The 3W Podcast: Jennifer Martinez Belt - Part 1

You can learn a lot about a community by the way it treats kids and the caregivers raising them. We sit down with Jennifer Belt, the philanthropy and fundraising leader at the Scott Family Amazeum in Bentonville, to talk about the work that makes a children’s museum more than a fun stop - it becomes a place where families across Northwest Arkansas can actually belong.

Jennifer pulls back the curtain on what it takes to keep admission affordable and expand access through programs like Wednesday Priceless Nights and sensory-friendly events. We dig into the Amazeum’s 10-year milestone and the big swing that comes with it: the Expanding Futures $25 million capital campaign. She breaks down what’s coming next, including the Early Learning Advancement Center for ages 0 to 6, plus new community spaces where people can grab a coffee, meet up, host clubs, and build connections without feeling turned away.

Then the conversation gets personal. Jennifer shares her family’s path with her son Thomas, a nonverbal autistic teenager, and why advocacy for sensory-friendly public spaces matters. We talk about how sensory hours at Walmart started, why sensory nights at the Amazeum help remove barriers and what real inclusion looks like when you’re living it day to day. Along the way, you’ll also hear about Youth Makers, hands-on entrepreneurship for kids, and the energy behind her simple motto: Goonies never say die.

If you care about early learning, nonprofit fundraising, sensory-friendly programming or just want a hopeful look at how Northwest Arkansas builds community, hit play. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

Transcript

Welcome And Amazeum Gift Shop

Speaker 1 0:05

Hey everyone, welcome to The 3W Podcast. I'm Kasie Yokley, your host. This is only the second podcast for 2026. I'm really sorry about that. The first one was kind of a dive into the magazine. But my first gift of the year is Jennifer Belt with the Amazeum. I love her. She's the eternal cheerleader. Yay! Welcome. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 0:30

I'm really excited to be here. And show the camera in your earring. Yes. So these are zings. You can find these at our gift shop in the eum. Best place to get gifts. Great gift shop. We have a lot of our youth makers that make gifts and do all kinds of great crafts and um, you know, sell their items. But you're also, if you're ever stuck for a birthday gift for a little while, we'll do gift wrapping. Yes. But great prices, great items, really unique things to find. So please stop by. I'm always sporting a zine. I need some of those.

Speaker 1 1:04

Okay, so we're gonna dive right in. So two things first. I hope you've seen the 2026 issue over at this video. Greatest edition. And the very first leading lady is Jess. I call her Jen, but you know, whatever. Thank you. J Belt.

Speaker 1:20

So you know what I call her. Yes, J Belt. I've always gone by last name. So if you don't know me as there's 4,000 Jennifer. Right. Jennifer, kiddie, girl of the 70s, Martinez, and then Belt, whatever you call me, I will probably never answer to Jennifer.

Speaker 1 1:35

So J Belt, J Belt. We have a text thread with like a handful of Jennifer's, yeah. And there's several Jennifer, like two or there's three Jennifer. And then actually there's four. Two G JBs. There's two JBs. It's like a whole I like might be the there's a K and a J, and that's it. The rest are families. So J Belt. J Belt is easy. What do you do? Besides the Amazeum, what do you do? Tell us. So besides the Amazeum, well, I know you're like with the Amazeum, obviously. They know you're with the Amazeum, but what do you do at the Amazeum?

Speaker 2:10

So my passion and my love is truly about philanthropy and fundraising. I've been doing that for the last two decades. And that is currently my role at the Amazeum. I get to help lead amazing teams that fundraise in our community in our region to raise funds to keep those prices low, keep that entry price low. We support all of our programming and provide access to those families that can't afford to come in. We make sure we have priceless nights every Wednesday. We make sure we have And those just returned, right? They've been happening the whole all 10 years?

Speaker 1 2:46

Um I'd have to verify that. But yeah, we've had priceless night on Wednesday. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. I thought that went away for a minute and then came back.

Speaker 2:53

Well the last few years. Well, with COVID, we've had a lot of things that had to start-stop. And there are some I don't have COVID. No. I have flu residual. I know that cough. I know it's annoying. That cough is so sad. We have sensory nights that we'd like to provide. So there's all kinds of what we call a nauseum for all. And um the development team helps to make that happen.

Speaker 1 3:13

You have a great team.

