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Your Dream Job Might Be Keeping You Small: Rebuilding with Elaine McKnight
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What happens when the career you worked so hard to build no longer has room for you to grow?
In this episode of Gritty is the New Pretty, host Krystle Edwards sits down with Elaine McKnight, founder of The McKnight Element, to talk about leaving the perceived safety of corporate life, grieving the identity attached to a dream job, and building a business rooted in strategy, storytelling, and cultural connection. Elaine shares how she turned years of marketing experience into a purpose-driven business that helps small businesses and nonprofits better understand their customers, reach overlooked audiences, and create marketing that feels human—not performative.
Join us as we discuss:
• When the Dream Changes: Why leaving a prestigious career can feel like losing part of your identity—and how grief can be part of professional growth.
• Marketing Is Bigger Than Social Media: How storytelling, customer experience, referrals, accessibility, and trust work together to grow a sustainable brand.
• Stop Overlooking Entire Markets: Why authentic, year-round cultural inclusion helps businesses reach customers who are ready to engage, buy, and belong.
If this episode hit, take 10 seconds and help it travel—follow the show, leave a quick rating, and share it with a woman who’s ready to be heard.
Follow us @gritcitywomen | www.gritcitywomen.com
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Transcript
Introduction to Gritty is the New Pretty
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to Gritty is the New Pretty, where resilience meets real talk. I'm your host, Crystal, entrepreneur, leadership coach, change maker, and outdoor enthusiast.
00:00:15
Speaker
Join me as I sit down with powerhouse women leaders, entrepreneurs, and small business owners who share their raw, unfiltered stories of success, struggle, and the grit it takes to make an impact. From navigating change to redefining success, we'll explore what it takes to rise, lead, and thrive.
00:00:35
Speaker
Expect raw conversations to fuel your journey, whether you're breaking down barriers in life or in business. We're redefining success, not by perfection, but by the strength it takes to rise again
Mission of the Podcast: Redefining Success
00:00:49
Speaker
and again. Because in this space, gritty is the new pretty.
00:00:53
Speaker
Hit subscribe and let's get gritty with it.
Elaine McKnight's Journey into Entrepreneurship
00:00:59
Speaker
Today's guest on Gritty is the New Pretty is Elaine McKnight, the founder of The McKnight Element, a bilingual marketing consultant helping small businesses and nonprofits grow with strategy, story, and cultural connection.
00:01:12
Speaker
After walking away from what looked like a dream job in publishing, she chose the scarier and truer path, building something of her own right here in Tacoma. Welcome, Elaine. Thank you, Crystal. Thanks for having me.
00:01:26
Speaker
Of course. So why don't you go ahead and start off with telling us a bit about you? Yeah, ah definitely. um So my name is Elaine McKnight and I live here Tucumbo, Washington. I moved away from Miami, living there my whole life and leaving my family behind for a job.
00:01:45
Speaker
And it was such ah an adventurous time of my life to move over here. And i'm met my husband. We've established a life here. this is my other home. I have two homes.
00:01:57
Speaker
And it's been remarkable to be in such a very different city than Miami, Florida, but also such a very welcoming city that is more aligned with who I am as well. And after 11 years of corporate world, I decided to exactly what you said, go on and choose the kind of more scary road and start my own business after two leaving, like you said, my dream job. So it's been a lot of excitement excitement and fear and doubt and all the things in between in this almost year of having the McKnight element.
00:02:40
Speaker
Wow. Well, congratulations to almost a full year. I feel like you've been around longer because I've been following your
Women Leaving Corporate for Entrepreneurship
00:02:46
Speaker
stuff. So i feel like i already know you um Let's talk more about the transition that you had with your career and how you got there, because I think that is a big part of the conversation now with women is leaving more of the corporate setting to be more entrepreneurial and have more freedom or whatever their reasons may be. So can you tell us a little bit more about that and how you got there?
00:03:13
Speaker
Yeah, i was one of those workers that loved the quote stability of corporate. I enjoyed working at a specific place. I never was one to keep looking or applying. Like when I was at a company, I was very committed and I gave it my all.
00:03:31
Speaker
um And it wasn't until some friction happened for me to decide to start looking elsewhere and think of my future, what I wanted. so either if if it was more money, more stability, more flexibility, those were the the determining factors for me to look into a new job.
