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17. Jessica Johnston, Director of Court House Square
119 Plays1 year ago
Jessica Johnston is the Director of a vibrant and historical Tacoma landmark, Court House Square. With a wide range of experience Jessica also serves her community as the chair of the Tacoma's City Events and Recognition Committee and proudly sits on the Board for Downtown Tacoma Partnership as the Vice-President. She has lent her voice to help raise awareness and education for business entrepreneurs with the Spaceworks program and safety concerns with Tacoma Business Council. More recently she has started quarterly Businesswomen of Tacoma Table Talks. Join us as we discuss:
- Finding creativity in business
- Importance of giving yourself grace
- How businesses can come together to serve their business community
@CourtHouseSquareTacoma (Instagram)
www.CourtHouseSquareTacoma.com
@TacomaVenuesEvents (Instagram)
@DowntownTacomaPartnership (Instagram)
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Transcript
Introduction & Guest Welcome
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to Gritty is the New Pretty, a podcast by Grit City Women. Today we're featuring Jessica Johnston, the director of Tacoma's Courthouse Square. Looking for ways to support Grit City Women and keep these podcasts going? Visit our online store at gritcitywomen.com. Welcome, Jessica.
Jessica's Background & Community Involvement
00:00:28
Speaker
Thank you so much for having me, Crystal. How are you today?
00:00:31
Speaker
I'm doing really well. I'm really excited to reconnect with you and see what you've been up to in the last couple of years. And I look forward to just learning more about you in general. So why don't you go ahead and just start by sharing something, some information about yourself.
00:00:48
Speaker
Perfect. Well, thank you so much again for having me. I'm excited to be here and be a part of your creative journey. A little about myself. Well, my name is Jessica. I currently live in Tacoma, Washington on Hilltop. I work downtown Tacoma and I run the courthouse square. I'm very active within the community. Community is a really big deal to me, which is kind of how we met.
00:01:13
Speaker
I believe it's important for creative types and women to stick together and share their journeys, whether, you know, the good, the bad, all the things in between. So it's exciting to be here.
Career Transition & NYC Experience
00:01:27
Speaker
I grew up in Bellevue, Washington. I went to college at Seattle Central and then transferred to FITM in Los Angeles. I studied interior design there and then worked in the industry until the big crash of 08 then moved back to Seattle.
00:01:44
Speaker
and continue to work in property development and things of that nature. At one point, I did actually start running restaurants, which it always worked in the restaurant industry. But as I mentioned, the crash of 08 kind of made
00:02:01
Speaker
property development and interior design a little bit, not of the number one focus. So I shifted a little bit, but I'm glad that I did. It was a great experience to get to work in the restaurant industry. It's kind of like what we do. It's a lot of different personalities and I like entertaining people.
00:02:22
Speaker
That kind of worked out. I then moved to New York for a while and didn't end up out there with a wonderful woman named Jo Weldon and that was an amazing experience. Got to work in the theater out there. A lot of cabaret shows actually I produced in Manhattan and it was wonderful. It was a different experience but kind of brought everything that I love all together. I feel like I do a lot of
00:02:51
Speaker
I've done a lot of different things in my life, but really it's all about finding joy, finding the beauty in life. And yeah, that's kind of me in a nutshell.
00:03:04
Speaker
Awesome. Thank you so much for sharing. So a couple of questions I have for you.
Business Women Table Talk & Event Impact
00:03:10
Speaker
You operate a group called Business Women Table Talk or an event called that. Do you want to share what that's about? That's actually how we ended up meeting, which was a super fun event. I love meeting new women and we had Andrea Ray there who's phenomenal. So yeah, just tell us a little bit about that.
00:03:29
Speaker
Yeah, so Businesswoman of Tacoma Table Talk was actually inspired by Andrea and you. Andrea Ray recently, well, I guess, gosh, no, it's been a couple years, but has become the first female Chamber President, which is amazing Chamber of Commerce. And she was new to the area. She came to us from, I believe, gosh, federal lawyer Des Moines, but
00:03:54
Speaker
somewhere north and came down to Tacoma and she's done amazing things here but she didn't know a lot of the business women down in Tacoma and I wanted to introduce her to everyone and have a moment for her to have a platform where we can all meet. It kind of evolved into the panel discussion and it was so much fun the first time we did it. I now do it quarterly and it's just so great to have women from different business backgrounds coming together to discuss
00:04:23
Speaker
how they got there and their journeys. We all take different journeys to get to where we're at and I feel like it's again important to share that and support each other. So it's been a really really great process. It's filled with tears more than I thought it would be.
