S2E17: YMI Talking to Andrea Coyne from Coyne Communications

In this week’s episode of YMI Talking, we sit down with Andrea Coyne, founder of Coyne Communications, who shares her journey from Victaulic to launching her own agency, the impact of motherhood on her career, and how to build authentic relationships by truly knowing your audience. 

Andrea also opens up about writing a children's book on grieving and what it means to create meaningful connections through storytelling.

Don’t miss this insightful conversation filled with career wisdom, life lessons, and entrepreneurial inspiration! 

For more info on YMI insurance visit our website at ymiagency.com

Or give us a call at 610-868-8762 to see how we can better protect your business and family.

Transcript

1:00:03

I'm big philosophy of, you know, good work breeds more work and just trying to be excellent. But also again, just building those relationships. I work with so many great people and I really feel like my value shows itself most when I get to develop deep relationships with my clients and really get to know their company, their brand, who they are and then bring that strategy to the table.- All right, we are back with another episode of "Why Am I Talking?" With me, Jimi Honochick and with my lovely sidekick, Avery Pennell.- I feel like we need some sound effects.- Could you just be the sound effect board for us? Yes, clapping. You're really goo at that.- Thank you so much. I did win best clapper in my senior year of high school.- Is that an actual true thing? I was really hoping that was true.- It would be pretty cool.- Yeah.- What was your, what do they call that, superlative for high school?- I don't know if we had one, but I did win most unique in high school.- Okay.- I did.- Was there anything?(laughing) No, it's shocking. Was there anything in particular that made you unique?- I think it was one of those categories where people were like, "What is this?" And I was like,"Oh, I can win that."- That's me.- Everybody just vote for me. So I think they did. They were like, "All right, good."- You have your moment, Avery.(laughing)- Well, congratulations.- Thank you so much.- I was friendliest. That shouldn't surprise anybody.- I could totally say that.- Yes, yes.- You deserve that win.- Thank you, thank you.- You're welcome.- It's been all downhill since then.(laughing) So this episode was pretty fun.- I enjoyed it.- Yeah, Andrea Coyne is a mile a minute.- Oh my word. I loved it.- There's so much energy in the room when she comes in here.- So much energy, so much information. I feel like I learned everything I needed to know in life.- In that podcast.- Yes, I sometimes feel like I'm an upbeat person.- I agree.- And then I meet someone like Andrea and I'm like,"I need to step my game up here."- I'm dull.- Yeah, so I didn't realize how boring that was.(laughing) But no, you're right. I learned so much. She's had such a cool career and definitely has a lot to teach. So I thought it was a good episode.- It was great.- Yeah.- I enjoyed it.- Good, good. So let's dive into it.- Woo hoo.- So this is Andrea Coyne from Coyne Communications. She's a marketing strategist, I think would be the term to use. Does that sound right?- I believe so. That's what she told me anyway, so I'm going with it.- Which is cool, because I think a lot of marketing people, it's like social media and they're good at the content, but she kind of takes a more holistic approach and thinks about the best way to engage and who is your audience. And it's a very thoughtful approach.- It's very authentic, too. Everything she does, I just feel as though I've known that business forever.- Right, yeah, yeah. I gotta, I gotta see. I should have learned more.(laughing) All right, so let's dive into it, Andrea Coyne. This episode's great. All right, this is going to be a fantastic episode. I am so excited. Andrea Coyne from Coyne Communications is here. She does so much. She's so energetic and bubbly, and this is gonna be a fantastic episode. Thank you for coming on.- Thanks for having me.- Absolutely, so you came to us through Frank, right?- Yep.- Tell me about, I guess, your work. I mean, I don't think, you know, attorneys, lawyers, and bubbly marketing people, but here we are. So how did you get involved and what do you do?- Sure, so I've had a marketing communications career. I hate to say this, because it's gonna start dating me, but for about 20 years now.(laughing) So I started out in agency work, I graduated Temple University and worked in an ad agency in the suburbs of Philly for about three, three and a half years. Got married, my husband and I wanted to move closer to home. So found a job up here working in another agency in the valley. So did that for, again, about another three, three and a half years. That seemed to be a theme at the beginning of my career, which that was the length of time. Then I landed a great job working corporate communications at Victolic in Forks Township. So did that for about six and a half years. Great experience, met some amazing people. And then after that, started my legal career, got my start at Gross McGinley in Allentown. So I did that for about two years, pandemic hit. And what I really realized through that experience, and even just since I became a mom, a passion of mine or a dream of mine was to always be allowed, go out on my own and work for myself. I was one of those crazy moms that in the first three weeks of becoming a parent, decided to freelance on my maternity leave.