Fundraising That Keeps Doors Open

Speaker 3:14

I have an amazing team. Hun and team zing. Amazing team. Which is why you have zings on your ears. Yeah, yeah. Okay, tell us about you. What's your background? So I was raised in an a great town, Fort Smith. You are Fort Smith. And Fort Smith was a great place to raise your family. My parents are native Southern California. And when they were looking for an opportunity to raise their family, there's two of us, my sister and myself. Um, they moved us to Arkansas, which is random. I know. Just so random. Well, I do have some cousins. Okay. And my parents came, experienced the four seasons, which we're in the worst season right now, spring. Oh, and fake spring? Fake spring. I think we had hail this weekend. And then now on Sunday. I'm wearing spring clothes because I'm just willing for it to get warmer. Yes. Um, but we we had the opportunity to go to really great schools, really great community, and my parents just saw the writing on the wall, like we can provide a really great place for our kids to grow up. Were you ever in California? Yeah, I was so I was born in California, right? But we started schools, and you know, a little bit about my school. So I am a great student of the Immaculate Exception School Trinity.

Speaker 1 4:29

I see, as I hear. I see.

Speaker 4:31

I see in Trinity, which we're now really great at sports.

Speaker 1 4:35

So oh my god, so amazing! So great at sports. We have kids the same age. So my oldest and her, Sloan's the oldest, yeah, but not by much. You had them back to back. Yeah, mine are 14 months apart. Yeah, yeah. Jesus, you know how they Sloan got here. Yeah, so yeah, yeah, lesson learned. So our oldest are the same age. And when Chase was at St. Vincent and playing basketball, Sloan was a cheerleader. And we would go to Fort Smith and play Trinity and get absolutely thumped. Yeah. Like thumped. Beautiful school.

Fort Smith Roots To Washington DC

Speaker 5:10

Yeah, absolutely. I'm really, really proud of that school. And proud to be a Fort Smith. Um, you know, really early on, um, there's just this pride in Fort Smith, and there's so many things, so many factors that played a role in my childhood. You know, that community, I am, you know, a product of that community. And I still have a lot of great um friends, colleagues, you know, that helped pave that path. Though I didn't go back to that community, I still um think it's really important to support the efforts that are going on there and we're rebuilding Fort Smith. Well, your sister's still there, right? No, my sister has moved. But she used to be? No, she was in Northwest Arkansas the whole time. JB Hunt, yeah. Yeah, no. But Arkansas really opened doors uh all the time. And even though I try to move many a times from Arkansas, I've always come back. Uh raising my family was really important. Leaving Fort Smith, I graduated from UCA. Um, I chose a different pathway again. Um, everyone from Fort Smith, you know, really was looking to your school, your alma monerved. Really? Oklahoma was was real close, you know. So insane. So was U of A. And UCA was calling my name. I graduated with a degree in communications from UCA. And that's what led to the next left level of getting the opportunity to move to Washington, D.C.

Speaker 1 6:30

I think that is the coolest thing. I know it happened. But it doesn't matter anyone's political views. I think the fact that someone works in the White House at any point in time, I think that is so cool.

Coming Home And Joining Amazeum

Speaker 6:42

It was a really awesome opportunity. And it wasn't so divisive then. I mean, we were all just, you know, young professionals really wanting to change the world and really wanting to look at policy. And it wasn't about an R or a D behind your name. It was like, oh, you're passionate about this? Me too. Yes. Oh, you want to do this? Me too. And it it wasn't, I mean, at the end of the day, we were all really close friends and still are today. So cool. I have a really great group of people. I was there for three years. Yeah, enough to get experience on the hill. Um, very short time with the administration because it was, you know, kind of closing time for us. But at the same time, I, you know, I wouldn't trade it for the world. I feel like it's my grad degree because I really got the opportunity to not just see how things happen at another level, but experience and have conversations and and work at a pace that I never I'll always know how it works, but I don't ever have to do it again if I don't want to. Is it the most unimaginable pace? No, I loved it. I loved it, but I knew I knew I couldn't keep it up if I wanted to have a family or a life or ever have a dinner, you know, have a meal plans, have a lunch time, you know, ever keep a friendship or relationship. Those weren't realistic things. That's wild. Yeah, but but the experiences you have and the opportunities you have to make real change, you you've got to to be a part of something greater than yourself. And that is something that I think a lot of people I want to strive to do is do something bigger than yourself. Right. Please be part of something bigger than yourself. That's so cool. So if I was really cool, where'd you go? So I came on home, and that home to me was Little Rock. Little Rock was that opportunity. A lot of us after the administration came back and worked on the Clinton Library. I started working on local uh races that included um our local judge races, mayors races, city bond issues, and um, that's where I ended up meeting my husband. Perfect. Yeah. So he was in construction, and I too was in development in terms of you know making the city better of Little Rock. And they had he had several different um projects in Little Rock. So it was it was interesting. Business with pleasure, it sounds like I know.

Speaker 1 9:04

Okay, so Scott Family Amazeum. Scott Family Amazeum.

