Behind the Scenes of Soul Tribe: Board of Support, Big Magic & Team Evolution

In this behind-the-scenes episode, Lisa is joined by longtime Soul Tribe member turned executive assistant, Anna Durej, for an honest conversation about how Stylist Soul Tribe has evolved over the past year and a half.

From starting with small VA tasks to becoming Lisa’s right hand in operations, Anna shares her unique perspective on the growth of the business—and the magic that happens when community and systems align.

Together, Lisa and Anna unpack the inspiration behind the Board of Support, how it’s supporting both the SST community and Lisa as a leader, and what creative initiatives like Sessions with Samantha and The Balanced Chair are bringing to the table.

They also touch on themes of team transition, staying rooted in connection, and the power of peer-led coaching in a mastermind environment.

It’s part catch-up, part strategy session, and fully a reflection of the soul behind Soul Tribe.

🔑 Topics Covered:

• Anna’s journey from stylist to behind-the-scenes support
• How the Board of Support came to life (and why it matters)
• What it looks like to grow a coaching container sustainably
• Creative Initiatives and how they’re impacting members
• A candid look at team transitions and leadership evolution
• Why Lisa sees herself as a connector more than a coach
• What’s ahead for Soul Tribe as the community deepens

🎧 Listen if you:

• Crave a peek behind the curtain of Stylist Soul Tribe
• Want to understand the vision and structure behind the BOS
• Are curious how Lisa builds team, trust, and momentum
• Love when business strategy meets heartfelt community

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Transcript

Audio Only - All Participants: 0:00

Hello friends. Welcome back to Stylist Soul Tribe Conversations. I am joined today, by my dear friend Anna. Anna has been on the podcast before. Anna DeRay. She came on a while back, to talk about her big magic, called Translating the Label. Anna's passionate about, the cosmetic chemistry side of the industry, and she's been on the podcast before because of that, Anna has been working behind the scenes with me for, I didn't realize how long it's been. she brought this up to me a couple weeks ago on our team meeting. She was like, do you think we should like formally. Introduce and announce the work that I do for you. and when I asked her today before we started recording, I was like, how long has it been? And she was like, I think it's been a year and a half now.'cause like I've gotten a full 10 99, like it's been over a full year of pay period. and I'm like, yeah, we should definitely talk about this. So Ann, I guess do a quick little hello intro. How are you?'cause time really just flies by and. I think we, we have talked about this a lot in my podcast. Sometimes you're so close to your business, you don't see the broader perspective. hello, thanks for coming on the podcast today. So I'm Anna, for those of you that don't know me. And I am an OG stylist Soul Tribe member. I remember from day one from the very beginning. my business has grown and changed and my life has changed so much since I've known Lisa. It's kind of wild. I started out as a, booth rental stylist working behind the chair and you know, like when you know that there's something else you wanna do, but you don't know what it is yet. I kind of found that through being in Soul Tribe. a while, like three years ago, my family and I just decided to like upend our whole lives and we moved across the country. So we moved quite literally. Yeah. Yeah. So we moved from Connecticut to California. So when it started off, Anna planted a seed a long time ago. Like we said, she's been in s Soul Tribe for a long time and she planted a seed a long time ago, especially when she stopped working behind the chair.'cause when she moved, she stopped fully working behind the chair. and now she is. Very much stay at home. Mom helps me out. Building her big magic, kind of doing a lot of a, a little bit of a lot of things, fair to say. Yeah. Absolute. She has a podcast. She creates content. She does a lot of things, and she planted the seed many, many years ago. Like, Hey, if you ever need help behind the scenes, like I have the free time. I would love to help you. If there's ever a time that it comes up and it makes sense. And so I guess a year and a half ago I reached out to her. I was like, Hey, there are some. Small tasks that I really could use. This was when Lecia was working with me at the time, and it was like she was finding that these were becoming kind of redundant tasks for her. They were definitely redundant tasks for me, and we brought Anna on. And then over, which it's so crazy to me. If you would've asked me, I mean, I guess I know it's been over a year, I would not have thought it's been a year and a half. It is so crazy how time flies. but over the time that she's been slowly just kind of trickling in behind the scenes and especially, since you guys heard on the last l and l back in February, Alicia has fully evolved out of behind the scenes in Soul Tribe. She's still a member. Anna was there through all of that. She was there when Lecia gave her notice. She was on a lot of those meetings and we were unsure if. The role that Lecia was doing was gonna be something that Anna enjoyed doing, wanted to do, was capable of doing, liked doing. I was very unsure, which I think I was very transparent about in that last podcast episode back in February. I've said it a lot behind the scenes to you, Anna, but I'll say it here out loud. I've been blown away by the way that you've stepped in.'cause even when she talked about stepping back, you're like, I dunno if I wanna do all that, or if I could do all that. But it has been amazing. So I think it is fair to say we've never put a name to it, but I think it is fair to call you. I would say these days, my executive assistant, I don't know. And so over the, all the time, like when Anna. Started working behind the scenes. It was just teeny tiny little tasks like working on Google Calendar, creating Zoom calls, creating links, like very little things. But now, over all this time, I will sometimes make a comment of like, oh, Anna will get to that. And then she realized, she's like, some people might not know