00:03:47
Speaker
And so the last two jobs I had were what would be considered my dream job. I worked for state government here in Washington, and I feel like any government entity, you go into it thinking, all right, I'm set. Like, this is amazing. You have amazing benefits. You have great stability. You have great pay. You have a pay schedule.
00:04:07
Speaker
And then something started happening where I felt like I wanted to grow within the environment and within the organization. And there was, again, that friction started happening. So then it was hard. It was really hard for me to to leave that one because I felt like I was set forever and ever. Like that really was my mentality.
00:04:30
Speaker
And so when I left and went into publishing like books, I was like, okay, this is it. like Genuinely, this is
Finding Alignment and Grieving Career Changes
00:04:40
Speaker
it. I mean, the books behind me, courtesy of Bangor Random House and all the amazing years that I was there, but also because I was just a lifelong reader. So I felt like this was a full circle moment to tie in the person that was dormant in me, because I feel like we all at some point have hobbies in our younger self. And we just think, oh, we don't have time for it anymore. We're just too busy with life. But if it's all about priority. So I started of prioritizing reading again in 2022.
00:05:10
Speaker
And I realized, wait, why don't I work with books? So then the stars aligned for me to work with books. And it was quite a remarkable experience. And then after a few years, that same kind of experience started happening where I wanted to, to grow within the organization. And I knew it I had it in me to do it, but I feel like leadership and people were failing to see that in me.
00:05:37
Speaker
or wanting to play it safe, right? Again, there's like all the corporate bureaucracies and the games and all the things. So I'm not discrediting that as well. And so I left thinking for a minute there, like a few months before leaving my last corporate job, what what is it that I want out of life?
00:05:56
Speaker
What is it that calls to me And I was experiencing a lot of heartbreak. I know that sounds pretty grand to say, but I was experiencing a lot of heartbreak and grief of this dream that I had.
00:06:08
Speaker
And I feel like as women, we have so many dreams that we hold on to. And then when it's shaken or it's different or when it's time to leave it, there is a grieving process that I don't think we go, we really experience or think through that we are actually grieving a dream that we had.
00:06:28
Speaker
And that was the time where I sat with myself in that grieving moment of Okay, what's next for me? And at first I thought it was another corporate experience, but then given my last two experiences, I thought, this is going to be the same thing. This is just the game of the world the the corporate world.
00:06:49
Speaker
And then i announced to my community and my people that I was leaving Penguin Random House and I didn't have anything lined up and I was going to take time to think it through. And I had a couple of people reach out to me and ask me if I thought about going on my own.
Embracing Entrepreneurship: Founding The McKnight Element
00:07:08
Speaker
I grew up with entrepreneurs. I know how hard it is to own a business. In fact, I almost vowed to never own a business because I saw firsthand how difficult it was for my parents to own a business. Granted, very different. It was back in like the 90s, 80s, early 2000s where they owned a business. and We didn't have what we have now. So I feel like it was almost harder slash easier to own a business back then. um But yeah, I was like, no there's no way.
00:07:37
Speaker
But the more I sat with it, the idea of the McKnight element just quickly, like so fast unfolded. and I felt in my soul and in my gut that this was the right thing for me. And it was the right path. And I feel like I fought it for a long time.
00:07:56
Speaker
So when I finally came into this realization, it was almost like a relief. Like I have an answer that I'm supposed to be following. Thank you for sharing that.
00:08:08
Speaker
i want to dive into a little bit of yeah that process for you. One of the things that stands out to me is I just recorded my last, um,
00:08:20
Speaker
podcast with um laura from la hefa yeah la hefa collective and um we spoke about how a lot of latina women are leaving the workforce for opportunities and because they are having that lack of mentorship and lack of developmental opportunities. So, I mean, when you're, when I hear the story of, I'm not feeling like I can grow, I'm not getting these opportunities and they're just keeping you in a box. I mean, technically, if you're trying to develop your people to, to promote into the organization and to become long-term, um, contributing employees that know the business and move up, you have to start giving them
00:09:06
Speaker
opportunities to grow and to take on more responsibility and step into roles, maybe a little bit higher up, but not fully, you know, like maybe they get some tasks and they engage and you have to start training them to do that. And if you don't do that, your high performers are going to leave, period. They're not going to stay. They're not going to feel value. They're not, they're going to get bored. They're not going to feel like they're being trusted with the work.
