Bryana Starbuck: Slowing Down to Speed Up

[00:00:00] Hi, I'm Katie Kramer, President and CEO of the Boettcher Foundation.

[00:00:05] Welcome to Colorado Leadership Stories, where we talk to everyday, courageous leaders who

[00:00:11] have made transformational impacts in their communities and are building a better state

[00:00:16] for everyone.

[00:00:18] You'll hear from leaders and organizations and communities throughout the state as we

[00:00:22] explore the idea that leadership is an activity that anyone can do.

[00:00:33] Today we're excited to welcome guest Bryana Starbuck, a Bechur fellow alum who recently

[00:00:38] completed our Doers and Difference Makers Fellowship, which we'll talk a little bit about later.

[00:00:43] Bryana works for the City of Glenwood Springs as a public information officer.

[00:00:47] She also serves in her community as a member of Roaring Fork Latino Network, Roaring Fork

[00:00:52] Wildfire Collaborative and various other boards.

[00:00:55] With the background in communications and marketing, Bryana has a strong heart for

[00:00:58] community and deep Colorado roots.

[00:01:00] We are delighted to have her on the podcast, and it's particularly noteworthy that we're

[00:01:04] recording at Colorado Mountain College at the Spring Valley Campus, just minutes from

[00:01:08] where Bryana grew up outside of Glenwood Springs.

[00:01:11] While we were sitting and getting ready for this, I also heard another fun fact about

[00:01:15] Bryana, that she was the Strawberry Days Queen and Miss Congeniality.

[00:01:20] So we are thrilled to have you on the podcast today, Bryana.

[00:01:23] What a joy, a privilege and an honor to be with you here in this beautiful auditorium.

[00:01:28] Oh, we love it.

[00:01:31] Well, we'll just dive right in.

[00:01:32] We know you moved to Colorado in 1999 and with your family, and you grew up about 10

[00:01:37] to 15 minutes from where we are today.

[00:01:40] Share a bit about your family's story and your childhood.

[00:01:43] Definitely.

[00:01:44] So we're here in the beautiful Roaring Fork slash Colorado River Valley, which definitely

[00:01:50] has a reputation for sort of the call of the wild to bring its residents back home.

[00:01:55] And many moons ago, my family packed up from Dodge City and literally got the heck out of Dodge.

[00:02:02] Both of my parents relentlessly looking for opportunities to make life's possibilities

[00:02:09] more available to myself and my three younger sisters.

[00:02:12] And so we packed up.

[00:02:13] My mom happened to know someone who got a job at Valley View Hospital here in town

[00:02:19] and was like, Hey, there's this great mountain town looking for help.

[00:02:22] So it's like, yeah, let's get out of Maypacking District and head to the mountains.

[00:02:27] You know, Midwest folk.

[00:02:30] So we headed over the passes and have my family's been here since.

[00:02:35] I've got my beautiful parents who still live down Valley from me and two of my

[00:02:39] three younger sisters are here as well.

[00:02:41] You know, have just been extraordinarily fortunate to grow up in a valley that

[00:02:45] while it has changed a lot has also provided me with opportunities that,

[00:02:50] you know, I really wouldn't have had in my other hometown.

[00:02:55] And being here has really afforded me the opportunity to be so close to

[00:03:03] so many great Colorado things.

[00:03:05] And so other key details.

[00:03:08] My parents extremely hard workers and have truly, you know,

[00:03:14] any time that me and my sisters were interested in something or wanted to

[00:03:19] explore a new hobby, like they found a way to make it happen.

[00:03:23] They both are my mom is a both a registered nurse and a realtor.

[00:03:27] And so if anyone knows anything about either of those positions,

[00:03:31] they are both really time consuming.

[00:03:35] And then my dad is a man who can fix tinker with find a solution for

[00:03:39] gosh darn any problem that you could face them with.

[00:03:42] And they both worked really hard to make sure that we didn't want for anything.

[00:03:47] Now, nothing ostentatious, but really cared a lot about us having opportunities

[00:03:52] that weren't provided to them.

[00:03:55] Yeah.

[00:03:56] And you graduated from Glenwood Springs High School.

[00:03:59] Actually, Coleridge High School.

[00:04:00] Oh, yeah.

[00:04:01] All right.

[00:04:01] Yeah, it's over in Silt between Silt and New Council, Colorado.