00:04:39
Speaker
You know, I think when you let people be in a vulnerable place in a safe space to be vulnerable, it just allows true emotion to come out and authentic emotion and it's just a really great event. So I welcome everyone to come down. Our next one will be in March.
00:04:56
Speaker
Yeah, I had a great time there and I definitely think having a space where we can connect in person and not have like social media, you know, like social media is great because you kind of see what people are doing and you see what's out there, you get some inspiration, but when you're actually in the room having really authentic conversations with people and asking and answering questions, it's
00:05:20
Speaker
I've noticed it's really impactful and people just walk away with a new energy. Like oh I've learned something or oh I felt connected on a level that I really didn't feel connected on before and they're excited for the next one so I really appreciate that you're putting that out there for the community and I love it and I'll definitely make sure to keep tabs on when you're doing them again and I'll share it here as well.
Balancing Life & Self-Care
00:05:50
Speaker
So I do have a couple questions, but this one is, and it's kind of like the normal question everybody asks, how do you do it all? How do I do it all? I have to accept my defeats. I think that that's part of it, knowing that as much as I strive to make everyone happy and do the best I can, not every day is perfect. So I think a lot of forgiveness comes into play.
00:06:18
Speaker
um self-care as we were talking about before we started rolling is is huge to um take care of yourself before you try to take care of others because if you are working off an empty well you have nothing to give and I think sometimes for women like us it can feel a little bit selfish to do that but again it's necessary because if you deplete your tank you you have nothing um so
00:06:45
Speaker
I don't necessarily feel like I do it all but I do a lot and I really do enjoy it and I think everything I just said are our daily practices. I am working on letting myself be a human and
00:07:00
Speaker
have mistakes sometimes and that's really how I keep it moving. And staying inspired. And I think really everything that I participate in has a spot in my heart that I truly care about. It's not just to do it or to build my resume. It's truly because I believe in the things I participate in. So that does make it a little bit easier just to wake up every morning and get to all those meetings and answer all those calls and emails.
00:07:31
Speaker
Yeah, it sounds definitely, you know, if you looked at some of the things that you have to do on the day to day, it sounds like a job you probably really wouldn't want to do. But, you know, if it is something you are passionate about, those things don't matter.
00:07:45
Speaker
Right. It's kind of strange because most of my job is in all the things I participate in are truly to make a better place for everyone else. But I really like facilitating that. I love watching people grow and blossom and, you know, whether it's tenants at Courthouse Square or events at Courthouse Square, you know, both very different activities. But I think the common denominator is truly letting people live their best lives and find a place to do that. And I hope I can help make that happen.
Courthouse Square: History & Transformation
00:08:15
Speaker
Tell me about courthouse square. So I've been there for the women in business table talk and it's a really cool space. There's a couple businesses in there and some rental spaces, but I mean, just tell us what's up with it.
00:08:29
Speaker
Yeah, it is my dream job because it definitely encompasses everything I've ever done in my life from interior design to property development to restaurant management and has a little bit of everything. So Courthouse Square was built in 1910. It was originally built to be a post office and federal courthouse. The post office, fun fact, has been operating next year for 114 years straight.
00:08:55
Speaker
through two pandemics, two world wars. I mean, just it's insane the history that's within that building. The federal court system left in about the mid 90s and my company purchased it in 2008 or 2009. And then we started, you know,
00:09:16
Speaker
repairing and remodeling and revitalizing the building. And now we're home to about 60 different businesses, a co-working business, two restaurants, a coffee shop, and like I mentioned the post office. We also have several recording studios and artist studios which are great too. So it's a building filled with a lot of creativity, a lot of personality. It's just really great to get to walk those halls and think about all the different people that have
00:09:46
Speaker
experienced life there. Definitely a lot of energy and a fun place to visit. But yeah, I love it there. It truly is my dream. You said you were able to combine all your experiences. When you applied for that position or when you found out about the opportunity, did you realize that at the time?
00:10:08
Speaker
I did. So I was actually a tenant of Courthouse Square for about two years before I took the position. I had a marketing and bookkeeping company. Most of my clients were in Seattle and I didn't want to commute every single day. And I went to go mail something to the post office, had never been in there, walked in.
