Pivot, Pitch, Repeat: Larissa Banting’s Reinvention Story

What do you do when your business takes a hit—then another, and another?

Larissa Banting built a seven-figure destination wedding company in Costa Rica, only to be hit with economic downturns, internal theft, and a pandemic shutdown. But instead of giving up, she pivoted—again and again—and found her next calling in public relations.

In this episode, Larissa shares:

• How she went from publicist to wedding planner (and back again)
• What a “self-liquidating offer” is—and how it saved her business in 2020
• The hard lessons behind selling a business, losing six figures, and rebuilding from scratch
• Why it’s never too early (or too late) to pitch yourself to the media
• The connection between horseback riding and entrepreneurship (yep, really!)

This one’s for anyone who’s ever thought, “I can’t start over again.” You’re not starting over—you’re building on everything you’ve learned.

🎁 Grab Larissa’s free guide to pitching podcasts: Podcast Palooza

Website: larissabanting.com 

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/larissabanting/

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Transcript

Pivot, Pitch, Repeat: Larissa Banting’s Reinvention Story

 [00:00:00] [00:01:00] 

Penny Fitzgerald: Hello. Hi, Larissa. It's nice to meet you.

You're in Canada, correct? 

Larissa Banting: Um, I'm originally from Canada. I live in Costa Rica. Cost. Oh yes, I did see that. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Wonderful. Yeah. I love Costa Rica. 

Larissa Banting: Oh, have you been here

Penny Fitzgerald: yeah, a couple different times. for a, retreat that I had earned, um, through the company that I was working with.

Um, we did in home wine tastings, tasting. Oh, nice. It was very fun. Such a nice 

Larissa Banting: gig. 

Penny Fitzgerald: It was a great gig. Yeah. I love, love, loved it. And yeah, that was one of our award, um, trips to go to, so yeah, it was very fun. [00:02:00] 

Larissa Banting: Wow.

Penny Fitzgerald: It's been a number of years. Yeah. 

Larissa Banting: Yeah. Anyway, so I've been here since 2002. Wonderful. Yeah, it's been a while. Oh, wow. Okay. What took you there? What, how did you, how did you end up getting 

Penny Fitzgerald: there?

Larissa Banting: Okay, well, um, I, you know, I've been a publicist since 1993. Yeah. So I was working as, uh, a unit publicist. So that means when we're shooting a movie or television show, oh. Uhhuh, like, um, I'm there on set to get all the photographs and like, put everything together in the media kit. So when they go to, uh, release it, the, the people who are gonna be doing the publicity for the release have all that material.

Okay. So we were shooting a movie of the week down here. Uh, on the Caribbean coast and I met one of the actors and, uh, he's my husband now. Aw. 

Penny Fitzgerald: It's always about 

Larissa Banting: a boy. Yeah, I know, right? But yeah, but it was, it was so I had to, I had to do a pivot when I [00:03:00] moved down here. Yeah. Because, you know, back in 2002, like we were still on dialup internet and using fax machines.

Like there was no laptop lifestyle, there was no social media uhhuh. So, um, I, you know, and I moved here. I didn't speak Spanish at that time. Uhhuh didn't know the landscape for pr, so it was like, well, I, I, I, and I was, there was no way to do my job from here in Canada, so I had to pivot and, um, I started working with a travel agency, uh, and then that kind of parlayed itself into me doing the weddings for them.

And then that took off. 'cause I did events, as you know, I worked in PR and marketing for years in Canada doing events. So I opened up the second destination wedding firm in Costa Rica and one of the first in Central America. And um, I used PR because I didn't have money for ads. 'cause back then you had to, you know, you either did Google AdWords or you did glossy.[00:04:00] 

Wedding magazine ads. Mm-hmm. Which cost like the price of a car a lot. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Mm-hmm. Yeah. 

Larissa Banting: So I didn't have the money for that. So what I did is, um, I actually hired a publicist through a friend. She was starting her own PR firm. She was leaving a big agency in New York, but she knew travel and she knew weddings and I didn't know those verticals.

So worked with her and, um, ended up getting a whole bunch of pr like magazine spreads and whatnot. And that led to me being named, uh, to the A-List top 30 Destination Wedding Planners in the World. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Ooh. 

Larissa Banting: By Destination Magazine. And then we hit seven figures our last, our next year. Wow. The very next year.

So that was year two. That was year, well, year three. We were named Uhhuh the Top 30. Okay. And, and then we hit, um, yeah, over a million dollars in our fourth year. There's a hockey stick trajectory for you. It was pretty crazy. Yeah. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. I bet. Well, and it sounds like a really, [00:05:00] really good thing, but I'm sure there were some struggles through that too, or some Oh God, yeah.

Opportunities. 

Larissa Banting: Yeah, there's, I mean, it's, it's been, it's been a lot of hockey sticks put that way. Fantastic. Well, yeah. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. It, I think so many people think, oh, if I do this, it's just gonna go up, up, up, up, up. And that's really not reality for entrepreneurs, 

Larissa Banting: especially. Well, yeah. And the thing was like, I'm not, like, one thing I've realized, I'm not a manager, I don't like managing people.

Um, and with, just with the culture here, like we had 14 employees at one point. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Hmm. 

Larissa Banting: Because we had the, the wedding planning company. But what, why we were able to hit seven figures was because, um, we also opened a, a travel agency. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Mm-hmm. 

Larissa Banting: And because I was the most, um, like what I saw was that's the pe the part that people really struggle with.

Mm-hmm. Um, 'cause back then there was no Expedia, there was no Airbnb. There was none of that. Yeah. So what my husband had come from, um, even though he [00:06:00] was an actor, he had, uh, tourism background. He was the first Oh, nice. Yeah. He was the first Costa Rican to open a whitewater rafting company here. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Wow. 

Larissa Banting: Yeah.

Full 

Penny Fitzgerald: circle. Full circle. That's the other thing too. I think a lot of people also believe that, okay, I, I need all these skills. I need to do this alone. I'm a lone wolf, you know, and you try and do it all and Yeah. You really need a village. 

Larissa Banting: Yeah, you do. Yeah, you do. And back then, of course, we, we just didn't have all of the amazing software tools that we have now.

