-bla-ba", you know, and truckers were sort of like, "Hey, now get off the line". And we were like, "No! Hahaha!" 

Kil Ler:It's so funny, we did a show up in Arkansas and one of the salesmen, his son, his name is Isaac, I think he was seven and he just loves Mack Truck. He even asked his dad if he could change his middle name to Mack. This kid is just, we pulled in, he knew everything about the truck, he knew everything about the M Drive, which is the transmission in the Mack Truck, which is like the most fluid shifting transmission as I recall in my life.  He knew everything from that to like what the controls were on the dash and you know, the new flat steering wheel and that's how we now have a smart wheel, you know, we control everything from the steering wheel when we drive. So, I said I had to ask, "Have you gotten to ride in one yet?" And like he looked at me all big eyed and he was like, "No." I said, "Do you want to go for a ride?" And he was like, "Can I ask my dad?" And I was like, absolutely. So, he asked his dad and he's like, "Yeah, you can go for a ride." So, the first thing he did when he got in the truck, because he kept looking up at the CB, looking up at the CB. So, I go "Do you want to talk on the CB?" He goes, "Can I?" and I go, “Yeah.” He goes, "What do I say?" I said, "Breaker one-nine for a radio check." So, he goes, "Break, break, break one nine for a radio check. This here's rubber ducks." And he was like, "I'm going to pull the plug on your drain." And I was like, "What!" He totally quoted the whole movie. And I was like, oh my gosh. It was hilarious the most hilarious thing. And the drivers, the other drivers that heard him and that we're talking back were very, very sweet to him. Sounds like we have a little duckling on the radio. So, then someone was like, can I have a radio check? And he looked at me. He goes, "What do I say, what do I say?" I said, "You tell him that the check is in the mail driver." Then he goes, "Break one nine your check's in the mail driver." And it was the cutest, cutest thing in the entire world. I actually have a little video of him doing that. Just stole my heart. 

Heather Newman: You've got a wee duck in the truck there, luv I think. That's so funny. Oh my God. That's hysterical. You have such an interesting name and when I met you, I was like what's your name? And I know that you have this really interesting background before sort of the truck life and that, but that includes driving. It's kind of where you got your start. Will you talk about how you got your nickname or it's not really even a nickname, it's your name? I mean that's what you go by, right? 

Kil Ler:Yes, it's what I go by. Like I said, I got my CDL in my very early twenties on a chicken farm in North Carolina and I graduated with a degree in music management. Well, I minored in music management. So, I immediately got out of school and I started my own company and I was doing booking and production and I was working for a company in North Carolina called Lady Slipper Music, which is the oldest and only nonprofit organization that solely distributes independent women musicians and it maintained its nonprofit status because its catalog was considered a resource guide. So, through them I started working with music and then I started traveling, through my production company at the time, I started traveling across country with musicians and I was doing tour managing and all sorts of things. So, I realized how can I make myself more valuable on a tour and that's why I got my CDL. I was like, well, I can drive a tour bus and what if we're hauling stages and something happens, I can literally jump in and do anything that needs to be done on the road. And that's what initially made me want to get my CDL is to further my career in music and which it did. I drove truck, can't remember, I'm horrible with years and how long I've done things, so forgive me on that, but I was driving for a couple of years and then I bought a truck and I was living out of my truck for three years. And literally, I was, my dog and I just never went home. We just lived out of my truck it was awesome. And so, my truck, there was an electrical fire in the engine and my truck broke down. So, I moved home to Massachusetts and just kind of was gathering myself like, oh my gosh, what am I going to do now? And I ran into Kathy Guthrie who is Arlo Guthrie's daughter and Kathy and I went to high school together. So, Cathy was like, "Hey, what have you been up to you?" And I kind of gave her a real brief rundown of what I just said to you, you know, blah, blah degree, music management, blah, having my CDL. She was like, "Hey, my dad is looking for a bus driver." She's like, "Do you want to come up and interview?" And I was like, yeah, absolutely. So, I went up to the house, which is, you know, again, like we all grew up in the same town, so I was like, just going up the road. I ended up becoming Arlo's bus driver, tour manager, the executive assistant to the vice president of his record label and basically Jane of all trades and he is the one who nicknamed me Kil Ler. So, when he first named me Kil Ler, I was kinda like, "Oh my gosh, I don't know if I can take this. I guess I'm Kil Ler." And now it's like, "Hey, I'm Kil Ler." Like it's just, it's just who I am. And it's like I'm more of an ankle biter and people are gonna say, "Oh Kil Ler, I'm never going to forget that." It's like, okay. Then I see them again and it's like, "Tiger, Monster! How are you doing?" And it's like "Close enough! Good. How are you?" 

Heather Newman: Tiger, monster. So, Arlo Guthrie gave you your nickname. That’s amazing. Did you know why? Like did he ever say why or was it, this is it? 

Kil Ler:So, I'll tell you why. If you tune in, this is such a plug, which is not even something I do. If you tune into Roadlife, Arlo actually says how he nicknamed me on the episode. 

Heather Newman: Oh fun. Okay, let's do it that way. I love that. Why not? More from Kil Ler on Roadlife.

Kil Ler:Tune into Roadlife on Amazon Prime. You could hear Arlo himself tell you how he named me Kil Ler. 

Heather Newman: Holy cats that's so cool. Oh my gosh. I can't wait. That's so awesome. All right. She didn't ask me to do that by the way, just so we're clear. 

Kil Ler:I know, it just worked out that way. That's great. 

Heather Newman:Oh, my goodness. So CDL is commercial driver's license, right? Just so that we're clear with everybody on the podcast. Yeah?

Kil Ler:Correct.

Heather Newman: Okay, cool. Just to be super clear. You've had this great relationship with Mack Truck and you know, all of that. Are there, are there a lot of other female drivers? I don't know the stats on that. Do you have a lot of other women in the industry that you are friends with and that you know and that you have to, you know, when you're on the highway and that kind of thing, or how is that for you?

Kil Ler:So, in the specialty field of what we do at the (company name), I'm the only female driver with (company name). 

Heather Newman: Oh, my goodness. Wow. 

Kil Ler:Yeah. So, when it comes to statistics, I believe that there's over 2 million people that make up the trucking industry and less than 12 percent of them are women, which includes drivers and dispatchers and other people involved in it. So technically less than seven percent of the drivers are women. Those statistics will change and fluctuate so they can range anywhere between four and seven percent. And 20 years ago, when I was driving, it was even less than that. As far as knowing other women out here, I really don't.  the guys I work with, it's a very small group of guys and I love the fact that they treat me like a driver, not as a female or anything else. To me that's the greatest respect that anybody can give me is just throw me in it. Like, let's do it. Let me do my job, you know, if I don't, I'm going to ask and you're going to teach me. Every single one of them are, right there showing me like, hey, you know, this is how you do it, or hey, you know, they're just, they're fantastic to work with. The women that I have met, it's funny because doing these truck shows and these special events, I get to meet a lot of women who are just going to get their CDL. So, I've taken, I've actually been able to stay in contact with a lot of them and they're like, Hey, can you make me some encouragement or a little bit extra support? So, I'll get these texts from these women across the country and be like, Hey, I just took my test, or I have to retake this, or do you have any suggestions for backing up or I'm missing this turn do you have any suggestions on how to do that? And those are the ones that I've actually stayed in touch with. But as far as women driver, other female drivers, I really don't know any, just because I don't work with any of them. 

Heather Newman: Right. Fair enough. I think it's obviously an industry that is ripe for anyone to get into if they have a love of that and you can get your commercial driver's license. I think it's really super cool that you are an ambassador for just driving trucks in general. But also, for, you know, little girls and young women who are like, that looks cool. I want to drive stuff and I want to go fast, and you know, all of that. So, like that's fantastic. Right. So, it's so cool that we have you to look to, you know, that's great. 

Kil Ler:So empowering, and that's the thing, if I could be a voice of anything for the women in trucking, is that, first of all we are statistically safer drivers and it's been proven across the board that women are safer drivers. They are now making trucks better, more ergonomically designed towards women.  They are saying there's such a lack of drivers that they need more drivers. I think if women were educated on the different things that you can do because you don't have to go out on the road. You don't have to be away from your family all that time. You know, there are ways that you can drive truck, make a good living and also still be at home every night or on the weekends. There's different options that I just don't think that they're aware of. And I think that if women realize that you can make a really good living doing this and it’s just, you gotta be able to be a hard worker. And if that was brought to more women, I think there would be more women involved in it, especially with women supporting women. I think it'd be a lot and in different forums for them to go to and which I know that there are and I'm finding them more and more now, researching it. But it is, and the thing is like, I don't necessarily haul freight, but I get to do all these really fun, super fun exhibit shows and truck shows. I get to drive all these crazy things like in Vegas, we do like the World of Concrete show or the Waste Management Show and there's times I can drive up to 65 different trucks in a week.  And so, I maybe like moving them in and out of the convention center or taking them from the Wash Bay into the detailing where we actually hand detail all the trucks as well. So, I think there's a lot of work that goes into that and it's just, but I mean to be able to say that I've driven more trucks in probably one day than most men have in their lifetime. It's pretty cool, you know. You know, it's just empowering. I would love to see more women get out here and do this and just kinda, you know, let them know that girl isn't a four-letter word, you know. Not, "Oh that's a girl?" But, "Damn, that's a girl!"

Heather Newman: Absolutely. She's our girl. She drives a Mack Truck.

Kil Ler:That's right, exactly! So, it’s interesting that people think of, I don't know, I just like to give them a different perspective on truck drivers in that they'll take care of you. And it's funny, a lot of them, when I was working with musicians and that's the one thing I say in the episode, it's like, you know, a lot of people are like, "Why did you stop working with rock stars?" And it's like I really didn't, like the trucks are the rock stars. We get to drive the prettiest of pretty trucks and we get to drive the newest of the new truck. But we're the ones that are making them pretty and shiny, you know, so it's more than just driving, it's taking that pride in making sure they're clean. Making sure there's not a water spot on them really pulling them in so that they are just nothing but shining, you know what I mean? And to me that's a lot of pride, you know, making sure there's not a smear on the windshield or anything like that. And so there are different. I'm kind of going down, I'm rambling. So, go ahead. 

Heather Newman: No, it's fine. It's great. You're such a cool person and I love that we're friends and I just, you know, hearing somebody who's passionate about what they do is what this podcast is about, you know, and your expert opinions and thoughts about all of this stuff is really, you've worked a really long time doing this. So, like of course like you can take anything on wheels and back it up, move it forward, drive it through bridges and do all this. You spent a lot of time honing your craft and that's really exciting and it's so nice to have a company such as Mack Truck let you shine and talk, and I really respect that, and I think that's really something very cool. And, yay Mack Truck. Thank you so much. That's awesome. 

Kil Ler:They are the ones who are breaking the mold, I think. 

Heather Newman: Yeah, I love the hashtag. I see you use that #breakingthemold and you know that's super cool. And I have one more question for you and then maybe we'll wrap it up. What's the trajectory, what's next and what you're excited about coming up? I know you're on a little bit of a break and you're like, I'm excited about like maybe just being by the pool but like what's the next hot thing that you get to put your hands on? 

Kil Ler:We are going to Canada for a month, which I'm so excited about. So, we head to Canada in September. The rest of the stuff I'm working on, we'll have to do another podcast. 

Heather Newman: Not at liberty to say, huh? No problem. I get ya.

Kil Ler:Yeah, can't talk about all the other stuff. 

Heather Newman: That's okay. It's good to have some surprises. We'll come back and do another one for sure. One of these days I want to figure out, you know, you and I keep trying to see each other and stuff, and so one of these days I want to get in the truck with you.

Kil Ler:We are like missing each other by days. Or minutes in some cases.

Heather Newman: We are trucks that pass in the night for sure. Good Lord. We keep doing it.  I want to, I'd love to do a video, one of these, in a truck with you, maybe at some point. That would be fun. 

Kil Ler:Oh my god! Let's do that. 

Heather Newman: We'll do a Mack Truck karaoke. How about that? 

Kil Ler:Oh my God. Can you imagine like Comedians in Cars? We can be like you know, another kind of spin-off on that with us in the truck? Like oh my god! How fun would that be? 

Heather Newman: Totally. Yeah, I'm a very interested, so yes, for sure. Let’s talk about where we can find you out on the interwebs and stuff. So, I know you're on Instagram and you're on twitter and it's hey, h-e-y, underscore, I'm K-i l-l-e-r, Kil Ler. Yeah, for both? 

Kil Ler:Yup. Yup. For Instagram and twitter. 

Heather Newman: Instagram and twitter. Awesome. And then for the Roadlife that is up on Amazon prime, YouTube and where else? On the Mack Truck TV? 

Kil Ler:Yeah, Roadlife TV 

Heather Newman: Roadlife TV. Okay, cool. That's awesome. All right, cool. 

Kil Ler:And when they search on Amazon prime, Roadlife is one word. 

Heather Newman: Okay. Roadlife is one word. Yeah, well that's a hashtag probably anyway now. Right? So that works. 