00:10:30
Speaker
saw this grand building, I'm like, what is this space? And then I saw, oh, there's a spaces for lease. And I'm like, hmm, could I afford that? Will that work out for me? And I thought, why not just give it a shot and see what happens. And so I emailed them, ended up getting off this space there. Two years into my tenancy, the gentleman, my predecessor, who is wonderful, his name's Mitchell, he sent out an email saying that he was leaving the company. And this was about five years ago, this coming February.
00:10:59
Speaker
and said you know this is the contact if you have any questions we haven't filled my position but as soon as we do you know we'll let you know so it wasn't exactly a job opening or being posted but i just knew what he did as far as you know running the building and everything that that encompasses is everything that
00:11:17
Speaker
I do and so I sent an email out to John Hunt who is my direct boss and within I'd say about a week later it was snowmageddon and I walked down the hill in my rain boots and put on my in my suit and put on my uh fancy little shoes when I got in and the whole building was closed it was just John Hunt and Pat Rhodes who's the building owner and myself and
00:11:43
Speaker
I told them about myself and a day later they called me back and offered me the job. It was amazing. And I have been pinching myself ever since. Yeah. I mean, who would have thought, you know, just taking that risk to get into the space when you're like, yeah, I don't know what the hell I'll just do it would lead you to this path.
00:12:05
Speaker
Yeah, I've taken a lot of leaps and stepped outside of my boundary and comfort zone. Like you said, took some risks and it definitely paid off. I can't imagine not walking into that post office that day. I mean, my whole life would be so different right now. Right. Wow. That's incredible. And I hear that a lot. It's pretty rare that I hear that
00:12:28
Speaker
you know, there's this really regimented path to people's dream job. And I think that you kind of have to just throw yourself out into the universe sometimes and see what connections are made.
00:12:41
Speaker
Well, my mom was a banker for 35 years. She also was in the service industry in her high school and through college, but her main career was banking and she loved it. But obviously me jumping through three different career paths in my 20s and 30s, she was a little worried and like, what are you doing?
00:13:02
Speaker
but then it did, it all paid off. And she always told me that I always land on my feet and somehow shinier and better than before. And she'd love that I took risks on some levels, but also I'm sure as a mother and her being so focused in one industry, it was a different path that I took. But if she was here with us today, I think she'd be very, very proud and she'd say, wow, you really made it all make sense.
00:13:29
Speaker
Absolutely. I agree. I think she would feel that way as well.
00:13:34
Speaker
I think it's interesting, you mentioned that you're really creative and this is something that I have come to realize doing this work with Grit City Women and some of the other work that I do is there is a creative side to business.
Creativity in Business & Entrepreneurship
00:13:49
Speaker
Like I've always imagined people getting a business degree and it's just numbers and suits and skirts and conference rooms and you know, all things that just sound like not me, right?
00:14:03
Speaker
And so I have noticed that one of my favorite things about doing business or entrepreneurship is the creative aspect is finding that vision and bringing it all together and being able to do that with a little bit of creativity on all fronts, like how, what is the look going to look like? What's the brand going to look like?
00:14:27
Speaker
What's the vibe going to be? What's the mission? What's the vision? Is it going to give back? Is it going to make money? Is it going to do both? And I think it's interesting because it is an important factor in business and entrepreneurship, especially in today's
00:14:46
Speaker
It's so fast moving when it comes to entrepreneurship and what the new scene is and everything like that. Like you kind of just got to be go, go, go. How do I adapt? How do I adapt to technology? Right. And so I just, I think that's interesting. And I'm wondering if, if you felt that way as well. I absolutely do. And it's funny, as I mentioned before, I'm, I'm definitely not an accountant, but I am a bookkeeper and I probably get that from my mom.
00:15:12
Speaker
But I love numbers. And I think that even numbers and all the things you just mentioned, it's an art. It's an art and a science. And I think that that's in almost everything that we do in life, depending on how you look at it. I love making a good spreadsheet. I love doing branding. I mean, business is very creative. I think that looking at it that way is also, it keeps it fun and interesting for me. But like I said, I think you really do find
00:15:39
Speaker
Creativity and artistic parts of that. My words aren't coming out right. I need more coffee. I definitely agree with you. And I think that that is what's fun about being an entrepreneur and how so many people do run their businesses. So many people are running all different sides of it and maybe have help here and there.
00:15:58
Speaker
you do get to put your hands in a little bit of everything. And I think that's important. And I think that's what makes life interesting. I think that, you know, even if you went to a dry cleaner, like if they had great graphics or a great layout and great customer service and, you know, great accounting and you can trust them, like that's fun. That's interesting. But there's a lot of creative parts that would go into making that experience.
