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Deep Dive with Dr D
Discussions on life and living with Dr D. who is a man who has risen from the lowest depths of life to the amazing life he has now. Podcast includes interviews with guest from a wide variety of walks of life.
Deep Dive with Dr D
Small-Town Growth Done Right - w/guest Amy McGuffin
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Growth in a rural county can feel like a slow sunrise or a sudden flood, depending on where you stand. Today we sit down with Amy McGuffin, CEO of the Kittitas County Chamber of Commerce, to talk about what’s changing across Ellensburg, Cle Elum, Roslyn, and the rest of the county and what we can do to keep the best parts intact while still building a future people can afford to live in.
We get practical about local economic development and small business support, including why the Chamber has shifted toward resources and connections instead of trying to run everything. Amy explains why operating in silos weakens a community, how real progress comes from collaboration, and why showing up to meetings matters if you want a voice in growth decisions. We also dig into workforce development, career and technical education, and the talent pipeline, because Amy names the hard truth many towns avoid: “our biggest export is our youth.”
From Winco and infrastructure to water, utilities, and affordability, we talk through the tradeoffs leaders face and why “preserving rural character” has to be more than a slogan. Amy also shares the human side of leadership: staying grounded, avoiding burnout, and keeping kindness in the room when politics gets personal and emotions run hot.
If you care about Ellensburg, Kittitas County, and smart, balanced growth, hit subscribe, share this with a neighbor, and leave a review so more people can find the conversation.
Welcome And Quick Plugs
SPEAKER_04Uh so welcome to Deep Dive with Dr. D. My guest today is Amy McGuffin. I've known her, we'll talk about that a long time. Um, she is the executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, but we've been talking this morning, and you'll get to hear a little bit of this, I think, on her as a community member, longtime community member. Um, so welcome to the show. Let's see, what's my plug for deep dive with Dr. D? I don't know, subscribe if you do YouTube or you know, on any podcast channel. I don't really have anything to plug this week. I will say I'm going down to Ellensburg Community Radio tomorrow because they're gonna start plugging podcasts. So they want to start putting out to the world different podcasts, so I'm gonna do that. So that should be good. I also, since it just hit my brain, I've really been enjoying listening to KXLE. Like what the there, it's a lot of 90s country, and I'm for whatever reason, I'm just really loving it. So, okay.
SPEAKER_00It's hot, it's on trend. Yeah, it is. Henry's done a good job.
SPEAKER_04He's done a really, really good job. And who doesn't like Henry, right? So yeah, when he's when he's doing something, you kind of want to jump on. So let's let's get into this. I like your little notebook. Are you a note taker?
SPEAKER_01Um, when I'm nervous like this.
SPEAKER_04Oh, okay. Yeah. You're well, I always do this with students after presentations, and maybe I shouldn't do this with you like right at the beginning, because you you to me don't seem real nervous, but what's your nervousness level right now?
SPEAKER_01Uh three.
SPEAKER_04Oh, good. You're fine. You're gold. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Like I like to be prepared.
SPEAKER_04Yes.
SPEAKER_01And that's gonna come pretty much into the answers of preparations.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. I think it's really important. This okay, this is gonna be good. So, this is the one question that I don't give you.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_04Is um introduce yourself to the world. Who are you? And you can share whatever you want to share. You as an individual, as uh as the executive director, um, someone who doesn't know you, what would you want them to know about Amy?
SPEAKER_01Wow, um, well, um, I am married and I have a wonderful husband. I have two kids. Um, my son Colt is 17, my daughter Maggie is 13, and uh we live on a farm. We were talking about that today. Super cool. Um, we have cows, chickens, horses, dogs. Um, so uh I would say for somebody that doesn't know me, I'm very A-type. Yeah, so a lot of A-type personalities people think are very standoffish or very um judgmental. I think I'm the opposite. I love meeting people, I love hearing their stories and understanding them. Um, but a lot of things people don't uh know about me is I'm a quilter. I love quilting. Yeah, super. And um, I like preservation. I like canning and uh freeze drying. I was freeze drying, gosh, now for seven years before it got popular.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01Um so yeah, just I'm I'm kind of an all-encompassed person.
SPEAKER_04And you live on a piece of property that uh I was telling Amy my good friend Steven lived on, lived when he was a college student, and he's one of my best friends in the whole world, so I know exactly where you are. It's a good spot.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Um, you have a love for chickens.
SPEAKER_00They are my ladies, yeah.
SPEAKER_04I uh I I didn't share that we uh at our Fifth Avenue house, because in the city you can have up to four. I think we were illegal because we had five. That's kind of a joke.
SPEAKER_01I've heard there's a lot of that, yeah.
SPEAKER_04But you can't have roosters, but I love chickens. And when I was living out in the cabin, I was telling you about we love we had chickens, and they are fun, they are a really interesting animal to watch and their behavior.
SPEAKER_01They love their routines, they love their routines, and I can call them when I come down the driveway, and it's just fun because you know they're healthy when you can see their little legs, and so yeah, it's great.
SPEAKER_04Who's in charge of your coop?
SPEAKER_01Me.
SPEAKER_04Oh, okay, okay. Yeah, good job.
SPEAKER_01Right now the roosters are struggling, so uh we've got him separated and so cool.
Kids Creativity Chickens And Routines
SPEAKER_04Yeah, tell me about the kids.
SPEAKER_01Kids, um, well, uh Colt, you know, he's on the spectrum. He's in uh he's more of the Asperger autistic.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_01Um, so he's a very creative dude. He um has a lovable just he just cares about people, um, but yet he doesn't understand his social boundaries. And so um, but he uh he is gonna one day I say Rose Parade Festival, um what are those called? The uh he's gonna make one of those design type of topics that are gonna be the floats. He's gonna create so he has a great mind. Okay. If you've ever gone to the fair, um do you go into the craft area? So he made this large six-foot sundial character that's uh like a character from some of the gamings that I'm not very familiar with.
SPEAKER_04So but he created that.
SPEAKER_01He loves paper mache, he loves taking recycled items. So and then Maggie, she's my root and tootin' cowgirl. She loves getting her hands dirty, she's uh wants to be a rancher, and so um, she loves horses. She used to do rodeo, um, so she's just kind of my cowgirl, my 70s cowgirl.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and what grades are we talking?
SPEAKER_01Um going into eighth grade and then junior.
SPEAKER_04Okay. Wow. So you're busy with them and busy on the farm. And how many cattle did you say you guys have? How many cows?
