Sidewalk Conversations
"Let the one who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall..." (1 Corinthians 10:12)
Standing strong and remaining true to your calling is no easy task. No one sets out to crash and burn. In fact, it's actually the opposite, most people want to stand strong, remain effective, and be true to their values all the way through to the end. But, it is really hard to do.
In these interviews, Piet Van Waarde (a 40 year veteran of pastoral ministry) has heart-to-heart conversations with ordinary people about what it takes to stay faithful and effective in the things that matter most.
Sidewalk Conversations
The Chief Connecting Officer with Billie Logiudice
Billie Logiudice shares her journey from creating a classroom in her childhood bedroom to becoming the "Chief Connecting Officer" at Hutto's Chamber of Commerce, driven by her passion to leave the world a better place through service and meaningful connections.
• Growing up as an "army brat" with educators as key influences shaped her path toward education and service
• Started in children's ministry after becoming a believer 26 years ago, eventually becoming a director at several churches
• Created "The Sandbox at Madeline's Place" teen center after family friend's suicide, providing a safe space where teens could connect with trusted adults
• Teens at the center crossed typical high school social boundaries, creating connections between diverse groups
• Currently serves as VP and COO at Hutto Chamber of Commerce, focusing on preserving small-town charm while managing rapid growth
• Celebrating Hutto's traditions like the 40th anniversary of Old Time Days helps maintain community identity
• Completing master's degree in strategic leadership and organizational management
• Faith guides her service mission: "God, what do you have for me today?"
Check out our sponsor Amasouk, an online handbag company featuring artisan-made products from Mexico, Japan, and Morocco, with most proceeds going directly to the artisans.
So family you got kids.
Billi Logiduce:Yes, all of them were a surprise. Didn't know what any of them were going to be.
Piet Van Waarde:Oh, you didn't find out beforehand? Nope, oh wow.
Billi Logiduce:I always said that was the one thing that no one could ever accidentally tell, or it's just 100% a surprise.
Piet Van Waarde:And you liked that. I guess you did, because you did it each time. Yeah.
Billi Logiduce:I did.
Piet Van Waarde:And your husband was okay with that.
Billi Logiduce:I mean he wanted to know, of course.
Piet Van Waarde:But he went with it, put your foot down. So thank you for joining us for another sidewalk conversation. So glad to have you here today and I have a very interesting guest that I'm sure you will enjoy. But before we introduce you to her, I want to say thank you to our sponsor. This week we have a new sponsor and it's called Amasuk. It is a handbag company and you can find them. It's all online A-M-A-S-O-U-K. We will link it below. But if you like handbags and it's you know graduation time and all the things that are around the summer, you got to take things to the beach you want to check out Amasuk and I think you will find some great options there, both from Mexico, japan and Morocco all kinds of and it's great, great company because they make sure that the artisans get the majority of the resources that are entrusted to them. So check them out. Today I have Billie. Now you're going to have to help me again with the name.
Billi Logiduce:Lojudis.
Piet Van Waarde:Lojudis. When you see the spelling, you'll know why, I'm in trouble and thank you for joining us today.
Billi Logiduce:Billie, yeah, thanks for having me.
Piet Van Waarde:So one of the things we do at the start of the interview. You're quite well known in the area here because of all the things you've been involved with in your life, but maybe for those who are watching it might be interesting to know a little bit about how you grew up, where you grew up, and then we'll get into what you're doing now.
Billi Logiduce:Yeah. I love it. So I am an army brat. I was born in New York and then shortly after moved to what was then Fort Hood. We spent some time in Germany several years and then came right back to Fort Hood Killeen area, which is where I grew up. I feel kind of lucky because we got to stay. My dad left often, you know, for deployments and stuff, but that allowed us to, you know, have some roots.
Piet Van Waarde:Oh, good yeah. And who were some of your key influences growing up?
Billi Logiduce:That's a great question. I always have to think back. I mean, I had some really good teachers. I had some teachers that taught me lessons, and maybe they were hard ones, but I always go back to my educators, principals, which may be why I was so drawn to education.
Piet Van Waarde:And still, you know, yeah because that's a large part of what you do now. You still have a great passion for that. You were on the school board, I think, for a while, right, is that true?
Billi Logiduce:I am still oh you still are All right.
Piet Van Waarde:Well, there you go.
Billi Logiduce:Just sworn in for my sixth term. Wow, great Congratulations.
Piet Van Waarde:You are a great person to have on the board.
Billi Logiduce:Thank you.
