From Washington to Arizona: Sally Harrison's Path of Impact

This episode features Sally Harrison, president and CEO of the Mesa Chamber of Commerce since 2013, who moved from Washington state to Arizona in 2004 and joined the Mesa Chamber in 2008 after a 20-year career helping grow a physical therapy practice into 20 clinics and launching a community-focused foundation. She discusses how her upbringing in a small Washington community, her parents’ involvement in civic organizations, and her brother’s long law-enforcement career shaped her service-oriented leadership and emphasis on relationships. Sally shares personal experiences including losing her mother at 19 and her father two days later, not finishing college due to family health crises, and moving her family to Arizona after repeated spring break visits. She describes her path into the chamber through Rotary, stepping into the CEO role after a leadership transition, and her leadership philosophy of leaving ego at the door, focusing on protecting, promoting, and advocating for businesses while partnering closely with the City of Mesa. The conversation also covers misconceptions about chambers of commerce, balancing business and political considerations through a business lens, and how the chamber expanded into broader community issues during COVID. Sally speaks candidly about her oldest son Bryce’s suicide in 2006 at age 17, the aftermath for her family, and her involvement in raising awareness and convening community conversations on teen suicide, including collaborating with organizations and individuals such as Copa Health and Katie McPherson and bringing in speakers. She notes challenges facing youth such as coping with failure and highlights Mesa’s growth, the chamber’s wide range of programming, and her current family life, including her granddaughter and her son buying her longtime home.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

But yeah, that was uh literally the worst day of my life. I mean, to get that call trying to race home from Central Phoenix. Um, it was like driving onto a movie set. I mean, police and fire everywhere, a helicopter. Like, it was it was horrible.

SPEAKER_02 0:18

Hey there, welcome back to Above and Beyond Recellence Meets Elevation. I'm your host, Jan Simon, and this season we're raising the bar, diving into the passion, purpose, and defining moments of leaders who don't just aim high, they live there. Big ideas, real stories. Let's get into it. Today's guest is Sally Harrison, a true pillar of the Mesa community and a leader whose impact can be felt across businesses, civic life and service. After moving from Washington State to Arizona in 2004, Sally joined the Mesa Chamber of Commerce in 2008, bringing with her a background in marketing, events, and foundation management. Over the years, she served in multiple leadership roles, including Director of Programs and Vice President in Development. And since 2013, she has led the chamber as president and CEO. Sally also served as president of the Mesa Industry and Defense Council, and sits on numerous boards and advisory councils supporting public safety, workforce development, and economic growth for the City of Mesa. Beyond titles and accolades, Sally is deeply passionate about serving others, especially veterans, combating food insecurity, anti-trafficking efforts, and the awareness of prevention of suicide. Today's conversation is about leadership, service, and the responsibility that comes with influence. That's a lot of people. Sally welcome. Yeah, well, thank you. Thank you very much. And you have like a, I would say a laundry list of boards and commissions that you serve on currently. I don't know how you have time.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

Uh yeah, I actually um have given a few up just because if I'm going to be on something, I think like most people, like you want to give it your all, right? And so at some point I think if you want to do a good job, you have to pick and choose.

SPEAKER_05 2:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

And so yes, I've uh I've served on a lot of boards over the years, but currently the the one nonprofit that I continue to work with is House of Refuge.

SPEAKER_05 2:17

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

But my heart's always gonna be with a food bank just because I mean I've I didn't grow up with a ton, but we had food on the table, we had water, we you know, you had your basic needs, and um I can't imagine being somebody that goes to sleep without your kids having food.

SPEAKER_02 2:35

For sure. I can't I can't even fathom that. And I was actually talking with somebody uh earlier today who who were having can con uh conversations about being on the podcast, but but she was talking about a nonprofit that she and her parents own and run, and just and it has to do with um adoption. Not adoption, but uh foster kids foster care, there you go, and and aging out. Yeah, and it just it you know, we live in our own little bubble, and I feel like sometimes we forget how the struggle is real for so many people, you know, and then and then you see something like that where it's like and I was the same. I mean I grew up in it's funny because TJ, do you know TJ Tillman? TJ and I were having a conversation, and and I'm like, yeah, I remember powdered milk. I remember very vividly drinking powdered milk that tasted like whatever was in the refrigerator that day, you know, and it's like we had I I feel like we because my dad loved cheese, I feel like we always had cheese around. Now looking back, it's like, did we get wick? Did we did we have wick? Because we always had cheese and cereal. We only had powdered milk, we never had like real milk. But I think that too, like we we had enough to get by. We there was always food, and it's funny because when my uh my ex-wife now, but when my my fiance, I guess at the time, the first time she came to my parents' house, she was like starving hungry. She's like, I'm so hungry, you have no food. But it seemed like every time it was time for a meal, mom whipped something up, and all of a sudden you've got this gourmet dinner in front of you. You know, it's like I don't know where it came from. And it was never pre-packaged, it was always from scratch. So, anyways, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:08

We butchered uh cows every year. Oh nice. I remember uh being at a bus stop, you know, and then hearing the gunshot. Yeah. My mom would say, you know, don't make friends with those cows. But as a a little kid, yeah, I was always across the fence, you know, playing with the calves as they grew up, but love a good steak. So that didn't bother me. There you go.

SPEAKER_02 4:29

Well, and I think that's a good thing. I don't know. I mean, I I believe it's a good position to be in. It teaches you right where the food comes from. We I think we only did that a couple times where we had friends who'd we'd like do split split a steak or split a beef. Uh-huh. Um, but we were always hunting deer, yeah, bear. We I raised um rabbits in 4-H and and got tired of raising rabbits.

SPEAKER_00 4:51

So we just got rid of my 4-H ribbons.

SPEAKER_02 4:53

Oh, did you?

SPEAKER_00 4:54

I literally found them when I was hacking. And I'm like, what am I supposed to do with these? I took pictures so I could share them with my my kids. There you go. I like you know, I I'm not saving these because I don't think you're going to want them at some point.

SPEAKER_02 5:06

The kids aren't gonna take them. I have a I have a book uh that's got, I think, probably every ribbon I've ever won from, you know, whenever I started swimming through 4-H and Boy Scouts and all the other things I did, you know, and it's like, and I ever now you flip through there and you're like, what am I gonna do with these things? But yeah, you're from Washington State. The Seahawks won, right? That was a great well, I shouldn't say it was a great game yesterday. I was really expecting the Seahawks just to roll over the top of Patriots.

SPEAKER_00 5:34

The last few games, yeah. Yeah, I was hoping.

SPEAKER_02 5:37

It was pretty boring until the fourth quarter, I think started getting exciting.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

Yeah, it was it was a great, yeah, great defense game.

SPEAKER_02 5:44

It was a fun game. It was fun to watch them beat the Patriots. The only thing that could have been better if somewhere along the way they could have destroyed the Steelers, and then at that point we'd like the Rams, the 49ers, the Pa Patriots, and the Steelers would have all gone down. It would have been great.

SPEAKER_00 5:57

So Yeah, I I was trying to interact with some friends from Seattle because I knew lots of them were actually at Lumen Field watching, you know, and participating in all the excitement there, but my feed was nothing but you know, Super Bowl yesterday because of the the connection back to my hometown. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:16

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

I didn't grow up in Seattle, but I mean you were our team, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:20

You're from Washington. It's I will say it's funny all the time, and I get chastised for that, I'm sure, but it's ironic. Yeah, I used to travel all the time for work. We moved down here in '99 from Washington State. And I used to travel all the time. And I swear I never met anybody from Arizona that was actually from Arizona.

SPEAKER_06 6:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:38

But I'd run into people at the airport or on the plane, and I'd be having conversations like, where are you from? I'm like, Washington. Oh, Seattle's beautiful. It's like, well, not really Seattle, but okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

Yeah, but if I said Pi Wallap, where I I lived for some some years, and then I I worked there for 20 years. Most people don't know Puala. Right.

SPEAKER_02 6:56

So And you could, I mean, it's funny because I know Puala because of Gig Harbor, which is where my grandparents were.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

And my sister and her husband lived there for years. Oh really?

SPEAKER_02 7:05

There's there's a place in Gig Harbor, my favorite restaurant, probably.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

I bet I know what you're gonna say.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

What?

SPEAKER_00 7:10

The the one on the water.

SPEAKER_02 7:12

That shed number nine.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

Oh no. I was thinking of uh one that I can't think of the name of now, but no, it's not that.

SPEAKER_02 7:19

Okay. Yeah, there's a couple, there's one, so net shed number nine is it's in the cove, which is where all the net sheds are. But it's it's kind of breakfast lunch thing, and then there's a there's another restaurant, maybe a couple, three buildings up the hill that maybe I'm I can't remember the name of it.

SPEAKER_00 7:40

Yeah. My sister would know it's like.

SPEAKER_02 7:42

I think I might know. Yeah, I think I might know what you're talking about, though.

SPEAKER_00 7:44

Like a bar that uh has a dock that you can bring your boat up to get off and go in.

SPEAKER_02 7:50

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

Kids are not allowed. I didn't know that until a few years ago.