Speaker 9:09

Wow. Wow, happy 10, by the way. Happy 10. Uh, turning 10 years old, and that was part of the whole you know, appreciation of going to the Amazeum. Because when a nonprofit turn or any business is turning that next decade, there's new things that bubble up to the top. Like, how are we gonna deal with this? How are we gonna grow in this effort? How are we how do we deal with this? Because you're not a little, you're not little anymore. And the ing's never been little. No. I mean, they've never been little. Um, you know, the founders, um, Sam Dean, Mindy Porter, they've always dreamed big and they've dreamed differently. Um, I was fortunate enough to work at another children's museum when I had a time in Houston and great children's museum of Houston, awesome, awesome place to work, awesome amenity for our for that community. But the children's museum here in the amazing really struck out to be a little bit different. And in celebrating those 10 years, I really wanted to be part of that. It's been a handful of years, right? So, yeah, I'm over three years at Amazeum. And first, shout out, we know the Scott family. Yeah. We know their dedication and commitment to being curious and to leaning into learning and providing really that little bit of extra for Northwest Arkansas. So the Children's Museum of Northwest Arkansas was always part of the plan. But until we were gifted some property in Bettonville, did it become this is the address. And it's not just for Bettonville, it's for, I mean, we see kids from Springdale. I just welcomed a whole field trip, 216 kids off of school buses. I love this. Um, just today, just today, I was raising the roof and they're like, what are we doing?

Speaker 1 10:49

I'm like, just put your hands up. Yeah, Springdale schools. Even though I know that's outdated, but it's not as outdated. I loved it.

Speaker 10:59

That's that's my true joy is welcoming those school fields.

Speaker 1 11:02

Oh, they're so happy.

Speaker 11:04

They are so happy to be there. We get to go and some of them want to go to the Water Amazement, some want to go in the Walmart, some want to go and do art studio, and they each have a special moment there. But the Amazeum has really open doors, not just for children, but really for all families, because it's a place, no matter where you are in your life, you have a place to connect. Do you fit? You get to come in and come as you are, whether you're a single parent, whether you're a grandparent, whether you don't have children and want to just come and explore as an adult and come to one of our adult functions. Adult nights. Adult nights are amazing. You get to see people do things you never thought you see. You know, we have CEOs that come and are like, I just want to let off I want to dissect this pig's heart. Throw some scarves in a tunnel or something. Yeah, I mean, you get to really be yourself and be at your best. And that's what we're about. We're about letting those individuals come and be curious, you know, be creative and really let your hair down. So it is, it is a fun, exciting place.

Expanding Futures $25M Campaign

Speaker 1 12:11

It is. It's a great place. You know what one of my favorite things about the Amazeum is it has nothing to do with playing. I love the rainbow staircase, right? When you walk in, it goes to the second floor. I don't know why. Like that. That was just something I absolutely love, that staircase. It's always it's always been one of my favorite things. Well, we have so many little treasures that I still find every day, like, oh, I didn't know we could do this. I mean, yeah, yeah. And then my second favorite is probably the Walmart because when I was a little kid, I dreamed of being a checker. And um, back in the dark ages, when you wrote a check, you would have to stamp it and scream check okay on aisle whatever. So I would do that from my little grocery store. And now you can come and play anytime that you want. Yay! So um, that gives me a lot of joy. The little Walmart and the Rainbow Staircase. Rainbow staircase. Good to know. Love it. Okay, let's you have a lot happening out there, expanding futures with the ampersand in the middle.

Speaker 13:18

Yeah, because we're not, we don't do anything just no halfway. So we embarked on a $25 million campaign. A year ago? A year and a half ago. Well, the the public phase. I'm sorry. The public phase was announced over a year ago. We've been working on it for a little bit of time. Yeah. 25 million takes a little bit of time to raise. We're still working on it in case anyone's interested. We will take your money. Yes. So expanding futures was really about this initiative. We did a study asking the community what they wanted to see in our next phase. First off, what organization starts a capital campaign under 10 years? That that's not a norm. Like who starts growing that fast? Eumasium. Yes. And many other wonderful entities in this area. But we started this, and people really wanted to see that focus on the youngest of the young and our teenagers, right? We want to see you really invest on early learning, and we really want to see you invest in our teens. So our first focus on this campaign is the early learning advancement center. And that'll be included in on um the hangout. Right. So the building everyone sees going up right outside of our building. Yes. It's a separate building. Oh, the parking lot. Yes. So that the new building will be the early learning advancement center, and that'll be from zero to six. It is amazing. It's basically the amazing and a teeny tiny quarter and everything. They'll have their own climber, they'll have their own exploring area. They'll have a literacy area. They're going to have everything they need for early development. Everything that you need to if you have a newborn or a toddler.

Speaker 1 14:55

It's just so wild. I don't know about you, but I didn't do this 15, 16 years ago.

Speaker 14:59

No, but I mean, I could imagine what I would need. You know, like, oh, that would have been nice to have to check in and make sure that I was doing all these things right. So we'll have that area. And really, we're we're partnering with some really great other organizations, and our team is all early learning professionals.