[00:04:05] And another fun fact I was in the first graduating class who had

[00:04:09] been there all four years.

[00:04:10] So a very intrepid experience of going to a school with all brand new teachers,

[00:04:17] all brand new everything.

[00:04:19] So I got to have a really interesting high school experience as well.

[00:04:24] And after that you went to CSU, right?

[00:04:26] I did.

[00:04:28] When I think about when I chose CSU, I had gone to band camp at the Fort Collins campus

[00:04:35] and also that volleyball camp there.

[00:04:37] And it was just sort of like, yeah, that please seems all right.

[00:04:40] Like sure.

[00:04:40] I didn't really have a specific vision in mind of what I wanted to go to school for.

[00:04:45] But I was like, yeah, college.

[00:04:47] That's the thing that happens now.

[00:04:49] And went off to CSU and had a wonderful, expansive time.

[00:04:54] Well, and did you always know you would come back to this area?

[00:04:58] You know, when I went to school, there was definitely that restlessness

[00:05:03] of small town energy of like, I gotta get out and explore the world.

[00:05:10] And you know, this valley can seem so small with everyone knowing everybody

[00:05:15] and which is great and also hard to sort of break out of a shell.

[00:05:19] So if you're a really nerdy, you know, interesting kiddo, it's hard to like

[00:05:25] break from that image.

[00:05:27] So really wanted to go off and actually studied French

[00:05:31] and university thinking that I would go into something like the state department

[00:05:36] or work internationally, studied international studies.

[00:05:41] And the series of events that brought me back to the valley were not something

[00:05:47] that I had planned on or anticipated.

[00:05:52] But I do remember the moment that I had been back in the valley for a while,

[00:05:57] you know, had helped my dad through some really scary health stuff

[00:06:00] and my parents had like switched over to a house to renovate

[00:06:04] and was unemployed at the time and was like,

[00:06:07] oh, I don't know what I'm going to do.

[00:06:09] Had to win off and explored Europe for a few months, came back

[00:06:12] and then started a job here that I could tell it was like,

[00:06:16] if you pursue this career path here, like,

[00:06:20] bims the roots, that's your setting up shop here.

[00:06:24] And boy, am I extremely lucky that I got in when I did

[00:06:28] with the people who I got in with.

[00:06:30] And it's mean I couldn't be luckier to live in a community that so many

[00:06:37] here in the state and the nation across the world are like,

[00:06:41] God, what a beautiful place and wonderful.

[00:06:43] Well, say more about what was magical that was like,

[00:06:46] oh, this is what I'm meant to do and where I'm meant to be.

[00:06:50] Yeah. So I didn't go to school for communications or marketing

[00:06:54] or anything like that. But just had always been in a really

[00:06:59] fortunate opportunity to sort of the serendipity of meeting people

[00:07:04] who were willing to, you know, solve passion and energy

[00:07:10] and maybe like an untrained hand, but we're like,

[00:07:13] let's hire the heart train the hand, which is a nice phrase

[00:07:18] that we use around town.

[00:07:19] I love that.

[00:07:20] Um, the really magical part of this valley is

[00:07:27] from my front door, I can walk less than a quarter of a mile

[00:07:33] and be on a trail. I can be next to the river.

[00:07:36] I can be in downtown Glenwood enjoying some really fantastic

[00:07:40] local restaurants. I can be at an art gallery downtown like

[00:07:46] the fantastic opportunity of being in a smaller compared to

[00:07:53] other communities, but still be afforded, renowned destinations

[00:07:59] and, and again, opportunities, things to do people to see

[00:08:05] nature in town stuff. It's not something that meant that

[00:08:10] I think that many people have the opportunity to do

[00:08:13] hit the trail and then also hit the brewery in that same afternoon.

[00:08:18] Well, it is indeed a special place. And as a Colorado kid myself,

[00:08:21] this was completely a destination for us coming up to go to the hot springs pool.

[00:08:27] And so I for those people that know Glenwood Springs just as

[00:08:33] in that way, what are some of those maybe lesser known gems in the region that you

[00:08:41] would want to tell people about? Absolutely. As you mentioned,

[00:08:45] Glenwood Springs is certainly a destination community. We have,

[00:08:48] I think we serve over a million visitors a year in town.