Yeah. So as we grew, you know, we need it to have. People to actually physically do all of these things. And um, what happened was in 2008, I had my child right at the beginning of January. And then of course, you know, like the whole economic 2008 happened. But, you know, weddings, thank [00:07:00] goodness, um, like people will always get married.

Yeah. Right. And, and destination weddings became even more popular because all of a sudden it was like, well here's a way for us to cut down the, the guest list. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. 

Larissa Banting: And, and not kind of, you know, like we have a a, it's like, oh geez, we can't invite everybody 'cause we're going to Costa Rica, you know? Yeah.

Um, so, and then there are actually some of the boutique hotels. I remember one of them, um, they said to us like, weddings is what kept us afloat. Wow. 'cause people just didn't, I believe it. Cancel getting married. Yeah. So, so, 

 In the middle of the economic downturn, I put The travel agency portion up for sale. 'cause I was just like, I just, I just couldn't do it. Penny, like having a newborn. Um, we had 13 weddings in one month. 

 it would be a four hours minimum each way. Wow. 

And I just couldn't do it. I was just like, I can't be everyone's mom.

So I ended up, I put it up for sale, 

Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. You know, the other thing that strikes me too is [00:08:00] you pivoted so many times, but people get afraid of, you know, making changes, but you're not starting over. You're building on what you already have built and your knowledge, your experience, all of that is going into the next new thing. Even though it, you know, you might have gotten rid of this piece, you're still, you know, growing this other piece and new things are coming to you and Wow.

It's just, there's a lot of growth happening, even though it's, you're, it feels scary in the moment. I'm sure 

Larissa Banting: it, it does. You know it because you're like, am I doing the right decision? And um, and then we started downsizing, but then what happened was. Uh, then I went, we moved and I, we got a office, like a front space, a commercial space.

Penny Fitzgerald: Okay. 

Larissa Banting: Uhhuh, because, um, when I went to one of his wedding planning conferences, I'd made a, a connection with crane. Um, so they, they do like the lar, they're [00:09:00] the one of the largest, um, invitation companies in the us.

Okay. In fact, they also print the US, um, money. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Gosh. So they also did like Vera Wang and William Arthur. So they have like, you know, different levels. So they didn't have anyone representing them in Central America. So I was like, okay, well I'll take this on. So we had the, the commercial front for this invitation because there were like, the invitations here were like.

Not well done. And no, no one was doing engraving, no one was doing letterpress. It was just all digital. And I thought, well, here's an opportunity. And it's much cheaper than what they're doing here. 'cause everything's, you know, made, uh, you pick it out, we do the, you know, you see everything. We order it and it comes.

And that was a mistake because you know what? They wanted to see a, like the actual physical, how's it going to look?

And it's like, okay, well we can't set up the press for one invitation. 

Penny Fitzgerald: [00:10:00] Mm-hmm. 

Larissa Banting: And that was something that you think would be so easy to do, but it just did not translate to here. And, um, and I was paying for this commercial space. It's like, well, why do I need all this space?

 it was a lot of money. Mm-hmm. Basically to store a bunch of stuff. And, um, the travel agency had moved in next door, and then we were having issues. Like, I actually had clients that said to me, you know, at, at the weddings, you guys as wedding planners were fantastic, but the travel agency that we worked with, the, it doesn't reflect well on you.

So I had to have that really difficult conversation uhhuh and say to the people who had purchased it, like, because they were in Canada and they had someone hired here who was running the day to day. Okay. And I had to have that conversation and say, I'm sorry, I, I have to break with you because it is affecting my reputation.

Wow. Yeah. also because of the advent of Expedia and Travelocity and all this uhhuh, [00:11:00] the travel dipped, it was less, yeah. Okay. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Wow. Everything converging at once there to make it happen.

Larissa Banting: Yeah. And then, it turned out that we found that, uh, my office manager, who was like a family member to us, Uhhuh had been, um, stealing. Oh, no. Yeah. Stealing money. So, um, you know, luckily the lease was just ending.

Mm. So we were gonna work from home and I thought, you know, I don't, I don't be you spending $2,000 a month on this space that I don't need because my clients were all in North America. And if we, they came to Costa Rica, we were going to visit the different vendors we weren't meeting in my office.

Oh, right. Yeah. And, and then we were doing, because it was like, you know, like, why is there no money in the accounts and why, why am I having to pony up to like cover the, the hotel bill of the guests coming in? Oh. And we started doing some, um, you know, audits looking into it. Mm-hmm. And yeah, [00:12:00] so we are probably about a hundred thousand dollars.

Oh my, 

Penny Fitzgerald: oh, that's so disappointing. 

Larissa Banting: Yeah. 

Penny Fitzgerald: So you put your trust in someone. 

Larissa Banting: I know. It was really hard. And then, so what ended up happening is, um, uh, you know, it was just, I eventually whi whittled it down to just me. And, um, because you know, there's that tipping point. You think, oh, I'm gonna grow, I'm gonna grow.

You're talking about earlier. Mm-hmm. But the reality is, is that you, you reach a certain point. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Mm-hmm. 

Larissa Banting: And yeah, you've got all these sales, but it's because your expenses are also, you know, require so many people and whatnot. So it, like you have to make that much money or else, and, but you're not making more profit exponentially more.

Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah, yeah. You're covering costs, but the profit is not as much, or maybe it might be the same as if you were working for yourself. Exactly. And a lot less headaches. 

Larissa Banting: Dang. And then, of course, um, COVID hit, so right before COVID hit, I'd start [00:13:00] getting more involved in the online space. So I was like, Uhhuh wanted to have like a, you know, a backup, um, because I knew I wanted to exit at some point.

And, but you know, talking about pivoting. So I'd gotten, when chatbots first came out, I was like, I'm gonna go in all in with chatbots. And I made my first course to sell online, you know, with chatbots and whatnot, and then something twigged and I'm like, wait a second, I'm accredited in public relations.

I've been doing PR since like 1993. I have all this experience. Why am I re like reinventing the wheel? Why don't I just lean in mm-hmm. To what I'm really good at? What has built my business and I love. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Mm-hmm. So 

Larissa Banting: I had just created this, this, uh, self-liquidating offer. 

 a standalone offer, I did a, um, a training called, pitch perfect. Okay. So it was like a, you know, 45 minute workshop uhhuh everything that you needed to learn how to, [00:14:00] uh, you know, go and put yourself out to the media.

