Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:07 Hi everybody. Uh, maybe this episode is for each other for Ukraine. I Tracy.
Speaker 2 00:00:14 Hey Tim. Hi everybody. I want to welcome everyone to another episode of why it matters. And I want to call out in advance that we have tried very hard on why it matters to tackle hard topics. And one of the hardest topics that is happening all around us today right now is the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I think there are many moments in this world when we ring our hands and say, what, what can be done. And when it comes to the events, particularly of the past four to six weeks, we as a country in the United States have been asked to understand a new reality and a new set of things around what it means to be in Eastern Europe and in Ukraine in particular, uh, this really is an episode designed around helping you understand what is there to be do, and, or to be done.
Speaker 2 00:01:16 And honestly, we don't just talk about Ukraine. We talk about the culture of giving a damn in this world and where it will take us as leaders, as business owners, as mentors and as volunteers and our guests, Alicia <inaudible> is tapping into her own lived experience to not only help us be better business people, serving impact organizations, how to be stronger mentors to each other, but how to translate that experience and that communal experience into action in times of crisis, like we are experiencing with Ukraine, and this is as much an education in the nuance and subtleties of Eastern Europe as an is a gift wrapped in a boat that teaches us all that we have the power within us to help each other succeed. I really looking forward to this episode. Thank you.
Speaker 2 00:02:14 We are, first of all, super grateful to have our guests today, and I will allow her to introduce herself momentarily. And I will also just say to our listeners, this episode in particular has been a month coming. I'm going to call out that we're recording it on Friday, March 25. I generally try not to name dates on these things because it dates the episode, but this is a month and a day since the country of Ukraine was invaded by Russia. And we are going to talk about that a little bit today amongst other topics. But before we get there, I want to say as always, thanks for listening and I will turn it over to our guest to introduce herself.
Speaker 3 00:03:06 Hello everybody. And thank you so much, Tracy and team for having me today. My name is Alicia <inaudible> and I am originally from Bella ruse. I was born in Russia, but my parents from Belarus and that's where I moved short after. And that's where I leave majority of my life. Uh, I'm thinking my child, but, um, I've moved to United States and 2007. And at that time, it wasn't just a summer trip for me. I did not intend to stay. I really wanted to come in, maybe work in Dunkin donuts and make a little bit of money and bring it back home and finish my MBA. And at the same time, maybe pick up my English a little bit. However, um, I decided to stay a little longer and then a little longer. And after experiencing the freedom, I just couldn't go back. And, uh, this is my country. This is my home. Now of course, Bella reuseable always have a special place in my heart and it considered that my native country. And a lot of what I do right now, uh, is closely related to that as well. Uh, however Bellaruse is where my family is right now, my husband, my kids, my business, and, uh, where I need a lot of wonderful friends and amongst them, uh, yourselves.
Speaker 2 00:04:31 Yeah, I think it's important to call out. I just met you in the fall of 2021. Uh, we had just recorded another podcast, uh, today actually. And I mentioned, you know, there's a thousand ways to get to Dreamforce. Uh, and Tim and I just happened to be at Dreamforce in 2021. Uh, and we're at the same event. And, you know, Tim was like, oh, you really should talk to Alicia because she's founding her own business. She wants to work with nonprofits. She's got a really cool perspective on stuff. And I being me had literally paragraphs to say about all of that, uh, which we don't need to repeat here, but I think,
Speaker 1 00:05:22 Want to say, like, I'm sitting at this table, I talked with you Alicia for a few minutes and I'm like, oh my gosh, this sounds so similar to Megan Heimann and Tracy, when they're starting bright step partners. So I was like, Tracy, you should like hop in and listen. And then I remember looking over and Tracy's like going like this 45 minutes later and then looking over again. And I think it was like an hour and a half later. It was so great to watch both of you just talk about thing after thing and make those connect. I talked with Tiffany Spencer for 20 minutes and then like Rachel Park came over earlier. It was just steady stream of other people at that, at that table. And the whole time you guys were just talking about business, it was really fun. I kept over hearing some of it.
Speaker 2 00:06:09 It was, it was great because first of all, Tim's Ryan, I was flapping around like one of those like blow up guys. I was like, and then secondly, it was super loud. So I was probably screaming. Um, and I'm losing my hearing anyhow. So it was probably screaming. Um, you know, the other thing that's true is the business of doing business to serve nonprofits is hard. It's hard. And you know, it's like, gosh, if, if, if you can pick up anything from the sort of weird path that I've had in this world, you know, like here's a brain dump go, uh, and maybe that's a good place to start. So how is that going? And tell us a little bit about what you're up to, uh, as we sort of go into this conversation.
Speaker 3 00:07:06 Yeah, absolutely. So I'll, let me tell you a little bit more, how I got to Dreamforce in 2021 and what I was doing.
Speaker 2 00:07:14 I can't say how I got there out loud, cause it was one of the non-standard paths.
Speaker 3 00:07:20 Uh, so in, so before 2010, when they got to us in 27, of course I started in the hospitality industry and in the food industry. So McDonald's Dunkin donuts, pizzerias and so forth. I didn't speak English. I did graduate in my country with a bachelor degree in international relations, but of course, coming to another country, everything is crossed off and you start from the very beginning. Um, however, after working in hospitality for three years, I knew that's not for me. I knew that I continue to be passionate about technology and about bringing in more impact. And so I thought he counted as my thing. So I found a job in accountant and I was so excited. This is my thing. I'm going to love it. Oh my gosh counts. So I get a job. And my first day on my first hour I sit down was a Salesforce admin because I am to use Salesforce to enter all the data in the system. And I spoke to you, this was the last from the first site because when I saw the system and that was 2010. So a classic imagine like all of that, I think classic, maybe just recently they came out, he might remember better.
Speaker 2 00:08:34 I mean, I remember the yellow boxes. So We were like, oh my God, a tab, you can do stuff tabs.