Kil Ler:It's a great hashtag actually. I follow that Instagram and there's some great, great people to follow on that. 

Heather Newman: Awesome. Yeah. And I love the hashtag #brokethemold as well, and #womenintrucking if you're looking around folks for more information on that area. Oh, my goodness. I'm so happy we finally got a chance to catch up and I'm so inspired by you. You're a bad a**. So, there I swore when we talked about that. How about that? 

Kil Ler:How about it? When we met at the, soiree, I'll call it, with GC, we snapped out and it was like the rest of the evening was just, God, you and I were in this bubble and nobody else was around. It was amazing. It was just like, oh my God, you're my new best friend. It was awesome. So happy we got to do this. And we have been talking about this for a long time. 

Heather Newman: Yes. I'm so happy to just tell everybody about what you're doing and thank you for the time. I know you're busy and I'm really glad you're taking a vacation, a little bit of a break. Good on you sister as they say. That's great. 

Kil Ler:And thank you for thinking of me and considering me. I appreciate that. 

Heather Newman: Absolutely. So yes, absolutely. So, everybody, this was Kil Ler who is amazing. Mack Truck driver. Everything driver. Going around the country and doing these great tours and she's got this wonderful documentary up. She's in the first female truck driver in the calendars with Mack Trucks. So, thank you Mack as well. Way to go again. We will have another podcast up here I'm sure shortly. This was Mavens Do It Better. Thank you.

EPISODE 7: MUSIC MAVENS - JULIA FRANCIS AND CIRKE

Heather Newman: So, this is fun. We're outside, so you're going to get some wonderful noises, some joyful noises. I'm sitting here, this is Heather Newman with our maven podcast and we're in Columbia Park in Columbia City, Seattle and I just witnessed some beautiful, peaceful, wonderful, joyousness and I would love for you both to introduce yourselves and just talk about what just happened and why don't we start with you?

Cirke: Yeah. Hi, I'm Cirke and I'm from Denmark. Just putting it out there already so you guys know that there's going to be a very thick accent here. Yeah, I'm Cirke and I'm a singer and I just moved over here last year, and I just met this wonderful lady sitting next to me, Julia Francis and I'll let her introduce herself in a minute.

Heather Newman: You're posing for a picture.

Cirke: We're posing for pictures, yeah.

Heather Newman: Its National Selfie Day too.

Cirke: So, I just, I heard about Make Music Day in Seattle and I was like, yes, let's make some music because that's what bring people together, right? I'm here doing music with Julia and it was a huge success. We had people come out and sing along and yeah, so I, I can't remember what you asked me about, so I'm just, I'm just keep...

Heather Newman: It doesn't matter.

Cirke: Julia, why don't you say something?

Heather Newman: Julia introduce yourself please.

Julia Francis: Great. I am Julia Francis and I'm a Seattle based singer/songwriter. When I found out that today was International Make Music Day and there was a question about what would happen in Columbia City, I immediately thought that we needed to get children singing Give Peace a Chance to raise the vibration around our community and try to use music to really generate peace and goodwill among people of every age and every color and every flavor that you can imagine and just so grateful that Cirke and I got to really get hooked up for this event out of the blue and had the best time singing together and teaching harmonies and so satisfying listening to the crowd singing and listening to them use their voices.

Cirke: Yeah, definitely.

Heather Newman: So, Give Peace a Chance. We need a little bit of that all the time, but especially maybe right now. And you picked some other songs. Talk about what were your choices on some of the other stuff you picked?

Julia Francis: Sure. Candles in the Rain is a song by Melanie. She was a singer, songwriter is a singer songwriter, and in the early seventies after going to Woodstock, she was inspired to write the song Candles in the Rain and I've been obsessed with it since my friend Eray turned me onto it and really wanted to hear other people singing, you know, singing with me and with it. And then Cirke brought forward Imagine.

Cirke: Yeah, I just...

Heather Newman: Who wrote that again?

Cirke: John Lennon. Yeah. And um, yeah, I just love the lyrics in that song because all that it suggests for us to picture instead of how things are. I like that idea. Like just let's, let's turn everything upside down for a minute and just imagine how that would be. And I do that often and that's why I work a lot with kids. I'm a vocal coach and I help kids find their inner voice and sometimes we just do have to turn things upside down a little bit and the parents go, “Oh, she's totally doing...”, “Yeah, just give her a minute”, and then after that minutes you suddenly blossoms into this flower that she actually is. Right? So that's how I feel about, that's how I want to look at life. I want to sometimes just turn things around and imagine that this could be beautiful because there's ugly out there, but there is definitely also beauty and that's what I want to see.

Heather Newman: I just want to like, I don't know if you can hear it on the podcast, but all the people that came are still shaking shakers and continuing to sing. It's really lovely. You probably can't hear it on the podcast.

Julia Francis: They're shaking the shakers.

Cirke: They're singing, "I got the whole world...

Julia & Cirke: He's got the whole world in his hand.

Cirke: That's how it goes.

Heather Newman: And like starting with a song that most kids know too. Great way to sort of bring everybody in your, you know, your first song.

Julia Francis: Oh, This Little Light of Mine. Yeah. I taught that in my daughter's classroom in elementary school earlier this year and we were focusing on the Black History Month and I wanted to tell the story of Fannie Lou Hamer who was an activist and an organizer during the civil rights movement and she sang This Little Light of Mine in difficult moments when groups we're organizing, sometimes going actually into jail and resisting and she used that song to help people have confidence and overcome their fear in those moments. And thankfully most children know that song, so it's great

Heather Newman: It’s a great entry point, right?

Julia Francis: That's right.

Cirke: Yeah.

Heather Newman: That's great. Yeah. That's so cool. And Julia, you and I've been friends with for a very long time and so you, I watched you with your career and music and all kinds of different things and your albums and you're playing all places. Where do you play kind of in here in the Seattle/Tacoma area?

Julia Francis: I've been playing a lot in Tacoma. I've been doing a lot of blues jams down there with a lot of really talented musicians and I've recently put together a band based, or comprised mostly of Tacoma musicians and yeah, we're just putting together a really, really tight blues, soul, funk, rock and roll thing. Starting to book around Seattle and Tacoma and everywhere in between.

Heather Newman: Awesome. And so you're a vocal teacher and coach and singer and piano player. Like how many instruments do you play?

Cirke: I only play the piano and I'm not a piano player, but I do play, and I sing. Singing has been my, yeah, my instrument for many years and I've been kind of. I used to say, I always say I am nerding it out still. I like to learn nerd skills and yeah,

Julia Francis: I like that. Nerding it out.

Cirke: Nerding it out. Yeah. I just know I was, I was sitting there on the floor when I was very young and listening to Mariah Carey and trying to figure out what the heck is she doing with how. And so, I know all kinds of stuff about how the tongue is placed in the mouth and how, you know, I just, I've noted so many things about singing techniques, so that's why I would like to give that

Heather Newman: You like to know all about it.

Cirke: Yes, and I'm giving that to the people I know. And, and right now I'm donating my time, because I'm still in a process of a changing status to become a permanent resident. So yeah, I'm donating my time where I can to the kids of the Live It Out Loud program in Tacoma by Ted Brown Music. I'm a vocal coach there and I mentor for a band and my best friend Jessica Lynn is the director. And so I just, I love that program and I wonder where I would have been today if I've had such a program when I was that age. Right? So that's why I want to give back. I want to give everything I've learned in my career to the kids and to the teens and teenagers out there and just, yeah, give and spread the love and...

Heather Newman: I mean music is our universal language, right? I mean, it brings us together in many ways.

Cirke: So yeah. And I have my. Oh, I should probably say I have my very first show over here, Fourth of July at the Angle Lake Park. Next to SEATAC. So, if anyone wants to come out, I'll be there at 2:00 PM.

Julia Francis: Fourth of July. I guess you really want to be an American citizen. Just going all out.

Cirke: I'm actually looking for like American flag colored clothes right now to wear.

Heather Newman: When did you start singing? How old were you?

Cirke: Oh, when I was five, probably. Probably before, but I didn't like dive in until I was 19. That's when I. Because I had nodes on my vocal chords, so I was horse all the time and my voice doctor said “No!” Fortunately was the word I was looking for. I met a good vocal coach and she taught me how to sing and I went to my doctor six months later and I was cured, and he was like, what did you do? And now they are working together, in Denmark. Yeah. So yeah, so that's why I was like, I want to give, I want to do this, I want to help people sing, healthy.

Heather Newman: Julia, how about you? When were you first singing?

Julia Francis: Singing in church choir with my mom and my grandmother. Yeah. And then by myself in the woods, whenever I could. It's safe in the woods by yourself with your voice always in Alaska where I grew up, that's what I would do and just make up songs and just grateful to be on this path of, you know, knowing that we all have a voice and that we all have a great deal of power that we can use our voices towards, and I want to do everything I can in my life to help other people use their voices to be who they are as fully and joyfully as possible because it sure brings me joy to make music with people like this beautiful Cirke right here.

Heather Newman: Yeah. I like talking to people about what makes them happy and bringing a little, spreading a little joy so everybody knows about who you are. That's awesome. You know, it's interesting. Julia and I have been to Copenhagen, and we've been together and we really enjoyed it. So, it's Mojo's Blues Bar? Right, right? Okay. So, we've been there and that was like just one of the like the dive-dive bars, you know, you can like scrape the walls. Like it's just so…

Julia Francis: Like somebody broke a glass when we were in there, like they were bleeding. Do you remember? It was a very dramatic.

Cirke: That is Mojo for you.

Heather Newman: But you know it just rocks, you come up and then you know, it's like that. I love that, when it's just musicians, it's like I need a horn player or whatever and somebody is like I got a horn. Okay. So, we had that wonderful experience of music and jazz house there.

Cirke: Yeah. Did you, did you go to Strigus to by any chance? It's an Irish pub.

Heather Newman: That sounds super familiar.

Cirke: Yes, because that's where we, like all the musicians kind of gathered. So, when we were done gigging around, we would end up there and have joined the house band and that, that was like that. Oh, we need a horn player, oh, … is here today, let's you know those, I like that small community.

Heather Newman: That's super fun. I saw that, I've seen that as well in New Orleans. They do that too, for sure. And in Austin, you know, I bet if we spent some time in Nashville it would be the same way, but any music city has got that sort of feel like, “Hey, come on, let's make a joyful noise”. So, that's cool. Awesome. So the original, was it the city of Seattle? Where did you make the connection for this day again? Where was that?

Julia Francis: Make Music Seattle is the name of the organization that really hosted and organized this. But it's a nationwide actually international day. So, both Make Music Seattle and Columbia City Music Beat were the primary organizations that helped us organize this gathering here in Columbia City.

Cirke: Yeah, and I got approached by Seattle Wave Radio owner, Linda and Mark Gordon. So that's, that's how I knew about it and they said, "Hey Cirke, this is something for you, isn't it?" It's like, yeah. And then Julia and I got paired up by coincidence. And what a good one.

Heather Newman: Serendipity always surprises. So that's great. Well, cool. Well, so one more time. Where can people find you Cirke the next time?

Cirke: Yes, you can find me on Facebook. So that would be Facebook and my name is CirkeDK in there. So, its C-I-R-K-E-D-K. There's my website, cirke.dk.

Heather Newman: Gotcha. Are you on Instagram or all that jazz?

Cirke: I am actually just cirkedk on Instagram too. Okay, there you go. And Twitter too.

Heather Newman: Very good in the social media marketing. Everything the same-same. Give me a little high-five. Good job.

Julia Francis: Oh, Maven approved!

Heather Newman: Julia Francis, where can people find you?

Julia Francis: Well you can find me at my website at JuliaFrancis.com. You can find me on my Facebook page, my Instagram account @Juliafrancis.pix. And I have two CDs that are out on iTunes and Spotify and all the places that you can buy and stream music online.

Heather Newman: Yeah. One of my favorite things these days is to say, “Alexa, play Julia Francis.”

Julia Francis: Oh, I love when you do that!

Heather Newman: And it does. It's like, that's my best friend, it's like "Nineteen eighty...", oh makes me so happy. So yeah, that's pretty cool. So, if you have an Alexa totally do that, so good.

Cirke: And hey also try this. Or say "Alexa, play a country tune” and then she will actually start singing. Or, he, dude like singing a county tune. We tried that with my friend.

Heather Newman: I like asking "Alexa, what is love?" or “Tell me a joke.” Those are pretty good too. But the best is, "Alexa play Julia Francis." Well, should we round out the end of this with a little Give Peace A Chance singing?

Julia Francis: Sure.

Heather Newman: Yeah, let's do it. A little acapella action?

Cirke: Let's do it. You start it out Julia.

Julia Francis: All we are saying

All: Is give peace a chance. All we are saying is give peace a chance.

Heather Newman: And that's all we're saying. Give peace a chance. Ladies. What a joy. Thank you so much.

Cirke: Thank you.

Julia Francis: Peace out Heather Newman. Thank you very much.

Heather Newman: You're welcome. Peace everybody.

Julia Francis: Peace.

EPISODE 6: ART MAVEN - ANDREA VOGEL SIKKINK

Heather Newman: Okay, so we're sitting here in lovely Mililani town center, right? Correct?

