We are so excited for you to meet Colleen!
Colleen joins us to discuss her career, leadership experiences, and passion for making the world a better place!
Here is a bit more about Colleen: She is a purpose-driven leader with over a decade of experience solving complex challenges through building impactful projects, operational processes, and most importantly, teams.
Colleen holds an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management and is known for her creativity, dot-connecting and people-first mindset. She is passionate about making the world a more loving and accessible place for animals and people alike, and is currently working on the formation of a Project Management Office at the ASPCA and serves on the Board of Directors at Tree House Humane Society.
When she’s not behind her desk, you can find her at the barn or her local indie bookstore.
All opinions shared in this podcast are her own.
Transcript
John Simon Sr. 00:06
John, welcome to Simon Says, inspire a podcast about life, leadership and building legacies. I'm John Simon, SR and
Dina Simon 00:14
I'm Dina Simon,
John Simon Sr. 00:16
and today we have Colleen white as our guest, Colleen. Welcome to the podcast.
Colleen White 00:23
Thank you. So excited to be here. Thanks for having me.
Dina Simon 00:25
Yay. I have to say, John, I actually have to say I'm actually nervous about this, because Colleen is I've often referred to her as my first love. I still remember the day I got the phone call from your father that you were brought into this world. I remember where I was, who I was with, almost around the time of day, but I've just loved you said the C word even before you were born. And just, I'm so excited to have you on our podcast that you wanted to do this. We're super excited. Oh, you're
Colleen White 00:56
gonna make me cry. I'm nervous to you just because it's my first podcast, and I realized I just called you beans for everyone. That's my, like little nickname for Dina. It's auntie beans. I call her.
Dina Simon 01:07
You can call me auntie beans. That's fine. So because your father is the one that named me beans, so there you go.
John Simon Sr. 01:13
So Colleen, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself? I know you live in the Chicagoland area, so tell us a little bit about the area where you live, because there's so many great areas in Chicago now, and especially when you're not actually in the city, I don't think you're a little bit outside, but one of the new, revived areas, yeah,
Colleen White 01:32
I do I live in. Technically, it's Chicago. However, I'm in a little village called Roscoe village that's on the northwest side of the city and beans has been to my house. It's more of a neighborhood area, so there's lots of young families and a park right by us, and really fun restaurants and cafes. So we like it. It's very walkable. You can hear the birds chirping. Sometimes you forget you're in the city, and I'm born and raised in the Chicagoland area, minus some detours. My family lived in Kansas City when I was little, and then I went to UW Madison for college, so I've been kind of in the middle of the country most, most of my life, and now in Chicago, Yep,
Dina Simon 02:14
yeah. And we told John Rich, and I were on the phone with him this weekend, and we told him what a gorgeous neighborhood you have, and you can walk to your bookstore. You can walk to cafes, to bars to grocery stores. It's so cool. It's really
Colleen White 02:27
cool. That's what I love about Chicago. You can live here for I've lived here for over a decade in the city, and you can find new neighborhoods all the time and just stumble upon them and have your new favorite restaurant. That's
John Simon Sr. 02:38
kind of amazing, because everyone knows of Wrigleyville, and you know, that was one of the first neighborhoods to start, I think the transition, I'll say, into a more of a family friendly neighborhood. And are you close to there, or is it
Colleen White 02:53
just we are we're about probably a mile and a half from Wrigleyville. We used to live in Wrigleyville proper. However, sometimes when the wind blows the right way, you can hear a concert perfectly from my house, now from Wrigley. So sometimes you feel far, and then sometimes I literally listened to a Morgan Wallen concert from my house. The wind was blowing right, so, yeah, we're pretty close to Wrigley. Got to go to a good team. Well,
John Simon Sr. 03:20
we lived in the northwest suburbs for quite a few years, I think about 14 of them, and that would be in the Schomburg Roselle area, but I knew, I think your grandparents, I think they were from like the Glen Ellyn Wheaton area. Yeah, you're at rich and Dina's wedding. One of my friends came to the wedding, and he knew your uncle, because they are your grandfather, because they went to the same church together. And it was kind of a strange thing to, you know, to meet a fellow church person at a wedding from a different family.
Colleen White 03:54
Oh, yeah, it's a very small world out there in Glen Ellen and wheaton, where I grew up as well. So, yeah, you'll, you'll randomly run into people like in Europe, that are from Glen Ellen or something. You just always seem to
John Simon Sr. 04:06
find each other. So you, you're married to Henry, yep, sure.
Colleen White 04:10
Am. So, yeah, my family, we have a big family. And my little family within the big family is my husband, Henry, and my dog, Sydney, who's
John Simon Sr. 04:19
quite the princess, and I think Sidney's a doodle. She
Colleen White 04:23
is. She's a bernadoodle. So she is not loving sarhi, but she makes stew, and she's just the sweetest thing. I'm a little bit obsessed. You'll see her in the little picture that we post, I think with this episode.
Dina Simon 04:37
Yeah, she is the best dog, and she's so good to you, and she is a princess, but she's just so sweet. Yeah, so
John Simon Sr. 04:44
now that we've caught up on a little bit about your personal life, is there anything else you'd like to share with us about that?
Colleen White 04:50
No, I don't think so. I think that's that's the gist living here in Chicago, hanging out my dog. Okay, why don't
John Simon Sr. 04:58
we move on to a little bit? How did you like Madison? I know we lived there from 86 to 93 so What years were you there?
Colleen White 05:07
When times I was there from 2008 to 2012 and I loved Madison. I missed it so much. It was really the best college town, but also, I think such a fun town in general. I know so many people raise families there or live there after school. We
John Simon Sr. 05:24
really enjoyed it there whenever all the years we lived there,
Dina Simon 05:28
yeah, and that's where so I when I went to the University of Minnesota my freshman year and then moved to Madison for my sophomore year. I So Colleen, I was there in June, so I was there for the summer, and then into the fall. And so that is one of the blessings, because I was only two hours from Madison to you in Chicago, and so I spent that's why I was able to spend so much time with you. And so that's a nice part for you too, just like Madison in Chicago is not far, so you were away from home, but close enough. And yeah, yeah, yeah. And she also had one of her cousins that went to college at the around the same time. Were you guys the same year? Or is Kelly a behind you? You're
Colleen White 06:06
behind? Yeah, that was really great having Kelly there. And then I met my husband at college, and his little sister actually just graduated from Madison last year. And again, the boundary world is a small world, because I was at the bookstore yesterday and I happened to meet a gal who is currently going into her senior year at Madison, a business marketing major like I was, and we're already connecting about the, you know, the postgrad experience, and just looking for roles outside of outside of college. And so that network of badgers is just very strong. And I love meeting other badgers.
