Episode Two: Ashley Coen

You can move across the country, change careers, become a parent and still keep your sense of self, but only if you build the right support around you. 

Sarah Henderson Daugherty from United Way of Northeast Florida sits down with Ashley Coen, a former LA marketing executive, current mom of two and wife of Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen, to talk about what it really takes to start fresh in a new city and not disappear inside someone else’s job title. 

Ashley shares her story of growing up “from a little bit of everywhere,” how mentors shaped her work ethic and why Jacksonville instantly felt like a rare mix of beach-town ease and genuine Southern kindness. 

The conversation also goes deeper into women’s health and leadership. Ashley opens up about postpartum anxiety, why it often goes unnamed and how honest conversations with friends can be the difference between suffering quietly and getting support. She also reflects on career lessons from advertising, entrepreneurship and advocating for other women through mentorship and pay transparency, especially in male-dominated spaces like football. 

If you care about female leadership, philanthropy in Jacksonville and practical ways to uplift women through Women United, this one is for you. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs a reset and leave a review to help more listeners find The Y Factor.

Learn more about Women United and The Y Factor here.

Transcript

Welcome To The Y Factor

Speaker 0:07

Hi everyone, my name is Sarah Henderson Daugherty, and I'm the VP of Marketing and Communications at United Way of Northeast Florida. And I am thrilled to welcome you guys to the next episode of The Y Factor, which is United Way of Northeast Florida and Women United's new podcast honoring the legacy of philanthropist Pam Y Paul. And we are so excited to have Ashley Coen here with us today. Every episode of The Y Factor focuses on a female leader in our community who is dedicated to service and impact. Ashley, welcome. Hi, thank you for having me. Yeah, it's so great. I'll give a little bit of background on Ashley before we get started. So Ashley is a former marketing executive. She is a mom of two young boys, and she loves to give back through a community and uplift women and girls. And she also happens to have a husband who wears a lot of teal these days, and that is Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen. Welcome to the Y Factor. Hi, thank you. Thank you so much. United Way is such a great organization, and I I'm just thrilled to be here as well. Wonderful. Well, we'll just kick off a series of

Roots, Resilience, And Women Mentors

Speaker 1:25

questions because we have a ton we want to get through with you today. If that's all right, we'll just get going. Awesome. Well, one of the first things we want to find out more about is you. So where are you from? And were there any women that inspired your journey to where you are today? That's a great question. Um I'm from a little bit of everywhere. I was born in the Philippines at Clark Air Force Base. My dad was in the Air Force for 20 years. And we lived there until 91 and the volcano erupted, Mount Pinatubo. Which a lot of people don't know. It's I think it's one of the most um one of the biggest volcano eruptions uh on record. And we moved here when I was four, almost five. Okay. And yeah, we we came out here. My parents divorced, as some people do, and I kind of lived on both coasts. And so I'd like to say I'm I'm West Coast, I'm a little bit of East Coast, I'm a little bit of Midwest. Um it's a good combo. Yeah. Yeah. A little bit everywhere. I take every place I've lived and I it's helped shape who I am. Um, in terms of women that have had a profound effect on me, of course, is my mother and my stepmom. She's been with my dad for most of my life. Um, and my aunt Myrna, who would give me vocabulary words every week? We would speak on the phone and it would did you use your vocabulary word? Um, so yeah, just a lot of really cool women. And and and through my career, I've had incredible mentors and bosses who are women who have helped helped me grow into who I am today. That's great. And has there been a thread between all of these women that there's things that you really take to heart that you've learned from any all of them or any of them? I thought I would always be a working career woman. Like I didn't want to stop until I got to the top. Sure. And so I I think the things I took from them was work harder. First one in, first one, last one out, kind of thing. And it's funny, I ended up marrying someone with that kind of same philosophy. Yeah. So I I I think I I joke and I say all of the moving in my life. I went to 11 schools growing up. I was always the new kid every year. And not even because my dad was in the military, but just life. And I think it it kind of prepped me to become a coach's wife. Yeah. Because it was all that all the changes and and everything that I had to do growing up. And so I'd like to say I was kind of preparing for this lifestyle. That's great. Unknowingly. Right,