00:09:32
Speaker
So I think it's really, fitting, I guess, that you say that. And then now here you are in this new role and that's happened to you twice. And then the other thing is the grieving of change. And that is something as a change manager that we talk about quite a bit, which you don't really realize going through a change of your day-to-day, your job, and even a change on how you do your job.
00:09:58
Speaker
You grieve it. You actually grieve it. you Your brain has to adjust, your mind has to adjust, your routine, like how you thought you did your job before, maybe you've been doing it for 13 years, and now all of a sudden it's different.
00:10:13
Speaker
That changes a lot for you. And I think it tends to get minimized in the big organization, you know, in the big picture of things. We don't realize the impact that these things have on people and that you have to grieve.
00:10:30
Speaker
And I know when I left my job, it was very hard to make that call. I'd been there 12 years. i was like, I'm never going to leave. I worked so hard to get where I was.
00:10:41
Speaker
it was a hard job and I worked my butt off to get there. But when I started having the kind of the same thoughts about what do I want out of my life? Well, you know, I have two young kids, what's right for me. And I made the decision.
00:10:55
Speaker
and when I left, I grieved. Like the day that I left, I cried. i literally cried like a baby. It felt like I was losing a lot of my work friends, lot. And I have some very good girlfriends there that I, you know, like my best, my bestie works there, literally. And i was just like, this is a i don't know, this is a huge change.
00:11:17
Speaker
But then at the end of the day, i was also like, I'm just another person to them. You know, like I, they're surviving without me and i stayed longer to do them a solid and I shouldn't have, because once you tell them you're leaving, they treat you differently. And that's how you, that's how you know the values of a company is by how they treat you when they know you're leaving. And even though my immediate division was great and fantastic,
00:11:48
Speaker
The agency as a whole, i was like, yep, you've just validated why I'm leaving. um So I think it's really interesting that that seems to be a story that we hear a lot and a little bit of your story as well.
00:12:03
Speaker
One of the things that that I experienced was there were opportunities granted to me to, quote, do this for your growth path. And then the path kept changing and the goal post kept moving.
00:12:19
Speaker
Yep. And I'm like, but I'm i'm doing these things. Why isn't it happening? And so then every every conversation that happened, something was changed or different. And the grief, wow. I actually came to that conclusion myself. I think it's something that it's not talked about enough. So I love that we're having, that we really are talking about this because there is so much to say about what you thought your life was going to look like and then it doesn't and then you think that you've lost control because you thought you had control of things but I've learned throughout
00:13:03
Speaker
My last, I don't know, two, three years that control some of it is an illusion. and you have to really just go with the flow sometimes and roll with the punches. But yeah, that was a really hard thing because I i was working working too with like really big authors and really big books that I'd tell everybody what I did. And everybody was like, oh my gosh, that is incredible that you work on these books and that you work with books, period. so it was also like that that process of that's not who I am anymore. Yeah. more The identity shift.
00:13:34
Speaker
Oh, the identity shift. Yep. Well, now that you're in this new place and you've built a business with strategy and soul, tell us more about the McKnight element and how you started building it out once you made that final decision to take the leap.
Marketing Strategies and Storytelling
00:13:54
Speaker
Yeah, so my whole career has been in marketing, and I've done all the things under the umbrella of marketing. When I'm talking about execution, i so it it's referred to doing the actual social media posts. I've done podcast recordings and production. I've done... um graphic creation through Canva. I've also done strategy. I've done i've helped salespeople with the proposal make for their clients. So I really have done all the things under the marketing umbrella. And so when I set myself after leaving my last job, I thought, what do I enjoy the most?
00:14:30
Speaker
One, what am I really, really good at? related to this? And then three is what can I provide the most value? And how can I do that?
00:14:42
Speaker
So when I sat myself, when when I sat with myself with those three questions, I came to the conclusion that strategy is the part where I'm really, really good at and understanding, like, I always like to say that my brain is almost like a Swiss cheese, because I'm able to identify these holes that other people can't see.
00:15:00
Speaker
And I see it ahead of time. So it's not like I'm jumping to conclusions. I actually ask the right questions to see what the Swiss cheese looks like and what holes are missing or are there so that we can patch up the holes based on strategy and with strategy. So I also realized that there isn't really any one person like me here in Tacoma that provides this level of work to local business owners, because I could have ran with it and been like, I can work anywhere, which I still can. i mean, you know, we have the power of the internet and technology, so I can.
