Tech Exec Wellness Podcast: Conversations to Reignite Your Soul
In the fast-paced world of technology, where innovation and disruption are the norm, tech executives often find themselves caught in a whirlwind of high-pressure decision-making, long working hours, and constant connectivity. The relentless pursuit of success and the demands of their roles can take a toll on their mental, emotional, and physical well-being. However, a new narrative that emphasizes the importance of tech executive wellness as a crucial component of sustainable success is emerging. This is the story of the tech executive's journey to rediscover balance, prioritize well-being, and ultimately thrive in their personal and professional lives.
If you're ready to embark on a wellness journey that will empower you to live your best life, I invite you to subscribe to Tech Exec Wellness, Navigating the Digital Balance, wherever you listen to podcasts. Together, let's cultivate harmony within ourselves and radiate positive energy to the world. Each week, we'll explore a wide range of topics related to wellness, inviting experts, thought leaders, and everyday individuals who have transformed their lives through mindful living, self-care, practices, and holistic approaches. We'll dive deep into areas such as nutrition, fitness, mental health, spirituality, mindfulness, personal growth, and more.
Tech Exec Wellness Podcast: Conversations to Reignite Your Soul
Ep. 8: Interview With Melissa Grabiner
Ever wondered how a love for Barry Manilow and the Grateful Dead could intertwine with a career in HR and talent acquisition? Join us as we sit down with Melissa Grabiner for a chat that bridges the gap between professional networking and personal passions. Melissa, whose extensive experience at acclaimed firms like Baxter Health Care and Takeda Pharmaceuticals has made her a LinkedIn luminary, spills her secrets on crafting a compelling personal brand, all while maintaining a zest for life that would make any music enthusiast proud.
Navigating LinkedIn can feel like trekking through a dense jungle, but with Melissa's insights, you'll learn how to turn it into your personal playground for career growth. She shares a pivotal moment when a simple direct message on LinkedIn opened doors in ways she never anticipated, and we discuss how to combat the dreaded imposter syndrome, leaving you charged and ready to take the professional world by storm. This episode isn't just about the power of connections—it's a testament to the transformative encounters that await when you engage genuinely with your network.
As we wrap up this soulful symphony of career wisdom, dive into the harmonious blend of professional persistence and personal wellness. We highlight the importance of resilience in the ever-challenging job market, with Melissa providing a playbook for networking that goes beyond just clicking 'apply'. Plus, she shares a heartwarming journey into yoga, illustrating that it's never too late to embrace a new passion. So, whether you're a job seeker or just looking for a dose of inspiration, tune in and let this episode be the soundtrack to your next big career move.
Please visit our website https://www.techexecwellness.com to stay up to date and subscribe to our newsletter!
Welcome back to our first episode of Tech Exec Wellness. Happy New Year, welcome to 2024. I'm your host, melissa, and I'm your co-host, erica. Today we are joined by Melissa Gravenair. Melissa has nearly three decades of experience in human resources and recruiting. Melissa is a sought after strategist and expert in talent acquisition At Christine Matthews Consulting CMC, a one-digital company. Melissa works with venture capital-backed biotech and pharmaceutical startups to build out their talent acquisition functions and make key senior-level hires.
Speaker 1:Prior to CMC, melissa spent 18 years in HR and recruiting at Baxter Health Care, where she ran the talent acquisition function for the company's largest business unit, which was later spun off and acquired by Takeda Pharmaceuticals up in northern Illinois. During her time at the company, melissa and her team were responsible for recruiting nearly half of the company's total global hires each year. She has won numerous awards for leading the highest performing global HR team at Baxter and later at Takeda. With over 233,000 LinkedIn followers, melissa has become a well-known champion for job seekers across the globe. She is recognized by LinkedIn's influencer program as a top voice for both recruiting and job search strategies. Melissa earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is a certified yoga instructor. So, melissa, welcome to the show, but before we get started, we want to know what is your favorite music, genre, artist and, lastly, can you share with us the most memorable concert experience that you've had?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So first of all, I'm super excited to be here. Really appreciate you asking me to be on this podcast. So this is somewhat of a funny answer that I'm going to give you, because my two favorite musical artists are such an extreme for one another. I'm a big fan of the Grateful Dead, oh.
Speaker 1:I actually yeah.
