Lipstick & Legacy

Cindy Jensen; CEO of Journey Education

Juliette Season 1 Episode 10

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0:00 | 34:31

Cindy Jensen is the co-founder, CEO, and principal of Journey Education, a nonprofit K-8 private school in Las Vegas that she founded in 2007 with her sister-in-law Becky Jensen. Cindy grew up in Las Vegas as the oldest of seven siblings, and watching her family’s different learning experiences inspired her lifelong passion for helping every child feel capable, confident, and successful in school.

For nearly two decades, Cindy has helped build Journey into a close-knit learning community known for small class sizes, individualized learning, and a strong focus on character development. Journey’s mission is to cultivate character, confidence, and compassion while helping students discover their unique strengths.

In addition to leading Journey, Cindy is also a yoga instructor and sound bath practitioner who believes mindfulness and emotional well-being are essential parts of both learning and life. She teaches through Yoga Haven, a nonprofit that brings free yoga and mindfulness programs to underserved communities, Title I schools, and trauma recovery organizations.


Through her work in education and wellness, Cindy is passionate about helping both children and adults reconnect with their strengths, build confidence, and live with intention.





SPEAKER_01

Welcome to Lipstick and Legacy, a podcast where your story matters and your journey has purpose. Together we lift and inspire our communities one story at a time. Welcome, Cindy.

SPEAKER_00

Hi, Juliet. So good to be here with you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01

I have Cindy Jensen, and today we will be talking about helping children discover confidence, character, and compassion. Cindy, you are a longtime Nevada. Can you tell me a little bit about where you're from, your history briefly?

SPEAKER_00

Yes. I'm actually a native, born and raised here in Las Vegas, and I am the oldest of seven siblings. Which has really shaped me a lot because as the oldest of seven, when I was in high school, my dad left and my mom became a single mom. And so I kind of became a second mom. And so my siblings matter the world to me. And all of us live here in Las Vegas as well. So we're really close family. Um but I remember my mom talking about my own siblings' education, and she had concerns about some of them really struggled academically. And just it really influenced me how she would be upset about some teachers who didn't help their help my siblings and some who no matter what they felt accomplished and successful and like they really mattered. And that that was a big influence on me, um, even when starting starting the school, just that the difference that a caring teacher in a caring atmosphere can make for children.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, so take me back, people who don't know you, what do you do now? Like what is your job? What is what is your life like right now?

SPEAKER_00

So um in 2007, my sister-in-law, Becky Jensen, and I started a nonprofit private school called Journey Education. And at the time we had 12 students, and actually when we started it, it wasn't nonprofit for the first few years because um we we were in a house. I had moved out of my one house into another house, but kept that, and we just turned it into like a schoolhouse. And the entire house was a school, and we had between 12 and 15 kids in there and a couple of teachers, and so the students were registered as homeschoolers, and our business license were tutors, and we did that for several years, and just kind of word of mouth, people kept coming to us, and um we ended up having somebody a grandfather came with his grandson, which he had had him in so many different, like big schools in Las Vegas, and just never he it just never clicked, you know, he just couldn't find the right fit for him. So he brings him to Journey, and we just it was a really good atmosphere for this student. And come to find out, this individual was a philanthropist, and he said to me one day, why don't you become a nonprofit so my foundation can help you and give you money? And so we got our nonprofit status, and we um we we uh uh ended up doing a board meeting, and right still Becky and I laugh about the times when we did the first board meeting because we didn't know what in the world we were doing, we'd never been at a board meeting. So we have this board meeting, and that individual wanted to be on the board with us, and we said the first item of business is forming a committee to find an actual school so that we can be an actual school. And he said, Well, do you know of us? Do you have a place? And I said, Yes, there's been a place that I'd been driving by, which is where we are now, and um so he ended up buying the building and rents it to Journey and really helped us out along the way. Has he's continued to be on the board and we've just um been able to thrive with you know going forward. So, how many students do you have now? Right now, so our school goes up to 90 students, and right now we're kind of low on enrollment, and so we're going through a little bit of a time. It's enrollment time. So, going through a little bit of a time of trying to get that enrollment up. And when I brought it to my parents, I we we were amazed at how our our parents just like came to the rescue, and so we're building up our for next year, we're looking forward. So, right now we're just sitting at a 65.

SPEAKER_01

That's still a really good amount of students. And does it go through eighth grade, K through eight?