Why Jacksonville Feels Like Home

Speaker 4:18

right. Yeah. Well, I know you're relatively new to Jacksonville. How has that adjustment been? You know, what has been your first impressions of Jacksonville and how have you started getting involved? Gosh, I I just said this, but it's kind of, I think Jacksonville is every place I've ever loved in one city. Um, you have that's pretty, that's pretty cool. It is. Yeah. And and and I I truly believe that. I mean, I lived in California for a lot of all my 20s and early 30s, even when I was in middle school, we lived in different parts of California. Um so you have that low, like that laid-back beach vibe, incredible weather. Um, you get that southern charm, right? That like niceness of people. Like people are just nice here. Right. Um, and it and it's not for it's not for anything but just being a good person. Um, and you get Florida weather. Yeah, that's nice. You know, the Florida taxes doesn't hurt. Right. Yeah. Um especially this time of year. Yeah, yeah. Buy your taxes. Yeah. We're so blown away by this community. And and I'm not just saying that to say that. Like, I truly believe that people here, it's like a hidden gem. All my friends who have came to Gaines this past season, they're like, oh, this place is a hidden gem. I would have never guessed it's this beautiful. Yeah. Um, so yeah, it it's like I have this like pridness about Jacksonville already, and so does Liam. We've embraced it, we love it, our kids love it. That's that's amazing to hear. And and as a Jacksonville native, I love hearing that. Yeah, it's fairly exciting. And my husband actually isn't from here either, and he used that same term. It's like a hidden gym or a hidden city that people, you know, hopefully we'll discover even more soon. So it's really exciting, and we're so glad that you and your mister are here. Yeah. And so tell me a little bit about how I know you've already gotten involved in the community in a number of ways. So I'd love to hear a little bit about that. Um, but how has um creating like your both professional and social circle gone here in Jacksonville for you? We just had some friends over last night for Easter. And after everyone left, we were like, gosh, this might be like our favorite group of people. Like a lot of like all of our friends that we've met here, we're just like, this is such a great place in in terms of my social circle. And you know, I I have such an incredible group of women here in terms of of football. Like we like to call ourselves a football family, and yeah, and it's just nice that you have that community of women who know exactly what I go through every single day. Um, but then it's also really important to have another group of friends who support you and you support them. And they're all the women I play tennis with in town. We ended up joining uh a country club that I was kind of like, we don't need to join. Why should we join? And it's been like the backbone of my past year, and I'm so glad I got to meet those women because we're all around the same age, we all have little kids, we're all going through the same daily emotions. Um that's been probably one of the biggest, most positive things for me was finding them. It's easy to stay home and it's easy to like say, I'm going to, I can't go, my kids, I have this, I have that, you know, and I do live a very privileged life where I have a community of people who help me with my kids, and I can go out and I can do things, you know, but but it's important for women. I think we're multitaskers without even wanting to be sometimes. Right. And get out there, meet people, step out of your comfort zone, try a new hobby. I think tennis, I uh it's funny. I'm like all these women, we're all kind of similar personalities. You all kind of find your people, you find your hobby. Right. Um, a lot of us are very competitive, and you get to exercise, you get to compete, you get to create these bonds of with women that I would have never met them if I if I didn't get out of my comfort zone and play tennis with them. And they all love football, which is really cool. Yeah. I think. And so I pinch myself every day that I get to be in the forefront of it. Yeah, and getting out of your comfort

