Finding Passion and Confidence with Katrina Purcell

What if your career trajectory looked more like a jungle gym than a straight ladder? Join me, Cassandra Crawley-Mayo, as I sit down with the extraordinary Katrina Purcell to unpack her multifaceted career journey. From her early days in media to founding Purcell LLC, Katrina reveals how her move to New York City and her time in live news were transformative. You'll hear how an MBA from Columbia Business School helped her conquer imposter syndrome and skyrocket her self-confidence, demonstrating the critical role of self-belief and strategic decisions in shaping one’s career.

Ever felt the weight of expectations bearing down on you? Let's explore the journey from being a people pleaser to prioritizing personal fulfillment. I share my own story of moving to New York with limited resources to chase my dreams and the powerful lessons I learned in my 20s and 30s. Both Katrina and I reflect on the importance of redefining goals and seeking happiness on our terms, emphasizing how mindset and calculated risks play vital roles in achieving a fulfilling life. Our conversation underscores that success isn't just about titles or recognitions but about feeling genuinely content and aligned with your true desires.

Mentorship can be a game-changer, and in this episode, we delve into its profound impact. I recount how my first real boss, Jamie Duemo, evolved into a lifelong mentor and friend, inspiring me to tackle challenges like the Ironman. We discuss building supportive communities, setting manageable goals, and crafting actionable plans for personal growth. Katrina’s insights offer a motivational blueprint for anyone ready to make significant life changes. Tune in for practical advice and a heartfelt journey toward finding personal and professional fulfillment.

Get ready to break free from obstacles and live life on your terms!

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Chapters

• 0:00 Finding Passion and Confidence
• 9:16 Overcoming Expectations and Sticky Situations
• 18:30 Navigating Success Mindset and Career Diversity
• 33:02 Setting Goals for Personal Growth
• 37:22 Building a Supportive Community

Transcript

Cassandra: 0:25

Good day out there to all my listeners and I'd like to welcome you to Is your Way, in your Way, and I'm your host, cassandra Crawley-Mayo, and for my new listeners out there, let me share what this podcast is all about. This is for individuals who are ready to move forward, that have this fire in their belly that they know that they're supposed to be doing something different. It's just this thing that I know I should be moving, I should be doing this, I should be doing that, and they're not doing it. They have these goals and everything, but it's those roadblocks, those self-imposed barriers, that's preventing you from living your best life on your terms.

Cassandra: 1:06

talk about topics that relate to personal and business development and also whether and the title for this episode, Finding Passion and Confidence, because a lot of us probably hadn't moved forward, because maybe we don't have the confidence. Hello, Katrina.

Katrina: 1:37

Hello, how are you today?

Cassandra: 1:39

I am doing great and it's just so nice to have you on my show today.

Katrina: 1:44

Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited.

Cassandra: 1:46

Yeah, I'm going to read a little bit of your bio so my listeners will get to know your background a little bit before we start delving into the questions and things of that nature. So, my listeners, katrina Purcell is a multifaceted professional with a diverse career spanning and technical advisory, project management and executive leadership roles. I paused when I said technical advisory because a lot of females are not in that space, so to speak, and she also did, including serving as a chief of staff to the CEO. She's a graduate of Columbia Business School. She's now the founder of her consulting firm, purcell LLC, that specializes in support tech startups and nonprofits and achieving efficient growth and sales scale. Efficient Growth and Scale and her mission-driven approach aims to empower minority-led organizations and nonprofits with tailored solutions for strategic planning, operational excellence and more. She's based in Brooklyn, new York. Katrina brings passion and expertise to every endeavor, personally and professionally.

Cassandra: 3:12

Wow, what a bio. You've done a lot, you've been through a lot and now you have your own company. I'd like to know and my listeners always want to know, before you started this company, what was life like for you? Tell us a little bit about your backstory.

Katrina: 3:31

Wow, okay, big question. So first of all, a shout out to my little sister who wrote that bio. So thank you for making me sound very accomplished and exciting. So my career, as you mentioned, has been very multifaceted.

Katrina: 3:48

I started my career in media and spent 15 years there and grew up in Virginia, decided after college that I really wanted to try and make it big and so moved to New York City in 2007, continuing to work in media.

