Todd Sanders:                   Welcome back to the podcast. We are thrilled today to have Carrie Masters who's the newly minted CEO of St. Joseph the Worker, and also an ATHENA nominee from this year. Carrie, thanks for being here, welcome.

Carrie Masters:                 Thank you for having me, I'm very excited.

Todd Sanders:                   Well, congrats, first of all, I've long been a big fan of the work of St. Joseph the Worker, so it's great to know that they have a tremendous leader at the helm. But let's go ahead and get started in terms of your story, tell us a little bit about you, and of course there is a lot out there, I was looking, which is great, but tell us something about you that we wouldn't necessarily find on your bio or what's been printed so far.

Carrie Masters:                 Ooh, that's going to be tough because the truth is, I'm an open book, I probably overshare. But I would say the thing that I probably don't often lead with in my interviews is really that I'm a single mom of an amazing human being. She is 23 years old and really has been a gift to me. When I think about my life and all the things that you've probably read when you were in the media looking for me, she really has been my purpose and I think truly was whatever higher power you believe in, is a gift to me for everything I had gone through, she's just fabulous. So yeah, single mom, one child, adult, and outside of that I love, love, love dogs, I have two rescues that are very meaningful to me. And so really, Carrie outside of the professional world is just a really down to earth, no makeup on, casual, love pajama days, hanging with my dogs and really just relaxing with my daughter.

Todd Sanders:                   Nothing wrong with dog days and your kid, it doesn't matter how old they are, I absolutely agree with that, I love that. But your background, your story, I think is fascinating and clearly it's culminated, at least to this point, it's certainly not over, it culminated to this point where at St. Joseph the Worker, but tell us about your background, tell us about your history.

Carrie Masters:                 Yeah, so I am an Arizona native. I love Arizona, a lot.

Todd Sanders:                   Interesting, okay.

Carrie Masters:                 I don't think I'll ever leave, I have yet to find a state that I like better. But I'm an Arizona native, I did grow up, both of my parents were addicted to methamphetamines and because of their addiction, for the first 14 years of my life, meaning myself and my three siblings, often lived in abandoned homes or abandoned cars, we had a stint at the UMOM shelter. There were a lot of really rundown motel rooms on Van Buren that we would bounce around to. And then I would say the majority of the time we were in the Sunnyslope area of Arizona in really poverty-stricken neighborhoods.

                                                Somehow my parents were able to get an apartment but didn't have to show proof of turning on the electricity or water. And so that was the majority of my childhood, is just not having hot water to take a bath or a shower or to flush a toilet or really just a refrigerator to keep our food or something to cook on. And so from the earliest of ages it was really thinking outside the box, being innovative.

Todd Sanders:                   Did you think maybe that was normal? That that was the normal for folks?

Carrie Masters:                 Yes. I think for probably the first, goodness gracious, maybe until like fourth grade, it was very normal to me. I don't think I've ever shared this story, so I'll share it here with you, but it'll give you a little bit of an idea of how normal I believed what we were living was. My parents were also, for many years in my childhood, drug dealers, so we had traffic in and out of, at the time we had a house that was no electricity, no water, none of the above, but we were living in this house and it was just constant traffic.

                                                So anyways, we had one refrigerator that was for food and essentials, and then we had another refrigerator that was just full of drug money and drugs, I don't know how else to say it. But me and my sister we would play house, and when we would play house we would bag up fake drugs and we would fake weigh it and we would have fake money, monopoly money, and we would sell each other drugs, and that was just absolutely a hundred percent normal and that's what every family did. And so that probably gives you a little bit of insight into, did we feel it was normal? Oh yeah, we absolutely did.

Todd Sanders:                   In one way it is sort of normal for kids to do that, but in another way just stunningly abnormal for kids to be in that situation. So obviously tough beginnings, but look where you are now.

Carrie Masters:                 Yeah.

Todd Sanders:                   So obviously you came out of that and then what happened?