[00:08:52] We are definitely a little bit more of a summer town with like the

[00:08:55] Adventure Park and the pools and the hot springs. I would actually really

[00:08:59] encourage people to check out like if they're here like looking for a fun time.

[00:09:04] Two Rivers Park is a gorgeous park in the scent in the heart of our

[00:09:08] downtown area that has this beautiful riverfront like walkway area.

[00:09:14] It's just like a great community vibe. It's also super walkable to some of those other amenities.

[00:09:21] And on the flip of the coin, like not thinking of it as a destination or something that

[00:09:27] a visitor might think of, Glenwood Springs sits at the heart of three different major economic zones.

[00:09:34] So when we think of Glenwood Springs as a community, it definitely is like the people here in town.

[00:09:40] But also, Glenwood Springs would not exist without this regional system of folks who are in the

[00:09:49] Colorado River Valley who commute into town to either work or do supplies or maybe they go

[00:09:55] up valley like towards Aspen or you know, folks coming up valley coming into town to get

[00:10:01] their groceries or their needs. This is truly like a regional system. And so we sit at sort of the

[00:10:10] pinch point of all of these other areas. So we get the benefit of sort of the amenities of a

[00:10:17] much larger community whilst being a town of technically over like 10,000 ish people. But

[00:10:26] we have the reason why we have so many great amenities is because we have people flowing through

[00:10:34] our community for work and for their services. And the wonder of Glenwood Springs is supported

[00:10:42] by so many hardworking hands even outside of town. Well, yes, indeed. And you are clearly like

[00:10:50] the ambassador, Mrs. Glenwood Springs in addition to the strawberry queen. But I know that as the

[00:10:58] public information officer, part of your job is you're talking about all the good stuff.

[00:11:03] But you probably have to talk about difficult things. And I am thinking about a couple years

[00:11:09] ago during the big fire. And one of the things I know about your background is you have,

[00:11:15] in addition to all these things, extensive training and emergency response. And specifically

[00:11:21] during that crazy time of the Grizzly Creek fire. Tell us about that experience,

[00:11:28] how you were involved and maybe what you took away from it? Yeah. And so at the time I wasn't a

[00:11:34] public information officer with the city, I was actually a contractor on a CDOT project that

[00:11:39] happened to be happening in the canyon. And I'm part of this truly wonderful group of just amazing

[00:11:45] communications professionals called the Garfield County Public Information Officers Group.

[00:11:51] And when Grizzly Creek fire happened, it really happened so fast and you know, federal teams

[00:11:59] were called in really quickly. And it was a really scary time and certainly can elaborate more

[00:12:05] on how it's not just the fire that you have to think about, but it's also the recovery piece as

[00:12:09] well. Absolutely. That fire was burning like so close to our watershed and like threatening

[00:12:15] like potential water supply for the town of Glenwood as well. And you know, down valley

[00:12:21] communities also depend on that water and the saying is blood follows fire. But one of the

[00:12:27] really important lessons that I think Glenwood Springs and myself carried forward from that

[00:12:32] fire that I think also has sort of regional and state and maybe even national change was

[00:12:39] we've recognized on that fire how big the gap is in communicating emergency information to

[00:12:46] folks who are not primarily English speakers. And so during that fire, you know, you're seeing

[00:12:52] these big plumes of smoke and you've got natural landmarks like hanging lake and you've

[00:12:59] got the interstate that is so critical for so many different reasons. And there was just a

[00:13:06] recognition that there are so many folks in this community again, about 30% of our population is

[00:13:13] Latino. And the questions that were being asked but no sort of response from local agencies,

[00:13:21] state agencies, federal teams was that information in Spanish. And so there has been a huge shift

[00:13:30] since then and also Grizzly Creek fire was happening like during a pandemic. So this also

[00:13:36] was the lesson that we're learning in tandem with the pandemic of how can we make sure that

[00:13:41] a community that is going to be affected by emergencies is also getting access to that

[00:13:46] information. And so since that time, there has really been a huge, I would say a cultural shift

[00:13:55] in the way that agencies and organizations think about getting information out to our Spanish

[00:14:01] language community and recognizing that when you have that critical life safety information,

[00:14:07] like it is incumbent upon these agencies to make sure that they have a plan and a way to be

[00:14:13] deliver that information in a way that is culturally relevant for folks. So that's a huge lesson