Friendship, Tennis, And Leaving The House

Speaker 8:55

zone can be can be tough, but the rewards on the other side of it are always always worth it. Yeah. Like just get out of your house, like go for a little walk, or there's there's definitely another woman, another person who's going through the same thing as you, or like, you know, like when you don't want to exercise and you like go out and you're like, oh, I feel so much better. Like that's how I feel like when I get out of the house or take my kids to the park. I'm like, do I really want to wrangle them up and yeah, deal with a meltdown if I have one, but then you end up having fun with your kid or getting out to the beach. And we live in the sunshine state, you know? Yeah, gotta enjoy it. Yeah, enjoy the sunshine. It's so funny. A doctor told me um recently when I got a mammogram, she I was like, Oh, you must have no issues with women with like vitamin D. And she's like, Oh, quite the contrary. Women in Florida have sometimes the lowest amount of vitamin D because we put so much SPF on and we're constantly covering ourselves. Wow. And I thought that was really fascinating. I would never have thought that. Vitamin D is like there's some type of correlation, I have no idea, with the mammogram results or something where she's like, you have to focus on your vitamin D. So I thought that was really cool. Yeah, I've never heard of that, but that's good to know. Something to take away, ladies. Don't wear SPF. I'm just kidding. Definitely do that. Well, switching gears a little bit, I know you have a great creative background. Worked as a marketing executive in LA for about a decade. Is that right? Yeah. So I moved to LA with like $2,000 in my bank account. And I was like, I'm gonna figure this out. Yeah. And I remember being down to like the last couple hundred dollars. And I was like, I have to find a job. I in what I wanted to do because I was a server all through college and in high school, I've always, and I'm like, I don't want to be a server. Nothing wrong with that. I mean, that's of course some of my favorite jobs I've ever had. And I found a job on Craigslist

A Surprising Vitamin D Lesson

Speaker 10:55

with this guy who was a business owner, and he he was a director's rep for commercials. So the best way I could describe it is every commercial you see on TV has a director and a production company behind it. And within those production companies, there is a roster of directors that they select to represent, and they're the ones who they pitch their ideas with. And so I worked with a guy who worked who represented the top commercial production company, still does. Wow. And I was like, what is this commercial world? This is crazy. What do you mean? This is like a two million dollar Nike commercial, and you know, Spike Jones and Dante Ariola or all these like incredible directors are working on these jobs, and I would be there listening to the pitches, and um it's uh there's a lot more layers to that, but I got that job with him because he had a guitar in his office, and I was like, Oh, you play? And he's like, Yeah, I he's oh he was like, Yeah, I play. And he's like, Do you play? And I said, I dabble. And so at the end of the interview, he goes, The job is yours to to be his assistant. Um, if you play me a song. So I was so desperate. I played him like one of the only songs I what did you play? It was a song I wrote. Um What was it about? Oh gosh, I don't even remember. Uh it's okay, I'm putting you on the spot. This is an interview, but yeah. Um I don't know. I I wrote a song like after college, and he's like, the job's yours. And so that's how I got into the industry. Because this very serendipitous. It was, it was. And I worked with him for a little while. Um and then um, so I've always been in advertising. So that was kind of the jump start to my career, and it was so fascinating to me that you know, I always thought, oh, I need to move to LA and I need to work at a movie production and work at ABC or WME or be an agent or something. It's so hard to get your foot in the door that a lot of people don't even realize that commercial advertising is huge in California and New York, and there's other cities too. I believe that, yeah. Um it was amazing. And so for a number of years, I worked as a director's rep, um, which is I was basically like biz dev for the production companies, trying to get the work through advertising agencies. So I worked with all the ad agencies. Okay. So you're kind of a liaison between the production company and then getting kind of clients. I try to get new fascinating. Um, so it was interesting because it was a sales. It was sales, but um, you know, I got to come during lunch on set, not have to be on set the whole day. So that was kind of