Carrie Masters:                 Yeah, there was a lot in that childhood, it's very hard to sort of capture all that in a brief story, but my dad ended up going to prison when I was 10, and then my mom became a single mom of me and my three siblings from that point on until I was 14. Really, during that time it got really bad because instead of having two parents trying to figure it out, I ended up with one. And my mom is also diagnosed as bipolar schizophrenic, and so with mental health and then drugs and then poverty and never having worked or anything like that, we were definitely in a tough space, so my mom left in the middle of the night and she never returned. In a lot of ways that was a blessing.

Todd Sanders:                   You were 14?

Carrie Masters:                 I was 14, my sister was 12, and I had two brothers, six and four. Extremely heartbreaking when you hear the story, but actually the reaction was quite different for us kids, we were almost like, yes, like yay, because it was really hard living with an adult that had her type of struggles. And so it was almost like immediately that stress and pressure that we were living with was gone. And there's a long story in there, but I called my grandfather from a collect phone, and yes, there was actually payphones around back in those days, and told him, I read the letter my mom wrote me, and I still remember that letter almost verbatim today. And he was very calm and said, "I'll be right there." And so from that day forward I all of a sudden had a house and some consistency.

Todd Sanders:                   Structure.

Carrie Masters:                 And structure and some nurturing and food and just sort of the basics that you don't really realize you don't have until you get them. And so unbelievably grateful and appreciative for my grandparents for stepping in when they did. But I lived there from the age of 14 until 18, I moved out, that was my junior year of high school. And so I think my story shows a lot more than a kid who was struggling with trauma and then overcame it, because really from the earliest of ages, I've just been extremely driven and always really innovative in my thinking. And so...

Todd Sanders:                   You had to be to survive it.

Carrie Masters:                 You had to be, right? Survival mode did that for sure. And so here I am, 18, a junior in high school, I am working full-time, obviously going to school full time and just decided, well, if I'm already doing all this I might as well get my own place. And so I shocked my grandparents, I did it after school one day, went and signed a lease and everything. And my commitment to them was, I'll never miss a day of school, you have my word. And I didn't, I finished my junior year of high school and then went every single day my senior year and was the first in my family, both all the way down the bloodline on my dad's side and my mom's side to graduate high school.

Todd Sanders:                   Huge accomplishment.

Carrie Masters:                 Huge accomplishment. Something that I was very, very proud of. And I think a lot of people can say, you look back on your childhood or as a teenager and you have this dream of what you think you want to be, and then life happens and you maybe didn't become that teacher you thought you wanted to be or that veterinarian or whatever. And for me it was like, I want no kids and I want to go to college. College was a big deal, nobody had ever gone to college. And I was applying for grants and just super excited about this whole college journey that I had envisioned in my mind. And my family has been generation after generation of mental illness, drugs and poverty. And so really it was, why would you spend your money on college? That's terrible. You need to work. Life is about hard work and work, work, work. And I was really confused on what to do.

                                                But as the story unfolds, I ended up getting pregnant by my first boyfriend ever, right out of high school. And my path turned from, Hey, I'm going to be this, never having kids, and I'm going to go to college and do great things to, I'm having a daughter and I'm going to do whatever is within my power to ensure that she does not endure the life that I did, and I'm willing to do whatever that takes. And that's kind of what sped me into my professional career.

Todd Sanders:                   Absolutely. What an incredible life. And your point, clearly that's a very truncated version of what is probably a book. Let's shift into your professional career. You obviously made the shift, surprise, pregnant, but turned out that's, now looking back, an incredible gift. But then you decided, all right, I need a career now, what did you go into?