Speaker 2:So I actually have seen them a bunch of times in concert, and the Grateful Dead spun off to form a new band called Dead and Company, and my husband and I have traveled the country. We've probably seen close to 10 of their shows. We're huge, huge deadheads. A lot of people don't know that about me, and my other favorite musical artist is Barry Manilow, which I don't know. If a lot of people in this day and age know who Barry Manilow is, but he is kind of like a sappy love song singer. I've seen him a bunch of times in concert as well. So, yes, I have two very distinctly different favorite musical artists. They couldn't be more different from one another. My husband and I love to see live bands and live music, but anytime there's like a Grateful Dead cover band, you will find us there.
Speaker 1:Okay, I grew up my mother loved Barry Manilow, so Copacabana, Mandy and Daybreak, oh my goodness.
Speaker 2:The best, it's the best, it's the best and it's funny, I have dragged my husband to a couple of his concerts where my husband has been miserable. We saw him in Vegas last year and my husband was not happy to be there, but he was a trooper and came with me. But yes, I do love all kinds of music, but yes, the Grateful Dead and Barry Manilow are definitely my two favorites.
Speaker 1:Wow, that is so cool. I know that's. You know Erica and I had met and that was one of the things that we started talking about immediately was music. So I'm so glad I want to ask every guest that comes on what music they like. And the Grateful Dead I've not heard a lot of my friends talk about. You know, going to a lot of concerts like 10, maybe one or two, but that's really remarkable and that's so cool. Thank you for sharing that.
Speaker 3:Of course, Of course, what was your most memorable concert experience?
Speaker 2:Yes, so this is actually a really funny story. So a couple of years ago I was on a business trip in Atlanta, georgia, and the dead were playing. And my husband called me up and said you realize, the dead is playing tonight in Atlanta. And I knew that but I didn't think anything of it because I was there for a business trip. But then I thought to myself, if I'm in Atlanta and the dead are in Atlanta, it's meant to be that I go see the dead. So I told my boss, I said I'm really and I had a great relationship with my boss and I said to him I'm really sorry, I know I'm here on a business trip but I can't not go see them tonight.
Speaker 2:So I took an Uber. It was the first time I was ever in an Uber. I took a 45-minute Uber drive in a city I've never been to before. I went to see the dead. I was by myself in a strange city, had the best time, took an Uber home, missed the business meeting. My boss wasn't too happy with me, but he kind of laughed at it because he knows that I was a very dedicated employee and I wouldn't have done it if it really didn't need a lot to me to go see them in concert, but I improved that. You know you can go to a restaurant, you can go to a concert, you can really do anything by yourself, and it's okay to be alone. I had no issue being by myself. I actually had a lot of fun and it was probably the best time I ever had seeing them in concert.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'll share this story with you real quick. So Renee Bruning and I were this is when I was working for Apple we were in Omaha doing an iPhone and iPad and business seminar and Nickelback was there. So we walked from our hotel to the Quest Center and saw Nickelback and the same thing. It was like day off. We got great tickets. I think you need to get out and do stuff when you're traveling, so that's so cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it was such a great experience. It just allowed me to learn about myself that you know I could figure out an Uber for the first time. It's okay to be in a car for 45 minutes with a stranger, go to a stadium with you know, 15,000 people, be by yourself and be okay. But had the best time ever and it was one of the best moments I had seeing a live performance.
Speaker 3:I love that Melissa and I share the love for EDM Electronic Dance.
Speaker 2:Music yes, I love.
Speaker 3:EDM. Well and that's the same thing as what you were talking about you can go to a concert by yourself. You can just move with the crowd. Everybody's your friend.
Speaker 3:My uncle one of my uncles is a deadhead and I completely understand Grateful Dead, barry Manilow I'm not really a fan, but I'm familiar with the music. But EDM you could just go to a concert, show up, be having a crappy day, you know, maybe you need your spirits lifted and just have a blast. It's so much fun. 100% agree, yep. So before we get into the nitty gritty of things and start asking you some questions, I wanted to ask you an initial question about LinkedIn. You have 233,000 followers. I would love for you to kind of talk a little bit about your experience with that and the connections, and I'll tell you why before I let you answer.
Speaker 3:Linkedin has been so powerful. I've made so many meaningful connections. Melissa Sanford is one of them. Her and I met through LinkedIn and now you know we're doing a podcast together and we've become basically family. I've met some of my best friends through social media and LinkedIn. I've found jobs. I've been able to grow as a professional. How has that helped you and how do you think it can help so many others?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's such a great question. I'm so happy you asked me that I actually posted about this very topic about a week ago and I posted about how LinkedIn has really, really changed my life. There's a couple of ways. The first is my current job right now. I found on LinkedIn. I researched the company. I knew it was a company I wanted to work at and I sent a message directly to the president and we started talking. And then the next thing I knew, within two weeks I had a job offer and I've been at this company for three years.