what you're talking about when you say Anna. Because some people are aware and some people are not so formal. a year and a half later announcement, Anna is. Still doing what we would call VA work for me. But it has picked up a lot. And I just wanna say how grateful I am through that transition of kind of Lecia coming out and even just this last like month or so, Anna and I meet every single Wednesday morning and it has been great just having you to bounce ideas off of, it's a lot of things happening behind the scenes inside of S Soul Tribe right now, that Anna now gets. Like the full picture of, and I am so grateful to have just another person, especially since you've been around, since day one, to just kind of get that feedback and perspective from. So yeah, how would you describe that from your perspective or even talk about maybe whatever, where, whatever direction you wanna go, but the evolution of Soul Tribe way back when to kind of where we are now and where you see the direction is heading, from your perspective. I would love to hear that. Okay. So yeah, style sill tribe has like grown so much.'cause when you first started out it was like DMS and Zoom meets, right? Yeah. and maybe like a Gmail here and there. Yeah. Isn't that great? No, I don't think I sent any emails. I know I hated email marketing. I don't think I sent any emails. I think it was all like Facebook messages. And I honestly think some of the first calls were Facebook Messenger video calls. They weren't even Zoom calls. Oh, shoot. Okay. I have screenshots from your guys' initial onboarding sessions and they were on Facebook, like, messenger Live or Facebook Messenger video. Okay. it all makes sense. so it's been, really cool actually even just seeing the transition, when Alicia joined And everything that she brought to the table. she did so much for sure. She really changed a lot in just the best way. Evolved a lot. And then, even just trying to follow you guys when I initially started was sometimes kind of hard to keep up with because I'm like, what are they even talking about? I gotta really look into that. And just really getting a look at how in depth everything was. yeah. For sure. I would say they got much more sophisticated after Lecia came on, and then I realized I've built a machine that kind of needs quite a bit of operations to keep going now at this point. it was pretty impressive. but even now, like just. You know, looking at everything, I feel like I'm still learning so much about the behind the scenes operations, but Alicia left us pretty well set up with for sure when she left, so that's been really good. And then even just now seeing like what you're working on. Yeah. And the trajectory of that is. It is kind of, it's wild. And I am so like hesitant. So we'll share, some of the behind the scenes happening. it's weird for me'cause I have so many one-on-one conversations that I sometimes forget what I have said in my head. if you guys only knew the amount of thoughts happening at all times behind these eyes of mine, then to what I've said out loud to a few people, then to like the announce. Has that have made, been made to all of SSD and then this is a trip and Anna has kind of seen it. Even when I announce things to all of SSD, sometimes it takes a long time for everybody to fully hear it and understand it.'cause they miss an email, they miss an announcement, they're not fully paying attention. so one thing in particular that we rolled out back in December, and it has been going strong and Anna has now been really kind of, part of the behind the scenes of it is the board of support. And so that was, I don't think I've talked about this on a podcast episode. What the Board of Sport is, and I'll try to explain it a little bit here without getting too long-winded, especially for those of you that know. But I know some people even inside of Soul Tribe still feel unsure of like what this kind of new addition is. Some people get fearful, some people think it's gonna change how Soul Tribe is. Some people think it's me pulling away. It is none of that. but it is a new addition and it is something that those that are starting to experience it, I'm very much saying I'm beta testing it in the. Feedback that I'm getting is really, really, really good. And so that makes me excited. So I have had this something like this in my mind for many years now. What does. This model in this coaching platform that I've created, what is the next layer of it? What is the next level of it? How does it continue to evolve? Because if we're not growing in an evolving, we're kind of dying, and I am a human, I am a creative human by nature, I will always be evolving. and I find that my art is my business. I've said that a lot on the podcast, and so I'm constantly thinking of things and brainstorming things. the board of support, without having a name had been on my mind for a while. there was, somebody named Lori in Soul Tribe, which we'll talk about more here in a little bit. She reached out to me and she's a powerhouse. She owns a very successful salon, and she just basically said like, I'd love to help you. Like I, you know, I don't really need the accountability in the way that Soul Tribe is set up, but like, I love being part of this community. I love giving back. I do this a lot in my, local life and in town where I. Sit on a board of directors, I help people kind of come up with new systems and grow and evolve and then, step down and move away or move on from that. Fascinating. Okay. Tell me more of what you mean. And after a few questions back and forth from Lori. It was one night. It was literally like 1:00 AM and I couldn't fall asleep'cause my brain was kind of spinning on it. And I remember this idea kind of dropped in and I was talking with chat GPT.'cause now that's how big ideas like a, a seed of it comes in and you kind of get clarity with the robot. Yeah. I just got like immense clarity that night. And I remember, I don't think you were on that call, Anna, but I shared it all with Leisha and I was like, and she was like, okay, like this makes sense. And she was like, so like, what are we waiting for? I'm like, dude, I don't know. I just got the idea eight hours ago. Like, I don't know how to bring it to life, you know? I announced it back in December and I was intentionally