Marissa Freeman, Founder The Village
Marissa shares her advice would be to embrace the journey, process, and building a brand brick by brick. Understand that building a brand is a gradual, takes time and experimenting. Instead, focusing on consistently putting in the work, refining your ideas, and building community. Learning how it takes a village to reach the visions of your wildest dreams!
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00:02 Hello everyone! Welcome back to a new episode of Emerging Brands with Kelly Bennett. I am so excited for my next podcast guest Marissa Freeman is on the podcast today. 00:16 She's the founder of the village. She's also an alumni of the Emerging Brand Incubator and Marissa. I'm so genuinely grateful to have you on today. 00:27 I'm so genuinely grateful to be here. Thanks for having me. I mean, any chance that we had to catch up is one that I'm super eager to take because I just from working together and with you and the incubator and all of these things like I'm always down to hang with Kelly Bennett. 00:42 So I'm glad that we can make this happen. Absolutely. And that makes me really happy. And I feel the same way about you right now, Marissa, too, is what did you call it your honey move? 00:52 Just got married and traveling Europe and around the world. Exactly. We are on our honey move. Yeah, we got married. 01:00 I'm from Hawaii originally, which incidentally is very much a part of who I am is my personal brand. Even though I look like I'm from upstate Maine. 01:10 But I certainly sunburned like I'm from upstate Maine. But my wedding was in Hawaii at home and we decided that instead of coming back to Chicago after the wedding, we would just put all of our stuff in storage and move out of our apartment and take this opportunity to just travel. 01:30 So we are now in Benadorn, Spain, which is just outside Valencia. We started in London, then Paris, London for a week, Paris for two weeks, Switzerland for a week, Florence for a month, and we're in Spain, not all in one place, but we're in Spain for a total of two weeks, and then Portugal for a total 01:48 of two weeks. And then we'll end up in Liverpool for my husband. And he has an event there, he's a battle r***** and we'll be competing there and that'll be sort of where we reevaluate, where we wanna go and when we wanna go home. 02:02 That is so cool. I've been following your adventures on Instagram and just loving how you all are starting this new chapter together with this epic travel adventure. 02:15 It just sounds really incredible. Thanks, there's a lot of soul searching happening here and working remotely, especially East Coast hours, is not for the faint of heart, but it's been a really, it's rare to have moments when you are in the middle of an experience and think like this is gonna stick 02:35 with me for the rest of my life. So often we look back at something and think like wow, that was really formidable, but like I think about that for my own relationship to travel and global citizenry. 02:46 I think about it with my relationship to my husband. And you know, we're experiencing something new together. And yeah, it's, I can't say enough good things. 02:53 I know that's not what the podcast is about, but. No, but it could be. Absolutely. And well, this brings me to my next question of the story behind your brand. 03:03 So when we work together, it's more so around your personal brand. And you also have a brand which is a community of women who are supporting each other. 03:15 And your personal brand is very much rooted in bringing people together. So what you're doing now is very much a line from what I see to where your heart and soul lies in how you love to show up. 03:29 So I would love to kick it off with giving people who are just tuning in for the first time about your story. 03:36 A little bit more of the background of how you built your brand personally and then also the village. Definitely. So like I said, I'm from Hawaii originally. 03:48 I was born and raised there. And I'm often met with like, what are you doing living in Chicago if you're from Hawaii? 03:55 And I think, you know, you and I spoke about this when I was working through our curriculum together that like, I felt a sense of belonging in Chicago every time I had visited and it felt frankly on brand for me. 04:10 So it's not internally, it's not so much of a jump that I would end up in Chicago, but so much of who I am in my work and in my hosting skills, in my community building skills, and my creativity is rooted in the fact that I grew up in a place that is A, something that you always have to explain because 04:29 someone's like, how do your family get there? Like I've told that story once a day for my entire life. And and then, you know, so much of that also is rooted in like this deep aloha spirit and an understanding of, of communal joy and communal sorrow. 04:47 And I really lean on the values of like the Hawaiian people. I've learned so much and just growing up there. 04:55 Of what that, what that means in that definition of community is. So that really catapults itself into who I am now. 05:01 And to get more into the nitty-gritty, I'm like in such a point of transition that I haven't answered this question even just outside my journal of like who I am and what I'm doing. 