(laughing) Well, I love my son tremendously. I just knew I couldn't just be Declan's mom. I had to have some piece of me that was Andrea. So freelance, a little on my maternity leave and realized, oh, this is something I could see myself doing at a future date and time. So I had a great experience at Gross McGinley, amazing people over there. And then I went out on my own. So started coin communications in 2021 and have just grown as a solo practitioner since then. So again, because I had experience in the legal career and manufacturing actually still have a lot of clients in those sectors. And I love working with attorneys. It's funny because I remember leaving Victolic, couple of people counsel me like, oh, you want to go work with attorneys? I was like, I've never worked with attorneys. So I don't know what to say otherwise. But what I found is that they're in a service industry. They're here to help people. And sure, there's things, I mean, anytime if you've ever had to face a legal issue, it's scary. And finding a person that you feel like you can trust and can help you work your way out of that or through it is a tremendous piece and a gift that they give to people. So I'm a big fan of attorneys. We have so many great ones and great firms in the Lehigh Valley. So I'm proud to continue working in that industry today and hope that'll always be something that's part of my wheelhouse.- You covered so much ground right there. And I want to go in a million different directions. And one of the directions is jumping, right? My career, my last job, I was there five years and that's the longest I've ever held a job. So like you, I was on this job and then this job and I've switched careers a couple of times. And I feel like someone giving advice to someone coming out of college would be like,"Don't do that, that's not the way to go." But I think you and I have both done well doing that. So talk to me about having the courage to make that jump and why you feel like maybe that makes you better now as a result of the different careers you've had.- Sure, absolutely. I definitely think it's brought well-roundedness to my consulting, my LLC, that I'm able to bring ideas to one sector that maybe I did something in a different sector or with a different type of client, but I'm able to see how that might transfer. And so I feel like it makes me more creative and bring a lot of fresh ideas to people in other industries. And so I'm happy that I'm able to do that. But as for, did I ever think that'd be my path? I remember at Temple hearing that I have a PR degree, that PR people are the last people hired and the first people fired. So that was an interesting phrase and thinking, well, what does this mean for my career?- I was communications major, not to interrupt. And when I finally declared that's what I wanted to be, my advisor said, please don't do that. And I was like, what? He's like, that is not a good career choice. And I was like, oh, okay, thank you very much.- And I think, and my parents didn't really understand, like, what are you majoring in? But what is this? But I remember taking aptitude tests even in high school. And so it was funny because in high school, there were a couple different things I thought I might wanna do. I thought either I wanna be a weather person because you could be wrong every day, but never get fired. But I was like, I could be that bubbly person every morning.- I should have done that.- Like bring your umbrella, it's fine. And then like a cute yellow umbrella would pop up. So I was like, I could do that. Or then I thought, I think it was because I had a youth group leader in high school who was a physical therapist. And I thought, so I looked into occupational therapy. I volunteered in a nursing home and occupational therapy. So I only applied to colleges that had both occupational therapy and communication. So with the aptitude test that even though those were passions I had, it was like, you should be journalism communication. I was like, okay. And then I went to Temple, I thought journalism was where I was gonna go. And it was second semester freshman year that I had a class and our journalism professor brought in a friend of hers who did public relations for the Philadelphia School District. And while I was like, I don't ever wanna work in the Philadelphia School District. I like what this guy does and this is what I wanna do. So that was my aha moment. So then being able, what I found even at Temple and like some great professors, great experiences, they actually changed my major when I was there. So it was PR in this communication school, but they launched this new strategic and organizational communication school when I was at Temple, which I thought was very cutting edge, but I had no clue what that meant when I was in college, but it's so fun because--- Those are nice words.- Yeah, since I've been in my career, especially when I went to the college, I got to work in corporate communications and really learned what is this. And I had a great manager who I learned so much from. And so I've just loved how I was able to get a degree in something, work in agencies where I got to work. I worked in home building, was a big industry for the first agency I was at. But then at the second agency, we worked with so many great brands and companies that got to travel and they just have been able to apply that to so many different things. And so there was never a thought of like, oh, I'm gonna go to agencies and stay there forever. But at the point where I wanted to go to Victaulic, I knew I wanted to have a family. And so I was like, ah, can't be doing agency life, can be a little crazy. If you watch Mad Men, it's not normally Mad Men at most places, but they send elements of crazy. So I knew I had to get out of there.