Speaker 3 00:08:45 Yeah. And so I sit down there for two hours, uh, this Salesforce, admin, Brian is walking me through what my job is and I'm just sitting there. And I remember very clearly, this is what I want to do. Like, this is what I want to do. It took me a little while. So of course, that first had to learn my job and somewhat communicate in English. Uh, and thank to all the people in their office who took a chance on me at that time. And then it slowly started to become a probably users of feeder reports, creating dashboards, gathering requirements, passing them to Salesforce, admin in regards to automation that we can do. Uh, and then, uh, position. Well, at the same time on the weekends, I'm printing out, helping training documentation is, you know, Trailhead did not exist and I'm just reading it 50 times each paragraph because I have no idea what it says, trying to learn Salesforce.
Speaker 3 00:09:39 So in 2011, uh, the position opened up under the it side and they went back to my manager to please give me a chance. And I became a Salesforce admin to send me to a class. And since then I continue to work as a Salesforce administrator. Then I moved in through a few more for-profit companies, uh, where I was a solo admin or part of the senior admin team. And then I ended up working for an enterprise, um, enterprise community partners. It's a nationwide non-profit, uh, here in us and, um, with the office, this really all over the states, uh, in fact quarters here in Columbia, Maryland, and they had a very large team at that time. Their large Salesforce team was about 10 people, uh, local and additional 10 to 20 people offshore. And a lot of operations when Salesforce, it was such an exciting team to be part of.
Speaker 3 00:10:38 And I have joined them and worked there for six years, um, and really grew from different roles, going to a scrum master and project managers, solution architect and manager. After that, I tried myself. I did not the company. I was a director of a Salesforce department and was hired as a first Salesforce employee. And then I hired the rest of the team. Um, but at that time I realized that I wanted to do something differently and I want to have my own business. I've always wanted to. I just never believed that I could. And finally, the stars aligned and the middle, a lot of wonderful people. And my husband has been such a great support to me because he started his business a few years back and he know how amazing he felt us ever since. And he wanted that for me. And yeah, so again, the stars aligned the kids a little bit older and they thought, why not?
Speaker 3 00:11:30 I've saved enough money to survive for a few months and said, let me try this out. And of course I wanted to work with the nonprofit. This is a passion of mine. I do have some other clients right now who are non non-profit, but I do have some full brush for profit and nonprofit as well and makes, and I really want to dive in more into the nonprofit world at the same time. Um, I, uh, in 2020, so August, 2020, um, most of you probably not really been following the news at that time as closely of the Eastern region of the Eastern Europe, but in my native country abilities, there was a huge protest after just yet another one's stolen election by, uh, Lucas Shameka. And people really came out to protest that time. There was hundreds of thousands of people all over the country and, uh, the protest was brutally put down by Wright police.
Speaker 3 00:12:26 The worst tortures. There were Skillings, a lot of people are still in jail and a political prisoner. And, um, that was one of the hottest, um, weeks and months over my life, I would say, um, of course, including February and March, 2022. And at that time, I didn't know what to do with myself. I didn't know how it can work, how I can live. Like what can I do? I felt so helpless. And I've been talking to some of my friends who have fleet Bellaruse at that time. And they told me about some of their organizations that they'd been volunteered for. So I started volunteering for one of those organizations and I have been doing that since, so for a year and a half now, and now I became a board member of that. So we a cold, I need help B why, so be licensed for Bella inebriation.
Speaker 3 00:13:18 I need help B Y work. And now we've opened a second direction. I need help ua.org. Uh, that is going to be great. And I'll talk a little bit about that, but just so you understand, I'm also involved on the nonprofits leadership as well. And, uh, we're not using Salesforce yet. We just got our I E N and we still figure now, especially in the last month, uh, the direction really changes of what we do. So we're still trying to figure it out. Um, however, it always has a special place in my heart and then coming back to Dreamforce. So being in Salesforce ecosystem for over 10 years now, I'm also a co-leader of the women in tech user group in Maryland Columbia. And it just happened that for this Dreamforce, as you know, it was very small. Um, not everyone was invited, not everyone was allowed to come
Speaker 1 00:14:18 Anyway.
Speaker 2 00:14:19 So how did that happen? Where did those people come from?
Speaker 3 00:14:26 Oh, you have to tell me how you do that. But I was among the lucky ones who were the user group leaders who were invited and, uh, I get to attend that special event. It felt really special because it was such a small, intimate Dreamforce where I felt like I could really connect with people and I just started, I haven't even quit my job yet. I just started to seriously thinking and talking and planning my business. Um, and my friend who's been running her own consultancy. Salesforce consultancy for a few years, said, Hey, I'm going to this event. Do you want to come along and sit on? Or no, this is fun to nurse. It's not me. I'm not a consultant yet. She's like, no, no, no, no, come along. And you can just look up another table and you know that. And then I come in and Tracy, a lot of other amazing people and it was so welcoming and so friendly and giving me advice and encouraging me. And I'm just so beyond grateful for that experience.
Speaker 2 00:15:27 I will say that that is like why the women in tech movement still retains its relevancy now, and today. And it's rooted in exactly what you said, and that is no, no, I'm not an entrepreneur. I'm not, you know, I'm not a consultant. I'm not this. You are exactly that. You are a business owner, you're a board member of a nonprofit and you are involved in giving back to your community that makes you a leader that, that, that puts you squarely exactly where you needed to be. Uh, it wasn't so you could meet me and Tim, it was because you needed to be there because that's who you are.
Speaker 3 00:16:06 Um, thank you. But meeting you too.
Speaker 2 00:16:09 Oh, that was fun. We delivered a lot of like chicken. I remember that. I remember just like plates of chicken and meat coming. And we were both, like,
Speaker 3 00:16:17 I was delicious.
Speaker 1 00:16:20 Who was the friend that invited you by the way to, to that event. Okay.
Speaker 3 00:16:27 And so she's the owner of three months consulting.
Speaker 2 00:16:30 Oh, okay. I don't know. That's awesome.
Speaker 3 00:16:33 And different of mine and a co-leader of the woman had taken Columbia.
