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Built in the City, Refined in the Desert: A Woman’s Perspective on Growth and Grit
15 Plays3 months ago
Leadership is not a straight line—it’s a series of moments that test clarity, character, and conviction. In this episode of The Voice of Growth, Manny Teran sits down with Randi Dorman for a thoughtful conversation about leadership evolution, personal growth, and the often unseen inner work required to lead well over time. This discussion explores:
- How leadership changes as experience deepens
- The difference between external success and internal alignment
- Navigating transitions without losing confidence or purpose
- Why reflection and self-awareness are critical growth tools
- The courage required to outgrow old identities and roles
Rather than focusing on tactics alone, this conversation goes deeper—into the mindset shifts that separate reactive leadership from intentional leadership. If you’re in a season of transition, expansion, or reassessment, this episode offers perspective that is both grounding and energizing.
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Transcript
Mastering Mind and Market: Innovation and Hustle
00:00:04
Speaker
The voice of growth, mastering the mind and market.
00:00:09
Speaker
never thought that I would leave New York. It was really showing people here a new way of living. a great city needs a great downtown.
00:00:24
Speaker
You have to be innovative, you have to be hustling, you have to make things happen. I now have to figure out what I want to be when I grow up again. The most challenging thing is to try to be a successful woman in business and a great mom.
00:00:46
Speaker
Good enough is no longer good enough.
Career Transition: From NYC to Tucson
00:00:49
Speaker
You have done so much in your career. i have. You have managed global brands in New York City. You moved to Tucson and you created a whole genre of housing and urban urban development like we've never seen before. Well, not by myself, but was part of that. Yes.
00:01:09
Speaker
But you're a mom and you are also a an active biker and hiker and all that. yeah And I also hear that you sing in a band. is that true? Yes, I do. So tell us about the transition. Let's start the transition between...
00:01:25
Speaker
New York City and Tucson. That's quite a jump. It was quite a jump. I mean, I grew up in New York. um I went to college in Philadelphia, lived and worked in the city for 15 years. And I had this very Wonderful career in global branding, um loved it, never thought that I would leave New York. And I met a guy at a dinner party at a friend's house and he was from Tucson. We dated, we got engaged and I ended up moving to Tucson.
00:02:00
Speaker
So my first two years here, I kept my job in New York. My clients were in Cincinnati and in London. My team was in New York. So I was just traveling all all the time.
00:02:13
Speaker
um But I had made a commitment to be in Tucson. And i just said, I'm going to look forward because if I were to compare the two, i think it would have been challenging to really create a meaningful life in Tucson. So um I just, I mean, even though I was commuting for a couple of years, I just really learned about the city, met the most wonderful people.
Ice House Lofts: Urban Development in Tucson
00:02:42
Speaker
And a few months after I moved here, my um ex-husband, who's a great architect, um he and a friend had found an old ice factory on the edge of downtown. and This was in 2002. So if you recall, very little was happening downtown. I mean, there were like little pockets of things, but there was a desire in the community to see something happen, but I don't think people really knew how to how to make that how to how to make that start.
00:03:14
Speaker
so being a new yorker when rob said he thought this building would be great lofts i didn't even think twice i'm like oh my god yeah that would be great it's such a gorgeous building it had the most beautiful bones on the edge of downtown and so we we had um two other partners in it we just went in full steam full speed ahead, I guess. um I was just going to do the marketing at the time because I was still working in New York. and it became such a big project. It was 51 units. um We did all of our own sales. And so ultimately, I left my job in New York, got my real estate license here and focused on that. So what I loved about that was it wasn't just a real estate project. It was really showing people here a new way of living.
00:04:09
Speaker
um We created it as a branded lifestyle. um We had a a great graphic designer who came up with the slogan, living in Tucson just got cooler. and it was for the ice house loft. So it was like perfect. And was it got a surprising amount of publicity. It really was surprising to me and I was our spokesperson. So what was lovely about that is it gave me a platform that I didn't even know I wanted, um had not sought out, um but just kind of happened. And I've always loved urban living. I think it's so important to be around people who are not like you to exchange ideas randomly, to be able to walk places and not be so dependent on your car, to be able to bike if you want to.