John Simon Sr. 06:41
Nice. And that happened to me just about two weeks ago. I was at the grocery store here in Texas, where we live, and a lady had a badger shirt on, and I went up to her, and she said, Oh, my daughter's graduating this year from there, and we're getting ready to go back to get her back up to school and everything. And we started talking about places like Daddy dumplings and State Street brat and all the, all the fun places that we always hung at.
Colleen White 07:06
Oh, the best, the the Union. It could go on. We're going back in October, so I can't wait. I'm already planning my little food crawl of Madison.
Dina Simon 07:16
Are you going for a game?
Colleen White 07:17
Yes, I don't know, playing, though. Okay.
Dina Simon 07:20
Awesome.
John Simon Sr. 07:22
So Colleen, tell us a little bit, I think right now you're working for the ASPCA, and tell us a little bit about your love for animals.
Colleen White 07:30
Yeah, my love for animals has been a lifelong one, as as Dina knows, just from the earliest ages, my family would vacation in Carmel, California every summer, where the Monterey Bay Aquarium is it's one of the best aquariums in the country, if not the world, and I would go to camp there. And so would fall in love with sea otters and all the little creatures. And you know, my grandparents had dogs, I would just love on them when I'd visit them. And so when I first could start riding horses, I convinced my parents to let me do that. And, you know, gave them a PowerPoint presentation to convince them to get us a dog. And so started like acquiring our own little herd of of animals, and in riding horses competitively, growing up and and, yeah, so it's been a lifelong love for me. I My mom gave me my like childhood bin recently, and there's so many things in there that are, you know, future jobs I want, and it's like marine biologist, veterinarian and all these animal welfare things. And because I took such a detour when I when I sold my horses and went away to college and chose not to ride collegiately. And then my childhood dog passed away too, and I graduated from college, so I really had a decade plus of not a ton of animals in my life. And now I found my way back to doing this for a living. And I really do think that my vocation or my calling has to do with animal service now. So I'm just so happy that I've found my way really full circle to what seems really obvious now. And you look back at like, eight year old me, what I thought I'd be doing, but it's been a circuitous route. And I'm happy that I'm here.
Dina Simon 09:17
That's so awesome. And you know when you start out like when you graduated from college, you took a career path, and that just kind of followed itself. And as you just said, this pivot now, after you've had, you know, quite a few years of success and the pandemic, I mean, there was so so much that kind of happened, but then you were able to pivot, because you were able to say, what do I really want to do? Where do I want to spend my time 100% Yeah.
John Simon Sr. 09:41
And you also spend time volunteering at the Equine Therapy Center, and that has to be very rewarding for you, especially as a past writer. Oh,
Colleen White 09:51
it's so awesome. And, and I'll tell you, I think growing up, I really had this I love the animals. I love tours. Horses, but I got into such a competitive track with it, where I kind of forgot that horses are like such healing beings. They're so intuitive, and they're not just only useful when they can jump a certain height or win a ribbon or what have you. So I really think I needed time to kind of compost all of that, and now I'm back interacting with horses in my therapeutic work, where you're really, you know some of these horses, you're you're finding a second life for them, and you're taking amazing care of them, but they're also giving back to the program and helping folks that that really need access to these services. So it's just an act of love all around and then at the ASPCA, we have an equine welfare arm of the organization that's working on changing stigma around horse adoption and really helping with safety net services for people who struggle to keep horses. It's a really expensive thing to have horses, and so I'm just, I feel like I'm approaching my love of forces from a really different way than I used to. You know, it's not about a competition, it's just about the love. But I learned a lot of things that, you know, make me useful in a volunteer setting, because I know how to put on a saddle, and I know how to do all these things, and it's just a cool second act. It's a really cool flipping something on its head and and something doesn't always have to look one certain way. I don't know. I've just, I've been amazed, honestly, of like, How did I not know that equine guarantee existed? You were,
Dina Simon 11:31
you maybe weren't ready for it? Then right? Like, so now you're super open, and you're ready for it. And that's so cool. So Jen, she also tell him what you do. I think it's on Sundays where you work? Yeah,
Colleen White 11:45
I work at an independent bookstore as well, and that's just like a fun thing. Honestly, I work remotely, so it's a nice way for me to get out of the public and I'm a huge reader. I've read like 70 books this year already, and going for 100 if I can. And I really love to connect with people in that way, figure out what they like, to read and give them good recommendations and just kind of share some things that I've loved too. So yeah, books and animals like, no matter where I go, those are gonna kind of anchor whites. If I can find a bookstore and if I can find a therapy center or shelter with animals, I'll be okay.
Dina Simon 12:23
Yeah, and John, her mom, Margie, is a huge, avid reader as well, so a love that you guys share, and I think you probably know this, but just so you do, Benny was a huge reader like her. That was her thing. She just read and loved the stories and the places that it would take her. So it's also on the on the vigaard side as well. Not fun. We
Colleen White 12:44
were talking about tattoos. I think before we started the recording, maybe there's, like, a little book tattoo in there.
Dina Simon 12:49
Maybe there is, maybe there is, yes.
John Simon Sr. 12:53
So I read a little bit of information about some of the work experience you have and some of the leadership roles that you've had. And I think there was one quote in there about being smart, caring and people first and get out of the way and trust your team. Yeah,
Colleen White 13:11
yeah. Leadership was always like such a such a funny thing, because it's always felt intuitive to me on one hand, but then also so hard sometimes in practice. And what I mean by that is it's always felt really natural to me to like, want to work towards a common goal with people, and in order to do that, understanding that you have to know what motivates people. Not everyone's the same. You really have to get to the root of what they need to perform at their best. And I'm a big Empath, so I can really feel what others need. And if the team's, you know, not doing well, I can feel it, and I can get that sixth sense. And it's been really hard in practice sometimes to make those, you know, tough decisions around how to build a team, or who's best for your team. And so some like initial ways that I started leading were when I would go for an individual contributor to a manager of a team. And so in those situations, I knew what I was doing on the front lines. And so then it's more about coaching other people to do that well, but leading by example is really important. They can hear you on a phone call with a client, and kind of learn that way. And so I felt really in my element. I could, you know, recommend what was best for a client or how to handle a situation, and it was more about like the change management and those sort of things. And then at a certain point I changed into roles where I was leading more functionalized teams, where folks had a lot more subject matter expertise than I did in completely different realms. So I'm never going to understand them in the science of like tour formation. But how could. I coach these individuals to help the client achieve their ultimate outcomes. And how can I, you know, lead with my strengths first, and I think for Royal, spent a lot of time thinking about what I lacked and and more about, oh, shoot, I'm not the best at science, but I've really, in the past few years, gotten into more of a strengths based headspace, and what am I good at and and I'm good at the people, you know, people first understanding motivations, high level strategy and data analysis when it comes into that bigger picture, setting and business and and achieving objectives that way. So that's what I've really enjoyed with teams, is is learning how that all fits together. And I don't know if I like ever aspired to leadership, as much as it just is like something that I have found myself in, because I do see some of those dots connecting in my head, and I want to, you know, put X and Z together and get something that's bigger than both those parts. So yeah, been a big part of my journey.
