S2:E4: From Livestock to Leadership w/ Taya Spelhaug

A farm kid who showed sheep for 4-H doesn’t usually end up leading community engagement for Microsoft, but that’s exactly why this conversation hits. We sit down with Taya Spelhaug, Fargo site director and TechSpark engagement leader, to unpack how a non-linear career can become a leadership advantage when it’s guided by values, curiosity, and the willingness to start before everything is clear. Along the way, we talk about the unglamorous skills that actually compound: controlling the controllables, staying steady in change, and building trust without positional authority.

We get specific about rural innovation and economic development, including what TechSpark set out to do after the 2016 election and what it takes to build partnerships in places that don’t look like Seattle. Taya also shares the reality behind ag tech and digital transformation in agriculture through Grand Farm, why a big early investment was worth the risk, and how to keep momentum when progress takes years instead of weeks.

From there, we go inside the human side of big tech: employee culture work, morale after layoffs, and why “business decisions” don’t have to erase care for people. We also dig into responsible AI using the “tools vs weapons” frame, plus one of the wildest examples of applied AI today: the Teddy Roosevelt Presidential Library experience, where you can literally ask questions and hear TR respond.

If you care about leadership, authenticity, networking vs real relationships, rural broadband and tech equity, AI ethics, or energy management that actually lasts, you’ll walk away with practical ideas and a lot to think about. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

Transcript

Welcome And Ecosystem Update

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hey, what's up, everybody? Welcome back to the Time and Energy Podcast. Nick here. Excited to be back with you here today for an updated interview. And couldn't be more excited to introduce that individual to you here very, very shortly. But I'd like to take a minute or two, just before we get to the interview, to, or the conversation, I should say, to fill in a little bit about what I've been up to here over the last couple months. As um, as many of you know, I left my employer Wex at the middle of March here of 2026, and I've been really building the time and energy ecosystem here now for the last couple of months. And I've just been extremely grateful for all of the kind words and encouragement that I've received from friends and family and many of you, not just for listening along to the podcast or the more recently created time and energy morning brief, which you can find on LinkedIn or Substack. It is five intentional minutes before the world starts asking things of us. Just a great opportunity to kind of level set our priorities and think a little bit about what it is that we want to accomplish within our day. I do that generally every day, Monday through Friday, no more than five minutes. Again, you can find that on LinkedIn or you can find that on Substack. Love your feedback, love your thoughts at nick at timeandenenergy.co. A couple other things I've been up to. Number one, our 90-day alignment partnership. That's been super enjoyable to be able to bring a couple individuals, more than a couple, a few individuals into the ecosystem. It involves and it involves learning more about our core values through the values bridge. It learns more about what our preferences are when it comes to communication and processing information. And we use the Enneagram for that. And also a couple of proprietary assessments that I've created that help individuals really understand the value of alignments and the value of what it means to be at our best when our best is required and to stay aligned to what our core values are, what our priorities are, and what we want to get out of the world and how we want to present ourselves to the world. So that's the 90-day alignment partnership. I do have slots, two slots available there as one individual just recently graduated from their 90-day partnership. And that's the 90-day individual partnership. Two is the Energy Summit. So this can be encompassing of many different things, but traditionally it's about a half-a-day workshop that can entail whatever it is the organization or the team wants to focus on. Up to this point, I've done half-day workshops for Enneagram training for teams that want to communicate better as a team and chase a common goal, common North Star, and again be at their best when their best is required from an alignment perspective. I've done emotional intelligence. I've done some emotional energy training, which is proprietary and new. Think of it like a new modern-day take on emotional intelligence. And again, you know, the Time and Energy Summit can be one and or all of these types of things to really help teams align towards what it is to be at their best when their best is required and meet those team objectives and those organizational objectives. Also certified in the entire John Gordon suite of workshops. So whether you're interested in the energy bus or whatever it might be, you know, shoot me a note. Happy to come visit with your team, get aligned and continue to meet those organizational and team objectives that you have. Because I don't know about you all, but when it comes to me and my preferences from a team perspective, waking up for someone next to you, you know, playing next to them, I being involved in the advancement of a team is about as good as it gets when you see some of those light bulbs start to go off and you experience some of those moments that teams can experience. I love being able to be a part of that and I love being able to help teams get there. So please hit me up if there's an opportunity that you believe your team could could utilize to increase communication, increase focus, increase alignment, and overall increase production. And lastly, is the time and energy advisory. I have three slots available, or excuse me, I have three slots in total that I keep thinking of it like a you know, executive coaching would be, you know, a bit reductive. Where I'm going with the time and energy advisory is more from a consigliary perspective. So what I mean by that is a lot of C-suite individuals, a lot of sales leaders, a lot of individuals that have maximized the time that exists on their calendar, meaning generally a lot of double booked situations, whether it be professional double booking or the encroachment of one's personal life into the organizational side of things. I've had some great success working with a couple of family-run companies that are second or third generation. Individuals that have really known what they were going to do for a really, really long time and could really just use a outside perspective. I've been extremely honored to be asked to be alongside them in a nondisclosure environment where, you know, they can help align their personal goals, objectives, values to the organizational goals, objectives, and values to minimize friction and allow those people to again be at their best when their best is required and get the most out of what it is that they want to get the most out of of this world. And so I do have one slot available for the time and energy advisory. If you have any interest in, you know, incre increasing alignment as an individual, increasing alignment as a team, or increasing alignment as an organization, please let me know. Nick at timeandenenergy.co. Things are cooking, and I couldn't be more grateful for again the individuals that have come across my path. And it and it's and it's interesting just from a personal perspective, you know, when you see extremely accomplished individuals raise their hand and say, Hey, I could use some help, that is the sign of a heck of a leader. And when your leaders are raising hands, asking for help, understanding that they don't have all the answers, that's a good thing. That's a good thing. That means that they are working just as much as we are to try to get better and working under the understanding that time is fixed, right? We all get 24 hours a day. None of us can change that. But energy is renewable. However, only if it's aligned. And if we're not aligned with our values and our priorities and our preferences and the things that we want to get out of this world and the way in which we want to present ourselves to the world, I can help. So Nick at timeandenergy.co, I'd love to hear from you. The goal remains to try to understand and identify what it is that makes top performers great, but also how the top performers and how individuals that I overly just find interesting, you know, how they manage their day, how they go about doing what they do, why they prioritize what they prioritize. And uh, this is an individual that I've known for quite some time at a very surface level basis. However, we ran into each other at a at a fundraising gala here a few months ago and had a chance to reconnect briefly. And she had mentioned that she had been a fan of the podcast. And I asked her if she would have any interest in coming along and joining the podcast. And so has quite a journey and has quite a story about you know where she started, where she's at, and where she's headed. Couldn't be more excited to bring to you my conversation with the director of the Fargo site and Tech Spark Engagement here in Fargo, North Dakota, Teya Spellhaug.

Partnerships Workshops And Advisory Work

SPEAKER_02 7:50

You're welcome. I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

Yeah, thank you. It was great to have you reach out and yeah, yeah, I'm really excited for our conversation.

SPEAKER_02 7:57

Well, me too. Me too. I as it as it kind of happened, right? We were at, you're gonna have to remind me now which where we saw each other.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

Um It was a Nikki one, Nicki Mama.

SPEAKER_02 8:06

Dear Nicki Mama. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's right. How are we doing?

SPEAKER_00 8:11

Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

We'll get there. The dear Nicki Mama benefit. And that's that that's such a cool, such a cool event. Such a cool event. I

Reconnecting At The NICU Benefit

SPEAKER_02 8:20

I Alyssa got on the board of that last year and started spending a bunch of time and I was shocked about two different things. Number one, the the turnout. I guess I'm not shocked by that, but I but the environments that the energy in there was really cool. Let me could just tell that there was a a unique shared experience there that's different than really any other type of environment that I've gone to in that setting, you know, fundraising type, yeah type thing, which is really cool. And then number two, which is a little less serious, is that that venue literally was in the middle of nowhere.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Right. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 8:57

Like, where the hell are we? Yeah, yeah. Good old Colfax. Yeah, Colfax. There we go. That's exactly where it was. And I'm like, all right, whatever. It's one of those that, you know, it's like, oh, that's on the calendar today. Pop it into the maps, and it's like, okay, this will be interesting.

SPEAKER_00 9:09

It's gonna be a drive. Yeah, yeah. Yes. Yeah. Like you have to be careful on how many alcoholic beverages you're gonna have. Yes, yeah. You know. It was immediate, yeah. Our son spent a little time. He was probably one of the biggest babies in there. He was full term, but he aspirated when he was and then he had some blood sugar issues, and so was in there for a couple of days, but which ironically, our daughter who had all sorts of medical issues in utero, didn't need a NICU stay. Interesting. Interesting how that works, isn't it? Yeah. So, but yeah, it was really interesting to see yeah, that kind of shared experience. And I think, you know, the NICU piece affects so many more people than just the parents, because you have grandparents and you know, siblings and you know, aunts and uncles and cousins that are just, you know, if if a baby's in the NICU, they just want that little guy home or that little girl home. So it it just was interesting when they had everybody raise their hands on who they were, you know, how they were affected or stand up. And by the end of the day, you know, everybody was standing.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

Everybody. So it was really, really cool. And I think just the overall ethos of that organization is so impactful and exciting to see what they're able to accomplish over at Dear Nikki Mom. I think when our daughter Elizabeth was born in March of 2024, she was about six weeks early, and so she was born at three pounds, seven ounces. And, you know, I don't know any of this stuff, but come to learn that you have to be four pounds to be legal to leave the hospital. Oh, okay. To be street legal, yeah. And I was like, okay, so they're they're like, so we're gonna put her in the NICU, and of course, there's the association that that I had as a dad, because I, you know, I don't I don't know much about this stuff about the NICU. And I'm like, Are you sure she's okay? Like, are we like the only reason that she just needs to get bigger?

SPEAKER_05 11:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:04

And then you sort of have a survivor's remorse in a way. I ran into a gentleman who just had that look in his eye, you know. And it's like, wow, how did I get so lucky? Right. And so that was a a very unique experience for for both of us. But for me specifically, I think as a dad, you you you'll never have an opportunity to fully understand what's going on when it comes to rearing a child before it's born and after, for that matter. But holy cow, what an incredible. I mean, Sanford was just great. So yeah, that was kind of yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

And we had our ours was Ascension. Oh, okay, yeah, and had a great experience there too. And yeah, they've got some amazing suites. My nieces and nephews were in the NICU too, they were twins. Okay, oh wow, and that was what 21 years ago. And it's changed significantly since since then. So we were pretty lucky. We had our own room and is it a wild? Yeah, and we had like the McRonald McDonald suite, which was amazing that we could go in and kind of hang out, and Grant was able to take a shower. And so, I mean, it was just yeah, it was we were very, very lucky. And I I totally agree with like that survivor's remorse because you know, Davis was fine, really. Yeah, I mean, they were just watching him and making sure that he his blood sugar was up, and when he was on a CPAP for a couple of hours, it wasn't even you know that long.

SPEAKER_03 12:25

So great.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

But just kind of lucky to see where our kiddos are. No doubt.

SPEAKER_02 12:30

Well, let's let's rewind a little bit. Yeah, grew up kindred area, if I'm not mistaken, right? Farm girl. Farm girl. So tell me about tell me about that. Tell me about growing up on a farm kind of just outside of Fargo, kindred area. Did you go to school in Kindred? Did you go to Kindred High School? Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:46

Viking, that's very it was. I mean, I I just am so blessed to have the childhood that I had.

NICU Stories And Gratitude

SPEAKER_00 12:55

Growing up on a farm, we had dad had cattle, so we had livestock, which was always fun. It's a lot of work. Yeah, yeah, it is. He sold the he sold the cattle when I was in college. So growing up, we and my mom was a nurse here in Fargo, so she was gone. She worked in oncology like majority of what I knew. I mean, she did other nursing, but kind of my my recollection growing up, she was in oncology, which in itself, you know, was a very person to do that. Yes, yeah, and a huge impact in my life. But yeah, we had dad raised, you know, corn and beans, his sunflowers here and there. I don't know if he ever did weed, probably back in the day. But yeah, I mean, it was just that's what we knew. Got involved with 4-H early on, raised sheep. So yeah. So I showed sheep for nine years. Really? Yeah. So wow. Yeah. So yeah, get up every morning and go walk sheep, regardless of the temperature. And I mean, she will allow transferable skills, then would you sit down? Yeah, right. Resiliency, maybe. Fair. Yeah, yeah. Taking direction. Right, exactly. And then, you know, you're you're gonna go to bed and your mom and dad ask you, Did you feed your sheep? And you're like, No. So you're gonna have to run out, you know, before you go to bed to go feed the sheep because they're not gonna do it. How many sheep? Usually, so I have an older brother. Okay, he's two years older than me. And usually between the two of us, we'd have three sheep. That's cool. Sometimes it would turn into two. You know, we had some casualties along the way, just supposed that's sheep do what sheep do.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

Um so do you mind telling us more what that means? Sheep do what sheep do.

SPEAKER_00 14:39

Uh I mean, uh, we had one sheep that I don't know if it had a heart attack or, you know, it show walking sheep, you have to kind of get used to it. It's like, you know, walking a dog, you know, you they have to get used to being on a leash. Make sense. So we had halter and you know, we usually do there's two of us, so we'd take one at a time, and then we had one left in the barn, and it was losing its mind because its pals were, you know, not with him. And dad let it out and it started running towards me and jumped up in the air, landed on its back, and did not move. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So yeah. So that was one of them. Um, kind of poking it with my boot, saying, Dad, I don't think this one's gonna get up. And he's like, he's like, just give it some time. I'm like, I don't know how much time I can give it because I'm pretty sure this one went to the Lord's. Yeah, but I mean, I you learn a lot about the circle of life when you're growing up on the farm.

SPEAKER_02 15:37

And you know, I never thought of it that way, but I mean, that's an obvious very early, yeah, early stage in life to learn about life and death. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

Yeah, yeah. I grew up with, you know, farm cats that didn't always make it. And, you know, cat cattle, you know, you'd have, you know, during calving season, you'd have to go pull some calves, and sometimes they wouldn't make it, and other times they did, and it was like the greatest thing on earth. And yeah, you got to bottle feed. And yeah, so yeah, I learned a lot, a lot, a lot of lessons growing up on the farm, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_02 16:08

So when you think about just that that experience, whether it's you know, showing sheep or just you know, birthing cattle, those types of things, I mean, that's obviously a I would well, I shouldn't say obviously, I would imagine is a very unique background juxtaposed against the very corporate nature of an organization like Microsoft. Yeah. So what I I said it kind of in just a second ago, but but literally, what sort of transferable skills or what are some of the things that you took with you from that experience if you look back on it that are like, you know what, this is actually somewhat similar in that regard, if any.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

Oh, that's a good question. I think one thing in at Microsoft is that no day is the same. Yeah. And you're always, you know, there's fire drills, there's now we got to deal with this. And, you know, there's there's a lot of changes that happen pretty quickly. And I think that's one thing that, you know, you grow up on a farm, things change pretty quickly. It's really hard to you know, I mean, you you live by the rain, you live by weather, you don't know what's around the corner. So nothing's a given. And I think maybe that's just the mindset I kind of have growing up is that, you know, I'm okay with change. So I mean, change for everybody is kind of hard sometimes too, but I think maybe I kind of lean into it a little bit more than I maybe would have had I not grown up on a continuously changing life.

