Candid Conversation with Host Adrienne Barker, MAS

I can't hear you.

Hey.

Hi. Okay, that's better.

Okay. So I have not seen you since March. And I think it was the last 1 Million Cups. I have to share the story because you are the reason you opened up my life. You really did. You opened up my world. I met you and then you said to me, Adrienne, have you ever been to 1 Million Cups? And I was like, oh, I've kind of heard about it. And then we had decided to meet right after that. And that's changed my life. I love 1 Million Cups. Will you tell everyone what it is, please?

Sure.

What 1 Million Cups is like.

Absolutely. 1 Million Cups is an organization of, um, individuals. And primarily it's, uh, well, first of all, let me say hello. Thank you, Adrian, for even inviting me to be a part of this. I am so excited. It's made my day. But back to what 1 Million Cups is. So it's an organization of small business owners, entrepreneurs, those who are just aspiring to even start a business that come together once a week on a Wednesday morning from 9 to 10. We, we do a lot of networking right before, 10 to 20 minutes of networking before. But it is a magical room filled with people with bright ideas and we I'm so feening for it right now, primarily because, again, I miss that magic, that spark that we all bring to the table. But basically what we do is we have a presenter every Wednesday come up and they tell about their journey. How did they get from point A to point B? What they're doing to scale the business, the successes, the failures, the challenges. And we can all relate. We're also given the opportunity to do a Q&A with them and learn, learn, learn as they learn, learn, learn from us as the audience. I'm so missing it. I'm so glad you've come. I'm glad you will enjoy it as you attend. Hopefully, we'll be starting back. If not, I don't foresee us doing so this month, hopefully next month.

What was your— because I've always wanted to ask you this. What was your first experience with 1 Million Cups like and who invited you and when was that?

Okay, so I was invited by my pal Tyroo and he had been a presenter. He had gone a few times and he would tell me, I can see his face right now. He would say to me, Latoya, you've got to come to 1 Million Cups. And I'm just like, 1 million who? And so he's like, you would be, you would so enjoy it. And of course he knows me from church, and he had been telling me about this over a span of maybe like 3 to 6 months. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, okay, maybe. So eventually I got the nerve in order to, to come out and check it out. And I had come a couple times, and it was okay at first, but what began to really draw me was the stories and the path. No two paths were the same. Everyone was You know, it was basically like this. You envision where you want to go. You don't know exactly how to get there, but you just know that there is a calling. There is something that's burning within you that says there's more to me than my 9 to 5. There's more to me than just what I'm doing right now. There's so much more. And so that story itself started drawing me. Because that was the one thing that was familiar and similar, no matter whose story we heard. And so I'm like, I, I need to make this a part of my weekly routine. I think as entrepreneurs, it's really important that we have plugins, creative plugins, and that is a place that actually come to get refreshed and learn. Of course, I'm a life learner, but I also come to just be It sparks such creativity and a lot of the processes, some of the work, our workflow, our procedures is as a result of going to 1 Million Cups.

But you just also, that was your story because I remember that I went into the 1 Million Cups and I was so thrilled that day to learn that you were going to be the presenter and to hear your story. But that is your story too. You were, you were in corporate America and I feel like you were working in a bank. Was it a bank?

Yes, I was in a bank. I had worked in banking, retail banking for 14 years. 14 years. That's a long time. So, yes, it was also my story. And I guess that's what drew me.

So that everyone has the same story. So the drive is there.

Absolutely. The drive is there. There again, a lot of similarities. Even though it may be dressed a little differently, we can all relate to one another, even in the challenges, even in the failed attempts to get beyond just the mental fear. You've got to get beyond that before you ever actually make a step. Just to hear that repeatedly and to say, I can relate to that. I'm, I'm right there with this individual. So yeah.

