 Hey y'all, this is Jamie without a bounds with Jamie and Abby presented by Ashley and on today's episode We have Shannon Myers who is the CFO of the Tennessee Titans. She's an incredible young woman She's young 34 younger than both of us and she's a CFO This episode is so inspiring for young women in any industry. She's really like broken down some barriers Yes, male dominated industry, and it was good. Yeah, her advice to the young women was absolutely incredible Yeah, this is gonna be a great episode Shannon I'm so excited to have you on today's podcast just a thrill to get to know you and Your love for our team and just all the things. Yes. Thank you for having me ladies This is this is fun like I just told you this is my first podcast ever so that We're happy to invite you. We're also in Shannon's office for those of you watching which is so cute She has all the the cute plants So Shannon you are a senior vice president and CFO of the Tennessee Titans Tell us how this happened because you're 34 Everyone that we've talked to you about you it raves about you and your mentorship And so we're really excited to hear all about your story Wow Well, thank you for that intro that I'm very grateful to even be in this position I'm very lucky and it's a lot of people that have kind of helped me get here for sure I'm starting my second season actually so relatively new to the role entering the second season Which is a lot of fun never would have thought if you would have told me a year and a half ago That this is where I would have been I would have never guessed it So life can come at you fast and you know a lot goes to relationships and hard work And very grateful to to be here in this role cool So where did you tell us like a little bit of your background? Where'd you grow up? How did you make your way to Nashville? Yeah, absolutely. So I'm from Michigan. I grew up in Portage, Michigan So which is right outside of Kalamazoo Southwest, Michigan about two hours from Chicago and It's where my parents were from so my grew up with all four grandparents. I have two sisters So I am the baby. Oh of the family. That's how I am. You have three. Yeah, there's three. There's yeah I'm the youngest of three girls and y'all are about the same age and we're both accounting majors We love numbers. I know and you're this are you this you're 35. I'm 35. Yes Yeah Really we grew up playing sports my dad was a football coach and played football in college He played at Western Michigan and then my mom played tennis at the University of Florida So came from a sports background and you played softball, correct? I did so I played a lot of different sports growing up and all my sisters did but all ended up playing division one softball Oh, yeah, athletic family. Wow cheese hard work. That's a hard work That's for sure. I played at Western Kentucky University, which is in Bowling Green about an hour north of here Yeah, and then you know from there at Western. I majored in accounting and didn't really know much about accounting at all I really like numbers like math kind of that analytical brain But in high school there was a teacher that taught accounting as an elective and I really liked the teacher I didn't know anything about the subject and that kind of got me into it So yeah, majored in accounting and while I was at school. I met my husband So he played baseball. Okay, so he was on the baseball team at the time And I was on the softball team and after graduation we moved down to Nashville Is he is he from Michigan as well? He's from Tennessee. So he kind of was the he's from Tennessee He's the Tennessee connection. Okay, kind of kept me down here. He's from East Tennessee Okay, he's from Townsend, Tennessee. Okay pretty small town John's West. Oh, he's West I do never eat soggy waffles Okay, producers are saying yes I'll do that too. There you go My husband's from from East Tennessee, but you know, I told him that we would stay in the south But I really like Nashville so moved here right after I graduated Started with public accounting firm Ernst and young or EY. So I was with them for a little over 10 years That's a long time. Which is a long time. Well, were you in audit or tax? I was an audit I was an audit so audited a lot of companies here in Nashville health care was our primary I did one audit season at Ernst and young when I graduated. Yeah, we have way more So I was almost a career Ernst and younger and when I was there we mainly did health care and like a shurion. Yeah Yep, we still do sure yeah So are the Titans part of that? So the Titans were one of my clients. So it's really interesting I was primarily in health care But when I rolled on to this engagement and so I was the executive on the Titans audit for three seasons Just kind of built relationships understood the business and when this role became available I received a call of art would I be interested? Oh, wow. So they sought you out. Yeah Yeah, I was very lucky very shocked. Wow. I got off the phone and I said what just happened. Oh my gosh Yeah, so came in interviewed with all the other executives Berknei Hill as our CEO is incredible and our whole executive leadership team is So really went through the interview process and and now here we are today, which is just crazy. How quickly life can change Yes, wow. So that and that was only two years ago You said it was so and I started in March of last year. Oh, hmm. What? It's crazy. That's cool But what's so cool and I