Carrie Masters:                 Yeah, it was tough. Ended up that the father of my daughter was physically abusive to me, and so while I was pregnant... So when I was five months pregnant I made a really tough decision to leave that relationship. And unfortunately that decision, or fortunately, however you want to look at that, put me in a place where I raised my daughter alone without any level of support or assistance from her biological father. And so I was just in a spot at that point of, I just need to work, I didn't have a dream of what field do I want to get into and what's my dream job? At that point, it was like, I just need to work. So I responded to a Craigslist ad for a receptionist position at LGE Design Build, and as luck would have it they hired me and they were stuck with me for about 20 years.

                                                I started my career there as a receptionist, did that for maybe three months, and at that point the vice president who's now the owner, approached me and asked me if I would be open to being his executive assistant. And of course I said yes. And then over the next 20 years I grew from receptionist, executive assistant, office manager, director of human resources, chief administrative officer. Oh gosh, I'm probably scrambling these, director of operations, eventually becoming chief operating officer, and then I did buy in as a partner. And I might be butchering this, so please do not quote me on it, but I want to say it was maybe like eight ish to 10 years ago.

                                                And I can honestly tell you, I learned so much about life at LGE, not having a real family or support or really any guidance or anybody to really look up to, like this is how they did it. It was fantastic for me because I got the professional growth, but I also got a deep understanding into family and what support felt like. And Dave Sellers who is their current owner and CEO, is only two years older than me, so it was really interesting to me that there was this human being that was a kid like I am, that was willing to give me an opportunity and never stopped giving me opportunities. He has always, always tried to tell me how special and amazing that I am, and really tried to push my confidence in that direction, so grateful for that and everything that I learned.

Todd Sanders:                   So would you consider him a mentor?

Carrie Masters:                 Oh my gosh, yeah.

Todd Sanders:                   Even someone that close in age.

Carrie Masters:                 Mentor, best friend, in some ways, guardian angel. I really do feel like he was put here when I needed him. And this gets even a little bit deeper into my vulnerability, but he's also been the longest standing supporter I've ever had. Because my parents left, my family left, friends have come and gone, Aubrey's dad, Aubrey's my daughter, Aubrey's dad left, here was this human being that stuck it out. And truth is, I left LGE a year ago in July, he's still my friend, he still is a huge supporter, we communicate often, and I'm extremely grateful for all that.

Todd Sanders:                   The power of friendship and mentorship is, you can't overstate the importance of those relationships.

Carrie Masters:                 I can't scream that enough. I've been asked a lot of times in my life, how did you get out of that? Why are you different? Because my siblings are all still stuck in it, I'm definitely the oddball in the family, and I really hated that question because I did not know how to answer it. I didn't know the answer, and so I felt like I was just making stuff up to say it. And I've really put a lot of thought into that, and I think that I just always knew that what I was feeling was not good, I just wanted something different. And so it was teachers, it was friends parents, it was these adults throughout my entire life that gave me these little moments of normalcy and really took the time to treat me with love and respect and show me the way.

                                                And so there was many of those since probably, I mean, my youngest memory is, I was four, so probably even before that. But when I became an adult I was like, how do I give this back? How do I chase these adults from these different nonprofits that helped? How do I pay it forward? And so I did start doing that in my late twenties, paying it forward, and going back to all the nonprofits that I remembered when I was a kid, and I still do. I spoke at a gala for the UMOM Shelter and I currently signed up with New Pathways for Youth to become a mentor. Actually, I have a session tonight, a three hour session on that.

                                                And so I think what it is, is I'm in a space in my life where my decisions and the way that I maneuver through everything is really based on my heart, where maybe I didn't get to make the decisions fully that way because I was in survival mode as a single mom. Now, as an adult with an adult child, I actually get to make decisions the best way for me, and that is truly a hundred percent with my heart.

Todd Sanders:                   And it sounds like that's what led you to this new adventure leading St Joseph's the Worker, is that correct?

