Multifamily Women® Podcast
The Multifamily Women® Podcast explores insightful discussions on the importance of not only elevating women in leadership but also becoming mentors and helping shape the future of the Multifamily industry. As technology advances at rapid pace, you will hear from top experts on the ever-evolving roles women play in multifamily organizations, how they got started in the industry, roadblocks they’ve faced along the way, and what they’re doing now to build and strengthen their current organizations.
Multifamily Women® Podcast
Your Brain Needs a Break: Finding Clarity in an Overwhelming World
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Your brain is operating on autopilot 94% of the time, and that number has increased since the pandemic. Ever put your keys in the refrigerator, forgotten your own birthday, or arrived somewhere with no memory of the drive? That's cognitive overload at work.
In this illuminating conversation, Dr. Cari Skrdla, neuroscientist and newly appointed VP of Strategic Partnerships at Multifamily Women®, reveals the science behind why we're all feeling overwhelmed. "The subconscious is life-sustaining," she explains, making decisions without our awareness when our mental capacity reaches its limit. For busy professionals managing teams, stakeholders, and family responsibilities, this cognitive strain can become unbearable - leading to memory issues, anxiety, and even major life decisions driven by an overloaded brain rather than conscious choice.
This growing understanding of how our minds function in today's information-saturated world has shaped the unique approach of the Multifamily Women Summit. Unlike traditional networking events that add to mental fatigue with their focus on performance and impression management, the Summit creates what Dr. Skrdla calls "a new world" where executive women can be fully present and authentic. From the music that activates the right brain hemisphere to the judgment-free environment where meaningful connections happen organically, every element is designed to disrupt patterns of overwhelm.
The conversation also reveals an exciting new initiative called "My Stage, My Story," giving women five minutes to share personal narratives of resilience and growth. The response has been overwhelming, demonstrating the power of vulnerable storytelling in a supportive community. Whether you're experiencing cognitive overload yourself or leading teams who might be struggling silently with these challenges, this episode offers both scientific insight and practical wisdom for finding clarity in an overwhelming world.
Register at multifamilywomen.com to experience the unique environment where executive women come not just to learn but to truly connect, reset, and return to their lives with renewed focus and energy.
Connect with Multifamily Women®:
Multifamily Women® Summit: https://multifamilywomen.com/
Carrie Antrim on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carrieantrim/
Be a Guest on the Podcast or at the Summit: https://apps.multifamilywomen.com/speakingrequest
Multifamily Women® Leadership Series: https://apps.multifamilywomen.com/join
Introducing Dr. Ceri Skrdla
Speaker 1Hi, I'm Keri Antrum, founder of Multifamily Women, and I am joined here today with Dr Keri Skrdla. We have some exciting news. Dr Skrdla is now our Vice President of Strategic Partnerships with Multifamily Women, and so we're so excited to have her join the team. Welcome.
Speaker 2Thank you so much. I'm so glad to be here. You know I love everything about multifamily leadership, specifically multifamily women, and to now be officially a part of the team. It's just the thrill.
Speaker 1You've been a part of the family for a while now. So Dr Carrie started as a I think the very first time I interviewed you on stage and then I was like give this lady the stage. So since then you've had keynote, but you've been an attendee, you've been a speaker, you've experienced the whole thing for quite a few years. Yeah.
Speaker 2And I'm not just saying this this is my favorite annual event Mine too. I'm glad to hear that. That's good news, carrie, but it is because of just the environment and the women and so many that I've connected with and I, I just I have to give you a shout out for creating such an amazing space that you have an opportunity to walk into and immediately just feel connected with everyone in there. You know, it's not one of those women events where I'm questioning if I have on the right shoes and you know all of that, and it's like a big old hug fest of executive women coming together just to relax and release. And yeah, we got some information for you, but it's not going to add to, um, the pressures that you came there to alleviate yourself from.