remember being interesting and how you kind of would go start working for the company that you audited because It's hard to be like a career public in like public challenge. Yeah, it's a grind It's nice. You already know the people you know the books the ins and outs. So that's like such a nice transition for you Yes, I think it's so amazing the way you actually became an accountant It's not that you dreamed about it's a teacher. Yeah, yeah, you know I mean people talk all the time about teachers being influences and does your teacher know this she does I still stay in contact with her. Well, we're Facebook friends now Yeah, miss Meyer hurt. She was miss Percas at the time and when I actually got this job I'm so excited for me. So I told her that I wish I needed to bring her whole family down She's got a little boy and a girl and I told him I'd bring him to a Titans game I would love to bring it off full circle. So yeah, she was she was incredible She's who introduced me to accounting neither of my parents My dad was a high school teacher and football coach and then my mom was a stay-at-home mom She taught tennis lessons and camps and things like that, but neither of them were business. Yeah So I you know, wow, it's crazy. Abby. How did you know that you liked numbers and wanted to get into that? My assistant was doing it and I was like, I'll probably own my own business one day I should probably know the numbers part of it. Gotcha. And I didn't know what it what it would be But so I just sort of went you just knew it. Yeah, it's a good major like if you understand I don't know in my college career It was like if you can understand accounting and do it like do it because it's kind of hard and then you know You can kind of go into any other area of business. It is so true It's a great place to if you like business in general just to get your foot in because when you understand How a company makes money and spends money, right? That's that's the whole point of the business is making money and then what do you spend it on so well That's what I think but you'd be surprised how many businesses there are that make no money and they're like I run this amazing business. I'm like, do you make any money? They're like, no, I'm like Oh my gosh, okay, so how have you found time in your 12 to 13 year career to have three children Well, and three boys. I have three boys being raised with girls. Oh my gosh. It was so different So seven and then five so he's in preschool. He'll start kindergarten this year. Okay, and then a two-year-old So whoa, yes, seven five very busy. They are wild. They are so busy They are just boys in general are different beings I mean the things that they think to do and the things that I mean they just run full speed at everything You know instead of like how can I sit on this couch? It's how can I run as fast as I can and jump up on the couch and jump? Possibilities it's not fun. Yes. It is WWE wrestling in our house at all times. I don't know if it's fun Yeah, it's totally different than two girls. I don't know if I could do that Yes, because you've got two girls and then you have a boy and a girl. Yes. Okay. Yeah Yeah, so I but being raised with sisters when I found it. We did like a little it was during COVID I was pregnant. So we did like a little pop like the cannon thing and it was blue and I was like I Don't know about boys. Like I'm like, I don't know how to do this It's definitely he's very sweet, but I'm he's only one like we're we're gonna get to the WWE Can you see a difference right now? Like? Yeah, he's calmer than her but he's always getting a little sassy so we're gonna see how it goes Well, they say that you know the early years boys are harder because they're so wild and they're so exhausting But then when they flip, you know teenage girls, I was once a teenage girl You know, that's that's the hard part is teenage boys don't really care about much and teenage girls There's a lot of drama. So I just like survive through those years Then it'll drive you crazy because they won't talk to you about everything probably I know well always knew I wanted to have three kids because I come from a family of three both of my sisters actually have three kids So there's nine grandkids above all of them. So when the first one was a boy, that was okay Second one, I was like, oh my gosh, I have two but I know that I might have like a third chance here And then when the third one You're like, I'm not going for four. I'm a boy mom. I'm not going for four. We are good So do they have boys and girl mixed or they have mixtures? I'm the only one that has three boys Yeah, so it's the nine grandkids the first three were girls in the last six are boys. Oh my gosh That's a lot. I know it is but it's fun. It's fun when we get together and getting to see they're all close in age So it's a lot of fun. So is your husband's job a like a little more flexible or What is what goes on there? It's it's hard. We both work. Yeah, so he's an area sales manager first night or electric Lucky that we have flexibility, you know, but he travels more than I do so I don't travel a whole lot I'll go to a weigh game every now and then season and maybe in the offseason. I'll have some things But for the most part, I don't travel he travels one or two days a week or every other week because he's got different states that he Manages Wow, so it's a little exhausting. Yeah, that's a lot Yeah, but you know, we make it work that like we're