SPEAKER_01We have over 30 right now. We're building it. Yeah. Um so yeah.
SPEAKER_04So you're busy. And so we're gonna talk a lot about your role as the executive director. So you have that full-time job. I do, and your husband, he has a full-time job, I'm assuming.
SPEAKER_01Yep, he's a lean uh union laborer.
SPEAKER_04Oh, yeah. So he has a job, and then you have the rant. So you guys are busy. Yes, yeah, super cool.
SPEAKER_00On the move, yeah, constant.
SPEAKER_04So not a uh um learning just the little bit I learned about you this morning, not a big surprise. Um, I want to share with you, because I'm A-type, right? Kind of extroverted, blah, blah, blah. You've never caught come off to me as standoffish or unapproachable. Never to me. Um, I think maybe maybe it's the role. You know, you're in a leadership role in our community, but I just want to share that with you from me, and I'm guessing others would say that too. That you don't come off to me as standoffish. So um, great. Thank you for the introduction. Oh, wait, how long have you lived in Allensburg?
SPEAKER_01I came here in 2005. Okay. I was the um hotel manager for the best western um for a long time.
SPEAKER_04Oh my gosh, you're kidding.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04That's where Katrina and I had our wedding guest stay.
SPEAKER_01You did.
SPEAKER_04Is that where we met? Uh-huh. Oh my gosh. Wow. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Super cool.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So in my other life, I was uh project manager and construction manager for boutique hotels. Uh-huh. Um, so projects like Hotel Windrow were my jam. I lived in uh New York and Rhode Island. And so that's what I did. Where did you grow up? Ritzville.
SPEAKER_04No way. Yeah. Big ol' Ritzville.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_01But I was that student that was like, I'm getting out of here.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, you want to go do stuff.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So super cool. Uh okay, thank you for that. Let's you want to do a question? Sure, let's do it. All right.
What Keeps A Community Healthy
SPEAKER_01You gave me some pretty good questions.
SPEAKER_04I I think I think these are good ones. So, as executive director of the Kiditas County Chamber of Commerce, you you get a unique view of our community. What's something people don't fully realize about what keeps a local community healthy and moving forward?
SPEAKER_01Well, like I said, I prepared for this because these are some good questions, and you gave it to me so where I could reflect.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And it was interesting because I was reflecting this week, and this week was a busy week for the chamber. And we were kind of going all over the place. We just got finished with an event in Clealum. Now, our chamber is a regional chamber, so we um we represent everyone in the Kiditas County.
SPEAKER_04Huge county, too. Yes, a lot going on.
SPEAKER_01And so um had a lot of meetings, and so this question was a really good question because um, you know, Ellensburg has their situational um uh difficulties and celebrations, um, but Clay Elam also um as a community, Clay Alam's going through some growing pains um for sure. Rosalyn um has a lot of people coming in and out of their community, and so they have a few things. And so I think it was just interesting to reflect on that. And so your question of um what keeps a community moving forward, um, you know, we have found in the last three years that um operating in silos is not a healthy way for a community to work. And I've seen that um from the chamber lens because I've seen a lot of um businesses. Let's just give an example. Um Hillary Jensen at the um Jensen Farm.
SPEAKER_03Yes, love Hillary.
SPEAKER_01Uh opened a business, uh brick and mortar in Cleellum, and but she's still doing pop-up in Ellensburg, she's still doing farmers markets, but you're seeing that quite a bit in the business world. Um, just because they have a brick and mortar does not mean that they're not operating in a farmer's market realm or they're doing a pop-up market. Um, and so small businesses are really trying to collaborate and and pollinate themselves across the way. Um, I think that's because we have so many messages that are coming at us through platforms, social media platforms, that um the community moving forward is about relationships. And yeah, Kiditas County is I yeah, we'll talk about this later. Yeah, um, we have some dynamic relationships, long legacy um relationships. And so, like we just recognize today, 2005 is when we first met, and we've just kind of once in a while we'll see each other and we can pick up, and that's what friendships are. So operating outside of the silos um is really what's happening behind the scenes that's keeping the community together and forward. The other thing that I talked about was um we have a lot of people that invest in what's important to them, and Kiditas County has a quality of life that for a while was not on the map, and then it became on the map. And I think that um that preservation of what's really important, and a lot of people talk about that rooted, you know, we we're still very rooted here, yeah. And um, I think that that's another thing that people don't realize that that's what keeps the community moving forward because balanced growth doesn't mean that we forget preserving our roots, and so I think that's gonna be uh a piece that I reflected on. I was like, man, relationships are strong, they're rooted just as our generational roots. Um, so I think that's kind of where I went.
SPEAKER_04I really appreciate what you just shared. It it caused me to, you know, I'm a Tacoma boy, I've got it tattooed, I'll always be a city boy at heart, but I've been in Ellensburg since 2001. And I actually moved in 2001 from downtown Pew Alp. I always just say Tacoma. Um, and I watched that growth happen from the 80s through the early 2000s, right? How they've just grown tremendously. Sumner, Sumner's a great example.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
Growth Remote Work And Keeping Youth
SPEAKER_04I lived in Sumner and now it's almost unrecognizable in a lot of ways. Um, and I think we're experiencing that, but on a slower trajectory, which I think is good because then we can have leaders can who can help manage that. Would you agree with that? Would you say that's the reality for us?
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah. I think um small increments of growth have been happening over the years.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, but because of the passion of the people, yeah, we've really slowed down because people do not want to be overgrown. Um, and I think that's the the nice thing about our valley is we've been able to see the growth of Seattle, growth of Issaquah, growth of North Bend. Um, you know, we start looking at it and we evaluate, nope, don't want that. But we're still progressive. We have Central Washington University here. So, but our biggest export right now that we've kind of gathered is is our youth. Our youth are the biggest export. So, one of the things that I think we have to realize is in growth, as leaders, we have to ask, what can we do to make them stay? What can we do to encourage them to stay? And I I would have to say one of the opportunities of COVID, which we were talking about, gosh, it's been six years, but one of the opportunities of COVID is as a society, we've gone to remote work, work from home, flexibility, grace. Like we have put that family balance and work life balance together. And I think that's an opportunity for us. Um, I think a lot of people have come back to rural communities because they're getting eaten alive. That's why I left um Rhode Island and and Boston was because I was living in probably the same size of room that we're in, and your your bookshelves was where I kept my clothes, and I had a couch to sleep on. Yeah, and I was paying$1,500 for it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. And just getting from point A to point B took forever, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, public transportation. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, but then at the same time, what quality of life is that to be stuck in a little room, right? And so I called my parents and I was like, I'm coming back.
