The Road to Influence with American Agri-Women

In this episode of North American Ag Spotlight, host Chrissy Wozniak interviews Heather Hampton Knodle and Sarah Ried Herman, two influential leaders in the agriculture industry who played key roles in developing the American Agri-Women (AAW) Road to Influence program. This leadership initiative aims to empower women in agriculture by providing them with essential tools, knowledge, and networks to influence policy, advocate for the industry, and assume leadership roles within their communities. Heather and Sarah discuss the program's vision, which is rooted in leadership development and lifelong learning, emphasizing the importance of equipping women with the skills needed to make a significant impact in agriculture.

The conversation delves into the structure of the Road to Influence program, highlighting its focus on self-awareness, communication, persuasion, and collaboration. Chrissy shares her personal experience as a participant in the 2023-2024 cohort, noting the strong bonds formed among the diverse group of women from across the country. Heather and Sarah also underscore the value of generational diversity within the program, as it enriches the learning experience and fosters a deeper understanding of different perspectives.

The episode concludes with details on how to apply for the next cohort of the Road to Influence, emphasizing the importance of support from employers and family members. With space limited, the discussion encourages interested women in agriculture to seize the opportunity to develop their leadership potential and contribute to the future of the industry.

Learn more about the Road to Influence at https://americanagriwomen.org

#leadership #farming #agriculture

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Transcript

00:00:05:03 - 00:00:35:07
Chrissy Wozniak
Hi, and welcome to North American Spotlight. I'm Chrissy Wozniack. Today we welcome back American Agri-women past president Heather Hampton Knodle and vice president at co-Bank Sarah Reid Herman. As a farmer, house communications consultant and association manager Heather Hampton Knodle is dedicated to developing rural economies through incentivizing investments in telecommunications, innovative workforce developments, and enabling entrepreneurship and especially leadership development.

00:01:30:12 - 00:02:04:00
Chrissy Wozniak
Sarah Reed Herman, vice president at Co-Bank, which is part of the Farm Credit System, is from a farming and ranching family in Colorado and a third generation ranch owner. She is an active member of American Agri-Women and past president of California Women for agriculture. Today, we're going to talk about an upcoming cohort of the leadership program developed in part by these two inspirational women, the American Agri Women Road to Influence program, of which I was part of for the 2023 2024 class, and I will be graduating this November.

00:02:04:02 - 00:02:09:22
Chrissy Wozniak
So Heather and Sarah, welcome. And, thanks so much for joining me today.

00:02:09:24 - 00:02:12:18
Sara Ried Herman
It's great to be here. Thanks, Chrissy.

00:02:12:20 - 00:02:20:09
Chrissy Wozniak
So let's start off by, by giving a little introduction. Sarah, do you want to start?

00:02:20:11 - 00:02:46:23
Sara Ried Herman
Yeah. So you did a great job of introducing me, but I think it's really important to introduce the program that we're here to discuss today. And that's the American agri women road to Influence. And this is really a program. That was Heather's vision. She as she ascended to the presidency at American Agro Women. You know, most women presidents have a platform of some kind.

00:02:46:23 - 00:03:07:02
Sara Ried Herman
And, you know, leadership development was one that was really important to her. And, she just happened to to quarter me at, the the meeting where she was, installed as president. And we had a conversation about this and, in true American annual fashion, a couple months later, I got an email. Do you want to do this?

00:03:07:02 - 00:03:32:06
Sara Ried Herman
So, really, what we envision here is a program for, the amazing women in our organization that have so much passion and so much knowledge about specific issues related to agriculture, but don't necessarily have the opportunities for, you know, kind of this continuing education and professional development. You know, it's working on the farm credit system.

00:03:32:06 - 00:03:55:11
Sara Ried Herman
I have a ton of opportunities to see that, you know, day in and day out. And I knew I had a hunch that if we could just put a few things together, know, we could we could change the lives of the women in this organization by, you know, kind of refining, you know, what the what their passionate knowledge, you know, really is.

00:03:55:14 - 00:04:10:18
Sara Ried Herman
So, we dove in, had a, had a great committee that that put this together and took Heather's vision, into reality. And I couldn't have been more pleased with the first cohort.

00:04:10:20 - 00:04:13:18
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. And and Heather, a year ago.

