On the twenty-sixth entry of Tristan's Tips, our special guest Tristan Layfield of Layfield Resume Consulting talks about the measures he takes to address workplace conflict. Conflicts with coworkers are inevitable, always uncomfortable, and typically left unresolved, so be sure to utilize the three-step approach he shares! Connect with Tristan on LinkedIn, IG, FB, and Twitter!TRANSCRIPTTristan: What's going on, Living Corporate fam? This is Tristan of Layfield Resume Consulting, and I've teamed up with Living Corporate to bring you all a weekly career tip. This week, we're gonna talk about the steps I take to address workplace conflict. Conflicts with coworkers are inevitable, always uncomfortable, and typically left unresolved. Often times, this has an impact on our desire to show up and our ability to do our job each day. While this is always difficult territory to navigate, I typically take a three-step approach to address conflict head-on at work and to also cover myself. First, assuming the person isn't hostile, try speaking with the person directly in a face-to-face conversation, and if you're not in the same office, then get on the phone. Things can be easily misconstrued over email as there's no way to decipher someone's tone, so try to avoid addressing conflict over email wherever possible. Reaching out to meet or get on the phone is a simple gesture that shows you are invested in resolving this. It also helps ensure they actually are aware of what the issue is. Always follow up the meeting with an email outlining the conversation so anything that you or the other person said isn't misrepresented if you need to take it up the chain. Second, if that doesn't resolve the issue, make your boss aware of it and your attempts to resolve it directly with the person. This conversation can happen during a 1-on-1, or if it's truly a pressing matter, then get on their calendar. Use the email or emails you sent in step one to help shed light on the situation and even forward them to your boss if necessary. One quick note: if the conversation with your boss happens face-to-face or over the phone, be sure to follow it up with an email as well. Third, if your boss doesn't address the issue or the situation persists, then I suggest getting Human Resources involved. Very similar to what you did with your boss, inform them of the steps you've taken to attempt to resolve the issue, provide the documentation, and inform them of the impact of such actions on your ability to do your job. While I know it's difficult to speak up in these situations, it's imperative that we address these situations quickly and advocate for ourselves throughout the process. Just be sure to document every step along the way so when it comes time you have receipts. This tip was brought to you by Tristan of Layfield Resume Consulting. Check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @LayfieldResume, or connect with me, Tristan Layfield, on LinkedIn.

Zach sits down with Nigel Stephens, the director of government relations for Accenture Federal Services, to discuss the mixing of politics and work. Nigel breaks down the real definitions of economics and politics and details his role as the primary liaison with members of Congress and policy makers for AFS.Connect with SCORE on the following platforms: LinkedIn, Twitter, IG, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, iTunesSearch open positions at Accenture.com!Check out Accenture's Inclusion and Diversity Index!Connect with Accenture Federal Services on the following platforms: LinkedIn, TwitterConnect with Accenture on the following platforms: LinkedIn, Twitter, IG, Facebook, YouTubeTRANSCRIPTZach: Nigel, welcome to the show. How are you doing?Nigel: I am doing well. Thank you very much for having me. I appreciate the invitation.Zach: I appreciate you being here. For those of us who don't know you, would you mind sharing a little bit about yourself?Nigel: Well, I'm a bit of a local in the Washington, D.C. area. I was actually born in Jamaica, but my family came here in the '80s. I grew up in Maryland and still reside in Maryland. I'm in Prince George’s County. I've been involved in political campaigns since I was a child. My parents were very active in the community. My mother was a teacher at Montgomery College for decades, and my dad was an entrepreneur. He was an accountant and ran his business out of our basement for a number of years. So he was very active in the community, and that was just a part of my upbringing. So part of this discussion about being in government relations, I've been in government or government relations as a professional for over 20 years.Zach: Wow.Nigel: Yeah, and I--you know, I love politics, and I love the role of government as it plays a role in everyone's life. The negotiations--there's an old saying--the negotiations of and maneuvering of politics dictates almost every aspect of your life, whether you like it or not, from the safety and quality of the food you eat and the air you breathe to the education you receive, to whether or not your favorite sports team gets the stadium or not, you know? Negotiations in politics controls all of that. It determines all of that. When I was a senior in high school, I was blessed enough to get an internship with Senator Ted Kennedy from Massachusetts, the Lion of the Senate, and it was there that I really got an education and learned the real definition of the terms "economics" and "politics," right? Economics is the distribution of scarce resources, and politics is simply the method by which we determine who gets what, when, and how. So once learning that I fell in love with the place, and I have never left Capitol Hill since. I've worked in it, on it, or related to it every way I possibly could since that time.Zach: And you know what? It's that profile, Nigel, why we're so excited to talk to you today, 'cause as you know, we're talking about politics at work, and I'm excited to talk to you today because in a large sense, I mean, really, politics is your work. Can you talk a little bit about your role as Accenture's primary liaison with members of Congress and policy makers? Like, what does that--what does that mean?Nigel: For me, I lead Accenture Federal Services' government relations team. So I am an advocate for all of the work that we do for the federal government as a client. I really like that, 'cause it's my way of giving back while still having a professional career. I mean, when I'm doing--when I'm having conversations with new joiners, I really try to get them to keep things in perspective of what they do, whether you're a technologist, you're a coder, you're a strategist, whatever it is. What is the big picture of what you're doing? I mean, we provide services to clients and help individuals get their student loans processed. Healthcare. You know, all of those types of meaningful things that make a real difference in real people's lives, and my direct role in government relations really falls into four categories. Strategic advisor, facilitator, translator, and educator. So I provide the strategic advice based on what's happening with authorizations and appropriations and funding of programs to my business team so they can provide better service to their clients. A facilitator to try to promote communication and coordination between the private sector and industry and the government. As a translator, I--so I'm not a lawyer. I went to business school, so I was trained in--I went and got an MBA, so I was trained in that. Communicating and translating the thoughts and intents of business to the government, to legislators, and vice versa, and then finally is educator. There's a lot of--any given day, members and their staff are dealing with hundreds of different issues, and they can't be subject matter experts in every single one. So part of my responsibility--I think the largest part of my responsibility is really serving as an educator to those on the Hill about what the art of the possible is, about what's happening in the private sector, about what industry is doing, about what new things are happening in technology and how that innovation can really help them meet their real core goal, which is providing service to citizens.Zach: Nigel, now, you know what I love? Is that you out here just--you casually, casually dropping bombs, right? Right? Like, I got to give you the [Flex bomb sfx]. I got to give you the Flex bomb. It's crazy. I mean, my goodness gracious. Okay, that's dope.Nigel: Did you for real just drop the Funkmaster Flex bomb?Zach: I did. I got a whole soundboard over here, man. I be like [haha sfx], you know? Nigel: [?] You're doing it.Zach: I got all kinds of stuff over here, man, but look, I really appreciate the answer. It leads me to the next question. Now, has there ever been a situation where your own life experience has shaped how you approach a policy discussion? Like, how do you decide when and where you, you know, flex and let people know, "Hey, actually, I know what I'm talking about," versus where you decide to kind of lean back and let things play a little bit.Nigel: Take it to a bigger picture. It's not so much on a specific policy area, but for my life experience, I think the lesson would be to be vigilant about building your skills and have confidence in your abilities. When I was starting out my career, there were your veteran rock star African-American lobbyists, right? Your Vernon Jordans. Your Toni Cook Bushs. Your Ben Johnsons. They were another upper echelon of influence, but there weren't that many at just the general corporate level, right? Even more, there wasn't really a clear path to where I wanted to go, which is at that corporate level. So I had to really build a diverse set of skills. You know, whether it be political management, financial management, an MBA, where do I get the diverse skills that I'm going to need to piece together to be effective in the role that I want to get to, and then have confidence that I'm building the capabilities to bring my best self to the table? Now, applying that to the policy realm, you know, Accenture's about technology and innovation, right? How is tech being used and how can it be leveraged in the federal government, and how can those best practices in the commercial sector be applied in the federal government to help them bring those services to citizens more effectively? And then even more, in our current atmosphere, at a cheaper price. Now, in government they may not always see the vision, right? They may not be on the tip of the spear of innovation, and unfortunately sometimes inertia and, you know, "We've always done it this way," "This is the safest way of doing it," can be the worst enemy to progress, regardless of how much that progress is needed or regardless of the benefits that could occur, right? But we have to be vigilant as policy makers and as a company trying to provide services to the policy makers. You've got to be vigilant about building those skills and capabilities. You know, what's that new--is it AI? Automation? Machine learning? Is it migrating things to the cloud? Is it ERP systems? What are those innovative things that are happening in the commercial sector? Building those skills and capabilities, and then also being confident in that what we're offering to the client is in the best interest of the client.Zach: Man, I love that. And, you know, again, it's almost like--it's almost like, you know, you've been doing this for two decades, Nigel. [both laugh] I would imagine that your role demands a certain level of intellectual [?]. You have to know what you're talking about when you're coming in and you're advocating for the services that Accenture provides, but also at the same time a certain level of emotional and social intelligence in actually--in how you actually engage those topics with your audience. Can you talk a little bit about the role that emotional and social intelligence play practically in your role day-to-day?Nigel: Yeah. There's always the requirement of learning, lifelong learning. You've got to be committed to it, right? I was telling some colleagues the other day that my kitchen table is covered with books that I never felt my kitchen table would be covered with, about AI and coding and automation and those kinds of things, because I have to really understand the subject matter even though we have subject matter experts that will be exponentially smarter in these things than I ever will be, right? They live it, but for me with the emotional and the social intelligence, you know, as a lobbyist, I always try to keep in mind that elected officials and their staff are always primarily focused on outcomes. They're always focused on meeting the needs of the real people that they represent, right? We may not agree on all of the politics, we may not agree on all of the policy, but I have to keep in mind that your whole purpose of being there, working these long hours for the pay that you get, is because you care about the constituents that you're representing and you're really trying to make a difference for them. So keeping that awareness is, you know, essentially keeping things in perspective, even during the most heated policy debate, right? And then essentially a part of my job is--the main requirement is to pay attention to the nuances of government, you know, and the people in the government, and you can't fake that, right? It's not what you necessarily see on television every day, right? That's the upfront, you know, constant barrage of social media and the 24-hour news cycle. There's a lot of nuance [in] those individuals, what they're working on, what they're passionate about, and how you're gonna play a role in all of that, and you really have to pay attention to that.Zach: Expand a little bit about that. When you say, like, the upfront, like, what do you mean by that?Nigel: Well, there's the stuff that you--that professionals report on, right? That's the high-level news that you see, but at any given time when I walk into an office, a member or a staffer is dealing with a number of different personal and professional issues. You have to look at a staffer--when I was on the House side I was working for a congressman from Maryland, Congressman Albert Wynn. My portfolio included environment, health care, education, transportation, small business, and telecommunications, and I was also the staffer for the Minority Business Task Force for the Congressional Black Caucus. Now, at any given time, I was dealing with issues from, you know, building roads on one side, and then that meeting would end, and I would quickly have to transfer over to satellite communication technology, right? That discussion--you have to keep in mind that these are human beings that are working long hours and that their minds are focused on all of these different things, so having that type of--that emotional intelligence for the challenge that they're facing every single day allows you to approach the conversation in a certain way so it's the most effective use of their time and yours and you can actually make a difference.Zach: Nigel, you're a political relationship subject matter expert, so you know the difference between good and bad, quote unquote, politics, right? Can you give us some examples? And I kind of want to--I want to really take your insight and experience in Capitol Hill and talk about office politics a little bit, 'cause I know you've seen it. You've seen it all, right? 'Cause you don't just--you don't just live in Capitol Hill, you also have to go into the office, you have to--you know what I'm saying? Like, you flex between a variety of different environments, right? So can you give us some examples of, like, tacky office politics and things that all employees, but especially employees of color, should avoid?Nigel: Okay. Well, there's an old adage in government relations and lobbying that "there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies, only permanent interests." And instead of "enemies," "permanent opponents, only permanent interests." And you also have to keep in mind "What is your permanent interest, and does getting involved in petty office politics help your movement towards your interest, or is it creating unnecessary risk?" Right? The shorter version of that is "Keep your eyes on the prize." I would strongly recommend--my personal opinion is don't get involved with that, office politics, because the deck chairs are always gonna shift, right? The only consistent thing in life and in business is change, so there are always gonna be people spending a disproportionate amount of their time worrying about those types of things. I try my best to avoid it. I recommend that people try their best to avoid it. Maintain positive and, even more so, positive and strategic relationships, and focus on delivering your best every single day. You do that and then, you know, the other stuff will play itself out, and often times, you know, you're in a steady state, you will find that you will actually progress moving forward in a straight line, in a linear fashion, versus, you know, losing your focus and getting engaged in other things that aren't gonna help you.Zach: So let's shift gears a little bit. You know, you serve on the board of directors of SCORE, a non-profit organization and national partner to the U.S. Small Business Administration dedicated to entrepreneur education and the formation, growth, and success of small business nationwide. What was your reason for engaging in this space? And at the board level, right? There's plenty of things that you could be doing, Nigel, with your time and with your various talents. What was it about this space that got your attention and your passion? Nigel: Well, I have a long history with small business. As I mentioned before, you know, my dad ran his business out of our basement for years, right? So I've seen--I've got a number of family members that are entrepreneurs and small business owners, and so I've witnessed first-hand the impact small businesses have, not only on a household but on a community in general, right? The positive impact that that can have. I said before, when I was on the Hill, on the House side, the first time I was the staffer for the Minority Business Task Force for the Congressional Black Caucus. When I sent to the Senate to work for Senator Carey on the Senate Small Business Committee, you know, I was working on policy issues that would promote and advance the cause of small businesses and entrepreneurs, and SCORE was one of those organizations that I worked very closely with as a Hill staffer. And then when I got the opportunity to join the board I jumped at it. I mean, these organizations--this is an organization of 11,000 volunteers that are former executives. So these are retired corporate executives and former entrepreneurs themselves who are willing to share their wisdom FOR FREE. Let's say that again. FOR FREE.Zach: For free.Nigel: For free. So if anyone is listening, and you're running a business now or you're interested in starting a business and being an entrepreneur, I strongly encourage you to reach out to SCORE. [straight up sfx] I strongly encourage it. It is a wonderful opportunity. But at the board level, I think I get an opportunity to really provide strategic advice and guide the organization in a way that I can make a difference. The decisions I'm making now and the input that I'm providing now is gonna lead the organization into the future 10, 20 years from now, right? So what are they doing with regards to investments in the organization and building it out, and what are they doing with regards to reaching out to diverse communities and reaching out to the new generation of entrepreneurs, which may be your millennial-aged individuals. What does that mean? What does that mean for women and minorities who are disproportionately creating new businesses faster than other communities? Like, how are we serving all of those communities in such a way that it's really making a difference? And these guys are serving everyone from Mom and Pop sandwich shops all the way up to your innovative technology companies. So how can we help--how can I help play a role in that organization doing its best to reach all communities?Zach: Well, that's incredible. You know, what I think is really powerful about you being in that position is, as we know, there are systemic and structural challenges that come with economic self-empowerment and advancement and really participating on these stages--and when I say we I mean, like, black and brown folks in these spaces--so you having that insight and giving your point of view in how--not just your point of view, but your strategic wisdom I believe is very much so invaluable, so that's powerful. Because a lot of this stuff, like, we don't really know--a lot of us don't really know where to start, right? It's not--it isn't, you know, your grandfather's space anymore, you know? It's more complex. There are different hurdles to jump and spaces to navigate. So that's really incredible. This has been an amazing conversation. Before we let you go--Nigel: Thank you.Zach: Yeah, nah. Hey, I appreciate you. Before we let you go, any parting words or shout-outs?Nigel: Well, I just want to thank you very much for having me. I really appreciate the invitation, and I appreciate the opportunity to have this conversation. It's really made me think about, you know, the context of what I do and what--there are a number of others in the Washington, D.C. metro area that are making a real difference in the lives of individuals and really in what governments are doing and what industry is doing and what our overall community is doing. So I thank you for the platform. I really appreciate the invitation, and I look forward to having many more conversations.Zach: I look forward to it too, Nigel. Man, look, we definitely consider you a friend of the show. We can't wait to have you back. Now, look, Nigel, I don't know how much of the Living Corporate podcast you've listened to, but every now and then we've got to drop some air horns, okay? So I gotta put 'em in here right... here. [air horns sfx]Nigel: There we go.Zach: I'm saying. I just got to it. And I hope it's not culturally insensitive. I recognize [you/your family are] from Jamaica. I love air horns.Nigel: I love it.Zach: All right, cool. [laughs]Nigel: I love it. [laughs]Zach: Well, all right. Nigel, 'til next time, we'll catch up, man. I appreciate you. Nigel: Thank you very much. Have a great day.Zach: Peace.

Zach welcomes career designer, speaker, career coach and business coach Latesha Byrd of Byrd Career Consulting to the podcast, and they announce a new weekly show called The Link Up with Latesha! She'll be sharing real deal advice on how to level up professionally in your career every Saturday, so don't forget to check back on the weekend!Find out more about Latesha on the BCC website or connect with her through her socials! LinkedIn, IG, Twitter, FBCheck out Latesha's YouTube channel!BCC's socials: LinkedIn, IG, Twitter, FBRead the Flexin' In My Complexion story!TRANSCRIPTZach: What's up, y'all? It's Zach with Living Corporate, and look, this is when I typically say "You know how we do," I say something like, "You know what we got going on. So excited to have y'all today," "Ah, ah, ah," "Yearp." I do something, right? But, you know, I'ma keep it a bean with y'all. I'ma have a whole bunch of sound effects. We're gonna have a great time. This is a random Saturday podcast. We don't drop episodes on Saturdays. So we want y'all to have a good time with us, you know what I mean? So we're gonna have a good time. I've got the soundboard, you know, and of course who would I be--that's right, you know it's coming--if I didn't have a special guest? Today we have the one and the only L.B., A.K.A. your favorite coach's favorite coach, A.K.A. I've been on TV a few times, A.K.A. I do this full-time, A.K.A. I have my own podcast setup, I don't really need nobody's help, A.K.A. Ms. Independent, A.K.A. Latesha Byrd.  Latesha: What's up, Zach?Zach: What's up, Latesha? How are you doing today? Welcome to the show. Latesha: I'm doing well.Zach: Oh, my goodness. Well, look, you know, I gave a little quick intro, but for those of us who don't know you, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?Latesha: Yeah. So my name is Latesha Byrd. I am a career designer, speaker, career coach, business coach, but I like to call myself a career designer because what I'm passionate about is helping my clients design lives that will allow them to show up in their best and truest and fullest selves at work and beyond, so--yes. Yes, yes. So I started a company, Byrd Career Consulting. It is a consulting agency focused on professional development resources for professionals that are in the corporate space. So we provide resume writing, LinkedIn writing, interview coaching, salary negotiation, strategy sessions, but most importantly career coaching. So I provide career coaching to professionals of color that helps them to just level up professionally. What I'm passionate about is making sure that everyone is happy at work, that they are fulfilled, but not only that but they're able to, like I said, bring their truest selves--show up as their fullest self to work, get paid, and be able to live the life that not only they want, but the life that they deserve. So I am extremely intentional with helping my clients through self-discovery, career empowerment, and then also personal development. I started my company about four years ago. We work with over 800 professionals in a variety of industries. Some of my clients have landed at some pretty great companies such as LinkedIn, Google, Amazon, Deloitte. Just a few to name, and I've had clients that have even gotten over $60,000 salary increases. So before--yes, cha-ching--so before I started my company I worked in recruiting, and I managed recruiting for a public accounting firm headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, where I'm at. Shout-out to QC. Zach: Shout-out to QC.Latesha: Yes. And as a recruiter, I manage recruiting for about five offices up and down the East Coast, making sure that the companies had innovative recruiting strategies, that they were out getting top talent. I worked directly with leadership as well on a lot of diversity and inclusion initiatives. And as a recruiter, I realize that there is a huge disconnect--there is a huge disconnect between top talent looking for good for jobs, and also good companies that are having issues that--that they claim they were having issues with finding top talent. We've all heard where companies or recruiters will say they can't find good talent, specifically good diverse talent, right? Which we all know is not true, and so I said, "You know what? Why do I meet so many professionals with great skill sets, with great work experience, that are just dope, and they're having issues with getting connected or getting their foot in the door with these companies? Why are companies complaining about not being able to find good talent?" So I started my company really as a way to bridge the gap between those dope professionals with these companies that were claiming that they had a hard time with finding good talent. So that's pretty much me in a nutshell.Zach: I love that. And, you know, what I'm hearing is you're doing a little bit of everything, right?Latesha: Just a little bit. [laughs]Zach: Just a little bit, you know what I'm saying? And it's interesting, 'cause a lot of us, we think, you know, "I'ma quit this job," and, you know, "I'ma do this," "I'ma do that." You know, "I'ma get what I need to get," without any type of help, and, you know, meanwhile--you're seeing all this in your resume and your online brand, you know, they're looking back at you like [haha sfx], right? Like, you need some help, okay? Like, you need to figure out how you're really gonna get all of this together, and that's where, you know what I'm saying, Latesha--where you come in.Latesha: Yeah, that's right. I meet a lot, a lot of talented people, and when they're telling me about their experience and when I look at their resume I'll just be like, "Hold on, now. Hold on, Holiday." Like, "You're leaving out so much great experience." A lot of times--this is what I've realized, is that we are taught that we should not brag, we shouldn't boast, we shouldn't really talk about what it is that we bring to the table, but when it comes to going after these jobs and getting these coins, you have to make sure that you're really setting yourself up for success and, with that being said, investing that--investing back into yourself, because that's gonna pay off dividends in the future. So you're right. It is important to have some assistance as you are looking to level up professionally, whether it's a career coach, whether it's a resume writer, or whether it's investing your time, you know, and listening to podcasts such as Living Corporate. Shameless plug.Zach: [straight up sfx] You're absolutely right, and, you know, it's a really good point, because a lot of us I think--and we talked about this a few different times over through various guests and topics around the idea that, like, you know, sometimes we think if we get an education, we get an extra degree, then people are gonna look at our resume and go, "Oh, he has XYZ, or she has XYZ in this subject field. We're gonna automatically hire them." That's just not the way it works. Latesha: Not at all.Zach: Right? Meanwhile, we're spending, like, all this time and money and energy getting all of these certifications, but we're not--we're not telling our story well, right? We're not telling our story well. We're upset. We're looking over at our job market like [what more do you want from me sfx], you know? And I-- [both laugh] But yeah, no, you're absolutely right that, like, it's more than a degree, right? And it's more than just having it. You have to figure out a way to present yourself.Latesha: Right, right. And you have to. You have to figure out a way to present yourself and position yourself in a way, whether it is in person or online, and be able to speak to what it is that you bring to the table in a way that will resonate with recruiters, hiring managers, or just your network in general. One thing that I tell my clients all of the time is that people hire people, so if your job search strategy is just about applying to job after job after job, you're not doing enough. You've got to get from behind the computer and really build your network and actually reach out to people. The best way to get a job--well, I won't say the best way. The quickest way, or the most popular way, that positions are filled is first through employee referrals. All day. So if I decide I want to go work at a company like Google, I need to get connected with some people that work at Google, and that might take you not just applying online and praying that, you know, they find your resume in the stack of 300, but actually reaching out to people that work at that company. So when it comes to my coaching, I always, always, always first ask my clients to be able to, like you said, tell your story. Being able to tell your--what I call your career--figure out what your career brand identity is, and how do you communicate that? And then once you figure that out and you get that confidence in who you are and what you bring to the table, that will then allow you to actually be able to reach out to those or build relationships with those or go a little extra mile to get into those positions that you are truly interested in, and that you deserve too.Zach: [Flex bomb sfx] Dropping bombs, yo. Listen, y'all, real Flex bombs are not the ones that are multi-syllabic, you know what I'm saying? Got you looking like Michael Eric Dyson. Real Flex bombs come from real talk. Latesha, thank you so much. Big facts all around for your head top, as it were. Okay, so, you know, you and I have been chopping it up, having a good time, whatever, you know what I'm saying? You're talking about what you got going on, but, like, what--and yes, what you're talking about is all facts of course, Flex bomb worthy, all of that. You know, whatever whatever, [but] it's a Saturday though [and] we're dropping this podcast. Like, what's going on? I feel like you got some news for me. I feel like I got some news for our listeners. Like, let's get to it. What's the deal? Why don't you tell 'em?Latesha: So I will be launching a segment on Living Corporate called The Link Up with Latesha, where [air horns sfx]--aye. Where I'll be sharing some real deal advice to all of the listeners on how to level up professionally for your career.Zach: Yes! Now, look here, what are we talking about on The Link Up with Latesha? Like, what, like--like, what's the format? What's going on?Latesha: So it's gonna be really a variety of things, and this is gonna be coming from a career coach and a former recruiter's perspective on how to get through the job search process, how to find your personal value--I don't want to say how to find it, but how to identify it, how to go after your dreams, how to really think about the life--how to think about the life that it is that you want to live and how to actually go out and get that, but from a recruiter's perspective, I'm gonna be sharing a lot of things that I've seen job seekers do wrong, not just from applying to interviewing to negotiating salary, but also for new employees. When you're starting your career, how do you show up to become a high performer? But I'm gonna be bringing, you know, kind of my own style to it. I'm very, very direct. I'm real all day long. I don't know how to sugarcoat, so I'm just gonna give it to you straight.Zach: I love it. So look here, this is what Latesha is really saying. Latesha's got the inside scoop. She knows what she's talking about. She knows what these businesses want, and also as a consultant she knows what these businesses need to be doing, so you're getting the best of both worlds, you know what I'm saying? She's gonna help you take your brand from [who? sfx] to [Kawhi "what it do baby?" sfx], you feel me? Like, she's gonna take you from, you know, one side to the other. Latesha: Right.Zach: And I love that. I'm so thankful to have you on the show, have you a part of our team, have you a part of this--have you a part of this platform, and, you know, y'all need to make sure y'all pay attention on Saturdays. Every Saturday, the crack of dawn, it's gonna be the show. It's gonna be Latesha. Y'all are gonna be checking her out, okay? So every Saturday be sure to check out--Latesha: I said every Saturday. And Zach, can I just share, like, some of the topics I'm gonna be talking about?Zach: Oh, absolutely. Do your thing.Latesha: Yes, yes, yes. So just a few things I want to talk about is "That's Not My Job, how to set boundaries at work, how to love your job when you actually hate it, how to play the playing field--like, why you should be looking for a job even if you're happy, how to keep your stamina up while job searching, [and] how one of my clients actually got a new job in three months, and she only applied to 12 jobs. So these are some of the things that I want to talk about. What to do if a recruiter ghosts you, 'cause that's a common thing, right? Ghosting is real, not just in the dating life but also in the professional life.Zach: That's facts.Latesha: And what to do if your company isn't taking your desire for growth seriously. Like, I had a friend that said she had a meeting with her boss and basically asked "What does my future look like here at this company?" And the boss said, "Oh, just keep doing the same thing." Needless to say, she is no longer with that company, but, you know, this is gonna be about career empowerment, career growth. Like I said, really leveling up self-discovery, just finding who you are, being true in that, going after what it is that you truly deserve. So that's, you know, a little bit about what I will be talking about on The Link Up.Zach: All right, y'all. Y'all heard it here first. We got a new show. Just to recap, we got a new show hosted by Latesha Byrd, career coach, former recruiter and D&I extraordinaire, okay? Resume writer, branding/personal branding extraordinaire. That's right.Latesha: All the things.Zach: You know what I'm saying? All the things. She's flexing in her complexion and on y'all and on me.Latesha: Ooh, I like that. Flexing in my complexion. Did you just make that up?Zach: No, no, we got--that's a whole business. You know, you got the black girl--in fact, y'all, look in the show notes. We're gonna have the story about the woman--the young girl rather, excuse me--who made a whole fashion company with the phrase "flexing in my complexion." It's very cute, very great, and empowering to our mocha sisters out there and to all of our black and brown women out there. Anyway, thank y'all for listening to the Living Corporate podcast. Make sure you check us out. The only way you're gonna be able to check out the Living Corporate podcast--excuse me, the only way you're gonna be able to check out The Link Up with Latesha is on the Living Corporate podcast, so make sure you follow us on Twitter @LivingCorp_Pod, on Instagram @LivingCorporate, and really just anywhere that podcasts are--if you just Google Living Corporate, you know what I'm saying, we're popping up, okay? We out here. We out here, okay? We in that--Latesha: We outchea.Zach: We in that--we outchea. We in that SEO like [Cardi "blat blat blat brrr" sfx], okay? We letting everybody--we hitting everybody, okay? We're on every podcasting platform.Latesha: Errbody.Zach: Errbody, okay? And yeah. So look, we got the domains, okay? So you go online, livingcorporate.co, livingcorporate.org, livingcorporate.net, livingcorporate.tv, okay? Livingcorporate.--we've just got all the livingcorporates except livingcorporate.com, 'cause Australia just--they're not letting it go. Australia, we love y'all. One day we're gonna have enough flex to actually come and get that domain. One day. I don't know, maybe.Latesha: No, no, no. Like, legit going to Australia.Zach: But go to there though? Yes, we're gonna go to Australia.Latesha: We're gonna pull up.Zach: We're gonna pull up, you know what I'm saying? But yeah, so we out here is my point. Latesha out here. You know, she's--she and I got this new thing going on, so I'm trying to give her something. She's giving me something. We're kind of doing, like, this give and go thing. It's really fun, even at the end of the show. So what else we got going on? Oh, yeah. Make sure--Latesha: [inaudible] shout-outs.Zach: Oh, yeah, we do got shout-outs! That's right. Okay, so--'cause I'm trying to do this new thing, right? Like, every now and then. Like, not every episode, but I just want to give a shout-out to those people that listen to the show and, you know, people being in the Living Corporate DMs talking about, "Keep doing what you're doing." People hit us up on LinkedIn. People talking about, "You know, we just love what you got going on." So shout-out to the engineers and the accountants and all the STEM folks. Shout-outs to my people out in the DMV. Shout-out to our top five demographics. So we're seeing you New York, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, you know what I'm saying? Dallas. We appreciate y'all, you know? Shout-out to the West Coast. You know, we're not really popping out there like we want to so, you know, somebody out there come on--like, the tech people, y'all show us some love, man. You know, we be out here. We be making moves, you know what I'm saying? We're not--you know, I'm not drinking kombucha every day. It's not--you know, it kind of unsettles my stomach, but I like it, you know? So, like, give us some love.Latesha: It's good.Zach: It's delicious actually. It's just--it just doesn't sit well with me. Anyway, shout-out to all of our hustlers and entrepreneurs. Shout-out to our creatives, you know what I mean? Shout-out to my college students. Shout-out to the Gen Z'ers, you know what I mean? Latesha: [?].Zach: Uh-huh. Shout-out to the Buckys, you know what I'm saying? The White Wolves. The allies, okay? For those who don't know Marvel, like, you know what I'm saying, like, the folks out there who are not as melanin-rich as some of us but still care and empathize, you know what I'm saying, with the black and brown people and [?].Latesha: We love our allies.Zach: We love our allies, you know what I'm saying? Where would we be without allies, okay? We're a minority. We need people. We need help, okay? We need help. Help me, you know what I'm saying? Like, you gotta--we need it, so shout-out to y'all. Shout-out to, you know what I'm saying, the older white people, you know, who listen to the show, you know, trying to figure out just what's going on. Maybe they got a little nervous, they wanted to check it out. Shout-out to my coworkers. If y'all are listening to this right now, shout-out to y'all. I appreciate y'all. And shout-out to the people that give us 5 stars, you know? Shout-out to the educators. Who else am I missing? Who am I missing, Latesha?Latesha: I think you said entrepreneurs, but side hustlers. Like, those that have a 9-to-5 and a 5-to-9. We see you. I was there. I know how it is. And then--so shout-out to them.Zach: Yeah, shout-out to y'all, man, and shout-out--you know, just shout-out to all the listeners. We appreciate y'all, excited for y'all to venture with us on this new leg of our journey, and we'll catch y'all next time. Until next time, this has been Zach.Latesha: And Latesha.Zach: And you've been listening to Living Corporate, and make sure y'all come back and check us out on--now we've got--my goodness, we've got episodes on Tuesdays, we've got episodes on Fridays (editor's note: Thursdays), and now we're gonna have episodes on Saturdays because we've got the new show, The Link Up with Latesha. Aye. Catch y'all next time. Peace.