Piet Van Waarde:Now here in the Austin area you are now serving with the Chamber of Commerce and you've also been involved with nonprofit work. And anytime you know, anytime I meet people who have like that orientation towards service, I'm always curious like what prompted that, Like what created the interest, Because it's not usually the money, it's not the notoriety, it's basically about serving people. So talk us through a little bit about your career, kind of some of the places that you served, and then why that's been so important to you.
Billi Logiduce:You know, I think that, yes, service has been a large part of my adult life and really, if I am thinking about this question, you know, even back into my childhood, I can see where that started. I just told the story the other day, when I was in fourth grade, so eight, nine years old, I turned my whole bedroom into a classroom to include a library, a whole library with Nice, a whole like library with nice, um, and, and I like, had the neighbors, all of the neighborhood kids, coming over after school so I could tutor them, um, you know, and I even took that a step further and, you know, had conferences with their parents who entertain this little eight, nine-year-old girl. That's perfect. So you know, when I think back to you, know I think about.
Billi Logiduce:I see that you know starting way back then, but I take it that you really enjoyed school.
Piet Van Waarde:then, like there must have been something about the whole environment that really captured you.
Billi Logiduce:Yeah, I think that school was my safe place.
Piet Van Waarde:Okay.
Billi Logiduce:So when you talk about you know influences, and in my past I felt like that is where you know I was encouraged and yeah, and my kids will you know, say today we're not like you, mom, school is not, but yeah, to day we're not like you, mom, school is not on there.
Billi Logiduce:So I started when my kids were young. Their dad was deployed a lot, so that allowed me to kind of go where they went, and so I started serving in our children's ministry shortly after I became a believer, which now it's about 26 years ago, you know, started serving and learning all the things about children's ministry and, you know, eventually went on staff as the assistant children's director and then later to be the director of a couple of different churches. So I don't know, I just have that in me to leave the world a better place to leave. You know that legacy for my kids of you can make a difference. For my kids of you can make a difference. Maybe your gifts are not the same as mine, but the world needs what everybody has to offer. And and if I'm not modeling that, if I say that but I'm not doing that, then um, you know what kind of rings?
Piet Van Waarde:how old? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so um and then you did some nonprofit work too right. I mean, you were the director of the nonprofit for that's, I think, where we first met.
Billi Logiduce:I think so.
Billi Logiduce:Yeah, so you know, it's a nonprofit teen center which we got started shortly after one of our good family friends and my oldest son they were the same age Madeline Haynes, committed suicide and you know family friends.
Billi Logiduce:We got together and her parents really felt compelled to do the same, like let's. You know, use this to impact the future generations and to create a safe place where teens, largely middle school and high school students, can come and have trusted adults in their world that aren't their parents, who they say the same old thing, but really expand that network, because we know that these teens are the first to know when something is going down. And so, again, just that idea that you know, if we believe that, then let's do something with that. Adore working with young people and seeing them flourish and and seeing them struggle through you know things and navigate life and, you know, try to wrestle with hard choices, or because that adversity is, you know, really what is shaping us and helping us. No, I think this is a theme. This was a theme in my life which really taught me a lot that the idea that you cannot experience the mountaintop in the way that God intended if you're never in the valley, scraping your way through.
Piet Van Waarde:Now it was called Madeline's Place, right, If?
Billi Logiduce:I remember right, the sandbox at Madeline's Place, right, if I remember right, the Sandbox at Madeline's Place.
Piet Van Waarde:Yeah, so the idea was that people could relate and connect and play and have conversation in a place outside the home where they could also connect and talk about the real things of life.
Billi Logiduce:right, that's right, that's right. And one of the things that I think was just a beautiful part of that is, you know, when conflict arose or when things you know felt kind of icky, or you know things were going down like we really were able to have a you know time out and say what does this look like? The message there is be honest, be kind and speak up. So again, like, let's practice that, let's call it what it is, and you know kind of role play, what does that mean, you know? And so we got to like not just say you know, you know, let's be nice to each other. We, you know, we want to be kind to one another, but really let's dig down and figure out what's going on.
Billi Logiduce:Yes, and sometimes you don't have time to do that in school because you're going from one thing to the next, and so I just felt like it's an afterschool teen center largely, so, you know, we could have the time to stop and work through those things. And, you know, one of the things that I loved about it is, um, you could be yourself there. These kids were themselves. Whether they were, it wasn't like oh, I can't talk to you, you're banned, and I'm athlete and I'm theater and you're, you know, it was. They were all there, and so when they went back to school, they weren't necessarily best friends, but they knew they had something in common, and connection is just so important.
Piet Van Waarde:Absolutely.