00:15:41
Speaker
But really fast, I learned that there's so much power in in keeping things local. And Tacoma loves Tacoma.
00:15:54
Speaker
Yep. Once I realized that, I thought, okay, this is where I have to be. And I think that there's a really big education piece to what I do. So I love meeting people for coffee. That's actually one of my favorite things to do because I'm able to get to know them and also educate them on what is it that I do.
00:16:15
Speaker
which is not so common here because a lot of people will be either social media managers or a whole marketing agency and there's no one in the middle to really help business owners decipher what kind of marketing do they need.
00:16:32
Speaker
Do they need a whole marketing agency? Do they have the budget for a whole marketing agency? Or do they just have a question that Chad GPT is like, yeah, you can go these five different routes. I don't know which one. Good luck.
00:16:45
Speaker
And then they come to me and they're like, okay, Elaine, what do I actually do? And how can i which answer is best for my business? And so that is the kind of work that I do and that I provide to come up business owners with that has been so, so welcoming.
00:17:04
Speaker
You work a lot with storytelling. How do you incorporate that into your work with your clients?
00:17:11
Speaker
It's humanizing the work and humanizing the people. That's the best way that I can describe it. um Through my questions and my interviews with business owners, I obviously pay attention to the whole answer, but I'm also trying to find patterns and pieces of a puzzle that we can build. So then that puzzle that we build together becomes a story that we tell their customers.
00:17:41
Speaker
So who are they? What makes them special? Why should people care? All of those answers should be told in a story. And I feel like business owners, because they set out to do their business.
00:17:56
Speaker
Like, I mean, if you set out to do your business, you're going to be a pro at your business. To be a pro at everything that entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial is, it's unrealistic.
00:18:08
Speaker
I'm a numbers girl, but I'm not into accounting. i I know my strengths and I know my weaknesses and I'm going to hire someone to do my accounting and teach me how to do accounting.
00:18:20
Speaker
So I, and I, and that's hard because I feel like as as entrepreneurs, you want to do everything because you feel like you could do everything. And so to really think through what are your strengths and what are your weaknesses, then that is, i think one of the key pieces to understand how storytelling could shape the business owner and the story that they actually tell their customers so that they either get more clients to come in, more services booked, more pizza sold, whatever it is.
00:18:54
Speaker
That I think is a key to success is really honing in what makes someone special and knowing that there's resources out there like myself that can bring that story out to life.
00:19:05
Speaker
I think that's great because you have such a valid point about businesses that, i mean, you're doing the craft that your business does, like whatever it is. yep And a lot of businesses, at least, I mean, now we're in a whole new generation, right? We're in a new era with social media, where it's like, if your business doesn't have social media, there's this perception that it's not going to survive. And I don't know if I think that's true, because I think there's a lot of businesses that don't have social media that are doing very well. Could social media maybe help them with certain things? I think so. But I feel like
00:19:42
Speaker
it's not just making posts. It's that, like you said, that storytelling and that connecting and getting across the desire for people to want to engage with that business. And i think that's really powerful because just from my experience with Grid City Women and even the Liz Rocks Foundation, i've found that people want to be a part of something meaningful to them, you know, like whatever it is. and if there's a business or a brand that aligns with something that's of meaning to them, whether maybe they donate a certain proportion of proceeds to a nonprofit that they really support, They might just go to that business because of that, you know, or, you know, certain values that they align with or a story that resonates with their own personal story.
00:20:33
Speaker
i think that is very valuable. And I think even more so now because sometimes it does feel like you're just getting blanket marketing, like buy my product, buy my product, or look, we're posting something on social media, social media. And it's like, but who are you really? Like, who are you? Yeah.
00:20:51
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, i i love that you said that because i I always tell my clients social media is a piece of the marketing puzzle. It is not your entire marketing and it should not be treated as your entire marketing. So when you're talking about businesses that you have seen that don't have social media and are successful is because...
00:21:12
Speaker
They more than likely understand that. They understand the power of referrals. They understand the power of SEO. They understand the power of actual customer service when someone goes into their store.
00:21:24
Speaker
So what I do and why I love that I'm a local marketing consultant and fractional CMO is because I go to my client's store if they have one. And I'm there for about 20, 30 minutes.