Okay? So, you know, you run Facebook ads to that, it's a $27 offer. So the whole idea is that that $27 is paying for the cost of the Facebook ads uhhuh 

Penny Fitzgerald: to build your list. 

Larissa Banting: To build your list, right? Mm-hmm. So you're building a list of buyers, not freebie seekers. Mm-hmm. But once they get in on the, on the checkout page, then you have an order bump.

Mm-hmm. And in my case, um, it was the emails that we use to actually pitch out to the media for $17. And then the next step is like right before they check out, is like, wait, there's a one-time offer. And in our case, we had the not so little black book, so it was like a whole like, full meal deal.

 the next part of it, the email templates, and then you've got all that information. But how do you, who do you pitch this out to? Here's the, the, the list. Yeah. With 1400, um, connections for $97. So now that $27 [00:15:00] offer is potentially $141. and I turned that on the first week of March, our borders closed of 2020. Of 2020. Wow. Timing is 

Penny Fitzgerald: everything. 

Larissa Banting: It was crazy. 'cause Yeah. March 19 the borders closed down. Yep. Yep. We had no business as a wedding company for 10 months. Wow. And my husband was a, at that point, had a catering company. Oh my.

So, yeah. And we didn't have, like, the government here did not like, not, wasn't like in Canada or the US where they were giving money to businesses. We were like on our own. Yeah. Wow. Scary. It was very scary. It was very scary. And plus we had to also refund, um, my, my biggest wedding of the year ended up canceling because, you know, we didn't know it was just going, couldn't gather.

Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. 

Larissa Banting: And unfortunately the banks here, like they, it was, they would take like a 5%, [00:16:00] uh, fee to, for the credit card processing, uhhuh Plus they would take, uh, taxes, hold withholding taxes. So it was about 11%. I would lose 11 to 13%. I would lose on every single, um, tra like a credit, credit card. Uh, you know, pass it.

Dang. 

Penny Fitzgerald: So not just, that wasn't your fee, that was on top of the fee. So you were losing 11 percentage? I was 

Larissa Banting: losing 11% to the government and to the bank and, 

so I had to turn around and refund everybody, plus give them back this money that I did not get returned from the bank. Mm-hmm. So it was a really, that was a very tough year.

Scary. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. Yeah. But okay, so you had set up this self-liquidating offer in March. Did that start bringing in? Yes. Thank 

Larissa Banting: God. Thankfully [00:17:00] that started like right off the bat. 'cause at that point, SLOs were still pretty new. Mm-hmm. And, um, and the, uh, costs for Facebook ads were a lot lower and it was a lot easier to, to target more, get really micro into the targeting.

Oh, 

Penny Fitzgerald: right. The data processing and all. Yeah. The collection of data was a lot less, um, tied. 

Larissa Banting: Yes, it was. It was like back in the golden era for marketers back on it now. But, um. But also that parlayed itself into me opening, um, a, a, a PR agency. So I opened my, my PR agency in June. plus my husband got a, a job, um, as a, the private chef for, uh, the former CEO of LinkedIn who moved his family down here, um, in August of 2020.

Wow. Yeah. that's what really saved us. So what happened was, like, I have to tell you, like I felt like the stuffing was just kind of knocked out of me, you know?

Oh, yeah. After. Hard to [00:18:00] get back up after all those things. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. And you know, with my husband working up four hours away, I basically was kind of like single parenting it. Oh. So, you know, and we live up on a hill and there's no bus.

And I have to drive my daughter to meet the school bus 'cause they won't come up here. Uhhuh. She's a competitive horse jumper, so, you know, like mom's taxi, so. Right. I was away at a wedding. It was like very difficult to, to move over anywhere. Right. Uhhuh. So that's when it really was like, you know, I really need to move on.

And so I put the wedding, um, business up for sale and you know, as Kismet would have it, one night I was I on LinkedIn and someone I had connected with had put a, a message up saying, Hey, I'm looking to purchase like, you know, small businesses. And so I connected with him, him and he owns two, um, catering companies in Alabama.

Oh. So, um, I ended up, yeah, he [00:19:00] bought the company in July of 2023. Okay. Wow. 

Penny Fitzgerald: One thing leads to another, to another, to another. Yeah. I was just talking with someone else too, about how all of these things that knock you down are so scary in the moment, but they usually lead to something amazing. Yes. But it's really hard to see that when you're, you know, when you're in the thick of it and thinking, how am I gonna get my daughter to the bus?

How am I going to pay my bills? How am I going to meet these fees? What are these bankers gonna take next? You know, you know, all of the things that you had to deal with are so scary in the moment, but look at where they've led. 

Larissa Banting: Yeah. Well, you know, it's like with, um, who is it that says everything is figureoutable?

Um, yeah. Yeah. Porterfield. Yes. And that's so true. Like in the middle of it, It was like pretty scary. But I was like, you know, like we [00:20:00] just were honest with people. Like when we went to, um, like the hotels and whatnot and we just, or our vendors were like, Hey, mm-hmm.

This is, use the situation situation. Um, and can we work something out with you? And so they did, you know, I was very thankful of that. And when it came to COVID, like luckily I had pivoted beforehand. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Mm-hmm. 

Larissa Banting: And um, you know, and just was like, okay, like I can sit here and freeze and panic and Right.

Me, or I can just like shake it off. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Mm-hmm. 

Larissa Banting: And how, how do I get myself outta this? Right. 

Penny Fitzgerald: I used to say that too. So I had a pretty large team when COVID hit and. Doing the wine tastings, and of course we had to pivot. Yeah, I would say that a lot. Like in the words of the famous philosopher Taylor Swift.

Shake it off. Yeah. Yeah. That's all you do. It's true. You have to. What else are you gonna do? Are you gonna sit and just wither and not do [00:21:00] anything? No. Find a way to, to make what you're doing work. What do you love to do? Do more of that, you know, what do people want? What do they need? And, you know, when people are shut down, what do you wanna do?

You want, well, I might as well take a course. Let me learn something new. And I'm not gonna stop drinking through this, so I'm gonna order a bottle of wine or case and Yeah. Or three. 

Larissa Banting: No judgments. No. Well, I think, you know, at one point I think they were trying here, it was so crazy. They were trying to, like minimizing how much alcohol you could buy at one point.