SPEAKER_02 7:54

Trying to remember what that's called. Yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about, actually. I do. So that's funny.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

I'll text you at like three in the morning when I remember it's ah yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:02

My uh my grandparents, my mom's parents, my grandfather was a doctor in Ellensburg, and then he moved they moved after he retired to Alala, which is outside of Gig Harbor.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:14

And then so we go to Gig Harbor all the time.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

Oh yeah. There's a book written about it, yeah. Oh really? Yeah, I didn't know that. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 8:21

We used to they their their house that they built was absolutely gorgeous, but they had in the master bathroom there was a mirror that would open up, like a bifold mirror, whatever that opened up and you could look out over the water.

SPEAKER_00 8:33

Oh, that's cool.

SPEAKER_02 8:34

And you could stand up there and watch the whales swim through or the s uh the submarines go through every now and then. It was it was incredible. But yeah, I loved it there. And then my grandparents lived on the other side of the bridge in Tacoma, so they were on this side and then they moved to Gig Harbor later on.

SPEAKER_00 8:49

But it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

Yeah, it's yeah, I I absolutely gorgeous. I was born on Whidby Island, so yeah, which is beautiful. No, my dad was a teacher. So and then we moved to Eastern Washington, I grew up there, so so the sea hacks sea hacks, seahawks.

SPEAKER_00 9:03

Come on, let's not go there.

SPEAKER_02 9:05

No, I know, right? But sea chickens. Oh, I did. So bad.

SPEAKER_00 9:09

Me too.

SPEAKER_02 9:09

I was I was starting to get upset because I really, like I said, I really thought that they were gonna do much better. So let's let's go back. Let's talk about the early days. Um, when you think about growing up in Washington, what what's the first scene that comes to mind and how do you think that shaped you to who you are today?

SPEAKER_00 9:27

So it's twofold. My parents were much older when they had me. So literally, my mom thought she had the flu.

SPEAKER_02 9:35

Oh, no kidding.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

Oh, yeah. She went to the doctor and you know, it's like, I I'm it must be the flu. I'm so sick. And he came back and he's like, You're gonna have the flu for nine months. And she had to go home and tell my father and my 20-year-old brother and my 18-year-old sister, with nobody in between us, that she was pregnant. And my brother literally stopped talking to my parents and left for the army.

SPEAKER_05 10:00

No kidding.

SPEAKER_00 10:00

Yeah, he he he literally said, and and he actually told this story a couple of years ago, and I heard it from him finally. And he said, What do you mean you're pregnant? Your parents. And it was like, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

So You know how that happens, right?

SPEAKER_00 10:15

Yeah. Well, it's funny because when he was telling my cousins this a a couple of years ago when I was home visiting, I'm I'm just staring at him. I I had heard the story from other people. Yeah. But he's like, Well, I like you now. I'm like, well, gee, that's nice.

SPEAKER_02 10:27

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

But I think because my parents were so much older, I mean, literally, like I grew up just around much older people. And they were in a small community, so Centralia.

SPEAKER_02 10:39

Okay, south of uh Olympia, right?

SPEAKER_00 10:42

Yeah. It it was just a really giving group, right? They were always doing stuff for their neighbors and they belonged to several different organizations. And I watched my parents be like officers in different roles in these different organizations, and I I swear I thought I was born at the Grange Hall. Like just it's you know, part of my my uh my young life. But my brother became a police officer when he left the army, he was an MP. Okay, and so growing up, everybody thought that the cop in town was my dad.

SPEAKER_02 11:17

Oh, that's funny.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

Yeah, and I'd be like, you know, your dad pulled me over, or you know, I'm like, no, he didn't. And yeah, he did. Or I had your dad in shop class. No, you didn't. Uh it's like, no, that's my brother. Nobody could understand that. But my brother also, because of his role as a police officer, became chief and retired at as a chief. Um but for 34 years he was a cop. And so I watched him be really engaged in community things and you know, taking uh leadership roles in different ways to give back to the community, and that's all I really knew. I just thought everybody did that. Yeah. Right. And so yeah, when I was 18, I knew I couldn't live in Centralia unless that you wanted to there's how many people are there, like 6,000, 7,000? Oh no, I think when I left there in 84, there were probably 20,000 people. So it's bigger. It might be like 40,000 now, maybe. But yeah, it's I mean, compared to Mesa, tiny. Like, you know, yeah, it's just an infant.

SPEAKER_05 12:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

But I knew I couldn't, I knew I couldn't stay there. It was hard because my parents were older at that point. And um, I lost my mom when I was eight, let's see, I was nineteen when my mom passed away, and two years and two days later my dad passed away.

SPEAKER_05 12:33

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 12:33

Yeah. So, you know, you you grow up fast, yeah, but I had the opportunity to take a job for a physical therapist.

SPEAKER_05 12:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

And I was 18, and he I was like his first real employee. He had just started his own practice, and he was treating patients, and I was basically left to figure out all the other stuff. Oh wow. Which I knew I didn't know a lot, but I fortunately I had taken some, you know, of the right classes in high school. But I knew when he handed me this recipe box that he had charges on recipe cards for his patients, that there was something better than that.

SPEAKER_02 13:12

Oh my gosh, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 13:14

Back before computers, right? So, you know, I learned a pegboard system, but honestly, uh he had the same kind of family that just gave a lot. And so he afforded me the opportunity to get really creative. And over the 20 years I was there, we ended up when I left, we had 20 clinics. Oh wow. Up and down I-5. We had started a foundation and we gave a lot back to each community that our clinics were in.

SPEAKER_02 13:41

So and that was in Piallop when you started with him?

SPEAKER_00 13:43

The first clinic was in Piwallop, and then we were up and down, pretty much up and down I-5.

SPEAKER_02 13:47

Okay. Wow. Yeah. That's incredible.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

It it was like the best first job any person could get. And I mean, I I learned so much over those 20 years and met some incredible people and figured out that all this life is is about relationships.

SPEAKER_02 14:08

Yeah. So you kind of grew up together almost.

SPEAKER_00 14:10

Pretty much. I mean, he was about 10 years older than me. In fact, he literally just texted me because he was in town for Barrett Jackson. Oh, okay. Um, but yeah, I mean it was it was a great experience. I I have some lifelong friends, you know, that I met through staff, and actually a few patients actually still stay in touch, which is kind of crazy. That's crazy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:33

That's awesome. So your parents were older. Much. Your your brother took off to the army when you were born.

SPEAKER_00 14:41

Yeah, basically.

SPEAKER_02 14:42

And you have an older sister?

SPEAKER_00 14:43

Yeah, she's 18 years older than me.

SPEAKER_02 14:45

Okay. And which did she stick around or did she pretty much disagree?

SPEAKER_00 14:47

No, she I think liked me.

SPEAKER_02 14:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 14:49

He was not a fan for a while. According to him, you know, he came back and he liked me. So I guess that's a a bonus.

SPEAKER_02 14:56

Did did your family raise cattle or did you?

SPEAKER_00 14:59

No, I mean they would get we had fields all around our house, and so they would get like basically they'd go to the sale barn and get two calves and raise them, and then usually we'd, you know, keep one of them and have some friends or whatever that would, you know, end up with the other one.

SPEAKER_02 15:18

Yeah. We had um it it totally just popped into my head. This is a stupid random story. So I was living in Ellensburg working for farmers insurance, and the office was in Yakima, and my boss would buy two calves and raise or steer, raise them up and then slaughter them every year. You know, or best meat ever, right? Yeah. And he just and there were two ladies in the office, two Hispanic ladies in the office who would every year fight over the heads of the cows because they'd be like, That is the best, the best meat on the cow is the head, and they'd just slow roast it and whatever. According to some people, yeah, they would fight over that.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

It's like well, even after I left home, got married, literally my brother would call and say, Hey, I'm, you know, going and getting a couple of calves. Do you want one? And so my best friend and I would basically go together and we share, you know, one of the one of the cows. And I just, you know, when you're when you're placing your order for how you want it cut, yeah, right? It'd be like, okay, basically ground beef, steak, roast, and then you can keep the tongue and all the brains and all the other stuff. Crazy stuff I'd like just consider it a gift to the butcher.

SPEAKER_02 16:34

People who talk about doing tongue cow or tongue sandwiches and stuff, I'm like, no, thank you. No. That's gross.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

I think I'm, you know, like adventurous when I try something new like sushi. I can't do some of that crazy stuff.

SPEAKER_02 16:48

I can't I can't even. It's sometimes it gets in your head and it's like, yeah, I can't go down that path.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

Right? Not happening.

SPEAKER_02 16:56

So what was what was childhood like like growing up? Were you involved in school? Were you I mean we talked about 4-H for a second?

SPEAKER_00 17:03

Yeah, so I was in 4-H, I did dance, I was probably one of the shyest people you would ever. Yeah. I mean, I have my little cluster of friends, but I was um I was pretty shy. I didn't ever want the spotlight on me. You know, it was a decent student. When when I was packing recently, my son was going through some stuff and he's he's like, whoa! And he found some penmanship thing that evidently I won some award for handwriting.

SPEAKER_02 17:32

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

Penmanship, like, do you even know what that is? Yeah, yeah. But no, I was I was quiet. I mean, I like I said, I have my friends, but you know, it was I look back to like my kids and there's they were so outgoing and you know, just like the life of the party.

SPEAKER_02 17:49

Did you play instruments or anything like that?

SPEAKER_00 17:51

So I did, uh kinda. I took lessons for piano and uh organ. My parents actually had an or well, they had a piano when I was really little, and then my mom somehow ended up buying an organ. I wouldn't say I was really good at it, and I hate readed notes, so I could literally play some by ear. That's it. It was kind of cheating. That's funny. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:14

If if you were to go and ask your friends that you were in high school with, your little click, what were you known for in high school?

