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Averjill Rookwood, Doula/Benefits Strategist and Founder @ The Corporate Doula | Liquid Assets - YouTube
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[Music]
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i'm joined today
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by aboriginal rookwood for our liquid
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assets interview series where we have
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candid conversations about all things
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money and career
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avergille is the founder of the
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corporate doula and
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a leader in the employee benefits and
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workplace well-being space
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average ill thank you so much for taking
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the time to chat with me today
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you're welcome i'm glad to be here yeah
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so great and since this is the liquid
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assets interview series
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we'd love to know what's filling your
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cup today
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well i'm from brooklyn new york but i'm
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coming to you from the south
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and here we drink arnold palmer's which
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is
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half iced tea half lemonade so
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it's delicious i'm refreshed and i'm
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ready to go
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oh my gosh i am jealous having a little
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bit of colder spring weather here today
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so i have my
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my hot coffee in my cup but can't wait
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for for summer months and some cold iced
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tea
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amazing well we have so many great
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questions for you today so would love to
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kick
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off and just start off learning a little
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bit more about
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what you do know now in your role as the
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corporate doula
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and then a little bit about your career
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up to this point your
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your time in the benefits space sure as
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the corporate doula
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i kind of drive in two lanes uh the
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first lane is to help
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the employees or individuals themselves
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and that's in a traditional doula
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standpoint i'm there for you advocating
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rubbing your bag
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saying helpful things uh teaching
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childbirth education classes to you
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but i also help you navigate your
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benefits um
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as you work so that it can be anything
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from
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benefits that allow you to leave work
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when you're if you know on bed rest
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um how you come back and how you
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maintain your pay so
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what does short-term disability mean for
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you versus any state or federal leaves
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like fmla
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and the other lane i travel is to help
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the employers directly
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because of uh me formerly wearing a hat
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in benefits for so many years
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lastly as a benefits manager i've sat in
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their seats so
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i can help them from two perspectives
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from that person that helps their
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employees
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but then that person who knows the
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budget considerations and all the red
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tape that they have to go through
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to help them make very strong decisions
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to strengthen
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the family benefit options and packages
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that they give their employees who work
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so very hard for them
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that's amazing that's amazing work that
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you do i know that
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it's such an exciting but also stressful
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time for families when they're welcoming
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a new member into their family so it's
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so empowering that you help them
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through that time in so many different
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capacities
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amazing well i'd love to dive a little
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bit more into the money topic
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i know that it can be a taboo topic for
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for people to talk about
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but um in your work working with both
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you know families and the employers why
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is it that employees and employers
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should talk
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about money more openly in the workplace
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in your in your opinion
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i mean we work for two things for
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outside of
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personal fulfillment we work for
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compensation and we work for benefits
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and so money kind of is the thread that
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goes through
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all of that um and so i think we're no
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longer in a society
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like maybe our grandparents used to work
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30 40 years somewhere
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and have like a pension that they knew
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was they were gonna get
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um so i think if you think about company
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culture
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to take on a persona that persona is
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probably gonna have some
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responsibilities and
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you know some moral responsibilities and
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some ethical responsibilities and
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that is one of them you know someone has
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devoted their time and attention
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uh to make your product your service
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grow for the time that they were with
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you
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how can you invest in them and so i feel
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that
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money is you know a necessary topic
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as someone travels through their career
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on their way to retirement
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absolutely and i love that point about
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those companies
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investing in their employees as a return
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for them putting so much time in i love
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that perspective
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and then pivoting a little bit more to
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your role working directly with families
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i'm curious what your thoughts on
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are on how couples should talk about
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finance as they're preparing to start
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their family and welcome someone new
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into their family oh just like anything
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else to start a family as a decision
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i will say their financial quote-unquote
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requirements behind that but it's not
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really it's considerations
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is a better word financial
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considerations um
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that they have to now put on the table
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when deciding to grow their family so
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what does that mean
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what does each partner uh bring to the
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table in terms of finances what are the
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expectations
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um because you definitely don't want to
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start to hash that out in the midst of
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new baby stress
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or in the mid-stress trying to start a
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family
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um so it's just better to get it out the
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way as soon as possible and make room
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for adjustments and you know for me if
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they're working with me
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you know use what your employer has
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available to you
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uh to the best uh you know to the
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highest utilization
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so that you can get what they have given
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you to
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to assist you in this transitional time
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in your life
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right yeah definitely and kind of a
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follow-up question to that
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as being in the the benefits world and
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your work with families and women
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preparing to welcome a baby into the
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family
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what's maybe the smartest financial
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decision you see people making or
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benefits decisions you
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see people making during this stage of
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life is it that
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um you know thinking ahead and having
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those conversations early on or are
