This Is What Ambition Actually Looks Like

Cynthia Spitalny, CMO and first-time mom, gets real about what it actually takes to lead in the C-suite while raising a toddler. From redefining productivity to battling guilt and hormonal fog, she shares what it means to stay ambitious without burning out. This is the unfiltered truth about ambition in a world that still expects women to choose.

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Transcript

Angelica Maestas (Host): [00:00:00] Welcome to another episode of she's ambitious AF today. I'm joined by guest Cynthia Spitalny. Why don't you say hi, Cynthia.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): Hey everyone, hey Angelica.

Angelica Maestas (Host): I apologize. I'm a little hoarse. We're never ending Petri dish in our house right now. but I work as a chief marketing officer in the health tech space. I've been in healthcare and health tech for over 20 years. I started my career on the agency side building other brands and you know, figuring out their strategies and ways to you Elevate them and get return on, on their brand.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): And then came over to the health tech side about 10 years into my agency stint, and really haven't looked back since have, been able to campaigns and, you know, create marketing strategies that have won awards that I'm really proud of. But it's [00:01:00] been an interesting ride getting to, you know the C suite for sure.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): Yeah. Well talk about the the journey. Most of that journey, you were not a mom.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): was not a mom.

Angelica Maestas (Host): And, and now you are, so what's let's talk about the realities of that, cause we've had offline conversations about the challenges. How do you really balance? Is that such a thing? And then the, the ugly side of it, which is the guilt that seems to be there.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): Okay. For sure. Where do you want me to start?

Angelica Maestas (Host): Okay.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): There's so much to unpack. Where do you want me to start?

Angelica Maestas (Host): Well, how old is Raya now?

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): Raya is just about 18 months. Is she 18? Yes. Just about 18 months. Little under so a year and a half and. I actually was like super pregnant when I was a contractor for the job that I'm currently in. I was a fractional CMO for the job that I'm currently in, but I was really loving the work I was doing.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): And [00:02:00] that was not, I knew that that was a unicorn in world. I had experienced it a couple other times, but like just knew that I, if I didn't jump on this opportunity, even though I was super pregnant. I would regret it. And so it ended up working out for me. I did have there, you know, like timing wise, we, we figured out a plan, but but yeah, most of my career, I have not had Raya and not had a baby.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): And I. Can understand now how being a parent can totally change your career trajectory in some ways and really hinder it or help it. But I, I you know, like becoming more efficient in terms of like, you know, what your priorities are and what you need and what you're focused on. Cause I don't want to say that it's bad, but I, I definitely have. More perspective now on that, of like why, you know, some, when, when When women [00:03:00] start having kids and maybe, you know, a lot of that's us based, but when women start having kids, it's more difficult to have that focus on your career and yourself and, you know, your, the growth that you want to see.

Angelica Maestas (Host): Yeah, most definitely. And it's, it's, it's a personal choice. And I think a lot of women feel like it's a sacrifice. Like it's, you have to sacrifice one or the other and you don't, but you just have to recognize that it's, it's not all going to go according to plan. what was your plan when you were pregnant entering C suite?

Angelica Maestas (Host): How did you think that integration was going to look like?

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): I don't mean this to sound like I have some ego about it, but I. Knew that I had been doing the work of a CMO for a very long time. I just never had the title. So I had been in fractional roles. I had worked in organizations where [00:04:00] I was for all intents and purposes, the marketing leader, but I didn't have the title and I was in all the C suite conversations, I was in all the, you know, lead up to board meeting meetings to get everyone prepped, but I didn't have the title. And so I did, that did give me some, like, I did have the self awareness that I would be able to do this. But like in our last conversation, we talked about imposter syndrome. And think the reality of like walking into you know, my, my new executive leadership and being the only woman. It did give me of pause.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): Like, like, oh, I actually have the title now. And I am the only woman in the room. And, and with all the hormonal stuff we chatted about, it just was there definitely were moments where I like had to snap myself out of it of like, stop thinking like [00:05:00] that, you know, like you've been doing this. Why are you questioning this now?

