A Founder's Life
Join me as I explore the powerful intersection of entrepreneurship, health & wellness, and parenthood. In each episode, I’ll be interviewing inspiring individuals who excel in one or more of these areas, sharing their stories, insights, and lessons. My goal is to provide valuable takeaways that can help you thrive both personally and professionally.
A Founder's Life
From Farm Life to CEO - Tricia Benn - S1 - E13
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About this Episode:
In this episode, Leo Gestetner sits down with Tricia Benn, CEO and Partner at C-Suite Network, to discuss her journey from growing up on a farm to leading a global business network. Tricia shares insights on leadership, trust, personal growth, and the importance of community in building successful businesses, all while balancing work, family, and personal well-being.
Highlights:
Tricia’s Background: Growing up on a farm taught Tricia resilience, adaptability, and the importance of community—lessons that have shaped her leadership style and approach to business.
The C-Suite Network Mission: Tricia explains how C-Suite Network provides executives, business owners, and investors with a trusted ecosystem to share knowledge, connect, and accelerate success.
The Importance of Trust in Business: Tricia discusses why trust is the ultimate currency in leadership and how transparency, credibility, and relationships drive long-term success.
Entrepreneurial Journey & Career Evolution: From market research to executive leadership, Tricia shares how her career evolved from strategy consulting to running one of the most influential business networks.
Balancing Family and Work: As a leader, mother, and wife, Tricia reflects on how she defines family, emphasizing the importance of strong support systems and chosen family.
Health & Wellness: Tricia shares her approach to staying active, maintaining good health, and the role of mindfulness, sleep, and nutrition in her daily routine.
Mindset & Personal Growth: From embracing challenges to lifelong learning, Tricia highlights the importance of being adaptable, taking risks, and continuously growing.
Future Aspirations: Tricia looks ahead to expanding C-Suite Network, creating more opportunities for business leaders, and continuing to foster meaningful relationships in the entrepreneurial world.
Resources:
Learn more about C-suite Network:
https://pages.c-suitenetwork.com/hero-club
Connect on:
Website
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Hi there. You're listening to A Founder's Life, and I'm your host, Leo Gastetna. I'm joined here today by Trisha Ben. Trisha, would you like to introduce yourself?
SPEAKER_01I would love to, Leo. It's wonderful to be here with you and everybody who is listening. My formal title, I'm the CEO and a partner in C-Suite Network. And um and uh what I do, you want me to say what I do? Yes. Yeah, yeah. That's complex. I'll make it simple. Uh I do what every CEO does, and that is hold the vision and mission delivery of uh of uh in this case, in my case, a full ecosystem and platform to serve executives, owners, investors, and their influencers, the people that counsel them and advise them and support them in their success. Well, that's a mouthful. There you go. Uh but but that's the simplistic version, Leo. If you want if you want me to get into more complexity, I can get there in a millisecond.
SPEAKER_00Well, why why don't you tell us a little more about uh about C-suite and uh what what your you've obviously got a number of connected companies, but what your platform does.
SPEAKER_01Yes, well, thank you. You know, at the end of the day, our mission is to see that audience, the executive audience essentially, see them succeed faster. And what we've done is we've brought together an ecosystem to support those executives. You know this well, Leo, uh, to be able to have an environment that's a trusted environment, to be able to come with challenges, opportunities, concerns, uh issues that they're working through, and have an environment where there's transparency to tell the truth and share, you know, not just outcomes. You know, I did this and it was successful. The the key is why was it successful? And if people tell you first untruth, you know, uh, this event had a thousand people and it actually had, you know, maybe a hundred and fifty, right? We all know those scenarios, right? Well, then they say it's fabulously successful business model. Okay. And then you can have people say, Well, I'm gonna run an event, it's a really successful way of, you know, da da da da. And it and the fact of the matter is it might have actually been successful. You know, the the number might be completely superfluous. It doesn't matter in the least bit, because those hundred and fifty people that were in the room were absolutely the right people to have in the room, and it created an environment where real value was created. So so but if you don't have that context and someone leveling with you about what really happened, why it was successful for them, then you don't know. So what we've done is we've created that environment with our values-based approach and then we've created a platform of success. So everything that anyone across our whole platform does at Excellence, we want them to be celebrated. And I want we I want them to win faster. I want people to know what they do at Excellence and be able to work with them. If it's the right fit and it's the right need, then then please work as quickly as possible