Carrie Masters:                 It did, yeah. It was a really interesting how our worlds collided. I left LGE with no game plan. I just hit this time in my life where I had all this success and I was so proud of all that, but I was not happy and I couldn't figure out why, I just could not figure out what brought me joy. And what I have learned is that LGE filled every void in my life, they became my identity, they were my family, they were my friends, they were my career, they were everything. And so my weekends weren't out enjoying hobbies and living my best life, I was totally engulfed in work, and I had done that for 20 years. And so I did a ton of soul searching and was like, did I endure what I did through my life to end up working in commercial real estate? Is this what I'm supposed to do? Is this why I was put on this planet?

                                                And while I don't think it's why I was put on the planet, it was absolutely supposed to be a part of my journey, but I needed to get away from that to allow myself the space to figure out myself. Who am I? What do I do for fun? What do I like? What brings me joy? What do I want to do in this next chapter of life? And I could not do that if I still worked there because I cared too much, they were my friends, they were my family, I could not, not be there.

                                                So I had a very hard conversation with Dave, and after probably two months of convincing him I was being serious, I decided to leave LGE. And I had no timeframe of how long I wanted to figure it out, I just wanted no pressure other than to figure it out. So fast forwarding, one of our board members who I knew through LGE, reached out to me and he goes, "Carrie, I know you left LGE. I have no idea what you're doing, but I sit on this board and they're looking for a CEO, and I thought of you, you would be perfect for it." I turned it down.

Todd Sanders:                   Had you heard of...

Carrie Masters:                 Never heard of St. Joseph the Worker before, did my research and essentially turned it down. I just was like, I don't even know who I am and I don't know if I want to lead people, I don't know what I want to do and I don't feel like I'm ready, I need time. It was probably 30 days after I left LGE when he had contacted me. And so I spent many more months traveling and soul searching and all that kind of stuff. And I am in a bunch of different round tables and forums and things, and in one of my forums I had shared that I was feeling like hurt feelings, for a lack of a better word, that I had passed up an opportunity. And what if this was supposed to be it? What if I made a mistake? And I'll never forget it, she said, "Carrie, if St. Joseph the Worker is meant for you, it'll come back around." And I'm like, "Okay, you're right. That has to be the case."

                                                And six months later, our board chair reached out to me and asked me for breakfast, didn't tell me why, and lack of better words or a quick way of saying it, she was like, "Please tell me you found yourself because we love you and we really want you at St. Joseph the Worker, we still are looking for a CEO." And I was just overcome with emotion. I just knew in that exact moment that St. Joseph the Worker is a hundred percent where I'm supposed to be in my journey. So yeah, from that I was all in. I was working for St. Joseph the Worker before even interviewing for St. Joseph the Worker after that, for like two months.

Todd Sanders:                   Well it speaks to the power of courage, because to walk away from something so good, of this career you built, and then to sort of leave it up to fate and have that all come back together, what an incredible thing to have happen. For those who aren't familiar, tell us a little bit about St. Joseph the Worker, what makes it special?

Carrie Masters:                 I always get tripped up on this one because I tried to figure out, what's an easy way for me to describe it? And I feel like there's probably not an easy way. When I think of St. Joseph the Worker, overall I think about providing pathways to self-sufficiency. To me that kind of talks about us overall, all of the programs we offer and not just one. And so St. Joseph the Worker is a small local nonprofit who's been around for 35 years, with a mission to connect our underprivileged, homeless, low income or any other disadvantaged individuals to quality employment. Ensuring that the employment is full-time, pays over $17 an hour, offers room for growth and benefits. And really the point of that is we're trying to get them on that pathway to self-sufficiency so they're no longer relying on resources or government assistance or anything like that to survive and they're really now in a position that they are doing it themselves.

                                                For me, I can say through my journey, being able to finally provide for myself was a game changer, specifically in confidence. The confidence that I see in our clients, I kid you not, I cannot say I'm usually an emotional person, but this kind of stuff just tugs the heartstrings like no other. And who they are the day they walk in from the day they walk out is night and day, they're so proud that they have a job, that they can pay for their own things. And so that's a little bit about who we are.

