Julia Macaluso

Guiding conversations with community leaders.

In this podcast, we'll explore the human journey of leaders, their stories of humility, triumph, roadblocks and lessons learned. Come join us as we journey together and uncover the questions you've always wanted to know. This podcast is brought to you by the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce, perhaps providing resources, connections and belonging for business professionals.

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Today's guest is an Arizona native and CEO of Great Freight Logistics. She's a graduate of the University of Arizona and taught kindergarten for many years. She is a wife and mom first and loves hiking and working on her golf game. She's well known for her positive leadership and passion for people as well as her regular acts of service. Please welcome Julia Macaluso.

Hello, hello, hello.

Thank you so much for having me on today.

Absolutely. So good to see you and get to talk to you today. So let's start off with Rapid fire. Okay, you go first.

Would you rather travel to the past or to the future?

Oh goodness. I would say passed.

Hmm.

Why?

I think that I'd be able to give myself some pretty dang good advice on moving forward.

What's your hidden talent?

I play violin for 10 years.

Okay.

Would you rather attend a hip hop or a rock concert?

Hip hop.

Ever lived abroad?

No.

What is your go to snack?

Used to be Cheez. Its extra cheesy ones but these days it's actually microwave popcorn with butter and cheddar seasoning.

Excellent choice. What makes you hopeful?

I'd say my kids.

I already know the answer to this one. But are you more of a thinker or a doer?

Probably. Do er.

All right, fun one. If someone was to play you in a movie, who would you want it to be?

I think maybe Cindy Crawford back in the day.

Yeah, I'd take her today. She's beautiful. What is your favorite pastime or hobby?

It's golf now. And I don't know, it's kind of a love hate relationship.

Mulligans.

Yeah.

Okay, last one. Glass. Half full or half empty?

I think you know that one. It's always half full.

Yay. Yeah, we like half fulls around here.

Gilbert City Lifestyles is a locally owned publication whose mission is to find and share great stories in our community and help build a stronger, more vibrant local experience.

Become a Digital Subscriber@CityLifestyles.com Gilbert Speaking of half whole, Sarah, how are you today?

Oh, the love. Well, I'm great, but I'm especially Thankful that we have Julia with us today. I loved learning more about you. I've known some of these pieces of your life, but really to just sort of dive in and see your full story is pretty incredible. And I know. So you were born in Tucson, the oldest of five. And I chuckled when I read your description of your parents, a white girl from Massachusetts who fell in love with a Hispanic pool shark in Tucson. Share a little bit about your early years and growing up. And you grew up in the. The home that your great grandfather built.

Yes, we did. My great grandfather actually built two homes next to each other in Tucson. If. If any of you out there are familiar with Tucson, Park Place Mall was not there yet, but our home was in that area. And so, yeah, my mom hitchhiked to Arizona from Rhode Island. Even at one point, she was one of those gals that could do anything, you know, and she was very fearless. And 5, 10. My dad was 5, 8. But they must have had a lot in common, obviously, to have five kids.

Yeah. Where do you fall in that? Five kids?

I'm the oldest of five, but I remember growing up, we had two pool tables in our house. One of them had the pockets, one of them didn't. And the. That was my dad's side hustle, always. So they literally met at a pool hall. Yeah. Right around the corner. And then I came around. So, yeah. Wow. That's.

So also, I have to share. My great grandfather owned a pool hall in our small town, too. And. Wow. So there's something about those pool halls.

I don't know. Are you any good?

I don't.

I didn't have the opportunity to receive.

Any lessons from him, but same here.

Yeah.

So what was it like growing up with four siblings?

Well, again, I think I was always, like, just a natural born leader, always trying to help take care of them. We were all very different. It was me. And then my two sisters came next, and then the two brothers and my sisters. And I probably had many years where we were kind of at ends because they were the younger ones. And now we're the best of friends. It was. I mean, I think our dynamics, our family dynamics was good, but it wasn't just the four younger siblings. My mom babysat several neighborhood kids, so there were always, I would say, at least 10 younger ones running around the house. And so I was also a reader when I was younger, and I. I preferred spending time alone away from that. So. Yeah.

So I'm curious, why did your mom leave the East Coast? Do you know that story?

Yeah. Well, My grandfather was in Arizona already, and my grandmother, so her mom had moved to Arizona. And so she actually came to Arizona and went to high school her senior year. She finished high school there and just decided to stay because. Loved the weather. Very different from the East Coast. So.

