Legacy & Leadership: Jamie Scott on Stewarding Idaho’s Future

This week on Nobody Knowz, I’m joined by Jamie Scott — Boise native, entrepreneur, and President of the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Family Foundation. We talk about growing into leadership, making long-term investments in Idaho, and what legacy really looks like. It’s a thoughtful conversation about impact, opportunity, and the power of focusing on people.

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Welcome to the Nobody Knows podcast with Callie Zamzow. Join us for conversations with local changemakers and hear the stories that don't always get told. It'll be honest, messy and beautiful. Touching and humorous. Slow down for a glass and pull up a chair. This is the nobody Knows podcast. Welcome to Nobody Knows. I'm your host, Callie Zamzow, and it's April. I hope everybody's having a great April. I like I like April. My daughter was born in April. April is a good month. Lots of fun things happening in April, and I'm going to jump right in to our tip of the week. Look at that. I said it right the first time. So proud of myself. So the tip is that there is going to be a free salsa garden class in all stores, all jams, those stores this upcoming Saturday, April 18th at 10 a.m.. And, so in case you're wondering about a salsa garden, what that means is, if you like salsa, this is a class about how to grow tomatoes and peppers and onions and, you know, a few herbs, I suppose, in there as well, maybe some cilantro and. Yes. So, so the class will help you if. Because sometimes I think we get all these ideas of grandeur about having a garden, and we think we have to put everything in there, and it has to be like the best garden in the whole world, and you have to grow every single thing. And I find that sometimes if people just choose something they like to eat, then they will be successful in growing it and then they'll actually eat it, because sometimes you grow rutabagas. But then what do you do with it? Right. So. And that no offense to anybody growing or debate, I got say my grandfather used to grow them and make us eat them. Anyway, this is a free class. All of our stores, all 12 of them at 10 a.m. April 18th, 2026. Additionally, during that that day you can come in because there is a discount on some of the products that they will teach you how to use. And in particular, I want to mention two. One is called pepper popper. This is an invention. Actually, both of these products are inventions by my father. Jim and Pepper Popper came about, because he wanted to help people with their peppers. I know that sounds really bizarre, but what he was learning with with Idaho's soils and how how people grow, not tomatoes. That's the second part. Peppers is that they they have a tendency to have common ailments and common issues. So this pepper, pepper is a spray, and you just you missed your plant with it. I think it's every couple of weeks during the growing season. And those nutrients go directly into the leaves, which is one way to very quickly get a plant to have those nutrients. And they're all the nutrients that make really great, healthy peppers. And so it's a fabulous product. I cannot say enough about it. And that will be $5 off in store. And then the other one is tomato boom. So if you're just trying tomato boom for the first time, there's a 4 pound size that's going to be $5 off. And then there's a 20 pound size that's $10 off. And that is actually a product that you're going to put into the soil for your tomatoes. And it's phenomenal. We can have a lot of tomato problems here in the Valley and it just addresses all of them. So two great products all on sale. Learn how to grow a salsa garden, buy these products on the cheap and, you know, the rest is history. So there's your tip of the week. Now, I'm going to go into a quick little story about, about a year ago, I, I was invited to, apply for a fellowship for women, and I. Full disclosure, I didn't know what a fellowship was. I was all in because of the organization that was that was putting it on. But I knew very little about what I was getting into. What it's turned out to be has been this year, and we're not done yet, but it's it's been this year of meeting pretty regularly as a group. These are women in the Valley who are there. They're all to the person incredible. They're amazing people doing amazing things. And what our focus is. What is our legacy going to be? What what are we? This is what I really want to just get down to brass tacks when I'm dead. What do I want to be remembered by? And it's amazing when you stop and you require yourself to think about that for chunks of time with other women in the room where you can bounce ideas off each other and cry and all of that, that you do begin to realize that maybe there are some things in your life that that that you're doing, but maybe don't fit with what you really want to be doing. So let's pick this amazing, amazing opportunity. I cannot say enough about it. And I'm very excited about our guest today because she is the brainchild of this and so many other things. So please welcome to the studio, Jamie Scott. She is the president of the J. A. and Katherine Albertson Family Foundation. She's also now, I can say, my friend, welcome and thank you for being a part of the show. Thanks, Kelly. First of all, I'm inspired by the salsa garden, so thank you for the tip for the week. I think I might have to go. I do not have a green thumb at all, so I have a lot to learn in that area, but I really want to, like, I really want to be the neighbor that comes over with, like, a barrel of zucchini. Right? I have too many. But, so thank you for that inspiration and also that amazing introduction. Oh you're welcome. I, I, I don't think it's during I think this whole conversation will help people truly understand you and like get to know you a little bit better, which I am excited about because I find you to be a phenomenal human being. And so I'm excited to share you with the audience. I'm so kind and I, I've been listening to the podcast in order to try to prepare, and I just have to say, I just love I love what you're doing. I, I've learned about so many incredible people that are living in our community right now that I didn't know about, and it just makes me feel positive about where we live and the people that are here. So thank you so much for doing this. All right. Well that's it. That's the show. Thanks for listening. And this is what we do. We pump each other up as women. That's right. It's so good. It's so good. Okay. So, would you just take a moment to kind of share, just maybe. And you don't have to go to the depths of it. We can kind of get to that at some point, but kind of tell us a little bit about what you do currently and sort of who you are. Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. It's been a little bit of a, journey. I did actually go to work in our family foundation, the J. A. and Katherine AlbertsonFamily Foundation, which was started by my great grandparents in 1966, and I went to work there 25 years ago when I moved back to Boise, kind of not knowing what I was going to do, I thought maybe I might go to law school, but I just didn't really have a plan. I had a few kind of odd jobs, but never really a career. So I went to work there in kind of a part time capacity. And I wouldn't say I loved it, you know, as a little bit of, fulfilling time, a little bit of kind of checking an obligation box. And, you know, it did expose me to some of the things that we were working on at that time. Then I got married and had a baby, and, was kind of looking for something to do so that I could get dressed and go interact with other humans. So I went back to work at the Foundation as a program officer. And, that was a little bit more fun, I think I was a little older and, I started to connect with a couple of the projects that we were working on. I was working with my father, which was nice. And I started to just understand a little bit more about what the foundation was about and what we were doing. So I guess we spent time talking about the middle part. But like, fast forward 25 years, I've held a lot of different positions there. I've served on the board for since I was 21. So a lot, a lot of years. And, now I was executive director for about eight years, and now I'm president of the foundation, which just which just means that we have an executive director that I work with, and I'm able to oversee more of the strategy and less of the day to day operations. Yeah, that's a fun, that's a fun transition, I think, at least for me, it was a more it was a fun transition. It's hard. Yes it is. It's really hard to watch someone do your job. I took executive director really seriously because it was my first real professional job. And I also thought I had a lot to prove. I thought, you know, I wanted people to think I deserved the job. I didn't just get the job, even though I really did just get the job, but I wanted people to think I deserved it. And so I worked really hard at, you know, I wanted to to do a great job. And so I worked hard at that. So one day I was, working with a gentleman named Roger corals on a big project. And, my dad said to me, I think we should hire Roger. And I said, oh, yeah, for what? He goes a year job. And and the reason why is because I had I had small children at home. I had been doing the job for eight years. I was starting to get a little prickly. There's a lot of there was at the time especially, there was just a lot of meetings. And he was like, you know, maybe come see some of the other things that we're doing because we do have a family office and, you know, some businesses. And he was like, you've really been engaged in the foundation for a long time, and you're really close to it. And this is a great opportunity to maybe bring someone else in and maybe take a step up in a way and kind of be able to. And he saw what I didn't see, I think, which was when you are so entrenched in the day to day and operations, it's hard to be strategic, at least for me. It was really hard to be strategic and like set a long term vision because you're so consumed with what your next meeting is or you know what tomorrow is. Maybe if you're able to look out that far, I just didn't have the capacity to be really good at day to day ops and be like a long term visionary. And so that move, I think I smothered Roger for like 18 months, probably two years. He might say five. He might say, I'm still doing that. I don't know. But it gave me an opportunity to not only see some of the other things that my family had been working on, but also start to think about really long term strategy for the foundation and just get out of the minutia of the day to day. Yeah, I it's it is an interesting shift for sure. And I think I still struggle with popping back into operations and popping back out again because, it's hard not to, especially if you have a vision for something that you almost like are right, backed with operations to say, this is what I'm thinking for, for, you know, at least for me anyway, it's kind of a that's a very big challenge for me. Yeah. And it's really nice when you have the two teams that respect each other and, you know, because it can be frustrating, right, when you're a day to day operator, to have this visionary come in and be like, you know what you should do? And, so you have to I think what was really fortunate for me is that I experienced the roles at my organization at every level, from the front desk copies to the and we're really small. So don't get me wrong, we're all still doing front desk making copies, and but I experienced them at every level and that was really fortunate because it does give you a lot of insight into what it feels like to be at each kind of level of the decision making tree. Yeah, I agree, I both my brother and I did the same thing and just kind of did a little marketing and I did a little data entry and I did. Yeah, just kind of all over the board before we were given the reins. Although even when we were given the reins. And so I think I'm curious if you have the same feeling as a family member. It was absolutely earned. In fact, maybe more so than somebody else who might have done the exact same job because we're family. But once we got it, it's still felt like I still felt like I had to prove myself more, much more than had I just gone to work. And I have I have worked for other companies, and it was easier because I knew I earned the job because, yeah, I didn't have the name, like they chose it, you know? But did you have any of that work? Yeah, I think that's that's always a case. If you're a family member that, you know, gets, the opportunity to be in roles maybe like you and I are in, in leadership roles of a family organization. You definitely want to feel like you should be there. Not that you, you know, got put there and. Right. But something's happened to me, and it happened fast. I felt like for a long time, I