SPEAKER_04So your parents oh yeah, they lived in Moses Lake. Moses Lake, yeah, yeah, okay. And so the first you wanted to come back because you saw this isn't what I want.
SPEAKER_01I was living on credit cards and in a small room, and that's not quality of life. No, and I think everybody recognizes that. And I heard a saying one time when I was in Roslyn, you know, Roslyn is very heavy in tourism.
SPEAKER_03Big time.
SPEAKER_01Um, and uh I give it to those business owners because day in and day out you have to deal with different people. Yeah, and those people sometimes aren't rooted to the kindness that um we're familiar with or the hospitality. And so one of the things that I heard was they love it so much they want to change it. And when that came to a reality for me, I was like, okay, we need to change that conversation because we love that they love it, but we also want them to be engaged in the incremental growth, not let's just change it, because I want that. Get the buy-in, get the get the buy-in, understand. Yes, become rooted, even if they're transplanted, you can still transplant a plant and they can be rooted.
SPEAKER_04So that's where we had to interest, but you don't want to rush it, right? You gotta be careful with it because that plant will die if you overwater it, if you grow it too quickly, if you ov over-fertilize it, right? Yeah, that's an interesting analogy. I really like that.
SPEAKER_01I think that's funny because um my favorite plant is the Christmas cactus. Oh and it's a succulent of types. Yes, and they're hardy, yeah. But you can you can put them in a glass of water, you don't have to have any dirt around them, and they can still grow good roots. And until those roots are ready, then you can plant them in the dirt.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, right. If you plant it too early, exactly.
SPEAKER_01And so I think having that transparent um opportunity from a leadership perspective, being honest, having a mission that's driving your decisions, being part of it, being involved. And so that's why I say from our perspective, we want the community to be involved, we want them to come to council meetings, we want them to be heard, because unless that comes out, the leaders are gonna just drive on what they think is gonna be best. And so I always encourage it, which we have seen in the last year or so. Yeah, um, and it's been different in all levels, right? Rosalind has had people that have had some differences of opinions, they've come out, Cleellum, Ellensburg. We probably hear more of it on in Ellensburg just because of coverage. No, right, right, right.
SPEAKER_04But it's happening all over the county, yeah. Even vanish.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yes, vanish, yeah. The county government is starting to get some changes for sure.
SPEAKER_04Interesting. Yeah, you want to do another question?
SPEAKER_01Sure.
SPEAKER_04And I really uh before I do that, I really appreciate, and I guess I have a question for you because you're in a key leadership role for our county for this growth. That's it's gonna it's happening, right? How what's your approach when a new community member comes in and they want to do this really big thing, which is great? Like I'm a small business owner, I'm an entrepreneur, which I encourage that, but you have the knowledge of the roots in our community, and you you kind of go, ooh, how how's that conversation for you with that new idea, that new community member who wants to come in here and hard charge and do things? How does that go for you?
SPEAKER_01Well, it's changed over the years. Like I was talking to Katrina, I've been with the chamber for 15 years. Yeah, eight of those years have been a CEO.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_01And um, one of the things that I I'm a believer, so um I asked for patience for many of those years. Um, and I believe um the Lord just gave me more challenges when I asked for patience.
SPEAKER_04Isn't that great? Yeah, so yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I've asked for peace recently. Oh not patience, just peace.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And what I have found is I'm much more calmer when somebody comes and has a brilliant idea.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, sure.
SPEAKER_01Wow, I really like this.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I think that's where um a lot of people ask, what does the chamber do? The chamber provides resources and connections. And that's where by having that calmness, being able to listen to them, and having the historic knowledge of the people that have created the world in which we love or the community that we love, um, I've been able to just listen to them and give them substantial connections. Because it's really not gonna be up to me. Right. And that's another thing that I learned is that creates burnout when you're trying to be the solo person trying to do everything. Yeah. And so with that piece, I've been able to just say, you know what, let me get a hold of somebody for you. I'm gonna get back to you. I think this is a great idea. Let me connect you. We might have to go slow with it. Yeah, right. Um, but then there's some ideas that I'm like, that sounds great. How can the chamber get started with you? Let's do it, right? And that's where we came in with um the workforce development and uh talent pipeline. We have had a great success with connecting with CTE and the schools. Um, and it was because it was a no-brainer. We already had the businesses that we knew, and that was the largest gap that those teachers had was they didn't know how to connect with the businesses, and we were like, this is up our alley. Yeah. So we weren't gonna wait. Yeah, we were like, let us call so-and-so and so-and-so and so-and-so, and let's get this going.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So, yeah.
SPEAKER_04I've I've uh this last year I started it on campus. I actually want to roll it out to the community. I've started this program, and it's just about getting to know each other on a more human level and about being connected with each other because when we can when we're what I say truly connected, when we know each other outside of our roles, boy, we can get a lot more done. And I think you do that in your role as a leader is you find ways to connect people with those. I'm making an educated guess. You have someone come in, they have this idea, and you think, I know who I need to connect them with, because that person is rooted in the community, and they'll help them see that and understand that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, and that goes to even the entrepreneurs. There's sometimes I don't have community ideas, I have business ideas that come in. And so a lot of our programs, and this is where the mission-driven piece of the chamber is, is we evaluated right out of COVID what what is our role. And our role was to provide those connections and the resources. There are some great businesses that have started up in the last five years, and we knew by data that if they don't have the support and resources within the first three years, they will never make it. Nope. Yeah, and these entrepreneurs, it's like all in, it's like at the craps table, and it's like, oof, yeah, I'm putting it all in, right? And so we were like, okay, do we have the resources that they need? Do we have the education? Do we have the programs? And that's where we evaluated. So you'll see um back in 2020, we used to be heavy in community events, and then you'll notice that the chamber started just kind of giving our parades to other entities and giving some other things, is because that's where that shift was.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_01And the adaptability is what's made us stronger as a resource because we're not overwhelmed with having to do all this other stuff, all the other stuff, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Interesting. So good. Okay. You have two more questions for you, and then we'll do some closing questions.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_04Um small town leadership can be rewarding, but it can also be exhausting, right? I mean because of relationships, politics, and community issues. You've already talked about that a little bit. They all overlap. How do you personally stay grounded and avoid burnout in this kind of role?