Okay, all right, so let's dig into the school teaching side of you. I always love these stories. Okay. Kindergarten, though. So did that's where you started, or did you. How did you get into the education side?

Growing up, I played teacher a lot. And so starting with my amazing kindergarten teacher who has since passed, she was such a role model for me. And so after the school day was over, if there were any extra handouts or worksheets, I'm like, hey, can I bring these home? And she would let me bring them home and I would play teacher with my younger siblings and the neighborhood kids. I don't know if I just liked being in charge, maybe, and I just liked sharing the knowledge that I had gained. And so I continued that through my elementary school. And so I knew right away I kind of dabbled with wanting to be a marine biologist, but I don't like going into the ocean and not seeing what's below me. And so I was like, we'll throw that one out. And so, yeah, I just kind of knew. It's something that came naturally to me. And so I was able to graduate in three and a half years from U of A. And I was teaching at 21 first. I was a second grade teacher at a little school that I adored. I did my student teaching there. So it was pretty cool. I got to have some of those students that I had taught.

Was that Tucson area.

It was. It was in Tucson and did that for three years, which thank heavens, because it truly does as a teacher, take at least those three years to get acclimated and to get your routines and procedures down and to. Really. Because it's tough. The first three years are tough. A lot of crying.

Were you mostly half day or did.

They do full day or full day or full day. Second grade. And then I ended up staying, staying home with my kids until my oldest became a kindergartner himself and jumped right back into. I had kept up my certification, so jumped back into teaching kindergarten when he started. Okay, well.

And I love. So I grabbed the note. You're. You're married now, Nick, Your best friend, soulmate. But you were both married to other individuals prior and brought three kids each into your relationship. So how. When did you get married? Right out of high school and college. What did that look like for you.

Originally the first time? It was right after college and we had. We worked together at Chili's and I had actually gotten out of a long term relationship from college. I was very much into school. I did not go to one party in college, and so I was very into that. So I met my ex at a Chili's. He was a minor league baseball player for the Cincinnati Reds. And so that was where he worked in the off time. And I knew I wanted to be a wife and a mom right away. And so four weeks into dating, he proposed. And anyway, I said yes and was committed. And so, yeah, I had my three kids at 24, 26, and 28. I wanted to have as many as I could before I was 30 and then realized I don't like being pregnant. Can I just have them? Yeah. Unfortunately, that did not work out, and so I did get divorced in 2011. Kids are a blessing. And so I'm so thankful that I went through that season because I've got amazing kids and. Well.

And you knew Nick in high school?

Yes. So Nick and I were friends in high school. Never dated. I had a lot of guy friends. I had a hard time. I. Women, sometimes, girls, not women. Girls in high school can sometimes be tough. And I was a people pleaser. And, you know, I want to be friends with everyone. And I learned quickly that some people can be manipulative and. And that was hard for me. So I had a lot of guy friends and he was one of them. And I was even invited to his wedding, actually, because he got married at like 19 something. Yeah, he started earlier than me, so.

I'm curious how life might be different if he had just asked you to prom.

We would probably have more kids than. And Ben is what I'm thinking.

Whoa, that sounds like a challenge.

I'm serious. Yeah, he is. I cannot say enough about him. Like, he's just my soulmate. He really is. And we have grown every year that goes by closer and our relationship has gotten stronger. And he is my rock. And so everything happens for a reason.

Yes, it does. Absolutely. I see in your notes here that your mom passed away at a pretty young age too. Talk about that a bit.