was like the kid at the office. I was the youngest person there. I was like, you know, trying to learn from everyone. And I don't know, honestly, Kelly within. Like, I swear I blinked and I'm like the oldest person there. So suddenly I've been there the longest. Except for my father, right? I've been there the longest. And people are, like, starting to come to me. Like, would you, like, mentor me? And I'm like, are you kidding me? I don't even have it. I'm still figuring it out. So I think, you know, there's something to be said for just like staying power and. And you and I have actually talked about this where it's like, you know, you question even your value of, you know, because I didn't go anywhere else, right? This is really my career. And, sometimes it's hard not to feel envious of people that say, right, well, I'm, I got hired here or I got here, I'm getting recruited here, you know? Yeah. So you and I have staying power in our organization, which I think is a good thing. But sometimes I think, you know, it's natural to question, like, what else could I have done? Right? Right. Yeah. And I have a really hard time. Like, I can see you super clearly. It's so easy when we're doing fellowship conversations. I'm like, Jamie, you could do so many things. Like, I could just see you in, like what? I'm curious. Well, first of all, first and foremost, I think you could be a comedian. I think you should consider that because you were very funny. I was one of my favorite things about you is you. You get all of us laughing so hard sometimes that talking about peeing our pants. I feel like sometimes I'm going to be in that position, but I can look at you and say, yeah, you could be all these different things. But when I think about myself, I've got all this head trash because I have been at the company for so long and I'm good at what I'm doing at the company, but I don't know that anybody else would find value in me. And like, you know, granted. And you're younger than I am by tech, but, you know, knock on 50, I am 50 right there. It feels like, like the like getting into an age where people wouldn't necessarily want to hire me. So I think it's not true. I, you know, I think that we're actually in our prime, but, but anyway, it's easier for me to look at you and say, oh, yeah, you could do anything. When I look at myself, I'm like, but I'm. I'm really kind of like, this is this is it for me? Yeah. Well, I think how you what you're seeing in me is what I see in you. And it's just hard to, see that in yourself. Yeah. Right. And that is. I mean, that is one of the reasons for the fellowship. Is this, like, what does it look like when you have a group of not best friends? Right. They're not you're not best friends, but you're you've got a supportive group of objective and supportive people that are listening to you and, and trying to help you kind of get to your best self. Yeah. And part of that is telling you and being like mirroring back to you like, no, that's not true. You can do anything you want. And the organization that you're at is lucky to have you. And your contributions are vast. And, that's been, I think, something that's been special about having that that group. Yeah. I, I think most of the women in the group have have they kind of knew each other beforehand. And I have this very thin string, but it was one of the people in the fellow who lived a fellowship, lived across the street from me years ago. And somehow I popped in her head as somebody to be considered for this. And I am so grateful for that. I, I'm, I just, I, I feel like, you know, something bigger than me made this all happen for me because it is the perfect timing for me. And I'm hearing this from everybody, and we're all in different stages of our lives too. But I'm hearing that right and laughed about how people are, you know, this is like the right timing. Yeah, a little bit. I mean, there was a little bit of thought that went into curating the group. And one of the big criteria was if, the women felt like they all identified with being in, in some type of transition. So is there something going on with you or with your life or in this stage that you're at that feels like it's a time of transition and that could be variety of things. Because if you think about our group, whether it's I just I'm just about to be an empty nester or I have been in a career for many years, and maybe I am thinking about what's next, or I am. I'm actually ready to retire and that feels scary to how do I spend my time? Or I'm in a transition in a major relationship. So that common thread, I think, has led us to go really deep and have really meaningful discussions about what do I want? Because so often, you know, and I, I don't know that this is gender specific, but when you are raising kids and trying to build a career, particularly as a woman, your needs are not at the forefront. Right? And so some of us, for the first time when kids go off to college, or maybe our career is not so demanding, suddenly we are in a position for the first time to ask ourselves what we want. And I have found that to be kind of scary. Yeah. You know, because I'm not totally sure. Yeah, I'm not a person that has a ton of hobbies or, you know, so it's just like if I if I'm not taking care of children and I'm not working really hard at my desk and I'm not feeling guilty at either one of those places, then what am I doing? Yeah. And what's our worth? I think that's part of what what is happening for me anyway, is this realization that I have intrinsic worth if I'm doing nothing. Which has been shouldn't be but mind blowing to me. Like, wait a minute, I'm not. If I'm not running a company, making sure my kid's got whatever she needs, making sure my husband's got whatever he needs, you know, do it. Being on this board, being on that board, then. Then I don't want to. Then I'm like, do I have any worth intrinsically? And that's the part I think that is been the hardest, but also the most rewarding is to look myself in the mirror and say, if I do nothing at all, I still deserve to be alive here, like I still am supposed to be here. Yeah. And not not equating your work with just being busy, right? Right. So I that that's definitely, a trap I can fall into, which is if I'm not busy all the time, then I'm not being I'm not contributing. Right, right. Yeah. It's it's a fun thing to wrestle with. So. So this was not the first fellowship you have. You actually have a separate group. Will you tell us a little bit about