very vague about what it was because I am, it's a test. it's a exploration and if everybody hates it, I'll dissolve it and we won't keep it going, you know? what I see is, people who have been in Seoul tribe for a while, who have started to become this. hub of, or this resource where a lot of people in Soul Tribe know this person's so giving with their knowledge, they've seen a lot of success, they're happy to share it with others. why not kind of elevate those people and not have them have to have all these one-off? Conversations on Marco Polo and just kind of give them a little bit of a platform. the very first round of board of Support was, the contracts ran from January to June, so we're in it right now. And it was Lori, Samantha, and, Krisa. And it's been going really well. And like I said, I've been getting really good feedback. We are bringing two more members on for the second half of 2025. I'm not gonna share who they are yet, but Solt Tribe members, that information will be coming soon. Basically what the board of support is, is kind of what I described, but it also, along with that, it does support me a little bit so it supports the members, and it supports the community, but there is a layer of that that intentionally supports me. I am on roughly 20 calls a month right now. All the sole tribe calls and. for a lot of reasons. One, that's quite a bit obviously on my calendar, especially if I wanna continue to make more of an impact and help more people. but two, I don't think I have all the answers to everything. Like I get on Soul Tribe calls and there comes a point like, and I'm curious your take on this,'cause we've known each other for so long now, going on seven years, which is crazy. That's like a long term relationship. I would have to assume there gets a point where you're like, well, I'm gonna bring it up my, my call, but like, I know what Lisa's gonna say. Right? Like, there has to come a point where you kind of start to feel that way. you kind of get like a, you do like a little bit, you know, how my brain works, then know how it's gonna go, and then, you know, when like Lecia was subbing for you. I always like really enjoyed that because it was like she would come in and give a totally fresh perspective. And sometimes you're like, whoa. You know, I never even thought to look at that. And you know, like you said, you're just one person. So, having the board of support is, I remember when you guys were telling me about that, I was like, oh my God, this is exactly what, first of all, Lisa's schedule needs. Because I'm used to scheduling things. But also like, this is such a good way. To every once in a while get that fresh perspective. On the problem that is just kind of, you've gotten advice on and then you've tried it and pivoted and then you're like, ah, it's still not quite there. Right? Yeah. So that's what that extra person really comes in and helps with. Love, which is wonderful. I totally agree. And my fear was how do I take this, you know, web of thoughts in my brain and properly communicate it and get other people to see it? And I do feel like now the people who I am able to fully get their attention, fully explain it to, as soon as they fully get it, they're like. Whoa. Yeah, this is really cool. Like this is really great. This is really helpful and as I've grown Stylist Soul Tribe for all these years, I have my methodologies, I have the cycle of success. I have things that I teach too, but my. Calling has always been creating connections. Like I don't think I'm the greatest teacher. I don't think I'm the greatest coach. I definitely have never owned a salon before. I've had my own experience and I've learned a lot from it, and I love just like helping people and guiding people, but I in no way, shape or form have all the answers. And I have from day one, wanted to create a mastermind, and I do think that board of support really doubles down on the mastermind side of it. I know a lot of people find me and, you know, connect with me and I become their friend and their coach, but the mastermind side of it really is how can I just create a space for all of these brains and these minds to most efficiently work together? And I really do think that the board of support is like such the next Right. Stop answer to that a hundred percent. Because like, even like we were talking about earlier. Sometimes when or not, sometimes this happens like mm-hmm. Pretty much every call when I'm like in a call with my tribe. so maybe two members will be going back and forth, or you'll be going back and forth with another member? Yeah, and the conversation isn't anything that I have, you know, any input or anything to give on. But sometimes I'm even sitting there taking notes, because I'm like, oh, actually. I could use that too. Right. You just kind of learn and grow through osmosis of just being a witness to these powerful conversations. Yeah. And watching so many business owners operate and come every month with their issues, troubles, bottlenecks, wins, You just learn through, you know, watching that. And I do think that is such a cool part of Soul Tribe, and I do think that's what the feedback that we're starting to get from board of support members while they're here to give support, they realize what a cool role this is. One, I get to connect with so many more people that, you know, I just didn't really have the opportunity to connect with before. But they realize that they learn so much on those calls, even though they're the one facilitating them and guiding them. And so when that idea dropped in, and again going back to Lori being the one bringing it up and hers not saying like, I need more support. Hers saying like, I have so much to give and I love this community so much. I'd love to spend some time and energy giving back to it. and I'm like, that is a piece that hasn't existed here, People like Lori, Samantha, Carissa, more people who have already agreed to be on board of support in the future, and so many more people that I think should, I think eventually, honestly, I don't see why every member can't at some point be on the board of support. is it, is that the whole thought with the Mastermind and it started back with masterclass way back when, how many years ago? If you can just take 30 minutes of your time to give