AllPeople Marketplace: Prioritizing Transparency, Fairness, and Sustainability with CEO, Elliott White

Elliott White, the CEO of AllPeople Marketplace, envisions a world where everyone has access to healthy pantry items. She emphasizes transparency, fairness, and sustainability in creating a community-driven marketplace. Melissa Sanford, a board advisor and strategist, shares the same passion for sustainability and was brought on board after meeting Elliott through the Fractional Executive community. During their discussion, they bond over their love for nature, with Elliott mentioning her fondness for watermelon shakes, bird watching, and the Aurora Borealis, while Melissa reminisces about the stars on the water looking like a snow globe. They emphasize their gratitude for nature and the global community. Elliott shares her "sleepy girl mocktail" recipe of tart cherry, Magnesi-Om, Pure Sparkling water, and poppi ginger lime flavor. As the conversation concludes, Elliott advises everyone to "Drink your Sleep, Girl Mocktail."  You can find excellent food, beverages, and an array of products at https://allpeoplemarketplace.com/

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Transcript

Tech Executive Wellness and Sustainability

Speaker 1 0:20

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Tech Exec Wellness podcast Today. I have Elliot White in the studio with me today, so I'm very excited about that. It's rainy here in my area and as we talk with Elliot, I want to catch up with her on her weather. But let's get started here. Elliot is a dynamic executive merges startup agility with Fortune 100 expertise, known for crafting scalable frameworks. She excels in fueling rapid growth ventures with precision and operational management, talent acquisition and HR and degree in psychology. Her data-driven leadership fosters organizational excellence and growth at all scales.

Speaker 1 0:59

Elliot is passionate about sustainability, wellness, her two children and the animals on her small homestead. She is currently the CEO at All People Marketplace, a company dedicated to promoting sustainable products and businesses through an innovation online platform. The marketplace connects conscious consumers with ethically produced goods, supporting companies, prioritizing sustainability, social responsibility and environmental stewardship. Since its launch in June 2024, the team has grown rapidly, both internally and in partnership with consumers and their communities. But before we get started, you've heard the show before. I'm going to have to ask you about your favorite music genre and if you have a memorable concert experience to share with us. So welcome to the show.

Speaker 2 1:45

Thank you, melissa, and I'm really excited to speak with you today. So I'll actually start with my most memorable concert, so my first concert. My sister bought me tickets. She was at Radford University and she had me come in for a Mac Miller concert and it was life changer for me. So I've always been a huge music fan. I was all about Mac Miller at the time and it was just the most idyllic first concert experience I could have had. So that was absolutely fantastic. I would say my favorite music genre at the moment, which switches quite a bit because I go from a country phase to a rap phase, to like an electronic dance music phase, but right now I'm a little bit in my country music era and I'm really enjoying artists like Tyler Childers.

Speaker 1 2:36

I like how you just said your country music era, because everything I'm doing now I got to stick era on the back end. She's in her country music era. Do you like old country or the newer stuff, Like what's your jam?

Speaker 2 2:48

You know my grandfather. I grew up in the mountains in southwestern Virginia. My grandfather was an old school coal miner, so he listened to all of the country classics. That was the only thing allowed to play in his truck, so I have to say those are all very close to my heart. I don't listen to them as much as I used to, though, but my favorite karaoke song is Friends in Low Places, so that's a country classic that I can't stay away from.

Speaker 1 3:13

Yeah, garth Brooks, I was going to say we had a show last week with Kim Curley. She talked about Dolly Parton and I don't know if you believe this, but if you don't like Willie Nelson, dolly Parton or dogs, there's something wrong with you. Do you agree with that?

Speaker 2 3:27

I do believe in that. I'm a big fan of Dolly Parton as well, and so was my four-year-old daughter Recently. I asked her if she knew who was on the $100 bill and, without hesitating, she guessed Dolly Parton, and I've never been more proud in my life.

Speaker 1 3:42

Wow, we're going to have to tag Dolly or let her know this, because I could just see a movement. You know some mobilization to make that happen. That's awesome. So, before we jump into things, you know, what do you listen to in the car? Do you have? You know, like you talked about Mac Miller, you're pretty diverse as well as I am when it comes to music, but is there anybody that you're listening to in the car on repeat these days?