that. And like how that that all began, with the other groups because now I think I want to say you're like in the 10th cohort. Yeah. Or something like that. Yeah. So tell us about that. Well, the fellowship that, that you and I are in the women's specific of, it's the first cohort and it's been a bit of an experiment. And it was an idea of one of my colleagues to say, look, we have this other fellowship, which I'll tell you about in a second, but I think we're missing, an audience that could really benefit from this. And so we kind of started digging deep in what would a women's specific fellowship look like? And it's not a bunch of man haters, as you can attest. Not at all. It's really dealing with women's specific issues and health relationship finance and career. So those are the two the topics that we've been talking about. And again, we're focused more on kind of midlife women that are going through these transitions, thinking about, as you know, we've done a lot of education on health, specifically midlife and menopause. We've been education on finance. What does it look like to retire? What do you need to retire? How do you create an estate plan, things like that. And then in our our next kind of educational session, we'll talk about what does it look like to make a midlife pivot. And, you know, how does that look? So that's been the kind of the framework for the fellowship that you and I are going through as a little bit of an experiment. But you're right. It was inspired by another fellowship that we have been running for about six years. So we have a veterans initiative at the Albertson Foundation called mission 43 and Mission 43 focuses on really post 911 veterans and their families. And our mission is to make Idaho the best place to retire after military service, to live, work, and play. So we focus on employment first, like we have a lot of young people that are retiring from the military that went in during 911, and they were high ranking officers, and they're getting out of the service and they're 45 years old, and they have a lot to give. And they're very service oriented, right? They've had a background of service. So, oftentimes they have a hard time translating the amazing skills that they've developed in their military service to civilian life. So we have many people that are there to support them in translating their military skills to civilian skills so that they don't get underemployed. So first, we focus on employment as as purpose. Everyone wants that purpose. I want to feel like I'm contributing. And then it's education. So many of them have a GI Bill. They might want to go back to school. They might want to get a master's degree. They might want to get some training. So we help them navigate that. And then most importantly, it's engagement. It's like, where are my people? Where people that understand what I have been through, many of them have moved around with their families, have not been able to put roots down. And so engagement and, out of mission 43, we probably have it's free to any service member that wants to join. And there's many events, that you can attend that might be an employment workshop. It might be a coffee hour to meet people. It might be a, you know, a speaker series on someone that's a veteran that started a business so that you can learn about that. But the fellowship kind of blossomed out of mission. 43 members desire to go deep, work on some of the issues that they may be carrying around and, help understand what they really wanted. So not unlike what we're doing. People that have been in the military for 20 years have also not had a lot of their own agency in decision making for their personal selves. Right. And so for the first time, they are also having the freedom to say, what do I want to do? What how do I want to spend my time if I'm not reporting for duty? And many of them need some time and space and some support, and a group of their colleagues that understand what they're going through to do that work. And so the mission 43 fellows has been focused on gathering a group of military, service people that are getting out of the service, as well as spouses. Military spouses are included in this. And that has been, I think, a really interesting and unique component of mission 43 that we bring the spouses right in. And because they have also experienced what it's been like to be in the service just from a different side. Yeah. And so I think we're on cohort number 7 or 8 of the mission, 43 fellows, and it's about a year long experience. And that was really the, inspiration to try to start another fellowship at, I think one of one of our group made a comment early on. And it was just so pure, and it still just rings true. Just kind of stop everything. I think it was the day that we were all meeting each other, and we kind of were in a circle and kind of introducing ourselves. And she was like, so wait, let me get this straight. You are going to create space for all of us. You're going to take care of us. You're going to create a topics that we can converse about. You're just going to basically let us do time out of time and you're just going to you're just going to take care of us. And then yeah, I think, I think if I, if I the comment I remember Kelly was she said, wait, you're just going to invest in women and see what happens? Yep. That was what that's like mind blown. So a long time ago, probably 15 years ago, our foundation made a very conscious shift. If you look at a lot of philanthropists that are similar to ours, the main way that you're going to expand your resources is to invest in programs. So the programs that are out, whether it's, hey, this is a program that's going to teach kindergartners how to read, this is a program that's going to help, veteran people get jobs. Right? You know, it's very program specific because that's an easy way to expand your resources and give to an organization that is trusted out there, that is doing good work. And, for a variety of reasons that that wasn't really working for us in our family. We were not feeling the connection to the work. We weren't always seeing the results that we were hopeful for. And we made a conscious shift to to change our giving from programs to people and the reason why I think more philanthropies don't do that is because we're obsessed with scale. Right? It seems like there's no way you could ever scale the work if you're just going one person at a time. But honestly, I have seen that to not be true because with mission 