Andrea Sikkink: In the middle of Oahu.

Heather Newman: In the middle of Oahu and I'm here with Andy as I know her from all of the different times we've hung out together. And so there's a little outside noise and giving us a little color. But you want to introduce yourself?

Andrea Sikkink: Sure! I am Andrea, Andy Sikkink. I call myself a hyphenated person. I am an actor, an artist, a right brain, left brain. I do a little of everything, hopefully a lot of it well.

Heather Newman: I think you do a lot of it well.

Andrea Sikkink: So, the balance has always been between my interest in arts and my artistic endeavors. I've always painted from when I was a little kid, but I was also a jock so it wasn't cool. So I hid that side away and just did it and no one knew about it through high school until I got to college and was encouraged by a couple of different teachers to explore how good I could get. So I had an art minor but ended up getting a teaching degree and so I taught for quite a while. And that was fun because I could do a little of everything that I liked and then when I came to Hawaii just a lot of other opportunities opened up so I started doing more modeling that I had done a little of on the mainland, but there was just a lot more to be done here and there were a lot of tv productions and movie productions, so ended up doing acting about 50 percent of the time. And then friends with shops that would put my art in there and they'd call me up a couple of weeks later and say, "Need more!". And so it was like I'm a professional paid artist. And then I had friends with businesses that were like, “Hey, you want to do bookkeeping?”, “Hey, you know a little bit about computers. Can you do some computer work for us?” So I found myself learning a vast array of skills.

Heather Newman: A maven of all trades.

Andrea Sikkink: Yes! Yes. They call me the renaissance woman. Yeah. And I kind of, I look at Da Vinci and I am actually related to Van Gogh and I go, they did a lot of stuff. And I think when you build on your creative side then you take on more things like, you.

Heather Newman: Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. So I love your painting. I have one in my bathroom that I just love. Of the sea turtle that you gave me that is so sweet. And so how long have you had? So it's As You Wish?

Andrea Sikkink: Yep, As You Wish Arts. I started when I came on island and in the beginning just sold in friend’s shops. But then with my computer skills and friend’s help I started a website. I have paintings all the way as far away from here as Tasmania, Prague, Czechoslovakia and all over the US. So, I have a little map that I mark off when I sell something, and I have some that I've, like your turtle that you have of mine, that are limited edition prints. So, I actually had them archivally scanned and I can sign them and sell, you know, a lot of them and mass produce them and get them sold that way.

Heather Newman: Is there, do you have any, like everybody always wants to know where something's hanging that might be fairly interesting or secret or anything like that you could talk about?

Andrea Sikkink: Well, I, I definitely, I want to go to Europe, have not yet been to Europe and I had a lady commission one for someone of her dog on the canals in Venice. And so that's hanging in some famous shop owner’s place in Venice.

Heather Newman: Oh really?

Andrea Sikkink: Of her dog with the canal behind. Yes. And then I had a guy collect from Prague, from the Czech Republic, and his dad was a famous painter, which I luckily didn't know before I did his painting. That was a little pressure. Yes.

Heather Newman: And you do a lot of like sort of environments, obviously you get a lot of inspiration from Hawaii and other places you go.

Andrea Sikkink: Yep. Yeah. My childhood paintings were mountains that I never saw. I grew up in Minnesota. Flat, lots of beautiful lakes so I can paint lakes, but I painted mountains to no end. And my sister moved out to Eugene, Oregon when I was 12 years, 11 or 12 years old, and saw the coast and went, “Wow!”. Did some paintings that someday will be worth a lot of money. Yeah and then it just sort of became what else can I try? So I tried sea turtles and people's pets and I've moved into people. That's hard, but one I'm really proud of is a little local girl who's gotten to be quite famous for hula dancing and I did one of her first hula performances.

Heather Newman: Was that a live painting? Have you done any of that?

Andrea Sikkink: I have done some live painting. I've done it mostly at the shops where I am showing my work. No pressure, it just starts to rain or when somebody bumps your easel. Someday, maybe I can be like Wyland and paint in my gallery and have people gather around and watch. And you say, yeah, its $9,000 staring bid. That's my goal. And then the fun part is like when I'm doing the other part of my job, the acting part of my job there's a lot of downtime when you are on set, so I can just look around wherever we're at. It takes me to a lot of locations around the island I wouldn't normally go.

Heather Newman: Tell everyone about that.

Andrea Sikkink: I became a union actor when I came on island. So, Hawaii Five-0. It been eight seasons long and I got to be a recurring police officer and then tried out for different parts. And season finale I got to be a Russian spy, so they wrote it in as I've been in plain sight the whole time. The very awesome part is my daughter got to play my real daughter. So when we went to the audition, I warned her, we might not get cast together. You might get cast with a different mom. I might get with a different daughter. That's happened to us before. And so, we did it and they said, “Well, there probably won't be speaking or other people will be talking over you”. But they actually wrote what we said into the script. So, we got this fat script and we're like, that's what we said in the audition! And we got our own trailers and probably five minutes later she was on my door. She's 20. "Mom, I'm bored and I'm scared can I sit with you?" So we hung out in a trailer together. They were lines I wrote, so we shouldn't have had to practice them, but it was fun. It was really, really fun. Yeah. And to have worked with the people all these different seasons so when we're in the green room together, they turn and like, "Oh, you!", you know, and it was so much fun. And amazingly one of the main characters, Scott Caan is, his passion is photography. So we sat and talked about art, which was really fun and made me much less nervous.

Heather Newman: That's very cool. That's great. So, and so you've been in all seasons?

I've been in probably over 60 episodes and then, may not be in the ninth season too much. Depends on what happens with my character because it was the season finale. So everything's hanging. Maybe I'll escape, maybe I'll be good.

Heather Newman: And you have to, like, you weren't allowed, you weren't allowed to talk about the…

Nope. No, yeah, you signed a nondisclosure. You can tell people to watch the episode, but you can't tell them much.

Heather Newman: Right, right, right. So, yeah, that makes sense. You find that a lot of film gets shot here, obviously because it's so beautiful. What other things?

Andrea Sikkink: Yes. Yeah, and usually my kids laugh because I have three children that have grown up with us doing this. They don't think it's that amazing, but when I came home from doing the first Jurassic World, I was in some trailer with some guy named Chris Pratt, I don't know who he is. And they're like, “Are you kidding? What are you talking about mom?” I'm like, yeah, they were running lines, him and someone Bryce, I think she's related to Ron Howard. And they're like, “Oh my God!”. But, yeah, so I got to do both the brand-new Jurassic World and the one that comes out in a couple days. So, I'm kind of a Rosie the Riveter working in the background in one of the scenes for that one. Got to do Godzilla. Quite a few Japanese movies come on island. So, my husband and I are pretty famous in Japan, so once in a while we'll get stopped by people at Waikiki beach that want our autograph and then we have to figure out what movie they're talking about. We just did one that's a remake of 50 First Dates, the Adam Sandler movie that showed in Japan, that was pretty famous. And then another one about the Eggs and Things restaurants called Love and Pancakes. I got to eat pancakes all day and get paid to eat pancakes. And the guy said take bigger bites and really eat it. It was amazing. Yeah. The end of the day I'm like, I don't want pancakes for the rest of my life. But, but it was fun. It was really, really fun. And it was one of those things where you don't know what it's going to be and then it ends up being really amazing because it's a camera crew from another country that does things completely different.

Heather Newman: That's super cool. And then you've also been involved with, you know, I met you through, through the SharePoint Saturday. You've been involved in the Microsoft with the SharePoint crew with our good friend Chris Bayot.

Andrea Sikkink: Yeah, for like six years with helping put on the SharePoint conference. And I thought at first they were just hiring me to be like, you know, the show model of the car show, but then they're like, you're going to go set up the computer and you're going to get this ready and you're going to run the whole app to get people signed in and yeah. It's just one of those growth experiences where you're like, wow. And then if you can go to a session and learn from somebody, like, now I have a whole new skill set. Now I can do all this. And I always joke that I should get paid because I promote all my friends. You should go to this seminar.

Heather Newman: Here in Honolulu we do, instead of SharePoint Saturday, we do SharePoint Friday.

Andrea Sikkink: Correct.

Heather Newman: Does that have to do with surfing or is it just?

Andrea Sikkink: It does.

Heather Newman: Okay, talk about that a little bit.

Andrea Sikkink: Well, there's the Aloha Friday mentality. So basically the weekend starts Thursday night. So if you try to teach people and have them come to learn something on a Saturday, they're not going to come. But if you do it on a Friday and their employer condones it, they will come and they'll be happy because it's a bonus day and then their weekend starts the minute their seminar is done.

Heather Newman: I see. I knew Aloha Friday but I didn't realize about the Thursday night.

Andrea Sikkink: Yep. Basically starts Thursday night.

Heather Newman: I think Hawaiians really got it down then. That makes a lot of sense to me.

Andrea Sikkink: And most of our holidays that are uniquely Hawaiian, fall on Monday, so we know how to shorten that week up. So, we just had king Kamehameha Day, we'll have Statehood Day in August. We get Prince Kuhio Day, we have a lot of Mondays off.

Heather Newman: And you've lived on Hawaii how long?

Andrea Sikkink: A couple of decades now. Our kids were raised here. Yeah. So a novelty for them is to go to the mainland and have Olive Garden. And then I have friends who say, but there's so much better Italian food! I'm like, but there's Olive Garden. We don't have that.

Heather Newman: Right, right. Those breadsticks are pretty awesome.

Andrea Sikkink: Or In n Out. Hello? They don't have In n Out here. So yeah, it was amazing when we got Target, and Five Guys right over here.

Heather Newman: I know we're looking at Five Guys. That is kind of amazing Five Guys right over here.

Andrea Sikkink: It's pretty empty though, unfortunately. They don't make a Hawaiian flavor, that's why.

Heather Newman: Well, I love the whole, you know, I mean I was a theater major, I tech, dadada, you know what I mean? And I just feel like it all sort of compliments and bleeds together. So much, you know?

Andrea Sikkink: Oh yeah. Oh yeah,

Heather Newman: And you also being an educator, you taught for a really long time.

Andrea Sikkink: Yeah, and half of teaching is acting, right?

Heather Newman: Yeah. Completely.

Andrea Sikkink: And faking it, the entire way. Fake it till you make it.

Heather Newman: I always say smoke and mirrors.

Andrea Sikkink: Exactly. And that does definitely translate through for acting because you memorize things and you present your knowledge to the kids in a way that they'll pay attention to and that's half acting. And the art side, you, especially nowadays you're a personality. Look at any of the famous artists like Wyland you put on a show.

Heather Newman: I agree. Yeah. What do you think about sort of the dawn of social media and art and being an artist? So it's like, like I want to do my art and, and all of that. But then it's like to get people to pay attention to it or to buy it, and to, you've found that there's more time…

Andrea Sikkink: The days of being Van Gogh and cranking out 15 paintings, while no one bothers you and enjoying your absinth, they're gone. They're gone!

Heather Newman: I wish I could've enjoyed my absinth today, but I have to go tweet and get on Instagram.

Andrea Sikkink: I had to get out two Instagram posts. And it's true though, right? It's totally true. It is a balance. And luckily my kids help me with some of that because they're like, the kids aren't on Facebook. Mom, you're wasting your time. Spending time on Facebook, go to Instagram, push it over to Facebook if you want. So, paying attention to that younger generation is huge. And then also knowing what advice to take and not take because Snapchat, I am not going to paint on Snapchat. It's not happening. And then it goes away. So why did you spend the time? If it's just going to go away.

Heather Newman: I mean, I send certain people in my life bunny videos. The filters, you know where I'm like…

Andrea Sikkink: The filters are cool. And there are some artists who are fantastic at using it. I would have to say Chris Pratt as far as actors is my favorite. The man knows how to use it and he knows how to speak to the next generation.

Heather Newman: Yeah, he does.

Andrea Sikkink: He's right in the middle of, he's still hip enough for the young kids. And there's some artists who really know how to do it. There's one guy in California that I follow, I think his handle is @Crayola. Started out being a tagger, graffiti art, does amazing stuff. It gives you ideas and artists learn from each other, hopefully not copy each other.

Heather Newman: Yeah. Right, right. That's awesome. Well, cool. So I think you're amazing and it's always good to see you. I was like, oh, I want to get you on the podcast to talk about your cool life. I was just telling my mom and dad, "You gotta watch Hawaii Five-0", because that's one of their shows, and they're like, "Wait a minute, your friend is on it?" and I was like, yes.

Andrea Sikkink: I know, I have to make an IMDB page. There's like credits up there, but I don't have a photo or anything and my kids are like, “Mom, why are you so blasé about this?” I'm like, I need to do that.

Heather Newman: That's awesome. All right. So, for people to get ahold of you and look at your beautiful art tell everybody your handle.