- Do I get old fashions at noon o'clock?- No, at least that didn't happen to me. Although the company I work with did have, it was a building that they converted into a nightclub. There was a bar right next to my office, which is pretty crazy. But anyway, so I learned so much and I've just loved all the things I learned on the way. And the thing that I, when I look back at my career is I've worked with so many great people, especially creatives, designers, people that do video production, just these creative minds and just being able to, the gift of collaborating with them has just helped me be such a better professional that I feel like I've always brought a lot to the table everywhere I've gone to the next place because I've gotten to learn from all these other great professionals. And now I hope that I can continue giving back and be that person that maybe inspires or helps another professional coming up.- I feel like you are, because when you reached out for Frank, it was clear to me right away, I was like, we need to get around the podcast. Like clearly you're professional, but it's like, it's fun to talk to you as well.- Oh, thank you.- So you're doing a great job, but let's just talk through the different points, like Victolic. So that's your first job out of agency now. And now you are in an industry. What was that experience like for you?- Sure. So it's so funny, cause again, I grew up in Easton and I never, I would drive by Victolic and I was like, that's Victolic. And I didn't know a lot about it, but actually I graduated from Easton High School and I was a class officer. And one of my fellow class officers worked at Victolic. And so she was the one that kind of said, hey, you have this job here, I think you'd be a good fit for this. So I feel like that was a great kind of foot in the door, a great connection they had there. And the manager that did the corporate communications department was new and the manager that was there, who I hope all of these people get to listen to this at some point so they know how much I love them. But she had also been a previous client from the agency. I was at working another big company in the Lehigh Valley. So it was just very neat to then be able to collaborate with her in a different setting. It was kind of just the stars line. And I just felt like that was where I was supposed to go. And absolutely it was different. And then, working in corporate communications, Victolic's interesting cause there's manufacturing. So you definitely have an hourly staff, an hourly workforce, but then you also have salary and people that are office jobs and professionals and finance and engineering and communications and sales and all these different things. So it's almost like divided into almost like two different workforces. But what I loved most about working there was working with people on the other side, working with people in the hourly workforce and getting to know their team and what they do every day. Cause you don't realize it till you start to look around that Victolic products were everywhere. And I had the good fortune of being there during their 100 year anniversary. Got to work on the super fun campaign where we were encouraging people if they found Victolic products to look up and see them and tag them and hashtag it, put it on social media. And it just made the brand kind of really come alive and be able to see it, like realize, yes, we're always, Victulks always behind the scenes in all these big buildings around the whole world. You probably don't even know it's there. But sometimes you do. And especially now that industrial spaces have gotten so cool, like you see bars that have, they leave the piping exposed. So then you see Victolic pipe joining products on them. And if it's orange, there's a good chance it's Victolic. So then you can kind of tag it and see it. And it just made it really come alive. So again, nothing I ever imagined for myself working in manufacturing, but tremendously enjoyed being part of it and knowing that we had people right in the company that were making these things. Cause I love to be creative, but that was what they were creating every day.- That's really cool. And you had your son at Victolic, right? And so walk me through, you know, it's a pause almost in your career.- Sure.- How did that go? How were you able to manage that?- Sure. So I started at Victolic in 2013 and my son was born two years later. So I was really grateful to kind of have time to get settled in before I became a mom, hearing all these great stories about becoming a mom and that it gets a little crazy. So I loved it. I was able to be able, I had a great maternity leave and I know that's not something everybody has the good fortune of having, but I had a really great manager and VP who are really supportive of my career at that time. And so they actually allowed me and agreed to let me work part time after I had my son. So I was working.- But it wasn't their idea. Like you were telling me this before hand, right?- Yeah.- You did this, right?