Like when I think of you, you can look back. So from the, from the time that you said, I'm ready to really start my business, but from the time, let's just say that you got the keys to your beautiful location to now, how long has that been? And then tell me some of the, the really the great hard work that you've done to, to even the wall behind you is really a very pretty color, by the way. I love it. That, you know, where you are now and how different you are from other companies that are trying to do things similar, but you're so different because you've really put so much emphasis and work into what you're doing to do it right. Tell everyone what you do first, 'cause like, I haven't shared that.

Sure. So my husband and I run Kenneth Grant Inspirations. And I'm the creative director for Kenneth Grant Inspirations. He's the photographer and the graphic designer. And we— this, I'll tell you, the name was inspired by our two boys. Our youngest, who is 6, his name is Kenneth, his middle name is Kenneth. And then our oldest, who is 10, his middle name is Grant. So they have been our life's inspiration. So it just makes sense. All of it just began to come together. And so here we are, Kenneth Grant Inspirations. So I'm sitting in my studio and this beautiful red wall, I remember when we painted it 2 years ago, and I said that this is where I draw my inspiration from the red. It's bold, it's beautiful, it's different, it's risky. But as far as thinking back, when we first got the keys, I'll tell you, it was a big challenge. And anytime you venture out to do anything that's much bigger than you, there's going to be challenges along the way. But it's almost as if those challenges come to test whether or not you're serious about what you're doing, whether or not this is— is it just beyond words? Are you going to stick in there? Are you going to stick with this until you see it through to fruition? And so every time I walk in here, I'm still in awe. I'm still elated. This is like our second home, our home away from home. Because I remember it took us maybe, I want to say about 8 or 9 months just to get into the building. And we went through a lot of challenges and much more time would be needed in order for me to divulge that information. But again, those challenges come to test what it is that you believe you're supposed to be doing, the vision that you have. And if you don't fold, you'll be able to again, see it come to fruition. So here we are. Um, as far as the growth, the development, we have come a long way. It's so interesting, um, because one of the first things that we did once we got into this location is we established having 3 business advisors. We had one set up for our marriage another one that would help us professionally, and another that helped us along the ways with our finances. And you need that, especially where a husband and wife team is involved, because we are also married. You know, it was really important for someone that would, you know, just be an accountability partner for us to ensure that this, this is the biggest thing, to ensure that If James and Latoya is not got— if we don't have it together, there is no Kenneth Grant Inspirations. So we've kept that in mind, you know, that's helped us to bring us to where we are today. Um, and I know you had another question, but I don't recall what it was.

I love that you said that. As a daughter of parents that work together, and, and my dad was so cute because he always had to give my mom credit. It didn't matter. We all knew that maybe my dad's idea, and he would say, Glo's idea. It was the sweetest thing. But I wonder, I think that you're so smart to do that, to make sure you have 3 advisors, and you don't hear that advice often. So, you know, you're a lifelong learner. I'm a lifelong learner. I'm involved in SCORE. I've never heard it before. I've only heard it one other time, and that was from Latoya Carey when you did your presentation.

Brought it up.

It really is— it's one of the best pieces of advice that I think anyone could think of when you're going into, uh, to a business and, and bringing in your, your, you know, your better half or other half. That's a beautiful thing to do, is to make sure— really, I just can't— I just want to like— this— that's such a beautiful thing. So now you— now you're doing so much though. Because I've noticed, and I have to tell everyone, when, what made me fall in love with Latoya is that I had handed her my card or we were talking, and when I showed her what I had for myself, for my profile, she said, how old is that?

I said, it's old, it's 4 years old. No, it was beautiful.

I was, oh no. You know what, in life we all wanna work with straight shooters. We wanna know. And you said, Adrienne, you need a new headshot. And then I said, I do, you're right. There's no— there wasn't a question that you weren't right. I feel it all the time. And then when Latoya was speaking at 1 Million Cups and she had a raffle prize and it was a free headshot, and I'm sitting there with a, you know, smiling, and I'm thinking, oh, please, please, please, please, please, please be me, please be me. And all of a sudden it was me. It was like, ah, everything aligned. So I was so happy and I still have to do it, but the work that you've been doing, I love. Tell me a little bit about that because you have been taking your clients and giving us a little smidgen of a delicious taste of what to expect. And it's, it's absolutely beautiful.

