Allison DeFord, Dorothy Vaughan and Breaking Barriers

In this episode of Hello Moxie, Nicole welcomes branding expert Allison DeFord, founder of Felt Marketing, for an inspiring conversation about the essence of Moxie! 🎉Join them as they explore what Moxie means to each of them and share three things that currently inspire Allison: the laughter of her daughters, her practice of gratitude and kindness, and the success of her manufacturing clients.

They dive into the stories of influential women from history, especially those featured in the film Hidden Figures. Allison recounts a powerful moment when she embodied Moxie during a boardroom meeting, overcoming fear and finding her voice.

With discussions on self-worth, authenticity, and the impact of AI on human connections, this episode is packed with empowering insights for women everywhere. Tune in to celebrate resilience and the power of women's voices! 

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Transcript

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You're listening to Hello Moxie with Nicole Donnelly. In each episode, we honor the unbreakable thread that connects the fierce women who came before us to modern day pioneers carving their own paths. We'll share stories of unforgettable heroines, celebrate their courage, and bring to light the lasting impact they've had across generations. Get inspired by the stories of those who embodied true Moxie and pave the way for others to follow. Hello Moxie is sponsored by DMG Digital.

a woman-owned marketing consultancy dedicated to helping B2B companies and e-commerce brands create exceptional customer experiences. Welcome to Hello Moxie. In today's episode, I am joined by straight talking trailblazer, Alison DeFord. Alison is a mom, branding expert, founder, and podcaster who is on a mission to strengthen the heart and soul of manufacturing. A designer and leader,

Allison is the founder of Felt Marketing, host of Manufacturing Masters, and the executive director of the North American Forest Foundation. She is also a fellow Libra. Libra Love, welcome to the show, Allison. How are you today? I'm full of moxie. How are you? If people could see, they could see that you're wearing your silver moxie shirt. I love it. Broke it out just for you, babe.

Yeah, I love that. When you think of the word Moxie, what comes to mind? What do you think of? A couple words. Sass, guts, maybe courage and...

I think a little fearlessness. Fearlessness. I love that. When I think of Moxie, I think of you because you embody all of those things for sure and spades. I feel the same about you, girl. Yeah. Sass. I love that one especially. So let's get started. I want to talk about what are three things that are just like lighting you up right now? What are you just loving? What's filling your soul, your heart? great question.

I would say for sure one is my daughters 24 and 16. And I think one of my great joys is just listening to them laugh like from another room when they don't even know I'm listening. Right. You can relate and just knowing that they're healthy and in a, in a good place right now. That's fuels my soul. I think another thing that lights me up is gratitude and kindness.

So whether it's just me being still and being grateful and kind of getting present, you know, with the universe, that fills me. And also the opportunity to be kind to someone else and looking at the, seeing their face light up. It's just the simplest thing, like being at the grocery store and there's this guy, Chris, who always seems to check me out, not me like, hey, wow, what a babe.

but like, and, he is just, well, you are a babe. just say, well, thank you. Well, this man is just a magical soul. So whenever I always use his name and I'm like, Chris, man, you just made my day and just watching the person light up. It's fills me with joy. And I think another thing that fuels me and lights me up is my manufacturing clients. And when I hear them come back with an aha moment,

because the content that we created for them or the brand foundation, the language we gave them, they created a new sale and it was effortless. And here's what happened. it's like that, as Kurt Anderson would say, our dear friend, the mic drop moment. And it's like, that's why I get up in the morning. I love that. It shows, I will say, from all the times I've known you, that passion that you have.

for your clients and helping them really shows. So I love that. I can totally relate to the, love the hearing the laughter. My youngest daughter has the most infectious laugh. Mine too. just full bodied, you know? And every time I can never, it never gets old. Every time I hear it, it's just, my heart gets bigger. It's amazing. It's magic. It's hard to put it into words.

Yeah, very cool. Well, our show is all about kind of putting a bright light, shining a bright light on women in history that have inspired you, a woman in history that's inspired you. And I'd like to dig into that a little bit. You know, who is, I can imagine this is like so hard to just pick one woman.