to this. Entity, this community. if each of us can do that and then everyone does that. Do you know how much we all receive back from that being the give and take here so much? Yeah. And also too, like another thing that happens is just during the calls. Like you were saying, you learn so much. And maybe it's not like somebody's talking about an issue that's an issue to them right now, and it's not an issue for you. And it's never has been. But then nine months later you issue, you're dealing with something similar. Mm-hmm. Now you know exactly how to handle it because you've been listening to like, I don't know, Amanda, troubleshooting Yeah. For like two months. Or you at least have someone to tap into. I know so and so dealt with this, I'm gonna reach out to them. Yeah, exactly. I've always felt like, and I've said this since the beginning, I really, I, they, every time you read a personal growth book or you take courses about how to do any of the things I'm doing, it's like, what is your superpower? What's your zone of genius? Like, where do you really shine? And I've always felt like. I am a super connector. I don't know why that has just felt natural to me. I talk about my friendships with the Fab Five from my whole entire life. Like I've always just brought people together and connected people. That's always been very natural to me. and so I think after all these years of hosting Soul Tribe through the podcast and connecting with all these different people. The network that you build, but even just like mentally, like you're saying, the resources, I'm so much smarter just because of all the conversations I've got to have with everybody in Soul Tribe, even though I'm the one coaching them. so yeah, again, it really is just expanding the mastermind model. And then with the board of support, I'm asking people to help lead calls, be inside of Marco Polo groups to give fresh perspective. But I'm also asking every member of the board of support to create a personal creative initiative. And when they hear that, they get really nervous. You heard the couple people that get nervous, they're like, oh God, what am I supposed to do for that? I am very intentionally not labeling it. I'm not calling it a masterclass. I'm not calling it a challenge. I'm not calling it one-on-ones.'cause I want it to be a Petri dish, a breeding ground for your creativity, whatever it means. Because through all these years of doing Soul Tribe. I'll get these Marco Polos from all these members who just love this community and love this. And they're like, oh my God, soul Tribe should have this. Or Lisa, I had a dream last night that Soul Tribe did this, or You should really think about creating this. And my Enneagram seven brain is like, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. We should do all things. But then I learned at a certain point, like, I don't have the capacity to bring anything more. But I would love to create the space for other people to do that. and so each member has been doing creative initiatives. Carissa's was the first one. It was I think eight people participated. So it was a small, intimate group. A lot of people missed the announcement truthfully, But the eight people who got it, who were inside that Marco Polo group, Chris talked about habits. Morning routines and choosing daily needle movers, personal and professional. What is one thing you do every day? it was such a fun, one-off Marco Polo conversation for a month. I loved having that. And then the last two months, Samantha has been doing her creative initiative and it was very different from Chris's. Chris's was kind of like a challenge with a Marco Polo group with a video and a PDF downloadable. Samantha was like, I don't know what to make for that. Like, that makes me uncomfortable. And so we doubled down on Samantha's strengths and so you, if you don't, she's never been on the podcast. We need to have Samantha on the podcast. No doubt. She is such a unique. Lovely. I mean, she has become one of my favorite humans on this earth, but. When I first met her, I mean, Samantha is an interesting person. The way she speaks, the way she shows up in a room, like sometimes in the beginning, you don't know how to read her. But then once you crack into her and you understand. The magic and the love that is the human of Samantha Miller. She's gonna hate listening back to us. She's, she's so fucking special and powerful and she's been to the last three retreats and like being with her in person and watching her in hot seats and watching the connections and friendships that she's made through Soul Tribe and how much she's impacted people's lives is so cool for me. to see. So we said to her, we're like, what if we just do like. Sessions with Sam, we'll call it. You know, you're so good at just like she just makes friends, but then she really helps these people and to her it seems like, well, how the fuck is that a creative initiative? That's just me, you know, reaching out to my friends. But it is so powerful and it's impacted a lot of people's lives, She did sessions with Samantha. We had people fill out a form and explain like, yeah, I could use some one-on-one support. Samantha's just kind of run with it. There's been eight people as well that participated in that. Anna is one of them. So as a consumer, as a member of Soul Tribe, Anna applied for a session with Samantha and she's been getting that. So I would love to hear, I know you told me a little bit, just personally what's going on. What has that been from your perspective? We're gonna do it again, but I just think it's fascinating to highlight and explain a little bit more in depth what these creative initiatives have been thus far. Yeah. So Samantha is, there's something about her that is, I don't really know how to describe it, but like, you just feel she has a way of just making you feel like loved, seen and heard. Mm-hmm. Right. and, but there's like even more to it than that, but I can't Like that you can't even put into words. Yeah. Right. but anyway, so she shows up and she's like, well, tell me how can I support you? what are you working on? What are you struggling on? where are areas of improvement? But then she'll also, like when you're working through something with her, she's like, Hey, what if you look at it like this