Well, what we do is kind of broken up into 3 branches. The first is photography. And specifically, I want to say that we only photograph what we love and that's people. So there are so many things you can photograph in the world, but we're not called to that. We're called to people. And it really is a heart's desire of James and I. And I know he's not with me today, but I just want to give a quick shout out to him. I love you, babe. But it's a desire of James and I to really bring out the best in an individual when they take a photo with us. Primarily specialize in professional headshots, but we're not limited to that. We can also do creative portraits. We can do personal portraits as well. It's just we enjoy people. We really do. And again, it's so interesting because it's just been— it's really who we are. It's not even what we do. It's really who we are. We're always trying to bring out the best in other individuals. And that's even before we ever had a studio, ever had Kenneth Brand Inspirations. It's just been always, hey, I see some— I see good in you and I want to help polish that. I want to help mentor you. I want to help lead you. I want to guide you in this area. So again, this is, this is more than just taking a photo because anybody can do that today. We all have smartphones and our phones come with this amazing ability to take photos. But it's, it's more to it than that. There is a connection that we make to a lot of the individuals that we work with. And we are so— we're so about the details, and you'll see what I mean when you get the opportunity to do your photo shoot. But the details matter to us, and bringing out your best is of importance, great importance to us. The second part of what we do is graphic design, and that usually starts with your logo design. That's the ground floor. We can lay the foundation. That means that business has the potential to be extremely strong because we're teaching you, and I'm kind of going into the third branch, but we teach you a little bit more about branding and how there needs to be consistency. And you want to stay away from confusing your target market, even learning who your target market really is. And our, our mission and our goal is to ensure that even though you may be a startup or even though you may be a small mom-and-pop or small business, We don't have to look that way. We can look like the Fortune 500 companies. We can look like we've been around for many years. We can have the look that we're supposed to have. It's almost like this. I feel like we try to design for you for where you're going and not for where you are. So it's a future you that we try to design for, and it's really exciting to see all of it come together. But typically it starts with your logo, and then from there we can create all types of marketing material, both for digital purposes and printed purposes. And then we can get into some creative things like video presentations. We're not limited because creativity has no cap. So it really all depends on what it is that you have a need for. So that's pretty much it.

I have a crazy question. Say that 3 times. I have a crazy question. Can, can someone's photo be their logo?

So we got approached, uh, I want to say when we first got into the studio 2 years ago, we got approached by someone that lives in Georgia and they were a comedian and they— that's exactly what they asked us for. They said, here's a photo of me, I'd like to make that into my logo. And I'll tell you, we were able to do it. We were able to do— I wish I could just show it to you right now, but it was a, it was a request that we were able to meet.

Because that, that would be very visual, and you would see it and know it. And okay, that's, that's, that's interesting to me. I love what you've done with— I love— we all love Johnny Nomad, and but the pictures that you've done, did with Johnny, was amazing. Were those all done in your studio?

Yes, all of the photo— well, the photo shoot. Let's back up and tell who Johnny Nomadic— hey, Johnny— who Johnny is. He's actually a drone photographer locally right here in the Volusia County area. He's excellent at what he does, and we connected at 1 Million Cups, and we saw an opportunity to work together. And so we were like, yes, let's do it. One of the things I want to always encourage entrepreneurs is that there is no real competition. You know, here's a photographer, we're photographers, but we were never threatened by one another. If you're, if you're competing with anyone, you're actually just competing with yourself. You should never be competing with this or that person. So that just being able to have there to be a non-threatening, you know, relationship there between us, it allows us to come together and He gave us his vision and we took it and we ran with it and we came up with some amazing photos. And hopefully that's something that, you know, if you haven't looked, looked on, looked on his site, please go and check out Johnny Nomad. He's got some amazing photos and we don't take the credit for it. Again, when you come in, you come in with a vision and our job is to take that vision, grab you by the arm and run with it.