Katrina: 4:04

I did live news. So it's not a very conducive schedule to having a life because news happens 24-7, holidays, nights, weekends and so kind of pivoted to do project management, but still within the media umbrella, and was very thankful that I had some managers who saw skills that I had and were able to say, hey, you should go work on this project. In doing that, I discovered that I really loved project management. I love the organization. I loved taking chaotic things and making them make sense. I loved mentoring and working with team members and getting the most out of them, you know, to help accomplish a large goal, and in doing that, I realized that I had a lot of imposter syndrome and a lot of issues with that. Will people take my recommendation seriously, because I just have an undergraduate degree from a state school, and so my husband actually pushed me at the time and said Well, you've always thought about getting an MBA, you should just go do it, okay.

Cassandra: 5:04

And.

Katrina: 5:05

I said, oh, it's so expensive, it's such a time commitment, you know. And he said I really think it's going to transform how you see yourself. And so for him it wasn't necessarily about the education, it wasn't. It was really more about my self-confidence and feeling that I knew what I was talking about, that people should take me seriously. So I did Columbia's executive executive and went once a week, every Saturday for two years and so it's a pretty big family and then decided you know what I'm done with media, I'm going to move to, and so, left right in the beginning of the pandemic was working company. We decided to IPO, got to experience that process. So a lot of my career has been what I call jungle gym, not really climbing a ladder, but more sometimes climbing up, sometimes moving to the side, sometimes taking a step back to then go forward, which is all what led me to decide to start my own company last year.

Cassandra: 6:04

Wow. Now let me ask you what is it about school? Going back gave you confidence, Because I'm certain some of my listeners are thinking that they should kind of go back to school. But what is it about going back that gave you confidence? What's the correlation there?

Katrina: 6:25

It's a great question. I have a friend who tells me that I'm an A student. So I was always the student who in school had to get an A, would do all the studying, would do all the things to get that accolade. And I think, as we become adults, there's really no way to get that accolade anymore. And so, you know, going to the classes, being able to hold my own, learning new topics so I took a lot of finance classes, which were things you know going to the classes, being able to hold my own, learning new topics so I took a lot of finance classes, which were things you know that I wasn't really comfortable with.

Katrina: 6:53

I hadn't taken them in undergrad, but being able to still excel, being able to graduate with honors, you know, I think for me being surrounded by other people who were extremely accomplished and feeling like I actually belonged there, that I could provide value in the conversations that people would come to me for advice, people felt like my study sessions were the best study sessions they were, you know. So there's things that are sort of intangible For me. We're able to kind of boost my confidence and make me feel like I. I now had this sort of stamp of approval. I also chose to go to Columbia Because that for me it was an Ivy League school and and you know, there was like this element of now I went to a state school for undergraduate, but now I've gone to an Ivy League and so now I sort of viewed myself as being in this like new echelon.

Cassandra: 7:51

Okay, so that helped your self-sabotage, your saboteurs.

Katrina: 7:54

It did, it really did, and you know I didn't think it would, but my husband was convinced, and so I guess sometimes the people around you know you best.

Cassandra: 8:04

Yes.

Katrina: 8:04

Even in school, though, they teach you. You know, in the first couple of classes they say, when you walk in, you know men put their stuff everywhere and they take up so much space and the women tend to come in and we're very small and you know we keep our stuff. And so by the end of it you walk in and you're like, okay, let me put my bag here and let me put my computer here and let me start to take up my space. And so I think they they help you come out of your shell a bit and kind of just realize where you've been playing small and help you to play bigger.

Cassandra: 8:34

That's interesting what the guys did. I'm trying to think when I was in grad school did I experienced that, but I did have all my stuff in order and the guys did not.

Katrina: 8:45

Yeah, I really did.

Cassandra: 8:47

So that's interesting, I like that. You know something else you did that, I think, was courageous, so to speak. How, what was it that you moved from Virginia to New York? Now that's a big culture shift. Tell us a little bit about that, because that was not, easy.