both flexible in that, you know If something comes up at school, you know, I can work remotely. He can work remotely. We make it work. That's great. We're a team I could not do this without him. That's yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, tell us a little bit something about the mentorship that you started here Yeah, so interesting because we know a producer Ashley is one of your she's incredible I'm official mentee Yeah, I mean what's interesting is at the Titans our whole executive leadership team we call it there's it's Berkney Hill our CEO And then his six direct reports. We're all relatively new So we've all started in the last two to three years and so it's kind of this fun defining moment of what is our culture And what do we want to do and mentorship is so important So we were all just brainstorming a couple months ago and thought we should do a mentorship program This is your one of it and what it was was we asked for applications throughout the company just kind of had to apply What are your what are your goals? What do you want to do and then seven applicants got picked? So they're paired with each of the members of our executive leadership team So that's incredible because that's why whenever we before we came on air. I was like, okay I know you're more than just a CFO So it's amazing To know that within the Titans because I don't know the business side Yeah, and that they have more than just you come to your office and run numbers and you know what I mean It's it's incredible. Yeah. Yeah, no We're very fortunate and trying to build a culture because it is a unique business where we've got the football side and that culture is Is what it is and our front office side has you know We're trying to mesh the two because we are one company. Yeah, but it is you know It's a little different at the same time. So we'll see how your one goes actually Excited about it and really it's just it's informal. It's an opportunity to to give back and to share I had plenty of mentors throughout my career who've helped me be where I am and all it is is I'm you know It's just listening. It's listening and providing a perspective. I don't tell people what to do It's just I'm a listening ear and I can get perspective from the you know, 12 years that I've been doing this But I think for executives to be so approachable and like open door policy It is part of the culture here and it's not like that everywhere. And so it's like I would applaud You know the Titans for making that such a priority. Yeah, you're not just over finance and accounting, right? Are you over human human resources? Okay, so including myself on the finance team There's nine of us and then on the human resources team. There's four of us Okay, so it's kind of a fun that I get to wear both of those hats. Are you our boss? Yeah I think she is all this time. We thought it was John Well, it's so fun what you guys are doing. It's so incredible to you know a couple years ago We would never ever thought to do this And you know you came with this idea and I mean just the the reach that it's had and it's just something different and fun And yeah, you know meeting, you know different women It's just such an incredible thing that you're empowering other women to share their stories so that they can then empower other women So the ripple effect of it is incredible. Do people With being only 34 years old be in the CFO of a major NFL team When you tell people what you do for a living do they look at you like, yeah, right, you know Like do they because it has to shock a lot of people. Yeah. Yeah, it does. I mean, it's I'm very fortunate I mean, I really I'm honestly pretty private, but you know, I love I'm very passionate about the things that I do Like to talk about like mentorship and coaching and building in this incredible team and and all of those types of things So I'm just very grateful to to be in this position. Like I said, I thought that I would be so it is kind of fun when people ask me What I do and I get to tell them because yes, I kind of get some of that wait your that's what you do Yeah, because it definitely is a it's a it's male dominated for sure And you know, I'm just lucky that I've I've had a lot of experiences and a lot of hard work to get me Yeah, I'm not gonna lie whenever I said wait, they reached out to you I was legitimately like surprised and impressed that they reached out to a young woman to Run the financial side and plus more, you know, that's very true. So when I first started I came on actually as the technically I was the vice president of finance. Okay, but I was in the same role. It was just kind of let's you know, let's Make sure this is working out, you know, but I got promoted to CFO last September So which was not expected that I did not think it was gonna go that fast by any means But again, very very grateful for our team and for berk and our other executives. It's it's incredible and amy as amy is awesome Yes, we're just we're just so we're just such a different NFL team than other NFL team. No, it's true I was gonna ask having amy as the majority owner Do you think that really plays a part in like female Like hiring and making sure that it's more balanced because I can't imagine all teams NFL teams are as open No, I mean, we are a very unique NFL team and a very incredible one at that amy empowers the her leaders to To lead yeah, and she's got opinions where she does and and other times she lets us do what we