SPEAKER_00 18:21

Probably just being nice. Yeah. I was I just didn't want to like ever, you know, be that person to start something, you know. There was always the the group of kids that you know were troublemakers and picking at other kids and stuff, and that was uh I just that wasn't me. I couldn't do it. And so I just tried to be kind to people and I I I think my kids, you know, got that. Yeah. Which is good because I I think there's something said to just being a good person. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:55

Yeah, for sure. Were you um were you a a bit more of a smarter kid, a bit more of a troublemaker? I mean, you said you're quiet, but quiet can come in a lot of different forms. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

Let's just say when I reached that teenage point in my life, uh, having a brother who was a cop in a small town was a little bit more challenging. You know, Centralia, so there wasn't a lot to do. You went to your high school football games and there really was not a lot of other things, right?

SPEAKER_06 19:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

And so there was a lot of cruising back then, hanging out with your friends.

SPEAKER_02 19:32

It's like all we ever did. We had one stop. Well, no, I should say to a were you in L Spokane? Yeah, no, I was in Caulville, so north of Spokane.

SPEAKER_06 19:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:39

It's like 5,000 people. Right. We had you know what's funny is they have removed all of the stoplights and put in roundabouts. So there's like no stoplights in town anymore. It's like nice.

SPEAKER_06 19:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:48

Actually, there might be one, but it's just like yeah, we used to cruise Main Street up and down. And if you went too many times, the cops would pull you over. So you kind of knew, okay, we had to stop now at the pizza place.

SPEAKER_00 19:58

I'll I'll tell you a story that I probably should not tell in a in a podcast, but I will, just because you brought it up. So I was with a friend named John, and he had a bright red car, which when you're cruising is probably not the best thing, right? And uh I don't even remember who who gave us wine coolers, but we had some. And he got pulled over for speeding. And of course, the cops, you know, knew you. Well, they didn't know they did until the the one cop uh sent the other one over to my side and asked if we had, you know, been drinking. And I said, Well, uh, yes, we each had one wine colour, and he's like, and what's that? And I said, Well, those are the ones we haven't had. So uh I, you know, got asked for my ID, and that's when like I was just like sinking, right? Because my brother's a at that point he was not the chief yet, he was uh sergeant, I think. Anyway, so I do this and I hear them like across the top of the car whispering, and the other guy came over and he's like, So, you know, uh, there's an unwritten rule, like if you're gonna drink, go to, and they said Shahalas, which is like the sister city, yeah. And I'm thinking, you're telling us to drink some more, like really, and and they they made me dump them all out, which was fine. I get it. Right. You know, I'm not a bad person. I'm gonna, you know, but they said, We don't want to see you, you know, cruising anymore. Okay, so we went and parked in the college parking lot, and a bunch of friends, right? And uh literally, we were there maybe five minutes, and it was like putting a bar of soap in a in a like a bowl of water with pepper. You put it in and all the pepper goes to it. Well, that's how all the cars and kids were, right? They saw this cop come flying in, and literally all of our friends that were standing. There, talking to us, just vanished, and we're standing there. And he got out and he was screaming at us. He's like, I told you to leave town. I said, actually, wait, okay, looking back, probably not good to correct the cop. But what you said was that you didn't want us to cruise, and we're not, we're parked. And that's when um we got ridden up for underage drinking for one wine cooler.

SPEAKER_02 22:23

And was it a Bartles and James? Do you remember?

SPEAKER_00 22:26

I don't, I don't, but so funny. We we literally, I'm like, just take me home. And and at that point I had already moved out, but I was staying with my parents, and so I said, just don't go down the main drive, just go like we were maybe a mile and a half from my parents' house, but we went a side street and a different cop pulled us over. No, three times in one night. And at that point, I'm like, What? He goes, You're supposed to be going home. I'm like, I live in Piwala, like I'm trying to go back to my parents' house.

SPEAKER_05 22:54

That's so funny.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

Yeah, so we went, and of course, the next day I had to tell my mom, and she's like, This is gonna be in the newspaper. Of course it is. There's nothing else in the job. So yeah, and then she said, You better call your brother, and that was like the worst part, like having to call my brother. And my brother literally said, I'm like, he answered the phone, I'm like, hey Tone, and he's like, I know. I'm like, he's like, you know, I come in and all the reports from the night before are on my desk, and of course they put yours on the top, and I'm like, I'm really sorry. And he's like, you know, and he named the the copy. He's like, he has better things to do than harass a couple of kids. I'm like, anyway, uh yeah, that was that's hilarious. It was it was not funny then. I can look back and laugh now, but yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:44

Scared you, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

It was horrible because it really was in the paper the next night.

SPEAKER_02 23:48

Really?

SPEAKER_00 23:49

Yes. Oh my god. There was nothing else, like you know, that's big news. And and you have to look through the phone print in the back of the newspaper for those little things. Yeah, but that that you know somebody somebody is in there in there scouring for it and oh yeah, and uh and my name maiden name, you know, when there's a cop, that probably caught a lot of attention, but knew knew knew who it was right away. Yeah, crazy.

SPEAKER_02 24:11

Did you did you go to school to college?

SPEAKER_00 24:14

I did not.

SPEAKER_02 24:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 24:15

No, I mean, but literally with my mom getting sick, she she was diagnosed with cancer and literally went through a year of hell. Wow. And my dad this sounds horrible. My dad, when I was in high school, had four heart attacks.

SPEAKER_05 24:29

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 24:30

And then a stroke. And then after my mom passed away, was diagnosed with cancer. So that college was not in my future. No, you know, I mean, it was just not, and I knew that I needed to get out of Centralia if I was gonna do anything. And so I started college and then literally, like right after I was married, you know, started college and then found out I was pregnant and was sick for nine months. So yeah, it just was not meant to be.

SPEAKER_05 24:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:56

I've done a lot of different continuing ed and things like that. I don't know. I mean, if I had gone to college, I would have gone to be a school teacher, and then I realized along the way, I'm not really a big fan of kids. Like I like my kids and I like friends, you know, kids. But and maybe it's the kids' parents that I'm not really fond of.

SPEAKER_05 25:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:16

But yeah, I um that that probably would have been what I would have gone to school for, and that was my plan until my mom got sick. And yeah, watching two parents go through what they went through was really tough.

SPEAKER_02 25:30

Yeah. Yeah. So how do you feel r running the chiropractic offices offices therapy? Yeah, yeah. Or oh, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00 25:39

Different worlds.

SPEAKER_02 25:40

Yeah. How do you feel that helped shape you or prepare you for what you're doing now?

SPEAKER_00 25:46

I think there's every angle of that job played into this. And I'll give Randy credit for just like challenging me along the way because literally he had been a PT for a couple of years working for another practice when he decided he wanted to open his own. And he, I don't know, I had told him that my dad had had physical therapy because of his stroke, and maybe that got me the job, I don't know. But it was it was fun, it was probably some of the hardest work I've ever done just because he'd come back, he he was doing home health between regular treatments, just trying to build a practice. And he'd come back from somewhere and say, uh, I just signed another lease. And it's like, okay, well, you know, we can't quite open until we get, you know, like staff to work the office, and we have to get provider numbers for these clinicians, and like we have to buy equipment. And so we ended up getting into like a routine because I mean, literally it was every maybe I don't know, six to nine months. Wow, he'd come and like assign another lease. I'm like, where? And he'd tell me, it's like, what do I know about that area, you know? But because he was treating patients, I was doing everything from you know, scheduling people, typing on a typewriter. And if you made a mistake with a letter, you start it all over. And like, what do I know about typing medical terminology? I mean, I could type really well and really fast, but when you when he's dictating and I'm listening to it and I hear sternocleidomastoid, like, uh okay, sounded out.

SPEAKER_02 27:32

Sterno. Right?

SPEAKER_00 27:33

It was crazy. Um, so you know, you you just you learn like persistence, and you just there was a lot of learning. I also was making deposits. I was doing, you know, like all the payables. Like I was pretty much doing everything. And when he told me that a young girl from high school had come in and asked if she could volunteer, I'm like, you better say yes. And she's still like one of my dearest friends. Oh, really? Yeah. She ended up finishing high school, going to, she's a physical therapist assistant. So she went to school, worked in I think three of our different clinics, and yeah, she's yeah, still a good friend. But at some point, you know, we're like, okay, how do you because it's all a referral business, right? So how do you get doctors to refer to you? And so I was literally making appointments, sending him out. You got to go see this doctor, you gotta see this doctor. And as we hired clinic directors to run other clinics, you know, scheduling them, getting them out. And and the biggest thing was, you know, I went to school to be a PT, not to do marketing. And I'm like, can you talk to people? Like walk in a guy's office and determine he likes to have a drink or he plays golf or he has a family, right? Just ask questions. People generally like to talk about themselves. And I think once people figured that out, that this is a relationship business, it's a people business, then it became easier for all of us. When we opened the foundation, which was probably, I would say probably four years after we started the clinics, we decided that we were going to focus on doing different things in each of the cities and towns that we were in because they were each different. I mean, we had a clinic in Seattle, but we also had one in Etonville on Mount Rainier, right? We're talking very small, rural, and obviously a big city. And every clinic needed something different, or every community, I should say. And then we also did some very large events like an annual golf tournament to raise money for um that money went to Young Life. And we did um his par his dad had died of brain cancer, my parents had died, and so we we were very involved in Relay for Life. I chaired that event for I think maybe six or seven years.