SPEAKER_00

K through eight. Okay, and the beautiful thing about it is it's a 12 to 1 ratio, and so it goes back to those grassroots, right? What I said, like every student is seen, every student matters. It truly is an individualized education for every student.

SPEAKER_01

So education is always a huge topic politically and in our local governments and and communities. I've been in the Clark County School District uh before professionally as a teacher, and now I substitute teach at a charter school, and I have seen just this change in education and in the students. Um it's very disheartening when I'm out there. My kids have fared okay in the school district here, and I feel like I did. I feel like I had a good education. However, I'm seeing this really one size-fits-all approach, right? So we put these kids in a classroom and we say sit at a desk and stay on your iPad for a certain amount of time a day. How do you customize an educational like profile for a child?

SPEAKER_00

Yes. So, and and going to that, I I agree that children can fare wherever. It's it's it really has to do with the teacher and the love the teacher has. Um, but then it goes to the administrator and the love the administrator and the support the administrator has for those teachers. Um but we also have a problem with overcrowding, right? Like, how does a teacher really give every student what they need when there's over 30 kids in a classroom? So that's where our model of 12 to 1 is so important. Um, but how we really individualize our education at Journey is we um do a one-on-one personalized assessment of every child when they come through the door. So we know exactly where they are. And so we have something called leveled learning, and it's really different. I I haven't seen it um at any other school, and it's really what makes Journey stand out and be special. And this um this is where if we have K through eight has math all at the same time, and so say I have a second grader who is very good in math and is working above that that second grade level, they'll go up to the next level. But say I have a second grader who's really struggling and math is not their strong student, they're just like would be drowning in that in that curriculum, they'll go down a level, and everybody moves to where they need to go, so none of the students think anything of it. So we do that for math, our language arts, reading portion, and then writing. And at journey, writing is a really important part of our academics because when students have strong writing skills, they do very well going forward, is what we found. So starting at kindergarten where they're starting to write their own sentences from their own thoughts all the way up to eighth grade when they're writing essays and and um research papers.

SPEAKER_01

So, one thing I've noticed um when I go into a kindergarten class, I used to teach kindergarten and first grade about 11 years ago. And one thing I've noticed is that they really lack the small motor skills now. I think kids are on screens at home, they're on screens or on an iPad or something at dinner at a restaurant, they're not using the crayons that they used to use just sitting. They can't hardly hold a pencil. And then I find that we put them on a screen to put them at their grade level or find out where they are. And I was recently reading some research that said that the screens aren't helping, the iPads, the Chromebooks that we all had to like get the money for for these Chromebooks. They're not really helping. That children, when they work out a math problem, they actually need to write the math problem. They need to write the sentence. And I think that that is kind of coming full circle. How do you feel about how education has moved to electronics and what that's like? I know you're not in other schools, but what do you think about that?

SPEAKER_00

I completely agree. Um we at Journey, we still do cursive writing, and you don't see that. There's a lot of research of using those fine motor skills and and how that connection between the hand and the brain work. Um, and I absolutely agree. Kids are just so used to having the electronics kind of run their brain, right? Instead of um, and and it's engaging and it's it's like a constant dopamine hit for our kids. So um I we do, of course, use electronics. We do, of course, um have a technology portion of our class, but really the kids are mostly, we have a lot of paper pencil, a lot of book. Um we we want them to not be looking at those screens all day.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I think that's where we're really, we're really um losing a lot of those kids, and we're losing a lot of uh those skills that I don't know that we can go back and capture them. I know COVID, those COVID kids are, you know, fifth, sixth grade now, and it's like, oh, you can tell the COVID kids because they really missed out on those basic sitting in a chair and holding a pencil and all of those things. Starting a school, I can only imagine, is daunting. It's a huge task. I've started a podcast and it has basically taken over my life. It is so much harder than I thought it would be. What were some of the mountains that you had to climb to start this school?

SPEAKER_00

Um, it's interesting you asked that because anytime you do anything, you don't know what you don't know. And I I have had several people come to me and say, I want to start a school too. Will you help me? And I'm like, I don't even know how to tell you to help because it was like just come to my school. It was like walking in the dark and saying, Yes, this is the right thing. Okay, we'll do this, and just figuring everything out. And there's so many thousands of steps, and you figure out the one step to go back and recreate it. It's just, you know, but it's it is very daunting, I have to say, um, I did it with my sister-in-law, who is my dearest and best friend, and we have a lot of fun and we laugh a lot, and um so there's not that loneliness or that holding that all that on yourself all the time. I don't know that I could have done it. I actually I know I couldn't have done it without her partnership.

