Erica: Hey, girl. By now, you know I have Her Collective, my online community for ambitious women who are done doing it alone. Her Collective is for the women who are smart, capable, and driven, but they find themselves stuck on the sticky floors like self doubt, burnout, and waiting for permission that quite honestly never comes. Inside HER, you get more than motivation. You get real support, real strategies, and real momentum. We work on things like clarifying what you want now and what's coming next, building confidence without burning yourself out, navigating hard conversations, career moves, and leadership moments with clarity, and surrounding yourself with women who actually get it. This isn't about hustling harder. It's about moving intentionally with the right tools and the right people in your corner. If you're ready to stop spinning, start choosing yourself, and build a career in life that actually feels aligned, I'd love to welcome you inside her collective. You can learn more and join us at www.joinhercollective.com. Because honestly, girl, you were never meant to do this alone. I'm your host, Erica Rooney. And today, I have MaryJane Connor, a marketing leader with expertise in brand identity here with me. Now MaryJane is living in Wisconsin. She's a badass busy mom and also the creative director at busy busy. That is b I z z y b I z z y. So, MaryJane, how's it going?

MaryJane: It's going well. Can't complain.

Erica: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being here. So great to have you. I loved our conversation that we had the other week. I just felt like we connected, and I am super pumped to kinda hear your story.

MaryJane: Well, thanks so much for thanks so much

Erica: for having me. It's exciting to be here.

MaryJane: I was excited to hear about your podcast and what you were doing, and I told you I got chills when you explained it. So

Erica: it definitely resonates. Well, cool. Well, I love to kinda just start with hearing a little bit more about you, who you are, what you're doing, and kinda how the hell you got here.

MaryJane: Right. It is not a straight path how I ended up in marketing. It is well, I started out well, I'm gonna take us back to undergrad. I was going to school, not sure what I wanted to do, knew I wanted to be by the beach because I do love the beach. So I was pretty confused. Right. I I was at college of Charleston in South Carolina. I left, just went across the country by myself, moved down to Charleston. My parents are very concerned that I was not gonna fit in down there. It was pretty hilarious. They're like, you're gonna be surrounded by debutantes.

Erica: I mean, that's

MaryJane: kind of wrong. Yeah. I found the, like like, most non debutant people except for one good friend who was part of the Charleston Society. But, anyway, I loved it down there and but was in college just kind of like, I'm a journalism major, then I'm a or I started as a biology major, then I'm a, like, journalism major, and I'm like, I don't know what I'm doing. So I went to a counselor, and they're like, just take some classes you wanna take. So I ended up taking art classes, and then I found out that I really like hanging out with artists. I wasn't so much, like, good at the art. I really wanted to be an artist. I just liked hanging out with them. So finished my degree in fine art there and lab started and I traveled in CG for a month after that because I always wanted to do the abroad study. Didn't do it during undergrad. So saw a Fiji water bottle one day. As I was going to the beach, I was a little hungover. I will. And my friend at the time said, hey. He was gonna go into stories. Like, what do you think? I was like, just water, please. And he comes out with this Fiji water bottle, which had just come out around that time, and I was like, that thing is amazing. This is the coolest water bottle I've ever seen. Fast forward, like, a year, two years later, because that was probably my sophomore year, finishing up undergrad thinking, where do I wanna go? And I recall the Fiji water bottle, and I thought, if the water bottle's that cool, the country must be very cool. Dang. So went to Fiji, and that kind of sent me on a like, everything's in retrospect. Right? Like so then I come back. I'm managing a frame shop, thinking I wanna go back to grad school, thinking about what I wanna do exactly in grad school. And I knew it wanted to be art history, but everybody's like, you need to figure out where like, what topic in art history you wanna talk about for all of your applications. I was like, okay. So I remember the Oceania Center for Arts and Culture where we met artists there, and I was like, Fiji sounds cool. I would love to go back there and study if I can and and figure it out. So, anyway, ended up studying contemporary of the Pacific Islands and doing museum studies at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and realized while I was there that I was more interested in getting people, like, into galleries and educating people than I mean, I love learning about art and hanging out with artists, but more interested in that than the sort of theory battles about old art. Right? Yeah. So my thesis was, like, contemporary art for the Pacific Islands and how globalization and decolonization has created this sort of aesthetic in the contemporary art and why, like, certain symbols and stories are told in contemporary art from the Pacific Islands. But I finished sorry. This is a super long story, but I can't

Erica: No. No. It's giving a great context. It's painting

MaryJane: the picture. Right. So I finished that degree. I'm in Fiji in 2008 when the housing bubble burst.