Speaker 1 00:16:37 That's great. Yeah, that's great. Um, well it was really, I, I w I also was invited to Dreamforce as one of the lucky few. And so that was, that was great. I don't, I don't know, like, that's what it was just to like, say what happened there. I was still an MVP, which I am not anymore. So now I'm a former MVP, which is really great. And so I did get an invite and, um, and I was like, as your boss, Tracy, you have to go and hang out around Dreamforce. And even though you can't go in, we're still going to just go meet people and hang out. And it was so great to be onsite with people again. And I had forgotten how much, like that just feeds my soul, being around people and traveling and, and, um, and it was, I think it was honestly my favorite Dreamforce ever, because it was actually really small.
Speaker 1 00:17:32 Uh, it was, it, it wasn't overwhelming. You weren't like wandering around trying to find someplace that you could eat or, you know, and so it was really, it was really fun. And, um, yeah, and we were like of the things that stood out for Tracy and I'm meeting you one of those things where like, man, I'm glad we went because we did meet amazing people. And, um, and so your name kept coming up, uh, in, in terms of what came out from that. And then I know you've probably talked with Tracy since then. I know you and I have had conversations since then. So you were just getting ready to launch your business when we first met you and now you have, and I know that, you know, the, there's a lot of other things that have happened, but I think shortly after that you launched, how are things going? Um, what happened next?
Speaker 3 00:18:23 Yeah. Things that go in, uh, both, uh, great and slow and, um, unpredictable. So, uh, I guess it was any business, right? I can't expect it to go completely smooth. There is definitely quite a few bumps in the road and maybe I can share this embarrassing moments. So others don't run into them. Uh that's okay. So I was extremely lucky because the day I left my job, I told somebody that I know who is a consultant and the same day that person said, oh, well, I have a client who I do sales project for, but they needed something on the service side. I don't have time. Do you want to take it over? Does that shard, like when does this happen? Then the same day you get offered. So that was Thursday on Friday, we met and on Monday I started the project. So that was freaking amazing. And that was that
Speaker 1 00:19:21 Friday. I started on Monday.
Speaker 3 00:19:23 I knew that person already. I knew that person, the consultant already, but I met the client. Right. And I just basically started that.
Speaker 1 00:19:31 That's a shorter sales cycle.
Speaker 3 00:19:33 And now I know I wish that was going on, but not, not quite yet, but that was my one success story. I'll, I'll keep holding onto that. Now. That was really great. That gave me some confidence that I know what I'm talking about, uh, coming in from working for over a decade as an employee. I wasn't sure do I, am I to be a consultant? Do I know what I'm talking about? You know, as a company you learn to adjust and there's a lot of other things and especially me being on the leadership side for the last three plus years, I continue to doubt my technical experience. Um, but it was great. I even get to build a little team to help me out with some deployments and some more technical issues that were going on. So that was super exciting. And those people are the ones that we've been dreaming to have a company together five, six years ago.
Speaker 3 00:20:27 And now we kind of slowly getting back together and figuring out what the next steps are. Uh, so I'm super blessed to have people like this in my life. Then there was a little bump where, you know, I've been dreaming about having my own business. And then I started thinking about having consultancy and it had my name. I had the logo in mind. I had the concept in mind. And then after Ronnie, the project actually, um, the day before new year, or maybe the 31st, I'm trying to think I was doing some other research. And I, so the name of the company was Zen Salesforce. Um, I'm, um, I love meditating and yoga and therapy and self-growth and all of that. So I thought, you know, bringing peace of mind to my clients and it projects don't have to be as stressful as many, make it to be in work in this consultants can be less stressful.
Speaker 3 00:21:24 However, I learned that I cannot use Salesforce in my name and, uh, I had to quickly try to figure it out. What am I doing? So I started thinking, what do I do? What a name, a company I've been thinking about that name for so long, I'm already, I'm married to it. You know, like I'm all in. And it did take me awhile. Like it was a pretty big step back for me because a lot of fondly seems kind of tight to the name, to the logo, to the vet side, right. Even going out of LinkedIn and studying, having meetings with people, they'll say, well, where's your company name and who are you in? Show me your website. And I didn't have any of that. And so I started having one modality about that eventually, uh, something that's still in progress. Uh, my website is still in progress, but I do have some, uh, sales presentations and some information about who I am and who my team is.
Speaker 3 00:22:18 Um, I chose the name that I love as in more. So the name is Hamada solutions and Hamara H M a R a a means cloud in Belgium sin. So it is so special to me. Um, and I just love it. Now. I continue to work on some logos and upsets, but that's okay. Um, yeah, so, uh, January was kind of slow and, uh, February, but it's okay. It does. I took it to build some processes, right. I've run through two projects by the January time. And I had partially working with the team so wanted to make sure that I document everything right. So when we do deployments, what we do when we do the discoveries, what do we do? And so it started building that at the same time and February, I started talking more to different people that I've worked with in the past.
Speaker 3 00:23:16 And some of them got me, Sam mom meetings with their CIO is of people responsible for Salesforce. Most of them didn't go that well. Uh, I feel like in the sales side, I'm still, I'm feeling more like a kindergartener right now, you know, still learning and tumbling a little bit there and trying to figure out, uh, where I am, but I'm learning tons. And I'm being also very grateful connect with some people who are excellent at sales and they teach me a lot and I'm taking a lot of seminars and just classes and a lot of podcasts trying to learn more on that end.
Speaker 3 00:23:57 Yeah. So February started, things started to pick up a little bit. I have a few small things going on, a few things in the contract negotiation stages right now, also talking to some larger consultants, just companies for potential partnerships. So I would say themes that I started to break a little bit after the long winter. Um, but it's okay because that allowed me to slow down because I honestly looking back, uh, I haven't slowed down since 2010. I haven't worked less than 60 hours a week for over a decade. And that months of generally and part February was okay. And honestly, if I had a lot of work going on and my team that I'm responsible for at the end of February when the war started, I don't think I would be able to keep up with my commitments because for two weeks I leave in the black hole.
Speaker 3 00:24:56 I honestly don't remember what was going on. The only thing I could, I know I have kids, I have to take care of them, right. So I had to slowly pull myself out, make sure they have breakfast, made sure the center school, um, made sure that I'm present for them in evening. The rest of the day night, I was just gone, completely gone. So, um, a lot of therapy, pretty much daily, a lot of other things like, uh, our therapy and meditations and running a lot of writing and things. So I'm starting to pull myself back together. And of course, uh, I'm back into the company. Front-end, as I told you a few projects that started to move forward, as well as on the nonprofit side, uh, for my nonprofit, we are the lounge, the new project, then we'll figure it a lot of things out. Also, some people got burned out and indefinitely. They left us as previously volunteers. So they have to fill in the blanks and figure out our operations and quickly switch the gears. So, um, yeah, you kind of have to pull myself together and say, okay, what's next? What, what can I do? Where can I be most helpful?
