Episode 1 - Introduction

Two friends, Natasha and Anthony, are starting a podcast together. They have been talking about it for a while and finally decided to share their conversations with others. They want to share their experiences and insights to inspire and help others. Natasha is motivated by meaningful conversations and wants to be an influence in people's lives. Anthony wants to be a light for others and help them through challenges. They appreciate and inspire each other. They want their podcast to provide solutions and inspiration to those going through difficult times. They believe their stories and experiences make them qualified to share and help others. Hi Natasha. Hi Anthony. What in the world are we doing here tonight? Episode one, the next best podcast. No, this is our first episode. We've been talking about this for a long time. So, we are here starting our podcast. Set the stage so we can look back and laugh at 200 episodes. Well, I'm incredibly excited. We have been talking about this for a while. We've talked about it in a lot of different formats. Some of it was how do we do this for our employer. Some of it was how do we do it for a particular community. Some of it was about a topic. We finally got to a place where we're aligned. Well, mostly our conversations. Like, okay, we've talked enough. We should start letting other people listen to these. Yeah, it could be just family and friends that listen, but hopefully it's a little bit more. I think it's a great opportunity for us to share some of our background and experience. I think it's important for us to introduce ourselves real quick. Anthony Lopez. I'm Natasha Cantrell. So, let's kick it off. Why are you doing this? Why are you doing a podcast? Why are we doing a podcast? What's the purpose? Oh, the big question, the why. A couple things for me. So, one, as you know, and as other people start to know, I'm a sucker for a deep conversation, you know, the heart to heart. I would much rather talk about somebody's journey and their struggles than the weather or pretend like I have hobbies that I don't. So, to me, it's very natural. But really, I think there's a power in communication. For me, the podcast idea sprung from our conversations literally daily, you know, just talking about our professional growth and, you know, our wins, our losses, our experiences, whether that was at work or in our personal lives. And so, I think for me, they've really changed my life, the conversation. And I want to, you know, share that out with other people. I think there's perspective and ideas we're sharing and all of that. So, when I thought and we started to kick around the idea of having a podcast, I really wanted to be an influence. I think that we're, for better or worse, we're influences to people. And I hope that the young Natasha out there is listening or will listen and, you know, the person that might be going through struggles that you don't think, whether it's personal or professional, don't think that you can, you know, make it through, can get some insight from other people. And all of those people who believe, like, they're as good as they're going to get, I think is just crazy. It is crazy. Just wild, like wild if they buy into that. And there's professionals that are stuck in their place and there's young people and there's, you know, women, whatever it might be. And so, I want to be a part of the conversation. I love conversations that are meaningful, that, you know, inspire you and spark something worth, you know, sharing or doing and that you can take action on. So, really for me, that's where it came from. It started from a conversation and I think the podcast will be just as much for me as anybody else. Yeah, I agree. And I've got to watch you grow and, you know, as you talk about your why and the people you've influenced, it's been inspirational for me, who's been around for a long time, to watch somebody, you know, as young as you are to come up and then watch you influence, not just people within, you know, your direct reporting, but people outside of work. And older people, younger people, all different types of people I've watched you engage with, inspire, influence. So, I love your why. Absolutely love it. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. I think if you asked me or if I was giving you my why five years ago, I wouldn't have felt maybe worthy of sharing some of that. But I feel like from the experience, from the people that I've helped, from the situations that we've been through, that I've been through, I'm in a spot now where I think I have a few things to share. So, I'm happy to do it. You do. You have a few. Just a couple. Just a couple. What about you? So, my why is along the same lines. A little bit different place in life. So, just a couple generations ahead of you. And I want to inspire people. I want to lift people up. You know, to your point, if you asked me five years ago what my why was and what I wanted to do, it wouldn't be what I'm doing today. It wouldn't be this conversation. It'd be much different. My family will always be in the center of that conversation. But I realize that I have the opportunity to influence, motivate, develop, shape, and really help people get through challenges in their life. Whatever those challenges are, whether