Christy Brown - Breaking Barriers & Leading Boldly: The Future for Women in Power in 2026

[00:00:03] Welcome to the HR Data Labs Podcast, now part of the WorkDefined Podcast Network. Join us as we explore the vital role of compensation, strategy, data, and people analytics in navigating today's complex business world. With the resources of WorkDefined, we're now bringing you deeper insights and actionable ideas from top experts. Now, here is your host, David Turetsky. I am your host, David Turetsky. Welcome to the HR Data Labs Podcast.

[00:00:30] Like always, I try and find the best and the brightest inside and outside the world of human resources to bring you the latest on what's going on that affects our world. Today, I have with me one of my greatest friends, and she's also married to one of my best friends. But this is downtown Christy Brown. Downtown, how are you? I'm doing great, David. I love that introduction. I don't think I could have asked for anything better than that.

[00:00:55] Just being in your orbit as a friend is meaningful enough, but I appreciate that. Well, for those of you who don't know, Christy and I worked together at ADP for a while, and we had the pleasure of working very closely together for lots of clients at ADP. And it was always a pleasure, not only working with her, but seeing how what she did affected client outcomes. And it was just, you know, I learned so much from Christy, and so many people do.

[00:01:25] We're going to get to that in her background now. But it's just such a pleasure to know her as well as, as I said, to be considered a friend of hers. It's just an absolute honor. Thank you. But Christy, tell us a little bit about you and especially about Dr. Knows. Yeah, happy to jump in. I will keep it brief and not be too long winded. But I myself am a serial entrepreneur. That is the easiest way to understand me.

[00:01:54] And I think as a starting block, you know, I experienced a lot of things coming out of college. One of those was the largest bankruptcy in history with a telecom company. And then moving into kind of that big five consulting world and experiencing kind of a similar thing.

[00:02:12] And I very quickly jumped ship and said, what can I do on my own that entails all this great builder mentality that I have, but also the foundation of what I learned from my grandparents who were entrepreneurs. And I come from a very entrepreneurial family who is, you know, they are meaningful to watch. My cousins are entrepreneurs. So my uncle is an entrepreneur. So, you know, it's a genetic thing.

[00:02:41] It's a genetic thing. It's very much in my DNA. I never saw myself working for someone. I always envisioned working, you know, with someone. And that certainly sprouted wings coming out of such a, you know, an environment of seeing unethical business practices. It was very quick for me to jump into what dot com 1.0 looked like. So again, that's my background.

[00:03:06] Considering that, I've had the pleasure to lead and step into CEO roles four times in my life. And I'm on my fifth role scaling a company now with a company by the name of Dr. Knows Best. And Dr. Knows Best is a company that's focused on pediatric wellness at home. Founded by Dr. Steven Gowdy, who is a pediatric ENT surgeon.

[00:03:31] It was really born out of this experience he has as a physician seeing parents come to the ER just for nasal suction. And he started on this journey to create this amazing product called the Nose Bot that is our hero product. And it was created to be hospital grade suction at home. And it is a leading innovation in the marketplace. And when you see my competition, it's a very low tech market of, you know, of suction.

[00:04:00] And so we're very proud of it being medically innovated and how it services parents. Week after week and day after day, I get emails on how this potentially saves, you know, them an ER visit or a physician's visit or even saved lives. And when they experience things like RSV and COVID and flu. So it's in a way, it's a very unique company. The predominant audience for me is parents and mostly moms.

[00:04:26] And so that's a very unique thing for me is mom and children. And that stays at the top of my who to serve every single day. And so that's very special to me. That's awesome. That's awesome. And for those of you who also don't know, Christy does a lot of work in the Atlanta area helping people get off the ground. Let's put it that way in terms of what's their idea, but also how do they grow themselves and their skills to become effective leaders? Right. Absolutely.

[00:04:56] I very much practice what I preach. A lot of that is born again out of my own intuition, but also my own failures. Setting up roadblocks for early stage company, or I should say, preventing roadblocks in early stage companies is a big passion of mine. And I worked with founders for more than a decade. A lot of them are focused for me and female founders and underserved founders.

[00:05:23] But also I have an alignment to Emory University and help lead their startup accelerator and created that five years ago alongside of Gizuada Business School. And it's been a very special practice for me to return as kind of their speaker year over year and facilitate that alongside of founders. I certainly have lessons there, but also it keeps me fresh as a founder and an innovator and a CEO. Right.