Speaker 1 15:18

Silence anything in here on accident. It drives them nuts.

Speaker 15:22

I'm so sorry. Whoops. Um, but there'll be a classroom dedicated, not necessarily for the kids, but for our beginning teachers who are our caregivers, who are the first teachers for these kids. Your mom and dad, your grandma and grandpa. Like, am I doing any of this right? Is this a normal thing? Well, they don't come with manuals. Right. Kids don't come with manuals, but they do come with the amazing, teaching them how to be the very best they can and helping them look for signs of early development and help them hit those points. I can't tell you how how much this would have been helpful when, you know, when we were raising our kids. Like, oh, first steps, these are great. Are we hitting the milestones? So a lot of great opportunity and partnerships for our early learning space. And we've got it all there. We've got it all there in the hangout. Then the other part of the hangout is really about building that community. This is really important that you know. I mean, you're I like this spot because it's open to the community. Yes, there's no charge wall. We want people coming in. We want you to grab a bite to eat, get some Onyx coffee. Onyx is gonna be a partner, get a board game and come and hang. We've got a little hangout area, we've got the front porch here yard. Don't you have a yard? We have a yard, we have the backyard. Yes. I haven't talked about the backyard yet. But but there'll be two dedicated community spaces. And this is where the ampersand comes in. We want to say yes and right now we have the two classrooms upstairs, and we're having to choose between do we have the birthday party or do we have a class or camp? Or do I host, you know, a local corporate vendor for their um professional team building. I'm having to I don't want to say no. Because those rooms are non-functionable, but they're only two. Yes. And so we were having to turn people away and it does that. That does not feel good. That doesn't feel like the amazing. That's not what we want to do. So those rooms upstairs will say dedicated learning lofts. That's what they're called, the learning lofts, and we're opening up the river rooms because everything starts, you know, at the top of the river. Wait till you see that. I mean, you can check out our website and find the plans. But these two spaces will be dedicated to the community. And this feels so right. It does. It feels so right, Kasie. So if you want to come in and you want to host something specific. Like anyone can come in and host. Yes.

Speaker 1 17:43

Nonprofit or for-profit or whatever, just a small group, a club.

Speaker 17:46

It doesn't matter. Right. You want to come in and host Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, you want to come in and host anything, we're gonna have the space for you. And um, that's just it, it's right. It's the right thing.

Speaker 1 17:58

I think the BC baseball team should come and do some team building over there.

Speaker 18:02

I think so. I think we can do that. They'd be so cute. And the last portion will really be dedicated to our backyard. We're really excited. I love the backyard. I love the backyard now. Just think about us doing a little bit of the backyard next to some pictures. I can't wait. Yeah. We're just having to do the little flip-flop. That's okay. And don't forget that our youth, while we're not dedicating a special building for them, we're continuing to work on our youth makers, all of our programming. 25 million again was a big build. And we'll continue to expand as we can. I love it. I know. The whole campus is awesome.

Speaker 1 18:38

Do we have a target when you're gonna open the doors? Yes, we do. Okay. Yes, we do. Is it a target we can share-ish?

Speaker 18:47

Um, we will open before the end of the year.

Speaker 1 18:50

Okay. That's exciting.

Speaker 18:51

We open before the end of the year. Okay, I can think I can say that. And really, you know, everything goes so fast. So it'll be here before we know it. I know. Plans are going, checklists are starting, but hard had tours are ready.

Speaker 1 19:03

What's your bread and butter? What's your most excited? What's the one thing you're most excited about? On this project?

Speaker 19:13

Oh, no. Oh, one thing. Easily the ELAC, the learning, the learning center, probably that classroom, because I know there'll be parents that go into that classroom and come out amazed. Amazed. Or just come out with the knowledge that they need to be successful and come out with something new and that that's worth everything. Being able to take your child and have a partnership and walk away being like, I never knew that. That that that's everything. I love that. That's gonna be awesome. Yeah, I'm excited about that. I might love that too if I knew more about it. Oh, you will. Maybe we'll maybe we'll have teenage parity classes.

Speaker 1 19:58

Maybe we should start that. I'll do that. I'm sure it would be helpful, but you and I do not want to be a part of that club right now.

Speaker 20:04

No, no, no, we're we're in the thick of it.