On the twenty-fifth installment of Tristan's Tips, our special guest Tristan Layfield suggests keeping an underutilized gem - a career journal. It can be an effective tool if you struggle to update your resume/LinkedIn profile or feel like you have nothing to write when you have to do your self-assessment for your performance reviews.Connect with Tristan on LinkedIn, IG, FB, and Twitter!TRANSCRIPTTristan: Hey, Living Corporate fam. This is Tristan of Layfield Resume Consulting, and I've teamed up with Living Corporate to bring you all a weekly career tip. This week we're gonna talk about an underutilized gem - a career journal. Do you struggle to update your resume or LinkedIn profile? Have you thought about negotiating your salary but wasn't sure how you would make the case? Do you ever feel like you have nothing to write when you have to do your self-assessment for your performance reviews? Well, if you answered yes to any of those questions, you are not alone. In working with clients, one of the things I've realized is that it's incredibly difficult for us to remember our accomplishments we've had throughout our career. During my intake calls, quite a few of my clients struggle because they've been in their jobs so long that the wins start to blend in with the day-to-day. One way to combat that is to keep a career journal. Each time you have a win, you write it in there. When you get pulled into projects, you write those in there and what your role was. If you're measured against any metrics or receive stats based on your performance, write them in there too. This journal can be physical or virtual, whatever works for you. You just want to make sure that you're documenting wins, both big and small, projects you've worked on, departments you've worked with, any goals you've achieved, and any other thing you think is valuable. If the journal is physical I would suggest some type of bound notebook, and if it's virtual I would suggest keeping everything in the same file. This ensures that you're keeping the information in one place for easy reference. Think about how all of that information will come in handy in situations where you need to sell yourself, whether that be your performance review, negotiating your salary, or even just updating your LinkedIn profile and resume. Having a career journal will make it that much easier to be your own biggest advocate in your career. This tip was brought to you by Tristan of Layfield Resume Consulting. Check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @LayfieldResume, or connect with me, Tristan Layfield, on LinkedIn.

Zach sits down with Nap Bar founder Khaliah Guillory to discuss the concept of being well-rested at work. They also talk about the genesis of the Nap Bar and the workforce of the future. Additionally, Khaliah shares a few interesting statistics relating to the topic.Check out the Nap Bar! Connect with them on their socials here: LinkedIn, Twitter, IG, FacebookConnect with Khaliah on a variety of platforms! LinkedIn, Twitter, IG, FacebookRead the WSJ article mentioned on the show!TRANSCRIPTZach: What's up, y'all? It's Zach with Living Corporate. Now, look, check it out. Y'all know how we do, okay? We have real talk in a corporate world. We try to center the experiences of black and brown voices and identities in the workplace, and we do that by talking about evergreen topics, but we just want to make sure that we're talking about them from a non-white point of view. So that's where you got me, you got Ade, and of course you have our guests, and who would we be if we didn't have a great guest today like we always do? Khaliah Guillory. Khaliah, welcome to the show. How are you doing?Khaliah: Yo. What's going on, Zach? Thank you so much for having me on. I'm absolutely honored to be here with the Living Corporate crew. Thank you for the invite.Zach: Oh, no, no, no. Thank you. Thank you very much. Now, look, for those of us who don't know you, would you mind telling us a little bit about yourself?Khaliah: Sure. So I am a lover of humanity. Love me some people. I love to connect with people. I love '80s music. I have it on rotation, in the catalog, on a regular basis. I am absolutely obsessed with sunglasses, watches, and socks. If I could get away with just wearing that all day, especially in Houston in the middle of summer, I would. Zach: Wait a minute. Hold up now. [sound effect]Khaliah: Oh, we're gonna have so much fun. And I--you know, that's what I do, and I always like to lead with who I am from a personality standpoint. And the meaning of my name means Chosen One, because that ties into what I do. I think sometimes and often times we get caught up into what we do and we think that's who we are, but if we don't lead with who we are, then how can we really be able to connect the dots to understand what we do? So, like, I mentioned my name is Khaliah Oni Guillory, and that means "The Chosen One," and I have chosen to transition from a C-level executive position at a Fortune 500 company as of November 18th of 2018 to really solve the 411 billion--yeah, I said a b--billion dollar U.S. economic loss that the U.S. suffered due to sleep deprivation. Zach, just guess how many days that was. If you equated--I know you've got a consultant brain, so if you can quantify how many days--working days that is--how many would you guess it was?Zach: You said 400 billion?Khaliah: Uh-huh, with a b.Zach: Hours?Khaliah: Days.Zach: Days.Khaliah: How many days?Zach: I don't know. Like, maybe 7--500. 700. 700's my final answer.Khaliah: Try 1.2 million. 1.2 million days Americans called off because they were tired and they were sleep deprivedZach: Now, look here, y'all, I don't want y'all judging me for that terrible math, okay? I'm a change management consultant. I have Excel and other tools to help do the math for me, and--Khaliah: You've gotta use your tools. You've gotta use your tools.Zach: You know, 'cause you asked me on the spot. I kind of halfway understood the question. I'm excited. You know, I've got all the energy around me. Y'all don't be judging me. Sound Man, keep this in. Don't this edit either. I want y'all to see me in my--you know what I'm saying, my vulnerability, okay?Khaliah: Listen, that's what it's about, man. That's what it's about, but look, you jumped out there. You were close.Zach: I was not at all close. I said 700, and I didn't understand the question. You looking at me talking about [sound effect]. I'm like--you said 1.3 milly.Khaliah: 1.2. Zach: Oh, my goodness. And see, I'm wrong again. But anyway--Khaliah: It was probably 700 in a small town like Sugarland. Boom. See? See how we just changed the narrative? You've just gotta change that narrative.Zach: Okay. So okay, look, all the jokes aside, give us the stat again. Give us the stat again.Khaliah: $411 billion is the total amount the U.S. suffered due to sleep deprivation for economic loss. So from an economic loss, the U.S. lost $411 billion due to sleep deprivation, and that equated to 1.2 million working days that Americans called off because they were tired. Zach: Wow.Khaliah: So we can peel the onion back a little bit more. I'm doing the air quotes. Remember when it was "on trend" to take mental health days? And it probably still is. I was one of those people that took--I said, "Man, this is smart. Once a month [?], and it's a mental health day, and I'ma do whatever I want to do, and basically what that meant is that I slept all day because I was exhausted. I was working 80 hours a week, and that was the one day of the month that I gave myself permission to actually rest, which is the craziest thing in the world because we should be able to rest every single day.Zach: Absolutely. And so--so then let's talk about that. So that's your passion, right, and I think it's a really--just a really good segue into our topic for the day, right? Our topic is wellness, and specifically this time the topic is around the concept of being well-rested. And considering your passion and the research that you've done around the lack of restfulness that we have in American culture, you know, what have you been doing with that passion? I know you haven't just been crunching numbers. Like, what have you done? Like, what's the--what's been the output of you doing this research? And, like, what are you--you talked about the fact that you're passionate about solving this problem. What are you doing to solve it?Khaliah: Yeah, man. So it's this thing called Nap Bar. It's the first white-glove napping experience in Texas that offers on-site and in-suite napping services for communities that we serve. And so this really came about April of last year. The wife and I were both--she's still in corporate, but I was in corporate at the time, and we both had and still have side hustles. I changed my side hustle to my main hustle. She still has a side hustle, but if we can, we would carpool into the city, and this particular day we had about an hour and a half to kill between our meetings, and I looked at her and I was like, "Man, this is my nap time," because I'm an avid napper. I nap in my car on a regular basis, and my nap was kind of--it was gonna be a little strange. So she looked at me and was like, "Why don't you Google "naps in Houston?" It's Houston. There's got to be a place where you can pop in and take a nap." I was like, "You know what? You're right. That's dope. I'm sure there's a place." A two-minute-later search? Zero. Zilch. Nada. And I looked at her, like, in disbelief, like, "How is it this is the fourth-largest country in the world, and we're the most innovative--one of the most innovative cities--" I said countries. "The fourth-largest city in the country, and we're one of the most innovative cities, hence we've got this Innovation Corridor that's being curated, but yeah, we don't have a place for people to rest? Wow." And she looked at me and was like, "Well, why don't you create it?" And I was like, "Yeah, okay." So the next day I go to Facebook, 'cause that's what you do. You go to Facebook and you ask your friends. I created a poll and I was like, "Yo, how many people out there napping during the day? Like, in your car or in an unused conference room or, heck, in, like, the--just wherever you can find some peace and quiet," and 99% of my friends, who are a hodgepodge of professionals, entrepreneurs, stay-at-home parents, these cats admitted to napping at work.Zach: Oh, yeah. At work?Khaliah: At work, and I was like, "Boy, they're savages." The savagery is real. So then I was like, "Okay, that's just my scope," right? "That's my lens." So then I started doing more research, and I tell you, Zach, I just kept going and going and going, and I found [?] sleep. There's a sleep foundation that does a ton of research of sleep, and 52% of Americans surveyed--like, 10,000 cats were surveyed last year, and they admitted--52% of them admitted to napping at work. Now, imagine how many people who were napping, but they just was like--Zach: Oh, yeah. You know they're lying.Khaliah: "Yeah, I'm not admitting this. They're gonna find out and they're gonna come get me and fire me." Like, imagine. So then I just continued to do my research, and then I stumbled upon--the CDC had a stat out there talking about, you know, driving drowsy is equivalent to driving under the influence. So I just kept going and going and going. I was like, "Okay, clearly I'm not just solving a problem. I'm solving the root of a problem with Nap Bar."Zach: You are, and you know what? You know, it's wild because, like you said, there's a stigma against, like, even talking about the fact that you might be sleepy, right? You know, you're over here thinking like--you know what I'm saying? You don't want them--you know, you turn around, [and] you slip out in a moment of weakness that you--you know, you might take a nap from time to time, and then you've got the [sound effect]. You know, they're coming for you. And it's just--it's wild though, because I also think really honestly--like, shout-out to you, because really believe it or not--and I'm sure you already know this--like, you're actually pushing against, like, the capitalistic, like, culture and, like, foundation that we work on, because part of just this work-centric culture that we have is just pushing your body until you break, right? Like--Khaliah: Yeah. And you know what's odd about that? Like, this is Living Corporate, so I'm sure people will get this line I'm about to say, but it combats everything--the fabric of people's culture, corporations' culture that they say that they do, and I'll give you an example. Corporate social responsibilities. How many--if you Google that word, and you Google--or you do a Ctrl+F and find how many times they put "people-centric approach" and how their employees mean the world to them, but if they really adopted a people-centric approach, well, then why are people being criticized for taking PTO? And why are people getting down to the last week of the year and they have a whole month of vacation that's unused and they're gonna end up losing it because they can't roll over but 10 days to the next year? Like, if we really, truly took a step back in our culture as a whole, as a society, then why aren't we pushing the envelope back on that? And that's exactly what I'm out to do. I'm out to be that little voice that's gonna be loud and obnoxious and ferocious so that we can pivot and transition into a true, true-true-true holistic approach to the meaning of living. There shouldn't be a reason why I don't enjoy going into work, and there shouldn't be a reason why studies show that the first four hours of Mondays are the most unproductive, because people have the Sunday blues. They think about what they have to do on Monday and then they check out, [then?] they end up staying out too much late on Sunday Funday.Zach: There was an article that just released on The Wall Street Journal about that that said, like, Sundays are the new Mondays, right? It's, like, basically the anxiety of--we'll make sure to put that in the show notes too, but, like, the anxiety of your work week, it, like, bleeds over into your Sunday to the point where you can't even enjoy Sunday anymore. And I'll just be transparent that, like, typically for me Sundays are like--are really like a mini-work day, 'cause I'm prepping for the week, right?Khaliah: Yeah, right, and that shouldn't be the case. You should be able to--you should be able to prep for your work week while you're at work. And I get it, we gotta get ahead and we have to do what we need to do, but it would be so much sweeter if you were prepping on a Sunday for your work week but if you knew on Monday you would be able to get that time back because your employee, or your employer I should say, included in your employees benefit package a health and wellness that includes a nap every single day for 26 minutes, and it's up to you to decide if you want it or not.Zach: Straight up. You're absolutely right, and it's so funny, right? Because, you know, companies are--companies right now, like, if you notice, like, in the conversation of work-life balance--and this has been--like, this discussion has been happening for, I don't know, like, the past six or seven years, but it's, like, transitioning from work-life balance to, like, work-life blend or work-life optimization or work-life harmony, and, like, really what they're trying to do is, like, just have your life be more and more just about work, right? Like, you're having a good time, but you're working. Like, "Hey, we want you to have a good time as you--you know, as you work." [both laugh] You know, "We want you to take care of your family and, you know, shoot, go on vacation, you know? [?]"Khaliah: Yeah, but, like--but even think about that too, Zach. Like, I remember going on vacation, and going on vacation for a week was, like, death the next week when you got back to work because you had--you're in email jail. You can't even send any emails because your mailbox is full, and then you don't even want to consider checking your voicemail because you're already getting those stomach-aches thinking about all that you are so behind on. Now you're regretting taking your vacation, which you earned. Like, we've got to reposition and reverse engineer our thought process around how we work. Like, there's a thing called intentional work, and there's some innovative companies that are doing it just right now. You know, you've got the Googles of the world that have napping pods. You've got Ariana Huffington, who nearly died because she passed out and hit her--like, passed out and hit her head on her desk due to sleep deprivation. So you have these advocates, but then we're still so far behind the 8-ball on how do we really truly pivot. And then, you know, it's funny because I had a call, a conference call, with a Fortune 5 company before this call, and I was telling them like, "Hey, we've got to get Nap Bar on site." I've got this calculation I walked them through, and it showed that annualized nationwide, based on 3,300 employees, they are losing $16.5 million of unproductive loss of work per employee. So that's the total roll-up per employee. That's how I got that number. And they're sitting here saying, "Well, I don't know how we can afford to get the nap [zone?]." I'm like, "Did you not just hear me?"Zach: Nah, you can't afford not to have these nap [zones?]. And wait a minute. And you said--hold on, now, 'cause you're not gonna just slide past that. You said you were on a phone call before this interview with a Fortune 500 company?Khaliah: I mean, listen, I'm out here taking my shots, man. I'm out here taking my shots.Zach: I see you.Khaliah: I'm out here taking my shots. 'Cause, you know, you get this. It's just--it's just basic math. I just need one person to say yes, you know, and then my demand is gonna outpace my supply, and then I can add another zero, and then another zero, and then another zero.Zach: I'm saying. Listen, I'm right there with you, okay? You're preaching to the choir. I just wanted to make sure that the people heard what you said, 'cause I heard you, okay? [both laugh] Okay, okay, okay. So check this out. We've been talking around this a bit, right, but, like, workplace pressure, like, it's real for everybody, and it's even more real for people in America and of course abroad who are in an ethnic minority and may be battling impostor syndrome, even harder than those who feel the need to prove themselves. And to be clear, like, I'm them. I'm people. But the reality is if you're not getting rest, you won't be good to anybody. So even if--so let's just say this, right? So, like, even if taking a nap is not immediately possible for some of the folks who are listening to this podcast episode right now, what advice would you give to professionals of color to practice restfulness in those 10- or 11-hour work days?Khaliah: You know, I think the biggest piece is we have to be the change that we want to see in the workplace. So it's vocalizing, being an advocate for rest in the workplace. There is a ton of research. People can hit me up. They can email me. I will gladly send over what I've collected. I'm in the middle of a business case with another company here in Houston that's gonna really result some telling data. It's almost gonna slap people in the face if they say "No, we don't want to give our people naps at work." I mean, this business case is gonna be--it's constructed in such a way to where it's gonna be hard for people to say no, but I would say how I got to this business case and a collaboration with this particular organization is because an employee, who had only been there for 3 months, a minority man--he was in his 1-on-1 with his manager and his manager said, "Hey, how has the past three months going?" And he said, "Man, it's been quite an adjustment, coming from college to the corporate world, and I'm working 60, 70 hours a week, and, you know, it's been quite an adjustment. I wish there was a time I could just, you know, take a nap." And his manager said--well, I'll say he wasn't a manager, because this was a leader comment. You know, managers manage people. Leaders lead. And this leader said to him--after he said that he said, "Hm. Well, why don't we discuss that on your next 1-on-1? Do some research, and let's talk about it next week." And so he did, and I had a meeting with him two days ago. What's today. Today's Tuesday? I had a meeting with him yesterday to button up the business case and the pilot. So I think the biggest advice I could give is just real life experience that I just experienced just as early as yesterday is we have to be vocal about what we want. And of course we have to be professional in the way that we deliver it, and I always--when I worked in corporate I always prided myself--when I presented a problem, it's to have the solution in my back pocket. So when my leader said, "Hey, okay, well, how are you gonna solve it? Boom, here it is, and here's all the research," right? And, you know, that's why I can say I have 10,000+ hours of research. Malcolm Gladwell says if you--if you want to call yourself a subject matter expert, you have to have at minimum 10,000 hours of research in your respective field. So when I said--as I mentioned, like, I can rattle off stats from here between here and Tokyo, where they do have napping pods, but I don't have to because I think we are as a society, when people hear the word "rest" and "nap at work" they'd initially be like, "Oh, my God. That would be awesome," but then they'd immediately think, "Well, is that gonna hold me back? Am I not gonna get up for a promotion because I'm taking a nap at work?" No. That's a shift that me and my team will come in, because it's more than just a nap. It's an experience. But on the flip side of it, we educate on why--what are the indicators for sleep deprivation. So going back to your original question, Zach, we just have to be more vocal about what we want. We need to present a--not just a problem, but also a solution, and not be afraid to get creative with it.Zach: Okay. Now, listen here, y'all. Y'all heard it straight here from Khaliah, A.K.A. KG Speaks, A.K.A. [?], A.K.A. Your Favorite Sock Wearer, okay? I'm gonna give you that Flex bomb right here. You know what I'm saying? Okay, no, you're absolutely right. In that story though--it's interesting. So you said a black man. Did he have a--was the boss a white dude? Khaliah: I don't know the ethnicity of the leader, but no, the employee, he wasn't black. He was a minority. He was an Asian-Pacific Islander. Zach: Yo. Shout-out to the--man, listen here, shout-out to the Asian-Pacific Islander, the person of color raising his voice, and just to keep a bean with you, I need to go ahead and have that leader on this--on Living Corporate too, 'cause I'm kind of shocked that he turned around and said, "Well, do some research," 'cause, I mean, that's not--I don't feel like that's a common experience. That's dope that he did that, and I absolutely believe that we should be speaking up and using your voice. I think that's an incredible story.Khaliah: We need more of that, and that's why I shared it, because we need more of that on both sides of the table. We need more of that from a leadership standpoint and more of that empowerment from an employee standpoint, because--you're right, and not only that, he sent me an email--the employee said, "Hey, it's a go, and my actual--my leader wants to come and check it out too," and I was like, "Please. Let's go. Tell me when and where. Tell me what time." I know where, just tell me when. [laughs]Zach: Boy, 'cause let me tell you--let me tell you just my experience. Khaliah, let me walk up in somewhere and tell my often-times-not-minority boss that I want to take a nap at work. Boy, they'd look at me like [sfx]. It's like, "What?"Khaliah: You are killing it with these sound effects. Like, I want to come over and see, like, what software you're using, 'cause you are killing it. Zach: Man, I be looking--I'm serious though. You just looking at them like [sfx], you know what I'm saying? Khaliah: But you know what's interesting too is that, you know, from a leader standpoint, for the leaders who are listening on the phone and who can even--you know, who can low-key share this with the leaders who perhaps might need to hear this, but here's a stat that perhaps will change people's minds. Millennials will be occupying, by 2025, 75% of the workplace. 75% of the workplace in five years and some change will be occupied by millennials. And what do we know about millennials? Well, out of the survey that I saw, 53% of them stated that they value health and wellness above work, spirituality, and even their friendships. Health and wellness #1 over work, spirituality, and their friends. So if I'm an executive at a corporation, and I know in the next five and a half years that folks I have on my bench right now, that I'm grooming, they don't--they value work, but it's not more than their health and wellness. I need to put in place Nap Bar today so that when they're in the C-Suite in five years we're already advanced into VR. We've got virtual reality going in Nap Bar. I mean, there's so many different things that companies can do today to set them up to win in 2025 when 75% of their workforce will be millennials.Zach: No, you're absolutely right, and, you know--and that's the thing--so as you know, I'm a consultant, and one of the things I've really been passionate about at my job is the workforce of the future, and we're talking about, like, dealing with the workforce of the future. First of all, the workforce of the future is happening--is today, but the idea of the fact that, like, folks will leave--this generation of people, and not even thinking about Gen Z's gonna be doing. I don't know what they--Khaliah: Listen...Zach: Listen. Ayo. My siblings in Gen Z. I be looking at them like I don't know--I'm scared. I'm scared of y'all. Like, y'all--ooh. But, you know, we will leave--Khaliah: They're reckless, but they're courageous with it.Zach: Oh, no. I love it. No, it's not a knock. It's just, like, a "Wow." Like, I'm really--I'm not prepared. [both laugh] But, like, you know, millennials though--and I would venture to say it's gonna be even more so with Gen Z--like, we will quit a job, you know what I'm saying?Khaliah: In a heartbeat. In a heartbeat.Zach: They'd be like, "Hey, Bobby, if you don't stop taking these naps, we're gonna have to let you go." He'd turn around talking about some [sfx]. You know?Khaliah: Yeah, you know why? Because they were already researching on their phone the companies that are innovative and progressive that probably already have nap pods. Zach: Listen, they're gonna be pulling up just like that Indeed commercial that just dropped with that white lady. She got passed over for that job, and--I don't know if you've seen it yet. It's wild. It's crazy. But anyway, she gets passed over for the job, and, you know, everybody's clapping. It's clear that she got passed over for a job. She's over here smirking at her phone. Indeed app already talking about "Interview secured." I said, "Ooh." And I oop. [sfx]Khaliah: That's funny. Now that's funny.Zach: It's super funny, but you're right. You know, it's going to be a critical--you know, it's gonna be a pillar of human capital management, of talent management, this wellness piece, and it can't just be "Hey, you know, you can take time off, but you've got to come work--" No, like, it needs to be explicit, intentional, purposed policies that reinforce true wellness.Khaliah: Totally.Zach: Okay. Now, look, this has been a dope conversation, and you know you've already been a friend of the show, and I didn't even--you know, I didn't even give you your air horns at the top for the dope piece that you wrote back in Season 1 about coming out of the proverbial closet. Man, shout-out to you. [sfx]Khaliah: Aye. [imitating sfx]Zach: You know what I'm saying? Like, we didn't even give you your props at the top. So, you know, again, you're a friend of the show. You're appreciated here. Before we let you go, any parting words or shout-outs?Khaliah: Man, shout-out to the tribe, the folks who show up, the folks who--and here's the thing. People show up. They don't have to show up, so when they do we have to ooze with gratitude for that. So I'm absolutely oozing with gratitude for my tribe for showing up, and not just for showing up, but for also holding me accountable for the likes, for the shares, for the--just the "atta girl"s, I mean, those things matter when you literally jump off the cliff and you have no idea how to open your parachute, but you can trust that your tribe, your network, will catch you before you fall. So shout-out to all of the folks who have ever liked, commented, shared, sent me an encouraging DM. I appreciate you so much, and I'm sending that vibe and that love right back out to you. And for those of you who are sitting on a billion-dollar idea that's gonna solve a trillion-dollar problem, I say "Go." Just go. You're not gonna have it all figured out, but you'll be able to figure it out along the way. And assemble yourself an advisory board team yesterday, because that's gonna be the people who will be in the trenches with you, that will roll up their sleeves with you and fight 'til the end to make sure that--that they believe in not just you, but in your vision.Zach: Come on, now. Khaliah: Yeah, man. That's the motto. That's the motto, man.Zach: I don't even have anything. I just got finger snaps, you know?Khaliah: That's the motto. Like, my legit motto is "Why duplicate mediocrity when we can borrow genius?" So why not surround yourself with genius all around who have access to the things you don't have access to or who have embarked on a journey that you're looking to embark on. Hey, it's the--it's the clear definition of working smarter and not harder.Zach: No, absolutely. Now, of course we're gonna have all of your information in the show notes, but why don't you go ahead and let us know where we can find you, where we can connect with you, where we can learn more about you?Khaliah: Bet. So for Nap Bar-specific, go to www.napbarnow.com. There you can also follow us on Twitter @NapBarNow, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook we're at NapBarHou, and for anything and all things KOG Speaks, which I am a certified diverse speaker, and I speak on diversity and inclusion, performance, leadership, change management. You can catch all of my work there at www.KOGpassion.com, and then my handles on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook is KOGSpeaks. Zach: Come on, now. Now, look, this has been great, and that does it for us, y'all. So thank y'all for joining us on the Living Corporate podcast. Make sure to follow us on Instagram @LivingCorporate, Twitter @LivingCorp_Pod, and subscribe to our newsletter through living-corporate.com. Now, please say the dash. Now, look, Khaliah, it's wild because, you know, we own actually all of the Living Corporate variations. So, like, livingcorporate.tv, livingcorporate.co, livingcorporate.net. We've even got, like, livingcorporate.org. We don't have livingcorporate.com 'cause Australia still has livingcorporate.com. Khaliah: They ain't letting it go. You're not gonna negotiate the 5,000--Zach: I don't know how brolic the brand would need to be for us to walk up to a continent and be like, "Ayo, come off that domain." I don't know, but maybe one day. That's a go. I feel like the day that we can--we can Deebo Australia for our domain, that's the day--Khaliah: That's when you've arrived.Zach: That's when you've arrived.Khaliah: That's the day you've arrived.Zach: Right, I'm saying. Okay, okay. So look, if you have a question you'd like for us to answer and read on the show, make sure you email us at livingcorporatepodcast@gmail.com, or you can just DM us on anything, you know what I'm saying? Our DMs are wide open. Like, we're just trying to talk to you, you know what I'm saying? Now, look, this has been Zach, and you have been talking with Khaliah Guillory, okay? Founder and CEO of the Nap Bar. Make sure you check out all of her information. It's gonna be all in the show notes. Do not forget. Listen, I'm talking to y'all right now. Sound Man, stop the music. Listen. I don't want y'all to listen to this and, like, be like, "Oh, okay, here goes Zach with the sign-off again," 'cause see, y'all see I'm flipping it up. This is not, like, an insert. I'm talking live right now, okay? I want y'all to stop, look in the show notes, okay, and click it. I ain't trying to be aggressive with y'all, okay? I'm not trying to do nothing extra, okay? I'm not dangerous, I promise. I'm just telling you, you know what I'm saying, get the information. Make sure you learn about the Nap Bar, especially if you're in Houston, and get yourself some rest. Am I tripping, Khaliah?Khaliah: Nah, not at all, bro. Not at all.Zach: All right. All right, well, dope. Well, look here. Until next time, talk to y'all soon. Love y'all. Peace.Khaliah: Peace.

On the twenty-fourth entry of Tristan's Tips, our special guest Tristan Layfield (@LayfieldResume) talks about networking in a place where the importance of networking is often underestimated. He also shares a few upsides to networking throughout your company. Career success sits at the intersection of personal and organizational goals, so take the time to cultivate relationships throughout your organization to figure out where your goals align!Connect with Tristan on LinkedIn, IG, FB, and Twitter!TRANSCRIPTTristan: Hey, Living Corporate fam. It's Tristan of Layfield Resume Consulting, and I've teamed up with Living Corporate to bring you all a weekly career tip. This week, let's talk about networking, but in a place where the importance of networking is often underestimated. When we hear "networking," it usually brings up thoughts of going to events to meet people, but networking happens in many spaces, and one place we tend to neglect is the workplace. There's so many upsides to connecting throughout your company, so let's discuss a few. By developing more relationships, you inevitably discover more highly-visible projects throughout the organization. This allows you to strategize on how you can get involved, and you can begin to volunteer for some of the special projects that align with your goals. Second, if you maintain a diverse network throughout the company, you'll more than likely get the scoop on open positions and departments you may want to work in, not to mention you may possibly get a referral from someone in your network who's on the team. Next, the more you connect, the more opportunity you have to find a mentor or a sponsor. While a mentor helps you navigate your career, a sponsor uses their agency in the company to advocate for your career progression. If you can land someone who's willing to be a sponsor for you, be sure to nurture that relationship as they can help open doors within your organization and potentially within others. Finally, if you're someone who gets anxious about networking, your job can be a great place to start getting comfortable. Think about it. You're already more familiar with the topics that may come up, and you have to be there for at least eight hours anyway. Career success sits at the intersection of personal and organizational goals, so take the time to cultivate relationships throughout your organization to figure out where your goals align. This tip was brought to you by Tristan of Layfield Resume Consulting. Check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @LayfieldResume, or connect with me, Tristan Layfield, on LinkedIn.