feel like is Best for the team and it's it's been working out. That's amazing She's you know, she's hands on when she needs to be and hands off when she doesn't and she She you know has faith in us and it's it's really cool to say that I work for an NFL team. That's all Yeah, really cool. I love that She truly is I mean I tell people that all the time. I'm like and I I tell her that all the time, you know I finally met her at the jd rf gala. Yeah, she was everything everyone. She's very approachable Like you wouldn't think that you could approach an owner of NFL team or and not even just that just a woman that is So what is the word successful? Yeah It just it can be intimidating. Yeah. Yeah, she's not she's amazing Yeah, and you know, I think being a woman cfo is intimidating at times, but to be an owner There's definitely not many female owners that she's she's really running the ship. You know, she really is doing it So it's been fun It's been fun to to have her leadership for sure And she's empowered us to do things that we want like the mentorship program or to the things You know, she's kind of said, you know, go for it. Yeah, let's go for it So how did the boys handle you working for an NFL team? Do they get it yet? Because they're so young Yeah, my uh, my oldest my oldest two definitely do because they now go to the games It's funny now. I think this is why god gave me three boys because of this role because before I was like, why do I Mommy has a cool job now. Mommy's got a cool job So it's fun to kind of see them grow up in this organization I think but hopefully having them stay humble and grateful because My life growing up was totally different. I never went to a professional sporting event I never went to a concert. I never was in a suite. Yeah, so trying to let them know when they come Like this is this is not normal. Yeah, so they're very very lucky that they get to do those things But it was funny when my first got the job and I was on the phone with somebody and I was in the car And my oldest could hear us. I was talking about someone on our team That's named ryan and I got off the phone and my oldest said were you talking to ryan tana? Oh Well, it's funny that like even I had to learn that the sports side and business side are very separate Like I didn't really realize you kind of just think like it's one big team. Yeah It also makes so much sense once you're sort of more involved Yeah, I know we try to integrate where we can and where that makes sense But sometimes our schedules are are a little different, you know, but we are all one team and we're all under Amy So, yeah, that's right. I know so so the boys the boys enjoy it. They definitely They enjoy the perks of it and it's fun to Fun, you know being a working mom and then being able to share this This is why I work so hard and this is why, you know, they they get to see me and they get to see what You know a hard-working female does. Yeah, hopefully then I can you know I really wanted girls to empower girls But now I get boys to show boys that girls can do anything boys can do But you say that in our class a lot like girls can do anything boys can do so Yeah, I know what's your coaching advice for females in the workforce coming up having children I mean, it's so hard. I can't even believe you like had three pregnancies in the lot, you know in your career I mean, it's it's a lot, you know Yeah, it is a lot I would say life is messy and life's not perfect and that's okay We get caught up in this terminology of work life balance, right? And I don't think you're really ever in balance. No one's in perfect balance at all times That's just that not the perfect world. We were just talking about that. Yeah. Yes. Yes You know where I tell young women or women that are thinking about having kids or have kids is it's work life integration Like you're integrated and what I tell them is there's kind of four pillars. There's you're a wife You're a mom You're you're a career and then self-care like those are four buckets and you're never going to be in perfect balance But you don't want anyone to get too out of balance That you can't bring it back because there's going to be times that you're killing it in your career And then you miss a baseball game and then there's going to be other times where you know You haven't even talked to your husband because you're you know going going going meetings all week But you need to stop and have that date night or you need to stop and make sure that you make two games next week Or all the games next season or things like that. You just you kind of are constantly pulling those levers Right and making sure one doesn't get too far out of balance can't bring it back But it's all about kind of integrating those four is what I have found has really helped me Do you ever get a sense of mom guilt? Oh, absolutely Oh mom guilt is so real really my job is relatively flexible that I try not to miss games I mean my my oldest we're in baseball right now and flag football right now and I can It's okay to communicate to my team or my boss that I need to leave it for I need to go make a game and if I need to you know Answer an email at night because I did that that's totally fine. That's the integration of it's actually all integrated and They want me to be successful and I want to be successful and it's about communicating because people can't read your mind They don't know if you're struggling or what you need unless you tell them