SPEAKER_05 29:49

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 29:50

But that was one of those all communities came together for those kinds of things. We raised a bunch of money and awareness. Yeah. But yeah, we do everything from like coat drives in the you know, dead of winter and you know, supporting Salvation Army, and like I said, each each community just had different needs. Yeah. So I think those kinds of things, I don't know, stuck with me. And I it you know, you just put everything into it. It just like this job.

SPEAKER_02 30:19

Yeah. What what in in that time frame kind of sticking in in the time frame with the physical therapy? Not not chiropractic. No, physical therapy. Yeah. What was there a a lesson you learned that that either made you make the switch to an adult? Because you started very young.

SPEAKER_06 30:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:40

Right?

SPEAKER_06 30:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:40

And I'm not gonna say an adult at that point, because you're probably still having some young stuff. Yeah. But was there a point at which it it switched you into an adult? Was it a was it a painful switch or was it more of a Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:53

You know, you I I think there's so many lessons that you learn. I mean, through just the the work and the routine, you know. I I had my boys when I was 23 23 and 28. So still fairly young compared to nowadays. Yeah. But, you know, it's it's like you gotta stay organized to get the work done and the house stuff and take care of your kids and get them into sports and stuff. I learned it's kind of funny, but stuck with me, and I still know the woman's name. So we had a patient, and I was probably six months into my job. And we, you know, I was the first person that they talked to on the phone. I was the first person they saw when they came in the office. And a lot of patients come in and they don't feel good, right? They hurt and they're grouchy. And so, like, my goal like to myself was to like get them to smile and be nice to me and be friendly. Um, there was a gentleman named Dale who, I mean, he came in, he had he came in multiple times for different things over the years, but the first time he had like a shoulder issue and he hurt, and he was just the grouchy older man that like everybody just wants to ignore, and and I'm I just refuse. Like I'm going to make him happy. And you know, you just you kill him with kindness kind of stuff. This lady, so I didn't treat patients, but I assisted with exercises and stuff when the therapists were off seeing other anyway. She um her name was Effie, so you can imagine how old she was back in 1984 or five, maybe when she was there. She was probably in her late 70s. She was a bigger lady, and she had she had uh surgery on her leg and was in a fixator. So the big cage, right, around her leg. And I had walked in to help her, and literally she was like, you know, look at this. And and she was saying how bad it was, and I'm like, I think that's the most horrible thing I've ever seen.

SPEAKER_02 33:00

Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 33:01

Later, later my boss was like, We don't say that to patients. And I'm like, but it was really bad. It's like and we still don't say that, right? Yeah, but it it was it was a really good reminder, like you gotta check yourself, and don't don't like fall for that because I mean she was fine saying it, but not my place to reinforce that that's really horrible looking. I mean, it was it was there was some open wounds and like it was it was just bad. Yeah, yeah. And and she was sweet about it. Some patients probably wouldn't have been so nice, but I I do I as far as like growing up, I look back and I think over time, you know, when you're a kid, right? First first job, second job, maybe, you pretty much feel like you have to do what you're told.

SPEAKER_05 33:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:48

And I mean, there were some people that said inappropriate things and you just smile and ignore it, right? Um, I look back and I'm like, yeah, at this age, like I don't I'm not willing to do that kind of stuff anymore, right? And and I got there, I'd say probably in my 30s, but when you're young, I think you just realize well, you you think that I have a boss, I have you know, older people, I have whatever around me, and you you just say yes and agree and put up with stuff. Yeah. And you you just don't have to.

SPEAKER_02 34:24

Yeah, yeah, for sure. 2004. Well, uh first, you have two boys. Yeah, so you have a daughter too or no?

SPEAKER_00 34:32

I have a daughter-in-law now. Okay, which is great. So my oldest son took his life in 2006.

SPEAKER_02 34:39

I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00 34:40

Thank you. Um, I don't tell that to get uh, you know, pity from anybody, but well no, but as a parent, I can't imagine of you know part of what makes me who I am.

SPEAKER_02 34:51

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:52

But yeah, so I had boys that were five years apart, okay, and we had been coming down here for spring break, and every time we'd get home, so this would have been like my youngest would have been three when we started coming down here.

SPEAKER_05 35:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 35:08

So we were here probably for seven spring breaks. Okay. And every time we get home, my then husband would say, Don't you just wish we lived in Arizona? And I'm like, No, like our whole world is here. I mean, I did very well at my job, and he was doing well at his job. The kids were involved in sports and all kinds of stuff. And that last time we got home, it was, I mean, you know Washington, so it can get cold.

SPEAKER_05 35:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:37

And when it's cold and wet, it's like you just can't warm up. And we got home and it was dark and it was late, and the house wasn't like warm yet. And he started with, don't you, and I'm like, stop. And like, if if you can find a job where I don't have start over, and the boys both want to move, we can talk about it. And I went to bed and didn't think anything else about it until the next night. I get home, I'm making dinner, kids are setting the table, and I hear him say, you know, guys, your mom said if you want to move to Arizona, we can. And I'm like, um this is not quite what I said. Yeah. And so we sit down and he he, you know, repeated, and my oldest son became the spokesperson and they're whispering, and he sits up and he's like, Would we have a pool? And his dad said, Of course, every house in Arizona has a pool. And so they whisper, and it's like, okay, we're in. I'm like, we should probably talk about this just a little bit more. Yeah, yeah. And uh two weeks later, he had six job interviews. Wow. And we were back here. He had four offers. He took one, and I'm like, I gotta give like some notice here because like I can't just walk out after two weeks. And and it was getting toward, it was April, and so it was getting toward the end of the school year, and I'm like, I'm not pulling them out for two months, you know, just to so he came and we stayed and we packed and purged and sold a house and got the kids through the end of the school year. And we were here in we moved into the house in July. We got here the end of June. Yeah, I know. And I felt like if we could do that, like we could survive. And then I think it was probably two or three months into living here that I hear my husband say to the boys, Do you notice your sock drawers always full? I'm like, oh my god, I need to get a life. I was doing nothing but baking and throwing little parties for the like seven people we knew. Yeah. And I I evidently was doing a lot of laundry. And so my old boss called me in November and said, I met two women at the conference and like an annual conference that we used to go to, and they both are in Phoenix, they both have practices and would like some part-time marketing help. I'm like, huh, okay, I could do part-time, like that would be cool. Well, I took one of the jobs and uh part-time lasted about two weeks, and then I was back to full-time 50 hours, and yeah. I was there about um not quite four years, and I had joined a rotary club because that's what I knew from Washington, and that's the way I met people. And the president of the Rotary Club was also the president of the chamber. Actually, when I started in Rotary, Kevin DeRosa was the rotary president.

SPEAKER_02 38:41

Oh, no kidding. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 38:42

Yeah, there's lots of stories like that too. That was funny. But Charlie was the president of the chamber, and he called me one night and said, I need you to come work for me. I'm like, what? So we met a couple of times and talked, and I thought, you know what? Working in Mesa would be much better than Central Phoenix. Yeah. And so I gave notice and took the job, and here we are.

SPEAKER_02 39:05

Never look back.

SPEAKER_00 39:06

No.

SPEAKER_02 39:07

Twenty some years later.

SPEAKER_00 39:09

Well, I've been here 17.

SPEAKER_02 39:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 39:12

Yeah. I've lived lived here 21, like 21 and a half years.

SPEAKER_02 39:16

But 17 with the chamber.

SPEAKER_00 39:17

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:19

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 39:20

Yeah. It's it's kind of crazy really when I think about all that's happened and what got me to this point. And it's a lot of really good people being very supportive.

SPEAKER_02 39:30

Yeah. And right people in the right place. Mm-hmm.

unknown 39:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:33

What would you say was the biggest culture shock moving from Washington to Arizona? Aside from the death heat.

SPEAKER_00 39:40

Yeah. Yeah. We we had some hot days, but it's kind of a joke, really. When I go home in August and everybody's complaining, although it's not a dry heat. It's a different thing. So it is it is hot.

SPEAKER_02 39:49

It's hard to explain to somebody because uh, you know, people say, I hate it when you say it's a dry heat. It's like, but it is. Like when I when I would go to visit my my grandparents or whoever in Gig Harbor, and it's 90 degrees, 95 degrees, and it's 80-some percent humidity, it's like that's brutal.

SPEAKER_00 40:06

Yeah, it's not the same as no. Yeah. Culture shock. Well, uh, people ask frequently, you know, why we moved in. I mean, obviously, the weather was definitely a part of it. Timing-wise, my oldest was going to be going into high school the next year. So if we were going to ever do it, it made sense to do it before he got started in high school. But uh when I got divorced, I don't know, 14 years ago, something like that, my family and friends all they were like, so you're moving home? I'm like, I am home. Like, no, I'm I am home. This is where I belong. And I think about it, and it's like, you know, people talk about I I I remember an a member uh asked where an event was, and I said it's like Gilbert Road. And she's like, Oh, that's too far. I'm like, from downtown Mesa? And I'm thinking, in Washington, I everywhere you go would be 45 minutes to an hour.

SPEAKER_05 41:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:03

Traffic's horrible, yeah. Cost of living skyrocketed, you know, homelessness is a significant issue. Yeah, the weather obviously is a factor. Politics are really ugly. I'm like when I came here, it was like, wow, people are so nice and they're friendly, and they're always smiling. And it's like, yeah, they're smiling because their sun's out. Like even if you're inside because it's hot, you're at least looking out at sunshine, right?

