I'm looking at her and I'm like, you look very familiar to her. And she runs over to me, Mrs. Manamat. And I'm like, oh my gosh, it is you. And, she was through the program the whole time. Her adopted father had spoken to me and told me that this was like the one true constant thing that she had had, like in her life. Girls in our country are actually in a confidence crisis. Data shows that one in three girls consider suicide seriously. And that is actually local data to Southwest Florida. So we have a really giant event coming up on December 6 at JetBlue Park. And so we have a glow run.
We've got live music by Charlie Pace, who's just this amazing local singer-songwriter. And then we also are celebrating with fireworks at the end. We are a staff of two. Myself as the executive director, we have a full-time program director. We really put a lot of time into making sure that our volunteers feel appreciated and cared for. Because quite frankly, if we didn't have them, our program wouldn't exist. Number one thing that I get from kids is, "I don't like running." Well, we really sneak the running in. The girls hardly notice that they're running. Like they are playing. It was a middle school team and they were talking about setting boundaries.
They were given scenario cards and they did a loop around the track. And as they went from cone to cone on the track, they stopped with their scenario and said, "Okay, well, what would I do? Step one." Over 70% of girls in Southwest Florida are reporting feeling sad or depressed. One in three girls seriously consider suicide. But there's a program that's changing that reality. One 5K at a time. Kristen Manamat spent 16 years in the classroom watching young girls struggle with confidence, comparison, and the pressure to be perfect. Then she discovered Girls on the Run and everything changed. Here's what makes this different.
At the finish line of every race, girls don't just cross and celebrate themselves. They run back to get their friends who haven't finished yet. They hold hands. They lift each other up. In 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General called out Girls on the Run by name. The only physical activity-based program proven to help both physical and mental health in young girls. Today, Kristen shares why girls are in crisis, how movement and mentorship are saving lives, and what happens when you teach young girls that other girls aren't their competition, they're their partners. This is a conversation that every parent, educator, and community member needs to hear.
If there's ever any way or however we can support the group, if there's something like that you think might be useful, that we set that up on a regular basis where we bring a group in or 10, 20, 30 on a Saturday or whatever day works and give them that as a gift. I know for a fact they would love that. One little girl would not love that. Yeah, well good. Good. Whatever we can do to just have them believe in who they are. Just show them how beautiful they are inside and out and give them that love in our way. Love that. We have to make that happen. We're so in line. Good. Good. Good. Good. Yeah, so you drove down here and I guess you drive down here on a regular basis.
Yeah. Yeah. A couple times a week at least. I do, yeah. So how do you do that?
Well, luckily I work remotely. So we don't have a physical office. There's myself and we have a program director that's full time.
Thankfully, my children are older. So I have three kids. They're 25 on, tomorrow, he'll be 25. 25 year old? How you do? Get out of town.
You have a 21 year old son and my daughter's 15. So she's really, really busy and we're basically just her personal Uber at this point. Yeah, right? My background, like I said, was in elementary education. So I stayed in the classroom for 16 years when my kids were in school with me. And the schedule work, they came with me. They came home with me.
Now that everybody's older, after COVID I left the classroom, a actual paying job with girls on the run became available. And it just kind of was like the right time in my life to be able to devote some time to my career where I hadn't really been able to do that before. Yeah. Explore some different things. And so, yeah, my daughter's totally supportive. She's like my number one volunteer. She's totally on board. And so I'm able to spend my time really networking with the community and talking about what we do and getting our mission out there to as many girls as we can. But you've always been involved with kids. You've always had some-- I have, yes.
I've always had a soft spot for kids. And when I was in the classroom, of course, as a teacher, I was really focused on curriculum. So reading, writing, et cetera, and so forth. And watching progress and making goals and collecting data and things like that were really important to me. So most after-school programs are just that. They're a place for kids to be safe and to be taken care of, get some activity, get their homework done. Girls in the Run is completely different. So a research-based curriculum that we collect pre- and post-season data, longitudinal studies.
And so I was really interested-- Well, what does that mean? So we track girls from when they started the program, say, in third grade, and continue surveying them year after year to see where they're at in their lives. There's actually a longitudinal study going on right now. Girls that are currently in the 10th grade that participated as third graders. And I'm super excited because my daughter happens to be part of that study. So she gets to answer all the survey questions, whether she wants to or not. But yeah, so our program is proven to be successful.
We were actually called out by name by the surgeon general in 2023 as the only physical activity-based after-school program that helps both physical and mental health. So we're really a legitimate program that I would love to see every girl in Southwest Florida be a part of. If every girl, in my opinion, my vision, every girl goes through this program, they come out feeling confident, and they see other girls as their partners. And they want to cooperate and collaborate instead of compete. Everybody lifts themselves higher, and everybody is better off for it. So what is it? Yeah, great question. I get the question all the time, like, well, what are you doing?
It's just a running program, right? So we are a running-based program, but really the heart of it is our curriculum. So we have an eight-week curriculum that's delivered twice a week by volunteer coaches. So we have 120 volunteer coaches this season. Most of them are teachers, so they're teaching all day, and then they're staying an extra hour and 15 minutes twice a week to mentor girls through this program. Why would they do that? Because they know the importance of it. So girls in our country are actually in a confidence crisis.
Data shows that one in three girls consider suicide seriously, and that is actually local data to Southwest Florida. So there's a study that's given out, or a survey that's given out to every high school and middle school student called the Florida Youth Tobacco Survey. And they ask questions about substance use and things like that, but they also ask questions about mental health.
And over 70% of the girls in Southwest Florida are reporting feelings sad or depressed over two weeks per year. 70? 70%, yes. And boys are reporting feelings as well. But the problem is, not the problem, but the issue is that they're reporting it at about half the rate of girls. So although we do need, all kids need help, right? This is a hard world to live in right now. We know that girls are facing specific challenges that girls on the run really addresses. So they're going through lessons on how to make intentional friendships, how to be a bold listener, how to share what's in your heart and help others to do the same.
And all throughout the while, they're training for a 5K. So that's where our physical activity really starts taking place. We use running as a vessel because it's so accessible. All you need are our shoes and a road. It could be replaced with swimming, bicycling, anything. But we know that physical activity is super important and critical to mental health. And so all the while, the girls are training for a 5K, which most of them have never run at all. And so when we say you're going to run 3.1 miles, they're like, there's no way.
So they're throughout the lessons, they're taking things like yesterday's lesson that I observed, I loved so much. So it was a middle school team. And they were talking about setting boundaries.
How important is that as an adult setting a boundary? Yeah. So they were given scenario cards and they did a loop around the track. And as they went from cone to cone on the track, they stopped with their scenario and said, okay, well, what would I do? Step one, what would I do? Step two. And these were real life scenarios like your friends didn't do their project. And so they asked you to allow them to put their name on it and make it theirs. So like, what are you going to do? Or you're at a party and there's no grownups and you don't feel comfortable. Like these are all scenarios where these kids are actually experiencing them.
And so they're really working through that. And so at the end of the lesson, we're like, okay, so what can you do?, if you're uncomfortable with a situation and their answer is, well, I can set a boundary.
So all the while they're moving, they've run now a mile and a half while they're thinking about this or so. And they're really getting that lesson ingrained into their toolbox. Fascinating to me because boundaries are something that usually
It seems to me that people don't discover until they realize that it's a real problem in their life. It is. It's typically what it is. And so, yeah, we talked about things like, okay, this is a comfort zone for me. This is a stretch zone for me. This is uncomfortable for me. I need to set a boundary here. So really important, practical things that, we teach the girls and all the while they're getting ready for their, for their race. And every single girl crosses that finish line at the race. And one of my favorite parts, I get goosebumps like it's been, 15 years, but every single girl likes the ends at the finish line.