Katrina: 9:12

It was definitely not easy. So my whole life I had wanted to come to New York. I loved it here. I have had the same best friend since I was 11. She's from New York originally, so we had come up to New York. She grew up on Long Island and we had come to block parties and I just love the vibrancy of the city. I loved the frenetic energy, the vibe Post college. Of course you have no money and you just got to go wherever you can get a job, and so I was working for the Discovery Channel in Maryland and living in Northern Virginia and I was trying to live what I viewed as a New York existence. So I tried to live in a place where I could walk to the store, where I didn't always have to drive. But Northern Virginia is very car heavy and very traffic heavy.

Katrina: 10:01

And so I thought, when I was turning 25, all my friends were getting married and I was like I'm going to and I thought if I don't do it now, I'm never going to do it Right. I'm going to get kind of caught in this cycle of life just keeps moving forward. And so I applied for a bunch of jobs and I interviewed for seven months to get the job that I got at Bloomberg. But that's how kind of dedicated I was when they hired me.

Katrina: 10:26

They said can you start next week? And I said how am I going to move? Always Okay. And so I had two cats at the time who cried the entire U-Haul right up and I thought I can't even drive this U-Haul. I need you guys to be quiet.

Katrina: 10:42

It took several weeks of sleeping on a couch of a high school friend who happened to live in Brooklyn before I could even find an apartment I could afford. It was scary, but it was exhilarating, and I think one of the things that I've always done in life is that, even if something is really scary, it's not that I'm not afraid, it's that I know it's scary but I've decided I'm doing it anyway. And so a lot of that is just creating a plan, and this is where my project management, you know, has always sort of been in my life. Let's figure out what the plan is, and so for three weeks I was working at the job and staying with random friends or staying with, you know, people who were close friends, the people I had known and had kept close network ties with, got an apartment but had no family here. Really, you know, didn't really know anyone, and I think my mom thought okay, this is a phase, she'll be back. And here we are now, you know, 17 years later, and I love it.

Katrina: 11:44

I, you know, I own a place in Brooklyn where we live near the park and I just I love the vibe and the energy of the city and I feel like if you're going to you know, live anywhere it should be somewhere that inspires you and somewhere that constantly driving you to do that.

Cassandra: 11:59

Yeah, New York does have a lot of energy.

Katrina: 12:02

all over the place it's hard to live here sometimes because you're like, oh, I have to do all these things, but yeah, if you have the right attitude, it's a great place to live.

Cassandra: 12:13

Let me talk about expectations. I remember you talking a little bit about expectations, and a lot of us will do things because perhaps our parents expected this. So therefore we want to, you know, because that's how we grew up. They're our nurturers and we want to kind of do what they want us to do. How did you get around that? And I asked that question because I do have listeners who want to please their parents, you know, or someone in their circle. So how did you get out of that?

Katrina: 12:50

That's a great question. So I am a reformed people pleaser. I spent, I think, all of my 20s trying to make other people happy with my life choices and made some decisions that had to be unwound in my 30s when I realized they weren't exactly making me happy.

Cassandra: 13:10

Yeah.

Katrina: 13:11

But I think the biggest thing I realized is that, even though my parents had certain expectations or certain things in, in reality what they truly wanted was for me to be happy.

Cassandra: 13:20

Okay.

Katrina: 13:21

And I think I had this expectation that as long as I did the things they wanted, I would be happy. Okay, and in my 30s I think I took the time to actually discover well, wait a minute, maybe that's actually not what I want. I don't want to move back home eventually and you know, have a family and live in Virginia.

Katrina: 13:42

I would prefer to stay in New York and have a family here. Maybe I didn't really want to get married in my 20s and I need to wait until I find the right partner and what it looked like. And maybe I needed a partner who was less traditional and more willing to push me to go get my MBA or willing to push me to start a company and had confidence, and so I think it was really for me, the turning point was in my early 30s, just realizing. I woke up one day, looked in the mirror and thought whose life is this? And I got everything that was supposed to be checkmarked off the boxes to be happy, but I just wasn't happy, okay, and so I think it's a tough realization. I wish there were some choices that I didn't have to make to get there. Yeah, and that's advice I give to people I mentor in their 20s is really thinking through what do you want? But sometimes it's hard. It's easier to go with what other people want because you just make you happy.