Speaker 2 00:26:09 Your, uh, I know Tim's going to have some thoughts on this, but I want to call out two things really quickly. One is your rookie mistake was my rookie mistake. Uh, back when we created bright step partners, uh, the original name was actually bright forest partners. Uh, and as it turns out, Salesforce had some feelings about that as well. So no, to all new business owners, don't use the name of the platform that you're trying to service or their trademarks in your business name. And you won't regret in the short term, nor will you regret it in the longterm. Uh, the other thing I want to call out though, is something that's super important in your journey because we were just talking about this with another guest and that is I have never met, and I still continue to be amazed, uh, at, when I work explicitly with business partners who work with nonprofits in the United States and globally, I have never met a business.
Speaker 2 00:27:12 Well, that's not true. I have met one or two, but I've never generally met business partners who are like, this is my mind, mind, and all mine, the, the degree of mentorship. And now I have seen this play itself through, in other worlds. I've seen this play through in the partners that serve Microsoft. I've seen this play through in the partners that serve other companies that I am working with as customers, but also as business colleagues, there is nothing like this in any place in the world, except for the people who care about serving nonprofits. And it is an intensity of feeling. And it is a type of mentorship that I don't think truly exists in any other way, shape or form, except for the fact that everybody gives a damn about making the world better. And because of that, they want to be better business people.
Speaker 2 00:28:12 They want better business people serving the communities they care about, and ultimately they want to foster community centric best practices. And that is an amazing consistency to see and be reminded of in, in your story, Tim, I know you, I know you had further thoughts on some of this stuff, but I just wanted to get that out there and say nonprofit business partners in three or five ecosystems, serving all different places now that I've run into all think alike. And that is how do I make it better? How do I make my colleagues better? How do I make my business better? How do I make the impact economy better? And that is so special.
Speaker 1 00:28:55 Yeah, I, um, I do like, first of all, um, Alicia, thank you for being so open, um, about, uh, about the, both the challenges and the successes of business. Uh, I feel like I stepped into owning a business and felt like it's not okay to, it's only okay to share the wins. And I'm just shocked at how well you're just able to say, here's exactly where I am. This is where I've learned. This is what went well, what didn't. And I knew about the story of the, um, the name change, because like a day or two after that happened to you and I just happened to be meeting there and I was like, oh, like that. Exactly. And, um, and, and so, um, it's great to hear like what happened next on that, because I hadn't heard what's next, but, um, for me, I'm just gonna say like, um, I had a lot of mentors in, in one in particular.
Speaker 1 00:29:58 I want to call it as Megan Morrison, who is still in the space, but not as active. And Megan, I had so many calls with Megan where I was just like, I'm afraid to say things, you know, in public forums of what are people gonna think and chill, like nothing, if you don't say anything, so you should start saying stuff. And it just helped me realize, like, this is okay to step up and start being that kind of a leader. And then Keith Heller was really, um, willing to talk with me about business tall Frankfurt was, uh, you know, Brad stress. Like, it's just amazing, um, who, who we think of as competitors. They're actually just like, no, here's, here's how I do that. Here's how to think about that. Um, and, and I just, I feel like that I remember Tracy, when you started bright step partner, um, and you actually even formed a group around like, Hey, we should talk about these issues that I'm running into.
Speaker 1 00:30:51 It was brilliant. It was great. Cause we were all running into them. And so I just, I feel like that's whole circle and Alicia, I just want to be the first to tell you, if you don't already know you're going to be mentoring others, like you're part of a change here. There's going to be mentoring others. And it is, I can already tell you are going to be, you're going to be excited about that and do so well at it. Um, because it is a space where that happens. Um, and, and it's not just around technology, business partners as I've started working in Tracy and I've started working with others. I'm amazed at, you know, um, like the great folks over at we are for good, for example, great conversations with them, Mallory Erickson, like this is just pervasive in the impact economy because it's about impact and not about profit.
Speaker 1 00:31:36 And I just think, you know, profit absolutely is what sustains moving forward, but really what we're here for is to see more good happening in the world. And that is, that's just, um, just so important and so great. And it's really fun to see you bounce back from that. And I also just want to say personally for me, um, trauma needs its own space. Right. And, um, and so, yeah, I, I cannot even imagine what the last month has been like for you. And I am glad that there has been space in business for that. Um, for myself, uh, uh, shortly after I started my business, my mental health got really bad. I've talked about this on another podcast, but I attempted suicide. Um, while I was a new business owner. And, um, and my team helped like me frame out how I would continue to lead a business while being in a very broken place and figuring out that step forward.
Speaker 1 00:32:36 And I just know what it's like to feel the weight of leadership in a moment where you got nothing in the tank and, and it is, and trauma is just so real and personal. Um, when, when you go through those experiences, as I just want say, um, thanks for sharing that we know what we're hearing in those spaces, where you say, all I knew is I had my kids, um, that feels very familiar. And, um, I do want to, I do want to just hold out hope that, um, that, that your team and, and others will walk with you through that. And then it's okay to share that. And the fact that you are is just really amazing and, and shows a level of leadership I wasn't capable of for years, um, personally. And so I'm just astonished and really impressed by that. Um, even though it's such a horrific and horrible, you know, moment, um, the way that you're existing in that moment, it says so much about your character and who you are.
Speaker 3 00:33:37 Well, thank you both for your kind words and for sharing the stories as well. Um, yeah, definitely a few things that I want to circle back on. Uh, first of all, Tracy give a damn, has been a sticker online. The laptop finally came off. If anyone knows where I can find that, not a sticker like that, please let me know. Uh, this is really what I believe. And I never understood the culture of people coming to work sick. Ah, you know, I just work whatever I said, what are you talking about? Like why you should care where she did with doing this right. We're here for a reason. Um, and then, uh, for both of you with, you mentioned actually my journey of meeting people who are supportive as partners, as business partners, rather than being competitors started with two of you and Bob. And then that I mentioned then some other people that I met at that night at three fours where I was like, oh my gosh, all this people are Salesforce consultants.