SPEAKER_02 17:38

So well, one of the things I think for those of us that that didn't grow up on a farm, and although I'm not gonna suggest that North Fargo was like a huge, you know, sprawling urban place, right? I'm still obviously very sheltered and in a bit of a bubble, but you know, my day-to-day was clearly a little bit different than that. Although I I was very fortunate to have exposure to that because my both my parents grew up on farms.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

Sure, farm adjacent as well. Yeah, farm adjacent.

SPEAKER_02 18:02

There we go, farm adjacent. So I never got my hands dirty, but I've I'm aware of a little bit of how that works. Well, I guess question being one of the things you think about when it comes to whatever sort of role a person has, whether it's leadership, individual contributor, in corporate or private sector, public sector, whatever it might be, controlling the controllables, I think, is a lesson that everybody needs to learn at some point very quickly. Sounds to me like you learned that pretty quickly based upon your upbringing, that there's just certain things out of your control that we could get huffy and puffy about it. Right. But that honestly doesn't do us any good. Right.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

Right. Yeah. You can expect to show three sheep and only come away with two at the end of the year.

SPEAKER_02 18:41

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:42

So you know, things like that. I know, right? Yeah, yeah. Started wearing t-shirts, yeah. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 18:49

I love it. Okay. So went to Kindred and then straight to NDSU.

SPEAKER_00 18:53

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 18:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 18:54

Yep. Um, very what, you know, also you know, involved in 4-H, also very involved in FFA. Yeah, yeah. And that that organization is pretty amazing. North Dakota has significant, you know, FFA presence. And it's fun that I joke that now that I work for the largest tech company in the world, I get to go back to my roots a little bit, working with Grand Farm. And then also, we made an investment. Microsoft made an investment into the national FFA back in 2018. And that actually was launched here in North Dakota. And I was one of the few people that actually knew about the FFA. And so got to brought, you know, was brought into a few conversations about how we

Farm Upbringing And 4-H Lessons

SPEAKER_00 19:40

invest in FFA. So that was pretty cool. But yeah, I was a state officer. Oh, cool. And so got to travel around North Dakota, got to do some other traveling around the United States, got to go to, you know, national convention here and there throughout the four years. But, you know, I think that, you know, a lot of public speaking, meeting people. Yeah, you know, it was just that also had a huge impact on my life.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

And, you know, so for people that aren't maybe overly familiar with FFA, maybe just a little bit of a primer for us.

SPEAKER_00 20:11

Yeah. So FFA stands for Future Farmers of America. It is just branded FFA now. We don't really care about it. Oh, really? Okay. You know, I mean, it's what it used to stand for. It's an agricultural education organization. Cool. And so, you know, there's you don't have to grow up on a farm to have an F, you know, to be an FFA. Uh, you do need to have a chapter within your school or community. I know here in Fargo we're trying to get a FFA chapter together, which I think would be amazing. Yeah. But there's a lot of projects and, you know, leadership opportunities that come with FFA. You know, there's a state convention, there's a national convention, there's a lot of contests that you can get involved with in, you know, like sales, egg sales, yeah. Which you learn how to sell something, you know. I mean, that's a great skill. Yeah. You know, they have, you know, crop judging and livestock judging, and I mean, just all sorts of different things. But it was, yeah, it was a lot of fun. I mean, FFA was pretty big in Kindred growing up. That makes sense. My brother was in it. And and then yeah, I just, you know, was I I liked getting involved and I was I liked meeting people. I think that's just something that I like people. So being, you know, going for the the state, you know, officer was just something that was like, all right, let's do it. And then, you know, we've had a lot of state officers from kindred ever since. So yeah, there was a gal in my brother's grade that went Jesse, who was kind of my inspiration. Okay. So very cool. Yeah, it was just it's been a well, you know, it's been fun. And it's crazy to work with colleagues at Microsoft. Yeah. And we had prior to COVID, we had some and we had what's called the Blue Room at the National Convention. Okay. It was all about ag tech and and Advancing agriculture and technology and getting kids involved with that and ex you know exposure to ag tech. And so a lot of my colleagues from Microsoft went to either work it or be a part of it. And the the amount of, oh my gosh, I had no idea. This is amazing. These kids are amazing. These students are the future of, you know, I feel so much better about our future because these students are going to be, you know, leaders in our communities and our world. And so that was really, really fun to kind of see these people who grew up, you know, Chicago and Seattle and DC are yeah, getting this exposure to this amazing organization.

SPEAKER_02 22:39

Areas that you would not generally think when you think of farmers. Yeah. Right. But it I mean, like you said, that that's that's kind of, you know, it's not necessarily a prerequisite.

SPEAKER_00 22:50

Right.

SPEAKER_02 22:50

But the the skills learned are uh invaluable, right?

SPEAKER_00 22:54

Yep, yep. So yeah. So did that my freshman year of college at NDSU, usually you are you, you know, are elected after you graduate high school and then during your freshman year of college is when you're this state officer. So I I thought I needed to go into egg program. And so I chose biotechnology. Okay. Learned quickly that science was not one of my strengths, like hard sciences. Had a lot of conversations. My mom being a nurse, you know, I was like, hey, maybe I should go into nursing. And she goes, We got the bedside manner. She goes, I just don't know if you're, you know, she goes, it's also science. You know, it's like, oh yeah, okay. So I went into psychology. It was, yeah, I really liked it. Obviously, I said I like people. So um having conversations with people, it was, it was just fascinating. And then my senior year, kind of beginning of senior year, I went, oh no, what am I gonna do with this? I was working at Marshall Fields back in the day.

SPEAKER_02 23:55

So that's what two, three iterations since well, see, I grew up, well, I I guess I'm not gonna ask you how old you are, but Dayton's was Dayton's. Okay, Dayton's Marshall Fields Macy's, Macy's.

SPEAKER_03 24:07

Yeah, there we go.

SPEAKER_00 24:08

Yeah, yeah. So yeah, Marshall Fields. And it had, you know, you had a discount at Target too. So that was one of the draws. Okay. Um, yes. So And you still work five hours a week there. Right. I'm just kidding. It's for the discount. Yes. I wish I could use that discount now. It's really with two kids. And yeah, so I was like, what am I gonna do? You know, I mean, just a psychology major. I'm not there's not a whole lot of jobs that, you know, so I am like either I stay working at Marshall Fields or I go to grad school and never thought I'd go to grad school. Had a really good conversation with one of the professors at NDSU in the college of or the mental health counseling department. And I was like, this is what I need to do. And I was like, how do I get in? So lucky enough, I got in. I did four years of undergrad and two years of grad with a and came out with a mental health counseling degree.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

Was that at NDSU also? NDSU, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:04

Yep. I could have gone two routes. They had a school counseling route and then they had a just a general mental health counseling route. And I still like the medical piece. And you know, growing up with a mom that was you know, you know, cancer nurse. Yeah, I thought about just being able to counsel people with what the illness is and just knew the mental strain that that had. And but yeah, I there's you learn a lot, right? I would imagine. I don't understand how at 20 you're just gonna figure out what you're gonna do for the rest of your life. But clearly I I haven't because I've taken a lot of routes since. But well, they all build on each other, it sounds like thus far, from what I'm from what I'm gathered. Mm-hmm. Yeah, they definitely do. And I think that's just kind of key to my life is just opportunities and just seeing them and then taking taking a hold of them because I had a graduate assistantship in the College of Pharmacy. Okay. Trying to increase diverse enrollment in the College of Pharmacy at NDSU. Interesting. Yeah. And then and then also doing my internship at Concordia, so counseling in Concordia. And realized that there's a whole nother world of higher ed, you know, instead of just teachers, there's people that actually work there, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So the student success piece was really interesting to me. Yeah. And my mentor, the College of Pharmacy, she's like, Yeah, this is a great degree for you if you want to go into higher ed. And so after after my I never counseled, you know, never had a license. Yeah. Just went into higher ed straight from from my interest degree. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 26:50

Huh. So that that seems like that would be a unique path, right? Or or not. Am I kind of maybe thinking about that at all?

SPEAKER_00 26:59

I think it's

FFA Leadership And Finding Your Voice

SPEAKER_00 27:00

not, you know, too out of the ordinary. I think, you know, a lot of people probably, you know, go through that much school. They're just gonna say, like, okay, yeah, I'm gonna counsel. But for me, I liked counseling, but I also realized that I'm I'm a fixer. Yeah. And I wanted to fix everybody. And you just that's not what you do. I really enjoyed the work. It's just I think being able to do similar things in higher ed was just more exciting for me.

SPEAKER_02 27:32

So when did you realize you're a fixer?

SPEAKER_00 27:34

You know, it might have been in grad school. And I don't maybe it was even like just hindsight too. It was maybe like this isn't this is why I didn't go into counseling.

SPEAKER_03 27:45

Makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 27:45

And wanted to go in the higher ed route, but that makes sense. Yeah, I went to it's Walden University, is the where I down in Minneapolis. So I got I went and moved down to Minneapolis and worked for an online college and did student success. And how was that experience? It was awesome. I got to travel. Yeah. I mean, what 24, 25, living in Minneapolis, you know.

SPEAKER_02 28:10

At the time, that was a great place to hang out.

SPEAKER_00 28:12

It was great.

SPEAKER_02 28:12

Uh yeah. Yeah, at the time. A lot of great experiences at that being that age or right around there in Minneapolis and very, very fun.

SPEAKER_00 28:21

Yeah, I got to travel even overseas. Nice. So, yeah, went to Liverpool. And so, yeah, I had really and met some amazing people down there in Minneapolis.

SPEAKER_03 28:32

And so Do you keep in touch with any folks from that experience?

SPEAKER_00 28:35

Yeah, yeah. I wish I could do more, but I mean, I think we all kind of have those people that were like, oh, if we could just spend more time with them, it'd be great.

SPEAKER_02 28:43

The circle shrinks, doesn't it? It does. It the circle shrinks. I feel like it gets deeper, it just gets, you know, it gets a couple layers deeper, but it but it doesn't maybe, you know, cut as wide of a swath as maybe it once did. Yeah, certainly from our early 20s or to mid-20s into into our 30s. And then of course, once kids show up, you know, all lights are kind of off for a little while at least, for sure. Yeah. So just just to to recap slightly, we're talking about growing up on a farm, work our way, you know, through FFA, that experience, and then into you know, North Dakota State, thinking you want to be a counselor, yeah. Or or at least have a affinity for psychiatry. Get into higher ed, move away from home. How was that?

SPEAKER_00 29:28

It was good. Yeah, yeah. It was really good. Yeah. I loved Fargo.

SPEAKER_02 29:35

Did it help you realize that at a deeper level because you left? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:39

For sure. Yeah. And but I also love travel. I love that experience of, you know, living in a bigger city. I think that was really good for me, especially young and single and just kind of doing my own thing. And oh, you can get a flight from anywhere. Anywhere. Yeah. Yeah. If I had had more money at the time, I was like, that's the only problem. I lived in Minneapolis where I mean my most of my travel was for my job, which was great, but yeah, not a lot of personal travel at the time. But that's funny. Yeah. But it was good. It was good. But my brother starting having a bunch of kids, he had twins. Okay. And then 13 months, 14 months later, he had another one. Oh wow. Yep. So boy girl twins. And then Isaac came along. And that was when I was in the cities. So end of grad school, they had the twins. I moved down to the cities, and then they had Isaac, and I was just like, I'm a hands-on auntie. Yeah. Like I just adored those kids. I still do. And they're in their 20s now.

SPEAKER_02 30:39

And which is probably equally as important. Yeah. Be a close auntie to them.

SPEAKER_00 30:45

Wouldn't you say? I yeah.

unknown 30:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:47

I mean the real formative years when you're actually making big decisions. Yeah. You know, you need some input and you need some advice from people that you know and trust and love and respect. Sorry to cut you off. I just I think there's a lot of value in having those people in your life, right? And good on you for being taking that.

SPEAKER_00 31:01

Well it's awesome. They they're just good kids. Yeah. Really, really good kids. It makes it easier. Yeah. My brother and sister-in-law did an amazing job at raising those kids. Yeah, they're they're a lot of fun. And, you know, and I think that's, you know, I didn't become a mom until I said my brother was a young dad and I was an older mom. And so I I was able to spend more time with my nieces and nephews because I didn't have my own kids. And so when he was having all these kids, I was like, I need to be closer to home. And so then I got a job in Wapaton at NDSCS. Oh yeah. Okay. So I was I was with NDSCS for about seven years, lived in Wapaton for four years. Okay. Before moving up to Fargo here.

SPEAKER_02 31:45

So what year would have that been when you moved back up to Fargo, to Fargo?

SPEAKER_00 31:49

Yeah, so I moved from the cities probably in 08, 07, 08. Okay. And then moved up to Fargo in around 13. Okay. But yeah, it was my job at NDSCS was really it was a new position. It was a retention coordinator. Oh. So it's helping students stay in school.

SPEAKER_03 32:13

And no, that was a thing.

SPEAKER_00 32:14

Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. You know, recruitment's one thing, but you can get students there, but you got to keep them, you know, and make them stay.

SPEAKER_02 32:21

So that was not quite like a sorry, not quite like an academic advisor. That'd be a different deal. Yeah. Right. Helping, helping you determine and align your path. You're more intuitive in a sense where it's just like, I think I'm going to leave. No, you shouldn't. Let's talk about it. Yeah. Or maybe you should. Maybe, maybe some of the conversation is like there's a good attrition. Yeah, yeah. You're right. Maybe this isn't the best path for you, that type of stuff. Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 32:43

Yeah. And it was just also the they were implementing the first year experience program. Okay. So I managed, I developed and managed that. Cool. Taught that class, you know, and that was, I love that class. It was just a one credit class on like how to be a college student. Yeah. And worked with Academic Service Service Center on just making sure that that was set up to help k students succeed.

SPEAKER_02 33:07

And how do you how do you determine what it is that helps students succeed?

SPEAKER_00 33:13

Well, in that sense, it was more of, you know, if you had a student that came in with really low ACTs, you know, there wasn't in a two-year college, there wasn't, you know, an ACT. You didn't have to meet at a level. You could come in at any, you know. Gotcha. And so there's a lot of what we called back in the day remedial courses. So courses that you needed to take in order to get to your actual courses. But I mean, if you're so low and you're you're not good at math, and now we're gonna stick you in seven levels of math, you're probably not gonna want to stay. Right. So what are some things that we can do to help that student still learn math and still get to where they need to be, but do it in a better and different way? And so, yeah, I mean, there was just some better ways of do doing that.

SPEAKER_02 33:58

Did you find that to fill your bucket? Yes.

SPEAKER_00 33:59

Yeah, yeah. I loved it. It was I and NDSCS, President Richmond, Harvey Link, you know, Barb Bang, you know, we had a lot of amazing leadership. Ken Kopman, I mean, just I still I was I went and spoke there this spring. I noticed that as I was doing my research. Coming home. It was just, it was so fun. You know, they used to say once a wildcat, always a wild cat. And I was like, I guess I still have awesome.

SPEAKER_01 34:26

Yeah, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 34:26

So I'm I'm a true bison, you know, but yeah, you know, I

College Pivots Toward Psychology

SPEAKER_00 34:30

I I do you can do both. Yes. You can wear both hats once in a while. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. So it was it was a great experience. And then I had a house, you know, I was able to buy a small, perfect little house in 2008 when we had like the whole housing thing going on, which was like the perfect time to buy a house. And but then it was just like Wapatin was too small. It was like Minneapolis was too big, Wapaton was too small, Fargo was just right. Yep. So yeah, so decided I was able to stay with NDSCS and work in Fargo at the at the training center. Oh no. And worked with it was trainendy. Oh yeah. And so familiar with that. Yeah. So worked with businesses on their training needs, utilizing the resources that we had at NDSCS. So really cool. Yeah, it was so fun. It was a lot of fun. I got to, you know, meet a lot of people in the community and got involved with 35 under 35. I know Lyssa was involved in that.

