Season 2 Kickoff: Summer Reflections & What's Ahead
00:41
Mara Kamat
Welcome back to In Her Land, where we celebrate women who lead with intention, impact, and heart. I'm Mara Kamat.
01:09
Carrie Aguilar
And I'm Carrie Aguilar. We took a little summer pause, and now we're back refresh and excited for a new season.
01:16
Mara Kamat
We want to start by acknowledging to our listeners that we fell off the face of the earth this summer. Carrie was at camp. I was traveling, taking some downtime, and we never officially closed out season one, so.
01:29
Carrie Aguilar
So we owe you an apology for the radio silence. We're sorry. We'll do a better job communicating breaks and what's coming next, starting now. Consider this your official season two kickoff.
01:41
Mara Kamat
Okay, Carrie, so let's catch up. Let's hear about what you were up to all summer long. Take us back to camp. What was it like being at camp and now being back in the real world?
01:51
Carrie Aguilar
Yeah. To set the mood or set the stage. My husband and I met at a summer camp. This camp that we're talking about. We met in the summer of 2011. I originally actually went and worked at the summer camp when I was in College in 2004. So this camp is very near and dear to our hearts. It's a camp in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts. And it was actually my first year working, so being employed by the camp since 2011. So my husband, which we've well established, is a teacher, and so he's able to go back. And I have been around camp for a long time, actually. Penelope, my daughter, has been a camper essentially since 2022.
02:34
Mara Kamat
How old was she?
02:35
Carrie Aguilar
The first summer were back was 2021, and she was 5, and that was just too young to really be in the bunk. But when she was 6, she was the youngest camper in a bunk. She had no desire to hang out with us in what we call the motels, so. So she lived in a bunk with kids and she's been there ever since. So I guess 20, 22 was her first summer.
02:56
Mara Kamat
And I would say for those that send their kids away to summer camp, ever six years old is pretty young. But at least you were there. So that was the beautiful thing. But what a great adventure for her.
03:05
Carrie Aguilar
Yeah, it's been amazing. So she goes back every year. My husband is head of the STEM program, and he loves it. It's a flex for him because during the year he hangs out in math, and then during the summer, he hangs out in, like, rocketry and. And puppies and Lego and chess, and he really enjoys it. So I guess rewind to march. The family that owns a camp, who we've known for years and years, who I love to pieces, they reached out to me, and they had asked if I would be willing to do bookkeeping work for them for the summer. And what's great is that I was able to have an office and close my door and be able to keep my consulting clients and that sort of thing. So that's what I did.
03:48
Carrie Aguilar
So I spent the last, I guess two months, probably a little bit more in Massachusetts at camp, and I came back last Wednesday, and when I tell you I hibernated for four or five days, I really did not talk to a soul. I hibernated. I put Penelope on an iPad, and we just stayed in our house. It was amazing, but I was exhausted.
04:14
Mara Kamat
That's a long time at camp for anybody. Yeah, it was a lot being among kids and adults and all of it. So you deserved more than four days. I don't know how James does it, because James goes straight from school, like leaves, gets very little downtime, goes straight to camp, and then came back from camp and went right back to school.
04:33
Carrie Aguilar
Yeah, Literally next day to school. Yes. I don't know how he does it. He's amazing.
04:38
Mara Kamat
So reflecting back on your camp experience, which was unique to have and wonderful to have, what was the best part.
04:46
Carrie Aguilar
My favorite part was being able to spend so much quality time with my husband. I feel like when we're at home, there's always so much noise. We have a house. We have Penelope. We've got a dog. So much of our life is taken up by logistics. So at summer camp, to kind of paint the picture, we live in a very small area, so we live in a tiny room with our own bathroom. We had our dog with us, but we. We had that taken care of. We just had to worry about that area. We didn't have to worry about our house. We didn't have to worry about doing dishes or meal prep or anything. That was all taken care of for us. So it was really nice to connect on a regular level.
05:33
Carrie Aguilar
And, I mean, we met in 2011 at the camp, so it was very nice to be back in the place where our love story began. Oh, I love that. Yeah. So that was my favorite part.