Speaker 2 4:05

Yes, so a shift between Tyler Childers and Chapel Roan and that's a big mix up, but I have to say those are the ones that made me want to dance in the car after I left.

Speaker 1 4:16

I love Chapel Roan, and I think I told you this before. I'm from Chicago, so Lollapalooza was one of the things that I really liked to attend when I lived in Chicago, and did you see the crowd of people she had?

Speaker 2 4:31

Insane but well-deserved. So I don't know if you read this. I've been down a couple of Chapel Road internet deep dives, right, Because she's gotten so big so quick, but it never happens so quick, right? You just don't see all the way that leads up. But apparently when she was very young she had a record deal and she lost it and she still worked toward her dream of music and she almost gave up before her career really took off this year. Could you imagine if we didn't have Chapel?

Speaker 1 4:59

Roan. You know, if we didn't have Taylor Swift, if we didn't have Charlie XCX, Ariana Grande, the world would be so boring. I agree, amen. So for the listeners out there, elliot and I have known each other for a bit. I had become a fractional executive over the last year and Elliot was out there front and center helping me get gigs and just aligning with things, and we became friends. It's been incredible. I shared the podcast with her and then she shared All People Marketplace and I thought we really have to get you on the show because there's so much synergy there. But I'm an advisor with that organization and I would love you to talk about what inspired you to do something like All People Marketplace.

Speaker 2 5:48

Absolutely. Thank you Right before All People. As you know, I was working with a lot of fractional executives, which is really close to my heart. So I really like to solve problems and I like to be at the beginning phase. So, whether that be a fractional starting up a business or somebody with a great idea and I can bring a lot of processes and that operational side to that. It's something that I really love.

Speaker 2 6:13

And when I met Bill Wolrab, who was like the original visionary behind the idea for All People Marketplace, it was that good balance, with him as a creative and with me a little bit more process minded to kind of pull things together.

Speaker 2 6:27

I really loved the team of advisors that they had in place. We were just at a point where people needed titles, they needed job descriptions, we needed things to kind of get organized and up and running to make it to that next step. So it was so aligned with who I am which, I have to say, in my career, which I've loved up to this point, I haven't felt as much synergy for who I am in my personal life merging with what I love to do at work, and all people really brought those together. So I have a passion for wellness. I have a passion for sustainability in my personal life, and so to see myself being able to leverage skills that I love using and working towards something that I feel like I could do good and do well, I think that the stars just really aligned on that and I've really loved it so far. The team holds things together day in and day out. When you're in an environment where there's so much creativity and such great people to work with, it's truly contagious.

Speaker 1 7:29

Yeah, no, that's incredible. And I share the same sentiments with you as well, because I think that after my years of just career movement, et cetera, there comes a point where you're like, okay, how am I going to give back? What does that look like? What's important to me? And you know you and I have had these conversations around sustainability and being environmentally mindful, and I think you know there's you know I was in the Navy, so being out on the ocean and whatnot, I just really really love being out in nature, and you know there's so much that I think people, including myself, have taken for granted. And now, as I've matured and, you know, gotten older, I'm looking at things like well, okay, what can I do as a global citizen to make a difference? Does any of that make sense?

Speaker 2 8:18

I think that's so well put and I think that's what really aligned us. I think that when we met shortly after, we just had so much alignment and values, like we like to work hard and we like to work for the cause and just put peace and wellness and good into the world. And I was really excited to get to speak on a tech wellness podcast, because those are two words that don't always go together. You know, there's this trope of like the tireless tech person who doesn't sleep and, you know, doesn't prioritize wellness, for lack of better phrasing and so being able to kind of like recenter and say you know, you can be an executive, you can be in the tech world, you can be in the startup world and you can also have a focus on wellness for yourself and your team and meet success. There is such an important dialogue. I'm really happy that you've started.