So I love your, you know what, you're 100% right about the competition. So I'm in the promotional products industry and I mentor suppliers, I mentor distributors. I've had distributors on the Candid Conversations with me, and I tell the story about Tanger Outlets. And when I first went to Tanger and I noticed that the Perfume Outlet and Perfume Connection were right across from each other, and so I went over to Perfume Outlet and I said, I said, what's it like having a competition across the street? You know, right there, I mean, like 12 feet away. And she said, For the first year, we didn't talk to them. We didn't want to look at them. We walked in, we kept our head down, and then at one point we said we should really just make friends. And we walked over and we realized that they carry a completely different line of cologne and perfumes that we have. Now if you come in, because I said to her, oh, I happen to like Pitbull's cologne or perfume, I, I do. And so she said, well, we don't have it, but they have it over there. That's a good example of when you get to know and you work together, then we— you could provide the service. So I always say that even wedding planners, it doesn't even matter what it is, because at one point or another you're going to want to be able to have that ability to refer. So I think that is one of the greatest gifts of knowledge to give to an entrepreneur, is to make sure that you Know your competition, respect your competition, and then get friendly with them. That's why there's always industry groups, right? There's groups that bring photography together. There's our groups that bring distributors and suppliers together. That's why, because we want to learn from each other. So I love that. That is another great tip. You want to talk about some tips? I, I would love to hear some of your tips because We are now looking at Zoom. So today, and there was a Zoom call and the person was doing their nails and they were eating and, you know, they were, you know, I mean, I could be funny on Zoom, that's for sure. And I'll do some of this sometimes. It's kind of funny. We forget, you know, and at one point it was like this when the speaker was talking, the person was like And we forget that. So this is a whole new, like, etiquette for the new norm, right? That's totally crazy. So do you have any tips that you want to offer that you've seen on the Zoom calls that you've been on?

I'll tell you, one of the biggest tips is that, again, that is another vehicle or avenue for branding and advertising, right? So appearance is everything. You know, when you— even though you may be in the comfort of your home or or your office or something of that sort, it's still important to look polished and professional. Always, always, always look polished and professional. It's amazing because what I realized is you're representing more than just yourself as an individual. I'm not only representing Latoya Carey, but I'm representing my family. I'm representing the God that I love and serve. I'm representing this corporation that we're building, this empire that we're building. I'm representing so much more than just myself. So it's important, even when we get on these calls, look the part, be the part. So that's one of the things. The other thing that I would suggest is lighting. Lighting is really important. Make sure there's plenty of lighting around you, on, that you're near, so that you don't look like a silhouette, right? When you're— while you're on these calls. And stay focused. Eye contact is still very important. As a matter of fact, That's one of the only body— that's only— I would tell you we're not even showing what we're showing, maybe a third of ourselves when we're on these calls. So eye contact is really, really important. It's a way of saying I am engaged in this conversation. I am engaged in the call that I'm on. So that's just a couple of tips.

That's an interesting one. I was listening to a tip on etiquette and they were saying to look at the camera. And I get that, to look— I'm looking at the camera now, but I don't want to look at the camera. I want to look at you. And I don't know if it makes that big of a difference. And I think as we're doing these, that I, I, I wouldn't be— I won't— I can't even— it's like looking at the audience when you're going to speak. You want to, want to point and look at people. You don't want to be looking over their heads or thinking they're all naked.

You just brought up another tip, even making adjustments to your camera to ensure, like you said, you're not like this, that there's not too much, uh, headroom, right?

Oh yes, good one. Yes, yes, yes. Do you think this is— is this too much behind me, this Melanie Taylor Kent?