it's personal or professional, you know, as I went through my career and through my personal life, my personal journey, there's times where I needed somebody to lean on. And I've had mentors. I've had great mentors. But there's been really, really good years in my career and in my life, and there's been some hard years. And like I said, I'm a little bit older than you. I didn't have YouTube to go listen to or a podcast. So, this is my opportunity to be the light for people and how I can inspire them, lift them up, and maybe just give them some insight on how to get through a challenging time or solve a problem that they wouldn't otherwise solve. And I'm not naive to the fact that there's close to 1.5 million podcasts. Maybe we only have 15 people that listen. I'm okay with that. No way. But for me as well, I think it's therapeutic, so to speak. And I'd love to share my experiences and what I've done. So, that's my why. And I think the very next question... Well, hold on, hold on. I've got to get the kudos out of the way because there's something to be said for us sitting here together. We've worked together now for a while, and like I said, the conversations really started with us, mostly about work and growth, and you've been a huge part of my journey. But you have inspired me and helped me grow and have everything that you're doing. If you could find one more, good for you, but you've been a huge, huge impact in my life. So, that's why you of all people, I think, sitting down across the kitchen table here is worth having the conversation. So, I know you love, hate when I give you kudos, but there you go. Very much appreciated. I do appreciate it. And you've been an inspiration. It's been fun to watch you grow and get to where you're at and on par, if not passing, in a lot of different areas. So, I'm looking forward to these conversations and letting other people listen in and how we talk about whatever the topic is. And there's a lot of times we disagree, but we get to a spot where we can have a respectful conversation and disagreement and see it from different perspectives. So, I'm excited as well. If I had to name a couple key points of what this podcast is going to be for me, it really is for people to come to us for a solution to a problem or come to us for inspiration and understanding that maybe they're in a dark time and they don't know how to get through that and how can we be the light and how can we help. Like I said, some of that would be professional, some of it would be personal, but those are the things that I'm looking to do. So, the next question then comes. So, yeah, we want to inspire. There's a lot of people that want to inspire people. So, why you? Why should anybody listen to you? What's your story? What's your resume? Tell me why you? Oh, good question. All right. So, I think our stories and our resumes are really intertwined. So, it's all our journey, right? We grow and we learn as we go. So, for me, professionally, I have, I mean, been in the working whatever environment for 12 years now. And in that time, I feel like it's been expedited for the most part. So, I'm 30 years old and some people might say I'm ahead, some people might say I'm behind. I feel like I'm in a good spot. I mean, 12 years ago, I was literally shaking a pizza sign on the side of a road. I want a picture. I still want to see a picture. Oh, I seriously hope there's none. So, 12 years ago, I was shaking a pizza sign on the side of the road. And today, I am the director of a sales team, a sales organization. And in that time, I have rapidly, through your earlier point about mentorship and experience, I've been able to navigate that. I feel like at a really fast pace, we'll call it. And a high level. Yes, yes. So, as I look at that time, I've really learned a lot. And, you know, you go back to being a young professional and you have all these thoughts of like, I don't know what I'm doing. I shouldn't be here. You know, you are looking for people that are going to give you guidance and are showing you, you know, what to do and how to do it and what's considered doing something well. So, I've been through all that. We've built teams. We've had some misses. We've had some big wins. And, you know, in that, I've been in a lot of just, I think, unique situations for where I'm at, whether that's being, you know, the youngest person in the room or being the only female or the youngest female. Some of those things I've learned to navigate in, you know, just the professional world and to be successful. So, as I'm now in a spot where I can look back and say, hey, I've dealt with some really hard teammates or I've been through some really hard projects or had this big grand idea, this dream, right? And it didn't go my way. But it all worked out. So, very much, you know, on the journey still. And then, as we look at my story, I think where I connect with people outside of that is not just about the work, right? We have all of these outside factors and we have things that make us who we are. And, you know, from a very young age, I think I had some tough life lessons. I had to grow up really quickly. I, you know, grew up with very little money and parents who, you know, unfortunately at the time had some priorities that weren't necessarily being the best role models. So, I realized at a very young age that there are, you know, things to strive for. Like, you know, what is success? I knew, like, hey, the things that I'm seeing, that's not success. That's not where I want to be. And the choices that you have to make along the way to get there. How did you know? You're telling the story. How did you know it wasn't the right choice? How old were you? Oh, my gosh. Okay. If we want to go back, I was probably, really when I started to, like, have some thoughts about it, I was probably 10. Maybe 10. 