John Simon Sr. 16:12
You talked a little bit about what it was like, and as a learning experience, disappointing a leader and maybe not doing your best work. And as the as the leader said, you know, you know, everybody does that, just don't let it happen again. And that's the great part about learning whenever you're in that leadership role.
Colleen White 16:33
Oh yeah, that for sure. And and when I think about like failures I've had, I really am at a point where I'm able to release from the individual instance and not ruminate it, about about it so much, you know, it's not about the analysis that didn't go perfectly. It's not about the, you know, the client that's mad. It's what can I take from it more broadly and and, yeah, I did have a leader who we it was a few organizations ago, and I really loved this leader. And we were asked to put together a data analysis that was really complex, and honestly, we didn't have the source data as we needed it, and a million reasons why it was hard. And I know that leaders don't want to hear all the reasons why things are hard, and so we may do with what we could. And ended up presenting some data that was not as accurate as it could have been. And you know, my leader was very much like, all right, like, let's break this down. How are we going to get the right numbers? How long is it going to take? And then very clearly to me, said, Don't let this happen again. It wasn't yelling. It wasn't and I've had leaders like I've had leaders that like shaming in front of other people. It was just me and and that was motivating to me, and
John Simon Sr. 17:55
it was a teaching moment to her that you jumped on and said, Hey, let's get it taken care of, and let's get it right
Colleen White 18:03
totally because I think most people want to do their best work. You're absolutely correct. Like, people don't want to be messed up, messing up left and right. And there are some, but I they get weeded out in interview processes and and I learned too, a lot about, like, speaking out more, and managing up and raising red flags early, like, hey, our source data isn't the best. In order to get better source data, it's like a 10 year process. But here's what we have. How can we, you know, caveat it, or how can we message it differently? Or can we get more people or more time? That's what I do more of now to avoid that, like, don't let it happen again moment. But I just always try and embody that leadership, because that what's that's what motivates me. And again, I think it motivates most people, because most people are just trying to show up and do good work,
John Simon Sr. 18:56
and without to correct data to begin with, you're actually set up for failure. Anyhow,
Colleen White 19:03
that's right, yeah, garbage and garbage out. How do we present it properly? How do we headline it so that they're not getting the wrong idea those scenes?
Dina Simon 19:12
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Right.
Colleen White 19:15
Now I'm in a very cross functional role where I'm leading a lot without authority. And I really love that too, because it's, it's very similar. It's all about kind of like knowing when to shut up and listen and knowing when to ask the right questions and and giving and taking knowledge. You know, not trying to be an expert at things you're not an expert at, but demonstrate expertise where you do have some applicable background. So yeah, yeah. I really, I really love what I'm doing in that regard right now, too much
John Simon Sr. 19:43
like the garbage in, garbage out, you have two ears and one mouth, so listen twice as much as you talk.
Colleen White 19:49
My dad always says that, yeah, yeah.
John Simon Sr. 19:53
That's a dad thing.
Dina Simon 19:55
I think it is. I think it is, yeah.
John Simon Sr. 19:58
So we talked about. For your life. We talked about leadership, and the third part is building legacies. So tell us about the legacies you would like to have.
Colleen White 20:08
Oh my gosh. I mean, I
John Simon Sr. 20:11
guess you're too young to
Colleen White 20:13
know, but I like, I'm such an old soul, I think about that a lot like that, that actually motivates me more than more than anything. That's kind of why I found myself, I think, in a nonprofit and, yeah,
Dina Simon 20:24
so remember legacy. So, like legacies, it's not something you just leave behind. It's, it's what you're doing right now. It's, you know, this us being able to do this together, you know, just the legacies, I strongly believe it's the things that we're living out on a day to day basis. It's not just something you love leave behind, not just about the
Colleen White 20:44
destination. Yes, exactly, bro. So yeah, I think part of it's okay, so yeah, to answer it in that way. So the journey, like I do, I do want people to feel good about the work they're doing when they're working with me or or when others work with them, and so I think that's about empowering other people. I think that's about leading with warmth and and really just being an authentic and vulnerable person so that others can see that, like, oh, that that's not so scary, and that's been a huge effort for me. I have not always been that way as a leader. I've struggled sometimes with, like, feeling like I can't be my real self in the workplace, and now I try really hard to be even if that means, like, talking about Taylor Swift in a meeting or something silly. So I really, I think when people are able to show up as their full selves, it's, it's the best. And so I just want people to, like, to not feel like, Oh, we got a really great project done, but I want them to feel like, Oh, that was kind of fun. That was like, I enjoyed that team that we worked with. So that's part of it. And I hope that people can take that time to slow down and be intentional and make sure they're working in organizations that their values aligned with, and making sure that, you know, they're not bringing their emotional baggage to work and snapping at someone when it's not their fault, like just really being that, that leader, and then, yeah, like, I, I'll get on my, like, animal welfare soapbox. Then I just I I see a world like when I'm not here anymore, or maybe if I still am, that's just a lot kinder to people and animals. I think that we're not doing our best as a society, and I think we can do a lot better the environment, on animals, on people who are struggling. And so I just see my work as like an active service in that aspect, and it's a lot bigger to me than just a paycheck. It's like my it resonates with me. And so I hope that, you know, laws are passed. I hope that, like, animals are rescued. I hope all of that continues to happen, and the data reflects that we're having real change. That's what really empowers me to do this work. And
John Simon Sr. 23:05
if I'm not mistaken, the month of August is Pet Adoption Month, yeah. And to see that on today's show this morning,
Dina Simon 23:13
yeah. And I mean, so every dog that we've had, we've always gotten them from the humane society. And Pash is that example, where we were her third family by the time she was one, and just can't imagine the 13 years later she's gonna be 14 in September. So the 13 years that we've had her, just what she's brought to our life. And you multiply that times, you know whatever. So love that it's gonna be Pet Adoption Month in August. I love that. I didn't know that. So Colleen, one of the things that your mother did when Mandy was a baby is and I know we still have some, and I think that I might have given some, even back to like Brooke, because of her love for horses. But your mom used to send stuffed animal after a stuffed animal after a stuffed animal of horses, including, like a big, huge horse that she could, like, lay on her sleeping bag. Was horses, but she totally was trying to get Mandy into horses when she was little so she could take after you.