Andrea Sikkink: They can look up my website on As You Wish Arts. And that literally came about because of my initials. I signed everything AS and they'd be like, as what? And I'm a Princess Bride freak and then I can tell if they're my people or not if they go "Oh my God, Princess Bride!" If they don't get that then I just sort of let it go because they'll think I'm weird. But that's where that came from. Unfortunately, when I went to grab, As You Wish on Instagram, someone already had it. So I'm @asyouwishartist. So we've kind of just gone crazy with that whole as you wish thing. It's helped me because now I can tell people I can make whatever you want. I can make it "as you wish". And it's been fun.

Heather Newman: You're a SAG actor. What is your official name on screen?

Andrea Sikkink: My actor's name is Andrea Elizabeth Sikkink. Stuck with that.

Heather Newman: Well sometimes you've got to do the three name dealio.

Andrea Sikkink: Correct and my mother was an actress and she took a different name, but I kind of wanted to honor my husband and the family. My daughter however, who acted with me, has a completely different name. So she is M. Jenna Rose. Yeah. So, on the credits when it ran, everyone's like, “Oh, they didn't use your daughter after all.” I'm like, no…

Heather Newman: She's right there.

Andrea Sikkink: That's her. She just wanted nothing to do with the Sikkink thing.

Heather Newman: I didn't realize your mom was an actor.

Andrea Sikkink: My mom was an actor back in the fifties but had to stop. In those days it wasn't okay for a woman to do that once they were married. So she worked at a radio station. She did acting and then. Yeah, I remember her boss basically told her, "Yeah, now that you're married we'll fill your job".

Heather Newman: My how far we've come.

Andrea Sikkink: Yes. So glad we've progressed beyond that. It's awesome because my husband was in radio and so they tell stories. My dad was in TV and basically swore we were not allowed to do any of the above. So, I marry a DJ, I act on TV, and I'm an artist. You're welcome dad.

Heather Newman: You are defiant five ways to Sunday, which is awesome!

Andrea Sikkink: But he loves it. And the day I got the speaking part on Five-0 my mom sent me a picture. He’s not media savvy, but she sent me a picture of him at the table when she told them that she's going to have credits and a big smile on his almost ninety-year-old face.

Heather Newman: That's amazing! How cool.

Andrea Sikkink: Well thank you.

Heather Newman: What we want to do is make our parents proud, right?

Andrea Sikkink: Yeah. Well, and just to enjoy life and not be afraid to try stuff. I think that's the thing we found when we came to Hawaii it’s like you start looking at things different. If you leave that comfort zone where you grew up and go, wait, there's this possibility and this possibility. And then I met people and like five years later I find out you're the aunt of Bruno Mars? And you go, wow, but it's so awesome because you didn't have that in the way. You were friends for how long, you know? And, and then like with the Chris Pratt thing, I didn't know who he was, I just had a conversation about, oh, I've got to make sure I get out of here to get my kid after school. And he's like, totally cool, thinking, wow, this lady has no clue who I am.

Heather Newman: When you're working with people with celebrities, you know and dealing with that, it's like at the end of the day everybody's human. Everybody has to deal with their children or spouse and they eat and whatever, you know. And like, yes, do people do amazing things? Absolutely. But, you know, at the end of the day, just having a normal conversation with somebody about whatever is what most of us just want.

Andrea Sikkink: Right. And those friendships that you make, you know, the friends I made through SharePoint, the friends I've made through acting, the friends I've made through the art community, I have this incredible network of talented people that I know and instead of comparing and feeling like I'm inferior, I go, wow, they tried that, I'm going to try it, you know, and it opens up everything that you maybe didn't think that you were any good at, and you find out what you're not. I suck at golf. I'll never be good at golf, but I'm okay with that.

Heather Newman: It's totally okay.

Andrea Sikkink: It's not going to make me sad. It's all right.

Heather Newman: You're sort of, you're the compilation of the five people you spend the most time with. Right? And so, I think like, I loved growing up in the Midwest, I left the Midwest. I've been on the west coast ever since and I sort of traveled all around the world and all that stuff. And I really, I love people who push me and inspire me. Like I love watching you do what you do. It's super inspiring. And that's why I love talking to people on this podcast. I feel so blessed. My friends are amazing! Why not talk to them about their lives, right?

Andrea Sikkink: Exactly. I think it's awesome what you're doing. And I think with all the advances of how small the world can be with technology, that should be our focus, is how can we help each other and improve each other's lives versus comparing to each other versus going, oh, I'm not as good as this person. Instead like, wow, I could try that, or I can do this, you know?

Heather Newman: Or share what we're doing and how we're doing it. It's like, you know what, I bought this thing and I hit record and I stick it in somebody's face and be like "Let's talk about stuff."

Andrea Sikkink: I don't even know what that is.

Heather Newman: We've had some screaming babies and we've had a few cars go by, but I'm like, you know what?

Andrea Sikkink: That was some good music.

Heather Newman: That was some good music. That car was kind of cool too. At the same time I'm like, yes, should it be all professional? But then it doesn't come out. And I'm like…

Andrea Sikkink: It's so real. And then other people want to hear it.

Heather Newman: Yeah. I think so, I hope so.

Andrea Sikkink: Yeah. And I think it doesn't have to be Hawaii. It can be anywhere that you end up just plant those roots and try stuff and connect with people and yeah.

Heather Newman: That's awesome. Alright. Ms. Thing.

Andrea Sikkink: Thank you! Ms. As You Wish.

Heather Newman: Ms. As You Wish.

Andrea Sikkink: And he's coming. Carrie Elwes is coming again. He was here last summer for a comic con. I went to the comic con. My husband was promoting a movie that he was in, so I had to work the booth. I never got to see Carrie Elwes. Literally like across the hall from him. But he will be here, I think it's the end of July.

Heather Newman: That needs to happen.

Andrea Sikkink: I need to give him my card. As You Wish with the turtle on it.

Heather Newman: Yes. All right. I'm going to close this out. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Andrea Sikkink: Thank you, I appreciate it.

Heather Newman: Alright, I'm going to turn the button.

Andrea Sikkink: Go. Aloha!

EPISODE 5: TECH MAVEN - DYLAN SNODGRASS

Heather Newman: Okay, so we're here at the MVP Summit. This is Heather Newman with another Maven Moments podcast. Hello, I'm here with Mr. Dylan.

Dylan Snodgrass: Hello.

Heather Newman: Hi, how are you?

Dylan Snodgrass: I'm doing well, how are you?

Heather Newman: Good. I would consider you a Maven, an expert in all things digital and tech community.

Dylan Snodgrass: I'm really into that. Yeah.

Heather Newman: This week. Will you introduce yourself tell everybody.

Dylan Snodgrass: Yeah, I'm Dylan. I'm a community manager for the Microsoft Tech Community, which is kind of a social space for Office and Microsoft IT Pros who can discuss different things within the Microsoft sphere, ask questions, even reach out to other MVPs like you. As well as kind of go and speak with other members of the Microsoft product team who are with the tech community themselves as well as, of course, consume the Microsoft Ignite and Microsoft Tech Summit content. Throughout the year.

Heather Newman: That's great. Where did you start in IT?

Dylan Snodgrass: Well, starting with Microsoft IT, I started over with community management over with Xbox actually. And then from there I moved over to Skype, just consumer side of Skype, mostly handling social media. And then from there I moved over here to the Microsoft Tech Community. So it's just gotten broader and broader and broader.

Heather Newman: That's awesome. So where are you from?

Dylan Snodgrass: Well I come from a military family. So, I am located here in the Seattle/Redmond area now, and I've been in this area since I was eight. Before that it was all over.

Heather Newman: Awesome. Yeah. I was, my dad worked for JC Penny, so it's kinda like being a military brat. You know, the MVP Summit gets a lots of hugs of people coming in and out. We're out in the…

Dylan Snodgrass: We're all popular.

Heather Newman: Dux just came by. So we're out in the open. Anyway, that's great. So did you always want to be in IT? How did you get here?

Dylan Snodgrass: So, a big thing that I always loved, I just loved the possibility within socializing and creating social spaces that allows people to discuss the things they need to discuss, whether that be IT or anything under the sun really. I just kind of have fallen into IT. You know, being in this area, it's very much an IT kind of area, so it's kind of hard to escape. But I've also, I mean being a millennial I've always been a fan of technology and I've always been a fan of how technology works and how it can be better.

Heather Newman: Right. Yeah. I was going to ask you about that because I was like, you are a millennial for sure.

Dylan Snodgrass: I am a millennial. A lot of people are millennials and they don't even know it.

Heather Newman: That's true, I guess.

Dylan Snodgrass: Because I'm actually kind of, so I was born in 92'. I know everybody get your gasps out now. I know. Wow. Are Your eyes still working from that eye roll?

Heather Newman: I know. Ooh snap!

Dylan Snodgrass: But you know, that's actually kind of closer to the tail end of the millennial generation. A lot of people are before that. A lot of people who think that they were born in like the mid to early eighties don't consider themselves millennial, but they actually are.

Heather Newman: That's true. Absolutely. It is a larger spectrum than I think people really realize. I've been seeing a lot of articles about millennials in that, like are people, so businesses going, you know, we have to make a plan to deal with our millennials, like they're a problem and I think it's actually, you know, millennials, are actually solving a lot of problems. Do you find that you're getting things that are targeted towards you that are either on point, or just so off base that you're like really? I don't know.

Dylan Snodgrass: I think at the start of when people started marketing towards millennials either for a job or just for products, they kind of didn't understand what exactly millennials cared about. And I think that happens with every generation. You know, as they become adults, there's kind of a growing pain there where they don't necessarily know what that adult's, who's a consumer, because you know, you're very rarely a consumer until you're an adult.

Heather Newman: Right, money in the pocket.

Dylan Snodgrass: They don't really know what's gonna, what's gonna, catch their eye, stuff like that. That's why marketing and IT and like basically any sort of evolving, uh, can't remember the name, either way, business kind of has to keep going and growing and evolving and stuff like that. Now it's gotten a lot better, especially when it comes to like careers and stuff like that because a lot of times people have found that millennials, they don't necessarily care about, you know, as an employer you're going to do for me. It's what are my hopes that exist on the notion of you go to school and you do get good grades and you work really hard, you can do literally anything. And then you become an adult and while it's a lot better than it has been in the past, especially for people within diverse cultures. It's not always the case about being able to do anything, so you kind of really have to like focus on your dreams that really pushed you through trying so hard and I feel like that's also why a lot of the times, and you even see this with younger generations, but also with millennials, the effort it took to get to that point has gotten, that like road has gotten longer and longer because with technology that grows, the time it takes to learn that technology also grows sometimes, not all the time. Sometimes things get easier because people get innovative, but sometimes things get more difficult. Like math, I'm really bad at math.

Heather Newman: You and me both. I'm Gen X or Y. I think I'm Gen X. But uh, yeah or Y, or both. I'm cuspy. But, not my strong suit. I took logic in college, you know

Dylan Snodgrass: Oh yeah, that must have been fun. Just a lot of questions and zero answers.

Heather Newman: Such is life sometimes.

Dylan Snodgrass: I feel like, you know, like, you know, that is kind of the reality of it.

Heather Newman: So, being someone who is doing a lot of digital and social and all of that, do you have any favorites like that you're working in or do you find that you have to sort of, you go cross omni platform, right? With what you do, but with what you're doing with your job, is there anything that's more effective or that you find is sort of easier to get to audience, especially in the tech community?

Dylan Snodgrass: Well within the tech community, I think as a whole, the tech community is just quite innovative because it basically saw multiple needs and you know, the shift that Microsoft wanted to make of, you know, bringing things together, one Microsoft, stuff like that, and has really kind of embodied that and was trying to make like a singular space where people can get help with the things they need within Microsoft products or just discuss things with the community of other IT pros, other MVPs as well. So, I think that's been great. I think Yammer does a great job with that as well, and I know a lot of professionals have a great relationship with Yammer and they think that it's wonderful and I would agree.

Heather Newman: What's Yammer, tell everybody that's listening who may not know. I'll help you with it. The Yammer, well, Yammer is for the sort of that external bunch of teams, people collaborating and working together.

Dylan Snodgrass: So, the way that people always, or at least since Ignite I've been discussing it is Yammer is the outer ring and then Microsoft Teams is the inner ring. It’s your team. So think, I guess I would think of Yammer as the company as a whole, Microsoft as a whole, MVPs as a whole. And then within Microsoft Teams it would be, you know, OSS MVPs, Azure MVPs would each be in there.

Heather Newman: Yeah, absolutely. That's cool. Yeah. How about this stuff that's sort of outside Microsoft like Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn and Snapchat and all that?