SPEAKER_01

Your mission focuses on character, confidence, and compassion. Why do you believe those things are just as important as academics?

SPEAKER_00

That goes back to like the whole child, right? Yes. Um, and and it goes back to my experience with my my own siblings who are just so near and dear to my heart. Um, and even my own children when in their struggles. If we are just focusing on academics and we don't have individuals who, first of all, have character to do the right thing and compassion to look at humanity and connect with other people, and then the confidence to go out in the world, and that is that's our mission statement. The kids always say we have character, confidence, and compassion. We are leaders and we are college bound. That's our little mission statement. They can say every day in opening exercises to remind them that it is important to have those, like those, those are the foundation of living a good life and being a good person. I love that.

SPEAKER_01

Every child learns differently. What are some signs parents can look for to better understand their children's children's learning styles? I think nowadays kids, you know, we we send them to school and we just hope the teacher handles it and they come home and we're exhausted. Families are working, they have two jobs, they have several children, they're just trying to make ends meet. What are some things that parents can really look at to say, this is working for my child or it's not working, how can they advocate for their child?

SPEAKER_00

Um that was like 10 questions. Communication is number one for advocating for your child because I think for the most part, educators want to help. And um, so if a parent has a concern to go and have an open conversation. Now I know for me personally, I'm always so excited and open when a parent comes in. I feel like I'm a team with that parent. Like, this is not my job, this is not the teacher's job, this is not the parents' job. This we are together. We're working together, we're helping each other. Now I know there's there's situations in uh in other academic settings where a parent will come and and have concerns and be shut down. Um, and this is where when you are in a school with thousands of kids, you know, like it's harder. It's way harder where when you're in a school small, of course, your administration is there the whole entire time. So communication is key. And then also as far as a parent, I think an example, you know, like being an example that education is important. Even if a parent doesn't have higher education, um, just showing like we're all going to read, like, let's read together, and having that not be a stressful time, but a a time to really connect with your child, or we're always listening to something that's uplifting, or we're we're setting a time aside time to do homework at this time and just having those those um things set set up in the child's life.

SPEAKER_01

What do you feel like the public school district? We can we can talk about locally, but just generally, is really missing when it comes to helping kids with different learning styles.

SPEAKER_00

Um it I I just think sometimes we are just so big in the Clark County School District. Um and I think that's why I think we're 48th in the state.

SPEAKER_01

It's been that way since I was in college in the 2000 it 2000. Yes, yes. It's never it it rotates from like 49th to 48th to 50th, like it has like, oh, we went up to 48, ooh, ooh, right?

SPEAKER_00

Yes. And I think when you're big, when you're so big, you have so many so much bureaucracy that the kids get left behind, really. Um so I think that's that's the biggest problem with dealing with different learning styles. And again, when you have a lot of kids in the class, uh I've seen just beautiful teachers who work hard and do wonderful things, but if they have way too many kids and not enough support for their administration, it it causes a problem.

SPEAKER_01

It does. Is there one experience that you can share where you've seen the light turn on in a child's mind? That light comes back in their eyes, a switch was flipped, something that you saw that your process, that your ways of teaching and educating changed somebody's life.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I I have so many stories of kids like we'll have a moment that happens, and um running a school can be very stressful. There's days that I'm exhausted and um actually just feel so overwhelmed. And when those moments happen, I'm like, that's that's why I'm doing this. This that is why I'm doing this. Um, I had I had a child one time that the dad, he was I think it was in fifth grade, he came to us, and the dad said, he has cried every day ever since he's ever gone to school on the way to school. Like every day I take him and I have to give him a pep talk. And he brought him to us, and he was with us fifth through eighth, and he brought him to us, and that first year, right away, he was um surrounded by the kids. You know, because we're small, the kids like really um bring in the new kids. And um at the end of that fifth grade year, he said, Ms. Jensen, I used to cry every day when I went to school, and now I want to just cry because summer's here and I won't be able to come every day. And I and I'm that that that made my whole year it's worth it. That that makes it worth it.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, yes, those are the things. So besides running a school, which is huge, you're also a yoga instructor and sound bath practitioner. How did mindfulness become part of your life? We're definitely switching gears here.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, I love that.