I see everybody holding hands, running back to get their friends that haven't finished yet. And it's just like, they're really just truly celebrating one another and their accomplishments. Yeah. And that alone is a big accomplishment. Yeah, it's huge. It goes along the way. That to me is, is remarkable that they're being taught life skills, like life, real life skills that matter throughout your entire life. Not when you get to a place where you go, wow, I keep having this relationship problem. Mm hmm. And like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you have to get therapy and undo all the stuff that was wound up in you.
How do you, that number of volunteers, how do you lead that group? I mean, that's a gotta be an incredible, it's really challenging, actually, because we are a staff of two.
Myself as the executive director, we have a full time program director. And we really put a lot of time into making sure that our volunteers feel appreciated and cared for. Because quite frankly, if we didn't have them, our program wouldn't exist. So our program literally runs on volunteers. So we make sure that we appreciate our coaches in lots of different ways throughout the season with little treats and gifts and things. But really, the coaches are there because they know that the program works and they really, really care about the girls.
It's nice as a former teacher. And then as a coach, it's nice to have that relationship with the girls, because you're in a totally different situation than you're in the classroom. You don't have to sit perfectly still and you can be silly and joke. And, it's just a really nice way for kids to have a positive adult role model and somebody that they can count on each week to be there. And so the coaches really find as much value in it as, as the kids do. Almost every coach tells me that they get as much out of the lessons as their girls do. So it's really a win-win for everyone. Wow. So your background as a teacher, was that helpful for you?
And you're dealing with a curriculum, right? Do you have a curriculum here as well that you? We do. And so our national headquarters develops the curriculum with researchers and teams of educators and other educational experts. And we deliver the curriculum through our coaches. So we have a national coach training program that we facilitate locally. And so we teach coaches how to go through a lesson.
Our go-ter, which is our acronym, approach to behavior, which is we consider a negative behavior and a chance for learning. So let's take this, like there's a reason for it. Let's dig deeper. Why are we acting this way? And how can we handle those big emotions appropriately?
How does a girl end up in a program like this or how do they find out about it? What are the qualifications? Yeah. So pretty much we are at elementary and middle schools is our top areas that we're in, but we're also in centers like the YMCA, the Boys and Girls Clubs. So most of the time we are at a school. Girls will hear about it from other girls at school and register online to join. We make it really easy if a school doesn't have our program to start a program. We provide literally everything. We don't like charge the school anything to go there. We just need two volunteers. They come to our training. We give them everything they need for a great season.
And that's it. The school has the program and some of our schools, since we started in Charlotte County, we've been there the longest. And a lot of the schools that have been with us for, five, six, 10 years have really incorporated girls in the run into the culture of their school. So they're having things like little color runs throughout the year. They have boys running teams that will join us that are 5k. So it's become a culture of health for the schools that we're in. But we're typically in public and charter private schools settings. Are they then referred to this program? Because it's all girls. It's for any girl. Yep. It's for any girl at all.
We advertise, obviously, tons on social media and through school network
Newsletters and things like that. But most of the time, girls just hear about the program and want to participate. We do have many situations where a guidance counselor will contact us and say, I think this program would be really good for this student. Let's get her on the team.
Something that's really important to our organization's mission is that we want our program accessible for any girl who wants to participate. Yeah. So we have a standard program fee that covers things like their curriculum and their 5k shirts, medals, journals, etc.
But we also have a full scholarship, no questions asked program. So if you need assistance in any sort of way, you have to make a payment. You need a lower, adjust your family's income level. You can't pay anything at all. Your girl's automatically welcome. We don't ask any questions. We typically provide between 50 and 60 thousand dollars in financial aid every school year so that girls can participate, which we're really proud of being able to do. So we have 451 girls this season. Around 45 percent are on some sort of financial aid this season. So we're helping around half of our girls participate, which we're, we're proud of our local supporters that help us do that.
Across three counties? Across four counties, actually. So we're in Sarasota, Charlotte, Collier, Lee, and DeSoto. Wow. Oh, wow. That's a wide range. It's a big area. Yeah, yeah. It is a large geographic area for sure.
Just incredible that there's something like this. We had a dear friend who lost their daughter to suicide at 14 years old. At 14 and my heart just broke like whatever was in her world, was just, so beyond.
Comprehending for her. It was more than she could handle. Yeah. Yeah. And it just, it just really shook me up. It still shakes me up., it was a couple of years ago. And I think of that little angel and, we sort of committed ourselves to doing whatever we could to support help and whatever we can. Because it just breaks my heart that there could be that much pain at that age. It's tender. This girl was beautiful. She had, she was a cheerleader. She was athletic. She was smart. So much. You would never imagine that she was in that much pain. Yeah.
And it just, and there was nothing to, that there's a structure or even a mentor or somebody they were creating relationships with. Somebody for her. Yeah. Supporting this is, that's a beautiful thing that I never knew existed. And I like the fact that it's around wellbeing and running and health and that part of it too. But they don't have to be from that background to participate. No. And, we have runners that come to our races and they're, they're serious. Like they're at the start line, like ready to, ready to, ready to run. Yeah.
And then we have people with strollers and puppies and, a couple of our girls use assistive devices, devices that, help them complete the event. So we're, we're very inclusive of any pace or device or any way that you want to come participate, cheer, volunteer, run, whatever you want to do. We're, we're happy to celebrate everyone. Well, you weren't a runner when you started. I was not a runner when I started. I was like, I do not run. And that is one of our, our big things with coaches are like, oh, I can't run. And it's like, it's really more of a mentorship program.
And I ended up running my first 5k with my first team and went on to run a couple of marathons and half marathons after that. And it became an important part of my life and my social life. I ran with a group and that was like, we had a support system and it really became something that, became a part of my life. Yeah. And cause you went from no way. Yeah, no way.
Absolutely not. Marathon. Something like that. Wow. That's awesome. Yeah, I'm inspired by that. I love hearing that, that there's something like this for these girls because, really want to, I just am still, I have so much empathy for that, that, that, what they're going through with social media. And what are some stories that you have from some of your girls that touched your heart or really impacted you? So one of our girls that I had when I was actually teaching in elementary school, so I don't remember what year it was, but she was in fourth grade.
She had a name and a first and a last name and I coached her for a few years. She was an awesome kid. I knew she was going through the adoption process. So she had a foster family. She was moved around a few times. So wasn't really sure where she ended up when she went to middle school. So two years ago, I was doing a site visit in the position that I'm in now and happened to go to the middle school. And I saw on the roster, a girl with the same first name, different last name, but I'm looking at her and I'm like, you look very familiar to her. And she runs over to me, Mrs. Manamat. And I'm like, Oh my gosh, it is you. And, she was through the program the whole time.
Her adopted father had spoken to me and told me that this was like the one true constant thing that she had had like in her life. And she knew, even if maybe she had to switch schools or after school programs, or if she had to switch houses, like she always had girls on the run to be there for her. And it became a really, really important part of her, her identity, which was, she, she wasn't a runner and she didn't really have a whole lot going on, but she realized that was something that she could set a goal for and really practice. And it became something tangible for her to hold on to.
In addition to the mentors that she was able to connect with over the years and her little siblings are going through the program now. She still comes to the five K's. So it's been, it's been a cool process watching her grow. Yeah.