Dylan Snodgrass: Yeah. Well, I mean there's everything under the sun really, but I think Twitter is great and I think it's going to always be great because it does a really great job of giving you a live snapshot of what something is, what someone is saying, what people are doing, stuff like that. It's really great and you know, easily consumable way to get a message across. And that's really important in social media because a lot of the times social media and technology is consumed on the go and it has to be consumed quickly or you have to be able to consume it while walking, which sometimes can be dangerous. And so, you can actually look up in between tweets, you know, and actually like know where you're walking before you walked out in the middle of the street. Another great social media platform that I think is doing a really great job is Facebook. I know that they've been trying to reach out more to their business leaders, don't know a whole bunch on that just yet. We're still kind of waiting to see where those waters go. But I think overall, overall as a community, you know, I grew up in the world of Myspace. You know, I was a teenager, you know, leading into Myspace and it wasn't until I was turning about 17, 18 that Facebook really kinda grew past a college, like meet your future dorm mate type of situation is kind of what it first started out as. And then with that, you know, Myspace had to completely transition over from being like a social platform to being a music/band platform. So, I think Facebook does a really good job. And Twitter and Facebook, those are kind of like the cornerstone of social media. Snapchat is doing a great job of kind of taking this kind of thing that you get with Twitter where it's easily consumable content and then making it visual, making it audio and accessible geographically because you can access things like Our Story, which is the Snapchat that is, you know, you and I can be not necessarily friends on Snapchat, but if we both add to Our Story, we will see each other’s stuff because we're in the same location or because we're part of the same demographic group.

Heather Newman: Did you hate the big update that they just did?

Dylan Snodgrass: I wasn't a huge fan. I wasn't nearly as mad at it as other people were. People were up in arms. Think about it. It was so much that they had to be like, “We're sorry we're changing it back”. Which, you know, that doesn't happen all the time.

Heather Newman: No, that’s some power to the people.

Dylan Snodgrass: Yeah, power of the people, power of the public court. I think I do like, you know, I do like Snapchat what they're doing now. I think with that update they were kind of going in the right direction, but it was a bit wonky and they just kind of need to refine it a little bit and it'll be great.

Heather Newman: Yeah. So, is there anything as far as the digital/social, so someone is in school or you know, looking to get into something similar that, like your path and your journey. Do you have some suggestions for folks, you know?

Dylan Snodgrass: Well something that really helped me with kind of understanding the industry is by consuming it on a personal level, you know? Growing up with social media and I live in social, I understand how that world works. Because it's not like regular marketing worlds where it's like, you know, the time of email blasts and you know, large signs out on the side of the buildings, stuff like that.

Heather Newman: Dancing people?

Dylan Snodgrass: Dancing people! Who knows, even though people are still paid to like dance and flip those things like crazy. But that kind of era, while it's not necessarily ending, it's being kind of overshadowed in my personal opinion by social media. You know, you can reach billions of people with typing 160 characters and clicking a button. And that's insane. Everything is cool and there forever, even if it's deleted, you know, it kind of creates a world where you have to be more aware of what you do. It doesn't always work. Not everyone is aware of what they do, but I feel like that is a big thing, is kind of growing up in the social media world and growing up in the communications world you know, really does help. And then of course understanding baselines of communication on, you know, going to school for it, learning where the history is of these kinds of industry, of what these kinds of jobs are. It is so expansive, it's more expansive than people think, you know, just how the history of syntax and communicating really came from.

Heather Newman: Words are kinda of powerful.

Dylan Snodgrass: They are powerful, and they have to be powerful.

Heather Newman: Absolutely. That's great. And with that, the last sort of thing I wanted to ask is, so I love what you do, and it's been fun hanging out with you and meeting you.

Dylan Snodgrass: Yeah, it’s been a great few days.

Heather Newman: You know, and since Ignite and you know, a long time and tell everybody about just why they should connect up with the tech community, because I know that it's near and dear to your heart, just make sure they know where to go to kind of see what you're doing and keep up on all of that sort of thing, with Microsoft.

Dylan Snodgrass: Yeah, of course. I mean I feel like anyone who actively works with Microsoft products, like if you've ever been in a situation where you're just, you don't know what to do and you're going through forums, you're going through support stuff and you're like, “Well, I have a question”, you know, and talk to somebody at Microsoft, that's great. And that's a great avenue to go. But sometimes you can talk to an MVP or someone who's been through your exact same issue or dilemma and, or someone who, you know, wasn't that same issue, and realize like this is so much easier than it can be. This is how you do it. You can reach that within the tech community. You can ask these questions, you can create that dialogue with other IT pros, with MVPs and with members of those product teams, because they have accounts as well, and it's connected through Microsoft. You log in with your Microsoft account and then of course working in IT you want to consume the most recent content. You want to consume everything that's new. We land so many blogs. Microsoft Teams has their blog on the tech community. SharePoint has their blog in the tech community and Office 365 has a blog. Analytics has a blog. There's so many blogs I can, it would take all of the time we had to list all of them. So I can't.

Heather Newman: So, don't.

Dylan Snodgrass: I won't. But you can find news, you can find answers and you can get all of the content from Ignite and Tech Summits in real time. You know, I mean with Ignite last year, the day after the sessions, the PowerPoints, even some recordings were uploaded onto the tech community and that's, I mean it's free. It's free guys. Like come on.

Heather Newman: Free and quick we like those things.

Dylan Snodgrass: Yeah, free and quick, who doesn't love that? If you grew up on the internet like me, free and quick is your bread and butter.

Heather Newman: Well, this has been lovely. Thank you for sitting with me for a minute.

Dylan Snodgrass: Of course.

Heather Newman: Okay, I'm going to sign off to everybody. Okay.

Dylan Snodgrass: Cheers everyone.

Heather Newman: Yes, cheers everyone.

Dylan Snodgrass: Bye.

Heather Newman: This is Heather Newman with another maven moments podcast. Have a lovely day and keep on learning.

EPISODE 4: SOCIAL JUSTICE MAVENS JILLIAN SCHULTZ & BEATINA THEOPOLD

Heather Newman: Hello everybody, this is Heather Newman giving you some more Maven Moments. I'm here today backstage with some lovely women I've been working with on Into Action, a celebration of cultural resistance and community power here in Los Angeles and ladies I'm going to let you introduce yourself.

Jillian Schultz: All right. My name is Jillian Schultz and on the Into Action team I've served a couple of different roles and worn a few different hats. I started off as the volunteer coordinator and then kind of transitioned into overseeing the production of all of the graphic design assets for getting the word out about the amazing work that we're up to here.

Beatina Theopold: And I am Beatina Theopold and similarly have done a couple of different roles. I started out on the donor team working to make sure that we had some money to make all of this magic happen. And then moved into, to work on the impact team with Eleuthra Lisch. Just to make sure that, you know, we have the record of what we are accomplishing here and that we can talk about all of the good work that we've done with some metrics, so number of volunteers that we've had come through the doors, number of people who've participated in our workshops and people who signed pledge cards and gotten involved with our art. So looking forward to getting the word out about that as well.

HN: Yeah. And what's been really fun for me is to. We're podcasting so welcome. So, yeah, so like I've just recently met these two gals and from being an event planner for a long, long time I can't tell you how impressed I've been with them both. They've been a joy to work with and they both have done monumental things here. I've watched them type so fast that you can't even see their fingers and running around and making things happen.

BT: With their fingers.

HN: Yes, fingers like the wind! So anyway, so have either of you worked on something like this before or worked on this event community or with these folks?

JS: So, I know this team from a group called Artivist LA

BT: We actually, that’s how both of us know them.

JS: Yes, both Beatina and I are on the steering committee of that group and that's how we kind of joined the fun. With regard to if I've worked on something like this before, I have worked on a number of large scale like public art events before, international photo festivals. I produced a number of those while I was based in Beijing, but it was nothing like the magic of Into Action. in particular the turnaround time, like making an event of this scale and size and human power come together in essentially two months is truly unprecedented.

HN: When was the start date of this? Cause I got involved a little bit later than you all did.

BT: I would say Yosi, the executive producer, Yosi started in October corralling people and getting people into their different roles. So, it really was just a three-month lead time, you know three and a half months from start to finish, which is a pretty quick turnaround for an event of this scale. This is the largest one that he's done to date. I have not been involved in the others that he's done, but Manifest Justice, Truth to Power. There are a few others.

HN: Manifest Hope.

BT: Yeah, that had been in Philly and other cities and have been sort of two to three days. Similarly, a lot of artwork but maybe not quite as large scale as this one. This one, you know, I knew Yosi, knew of Yosi, very briefly when I worked on the Obama campaign in 2007 and have followed what he has done and was just really excited to get involved in this because of the caliber of artists that he really attracts to submit their work. The level of artistry in the gallery is just amazing and it's really been a pleasure to be a part of it.

HN: Cool. That's great. So are you both, where are you from, Jillian? Where are you from?

JS: I'm from Chicago.

HN: Oh, hometown girl. Like myself.

BT: Go bears.

HN: Yeah, go Bears.

JS: Go ball sports!

HN: Went to high school in Wheaton. Where in Chicago?

JS:  I kind of moved around between Lakeview and Evanston.

BT: I from a very cold place, I'm from upstate New York, from Ithaca, New York. And I lived there for many years, then, like I said, worked on the campaign, bounced around for a while, was in Chicago for a little bit of time and moved to LA about two years.

HN: Okay, great. So what's, what's next for you both after this?

BT: I do have to say that, you know, I moved out to LA about two years ago. I've been involved in politics for a long time, but I am excited to get involved in more art related activities and I think LA is the city to do that. It's, you know, people think of it as the entertainment capital, but I think it's more than just entertainment and especially now it's arts and culture and people are really looking to infuse, I think a lot of their heart into the entertainment industry and you see a lot of people who are changing the industry and bringing new voices in and it's an exciting time to be here. So I'm excited to be a part of all that.

HN: Jillian, how about you?

JS: Oh boy. So much is next. Immediately after this project I switch gears to pick back up full steam ahead on a project that I'm doing for the Magnum Photo Foundation and I'm helping them to develop a mentorship program focused on cultivating documentary photographers, filmmakers, lens-based media practitioners in China who will be documenting, like working on social justice issues. So, that mentorship is exciting and then also doing

BT: That is another quick turnaround.

JS: Yeah, another quick turnaround.

HN: Shocking.

JS: And then I'm doing another similarly large-scale exhibition event festival related to climate justice with the Asia Society. It's an event called Coal and Ice and it's all about mankind's dependence upon coal and its impact on climate change. And that happens in San Francisco at Fort Mason in September. So that's like another full steam ahead type of endeavor. Lots of stuff like that. But I'm, I'm really excited. I've been in LA for four years and I was based in Beijing for a long time and a lot of my work has involved art and China, but it's been really thrilling to get involved in Artivism and find where the rubber meets the road of using art and culture to support social justice causes. So hopefully more of that.

BT: Wait, tell them about the movie.

JS: Oh yeah. I'm also producing. Forgot about that. Thank you. Would you like to be a producer? I am producing a documentary called How to Have an American Baby about Chinese birth tourism in Southern California, which is coming out any moment now. Watch out.

HN: That's exciting. We tell me a little bit about Artivists LA.

BT: Yes. So Artivists LA is a group that started right after the first Women’s March. So this is kind of the anniversary. Today's the day. Cristina Pacheco, who's an executive producer and Aleta Moliga who's an executive producer of this event, the Into Action exhibit. They both began Artivsits LA. After the first self-help graphics, women's sign making party, there was just this overwhelming energy. So many people who wanted to channel their energy into, into action, right? And they wanted to use their artistry for good things and get involved in changing the world. And so, the group kind of stood itself up in response to this overwhelming outpouring of people who wanted to, you know, paint signs and like knit hats and…

HN: Get together.

BT: And make sculpture.

JS: Make art.

BT: Get together and make art that could really express all the, you know, all of the emotions that are happening around what's going on in our country. So, we've had a lot of fun and we've had a lot of people get involved. We've done a bunch of different projects there have been, you know, movie making projects, there have been sign making. There's been sculpture…

JS: Hooten-nannies, protest songs, a flash mobs.

BT: Yeah. So, it's exciting and growing and everybody should get involved. You can find us online at @Artivists_LA on Instagram.

HN: Ah, gotcha, yeah. And there's a Facebook page as well and its very active

JS: ArtivistsLA. Look us up, I'll add you.

HN: Yes.

BT: Yeah. And we meet monthly and usually have good snacks and good chats. So we'd love to see you there.

HN: That's awesome. So, both of you are sort of new to LA-ish as am I. Outside of this sort of, where's your favorite place to hang out?

BT: Well, I live in the Larchmont area, so I kind of straddle Larchmont and Korea Town. I love going to Korea Town for some Korean barbecue and then also over in Larchmont there is a lovely farmer's market on the weekends. Go Get 'Em Tiger is my favorite coffee shop. Just a little plug for that. Everybody it's very nice. I take some dance classes at Dance Arts Academy. Those are all my favorite places. I love the Griffith Observatory.

JS: Yeah, I'm also similar neighborhood gal. I live in like East Hollywood/Korea Town zone. I love a good dive bar, so I highly recommend the HMS Bounty. It's like a 1960s nautical themed dive bar inside of the Gaylord Manner. Former hotel now residence. Highly recommend. It's like stepping back in time.

BT: Five stars.

JS: It's awesome.

HN: Five anchors.

JS: Yeah. I also, I'm obsessed with a chilaquiles, so anywhere I can get that. Tacos Via Corona in Atwater Village has a chilaquiles burrito for $5. That is amazing. And Cacao Mexicatessen has really good chilaquiles. So that's.

BT: That's where you can find Jillian

JS: Or out in the San Gabriel Valley having super legit Chinese food.