05:12 But I am the latest journal entry. Yeah, let me just pull it out. No, I am a digital marketing consultant. 05:20 I've been working in the marketing space for, I would, I mean, not every job title reflected it perfectly, but for the last 10 years I've been in marketing. 05:29 It started with social media marketing at an agency where I was an account manager and working with like brands to tell stories on social media that was right when the idea of an agency dedicated to social was like even, you know, even totally come about. 05:48 And then I moved to Chicago after some like life changes that I, you know, just kind ran with me with Chicago and I ended up starting with a company that is a nonprofit organization that was all about getting young Jewish adults together for the practice of Shabbat dinner. 06:06 And while I'm certainly not trying to just like run through my resume of what my brand is, I say that because it's a really important part of what I see as a successful or as a pillar of my success was this time when I was working with one table where my job was to meet new people and luckily at that 06:24 time I was eager to meet my city because I was all the sudden in charge of the entire Chicago population of people using this this platform in organization, but I was also new to the city. 06:36 So my brand in that moment really became Marissa from one table which meant that if anyone had a question or felt lonely or wanted to find a seat at a table, I was facilitating that. 06:48 And at that point, it was through the lens of Shabbat dinners and one table, which was, I can't say enough good things. 06:54 I eventually moved on to marketing side because that's really where I felt like my skills could be better used. And now I find myself even as a graduate of a certificate program to become an expert digital marketer. 07:08 And as a freelancer, that turned into my own LLC and sort of micro agency, I still come back to that like, why are we gathering what's bringing people together, and more importantly, how are people feeling when they're interacting with with their various brand touch points throughout the day, and that 07:26 leads me to my client work now, which is separate of the village, and I know we'll get into that. But that's that's like where my where my income is coming from at this point, is about digital marketing consulting, income and joy. 07:38 Love that. I love that. And then how did that go to building the village? Yeah, it's actually not a far drum, which is, hey, anyone who knows me and is listening to this, like, would agree that the idea I would move from a community heavy role or a team working role and then all of a sudden and pull 08:02 a 180 and work alone in my albeit very well lit and cute at home office. Like, that's laughable. I am so motivated. 08:14 I am like a textbook extrovert. I do think my ratio for like extrovert to introvert time is one to two. 08:21 Like, I need time to recharge. Like, we can be like, you know, we're complex beings as humans. But generally speaking, I really lean extroverted. 08:32 So I, it's, that's what I'm saying. It's like laughable that I would think like, oh, I'll go from a team of 20 to a team of one. 08:39 And I have no one to talk to except my clients. And I can't be fully raw and vulnerable with them on the level that might need to be expressed. 08:50 And I just about, just about, and like that being said, I also would only like match with this all make client that I felt comfortable being myself with. 08:58 But there is a line, of course. Totally. And, you know, I, I think I have been trying to figure out the best way to tell the story, but I think it's only fair to tell it completely honestly, which is it wasn't that I was feeling lonely is that I was having a really no good, horrible, very bad day 09:19 . I was one of many people that were met with a notification of another school shooting in the States. And I was just numb and frozen, and all of a sudden everything on my computer felt just absolutely unimportant. 09:37 And I don't know why it hit me harder that day than another day or you know, it's just awful that it's even a recurring thing. 09:45 But in that moment I really missed that at my last roll. A Slack message would have gone out that said, take care of yourself. 09:55 This does not brain surgery. You need to step away and process, do your thing. And I realized that not only was no one sending me that message because I was working alone, but I couldn't use that note to my clients to say, like, your work's not important today. 10:11 Like it just didn't feel like I had permission to feel everything I needed to process in that moment. And I realized that the same can be true for the good things. 10:22 Like at that point, I was balancing six or seven clients on my own. I'm like so tired. But the same can be true about good news. 10:36 If you have a major win on a client project, it could be gone in an instant because there's a fire to put out in another arena. 