It's perfect. It breaks up the monotony, you know, a little bit. So absolutely, it looks great. It looks great.

She's, uh, she's a lovely— I, I love her piece. So, Latoya, so now you— so you and I, first, I can't get off the phone without sharing the conversation that we share someone beautiful between us, uh, Maria, who's doing some incredible work. And when did you meet Maria?

Oh my goodness, I actually met Maria I think it might have been 4 years ago, and Maria came into the bank. This is while I was still a personal banker. She came into the bank and she said, I need to— I can't remember exactly what the transaction was, and that's not really of importance, but I said, sure, come on over. I'll be happy to help. I don't know. From that moment to this moment, there was an instant connection. Maria shared her story of how something tragic— and I don't want to share it unless I have her permission— but how something very tragic happened, um, with her family. Thankfully, no one was lost. But I'm telling you, from the moment she began to paint the picture and share the story, I was connected to her, and I, I was in awe of just listening to how she was able to overcome and how she was determined to keep going. Things happen in our lives and some things can— some blows you take, it makes you feel like I can't go on. And listening to the hardship that she went through, it was enough to justify her saying, I quit. Right. But she did not. And I was so— I was so impressed. I was so blown away I think we may have— she came in for something that was very, very simplistic, but we may have spent an hour and a half, maybe 2 hours together just at my desk. And this is what I believed happened. I never even told her this, but I believe while she and I was engaging one another, I felt like everything around us just turned pitch black and it was no longer about where we were. And what the need was. But there was a connection that was instantly being made. And we were talking about— we were talking as if we were long-lost friends. And she would share and then I would share. And we were just taking in everything that each one of the other person was saying. And I knew I would never forget her. I didn't know I would run into her again many years later. Um, but yes, that, that is pretty much the way in which I met Maria.

That is so— you know, there's only— there's, there's only— I'm gonna add her to the list. There's only two people, two women actually, uh, Henry Lansworth's wife from Give Kids the World Village. When I think of her, I cry. Pamela Lansworth, amazing woman who carried on her husband's name. I don't know if you're familiar with Give Kids the World Village. Oh, they're a beautiful place for any child that is going through a a lifelong— that, that is facing a diagnosis that is life-threatening can go with their family for a week to the village and partake in the, the parks. It's a beautiful place. Give Kids the World Village. Uh, Michelle Obama, I can't— I cry when I talk about her, see her. And now it's going to be Maria D'Avella. And I will share one thing, I want to talk about your son's business, but I was with Maria on Tuesday as she Besides her feeding a full week's worth of groceries to those that are vulnerable over the age of 65 and actually delivering sanitized food home, she wants to thank the healthcare workers. And she called and asked me if I would go with her. It was such an amazing opportunity. And at the end of the day, when we were done and she had received the update that all of the food was delivered safely, to each of the homes, she broke down and cried.

Oh, that's beautiful. And it was— it was so— it was—

her heart is huge.

She, she has a gift of giving. Do you understand that? That she has a gift for giving. Not everyone— you can't just— you can't use that phrase to describe everyone. And sometimes I think it, it almost makes her want to explode because she wants to continue to do more and more and more. And I believe as a result, that's why these doors open for her, that it's all of this, um, the opportunities. That's what it is. The opportunities continue to open for her to be able to do more and more and more because of the heart that she has. Surprisingly, I reached out to her and I got to reconnect because I got to make this happen. But my— I'm assisting my children, my boys with virtual learning right now. That's been interesting. I wouldn't change it. I reached out to her because I actually want to do a field trip and I want to come to her facility and I want them to participate in just giving. It's better when we give than when we receive. It really is. And I have been trying to teach my 10-year-old that, and it's interesting how he is starting to understand what that looks like and what it makes— how it makes you feel. You can't put a dollar to it, but it makes you— it empowers you. It actually gives you an empowering feeling. And so we're going to take a field trip before these 3 weeks are over of school and go to her facility and definitely help.