Colleen White 24:09
I'm sorry in advance all your nice weekends.
Dina Simon 24:14
I know, yeah, so it didn't happen. But she says she loves horses, but she didn't obviously end up professionally riding like you did for a while, but super fun.
Colleen White 24:22
Yeah, it's a crazy life. My dream is to, like, have my own equine therapy center, like backyard horses, and do the whole shebang. So maybe one day, maybe
Dina Simon 24:33
one day you have many years ahead of you so that keep, keep dreaming that could be awesome. Well, anything else that you wanted to make sure that our listeners heard about you and your experience, any any last minute things that you want people to know? Oh, gosh, I
Colleen White 24:50
don't know. I think when I look back on my my resume, sometimes I'm like, What did I do for 10 years? Like, how would I get here? And so I. I'm almost like talking to this girl that I met from Madison, when I'm just thinking about, you know that that first job you take, or that second job you take, it might not be that like perfect thing that you imagined. I thought I wanted to be a lawyer like my mom a long time ago, and then I interned at a law firm and realized it wasn't for me and and so you might just have to kind of take things one step at a time, and just make sure that you're doing things that are values aligned, that they use your strengths and and just be intentional. And so now I can look back at my resume and say, Okay, in this role, I got the account management experience. In this role, I got operations management experience, and it can make sense to me now that way. And so it led me to animal welfare in this beautiful way that I think it was meant to but, and I I have this business background now that that is somewhat unique in the field, so I can help answer these business problems that that folks have and and bring this different skill set. And so, you know, when I really, really sit down and think about it, it makes a lot of sense. And, you know, it can be a long journey, and it can be a confusing journey. And so just, yeah, I think a lot of people struggle with that in their 20s. Sure,
Dina Simon 26:18
yeah, no. And I love that, because it is a journey. And I think that that it is you've got to you've got to realize that it is a journey. And so you're not going to get out of college and have the job. And so how do you take those steps? And as you said, as long as you're building something and you're being intentional about it, and you're not compromising your values based on who you're working with or for, those are all really key, takeaways, and I love that you're mentoring her. You just met her. And I'm sure there's many others that you do as you you know, are networking and meeting people, so that's awesome, and that's part of your legacy, right? That's you giving back, for sure. Yeah, I
Colleen White 26:53
remember being so confused, and, you know, graduating with a marketing degree and being like, I need a job title that says marketing in it. And of course, that's not the case for so many people and and you just take these twists and turns, but yeah, it's the intentionality of what am I learning from this? What skills am I building that will set me up for maybe the next role or the next stepping stone, and having that longer term idea in mind of what you might want to do again that could change, but keeping focus and
John Simon Sr. 27:24
I think the other the other thing, your positive attitude is contagious, and I'm sure you pass that on to a lot of other people. That's
Colleen White 27:32
so funny. I'm like, I actually, like, don't consider myself that much of a positive person, like in my inner monolog, but I don't know. I do think when I'm around other people, like, when we're having these deep conversations, then it can really, like, help and I can kind of near others and, like, lift others up. So because that, that really feeds me. So yeah, it's funny. I don't know. I'm like, Ooh, a positive person AM? I a positive person? But yeah, it's I love having these type of conversations. Yeah, yeah. You
Dina Simon 28:06
are a you are absolutely a positive person. And you, you've been through your own journey throughout life, in school and careers, and so in that journey, your learnings that you've gone through to know yourself really well and how to handle situations. Those are other ways that you absolutely just give back to people in a very positive way. For sure.
Colleen White 28:26
Yeah, yeah, yeah, to name that beans, because I think it's important, like, I have struggled with mental health, so I think that's important to destigmatize. And yeah, it is so much about the personal and the professional, you can't fully tease those apart. And that's why I really had to learn to not seek this, like work life balance, but just to to think of my life as one thing and work as a big part of that. And so I want all to gel together and just be a part of the person that I am. So yeah, thanks for saying that, beans and yeah, and it's, it
Dina Simon 28:58
is important. You said whole person, right? So we, if we're asked to be anything less than our whole person, that's that's not a good environment. So, so yeah, yeah. And you have found that in your new job, how long have you been there? Now, a
Colleen White 29:12
year, over a year. Yeah, you work on really cool things. We're building up the project management office. So that means building the infrastructure for project management at the whole organization, and getting to consult on individual projects as they arise. So it's fun because it's building I love to build, and it's never a dull moment. There's always something new going on and so, and I get to go really, really deep with teams, which is fun, nice,
Dina Simon 29:44
awesome. Well, we're super excited that we had you on the podcast. So John, probably the first time you met Colleen, potentially, was at our wedding because she was a flower girl, yes. So it might have been just because there were those. Was it Yeah, with you down in Texas.
John Simon Sr. 30:01
And then I think Patrick was a ring.
Dina Simon 30:05
There he was, yes, yeah,
Colleen White 30:07
the great tornado of Texas, yes,
Dina Simon 30:11
yes. That was a day. The weather was terrible. But Colleen, again, I love you. Super excited for John to get to know you a little bit better. And I know there will be opportunities for you guys to see each other in the future, but thank you for wanting to be on our podcast. You were leaned in super fast, and we're excited about what we were doing. So thank you for that. Hopefully other family members now will step out too and want to be a part of it.
John Simon Sr. 30:35
So I think they'll be jealous and they're going to want to jump in on it. So I agree we we look forward to that. Well, yeah, cool
Colleen White 30:42
thing. I'm all for you guys had a conversation, and then you just do it. And I love that you don't just talk, you do. So I was so excited to see that you put something like this together. I've loved the episode so far. And, yeah, who's next, right?