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): Why are you questioning that? Like you're the only woman in the room. So yeah,I don't know that I felt like I would be ill equipped to do the job, but I also knew that there would be aspects I, didn't anticipate or wouldn't anticipate. No to expect. And then I did.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): I do have a really awesome women's around me, like professional community around me. And one of the women that I have consulted with or has like worked with me on previous consulting engagements. Said to me, and she's got two older kids in college, and she said to me like, you know, God, like you need to give yourself some grace.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): Like a new job, you had a baby. Like you've been, you're navigating all these new things. Like

Angelica Maestas (Host): Yeah.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): grace. But it's like, it's in my blood to just. Be better. Be better. Be better. And I wish that was something I could turn off sometimes, but I just just it's my DNA. [00:06:00] So

Angelica Maestas (Host): Yeah.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): there was always that chatter in my head of like, you know, is this, is this what it is?

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): Am I, is this working? You know, should I be doing more? I should

Angelica Maestas (Host): Yeah. Am I the best that I can be? Cause I'm not sure. Yeah.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): Yeah.

Angelica Maestas (Host): Well,so you had Raya, what was going back to work? Like, how was it different from

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): Yeah.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): as with leaving with no child and then you're back from leave and now you've got a baby, what were the kind of the most shocking moments for you? You know, besides like the breast pumping, quite honestly, just like making time for breast pumping. Like I, you know, literally sometimes be sitting in meetings like with the pumps on, cause I, I nowadays you have the portable, I'd be sitting like with the pumps on, I would have to sometimes want to strategically time that to make sure that like the noise from the pumps wasn't. You know, no [00:07:00] one was going to be like, what's that noise? So there was some of that, that I, honestly, I didn't love pumping. I that, that was just, it was just tough. It's, it's a chore. Glad I was able to do it for Raya. She had you know, a year of it, but I just, it was a lot beyond that. I think what shocked me most was like, because I work remotely, I was in my downtime now seeing my baby, which was wonderful, but it also meant I didn't have a lot of space to like process meetings and process situations and process problems in the same way. And I still don't. that is very weird for me.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): Cause I. Definitely am someone who needs the space away from a conversation or away from a meeting to like creatively think through solutions. So

Angelica Maestas (Host): Oh yeah. 

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): Tough. I love seeing her, although now it's even [00:08:00] tougher because she doesn't understand why I'm home and not with her. Which level of like difficulty, I guess, in, in this And I'm at the point where we have a small house in the back of our yard.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): And I'm like, I think I just need to like move myself there and, you know, be there for the day. but I think that, yeah, like, and so that became really difficult with Raya. Cause then I also like had mom guilt about what am I missing? know, once I stepped back into a meeting versus like when I'm with her and, you know, taking, you know, having a break, like a half hour break.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): And it's also just hard. Like usually my breaks also are like email catch up and slack catch up and all those things. And so I definitely had to figure out a better cadence for myself. Some of that, if I wanted to spend the time with her and those breaks.

Angelica Maestas (Host): Yeah, you know, it had never occurred to me that so you're remote, which a lot of people are, and you think [00:09:00] that that makes it so much easier because you're in the house in between a meeting, you can go and say, hi, and give her a kiss and all of that, but it never occurred to me to think of what. What she must be thinking,

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): Yeah,

Angelica Maestas (Host): mom, you're here and now you're not.

Angelica Maestas (Host): And I know you're in that room behind the door. Like it's, so that's gotta be so confusing for her.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): for sure. Yeah. She's at the point, you know, she's smart enough and tall enough and strong enough. Now she just barges in. And so, you know, like during COVID, how the newscaster was like giving some report and the, like the little, his little child like walks in and then gets on his lap and, you know, it's like having a good time, like that's what she does, you know, and he just my calls. it's adorable though. Cause she's all excited. But it is. And I, yeah, I I'm very intentional conscious about like what I convey to her and I don't want her to think she can't access me and in the same breath. You know, I'm [00:10:00] working, so

Angelica Maestas (Host): Some boundaries.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): yeah, I do my best. But there's a lot of integration.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): Yeah. Not a thing

Angelica Maestas (Host): especially with the child that can't speak yet and doesn't, doesn't know what the do not disturb sign means on there, I have older kids in the home. And so even then they still like pop ahead in or whatever. And. But they at least understand that there's some boundaries in place, but when you have toddlers, you don't have that benefit.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): for sure.