00:05:06
Speaker
Really, um you know when we have this wonderful university, and our graduates were leaving. There was no place for them to really hang out. So i I felt like a great city needs a great downtown. So I loved being part of the catalyst for that. It was interesting, exciting, it was an honor, and it really helped define me here as as an innovator and an urban revitalist. So that was that was the transition basically. That's fantastic. I love the idea of the New York City, we'll call it charm. Yeah. Charm, elegance, but also attitude.
00:05:50
Speaker
Because it's hard to do business in a new community. And as much as I love Tucson so much, it's hard to do business here. It is very hard to do business here.
00:06:00
Speaker
i think people here very quick to accept mediocrity. And the thing that I love about New York is that so many people are trying to do their best. Like to be successful in New York, you have to be innovative, you have to be hustling, you have to make things happen.
00:06:18
Speaker
And I mean, one of the things people love about Tucson is how laid back it is. But from a business standpoint, it's too laid back. And um sometimes I think we don't think we deserve nice things. And that's been a big frustration of mine. Like when I ran for mayor, um my my slogan was good enough is no longer good enough because I felt that so often, um you know, I would see things happening in Tucson people like, oh, it's good enough. Like, no, it's not good enough. Like we deserve things to be excellent here, to be well designed, to be well thought out, to be well funded. And we often far too often fall short of that here.
00:07:03
Speaker
Yeah, I see that a lot. you know, running a company in town, doing a lot of business coaching and just being and in the community. You see it, you see it and then you see other cities, you travel for conferences and business.
00:07:16
Speaker
And I wouldn't call it envy necessarily, um but there's a certain amount of wish that we had the same drive and almost posture than some of these big cities. Yes. I love Tucson. I love the old Pueblo, but I agree with you.
00:07:32
Speaker
I think we deserve better. And I think as a community leader yourself and the others that have been in your seat previously, the John Hudaks and Herbs and all that, yeah i think that there's a whole...
Real Estate Challenges and Successes
00:07:42
Speaker
resurgence and they too are renaissance men you're a renaissance lady and i love that that moniker for you thanks now tell us what is the what was the mental grit and attitude that you had to have when you were developing any one of your projects it doesn't have to be ice house pick of the projects that was rough that was hard to do and let's talk about that one Well, so oh we have always done complicated projects. I've never done a single project here that was straightforward, buy property, create a plan and get it done.
00:08:27
Speaker
i I like real estate development. I like being able to create spaces. But the thing that I really like about what we've been able to do is always trying to show people something different. make them think in a different way about where they're living or working and so all of our projects have been super complicated and the ice house lofts we had to rezone i mean we found that property
00:08:58
Speaker
It was a dilapidated ice house from the nineteen twenty s that had been, they'd stopped making ice in the 80s and they had um just done cold storage until a few months before we bought it. There were pigeons in it, the windows were blown out. It was next to the railroad tracks on the wrong side of the tracks. And we had 14 days from when we saw it to when we had to close on it. wow So if you can imagine um the scramble for due diligence and nobody had ever done a residential loft conversion in all of Arizona and we had to rezone it. And then we had to convince people that this was a place that they would want to live. So there were so many challenges. We had two fires during that project. um It was an old building. It was lined with cork. and
00:09:52
Speaker
and this very fibrous insulation. So just a spark from a torch um set off the first fire. And ah then the second fire was even more dramatic. They had to close Union Pacific Railroad for a couple of hours. But the funny thing is we were able to kind of leverage both of those opportunities because...
00:10:16
Speaker
It created even more publicity for us. And when we assured people, you know, the first building that caught on fire, we actually were going to tear down. It was like a section of a building. So it hadn't harmed us, you know, that much from ah a timeline. um The other thing that was really challenging about that project was there was whole whole group of especially older men. i would go to you know many of the talks around many of the organizations around town. I would talk about downtown. I would talk about our lofts. And some of them would come up to me afterwards and
00:10:51
Speaker
questioned me and basically tried to tell me that I didn't know what I was talking about, that we were gonna lose everything, nobody wanted that in Tucson. And um it was really shocking to me, especially coming from New York.