So that was, that was a really cool story. And another one that I'll never forget is a girl who season one used a chair to go across the finish line.
Season two, her dad was a little before the finish line with a Walker and she transferred from the chair to the Walker and walked across the finish line. And that season we haven't had Santa at the finish line. Oh, cool. And so we, here we are with our medals, like ready, ready to give her her finish metal. And she zooms right past us straight to Santa. That's awesome. Like that was amazing. And every season she walks just a little bit further. And, year after year, I've watched her grow. So this is maybe her fourth or fifth season.
And I'm like, we have a five K coming up in a few weeks and I'm so excited to watch her and see what she, see what she comes up with this season. Yeah, that's beautiful. I always wonder, because you came from a secure, teaching job, where there's a lot of security, you got your benefits, your retirement. There's a lot of things. And to make the shift to the not for profit world, which is, it's, you never know where your next meal's coming from. And so you don't do it for the money.
Yeah. What, what had you do that? Like what has somebody did? It always fascinates me because I know it's not the, it's one of the tougher routes. Yeah, it is. And going from, we're an independent council, so I handle the finances. I handle, everything and, they're, they're hit a point not too far ago, earlier this year when things were a little hairy. Where we were a little nervous that we weren't going to be able to, purchase the things that we needed for the season and get the things done. And I came from a family that was very, if you need money, you work for it. You don't ask, you don't ask for handouts. You don't beg.
And I've been learning, and I was a teacher, so didn't need to, oh, I did, but I didn't need to, but been working really hard on fundraising courses and some professional development. And a line that's really stuck with me is no margin, no mission., I'm like, okay, that is true. If there is no, funds, if we're not asking for, the margin where we can't complete the mission. And I know that like when I donate to my son's basketball team and my name's on the back of the shirt, I feel really good about that. I'm like, Hey, I helped. And so it's something that I've been, personally working on is to remember to
Remember to remember that basically is that it feels good to give. And, fundraising is really the art of showing people the joy of giving.
And so, being in charge of the finances, it was something that was a big, a big switch for me and making sure that I was really staying on top of, of being bold enough to ask for what was, what was needed in order to complete the mission that we had to complete. What was that like in the beginning when you made that shift? Was that 20? Like 2022. Yeah, I went from teaching in the classroom or in the classroom, 2020 online, 2022, and then into this role. Honestly, I had no training. I just kind of was flying by the seat of my pants until I could figure it out. I did focus a lot on events because I was like, again, I'm like, I can't ask for money. I have to earn the money.
So I focused a lot on fundraising events and how can I earn this money? And then I, like I said, after taking some fundraising courses, I feel like I've really learned a lot of business acumen and things about financials and ways to handle nonprofit financials. And it's very similar to a business I've noticed. Really, there's no difference besides the taxes. Like everything else is more or less the same. Maybe a little more paperwork.
But, but learning that business side of, of the organization has been a challenge. But something that I didn't think that I was going to want to learn about, but I've noticed that fundraising is something that is interesting to me and I've liked learning about and I've, taken some subsequent courses in and yeah, yeah, well, it's just two of you. There is just two of us. Yes. And my, the program director, Danielle is also very super interested in learning. She's an excellent, a grant writing. And so she's a really great person to have on our team. So we really, really depend on things like that. So we are tiny team of two that, that just put our whole heart into it.
Is there like a charter or a part of a bigger network of them? Yeah. So for the entire council, we have about 163 independent councils all through the United States. And I want to say Toronto and Quebec, but we're in two, two places in Canada. So we are international now. And all of us are independently run. So we purchase curriculum and licensure and insurance and things like that through HQ. But primarily we're just running our own. It's similar to a franchise in a business situation. Okay. So you can get support material and things like that. Okay. Your hair looks great. I was like feeling like I had a curl going weird. No, it looks really good.
It's showing up while it's laying really good. How are you doing? I'm good. Good. Now that I know that my curls, I was like, no, it's spot on. I can see it. No, no, no. It's, it's really laying well. It's like, that's going to look good. I think it's going to look really good. Definitely is good. So your, your upbringing, your mom, I'm curious, like your DNA, like what had you be the way that you are, that you would give, you would be of service the way that you are. Cause you're impacting a lot of lives, but you had to give up a lot for that too. So your, you moved to Florida from Jersey. Yep. So you're not, you're kind of a Jersey girl, but not a Jersey girl.
Cause you were raised mostly here. I like to claim that I'm a Jersey girl. All right. All right. But no, I moved here in like 1993. I was like, elementary schoolish age. And, yeah, I definitely grew up primarily in, a Pongorda area of, of Charlotte County. my mom was a stay at home mom for a long time. My dad was a contractor. We lived in New Jersey. And when we moved here, we were in, he would purchase a house, renovate a house. We would move. So I was in a different house, different school, to this day, I've never lived in a house for longer than three years, which I was like, Oh no, but honestly it's fun to me.
It's like, okay, cool. so she was a stay at home mom for a really long time. I have one sister when she went off to kindergarten, my mom was bored. she had a finance degree, and she was actually someone who don't know the exact exact details of it, but was somebody who programmed one of the very first ATM machines, like, in the eighties when they came out. So she has this like computer and, engineering type background, accounting background and such. Yes. Really? Yes. And then was home with kids for, 12 or 13 years, until my sister was in kindergarten. And then she went back to school, got basically a certification in Florida.
If you have degrees and things like that, you could become a teacher pretty easily. it became a teacher and was teaching, pretty much since the time that I was, in early middle school on up, she retired a few years ago, a few times. she is currently full time working again. teaching, teaching. Yep. But she was a teacher. I really saw the value of, the impact that you can make on kids. And I always wanted to leave a legacy of some sort. I always wanted to make an impact. I never really felt good enough to just like go to work and come home and not care. it was always that kid. It was very much like, that's not fair. And, like want to fight for justice.
And I was just kind of one of those, like, how can I make, how can I make an impact here and how can I help? I always wanted to be a helper. So teaching really gave me an outlet for that. And when this became available, although, in a classroom, you're impacting, 20, 30 kids at a time and over the course of a few decades, that's lots of kids. And although I'm not working, although I am coaching this season, although I'm not working with children directly now, I know that the work that I'm doing is directly impacting them. And I'm now impacting instead of 30 kids a year, 900 kids a year.
So it's, it's not exactly the same, but I feel like the impact that I'm making is, is something that's going to make its mark here. And I feel like we're just growing and growing. And I think Southwest Florida is just going to become, a great, a great place for girls to be and confident and leaders and doing all the good things. When did you, when did you know that you were going to go into teaching a point in your life? I had kids really young. So, going back to, I wish I had girls on the run when I was a kid, I wasn't a super confident kid, had kids really young still with my husband. but we, I was very young when I had them and daycare is insane.
And so when I saw what my mom was doing, I liked what she was doing. I was volunteering with her at that point every day. Because I was homeschooled and I realized that this is pretty, this is a pretty great career. There's lots of opportunities., you have time off your schedule matches with your kids. And I really fell in love with it. Although when I first started teaching, I was not putting in the right amount of hours, you're supposed to leave with your kids, but my kids were at daycare till five 30 because I was a first year teacher. And, that didn't, didn't work out exactly how you think it will. But, it was a great career.