- Well, my mom, so I have to give my mom credit and I know my mom will listen to this at some point too, but my mom was a nurse and I'm one of three. And she always told me, you know, the years go by so fast and you have kids and the best of both worlds is being able to work part time. You get that time with your kids, but you get to keep your foot in the door in your career. And so I really had to kind of go to bat for myself and advocate and ask for it. But I was grateful that when I did ask for it, it didn't fall on deaf ears and it wasn't a no. It was, okay, well, what would this look like? And I was appreciative for, you know, superiors that would listen and would advocate for me and go to bat for me. Cause that was something that wasn't common at Victolic, but I was grateful that they gave me a shot at it. So I had a really, I worked three days a week and I was only, you know, and that was before like work from home was everything with the pandemic. And I was only in the office one day a week. And then as, you know, my son, and really I asked for that because I was a nursing mom and I just, I know there's women that do it. And I think times have even changed so much since 2015, but trying to nurse and find a spot to pump and do all those things, it's just, it's messy. And it's a lot. And for some moms, it's so easy. For me, it was so hard. And I just appreciated that I could be able to do the privacy of my home most of the time. I needed to, and that I got more time with my son. My husband was also a night shift then. And so, and he did not have weekends off. So it was just nice that we had more time together as a family too. Cause that was really critical at the beginning. So all that to say they listened and they went to bat for me and then I did three days a week for till he was one. Then I went back four days a week. And then I went back five when he was two. So just great. I had two years, first two years of his life. I felt like it definitely got that little bit of extra time with him that I needed and wanted.- Are you always the kind of person who would advocate for themselves and stand up and get what they need or was this just, you know, you just had a child and that kind of drove you.- Yeah, I think that momma bear instinct.- Yeah.- No, this is the most precious thing, but you know, but it is. And so would I, have I always advocated for myself? No, but I think that was definitely a turning point in life. I mean, I had also just turned 30 and I think some of it was just, I feel like with every decade, you get a little, as a woman anyway, I've always felt like I know myself a little bit more and my confidence rises a little bit. Just turned a new decade in the summer. So I feel like that confidence goes up a little bit more. And I, yeah, I think it was just that I just saw that tiny creature and even though, again, I didn't want to be, have my whole life wrapped up in him, I knew it was the most important thing. And so I knew that I needed that time with him and to be able to do what I needed to do and have it be successful. And so I had to say something for him and stand up for myself, but yeah, it definitely gave me confidence and going forward to know like where my thresholds were and when I needed to use my voice. And I have really, through that experience, really being able to encourage a lot of other women to do the same thing for themselves.- Yeah, yeah. And it's apparent, like you said a couple of times, you really bring it and it's clear that you, you know, you're doing a great job. So Coyne communications, how do we get there? How do you decide you've done Victolic and then you did lawyers. And then you're like, I'm just gonna do this all by myself.- Sure, yeah, it was terrifying. I think that it made it less terrifying because I have a super supportive husband. So he's had the, he's been in the same organization for almost 20 years and he's always had our benefits and carried all those things. So he's awesome and he's had my back and he told me to do this way before I was encouraged to do it myself. So thank God for my husband for believing in me and seeing things in me I couldn't always see. So I think he really gave me that, but I mean, some of it was, and I think a lot of parents can really to this is the pandemic, we were all home with our kids and we keep seeing pictures that pop up of those first couple months, like in Facebook memories or just our Google photos of like all these neat little things we were doing with our son when we were home with him and I'm like, man, that was really precious time. And like, it was nice to have that flexibility and be able to be home. And so it was hard for a lot of people, individuals, you know, depending on who you are, some people couldn't wait to get back in the office and some people were like, no, good here. I had like a caveman hair and beard. And my wife was like, you need to go back to the office.- Get out of my house.- Please, uh-huh. So it was good for some people, other people turned into a completely different person.- Yeah, and other people were just like, no. And so for me, it was just kind of a shift of like, I really love what I do. I just think I can do this in a different capacity in a way that serves my family. You know, the 40 hour week in the office and being there, especially, you know, when your kids are in school, but then it was somewhat like, okay, now it's aftercare required with that. And I just felt like so many other people were getting to spend so much time with my son. And I felt like I was kind of missing out. And COVID really made me realize like, you know, these days fly by and this is, again, that reminder of this is the most important thing. So what could I do if I could just change anything to spend more time here where I really value? And so I really felt like, okay, this is the flexibility that I would want and need. And again, from having that little taste of freelancing back when he was very tiny and just thinking, okay, I'm going to take a shot. And again, because I've worked with so many great people in the Valley, I just felt like, wow, I have these amazing connections, these relationships. I feel like I can do this. So again, it was the backing of my husband, the previous experience and just that COVID experience that I got to do something a little different that I think all those things kind of came together and out of it was born. And, you know, again, I'm a person of faith. That's a big part of who I am. So much prayer went into that. And I just felt like, you know, some people always say, you know, things happen for a reason, but for me, I see it as God opens doors and those doors just started to kind of open. I just felt like I walked through them. And so some of it felt really easy at the same time.