[00:14:21] carried forward of like how can we adopt this spirit of yes during emergencies, but also to

[00:14:28] be effective during emergency you have to be effective in your day to day. And as a public

[00:14:33] information officer, they say 98% of what you do is the day to day stuff like telling people

[00:14:39] about like, Hey, City Hall is going to be closed and we've got this special event and

[00:14:44] here's this community engagement initiative connecting with folks outside of that time

[00:14:51] when you're doing a regular business so that when those 2% emergencies hit, you are already

[00:14:56] connected with the folks who are going to need that information. Well, yes, and out of tragedy

[00:15:02] so many times, good things can happen. Right? So what a lesson and that was 2020, right? If I

[00:15:10] remember right with the fire. Yeah, and then right after right after that 2021 people might remember

[00:15:15] the debris flows that I was just going to ask you know shut down I 70 right unprecedented

[00:15:23] amount of time and you know we were we had like Secretary Buttigieg like being like,

[00:15:31] let's go we got to get something done right and we were so lucky to have the support of our

[00:15:36] congressional delegation to you know advocate to get us the resources see it out was fantastic.

[00:15:42] But anyways, same thing we've got this huge emergency happening and gloma springs at one

[00:15:49] point, our water plants were treating mud it is crazy I've got these vials that show some

[00:15:54] of the samples that were going into our water plant and it's not that we couldn't

[00:15:59] treat it and in fact, thanks to the emergency watershed protection program we had done a bunch

[00:16:05] of improvements in such a short time to add resiliency to our infrastructure so that once

[00:16:12] debris flows came around even though we were treating mud we were still able to turn it into

[00:16:17] high quality potable water for our community but it did mean that we had to slow things down

[00:16:23] long story short. The emergency happened again but because we had set up these systems to

[00:16:29] be able to better communicate with folks we were able to get that message out and to

[00:16:33] to all members of our community. And now a couple years later are things a little more

[00:16:40] stabilized? Did some of that regrowth happened or do we have a long way to go? Yeah, I mean I

[00:16:45] think that everything that I'm hearing is that things are looking good you know PSA don't

[00:16:51] drag your chains don't throw cigarettes out the window all the things that we need to

[00:16:57] be very careful of during these high dry seasons but I think things have started to stabilize

[00:17:05] on the equity and language piece. I think that we're starting to enter a new phase of like okay

[00:17:12] great we're doing translation so we're good right? No, no we're not good. We have to in order to

[00:17:19] build that trust with the communities that's traditionally disenfranchised from

[00:17:25] government agencies and other folks and support systems we have to keep showing up and we have

[00:17:31] to keep being there for people. So I've noticed that a lot of in a lot of diversity equity inclusion

[00:17:39] type work that folks are starting to be like oh well we're not really seeing a ton of turnaround

[00:17:45] or like what are we doing here? And I would just tell those folks who are in those programs

[00:17:50] you've got to keep going like this we're up against decades of folks who you know we're excluded from

[00:17:58] these conversations and meant to think like oh these systems aren't for us and in many cases these

[00:18:03] systems are actively working against us so we got to keep going. We got to keep looking for

[00:18:10] ways to connect with communities and building these relationships. So important and I want to

[00:18:19] talk a little more about the role right so it centers on communication, community outreach engagement

[00:18:27] and at the heart of it too you're continuing to build trust. So say more about being a government

[00:18:34] official in a small town. Yeah such a fun such a fun time I have both a blessing and

[00:18:43] at some times the challenge of whenever I go outside boy am I gonna run into somebody so

[00:18:50] I better have you know somewhat of a decent outfit on and like be willing to engage with

[00:18:58] members of the public because you're always wearing that hat. I'm like always no matter what I do

[00:19:04] I'm always wearing my and that's Brianna with the city hat. In my role I wear a lot of hats

[00:19:10] and I'm fantastically lucky to have folks within my team who also see the value and the importance

[00:19:17] of good communication and engagement but yes everything from the small day-to-day business to

[00:19:24] hey we're gonna have this huge land use discussion like that that falls into my office or you

[00:19:32] know in our emergency services folks have recently added some more capacity so when

[00:19:37] there are emergencies happening I can focus on more of the business or like city hall administrative

[00:19:44] type stuff and not needing to worry so much about communicating that frontline information