Dina Simon 30:58
Who's next? So we do. We have two people that we are connected to in business that are next, but no family members yet that have said, Sign me up. So open casting call. Thank you, Colleen, for being on our podcast. I'm so excited that you were willing to lean in and be on as I said, You were my first love. I've loved you all of your life, and I'm so proud of you. I'm proud that you were a badger. You went on to get your MBA, and you are super passionate about making this world a better place. And I just know that you've made my life a better place because you've been in it all these years. And I love you. I look forward to continuing to see where the journey takes you. And I thank my father in law for being my co host on this podcast, and we do have an open casting call, so if you're interested in being on we'd love to hear from you, and thank you, and until we talk again, you.
John, welcome to Simon Says, inspire a podcast about life, leadership and building legacies. I'm John Simon, SR and
Dina Simon 00:14
I'm Dina Simon,
John Simon Sr. 00:16
and today we have Colleen white as our guest, Colleen. Welcome to the podcast.
Colleen White 00:23
Thank you. So excited to be here. Thanks for having me.
Dina Simon 00:25
Yay. I have to say, John, I actually have to say I'm actually nervous about this, because Colleen is I've often referred to her as my first love. I still remember the day I got the phone call from your father that you were brought into this world. I remember where I was, who I was with, almost around the time of day, but I've just loved you said the C word even before you were born. And just, I'm so excited to have you on our podcast that you wanted to do this. We're super excited. Oh, you're
Colleen White 00:56
gonna make me cry. I'm nervous to you just because it's my first podcast, and I realized I just called you beans for everyone. That's my, like little nickname for Dina. It's auntie beans. I call her.
Dina Simon 01:07
You can call me auntie beans. That's fine. So because your father is the one that named me beans, so there you go.
John Simon Sr. 01:13
So Colleen, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself? I know you live in the Chicagoland area, so tell us a little bit about the area where you live, because there's so many great areas in Chicago now, and especially when you're not actually in the city, I don't think you're a little bit outside, but one of the new, revived areas, yeah,
Colleen White 01:32
I do I live in. Technically, it's Chicago. However, I'm in a little village called Roscoe village that's on the northwest side of the city and beans has been to my house. It's more of a neighborhood area, so there's lots of young families and a park right by us, and really fun restaurants and cafes. So we like it. It's very walkable. You can hear the birds chirping. Sometimes you forget you're in the city, and I'm born and raised in the Chicagoland area, minus some detours. My family lived in Kansas City when I was little, and then I went to UW Madison for college, so I've been kind of in the middle of the country most, most of my life, and now in Chicago, Yep,
Dina Simon 02:14
yeah. And we told John Rich, and I were on the phone with him this weekend, and we told him what a gorgeous neighborhood you have, and you can walk to your bookstore. You can walk to cafes, to bars to grocery stores. It's so cool. It's really
Colleen White 02:27
cool. That's what I love about Chicago. You can live here for I've lived here for over a decade in the city, and you can find new neighborhoods all the time and just stumble upon them and have your new favorite restaurant. That's
John Simon Sr. 02:38
kind of amazing, because everyone knows of Wrigleyville, and you know, that was one of the first neighborhoods to start, I think the transition, I'll say, into a more of a family friendly neighborhood. And are you close to there, or is it
Colleen White 02:53
just we are we're about probably a mile and a half from Wrigleyville. We used to live in Wrigleyville proper. However, sometimes when the wind blows the right way, you can hear a concert perfectly from my house, now from Wrigley. So sometimes you feel far, and then sometimes I literally listened to a Morgan Wallen concert from my house. The wind was blowing right, so, yeah, we're pretty close to Wrigley. Got to go to a good team. Well,
John Simon Sr. 03:20
we lived in the northwest suburbs for quite a few years, I think about 14 of them, and that would be in the Schomburg Roselle area, but I knew, I think your grandparents, I think they were from like the Glen Ellyn Wheaton area. Yeah, you're at rich and Dina's wedding. One of my friends came to the wedding, and he knew your uncle, because they are your grandfather, because they went to the same church together. And it was kind of a strange thing to, you know, to meet a fellow church person at a wedding from a different family.
Colleen White 03:54
Oh, yeah, it's a very small world out there in Glen Ellen and wheaton, where I grew up as well. So, yeah, you'll, you'll randomly run into people like in Europe, that are from Glen Ellen or something. You just always seem to
John Simon Sr. 04:06
find each other. So you, you're married to Henry, yep, sure.
Colleen White 04:10
Am. So, yeah, my family, we have a big family. And my little family within the big family is my husband, Henry, and my dog, Sydney, who's
John Simon Sr. 04:19
quite the princess, and I think Sidney's a doodle. She
Colleen White 04:23
is. She's a bernadoodle. So she is not loving sarhi, but she makes stew, and she's just the sweetest thing. I'm a little bit obsessed. You'll see her in the little picture that we post, I think with this episode.
Dina Simon 04:37
Yeah, she is the best dog, and she's so good to you, and she is a princess, but she's just so sweet. Yeah, so
John Simon Sr. 04:44
now that we've caught up on a little bit about your personal life, is there anything else you'd like to share with us about that?
Colleen White 04:50
No, I don't think so. I think that's that's the gist living here in Chicago, hanging out my dog. Okay, why don't
John Simon Sr. 04:58
we move on to a little bit? How did you like Madison? I know we lived there from 86 to 93 so What years were you there?
Colleen White 05:07
When times I was there from 2008 to 2012 and I loved Madison. I missed it so much. It was really the best college town, but also, I think such a fun town in general. I know so many people raise families there or live there after school. We
John Simon Sr. 05:24
really enjoyed it there whenever all the years we lived there,
Dina Simon 05:28
yeah, and that's where so I when I went to the University of Minnesota my freshman year and then moved to Madison for my sophomore year. I So Colleen, I was there in June, so I was there for the summer, and then into the fall. And so that is one of the blessings, because I was only two hours from Madison to you in Chicago, and so I spent that's why I was able to spend so much time with you. And so that's a nice part for you too, just like Madison in Chicago is not far, so you were away from home, but close enough. And yeah, yeah, yeah. And she also had one of her cousins that went to college at the around the same time. Were you guys the same year? Or is Kelly a behind you? You're
Colleen White 06:06
behind? Yeah, that was really great having Kelly there. And then I met my husband at college, and his little sister actually just graduated from Madison last year. And again, the boundary world is a small world, because I was at the bookstore yesterday and I happened to meet a gal who is currently going into her senior year at Madison, a business marketing major like I was, and we're already connecting about the, you know, the postgrad experience, and just looking for roles outside of outside of college. And so that network of badgers is just very strong. And I love meeting other badgers.