SPEAKER_02 41:31

When when you're counting the days by whether the mountain's out or not.

SPEAKER_00 41:34

Right? I mean, I I drove so the last 13 years I lived in Washington, we lived in Kent. So Kent Chip You Wallop is, you know, a good half hour depending on traffic. Unfortunately, I was driving, you know, against the traffic, but on a nice morning, the Mount Rainier would be out uh off of the 167, and it was like the best backdrop ever.

SPEAKER_05 41:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:58

But there were some days that I would go to work and you wouldn't see a mountain at all. And coming home, there was no mountain.

SPEAKER_05 42:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:05

And you know, I I it's funny because I've taken people to Washington and it's like, so where's the mountain? It's like, well, hopefully, like the sun comes out, the clouds.

SPEAKER_02 42:15

Tomorrow maybe is another day. The clouds burn off, you'll see it. It's uh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:20

I I I people talk about mountains here, it's like, no, no, it's not a mountain, that's a hill.

SPEAKER_02 42:24

That's cute.

unknown 42:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:26

I mean, the mountains, you there are more mountains than what people actually think there are here.

SPEAKER_00 42:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:30

But they're not like Washington. No. For sure.

SPEAKER_00 42:33

No, when you fly in and you can see the the mountain.

SPEAKER_02 42:36

Mount St. Helens and then Mount Hood. Part of Mount Hood, Mount St. Helens.

SPEAKER_00 42:40

So I was still there when Mount St. Helens Blue. I was in high school. I was we finished high school Mount Mount St. Helens Blue. Oh, no kidding. Yeah. And so whatever grades you were getting, you got, which explains the driving of my ex-husband. He passed his driver's ed class. I'm like, ugh.

SPEAKER_02 43:00

Yeah. You're a couple years older than me, but we were we were in Spokane. Oddly enough, my my parents were at an Amway convention in Spokane when the mountain blew. I remember that morning. Holy cow. And it all came kind of east. Yeah. And it turned just pitch black. And we're like, what do we do? You know, it's like, hold your shirt over your mouth.

SPEAKER_00 43:21

It was crazy, yeah. So yeah. Yeah. My um a neighbor literally called, and my dad never hardly ever answered the phone. And he it was like really early in the morning, and it was a weekend, and my sister had been in town with the kids, and my dad answered the phone, and he went out like right out the front door, and it woke me up because I was actually sleeping on the couch because my sister was in my room. And and so I'm like, What is he doing? Because when he when he got the phone call.

SPEAKER_02 43:51

Could you see it from Centra? You were in Centra at that point?

SPEAKER_00 43:54

Just all the ash, yeah. Okay. And you couldn't see the mountain actually erupting, but I mean the ash was coming down. Down like snow. Oh, it was snowing.

SPEAKER_02 44:02

I mean it was just gray and I can we I still have an envelope. That that book I was telling you has all my ribbons in it. I have an envelope full of Mount St. Helen ash. Yeah. Yeah. Crazy.

SPEAKER_00 44:12

Yeah. It was it was a that was a nutty time.

SPEAKER_02 44:14

Shoveling that stuff and driving across the state.

SPEAKER_00 44:18

There's some places that you could still like dig in a garden and find ash because it was no kidding, so thick. Yeah. Huh. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:25

That's incredible.

SPEAKER_00 44:26

We had a family reunion that like that next summer, and my mom and my aunt were out with baby food jars, like packing up ash for people to take home like that.

SPEAKER_02 44:38

That's so funny. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 44:40

Yeah, crazy.

SPEAKER_02 44:41

Oh, that's so funny.

SPEAKER_00 44:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:43

Okay, so what's one belief you had at 18 or 19 when you first started your career? That right now, if you look back, you'd go to yourself, okay, that's really not a good thought process.

SPEAKER_00 44:56

Oh, hmm. Probably the, you know, if somebody tells you to do something, you just have to go along with it. Because literally, I mean, I've said this to staff, like, you know, when you're young, you you you think you have to, right? Yeah. Go along with people or do what they say. And when somebody makes an inappropriate comment to you as a female and you just smile and let it go, uh I thought that that was the right thing to do. You know, like nothing's gonna happen again. And I'm not talking about big stuff, like but just off-handed stuff, right? And that you, you know, you just have to go along with everything. And I just I don't think today I would not teach my granddaughter to be that person. Yeah. You know, yeah. Stand up for what you know is right and you know, don't ever embarrass somebody, but Randy, my boss, um, he, you know, was the boss, and so he would, you know, say things like he thought them. Yeah. And uh there would be some um meetings that Beth, my assistant, and I would come back and be like, okay, we need to talk to you. It's like you you can't say that to people. And he actually told us, you know, if if there's something you don't like, don't embarrass me in front of everybody, but tell me. Yeah. And so we would. And and he took it the right way, right? And I think he did, you know, try and see it through our you know eyes and make some changes.

SPEAKER_02 46:27

But well, I think not to excuse it, but I think there is generationally you know, there's there Oh yeah. I mean, I I was raised, kids should be seen and not heard. I mean, I literally have been told that a lot of times, you know. Yeah, and and so I think that that just is part of the upbringing at that point, you know. Now, is there a point at which it goes too far, not to say it's too far to you know, you shouldn't say the things or or physicality or things like that, but yeah, you know, children respecting adults and and that whole thing. I mean, there's just a weird spot in there. But if if you had the opportunity and I want to get into the chamber, so we'll kind of end with this, but if you had the opportunity to make a pivot at any point in your life, is there something that you would go back and say, okay, that would if I could have continued down this road versus going that direction, would you change anything?

SPEAKER_00 47:22

You know, I I think uh the the jobs that I've had, the people that I've surrounded myself with have all been in that place at that time to support me, to I teach me, guide me. Um I'm not sure I would change much. I mean, obviously losing a child, there's some things I I would change, you know, or be more aware of or whatever, but as far as like work and growing up, no, I'm not sure that there's anything.

SPEAKER_02 47:58

Do you mind if I ask you about your son?

SPEAKER_00 47:59

No, not at all.

SPEAKER_02 48:01

So you meant you mentioned some things uh if if if you were if you were to be able to say to somebody, you know, maybe some warning signs or things like that, right?

SPEAKER_00 48:11

Because I th I hear a lot of times and and I don't have anybody personally that I think that I've seen that or been been through that situation, but a lot of times you hear warning signs, you know, or you are there things that you so unfortunately for us, so Bryce was seventeen, he straight A student, like work came like school work came really easy to him, really just smart, one of the funniest kids that anybody probably has ever known. He also never met somebody that he didn't feel like he could be friends with. And he was always like the person championing the underdog.

SPEAKER_02 48:56

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 48:57

He uh was a senior, he drove a cute black Jeep, he worked at Starbucks and Foot Locker in addition to going to school.

SPEAKER_05 49:08

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 49:09

And when we moved here, he was when we brought grades, you know, forward, he was already he'd already done some of the things he needed to do to get credits, so he had an early dismissal and so he got to do, you know, more work stuff. He also had a crazy girlfriend, and he hid all that from us.

SPEAKER_02 49:29

Oh really?

SPEAKER_00 49:30

His friends saw it and didn't say anything.

SPEAKER_02 49:32

That's too bad.

SPEAKER_00 49:33

Which, yeah, you know, like they'd break up. I mean, when you're a kid, like a lot of boys broke up with me, or I broke up with, you know, boys in high school or whatever, but he would, you know, like, okay, we're broke up, and so he would want to go hang out with his friends, and then she'd come back and you know, like, you know, let's get back together. And so this is from his friends telling me. And that last day, I'm not really sure um exactly what happened, but she had started telling lies about him, and I think it was just too much. Too much. And I got a phone call from her mom, basically saying that he had sent her a text and said that he was he'd shot himself. And obviously, uh I'm pretty sure it didn't happen in that order. Right. But yeah, that was uh literally the worst day of my life. Yeah. I mean, to get that call, trying to race home from Central Phoenix. Um, it was like driving onto a movie set. I mean, police and fire everywhere, a helicopter, like it was it was horrible. Yeah. That being said, uh I had a 10-year-old. Well, I'm sorry, at that point he was 12, but a 12-year-old that I needed to focus on.

SPEAKER_05 50:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:48

And thank God I had him because it would have probably been very easy to, you know, just call back in bed and sleep my wife life away or drink my life away. And I chose to stay busy and keep Blake busy. And that was what I could do like to be healthy for me and for him. And at that point from his friends, I learned so much that I didn't know or see, you know, like from a friend level. I remember there was a um a girl who I I gotta say, when I saw her at the memorial, we had a small one for family and and some close friends, and then we had this very large event for students and teachers and people from work and that kind of stuff. And lots of people spoke, and this one girl, uh, like I have no idea who she was. She introduced herself and then she told this story how so he worked at Foot Locker at the mall, and there was the Foot Locker was across from the food court, which my guess is he spent a lot of time at the food court when he wasn't working um and probably never paid for anything because he was pretty cute kid. Um anyway, they said uh she said, you know, my friends and I were there, and he walked out of Foot Locker, saw us, and stopped and said, You know, how are you doing today? And she she said, Boys that look like that, and she pointed at this big picture we had, don't talk to girls who look like me. And I mean, it was heartbreaking. And so he's he stood and talked to them and then went and got his food and came back and said hello again. And she said, We were there like a couple days later, and almost the same thing happened again. And I just thought, you know, that's my kid, right? Like he he just didn't judge. He he just made friends with everybody, and I I try to be like him.