[00:05:49] So working with that, I would say demographic is, you know, never far. It's never at arm's length for me is what I should say. Right. Well, thank you for all you do for the community. I'm sure they thank you a lot too. But before we go on, as we always do on the HR Data Labs podcast, we need to know what's one fun thing that no one knows about Christy Brown. Well, the fun thing I'm doing right now. So I'm an avid runner.

[00:06:18] I'm a very competitive athlete and have been for the majority of my life. But the fun thing I'm doing right now, both from a support perspective, because I have two friends that are battling particular cancers, but also because American Cancer Society approached me and asked me to do it is I'm doing a 31 day dog walk to walk the dogs 30. And we achieved that a couple of weeks ago, but I've been raising money for it. And that's just been a really fun thing.

[00:06:46] I go out every single day for three or four miles with my dogs and take them on long walks just to do this, you know, this journey with them, but also for American Cancer Society. And I've been very proud to raise money for that. So it's, it's been a unique fun fact. And while I support the Down syndrome community in my day to day, it's been really unique kind of working alongside American Cancer Society to do this fun thing. Both very worthy causes.

[00:07:14] And I'm sure again, they really appreciate the, the, the hours as well as the amount of poop bags you've collected on their behalf. Yes, exactly. The poop bags are certainly uncountable. Yes. Well, again, thank you. Actually, thank you. Your neighbors. Thank you for that as well. Yes. Well, today our topic is no laughing matter though, because it is something that for those of us who follow Christie and for those of us who follow this, it's, it's something that's just amazing to me.

[00:07:44] We're going to be talking about the fact that it's 2026. What's the environment for female CEOs? Hey there. I'm Tim Boras, host of the working well podcast where business strategy meets human sustainability.

[00:08:11] If you're an executive, a leader or change maker ready to ditch burnout, build thriving teams and drive real results. This is your next must listen. Tune in on the work defined network or at timboras.com forward slash podcast. So Christie, we know that there is an environment for female CEOs. Yeah, it's daunting.

[00:08:39] And it's sometimes not a good one. What are the unique challenges that women face as CEOs? Yeah, it's daunting when I think about the challenges, even in my own, you know, career. And I certainly consider myself someone who has unlimited access and unlimited resources. And I've had to work incredibly hard to obtain that.

[00:09:03] But even I still experience so much of, of, you know, these challenges, or I wouldn't be speaking about them. But certainly the representation gap, um, persist and it's, it's certainly, it's certainly widening in some cases. Um, if you know women, you know, by the numbers, we still, um, comprise just 11% of fortune 500 CEOs. That's a pretty small amount. And that's a record high for us.

[00:09:29] Um, it's yeah, for the first time in 16 years, the gender pay gap has widened for two consecutive years. Um, you can find data on that, you know, certainly if you Google it. Sure. But new female board appointments fell to the lowest level in Q3, I think it was, 2025. And I haven't checked this year's numbers. I'm not sure if we're tracking yet. There's, you know, a double bind and leadership style.

[00:09:56] I mean, think of, of me, you know, I just outlined how, how I show up and I have lots of access and resources and I've had to work hard, but I'm often evaluated against a masculine standard. And there's no one situations when I'm in that role. It's either too tough or too soft. I'm either too tough or too soft. And, you know, those standards are certainly they come alongside pure rewards for me personally. Certainly, there's a pipeline problem. You know, I talk about this a great deal.

[00:10:25] And in fact, I've been thinking how I kind of gerrymander this into a more public conversation. But roles like, you know, even in Fortune 5 companies, you know, there's just very little divisional leadership and, you know, responsibility. Right. They see that as a stepping stone to the CEO seat. And historically, again, where women have held, you know, pure of those positions, it reduces the pool of top candidates if you don't have women in those leadership roles.

[00:10:53] So I could go on and on, you know, isolation is a huge kind of mental abstract that I see, especially with women. A lot of female CEOs really talk about being the only woman in the role in the room. And I've certainly experienced that. People talk to you differently. So it does take a psychological toll. It's the chronic exclusion from conversations, the chronic exclusion from the network.

[00:11:22] Just the, you know, there's very few role models. I have many role models and I'm so grateful for them. But again, you know, it's, if you don't have women in that seat really propelling that, it's difficult. And certainly something close to my heart I would probably, you know, talk about too is just this motherhood penalty because I see it a lot with our company. And now we've got a sandwich generation of caregiving. So we've got younger kids and older parents.

