What exactly is the future of work, and how can people and organizations adapt to changes in work culture exacerbated by the Pandemic? In this episode, Ashley Artrip, Co-Founder and President of Mission Collaborative, explores these answers. Listen to her dive into the concept of “career portfolios,” and how they differ from the traditional “career paths” that we have been socialized to accept. Furthermore, she shares insights on how young professionals can discover their values and path by understanding their own definition of success.
Ashley Artrip [00:00:00] I think for too long, we have really subscribed to this belief that every job that we have needs to fit neatly into this linear path that has a singular destination. We put so much weight and so much stress on each career decision because we don't want it to divert us from the path that we've been on or the path that we think we need to follow. Work and life looks a lot more like a squiggly line than a neat, linear ladder.
Finn Lambouris [00:00:26] You're listening to Business Edge, the podcast for professionals looking to excel in the workforce. In each episode, our guests take a deep dive into their personal and professional experiences to give you an edge in the marketplace. This podcast is brought to you by Alpha Kappa Psi Professional Business Fraternity.
Chrissy Vasquez [00:00:41] Welcome. Thank you for joining us for another episode of Business Edge podcast. My name is Chrissy Vasquez and today with me is Nicole Klemp. We're excited today to talk to Ashley Artrip. So we're going to introduce Ashley, and then we'll kick off the conversation.
Nicole Klemp [00:00:55] All right, so we have Ashley Artrip with us today. She's the co-founder and president of Mission Collaborative, and Ashley is on a mission to help others design successful careers that are engaging and fulfilling. Before Mission Collaborative. She worked at Gallup, where she focused on researching employee engagement and what contributes to a successful career. While at Gallup, she became a certified Gallup Strengthsfinder Coach, enabling her to help others identify their strengths and harness them to design careers they love. After Gallup, she worked at S.V. Academy, which is Fast Company's number two most innovative edtech start up in 2020, where she helped first generation college students and underrepresented minorities break into high paying tech careers in Silicon Valley. Ashley's vision for the future of work is to ensure that every professional has access to the information, resources and community needed to navigate the many career changes throughout their lives successfully. With so many antiquated rules of the workforce being rewritten, there has never been a better time to change the way people think about how they approach their careers. Ashley, we're so excited to have you with us today!
Ashley Artrip [00:01:56] Yeah, thank you so much. I'm very excited to be here.
Chrissy Vasquez [00:01:59] So I'm curious before we start, what are your five strengths?
Ashley Artrip [00:02:01] Yeah, I love that question right out of the gate. My first is individualization. I won't go through every single description just for the sake of time, but individualization, discipline, competition developer and futuristic.
Chrissy Vasquez [00:02:17] Oh, nice. I worked at a nonprofit where that was a big part of the culture, and we used to do a session every Tuesday where somebody on staff would pick one of the strengths and go into it and talk about what are the peaks and valleys and things like that so, thought it would be fun to hear what you are. So, yeah. So do you want to tell us a little bit about how you found the fraternity? Interested to hear about your student experience and how you first got introduced to AKPsi.
Ashley Artrip [00:02:43] Yeah, absolutely. And I guess I'll kind of start off by saying that AKPsi was truly one of the most formative things that I did when I was in college. I actually didn't end up graduating from college, and I think actually AKPsi had had a lot to do with, kind of my path and my journey and helping me really get clarity on what I wanted out of my career. And I, you know, I heard about the fraternity and I, you know, it's really important for me to find a community wherever I am. And I knew I wanted to do something related to business, but I wasn't really sure what that looked like. And so I heard about AKPsi, I went to school at Vanderbilt and Vanderbilt actually didn't have an undergrad business school. And so kind of finding your, kind of fellow business minded people, it wasn't challenging, but it wasn't as easily accessible as other institutions that perhaps had those undergraduate business schools. So it's really nice kind of immediately finding these like-minded individuals in the AKPsi community. And, you know, even within the AKPsi community, I feel like I had kind of a somewhat nontraditional perspective and kind of how I thought about business and how I thought about myself in my own career. A lot of the folks that I knew in college at least really wanted to do more of the traditional corporate route, which was fantastic. But there were a few of us that really wanted to do entrepreneurship. So even within this small circle of AKPsi at Vanderbilt, I found even more of my people through that kind of little entrepreneurship group that we had, which was really fantastic.