Speaker 1 9:12

Thank you. Well, we've had conversations outside of this. I think for me, getting COVID was like a okay, you can't work while you're sick, and I think a lot of us have been conditioned to. If you're working from home, you can still work even though you're sick, and I think a lot of us have been conditioned to. If you're working from home, you can still work even though you're sick, and I think that the mindset out there has got to change. I think if we want to see revenue, growth and new creativity and innovation, we got to give people the opportunity to heal, and I think working while you're sick just isn't it.

Speaker 2 9:43

Absolutely, and there's so much strength and progress behind focus on wellness.

Speaker 2 9:49

So when I really got to a point where I wanted to define my values as a person and I believe that your values become you in your day-to-day actions and intentions I had to make a really intentional decision to put wellness as a key principle in my life and I had to objectively observe all of my day-to-day decisions, how that affects my leadership style, protecting my own time and wellness, honoring the time and encouraging my team to prioritize their wellness.

Prioritizing Personal Wellness and Friendship

Speaker 2 10:18

And I've noticed that people, when they're in that kind of environment, they tend to excel. People want to do well and they want to excel at the position that they're in that kind of environment they tend to excel. You know people want to do well and they want to excel at the position that they're in, but the only way to do that is for everyone to know that it's a space that they can prioritize themselves and their wellness and that of those around them. How have you seen that play out throughout time? From your time in the Navy which I'm not sure if wellness was much of a common thing right Through your time as a professional up to now, have you seen that dialogue changing?

Speaker 1 10:51

Absolutely. And it's funny you brought up the Navy because I think about this. I don't know if I told you this before, but it wouldn't be. You know, we're 18, 19 years old, we have the base club and the beers are 25 cents, pitchers are like a dollar and back then it wasn't uncommon for us to tie one on and get home at one, two, sleep and then do PT at five or six in the morning. So I think that grit and just tenacity. We just looked at it as you know, what we got to adapt and overcome, that was always the thing, right. So you're hungover, you're sick, you just got to adapt and overcome.

Speaker 1 11:30

And I think where we're at today, people are taking notice and I don't know if it's because of COVID, but it really impacted a lot of people. And I think when we talk about data breaches and I know I've shared this with you before but are people just not paying attention to alerts? Are they over-consumed? And I like leaders like yourself who are compassionate, and I think that's what gravitated me toward you. You know, having a friendship is because you really walk the walk, which is you care about people, you're compassionate, and I think we need to see more of that in. Do you want to call it corporate America or just corporate? But we need to see more compassion. You know, people aren't numbers, people aren't machines, they're not robots and we need to look at the whole individual.

Speaker 2 12:17

Absolutely, and you brought up a really interesting point, which is people's digital health as well, and that can really encompass so many things at this point in terms of digital wellness and digital health, which is absolutely a component of overall wellness for us as leaders, for employees, for us in our personal lives and for anybody listening. A bit of a funny snippet, so Melissa is great at pointing out any type of lack of security that you might be having for yourself. I was in New York Tech Week this year and I was walking down the street. She was like turn off Wi-Fi, turn off Bluetooth. It's like you are so right. You know those things that people don't think of when we think of digital wellness people being able to hack your accounts. I mean that can have a devastating impact on a company, on a person. I think that you bring up a really good point there that myself, before I became friends with you, I was not and I thought I was privy. I wasn't because you. You remind me of things that I just would have never considered.

Speaker 1 13:24

I wasn't because you remind me of things that I just would have never considered. Yeah, I remember that. Now it's like, elliot, don't have your Wi-Fi open on your phone and you're like, oh my God, let me go check. But when we talk about this, what does wellness? What are you doing personally to take care of your wellness? You mentioned that you were in New York and I know you're traveling again soon. What does that look like for you?

Speaker 2 13:49

What are you doing to keep yourself healthy and sane? Sure, so it really goes back to that objectively observing and intentionally observing my day-to-day decisions. So when I know that I'm further extended, sometimes I know that I have to disappoint where that was a really, really difficult thing for me to unlearn. I felt for a long period of time in my professional and personal walk of life that I really didn't want to let anyone down on any level, and when I decided wellness for myself, I had to also make the decision of knowing when I'm overbooked, knowing when I have overextended and honoring my time and giving myself grace for those kinds of things and then doing things that I'm truly passionate about and that I love.