Speaker 1Exactly. I think um myself, I'm not naturally an extrovert and so going to a conference or any kind of big events where I don't know anyone or I only know the one person and my best friend is an extrovert I know the minute I walk in the door, she's across the room and I'm like in the corner that I wanted to avoid that at all costs, and I think that we've done a good job over the past six years of creating experiences where you're just automatically becoming best friends because of everything that's going around and going on around you and I know that I always see as soon as you get off the stage you're swarmed with women, and I know that you've made some amazing connections throughout the years. It's been great to watch and, like you said, every year that we go back, it's almost like a family reunion. It really is. And even for the new people who have never attended before, they come in and they're like wow, everybody's actually like really nice. Nobody's judging my shoes, you know, or my dress or where I'm from.
Speaker 2You're immediately a part of what you've created and what we continue to expand. Yeah, like you said, the family.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2Right yeah.
Speaker 1I'm excited for this year because I think our theme is clarity. I don't know about you, but, um, the first half of 2025 has been a ride for me personally. We've had deaths in the family, we've had struggles all of these challenges and it seemed like they all happened in the last six months, and I think I'm not alone. I would imagine I'm not alone in saying that and so, for me, getting clear on exactly what we want to accomplish this year at the summit and what we're going to talk about, and that all of the topics and all of the people who are going to be there, has been really helpful for me in not feeling that overwhelmed. Right, you mentioned, I heard you talking with Patrick last week and you said the words cognitive overload, yeah, overload, and I was like ding, ding, ding. Immediately. Wait, I have that. Let's talk more about that.
Cognitive Overload Explained
Speaker 2Yes, I'd love to, because, you know, looking at when I've um. Well, let me just start with um, what I do as a neuroscientist, right, so it really falls in the category of social science, right, cognitive behavior, and I get the. I have the honor and the privilege to observe humanity, right, and be a part of research teams and, post pandemic, I was on a research team where we were looking at how, prior to it, we kind of concluded that human beings are not present, okay, and at that point, before the pandemic, not present consciously, around 86% of the time. Wow, right Now it's up to 94%.
Speaker 1So when you say not present, what does that mean? We're just going through the motion.
Speaker 2We're just our, our subconscious, exactly, it's going through the motions, it's running programs for you, right? And you know, at events, I've had people really understand, um, how programs work, cause I'll say something like here's a story of a lovely lady right.
Speaker 2See, it went there now. I'm older than you, carrie, so I remember that show and it aired in real time. But then here you are, you're watching that, that jingle. So many people have that, and the entire narrative that the jingle and everything brought with it. Yeah, right. And so when you look at what happened during the pandemic with so much online, right and there you are and we became conditioned Programs began to take hold of running daily operations of the individual, the human being. Right or I have to be on a Zoom call and saw a click and we don't relate that or connect that to the exact same behavior that is storing and recalling a jingle or a commercial. Exactly Right, and it's the same thing. Another good way I've illustrated this in my personal favorite is to talk about the first time you drove a car. You're learning to drive a car. We all kind of get the same instructions you know it's started, foot on the brake, put it in gear, give it a little gas and you can hear your own heart just pounding.
Speaker 1Yes, I remember that very well.
Speaker 2Right now. I drove here. My my drive this morning was a hour and 15 minutes and I'm listening to just some audio recordings. I don't remember coming here because my subconscious drove the car. Yep, what happened? What's happening to us, those of us in the workforce, those of us that have the really big lives, like a lot of the women, our family that show up. They've got children, grandchildren, husbands all of this responsibility, and the overload is coming from the subconscious, literally saying you don't have any RAM left, you don't have any memory left, you don't have anywhere for me to store this. Wow, and so now what we're seeing is there are important things that people are forgetting and they think it's them.
Speaker 1Yes, okay, I do, I think it's me Right. Sometimes I think I'm losing my mind, exactly.
Speaker 2That's what it feels like. Well, if you think about your computer, you know what it starts to run slow when we have too much on it, right, or it may crash. The exact same thing is happening to us, the human being right between our two ears, Right.
Speaker 1When you put your car keys in the refrigerator or things like that.
Speaker 2Or forget your own birthday. I did that. Maybe I wanted to. It was my 60th, I don't know.
Speaker 1I mean, I think you get to a certain point where you're like I don't know, I could be this age. I mean, I think you get to a certain point where you're like I don't know, I could be this age, I could be this age. Who cares?