SPEAKER_01

Um and for I don't know how you do both they like it sounds do you have any time to like even eat?

SPEAKER_00

Well, the yoga and the sound bath is like my hobby that gives me peace, and I just love it. It's very calming. Um the school is go, go, go, go, right. Um so I I got into yoga and and I started meditating every day as well, and I just saw it changed my life in a way that my my perspective was different. I had a calm and I just loved it. So my sister-in-law and I went to, well, during COVID, I did an online yoga class, but doing online is just not the same. And then my sister-in-law, cricket, and I went to um uh Mexico and for 15 days and did our yoga training there. And um just things come to you, right? Like I I I saw I went to a sound bath and I really loved it. And then I have a really fun story about what what is a sound bath?

SPEAKER_01

I don't know what that is.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, that's a good question. Most people probably don't. So I don't know if you've ever seen the sound bowls, they have um they're they're they're called crystal singing bowls or something like that. And they go like this, yes, and and you take you take uh correct, correct. And so they they vibrate, so it's not like like a melody or rhythm like normal music, but it's a vibration, and there's all kinds of sound instruments, and so a sound bath is where you basically just lay there and you are bathed in sound, and it is amazing So this doesn't include water, it doesn't include water, it's just a bath of sound, yes. Of course, like uh Cricket and I do retreats sometimes and we do it at her home. She has this big beautiful home with this beautiful space and a shala, and she has a pool, and we'll do floating sound baths. So we're you know, when the weather's nice, people will lay and float in the water, and then we'll play the sounds. But um a sound baths usually about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes, and um, where I do those instruments and um we do a little bit of movement and stretching as as well if the person wants it. But um you people sleep so good afterwards. Like people who have a hard time sleeping are always like, oh, I slept so good. I have one friend and she wears a uh an you know a ring that tracks their sleep, and she's like, I've gotten over it 90% every time I come and do this. So it it's just it's very relaxing. It helps, it helps to um calm the entire nervous system. So I just kind of got into that through way of meditation and and yoga. And then with yoga, I've I've taught some classes here and there, but um I work for a um an organization called Yoga Haven. And this was my next question about yoga haven.

SPEAKER_01

So tell me about that.

SPEAKER_00

So they bring um yoga to the underserved. We're in some Title I schools and just to places um where people have um experienced trauma. And so it's free to those people. And so they just work on grants. Of course, I'm so busy, I just do one day a week. I I have I have my place that they've assigned me. I go one day a week, um, and it is absolutely, absolutely beautiful. And then sometimes I'll sub, I'll go to a school, or you know, if if if somebody needs um somebody to sub.

SPEAKER_01

But so this is a program that serves underserved or maybe somebody who's never had that engagement before with yoga because that's kind of an extra thing. It's like, oh, I'm going to my yoga class. It's like who has time and money for an extra thing? Yes. So the other day I was substituting and it was raining outside, and I had to figure out what to do with the kids, and I had eighth graders, and that's always, you know, challenging. And I put on a yoga video in the cafeteria. And it was actually really interesting to watch the kids do it. At first they thought it was so funny, you know, some of the stuff. But it really did calm them. And I'm a very big like um advocate of exercise and mental, you know, how it helps your mental health and everything. And I thought, why is this not incorporated? Why is this not incorporated in school? The meditation, if you did it 15 minutes or 20 minutes instead of the morning announcements, even how would that change the way that the kids act in school?

SPEAKER_00

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

You know, oftentimes we have kids come into school. We don't know what they're they're coming from, what their homes are like, if people are screaming, yelling, fighting. They just need their nervous system calmed down.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely. And and to learn that skill of like all you have to do is take some deep breaths, focus on that, let the thoughts float away. I mean, it's a skill that you can learn.

SPEAKER_01

Do you incorporate that in your school?

SPEAKER_00

Um, I do it with our middle schoolers. And um, I haven't done it very much with the younger ones just because of my time.

SPEAKER_01

You know, and how do they respond to that? Like, how do you incorporate it? I'm just interested.

SPEAKER_00

They they love it. Probably um every once in a while I'll go in and talk to them about it. Um, we have a leadership portion of the day for those older kids. And so sometimes I'll bring the bulls in and you know, I'll let them see the different instruments, but um, I'll I'll give them lessons about how the importance of your thoughts and um and how that can direct, you know, how you feel and what you do. Um, and then you know, we'll do some meditation. Of course, they're middle schoolers and sometimes they're goofy, and that's totally okay too.