Really? Yeah. And there was like a During COVID. Yes. It was like really No. Yeah, no. Yeah. They act all that. What it, yes. That's, I remember at the beginning of COVID in the grocery stores, they had taped off all of Yeah. The alcohol. Really? I remembered that. And we like for the, it was like for the first couple of weeks [00:22:00] and it was like, well, thank God we got like, you know, we had a stash uhhuh.

It was like, was it because of hoarding or something? Or that they were trying to ration it, or No, it was like they were, I don't know. I think they were, oh, I know what it was. It's because they didn't want people gathering. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Oh, and that's where they're gonna gather. 

Larissa Banting: Yeah. So they don't want people like with, uh, buying, they somehow they thought if we have alcohol available, people are gonna get together and they're going to gather, oh, they're gonna share it, no.

Mm-hmm. And have parties and, you know, we had re the driving restrictions, like you couldn't be on the road after, I think eight o'clock or nine o'clock at night. Oh my goodness. Um, and we, like, there were only certain days that we could drive. It was very regulated. Yes. Huh. Yeah. I had no idea. Yeah. It was like super serious here.

And like, even like, you know, for grocery stores, like everybody had sinks out front. Yeah. So it was like, how do you, but yeah, it was like, okay, how do we pivot? Right. Like, like what you did. Yeah. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. A lot of Zoom wine tastings and, [00:23:00] you know, you had to have fun. Was not canceled. You just had to like, become creative with it.

Just, you just get creative. Yeah. I'll ship you some wine and let's taste it together over, I'll taste mine. You taste yours. But together we're sharing how to pair it with foods and do all the things. So yeah, it was still very fun, but just in a very, very different way. 

Larissa Banting: Yeah. That would've been fun. Yeah, it was.

It seems like it was so long ago, but then again it was, it wasn't, yeah. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Blink of an eye. 

Larissa Banting: Yeah. Yeah. But you know, it's, it's um, I guess it's, you know, like as I am, I, I, the pivoting like, you know, I, it also opened my mind 'cause I was like, I remember I was doing something two years ago and somebody, I, I was a, a questionnaire for, um, a summit.

Yeah. 

Penny Fitzgerald: And they're like, 

Larissa Banting: what are your hobbies? And I sat there for a sec and I went, I don't have any, like, I've gotten to that point in my life where everything was either work. Or, oh, my daughter and I [00:24:00] realized, and I used to, oh, wow. I was the hobby queen. Like I was running clubs. I was a dancer. I would talk dancing, like, you know, I was never home.

And then I thought, you know what? I need to do something for myself. Yes. And so I, I started horseback riding. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Oh yeah. Wonderful. Yeah. Yeah. It's so important to have things that are for you. You know? I mean, we, I think that's so common with a lot of women, especially, I mean, a lot of people, but women especially, I feel like we raise their family or, you know, you're busy putting one foot in front of the other, you're doing your career, you're trying to make things work.

You're pivoting, you're trying to keep all the balls in the air, and then you wake up one day and realize, what did I wanna do? What's important to me? Or what, what made me me, what makes me fun? Yeah. All these other experiences. Wow. So were you, had you been a horseback rider [00:25:00] before or was this a new thing that you learned?

Larissa Banting: No, no. I mean, I grew up, I was, um, always in dance, like my mother had taught dancing. Mm-hmm. So I started dancing when I was like three or four years old and, um, you know, went on. I studied like my degrees in dance. I was professional dancer. Really? Yeah. I'd written under, you know, research papers about dance in Canada.

I had my own column in two different magazines. I was the dance critic in Edmondson. Wow. Yeah. So I was like all in on dance and, andI'd always loved horses. Mm-hmm. But I mean, growing up, um, in, you know, Hamilton, Ontario, that was something only like, I didn't know anyone who had a horse and it was, that was only for very rich people to do horseback riding.

Penny Fitzgerald: Mm-hmm. 

Larissa Banting: but when my daughter was little, you know, we put her into dance classes and nothing stuck. You know, it was like, it wasn't her thing, but she always loved the Little pony rides at the park on the weekends. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. 

Larissa Banting: And, um, one day there was, we were at the, the [00:26:00] Queen's birthday put on by the British, um, uh, association here, 

Penny Fitzgerald: Uhhuh.

Larissa Banting: And they had horses, you know, Uhhuh. So she did a horse ride and she was just like, in her glory. And the lady's like, well, you know, our, our school just up the road and we have class, there we 

Penny Fitzgerald: go. 

Larissa Banting: And I was like, okay. So, you know, the next week we shipped her off and there she was like five years old. Her little Hello Kitty rain boots.

Oh. And um, and that was it. So, um, she's been doing it ever since and we now have our own horse. but she's gonna be leaving the university in a year. Okay. And, uh, our horse unfortunately does not wanna jump in competitions anymore. Like, she's great. Oh. She's amazing in, in, I feel that. But yeah, as soon as she knows it's a competition, she's like, no, I'm not jumping.

 and she's 18, so that Yeah. And she's in wonderful shape, but to try and sell a horse, it's not gonna jump in competitions, makes it really hard. [00:27:00] Oh. And so it's like, what am I gonna do with this horse? So I started with the, I thought, well, I'll start horseback riding. I'm here all the time anyways, and it seems like good exercise and I've always wanted, like, I've ridden horses, but mm-hmm.

You know, like just no amount with a class. Yeah. And I'm doing English, so of course that's, um, way more complicated. Okay. Because it's nothing to hold onto. Right. Oh wow. The saddle. There's no horn like in Western.And you've just got like little teeny tiny, like bars for stirrups, so. Oh wow. It's, you have to have really good balance.

So, but I've always loved dressage 'cause it's like dancing with the horses. Yeah. and it turns out our horse used to do dressage and she's wonderful at it. Oh. So, um, and she 

Penny Fitzgerald: still loves to 

Larissa Banting: do it. 

 But it's a goal, you know, like, it's like I have a goal. Um, you know, I literally, I had a class right before this interview and, um, the horse I ride in class, unfortunately spooked and I fell, so, oh no. Yeah. But, you know, it's like, again, like just got up, [00:28:00] brushed myself off and, you know, literally got back up on the horse, which is, oh my gosh.

I was thinking, I was driving and thinking, you know, it's a good metaphor for business. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Mm-hmm. 