Billi Logiduce:I think for these teens to recognize maybe we're not best friends but I know, if something is up with me, that you know we have that.
Piet Van Waarde:We've worked on some stuff already.
Billi Logiduce:Yes, yes so.
Piet Van Waarde:Do you have a favorite story from Madeline's place?
Billi Logiduce:You know, I think I have probably have several, but a couple have come to mind. There was one young lady who came and she, you know we had chairs like similar to this, and she just curled up and went to sleep and woke up and said that was the best nap ever and and one thing I always heard is like if you feel comfortable enough to take a nap in my house, then you're comfortable yes, yes so, um, there was that.
Billi Logiduce:And then, just another favorite that comes to mind is when the kids are like you know. Miss Billy, can we live here? You know and just knowing that you created that safe place and where kids want to be.
Piet Van Waarde:One of the things I love about that story, too, is you may know, but my brother lost his son.
Piet Van Waarde:You may know, but my brother lost his son, and when you have a tragedy like that, you're always trying to find some sense of meaning in it, like how can this be redeemed? And so one of the things that my brother did was that he created a foundation called the Caleb House, and there were a whole series of homes that were built orphanages basically around the world and one of those orphanages was built in Haiti, and my niece, his daughter, would often go to the orphanage in Haiti and help and serve, and along the way, she met a guy that eventually became her husband, and now, every time I see Rob and I see the two kids together, I can't help but think that that is just like God to take a tragedy, to take a heartache and then put something together that could never have happened outside of that tragedy, and I think that's part of how God redeems it. That doesn't mean that that's okay or you're glad it happened, but it just means that the tragedy is not the end of the story.
Piet Van Waarde:And there are things God can do in the midst of it.
Billi Logiduce:And I also think that we have to have something to hope in, otherwise why do we get up every day, you know? And when you don't have that thing that you're hoping in, you know for me, god, you know recognizing God in that, you know starting up this foundation. I can't imagine the pain and grief being a parent or you know, I mean Madeline we were pretty close and she would call me her second mom and that kind of thing but you know, to be able to take that pain and grief and put it in something that you know you can get up the next day and the next day and the next day and keep, you know, going.
Piet Van Waarde:Yeah, I love that. All right. Well, I'm going to switch gears a little bit on you. So you had that part of your life and now, more recently, you've been serving with the Huddo Chamber of Commerce. So Huddo is a little small town. For those who may not know in the Austin area, it's a small town outside of Austin and the big deal over there is the Huddo Hippo. That's kind of our mascot. We actually, carol and I, live on the border of Huddo and Round Rock. In fact, out of our backyard if you go across the fence, we're in Huddo.
Billi Logiduce:So sometimes on GPS it'll come up as Huddo, as Huddo.
Piet Van Waarde:So first of all, tell us, tell those who may not know what, what's the big deal in Hutto?
Billi Logiduce:Why is Hutto a great place to work and raise a family? Yeah, you know, when my family, when we moved out there in 2000, it was specifically for you know, we're going to raise a family and raise kids we wanted to be in a small community. And you know, if we're going to raise a family and raise kids, we wanted to be in a small community. And you know, know, our neighbors and and all of those things and um, we, we got to do that. Uh, hutto is just um. First of all, I think the hippo is the unifier.
Billi Logiduce:You know people rally around that and and take some pride in being.
Piet Van Waarde:Now tell the story. There's a legend behind the hippo.
Billi Logiduce:I mean the legend has it that the circus train was coming through town and stopped and the hippo escaped in one of our creeks and so literally had to send a telegraph down to the other towns to say stop hippo on the loose, stop the trains until they could get the hippo back. But also legend has it that when it became the school mascot they were playing against Hutto, was playing against the neighboring town, taylor, and the fans. It was rainy and muddy and so the fans in the stands were like they look like a bunch of hippos down there playing and it stuck.
Billi Logiduce:Yeah, yeah, so the only hippo mascot in the United States you know for a school.
Piet Van Waarde:Now, when I was serving on the huddle board, they even put together a little and maybe they still do it a guide, like if you came to huddle and you wanted to see where all the main hippos were, you could get a map.
Billi Logiduce:Yeah, yeah, yeah, and you could do a little scavenger hunt. Did we still do that, yeah?
Piet Van Waarde:All right Now. What's your role at the chamber?
Billi Logiduce:So I am the VP and COO, so I'm chief operating officer, although I've nicknamed myself the chief connecting officer.