SPEAKER_01Well, I kind of touched on it. I was asking for patience, and then I had to turn the conversation of just give me peace. Um each person that is involved either in politics, business, um, they have a personal agenda and it's not a fault um of theirs, it's just a passion. And so realizing that for me allowed me to kind of say, people are taking things personal, which they should, because we live and breathe here, right? We're part of the the makeup. Um but for me as the CEO, I don't necessarily have to make my decisions because of a personal personality difference or a personal attack or anything like that. Because I've experienced them all. We talked about it earlier. And uh it's just realizing to take that time and say, where is this person coming from? Why are the politics coming at us at this direction? How can I get engaged in it? And I think from a citizen standpoint, we are getting that engagement and it's making changes.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But we also have to be understanding of what the importance of that ripple effect of just being kind, being understanding. We're not all gonna agree. And so that's where I've kind of balanced it to where there may be a day that I'm like, oh man, that was a doozy one. Um, but I go home and I think about it and just say, okay, I see where their passion is. Okay, how can I help them with this, but not remove myself from it or remove the mission of the chamber from it. Um, and so I think that's a real important piece because I think society today, there's just a lot of anger, there's a lot of divisiveness. And so just understanding again that ripple effect of just being kind and being understanding, and um doesn't mean that hard conversations aren't gonna happen. Yeah, yeah, but it just is what it is. And I've experienced that in the last three years. Speaking of growth, the last three years economic development has been through a planning stage, and everybody that has been involved in it mayors of Rosalind, Clealum, South Clealum, uh, commissioners in the county, um, administration in the city of Ellensburg, all of them have been involved, the chamber's been involved, the downtown associations. There's three downtown associations throughout the county. We've all been involved. But it hasn't been pretty. There has been name calling, there has been finger pointing, there has been all these things. But when it came down to it, it's about the big picture. And the big picture are those little kids that are downstairs in Katrina's school.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Right? And so you have to remove yourself and say, you know what? I can get through this.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Right. And I heard just recently um a mom was saying to her kid outside of the chamber, Well, did anybody die? And it was like, whoa, that's kind of interesting. But it kind of made sense. Here's a mom coming and saying, We can get through this. Did anything happen that we couldn't fix? And I think there's gonna be a lot of those coming up, um, you know, especially like with some of our communities and their decision making. Uh, they're gonna be people that are not gonna like the decision making of the leaders. Who what leader have we had in any of our from federal to have we completely 100% agreed with it's not gonna happen. But what is important is that we're there, we're testifying at the state level, we're getting involved, we're you know, we're choosing to be part of it. Yeah, because I always go back to my mom that she always says that if you don't ever vocalize it, no one will know that you want to be heard. And and so if you stay quiet and complain, it just it undermines it. And so we don't want to be undermining, we want to be understanding.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. And so I really I was just thinking this morning, I really appreciate what you just said about kindness. Because I talk a lot, you know, be kind. And I I think you'll agree with this that we can say what we need to say and still be kind. It doesn't mean that you just have to sit back and let things happen. You can have boundaries, you can be respectful and be kind all at once. And I think right now, unfortunately, we don't have a lot of that going on, and I think that our community is in a good place to maybe bring that back. You know, we don't see a lot of it locally, I think with some issues that we've had recently, we've seen it kind of crop up, but um, you know, my mom she went through a lot, you know, but she taught us, you know, you you can be a good human. Um, and I think you and I are of an age where we remember, where it's like you respect others, you respect adults, you respect elders, um, respect each other. Yeah. Um, and I I'm I'm guessing that you you obviously you see the good and the bad of this. And I I'm it it makes me makes my heart happy. I knew this before you came on this podcast that you're a leader out there modeling this, and that's what we need for our you know, downstairs is the preschool. We need the adults in the room to model this behavior because our kids are watching.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_04I always say that our kids are watching us, yeah. And so, what do we want our future leaders to be?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So I I purchased your audible of your book. Oh, and I remember you saying that, you know, now that you're grandson, and you know, and I just really appreciate that because uh even adults are watching, and yeah, yeah. So it's one of those things, and I I say to my staff, and they probably roll their eyes when I say it, because I say it quite often, is in the leadership role that I have. Do you know the biggest, the biggest um hurdle that I have? Humans.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it is.
SPEAKER_01It's the humans, everything else, policy, procedures, everything else. We can think about it, we can we can chew it up, spit it out, whatever. But it's the humans, and I tell you right now, humans are all over the place right now. I have different requests from my humans and within my organization that um it was even told to me on Friday you do you do so many different things because you know everybody's so different. I'm like, imagine that being a leader and having so many people with different things and different ideologies and different pieces that are passion to them. It's like that's the only one thing I have in my leadership is humans. Yeah, that's consistently different.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, very I you know, I teach IT management and I tell future cybersecurity professionals and data analysts and all this, who are some of them are kind of the techie kids. I'm like, hey, listen, I got bad news for you. And they're like, What? You're gonna be dealing with humans, yeah. And because because this computer, I can fix that. Yeah, I can tell it what to do and it's gonna do it, and I can problem solve that and it'll behave how I want it to. Humans, whole different animal, yeah, right? Yeah, yeah, it's very, very good.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I think preparing for today, it's about um my role as a leader is still to be coachable.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01In in the last three or four years, I've had a lot of coaching opportunities from other leaders, and um, I think that's what makes a great leader is they they humble themselves enough to listen to those teachable moments.
Mentors Faith And Leading Humans
SPEAKER_04Be approachable, be teachable. You know, I'm turning 59, crazy to think, and I've still got a lot to learn. Yeah, got a lot, you know, having kids and grandkids helps you with that. Yeah, you know, we think we got it all figured out. Well, they they tell us different. Um, who who have been your mentors along the way?
SPEAKER_01You know, my mom uh has been a huge mentor for me. So my uh a little bit about me, so my my dad is a butcher by trade, um, and my mom was the rap lady, the rapping lady.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, sure.
SPEAKER_01Before rap was even a thing. Exactly. Nice, and I remember growing up in Ritzville, and um we would fair time my dad, it was the busiest time for my dad. And I have five kids in the family, four brothers. That tells you a lot.
SPEAKER_03Oh, wow. Okay, okay, that tells you a lot.
SPEAKER_01And um, I remember there were long days. We were we were down there with our parents till one, two o'clock in the morning.
SPEAKER_02Wow.