and you're just like, hmm. I never once Yeah. Would have ever thought mm-hmm. To look at it in that direction. I don't think anybody else would've given me that advice either. Mm-hmm. Lecia also took advantage of sessions with Samantha. I was Marco Polo with her. I hope she doesn't mind me sharing this. I don't think she would. but I was Marco Ping with her yesterday asking her as well, just outta curiosity, how's it going? and she said what's been big for her is she realizes, and I think I do this too. And I think for how long we were connected, we almost kind of picked it up from each other a little bit. Saying a lot of, I don't know. Using the term, I don't know, instead of here is how I'm feeling. and when I say that, you might realize, Anna, that I do that, that Leisha does that.'cause once she said it, I was like, yeah, you do say that, but I do too. So, and Samantha's. She, Alicia said Samantha's making her stop and saying like, what is beneath that? What do you mean when you say, I don't know, unpatched. Yeah, she's really good at that. Yes. And it's, Samantha's done so much like personal work that I think she's picked up these skills over time, but she's also not gonna like throw this in your face. if you don't give her the opportunity to ask it, she's not out to, you know, Inject her thoughts or opinions, but if you let her in and let her observe you and give her take on you, it's so fascinating. So that's been some sessions with Samantha. It's gonna go on for another couple weeks because the creative initiative took place in March and April. and like I said, I'm pretty uninvolved, but Samantha's, just Marco Polo with a lot of different people holding them accountable. Checking in. Observing them, giving her feedback, giving a new set of eyes. Giving a fresh perspective. I do think Samantha agreed to do another round of board of support for the second half of 2025. I do think that might be something we keep around, even though it was a creative initiative, I don't know if it's gonna be like a one-on-one coaching call or a package or something. I am very curious about keeping that around. So we're gonna keep brainstorming on that. But that is Samantha's creative initiative. And then we're about to go into May. And Lori, the person who initially kind of helped me come up with this idea of the board of support and she intentionally said, let me be later in this contract.'cause she knew what she was going to create was gonna be very beefy and it was gonna take a lot of time. Yeah. You saw the, the workbook? She, yeah, because she gave a sneak peek to it the other day. Lori is giving a whole course to all of sst. For free And then we're all like, her jaws just like hit the floor.'cause we're like you. Like you didn't say it was gonna be like this. Yeah, it's really good. So she's calling it the balanced chair. What Lori has become known for inside of this community is she knows her numbers, she knows her data, she is organized as fuck. She goal sets like crazy. She's a budgeting queen. She loves like a savings challenge. she's just an interesting human too, and soul tribe allows us to just get to know these cool, interesting humans and she. found herself on all of these Marco Polos talking to salon owners, talking to stylists, giving back inside of Soul Tribe and just, she's like, I try to give these messages to and from my drive to work, but like, I'm not fully giving people the scope of like what they need. So she's calling it the balance chair. It's gonna be an eight week. Crash course, and I would just almost call it financial literacy. Like that's what I would, yeah, I mean, it's budgeting, it's accounting, it's tracking your expenses, it's goal setting. There's some mindset, there's some like, abundance thinking woven in. She did a really good job of like. I mean, I only looked at it in a glance. Yeah. When she was quickly scrolling. she really like weaved that in there, like just so super balanced, very sole try best, you know, there's the business side, but then there's kind of like the light, feminine, energetic side. and I was kind of surprised to see that,'cause I don't always get to see that side of Lori, but I know you can't be as successful as she is without. Nurturing that side, so I know she does it. so it was really cool to see that. So that's gonna take place in May and in June. And I was saying on the last border support call, I know all of this has been vague, quiet, people have been a little bit confused. How the hell do I make sure everybody in S Soul Tribe knows that this is happening because it's so beefy and so juicy. so we were like, we're gonna talk about a podcast. We're gonna send emails, we're gonna. Make a Instagram post about it. So we just wanted to say it here. Soul Tribe members pay attention. The first Monday, of May, it's starting. It's not live, it's all prerecorded. A video module is gonna drop into the portal from Lorie. Which will go along with the workbook. It's like a 36 page workbook. It's really beefy. And then every single Monday for eight weeks, a new video training is gonna drop. And then there will also be a Marco Polo group where we just like, ask all the questions, have all the conversations, talk, all things money. And Larry will be in there, obviously I'll be in there, we'll all be in there to have that conversation. So I'm so excited. I think everybody will get something out of it. Like I know that Lori's a salon owner, but I really think that everyone could get something out of it. Yeah, I absolutely agree. And she wanted to make it that way. intentionally so. And it's gonna live on forever. So like if you're not fully paying attention to it, the moment it drops, you can go back and watch the replays. and for future people, if you're listening to this and you're like, I'm not in stylist Old Ultra, I don't know what the hell you guys are talking about, it will live on. If you ever join the program, you will have the ability to watch the replay. Potential new, board of support members and potential new creative initiatives. I'm just feeling very in alignment creatively right now and incredibly grateful for the amount of people who believe in my big magic ideas every fucking time I have them rally around and support me and give their all into this. So that my vision and what I see can