Stop Being Invisible: The Confidence Conversation No One Talks About

Welcome to the Working Moms of San Antonio podcast. We're your hosts, Erika Radis and Marie Lefscholz, a realtor and lender here in San Antonio. But most importantly, we're working moms just like you.

This podcast is all about creating a space where we can come together, share stories, and learn from each other. We love connecting with local moms in business, hearing about their journeys and how they're balancing it all. Because let's be honest, it's not always easy, but it's so worth it.

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Now on to today's episode. Grab a cup of coffee, settle in, and let's get started.

Welcome to this week's episode of the Working Moms of San Antonio podcast. Today we have a guest on, Sydney Twitchell Hernandez, and she is with Clever Girl Marketing and PR. And so we're gonna turn it over to her to let her share a little bit about her business and what she's got going on.

Hi, thank you for having me on the podcast. I'm very excited to be here. Um, I started Clever Girl Marketing and PR this past January. I've been working in marketing and PR for quite a long time. My mom actually owned a marketing and PR firm. For film and television. Mm-hmm. And so I started out doing PR and marketing as an intern for like indie film and discovered I really liked it. And so when I got to a crossroads and didn't know what I wanted to do with my career, I decided to launch a marketing business and it really turned into a passion into helping female founders shatter what I call the invisibility barrier and to establish themselves as thought leaders in their industry.

So explain that term to us, cuz we were talking about that before we got on.

Yeah. I wanna know.

It's very intriguing.

We all probably suffer from that.

Yes. So, Think about like those cop shows or detective shows that we all watch, SVU, you know, all that, where they have the perp in the interview room and then there's that one-sided glass where everybody on the one side can see everything into the room, but they can't see who's watching. You are on the one side of the glass watching the action, but nobody sees what you can bring to the table. So that is what I call the invisibility barrier. It's definitely something that I have discovered more female founders than male founders, uh, find themselves into. And it's mostly because of societal norms or the way we were raised. Um, I was raised in a very fundamentalist Christian household, and so it was very much women are quiet and meek and, you know, they get married and be housewives. And I am not that.

Yeah.

And so that's definitely something that I've been like working on for myself and now it's a passion to help other women break through that invisibility barrier.

Interesting.

Are we suffering from it?

I don't know. I, I mean, I guess sometimes even as a female you might not realize that you're not being recognized or acknowledged for what you can bring. I mean, sometimes I feel that way just in general. I'm like, I have all these ideas in my head. I should be president because I know what I'm doing.

Yeah.

Like I really think that. And I'm like, I sometimes my value is not recognized and I get frustrated about it, but I kind of move on. I think as a female, like, oh, oh well. And you kind of just move on. Oh, okay.

We've definitely been conditioned to just accept being invisible to other people. And that's something that like, I didn't even realize that I had accepted being invisible until a couple months ago because when I was younger, I was full of passion and, uh, you know, vibes and everything. Yeah. And I was really going for it. I actually used to work in youth ministry and I really loved it and I was passionate about it. And towards the end of my youth ministry career, I started being told by male leaders that I was too much, I was too loud, I was too passionate, I was emotionally unintelligent, was one of what one of them said. And so I ended up stopping, uh, hanging out with my students as much. I pulled back on a lot of things. I used to have a thriving TikTok when I was a youth pastor, and I stepped back from all of that because I was embarrassed. And then I realized It's not that I'm too much, it's that they're uncomfortable and they turned their discomfort into shame and made me shoulder it.

Yeah. I mean, do you feel like it's because they wish they could be like as vibrant? Like, is some of it like jealousy or is some of it— I, I mean, I just, I can't figure, I mean, I, I have experienced what you're experiencing and I get it, but I just can't really understand like the mentality behind it. I guess maybe it's insecurity on that other person's part.