10:44 And I think what I was realizing in that moment is that the whiplash between the happy and the sad and the not-marking time, which I had been so passionate about with the specific ritual of Shabbat dinners to mark time and process, I just realized I was really lonely. 11:01 And I had no one to, let me put it this way, it's not that I had no one, it's I had no where to put it. 11:08 And all of a sudden, I'm sitting there, I'm like, welling up at my desk, this horrible news is coming across, I can't seem to put one email, you know, sentence in front of the other. 11:18 And I thought, when have I had a group chat of everyone else who I know is in the exact same position right now, like someone who's working alone who needs a coworker to go do an afternoon latte run with or like, hey, like, let's meet for that 3 p.m. 11:31 Diet Coke, whatever you're fancy. Like, I was really missing that water cooler chat feeling for the good and the bad. 11:38 And it just happened to be in that moment that it was really, really sad. And I thought, well, it's selfish of me to group text, you know, the six or seven women that I know because they don't know each other. 11:48 What if I made an intentional space where I invited them in, they knew what they were getting into, and all of a sudden it just clicked for me. 11:59 I can go into a little bit about why I called it the village and all of that. There's a lot of really important back around there, but to answer your question, what's brought me to the village in that space where women business owners who are solopreneurs can gather and feel like they're co-working 12:15 without having co-workers. That space was really self-serving, if I'm being honest, and then it totally evolved into something that I see as this universe that has so much potential and is already so juicy with love and support for others. 12:36 I love this story so much, and something, again, working with you and hearing your founder's story and your brand story, something that really struck me is your genuine passion of bringing people together and having people feel seen and supported and celebrated in whatever space you're in charge of 12:55 curating. And I really respect that as someone who used to curate events and curate gatherings. It takes a genuine passion to do that because it's not easy. 13:07 It just sounds like, oh, I'm just going to bring people together, but there's a lot of work and mindfulness and I know also we didn't touch upon it just now, but you also have a background and a certification in mindfulness and I just love how you've created this really unique recipe as you will to 13:26 create space and have people feel seen and supported in spaces. You're really brilliant at that. Thank you so much. I admire that about you. 13:35 Thank you. You know, I grew up with my parents being those people. My mom is a really fantastic host in all meanings of the word. 13:47 She's like always been this like amazing cook and she's just she just curates these spaces and like walking in for like Shabbat dinner at 1, 2, 4, 6, I'll let Bay Street is like a feeling and my mom always had that going and then when the night came to start maybe there was some sort of like lightning 14:07 in the candles for Shabbat or birthday speech or something my dad would step up and do more of the like emceeing a little bit and it always felt so natural and I think because of that I never felt like I really had to learn how to do that I I recognized from my parents that it was intention and design 14:30 based on empathy and listening to others. You know, I could, I would imagine, I, God, I could talk about my parents and their influence on this for a while. 14:40 But I think, you know, I would hear conversations while we were getting ready for dinner. Like, you know, oh, that reminds me, I really want, you know, fake names. 14:51 Well, I really want Stacey and Devon to sit next to each other because they both just had really similar promotions at work. 14:57 Like, let's make that connection before when they get here so they know that they have that in common or something. 15:03 And it was little things like that that as a kid was just like part of our background. And now I know it's from a root of my parents being strong designers and intentional listeners to make those connections happen. 15:16 I love that. So much. Yeah, I remember really, really specifically once my mom, we were having like taco night. It was like not uncommon for us to host dinners all the time. 15:28 We just had a big d*** with a barbecue. Like, not, I mean, they weren't rowdy, but we just always had like, hey, Marissa, will you go get the folding chairs? 15:36 We're having six people over tonight. Like, that was very common. I remember one night, I must have been five or six and my mom asked me, maybe a little older, she's asking me for this kind of help, but she was like, I need you to put the salsa and the wok and the sour cream on the table. 15:52 So I did like Amelia Bedelia, I listened to it, right? I went and I got the salsa and the sour cream and the wok from the fridge and I put it on the table. 