00:04:13:20 - 00:04:14:19
Heather Hampton Knodle


00:04:14:21 - 00:04:40:12
Chrissy Wozniak
Probably very close to this time. You and I recorded an episode, together where you were launching Road to Influence, and you sold me in during that. And so that's why I applied. Afterwards, I think we'd start recording. And I was like, okay, how do I do it? How do I get involved? This sounds amazing. And and I can tell from experience that it has been amazing in the relationships, especially that we've developed with the other women.

00:04:40:14 - 00:05:00:19
Chrissy Wozniak
It's very small class size and we meet monthly. Plus we had four meetings, but I believe the next one will be three meetings in person. You really develop strong bonds with these women across the country. So, Heather, can you tell me about about this journey for you and where did this idea come from?

00:05:00:21 - 00:05:21:18
Heather Hampton Knodle
Well, for me, it has been even more than I could have asked for. You know, for years I looked at programs like Harvard School of Business, maybe their negotiating program or their leadership program or, you know, kind of looked wistfully, even though I'd been through our Illinois Agriculture Leadership program, like many people in agriculture go through, which is great.

00:05:21:20 - 00:05:49:04
Heather Hampton Knodle
It was wonderful to work with people across the industry from our own state. And even though I've worked nationally in various roles, whether that was agri women or waterways or telecommunications, this program has delivered more in terms of that. Call it that circle of trust. Like like you alluded to the fact that we're getting to know people, so many new and some are new friends.

00:05:49:06 - 00:06:28:02
Heather Hampton Knodle
And, also just this higher level of applying individual leadership lessons, then taking in the team building part and then applying it in action, it really has been, I think, a it's been a very good learning opportunity and an opportunity to stretch and to reflect at the same time. Where did the idea come from? Well, part of that had been my wistfully looking at these very expensive programs that I really, in my work as a farmer and also working in rural economic development, really didn't have access to.

00:06:28:02 - 00:06:54:01
Heather Hampton Knodle
Right, either economically or the travel time. Mom of four children were busy and running our own business all the time. So this was a way, and that's what Agile Women does, is we kind of meet women where they are, and it becomes a lot more doable and flexible based on their work schedules, their personal commitments, and all the other roles they play.

00:06:54:03 - 00:07:15:12
Heather Hampton Knodle
But it just seemed to me that even within women itself and within rural America, we need and agriculture, we just need to up our game and our ability ultimately to persuade. To me, that is the bottom line outcome. You can have a microphone, you can have a megaphone, you can have your website, your blog, your social media post.

00:07:15:12 - 00:07:20:05
Heather Hampton Knodle
But if you cannot persuade people.

00:07:20:07 - 00:07:25:00
Heather Hampton Knodle
Then it may be off or not.

00:07:25:02 - 00:07:52:19
Chrissy Wozniak
Right. Yes. And and that is a really good point to bring up. And maybe a little bit of background on American agri women. A lot of what we do is, you know, we attempting to influence policy. And so this road to influence is it couples with American agri women's mission of of influencing policy. But then when you think about it, every part of our lives were influencing something in our jobs, with our kids, with our marriages, with our friends.

00:07:52:23 - 00:08:19:10
Chrissy Wozniak
You're always influencing something right in our churches. And, and so to really build those skills is so important. And what I really liked about was in the very first meetings, we did the Cliftonstrengths test and, and really got to fine tune and understand ourselves before we did anything else. Sarah, can you kind of break down the course outline?

00:08:19:12 - 00:08:22:17
Chrissy Wozniak
Starting with, with that first piece?

00:08:22:19 - 00:08:52:05
Sara Ried Herman
Yeah. So the program's really built around, six competencies, that, you know, the initial planning team, put together and then woven in with those competencies, it, you know, the program kind of starts with a, you know, understanding yourself. And that, you know, obviously includes the Cliftonstrengths finder. You know, we do a little bit of work on, on finding your y, and, and some other, other, pieces.

00:08:52:07 - 00:09:31:21
Sara Ried Herman
Then it kind of moves on to, you know, leading others. And that includes, you know, a lot of communications work. Understanding generational differences, which in an organization and those diverse as American acro women, is it, you know, I think a real eye opener for a lot of people and understanding, you know, why generations are the way they are, crucial conversations, which, honestly, if I had to give someone one piece of advice on a, you know, really important tool to have in your toolbox, it would be crucial conversations.