                                                We do have another program, we've got our employment side which I think most people know St. Joseph the Worker for, and that's something that's kind of been with us since the inception 35 years ago. But we also have our Workforce Villages program which does provide housing, call it bridge housing, or transitional housing is another popular word for it, for 90 days. And what that does is, for an individual who is working who may be housing insecure, becoming housing insecure or homeless, we put them into our program for 90 days, which gives them that pause of... All they have to worry about is work, that's it. Saving their money, we'll pay for rent and all the utilities and food and transportation to and from work and the tools and just everything they need, so their main focus for 90 days is working and saving their money.

Todd Sanders:                   Such an interesting parallel between what you're doing, correcting your story, the idea that you had all of this untapped potential and the good people at LGE saw that, right? And they allowed that to come out, and obviously it benefited you, it benefited them. Huge, everyone won. And you're doing the same thing for these people, it's the same thing. I mean, you're essentially just passing it along and you're unlocking all of this potential and giving them the ability to have a career and a life. That must feel pretty amazing.

Carrie Masters:                 I'd never really quite thought about it that way, but I will say that I have found so much joy in what we do and how we do it, I just can't even begin to put it in words. I feel a lot of emotion when I think about it or talk about it. And I think most people, all they really need is an opportunity, and so we're there to give that opportunity for those who desire it. And so yeah, St. Joseph the Worker, to me, is a really special nonprofit in that you just don't see many, if any, that do exactly what we do, how we do it. And so to me, that really energizes me to know that we're special.

Todd Sanders:                   Well, kudos to your Chair for knowing, correct?

Carrie Masters:                 Yes, exactly.

Todd Sanders:                   So you talked about housing. Clearly in the last 10 years the run up in costs for housing, we all know it's out there, we're all trying to tackle that. As you try and work with your clients, how are you responding to those increased costs?

Carrie Masters:                 It's tough. So I'm going to kind of throw this out there because it was before St. Joseph the Worker, but my family still lives in poverty, a lot of them are still living a very similar lifestyle to how we grew up. So in Sunnyslope, maybe not turning on all the electricity or all the bills, paycheck to paycheck, if that, and then in and out of the streets. And so I'll use my mom as an example, which is prior to me going to St. Joseph the Worker, she's on SMI for being severely mentally ill. And then you have the rent after COVID just skyrocketing, and then the cost of groceries and the cost of gas and just really everything was going up, but her fixed income was not. And watching the impact that that had on her gave me a really special lens into the problem. So I feel like while it wasn't me dealing with it directly, well kind of because I make sure my mom is taken care of, it highlighted the problem.

                                                So fast forward, St. Joseph the Worker, absolutely we're seeing more housing insecure clients because of the spike in rent. Their jobs just couldn't catch up, and paying them enough to help with the increase in rent or groceries or gas or whatever that may be. But it also then put us in a space of evaluating our data, what does it really cost in today's market for somebody to be able to get a one bedroom apartment in a very average area of town? And then from there we had to evaluate, are the jobs that we're placing them in paying enough so that when they graduate our program they actually do get to move out on their own? And it was a hard reality after year one. So after year one of COVID, it's 2021, 2022 timeframe, we realized that we needed to adjust that because our clients were not going to be making enough.

                                                So what we've done is we work with preferred business partners and ensure that we are paying our clients enough so that they really are able to become self-sufficient in today's market. It's a meal prep and budgeting class to, okay, if you are on food stamps, which a lot of our clients are when they join our program, we were able to say on average, this is what an individual gets in food stamps, that means that's how much they have to spend in groceries a month. Okay, how do they shop on that budget? How do they meal prep? And so we do an entire class wrapped around creating your shopping list, how to cook, recipes, meal prepping, we give them the collateral to meal prep. And so we've got that we're now doing.