Zach sits down with Guide co-founder Mike Yates to discuss the future of learning. Mike shares what he thinks are the top three things that are changing within the world of learning. He also lists a few ways he thinks organizations will need to adjust for future workforces.Connect with Guide! We've got their website and socials: Twitter, IG, FacebookTRANSCRIPTZach: What's up, y'all? It's Zach, and you're listening to Living Corporate. And today we're talking about the workforce of the future, okay? So you've heard some conversations that we've had with Tim Salau a few times about the future of work, and, you know, it's just a really prominent topic because the workforce is changing, and the dynamics and the cultural makeup--not just from an ethnic perspective or sexual orientation, but from a generational perspective--is shifting, so we're really excited to talk about the future of learning with Mike Yates. Mike taught in a traditional school setting for five years before entering his current role, where he designs curriculum, plans projects, and motivates students to break all of the rules. His passion is in change and finding the next set of large innovations to the classroom through the use of adaptive learning technology and artificial intelligence. The world is rapidly changing and innovating, and it is his belief that schools must follow that trend. So with that being said, Mike, welcome to the show, man. How are you doing?Mike: Thank you so much. I'm really good. I'm excited to be here. I'm actually a pretty--I'm a regular listener, so I'm excited to be on this podcast.Zach: Stop playing. You listen to Living Corporate?Mike: Yeah. I'm a listener. I listen to it through Apple Podcasts, and I love the--I love the podcast. I actually saw stuff about Living Corporate via LinkedIn or Twitter. I cannot remember where I saw it first.Zach: Okay.Mike: Yeah, yeah, but I started listening a while ago. So, like, I've recently listened to the one--like, Ramadan at Work.Zach: Whaaat? Stop playing.Mike: Yeah, yeah. Respectability Politics, yeah.Zach: That's awesome. Okay, well, hey. First of all, we're already--we're honored, but definitely certainly flattered and happy about the fact that you enjoy the show. So look, we gave a little bit of an intro for you from the top. For those of us who don't know you, what would you mind telling us about yourself?Mike: Yeah, yeah. So one of the things--like, I just saw this meme on the internet that said, like, "I wish I loved somebody the way that people from Houston love being from Houston," and I'm one of the people that makes that true. I love being from Houston. That's where I'm from. So, you know, NBA Finals time I'm a little hurt, 'cause I thought the Rockets should have played better, but--Zach: Yeah, man. It was tough, right?Mike: Yeah, yeah. But I'm from Houston. I'm from a family of educators. My mom is a teacher. I basically grew up in school. I grew up in the classroom. I am married. I have four amazing children, an amazing wife.Zach: Oh, man. Congratulations to that.Mike: Thank you, yeah, yeah. Our house is nuts.Zach: I'll bet.Mike: Yeah. [laughs] It is. But that's one of my favorite parts about my life, the grind that I have for them. And so my passion is education. I have tried to avoid the career field for as long as I could, because when growing up I thought to myself "Oh, you know, educators don't make any money," but the gravitational pull of education was too strong for me. I became really curious about it after I graduated from college and I got into planning education programs for the United Way in-between Austin and San Antonio. Once I started doing that, I entered the classroom as a teacher and fell in love with the field. I'm also an educator that is convinced that everybody is lying when they tell you that you can't make money in education, things like that. "You can't be happy in education." "You can't have work-life balance in education." I am seeking to create trends within education that show you that all of those things are possible.Zach: Man, that's incredible. And, you know, I really respect--first of all, you know, there's articles--I feel like you see articles every other month about the importance of even having just black male teachers in the classroom, so shout-out to you, shout-out to educators. Shout-out to my wife who's an educator, as well as my--Mike: Your wife?Zach: Yeah, man. My wife is in education. She's been teaching for some years, and then my mother is a principal of an elementary school. She's been in education for 32 years.Mike: Wow, that's great. That's phenomenal.Zach: Yeah, man. And then, you know, my in-laws, they come from a--there's a deep family of educators there as well. So yeah, man, shout-out to educators. Shout-out to those who, like, reach back and are really trying to shape the future of the world. Like, it's so undervalued and just underappreciated. So yeah, definitely a shout-out to you, and a shout-out to your family, man. That's awesome. So look, let's talk about this. Let's talk a little bit about the future of learning. So in your profile, right, like, when people look you up, you know, you talk about the world changing and, by relation, learning methods along with it. So what would you say are the top three things changing within the world of learning?Mike: So that's a great question, and I think that the #1 thing is--the way I would describe it is the urgency. There is going to be a shift in the way that people attend school, and that's what I mean when I say urgency. Like, how you get information and how quickly it comes to you. So right now, especially through K-12 education and even into college, education is sit and get, right? It's like, you trust that this person has the content knowledge to teach you, and so you sit and listen to lectures and take notes, and hopefully you retain enough to prove that you should get a job later in the future. The future of learning is different. The future of learning is gonna be on-demand. Learning is going to come to the person. The execution that you can see today would be, like, a Western Governors University where all of their courses are online. You can take them at your own pace. You have one mentor that you interact with your entire time, whether you're in undergrad or grad school, and you can get your college degree that way. The second thing that I think is changing in the world of learning is quite honestly students. One of the saddest things to think about in education is the idea that, like, education is the last frontier in the United States of America that remains without innovation. You walk into any public school, you will see desks in rows, you will see--you might even see chalkboards that have been there since the '60s, '70s, '40s in some cases, right? It is a model that is antiquated and has not responded to the change in people, the change in interest, the change in, like, you cannot educate students the way that you used to, right? And then the last thing that I think is changing in the world of education is technology, technology in and outside of the field. You know, artificial intelligence, machine learning, like, we have figured out how to make machines and devices do more for us today than ever before. When we were in school--I don't know if you remember this, but my teacher used to always tell me, "Mike, you have to show your work when you're doing math, because you won't always have a calculator with you."Zach: Yes. [laughs] Wow, wait a minute. Pause right there. Yo, that was a lie. Like [inaudible]--Mike: Right?Zach: The teacher definitely said you're not always gonna have--they'd be like, "What are you gonna do if you don't have a calculator with you?" Like, there's nowhere--you always have a calculator with you now. You have a phone.Mike: Always, yeah. I have a calculator, a media company, a personal assistant. I have [inaudible].Zach: Everything, yes.Mike: Everything, right? And that's what's so beautiful about the future of learning, right? Because up until now teachers tried to prepare students for the existing work world, but now you have a movement of educators and a movement of schools that are trying to prepare students for jobs that don't exist yet, right? And the calculator--you know, the iPhone is the perfect example. Like, no teacher in 1995 would ever believe you if you would have told them there's gonna be a flat glass device that you're gonna touch, and you can call, it can talk to you, it can be a calculator, right? They would never believe that. So I am fortunate to have been raised by an educator, you know, being my mom, who would tell me, like, "We don't know what the world's gonna look like when you go to work, so you have to be in your head. You have to imagine. You have to always look forward." And my mother very much so made me a futurist, so all I do is think about "What's the world gonna be like 10, 15 years in the future?" And that's why I think technology is so exciting, and it's--you know, if I'm talking about, you know, the last major change, you know, adaptive learning technology is going to do more for students than the best teacher ever could, and I--you know, adaptive learning tech is--if you don't know, it's technology that--like, let's say I'm in a math application. If I'm in 6th grade, it will give me a set of questions that are at a 6th grade difficulty. If I do well on those questions and prove to the app that I know 6th grade content, it will automatically move me up to 7th grade math. If I don't know a 6th grade concept, it will move me down to 5th grade until I master that concept, it'd move me back up to 6th grade and let me keep mastering and moving up. That is so much more efficient than even your best math teacher that it will change--in the future, that will change the role of the adult in the room. All of a sudden, you no longer have to disseminate information, but you have to create projects to help students use that information. You have to create real world connections and learning experience. And honestly, it helps teachers get to the part of their job that they love and away from the part of their job that they hate, which is lesson planning and lectures.Zach: Yeah. Man, that's incredible. That's incredible, and it's just so interesting because--so my father also--he also taught math for a little while as well, and, you know, he was on Living Corporate last season, and he talked a lot about the various jobs that he had, and one of the jobs he had was actually--he was a teacher's assistant, and he also taught high school math, and he was talking--he's a bit of a futurist himself. He was talking about, like--this was back in, like, '90. Like, '89, '90, and he's talking to these kids, and he's like, "Y'all, one day you're gonna have machines that are gonna be doing--a lot of these manual processes that we're doing, one day machines are gonna be taking over. They're gonna do these things." And, like, at the time all of his students were like, "What are you talking about?" "No, that's, like, way, way later in the future." And he's like, "I'm telling y'all." And, like, he was just talking about it, but he was just kind of, like, waxing poetic. He wasn't, like, really trying to, like--you know, he was just talking, but he wholeheartedly meant it. You know, it's rare though to have folks who can see, right? So yeah, that's definitely a blessing to have, folks in your life who can talk to you about those things. You know, so what would you say your top three predictions are for how organizations will need to adapt to future workforces in light of--you know, in light of what you're sharing about the future of learning, what ways do you think that organizations, like, you know, professional organizations in any industry--in oil and gas, in technology, in healthcare--how do you feel like these organizations are gonna have to adjust for future workforces?Mike: Yeah. So I think that they're gonna have to be comfortable with remote workers. That's my first big prediction is, like, they're gonna have be comfortable with remote workers, because today's internet allows you to do so much more than ever before. You know, like, now you have IT companies that no longer have to be in the building with you and can take over your desktop or your laptop and y'all are not even on the same Wi-Fi network. Like, that's how advanced we are. So if that's possible, then, you know, oil and gas companies or software companies or even, like, the National Basketball Association, who could be playing a game in Toronto and reviewing replay footage in live-time in Secaucus, New Jersey, right? So I think that they're gonna have to be comfortable with remote. The next big prediction that I have, and this is a really, really big one, is that in the future of work, the college degree will lose value. And I don't mean it will be completely worthless, but I do think because we came up in this generation where everybody sort of forced us to go to college, and I do think that there's somewhat of an oversaturation of bachelor's degrees in the marketplace right now, but what I think is because of things like lambda school and because of things like University for the People, Western Governors, there will be a pressure on any university that is outside of the top 20. If you're not in the Ivy League or if you're not a top 20 school that produces the best doctors and lawyers, you know, all of those positions that require advanced college degrees, then you are going to struggle to get students to sign up for your school after the next economic collapse. Like, things have been going financially, economically in this country pretty well for the last nine years, and my big prediction is in the next five to ten years there will be--economic collapse is the wrong turn, but there will be an economic recession, and when that recession hits--like, my alma mater, Texas State University, I don't know if students will enroll there and take on debt when they could go to a lambda school for free, or they could go to University of the People and get a bachelor's degree for $2,000. Like, you know? So I think that the college degree requirements are gonna have to change, and my last big prediction about what the future needs to adapt to is--it's the scary one. It's not [inaudible]--Zach: [laughs] I hear you hesitating. Go ahead.Mike: Yeah, [laughs] it's robots. Like, it's--there is a robot that can open doors. Like, there are companies, like [Boston?] Dynamics, that are designing robots that can deliver packages, right? And so I think we're gonna have to get used to--and this may be, you know, 20 to 30 years down the line, but there may be a robot that walks up to you and greets you and drops a package off at your door, right? And I think that, you know, direct-to-consumer business is gonna change. I think, like, Amazon--we'll see Amazon finally have to compete with, like, Old Navy and other brands, because everybody's gonna be able to use drone delivery and robot delivery to drop packages off at your door within the hour. So I think that, you know, that big artificial intelligence in that sense, like robots, drones, those are gonna be really, really important in the future of work, and companies are gonna have to start bending and altering the way that they operate.Zach: So, you know, first of all, everything you're talking about--like, Mike--and I'm not trying to poo-poo you--I don't really hear anything crazy in your predictions. Like, I think they're all very realistic. Like, so first of all--especially when you start talking about schools, because we're already seeing that today, right? Like, we're already seeing it, like, in MBA programs. If it's not a top 20, top--lowkey top, like, five, ten to five, you're not gonna get--you know, 'cause some folks think that, you know, you get an MBA--and we talked about this, we talked about this--this was early in season 1. There's a misconception that if you go and you get a graduate degree, then that automatically lines you up for paper, and it's like, "Eh, not necessarily," and it's because--it's because of the economic demand. It's also because of perception, but, like, there's no reason to--there's no reason to not assume that the trend that we're seeing within grad schools, we won't just start seeing that in, like, universities, and we do see that in universities already, right? Like, we already know that there some undergraduate degrees that are worth more than others, right? Like, we know that already, but, like, it hasn't been, like, super stark yet, but it will be one day.Mike: Yeah, it will be. Absolutely.Zach: Man, that's incredible. So, you know, I think this really, like, leads well into your current role as the chief operating officer of Guide. So, like, what can you talk to us about when it comes to Guide? Like, what can you share?Mike: Man, Guide--Guide is amazing. So Guide came together because a couple of people online were all having the same conversation about education. I was--you know, about two months ago, I sort of--you know, this is my first year outside of the traditional school system. I work for--my day job is at a school called Alpha, which is a school that uses adaptive learning technology in place of direct instruction, so we don't have any lecture. There's no classrooms. Our school looks like an open co-working space. It looks a WeWork for kids, right? And once I got out of the traditional school system, I had this opportunity to pick my head up and sort of look around, and I saw, like, there was all this stuff that I was missing. I saw that I was misusing LinkedIn and that I didn't know how powerful it could be. I didn't really know how to build community. So two months ago I started doing that. I went hardcore on LinkedIn. I went all in on, you know, Twitter and community building, and Tim Salau and I sort of started crossing paths because we were both posting about the future of learning, the future of work, sort of interacting with each other on LinkedIn, until one day Tim reached out and was like, "Hey, man, we've got to talk about this thing I'm working on." So Tim, myself, and our third co-founder Taban got on a call and talked about what has now turned into Guide, and Guide is a social learning app that is tailored towards high school students specifically to teach them life skills. We're going to create a new media called Snapshots, which are 30-second courses where a creator, any content creator, can come to our platform and break down transferable life skills into 30-second segments so that students can digest them and so they can remember the steps, go back and rewatch, and start to learn skills that are gonna benefit them in the future of work. So LinkedIn Learning is sort of, like, the adult version of this, but, you know, to get a certificate in LinkedIn Learning you may have to spend 12-15 hours doing that. Students [inaudible]--yeah, students don't have the capacity to think that way.Zach: No, nah-uh. We don't have the capacity to think that way. [laughs]Mike: Right, yeah, so imagine being able to build a course where a student could spend 15 minutes and get the same amount of material, the same amount of value? And now you have high school students, community college students, early college students, that are starting to build up this connection between skill building and the future of work, because--so I think the official number is, like, 65% of all, like, elementary school kids are going to fill jobs that currently don't exist. With that being the future, you have to build up this sort of tool-belt of skills that you can use in multiple ways. Ones like public speaking, ones like community building, ones like adaptability, ones like creativity, that are not as easily taught in skills. So that's what we're doing with Guide, and my role specifically with Guide is obviously managing the personnel that we have. We're sort of--we're in startup mode, so we sort of do it all, but I specifically create teacher content. I manage all of the curriculum on the app. I do strategic partnerships. And so our founders team works really, really close together. You know, Tim is doing most of the UX and user experience design. Taban is our CTO, and he's actually code--like, hard-coding the app and everything like that, so we have a phenomenal team that's ready to do some phenomenal work. So I'm super excited about Guide, and I'm glad you asked me about it.Zach: Man, that's awesome. No, no, no. I'm glad that you guys are working on it, and I'm really excited for what it's gonna be. Where can people learn more about Guide today?Mike: So you can learn more about Guide at guideapp.co. That's our website right now. We have sort of, like, a "Coming Soon" page. Our website is currently under construction. Our communications lead and our content team is working really, really hard to get the website up in the next couple of weeks. You can also follow myself on LinkedIn. You can follow me on LinkedIn or Twitter. My Twitter handle is @justmikeyates, like j-u-s-t Mike Yates. You can also follow and connect with Tim. We are constantly posting about Guide. We're posting resources in the--for all the educators out there, in the coming weeks we will be posting some teacher toolkits and some quick-start guides so that you can use Guide and our Snapshots in your classroom, and we'll sort of, like, break down what a school day would look like with Guide to where you don't have to abandon all of your curriculums trying to teach life skills. You can do it within the course of your math class or your history class or your English class.Zach: Oh, I love this, man. It's so disruptive, but, like, for all the right reasons. It's not like guys from California trying to disrupt, like, your local bodega. This is, like, something that we need. This is awesome. Well, look, man, you know I could keep on going, but let's go ahead and wrap up, man. I want to give you a second though. Do you have any words, any shout-outs for us?Mike: Yeah. So one of the things that--sort of my goal in terms of online communication, the goal that I had set for myself for online communication has been to tell educators out there this very simple message, and that's that you need to be building a personal brand. You need to be on LinkedIn, active, and interacting with other business professionals and other fields as well as professionals in education, because #1 there's a larger conversation being had about disruptive education technology, about the future of learning and the way that that's gonna look. I want you to be a part of that. I want you to be a part of shaping what school looks like in this country forever. The other thing is that school districts all across the country quite frankly are running out of money and teachers are getting laid off. It doesn't pay enough for you to put all of the time and the passion and the heart that you do into your classroom on a day-to-day, so you should have a plan B, and that plan B can be your personal brand, because everybody's looking for expertise that comes from the classroom, it seems like at this point. So I want teachers to know that. And in terms of shout-outs, I want to shout-out my wife, Alex. She holds it down like no other. My wife a stay-at-home mom and we have four kids, so she is--she's working a lot harder than I am. So shout-outs to her and my kids and the whole Guide team. Shout-out to Tim, Taban, Monale, Jonathan. We are doing some phenomenal work.Zach: Man, that's awesome, man. Well, look, that's gonna do it for us, y'all. Thank you for joining us on the Living Corporate podcast. Make sure to follow us on Instagram @LivingCorporate, Twitter @LivingCorp_Pod, and subscribe to our newsletter through living-corporate.com. If you have a question you'd like for us to answer and read on the show, make sure you email us at livingcorporatepodcast@gmail.com. This has been Zach, and you've been listening to Mike Yates, learning futurist and COO of Guide. Peace.

On the twenty-third installment of Tristan's Tips, our special guest Tristan Layfield (@LayfieldResume) talks about the difference between being perceived as a doer versus as an achiever at work. He also shares a few tips on how to stand out as the latter rather than the former.Connect with Tristan on LinkedIn, IG, FB, and Twitter!TRANSCRIPTTristan: What's going on, y'all? It's Tristan of Layfield Resume Consulting, and I've teamed up with Living Corporate to bring you all a weekly career tip. Have you ever heard of your resume painting you as more of a doer rather than an achiever? If so, you probably were like, "But what does that really mean?" Well, when it comes to writing the description for both your resume and LinkedIn profile, you have to be cognizant of the picture you're painting. Are you painting the picture of a doer, a person who completes a task, or an achiever, someone who doesn't just get the task done, but drives results? All too often we're painting ourselves out to simply be doers. See, many companies are looking to our previous work history as an indicator of what their return in investment in us can be. It's essential that we show them what we did, not just tell them, and the way that we do that is by highlighting the results and accomplishments we've had while in those roles. In order to switch up the narrative, start adding in numbers, metrics, and outcomes. These help illustrate the value you brought to your organization while in that role. So instead of saying you managed a team, say you oversaw a five-person marketing team. Instead of saying you exceeded the sales goals, say you exceeded monthly sales goals on average by 15%. Adding in that information can sometimes be a little hard. That's why I always suggest keeping a career journal, where you can write down your highlights to use later in resumes, LinkedIn profiles, and cover letters. If you need some help figuring out what you can include now, request a copy of your performance reviews. You or your boss more than likely put a few things in there that you can use. And remember that realistic estimates, not lies, are acceptable if necessary. Just try to be as accurate as possible and consistent whenever you speak about it. This tip was brought to you by Tristan of Layfield Resume Consulting. Check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @LayfieldResume, or connect with me, Tristan Layfield, on LinkedIn.

Zach sits down with Precious Williams of Perfect Pitches by Precious to talk about how to pitch for yourself effectively. They break down the basics of a pitch and discuss what most people get wrong when pitching for themselves.Connect with Precious on LinkedIn or Twitter, and check out her website below!https://perfectpitchesbyprecious.com/TRANSCRIPTZach: What's up, y'all? It's Zach, and you're listening to Living Corporate. Now, look, y'all. Y'all know we have people come through the spot from time to time. We have real conversations about real things, okay? And this episode is no different, okay? We've got Precious Williams with us on the show. Precious Williams is a world-class master communicator who works with successful women entrepreneurs and helps them take their professional speaking skills to the next level. With over 23--count 'em, 2-3, Michael Jordan, LeBron James--years of experience conceptualizing unique branding and marketing techniques, Williams seeks to train individuals and companies on how to remain authentic while marketing concepts and visions to distinctive audiences. Sound Man, you've got to give me a round of applause for that. [he obliges] With that being said--Precious: Oh, let me snap. Snap, snap, snap.Zach: Come on. Come on, snaps. With that being said, Precious, welcome to the show. How are you doing?Precious: I'm good. I'm really good today. I'm living well. I'm living my life like it's golden. "Living my life like it's golden."Zach: Drinking some water?Precious: You know [what?] We do. We drink water all day.Zach: You sound really hydrated right now.Precious: I am hydrated. I'm really hydrated. Come on now.Zach: I can feel it--I can feel it through the ancestral plane.Precious: Okay!Zach: I know I gave a little bit of an intro, but for those of us who don't know you, would you mind telling us a little bit about yourself?Precious: Yes. My name is Precious Williams, proud founder and CEO of Perfect Pitches by Precious. And again, thank you for saying I'm a world-class master communicator, and it is very true. I've been a professional speaker since I was 16 years old, and this year I turned 40. I've appeared on Shark Tank, CNN, Wall Street Journal, FOX Business News, appeared in movies, I've been in television commercials, and I'm a 13-time National Elevator Pitch champion. So that is how a lot of shows got interested in me in the first place, but before we did all of that, we were--I was an unwanted child living in the inner city of St. Louis, Missouri, and my mother didn't like me and beat me up constantly. My father was a drug addict. And so when I look back at my life, I'm always astounded to this day - "How did I make it? How did I not become a statistic? How do I live in the great state of New York?" And I've been here 11 years. Never been raped, robbed, or beaten. Living my dream of being a professional speaker where I work with wonderful, successful women entrepreneurs who struggle with bringing their next big ideas, concepts, brands, products and services, to different markets. So if you need a pitch for an investor, I got you. Need a pitch for media? I got you. You need a pitch at networking events? I got you. That is what I do. And I've also iterated to teaching new and emerging speakers how to successfully build a speaker platform so that they're attractive to conference organizers and event planners. And for professional speakers or seasoned speakers, I teach them how to get paid speaking engagements. So when I tell you we are the art and science of the most killer pitches, we also do not play. I'm not new to this. I'm true to this. I am Precious Williams, the #KillerPitchMaster, and I will help you - what? - #slay all competition.Zach: My God. Sound Man, give me some air horns. [he complies] That's crazy. That's incredible. And honestly, I really want to add one of those '90s "Ow"s. That was incredible. That's incredible. Precious: Thank you.Zach: My goodness gracious. Okay, then. Well, shoot. You did that with that little ol' question, so you're gonna kill the rest of this. Let's start with the basics. What is a pitch?Precious: A pitch is a short, brief introduction to you, your company, your career, your life, that will make you attractive and interesting to an interested party, someone that you don't know but you want to get in front of. So think about getting on an elevator and taking it to, I don't know, the 20th floor. In that time, you should be able to have a pitch good enough to spark attention and make them want to meet with you or take your phone call. So as an elevator pitch master, I have won competitions in 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, and 10 minutes. When I won Black Enterprise, I won it in 1 minute--I became a finalist in 60 seconds, and I killed it in 30 seconds, and that's how I won in 2013, Black Enterprise.Zach: Wow. Wow, wow, wow. So, you know, we've talked about a little bit about--we've talked a bit. Not a little bit. We've talked a good bit actually about strategic self-advocacy on Living Corporate, right? What would you say most folk get wrong when it comes to pitching themselves?Precious: I find that most people are very boring. Most people have no idea how to introduce themselves in a way that makes them star-quality material. I find that people don't give a lot of thought to it, thinking that you should just wing it, and if [you learn anything] from me, it's preparation is key, practice perfectly, perform perfectly is key. Also, give them some of that funk, that flavor of who you are. So for example, when I went on Shark Tank, I knew they weren't ready for me, 'cause I don't come like anybody else. As a champion, you can't come like anybody else. If you want the basics, you don't have Precious. I'm not a basic chick at all. So I went in with a low-cut canary yellow form-fitting [inaudible] dress--and I was 275 pounds, and my company was Curvy Girls Lingerie, and I was pitching Curvy Girls Lingerie--and so, you know, when you're walking down the hall that music doesn't play. Just so we're clear, that music does not play. When they open up those doors and it's just you and the Sharks, I walked in like "Wait until they get a load of me. They ain't never seen nothing like me." So when I hit that X, I was going IN. Listen, I was in the paint. I was going HARD in the paint, and then I said, "Okay, ladies. Now let's get in formation." The door opened again, and my plus-sized models came through, and I tell you, they had never--I said, "Because I know what I'm doing." If you want to be average, [random?], or ordinary, do what regular people do. If you want to stand out and really make an impact, you have to be different. So I wrote an article a long time ago called "Does Shark Tank Teach You Everything You Need to Know About Pitching?" And there's no way it can, and don't be lulled into thinking that the people who get the investments are actually better than the people who don't. And sometimes your vision is beyond what most people can see. That's why you're called a visionary, and I'm a visionary and a trailblazer. You're speaking to investors. If you're speaking to a network--speaking at a networking event or you're speaking to the media, what is going to make you stand out like no other? And when we talk about self-promotion or self-actualization, all of that, you really need to hone in on what makes you different from everyone else and can you demonstrate that difference even if your products and services weren't in the room. Zach: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I love that. I love that. This is what we're gonna do. This is a first for the Living Corporate podcast, but I feel like you can handle it. So I'm gonna give you some scenarios, right, where you would pitch yourself. I want you to give me, like, how you would do it. So I got three of 'em, okay? So are you ready?Precious: I'm ready.Zach: Okay, here we go. "You're a mid-level employee who's done the work but keeps getting passed over for a promotion that you've wanted for a while. How do you handle that?" How do you pitch yourself to get the promotion you're looking for?Precious: First of all, I would start making noise and buzz about what it is that I have done. So if you're a mid-level employee, what are your results? What's your value added? What content have you created? What things have set you apart from the others? A lot of the times when you're a mid-level employee you think that just doing the work is enough, but you have to promote what you do. You have to quantify what you do. You have to qualify what you do. You have to show how you being you has increased sales, has decreased problem areas, how you've been invaluable to the company. You have shown loyalty, fidelity, and you want the opportunity to shine on a bigger state in that promotion, but before you can do that, you have to show where you came from and where you took the company from where it was to where it is now, and that means you need to document what it is that you've done, what you've brought to the table, great ideas that have been implemented on, and you definitely want to walk in dressed like the promotion, not what you are right now. Give them something to look at. Give them a visual that they're not ready for.Zach: Yeah. I love it. I'm so excited. Okay, okay, okay. So that's great. This is the second scenario. "You're a new employee, and you're looking for a mentor." Precious: This is where we get into passion, energy, and intensity. So when you're looking for a mentor, one of the greatest tools alive, especially if you're a new employee at a new company, is to go about seeing who are the power players in the organization or in the company. What you want to do is see if you can spend a little bit of time with a few of them and get to know them. You'll ask them [if] they can take on any projects where you get to work closely with them. Let them know that you're always available--within reason, let me put it like that--that you're always available within reason to work on different projects because you want to stay a step above the people that you started with, and you have to show initiative. You have to show focus, grace, ease, and just mercy. You have to show all of that. And so when they see you working hard, they see that you came in that first day and you were strategic about what it is that you're doing. That stands out. When you allow them into your strategic vision and how you see yourself elevating the company or being a very valuable resource to the company, don't be afraid to toot your horn about what you've done in the past and what you plan to do there. And if you're young, man, you can do a lot for a company, as long as you keep showing that dedication and that focus. You can take instruction, but you can also give the ideas that young people always have that are so vibrant and so necessary to an organization in moving forward. That's what I would do.Zach: Amen. I love this, I love this. Okay, here's #3. Here we go. Last one. "You're venturing out to start your own side hustle, and you've found someone you think would be a great fit to join the team."Precious: Mm-hmm. Thinking that they're a great fit before I just jump on the bandwagon, I would vet them, because there are things in peoples' backgrounds that you may not know that might prevent them from being the great asset that you think they're going to be. So I would look them up online. I would--you know, 'cause you can meet a lot of people, and listen, I've been in this situation. I've had a partner that we did not work out. On paper we both looked good together. In person, in reality, we could be at each other's throats. One could be focused on money so much, the other one focused on customer service so much, that you constantly bump heads because you're not in a true partnership. What does that person bring to the table that you already don't have? You vet them, and you also go through a due diligence process. You interview them. You let them know about this great opportunity, but you vet them as they're vetting you. Don't make a decision immediately. You're not thirsty. You're not thirsty.Zach: Yeah. Precious: And since you're not thirsty, you can give it a week. You can give it a little bit of time and do more due diligence. You want to make sure that--even if you're the top person in your company or in your program, what you definitely want to make sure is that you sound off to someone that you trust to make sure that you're not rushing into a decision. That's what I would do as a killer pitch master.Zach: I love that, I love that. Now, look, you know we could keep going. You know this.Precious: I know.Zach: But before I let you go, do you have any parting words or shout-outs? Precious: Yes. I want to say that fortune favors the bold. If you are bold enough, you can make miracles happen with God's grace and mercy. When you step out on that faith, and you've been given a vision, it's time you move towards it. We don't live in the day and age of our grandparents or even our parents. You can really eat what you kill. You can really make a difference and impact walking in your authentic light and in your authentic, God-given purpose. Secondly, if you're someone who is looking for pitching help, I am here, and I am available. I am here to work with you on how to monetize your message, how to turn your mess into your message, and how to really--Zach: Come on, now. "Mess into your message?"Precious: Your mess into your message. Listen, I've been homeless. I've had an addiction. I've had all sorts of things happen to me. I've battled cancer and all of that kind of stuff. It doesn't matter. And I've been living my best life because I was able to face it and move on. Deal with the trauma. So what I want to say to everyone, when you look at someone that you think has it going on, you don't know their backstory, and it's important--and that's why I used to watch Behind the Musics when I was younger, Intimate Portrait, Biography, because I really wanted to know the true story. I didn't want the glitz and glamour story. I wanted to know "What did they overcome?" Because that would give me strength to know that I could overcome too. So get really comfortable with wanting to hear peoples' stories, because that will give you the catalyst to get off of your behind and make moves. Like Future and Drake said, "What a time to be alive." What a time. We can have a Zoom call, a Skype call. You don't have to leave and go to the office. You can just do things as you already are, and you can make a great impact. I've been in Corporate America. I've done that, and now I am a serial entrepreneur, international professional speaker, and just an all-around gal about town, right? All-around gal about town, and I am a full-figured diva on a mission, and that's to take over the world one curvy girl at a time.Zach: Come on. Yo, this has been a great interview. Thank you so much for being here, Precious.Precious: Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.Zach: No, I appreciate you. So look, that does it for us, y'all. Thank y'all for joining us on the Living Corporate podcast. Make sure you follow us on Instagram @LivingCorporate, Twitter @LivingCorp_Pod, and subscribe to our newsletter through living-corporate.com or livingcorporate.co or livingcorporate.org, livingcorporate.net. We've got all the Living Corporates except for livingcorporate.com because Australia has livingcorporate.com, you know what I'm saying? They're not really trying to talk to us yet. I might need to talk to you, Precious, on how we can pitch to them so they can give us that domain, but look--Precious: That's right.Zach: I'm saying, but we got--but if you Google Living Corporate, ayo, we out here. So if you have a question you'd like for us to answer and read on the show, make sure you email us at livingcorporatepodcast@gmail.com, or you could just DM us on any social media 'cause the DMs are wide open. This has been Zach, and you've been listening to Precious Williams, CEO of Perfect Pitches by Precious. Boy, my sound man is gonna have to really work on those Ps, but I love it. This has been Zach, y'all. Chat with y'all soon. Peace.Precious: We out!

On the twenty-second entry of Tristan's Tips, our special guest Tristan Layfield (@LayfieldResume) talks about meetings and how you can turn some of those unnecessary ones into emails. Connect with Tristan on LinkedIn, IG, FB, and Twitter!https://www.linkedin.com/in/tristanlayfield/https://www.instagram.com/layfieldresume/https://www.facebook.com/LayfieldResume/https://twitter.com/layfieldresumeTRANSCRIPTTristan: What's going on, y'all? It's Tristan of Layfield Resume Consulting, and I've teamed up with Living Corporate to bring you all a weekly career tip. This week, we're gonna talk about meetings and how you can turn some of those unnecessary ones into emails. Don't you hate when you have a meeting at work, and by the end of it you feel like you've wasted a ton of time? Most managers can spend up to 50% of their time in meetings, but they consider 67% of the meetings that they attend to be failures. All of those unnecessary and unproductive meetings makes everyone hate them in general, so next time you're the host of one, ask yourself - "Is it necessary to meet in person?" If the answer is no, then consider turning your meetings into an email. There are three main things you need to make sure are in your email. First, logistics. Explain why you're canceling the meeting and set the expectations for the next meeting. The second thing? Action items. List any actions that need to be taken, who is supposed to complete them, and by when. To ensure people notice their responsibilities, make sure to put their names in bold so you know they'll see it. The third and final thing? Updates. If there have been any changes in the information, be sure to provide those updates to the group. If you check my Instagram, @LayfieldResume, you can provide this tip where I also provide an email template that you can use in these instances. This tip was brought to you by Tristan of Layfield Resume Consulting. Check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @LayfieldResume, or connect with me, Tristan Layfield, on LinkedIn.