What one woman would you say has really influenced you that you feel like really embodies Moxie? Well, there are so many to choose from. It's difficult. But I thought about this and I don't know if you've ever seen the movie Hidden Figures. It is one of my most favorite movies. I can't tell you how many times I've seen it. you know, the three women that were portrayed in the movie, Dorothy Vaughn,

Mary Jackson, and I knew I was going to forget this as I was Katherine Johnson. I think of the three of them, Dorothy Vaughn was more of the underdog. If you could give that title to any one of them, she wasn't as brilliant per se as Katherine. And she wasn't an engineer like Mary, but she.

She had Moxie. The fact that she saw this giant room, right, where they were going to put an IBM machine. And I think about that because I could picture you or I, right? I could picture us walking through the hallway. Nobody's around. We're like, I wonder what's going to be in there, right? Because we're curious. And then to know this entire room is going to be filled with this massive computer system no one's ever seen before. And it's going to help put someone in space.

It's going to do calculations in seconds instead of these people, right? Which is her team that had been helping with these calculations. And so the fact that she went to the library, if the movie is accurate, and went and got a Fortran book, taught herself this language. And I remember every time I watch it and she looks at her sons and she's a mom, she's got two kids, so very relatable. And I just think to myself,

huh, I could see myself doing that, right? I've there been many instances when I've learned something new, and just the kids are like, how did you know how to do that? And I'm like, I just I figured it out. Necessity, right? Right. So I think the fact that she went on to be the first person above and beyond the IBM guys that figured out how to get this machine working. And

I think it's, you know, it wasn't also like she was a quite privileged woman during that time. She was the opposite. And I look at what she overcame, actually the three of them and all the other women that worked with them. And I just think, you know what? That shows me that there are no obstacles. I think a lot of times it's in our head. It's a societal.

stereotype that needs to be knocked off. It's whatever. And so I look at her and what she accomplished and, and the fact that she brought everyone else up with her, right? It wasn't just her out for her. She brought her whole team. It was like no woman left behind. And I just, I look back at that and I just think, hell yeah, that to me is moxie. No woman left behind. That is moxie.

Right? She, and, and you know, I was, you know, reading about her in preparation for this and it's fascinating. She would go to bat for the other women, not only on her team, but on other, other teams, white women as well. And I think it's so cool that she taught herself this Fortran and then taught her whole team, you know, and, and you, you will love to know.

She is also a Libra. Can you believe that? I did not know. She is a Libra. I got chills. course she is. She is a Libra. I love that. And the fact that she was the first black supervisor at NASA. started there when they were still segregated and went through that whole integration process. there's this quote that I read from her where she says, I changed what I could and what I couldn't. I endured.

And I just think like, think about what she had to endure at that time. know, like not only the moxie, but the resilience, the humility, the sacrifice, you know? I mean, what do you think about that? Like, have you had found in your career, there are certain things that maybe you've had to, the things that you couldn't change, you just endured? You know, I've thought about that. I feel like I've overcome age bias.

I remember when I started out, I was looked at as, you know, well, and I'm not the only person that's experienced this, like probably all of us have, but like you're young, what do you know? And would be overlooked, right? For someone who was more mature. Or talked down to. yeah. Or interrupted or passed over for someone's nephew who took a graphic design class in college. And I'm not joking. Like that really happened.

And I thought, huh, I'm a professional with a So yeah, I think, I also noticed too, in the beginning, there were guys in my field who would show up in to a meeting in khaki shorts, Reeboks. I'm dating myself, white high top Reeboks, a blue button down hanging out.

And they were considered like, that was acceptable. he's cool. He's a designer. He, I had to show up in a suit to be taken as seriously. And I just remember that irritating the shit out of me. And I thought, you know what? I'm going to dress how I want. I don't, I'm just going to show up and I'm going to be me. And, but that really irritated me that he could skate by and.

So think that's one of those things, maybe that was an endurance for a while, but certainly nothing, nothing that those women went through could I ever compare myself to. And so I have just a huge respect, massive respect for everything that they did to break down barriers for every woman that has come after them. Totally agree. Yeah. The more we say their names and talk about them, the more they'll be remembered.