I have absolutely, it was, it was absolutely great for my family. I feel like I still keep in touch with a lot of the students that I had. now a lot of them are married and having children and I'm going at their weddings and I'm seeing their babies and there's this, like, it's just been a very cool life to have had. and what's cool about what I'm doing now is I'm seeing girls that I had sometimes as students back as parents with girls that are in the program. but yeah. So you've got that heart of a teacher that you just carried over to this program. In your soul. Yeah.
That helping, I think that helper and that, I don't want really wanting to make an impact on, on kids and understanding what makes an impact and where to spend the time and where to spend the effort. I think that teaching really helped me to, to understand that a lot deeper. Yeah. And you're, you're the older sibling. I am. Okay. And your sister. So how would your mother describe you? Mm. My mother would probably describe me as stubborn and determined. I would say yes.
And I, and I probably wouldn't disagree with either of those., probably sometimes they could have been a little softer, but for the most part, I think that, they've, those two qualities have served me well in, making sure that things got done and, to the best and that they could possibly be. And, you need a certain amount of stubbornness to complete tasks that you aren't necessarily being thanked for, or, compensated for, yeah, a little, a little bit of that determination helps do. Yeah. Well, I'm sure that comes in handy as a executive director, too. You gotta hit walls that you weren't planning on hitting and you gotta deal with that.
And how are we going to get around this and navigate this? Just like we were talking earlier about how life is kind of defined now by how we talk about our past in, well, was that before COVID or after COVID? Was it before the hurricane or after which hurricane and which, which point was it? Yeah. Yeah. Our, our measures of, of that. That's really changed all of our like vernacular, almost like, yeah, just two different ways of living., there was that living and now there's this living, your oldest son, 25. Yep. What's his name? Brandon. How would Brandon describe you? Brandon would probably describe me as also stubborn. He would describe me as hardworking, I think.
I think that he really appreciates the work that he sees me putting in and he understands that, he doesn't, he doesn't live here anymore. He lives in South Carolina now, but, he's, why South Carolina? How do you end up there? Well, he started with a girl. The girl didn't work out, but he fell in love with the area. So he is there now with, with a really good friend who's his roommate. So he's, he's very happy with what he's doing. And so he's working for a gentleman who does a business acquisition. He's an entrepreneur who does some speaking engagements and things. So my son's doing his social media and filming and things like that.
So he gets to travel and do a bunch of cool stuff. And yeah, so he would probably describe me as hardworking and I would describe him as hardworking as well. He is, he's always been that way. And I think that I hope that he, maybe acquired that from me or at least gleaned it a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Who else growing up had a big impact on your life and big influence on who you are?
I would say probably my husband had a really large impact in my life. We've been together forever. So, we grew up together and started goals together and, that was important to us. And so he's made an impact in, in lots of different ways. And we continue to grow and evolve and always looks different. And as the time goes on, but, definitely was an impactful person in my life. You said you get to Naples quite a bit, a couple of times a week at least. What's your favorite part of Naples?
So I recently visited the district, which I think is in Fifth Avenue-ish area. That was a really cool spot. And man, there are some great restaurants around there too. Yeah. So I love that area., it's obviously tons to do and eat and see. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What's up pure ways. I don't ever go there. Well, it's where people are. I mean, that's the next growth spot, but it's not quite there yet. So we do have Sunseeker, which is that big resort on the Harbor. There's not a ton there yet, but it was just acquired by another hotel chain. And so they're building and developing some new restaurants. I'm excited to see what is going to be there.
It is a resort now and they, they have a lot of restaurants, retail space, but they haven't filled it yet. Okay. So that is up and coming. I would say it is right over the 41 bridge. If you're going from Punta Gorda to Port Charlotte, okay. Punta Gorda is first then. Okay. And Fisherman's village is another one in Punta Gorda, who is another one that's doing a huge renovation. So I would say in the next year or so, we're going to have a lot of places, but at the moment there's not quite a lot going on. We have an awesome restaurant called Leroy's. That's in downtown Punta Gorda. They are probably the most popular one I round, I would say.
What's the difference between Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte, or how would you describe the difference in the tip? So, so Port Charlotte, I learned this when I did a leadership class recently. So I participated in leadership Charlotte. And what I learned was that when they developed the county of Charlotte County, there really was no city planning. So they didn't think to develop retail and residential correctly. So what happened was is we have just stretches and stretches of residential and we have no retail. So Port Charlotte, as it stands right now, TBD. I don't know what they're going to do with that. Punta Gorda is really up and coming.
There's a lot of new buildings and that's really due to the hurricanes. Everything there has been damaged so many times that pretty much everything is brand new or fortified and renovated. So Charlie hit there pretty good. Charlie hit the whole county. Port Charlotte is a Punta Gorda and everywhere in between basically. That was a bad one. But the last few that we had primarily affected Punta Gorda and then of course, Boca Grande and Englewood areas as well. With the water. Yes, the water was just devastating to those areas. We had never had that. Anyway. Yeah, so Punta Gorda has done a good job though.
The businesses have come up with some kind of lock system that they've used or that they've installed that should protect it. But hopefully we don't have that problem again for a while. But and they've since rebuilt whatever was messed up. Pretty much everything has been rebuilt, which is really nice. And almost everything has been reopened. And then there's still some things that they're building new and adding on to. Yeah. Well, so you're kind of right in the middle because you could go north to you. Yeah. Love Sarasota. We serve Sarasota. I love downtown Sarasota in a like main street area.
Tons of good restaurants there. And, yeah. Yeah, you got the best. Everywhere I go, there's something great to see. Yeah, it's a great area to live in. Yeah. What schools in Collier County are you working with? So Collier County we're currently at. I'm going to know I'm going to mess this up because Danielle is the expert on this. But we are at Vineyards, Pelican Marsh. We are at Seagate. Yes, we are at community school Naples. We are at the Franz Ross, or I'm sorry, the Fran Cohen Center at the Salvation Army. We should be at Grace Place next season. We have a few other Collier schools that we're going to be in next season.
And I'm definitely a handful that I'm missing right now. And you could be at any school. We could be at any school super easily. If anybody in Collier County listens, we're going to be in the CCPS activities guide that's coming out in December that all the kids will get coming home from school before break. I don't have information about our program, but we would love to be at every single school in Southwest Florida. And I honestly feel like if every single girl, even half the girls went through this program, what a difference that would make if half the girls were walking around confident and collaborative instead of competing with one another and working in silos.
Yeah. What's a way a parent could, who's interested in having their child go through something, what's the way they could address that with their child? How could they talk to them about it to say what it is or to have them see what's possible for this? Yeah, so I would direct them to our website. I would tell them what we do. A lot of times we get, well, I don't like running. Number one thing that I get from kids, I don't like running. Well, we really sneak the running in. The girls hardly notice that they're running. They are playing. They're playing.
So that's really something that I would try to focus on with the kids, but I would definitely direct them to our YouTube channel where they can see what a practice looks like in action. They see the girls having fun and playing games and interacting with their teammates and really seeing what a practice looks like. And every single, we have do, like I said, pre and post season surveys. We have 99 to 100% of parents and girls claiming and stating that they feel more confident, that they feel happier, that they are more physically active. And so the results really speak for themselves. Would any teen or any girl in this age group
What would signify to them that something like this could be useful for them? They have to be struggling with something. Could they be? Would they be? What's what's the girls on the run is for anybody who wants a place to belong. If you just want a team you want a place to be feel safe, be yourself, play some games, have a teammate that you can count on, have a really cool coach that you can call coach and that, you can depend on. Yeah, that's really what it's all about. You're going to learn some great lessons that you can use every single day, every single lesson that we teach you could use tomorrow in class.