It could be, or just their taste. I mean, I, I think the way we communicate and the way we express ourselves is going to be different from males, definitely. You know, how we connect with people is different. Yeah, I mean, we tend to go with the heart versus a lot of things. It is, you know, it is, because we try to make that connection with people differently, you know. And, um, and it does— like, I even having a conversation with my husband, like, I see things differently and how I would approach things, and He's more aggressive at stuff and I'm like, I don't handle things that way. Like not, not all things have to be handled with the, you know, the fist.

That's how I feel too.

Yeah.

You know, um, we have talked about this before. Um, I, in our industry in real estate, mm-hmm. I mean, there's a lot of women, but there's a lot of men. And the men tend to be like pretty aggressive.

Oh yeah.

Um, and in my opinion, like not in a super great way. Like it's not, it's not like, you know, taking the bull by the horns. It's often just like rudeness and like dickishness. And I'm like, no, it's not.

Well, it's very salesy in my head. And I'm not, uh, for my personality, I'm not a salesy person. And so I, I, I crave knowledge.

Yeah.

I crave someone who has integrity. Like, I like someone, and you can tell, I mean, I think, um, we have, as women have a very innate to, um, we have that third eye or, you know, that, that sense of, of, of a person. We have that, that, that intuition.

Yeah.

And I trust it. I trust my gut a lot when it comes to people. And I think men don't care. It's like, whatever. Yeah.

But like, I have conversations where it's like, a lot of times people will tell me like, oh, Erika, like you're too nice. Like you're being, you're, you're too nice. And I am more of the mentality where it's like you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Right? And so like, absolutely. I feel like being too, and also like how much harder is it, is like, is it to be nice in the face of someone that's being like horrible to you than it would be to just like react explosively and like be terrible? You know?

Exactly.

And so I'm like, I'm actually expressing strength right now because I'm like, Being nice even though this person's being awful.

Yeah.

Cuz you can hop around.

Damn it. Yeah.

But I think so what you experienced and you, was it something because you were vibrant, you were fun, you were, was it, was it that type or was it more that you were kind of like, hey, this is how things are. I mean, what part of that did they feel was not appropriate to be doing?

So great question. I ended up coming to the conclusion that they, we had very different personalities and so, um, The students did not like him. Oh, he was a new boss. He was my new boss. My previous boss and I were good friends and we had similar energy. I was just more organized with it, if that makes sense.

Yeah.

And so the students were able to bond with both of us, but when it came to this new boss, he came in and they were not having it. They weren't enjoying it because he was so much quieter and more reserved and Suddenly a bunch of the fun activities and stuff we were doing stopped. Um, we had been doing sermon series that were based off of pop culture and that stopped. And so the students weren't really connecting with him. And I think he felt intimidated by that a little bit. But we also disagreed on how to go about things so much so that like we would have arguments all the time. And it was frustrating for me because I had been there for over a year already and I had established relationships with the students, the parents, the faculty. And so for this new guy to come in and everything that I had been doing be thrown out, it was frustrating, but I was willing to go with the punches because he's more educated, he probably knows more what he's doing. And it ended up just turning into almost like just this dominance fight between the two of us. It was very weird towards the end, but that's not the first time that I've run into that because I've run into that in other churches and other spaces at other jobs. Sure. And it's always, it's always this one guy that is just intimidated that you are yourself because you're thriving by being yourself. And I think part of it is they feel, they feel frustrated because they have to pretend to be somebody else in order to get where you're getting.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Well, I, I think it's just when, when it a lot of times is personality, right? And they feel like, especially if someone's coming into new space, my approach would be let's see how it's working, let's see what's working, allow things to evolve and then add in, like, learn the space first before you change everything.

Yeah.

That's just common sense in my world.

Yes.

But I don't know, that doesn't work all the time.

Yeah. No, for sure. Um, and so when you're working with these female founders, um, like what advice do you give them to make sure that they are showing up like authentically and that kind of stuff?