[00:11:51] And so women tend to be in the middle as caregivers. And that's not just enormous amounts of stigma. Women face that subtle penalty. You know, I'm often, even as a CEO, scared to say, hey, I have to leave to go do something with my family because, you know, this is going on, you know, because I don't want to be perceived as taking time away from work. Right. So. But that's a perception.

[00:12:16] And by the way, that's a perception for all of us where I have an older mother who's, who, you know, she still has most of her faculties, but she's starting on that downward trend. And like you mentioned, you know, it's a sandwich because I have my kids. But I see this all the time, especially with, with the women I work with that they say, you know, how do I make this sacrifice and how do I have people understand the kind of sacrifice that I'm making in order for them to understand the kind of position they're putting myself in?

[00:12:46] Yeah, it is certainly a challenge. And it's like I said, I think the mental toll of that is probably the biggest mountain and hurdle for us to climb because it's like, where do I balance this? You know, if I, if I work from home, is that going to indicate that I'm not committed to the job? If I leave early for a physician's appointment, you know, for either side of what I'm caregiving around, is that going to indicate I'm not committed? Yeah, exactly.

[00:13:14] Which is, which is worse because I think all of us would want the CEO to be in best health possible. You would think, right? I mean, you know, insurance won't insure us without being in the best health possible. But yet we're the ones that typically will sacrifice for the team, you know? And again, a lot of that is held just against a masculine standard. This is how we've done it for generations. And so women should be expected to do it the same way. But it's 2026.

[00:13:42] I mean, are you talking about the political environment? Are you talking about the social environment? Are you talking about economic? Are you talking about everything or is it, is it, is there something special here? No, all. I think, you know, again, let's, let's just kind of roll back a bit. You know, certainly the DEI rollback headwind has created a particularly acute environment for this right now.

[00:14:04] You know, just the retreat of support around DEI programs at major corporations, you know, over the last year and the structural support to really help women advance is hurting us. And, you know, I'm not making excuses. But what I am saying is, you know, those pure networks and external ecosystems that were built to support this are more critical than ever. And that scaffold is folding. Right.

[00:14:33] So, so I certainly think, you know, it's all three of the things you named. It's, you know, it's political headwinds. It's socially economic situations. It's everything. And so it's difficult. But because it's 2026 and let's just, just lay it out there. It's 2026. The Equal Pay Act has been in a law for, well, it's for 60 years. So it's, it's been the law of the land.

[00:15:01] You talked about before you talked about the page, the gender pay gap. I was had a talk on pay transparency last week. I think my statistic was 81 cents on the dollar. And for women of color, that's dramatically high. The number is more like 72 cents. Yeah. And actually, if you look at Europe, Europe is at 90 cents for our gender pay gap. So you have to say to yourself, what is wrong with us? I mean, what, what is wrong with us that we're getting this so wrong?

[00:15:31] I mean, it just seems ridiculous. Yeah. There's a, there's a huge lack in progress. I mean, to your point, you know, we may have seen that, you know, Equitable Pay Act that's been in place for 60 years, but have we, have we seen that change? I mean, you know, I think, I think what I've read and I try, I try to arm myself with numbers,

[00:15:56] you know, what, what I know is, you know, a year ago, women were saying 60% of them were saying they have a concern and the lack of progress and gender equality here. And that's from, from the UN. So that's global. That's not just the US. That's, you know, 150 countries and who are participating there. And, you know, many of them see that that's a direct hit on women's rights. It's, it's, you know, a retreat, especially in the US.

[00:16:25] And when the US, you know, set the standard to retreat away from DEI programs, I should say, combined with the erosion of just reproductive rights. And it just, it creates this climate where we're fragile. It's not, we're not playing at the same level field. And that pay equality is, is a part of the way to get there. I mean, that, that creates generational wealth that creates, you know, economic strength.

[00:16:51] It's, you know, we all know women account for a majority of decisions on purchases in the household. So, you know, we need to be looking at things like that. Yeah. Right. I don't know. My husband may argue that with you. I should probably not be taking this. I don't know. I'll talk to Jeff after this and we'll get, we'll get back to you on that. But, but, but the other thing is, I think you mentioned this before, and I think it's very important to use this as a, as a transition to our next question.