And so really, it's just for anybody who wants a place to belong, wants a place to have fun and to be themselves. And it takes place. What's the commitment for a couple times a week, eight weeks long, twice a week, and then we have the 5k at the end of the season. So this 5k is taking place on December 6. Next season will start mid February and our 5k will be on April 26 and 27 in Pana Gorda and in Naples. Okay, so have one up there for the school. Yeah, normally we do two a year, but we're celebrating our 15th birthday this year. Yeah. So we have a really giant event coming up on December 6 at Jet Blue Park, doing it in the evening. And so we have a glow run.
We've got live music by Charlie Pace, who's just this amazing local singer songwriter. And then we also are celebrating with fireworks at the end. This is December 6. December 6, yes. At Jet Blue Park. At Jet Blue Park. And the 5k's that we do our community based events. So our girls are in the program. Obviously, they're participating with their coaches, but we also have all kinds of community members, they're running buddies
Random supporters, families that want to hang out and have a good evening. Yeah. So we've got quite a few people and kind of people, few people registered already and looking for a few more. Great. And so that's all they're all going to be together like this season, all the girls are going to be together there. So we have 28 teams this year. So they're all 28 are going to be together at this race. And then next season, we'll go back to our normal double races. But we thought it would be really fun to celebrate our birthday together at a at one big race this year. Yeah. Let's see if
You're a golf, you middle school, if you're there, we are not a golf, you middle school, but I would love to be. And another great thing about it is the middle schoolers also go on a lot of times to high school and come back down as junior coaches. Oh, awesome. So what I love about the junior coach program is now we have 15, 16, 17 year olds that are relearning lessons on how to set a boundary, how to be confident, how to be a good listener. And so they're learning these things all over again as well. And we have a few junior coaches this season that participated as girls on the run participants when they were in elementary school, which I think is really cool.
So that's super exciting. My granddaughters in middle school this year. And it just, it's so interesting for me to hear what is going on in middle school. Yeah. Yeah, because elementary school was just five minutes ago. Now they make this big jump. Yeah, they got eighth graders there. And eight is a big gap between sixth and eighth grade. Life and maturity skills and or what the experimental stuff is going on. And our Heart and Soul program, which is for our middle schoolers, really teach the girls how to navigate all the different parts of their life, their spirit, their bodies, their hearts, their minds, their voices.
And it really talks about like I was saying, those scenarios that they really run into on a day to day basis. Like, you hear this in the cafeteria and you're uncomfortable, like, what do you do? Your friend says this, what do you do? These aren't, these aren't things that are so far fetched that they're not going to experience them. So they're leaving every day with like, oh, that, that already happened. And in fact, yesterday, I practiced, one of the girls was having a conflict on her, on her phone, she was texting. And, I said, this might be a really good time for you to set a boundary. And she said, you know what, you're right.
So she said, you know what, I don't want to talk about this anymore. And that was it. That was her boundary. And, that's as simple as it is, that's, that's all it really took for her to go from spiraling out of control with this text conversation that she was having to being done with it, like, I'm done. So that alone right there would just be so life altering for somebody to have that skill. Yes. And to be able to go through life with that, because there's so many interactions in life that require setting a boundary. It's so healthy, to be able to do that and to realize that you're good enough to do that, you're okay to do that.
It is so such a, I could use a class like that. Right. And like things like social media, like I have a 15 year old, like you can't really control that. I mean, you can try, but you're, you're going to fight them. And, my daughter's been through the program. She's been go to rise, since birth, she's had no choice. And what's it called? I call it go to rise. So our acronym is go to and go to rise. Yeah, that's great.
So, I don't have to control her social media because she looks at it and she's like, no, she can make that, she can make that, and so therefore I don't have to fight with her on it because I know that she's okay. And she's confident enough to know what's, what's real, what's not, what's worth reading, what's worth her time and what isn't. So I think that's really where we need to go is be proactive. So the girls are to the point where we don't have to control it. They're, they're setting those boundaries for themselves.
And, it's got to be so give a parent so much peace to not have to police in a way that, you're trying to protect them, but at the same time they're fighting for their own independence and you just want to make sure they're safe and to have them have the ability to do that on their own, to go to think that way. And it's a beautiful thing. Yeah. Really have to find out about my granddaughter getting her in a program, this program, because I know I can see so much value in it for every young girl, for every girl, for every coach, for every volunteer. Really. Yeah. Anybody who participates in it. Anybody who touches the program comes away with something.
Yeah, that's, that's awesome. I really love it. Thank you. I appreciate the not only you, because it's your family who also has to make sacrifices for you to do this, because you, you don't do it for the money. I mean, that's, you're right. Yeah.
You got to give up a big part of your life to, be who you are for these people. And there's no roadmap to say exactly how it's done. Cause you're going to deal with all different kinds of circumstances, whether it's a hurricane or, or a funding, which, which makes me think of something. How could somebody help? I mean, maybe there's somebody watching who says, well, I don't have a kid or my kids are grown and they're not in this area somewhere else, but I'd like to support something like this. What could they do? Yeah.
So we're, if you're in the area, we are always looking for volunteers for our events and obviously for coaches on our website, there's all different kinds of ways to give that we have a monthly giving circle. You can give straight from your donor advised fund, which has been really popular recently. It's been really easy for people to use. We have different campaigns on there for different projects and things that we're working on. And so all of the money really goes back to our scholarship funds, which I said is around $50,000 a school year. So we really need to raise at least that every school year.
So our end of year campaign is set at 60,000 because we do anticipate a little bit higher growth next school year. We're at about half that right now. And we have our end of year giving coming up. So on our website, all different kinds of ways to give if you're interested. Honestly, what I look, when I look at our, like our Facebook following, we have like 4,000 people that follow us. And I think to myself, like if everybody gave a dollar, that is a huge impact. And to just one person, it's not a lot. And so I'm a part of a group called Women Who Care. Yeah. And there's 154 of us.
The commitment is you write a check four times a year for $100, nonprofits pitch, you write your check. So the commitments $400 and four hours a year. At the end of every hour, the nonprofit who wins receives like $15,000 because 150 of us wrote a check for $100. The $100 isn't significant, but 15,000 is. So, the power of community is really important here for us. So, if you have a dollar, if you have $5, if you have an hour to donate to our event or to help us pack bags, we really just really to support of our community is critical to our mission. So on the website, are there is that information there so that people could find that? There sure is.
There's all kinds of tabs. So there's ways to give ways to get involved, where our locations are, how to start a team if you're interested in doing that. Yeah, doesn't have to be at a school. So if you live in a nice neighborhood that maybe has a park or just a nice place to run, you can start a team there. You just need access to water and restrooms, and you can have a girls on the run team there. Yeah. Wow. I just see such a need. I just really want to make sure people take action on it because it's just, there's nothing else that gives them this. There's nothing else. There literally isn't.
We are the only nationally recognized program that addresses youth, mental health and physical activity. Yeah.
The two together, I know, and I know exercise for me is like, it's a drug for me, it helps me clear my mind. It's really important., it's a hormone that your body needs. And, we make sure that the girls are getting that and they're feeling good about themselves and feeling accomplished. Yeah. And they get that natural high. Yeah. I don't need anything else. I get it from that. Yeah. That's beautiful. Wow. That's cool. I just, I'm really, I'm more, because I talked to a lot of people who are in the not for profit world. And there's so many wonderful people who do wonderful things for so many areas of need. But this isn't, this area is not talked about enough.