SPEAKER_05 52:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:42

Because I've learned a lot from him, and I still do every every time I think, okay, this is uh there's nothing more I'm gonna like understand or or hear about that's gonna be new, then something else happens. I packing uh recently I came across a bunch of stuff, and he had there was some papers that one of his teachers sent me like three years ago. This this was 19 years ago. Um he had a teacher that was retiring and she sent me a bunch of stuff that she had kept of his. And um there was a paper, and it there were typed things that the teacher had sent out, and then you had to write like a story about it, and one of them was what would you tell a younger sibling? And it was absolutely hysterical. I had my son like read it recently, and it's you know, like a little brother, I would tell you, like, you know, be careful of your your dad's family because they're all crazy. Your mom's crazy, but his family's crazier. I mean, it's just funny stuff. That's awesome. Yeah, that's awesome. He had a great personality. He would literally turn the volume off the TV and talk like dub over what it was. If you were like a commercial, he could sell you something. That's hilarious. It was so much fun having him around. Yeah, that's cool.

SPEAKER_02 53:57

Yeah, that's cool. It's that's beautiful. I appreciate you sharing. I mean, I I I I I can't imagine obviously the pain that that would cause, but then the the having to get up and continue forward and finding your why to get you to that point.

SPEAKER_00 54:10

I mean it that's the the first few I mean it when people say it gets easier, that's just BS, right? It does not get easier, it just changes. Um it's different, right? You you find other things to try and fill voids. It it it's not easier. I mean, the anniversary of his passing or you know his birthday or Christmas is really tough because he loved Christmas. I found a note that he left me and his dad from Santa. You know how you write a note to Santa? Well, Santa wrote us a note, basically. Oh, hysterical stuff, yeah. But yeah, he was he just he was an incredible kid. And I mean, I it's it's been an interesting 19 years. I will say the last like six or seven, there's been so much more teen suicide just in the East Valley, and I've become very good friends with a handful of people that are like me. It's like we're losing our children, and we're not supposed to lose our children, right? They're supposed to bury us. Yeah. And so um I I I look at that and think, okay, well, what can I do? I it's affecting all of us, right? It's not it's not a parent issue, it's not a a school issue, it's not a church issue, it's a community issue, and I think it's all of our jobs to come together and try and put a spotlight on this and try and let you know our loved ones know that there's other answers. Because I I believe that you get into a position where whatever is so dark and you can't look past it to the next day, knowing that there's a whole, you know, world of people that love you and care for you and care about you, and that whatever that issue is that's gotten you into a really bad place will get better.

SPEAKER_02 56:02

Yeah. Well, I and I appreciate you working with with that community. Uh, I'm going to liken it to business because I feel like in business we sit on our islands, right? Especially as a small business.

SPEAKER_04 56:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:14

It's like you're dealing with stuff that you think nobody else is dealing with, and there's days where you go, I don't know if I can get through this one more day. Right. Right?

SPEAKER_00 56:22

That's true.

SPEAKER_02 56:23

But to be able to create and build a uh a community that is okay to have the conversations, to be able to say, okay, let's let's discuss this stuff and and you know help each other and just be there to listen. And uh unfortunately I can only imagine as a as a young adult having been on that side where you basically create your life or meld your life around somebody else or an individual, and then you allow that person to manipulate you good and bad.

SPEAKER_06 56:52

Right.

SPEAKER_02 56:52

You know, and then your your self-worth completely diminishes to the point where why why am I even here?

SPEAKER_00 56:59

Right.

SPEAKER_02 57:00

And I and I just can't imagine. So thank you. I appreciate you sharing.

SPEAKER_00 57:04

No, I I I appreciate you asking because honestly, I obviously don't want to see other families have to go through what we have. I mean, it it's destroys a family, you know. It's it's something that I think most uh married couples aren't able to stay together. Yeah, but he I know would want something good to come out of this. So we've had some pretty significant, like large events pulling people together and having speakers and stuff. My son Blake uh basically has said, you know, I'll talk at an event. And so he's done that a couple of times. And I yeah, I'm like, I can't do that. Like I can put the event on, that's what I do, right? But um he's he's been a real champion for that. That's awesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:49

Uh is there a specific organization that you're involved with with that that we can kind of get out to people?

SPEAKER_00 57:55

There's several, um, and we're bringing in a speaker. Her name is Emma, and she's actually uh uh uh attempted suicide, and so she's a survivor, and she's going to speak the I'm working with the city right now. Okay. Um and I'm hoping that it's gonna be within the next two or three months. Okay. So I can get you some information with done. But we do you know who Alex Boyer is? Yeah. Yeah, so we brought him in. We partnered with Copa Health and had a bunch of nonprofits um that work in this. I mean, it people years ago when this happened, like people weren't talking about it. It was like taboo, right? Nobody wanted to talk about suicide. And you'd hear the 22-a-day veteran suicide, but you wouldn't hear one-off stories. And I started just Googling things and I found a woman who had lost an adult son to suicide, and uh we had lunch several times and just connected, but there just wasn't any like support out there. I mean, maybe if you really dug, you'd find something online. But when we started seeing the numbers get really big here over the last few years, I want to say six or seven years ago, I picked up the Sunday paper when I got to the office Monday morning, and the headlines in the Tribune said six kids in five weeks had taken their life in the East Valley. And I'm like, what the hell? Like, and I didn't even read it. I looked and it was written by a a reporter named Jim, and I called him because I knew him, and I'm like, I need you to come to my office. And he's like, Okay, when? I'm like, today. And he did, and I said, Who's this woman that you've quoted? And he said, Her name's Katie, and I said, Yeah, I see that, but who is she? And so um he introduced me to her and Katie McPherson. Yeah, okay, yeah. And so, you know, we've been, you know, just kind of tracking and trying to I've pulled Katie in so much because in that world, right? Yeah. She understands it and she she she's got stats for everything.

SPEAKER_02 59:50

Yeah. She's incredible when she starts.

SPEAKER_00 59:52

Oh, I just sit there and go, you preach it, girl. Yeah, exactly. I I don't know that side. I know the other side. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:05

No, there is of of of the kids that choose suicide.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:10

Yeah. Um, I I think it's and it it sounds really simplistic, but I don't think that kids know how to deal with failure. I think that the whole every kid gets a trophy thing sucks. Yeah. Because that's not the world we live in, right? And I think instead of my son, who, you know, made a really bad decision, he could have come to us and said, I am frustrated, I'm mad, I'm hurt, whatever, and we could have helped him through it, got him help, whatever. He felt like that was his only choice. And it's just not that way. Yeah. But kids don't know how to cope. You know, we've heard some of these kids that we were tracking when that horrible newspaper article came out. You know, they there were two boys and it was within days of each other, and both kind of the same situation. They both had like scholarships for sports. And one got drunk and went to a football game, got caught, lost his scholarship, and hung himself a few days later. Okay, you messed up. Yeah, right?

SPEAKER_05 1:01:19

Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:20

It that's not right. Not you don't have to injure like we we all have mistakes. I mean, holy cow, I think about you know, some of the dumb things, well, driving in Centralia after one wine cooler, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:33

But you know, and it seems like the world at that point, because I think I and I'm sorry I'm gonna interrupt for a second, but my my son, who just graduated with a a degree in flight, and we've talked multiple times about possibly military path, because they have to get now he's got to get all the hours and he's struggling to get hours and that whole thing, and it's like, well, what about Air National Guard? He's like, but but they want a 10-year commitment if I become a pilot. It's like ten years is gonna go so fast. I mean, it's a blip on the radar.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:00

It is.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:01

But as a young, and he's now not young, he's 26, but you know, when you start looking at that, it's like ten years is half your life, you know.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:08

I really do think that it's it not maybe not every kid, but I I think it's it's that not everybody gets a trophy, right? We make mistakes, we need to learn from them and move on, and some of these kids just couldn't they couldn't face the mistake. Yeah. And that was like their answer to the the error. And it's just a shame because I selfishly, now that I'm at the chamber, we're losing workforce, right? Right. We're losing some really smart kids that have just made an error and then a really bad decision to follow, and it's it's just wrong.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:48

Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:49

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:49

Let's talk about the chamber for a minute. Yeah, sure. On a lighter note, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:53

Sorry.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:53

No, no, I appreciate you talking about that though, because I feel like I feel like we need to get that out. That people need to be able to talk.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:59

Well, I mean, I think we all have things that shape us right. And like I said, when that happened, I mean, the first year you walk around and like for me, I was kind of numb that first year, but I chose because I couldn't just sit and watch TV because there's just too much going through. So I kept busy, whether it was donating time or crafting or baking or whatever. I I had to have something to keep me occupied. And I don't sleep much at all. I haven't since I was a teenager, but you know, like it it's intensified because I just I I just have too much in my head.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:38

Tone in your brain. Yeah. You ever tried yoga? No, I'm just kidding. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:42

Okay. So really quick story. Bryce actually was in a yoga class, and I met his yoga instructor, and I mean, she was like the best person ever, but he had a flu, I think, like when he was maybe 16, and came home after missing a week of school. And I'm like, so how do you make up for your your yoga class? And he said, Oh, Miss Smith said I have to teach you yoga. I'm like, huh? Is this punishment for you or me? And he's like, Mom, seriously, I have to do that. You have to sign off.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:13