Chrissy Vasquez [00:04:22] Oh, that's awesome. So I'm curious a little bit about how you processed the decision not to finish your college education. I think there's a lot of things changing in higher education, so there might be some people definitely considering that route. I actually just heard the other day that some college seniors are being recruited to start their job before they graduate. And so a lot of them finish online. So just curious to hear a little bit about that, you know, how you processed that decision, and curious if you had any hurdles post that decision in the job force?
Ashley Artrip [00:04:51] Yeah, I love that question. And you're totally right. The landscape is completely changing as it relates to kind of the norms of how we go to school, go to post-secondary education and how we enter the workforce. And at the time, it felt like I was kind of alone in that way, and I would say that was probably the biggest challenge of this is really I was kind of navigating this all on my own. I didn't really have strong mentors who had also dropped out of college and pursued an entrepreneurial venture. So a lot of this was kind of just getting a lot of clarity with myself and what I actually wanted, what I thought would be fulfilling for me. And to kind of back up and give you a little bit of context on the story here. When I was actually growing up, I saw both of my parents really not like their jobs, and I saw them kind of dread going to work every day. And from this really young age, I just kind of didn't want to become an adult. I was like, I'm not ready for this. I don't want to, you know, have a nine to five job where I'm not really excited about it. And so kind of from that point, I got really curious about how people made career decisions. And then I think when I got to college, I kind of just looked around and I was like, "hmm, it's kind of no wonder why there are so many working professionals who don't really enjoy what they're doing, and it's because we kind of approach careers very unintentionally." You know, that's nothing to put all on higher ed to figure out, but it kind of just felt like to me that we're really rolling the dice when it comes to our career choices and picking majors and, you know, enrolling in schools that were quite expensive. And I really wanted to change that. And so in college, I had this kind of idea to help current college students work with alumni mentors based on strengths and professional interests. Kind of a long story short there, it included a lot of the Strengthsfinder assessment and a lot of the research that Gallup had been doing as it relates to kind of the transition between higher ED in the workforce. As a result of kind of putting this idea together, this kind of wireframe for this app that I envisioned, I actually just kind of cold outreached to an executive at Gallup, and I said, "Hey, you know, I'm a sophomore in college and you have no reason to respond to me right now. But I know the initiative that you're working on," because I was reading his blog, "I know the initiative that you're working on, you know, has a lot to do with what I'm working on too. Maybe I can help you." And so that kind of initial email where I just said, "You know what? What's the worst thing that could happen?" The worst thing that can happen here is he says, "No," or he doesn't respond to me. And so that's kind of what gave me the confidence to reach out to him. Ultimately, I was brought on to Gallup as somewhat of an intrapreneur, so kind of what you were describing earlier where,you know, before folks graduate, kind of get recruited into different organizations, that's pretty much what happened with my pathway. And, you know, kind of going through that decision making process, I kind of just had to be really honest with myself, and I knew that I really learned best through relationships versus kind of listening to things in a classroom. I learned by doing. I learned through failure. And that wasn't always exactly what I think the traditional classroom could facilitate for me. And so I was like, "Man, I have this opportunity to work with, you know, this top executive." He was actually the former founder of Ancestry.com. He was brought on to Gallup. And so I knew he had this entrepreneurial mind, too, and I just felt like this was such a great opportunity. "I can't- I can't pass this up." And so ultimately, you know the end of the story, right, which is I left college and now I'm very, very grateful for that decision making, even though it felt very scary at the time.