00:16:24
Speaker
that vibrant, if you will, and making people want to return and come back. Yeah, I've totally been nerding out lately on PowerPoint presentations. So I have a hard time sitting still for a long period of time, I will start daydreaming, you know, I like to be kind of moving and engaged. And so with things that are really more present presentations with not a lot of back and forth,
00:16:55
Speaker
I kind of feel bad for the audience sometimes and so I really try to make the presentations a little above the basic text on a blank page and I've been finding at least like I've gotten a lot of feedback and I feel like it
00:17:13
Speaker
improves the experience, even though the content may be the same. When you have a PowerPoint that has imagery relating to the topic that you're talking about, or just some imagery, you know, like
00:17:30
Speaker
to go along with the vision or the emotion you're trying to get them to feel or even the colors like what are you trying to have them walk away with? I feel like I have noticed that people are more excited and I think it's just like they have this product in front of them and they can tell there's a lot of effort and there's a lot of thought into it and they can see the vision more clearly and so
00:17:53
Speaker
It's something I've kind of been playing with is just setting my standards a little higher with the PowerPoint. And then, of course, there's Canva out there. I was going to say Canva is like my new best friend. I love Canva. Yeah, I use it. Yes, Canva is a must. But there's so many great technology apps and different programs now that we can use to make
00:18:18
Speaker
PowerPoint presentations and graphs look really fun and interesting and get people excited to pay attention. Yeah, and that's important. I know it sounds trivial and people are probably like, what are you talking about right now? But part of what I think makes you and I successful in some of our areas is that we are able to get people to come along with our vision.
00:18:44
Speaker
are able to grab their attention and I think that creativity is a big part of that. That creativity and that authentic expression and that passion. So I mean if we had passion but we showed up with just kind of like a really blah thing that didn't look right like it wouldn't it wouldn't match you know what I mean? So I think that those little things tend to matter
00:19:09
Speaker
at the right times, you know, like if you're going to be presenting in front of a group of people that might be investors or donors or key community partners, right? What do you want to show them? Do you want to show them that you value the topic or you value the mission and the vision and you want to put this effort into the presentation to give them a visual to walk out of the meeting with?
00:19:35
Speaker
right kind of want to say here's our here's our word document and here's our spreadsheet we're going to do big things if i could i would have some sort of prop and almost a theatrical performance for almost any presentation that i do and that's fun and it's not always possible that's something else you want to say to people if sometimes you have to show up with bullet points
00:19:58
Speaker
up with bullet points, you know, like you'll get there. But yes, it's fun to get to make things beautiful and to really evoke emotion with people that with information you're trying to share with others.
00:20:12
Speaker
bullet points all the time because I feel like they're easier to remember. So yeah, I mean, you got to do what works for you. And there's a difference between what's on the slide and what you talk about. And I think some people try to put everything in their presentations on the slide. And it's like, no, put the key things you want them to walk away with or want them to take in. And then you talk about the other things because I don't know, people can't read and listen at the same time. At least I'm not very good at that.
00:20:41
Speaker
Yeah, I will say sometimes I get what is Pat Rhodes calls me. He says, sometimes I'm a little too poetic.
00:20:49
Speaker
He's an accountant and so he does like just the numbers and he's like, it doesn't need to be so fluffy. So that's been something I've been working on too. I would agree. I would say like you have to scale it for the appropriate level. And that's something that I can struggle with sometimes is I have this big vision and I feel like I know how all the
00:21:13
Speaker
the key things are going to fall into place, but, you know, simplify and talk about what you're actually focusing on right there. So that's kind of hard because I tend to do a brain dump. Me too, me too. But it goes back to the beginning of our conversation. Just, you know, it's, it's not always perfect. And sometimes you're going to have days where it's this beautiful bullet point or beautiful PowerPoint presentation.
00:21:39
Speaker
Some days you're gonna be rolling in with a bullet point, but I think as long as your passion is there and overall you are trying to get your message across, then that's what's most important. Yeah, I agree. So tell us a little bit about some of your community service. You do work with the Downtown Tacoma Partnership and the Events and Recognition Committee and a couple other things. Tell me about that work and why it's important for you to be so engaged in the community.
Community Support & Business Improvement
00:22:09
Speaker
Yeah, so I've been doing a downtown Tacoma partnership. I've been on the board for, gosh, almost four years now. And this last year I became vice president, which was very exciting. It's a wonderful group of people. Downtown Tacoma partnership is a BIA, which is a business improvement area. It's the only district in Tacoma that has it.