John Simon Sr. 06:41
Nice. And that happened to me just about two weeks ago. I was at the grocery store here in Texas, where we live, and a lady had a badger shirt on, and I went up to her, and she said, Oh, my daughter's graduating this year from there, and we're getting ready to go back to get her back up to school and everything. And we started talking about places like Daddy dumplings and State Street brat and all the, all the fun places that we always hung at.
Colleen White 07:06
Oh, the best, the the Union. It could go on. We're going back in October, so I can't wait. I'm already planning my little food crawl of Madison.
Dina Simon 07:16
Are you going for a game?
Colleen White 07:17
Yes, I don't know, playing, though. Okay.
Dina Simon 07:20
Awesome.
John Simon Sr. 07:22
So Colleen, tell us a little bit, I think right now you're working for the ASPCA, and tell us a little bit about your love for animals.
Colleen White 07:30
Yeah, my love for animals has been a lifelong one, as as Dina knows, just from the earliest ages, my family would vacation in Carmel, California every summer, where the Monterey Bay Aquarium is it's one of the best aquariums in the country, if not the world, and I would go to camp there. And so would fall in love with sea otters and all the little creatures. And you know, my grandparents had dogs, I would just love on them when I'd visit them. And so when I first could start riding horses, I convinced my parents to let me do that. And, you know, gave them a PowerPoint presentation to convince them to get us a dog. And so started like acquiring our own little herd of of animals, and in riding horses competitively, growing up and and, yeah, so it's been a lifelong love for me. I My mom gave me my like childhood bin recently, and there's so many things in there that are, you know, future jobs I want, and it's like marine biologist, veterinarian and all these animal welfare things. And because I took such a detour when I when I sold my horses and went away to college and chose not to ride collegiately. And then my childhood dog passed away too, and I graduated from college, so I really had a decade plus of not a ton of animals in my life. And now I found my way back to doing this for a living. And I really do think that my vocation or my calling has to do with animal service now. So I'm just so happy that I've found my way really full circle to what seems really obvious now. And you look back at like, eight year old me, what I thought I'd be doing, but it's been a circuitous route. And I'm happy that I'm here.
Dina Simon 09:17
That's so awesome. And you know when you start out like when you graduated from college, you took a career path, and that just kind of followed itself. And as you just said, this pivot now, after you've had, you know, quite a few years of success and the pandemic, I mean, there was so so much that kind of happened, but then you were able to pivot, because you were able to say, what do I really want to do? Where do I want to spend my time 100% Yeah.
John Simon Sr. 09:41
And you also spend time volunteering at the Equine Therapy Center, and that has to be very rewarding for you, especially as a past writer. Oh,
Colleen White 09:51
it's so awesome. And, and I'll tell you, I think growing up, I really had this I love the animals. I love tours. Horses, but I got into such a competitive track with it, where I kind of forgot that horses are like such healing beings. They're so intuitive, and they're not just only useful when they can jump a certain height or win a ribbon or what have you. So I really think I needed time to kind of compost all of that, and now I'm back interacting with horses in my therapeutic work, where you're really, you know some of these horses, you're you're finding a second life for them, and you're taking amazing care of them, but they're also giving back to the program and helping folks that that really need access to these services. So it's just an act of love all around and then at the ASPCA, we have an equine welfare arm of the organization that's working on changing stigma around horse adoption and really helping with safety net services for people who struggle to keep horses. It's a really expensive thing to have horses, and so I'm just, I feel like I'm approaching my love of forces from a really different way than I used to. You know, it's not about a competition, it's just about the love. But I learned a lot of things that, you know, make me useful in a volunteer setting, because I know how to put on a saddle, and I know how to do all these things, and it's just a cool second act. It's a really cool flipping something on its head and and something doesn't always have to look one certain way. I don't know. I've just, I've been amazed, honestly, of like, How did I not know that equine guarantee existed? You were,
Dina Simon 11:31
you maybe weren't ready for it? Then right? Like, so now you're super open, and you're ready for it. And that's so cool. So Jen, she also tell him what you do. I think it's on Sundays where you work? Yeah,
Colleen White 11:45
I work at an independent bookstore as well, and that's just like a fun thing. Honestly, I work remotely, so it's a nice way for me to get out of the public and I'm a huge reader. I've read like 70 books this year already, and going for 100 if I can. And I really love to connect with people in that way, figure out what they like, to read and give them good recommendations and just kind of share some things that I've loved too. So yeah, books and animals like, no matter where I go, those are gonna kind of anchor whites. If I can find a bookstore and if I can find a therapy center or shelter with animals, I'll be okay.
Dina Simon 12:23
Yeah, and John, her mom, Margie, is a huge, avid reader as well, so a love that you guys share, and I think you probably know this, but just so you do, Benny was a huge reader like her. That was her thing. She just read and loved the stories and the places that it would take her. So it's also on the on the vigaard side as well. Not fun. We
Colleen White 12:44
were talking about tattoos. I think before we started the recording, maybe there's, like, a little book tattoo in there.
Dina Simon 12:49
Maybe there is, maybe there is, yes.
John Simon Sr. 12:53
So I read a little bit of information about some of the work experience you have and some of the leadership roles that you've had. And I think there was one quote in there about being smart, caring and people first and get out of the way and trust your team. Yeah,
Colleen White 13:11
yeah. Leadership was always like such a such a funny thing, because it's always felt intuitive to me on one hand, but then also so hard sometimes in practice. And what I mean by that is it's always felt really natural to me to like, want to work towards a common goal with people, and in order to do that, understanding that you have to know what motivates people. Not everyone's the same. You really have to get to the root of what they need to perform at their best. And I'm a big Empath, so I can really feel what others need. And if the team's, you know, not doing well, I can feel it, and I can get that sixth sense. And it's been really hard in practice sometimes to make those, you know, tough decisions around how to build a team, or who's best for your team. And so some like initial ways that I started leading were when I would go for an individual contributor to a manager of a team. And so in those situations, I knew what I was doing on the front lines. And so then it's more about coaching other people to do that well, but leading by example is really important. They can hear you on a phone call with a client, and kind of learn that way. And so I felt really in my element. I could, you know, recommend what was best for a client or how to handle a situation, and it was more about like the change management and those sort of things. And then at a certain point I changed into roles where I was leading more functionalized teams, where folks had a lot more subject matter expertise than I did in completely different realms. So I'm never going to understand them in the science of like tour formation. But how could. I coach these individuals to help the client achieve their ultimate outcomes. And how can I, you know, lead with my strengths first, and I think for Royal, spent a lot of time thinking about what I lacked and and more about, oh, shoot, I'm not the best at science, but I've really, in the past few years, gotten into more of a strengths based headspace, and what am I good at and and I'm good at the people, you know, people first understanding motivations, high level strategy and data analysis when it comes into that bigger picture, setting and business and and achieving objectives that way. So that's what I've really enjoyed with teams, is is learning how that all fits together. And I don't know if I like ever aspired to leadership, as much as it just is like something that I have found myself in, because I do see some of those dots connecting in my head, and I want to, you know, put X and Z together and get something that's bigger than both those parts. So yeah, been a big part of my journey.