00:09:31:23 - 00:09:58:22
Sara Ried Herman
You know, part of crucial conversations is understanding how you react to things to and the stories you tell yourself around, you know, unknown set of facts and how that influences how you communicate with others. And then, you know, the program, moves on into persuasion and collaboration. And, you know, which is where the current program is, but it also wraps in a, a class project.

00:09:58:24 - 00:10:29:03
Sara Ried Herman
And it's, you know, we talked to everyone in the interview process because they all want to know more about this project and what is that? And it's purposefully vague. And it's really designed to give something back to American women, essentially for this investment that they've made. But also put those skills to use, and, you know, you know, delivering something, that's meaningful for both the participants in the organization.

00:10:29:05 - 00:10:30:00
Sara Ried Herman
Yeah.

00:10:30:02 - 00:10:57:00
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. That's great. And I like that you brought up the stories that we tell ourselves because we I don't know if men do this. I don't think so. But I feel like as women, we're always telling ourselves a narrative and it's self-limiting. And I know, Heather, you and I have talked about this at length many, many times about trying to get past these self-limiting behaviors that that truly leave us in the dust and and it's our own fault.

00:10:57:06 - 00:11:00:00
Chrissy Wozniak
So can you talk about that more? Heather?

00:11:00:02 - 00:11:24:23
Heather Hampton Knodle
Well, it's interesting because that's probably the piece that I struggle with the most. You know, there have been a lot of things that were not intentionally on my bucket list that I've been blessed to be able to do, but yet those things that are still on my bucket list, it's where I'm at right now is going back through our course material, reflecting on it because it's so much there's it's it's both dense and high impact.

00:11:24:23 - 00:11:48:06
Heather Hampton Knodle
And in the moment that you review it. But you know, a year ago different sort of circumstances or activities in a person's life. Then you pull out different things. And at this point I look at it again and pull out something new and I love it. Like Sarah said, the Crucial Conversations piece that is a high value training component just by itself.

00:11:48:06 - 00:12:18:24
Heather Hampton Knodle
As one part of this program, and we have the ability to go back through that and have access to the videos, to the materials, the additional reading material, to continually reflect, hone and do better. And so you know what what it means to me is then applying it to these personal goals that maybe and maybe this isn't true for everyone, but for me, it's kind of like I've wanted to do this for years, but what is it that has been holding me back?

00:12:18:24 - 00:12:58:18
Heather Hampton Knodle
Clearly it's me. It's it's not. I can't assign blame to anything other than that, because I'm the one making the choices on a daily basis of how to apply my energy, my focus, my talents. So I think the value in this program becomes, again, that deeper just, you know, being better, going deeper. And how can you yourself just be better and work better more effectively with other people?

00:12:58:20 - 00:13:15:04
Heather Hampton Knodle
And, Christy, I'm sorry, I, I don't feel like I really answered your question because it, I really am in this space right now working on a project as I go to, you know, the soccer game or I'm waiting in the parking lot for volleyball practice. What I'm trying to tell myself, this is your time to keep working toward this particular goal.

00:13:15:04 - 00:13:21:12
Heather Hampton Knodle
Bring it with you. Keep working on it. Don't don't make some other excuse.

00:13:21:14 - 00:13:48:00
Chrissy Wozniak
And I think that was a perfect answer because we all are in that life, right. And we want to make an impact. And I think one of the, one of the, I guess, the greatest things that really hit me was the the one book that we studied, I think it was in the winter time, and it was about getting out of the box and and it really, you know, we live in a culture where it's everybody else's fault and we can be easily led to become a victim.

00:13:48:02 - 00:14:10:09
Chrissy Wozniak
And that's not the truth. The truth is that it's our responsibility to get ourselves out of the box. And so I really liked that wasn't, you know, the words tickling our ears that we want to hear. It was, you know what? You're in a box and you need to get out of it, and you need to look and see where it's your responsibility to take maybe that first step.

00:14:10:11 - 00:14:32:05
Chrissy Wozniak
And so I think we that was such a valuable lesson. And that was kind of the theme all the way through. Is that it it starts with your self but not selfish. Right. It's really looking to see where we can fit like like a puzzle piece because, you know, you think about American women. We are well, right now we're covering coast to coast.

00:14:32:05 - 00:14:49:01
Chrissy Wozniak
I'm in Florida, Heather's in Illinois, and and Sarah's in California. We're actually coast to coast and so are all of our members. And we are a part of a puzzle. And this really helps figure out what puzzle piece you are, right. Can you add to that? Sarah.