43, for example, with some of the schools that we're investing in, yes, it's one person at a time, but it's their family that comes along for the ride. It's, you know, their community that starts to benefit when they start showing up in a different way. The ripple effect is huge. Like, I seriously have goosebumps right now. I'm telling you about it because I've witnessed it so many times over and over again. With the investment in an individual, what that ends up doing for, you know, the greater community is it's it's intangible. And yes, we do. We put metrics around our programing and things like that. So when she said, you're just going to invest in women and then see what happens, but you know, what does happen? They start businesses. Yeah. They start advocacy organizations. They start running for school board. They open a business like it's it's a they get out of a toxic relationship. They start showing up better for their children. It's it's unbelievable. I mean, that's what we have seen. And it's really reengaged our family to the work because we've started to have relationships with people that are able to benefit from some of the work that we're doing, and there's no better feeling than when you feel like you've really helped someone see the best in themselves and show up for their community in the best way possible. Hey, I remember you saying that early on, and I, I didn't I didn't feel it yet until I was a part of the fellowship. And now I totally get it. Not. And and with me personally, I definitely feel it, but I've seen it in every single woman that's a part of the group you've seen and the stories that they're telling and the things that they're doing, and there's been some pretty major moves. Some of our players like, oh, right, they're doing it, which is inspiring to the rest of us. Yes. The fellowship is like the launch launching part, right? It's like a one year time. And you're right, it really is just a lot of headspace. Yeah. But then afterwards the group usually stays pretty tight and engaged. They're there for each other and, they're able to support people going through big life changes. Yeah, it's it's awesome. I haven't said thank you. Thank you. Oh, I'm so glad, Kelly. It's been so grateful to be a part of it. To be with you more as well. Yeah. And you're right. Like, every single person in that fellowship has just become such a special person to me. And it's, I think an incredible group. Yeah, I really I really love the balance of because there are definitely things that we have prepared for us that we're working through. But then there are after hours, and some of the after hours have been really fun and engaging and just getting to know one another. And every single woman in that group is a keeper. Like, I just, I, you know, for the rest of my life and I don't know about you, but like, I'm not out looking for new friends. No, I feel like I barely see my friends that I wanted to be in life. And, but this has been for me. I'm getting a lot out of it going through this, you know, first version. It it made me see that I was probably limiting my, experiences in just human connection by not pushing myself to, you know, get to know people on a deeper level. I feel the same way. Can we talk about the, about the foundation in general? Because it is, my number one. You're are you completely Idaho based or just mostly Idaho? It seems like most of what you're doing is right here in the States. Yeah. So we are Idaho based. So when Joe and Katherine set up the foundation, they didn't actually put parameters around it. They really set it up as a charitable organization. It was in 1966, and they just wanted to be tax efficient. So I'm sure they were advised by their many accountants that they should set up, this private family foundation as our structure. And that's really important if you want to know all the rules that we have to adhere to. But, they did not say, this is we want you to give to education or we want you to give to veterans. They just set it up as a means to give charitably. But I think even they might be surprised with how their wealth has grown since 1966. All of their wealth went into the foundation when they passed away. And so it became really important to it was really my dad who took that on to set up the foundation. And he's a he's a strategic man. And he felt like we need to set up for our own benefit. Like, what do we want to accomplish? Well, what do we want to do to be really good stewards of this money and this legacy? And so if you looked back at their giving history, they had given a lot of their money to education. Partly. My grandfather never graduated college. He did go to the College of Idaho, but he had to drop out because he couldn't afford it. And he always really, wished that he could have graduated college. My grandmother did graduate college. She was much more studious. My grandmother, Katherine, actually was graduated a little history. She was the first graduating class of Boise High School. She was actually born in Boise, Idaho. So long history here. And, my grandpa wished that he could have done that. And he always felt that education was the great equalizer or the great opportunity. Yeah. If you could go and get an education, then you could do or be or become anything. And so they gave a lot of money to schools, including the College of Idaho and, other institutions. And so it was an easy place to start. Our focus. This was in the early 90s. We said, you know, took a look at education in Idaho and at least at any kind of the outcomes that we could look at, we were low on any national metrics. And, we thought we could really dig into that and make a huge difference. And I think what we learned is that, bureaucratic system reform is very difficult. What a shocker. And that it wasn't always the best role for us. And maybe most importantly, our approach to, you know, I think one of the things I've learned now is reform is not that fun, and no one wants to be reformed. And, so we changed our again, I think, along with our programs to people strategy, we also made a shift from reform to create, instead of trying to reform things that did not want and were not asking to be reformed, we decided to create what could we create new opportunities. So that has been the creation of 35 new schools. Again, people focused. These are people that raise their hand and say, I have an idea. I think my community needs this. I want to do this. So 35 new schools that exist now in communities that are