[00:19:49] though being available for some of that. Being a representative of a local agency in a small town

[00:19:59] it does mean a lot of times that it's difficult to separate who I am as like a quote unquote

[00:20:07] private citizen from my role in this community and so sometimes that I give over some of my

[00:20:15] personal privacy and space in service of like wanting to be there for the people of this community

[00:20:24] and that's something that I signed up for and I said put me in coach community because if

[00:20:30] I'm gonna be known for someone I am I hopefully it can become known as a trusted voice of someone

[00:20:37] that can be that relationship wrangler between our community and organizations like

[00:20:44] local government. I have so much respect for how difficult that can be and I think about it

[00:20:53] from a leadership perspective Brianna the conflict that you must deal with and the

[00:21:01] it would be hard to be at the center of that how do you take care of yourself when

[00:21:08] things are coming at you from all sides. Yeah and the honest answer is sometimes I don't do a good

[00:21:15] job of that and um you know I even think back to you know entering the fellowship with the

[00:21:21] Bedra Foundation which boy how did that come out a great time for me you know starting

[00:21:26] to really feel the the grind of burnout and just being like gosh this is so hard and feeling that

[00:21:34] heavy weight um but the thing that like really helped to turn it around is having that community

[00:21:41] with other folks who get it who get how hard and lonely and isolating and sort of how relentless

[00:21:50] service can be sometimes um and having the the folks around me to be able to commiserate me like

[00:21:57] heck heck yeah this is hard this is really hard sometimes um and then the other piece is

[00:22:06] the community with others who get it and then also getting out of your box to be with the

[00:22:13] people you serve outside of the institutions places spaces events organized on behalf of the

[00:22:20] institution which is a really complicated way of saying like go be in community with people like go

[00:22:28] go to people's things go go out there um I'll use the example of man I was having a hard day at

[00:22:35] City Hall got yelled at a bunch of stuff that some of it I had a hand in some of it I didn't

[00:22:40] some of it was just that's how the cookie crumbled um but it started to feel really personal of like

[00:22:46] oh you're bad like not the situation is difficult that we're in but you Brianna Starbucks are bad

[00:22:54] person which that's not a fun place to be um so to decompress I went out uh to to Rivers

[00:23:01] Park actually and I went and I did a lap and it was just the the beauty and the joy of being

[00:23:08] around people who are like just enjoying life in this place together so you know uh I remember

[00:23:17] there was like a family with a little kiddo on a trike like trying like imagine fresh off of

[00:23:22] training wheels and there was a couple laying down and it was like just gorgeous weather um

[00:23:27] and had gone for a walk along the river and sat down sort of like staring off into the

[00:23:34] middle distance like really trying to just like let go of the day and a gal who was walking her

[00:23:39] dogs walked by and she said not bad and I'm sure that she just meant the weather or whatever

[00:23:48] but I was like big feeling time hold it together until she passes weeping uh because it was just

[00:23:57] such a beautiful reminder that yeah it's not all bad it's I'm not bad

[00:24:05] this is hard people are bad that are complaining all the time yeah it like and it was just so

[00:24:15] revitalizing to the spirit to be like oh well the things that I do do matter and

[00:24:20] the people that I work with do care and we really are working hard and to even though again

[00:24:28] I recognize you wasn't talking about this like probably wasn't talking about this beautiful

[00:24:33] shoreline restoration project that we did however many years ago but being like oh

[00:24:40] this moment was created because a lot of people cared a lot yeah so be with other people who get it

[00:24:47] and then just go be in community with people and with things that you're not running totally

[00:24:53] and the other nugget I hear is connect to purpose right when things are hard that is such good advice

[00:25:01] such good advice I've been told I'm extremely wise oh yes indeed clearly you are and that's

[00:25:08] that is interesting um on the topic of you being wise um some of our colleagues at

[00:25:14] betcher have had a chance to get to know you through with a fellowship the last year and

[00:25:19] I've been told that some of your best qualities everything that you said and also how you

[00:25:25] really understand multiple perspectives on an issue and try to find common ground I

[00:25:30] I am sure this job puts you at the intersection of that stakeholder engagement where

[00:25:37] you have to talk across differences and bridge that skill is difficult to learn

[00:25:46] so how do you do that how have you is it natural for you have you taught yourself to do that maybe