00:21:36
Speaker
And I assess and I act like a customer, like I'm a secret shopper. Yeah, yeah. And obviously like, they're like, oh, Arlene, nice to see you. And I'm like, oh, nice to see you too. And then after they go to another customer and I'm i'm observing. I'm observing how they engage with their customers. I'm observing their product placements. I'm observing. So there's so many things that play into marketing aside from social media. And I think that if I were to leave anyone with a piece of insight through this conversation, it'd be that. It'd be that marketing is a piece of your marketing puzzle, not the entire thing.
00:22:13
Speaker
And it shouldn't be treated as such. Absolutely. And I love the focus on the user experience. That is absolutely another thing that as a change manager, I
Importance of User Experience in Marketing
00:22:24
Speaker
look at. And even as an innovator, how does this process, even if it's as simple as walking in the door, trying to find what I'm looking for or seeing what's on sale, whatever that is, how does that feel to that person?
00:22:41
Speaker
How does it feel to the different types of customers that you have? How does it feel feel to people who might interact with the system or the process differently? And really putting yourself in that lens as you go through the process. And if someone can walk away from going through a change of a system or a process or interacting with your business or your service,
00:23:06
Speaker
And feeling like it was seamless to me, that's like the biggest marketing referral generator that you can have. If I can go to a website and I can see exactly what your services, can sign up for them. I don't have duplicate forms. I don't have questions that I'm not sure. What are you asking me here? Like, or why do you need this extra information? Or you haven't even given me this before you're asking for that. Like if I feel like it's happening in a very smooth and succinct way, i already feel like this brand cares about me as a customer.
00:23:45
Speaker
and Now, if I go in and a lot of government agencies have issues with any of their public interfaces because they struggle with this is if I go to a website and I can't find the form I'm looking for and I can't figure out how to fill it out or, you know, it's confusing to me and I have to Google what the language means so I can understand the form.
00:24:07
Speaker
Do I feel valued as somebody who's being served by this? No, you don't. And so I think that that is also super important. And most people don't think of it as marketing, yeah but it is. yeah a one It 100% I think one of my superpowers as a marketer is that I don't only see things through the lens of of a marketer, but I see it through the lens of a human.
00:24:31
Speaker
So it's empathy. empathy. Marketing is so much about how do you make the other person feel when they're X, Y, Z, when they're doing this, buying this, looking at this, clicking here, how do they feel?
00:24:49
Speaker
So yeah, I think that that definitely is one of my superpowers. And i I, I, always put myself in the, in the shoes of the other person, not my client's shoes was actually is who is my client serving? Yeah. Yeah.
00:25:04
Speaker
Yeah, because they're the ones that are giving your client the money. Exactly. Like, who's giving me the money? This is what I tell people. Make it as easy as possible for people to give you money.
00:25:18
Speaker
Yep. If you make it harder, they change their mind. They don't want to do it. I have a story and it's going to be kind of interesting, but my my dad is a no BS kind of guy and he went in to buy a truck, a new truck, doesn't want to buy a truck, doesn't want to spend money, but needed a truck with my stepmom. They went and picked out a truck. They're like, all right, this is the truck.
00:25:39
Speaker
My dad's like, whatever, I don't care. Like, I don't want to spend this money on the truck. Just give me the damn truck. Well, you know, when you buy a vehicle, it's almost a three hour long process to fill out i week to the all of this stuff, right?
00:25:53
Speaker
And i don't, and they weren't financing it. So it should have been pretty quick. Well, my dad's like, I was there for so long filling out paperwork. And then the the woman doing the paperwork was just kept asking me, do we want this? Do you want that? My dad's like, I don't want any of this. I don't want it.
00:26:10
Speaker
I don't want it and then she asked like one more question and it was, it was kind of the same question that she had been asking before. And my dad just got up and walked out.
00:26:22
Speaker
He left. and she was like, this is what she said, ah was it something I said? and my stepmom was like, well, probably. Yup. Definitely. My dad was so frustrated and he left and then they called the dealership, called them and they're like, Hey, you know, what can we do? Like, we'll bring the truck to you. Like, and my dad's like, no i just want to buy the truck. I don't want to sit here and ask all these be asked all these unnecessary questions. I don't want to be sold anything more. I just want to buy the truck. And they're like, Oh, we'll do this. And he's like, Nope. And he just didn't buy the truck. Like they were even going to give him you know, more of a discount for it. And he just like walked out.