John Simon Sr. 16:12
You talked a little bit about what it was like, and as a learning experience, disappointing a leader and maybe not doing your best work. And as the as the leader said, you know, you know, everybody does that, just don't let it happen again. And that's the great part about learning whenever you're in that leadership role.
Colleen White 16:33
Oh yeah, that for sure. And and when I think about like failures I've had, I really am at a point where I'm able to release from the individual instance and not ruminate it, about about it so much, you know, it's not about the analysis that didn't go perfectly. It's not about the, you know, the client that's mad. It's what can I take from it more broadly and and, yeah, I did have a leader who we it was a few organizations ago, and I really loved this leader. And we were asked to put together a data analysis that was really complex, and honestly, we didn't have the source data as we needed it, and a million reasons why it was hard. And I know that leaders don't want to hear all the reasons why things are hard, and so we may do with what we could. And ended up presenting some data that was not as accurate as it could have been. And you know, my leader was very much like, all right, like, let's break this down. How are we going to get the right numbers? How long is it going to take? And then very clearly to me, said, Don't let this happen again. It wasn't yelling. It wasn't and I've had leaders like I've had leaders that like shaming in front of other people. It was just me and and that was motivating to me, and
John Simon Sr. 17:55
it was a teaching moment to her that you jumped on and said, Hey, let's get it taken care of, and let's get it right
Colleen White 18:03
totally because I think most people want to do their best work. You're absolutely correct. Like, people don't want to be messed up, messing up left and right. And there are some, but I they get weeded out in interview processes and and I learned too, a lot about, like, speaking out more, and managing up and raising red flags early, like, hey, our source data isn't the best. In order to get better source data, it's like a 10 year process. But here's what we have. How can we, you know, caveat it, or how can we message it differently? Or can we get more people or more time? That's what I do more of now to avoid that, like, don't let it happen again moment. But I just always try and embody that leadership, because that what's that's what motivates me. And again, I think it motivates most people, because most people are just trying to show up and do good work,
John Simon Sr. 18:56
and without to correct data to begin with, you're actually set up for failure. Anyhow,
Colleen White 19:03
that's right, yeah, garbage and garbage out. How do we present it properly? How do we headline it so that they're not getting the wrong idea those scenes?
Dina Simon 19:12
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Right.
Colleen White 19:15
Now I'm in a very cross functional role where I'm leading a lot without authority. And I really love that too, because it's, it's very similar. It's all about kind of like knowing when to shut up and listen and knowing when to ask the right questions and and giving and taking knowledge. You know, not trying to be an expert at things you're not an expert at, but demonstrate expertise where you do have some applicable background. So yeah, yeah. I really, I really love what I'm doing in that regard right now, too much
John Simon Sr. 19:43
like the garbage in, garbage out, you have two ears and one mouth, so listen twice as much as you talk.
Colleen White 19:49
My dad always says that, yeah, yeah.
John Simon Sr. 19:53
That's a dad thing.
Dina Simon 19:55
I think it is. I think it is, yeah.
John Simon Sr. 19:58
So we talked about. For your life. We talked about leadership, and the third part is building legacies. So tell us about the legacies you would like to have.
Colleen White 20:08
Oh my gosh. I mean, I
John Simon Sr. 20:11
guess you're too young to
Colleen White 20:13
know, but I like, I'm such an old soul, I think about that a lot like that, that actually motivates me more than more than anything. That's kind of why I found myself, I think, in a nonprofit and, yeah,
Dina Simon 20:24
so remember legacy. So, like legacies, it's not something you just leave behind. It's, it's what you're doing right now. It's, you know, this us being able to do this together, you know, just the legacies, I strongly believe it's the things that we're living out on a day to day basis. It's not just something you love leave behind, not just about the
Colleen White 20:44
destination. Yes, exactly, bro. So yeah, I think part of it's okay, so yeah, to answer it in that way. So the journey, like I do, I do want people to feel good about the work they're doing when they're working with me or or when others work with them, and so I think that's about empowering other people. I think that's about leading with warmth and and really just being an authentic and vulnerable person so that others can see that, like, oh, that that's not so scary, and that's been a huge effort for me. I have not always been that way as a leader. I've struggled sometimes with, like, feeling like I can't be my real self in the workplace, and now I try really hard to be even if that means, like, talking about Taylor Swift in a meeting or something silly. So I really, I think when people are able to show up as their full selves, it's, it's the best. And so I just want people to, like, to not feel like, Oh, we got a really great project done, but I want them to feel like, Oh, that was kind of fun. That was like, I enjoyed that team that we worked with. So that's part of it. And I hope that people can take that time to slow down and be intentional and make sure they're working in organizations that their values aligned with, and making sure that, you know, they're not bringing their emotional baggage to work and snapping at someone when it's not their fault, like just really being that, that leader, and then, yeah, like, I, I'll get on my, like, animal welfare soapbox. Then I just I I see a world like when I'm not here anymore, or maybe if I still am, that's just a lot kinder to people and animals. I think that we're not doing our best as a society, and I think we can do a lot better the environment, on animals, on people who are struggling. And so I just see my work as like an active service in that aspect, and it's a lot bigger to me than just a paycheck. It's like my it resonates with me. And so I hope that, you know, laws are passed. I hope that, like, animals are rescued. I hope all of that continues to happen, and the data reflects that we're having real change. That's what really empowers me to do this work. And
John Simon Sr. 23:05
if I'm not mistaken, the month of August is Pet Adoption Month, yeah. And to see that on today's show this morning,
Dina Simon 23:13
yeah. And I mean, so every dog that we've had, we've always gotten them from the humane society. And Pash is that example, where we were her third family by the time she was one, and just can't imagine the 13 years later she's gonna be 14 in September. So the 13 years that we've had her, just what she's brought to our life. And you multiply that times, you know whatever. So love that it's gonna be Pet Adoption Month in August. I love that. I didn't know that. So Colleen, one of the things that your mother did when Mandy was a baby is and I know we still have some, and I think that I might have given some, even back to like Brooke, because of her love for horses. But your mom used to send stuffed animal after a stuffed animal after a stuffed animal of horses, including, like a big, huge horse that she could, like, lay on her sleeping bag. Was horses, but she totally was trying to get Mandy into horses when she was little so she could take after you.