Chrissy Vasquez [00:08:38] That's an incredible story. Thank you for sharing. I love that you just reached out. "What do I have to lose?" That's great.
Speaker 3 [00:08:43] That's fantastic. Kind of on that same note, Ashley, thinking about, you know, the young professionals or students that are in college right now that are listening. What advice would you have for them as they're, you know, thinking about what their first, you know, full time job is going to be and what kind of company they want to work for? And, you know, with your experience, with strengths and and using that to kind of find your place, what advice would you give for someone, you know, who's either looking for their first job or in college trying to figure out what they want to do and how they can find, kind of that good fit for them?
Ashley Artrip [00:09:15] Yeah. Oh my gosh. I have so many different thoughts here. I'll try to keep this answer concise because I could truly take this in a number of directions. So I think first and foremost, you know, thinking about kind of your first role out of college, I think we have a tendency to put a lot of pressure on ourselves to get it right the first time. I think we have a lot of pressure that we need to have this really high paying job or this really fancy title at this top organization. And I actually often felt kind of like I was in a very competitive environment of school, but I remember kind of feeling that pressure to work at organizations and I just remember looking back like, "I'm so glad I didn't do that." I'm so glad I didn't kind of do what my peers did because I knew that deep down, it wasn't right for me. And so I think the key before even looking at organizations, before even thinking about what that first job is, is really getting clear on what are your values? I think you really need to understand what your values are. You need to understand what a company's values are as well and kind of use these as sort of your guiding principles that you will live by and you'll make these decisions by. You want to kind of align yourself with organizations that support what you ultimately want for your career, even though you don't necessarily have to have that completely laid out in front of you. You want to be an environment that's going to facilitate those, those values. And really what it kind of comes down to is really figuring out what your definition of success is. I have the privilege of working with so many working professionals from all ages, all backgrounds, from C-suite level to, you know, folks who are just reentering the workforce. And one of the most common things that I hear from those who are very disengaged in what they do or very miserable in what they do is that they have followed someone else's definition of success for their entire career. And so again, this all kind of goes back to values. It's getting really clear on what are those guiding principles that you live by and that you care about? And then how can you start to align yourself to different, not just organizations, but industries more broadly that support those values? And again, that was something that I had to really kind of get clear on when I was making that decision to leave college because a lot of the values of, kind of the path that I was going down, really didn't align with how I learned and how I operated. And so that was kind of how I really made that decision.
Chrissy Vasquez [00:11:47] Thanks for that insight. You know, you talk about values and those guiding principles, I think when I think back on my career, that's definitely been something that's driven me. And when it's time to leave a job, my values have always been the key indicator. And you know, "OK, this is starting to really rub on my values in a way that doesn't feel comfortable anymore. So now it's time for me to move on." So I'm curious what, you know, if people are starting out and don't necessarily have that defined value system and couldn't really say, "this is what my core values and guiding principles are." Are there any recommendations you have on how somebody can go about that process?
Ashley Artrip [00:12:25] Yeah, that's such a good question. And I think we probably have a tendency to try to define values as something is very explicit, right? You kind of think about it as like, "how would I write this down in, like, an essay or an assignment in school? I think oftentimes values aren't necessarily something that can be fully explicitly defined. I think it's kind of sort of your just natural tendencies and your decision making patterns and how you just generally are kind of oriented to the world. For me, at least, I don't think I had a really clear sense of what my values were, you know, back when I was 19 and 18 making these big decisions, but I kind of knew what I didn't want. I kind of knew what my values were not. And I think that's actually kind of the key and kind of figuring out what your values actually are is kind of knowing what they're not first. And, you know, that's kind of a core philosophy that I have with career decision making more broadly, is you'll figure out what you don't want before you probably figure out what you do want. And I think values are no different. And so, I think in order to kind of really get clarity on what your values are, is to really just expose yourself to as many different people, as many different types of, you know, industries, organizations, but more than that, outside of the professional world, just life experiences, right? Like, you should expose yourself to different lifestyles and different ways of approaching just how to live more broadly. That could mean, like, traveling, it could be volunteering, it could be put, you know, sign yourself up for a class that... let's say for me, for example, I'm terrible at art, but it's putting me in a position where I'm out of my comfort zone and I'm going to do, like, a paint class, for example, and I'm going to try to learn how to do this. It's just kind of putting yourself in positions where you're out of your comfort zone and you're learning a lot about, what do you do when you don't have a formal script in front of you? What are your kind of natural tendencies and how to act? And I think those can be really helpful in defining what your values are.