00:27:02
Speaker
and And I, you know, I think of that, but I also have maybe not as big of walking out on a car sale, but like I will be on websites. And if a website starts asking me information, I don't think I need to provide, I'm out.
00:27:16
Speaker
I like, no, find another business. If I can't find what I'm looking for on your website, I'm out another business. If you're asking me the same information, i get really frustrated with that. Like, that's my biggest thing. Like, don't waste my time.
00:27:28
Speaker
So I think that that's really interesting. And I think we lose a lot of that when with the internet too, we're like, oh, here's the, here's the form. Here's the website. We're good. Yeah. Did you have a couple different people walk through it and give you feedback? Like, did you really look at it through that lens? And yeah, it's, it's important. I,
00:27:48
Speaker
I definitely have my micro experiences with that kind of stuff. And I do my best to make it easy. Like even signing up for this podcast, I spent a lot of time trying to make this efficient for myself and for my guests because there's so much coordinating. We're all super busy. Like here's the dates I'm available, sign up, automatic, all that. So I hope it was seamless for you. And I'm interested in the feedback if it's not.
00:28:12
Speaker
It's so, you're so funny. I almost thought that it was too easy. i was like, that's it. That's all I have to do. just wait. Okay, great. Yeah, no i your process is super easy. i will give, I'll give actually a quick tip. I worked in a dealership for a few years.
00:28:31
Speaker
um And the best advice that I have for anyone buying a car. And if you want to like make it as fast as possible and easy for you, do most of the transaction online via email. Like go back and forth with a salesperson, negotiate online over the phone, actually not over the phone, email, just get everything writing so that when you go to the dealership, you test drive, you confirm you're good to go You have already the out the door price.
00:28:58
Speaker
Boom. You buy the car. So when, when I purchase my next car at a dealership, if it is, that's going to be what I'm going to do. I've never heard of that. but yeah I worked on online sales. Mm hmm.
00:29:10
Speaker
Yep. Yep. My team's job was to negotiate and get the sale through the online system so that when someone came into the store, it'd just be to pick up, go to financing if they needed all the stuff.
00:29:23
Speaker
Wow. Well, I learned something new. You're welcome. ah Okay. Well, speaking of you know, being efficient and focusing on really, inclusive marketing and building trust. Tell us about how you help local businesses reach diverse audience, reach diverse audiences, building more trust, relevance, and impact.
Inclusive Marketing Challenges and Strategies
00:29:48
Speaker
By making them think about reaching inclusive and diverse audiences in the first place. um One of my jobs we weren't able to use a specific audience segment if the product was not made by a Hispanic, for example.
00:30:12
Speaker
So we're like, we're going to use those audiences specifically for products that were actually made by a Hispanic or it's specifically for the Hispanic community. And I thought, well, I want to use all kinds of products though. I don't only want to use that specific product. Yeah.
00:30:27
Speaker
So i kind of went a little rogue and I started of using these audience segments for other products that weren't specifically relating to the Hispanic community.
00:30:40
Speaker
And once I started using the segments for the advertising campaigns, it kept being the best performing audience segment, meaning they don't only want one specific product. Why don't you give them a menu of things to choose from? Let them decide what they should be doing. And so at the end of my time at that job, we actually created a whole marketing campaign showcasing all the different types of products for the Hispanic and Latino communities so that they're not boxed. Because I feel like as a Hispanic, I already feel like boxed, period, no matter what.
00:31:16
Speaker
In fact, My husband is very white, blonde hair, blue eyes. That's my last name McKnight. But my maiden name was Vargas. So Elaine Vargas. But now my name is Elaine McKnight.
00:31:27
Speaker
So when they see me, it's like, oh, my gosh, you are actually Hispanic. And it's like, yes. And I'm going to actually show you the way how to authentically speak to me. Not just on Hispanic Latino heritage months.
00:31:39
Speaker
right not just un Cinco de Mayo. Right. I want this to be an all year round thing. So that's why I answered the the question the way I did in the beginning is I want you to start thinking about me all the time.
00:31:57
Speaker
Can you give us an example? Yeah. um I think that we often get overlooked because We people think that we don't have money to spend, but we do. So a lot of times people don't know how to speak to us in a way that feels actually authentic. Right. Right.