So the first thing I check with them is to make sure that their brand is aligned with their personality. Because your brand, especially if you're a solopreneur like I am, your brand isn't just for your company. It's for you as a founder, as a leader, as someone in your industry. And so if it's not aligning with who you actually are, with what your personality is, there's going to be a disconnect and people are going to know that. And so when it comes to like your branding colors, choose colors that are your favorite colors that you wear all the time. And so like mine are green and pink. And so my most of my closet is green and pink. That's what I'm wearing today. And so, you know, my branding colors match that because when people get my business card, they'll literally look at it, look at me, and the silhouette that's on my business card looks exactly like me. And people are like, that's really cool. So it's things like that that help you kind of stand out and make you memorable. But it's also, you know, one thing that I recommend to a lot of female founders: go to therapy. Because you will realize once you start on your journey trying to build a business that if you aren't unpacking the traumatic experiences that you have experienced experienced as a woman trying to get into this industry, you're not going to get far enough because you're going to be stopping yourself. Imposter syndrome is going to get in the way. Depression and anxiety is going to get in the way. And that's something I've been struggling with this year. I thought I was doing great. And then I started Clevver Girl and realized, oh, oh no, like I'm stepping back, I'm hiding. I don't, you know, I'm nervous going into interviews and I used to be interviewed all the time when I was in youth ministry. So why is this bothering me right now? And it's because my shine was dulled by somebody else. And so yeah, part of it is going to therapy to find that and get it back.

Yeah. That little stuff like that, those little comments or those little jabs or whatever, that shit lives rent-free in your brain.

It does.

And it'll come up in the weirdest times.

Oh, it does.

Yeah.

We went through that, right? I mean, when we start, when Working Moms kind of started, we're like, wait, what? Because it was an idea that we didn't even know was out there. Yeah. Because we had never really networked or done anything like that before. And when we started talking about it and then we saw, we're like, are, wait, are they, are we copying? Are they copying us? Like what, what, what's, we, we got nervous, remember?

Yeah.

In the beginning cuz we weren't really sure. Um, so yeah, I can definitely see where as a female, like if you start trying something new and you're not confident in it, it can really affect your mental state. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, women are also, you know, raised to be quiet and submissive most of the time, you know, and men are not. And so they walk into this with a lot more confidence. I found out a statistic that men are more likely to apply for a job if they don't meet like more than half of the qualifications on a resume, but women are only willing to apply for a job if they meet most of it, like 90% of it.

Yeah.

And I thought that was a crazy statistic. And then I went home and my husband was applying to a job and he's like, I only meet like 40% of the qualifications, but I'm sure I can figure it out. And I went, okay, got it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Oh my God. That is nuts. But I mean, that's, I would never apply. I would never apply for a job if I didn't feel like I knew all of it.

You know, all the things I didn't check all the boxes.

Because like, I can only imagine submitting a resume and someone looking at that and being like, why the fuck did this person apply for this? And just the idea of that would send me into like some kind of a shame spiral. And I would think about it all night, every night.

Yeah. But I mean, in our heads when we talk about, I'm like, oh, we can figure this out. Yeah. And we can, we can, we always figure it out.

Yes, we do. Yeah.

Women do that, but put ourselves out there in that scenario, I'm like, I don't think I would. Yeah, you know, hmm, interesting.

No, guys are just far more confident. That's why when you see like those entrepreneur podcasts with those men talking, they're like, you gotta go out there and you gotta dominate, you gotta get up at like 4 AM, and yeah, you know, you got to do the ice plunge at 2 in the morning before you start. And I'm sitting here and I'm like, that's ridiculous, you don't have to do that. But women think they have to do those kinds of things in order to succeed because that's how men have been doing it, when really really, they just need to be confident in themselves. The best person that I can think of, like, the best example of someone that shattered the invisibility barrier is Taylor Swift. Yeah, because she started out her career, she wasn't that big. She was in Tennessee where there are a million country singers, you know, and she's this teenage girl. And so what did she do to shatter that invisibility barrier? She connected with people in the industry that were already established, like Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney. She started really putting the work in to get herself out there. She's going to these little events, she's performing in parking lots at restaurants and other things. And then as she started to get bigger, she didn't hide who she was on social media, and that's how she gained the fandom that she has now. She was on Tumblr posting, you know, sugar cookie recipes for her fans to make at home, and she was having secret sessions where her fans would go to her house and listen to her new music. And now she has this huge empire and she's a billionaire and everybody knows who Taylor Swift is, but she did that by being authentically herself. Mm-hmm. And it's so funny now because people that criticize Taylor Swift, they bring up how dorky and weird and quirky she is, but that's what she built her brand on because that's who she is.