- Yeah, that's so cool. And it's worked because I love this. You're telling us that you don't have, you're a marketing company and you don't have a website.- No.(both laughing)- And the reason for that made so much sense once you said it, like, I'll let you say it. I'll take the words from you.- Well, no, it's just, I've, you know, I bought a webpage. It's not that I don't want to do it. And I have, I work with so many great web designers, friends in the Valley that any of them would do this website for me. I just, I have such a great, a great network and I'm big philosophy of, you know, good work, breeds more work and just trying to be excellent. But also again, just building those relationships. I work with so many great people and I really feel like my value shows itself most when I get to develop deep relationships with my clients and really get to know their company, their brand, who they are, and then bring that strategy to the table. And then, sure, and then I can execute on the strategy, but it's when I really get to build those deep relationships and do it. And so because I have so many of those, it really kind of fills my time. I really try to focus my time and energy on work while my son's at school. And then when he's home from school, I'm trying to enjoy that time with him or going to a sport or an activity and, you know, being able to be the one that starts dinner and things like that, just that flexibility at home. So for me, my dance card, certainly there's free space on it sometimes. I love being able to onboard and welcome new clients. I get referrals from existing clients or other people that I work with in our industry. And it's just been lovely, the work, it just seems to continue to flow and be just when I need it to be. So if I had a website, we're soliciting cold calls and other people, it's not that I don't wanna meet new people or open, greater funnels for that. Just haven't really needed to yet. And I've just been really enjoying what I'm doing that's right in front of me.- Yeah, and you hit on something there. Like networking is obviously very important for what we do. But I feel like there's an element where some people, you know, it's the handshake, it's the card. They don't care about the person behind it. They just want that introduction. But it sounds like you've had success because you do care, right? You want to learn more about that person. So talk about how you build those deep relationships.- Sure. It's so funny, I had a conversation with my nephew and if my sister hears this, I don't know if I've had this conversation with you. So I'm sorry. - Yes, we can use this.- But we went to Knobels this summer for my nephew's birthday.- Which is such a magical place, isn't it?- Best place ever. And so we were in line for the Phoenix. It was his 12th birthday and he asked if I would go in front of the Phoenix and I had shared that story with you before we got on the podcast. Awesome, yet terrifying at the same time. Because of my age, it just felt very, not quite the same as when I was eight years old or I went to Phoenix the first time, but.- That's the wooden one, right?- Yes. - Yeah, I could see how you feel like your life is in your hands.- Especially in the front seat when you're seeing your life flash before your eyes going down the hotel, it's fine. But anyway, we were just talking about what he was excited about for school and just talking about his friends and feeling like he needed a little bit of guidance on what it's like to make a friend. I just feel like our world has, especially being a child of the eighties and nineties, there was like, don't talk to strangers type of thing, like everybody around you. And I think COVID having to kind of force the inside too, some people forgotten how to do it. And especially my heart goes out and breaks for kids, especially the kid's age who took such a critical point of social development that then they had to go home. It breaks my heart. So I feel like we've almost forgotten how to make a friend. And I feel like adults struggle with it too. And I hope that a future book, all right, is like talking to strangers, a how to guide. Because I think we need that. We all need that. But I just said to him,"Do you know how to make a friend?" I'm like, "You can start telling them a couple of things. I mean, tell them you went on the Phoenix with your auntie for your birthday at Knoebels." I said, "Or just ask them questions about themselves. And then when you hear something, ask another question about what you just heard." And I feel like a lot of ways to build relationships is to just ask questions and take interest in people. There's fascinating people everywhere. And there's also people with deep, deep, hard things that they're going through. And we can spend all day talking about the weather if we want, but it doesn't go so far. And I almost like have forgotten how to live on the surface. I feel like sometimes I jump in too deep and be like, "Well, it's a deep question. I just met you five minutes ago." But I'm that weirdo that occasionally