00:11:05
Speaker
There was such a good old boys network here who would poo-poo everything. And luckily, I mean, I had the confidence and ah to to look at them like they were crazy for thinking that I was crazy. But um if I hadn't had that like ah that confidence in that steely vision from being a New Yorker for so long, that could have been daunting.
00:11:30
Speaker
And it was surprising. um Why wouldn't people want something new and interesting for for Tucson? And then we did another project on 4th and University. um it was There was an old church. There is an old church there called the Trinity a Church. Lovely um congregation. The leadership was amazing. And they realized that as people...
00:11:56
Speaker
turned to religion less and less their congregation had shrunk they had been a pillar of that community and they had a huge building a huge extra building and extra land parking that they would never use and they wanted to create financial stability for the church and do something interesting for the neighborhood and ah they asked us to do a proposal.
00:12:20
Speaker
um And we proposed an office building and a residential building, but it was in a historic preservation zone. And we had hurdle after hurdle about um the height that we could do, um the historic standards, and we're modernists. So Our philosophy is when you have an old building, restore what you can and everything that's gonna be new make really new because the contrast between those two styles is like magic. i love that
00:12:55
Speaker
And you see that all over Europe where buildings are much older than they are here. And it makes these buildings relevant for generations to come. So we were trying to do that here, but people here often like what we call faux-storic, where just like build something that looks old and we don't really feel that that honors historic at all. So it took us 10 years to rezone that property that we could get one more story of height. 10 years? 10 years, it was 10 years from
00:13:32
Speaker
by the from I guess it was eight years to rezone. Yeah, but nonetheless, that's long time. Yes. So that was really challenging. And people would come to the meetings and they you know we we we we had this huge model. um Now there's a great building there right next to Time Market. It's um enhanced the neighborhood, hasn't detracted from it at all um Super proud of that building, but really challenging. And then you run into crazy things. Like there was a beautiful old mesquite tree on the parking lot.
00:14:07
Speaker
And it was in the middle of the parking lot. Like if we could have built a building around it, we would have, but we couldn't. And there were these protesters who literally ah chained themselves to the tree. And yeah, it was really...
00:14:26
Speaker
Wow. Yeah, about 15 years ago, I spent some time working at Berkeley on a project with their accelerator and um driving into town, there was three oak trees yeah that very similar situation that people were living up in the oak trees because they were gonna tear them down to expand the stadium.
00:14:47
Speaker
I get it. um and I get it too. I mean, I love i you know i' i i love trees I love nature. i i i understand. um But there has you know you have to be reasonable as well. You have to be reasonable, exactly.
00:15:07
Speaker
Tell us about your the intersection of art and why art and community and kind of policy are all tied together for you.
00:15:20
Speaker
That is such a beautiful way of putting it. I really had not thought about it that way. um but when so when I was doing the Ice House Lofts, um and as I said, like I got invited to do all the speaking, so I became known around town as an innovator. and there was a small museum here called the Museum of Contemporary Art, um at the time small, and the executive director and the board president kind of cold called me and asked me to lunch and um asked if I would join their board, explained to me what they were doing. And um what they didn't know before they spoke to me is that when I was growing up, my mom, who's incredible,
00:16:08
Speaker
she was getting her degree in art history. So she would take me to classes sometimes. um And I would say she was schlepping me to a museum again. She schlepped me to museums like all the time. And they didn't know that like in my heart, um i have a real passion for especially contemporary art. um I feel that contemporary art has this incredible way of forcing you to think about things differently.
00:16:40
Speaker
You don't need to know a lot of art history right in order to be moved by contemporary art. And so I like that anyone can go into an exhibition and they might not understand it, they might not like it, but invariably it will make them think about something differently. Maybe simply about stripes or a color. And if you think about art differently,
00:17:08
Speaker
and you leave that museum, you'll then go into your life and maybe start thinking about other things differently. So for me, the power of art to change the way people think is extremely powerful.