00:14:49:03 - 00:15:18:00
Sara Ried Herman
Yeah. And, you know, I think one of the things that you all hit on is, you know, there's a there's a huge volume and density of information here. And this program isn't designed to make you an expert in any one or all of these. It's really designed to introduce the concept. And if that's something that resonates with you, you know, trying to give you tools or places to go to to learn more, you know, kind of going back to the Cliftonstrengths finder, you know, I'm, I'm an analytical learner as my top two.

00:15:18:02 - 00:15:48:03
Chrissy Wozniak
And so, you know, I'm, I'm one that we'll, we'll take that and dive into the and, you know, dive into the information to learn more. And yeah, that's, that's really kind of kind of how we've, we designed that. And knowing that, you know, we have members of, of the cohort that have had, you know, different experiences with, you know, personal development along the way that are at different stages in their lives, different geographies, different experience levels and types with American acro women.

00:15:48:05 - 00:16:04:00
Sara Ried Herman
You know, really it's it's about putting that information out there, having some discussion around it and then, you know, kind of letting you, choose your own destiny from there.

00:16:04:02 - 00:16:30:00
Heather Hampton Knodle
And, Sarah, I just got to say, Co Bank is, lucky to have you, but I'm wondering if you will consider launching your own, either deploying a trainer within that organization or launching your own because you've done such is just to me, it's just an exceptional job of curating material, and everything just seems so on point. And it's not just with me individually, but you know, the small cohort of, say, ten people.

00:16:30:02 - 00:16:55:15
Heather Hampton Knodle
And yet it speaks to each person in some way. And that is the beauty of it, is the fact that that rather than doing just self-study on our own, I'm going to read one self-help book every month, because then I'll get to where I go right? I think the real beauty here is in coming back and discussing it as a group, and then you learn so much just from other people's perception or how they're applying it.

00:16:55:17 - 00:17:06:15
Heather Hampton Knodle
And that in itself is this intangible value that we can't put a price on it, but it makes such a difference in the program.

00:17:06:17 - 00:17:35:11
Sara Ried Herman
Yeah. And I think you hit on kind of one of the key components there, Heather, is we're learning from each other through this tooth, from each other's experiences and their takes and maybe how they. Thought or thought about, you know, a particular concept because we aren't all going to look at it the same. And that's the beauty of being human, right, is that we all and everything that brought us to this point influences how we how we learn, how we think about things, how we use the world.

00:17:35:13 - 00:17:51:01
Sara Ried Herman
And, being able to to, to learn in an environment with others is, you know, how we continue to, to grow that, that experience, right?

00:17:51:03 - 00:18:18:15
Heather Hampton Knodle
It is. And I it's been great to have such a good facilitator. We've had Sarah Hummels, our facilitator, and her approach, it's so organic in that it's kind of like there's no right answer. You know, everybody can share and we all learn from that and then kind of lead into a new learning. And she adds additional value that, you know, you don't even see it coming.

00:18:18:15 - 00:18:36:17
Heather Hampton Knodle
Like when you get on that zoom, you don't know that you're going to end up with that additional value added piece at the end of the session. You know, other than what we just read and prepared for or, you know, have been thinking about or applying in the project and I don't it's just really been a pleasure.

00:18:36:17 - 00:18:53:19
Heather Hampton Knodle
It truly is one that I look forward to with all the meetings that we all have, all the time and commitments. It's like, yeah, no, that's that's going to happen. That's the golden hour. We're going to set that aside and be ready. No.

00:18:53:21 - 00:19:18:00
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah for sure. And you know, I think about in my marketing brain, you know, trying to figure out as we are promoting this next cohort what's our target audience. And it's a little difficult because when you think about the current cohort, we're from all over the US, from timber, from ranching to commodities to food labeling to radio. Right.

00:19:18:00 - 00:19:35:00
Chrissy Wozniak
There's and everything in between. So it's hard to. Right? Yeah. So who are these women and how would you each of you say, okay, this is this is our target. This is our target audience to become the next cohort.

00:19:35:02 - 00:20:04:22
Sara Ried Herman
You know, really in a very broad way, the way I look at it is our target audience here are the women that are the backbone of rural communities in agriculture. Yeah. I couldn't have hand-picked a better cohort for our first in terms of diversity. And, you know, diversity in a lot of different ways. But, you know, really, you know, we in an ideal world, we would have a cohort that is geographically diverse.