Larissa Banting: Sure is. Get back up. You have to, as an entrepreneur, you, uh, the, what else are you going to do? There's no safety net. Right? Yeah. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. And try not to break a hip. Yeah. 

Larissa Banting: Well, I fell off, I mean, I did fall off a year ago and I had, um, a really, like, it was a bad fall where like, I, like I hurt my hip and I couldn't ride for like six months, but, and it was on this horse, it was like galloping.

And, um, so I started, you know, working my way up to galloping and getting on another horse. 'cause my, my coach knew, he is like, physically you're ready. But mentally I wasn't there. So I, I, oh, last week I started, um, galloping on her again. Wow. Wow. Okay. I, I, you know, it was like coming, overcoming that fear.

Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. [00:29:00] 

Larissa Banting: Um, but, you know, I also, after, after I fell that last year, I bought a vest. So, so, you know, it's like, okay, I, I, I can't have a safety net, but I can protect myself. Some padding, some padding. It's like, okay, well how do you, how do I apply that lesson to business? You know, you can learn lessons from your day to day and also see how can I apply that to, to what I'm doing as a business owner.

Absolutely. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. And, and the other thing too is you always, I feel like you always have to be learning something new. If you're not pushing yourself or pushing yourself sounds scary to some and not fun. So instead maybe flip it to, I get to play with horses, you know, I get to, I get to learn something new.

I'm, I get to do this fun thing that I've wanted to explore, and isn't it cool to be learning something new about it and a new skill and applying it in other areas? [00:30:00] So yeah, if we can flip that in our heads and make well anything. Yeah. Gamify 

Larissa Banting: anything. Well, that gamifying, and I also think, you know, because when you're, when you're an expert in your field, um, you've put in that those 10,000 hours, it's really hard to, to remember what it was like to be Yes.

Taking those first couple of steps that first, you know, 20 minutes on that journey. Exactly. And I think especially if you're, you're like trying to do any kind of like courses or teach people or, it's important to be able to go back and understand, um, where people are at and, you know, 'cause I think a lot of people, they're so good at what they do, they kind of forget that.

And so then they're wondering, well, why aren't, why aren't people re like responding? Yeah. You're 10 steps ahead. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. Well, and you're 10 steps ahead in the thing that you do really, really well, but maybe you need to [00:31:00] look at Okay. Is that still relevant? Is that still. The best way to do it in 2025. Mm-hmm.

You know, maybe there's something new that's available that would make it a lot easier or make it a better experience for not only the person you're teaching but their people, you know, their audience. Yeah. And, and 

Larissa Banting: I think with what we're seeing with, with chat GPT right now, you know, with ai there's a a lot of fear, you know, people are panicking about it.

Um, I mean, I, I saw, I dunno if you saw like last week, the CEO of Fiverr wrote a letter to basically everybody on Fiverr saying, yes, the computers are coming for your jobs. Oh, geez. Yeah. Which was like, oh, what could possibly go wrong? Yeah. But, but this is the thing. It's like, you know what I remember, and you know, I'm sure the listeners remember as well when the internet first came on board when E Oh right.

Like everything was like, oh, this is gonna happen. New is scary, everything. Um, I [00:32:00] mean. What was it? Uh, gosh. Um, 1999 when, remember when everything was going? Oh yeah. Y 2K. Y 2K. Thank you. Yeah. I was on the, the crisis communications team. I was heading up. Yes. Like, so, but the thing is like all of the na the doomsayers, 

Penny Fitzgerald: yeah.

Larissa Banting: There was changes. And I think, again, it's going back to what we were saying earlier about people being afraid of change and how do I make that pivot? Well, the people who thrive are the ones who are like, okay, you know what? I'm going to embrace this. It's an 

Penny Fitzgerald: opportunity 

Larissa Banting: and Exactly. And how do, and I've, so I've, I've personally have been taking Ja, I mean chat, GPT, like obviously I don't use it ever to pitch to the media because, um, for various reasons.

One being ethically, uh, you know, number two is, uh, the media hates chat, GPT, in fact that, uh, you know, the New York Times was suing. Um, the makers of it, [00:33:00] because it basically is scraping all of the Oh, right. Copyright, copy, written copyrighted copywriter. They paid these, their proprietary information.

Proprietary information, and they're just scraping it and then reusing it. Oh, using it. Mm-hmm. So, yeah, so they, they, so they launched it Intellectual property. Intellectual property. They launched that, I think it was, uh, January of 2024. So I'm not sure where that is right now. But they actually have, um, detectors, so mm-hmm.

If they run, if you pitch something to the media and they see that it has been generated by chat CPT, you will get blacklisted. Your email will get blacklisted. So for anybody out there who is, you know, look thinking about, oh, I know. I wanna try and start pitching myself to the media. Please, please, please, like, use it, generate some ideas.

Fantastic. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Brainstorm. 

Larissa Banting: Yeah, brainstorm. But make sure what you are writing is actually yours. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. chat. GPT has made my life so much easier, [00:34:00] you know, just to be able to brainstorm ideas, to be able to hone like what's important, you know? scraping my own data and looking at what has been popular, what is really useful for people.

What, how can I take this into service of others instead of you're, write this for me. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And I think most people are doing the, the right thing and not using it just to write, to take their place of writing. But if they are using it like that, it's easy to detect, you know, it's easy to see that 

Larissa Banting: there's like those certain words that prop up and you're just like, that was the computer.

Yeah. Yeah. Everything sounds the same. Yeah. And, you know, there's somebody, um, for, on LinkedIn and he has AI for LinkedIn to do, like, you know, leave thoughtful, [00:35:00] uh, comments on people's, but you can tell it's like a sore thumb that sticks out. It's not thoughtful. Oh, it's not thoughtful.

It's just very like, you know, you're taking the, you're taking the shortcut. Yeah. Which, um, again, I think, and I, I personally, I feel that we saw this for example, like when I talked about the having the, the, um, invitation business, that's when everything was moving towards digital. Well, what did we see happen all of a sudden, back to the slow movement, letterpress and letterpress became super popular for weddings because they wanted that, that kind of slow, uh, hand literally handcrafted, bespoke, bespoke.