SPEAKER_02 35:29

What a cool program that is.

SPEAKER_00 35:30

Such a cool program.

SPEAKER_02 35:31

Thank goodness. I know a lot of young ladies that have gone through that over the years, whether it's people I worked with or friends, or of course my wife Alyssa, who just went through it a few years ago. But I just I love that stuff. And you know, I think one of the things, at least from my perspective, that the large majority of people don't understand is just all of the work that goes into even get something like that. You know, there's ideas and then there's timing. Sometimes they match, sometimes they don't. Oh, and then by the way, if the idea does match the right time, it takes a ton of work. Yeah. And it takes a ton of teamwork and it takes a ton of what money, takes a ton of everything to get that stuff done. So anyway, I just think that's really neat. What we're was it always associated? Because the 35035, that's that's United Way, right? Yeah, focused, right? Has it always been a part of the United Way? What did it kind of come through the United States? Got it. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 36:21

Yep. I was started in United Way and yeah, Tiff Tiffany McSheen um has been the leader of that at you know United Way for many, many years. And yeah, and that's how I got to actually work for United Way, is because of that program. Oh, really? Okay. Yeah. Got to meet the the staff and got really involved with United Way and love their mission and working for Train Indy, you know, it was a sales role essential essentially. Sure. So I wanted to meet more people. So got involved was a loaned executive, is what they called. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:52

A loan executive?

SPEAKER_00 36:54

Loaned.

SPEAKER_03 36:54

A loaned, got yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:56

So I could be wrong on that now that my brain is not working, but yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:00

But we uh I need one of those producers like they have in the big time podcast looking stuff up for us.

SPEAKER_00 37:07

This is what this is, yes, yeah. But we maybe William, he's five, he could do that. Yeah, eventually.

SPEAKER_02 37:12

I mean, yeah, the environment that all these kids are growing up in now, it's like he knows how to work by phone, which is terrifying. He's wants to look at cars, pictures from the show cars, lightning, and that type of stuff, right?

SPEAKER_00 37:22

So can I look at pictures? Mine's all tractors. Oh, yeah, there you go. Yeah, yep, yep.

SPEAKER_03 37:27

Anyway, sorry to interrupt.

SPEAKER_00 37:28

Yeah, I know that's good. But yeah, so got involved in that program, which is so smart. What it did is it it connected a it was out it's outreach. You know, they they work with businesses to do, you know, their own businesses zoo campaigns. And so they would they had these volunteers that because they had I don't know how many businesses, like hundreds and hundreds of businesses, right? And so they wanted to talk to these CEOs and just you know, level set with the CEOs, have a conversation, making sure like that they have any questions, and and then usually they're a their campaign coordinator, usually like every business has a campaign coordinator. Yeah, makes sense, and meet with them too. And these volunteers would probably get like five or six businesses and then work with that business in order to go in and and have in person, and then you'd bring somebody from United Way in to have those conversations. So it was like the the United Way people could have the conversations about all the United Way stuff, right? And then the volunteer would be like the heart and be like, this is why I get involved, this is why I spend my time, this is why I'm so you know, love United Way. And I think that made more of an impact than you know, having the United Way person there. And I sat in both seats, yeah. So being a part of that and getting so excited, and and so like I would start having the con, like taking on the United Way person too, because I was just so excited about it. And I'm like, oh, and then they're doing this, and they have four bold goals, and they're doing this. And and so I was meeting with the resource manager at the time, Sarah. Yeah, we were having coffee, and she's like, Well, you know, love talking to you, but the reason I wanted to have coffee is because I'm I'm leaving United Way and I want you to take my job. Wow. Okay, okay. That's a good coffee book. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, I'd moved to Fargo, a single person had a house and was like, Can I work for a nonprofit? You know, I was doing okay at NDSCS, loved NDSCS, loved my job. Yep. But then started having conversations with Cherry Thompson, who was the president at the time, and she's just an amazing person. I had a hard time saying no to her. So, but it was a great, yeah. It was a great next step. I mean, it it is it it built onto what how I have my job today. Sure. I was with the United Way for two years, and my whole the whole time there it was making connections in the community. Yeah. It was going out and having, you know, having conversations and and speaking about the United Way and going to these businesses, you know, going to border states and talking with Tammy Miller, who's a force, yeah, you know, and you're just, you know, but you learn to do it.

SPEAKER_02 40:21

Yeah. And so what a what an awesome, I don't know, um, training isn't the right word, but I mean, I guess it's almost like a like a crash course for sure. Yeah, I was just gonna say baptism by fire, or however you wanna, you know, maybe at the time did you realize at the time the value that that that time was bringing you, or was it sort of you're just too close to it to even realize maybe in that moment?

SPEAKER_00 40:45

Uh probably I'd say maybe a little bit of both. I think it was I think what you know, United Way, they hire passionate people. And that passion comes through to a lot of businesses, and then that those businesses hire those people, you know. It and so I think you you've seen people that have left the United Way to go other places, and that was Sarah's, she went to Shields. Got it, yeah. And so you just knew that that happened, but I don't think I was expecting it to happen. But that's fair, you know, and so you know, in it, I mean, when you're doing it, you're just doing it, you're just enjoying it, just filled my bucket in so many different ways.

SPEAKER_02 41:29

And I met so many amazing people, and well, everybody, everybody wants to be part of something bigger than themselves. Yeah, everybody. If if a person is willing to keep their eyes open for those types of experiences to not just, you know, utilize whatever environment they're in to make money or get a title or do this, but you're actually giving back in some way, shape, or form in your day-to-day, man. I feel like the the opportunities and and options become endless. Right. Because that mindset is is really the most valuable part of it.

SPEAKER_00 42:01

Yeah, I agree. And that was one of the reasons why I took the job. I mean, I took a pay cut, you know, and sitting down and crunching the numbers, and you know, and I loved Indy S and I loved the people I worked with. I wasn't looking for another job. And so, but it was like, okay, I might deplete my bank account a little bit here, but I'm filling other buckets and then led me to a job with Microsoft. So, you know.

Higher Ed Retention And Student Success

SPEAKER_02 42:30

So I do what so one more quick question for you, just kind of as it relates to the journey up to this point. So your your education, your your actual formal education was in psychology and counseling, right? Okay. So as you think back on conversations that you've had with leaders or in your example, CEOs, or you know, maybe in your, you know, of course, the individuals that you're visiting with in your Microsoft role today, or your entire journey at Microsoft, you know, what are some what are some things that people without the training that you have, the education that you have in day-to-day conversations might miss that you might pick up on because of your education and your training.

SPEAKER_00 43:21

So have you ever done Strikes Finder? Yeah. I was told I can't take it anymore because I've taken it too many times.

SPEAKER_03 43:29

So what strength is that?

SPEAKER_00 43:31

Yeah. Yeah. I don't I was like, okay, maybe I shouldn't take this anymore.

SPEAKER_03 43:36

But wait, first of all, who took okay, who told me to die?

SPEAKER_00 43:42

I I probably took it five times. You know, and the trainer, the I think the last trainer I had was like, oh, you've taken it this many times. Maybe this should probably you know, and they and she talked about that you get what five, and there's like a top 10, type 15 typically, and then they name It down to five. So I mean, I every single time I took it, it was different.

SPEAKER_03 44:03

Oh, really? Interesting. That was the next question. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:05

But I had woo okay. Every single time. Yeah, yeah. You know? And then individual individualization was me another one that was very top. So I think, and I don't know if that was my my education or just who I am or why I wanted to go into psychology because I liked knowing who that person is and understanding who that person is and what makes them think and talk and you know live and make the decisions they make. Yeah. But I think it honed it in a little bit and made it, you know, be like everybody's different. Everybody thinks differently. There's, you know, a lot of different lived experiences. And so you might come into a conversation thinking you know somebody, and then you're like, oh, okay, this is actually how who you are.

SPEAKER_02 44:53

Absolutely. And so well, especially in an environment, too, I think, Taya, where so many of the people that that a person meets, even through the early years of one's career journey, a lot of the people that you quote unquote meet are more in a discretionary time setting. So whether it's after work at a bar or whatever it might be, you know what I mean? Like that's discretionary time, right? That's different than actually having a meaningful conversation around something, let's just say professional, right? Working towards a shared vision or a goal, or, you know, in a personal relationship, right? I mean, that's a completely different environment. And I remember vividly growing up, you know, specifically in my 20s and 30s, and just really trying to delineate the difference between that, you know, because you're it it's just so, you know, clearly your ability to create connections is something that not only are you really good at, but that you actually really enjoy doing. Can you think of any experiences or moments, you know, from your childhood or you know, in the way that you were raised that because it could be an eight, right? Like you said, I mean it just could be the way you are, but yeah, sometimes it's not. I was just curious if there was maybe like an acute moment or anything like that that was just like, holy cow, there's something here.

SPEAKER_00 46:11

I don't I don't know. You know, I think I grew up very close to family. Yeah. My mom had a large family, my dad had two sisters and cousins, and we were always really close. And we lived in, you know, similar. So it was like, you know, you'd go and hang out with your 10, 13 cousins, you know, and just uh socialize. And my my my mom's very social. My dad is too. And my dad's quiet, and he's the quiet farmer, but he'll he'll visit with you all day.

SPEAKER_03 46:47

Over a cup of coffee right there. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:50

And maybe something sweet. There we go. But uh yeah, I you know, I just I think it's just the way I grew up.

SPEAKER_02 46:57

Yeah. And that makes sense. Yeah. That makes sense. I mean, I I do think some of that is innate, you know, just a comfortability around being other around others. But then there's a there's a way that that bifurcates, I believe to be true, where you know, you can be you can be comfortable around others, but is it self-serving? Or are you truly interested in other people? And that was a unique thing to learn, yeah. At least for me as I was growing up. It's just like, oh this person isn't really that interested in me. Uh-huh. They're they're they they're trying to get me interested in them or shoot or feigning interest in me because they think that they might be able to get something from me.

SPEAKER_00 47:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:36

Are you able to snuff that out pretty quick?

SPEAKER_00 47:37

I've learned too. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And I think it depends. Yeah. I think it depends on, I mean, especially now in my position. Yeah. And I I remember when I took the job at United Way, I was like, oh, I have to ask people for money now. Like, you know, talk about money, you know, you don't talk about people's money. Those, you know.

SPEAKER_02 48:00

And growing up in your environment.

SPEAKER_00 48:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:03

You know, if you grow if your old man was a financial advisor, yeah. Easy.

SPEAKER_00 48:07

Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, my dad was a, you know, a very frugal farmer. I mean, he was able to be successful through the 80s and continue to farm. So he's the one. Yeah. Yep. The one. Yep. And so, you know, I learned about how to, you know, be, you know, manage money and those types, but you know, you know, talk about the dollars and those types, you know.

SPEAKER_02 48:26

You certainly sure sure as hell don't ask somebody.

SPEAKER_00 48:29

No. Uh-uh. No. And so out of your comfort zone. Yes, for sure. But I had great mentors at United Way. And it wasn't about asking money. It wasn't about asking for a money. It was about asking people to get involved in a cause that meant something. And then it was like, you know, could you do that with your dollars? Yeah. Your and and I always wanted it to be genuine. I never wanted it to be like, I didn't want to pull the wool over somebody's eyes because there was a lot of smart people that I was having conversations with that would have seen right through it, right? And one of the hardest I tricky, maybe hard, you know, a conversation I learned the most from was a CEO of a bank here in Fargo. Yeah. And he had done well for himself over the years and you know, could invest and hadn't been investing in United Way.

SPEAKER_03 49:27

And so was he investing elsewhere? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:31

A very generous man. Yeah. Just hadn't been with United Way. And so and I didn't know him. And I just uh we coached. I I reached out to him and you know, we I got a I got a meeting with him and I actually sat down and kind of did a coaching session with my boss at the time. Michael also was in there and was like, okay, I know him. Yep. These are the things he's gonna say, you know. And we had coffee at beans, and

United Way Fundraising With Integrity

SPEAKER_00 50:00

it's not beans anymore, but that was like that was like my second home. I had a lot of coffee at beans, a lot of mini donuts.

SPEAKER_03 50:06

Oh my god, those things are incredible.

SPEAKER_00 50:07

Yeah. And remember the conversation, I was asking him to invest, and uh he told me no. And I was prepared for that. And my boss had said, you know, you say thank you. If somebody tells you no, you say thank you. And I said, you know, appreciate the time. It was great. And then we we followed up, and it was so we just we we clicked. Like I just really enjoyed him. He was very in a really interesting person. And we clicked and you know, had several conversations, and you know, he was really excited about the United Way, loved it. I don't think there was one person that was like, I'm not gonna give to United Way because I don't like it. Right. It was just I have other things that I do, right? Organization, yeah. Yeah, which I appreciated. I'm okay with that. Absolutely. And so it was he later on said, you know, I'm not gonna personally invest, but the the bank is gonna do a campaign. And they that first year, they ended up making more than I had asked him for.

SPEAKER_03 51:15

Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 51:16

Yeah. And he was able to engage his employees. He obviously gave part of it too, and he invested money in the campaign and those types of things. But yeah, so it was just kind of this, you know, it made a big impression on me. And just like go in and be genuine and don't expect things from people and you know, don't try to pull the wool over somebody's eyes, just you know, be transparent.

SPEAKER_05 51:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:37

And I learned a lot about that from you know, that my any of my sales role, even in train and d when I was doing sales, it was like, we have this, you know, do you want it? If not, great, okay. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 51:49

Well, I think that's a common misconception from in sales or of sales, I should say, as a someone that's been in it my literal entire life. But the the perspective might be, or you I've heard people say, Oh, I could never, I could never get into sales. You know, I just I don't like trying to convince somebody of something, and I'm like, whoa, yeah. That ain't it. No, that's not what we're trying to. I mean, none of us would be able to sleep, you know, put our head on a pillow at night if that's if that's what we are actually being tasked to do.

SPEAKER_00 52:19

And those that are doing it, they don't last they're not, yeah, they're not successful.

SPEAKER_02 52:23

Especially someone with a a woo strength.

SPEAKER_00 52:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:26

You know, I would imagine, well, actually, I led I led an individual for 10 years, great man, awesome guy, one of my best friends, he's a woo guy. And we had a lot of conversations over the years around like, well, you know, at some point there's a lot of diminishing returns between how much somebody can like you and the value you can bring them.

SPEAKER_00 52:48

Right. Sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:49

Right?

SPEAKER_00 52:49

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 52:51

So, like, you either got to figure out what that line is, like, do they like me enough now?

SPEAKER_04 52:57

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 52:58

Yeah. Am I am I okay with the amount that this person likes me?

SPEAKER_04 53:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:02

Or am I going to continue to keep going back to the well to try to? I'm like, how do you do that with your wife? How do you do that with your kids? How do you do it with your parents and your family? So we had a lot of really interesting conversations about it. And he's, you know, one of the best sellers we've ever had because he was able to create relationships, but then also deliver on his promises. You know, so I think some people, many people in a sales environment will find themselves, hey, I've created the relationship, I've got the opportunity, and then it becomes a completely different game at that point, right? As you know. So I just thought I'd throw that out there. That's really that's really interesting. How did you end up then over at Microsoft?

SPEAKER_00 53:37

It's a great story. It's kind of a full story circle circle story, too. So Sandy Piotz, who I knew her socially. Yeah. Her husband was my math teacher growing up.

SPEAKER_03 53:50

Very and okay.