I don't think it's talked about enough like the, that what they're dealing with now in this day and age is just not ever what it was ever in the history. And, I see the, how impressionable and how easy it is for a young girl to be led astray or feel less than because of everything that's out there and everything that's online and just to, not go through life and feel as they should as, as, as loved and valued and to know how beautiful and perfect they are right now and to be able to handle whatever comes at them in life.
And if they're searching for that confidence externally through validation, it doesn't always end the way that it should, but if they're internally able to tell themselves I'm enough, they're enough. So they don't need anybody else to validate that for them. And so, their friendships and relationships become choices and not, not things that they're, they need to, to feel good about themselves. Yeah. Well, I really want to make sure that we work together on this Princess Pamper. I love that. That is so cool. I want to get those set up so that we are a part of your program through that. So if that's one more skill they can get out of Lakata. Yeah.
And we have all kinds of lessons about inner and outer beauty. So that's totally perfect. Yeah. Yeah. That would be something real special that we
Could support you with. We want to make sure that we do. Yeah. Yeah. What are you outside of this? Because it's your whole life. What do you do when you're not involved in this? What's the other part of your life that you, I really enjoy reading. So I try to spend some time doing that. I enjoy gardening, although I'm not like great at it. So a lot of, I've kind of moved on to indoor plants and potted plants. I seem to be a little bit more successful there. So I like, I like kind of playing around with those and wandering through the garden section and getting new, new items. I love the beach. We could spend all day, every day at the beach. What beach do you go to? Okay.
Typically I go to Venice beach actually at Sharky's because it's just super convenient. Like the restaurants right there. And, it's around 40 minutes. Yeah. You take 41 up that way. Yeah. I actually take 75 and then get off at
I think it's river road. Maybe. Is there always a Miranda? That's it. Okay. I remember passing that up. Is there always shark's teeth on Venice? Yes. Always. Always. That's so weird. It would be just there and nowhere else. I don't know why, but there, you always see them. Yeah. You can do like three little digs and you'll find one. And you find them for sure. I gotta go do that. I've never done it, but I've always heard about it. Everybody says it's there, but it's so they don't get down here. They're just up there. Must be the currents or something. Yeah. Yeah. So that's your beach up there. That's my beach. Yeah. I used to be Englewood, but, Englewood has a beach.
They do. They have a nice beach. they haven't been there since the hurricanes, but it was a nice strip of pretty quiet beaches. There was like that first one that had the big parking on in the playground and things. And then past that was just really quiet kind of private. no commercial along there. No commercial. No, just a couple of little Airbnb's and houses and things. A couple of restaurants kind of at the beginning. Boca is really difficult to park at. So I don't really go there anymore. Where's that? Boca grand is technically Lee County. So, 776 down Gasparola road. That's, is that an Island? It is. Yeah. Okay. And they have a beach there.
They do, but the residents have made it kind of difficult to park there. So, I don't know. I thought you can only go by boat. That is, Palm Island. Oh, okay. Yeah. That one's only by boat. Okay. And Palm Island has houses on it too. Okay. It's a whole region of Florida that I know nothing about. And I've been here most of my life. I know it's so big. Yeah. Yeah. It's right up the road and I've never, never, but it's just huge. So be reading. What, what, what do you read? What's on your list? Well, so I love, I like historic fiction. I also, I'm kind of into like, the stereotypical murder mystery. I love the like murder documentaries on Netflix.
So then I, that applies in books as well. Yeah. I'm kind of late to the game, but I am currently listening on audio book, the let them theory by Mel Robbins. It's so hot right now. It's so hot right now. I'm a little late to it, but as, as actually, I was listening to it on my way here, it was this whole, lesson on, on, creating boundaries. And I was just like, Oh, well, that's perfect., that really makes a ton of sense. And so, I've talked to so many powerful women just on this podcast. And the last four have said that book was like, I must read. It's really good. And listening to it, I don't, I've not read it, but listening to it, I love because she's narrating it.
So you're getting like her humor and her, her sarcasm and things. And so I'm really enjoying it. And I feel like it's really kind of applies to the work that I do. so that part's even more interesting, but I'm only only like chapter eight. So we'll see. Yeah. I'm a little bit in on the audible audio version of it. I remember the beginning, she was talking about the airplane and the guy coughing. Yeah. Yeah. And I was like, wow, that's me. I would have been totally irritated for that entire flight because of the coughing, but let them cough. Just let them cough. Right. Yeah. In fact, one of our, girls on our team, she said, but I think she just turned 22.
She had that book in the salon the other day and I said, a couple of weeks ago, I said, she had just started it. I said, tell me what you think of it when you read it. And she had started reading it last week. She gave me an update on it and she, it's really had a big impact on her. She likes the way it is. she was talking about traffic or something. Now she was getting upset and traffic. That little thing right there. Yeah. The traffic thing I've, I've kind of thought of a few times and I just find it's like three more seconds out of our life. It doesn't matter. Yeah. Take a breath.
Like, she's kind of going to be our coach and then she's going to do a little book report on for the rest of us. Yeah. Yeah. She's, yeah. It was inspiring to see that she was reading this and she's, gonna pass it down and give us a little tips meeting. So pass it on to so many. but that's, that's a book that, yeah, it just keeps coming up. Keeps coming up by now. And so I was finally like, all right, here we go. And I'm glad I did. And you watched Dateline then too. Are you a Dateline person? I don't want to tell a Dateline. I watch a ton of documentaries. So I watched, yeah. I watched one last night. I'm not quite done with, the murder murders. Yes. Oh yeah.
Oh wait, today's the new episode. Yep. So I'm into that one. Yeah. Yep. I like all those. What have you watched recently that were out of and I was so disappointed. We watched, I don't remember. It was a series, but yeah, I'm a Netflix person. Yeah. No, I'm with you, especially on the crime, true crime aspect. I don't know why it's, it's like watching somebody else's life is so horrible. Right. Like mine's fine. Right. Makes everything I have look okay. Just be a little, okay. Things aren't as bad as they could be. Exactly. Exactly. Peace with that. Yes. any, what, what else on your must read list? Like what's something that you think would really, people should read.
Yeah. So since you're a reader favorite book ever, and I recommend this on e-reader because it's a little overwhelmingly long is the covenant of water. Say that again. The covenant of water of water, of water. Yes.
The author precedes my memory right now, but it was an Oprah book club recommendation. I was like, okay, the covenant of water. What does this mean? And I start reading the book and it's about a family goes through generations of this family that lives in India and like the starting in like the twenties. And I'm reading this book and I'm really into it. It's written beautifully. The characters are like described so well. I feel like I know them like they're my family now. And I'm reading this book for like a week and I look at the bottom of my Kindle and it's like 18%. And I'm like, what? The book is big. It's a big book. Yeah.
But by the end of the book, I was like, I wanted to start the book again because I felt like I missed the family. Like you got into three generations of this family and, historically accurate. It is a true story, with some embellishments in it. Yeah. but it's, it's fascinating. Just, I did not know anything about India at all. but it's a fantastic book. Yeah. Where you could really becomes a part of your life. It becomes a part of your, yes. I knew it's over. You're like, oh, no, no, no, no. I gotta start again. But I mean, it's like a thousand pages or something. Yeah. It's a, it's a big book. And I would be intimidating if I saw the real book. Exactly.
I don't know that it would have picked it up. I'm glad that I did it on the Kindle because I think I would have been like, Oh my gosh, way too long. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's interesting. Okay, good. I hope to check that out because I don't, I listen to more books than I read. But if I read a book, like getting into it kind of captures me like that. I like to kind of put it down. Yeah, that's, that's nice. any others? a book that I actually have a tattoo from is The Alchemist by Paul Kowalkoa. Hello. definitely said that wrong.