Yeah.

Yeah. No, that's, that's interesting. I mean, I don't know very, very much about Taylor Swift, but I don't know that.

Yeah.

That is super interesting.

I feel like.

I don't know. I've, and we've talked about this too. Mm-hmm. Like I'm, I'm gonna be 38 next year and I'm, I'm going into like the phase of life where I'm like, I have like no more fucks to give. Like I, they have, they have run out. They have, they've been placed other places. They are not with me anymore. And I wish that like, but I think that has come like with age and time. Mm-hmm. You know what I mean? And being more confident in my business and like that kind of stuff. And so, I wish that like younger women would just sort of, I guess maybe get that mentality. I don't know how to tell women like not to have no fucks. I mean, you gotta have some, but you gotta like know how to do your business and like talk to people and all these things. But I just mean like in terms of like, I think being so hard on ourselves, I wish that we could tell like younger women like, hey, a little bit later on you're gonna realize that like some of this stuff that you were like killing yourself over. Did not even ma— it did. Not only did it not matter to the people that you thought it did, but it doesn't ma— it shouldn't matter to you. You know what I mean? Like, you're not gonna care about this.

Yeah.

I think we were blessed enough to come up as young girls without social media. Yeah. So I think today you see, that's true.

It's so much harder.

You see all the things and sometimes I'm thinking, was it always like this or do we just know about it now? Like there's so much stuff that gets shared. So you see all the things in people's lives, like, well, my life isn't like that. Yeah, my job didn't do that. Oh, I didn't make that many closings. Or like, I don't— what? Yeah, like, so you see all the things that you typically wouldn't know about. So you— that also puts strain, I think, on your mental health and thinking you're comparing yourself to the next-door neighbor or the, the next entrepreneur. Yeah, you know what they're doing, but you don't realize that they had to take 20 shots to get that perfect picture to fake what they just did.

Yeah, yeah, no, that's okay.

So I think social media has played a part in that to maybe hurt women's confidence or be able to fake it really, really well? Yeah, one of the two.

Oh, absolutely. Uh, you know, comparison is a confidence killer is how I refer to it, because at the end of the day, like, your goals are different from my goals, and your goals are different from my goals and her goals. And so we all have a different objective for how we want to do it. Even people who have similar businesses, you know, Erin Hoy from her Digital Legacy, she and I have very similar brands and similar businesses, but we have very different goals as to where we want them to go. So instead of this comparison game of, you know, oh, Erin's doing this, so I have to do this.

Sure.

Or, you know, instead it's how can we help each other get to our goals that are in completely different directions? Yeah. You know, and so that's something I definitely wanna encourage more women to do is like get connected with networking groups where you can find the women that are going to encourage you.

Mm-hmm.

If there is something that you are passionate about that you feel in your heart it's gonna work. Just go for it. Yeah, you know, and if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. But you know what, you were brave enough to do it and nobody else was.

Well, I think the biggest thing is you're putting goodness out there. You're sharing knowledge that you have to say, hey, let me support other women in what they're doing, and here's some tips and tricks that you can do to help build your brand. So that's— it's always, it's always to put goodness out in the universe. Yeah, yeah, put it out there.

And I mean, I just feel like, I mean, especially here at Working Moms, um, We, I try to keep it super casual. I try to keep it, I want everyone to feel welcome and relatable and that they can come as they are. You don't have to be wearing like a blazer and like aggressively exchange business cards to network here. Your kid can like be on your hip and that's still, you're still a good business person. You know, that doesn't make you any less of, of anything in my opinion.

Mm-hmm.