SPEAKER_00 53:51

Well, yep. And I reached out to her. She was the site director of f of Microsoft at the time. Yeah. I'd reached out to her because they would were doing a lot with Microsoft very involved with United Way. Yeah. And so I had reached out to her and said, Hey, do you want to just have coffee and talk about the campaign? And so we had coffee and and also just to catch up and those types of things. And so Sandy's an amazing person. And we were, you know, talked about United Way. And then, you know, as Sandy does, she wants to know about you. Yeah. And she's like, Well, what do you want to do in five years? You know, where where are you thinking? You know, and I said, I don't know. If something pops up in Microsoft, let me know. I mean, never in while my wildest dreams, you know, I have a master's in mental health counseling, like I'm higher ed. Like, what would what would be at Microsoft?

SPEAKER_03 54:41

If you could think of something more opposite, right? It's probably that.

SPEAKER_00 54:45

Yes. Yeah. And she called me six months later. She goes, I have your dream job. Yeah, it was six months later. And I had applied. I had been, I had been, you know, broached to apply for other jobs. And there was one I didn't get, and I was kind of disappointed. It was still loved United Way, but it was just afterwards, I was like, Okay, this is there's reasons why you don't get certain things. And when this popped, I was like, really? Okay. And she was telling me about it. She's like, it's community engagement, it's it's education, it's rural America. She's like, there's just a book. Yep. She goes, I want you to meet this man, Mike Egan, who would eventually be my boss. She's like, he, you know, he's in Seattle. He's a great guy. We had like a 15-minute super con, like super fast conversation sitting in my car. Oh wow. Yeah. And I was like, okay. And then I never heard anything. Oh. And I was like, all right, well, guess they're not gonna do this project in Fargo. And then I got a call saying, you know, we're gonna do, you know, HR phone interview. And I'm great, you know. I had no idea what this project was. You know, I don't know. So you still keep it in the way now that I think about it, and they didn't even know. And it was a project that was created by the president of Microsoft, Brad Smith, and his chief of staff at the time, Kate Bankin, to help support economic development in rural areas after the 2016 election. Just saw that there was just a big disparity around technology in rural America. So he's like, let's do some things in rural America.

The Coffee That Led To Microsoft

SPEAKER_00 56:30

Chose Fargo as one of the sites because we had Microsoft Doug Bergum, obviously, he knew Doug. And then Wisconsin. He's an Appleton guy. Oh, really? Big Packer fan. So chose those two. Yeah, right. I know. I don't I don't give him too much creep about it. Um, but so they all of a sudden they're like, nope, we're a bunch of people are coming to Fargo. We're gonna do in-person interviews. So we want you to come this day. Brad Smith had been in DC and did like a launch, like pop, you know, a video. So I was able to like listen to what they were announcing, and I'm like, okay, this is what I'm might be doing in Fargo. So I had a 45-minute conversation that is so unheard of in Microsoft. I mean, you usually go through several, several interviews.

SPEAKER_02 57:24

I know a few folks that have kind of been through the hamster wheel over there for various positions, roles, whatever it might be. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 57:30

Mine was for 45 minutes. It was at the end of the day, I was the last one that they met with. And I don't remember a whole lot about it because it was just fast and furious. But I do remember they asked me, they said, you know, this position's community engagement, you know, how tell me about how, you know, tell us how you know people and you, you know, in the community. I said, Well, I work for United Way. I've gotten to know a lot of people at United Way and and train N D. I said, but this is North Dakota. I said, the six degrees and degrees of separation don't really apply here.

SPEAKER_04 58:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:05

They, you know, it's usually like one or two, and then you find out you're related to somebody.

SPEAKER_02 58:10

Right, right, for sure. Yeah, it's just the one degree of separation that is far going because North Dakota is.

SPEAKER_00 58:15

If you don't know somebody, you know somebody that knows somebody. So, you know, that was kind of I was like, God, I can't believe I said that, you know, in this interview at Microsoft and these people from you know, Seattle and DC and whatever. And then I got the job, and that was almost nine years ago. That was nine years ago, okay. Yeah, in August, it'll be nine years.

SPEAKER_02 58:33

August of 20 or 17. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Okay. Yeah. So what do you think it was that put you over the hump from their perspective?

SPEAKER_00 58:43

Yeah. I mean, just even having conversation with my boss afterwards, it was like, you know, he's like, you kind of came in there. You just you're you were who you were.

SPEAKER_05 58:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:50

You know, you weren't trying. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, the fact that I had higher ed background, mental health background, you worked for United Way. I knew a lot of people in the community, you know, all those different factors I think definitely weighed into it. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, it was just, yeah. And then we built it out. You know, we built out the program going forward.

SPEAKER_02 59:17

Thinking of the strengths finder, thinking of the the woo preference, thinking about, you know, all of the individuals that you've had a chance to work with and and get to know and just the the the network, I guess is the way to put it. Have you ever had any struggles with authenticity, or has it always been pretty easy for you?

SPEAKER_00 59:35

You know, I think it's that imposter syndrome that falls in place, you know, and and I always want to be authentic. Yeah. And so I I self-reflect on like, okay, is this am I who I am? You know, is this me being me? And you know, I think we all kind of fall into some, you know, aspects of like, okay, I have to be toe the line. And and I used to talk about being United Waite. Yeah. When I worked for United Way, like I was United Waitea.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:05

And what is United, what was United Waytea?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:08

Yeah, it was just, you know, it was yeah, I don't know. It was a a way of just being who I am, but like towing the line. Sure, you know, being more professional.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:23

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:23

You know, yeah. Like I was going out and speaking, you know, I was to large groups of people making them cry. Yeah. Yeah. Somebody asked me, they're like, is it your job to make people cry? And I'm like, well, it's a side effect, yes, you know, when you're having conversations about, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:37

It jumps to get them to give you money. Yes. But sometimes I'm just yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:40

Sometimes, you know, grand crying helps with that. But yeah, and I so knowing that and kind of like having that, I mean, there's sometimes I was just kind of like, I didn't love it. Yeah. And so I think now that, you know, I'm in this leadership position, I I don't see myself as Microsoft A. You know, I just I am who I am.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:02

Sure. That's just you think that's just growing up?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:07

Wisdom.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:08

Yeah. Experience.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:09

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. For sure. But yeah, no, I, you know, and I have amazing friends, you know, Mandy, Manda McKinnon, uh, Schilling, you know. I mean, she's just, she's always, I remember she came to Microsoft and spoke to a women's group, and she was very adamant about like, don't use filters on your pictures because you're gonna be, you know, 70 looking back and being like, those weren't my eyelashes. You know, that's really funny. Or when you filter your picture and your significant other is in there and you're like, he doesn't have makeup on. Right, right. You know, and so it's like, you know, that that made an impression on me. That was like, oh, okay. So even being authentic in like how I show up and you know, my pictures and putting my life out on social media and LinkedIn, like being very authentic there too, you know, is she just was very integral in that.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:07

Authenticity in today's age is a little bit different perhaps than it was 20, 30 years ago. When you think about obviously social media and things of that nature, and how authentic are you when you're talking to somebody face to face or you're on a call or you're in a meeting, there seems to be a large gap. You know, perhaps it's closing. I don't know. I I gave up on Facebook and Instagram, you know, five, six years ago. For you. And I'm you know, good. Uh Twitter X, I still know, is kind of my Achilles heel sometimes, as it were. But anyway, uh there seems to be a wide gap, and maybe it's closing between the authenticity that you might see from having a conversation not unlike this, and then what you might see from somebody on social media. Why do you think that is?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:48

I think it's just the judgment, yeah, you know. I think putting your best foot forward, you know. And then also, I mean, I have it's not that I don't want to put the the struggles out there. Yeah, it's just I'm more of a private person, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:05

Do you think too that you get to a point in life when you realize that nobody really cares?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:09

Yeah, yeah. And I shouldn't say I'm a private person. I can I can be an open book, but like there's just some things that I'm just like.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:16

Well, if you don't have anything, yeah, you know, that you're holding on to, then you know, there's transparency, and then there's like, you know, okay, that's enough. Like I don't need to know that about you.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:26

Yes, right. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:27

And you know, some people, God love them, right? I mean, they're just, you know, everything's on the table and that's fine, and you can learn to live with it, and that's great. And that's it is what it is. But I think the the whole, the whole concept of social media obviously, you know, has changed the way in which I think people show up day to day. And then of course you you hear, you know, some of the negative effects of that, you know, where you see things that happen in social media that actually impact somebody's personal life or professional life because of the lapse in judgment. Perhaps, you know, what you're talking about. It's like, oh, can spread like wildfire. It's just a really interesting thing. I feel like we could we could probably park here for hours. All right. We did a little bit when Mandy was here a few weeks ago. I had a great conversation, and she sat right where you are. And it makes a lot of sense that you guys are really close. I can see a lot of similarities, and it makes a lot of sense that you guys that form a friendship.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:15

Yeah, she's an amazing person.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:16

So yeah, yeah, yeah. We we had a lot of fun. What was your what was your first role at Microsoft exactly? What was your title?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:22

Yep. So it was Tech Spark Manager. So Tech Spark is the program that's Brad created. We rolled it out to six locations, seven locations across the United States. We were the first two. So we were flying the plane pretty fast as we were building it.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:39

And funny how that works in corporate America, doesn't it? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:43

And I did that, you know, at NDSCS too. I mean, it was a brand new program and you just got to do it, right? Yeah, yeah. So, you know, I kind of had had these like intrapreneur, as I call it, experiences, like entrepreneur mindset, but you work for a company, so

TechSpark And Rural Economic Development

SPEAKER_00 1:05:00

you don't have to work live in your parents' basement. You know, you get a regular paycheck. You don't have to worry about like you still have to pay, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:07

You're paying taxes now and real human. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:09

Yeah. I can't sell my business, you know, and that's that's theirs. But, you know, so there's these like, you know, challenges that come with that. And luckily, uh, you know, my boss Mike and the leadership at Microsoft were, you know, all four just like, you know, do what you gotta do. This is a brand new program. We don't, you know, like let's see what happens. And we had a lot of learnings, you know, we had a budget that we can make an investments in. And, you know, we're working with groups on first we started with computer science education. So like investing, trying to get more kids to have, you know, uh, you know, be taught in computer science education. And it was interesting, these people at Microsoft in Seattle that were creating these programs were like, just have your partner in your community do this. Or like, there's an obeying. There's no partner. So I was like, thank you. But where this isn't Seattle. This is Fargo. Right. And they're like, wait, where are you? Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, so that was one thing that it was like, we have to cultivate these partnerships, you know. And so was able to do that with EduTech in in North Dakota to help become our training partner to help, you know, you know, computer science education in North Dakota. But so, you know, it was interesting because I got to sit on the other side of the seat from United Way. So I was, you know, I was raising funds. Yeah. And now I was giving funds. So sitting on the other side of the table and working with nonprofits and others.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:39

And which do you like better? If that's even a question you can answer.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:43

I don't know. Yeah. I mean, I like my job. Yeah, you know, now, you know. And I mean you got that out. Yeah. No, I'm just kidding. Exactly. That's a really good job. I like it.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:53

I'm not trying to out you if I get up. And it's just like, turns out she's miserable. No, I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:58

I there's challenges, you know. I never expected that there would be the challenges that there were. You know, I I don't like saying no to people that have really good ideas. And so I I love the no but.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:10

You know, the no butt. And people are like, what's the no butt? And I said, no, but let me connect you with this person, you know, and and a lot of it was had a lot of conversations with like, I don't know what I'm doing. Like, yeah, I there's there's a lot of opportunity to do some really great stuff. Let's let's have these conversations. And we made some investments. Some were great, some didn't pan out. But, you know, we learned from those. And I think one of our early learnings were when we were making investments, other people started taking notice. Like if Microsoft was making an investment in computer science, or they were like, Well, what do you guys do? And can we get involved? You know, or we'd have nonprofits that are like, Hey, you know, can we say that you guys invested in us? And I said, Yes, as long as we're not the lead, you know. Sure. Well, this wasn't a PR thing. Yeah. We truly wanted to make a difference. And I think that's why I got involved because I was like, if this was a PR thing, you know, seemed like it'd be something that'd be up your alley.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:13

Yeah. You probably would have figured that out pretty quick. Yes. Once you start rolling. Yeah. Because either the you either either you have the wind at your back or you don't.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:20

Right. And and a lot of people said that, you know. I mean, I had people, several people come up to saying, Oh, and and you know, I'm not gonna sit here and say that this didn't benefit Microsoft, right? For sure. You can have a you can have it both ways. You can have it both ways, and it was. And so I'm like, so do you not want us to give multi- you know, millions of dollars into the community just because it could have a benefit?

SPEAKER_02 1:08:40

Right.

unknown 1:08:41

Like, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:42

It's not a reason to say no. Right. Yeah, it's not the only reason to say yes, right, right.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:46

Yeah, and so when and you know, I did marketing training and you know, media training and those types of things. Oh, that's cool. With yeah, through Microsoft.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:54

I suppose they have a they must have a machine for that.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:57

Oh, yes. And it's awesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:59

Um is that in is that in in Seattle area? Yeah. Oh yeah. Yep, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:04

And so in Bellevue?

SPEAKER_02 1:09:05

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:05

Um Redmond. Redmond, sorry. We do have some in Bellevue too. Yeah. One thing that we talk about is, you know, obviously if we're doing great things, the media is gonna pick up on it. And so we always talked about it's about the project or the nonprofit first and not about Microsoft. You know, Microsoft can be in it. Yeah. But if we are giving money to a nonprofit, it was, you know, this nonprofit was doing this great thing, some funding from Microsoft type of thing. So that was one thing I talked to nonprofits about. They're like, hey, can we can we use you? Can we say that we're getting money from you? I'm like, yes, you know, and like this is we how we would love for you to do it this way. Yeah. Because, like I said, once people knew that we were making investments, they're like, oh, well, if Microsoft's doing this, this must be good. So, you know, the strength of Microsoft is that, you know, I mean, yeah, we can take some risks that others can't. Makes sense, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:29

But they're involved, yeah. We should be too.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:31

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that was the grand farm. Yeah. You know, we made a $1.5 million in grand, you know, this nonprofit that was pretty much obscure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. People, yeah. Why is Microsoft getting involved in agriculture? Yeah. That's a good question. In such a significant way.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:47

So why?

SPEAKER_00 1:10:48

Yeah. So we were tasked by Brad to have a signature project in each region. Okay. The other regions, obviously I said Wisconsin, we had three data centers. So it was eastern Washington, Wyoming, and then Southern Virginia. And then we went to El Paso, Texas, which isn't rural, but had similar, you know, disadvantages with technology. And then we went across the border into Juarez. So or Mexico too. Interesting. Yep. And then a few later years later, we added Jackson, Mississippi. Why? We just weren't in the heart. We just didn't have South. Deep South. Yeah, deep south. Interesting. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:30

So have you been down there?

SPEAKER_00 1:11:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:32

What do you think?

SPEAKER_00 1:11:33

It's uh it's great. Yeah. You know, it's uh very unique. And what I loved is that, you know, each each Tech Spark region, they they hired somebody that was local. Oh, that might be a good thing. Knew the region, smart, knew the people. Yeah. It was just one of the reasons that they wanted to do it this way. And it worked because we just knew what works in our community. And to say back to Seattle, hey, we don't have this. Right. So what can't just give money to them because we don't have it. This is united.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:00

My son would disagree. Oh, yeah. He needs it.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:05

He needs it. Yes. Yes. Yeah. So we yeah, it I've been to all of them. We're really close. We're a very it's it's a interesting, unique team. Yeah. From people from all over the United States.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:19

How many individuals?