Yeah, because young young women need to see and remember examples like this. think oftentimes we live in a culture now where so many of them are influenced by influencers. And and I'm not putting down influencers. I think there's a place for everybody. I have an admiration for one of my best friend's daughters is is an influencer and she's she's incredible. She works her ass off.

and has become successful and I have a respect for her and for what they do. But I feel like I want my girls and other young women to see that that is just one capacity, right? That's one career path that you could choose. And it isn't easy. It looks glamorous, but it comes with a lot of pressure. It comes with a lot of

you know, having to be on and perfect and whatever all the time. There are a lot of other things you could do with your time and earn a living and get rewarded for, right? The reward of teaching, the reward of caregiving, being a doctor, helping manufacturers, you know, there's a whole slew of things. You could be an inventor, a scientist, whatever. I think what I want to young women is that

you know, you don't have to look perfect. You don't have to weigh a certain amount. You can have wrinkles. You know, you don't have to fill your face with stuff to overcompensate. Like, just live your life and be you. And I think that's, I don't know, I kind of segue there into a little path, but I think that that's important to show them to speak the names of those who came before us, but then to also show them, you know,

This is what hard work looks like. This is what not giving up looks like. You know, go teach yourself Fortran. You can do amazing things. It's incredible. So I want to hear more, like tell me about a time in your life where you had to embody Moxie. Like I know you do it every day, but like a special time where you felt like you just really went for it. What was that? What was that like for you?

this isn't anything massive, but I, this did come to mind when you asked that I was in my probably early thirties. was sitting in a boardroom with a bunch of guys. It was my former husband's, it was a company he worked for. So obviously I wanted to make a good impression. You know, I'm like, I was kind of looked at as the employee's wife.

There was that first impression always because he had been there so long since we were very young. And I was, they had brought me in to pitch a design and marketing project. And I remember the, the older gentleman who was his boss's boss or something. We're sitting around and it's like horseshoe, you know, and just picture it typical. They're all in there. you know, very.

button down shirt, and they're very traditional, and they're very conservative. And they basically want to know the ROI of doing this project with me. And I looked across the table. And for the first time, I think, in my life, he asked me a question, and I answered with one word. And then I got quiet. He looks across and he says,

So what you're asking is for me to trust you. And I stopped dead in my seat. just stopped and I looked across the room and I said, yes. And then I was quiet. And as a Libra who likes to talk and I always have, you know, I answer in paragraphs, not in words or sentences, right? That felt, I could have, it felt like a lightning bolt struck the room. He was dumbfounded.

I was dumbfounded, but I was confident. And I thought, I don't need to explain anymore today. Yes, you can trust me or not. And I ended up getting hired and did a great job, but I just remember thinking, I've got to do that more often, right? Not try to justify, not try to sell you, not try to explain and explain. I have spent my whole life doing that. And I'm

learned, I mean, that was 20 plus years ago. It's okay to just say, yeah, and then be quiet. It's okay to just say, yeah, and be quiet. I love that. Now, when you did that, where do think that came from? Were you terrified to say it or to just come out of you? Do you know what I mean? And how did you feel after you said it? Were you like, did you just feel like, my gosh, were you terrified? What was that emotional experience like for you?

from before to after. think I was fed up of always trying to justify why should you hire, you know, why should you hire me? You know, what's in it for you? It felt like I think I was just tired of it. And I was tired of being questioned and doubted. And so, my god, the minute I said that, and was just still, I

felt like I had just stood atop a mountain peak like Everest held my fists up, which I'm doing right now, even though you can't see me. And just shouted like, Yeah, I don't care whether you hire me or not. I know this will be a project for you. I know I'm capable. I

don't have to justify any more than I've already done today. So make a choice. It was that not caring. I think that's what I had to get past was not caring what people think, not caring if they say no, it was taking that chance and just a hundred percent trusting myself. love what you said about not caring about what other people think. What you did is you cared what you thought.

And I think that's so important as women so much at the time. I don't know if it's just when we're the way we're raised or what, but I feel like there's always these voices that are telling you what to do and how you should do it. And it's so difficult or it's been so I'll speak for myself. It's been difficult for me to really get in touch with my own voice and understand what is it that I need.