[00:25:53] share some experience about that aspect of your leadership yeah that's a great question and I

[00:26:00] totally was joking before being a wise person but yes I know you were but yes you are wise

[00:26:09] definitely part of it comes from again in the oldest of four sisters so

[00:26:15] I know you had some you had some practice growing up so some practice growing up of

[00:26:20] and I think that I have often sort of fallen I am in the middle of like sort of introvert

[00:26:29] extrovert but I definitely lean more listen first when interacting with new folks in particular

[00:26:36] and I think that man is there a bunch to learn in keeping your mouth shut sometimes and just

[00:26:42] listening and I think that you know whether you're trying to navigate the game that you're

[00:26:48] playing with your younger sisters or you're trying to come to a decision about something

[00:26:53] that's going to affect the community for decades to come like there is shared values and shared

[00:27:01] goals even if they are super high level on anything I've often found that there is a

[00:27:10] nugget of agreement of shared values in any situation I think that oftentimes that when

[00:27:20] we talk about more complex issues like it it's so easy to quickly dive into different

[00:27:27] camps of thinking or you know tunnel vision of here is what I am seeing in my perspective

[00:27:34] and what I'm looking to get out of this and this is the only way to get there that we

[00:27:37] sometimes stop to see like oh that is valid and probably true and there are also these other

[00:27:44] perspectives but like we're all on the same planet earth so we've got at least one thing

[00:27:51] in common that we are on this planet we're in the same space but the one thing that I wanted to say

[00:27:57] about communications and building relationships and community and working with stakeholders

[00:28:05] that I think is a key that I learned from Mr. Curtis Esquivel is that and it really solidified

[00:28:13] this point for me is that so often we judge ourselves by our intent and we judge others by

[00:28:20] our impact and boy is that true and I think that when we think about how do you bridge that

[00:28:28] connection between folks of navigating really hard conversations is pausing to think about

[00:28:34] and really extending grace for like what does that person actually want and trying to do

[00:28:40] and I think that is critically important to how we navigate hard conversations.

[00:28:46] Oh that is so well said and inspired by Mr. Curtis Esquivel he is pretty amazing.

[00:28:52] Yeah. Oh good yes good wisdom there and the other thing quoting you back to you

[00:28:58] is just this piece about good communication and making sure people have access

[00:29:04] to good communication. I think when in absence of good communication people make up stories so

[00:29:11] that's so helpful that especially in local government where you can by communicating

[00:29:18] even if people don't like the answer that people can understand that it's complicated

[00:29:23] there's trade-offs here and there has to be some compromise and so but that's but that is tough

[00:29:31] you have definitely as a leader chosen a difficult career which yay you we

[00:29:39] to pick hard things to do as a leader and and admire your courage and resiliency in it and

[00:29:45] I know that when you're doing leadership that matters it's risky it's full of challenges

[00:29:54] that are coming at you every day and it can be fun but but it's difficult and I don't know about you

[00:30:02] but I have to overcome myself sometimes relative to feeling self-doubt or maybe you get I don't

[00:30:10] know about you but maybe you get down on life sometimes like you were talking about what has

[00:30:16] made the difference for you as a leader when things are hard. Some of what I shared earlier

[00:30:22] for sure of going and being in community and having the folks around you to to sort of commiserate

[00:30:29] and be like and not trying to fix the problem but just like hearing you out like yeah this is hard

[00:30:35] and I would say that those are the two big things of just people other people and something I think

[00:30:43] too that a lot of people that are called into various leadership service forward facing type

[00:30:50] folks is you know it's put put everyone else first and put the mission first and put the communities

[00:30:57] that you serve first and like there'll be time for you later and uh you know was actually meeting

[00:31:04] with Kim Moriyama who is a fantastic coach that I got connected with through the Vettra

[00:31:09] Foundation and um she asked me a really hard question not that long ago and it's like okay

[00:31:14] but if you say no like what does that really mean and like having to stop and think and

[00:31:19] evaluate like oh like if I say no to these things and I put myself first and that means that I'm selfish

[00:31:23] of course it's like does it though is not what that really means and it's like or is it like maybe

[00:31:30] that means that you're not everything to everyone and you're not perfect and you're not like able

[00:31:34] to execute at four million percent every second of the day so I mean I know that it's been said