00:32:24
Speaker
You know, that it's not just like, OK, I'm here to get your money, but actually like, let me let me show you that you actually can come here and hang out and buy the thing. um And so that's why we in any kind of community really lean on to those businesses that understand yeah how to speak to us.
00:32:46
Speaker
And so my job really with, especially here Tacoma and in Washington, is is making business owners understand that there is a whole market of people that have not been spoken to or not spoken to correctly.
00:33:00
Speaker
And it's not even about spoken to, I would say spoken with, like, let's speak with people rather than speak to people. here Yeah, I mean, if you're only getting engagement or engaging with one audience group.
00:33:14
Speaker
that's all you're going to cater to. i mean, unintentionally or intentionally, right? You're not going to have the feedback from all different groups just to be able to know where maybe you're not hitting the mark with certain audiences or certain demographic groups. And I think that's really, really important. And I never really thought about how as a Latina, I might not be sold to like the way I should. The only, I mean, obviously in industries like makeup, right. And, uh, what is the other one? Underwear, you know, nude underwear, you know, all of that stuff that didn't come in different skin tone colors or different sizes. It's like, Oh, there's nothing here for me. Like can't make this work. Nothing matches or nothing is like that. But I never thought on how that would apply to other industries or other businesses.
00:34:14
Speaker
Yeah. Let's take, I mean, my background, let's take books, for example. That can be an example of like, you know, if there is a book written by a Hispanic Latino author or the book is about a Latino Hispanic community, then of course you're going to target the Hispanic Latino community. But what if, what about the other bajillion books that exist? Like, are you actually targeting Hispanic Latino communities?
00:34:40
Speaker
Even though this book is, has nothing to do or not written by. Or entrepreneurship. Like, why are you assuming that, Hispanic and Latino women are not looking at these books of entrepreneurship and being a CEO and all of that stuff.
00:35:00
Speaker
Yeah. And we have money to spend. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. We are one of the most, if not the most fastest growing population ah in the United States.
00:35:12
Speaker
So how how are people not tying in that research? How are people not tying in that data? So that is what I do, is helping people understand that. I tie in census data. I tie in so much research, in general, what I do.
00:35:27
Speaker
comes with a lot of research and data. Like I'm such a data nerd. I love numbers. I can make a pivot table and come out with a brand new advertising campaign from a pivot table that I'm seeing on Excel.
00:35:37
Speaker
So that's just in my my brain functions. But I think that that's so it's so important and so overlooked, so overlaying with any community. I could, we can talk and sit here with like other, you know, ethnicities, but it's been a really important thing for me to,
00:35:56
Speaker
partner up with businesses who otherwise would not know how to. And that's the other part and don't want to talk about, Crystal, is like it could be daunting. And I want to like understand and put myself in the business owner's perspective. If they've never done something like this before, it could be daunting because of cancel culture or because of someone calling someone out. Like I get that.
00:36:16
Speaker
And i think because of that, it's even more important to partner up with someone who understands that any community you want to speak to authentically and how to do it the right way.
00:36:27
Speaker
Because there is a right, there is a wrong way. There's a wrong way. If you're only speaking to a certain community during their Hispanic or their heritage months, that could probably be looked at the wrong way or any other specific date.
00:36:43
Speaker
We just want to feel seen period. Yeah. I think that's very valuable and very relevant right now that there is potentially some risk involved and that you're there to support that. And I think it's fair to say people don't know what they don't know in any area. And so if you're not familiar with how to do it, and it's like, well, here you are.
00:37:10
Speaker
Exactly. So wrapping up here, what's your biggest piece of advice for Grit City Women?
Networking Advice for Women Entrepreneurs
00:37:23
Speaker
to lean into
00:37:29
Speaker
having coffee with someone you don't know.
00:37:34
Speaker
There is so much power in getting to know someone and putting yourself out there, whether you work in corporate or you have your own business or whatever it is, just just meet people because you never, ever, ever know the opportunities or the friendship or the partnership that could happen.
00:37:58
Speaker
But you're just sitting down and having coffee with someone at like Bluebeard or Ebony and Ivory. One of my best my best conversations, period, have been sitting in front of someone I don't know having coffee with them.
00:38:14
Speaker
I love that. What a great piece of advice. Thank you so much for joining us today, Elaine. Thank you for having me, Crystal.
00:38:26
Speaker
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00:38:39
Speaker
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