offering families and kids a different experience. Mission 43, a new veterans initiative that says, we don't think you're broken. We think you're amazing, talented people, and we want you to live here. We want to recruit you here. What do you need? We know you need a job and you might need to go to school. And we know you need your people. So, this creation mindset has been, a game changer for us. It's really helped us enjoy what we're doing. You know, look at things differently, look at them through the lens of, what is possible, not what's impossible. Yeah. Can you can we just go back for a little bit and and talk about your great grant because it was your great grandparents? Yes, yes. And I made this connection after we known each other for a while. I'm like, wait a minute. So I started asking some questions. You had said something, early on about how you did know your great grandmother. Yeah. And you were 26 when she passed away, and I. And I thought, well, I knew my great grandmother, too. And and so I went back and I looked and I was 26 when my great grandmother passed away. So these are the both the founders. So. So your great grandparents, I guess it was it was Jo who technically founded it. But, you know, the spouses got to be in there because you're not going to do it without them right now. She held down the fort because he did work a lot. Yeah. What was great is that my great grandparents, they lived four doors down the street from me growing up. So every day I pretty much ran down there to get candy or to see them or something. And we were really close. But, you know, I never knew my because I, I didn't know them so well, but not in a professional capacity. I do remember going to my grandpa's office and seeing him, but even at the time when I was going to his office, he was there almost kind of as a figurehead. I think he just went there to smoke a carton of cigarets a day. But, it was always fun to go and see him. But mostly I knew him in a in as just grandpa. Yeah. You know, and he was, the outdoors were his happy place. We spent a lot of time at his farm in Nyssa, Oregon, on the weekends and riding horses and fishing and, you know, bird hunting and that my grandmother loved it there, too. She loved to play cards and needlepoint, and that's really how I remember them. I love the way that you describe your great grandmother. I mentioned this, that the gal's gal, which I love, we you kind of describe that. Describe her to us. Yeah. She was really funny. She had a hilarious laugh with, like, a really ugly snort, but she was so adorable that it just was the cutest thing. She was a terrible driver, but she drove around a giant Cadillac, like, bumping into things. And she just. She just showed up for people, you know? Joe and Katherine had one child. They had a daughter. Barbara. Bobby. And, you know, that was my grandmother Albert's. And that was her purpose was her daughter. And she was very invested in and all of the things that Bobby wanted to do. And and then when she had grandchildren, she was a major matriarch of the family. When my father and his brother were young, because they were often taking them with them to their farm in Nyssa and other places. They were very instrumental in raising my dad and his brother. Different for me, my, my great grandmother. So my great grandfather died when I was like three, so I don't remember. I remember, like one little vision of him. I think he was. Yeah. I don't even remember. Anyway, but my great grandmother, very much so, but not she. I don't think she had as much joy. She and I wish now that I could go back and talk to her and ask her questions, like, like life questions. Because I think back then it, it, you know, I didn't even know to ask those kind of things in my 20s. Like, I didn't realize that the time was running out. I didn't think to ask the questions, but, but definitely a different, different feel at that now, now, her daughter in law, my my grandfather's wife, for the the following generation, she was a gal's gal, Grandma Helen. And so she when you when you talk about your great grandmother, I think of my grandmother because she was kind of that, lifeblood and and really lifted up the women in the family and made sure that we all knew that we had a voice and and that sort of thing. So. Yeah. And also the very fun loving one, she was the one who would tell a dirty joke on occasion and we'd be like, grandma, you know, it's just she was wonderful. Yeah, that's my goal. Yeah, exactly, exactly. All right. So speaking of legacy, can we talk about that a little bit and why the fellowship is focused on that? Yeah. Well I think you've seen that when we introduce the concept of legacy, everyone freaked out. Yes. They were like, what? This is way too big to think about. And also what I saw was everybody in the fellowship at least went to this place of your legacy needs to be a humongous story. It has to be that you did something incredible that you will achieved fame in some way, that you made a major contribution to something. So one of the things that happened in our fellowship, that was a really neat experience for me, is that we asked everyone to bring to our circle, their version of a legacy lady who was a woman that inspired them, that they had it had an impact on them and that. Could you tell us about their legacy? Well, what happened was everybody brought like the lady next door or their grandmother who was not famous, you know, except maybe for her apple pie in the neighborhood or just the little things. And, it wasn't that they achieved major feats, but they were there for for that woman. And they made a big impact on her life. And the other takeaway that I thought was really important is that as much as they remembered the things that they brought to the table to lift them up, they remembered their imperfections. So many. There's like the best part this lady wasn't perfect. She smoked a pack a day. She, you know, drank, cocktails. She was driving her car, you know, and those what that did for the group was go, oh, I get it now. Your legacy is just your life story. That's all it is. And the intention of of this fellowship digging into that is you're in control of that. You know how you show up for people in the world and, the, the behavior that you're modeling them, like, am I having fun? Am I bringing people joy? Am I volunteering to causes that make me feel good? That's the thing. I think we're asking people to reflect on is, you know, you have control of that maybe now