And you know your team they you want to support working mom so much and that's why it's so important to have more of them In the organization too because you get it like you get what you're going through because mom guilt is so real And the people that you know, they see I oh somebody has it all or it's a perfect life. It's not it's messy It's messy and it's exhausting at times. But you know putting it in perspective. It's you know, it's It can be beautiful. Right. Yeah, also probably coming from public accounting where you're expected to work I mean, I would assume more hours maybe Then here I don't during busy season. At least it was my experience. Yes I mean you were I was working 14 hour days, you know, and then you go to dinner with the team and do it all over I mean, it's crazy. Yeah, so you're probably well equipped to handle You know the the time I think I just know it's I'm always exhausted. You know, there's like, oh wait, what is this rest thing? Yes I don't sit down But my husband I mean we're a team like I said we are 50 50 and everything he cooks dinner. I cook dinner He cleans I clean. I mean we do everything 50 50 we on sundays We kind of get together and we'll say okay. What games are this week? What practices are this week? Who's got a work dinner or a happy hour or coffee? And then we just plan it out and we help each other because we don't have any family here. That's the other hard part Yeah, we are kind of vip's in our babysitting service Which is fine because the kids there the kids are very adaptable I would say so do they all go to a school or preschool right now So my oldest is in first grade. So he's in public school, but then my other two are in daycare right now And it's in nullansville. We're down in nullansville. So they're all that area kind of in our little bubble There's a lot of titans people in nullansville. Yeah, it's a good area. We love it. There's a lot of young families. You know, it's a It's a lot of fun. Yeah down there. You're up in brolin So we had a ton of nullansville friends and stuff because they I mean they didn't really have their own schools Then you know until recently in that there are four elementary schools. Whoa, that's crazy I think there was one when I was growing up in a brand new high school at a brand new high school Yeah, that's awesome. Probably in 10 more years when my oldest is in high school There might even be another high school. I mean wild. It's it's growing, but it's it's good down there. We really enjoy it down there a lot Yeah, so one of the things and and they may have to cut me out because I don't know if I'm supposed to say this or not But the maternity leave like you're trying to implement Explain that to us. Yes. I did implement Oh Well, that's what's fun about kind of being over hr and also Amy empowering us to make decisions and to kind of see and Burke empowering us as well So when I got here, we didn't have the maternity leave not at all No, it was fmla. So you got like your short-term disability leave and it was not paid at 100% And that was what you got which is just it blew my mind. You were like, um, reading my contract. No I was like, I'm done having kids. So I'm good But I we need more females here. Wow the heck are we gonna get females here if we don't have this Um and just going through maternity leave three times myself There is zero shot that I was in any mental state at six weeks to come back with the baby, you know So we had short-term disability and our fmla So you would have six weeks, but it was paid at 60 percent Which is just crazy, you know, I I talked with Burke and with Amy And so now it is 12 weeks paid in full but an extra week on the front end too because that was huge for me Of you know taking a week to just start to disconnect and you know get away with things So a week before your due date it starts and then it's on the back end 12 weeks paid. That's awesome. Wow. Yeah That's amazing. Yes, but we need that to have more women and I would you know, I would love eventually to have some Even you know more generous, but you know from a paternity leave policy. We're not quite there yet But yeah, it's just we have now over 50 women at the Titans. Oh, wow Reddible out of how many total we'll probably be around like 230 employees probably here. Nice. That's great. It's great Well, and we have a statistic that uh, Julia gave us that only 24 of NFL execs are female Really? I didn't hear one of them. Wow. Isn't that insane? That's that is insane. That's crazy. It's so amazing Yeah, that's a cool stat. I mean I'm I'm humbled to to be in that category, but we need more I mean we need more just because it it helps like I said when you know what somebody's going through And then also that you can see that example that you can't have it all, you know Like I feel like I have this balance right now. It's it's hard and it's messy at times, but I have this I'm satisfied at work. I'm satisfied at home. I've got kids. It's so fun I love being a mom more than anything in the world. Yeah, and you can do that It's not easy, but you can do it and you just hold on more examples to kind of help Mentor you through that and listen to event when you need to vent and listen to you know Kind of help you through those different struggles because they're so unique, but Yeah, we're trying what what's like the top feedback or question you get from people you mentor Because you do a happy hour with the female Yeah, we started a kind of a