And I think we're gonna be seeing, like, I think there's always going to be. That need for things that are bespoke, you know, like there's a fast fashion, well now there's slow fashion is mm-hmm. Becoming, um, you know, kind of the du jour because people don't wanna have, like, they're [00:36:00] realizing like the, the, the cost on environmentally the human cost.

Penny Fitzgerald: Mm-hmm. 

Larissa Banting: You know, like, how much does it costing these poor people? How much are they making in these sweat shops? So I can have like some flimsy piece of material I'm gonna wear three times and then it's gonna fall apart. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Right, right. Well, and how many more pieces of clothing do, do I actually need? Yeah.

And I just, um, I've been doing a lot of deep spl, uh, spring cleaning here, and it's just such a wake up call that, okay, I have all these things from my mom and dad from when they passed, and they're so hard to get rid of because they were memory, you know, there's a memory attached to that sweater or that tie or that hat or whatever.

And then. We have some things that the kids left behind when they left the house. You know, we're empty nesters now, so we have, you know, some stuff that, okay, we wanna keep that around 'cause our grandkids may wanna play with that someday. And you know, it's all these things that just pile up that you [00:37:00] just, you can't let go of, but, and how much stuff do you really need?

Just make the experience, make the memory. 

Larissa Banting: Yeah. Well, and it's interesting that you bring this up, penny, because, um, like one of the clients that I work with, uh, one is they're called Myo. And it's, um, an app to help you organize your memories, your, your photos. Oh, fun. And, you know, your, uh, you can take, if you digitize any of the artwork and all of that mm-hmm.

Because that's a, a real issue. And, um. But this whole idea about Yes. Holding onto things and, and then especially if it's been passed down, then you feel guilty. Exactly. But like my, my grandmother, like, I inherited all of her Royal Doulton Old Country Rose. Yes. That's little thing. It's my mother's too.

It's the 

Penny Fitzgerald: same 

Larissa Banting: pattern. Yeah. There's a, apparently that was the single most, [00:38:00] um, best selling pattern of any of the China ever. the younger, like the millennials, like they don't want them.

Right. someone, um, told me something really good, how I can release the guilt of wanting to get rid of it? Mm-hmm. They said, did you use it? And I said, no. It was always in the China. You save it for good. It was never, ever, ever used. And they said, well, that's why you have no emotional attachment to it, besides, oh, that was my grandmother's, and she treasured it, and now pass it on to me.

You have no memories with that particular item. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Mm-hmm. 

Larissa Banting: I'm like, that's a really good point. Yeah. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Yep. So, yeah. Yeah. So yeah, I've finally come to the realization that, okay, I'll keep one cup, maybe two. Yeah. I'll have tea in it and I'll remember my mom and I'll be fine with that. And the rest of it can go to a good home.[00:39:00] 

Larissa Banting: Yeah, exactly. So I've made my peace with it. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. And that that clutter. that extra stuff that's around us, it causes even mental fatigue.

I feel It's just very draining to hold the weight of all of that. 

Larissa Banting: They've done studies on it actually. Mm-hmm. my mother was a hoarder, so I grew up with that and it was, yeah, it was very like, I'm, I'm a, I am a minimalist and 

 her younger brother, he's a hoarder. I mean, he keeps buying books and like we visited last summer and it's literally a path because of books. Yeah. And he's thankfully agreed that we can box 'em up and put them into a, like warehouse and pay for storage.

Or Yeah. The baby steps. But you know, that's, I know, thing like, it, it's, it's, especially when you're dealing with older relatives mm-hmm. Who, you know, like they wanna hold onto all of these things. Mm-hmm. And I guess like, okay, well one, at one point they're gonna have to no longer be living in this condo.

Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. 

Larissa Banting: Be cleaning [00:40:00] it out. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Yep. Exactly. Yeah. Well, and they grew up in a time when you didn't throw things away, you reused them until you couldn't. Yeah. You saved the good things for good because when company comes over, that's when we're gonna bring them out maybe. Yeah. 

Larissa Banting: Yeah. And it's, it's interesting how everything has flipped.

Like, look at my daughter and she doesn't have those emotional, like, I mean, to things. Yeah. 

Penny Fitzgerald: You know, 

Larissa Banting: it's, um, 

Penny Fitzgerald: yeah. Like, she's like very interesting. Yep. Ikea furniture, you know, very temporary things and not, you know, like the solid oak furniture that I'm looking around our house here. That, you know, it was passed down.

Yeah. You know, it, so I have an emotional attachment to, to a lot of this furniture, but it doesn't really go with, it doesn't look like I want it to, to, you know, I mean, it's just so much stuff that Yeah. 

Larissa Banting: It's a thing. Yeah. Yeah. And I think for our generation, that's something that's, we're in that kind of, that [00:41:00] transitional transition.

Yeah. Mm-hmm. Exactly. You're caught in the middle of this. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. Yeah. I, the older I get, the more I realize that it's just, it's about the people. It's about the experiences and I'm letting go of the stuff that represent that. 'cause I have the memory of it and hopefully Yeah. Yeah. Which brings it up a whole other set of, um, worry for, you know.

Okay. Am I always gonna remember this? 

Larissa Banting: Well, you know, there's apps now that you can actually like, you know, interview whoever, like your grandmother or whoever to talk about Uhhuh. So you, it is almost like creating a living, um, yeah. Like a living, you know, reel.

Yeah. That you passed down. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Oh gosh. I wish I would've started this podcast when mom was still alive, you know, , she had Alzheimer's for the last, you know, probably 15 years of her life. So it would've had to, it would've had to been before podcasts were even a thing. But that would've been really cool.

[00:42:00] And the more I think about it, the more I think I really wanna interview my older relatives and my husband's older relatives, and just have that record of their wisdom and their voice. That it's just, it's a legacy thing, you know, to be able to go back and listen to all of that wisdom from the women that are in our lives that.

We try to absorb all of it, but Wow. It'd be great to pass it down. 

Larissa Banting: Yeah. And now, now we've got the tools. I mean, back in the day. Yeah. I remember like giving my grandmother like one of those little, um, recorders. Yeah. Uhhuh. She never did it. And I was like, you know, and that's one thing I wish she, 'cause she, yeah.

We have like, you like how did my, I've gotta get my aunt to do that because like, my grandfather stowed away on a boat from Ukraine when he was 15. Oh, wow. And, and he, you know, lied about his age and signed up when World War I, you know, started and went back over to Yeah. Fight. So I was like all of those stories and like, you know, what about our family back in the [00:43:00] old country?