If, I mean, in some ways I'd argue that it makes you better depending on what you've got going on. Um, but, uh, that, I mean, I think that's why we, we try to keep it pretty casual. Yeah. So women do feel comfortable and their confidence is, uh, You know, because I mean, I'm sorry, women can be catty and they can be not.

But if you find a good group of people, whether it's the same industry or not the same industry, to support you, to help guide you, to help just to be like, hey, bounce some ideas off you and you give advice. Like, having a good support group in no matter what you do is always a good thing.

Totally.

So having— finding those, those friends, or in, in, like you said, a networking group to help you. So in your business, especially in the beginning, right, until you— anytime you start something new, you're like, okay, am I really Can I do this?

Yeah.

Well, if you have 8 women saying, yes, you can, let's go. Yeah, let's do this and I'll go with you. Yeah. You know, that, that helps quite a bit.

Oh, absolutely. Having that inner circle is so important. Having those people surrounding you, so important, especially when it comes to, again, shattering that barrier because the, the steps that you have to take, you have to be confident enough to show up as yourself online and in person.

Yeah.

And so, you know, if you are walking into a room full of women and you just immediately sit down in the corner and you're just watching people, or you only talk to people that you know.

Yeah.

You are making yourself invisible because nobody knows you're there. Nobody knows what your industry is. And so you need to really be confident enough to put yourself out there and be like, this is who I am. This is my business. This is my brand. And this is my mission.

Yeah.

And, and establishing it, making it clear and making it consistent. Cause that's the other thing that I see with, uh, female founders is they're not always consistent with their brand. You're consistent with your brand, you're going to be a lot more visible because people are going to recognize you. They're going to recognize your colors. They're going to recognize everything. And so invisibility barrier is one of those things that Clevver Girl is getting known for. When people hear that term now, they're like, oh, did you get that from Sydney? That's because I've established it enough and I've talked about it enough on podcasts and groups, in Q&As and other things. And so now people are starting to recognize it as a Clevver Girl thing that we can address.

Yeah, I love that, and I love that for you.

And I think we do that here at Working Moms. You know, when she said, um, get out there and, and, you know, don't be invisible— our brewing business, right? We started off a small platform of allowing women to come out. You have a few seconds to, to, to showcase you, right, in your business. Tell us a little about yourself. And it doesn't put you on the spot a little bit, a little bit, but you have a lot of people cheering you on in there to support you and that want to hear about your business.

Yes.

So we do this, we do that on the last Tuesday of every month, people.

That's right. Come do it.

I love that. Come do it. That's awesome.

Come do it and share yourself. Come do it.

Share your business with us.

Um, well, I, I'm curious and maybe our listeners are as well. Let's walk through like what an initial consult would look like with you. Like when people come to you, um, these female founders, how does it work when they, when they wanna work with you? Okay.

So they would reach out to me and we would schedule a discovery call.

Okay.

Discovery calls, I don't put a time limit on them. Because my goal is to get to know you and to get to know your business. I wanna know your story because your story is important for your brand. And so if I'm working on helping you build your brand, make it more visible, establish you as, as a thought leader, I need to know who you are. So I'll take that time. I'll ask you questions, you know, what's your story? What got you into this? What's your passion? Why are you doing this? What's the why behind what you do? You know, um, many times. You know, when you ask the why, it's not, you know, oh, I'm just trying to help women with their social media. It's things like, I'm trying to help female founders get confident on social media. Yeah. And so that perspective shift is very important, not only for your brand, but for your confidence. And so I'll sit there and I'll, I'll listen and I'll ask these questions and get to know them. Following that, I'll send them an email that basically has the notes of what all we talked about, what their goals were that they established. And then I would recommend one of my packages to them, or I would build something custom for them.

Okay.