Speaker 2:This year alone, my posts have been displayed over 168 million times and I've had 1.9 million individuals engage with my posts, which, when I was looking at the statistics, I really couldn't believe it. I have met kind incredible people on this platform. I have gained incredible, immense, valuable insights that I couldn't have found without LinkedIn, and I started partnering with some incredible companies and helping to promote their brands on LinkedIn, which has been really really fun, just generally speaking. I've connected with other professionals, which have turned into podcasts, linkedin live events, and it allows me the freedom to post about my recruiting and HR knowledge while offering inspiring words of wisdom to job seekers, and really it allows me to be the best version of myself, while feeling energized, supported, engaged and inspired. So I started posting pretty religiously on LinkedIn over the summer. Before I would dabble in maybe one or two posts a week, but then I started gaining a lot of traction in terms of my number of followers and it kind of has exploded the last four or five months.
Speaker 2:I typically post at least once a day. Periodically I'll post two times a day. Someone recently asked me how I put together my posts, in terms of how I come up with these ideas. Every morning before work, I work out for at least an hour and the posts come to me. The thoughts just come to my mind. I don't put a lot of deep thought into what I post, because it just sparks something inside of me and then I will go home and actually create it on LinkedIn.
Speaker 2:But I'm such an advocate for job seekers because I've been there before and I know how it feels, and so I think a lot of the reason why my posts resonate with so many people is because so many people that use LinkedIn are job seekers, and so I post about inspiration, motivation, tips for job seekers, things to kind of stay away from in terms of like when you're going through the recruiting process. I talk a lot about being your own best advocate, negotiating a salary, just tips and tools for job seekers. And the best part about LinkedIn is that I receive, on average, about 50 to 70 direct messages a day from people all over the world, either asking me questions about their own job search journey, thanking me for my content, telling me that I'm inspiring them. I reply to every one of those messages that I receive and I really engage with the people that engage with me.
Speaker 2:So when I post on LinkedIn, I typically receive a lot of comments. I engage with every one of those comments because I don't think LinkedIn is only about posting, but it's about engaging with your audience and it's about posting and leaving your thoughts on other people's posts. And I think when people do that and they're consistent, that's when people start to see their number of followers really increase. But yes, linkedin has changed my life. It's been a lot of fun. I never would have imagined five months ago that I would be where I am today.
Speaker 1:I can attest to that and, as you are talking and erica had asked the question, I did not foresee myself back on the job market. I thought the company that I was with I was gonna write out my career. So, for me, when I joined linkedin, I was working at a few companies that had forbidden me from writing social Post anything like that can talk about the company. I would have to go through marketing if I were talking about the company. So I pretty much had a network, but it wasn't a network that I was communicating with and putting thought leadership out there. So it wasn't until After this are twenty twenty three, I started being more active and then I had met erica and Talk to what's there. She says you really have to get out there and talk about things are so knowledgeable.
Speaker 1:So I really owe the inspiration for this podcast to erica me being more forward thinking and really allowing my creativity and innovation to shine, because I'll say this, I suffered from imposter syndrome. I don't anymore. What. Having a person like erica, having someone like you, melissa, that I've met through your post, these are the kind of people that we need to bring each other up in these chaotic times. Yeah, and I'm so grateful for that and I just wanted to say I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for erica nudging me, I literally pushing me off the diving board, saying, okay, jump in, just get it done. So here we are.
Speaker 2:And that is so awesome. I mean that is so great. And once I think people see the momentum that they can be by being consistent on linkedin, it opens up so many doors. I mean, a perfect example of that is us doing this podcast. I mean linkedin brought us all together and I'm so grateful for that.
Speaker 3:Me too. I actually tears in my eyes. Melissa, melissa s, you're amazing. Melissa g, you are also amazing. I couldn't have asked for a better answer, and the last thing I'll ask before we move on is what would be one piece of advice you could give somebody who's just starting out with their linkedin journey or wants to Step up their linkedin journey?
Speaker 2:yeah, I would say big engagement doesn't happen overnight. It takes time and it takes consistency. So I get asked this question a lot by people send me direct messages and say you know you have two hundred forty one thousand followers. How have you amassed this large following? What I saying return is it didn't happen overnight.