Speaker 2 14:31

I love being around my friends and I noticed that, as somebody that's working with two businesses and somebody that has kids, it can be really difficult to remember to do things like hang out with your friends and to prioritize those. But I noticed when I go too long, that's where I start to kind of like lose myself and I'm like, okay, well, I need to get back to the things I love. I really love art. Sometimes, when the house is quiet, I can go out and I can make a tiny little painting that just feels so inconsequential in the world. Right, there's some tasks that never get complete in startup and leadership and parenting but when I do the things that I can finish and that I enjoy, I think that all of those really prioritize my wellness. Working out, fueling myself with good fuel, gardening, which I love to do those are all ways that I prioritize my wellness. I know that you're also a fan of lifting and doing things for yourself, so what do you do to prioritize wellness?

Speaker 1 15:34

I've been very bad the last two weeks. That was my birthday, so I think after that my partner made a coconut cake. And who doesn't like coconut cake? I grew up on Pepperidge Farms as a kid. The cakes, the frozen cakes.

Speaker 1 15:47

For me, I really I don't know. I'm old school. I have to take a notebook, physical pen and paper and write out what I'm going to do every morning or the night before and everybody's like oh, you have the iPhone, you have the iPad and you know working that journey years ago, like we instilled. Hey, you know, you've got your device, just put it in there. You've got all these apps, but for me, I've got to literally write it down and have it on paper for me to go. Okay, this is what this looks like. But I think when your shirts aren't fitting well and you're, you're, you're eating junk, then it's like, okay, time to rein it in. But I got to tell you and I think we've talked about this before I changed my diet in terms of I don't eat fast food. I haven't eaten fast food for like a year. Do you eat fast food on it?

Speaker 2 16:33

Yeah, I do. I do follow a victim at times. I try to limit it as much as possible, but sometimes it's just good for the soul. Okay, what is it that you eat? I got to know. What is it From July 1st to the end of August cookout. I don't think you have cookout in Texas, so I hate that for you, but cookout has a watermelon milkshake. That'll change your life. It's so good, it's so fresh, it's so sweet, and if I pass a cookout between July 1st and August 30th, I'm going to get myself one. That's my advice.

Speaker 1 17:08

I have never heard of a watermelon shake. Do you have pot bellies where you live? Have you ever heard of it? No, Okay, this must be like a Chicago thing, but they have this sandwich fast food. It's almost like a step up from McDonald's and Chipotle and all that right. And they have these amazing banana milkshakes. I have not had a milkshake in geez two or three years. Wow, what am I doing wrong, Elliot?

Speaker 2 17:33

Okay, you got to get a milkshake every once in a while, I mean, if we're talking about wellness and what's good for the soul but a banana milkshake also sounds amazing. I just, you know, I love a sweet little treat. That's really it for me. I'm not a candy person, I'm not like a big cake person, but a milkshake all day long, that's my jam for sure.

Speaker 1 17:53

I'm going to have to check that out and I know at the beginning of the podcast I was talking about the weather. How is your weather where you're at? Are you out? Are you able to get outside? A lot Like what's going on over there. Good question.

Speaker 2 18:11

So right now we've been dealing with Hurricane Debbie this week. It has been a journey so we didn't get to hit too hard. Where I'm at, close to Raleigh, north Carolina, but about like 20 miles down the road or so, there were some tornadoes. There was a middle school that really got hit, so it was scary for a lot of people. But I think we're at the other side of it, which is fantastic. But Hurricane Debbie definitely had her way with North Carolina.

Speaker 1 18:37

Yeah, I laugh at the names. I've not yet seen a Hurricane, melissa, but I'm waiting. I'm waiting for my year, I'm waiting for my year.

Speaker 2 18:44

No, my first name is also Melissa. I did not know that. Yeah, my name's Melissa Elliott, and so if a hurricane Melissa comes through, it's probably just me and you.

Speaker 1 18:55

That's awesome, oh my goodness. So let me pivot back to the wellness thing. Do you utilize, like any wearables I mean, you were talking about digital health Are you utilizing any of those tools out there to kind of remind you to get out and walk, or you know you're using anything?