Art and Innovation: The Museum of Contemporary Art
00:17:24
Speaker
And so when they asked me to be involved with the museum, i i had just i was just coming out of the Ice House lofts. I said, you know, I have no time. I'm like working. i have a two-year-old. They said, don't worry, it won't take that much time. And six months later, I was vice president and then I was president for six years. And um I've been involved with that museum for almost 20 years now. And we started with like just over $100,000 budget. We're now almost at a million dollar budget. We're in this great um old firehouse in Tucson, um right downtown, 25,000 square foot building. And we present art that really challenges the way that people think. um
00:18:16
Speaker
I felt at the time, I'd only been here maybe three years. and I'd been here about five years at the time. i really felt like tucson was in need of different ways of thinking and i did not feel at the time that the other cultural institutions were really challenging the status quo yeah they were so filling a need um but they weren't challenging the status quo the way that mocha had been and was prepared to continue so to do. so um So I just loved it and I really used that as a platform um for both downtown development and for um reach reaching out to Tucsonans about calm experience, something that maybe is uncomfortable, maybe makes you know isn't isn't just pretty pictures, but is going to be dynamic for you.
00:19:11
Speaker
No, I love that. I love the, the idea of art moving you. Yes. And if I go to a big city and I have extra time, i always try make it to one of the art museums. Yes.
00:19:22
Speaker
And I totally agree with you with respect to art history, right? You go into some of these and there's, uh, some art from 300 years ago and there's some context that you may not understand, but I go, i also gravitate towards the more contemporary side. Yeah.
00:19:35
Speaker
And, um, For me, i just I love the idea of how art can move you and inspire you in your everyday life. Yes, exactly. That's brilliant how you how you took the the the big bold leap forward to bring that, again, that New York City charm to to the old Pueblo.
00:19:53
Speaker
Well, it's funny because I think um you know a funny theme in my life is that although I love making things happen, some of the best things I've done, i was asked to make happen, um which is really strange for me to to reflect on. But like when I was in college, um my RA suggested I audition for all-female, all-original musical comedy troupe. And um I would have never thought of that on my own. It literally changed my life to be part of something that was creative and so performative. it was um and comedy it it it was it was um just really
00:20:39
Speaker
pivotal for me and that was not my my decision ah When I worked at Interbrand, they um i had I was on the strategy side, I had these lovely little clients that I liked helping, and they asked me to run our Procter & Gamble business. And the first time they asked, I said, you know, I really like helping these smaller companies. I feel like I have real impact.
00:21:04
Speaker
And ah they asked me a second time, and and I said the same thing. And the third time they said, you know, we're really not asking. Like we think you're the one that needs to run this business. So, you know, can you please do it? And running that business and growing that into our largest global business at the time. And Interbrand was the largest ah branding firm in the world at the time. um it You know, that was... i so proud of that and it was such an incredible experience but it was not my choice like I had been asked to do that and once I was in it I always try to do my best so same thing with Ice House same thing with MoCA um same thing with running for mayor
00:21:50
Speaker
When I was leaving New York, um I was with my college girlfriends. And I said, you know, I'm like 34 years old. said, I'm going to Tucson. Rob's the only person I know really. I mean, I had met met a couple of other people. I said, what if I don't make friends? And my friend Jill turned to me. She goes, oh, please, before you know it, you'll be mayor. And...
00:22:13
Speaker
Who knew? But really from almost like two years after I moved here, people would ask me to run for mayor. for you know and So it was over 10 years that people asked me to run for mayor. And they didn't say school board. They didn't say city council. Yeah. It was so interesting. So yeah, sometimes I think there's good lessons being a New Yorker and knowing how to make things happen, but also the lesson from Tucson is that sometimes if you allow things to happen, beautiful things can happen as well.
00:22:47
Speaker
Yeah, I use the example, maybe this is because of my Boy Scout and a hunter and a camper. i use the example of fire. So to make a fire, you need fuel.
00:22:58
Speaker
okay You need oxygen. and you need spark. ah yeah Those three things, right? and And I think you and I are cut from the same cloth because I may not be the original spark guy. The ideas, yeah, I have original ideas, but it's not like my thing.