Speaker 2:A lot of it was just consistently posting an engaging with other people's content. That's a huge piece of it because I think a lot of times what happens is when I reply to someone's content, other people see my replies and then they think, oh, I like one of the list. I have to say I'm gonna go connect with her and I'm gonna go and follow her. What's not just about posting consistently, but it's really engaging with other people and being a thought leader. You know, not everyone, I think it, depending on where they are in the career, would be considered an expert, but we all know things that we can share and even if someone is, you know, a year into their career, they have experiences that they can share with other people and share those experiences. People want to learn from other people on this platform. Just get yourself out there and it's amazing what will come of. It really is.
Speaker 1:I'll just say this I'm having a good time on linkedin. Obviously, you know I'm in the process of interviewing and what not, but I've got to say, melissa g, that your content has been so inspiring. Erica's friendship has been so amazing, and you know what. I am just so grateful that we're here to talk today. So thank you both. Thank you absolutely agree here.
Speaker 3:welcome and thank you. Actually, I'm gonna jump to one of the questions I want to ask you a little bit later, but it talks about employee well-being and mental health. It has gained more attention in the most recent years, not in just cyber and tech, but everywhere. How do you prioritize and support the well-being of employees within your organization, and what initiatives have you found to be most successful in this area?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'll speak about this. As to when I was leading a team at Takeda, I had a team of 11 Director Reports and it was very important to me that they understood that I value, respected and appreciated that they had lives outside of work. One of the things I did was I allowed the team to work from home three days a week. This was pre-COVID. This was way before COVID, where not as many people were working remotely and it really wasn't as much of a norm. But what we all did as a team is we worked from home on Mondays, wednesdays and Fridays. We worked in the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I never scheduled meetings before 9 o'clock in the morning. I never scheduled meetings outside or after 4 o'clock in the afternoon. I encouraged everyone on my team to take all of their vacation time. I also let them know that they had flexibility. If they wanted to take a day off at the last minute, go for it. If they needed to leave work midday to pick up their child from school or to take their child to an appointment, I didn't even need to know the reason why, as long as the work was getting done and our hiring managers were happy. That's what I cared about. The other thing that I was really making sure that my team understood is that they have to take care of themselves and their families first. Work will always be there. The workload is never going to stop. I implemented a system where we had backup plans where, if someone was out of the office, we had their job covered, so they didn't have to come back to a complete firestorm. The other thing that I did with my team is I encouraged professional development opportunities. I met with each member of my team on a monthly basis. I wanted to make sure that they were in a good place at that moment in time and if there were other opportunities to gain in terms of maybe taking on new projects or working cross-functionally with some of the other departments, I did everything I could to make that happen. I also very closely monitored their workload. Workload management was very important to me. The reason I did that was to prevent burnout, ensuring that my team had the necessary resources to perform their tasks effectively.
Speaker 2:Within my group, we were very inclusive and supported culture. We had a lot of diversity of thoughts. That was very important to me. We did some social things together, where we would celebrate birthdays, we would celebrate anniversaries. A lot of it was just them knowing that I always had their back, that work-life balance to me was everything, and that they ever felt at a given time that they didn't have that to come to me. I always had an open door policy to make sure that they felt comfortable coming to me and for them to know that I always had their back. I think because of these things that I implemented with my team in turn, they worked that much harder because they were so appreciative of the flexibility that I provided to them. It really was a win-win for both me, my department and my team.
Speaker 1:Oh my goodness, Erica, the only thing I can think is when I hear Melissa talk, can we get more Melissa's out there like that in the leadership position? Because what I just heard was so inspirational, I mean full of compassion. I'm going to just say it I'm a very transparent person leading from the heart chakra. I think the world would be a better place if we led with love. Everything that you said there is just what people need to hear.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's not rocket science. The other thing I'll say is I have been leading employees for over 20 years. I have never lost an employee due to a resignation ever. At one time I was managing up to 22 people when I was at Baxter. When someone left the company, I took over their role. In essence, it doubled my job, but I ended up bringing on an additional team of 11 people, so I had 22 people at one time.
Speaker 2:I never lost an employee because they proactively resigned, and I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that I treated my team like the adults that they were. Listen, no one wants to be micromanaged, no one wants to be babysat, and if you give your team the resources to flourish and thrive and you give them the flexibility to have lives outside of work, my team was so engaged and so happy and appreciative that I didn't have to worry about turnover. I made sure that they always knew that if they wanted to advance within the company, I would help them do that. If they wanted to move departments, I would help them do that, and it's really the golden rule of treating people like you would want to be treated.