What is it that's true for me? What's gonna be in alignment with my belief system values, et cetera. And so that example, I think just speaks loud and clear about how important it is to trust yourself and to have care for yourself above. I mean, I'm not saying be selfish and don't, you know, like that kind of thing, but you do, you have to know what your needs are and what you're and stand in that. And when you do, people will trust you cause they're gonna see that. They're gonna be like, she knows what she's about, you know, and she has respect for herself.

It's true. And you know, I think something you just said is something probably one of the biggest obstacles I've overcome. and that's using my voice, trusting my voice, trusting my worthiness. And I thought of another quick example and the feeling, and I want to see if anybody listening to this will relate. I was at a

workshop, it was like an overnight kind of thing with my, an old mentor and business coach of mine. And it was with like 30 people that I'd never met. the whole point was to kind of break out of your comfort zone, uncover something about yourself and, you know, have a breakthrough. So my gosh with 30 strangers. yeah. Yeah. Like we had to dance around the room one day. I am not a great dancer.

So that was awkward. It's like you really just had to push out of your comfort zone. And I admitted to this group of people that I did not like my voice. This was again, probably 15 ish years ago. And they all just looked at me and they said, okay, well you have a nice voice. And I said, no, I don't like it. I don't like hearing myself talk. Video is difficult for me. I don't like seeing myself on video.

I was afraid to use my voice. I was, I think, afraid of comparisonitis. I was suffering from that, actually. I was afraid of being called out, right? Like, you're not really good enough to be saying that or leading us with those words. So why are you speaking? So was a huge fear. But I had this vision of, I was being challenged to like,

create videos, right, for your company. And my business coach told me way back then, he's like, I see you coaching women. And I I could see that too. I don't know. And I start backpedaling. so anyway, long story short, it was spend the night and it was like a monastery kind of thing. So it was very plain, no TV. There was no social media.

at that time. we had to do a writing prompt and we had to write about this fear and then give an example, I guess, of like a, if we could break out of it. I don't even remember what the prompt was now. All I remember is I started writing and my hand did not stop until I got to the end of like two pages, three pages. And I looked down and I was like, Whoa, Whoa, where did that come from?

And so the next day I had to sit on a couch, a little two seater, like I was, you know, on Oprah by myself. And I had to read what I wrote and all these people are sitting staring at me. And all of sudden, this is where that moxie part, that fearlessness comes in. I just let her rip. And I said my spiel and I finished.

And I was like, woo!

I don't even know where that came from. Everybody was just staring at me. Wow. Quiet. And I thought, God, my God, they're to tell me how bad I sucked. That was awful. Everyone just started clapping. my gosh. Amazing. And I just got chills and I thought, okay. And they all were like, what ha girl, you just got over your fear. Like use that voice, let that voice come out that you have nothing to be afraid of.

They said, we thought we were watching Oprah do an interview with herself. And I was like, please. And they were, know, so was like, that was a breakthrough moment for me. Yeah. And now I just, yeah, I think that's Moxie to me is, just having some guts to do this shit that I always say this, do the shit that scares you. That's when I feel the freest. And by the way, I have to say you have an amazing voice. you know,

Like, thank you. Yeah. That's so that just, isn't it so funny sometimes the self beliefs that we have that hold us back. Yeah. and I think to myself, man, if you hadn't stepped into that moment and really put yourself out there, I mean, first of all, choosing to go to a retreat with 30 strangers and having to go to a very vulnerable place and live in that discomfort is one thing. And to acknowledge that in front of all of these people, if you hadn't done that and then

you know, gone through that experience. Imagine all of the people that would not have heard your voice today that have been blessed because they've heard you speak on your podcast in all of the different ways that you're, you know, I mean, I just think like the impact that you're having because you leaned into that discomfort, that's incredible. Like that's so important for women to know is that we need more women to speak up because there are people out there that need to hear and learn from these examples like you just shared, you know.