15:59 And my mom came in and she goes, actually, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And she took all three of those things back and she went and put them into, like, bowls that were nicer, not like, not like cereal bowls in the morning, but like, like, serving dishes. 16:14 Yeah. And she kind of made a comment, like, wouldn't know, we would never, like, put it, we would never just clap it on the table, like it needs to be served. 16:22 And I remember thinking, like, that's ridiculous, like, we're all just eating sour cream here. And as an adult, I now know that it's that people walked in and saw that my mom had put it in effort. 16:33 And maybe it was subconscious on her part. Maybe she just wanted to use the nice serving dishes, whatever. But the way it made people feel when they walked in and there was this space that had been curated for them, like they showed up differently. 16:45 And I think a lot of that has has affected for better the way that I want people to feel when they're around communities that I'm in charge of. 16:55 So I love that so much, Marissa, so tell me that you're welcome and your parents sound really cool. Really? Pretty stellar. 17:03 I'm not going to lie. They sound like it. So how have you been building out the village? It's a really complicated answer because I've been in this chaotic time, chaotic, beautiful time of like planning a wedding and like experiencing life as a bride and all that comes with it And all that I didn't 17:24 like about it, like, there's been a lot of times on this trip in particular, you know, we're gone for three months and I'm thinking like, great, like I can just sit on the beach and I can journal and I can build and I can create and all these things and I get there and I'm like, I have to sleep. 17:40 I'm 31 years old, exhausted. And it's been just kind of a weird, this time has been different than I had planned it to be. 17:48 So in the last two weeks or so in particular, I felt this real research and stuff like okay I'm rested I'm ready to come back like took six weeks to just exist and eat a lot of pasta like let me just get out this and I notice that feel that so much like if it's not an app or all spritz I'm not drinking 18:06 it that was really the the tone I mean still is I have one at lunch but the the way I'm building it is so beyond cliche but honestly brick by brick like Like I, for sure, want a robust experience for all of the members to be able to like enter into this community, I guess I should just explain like 18:31 what it looks like tactically. It's a short channel. There's nothing groundbreaking about I didn't create an app, it's not a new platform. 18:38 Like I created a Slack channel, anyone can do it. And all I've been doing at every turn is trying to refine and optimize all of the functions within the Slack channel, within our like Google space, within our notion space, trying to make this online hosting thing as smooth as possible so that when someone 18:57 enters into the village and they're a small business owner and they don't know anyone else there, they have exactly what they need to be able to set up an introduction post for themselves and it's a template and it's in their well-designed, well-curated, it's got like a legally blonde reference to it 19:13 in there like it's exactly the tone that we want it to be weaving me in the mouse in my pocket, but it's exactly the tone we want it to be so that they know what they're walking into and can show up and mirror that vibe and energy. 19:27 So the way I'm building it, I mean it's, I was talking about this yesterday, I am building out my own podcast for this and it's like okay I'm going to sit down and I'm going to create all the things I need for this podcast to be able to tell stories of women helping women in the village, et cetera. 19:43 And then I sent out an email, hey, will you be on my podcast? Okay, how do I book time with you? 19:47 Okay, I guess today I have to learn how to set up a Google Appointments page. Like it is truly brick by brick and I think one of the beautiful things about the village is that it's a space where I can share the shape and how each brick was made one piece at a time and someone else might be like, oh 20:04 my God, the next three bricks, I got you girl. Here you go. And that to me is like the way that we're keeping the wheels turning a bit. 20:12 On a more tactical level, like I'm recruiting, I want kick ass women who are pursuing something either part time or full time, and every time they bring up an idea, it's fair game. 20:23 Hey, I want an event about mission and vision exercises. Can we make that happen? Or hey, I really don't know what kind of bank account I should be opening. 20:33 Do you know anyone in the finance space where I could talk to them? And then all of a sudden we have these virtual events that are about those things and are resources for these women. 20:40 So, it's really about being in conversation with the community. I mean, I have visions, of course, and the digital presence, because that's what I do for my clients. 20:50 Like, all of that is something that I'm aspiring to, but the actual, like, function of the organism. It's just based on, like, conversation starters to keep topical thoughts, you know, happening like, hey, what's a win you had from today? 