SPEAKER_01But those were the times where I learned the most, right? Family is important. Um, your religion or your your belief system uh-huh is is just as important to people. Um and and taking that in and just using that on a daily for me um is I think the greatest blessing that my parents gave me. They're still together, um, which is kind of a phenomenon in this world today, um, is their love. Love will, if you have an experience of love, you will start seeing the kindness, you'll see the charity, you'll see the understanding in your life. And so I really try to um my love language is gifting. I like to give things, I like to use my creativity. I'm a quilter. And so it means a lot to me to make a quilt and give it to somebody, knowing very well it's probably not that important as to me giving it to them as them receiving. And in this world today, there are givers and there are takers. And I feel like we're out of balance. There's a lot of takers, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and so in a lot of different ways, too. Yeah, emotionally, spiritually, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so mentorship-wise, I don't have one person stand out. Yeah, I have so many people that I've learned from. Um, there's been several in my life when I've made, as a 21-year-old, made a decision, and I remember my boss coming to me and she sat me down and said, All right.
SPEAKER_04What are you thinking?
SPEAKER_01Okay, if you're gonna continue in this professional career, you don't do this. Yeah, and and I consider that as a mentorship.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's huge.
SPEAKER_01Um, consistently as my parents, I would have to say, but I've had so many others. Um, I was an au-pair for my niece in Boston. That's how how I got over to the East Coast. And my brother, I just remember my brother. He he uh he didn't live with us um because when we moved to Ritzville, we came from southern Idaho, and the high school that he was in had a lot more offering than a rural school. And so he chose to stay. So he was 16 when we moved, and so he was out of our house. And I just remember looking up to him, and so he's somewhat of a mentor for me. Um, and so each one of my brothers are in a different career path, and so we've had a really great family dynamic where we share a lot of things. Um, my youngest brother is here in Ellensburg, but no one would never know. Um he has his thing that he does. Um, I'll just kind of do a shout-out if I can. Yes. Uh Ye and Tay, the Korean barbecue, yeah. My brother and his significant partners.
SPEAKER_04I'm super excited for them. Yeah, I've been watching the journey of that building, the remodel, and everything.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so you talk about chamber connections, you know, calling Joel and saying, Hey, what are you doing with the smoke shop? And he's like, What do you got? I was like, I got a Korean barbecue coming in.
SPEAKER_04Oh my gosh, that's your brother. Okay. Wow.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so those are things I have several mentorship opportunities.
SPEAKER_04And you speak to my belief about your circle of influence, you know, having I I say four or five people that you talk to that influence you, you influence them and the importance of that. Um, and I want to share with you on quilting.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Um we we we have sheet week every week. We used to do videos. It started during COVID, but every Saturday morning I changed the bedding. And this morning, and I got chills, so I want you to know the meaning of it. My Aunt Lois, who I hope she watches this when she lives in Mansfield, little old Mansfield. She's a quilter.
SPEAKER_02Oh.
SPEAKER_04And on our bed right now are the two quilts she made us. And and mine is my Indian motorcycle, and hers is her sunflower. And it's super meaningful to me. It's hugely meaningful that she took the time to design and get my input and make this quilt that is like means the world to me. Right. And and I'm also share with you that my mom made, she didn't quilt, but she crocheted blankets for me. And um, she's not with us anymore. And those blankets mean the world to me. So it's really meaningful what you do. So my educated guess is that it might mean more than maybe you think, you know. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01So can I add to that?
Quilting As Community Leadership
SPEAKER_04Please.
SPEAKER_01Um my interview for the CEO position.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, I had a I don't know how many people are gonna know this, but I had a felt board.
SPEAKER_03Oh.
SPEAKER_01And I had squares, and I made a quilt design, and in each of the squares, I likened it unto the importance of of the chamber and the fabric of life that the chamber brought to it. And so I took my passion of quilting and brought it into my interview. And I remember the the person that was at in the board at the time, um, he was against me having the opportunity. And I only know this because after they made the decision to hire me, he came and he said, It did it. Your interview was because he remembered the importance of the quilts that his grandmother made, and all this. And so I by by stitching together that quilt block in my interview, showed that I can stitch together a community, I can stitch together small businesses, it brought him around, and it brought him around. And so quilting has been a my relaxation, um, but it it does mean a lot to a lot of people. So thank you for sharing with my story.
Winco Ag Tech And Opportunity
SPEAKER_04I love like my my uh my quilt, and Katrina loves hers too. She got hers first, Aunt Lois. Anyway, but uh yeah, super cool, very meaningful. Yeah, okay. Guess what? Last question for you. And this is this gets to really just kind of, I'm sure, energize you. So looking ahead, yeah. What excites you about the future of Ellensburg and Kiditas County? Because Kiditas County is big and it's got Cleel and it's got Roslyn and it's got Kiditas and Vange. And where do you think we still need to grow? So, what excites you and where are the areas that you think we need to grow?
SPEAKER_01Well, um, what excites me, and we've talked about this throughout the time today, um, which by the way, thank you for inviting me. I never did say thank you.
SPEAKER_04Oh, I have an ask for you. I want to get more leaders on this podcast.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_04So here's my ask. Get me my next leader.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_04Help me out. So you can share with them what this is what it is.
SPEAKER_00Okay, sounds good.
SPEAKER_04There's no surprise questions. I'm not here to go, hey, what about this? I'm here to have a conversation.
SPEAKER_01I love it. So there you go. Yeah, well, if your watchers have some ideas, put it in there and I'll watch for them and then see if I can connect you.
SPEAKER_03So great, perfect.
SPEAKER_01Um so what I'm excited for is um I am excited for the growth that is happening. Um because I I I do want to say to people, it is a very aware um notion that we don't want to overgrow or grow too fast. The leaders that are involved are very um curious in what our capacity is and what is a good balanced growth. Um most of, if not all, of the leaders that are involved in the discussions, I have never heard one of them not say we have to preserve our rural character. Um and so I'm excited to see how we can come together. I know um there are going to be buildings that are going to be erected that people are not going to agree with. We understand that. Um, but again, our biggest export is the youth of our group of our uh community. So peeling back that, we're asking ourselves how can we make it more affordable for our families, our children, to stay in the community in which we raised them because we chose this community is the best place for them to live.
SPEAKER_04We're saying this is the best place to live, but our kids are leaving.
SPEAKER_01They're leaving.
SPEAKER_04So how can we keep them?
SPEAKER_01How do we keep them in there? And I get it, because remember, I was from Ritzville. Yeah. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. I remember the day of my graduation, my car was packed and I was on the road. I was done.
SPEAKER_04Some of that's normal.
SPEAKER_01It's normal. Right.