Speaker 2I've seen people say that I'm like you know how old are you? And they're like, let me think, or how long have you been married? Those used to be things that were immediately present for people and now again, you know, you've got a lot of people conducting business online. The way the light and everything is going into the human mind is actually causing us more and more to deal with anxiety from overload, cognitive overload.
The Subconscious Mind and Decision Making
Speaker 1I cannot have one more piece of information coming in. Yep, right, yep, yeah. That's funny that you said that. I saw there's this woman who does a series of TikToks or funny videos, and her whole thing is how long will this task actually take me? And when you talk about like anxiety because we have the list just gets longer and longer Sometimes, when I sit down and I actually just do the darn thing, it didn't take me that long. It wasn't the giant overwhelm that I made in my mind. I just I did it and it's done and now I feel so much better. But that buildup, I think, is a huge part of the overwhelm and the anxiety and the subconscious is life sustaining.
Speaker 2So it's like no, no more You're going to die. It's really under the impression that it's saving your life. And what I love so much about our annual event is the space that people get to enter and just relax, you know, and and to let all of that go, because your brain will actually start to filter things out for you. It will, and I've connected this to I don't want to go too deep into it, but I've connected it into decisions that people make to distance themselves from old friends or family members, even some entering into divorce, because the challenges and issues that they need to face are taking up so much space. Right, they're like no, I need to focus on my career.
Speaker 2Not realizing the subconscious made that decision for you because that's life sustaining, interesting, to keep your career, to keep the money. It's in that category as to what's going to keep you alive. Therefore, the spouse is optional and this is why it's so important to have events like ours, because it's a conscious space. Right, everything is disrupted the moment I walk into that space. I love the concerns at home about my grandchildren and their table manners.
Speaker 1I love the concerns at home about my grandchildren and their table manners. I hope you're not thinking about their table manners at the summit. No, when I come in there.
Speaker 2It's just, instantly, just, I'm present here in this space. Last year's event you mentioned death in the family. I walked in and this was two weeks after my brother, we had buried my brother and my mother relocated out here. She's 95. I was greeted by so many women with so much love. They were like Dr Carrie, are you okay? And I wasn't even aware that they were aware of it. Right, right, I came to serve and got served. That's amazing, yeah.
Speaker 1I love that. To serve and got served, that's amazing. Yeah, I love that, um, and that is such a good point because a lot of times, we're taking care of everyone and everything the women who are at the summit. They're managing up and managing down. You know, they've got their onsite teams, they've got their owners, investors, so who's taking care of them Exactly? And that's we're being so intentional this year about everything that happens All of our speakers. It's about who's taking care of you and are you taking care of yourself, right, right, because, like I said, I don't think I'm the only one who's had a tough year. That's been weird.
Speaker 2No, I mean, just in general, it's been weird. So this is our time to like can you believe that we're already halfway through the year? No, I cannot. I'm like, was there a time?
Creating Space for Women Leaders
Speaker 1jump. I don't know I got. I got an email from our venue and it was like 90 days until your summit and I was like, excuse me, right, I'm sorry, what that's right around? It's only February right now. Exactly, yeah, it's only February right now. Exactly, yeah, yeah, so, um, I, yeah, I, uh am excited. Like I mentioned, we have all of our speakers are aligned on the same page. You're heading up our strategic partnerships. I don't know if you want to talk a little bit about what that means and what you're doing.
Speaker 2So every year, and even though I'm new to the role, like you said, I've been a part of the family just an honored member really and so it's a very attractive event for all of the things we've already discussed. So what I'm doing is connecting with people who really want to participate as partners. That's how we view sponsorship here at Multifamily is you're a partner, and what I love so much about our engagement strategy is, yes, it's providing solutions to our members, to our attendees, but it's also highlighting what the sponsor is bringing to the table and not just at that event. Right, right, they have an opportunity to to participate in the podcast, and there is this year long engagement with everything that we're doing, where they're invited to the table as partners, as family members, and they can be showcased through our platforms, and I love that. Yeah.
Speaker 1Yeah, that's a great opportunity. It is and we have a lot of returning sponsors who see that value and understand it and they've made the like you said. When you walk in the door and people are hugging you, like they're making the same connection, which is harder to do, I think it. You know some other events and things like that because it's not so close, you don't get to have that connection with one another and in that type of environment and you've already mentioned how many connections I've made.