HN: That's good. I can't wait to flip through, rolodexes don't exist anymore. Dating me a little bit, but I'm going to be tapping you both for that for sure. I can wait. It's been amazing to watch you both, just meeting you and just being around other amazing strong women and women who are a little bit younger than me just coming up and kicking ass. And so it's just the grace under pressure that you both have shown with a lot going on has been pretty impressive. So I just wanted to say for the record, they're amazing. And if you're looking for folks to work with, I would highly recommend contacting me and getting ahold of these two because they're both fabulous. I know that this has been a lot, like I've had moments during this time where I just have been stunned to silence or tears of joy and all of that and not to put pressure on you to pick out one, but is there something that stands out or a couple of things that stand out to each of you at this experience that you want to share with folks?

BT: So, I think, yeah, I mean it has been, you know, a total emotional rollercoaster because you're working hard, you're exhausted, but then you're also, you know, around these amazing experiences. I think one of the things that I really loved was the dance session that they did, the dance activism. We shut down the bridge here and there were two groups of women dancing across the whole bridge. And just the joy of that was so amazing and that was a really big high. And then there are other pieces of the show that really touch you and remind you of just, you know, a lot of the grief that is happening in our country. One of the pieces that I think is most moving is the piece that is, that represents all of the mothers who've been affected by police violence and it's just such a beautiful piece and you see the pictures of their sons below them, and just realizing, you know, the heaviness of that experience of life and what it must be like. So yeah, it's been, it has been definitely an emotional experience to be a part of this and I'm so grateful for every part of it.

HN: How about you, Jillian?

JS: I would say what has impacted me the most deeply has been volunteer interaction. My faith in humanity is restored with every person that has like made, there are people that have come from across the state, from across the country to give their time, energy and expertise to make this happen. And that like, that blows me away and renews my faith that like the fight will go on and that the only way out is through and we're all in this together. And that's like what keeps me coming back and showing up when we're exhausted and under resourced and overwrought. It's like we're all doing this together and people are really, really grateful for this type of opportunity and to get involved and I'm looking forward to how this continues and like taking the show on the road and seeing what, what else we can make possible.

BT: I also have to say, you know, it has been the people that we're working with this, they're just such an amazing group of people and I feel lucky to have been a part of it because I have really built a lot of friendships. You know, I've of course built professional relationships, but I think also a lot of friendships and it's exciting.

HN: Yeah, absolutely.

JS: I was saying to my parents the other day on the phone, they're like, you sound stressed out and tired. And I was like, it's fine, I found my tribe in Los Angeles. These are the people, these are the ones I want to keep doing this type of work with these types of people.

HN: Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. I feel the same way. So you two, so thank you ladies for a moment. I pulled them away and I was like, "Come on, let's go do this for a second." And they were like,

BT: Ten seconds, ten seconds, ten seconds.

HN: "Wait, just wait a second. I'm typing, I'm typing". Like, oh my God. I was like, all right. I know, I know, ladies. Let's go. So anyway, thank you. Thank you both for all your hard work on this. This is Heather Newman with another maven moment podcast and just remember, we're always learning together. We rise and empathy makes us human and action makes us warriors, so get out there.

BT: Into action!

HN: Thanks ladies.

BT: That was fun I feel so professional.

JS: Yeah.

EPISODE 3: TECH MAVEN - ERICA TOELLE

Heather Newman: Okay, so this is Heather Newman and today we're talking with Erica Toelle, good friend, colleague in the SharePoint Office 365 world and I, wanted to talk to her about being an expert in user adoption because she brings that to the table and lots of other good things. So Erica, hello!

Erica Toelle: Hey Heather. Thanks for having me.

Heather Newman: Absolutely. So where are you working? What are you doing now? What's going on with you these days?

Erica Toelle: Yeah. So, I'm the Product Evangelist at Recordpoint focused on records management, compliance and information management. I'm very excited by the end user adoption opportunities in that area because it's so important to have companies have a solution in those areas and in order for it to work, people have to use it.

Heather Newman: Absolutely. Yeah. I know you and I kind of share love of that. We both speak on that topic in different wonderful ways I think at events. I love the word Maven, obviously that's the name of my company. It's the sort of self-proclaimed expert is the actual definition of the word, but I love talking to friends who have been working in the industry a long time and really become experts at what they do. So how long have you been working on sort of the end user adoption angle?

Erica Toelle: Well, I started out in management consulting focused on organizational change management, which is kind of the means, whereas end user adoption is the end you're trying to get to and actually ended up focusing on SharePoint because of the interesting end user adoption challenges it presented.

Heather Newman: Right. Or the dilemma I guess sometimes to some people.

Erica Toelle: Very much a dilemma.

Heather Newman: Absolutely. So as far as end user adoption, is there a methodology that you stick to or that you've created or things that you really like out there in the universe that you pluck either from Microsoft or other places that you recommend to people?

Erica Toelle: Yeah, certainly. I mean one of the things that's great about this space is you can get a doctorate degree in organizational design or other aspects of organizational change management. So there's a lot of research out there and things that people have discovered to work. I think the challenge in our space is that a lot of the methodologies are overkill for what we can do in our space. People don't have a six figure end user adoption budget on our projects.

Heather Newman: What? Really?

Erica Toelle: So, we're looking at what can we do with what we have that'll make the greatest impact and while you know, I don't think it's ever been the perfect solution on a project, we are able to add value if you will, and get more people to use it then if we had done nothing.

Heather Newman: Sure. Do you have, I mean not naming clients or anything like that necessarily, but is there somebody in the late past that you've felt like has done a really good job rolling out, say SharePoint or Office 365 or both or all of that that you can talk to a little bit like how they did it?

Erica Toelle: Yeah. I mean, I can say that they were in oil and gas and what they did is had about a four-person project team rolling out the SharePoint intranet and they were really focused on document management and collaboration and functionality offered above file shares, which is what they had previously. They had one of those four people dedicated to understanding and feeling the pain of the end users, if you will. And so, you know, they were the business analyst and the end user adoption person, but they were empowered with listening to people, understanding how they felt about it from week to week and the project team would actually have conversations about that and troubleshoot and respond and mitigate risks that were presented by basically people's feelings, which sounds really like, hippie, if you will, but

Heather Newman: Human.

Erica Toelle: It is, it's human. And I think just the fact that they were able to have a place in their project, in their conversations, for that type of a dialogue really helped. And then also, I was involved because I would meet with this person for about an hour every week or two and we would talk about how to solve and mitigate the risks that she had been identifying. So, I think that having somebody who had done this a bunch of times and could bring the experience and learnings from those projects, but not having to pay that expert full time was a really good choice.

Heather Newman: Sure. Absolutely. Yeah. That's cool. With executive buy in I know that's usually a really key factor and it's kind of one that's at the top. Do you have suggestions for people about that? Like how to get that executive buy in if it wasn't their idea?

Erica Toelle: Yeah, I mean, I think first of all, you need to identify the right executive. Depending on what you're building, you might not need the CEO of the company to be endorsing it. A better choice might be, you know, the VP of Sales if it’s a group or if it's a solution for the sales group. So first of all, pick the right person. Second of all, have very clear and specific things that you want them to do. Whether it's clicking send on an email communication or advocating for the project at a higher level to get more budget, whatever it is, just be very specific with them because they're more likely to do it and actually follow through then if you're vaguely asking them to support the project.

Heather Newman: Gotcha. Yeah. And I think that's great. And then sort of, you know, I think you and I both sort of reference different checklists that are fairly the same, you know, in talking about this and I feel like, I guess is there one piece of it that, it's always so different, right? But is there one piece of it that is consistently the outlier that people just either don't do, won't, do, you know what I mean? Out of sort of all the things in the adoption, sort of what you should do kind of thing.

Erica Toelle: Well, I'm going to maybe answer that in two parts. So, first of all people are getting really good about doing this, but it still is by far the most important, which is having a change champion program. Having people who are embedded working in the business, in the groups that you're trying to, where you're trying to effect the change because they're the ones that are going to tell you if there's a risk that needs to be mitigated. So number one, but people are getting pretty good at that. So, the second one that maybe we should do better is seeing is believing. I think we're still sometimes asking people to provide requirements when they don't even understand the tool.

Heather Newman: Okay. Yeah.

Erica Toelle: So, you know, if they don't understand the tool, they can't provide good requirements and so it's kind of a chicken and the egg problem. So just looking for those success stories, documenting them well through video and screenshots or even being able to show it live to other people so that they can have that Aha moment. So the whole goal is to create Aha moments

Heather Newman: Aha, like it.

Erica Toelle: Yeah. And then maybe have them use the more baseline solution for a bit before they start giving a lot of customization requirements because the customizations are what drive up the cost of the project really fast and if it's something that's so nice to have or isn't that important that they're kind of grasping at straws because they don't really understand the baseline yet, then why are, it's just a waste of money.

Heather Newman: Yeah, no, I completely agree with you. Those are great. So, with adoption and campaigns and stuff like that. So there's sort of the, you know, brand new Office 365 installation or installation of something brand new, it doesn't even have to be, you know, Microsoft or all of that. And then there's the ongoing sort of new hire or people coming into a department. I think. Do you see those all as sort of the same adoption path for the most part? Or do you think that, I mean they have some nuances obviously, but anything sort of big and striking between those, between sort of a new or a migration or that new hire? Anything there that sticks out?

Erica Toelle: Yeah, I mean I think they're a bit different in this situation, so if you're just moving brand new from on premise SharePoint, file shares or something to Office 365 I'm actually a big proponent of just get the content in there and don't change the business processes or enhance them too much until after the content is moved so they're kind of doing the same thing but with the new user interface. Let them get used to that just a little bit. And then in the second project, do the transformation of the content and changing of the information architecture or building solutions to make it more optimized and to be more productive because again, that way people are understanding the baseline functionality before they're now given requirements to customize it. And then for the new hire, I think it's less about maybe training them on here's how you use the software and more about here's how we've implemented it and here's the specific solutions we have, here's our team’s solution for sharing and collaborating on files. So, it's more step by step business process oriented instead of training on general functionality.

Heather Newman: Yeah, that makes sense.

Erica Toelle: Yeah. For training on general functionality, you know, I'm a big believer in, in-context training tools and I wasn't paid to say that.

Heather Newman: Not yet.

Erica Toelle: But I really think that they make the most sense for that general education because then what that means is people are right there when they're trying to upload a document, clicking on the help button and it tells them how to upload the document.

Heather Newman: Right? Yeah, absolutely. Cool. I want to switch gears a little bit because as well as being a maven, an expert on end user adoption. I know personally that you are also a travel maven and someone that, you know, you and I have traveled together a bit and, you know, shared some wonderful experiences together. Do you have for the road warrior for, you know, just in general, sort of some tips and tricks that you might want to share with people? I know you have so many. Maybe I should be a little bit more specific, but maybe about, we've got shows coming up. We're actually sitting here at a SharePoint Saturday having a conversation, so just sort of maybe tips and tricks for conferences, things that come to mind for you.

Erica Toelle: Okay. Well maybe not specific to conferences, but as soon as you said that a conversation I actually had on the plane with the guy sitting next to me on the way over here came to mind and there were two things that I see people confused about quite a bit. Number one, you're spending all of this time and money traveling, research the mileage programs and the credit card programs to get points and miles and value from those investments you're making so you can take your family on a cool vacation or take a dream trip. Like without even trying I can take about two fully luxurious vacations a year, like first class business class, five-star hotels, that I'm not paying for. It's just money I'm spending anyway on conferences and business travel being leveraged. And to that point, the second tip is you get most of that from credit card spend, and credit, a lot of people, there's this association that credit cards equal debt and that's not true at all. You can have a credit card and you can pay it off in full every single month and not be charged any interest and be earning the points and miles from it.

Heather Newman: Absolutely.

Erica Toelle: So yeah, that's how, that's how you do it.

Heather Newman: Right. So it's connecting sort of what you get sort of double points for. So say if you have a Chase and it's United and you're buying a United ticket or whatever for the example, like what's connected to what, what gives you double the bang for the buck, a free bag, entrance into a club, like all that kind of stuff.

Erica Toelle: Yeah, I mean it's really about what you want to get out of it. A trip for your family. Do you want to have more comfort on your existing business trips? All of that's possible and even if you just want to keep it super simple and get one well rounded credit card and keep it simple or you can be more complicated. Like I think this is fun and so I have one credit card that gives me the most points for airline tickets and one that they use for hotels and, because of the bonus categories, but that's just because I find it fun and interesting and I like the math of it.

Heather Newman: Yeah, absolutely. No, that you do. I mean, you definitely do that really, really well. Is there, I mean just besides sort of looking it up and, you know, reading about the different programs, do you think, is there any besides, you know, sort of the things you write because you write great things about that on your Facebook and different places where you're always sharing information about, “Hey, if you want to know about this, check it out”, you know, are there other people that you look to as far as like travel kind of tips or anybody instagrammy or, you know?