We're gonna have to edit that out. but he, it's basically, I think a lot of times when you listen to theological or theories and things like that on life and how it should be and stuff like that, it's all really big. It's like these huge concepts like, Oh, the universe is this and da, da, da, da, in The Alchemist, it's super tangible. It's this, sheep herder does this, and this is the lesson he learned from it. And it's the lesson is this simple thing, but it's this bigger concept. And what I took from it is the term mock tube. What? Mock tube. Okay. It means it is written.
Don't fight things. It's written. The universe has it the way it's supposed to be. If something's happening, you don't have to, to fight it because it is written. So mock tube. Okay. Can you write those two, two downs? yeah, just cause I liked, we were doing it for music, which I'll, we'll get to, but, for books and podcasts also, I'm on a compile list of all of our guests of, books that inspired, they've had an impact on you or the books that, I love that idea. I will look at that list because I'm always constantly like, okay, what should I read next? Yeah. how about podcasts? Any podcasts that you, cause you're in the car a lot. I am.
I listened to, the good people podcast, which is fundraising the first day podcast, which is through the Lilly school, at, Indianapolis university. The Lilly school itself does a lot of work with the community foundation of Sarasota. So they do a lot of fundraising, professional development courses that I've taken through them. So listen to their podcast. I listened to a really cool one. it was just a limited series. It's called the last ride. And it is about a deputy in Collier County in, I want to say the nineties or early 2000s. Have you heard this? Right? It was, yeah.
So the last couple of, criminals that are victims that he picked up the last time that they were seen were in the back of his patrol car. And so it's this whole documentary with interviews and things like that. It's a podcast. It's a podcast. It's about just, I didn't know that just about the Collier County. Yeah. It's produced by WGCU. FGCU put it on. Yeah. yeah. It's, it's really, really interesting. Okay. And I, it's interesting because they'll say things like blah, blah, blah, a mockily road. And you're like, I know where that is. Yeah. The gas station on whatever. And you're like, I know that. Yeah. It's all right. It's not turf. Yeah. Yeah.
You make, you make connections with it. So that's pretty cool. I didn't know that existed. I didn't know somebody did that. Every now and then it'll pop up in the Naples daily news, a story about it. Yeah., one more thing, but there's no, yeah, I won't do any spoiler alerts, but it's a, it's a good one to listen to. Okay. Good. yeah, there was, there was a, I don't know if it was a date line or 2020 or maybe it was a series about the girl in, I'm gonna go to her poor Charlotte that was abducted from her house. She had two kids there. And she had two kids and she was taken from her house. Took her, raped her, killed her. The guys, I think he might be on death row.
He should be if he's not, but I remember when that happened. I remember watching it. It was maybe in the nineties. I think it was in the, I can like picture the news segment. I can't remember. Is it Lacey?
Sounds familiar. Okay. I don't know. I'm not sure. Yeah. But I remember seeing it on national news and seeing parts of that area there. I mean, it's grown so much since then, but seeing that area, I know. And anytime there's a tragedy, like in your immediate area and you see something recognizable in the news, it's like, yeah, it's really close to home. Yeah. what about music? What's your, what's your go-to jam or your go-to playlist?
Or is there anything that's on, on your, when you run, when I run, I just put on like some random, like, beats playlist, like pop or what dance music playlist, something that with like adrenaline pump, it's like 120 beats per minute or something. Whatever that playlist is. when I put music on, I don't have like a super favorite artist or, or, genre really. So my typical search would be like, like a chill vibes or like chilling on the porch, a lot of like, folky type type music, like relaxing stuff like that. Although I did go to a Daughtry concert on Friday. Oh really? Totally. Where was that? it was in Charlotte County. No kidding. Yep. friends of ours were sponsors.
So we got some tickets to it. It wasn't as funny about it as I took my son who's now 25 to the American Idol concert when he was on American Idol on tour. And we saw him like, 20 years ago on tour. He was on American Idol. Oh yeah. Oh wow. Yep. Oh, that's a, that's a start. Yeah. How was the show? The show was really good. I was surprised. I thought it was going to be a little cheesy and it wasn't. He was, he was a great singer, great performer. he played like the electric guitar, the acoustic guitar, changed up the set a bunch of times. it was good. Did you have a
Song or group that you put in your high school yearbook? It was your kind of go-to music in high school. I didn't. so I did not graduate high school with my class. So I was homeschooled. So I, I actually technically graduated with my AA before my bachelor's because I finished early. Wow. Because everything at that time, it wasn't online. So I went to the, it was Edison community college at the time. Yeah. So I had my AA for medicine community. And then a couple of weeks later, my diploma came in the mail. Oh wow. Wow. That's wild. Yeah. You were way ahead of your time. I was way ahead of, I mean, that was before that was a thing like that.
I mean, now it was, I would write my essay and I would put it in an envelope and I would mail it. Wow. Well, no kidding. Yeah. Well, you were, you've been busting your butt for a long time forever. Yeah. You were always hustling. Yep. What would this song have been? Had there been one in high school? Ooh boy. I would have to remember the year or the, or the group. I mean, I was, I was a huge ace of base fan. There we go. Okay. Definitely knew all the words to all the songs. My friends and I made up a dance to I saw the sign. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I guess my song would be I saw the sign. Yeah. Okay. That's perfect. Yeah.
Cause I was going to ask you, what your, if your life were a movie, what would the opening soundtrack be? Oh boy. It would be something chaotic problem.
It would be something, with a big crescendo, like something started quiet and then all of a sudden we're like, Oh my gosh, here we are. Like my life right now is not in any way where I thought it would ever be. Definitely assumed I'd retire from teaching. Yeah. Just kept chugging along and I have been so like, my life is so engaging now. I get to meet people. I get to leave the house all the time. I get to connect with, with different groups. so it's, it would be a song that started a lot different than it ended. Yeah. Oh yeah. That would make sense. And it's been your story of your life. Yeah. If you weren't doing this right now, what would you be doing?
At one point I wanted to be a midwife. Really, really weird. Right. I had all three of my kids naturally. No epidural. No, nothing. No, nothing at all. I was right. but in the hospital, but no epidural in the hospital with no epidural, the third one we were supposed to have at a birthing home. I ended up being late. So I was induced with no epidural. So that was really unfun. But after that baby, I was really interested in just being, that non-medical
Person that can, assist women through this very natural process. Unfortunately, at the time, the only school was in Tallahassee and I had a newborn. So it really wasn't feasible to do. There was a school for that. There was a school. There is a school for that now. I thought there, I mean, not too long ago, there was one in Northport. There's probably a few more now. but yeah, at the time there was just that one in Tallahassee. So, and no virtual option. Sure. Right. Yeah. Wow. That's a twist. Yeah. I know. It's a weird thing. I think maybe in a past life I would have been, kind of a flower child, just, yeah, help people. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Do you have a hidden talent?
Hmm. It's not hidden, but I'm a decent cook. Okay. Yeah. What do you cook? so I got kind of anything. I'm, I'm pretty good at Italian and pretty good at Asian cuisine. so my kids really love Massaman curry, which is like one of the easiest things to cook. It's really not that hard at all. It comes primarily in a can. but they're half Thai, so they like Thai food. So I do cook the curry and I cook, lumpia, which is a Filipino egg roll. That's one of their favorites.