together to get where you need to go. And then that way, what we're doing is we're reducing the two biggest costs we have as executives and business owners, and that is time. No matter how much money you have, you can't buy back, and noise, because noise gets in the way of being able to prioritize appropriately to be able to win and deliver success in your business and in your life. So that's that's again a simple version. I can go through much more complication. And and maybe we'll get into that a little bit, but because the platform of what we need to succeed is a great deal now. And it's changing very quickly, and the models are changing very quickly, and and there's a lot to navigate if you want to be successful, not just today, but as we plan for how we're moving forward in our businesses and our lives. And is it very much a membership model or is it the way the the way that the business model works, so so geeking out a little bit for a moment, our model is very much three buckets of do it yourself, do what you need to do with others, or have it completely customized and done for you. And so membership does come into that where we do have membership and subscription levels in that do-it-yourself. You know, come in, participate socially, network, connect. But the currency of the future really is trust. We believe this wholeheartedly. We've been using the tagline most trusted network for many, many years because we're constantly vetting to good people. They just, you know, we just all happen to be running and owning and influencing business, and business is. But, you know, the the um that do-it-yourself piece is all about here are some, here are tools that you're gonna need to be successful. Uh, we incorporate our C-suite marketing cloud in our basic, you know, on our executive leader, our entry-level membership, and with our contributors. And that has unlimited CRM, landing pages, sales funnels, social media scheduler, calendar links, all of those pieces and a great deal more because what we've been doing is we've been populating the templates that we use and successfully into our base so that our members and partners and leaders across the whole C-suite platform can use those templates and see their success. And we use that with our partner so we're able to share, oh, this person with somebody that we introduced you to, you're in conversation. Make sure you're touching base with them. You know, those kinds of things with our contributors, those are the folks that we're supporting to have them be able to share their IP, their writing, their audio content, their video content. And so we make that very simple so they're able to do that and upload their content and move forward with their business. And um, you know, we're now, I think it's around 500 podcasts that we distribute. So obviously that's thousands of episodes a year. And we're at around 70 million downloads total on our podcasting, although we're really quickly scaling that up. We just uh uh recently announced our partnership with the New York Stock Exchange, which we're really thrilled with and participated in their partner day. So we'll be distributing their podcast content and there's so much, which is which is wonderful. We have our video content or C-suite TV. We're running at over 600 events a year now, just under the C-suite brand. And that doesn't include speaking engagements and all those kinds of things. So there's there's a great deal happening. We actually, when Wall Street Journal stopped publishing the world's best business publications or business books, we took up that mantle. So that's been since January 2024. And so now we announced the C-suite bestseller list, which is the world's best business books, and very proudly carry that mantle. And obviously, it runs separately. There's certain criteria. You know, if you write, if you sell 3,000 books in a week, that gets you into the into the run. But there's just so much that we're working on across the platform that you can access, you know, education resources, networking, and and opportunities. And then done with others, we have our peer groups, our councils. So, you know, our hero club is our CEO group, our thought council is our IP leaders, our thought leaders, our faculty of C-suite. Uh we have Lead Hershift Global is our executive women, our women's coaching and consulting councils, you know, women uh coaches and consultants. We have our nonprofit prosperity council, and I could go on and on, and I'm so sorry to everybody that I'm missing and not listing everyone, but but that's our peer groups where we're supporting around a specific issue or from a graphic, demographic, that that kind of thing, so that that's coming together. And um, and then done for you is very much a customized consulting engagement where we're able to bring partners that have different pieces at Excellence and provide fully supported solution using the C-suite brand, using our services, using all of the things that we know that different partners do at Excellence to be able to provide that value.
SPEAKER_00Well, thank you for that uh formative overview on on the different things uh that you can do.
SPEAKER_01It scaled a little since we like every time we get to speak, Leo, it's it's it's uh scaled a little bit more, that's for sure.
SPEAKER_00It's definitely evolving. Definitely changed a little from the first time we met, for sure. Which I'm guessing was about 2018. My goodness, yeah. And talk to me a little bit about your personal journey that's got you here.