Zach sits down with Joe Price, the co-founder and general manager of Grown Up Sports, to talk about GUS Leagues, and Joe shares a few physical wellness tips for professionals, particularly people of color.Check out GUS Leagues!Read the articles mentioned on the show:Why Your Chair Might Be Killing YouOffice Exercise: Add More Activity to Your WorkdayThe Future of Wellness at WorkThe Future of Employee WellnessTRANSCRIPTZach: What's up, y'all? It's Zach, and you're listening to Living Corporate. Now, look, Ade and I have had several guests on the Living Corporate platform. We've had, you know, celebrities, musicians, authors, CEOs, but we haven't had my brother on the show. In fact, to be more specific, we haven't had my brother-in-law on the show, okay? And today we actually have a special guest, Joseph Price. Joe, what's up, man? How are you doing?Joe: Hey. I'm doing well, Zach. Zachary. How are you?Zach: I'm doing great, man. So look, today we're talking about wellness, and I think it's just a really great fit for you to be the guest to talk about wellness because of your background, your current passions, and just your level of expertise in physical and personal health. I mean, I'm not saying that you're, like, a doctor, but I'm saying, like, you got--you know what I'm saying? You've got some credentials.Joe: I am not a doctor, that is correct. [laughs] Yeah, thanks for having me. I'm happy to chat a little bit about what I do and my experience in the space.Zach: Man, that sounds awesome. So look, without further ado, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?Joe: So for the sake of the podcast professionally, I own and operate an organization called GUS Leagues, which stands for Grown Up Sports Leagues. We're an adult sport and social club. We're based in Houston, Texas. Adult sport and social club means we essentially facilitate sports leagues, tournaments, some corporate wellness and other fun activities around town. So a little bit of sport, a little bit of social, and that's what I do by profession.Zach: That's awesome, man. So look, as you've already alluded to and as I said at the top, we're talking about physical wellness for corporate professionals. Let's talk a little bit about what physical wellness means to you. And I recognize that's a very broad statement, so, you know, you can take that and kind of wax poetic however which way you want.Joe: Yeah. So physical wellness obviously can be pretty broad. What drew me to the space specifically is that I'm into team sports. It's what I've done for fun. I've fostered community throughout my childhood, adolescence, and adult life, and I think that type of engagement is still something that people should do as they get older, and it's a good way to connect with other adults that sometimes can be a useful way to connect outside of just happy hours, drinking, getting dinner. You know, there's a way that you can improve yourself and still connect with people as an adult, and that's been a good way for me and something that I promote to our companies, to our friends, and how I personally connect with people. So that's the part that speaks to me about what we do. I still think it's very important--a good way for people to connect, period.Zach: Man, nah, straight up, and you're absolutely right that every time--well, let me not say every time, right? You don't want to speak in absolutes, but more often times than not, especially in consulting, when you talk about kicking it with somebody or, like, doing something fun, it often revolves around getting a drink, getting something to eat, right? Especially in consulting. They talk about, like, the consulting 15, right? Like, you pick up weight just traveling and eating out all of the time, and so I think that you're 100% right that finding other avenues to connect and build relationships as opposed to kind of, like, staring down a plate of food or staring in-between a bottle. So let's talk a little bit more about Grown Up Sports, right? Like, what's the story behind the company? Why the name? All of that. Just talk to us a little bit about it.Joe: As I alluded, we do grown up sports, and I--we'll just give you a little bit of background about how we even came to call ourselves that, 'cause I find the story interesting. We--me and my business partner, John, started this company about seven years ago. I know John because we both played intramurals at the University of Texas in Austin. That's where we went to undergrad. He worked for RecSports, was a sports management major, and he actually interned for a company that was similar to ours that was based in Austin and helped them with their original expansion out to San Antonio, and so this is something that he was passionate about from when he was forming a passion about anything. So when he was, like, 21. That was his focus. We both moved to Houston. He came here for law school. I came just to start my professional career. My family is from Houston. And we were looking for a similar community to that that we had when we were an undergrad playing intramurals. Couldn't find anything that we felt met that need in the space, and so--he had been wanting to do that for quite some time. We decided--so a little bit of background about me. I was working with an education technology start-up on the side, helping them with an expansion in Houston, so I had a little bit of entrepreneurial experience, and so when he was looking to start this he was looking for a partner, and he comes to me with the idea. We go through his business plan. I tell him it's awesome. I don't have time for it. Some situations arose that made it seem like the time was right, and so we decided that we would try to start this company, and then we decided we wanted to start it--we're both basketball guys, and so this was during the time when the NBA was on a lockout--Zach: Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah.Joe: Yeah, and so what you're seeing on ESPN at the time is a bunch of leagues, and we wanted to start with a basketball league. Leagues that are becoming popularized with these big names, and it's, like, the Goodman League, the Drew League. You know, something that has a name that pops, something you want to [?], like, name our company. We really wanted to do, like, recreational leagues in Houston, and so we had a name, that was Houston Rec Leagues, and then as we started thinking a little bit more long-term it was like, "Oh, that sounds a little bit limiting." So, you know, [had] a moment of clarity if you will [?], and it's like, "What could we name our company that rolls off the tongue?" And it was like, "We need something that's gonna pop and speak to people like the Drew League," and so I was thinking of what we were planning to provide, grown up sports. GUS. GUS League. You know, "It's gonna--it's gonna roll off the tongue. People are gonna love it," and, you know, it doesn't really work like that, but that was kind of the motivation behind why we [?] named it that, and it also gave us the opportunity if we ever wanted to expand our horizons to other geographic areas that it's not so limiting in scope as Houston Rec Leagues might have been.Zach: I love it.Joe: So that's a little bit about the name, yeah. And even our motivation--so this was--for me, this is how I make--[?] my closest friends, you know, I know 'em through sports. How I met my business partner, I met him through essentially, you know, our company, but for college students and intramurals. So this was just a natural thing for us to do, and it's nice that we've been able to find a way to make some money off something that we actually--we use the product ourselves, and we were looking for a need--the need was something that we were trying to solve for ourselves first and foremost.Zach: Man, I love that. And, you know, it's funny, you talk--and you talked about, like, it doesn't really work that way, but GUS does roll off the tongue, and it's interesting because as someone who lives in Houston, it feels like almost every other person, especially, like, before I joined the current firm that I'm at, like, everyone is either--they've either heard about it or they're a part of it. If I'm with somebody and, like, I can tell that they play basketball--you know the type, right? Either it's their walk or their build. I say, "Do you hoop?" And they'll be like, "Oh, yeah. You know, I do some intramural stuff. It's, like, an adult intramural." I'm like, "Oh, okay. Have you heard of GUS?" They're like, "Yeah, that's what I meant." I'm like, "Oh," and I remember after, like, the fourth or fifth time I was like, "Dang, this mug is real." Like, it's just super funny, but, like, anybody I see somebody with, like, that sore walk, you know what I'm talking about? Like, with the--you know. The limp--Joe: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, our knees are aging faster than the rest of us for sure. Zach: It's funny, but it's not funny at all. But I'll see it, and I'm like, "Oh, okay. He probably hoops," and I just--I mean, there's a strong percentage, man, and they'll be like, "Oh, GUS." It's--like, it's smooth, to your point. You talked about building up this business with John, and there was a point in time where you were building this up while you were actually in business school. Like, can we talk a little bit about what that was like?Joe: So I went to the University of Michigan for business school, got my MBA. Zach: [Go] Blue.Joe: Go Blue. Ooh, I appreciate that. And the reason I--I wanted to go to business school for a while before I went and didn't have necessarily a reason, a compelling reason. Like, I didn't know that I necessarily wanted to expand the career that I was in, if I was doing it to grow within the ranks of my current company, but after we started GUS--me personally I have always had ambitions to start a company, manage a company, be--have some entrepreneurial avenue in my life, and after we started GUS [I] had a real thing to actually focus on while I was in grad school. And that was--it was really useful. I think a lot of times you can run into students that are pursuing higher-level degrees, and sometimes it's a check on a box. For me it was a very personal journey. It's about personal development. I knew that maybe the cost of tuition is really high for me to learn about doing something that's more risky, and it--really the natural thing would be to take a more professional route, but I knew that I needed to get a little bit of the business chops if I ever wanted to grow this thing into something worth talking about, and so the business school aspect was really useful for me, being in an environment where I could actually focus on the business side of the company and not just the day-to-day operations, pull back from the day-to-day operations. I thought I was gonna be able to do both at the same time. That was proven very impossible as soon as I got on campus. But also to explore avenues with resources and advisers and mentors that were there to help me formulate my thoughts for what this could be and what I might want to focus on in the future. So the MBA process was wonderful for me, even just to think about more of the business side of starting a company--you know, you start a company. It's cool, it's fun, and then suddenly you get into, like, accounting problems, incentives with your employees and stuff like that, so this isn't [?]--Zach: Collections.Joe: Right. Y'all--oh, my gosh. Yeah.Zach: Yeah. No, that's incredible. Man, I figured I would ask. It was interesting 'cause we--you know, we had Nicaila on the show as well, and she talked about her time getting her MBA, and you're absolutely right, right, that--well, let me back up, 'cause I have not gotten my MBA, okay? So let me not talk and try to false flex, but when I talk to people--when I talk to people who have gotten an MBA, a lot of them will come back and be like, "Man, you know, I was just kind of doing this to check a box," or, you know, "I didn't really know what I was doing. I was just kind of going for it." And there's no shame in that, right? But I remember in talking to you about your journey, you know, you were very purposed in what you were doing, and I remember as I was thinking about getting back into school, that really helped shape me and shape my point of view in terms of "What am I actually doing this for?" Because it's a lot of time, and for many it's a lot of money, so there needs to be--in my opinion there should be some strategy you have, and so what was really cool to me was the fact that you had a strategy behind what you were doing. Okay, cool. Cool, cool, cool. So let's get back to wellness. If you had three physical wellness tips for professionals, particularly people of color, what would they be?Joe: Yeah. So I think just the baseline of staying active is really important. What we do is pretty structured, but on the note of people of color, we have done events with a color cancer foundation start-up by a brother based out of Austin who wanted to start something for people of color that are more susceptible to colon cancer because of physical inactivity. We've done events with them raising awareness, and the events that we did were not around the typical sports leagues that we do. They're, like, fun in the sun-type days, a field day, a bunch of activities - some tug-of-war, a watermelon-eating game, playing some water balloons in the sand. Just things that you're doing for fun with the purpose of reminding people that just being active can be fun and that it's an important thing to do as a part of, like, your daily wellness. And a lot of times your physical wellness can just--it can be preventative of things that could be much worse if you aren't--if you aren't prioritizing your wellness, and so part of it is just staying active period. I read an article around when we started this company that was in GQ that was--I think the title of the article was, like, "Our Chairs Are Killing Us." Yeah. We are dormant by profession, and our desks are actually harming us just by sitting all day, and, so, you know, the primary goal is literally just "Get up. Go do something. Take a walk," you know? Maybe take a 15-minute break every 4 hours. That's what a doctor would tell you. So that's the baseline. I do think--obviously I'm biased, but there's something to be said about continuing to play sports as an adult, team sports. I think some of that can be intimidating, but, you know, the majority of our customers or participants are corporate, and they're corporate groups getting together. They're doing low-stakes activities. They're playing recreational volleyball with us. A lot of it is about team building, team wellness, just getting people to get to know each other, have a good time--get outside of the office and have a good time, but also they're doing something active, and that's--sometimes that can be a good alternative to getting a drink and eating. And so, you know, if you--if you need some accountability, sometimes it's useful to do something like join a team with your office, and that can be--and it can be something low-stakes that's not intimidating, and then the third would be, you know, if you're not into committing to things like team sports, go do something on a one-day. Like, go to a run club if you want to go find some people that do something active but you don't have to commit to anything week in and week out, and sometimes that can be the gateway for you to find out more about, like, people that do this type of thing, but also you can pop in, pop out, do it on your own, and, you know, it might even help you find some other people that can get you into the types of things that are active, 'cause sometimes you just don't have the support system and it's hard to get started. So, you know, those are just a couple avenues to just get the ball rolling, and they're good ways to meet people. Personally--obviously my personal network is a little more active, but you also find that active people are interesting people. Like, they're finding a way to continue to do something, to push themselves, and that's--often times those are interesting people to be around and will make you a more interesting person as well.Zach: I love that. No, you're absolutely right, and man--the one point you made around just, like, getting up, that resonates with me a lot, 'cause man, I got these chairs, right, at my client site. I just be sitting down all day, Joe, so I find--Joe: They're so comfortable. They're ergonomically, like, sound, you know? We have such good executive chairs now. They're tempting to sit all day, and you just need--sometimes you need something to tell you.Zach: But let me keep it a bean with you though. Like, even still, even them ergonomic chairs, you know, like, your behind start getting numb, so what I started--I started getting up, man. I had to start taking my walks downtown, 'cause, like, I can't--I can't do it, man. It's too much. Like, I'm used to feeling all parts of my body. Like, I'm 29 years old. I should feel my body when I'm at work, you know what I'm saying? Like, come on. We gotta get up. So that's real though. I appreciate that. Now, look, don't let me shortchange you. Where can people learn more about GUS?Joe: We--you know, GUS Leagues, if you go to GUS Leagues on any social media channel, @GUSleagues, you'll find us. GUSleagues.com, our website, is pretty informative. You can find out all of the things we do and things you can engage with us. If you happen to be in Houston and you work for a company that's looking to do a team-building activity, check us out. We do that type of thing as well. Yeah, you know, you can--if you type in GUS--if you type in basketball, if you type in adult sports in Houston, you're probably gonna find us.Zach: Oh, that's a lowkey stunt, but I appreciate it.Joe: That was--it was a light flex, but it's typically accurate.Zach: It was a light flex, but it's accurate. That's what make flexing dope, is when, like, you say something that's just, like, it's facts though. You're right. So when you type in "basketball," you type in "adult rec," Grown Up Sports will pop up, y'all. And this is not even an ad, yo. It's true.Joe: No, this is not a paid--it's not a paid spot. [inaudible].Zach: This is not a paid spot, facts. But what we're gonna do, Joe, we'll make sure that we have all of the information down at the bottom. And listen, for those who don't know, we talk a little bit about--a lot of bit, a lot about the future of work, right? And we talk about how teams and groups and organizations are gonna be changing, and listen, y'all, for those who don't know, get in the know. We'll make sure to put some articles in the show links as well, but wellness is gonna be a large portion of how organizations center and manage their teams. It's gonna be a larger point of or part of employee incentives. So the more that you can really learn and understand and get plugged into spaces like this the better. So I'm talking to y'all employees and I'm talking to y'all corporate big wigs, y'all who be making decisions, because I know y'all be listening to this too. Shout-out to the people who be making decisions. What's up? Okay, before we go, Joe, any parting words or shout-outs?Joe: No, just shout-out to you. This is--love the podcast, love what you're doing. I think it's important work, and more power to you. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. Thanks for the shout-out too. I'm amongst really good company on this show, and you're an excellent interviewer, so I appreciate the attention to detail.Zach: Aw. Man, so, you know, I don't have my soundboard, but man, if I did, like, I would play, like, the theme song from "My Brother and Me." Remember that show? "My Brother and Me" on Nickelodeon? [I’d like to add it, but I’m unsure if that’s legal]Joe: Oh, my gosh. Yes. So good.Zach: Yeah, yeah, but it's okay. All right. Well, that does it for us, y'all. Thank you for joining us on the Living Corporate podcast. Make sure to check us out on Instagram @LivingCorporate, Twitter @LivingCorp_Pod, and subscribe to our newsletter through living-corporate.com, please say the dash, okay? Now, look, it's also livingcorporate.co, livingcorporate.org, livingcorporate.net. We got, like, all the Living Corporates, Joe, except for livingcorporate.com, 'cause Australia got the domain, bro, and they not letting it up. I don't know what's up.Joe: Amazing.Zach: I know, right? If you have a question you'd like for us to answer and read on the show, make sure you email us at livingcorporatepodcast@gmail.com, or you can just hit us up on DMs. Our DMs are wide open. Just slide up in there, ask us a question. We'll make sure to answer your question, and we'll call the title--the episode of the show "Listener Letters." We've done 'em a couple of times. We'll continue to do it. Just send us the questions. Now, look, this has been Zach, and you've been listening to Joseph Price, founder--well, co-founder, 'cause no disrespect to Favor. John Favor, what's up? We see you. And CEO of Grown Up Sports, based in Houston, Texas. 'Til next time--Joe: [makes horn-like noises]Zach: Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, snap. Hold on. Wait, wait, wait. Before we go, I do need to get some--no, no, no. Joe, that's a good point. Sound Man, give me my air horns right HERE. [he does] Okay, and now we're gone. Peace.

On the twenty-first installment of Tristan's Tips, our special guest Tristan Layfield (@LayfieldResume) shares the method he and his employees use to make review time a breeze. Remember, your annual review is the time for you to be your own best advocate!Connect with Tristan on LinkedIn, IG, FB, and Twitter!https://www.linkedin.com/in/tristanlayfield/https://www.instagram.com/layfieldresume/https://www.facebook.com/LayfieldResume/https://twitter.com/layfieldresumeTRANSCRIPTTristan: What's going on, Living Corporate fam? It's Tristan of Layfield Resume Consulting, and I've teamed up with Living Corporate to bring you all a weekly career tip. This week, we're going to talk about something that is important for every employee - preparing for our annual reviews. As a hiring manager, one of the most common things I saw when review time rolled around is everyone scrambling to get them filled out because they didn't remember what they had done all year, or better yet, turning in self-reviews with little to no accomplishments listed, expecting their manager to remember what they've done. If this is you, you're doing it all wrong, but I'm here to help. Your review is the time for you to be your own best advocate. Otherwise, everything you've accomplished will more than likely be overlooked. So here's what I used to do and what I taught my employees so review time becomes a breeze. Most reviews require you to set three to five goals that you'll work on achieving throughout the year, so I create an annual review folder and three to five subfolders for each goal, both in my email and on my work computer. Each time I complete a step towards the goal, whether that be completing a project, developing a file, receiving recognition or getting certified in something, I file it in the appropriate folder, either on my computer or in my email. Then, when time comes to write my review, I open up each folder and easily convey my accomplishments. Remember, when you're writing your review, you want to provide your manager with things such as dates, dollars, or whatever details or measurements are needed to let them know not only that you achieved the goal, but you surpassed it. This will help them make the case for giving you that raise or recognition that you deserve. This tip was brought to you by Tristan of Layfield Resume Consulting. Check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @LayfieldResume, or connect with me, Tristan Layfield, on LinkedIn.

Ade and Zach reply to more listener letters! Remember, if you have a question you'd like for us to answer and read on the show, feel free to email us at livingcorporatepodcast@gmail.com! You can also DM us on all platforms - they're open! Check them out: Twitter, Facebook, InstagramConnect with us! http://bit.ly/livingcorporateTRANSCRIPTAde: Hey, y'all. It's Ade.Zach: And it's Zach. Hey, look, we did it the other way. How does that feel?Ade: Yuck. I can't stand it.Zach: [laughs] It's also alphabetical, and we're going from A to Z with these listener letters. Yo. Bars. [laughs]Ade: All right. [?]. I'm just gonna let you have it.Zach: Man. Y'all, I might be--yo, I might--I need to take these talents, like, to NBC, man. Like, I need to write for somebody. Like, these are good jokes.Ade: Hm.Zach: Or maybe I'd be, like, a ghostwriter, 'cause, like, this is crazy. I have bars. Like, this is great. Did you hear that? I said alphabetical 'cause you--Ade: No, I got the point.Zach: You know what I'm saying? Come on, man. Don't hate. Okay, so look, we're doing these listener letters today. Now, look, we kind of said it last week. The names y'all put in these letters, we're going to say those names unless it seems a little too specific, then we might, like, just call it something else, right? But, like, just know we're gonna read these letters as you send 'em, right? So, you know, sign your name with what you want to be addressed as, and we'll make sure that we respect that, but, you know, we don't want to, like, go into our fake bag name and then, like, give you a fake name, but that might mess around and be your real name, you know what I mean? So just help us out. Help us help y'all. Yeah? Okay. So look, we got these listener letters. We're gonna go ahead and get going. I'ma read this first one. The subject line is "Too Friendly." Uh-oh. What's that mean?Ade: It sounds like a call to HR.Zach: I'm saying. Like, what you mean too friendly? Relax. Okay. "What's up, Ade and Zach?" Look, they kept it alphabetical. What'd I tell you?Ade: [scoffs]Zach: "I feel--" [laughs] "I feel like everyone else is super close at my job and I'm always on the outside of whatever inside jokes they're telling. It makes me question who I can trust, since everyone is friends with everyone but me. They're always going out after work and will come back from the weekend with their stories of what they did. I just want to come to work, do my thing, and go home. I don't want to give up that much time, but I'm also feeling like the odd woman out. What should I do to feel more comfortable at my job? Thanks." She wrote her name as Tracy. Okay, so what should Tracy do?Ade: Well, Tracy, you can't have your cake and eat it too, friend. I don't know what to tell you. It sounds like you're saying that you don't want to do the things that make--that have made everyone else become closer and, you know, more vulnerable with each other, right? So I understand wanting to come to work and go home and have that be the extent of your responsibilities at work. That being said, it means that you're not going to have a relationship with the depth that you are admiring and coveting. I mean, you can certainly do the things that we encourage. You can ask your coworkers to go get coffee with you, maybe bring donuts, but you can't have the conversations with people, you can't--honestly, if they're having, like, inside jokes because they went to Happy Hour three times and you went zero times, you're not gonna get any of those contexts. Am I missing something?Zach: No, you're not, and I think ultimately to make friends you have to be friendly. That's what my mom always tells me. Right? Like, you have to actually put yourself out there. So looking at your letter, I'm not really sure--I'm imagining, because of our platform, that you're a person of--a woman of color, and if you are--and even if you aren't, like, it can be hard to put yourself out there and--'cause to show vulnerability with, like, a group of people that you don't really--you don't know, to, like, really try to make friends, and it's tough because, you know, like, the cliqueiness and stuff, like, those things don't just stop after high school. Like, there are definitely, like, work cliques.Ade: Correct.Zach: And so I can understand and empathize with you, you know, feeling a certain kind of way, but, like, if you [?] these insecurities, one way to combat those insecurities is to one, just, like, maybe go out every now and then. It doesn't have to be all the time, but just take the time. Like, if you know they go out somewhere every weekend, maybe you go one time with them on a weekend, or just start maybe with baby steps of if you know they're going out to Happy Hour every single week, you know, maybe choose one or two times a month that you're gonna go with them, right? Like, and then that way you can start kind of easing into it, and that way you will feel more comfortable, and then they'll feel more comfortable, and then, like, it'll--barriers will just kind of come down, I think. But I'm not a woman though, and, like, my wife always tells me that, like, women are different. Like, I'll be kind of talking to her about something and she'll be like, "Look, Zach, women are just different." So help me understand, Ade, what I might be missing in this.Ade: I do not want to project things that aren't there. I don't want to project off of my own personal experiences, simply because I don't think that it does Tracy any good to hypothesize about what could be happening. I mean, her letter doesn't say that she's ever been invited. So that to me might be the issue in that it's one thing that they're having all of these, like, Happy Hours or they're going or whatever it is that they're doing outside of work. It also doesn't say how long that Tracy has been there. It doesn't say that she's ever been extended a formal invitation. It doesn't say that they're including her in other ways that don't include these extracurricular activities, so I--there are many, many different things that could be going on, but what I do know to be true is that Tracy herself says that she only wants to come to work, do her thing, and go home. There are ways to develop friendly relationships that don't also require you to be more vulnerable than you want to be at work. So I would say to Tracy kind of what we said last week with I think it was Jamal. Grab a drink with them. Not, like, alcohol, but grab some coffee or grab some tea, or come in in the morning and ask them about the weekend and share a little bit of what you did on your weekend, or "Oh, hey. Did you guys catch Homecoming on Netflix? Really great. You guys should see it." There's so many--yeah, there's so many different ways that you can share cultural contexts that don't require you to be more revealing than necessary. Also, once you start relying on greater cultural contexts, I mean, you don't have to get their inside jokes, because Beyonce, like, crosses all cultural barriers, right? Like, come on. Come on.Zach: "Come on. Come on." [laughs] No, I super agree, and that's a really good point, like, that culture is a big deal. People talk about culture in, like, these really, like, high-brow, generic, 30,000-foot ways, but I think, like, just really practically speaking, like, for people of color, at least I'll speak for black folks, like, if I'm going out for drinks with you after work, like, that means that I'm really cool with you. So, like, it's hard for us--I'll speak for me anyway. It was hard for me to, like, really be like, "Yeah, I'ma go out to drinks with you," after I've already worked 8 hours or 9 or 10 hours with you and I've seen you, you know what I'm saying, all day, and I don't even know if I really like or trust you. So, like, you haven't really shown me, like, any type of trust-worthy characteristics while we work together, but now I'm about to spend extra time and my money with you? Right? Like, those are the things that have gone through my mind. Like, "Okay, I'ma go break these barriers down," but, like--and we talked about this with Deborah Owens, who's CEO of the Corporate Alley Cat. We spoke with her--we spoke with her about this, I believe that was in season 1, but we were just talking about that's part of the job. Like, doing that, extending yourself is part of your job, and getting to know those people is part of--is part of your whole work life. Like, those are working hours for you. Like, that's how you should think about it. If you genuinely just don't do want to do it, it's important for you to make some of that time. Again, it doesn't have to be all the time, but you should not be like, "No, I don't go to anything." Like, you should go to something from time to time, but I also think it's a really good point that, like, you shouldn't have to extend yourself super far. There are small things you can do at work, you know what I'm saying? There are things you can do at work to make sure that people at least know a little bit about you. Maybe there's some more humor you can insert at work. Again, I'm not asking you to be, like, a comedian. I'm just saying, like, there's things that you can do. So I think that's really good feedback.Ade: I think the final comment that I would want to make is that--have you ever seen that graphic of the cultural context? Like, the cultural iceberg?Zach: Nah, what is that?Ade: Okay, so it's this image that shows--like, you know how an iceberg, you really can only ever see the tip of it, and there's so much more depth or so much more that's underneath the waters? At the top, it shows things like food and holidays and language as the things that are easy to see, but underneath the surface there are things like rules of conduct, child-rearing practices, family values, body language, expectations, aesthetics, personal space. There are all of these different things that are a part of your culture that are so much more difficult to articulate. I think there is such a thing as work culture, a similar iceberg in that it's easy to see, like, your dress code, turn-around time for client deliverables, or just all of these different things that are easy to see once you enter the work space, but they're things that are--that are underneath the surface, right? How often you should be going to Happy Hour being one of them, which could be really alienating for people who don't drink for whatever reason, right, or that you have to make your rounds every day to have conversations with people, which is something that I didn't know when I first started working in a lot of corporate spaces. Like, you have to make rounds. You have to go around to people and make conversations in certain--in certain work environments because you're so scattered, and so in order to maintain your working relationships, it's this unspoken rule that you get up at 10:00 a.m. or at 2:00 p.m. and you kind of go talk to other coworkers. These are all things that are a part of that work culture iceberg that might be difficult to see, and once you have fallen on the wrong side of that iceberg, it's very difficult to repair those relationships. Because they're unspoken, people assume that you know that this is the appropriate thing to do, and so they feel as though you've slapped their hand one too many times when they extended it out and tried to be friendly by inviting you out or by asking you to do whatever, whereas your understanding is "I'm just here to work and go home," and so in order to bridge the gap of those two work cultures, I would say that there is no better time than now to start reaching out. And people love talking about themselves. It's not, like, a moral failing. It's simply just human nature. Like, when people start taking interest in the things that you enjoy and the things that you feel proud of, it makes you feel closer to the person asking. So Tracy, I would advise you to--not us asking you to, like, do any social engineering, but getting to know people by asking them about the things that they love and the things that they enjoy, and also with the understanding that we are not saying that that means that you need to go attending Happy Hours or that you need to extend yourself any further than necessary, simply that it is a mark of a good professional to be able to maintain good working relationships, regardless of the depth of those relationships. Does that make sense?Zach: It does make sense, and that's just a really good reminder, even for me. Not even for me, like I'm somebody. For me, because--Ade: [laughs] You are somebody, Zachary.Zach: [laughs] Aw, thank you, Ade. But no, it's important, like, to make time and to, like, do the rounds. 99% of the time--99% of the businesses that we work in are people businesses. There's some type of people element to it, and even if they're not, like, external clients, if they're just, like, your own colleagues, there's relationships that you need to be continually thinking about in how you manage them. So that makes sense to me. I think it's super spot on.Ade: Cool. Cool, cool. Thank you for writing in, Tracy. We hope that you get a resolution to this soon, and we'd love to hear from you, see how you dealt with this, how you handled--how you handled this conversation.Zach: For sure, for sure. Okay, I see this next one. This one is called--the subject line is "Micromanager." Here we go. I'ma go ahead and read it. Actually, no, do you want to read this one? 'Cause I read the first one. Why don't you read this one?Ade: Sure, okay. All right. "Hey, Living Corporate. So I've been at my job for about two years now and recently got a new manager. They're nice enough, but are nonstop with the feedback," ooh, "as if they have something to say about every little thing to do, from checking my work, how I present and lead meetings and my body language. They're also asking me for their feedback, like, every other week to the point where I don't know what to say. I just am feeling overwhelmed. A part of me wants to tell them to back off, but I'm not trying to cause any trouble. What do you think I should do? Thanks. Courtney."Zach: Hm.Ade: Go ahead, Zach.Zach: So they're nonstop with the feedback. "I feel like they have something to say about every little thing I do, from checking my work, how I present, lead meetings, to my body language." So when I read this, and maybe I'm reading this from, like, a manager lens, right, so I could be wrong, it sounds to me like you have someone who's really engaged and they're trying to help you, right? And then when you say "They're also always asking me [?], like, every other week." So every two weeks they're asking you to give them feedback, so they're looking for you to help them, just like they're trying to help you. Are you just not--maybe you're just not used to being managed. Like, this is kind of weird. This is kind of weird to me. How do you feel? You're making all of these noises, and you were making noise when you read the letter, so, like, what am I missing here?Ade: Okay. I wouldn't necessarily say that Courtney is not used to being managed. I think that there are two conflicting styles here of working relationships. I think that Courtney's new manager is used to, to borrow PwC's phrase, "real-time feedback," and Courtney might be a little bit more used to a more hands-off style type of management, and that will--that will create conflict, but I don't know that it's necessarily a bad thing. I don't know that anybody is wrong here so much as miscommunicating, because it can be overwhelming to go from a very, very hands-off managerial style to someone who is seemingly in your face all of the time. That can be a very difficult experience. I know that I would be frazzled. I was frazzled when it happened to me, and I certainly think that--and I'm not saying that the manager is wrong either in saying that, "Oh, hey. I noticed that you do things this way. Maybe you should try this way instead," because ultimately most managers who are worth their salt are trying to help you develop your career and help you grow as an individual. They are not being malicious in their feedback, but nobody likes to be micromanaged, and that's likely what that feels like to Courtney. All that to say that I think that there are ways in which you can communicate that you feel overwhelmed with the deluge of information. Maybe you could schedule checkpoints every two weeks with your manager. Like, "Hey, let's go grab some coffee every two weeks for 30 minutes. We can have a conversation about my progress so far. We can talk about what you think I should be doing differently, but the constant check-ins are distracting, they're demoralizing, and I don't feel that they are actually helpful to me."Zach: That's real. You know, so, I'm looking at this email. Like, every other week the manager's asking them for feedback. 'Cause I don't know Courtney. I don't know if Courtney--Courtney might be a man or a woman, I'm not sure--asking them for feedback, right? So, like, asking them for feedback. Like, maybe that's where they can propose this. Like, that's where they can propose like, "Hey, look." Like, being really transparent, right? Like, "Hey, this is how this is making me feel. We have this time already." Unless it's something that's, like, a serious problem, like, "Unless it's something that's, like, gonna break--make something break, like, could we wait to kind of give me feedback during these points?" Typically, I'll say for me anyway, sometimes when I know that I'm micromanaging somebody, I realize that, like, I'm giving them feedback every little step of the way as opposed to, like, backing up and letting them, like, drive something, and then I can be like, "Oh, wait. I was gonna say this, but you ended up doing this anyway." "I was gonna say this, but you ended up--okay, so I don't even have to say anything about this," right? Like, I think that that makes sense. I think there is definitely opportunity, and if they really are being serious about this 360 feedback, I think that's the perfect place to give it to them then, but that's gonna take some vulnerability and, like, courage on your part, right? And you say in here, "Part of me wants me to tell them to back off, but I'm not really trying to cause any trouble." I don't feel like you're causing any trouble, right? I think it's about just being respectful, and nothing in here, what you've said, is that they've been disrespectful to you, so I'm gonna assume that everything has been above the board so far, that it's been, like, work. But that's what I would suggest, and yeah, I'm not trying to be unfair and say that you're not used to being managed. I guess what I'm saying is because of my work history, I've been in so many situations where, like, my lead does not care. They won't communicate with me. And I'm on a project now where I have a very engaged manager, and they really, really are plugged in, and they care about, like, my growth and my progress, and they give me, like, really poignant feedback, and it has felt at certain times overwhelming, but I had to ask myself, like, "Okay, how much of this is overwhelming because of I'm just getting too much feedback? How much is overwhelming because it's like, 'Wow, maybe I haven't really ever gotten, like, on-the-spot coaching about my performance before and, like, I'm just not used to how this feels.'" Like, maybe it's just a new feeling as opposed to me putting it on somebody else, you know what I'm saying? So that's what I mean when Courtney's like, "Okay, well, is this like--" How much is this just a new feeling for you that you need to navigate and, like, work through? That might take you time, and how much of this are you really feeling like they're micromanaging you? That's my take, but I feel like--I feel like we're still saying something--are we saying something different? Like, what do you think about what I'm saying?Ade: I think that it's entirely possible that it's both in that--I think we're actually saying the same thing actually, that the truth is somewhere in the middle, that Courtney might not be used to this person's managerial style, they might not be used to this instantaneous feedback, and that this manager's feedback might be--managerial style might be a little overwhelming, particularly for someone who has been in their position for two years and is switching contexts between two managers, and so I think that as a manager you do have to be mindful of the context and the role in which you step--like, the people who you're managing have had different contexts over time, and I think that it's only fair that you ramp up not coming with guns blazing. And it might not feel that way to you because you're simply doing what you've always done, which is "Oh, hey, I saw this. We should work on that," or "Oh, hey, I think you'd be a much more effective presenter if you did things this way." Which, fair, that's absolutely what you're supposed to be doing, but to manage up, Courtney, I would say that you should definitely take some time to sit down and figure out truly what are the things that make you the most uncomfortable, and then figure out how to make those things work for you, because if the feedback is meant for you to grow as a professional, there's no way that it can be a terrible thing to hear it. However, it's entirely true that it might be overwhelming for you when you're in the middle of deliverables and also trying to incorporate the last six things that were said to you in the last two days. So I would say that for me it would be much more effective to manage up in putting time on your manager's calendar, like, "Hey, every two weeks, let's go out, get some coffee or grab some lunch, and we can talk through my progress over the last two weeks and some areas you would like to see me improve, and we can iterate over my behavior in that way or my progress in that way as opposed to you sending me a note every, you know, three hours, because that's jarring."Zach: [laughs] Every three hours? No way. No way.Ade: Right, it's a little bit much, and not that I don't appreciate you paying close attention to me and my activities, but it does make me feel a little bit monitored and micromanaged, and I can't succeed in that way.Zach: No, that's real, and I mean, like--I'm agreeing with you, right? I agree with that. I think--and I think what's really cool is that two--every two weeks, that can just be the two weeks I already have set up, and yeah, so that's great. I think that's really good feedback. So Courtney, hope that helps. Let us know how it goes. Keep us updated on the progress. I definitely think the term "managing up" is important, 'cause this is part of it, this is a huge part of it, is you having this discussion with your boss, and it seems as--your lead, your manager, and it seems as if--I don't know. Maybe I'm looking at it through--I'm being biased 'cause I'm looking at it through, like, a manager lens, but it seems as if this person at least--I mean, the communication is there, right? It's not like you're having to create a lane of communication, so hopefully it should work out. We'll see though. Hm. Okay. All right. All right, y'all. Well, that does it for us on the listener letters. Let's see here. So I have one Favorite Thing, and I recognize that we did not talk about this in pre-production, so if you don't have one it's no big deal. But it's been a couple of weeks, right? So I just want to, like, really quickly--so, like, I feel like I can now talk about Avengers: Endgame. Very good, right?Ade: No spoilers.Zach: No, no. Definitely spoilers. It's been two weeks. It's been, like, two or three weeks.Ade: No spoilers. What? No. Don't be a terrible person.Zach: How am I being a terrible person? It's been mad weeks!Ade: No spoilers! None.Zach: Oh, my goodness. Man, I was about to say--I was about to be like, "And when So-and-so did the such-and-such!" I was just--Ade: I require more of you than you are giving me right now, Zachary.Zach: Man, that's real, that's real. Okay, so I'm not gonna get into spoilers. However, great, great movie. In fact, let me tell y'all what happened. So opening weekend, right?Ade: Oh. I was about to be like, "Didn't I just say?"Zach: Nah, nah, nah. So opening weekend, right? I planned on going Thursday night, but then I had a really busy day on Friday, and I was like, "You know what? Let me be wise and just, like, let me be mature, and I will wait," so I waited. I did not go Thursday night. I ended up going Friday night instead, and man, when I tell you that I was so emotionally overwhelmed. Like, I cried. I cheered. I cried again. I cheered again. I gasped, like, multiple times. I was like, "Man." And so I had already, like, proactively got tickets for Saturday AND Sunday, and I was like--'cause I just know I'm gonna want to see it again, and the theaters are sold out, but I was so tired--like, I was so drained by that movie and the multiple conversations I had--again, I'm not gonna get into spoilers. I was so drained. I was just like, "You know what? Let me just not." I've only gone to see it once. Like, that's how drained I was, 'cause I was just--I cried. Like, it was just so good. I've never seen a movie--like, it's just the culmination of more than 20 films, man. Like, come on, dogg. Like, that's a lot of work. It was so good. Like, you saw it, Ade. Am I tripping? Was it not great?Ade: It was amazing. Amazing.Zach: It was so--like, my gosh. It was so good.Ade: Amazing.Zach: Ugh, so good. So anyway, that's my favorite thing. I hope that y'all go see it if you haven't already, and then also, you need to go ahead and just cut the cable and go ahead and get that Disney+, 'cause y'all know all these shows about to come up. And again, I can't get into the spoilers 'cause Ade told me not to, but there's gonna be a bunch of other stuff coming, and--Ade: I'm just gonna--I need your login information, Zach. Thanks in advance.Zach: You are wrong. [both laugh] You know, it's so funny. Like, everybody has Candice and I's login. Like, I go on my little Netflix and my Hulu, I see, like, 17 accounts. I'm like, "Who are these little profiles?" Like, what is this? Come on.Ade: You're the grown up. I don't know what to tell you.Zach: Clearly. My goodness though, and some of them--some of them created profiles when they were, like, you know, in college, but, like, come on, man. Like, we all got money now. Y'all need to go ahead and help. Get your own, you know what I mean? Anyways.Ade: Chip in.Zach: Chip in, exactly. Put in on this, you know what I'm saying? You know, put 5 on it. That's all I'm trying to say. So okay, with that being said, I feel like we're at the end. So Ade, is there anything else?Ade: Nope, that's it. I actually was gonna use Endgame as my favorite thing as well. I've seen that movie several times at this point, and yeah, y'all watch it so we can talk about it in two months.Zach: Straight up. Okay, well, I guess that's that. Thank you for listening to us and joining us on the Living Corporate podcast. We are on all of Al Gore's internet.Ade: Everywhere.Zach: Everywhere. Just type in Living Corporate. Check us out. You type in Living Corporate on Google, we will pop up on every major player. You can check us out on Twitter @LivingCorp_Pod, on Instagram @LivingCorporatePodcast. You can email us at livingcorporatepodcast@gmail.com. And actually, on Instagram it's not @LivingCorporatePodcast, it's @LivingCorporate. Boom. Thank you. If you have any questions, any letters you'd like to send in on the show for us to read them like we did on this episode today, again, just email us, or you can DM us on Twitter and Instagram, 'cause our DMs are wide open. That's right. You don't even have to follow us. You can just DM us, but come on, be polite, 'cause some of y'all be out here wildin', okay? You know who y'all are. I'm not even gonna give you the air time, but you know. Let's see here. What else? What else? What else? Nah, I feel like that's it, you know what I'm saying? Grace and peace, afro grease or whatever else you use to keep your skin and hair lathered. You know, do what you do.Ade: [sighs] So much is happening. Um...Zach: This has been Zach.Ade: ...Yeah. This has been Ade. Y'all pray for Zach. He's going through some things.Zach: [laughs] Not at all, not at all! Listen, okay? Moisturization is important, and we're talking to people of color here. Come on. Like, you gotta--come on, let's go. Carol's Daughter or something. You gotta use something.Ade: [sighs] Goodbye, y'all.Both: Peace.