That was quite a shocker. We're going on 29 years this year, so I was 14 again, the oldest of five kids, I believe, my siblings. I was 14. I was 13, 11, 9 and 7. She was very active in the community, even as like a stay at home mom. She was very active in our church. And she and my dad were Little league coaches. And I remember this day in particular because my siblings and I, if we were not playing, we typically had to run the snack bar every single time. And so I was like, ah, I had a project I needed to work on for my high school class. And so I finally was going to get out of having to run the snack bar. I was so excited. And I was at my friend's house, we're working on this project. And the last conversation I had with my mom was, are you sure you don't want to come? Kind of giving me a hard time. But she always ended her phone calls with, I love you. And I love you too. You know, I'll see you in a couple hours. A couple hours went by and no one came to pick me up. And so I have a different perspective. Obviously I wasn't at the park, but they were at the ballpark and my 7 year old brother and 9 year old brother were there and the 9 year old wanted to race and my mom got up to race them and collapsed at the park. Someone did CPR and brought her back. This was the day before Mother's Day in 1993 when the pastor's wife of our church came to pick me up. I thought something was wrong with my dad. You know, he had kind of been having some health issues. He'd been laid off from his job two weeks prior to this. And so I thought maybe stress, maybe he had a heart attack. But no, it was my mom. She had had a heart attack. They brought her to the hospital and she was in a coma for 10 days. During those 10 days, the doctors did everything they could to figure out what the heck happened. It wasn't an aneurysm, it wasn't a heart attack per se, it wasn't a blood clot. And the doctors, I remember them just shaking their head on a daily basis. We can't figure this out and. And unfortunately after 10 days we had to say our goodbyes. So it was May 18, actually 1993. So for me at that point in my life as a 14 year old, I mean my mom was my everything she was. I say it was hard time freshman year like to interact with other girls and my mom was just that foundation, like I wanted to aspire to be her. I remember one of the things we did before she died was it was that fall quick thing. Like I, I grew up and I didn't like that. My hair was lighter than my eyebrows and it was always bothering me. But my dad was like, you're not gonna dye Your hair. You can't dye your hair or wear makeup. And I remember he was out of town and my mom was like, we're gonna dye your hair. Yes. So she got a box of hair dye and I laid on the counter with my head in the sink. Cause that's what we did back then. And she started to dye my hair and ran out of hair dye. Oh, no. So had to leave to go to the store and came back and put in the hair dye and in way too long. So I went from, you know, light brown hair and darker eyebrows to jet black hair and the wrath of freshmen in high school, Let me tell you, people can be bullies. But I remember my English teacher, she was a foreign exchange teacher. She was like, you look beautiful with dark hair. And I was like, oh, but why? I'm saying the story is that's one of those things that I will never forget that I did, that my mom allowed. And so I think about those things these days when I do things with my daughter, like those making those memories that you'll never forget. So it was very unexpected. And it really taught me resiliency and the importance of choosing to look at the positive as opposed to the negative and taking that path. Yeah. Because I had to fill in that mom role. My dad, she was a stay at home mom. And my dad worked a lot because. So he really didn't have that relationship with five kids. And now he's stuck with five kids, no job. It's like, what do you do? So I kind of had to step into that role, became mom in a way.

Well, the irony of the course of life is, so your mom passed at 36, really young. And then when you were 36, then you lose your dad.

Is that not crazy? That number. And what's nuts is, like, growing up, 36 seems so old. And it's not at all. I'm like. And I remember making it to my 36th birthday and just being like, wow.

I didn't.

I'm not that old. And there's still so much life to live. It's crazy. I was listening to Elaine Kessler's podcast on here, and she talked about dying young and leaving that legacy. And I immediately thought of my mom, like, what she did in those short 36 years. And my dad was unexpected as well. I mean, he was at this. An amazing grandfather and a substance abuse counselor had turned so many lives around, and it was so sudden. He thought he had this ongoing cold. He grew up in a traditional Hispanic family. You don't go to the doctor, unless you absolutely have to. And that's like, emergency. And he got to emergency, where he thought, maybe I need to go to urgent care. And unfortunately, he had H1N1 swine flu. We had no idea. I remember racing down from Gilbert. I got the call from my sister and just racing down, praying the entire time, you know, he's gonna be okay. He's gonna be okay. Because this was January of 2014. Nick and I were ready to get married on 4. 4 14. At 4 14. Like, he's gonna be okay. And by the time I got down, he had literally just gotten tricked. And so I was not able to say goodbye that way. So he was. They found out it was swine flu. H1N1 after. He had already been there for, I want to say, 24 hours. And so at that point, we all had to mask up and we had to get our flu shots. And he was a fighter. A lot of people that had H1N1 at the time, they either recovered right away or they passed. And he made it, gosh, almost six weeks. They put him on something called ecmo. I don't know if you're familiar with that, to where to start this treatment. $2 million. My dad was not insured. He was just one of those people that, you know, I didn't realize he wasn't insured. And so my siblings and I were kind of like, we have to figure this out. The community and my extended family all stepped in. I mean, talk about miracles. Every penny of his procedure was covered. In the end, he was on ECMO for several weeks. Again, people usually don't last that long. And so he was here on this earth for a reason. During this time, my siblings and I, having gone through what we did with our mom, we were adamant about being at the hospital every day. We had shifts. So I'm trying to do that and plan a wedding and teach kindergarten.