SPEAKER_01So my personal journey is I grew up on a farm where I learned very quickly uh that preciousness is not rewarded. If anybody is here with us, uh grew up on a farm, they will absolutely, I know you'll be able to relate that there are only three states of being on a farm. And useful, spoiler alert, is the only one you ever want to be. And so I always say set the bar right at useful, not higher useful, because the other two states of being are dead, which is really unfortunate, right? If you're on a farm and things die that you don't want to die, it's a very bad situation, or useful dead, which means I get to eat you, or something else does, you know. So that's that's not exactly a great position to be in. So, so useful, if you set the bar there without preciousness, you're working toward a mission, you're delivering something of importance. Again, cancels out noise and moves things forward. So, so growing up on a farm, you're also very industrious. You know, there's all kinds of things that grow that go with that. Community, outrageously important, right? If you if you don't have your community support, you and your animals starve. There's there's no way around that. If something goes wrong, you're in trouble. And it's your community that supports you. So, so lots of really powerful, important lessons as I was growing up. And I also was a competitive figure skater. And with the Xport and anybody, you know, in Spore, you know, you fall, you fall, you fall, you fall, and you fall again until you fall a little less. And I think those things, you know, help you understand the tenacity. You know, you work through the pain, you get stuff done. And you also have uh the evaluation of what's happening. And I think those are such important skill sets for how you set what you're going to do and how you're going to achieve that and actually live through the achievement, which is which is critical. Otherwise, what's the point in doing any of it? So so that really was massively formative for my life and and where I've gone, what I've done, and how I set the expectation of what I'm delivering on in the everyday. I also joke, Leo, that I'm third generation crazy woman. So my grandmother started her own business in the 50s. She died when I was 12. I wish so badly I could go back and speak with her about how did you start your own business when a woman couldn't even get a credit card by herself? You know, I I don't, I honestly don't know because we we, you know, didn't have that conversation at that point. And my mom is a world leader in her space. In fact, she's just taken on the chair of her global association. And I just thought that was normal. You know, I just didn't understand there was any other way to think. So it's it's been very, very, very interesting in terms of my trajectory. I actually took women's studies as a minor because I didn't understand the whole framing that everybody else seemed to have about why women don't do certain things. I literally had no clue. So I wanted to learn about this. You know, that's like what happened to everybody. I don't understand. And uh, and of course, I have three daughters. I have uh a stepdaughter who's in her twins, and I've got one off at college, and I've got a teenager. So I am, I am uh uh I've already fully informed them, of course, that they are fourth generation, and that's just the way that it is, fourth generation crazy women. And whatever they choose to do, that's not with a weight of expectation by any means. Um, I'm not a believer in that, but it's uh it's definitely an interesting part of the way that I've looked at things and done different things in my career.
SPEAKER_00And on the career side, what what have you done that led up to where you are now?
SPEAKER_01So uh from a career perspective, my degrees were in sociology and anthropology. And I never it never even occurred to me. And this is it it's so strange. I love business so much. I love people building businesses to see success that delivers other people's success. I just I can't tell you how passionate I am about that. But when I was in school, the way that business school was presented to me was this notion of very much greediness and trophy hunting and trophy collection. And I wanted nothing to do with it. I really wanted nothing to do with it. And I took every other course. I did take macroeconomics, I uh took stats and TA stats and all, you know, I uh it wasn't that I I didn't want to learn about how things work. Organizational theory, how do you get people doing things that make sense and and working together, all of those kinds of things? But business itself just seemed like such an unattractive uh situation. And so I I did my undergrad. I lived in England for a couple of years, and I came back. I did my two-year master's. I was really fortunate to be part of a political ethics program where I was supervising interviews that we did on political ethics with every level of journalists, government, politicians at every level, and the public. And we were published within a few months of completing the research. So that was my first publication. Uh, and it was just such an extraordinary experience. And I still didn't even know what market research was. But when I finished that program, my professor said, My goodness, you need to look at market research. And and this will give you a hint on my age. I went to the library and got out the yellow pages and took, you know, took down the names and numbers of the market research firms in Toronto and Ottawa. And um, and I took my first job in market research. I actually started out in data programming and statistical analytics. And within a year, I was recruited to the largest public affairs firm and the best known brand in Canada, other than Pamela Anderson. And um, and so that's where I learned a great deal about strategy, communications. I did political polling and trend research. And I mean, literally I got my 10,000 hours in as few of days as humanly possible. And um, and only recently started admitting that I there were nights where I had to be in at four o'clock in the morning for political polling, and I was still finishing up my other work that I was doing, and I just, you know, lay down under my desk so I get a couple hours' sleep before starting the next cycle, you know. But but, you know, it's like, where are you gonna go safely for two hours to sleep? May as well just stay here and uh get it done. Anyway, it was it was an extraordinary experience, and that took me from Toronto to Ottawa to Washington, D.C. And that's where I had uh a really big um uh decision. I was the