05:43
Mara Kamat
One of the things that I always feel. So my daughters go to a camp in New Hampshire, and this summer, my older daughter was supposed to go for seven weeks. She stayed for seven weeks. The little one was supposed to go for four weeks. She chose to stay for seven weeks. So it was crazy not to have kids for seven weeks who were at summer camp having, like, the time of their life. So we go to parents weekend. At week four, you go to camp, you see your kids. And whenever I step into camp, I just get this overwhelming feeling of excitement and freedom and just being outdoors and space to think and breathe. How does that feel as an adult going back to camp? Is it that same feeling? Or now you have a job to do?
06:24
Mara Kamat
So it feels different because whenever I'm there, I'm like, I want to go to camp.
06:29
Carrie Aguilar
That's really funny. What a great question. I think it's a little bit of both. My job this summer, it was very much less anchored in the children. I had an office. I was literally paying bills and doing payroll for a very large summer camp with a lot of staff. So I think our staff was close to, you know, 450 people. So it was just a lot of moving parts and pieces. I would say it was really nice to remind myself to step out. And every once in a while, I would sit on the porch or after dinner. One of my really good friends was head of water ski, and she would take us out on the boat and we would go swim. Moments like that was like magic because it's reminding you of where you are.
07:14
Carrie Aguilar
And I think if I could have done it differently, I would have done more of that than angsting about who needs an advance right now.
07:23
Mara Kamat
So as you're stepping back into real life, what's one lesson that you're bringing back with you from summer camp and into the year ahead?
07:31
Carrie Aguilar
I love this question. On the professional side, what was really cool was that my position was very task oriented. I worked in the details. I had to get things right. I had to pay people correctly. I wanted to make sure that it was, like, absolutely correct. So it came with a little bit of stress. But what it did is it reminded me that I could do it. It was a flex for me, if that makes sense. I'm much more in my professional life, I'm much more strategy, I'm much more big picture. And it had been a really long time since I really lived in the weeds. And I was definitely living in the weeds this summer. And so it was a really nice reminder that I could do that and also that I was good at and that was really cool.
08:13
Carrie Aguilar
So I think what I'm taking from it is the ability to remind myself, hey, you're actually really good at these tasks that you sometimes avoid in your real life that you probably shouldn't avoid, frankly. So that's number one. I think in my personal life, it's connection with people. So camp is a wonderful community. The people who work at the camp doesn't matter if you're an 18 year old who is just starting out and you're a junior counselor, you're there for the kids. It doesn't matter if you're a 75 year old who has been going to the camp for years and years, you're there for the kids. And I think that community is so important. And having friendships, it was really nice this summer. I really feel like I formed friendships outside of just my bookkeeping role or what I was doing. It wasn't transactional.
09:06
Carrie Aguilar
I had this table where I had three meals with these people that I genuinely enjoyed. We would do prompts that were like, what was the highlight of your morning? What was the lowlight? We actually connected in such a fun and genuine way and it was centered around our love for children, which is really refreshing, if that makes sense.
09:25
Mara Kamat
Yeah. I think for our listeners, it's a good reminder and I want to acknowledge how courageous you were because you did something that was not linear, but meaning it's not in your wheelhouse of what, you know, your professional world that you live in, the consulting world that you live in. You said, you know what, I want to go to camp this summer. I want to spend a little bit more time with my family. I will take this other challenge on a job that I've never done before.
09:54
Carrie Aguilar
Right.
09:55
Mara Kamat
So you stepped outside your comfort zone. You learned a lot in that, both good and bad.
10:00
Carrie Aguilar
Yeah.
10:00
Mara Kamat
But it was also a bit courageous for you to say, hey, I'm going to do something nonlinear. I'm going to take a chance because it fills these other buckets in my life. And I think that's really beautiful. And I think to our listeners, it's also a good reminder that the choices that you make don't have to be linear, and they can fill other buckets in your life. And there are ways to make things work that make sense for you, personally and professionally.