Speaker 2:It's so not rocket science, but too many managers, unfortunately, don't believe in this management philosophy, and these are the managers that have the turnover. These are the managers that have disgruntled employees. These are the managers that have employees go on Glassdoor and bash the organization. You treat people well. You treat people like the adults they are and in turn, you're going to have an engaged and very, very happy workforce. It's so simple, but yet so many managers simply don't understand this.
Speaker 1:Erica and I have talked about that before, especially when we launched this podcast. Could you think about leaders out there, if you're listening, the revenue that you would have tenfold if your employees were happy with the work-life balance, if they felt appreciated. And if we want to go down the road of cyber risk insider threat if you have a disgruntled employee, they're going to do more than just go on Glassdoor. Yeah, they're going to leave you susceptible to losing IP. So I think there's all these variables, but, yeah, the golden rule let's just treat people like adults and let's show some empathy. So I have a question for you since I got you here what is your advice to someone who's been laid off, when they face rejection and disappointment? So I do see a lot of those posts out there and I want to help everyone as much as I can and I know Erica does too well introduce and whatever. But what is your advice when somebody's continuously getting rejected and it's just, it's a grind to look for a job? So what are your? What's your advice?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So my advice to them is that to keep going. I know it's so hard looking for a job. I have been there again. You know I was at a company for 18 years, was laid off. The next company I went to I was laid off after 18 months, and so twice I have been faced with looking for a job. And what I suggest to job seekers is the first thing is they only need one. Yes, right, you don't need 10 great job offers, you just need that one great job offer. I would always suggest to job seekers to network with as many people as possible.
Speaker 2:I am not a big fan of going on LinkedIn, refreshing your browser every 30 minutes looking for new job postings. Statistically speaking, the vast majority of people do not find a job from a job posting. They find a job through networking and just to point in on that point, the way I found my two prior jobs was one on LinkedIn, like I talked a little bit about earlier. I did research on the company and I reached out directly to the president and two weeks later I had an offer. When I left to Cata after 18 years and this goes back to the power of networking there was a gentleman that worked on my team as a contractor years and years ago and him and I have stayed in close contact and I called him up and I said Mark, look, I haven't looked for a job in years. I don't even have a resume. I'm just starting to get my feelers out. And he said I'm contracting at this company. They're looking for other contract recruiters. Why don't you send me your resume? That night I put my resume together and within a week I had a job offer. So the way I found my two jobs again my two prior jobs is one is networking and one is LinkedIn. It wasn't through a job posting. It wasn't refreshing my browser every 30 minutes waiting for a new job to appear.
Speaker 2:So I would say network with as many people as possible and seek support. Take care of your mental health. Take care of your physical health. I always made sure to exercise every day, which helped me relieve stress. It was incredibly helpful and just have the support of your family, have the support of your friends, and there's no need to ever feel ashamed because you're looking for a job.
Speaker 2:We've all been there at one time or another. Every single one of us, at some point in our lives, have been a job seeker and there's no shame in that. There's no shame in being let go. I mean, I was a top performer at both these prior companies and the business decisions dictated that a slew of us were laid off and I didn't take it personally, and now we know that you could be the biggest revenue generating employee of the company.
Speaker 2:It doesn't matter, no one is safe these days and that's why I always say to people always plan for A, b and C, because just sometimes those people that think they're safe, those are the ones that aren't, and no one should ever be completely caught by surprise. So always have your resume completely updated, always have your LinkedIn profile updated and just network with as many people as possible, understanding that there's absolutely no shame in being unemployed, and just take care of yourself Again, I can't stress this enough to take care of your mental and emotional and physical health. That will do wonders when you got to get up every day and continue to look for that one job. Oh, and I guess I just want to say one last thing on sure to not take rejection personally, right? So most jobs, they hire one person for each job and they might have, you know, some of the jobs that I'm hiring for.
Speaker 2:It's not uncommon for me to get 300 resumes for one job. Don't take rejection personally. Rejection just means that there's something better out there for you. I am a big believer in rejection equals redirection. It means that that particular job wasn't right because something out there that is better will be right for you.
Speaker 1:Wow that is so impactful. So you said and I agree with this, I've been running outside every day, and before, when I was in the military, and even sometime after. I was running all the time I ran the Marine Corps Marathon back in 1992. I'm dating myself. I was a young kid and I think I don't know, I don't remember what my time was, but I know that you are a yoga instructor. Can you talk to us about yoga and your journey there? And how about runners like myself? Is yoga a benefit to us?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I actually think this is an inspirational story. So for years I was a big yogi and I was taking yoga classes pretty much like five times a week and I always wanted to go through teacher training. But I was traveling a lot with my job throughout the years and I have two sons and I. I always had a reason not to go through teacher training either I was traveling, my job was too busy or I had, you know, raising my boys.