Breaking Into LA Advertising

Speaker 13:55

yeah, that's nice. Um, but it was a grind. It was a grind. Um, I had my own business for about three years doing that. I signed a bunch of new clients, production companies, and um it was it was thrilling. I learned so much about myself, probably more about myself than I did uh in my job. What did you learn about yourself? That owning a business is really hard and that you have to look out for yourself first and foremost. And I think being a young woman in that industry, I guess you have a lot of people who support you, but a lot of people like, you know, not everybody wants to see you succeed. Sure. And I did, you know, I I think I had there was a time where I had this client and I was really excited about this project, and it was for like Call of Duty. It was some big, big commercial. And the client that I had, the executive producer, she was like, Oh, you didn't get that job, I did. And I was like, Oh, okay, well, it was, you know, it it turns into that where people, it's cutthroat, and people want the um the, I don't know, the applause rather than like collaboration. Yeah. And and so, yeah, you have to learn as a business owner, like, okay, well, that person isn't gonna pay me on a project. And so I kind of shifted um after a few years and I went in-house back in-house. I was in-house for um this incredible company called Framestore. Um, they did all the visual effects for Harry Potter. Cool. You're speaking of my millennial heart there. Yeah with Harry Potter. Um, and that's like one of a gazillion projects that they've done. Um, I got to work on some of the first virtual reality projects um ever done while I was at Framestore. And then I worked as an executive producer for a visual effects studio who also did movies and commercials. And um it was it was amazing. And I was like, oh, I think I like being in-house and not running my own business, but helping other people with their businesses. And then COVID happened and things changed very quickly. Yeah, I can only imagine. Yeah, I can only imagine. Well, there's a lot of things that a lot of questions that are popping in my mind about what you said. Yeah. Um, but related to finding the balance and taking care of yourself, one of the questions that we wanted to ask you about, you know, you have many roles. You know, you're a wife, a mom, a friend, um, uh advocate for girls in the community, and not to mention the wife of an NFL coach. Yeah. You know, that's so rewarding and a lot of joy can be found in that, but it's probably hard, maybe sometimes, and I don't want to put words in your mouth, but hard to find balance or make sure that you're taking care of yourself too. And um, I know a lot of our women united listeners would probably be interested in knowing, you know, how to, you know, the proverbial question, how do you do it all? Um, but how do you create balance? Yeah, right. Yeah, yeah. Um everything kind of gives and takes a little bit. And for me, it was interesting because I when Liam got the job to become the offensive coordinator at University of Kentucky, it was incredible. We were like, this is crazy. I mean, really, we weren't even married when he got that job. Um, well, we were engaged and um I just found out I was pregnant, like after he accepted the job. I mean, it was the craziest year of our lives. Uh it happened all together, and you know, I gave up everything I ever worked for in California. I thought I was a I thought I was gonna live in LA forever. Um and then love kind of bites you and you find it. And and so the balance, it took me a long time. And I and I'm and I would say this past year was probably the most balance I felt. Um that's great. Yeah, it because I was in I was the busiest I've ever been, but I was also the happiest and also focused more on myself more than ever this year. Sometimes I'm like, how did I do that? Or like and that was other people helping me, um, learning to delegate. I think I delegated in my career for a lot of things. And how do you do it all? If you have the answer, I would love to know. Yeah. Um I wish I did. Well, when I was working, yeah, it's different. Like I was, I didn't have kids yet. So I was selfish with my, I was very focused on my job. And that was my baby. And then I went through this identity crisis that I think a lot of women go through when you get pregnant, you have, you have a, you get married, you all these changes happen. And I felt like when we moved to Kentucky, I was just Liam's pregnant wife, right? And that's how I felt. And I and I felt like I had to justify who I was. I'm like, oh, well, I also have a career and I also worked, and I also have things that I'm proud of. And and I felt like I had to tell people, like, oh, I had a job or I did this, I made more money than Liam when we met. It's something that I had to mentally and and grow within myself to realize that doesn't matter. Like it really doesn't matter. Like I, you can't care about what other people may think about what you say, what you do, how you carry yourself. Like I I just keep we keep a tight community and and close friends with people who support. Like if you're not a if it's not, if it's not a heck yes, it's a heck no, right? And so all in or all out. Yeah, or just I say that with shopping too. You know, if you don't love it. That's so hard. I'm usually not all out with shopping. I'm usually