SPEAKER_00 1:12:20

It it's grown here and there. Uh, we probably have like what, 11 right now. Okay. So still, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:26

Pretty tight.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:26

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:27

Uh, we have New Jersey. We've brought New Jersey on. We brought some bigger cities on too, just because they were doing similar things in those cities. So Atlanta, LA, and Chicago. Interesting. Yeah. And so all different backgrounds. I mean, my background versus my colleague in Chicago, very different. But I would think we became really good friends. And it was like this little like I've been with these people for nine years and they're family. And when we get together, we're super close. And everybody, even other people in Microsoft, we're like, How are you guys so close when you live so far away? Sure. And, you know, one of my best colleagues, my best friend colleagues, she's in Quincy, Washington. And she just turned 60. I'm in my 40s. And we're still super, she just has she has grandchildren the same age as my children, right? So, like, yeah, you know, but we're, you know, we just went to see George Strait in Austin, Texas, because we're just good friends. You know, I mean, it's just people that I care about.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:28

Yeah, well, similar interests, shared interests, and and similar desires. And yeah, I mean, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:33

Could have totally different backgrounds. And, you know, I just, yeah, my colleague JJ in Mississippi, very different background, but we're, I mean, we've had some amazing conversations and you know, have helped each other grow along the way. So it's just been it's been awesome.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:50

So uh it seems like a lot of the things that you've worked on, I don't know, we've got a little bit of your career left to unpack, but up to this point, a lot of things that you've worked on have taken, have required time to kind of you know mature and come to fruition. You think about whether it's Tech Spark or you know, United Way type environment. How how do you how do you manage kind of the the energy around that? And how do you stay patient? How do you you know stay in the moment with without looking too far ahead at the end results and those types of things? How have you ever thought through that?

SPEAKER_00 1:14:23

Yeah, I think that is something that I do is is like forward think. Yeah, I think that is definitely of strength, but also, you know, challenge too is like, okay, I don't want to get too far ahead. But you know, and I I like I like I'm a puzzle piecer, like fixing things, like putting things together. So I'm like, God, if we could do this and we could put this together and then this would happen, and then this would be great. And we're just gonna do it, right? It doesn't always happen that way. So yeah, and then these are like big things. Yeah, yeah. You know, like with the state of North Dakota, it's like I'm gonna have DPI and I'm gonna have the governor's office, and I'm gonna have, you know, tribal schools come together, and we're all gonna do this thing, and it's gonna be great, and it's gonna make this huge impact and save the world. And it's just it doesn't always work that way.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:12

Uh, but but if not you, who? Yeah, yeah, right. I mean, so many people are afraid to even begin that race because they're either afraid of failure. Well, there's a myriad of reasons that you know, people just don't start at things, right? But it doesn't seem like you've ever had any issue just hitting the ground running.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:30

Right. And I think having leadership, yeah, that trust, you know, I don't have to worry about like if this doesn't work, that I'm gonna lose my job. Right. And I think, you know, I have my own, like I don't want to fail. I want this to work. But my my the leadership trusts that I can do that. And so that that definitely helps.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:56

Oh my gosh. I mean, you have to have that, right? Otherwise you'd you'd lose your mind. I've always said free to fail, expect to learn. Yeah. You know, make winning decisions. Go, you know, our our job as leaders is to help create an environment where you feel empowered to make decisions. Yeah. And if you don't know what decision to make, it's our job to help you understand what resources you have at your disposal to make those decisions. Yeah. And then if you're still coming back for help, maybe you're not in the right seat. And that's fine too. But like you also need people that are willing to take some chances and take some risks and make some decisions and then come back. Hey, I kind of did this today. Yeah. It's like, okay, sweet. We've told you to free to fail, expect to learn. We've told you to go make mistakes, yeah, make decisions. So we're not gonna you know bite your head off for it for lack of a better way to put it. Now, now let's review it, let's talk about it. What can we take from it? Can we learn it? And then just like in anything else, just try not to make the same mistake twice. Right. You know, in life and in a career, right? Yeah. So very uh very clearly to me, just in the you know, hour plus that we've been talking, I mean, zero, zero hesitancy getting started. Was there any do you have any setbacks from leadership position vis-a-vis individuals that perhaps didn't either share a vision with you or maybe didn't get behind you that you had to overcome in some of your journey towards the end result of of whatever whatever goal that was or or whatever project that was?

SPEAKER_00 1:17:27

Yeah, you know, I've been very lucky with direct leadership that I haven't had that issue. It was others. Yeah. It was, you know, at NDSCS when I was trying to implement the first year experience program, and there were some things I wanted to do. And when people have worked at a company or business for 30 plus years and they've had a lot of learned experiences, they're like, oh, we tried that one year and it didn't work. Well, that was 15 years ago, and maybe things have changed. Yeah, we have the internet now. Like those just like there's just things. And so, you know, when I was young, yeah, I was this energetic young gal that was, you know, trying to do some big changes, and you know, I there I ruffled some feathers. And like I said, luckily I had my leadership, you know, my boss and and others and the president, you know, that had my back. And so, you know, I couldn't say that I have a lot of those challenges. And and, you know, at Microsoft too, there were things that, you know, we want, we want it done this way, not necessarily from our leadership, sure, but from other group, you know, there was, you know, some programs that were being created around computer science education. Yeah. And they want it done the certain way.

SPEAKER_05 1:18:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:42

Well, that's just not gonna work here in North Dakota. So, you know, we have to do it a different way and you know, push back, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:49

And so how much politics do you have to work through on a day-to-day basis? Like actual Yeah, maybe not. Uh let me ask that different.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:56

Like red tape or yeah, there we go.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:58

Red tape's a better way to ask it.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:59

Yeah, not a whole lot.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:00

Good.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:00

Yeah, that's what's been nice is that if I want to make an investment, you know, I'm giving given some autonomy. The the $1.5 million investment, yes, you know, check a few boxes, down a few i's and cross a few T's on that one. Yeah, and that was an that was a fun process, you know, kind of going back to that to working with Greg Taveen from Emerging Prairie and Brian Carroll when this whole idea came up of like this farm of the future. I was very obviously as a farm kid, you know, and and agriculture was very excited about it. And I was like, okay, how do we how do we get a part of this? And and and with our signature projects that Brad wanted us to do something with you know, that that had an impact in our community and like and a this meaningful, and you know, it was like obviously agriculture is very meaningful in North Dakota. Well, yeah, absolutely. And if we could have a meaningful impact in agriculture, like this would you know support rural America,

Grand Farm And Digital Agriculture Reality

SPEAKER_00 1:20:00

right? Yep. So I remember my boss, Mike, flew out it was 2018, 18, 19, doesn't matter. Day before TEDx, which is Emerging Prairie is like one of their big events, and the night before. And we sat and whiteboarded like what would be a big investment that Microsoft could make into this like idea. And it was. They they mean they had some people backing it, but it was essentially this idea. Yeah, we had some land. Kevin Biffert donated, offered to donate some land. We had 40 acres south of Fargo, working with NDSU, working with CHS on a few things at the time. And then we so we put a plan together. We actually sat down and then we had to go and pitch it to Microsoft in Redmond. And we sat down, Doug Bergum actually sat down with us for like three hours. He's like, I know how to pitch Microsoft, clearly. Former Microsoft exec so the reason why we have Microsoft in North Dakota.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:07

Um yeah, and actually that's a not to tangent, but it would be interesting to hear you kind of describe a little bit of that, you know, from from the seat that you're in, or just Doug's influence and how that all kind of came about.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:17

So anyway, yeah, back, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:19

Yeah, we'll finish this part, but I but I I wanted to just say that because I think there's a lot of I'd be really interested to hear that.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:23

Well, it's time good timing. We just celebrated 25 years. Is it really? Yeah, that's right. I saw that, yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, so we sat down, Doug, for three hours going over this pitch deck. Yeah. His team was like, you know, you he was like during meetings. I mean, it was like this like convention that he was hosting, and he's sitting there doing this with us. It was gonna be an hour, turn out three. Yeah. Went to Microsoft, pitched it, and got it. They're like, Yes, we're gonna give you $1.5 million. I mean, that just like blew my mind. And but now I and I say we a lot when I talk about Grand Farm because I'm on their board. Yeah, we have 600 acres, we have an innovation site outside of uh Castleton. We launched this in 2019, doing some amazing, amazing work in agriculture. And what's really hard is that agriculture is one of the last industries to be digitally transformed just because it's so hard.

SPEAKER_05 1:22:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:27

I mean, when you have you know, medical industry, you have internet, right? Yeah, agriculture, you don't have internet in the field, you know. I mean, and then there's all these other different variables. I mean, you get one iteration a year to for a trial. You get, you know, there's so many different variables from like our region to, you know, even like my dad's farm. We were in the sand hills, yeah, two miles from where we were farming. Dad had another field, and it was the it was the soil was completely different. Interesting, you know. So even geography that close could be very different on how technology works. So it has been, and it's essentially a startup, right? Right. If grand farm's a startup, and so there's been some people that are like, oh, what are you guys doing there? You know, have you had any success? And I was like, you guys have no idea. Like, a the bread and butter that Grand Pharma we or that Grand Farm and Merging Prairie had is creating ecosystems to, and it's a nonprofit, and so bringing people together to solve these big giant problems are really hard to solve. Yep. It's not gonna happen in two weeks or even 10 years, you know. We've made some big strides. I mean, we've we've we hosted the you know, federal ag committee at the grand farm. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, bringing people from yeah. So I mean you talk about grand farm and other places and other geographies, they know it. And so it's just been it's been really fun. Yeah. And then, you know, we gave $1.5 million, and all of a sudden CHS is like like corporate. I mean, we were working with a local, yeah, but corporate's like, what? What's going on? So I'm getting calls from their account executive, that Microsoft's account executives, like, hey, what are you doing with my client? You know, or what are you doing with agriculture? Because my client really wants to get involved. I'm like, let's do it. Yeah. So yeah. So that was that was, you know, a really big scary investment that has done great. You know, I mean, they've had a $10 million investment by the state, another $7 million just recently. They have a lot of other partners that came on board. You know, they received, you know, million dollars to with the capital campaign to be in in Castleton. So it's just been really interesting to see that evolution and be a part of, you know, like I said, I get back to my roots, you know, like working for the largest tech company and now I'm working in agriculture.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:00

Yeah, I was just gonna say, I mean, it really it seems almost impossible.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:04

Yeah, yeah. And it's, you know, and I live with a farmer, yeah, you know, Grant's a farmer, my partner's a farmer, you know, boyfriend, you know, whatever, whatever we're calling him, you know, roommate. 2026, whatever. Baby daddy, you know, whatever we're calling him. Um but yeah, so I mean, that was really fun too. Oh fun, I guess, maybe. It's it's nice because yeah, well, and it's it's very but I also think too, I I I can drink the Kool-Aid pretty hard, you know, when I'm uh hearing all the good great things that Grand Farm's doing and the advancements of the Vagar culture, and then I go back home and talk to Grant about it, and he's like, Okay, I don't know about this. And he is you know, quintessential devil's advocate advocate. But it really helps me to focus.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:50

Yes, to understand the other, the other side of the perspective.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:54

Yeah, and I I do very much appreciate his spec perspective. It's no maybe not in the moment every time. Of course, but yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:01

Well, you're spending hours and hours and hours talking about the benefits of it, and then and then it's like yeah, no, you know, and so I am a very aware of that.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:10

And then I'm also aware of just and I have the hope that you know I see great things that Grand Farm's doing. I have a lot of hope that it is going to help, you know. So, like if our son, who's will be two in October, yeah, awesome, if he decides to farm, which he thinks his name is Tractor, he called you ask him, you say you literally say Davis, what's your name? And he goes, Tractor. Yeah. That's so cute. Yeah. And he loves Tractor, he loves being outside. Of course. Yeah. We always said we're not, if we're not gonna push him towards it, but if that's his choice, well, he might have already self-selected as like a year and a half year old. But, you know, if he wants the farm, I think, I mean, I stood on stage pregnant with him at the opening of the Grand Farm Innovation Center site. Yeah. And I got to talk about this. And I said, you know, and I got emotional because I was like, this could have a really big impact to the child I'm carrying, you know, thinking about 20 years from now, 21, 25 years from now, if he chooses to farm, that there could still be a farm.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:17

That's cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:18

You know, agriculture, hopefully, hopefully we've made some strides that it's so much better. Yeah. And, you know, and you know, because this is something that affects our family.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:29

No question.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:30

Every day.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:31

Well, I can I can feel the passion from you and just, you know, the your your energy, you know, being here with you, but also hearing, you know, the words that you're saying. It's not I can you can tell it's not lip service. I mean, you actually care about this stuff, right? I mean, it's not, it's not like you're just collecting a paycheck to talk and extol the virtues of this endeavor. Right. I mean, you truly believe in it, right? Which has the added benefit of being true.

SPEAKER_05 1:27:53

Yep. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:54

Yeah. Which isn't always the case.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:56

Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:56

I think that's that's something that uh that I've certainly experienced in My professional journey and personal journey too, where you know, people find themselves in situations where it's like, man, you know, I'm kind of stuck and I feel the friction between, you know, the reality of the person that I want to be or the life that I want to live and what brings home the bacon.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:17

I'm not suggesting that, you know, there aren't days maybe you have things pulling at you when it comes to your priorities between family or whatever it might be, but it seems like the Venn diagram of your of your of your values and and who you are as a person is overlapping nicely with the things that that you do professionally.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:34

I'm very lucky. Yeah. Yeah. I'm very blessed to have to do what I do. And I do, I mean, from Sandy saying I have your dream job nine years ago.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:41

Very true.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:42

Very true. And farmers are very cynical.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:46

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:47

Rightfully so.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:48

And understand. Yeah, I was just going to say understandable too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:50

Yeah. There, and then, you know, there's a lot of people that have tried to do great things and, you know, but like I said, it's hard to like technology advancements is really, really hard and doesn't always work. And then, you know, if things fail, then it's like, okay, well, we're done with that. Which I get, right? And so I'll have people say, well, what if this doesn't work? What if this doesn't work? What if this doesn't work? Like, what if you guys just put $1.5 million into this thing? And what if it doesn't happen? I go, yeah, but what if it does? Like, can you imagine like the worthy risk to me? This could have. I mean, we we just signed multi-million dollar contract with the USDA to become the proving ground for technology that you that is emerging that actually is kind of working, but they just need to bring it over like the last mile, like to really make sure. I mean, in North, and then so North Dakota is like the proving ground with Grand Farm, but Grand Farm is now managing other areas as well. And so we'll have this like great insight to other areas as well. And so it's like, guys, there's some cool things ahead. Just give it, give it some, you know, benefit of doubt and you know, be a be a cheerleader, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:05

So it is becoming more and more rare to have people like yourself that are willing to kind of bust through that, you know, proverbial glass ceiling, as it were, and say, no, like these are the positives that can come from this, right? I mean, nothing, nothing good or great ever comes easy. Yeah. At least that I'm aware of. Right. You know, that I mean there's always going to be challenges, but you know, is the risk you certainly believe to be true that it is. Yeah. And I think that's just awesome.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:35

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, if it doesn't, and I have egg on my face, I'll just wipe it off.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:44

Like you can't say any better than that. This is wipe it off. You know, like you can't say any better than that.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:49

Yeah. It's like tried. You gotta try. You gotta do something. And then what's the alternative? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:54

Just sit on your hands and wait for somebody else to try something. Yeah. You know?