more than you did when you had little kids or you were working really hard. So what is it that you want to do for that, time how do you want to show up in the world when you know that other people that you're making impact on are watching you? So legacy is just your story. It's not a big, scary you don't have to think about a big feat that you're going to accomplish in order for your legacy to be worth something. So that's been I think the intention of thinking about it. When I think about my grandparents legacy, of course, it's a supermarket, but it's not that that's not the legacy to me. It's how they showed up for me. The opportunities that they brought to our family, the belief that they had in me that I could do things that I didn't think I could do. I at the last fellowship, we we had one on ones. We partnered up with somebody else in the fellowship and kind of talked about some of the, the things that we want to do. And then we had we chose one thing like, what's one thing that we're going to be focused on? And the person that I was talking to said, I want to be more purposeful with my kids. She's got younger kids at this point. And she she said, I, I think I do so much at work and I, I burned myself completely out at work and I give it all there. By the time I come home to be a mom, I don't feel like I'm doing that as well as I could. And I remember those days. Oh, I totally remember those days and what I wouldn't give to go back and have this experience. And then I would be a better mom. And we end up where we end up. Right? And I think we did. Okay. But I won't, you know, don't judge anyway. But I thought that was interesting because that is that is definitely a part of her legacy. It's part of all of us, any of us who are moms. It's part of our legacy. But that wasn't what I was expecting when I joined this group. I thought it was going to be like, are we going to you know, who's going to be the first one to be back on the moon again? Or, you know, when I guess I guess there's one major, but that is major. And speaking to kind of that ripple effect effect of dropping a pebble and having a ripple out if she is a very, very good mom to those two boys, those two boys will be members of society that are good to other people. And the ripple does continue and it becomes this wonderful thing. Yeah. And it's not about being perfect, right? No. That's also something I think women in particular just we really have a hard time letting go of this notion of perfection. And it's like, yeah, maybe the thing they remember, one of the memories, it's that, you know, mom dropped the tuna casserole and said the F-word. And then they all laughed and ate it off the floor. Right. That's that was a really, you know, memorable experience. So it's not about perfection. Yeah. That is by the way, one of the things that I quickly learned about you, that from a distance, observing you before I knew you, I, I didn't know. And now that I know you, I. You are not afraid of imperfection. I'm sure that's a comfort. It is a compliment. It is. It's like the highest compliment. I think we're so. We're all so afraid. We all want to have everything be so perfect. And you are a very poised, lovely human being. And you can be messy sometimes. And I love that about you. And it makes me feel like I can be messy around you, you know, which is such a gift to me. You know that. I do take that as a compliment, Kelly said. People, I don't think people probably see that very often, because you do if you're close to me. I mean, I think anyone that I work with on a daily basis or, you know, I do like to joke around and I don't take myself too seriously. Yeah, I love that about you. And you are incredibly poised. You were interviewing somebody in our last cohort, and it was a it was a very important person. And you were I mean, I could not nobody could have done it better. Like we were raving about you behind your back saying, Holy cow. That was a tough thing that she did. And you look, it looks so easy. You made it look so easy. Well, you know, as a friendly I, I am really comfortable when I'm in front of people like my colleagues and my friends and my family. You know, I definitely can be myself. I, and I think the older I've gotten, I can do that even outside of that arena to people that I don't know as well or people that you know, maybe are, I need to try to impress. I think my style is one of just like authenticity and humility and to just not be so serious. And it usually helps people connect faster because they're not. You're not trying to be someone they're not. Right? Well, I love it. And you have inspired me and so, so many different ways to be more wholehearted and, you know, more fully present. And, and, you know, a little bit you're irreverent, right? You're not irrelevant, irreverent. You're so you're relevant. You're not offended. Right? Not at all. Okay. I think it's time for me to, talk about our, our sponsor. So I'm going to do that in a very herky jerky way here. I'm loving this conversation, by the way. I'm so glad that you agreed to do this with me, and I just. I wish we're going to spend the whole day together. That's what I wish. Oh. What are you doing after all? Nothing. All right. This episode is brought to you by Zamzows, your local source for garden, pet and planet friendly products. As a thank you to our nobody Knows listeners use Code Family. See what I did there at checkout on Zamzows.com to receive 10% off your online order? The discount applies automatically, is valid online only at and excludes lawn programs, and it runs through June 30th of 2026. You can even buy online and pick up in-store at any of our 12 Treasure Valley locations. Visit Zamzows.com and let's grow something good nobody knows like Zamzows. Okay, it's time to move into sharing is caring. Oh, I can't wait. Okay, here we go. Let's start with a leader who helped shape how you think. Oh, I is definitely my dad. You know, I've had the opportunity to work with my father for almost 30 years. And especially when I first started at the foundation, we were in meetings together multiple times a day. And I always thought, gosh, what's one question? Someone would be presenting something or we'd be talking about something, I think, what's the one question that's not being addressed? What could I ask? And I'd be like, I got nothing. And then my dad would say, yeah, I have a question. And then he would ask like the perfect question. I feel that. Yeah. So I just learned a lot from his approach. Also