Because I'm very big on whatever you need, that is what I'm going to offer you. And then we, you know, we discuss it, we work around it, we negotiate, you know, what do you need here? Oh, I don't need this PR thing quite yet. Okay, let's sub it with a different social media thing. Really making it customized and, and bespoke. And then once that contract is signed, normally it's a 3-month contract. And what we do is we start out the first month as just getting You know, built up on your brand. I'm getting familiar with your colors, your voice, um, your logos and all of that. I start putting together, you know, we do filming for reels. And so not only is the filming for reels important cuz we're getting content, it's important because I'm seeing how we work together and I'm seeing what your personality is, but I can also kind of gauge where your confidence is on camera.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. And so that'll also help me cuz I love being a cheerleader and encouraging people. I've always been told I have bubbly cheerleader personality.

Yeah.

And so I have to, I tailor that cheerleader energy to what they need. And the best way to do that is by doing reels, getting them on podcasts, other things, kind of seeing how they interact with other people. Yeah. And then from there, you know, month 2, that's when we start rolling out the content and we start seeing, you know, what works, what doesn't, you know, what does your audience really like? What, what are they not really, you know, getting? Is, is Are people confused about your brand, about your content, what your mission is? And that way we can kind of readdress in month 3, okay, here's how we're going to adjust the wording to make it more palatable for your audience.

Right.

And just kind of go from there.

Well, that seems like it's all inclusive. Oh yeah.

I mean, I guess I like that for me since I've never had a type of PR type person. So what is, what is, I apologize, what does that mean? Like what are, are you just looking to help them? Establish their brand, help them maybe make, maybe make some changes if that's something you see. Like maybe, maybe the colors are not, you know, like, hey, you always wear blue but you, you have red everywhere, like what's going on there? Or, you know, is that kind of what the, the part of the, the first, I guess the first month would look like?

Yeah, so that's basically what it would go into. Um, you know, making sure that your brand aligns with who you are, your colors like you said. Um, if one of my clients You know, they are a solopreneur, but all of their logos and everything, or their profile pictures are just their logo and not their face. That's something we immediately change because we're trying to get you at the forefront.

Yes.

Because people don't wanna buy from a brand, they wanna buy from you. When people are rabid about a Taylor Swift release, they're not rabid about just the music. They're rabid to support Taylor Swift.

Yeah.

We're trying to get you, your audience rabid to support you. So even if they're not purchasing your services, your product, They're sharing your stuff. They're excitedly talking about how cool you are. Yeah. That's what we're trying to kind of build up and, and establish. And with PR, what we're doing right now is PR, getting on podcasts. And so if someone were to sign me as their PR manager, it would be helping them get on podcasts, helping them get to conferences as a speaker, um, applying to awards for them, nominating for awards and, and stuff like that, because that's gonna get their name out there and. Better, not only is it going to better establish them in their industry, but it's gonna get them more confident to keep going out there. You know?

Yeah.

A podcast like this that's so relaxed and so comfortable is the best way to introduce someone to getting their face and their name out there.

That's why we do this.

Yeah. I'm like, that seems good, right?

Yeah. It seems like a great idea.

Well, good, good. Um, and you mentioned like doing the reels and stuff. Mm-hmm. Which like when you said that, my face was like, uh, because like it's just like the bane of my existence. Yes. But.

Suck at though. I mean, yeah.

How, like for your usual client, like how comfortable do you find that people are? Are people like us where they're like, oh my gosh, like I can't get on, I can't get my face on the camera. Or are they like, yeah, let's do it.

You know, it really depends on the age range.

Yeah.

I think, oh, that's interesting. Someone, someone closer to my age because we grew up in the age of Vine before TikTok was a thing. And so Vine is like 6-second videos and I'm like, what is that? You put yourself out there.

What is Vine?

I was like, let me explain for a second.

Apparently I'm older.

Yes, please do.

So Vine was this platform where you were just posting 6 seconds of content. Mm-hmm. That was it. That's all you had. So you only had 6 seconds to get the joke out there, yourself out there, all of that. And so that really trained my generation to get information out quickly in a fun, quirky manner in such a small time.

Yeah.

When Vine died, TikTok replaced it, and then TikTok started expanding beyond 60 seconds into 2 minutes. And now you have like, 10-minute TikToks, which are very frustrating for someone with ADHD like myself because I'm going there for short bursts of dopamine. I don't want to sit and watch a 10-minute video on Donald Trump on my TikTok feed, please. I don't want that.