You know, we have to lean in this cover. I was just talking to the gentleman the other day and he was telling me about how important it is that we need to get comfortable in the uncomfortable. yeah. Because I think as humans, we're just wired for homeostasis, right? Like we want to stay safe. anytime we want to grow or do anything, it's never going to be comfortable or easy. It's not supposed to be that way. It's supposed to feel hard and difficult.

Otherwise, you know, think we try to avoid that though. and Robin Sharma is a mentor that I've followed for years and he has this amazing saying that has stuck with me is change is hard in the beginning. It's messy in the middle and it's beautiful in the end. So when I feel like I'm waiting through wet cement, I know it's just that messy in the middle part and I keep swimming.

because I know I'm gonna step up and get out of it to the beautiful part and it's gonna be worth it every single time. Yeah, and I think you can call on the past experiences in your life when you have changed and that can guide you as you go forward. I found that too. Like I'll keep a journal of, know, things I've accomplished over the last year. And I can look back on it be like, did this. I did this. I can do it again, you know?

I think that can be a really helpful way is to look back on those experiences. What? Okay, so I have a question for you, Allison. I have many questions for you. I'm the question queen today. I get to just sit and be the princess. I know, right? What do you think needs to change for women to speak up more in the places that matter? What do you think women need to change, men need to change? What do you think needs to shift?

I recently read a book just came out from Jamie Kern Lima. It is called worthy. I cannot recommend this book enough. And this is coming from a confident woman who has moxie. This book was like a brick to the head and a giant

hug to my heart. I think worthiness is missing with so many women and men, because I love all people, right? love, doesn't matter your gender. But truly, I think women, if we could get over the worthy part, I think a lot of other, the moxie will kick in.

Right? The grit will rise to the surface. You'll jump and the net will appear. You'll just, you'll trust it. If you, if you know you're worthy, it changes everything. And what I learned from this book is that feeling self-worth is different than self-confidence. Self-confidence is on top. That's the surface. Self-worth is that deep seated belief that you're enough, that you matter. And, and I will tell you, I

recently lost my 21 year old nephew to suicide. I'm sorry. It taught me that you can be appear to be the happiest person on the outside. You can be a light to everyone around you. You can have love and an amazing family and a new job that you're looking forward to and

school that you're going to, you're learning, people like you. But if that self-worth deep inside is missing, or it's bruised so badly that, you know, it's just creating this massive pain, it's hard to overcome. It can be. And the reason that I bring this up is not to be a downer or to, you know, make anybody listening sad. I want you to know

I have dealt with this with feelings of, you know, really like, gosh, maybe things would be better if I wasn't here. Like it's been a while, but I have dealt with those feelings. My children have dealt with those feelings and I think we're having a crisis. So I think it's important to bring this up because I know a lot of young women and men, especially teenagers right now, really are struggling.

So I really want to hit home with the feeling worthy if we can help young people tap into that, not just the self-confidence, but the worthiness. I think we're going to help a whole generation rise up and leave no one behind. So like that's my little PSA on that. Thank you for being so vulnerable and sharing that is.

So powerful and so true. It reminds me of, I've struggled with that my whole life, feeling worthy. You know, I grew up with a father who was incredibly overbearing and it was always very difficult to feel like I was ever quote unquote good enough. And so that's something I've consciously had my whole like adult life. I have to rewire those neural pathways that have been ingrained since I was a child. And I remember I've been

you know, something I've been practicing with my executive coaches support is, you know, spending time with myself. And I remember the first time that she's like, what have you just spent time with yourself? And the first time she suggested that literally, I felt so uncomfortable. was like, what would I do with myself? I'm like, I am like a type A workaholic tendencies, just want to be busy all the time. And that was a problem.

And I'm like, what am going to do with myself? And so when I first started just like spending time with myself, I literally sit there and like try to force myself to talk to myself as if like, you know, I was going to teach myself something. And the more I just sat with myself and just did nothing, nothing at all, the more I started to come into myself. And I'll never forget, I was sitting on the hammock one day and I was sitting there just doing nothing. And my mind started to wander.

And I started thinking, I really need to be doing something right now. I'm just not doing anything. need to be doing something. And immediately I had this picture of myself holding my daughter when she was a baby. And I used to rock her to sleep. And I'd sit and rock her and we would listen to Brahms lullaby and I'll never forget when she was nine months old, I would just hold her and rock her for hours. And...