On the twentieth entry of Tristan's Tips, our special guest Tristan Layfield discusses something he thinks we've all been guilty of at one point - resume spamming. He shares a couple steps to help increase your chances of having your resume seen.Connect with Tristan on LinkedIn, IG, FB, and Twitter!https://www.linkedin.com/in/tristanlayfield/https://www.instagram.com/layfieldresume/https://www.facebook.com/LayfieldResume/https://twitter.com/layfieldresumeTRANSCRIPTTristan: What's going on, y'all? It's Tristan of Layfield Resume Consulting, and I've teamed up with Living Corporate to bring you all a weekly career tip. This week, let's discuss something I think we've all been guilty of at one point - resume spamming. Have you ever been searching for jobs and come across, like, eight positions open at a company you know you want to work for, so you apply to them all? I get the logic. The more you apply to a company, the better chance you have of landing a role with them. Unfortunately, that's what recruiters and hiring managers call resume spamming, and it could result in you not being considered for an interview. Recruiters are usually able to see all of the jobs you've applied to in their system. When you apply to a ton of jobs that aren't even remotely related to each other, you can come off as desperate and like you don't know what you want to do. If you're dying to work at a particular company, there are a couple steps you can take to increase your chances. Start by limiting the number of applications you submit to somewhere around two or three. You want to ensure that the jobs have a common thread so the recruiter or hiring manager isn't thrown off by wildly different job choices. Tailor your resume to each of those roles. While the roles you identified are similar, they still have differences, so make sure the resume you submit for each of them reflects that. We live in a day and age where tailoring is the name of the game. Whether it be your job search or your resume, be intentional so you're not setting yourself up for failure. This tip was brought to you by Tristan of Layfield Resume Consulting. Check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @LayfieldResume, or connect with me, Tristan Layfield, on LinkedIn.

In this special episode, educator, mentor, and business leader Elizabeth “Liz” Sweigart interviews Brendon to explore the intersect of sexual orientation, gender and race. They also discuss the difference between the feeling of fitting in and the feeling of belonging and so much more.Connect with Liz on Twitter, IG, and LinkedIn!https://twitter.com/amotherofajob?lang=enhttps://www.instagram.com/thegreatmissliz/?hl=enhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/lizsweigartTRANSCRIPTZach: What's up, y'all? It's Zach with Living Corporate, and wow, we have a really special episode for y'all today. So typically you hear myself or Ade interview a guest, and we ask them a series of questions, and, you know, then we do, like, a wrap-up thing, or it'll be, like, a 1-on-1 and then we wrap up right after the interview. This episode's a little bit different. I have a mentor, a friend, and a colleague named Liz Sweigart, and she is a member of the LGBT community, and she's agreed to have her own guest come on and really talk about queer identity. And so it's really exciting that I'm able to introduce you all to her in this short series that we have in June, and I'm just excited for y'all to hear her. So we're gonna go into break. The next thing you're gonna hear is the interview with Liz Sweigart, and then we're gonna wrap from there, okay? All right. See y'all next time.Liz: Hi, Brendon. Thank you so much for taking the time to visit with me today. How are you doing?Brendon: [?]. Good, how are you?Liz: Very well. Happy Pride.Brendon: Yeah, same to you.Liz: Thanks so much. Well, one of the great things that we've talked about and we have the chance now to talk about a little bit together is identity and experience and how that's translated, particularly for you and your career in Corporate America. Brendon: Sure.Liz: And, you know, as you and I talked in our general conversation about maturity and growth and development, it was so--it was so wonderful for me to hear from you, and it resonated with me so much how, in your experience, you have--you've seen yourself grow over time and seen how not only you identify but also how you present that identity, and then how you respond to the way that others view your identity, and as a--as a queer woman myself, who is in a heterosexual marriage and has negotiated, you know, the spectrum of identity and how that's received, it is--it's so refreshing to be able to feel at home and feel belonging with someone who also recognizes their experience as growth over time. Brendon: Sure.Liz: So I was wondering if maybe, for our listeners, you could recap a bit about, you know, how you've come to identify and know yourself and express that.Brendon: Sure, thank you. So just for the listeners' sake, I'm 40 years old. I am a bisexual African-American male. I am currently unmarried, single, and I'm not currently in a relationship. I guess definitely male. My gender has kind of always been known to me, but from a very young age, I would even say probably around the age of 5 or 6, I always knew that I liked boys as well as girls, but I grew up in an environment--come from a Jamaican family living in the Houston, Texas, area. Extremely conservative, Christian upbringing. I found myself in a lot of spaces where just, you know, expressing a sexual identity that was anything other than straight and hetero-normative was, you know, just unheard of. There were really no examples--in my personal life, no examples of "Hey, here is someone that I personally know, someone [?] who identifies as homosexual and expresses themselves in that way." For me growing up, anything other than that was something you saw on TV. Being gay in particular was something largely associated with white people. I didn't--I didn't know anybody in my personal life or--even in the media there wasn't anybody who you could look at and say, "This is an example of a black gay person," and outside of maybe certain entertainers--who I won't really go on to name because I don't think that's necessary--that may have expressed, presented themselves in a way that people may have, you know, tacitly or openly acknowledged was not the typical, you know, straight, red-blooded, you know, heterosexual male. That just wasn't something that, you know, was a part of my everyday experience.Liz: Yeah, and the way you described that, it's--it really resonates with me, looking--growing up and seeing so few representations of any people of color in the queer sphere, and having grown up in New York City and being raised during the height of the AIDS crisis, and seeing just the depths of inhumanity that people are capable of, it was particularly powerful for me to see how few females were being represented, and there were--there were almost no fem-queers, and so for me, in a way--you know, you were describing your experience as a young child. I remember--I remember similarly being young and realizing that I too liked boys and girls and thinking at a certain point that I only had a choice between the binary, that it was a light switch. It was one or the other. It was on or off. And that--having that kind of awakening that I could define my identity and that I could start to seek out and find role models, that was something that was really powerful for me. So how in your life did that happen for you? Who were--you know, were the people who were early role models for you or early supporters? How did you kind of bridge that point from your adolescence into your adulthood?Brendon: So, you know, I would actually say, you know, from being--some of those internal conversations about, you know, coming to grips with my identity, probably didn't happen for me 'til I would say my 20s. Certainly when I was looking to go to college, I had always told myself I wanted to go somewhere where I was, you know, surrounded by people who didn't look like me, didn't think like me. You know, I wanted to be an engineer. I wanted to work in a space where--well, I knew that I wanted to work in a space where I was likely going to be surrounded by people who didn't think like me, didn't have the same upbringing as me, and I didn't want to--I didn't want to, you know, experience some type of culture shock when I joined the workplace, so I wanted my college experience to kind of prepare me for that. But interestingly enough, in college, while I may have definitely, you know, internally kind of accepted kind of who I was, I certainly wasn't, you know, "open" and "out," as people describe. So in my 20s, you know, I moved--I grew up in the Houston area. In my 20s I moved to Dallas after college. That's where I got my best job offer with a company that I had interned with before graduation, and so I moved up there, and that was kind of probably where I slowly started to accept who I was. I work in the [?] construction industry, on the infrastructure side of the business, and it's very much a conservative [?]--a conservative industry, despite, you know, some of the usual--I guess I would say some of the usual ideals or cultures or values, I should say, that tend to be associated with, you know, conservative people or conservative ideologies. I worked in a larger conservative industry, but the guy who hired me I came to discover was actually a gay man, and he was a vice president in our company, and he was definitely out because everybody at the company knew, and he had actually, you know, hosted, you know, events at his house where people, you know, met his partner, and despite--you know, he was a--he was a Caucasian man, but despite all of that, I still never necessarily felt comfortable to kind of share that with people because, you know, being a black man I think you kind of learn--you know, there's certain sensibilities that you'll develop, especially when you find yourself surrounded by people who don't look like you and think like you in particular, in navigating the Corporate America space. As a large, you know, black man, you kind of learn--you know, you kind of might err on the side of "Hey, I won't reveal too much about my personal life because, you know, you never know what might be used against you," especially if you work in an environment that's cutthroat or, you know, one where you've constantly got people jockeying for position or currying favor, and that was definitely the environment that I worked in, and so I would say in Dallas, while I was also kind of, you know, starting off my career and kind of, you know, being an adult if you will, I also wasn't going to church regularly, and so during that time I really kind of wrestled with some of the things I was brought up to believe as a Christian versus, you know, this identity of mine, this fact that, "Hey, I like men, and that's not going away," and I even went to the trouble of just, you know, not really being unlike myself, but just really not even entertaining conversations about who I'm dating and who I'm interested in or, you know, what the dating scene was like, in an effort to kind of just, you know, keep that under wraps, and despite all that, you know, a rumor developed in the office that I was gay because I didn't openly talk about who I was dating. You know, you wouldn't go to my office or my cubicle and see pictures of, you know, a family or anything like that, and, you know, despite not really--you know, despite not really opening myself up to those conversations, people assumed that I was anyway, and so I think just over time I really just kind of came to realize that "Hey, regardless of what you do, you're kind of damned if you do, damned if you don't, so you might as well just kind of accept who you are." And so recently--you know, I just turned 40 at the top of the year. I guess last year I kind of felt like "Hey, you know, there are people, close friends and family, who probably suspect, just because, you know, [?] it is, still single, no children. Really haven't--you know, haven't really been dating any woman. Certainly never brought any woman around as a girlfriend or, you know, possible marriage material, and it just really didn't feel like--I didn't want to go into my 40s with this being unclear, especially, you know, you have people who are--who are trying to set me up with someone, and, you know, it was just kind of like, "Well, I think I need to let people know, because I need you guys to stop setting me up with, you know, people that I'm not interested in," and so I just said "Hey," you know, "I've gone through this, I've wrestled with this on a personal level, wrestled with this on a spiritual level," because I did find myself back to the church, but I found myself back in communities where it was just kind of like, "Hey, your sexuality is something that you're created with and not something that needs to be repressed, hidden, or kept under wraps for the sake of other people's comfort, and certainly not for the sake of--for being accepted by the Creator." And so I just said, "You know what? I live--the people that know me, anyone who's friends with me knows that, you know, I don't live--I do tend to live out loud. I'm very, you know, forefront with my opinions. I'm not a shrinking daisy when it comes to politics or culture or that type of thing, and I just said, "Hey, you know, it's out there. Just so you know, just so we're clear," and so that's kind of been what the past I guess year and a half has been for me, just kind of saying "Hey, this is who I am," and most people that I talk to are kind of like, "Yeah, we kind of suspected," you know, stereotypes kind of being what they are. You know, I've always been someone who's been creative, someone that's been artistic, someone who's very passionate about certain things and passionate to people of the LGBT community, whereas I guess people thought that I was maybe sympathetic or empathetic with the community, not realizing that I'm actually a part of that community, and when I speak in defense of those people, I'm speaking in defense of myself.Liz: And thank you--you know, thank you for the way, especially, that you put that, especially around how you talk about coming to a feeling of belonging. Something that has always sapped so much of my energy has been trying to fit in and the sense of fitting in versus belonging, and essentially what I heard in your description is many years of fitting in and squeezing yourself into the form and the shape and the space that others wanted to give you, and perhaps as your Happy Birthday 40th present to yourself, it's now belonging and creating that space for yourself.Brendon: Absolutely, absolutely.Liz: So when I think about--you know, you touched on several--first... there's so much there. You touched on the topic early of black masculinity, and again, I clearly--as a cisgender queer white woman, I do not have lived experience. I have--you know, from my observation and what has been shared with me, you know, I recognize that there are--there are stereotypes within the black community, as well as the stereotypes and biases that are forced upon black men from the majority, from white culture, and I'm curious, how have you, as you've come into this identity--in one sense, you and I have both in a way benefited from being able to pass in certain social situations and not be immediately identifiable as queer. I am able to pass in all social situations as white because I clearly am. How have you experienced that difference between--in all spaces clearly being identified, identifying, as black, and then in other spaces not having your identity seen? And how has that dichotomy, how has that tension been for you? How have you experienced that?Brendon: That's a really good question. You know, it kind of hits me in a bunch of different ways. I think, you know, you certainly talked about, you know, black masculinity, and certainly my experience has not only been--you know, not only been informed by the fact that, you know, obviously anybody looking at me is not gonna think that I'm anything other than black, but also there's the additional rub of being an immigrant. My parents, you know, were both born in Jamaica. I was born in Jamaica, and I came over as a baby, and so kind of getting back to what I said, you know, you've got a couple of things working with you. As an immigrant, you know, there's this--there's this desire or this goal or this drive to make it, if you will, to be an American success story, so you come over here and you're presented with images from the culture, white, you know, American culture and say, "Hey, this is what successful people do. This is what immigrants should aspire to." So you've got that playing into, you know, my development, and then you've also got, you know, the unique challenges of being black in the United States. I mean, you know, we can talk all day about, you know, the lived experiences of African-Americans in this country. You know, there's external pressure for, you know, you to not--you know, to live above or to prove the stereotypes that prevail and exist about black people wrong by, you know, being someone who, you know, stays in school and makes good grades and goes to a good school and gets good money and, you know, be this citizen and prove to people that, "Hey, you know, the negative stereotypes of black men on TV are not real," or they don't apply to everyone, and, you know, this idea that "Oh, I'm one of the good ones." You know, "I'm one of the ones who did things the right way and, you know, you can feel safe around me. You can feel comfortable around me, and that's okay," and then of course there's also the Christian, the religious factor. I mean, you've got, you know, pretty much--American Christianity in particular, it's definitely informed by whiteness and white supremacy, and even in religious communities that are mostly black, that's such--white supremacy is so pervasive that even in those spaces presenting as anything other than, you know, a straight, you know, masculine black male, you know, you've got pressure to live up to those stereotypes. And I think, you know, coming up, you know, people would make jokes about "Oh, well, you know, these things men don't do, and, you know, that's a man law violation," and it could be something as innocent as, you know, being the only male clarinet player in a 300-piece band, and just kind of this idea that "Oh, you know, there's a masculine way to do things" that really should not necessarily be masculine or feminine. They're just things that people do, but in this society, you know, any way that we can categorize people and put 'em in boxes and exclude them and feel superior to them, those are the things that, you know, will--whether it's a small group or a large group, we just as, you know, human beings seem to just really have a gift for doing, and so I think one of the--one of the things I kind of realized, especially as I began to find my internal voice and my external voice is that, you know, you really have to live this life on your own terms. You have to be okay with yourself. You have to accept yourself, and you have to be--you know, you have to be comfortable with, you know, the way that you're oriented, and I think, you know, as I've gotten older it's just kind of like, you know, "Hey, I don't--this is my personality. I'm not going to try to appear more butch or try to appear, you know, more or less butch or whatever it is to fit in what people's expectations of me are." I mean, "This is the man that I was created to be." I feel like, the way that I was created, there's a purpose in that. There's significance to that, and in order to realize whatever that significance is, I've got to be my authentic self. And so, you know, whatever that looks like, whatever that presents like, as long as this is 100% authentic me. This is what it is, and you can--you know, you can take it or leave it.Liz: And I love the--I love the authenticity focus of that and how you also expressed, you know, the sentiment I know that you and I have shared in prior conversation, that, you know, we are purposefully and intentionally made, and we are--we're certainly--we're good enough for our Creator and our mom, and everybody else can--everybody else can get in line.Brendon: Sure, sure.Liz: So when you think about how far--you know, in a sense, how far you've come, and listening to--listening to your story--and again, I can't thank you enough for sharing it, trusting me to share it with me and then trusting our, you know, platform and our listeners to share it. I hear--I hear this incredible growth and maturity, and in a sense I also hear a weight being lifted. I hear a liberation coming from--Brendon: Oh, absolutely.Liz: Letting go, in a sense, of the expectations that you can't control, and letting of the stereotypes and the boxes and the labels that others are trying to force on you.Brendon: Right.Liz: And so I wonder, what--you know, as you look to--as you look to your future, as you look now, you know, to--I mean, a strong, you know, nearly 20-year corporate career, and you look toward your legacy and making your mark, what do you--what is your hope for the future, and what--you know, what--in terms of your own personal growth, where do you want to see yourself get to? And what is the--what is the legacy? What is it that you want to create in the space that you're in?Brendon: That's a good question. I just--you know, I think kind of just keeping--you know, this probably sounds cliche, but I--you know, Corporate America has these--you know, these unwritten rules, these unwritten expectations of people, and I've seen so many people kind of not--kind of come into this area not realizing, you know, the inherent politics, the positioning, the jockeying for position and all those things that people do, that some people, certainly people who are privileged to kind of grow--I guess grow up under people who are familiar with the Corporate America space. You know, I'm talking about people who aren't necessarily immigrants. You know, their families have been here for years, and, you know, they've experienced success, and they kind of understand, you know, kind of how the game goes and are able to create more access for their own through, you know, their privilege and then whatever else they're able to accomplish themselves and the opportunities that they're able to create for the people--their loved ones and the people that are coming up behind them. I just--I just want to keep it real, you know? You know, I still work in--I mean, I work in an environment where, you know, I'm kind of--I'm kind of a guarded person just because, you know, I know--I've seen what happens when people kind of get I guess a little too familiar, a little too comfortable, and kind of assume that everyone working with them has their best interest, and, you know, I know that that's really not the case. But, you know, if it were to come up in my, you know, conversations, you know, about who I am and even what I believe and what are these things, you know, I'm at a point to where I don't feel like I need to--I don't need to mince words. I don't need to repress something. I don't need to bite my tongue. Now, do I wear my sexual orientation or my politics or my beliefs on my sleeve? No, I don't, but, you know, I think there's still a tendency to believe that "Hey, in this business everybody thinks the same," and even if, you know, we don't all look the same, this is the general culture," and I think what I'd like my legacy to be is just "Hey, you know, the person that you're created to be shouldn't have to--you shouldn't have to diminish any part of yourself for, you know, professional accomplishment." I think some people might hear that and think, "Oh, well, you know, that means you can come to work and dress any type of way, and you can, you know, say anything you want and do anything you want." That's not what I'm saying, but I still think that even kind of respecting, you know, the rules of Corporate America for your sake and maybe for the sake of the people whose lives you're there to impact, you can still show them that "Hey, you can still be your authentic self and still live in your truth. You can still be excellent," at your craft or whatever gifts you have or whatever your particular calling is. You know, you can still be 100% yourself and still, you know, be a success. You know, you don't have to compromise--you shouldn't have to diminish yourself in any respect just to--just to get ahead. So I hope that, you know, whatever the next 20 years brings for my professional life, whether I, you know, stay in this business or get out of it all together or keep one foot in and one foot out, I would hope that, you know, anybody who's anybody that I mentor, anybody who, you know, in our professional paths I've, you know, been in--we've crossed paths and I've had an effect on them, I hope they think "You know what? Rain or shine, whether things are great or things are bad, you know, you got 100% Brendon. He had his convictions. He had, you know, the things that he believed. He wasn't--he was a rock, but he wasn't also just, you know, stubborn and couldn't, you know, be presented with new information and have his views evolved based on, you know, those things." I just--you know, I think--I think I bring a--professionally I think I bring kind of, like, a quiet strength and, "Hey, you know, Brendon's always kind of there just doing his thing and getting it done and, you know, finding new ways to persevere, but I never thought that he was, you know, fake," or "I never thought that he, you know, pretended that he wasn't who he was or found that he had to act differently around certain people to get where he needed to be." I'm a complex, multi-faceted person, and, you know, while I don't necessarily show all my cards all the time, you know, I want you to feel like, "Hey," you know, "I knew who Brendon was, and what I got was real Brendon, and whether I liked it or not, this is who he was. This is what I got, and, you know, he was always real with it," and I think those that just be yourself, you know, whether it's, you know, loudly or quietly, I think people connect to that, you know? I think we're a bunch of souls, and, you know, whatever light is in each of us knows the light that's in other people--we'll connect to that if you're being--if you're being your authentic self, and so I think that--I hope that's what my legacy is.Liz: I can't think of a better legacy, and frankly, I can't think of more inspiring or encouraging words, not just for underrepresented queers, but for all of those who are feeling marginalized or that they cannot bring their full, true, genuine, and authentic selves to the spaces that they inhabit. So Brendon, I can't--again, I can't thank you enough for sharing your story and for blessing me, certainly, and blessing this audience, just with the accumulated wisdom and also hope, because that's something that we are in short supply of. And, you know, this is Pride Month, and when I think about, you know, what does it mean to be--what does it mean to be proud? What does it mean to be out? You know, something that you said really struck me, and that's that it means to be authentic in all spaces, and so thank you for being that here, and, well, being that every day.Brendon: Oh, no, thank you for the opportunity just to kind of share. I mean, you know, I don't--you know, you never know what a person might hear or might resonate--what might resonate with a person that's listening to your story, so thanks to you for the opportunity to kind of share, and also to--I guess this would probably would be my first Pride Month where, you know, I'm acknowledging it as a part of the community. I can't think of--other than, you know, the typical pride activities that, you know, a lot of people engage in. This is definitely something special, and I'm glad for the opportunity.Liz: Awesome. Thank you again so much, Brendon.Brendon: Thank you, Lizzy.

On the nineteenth installment of Tristan's Tips, our special guest Tristan Layfield (@LayfieldResume) shares a few good questions to ask and others to avoid when the floor is yours. Remember, impressions are everything throughout the hiring process, and your interview is your first impression. The questions you ask can either help solidify you as a top pick or hurt your chances of getting a call back.Connect with Tristan on LinkedIn, IG, FB, and Twitter!https://www.linkedin.com/in/tristanlayfield/https://www.instagram.com/layfieldresume/https://twitter.com/layfieldresumehttps://www.facebook.com/LayfieldResume/Connect with us!https://linktr.ee/livingcorporateTRANSCRIPTTristan: What's going on, Living Corporate fam? It's Tristan of Layfield Resume Consulting, and I've teamed up with Living Corporate to bring you all a weekly career tip. This week, let's discuss questions to ask during interviews and a few to avoid. I think sometimes as job seekers we tend to forget that interviews are just as much for us as they are for the company we're interviewing with. Interviews also allow the companies an opportunity to show that they are worthy of having your talents on their team, not to mention one of the best ways of making a lasting impression in an interview is to ask really good questions and avoid a few others until the time is right. So let's discuss a few good questions to ask and others to avoid when the floor is yours. Some great go-to questions can come out of a few different areas. The first would be to gain clarity. Sometimes these questions take the form of "What does a typical day for someone in this role look like?" or "What would define success for someone in this role?" These questions allow you to get a better understanding of what you could be doing and how you would be measured on it. The next area is to offer assurance. Some of these questions include "Do you have any reservations about my background being a fit for this role?" or "What skills and experience would make an ideal candidate?" Now, be careful with that first question. If you aren't able to take criticism and spin it, then I would avoid it, but the second question is a great way to see if what they're saying in the job description and other places is aligning with what you all discuss. The final area I'm gonna cover is asking questions to identify red flags, and they'll sound like "Can you tell me a bit about the corporate culture?" or "What roles have successful candidates previously in this role advanced to?" These types of questions help you feel out more about the company, the advancement opportunities they provide, and overall if the situation would be a good fit for you. Now, just like there are areas you want to make sure you hit on in your line of questioning, there are definitely some areas you want to avoid. Number one, stay away from questions you can find the answer to on the Internet. It's a big sign that you haven't done your research beforehand. Number two, do not ask any questions about salary or benefits in your initial interview unless you are led to that conversation by the employer. By no means am I telling you not to ask, but there's an appropriate time. While I know the money is the motive, it makes you look like you're strictly in it for the money, and that's a turn-off for most companies. Remember, impressions are everything throughout the hiring process, and your interview is your first impression. The questions you ask can either help solidify you as a top pick or hurt your chances of getting a call back. This tip was brought to you by Tristan of Layfield Resume Consulting. Check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @LayfieldResume, or connect with me, Tristan Layfield, at LinkedIn.