Yeah, no, I hear you.

Like, that's what Facebook is for, for me. Yeah, do that to me. So, um, you know, so people that grew up with like Vine and TikTok and, and YouTubers and stuff, they have a lot more confidence putting themselves out there than someone that is older that didn't grow up with the internet because if you were on camera and publicly in front of everyone, that was celebrity status at that time. So now you have to get comfortable enough having a million people view you.

Yeah.

You know, which was unheard of back then in the early 2000s, and now it's such a normal, common occurrence. And so part of like with recording reels and TikToks and other stuff with female founders is making sure, A, that they're dressed comfortably, that they're confident, that their makeup and hair is done in a way that's makes them comfortable. That's what I did. My hair and my makeup and everything is, this is how I feel confident, so that's how I'm presenting myself on camera today.

Mm-hmm.

And then from there we find things that they want to do. I'm not here to chase trends with you.

Yeah. Like, do we have to dance on these videos? Yeah. Like, I never will.

If you don't wanna dance, you don't have to dance. And the other thing that I like to do is if you really don't wanna be a heavy presence on camera, get family and friends involved. Oh, that's a good idea. You know, my little sister and I, we used to be in theater together and so we're just such dorks with each other. And so I called her one day and I was like, I have an idea for a reel and it's ridiculous. Are you in? And she goes, I'm so fucking in.

Let's do it.

I love it. Okay. And so like now, like after, you know, for 2026, like my sister and I are like already scripting reels that we can be in together that she can help me for my brand that are dorky and ridiculous and they're funny, but we're more likely to do it with confidence.

Yeah.

Because. We enjoy it. Yeah, we like it. And so, you know, I don't, I don't want female founders to feel like they have to go with trends just to fit in with everybody. I want you to record something that you're actually passionate about and excited about because that'll translate through camera as well.

That makes sense.

You know, I don't— it's not being on camera, I don't care at that point. It's getting on camera is the problem. Like, I, I have a hard time in— I, I'm Generation X, I'm 46. Um, so like having a camera in my face or in someone else's face while I'm doing the that I enjoy. Like, I try to be present, so I need to hire someone to follow me around just to have to get content, because that's where I, I suffer from. It's not being on camera. I don't care about that part of what I look like. I'm— that I have no problem with confidence there. What I have problem is obtaining the content that I can get out. Yeah, that makes sense.

Yeah, that's a common problem. I struggle with that where it's like people are like, you should do a, you know, a video of filming a day in the life. I get halfway through and I'm locked in on work. I'm not paying attention to recording. There was one time And I set my camera up for just B-roll of me working and it went on for an hour and then I was like, oh crap. So I had to like edit it down in order to upload it into my editing software. And my husband was like, I thought you were doing that on purpose. Nope. Nope. And it's so funny too, cause like I totally lost track of time and I lost track of what I was doing and like I'm talking to my cat and I'm like, you know, and I'm getting, and I'm just like kind of stimming. So I'm like, doo doo doo doo doo. And it's on camera and I'm like, oh no. And so like you have to edit that out now and everything. So I definitely empathize. It does.

Yeah.

And, and that's why people hire people like me because we'll do things like, let's say someone hired me to be their PR manager and one of the first things that I did was I got them on this podcast. I would be standing in a corner in this room where you don't see me, there's no cameras, and I'd be recording B-roll footage of this happening right now.

Yeah. Yeah.

And then I would do— we should have done that footage of you walking in and you meeting each of, each of y'all and everything and, and going through that process because having someone doing that for you takes the pressure off of, oh, I I have to record this and then I have to edit it tonight and then I have to post it.

Yeah.

Hold on, let me put a tripod. Don't say nothing. Hold on. And you walk around.

Yeah.

It's just, it's just an awkward situation for, for me personally. Yeah, absolutely. So that's where I, I think I fail for my business is not providing content cause I just don't have it.

Yeah.

Well, that's why you need a marketing and PR person, right?