10:23
Carrie Aguilar
Absolutely. I love that. It was very cool. There were definitely times, though, where I had to remind myself, I know what I'm doing in other areas of my life, because I was just sitting there. I was looking at Excel, and I'm so much better at Excel now because there was no one else to tell me how to make a pivot table or how to do vlookups. I was Googling and using ChatGPT how to do these because it had been a long time since I had to do it. But also I had relied on other people, and I had other people to rely on. And whereas camp, everyone works essentially 24 hours a day, so I wasn't gonna reach out to someone and put something on someone else's plate when I had to hold up my end of the bargain.
11:03
Carrie Aguilar
It was a flex for sure.
11:04
Mara Kamat
Well, good. Welcome back.
11:05
Carrie Aguilar
Thank you. Thank you. I feel like a new person after I've slept for four days, for sure.
11:10
Mara Kamat
I'm so jealous.
11:13
Carrie Aguilar
So now that we've done a little bit of a debrief of my summer, what do you tell us about yours?
11:18
Mara Kamat
Yeah, my summer was good. It probably wasn't as exciting as yours. We traveled a bit. Erin and I traveled, and that was really nice to just get away and have some time for the two of us. I don't know about you, but it felt like school ended and then it was like chaos until my kids went to camp and I actually finished my consulting work at the end of May and intentionally didn't take on any projects just to give myself a little bit of space. And I have a few clients that I always keep, but they're not a hard lift for me. So those I can do as I'm living life and doing life. But I didn't take any new projects on. Erin and I literally dropped our kids off in Boston and then went on vacation. Oh, amazing. We enjoyed our vacation.
12:03
Mara Kamat
Spent some time in Europe. Just got some time to spend together and get to connect where he wasn't working a ton. I wasn't working, and it was just nice to catch up with each other. And then we came home and met up with my parents and enjoyed some time at the lake house over the fourth of July. And that was, again, really nice downtime. And then went back to camp and saw the kids, and that's where the little one was like, I'm staying for seven weeks. So Then I had. We had a little bit of downtime where my sister and her kids were all supposed to come, but they got hand, foot, and mouth.
12:39
Carrie Aguilar
Oh, God.
12:40
Mara Kamat
And so we encouraged her to reschedule the trip. And.
12:45
Carrie Aguilar
Smart move. That is highly contagious.
12:47
Mara Kamat
Yeah. And my dad and I actually both got really sick from hand, foot, and mouth when my kids had it. We both ended up in the hospital, so I'm not gonna lie. When both of us were like, let's reschedule your trip.
12:57
Carrie Aguilar
Yeah.
12:57
Mara Kamat
Not renowned, but it gave me a little bit of downtime, which was maybe too much downtime for me, which is kind of funny. And we're planning our daughter's Bat Mitzvah in September, so I had some more space to do that and to work on some marketing for my business, which was good. And then it was like, chaos ensued because my kids came home on a Wednesday. Aaron flew back. He was responsible for 15 children from Boston to Cleveland.
13:22
Carrie Aguilar
Oh, wow.
13:23
Mara Kamat
So that was kind of funny.
13:24
Carrie Aguilar
From camp.
13:24
Mara Kamat
From camp.
13:25
Carrie Aguilar
Oh, that's so fun.
13:26
Mara Kamat
Just to hear his reflection around flying back the 15 kids on his own, ranging from ages 8 till, like, 13 or 14.
13:35
Carrie Aguilar
Oh, my gosh. Wait, wait. How did he, like, draw that straw? Like, how did. How did that happen?
13:41
Mara Kamat
It just randomly happened. So he was like, I want to go pick up the kids in Boston. I have business to do. I'll meet clients.
13:48
Carrie Aguilar
Yeah.
13:48
Mara Kamat
And so I'm going to get them. And I was like, listen, they're old enough to fly back on their own. They'll be fine. And he was like, no, no. I have work to do. I'm going to pick up the kids. I really want to see them. I'm like, that's fine. So he went the weekend before. He was going, were getting all these text messages from parents that were like. And hey, we heard your husband's going, I love this show. Can he be the chaperone for Arkhead? And literally, Saturday morning, I swear to God, my phone blew up with 14 text messages all within 20 minutes of each other. Honestly, there were two kids in that group that he didn't even know. We had never met the parents. And so eventually, I just emailed camp, and I was like, are you good with this?