00:20:04:22 - 00:20:33:19
Sara Ried Herman
You have some people that are in production, agriculture, some people that are in, you know, support functions. You have people that some people that have a good amount of experience with American agro women, some that are maybe newer to the organization. You know, represent a, a diverse, commodity base. And, you know, just I think that that brings me kind of back to that last question, that wealth of experience, and that diversity of experience to the group.

00:20:33:21 - 00:21:07:08
Heather Hampton Knodle
I would say, you know, the person. Who are these women? And it seems that they're a common thread is a willingness to learn, a curiosity, a willingness to learn, a recognition that none of us is perfect, but we can all get better. We so there's kind of like this is kind of humility and ambition in, in the same people but then not ness, not ambition in a bad way.

00:21:07:08 - 00:21:36:08
Heather Hampton Knodle
I don't mean this somebody who's just after a title or after not not like that at all. It's just that recognition that continual improvement is valuable, and it serves not only you individually and helps advance you in your career, but it helps the larger community where you live in your home, where you interact professionally and there. I think you get that.

00:21:36:10 - 00:22:01:20
Heather Hampton Knodle
I think that's the woman that we're talking to. And I was I was happy I'd forgotten about the intergenerational thing because I've tried to be, I guess, most of my life I've tried to be kind of age blind, because it seems to me that no matter what age you are, you have something to offer and contribute. And wisdom is really how you learn from your experiences.

00:22:01:20 - 00:22:40:03
Heather Hampton Knodle
Not so much. The number of years that you've lived. So that to me is valuable. I value wisdom, so to me, it's a beautiful thing that we have people from every youth from the 20s to 70s in the same organization, working alongside each other for common objectives because they complement each other in ways that they they wouldn't be able to do if they just stuck to their own, like, age cohort.

00:22:40:05 - 00:23:00:19
Heather Hampton Knodle
I don't I don't know if this makes sense or not, but sometimes it's it's interesting because I, I've met with people on both, both sides of an age spectrum and they kind of want to gravitate to people who are look just like them in terms of, you know, their physical stage in life. And that to me, it becomes kind of boring and predictable.

00:23:00:21 - 00:23:04:13
Heather Hampton Knodle
And mixing it up is, I think, a good thing.

00:23:04:15 - 00:23:21:10
Chrissy Wozniak
I agree, and I'm, I'm in the middle and in our cohort, we have people in their 20s, and we have people in their 60s and just learning from both and finding the energy of the younger. And then the wisdom of the older is has been so valuable to me.

00:23:21:12 - 00:23:43:02
Heather Hampton Knodle
Right. Well, and even it's it's interesting because I've also seen wisdom in the younger. I'm thinking of one year or two, actually. Yeah, it's been the other way. And I actually think we may have one cohort member who might even be 80 now, but she's she is one of the most to me. She's one of the most out of the box thinkers, creative people I've ever met.

00:23:43:04 - 00:23:51:00
Sara Ried Herman
Yeah. And she's so wise. And that's not just, you know, experience wise. It's, you know, there's point. It's it's thinking about things differently and. Yeah, it's, you know, just like everybody else in the cohort, you know, that that you're bringing that experience to the table, I think is just so valuable.

00:24:25:11 - 00:24:26:01
Heather Hampton Knodle
Right.

00:24:26:03 - 00:24:27:10
Sara Ried Herman
Now, for sure.

00:24:27:12 - 00:24:31:18
Chrissy Wozniak
So what's the timeline now for this new cohort?

00:24:31:20 - 00:24:45:19
Sara Ried Herman
So we have launched applications. They are available on the American everywoman website. Those are due by. What did we decide on those September 15th.

00:24:45:23 - 00:24:47:22
Heather Hampton Knodle
15th I think mid mid September.

00:24:48:03 - 00:25:09:00
Sara Ried Herman
Yeah, yeah. With the intent that we will do interviews between September 15th and October 1st and announce members of the cohort, October 1st. And then the first meeting of that cohort, will be our in-person meeting, at the American Micro Women convention in Wisconsin in November.

00:25:09:02 - 00:25:15:17
Chrissy Wozniak
Can you talk a little bit about the travel requirements? Because it does does require some significant travel as well.