Youth Makers And Kid Entrepreneurs

Speaker 1 20:07

Learning and playing their things. Yes, yes, we don't need to be producing. Um so community collabs, we talked about that with the room. Yeah, um, I love the maker smart. Yes, I talked a little bit about our youth about that. I mean, I've seen it. I didn't know the detail of it. Yeah. And it's been knocked off around town. I will say, I think in a good way. Oh, in the best way. Like downtown Bentonville hosted something. Oh, I think last fall. No, it wasn't last fall. It was actually Labor Day weekend. Same day as Jonas Brothers concert. It's where I remember that. Oh, Jonas Brothers. Okay. Unless you was a really great concert, by the way. Which I did not know I would turn into like a Jebra fan, but I didn't know you were one. I didn't sit down the whole concert. And I dragged my whole family to it, too. They were so all the boys? Oh, yeah. I could see crew going, but I didn't know like all. He sat down the whole time. Chase stood up with me. Well, it was such a great concert. It was it was the wildest thing. Okay. Anyways, my point is downtown Bentonville did like a youth maker smart. So I think you all have this amazing concept. And I will say, having been through this, that St. Vincent fifth grade has the entrepreneur fair. Yeah. So I would think that is similar in that. Yeah. Yeah. So like I went into the spirit button making business in December at my busiest time of year last year, all for the sake of little crewbecky. It's entrepreneur fair. You made buttons? Spirit buttons, yeah. Goat team. Oh, look at them. They're so cute. We still we did not sell through our inventory. And I'm not sure he came out profitable via his loan. But it's okay.

Speaker 21:51

But but he thinks we did. So we need kids thinking about that. We need kids um having the ability to use their Hands, use the moons. Yeah, I'm gonna support all the kids.

Speaker 1 22:03

It's the cutest thing.

Speaker 22:04

I buy the stationery. So our youth makers program is we and we're not just we go out to all the area schools. We did a kickstart last night in Gravit. One of our team members was loading up their vehicle to, I'm like, where are you going? He's like, Grab it. We have our kickstart program. And so we go to all the area schools looking for future entrepreneurs, and then we bring them back in house. And every, I think it's Wednesday, that they are building in stuff in the workshop in our 3M workshop. And I get to go in and I get to see what they're working on because they're creating some are creating games. It's like a process, like some are creating candies, some are and then a time from this start time to this end time. And then they and then they go to market. And then they will go to other markets and sell their stuff. Yeah, they'll go to other markets and actually, as the Amazeum, go out and sell their products. I mean, how great is that? I love it. Yeah, yeah. I love that. So I'll invite you next time and come shopping. I know. I I would love that actually, because I kind of think I want some of these earrings. Yeah. And they're not all zings. Well, I like I have regular, regular earrings too from them.

Speaker 1 23:09

But I feel like and um that you are going, and I have it written down, but I don't know if it's solidified, that you will be working with a potential event coming up.

Speaker 23:20

Um, people have been talking.

Speaker 1 23:23

Yeah.

Speaker 23:23

Yeah. They they want us places.

Speaker 1 23:25

Yes, they want, yeah, people want you all.

Speaker 23:27

Other nonprofits, other people want the youth makers to be there. Yes, and I know youth makers to be there because because these these are amazingly talented kids. And, you know, we have the equipment like the 3D printers and the lasers and um yeah, we're just that collaborate. We're we're in talks with a lot of other events that want us there. And it's, you know, managing our times and hiring the staff because it's a lot of hands-on. It is because we're we are not we're not bringing out the textbooks, we are giving the kids the tools and the equipment to learn that craft or learn what they what they want to learn and how they want to level. Yeah, yeah.

Parenting Thomas And Autism Advocacy

Speaker 1 24:05

I love it. That's one of my favorite things. Okay, we're gonna jump off amazing for a minute. We're gonna dive back more into Jennifer. All right. Jen, J Bell, J. Yeah, the nicknames. You mentioned let's talk paths, because I wrote that down. Everyone has a path, okay, but everyone's path is different. That's true, right? So you have a husband, Scott, he's an engineer, and then you have two kids, Sloane and Thomas. Yeah. And Sloane is my probably my favorite because she's the only child I know who ever met Thomas. Okay. But Thomas is nonverbal autistic. Yeah. And the path that you walk with him is different than the path I walk with my two. And I've seen you advocate for I call them quiet hours. I don't really know what they would be calling, but something at Walmart. Yeah. And we do it at Walmart. And we got it. We got it. Yeah. So, like, your one of your goals, I think, is to like reduce barriers and challenges for children like Thomas. Yeah. Things I don't even think about because I'm not walking that path.