00:23:15
Speaker
And then on the fuel side, this is the heavy lifting. This is like the more operation side. But then the oxygen side, where you make things happen. yes I think that's where you are as well. Yes, again, that is like a beautiful way of of putting it. um Yeah, that like sums it up exactly. and and you do need all three of those things. So let's go back, let's focus on the interbrand because you you mentioned some things that were really important. You know, this podcast,
00:23:49
Speaker
is about the market. So all things business, strategy, operations, all that business stuff, right? And the mind, mindset. How important is mindset in general? And I'm using the Interbrands as an example, but it could be open to anything else.
Mindset and Motivation for Success
00:24:07
Speaker
How important is mindset in growing a business and being successful in life? I mean, I think your mindset is really the the key for that. There are a lot of um talented people who maybe know the mechanics of running a business or making a business happen, but...
00:24:29
Speaker
there aren't just aren't that many people who wake up in the morning with a drive to make things happen. I happen to love managing people. a lot of people don't like managing people. I had a team of strategists and designers. And even though I was working for Interbrand,
00:24:48
Speaker
I felt like my team was my company and I would wake up in the morning, i would take a shower and I'd be thinking about like all the ways that I was going to motivate them, how we were going to organize. You know, we had our Monday morning meeting, setting the tasks and also the inspiration. so um, you know, there's, there's the, the tangible and then there's the intangible. Um, I think being able to inspire people, understanding what motivates people, and then being able to use that to create great results um is is largely about mindset. You have to also really want to do that. Some people like,
00:25:33
Speaker
just working by themselves. Some people the like um just going to their office, but doing their tasks and and being done with that. I've always really liked um creating and motivating teams. I think one of the big challenges for me here is that um I haven't really had a team. you know Like when we did real estate development, we were small. was really just the two of us. And um so I haven't and ah haven't in a a long, far too long, I haven't had a team um to really manage and motivate and move towards a goal. And in my next phase, I think I'd like to do that again.
00:26:19
Speaker
Interesting. i yeah but I'm going to get back to that. But I'm going to agree agree with you on the team side. i I run a company in town, Infrared Labs. We have about 15 employees. And my team is so solid.
00:26:31
Speaker
yeah And I just love going to work because they're there. you know My job takes me different places. But whenever I go to the office, there's a certain sense of community. I just love being able to to spread my wings and and inspire them.
00:26:46
Speaker
I say that my my two roles as CEO is pretty simple. Number one, to set and execute the vision of the company. So that means that I'm gonna draw from the market, I'm gonna draw from our experiences, I'm gonna draw from our team, and I'm gonna set and execute the vision.
00:27:05
Speaker
And then the second thing I do, is I block and tackle. So things come up for my team, I'll figure out a way to make it happen. right And then there's one that's hidden underneath. It's kind of like the 2A or 2B, whatever. and And that is to develop my team.
00:27:20
Speaker
yeah So when I help them to grow into a bigger role and I take the training wheels off, there's so much inside of me that becomes happy and fulfilled. And I just love that. Well, it's funny because I think, um you know, like even before I was a mom, I had that same kind of pride for my team. You know, like you want to lead by example, create parameters that, you know, they can then operate within and then watch them do that on their own. And um I had the greatest team. I'm still...
00:27:56
Speaker
friends with many of them. and ah And then when I had my daughter, I kind of did the did the same thing. But you have you know a similar pride about being able to guide your team in the same way you guide your children. Random question. Yes. What's your favorite day of the week?
00:28:13
Speaker
Oh, yeah. hu I don't think I have one. um Also because I work for myself in a fairly contained way, the days tend to blend. um I do like a Monday though, because I feel that um when I start in the morning, wanna set an intention for the week.
00:28:37
Speaker
and ah try to start off with good habits right away. So I definitely like a Monday, but I also like a Saturday um because I like a Saturday evening where you know you can sleep late on a Sunday. Nice, nice.
00:28:53
Speaker
So tell us what is next? You kind of gave some clues. What is on the horizon for you? I know you travel a lot back and forth to New York City and you've got a whole life there and a life here. yeah you yeah i think your mom is here, correct? My mom is here. And your your daughter is out in college. My daughter's in Philadelphia, but she's a senior and she's going to be moving to New York when she graduates. So, um three years ago, i was getting divorced.