00:22:30
Speaker
I highly recommend every district gets one. It really does bring in property owners, business owners, the community, the city, everyone's just kind of held more accountable to make sure that things are moving in a timely fashion and that the community is being taken care of. So we have an amazing clean team, amazing safe team who I know that word right now really freaks people out a bit.
00:22:58
Speaker
People you know policing right now is kind of up in the air and being reformed
00:23:06
Speaker
quickly. Yeah. So they really are just there to help if you need to be walked to the car, if it's late at night, if there is someone causing some sort of trouble or loitering too long or getting a little loud. Unfortunately, right now we're also going through a crisis where people are suffering from a lot of mental health and drug addiction and things of that nature and maybe aren't always taking care of themselves. So they really come in and they deescalate situations.
00:23:33
Speaker
But they know every person on the street that is kind of down and out. They treat them with such respect. They know kind of where they hang out. They can tell if they haven't been taking care of themselves well, what kind of
00:23:49
Speaker
Temperament they're in so they're just they're friendly like they're just kind they don't arrest they don't carry weapons or anything like that They're just really friendly faces to help people get into the right places. They need to go And so I just really very much appreciate them also we have a phenomenal team that handles a lot of marketing which really highlights a lot of the businesses downtown and
00:24:12
Speaker
We have a retail advocate that helps fill in the first floor and more of a lot of downtown businesses and buildings and really helps developers meet with the right business owner to help facilitate people's dreams. So it's a wonderful, wonderful group of people. We've put on the downtown Tacoma block party, which is great. So it is also activation within the community. We try to do beautification, hanging up the
00:24:42
Speaker
Holiday stars and the flower baskets, um, you know promoting events promoting pride things like that So it's it's a really really fun group to be a part of that is very important to me Um, I think just coming from my love for business. I love commerce. I love small business I think that you know truly having the baker and the butcher and all these, you know Little folks like we used to have well probably not really in our generation, but my grandparents told me
00:25:11
Speaker
But I think that all of those small businesses are what makes a community great and what makes a community unique and really helps set the tone for a neighborhood. And we have so many beautiful districts and neighborhoods in Tacoma. But I think it just helps when we can all come together and
00:25:35
Speaker
organize our thoughts and our vision and our goals. And that's what downtown Tacoma partnership does. It's so much more than just safe and clean. It really is a family and a support. And like I said, I do a lot of that because I just really believe in small business. I think it's important.
00:25:53
Speaker
I think that's great. Like we talked about earlier, those smaller things lead to the bigger vision. And so picking up the trash and having people that are familiar with who's on the down and out. So they build a relationship with them and are able to de-escalate and then also help people who aren't familiar feel safer out in the community. I think that's super important. And I think
00:26:21
Speaker
You know, a lot of people may not think about that, but I think it's important that people in their community feel their communities cared for and that it is clean, that it is kept clean, that people care not to throw their garbage on the ground, or if they do, there's somebody there that's going to pick it up because they care.
00:26:42
Speaker
And I think that that aesthetically is nice, but just the valuing the environment and I find a lot of value in that and I have a lot of respect for people that do go out and do pick up trash. My dad used to make us pick up trash.
00:26:59
Speaker
all the time on the weekends and we hated it as kids. Hated it and because we lived out in the country and people just threw their garbage out the window right and so my dad hated looking at it because you know he worked his butt off to have a nice home and like to create a nice space for his family but then when he drives to his home he sees all this garbage and so I can only imagine I mean I know what it's like I'm living in certain areas of Tacoma I would see it a lot um
00:27:28
Speaker
But I think that does just relieve a little level of stress off of you too, right? Like, I don't know, like not having to see it, I'm just like, oh, that's nice. And like, my son's going to pick up garbage, but you know, we'll see. Yeah, I definitely think having a sense of pride for your neighborhood is important and where you live and where we all, you know,
00:27:53
Speaker
community together and gather and yeah, it should be nice for everyone. Yeah. And so that kind of ties into your work with the events and recognitions committee with the city events and recognitions committee.
Event Organization & Personal Growth
00:28:07
Speaker
Um, I've been doing that for three or four years now.
00:28:11
Speaker
It's an amazing committee. I work with some really, really great people. We throw two really large events every year, so the Martin Luther King celebration, which we're in the middle of putting that all together, which will be in January. And then in the spring, we do City of Destiny Awards, which is both honor community members.