quarterly we called it a professional women's network Which is just getting all of our females together and talking but I think everybody just wants kind of they want that camaraderie They want that outlet that we know, you know moms definitely know what other moms are going through But women in general kind of know what other women what the women are doing And how can we support each other and rise each other up and so that we can have more women I think women they a lot of the times they ask me, you know, like how do you do it all right? And I'm like, I don't have it all together. Like do you think this is perfect? You know, like I think that everybody everybody thinks that you know The the folks at the top have it all together and it's okay. It's okay to not know the answer to everything Or to feel like there's times some days that I have self-doubt and why am I am I should I be in this meeting? Am I saying the right thing that that's normal? But mentoring women that that to how to deal with those You know thoughts of self-doubt and things like that, right? So have you ever met Deepa tell? I I've seen her speak at different events, but I've never met her personally at the parentage hotel Yes, you have got to me. Yes, right? Yeah, I see y'all both. I mean being friends I would I would love to I would love to meet her. I would love to it's it's fun to support other females that are You know trying to do their best. What is your self-care if you get time working out or working out? I love working out. Yep. I got a peloton during during covid. So that was wonderful I might only get 20 minutes on it a day, but that's fine. Like I get 20 minutes just to kind of you know clear my head Journaling I really like like writing things down. It's fun. My seven-year-old now can like actually write sentences He doesn't spell perfectly, but he he showed me his journal the other day Like he had written down about his weekend and it was the most adorable thing Oh, it was so cute. Yeah, so we're gonna I told him we could keep doing that during the summer and things like that Working out's the biggest one. Yeah, just you know exercising getting sweating trying to get outside I also like to garden. So flowers, you know, I just it's hard to have a ton of time to do it But this past mother's day my kids and I we actually started like a planter box of actual vegetables. Nice. We'll see how that goes. What do you plan? What's gonna survive? That's the better question tomatoes peppers and then like some mint Yeah, cilantro and basil gotta get different herbs. So we'll see it. We'll see what actually survives there It's just a little raised like a little raised planter box. So it's not too big That's cool. I don't even have the I'm scared. I couldn't do that I can keep my house plants alive, but if it's like in the sun fully, it's just I can't even do that I'll try So my my girlfriend saw one of my plants the other day and it was just a Green plant Very specific. Yeah, it was a green plant. It was big and but alive. It was alive. Well, somewhat Right now it's at her house so she can try to revive it. Who was that me? Of course. Oh, of course I was another day She called me because it still had the um the tag on it of what it was I don't even know what it was but she called me the other day and she was like jamie This is saying that it's like the heartiest plant. It's very hard to kill. How did you manage this? I'm like, I don't know I don't know Yeah, I know It's hard It's hard. It's hard to find time like that's the hard part But you know trying to teach my kids they each have a plant in their room now They do they have one little plant and it's funny my middle child I let him go to the store and pick out his own plant. It was the most Outrageous it was this like succulent that had this huge vine growing up first totally my totally my middle child I was like, this is what you want in your room. He was so excited about it. It was very unique It was a very unique plant just like him. So he was super pumped and he waters it every sunday So he gets all excited about it. It's so funny the other day Bailey my youngest was in taylor's room all this And she all of a sudden pulled this plant from underneath her nightstand and she goes taylor When was the last time you watered this and she goes oh, I don't think I ever have Underneath her nightstand. She's had that plant forever too because I remember when she bought it. Yeah, I'm like She's my kid. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You might be a little alike. Okay. I don't know why this is questions coming to mind What did your sisters end up doing my oldest sister is a teacher? Um, so she's a high school teacher She teaches leadership and health education and then my middle sister is an engineer So she's a civil engineer. So my oldest is still in michigan and then my middle sister is in denver And I'm here in nashville in finance. So we're all different. We're totally all different Do y'all get to see each other often? We try to get together at a minimum at least once a year But more like two or three times a year. Oh, that's great Just for all the cousins all the kids to get together We face time all the time the cousins love to see other cousins and things like that Can you all stay in the same house or is it too many people? We're that's how I grew up and like we never you know, we never were used to elaborate things So we go back to my dad's house and so my sister has a camper