Billi Logiduce:I love that was meant to come in. And you know Hutto's growing at such a fast pace and you know how to connect the workforce and the economic development that's coming with the resources that are available in the community. And so that is truly been one of my greatest learning curves, like education. I could talk about that all day and you know so it's been really neat to one. I've had to learn the business side of it a little more in depth and I have a lot more to learn, but really seeing those two worlds come together and say what do you need and how can we help? Or we have this, so how does this make a difference? Because the fact of the matter is, if we don't start building that capacity in depth within our workforce whether it's the service industry or public service or manufacturing you know all of those things and just going back to that idea that what can we do what I can do might be different than what you can do, but what we can do together could serve. You know this, and I think that until we start having those conversations and getting around the table and kind of hashing that out, so that's really what I've been working towards.
Billi Logiduce:What does that look like to bring all these worlds together. And when we're in a room, who do you need to know? But, more importantly, who needs to know you? And that's how it starts. And maybe today, there you know, it just a good, good to meet you, kind of thing. But maybe tomorrow you're like, oh, what about you know? So I love that. I love seeing you know how those opportunities connect. Perfect, yeah.
Piet Van Waarde:Now, speaking of the growth, we've been talking about this in the community. I wrote for Huddle Living Magazine, as you might know, and I served on the board in Huddle at the chamber, and so one of the questions we've been asking and dealing with for quite some time now is that you know, you have all these people from all around the country moving to Texas and, and you know, huddo is the beneficiary maybe in some ways beneficiary, but for others it's like no, we want to keep this a small town. So what are some of the things that, like you're doing and the chamber may be doing? Because I think and the reason I'm curious about it is not just relevant for Hutto, but it's for other communities and other people that might be listening who are kind of facing that same dilemma.
Piet Van Waarde:I think it's better. I've been a part of when I was living in Missouri. I was a part of some organizations that were dealing with a dying town and that's really hard Kids leaving and population aging and things dying and that's really hard Kids leaving and population aging and things and that's no fun. But this is no less of a challenge when you are in a community where a lot of the core was there because they wanted a small town feel away from the busyness of Austin. And now you have all these things coming to Hdle and it's changing the dynamic of the town. So how do you strategically hold the small town vibe while accommodating the growth?
Billi Logiduce:Yeah, that's a great question and one for sure that is talked about a lot in our community, and so our physical location of the chamber is located in a part of Old Town, hutto, so downtown historic area, and so I've been thinking a lot about that question in general. You know, just sitting there like saying what, what is it what, and also what can we do. Maybe we can't do everything, but what can we do. And I just wonder if you know, I feel strongly that in these growing communities yes, you know, there's the population that is like no, we want the small town. It just seems like to me and maybe this is pie in the sky, I tend to be like that rainbows and kind of thinker, but you know, just deciding that if that's important to us, keeping that small town charm, old downtown charm, then let's really focus on, you know, huddles growing. There's no doubt whether we want that or not.
Piet Van Waarde:Right, it's coming.
Billi Logiduce:So how do we preserve what we can preserve? And let's decide what that looks like. Let's decide what we can preserve and let's decide what that looks like. Let's decide. I think that you know it's so important oftentimes that if you want to see something, you know, be the leader in those, you know, bringing people together. Not that you have all the answers, but you know, lead that charge if that's what you want to see.
Billi Logiduce:And the downtown huddle businesses are kind of starting to come together and talk about what makes sense down here. And I think that's the key. You know, keep those pockets of downtown old town and decide that, you know, like this, this radius, this, you know, area we're going to really concentrate on, how we're going to let the growth affect us, yeah, and and then let the, let the other partners, let the city, other city partners you know, decide around the large part of the community because that's happening. So let them be the experts in what they're you know and kind of you know, I don't know Again, I might just be like overthinking that, but I think that downtown Hutto has such a unique maybe unique to us Everybody has their own downtown but just that charm and that history, so much history down there.
Billi Logiduce:So let's just decide it's kind of like I'll talk about God a lot because that is important in my life, but it's kind of that idea that got to decide ahead of time.
Billi Logiduce:You know how you're going to respond, because you're not always going to feel it. I say this in marriage often. I say it, you know, in so many things, like you're not always going to feel loving or feel like you want to love your spouse, but you decide ahead of time that this is the commitment and, like God, I love you more than this marriage and I'm going to honor you ahead of time. That this is the commitment Like God, I love you more than this marriage and I'm going to honor you. And so bringing that back to the downtown, if that is important to us, and we're going to decide ahead of time that this is what we're going to commit to and this is what we want to preserve, and just go about it in that way, not saying no to the growth, but we're saying we want to protect this part of it in this way. So just making those decisions ahead of the feelings, because the feelings you cannot trust your feelings.