youngest vice president in North America at Ipsos and a very large global market research firm. And I was asked by uh Ken Melman if I would consider putting my hat in the ring for President Bush's re-election campaign. Now, I've never belonged to a political party, which I believe made me fairly dangerous when it came to political polling because the rhetoric and the whole thing of being part of a party wasn't something to sway me because I wasn't part of any of it. And I never was in Canada, I never was in the U.S. I'm registered as an independent, as a U.S. citizen now as well. That really, really was one of those moments in time that made me think a great deal. And I ended up choosing not to. What I did was I went back to Canada and I took on a role within Rogers Communications, which is a very, very large telecommunications company in Canada that owns everything. Yeah, I mean, uh the the uh that's it's incredibly large company with all kinds of uh of assets, um, uh including, you know, real estate, cable, wireless. I mean, literally, you could go on and on. And I worked in the media company and built a $20 million practice within the media company. And this is when I really understood just how much I love business. And in DC, I was able to, you know, sort of fix a business that we'd bought in terms of how it was fitting into the whole mothership of Ipsos. And it was a tremendous experience. At Rogers, I was able to take a supplier side capability and bring it into client side, which back then wasn't done, you know, just wasn't done and brought in brand new technology uh that today is just a given. I mean, literally, of course. But back then it was groundbreaking. And I was speaking all over North America around that. Then I took on a global CMO role within a $3 billion company, headed up strategy for them, had done an executive strat certification program at Queen's, a business school in Canada. Arguably they would are the well, arguably the best. We'll see. Uh, there's there are a couple of really great schools in business schools in Canada. And then with that role, I became involved with C-Suite. I became a sponsor of C-Suite Network. And then two and a half years later, I came on board C-Suite Network. So this has been something that's really driven my passion for how we see great business leaders aligned around the values of creating success for those we serve, those we take money from, making sure that we are creating opportunity for that to be an advantage as we go through so many changes in the cost structure of operating a business in the environment we're in today and what we're heading into.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for sharing all of that. Sounds uh sounds like you have some uh some storied brands.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Yeah, lots of lots of um lots of great brands, great experiences, great people. You know, great people are what makes business just extraordinarily incredible, you know, and and I think so frequently that's not understood because we hear the stories in the news, the greed, the ugliness, horrendous, you know, this and that. That's what we hear. The fact of the matter is the majority of business owners are sacrificing, they're sharing, they're supporting, they're giving back to their communities in so many ways. And it's a wonderful, incredible thing and uh and a truly an honor to work with great people who are delivering that kind of success and and um supporting the people that they serve with as well and and sharing in the success that way. There's so many different ways of approaching building businesses and sharing in the success of them and um and the value they create.
SPEAKER_00So talking about family, you mentioned the three kids. How how would you define family? What does family mean to you?
SPEAKER_01You know, so my uh I have three children, but I would describe family much more broadly than that. Family is people that you that you love and and that you trust and it is that is there for you. And so I frequently will talk about my C-suite family. You know, I travel a great deal. People say, Well, how do you manage all of that travel? And you know, you have your family, you have, you know, da da da da. And I always say, like, I have family everywhere I go. I can't imagine not getting to see my family. I have people that are absolutely integral to my life everywhere I go, and um, and that's such a gift. And I think we overlook the power of that, the value of that in our lives. And if you don't think about the fact that people who are on your team, so now you can have family members by blood that are not part of your team. So I wouldn't consider family to be anything about necessarily a legal connection or a biological connection. It's people who are on your team, and that is not necessarily, as I said, legal or blood, and it's certainly not full-time employees. Just because you pay somebody does not mean they're on your team. It's about are they there for you?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean it it's the family you choose.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Chosen family, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think uh the most important. And obviously kids, I mean.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, you guys you know, your kids don't get to choose, having you, right? Like so so they're kind of stuck with us. Yeah, I've thought for so many years there is nothing in this world that you can do to deserve to be that important in a whole human's life, right? To be a parent. And and also there is so little value placed on how important aunts, uncles are chosen, aunts, uncles, you know, godparents, grandparents chosen any of those roles. Those roles are so important in children's lives, and I think just truly not celebrated enough, not acknowledged enough. Those are the people that can really make a difference because kids understand those people don't have to show up in their lives. Right? Parents, you know, they understand we're stuck with them too, you know. But but those people that pour into you that don't have to, that's a really, really important role in a child's life that they understand.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, again, really sort of chosen family. Yeah, because yeah, they don't have to be there. Yeah. And what's uh health to you? So I I look at health as you know, health can be a fitness, it can be for physical health, the mental health, it can be the food you eat. It's it takes many different forms. But for you, what what does health mean?