[00:17:19] But a lot of kids look up to their role models. Like you had mentioned, you had great role models. A lot of kids look up to their role models and go, I should be that, or I can do that. And when you look at the lack of representation in the boardroom for, for women and girls are, they're, they're going through their education. They're going through their, their college careers or whatever. And they're looking up at those websites and they're saying, where do I want to work? Or where do I want to be?

[00:17:47] And they don't see people like them in those roles. What does it do to them? I mean, how do they get that, that drive to be that if they say, there's nobody like me there? Yeah. That's so hard because that hits, you know, a couple of demographics. It's certainly women. It's, it's underserved populations, you know, black or brown populations experience the same. And that's difficult because, you know, if there's, there's fewer women in the top roles,

[00:18:15] then we're not seeing people like us that create less aspiration, smaller pipeline, confidence gaps, network exclusion. I mean, I talked about all this, you know, a few minutes ago, it's just, you know, it's just reinforced, it reinforces a cycle of you can't be what you can't see. Right. Exactly. So you can't be what you can't see. And to your point, David, I had a, you know, my grandmother was one of the only women developers

[00:18:43] who helped create commercial ecosystems around Atlanta. She literally, when I say she helped build this town, she really helped build this town. She was the only woman in the room, you know, majority of time. I had to watch that. I watched her work, you know, as a child with developers and talk to roofers and speak to electricians. And it was, you know, to me, that was normal. That was normal to see the woman.

[00:19:11] And my grandfather retired after a 35 year history with General Motors. And he was kind of my stay at home grandfather. So I really was exposed to women leading. Right. But again, I saw that. So I expected myself to lead. Right. But for the little girl next to me that, you know, maybe had a different experience and didn't see that, what did she expect of herself?

[00:19:39] And so, you know, that's very quantifiable. We see that in numbers. And, you know, I think, I think you can't be what you can't see is just so much more than a slogan. It's, you know, it just shows that girls and young women adjust their ambitions based on what they observe. And that's realistically achievable for someone who looks like them. And I had that. Absolutely. But even in 2026, which is what we're talking about, there's not a good standardization around that.

[00:20:08] And again, we're going backwards, not forwards. So let's turn to the next question, which is really where I think we're definitely where I'd love to go, which is where do we want to be? What kind of standard do we want to set? Yeah. Such a good question. I would love to hear some of your thoughts, too, just as, you know, this ally and ambassador for women.

[00:20:31] I mean, I've always found you just a great vocal thorn, you know, to speak to about what we expect broadly. And, you know, and maybe after I answer it, kind of my thoughts, you dive in because I think the big picture is aspirational. But, you know, the honest problem is we're just so off track. I don't know how to answer it. We have to have economic parity. There has to be, you know, shared vision around women.

[00:21:00] And it's an unappreciated lever, again, when we think about that sandwich generation, which is what I'm seeing the most of right now. You know, even with technology on women's terms, you know, that's a whole emerging frontier that, you know, women are more exposed to the disruption in AI than men. Yeah.

[00:21:26] And, you know, because typically let's just use one career path, you know, customer service is typically dominated by women. Not that men don't occupy it, but they're, you know, traditionally more dominated and we're seeing a lot of AI disruption there. And so we have to think about that. So, you know, if I just gave you my personal ambition, it's the vision is a world where women

[00:21:53] compete at equilibrium, you know, not in a world that's designed for men, but where systems themselves are redesigned. Which I hope lands with this audience because, you know, leadership looks like everyone and care is the collective versus one person, you know, being in the middle. And, you know, I could talk about worldwide dynamics and safety of women and the potential.

[00:22:21] But those are some things that are probably top of mind for me. But I would love to hear your thoughts as well. The one thing that bothers me in 2026, and I think this will resonate with you, is the misogynistic talk of the people in power. And I'm not just talking about our leaders in Washington, I'm talking about throughout the country and thought leaders and people on social media who have no problem telling

[00:22:50] women, I'm talking about men, telling women what their place is in 2026. To me, that should be hate speech. Yeah. It should be hate speech. There should not be a way for a man to tell a woman that their place is in the home. That's just it's and whether it's your religious belief or not, you don't have the right to belittle people or talk down to people.

[00:23:18] And I mean that from whether you're an Arab American, whether you're an African American, whether you're you're whether you're white. If you're a person who is in a what we call disadvantage group, especially when we're doing pay equity analyses, you expect respect. And we don't have that. There's no propriety around the place of a woman in our society. They're talked down to. I'm sorry.