Speaker 3 00:34:37 And they sit in there and cheering me up and telling me I can do it. And I should do it even though I'm potentially that competitor in the future. And they tell me, oh my God, let me know how it can help. And if we go against the same person or the same, you know, w we bid for the same company, if you win, I'll be so happy for you. I was like, is this the world? Is this true? I can't believe it. And seriously, I have met a few very few as Tracy. You mentioned that I'm not like that, but the majority of people are truly like that. And it has been absolutely unbelievable. And I know that some projects has come to me from other consultants, since some things have been passing through me to audit people and they have successfully engaged in right now.
Speaker 3 00:35:24 So it is all about how we frame it in our heads. Right. And what are we there to do? And yes, absolutely. They have to feed our families and houses, but at the same time, if we together work for missions and to support our clients, and if we keep that as our goal and our mission, I truly think that things will just work out. Things will just work out. And you surround yourself with people who are like-minded to that regard. And that would be helpful to move you forward with them at the same time. Um, yeah. And about, uh, successes and failures, I always believed in ownership and that ownership doesn't exist just on one hand, right? Like you can just have one ownership on one side and not the other. And then it's actually sometimes harder for me to own my successes. And I used to always tell myself, I'm just lucky.
Speaker 3 00:36:28 I'm just lacking. I'm just like, God here. I'm just not key. You know, I get to be a director. I'm lucky I get to get to this country. And I'm learning to say, no, it was my choice. It was my choice. And I made that choice and yes, there are certainly circumstances that has helped me along the way. Um, you know, I never for a minute will take it for granted that I'm still a white person in the United States, right. I'm not an immigrant from, um, like my neighbors are from Nigeria, right. So our stories are very different. Um, and then I've met some amazing people and yeah, I was lucky. I've met you guys at the same time. Right? Like, it didn't mean to happen. I'm going to just sit in next to Tim. And he bought me dinner and we started talking and Tracy turned around and we started talking about your trip to Russia.
Speaker 3 00:37:22 And that just happened. Uh, so at the same time, owning our successes and owning our failures is so important. And when I was a manager back at my previous company, I always encouraged my team to share those failures with the child. That, because it was all of us, the same culture to where and the team meeting, just say what what's well, tell us about the project that went well, well guess what, so many projects don't go well for many reasons, but if we share and we reflect and we do the retrospectives, right. And we own where we didn't do the best than we could have, or maybe just learning from that, then the whole group gets better. And therefore the whole organization that we support gets better support. So yeah. Mola bought it. So thank you both for, uh, pointing this out, uh, such an important topic I believe, and circling back to mentoring. Um, I do mentor a few people right now. Uh, I've been super lucky to have some needs and leaders and some amazing mentors in my life. I truly believe have given back. And, um, I hope to continue to the, and if I can help this one person and this one person learns not to use Salesforce, a force and the name in the future. That's good.
Speaker 2 00:38:44 Do I use somebody else's trademark and your business name? That's just a blanket statement.
Speaker 3 00:38:50 I just can't believe still that I didn't think about it. How could I not think that this could be a thing
Speaker 2 00:38:57 I didn't either. We were like, this sounds cool. Let's run
Speaker 3 00:38:59 With, Um,
Speaker 1 00:39:02 One thing to say on that is that it wasn't luck that printed out 50, like the printed out, all the help text in, you know, a language that you are not native in and went through it, reading it 50 times. Like that is not luck just to be really clear. Like, that's not lucky you for having this thing that you read 50 times so that you understood Salesforce. Like that's not luck. And it's really important to just highlight that because that is hard work. And it shows, I mean, I was actually thinking about that and I was like horrified by the thought of reading, like texts from Salesforce again. Um, and, and at the same time I can see how smart of a decision that is like, that is such a great way to, especially in like, you know, early 2000 tens, what else was there? So it's just amazing. Um,
Speaker 3 00:39:55 I mean, I'm still a huge fan of help and training. Um, I know a lot of people love Trailhead. I love thrill head and I'm thankful for that resource. And I think it's well done at the same time when I'm learning something, I still go to help and training and read the details. Um, he, you know, trailheads up there to give you an idea of a thing. It doesn't really teach in necessarily how to do things and sometimes, sorry, Salesforce, but sometimes you get a little frustrated where I read next, next, next safe. I was like, ah, there is like five check boxes that are still important to know why you checking them or not. And they will break your whole process. They just simply say, read through and understand what the checkbooks does. Don't just say next, next, next, because I actually had equal consultants who came into my org and done it. And then it take me, took me hours and hours of on check-in and removing taps from the apps and doing all that and explaining users and calming them down. So do your trail heads at the same time when you see stuff on your screen that is not matching to what they tell you, at least read it and trying to understand what that means
Speaker 2 00:41:12 To like the Salesforce listeners who may still return my phone call or email. I just want to point out this is not me saying this. This is an actual business owner saying this. Um, you know, and, and yeah, I do want to pivot on a, on a couple of things. One is there's some thanks to like even I'm at now, you know, like keynoting the value of mentorship, no matter where you are, is important. Like to that list of thank yous. I would add folks like Chris <inaudible>, Dan Lamott, Ryan Oz, and ex, uh, Aaron McHugh, safe, all of whom like answered and listened to every stupid thing I had to say about like, what's going on with dynamics? Why does teams do this? Why does teams not do this? Why can't it do this other thing? Why are you doing this? What's wrong with you? People like frontal deal probably shouldn't use that word. It was full force, Tracy Crohn's Zack, and you all were amazing. So thank you. Um, but I do want to pivot because we talked about, you know, one of the things we did want to talk about was our shared time in Russia. And, uh, you were one of the only people who legitimately believe every story that I've ever said about what it was like being
Speaker 2 00:42:33 Tim and I, a number of episodes back did our, our personal, why it matters. And one of the life-changing moments that happened to me when I was over there in 1994 was I literally witnessed a flat-out execution style murder, and I could do absolutely nothing about it. Um, and you were like, yeah, of course. And everybody else is like, nah, man, you're making that up. And I was like, Nope. Now, nah. Um, but let's talk more in depth because this is obviously the, the, the huge issue that's hanging over the world today is what's going on in Ukraine. And I think maybe a good starting point is, tell us more about, I need help. Uh, both of those organizations tell us more about what it is you want to accomplish. Tell it is, tell us more about what is important for outside listeners to know about it, because we are very quickly getting caught up in a very old cold war dynamic in the media and in politics. And there's a lot to unpack here.