I had this visual of me just holding her and I thought to myself, my gosh, how I loved her. She did nothing to earn my love. She was just there, you know? And I thought in that moment, I'm like, I don't need to do or be anything to deserve love. Like we all deserve love, we're all worthy of love. You don't have to achieve or be, it's just there, you know? And we can give that to ourselves. If we haven't, maybe we've had wounds or

Challenges in our past and we haven't received that love from others. Well, we can give we can learn to give that to ourselves I think well, it's so true and if we could teach Younger people anything I think besides the to get to the worthy feeling I Think it's the one thing I've learned and it's what you just said talk to yourself like you would talk to

your children, your animals. If you don't have kids, talk to yourself like you would talk to a little child that you were nurturing in a classroom, right? Maybe you're helping out for the day. What would you say to her? It would all be uplifting. What would you say to that little boy? You're awesome, dude. You rock. You're scared. What are you scared of? I got you. Right? So if we can learn to speak to ourselves that way.

both when we're being quiet in our own mind and also out loud. Because I like the out loud part. How many times, right? Do you have you caught yourself? And I don't do this really anymore. But like if you go, you're a dummy, right? Or wow, that was just stupid. man, you really screwed that up. You know, it's just those kinds of things like, and they go on in our mind subconsciously.

Right. It's crazy. So if you would change your change the conversation, like you just said, you don't have to do or be anything to be worthy of being here and of being loved and start by loving yourself. Don't wait. Like, what's the saying? Nobody's coming.

Nobody's coming to save you. Nobody's coming to hire you. Nobody's coming to sweep you off your feet like a white knight. It's just a bunch of crap. You have to start by loving yourself. And I think that's the basis. I think that's a huge basis of Moxie, don't you? Absolutely. And I was at this marketing conference last week, Allison, it was fantastic. And we talked a lot about AI and how AI

is just changing all of our lives. And we already are in a loneliness epidemic as it stands now. Like people are more isolated than they ever have been, but still craving that connection, but not really feeling like they can connect, you know? And those forces are only gonna get worse as we look ahead. Like with AI and all of that that's happening. And so we really have to figure this out, you know? We've got to figure this out for our children.

and figure out how we can support them through this change. Because if they're feeling those pressures and that isolation now, it's going to be like a tsunami, you know? Not to get, man, that sounds very, it sounds very dystopian. It's really true. It is not going to get better, especially with artificial. I think it's important to pay attention to that word.

I'm not opposed to technology, but I think the word artificial to me really stands out. It is never, ever going to replace human interaction, human thinking, human conversation, at least in my humble opinion. And I could be, you know, have a million people disagree with me, but

I think if we can encourage young people to learn to have conversations with other people, to learn to speak in front of people, to learn to think on your own, write your own content, use AI as a helper. Sure, no problem. It can be very effective, but like, don't stop thinking for yourself. Don't stop using your voice because there is nothing artificial about that.

You are real. You are real and truthfully, that is going to be the thing that you can hold on to as you know, you've got to be authentic. You've got to stand up and say what you think and, you know, be true to who you are, not be afraid to get out there and share what your thoughts are, because that's going to be the differentiator from all of the artificial that's, you know,

AI they predict is going to take away 80 % of what we do and who we are, but there's still that 20 % that is uniquely you. So you've got to be uniquely you to stand out from the noise. Well, and I think too, what scares me is relying, like we've seen all the movies, right? We've seen the AI has been in movies for years. No good ever comes from it. I'm just, the story doesn't end well.

my gosh, that movie her from, you know, walking Phoenix, where he falls in love with an AI. It was it's very prescient. I'm I it's disturbing. My, my, hope is that what you just said is, is massive. Your voice, your thinking, it's your differentiator, it's the differentiator. So I just have a hard time turning over

all my thoughts and work and outcome and creativity to a machine. Just because we think it's more efficient or faster or whatever. I'm probably going to die on the hill of, know, there's nothing better than real and authentic in my mind. Like I said, there are benefits to AI but