Follow me around.

Um, well, we typically will ask our guests like what do they feel like is their favorite thing about what they're doing right now? That might be hard.

Good question.

Yeah.

Let me think on that. Um, I think my favorite thing is just inspiring other women, you know? Um, I mentioned earlier, I grew up in a very fundamentalist Christian environment. My dad, I always joke that my dad made a mistake in raising me because he raised me to be like him until I hit puberty. And then it's like he realized I was a girl and tried to backtrack that a little bit.

Mm-hmm.

And it was too late. Um, love you, Dad. And so, um, you know, one of the things is like, I had a lot more confidence than the girls around me when I was a teenager, and I helped them find that confidence as a teenager. Um, I was an anti-bullying advocate going on Ken's Five when I was like 12 years old. And so I was, I've always been vocal about stand up for yourself, be who you are, be proud of who you are, be authentic. And I love that now I have a business where I get paid to do that. And that's pretty cool for me. And so, and I, I love social media. I love content creation. Like I said earlier, I worked in film, and so I love filming things and editing things and, you know, incorporating pop culture into stuff. Right now I'm, as we're recording this, I'm running a promotion that's a holiday promotion that's Wicked themed because I'm such a theater nerd. And so everything has Wicked language to it, and the packages are Wicked themed, and everything's pink and green cause they go great together. And so, you know, I really enjoy, you know, being able to bring in my creativity in order to help female founder, founders find theirs.

Oh, I love that. That's so cool. You could definitely tell that you're passionate about it. Yes. And I love when we have guests that like get super jazzed about what they're doing.

Well, and it's, it's probably the, the part where our, well, we've noticed in our, in our group that the small businesses suffer from where they just trying to figure it out. And, and you have to be all the things when you're an entrepreneur. You have to be your own. Your own payroll, you have to be your own bookkeeper, you have to be your own HR person, you have to be your own, um, media person, you have to— all the things.

Yeah.

And, you know, sometimes our presence as a business sometimes falters because we're having to do all the other things.

Yeah. When you have to do— when you have to do things you're not passionate about, you start losing that passion for your business.

Yeah.

And so it's really important to, like, realign and find that passion again and remind yourself why you're doing this.

Mm-hmm.

Absolutely. Um, will you share with our listeners, uh, how they can get ahold of you for all of these marketing and PR services?

Absolutely. So I'm on Instagram at Clever Girl Marketing and PR. Um, I'm very active on there. I'm on there every day cuz social media manager.

Sure.

Um, so you can always shoot me a DM even if you don't wanna book a discovery call. I would love to sit and have coffee with you even if it's virtual cuz I just love getting to know people. I love people and I love women. So anyway, I can support women, I'm totally down to do. Um, my website is sydneytwichel.com, and so I originally, I've had that website forever and I finally turned it into my business website recently. Awesome. And so that was awesome. And so yeah, those are the two main places that I am present. I'm always at networking events. If you see me and you recognize me from this podcast, introduce yourself. I am not shy at all. So I, I will be excited to see you even if I don't know who you are.

Mm-hmm.

That's awesome.

That is great.

Yeah.

Well, we'll put all of that stuff in the show notes, so it's pretty easy for people to kind of reach out and get a hold of you.

Perfect.

Yes.

And thank you so much for being on.

This was so good.

Yes.

Very excited for having you. Thank you for having me. Cause I was, I really wanted to learn about the invisible barrier. I'm like, we have to talk about that.

Yes.

So, and we all suffer from it.

Yes.

We all suffer from it.

Yes.

Well, now we know. The more you know.

Now. Yeah.

And I'll just really quickly thank our listeners for tuning into this week's episode, and we will catch you guys next time.

See you guys next time.

Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of the Working Moms of San Antonio podcast. We hope you loved today's chat and found a little inspiration to take with you into your week. If you have a podcast topic suggestion or a question you'd love for us to cover, definitely send send us an email at hello@workingmomsofsanantonio.com. We'd love to hear from you. And until next time, see you in the community.