 Each review is leading every day, but we still have not achieved gender parity in leadership roles. Not at law firms, not in companies, not in the government. So for anyone who may have lingering doubts about the suitability of women in leadership, I want to hear your thoughts as women on what it is that women bring to the table as leaders. We tend to be bold when we need to be, and I think sometimes people don't even recognize it or know it because we have an ability to do it with a velvet touch at times, which I think can be to our advantage. We naturally have the ability to stretch ourselves, I think, as Stacy mentioned, because, hey, every day we're juggling lots of things as women. And so that natural innate ability that God has given us to mother at times and assist others and be collaborative absolutely is a benefit in the workplace. I know personally speaking, even during this pandemic, there's been, I know for many private and non-profits and, of course, government entities that we have had to figure things out and how to do things differently. And I think that ability as women to think broadly be, like I said, collaborative and communicative with others about things that are difficult, but that we can still figure out how to get it done makes women leaders some of the best. When we as women and particularly women of color are now at the boardroom table or, you know, in the C-suite, as much progress as we've certainly made, as you see all of us here on this call today, we're still working for that equity where it isn't such an uncommon thing to see us in those spaces. And so when you are in it, and particularly in public administration and government, I want to say to me, I think you and I talked about this, it may be at 13% now across the country where you have women or female administrators in our cities and towns and counties. And I often find myself, you know, not necessarily seeing a familiar face at my professional conferences and or just, you know, working with developers in our capital city and that sort of thing. And I think that, you know, Stacey makes a good point that sometimes we're checking ourselves a little bit. And I don't know that we should have to, but I think it's on our mind. And it always remains top of mind of perceptions being become a reality and that type of thing. At the end of the day, we're competent. And we can do these jobs. And I think, again, for me too, it's a little bit of both because I think that is genuinely me. So if I present myself in those opportunities, that becomes more of hopefully the norm for others, whether they are my team members, subordinate staff, other members of my executive team, developers or community members, citizens, customers, whoever it might be, they just need to begin to also feel comfortable with us as women in these roles. And that we can certainly and are certainly performing at our best. And I think maybe just us continuing to do it, being present, encouraging others along the way to do these same jobs as women that we're doing, it makes it a little bit more real for everyone to accept us for who we are and all that comes with it. Teresa, let's jump back to you. How do you keep from getting overextended? Well, I am certainly not the master at it yet. I've gotten better at it over the years. I've had to learn that I need some gatekeepers around me at times. I've always, you know, thought, and I guess this goes a little bit back to some of the other things we were talking about of what impression you're giving to people. And so I had in my mind, you know, I can never close my door. I need to have this open door policy all the time. And what happens with that, you know, people do know that you're available to them, but it can become a situation where you just can't even have a minute to think straight because it'll be a constant evolving door, revolving door. And so I've learned to have the right people around me, you know, have a great team who understands me. I think that sometimes in our roles, particularly if you're like a public figure or a pointed figure, you know, you are on all the time, really 24-7. And I mean, just to have self-care and to give yourself a little grace and to be at your best, you do need to have some boundaries set for yourself. And sometimes it's, you know, you set those boundaries, but you need a core group of individuals around you who I feel so blessed to have worked with these individuals with me because they understand that now. And they sometimes save me from myself, probably, and help me to remember that we just, let's just have an hour here so you can think straight because, you know, it's, you can go from meeting to meeting to meeting to meeting all day long. And what have you, I mean, you've accomplished things, but have you digested it? Have you done the follow-up? Have you had the time? And then you find yourself at, you know, late at night after other obligations that you also have trying to catch up. And so I still do that, but I'm trying to learn to stay, stick to a few boundaries. In 2013, when I became the city manager in Columbia, you know, we were transitioning in the city with leadership and the former city manager was retiring. I had been with the city for several years at that point, and it worked different roles and had most recently been an assistant city manager. So when the opportunity presented itself, you know, there were several individuals who said, you know, you should really apply for that. And I said, well, I'm really happy with what I'm doing. And but, you know, well, I don't know, I need to think about that. And I do think, as Lindsay stated, you know, we as women, and I do think this is a difference from sometimes our male counterparts, the amount of thought to the point we will overthink something and think ourselves out of it. We will, we tend to do that sometimes. And I was may have been bordering on that. And in my heart, I mean, they were for valid reasons. I was a single mother. My biggest concern honestly was not if I was capable of doing the job or not, because I actually thought that I was. I had the institutional knowledge there to do it. I had a law degree, I have a law degree, but I didn't have my master's in public administration. So again, women trying to check every box, I was like, well, I don't have that degree. But, you know, I do have the experience. But again, it came down to the work life balance and what would be compromised in any way for my daughter. And so, after speaking with my parents, who honestly have always been, you know, like a second caregiver to my daughter and is my major support system, I recognize that this opportunity was such a great chance for my daughter to see true servant leadership, to see me grow. It could be done. We had the support system. It was okay. And I just encourage, you know, other women, particularly as they're growing in their careers, you know, to not talk themselves out of opportunities, to make sure that they have the structure around themselves and probably, you know, people they can count on one hand who are truly there to shoot it to them straight, to give them guidance, to lift them up and also tell them when they need to check themselves a little bit. And so I had those things. And with those things, I recognize that I really could be successful in the role and to the stay, hopefully, and I'll keep doing it. But that's another, I guess, nugget that I've learned along the way that we, as women, sometimes do want to check every box. And you don't always have to. Let's say a woman has it all together. She has her strategic plan. She knows when to say yes, when to say no. You know, she's confident. She's authentic in her leadership. Even if she does all that, she may still come up against some structural inequities. And so to avoid all of that, what advice would you give to employers to create an equitable work environment so that more women can end up in leadership? And Teresa, I would like to start with you on that one. Sure. I know firsthand what it means to not just have a mentor, but a sponsor in my life, as I have, you know, kind of made my way through professionally. But that sponsor oftentimes takes you on personally as well, because they know, you know, from working with you, the journey that you're trying to put yourself on, like, where you want to go, what priorities have you set for yourself? What is it that you want to achieve? And so my career path has changed. And I think that that's yet another thing that happens is that, as women, we have to embrace sometimes, like we said, opportunities that just present themselves that may, you know, I had a law degree, I worked in policy work for many years. And as a lobbyist, I ended up in city government never would have necessarily thought that. But one theme and one thing that was consistent outside of, you know, the strong support system of family was a sponsor in my life, a lady named Shirley Mills, who I knew since college when I was just an intern in her office at my college. And so she, I can call her today if I need to pick up the phone, get advice, but that ability for us to open doors in our workplaces for others. I think we talked about that a little bit already to make sure that as we're talking specifically about women in different in all of our professions that they know that they can first hand talk to someone if they're experiencing something, and we can help them work through it. We may have a network that they haven't built yet, that we can help open doors and opportunities for them. And then in the respective workplaces themselves, whether it's private or public, I do think that we have learned to do things differently, even when we have thought that maybe we couldn't before. I mean, it's a fact that the pandemic itself has created environments where we have had to learn to work differently, whether it's remote opportunities, staggered schedules, but just being receptive to the needs of, you know, our people and that at the end of the day, if you want to have a productive work environment, I think that genuine nature that we've talked about a little bit today comes through to your employees when they see that you do care and you do, you can't do everything, but you can at least be open to trying to figure out alternative solutions, whether it's for work or childcare or whatever it might be. I think we just have to be open to that, and that's the new reality, really, that we find ourselves in.