Speaker 2Um, I won't mention any names, but I've spoken with individuals that you know. In an environment like that, partnerships can come up or other business opportunities, and it's not about networking and your best elevator pitch Exactly.
Speaker 2None of that, or your unique value proposition and all of the things that we've learned from what I've started to call the force field of business, right, I think the last time I was on stage I talked about that, this whole world where, um, you know, there's competition and, uh, let me get my card over there, I have to meet that person.
Speaker 2No, it's just an environment where you're in the ladies room, for example, and all of a sudden, the perfect contact is the one in there handing you a paper towel to dry your hands with, right, and so that is, um to me, a new world. That, whether you intended to open that up, you did, and that's the kind of world that I want to live in, where people are really collaborating, um, where people are celebrating each other Like, I love the awards ceremony and all of that and people are really celebrating each other and not taking each other out. Yes, and if I dare say this, not to offend anyone, but to accomplish that with a group of women, right, when, historically I did the research on it, historically women have been, but there's something to that that I don't see at all. Um, and if you are someone that's interested in sponsorship, know that you are contributing to that in a in a very beautiful way by bringing your offering into that environment right and into an environment like that.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, I also. That leads perfectly into our new um, what we've just launched with my stage, my story. So I don't know. This is new and I've been trying to put it out there. Our team's been on social media and having me film videos and do all these crazy things, but I can't even. I'm honestly at a loss for words at the response that we've gotten.
Speaker 1So we had this idea like every summit, there's these conversations You're probably in quite a few of them that are happening off stage after someone's done speaking. You know, in the while we're eating lunch or dinner, having cocktails, there's all these and people. Did you hear what Joanne? Did you hear what she's been through or how she got here? Did you hear about Lisa, what you know? And I'm like, no, I didn't. I didn't hear her. I was on stage, right. So we realized all of these amazing women have all of these amazing stories about how multifamily has changed their lives in some way. And we thought, well, how do we get more? Because our whole platform, from the very beginning, is finding the leaders where they're at and shining the light on them, because they're busy, they're working, they might not be submitting oh, I'd like to speak. That's not even on their radar. But I want them to know like we see you, we see what you're doing, we know you have a story and we're going to make you get on stage, whether you want to or not.
Speaker 2Kidding it's your, but it's your time, it's your moment Right.
Speaker 1There's so many and there's just, you know, so many and not enough time, but um, so with this new launch, we're allowing women to tell their story. They get five minutes because there's so many. I know that five minutes is not enough.
Speaker 2That's a lot of time actually.
My Stage, My Story Initiative
Speaker 1Well, when you're solo on stage and the lights are on. Exactly that is true, and the response that we've gotten so far is I did not expect to just be sobbing at my desk every day when I get a new submission, but that's where we're at right now in a good way, because these women have overcome such unbelievable challenges, obstacles, hardships, and now they're thriving and all they want to do. They're not professional speakers.
Speaker 2All they want to do is tell their story and help somebody else.
Speaker 1They want to provide value. They're not taking their giving like and it's just it's like gives me chills. I know I'm over here I'm getting. I'll show you some of the submissions. It's unbelievable. I cannot wait for this. I'm very excited.
Speaker 2That's part of like you're really creating, opening up. I say it this way I've told people Carrie Antrim is giving birth to a new world. Seriously, I'll take that. It's a new way. The old ways have really expired. Yes, I agree, and what I tell people about all of our events really but multifamily women just staying with that is, if you come there, you're not coming to get another template or a funnel recipe or any of those things, right? No, you're coming to be liberated from all of that and you're going to get some really cool information to take back to your office.
Speaker 1Absolutely, of course, from the women who are doing it every day Exactly, and it might be info that's not out there. They're like hey, this worked for me, this did not, you know. And just opening minds, both personally and professionally. You know, we're all about women rising in every way.