Erica Toelle: Yeah, so I mean there's two blogs that I think are really the best. My favorite favorite blog is called One Mile at a Time and he travels around reviewing lounges and business and first class products. But he also has things like, he's determined what he considers to be a value of points, so you can use it to check like, oh, I'm gonna, maybe get this redemption, like I'm going to use my Alaska miles to fly on Cathay Pacific for First Class. You can do the math and say, “Oh, I'm getting, you know, five cents a mile value from that”. And I go and check his evaluations. He values Alaska points at 1.8 cents. Since five cents is higher than 1.8 cents, it's a good deal.

Heather Newman: Sure.

Erica Toelle: So, I use it as kind of a sanity check. And then the other one is probably the most famous blog out there. He's the one who's always on Good Morning America and stuff, the Points Guy. So, he also has an app that's super useful on your phone you can put in the credit cards that you have, and it'll tell you what credit card do to use for what category. So use this credit card for airlines, use this for groceries, use this one to pay your gas. So you don't have to like remember it all, you can just check the app.

Heather Newman: If it's easy, we'll do it. Right?

Erica Toelle: Yeah, absolutely.

Heather Newman: Where are you, if you don't mind sharing, are there any places you're excited about going this year that you've kind of made out of points and that kind of thing.

Erica Toelle: Well, I haven't exactly decided yet.

Heather Newman: Well, you just got back from seeing the pandas. Oh my god, we haven't even talked about that. I was like, "You're hugging pandas, I'm so jealous".

Erica Toelle: Oh yeah. It was great. I really recommend you go to Chengdu, China and visit the giant panda breeding center. I didn't go to the actual Chengdu Breeding Center because it's very touristy and pop, there's a lot of people there. There's about five in the area. So, I went to one of the other ones that I actually can't pronounce to this day. And you can, you know, pay $100 and be a panda volunteer for the day where you actually get to, well, "get to" clean their cages, hand feed them, and really get up and close with the pandas as well as learn a lot about them. Yeah. So I recommend doing that. You can any, I think you have to be 12 years old to do it, so it's great to do with teenagers as well.

Heather Newman: That's cool. How did you find the pandas? I mean.

Erica Toelle: You know, it's funny, One Mile at a Time, that blog I like. He went there in maybe October and was like, you know, did all the research, documented the car service he used, how he booked it to get the lowest price and I literally just copied his itinerary.

Heather Newman: Really?

Erica Toelle: Yeah. I stayed at the same hotel because I was really busy and I didn't have time to plan the trip and so I was like, I know I trust this guy, so I just took his trip.

Heather Newman: That's fantastic. Hey, if it works, if it ain't broke, that's awesome. Very cool. So yeah. So, any future things you're looking into?

Erica Toelle: I mean this year I'm trying to finish visiting all the US states, I think, so I'm going to use up some of my Alaska miles. I'm checking those off and I want to see our whole country maybe before I start seeing the rest of the countries that I want to see.

Heather Newman: I road tripped a lot as a kid, so I've seen a lot of it, I think Alaska and Maine are some of the outliers for me.

Erica Toelle: Yeah Maine, I need to go to Maine.

Heather Newman: Yeah, it’s so far, I guess.

Erica Toelle: And Alabama.

Heather Newman: Oh, Alabama, awesome. Very cool. Well, right on. Yeah, thanks for the chat.

Erica Toelle: Always a pleasure.

Heather Newman: Aww, I know. Such a great colleague and a friend so it's always awesome to talk to folks who really are experts at what they do and that's what I'm really interested in sharing and Erica definitely has such a great background and is such a great community person in SharePoint and Office 365 and is always sharing really cool travel tips and she's a world traveler and she's really experienced with doing all this fun stuff. I always learn things from you all the time and

Erica Toelle: Oh, thank you.

Heather Newman: Yeah, it's super fun. And lastly, Erica is also very passionate, as am I, about women in technology and so we work on that kind of stuff a lot together and we're, you know, a lot of the shows that are coming up, there's a lot of that, you know, women in SharePoint, women in tech and all of that stuff. Have you been doing anything around that recently? And I know we've sort of talked about some things. I don't know. Is there anything coming up for you in that realm?

Erica Toelle: Well, I mean, something I do ongoing is just mentor college students. And, well I know I do it equally between men and women.

Heather Newman: Perfect and wonderful. Yay. Absolutely.

Erica Toelle: So, I'm just like kind of helping the young people get ready for a real job in the real world outside of like the Ivory Tower of academia. But I do find myself having a little bit different conversations with the women about, you know, how to properly assert yourself in the workplace or you know, stand up for your ideas or present them because I find they haven't been taught the skills yet for some reason. Whereas the men have that come to them a little more naturally. I don't know if it's PC to say that, but it's just what I observed.

Heather Newman: No, I think that's not wrong. Yeah, I do. And I think hopefully we're changing that all the time. But I do, I think there's just something about that growing up in our education system, you know, and our country

Erica Toelle: Well, even when at the beginning of this podcast when you were like, oh, you're describing me as an expert, it made me feel very uncomfortable.

Heather Newman: See. I think you, I think you are though, I mean it.

Erica Toelle: Right, but it's like hard to do, still to this day it's hard to do the self-promotion.

Heather Newman: Yeah, I get it. Well, I talk a lot about with, with folks when I do personal brand stuff, is that we talk a lot about the imposter theory, you know, that we have this idea that, you know, like we don't know what we're talking about and, some of life and business is smoke and mirrors, you know, from the theater if you will. But I do feel like I do feel like women tend to not give themselves enough credit and not realize that they are truly experts in our fields. And I do it sometimes too, for a long time I said, “Oh, I'm just a theater major”. Well, being a theater major in the technology world and what I'm doing gives me an edge and makes me different. And I had my, some friends and some people very close to me point that out to me and they were like, don't sell yourself short that way. You know,

Erica Toelle: It also makes you an excellent presenter. Entertaining and informative.

Heather Newman: It does bring the jazz hands to the table, that's for sure. So anyway, well cool. I'm so thankful for you for doing that with the young people. I knew you did that, but I'd forgotten about it. That's super cool.

Erica Toelle: It's honestly my favorite thing to do.

Heather Newman: Yeah, that's Rad. That's very awesome. And Erica has like this huge awesome background in music too, producing festivals. You are an expert in lots of things, so yay, that's why you're on here. So. Awesome. All right, well thank you for joining me on the podcast.

Erica Toelle: Yeah, thanks for having me. This is great.

Heather Newman: Yeah, you're very welcome hun. All right, signing off. Thanks everybody. Always learning. Have a good day.

EPISODE 2: SEARCH MAVEN AGNES MOLNAR

Heather Newman: All right. Hello everybody, it's Heather Newman with you with Creative Maven here at Microsoft Ignite and talking to a longtime colleague and friend, Agnes Molnar and talking with people who are mavens, experts in their field. I think she's definitely a maven in tech. How are you today?

Agnes Molnar: Hello everyone. Hi Heather. Thank you. I'm quite exhausted because it's been a long day, long week, but at the same time I really feel very good. It's an amazing and very interesting even.

Heather: Wonderful. So Agnes tell everybody a little bit about your awesome company. So female woman owned business. Yes?

Agnes: Yes, absolutely. So, what I do is I do trainings and consulting and also in person workshops about enterprise search and SharePoint and Office 365 and, well the name of my company is Search Explained, and I think it describes everything I do. I explain search in the language that makes sense for everyone. If I talk to business, I try to talk their language. If I talk to end users, I like to talk their language, so I really, I really like, you know, just explaining things, how it works, how you can make it work because search is like magical black box for a lot of people. So you'll get the content in and you get some results out. This magic is actually, it's complex, but it's not magic.

Heather: Right. I think you’re magic. So that's awesome. You have a lovely accent. Where are you from?

Agnes: I am from Budapest, Hungary, central Europe.

Heather: That's wonderful. Budapest. It's one of my favorite words to say ever.

Agnes: We pronounce several things a little bit differently. We pronounce Budapest.

Heather: That's awesome. How long have you been in IT?

Agnes: Since my birth I would say no, not really. It's, it's been a long story because, you know I was born in central Hungary in a very small town in a very poor family. We didn't have computer. We, I mean, yeah. And, even in the school where I was in elementary school, they did have computers, but only in the eighth grade you were allowed to go to the computer room which had 16, Commodore 4s and Commodore 16s. And so it was a big thing to get to that room. but I was very good at math, so my teacher, my math teacher allowed me to go to the computer room in the fifth grade, with the eighth-grade boys and girls, which was a very cool thing. I spent a lot of my time and often was in the computer room, but at the beginning I, in the fifth, sixth grade I wanted to become a doctor. So I thought, okay, it's fun to play. I mean, play with computer. I was writing code, so I was developing games

Heather: So, you came out of the womb writing code?

Agnes: Just a, just for fun. So I didn't have any plans with that. I thought it's just fun. And then I don't know why I was in the seventh grade maybe when my teacher asked me, “Why don't you want to learn this?”, because those days at the universities, we already had computer science and those kinds of things. So, she asked me, “Why don't you do this?”, and I am like, is it possible? So I went to high school. I did almost the same there, but I still didn't, I didn't have a computer at home. I got my first pc when I was 17 and yeah, after, I mean at the the end of the high school I applied to the Budapest University of Technology and Economics to, for computer science. And, yeah, I've been there and stayed there. I mean, yeah, I mean it's, it was a very fun part of my life. I started my studies at the university, but after a few months my parents told me that I didn't have money for it anymore. So they wanted me to move back home and start doing something, you know, that I make money with and you know, I am, I can be, I don't know the right word.

Heather: Formidable?

Agnes: Yeah. So, basically what I figured out, okay, I'm going to start work, but I'm not going to home. I'm staying at the university, I'm doing my studies and work at the same time. So, I started to work, you know, the school year starts in September and I started to work in January. The same semester actually. My very first semester. So it, yeah, it was seven years until I've got my diploma in the end, but by the end of my studies I've got six and a half years of work experience as well. So it was really, really hard at some points. But now I am, I am very happy for that.

Heather: That's amazing. And you persevered through the whole, you just kept going and going and going.

Agnes: So, from the point of when I've got my first salary, you know, after the first month, because in Hungary we get salaries each month, not, you know, not every two weeks. So when I've got my first salary, I haven't accepted a penny from my parents anymore. Nothing. I was like, okay, you wanted me to work. I do that, I do that for myself. Just, you know, to be able to continue my studies and everything and yeah, it was, it was a big thing.

Heather: I can see from the smile on your face. That's something to be proud of.

Agnes: I am.

Heather:  Yeah. You should be, you know, because that's a big deal to be able to fend for yourself.

Agnes: Yeah. So back to your question, I was 11 when I started to play with the computer. In other words, when I started to write code and yeah, since then I've been doing that in different things, but still with computers.

Heather:  When did you start with SharePoint?

Agnes: It was in 2001 with SharePoint, 2001. I was working with a company who just became a Microsoft Partner at that time and they wanted to do a proof of concept, which was really funny because it was a Windows application that use the SharePoint search API to get data from Exchange. And the funny part was I was a developer. I was responsible for the back end. So, I use the SharePoint API to get data from Exchange, but for more than a year I didn't realize that SharePoint had a user interface as well. So, for me at that time SharePoint was an API, but my next project was to work with SharePoint from user perspectives to create some content management or whatever. And Yeah. And after that, you know, I've got the stamp on my hand that I know SharePoint, so at that company and at my next, employers as well, they, I did several other things, but I always got back to SharePoint.

Heather:  And when did you start your business?

Agnes: Actually, it's my second business. Yeah. I started the first one which is still alive, it's a funny thing. When my first son was born, who is 11 and a half now, we founded a company with my husband, which is a software developer company. what they do, I mean my husband still runs that company, so that's the funny part. They do SharePoint development, custom applications and all those things. So I, I used to work there for about three years, then I decided to leave and when I left the company that I had founded with my husband, a lot of people thought we have got divorced as well. No, it was not the case. I just wanted to do something else. So yeah, I started working as an employee again for a company based in the US. Um, but I still lived in Hungary, so it was a really funny two and a half years. And then I left that company and finally I founded this company four and a half years ago.

Heather: Okay. It's been a while then. Do you love running your own business?

Agnes: I do, yes. It gives me, you know, it gives me the freedom, you know, raising three children is really challenging.

Heather: Yes. Good on you sister.

Agnes: Uh, so yes, I, I don't know how other mothers do that. I mean working mothers do that, but I really need the flexibility and freedom that I get when I run my own business. Of course it has another tradeoffs that I have to deal with it, but it's, I think it's the best for me and the best for my family as well.

Heather: That's great. So, um, in a sort of women in tech area or just, I know you read a lot, you know, you're looking at different things education-wise. Is there anybody that sort of lately or in the last bit that you really like what they're saying. women out there who have blogs or books or talking about different issues or writing or any of that stuff. Is there anybody you pay attention to?

Agnes: I know you are not expecting this one, I swear, but my answer is you.

Heather:  I didn't pay her to say that actually. Thank you.

Agnes: No, but really, whatever you write on medium and your Facebook posts and everything, you gave me so much inspiration. I really mean that. So if anybody asked me I would say the same.