[00:23:48] I'm drawing broad brushstrokes here. It's so frustrating. Yeah, it is. And again, you know, I feel like I sit a bit in this, you know, victorious seat. My husband would tell you, this is a daily issue for me. This is not. You know, even for me, it has to be a mindset shift. And it has to be a dynamic.

[00:24:14] And I have lots of allyship and supportive men around me. But again, I think we don't take note of how they may address me. Like, let's just, you know, in a board meeting, how I may be addressed versus, you know, a peer or counterpart or, you know, someone on my team. And it's, you know, that's not deceptively radical for me to expect the same kind of conversation. It's not woke either. Yeah, it's a conditioning problem.

[00:24:43] And to your point, a lot of that is generational. And my hope is, you know, we've got millennial, Gen Z and, you know, and more arising. And I think there's more awareness to this. But, you know, from early on, even in my generation, I was taught to be likable, accommodating, grateful, grateful for inclusion. Grateful. Good Lord. Yeah.

[00:25:08] And that message becomes, you know, respect is something that I receive when I've done enough to deserve it. Well, when have I done enough? It's earned. Yeah. Is growing a company 9,000% enough? Is, you know, when will my conversation be the same? Right? So it's not a weakness. It's really just a residue of thousands of small lessons that, you know, have carried generation to generation.

[00:25:36] So in practice, I could go into, you know, what does that look like? And how does that feel? You know, again, I often think, yeah, I said this early on, like, how do I jerrymander this into some kind of like, you know, talk track? Yeah. But Christy, I don't think the problem is you doing it. I think it's the problem of everybody around you needs to, let's say, wake up.

[00:26:02] Let's say they all need to understand that a woman in power isn't being the B word when she's demanding something. Like, you mentioned this before, right? The devil wears Prada is a prime example of someone who's in power, who's being misunderstood, or who's acting in a certain way. And everybody around her goes, well, she's being this way. Whereas a man in that same situation would be, wow, he's powerful. Yeah.

[00:26:32] That's bullshit. Yeah. But it's true. It is. You know, I'm being difficult. I'm argumentative. Do I really know the numbers? You know, it's really, how do we reclaim that narrative and own it? You know, I don't think men own it as a badge of strength. It's just kind of naturally. We've just had to learn to work around it. So there's this whole arc of, you know, of everything, like different voices, different contexts, you know.

[00:27:01] But the shared thread is, you know, the word gets thrown out to women, the B word. If we're direct, ambitious, unapologetic. I constantly tell women, you know, especially female founders, stop apologizing. You're a CEO. Don't apologize. Do you hear other CEOs? I'm sorry. You know, let me use Jeff Bezos. I mean, Amazon went unprofitable for more than a decade. Decades. Yeah. Now, yet they were building, they were investing ahead of revenue.

[00:27:31] But his board was on the same train. But dare I not understand the economics around the business, and that is a very different line. But we can look at all the companies in history. I mean, Ford last year apologized for the write down on their EVs. Billions of dollars. Shareholders didn't question their CEO. He delivered that with a mechanical strength. But again, if we see that same theology, that expect respect mindset, there's a direct line

[00:28:00] between the two. I, you know, at some point think for us, it's, you know, we shouldn't have to be demanding that. It should just occur. Sure. So our last discussion or our last question on this line is, how do we get there, though? What do we have to do in order to be able to set up the female CEO with the respect that

[00:28:23] they deserve, with the tools that they need, and with the abilities to not have to, you know, deal with this crap? Yeah. It's such a great question. And I think that operates simultaneously in the interpersonal and systematic approach. But just focusing it, I think community helps a lot, or it has helped for me.

[00:28:51] But it's also the mindset and the self-identity and self-belief. Again, I had someone that was in front of me with my grandmother that really, that was a lesson generated. But, you know, I also have to pay attention to the fact that I have to navigate interpersonal relationships in a very different way. So, you know, I think... It's a different time. Absolutely. Very different time.

[00:29:16] And I think if we're specifically talking about respect, it's know your non-negotiables. You know, if I show up with a specific behavior or there is a specific behavior exhibited, you know, I got to get clear on my own. What does being respected look like to me? And I think, you know, that kind of falls off track too, because I don't know that I know what that feels like.