Piet Van Waarde:So true. One of the things that I learned as I was writing for Huddo Living was that the people I would interview and I would ask them why they came to Huddo, and one of the things that I continued to hear was that they said there's just something about the city, there's something about the town, there's something about the vibe and the hippos part of it, but it's, you know, football, it's the downtown, and I think, and I hope again, I'm not being too idealistic about this, but it's, you know, football, it's the downtown, and I think, and I hope again, I'm not being too idealistic about this. But one of the questions that I love to think about is well, if there are that many people who are being attracted to the same thing, then that's really good. Like they're all wanting to do, they're wanting to keep the things that are unique about Hutto, so let's celebrate that as opposed to thinking well, growth necessarily means it's not going to stay the same right growth can mean, hey, the people that are attracted to this want the same thing.
Piet Van Waarde:And the other thing I think the chamber does such a great job on is all the activities and events right. So there's some traditions with you know the, the crab, what is the? Crawfish festival old time days.
Billi Logiduce:Yeah, this year's our 40th anniversary for the old time days, so we've got some fun special things planned.
Piet Van Waarde:So there's bands, there's booths, there's all kinds of things, and I think even just kind of continuing those traditions helps to reinforce the fact that these are some of our values, these are the things that we hold dear to us.
Billi Logiduce:Yeah, and I think one of the challenges to that point also is how do we leverage that and also value our downtown neighbors? Maybe? The Chamber of Commerce is a membership-driven organization, so our focus is on our members and what we're providing, the value we're providing to them. But that doesn't mean that we can't be good neighbors, you know, and so helping everybody to kind of to buy in and understand how these events could support. And maybe that's just thinking outside of the box and creatively about what can my business do? I can't. I'm not a chamber member, for whatever reason, okay, but as a good neighbor, what, what can we? How can we get to a yes?
Piet Van Waarde:Yeah, yeah, I love that. All right, so now you look at your life for maybe next couple of years. What excites you? What are you looking forward to?
Billi Logiduce:Well, I mean personally. I am just two classes away from my master's degree. Oh, congratulations. So thank you Going back to loving school. My kids will say that I I put myself through college while raising them and so got my associates and bachelors and I was like you know, let's just keep going. So I'm I'm excited about that. I'm I'm excited to be done. It is strategic leadership and organizational management.
Piet Van Waarde:Wow perfect, so really it is.
Billi Logiduce:It is falling right in line with the work and the growth and opportunities and why I was hired for the chamber.
Piet Van Waarde:That's great.
Billi Logiduce:The events are great and they are a community builder and they support our membership through allowing them to be part of that and bringing the community together. But as we're growing also we've got to be really mindful of how are we supporting the small businesses and bringing education and resources to them while adding value to our large businesses and community partners and that kind of thing. So just a wide open door, and I am just always thinking about like what if? What if we? You know, what if we tried that? What if? And so maybe the answer isn't always yes, but if you never ask the question, you're never going to start the conversation.
Billi Logiduce:So I'm excited. I'm excited to see how, hutto, you know maneuvers and you know to your point, people are passionate about our community and you know, I think everybody, everybody wants that feel. Everybody has a different way to get there. So I'm excited to see how we, you know, navigate through that and get to a place where you know, we're all just really proud and people are excited to come to our community and keeping that going and I mean just personally, I'm excited to be a part of that, you know, to get to say like, yeah, I, you know I was a part of that whatever part, that is yeah.
Piet Van Waarde:Well, I think you're a great person for it. Thank you, and thank you for taking the time to be with us. I always have one last question that I'd like to ask, which is and I have a I have a little sneaky suspicion. I know what the answer to this one is, but I want to see, if I'm right, If you had a life mission statement, if you had something that would say this is my true north, how would you describe it?
Billi Logiduce:I mean, my true north is like God, what do you have for me today? Um, I can get off track and myself and, and trust me, I get into my feelings and um and all of those things. But just keep coming back to how do I bring you honor? Um, you know, I don't want people to see me. I want people to see God in me and I I sometimes I miss the mark and you're so unusual that way, um, but yeah, like, like what you know, god you've you have.
Billi Logiduce:You have created me with a passion and a drive to serve others. And and how do I do that in a way that honors him and also, um, that gives me the freedom to celebrate that?
Piet Van Waarde:the way he created me love that. That's kind of where I thought you would head but it's good to hear from you and and the way you would put it, all right. Well, thank you for joining us for another episode of Sidewalk Conversations. If you like this episode and you think there may be somebody who could be helped by it, feel free to like and share and join us again next week.