actually be as good as I see it. So I just wanna say that out loud as well, that I'm grateful as fuck. So yeah, that was kind of creative initiatives. Anything else you wanted to add when it came to board of Support creative initiatives, and is that kind of everything? I think you covered it all Well, cool. Alright, so we were talking Anna and I,'cause we've not done a podcast like this. I don't know what I'm gonna call it. L and a chitchat maybe. and we're gonna follow the same quarterly report that Lecia and I had been doing'cause it is just fun. It's silly. So this is from an old TikTok trend. R-E-P-O-R-T stands for different things and it just makes you talk about random, like lifestyle things. Yeah. And I always get feedback and Marco Polos after these podcast episodes about people eating the cottage cheese eggs that I eat or just like the most random things. so I will do my report for first and then Anna, you can do yours. so R stands for reading. I'm reading a new book. Last time I was reading ina Garden's memoir. This is another memoir. The title is awful. First it's called, I'm glad my mom died by Jeanette McCurdy. so Jeanette McCurdy is, she was Sam on iCarly. She was from Sam and Cat. She's like a Nickelodeon child star. and turns out she had a really interesting traumatic upbringing like most of these child stars do. and I'm not super deep into it, but I heard it was really good and I bought it. And that's what I've been reading. So that's R okay. Are you doing our Let's Football? Okay. So I am, reading one book for, fun and then another book for, you know, just for personal growth. Yeah. So I'm reading the Courage to Be Disliked Love. Who's that by? Do you know? Oh, shoot. I, it's okay if you don't. That's fine. We can plug it in the, we'll put it in the show notes. Show notes, yeah. but it's really given me like a different perspective on just like. How are you approach being disliked? it's very Interesting. And then for fun, I started the Bridgeton series like a while ago and I'm still plugging through that. Okay. I know RI watched the show. Is there a TV show and books? Yeah, so it's based off of the book series. So I watched the first season. I liked it. So then I started reading the books. There's a lot of them. Okay, alright. And is it like sucking you in or you're kind of like, meh right now, you know what? It was and then ev, but now I'm just kinda, I go like that. I get like that with reading too. And you could get sucked back in. You could not. We'll see what happens. Yeah. There was like one book that I read, not the one I'm on now, but the one before. I read it in like less than a week. And now this one I've been, it's a little slower. I have been eating. Dates, you peel'em open, you take the pit out. A lot of people put peanut butter. I'm not huge on peanut butter. I can have them. I'm allergic to some nuts. I can have peanut butter, but I saw a TikTok where someone put butter and I fucking love butter. So salted, but dates a little nub of salted butter in. dark chocolate chunks, and it's like a kind of healthy, not really healthy, but it's all like whole foods. I'm putting, I'm using like real butter, snack and it kind of tastes like a Snickers a little bit, especially if you put peanut butter and I can't stop eating those. I just had one in between our call because they're so good. Oh, shoot. That does sound really good. Are you a fan of dates or not really? Mm-hmm. I like all things. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. All right. What are you eating? Okay, so you know what? Usually I am just, I get like really stuck on a food and I eat it for a long time. Hyper fixation. I'm not in one of those fixation Right now. But what, what we have been obsessed with is we found, there's this. To go restaurant buy us called local kitchens. Okay. And they take like four different, like local, I don't know if it's like restaurants or food trucks or whatever, but they all operate out of this one location. Cool. So you can go in there and you can order off of any and get a little bit of everything. Yeah. Smorgasbord. I love it. Oh, it's, it's, and it's like, I think they rotate the restaurants too, so that's cool. As an Enneagram seven who likes variety. That is very much speaking my language. Yeah. Yes. and we love to try different foods so that. That's been amazing. Awesome. All right. P for me is play. and I put the trampoline. My kids got a trampoline for Christmas. We finally set it up and I'm such an obnoxious mom. I can't help it. if you guys don't know, I did competitive cheer like my entire life. I can, I tumbled a lot when I was young. I'm a little nervous to like tumble on grass now. I will, if I go to like a gymnastics gym, still bust out a back hand spring every here and there, maybe a round off tuck. We'll see. I'm 32 now, so I just. Try to keep it going, but when you get me on a trampoline, I can't stop every time my kid's friends are over. Penny's mom can do a back flip. You wanna see? I'm like, watch what I could do, watch my routine. so I'm out on the trampoline. My neighbors probably think I'm crazy, but I think if you don't use it, you lose it. And I am determined to keep a back flip at least on the trampoline until I'm like 80 years old. I'm not gonna stop doing it so that I don't lose it. So that's been my play, is jumping on the trampoline with my kids. I love it. And I think you should keep going with that for sure. You're right when you don't, you'll lose it if you don't. Yep. What's your play? So my play it, well, it was skiing, but I think this weekend is the last weekend. The resorts are open. Mm. But you, I wanna say you really, I think what, from my perspective, milked it. You got a lot outta the ski season. You've been going a lot. I got a lot. Yeah. Yeah, I really did. We may as well use it. We paid for it. Yeah.'cause they made like the just to go up and buy a Lyft ticket is so ridiculous. You should do a real quick share on your session with rain. I would love for you to share that with everyone. wait. Just that you took her out and you were afraid that she wasn't gonna be open to your feedback and she was and she killed it. Oh my God. Okay. So anytime that I've taken her, like skiing when she was a little bit younger and I tried to, this is Anna's daughter who is how old? Yes, it's