Business Ownership And Protecting Yourself

Speaker 20:10

all in, and then I'm in trouble with my husband. Yeah, see, yeah, it happens. Um but I I think there's something so powerful about being a woman, right? And we we are capable of so many things, and we are capable of balancing things all at once. It doesn't mean we want to, it's just it's kind of like we have to. You have to, and we just adapt and we figure it out. That's kind of what I did. And then so this past year, I was like, the only way I'm gonna survive this first season being here is if we our family is so incredible. Like they're just so supportive, um, so willing to help. Um and so I'm so grateful for that because I how do you do it without a tribe? Right. Um, but for the women who don't have the tribe, it's like I'd like to know how they do it because that's almost impossible. Right, right. Well, I appreciate you sharing that, and that's really a vulnerable space that a lot of women kind of are in and wrestle with on a daily basis. So appreciate you sharing that too. We're all going through the same thing, right? Um, different lenses. You know, I just happen to have a platform to talk about it and like this this space, like um yeah, it's hard. Yeah, it's lonely. Being a coach's wife, we were just at the NFL owners week, and guys, that that that is some of the coolest. You're in a room full of 32 owners and their families, all the head coaches, all the GMs, all the all the who's who of the NFL are in are in these panels, and and it's so cool. And one guy who came to speak was like, Man, I feel like I'm in a room. Full of Avengers. And like everyone just started laughing. It was. And I'm like, it's true. Like these people are just, you know, I'm I'm walking in a hallway and I'm like, oh, that's Jerry Jones just walking down the hallway. And, you know, they're they they're all such interesting and successful and powerful people. But you know, I think it kind of makes you realize they're just like us, right? Like they're just normal, normal people that are just trying to work. Right, right. Well, speaking of the NFL and your husband, um, we love a good love story at Unite Away. Um, and I was recently married, I'm a newlywed, and just thought thank you. And just thought it'd be fun to hear about how you and Liam met. Yeah. So we were both extremely focused on our careers in our 20s and early 30s. And so I I remember being like, God, where is he? Like, where's my husband? Yeah. And um girl, I get it. You get it, right? Because it's like you just try and do it all, but how can you grow this way? While you're focused over here, yeah, certain things like get and I and I feel like my family always drilled it in my head. They're like, don't get married until you're in your 30s. That's what they always said to me. And I guess I kept it to heart. Um so we met on a dating app, and it were like a successful hinge love story, I guess you can say. Classic. Yeah, classic, classic hinge. Yep. Um, and we were messaging for a few months, and I remember he actually tried to get me to go on a date with him. He tried to invite me to a game, and I was like, I'm not going to one of your games. I was like, I'm not. Are you a player? Like, you're not on the field. Like it was really funny. It was really sweet. I think he was just, he's so busy that he was like, come to a game. I can see you for a quick second. It can fit into the busy life. Yeah, we didn't do that. Okay. Gotcha. I was like, that's not, that's not okay. Um, so we ended up going on a date, and the rest is history. I mean, he pretty much never left my apartment my apartment since then. So it's easy connection. Yeah. He he says he knew the first day, but which is really sweet. That is really sweet. Um yeah, he said I I knew the after the first date, this was it. So, you know, when you know, right? It's so cliche, you you just know. And that was over six years ago. Wow. So very cool. And now you've built a family with