Prioritizing Sleep and Sustainable Products

Speaker 2 19:12

like that. So for a long time I did use an Apple watch and I don't really anymore, because I found myself like it would be like take deep breaths, stand up, and I'm like I don't want to listen to you right now. So it was honestly a little bit more stressful for me, which is totally a me problem. But I've seen a lot of people talk about the aura rings recently and I think that's going to be new wearable. It like tracks your sleep oxygen, like it gives you a lot of readings with a ring, and I think that that's something that I could really get into. What about you? What am I missing out on?

Speaker 1 19:45

Well, I've got the Apple watch and I'm with you. There's the notifications and, for instance, when I do these podcast sessions, I mute everything, but sometimes I'll forget and I'll get a phone call or text. So I think I'm maybe too connected, but I do love my aura ring and I don't know about you. I want to ask you this, but for me, my sleep over the past decade has been really bad. Up until last year. I'm now getting a full eight and sometimes a nine on a weekend. How's your sleep going? Are you getting enough rest?

Speaker 2 20:16

Great question. I would say no. So I have two small children, so that's definitely a factor. I have a four-year-old and a two-year-old, as you know, and so there's still some times where I hit a sleep roadblock because of them. But I would say, once I became a mother I really saw a shift in my sleeping habits. I became a softer sleeper, where I used to be able to sleep absolutely anywhere. I could sleep on a plane, I could sleep on a train, etc. And now that's just really not the case and the sleep that I do get isn't as riching as it used to be. And that's where it goes back to prioritizing. So I I've had to in the past, I would say six months especially.

Speaker 2 20:59

I go to sleep really early. I tell everybody I'm a grandma. There are exceptions, there are some nights. I have key members that are on the West Coast, so I can find myself getting on calls with them at 9.30, 10.30 pm at times, depending on what everybody's working hours are. I try to be available to the team, but in general I try to go to sleep a lot earlier. And something I love about working from home is I can usually sleep in a little later than I used to when I worked in an office, and I think that's made a huge difference for me.

Speaker 1 21:31

No, I think that's incredible and I think after some research I was looking at what lack of sleep does to the body and it's kind of interesting. If you aren't sleeping and you're sleep deprived, it causes high blood pressure. Like there's so many different things that it does to the body and I'm like man, I don't want any of that. So I really like tonight I'll probably stay up, watch some Stephen King movies or something and probably sleep in tomorrow till about nine. But Elliot, when I was in the military I was always up at four or five am and I'm just like, when I grow up I want to be able to sleep in a little bit later, like seven o'clock in the morning. So I think I'm achieving that now, but I don't know.

Speaker 1 22:16

I'm kind of a night owl and I mean I try to go to bed at nine but then somebody sends me a TikTok of a cat or something. So I really have to be mindful about I got to turn it off. I mean, are you disciplined like that? Are you a social media person or not? Like TikTok Facebook.

Speaker 2 22:32

I am especially TikTok, I would say so. Facebook and Instagram I don't spend too much time on, but I can really find myself and it's scary. I realize how unhealthy it can be because how the algorithm tracks you and knows you and keeps you engaged very truly. So I do have issues with that. But I have a recommendation. Have you seen which? I saw it on TikTok, of course, the sleepy girl mocktails.

Speaker 1 22:57

No, what is it?

Speaker 2 22:58

Okay, every night I'm sipping my sleepy girl mocktail. So you take tart cherry juice, like 100% cherry juice, not from concentrate, and then I'll do like half of my cup with that, and then I'll do the other half with like a sparkling water or like a poppy, like a prebiotic soda, and I put that on ice, and then you know the powdered magnesium that you can get for sleep.

Speaker 1 23:21

I did not know there was a powdered magnesium, but I'm listening.

Speaker 2 23:24

There is. I'm going to drop a link. I use the Calm brand. I think we also have some available on allpeople marketplacecom. Shameless plug. But there's like the powdered magnesium and it's really helpful for sleep. And there's some supplements where it's hard to tell, like, is this actually making a difference or does is it like a placebo effect? But I noticed a major change. You put in the magnesium, you mix it up and it's just the best, like I feel, like I'm instantly relaxed after like 15, 20 minutes, just like full relaxation, I'm ready to go to bed. The science behind it. So magnesium, there's certain types of magnesium that you can use for different things, but I can't recall at the time or right now which one is for sleep, but there is one. And then for the cherry juice. Apparently it helps you with melatonin production and so it makes you sleepy.