Speaker 25:13

Yeah. I've got enough, I've got so many tricks up my sleeve, Kasie. Right now I'm advocating for um 23% less. It's um people who are caregivers or have not been um reimbursed um since since the budget. This is legislative stuff. If you want to go there, I use a little bit of my past. Um they have not been renewed a budget since 2007, and they currently are I know almost 20 years. I know, and they're getting paid 23% less than anyone else. So that's that's an initiative I'm working on um with the Arkansas Support Network. The other hat I wear is that is uh playing the role. But I am I am all those things. A mom of an amazing teenage boy. Yes. Thomas Belt is And he is so tall. He is 6'3. And Sloan is not even cold. My little, my little sweet Sloan. And you know, yeah, I think every parent plays a different role. I never asked to be, I mean, you you you dance with the what you've got, you know, and everyone's child has different needs, and my daughter has one set of needs, and Thomas has different set of needs. And so Scott and I, you know, are huge advocates for our son. Now that he's coming into teenage years, are totally different than the needs he had when he was a baby, a child, a toddler, school age. So he's 15, right? So 15. He's 50. He's a student at the Beneville School District. I can't give enough shout-outs. You love that school. Well, I give a shout-out to Leslie Lyons at Old High and Debbie Jones, our superintendent, because we found, you know, Thomas was having a really hard time staying in the classroom. And they have been able to help us see, you know, there's other ways of learning. And an ABA therapy school in Fayetteville, the gray school is currently where we're at, but with the support of Bentonville School District. So he is at the gray school, and through the last two years with therapies, he's able to sit in a classroom and do math and learn. Like he maintains his schedule. Yeah.

Speaker 1 27:14

All 12 months.

Speaker 27:15

Yeah. Which is amazing. I know. He's doing really well. So he's not out in public as much as everyone else. He does go to all of Sloan's competitions. Does he?

unknown 27:24

Yes.

Sensory Hours And Sensory Nights

Speaker 27:24

He's our biggest cheerleader. He knows to tell everyone to be shh sh quiet when Sloan's performing. Does he listen to the music or does he have to wear headphones? He will not wear his headphones during her competition because he loves her songs. And he cheerleads for her. I love that. He loves, he calls Sloan isn't the color guard. I'm probably sharing way too much, but he calls color guard dance fight. Because they're throwing up rifles and swords. He goes, Sloan, dance. He uses a talking device. Okay. So a lot of nonverbal people use talking devices. So familiar with that. He'll go, Sloan, dance fight? Question mark? Like it's shit, dance fight. I go, yeah, color guards. To him, it's he literally seems dancing. She's dancing and she's throwing weapons into the air. It makes sense. It's dance fight. So we go we go to Sloan's Dance Fight, but for those on the spectrum, life looks different and sensory driven. And the story of the sensory hours is what it's called fight hours.

Speaker 1 28:24

Sensory hours, yes.

Speaker 28:25

Um, my good friend Gyetri Agnew, who is, you know, a local um city council. She has a new last name, by the way. And it's really throwing me off on social media. Gytree Richardson.

Speaker 1 28:37

Thank you for reminding me. I like me to be the same person.

Speaker 28:39

Oh my gosh, yes, it is. She's still the same wonderful person. But but in her role at Walmart, she was able to really um over a glass of wine. We were just having a great conversation. And, you know, what's bugging you today? And I'm like, I can't take Thomas to school school supply supply shopping. Yes. And she's like, what do you mean? And I'm like, have you seen your have you seen Walmart at school supply shopping? I'm like, how can anyone with a sensory disorder or anyone that wants to get down on aisle and make it down on aisle and pick the things I need?

Speaker 1 29:11

That's where we over seasonal sexual.

Speaker 29:14

And so she really lent an ear and through her role, she was able to, you know, these were things they were already working towards. Um they were have it happened in other countries, but able to listen and and lean in and hear that. Um, so she lent her advocacy and now it's all the time. Oh, really? Yeah. Every Sunday. Yeah, it's a beautiful morning. So whenever we shop with him, you'll see it's real early at Walmart. Thomas Phelps doing his shopping. And you love it?

Speaker 1 29:42

Yeah, because it well does he enjoy can he does he enjoy picking things out on his own?

Speaker 29:47

Uh yeah, who doesn't love shopping at Walmart and picking out your own things? I just don't let my kids You don't let your kids shop at Walmart.

Speaker 1 29:54

I don't take my kids back to school shopping. I order it online so I don't have to deal with it.

Speaker 30:01

I I do get door delivery. I'm a horrible person. I do get door door delivery to the door. I love that. But I do like every now and then doing an old, you know, push the card. I'm just talking about school supplies. Oh, school supply shopping? No.

Speaker 1 30:14

Oh, I know. I order it online. And in fact, Crew just I don't even know why he brought this up. Does he want a special pencil bag ever? He's a boy. He's never had an opinion. And all of a sudden he's like, you know, I'd really like to go uh shopping for my own folders.

Speaker 30:33

Maybe he wants a cool folder. There's some really cool folders.

Speaker 1 30:37

I know, but I don't want to deal with it. But I know, I know. He packs out enough snacks for the life. Okay, at least you let him do the convenience, the like uh impulse purchase area. I'm making up for it right there. You're cracking me up. Not even let the boys shop, let him have a little adventure.