She'll park the camper in the driveway and all the kids want to sleep in the camper So there'll be like six kids piled into the camper and then they have a four bedroom house But so we'll be just like piled on top of each other. Um, it's fun. Yeah, it's really fun So, you know, we enjoy it. What's your favorite vacation spot? I mean, most of our vacations right now are family related. Yeah, I mean, we just went to disney actually in, uh, march Land or world we went to disney Florida, yeah, it was exhausting Oh, yeah, it was very exhausting. It gets better when they get they get over. They had a blast though They had so much fun. They actually had the extended hours one of the nights And so my oldest and I went we decided we were gonna rally and go back to the park It was so much fun. We rode on more rides. We were there until almost one in the morning I kept telling him I kept telling him like are you tired yet? He has a fit bit and he really wanted a ton of steps on his fit bit And he just thought I wanted to stay out past midnight And then every all of them they got to pick one gift from disney and he picked a picture frame And he wanted to get the picture developed of us in like midnight in front of the castle Melted my heart. That was the memory. He wanted to thank us. That's amazing. Did you do the avatar ride? We did Oh my gosh I did the same thing and say a little bit later Than the little kids with my daughter and we like we didn't know the lines and it was like She was not scared of anything and I was terrified That scares me. Yeah, no, it's so cool It was fun. So so we did disney. We're we're not like the every year going to disney people Like we'll we'll probably give it a couple years just with the ages of our kids It's a little exhausting But we did we had a blast like we had a great time probably if I could vacation That would be something out in nature. I like hiking. I like being outdoors east Tennessee where my husband's family is from Is really beautiful. So just kind of being outdoors with nature is what would I enjoy? Do you see them more often since they're closer? Yeah, we see them a little bit more often But my husband's mom still works and so there we're kind of all balancing busy schedules a little bit But it's it's fun. They we FaceTime is incredible, right? So we FaceTime all the time How did they react whenever they found out you got this job with being from Tennessee Yeah, they were very excited for me. They were very humbled as well You know, they saw kind of all the hard work that I had put in Ed Ernst and young and all of those long hours and things. So I think we were all shocked But we were all very excited. It was fun to see them as well and be excited and fun for my my parents too So have you converted your parents into titans fans yet? Oh, totally Totally titans fans. My my dad is papa and so papa always has his titans hat on Oh, and then he came down to a couple of games too. So, yeah, oh, yeah, I mean everybody's all on board I mean everybody all my family is very supportive. So we all support each other and so they'll come to a couple games this season We always host Christmas here. So because in Michigan We have to do the camper and everything to have our whole family fit up there We can only do it in the summer because you don't really want to camp in the winter So everybody comes here for Christmas. We've done that the last three or four years Fun. So last year they came to the 49ers game. We had a Thursday night football game And it was a blast and so now this year we've got some other games right around Christmas. So they'll come We should do that's going to be fun. Yeah having a game on Christmas Eve. Yeah, it's going to be fun. I'm so excited Yeah, I feel like I need to do something for it. I don't know. It's going to be a lot of fun It's going to be interesting for sure. I'm excited about it. So I know So what kind of advice can you give young women out there who are in college? Not so sure what to do or even didn't even have a teacher to guide them like you did What what kind of advice do you give them? Yeah, I mean it's finance specific if they do like numbers or business I think finance is a great way to start your career and a lot of you know When you look at those executives and companies a lot of them started in public accounting or started in something financial So I think that is a great place to steer your career But really just finding what your passion is finding what you're good at and what you enjoy doing because so much of Life is yes, you want to find something that you're good at and that you can make money at but also that you enjoy too and just You know not putting ceilings on it or limits on it that you can do anything You know, I would have never dreamed that this is where I would have been now 12 years ago when I was in college And anything is possible with hard work. You know, I wasn't always the most talented person, but I outworked everybody And hard work and building relationships connections, you know in college. It's not just about school It's also all the other things that are on your plate that you can balance Can you balance, you know meeting different people or joining? Is it a sorority or is it athletics or is it a part-time job just different things? Meeting people making connections so much of it is you need those technical skills, but you need to be a culture Right. Yeah, you need to be able to hold a conversation with someone