Angelica Maestas (Host): Well, what are some of the, what are some of the things that are working? Well, are you time boxing the calendar? You know, is it weekends are absolutely zero work. What, what strategies have you been using?

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): Candidly. I intended that this year I would be accepting of the time that I actually have to have my meetings [00:11:00] and do my work. And most of my day, honestly, is meetings. It's back to back calls. If people look at my calendar, they usually say like, I can't get on your calendar. I'm like, I know. Today was an anomaly.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): I don't know what happened. I was like, Oh my God, I have time to get work done. but I have learned. I have five to six good hours, honestly, like that I am focused that I, know, am like in, in the headspace of like, I need to get through my day and get my work done. And it does spill over into evening.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): Like I'll, We know we'll put her down and on at eight o'clock at night, which I have a West coast company. So they're, they're all kind of wrapping their day. I'll catch up on slacks, emails, et cetera. And that, that has worked. But. Generally speaking, I know that my window is like five to six hours and I try to just get my work done.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): So [00:12:00] I do try to, I do have the grace of being East Coast. And so having some time in the morning to actually like up even if it's just like an hour that's been a big, um, piece for me of, of, you know, just blocking my calendar and saying like, please ask if you're going to take like for anyone who wants to book me, please ask if you're going to block this time. And then I'm pretty much in meet back to back calls. And then I do end my day like four, four 30. Cause she goes to, right. It doesn't have a lot of time before she goes to bed and I want time with her. So that, that pretty much wraps it. Like unless she's eating or something and then I can, you know, catch up on some emails and slacks, but but that pretty much wraps my day.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): And so I actually when I was a podcaster myself back in the day,We almost interviewed an author. I think her name is Kate Northrup and she has a book called do less. And I don't know why it stuck with me. I actually had her, I have her book. I believe I read it actually back in the day. Like I, I couldn't tell [00:13:00] you the like detail in it, but the, the theme what she experienced was that she was pregnant and she was, you know, Absolutely exhausted during her first trimester in particular. she had four good hours in the day to get work done. And she talks about how she just figured out how to get everything done in those four hours, like of work. And I do think that you do become better at figuring that out. I, I just find it fascinating that like we are we, we live in a culture of productivity and, know, that we work an eight hour day, but it is pretty antiquated when you actually understand the roots of it and why, you know, how that all came about and how it's tied back to like industrial era and factories and things that like, just aren't relevant for where we are now in society. so [00:14:00] I really have worked on this year, like being accepting that I have five to six good hours. And sometimes that my work is going to spill over into the next day and I have to make room for it. But usually I've been getting it done in those five to six hours and that'll surprise some people. My company hasn't fired me yet, but it was, you know, it's like it, I am very militant about like, here's a block of time. You know, and then making sure that wherever I don't have meetings, I am Blocking that time using that time.

Angelica Maestas (Host): You know, it's probably blowing a lot of minds right now for, for women listening to this, like, how is that even feasible? And you're right. It's just an archaic system. It's just what we do. It's ingrained that work schedule and I'll, I'll probably further blow some minds here, but my work day is typically [00:15:00] nine to maybe nine to three.

Angelica Maestas (Host): And on Fridays, I, I stop work at noon. Yeah. And Mondays are my admin day and, and, and I've structured it that way. So that the calendar doesn't run me like it used to. And I have never been like headspace, clearer concentration time. And, and I just, I really took control of that. And I know business owners who.

Angelica Maestas (Host): Work around the clock and they just think they're supposed to. It's like, oh, well, I'm the owner, you know, got to get these projects done. Part of it's learning to delegate, but I do think that we've rewarded that kind of behavior and made it seem like it's, you know, they're a hustler. I don't know what, but I'm living my best life now because of this structure and.