Speaker 30:56

Oh, okay. But yes, sheltered children. Thomas is an amazing, amazing kiddo, and thank you for the opportunity to write a little bit about him in Leading Ladies because it's one of those things that not everyone knows about that pathway, but in parenting, we all have different pathways. Right. And mine happens to be I get to I get to be part of T's life. Yeah. And I get to um, you know, get to be part of the autism spectrum life.

Speaker 1 31:25

And it's a massive community, and it's a loving community and accepting community.

Speaker 31:30

There's a bunch of us out there, and you would never know. We're we're a little bit more quiet, but that's okay. But we're starting to rally, and there's a lot of folks up here that are very supportive. And the larger our community gets, I think they'll you'll see more opportunities. And, you know, as I've said, this is a great community of people bringing ideas together. And with all the great innovation that's happening here, I think there's still a lot of opportunity for us to be great in this space. And maybe we'll get to create something that makes people's lives better. I think so. So I'm on board for that. Okay, so does Thomas get to enjoy the Amazeum? Yes, he does. So tonight is a sensory night. I know this won't, but we have sensory nights and he's part of that. We also collaborate with a lot of different clubs and schools. Um, one of the times he went, um, he was part of a group called Adventure for All that was teaching kids with autism how to ride bikes. Oh, that's so cool. Of course, our you know Northwest Arkansas, yeah. Of course, Northwest Arkansas has these great opportunities. And like they got to ride at Kohler, which was another great organization I was working with. And so I'm like, of course, we'll let Kohler Kohler gave us area to ride. And of course, the mazeum opened the doors for them to come play. So yeah, he gets to go to the Masium. We have special hours we go, not when it's 500 gigs. Oh my gosh. But he'll go on his own space and he enjoys, you know, we had the dinosaurs. Yeah, he wanted to go see the dinosaurs, and he does the space just light up. Yeah, he has special areas that he really, really enjoys.

Birding, Big Energy, Goonies Motto

Speaker 1 32:57

Oh, yeah. See, life is all about paths. Um, you're beginning birder. Oh yeah, I love birding. And you will post about your little bird bird house theater thing that is like attached to the window with a camera. Yes, I have two of them. Thank you. I well, how do you not love the bird? Okay, but I need you to connect with Amanda Corsi because she likes birds. Oh, I love Amanda. I know. We well I don't dislike birds. I'm just not a birder. Well, you but I love your passion, your newfound beginning passion.

Speaker 33:37

So I love birds, and I've even have my own page that I've started an Instagram for the birds.

Speaker 1 33:42

I've actually followed through and done this.

Speaker 33:43

Yes, and I like to put song. I'll shoe the bird. Absolutely. And what's really fun is that you never know which shoe you're gonna have. I mean, of course, squirrels are horrible, but with the bird cameras, you get these beautiful birds.

Speaker 1 33:57

You know, the squirrel people are gonna come after us now.

Speaker 33:59

Well, the squirrels, they're well fit as well. I get teased because I overly feed the bird, bird community, but it's just so great and so enjoyable at this stage of life to be like, oh my gosh, what am I getting?

Speaker 1 34:13

What am I saying here? Weird, like good, weird. You're like, oh, and you know, I see those memes all the time. And it's like, oh, I'm so excited. Well, the humming dishwasher today, like I get the excitement, and now you're very excited about your birds. Yes, and the hummingbirds are coming back.

Speaker 34:32

I am, and I'm getting my feeders out, and like who's gonna get the first hummingbird in the neighborhood? And I hope it's me. I got like all my feeders going.

Speaker 1 34:40

I hope it's you too. Thanks. Okay, let's talk about the one superpower you would love to have.

Speaker 34:47

I I think I said teleporting. Um, so big fan of Back to the Future. All 80s movies are my favorite. And you know, teleporting, because I can't be everywhere I need to. It's like really hard. I often hear hear me say, like, I wish I had four Jennifer's today. I wish I had three of me today, because there's so many important things going on. And we need to be everywhere all the time.

Speaker 1 35:11

You are the eternal networker and hugger.

Speaker 35:16

Yeah, I love to hug. COVID was horrible for me, but I love people. I love connecting. That is my That's your jam. Yeah. So I am definitely one of those that if you're an introvert and you can't take my energy, I've been called my Jennifer energy in the office. Like I have. I take your energy, I'm a energy seeker. I'm an energy seeker. I I think that's how I got to know you. Like in this stance.

Speaker 1 35:43

Bouncing up the stairs at St. Vincent, a very small school, right? And I've been there for eight years. Um I've been there for nine years at that point. And I'm like, who is this person? Who is this crayon up? Just bouncing, like, hey. And I'm like, I don't freaking know you. You're like, what child who are which which child of yours is playing on the court? I'm like, mine's a cheerleader. And there's one cheerleader up there look like you. No, none of them, no. Then that threw me off too. Right. It's like mom. And I'm like, the hell it is.