Chrissy Vasquez [00:14:23] I love your point about sometimes you have to know what you don't want first, because I think that is easier, especially when you're looking for a job. It's so hard to be like, "Well, what do I want?" You definitely know what you don't want. And I think informational interviews for people, just reaching out to anybody, no matter what they do and just kind of picking their brain and then asking for an introduction to somebody else is a great way, like you said, to really explore what's out there. Great tip.
Chrissy Vasquez [00:14:50] You've been listening to Business Edge, brought to you by Alpha Kappa Psi Professional Business Fraternity, and sponsored by Synergos Association Management Company. Now let's get back to the conversation.
Nicole Klemp [00:15:02] Jumping back a little bit, you talked about disengagement earlier and then you also had mentioned, you know, kind of seeing your parents and not being happy with what they were doing and going to work every day. From your experience at Gallup and your knowledge now, what does employee engagement look like and how does someone know, "Hey, I'm really engaged in my work, or maybe I'm disengaged?" And what are those kind of indicators that someone might be engaged or disengaged?
Ashley Artrip [00:15:27] Yeah, that's such a great question. And I think my first reaction is that there are levels of engagement and disengagement. For everyone that's listening right now, and they're like, I don't really know where I am on that scale, it's OK. It's a pretty broad spectrum, and it's oftentimes quite difficult to kind of really understand where you are, and I think it's really good to create a habit of reflecting on kind of how you feel about your work. To kind of put it simply, I think engagement is really just kind of your general enthusiasm and how involved you are in the work that you do and in the organization that you're a part of. I would actually kind of group those two things together. And it's sort of this kind of feeling that you have that, you know, you wake up and you look forward to what you're doing. It's not necessarily something that you do on a daily basis, right? Not every day of work is going to feel like this, you know, magical thing, even as somebody who I consider myself to be in my dream job right now. There are days that I wake up and I don't always look forward to what I have to do that day. But on average, I very much look forward to going to work way more than I don't. In addition to that, it could be things like having really positive interactions with your coworkers. Gallup has this entire survey research on kind of what engagement looks like, but some of the core aspects of that are really just having somebody at work that you look forward to seeing, so having, like, a best friend at work. It's also kind of shows up in how you treat customers or clients, whatever that looks like. You're more likely to tell your friends and your family that where you work is, you know, it's a great place to be. And then just kind of thinking about it on more of a micro level, those who are more engaged are more likely to get things done, right? So there's just so much research out there that those who are more engaged in their jobs are far more productive than those who aren't. And in addition to that, when you're engaged, you're much more creative and you're much more in a different headspace where you're able to really kind of access those higher level areas of thinking. I think the latest research says that you are six times less likely to be engaged in a job if you're not in a role that uses your strengths every day. So another kind of big component of this is making sure that you're in a role that uses your strengths consistently, and you're able to kind of leverage what you do best and kind of what you do naturally. I realize that was kind of all over the place, but I think all of those kind of encapsulate what engagement is because sometimes it is hard to define and really kind of cut through the noise as to what this actually is.
Nicole Klemp [00:18:07] No, that's super helpful. I think people can relate to that, you know, are you excited to get up in the morning and work? Or do you dread it five days out of five, then you might be disengaged. That would be a good indicator.