Angelica Maestas (Host): I don't feel any guilt. Sometimes I, I'm like, there's like a, a [00:16:00] question mark in my head. I'm like, how is this even doable? Cause I remember like working nonstop weekends, nights, and I never felt this ahead of the game before. So

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): Yeah.

Angelica Maestas (Host): really glad we're, we're, we're talking about this.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): Yeah. Yeah. That's fascinating. Have a little reverse of you. Fridays are usually my admin days. And Mondays. I don't usually have a full meeting load. So like my mornings will be a bit of catch up and like kind of setting my week for myself. I don't, not to work weekends. I generally don't have to, but there are, there's always, you know aberrant cases here and there.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): Yeah, I do think it's pretty fascinating. Like what's possible when you actually. Intend like, you know, put intent around this is how I'm structuring my day. This is how much time I have and the rest of it just needs to fall in place. Like, cause I'm not sacrificing time with my baby my family.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): And. [00:17:00] You know, it's like you're already work consumed so much of your life anyway then you, you know, adding a family and, and whatnot to the mix, there's very little space for much else. And so it's, it definitely has been a game changer for me finding that acceptance, I think of, and, and realizing like, I'm getting it done.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): I think that's, you know, I like initially I was like, I just need to find acceptance, but then it. As I kept like looking back on the day, I was like, I got all my work done actually, you know, like, oh, and I'm like a half hour early today, you know, like it was like little moments like that. And I finally was like, oh yeah, I'm like, I'm killing this new system I've created

Angelica Maestas (Host): I love it. I love that. I'm curious when you're, so you're, you prioritize the time with Raya. It's family time. It's not going to be running off to reply to emails or anything. Is it ever, the backlog of work, is it ever in [00:18:00] your mind? Like, is, is, is it?

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): For

Angelica Maestas (Host): Okay.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): Yeah. I do find sometimes it's hard to be present because. People are slacking me and slack is on my phone. And so I will be able to see, I can pause notifications. I don't, maybe that will be something I try, at least for the few hours that she's awake till I put her down. But yeah, I, I'm not, I, I am pretty good at being present, but I'm not perfect.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): I'm still human. And even at work, you know, I, I know a lot of us like we'll multitask during calls where, you know, maybe your presence is needed, but you don't, you're just there to listen in. So yeah,I'm most present, I think, on the weekends, but but it's, it's, that's life.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): I mean, you know, sometimes I'm thinking about stuff with our family and our house and,

Angelica Maestas (Host): Yeah.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): Schooling and like, there's other things in the mix too. So I don't guilt myself, I guess, [00:19:00] when I have those moments, but I do try to snap myself out of it.

Angelica Maestas (Host): Yeah.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): I'm thinking about this now, you know, like your little baby is like joyously laughing at, at you. like

Angelica Maestas (Host): Yeah.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): so yeah,