Speaker 3 00:43:45 Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for circling back to that. Uh, so first of all, I want to say that, um, I know a lot of Americans right now and possibly other listeners are feeling, uh, perhaps the survival guilt, right? Like a lot of people who are coming from Ukraine and Russia and Bellaruse, um, and leaving in other countries as well. Um, and maybe feeling helpless. So just know that it's okay, that you are safe and that you leave them a nice house. That's okay. Because that gives you ability to do something, right. So people who don't have that privilege right now, they there's things that they can't do. You can, you can donate, you can volunteer, you can do other things, you can support your colleagues or your friends from those regions. And just tell them that you think, you know, of them, you can do things, right.
Speaker 3 00:44:42 So just use that, um, chance and that ability right now, uh, so going back to the organization. So as I mentioned was studied, I need help with why in August of 2020 was the idea that that's just gonna be a few weeks tops a few months. Um, we were very optimistic, um, bunch. And, um, it was just a team of very brilliant people. Uh, all of us leave in you, um, in Europe or in the United States at that time. And we gathered together with a huge pain and holding our hearts. And we just wanted to help because there was a lot of regressions going on. Uh, people were, again, political jail. People were getting huge fines, people were beaten and they couldn't, um, pay the medical bills and they can support the families anymore. So the project is organized around gear to peer help where, uh, there is a family in Bella ruse and they apply, uh, through a telegram boat.
Speaker 3 00:45:48 Um, and they apply and say, we need help. And with time we, um, we optimize the process and we have created a process with there's certain documentation that they have to provide, because of course, as you can imagine, there were some people who would try to use the system. Um, but now we have a process where we have volunteers who check and we make sure that coding to the situation, they are given a certain number of help and what help is, is groceries. So then we find families who come in from the U S from the Europe, because in general, there were a few people who were helpers and boulders, but in general, that's not safe. Um, so we tried to have helpers also outside, um, even though some of them are still doing that even in Belarus and we connect them basically. So our telegram chat bot allows allowed to connect this people safely. And we also check, of course, I'll help us. We want to make sure that that is not somebody who will go to that address. And then this people, I know it's hard to believe, but if you're getting help from anyone or especially from outside of the country, you can go to jail just for that. And maybe the money would take in if they got any type of help. So we had to be super careful and protect the privacy of those people who were applying to us. So we have a family, okay.
Speaker 2 00:47:12 I'm being a very good platform to do that because of its encryption.
Speaker 3 00:47:16 So yeah, so far it's working well, and now they have, uh, this, uh, hidden chats as well that self-destruct in, um, 24 hours. So even an hour. So it is helpful, definitely. Yes, Viber and WhatsApp. And on the platforms of Western, they don't work. We are looking into developing, perhaps I'll own app, but again, we're struggling with developers right now. So we just need to figure it out on next steps and our resources and budgeting. Anyway. So there is this telegram chat bot that helps to connect people and then people, the helper will pay for, um, groceries and Belews store online store. And that will get delivered to the family's house families that need house. So this was our process for a very long time. And we have had quite a few health fairs and of course the family. So over the last year and a half, I don't remember the last numbers, but it was definitely over $1.2 million worth of the groceries that we have helped with.
Speaker 3 00:48:18 And so we started to hear more and more because of the policies in Bellaruse, uh, American cards. And not that easily, you can just use the card, you have to email the store, give them your card, get approval. It's, it's like a month's worth of factions in order just to pay for that. So we started to think of other ways, and we have implemented PayPal and Stripe ways for people in you and in us to do just two clicks for payments. And they, you can, when you go to the website, I need help be white, that work, which is not translated to English quite yet. Uh, but it will be, but there is two buttons on the top, right, where you can just donate any amount. So you can do $5, $10, whatever you want. And this will go, um, do a big pool that we cover.
Speaker 3 00:49:08 Whenever we have families in the line in queue that we don't have help or sports. So we just start paying for those families from that pool. At the same time, you can choose, I want to support families in three people for two weeks. And therefore you, we know exactly how much it costs and you just purchased that basket. And once our volunteer pays for that, they send you a receipt and say, Hey, you have purchased for that basket. However, if you really want to talk to this Depot, which account or regionally our platform was built, then you would have to go through the process of, um, the white listing your card and going through the process, and then you would connect with them directly through the chat and talk to them. So of course, and, um, on February 24th, um, after two days of complete shock, we've decided to get, we have to do something super quickly.
Speaker 3 00:50:00 So within a day we opened a website and the new direction to Ukraine. Uh, we have people for us, um, really all over the place. And as you know, there's not one person in Belarus or in Russia that doesn't have friends or relatives in Ukraine and vice versa. All three countries are really together. Um, my, my mom's, uh, in Ukraine, my dad's roots in Russia. So it really doesn't matter. We all products and that's why it hurts so much. And one of my friends abroad this analogy where by no means, I want to say that you create is any way young girl over the Russia. But what my friends said, it feels like your sister has killed her baby, like for Lucy and it's the straight, and you don't know what to do. Like that's how it feels. And by no means I need that.
Speaker 3 00:50:53 Ukraine is a baby here, not enrolled. They have been on democratic task for way longer than Belarus, Russia, healthy. They've elected the president that elected, um, their government. So they obviously are further ahead. Um, but once we learned that we had some volunteers in Russia on sorry, in Ukraine and in Poland, and then also in Slovakia. So what did we do? We, it's more of a pool, so we get a pool of money. And then we go to the wholesale places and buy non-perishables. And of course, any medical supplies and any first aid kits and things like diapers and baby formulas, most of the time we get requests from people in Ukraine for what they need the most in certain cities. So we worked with our kids and someone goes to leave, and then it gets redistributed, but people in Slovakia and in Poland that buy them in bulk and then they transfer.