That's so funny.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:13

I'm like, okay, he goes, we have to spend an hour. I'm like, okay. And so literally, here we are, you know, in the living room. And of course, at that point we had a really large dog, and you know, like the whole downward dog thing, because like he's in our face, right? But yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:28

That's funny. Yeah, okay. I the reason I say that out of joke is because Christine doesn't sleep at all. I swear she's awake all the time. But it's the same thing, just constant stuff going through her head, lists, what do I need to get done? I've got to do this, I gotta do that. And and if you it somebody I somebody at some point, you know, you need to taught work of yoga, meditation, whatever, because I don't need somebody to teach me how to breathe. I do that just fine. But anyways. Okay, so you've you've spent 17 years at the Mesa Chamber of Commerce.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:01

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:01

You didn't start out as the president and CEO.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:04

No, no. Charlie hired me to put on events. And it was an old boys' club when I started.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:09

Yeah. Yeah. I think that most of the well, I don't know. Smaller communities, I think the perception is that the Chamber of Commerce is a travel agency.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:18

So we we evidently as a chamber are looked at the know it all of everything, right? I mean, we've had people literally women from West Valley called years ago and said, How do I get to Mason making only right hand turns?

unknown 1:05:33

Oh my God.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:34

No way.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:35

I am not joking. Probably three years ago, um, our uh receptionist had a phone call and it was a gentleman asking, Where did I leave my dry cleaning? I had I can't.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:46

He literally asked you where he left his dry cleaning.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:48

He needed to go pick it up. He knew it was had to be ready and he didn't know where the dry cleaner was.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:53

And Did you know the name of it or anything?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:55

I I heard Teresa saying, Well, there's probably we're in Mesa, like it's a big city, there's probably A lot of dry cleaners. Like, can you give me? And she is she is a saint on the phone, and she's lived here for a very long time, so she knows a lot about the city. But yes, people call a chamber of commerce thinking that you have the answer to everything.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:14

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:15

Yeah. We had a woman who used to like work for us like a switchboard, right? And she would call us for phone numbers. It's like not information.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:25

I'm gonna start crank calling the chamber asking where I left my booze.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:28

Yes, you should ask ask Sarah.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:30

Sarah?

SPEAKER_00 1:06:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:31

I know I had a bottle of vodka. I know I left it on the counter.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:36

Yeah. Somewhere. I I know it's somewhere.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:38

That's so funny.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:39

So so I put down a couple of questions. I wanted to make sure that I asked you because they I couldn't memorize them in my head. But looking back, how was your definition of leadership changed from when you first joined the chamber to now serving as a president and CEO?

SPEAKER_00 1:06:55

Well, when I first joined, I obviously had, you know, a boss and uh he had a team, right? Yes, I was part of that team. Then he retired, and a gentleman named Peter came in. He was there just about 14 months and left with stage four glioblastoma. So uh the ward was going to like replace him right away, do a search, and I'm like, he's in surgery today. Let's take a little bit of time and then hopefully he's gonna come back, right? Because he hadn't been there that long. And I said, you know, I'll step up and I'll I'll do more, I'll do his job and mine. And I worked every day for five and a half months, every single day, because I was doing my job and his job on top of that. And at that point, the board chair came in and said, You know, you're doing a great job. I'm like, Thanks, I'm so tired. And he's like, Well, uh, the board wants you to take the position. I'm like, Oh, thanks. I don't want it. And he was like, What? I said, Jim, like that legislative piece, that political piece, that's not that's not for me. And he's like, But you're doing it. I said, 'cause I have to. Like, that's just that's not my favorite part. Unlike some people like Sarah, who does it well and loves it, and sh she would say she hates it, but she would say she hates it.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:10

Then she would say, Kathy, who did it well and loves it. But Kathy did love it. She was a god, yeah, she loved it. Policy hound.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:17

She was. Anyway, he got up and walked out and said, you know, as he's walking out, you can think about it. I'll be back in a week. Oh, he did say the board and we can hire a lobbyist, they can help you. And I'm like, I don't think you know what you're asking for. And he walked out and came back a week later. And I had talked to like a good friend from Washington, and she's like, Don't be a fool, take the job. If they don't, if if you don't like it, you can quit. And if they don't like it, they'll fire you. I'm like, Well, I don't want to be fired. Come on. But the staff was like, You're already doing it, just take the job.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:49

And so I thought, well, you know, if I if it if I don't like it, I can quit. And obviously I've hung in there. But I think uh Bob reminds me so our communications director of when I interviewed him. And he's been with me over 10 years now. Uh he's like, uh he'll he'll tell other people when she when she interviewed me, she's like, if you have an ego, leave it at the door. But I I think that that's probably gotten to be more significant in my head, because this isn't about us. This is about our members, this is about our community, and we don't have egos. Like we really do need to check those, right? Because this is not about me or our chamber, this is about us helping members, you know, do well in their business and going from small to medium business or you know, like the progression that's supposed to happen, or frankly, you know, through COVID, just trying to save help save a business. Yeah. You know, it was a tough time. I I I've learned a lot.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:51

What would if you ran into somebody on the street who knew nothing about business, and you said you were the president CEO of the chamber, and you had to tell them what the chamber was, what is it?

SPEAKER_00 1:10:02

It's funny because Blake has said, you know, uh yeah, so and so asked me, you know, my friend asked me, like, so what is the chamber? Like you said your mom works for a chamber. Is that a bank? It's like, no. And and honestly, I I think what we do, not who we who we are or what the chamber is, you know, we're here to protect, promote, and advocate for our businesses. And I tell everybody, you know, through c COVID, I believe we became a chamber of community, not just a chamber of commerce. And that includes, you know, the things like our initiatives with teen suicide or the anti-sex trafficking stuff that we've done, or opening the veterans center that we did. I I think if we're going to be a good chamber, we have to look at what's happening in the community and then bring some of those opportunities back to our members because not every b business joins the chamber for the advocacy piece or the things that we do on a daily basis. They're joining for the extras. They want to be part of the community and feel like they're giving back and they're doing something bigger than just their daily world.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:12

Yeah, yeah. That makes sense. You are at what we would consider an intersection of business, community, and politics. Most people think the chamber is part of the political arm of the town.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:28

Right? Yeah. When those interests comp interests compete or conflict, how do you personally decide where to lean and what to do?

SPEAKER_00 1:11:38

We were just talking about this. I'm trying to think who who is over and we were talking about this. You know, obviously we all have our own beliefs, right? But for us as a chamber, for me, in the role I meant, my personal stuff doesn't it doesn't get to play out, right? Whether it's political or religious or whatever it might be. My my sister has tried to like jump on a post and defend me and I'm like, hey, hey, hey, back off because you're, you know, these are chamber members sometimes that are not agreeing with certain things. I I got invited to the first Trump inauguration by McCain, which is kind of ironic, I don't know. But I went because, you know, it was the inauguration of a president. Yeah. And so I went. I took uh our corporation commissioner when he was council member um Kevin Thompson with me, and we had a great time and you know, I had a a a great uh visit with a lot of different people in DC, but I got a lot of flack for that. And it's like he he's our president, you know. If if most people had an opportunity, they would meet any elected president. I I I would have.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:52

But I go back to, you know, are are the things, are the people, the the groups, the the associations that we have, are they focused on business issues? Because that's how we make our decisions, whether it's through the alliance or our chamber, of anybody that we're gonna support or work with, right? And then once they're elected, I mean, it's our job to support them and or or guide them the way the chamber wants, you know, things to happen. We are not funded by the city of Mesa, but we're I consider us really good partners with the city, not just um the council and the mayor, but the city manager and a lot of the departments. I consider a lot of people with PD and FIRE, some of my best friends, you know, but it's important that we have that good relationship. So when something comes up, whether it's just a general business business issue or specific to a business that is having trouble with a permit or whatever it might be, that we can go to bat for them. It's always through a business lens, right? Yeah. Regardless what the issue is, whether it's political or you know, just chamber stuff, it's yeah, what we have to focus on.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:05

Being in your position, um having having, let's say, town sta or city staff, mayor, council, uh, even some of the community leaders come to you and present you with issues or ask you to take a stance on on a specific item that's coming up, does that I mean obviously you you look at it through the business lens, and that's one of the things we we talk about quite a bit with people is like when people say things to me, I'm like, look, I'm my personal stuff doesn't really matter. Right. You know. How how do you combat that in the public eye with regards to who you are individually and the business? Are you able to separate those?