Balance, Identity, And Asking For Help

Speaker 24:35

two young boys. It happened so fast. Yeah. Well, congrats. That's really cool. Thank you. It's it's been a it's been a wild ride. And if you don't mind me asking too, because I know you guys have moved a lot and had many adventures career-wise, and of course, building a family, like we mentioned. You know, do you have any advice for women as you start marriage and start building a partnership? Not that there wasn't a partnership before, but as it evolves as you get married and and go through other phases in life? Gosh, you know, I think we love each other more now than the first, you know, since we got married. Like, I I think it's just gotten better and better. And that's communication. Yeah. That's um me communicating my needs and and my expectations and my desires and my goals, and and then along with his, because you know, as a woman with a man who's so successful, right? Like, I think he's at the epitome of his career in terms of like you, where do you go from there, right? And that's a lot of that's a lot on on me and you know, other coaches' wives. It's like you you have to put a lot of things on the side to help them succeed. You never want to feel negative about your spouse's achievements or that. Like, and that's when I think you not saying I do, but I'm like, that's when you have to check yourself as a person, right? In any relationship. You're like, okay, why do I feel this way about my husband or wife being successful? And it's like, that's just your insecurity that you haven't dealt with, right? So um, and I think that happens a lot with people, not just with friends, with other women or right, siblings. Siblings, yeah. You see other people succeed and you're here. And I I truly believe I've been part of Liam's journey. I mean, I did meet him when he was already been coaching for over 10 years. I mean, he started coaching in 2009 or something. Okay. Um, but you know, it's just so funny. Like it all the things I did in my career, like I would be like, oh Liam, like, you know, watch this what you say. Like, I like to pretend I was his like publicist. Uh the Yeah when he a lot of people, a lot of these guys, you know, they how do you know how to speak in front of a camera? How do you know how to sit? Like, how do you know what your flaws are, or things like that? And so him and I had a lot of fun like with that, and he trusted my opinion on a lot of those things. Right. Um, so not like his publicist, but more like his public speaker. Coach for the coach. Yeah, I was a coach for the coach. Yeah. Um, and yeah, it's just it's teamwork, it's communication, like being newly married. You get it. Like, you're like, oh, I didn't know that person did that. Yeah. Okay. And you know, is your husband, you know, it's like, is my husband an only child? Does he have 10 siblings? Right. Does he have Liam's never been around women? Right. He's always been in sports. He's an only child. That's a really great point. I wouldn't have thought about that. Right? Yeah. Like, right. How do how do you know what you don't know? Yeah. And so it's it's been such an incredible blessing. I mean, Liam is one of the sweetest guys. Like he really, like he loves, like he loves football. Yeah. Like I like he knows football. That's I'm like, he does football, I do everything else. Right. Um, well, that's good, given the line of business he's in. Yeah, true. True. I'm like, you worry about that. I'll worry about everything else. And oh gosh, the the staff here at the Jags, I mean, it's incredible. Mr. Mr. Khan. I have never met a better well-dressed person in my life. I mean, he is not only so incredibly talented in his business, businesses, but um, you gotta watch out. He's a sharp dresser. Okay. Yeah. All right. I don't think a lot. I mean, people know, but they don't know. I'm always like, what is that material? Um, but yeah, just such great people. That's great. We're lucky to have them here. Found found your your Jaguars family. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. Well, speaking of family, I did want to make sure that we got to a couple of questions from our Women United committee members. Um, Megan Weinstein, our Women United chair, specifically wanted to ask about how um, let's see, let me make sure I get it right. Um, so how did becoming a mom change you? And did you feel more empowered as a woman? Oh, absolutely. There's just something so incredible about creating life and and getting to see that baby grow. And I mean, our kids are young, they're four and a half and one and a half, and