And, um, yeah. I mean, the times now, 'cause you know, you just, time's fleeting. It's lost. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. Yeah. 

Larissa Banting: Absolutely. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Oh my gosh. Yeah. We've been chatting for a while.

 so what have you not shared with my audience that you are just really wanting to share? Or what, what wisdom would you like to give us? 

Larissa Banting: Um, Okay. if somebody has their own business, what I would say is, you know, don't be afraid to tap into the power of the media.

It's like, podcasts are a fantastic, like, I always joke, it's like the great gateway drug to, uh, the media because, you know, there's almost 4 million podcasts and there's literally podcasts for everything. So you can get really, like really speaking one-on-one with your people. So you're almost speaking the same language, but people are looking for, and as you know, you're looking for the stories.

Like, you want something, [00:44:00] what's the information that is going to be, um, my audience is going to find really interesting. So when you're, you're reaching out to the media, it's never about you. Because this is gonna sound harsh. They don't care about you. Mm-hmm. Really? Like, but that's a blessing. That's a really good 

Penny Fitzgerald: thing.

'cause then there's no pressure on you to be anything other than you. 

Larissa Banting: Exactly. They're looking for how, what can you bring to the table that is going to serve the audience. Mm-hmm. And if you can like, flip that in your mind from a, you know, coming to them with a hat in hand going, oh, please gimme an interview.

Um, to being like, Hey, I'm here to partner with you. Mm-hmm. To give you something that's gonna be of extreme value to your audience. And they're gonna really love. This information I'm going to share. That's a whole, like, now you're, you're approaching it as an equal partner, not someone begging to be noticed.

And that's a power position. And I think a lot of women, like we, we tend [00:45:00] to not want to step up and be seen and take up space and have our voice heard. So it's kinda like, oh, that's okay. Well no. Like you have something to share and there's nothing, life is not a Disney ride that says you have to be this high to get on the ride.

Right. And I think a lot of people, especially when it comes to the media, they think like, oh, well, when I hit six figures or when I have this, or no, you know what, everyone's at a different point in their journey. Mm-hmm. And. No matter where you are at, you have something to share. You have, you know, wisdom, maybe something you've just, maybe you've just started, well great, there's people listening who are just a step or two behind you, and if you can share what you did, then that's gonna be fantastic for them.

So I always say, don't ever belittle your experience or where you are right now is valuable. And the, the faster you can get yourself out there, then the faster you're gonna be able to, you know, [00:46:00] kind of put your, your flag in the sand and be known. I mean, my gosh, going back to when I started the wedding planning business, I mean, I just put myself out there.

I mean, I'd only been in as a wedding planner, like, I don't know, like what, not a year or so, but I was. We were working at, we were like, I went and I met this, I mean, I was interviewed on Martha Stewart Living radio. I'd been a wedding planner for like, fantastic, not even two years. Two years. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Yep. 

Larissa Banting: But I just owned it and because I owned it, like there's no one gonna jump out of the bushes and be like, wait a second.

You know, what do you, what do you think you're doing? You're not, you're a big fake, no one does that. But we tell ourselves that. And that that is just the, the voice in our head trying to keep us small. Exactly. Safe. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Keeping us safe. 

Larissa Banting: We're 

Penny Fitzgerald: afraid of sharing. How dare we keep that to ourselves? If we have something that can help someone else, how dare we just [00:47:00] not allow ourselves to say it 

Larissa Banting: Exactly.

But we've been so conditioned into like, not. Take, you know, not be seen. Yeah. And I always say to my clients, how can someone find your light if you're keeping it hidden under the bush? Like, there's people who need your help. And the only way to do that is to get out there. And it's not about your ego, it's not about you bragging, it's about you sharing.

So I, that's the one thing I would really encourage everyone is don't hide your light. Love that. Let it like, just go out there and shine because that's how you grow. Had I not done that and just said, yep, this is, here's the information that I know I'm gonna help you with this. You know, when I got that award for the top 30 planners, destination, wedding planners in the world, did I really think I was one of the top 30?

Heck no. But there was like people who were like way more talented than I, than I am, but just because they saw me in the media. Yeah. So the perception was that, and, [00:48:00] and you know, and having that, that social proof. All of a sudden, 'cause you know, I tell you, when I first started trying to get people to wire down 10, $20,000 to someone in Costa Rico, like, are you, aren't they living in huts down there?

Like they Oh, you're Canadian. It's okay. Yeah. Been a lot of fear, a lot of, and no, but all of a sudden having that, that social proof every, it just opened all the, the doors, you know? Yeah. And, and it, it is amazing how, how things change literally on a dime just by putting yourself out there. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Mm-hmm. By being brave.

Allowing yourself to be out there. 

Larissa Banting: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. 

Penny Fitzgerald: To share what you know. Yeah. I love it. 

Larissa Banting: Yeah. So don't be afraid. That's the biggest thing. Just get out there 

Penny Fitzgerald: and do it. Just do it anyway. Yeah. Do it anyway until you're not afraid, and then try something else new. Yeah. Okay. So at the end of every episode, [00:49:00] I always ask my guests 

 What's your favorite cocktail or favorite kind of wine? 

Larissa Banting: Well, I am a gin drinker. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Ooh. 

Larissa Banting: Yes. So I know my daughter's always like, is this gin? Um, that's good. Um, so yeah, I, I love a really good gin and tonic. Um, and there is a, it's actually a family friend of, we grew up with, um, started, uh, a, a, a distillery in Montreal and he is taken over one of the original distilleries.

'cause at one point Montreal was like the place, uh, for, at the most distilleries, I think in North America. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Really? 

Larissa Banting: Yeah. Didn't know that. Yeah. So he's taken that over. He's, um, actually doing whiskey, but of course, you know, 'cause it takes a while. So he started also doing gin. So he's got a gin. It's called Sage and the, the, the, it's called circa C-I-R-K-A-I think you can only get in Canada, but it's amazing 'cause it has [00:50:00] 33 different botanicals 

Penny Fitzgerald: that he 

Larissa Banting: has sourced in Montreal and it ran in around Quebec in the wild oh and whatnot.

And it's the only, uh, gin that is like completely from grain to, to finishing, um, all from the, the province of Quebec is. Wow. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. That's fantastic. What a great story too. 