SPEAKER_00 1:14:48

You know, it's funny, you know what IOM is, right? Institute. So I went through that program several years ago, and I remember the first day I had a really great class. I mean, some of those people will be friends forever, but a woman named Kelly, uh, who is a ball of fire, uh, was sitting next to me, and at some point toward the end of the first day, she's like, So, you know, are you on like social media? I said, Yeah. She goes, Okay, can you write it down? So I write it down. She goes, So what's your chamber account? And I'm like, like, what? I said, Well, Mace Chamber, she said, no, yours for the chamber. I'm like, hmm, it's hard enough to keep up with one platform like for yourself. And she's like, Oh, so you like have one? Don't you worry? I'm like, listen, I I need people to know me for who I am. And if somebody doesn't like what they see on a Saturday versus a Tuesday, I'm the same person. I don't like try and put on a facade for anybody, and what you see is what you get. I of course I'm not posting crazy things, right? Right. I'm I don't I mean I might be a little crazy, but I'm not like doing inappropriate things, so that's not part of my world anyway. So, you know, this is what you get.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:06

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:07

So you can like it or leave it, I guess, but you know, I try to always remember, you know, it when somebody says, Can you do this for me? It's like, okay, I I can do that because I would do it for anybody else, right? So as long as it's fair, uh it's like a rotary, you know, the fair to all concerned, right? I I've been a Rotarian for years and I kind of feel like that's like my motto, right? That whole four-way test. And I wish more people could look at that and live it, because I think if you can do that.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:42

What what is that? Just in case somebody who's listening doesn't know.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:46

Oh gosh. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:47

So I'll just challenge you.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:48

Yeah, you are challenging me. So is it fair to all concerned? Is it beneficial to uh maybe it's is it will it build goodwill and better friendships? And there's a fourth one.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:00

But I mean it's basically they see like a litmus test for items to make sure that it's good for all.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:07

Now I'm gonna be at Rotary on Wednesday and be like, oh my goodness, I just somebody from Rotary's gonna listen to this and go, Oh my god. Probably. Sorry, Rose.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:14

That's funny. Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:16

Um but you know, I I want to be able to sleep at night. I don't sleep very much, but I want to be able to lay my head down and not be worried that you know I did something wrong or intentionally or told an untruth.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:29

I don't ever want to be in a position like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:32

That's um I can't imagine people who live their worlds like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:36

I I it's it's interesting to me. I used to get in trouble as a young child for lying, attempting to lie. And what I learned from those early days as a kid, I couldn't remember what I told people. So it's like I just had to tell them like somebody asks, I'm gonna tell you the truth because then I don't have to worry about what I told you.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:56

And we were talking about this not long ago. Like I I'm at an age where I can walk down the hall to tell Bob something in the office, and I get there and go, hold on, I'll be right back. Because I gotta go back to my desk and like look at something or back to an email, and then I the sad thing is once I actually walked down there a second time and went, oh my gosh, and walked back to the case.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:18

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:19

So now I'm like, Can you just keep a post-it note like on the corner of your desk? Because by the time I walk back to my desk to send an email, I'm like, I've forgotten it.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:27

That's so funny.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:28

So yeah, for me, like I would not make a good liar. Yeah. Because I would literally I would blow it. Yeah. I would, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:39

Just can't remember. Where can people find out more about the Mesa Chamber of Commerce if they're interested?

SPEAKER_00 1:18:46

So I mean, obviously they can call me or any of the team. We answer our phones and we return emails. And I know that that's hard for some people to do and believe that people still do that, but we get told all the time, you know, I tried calling so and so and I, you know, still haven't heard back. And I'm like, well, shame on them because that's what we do, right? We are in the business of people. Yes, businesses are our members, but we're dealing with people, right? And we're we're reacting to their needs, and so they can always reach out to any of us, or they can just come to an orientation. And I mean, it's open to anybody. We get a lot of obviously new members, but we have members that have new staff, so they're sending them. Um we have prospects that come in and they they're like, I just want to learn more. It's like, well, yeah, here's a good place to do it.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:37

Just uh MesaChamber of Commerce dot com or uh MesaChamber.org.org. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:44

Nonprofit.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:45

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:46

Now Mesa is by footprint massive. It is how do you guys how do you service right the entire town? City.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:57

Yes, city. Well, it's funny because when we came here, like when we moved here 21 years ago.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:05

It wasn't that big.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:06

I moved to Southeast Mesa, right? Okay. And there was the SWAP meet and there was Sunland Springs, uh, the over 55 community, and there at Desert Ridge High School, which my son said it looks like a penitentiary. Sorry, Desert Ridge, but but there really wasn't much else past Power Road. And now that area of Mesa is the center of the universe, right? I mean, with all the growth that we've had in District Six, that's kind of been one of the bigger challenges because if you've got something in Riverview and expect somebody from the gateway area to come for a midday meeting, that's if it's an hour meeting, that's at least a two-hour walk for them, right? Easily. So we've had to try and find different things in different areas of of town because I mean you can't you just can't expect people to be at all those things all the time. We did over 500 things last year with the leads groups and the ribbon cuttings and you know, all the stuff that we do. So it's a lot of divide and conquer. And we we stopped with the when I started there were multiple like lunches, you know, networking lunches. And we started more committees and we kind of dropped some of those networking things because not everybody cares about those.

SPEAKER_05 1:21:30

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:31

I mean, yes, it's great to come, but like Boeing's not gonna come thinking they're gonna sell an Apache, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:21:36

Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:37

If they could sell one Apache, I think they come every time.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:40

But I probably not can you buy an Apache off the line?

SPEAKER_00 1:21:44

Uh off the line, no. You could pre-order though. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:48

That'd be crazy.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:49

Yeah, but yeah, Mesa's, I mean, it's a huge city. It it it's tough because we also, I mean, like any chamber, you also have those one-person realtors and then the you know, 30 people at a bank and then the 4,500 employees going, right? And so the the difference between them, I mean, that's that's our challenge to rise up to is how we meet the needs of not just the type of business, but the size. It it's that's the challenge every day. What are we gonna do for these people? Yeah, you know, but it's the fun challenge, right? You learn a lot when you actually stop and ask questions and want to help somebody with their business. And I keep saying we're an extension of your team. Look at it that way.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:36

How many people are on your team now?

SPEAKER_00 1:22:38

Ten, and I think we have three or four interns. I can't keep up with the interns. Yeah, we have some really great young people, which has been very fun.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:47

Is the and forgive me, I should probably know this. The Mesa Chamber, is it still in the downtown area?

SPEAKER_00 1:22:53

Yeah, so I have been there 17 years. We have been in three buildings. We were in a building um that is now economic development, and we moved out of that building into the Jackson White, it's a law firm. Oh, okay. Moved into that building. Um, we outgrew our space after a few years. So we moved on to the Mesa Community College campus. We were there uh eight or nine years, and uh had the opportunity to go back to the Jackson White building in a different suite, and it's worked out really well. It's a beautiful building, it's Kitty Corner from City Hall. I I can walk to the studios, which is you know right next to ASU. I can walk to City Hall, I can walk to Main Street by a block, back to economic development on the next block. Um it it's perfect for what we do and you know for our members to have access.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:50

Awesome. Yeah. What um what should we know about Sally or the chamber that I haven't asked?

SPEAKER_00 1:23:55

Oh geez.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:56

I I we know you're a Seahawks fan.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:58

See I am, yes. I you know, uh I I have a granddaughter now. So really my world has changed. That's awesome. Yeah, so my how old is your granddaughter? My son got married two two and a half years ago, and of course I'm like, hey, you guys have been together a long time now, you have a house already. Come on, let's get started, right? And they were both like, relax, mom, you know, like settle down. She is 19 months. Oh wow, and just the best thing ever. Like she is she's very smart, she's talking a lot, she loves her Gigi, and I just can't, I mean, can't get enough of her.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:38

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:38

It's it's so fun. The best part is that when I uh when I decided to move out of my house, the kids are buying my house. So we close in a couple of weeks. Oh cool. So it's a house meant for a family, not for me and a little dog. Yeah. It's a big house. And you know, like was uh ten when we moved in. So that's cool.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:04

Yeah. That'd be kind of cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:06

Yeah, it's great. Yeah. Yeah. So we've we've all been packing and purging and and selling stuff and then he could just leave all his stuff there, you don't have to worry about it. It's funny because literally I'm like, hey, I need you to go through all this stuff, and it's like, well, if you're keeping it, just move it back into the closet. Right. Yeah. Just pack it away. It's great. They're excited to have a bigger house. I'm excited because a bigger house now means uh another grandchild. Um, but yeah, you know, I I I mean, I just I love our community and I feel really fortunate to be in Mesa because there's so much opportunity.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:44

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:45

Well, I really appreciate you taking the time to come on. This was fun. Yeah. Is there anything we can do to help you?

SPEAKER_00 1:25:51

Listen, our members need more members, right? Just like with any chamber, and I tell everybody that says, you know, I'm looking at different chambers, like, listen, if you've got the time and the money to be in multiple chambers, you should. Most people don't have a lot of time and they don't have a lot of funds, especially smaller businesses. You know, I just think that you look at where your opportunities are and what is a good fit. We'd love to talk to anybody and see if we are a good fit. I have five people on my team that have been here over 10 years. And I think that says a lot just for the stability of of our of our team, but it's fun. We get creative, you know, we like to do new things. Right now we're working on State of the City, which in Mesa is a really big production.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:41

I'm sure. Yeah, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:44

Yeah, and you guys are you guys are all split out into regions, zones, districts.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:49

Districts, yeah. Yeah. So district six, where I have been living until recently, is where all that growth is in Southeast Mesa and it's just it's it's like on fire. Yeah. It was that build it and don't come, right? Yeah. Apple came, and then it's just been kind of the snowball effect. Yeah, it's pretty exciting.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:10

That's awesome. That's awesome. Well, hey, I appreciate it. I appreciate you coming on, taking the time. Yeah, it's been great getting to know you better, and thank you for sharing everything.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:18

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:20

This is Sally Harrison, and I went above and beyond the

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Our spirits unite. APN is the beacon, our guiding light. So here's U APN where dreams align. In every connection, a chance to shine.

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