in saying, I don't know when you didn't know ask, you know, saying, I don't know what that word means. Go back and tell me what that word means. Just, you know, just being, really honest and comfortable that the people that were around you, we were all in the same boat trying to solve the same problem. And so, seeking information, he, he was in is really good at that. I feel really grateful that my father is still around to mentor because he to this day, I'm learning things from him and like, oh yeah, I didn't think about that. And that's the other thing we have in common. So we both work with our fathers. We also both work with our brothers. Yes. We don't have sisters. Yeah. So that's a whole separate podcast. All right. Next question. How about a Boise place that helps you reset or I'm going to say an Idaho place. Oh yeah Idaho plays Boise. I'd have to think about that. I mean, I would say the foothills, I would say Katherine Albertson Park, I'd say the river. You know, bogus. I love bogus, but Idaho is McCall like, McCall is my happy place. And it has been my grandparents. Not Joe and Catherine, actually, but on my mother's side. My grandparents on my mother's side met in McCall in, like, 1942 ish. So we've a long history of being there together also as a family. And, my husband always says your blood pressure goes down. When we hit Valley County. I feel that so did they. The same that there. Were they living there or did they? Just for the summer? Yeah. It's, there's so many stories like that of people being up in McCall or in that area for the summer. Anyway, tell the story. I would love to hear it. Oh, my grandmother Betty, she worked at, the dress shop, the dress boutique at the Shore Lodge, and my grandpa was, pumping gas at the Marina at Shaw Lodge. And, yeah, they met there and there they were 20 years old. And, so we been going to McCall for a long time, and, it just I'm relaxed and and happy there. Yeah. Nature. Yeah. So that's said is the great equalizer. I love it. And how about a book, a quote or a podcast or a philosophy that shaped how you lead? So my colleague Roger, has a quote that I now stolen. And I use it often, which is you can be right, or you can be in a relationship. That's fair. Oh. It works. Plant honey. Let's talk about that. I love that. Yeah, yeah. That's, Yeah, that's a good one. All right. How about, something outside of work that helps you recharge? Well, kind of back to the nature theme. I really love to be out skiing. I've been doing some really big hikes, in the backcountry wilderness with my husband that we've been enjoying just even the planning and the going and doing so, just being outside, Yeah. Okay, last one on this, this is an audible, and I'm. And I'm just kidding. Which one of the people in the fellowship do you like best? Jamie I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. The truth of the matter is shout out. I'm assuming that everybody from the fellowship will be listening to this. So from the bottom of my heart, I thank you, Jamie, on behalf of all of us. And to each one of you, I love you. Yes, I likewise. And yeah, I mean, you know, I am benefiting from it just as much as as everyone else. So, I'm so glad that it that it's happening. Me too. Me. So, you guys don't know this, but Jamie does. I'm just a ball calf lately, and these and these and the. Every time we get together, especially the last one, I was, I, in fact, I apologize for it. I'm like, I kind of feel ashamed about the fact that I've taken up so much of the oxygen in the room, and everybody was so lovely about that. But that's the point, right? Yeah, that's the point. Yeah. And I and I forget that every time that somebody else presents something, it causes me to think about my own situation. So we're all helping each other, but it's really hard sometimes to feel like you're taking up more than your fair share of the time. Yeah. So that was what I was struggling with on the last one. But, But I'm over it. L got take it all up. Okay, Jamie, this is the big question. This is the big question. This is why I haven't slept in two days. Jamie and I were both up at 2 a.m.. 2 to 5, to be exact, this last evening. And you were. You were singing a song over and over in your head. I played I get a song stuck in my head for no reason that I hear when I can't sleep at night. Last night it was taking it to the streets. The Doobie Brothers not the most relaxing song when you're trying to get back to sleep. It's very upbeat. Yeah. So. And you kind of want to move your body to it too. That's a that's a tricky one. And I was reading at the end of a book that was that that's a true life situation. And that was also probably a bad decision because I was all wound up about. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Are you ready for this final question? Drumroll. Here it is. What is something, Jamie, that nobody knows? Well, the best I could come up with is, I was in a biker gang with my grandpa. What? That's. That's fantastic. I think biker gang might be a bit of a stretch, but he did dress the part. No. Did have really nice Harleys. And we did ride all over the place, including Europe. And, it was my dad's dad, Scotty, as he was affectionately known, that started the group. He always loved motorcycles since he was a child, and he, he lived in McCall. So we were the Charlie's Harleys we had. That's cool. Kind of cool. Gear with a lake monster on black leather. Yeah. And every year we took a really big, motorcycle ride, and it was great. And then it culminated to him taking me. We rode to Sturgis for the 75th anniversary of Sturgis when he was 86 years old. That's awesome. Yeah. What a great. Nobody knows. I love that answer. Thank you. Oh, gosh. This has been a wonderful conversation. I knew it was going to be. Thank you. Kelly. I again, thank you for all that you're doing for the state of Idaho, for education, for just regular human beings. You just are. You and your family have done so much for so many people. We appreciate you. We probably don't appreciate you enough, but, but I definitely appreciate you, and I know many people do. So thank you for all that you're doing. Thank you. And thanks for breaking me into the world of podcasting. It's great. I feel so honored that you chose this one. This is great, lovely. All right. If you enjoyed today's conversation, please follow the podcast and leave a review. Next week we'll hear from another incredible voice shaping the Treasure Valley and until then, thanks for listening.