SPEAKER_01

You know, I really struggle with the goofiness. I just I don't have a passion for middle school children.

SPEAKER_00

I do love the littles, but whoof, those kids, I come home and I'm like, the more the more I do it though, the more they respond. Right, because you have to get over the goofy. Anytime you do something for the first time, even as an adult, you're like, it was kind of weird. Oh, what is this? You know, but the more I do it, the more they they respond to it and the better it gets.

SPEAKER_01

Tell me about when you are in your class that you offer once a week, that's obviously you don't get paid for that, it's nonprofit. What is the response that you have from people that are engaging in this program? Like, do you ever have any feedback?

SPEAKER_00

It is it, it is just so heartwarming. Um, so for a while I was at um, we lost our grant for it, but um Yoga Haven did, but I was at the Nevada Department Um Housing Authority and I did chair yoga with senior citizens.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, I love that.

SPEAKER_00

And the looks on their face at the end, because you know, we do the chair yoga, but I always end with meditation. And I always and the people love the singing bowl, so I always bring out a sound bowl and and do that, and just the looks on their face, they're so grateful. They love it so much. And and the same with the one that I'm at now. I it's always that, you know, after you bring somebody out of um the the whole meditation, the shavasana, you they set up and then I say, open your eyes, and the just the looks on people's face is is very satisfying to see. Like, you know what, they just took some time to have some peaceful, quiet moment, and I was able to facilitate that for them. And so it's always an honor for me.

SPEAKER_01

That's beautiful. Through your work in education and wellness, what have children taught you about your life?

SPEAKER_00

Oh my gosh, you can learn everything about children. Um probably the biggest thing is to lighten up, laugh, and have fun, right? Like, I mean, that's that's a lesson children always always can teach us. Um children are more stressed now than ever before. And that that really breaks my heart. Um and being a principal of a small school, one of one of the joys of being a small school is it's not scary to come to the principal's office, right? Like I'll have little ones who will just like, hi Ms. Jensen, as they're walking by. I always keep my door open unless I'm having a meeting. Um, but just having that safety there for them. Um it's it's probably one of the most heartwarming parts of my job.

SPEAKER_01

So you provide safety and they provide you with a perspective of just lighten up. It's not a big deal, just carry on.

SPEAKER_00

Yes. I mean, there's times they've come in in trouble and and we talk about it, but then we can laugh about it, you know? Yes.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. I feel like there's this idea that we're, you know, we have to be perfect all the time, and especially with with children. And so that's actually a really nice perspective. Um what advice would you give someone who feels disconnected from their purpose? You talk a lot about purpose and your their strengths, reconnecting with their strengths. What does that mean?

SPEAKER_00

Yes, I I think we get so busy, and I think this is this is where mindfulness and slowing down in yoga became so important in my life. We get so busy we forget to let our purpose just be that moment. And um and or we we feel unwanted or unneeded, and then it's hard to have a purpose. So the first thing is if if we're too busy to slow down, and then if we feel unwanted or needed, needed, it's to find people to reach out to, both for help and find people to reach out to that we can serve.

SPEAKER_01

I love that. That's the next question. As someone who leads, teaches, and serves others, how do you personally stay grounded?

SPEAKER_00

Um every morning, because I exercise every day too, and that that movement and mobility is, you know, keeping that strength as we age is so important. Um, and it's always been like the number one thing in my morning. But over the last few years, that's still an important component. But if I have no time, no matter what, I sit in quiet, um, focus on my breath, I meditate, I journal, I read something that's spiritual enlightening for me. Um, and and that has kept me grounded. And when I don't do that because I'm so busy, it becomes this cycle, and and I know I better I better take a breath and make time to be in my calm and my quiet.