Speaker 1 24:20

Okay, Well, when I do the editing, I'm going to make sure, if it's okay with you, that we drop that gem and send them over to the website. So if that's okay with you, I'd like to share it. Oh that would be perfect. So you're aiming to promote products and businesses that prioritize wellness and sustainability. Can you share how the selection process goes to work with these partners to ensure that the values are aligning with your company's mission?

Speaker 2 24:55

So it really starts with having an amazing team. We have Elise Babich, who's our chief merchandising officer, and she's truly exceptional and she kind of sets the bar for what gets listed on the site and for her team. They really focus on brands with a reputation, a great reputation, of being eco-friendly, having clean ingredients, being sustainability focused, Because it's a key pillar of the organization. We really want to make sure that all of our vendors are aligned with our promise of sustainability. So we're checking out ingredients, we're checking out the product who's producing it, where's it coming from, and so it's fully vetted.

Speaker 2 25:30

I think what can be so difficult for people when they try to make decisions focused on something being sustainable, eco-friendly, good for their bodies, good for their families, right? You're just inundated with so much information and so many products. It's really hard to weed out. You know what's the junk and what's not, and so having a really exceptional team that can vet every single product before it's listed on the site makes a huge difference. We really want to build a place where people can hop online and they know everything has been vetted for them and they still have access to see the product descriptions and ingredients and everything they need to make an educated decision for themselves and their families, Because our bar for sustainability might not be yours or the next person, but we have a lot of transparency in the products that we're offering and try to do whatever we can to educate our customers as much as possible on what they're purchasing.

Focusing on Ethical Consumerism and Sustainability

Speaker 1 26:29

So building a marketplace that connects conscious consumers with ethically produced goods. I think that's a great mission. How do you see this platform contributing to the overall wellness of individuals and communities, and what impact do you hope to achieve in the long term?

Speaker 2 26:46

So I think that this is the most exciting differentiator about all people to me and, I know, to a lot of the people on our team as well. So it really starts with the person, and then their community and then the planet right. So it's a building scale and it's all self-feeding. We want to focus on bringing products that people know have been vetted and it's going to be good for them and it's going to be good for their family. The way that it impacts the community is 5% of every order goes back to the nonprofit or school of the customer's choice. So if you're spending $100 on the site on things that you already need and you know are going to suit your needs and your family's needs, then 5% of that, without having to take an extra dime out of pocket in this day and age, can go back to the community and causes that you care about.

Speaker 2 27:39

So, especially in smaller communities, and even the one I grew up in, you see these large companies come in and they can have the potential to wipe out the local ecosystem and even e-commerce websites.

Speaker 2 27:52

Right, the same argument could almost be placed for all people, but the differences are the organizations that are really holding up those communities and economies are usually the nonprofit organizations, and across the board they're underfunded, and so being able to give back to a cause that you care about in the purchase that you're making really should contribute to the overall wellness of the communities that people are living in, their personal wellness, which will help them make more of an impact in their day-to-day lives and the people that they love, and for the planet, things that aren't harming the planet, being more carbon neutral. It's difficult sometimes to know when that's being done, and so that's our bar, and even if people don't shop at all, people marketplace, I think that a secondary goal of ours is for them to raise the standard of what they're expecting of corporations. Corporations really should be giving back. They should be empowering their customer bases, they should be focused on lifting up communities and they should be focused on helping to preserve our planet.

Speaker 1 28:57

When we talk about the planet and I'm somebody who's been really into astronomy lately and as of today I know there's three high-speed solar explosions. These are the CMEs that did the Carrington situation back in the 1800s, where it just wiped out the grid and everything. So these are going to be hitting the Earth August 9th, 10th and the 11th. We also have a meteor shower. So all of this to say that these geomagnetic storms are triggered by the sun eruption.