00:25:15:19 - 00:25:33:05
Sara Ried Herman
It does. And there is you know, there is some personal expense here, and I want to be clear about that. I know Heather and I, in a perfect world with with all of the funding that, you know, if we could wave our magic wands, it wouldn't be that way, but we're not quite there yet. So, there are three in-person, meetings.

00:25:33:07 - 00:26:05:05
Sara Ried Herman
That is that November meeting at in Wisconsin at the American Eagle and, convention. It will be at our mid-year meeting, which is in Texas this year. And then the final will be at, the American Women Convention in Illinois in November of 2025. We also do monthly, in-person, or not in-person, monthly, zoom meetings to cover material.

00:26:05:07 - 00:26:27:07
Sara Ried Herman
Those are scheduled for two hours. Sometimes it's a little quicker. This group tends to run long a lot. It's there's not that we're dragging things out, but there's there's a lot of good, a lot of good content and a lot of good conversation. So, you know, there's there's that we do schedule those during the day.

00:26:27:09 - 00:26:53:07
Sara Ried Herman
Just because trying to schedule around, you're, you're either going to be super early for somebody or super late for somebody else. And it's my experience. You don't get the best of people, in those, those French hours. So, you know, that is that is a requirement as well. And I want to make sure that that's, you know, known in advance and, you know, someone who interested can work that with, you know, their employer or their schedule or whatever.

00:26:53:09 - 00:27:31:12
Heather Hampton Knodle
Yeah. We have been so fortunate that early on, John Deere and Syngenta saw the value in this personal development program and really have helped us lift everything off the ground. And we've had additional support, from valence, from Agco. And Kubota has an interest now. So it's there's growing interest and support. But we also recognize the reality in agriculture for us in farming and ranching.

00:27:31:14 - 00:28:04:02
Heather Hampton Knodle
It impacts these agribusinesses as well. So the, you know, funding uncertainties will be always, you know, ever present. And again, that becomes the power of ultimately influence and persuasion to demonstrate that this is the type of really high value program where people again, to you, these people, they have already given back and they will continue to give back to the industry as they improve their own situations.

00:28:04:04 - 00:28:47:17
Heather Hampton Knodle
And that is a huge plus. We've also found that for many of our cohort participants, the American Agri Women Foundation has scholarships and support that they have made available to several cohort participants to help them offset travel expenses, to, for example, to convention. We had several go to fly in in Washington, DC in June. And there seems to be there's recognition within the foundation of the value of this type of intensive personal and leadership development effort as well.

00:28:47:19 - 00:29:12:14
Heather Hampton Knodle
So I'm not saying that'll cover everybody's cost, but I'm saying it's an opportunity for those who take the initiative and approach the leadership of that board to say, could we, you know, please consider supporting in this manner. And, and the foundation has been very helpful and in other ways as well. As far as, of course, content, material, bringing in speakers.

00:29:12:16 - 00:29:18:05
Heather Hampton Knodle
And it's really been just a wonderful thing, a great experience.

00:29:18:07 - 00:29:38:08
Sara Ried Herman
Yeah. And I would be remiss if I didn't also acknowledge that, you know, many of our state affiliates have have stepped up to help, you know, either their members that are participating or or others. You know, we have one state affiliate that is that that sees a lot of value in the program, regardless of whether it's for, you know, their own members or others.

00:29:38:10 - 00:30:01:11
Sara Ried Herman
So, you know, this is a definite it takes a village, yeah. Moment in terms of funding. But, you know, it we do recognize it is it is an expense, you know, and there is, you know, we do require, you know, a a fee to participate. And I, you know, Heather and I talked about this a lot in the development.

00:30:01:11 - 00:30:22:10
Sara Ried Herman
But, you know, I think it's also really important, from a from a buy in standpoint. Right. You know, you need a little you need a little skin in the game. And so that's, you know, I want to be upfront about, you know, this is this isn't just a show up and everything is it's taken care of for you.

00:30:22:12 - 00:30:25:05
Sara Ried Herman
Would love it to be that way, but we're not there yet.

00:30:25:07 - 00:30:25:23
Heather Hampton Knodle
Right?

00:30:26:00 - 00:30:27:11
Chrissy Wozniak
So we get that.

00:30:27:13 - 00:30:51:06
Heather Hampton Knodle
Oh. So, Christy, I was going to say there is. So we asked for that $500 upfront, but the intention is that at the end of the program, participants get that back. But it's kind of like this, you know, refundable deposit approach that you've completed the program. It's been wonderful and life changing and improving. And now you receive that money back.