will like accept a hug from a stranger. Like I remember going through a really hard season in life and I went at a bakery. I was like buying a donut and I just started bawling. And she's like,"Can I give you a hug?" I'm like, "Yes, I'll give you a hug." And I'm that person that I'm a heart on my sleeve girl. And I just don't know how to be anything else. And I feel like I'm that way. I'm kind of an open book. And I just love meeting new people. It's just, I delight in getting to know people and learning things about them. And so building those relationships with clients, it's asking questions, getting to know, sure, I get what you do at work and but like what's your life outside of work? Like tell me about it. Tell me about your kids. Tell me about where you shop. Tell me about where you worship. Tell me about like, what's fun to you. And then just remembering those and building relationships there. It just, I love the people that I get to work and my clients are awesome. I love getting to know them as humans and it's interesting and fun how much I know a lot of them on just a personal level, just from asking those questions. I'm like, "Oh, okay, let's get back to work now."(both laughing)- That's where this podcast come from. I love the same thing, like having these conversations and just learning about people. Everyone has a story.- They do.- Yeah, it's fun to learn. Something you do that I think is really interesting is like marketing strategy. I feel like there are a lot of marketers out there and a lot of different firms and they'll post to your social media, but you take it a deeper level. Talk to me about, I guess, what separates coin communications. What really makes you different than the competition out there?- Sure, I think a lot of it stems from that scene, that interest in people. And so I think an approach I always take when I'm working on messaging communications or just really extending or building or even maybe changing a brand is just, who are you selling your services or product to? And let's focus on them. It's really all about them. It's not really about you. It's understanding what their need is, what their pain point is, and what's gonna make them come to need your services or your widget, whatever it is. And so it's really honing in on a client or an audience-focused approach. I feel like there's almost like two A's and it's not because Andrea starts and ends with A. It's like I look at audience and who are we talking to and let's really deep dive in them. Where are they, what are they doing? And then it's authenticity for your brand. I remember reading, it was probably a year or so ago, Five Guys Burger Company, cooks their stuff in peanut oil. And I remember there was a conversation like, well, there's people that have peanut allergies. Are you gonna keep cooking your burgers in peanut oil? And it's like, well, yeah, that's what makes us special. That's our brand. And I'm not gonna cater to the like, whatever. I think it was like two or 5% of the population that has a peanut allergy. They just, unfortunately, they can't eat our burgers. And I respected that because again, it's not that I'm not compassionate to people that have peanut allergies.- Of course.- I mean, I love peanut butter more than the next girl, especially when it's a mix of peanut butter. But I'm compassionate about people with allergies, but I respected that as a brand, that was something that was authentic to them. They weren't just gonna change it and become all things to all people.- We can go to McDonald's.- Correct. And every person that like, every brand has that same thing. If you try to be everything to everyone, you have no personality anymore. You have nothing that's authentic or unique about your brand. And so I always try to hone in for like, what really is your brand? What makes you special? What makes you unique? Let's put that out on Front Street. Well, let's do it in a way that's meaningful and adds value or shelves a problem for your audience. And to me, that's my approach. And I think there's, again, there's so many great creatives in the Lehigh Valley and I get to work with a lot of them. There's definitely clients where I'm one of several, either marketing or like, again, a skill set where I bring strategy and writing and certain services, but then I bring in a design partner to help with, whether it's physical design, web design, whatever it is, because that's a skill set I don't have. At best, I'm an amateur designer and I use a canvas. And I always laugh because I'm like, I know that's like, I know that I can see kind of what looks good, but as for creating it, there are so many people in the Lehigh Valley that are great. And I love being able to work with those designers and get to say, hey, here's an idea I had, here's a concept I had, and here's some words. Can you execute it, make it look pretty, like build it, bring it to life. And that's such a great skill. So I love collaborating with all these other creatives in the Valley. And a lot of times we just have complimentary skills and the best idea comes forward when we can really collaborate. And so again, with my own brand, I don't try to be all things either. It's Coyne Communications, can not do every single facet or aspect of your marketing for you. But I know the niche that I fill and I can really help direct a strategy and build a strategy. And then bring in the partners that you need to really execute it and hopefully do it well.- Yeah. So to that collaboration point, can we talk about a collaboration you did recently?- Sure.- Your book.- Yeah.