SPEAKER_01This is uh, you know, I feel like I'm in constant kind of monitoring. I try always to eat healthy, I try to be active. Then there's certain things that I do at different times, and then I'll forget for a while, and then I'll start that again, and you know, different things like that. But I would say health overall is definitely all of those things, Leo. And I think if we uh if we know anything at all, you can't ignore any of it for any length of time. I mean, you can for short periods mostly kind of depending on your condition and you know, the different things you're dealing with in your in your personal, you know. Your whole personal being, whether it's health, you know, physical health, mental health, et cetera, spiritual health, et cetera. So I try to be very cognizant of all of those pieces and the things that I know I need to do to make sure that I am showing up healthy, that I am able to be present, that I am I'm taking care of myself. And I think that's something that's just so important because unfortunately, it's very easy to use other people or uh or you know, the missions that we're on with our businesses or our careers as an excuse for not doing the things that we need to do to take care of ourselves. And um, you know, like sleep. Oh my goodness, that's gotten better. But remember, you know, the whole thing of like I get three or four hours of sleep at night and it's plenty for me, and I'm a you know amazing performer. And it's like, yeah, actually, you're hallucinating. And if you read the research, your brain tricks you. So, you know, be really worried about somebody if they're only getting three or four hours of sleep a night. It is absolutely unsustainable and outrageously unhealthy. And on top of that, their brain cannot process that they're performing worse. It their brain tricks them into thinking they're performing better. And I know there's so much more research since I did quite a bit of reading in that space, but my goodness, sleep is critically important. So I'm constantly balancing. I mean, there's some nights you know, you're taking a flight and you're gonna be lucky if you get three or four hours of sleep. Okay, well, can you catch a nap while you're on the plane? What time can you get to bed that night? Can you take a nap before you have to go out to that flight? Like what, you know, what are the scenarios? Because it's not all going to be the same, but if you're conscientious about it, then you're thinking to when can I kind of make sure that I'm taking care of myself? Or I get through today, but tonight I'll be able to take that rest and then I'll make sure that I'm sleeping in on the weekend a little bit and whatever it is. So, so I try to do that. I've got my even when I'm wearing my good watch, I'm always wearing my Apple Watch because I can monitor how many steps I'm taking. So that this way, you know, I if nothing else, I can get in 10,000 steps. You know, I can be listening to calls, I can be making calls, I can be, you know, walking safely. One of the hotels I stay in is a square and I can walk inside at night, be completely safe and you know, and and do whatever it is I'm doing and get my steps in. So, you know, just different things like that to I've got a walking board in my office because when it's snowy, it's not pleasant to put on a coat and boots and you know, all that kind of stuff. But when I'm on a phone call, I can just jump on the walking board and and get some steps in. So I try very much to do that. I also like being out in nature. So, you know, even if I can just get outside into the woods for a few minutes, then, you know, I'm getting that forest bathing, they call it now. But uh, you know, just just making sure you're getting the things you need, whether that's calm, quiet, reading, whatever it is that you enjoy, um, and that you know you need to to sort of be able to be centered and present and feeding yourself, it's really, really important.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think that all makes sense. And what you say about sleep, I I a hundred percent agree. I notice if I've got for me, I I certainly need six, ideally seven. Yes. And if I've had above seven hours sleep, I notice my performance difference. I you know, I'm I'm an athlete and and you know I can see the difference.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00If I've had seven and a half versus six and a half hours sleep. I can't sleep more than eight hours. My body just says, like, you know, okay, wake up and get stuff done. But but you know, between seven and eight is is what my body does need. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's so interesting what your parents teach you. You know, my mom was a veterinarian and there's certain things, you know, I wasn't allowed to eat sugar. Well, of course, sugar's very bad for you. My mom uh refused the whole formula thing because, you know, as a veterinarian, she's like, listen, there's a lot of really important things that don't come from, you know, a can. And, you know, so it's just really interesting, those different things. When it comes to sleep, my mom would always say eight hours. And the more of those hours before midnight, the better. They count as more in terms of the restorative piece of your your health, you know. And and um, you know, I don't know about that as a scientific fact. I bet you she was basing it on something she some research she read way back when, but uh but I feel the same way. I was a competitive figure skater. Uh uh, the difference between six, seven, or eight hours sleep is literally night and day.
SPEAKER_00And I think the before midnight, I think it depends on your chronotype. I mean, my chronotype is yes, I need to go to bed early and I wake up very early. So, yes, if I if I go to bed at midnight, I'm still gonna wake up at five in the morning. I'm just gonna feel crappy. Yeah, my body wakes up early. And I think and what I find interesting is I've done two DNA tests over the last year for different purposes, like health type things. Interestingly, they both identify the chronotypes, which I find quite interesting that from a DNA test, they can tell you pretty accurately a lot of that kind of stuff, like when should you be waking up? And and it's pretty accurate. It's it's interesting how that's sort of written in your DNA.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah, it that that is interesting. I haven't done that kind of study. I've done every, I mean, not every, I shouldn't say that. I've done so many of those quadrant, you know, studies, intolerance studies, that that's something from a health perspective was a game changer for me. You know, there's a lot of understanding now about gut health and having a healthy gut. If if I hadn't had the experience I had of working with a naturopath that helped me understand what I was outrageously intolerant to, I uh I can't I can't even imagine. I mean, I got used to being basically in pain and sick pretty much every day. Well, not pretty much every day. Literally, I timed out my day around knowing I would be sick and in pain every day. And not only did she help me with figuring out what it was that was causing it, because I couldn't figure it out. And I don't know about anybody else, but this whole thing of elimination diet that this doesn't work practically for me. Like I'm gonna add one thing in each week. I love all foods. This is not practical when you're traveling, you don't know what else is in food. There's so there's you know, with that other people are preparing. It's just not practical. So there is blood work you can do that tells you what you're intolerant to. Between that and getting my gut healthy again, it it it was life-changing. You know, so those kinds of things to help us figure out what is going on in our um in our bodies and maybe isn't traditional medicine, you know, traditional medicine as we know it, but um but so powerful and so important to know. And again, take that time and get the right kind of help to support you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean it's it's interesting. I I'm I'm glad that that works really well for you. Blood tests for intolerances generally are actually for most people pretty inaccurate.