Erica: Uh-huh.

MaryJane: And I had a friend come visit. And, like, I had only been there for, like, several months, but I was clueless. And she came and said, like, have you heard about the housing bubble? Like, the the economy's crashing. Like Yeah. I'm like, no. I don't know anything about this.

Erica: I have to blame for

MaryJane: Yeah. Because I went there for my field research for, like, seven months. So the next year, the recession happens, and I finish up my degree, and I'm like, well, now what? Because I'm a white woman trying to talk about contemporary art for the Pacific Islands in The United States. I mean, it just wasn't gonna work. Like, it just there was no point to it anymore except for the fact that I was completely passionate about it and loved it, but there was all of these other things that made it unlikely that I was going to succeed. And I just kind of ended up putting on art shows, and I really enjoyed the marketing aspect of it and realized, yeah, like, in grad school, we put on shows, and I realized, oh, I like making the flyers. I like thinking about the ways we can entice people into these art galleries and the names of the shows and everything. Yeah. So I ended up just kind of moving into marketing. In 2009, I was the executive director or 2010, whatever, executive director for a small arts organization. That was very tough. I was pretty idealistic at the time. I had 12 bosses. I was the only employee. That was, really hard. And then and then I ended up just working for a sign shop and doing marketing for a cellular store and learning about branding through that and just kinda took off after that. But yeah. So that's how I got into marketing. I wanted to get people into art shows. I love creating art shows. I love writing copy and years.

Erica: So how did you then land? Because that's, I mean, that's a journey in itself. Right? From, like, a hungover Fiji water bottle moment, which I can really appreciate, and I'm not gonna lie. Their marketing is genius. Right? Because that is my go to water bottle when I'm grabbing a water from the store. I don't care. I don't know if it's the pretty background or the square bottle, but I'm a spend the $5.

MaryJane: It is good. It is good. I will say the company itself is not that good. They have some definite ethic things going on, but I will still occasionally buy it.

Erica: Well, I have to look into that, but the marketing at some point. But yeah. So you went through all of that, discovered your love for art, discovered exactly the where's, the why's, the what's you love about it, and all the way to the marketing. How'd you get down to busy busy?

MaryJane: So I was the marketing director for the Wisconsin Historical Society and just decided at that like, there was just a lot of I was there for five years. I get bored really fast. I have had, like, three different positions there. They were all fantastic. But there was a lot of shit happening, and I was kind of having to recreate myself another position. And I just, like, couldn't figure it out. Like, I couldn't figure out what the new position was that I would be able to hold at that organization. So I left and started my own consulting business and did that for a year or so, and then the pandemic happened. And so I didn't really have this great business established yet to sort of sustain myself through. And I also, at the time, didn't have a vision for it. I was just kind of like, I quit my job. I need some cash. I love doing branding. I'm gonna just put myself out there. And I know how to build a website and do branding and stuff, so it was, like, a fun afternoon project for me to set this up. And so I was doing some subcontracting for busy busy, and then I was coming back or going driving down to New Orleans right before the pandemic. Like, it broke out while I was in New Orleans. We were, like, the first people in Dank County. We were, like, the seventeenth people in Dank County to have it because we came back with it, but we very much quarantined. But we I told my husband. I was like, if I could just work for busy busy, Candy has this vision. I that's what I wanna do right now. And then, like, two weeks later, I kid you not, Candy emails me and is like, hey. Would you be interested in coming on more? So I love just putting stuff out of the universe and being like, see what sticks. So

Erica: I love it. I love it. Yeah. Well, that's awesome. So I think that paints a really great picture of kinda like, who is MaryJane? What has she done? What the highlight reel, I suppose. Yep. So let's talk all things sticky floors. Right? If you had to name it, what would be the sticky floor in life? How did that affect you in this whole journey from Fiji water bottle to Fiji to busy busy?

MaryJane: So there are a couple sticky floors that I continuously deal with. Worth, like, self worth and value in my roles in businesses, and then also just culture, meaning our capitalistic culture is something that I find very hard to live in.

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MaryJane: And balancing what I want out of life versus what I feel like I need to serve my in this culture.

Erica: So tell me more about that. Like because because I feel like people are gonna be like, what does that mean? Yeah.