Cassandra: 14:41

Exactly, and that's because, probably, they don't really know what they want, so they want somebody to make that decision for them. Like the people, pleaser, you know, like, whatever they say, I want to make sure that they're happy. You know something else you talked about. There was sticky situations in your life that tested you and as a result of that you talked about that's how you turned into the person you are today. So what are some of those sticky situations? Because I'm thinking some of those sticky situations, because I'm thinking some of those sticky situations, maybe some of my listeners situations and, as a result of the situations that they have, perhaps it's going to parlay them into being what it is that they want to do. So what were some of yours?

Katrina: 15:29

It's very true.

Katrina: 15:29

So I, in my late twenties, got into a relationship and got married and realized in my early thirties that I was not married to the person I was supposed to be married to, and it took a lot of courage and it also took a lot of convincing of the people around me to say I really was unhappy and needed to not be in the marriage anymore. And I had a very hard time standing up for that decision. I think now everyone understands and sees it was the right one. But in the moment people are like are you sure you really should stick this out? You know, and I think that was probably one of the stickiest, because it's hard, you have to unwind your whole life and it's very risky, it's very scary to say I'm going from being a weed to back to being just me.

Katrina: 16:23

You're admitting defeat. You're admitting, admitting that you have made a wrong decision. You know that you maybe at the time thought it was the right decision, but now you know, looking back, you're realizing it wasn't yeah, and so it's very difficult and it's hard to lose a lot of friends over it, because you have mutual friends and for me, you know, living up here in New York, you know I didn't really have family. I had a lot of mutual friends and so kind of had to restart my life a little bit and it drove me to do a lot of things that I probably wouldn't have done right. I signed up for an Ironman, I started running, you know, and that created a new sense of community, a new way to make friends.

Katrina: 17:02

Okay, and now I'm so blessed because I met my husband. You know who, who supports me and who pushes me to be better, and so I think there is another side of that. The challenge, and I would tell your listeners, is that when I started to go through the divorce, I was working. A coworker told me in a year, you're going to look back and you're going to feel so different about all of this and you're going to be so proud of yourself.

Katrina: 17:28

And I remember saying that to me and I remember thinking in the moment she's crazy, like this is just the worst I've ever felt and I'm never getting out of this. And now looking back, it's like she was just so, it was so true, right, and she had been there, she had done it, she knew the advice she was offering me was going to kind of fall on deaf ears but that eventually it would come true and I think sometimes people just need to hear that the decision. But sometimes you know, you know in your heart that thing you know better and different out there for you.

Cassandra: 18:00

So it sounds like you had a good circle of friends, what I call a circle of influence. Perhaps that was very helpful for you, and I think that's important to have people so that you surround yourself with individuals like minded, or maybe not so like minded, but would drive you and push you, you know, to to reality or what's best for you or that has your best interest at heart. Yeah, that's interesting, great story. What do you do? How do you define success?

Katrina: 18:55

Oh, such a great question. I've spent a lot of time. There's there's literally whiteboards in my apartment of me deciding, right, what is success and and how do I balance success and happiness? Because, to me, success needs to include happiness. I can't just be driving for you know business revenue at the expense of being able to do the things that I like to do on a daily basis.

Katrina: 19:18

I go to bed at the end of the day and I feel like that day I spent my time on the things that were important to me, which may mean I spent time that day with my niece I picked her up from school. Or it may mean I spent my day on my client work and I, you know, did only client work, or my husband outside with our puppy, you know. So I think to me it means that I spent the day doing what I felt I wanted to do that day.

Katrina: 19:47

And that's successful Mm hmm, which is not always how I viewed success. I used to view success as I need this title and I need this salary and I need this level of recognition. Right Now I'm finding that in my 40s that success is much more around inner feeling right how I feel at the end of the day? Do I feel like I spent my day doing something that was valuable for me?

Cassandra: 20:12

Right, right. So it sounds like your mindset is in a good place, and I believe the mindset is critical. It has a lot to do with everything. You know your perspective and you know, just like, your situation when you got a divorce. It's kind of like I'm going to New York because this is what I want to do. So then after that, I started doing the ironman, I started running and and all of that. Let's talk about mindset a bit. How Now? Where did that? Was it an innate gift you had? Or because it's like you have to work for that mindset? And did you work for that? Or was it just a natural thing for you? Or was it the people in your life that helped that?