Yeah.

So it was quite the season, I have to say. Yeah.

And it changed the course of your life. And you made decisions, hard decisions after that. Share a little bit about what that journey looked like.

It sure did. Starting with the wedding. I have always been an optimistic, yeah, glass is half full type person. And I remember making invitations in his hospital room, just getting ready to send them out, and didn't think outside the box as far as from his siblings perspective. And like, look, he might not make it. And what does that look like for you? Because I just, I. I was in denial over that, actually. And so went through, again, a really tough time. And after he passed. I, I just remember like I was pouring all of my love into my kindergarten class and then you're like spreading yourself thin and neck. We called off the wedding. Were like, there's just, there's too much going on. I was down teaching actually in Sarita at the time and doing the long distance thing. So it was not just all of my world kind of crashing down. It was also the driving back and forth. And that takes its toll. And I remember Nick suggesting, hey, what if you stepped back and stopped teaching full time and just concentrate on your kids. My brother, who actually was racing my mom when she collapsed, we didn't realize for years that he blamed himself as a 9 year old, got into some things in high school and junior high and never really sought counseling and suffers from severe mental illness. And he was living at my dad's house when all this happened. And so we decided to move in to kind of help him out a little bit. But I remember Nick saying like, why don't you step back? And part of me was like, I'm a really good teacher. I felt like I was, I hope those of you listening, you know, thought I was. I want to make that impact on these kindergarteners because that's a make or break at ear. You are going to inspire kids to love school or not want to go back. And I, I knew I was really good at that. And so I had to decide do I want to leave this and try something else? You know what? In my late 30s and I decided, okay, my kids are my priority. I am going to step away. And so that was my last year teaching full time. I got into subbing, which was amazing because it's like being a grandparent you get to do. And teachers appreciate you. You're more appreciated sometimes as a sub because you can't get good subs. And I loved that transition. Even at Costco for a couple months I called it like box fit at the front because I was that Tetris girl. I was good at that too. Yeah, we, like I said, we called off the wedding. Here's the thing about weddings. A lot of them, it's just for everybody else. We had both already gotten married and spent money like that. And we knew it's not about that. It's about our love for one another. We actually ended up eloping on 104 of 15 because we say 104 in our world and didn't tell anybody. Including all six kids. We said we're going to renew our vows in 10 years and then everyone will be old enough to go to Cancun. So everything worked out as far as that went. And yeah, actually, I'd never in a hundred years anticipated jumping into the logistics and supply chain, world freight forwarding. I'm a true believer. If you are relational and you've got a good work ethic, you can do anything.

Absolutely.

You can teach kindergarten, you can do anything.

I would almost agree with that.

Yeah.

And so you touched a little bit about six kids in a blended family. I'm sure there's so many challenges that come with that, but what are some of the surprising blessings that have come from a blended family?

Family dinners are the best. We love that. Oh, especially during COVID So, yeah, we've got six kids, five boys and a girl who are now, let's see, I'll go backwards. 23, 21, 19, 19, 17 and a half and 15. And so, as you can imagine, you know, those dynamics, Ben. Yeah, they're all very independent. And it's interesting because people always said, hey, was there really. There really wasn't any kind of fighting or crazy dynamics within, like mine and Nick's together? Like, sometimes my three would have their own disputes and same with Nick's boys. But family dinners are the best. Just being able to sit down and share and. And talk and laugh and cry sometimes, I would say that was often. Trips, vacations, when you have that many kids, you have to be on budget lockdown sometimes. But it's. It's awesome what you can do even on that, you know, with a tight budget. And it's more, again, about the experience, giving them these experiences together. So I'd say we'd have pretty good family dynamics and memories to share. That's awesome.

Yeah. Those experiences are priceless, for sure. And I'm glad you're doing those. Talk to me about your daughter's 14th birthday. That seems like it was an important time for you too.