21:06 Hey, what did you learn the hard way this week? Hey, what are you manifesting? Like these channels and these conversations are all very specific so that people are showing up and offering exactly what their peers are being also invited to offering. 21:20 It can kind of create that cohesion. I love what you just touched upon because there are quite a few say different online communities, especially after the pandemic or during the pandemic, a lot of them sprouted up. 21:34 But I would argue that not many felt curated and had some context of what's going on in this space. Right, I think a lot of people got excited of bringing people together, but what happens when you bring people together and how do you keep the conversations going is really, really important. 21:56 So I love how you have very specific cues, you have different conversation starters and it sounds similar to how you also curated conversations at Shabbat dinners of how to have a conversation feel engaging, ongoing, interesting. 22:19 So I love how you're connecting the dots here. Thank you so much. I mean, I want to share a little bit about the name, because I think that really touches exactly what you're saying, which is like, first of all, one of the things that is very much by design, is that this curated space needs to feel 22:40 really low effort. Because as you know, a business owner has 1 million things in their head, 24-7. They always say, I quit my 9-5, and now I work 24-7 and for better or worse, right? 22:53 Like shower thoughts are all of a sudden the best next thing for your business plan, whatever. It's non-stop. So the way that this curated space is designed is to be like you get what you give and I think like having intentions laid out like if I were to someone was asking me what's the secret sauce 23:13 of a curated space like this. It's really about naming up front what's allowed and what's not and that's why we have a really clear onboarding document that I had to build when I was onboarding It was not like I sat for three days and just like got all these materials. 23:31 You just don't know what you need for your brand until you need it for your brand, right? And I mean, and that even goes for like brand guides or like a PNG of all of your like colors or whatever. 23:44 I mean, you just don't know until you're asked. So I think the design of it to be this low effort space is really. 23:52 It's a tricky line because you want people to engage. But people will get what they will give in to the space if they know exactly what is being asked of them. 24:06 So that's why there's ten bullet points on our community norms and sort of the rules, which I'd be happy to share because it's kind of fun. 24:16 But going back to a little bit more about like the the brand-sided things, the village, like that name really ties into my mindfulness and wellness background. 24:30 I'm a fitness instructor and a lot of my inspiration for my body connection comes from having taught the bar method for the last five years and seeing the way that women are just strong as hell physically and emotionally. 24:42 I mean, the way that people show up in the studio is magnificent. They're having good days, bad days, like that lobby 15 minute transition is so powerful. 24:51 And I think that energy is what I really captured about like the sacredness of that mind-body connection. And I know I'm bearing off here a little bit, but I promise it'll all come back. 25:07 What I identified in my own work around mindfulness is this deep, deep connection to a divine feminine energy that is otherwise completely pushed to the side. 25:19 I mean, I could rant about the way that like the modern business day is just built for men and they're circadian rhythm, whereas women have a 28 day cycle and the way I show up on day one of my cycles very different than day 12, very different than day 30. 25:35 Like it can be crazy to really, when we start and actually look at the macro implications of women's needs and energy is not being matched, it can be pretty alarming. 25:48 So I promised I'd come back to it. The reason that I like the idea of the village is because I forever takes a village to raise a family and that is true. 25:58 I was raised by a village. I joined a village when I married my husband and I got to meet all the incredible women in his life. 26:05 I really firmly believe that women lift up women subconsciously, consciously in the most beautiful ways. And I wanted a space where that was just the default. 26:18 Like I'm just going to be absolutely authentically myself and trust that the people around me are going to help me, you know, make up where I need some support. 26:28 So this divine feminine energy around the village or is there is what roots the village in itself and I believe you know anyone who identifies with their own feminine side is a welcomed member and having that as the norm means that we're all really in it together there's not like a competition like 26:50 I can lift someone else up as I rise if I learn how to do something cool on on Canva why wouldn't I share it with someone else who I know uses canva in their brand. 