my daughter. She's 11 now. Okay. So anytime I like tried to teach her, you know, how to ski, she wants nothing to do with me. Yeah, absolutely nothing. You know, it was like meltdown city. So I've always paid to like, just get her lessons because. It's a hundred percent worth it. Totally. Right. Well, this year we were a little late to the party, and when I went to book her lessons, everything was sold out for the season, like at every ski resort around us. So she said she wanted to go skiing, so I sat her down. I'm like, Hey, look, I can't get you lessons, so I'd have to teach you how to ski. Yeah. And she was like, and I'm like, are you gonna be okay with that? And she's like, why wouldn't I be okay with that? She's finally old enough that she'll listen. You should also, I should add to this, that she hadn't skied in four years because of, because of our move and having a, you know, and I had a baby. Yeah. And the season before we moved was unseasonably warm. There was like no snow. So she lost like four years. So I was bringing her back out again and she, you know, needed lessons. But anyways. So the first, the very first run down that little tiny bunny slope, it was a total shit show. I was like, oh my God, how am I gonna get through today? Then like four more runs down. I could see she was, it was all coming back to her love. By the end of the day, we were skiing at the top of the mountain. Amazing. And she was doing just fine. And then she turns to me and she goes, mom, now I'm working on my speed. Oh, that's so precious. I told Anna, I've never been skiing in my life. I've been water skiing. I grew up boating. I've never been skiing in my life, but also what a sweet day and a sweet memory. I love when I get solo time with Skyler, so our daughter's are pretty close in age. I love that you guys had that day. It was so much fun. I did take her again and she had a blast too,'cause I was like, oh, since she's got it, I can't let her lose it, you know? Totally. Yep. Totally. Yeah, so I love that. So it is sad that the season's coming to an end, but I know she'll pick it up now, especially with how, what a busy year she had this year. Love it. I have been obsessed with the show, love on the Spectrum, on Netflix. Have you seen it? No. Oh, okay. Well, I've seen it on there. You are aware of what it is? Yeah, it is so good. So I did not watch season one and two. The last couple years I started getting tiktoks of like little clips of it, and I could tell it looked amazing. Adorable, precious, hilarious. So good. And I watch all of season three. I've now started watching seasons one and two to just like backtrack. It is so good. So it's like kind of a love show, like a dating show. but I wasn't sure, and obviously it's, highlighting people who are on the autism spectrum. but I wasn't sure if it was like, you know, like love is blind where they like set them up. It seems like the production crew sets up some of the dates, but not all of the dates. It's more so documentary style of these maybe like six main people and just their experience being an adult dating on the autism spectrum. It is the cutest, purest. It's so good. The characters are so good. I'm obsessed with Connor. he is so funny. He's so fucking cute. Now he is dating Georgie. they're hilarious. I follow all of them on social media. Love on the spectrum is so good. If you just wanna like sit back and just have like a feel good. Adorable. Precious show. it's so good. I would say just start with season three'cause it's so good. I could not recommend it enough. It's amazing. I'm not watching any shows right now. Because I've been looking for a new one. So you have to watch it. my kids watched it with me too. There's some kind of awkward moments. like Madison is one of the characters and she finds this guy that she loves, Tyler, I think is his name. And, people on the autism spectrum aren't familiar with social cues, they don't really know. There are moments where Madison and her boyfriend were making out in front of Madison's mom. And Tyler's talking to her dad while he is making out with his daughter. And there's little moments where the kids, you could tell, were like, oh God, why will you turn this off? But all in all, I think it's rated TB 14. It is precious. I think Rain would like it too. It's a door and it makes. Them ask questions. obviously they're familiar, they talk about that with school. but it makes'em ask questions and say, why are they doing this? Why isn't it just opened up beautiful conversations of just like, that's how some people are. And it's, it's really good at just highlighting the beauty of what makes people different. I've heard like tiktoks where they say like, should people on the spectrum be on these different dating shows? And they said, those people should show up wherever the hell they want and wherever, you know, just as every other person, neurotypical person does. And so it, it even opened up some really cool conversations with my kids too. It was good. Everybody has to watch it. It's amazing. Okay. So one thing I've been obsessing over lately is actually playing, I'm not into board games, but my husband got a board, got me into a board game. Okay. What is that? Which is your achievement for him? Yeah. we've been playing Catan. Ooh, love. I've heard a lot of people talk about Catan. We've never gotten into it. Can the kids play or is it a little too complicated? Well, I guess right. Okay. So they have a Canan Jr. Although, okay. I hate that. It's nowhere near as good as Catan. Okay. Okay. So it's just you and your husband playing it? So, well, we play it, we also play it with our 11-year-old. Okay. When, when the 2-year-old goes to bed, we'll play 50 11. but then we also have, our, our good friends that live close by mm-hmm. Like they, they have a mother-in-law who has amazing every weekend, but Chris and I don't always have that. Yeah. So we don't have a babysitter. They'll come over to our house and we'll have game night and we'll play Katon. Everyone plays together. Yeah. I've been told that I need to try Catan. I've never played. Love is real good. Awesome. okay, so that was your o right? Yeah, that was my awesome, my r recommending. I was a little bit torn on this. I was a little bit stuck on this, but I think what I've been recommending and