14:24
Mara Kamat
He's like, it's fine. Just tell them I'll do everybody. And so he was responsible for bringing all the kids back. So my kids got home on a Wednesday. My sister and her kids flew in on Thursday, and it was like, chaos ensued in the best way. All the family, all the kids, the dinners, the meals, the fun. They left on Sunday. Aaron left Sunday. And then it was get all the stuff done, and the kids. Yeah, unpack. But get the kids to the doctors, because they're all sick from camp and they have impetigo and they're full of congestion, and we gotta go to the orthodontist and just all the things. And then school started yesterday.
15:02
Carrie Aguilar
Yeah.
15:03
Mara Kamat
So we really had less than a week between when they got back from camp and they went back to school. So it's beautiful. And now I'm starting to look at what the next half looks like in terms of clients and consulting work combined with Liv's Bat Mitzvah coming up in September.
15:20
Carrie Aguilar
So how's that planning going?
15:22
Mara Kamat
Good. We're in a good spot. I'm ready for it. Liv's ready for it. I'm really proud of everything she's accomplished. She just finished her mitzvah project, which was really beautiful. She raised money to bring kids from Israel who have lost a parent or a sibling in the October 7 attacks to the US for summer camp for a week, where they got to be with different therapists and kids that have had the same experience and just be in, like, a really safe, comforting, relaxing environment. And so in addition to raising money, she also created these swag bags for the kids. So she emailed the Browns, the Cavs, the Guardians, the Rock and Roll hall of Fame, the Natural History Museum, Double Rainbow Playmatters. All of these people donated to her project.
16:10
Carrie Aguilar
Incredible.
16:11
Mara Kamat
And she was able to create these really beautiful bags of things for these children to take home with them.
16:17
Carrie Aguilar
Oh, wow.
16:18
Mara Kamat
And she met all of the kids when they came to Cleveland, and she literally handed the bags to all of these kids as well as family and friends who donated items such as hand sanitizer or battery pack. If they have to go in a bomb shelter, they can grab the battery pack and be able to plug in their cell phones and all the things. So she was really thoughtful about everything that went into the bag, and it was just really amazing to see the Cleveland community, as well as our community of friends and family and just how generous they were and how she took this project so to heart and took on the leadership of that. It was really beautiful. So we're back at school. We've had a great summer, and we're ready for the second half.
16:59
Carrie Aguilar
And she feels ready for her Bat Mitzvah?
17:01
Mara Kamat
Yeah. Yeah, she feels ready.
17:02
Carrie Aguilar
That's amazing.
17:03
Mara Kamat
She's studied really hard. She knows a lot of Hebrew. I think she's mostly Worried about Aaron and I specifically with respect to the fact that, like, we're doing Torah portions and I'm fine. I've done it before. But Aaron doesn't speak Hebrew. He's never done it before. So for him, it's like memorizing it. So she's like, mom, you know, I could do dad's part. And he's like, no, I'm gonn study. I'm going to do this. I really want to do this. So. And the unique thing is Ariana's is two years later, and it's the same date.
17:34
Carrie Aguilar
Oh, wow. Just two years later.
17:35
Mara Kamat
Yeah. So it was my bat mitzvah date.
17:37
Carrie Aguilar
Oh.
17:38
Mara Kamat
So Olivia has my bat mitzvah date, and then Ari will have it as well. It's kind of beautiful to keep it in the family. So I tell Olivia, don't worry, Daddy will memorize it because he'll be able to use it for Ari's too.
17:47
Carrie Aguilar
Yeah, it'll be perfect. I love that. So one of the cool things about being in the badminton at camp, there's a bunch of tutor rooms, and there's a lot of very thin walls in this camp building. But I listened tons of preparation for bar and bat mitzvahs all summer, and it was actually one of the highlights because I just really enjoyed it. And there's so much preparation, especially for a non Jew, to understand the amount of preparation that goes into what these. These young kids have to do, it's incredible. I mean, it is.