                                                And then another piece is financial acumen or financial literacy classes. It's something that we've done here or there throughout the years, mostly through a volunteer situation, maybe more on a one-on-one basis, but now we do financial acumen classes. Things like, what's a FICO score? How does that impact me? How do you grow your credit? Really going through a lot of the basics that most of us wouldn't even think about. But for our clients, oftentimes they've never had that experience and they likely don't have anybody in their life that they can rely on to teach them those things. And so the combination of both of those classes and then also ensuring that we're connecting our clients to high quality, higher paying jobs, is kind of how we deal with the current market.

Todd Sanders:                   Setting them up to succeed.

Carrie Masters:                 Yes.

Todd Sanders:                   So clearly there are some obstacles for folks as they try and get back on their feet. What are some of the things, what are some of the challenges people come with? I'm assuming perhaps there could be a criminal record, other things that you see that are challenges for folks as they kind of try and enter the job market?

Carrie Masters:                 The biggest one actually is transportation, most of our clients do not have a vehicle or a reliable means of transportation. And so St. Joseph the Worker does provide transportation, we do bus passes and then gas cards. So if they do have a vehicle, we ensure that they've got enough gas to get them to and from their job through the duration of our program, which is typically 90 days. And if they need that help longer, of course we're going to give it longer. But bus passes, Lyft has been a good partner of ours, and they provide lifts to our client base. So the biggest thing is the transportation piece and ensuring that they have the resources to get to and from work, which we do at no cost to our client.

                                                And then the second piece is ensuring that we're placing them in jobs that are on the bus line. And so I think for me, when I was first coming into St. Joseph the Worker, I thought, oh my gosh, construction, real estate's crazy and they just can't find enough workers on the job sites. I know a ton of subcontractors, we've got to build these relationships. And not that we're not getting creative in those relationships, but in construction, the job site sometimes changes day to day, and so it is really tough. While a lot of our clients will have the skillset to maybe be on a job site, it's the transportation barrier that we're still working on. So we do have some preferred business partners that will work with us on that, maybe have a foreman meet in a centralized location, pick all the guys up and then take them to the job site.

                                                So really just, we're focused on ensuring that we're providing our clients with the resources they need to succeed in their job and in sustaining a meaningful life. And it's being able to think outside of the box to do that, and not being so structured in like, well, this is all we do. But we really have our parameters of this is what we do, and then we treat individual based on where they're at, we meet them where they're at, and we will think outside of the box in providing whatever they need to succeed.

Todd Sanders:                   Thinking about the employer side of this, and you've mentioned them a few times, when you approach an employer, how do you approach that relationship and what kind of employers are you looking for?

Carrie Masters:                 Good question. We call it our preferred business partner program, it's something that we really kind of put an emphasis in over the last probably six months. What that is, is it's connecting with local business owners or local businesses that are open to hiring clients or individuals with barriers in their background. And so yes, that could be a criminal background of some sort, that could also be maybe bad credit, evictions, it could be a myriad of things. But really just that's the first important piece is their comfort with individuals with barriers in their background. The second piece is ensuring that they have the ability to pay a minimum of $17 an hour, they offer benefits and room for growth, that's another big piece of it.

Todd Sanders:                   Not just one static job where they're basically going to be there for their career, they're going to move up or get new skills.

Carrie Masters:                 Yip, absolutely. Flip side to that is that's really all we need out of our preferred business partner, and locations on the bus line are really important to us. Outside of that, there's no cost to become a preferred business partner, it's your commitment saying that you will provide this to any client that we refer your way. On the flip side, we will provide to that client or any other individuals that work for you, with resources should they need them. Tools, certifications, background checks, laptops, I think I said transportation already, work uniforms, work shoes, and the list goes on.

                                                And furthermore, if they've got an individual that they may feel is experiencing homelessness or on the verge of experiencing homelessness, they can then connect that individual to us and we'll put them in our housing program. So really, it's supposed to be an ecosystem where, help us help you. We'll provide you with talent that will fit your model, and we'll also provide support to the talent you have on staff. I look at it as a chart, so that's why I'm doing my circular motion with my finger, but really it's a system that we're hoping and we've seen a lot of value in it, helps us feed them and they feed us. And by us, I mean clients.