Wow, I'm not looking forward to that day of, you know? Yeah, agree. I think we're kind of at a tipping point, or like there's like this, what do you, I don't want to call it, we're at a pivot point or a transition point right now. When I was at this conference, one of the women had gone to Davos, which is the big world economic forum, I guess. And they were talking about AI and how 40 % of the population,

is all excited about AI and what it can bring and 40 % is not. It's very evenly split. they were saying, she was saying that historically, anytime that there's a split like that in terms of how much the people want the technology, know, the people have to want it more and be excited about it more. Otherwise it doesn't adopt. And so we're kind of at this point where it could go either way. There is still a chance where, you know, potentially

The train could stop going. I don't know, but we'll see. But you're absolutely right about artificial. I mean, I can't even like, I don't know about you, but I feel like I love the process of writing. It's learning for me. know, it's, could not imagine turning that over to artificial intelligence to just write for me. just, because I learn, I'm learning by doing it and it's healing. It's truly healing to go through that process.

So, it'll be interesting to see what happens. feels like to me, it like we were going to talk about AI today. know it feels like a disservice, like you're phoning it in. So again, I may sound like an old, Gen Xer to any younger person listening, but man, yeah, there's, there's, there's just nothing better than real.

Well, Allison, this has been such a fantastic conversation. I have one final question for you. Shoot. And that is this. What is one thing that you would like to pass on to the women of the future?

Hmm. Wow. That Libra in me wants to come out and answer in a couple paragraphs, I'm going keep it brief. I'm going to keep it brief. It doesn't have to be one word. You can do paragraphs. That's okay. one thing I would like to pass on to the women of the future is

Don't be afraid to speak up. Don't be afraid to use your voice, whether it's in a work situation, whether it's in a dating situation and you feel uncomfortable, whether you are in a marital situation, and I'm gonna use this from my real life.

Don't be afraid to stand up and say.

I will not be treated like that anymore.

I deserve respect. I deserve love because I'm worthy. So I think I'm kind of wrapping a couple things together, but like, don't be afraid to look across the table if you're in a board meeting and you're 24 years old and you're sitting there with a bunch of old gray suits. Don't be afraid to answer with one word. Yes.

You simply need to trust me. And you can choose to or not to.

So I would say it's the voice component and the never settling, never settling for less than what you're worth.

I'm speechless. That was so beautifully said. if people could see me right now, they'd see I have tears in my eyes and I've got like massive goosebumps. That was so powerful, Alison, and so true. I just have to say how much respect I have for you. just, you are such a woman with Moxie. And the work that you're doing and the impact you're having, it's impacted me and I know it's impacted a lot of other people. And I'm just...

So honored that you would come and share this conversation and it's fantastic. So thank you for coming on. Well, it's an honor to be asked. It's an honor to be your friend. And I will come back as many times as you'll have me. And I look forward to many more paragraph-y.

Conversations. Yeah, because I know you've got lots of stories in there that still need to be told for sure. I can't wait to hear all of them. So from one Libra to another, I love you. Keep shining that bright light of yours, Love you too. In today's episode, Alison shared her love and admiration for Dorothy Vaughn. If you've seen the movie Hidden Figures, you may remember her. She shattered barriers as NASA's first black supervisor and a computing trailblazer.

Leading the segregated West area computers, her all female black math team crunched numbers critical to aeronautics breakthroughs. And when NASA integrated in 1958, Vaughn self-taught Fortran programming from a library book. Her coding prowess powered pioneering space missions like Scout. Vaughn also mentored legends like Mary Jackson and Katherine Johnson.

paving the way for greater diversity despite facing discrimination. One of my favorite quotes from Dorothy is, don't be afraid to break barriers and chase your dreams. And it was so cool to hear Alison embodying this mantra and the choices she has made and the woman that she is today. So as we wrap up today's episode, my question for you is, what's one barrier in your life right now?

And what are you doing to break through? That's a wrap for today's episode of Hello Moxie. I hope you felt that unbreakable thread connecting you to the women of the past, to the trailblazing pioneers of today. Their stories of audacity, resilience, and courage are a powerful reminder of what's possible for you when you choose to live with Moxie.