Probably bringing that to Thanksgiving, even though it takes forever. yeah, not a hidden talent, but most people tell me that they do like my, yeah, I know. I love to eat and I like cooking. But I haven't experimented too much in the Thai or Asian food world, but although I love it's some of my favorite food. So have you been to the Perry restaurant or the Perry hotel? Yes. Have you been to the Tigris restaurant? No. Wow. So we, I went to the women of steel conference and happened to win a two night stay there. Like I never win anything. I'm like, yes. And so we go to the Tigris restaurant. one of the evenings that we were there and it was phenomenal.
It was very modern Asian, really cool, small plates. It was like a tapestyle so you could order a bunch of different things. I would recommend going with like, like four or six people so that you can order a lot of different items. Yeah. But the food was phenomenal. If you like Asian food. Yeah. I like eating like that too. I like sharing. Yeah.
And I love, I mean, Asian is some of my favorite favorite food, but I just, I just have never experimented with it in the kitchen. Yeah. It's not hard to do, but it takes a ton of prep work. So it's tons of chopping and mincing and lots of, lots of prep work used to be a restaurant in Naples many years ago. It was called Bangkok, Bangkok cuisine. And, Paul was a guy who owned it. And I love that place. I loved it. It was a dive kind of, but it was just so good. Sometimes the best ones are because, they, they put all their effort into the food. It was a hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah. But that was my, I could live on Thai food. It seems very healthy too. Yeah.
It generally is. It's mostly just like vegetables and, whatever the protein is. Yeah. What's the curry one that you make? The curry one we usually use pork in it and it's got coconut milk. So it's again, it's not a heavy dish, coconut milk and potatoes. Yeah. And you do a little Italian too. I like Italian. Yeah. My parents are, not a normal combination either. My father is Middle Eastern and my mom is Irish. So my mom cooked a lot. My dad does not really cook any Middle Eastern food at all or really at all. So my mom learned the recipes basically from my grandmother. So she cooks a lot of Middle Eastern food.
And so I cook a few of those things, but mostly lean on her for that. But what a good blend of cooking. Oh yeah. Sounds good. Yeah. And when we were kids, my parents were foodies. So we always ate all kinds of different things. So I grew up with a pretty diverse palette and still, still enjoy all different types of cuisine. How did they meet your parents? They met older. So my parents are older. They met when they were 30 and four or little, little younger than 30 and 40. they met through mutual friends. So they were actually at their mutual friends in Jersey, in Jersey. Yes.
So their mutual friends, when they started dating, my parents met, like, Hey, I need you to come on this date. Yeah. Kind of a double date situation. Now, are they up there? They live here. They live next door to me, actually. Oh, really? Yeah. So we built a house. We both build houses, on a big piece of property in Pana Gorda. And that's where Thanksgiving will be at their place. Thanksgiving will be up and your sister to my sister will be there as well. Yeah. She's here. yeah, it's just the four of us here. So you bring it, you bring, what do you bring to that? I might bring the lumpia, even though I know it's going to take a long time, but I might just, it's easier.
Yeah. I could just bring one thing and everybody would be really impressed. Well, I, we definitely have to have you back down on the podcast or at least get you down here again. And I'll, we'll do a little trade, maybe some of that Thai food. Yeah. We'll come in with like a food, a food exchange. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That'd be great. You're making me hungry, thinking about it. What is something that people don't know about you, but should, don't know about me, but should I'm, I'm fairly sensitive. Most people don't know that I'm fairly sensitive and mostly because I'm, I'm also confident, but I do, I'm very empathetic.
So I feel, I feel really bad when other people feel bad, so I get very sensitive to other people's feelings and situations. And I try really hard to be like a positive light in the room, but sometimes it is a little wearing because I do feel heavily for, for people in situations and things like that. Although I don't put that face on all the time. Yeah. How do you deal with that? Especially where you have to make tough decisions sometimes that, are going to let somebody down. It's agonizing. It really is agonizing.
So you might have to spend a lot of time reminding myself it's the right decision, reminding myself I'm doing the right thing for the greater good of whatever the decision is that I'm making. But it is really hard for me. It's a super, super challenge for me to make decisions that, that might hurt somebody's feelings. Yeah. Well, when you're leading that many people too, and you've got to get in situations where, not everybody's got to wait. You do have to make tough decisions sometimes. And it's, it's, I don't think I'll ever not hate it. Yeah. I think it's just always going to be something that, that is who I am. Yeah. I just don't want to make people sad. Yeah.
What's, what do you want people to know? What should we make sure? Because I'm, what you do and what you're about, what your organization is, I think it's just so, so, so important. It's so critical. Thank you. What else could you, what else do you want people to know or what else do they need to know that right today? So December 6th is our 5k. It is our biggest fundraiser of the year. So it is the celebration of our girls, the culmination of their season, but it is also our biggest fundraiser of the year. So we're really excited. We have glow in the dark t-shirts, which nobody does that. We have a really cool 15th anniversary custom medals that we made.
We have Charlie Pace, who's a local singer-songwriter coming, and we are finishing the night off with fireworks. So we're really excited about that. The course is all at JetBlue Park. So nobody has to worry about traffic. We have runners of every single pace from 20 minutes to an hour and 20 minutes. So we welcome strollers and any, any pace, any person who wants to participate, we love to have them. It's super family friendly. We're going to have a ton of kids stations and vendor stations and lots of giveaways and treats.
Yeah. We're going to have a really good family time. Right. Well, maybe we could give you some gifts to give away too. If you remind that, we can give you some gift certificates and products or whatever we can do that. What time is the run going to be? The run starts at 5 p.m. So nobody has to worry about setting an early alarm. Okay. So we are going to start the run right at 5 p.m. It'll be dusk. We'll be finishing up right at evening time. We're going to give out some glow gear to everyone so everybody will glow their way back on into the stadium. It finishes at home plate, which is really cool. So the arch will be at home plate.
It's going to be an awesome spot for really cool pictures. And after that, we'll have a little awards ceremony. We'll have Charlie Pace do her concert and then wrap up with fireworks. We'll be out of there by eight o'clock. So if you have another plan on Saturday that you must go to. But it's a really fun way to spend a Friday evening supporting a great mission, having a good time, cheering on a lot of runners that are going to be there. We have quite a few registered already and going quick. Awesome. Wow. Sounds exciting. I wish you the best with that for sure.
Because I know this is a big part of your year and we want to make sure that you're successful and that you have everything that you need to continue your mission. Yes. Everyone is invited to our birthday party. Yeah, I love that. Very good. Birthday bash. Final question. What do you love about your life? I love that every day I'm able to connect with somebody and make some sort of an impact. Like every single day I talk to a parent, I talk to a kid, I talk to a coach, I talk to somebody who I either get to spread a mission to or learn a story about.
I hear a lot of stories about people who tell me they learned, they had this program and they learned this or they had this experience. And I love that about my life. I love that I'm put into an opportunity where people feel safe that they're able to share with me and I'm able to meet so many people and just really learn about our community and just really be immersed in our community. And I don't know that everybody really gets that opportunity. So I feel really lucky about that. Yeah. Well, we're lucky to have you. I'm really blessed. I'm honored to meet you and glad that I now know you. Thank you.
And likewise, and, whatever will always be here for you to make sure we support your mission because I really means the world to me what you do for the world because you have a lasting impact that goes on for generations., you touch their lives the way that you do. I hope so. That's that's our vision. Yeah. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Appreciate having you. I'll give you a hug when we stand up.