So she will love it. She will love it. So let's talk about your son. So So is it your older son that had this creative— what, so tell me what's going on in his mind. He has an idea for a business. I just— take me back with what happened with him.

So interesting enough, I think that I gave birth to a genius. I'm serious. He is 10 years old and I think he's going on 21. Um, he gets an idea in his mind and he has to run with it. He has to see it. To the end. And so he has watched the process and the path that we have been on from the very beginning. He saw when we were juggling both our 9-to-5s and trying to start a business. He saw us transition into having a facility. He saw— he's just been there the entire time. He's seen and witnessed some of the ups and downs. I'll tell you, we involve them. If there's a challenge, we're like, guys, we need you to pray. We need God to hear us. We need some things to change in this situation. And they get excited to be a part. And so I think what it did was spark an interest in him wanting to open a business. And I want to say it's been about 2 or 3 years ago because the day came where he was like, I want to start a business. What can I do? How do I start a business? And we heard that over and over and we said soon, soon, soon. Pushed it off, pushed it off as we have been trying to build up what we have. And the day came. I'll tell you, it was the Christmas holiday season. I believe it was last year, 2019. And we said instead of giving him a bunch of gifts that are going to be broken, misplaced, just wasted money, right? By the time you get to January or February, we said we're going to gift him his own business for Christmas. And so we took him to dinner and had this grand announcement that we made. And we said, this is what you're getting. And he was almost in tears because he had been waiting for this opportunity and waiting and it finally happened. And so we talked about what, what is it that what could you do when you start a business? You should be solving a problem. We should be solution makers, right? And so what we ended up all coming together and deciding on was that a t-shirt business would be the best for a 10-year-old. At the time, he was still 9. And so he has what's called— I'm going to see if I can— shoponeliner.com. That's the website. I encourage everyone, please check it out. Shop— yes, please do. shoponeliner.com. And it's a positive messaging, um, t-shirt apparel design company. And that's what it's about. It's about being a billboard of positive messaging. And he's got powerful piece, you know, powerful things that you can wear. I know one of his most popular pieces is just that simply says, "Don't fear." You know, we go through our entire lives not realizing how what stops us is just the fact that we're fearing. So that's one of the pieces. I remember seeing someone wearing another piece. It says, "Aspire to just be you." You can't— that says a mouthful. I always think this will happen, and this is just the way I envision it. I believe that when we wear those pieces, those positive messaging clothing, I believe we're out somewhere and someone may be struggling or battling something. And I believe they read the shirt and it's like, all is well, everything's settled. I'm good now because I got a sign of some sort.

And so, yes, I agree with that. I definitely believe that too. There's like a reason for everything. So when you see something, yes. And then you have to hone in on it too. You really have to, have to understand. I had an interesting little experience the other night. I can't remember now if it was this week or last week, but I woke up in the middle of the night and something drew me right to the kitchen. And on the kitchen was the kettle that was bone dry and the, and the, it was on. So it was high heat and just like a few minutes from like exploding. And I, I turned it off. Alana had turned it on to make tea for forgot about it. She was in the bathroom, but something made me wake up and not just go, you know, use the bathroom, but to actually come out in the kitchen. I thought that was really— I, but I, I know that, like, I recognize my own, so I allow these things to, like, take place. But you're right about the fear. This is why I'm doing this Candid, because I felt that I, I gotta forget the fear because we all have these fear that it doesn't go right or we're being dubbed or it's not working correctly, the system's, you know, off a little bit. But I want to ask you, how are you handling, besides with the kids and, and, and the classes, because it's not easy, COVID-19? Any, any, anything that you're doing? You're a lifelong learner. Do you have a little more time to take a couple of classes? Share with me how you're using some of your time.