Future Aspirations and Personal Evolution
00:29:21
Speaker
My daughter was starting college in Philadelphia, and I really missed New York.
00:29:26
Speaker
I had been here for a long time, and I just missed kind of the energy and the drive. and um I was lucky enough that I figured out how to get a place in New York. And so for the last three years, I've been going back and forth every like three or four weeks, um which has been incredible because i have a beautiful life in Tucson, like the most incredible friends. and family and interesting things to do.
00:29:55
Speaker
But I'd kept up with my life in New York over all my years here. And i have a lovely group of friends and great family there. And, you know, of course I love the museums and the restaurants and theater. And i i love just walking out my door and being around a lot of people who are all in the middle of getting to a place where they're gonna make things happen. And I just really love that energy. So I had, ah five three years ago I had a five year plan where I was gonna do a bunch of projects, about five projects here and then likely shift to New York. um
00:30:31
Speaker
But two of them ah we sold and three of them were with a business partner I had that is not trustworthy and I exited that.
00:30:43
Speaker
um So I now have to figure out what I wanna be when I grow up again. And ah in the same way I had to reinvent myself moving from New York to Tucson, um I'd like to do something that is um either more remote or more New York based.
00:31:00
Speaker
And ah in my notes app, I have a long list of things I'm gonna explore from, um I had once done ah the keynote speech at the Vail Chamber of Commerce.
00:31:14
Speaker
And i have a friend who wants me to turn that into a TED talk and become a public speaker, which I would love to do. And the theme of that, there's a book that I could write and a podcast that I could do ah There's like three other books I might write. um I have an idea for a Broadway musical. wow And this will be a long-term project, but one day i am gonna make that happen and I can't wait. um And then other things like consulting. um I was not planning on doing real estate development in New York, but sometimes I pass like a beautiful 10 story building. Not a 30 story building, but like a 10 story and I'm like,
00:31:56
Speaker
I would love to find like a place where I could do something like that in New York. So um I am like truly in limbo right now, which is not comfortable for me, so I'm breathing through it. And and then I'm going to figure out figure out what's next. Well, something tells me, Randy, that whatever you decide to do, whether it's one thing or 10 things, you will be successful at it. Well, thank you. I hope so. Thank you. I appreciate that. It's clear as day. You have that drive, that momentum, that grit. Thank you. That I think is so important. Thank you.
00:32:32
Speaker
We are going to take a magic phone. You probably know where this is going. And I want to call a number and it's going to be Randy Dorman at 18 years old.
00:32:43
Speaker
Okay. Okay. And you're going to get to tell Randy at 18 years old some level of advice. What would you tell Randy? Oh, I think I would tell Randy which stocks to buy for sure. so that the future was even financially brighter than it is now. I mean, I think that would be a great thing to do. um I think for me, um,
00:33:06
Speaker
I would tell myself not to worry so much because um i think that I spent a lot of time um feeling, it's interesting because i have confidence in my abilities and I have confidence in who I am. um But yet still, like throughout my life,
00:33:32
Speaker
I was anxious about a lot of things, worried about a lot of things. um I just, yeah, I always wished that I had a crystal ball so that I could know what was gonna happen. And um I think if I just told myself everything is gonna be fine, at every point you're gonna be fine, and more than fine in most cases, I think that would be the most important um to tell.
00:34:02
Speaker
And i ah when Sky was growing up, um you know we're not religious, and but I do feel like it's important to have kind of a ah platform for for who you are. So I created our family philosophy, um which ah we shortened to FGH.
00:34:25
Speaker
fabulousness, gratitude, and humor. And so if at 18, I could just remind myself that if I live my life that way to bring a little bit of fabulousness to everything i do, always have gratitude because I'm one of the luckiest people in the world and try to approach things with a sense of humor, i think that that is really the key to life. And um it took me a little while to figure that out. So I would tell my 18 year old self, that's going to be your life philosophy and just follow it closely.
00:35:00
Speaker
Sounds like a book. Maybe, maybe that's my fifth book. Yeah, sounds like a book. No, that's a great philosophy. You know, I really, did a short podcast when I went to visit my mom and grandmother and Douglas for Thanksgiving about gratitude. Oh yeah, it's so important. And gratitude is, half of gratitude is selfishness and half of it is selflessness.