SPEAKER_00 1:30:56

Yeah. And so, like, yeah, be a cheerleader.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:59

So you find yourself in this scenario, you're working with a lot of different people, different titles, interests, organizations. I mean, maybe, maybe individuals that have different definitions of success or what's working, or what what success looks like, and and maybe the specific endeavor. How do you how do you create alignment for people that don't necessarily report to you but are dependent on you and you are dependent on them, but trying to get people to see the bigger vision. When a person has positional authority, it can be perceived as easier to say, okay, everybody, let's get on board and let's go do this. And everyone's like, Well, that's what my boss is telling me to do. Yeah. So that's what I'm gonna do. Right. It seems to me, right, a lot of the things that you have your hands in, you are engaging with individuals outside of your positional authority.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:54

Right. So you're having to create alignment with them and perhaps even create alignment with people that are that are outside of your influence, but but are connecting with each other, or you have broaden to connect with each other. Talk a little bit about if you have a stated strategy or a way in which you go about doing that. Cause I think that is a that is a talent that is underappreciated that uh people might not even notice.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:18

Yeah. And I guess I I didn't not aware for a long time. I've been an individual contributor. I was director of career services at NDSCS for a little bit and had had a team. Now I have a team as of a year ago. But I've always worked with others, you know, and helping create ecosystems and trying to like you say, yeah, provide influence and and areas. And I think just trying to have good conversations with people, yeah, you know, and just being real with people, yeah, and getting to know people, like, okay, well, what what how you you know, the individualization piece, like how are you feeling about this? Like, yeah, how do you tick? Yeah, you know. 100%.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:06

So that's kind of where I'm at. No, that makes perfect sense. I I can relate to that as a some

Site Director Life And Culture Work

SPEAKER_02 1:33:10

my strengths ideation input uh individualization maximizer futuristic. Yeah. So there are there are things associated with that that are a blessing, and then there are also things that are associated with that with that are a curse, right? Always, but you know, without a genuine curiosity, we talk about this a lot in in sales, you know, the the best salespeople, and I would just suggest overall the the the most interesting people that I know are the ones that that show genuine curiosity about others and other things, right? We all know the people that will sit down and just want to talk about themselves all day long, and and that's that's you do you. Yeah. We probably won't have lunch again. Right. Right. If a person has genuine curiosity in somebody else or something else, I think the sky's kind of the limit, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:33:52

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, talking about just be curious. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:57

Yeah. And I and I think about how that relays, you know, as a parent.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:01

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:03

Cause there are certain days when our son Will is on one and it's like, why? What about this? What about that? And we're like, okay, maybe just a little less curiosity.

unknown 1:34:16

Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:16

We used to tell my nephew. We used to tell my nephew, just say, oh, after the 10th Y. It worked. It actually worked pretty good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:27

Thank you for that tip. Yeah. Thank you for that tip. How do you distinguish between networking and and and genuinely building a relationship? Hmm.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:41

You know, I don't ever really go into and be like, I'm gonna network. I mean, I don't like networking events. Yeah. For me, it just and I shouldn't say I don't like them. I think it they're they're they serve their purpose, right?

SPEAKER_05 1:34:55

Absolutely. Yep, I know.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:57

But you know, I just I like people, yeah, you know, and so it's like I'm gonna get to know you. And I was in Midorah this couple weeks ago. That's on the list. I want I definitely want to hear about that too. Yeah, that was wild. Yeah. I mean, and looking around this room and being like, there's amazingly interesting people in this room, and I knew it. Yeah. And so I went and grabbed this pot piece at like the reception, right? I get this pot pie, go up to this little table. There's an adorable older gentleman in a wheelchair, and we just start talking about because he's also eating a pot pie. Yeah. And I was like, this man is so fascinating. Like, and it was just this like again, curiosity, and just like, I want to meet this man. Yeah, you know. And yeah, no, we could have become besties pretty easily, but I had to go. But I just I that's just me. I guess that's always been me. Is I've always been the one. I mean, even when I was little, I would go up to mom would say you would go up to interesting people and just hi, hi, you know, we want to have a conversation. She's like, Yeah, there was some interesting people at the DMV, and you just wanted to have a conversation with them at like two.

SPEAKER_02 1:36:08

Yeah, great quality to begin with. For real. Yeah, for real. I mean, our daughter is somewhat that way, and I I just because she's two, it made me think about it, you know, the the juxtaposition or the difference, I guess, maybe between having a meek daughter versus a outgoing daughter, right? And she's she's kind of like what you described, which is just she's her own person.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:31

That's my daughter too. Yeah. She was leg hugging everybody last night. Isn't that great? Yes. It's the best. Yeah, at the Microsoft picnic, she was leg hugging everybody. Hi, four years old. I love that.

SPEAKER_02 1:36:40

I just I just love that. So, okay. Let's circle back real quick, if you don't mind. And again, thank you so much for taking the time to be here. I sincerely appreciate it. I'm learning a lot and I'm really enjoying the conversation. Yeah, yeah, it really is. It's fascinating to me to hear your your perspective on things, your experience, your wisdom. Going so let's go back the 25 years real quick. And if you wouldn't mind, maybe your take on the Microsoft story and and why Farco.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:07

Right. Well, also too. So uh my perspective has changed a little bit. Yeah. So in the nine years, the whole time I've done Tech Spark, I still do Tech Spark. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 1:37:17

Yeah, that was one of my questions too. With your new role last year, it was almost exactly a year ago. Almost a year. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:22

Over a year. Yeah. Like June 23rd or something like that. But is when I became the site director. So Sandy Piotz left. Jenny Olson was hired, and then she was there for two years. And then she had left March of 2025. And I assumed the role. I was kind of a Brad Smith, like, hey, we want Taya to do this. So, and continue to do TechSpark. Voluntold you. Yeah. Which is great. Obviously, and a great opportunity, you know. But I also had a lot of questions. So that's another story. But luckily, I was able to, you know, continue to do what I love with the team that I love, still be within the same organization as because I would have to leave a different organization. Um, I would have gone into like finance, and I got to stay in Bradsorg, which is amazing. And then I asked him to be the executive sponsor. I'm like, if you want me to be the site director, can you be the executive sponsor? And he said yes. Yeah. So I got to see him in Midorah just recently and had some conversations with him too. But yes. So my so this last year of being the site director, I've had, you know, different perspective also about the the Microsoft history and the story. Luckily, my colleague Angela was was working for Jenny and and was able to keep her on as well. And then we we hired another part-time person, Amber, who I'm just blessed to have both of them. They're absolutely amazing. Just so Angela is like she's so much more than a role. Many are, but she's employee engagement. Got it. Okay. And then Amber's kind of employee engagement, you know, site support. Cool. Looking at like how do we, you know, again, retention, you know, going back to my time of retention and just how do we the the employees that we have, how do we, how are we creating great experiences for them so they're enjoying their position, you know, how and maintaining, you know, the site, working with facilities, working with others. You know, we we probably have the most diverse outside of Redmond, most diverse campus in in terms of organization. We have a lot of different organizations. Like Microsoft's made up of a lot of different organizations. Yeah. Yeah. You have HR, you have finance, you have engineering, you have RD, you've got operations, you've got all of those. At one point, we had almost every organization represented in Fargo except for Xbox. Oh, which is probably okay now. Yeah. But we we said we processed their royalties, so we'll call it because we had a big finance. So yeah, but all of North America payroll. Okay. So we say Satya's, you know, payroll comes out of Fargo, paycheck. And so anyway, we it's been a lot of fun taking on this position and getting to know. And I worked alongside Sandy and her team and Jenny for many, many years. We did a lot of divide and conquer, a lot of the community engagement pieces were divide and conquer. It's just this internal piece with the employees that is new for me. Yeah. Which has been really cool because we did celebrate our 25-year anniversary of the acquisition of Great Plains software in April, where we had 90 individuals that were celebrating a 25-year anniversary. 90. 90. Yeah. It was wild. How many? They were all Great Plains software.

SPEAKER_02 1:40:48

All were Great Plains. And then how many came over at that time, 25 years ago? I guess what I'm asking is those 90 of you know?

SPEAKER_00 1:40:56

No, I don't know how many, you know, the total number that were acquired at the time. Uh it was it was it was pretty big.

SPEAKER_02 1:41:04

It doesn't matter. I was just curious if it's not. Yeah, it was pretty big.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:06

Yeah um but uh yeah, because Great Plains had acquired others, you know, and their dynamics. And so yeah, the product, and actually it was di the the the still today we have the dynamics product, the CRM. Yep, it was dynamics GP for a long time, Great Plains. And so it's fun to talk about They never put that together, yeah. So it was really fun to talk to people, they're like, why Microsoft has a campus in Fargo? I know, you know, yeah, and you say yeah, because of this, and they're like, Oh, okay. And so, you know, a lot of changes have happened over the 25 years, you know, and more so in the last six since COVID.

SPEAKER_05 1:41:48

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:49

We had about 1400 people that worked for and with, so we had some vendors. Yeah. When Sandy, when I first started, it was around 1400. Okay. Now in the region, we have about 675. Okay. 650.

SPEAKER_01 1:42:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:42:07

We don't have the large vendor population anymore either. Yeah. And so that's non-FTE when I say vendors, so people that worked for Microsoft, but not like with Microsoft. Yeah. And so that has been a big change, and not, you know, we have probably 300 that come into the office. Okay. Here and there. Yeah. And we're not full-time back. We don't have a return full full return to office policy.

SPEAKER_02 1:42:32

Do you have certain days, or how does that within our organization?

SPEAKER_00 1:42:36

We do have three out three days, has to be three days a week. Uh we can be flexible on those days. And yeah, being an external person too, like if I'm in the office every single day, I'm probably not doing my job. So we have some flexibility there. But yeah, so I mean, it's been an interesting, you know, when I came on last year in June, the end of June, beginning of July, we had a big layoff.

SPEAKER_05 1:43:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:43:02

People that were on my site team that I'd known for years that I was really counting on as a new site director to help me out, we're gone. Both individuals are on either side of my office, we're gone. And that was really hard. And we've had other trickles and we've had some hemorrhages too of layoffs. And we had a just an a volunteer voluntary retirement program.

SPEAKER_05 1:43:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:43:27

Which was ironic. Yeah. That we just found out that 90 individuals were celebrating a 25-year anniversary, and all of those people were now eligible for the voluntary retirement program. So we're like, oh gosh, what's going to happen here? Yeah. And we had a significant chunk that left. And that was really hard. I mean, we can't, we're not told who leaves, right? Yeah. But we we made an ask because we we we had a party. We didn't want to have like up to 90 retirement parties at the end of June, you know. And so we're like, we're just gonna do a big pirate party, you know.

SPEAKER_05 1:44:01

Smart.

SPEAKER_00 1:44:02

And so I asked those people, I'm like, if you would be willing to tell me if you're retiring, and you know, and so we had a general idea of how many. Yeah. And that was really hard getting those emails. It was people I've worked with for nine years, and oh, you're not gonna be here now. Yeah, you're it's been interesting being in this role and obviously not having anything to do with it. I have no control. Yeah, yeah. So I just tried we try to do the best that we can, you know. And and last year, right after the rifts, we had our big summer picnic. Yeah, same thing this year. We just had it last night. Yeah, walking around, and people are like, We're so glad you did this. It's 95 degrees and it we're sweltering, but we're so glad to be here. Yeah, and very proud to work at Microsoft and Fargo. And that was a conversation I had with Brad too is that we have high tenure. If people come and work in Fargo, they tend to stay. Obviously, we had 90 people that were celebrating 25-year anniversaries, low cost of living, low cost per headcount. And and we have a built-in employee engagement department, yeah, mind yeah, that is doing employee morale, like upping employ employment morale. That's what we're charged to do, and not other locations. Some of these locations don't have that. What a luxury. It is yeah, and I and so he's just was like, Oh, you this look great, you know. Yeah, he's he understands it, yeah, but then you know, really having that conversation.

SPEAKER_02 1:45:25

So well, and to be to to be removed from it, yeah, like he is, you know, you don't you don't, you know, culture isn't it's not 100% what the company does. Yeah, right. Right. We can facilitate the environment for people to get together, but it's it's still a a grassroots thing of the actual individuals there. Would you agree with that statement? Yeah. Okay, yeah. I mean, not not suggesting that a company can't, you know, forwardly look at culture as a as a as a way, because I mean clearly Microsoft does, having even just the role, the existence of the role itself, right? But this this would be the negative lens of corporate America. So forgive me for a second, right? But it's like you could look at it and say, all right, we have to do a RIF. We have we have individuals that are focused just on culture. Well, they can go because they're not revenue-driver, you know, revenue, right? You know what I mean? You could look at look at it through that lens and say, but no, we're actually gonna we're gonna continue this motion, we're gonna continue this process, we're gonna continue having these types of positions so that we can continue to try to do our best to facilitate a positive culture, even though the the nuance of being the largest. I mean, is Microsoft the largest employer? It's gotta be one of the largest employees. One of the one of one of the largest employers in the world, I would think. Yeah, got on a little bit of a lot of it.

SPEAKER_00 1:46:38

Well, no, I mean it makes sense because like Tech Spark is not running revenue generating. We're the opposite. Yeah. We're costing the company money.

SPEAKER_05 1:46:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:46:48

But yeah, we're supposed to be a five-year program. We're looking at nine years. And we we've did some other iterations. So we had like individual, like probably 10 Tech Spark locations, and then we morphed into a fellowship model where we've touched every 50, you know, all 50 states, and then Puerto Rico, working with nonprofits, doing some sort of like giving them money and doing some sort of Tech Spark project. Yeah. And then we would bring them together and do the summit, which was just that is so fascinating. Where do you hold that? We've held it a few different places, Redmond. Our last one was in El Paso, Texas, because we've got JJ down there. And so that was really cool. But I mean, just like working with these nonprofits that are doing some amazing work in their community. I've gotten to meet some like Nancy in Iowa, you know, and you know, just these just really cool people doing amazing work. Well, again, shared values. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:47:43

Sounds like. For sure. Right. I mean, you don't go into that. A person doesn't go into that sort of line of work or you know, get involved with that type of environment if you don't have, you know, the proclivities to want to to give back. Right. Yeah. You know, that would be a that that would be a unique environment for somebody that isn't into that to go into, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:48:06

Yeah. Well, and going back to the kind of the uh the business piece, right? Yeah. It's in the news that Microsoft is laying off people, right? Yeah. And that they're putting a lot of money towards data centers. Yeah. Microsoft's a business. At the end of the day, it's a business, right? That doesn't mean that they're not that Microsoft doesn't appreciate the people that still work for Microsoft. Case in point, Textbark, case in point, my current job. Yeah. And you know, I don't and and we have thousands of people that work for Microsoft. So I'm not, I'm one. Yeah. And so and I love my job. But I don't, I feel supported. You know, I know that morale is probably not where it used to be. And but you know, we still they're still taking strides to really help support the individuals that you know we get we we have good compensation, we have good packages. We've got, you know, yeah, when when we were trying for Davis, I almost did IVF and it would have been paid for by Microsoft, you know, type of stuff. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:49:17

It's just incredible. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:49:18

And so, you know, those types of things, I'm very blessed, like I said, to work for a company that, you know, is dealing with some really heavy things right now. I mean, with AI. Yeah. But trying to do it in the right way, and that could be another whole conversation we could give you another time too. But no, I yeah, I mean, it's just I, you know, I and I have conversations with people. I had them this weekend, you know, on like, hey, you guys are laying off a bunch of people. Like, do you do they even care about you guys or they're just trying to make money? They are a business. Microsoft's a business. But if we didn't have Microsoft doing it the right way, you'd have somebody else doing it probably the wrong way. No question.