18:20
Mara Kamat
And my kid was definitely one of those that was in the back room of camp every week being tutored. The thing I love about her is she drove it. I was like, you could take a little bit of a break. And she's like, absolutely not, Mom. I need this. I need to continue going. And so I really valued and appreciate that. All right, so quick, moment. Carrie.
18:42
Carrie Aguilar
Yes.
18:42
Mara Kamat
How's getting back to school for you? How's Penelope doing? Are we back to school? Are we settled in? What does that look like?
18:48
Carrie Aguilar
We are back to school. Yesterday was day one. Let's see. Highlights. Penelope said it was great seeing her friends. She decided not to bring her labubu to school. She did not want to ruin it.
19:05
Mara Kamat
Can you explain to our listeners what a labubu is? And let's just be really clear. This mom right here is very much against this whole labubu situation.
19:14
Carrie Aguilar
This mom right here found one on the black market, and as do all the moms, by the way, and definitely overpaid so that her daughter could fit in so there you go.
19:26
Mara Kamat
So tell our listeners, what is a labubu?
19:28
Carrie Aguilar
A somewhat scary keychain doll.
19:31
Mara Kamat
It literally looks like a Chucky doll to me.
19:32
Carrie Aguilar
I mean, it's terrifying.
19:34
Mara Kamat
But it's this huge trend right now everywhere. Even when were in Europe, you saw them hanging off of grown women's really nice handbags. It's a thing among not just children, although our children.
19:48
Carrie Aguilar
Yeah.
19:48
Mara Kamat
But also adults, too.
19:49
Carrie Aguilar
I will say I'm definitely not getting one for my bag quite yet, but we know I'm not. But yeah, so she got hers, and thankfully, hers is actually really cute. It's purple and the eyes are closed and it's smiling.
20:05
Mara Kamat
Less terrifying than some of the other ones.
20:07
Carrie Aguilar
Less terrifying, for sure. Less terrifying. We got very lucky. But yeah. So highlights. She did not have her labubu on her backpack. She decided to get Keep it nice. So it's in the house. She also got blue hair for camp. And in the process of getting blue hair, they're called money pieces, which is the chunks in the front of the head. They had to bleach her hair, which my daughter has beautiful brown hair, so they bleached her hair in the beginning of camp. This is, of course, all of my mother's doing. And I would like to say that my mother would not have been cool with me getting blue hair.
20:44
Mara Kamat
For sure not.
20:45
Carrie Aguilar
But she was totally cool with my daughter getting blue hair. For my daughter going to camp was that Penelope could get blue money pieces. So anyways, she still has the bleached money pieces. The blue is obviously gone, and she really likes them. I think they look. Eh. I mean, they're obviously growing in. And she doesn't have gray hair like me because she's nine, so she definitely looks like Summer still. Yeah, but she's happy. She definitely became a vegetable for the last week on her iPad because she didn't have it all summer. And I was totally okay with her just chilling some alone time. So I think she's happy for the routine. What about you guys? I know Ari's birthday was yesterday.
21:26
Mara Kamat
Yes, Ari's birthday was yesterday, which is also the first day of school. And actually that's the first time in her life she has been in school for her birthday that's happened. So she had mixed feelings about it. Like, I'm gonna go to school on my birthday. But then at the same time, she was like, first day school, like, excited to see her friends. And the back to school feelings for my kids were like, hey, we're happy to be in a schedule. We're happy to spend some time with our friends. It's Ari's last year out at Butler, which is this outdoor campus, so she's excited for that. We invited all of the seventh grade to Olivia's bat mitzvah. So there was definitely some energy around that and the first day of school. So I'm happy that we're in a routine.