00:28:32
Speaker
and the good work that they've done in our community. So they're a little bit different. I'd say MLK is definitely more of a show. We always have a choir and a band and some sort of performance to celebrate Dr. King's life and then highlight two people who are doing good work in his honor and his legacy.
00:28:51
Speaker
And then City of Destiny Awards, we honor about, gosh, I think there's 10 categories. So that one is just really special and that's really heavily honoring those who are doing volunteer work within the community.
00:29:07
Speaker
So that's been great. We also do special events funding, so Pride and Porch Fest and the Lincoln Food Walk and things of that nature. They submit applications to us. We approve them and work with a budget that's given to us from the city that's approved by council.
00:29:28
Speaker
to help fund these events and all of these things are so amazing it's a lot of reading of applications but whether it's the funding or you know the award nominees getting to read the good work and the excitement people have for our city is it goes so far i mean it's tear jerking sometimes we really have a great
00:29:48
Speaker
community of people who care. And so getting to honor them through City Events and Recognitions Committee has been a gift to me, honestly. So it's a lot of work, but it's a lot of fun. That's great. So if people want to nominate somebody, how do they do that?
00:30:05
Speaker
Yeah, so with MLK, it would need to be pretty quick because we are getting ready to make those final choices. So if you go to the city's website or if you go to Tacoma venue and events,
00:30:21
Speaker
Instagram, we always are posting about opportunities to either work with the committee or to nominate someone or when our special events funding opens. That's the best way to really figure out what the deadlines are and what's coming up next and how to get involved.
00:30:38
Speaker
Great. Thank you for sharing. And I can put some of those links on media posts and whatnot, so people can look at them and look at nominating some awesome people in the community. So I want to wrap up by asking what is your biggest lesson learned throughout your entrepreneur business journey?
00:31:00
Speaker
I think going back to the beginning of the conversation and it's really finding forgiveness in yourself and not trying to be perfect. I can't tell you how many times I beat myself up over something that was pretty trivial. And I know small things do matter in business, but sometimes not letting go doesn't let you move forward and will darken your light.
00:31:23
Speaker
and it's not always worth it. So it's great to be aware of yourself and to realize that you have made a mistake, but finding forgiveness is probably the best tool that I am learning to use in my life to really just keep the focus on the good work and not the smaller mistakes.
00:31:44
Speaker
And I think that we could all use that, whether we're forgiving ourselves or someone else, I just think that life is too short and there's too much beauty out there and opportunity out there to really be held down by a mistake or something we regret.
00:32:02
Speaker
No regrets. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, I agree. I think that's great insight. You know, I think sometimes as women, we tend to put a lot of pressure on ourselves, you know, making sure, you know, we're dressed right or our makeup's good. I mean, not everybody cares about that kind of stuff, but there's just a lot of
Balancing Career & Personal Life Post-Parenthood
00:32:24
Speaker
mental load I think that we can carry and especially as entrepreneurs with a career and then we serve the community and then we have family and friends and other relationships we have to nurture that it is hard to balance at all. I know I feel since I've had a baby I experienced mom brain which I didn't know was a real thing
00:32:44
Speaker
I was forgetting everything. I mean, I couldn't, I was like, I had to have a list in front of me. And if it wasn't on that list, it wouldn't get done. I don't, I've never experienced anything like that before. Cause normally I can keep things in my head and I had to start forgiving myself for just, you know, I went through a big change with my body and my life and some health stuff. And it's like, that was really hard. And sometimes it's still hard. If I slip up and I miss an email or I,
00:33:10
Speaker
I have to reschedule something. I feel guilty about it because I'm usually, or at least in the past, I was very, you know, on top of things. And now my life is a little more chaotic. It's a little more messy because I have a family and other things going on. But that's so beautiful. And wouldn't you rather be a little bit messy and have that family than be perfect and not?
00:33:33
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Right. And so, yeah, just really taking that time to self-care and enjoy, forgive the little things and sometimes just get
Podcast Conclusion & Farewell
00:33:43
Speaker
out. And I love going out to our cabin and where I get no cell phone reception and no internet. And I can just be out there and, you know, yeah.
00:33:58
Speaker
Well, awesome. I really appreciate you taking the time to join us today and share some of the awesome work that you're doing and your lessons learned. It was an absolute pleasure to have you. Thank you so much. I really appreciate you inviting me here and it was great to see you and I hope we can catch up soon. Absolutely. Thank you, Jessica. All right. Thank you.
00:34:24
Speaker
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