It really was. April. April 16, 2020, was the first day of the rest of my life, I'd say. I was never a drinker in high school and college. I probably maybe tampered, I don't know, just because of peer pressure. I was always a designated driver. I had to be the goody two shoes, remember? Because I was the mom in the family. And my sisters have stories. I have stories. They hated that I played the mom role, locking them out of the house when they snuck out and whatnot. But it was one of those things where I just intentionally is like, okay. And I was afraid of my dad. I was like, if I even try alcohol he's gonna know. He's a substance abuse counselor, and I'd get in big trouble. But. So I was fast forward to when I turned 21. Midori Sours, let me tell you, was my drink of choice. But after, I'd say one of my best friends, even to this day, who at the end of the day teaching, like, you just go home and have your glass of wine, and it just helps you kind of relax. And obviously, I had kids back to back, so there's several years where I. I didn't drink, but that was like my go to just wine. And you don't realize that one glass turns into two, Two glasses turns into three. And it's just a daily habit. And especially when you go through rough spots in your life. Like I was going through, you know, a marriage that wasn't okay, and then divorce and then a single mom and then a te. And then the long distance. It's like I found myself. That was my band aid, and I didn't see anything really wrong with it because nine times out of 10, it was fine. And then there was that 10th time where you had one too many, or you, you know, you woke up the next day not only with a headache or a hangover, you just. In my heart of hearts, I knew that wasn't me. And that feeling of guilt and shame, it just. It. It was not fun. And so there were actually several moments over the last 10 years where I had considered going cold turkey, but I was like, you only live once. That's what I'd say. Yolo. Sometimes it was for the calories, because, you know, it makes you all puffy, and sometimes it was for the stupid stuff you said or did. And I love my husband way too much to let something like that affect because the only time we ever had heating discussions is when I, you know, had had too much. And that for me, it was kind of. I remember exactly the day before my daughter's birthday where I just knew this was it. I had a childhood crush who is actually. And he is a writer now. He. He really inspired me. He's gay. To. I'd see all these pictures of him on social media, like, traveling and doing all these amazing things, and I had no idea he was seven years sober. Because in my mind, Nick and I love traveling. We go to inclusive resorts. We go there because you save money with all the drinking. We were professional again. He's Italian. We were professional drinkers. And so I rem reaching out to him and saying, how did you do it? And you have this amazing life. I mean, I just. I couldn't imagine. We had never gone to Napa. We were wine tasting. You know, we wanted to do all these things. We want to go to Italy, and I couldn't imagine a life without that. And he was such an inspiration. And he suggested I read a book. It was actually free. It's free on Audible. Called Sober, Curious, and decided I was going to stop. I thought it was only going to be 60 days because I didn't want to tell all of my friends and family. Like, I think I have a problem because it's not something that you want to talk about. And so everyone thought I was on the 60 day challenge. You know, they'll be back. Nick stopped two days after me. That was huge.

Yeah.

I admire that man so much, and he's made a lot of sacrifices for me, and I totally appreciate that. And I remember I'm going to try not to get too emotional. I remember just journaling those first two weeks because I thought, I think I'm a pretty dang good person, and I'm not walking the walk because we all have our secrets. We all have our skeletons. And the last thing I want to do is give this false impression of who I am and have this secret.

And.

Have to, like, hide it. And so I did a lot of journaling, like, why can't I be, like, so? And so my good friend who can have one drink and it's okay. And I went through, like. And I started realizing the band Aid that it really was. And I did a lot of healing. I would go on morning walks, listening to Sober Curious. And then it turned into other books. And I started getting on fire just reading these leadership books and started hearing about a lot of leaders that have given it up and that had the same kind of stories. And I was like, I'm not alone.

Not at all.

Because Covid, I mean, we stepped up our game. White claws. That didn't count, right? Yeah, I think.

I think you touch on something there. I think society especially. Well, I would say everybody. But for women, you know, that is the band Aid, right? Or the. Takes the edge off. That's the message we get. And I would guess that it's more of an issue than we realize for many people. And to be vulnerable, to be able to share that and to own it, it's brave. It's really honorable.