Speaker 3 00:51:51 So every day or whatever the purchases are made, we post our reports that complete receipt with every item on our Instagram, on Facebook and also on our website. So all the donors can see exactly where money's going. As you know, there are so many sanctions now on Russia and on Belrose and also on cards, right. The payment processing. Um, and then why is that we've been using has stopped, uh, some of the processes as well. So have been struggling. Some money has been frozen to check that it's not money laundry. So there's a lot of things that we kind of working through and figuring out. And, um, I know we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll figure it out again. We'll, we'll get through it, but there was also a lot of challenges that's happened along the way, but if you want to help, uh, the Ukrainian website has been translated into English, so it's, I need help you a.org and you can donate. And then, uh, you can see updates on the website or follow us on the social media. The hashtag said the same on that, sorry, the hashtags that handles and I need help B Y and <inaudible>, um, to see updates of what's going on what's needed, um, and so forth.
Speaker 2 00:53:07 I think, um, one amazing, like, I don't even have words because you're, you're spot on, right? The, the idea of the United States being invaded is, is such an alien one to anyone alive today. There's no referential frame. There, there is none. There is a lot of compassion. There's a lot of guilt. There's a lot of fear. There's a lot of shame and there's also a lot of misunderstanding. And I think you very well articulated, you know, the experience that it's okay to have that, and here's something to do so more than anything. Thank you. I think, you know, for the listeners benefit. So I want to return to a couple of things that you said, one is, is it, you know, I think it's fair to say that look Shanko does not represent the Belarus people in the way that Putin does not represent the Russian people.
Speaker 2 00:54:10 And yeah, it's embedded in that idea that we're all brothers. So what you see on the outside looking in is a region where the ties of family and history and culture are hundreds. If not thousands of years old, older than the United States has existed. And you see countries that have come up as independent nations, particularly after the end of the Soviet union. And you know why I'm saying all of this is because I think it's really important to point out to our listeners that what the everyday person living in Belarus or Russia can do about this is almost nothing. And it is because of the repression that you have described. And the response to what happened in 2020 in Belarus is exactly how Russia is responding to its own populous now in 2022. Um, so I think it's important to know that there are ways to help.
Speaker 2 00:55:18 There are places to go. There are people on the ground and that these two organizations are part of that. Um, I would also love your thoughts on, you know, there is no Y right, there is no like great explainer. Um, but what I do know is that Ukraine, some of the ways that it even gets talked about as a country are important for our listeners to understand, because one of the flips that I had to learn in Russian language was the difference between now Karanja and Volk Ranya, and why you don't use now Karanja anymore in Russian, because that just subjugates the country to just another territory. Um, so there's that,
Speaker 1 00:56:12 I mean, those two words to our listeners and to me,
Speaker 2 00:56:16 I don't know if I can, I was going to ask Alicia to do it for me, but like, it's the idea that when you, crane was part of the Soviet union, it was never referred to as its own place. And it was referred to as the Ukraine part of us. And by eliminating the, the, you are giving you crane a status of a real country in a real place. And that's the difference essentially in Russia, between now Karanja and vole Karanja, you're eliminating the, the in front of Ukraine by saying though Karanja and people don't, when they talk about it in the news in Russia, they don't, I've listened to this. Right. So what you're seeing here is Vladimir Putin's manifest destiny is where I'm driving to, you know, and I wonder if there's anything else that you can share with our listeners around the importance of understanding these things and why it is going to be important as this conflict drags itself out.
Speaker 3 00:57:26 Yeah. There's a few great points that you had. And I want to outline is that
Speaker 3 00:57:34 People in Bella, Luca Shanka does not represent people in Belrose as Putin does not represent majority of people in Russia. Right. Um, but so all of you, American listeners try to comprehend, uh, in Russia right now, people who have come out with a piece of paper that said, stop war, little tiny piece of paper. They faced a huge fines, which for Russia is huge up to $15,000, or they can go. And I believe some of our readers, they go, I haven't been following too closely last few days, uh, 15 years of prison for saying no war or even closely anything to that. So you cannot say a word war
Speaker 3 00:58:25 As a mass media. There is. So there's absolutely no independence, mass media that is left. Uh, some of them the last month closed as a first few days of war, because they couldn't say war and they couldn't show what's both sides. They only had to say what the propaganda tells them to say. And they, as two journalists, they couldn't do it. So they actually had to close and most of them also fleet country. Um, and it is absolutely heartbreaking of lack of freedoms, right? And lack of, um, ways to express yourself again in Bellevue is people have been hostages for really I left, but that was still the case, right? Like that's why I left in still being in college. And, you know, in high school, I still realize that. But for the last year and a half, you can go outside in the shirt that I have right now, because this has white and red, which represents a opposition flag, which is not really a position flag.
Speaker 3 00:59:25 It's our true flag before the USSR. And, um, however, the Shango believes is a present, uh, opposition flag that for he's horrified of written way. And there's a lot of things. There are people who went to jail because they had red socks, right. So I'm just telling you how ridiculous things are. Therefore sometimes when we say, why don't you do anything? There were reasons what people just physically cannot. And especially if you're a parent, you know, you could be bitten to head. You can go to jail, you have to come back and take care of your kids. Right. There are some very brave people who I, I cannot even imagine what they went through and how they do in it, who are coming out to the streets and, um, in, um, the first weekend of the war, thousands of aluminum and steel went on the square and they still protested.
Speaker 3 01:00:20 And over a thousand got arrested and a months down, a father of one of my friends. And, uh, there's still very little information on them. So there's a lot of that going on where people just have their little waste. Um, and yeah. So then you answers that no one wants to write and in Russia, yes. They showed the pictures that there is a lot of people who pro, but honestly, I truly believe this is mostly pictures. Yes. There are people who probably believe that, or I don't think they believe it. I think they just in denial, uh, with themselves because they could never have imagined that. So they had true denial and this is their protection mechanism of saying, well, this is not real, like those explanation, but, uh, at the same time, no one was, or no one needed the land. Um, Ukrainians are independent. Uh, they have the country, they have the right to protect the country. Um, the worshiped stop must stop immediately. Thousands of people are dying on both ends and this war is, has no true goals except for one person's ambitions. And it absolutely must stop immediately. And, um, we need to all put all of our resources and especially Russia to start to rebuild in Ukraine and helping them as much as we can.