SPEAKER_01

So I often tell women when they're really having a hard time is find somebody to serve.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

Whether it's a text, a hug, a ride for a child, find a way to serve and find your peace, whether that's through prayer, meditation, breath work. I know people like to do that, but also find yourself a community. So I find um I'm on all these Facebook pages and there's always these kind of young moms. Like, I need friends, I don't know where to go. Does anybody want to meet at the park? And I always think, find a community. We're all craving that. How do you suggest that people find community, especially in a city like Las Vegas where we have a lot of new people moving in? How do you feel like we can find community?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, um, well, church is a huge place to find community, of course, but if you're not part of a church, um, within within journey, those families have community. Um, we are fortunate that, well, we're unfortunate that we live in a time that we don't trust people as much, and so we're not as neighborly. And so all the kids running outside till the streetlights come on are is not a thing anymore. Um, but we are fortunate that we do have technology with meetups and opportunities to do things like that. Um, but I think the best way, and and you're right, serving and finding like-minded people is so important.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I think that's really important. And you have to do something for that. I often think people are sitting at home shouting in their own walls, like, how do I find this? It's like you have to do something. You have to open your door, you have to go meet your neighbor, talk to the other moms at school, whatever it is. We have to come out of our comfort zone. Yes. And so this year is my year of yes. And so I've said yes to like everything, even though I don't know what it is sometimes. And I've found so many wonderful women through that and opportunities by really stepping into that fear. Yes, and that uncomfort zone. Every time I'm ready to leave the house, I'm like, I don't want to go too.

SPEAKER_00

I'm the same, I'm the same.

SPEAKER_01

Then I do this, and I'm grateful that I did.

SPEAKER_00

Because you meet somebody you never would have met before and you can have that connection. Because that's the second thing is when you do go out of the house, you have to be open to introducing yourself and meeting someone. And it's uncomfortable. It's uncomfortable for you, for me. So when it's uncomfortable for anybody else, just remember that that's what it is. It is uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_01

It is, and you have to be comfortable in being uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_00

Uh-huh. There's so much growth in that.

SPEAKER_01

There is, which nobody likes to do that. What is one thing you wish every child could grow up believing about themselves?

SPEAKER_00

Oh, that they are important, that they matter, that there's a purpose for them to be here, that they um their own personal mission and purpose is is very unique. And um living in this world, their life is all about finding that and doing that, and it doesn't have to be huge. You don't have to build a dynasty, you just have to connect with people.

SPEAKER_01

So you had um put out to me that you're having hosting a retreat. Can you tell me a little bit about that? How people can find out about it. I'm going to do it, whether it's one day or or another time when that's offered. Yes. And I will definitely be posting about that and giving some insight to how that changed me because yoga is not my thing. I get really bored. Yeah. And it's because I have that ADHD, and I'm like, oh, why am I sitting here breathing when I could be doing this? So I'm really excited to try that. Where can people find out of information about that?

SPEAKER_00

We just we are putting it on Instagram. Um, we don't have a website.

SPEAKER_01

What's it called?

SPEAKER_00

Um, well, this is called uh a chakra retreat. Okay. Align and awaken. Um that is a really good question because we've kind of done this grassroots. Yes. Um, which is the best way. So the fun thing is, so I have this big family, and two of my brothers have bought 40 acres out in Utah, and we have this dream to build a retreat center out there.

SPEAKER_01

I'm coming.

SPEAKER_00

Hey now. Coming for you. I'm so excited. But I mean, right now it's just raw land, right? Um, and so where Cricket and I have my sister-in-law, my other sister-in-law that I do this little yoga business with, um, her and I have said we need to start doing these small retreats as we get ready, you know, when that land gets ready. So it's it's kind of like this big dream we have. And um the beautiful thing about when Cricket and I work with with women on these retreats is it's about community and having fun as well as learning some things about how to be more peaceful in your life. Like it is about building community, always about building community because there's so much health in that, right? In in feeling that.

SPEAKER_01

So like we talked about, it's a great place to find a community. So I know that if I was gonna put my money on anybody for a dream, it would definitely be you after seeing what you've done with Journey Education. From I remember you in that house, and I thought, how does she do that? And now I look at that school when I drive by and it's beautiful, and you've built that with your sister-in-law, with the help. I know that, but it's from your heart and your work, and I really appreciate you building our community. This is my last question, and I ask everybody, what do you want your legacy to be?

SPEAKER_00

Um, I've listened to your other podcast, so I knew you were going to ask that question. And I to me, the most important thing, this gets me emotional, um, is that when people are around me, they feel loved and seen. And um, you know, from my grandkids to my kids to um my family and every student I work with, just that people feel loved and seen. I want I want them to always know how much I care, and it's so genuine. And I I I would like to always be remembered by that.

SPEAKER_01

That was beautiful. You have that gift. That's a gift that you have. I always feel that from you and your siblings, your sisters especially. Thank you, Cindy, for coming on to Lipstick and Legacy. I appreciate your time.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you so much.