Heather:  Wow. That's. We’ll all right then. Thank you. Absolutely. That's great. Well, cool. And for this show, you know, there's been lots of announcements. What are you sort of taking away from Ignite this year that's pertinent to you or just think pertinent to SharePoint in general?

Agnes: Yeah, I think there are a lot of very cool things and the amazing announcements here. To be honest, I cannot be as excited as many people are, not because they are not cool announcements because they are really cool. But first some of them are not related to my expertise. Second, some of them are kind of not messaging the way I expected or not communicating the way I expected. But anyway, it's a cool conference. And, and the announcements are really cool. I just really have a lot to do with, you know, I have to digest everything

Heather:  You’re expected to talk to people and they're asking you questions and so you have to have that filter of like I am taking in all this information, trying to understand it regardless of how it's messaged, and be able to put it back out into the community as a community leader. I mean, you're an influencer, you're a leader, you know? How many times have you been awarded all kinds of great things, you know, like lots, right?

Agnes: Yep. Absolutely. So back to the beginning of my conversation, I want to be able to explain it to everyone.

Heather: That's the point of your company, right?

Agnes: Yeah, exactly.

Heather: That's great. Yeah. my last question for you is, I'm very interested in sort of those moments, be they big or micro that spark us to do something or that change us or, that something that happened in our life, it can be, you know, about business, something in business or you know, just something that really, that you kind of recall as, maybe something that lit you up in a way that changed something for you or you know, something.

Agnes: It's a really interesting, you know, because, you know, I travel a lot for events and conferences and many people think that it's exhausting. And as a mother of three, I should stay home more and those kinds of things. Actually, even if I travel for business and even if I travel for fun, I am busy when I travel, those are kind of me time when I have time and you know, I can be away from my home, my work, everything, to reflect. And so usually I get those moments when I travel.

Heather:  Yeah, yeah. I get your little sparks. I feel the same way. I love, I love that there's the, I love my home, I love going home. There's something about, you know, a super clean hotel room that you can mess up

Agnes: And I don't know, like right now the contrast is not the same because we still, and it's a stupid thing. We still have a very good weather in Hungry, but I am here in Orlando every year for another conference, which is always in November or December when we already have winter. So those trips are always amazing for me because you know, I can get sunshine, I can, it's warm and everything. So even if I work hard then I don't know. I have lots of meetings and I do workshops every year and, and those kind of things. It's always like a vacation for me as well and I always go back with new ideas.

Heather: Energized.

Agnes: Yes, exactly, exactly.

Heather:  Well, so everybody, this is Agnes Molnar. She's fantastic and worked in SharePoint for a long time. She's a, I will call her a search maven for sure. She is an expert in that field. she has her own wonderful company Search Explained, she's doing blogs and she has wonderful courses and she's doing webinars and all of that stuff. And where can we find that on the web? Where can we find you on the web?

Agnes: You can find me at the SearchExplained.com

Heather: So, Agnes, lovely. Thank you so much.

Agnes: Thank you Heather.

Heather: You're welcome. And I really didn't pay her to say that, but I really appreciate that.

Agnes: Not yet you didn't.

Heather:  We'll get you later. No. So anyway, so I'm talking podcasts for Creative Maven and everybody, let's lift each other up and have a great day. Thanks.

EPISODE 1: EVENT MAVEN TRACY O'CONNELL

Heather Newman: Hi everybody, this is Heather Newman and we are talking here today at Ignite. I'm doing a little bit of mavening. We're looking at a great friend and colleague, Tracy O'Connell who is in charge of the European SharePoint Conference and I would call her an event maven for sure. Maven in tech, a longtime friend in the SharePoint community. So hello!

Tracy O'Connell: Hello. Thank you, Heather. Thank you for the lovely introduction and great to do this podcast with you. a lady, who I think, is the one of the leaders in SharePoint and has been from the very beginning, so thank you.

Heather: You're welcome.

Tracy: Thanks for having me.

Heather: Absolutely. Going to check and make sure we're doing our thing here. Oh yeah. Okay. Recording. Yay! I'm coming to speak at your event again, so thank you for that.

Tracy: Exactly, fantastic can't wait to have you in Dublin.

Heather: I know, I'm so excited to come back. Studied at Trinity for a semester a long time ago. So I'm excited to come back. So when is the event?

Tracy: The event is in November, so November this year in about seven weeks and it's 13th to 16th of November and it's in the convention center in Dublin. So we're really excited. We're inviting people from all over Europe, all over the world and to date we already have confirmed in and around 1200 people from everywhere, all over Europe to the states, Canada, China, Australia, even. Predominantly our attendees would be from the Nordics, Germany, UK, and then all over Europe.

Heather: That's fantastic.

Tracy: So, IT Pro, Dev and Business is, you know, the three tracks we cover at the conference and everything SharePoint, Office 365 and Azure. we have nine sessions at any one time, so you can kind of choose what to go to. And loads of choice. Really a strong program I think in 2017.

Heather: Fantastic. That's really great. How many people do you think are going to attend?

Tracy: I expect somewhere between 1,500 to 1,700 this year. I'd like to see us grow on our previous numbers in Vienna and Stockholm and just strengthen the conference. It is the biggest one in Europe and we've been consistently growing, so, yeah, I think we can expect to see that in 2017 in Dublin.

Heather: Yeah, that's great. Wonderful. So how about our keynotes?

Tracy: Our keynotes are amazing. We have a lineup of four really strong keynotes. I can't wait to see them. we open the conference on Tuesday morning, the 14th of November with Jeff Teper.

Heather: Wonderful.

Tracy: So that will be amazing. We can't wait to see Jeff.

Heather: I was hanging out with him last night a little bit. He's amazing.

Tracy: He is amazing. Yeah. so, we're really privileged and honored to have Jeff open the conference for us. Then we have Benjamin Niaulin who I think everyone knows and respects as well. Also met him this morning, wonderful guy and he's really pumped about the keynote. I think he's going to really do an amazing job. So, we will have, you know, for that first morning opening the conference, we will hear from Jeff, you know, the Microsoft story and then we'll have Benjamin who will give the Office 365 SharePoint perspective from the community side. I think they complement each other perfectly. They're back to back on the first morning of the conference and then we break out into breakout sessions. So, eight to nine choices at any one time then we have on the following day we have Rafal Lukawiecki. He's amazing. Yeah. Really, really good guy. you might have seen or heard him do presentations on BI before. I'm really, I think this guy is a genius. He is speaking on machine learning and AI. So that's going to be something really special. I think he's also here at Ignite, doing a few sessions. And then the final keynote is going to be Vesa Juvonen. So, you know, a Dev keynote essentially, and PMP. Although we haven't announced it yet, that's going to be a scenario where Vesa predominantly does the keynote, but potentially with some friends as well.

Heather: Oh Great.

Tracy: So that story is evolving based on friends. We're really excited about that as well. That's the final day. So, all in all I think a really good set of keynotes and I can't wait to see them.

Heather: Something near and dear to my heart, the Women and Technology Lunch that you wonderfully had me do for the last couple years.

Tracy: Thank you Heather. You've been really awesome speaking for the last two years.

Heather: Yeah, absolutely. So thank you for that. And I know that you're mixing it up a little this year, which is awesome. Are you revealing who's speaking there?

Tracy: We can reveal it now. So, I've just confirmed recently we're going to have Karuana Gatimu who is the principal engineer of Microsoft Teams, so she's going to be amazing. She's going to speak on empowering women in the age of digital transformation. It's going to be really good, really awesome person. We may also have some smaller elements of that lunch where we hear from women in tech and girls in tech, so some of those great organizations yeah. We hope you join us as well, heather.

Heather: Of course. Yes. I'll be Rah Rah, Rah and get everybody going to this. Absolutely. So that's great. So you're a woman in tech, how long have you been at this?

Tracy: I have been working on technology conferences since 2001.

Heather: Goodness.

Tracy: Yeah. So around 16 years. So, I'm in the SharePoint space, Microsoft space since about seven years ago. And prior to that I was working on software testing events. Yeah. So still in technology, you know, technology events. But yeah, this community, the Microsoft community is one that I think really stands out as special. There's a tightness and closeness in the SharePoint community that I haven't experienced in other industries. And yeah, this week more than ever I think that's really apparent. You know, you can see the excitement and the energy when Jeff does his keynote, you know, everyone knows each other, respects each other and helps each other. I think even in the expo you see that there's a competitive edge, but also already friendly, camaraderie,

Heather: Co-opertition maybe?

Tracy: Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. It's really nice, but I do think it's exclusive to this community. I haven't seen it as tight in any other industry.

Heather: Yeah, for sure. I'm curious about, I've been doing some writing and talking and reading all kinds of things about sort of what, what moves us and moments of awe in our lives and I'm curious, maybe put you on the spot a little bit, but can you think of like a moment that was the spark for you of like when you say, decided to kind of get into this or what, what made you go, yes, this is what I want to do.

Tracy: I think for me, the one that stands out is the first SharePoint conference I did in Berlin because there what we did, myself and the team, was that we took an idea to something real and a real life event within 12 months and there was that sense of accomplishment and wonder, you know, when all that community came together in Berlin. A community, which granted, already existed before I was in this industry, but just to facilitate those people meeting on a larger European stage was really special and since then we've been growing. It gets more special the more we can kind of grow out that event and, and bring more nuances, more elements to it. But the first one was special because you could tell it was strong and it was special. It was going places. So that was, it was hard work, but certainly a serious sense of accomplishment. And there is that, that buzz you get from a live event that I think is difficult to replicate. I love working on events and there's something about a coming together and the energy from all the people there that is really special.

Heather: That's great.

Tracy: I love doing this.

Heather: What was your first, first event that you ever put on?

Tracy: First, first event?

Heather: Was it when you were a kid? Maybe?

Tracy: Yeah. Well, yes, you know, there would have been birthday parties and school events, college events as well, you know, I was in the Kayak Club in college and then we would do fundraising events and that kind of thing. So yeah, those were probably the first ones. At that point I didn't think I would be in events.

Heather: What where you're going to do?

Tracy: I was studying commerce. So it was kind of wide open, you know, um, and I specialized in marketing, so therefore, you know, it does make sense. Yeah, and I did begin working in marketing and then really liked the events side of it. you know, attending events, organizing smaller ones and that's where that was the direction I took then, and although I'm still involved in marketing, someone else overseas that function in our company and does a great job on it and so, you know, I am involved but not to the scale I am in the event side of things.

Heather: You run the logistics and the content. I mean you run the whole show, right? As far as that goes, you have a lot of people to help you.

Tracy: A great team though. They really help. Couldn't do it without the team.

Heather: Will you tell me where are you from? I love your accent and I know where you're from, but will you tell everyone?

Tracy: I am from Ireland. So, based in the west coast of Ireland in Galway. So, next stop America really. We're on the west coast. It's lovely. Seaside town.

Heather: I Turned 24 in Galway.

Tracy: Did you? Oh, amazing.

Heather: There's a bar there, restaurant, bar, ha ha. Called is it, I'm going to say it probably incorrectly, but it's the Nockton?

Tracy: Oh, Neachtain's. Yes. Yeah, yeah. It's still, they're still going strong.

Heather: I tuned 24 in that bar.

Tracy: That's a fabulous bar. Hasn't changed. Everything inside is quaint and very old, wooden furniture.

Heather: Galway is known for that beautiful arts festival which I went to, it was all at the same time. So yeah, I got to do all of that, which was quite lovely.

Tracy: You would've been doing loads of acting around that time and everything yeah?

Heather: That was when I studied at Trinity, actually Irish plays and playwrights. So yeah. I didn't realize you were from Galway, that's amazing.

Tracy: I'm from Kerry. My parents are from Kerry, in the south, and that's where I grew up, but work and live in Galway now. I love it. Yeah. So, the conference we're running this year as it happens is in Dublin as well. Dublin is east coast. So, a few miles from Galway.

Heather: Well wonderful. So, to some of the other women in tech out there, sort of any piece of advice, inspiring thing you've seen lately or somebody that you read and follow that you're like, oh yeah, you should check them out?

Tracy: I like Sheryl Sandberg, you know? I also like the idea, and I've heard you talk on this, Heather, is that what's important is that women help each other and we're all in this together and you know, if there's someone that needs help, or you've done it before and you can give someone advice, help them along. I think that's really important and you know, I think it's important as well for us to feel more so that we're, we're all equal. Men and women, we're all doing jobs. And I like to think of it as I like to try and think of us as all equals and sort of, yes, that women should help each other, but by the same token, we should be helping men. Men should be helping us as well and like to kind of feel that it's a more even playing field, but certainly in tech and in these events, we can see, you know, that there are far, far more men in this industry than women. For that reason alone, I think we do need to look out for each other and help each other along the way. Yeah.

Heather: Lift a sister up. That's awesome. Cool, well I appreciate you sitting down with me for a minute and doing this.

Tracy: I loved it and thank you heather. So good to see you

Heather: I know, it's great to see you too. So everybody, thank you so much. And um, that was Tracy O'Connell from the European SharePoint Conference and we're going to sign off and have a great day and do lift each other up is what we need to do. So thank you.

Tracy: Thank you heather.