Katrina: 21:10

Tell us about that that's a really great question. I think it's a little bit of everything. So my parents, I'm the oldest, so I think there's an element of my personality which is just driven by the fact that I'm the oldest and so I always felt like, um, you know, as my brother and sister would call me, the third parent right there's always that level of responsibility you know, following up on everybody.

Katrina: 21:34

Um, but my parents, we grew up in a house where it was sort of try anything, try anything, try everything right. And so I always felt like I could do anything. I could try anything right. And my dad would teach me to use power tools the same way. He would teach my brother to use power tools the same way he would teach my brother to use power tools. Right, there was no okay, you have to learn how to change a tire on your car, I don't care that you might be not strong enough, figure it out, right. And so I think from an early age there was sort of this mindset of, okay, well, just do it, what's the worst? That's going to happen.

Katrina: 22:10

And then I think, as you grow and you take chances and you take risks right, calculated in my case, because I'm not I'm fairly risk adverse, but I like to take calculated risks. You know, I think it's more around. Once you do something and it becomes successful, it's like a high that you get right. And even if it's even something small for me it was that my friend convinced me to sign up for a half marathon. The whole time I was training, I hated it, it was awful, I didn't like to run. I thought it was the stupidest thing. And then I crossed that finish line and got this high of like when is the next race? And and so oftentimes, as you said, it's surrounding yourself by those people who are going to have the crazy ideas.

Katrina: 22:55

I only did an Ironman because my friend said I'm going to do this triathlon, do you want to do it with me? And I said, well, I don't know how to swim. And she said, well, you can learn. And so I think you have to cultivate the mindset, and even if you have a great mindset, there's always going to be things and challenges, and so you have to spend that time on it. You have to spend that time reconnecting with yourself, whatever that looks like. So for me and I'm not saying every day is a happy day- there are days where you have a down day, that's right.

Katrina: 23:28

You have to know how to reset yourself. And so for me that's going and walking in nature and Prospect Park and, and you know, being able to kind of lose myself in my thoughts of the birds chirping and the trees and it's crazy to say that in New York but I swear we've got a lot of nature but you have to know how to reset yourself and get yourself back to that that sort of mindset, because it takes it does take a lot of work. It's not easy, but I do think it's really the only way to have a truly fulfilling and passionate life where you feel like you're accomplishing your goal Exactly Because it sounds like you're actually living your best life on your terms.

Cassandra: 24:09

I mean, there could be some other things that you're desiring and you really want, but if you really want, but if you really think about it, you've been blessed with a lot of things, and just kind of focus on what you were blessed in and have that gratitude. It's just so, so helpful. It's my understanding that your dad wanted you to be an engineer. Is that correct?

Katrina: 24:29

That is correct, yeah. So when I was young, my dad thought I should be an engineer, I said I thought it sounded boring. I wanted a career that was more fun, which is how I stumbled into media. I originally was going to be a lawyer and in high school the pre-law class was full and I had to take a video production class and it changed the whole trajectory of my career. So, always be open to things. I think, yeah, but now I work very closely with engineers. I'm married to a software engineer.

Katrina: 25:01

So you know my brain does think that way. It's just that I didn't. Yeah, I didn't. I thought at the time and my dad is a software engineer I just thought it seems right.

Cassandra: 25:13

And then you married someone that does it. Isn't that something that's amazing?

Katrina: 25:16

Well, and that was fun during the pandemic because you know we were both stuck in our little apartment working and he goes all you do is talk all day and I'm like all you do is type all day. It sounds great.

Cassandra: 25:28

Yeah, yeah, Wow, that's funny, that is so funny. So now you know tech is huge now, Like the STEM program, and you're right. When I looked at your background, your bio, it's like sort of engineer-ish, you know the things that you're doing. And then for you to want to focus on the nonprofits and empower minority-led organizations, tailored solutions for strategic planning, excellence and all of that kind of stuff. So it's probably and I don't know, I don't think now you can tell me if I'm right, because I'm sure you do a lot of research because of the background that you have, but there are not a lot of women that do what you do. Am I correct?

Katrina: 26:21

Yes, I think women tend to tend to not be in the more technical roles. I think we're seeing more of them, which is great. Yeah, um, my role has often been working with engineering teams and sitting in between the engineering team and the business and being that translation layer. Okay, we're seeing a lot more women get into product roles, which also work very closely with engineering teams, and I do think that the number of women engineers that I'm seeing is growing, which is great and it's a positive sign. It also means that we're going to get better products, because we've got more people thinking different ideas, contributing to the product, which is very exciting.