00:35:22
Speaker
what do you mean selfishness? So when you are when you're grateful for something, it's very much an internal that you you are grateful for something. Okay. And I think that selfishness is not a bad thing in that cant in that sense. Okay. Because if you think about when you fly, put your mask on first before you put your kid's mask on, right? Right. Take care of yourself, get yourself in a good place. And then the selfless part is when you start to...
00:35:48
Speaker
to spread your wings and do something about being grateful. So I always kind of see that two sides of I would not call that selfish though. I would call that self-care.
00:35:59
Speaker
And I think there's a difference because no matter what, there's a negative connotation to selfishness that that it's actively doing something that's only oriented towards you and exclusive of of everyone else. But I think that self-care is something that you know we have to learn to be better at. So I think gratitude is really self care instead of selfish. Okay.
00:36:31
Speaker
So that's my take on it. We're going to take that same phone and we're going to call Randy Dorman at 88 years old. Yeah. And we're going to get to ask that Randy some questions.
00:36:45
Speaker
Hmm. Okay. So i would ask myself what did, ah what what did I end up doing when I grew up?
Impact and Growth: Tucson vs. New York
00:36:55
Speaker
And um also I'd really like to know if ah maybe what my romantic future is.
00:37:03
Speaker
So 88, I hope, I wanna live to 109 because I really like the bicentennial and I like to be at the tricentennial. And I really just never want to leave my daughter. She's my favorite person in the world. And I want to see every possible part of her life.
00:37:24
Speaker
So 88, I want to make sure that I still am running and paddle boarding. kind of want at 88 to know, like, am I almost the same as I am right now at 58?
00:37:41
Speaker
Yeah, and I just, that was super arbitrary, that the age. But yeah to me, it's ah it's a reflection of like, it's a certain amount of aspirational, right? You want to see where you're going, but there's also a curiosity because every day we get to make the choice of ah how we spend the day, how we spend our energy.
00:38:00
Speaker
And i think that it's clear from your numerous right? From the accolades, from the physical beautiful buildings that you've been part of growing, all these things, there's no doubt in my mind that you're going to continue to be that person for yourself, for your daughter, for your friends and family, and for your community. Thank you. i hope so. um i think that I've been very lucky to be able to have impact. um And I guess like at 88, I'd kind of want to know what would I have wished to have done more of and less of and where was I able to have impact? I think one of the other beautiful things about Tucson is, um you know, i i there's always more that needs to be done.
00:38:53
Speaker
and individuals or small group of individuals really have an ability to have impact here um in a way that you can't in New York or is harder in New York. So I've had the fortune of being, you know, a biggish fish in a smallish or mediumish pond. And ah in New York, I'm trying to figure out how to be like a medium fish in a huge pond. um But the opportunities I've had here in leadership, um in you know being president of a museum, I would have never been able to do that in New York. um Running for mayor, I don't know that I would have done that in New York. All these things that I've learned about myself here.
00:39:43
Speaker
um So grateful that I had that time, because if I had stayed in New York, I would have stayed in my corporate job. I would have i mean, I would have enjoyed it, but it would would have been a very predictable path. And um it's been such a joy to have this kind of unpredictable path here. So it's interesting when you ask about the what would you ask your 88. I had said earlier that when I was younger I always wanted to have a crystal ball to the future.
00:40:11
Speaker
And after 25 years in Tucson, I've kind of shed that. So at 88, I don't know that I want to you know know so much. i kind of want to take it and be surprised about what's going to happen along the way.
00:40:28
Speaker
Yeah, that's brilliant. That's a brilliant mindset. i think I would have never, I don't think I would have ever discovered that if it had not been for my time in Tucson. So, yeah. There's a handful of of books I have behind me and in the other room that have to do with with people going out into the desert.
00:40:46
Speaker
and um finding themselves okay and a matter speaking you didn't you mean you found yourself already before that but you're continually learning about yourself yes and for you i think the desert has been an awakening um yeah to a certain extent it really it's been revealing i guess um it showed me things about myself that i just didn't know and um I had to figure out so many things. Like it really was such ah a different place for me. And um in the process of figuring so much out here, I figured out a lot about myself as well.