Zach sits down with Side Hustle Pro's Nicaila Matthews Okome to talk about all things hustle. She shares her career journey, promotes SHP's Podcast Moguls program, and breaks down the genesis of her Color Noir app. She also illustrates what it looks like to really build authentic relationships in today's space.Check out Side Hustle Pro!http://bit.ly/2Zl5c4rFind out more about SHP's Podcast Moguls program!http://bit.ly/2WtgG48Download Color Noir on the App Store!https://apple.co/2WGZSMgTRANSCRIPTZach: What's up, y'all? It's Zach, and you're listening to Living Corporate. Now, look, y'all. Y'all know we have some dope guests on the show. Executives, musicians, entrepreneurs, activists. You know, real movers and shakers. I'm not trying to, like, not drop too many names, but I'm saying, like, you know, DeRay Mckesson, J. Prince, Preston Mitchum. I mean, come on. Like, we've got some peop--we've had some people on the show, and look, who would we be if we didn't bring y'all another dope guest, okay, to parlay with us, to kick back, to chit-chat, to lay back, to--you know, to kick it one time for the one time... Nicaila Matthews Okome!Nicaila: Woohoo![both laugh]Nicaila: What a warm welcome.Zach: Oh, no. Oh, I'm just getting started, Nicaila. Nicaila is a Jamaican-born Bronx-bred marketer and side hustler turned full-time podcaster and entrepreneur. Now, listen, y'all. She's Jamaican and she's from the BX, so she be workin' workin', okay?[both laugh]Zach: In 2016, Nicaila created the Side Hustle Pro podcast. Side Hustle Pro is the first and only podcast to spotlight bold black women entrepreneurs who have scaled from the side hustle to profitable businesses. Since the launch, it has been named the quote "perfect entrepreneurship podcast" by Mashable and earned over two million--hold on. [record scratch] Sound Man, give me some reverb when I say millions. So it's like, "Million-million-million-million." Million downloads and amassed a loyal social media following of aspiring entrepreneurs. Oh, yeah. I'm excited just reading the intro. So with all that being said, first of all, 'cause she's from the BX, I'm gonna add a hearty YEARP and--[both laugh]Zach: And I hope it's not culturally insensitive 'cause I recognize that you're Jamaican, but we're gonna add some air horns right HERE [they are dropped] and let these jaunts fly! Let's go! Nicaila, welcome to the show. How are you doing?Nicaila: I am doing amazing. Listen, after that intro, I am on a high, all right? That is, like, the best, most warm intro I've ever received. Thank you, Zach. Thank you for having me in the guest chair.Zach: Ooh. I'm honored, and I'm turning purple--'cause I'm blushing, you know what I'm saying? So for those of us who don't know you, and I know I gave a little bit in the intro, would you mind telling us a little bit about yourself?Nicaila: Sure, sure. So yeah, you covered a lot, but I guess from what you didn't cover--so, you know, at the core, I am a dreamer, I am a storyteller, and when I was young, that looked like me being the little girl who loved, you know, making up stories, just being by herself in her own world, and later in life [it] would manifest in this career in marketing, specifically social media marketing. So I have over 10 years of experience in that lane, and while I was figuring out my life's journey, what ended up happening is--throughout my life I've side hustled and come up with different things a few times, but coming out of grad school I had a hard time finding a full-time role, and that led me back to the side hustle path, but this time I was determined to actually grow it to the point where I could do my own thing. So the side hustle was the podcast, Side Hustle Pro podcast like you said, and I was able to market and monetize it to the level where I was able to quit my full-time job and turn my side hustle into my full hustle, and now I coach emerging podcasters in my Podcast Moguls program because I want other people to be able to have that experience. And since I have a lot of jobs and, you know, that's just in my blood like you said, I'm also an app creator. So my husband and I recently launched the Color Noir app, which is an app devoted to all things melanin and Black Girl Magic. So really excited about that.Zach: Man. So first of all, you've got--you got a lot of dip on the chip, 'cause we was gonna get there, but it's okay. We're still gonna get there a little bit later in the interview. First of all, I love this. Yes, I love the Color Noir app. Definitely in Podcast Moguls. We're gonna talk about that as well. You know, it's interesting, 'cause my--I know that you talked about, like, you know, how you made the side hustle your full hustle. I feel like the scariest part of anything is getting started, right? So you talk about--you talk about kind of not really knowing what you wanted to do after grad school, but, like, plenty of people finish grad school and don't know what to do, and then they figure--you know, they do something. They end up going back to industry, or maybe they teach or something like that. What was the igniter for you to actually launch Side Hustle Pro specifically?Nicaila: So the igniter for me was really rejection. I got rejected so many times in that period between when I graduated from Michigan--I went to the University of Michigan for my MBA.Zach: Shout-out [?].Nicaila: Shout-out. Go Blue. Graduated in May 2015, and [I] didn't end up landing a full-time role until December of 2015. So between that time I had a whole bunch of rejections. I'm talking about--there was one company, I went on an interview--I had six interviews with, and I just knew I was gonna get that role... did not get the role.Zach: Mm-mm! [read: No!]Nicaila: Yeah! So what happened is I started blogging again and interviewing people, 1. because I was trying to figure out, "Okay, what can I do? I know I love writing. I know I love social media. Let me just explore and continue to work on things that bring me joy. I don't know what it means. God, I don't know how to make a career out of this," but I figured that while I don't have a job I should at least nurture those skills. So that was the initial impetus to just start the blog, and I was particularly interested in black women who were side hustling but were able to build out their business on the side, because 1. I was so tired of being rejected I was like, "Oh, I'm done with corporate. Even when I got a job, I gotta do my own thing. I gotta do my own thing shortly after, like, the last job I'm gonna get. No one's ever gonna be able to reject me again." And then 2. I also knew that, again, I was gonna go back to corporate and that anything that I was gonna start would have to start as me building it on the side.Zach: One thing you said that I love is that--what I've observed, especially for, like, younger folks, millennials--millennials ain't really younger no more. We're, like, not the youngest people [?] anymore. What we'll do is, like, you know, we don't know what we're doing, where to start, so we just kind of sit on our hands, and part of your story was you were like, "Look, I'm not getting a job. I'm gonna do something." Like, you took that and you used that energy and put it towards something that eventually manifested into something viable, and that's just--that's so inspiring to me, like, no boost, because I think a lot of times what I've noticed is, like I said, we'll just kind of, like, sit on our hands and be like, "Well, I don't really know what to do, so I'm not gonna do anything." It's like, "Well, no. You could do something," you know what I'm saying? Like, you could do--like, figure out--figure out something. Like, take that energy and put it towards something. Make it--Nicaila: Absolutely, yep.Zach: Yeah, make something--like, do something productive. Man, so that's just super dope. So, you know, we talked about the first scariest thing. I think the second scariest part of doing something entrepreneurial is realizing like, "Oh, snap. This is something I can actually do full-time." So, like, as you were building out Side Hustle Pro and as it was growing, at what moment did you go, "Ayo, this is gonna be me for real"? Like, "I got this"?Nicaila: So, you know, I kind of had two of those moments in my journey. So the first one happened when I was freelancing. So because I didn't have a job I was able to land, like, a freelancing gig with this organization, Management Leadership for Tomorrow, MLT, which prepares, you know, under-represented professionals for the career field and also has a super dope MBA prep program, which I went through, and I also went through it in undergrad.Zach: Yeah.Nicaila: Folks at MLT Family, much love to them, because they gave me a freelance role as a social media marketer during that summer while I was finding my way. That was one of the first moments where I was like, "Yo, I could--you know, worst comes to worst I could maybe start my own social media consulting agency. That's one thing I could do." But I kind of pushed that to the side because I was like--I just didn't know how I would start that, how I would get any clients and what that would look like, and I wasn't sure if that's what I wanted to do. So continued to do that, continued to interview, got my full-time role--which ended up being at NPR, National Public Radio, in Washington, D.C., doing social media for their programming and their podcasts, ironically. So as I was doing that I ended up turning the blog into a podcast at that point, and the moment when I thought "I think I could do this full-time" is when I decided to start going after sponsorships. So within six months of the podcast launching, I pitched my first sponsor, and it just so happened that cold pitching--I landed that first sponsorship contract, and it was $4,000, and it's like, you know, $4,000 living below your means? Like, that could cover me. Like, I could live off that.Zach: Ayo, straight up.Nicaila: So I was like, "Wait a minute." I really went hard. "I could do this full-time." So that was that first light-bulb moment.Zach: Man, that's really cool. The other thing--and your story is, like, just putting yourself out there, right? You took a shot. Like, you had some evidence under your belt that, like, this was something viable with the podcast, and you said "Okay, I'm gonna put something together," and you--and you made it. That's really cool because, you know, people out here trying to pitch and stuff all the time, and I know we're gonna talk about Podcast Moguls in a little bit, but everybody doesn't make it on their first attempt, you know what I'm saying? Like, you hit a full-court--you pulled up from, like, 40, like Steph Curry [?]. And wet. My gosh.Nicaila: It was such a--it was such a good fit, and that's what I try to tell people about sponsorships and pitching anything. Like, you really have to know who you're pitching and what is in it for them. Like, what are you providing? Is your audience a good fit? You have to know your audience too.Zach: You know what? And it's interesting--and I think your marketing background plays a part in this, right? Like, understanding--understanding, like, the mind of your audience and understanding, like, the psychology behind even putting together an effective pitch. And, you know, I've been in Corporate America since 2011, and one thing I've seen is that first-gen corporate professionals, especially black and brown folks, are not the best at really marketing themselves, whether that be, like, to get a promotion or find another job or even to, like, get a side hustle going or get sponsorship and get support for a side hustle. I met folk with genuine passions, and I know, like, part of the TED talk is--[we?] didn't talk about this and all the stuff--in your quick intro, you know what I'm saying, you're still really humble, Nicaila. Like, you didn't talk about the fact that you was on--that you had a TED talk and you [were] talking about multi-passionate professionals and the future of work. But it's okay, I'ma let you make it. But I've met some folks with multiple passions or ideas and aspirations that they've been sitting on for years. Like, they have--like, they have ideas for years. Like, what would advice would you give to folks who don't really know where to start when it comes to amplifying your voice in the working context?Nicaila: First thing I always tell people is you've got to get out your own way, so the first obstacle is your mind and all of the stories we tell ourselves about, "Oh--" And a big thing that holds us back is what we tell ourselves people are going to think, when in actuality none of that matters. Those people--these, like, mystical people that you're making up that are gonna say this or that or these obstacles that are allegedly going to get in your way, let that happen and then deal with it rather than assume it's gonna happen and stop yourself before you even try. So that's #1, get out your way, and #2. Start so ridiculously small. Just by--you can write down everything you think you need to do and then start chipping away at that. So for example with a podcast, I thought about it in 2015. I didn't end up launching until 2016, but that's because I needed to tell myself, "Oh, I'm gonna learn how to do it first." So I spent some time just YouTubing, I spent some time listening to other podcasts to get a feel and doing all that stuff. Like, that was part of my process, but I knew I had an end date in mind, I had a launch date in mind. So start going through the process of launching what it is you want to launch. Invest in experts so that you can learn from the best. I'm not talking about taking endless courses. I'm talking about looking at the top person who you want to replicate and investing--if they have something--investing in learning more from them, whether that be going to a conference that they have, investing in a course that they have, because there's no sense in you, like, sitting around, trying to figure everything out on your own and getting in your own way. So those are my two biggest tips.Zach: That's--man, that's really dope. You know, and it's interesting because I feel like a lot of what you're talking about also comes down to really, like, understanding who you're trying to connect with and building authentic relationships. It's tough though because, like, it feels as if everyone, especially in 2019, is in sales mode on every social media platform, right? I mean, like, no joke. I was on LinkedIn today, and look--you know, Nicaila, I'm a fairly handsome man, okay? My teeth are--my teeth are fine, and yet, like, this dentist hit--a dentist hit me up on LinkedIn talking about "If you need anything, you know, with your dentist needs and you have, you know... use this promo code." I was like, "What?" Why is a dentist pitching me on LinkedIn?Nicaila: I bet you what though. Guess what? Because it's worked for him. I bet you that's why.Zach: I bet, I bet. And I can't knock the hustle. We live in a capitalist society, you know what I'm saying? It's built on the dollar. I get it, you know? Whatever. Different topic for a different day, but with that being said, what does relationship building look like in 2019 when these platforms that were initially built or pitched to us as really, like, relationship building and community building are really being used to kind of always, you know, sell something. And people are fatigued from that, they're wary of that. What does it look like to really build authentic relationships in today's space?Nicaila: Well, you know, I--before I answer that, I do want to say that I don't necessarily think sales is a bad thing. So that's where we can have a dialogue, because I think that's part of the reason why--that stops a lot of us from taking our business from where it needs to go, because we've been taught that sales is a bad word--and don't get me wrong, there are a lot of bad salespeople. There's a lot of practices out there that I'm like, "Come on." For example, when I get a DM that's just, like, selling me. Like, and I don't even know the person. I'm like, "This ain't it. This ain't it."Zach: Yeah.Nicaila: It's like, "This works for you? No, this is not happening." So I know I said the dentist, that might work for him, but honestly most DM pitches are 100% terrible. But at the same time, if you're using your platform to tell people more about your services, like, that's how people are gonna know about it, otherwise no one will discover it. And I've even experienced that with Podcast Moguls, right? You know, because I did a soft launch I wasn't talking about it as much, but when I finally really started to ramp up sharing, sharing, sharing, that's now when I'm beginning to build the level of awareness that I want to get to, because not everyone sees every post. Actually, no one sees every post, so in order to make sure that everyone knows about it you have to continue to talk about what you're doing, and that's what I think of it as - talking. So some people think of sales as pushing and being really aggressive to try to force someone to do something. That's not what I think of it as. I think of explaining to people what you know and leaving--and allowing them to make an informed decision. So that's #1, and #2. I absolutely still think of social media as relationship building. I mean, look at us. I think that--you know, we met via email, right, when you reached out for this podcast, and we continued--even though I couldn't do it at the first moment that you reached out, we continued--you know, [?], might touch base via DM or what have you, and a lot of the people who end up enrolled in any of my programs, whether it's Podcast Moguls or my Master the Gram program, a lot of them follow me on social media, and we have talked multiple times--we've had multiple touch points, and when they're looking and they're ready for an expert to help them with Instagram marketing or launching their podcast, they immediately turn to me and trust me because they know that we have a relationship. It's not just that they saw my ad. Some people it is, but for most people they had some kind of connection with me before they enrolled in my program.Zach: That's real talk, and you know what? Again, I'ma brag for you, 'cause it's--it's funny, because the reason I even connected with you--so I would have likely found you anyway, right, but what accelerated me to connect with you is because there are people in my network, when they knew that I was starting a podcast they were like, "Oh, you need to talk to Nicaila," and so your brand had already established itself enough that I had heard about you in other ways and then kind of--I connected to you through an informal referral.Nicaila: Yeah. [What I'd add?] too about relationship building--so I'm that weird person who, like, I look at Instagram as the same way I would a networking event, and because I'm actually an introvert, because I prefer--I'm a homebody--I prefer social media networking over going to--walking into random rooms where I don't know people. That's just always been my preference, but I'm not a weirdo. Like, I actually--[both laugh] I engage with people's comments. I mean, I will leave a meaningful comment once I start following you. I will--we will have actual, like, meaningful dialogue [?], and so that's how I view relationship building on social media, and then when I have the chance, I do try to connect with people, and I'm doing more of that, especially this year. So there are people who I've talked to on social and Instagram specifically, and I feel like I know them, but I haven't, but then when I go to conferences where I know that, you know, a good amount of these people are gonna be there, that's an awesome moment to kind of cement that relationship. So it started online, and then we make the offline connection, which just helps it to flourish even more.Zach: I love that, and I do appreciate you pushing back and challenging. I do think that it's definitely a space where you can make those connections, and I love the fact that you reinforced that. I think because on my side--and it might be just--you know, that's why I'm in your Podcast Moguls class, and we're about to talk about that in a second, but it might just be because of, like, the level of interaction I get where it's, like, a lot of, just, DM requests about, like, sales-y things, and not necessarily, like, just relational things. So with that being said, let's talk about a little bit more about what you have going on and where people can learn more. I'd like to start with Podcast Moguls because I'm currently in it, and I'm loving it. And then I'd love to talk about the Color Noir app, but I'ma let you wax poetic. You take it where you want to go.Nicaila: Sure. So Podcast Moguls is, you know, one of the major, major things that I have going on, because in 2018 I realized after--speaking of DMs--after years of just, you know--ever since I launched my podcast, after years of just, like, getting DMs, consistent emails, questions, questions, questions about how to do this whole podcast thing and how to grow it to the scale that Side Hustle Pro has grown to, I decided to package my knowledge and actually launch an accelerator program. One was to finally answer everyone's questions in one place, and the second was because when you look at the podcast charts, it is just really lacking in diversity, okay?Zach: It is, it is.Nicaila: And I'm like--I know we have a lot of great things to say and a lot of information, so there's no reason why we shouldn't be up there, but it's not enough to have great content. It's not enough to have valuable content. You have to know the marketing piece, and that's what I realized was my differentiator, my background in marketing. So I started my Podcast Moguls, which is an 8-week accelerator. Essentially I take people through the process of--you can start if you've already launched. So if you've already launched you can go right into working through the [?] steps to scale your podcast, but I also take people through the steps of launching, coming out the gate strong, growing that audience, and then continuing to grow from there. We have weekly coaching calls, so it's really cool because--it's not just a course, it is an opportunity for me to also really learn what people are struggling with so that I can continue to stay on my toes and just refine and refine content and give people information. So it's been a really rewarding experience for me. I think sometimes when we are on this path of entrepreneurship doing very untraditional things--like I said, when I was really exploring blogging I was like, "I don't know where this is gonna lead. This makes no sense. This can't possibly be a job." And I still have those moments where I'm like, "This can't possibly be a job," but I've learned through Podcast Moguls is when I see the results that people are getting, their reactions when they break in the Top 200 charts in their category and break through 10,000, 20,000 and more downloads and land their first sponsor, that has been a light-bulb moment for me to realize, like, "Listen, bloom where you are planted." You never understand exactly why you are doing this thing right now, but keep doing it. One day it will all make sense, because this is benefiting someone. This is providing value. And this is gonna change your lives--just like launching a podcast has changed my life, this is going to change your life. So I really am just so happy that I launched Podcast Moguls, and for anyone out there who's listening and, you know, has an idea for a podcast or started their podcasts and want to take it seriously and not just treat it as a hobby, I definitely recommend you come over to the program. Just go to PodcastMoguls.com. So you said to also talk about Color Noir, right?Zach: I did, but can we just pause for a second?Nicaila: Sure, yes. Yeah, I think we do need to pause, because you're in the program and, you know, you can definitely speak to being a podcaster who has a podcast, was doing your own thing, growing on your own and deciding to join.Zach: Yeah. So first of all I love the passion, right? And so, like, I got this app--see, I ain't trying to be just too--just too ridiculous, 'cause I was gonna play, like, these little "ow"--'cause I felt like you was preaching. Like, "Mmm." Like, "[imitating]," you know? I was like, "Golly, she is going off." But yeah, no, no doubt. You're absolutely right. Living Corporate has been around for about a little over a year, and so we're at a point now where I feel like we are--we're definitely continuing to grow, but I want us to get to that next level, and I'm a little impatient, and I also just--there's a lot of things that I know I don't know, and so what I've loved about Podcast Moguls so far is how open it is and how it really does reinforce community through the social media aspect. I love the content. It's just really--it's just really, like, smartly put together. Like, it's very interactive. It's self-paced, which is really important because I'm a manager at a big four consulting firm, so, like, I don't have time in the regular part of my day. I have to kind of, like, carve out time in my weekend to get in--I just love it. I love it. I'm just now really getting into the marketing aspect of it, but what I've already gone through just to, like, the basics and, like, the background, and, like--I'm loving it. I think it's absolutely great, and I definitely--this is not even an ad.Nicaila: That makes me so happy. Right? That's not even an ad.Zach: This is not an ad, y'all. I am not a corporate shill, okay? I am for the people. Yo, I'm still with y'all. I'm still with y'all. Don't play.Nicaila: No, but that makes me so happy, and also I'm really excited for you because I'm a listener of Living Corporate, and like I said, it's all about--Zach: Stop. Stop.Nicaila: No. It's all about this valuable content [needing to get?] in the right areas. Like, you know how many of us struggle with this? I mean, all of my business school classmates, like, this is our dilemma right now. This is--this is what I see people talking about in GroupMe and these conversations that you're having on the show. So it's all about getting it in front of more people.Zach: Man, I'm so honored that you listen to the show. Dang. I'm, like, really dang cheesin'. Uh, cool. Cool, cool, cool. Let me--[composes himself] All right, cool, so let's talk about this Color Noir app. So before you get going, I love the pictures, right? Like, it's super fire, and, like, Candice, my wife, she's a big--she's a big colorer, so, like, when she--she's in it as well. Like, we're fans. We are fans.Nicaila: Yay! I love to hear that too. So Color Noir, I mean, yeah, I didn't realize how big coloring books was until my husband Muoyo--like, he is--you know, he's the app guy of us, so he has been in the app business for almost ten years, and he kept coming across all of these coloring books. "Coloring books?" And he's like, you know, "I think we should create a coloring book app, but for black people," because as usual, everything that's created is not created with black people in mind. The images, you know? Look at Disney, Disney movies. You talked about Band-Aids in one episode. It's crazy that literally--Zach: We did talk about Band-Aids.Nicaila: Literally everything that's created on Earth was not created for us. So that's a big opportunity, y'all, for those of you out there figuring out what to create, literally look at anything--Zach: [laughs] And make it black.Nicaila: [?] selling it, okay? So, you know, he brought the idea to me. Of course I loved it because I just love seeing myself represented, you know? That's why, as soon as Rihanna launched Fenty, like, I--that's my exclusive makeup line now simply because I love what it represents. So we developed this together, so he worked with the actual developers and, you know, handled the technical side whereas I was all about the look and feel, because I am a user. I am the target customer, so I needed it to be reflective of me. And then one of the smart things that we did, we also created a Facebook group so that as people are using it--when we launched it it was beta, so everyone could use it, give us feedback before we really started marketing it, and so that group gave us really great feedback about skin tones, us needing to add more skin tones, the images, and of course Android, which is coming very soon, so--Zach: Look at y'all. First of all, it's so fire. It's so fire. Like, the designs are so intricate too. These are beautiful stencils.Nicaila: Yeah. So, like, we discuss every image, 'cause it's like, "What is this--" You know, it can't be too complicated that you can't color it, but at the same time we wanted images--eye-catching images that you don't see every day. You don't see a black mom breastfeeding her child in any old app, okay? So that's what we got going on. So check out Color Noir, y'all. N-O-I-R.Zach: Come on, now. And look, Nicaila, you know we got you. We're gonna have all the information in the show notes, so y'all make sure you check [them] out. Now, look, you know that we could keep on going, but let me just go ahead and stop, because we got other things going on. I want to respect your time. Any parting words or shout-outs?Nicaila: Yes. So parting words. First and foremost, I want everybody out there, if you have a passion that you are not exploring right now, start making some time every week just to see--just to see--what it would be like if you actually pursued it, and also if you want that kind of encouragement, definitely come over to the Side Hustle Pro community. We are Side Hustle Pro on every social media platform, so on Instagram, Facebook, just search Side Hustle Pro, and of course I really hope you listen to the podcast if you haven't already to get inspiration from dope black women entrepreneurs who started as side hustlers.Zach: Come on, now. Look, that--this is awesome. First of all, Nicaila, for real, thank you for being on the show. This has been wonderful, and--Nicaila: Thank you so much for having me.Zach: That does it for us, y'all. Thank you for joining us on the Living Corporate podcast. Make sure you follow us on Instagram @LivingCorporate, Twitter @LivingCorp_Pod, and subscribe to our newsletter through living-corporate--please say the dash--dot com. If you have a question you'd like for us to answer and read on the show, make sure you email us at livingcorporatepodcast@gmail.com, but look, don't play. Our DMs are wide open, so you can go ahead and DM us. We'll make sure that we shout y'all out. Get your letter in that way. This has been Zach, and you've been listening to Nicaila Matthews Okome, founder of Side Hustle Pro, multi-passionate entrepreneur and general snatcher of your edges and mine. Peace.  

Ade hosts another special episode, this time centered around pride and the origins of Pride Month! She also talks about the infamous Stonewall riots and the series of events they kicked off that have brought us to this point in time.Find out more about Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera!https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsha_P._Johnsonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_RiveraConnect with us!https://linktr.ee/livingcorporateTRANSCRIPTAde: What's up, y'all? It's Ade, and you're listening to Living Corporate. So today is gonna be another solo run with just me, so welcome. Strap in. Let's have a quick conversation about Pride Month. So as many of you may know, I identify as a member of the LGBTQI community. I've always used the label queer and only recently started to embrace the label of lesbian, which that's gonna be another talking point a little bit later on, the reclamation of the term queer, but for those of you who celebrate, Happy Pride Month. For those of you who do not celebrate, Happy Pride Month. I'ma go and be prideful anyway. So for those of you who don't know, June is Pride Month. It is the month during which members of the LGBTQIA community celebrate history, culture, openness, freedom. There's so much more to it, but this year is actually the fifth year--the fiftieth year anniversary of the Stonewall Riot, which, like, kicked off a series of events that have brought us to this point in time. I'm not gonna do a full historical rundown. I do think that it's important that you know what the Stonewall Riot was, who certain figures were, so I'm going to do a quick exposition of that history, and I'll mention some names, and I strongly encourage you to go look into their stories and the impact that they had. So the Stonewall Riot was essentially this mini-revolution back in the '60s--and well before then, but we're speaking at this point about 1969. At this point, police officers used to go into bars where people who were suspected of being in the community were, and they would go in and essentially conduct raids. They would assault people, round them up, take 'em to jail, physically assault and molest them. If they saw people who were dressed in ways that they felt were not appropriate for their gender they would actually physically strip search them in ways that were humiliating and dehumanizing, and intentionally so. So in 1969, the club at the time, it was called the Stonewall Inn, and it was owned by a mafia family. So in general they would get tips before people--before the police would come, and so they'd be able to, like, disperse the crowd in order to minimize fallout and damage to people inside, but on this particular day they did not get--they did not get that heads-up, and so, you know, police officers came and did their fascist thing, and they ran in and were rounding people up, and at some point--historians differ on what precisely happened, but someone threw a brick. So some people say that that was Marsha P. Johnson, and some people say that it was Sylvia Rivera. Others, you know, aren't--don't necessarily claim to know who the first person was, but somebody threw a brick, and it started this chain reaction of people fighting back. And so that's the first point that I want you to take away, that, you know, in 2019 or in 2018 or whatever pride parade you may be exposed to, you may understand pride as sort of this, like, party and this sort of hedonistic celebration of life, which it is sometimes, but I also never want it to be lost that resistance is at the core of Pride Month, that pride was born from a place of resistance and subversion. I mean, think about it. These are people who were forced out of public spaces, who legislation essentially rid them of all of their human rights. They could be picked up and humiliated and debased for no reason other than they were different than others and they stood up and said, "You know what? Enough is enough. You will respect my humanity. Period. I'm not having it." And I want to make the point that regardless of what you think or what you feel, what your own personal perception of what the LGBTQIA community or is not, people being different from you is not a sufficient condition for you to rid them of their human rights. Period. There is not--there has never been an argument that held water for me, even before I came out, that made sense as to why it is permissible, it is legally permissible, to legally discriminate against any group of people. So let that be that. So since then, after, you know, this very revolutionary period, the community went through periods of growth, of advocacy, of community building, particularly during the AIDS crisis of the '80s and '90s in which pride, again, became a celebration of life. It became resistance, and the entire community just refused to be, you know, subjected to cruelty. Like, "No. We are human beings, and we will have our human rights." Like, having an entire community just refusing to be bound in situations in which people are literally being, like, put in jail for just being in love with someone, or Matthew Shepard--people just being murdered for the way that they exist in and of itself. To me, there is no--there is no better way to explain what pride means to me and why pride matters than to remember that there were people then who looked the entire world in the eye and refused to be ashamed, and there's no reason--no better reason now for why pride matters than the fact that trans women as a whole have an average lifespan of 35 years. In 2019 alone, I believe the count so far is seven trans women have been murdered. That may not sound like a lot to you, especially if you're in a high crime rate city, but imagine that you are such a small percentage of the population and people constantly murder you. And that's not even the daily assault and harassment and the fact that there's no legal protection for your rights, whether it is in the workplace or for your housing security. That leads to an incredible amount of vulnerability and housing insecurity, and choosing to wake up every day and be nothing less than your authentic self requires a level of bravery. That's why pride matters to me. So the other thing that I want to talk about--I was saying earlier about reclaiming the term queer. So in the past, queer had very much been used--and it's still used to this day--as a slur against people in the LGBTQIA community. It's used particularly against masculine-presenting people as a slur, it's a derogatory term, but more recently--and I think spoke about this last year if y'all remember that episode. More recently it has been reclaimed by members of the community who are essentially saying, like, "Hey, in the same way that other communities have reclaimed words that have been used to harm and abuse--" Like, okay, queer means weird. That's fine. Like, I'm perfectly fine with existing outside of hetero-normative norms. I'm perfectly okay with not obeying the terms of the binary. All of that aside, that does not make me any less human or any less worthy of love and respect and a fulfilling life, and that's my understanding of it. If anybody else has a different interpretation of that that does not align or anything like that, we'd love to hear from you about how you feel about that. I noticed recently that there's been more and more of a pushback against that term in particular, and my company was hosting a Lunch and Learn about pride in particular, and an older woman was very, very--like, she had a visceral reaction to it, and it might be, like, a generational divide thing, because I recognize that millennials and younger have a different relationship with queerness, due largely to the work of those who have gone before us, but millennials and younger just have lived--have not lived in a world that is that viscerally hateful, right? Yes, there is a lot of visceral hatred, right? Like, I'm not minimizing or even justifying the vitriol. I am saying though that 2019 is not 1969, and so it's understandable that we have different contexts, the same way that many older black people do not understand and fervently disagree with the reclamation of the N word. I can understand why folks do not understand the reclamation of the term queer. Yeah, I just want to talk through and maybe explore a little bit further what that looks like and what consensus might be around that in the community. And it might just be that there's no consensus, but I am interested in what that conversation looks like. Okay, so I know I've mentioned Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, but it really would behoove you just to be a well-educated person, have a well-rounded understanding of American history. Please look into those two women, Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera. They, I think, define for me what it means to be an elder in your community, and just kind of extrapolating into corporate spaces--Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera [?], who had very little in the way of resources, and they still found ways to advocate for and support and protect their community. They created housing for young trans youth. LGBTQ youth have extremely higher rates of homelessness, of depression, of suicide, of drug addiction, largely due to the fact that often times coming out means that you are put out of your home, you are ostracized, you are--sometimes it's not even coming out. Sometimes it's just your mere existence in spaces that were not meant for you, meaning that you automatically have these poor markers for your general--your general life expectancy and all of these other things. Like, young LGBTQ youth, after being put out, often have less access to shelters. If they're trans, they turn in high rates to sex work as a means to support themselves, all of which is not beneficial for young minds trying to just find their way. I mean, imagine hitting puberty and also trying to navigate where to sleep and what you're gonna eat in the next day or two. It's difficult. That's why pride matters. Pride to me is about community. There is no better story of fictive kinship and what it means to truly draw your community around you and meet people out of a place of love and compassion than the LGBTQ community. I think that if you explore stories of lesbian den mothers who would, you know, take over the task of caring for sick and dying gay men in the '80s and '90s when their own families abandoned them and when care was spotty at best in these hospitals. For me, it truly redefines what love is. Community and family [during?] pride is an incredibly special feeling. I think that--and this may be speaking for myself, although I do suspect that this is a shared sentiment across the community. I think that finding yourself in spaces where you're not defined by being in this community, it's just "I exist and I'm valid, and look at all the ways in which I can have fun--" It's a powerful feeling, because human beings were not meant to live in isolation, and it can be incredibly isolating when you're the only person in the office using the term "partner" instead of husband or wife or you're the only person in the office whose pronouns are not respected, or you transition in the office and people refuse to use--or they continue to use your dead name. All of those things can feel incredibly isolating and dehumanizing. Pride matters because it is a space in which you can be validated without even thinking about it. Again, incredibly special feeling. So I told you all of the reasons that pride matters, particularly to me. What are the ways in which you can celebrate pride, even if you are not in the LGBTQIA community? I realize now I've been using LGBTQIA and not said anything about what that means. For those who don't know, LGBTQIA stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual. It is an umbrella term that tries to encapsulate the entire spectrum of folks who are gender-nonconforming, people with diverse sexual orientations, but it is of course not all-encompassing. The umbrella is wide. So what are the ways in which you can help? So of course you can donate. You can find small organizations in your communities that are working to support, especially the youth around you. Providing them with mental health care, with job training, with access to shelters, and maybe just even a safe space. If you are in the Washington, D.C. area, Smile, the D.C. Center, are both great organizations where you can donate money, and your money goes directly to supporting kids or Smile in general. Works with LGBTQIA youth, and the D.C. Center works at large, but they especially have a program for asylum seekers, which is dope. Another thing you can do with these organizations is volunteer your time. Whitman-Walker in D.C. is always taking volunteers to, you know, create bagged lunches, to come volunteer your time, to work with people. I mentioned Smile earlier. I mentioned D.C Center earlier. All of these spaces--this is just for if you're in the DMV area. I can't imagine the gamut of organizations out there doing good work. Volunteer some of your time. Take, you know, an hour out of your month to just spend time with people. It's well worth it. You get to meet new people and truly positively effect the life of others, and if you can't do that, you can call your state and local officials. Advocate on behalf of legislation that supports the LGBTQIA community. The Equality Act passed the House earlier this year. I don't know if it's gonna pass the Senate. God willing the rain--I don't even know how that saying goes. I think it's "God willing the rain don't come," or it's "God willing the sun don't shine." Someone will correct me. Help me with this, y'all. Anyway, support by, you know, calling into your state senators, your local officials, making sure that they know that you are a voter and you care about the rights of the LGBTQIA community, because believe it or not, our rights are still being voted on. Like I said earlier, in something like 29, 30 states, there is zero protection for housing security, for job security. Like, you can legally discriminate against people for their gender performance and their sexual orientation. That's a legal thing. Like, if I got married today and I wanted to put my wife on my insurance, it's entirely feasible that my employer could fire me for that. I mean, of course they're not gonna say "We fired you for this," but... I mean... yeah. Another thing you can do, those of you who are in larger companies--well, not even larger, mid-sized companies--you can encourage your company to host workshops and events and also get your company to meaningfully support some of those organizations that you find in your--in your own neighborhoods. If you find yourself donating your money to an organization near you, challenge your company, your boss, your leadership, to match your donation to that organization or to sponsor that donation for three months, six months, a year. You know, get your company to put their money where their mouth is, to affirm the life of or the lives of people who need support now more than ever, particularly in this climate. So I've been going for a little while now, and I just want to wrap up--I just want to wrap up this conversation by saying two things. One, pride matters because in June 2016 someone walked into a club full of gay people, queer people, lesbians, trans women, bi folks, during Pride Month, at a point in which the club would be full and people would be married and hearts would be joyous in Miami, one of the best gay clubs in town. He walked in there and shot the club up, and I mean that in the least complimentary way possible. His homophobia and his transphobia walked him in there, and he shot an entire club full of people who were just trying to celebrate life. In the aftermath of that rampage, 50 people were killed. Over 50 more were injured, and many people followed that incident by victim blaming, by saying "This is what you get for being different." Remember that pride started in Stonewall with the throwing of a brick. Remember that pride is subversive. It is revolutionary. It is refusing to forget, and it is refusing to break. Happy Pride.

On the eighteenth entry of Tristan's Tips, our special guest Tristan Layfield (@LayfieldResume) dives into a goal setting method that will help you achieve your goals through actionable steps called "Boulder, Rock, Sand." Connect with Tristan on LinkedIn, IG, FB, and Twitter!https://www.linkedin.com/in/tristanlayfield/https://www.instagram.com/layfieldresume/https://twitter.com/layfieldresumehttps://www.facebook.com/LayfieldResume/Connect with us!https://linktr.ee/livingcorporateTRANSCRIPTTristan: What's going on, y'all? It's Tristan of Layfield Resume Consulting, and I've teamed up with Living Corporate to bring you all a weekly career tip. Today we're gonna dive into a goal setting method that will help you achieve your goals through actionable steps. There are many goal setting methods out there, and you really have to find the one that works for you. One that I use and actually uncovered from someone I follow on Twitter is called Boulder, Rock, Sand. It takes SMART goals to a whole 'nother level. Boulders are your overarching, high-level goals or statements. So for example, a Boulder statement would be "I want to become a project manager in 2019." Rocks are your SMART goals that, once you achieve them, accomplish your Boulder. For those who don't know, SMART goals are goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. An example of a Rock statement is "I will take on two projects and complete my PNP certification by December 31st, 2019." Typically you want to have three to five Rock statements for each Boulder you set. It is imperative that these be as specific as possible and actually achievable. So if you set a goal of having your PNP certification by February of 2019 and it's December of 2018, you will more than likely fail because of the need to take the course and gather a certain amount of project hours, not to mention actually taking and passing the test. Now, the Sand statements are the specific actions you will take in order to achieve your Rock statements. So for example, I will 1. have a discussion with my boss about projects I can join, 2. utilize my in-office connections to identify projects in need of assistance, and 3. identify and register for a PNP certification course. You can then put these actions into a card or on a Trello board where you have four columns, Not Started, In-Progress, Blocked and Completed. Each card has a goal deadline date and begins in the Not Started column. Once you begin working on it, you move it to the In-Progress column. Now, the Blocked section is for when life happens and sort of stops your progress on that goal. So if your job requires you to travel for a lengthy, unexpected period of time, the card is moved to Blocked until you are back and able to return to working on that task. Setting up goals on a Trello board in this fashion allows you to visually see your progress, which provides motivation to keep going and achieve your goals. This tip was brought to you by Layfield Resume Consulting. Check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @LayfieldResume, or connect with me, Tristan Layfield, on LinkedIn. Thanks for joining me. I'll be talking to you soon.