Katrina: 27:06

But you do not often find folks kind of in my role, which is balancing the people and the technology and the process all together, and I think, because I've also worked in such varied industries and sort of careers, it provides this unique perspective because oftentimes technology is in everything that we do. So nonprofits also are trying to improve their technology. They're trying to understand their membership better, they're trying to get data and analytics around their members so they can increase their impact around their members, so they can increase their impact, and so it's a unique way of taking the technology and helping the technology to service them. That way, they're able to connect with their members Right, and oftentimes I think they're scared. They just want something out of the box.

Katrina: 27:54

They don't want to build something or creating an integration feels difficult, and when you're able to explain it in a way that anyone can understand, you actually can create so much more impact.

Cassandra: 28:06

Interesting. That sounds great Wow.

Katrina: 28:10

Okay.

Cassandra: 28:12

Okay, you work with a lot of teams and what you do is to overcome obstacles and unlock full growth potential. What about? How would you do that with an individual? Is this applicable to an individual? Because my listeners that are listening. They want to optimize their growth, they want to unlock their full potential, they want to optimize what they're doing. How could they do that?

Katrina: 28:45

It's definitely applicable to individuals. Okay, Oftentimes we're just afraid of the change.

Cassandra: 28:51

Okay.

Katrina: 28:52

Right, and so really starting to understand change management, understanding you know the the stages of dealing with change, right? You know the stages of dealing with change, right? It's really about setting a goal and then having someone hold you accountable to that goal Okay, and making sure that the goal you set. So when I signed up for the Ironman and I didn't know how to swim, I didn't even own a bike, but the race was a year away, so it's not like I signed up for it in three months and thought I'm going to figure this out. You have to give yourself the runway. But signing up for that big goal and then creating the plan. So I hired a coach who said, okay, you're going to take some lessons you're going to do. And so oftentimes I think we think we have to do these things on our own when in reality.

Katrina: 29:37

Bringing together a group and a community is the surest way to actually accomplish something and to actually grow, because you need people to say that goal feels realistic, but you, your timeline shouldn't be three months, it should be six months, or that's great. You want to try that, but here's the way that I've done it before and this is how you could be successful. And so really leaning on other people and we tend to want to if I tell other people my goal, they'll know if I don't accomplish it.

Katrina: 30:06

Yeah well, no, but they could actually help you reach it.

Cassandra: 30:09

Yeah, exactly, that's good. That's good. That's why, you know, I wrote my book is titled Is your Way, In your Way. And, and it is because you know, we get comfortable with what we're doing and we're afraid to get out there and do things. And then another thing where your way can be, in your way, you compare yourself to other people, you know. So I can't do it like this, I can't do it like that. But, like you said, you don't do it alone. You find someone. You find a mentor or a coach that can help you through that, which I think is great. And I think about that because, see, my goal was to always write a book, but I was always in my way. So it took me forever to write this book. I started writing it like 10 years ago, but I didn't finish writing it until the COVID, you know. But to find that I was just in my way of doing a lot of things.

Cassandra: 31:14

And you perhaps talked about the lack of confidence. The title of this podcast is Finding the Passion and the Confidence and you found your passion. And then you went back to school to gain the confidence, because you had an accountability partner, who was your husband, to tell you this is what I think you need to go back to school and in turn, that supported the confidence and raised the level. And then the swimming wow, you couldn't swim before. Now look at you. So that's that's. I applaud you for your courage, because you have a lot of courage. I think that's a wonderful um. Has anybody had a significant impact on your and you may have said it on your choices, on your career? Like anybody, anybody's inspired you. Who's your inspiration?

Katrina: 32:11

yeah, that one's always such a tough question because I feel like there are so many sort of different inspirations throughout life. So my mom met my dad when they were in college and got married, had three kids and took 15 years to finish her bachelor's degree and it was always so inspiring because she would go to night school, you know, she would take care of us during the day and then have classes and. But she stuck with it and she knew she wanted to finish and then she went on to get two master's degrees and had a fabulous career, retired from the FBI Academy and and really, you know, contributed and made such an impact on her employees lives and watching that and seeing her empathy and seeing her ability to kind of be to those employees, what she also was to us at home was really incredibly inspirational. What she also was to us at home was really incredibly inspirational.