Colleen White 24:09
I'm sorry in advance all your nice weekends.
Dina Simon 24:14
I know, yeah, so it didn't happen. But she says she loves horses, but she didn't obviously end up professionally riding like you did for a while, but super fun.
Colleen White 24:22
Yeah, it's a crazy life. My dream is to, like, have my own equine therapy center, like backyard horses, and do the whole shebang. So maybe one day, maybe
Dina Simon 24:33
one day you have many years ahead of you so that keep, keep dreaming that could be awesome. Well, anything else that you wanted to make sure that our listeners heard about you and your experience, any any last minute things that you want people to know? Oh, gosh, I
Colleen White 24:50
don't know. I think when I look back on my my resume, sometimes I'm like, What did I do for 10 years? Like, how would I get here? And so I. I'm almost like talking to this girl that I met from Madison, when I'm just thinking about, you know that that first job you take, or that second job you take, it might not be that like perfect thing that you imagined. I thought I wanted to be a lawyer like my mom a long time ago, and then I interned at a law firm and realized it wasn't for me and and so you might just have to kind of take things one step at a time, and just make sure that you're doing things that are values aligned, that they use your strengths and and just be intentional. And so now I can look back at my resume and say, Okay, in this role, I got the account management experience. In this role, I got operations management experience, and it can make sense to me now that way. And so it led me to animal welfare in this beautiful way that I think it was meant to but, and I I have this business background now that that is somewhat unique in the field, so I can help answer these business problems that that folks have and and bring this different skill set. And so, you know, when I really, really sit down and think about it, it makes a lot of sense. And, you know, it can be a long journey, and it can be a confusing journey. And so just, yeah, I think a lot of people struggle with that in their 20s. Sure,
Dina Simon 26:18
yeah, no. And I love that, because it is a journey. And I think that that it is you've got to you've got to realize that it is a journey. And so you're not going to get out of college and have the job. And so how do you take those steps? And as you said, as long as you're building something and you're being intentional about it, and you're not compromising your values based on who you're working with or for, those are all really key, takeaways, and I love that you're mentoring her. You just met her. And I'm sure there's many others that you do as you you know, are networking and meeting people, so that's awesome, and that's part of your legacy, right? That's you giving back, for sure. Yeah, I
Colleen White 26:53
remember being so confused, and, you know, graduating with a marketing degree and being like, I need a job title that says marketing in it. And of course, that's not the case for so many people and and you just take these twists and turns, but yeah, it's the intentionality of what am I learning from this? What skills am I building that will set me up for maybe the next role or the next stepping stone, and having that longer term idea in mind of what you might want to do again that could change, but keeping focus and
John Simon Sr. 27:24
I think the other the other thing, your positive attitude is contagious, and I'm sure you pass that on to a lot of other people. That's
Colleen White 27:32
so funny. I'm like, I actually, like, don't consider myself that much of a positive person, like in my inner monolog, but I don't know. I do think when I'm around other people, like, when we're having these deep conversations, then it can really, like, help and I can kind of near others and, like, lift others up. So because that, that really feeds me. So yeah, it's funny. I don't know. I'm like, Ooh, a positive person AM? I a positive person? But yeah, it's I love having these type of conversations. Yeah, yeah. You
Dina Simon 28:06
are a you are absolutely a positive person. And you, you've been through your own journey throughout life, in school and careers, and so in that journey, your learnings that you've gone through to know yourself really well and how to handle situations. Those are other ways that you absolutely just give back to people in a very positive way. For sure.
Colleen White 28:26
Yeah, yeah, yeah, to name that beans, because I think it's important, like, I have struggled with mental health, so I think that's important to destigmatize. And yeah, it is so much about the personal and the professional, you can't fully tease those apart. And that's why I really had to learn to not seek this, like work life balance, but just to to think of my life as one thing and work as a big part of that. And so I want all to gel together and just be a part of the person that I am. So yeah, thanks for saying that, beans and yeah, and it's, it
Dina Simon 28:58
is important. You said whole person, right? So we, if we're asked to be anything less than our whole person, that's that's not a good environment. So, so yeah, yeah. And you have found that in your new job, how long have you been there? Now, a
Colleen White 29:12
year, over a year. Yeah, you work on really cool things. We're building up the project management office. So that means building the infrastructure for project management at the whole organization, and getting to consult on individual projects as they arise. So it's fun because it's building I love to build, and it's never a dull moment. There's always something new going on and so, and I get to go really, really deep with teams, which is fun, nice,
Dina Simon 29:44
awesome. Well, we're super excited that we had you on the podcast. So John, probably the first time you met Colleen, potentially, was at our wedding because she was a flower girl, yes. So it might have been just because there were those. Was it Yeah, with you down in Texas.
John Simon Sr. 30:01
And then I think Patrick was a ring.
Dina Simon 30:05
There he was, yes, yeah,
Colleen White 30:07
the great tornado of Texas, yes,
Dina Simon 30:11
yes. That was a day. The weather was terrible. But Colleen, again, I love you. Super excited for John to get to know you a little bit better. And I know there will be opportunities for you guys to see each other in the future, but thank you for wanting to be on our podcast. You were leaned in super fast, and we're excited about what we were doing. So thank you for that. Hopefully other family members now will step out too and want to be a part of it.
John Simon Sr. 30:35
So I think they'll be jealous and they're going to want to jump in on it. So I agree we we look forward to that. Well, yeah, cool
Colleen White 30:42
thing. I'm all for you guys had a conversation, and then you just do it. And I love that you don't just talk, you do. So I was so excited to see that you put something like this together. I've loved the episode so far. And, yeah, who's next, right?
Dina Simon 30:58
Who's next? So we do. We have two people that we are connected to in business that are next, but no family members yet that have said, Sign me up. So open casting call. Thank you, Colleen, for being on our podcast. I'm so excited that you were willing to lean in and be on as I said, You were my first love. I've loved you all of your life, and I'm so proud of you. I'm proud that you were a badger. You went on to get your MBA, and you are super passionate about making this world a better place. And I just know that you've made my life a better place because you've been in it all these years. And I love you. I look forward to continuing to see where the journey takes you. And I thank my father in law for being my co host on this podcast, and we do have an open casting call, so if you're interested in being on we'd love to hear from you, and thank you, and until we talk again, you.