22:06
Mara Kamat
I always think this first week of school of, like, getting back in. The schedule is super chaotic. It's like a puzzle. How do all these new pieces fit together? Who has cross country? What time has pickup from cross country? Well, what about gymnastics? What about their reading tutor? What about just all the things? I don't know how others are feeling, but I will be happy to be through next week. When we're all into the swing of things, we've figured out the routine. On the first day of school, Aaron and I always drive the girls and then take pictures in front of school. So we did that yesterday, and that was fun. And it was also nice that he set the alarm for 6am which felt super early.
22:40
Mara Kamat
But weren't in a rush and we all enjoyed getting out of the house, making sure we had everything.
22:47
Carrie Aguilar
And I'm sure the girls were up because they were excited.
22:49
Mara Kamat
It was day one, whereas this morning on day two, it was screaming, I can't find this. We don't have this book. Where is that? So, all right, we're back to school, my friends. So we're happy to be back in the swing of things this year. One of our family hacks. I don't know if it'll work or not, but we're committed to Skylight.
23:08
Carrie Aguilar
Okay.
23:08
Mara Kamat
Which, for those that don't know, it's basically a calendar integrator and a schedule integrator. So it has my calendar, my schedule, Aaron's calendar, his schedule, work wise. And then each of the kids scheduled activities. And there's an app where we can add everybody to. You just press who it's for and it goes on the calendar seamlessly. Our nanny's on it. So our goal this year is to make sure that we're all living by that schedule and living by that tool to help us not miss things and not be so scattered and be a bit more organized.
23:43
Carrie Aguilar
I love that you almost have to relearn how to have the puzzle. In the fall, you have it in the spring. It's your routine, right?
23:51
Mara Kamat
You're in it.
23:52
Carrie Aguilar
And then in the summer, it's like everything falls apart cause you don't need it. And then in the fall, it's like, oh, my gosh, now I have to cook. Now I have to make sure that this person is picked up for us. My husband does jiu jitsu, and I'm totally down for it. But he has commitments that are three times a week. And so that means that he isn't cooking dinner three times a week. I'm cooking. So we have to plan and schedule and figure out, okay, what days does he work after school versus me picking up Penelope versus Penelope doing jujitsu. And it's almost like we have to relearn how to be normal.
24:29
Mara Kamat
I will say that was my favorite part of the summer, not having to cook or think about dinner.
24:36
Carrie Aguilar
Oh, yeah.
24:36
Mara Kamat
Just when you're fending for just you and your husband. Oh, yeah. So easy. I don't give enough credit for how much energy goes into thinking about all those meals in a day, how everything's gonna get cooked. It was really beautiful to have a break from that. Now then, my kids are not seven weekers. We will only go to camp probably for four weeks. We've learned that this summer. My kids came home and said we loved being at camp, but seven weeks away from home was too much. Four weeks is perfect for all of us. So I'll never get left cooking for seven weeks again, which I'm totally good with because I love them and I miss them dearly. But there is something to be said for the amount of time and energy that goes into thinking about prepping for dinner.
25:15
Carrie Aguilar
Exactly. So I know that you talked a little bit about professionally having a little bit of a pause, and I know some of that energy was going or is going to Liv's bat mitzvah planning. But what are you hoping to bring into the fall?
25:31
Mara Kamat
Yeah, it's actually really funny. I'm on a health journey just to be more proactive about my health. And I committed this summer that I was gonna really invest some time, money, effort into it. And so I put a glucose monitor on me, not because I'm diabetic, but just to see how I process different foods and how I process stress. And what was so interesting is I put it on and I got back from vacation, so I was pretty well rested. There was very little stress, so I was really good. My glucose was in a really good zone. It was fairly stable. If was it spiked, it would spike because I was clearly eating sugar or something that I shouldn't be. Right. But I actually learned a lot about how I process different foods and when I should eat, what at what times of day.
26:17
Carrie Aguilar
Well, that's super fascinating.
26:18
Mara Kamat
And so now the kids come back. My glucose levels are so much higher and it's at all times I'm having stress response to different things that I wasn't having. Oh gosh, that's so interesting. So I did spend a little bit of time this summer really investing in my health, learning a little bit more about how I process different things and setting some goals to be a bit more healthy in the fall around the foods that I eat, my exercise, what I engage in and things like that. So I'm bringing energy into the second half to keep the focus on that. And having some downtime to focus on being healthy was really meaningful for me. We also moved my father in law into memory care this summer. That was really hard, which is never easy.