SPEAKER_04We're just how can we keep the one and and I hear this a lot in Ellensburg. In fact, I I I have the album Eagles Hotel California. I attribute Ellensburg to the song Hotel California. You can come, but you can never leave. We have a lot of transplant, like it was not permanent for me, but here I am 26 years later. And I hear a lot of young people. I think of Andy Rossbeck, a really close friend of mine. He left and he came back.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So how can we make it livable for those that leave and come back or want to stay, don't want to leave? We have a lot of central students that love Ellensburg.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04But they they they leave because they have to find a job elsewhere.
SPEAKER_01So Okay. Well, let's just do this. So I've I've been interested in doing a podcast for Chamber, and um, I've been working with Jared Vallejo about communications and and um we were gonna call it myth busters, but that's already been taken.
SPEAKER_02But yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um so I'm gonna just put it out there on your podcast. Let's see if we get some conversation. Um I get the struggle with the Winco building. I get it. Yeah, 100% get it, right?
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I struggled with it with big.
SPEAKER_03It's huge. It's ugly. It's it's I don't want to say ugly, but it's big. It's got it.
SPEAKER_01It's different.
SPEAKER_03It's very different, right? Yeah.
Infrastructure Affordability And Workforce
SPEAKER_01And you know, I hear it from my husband. Uh ruined the landscape. I've hear I've heard it from other people, it's ruined the landscape. And and and I get it. Um, and I can be empathetic in regards to that. Um, but we were talking today. Your IT students, this is a prime opportunity. The electronics and the robotics that are gonna be there. This is the this is the world we're in. We have progressed so much. I mean, we've gone from IBM computers to Apple computers to on our in our hand computers, right? Yeah, and so it's an evolution of progression. And so by us being able to provide that for the students coming into the Winco facility, there's other opportunities that we have. And one of the things that we've been talking a lot about as the circle of leadership is you know, um, agricultural technology is growing and it's huge, right? Yeah, and so we ask the question how can we get some of those companies coming here and they're using our farmers, our ranchers to test their products to to evaluate what it looks like for extreme weather, or you know, we talk about this integration um and the divide of Central Washington University being here in this town. We have a great opportunity. We we have an opportunity from um perspective of I don't know if very many people know, but Central Washington is the main hub for some of the aquatic main weather channels. It's it's here, they're doing it, the students are working it. And so to come to a company that wants to come to Ellensburg and build the mechanics that they're using to um, you know, rate the tsunamis that are coming across the world from little old Ellensburg is amazing opportunities. Those are things that are great, but we have the rooted, we have the legacy businesses here. You know, I just talked with Mark Anderson uh last week because I was at a meeting and somebody was saying, oh, Hay's gonna go away. Hay's not gonna go away because we have leaders like Mark Anderson and his family that are going to stick with it. Is it going to be as um elevated as they have been in the years past? No, we've seen that, right? He's had to make structural changes and and change and changes. And so one of the things to your questions was how successful or how are long-term decision makings gonna be for our businesses? They have to be adaptable leaders. Yeah, they have to see what's coming down the pipeline and making those decisions. Those decisions are not gonna always be pretty decisions to the community members or residents or citizens, they're all gonna talk about it. Yeah, we get it. But we're we're talking about being rooted in our roots, legacy businesses, and supporting them. Agriculture is still agriculture for this area, and we're gonna do our best to keep it. Growth is happening, people are gonna start coming, we're gonna recruit businesses here. I ideally would love it at the industrial park. Um, and so, and I I've talked about that for years that we need to build that industrial park. Um, Winco is here, we're gonna have some growing pains with Winco. The trucks, we're gonna figure it out. Yep. We can see it, we can figure it out, the conversations are happening. Um, infrastructure. I think that's where we're gonna need to grow. I'm coming back to that question. Yeah, we need to invest in an infrastructure. We're seeing that in a conversation with Ellensburg, whether it's the memorial pool, it's activities for our kids, infrastructure, water, utilities, basic services. Each one of the municipalities in this county has those struggles. Rosalind has water issues, South Clayam has water issues. We are aware our infrastructure is dilapidated. And we understand that. So now we're focusing on that as an as leaders. And so it's getting involved into those leadership discussions are really important. And I think that's where our growth is going to need, is we still need to invest in infrastructure. We still need to invest in workforce development and talent pipeline. That has to come with recruitment. Yeah. Right. And I think the other thing is we still have to work hard at making living here affordable. Because even though we may live here for generations, I've been here since 2005. And I can't believe the prices that are come that are happening, right? We hear it about property tax, we hear it about utility increases, everything like that. So we have to be mindful that we don't outgrow the people that have lived here in price points with the balance of recruiting and keeping the talent here too. And so we're kind of in a crossroads, as they would say. Um and so it's exciting, but yet it's kind of nerve-wracking of the decision making and the leadership that's here. It's interesting.
SPEAKER_04And so you know, we I've heard this conversation. Oh, so I came with Fred Meyer.
SPEAKER_01Yes, you did. That's what brought me. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04And I remember when Fred Meyer came, that was a big deal.
SPEAKER_01I think you stayed at the hotel for your first week that you probably did.
SPEAKER_04Probably did. Um, and I remember those conversations. Um, the chamber, yeah, they came down and there were tours of the building, and and there were people on both sides. Like, oh my god, it's the devil, it's the worst thing ever. And and I'll never forget this was the greatest conversation I had with this. I don't remember who it was, but this lady came in. She just her thing was, you know what? Finally, I can buy a brasier in this town in my size, right? There you go. And it's interesting to me, 26 years later, 25 years later, that Fred Meyer is still it. That me and Katrina, when we want to do real shopping, we have to go to Yakima.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04And we've experienced a lot of growth in 25 years. What do you think? Do you think that's gonna change?
SPEAKER_01See, that's another episode in the Mythbusters. Um, it's going to change. Uh, we talked earlier about um incremental incremental changes. Look at the incremental changes that we have. We have some fantastic small boutique hotel or hotel here in town, but we have boutique retail that has now given a different offering. Um we have we've built things in the downtown. Almost all three of our downtown um cores in the county um have things that are changing that are uh we've become foodie popularity. Oh big time, right? We have a great choice of food.
SPEAKER_04Lots of food.
SPEAKER_01But look, we don't have any we don't have any large sit-down branded restaurants. No, it's all locally owned, operated, but the the Taco Bell and the fast food and all that stuff, right? That's not that's different. We don't have the Texas Roadhouse, we don't have, you know, like we don't have these large places. It's gonna change because our population is gonna change. And so I'm gonna just say it on here. Trade O'Joes, I know it's a popular want, but it's all based on population. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And so as we grow, our population's gonna grow. You're gonna start seeing some of these larger entities look at us. I've also said in the economic development world and conversations, they're already looking. Don't think that they're not looking. They just do it from a statistic and data decision.