Speaker 2 01:01:47 Yeah. I will say as a followup to something and then I'll hand it over to Tim because we're running up on time to, to, to lead us home possibly in a more cheerful way. But, uh, I, I will also say for folks listening the power of symbol and the power of color and the power of nuance, particularly in Eastern Europe has been a theme since prior to the fall of the Soviet union and the Eastern block. And it's something that you don't quite get until you really study it. Um, and it goes back to not just the sort of Sammy's dot literature. It goes back to some of the writing of some of the greats in Eastern Europe. And the idea is, is that we are so constricted in what we can say. We have to say it through a different means where it is understood that the metaphor that we are trying to draw from is representative of our current situation.
Speaker 2 01:02:49 And that's a flip, you only get, if you really study the literature of Eastern Europe and some of the great writers that existed in the Eastern block and the Soviet union during those areas. So when you see things online, coming out of these countries that are even just blue and yellow right now, what I will say is that it's not an unintentional. You can say it, you can be like, oh no, this has no bearing on anything. I just happen to have a blue mug and a yellow mug. What's the big deal here, right? Like, I don't mean anything by that, but it actually is. It is super intentional up to even, and I, I, you know, this is where I wanted to get your read on this because I was looking at this because Baikonur is in Kazakhstan up to even the uniforms that the cosmonauts wore. Like those are blue and yellow man. Those were blue and yellow. And they were like, no, no, this is just our uniforms, but wasn't really, and I would say, no. And that's what we have to look for is the power of those symbols coming out, because even doing that right now puts that person at risk. You know, just as you said, even wearing red and white right now puts that person at risk in Belarus.
Speaker 3 01:04:10 Yeah. The same, if you were, uh, I believe that somebody had a brand, you clap right in yellow at Bellaruse. And I believe I also heard of some cases in Russia, I'm not going to lie that it definitely has happened. And that has been taken as a, uh, fake news or discrimination or, um, didn't diminish the, uh, army, the Russian army. So yeah.
Speaker 2 01:04:36 Yeah, there was a lady who was arrested in Moscow because she was reading Harry Potter books and she brought a blue book and a red book to the par or sorry, a blue book and a yellow book to the park and was just sitting there holding them in the park on a bench. They arrested her, she knew what she was doing. They all knew it too. And that's the kind of world that protest has to take place in right now.
Speaker 3 01:05:02 Well, I do want to, sorry, Tim. I know you want to jump in just very quickly how coincidental it is that we're speaking today. Uh, well, um, it, today though, March 25th is celebrated as the Dean <inaudible>, which is a day in Bella groups. And that goes all the way to 1918 when <inaudible> was declared independent with the white, red, white flag back from the world war first. And, um, you know, local Shango does not accept this. And there's a long story to that. He welcome to go to Wikipedia or some other materials and read on about that. But those who sends a love with the world today, uh, celebrating, and I know there's a big, uh, crew in Philadelphia that are meeting today. I couldn't go on because I really wanted to be here with you. Um, but there's a lot of people who are celebrating that day and eight. Is that very special? So I thank you both for having me and for speaking on those matters and lenient, bringing in the light. I really, really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 01:06:06 Yeah. Thank you so much. Um, the, you were talking about a symbol and it, it made me think about one of my favorite movies growing up, um, which is embarrassing to admit, but it was Costa Blanca, which I still really love that movie. And I was just thinking how until I was older, I didn't understand the scene where the hero of the story, um, you know, goes in and in a bar starts to out seeing, um, the national Anthem, the French national Anthem in this bar. And, um, until I was a little bit, I just didn't understand what was happening in that scene. And I'm connecting that because Elisa, you had talked about a song that's really important to you, and I wondered if you would be willing to close with that.
Speaker 3 01:06:54 Yeah. Thank you so much. Same. I really would. Uh, so there is, there's a front man of the top Ukrainian group that really any Russian speaking person would know. Like I know when Bella, Bruce, everyone listened to him, uh, the band is called boombox and Henri. Uh, bleach knew he was supposed to be on his us tour actually given his us tour, but he has dropped his tours so he can defend his country. And there is a media on Instagram and he's Instagram where he just started seeing rainy and folk song. And one of the south African artists, the Kipnis has picked that up. And with the permission of the Andre, he has put some bait on it. And I just feel like it's such a touching song. My kids sit in it all the time. So we listen to it all the time. And I really hope you enjoyed that as well. And, um, we will also leave the links for you for both the nonprofits that I lead, but also for the, uh, all of the donations for best song, um, go to directly to the Ukraine
Speaker 1 01:08:07 And Alisa, thank you so much for your time today. And, um, thanks. Um, thanks for being willing to even put other things on so that you could be with us and share your story and talk with us. Um, it, it, it's probably really easy for you to miss how important it is to hear your voice talk about what's, what's happening there in a way that I think really, um, helps us connect it to a real world. Um, and so really appreciate that and best of luck with your business, um, we're really excited what happens next.
Speaker 3 01:08:41 Thank you. Thank you so much. And thank you the audience. If anyone ever wants to continue the conversations, uh, you've been fine. Me. My name is quite unique on LinkedIn or on the platforms, and I was welcome to continue any interest. You can ask me any questions about everything going on, but I thank you both for this opportunity. It has been such a pleasure to be here today.
Speaker 2 01:09:02 Thank you.
Speaker 2 01:09:38 I am Tracy. Crohn's Zack, and you've been listening to why it matters.
Speaker 1 01:09:43 Why it matters is a thought leadership project of now it matters a strategic services from offering, advising and guiding to nonprofit and social impact organizations.
Speaker 2 01:09:52 If you liked what you've heard, please subscribe, check out our playlist and visit us at now. It matters.com to learn more about us.