Speaker 2:And a couple years ago, on my 50th birthday, that morning I woke up and I said to my husband that's it, I'm today signing up for teacher training. So on my 50th birthday I signed up for teacher training. I said no more excuses, I'm gonna do it, because there's always gonna be a reason you can't do it. There always could be an excuse. So that day I signed up I went through four months of teacher training. It was the absolute best thing I could have done.
Speaker 2:I right now teach five yoga classes a week. I love it so much and it gives me such passion. I love my job and I'm passionate about my career, but it's nice to have a passion outside of that and yoga is my outlet for that. It also helps me stay in shape. I've met incredible people through my yoga journey, and so what I would say in regards to this story is that if you have a passion whether it is physical passion or musical passion Pursue those passions. You know, when I woke up, when I was 50, I thought you know what? I'm not getting any younger and I'm just don't have the excuses. And four months later I had my certification, and the day I got certified, I literally went to three different gyms, knocked on the door and said are you looking to hire yoga teachers? And I got hired at all three gyms. So for the last year, last year I taught seven yoga classes a week. This year, like I said, I'm teaching five yoga classes a week, and it is the best thing I could have done.
Speaker 3:I'm not a yogi and I don't really do yoga and I should. I know that I'm more on the bodybuilder competitive bodybuilder side I haven't competed for a while but since you are an instructor and you talked a little bit about yoga, can you tell somebody like me and our listeners why you recommend yoga and what the benefits are?
Speaker 2:Sure, so I find yoga to be very therapeutic. When I'm Actually practicing, it allows my mind to be completely clear of every noise in my life. So, in other words, when I'm in that yoga studio the only thing I'm thinking about is the present.
Speaker 2:I'm not thinking about my to-do list, I'm not thinking about what happened during my day. I'm simply thinking about what's happening at that precise moment. So it allows me to mentally and emotionally, have just a good feeling, and then I become a lot stronger through yoga as well. I think a lot of people think that yoga is this zen, sort of easy. Let's go into a few different poses. Yoga is not easy. It is a hard workout, especially the kind of yoga that I do.
Speaker 2:I actually do weightlifting yoga. I teach a class called yoga sculpt, which is 50 minutes of weightlifting yoga and then 10 minutes of actual yoga. So it is a strength class and it's a cardio class. It is not an easy class, but every time I finish a class I feel so much healthier, my mind is free of any sort of noise and it just gives me a lot more balance in my life. So I would recommend to anyone that's even thinking of trying a class.
Speaker 2:I don't know many people that do yoga, that don't love yoga. It's almost like a cult of people that typically the yogis that I know are Very, very, very into the practice of yoga. It has changed my life. So much for the better. Like I said, I've never been in better shape. I'm physically strong at my age. I have met incredible people and it just allows me that one hour a day To simply clear my mind and not think about my to-do list, not think about Anything I have to do with the kids. It's just time for me and my thoughts and being centered and present. It's really a great workout.
Speaker 1:I used to do Bikram yoga back in Chicago and I Loved it. It was so hot in that room and I was so present. I wasn't thinking about, oh, I got to go get groceries or what am I gonna have for dinner. I was trying to figure out the poses and make sure that I was following along. I was struggling to breathe to if anybody's done big room. Oh, it's uh. Yeah, it's hard, it's hard. Melissa, thank you so very much for joining us today. I think, eric, I could probably speak for you. I don't know, but I could talk to her. Another hour just been an impactful podcast just talking with you today.
Speaker 2:Oh it's. It's been my pleasure. This was so much fun and again, thank you both so much for inviting me to speak with you, and I guess in, in courting words, what I would say to job seekers is just keep at it. You only need one. Yes, don't give up. I'm rooting for you. It's a new year, new opportunities. Just keep at it, and something great will happen.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's incredible. Thank you.
Speaker 3:Of course, great advice. Thank you so much. I learned a lot. I could talk to you for hours and again. Hopefully we'll have you back on the podcast soon. I would love that. Thank you. Oh, you gave me an idea for a show that we'll talk about later, but thank you again to everybody else. Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast on a variety of platforms and check out our website at wwwtechexecwellnesscom and take care. Thanks for tuning in, take care everyone, okay, bye, bye.