[00:31:41] once it's been said a million times but like you have to take time to put yourself first sometimes

[00:31:50] and sometimes that means making the hard choice of stopping work like I'm not working anymore

[00:31:56] right now like it's whatever time you've said or like you finish whatever task you said and

[00:32:01] saying I know there's a million more decisions to make and things to create and places to go

[00:32:07] and I am at a point where if I keep going like it will take so much longer for me to rebound so

[00:32:15] I'm gonna stop thank you so much for your time and your energy but I'm out of here now and leaving

[00:32:21] and letting it leave gotta walk away gotta sometimes take care of yourself first yes well

[00:32:29] thank you for talking about that because um I really admire the the difficulty of some

[00:32:37] things that you deal with on a day-to-day basis but what a wonderful place to do them in here as well

[00:32:43] man am I lucky I'm the luckiest ducky in all the land well as we're coming to a close here I've got

[00:32:52] one more question for you and of course you in our bet your fellowship program last year

[00:32:57] had a chance to do a lot of things and connect with other leaders from around the state and

[00:33:02] world communities specifically but one of the unique things about the program and experience is

[00:33:07] that you have to put together a professional development award proposal because that's one

[00:33:12] of the pieces of the fellowship in the proposal you get to plan about how you want to invest

[00:33:17] in yourself personally speaking of and professionally after you complete the fellowship so I wanted

[00:33:22] you to share what you're going to be up to in the next year or so with your professional

[00:33:27] development award well what a quick quick opportunity for me to be like better foundation

[00:33:34] for anyone watching I'm sure everyone knows like what what a gang what a family what a

[00:33:41] like I get chills thinking about like who I was like before I started that fellowship and

[00:33:46] like where I feel like I am at now in my leadership journey and I remember the first time reading

[00:33:51] professional development grant and being like oh I wonder how I can take these funds and then

[00:33:55] put it into whatever program like that is like actually not for me but like is for like a bunch

[00:34:00] of other people in my community and uh while I like love doing that um I had you know have really

[00:34:09] reflected and seen like okay not only like what will benefit me as a leader right now but how can

[00:34:15] I look at ways to develop as a leader three years from now five years from now and beyond

[00:34:21] and so I am just over the moon giddy excited about uh the pieces that I am looking forward to exploring

[00:34:30] which for me is a three piece sort of immersive experience if you will um and so the first piece

[00:34:39] is health coaching because something again back to that you've gotta you gotta take care of yourself

[00:34:45] and something that I am just terrible about um is like the the like body part of of everything

[00:34:54] meaning like feeding yourself and like before nine o'clock and like you know whatever just happens

[00:35:01] to be in the pantry and like honoring the joy of like moving your body and just like being

[00:35:10] you know animated in your life um so like that piece of it is the first part um the second part

[00:35:16] is Spanish language immersion program which I am so excited about back to my roots a little bit

[00:35:23] my mom was born in Mexico um but I did not learn Spanish growing up and so I've tried

[00:35:30] and done my best and then went off to school and studied French because obviously that was the

[00:35:35] right thing to do but this opportunity to really cultivate a skill that is something that I wouldn't

[00:35:42] call it a regret but something that is just like a twinge of god it would be great if I was just

[00:35:48] a little bit better at Spanish so really cultivating that Spanish language skill

[00:35:53] and then the third piece which I think is the most out there um or different a different way

[00:36:00] of thinking about leadership development is some adaptive improvisational training or improv yes and

[00:36:07] experience which I you know hearing from Katie Craig and some other folks that I think is something

[00:36:13] that I've always been really personally interested in and I think it will help me develop that skill

[00:36:20] as you know I really want to be an unfloppable leader someone who yes everything impending doom

[00:36:27] or like this is something that needs to happen now and it's like okay how can we take that information

[00:36:33] and hear it add on to a build expand and move quickly um in a way that you know brings everyone

[00:36:41] together so I'm super excited about that piece of it as well and so wow I love I love all those

[00:36:49] things and I think the takeaway for me in hearing that is when you invest in yourself you invest

[00:36:56] in others right I mean you the all those things will make you even a more effective and impactful

[00:37:02] leader so good for you I'm so excited for you I'm just over the moon excited to and like I already

[00:37:09] have these little plans like twirling in my head of like how can I cultivate these skills for