Speaker 36:12

You're like, why are you cheering for everyone else? Why are you cheering for the cheerleaders? And I'm like, because I do that. I will show up to your kids, your kids' sporting event, and cheer for them because it's the right that's what you do. It's the right thing to do. It's the right thing to do. I want all everyone to win. I I want my community to be supported because I feel that support. Yes. Because in the same tone, I will throw an event and Kasie Yokley will show up. Show up. And I did miss. I did miss the beam signing in January. That's okay. That happens, but I think you get what you give. I mean, I'm gonna put out this is I who I really am in terms of like I wake up speaking, I go to sleep, probably talking, and it I I don't turn off. It hasn't happened yet, but I'm sure at some point at older age it'll finally go. Maybe I'll it's simmer down. Yeah, I don't know that yet. You don't, okay. There's there's probably gonna happen soon. Like I'll have to turn off at some point. Like if when I get sick, I have to like stop sometimes. Yeah. Or my body, I'll just like pass out, like like literally fall out. It happens.

Speaker 1 37:21

That happens to me the after the after the very first weekend in December, after because it's been Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday morning. After brunch with Santa, I'm like, don't anyone speak to me?

Speaker 37:35

You need to turn off.

Speaker 1 37:36

I need peace and quiet, and I need to sleep. Yeah. And then I'll rally.

Speaker 37:42

By quiet voice, it's really, really hard.

Speaker 1 37:44

It's really How do you think you don't have one? I really try to get slown in here, and she'd just smile at me.

Speaker 37:50

Yeah, like no, there's no quiet voice. But that energy, you know, some of us are born with it, and I think it's needed in some places. So I'm not I'm not gonna I'm not gonna turn it off. No, tune it out because it's who you are. You you are here for a time, and that's the energy you bring into the world and let it shine. Absolutely. I completely agree.

Speaker 1 38:11

Yeah, um, what is your motto?

Speaker 38:16

I don't know. I think I put a Goonies quote in there, and he put it in there.

Speaker 1 38:20

That was because it's it's our ending for this first one. What it what is it? Goonies never say die. Goonies never say die. Yeah, it fits you to a T.

Speaker 38:29

Don't give up, man. Keep that and keep it going. Goonies never say die. That was a fun one.

Speaker 1 38:34

Um, I was that's probably my favorite. Like, there were several favorite answers from all the people this year. Um, another one, the karaoke question. Somebody was like, if I'm doing karaoke, put me in the car. Like, just it shouldn't be happening. And I was like, that was one of my favorites, and Goonies Never Say Die was one of my favorites. I just I again because I love the Goonies, and Colby and I actually dressed up as two Goonies a few years ago. Did you really? Yeah, I missed that other sweatpants um uh when brand is like working. Brand is working out working out and you were carrying.

Speaker 39:10

Yeah, I could do that.

Speaker 1 39:11

I didn't pull it off well.

Speaker 39:12

But it's you guys were shits cracked together. We were we were good. You worked.

Speaker 1 39:18

Well, once you told once you told me, yeah, it we did, it was a last second situation. We did really well this year, except for a you weren't there, you you bailed, and number two, um, Colby was stuck on 40. So like I only showed up looking real special. Everyone's like, Oh, who are you? And I was like, uh half of days and confused. But we had the whole get up. We had the Matthew McConaughey t-shirt, a whisk.

Speaker 39:48

Some of those people show up really, really good. I I mean I like your Olympians. Yeah, I came as an Olympian. Yeah, I thought it was good. Olympian opening ceremony, opening ceremony with the jacket and all that.

Speaker 1 39:59

I did not get it at first. I know. I if you can't get it, then I'm not good. I need it, I mean I was like, are we political? I know, but I had that golden. I just I'm not good at it. But I thought it was awesome because you had a flag, and I was like, that is I thought it was fantastic. I like an Olympian. Yeah, bringing up. I thought it was great. Yeah, I'll work on it. It's good. So start preparing now. Friggin' queen. Yeah, I gotta bring up, but yeah.

Speaker 40:24

Goonies never say die. Goonies never say die. I just you keep going, you keep keep pushing, be your best self. I love it.

Speaker 1 40:31

Yeah, that's a that's a perfect place to stop part one. Okay, because Goonies never say die. So we're never gonna say die. So I hope you'll join us for part two, where we're gonna talk all about the Ungala, which is happening in less than a month. So thank you for joining us. Thank you for sticking with us this whole time. And shout out to Hershey Salty Snacks for always supporting the 3W podcast. They are home of skinny pop, dots, home style pretzels, and pirates booty. Love me some Hershey. You do love Hershey. Yeah. They're supporters of the amazing. They are great supporters. Yes. So thanks everybody. Thank you. Thanks, Kasie. Thank you. I'll see you in the next one. Okay. Bye, everyone.