The Loneliness Of Football Life

Speaker 29:40

it's and and seeing their different personalities, and like I'm like, oh, that's my that's from me, or yeah. It's like, no, that's from me, and like we always want the good stuff. Um I have two twin nephews, and they're four, they're a lot of fun. They're a lot of fun in one, right? Yeah, oh my gosh, yeah. And I I they're identical, so I still don't know which one is which. So I know it's bad. I need to get better. Aunt Sarah's gotta up her game. Stuff it up, Aunt Sarah. Um, no, it's hard, but they're really fun. Yeah, boys are boys are interesting. I feel like God gave me boys for a reason. I don't know exactly why, yeah, but um, it's incredible. I've I feel so empowered by them. After my first pregnancy, um, I didn't have as much help. I was definitely a little bit like it was a harder adjustment. Um, and then the second kid, I ended up having like postpartum anxiety. I was just like, what is like why am I feeling so crazy and emotional? And my doctor, she's like, I don't think it's my doctor at the time, she's like, I don't think it's postpartum depression that women have. A lot of it is postpartum anxiety. Okay. She's like, it's I this for some reason we call it depression, but I'm like, I'm not like sad. I'm not, but it's like this, it's like a little cloud, you know, that just doesn't go away. And then once you take care of it, it just the same cloud is there, it just keeps going, right? So I think a lot of women experience that postpartum and don't know how to articulate what it is. And it's so funny when I when I openly spoke about it with my friends, it was most of them had the same thing and and you know, had medication for it. And it was just one of those things. I'm like, why don't we talk about that? Right. Why don't we talk about the struggles of, I mean, we just gave birth to a human. And it's still so taboo, you know. It is, and it's and it's sad that it is because we all are going through the same thing. We all have the same insecurities, we all are tired. I have a photo of myself that I took after I when my first baby was a week old. And I wanted to document how tired I was. Oh, wow. And I just I have this photo, and sometimes I'll pull it up to just to remind you. Yeah, because I I thought I was tired when I worked. There's nothing more tiring than being a new mom. And the the look on my face, it still just makes you chuckle to look at it. Not even sad. I was just like, damn, I was tired. Yeah. Um takes you back to all you were going through and processing of shit, too. You know, and like all the things as a woman, like you go through have having a kid, like hair loss and weight gain or all the things, and having just women who are comfortable talking about it with you, sometimes that's all you need. Like sometimes all you need

A Dating App Love Story

Speaker 32:30

is like somebody be like, I I get you, guys, I feel you. And I think that's all also the same thing with working and women. When I was working, I was always an advocate of let's talk about how much we make. Because if we don't, the same woman, the woman that we work with could be asking for less and the person, you know, it's it's it's to help other women. It's to help other women. My friends used to call me like the Jerry, the fairy job mother. That's cute. In in LA, because I was so adamant about getting younger women in the in advertising because it was so hard to get in. Like you don't people don't know that you can work at a front desk and become a junior producer at a really cool editorial company or uh production company, and then that's how you move up. Right. Like there's you don't go to college for, oh, I'm gonna be the front desk girl at a really cool company. Um so that's kind of what I did. I got a lot of friends, jobs that were smart and educated and just didn't know how to get their foot in. And and now I two or three of them are running those companies. Yeah, they're the producers. So it's it's been it's it's fun. Yeah. You know, I'm I've I'll always be a girl's girl with that. Well, and then I've taken that with football. Yeah, I I believe that, especially in a space that can often be seen as seen as male dominated. Um making sure Yeah, right. Yeah, then and then making sure that you know you have your group of women that you're uplifting. And that actually leads me to the other question from our Women United Committee is you know, what advice do you have for women of any age, girls too, um, and how to continue or start uplifting other women? Because that's so important and exactly what you were just talking about. I think it starts with being confident with yourself. And once you kind of work on yourself and you create that confidence and and work out those insecurities and things that you think are maybe not beneficial for you, like are actually your like superpower, right? So like you're shy or you're you're you're you don't want to speak up, like okay, well then internalize that. Like, why and how and write about it? Like if things that you aren't comfortable with, like there's always a reason, and um just learning to speak up for yourself. I have conversations with yourself before you say it. Yeah, you know, right, and I do that too. I mean, you could do that in marriage, you know, before you say something, say it in your head, maybe get a little bit. How is he gonna interpret that? Yeah, right. Um, and just being conscious of what you want to say and how you want to say it. I'm you know, I've never had this much uh like uh attention from people before until we got this job. Yeah, it makes sense. That was something that I had to figure out. And like I I've had other head coaches' wives being like, oh God, I just I never leave my house. I don't talk to anybody, I don't have social, I don't do this, I don't do that. I'm like, why, why, why? Right. Because you're only like the more you hide yourself away, the more lonely it's gonna feel. It's already lonely. Very isolating, right? It is isolating. Yeah. At the owner's week, there were some of the wives that just say, like, I didn't really leave the house, or I didn't do this. And I'm like, that's you're that's detrimental for yourself. And so if you don't find your crew or your people, like why are why are you living this incredible life if you're not even enjoying it? You know, and so I went the other way, and I was like, I'm gonna embrace this incredible position I'm in, you know, because I what else am I gonna do? Right, you know, like why wouldn't I want to help? Why wouldn't like I am proud. I am proud of my husband. I am proud to be a part of this community, and and so are they, right? Like they are like I'm not you're not gonna meet a woman who's uh or man who's mostly women, like whose husband is at this position, of course you're proud of him. So why are you acting the opposite of how you should feel? Right. That's a really good point. And granted, we had a great season, um, things are going to be the fans are happy. You're gonna be hitting the road to Orlando a lot. Yes, that's we're we're trying to,