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there any other
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things that really contribute to success
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there
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for the individuals i would definitely
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say
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you hit the nail on the head thinking
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ahead so what does that mean
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um what's available benefits that you
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didn't think about before like what's a
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529
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or why do i personally need an ira like
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i don't
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is it bad luck to think about child life
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insurance it's
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not get it um
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you know because you know pregnancy
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birth brings life and sometimes death
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you know it's a reality for either the
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birther
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or you know that new baby it happens
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it's not just a good
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and with the employers i think the best
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thing they
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can do is not think of their uh shop
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as a one-stop shop there's no silver
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bullet for all of their
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family forming employees or family
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sustaining
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employees so having something even if
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it's just a little something
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for everyone along the way in their
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journey as according to their
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demographics you know so
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right people are trying to start uh
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families
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having fertility-based benefits are
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awesome
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if they're you know they're in the midst
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of having families it's great for them
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to have
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family-centric benefits to pull from um
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and then
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there is the postpartum you know and
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then if there is loss what is that so
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we're just coming off of the heels of
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new zealand um granting bereavement
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benefits for miscarriages
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that's fantastic right but that's on a
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government
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level that doesn't stop acme
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incorporated in the united states for
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making that decision
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on their own not waiting for it to be a
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federal
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type decision so that's what i mean
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about looking through the whole
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continuum of family forming
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and family sustaining at work
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amazing yeah there's so many different
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touch points that you have to think
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about when both
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returning for work and preparing for
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that that moment in your life so
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love that perspective um so now shifting
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gears a little bit more into
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your your time in the benefits space
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what's maybe
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the coolest or most impactful benefit
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that you've seen a company offer and
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and why does that why is that benefit
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the best or are the most impactful for
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their employees
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there's no way i can choose one
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impactful benefit
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because like we just talked about
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there's so many different
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right points you know there's so many
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stages
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and so you see certain things
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really come through in the nick of time
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for someone and it's
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so um fulfilling
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as you know in my benefits manager role
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to see that
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wow we had something in place that came
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through
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for one of our employees and let me tell
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you
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employers out here let me have a moment
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with you hello
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um that moment builds loyalty that you
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could
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never buy that moment
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um puts your name out there
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in the workforce as as a company that
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cares whether that employee stays with
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you or not
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you you were thoughtful enough in your
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benefits to have something
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already in place no special needs
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requests you know need to be submitted
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that that's the most awesome when you
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have something when you've studied your
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demographic
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and you have met them where they are
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whatever that looks like that's the
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sweet spot
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yeah that's amazing and it must make
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employees feel so special when they feel
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heard
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by their employer as well absolutely
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absolutely
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yeah amazing um so now thinking a little
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bit you know
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people enter the workforce every year
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this
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this year and last year specifically
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have been a struggle for many new people
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entering the workforce so
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what advice or guidance do you have for
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aspiring benefits and workplace
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well-being professionals who are
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looking to just kick-start their career
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sometime soon
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i would say be as well-rounded as you
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can
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so for me the reason why i'm comfortable
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having
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you know when people think about
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benefits they think about you know
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medical
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dental vision um you know those things
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that we use all the time
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that's in front of our faces as benefits
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more health related
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but because of how i grew up in the
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benefits worlds
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um it included the money part of it to
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me and i can clearly see
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the bridges between financial benefits
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financial based benefits leave based
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benefits
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to health based benefits it is all
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interwoven
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and so very important um i call them
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close cousins
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and so when you uh make sure that you
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are well-rounded you will create plans
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for your
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uh employee base that is well-rounded as
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well there's no sense in having the best
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health plan
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and not only does no one have a great
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opportunity for
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a match in their 401k or um
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repayment for their uh student loans but
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they worse than that i believe is that
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they don't know it exists
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so you have it and your communications
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um is poor
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so they don't know that it exists and to
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take advantage of it
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so that that's the worst so be
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well-rounded
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and then produce a well-rounded um
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product and lobby for it like even if
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you get
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some pushback fight hard give the
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reasons why the dad is out there
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yep absolutely and i love that piece
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that you said about communication that's
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so
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key when it comes to benefits so having
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those communication skills you know
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is so valuable and thinking of new ways
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to get it get it out there to your
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workforce so
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definitely a really important aspect um
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amazing my last question
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um and then hopefully you can do some
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rapid fire fun questions is about
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burnout because i know it's something
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that
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so many people are experiencing right