Speaker 1 29:28

The sun has been very active over the last few years and we have been seeing a lot of CMEs. I think they have M-class and X-class solar flares. So I think that your organization and I'm happy to be on the board is really positioned to ensure that we have sustainability with food, with our wellness, and that we're making all of the right choices to do as much as we can to alleviate a lot of the damages that are coming in from the sun. Now, I'm not a scientist or anything like that, but I do read a lot and I can speak to it, and that's something that's concerning to me.

Speaker 2 30:08

Yeah, for the doubt of the health of the environment, I would say you know, we can argue, santa, we can't argue.

Speaker 1 30:15

Santa.

Speaker 2 30:18

So, but that's one wall that I hit there.

Speaker 2 30:22

But the credit that I will give to people that might have a lack of information or have received bad information is there's a lot of it out there have received bad information is there's a lot of it out there, similarly to the products that people are buying when it comes to our news, when it comes to the information that they're consuming and they're being educated by, it's really heavily impacted by social media, by a lot of things, right, and so I can't so much fault individual people for their lack of knowledge, because there's a lot.

Connecting With Nature and Technology Trends

Speaker 2 30:52

Another issue that I really am passionate about is I see a lot of people kind of trying to weed through, moving toward a more wellness-focused natural products, things that are good for them and for the environment, and because they're hit with so much information, they don't know which way to go, and I think that there's kind of this legacy reputation of that world being a little like hippy-dippy, if you will, not legitimized by science when it very truly is, and so I think that we need to see a little bit more of a center point of organizations really standing up the science that shows us how important it is that we take care of ourselves, that we take care of our water, that we take care of ourselves, that we take care of our water, that we take care of our planet and that we know what's happening out there in the world.

Speaker 2 31:39

And just like we don't want to weed through a bunch of junk in the things that we have in our homes, we don't want to read through a bunch of junk of what's going on in the planet. It gets really confusing and that's not fair.

Speaker 1 31:52

What's going on in the planet. It gets really confusing and that's not fair. No, absolutely. And I think for me. I had some time to spend one weekend and I don't know if it was TikTok or one of the social media platforms, but I started hearing about these solar flares and I kept digging and digging, and digging and, to your point, you really have to go and find the information. It wasn't something that I was hearing, you know, wherever I was reading or listening to. So I think there's a lot of factors right now that are going into what we're experiencing. I'm I'm one of those geeks right now. I'm totally into space stuff. I'm into you know, when's the meteor, the showers coming and all that? And the Northern lights were actually visible. Was it a few months ago? Was it May? We didn't see them down here, we had cloud cover, but I think that's just fascinating to see the aurora in America.

Speaker 2 32:43

I spent a long weekend. I have friends that I travel with and we have one of those nerdy passport books and we're going through all of the United States national parks and last year we did Yellowstone and we were just there for four days and when I tell you, it was the most amazing experience. We saw everything that you would have on your checklist that you would want to see when you're in Yellowstone. We came there the weekend that the park opened, so there were very few people. There was a lot of animal activity, but we actually got to see the Aurora Borealis and it was formative and life-changing, to say the least.

Speaker 2 33:22

I really love going places that make you just feel super small in the world the oceans, big mountains, beautiful places and I have to say, seeing the Northern Lights was the most intense feeling of we are on a rock curling through the solar system. It was truly incredible. So I didn't get to see it in May. I was supposed to be able to see it in North Carolina, but we might've had cloud coverage or I might've gone to sleep really early. I can't remember, but I do remember I wanted to find more information about solar flares and all of these amazing videos that you send me as well. Do you have any recommendations of where people can find that kind of information? I do.

Speaker 1 34:03

YouTube there is Suspicious Observers. That is the name of the creator and I can put the links in here, but he's a good one and I think once you go to Suspicious Observer, to that page, then you'll start to see other content creators that are talking about the solar flat and the geomagnetic field and all of that. It's really, really, really educational and I think that it's a great time to be alive right now. I think that we're seeing a shift in people finding joy again, people really taking a moment to smell the flowers. I started birdwatching. I know that sounds really crazy, but I literally like to go around my neighborhood and in Illinois we saw blue jays, cardinals, et cetera. I'm really into that like really being in touch with nature. Does that resonate with you? Does that make any sense?