SPEAKER_01Really?
SPEAKER_00Skin tests are much more accurate. Blood tests because the blood doesn't react in the same way. I I had a detailed description. So I I had a internist, because I was looking for some allergies and intolerances, send me for the detailed blood test, the ones that test everything under the sun. They cost a fortune. And then I took those results and I went to see uh a couple of other sort of specialists, including a dermatologist, and they were like, these are literally not worth the paper they're written on. I brought them with. And they were like, it does not actually show what you're reacting to because the blood is not the same as the gut, the skin.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So it it's interesting. There's there's but you know, in the end, different things work well for different people, and that obviously for you gave you the answers that you needed.
SPEAKER_01Well, well, it who knows which tests they are, and this was quite a few years ago now. This would have been like a decade ago, and in Canada. So, you know, I don't know the difference of the different tests. And also, I was so extremely intolerant. I mean, just so extremely intolerant, which is not the same thing as being allergic, that that what was escaping through the lining of my gut was showing up in the blood. So, so maybe cut some of the inaccuracy is because it's not escaping as much as mine was, because it was just brutal. I mean, it was just a horrible experience. And as I said, every day, because every time I ate, I was eating things that contained what I was massively intolerant to, which was only two things. But the, you know, they happened to be two things that are in just about everything. You know, but I cut that out and immediately had no pain. And uh, and my naturopath had never worked with anyone who managed to cut out something like that. But I did for a year and a half, not one single thing went in my body that had for me, it was casein and egg. Um, I I ate all whole food and I completely controlled everything, nothing processed because casein and egg, but casein especially is in every processed food. And I it and I took probiotics and all those kinds of things, and it completely healed my gut. So I introduced it back in over six months and literally have no intolerance. I eat everything now and have three years.
SPEAKER_00Right. Yeah. My daughter can my daughter can only eat 14 foods, literally. Yeah. No no easy option for her. It's um makes traveling complicated. She's traveling right now, actually. But yeah, I'm not sure.
SPEAKER_01I can introduce you to my naturopath. I loved working with her because her mom and her sister are doctors, and she's the black sheep naturopath. I'm just teasing. She's the naturopath. So she takes into account traditional medicine and a traditional medicine headset, but is an expert in the naturopath. So naturopathic space. So it's I I always really, really, really appreciated working with her.
SPEAKER_00Nice. And I obviously worked well for you. So she's definitely, definitely you found you found what you needed.
SPEAKER_01Yes, exactly. What it what do you like to do for some? Oh my goodness. I I love all kinds of things. I am a very physical person, so I love playing. I don't care if I'm good at it, whatever it is or not. Um, you know, like I walk in the woods, my daughter and I will just dance ridiculously as we're walking through our neighborhood uh to music that we like and anything else. I don't care what it is. I I will try and learn just about, you know, anything I can. I tried snowboarding and, you know, I just I just laugh and enjoy it. Some people I know feel very intimidated and anxious about things that they're not good at. I just think it's hilarious. I think it's the funnest, you know, thing to try something different. I am not interested in any way in things that will be potentially harmful or not fun to me. And that would be things like jumping out of a perfectly good plane. I have absolutely no interest in that. None. Zero. Doesn't it's not I'm not scared. I just what's the point? I don't need to. And same with running a marathon. Not my thing. I totally respect for some people that is a very important point.
SPEAKER_00I'm doing one in three days.