what I'll say is blow dry brushes slash. I got a Dyson Air Wrap dupe, so my client got a Dyson Air wrap. She brought it in. I played with it. I did like it, but I, cannot get myself to pay$600 for it. so I found a really cheap one on the TikTok shop, and it works pretty well as well. And then my client yesterday was, and my friend was just telling me about how she's been giving herself. Blowouts. and I'm just a big fan of like the bouncy blowout look right now. I do have some curls in my hair, but I'm like kind of sick of curling my hair. I don't really like the way it looks anymore, and I'm very much into like, just trying all these different tools that give me more of this like bouncy blowout kind of look. So, yeah, that's my recommending. What about you? I have to say, right before I stopped working behind the chair I was recommending those to my clients a lot, you have to be careful that, you wanna make sure your clients get one that have the, temperature settings. I know the Revlon one was burning off a lot of people. For a while. Yeah. Honestly, so many of my clients have really like, it changed the game for blowouts for them. That makes me so happy. Love it. Because trying to round brush your own hair in one hand and blow dryer in the other is nearly impossible. Especially if you have long hair, For sure. Okay. So I just, figured out a little bit of a hack for a middle school kid Is what I've been recommending to people. so it's more of a mom hack, but my husband and I, we have Samsung phones. And my daughter has an iPad. Which is, oh my God, it's, yeah, they don't pair well, but I'm just thinking you and Chris need to get rid of the Samsungs. I think that's the only answer is why still have galaxies? I think we're in too deep now. I don't think we get it. I'm gonna bash, I'm gonna, I I'm an iPhone snob. I'll bash it every chance I get. It's okay. Keep going. I totally get it. So anyways, so if someone out in a similar situation as us, get a Google Voice phone number for your kid that connects to your email address and then. Set it up on their iPad so that they can have a phone number. Because we obviously didn't wanna buy a plan for her iPad. so now she has a phone number. Where she can get calls and text messages and I get an email every single time somebody does one of those things. I love that you have that. You shared that in one of the Marco Polo groups and I have a 12-year-old, she does have a phone now with a phone plan. Yeah. And we use the Bark app, but I paid like a hundred dollars a year for it, and that lets me like look at everything she's doing. But I think that's brilliant and I think getting the email for it, and I know some people disagree with that. Some people think like privacy. I think at 11 and 12 years old, there shouldn't be any privacy when it comes to screens whatsoever. Mm-hmm. so yeah, I, yeah, just because it, it's, they don't understand everything I know. Mom is so hard. I know, but the kids with the screens, that's such a in-depth conversation. But when I heard you say that, I was like, oh, I love that. And then you can just go back through your emails and just see what is being said on there. I think that's great. Yeah, exactly. we haven't gone the phone route yet because I. Stuff gets left everywhere and I don't wanna have to chase down the phone. Yeah. Hasn't earned that responsibility yet. That's totally fair. Yeah. Yeah. Got it. Love it. Okay, final one is Treat my treat. Lately, I would say the dates, but I already said that for eating. So my treat lately is I live in a really small town now, so I, I, I lived in a small town that I worked out of. I moved to a kind of bigger town and now we've moved just right outside of this bigger town to a really small like village. It's actually considered and they just got an ice cream shop. And they offer ADOS there, which is espresso with ice cream, and I keep getting those. They're so good. So that's I treat. My husband is also obsessed with those. So good. Oh wait, so that's funny'cause my tree is also ice cream related. Yay. So I have a bit of a lactose issue and ice cream always love me back. The local ice cream shop to us that we can ride our bikes to if we want. They, started putting out, some of their flavors are marked as like soy or oat and amazing. I was like, oh, I can, I can have this ice cream. Yeah. Indulge. Yeah. Yeah. That's amazing. so that's what I've been doing is indulging, what's been your favorite flavor lately? So there's, it's very limited. But, lately I've been getting espresso chip. Oh, see, I love coffee ice cream. You're the same as me. I also love, cookie dough. Yep. Okay, So the first time I got the a forgot it just came espresso and vanilla ice cream. Last time I was there I was like, do I have to do vanilla, vanilla ice cream? She's like, no, you can do whatever you want. I was like, I'll do espresso with cookie dough ice cream. And at the moment I said, she was like, oh, I need to try that. And it was phenomenal. That was so good. So shit. Okay, so the cookie dough ice cream there, it says. Almond, and I don't know if it's made with almond milk or if it has chunks of almond in it. You should ask. And the I did. The kid didn't know, so I need to ask. Yeah. I wouldn't trust the teenager at the ice cream shop for allergy or nutrition information. That's fair. the teenager and when we were, when I was ordering that cookie dough ice cream, the phone's ringing. The lady's like. The teenage boy does not know what he's talking about and won't answer the phone, but it's fine because like when I was 16 I was like, I don't really give a shit about that. I love it. Okay, we will go ahead and wrap up. This was so much fun. Thank you, Anna, for proposing this idea. I am glad that I got the opportunity here on the podcast to deep dive on some things that, again, I feel like I've been having conversations with a lot of people personally on, I've been doing a lot of thinking and scheming and all the things behind the scenes in my mind. So it is nice to just talk about it here, It was a lot of fun. So, any final thoughts before we wrap up? No, actually I think I am good. Just okay. Me too. thank you everybody so much for listening. I'll talk to you all next week and thank you again, Anna, for coming on with me. Of course. Anytime. Bye guys.