Chrissy Vasquez [00:18:19] So I'm curious a little bit with your company mission collaborative. Talk to us a little bit about how you met your co-founder, and kind of how the idea was born and what your partnership looks like.
Ashley Artrip [00:18:31] Yeah, so that's a great question. So I met my co-founder through a mutual friend. We met- so I'm in D.C., I've been in D.C. for, I think it's seven years now, which feels like a long time. But we met basically the first year that I moved there. We were part of this kind of mutual friend group and kind of Ed Tech founder group, and we met through a mutual friend like I said. And essentially, this person put us in touch and said, "you guys think pretty much the exact same way." And I remember my first phone call--his name's Grant--with Grant. I remember hanging up the phone and I was like, "I feel like I just had a conversation with myself." And what was really clear from that conversation is, number one, we think very similarly in terms of what we think the future of work and future of education will look like. But more importantly, we have very, very similar values. So again, kind of going back to that piece about values, it's really important for anybody that you work with, is to have that, that clear value alignment. I actually joined Mission Collaborative as somewhat of a- I call myself a later stage founder. It was not something that was a full time thing, you know, around the time that I met Grant. In fact, Mission Collaborative started off as doing in person, just kind of meetup groups. So it's kind of free meetup groups for people in the DC area, professionals who were kind of figuring out what they wanted to do next. And I joined the organization right as we were building an online curriculum and taking this to universities. And that's when things really kind of took off because previously I was working at the Bay Area Startup and I was learning a lot about, you know, high paying tech careers and things like that. And I felt like it was a good time for me to get into the driver's seat of an organization, and all of it was truly perfect timing. And so we kind of took that in-person curriculum and put it into an online format. And now we work with, I believe it's around 50 plus alumni associations for universities all across the United States. You know, anywhere from Harvard to MIT to UC Davis, to many different universities in between. And so we offer our program on behalf of alumni associations. And so we've now worked with thousands and thousands of alumni from those institutions, helping them kind of figure out what comes next for them.
Chrissy Vasquez [00:21:02] Wow, that's a great service, and it's a different approach than what most traditional career services take to, so. That's fascinating. Thank you for sharing. It looks like you guys have quite a large staff too, so you must have really grown things quite a bit.
Ashley Artrip [00:21:17] Yeah, we have a lot of program managers who really help us and who are all trained in career design, but also aren't necessarily kind of who you think of when you think of a traditional career coach. You know, we have like an epidemiologist, for example, we have folks who are more traditional consultants, and I actually think that's quite important when you're kind of working with somebody to kind of figure out what comes next for them. You know, it's one thing to work with somebody who has been in a career kind of development position their entire career. But I think it's another thing to talk to somebody who's been in the workforce and who has kind of ridden the ups and downs of what that feels like and can speak to different industries and what they know about those different industries. And so we were very intentional about creating a staff that was diverse in terms of experiences and backgrounds, and that has honestly really helped the participants who go for a program.
Chrissy Vasquez [00:22:12] That's wonderful. Congratulations.
Ashley Artrip [00:22:14] Thank you.
Nicole Klemp [00:22:15] So you mentioned the future of work. We've been talking quite a bit on the podcast about, you know, the pandemic and this great resignation and how, you know, things have kind of changed kind of drastically over the last couple of years. What do you foresee coming with these changes and how does that impact the way that you work with your clients?