Todd Sanders:                   Are employers or preferred employers, are they reluctant at first or are you seeing an openness to have these discussions?

Carrie Masters:                 Absolutely. Oddly enough, there are more employers out there that are willing to provide that opportunity than you think, and oftentimes it's just having the conversation. And so for us, we've now got an outreach manager, and that's all he does. That just happened over the last 30 days where we've been able to just have that be his main focus, and it's been huge. It makes the employer feel like they're giving back to their community, and they are. And it's also then giving them opportunity to bring in these really driven, hardworking individuals that are so appreciative of the opportunity and oftentimes become their best employees because they're willing to do whatever it takes to grow in the corporate ladder, and they're appreciative.

Todd Sanders:                   So retention's another bonus.

Carrie Masters:                 Yep.

Todd Sanders:                   Looking forward, obviously you are way past getting your feet wet now, what are some of your key goals for the next year?

Carrie Masters:                 Yeah. We just started our fiscal year in July, and really for me it's just creating awareness and consistency. And kind of what I mean by that is, I had no idea who St. Joseph the Worker was when I started, and now I'm here and I'm like, how does the world not know? And so I'm really focused on just the awareness side, getting our name out there and ensuring that people know who we are and what we do and how we provide impact in the community.

                                                And then on the consistency side, it really is looking at these two wonderful programs that we have. We have our employment piece that has just been who we are since 1988. And then we have our housing piece that has been a part of who we are since 2020, and we really have seen the benefit to that housing piece. And so this next year is really creating the consistency between the two programs, growing out our preferred business partner program, the awareness side, and then really just loving on our staff. I think that's one thing that gets lost a lot is the importance of St. Joseph the Workers team, we really could not do what we do without them, and their days are tough.

                                                The things that they see and they hear all day, every day, sometimes can be heavy. And so for me, and maybe from my LGE days, but culture is really important to me, people and culture. And so just ensuring that our internal staff feels supported and nurtured and loved on. And the same values and commitment we give to our clients, I want to ensure that we give to each other. And so that's kind of how I envision the remainder of this fiscal year.

                                                But looking ahead, BHAG, big hairy, audacious goal, really for me is to own our own multifamily development. Really, it would allow us to not just keep our program going, but then for any of our clients that are battling an eviction on their background or maybe need a little longer than that 90 days to gain what they need, maybe it's rental history even, but it would allow them to graduate out of that program into their own unit for 12 months, gain the rental history, have time to pay off their eviction. Now they've got a year and three months with their employer, rental history and all the above, but it also will bring in just enough revenue for St. Joseph the Worker to pay for that program. So essentially it would just be a program that pays for itself. And so BHAGs are like five year goals and so we'll see if we can beat that five-year goal, but that's kind of what's on the horizon for us right now.

Todd Sanders:                   Knowing you for this brief moment of time, I would not bet against you. I think you'll get there, there's no doubt in my mind.

Carrie Masters:                 Thank you.

Todd Sanders:                   You see opened the door, as we finish out the interview, what's your leadership style?

Carrie Masters:                 I never had really googled this before, maybe like two months ago, because I've been asked that so many times. And when I would answer it, I always just say, I'm collaborative. And I realized that's not really a leadership style, it's just part of how I engage. But I would say transformative, I'm a transformative leader, I take pride in giving back what was given to me. And that's really just giving people, not just our clients, but internally, opportunity, and opportunity for growth and mentorship. And yeah, hopefully that answers it.

Todd Sanders:                   So failure, is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Carrie Masters:                 I can't even believe I was going to say, it's amazing.

Todd Sanders:                   We think the same thing at the Chamber.