Zach sits down with the host of the Trill MBA Show, Felicia Ann Rose Enuha, in this special crossover centered around respectability politics. They discuss the importance of encouraging folks to embrace their full selves, noting that only in being your most authentic self can you really be your best at work.Check out the Trill MBA Show! Part 2 is on Apple!https://trillmba.com/episodes/https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i-am-not-your-negro-respectability-politics-w-zach/id1361878040?i=1000440238742Righteous Discontent on Amazonhttps://www.amazon.com/Righteous-Discontent-Movement-Baptist-1880-1920/dp/0674769783Connect with us!https://linktr.ee/livingcorporateTRANSCRIPTZach: What's up, y'all? It's Zach with Living Corporate, and listen, we have a really special episode. We have a special--and I do mean special--co-host with us today. Please introduce yourself.Felicia: What's up, Living Corporate family? [record scratch]Zach: [?].Felicia: I can't help it. This is Felicia Ann Rose Enuha, A.K.A. the truest MBA you will ever know, and I am the creator, executive producer, and host of the Trill MBA podcast, where my goal is to help you survive and thrive in Corporate America by giving you the truth and being as real as only I can be. So I am super excited to be here with you today, Zach, because I love Living Corporate. I love everything you guys stand for. I love the content you guys are putting out for the people, and so thank you for this opportunity to hang out with you and talk that talk today.Zach: Nah. Definitely the privilege is ours, and we definitely love Trill MBA. You do great content. It was interesting, 'cause in our research trying to figure out, okay, who's doing what it is that we're trying to do, who's out here really trying to have honest, courageous discussions about non-majority experiences in a--in a workplace, and Trill MBA was really, like, the only podcast that we saw that was really focused on that, and it's interesting because we actually had a conversation, like, internally about even, like, progressing and, like, moving forward with the Living Corporate platform, because we wanted to understand if we needed to be here, right? But over time I think what we realized is, like, there's definitely more than enough space for any voices that are aiming to do this, and the fact of the matter is if I look across the entire podcast landscape and I can only see one, then, I mean, that probably means, you know, it needs a little bit more.Felicia: Yeah. We need all different perspectives, 'cause here's the thing. As black people, we are not a monolith. Like, what goes for one black person doesn't go for the other. Hey, guess what? Not all black folks are Christian. Not all black folks are Baptists, you know? You know, like, we're not all the same, but the problem is the media portrays us as that one black friend or that crackhead or that baby momma, and that's what it's been until recently, right?Zach: Until recently, that's true.Felicia: And so we have these stereotypes that we need to fight, and the only way to do that is for many more of us to tell our stories, you know, be real about what's happening to us in different aspects of our lives in corporate spaces. That's just one aspect of, God, so many.Zach: No, that's super true, and I think it's interesting. Even the way that, like, you're framing this, in which I agree, is--I think, like, our vibes are really different, right? Like, our core messages are the same, but our vibes are different. So, like, Trill MBA, you know, y'all are--correct me if I'm wrong. My impression is y'all have been focused on, like, the very visceral experiences of black folks and how to really shed off the BS and really be your full selves at work. Now, Living Corporate, we aim to do the same thing, but we're not just focused on black folks and the framing and the tone in which we take around certain topics are a little bit different, and one could even say it's almost like an exercise in respectability politics in the way that we go about handling our content.Felicia: Yes, which is what we're gonna talk about today, and--Zach: Segue king.Felicia: [laughs] Well, the thing is also, like, I'm very focused on black women, because that's what I know and that's what I understand, and the great thing is a lot of the things that happen to black women in corporate also happen to other non-white males in corporate, but I want to pick out the nuances for black women. So for example, white women in the workplace, they get up in the morning, they'll look in the mirror, and their concern may be, "Okay, does this skirt fit too tight? Because I don't want to draw negative attention or derail my career because I'm coming off too sexy at work," whereas black women look in the mirror and say, "Okay, do I wear my natural hair today, or do I need to put this heat on it and damage it one more again? What meetings I got today?" So it's the same experience in the root of oppression. It just shows itself differently, and that's what I want to bring to the forefront.Zach: It's more than appreciated and needed, but yeah, you're right. We're talking today about respectability politics, and for those--'cause we haven't really said this yet, but we're gonna say it now. So this is, like, a two-parter, y'all. So we're gonna have part one on the Living Corporate side, and then we're gonna have part two on the Trill MBA side. But we just want to kind of give some context in terms of just what it is that we're talking about. So I want to go ahead and give a quick definition of respectability politics, and it's interesting 'cause when you look up respectability politics--like, you, like, Google it, right? So there's a Wikipedia entry, and then there's a couple of, like, posts on Medium, and there's also an article on The Root, but there isn't, like, a super historical breakdown, like, within The New York Times or the Washington Post or even, like, The Atlantic. Like, it's not--it's not necessarily something that we just talk about and really explore it in-depth in the same ways as we have other, like, hot terms, hot button terms, but I do want to talk a little bit about it. So the term "politics of respectability"--I'm reading from the Wiki, y'all, so don't judge me. Ultimately, when you--when you look at the history of respectability politics, it really actually started from the efforts of black women aiming to distance themselves from the negative stereotypes that came with being black in their communities, and it aims to control or really set the terms of behavior to make sure that your behavior kind of adheres to norms, and those norms are typically established by the majority. Stereotypes typically, like, around, like, us being lazy or dumb or violent or immoral, and so a lot of times when you think about, like, respectability politics, think about the difference between Carlton and Will on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, right? So, like, Carlton was, like, very quote-unquote articulate. He dressed--he did not, you know, sag his pants. He was a respectable guy. He was very intelligent, whereas Will was--he'd sag his pants, he'd laugh, he'd joke. He'd be all loud, you know what I mean? He was--he dated a lot. So, you know, he was not monogamous at all, and so, you know, that's where you see--you definitely see, like, a dichotomy there. And then it says--again, y'all, I'm reading off the Wiki. That's, like, kind of some of the background, but I'm also gonna put the other links in here around some of the other posts that we found, some of the other research that we found. There are research studies that associate part of the high burden of mental health disease for black Americans on assimilationist behaviors. So what does that mean? So the idea or the activity of us aiming to "act white," quote-unquote, puts a mental strain on us, right? Like, the idea that we need to adhere and just, like, behave in a certain way all the time, and that self-policing, that active self-policing, is mentally draining. Researchers Hedwig Lee and Margaret Takako Hicken argue further conversations about respectability politics should always consider the challenge of negotiating every day social spaces as a black American and how this impacts mental health. And then so really though if you want to--if you want to really read more on the origins of respectability politics, check out the book Righteous Discontent: The Women's Movement in the Black Baptist Church, 188-1920, written by Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. And that's where the term was really coined and created, and it really, again, was to describe the social and political changes in the black community during this time. So this was transitioning from slavery. There was a movement that originated in the black church to really, like, almost reform the black image. This black image was one that was created through oppression, but it was the idea of having the right types of behaviors to be accepted as a functioning member of society. And you see that. Again, like, when you--I remember when I grew up, you know, when I was a little kid, there would be other black people who would be like, you know, "Y'all need to stop acting so black. Y'all need to act white." Right? Or if you're hanging out with your friends, your black friends, they'd be like, "You acting white," if you happen to do well in school or speak well or just reject--like, just reject slang or--it's like, "Oh, you actin' white." It's like, "I'm not acting white. I'm just--" I'm not acting white. Like, that is super problematic, but that's the idea of respectability politics. And then, like--look, so here you go. So y'all want another example? I'm about to say a bunch of buzzwords today. Black Lives Matter. So the Black Lives Matter movement is an example of a movement against respectability politics. The movement was motivated by the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. So we know the story of an unarmed teenager shot by a neighbor. In line with the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement, some celebrities who have typically shied away from the conversations about race have begun to engage the topic. And so we have, like, Shonda Rhimes as an example. Of course we have John Legend, but, like, there's--again, y'all, like, that's the idea. Am I making sense, Felicia? Or am I just kind of all over the place?Felicia: Yeah. I'm over here triggered that--like, that's why I'm like, "Oh, my God, yeah," 'cause I was that kid who was told in elementary school by my elementary school teacher--shout-out Ms. [Sledge?]. Well, I guess she might be married now. [laughs] But, you know, I would come to school and speak in black vernacular from home, and when you're learning, you know how to write sentences and how to write in, you know, "proper English," quote-unquote, you are told then at that point that how you're writing this is wrong. 'Cause I would, like, write things like, "What it is?" [laughs] "How you doin'?" You know? And the teacher's like, "How ARE you doing." "Oh, okay." And yeah, I caught on quickly, and I learned how to code switch without even understanding that's what I was learning to do. It became "This is how you talk at school, and that's how you talk at home." And so for me I also had a nickname, like many black people, and so my nickname is Lisa. And so at home I was Lisa, and at school I was Felicia, and so there began this whole psychological warfare of "Who am I?" [laughs] Or "Who do I need to be?" And always questioning that. So yeah, I'm triggered right now. [laughs]Zach: Well, it's interesting, right? 'Cause basically respectability politics, or adhering to respectability politics, says, "Look, for you to be treated better by those in power, you need to act this way," right? So you need to--you know, at work you need to dress this way. You need to say these things. Your work needs to look like this. Like, and it's so much about quality or even delivery. It's about the methodology of a thing and not necessarily the actual thing itself, and that--again, like, that effort to continue to self-police and tweak and adjust and consider every little thing you do can be genuinely, literally nerve-wracking, right?Felicia: It's dangerous.Zach: It's super dangerous. In my experience in my career, what I've seen is that a lot of times when you have, like, you know, employee resource groups or these types of groups that are, like, basically asking you to huddle around some aspect of shared identity--typically it's race--and for the black ERGs, what I've seen is really just a lot of conversations around respectability, right? So "Hey, when you come to work, you need to, you know, make sure you're dressing like this." "Don't be saying--don't use slang." It's just--it's a bunch of don'ts, right? It's a bunch of--it's a bunch of things for you to assimilate, and I think the biggest thing about respectability politics and just the whole concept of, you know, you need to act this way so that white people approve of you is, look, there's nothing you're going to do--there's nothing you're going to do that is going to dissuade someone from realizing that you're a black person, right? Now, in your mind, I guess if your goal is just to make sure you look like you're one of the good ones, I mean, I guess that's a choice, but ultimately nothing you're going to do is gonna stop them from remembering that you are not white. And it's interesting, because, like, when I talk to older mentors of mine who are the same age as my parents--they've done this for a little while. I say, "What would advice would you give me?" And they're like, "Look, the main thing you need to realize is you will not ever be one of them. Like, ever." Like, that's the--that's the feedback, and, like, that's what they've said over and over and over again is "Hey, you're not them, and you're not ever gonna be them." "So as long as you keep that in mind." He's like "Zach, you know, I know you're doing well and everybody likes you and blah blah blah blah blah, but, like, you're not--you're not gonna be them." And it was just--that hurt my heart. Like, for that to even be--like, for that to be--for that to be the advice that they gave me is--it hurts. Like, it's real, but it hurts. It's like, "Wow, okay." So--Felicia: Hold on. Let's unpack that.Zach: Hm?Felicia: Why does that hurt you and many people? Like, what is it about the fact that you will never be them that you feel--that makes you feel uncomfortable or you feel a certain kind of way?Zach: It's just--it's just sad. Like, it's just really sad, like, because a lot of times when you say, "Well, there is no--there are no races but the human race, and we're all one people," and all this kind of stuff, and it's like, you know, ultimately everybody wants to be accepted, right? Everybody wants to be accepted. So, like, when you're like, "Hey, I don't care what you do, you are always gonna be other. You're always gonna be different." And so it's the--the fact of me always being other and different isn't on its face hurtful. That's not the problem, but what is sad is that, like, the people that I'm talking to who are at the top of their respective fields, they are, you know, again, outside looking in, very respected and highly successful with a huge network of people that don't look like them--that ultimately even they, they go home at their end of their days, or they're in these situations where they still don't feel as if they truly are accepted and belong there. That's sad to me. It hurt. So that's what I mean when I say it hurts.Felicia: Yeah, and that's why I needed you to unpack that, because I didn't want it to be, like, you necessarily want to be them or want to be in the white boy club or want to be a white boy.Zach: [laughs] No.Felicia: [laughs] Right, I just wanted to make that clear.Zach: Definitely not. I'm very--I'm very in love with the skin God gave me. I'm happy with my culture and my identity. It's just more about, like, being other. It's just a different life. It's a different experience, and there's nothing you're gonna be able to do to really--to change that, and not that you should necessarily even want to change that I guess in terms of you being different, but it's just sad. Like, it's just sad to me that, like, I've met people who have been--I mean, they've been working for 40, 50 years. Like, they've been--they've really been putting in all this effort, and you would think at some point they would be truly accepted and truly part of the in group. And there's always gonna be a--there's always gonna be a bit of tension there in terms of "How much do you really belong?"Felicia: Well, and that's the thing, you're not. But we need to realize that that's okay, that it's okay to just live in your truth and be who you are, and I think what's so hard is that as human beings there is a need to feel accepted and to feel like you belong and that you have a place in the space that you occupy, and that rudimentary human need is expressing itself through the nuance of history and culture. You know, basically everything is the fault of slavery, but I think what bothers me the most is that you can't win in this situation of respectability politics because your mentors and those men that were telling you, "Hey, Zach, when you come into this space, you can't do this, you can't do that, you can't do this. You need to be this way." That isn't necessarily a rejection of who you are. What that is is survival, and so something that we have to give our ancestors the benefit of the doubt on is that the reason why they were trying to conform and assimilate is so that they can lessen the negative aspects of life that came from being so different and making white people uncomfortable. And so the idea is that if I show you and prove to you that I'm just as human as you are, that I'm just as good as you have claimed to made yourself to be, then you should treat me better, and you should just let me live, but that's the flaw in the thinking, is that you do this activity, you change yourself, you conform, but they will never see you as human. They will never see you as equal. They will never see you as them because the hate and the wanting to be in power and the wanting to be better than and more runs so deep through generations of the culture of Caucasians that you can do all the respectability politics you want, and it will get you so far--it will help you survive--but it won't help you thrive.Zach: It will, it will. No, it won't. And I think it's just--it's so interesting, because I would say, like, the most respectable person that we've ever seen on a public stage in our generation is Barack Obama, right?Felicia: Oh, God. Poor Barack.Zach: Like, Barack Obama is the most respectable person ever to respectable ever. Like, he is super--Felicia: But yet what I--and see, this is why I love Barack, right? Because, in a very rebellious way, he would let his blackness be known in public. So, like, when you see him greeting, you know, white people, and he's shaking their hands. "How are you doing? Hey. Good to see you. How are you doing?" And then a brother comes in that line, and it's a whole full dap up.Zach: I hear you. I hear you that there would be certain things he would do to let y'all know that he's--he is black, but what I'm saying is that when you look at his overall profile, like, this man has had--he always spoke very well. He went to prestigious colleges. Rarely cursed, like, in mixed company. He always kept his cool, right? Like, he was never angry. People used to complain about the fact that he didn't get angry enough. He dressed very respectably. But ultimately, people still talked to him crazy. People still called--people still attacked and degraded his wife. People still attacked and degraded his children. People still, you know, questioned his--questioned his competence and made a bunch of--a bunch of extremely racist statements. It was interesting, 'cause like, "Wow, man. This dude is the president of the free world. He's the leader of the free world, and yet he can't--"Felicia: He can't win.Zach: He can't win. He can't win. Like--Felicia: He can't win. Can't win 'em.Zach: I want to say like Ta-Nehisi Coates in The Atlantic said. Man, I watched this man, like--he said, like, "walk on ice and never slip once," right? Or something like that. It was like he was--he was squeaky clean, and yet, like--go ahead.Felicia: I was gonna say but then think about if Barack Obama had acted up half as bad--just as half as bad--as this fool, 45, that's in office right now. Can you imagine the David Duke-like person this country would have elected? Because I feel like the current person that holds the office of president--I can't even bring myself to call him president, but that thing in office right now, he is a direct result of Barack Obama's respectability politics and Barack Obama being this entity of a human that had to walk this tightrope line in behavior and manner and actions and, you know, trying to do the best he could with what he had, and they still hated him for it, and they just hated the fact that he was black. And because of that, it was like, "Well, this--" I ain't even gonna say it on your side, but you know what they called him, and now this is the--this is like, "Okay, we got rid of him. We're gonna fix it now," and then, you know, it's, like, swinging the pendulum all the way to the wrong side.Zach: Right. Well, you know, I believe it was in Martin Luther King's--I think it was either Where Do We Go From Here or the Letter from Birmingham Jail, but he talks about--he talks about white backlash to black progression, right, and he talks about the fact that, like, whenever there's something that happens where black folks make some type of progress in being more free, then the white majority--and again, for those who are listening, not every single white person. We're talking about the historical narrative of America--that there's some type of backlash, and I want to say, like, Van Jones--Van Jones, a couple years ago--as problematic as he can be from time to time--he used the term "whitelash," and that's what it is, right? And this is not a political podcast, right, but it's--to me, like, it's the biggest example to me of respectability politics and the narrative of, like, look, like, if they're not gonna listen to Barack Obama, with his very prestigious pedigree and vast intelligence, they're likely not gonna--they're likely not gonna feel you either. So, like, how do you--so then, like, the question to me then is what does it look like to reject respectability politics, reject respectability, and be your best self? Right? Like, that's really what I want to understand. I want to understand what advice it is we have for our listeners who--you know, who have--again, black culture, like, we--especially professional black culture is largely shaped by respectability politics. Like, you're gonna go and show up to these things. You're gonna talk a certain way. You're gonna not do certain things. You're gonna not have certain conversations. You're going to laugh at certain jokes. You're gonna laugh a certain way. You're going to dress a certain way. Like, because of respectability politics, because you want to fit in, and the point that you made earlier about, like, it's not to shame anybody. The origin of respectability politics and the origin of attempted assimilation is survival, right? And that translates today. Like, we act and carry ourselves in a certain way because we want to get promoted or we don't want to get fired or, you know, we want a bonus, or we want--like, there are things that we believe that respectability will earn us, will reward us, and so what I'm really curious about is that conversation. How do we encourage folks to be their full selves, right? How do we encourage people to fully embrace who they are and really be their authentic selves? Because only in being your most authentic self can you really be your best at work.Felicia: Right, and I think we have to really get honest with ourselves and understand that we're operating out of fear. And so this is something that I'll be touching on in my book. I'm working on a book right now to come out at the beginning of next year, and it's focused on career management for black women. And so one thing we've always been taught is that, you know, you need to show up in a certain way, and what I'm finding through my research is that the black women specifically that are doing very well in corporate America--so they're in the pipeline, they have senior-level sponsors. So their sponsors are CMOs, CEOs, CFOs, CIOs. Their sponsors are in the C-Suite, and they are being put into the succession pipeline for higher levels of leadership. Those black women are actually doing well because--they do something that's very unique in that they decide that they're gonna be themselves, but in addition to being themselves, they decide to share their story, one, and two, they also decide to bring their most positive self to work every day. So one thing they still keep I think from the realm of respectability politics is the idea that I have to fight against the stereotype of being the angry black woman. And I honestly think this is okay, because my grandma, she always told me "You catch more flies with honey than vinegar, baby," and that holds true to this day. So when you come into an organization and you face those challenges and the stress people try to cause you, whether necessary or not, when you can come in with your happiest self, your most pleasant self, your most positive self, and still bring the critical thinking--push back in a way that's a win-win for everybody, you know? Tell people about you and who you are and your personality, which we've always been taught "Don't do that 'cause they're gonna use it against you later." When you make that change, that's where you start to see a resonating with the humanity of the people you work with that don't look like you, because now instead of being afraid of you they start to understand you as a human, and you're not just this black entity that they don't know and they're afraid of. And so that's the thing that we need to change. We need to focus more on relationship building and less on conforming and putting our heads down and thinking that our work is going to speak for ourselves, because work is only 10% of the equation in success. So you can do all the great work you want to. The mediocre white man is still gonna get your promotion. Why? Because he has relationships. And so we can now move from this idea of respectability politics, because it's dangerous. It's dangerous to our mental health. It's dangerous because it doesn't help us fight stereotypes the way we think it is. It's like you're trying to call the stereotype as wrong, and first of all, stereotypes are just generalizations that have a bit of truth in them. We all have a Cousin Pookie. Yes, it's true. He might not be named Pookie, but we all have him. You know who your Cousin Pookie is. I got a couple of--Zach: Every family has a Cousin Pookie. Every family, irrespective of race. Right.Felicia: But the thing that we need to get white people to understand is that our Cousin Pookie is their cousin Billy Bob or their cousin Ray-Ray.Zach: Correct. Exactly, yes. Everybody has one. Everybody has a problematic--like, a challenging family member. Everybody has problems in their family. There's--like, the things that are so negatively attributed to black culture and brown culture, those things are happening in all families, all communities, because life happens. Because life happens and we are all human beings.Felicia: Yes! And that's what we all need to understand. This idea of thinking that there's aspects of your life that will make you better than the next person next to you and somehow make them less human than you are, like somehow you're a better human, that's the crux of prejudice and racism and just all of these ideas of you trying to somehow elevate yourself on the backs of someone else, and in order to do that and to somehow keep your conscience, you have to dehumanize the person who you're standing on. And in this country it plays out around race, but, you know, this is a human problem, but the more that we use our intellect to recognize it and recognize that respectability politics was only a way for us to survive in white spaces, that that doesn't work now. And you can try all you want to. You're not going to win. Barack is a very good example of that, and so now what do we do? We tell our stories. We humanize ourselves to the world. We share our culture. We share all of it though. The fun parts, the sad parts, the raw, human parts, the elated, joyful parts, and that's how we start to shift in the minds of the next generations that we are not a people that you can continue to step on and elevate yourself, because we're gonna move, and you're gonna fall on your butt.Zach: And, you know, I'm really appreciative of this conversation. I mean, it's tough because when you think about--I was raised to really believe that "Look, if you just put your head down, you work really hard, you keep your business to yourself, you don't tell your story, then you're gonna go far." And it's like you said, that's not working now. Like, storytelling is the chief medium of connection, and it's growing to be that, especially in corporate spaces. Like, those who can best tell stories, those who can best connect the dots in a way in a narrative form. And not, like, in a bulleted list, but, like, truly how they communicate is effective storytelling. Those are the folks that are making an impact, and that's a different point of direction for us, and it's, like, very much so against the grain of what I believe we've been taught historically will keep us safe.Felicia: Right, but I want you to realize - everything that we've been taught was taught out of fear. So it was "I'm afraid for you to walk in this space, and I need you to keep yourself safe, and so, you know, these are the things you need to do," which is--I mean, but literally it was about life or death, right? Like, if you walked in and you looked at a white man in the eye, you could die, you know? And so respectability politics had its place, but I think now we need to move forward and realize it is a new day, and so for you, Zach, I would encourage you to be more brave, be more courageous, and take those chances that feel, like, risky, like, real risky, and go for it, because those are the--those are the things that get you promoted.Zach: Oh, no doubt.Felicia: When you go to the CEO and be like, "Hey, I'm Zach. I just wanted to introduce myself. How are you doing today?" Now everybody will be like, "You just walked up to the CEO with your black self? And what did you say?" Even your white boss will be in fear. But the thing is, when you do that though, you're humanizing yourself. You're humanizing this person who has this title, and everybody walks around on eggshells around [them,] and now this person wants to connect with you because you opened the door, and they're just humans. And so we need to figure out, as black people, how do we get comfortable in our own skin in the workplace to make those human connections with the white men that are old and stodgy and they have resting bitch face that--nobody ever calls out that old white men have resting bitch face, but, you know, like, how do you get past all of that facade and go talk to them and meet them and learn about them and ask them to learn from them and share with them the things that you know about their organization that they'll never see because they're the CEO?Zach: No, that's real. And, I mean, it's interesting that you'd say that, 'cause even, like--and I haven't really ever shared this yet, but, like, my promotion journey to get to a manager role--and I got promoted at my last firm, and I'm at a new firm now, a new consulting firm now, but it had a lot to do with me telling my story and putting myself out there and connecting and networking with fairly senior folks, and I don't--and I don't think it's exclusive--and I don't think you're saying this, and I recognize Trill MBA's focus, but it's a chance to--Felicia: It's for everybody.Zach: It's for everybody, right? It's for every non-white person.Felicia: It's for white people too--it's for white men too. Like, and that's the thing we need to realize. Like, in some way, respectability politics also plays out from an economic standpoint. So you will have poor white men whose narrative is "I was raised in the back woods of Alabama, and my parents scraped together enough money to send me to Alabama University, and so then I went to grad school, I got into Harvard, and now I've unlocked this world of elitism." And then they hide, you know, their hick family, you know? They feel like they have to fit into this elite people, you know?Zach: That's real.Felicia: So these things happen in different ways, but they happen to all of us, and so I don't want to deny anybody's experience. I just want to call out, "Hey, as black women, this is how this happens for us," in a way that humanizes us and in a way that you can understand.Zach: No, that's real, and so what I want us to do is I want us to go ahead and, for our listeners...Felicia: Oh, it's about to get real. [laughs]Zach: Check us out. We're about to go ahead--and you're gonna listen to part two of this conversation on the Trill MBA show. That's right. So, look, we've got, like, a crossover thing. It's really cool, right? Like, it's kind of like when you have--I don't know, what's all the shows on NBC? You got Law & Order, and then you've got SVU and, like, you know, all the characters kind of cross over. You're like, "Oh, snap. Oh, [?]. They're on the--" You know, so it's kind of like that for your podcasts. For the loyalists over on Living Corporate, y'all get to now hear me on Trill MBA and vice versa, you know what I mean? So it's kind of like that.Felicia: Yeah. You're the Olivia Pope, and then I'm gonna be Viola Davis. I always forget her character's name. I know that's horrible, but she is so ratchet on that show. Like, she killed people and everything, so I don't think--Zach: Oh, you're talking about How to Get Away With Murder?Felicia: Yes! Yes. You know, they did that crossover episode. Annalise Keating! I'm gonna be Annalise Keating, and you're Olivia Pope. So you all statuesque and, like, put together, white knighting it, and then I'm over here breaking laws 'cause I'm a rebel.Zach: Wow. [laughs]Felicia: So if you want to come over and hear us be real black, come on over to the Trill MBA Show, where--what we're gonna break down though, we're gonna give you tangible, tactical tips on how to combat respectability politics for yourself in your workplace over at Trill MBA.Zach: All right, y'all. Well, listen here. Thank y'all for listening to the Living Corporate podcast. You can check us out everywhere at Living Corporate. That's right. So if you Google--that's right, Google--Living Corporate, we'll pop up. We're @LivingCorp_Pod on Twitter. We're @LivingCorporate on Instagram. Livingcorporatepodcast@gmail.com email address, and then we're living-corporate--please say the dash--dot com for the website. We're also livingcorporate.co. We're, like, all the Living Corporates dot whatever except for Living Corporate dot com because Australia is still holding onto that domain. So we're gonna have to see what's going on with the AU so we can get that domain, but yeah. If you have any questions you'd like for us to read on the show or anything you'd like for us to shout out, man, look, our DMs are open, okay? Twitter DM, Instagram DM, Facebook Messenger, and you can email us at livingcorporatepodcast@gmail.com. You can also contact us through our website, which I've already talked about. And make sure to subscribe to our newsletter through our website as well, okay? Let's see here. Shout-out to JJ. Shout-out to all the folks who are checking out the podcast. Shout-out to Trill MBA. You're gonna see us over on the next one. This has been Zach, and you have been listening to myself--Felicia: Felicia Ann Rose Enuha, A.K.A. the Trillest MBA you will ever know.Zach: JJ, drop the air horns right here. Yes, right on the outro. We're gonna put the air horns on here for my girl Felicia. Thank you so much. Thank y'all for listening to us. We're gonna be back. Peace.Felicia: That was so cool. [laughs]

On the seventeenth installment of Tristan's Tips, our special guest Tristan Layfield dives into how you can better prepare for networking events and lower anxiety around them.Connect with Tristan on LinkedIn, IG, FB, and Twitter!https://www.linkedin.com/in/tristanlayfield/https://www.instagram.com/layfieldresume/https://twitter.com/layfieldresumehttps://www.facebook.com/LayfieldResume/Connect with us!https://linktr.ee/livingcorporateTRANSCRIPTTristan: What's going on, y'all? It's Tristan of Layfield Resume Consulting, and I've teamed up with Living Corporate to bring you all a weekly career tip. Today we're gonna dive into how you can better prepare for networking events and lower anxiety around them. If you're anything like me, networking events can be a nerve-wracking experience, but growing and activating your network has become one of if not the best ways to find a new job. Over the years, I've found a few ways to better prepare for networking events and reduce my anxiety leading up to them, so let's jump into a few things you can do before your next networking event to be better prepared. First, set some goals around the event. I've found that networking events go smoother when I know I am there. For example, I went to a conference where my goal was to meet three panelists and to connect with ten other entrepreneurs. Number two, if you can, research who may be in attendance. If you know who's going to be there, you can figure out what commonalities you all have and use that to your advantage. Number three, develop your elevator pitch. An elevator pitch is a short and concise statement that explains who you are, what you do, and what type of position you're seeking. Spend some time here and make sure it's good. After all, it's gonna be most people's first introduction to you. Number four, you want to prepare your outfit. Let's be honest. When you look good, you feel good, and there's nothing worse than it being an hour before the event and you find out all your good clothes are dirty. Number five, figure out your contact strategy. You want to think about how you're going to provide your information, receive other's information, and what your follow-up strategy will be. Do you need business cards? Are you gonna show off your knowledge of LinkedIn's Nearby feature to connect? You know, what are you planning to do? Whatever it is, you just want to make sure it's appropriate for the event that you'll be attending. While networking can be intimidating, if you can take these steps you'll feel better prepared, exude more confidence while there, and hopefully land some new and fruitful connections. This tip was brought to you by Tristan of Layfield Resume Consulting. Check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @LayfieldResume, or connect with me, Tristan Layfield, on LinkedIn. Thanks. I'll be talking to you soon.