27:03
Mara Kamat
It's another stage in the journey and I think we ask people to share openly about themselves and all the different phases of life. And I expect that of you and I. And I think you expect that of you and I. And so that was a whole thing. And Erin and I actually had two close friends who lost parents in the last week. Both parents were very sick. My father in law is pretty sick. And so I think for us it's also the appreciation of how beautiful our family life is and really relish and the all the great moments that we have when we're all together, whether it be a family of four or with my parents or my sister in law or my in laws. Really taking in all those moments and having appreciation for them because you don't know when they're over.
27:48
Mara Kamat
And I definitely saw in myself this summer when were moving my father in law, the stress that was on me and Aaron. And I am happy that our kids were at camp because they didn't have to see the emotional side of that for him and I and how were processing that. And we got to do that in a really open and safe way with each other.
28:07
Carrie Aguilar
Oh, that's really beautiful to think about and also just to be able to work through that, just you guys. You know, as a parent, I feel like you spend so much of your time making sure that you're showing up in the right way in front of your children sometimes. And when they're not there, it's nice to be able to be authentically moving through whatever you're feeling and not feeling like you're somehow creating therapy bills for someone else in the future.
28:37
Mara Kamat
Totally true. And that all comes with, if we're being honest, the week leading up to it, I was not the best version of myself. I was angry, I was mean. Carrie definitely dealt with the impact. I was short and not kind, and I think that's just honest. And sometimes that happens to us too. Yeah, absolutely.
28:57
Carrie Aguilar
It happens to everyone.
28:58
Mara Kamat
I was talking to a friend this morning who just had her second baby. The baby is literally two months. And she's like, I'm trying to tell myself these are learning experiences. And I'm like, stop trying to tell yourself these are learning experiences. And tell yourself you're not gonna show up and be the best every day. You're not gonna say the right things every day, and you're gonna be tired and exhausted and not the best version of yourself. The people that love you know that, and they still love you, and they'll still embrace you and.
29:23
Carrie Aguilar
And it's okay.
29:24
Mara Kamat
Yeah.
29:25
Carrie Aguilar
Yeah.
29:25
Mara Kamat
So that's what I'm bringing forward from the summer. I love that. Carrie. Let's transition now and talk to our listeners about what's ahead this season. We have an amazing lineup of people, and I am so excited for it.
29:39
Carrie Aguilar
So we're kicking off with Simone Jelks, the seventh female NBA referee, talking performance under pressure, decision making in the arena, and what it takes to lead in a high stakes, high visibility role.
29:51
Mara Kamat
Then we have Sonya Winner, the CEO of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, who talks about bold reinvention, connecting science and community and building institutions that serve people first. Sonja has a beautiful career journey that she shares with us in that episode.
30:11
Carrie Aguilar
And then we also have Erica Rudin Lauria, president of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, on purpose driven leadership, community resilience, and what it means to show up when it matters most. I'm very looking forward to that. I think it's incredible.
30:26
Mara Kamat
There will be additional amazing women to hear from. Expect real stories and honest conversations. We're all about leadership and support that you can feel and hopefully that each of you can practically use in your lives and in your work as well.
30:42
Carrie Aguilar
And a quick promise from us, when we take a break going forward, we'll say so, and we'll tell you when we're coming back.
30:49
Mara Kamat
We'll share episode drops and any pauses in the show, notes on our socials so you can check the links there. We'd love to hear your questions for our guests this season. Send them in, text us, call us, go onto the inherland.com website and fill in our forms. We'd love to weave in your thoughts and your questions into our conversations.
31:12
Carrie Aguilar
And if you're new here, welcome. If you've been with us. Thank you for sticking around through Summer. We're grateful you're a part of this community. Follow In Her Land Wherever you listen, share an episode with a friend and leave a quick review. It helps more people find the show just like you.