10-year-old Natasha. And you're seeing that the path that is in front of you or being presented to you is the wrong path. How did you know at 10 years old? Where did it come from? Good question. Deep question. So, one, I think it's a feeling, right? You need to trust yourself. You can see, I think, things that disappoint people or you see somebody that's constantly, like, running into a wall. They're not progressing in life. Like, it's always a bad day. It's always, you know, never having whatever it is, a job, money, things like that. Like, you kind of have this, I mean, I was 10 years old. It's not like I knew any, like, not one thing about life. But I'm like, oh, man, you look unhappy. But there's a feeling there. Yeah, it just, you know, and then something good, right, you latch onto that. So, that's what I did. Like, sports and school, like, those brought so much goodness to my life that I was like, oh, man, if I'm just really focused on those things that make me better, all of the sudden, right, like, the pieces in life, like, start to fall together. So, I think you just keep working hard and then all of a sudden things fall into place. And so, there was just a clear difference of, I don't know, like, I guess at the time, adults are situations that were better than not. And I just, I didn't want to be that. I didn't want to do that, you know. It's incredible at 10 years old that you were able to see that. Yes, yeah. And fortunate, very, very fortunate. Knowing who you are today, it's hard to see you in a situation where you didn't just know the path. Yeah, and I don't even want to act like I'm like, oh, I just, well, I guess, actually, this is interesting from another podcast. There's a question prompted that, you know, is mindset a privilege? So, you could put two people in the same exact situation, right, and one can make it out, be extremely successful, and the other person can just, you know, do nothing or be a product of their environment and their situation. And that wasn't me. So, for what it's worth, still working through, I didn't even answer your question, still working through how the heck I figured it out. Well, good. I'm glad you did. Keep going. Oh, so, I think that really taught me a lot about life. Like, there's a grind to it, there's a hustle, there's an independence. There's, for me, there was the reality of, like, if you want things to work out, like, you are, you depend on yourself. Like, you know, you have to put in the work, you have to put in the time. So, you know, I did that. It's baby steps along the way. You know, graduated high school early so I could work full-time, put myself through college. I, you know, first one in my family to graduate. Things like that was just, obviously, set me up. And then having an opportunity of a workspace that really developed me and, you know, between, like I said, the pizza place and then my job now, it was just steps along the way. Learning, you know, people, learning process, learning how to connect, how to articulate your ideas and your path and keep moving in that direction. So, yeah, it's, there's probably people like, I still don't know why I should listen to you, but there's some good stuff in there. There's some great stuff and I know we'll get into more of it. And I'll just say, I've been able to watch you develop over the past few years and the biggest developments have come after the biggest misses in the way that you've carried yourself. So, where your story started and how you got to where you're at, it's the foundation for how you deal with stress and the way that you navigate. And I've watched you grow and get better at it, but without a doubt, your mindset is a huge piece of why you're successful. It's why anybody's successful, but knowing you, it's a massive piece. I appreciate that. So, what about you? A little bit of resume and or story. Why are they listening to you? Why have I listened to you? Well, I'll tell you my resume a little bit and then I'll tell you where it started. So, my resume, I touched on it before. I've been in sales and leadership for going on 30 years now. And I started in sales when I was 15 years old. I got into some trouble and I was selling tickets to the policeman's ball at the back of a house on the phone, cold calling. And I don't know why I liked it, but I enjoyed it. It wasn't my path at the time. I ended up in the Marine Corps, which was the foundation for my leadership and really was the trajectory for my career. Unfortunately, the first few years after the Marine Corps were incredibly difficult. You can't bring that into the civilian world. So, my resume is, and I had mentioned it, it's not the successes that I've had. Those are easy to talk about and say what I did right or when I really look back, everything fell into place or