SPEAKER_02 1:49:57

So well, and you've seen it. I mean, I just have to Pick up a newspaper. Well, that I guess that's a it's an old-fashioned sentence, isn't it? Picking up a newspaper. Right. Going online to read the paper. Like we all do. But you know, you certainly hear about the organizations that aren't doing it the right way and that really do see people as you know numbers. Yeah. And and look, the reality of it is, is you know, when you're a for-profit organization that's trying to, you know, that has stockholders and shareholders that you have to, you know, appease. I mean, that's just the that's just the that's just the way it is. Yeah. Yeah. It's just the way it is. Yeah. You know, so I but I also believe to be true, and you know, I'd love your opinion on this. You know, when COVID hit in 2020 and you started hearing the stories about, you know, the Twitters of the world and the you know, Silicon Valley, where it's like, here's the environment that they're in. Free food for everything, free daycare for everything, free, you know, go take your two hours siesta and you know, we'll pay for this and we're gonna give you even even at at Discovery Benefits slash wex, when when when we were selling to employed benefits brokers out there, we'd hear stories of you know, brokers that were representing Silicon Valley organizations that are just like, yeah, we're fully funding HSAs. We are providing five thousand dollars a month to organize or to individuals as a way to attract talent to help pay for their apartments, yeah. You know, stuff like that. And it's like do we think that that was maybe a little bit too far one side? You know what I mean? Like there's gotta be a happy medium somewhere, don't you think?

SPEAKER_00 1:51:32

Yeah. Well, and so I was just out to our Silicon Valley campus. After taking on this position, I went out to several different campuses just to understand what other campuses are doing.

SPEAKER_05 1:51:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:51:43

Got to go to Ireland because we have a lot of people that work with people in Ireland. So that was really fun. Yeah. And so so went out to Silicon Valley and they have so we have a cafe. You'll have to come and have lunch with me sometime. Anytime. Really good food. Yeah. We have to pay for it. You know, I just had lunch today. I paid for it. Not very expensive. Obviously, we had some you know subsidies, but yeah, in Silicon Valley, all of it's free. Still, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:52:10

Is that a competition thing? Yes, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:52:12

And that's the thing, is that it's so incestuous out there that having conversations with some people, they're like, Yes, I've worked at Google, I've worked at, you know, Apple, I've worked at Microsoft now. And and so it's just like they have to do that. Yeah, and it's just too bad, you know. I think so. I think so. Yeah, because it's like, and then, you know, do you appreciate it right if everybody's doing it? Like, do you actually really like I love bringing people to have lunch because uh they I can kind of see the excitement through their eyes and I it just bring it's like okay, yeah, this place is cool, yeah, you know, and you know, I work here every day, yeah, you know, but then seeing people are like, wow, you know, I I just brought a gentleman to Microsoft for lunch not that long ago. He's a prominent businessman in town. He'd never been a bit to and he's a development development and has built, you know, yeah, very successful, done a lot, but he'd never been to Microsoft. Yeah. And he just was like, wow, this is great, you know, and he was very, he's got his app out and he's looking at different, you know, like lines on like maps and things like that. And I just got super excited having him there because it was like, oh yeah, yeah, this is fun, you know. And yeah, we were we we had steak that day too in the cafe. So yeah, he came for a good day. We don't always have steak. But um, yeah, but it was yeah, and so I love how and then kids like bringing kids on campus, like that is so much fun. And I used to do tours and that was always a lot of fun. It's not we don't, you know, we had four buildings, now we're in two, yeah. So we don't have the large tours that we used to give, but makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 1:53:56

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:53:56

It's so fun.

SPEAKER_02 1:53:58

So we talked you talked a little bit about AI, and I want to touch on just a couple things around maybe technology as a whole, as opposed to maybe isolating out AI, even though we could very easily isolate out AI. How how do you think leaders can utilize technology or AI or you know, let's lump them together maybe for this question? How do you think leaders can utilize that to increase human capacity versus replacing human involvement?

SPEAKER_00 1:54:30

You know, coming into this position nine years ago, I learned a lot about well, and I was director of career services, so learned a lot about workforce development and career development and those types of things and understanding that there's a workforce shortage, right? And so there are things that AI and

AI As Tool Or Weapon

SPEAKER_00 1:54:50

technology are going to do to help support those workforce shortages. I mean, that's some of the things that we're doing at Grand Farm is the labor shortages on farms, being able to use technology and AI in order to help support farmers to do more with less, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:55:05

And so And that would be a scenario, sorry to interrupt, but that'd be more of a scenario where there isn't a there's maybe not a line of people looking for that job. Right. Yeah. So you're yeah, so then in that case, you're selling, you're selling an advancement or you're selling a technology to a 60-year-old male who is like curmudgeon.

SPEAKER_00 1:55:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:55:28

This is how it's always been, and that's how it's always gonna be. So I'd imagine there's a unique aspect of that too. For sure. Versus the because you hear every time in the news, it's like, oh, AI has caused, you know, 20,000 more people to lose their jobs. And I'm always like, Yeah, that seems like a very convenient excuse. Yes.

unknown 1:55:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:55:46

Well, and I think there's never, there's never, but it's not black and white. Right. You know, job loss is just never black and white. I mean, there's always a another side of the coin to look at. And so just being able to, I mean, they said too, I mean, our HR person said that, you know, our current layoffs weren't due to the fact, you know, AI. We're not or we're we're not. We're not, okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:56:12

That's pretty transparent. Yeah. Because I feel like again, most organizations are they're just feeling like that is the scapegoat.

SPEAKER_00 1:56:17

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so, you know, and some people might balk at that and say, oh, well, okay, maybe, you know, you guys are creating AI, so maybe you don't want to say that, you know. But uh, you know, it's just I'm not smart enough to connect those dots. So you know, it's so it's like it's just interesting. I think the whole workforce conversation is just interesting. So Brad Smith wrote a book before COVID. Okay. Before, before Chat GPT. You know, I said the world changed in November 2022. And he he it's called Tools and Weapons. Okay. And talks about how technology can be used as a tool and a weapon. Just like any other tool, oh, a broom, okay. A broom is a tool, it sweeps the floor, but you hit somebody over the head, it becomes a weapon, right? The internet, you know, other technologies, like if you don't use it the correct way, it could become a weapon. So AI obviously is the biggest one right now that we're, you know, tools and weapon conversation big time. And, you know, he talks about, you know, education and learning how to use it the right way. I was just on a panel talking to some educators, and they said, hey, we shut down AI in our school because some kids were writing their paper using AI. And one of the questions somebody else asked, Well, did you guys teach the students how to use AI the right way? And they're like, No, they just shut it down. So it's like, okay, well, when the car was coming, and there was a lot of fatalities and and and injuries, did you shut down? Did we just stop driving cars? No. You put in seat safety belts, you taught people how to drive, you created roads that were that had two lanes, you created guardrails and rules and all the things. That's what we're doing right now. Yeah. And Microsoft's part of that conversation. They're a big, big part of that conversation. We've had Office of Responsible AI for years. I mean, AI has been around for decades, right? And so we're we're trying to build the technology the right way with also trying to still create innovation, you know, and and do great things with innovation and and you know, innovating, but also do it in the right way that's helping people and not hurting people and being a tool, not a weapon. But then also, you know, talking about the what I do with TechSpark and educating people, you know, trying to educate people and how to how to use it as a tool, recognizing when it's a weapon, you know, sending my mom Instagram posts about the next AI scam. Right, don't fall for this. Um scary by the way.

SPEAKER_02 1:59:01

It is. I think about my mom a lot in that regard. Yeah, that's anyway. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:59:05

And you have a lot of, you know, people, and this, you know, we could do another podcast on this, another, you know, and because I've been listening to podcasts on both sides of the aisle. For sure, you know. Yeah. And you it's the fear of the unknown that really, you know, is was where was where we're sitting right now because this is moving so fast. Other technologies, you know, took years to get, you know, this has taken months. Yeah. And, you know, and so it's wild. It's really scary, but it's also kind of exciting to see, like, okay, well, what is part of the future? And yeah, I talk about like I pinch myself all the time. I should be black and blue because of the seats I get to sit in, you know, obviously, like having breakfast with Brad Smith, you know, but I get a front row seat to this amazing technology working for Microsoft that is like at the forefront of this, you know, and so and I tell people a lot, I know a little about a lot. Yeah. So I can't go in and tell you everything about the data centers. I can't go in and tell you everything about AI, but I do know some things because I get to sit in the seat, sure, you know, and see like the good pieces that are coming from it. I mean, going to the library and getting to talk to Teddy Roosevelt because there we haven't we we created an AI avatar.

SPEAKER_02 2:00:25

Okay. I think I saw a little bit of something like that in the news. So yeah, maybe this is a good kind of into just your experience and you know the the library. I think I really wonder about that.

SPEAKER_00 2:00:34

Yeah, yeah, it's wild. Yeah. So how all this came about is Brad Smith came and talked at TEDx in 2018. Okay. So we launched TechSpark 2017. The next summer he came and spoke another pinch me moment sitting at the table. So we were Doug Bergum was there and wanted to talk with Brad. Had known him, you know, obviously. And so in the basement of the Civic Center, we had a table. It was Brad Smith, Kate Bank and his chief of staff at the time, Doug and Catherine Bergham, Mary Snap, who was the first female lawyer at Microsoft. She was also the head of philanthropies at the time. Oh wow. An incredible woman, just an incredible woman. And I I she's on the Emerging Prairie Board now. Oh, cool. Which is a good get for them. I mean, I was like, you can't, you guys are amazing. Anyway, we're having a conversation, and out of the blue, Doug's like, hey, you know, we want Microsoft to get involved with this, you know, presidential library for Teddy Roosevelt. And we're like, where did this come

Talking With Teddy Roosevelt Via AI

SPEAKER_00 2:01:40

from? You know? Yeah. Okay. And I didn't really hear much after that. Yeah. And then all of a sudden, you know, somebody mentioned that we made an investment in the Teddy Roosevelt Presidential Library. And I was like, well, what are we doing? And they're like, no, it's pretty significant, you know. So we help support with cloud, you know, and Azure support some cash too. But then I think the most the the best piece, I think, is the AI avatar of Teddy Roosevelt.

SPEAKER_01 2:02:10

And so we have covered that in the news. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:02:12

So there's a room, it says talk with Teddy. You can go in, you push a button, you can ask him a question, then he answers you. And that's wild. So yeah, so we developed this and we worked with some other partners too, but it was Microsoft's technology. And we're allowing others to use this technology too. So if somebody else wants to have, you know, a an AI Oprah, you know, an AI. Who doesn't? Oh, right.

SPEAKER_03 2:02:38

Who doesn't want an AI Oprah?

SPEAKER_00 2:02:39

Yeah. You know, you know, maybe it's a, you know, you know, whoever back in the day, you know, Mother Teresa. There we go. You know. That's a good one. I was gonna go a different route, but that's a good one. That's a good one. Yeah. Oh yeah. AI Elvis. There we go. There we go.

SPEAKER_03 2:02:55

Now we're good.

SPEAKER_00 2:02:56

So, but it's all trained on his historical data. And he was one of the most well written. Like he wrote all the time. So we had a lot of journals, a lot of historical data from him written that we were able to train the models on. Cool. He doesn't, if he's in normal mode, he doesn't know anything besides, you know, after he passes away. Okay. At age 60, which is crazy the things that he did that he has done. And yeah. If he's in special guest mode, like he was when President Trump came and talked to him, then he does know who Trump is, you know, and we were able to teach him on this, on a few things. Yeah. And so, you know, Trump asked him a couple great questions that was really I wasn't in the room, which I was okay with. There was just a lot of people going, it was just really intense. And it's hot. It's hot, yeah. And so, but hearing about it and seeing the transcript was pretty cool. But I was there when Brad Smith brought in a Pulitzer Prize winner historian, Doris Kearns Goodwin, who has been studying TR for years. And she was like, she's like 83, just adorable and so well spoken. And she was on a panel that Brad was on, and she waited, like she had a full tour of the library, but she waited to go meet Teddy, which he doesn't like the name, he didn't like being called Teddy, by the way. Okay. Yeah. So TR is out. TR president Roosevelt, you know.

SPEAKER_01 2:04:23

Okay. It's not official enough for him. Yeah. Was he an ego guy? Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:04:28

But he kind of, I mean, kind of had to be with all the things that he did, you know. Um but yeah, so she wanted to meet him with Brad. And I was in the room on that, and that was like that was so cool. She walked right up there. She's like, I have been meaning to meet you. I've known you for years. I feel, you know, can I ask you some questions? And then, you know, he just went off on, you know, and that was so cool. Yeah. And so some of the questions that she was asking him were, and and Brad told her, Go deep. Go deep. We want you to test it out, basically, right?

SPEAKER_02 2:05:04

I mean, kind of run it through.

SPEAKER_00 2:05:05

And it was, it was wild. Teddy, Teddy had to take a break. We had President Roosevelt had to take a break.

SPEAKER_03 2:05:13

It is dead after all.

SPEAKER_00 2:05:14

He is dead. He is. Yes. Quite some time. But yeah, he had to take a break because of all the questions that she was asking. And we're like, whoa, okay. You know, the technology's awesome, but it does, you know, need to have a break every now and then. And so, but yeah, it's just, it was really cool. And the whole library is just, it's the most technologically advanced presidential library. Makes sense. Yeah. And it's not a lot. I mean, it's it's not a museum, it's not a library, it's an experience. Like the whole place. I was there for two two days. And yes, I was really busy with Brad, you know, and other things, but there's a lot of things that I I never got to experience.

SPEAKER_05 2:05:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:05:51

And so, I mean, at age 25, he lost his mom and his wife on the same day on Valentine's Day. Oh, wow. And then he came to North Dakota because he was so broken. And his journal that says an X on the date and said, the light has gone out of my life. That was all he wrote that day. Two separate things. His wife died of complications of childbirth, and his his mother was sick. And so he came to North Dakota. He'd been in North Dakota before. He decided to come to North Dakota just to get away. He had a brand new baby daughter that he his his sister decided to raise for a little bit while he was gone.

SPEAKER_02 2:06:32

Yeah. Which which wasn't that uncommon back in the day, right?

SPEAKER_00 2:06:34

I mean, that wasn't that wasn't that but yeah, but he came to North Dakota, gained like 30 pounds in muscle and gained it totally, you know, and he talks about that he wouldn't have become president had it not been for his time in North Dakota. And then he goes and wins big giant battles in Cuba and goes to the Amazon and gets malaria. He gets shot during, you know, uh a speech that he was giving. And like the shirt, the book, and the eye case that all that the bullet traveled through that because he would have died. It was like point blank range. He would have died had he not had a like a journal, because he always carried a journal and his glasses case. He it that's that slowed the bullet, it still lodged into him and it stayed into him until he died. I mean, his his whole life. Yeah, I mean, these fascinating things. Wow. And we get North Dakota gets his presidential library.

SPEAKER_02 2:07:26

That's so cool.

SPEAKER_00 2:07:27

And so, yeah, my parents are going this week. My nephews who are in their 20s are going this week.

SPEAKER_01 2:07:35

It's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 2:07:36

And they and they have a kiddo, you know, place even for you know kids your age to run around. And yeah, I mean it's makes sense. It's yeah, I yeah. I got to see your sister-in-law and brother-in-law there, and so the house that, you know, and that was really fun. So yeah, and it was, I mean, they were playing with stuff. They were playing with it. I was like, hey, I'm gonna introduce you to Brad Smith, you know, the secretary of state, you know, and his wife, and so but they were like playing with stuff, and they're like, Oh, okay, yeah, we can stop, you know.

SPEAKER_01 2:08:07

So just a second, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:08:09

Yeah. And you know, because there was so much, there's so much, so many things to do. There's a shooting range that you can like that's yeah, you can make your own branding, like branding cattle. Yeah, it's so interactive. I mean, it is just wild. Like I see, I love that stuff.