Motherhood And Postpartum Anxiety

Speaker 37:05

I'm trying to like wrap my head around that. We have a whole other year before that happens, but we do have to wrap up, but we do have one final question for you. And thank you again so much for spending all this time. I think we've learned a lot. There's a lot of little nuggets that I'm certainly gonna think about and process and get better at a few things. Um, but what we ask every uh uh person that is on the Y Factor final question is what is your superpower? If you could have a superpower, what would be your superpower and why? Like what do I think I possess or what do I want to possess? Um what would you want to possess? Oh gosh. Yeah. That's a really good question. Um and you can answer what you think you already have too. You could you could do both. We're flexible. Okay. I think I have the ability to kind of read the room, read people. And I think that's from living in so many different places. Yeah, that's such a great skill and really important and really helpful. Yeah, I I don't know. I just I can relate to people in ways that not everyone can, and I think it's because I am a woman. Uh I am half Filipino, and so I I have a different, and I I love that there's a huge Filipino community in Jacksonville. It's amazing. Um so I I grew up in in different households, right? Like I grew up where it's very Asian, Asian Filipino culture is very different, and you know, it's it's taught my husband a lot too. Yeah. Um, because he's from like New England, which is like very white. Um but the superpower, I don't know. I I think I would like, I don't want to say something cheesy like world peace or world hunger, but superpower would be like to to help people and whatever. Like that's that would be a great superpower, is like yeah, knowing what people need help with and giving them that. Right, right. Well, you've done a lot of that in just the few minutes we've been chatting. So I appreciate that. Yeah. Well, is there anything else you'd like to share at all with our Women United members and just women looking to make a difference in the Jacksonville community? I mean before we wrap up. Step in. Like don't be afraid. Find your people. Um, if you see me, say hi. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, well, thank you so much too. We really appreciate your time. We know you're a busy lady, clearly. Um, but just thank you so much for supporting this podcast and the women of Women United. We really appreciate it. Of course. Thank you. Awesome. Well, that wraps up this episode of the Y Factor. And to close us out, we're going to have a brief message from our Women United Committee. Hi, my name is Mayanna Perez, and on behalf of the Women United

Uplifting Women And Final Takeaways

Speaker 40:05

Committee, thank you so much for tuning in to the Y Factor. Hit subscribe on YouTube or wherever you listen so that you never miss an episode. I am so proud to be a member of Women United, a group of women supporting other women, and you can join too. To learn more, go to UnitedWayN E F L dot org slash women united. I look forward to meeting you soon.