there were other people around me and I got lucky. The reason why I would say I think people or I hope people that listen is because of the failures that I've had and the misses and the risks that I've taken and how I've overcome adversity and my story. My story will start when I was 15 years old. I'll take you way, way back, way, way back in the story time. Way, way back. Yeah, way, way back. I'm kidding, I'm kidding. So, when I was 15 years old, I was in a hostage situation. When you say hostage situation, I was in a high school classroom. I was 15 years old. I was in a new school and a kid the same age, 14 years old, 15 years old, came in. He had a shotgun and he had a .22, .22 handgun. And I had no idea this is where my day was going to take me that day. I was in second period. There was 26 of us. And he had some reasons why he was there and some harm that he wanted to do and our paths crossed. And as I sat in that room and it was a choir room, I didn't even realize or believe what was going on. We had some interaction. We went back and forth a little bit. He talked to some people in the classroom. And he was at the back and I was in the front and he pointed the .22 at me, a little handgun, looks like a squirt gun, kind of laughed, made a little gesture at him. And I'll never forget, it's frozen in my mind, is the blast that came out of that gun. And then the feeling of somebody just hit me in the jaw, like I just got hit in the jaw. And I was like, what just happened? And then just the warm sensation coming down my face, down my neck, into my chest. And then looking at my hands and realizing that at the time I thought that I had been shot by a paintball gun and my lip was split. And I was like, what in the world? Until I was able to collect myself very, very quickly and see the reaction of everybody around me. People screaming, people crying, him making some gestures. And ultimately he said, leave. And the class said, leave. I turned around. And it had been about 25 minutes since he had entered the classroom. I turned around. There was blood all over both doors and took me by surprise. And I literally slid out. And when I came into this quad area, there was SWAT team all up on the top. Put your hands up. I put my hands up. I was like, hold on, I've been shot. Nobody would come to me. And I had some teachers that were to the right. And they said, come here, come here. I went over to them. They put me in a room. And cops just came to me, put my head back, putting gauze on my face. They're talking to me, trying to get all of this. And it's like a movie, just everyone's talking at once. And when I got in there, he let all of the girls go. And there was only eight guys. The rest were all girls. And they had no place for them to go. So they were funneling them through this room. And the one saw me and passed out cold. And at that point, I knew that there was something wrong. So they stuck me in an ambulance. They took me to the hospital. Ultimately, I got shot in the face. He was trying to kill me. I missed. There was a bullet that was lodged in my neck. He ended up giving up. And he goes to jail. And I get out. It's a Thursday. I'm back in school on Monday. No idea what was about to hit me and how I was going to deal with all of the issues and consequences that come with going through a tragedy like that, especially as a child. So it took me a couple years to navigate through that. And he ended up doing about eight years in jail. He went his separate way. But I was left with that scar for a long time. Not only was I, but the kids that were there, there were issues between what they saw and what I saw. They saw somebody get shot. I just got shot. So I can never put myself into their shoes and see what they saw. I can only go through the experience that I had. And with that comes post-traumatic stress disorder and dealing with nightmares and dealing with being scared of classrooms and being scared of guns and how you get through that. And so as my life progressed and I had to deal with all of that, it was a pretty big, it took me a while to understand that was a pretty big deal. Yeah, it's like a massive, massive deal. And so when I would tell people, I'd see their reaction. I'd be like, okay. And then when I would look back, I'd be like, how did I get through this? And to my parents who helped me through that and some of the doctors that I had to go see and work through those challenges, I was able to do it. I was able to go into the Marine Corps. I was scared to death of guns at the time, but I was able to do it. There's still some residual effects when you put me in a, you won't get me into a movie theater. It's probably been 10 years. There's just panic attacks that happen automatically from that closed-in space. That being said, I recognize it and I understand it. And how do you get through that adversity? And to your point, I could have dealt with it a lot of different ways. And I did. I acted out. It's not all good. But I didn't let it define me. And so as I look back and I think of my story, and I can't tell anybody how to react or how to get through their situation or if they've been in a tragedy, because it's not going to be my tragedy. But I can tell you how I did it and how I did it day by day and the steps that I took so that when I look back, that's