SPEAKER_02 2:08:23

I I love history. I love I I don't I don't know if history repeats itself. I do think it rhymes though in certain circumstances and and many circumstances. You know, it's just important to know about that stuff. It's just fascinating to me, especially, you know, I'm I'm sure he had his his stuff like everybody else, whether it's you know, demons or whatever, but you know, his his writings, I mean, the man in the arena, I mean, all that stuff is just so it's it's it's had a really profound impact on me as just a person. And you know, I'm just I'm just one yeah, been just just one example of that, right? And you're talking about generational impact. And then to have that in North Dakota is so cool. So cool. You know, you talk about you know, Microsoft being in in North Dakota, you talk about you know the presidential library and then you know, all of the other things that North Dakota has to offer. I would always laugh when I'd be in California working and they'd be like, Fargo, why the hell do you live in Fargo? And it's just like, well, how much time do you have?

SPEAKER_00 2:09:20

Yeah, exactly. And when people come to Fargo in North Dakota, yeah, they love it. Yes. You know, my colleague was here from DC and he's like, This is awesome. This is so cool. Yeah. Yeah. So it's fun.

SPEAKER_02 2:09:33

Well, a couple more questions for you, if you don't mind. They'll they will align, but they might be a little bit outside of kind of the the circle that we've been we've been spending a lot of time on. What do people depend on you for?

unknown 2:09:44

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 2:09:46

Well, it depends on who it is. Okay, you know, you know, in my professional life, obviously it's to make a difference, you know, to do the job, you know, you know, to support North Dakota, to support the site, to support our employees. You know, personally, obviously, you know, as a partner and a mother of two, you know, two small kids, you know, and and my daughter having Down syndrome being special needs, a whole nother podcast we could do on that too, but you know, being an advocate for her too, sure and learning all the things you need to learn about, you know, being a a parent of a child of special needs. And you know, that just really depends.

SPEAKER_02 2:10:33

When how how did you how did you learn to share with people perhaps what they shouldn't depend on you for?

SPEAKER_00 2:10:44

Like

Motherhood Down Syndrome And Work Support

SPEAKER_00 2:10:45

how to say no.

SPEAKER_02 2:10:46

Yeah, I think it's kind of approaching that. You know, you had mentioned your your I think I'm using your words, but you'd mentioned maybe being a people pleaser or something. It was it was I don't know if those are the exact words you use, but woo. It was in line with Woo, I like people. Yeah. You like people, you know, you want to make people happy, you want people, you know, which incredible qualities.

SPEAKER_05 2:11:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:11:04

But the cost of that sometimes can be the energy that you have to give, the time that you have to give to make that happen. And sometimes it can leave us, those of us that have those proclivities, can leave us a bit empty. Yeah. From time to time.

SPEAKER_00 2:11:18

I think you know, another benefit of my education in mental health counseling, it was like ingrained into us about self-care. Sure. Cause, you know, it's the air airplane analogy, you know, when the air mask drops down, you have to put it on yourself before you can help anybody else. Yeah. Because if you're not breathing, nobody else is, right? Yep. And so that piece, I think I was really, it was like take care of yourself. Yeah, good. And also, you know, I was 40 when I had my kids, you know, and so I lived a lot of my life being able to have time to do self care and do those types of things. And so having kids. And having a family, you know, I still those are still important to me. Sure. And so, and being very mindful of my space and my capability and my time. Yeah. And what I can be dependent on for is just something I do think about, you know, and and you know, my friends, you know, who are high level. Obviously, Mandy and my friend Cassie and others go, go, go, go, go. They're mothers, they're their CEOs, they're, you know, and trying to take time for ourselves to see each other and, you know, have friendships and those types of things. But, you know, is what's important. And you're just, but I, you know, yeah, I think it was just ingrained in me and being able to say, like, can't me, can't maybe do this. It's the no but, you know, can't do this now, but maybe another time. And yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:12:44

Good for you. I I don't know if there's a silver bullet for that. I I think everybody in some way, shape, or form is, you know, fighting that battle in a certain way, right? As as as life happens, you know, priorities have to be re reviewed.

SPEAKER_00 2:12:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:12:58

You know, obviously kids is a major one. Yes. Right. But but people change. Yeah. You know, and the in the things that we want to experience today and aren't necessarily the things that we hoped we would be experiencing today 20 years ago. Yeah. You know, and and how do we manage through situations that we have no control over that that truly impact how our life looks from that day forward? Is a very unique. I don't, I don't know a lot of people that process that to a layer of depth. And that's part of what I find fascinating in these types of conversations, as well as just my day-to-day, is trying to working in the margins with teams or individuals or leaders to identify like why do we do what we do? When people experience you at your best, what do you want them to feel?

SPEAKER_00 2:13:50

Comfort? Just you know, they don't have to be anybody else, but just feel comfortable. I think that's who I grab I gravitate towards those people. We just lost Cindy Schreiberbeck a few years ago. She was a legislator, she's on the board of Grand Farm. I used to seek her out in, you know, I I'm a woo. I like I like going out and doing things, but sometimes it's just a lot. And you know, when you're at events, sometimes you just want to be those people that you can just feel comfortable with. I know that feeling, yeah. And that she was one of those people, you know. And I didn't have to be anybody else if we didn't talk and we just sat, like that was okay, you know. And that's I guess, you know, yeah, it's I want people to feel like you know, they don't have to be anybody else around me.

SPEAKER_02 2:14:40

Nice. I love that. Looking backward, what part of your career path makes perfect sense now that maybe in the moment it didn't seem to add up at the time? All of it.

SPEAKER_05 2:14:59

Love that answer. I love that answer. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:15:02

Like, wow, buckle up. That's a wild ride, you know. And you know, going into mental health counseling and now work at Microsoft, never would have saw that coming, you know. But it was just being open to opportunities. And I tell that to my nieces and nephews too, who are in college. You know, I said, you know, go into something that you enjoy right now because you're in it. You're you have to be in college. Yeah, you know, I mean, you've chosen to be in college, so you have to be there, right? Do it and make sure you enjoy it. But be open to other opportunities. I mean, sky's the limit these days with AI. My one nephew is in precision agriculture and he's doing drone work. Oh, cool. And uh, you know, and he's working with some with some farmers that are like, hey, you could this could be your own job. Like this, you could create a company out of this. You could be an entrepreneur. Yeah, and you can have AI build it, build the whole entire business.

SPEAKER_02 2:15:58

That's wild. No, but and that's true, right? I mean, that that's the reality of where we're at now. I mean I use AI all day, every day. And I think, I mean, I'm probably using one percent of the capabilities mostly because I'm not aware of the other 98% and the other 1% that I am aware of. Yeah, I'm just learning. I'm still learning.

SPEAKER_00 2:16:15

Right. Like, no, same, you know.

SPEAKER_02 2:16:17

Yeah. I mean, there's just so much, so much to do. Oh, yeah. I I think about, you know, our generation. You know, what are we the what I read the other day? The first generation that, you know, remembers the rotary phone, remembers the sound that the computer made when you logged into America Online. Oh yes. Right. But then also are on the your prime working, earning, however you want to look at it, years while this new technologies are coming out.

unknown 2:16:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:16:45

So there's really been no other there, clearly has not been any other generation that has experienced what we're sort of experiencing in a from a work environment. Well, uh personal too, but certainly from a work environment. Right.

SPEAKER_00 2:16:57

Yeah. I mean, yeah, being doing homework. Right. You know, with this new internet thing. I know. I mean, the first time I remember surfing the web at my grandma's house, who lived in rural Minnesota. Okay. She was she loved genealogy, so she got the internet. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:17:14

So what was your first search?

SPEAKER_03 2:17:16

Do you remember? I don't even know. It would be fun to look back at.

SPEAKER_00 2:17:19

Yeah, it would, but I just remember like the it the commercials were all like surf the internet. And it was like all these psychedelic colors and like doing all these great things. And I just remember sitting at the computer and it like loading. Yeah, yeah. And I'm like, this is not what I expected. You know, like it took 20 minutes to load a page. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 2:17:39

You know, you're expecting today's internet. Yeah. 25 years ago. Right. Yeah. Oh, that's so funny. Anything we didn't talk about that you were hoping that we touch on?

SPEAKER_00 2:17:49

Um, we talked a lot a lot about a lot. Yeah, it's the goal. Yeah. Yeah. No, I you know, I think again, just my my kids obviously really shape who I am and you know, four years.

SPEAKER_02 2:18:03

Did did you have a reckoning moment as it relates to your professional life once your kids came along or or your first one came along where it was just like, holy shit, for lack of a better way to put it, like it ain't gonna be the same anymore. And and how did you work through that?

SPEAKER_00 2:18:23

Well, mine was before she was born. Yeah. Oh, okay. You know, we learned that she had Down syndrome at I don't know, she was 10 weeks of gestation. Yeah, and then at 13 weeks, we were told that she wasn't gonna survive. And and then she was born you know, a little we had emergency section. She was born a few weeks early, but she never needed a NICU. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:18:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:18:47

They said that she was gonna have a she had a such a significant heart defect that she wasn't gonna be viable. And then three weeks later we found out that nope, she has a four-chamber heart, and it just kept getting better and better and better. Like God just healed her throughout the whole pregnancy. Yeah. Like another podcast, but like I got to witness a legit miracle got working a miracle inside me because of my daughter and healing her. Now she has a slight heart valve issue, she may never need surgery, but that was like exciting, always wanted to be a mom. Of course, get pregnant. I'm with this great man that I'm gonna share this life with and being a parent with, and then find out this this diagnosis. And it was hard, you know, obviously, to get the diagnosis of of Down syndrome when you know I worked with people with Down syndrome prior. I knew them, but it was a different life than I expected my child to have. Yeah. But I think the hardest obviously was like, now you're not gonna, now she's not gonna be here. And I just remembered saying Grant after we got that diagnosis of like or that told that you know she wasn't gonna be viable. I said, I don't care what she has, I just want her. And and so, and then we have her and she's four and she's spitfire. But that was that was the moment, I mean, when we got that news and I was able to process it where I was like, life is gonna be completely different, even more so than just being a parent and having for sure, you know, I was 40 and lived a lot of life before that. I knew it was gonna change. It was I was welcoming that change, yeah, you know, and then having her be healthy, and same with our son too, we tried for a long time. And you know, I call them both my miracle babies, but they I'm just really blessed that I am working for a company that allowed me space for that. My boss, you know, it was a couple weeks after that. He flew out to Fargo and he's like, whatever you need. If you need time, you take time. Like, whatever, we gotcha. You know, do what you gotta do. Microsoft's still gonna be here, you know. And and I had an amazing, you know, I had 20 weeks of maternity leave.

SPEAKER_03 2:21:15

Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 2:21:16

Yeah. So I got to spend time with my kids and get to learn them and know them. And I also realized that I am not necessarily cut out to be a stay-at-home mom. That's good to know. I give so much credit. My my sister-in-law, and I talk about this a lot. My sister-in-law is a stay-at-home mom. Yeah. I have so much more respect for her, always have. She created, she they they raised four amazing kids. But that's just not something for me. Yeah. You know, and knowing that and appreciating my job.

SPEAKER_02 2:21:44

I apologize for that. And I'm not saying you are, but but I think there has been a subset of, I don't know if you call it a generation, but there was a period in time where it almost felt like a woman needed to apologize for being a stay-at-home mom. Yeah. And then it almost is like people. No, it started with women having to apologize to go to work for going to work. Yeah. And then it's sort of, and again, I'm not speaking for women here. I'm just my outsiders' perspective.

SPEAKER_01 2:22:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:22:04

I know better than that. So I wanted to just preface this statement with that. Right. But like it just seemed from the outside that it was like at first you had to apologize for going to work, and then you had to apologize for staying home. Yeah. It's like, well, which one is it?

SPEAKER_00 2:22:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:22:16

Can we just can we just allow these women to make the decision that's best for them? Can we just do that?

SPEAKER_00 2:22:20

For sure. No. Well, how do you get that out? And and you know, people ask me all the time, you know, because I travel quite a bit for my job too. Yeah. And they're like, Well, is it hard to travel for your job?

Boundaries Self-Care And Being Comfortable

SPEAKER_00 2:22:30

I said, I mean, I've been traveling for 40 years. I'm just gonna stop once my kids are born. Right. Luckily, we have a big support system. My parents, Grant's parents, you know, people that can help support when Grant, you know, when I'm single parenting during harvest and planting. And he's single parenting when I'm traveling. You know, we don't have to do it alone. Yeah. And so, you know, I'm like, I'm lucky I have this opportunity. I'm not gonna just waste it. Is it hard? Yeah. I mean, I'm gonna be gone from Sunday to Friday next week, you know. I'm gonna miss seeing my kids, but you know, they also know that mama goes on a plane. And mom, yeah. And mom always comes back. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 2:23:12

Well, Tea, I sincerely appreciate the time with you today. You know, I've we've known each other for many years. I'd say, you know, this very surface level is probably the best way to say it. But you know, I always enjoyed your company as little as it was over the years. And, you know, when we ran into each other at the benefit, I just thought, uh the can I share the unique nature of it?

SPEAKER_03 2:23:35

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:23:37

Of course. Well, we rolled in and and I think you had visited with Alyssa because she was selling some of those the tickets, right? And you're like, I don't have any cash. And she's like, Well, go ask Nick. Yeah. And then you came up to me and I don't, I mean, you were going to the ATL.

SPEAKER_00 2:23:50

Can I tell you? Yeah. I was like, I'll Venmo you right now, which I did, didn't I? You did. Okay, good. 100%. But yeah, I was like, I'm not bringing cash. I didn't realize, yeah. But I mean, that's the rules, you know, they needed to have cash to pay, you know. So yeah, I definitely appreciate that.

SPEAKER_02 2:24:07

And I was just like, yeah, you know, and you had mentioned you you'd said something nice about the podcast, and and I said, Well, do you want to be on it?

SPEAKER_00 2:24:12

And you're like, Oh, seriously, because yeah, because Mandy, I'd listen to Mandy's, yeah. So yeah, I was very honored. It was kind of like, yeah, sure. Anytime. I just wish I I could, you know, next you're gonna have to come to Microsoft and have lunch so I can actually like ask you questions and get to know your side of better.

SPEAKER_02 2:24:31

And I I appreciate this a little one-sided here. No, I mean, I that's it's it's fun for me to get to know you better in this regard. It's fun because I have a genuine curiosity of people like you, right? And just in general, like we talked about a little bit earlier. And to hear your story is it's every well, everyone's story is unique. Yeah, right. But I I really appreciate the mindset that you seem to be tackling this weird thing we call life. Yeah, you know, and it's just you know, and and meandering our ways through it. It's easy to be a victim. It's easy to, you know, that there are a lot of things that have happened, a few things, you know, perhaps to yourself that you could say, I'm just gonna give up. I've been a victim. And that ain't it with you. No. And yeah, probably honestly wouldn't have wanted to sit down and talk with you if you were the other way, right? Yeah, that's not as interesting to me. Everyone can be a victim.

SPEAKER_00 2:25:21

Yeah, but circles it back to being a farm kid.

SPEAKER_02 2:25:23

Yeah, I think it does, right? I mean, you couldn't love to do it again sometime. Thank you so much for taking the time and continued success and appreciate you.

SPEAKER_00 2:25:33

Yeah, well, I appreciate this. And you know, just knowing you, you know, like you said, surface level and and you know, not everybody I'm gonna hang out for a couple of hours and chat chat with, you know. Well, thank you. But I so I really appreciate you and everything that you're doing. Just really excited to see where you go from here. Oh, that's kind. Thank you very much. Well, let's do it again and uh we'll talk soon. Sounds good. Thanks, Taya. Thank you.