and you want to be when we look for hiring people Yes, you need to do the job But you you need to be that culture fit of Do you care, you know, all of those different types of things really really matter. Yeah, that's amazing But I argue that's why you got this role and obviously your hard work But a lot of accountants don't have both sides, right? Like who I went to school with it's like everyone would be like You're an accounting major. You're also social. I'm like, well, you can be an accounting major and be social, you know My husband says, you know, he thinks I have a little typewriter my little keypad and my visor and my packet protector Like no, you're ten key. I know I do love my ten key. Oh, yeah, but I don't know what that is. It's a it's a calculator. I got one over there But um, I do think that's like part of you know, like that's amazing that you have both sides And that even nurtured both sides and probably sports and sorority and whatever helped that But like, yeah, that's why you're so good at this role. I would assume I mean a lot of it is just, you know, meeting people and those connections that you make and I truly I love people like what my purpose is is Empowering people and coaching people, you know, my family neither of them were in business But my dad was a coach and my mom was a coach and I feel like I'm I'm a coach Like I'm here to mentor people and to show them that they can do it and to empower them And I love the quote people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care So when you really pour yourself into people, that's when they give it back to you And so I just love doing that that is what fulfills me in my career And that's the same purpose in my career and also with my boys, you know Like pouring myself into them and then seeing them come back and coaching them. That's what really kind of brings me the most joy So obviously because You were actually the captain of yourself all team in college. Correct. I was I was lucky you kind of started that coaching world right there Yeah, I was fortunate my senior year. My my teammates voted me captain, which I thought that was the coolest part But I mean I faced a lot of adversity in college Yes, I played to D1 sport, but I was hurt a lot actually so my freshman year. I had children's surgery my junior year I had back surgery and my senior year I finally thought I had turned a corner and I had like a high ankle sprain that put me out for a couple weeks So I kept kind of like, you know roadblocks. Yes, I kept but then it made me work that much harder So I would get set back and I would work that much harder and in the time going through that It was so hard and now though that gave me all the perspective of Oh, I can I can overcome this challenge like yeah I'm gonna get set back But I'm gonna come back harder and I'll get set back again and I'll come back harder and you know all those different When you're young you don't have that perspective of you're just in the moment Right, like you don't have that perspective of a career or a long life and you just get so caught up in those things And that's another thing that I mentor young women on is when you've only worked for a year or two years The littlest mistake seems huge right and you just think oh, this is awful I sent the wrong email or I did the wrong thing But you know when you think of no you have like a 20 or 30 year career here. Yeah There's so much more to it or maternity leave. You know people think I'm gonna be gone for Three months. How am I ever gonna come back? Yeah, you think you got 20 or 30 years that little blip No one's even gonna remember like you take that time you spend that with your kid You pour yourself into that because you can never get that back, right, but it's a little blip right in your career So just having that perspective trying to help people See that perspective. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. It's great. We appreciate you for signing our contract and I appreciate you ladies you are both wonderful women and and mothers as well And this is so cool to get to know you more and and you know all the things that you're doing for the titans and for women in our community And all of that it's it's so cool to see this continue to build and just so organically as well I just I love it. I love it. Well, thank you for believing in us. Yes for sure I have fun for sure. I know Well, we know you're busy. So we're gonna let you get back to crunching the numbers so that That john can get paid I do love working with john too. John's incredible We need jamie shopping budget Let me tell you y'all Little side note. This is funny. So For the gala this year, I I bought a pair of shoes And the girls were like mom you're gonna tell dad you're gonna tell dad and I'm like, yeah, of course I don't hide anything from him. That's something I don't believe in So I'm like, yes, I'll tell daddy. I bought those jimmy shoes And then so he's like, why did you need that? And I was like, I have a paycheck I have a paycheck. I can get these shoes now He's like, all right, jimmy's like fine I know this is women. Yeah That's incredible. And this has all been built organically too, which is so cool and kudos to you both and all the relationships you have and all of the, you know Ripple effect that you're having on so many people as well. It's fun. I appreciate that. Yes. Thanks for the support You are so welcome. Thank you for having me. This has been fun Thank you