just a moment in time. It does not define me. I think it's been, the last time I counted, I didn't even count before this show, it's been a little over 13,000 days since that 30 minutes that I was in that classroom. And I had a choice to let that 30 minutes ruin these 13,000 days or I could focus on what was in front of me and how you overcome. And so that's what I've done. And so that story and that foundation I lean on. I go back when I'm having a bad day and, you know, I'm sitting there and I have to, regardless of what it is, if I'm stuck in traffic, if it's something minor, if it's something big, there's times I have to look back and say, you know what, I'm not sitting in a classroom, you know, literally eating a bullet today. So I'll be able to make it through today and it gives me perspective. So those are the type of, when I look at my resume professionally and how I've navigated through my career, and then that particular tragedy and how I manage through that is an area where I think I can help people in sharing that story. And I haven't shared it publicly, shared it, you know, here or there in a bar when I'm at a drink or two, but I haven't shared it at this scale. So I think there's opportunity for me to help people walk through that. And that's the resume, the why. I've heard yours. We've talked through it a lot. And it really comes down to what's next and what we want to do next. There's a couple of things that we have to figure out. One, we have to come up with a name. Oh, my goodness. We do. We do. It's a big one. It's a big one. I do want to let everybody know, or as we talk through this, what's next, and then we can talk about the name. So it's not just our stories. It's not just our inspiration. We're hoping, not hoping, we've talked to people about this here and there. So there's athletes out there. There's executives. There's moms. There's dads. There's aunts. There's uncles. Everybody has a story. And everybody has a unique perspective that can help other people lift up. And so as we're doing this podcast and you and I are talking and we're having topics, we're going to bring people in. And we're going to listen to their story. And we're going to question. And we're going to ask. And we're going to probe. And hopefully it's entertaining and it helps people, which is ultimately our goal. And it's the light. So there is a next. We don't know how long it's going to be. We don't know if it's going to be a month, if it's a week. It's a passion project. We're just going to record our conversations. But they'll grow. We've had hundreds of conversations. And we haven't even touched on so many things. To your point, we can get guests in and have them see different perspectives just between you and I. Different parts of our journey and different experiences and ideas. And so I am super, super excited. Yeah, I'm excited as well. I think, you know, being where I'm at in my life and, you know, been married going on 25 years, three kids, two grandbabies, I want to help people. I want to see people be successful. I want to be able to share. I want to have a good laugh. I'm sure that you're going to make fun of me from time to time as I'll make fun of you. A lot, yeah. But I want to help people. I want to develop them. I truly want to see people be as successful as they can and maximize their potential. And if I can do that through a podcast, if that's one way, then I'm willing to spend an hour a week with you and just sit around and BS and talk about some topics. I love it. And I'll bring it from the other side. You know, the 30-year-old, two dogs, figuring it out, right? It's going to be something we're figuring it out together. Like I said, this will be just as much for me as it is for anybody we get to interact with. But really just learning. And like I said, communication is very powerful. So if we can have more of these conversations and share them out, there's endless possibilities about where it could go. Yeah, and we have to have some fun. So tell me some of the names. We've been kicking around some names. Yeah, number one podcast is out. And making fun. So I have two. And you're really going to love the second one, okay? I'm prepping you now. You know, we're here for the sake of the kitchen table, right? We've got kitchen table convos going, but hopefully it will grow. So we could go that way. Or... Oh, I like that, kitchen table. Kitchen table convos. Convos. Kitchen table convos, okay. Because I'm teaching you, right? You shorten words. This is a millennial trick. And speaking of millennials, my absolute fave, probably number one. I think we should go with the grandpa and the millennial. So I have heard this. You brought it up before. And I am a grandpa. And we do have different perspectives. It's lighthearted. It's fun. I think it's going to stick if we continue to do this. So for now, I'm with you. If that's the name you want to pick and we want to put that on the podcast and share it with people, I'm all in. Yes. You can make as much fun as you want. No, it's good. Your experience and all that good stuff. It's all in good fun, but I am a fan of grandpa and millennial. I love it. So, what's next? Well, they're going to have to tune in to see. We have a lot of conversations, so we'll see next week. Well, it's been a blast. I appreciate it.