Ashley Artrip [00:22:36] Yeah. So first and foremost, I think the pandemic has really forced a lot of people to kind of rethink what their relationship with work is. I think that's kind of no secret at this point, given all the resignations that are going on. But I think, you know, taking that one step further, I love to talk about this idea of a career portfolio. And I think what the pandemic has done is it's finally given us permission to think about our careers as a career portfolio versus a career path. And so to kind of define what a career portfolio is, so a career portfolio is kind of probably what you might be thinking in your head. So it's kind of this collection of different roles, skills, experiences that you've acquired throughout your life that can add value to an organization or an employer. And what's really interesting about portfolios is that it actually incorporates things that aren't necessarily things that have shown up in a traditional work environment. So, for example, if you were a trail guide for a backpacking group, there are so many skills that you learned as a result of doing that, as being a leader in that type of environment, that can absolutely transfer to the world of work. And so I think for too long, we have really subscribed to this belief that every job that we have needs to fit neatly into this linear path that has a singular destination. We put so much weight and so much stress on each career decision because we just, you know, we don't want it to divert us from the path that we've been on or the path that we think we need to follow. And so I really believe that the pandemic has kind of pushed this idea of having a, you know, a linear career path aside and has really kind of started to embrace this idea of a career portfolio because we've realized that, hey, work isn't everything. We have a lot of other things going on in our lives that we also need to tend to and take care of and work and life looks a lot more like a squiggly line than a, you know, a neat linear ladder. So again, I think it's a really great change in terms of kind of shifting the norms and the conversation around the world of work. And you know, I guess if there's something that I really want people to leave with here today is that, you know, all your career decisions are not going to fit neatly into this path, but they're going to look a lot like a squiggly line. And basically it's your job to make those connections between those squiggly lines. And that's the most important thing versus having things neatly kind of fit into a pathway.
Nicole Klemp [00:25:12] I love that, and I think Chrissy and I, we've talked, we can both relate to that. Absolutely. That's great advice.
Chrissy Vasquez [00:25:18] I'm curious what advice you have for employers knowing that this is the shift and this is kind of the direction. What advice do you have for employers to try to really engage and make the workplace a good fit for this now work portfolio and this non-linear career path?
Ashley Artrip [00:25:34] Yeah, I mean, I think this has been a long time coming. And I think what we have for traditional higher education and education in general, and just kind of career education and career development. I think that needs to show up a lot more in the corporate world and in the world of work. I think it's very important for organizations to very intentionally sit down with each employee and just be really honest and say, "Hey, I know you're probably not going to be here forever. So what can we do during this time that we are together to set each other up for success and whatever comes next?" I think it's just really important to kind of acknowledge that the traditional kind of career path where you stay at one organization for 20 plus years is dead. And I think, you know, employers, the more honest they can be and the more authentic that they can be with each employee around what their career aspirations are, I think the better off they're going to be because then you can actually understand what somebody really wants out of this role. I just remember in past roles that I've had, I wished so badly that my manager had just sat down with me and said, "Ashley, what do you- what do you want to do with your career after this?" And just kind of broken that ice of, "I'm not going to stay here forever. So can we help each other in the meantime, you know, with whatever comes next here? And so I think having that sort of relationship where you're freely open to talk about kind of broader career aspirations, and I'm not saying, you know, in the next step, in the next five years, but more broadly, if you want to build a business someday and you're in a sales role, if I'm a sales manager, I would love to know that because then I could help, you know, develop whatever employee that I had that wants to become an entrepreneur, really hone in on those skills that are very necessary to launch a business someday.
Chrissy Vasquez [00:27:22] Yeah, that's great advice. And I think the more you're transparent with your employees, the more they're going to be open about, "OK, now's the time," and so you're not caught off guard and those employees are more willing to transition, but they're also more willing to really set the employer up for success when they leave. So I think that's a really great point about that open communication and recognizing that, you know, the days of people being someone, you know, 30 years and retiring at the same company are few and far between.
Ashley Artrip [00:27:49] Yeah. And I can, you know, speak to experience with the piece about just creating that open and honest, transparent environment. You know, obviously, Mission Collaborative helps people design fulfilling careers. And so with all of our, you know, folks who work with us, we are very honest with them and say, you know, we know we are just a part of your, you know, we're just one chapter in your journey. And we actually offer career development conversations whenever on call, whenever somebody needs it. And we've been able to have a lot of people stick around and stay with us much longer because they've been very open and honest about what they've been feeling and other priorities that have come up for them. And we've really, you know, figured out a way to make things flexible for them and make it work for all the things that they're trying to achieve in their personal lives. And it's just helped from a manager's perspective. It just helps me understand where somebody's mind is and I can really help to kind of, you know, create situations and create experiences for them that can really set them up for success.