- Take a minute. I like, this is so cool. Like, yes, it's awesome that you run a very successful business, but you also wrote a children's book.- Sure.- Tell us about that. Tell us about the collaboration. Tell us everything about it.- Yeah. So I published a book and actually that was a local collaboration in so many ways. So my publisher is Bright Communications. Jennifer Bright lives in the Lehigh Valley. And I met her, I think, again around the time my son was two, because again, I just knew, there's so many things I want to do in life. And I loved reading children's books. As a kid, my dad was a teacher and he would always just sit down and read books with us. That was such a special time of my life. And they loved when my dad would just sit down because he always did funny voices and just made books so fun. And so I always had a dream of writing a book one day myself. So I talked to Jennifer when my son was very young and being like, I want to do this. She's like, well, I'm here whenever you're ready. Let me know what you want to write about. Until years went by and I just never really had a topic. And then in 2021, I was pregnant with my second son. And unfortunately we had a miscarriage at 16 weeks. Very unexpected.- Sorry.- Thank you. A lot of people go through it. I think it's higher than one in four. It was a super hard time for my family. And I just had, again, I'm a, I have to do something. I can't just sit in something. It's like, I have to respond to it. And I just felt called kind of at that point to write the book. And so it became about a little goose who lost his blanket at bedtime and kind of a symbol of loss. And it's kind of his journey of going through his house and looking for the blanket throughout every room. But as he goes around, he's looking for the blanket and he's remembering all the fun things his blanket is in that room. So whether it's it was a blanket fort or it was a picnic blanket, or it was a space for him to hide for hide and seek. And he just remembers all these sweet things about it. And the goal was that, you know, the goose ultimately, he has hope the whole time that he's gonna find it before bedtime. But I just realized so many people go through grief and loss and it's not ever something. I wanted to be the subject of a book. I wanted to just write about fun things and make the books rhyme. And so hope is a blanket does rhyme. And it is fun, sing songy. It can be just a simple bedtime story if you want it to be. But it also can set the stage for a deep conversation for parents, especially to talk to kids about hard topics. It could be your pet died. It could be your best friend moved away. It could be your foster child who's going through, Lord even knows what. And I just feel like there's so many people going through those hard things. And I just wanted to do something in my grief to help other people going through grief. And so thankfully, through my work at Victolic, I had a fantastic, one of the many fantastic colleagues, Courtney, and she and I talked about, we jumped for years about working on a kids book together. And so she said yes, like half a second after being asked to do it. And I love the artwork in the book. It really brought the words to life. And I'm just so thrilled that I got to collaborate with, again, one of the many fantastic people from my career to then do something that's, you know, not a professional thing per se, but just to do something that was really meaningful outside of that corporate space.- The artwork, I mean, it makes it pop. I feel like you could get really generic artwork, but you didn't, like this really pops. But the meaning there is beautiful. Like I'm a guy who was like a Dr. Seuss guy. You know, it rhymes and it's surface level. Like that's as far as my brain goes, but to have, you know, that second level is really incredible and it does open up those conversations.- Yeah, so I hope it helps a lot of people. It's interesting because now I feel like I've almost become that friend that people, and they want to order a copy. Oh, so-and-so just had a miscarriage, or I just went through this hard thing. I need to get a copy of your book. And it's like, I love it, but at the same time, it's so hard. Because now it's like, I'm sharing another people's grief. So it's just this space I never again imagined for myself. And it's really a group nobody wants to be in, but everybody is going to face that at some point. And I was so fortunate that like, again, up until that point in my life, like sure I had grandparents and great grandparents die, lost a pet, but man, I never went through something so hard. And I know there's so many people that face deep grief and have that even, you know, childhood trauma from an early age and are just going through hard things. So I just hope that again, this book can be a light to a lot of people.- That's really great.- Yeah. - Yeah. So what's next for you? I mean, you do so much. You've got this, like what is next for Andrea?- Yeah. So there's definitely gonna be a second book. I started writing it the other day.- No way.- And there's almost like not a cliffhanger, but like a funny moment at the end of the book where it alludes there could be another book.- Yes.- So I'm definitely working on not a sequel per se, but one of- - Same characters?- Same characters. Yep. But just want to talk about another topic that I feel like is relevant in society that would be really helpful for families.- Yeah.- Again, just want to use a book as a space and an authority to talk about.- You're not going to tease me what it is about though, are you?- Not anymore.- You can read the book and then you'll have a clue.- I will for sure.