Speaker 2 34:58

It does. We're both in our birdwatching era.

Speaker 1 34:59

There you go. Do you have the Merlin?

Speaker 2 35:01

Bird app. No, Do I need it? You do, Honestly, be sponsored by the Merlin Bird app. Cornell University made this app. It's absolutely fantastic. You can go outside and press record and it shows you in real time listening to everything around you and it will identify birds for you in real time and so like when I go outside in the summer and in the spring it sounds like a jungle. There might be like 15 different birds singing away in my backyard right and as they sing, it will light up which one is making that like noise. It's so cool and I'm a OG Pokemon fan. Okay, Well, for me it's like got to catch them all. I've gamified it. I don't think that's what it's for, but maybe it's my like competitive default mind. Now I want to catch every single bird on the Merlin app, but it's absolutely incredible.

Speaker 1 35:58

I saw that the Pokemon thing. I was going to New York city for work a lot one year and I remember that was a big thing and I'd see people in central park with their phones. I'm like what the heck is going on? But no, I think when we talk about nature, when I was out on the ocean with the Navy I felt like I was in a snow globe because it was literally a horizon to sky, stars and it was almost like I was in a movie. But I am just envious that you got to see the Aurora Borealis. That is on my bucket list, did you? Did you take any pictures or anything?

Speaker 2 36:23

Oh yeah, I did, I, and I'm happy to share them as well. It was absolutely fantastic. Another one. So this year's trip was to Arizona, so we did all of the different national parks in Arizona, and the Grand Canyon has, like, sky preservation I'm forgetting the formal title for what they do there but all of their lighting in the park is pointed downward, so it preserves the night sky, so it's fully blackout at night and you can see all of the stars, and so we didn't see the Aurora Borealis there, but we were able to just see a night full of stars in a way that I had never seen before. So I love that you had that experience as well. Again, it just it reminds you. You know how small we are.

Speaker 1 37:09

That takes me back to practicing gratitude. I took that for granted when I was in the Navy, because I was a young person back then and you think you know everything, you take it for granted. And now I'm like, wow, I wish I really would have enjoyed that. I think I did enjoy it, but not like I would today.

Speaker 2 37:26

Yeah, you don't want things, especially when you're younger, to overcome you, to overtake you, and I think we've become a little bit more sensitized to that as we get older where we're not embarrassed or we're not shy to really let the beauty of something consume us, and so I definitely resonate with that feeling. There's many places that I've been where I'm like man not that I took it for granted, to your point, but I just didn't let it kind of consume me the way that I do now.

Speaker 1 37:55

Yeah, now I'm on the hunt, for I got to see what sky activity is going on, where I can get out and see it real time, and the visibility that I have. Elliot, I think you dropped a lot of gems today. You're going to make me spend money, so thank you for that. I would love to get a photo, if you could, so that I could share it with our listeners, cause I think a lot of us did not get to see it. If I could get a photo, that would be awesome, absolutely, I'll send.

Speaker 2 38:23

I'll send a whole album your way. It was truly a beautiful site.

Speaker 1 38:28

No, that's amazing. And then we've got the, the mocktail that we can share, and then the app, so I really enjoyed having you here today. These podcasts are a way for people to see the person beyond the LinkedIn profile or the job, and I think it's great that we're sharing stories like yours to people around the globe.

Speaker 2 38:50

Thank you. Something I've really enjoyed about this is you ask questions and are letting me talk about things that I'm really passionate about. It's not all work related, it's very holistic, and I think that's refreshing. So big shout out to the tech wellness podcast for that.

Speaker 1 39:06

Thank you. Maybe one day I'll be Larry King, I'll be on CNN and I'll be interviewing people like you.

Speaker 2 39:12

I'll yap with you anytime, ms Melissa, that is awesome.

Speaker 1 39:16

Please remember to subscribe to our podcast on various platforms, such as Apple, spotify, iheartradio and many others, and check out our website at wwwtechexecwellnesscom and we'll share some of these wonderful things that Elliot shared with us today, and thank you for tuning in and take care.

Speaker 2 39:34

Drink your sleepy girl mocktail.