Nicole Klemp [00:28:48] Yeah. And I'm sure you know, doing that is a benefit for you all as well, because when you give someone, you know, a lane that they can thrive in, they're going to be more productive, like you mentioned earlier, and they're going to do better work and they're going to be more satisfied and engaged and you guys are going to get great work out of them. So it seems like a win-win for companies to really embrace that.
Ashley Artrip [00:29:06] Right.
Chrissy Vasquez [00:29:07] Well, I think we're probably wrapping up the conversation, and we always like to ask our signature question here at the. Business Edge. So we will ask that of you now. So tell us about a time when your values were challenged and what this situation was and how you approached that.
Ashley Artrip [00:29:22] Yeah, this is something that I feel like, well, you know, has come up and will continue to come up. I think for me, what really stands out is not necessarily one moment in particular, but it's sort of kind of this collective kind of a handful of experiences. So Mission Collaborative is entirely bootstrapped as an organization. We do not take any outside funding. And we've been very intentional about creating a business that is thoughtful. We grow a little bit slower than than some of those fast growing startups, but we do it with purpose. And there are times where we have been approached by outside investors, by people who are, you know, in the space, you know, kind of throwing out these really enticing numbers, saying, Oh, you guys could be at this scale or you could be doing x y z, you know, if you were to kind of go this route of seeking outside investment. And I will be honest with you, it has been very tempting to consider what that might look like and to kind of think about the scale that we could bring our services to. But at the same time, I always go back to this: is that right for the business? Is that right for what I want in my personal life and what my business partner wants in his life as well? And those guiding Principles, those values have not changed, even though they do kind of get tempted every once in a while when we hear outside investors kind of knocking on our doors saying, you guys could really take it to this level. It's just something that I think is really important to have that very clear vision as to the types of decision making that you should have as an organization and as a business owner, even when circumstances change. I think it's really important to not necessarily have this clear idea as to what the end goal of a business is before you start it. I think it should be more seen as a journey. At least that's how we've kind of approached it at Mission Collaborative, and we're guided more about our principles versus a paycheck. And so that's been something that has been core to who we are, and that has certainly been a challenge and it's been very hard. But at the same time, you know, deep down, I know that we've made the right decision and growth comes thoughtfully and slowly for us. And that's how we like it. And we don't compromise the experience of our participants. We don't compromise the experience of our program managers and all the people who put so much love and time into creating the organization that we are today.
Chrissy Vasquez [00:32:04] That's a great response, thank you, and I think that's really important that you guys have set your intentions of what you want your company to be and you stay that path. And you still reevaluate it, right? When somebody comes in and knocks on your door, as you say. But you know where you guys want to head and how you want to do it.
Nicole Klemp [00:32:22] Yeah, love it.
Chrissy Vasquez [00:32:23] Well, thank you so much for joining us today. It was really great to talk to you, and thank you for sharing all of your experiences. We're really lucky to have you a part of our AKPsi network.
Ashley Artrip [00:32:33] Thank you so much for having me. This is truly kind of a dream come true. I just- AKPsi has given me so much and I have learned so much, you know, through the people within AKPsi. And truly, I feel like I've learned confidence in myself because of my experiences through this amazing network, in this amazing community. So I feel like I should be thanking you all for this experience and for having me on and would be more than happy to participate in any kind of future events that you have to offer.
Nicole Klemp [00:33:05] Yeah, thank you, Ashley.
Finn Lambouris [00:33:10] Thanks for listening to Business Edge. If you have questions, comments or topic suggestions for us, email businessedge@akpsi.org.