27:02 And that's where these like non-competitive networking connections can sort of be created. And the links are like intentional moments of like, no, I got you. 27:14 And those exist. This is not a new concept. Women have been gathering in small groups since day one. Right. A lot of this has, I mean, like, I don't know if you've ever read the red tent by and need a document and like the way that women connect in circles around their cycle like this does not news. 27:31 In fact it's like some of the oldest support that in existence and I think just framing it and creating the space like you said to have this intention is really what makes the brand different than other women spaces and join multiple. 27:50 You are we are all complex beings like one space is not going to fill someone up completely. So I think there's room for many, many more. 28:01 It just happens to me that this is about women showing up authentically as business owners, likely working alone who are recognizing that it's lonely when you're the CEO, the middle-level manager, and the internal, the same. 28:14 Right. Well, I genuinely love your vision, how you're building, why you're building and how you're connecting all the dots of what you do really well and then bringing in all the nuance of your background to then input it into this brand where others can be connected. 28:35 I just love how you've created that slow, if you will, of taking your own experiences and then bringing others into it. 28:44 So what piece of advice you're welcome? What piece of advice would you give to a fellow emerging brand founder who's maybe a few steps behind who is just getting started as far as how to start putting the pieces together for their brand or their vision or that first few bricks. 29:09 What piece of advice would you share? I think the piece of advice that I share is actually is something I need to be hearing and reminding myself of right now, which is like, it's, Rome wasn't built in a day. 29:22 It's not gonna happen overnight. And I think for people that are in this, anyone who's setting out to create a brand is likely a visionary. 29:35 Like, we're not having people who are like very by the book that are like looking to create these massive brand movements. 29:42 Or, I mean, and maybe there are. And I really see someone who has an idea for a brand or a product or a service or something as someone who otherwise is also looking at things, looking at, seeking the potential in something, right? 29:59 And I think what can be super tricky about that is that when you have a vision, you, I'll speak in first person. 30:10 When I have a vision, I anticipate, or I design all the baby steps that have to get there and then I get mad at myself for when they're not done. 30:21 But like we're all just human, we're all just Googling shit here to figure out how to live this life, right? 30:27 Like there's no road map, so I think the reminder that I'm giving myself by way of these emerging brand owners is that it just, it's not gonna happen all at once. 30:40 You might have a burst of energy and think, I'm gonna write my mission and my vision and I'm gonna create a brand template and I'm gonna do this and this and this and you might get four things done at once in one day. 30:50 And then you might eat to like hang tight and just let that sit for a little bit and then come back to it because there's just no way that these things pop up quickly quickly because they have, I guess I should say, authentically designed brands don't happen overnight because they have to be rooted 31:11 in your life experience and you can't build a brand from 24 hours of your of your experience. So brick by brick is really like the most I think that thing I can say, but I want I really more than anything that's on advice that's permission, give yourself permission to not have it all done in one sitting 31:33 . I love that. And I very much resonate with that earlier in my career as well. I would put so much pressure on myself as far as this has to get done or I need to have a new website by tomorrow because that's what I need to get to the next step. 31:49 And I remember one time I did it. I like stayed up all night, designed this new website and I was in a local coffee shop the next morning and a friend saw me and she was like are you, are you okay? 32:03 I was like, I've been staying up and I'm working out. I was like, does this make sense? I don't know. 32:08 She was like, I think you need to go to bed. I think just close your laptop, go to bed, have a good rest, look at it again with fresh eyes and it wasn't until I had someone really see me that I was so wound up and there was no other timeline or pressure than myself to get this done. 32:27 And I really appreciated her coming up to me. I mean, like, hey, put down the computer and go home and take a minute. 32:36 And so it's very much resonant of giving yourself that permission that things do take time and give it some breath, also taking inspired action, but also letting stuff breathe. 