00:41:24
Speaker
That's fabulous. Yeah. have one last question for you. Sure. This one is definitely unique to you and to at least half the population.
Empowering Women in Business
00:41:33
Speaker
One of the challenges and opportunities we see today is, and it's still there, how women in particular are facing roadblocks or The old old boys club is scoffing at their ideas. And I mean, yeah, we're making inroads, no doubt, but there's still that uphill, part of the uphill battle. yes What advice would you have to give to a young 25 year old will say, just graduated in the corporate world, maybe, maybe wants start business, whatever. they're They're trying to figure themselves out. what And they're a woman.
00:42:10
Speaker
That's very unique because you have been a pioneer in a lot of things as a woman against a lot of odds. um yeah How would you tell them in particular?
00:42:21
Speaker
Well, it's interesting because my daughter's 21. And so we talk about this often. It's, um you know, the system is really rigged against women. And I know we talk a lot about how boys are struggling right now, but I mean, I just feel like ah women have struggled forever and we continue to. And so for boys, maybe it's a little harder than it used to be, but it's still not as hard as being a woman in these environments. So I think you have to have a very strong sense of self um and you have to surround yourself with other strong women because um
00:43:01
Speaker
we really bond together. And i remember I have some girlfriends here and we used to complain about the old boys club here. And I would say to them, i was like, just wait, those guys are getting very old. yeah and they're gonna they're going to be gone and irrelevant at some point and we're gonna be the leaders. like Just do your so do your thing and you'll and you'll see. and and it And it was true. Those those voices ultimately get get drowned out. I think the most challenging thing is to try to be a successful woman in business and a great mom.
00:43:46
Speaker
there's yeah it's it's it's either like win-win or lose-lose depending on how you look at it. So when Sky was a baby, i was here, and we were doing the Ice House, and...
00:44:01
Speaker
My mom was a stay-at-home mom and she always you know took great care with us and spent a lot of time with us. And I wanted to do that, but I also really wanted to make my mark and do something interesting and and you know financially contribute. So i had a I was lucky because we worked for ourselves. I had a pack and play in our office. I had a babysitter sometimes, but I would bring her to work with me. And um people knew, like I have people who ah live at the ice house or bought places at the ice house, and they remember that Sky was a few months old and when they were signing their contract, When I had a sign, they would hold her. And when they had a sign, i would hold her. And we'd pass her back and forth. And now they see her in town at 21 and they can't even believe the time. remember I was ah meeting with Bob Walkup, who was the loveliest mayor at the at the time. and he wanted to meet at a certain time. I said, Bob, I don't have a sitter at that time. if If that's the only time you can meet, I have to bring Skye. He's like, bring Skye. So as a baby, Skye was in you know meetings with the mayor. um She would run around me when I was giving speeches at moca um I was able to really incorporate her into my life, but that was because I worked for myself here.
00:45:29
Speaker
And it was very hard. I mean, that was like a big balancing act. So if you have a job where you're working for somebody else and you have to hire help, it's expensive. I think that if, um as a country, we figured out childcare,
00:45:47
Speaker
our economy would boom, women would thrive, and families would thrive as well because you have to have quality childcare. You also have to have a work environment that is set up for families. I'm not even gonna say for women, set up for families. like These are things that hold us back, and why do we allow that? So, um you know as I'm shifting towards New York, I'm trying to look at where I can have some impact. And there are some great organizations that are really trying to figure out how to advocate for better childcare and um how to create a different system that is more conducive to families being successful, not just men.
00:46:41
Speaker
Well, that's very powerful. so And I hope in your and in your new role, we we're shifting more towards New York City, you still keep a foothold in Tucson. Yes. I mean, I love it. I love it, love it. So i will for sure. and feel very lucky to be able to have both.
00:46:57
Speaker
great. Well, thank you so much for your taking this time to share some of the inner workings of Randy Dorman. It was such a pleasure. And thank you for all the interesting questions and insight. That was so lovely. Thanks, Manny. Cheers.
00:47:10
Speaker
Great to see you. Yes. Thanks.