SPEAKER_01That's amazing. And I get to live vicariously through you. And and that is a great pleasure for me, you know, that I can live vicariously through people I love. But for me, no, because you know, I went through I was a competitive figure skater, right? So I trained at the Olympic Training Center in Canada for figure skating. You train 50 weeks of the year, 10 to 12 hours a day, six days a week. And I actually managed to get out of that without having deformed feet. I I did shred my MCL, which was career-ending, but but I can walk and I do like like I I still have my hips. I'm I'm pretty damn happy with having all of my body parts, you know, intact. And uh, and I don't need to run a marathon. If I can walk my 10,000 steps a day and be active and and and play and have fun with activity, then I am happy. You know, another thing I love to do that's a lot of fun is you know the the VR sets? There's a game called uh Beat Saber and you puts on music for you. You get to select what kind of music you want, and you get these hand paddle things and and they become lightsabers, you know. And so the music comes on and you get to dance and hit the blocks that come at you whatever way they tell you to hit it. So if the arrow is going this way, you have to hit it up. If the arrow is going this way, there we go, uh, you have to hit down. So, so I just have a great time dancing that out. And I don't care that I look ridiculous, I could care less. I'm having a blast, and it's and it's great exercise. So yeah, I like I like activity that is fun and I can play and just just enjoy it. You know what, Leo? I I think also my mom probably uh that that my mom probably got me going on that. We used to work out together when I was in university. She would come to the gym with me and we would just laugh hysterically the whole entire time. You know, we do the circuit training. Do you remember the circuit training? I don't know if even people do that anymore, but we do the circuit training, so we'd always be looking at each other as you're changing stations, and we just laugh hysterically the whole entire time. So anyway, I I get a kick out of it. I just want to have fun.
SPEAKER_00Perfect mother-daughter time. Yeah, exactly. Great quality time. Um, and how are you at turning off? How are you uh can you stop working?
SPEAKER_01Turning off is not something that is very easy for me. In fact, I will tell you that last weekend my husband said to me, Trisha, please, can you just relax now? Because um I I had one of those days where it's like, you know, I fell, which I haven't fallen in so long. You know, I fell and then I also broke a plate all within about 30 minutes. And he said, you know, I think it's time. Thought, hmm. You know, I think you're probably right. You know, I'll just uh chill out for a little bit here. So shutting down, yeah, it's not something I'm particularly good at, although I will say my version of shutting down is really just kind of puttering on other things I want to think about. I it's funny how that is. I really enjoy just being able to have time that's not scheduled, and I'm able to play thoughts to the end and, you know, oh, I I wanted to do that, and then I'll go and putter with that, or I'll go for a walk, or I'll, you know, it's it's that's kind of my way of shutting down. And also another thing that I've started doing uh recently, the last couple of years, is I watch something or listen to something that is completely innocuous, and I'll fall asleep to that. So I can't fall asleep to something that's thought-provoking or in any way miserable. So needless to say, I am not falling asleep to the news. I am right now I'm falling asleep to the Annie Griffiths show, which is certainly a blast from the past, but that's been kind of kind of fun. You know, there's a nostalgia of, you know, many years ago and what things were like, and also things that are ridiculous. And I don't know, it's just it's just a new thing that I'm finding kind of shuts me off of other stuff that I'm thinking about.
SPEAKER_00Definitely. And what has been for you in either your personal or your business life? What has been a pivotal moment for you?
SPEAKER_01I will say that there have been, you know, lots of pivotal moments and just incredible people that I'm so grateful for in my life. Um because it's all a journey. Anybody who tries to tell you that they've got it all together, you know, uh you know, or um if you pay them enough money, you can kiss their hand and somehow be like them. It's just nonsense. And and I don't mean that from a critical perspective. I just mean we're all on a human journey, every single one of us. And then, you know, as soon as you think you've got something down, things change. You know, I I I've always used the analogy, Leo, of like a Rubik's cube. You get one side right and you're like, yes, but the only way to get a second side right is to screw up the first side and so on. And and as soon as you get all the sides right, guess what? The thing falls apart and you gotta shove it back together and figure it back out again. So um I think the pivotal moments, many. I mean, I mentioned the one about, you know, when I was in Washington, DC, and and do you want to go into put your hat in the ring for political polling for the President Bush's re-election campaign? That's one of those moments where, you know, who knows? Because I didn't put my hat in the ring, but it really pushed me to think about what I wanted. And I loved business so much. And politics for me, uh, a very ugly sport. So I it made it very clear to me that all I wanted to do was go down the business line of things. And with politics, it was one of those things of I don't want that to be my whole life, you know, a very clear choice. There's so many other pivotal moments of just, you know, sometimes the littlest choices through to the big ones. I would say, if I were to share something that would actually be useful to anybody, have fun with it. I have spoken to so many people over the years. It's like, what if I do this and it's the wrong thing? It won't be the wrong thing. If if you try this and it and it's not what you want, it'll have you one step closer to the next thing. Um, because now you've learned something about what you don't like or don't want or whatever it might be. And so I think, you know, have fun with those choices in life. And I think, you know, when you think about the last days of your life, you're not gonna say around sit around saying, I wish I, you know, hadn't taken chances, I hadn't, you know, been courageous in that choice or whatever. You live a full life. And uh nobody, you know, if you make a choice and nobody dies, it's gonna be okay. The other kinds of choices where that's on the line, then there's a whole other set of things going on there. And uh um I'm not necessarily talking about that. But um anyway, lots of lots of pivotal moments, and I'd say um incredible people that have helped me in my my journey and and still today.