[00:29:41] So sometimes I'm still trying to reverse and, you know, kind of hit the high note. And I, and like I said, you know, you got to audit that apology habit. Women are the very first to say, oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. That's not right. Let me correct it. I'm sorry. You know, when really we shouldn't be doing that because, or we ask permission before we do something. That's the other thing that I really work with female founders on, you know, don't, don't

[00:30:08] show up to the room and say, now this may be a dumb idea, but show up to the room and say, hey, I've got a great idea. Right. Right. Yeah. And, you know, I think, and then again, going back to the psychology, where do we go from here? You know, separating our performance from our worth. I beat up myself a lot.

[00:30:31] And again, people would look at me or to me and expect me not to say this, but, you know, I'm a human, I'm a human and I'm a female leader. And one of the most corrosive things that happens to me is when that self-respect gets tied to output.

[00:30:54] When something goes wrong, a deal falls through, a relationship, you know, falters, or a room doesn't respond the way I hope. That identity to me is persecuting. And I have to, you know, mentally think as a very strong female leader how to decouple that. And that's hard work. That's not easy work. Yeah.

[00:31:23] So I think women do that more inherently than anyone. Right. Right. We just have to think about how we separate our performance from our worth and then, you know, find that language to narrate our own story. Would it help if they found, like you do all the time, would it help if they found a mentor

[00:31:47] or a group that they could, like you were mentioning it, that could be their support structure in order to be able to say, hey, I'm going through something right now. Can I bounce something off of you? Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Um, you know, I formerly led a platform focused solely on female founders for this very reason. One of the things we, we always said was, you know, know your worth. Don't second guess yourself.

[00:32:16] Use your CEO confidence. It's not your confidence. It's your confidence. Right. And building that network to reinforce that standard is so meaningful. When I would get these women together once a year in our cohort, them being surrounded with women who hold that standard really perfected that performance.

[00:32:41] And, you know, again, it's finding that tribe to sound a little cliche, but it's really that community. So building that network that reinforces those standards. So you can hold it, um, and not slip into the old pattern. I think that that requires monthly meetings together. It requires monthly forums. I'm in forums for entrepreneurs, but it's, you know, it's very co-ed, but I do need a separate place.

[00:33:07] I need a separate place with other CEO women that we can talk about our unit economics, how our accountability is working and have those business conversations without really reinforcing those explicit norms. That community is pushing our way. Is there, or are there sets of resources that female founders or CEOs can reach out to in order to be able to get that kind of support? Could we get them as like links in the, um, show notes? Yeah.

[00:33:38] Yeah. I would be more than happy to provide a litany of support for women where you can identify and find those groups to support you. And, you know, that stretches across the board. And I think, you know, again, these wouldn't exist if the need wasn't there. And there's a, there's a little bit of something for everybody out there. It's 2026.

[00:34:02] And hopefully if we did the same episode next year in 2027, we wouldn't, we'd be say, wow, look at the change that was made, but we know that's not going to happen. So if we had the same conversation next year, hopefully it could happen. It could happen. Yeah, it could. And we, you know, we're praying for it, but. Yeah, absolutely. Christy.

[00:34:27] Oh, I was just going to add, you know, back to the community building, you know, for those of you listening that have the potential to sponsor, not just mentor, you know, mentors give advice, but sponsors really put their credibility behind you and rooms you're not in. I oftentimes connect with other women and they say, I'm talking about her in rooms she's not in. And she's talking about me in rooms that I'm not in. And that is incredibly powerful.

[00:34:57] You know, I think that community building to support one another and not promoting women on women crime where we're fighting for those positions is crucial for advocacy. And, you know, I just want to leave you with that because that propagates each other forward. Yes, absolutely. It's great advice. Christy, thank you so much for being here. A hundred percent. I'm so thrilled we could do this together and I look forward to connecting with anyone

[00:35:26] that has questions or that I can support on their own journey and entrepreneurship and otherwise. Thank you very much. And thank you for the community because without you and people like you and your support, consider that what we were talking about before, that girl who looks up and goes, I'd love to be a CEO. I'd love to. I have a great idea, but I don't think anybody will listen to me. You're the reason why people will be listened to. Thank you. I appreciate that.

[00:35:54] There were many, many people that I listened to. Of course. Of course. Well, and thank you all for them. And thank you all for listening. Take care and stay safe. Of course, I didn't have the outro. Thank you for listening to the HR Data Labs podcast. Don't forget to hit subscribe and share it with your network. You can also check out the recordings on Spotify or the HR channel now on Roku and Fire TV. Thank you. Take care and stay safe.