[00:37:15] myself but then also bring these experiences and the skills back to this community of course

[00:37:20] because that's how you are like back to like working with stakeholders like how can we like

[00:37:25] use some of these skills to either connect with an audience that is challenging to connect with

[00:37:30] the Spanish language community or like use skills to like rethink about an experience that we're sharing

[00:37:37] it and in using that some of that improvisational training to reorient how we're thinking about

[00:37:42] a situation or just all the all the things I'm so excited that's great I love it well

[00:37:48] we are have arrived at the lightning round so four more questions okay what's your

[00:37:53] favorite colorado hobby favorite colorado hobby I am at my core an indoor cat I am an indoor cat and

[00:38:01] an outdoor state so my favorite thing is porch hangs so like you know there's nothing more fun than

[00:38:08] just being on a porch with good buddies enjoying a beverage or a snack or just beautiful weather

[00:38:15] or cozy up with cocoa just being on a porch a porch hang probably I love that I think maybe

[00:38:21] I'm going to add that to the list of things that I like to do too it's true it's so fun

[00:38:25] porch hangs porch hangs and especially in a pretty place like this where everywhere you look it's pretty

[00:38:31] okay favorite colorado landmark this one I struggled between a few different ones but I

[00:38:36] have to go with the Glenwood Canyon home of that lovely fire um and debris flows but also hanging

[00:38:43] lake um and for me it just really signifies like you're almost home right you have that like

[00:38:49] sulfur smell from the hot springs and you've got these like gorgeous walls it's just it's fantastic

[00:38:55] oh that's great and well stated I would be disappointed if you said anything else being

[00:39:00] from this area okay what action hero do you most identify with I'm going to go with Frodo Baggins

[00:39:06] yes um because though I seem cold to whatever big grand scheme at the end of the day I'm just a

[00:39:15] little guy who wants to garden and revel with friends and just eat so many good meals and play music

[00:39:25] and you know I don't think of myself as particularly heroic or anything like that but you know

[00:39:34] because I am here and somebody's got to do it like sure oh oh get a gang and go to Mordor

[00:39:42] I love that well and you also have such a connection to place right I mean growing up here and then

[00:39:53] continuing to contribute to this place I I love that so very very good one okay and finally

[00:40:02] what are you currently binging is there like a show or a book or a podcast that's like wasting

[00:40:06] your time or like inspiring you or something yes and I could not be more excited to offer this to

[00:40:13] any audience but there is a streaming platform called Dropout TV that has truly an insane amount of

[00:40:22] ridiculously good content that actually features quite a bit of improv stuff on there but one

[00:40:28] of the shows on there is called Dimension 20 which is a Dungeons and Dragons actual play

[00:40:33] show so it's watching a bunch of brilliant comedians actors play D&D in a sort of edited

[00:40:43] story format it is beyond everything it's perfect it's amazing everyone should get a Dropout

[00:40:50] subscription hashtag not sponsored but like it's so good it's truly perfect oh my gosh that is

[00:41:00] a very awesome answer to that question I haven't heard that before it's wonderful that's great

[00:41:06] bonus shout out to there's a podcast called World Beyond Number which is also a Dungeons and Dragons

[00:41:12] podcast and such like rich compelling heartbreaking elating storytelling that is I love this gorgeous

[00:41:24] so just like everyone should get into Dungeons and Dragons more that'd be great for me thank you

[00:41:30] I love that for us but yeah oh man you are the entire package between miscongeniality

[00:41:37] Frodo Baggins you got this D&D angle and you're just an amazing human and an amazing leader

[00:41:45] so thank you what you do for the Colorado community and this valley as well you're

[00:41:52] amazing and we're so proud that you're a better fellow as well and just a joy privilege

[00:41:58] honor to be surrounded by leaders such as yourself and I again cannot be more grateful to the

[00:42:05] Betra Foundation for connecting me with folks across the state that I likely would not have

[00:42:10] otherwise met but I've learned a lot and I have only discovered how truly how much more there is

[00:42:17] to learn and develop and cultivate so thank you for having me on well and they've learned

[00:42:22] from you too my friends so yay all right well thank you thank you for coming

[00:42:52] for everyone with an 85 plus year legacy of giving back we're committed to amplifying our impact

[00:42:59] for future generations that's the spirit of Betcher