Katrina: 33:02

And then my very first you know, real boss at the Discovery Channel. Jamie Duemo was an amazing inspiration to me. I mean, she was the person and we've now been friends. We were laughing it's 20 years this year and you know, she went from being my boss to being my friend and to being, you know, someone who I call for everything now, right, not just work related stuff. She's the one who convinced me to do the Ironman. She actually lent me a bike for my first race. So, you know, I think you can find these people in various places. They don't always have to be who you think they are. In fact, you know, when I first met Jamie and she was my boss, I thought, oh, she's my boss, you know. And that relationship developed over time, right.

Katrina: 33:49

And it doesn't immediately necessarily become. And then I've had other people you know recently who have helped me with launching my company. I'm you know. I think it's definitely a challenge, because there's a lot of people in your life who've never run their own company and so they don't understand where you're coming from, and so you know you have to find a new sort of circle to go to with those problems, because your close friends will listen, you know, but they'll say Well, I don't really know what to offer you as advice.

Katrina: 34:18

You know you're doing great, we're so proud of you, and so New York City obviously has so many great communities, and so I found a lot of women's communities for founders and and you know, it's inspiring to be able to hear from people who are maybe six months ahead of you, and then you're able to help people who are maybe six months behind you.

Katrina: 34:38

And so for me it's also that giving back and the kind of like the pulling up. So as you learn you're, you always know 20% more than someone else and you can provide them with that Right, right, that's great, katrina.

Cassandra: 34:53

What could you leave my listeners with? You know, one thing you did say is there's one thing you can do this week is to get on the right path. Right, and there's something about can do before the end of the year. Yeah, what could you share with my listeners that they could do, knowing that they want to start living their best life on their terms. They really want to start living their best life on their terms, and some of them may say, I don't know what my best life is, but a lot of times, it's your goals, it's your dreams, you know aspirations that you want to do. So what advice or what could you tell my listeners Because I believe this conversation to me, was very inspiring you know about, based on the things that you've been through, the things that you're doing, your accomplishments and your future. So what could you tell my listeners?

Katrina: 35:50

So I think, even if all you do between now and, let's say, the end of the quarter right, so the end of June is to think about what your ideal life could look like, right, and just start to write it down. You have to write it down, you can't just think in your head, because if you don't write it down, it's never going to happen. Right, and once you can land on something, maybe you want to write a book, maybe you want to start a podcast, maybe you want to be a guest on a podcast yeah, once you decide what that is, then you can start to build the plan around it and set some timelines and some goals. Maybe you want to run a race, maybe you want to do a 5k? Um, you know, maybe you want to have all your Christmas shopping done by October, like it can be anything, right. But once you set that goal and you write it down, then make the plan to make it happen.

Katrina: 36:40

And I think sometimes we get in our own way because we we don't want to actually take that time and be introspective and think about it. And you know, maybe you want to declutter your house and so start with your kitchen, right? Or, you know, set, set small goals with milestones, and I think that's really the way to start achieving, and then, by the time you get to December, you're going to say, wow, look at everything I ended up accomplishing.

Cassandra: 37:07

Right.

Katrina: 37:08

But if you get stuck in the swirl, you're going to say, oh my God, December so far away and I don't think I'm going to be able to do all you know. Start small what are the things you want to try to do, and then build a plan around it.

Cassandra: 37:18

Wow. Great advice, katrina. Great advice, wow. So, as we wrap up, I would like to let my listeners know that if this podcast today has been a blessing, please share it with your friends. It's also going to be on all podcast platforms and if you need some upbeat, some inspiration, you know, if you want to leave your job and start something new, listen to what Katrina indicated what are some of the things that she did and always know that, as she said, you can't do it by yourself. You need to kind of get out there, get your circle of influence, your community, your tribe or whatever you want to call it. So, katrina, thank you so much. It was my pleasure to have you on this podcast today.

Cassandra: 38:14

Thank you, I really enjoyed it, yeah, and thank you, my listeners and one of the things I say, katrina, I never say bye, I just say bye for now, and God bless you, thank you.