SPEAKER_04Population. Population, density, density, um, affordability, really.
SPEAKER_01Um I always say that when somebody comes in here, you can't expect the locals to maintain you. You have to have other insertions, and that's why tourism is important. Um, I know a lot of people are like, we don't want tourism. Well, I'm in the added mind. If you build it for the tourists, it's a gift for the locals. So now we're gonna go back to infrastructure. If you build it for tourists, the locals will have a gift. And so those are some of the things that like when the water park wanted to come in, right? But all their numbers were not local numbers. They were like, How can we draw the tourists here? And there just wasn't enough draw from that perspective. So I do think things are gonna change. It's gonna be incremental. It's gonna be if you're not engaged, you're gonna think it came out and you didn't know it was come from.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, were you listening? Were you going to meetings? Were you participating in conversations? Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01And so, and if social media is not your space because who knows who's putting what out, right? Yeah, support your local newspaper. Yeah, yes, they have their growing pains, but sometimes they're in those meetings and they're reporting those things that are happening. And so those are some of the things come to chamber meetings. Yeah, you don't have to be a member to come to our chamber meetings. Would we love for you to be a chamber member? Absolutely. And we talk about incremental. If if every single business invested in the chamber of commerce, our voice would be larger in some of those larger decisions. I can only be in certain places, I can only have a certain amount of um employees that are managing different things. And so it's an incremental piece that we have to grow together and be part of and engaged together. So those are some of the things that I think are gonna be, we're gonna see it. Uh, but you do have some leaders right now that are very much putting a halt, making a decision that is based on facts, data. Can we do it? Are we capable of maintaining this? Um, so I think we're really going slow about it. Um, but it's gonna happen. Good. It's gonna happen.
Proud Firsts And Hard Lessons
SPEAKER_04All right. Before we go to the closing two questions, you've been with the chamber for 15 years. This has hit my brain a couple of times to ask. What has been like your feather in your cap? Your one that you're most proud of. Like mine in the community has been the KCRCO, which is now Peers Rising, supporting friends and community, you know. That's been like, I'm really proud of that one. What's your proudest achievement? And what's been the one where you've been like, ooh, that was a struggle. That was like, man, that was really, really hard.
SPEAKER_01You know, I told you that I reflected on a lot of your questions, yeah, but with reflection, you come up with your own thoughts and how how my leadership has been in the last eight, 15 years, because I was director of tourism for those first few years. Um okay. You asked the question about mentorship. I'm gonna answer the same question the same way with what I'm proud of.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_01I have been involved in a lot of firsts in this county.
SPEAKER_03A lot.
SPEAKER_01And I thought about that, you know, and um those are my proudest moments of being able to be part of the first to give them the resources to build themselves to be here today. Um, a lot of it was um in that reflection, I was like, huh, I forgot about that. But that's my proudest moment is being the being in the first or being in the at the table and assisting them. And so it's uh both from a small business perspective and community events. I was part of Buskers in the Berg at the first, um, Dachshund's on parade, I was helping the McKeon, is it McKean family? I think uh, you know, senior bones coming to Ellensburg, I was part of that, you know, helping him find locations. Um, you know, Bears and Bronx just happened, and I saw on the poster, 18th year, and I'm like, wow, good golly, I was there. Wow, you know, yeah, um uh Cleellum Roundup. I was I was part of it when we were sitting in the recycle. Um, I don't know if many people know this, but um, the first one was in this cleared lot that used to be a glass recycling lot.
SPEAKER_02Wow.
SPEAKER_01And we cleared it out and we were like, let's hope the we get all the glass, right? And I remember those were the the pain points because in the rodeo world, um, the horses are their assets, right? And so when barrel racers were dropping out because they were seeing glass around it, we were like, ah, we didn't, you know.
SPEAKER_04This isn't good. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And so those firsts were proud moments, but they were learning moments too at the same time. You know, the Washington State Horse Park, I was part of the first initial pieces of that. Um, you know, I was the interim director of the Clay Alam Downtown Association when they were just gonna dissolve. Those are things that I'm like, wow, it's the firsts, or it's the the at the tables are my proudest moments. Um for the chamber itself directly. I am proud to be with an over a hundred-year-old organization that had the validity back then as it does now. Um we are engaged, we are involved in a lot of things. We advocate for businesses in the background. Um, we're not as loud as some chambers. Some chambers um are pretty loud in the advocacy, um, but I I truly believe we're gonna come back to those relationships. Um, I would say I have some really good relationships, and that's gonna lead me to my oh darnits. Um, I have a lot of oh darnits, and it really comes down to the relationship. Um, like any other leader, um, I have people that probably don't fit well with me. Yeah, and that's okay. Yeah um and um those are probably my biggest darnits uh is because I really pride myself in trying to be resourceful and and being there for people.
SPEAKER_04Someone someone can come to. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01And so knowing very well that I I haven't hit all the marks, even as a human, it's it's it saddens, you know, it it just does. But at the same time, um, those are the uncontrollable moments that you just can't take it personally um because our mission is to be a resource, and if that resource just doesn't work for somebody, okay, you you just gotta bless it and let it go, sure kind of thing. And that's what I've learned with the peace, right? Let me have patience with this person. Well, they're gonna challenge you. Yeah, it's just like having a teenager.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01I can teach them, but they're gonna push against me. Well, if you just get angry all the time, you're never gonna build that relationship. But if you slow it down, be calm, be strategic in what your process is, I think people will have the respect. I think most of the people that I may have had those darn it moments with, um, I would say they probably respect me. Um, we just don't see eye to eye on certain things. And so I hope I answered your question. I'm sorry I don't have any like specific like Piers Rising, that was such an incredible feat for you. And um, I the chamber supported them in Clealum for expansion. And and I just Brandy's doing a great job. Doing amazing, and um, you know, listening to your book, I just kind of I don't um I haven't had as difficult of a life, I've been pretty blessed, but I've also seen people to where um I can be humble in their experiences and I can kind of have that that understanding for them. I don't understand their life, I don't understand, sure, but I I I think it's incredible. We have some great people in this community.