SPEAKER_00I think you're you're right, as in there are in many ways no wrong choices. Yes, there may be the odd one. But generally there are they are all who make us who we are in the present. Absolutely the good and the bad have all helped define how we get here. We would not be the same people if we hadn't taken those wrong decisions.
SPEAKER_01Yes, it's so true. I don't know. I I always say, why waste time regretting when you have whatever time you have now? And I think this is bringing it back to our children. Frequently, I think we make choices for them or we impose upon them expectations because we didn't have the courage to do it ourselves. And you could say, well, the time passed, but you know, I have have a friend that I trained with uh who was an Olympian who is still playing rugby at 61 years old. So I don't know when it's too late. You know, if you're still breathing, then there's still an opportunity to have impact. And um and uh so yeah, I I think this is one of those things where it's it's important to give yourself the leeway to have fun with those choices and um and enjoy being courageous in in doing those things and then setting that example for your children, you know, with mine, I just want them to find what they're passionate about. I want them to understand that it's critically important that they give back in whatever way is important to them, that they make choice that's choices that support others and their success. You know, these these are the things I want them to find for themselves. And whatever that is, is wonderful. And so I I like I I just marvel at being able to see them becoming who they are. It's a most incredible experience. I know, Leo, you just light up every time you talk about your your children, but I want them to do what they're really motivated and passionate about, and I can't make that up for them. And I think so often we, you know, as parents, it's like you're supposed to monitor every damn thing they do and make sure it's all set up perfectly for them. And I'm like, which one of who of any of us were successful because our parents made us or actually loved what we do because our parents made us? Not a single one of us that I know.
SPEAKER_00I I've always been a big believer in treating uh my children like adults from a very, very young age. They were allowed to make their own mistakes because to be honest, that's that's Oh my goodness, yes. Why control everything? It it's it's it's not real.
SPEAKER_01Well, and if you take away their ability to make mistakes and understand how to deal with them, how to handle that when they're young and it's there's no consequence. They're not gonna die, they're not you know, like you're able to protect them. If you let them make their own choices and have the consequences of those choices, when they're older, they understand they still have that same, you know, they they have that same independence and capability and and you know, they're in control of that. They understand those consequences and how to how to deal with them in so much different of a way, then why is this a problem? Yeah. I I couldn't agree with you more, Leo. It's and also uh that the whole natural consequences, I always say for me, it was always very important that uh my children be respectful of others. So if we are in a restaurant and it's it's a it's you know the normal tone of whatever that restaurant is, and they're not acting appropriately, I would share with them that, you know, really we must do this because this, you see, there are other people trying to enjoy their meals, et cetera. Um, no, you know, if it continued, I need you to understand that if we can't act appropriately for this space, we just have to go outside. Oh, that's fine. I'll come outside with you and we'll wait until you're ready to go back in. And this is a very simple, easy example to understand. If it's uh in Canada, let's say freezing or minus 10, trust me, you are not outside for longer than about five seconds before the behavior to go back in is is absolutely in place. And your children learn the respect of being around other people. And I think that's also important in terms of how to communicate, how to connect, you know, all those kinds of things to consider others. So those are those are things that I'm very mindful to. The rest, not my thing. You know, it's theirs.
SPEAKER_00It's been a fun conversation. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01Very fun. I actually don't have these kinds of conversations. And by the way, Leo, I don't even I I never post on my children. So they actually own their own personal brand. There is no posting from me. So to be able to share a little bit of, you know, how I think about these things and at the same time respect them as their own individual selves, I really appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00Thank you.
SPEAKER_01And uh, how can people find you? They can go to c suite network.com, so c dash suite s uitnetwork.com. And my email is just Trisha T-R-I-C-I-A at and then it's c suite network.com, c dash suite s uit e network.com. I would love to hear from anyone, and of course, just let me know that you were listening to Leo and I and we'll make sure that we make you welcome anywhere that you're wanting to come into C Suite.
SPEAKER_00Well, thank you. And thank you for listening to today's episode. If you enjoyed this conversation, don't forget to subscribe to the channel, tell your friends, and leave a review.