Larissa Banting: Yeah. Yeah. Nice. his, his mom is a sister of my mom's best friend since grade six. Oh.

So we grew up, 'cause they were right from like, they're very, you know, kept the culture of, because they were from Ukraine, the family was from Ukraine, Uhhuh. So, um, we grew up with. That family is if like we were part of it. In fact, when we were little, uh, when the cousins actually found out we weren't really truly cousins, one of them will started crying.

Oh. But the nice thing is that now my daughter is like the cousins with the next generation of Yeah. Family. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Oh, the family [00:51:00] we 

Larissa Banting: choose. Yes, exactly. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Oh, that's, that makes it even better. I'm sure it's even more delicious because of that. 

Larissa Banting: It's, yeah. So if you're ever in, in Quebec, um, yeah. Free, like pick up a bottle of 

Penny Fitzgerald: Cirka.

I will. That that's great story. And I, yeah, that stories like that, they, gosh, they make you wanna taste it. 

Larissa Banting: Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, it's very nice. It's a really smooth. Um, and then, you know, like I grew up in, um, just outside of Niagara. In Ontario, Uhhuh. So, but when I was growing up, it was just like Concord grapes.

It was nothing. And then Oh, yeah. Moved away. Now it is just, of course, right from, um, Stony Creek all the way through to Niagara Falls. It is just incredible vineyards and that area has the best ice wine in the world. Mm-hmm. And I don't know, are you familiar with ice wine? I am familiar. It's very expensive.

Yes. Yes. And it's just that area, because we have, um, the escarpment from when the, the [00:52:00] glaciers came through Yeah. When they receded. So it's almost like this mountain, but it, it's like completely perpendicular and it's like very short distance off from the Lakeshore. So the, the wa the winds come off of Lake Ontario, they hit the escarpment.

And so it's the circular, which is why, um, the, the grapes can stay on the vines until the first frost. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Okay. 

Larissa Banting: Yeah. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Fantastic. So yeah. And so they stay on the grape longer. It's a longer process. The grapes shrivel to raisins, so there's less volume there to be able to extract the very rich juice mm-hmm. And ferment it.

Oh my gosh. So I, yeah, you're making me thirsty. 

Larissa Banting: Yeah. So if you ever get a chance to head around to like the Niagara area mm-hmm. Is, um, fantastic. And they have some incredible vineyard tours along with like farm to table because that, that whole area is um, like where all the like fruits and vegetables and everything.

Yes. Very, very lush. 

 the claim to [00:53:00] fame is definitely ice wine.

The ice 

Penny Fitzgerald: wine. 

Larissa Banting: Yeah. 

Penny Fitzgerald: there are some producers farther south that produce ice wine with artificial means, meaning they will take the grapes when they're ripe and then freeze them.

Oh, okay. After harvest, you know, so it kind of, you know, takes a step out of that. But, you know, to be ripened on the vine and then frozen on the vine and then harvested and produ, you know. Oh my gosh. 

Larissa Banting: Well, and they apparently, like, as soon as it hits that first frost of the year mm-hmm. They go out and they, they pick the grapes like in the middle of the night.

Penny Fitzgerald: Oh. They'd have to, because the ice then would otherwise. You know, you'd lose it in the sunshine. 

Larissa Banting: Yeah. So it is like that's part of what I think why it makes it so expensive. But, uh, well, yeah. Yeah. Oh wow. Yeah. So I'm excited to, you know, go back up and whenever we go visit, 'cause you know, we can literally just take a short drive and we're like, there's a ton of different vineyards doing some Yeah.

Penny Fitzgerald: Taste [00:54:00] your way across. Exactly. I love it. Oh my gosh. Okay. This has been so much fun and thank you for sending your links to me. That's very helpful. I. I'll include those in the, uh, in my show notes to let everyone know how to find you. 

Larissa Banting: Yeah. Perfect. And I have, um, if a special freebie for everybody.

Um, oh, fun. Yeah. I have my, uh, podcast Palooza, 

 focused on pitching to podcasts and, but I'm giving it to everybody for free, so thank That's 

Penny Fitzgerald: fantastic. 

Larissa Banting: Thank you so 

Penny Fitzgerald: much. So, so if some of my listeners are interested in being on a podcast, well let me know first and, but then 

 part of what you did for me was create this sheet, this one sheet of all of your, your links, your headshot, your bio, all of the things that are, you know, that I would have to look at the internet to find, to find for you. Um. So that's very helpful I think for people. If you're trying to pitch yourself to a, to a podcast [00:55:00] host, that helps them create a better product too.

Right. Which is endearing. 

Larissa Banting: Yes. Yeah. Well, I mean, and that's the thing, like the easy make yourself easy to work with, right? Like mm-hmm. Well, I also, I think I included like 20 different questions Yeah. On the, the talking. And I was like, that's something that we do for our clients space. Again, it's like we wanna give a, like, here's a full meal deal.

Uh, basically Uhhuh so that, 'cause your podcast hosts are busy, you know, like, I, I I can't imagine how many requests you get on a weekly basis for like one or two. It's fun. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. It's, it's a lot. But wow. It's fun to see the stories of all these brilliant women and it's uplifting and I love it so much. It's, it's one of my very favorite things I.

Speaking of Pivots, the wine business, um, shut down a few years ago, a couple years ago. So my pivot was, well, I'm gonna keep, I had just started my podcast and I wasn't sure where it was gonna lead. I [00:56:00] wanted it to lead, you know, to something. And it has led to my own courses and coaching for women and lifting other, supporting other women.

But through it, it's just so amazing to hear all these stories and share them and create that legacy for everyone, you know, to be able to learn from each other and share that wisdom. So I appreciate your time and you being here and, um, sharing yours. 

Larissa Banting: Well, I appreciate you saying, you know, yes. And having me on the show so I could have this conversation with you and hopefully, uh, you know, inspire the listeners to, um, to just do it.

You know, like, yeah. Get out there and shine that light. 

Penny Fitzgerald: Yes, absolutely. You have something to say. Let's get it out there. Exactly. Yeah. Oh, thank you, Larissa. This has been so fun. Awesome. Thanks Penny. It's great to meet you. Likewise. I'll talk with you soon. Okay. Okay. Bye.