SPEAKER_04Well, I appreciate you sharing the first, you know. I think that's that's um on us I I don't not comparing levels, but I've had some first along the way, and I think when you're you're at the table or you've done some firsts, those are those are really cool memories to have. Um and I I I would make an educated guess that you are well respected, um, even by those who maybe you haven't agreed with. Because just this conversation, you and I have had other conversations along the way. Um, like I said earlier, you know, yeah, you're you're you're a go-getter, you're a type, but you're you're approachable and you're kind and you're respectful. And and I would I would argue that probably, yeah, those people that maybe you had those moments with would say they still respect you. So thank you for all of this. This has been good. Okay, we're gonna wrap this up with two closing questions.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
Get Up Reflect And Keep Going
SPEAKER_04So if someone out there is listening, maybe, maybe an entrepreneur, maybe a young female who wants to be a strong, independent, forward-thinking leader like you, maybe, maybe someone who's out there and they just had one of those, I forget what you call it, those oopsie moments or they kind of tripped and fell. What piece of hope and wisdom would you give to that person out there listening?
SPEAKER_01Uh the old adage, get up, do it again. Just maybe do it a little bit different, but just get up, just keep, just keep trying.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You know, um, I I don't know if it's very uh full of wisdom, but I have taken so many opportunities to try to push the chamber, and I always start my conversation with, okay, we're shifting, we're shifting. I'm just giving you a fair warning. We're just shifting. And I think my staff is like, okay, we're shifting, what does this mean?
SPEAKER_04Yeah. But um we don't always know what it means.
SPEAKER_01We don't, and it's like I I believe I believe people are given certain skills in their lives, and my skill is um gut. I I have a really good gut, and and I I think where does that come from? Um having four brothers and um hardworking parents.
SPEAKER_04I was gonna say your parents you shared the stereo of the butcher shop and and that experience. You didn't even go into a lot of detail, but I'm guessing there were a lot of experiences in that where it taught you this gut.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And um I reflect a lot. I don't I didn't realize that when I was younger. I probably didn't when I was younger. I was like in the moment, right? Um but as I get older, I reflect a lot. Like I reflect on my decision, I reflect on my conversations. Like today, after we end, I'm gonna go to church and I'm gonna reflect and I'm gonna be like, okay, you know, kind of thing.
SPEAKER_04Um and so um there there's wisdom in reflecting, you know.
SPEAKER_01I think the pause. The pause is an amazing thing. So um, yeah, get up, do it again. Um, but your your influence, the circle of influence that you were talking about, um, I have great people around me. And um I the old adage to you of um you always put somebody in your team that knows more than you. Yeah, um, I have some I have a strong team, yeah, and uh they know a lot more than I do. And I think it's funny you see these YouTube videos or these TikTok videos of of generational gap. That's what we're experiencing in our workforce right now. I mean, there are people that are still 60 plus that are working, right? But then you've got 16, 14, 16-year-olds trying to get into the workforce. Yeah. And sometimes we just kind of hit our head on the wall. But at the same time, it's that generational gap that um, you know, they make fun of uh employers that ask, okay, how do you do this again? Because I don't understand it. And it's literally me almost every day. Okay, I tried it, Canva, yeah, help me out where like I'm missing a step. And then they tell me, and I'm like, oh, you know, yeah, this is so great. And so we talk about like AI and stuff like that. And I really loved it. I went through a guest service training just recently, and um, AI is fabulous, but it starts with a human, AI it, end it with a human, right? And I I just was like, I love it. The layers in our life is who created who I am today. And so the wisdom I think is is take the pause, get back up, surround yourself with good people, and at times, don't listen to the negativity because it's out there at all times.
SPEAKER_04And that's not anything new, is it? I mean, it's really loud right now, but in our lives, there's always gonna be. I thought of this earlier. I so one, I appreciate what you said. You started out with keep moving, get up, dust yourself off and keep moving. And you add to that, listen, be reflective, take that time for the pause, surround yourself with good people, right? That's but keep going, right? Get up and keep going. Um, we've we've had negativity in the world forever. That's nothing anything new in our own brains with other people. And you just said it at the end, and then we're gonna close this up where you get to ask me a question. This is where I get nervous, thank God. But um I I say it in this way, and I think you'll appreciate this. Delete the naysayers. There's always gonna be naysayers, there's always gonna be the more successful we are, the more that kind of gets loud in some ways, whether it's in our own brain or our actual people trying to bring us down. Um, so don't let the naysayers get you down.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Okay, here it is. What is something you've always wanted to ask me?
SPEAKER_01Okay, well, this one I really thought about. Oh boy, yes. Um, what are you gonna do after CWU?
SPEAKER_04Oh boy, that's a good one. What am I gonna do after CWU? So um I actually just had a conversation. So retirement, it's something that I've started thinking about as far as when I'm gonna leave CWU. So 10-ish years, um, and what would I do after that? That's a good question. Ten years is short.
SPEAKER_00I mean, look at COVID was six years ago.
SPEAKER_04So I, you know, when when I think about that, I think about the work that um I have a lot of passion for, and that's the in the arena. It's kind of this global thing, helping people see they have it within them to do amazing things. Awesome. Now, a lot of my work has been in the recovery arena. Um, you know, is it open a treatment center? I that's in my brain. That's current, it's not constant, but it's a lot of times in my brain. In our county, we don't have inpatient treatment. If someone needs treatment, they have to go elsewhere. I think it would be great to have it here. That could be it. I also am an entrepreneur, so I've always got stuff in my brain, you know, doggy daycare, like, oh my god, that would be great. Um, we actually have plans to expand the preschool. So will it be in that arena? It could be in that arena. So um there'll be something. David's never, you know, uh who was I just talking to about this, you know, about people retire and then they die because they don't have something going on, they don't have passion, they don't have anyway. So I don't have a clear answer for that. What's next after Central? Because I've got a little bit of time there. Um, but there you go.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I reflected that question for you because I've been asked recently, what's your next career?
SPEAKER_04And I was like, Oh wow, okay.
SPEAKER_01Never really thought about that.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. And so my joke is is uh if to my friends and family, if I ever disappear, I've I've I've gone truck driving. I have a fascination for long haul trucking. I did it briefly out of the military. Yeah, I would get bored so quick that it probably wouldn't happen for long, but I you know I love semi trucks, and oh yeah, that's a whole sidebar.
SPEAKER_00Oh, nice.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, this has been really cool. Yeah, you yeah, I've appreciated this a lot. So that's it. We're done. Hey now, we do are you a hugger?
SPEAKER_00I can be, yes.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, this is good. Thank you. Very good.