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now um it's so real so i want to know
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what keeps you motivated through these
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strange
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tough times this uncertainty and what
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guidance do you have to offer others who
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might be feeling
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burnt out either as a result of their
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job or just being home all the time
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during these times i would say
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find your why and then factor yourself
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into the why
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so for me my why are those families
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you know those individual families that
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i help but then also the families that i
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help by helping their employers
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um it's just so rewarding to know that
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i'm
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that's my way of supporting people and
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it
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it just feeds me um but then i also have
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to make
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time and space and room for just
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average ill you know what does averagely
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do to replenish herself
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what does average need to do to renew
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herself
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what does average need to do to refresh
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herself
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do those things um and that's what i i
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have to do those things because i preach
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it
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i teach it so i have to live it because
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if you're my client
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whether that's an individual or employer
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i am baking that in
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to what is done so i have to be very
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mindful to do it for myself
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yeah i love that and just to just to say
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i feel your energy and everything even
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just over
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zoom so that definitely comes through
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that you're
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you're feeding yourself and taking the
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time for yourself and
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definitely makes me inspired to do the
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same for myself so
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excited to share this message with
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everyone that that watches
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um amazing well i think we have a few
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minutes left so we'd love to do some fun
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rapid fire questions um the first
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question i have for you is retirement is
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something that people think about you
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know for so long and save for for so
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long
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um so what would be your dream
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retirement um when you get to that point
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i want to be able to work just because
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i feel like it so i want to work these
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three months
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and then i'm out for the rest of the
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year
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um i'm a beach type of girl a warm
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weather type of girls so i need a couple
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houses
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um that would facilitate that type of
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life
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yeah i'm i'm a daughter of two jamaican
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immigrants
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and so you know water and sand is just
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what i do
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that sounds like a dream right now i
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have to say
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um my next question is true or false
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money can't buy happiness
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that is so hard
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okay so if i'm answering from the center
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of
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self um it can't it really can't
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but having money and i think it's just
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it's money
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there's nothing like money that you've
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worked hard for and by heart i don't
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mean
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like sweat and almost killed yourself
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for it
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i mean you worked smartly for it so
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for those who are just starting off get
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in the game
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because the longer you're in the game
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the more it has to give you at the end
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so you know save invest
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be wise um about it so that
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money gives you options that's not
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happiness money gives you
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options and options are a glorious thing
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to have
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absolutely absolutely next question is
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what's a secret talent that you have i
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have no secret talents
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i let the world know about my talents i
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do not
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hoard them for myself i would say that
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my talent
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is really connection and um
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communication i love you
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hear and learn um very complex things
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and be able to break it down
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for people um in a simple way that they
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can understand and take with them
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that oh that gets me fired up to be able
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to do that and so
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i do that um through my work in many
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different ways you know in
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in in my doula work but then in my kind
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of consulting work
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as well so my those are my talents and i
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let them be known
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i love that that should be a mantra for
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for 2021 and moving forward don't
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hide your hidden talents no more secret
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talents
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share them with the world exactly such a
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good message
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amazing so my last question who is one
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woman
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who has inspired you in your life or
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career
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there's definitely not just one so i'm
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just gonna like
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put my mom on the mantel and say like
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you know she
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at every stage of my life has been a
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great example for me
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but in business i would definitely have
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to say
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her name is barbara young um she was
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like this
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awesome lady
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at church when i was a young young
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girl she just had everything all
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together she owned like
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three insurance agencies like three
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state farms
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she drove a badass jaguar
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um and she was always
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dressed to the nine but sweet as can be
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and i just
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that was like my first example like wow
[1035]
look at a woman in business who just has
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it all together
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and is never never hesitates to share
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her
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knowledge to share her experience to
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share her pitfalls
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with young girls and young women
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who ask the knowledge was here for the
[1053]
taken
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and i just will never forget that it's
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what she said but it's also what she
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exuded
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um in business and i'm here talking
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about it
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like a gazillion years later she was
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like a boss back before i knew what that
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was
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i love that yeah own your own your
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success own your knowledge and share
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that with the world
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absolutely kind of like not sharing your
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hidden secrets put
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all of your accomplishments out there
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and all of your secrets out there to
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share
[1081]
exactly it's for a reason little does
[1082]
she know her being a boss was there
[1084]
uh inspiring average old brookwood
[1088]
for the rest of her life like she didn't
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know just being her
[1092]
so you just gotta be yourself and you
[1094]
know be it to the best of your ability
[1097]
absolutely you never know who you're who
[1099]
you're gonna inspire and
[1101]
average ill you've absolutely inspired
[1103]
me today in just
[1104]
hearing about your life your career um
[1107]
your words of wisdom so
[1108]
thank you so so much for for taking the
[1111]
time to chat with us
[1112]
today and can't wait to to see what what
[1114]
else you have in store
[1116]
oh thank you it was my pleasure thanks
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so much carly for having me
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you
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