Carrie Masters:                 I really do believe that. I think my struggles in life, which don't always have to do with my past, have bred some amazing things. I mean, I don't know where I would be without failure and making mistakes. We talk a lot about empowerment at the office, and it's really empowering your team to make mistakes. You have to be able to make mistakes, it's how we learn, it's how we grow, it's how you oftentimes allow somebody's voice who you may not have ever even thought to allow in the room, an opportunity to use their voice, and I think a lot of amazing ideas come out of failure.

Todd Sanders:                   Yeah, agreed. As long as you learn from them, right?

Carrie Masters:                 Yep.

Todd Sanders:                   Well, thank you. Thanks for the work you're doing. Thanks for being here. We're going to finish out with a quick lightning round, I promise it's easy and painless.

Carrie Masters:                 Okay.

Todd Sanders:                   And I think I know when you had your first job, but what was your first job when you were in that senior year?

Carrie Masters:                 My first official job was with Foot Locker. And at the time they had a sister store called Athletic Express, and I don't think Athletic Express is around anymore. So I worked for both stores at was Westridge Mall, which I think is called Spectrum Mall now. And there was a Foot Locker and Athletic Express in the mall, one on each side of the mall, and I worked at both, I would rotate between the two. That was my first job.

Todd Sanders:                   What did you learn?

Carrie Masters:                 I had some really amazing bosses there. And for it being my first job, I think I was put in a place to think, man, working's wonderful, everybody's so nice and uplifting, and that wasn't the case as I grew in my different jobs. But I think what I learned the most there was, A, confidence. To have confidence to engage with strangers, customers, clients, that kind of thing. And two, how to sell, because I learned right away. And I was 15 when I got that job, was it 15 in six months or whatever, that it wasn't just about selling a pair of shoes, but I also had to try to sell some shoe laces or some cleaner or some socks or something like that with it. And so here I was, this kid, and I realized that early that selling was a huge part of business.

Todd Sanders:                   Absolutely. Well normally I ask dream job, but we know the answer. I think you have it. Best piece of professional advice you've been given?

Carrie Masters:                 Yeah. Never take no for an answer.

Todd Sanders:                   There you go. And then our friend Derrick Hall calls you up and says, Hey, we need you to come and play for the D-backs. What is your walk-on song as you walk up to the plate?

Carrie Masters:                 Oh my God, I feel like I can't say it on here.

Todd Sanders:                   Well, we'll bleep it out. We'll bleep part of it out, go ahead.

Carrie Masters:                 Oh, I feel like I can't do it. Okay, I'm going to change it. I got to change it. I love rap and hip hop and grew up in the gangster rap days, so I'm not going to say the was a song that I would probably have picked.

Todd Sanders:                   We'll I'll guess now.

Carrie Masters:                 But I'll say this, Welcome to the Jungle by Guns N Roses.

Todd Sanders:                   Hey, that's a good one.

Carrie Masters:                 I would probably, yeah.

Todd Sanders:                   That's an excellent one. And then the final one, favorite dogs, what kind?

Carrie Masters:                 Ooh. I don't have a favorite dog. I have two rescues, don't know what they are, they're just a mix match of the most beautiful little lover thingies in the whole world. So I don't know if I have a favorite, but ooh, I don't have a favorite, I guess.

Todd Sanders:                   Well, sure you do, they're rescues.

Carrie Masters:                 Rescues, yeah.

Todd Sanders:                   There you go. That's the right answer, by the way.

Carrie Masters:                 I don't have a favorite.

Todd Sanders:                   Just in case you were wondering.

Carrie Masters:                 Yeah, I like them all.

Todd Sanders:                   Yes. Carrie, thank you. Thanks for spending so much time with us. And once we hear the good news about the BHAG coming to life, we'll have you back on so you can talk about that.

Carrie Masters:                 Oh, that would be fabulous. Thank you so much. I appreciate you having me today.

Todd Sanders:                   Thanks.