00:30:51:06 - 00:31:09:01
Heather Hampton Knodle
But like Sarah said, it's the idea of, you know, literal buy in. It's not just given a gift. It's it's something that you, you recognize, you earn, you participate in and, giving your all to it.

00:31:09:03 - 00:31:17:16
Chrissy Wozniak
Right, exactly. And, and another important point is that space is limited. How many are you accepting this year?

00:31:17:18 - 00:31:32:06
Sara Ried Herman
We are we're somewhat flexible with that. We've targeted up to 12 participants. Again, kind of keeping that that small, a little bit intimate. So you can develop those relationships as, as part of the program.

00:31:32:08 - 00:31:48:13
Chrissy Wozniak
Right. And I think that was so effective, having a small group, because you can, you know, after a few meetings, you you do let your guard down with a smaller group and you're able to be more honest with yourself and with everyone else. When you really get to know people at a deeper level, right?

00:31:48:15 - 00:32:14:02
Heather Hampton Knodle
Right. Really. And we've seen that, you know, just vulnerability. But that's the idea is this is a safe space. No one is going to come back and, you know, hold that against you or attack you or whatever for that. It's the idea is that in order to truly learn and figure out how to apply that, that learning, it's it's okay to be vulnerable and, and have those moments.

00:32:14:04 - 00:32:15:10
Sara Ried Herman
So.

00:32:15:12 - 00:32:22:05
Chrissy Wozniak
Right, exactly. Well, any last thoughts before we, wrap up?

00:32:22:07 - 00:32:46:05
Heather Hampton Knodle
I just want to encourage anybody who's watching. Just sign up now. And there is, an employer agreement. And even if you're self-employed, just note that on the application. But also if you have a spouse or partner, there's, there's, sign up from them too, because the idea is, you don't know what people to realize that you're doing something significant here.

00:32:46:07 - 00:32:56:02
Heather Hampton Knodle
And for them to be aware of it and support you in that endeavor is pretty important. Significant.

00:32:56:04 - 00:33:17:01
Sara Ried Herman
Yeah, I would just echo what Heather said. You know, we'd love to have another fabulous cohort of women join us, for this next, iteration of the program. And, really look forward to, you know, meeting those women and learning a little bit more about them over the, the next few months.

00:33:17:03 - 00:33:24:24
Heather Hampton Knodle
I think the challenge will be trying to get the, the alumni. So the current group to not be like, well, we want to tune in, you know, it's okay.

00:33:24:24 - 00:33:25:08
Chrissy Wozniak
Right?

00:33:25:14 - 00:33:30:19
Heather Hampton Knodle
You guys know you had your out bite at the apple and.

00:33:30:21 - 00:33:50:13
Sara Ried Herman
Well, I do think there is, you know, as we think about the program and how it continues to evolve going forward. And, you know, this is a little bit modeled after what I know some state leadership leadership programs do, but I would love to have an active group of, of alumni, of the program that, that contribute in some way.

00:33:50:13 - 00:34:15:04
Sara Ried Herman
And I don't know what that looks like today. But, you know, I think and you know, that these are also women that are, you know, very involved in that American women. So, you know, time and resources are limited. But, you know, I would love to, to be able to build, on the kind of the collective knowledge as we continue to build out the program.

00:34:15:05 - 00:34:22:21
Heather Hampton Knodle
So that's like, I love that. So now we're going to get into brainstorming mode. This is the fun part. The next chapter.

00:34:22:23 - 00:34:32:21
Chrissy Wozniak
That's that's it. Yeah. Wonderful. So thank you both for joining me today. Great information and hopefully we get a whole pile of applications in.

00:34:32:23 - 00:34:34:09
Heather Hampton Knodle
So thank you.

00:34:34:11 - 00:34:36:01
Sara Ried Herman
Be here. Thank you.

00:34:36:03 - 00:34:53:01
Chrissy Wozniak
And thanks to all who are watching or listening. If you want to learn more the the links are provided in the show notes. And don't forget to subscribe to North American Tech Spotlight on, Amazon, Apple, Spotify, Rumble, telegram, wherever you listen to podcasts and have a great day.

00:34:53:03 - 00:34:53:11
Heather Hampton Knodle
Thank you.