Ade hosts a special episode centered around Ramadan on today's show! She lists a few ways to support your fasting co-workers and helpfully breaks down a handful of terms and phrases associated with Ramadan that you might hear this month.Ibrahim Abdul-Matin's book Green Deen can be found right here on Amazon!https://www.amazon.com/Green-Deen-Teaches-Protecting-Planet-ebook/dp/B00F9FMYDMConnect with us!https://linktr.ee/livingcorporateTRANSCRIPTAde: What's up, y'all? This is Ade, and you're listening to Living Corporate. So for those of you who have heard of Ramadan but have never had a co-worker or friend or family member who goes through that process every year, or maybe you do but you don't quite know what it means or you have questions as to what happens, this one's for you. So what is Ramadan? Ramadan is fundamentally two things. One, it is a period that varies from year to year--because the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar--that Muslims go through in order to fulfill a tenet of the faith. During this month, it's not just about fasting, although that's a significant part of it, from sunrise to sunset. Muslims refrain from eating food and drinking water, but there are also other components of this month that go beyond fasting. So it is also a time of prayer, of spirituality, of reflection, and also of community. Every night when you break your fast or in the morning [?], there is a process in which you spend time with your friends and your family members. Generally it's not uncommon that you're also going through this process alone, which isn't the greatest experience in my opinion. So if you're alone during Ramadan, I hope you're able to find a community near you. So you might have heard your coworkers say that they are tired if they're fasting during this month. That's because, in general, people will wake up around 4:00 a.m. in order to, you know, eat and drink some water, get settled for the day, and pray the morning prayers, and also are staying up pretty late in the evening to break their fast, to commune, to gather their family and friends, but also go to--if they are--I think this is a Sunni Muslim thing only, but if they're Sunni--if [?] is listening, please drop a line. Let us know if I'm wrong. I'm not quite sure, but Sunni Muslims go through this thing called [?]. It's late night prayers essentially. So while fasting itself is obligatory, you don't necessarily have to fast to also observe Ramadan. There are people who can't fast, who are either sick, or--traveling's a big one, or breast-feeding, or for people who have periods. You don't fast during your period. But there are also other components of the month that are special. So you--like I said before, you get to experience these late night prayers. You are also supposed to be--it's this internal time of reflection where you're supposed to be experiencing humility, and you're supposed to be a little bit extra--an extra sprinkle of patience. I mean, imagine that you're going 16, 17, 18 hours without eating or drinking water, which is actually a bigger deal than you might realize. But you're going through all of these things, and you're also trying to empathize with people who, you know, Ramadan is their daily life. You're attempting to extend yourself to others, to be more patient, be kind, be more humble. All of these components are an inherent part of Ramadan. You're also supposed to restrain yourself, right? Like, you don't get to have a lot of the physical pleasures that you experience, and so how does this, you know, reflect on who you are at work? Well, I know for myself I'm a pretty caffeine-reliant person, so imagine me at work at 9:00 a.m. meetings when I'm expected to perform at my best and I don't have, you know, my drug of choice, caffeine. I don't have--I haven't had water in a very long time. My head hurts. I'm probably tired. So part of Ramadan for people who are in Corporate America, in corporate spaces, and in, you know, just general is that you're spending a lot of time setting expectations before and during Ramadan. I know that I had a conversation with my team leads and my manager saying, "Hey, Ramadan's coming up. During the month on Fridays, I will not be here. I will be working remotely so that I can, you know, have that extra time to make it to [Jamaat?] prayers, or I will be, you know, a little bit crankier during the month. You know, not taking my frustrations out on people, but I'll be a little bit less perky essentially. I won't have water, I won't have food, and I certainly will not have caffeine, so be patient with me. And I also am a little bit more diligent during this month with writing everything down, because part of what fasting does is it affects your concentration, it affects your mental acuity, so I try to be extra diligent with that as well. And just being able to say, "Hey, these are the things that I'm experiencing. Thank you in advance for your patience and your support throughout this. This is what I need. This is what I don't need. It's really okay for you to eat in front of me in meetings. I'm not gonna be mad, and I'm not gonna Hulk smash anything." Setting those expectations I think makes them easier on everyone around you. So let's talk about--I'm doing this all by myself so it feels a little odd, but let's talk about what it means to be a supportive co-worker or supportive friend for those who aren't Muslims, aren't going through Ramadan. I also know that there are people who are non-Muslims who like to show solidarity with their partners or their friends or their family members by fasting along, and y'all are dope. So what does it mean to be supportive? I would say if you are in a leadership position, if you are in a management position, I would start by making some concessions. Allow maybe people to work a few extra days remotely this month. I would, you know, not schedule a whole ton of intense meetings, particularly near the end of the day. Closer to the beginning of the day is better, and that's because, you know, if I ate at 4:00 a.m., 12:00 is still a good time to talk to me. 3:00 p.m.? Eh, okay. 4:30 p.m.? You're definitely pushing it, you know? Again, think about this as this person's had not as much sleep as they typically do, they're under--they're working with much less mental stimulation, probably low blood sugar, and they're also making an extra effort at this time to be extra patient and extra kind. So meet them halfway. It's cool. So what are some ways you can support your co-worker at work? I think that, for most people, it's relatively easy to notice the ways in which you can support your co-workers, because it's just about being considerate. Let people work a few extra days remotely if possible. Yeah, just be flexible with their schedule, because it's often easier to come into work earlier than it is to stay later. Don't plan any extra meetings or make meetings extra long, because your concentration is pretty much shot throughout the month providing a space for people to reflect and pray if it's possible, because even if they're not ultra-externally religious over the course of the whole year, Ramadan is an extra special time, and it is a time during which most people that I know personally just take some time to reflect and to just kind of self-check, and it's really nice having a space where, you know, you can retreat while still also being accessible at work. So that's nice. Also, it's okay to still have food-based events. I know that we have birthday cakes for co-workers and things like that. Sometimes there are, like, potlucks during the month, and nobody [?] would ever ask you to stop that during the month of Ramadan. Just because I'm fasting doesn't mean that everybody else needs to. In fact, it's really great if there's--if people are having birthday cakes and they're like, "Save me a slice for later," 'cause I have, like, cake to look forward to, and who doesn't like having cake to look forward to? I'm generally going to say also that it's okay to ask how people are doing. It's okay to ask, you know, how people are holding up, what they're experiencing. It's not okay to say things like--that are condescending or dismissive in general, because, I mean, these are just basic rules of engagement when it comes to working with people, but it's not okay to minimize people. Like, "Yeah, I fasted." Like, "I've been intermittent fasting," or "I've been doing this intermittent fasting for a couple of weeks now. I know what you're going through," because truth is, yes, you have been fasting for several weeks, and not to minimize your experiences, but just to say that we are not experiencing the same thing, and it's okay to recognize that. In 2019 I'm gonna give up saying "um" so frequently. Thank you so much for your patience, y'all. And definitely allowing time to celebrate after Ramadan's done. So Ramadan ends with Eid--I think this year it's supposed to end on the fourth or the fifth of June. We are not sure because, again, lunar calendar, and there's a whole thing. Go ahead and--I encourage you to look into Eid and the end of Ramadan and what that means. Yeah, allow your co-workers to take time off to celebrate the end of Eid. It's often a time of celebration with family members. And think about it. People look forward to this time of year. It's this incredible time where you are exercising more discipline than you've shown during the year. It's like--for me personally I describe it as, like, a spiritual reset, when throughout the year I experience things and life gets more and more overwhelming or I surround myself with things that are not necessarily edifying, and there are things that are often toxic that you don't realize are toxic around you and in your space, and you just get to release all of those things through the things that you read and the things that you recite over the course of the month. I say all of that to say that this is a month of particular thoughtfulness and introspection, and at the end you get to celebrate all of it with friends and family, and your--like, because this is gonna be during the summer. There's gonna be, like, a huge barbecue, and you get to, like, hang out with friends, people you haven't seen in ages. There are often, like, marriage announcements during Eid, or people get married during Eid. Like, there's just, like, a whole ton that goes on, and it would suck if you spent all of Ramadan looking forward to Eid, not necessarily because that's what you're supposed to be doing, but you're looking forward to Eid, honestly, at the end of Ramadan. It's a ton of fun, and you don't get to take that time off. That blows. So if it's at all possible, certainly allow your coworkers or friends that time off to fast. Now, I think the final thing I want to touch on on what you can do as a co-worker to be supportive is I certainly think that because it's okay to ask questions, I would say that, you know, schedule some time after the month of Ramadan is over to grab coffee and say, "Oh, hey, I recall that you did this thing. What is that about?" If you're not asking during Ramadan because of all the reasons I just spelled out, because there's nothing--there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with asking questions, and I actually also think that it's okay to say, "Hey, I'm kind of uncomfortable with this, and I don't know if you're comfortable with this, but I do want to ask you XYZ questions," 'cause that's how you get an understanding, I think. Just to recap what we talked about, allow flexibility with your friends and co-workers. That's not to say that we expect that, you know, you doing our work through Ramadan, 'cause Ramadan is so hard, but just allow some flexibility. Allow people to come in a little bit early if they need to. And there's some people maybe who prefer to come in later. That's cool too. I certainly think that it would be better to get a sense as to who's gonna be fasting and all of those things beforehand, and if they've been doing their due diligence, most people will generally call out, "Hey, Ramadan's coming up. Things are gonna be a little different for me. It's not you. It's me. I'm gonna be avoiding certain situations. It's not you. It's me." Your co-workers who will often go on smoke breaks with you, probably not gonna be going on those smoke breaks. That's probably one of the things that they're gonna give up during daylight hours. It's not you, it's them. People are in general often not gonna go to happy hours with you or they're not gonna do those things, and so I think part of--I think what I didn't highlight is just finding other ways to be inclusive, to have social gatherings. If you have any client relationships, maintaining those or helping your co-workers maintain those client relationships in ways that aren't going to exclude them, and by that I mean if you have lunch with your clients every third Thursday or whatever--I'm making that up--but if you have lunch with your clients, give your clients a heads-up. "Hey, Ali's not gonna be coming," or "Ali's gonna be here, but he's not gonna be eating. It's okay. It's not weird. It's just Ramadan." All of these different ways in which you can be allies to your co-workers in that way. And if they do say that they're fasting and they slip up and say something along the lines of, "Oh, I'm so thirsty," don't offer them water. It's coming from a good place, and I know that it's coming from a good place, but being like, "It's okay, you can break your fast 20 minutes early," or whatever, if it's close to the time of breaking fast. That's not actually helpful, and although you're attempting to be helpful, it's not, like, a truly help--like, it doesn't help my spiritual growth to say it's okay to bend your will and your dedication to this thing because I can see you feeling the effects of it. If I didn't know the consequences of my actions I wouldn't be taking them, if that makes any sense. We also said try to insure your meetings are a little bit earlier in the day rather than later. Meetings that are later in the day are painful. I mean, everyone knows that you don't--you don't truly want to schedule meetings well into the afternoon in general in Corporate America, but it's even worse when, you know, you're running low on blood sugar, you've been probably up for a good, long while. It starts to take a toll, and I'm not at my best in those meetings. So I would caution against that as well, and certainly--especially if you have a larger contingent of Muslims on your payroll, when Eid comes around I would expect to cover--I mean, in the same way that you expect that during Christmas people are going to be taking time off and spending time with their family, or during Thanksgiving, it's a similar concept in that we want to be with our families and celebrating, and it's just nice to know that we don't have to--we don't have to, like, steal our spines to negotiate time off work for this. And it's--you know, Eid is a big deal. It's not just a one-day thing. It's, like, a one, two, three, four day thing. Okay, it's actually one to three days. Whatever, but [laughs]--I wish it were, like, a seven-day festival of fun and festivities. I say all of that to say that your friends and co-workers are really going to need that time off, so if you need to, like, swap schedules, if you need to plan a little bit ahead of time, if you need to create some succession plans and insure that there are overlapping responsibilities--people are taking care of those overlapping responsibilities, I would take care of that as well. And also, this is just a really good time to approach your co-workers with some empathy, because people may not necessarily disclose fully what their experiences are, and I've talked a lot about how this is a time of community and a shared understanding, but I also know that there are many people who are very far away from home for whom this is a difficult time, and Ramadan may not necessarily be the happiest time for them. So in that case, or not just in that case, but I certainly think this is a great time to experience or to share some empathy, to extend yourself a little bit, extend grace to others around you in the spirit of Ramadan. One thing I've heard of when my friend was--a couple of years ago for Iftar one day, her team threw an Iftar. She was the only Muslim on the team, and they were all curious, so they all fasted with her for the day. And, again, you don't have to be super allies in this way, but they all fasted with her for the day, and then they broke their fast together, and that was just the cutest thing to me because one they didn't have to, but they extended themselves for her, wanted to put themselves in her shoes, and two, to truly experience a new way of living a world in which they never realized existed until they had this co-worker and extended some grace to her. So I encourage that as well. Let's see, do I have any final thoughts? Just some key phrases that you might be hearing over the course of this month. Ramadan Mubarak, which is, like, "Happy Ramadan." Ramadan Kareem is another greeting that you might hear. Then conversely, at the end of the month when it's Eid, you might hear "Eid Mubarak." Let's see. What are some other words? Iftar. Iftar is the breaking of the fast in the evening. So we typically do that by eating a date and drinking some water. And then suhur is your, like, morning breakfast. That's what you eat before you start your fast for the whole day. What are some other key words or key terms? If you play music at work, throw on some Sami Yusuf. I love, love, love--I personally love Sami Yusuf's music. That's Sami Yusuf. Yeah, take some song recommendations, play some music. Zain Bhikha is a good one as well to just listen to at work if you're in an environment where y'all play music during the day. Yeah, I think that's it for me. I don't have any book recommendations, although I should. I've been reading a few actually. Well, okay. There's a book called Green Muslim. I don't know what the author--I don't quite remember the author's name right now, but I'll be sure to provide that information in the notes. Green Muslim, it's all about being an environmentalist as a Muslim--or is it Green Deen? Goodness. My brain. See? It's all about being an environmentalist as a Muslim and what it means to support sustainability, and so it's a pretty good read so far, and I'm happy to share the name and a link to that in our show notes. Thank you again for listening. I hope this was not too rambly for everyone. Ramadan Mubarak, everyone. This has been Ade. Peace.

On the sixteenth entry of Tristan's Tips, our special guest Tristan Layfield emphasizes the importance of knowing your worth and how you can keep track of it. He offers a couple suggestions that could help, namely career journaling and a personalized document.Connect with Tristan on LinkedIn, IG, FB, and Twitter!https://www.linkedin.com/in/tristanlayfield/https://www.instagram.com/layfieldresume/https://twitter.com/layfieldresumehttps://www.facebook.com/LayfieldResume/TRANSCRIPTTristan: What's going on, y'all? It's Tristan of Layfield Resume Consulting, and I've teamed up with Living Corporate to bring you all a weekly career tip. Today, let's talk about the importance of knowing your worth and how you can keep track of it. "What's your career story?" This is a question I ask quite a bit in calls with my clients, and initially most of them struggle with it. Many of them will pose the question, "Well, who cares about career stories?" The answer is you. Well, at least it should be. These stories form the core of many of our interview responses and can come in handy when you update or tailor your resume, write a cover letter, or even while networking, but if you don't keep a record of what you've done and don't adequately reflect on that, you'll find out how the experiences you think you'll never forget can easily be forgotten. In today's world, we can't afford that. We have to be our own biggest advocates within our career, and we can't do it if too many pieces of the puzzle are missing. Often times many of us go into negotiations or requesting a raise from our boss, but we haven't taken the time to build a solid case as to why we are worth the amount of money we're requesting. That's not usually due to the fact that we don't have the background that warrants it, but it's typically because many of us don't keep track of the things we've done or accomplished throughout our careers. So here are two suggestions that will help to mitigate this. Hopefully one of them works for you. The first is career journaling. Essentially, it's very similar to regular journaling except you write down names, dates, and significant experiences or achievements from your career. You can highlight things like the amount of money you saved the company, being promoted to manage a team, or any metrics or accomplishment-based things that may be important within your industry. The second thing is simply creating a Google, Dropbox, or iCloud folder and throwing any awards, certificates, certifications or positive feedback in there. You know, create a document in there where you list your accomplishments and career highlights. Save relevant information or documents from projects you were on. Really put anything in there that will help you remember how amazing you are at what you do. There are so many instances where it's important that you know what you've done in order to get further. Resume updates, annual reviews, salary increase requests, interviews, offer negotiations, and that's just to name a few. In each of those areas, it is necessary to have a record of everything that you can review and utilize in developing a compelling career story to make your case. This tip was brought to you by Tristan of Layfield Resume Consulting. Check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @LayfieldResume, or connect with me, Tristan Layfield, on LinkedIn.

We have the pleasure of speaking with Minda Harts, the founder and CEO of The Memo LLC, a career platform that helps women of color advance in the workplace. She speaks with us about a number of topics, including her new book coming out later this year titled "The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat at the Table" and some ugly truths she says keeps women of color from securing their own.Check out Minda on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram, and don't forget to preorder her book from wherever you buy books!Connect with us! https://linktr.ee/livingcorporateTRANSCRIPTAde: Welcome to Living Corporate. This is Ade, and Zach isn't here today, but we do have an interview we had with the wonderful Minda Harts. Minda describes herself as a founder, philanthropist, and seat creator, which--seat creator is incredible to me as a phrase in and of itself, but Minda is a beast. She is an adjunct professor of public service of NYU's Robert F. Wagner's Graduate School of Public Service. That was a mouthful. She's also the founder of The Memo LLC, which actually I got regularly in my inbox, faithfully, before we even had a conversation with Minda. It's a career development company for women of color, and her debut book, which is called The Memo, comes out this fall with the Hachette Book Group/Seal Press. She's been featured in Forbes, CNBC, The Guardian, The Washington Post, and Fast Company. You can also tune in weekly for her career podcast as well for professional women of color called Secure the Seat. So obviously you can see that there's been some overlap in our interests as well as Minda's. Minda has conducted workshops all over the world and keynotes with ad corporations like Time Inc. Y'all may have heard of that little shop. South by Southwest. It's this popular little thing. You may not have heard of it. The Campaign for Black Male Achievement and the New York Public Library. She's also been at universities like Western Illinois University, NYU Stern, North Carolina A&T, and Cornell University. All that said, you may be expecting a few things from listening to this conversation, and what you're gonna hear between her and Zach will be some amazing strategies for women of color. So keep listening. We don't have any Favorite Things for you this week, 'cause y'all know how I am, but got you next week, promise. See you soon. This has been Ade. Peace.Zach: Minda, welcome to the show. How are you doing?Minda: I'm doing great. Thanks for having me, Zach.Zach: Oh, no problem at all. Really excited to have you here. Would you mind--for those of us who don't know you, tell us a little bit about yourself. Minda: Yeah. So my name is Minda Harts, and I am the founder and CEO of a career platform that helps women of color advance in the workplace called The Memo, and prior to The Memo I spent 15 years in corporate and non-profit spaces as a consultant. And I also teach at NYU Wagner and have a book coming out later this year called The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat at the Table.Zach: That's incredible. Now, look, let's kick this off with this question, 'cause I think it's a good preface for this discussion. So you were recently quoted in a piece by the New York Times speaking to the anxieties around the motherhood penalty, and you said, "Because we are often only one or two or few in the company, we strategically have to plan our every move." Could you talk to us a little bit more about what you mean? Not only in the context of bringing your kids to work or having children, but being strategic period as a black woman and, larger, as a woman of color.Minda: Yeah, absolutely. I think that in that article too I also say that, you know, "A joyous day for one mother or father is mental gymnastics for another," and I think that often times, if you are the only ones, dependent upon how you're being treated in the workplace, you may or may not want your child to come to work with you because of how you've been treated in the workplace. And I think when we talk of micro-aggressions and bias and white privilege, I think our counterparts often don't think of what that means for us to show up. So again, you know, the pizza party in the jumpy house might be fun for all the other kids, but, you know, if I'm the only one in the workplace and I'm already dealing with all of this other stuff, you know, do I want to be subjected to that while my child is there with me? You know, so we have to think through. And then if one bad thing happens, our counterpart's child is being cute, but our child is being bad, you know? So we have to think about what those messages are. So each day, whether you have children or you don't, we have to really be strategic and calculate every step.Zach: So let's talk about your podcast also for a second--it's fire--called Secure the Seat.Minda: Thank you.Zach: No problem. What was your journey in, like, creating that space?Minda: Yeah. You know what's funny? I would say I battled myself for almost a year before I started Secure the Seat. I just didn't see myself as a podcaster. I thought, "Well, I have The Memo," the career platform with my co-founder Lauren. "We're fine over here," but what I realized was I was missing out on talking to some of the other issues that I think people of color, women of color, face, and also how can our allies or how can those who don't identify the way we do, how can they be helpful? And I think that part of a seat at the table is it's great to be at the table, but securing it looks much different, and also passing that baton, bringing others that look like us in the room with us, and I think we don't talk about that enough as people of color.Zach: I recognize your entire brand, your entire platform, is really wrapped around or centered around empowering women of color in the workplace and just period, and we know that you have a book coming out called The Memo. Can you talk to us a little bit about what led you to work on this book and write this book? And was it a similar journey to the Secure the Seat podcast? Was there any one moment that really hit you and sparked the fire and made you say, "Hey, I need to write this."?Minda: Yeah. It's interesting, because I had an idea back in 2012. So now, you know, it's 2019, so sometimes we just sit on things for a long time, right? And I knew I wanted to do something, but I didn't know what that something was, and it didn't manifest itself until 2015. And I realized that--what is my legacy going to be in Corporate America? What is my legacy going to be in the non-profit sector? And if there aren't people advocating for women that look like me, for, you know, men that might identify as, you know, people of color, then who--if no one else is gonna do it, then I need to be stepping up to the plate and add my unique slice of genius to this puzzle, because it's one thing to get yourself in the room, but if you're not bringing others along with you or sharing that secret sauce, then what are we doing, right? And so when we think about those who came before us, like the Harriet Tubmans, the Frederick Douglasses, the Malcolm Xs, they secured the seat so we could secure our seat, right? And so I want to be one of those people that played a role, even if it's a small role, in just having people think different. We talk a lot about leaning in, but what we're seeing is a lot of us are leaning out, and that's what I don't want to happen, because we've worked too hard to step away now.Zach: Absolutely. And it's interesting. I read a piece recently saying that leaning in does not work if you're a black woman. If you're a woman of color, like, it doesn't work. And I'm not using women of color and black women interchangeably because those are unique experiences and identities, but what I mean is that, like, even that language and, like, some of the frameworks in which we discuss these things, they are centered around whiteness, and some of these to be looked at or examined differently when you're talking about black and brown experiences. Your whole point around leaning out, that's really interesting. Can you, like, talk a little bit more about what you--like, what do you mean by people are leaning out as others are trying to lean in?Minda: Yeah. So we talk a lot about diversity and inclusion and equity, in terms of marginalized or underrepresented groups, and what we're seeing is that--at least for black women in particular, that a lot of us are leaving Corporate America and starting our own companies, and--which is great, that is to be celebrated, but we're leaving because of frustration, because we're not being invested in, because all of the education that we've obtained is not moving us forward. And so if they're not moving us forward, we're moving out, right? And so we're being cut off from this opportunity on the corporate side to obtain generational wealth in that regard, because the reality is not all of us will be successful entrepreneurs when we leave the traditional workforce. And so I'm saying that we almost have no choice but to kind of lean out of that, and my thing is, like, let's put the pressure on these companies for us to--for them to let us have a stake in the ground and move us up, if they say that's what they want to do. Zach: Now, look, I'm not trying to have you give out the sauce for free, but your website says that The Memo addresses some of the ugly truths that keep women of color from the table. Again, without you giving the whole book away on the podcast, could you talk a little bit about what some of those ugly truths are?Minda: Yeah. So I can't give all the sauce, but you can go and preorder it wherever you like to buy books.Zach: Ow. Yes.Minda: 'Ey. [laughs] Help me secure my seat. But what I will say is a lot of the business books, a lot of the career books, are centered--as you said--around the experience of white people in the workplace, right? And then we read those books, and we take what we can out of 'em and make that one-size-fit-all work for us, and I'm saying no. There are unique experiences that I've had as a black woman and that other women of color have experienced in similar ways, and I want to shine a lot on that "You don't understand what it's like showing up in a--being the one out of 90 employees," being that only person of color. And I know I speak from the lens of being a black woman and a woman of color, but I believe this book is important because as we talk about the future of work, this will require anybody who sees themselves in a management position to understand the unique experiences of their talent, and that requires all hands on deck.Zach: 100% right. And it's so interesting when we talk about the future of work and we talk about how workforces are getting browner, right? The next five to ten, fifteen, twenty years, like, the workforce will look dramatically different than it does today, and it's gonna be more and more important for there to be content and thought leadership around "What does it mean to be other?" Right? And again, as the workforces get browner, that doesn't mean that leadership is necessarily gonna get browner, but it does mean that there are gonna be more non-white folks in these spaces who are gonna, like, be new to these spaces. So what is it gonna mean for them to navigate and really be effective and be successful and not drive themselves crazy, for the lack of a better word, in trying to, like, really navigate and how they can really operate and be successful here. And so really speaking to that--you already alluded to this a little bit, about allyship. So I believe black and brown folks aren't really gonna go far in the corporate space without strong allies. Can you talk a little bit about what good allyship means to you or what allyship looks like to you?Minda: Yeah, absolutely. And that's--and you made a really great point. Just because the workforce itself is becoming more Crayola-like, right? More colors added to the spectrum, but it doesn't mean that the leadership is going to be, and that's the part that I'm like, "No." The future of work requires us to be at that table too, and so part of that allyship, that leadership--at least in my book I talk about shifting the language, because a lot of people are wearing this allyship badge like it's a sticker, right? Like I could go to any local store and just put this badge on and that's--and I'm good, and really I'm saying "Let's shift it to success partners." And I talk about that in my book. It's like, "No, you partner with me on the success." You know, "What is it gonna take for me to be where you are?" Or, you know, you provide a road map for me, an accelerated opportunity. I've been here, I've done the work, and it's gonna require people adding more seats, and when I was in Corporate America I had this one white man--shout-out to Steve. I don't know where you are today, but--Zach: Shout-out to Steve. Put the air horns on for Steve. [imitating the horns]Minda: [laughs] Yes, yes, and he had the privilege. He had the status, you know? He had the agency to be able to say, "I see you," and, you know, "Come through, pull up, and let me give you the shot," and I think more and more people in privileged positions need to be giving others that opportunity, because you'll never know what I'm able to do if I never have that opportunity to do it, and that requires you to partner with me.Zach: Man, 100%, and I can say that there was--there's not been anything that I've been able to achieve in my professional career that has not been, in some level, like, strong support from some white person, right? Like, in the corporate space. Like, I cannot look back and be like, "I did this by myself." I always tell people that I mentor--typically I'm mentoring black folks, also some brown folks, and I'll say, you know, "What's behind every strong black or brown person?" And they'll typically--99% of the time they'll say, "Their parents or their partner?" I'll be like, "No, a white person." And they laugh, but it's true. When you're talking about that sponsorship, allyship--like, when you talk about that support, someone using their privilege so that you can secure your seat at the table, like, you need that. I just don't think that it's practical or reasonable to expect that if you are a minority in these spaces that your very small network on your own is gonna be able to achieve and grow and get everything that you want to have, you know? You need some partnership. You said that--I loved that. "Success partners." So, like, could you just expand on that a little bit more? 'Cause I really like the way that's reframed. Can you talk--just unpack that a little bit more, about success partners?Minda: Yeah. Well, thank you, first and foremost, but I think it's--like you said, the majority right now is, you know, white men and women at these tables, making these decisions, and so they're gonna have to look out of the ivory tower and say, "You know what? Let's identify some people that are not in the room, that have talent, that have the ability if they had the opportunity. Let me partner with them and give them these accelerated career paths," and I think that's the only way we're going to do it, is for them to look around the room, take the time to see who's missing, and go and get them, right? Because we're there. It's not--it's not a pipeline issue, but if we keep leaning out due to frustration, then it will be a pipeline issue. So allyship is great, but now we need to shift into this partnership. So partner with somebody who's missing from the room and bring them up. And it's not charity. It's just giving people an opportunity, because 9 times out of 10 they have the opportunity to get to where they are.Zach: That's the wild part too, is that it's not charity. The people that you're identifying, the people that are out there that are not in the room--there's plenty of people out there that should be in the room more than you should be in there, right? Like, there are people out there that have earned it. But that's a really good point too, but I think--I don't know. I've seen it where--like, I've had people who have been allies to me, and there's a certain kind of sense of charity, right? Like they're doing me a favor. And I take it anyway, Minda, 'cause, like, hey, look, I'm just tryna get to the bag. So, like, hey, if you feel like you're doing me a favor, go ahead and feel like you're doing me a favor.Minda: Exactly, exactly. [laughs]Zach: But, you know, when you talk in terms of just, like, internally, intrinsically, you're not--that's a toxic mindset to have, and it's false, right? And it's kind of racist, lowkey, 'cause it's like, "No, this person has earned it." Like, I've seen--you tell me if you've seen this before, but I've seen in the working space where there's people who have exceled and they'll, like--they're seen as, like, really top performers, and then you kind of just, like, peel back a couple layers--you're like, "You're not that sweet. You're not that good." You know what I'm saying? [laughs]Minda: [laughs] If we were doing some, like, hardcore Inspector Gadget work, I think we would find out that a lot of people who are in that room should not be in that room. I was passed over for a promotion that they were quote-unquote "grooming me" for, right? And they ended up not giving it to me, and I had to--I typically wasn't the type of person to kind of challenge this, but I'm like, "Wait, I've worked here way too long for this to have happened to me," and I respectfully asked, you know, "Why did you decide to bring in someone who had less experience than me, has never really done this job?" And the response--I kid you not, it was, you know, "You're young. You're gonna have more opportunities. He's a good guy with a nice wife."[record scratch]Zach: Wow. Minda: [laughs]Zach: But then, see, if you threw a table or something, they would say you were crazy. That's nuts. Wow.Minda: I was crazy. I was crazy. Okay, but I've been working here 10+ years, grinding, hustling, taking on all of the top projects, and you're gonna tell me that someone who has 2 years experience, doesn't have the relationships I have, but because he's A. a white man--I don't know that that's necessarily why, but he was a white man and is a white man, and he has a nice wife. I'm like, "Okay. That's where we are." And in that moment, I realized that this is not the table I need to be at, because I'm gonna keep working my butt off and doing all of these great things. And I couldn't--I wasn't in a position, to be honest with you, to leave when that happened. I had to stay in that position another year and a half heart-broken while I helped him get up to speed before I was able to leave. And so where do the broken hearts go, right? So yeah.Zach: That's why I'm just so excited. I love the work that you're doing. I love your platform because--obviously I've watched you from afar as like--you're outspoken, you're courageous, you're gregarious, you're relationship-driven, you're a strong networker, all of these different things, but you shouldn't have to be all of those things to get the support that you need at your job, right? Like, there's plenty of people out there--black and brown folks out here who are a little bit more reserved and who aren't as sure and things of that nature, and they're struggling. Like, you just said, "Where do the broken hearts go?" There's plenty of people at work right now who don't want to be there, who don't feel supported, but don't know what to do, and that's just all the more reason why your platform is so important, so I just want to thank you again for even having it. Before we go, do you have any parting words?Minda: Well, first off I want to say thank you, and thank you to podcasts and platforms like yours, because we all need each other, right? When you're successful, you're successful. When I'm successful, you're successful. And there can be so many different ways that we get this information out to all of the broken hearts, right? And I think it's really important that we talk about experiences, and it was a journey. I just want to leave everyone saying that the Minda I am talking to Zach right now, it was a process. It was a journey. It was a process. I was not this outspoken. I was not--I've always been driven, but what I'd say a silent assassin, right? Like, I didn't really do a lot of vocalizing, but I realized that there a lot of people who, like you said, are not in a position to speak for themselves, and if I can help talk about the stuff that they can't in these settings and their bosses hear about it or read the book, then we're winning together.Zach: I love that, and you know what? Also before we go, go ahead and please plug your stuff. Like, where can people learn about you? Where can people preorder the book? Where can we get more of Minda Harts?Minda: Well, thank you. This is really important to me, this book, because when we were pitching it to the publishing houses, my agent and I, we kept hearing that there's not a--there's no one that would want to hear this. There's not an audience for this type of material, and there is, right? And so please go and preorder this book. Let's go and show the powers that be that we matter, our experiences matter. It doesn't matter if you're a woman of color or not, but there are career nuggets in here that will help each and every one of us who are underrepresented in the workforce. So wherever you like to buy books, it's "The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat at the Table," and I'm most active on Twitter @MindaHarts, so find me there.Zach: Ay. First of all, Minda, thank you again, and thank y'all for joining us on the Living Corporate podcast. Make sure to follow us on Instagram @LivingCorporate, Twitter @LivingCorp_Pod, and subscribe to our newsletter through living-corporate.com, please say the dash. Or you could say livingcorporate.co, livingcorporate.org. We've got all the livingcorporates except for livingcorporate.com, 'cause Australia got that. Australia, we're still looking at y'all. You need to give us that domain. Don't play. If you have a question you'd like for us to answer and read on the show, look, just DM us, right? Like, get in our Insta DMs, get in our Twitter DMs. They're always open, right? Or you can just email us at livingcorporatepodcast@gmail.com. Also, don't forget to check out our Patreon @LivingCorporate as well. And that does it for us on the show. This has been Zach. You've been talking with the--that's right, the--Minda Harts. Catch y'all next time. Peace.

On the fifteenth installment of Tristan’s Tips, our special guest Tristan Layfield relates a personal story to illustrate the importance of tailoring your resume to the job you're applying for. He also shares a few rules to follow when tailoring your own resume.Connect with Tristan on LinkedIn, IG, FB, and Twitter!https://www.linkedin.com/in/tristanlayfield/https://www.instagram.com/layfieldresume/https://twitter.com/layfieldresumehttps://www.facebook.com/LayfieldResume/TRANSCRIPTTristan: What's going on, Living Corporate fam? It's Tristan of Layfield Resume Consulting, and I've teamed up with Living Corporate to bring you all a weekly career tip. This week, let's talk about why tailoring your resume is so important. Let me tell you a quick story. When I got fired from my first job out of college in 2011, I was frantically looking for employment. I created a resume, had someone look it over, and I went to work. I mean, I sent that same resume to well over 250 employers. I probably only heard back from about 30 of them, 25 of which were like, "Nah, fam, we're good on you." I didn't disclose that I had been fired, so I knew it wasn't because of that, but at the time I couldn't pin down the reason why. Looking back on it, I realize that it more than likely was because I was sending the same generic resume to every company no matter what industry or role it was for. Had I known what I know today I would have been more strategic, but we all know hindsight is 20/20. Before your resume is ever seen by human eyes, it is more than likely scanned by what the industry calls an ATS, or Applicant Tracking Software. This software scans your resume for key words and phrases then assigns you a percentage. If that percentage isn't higher than the threshold set by the employer, then you're automatically thrown into the "no" pile no matter how qualified you may actually be. To take it a step further, studies show that recruiters look at your resume for about 6 seconds--count 'em up, 6 seconds--before deciding if you're moving on to the next step in the hiring process. You have to increase your chances by giving them the information they want to see. The way you do that is by tailoring your resume for each job that you apply for. So here are some general rules. Do a quick review of your resume and take out any expired licenses and certifications, jobs with no transferable skills to the role you're seeking, skills and duties that don't apply to the position that you're trying to land, and trainings that have no role in this job. Then you want to work on replacing them with new and relevant experience that you've gained, key words that you identify from the job description, transferable skills and expertise that would be useful in any industry, and applicable trainings, licenses, and certifications. Tailoring your resume helps to ensure that you at least have a fighting chance to make it past that Applicant Tracking Software and be seen by a recruiter. After that, you have to make sure that your resume is selling you appropriately to make it to that next step. This tip was brought to you by Tristan of Layfield Resume Consulting. Check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @LayfieldResume, or connect with me, Tristan Layfield, on LinkedIn.