Speaker 2You know, you, even at um, um, at the event, when you walk into the ladies room, people are in there just sharing and come, you go in the ladies room at one of our, at our events, and you can't get out, you can't. There's like fellowship going on. So I don't know if it was you that said we have to make sure that you've got the monitor in the ladies room on, because I've been in there before and I'm like talking and just fellowshipping and hugging, and then I'm like I think I'm next.
Speaker 2Right, I have to go. You know we're like laughing.
Speaker 1That's when I'm on stage and I'm like one, two, three, all eyes on me because I can't get everyone to just come. I'm like, okay, next year longer breaks in between. I get it, I hear you, I see you.
Speaker 2Yes, Also, I love the music and the energy. We've got high energy, we've got dancing vocals right All of the things that really appeal to the female brain. And when you look at the difference between our brains, you know men they have big brains and ours are smaller, but we access both hemispheres effectively. And when we are too far in the left hemisphere, where all of the logic and the analytical aspects Well, I'm that way as well, and I just remember it was my therapist that told me you need to just start sketching and he just had me drawing circles and I was drawing circles and then one day I sketched a tree that I remembered from my childhood and my daughter looked at it and she said how long have you been able to do that?
Speaker 2And I was like since I was a kid and she said when did you stop sketching? I said when my mother told me it was time to get serious. Well, yeah, you have to get a job, exactly Right. And but art and science, they're really tied together and every time I'm at our event and I see women. That's what I want to do is get them fully into that shift of the right hemisphere, and I've worked and labored so hard at other events to do that and still couldn't get there. These ladies come in pop, locking, dancing right and and even though everyone has a title you know, vp and above they're right there in the thick of it just letting go of all of that and the whole world that goes with it.
Speaker 1I think it's such a pattern reset, because you don't expect that from a corporate conference, right, we're not a conference, we're a summit. A summit not a conference, we're a summit. Um, and that's something I learned from Patrick 10 years ago was music, is that immediate trigger, and if it's good music, it's a great trigger for just letting go. And um, I mean, we joke all the time If you go to a concert and you see your favorite band and they only play their, their brand new music, that you haven't had a chance to like learn yet and it never works.
Breaking Barriers Through Sharing Experiences
Speaker 1This is great, but if they play the hits, right.
Speaker 2It's a great concert because it's triggering just that, that nostalgia, and you know the camaraderie and you're singing loud and you're looking at somebody over here. Music definitely is a great thing to bring everybody together.
Speaker 1It is. That's been a big part of our whole culture and it's not a requirement to dance.
Speaker 2Okay, but I think you probably will Exactly, or at least move your shoulders or something You'll be singing along in your head for sure.
Speaker 1So well, I guess, if you're on the fence about attending or sponsoring or applying for my stage my story let this be your sign to just do it.
Speaker 2Yeah Right, I mean just do it and then really you know I have to. I mean, that's what I do, like I? I challenge humanity. Why are you on the fence? Look at what your hesitation might be. Is your hesitation because you're concerned about how you speak or something about your appearance, or no one wants to hear this? Do I share this? Am I going to be embarrassed? That's the human brain. That's just going to give you more cognitive overload.
Speaker 1We had all those thoughts half an hour ago, before we sat down, we did.
Speaker 2I was like I need this table.
Speaker 1My gut doesn't show right.
Speaker 2Yeah, it's real, but in that environment it just kind of disappears. And so just throw your hat over the wall, put yourself in um, step out. You won't regret being a sponsor with us not even a little bit, and I'm I'm putting my credentials on that. I am, and also um attending the event. Do both. But if you have a compelling story and it was your moment in time and you were more than you thought you could be, you owe it to yourself to contribute that to humanity and we would really appreciate it. Yeah.
Speaker 2Get your five minutes right.
Speaker 1Absolutely, yeah, absolutely, yeah. Well, I don't have anything to follow that up. That was beautiful. Thanks for sharing the time today.
Speaker 2Thank you so much. I'm really thrilled about being here. Ever since I first saw this woman, I was like I want to be her friend, right. Remember when kids used to go? Let's new family moved in down the street. Let's go make friends, right, yep. So I'm really glad to be here. I'm really glad we're friends. Yeah, me too. We're happy to have you.
Speaker 1Yeah, so anyway, thanks for listening. Go to multifamilywomencom and get your ticket today.