- So yeah, so I'm really excited. So that's something that's next. Otherwise again, I feel like I just try to come wholeheartedly to my work every day. And I feel like, you know, clients or work will come and go just depending on situations. Thankfully, again, I'm a person that's really focused and I tell all the people I've mentored in my past, like don't burn bridges in the valley. Cause it's small. It's big enough for everybody to work, but it's small. So don't burn a bridge. So I'm grateful that I don't have burned bridges. I don't believe in. And so I just, you know, try to have the door open for whatever. And I just feel like, again, I work really hard. I try to do excellent work, build deep, meaningful relationships with my clients, but with a lot of people in the valley, because who knows where work can come from. But I always feel like anytime something comes to go or a project completes, I'm like, what's next? I just feel like it just kind of appears. And so again, for me, that's a faith thing for me. I attribute that to God and I just feel like I'm where I'm supposed to be. So it just keeps putting things right in my path. So I just try to show up and be faithful with whatever I'm given. And so far things keep coming and maybe that sounds too optimistic or whatever, but I mean, I'm wearing yellow. It's my favorite color. I have this sunny perspective on life and I just feel like, I don't know, things just continue to kind of come in place. So again, not to say I don't face hard things as I just shared, but yeah, I just, I'm trusting that those relationships will just guide me to whatever I do. I mean, I also coach basketball. And so I get to do that and get to pour some life back into kids. I teach Sunday school and I don't know, just part of so many great circles, so many wonderful humans. And I just enjoy getting to build community and do life with them. And so I just trust that the next opportunity comes and it's supposed to be for me. I'll know.- Yeah. I love when people get deep on the show because then I get to pull it right back out because I am not a deep person.(laughing) Magical abilities.- Let's talk about magical abilities. So we are sponsored by Hocus Pocus Cleaning Services. They are incredible. They do amazing work. They come in, they clean everything up. They'll do a witching hour, which means, you know, my closet's a mess. Please help me. And they'll come in, they'll just do that for you.- Okay.- It's truly magical.- That does sound magical.- So if you could have a magical ability, what would it be?- That's a good one. So I jokingly say now when people ask what my skill is, it's that I know people. So I know there's like funny memes about that. Like I do things and I know people. So it is, I think it would be like, how could I know people better? Is it that like you, so maybe mind reader would be what I want it to be. I think that'd be helpful because again, when you're in a situation, you're trying to feel it out, like you could just see right into the thoughts. And then I could say, oh, I'm wondering if you're thinking about blah, blah, blah. And be like, are you reading my mind? Almost like that old, like what women want movie where Mel Gibson was able to hear everybody's thoughts. Terrifying, especially when it's women, because we were, at least I know my brains who are fun. But anyway, mind reader. I think that would really help me. And that would be a skill I would love to have.- Are you an open and honest communicator? I get the sense that that's kind of your MO is like being really transparent.- Yeah, I think transparency is a big thing. I think it's also just, again, being really clear and yeah, clear and transparent and polished though too. So I definitely think from working in corporate communications. - Ah, polished. That's where I get it wrong. Okay, thank you.- And then that's the corporate communications thing. It's like, I want to say this, but how can I polish this or refine this just a little bit more? So sometimes writing a simple email that should take five minutes, takes 30, but it's like a perfect email then at least in my opinion, because I really thought through it. I try to cut through the clutter, especially from working with executives who don't have time to read your six paragraph email. So then put a couple of things in bullets. And if something would be better as a meeting, say, I think we should talk through this, because it could be a five or 10 minute call versus you had to read my email right back to it. And that just took way longer than it needed to. So yes, I think being polished and making sure that you can get to the point as quickly as possible, it's also a really good skill.- Yeah, that's perfect. All right, anything we didn't hit that we should hit. I can't believe we're at the end. This has been really fun. Anything that we didn't hit?- I don't think so. Again, I laugh because I'm an open book. I wrote a book.(laughing) So yeah, I just, from the Lehigh Valley, love living here. So again, if anybody hears this and wants to meet me again, I'm kind of not super findable because I don't have a website, but Instagram is like my jam. So like, I'm definitely, I'm posting mostly dog photos, things about my book. Funny things about my kid on there. So, and I'm a CoyneAndrea on there. I think it's coin underscore Andrea, but there's not a lot of us. And my background has yellow and it's just look for yellow.- Yes. - I'll be there.- And we're gonna tag you in all this. Go find her, follow her. It is a lot of fun. Thank you so much for coming on. This was really, really good.- Thanks for having me.- Absolutely, all right, I'll see you.