32:49 And I think everyone has a different rhythm of that and there's different seasons where some seasons you'll be really ramped up and then some your season you're a little bit more chill. 33:00 But just giving yourself that permission to go with the flow a little bit more because you are a human being especially as a single founder. 33:09 So I really love that because I know so many people probably needed to hear that again today. So thank you for sharing that. 33:16 That's a really, really solid piece. Thank you for asking so I could remind myself. Yeah, absolutely. I will also say, I mean, too quick notes about that. 33:25 And just that, like, that burnout is so easy. It's so easy to get back into that cycle. And like, I hear you on the, like, oh, my God, I'm going to do this. 33:36 And I'm going to spend, I'm going to stay up for two nights. And I'm just going to crank it out. 33:39 But this arbitrary deadline, et cetera. But the issue there is that if you're wanting to create a brand and that is so deeply authentic to your experience, then you're pressing the gas and the brake at the same time and that can really be damaging to your experience which is ultimately damaging to your 33:58 brand. Like if I'm tired and don't wanna be online, then when I show up online to run the village, I'm not gonna be good at it, I'm gonna be tired. 34:08 So I mean, that's where scheduling things gets really, really helpful. I do really wanna quickly share where the onion recently put out a piece and I pulled it up, it's women's entire self-worth is dependent on ability to accomplish unrealistic goal by arbitrary deadline. 34:25 And if that's not what it feels like to be a business owner and a brilliant brilliant brand, then I don't know what is. 34:30 That is a really solid headline from the onion. It's true. It feels very real. So on that note, being real and being honest and supporting each other and showing up as you are. 34:47 How can people learn more about the village, join the village, listen to your new podcast, give us the rundown. Awesome, thank you for space to do that. 34:59 So I guess the first thing that I would offer as like what does like growing this and like maybe getting involved look like, I would say it actually involves a little bit of patience first and foremost because we're building it as we go. 35:15 So if you have someone in mind that is a small business owner, they work you know they're working alone or they maybe have employees but either way like at the end of the day it's all on them and they might look for a little bit of support. 35:31 I want to be connected to them and the best way to do that is via I found my village at gmail.com, other than that, I love some follows on Instagram so that people can share and maybe resonate a little bit of the message and learn a little bit more about like our tone and vibe. 35:49 And that's at I found my village on Instagram. And then there is a wait list option available and that's not so much that demand is super high as much as I want to be able to connect with everyone personally before they like I'm not giving out slack invites for for nothing because we want to really 36:07 make sure that this is a good fit for whoever's interested. So the best way to do that is just over email or even on my personal Instagram, it's Marissa, Erin Freeman and we'll include it in the show notes as well. 36:23 I heard you say earlier because I smell Erin a little differently but that would just be a great way to like connect with me there be a DM and we can set up a chat right now. 36:32 My podcast is in its infancy. I've only recorded a handful of episodes. And I'm going to kind of upload them all at once. 36:40 So please follow us on Instagram at I found my village to get updates on on where you can find those. 36:47 I am so proud of you. I can't wait for the new podcast. And I'm just again, congratulations on what you've built and how you've brought all the nuanced experiences of your life from your childhood to adulthood into something for other people to feel an impact and genuine support from. 37:13 It's just it's really cool and I'm just really grateful that we got this interview and this part of your chapter documented. 37:22 Thank you so much and this was not asking me but I a plug for working with Kelly Bennett because with Kelly Bennett was a very important factor in this growth and being pushed to see what I have to offer as a personal brand and as a brand within the village, which feels like a personal brand because 37:42 it's coming from my personal experience. So again, wasn't asked to say this, but like if you are on the fence lean in and take this investment in yourself and build out what your brand could be with Kelly because it's been something I lean on every day, so I'm really grateful. 37:58 Thank you so much for saying that. That was very, very kind, and I very much appreciate it. And I can't wait to see this new chapter emerge for you and see where all the next pieces go and all the next bricks. 38:11 So thank you so much for taking time out of your travels today to record. And thank you everyone for listening, and I'll see you on the next episode. 38:21 So thank you so much, Marcel. Talk to you later. Thanks. Take care.