Angelica Maestas (Host): Well, what about the rest of the family? How, how have they been supportive? You became new mom, entered this new role and your husband too, he's a new dad. How did, how did he adjust being able to, to support you? Cause he's not remote, right? He, yeah. Yeah.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): I make him, I shouldn't say make him, but our partnership, it sounds like I'm like some sort of dictator. Our agreement essentially is that he'll do nights. I am not a night person at all. If something wakes me up, I'm usually up and it's hard for me to get back to sleep. It's been a little bit different with the baby cause I am so exhausted from everything, but he's really good at going back to sleep. So [00:20:00] when she's up, he's the one, he's the parent who's, up and helping her usually unless I her wailing or something like I can hear that he can't get her back down. and then I'll come see what's going on. But for the most part you know, he is participating from that respect. And then we also, you know, he is an equal opportunity parent. Like he's not, he's not we're not from the middle ages where. You know, women do this and men do that so we, we definitely have good time with Raya, you know, equal alone time with Raya doing our, our, you know, whatever activities we choose to do with her, like today, he works, only works four days a week as a clinician, and so today, we took her somewhere this morning and then we came home now he's off to the library with her and, you know, is, yeah, participating in other activities.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): So Ray's incredible [00:21:00] partner, and I am so, so lucky him as my partner, honestly. I hope all women have a partner like Ray, but I know that's probably not the case. But it's hard. We don't have, we actually don't have family local where we live. And so a lot of, most of it, you know, the childcare falls on us. Don't know that I, I don't know that I recommend that, but I, for us living where our families live is not living our best life. It doesn't, not because we don't love our families, but we don't love where they live. So, there's that too. Yeah, like, you know, we we love Living in for like being outdoors for seasons and having an outdoor life.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): And honestly, Raya loves it too. Now, like she literally drags me to the door every morning after my workout and wants to go on a walk and I love that, you know, like, and she loves to look at all the exotic birds and I just, [00:22:00] yeah, I. Wonder what she would be like if we didn't live here, if we didn't have that.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): And so those considerations are certainly part of, you know, how, how we figure out how to make this all work. But, but there's days when it's, it is really tough and you just wish family was here and you could just call us, you know, you just need to tap out for a second and you're like, I just need a break and someone else, someone else with my toddler.

Angelica Maestas (Host): Do you have other, other support systems, like a network of moms, working moms? What, what does that look like?

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): I definitely, I have a circle of like, very close friends that I tap into yourself included, like, I just feel so grateful to have, even though it's, it's not like it's every day, but just [00:23:00] when you're having a moment and you need someone to lift you up or hype you up Yeah, that's, that's super helpful. I do have a couple mom parents that live near me and have babies and that's really helpful for me. They're literally like within walking distance. And so every Friday, actually, we go for a walk, which is really nice. And just kind of about everything going, you know, whatever's on our mind. Usually it's like lots of hormonal stuff. But like, you know, what's your body going through now? Which is wild. Write. That's, that's a big piece of it. And my little sister actually has A toddler that's eight months older than Raya. So

Angelica Maestas (Host): Oh, wow. I didn't realize that.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): they're pretty close in age. So I am sad that they're not growing up together and like not physically closer because they love seeing each other on FaceTime, but but like I said, you [00:24:00] know, for Ray and I living our best life, it would not be living in those locations where our families are.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): So there's a trade off there.

Angelica Maestas (Host): Yeah. I mean, life is too short and yeah, we're actually looking for a home that gives me some of the things that I want because we spend so much time in the home. It's like, why not have a pool? I mean, we live in the desert, I miss water so much, why not have a pool?

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): Yes. Yeah. And I yeah, I, I, you know, we've thought a lot about what life would be like if we stayed versus, you know, living somewhere else distant from our family. But I think either 1 of us probably wouldn't be our, the best version of ourselves if we lived in either of those locations. And. I also know that we both love, we love where we live, [00:25:00] you know, for all, for most intents and purposes.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): There's caveats to that asterisks around that, but but we, but we do love where we live. Nature wise, and we are very grateful to have so much beautiful, lush nature around us. That is just honestly at our doorstep. We literally walk out and, you know, there's a lake a half a mile away and that's where we get to see all like right now, the white pelt, the North American pelicans are there and there are these very Large white pelicans that only come in the winter time and they happen to come to this lake.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): I mean, I'm sure they go to other locations, but special, you know, and

Angelica Maestas (Host): Cool.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): yeah, it is very cool. So we get to see all this beautiful nature around us, but yeah, there's, there's trade offs to all of it. But we just felt like ultimately we all live our best life together when we're in a location like where we live.

Angelica Maestas (Host): Yeah. And you being remote gives you that option to [00:26:00] be able to.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): Yeah. Yeah.

Angelica Maestas (Host): All right. I want to transition us to some rapid fire questions.

Angelica Maestas (Host): Sounds good. Coffee or naps?