Interesting enough, um, what I had to first come to the realization is this is a time of pausing. And I don't, I don't think we do that enough. I think we're always on to the next thing until our life can become so robotic. We can end up going into autopilot if we're not careful. So what I've been learning during this time is the importance of just slowing down. There was no place to really go, right? We were bound to our homes. So I have been learning the beauty of doing that, just taking it easy. Oh my gosh, I can say the majority of my adult life I've lived at a fast pace where it's on to the next thing. And what happens is you don't enjoy moments. You'll miss moments. You'll miss connections. You'll just miss just moments of just being grateful, all of those types of things. So I've learned, and I don't want to lose this, but I've learned to just pause, take it easy, take a break. It's so interesting. I believed myself to be a networking queen, right? I was over here, I was in that, over in this event, at this event. I was flying over to that county, this county, and I realized, well, okay, everything is now virtual. So now let's just sign up for everything and Zoom this and Zoom that. And I realized, no, no, this is a time for pausing. There's a time and a season for everything in our lives. Realize what time and season you're in and take advantage of it. So if it's a time of rest, pausing, I should take advantage of it. And that's one of the major things I've been doing.

Thank you, because I was just told that by my friend David last night. He's like, you need to pause and you need to stop. He's like, there's something— you keep piling stuff on your plate and it doesn't make sense. So I am happy to say I, I took Fridays to, you know, maybe catch up a little bit with SCORE because there's a lot of time constraints with SCORE. But I'm You know, I, I, I, I feel the same thing. I need to do the pausing too. So I'm sure if he's probably like, I told you that last night, Adrienne, same exact advice. So it's funny, maybe I hear that advice twice because it's not so easy to pause and you have to be reminded. So I had from Ariane and she said the same thing on Sundays, they do absolutely Sometimes we just need that confirmation. That is— wait, hold on, I'm gonna minus myself. Yeah, we need that confirmation. Exactly, it's so true. So thank you so much, Latoya. I'm gonna hide myself. I wanna— I wanna— everything you say is like nuggets of Um, I'm not seeing you anymore.

I think that's on purpose.

No, no, no, I want to hear you. I want to hear you. I just want to hear you. Sometimes the system— you are like, um, you give gold nuggets when you speak.

Thank you. I'll tell you, that has a lot of diamonds. Thank you. I think that has a lot to do with, uh, what are you feeding yourself? Only what's going to come out of you is what you've been taking in, what you've been feeding. And so it's been vitally important to just surround myself with like-minded individuals who are filled with lots of wisdom, who, who believe in taking advantage of moments like this, right? Who see these as— granted, they're problems. We've got problems all around us globally. But this is an opportunity to see the problems as opportunities now. And so there's just been a revamp in even the way I think, the way that I'm dealing with things, what is defined as a priority nowadays and what isn't. And so I just feel like as we come out of this and we try to resume. I'm just working on becoming a better version of myself.

Wow. Sorry, I just need a minute. This has been a really wonderful time. Thank you so much for all your time. And Latoya, I need to catch my breath because you really gave some really great information. I feel like I really needed to hear this from you today. I needed to get some advice from you. That's really great. It's funny, these Candid Conversations are like coaching sessions, you know. It's the best thing for me. I really—

it works.

They come out with a lot of— really is helping me. I'm sorry the program is not the best, but I cannot wait to see you again.

Same here.

Wednesdays. I'll see you every Wednesday. Well, not every Wednesday. I have a board meeting on one Wednesday for SCORE, and then I'm part of the hotel lodging with Bob Davis on another Wednesday. So when the— so two Wednesdays a month I'm gonna give SCORE. Have a great rest of the day. And I'll give you a big hug when I see you. Thank you. I do too. Thank you.

You're welcome.

And I will, I will talk about the one-liner. I'm gonna go pick something out for my husband and my daughter now. Thank you.

Please do.

I will.

Thank you.

Thank you. Bye-bye. Bye. That was beautiful. Ah, I'm sorry, I'm crying.

I