Thank you. It took a little while. Now I literally am empowered by sharing my story. I appreciate you asking that question, because it was really hard in the beginning. I can say that we have lived our best life in the last two years. Well, I guess it's been less than that. We've gone to all inclusives and it has been absolutely incredible because we're not hungover on our excursions. You know, we remember everything. That's something else that's really scary. Alcohol affected me in a way where I. I call it brownouts because I would remember bits and pieces and that's not okay. And what kind of example was I setting for my kids, you know, and so they have seen the change. I am all about giving grace. And the conversations that I have with my kids these days, I would say are so much better because of the clarity. It's not buzzed mommy like, happy Mommy like, I am truly, genuinely happy. And I can say that I don't need alcohol to make my day better because that's what we would say, you know, everything will be better after I have happy hour or whatever. But it was a hard struggle because like you said, Sarah, it's actually socially acceptable to be a drinker. And even daily I felt kind of uncomfortable and not like, almost like being judged when we stopped. And then what kind of goes together with that is I think people, including friends, felt like we were judging. And the thing is, if you know me, the last thing I'm going to do is judge anyone. You can bring whatever alcohol over to our house, you can celebrate with us at the table and drink whatever you want. We are just choosing for ourselves not to do those things.

So I can't imagine the challenge though, even, you know, in the business world, you schedule happy hours and it's gotta be hard to resist that temptation. An all inclusive resort. And to not be. To me, that's just, that's a challenge. I can't imagine it gets easier.

Well, from a female perspective now I just look at the calories, like, oh, it was a lot of empty calories I was drinking. And so I would say that. But you're right, it does a lot of Diet cokes with lime, you know, tonic with lime. And so like I said, you can, or hey, I'm designated driver today, so. Yeah, you know, it's one of those things.

Well, I'm incredibly proud of you. Thank you for sharing that.

I'd like to point out, I bet your children, because you mentioned this, are super inspired by you as well. By looking at you and watching you go through that journey. What an inspiration you must be for them, for their future and their choices to come.

Thank you.

Well, and even if they aren't right now, Someday they're gonna look back, and they're going to be really proud of you, too.

Thank you so much.

So let's talk about what's next. What's the future hold for you?

Well, we'll continue to work on that golf game. My husband just got certified as a golf pro, so he is instructing. So I'm hoping that he can give me some free pointers. Our business is doing really, really well. I have really been preying on something that will happen in the future. And I don't know if I've told you this, even, Sarah. I. My heart is really just tugging on the possibility of starting a nonprofit that targets teenage girls and women who may be struggling with the same things that I have. I've experienced, like you've heard, death, mental illness of siblings, the struggles of high school, alcoholism, addiction. And so I. I have a lot to offer, and I think it's really valuable that we share our stories and that we are vulnerable, because it's a scary thing to do, and I think a lot of teenage girls really don't know how to navigate through that. And with social media these days, they are doing and saying things that are digging them deeper. And I want them to be able to have their voices heard and to be able to talk to someone and to be able to give back kind of in that way. So that's somewhere. Somewhere out there. I know it's gonna happen. But in the meantime, I will continue to support other nonprofits in our community that are doing the same thing and gathering ideas. And I love being part of the Women Empowered Committee in the Gilbert Chamber, and just. I'm a connector of people, so I find joy in that. So that's not gonna change. My goal is to do as much as I can before I leave this earth and to impact as many people as I can. I know relationship building is a big part of that, and so, yeah, we'll continue that as well.

Well, perhaps you just started that journey today. You never know.

Who knows?

You just talked about it, so someone's gonna hear that.

Well, and it's my goal. Obviously, I'm kind of competitive. I heard that Wall e had, like, 800 views.

Oh, and counting.

Okay, we'll see what happens.

Often say this, but I'm gonna say that I would love to go on that journey with you. You and be supportive of that. I think it's an incredibly important effort in this world right now. So I'm 100% behind you on that.

She's debating if she can put up with you at this moment.

I am not. I. I still debate if I can put up with you, but Julia.

But here we are.

I'm pretty easy peasy, like. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, thank you. Thank you for being here today. It was a pleasure to know your story.

Yeah. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you. I'm extremely humbled and I love what you guys are doing for the community, and so I appreciate you both.

Thank you.

Thank you. This has been a wonderful episode and I'm sure you want to hear more. So subscribe to our tribe, join us and learn more as we bring more episodes like this for all you to listen. Thanks for being here. Guiding growth conversations with community leaders.

Ben, let me ask you a question. How do you see other community members being involved in this podcast?

This is going to be a great opportunity for so many people in the community to have a chance to be heard if they want to tell their story or if they just want to be part of this journey with us and help sponsor in a way that helps bring more people to the table with us. So I think there's many opportunities at hand. Whether you want to again be on the show. Reach out to us. Let us know what your story is and how you think you could be part of it. We'd love to hear from you. Reach out, let us know and we'll see if we can make that connection.

Sam.