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): That's hard. I think coffee. I'm not a great napper. But I, I also don't do caffeine late in the day. So this is my coffee. Yeah.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): Favorite mom superpower you've unlocked. Ooh. I think realizing that I am an intuitive with my daughter. I think all moms are actually with their children, but like a lot of times very, very you know, weird example I'll give, but. I will just know that she's going to want this from the grocery store this week, you know, and that's the thing that like I bring home and she's like, Oh my God, I love this. [00:27:00] And sometimes I'm like, did I orchestrate that? You know, like, is she just, but I actually now realize it's like is a connection. There's a very connection and that's really interesting and scary, but interesting.

Angelica Maestas (Host): Yeah, it is most unexpected life lesson from Raya. Oh, that I think that there's, there's so much joy in every, there's so many, but there's so much joy in watching her grow up and like watching her joy in like seeing how she's evolving into a tiny human. I don't know if I ever thought I would like really Love that because I wasn't entirely loving being pregnant and that's being nice about my [00:28:00] experience, but yeah I don't think I've ever taken such joy in that and like, really. Thought a lot about what's going to make her happy and, you know, being able to, or being, wanting to do that on a regular basis. Not that like Ray and I didn't have that, or didn't do that before with each other, but it's very different with your child. Work, deadline, or play date? What's harder to reschedule?

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): Play date. Yeah. Work always gets done. One piece of advice you wish you'd gotten before becoming a working mom. Oh just to give yourself more grace with how much you're going through physically as you're you know, you're transitioning out of pregnancy and into a new job. I think we talked about this in our last episode, but I honestly didn't realize. [00:29:00] That like my foggy brain, in part, wasn't just because I was tired, it was because my hormones were doing that to me.

Angelica Maestas (Host): Yeah.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): And that was, that was eye opening. Like, once I realized, I'm like, oh, it's not just that. You know, this is not my new state of being, this is just a phase, you know, a transitional phase, but I wish, I wish I had someone had explained that a bit more to me. I don't know. I always heard mom brain. I always heard like that as like a way to categorize it. And I even do it, you know, in meetings at times too, where I'm just like, I have total mom brain. I don't know. I don't remember what happened at the last meeting. Do you want to jog my memory? But yeah, it's, better now, but

Angelica Maestas (Host): Yeah.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): know that I expected to, like, I felt like I lost my edge a little bit because that was a new, it was new for me to, to feel [00:30:00] like I didn't, Remember the details of something or I didn't, you know, and I haven't them down and you know, in a way that I could access them again somewhere.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): So yeah,

Angelica Maestas (Host): Yeah. I'm glad you shared that because I think high achieving women, especially.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): yeah,

Angelica Maestas (Host): okay with that. It's like, you feel like you're broken somehow, but it's just

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): yeah,

Angelica Maestas (Host): the body and accept it.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): Yeah, it really is. And I, you know, I, I, that I am still a high performer, but it is it's just different. Yeah, it's like I was saying to you when we first got on like I could tell you if my daughter's gone to the bathroom today, like whether she pooped this morning, you know, what happened last night in the middle of the night, but I don't know if I. Showered yesterday, you know, like, I think that happened. Those details don't matter anymore. [00:31:00] Yeah, like the work drama. I'm just like, I don't know. I don't have, I don't have energy for it. Sorry.

Angelica Maestas (Host): And last but not least, what can our listeners do to support you? Well,

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): Oh, to support me. I mean, really for me, I want to see other women. Feel like it's okay to be honest and vulnerable and also advocate for each other, lift each other up genuinely try to do that. Like I want better for my daughter. I want better for the next generations than the current state that we're in.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): And I, if you can do something for me, it would be, you know, to take, let your voice be heard, advocate for yourself, advocate for someone else. I just think there's not enough of that still. And. It makes me sad. Yeah.

Angelica Maestas (Host): I'm, I'm glad you, you shared that [00:32:00] and hope listeners take that to heart. It's just elevate yourself or elevate other women. We all become stronger if we do it.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Always fun talking to you, Angelica.

Angelica Maestas (Host): Yeah, it was great chatting. Thanks for being on.

Cynthia Spitalny (Guest): Of course. ​