MaryJane: So how they our our drive in this culture is money. We do things for money. We do things for big houses. We do things for nice cars. That's what we culturally is sort of assumed. And I think this is shifting or it's just the stuff I'm hearing. And it's stuff I've always known that these things don't make me happy. They just don't. Like, I don't need this stuff to make me happy. And what I experienced in Fiji specifically, and even while I was in college right? You're a poor college kid, but, man, you have the best friends and you are having fun. And that's what that was my some of my happiest times. Right? Yeah. Not when I had a big house. When I got sad, when I got depressed was when I felt like so this is kind of where it all comes together, the culture and the value, where I felt like I was worth more and I needed more to be at least saving money for retirement. Right. Or and I didn't feel like I needed a big house or anything, but there was some, like, I just need my basic needs met, which were barely being met with the some of the salaries I came out with after grad school. Yeah. And the and then feeling like I and I couldn't get a job. I applied to a million jobs. Right? And there were no jobs. So then it's like, okay. Nobody wants me, and I am working for, like, $11 an hour, and I have two degrees, and I must be worthless. Right? And then the culture of yes. And we measure ourself by the money and the house and the car, which, again, I never subscribed to, but it's inherent in us a bit. So and as you get older, you also realize your time is limited, and you end up with a family and a kid. So now I have to provide for them. So that's always hard. And you want them to live the best life, whatever that means. And so yeah. I don't know. So just establishing who I am in this culture and how to succeed in it, I feel is a challenge because there's a lot of a lot of societal acceptance in things that I just, in my heart, don't don't accept as real. Like like, all the things I just mentioned that that

Erica: creates I think I love how you kind of you really brought together, like, one of those big pieces of society. Right? Because I talk about all things sticky floors. It's not necessarily just, like, your limiting beliefs. Right? But it's also being weighed down by the gravity of ageism, racism, sexism, but capitalism and, like, how our culture perceives success. Right? How our culture deems worthiness is not one that we have talked about yet, but I think it is very interesting because you're absolutely right. I mean, there is a ladder of success, right, that is just expected of people. Right? And, like, you can grade people based off of, quote, unquote, how successful they are, based off of how much money they have or what kind of house they live in or what their job title is. That's the big one too. Yeah. And none of that. Right? Like, we all know in our brains that none of that equates to happiness. And I love that you pulled it together with, like, when you lived in college. Right? We're all broke as a joke in college. I specifically remember one time when we took a road trip, and there were, like, 20 of us in a hotel room because that's all we could afford. It's, like, we could all pitch in, like, $15 in this shitty cockroach motel.

MaryJane: Right?

Erica: We had air mattresses. I mean, every square inch of that hotel room, we have people sleeping in because that's just what you do. But, like, those are the memories that I was like, oh my god. That was so much fun.

MaryJane: Absolutely. I took our I did a spring break trip. We drove to Key West from Charleston, which we thought was gonna be a lot shorter because you forget how far well, first of all, Miami is. It seems like it's just Florida. It's like two states away. And then getting out to Key West. And we we stayed at a KOA campground. We just camped, and I eat hot dogs literally for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Yeah. It was all we could afford. I was like, okay. We're eating hot dogs every day. Like, we got a pack of hot dogs. That'll last us. And I had, like, $300 to my name, and it was great. We didn't spend any money. It's interesting, though,

Erica: how like, the capitalistic culture and the expectations, right, that we have of other people, of ourselves to be successful, to be of worth. Right? Getting a job right out of college that pays you well. Choosing a major that makes sense.

MaryJane: That's practical. Everything has to be practical. And, also, ageism, sexism, I think all of that is based on capitalism and keeping the people in power that want the money and the they have the money. They're gonna keep the money, and they're gonna keep the rest of the people down. Race I mean, all of it. It's Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.

Erica: I mean, that ties in that ties in all the things. Right? But it's just so interesting because, I mean, this is just me. I don't know the culture of Fiji, but, like, what is the culture in Fiji like? Okay. So it's very communal.

MaryJane: Very communal. Like, where you share everything. We would be if you brought us a tiny bag of chips to the Oceania Center, you would open that bag of chips and sit it in the front of app set it in front of in in

Erica: Everybody adds one bag.

MaryJane: Everybody to have. You share any lunch that you have with everybody. You you would split cigarettes with everybody. Have a cigarette, you pass it on. Like, the the ritual of drinking kava is communal. You drink out of the you pass a bowl around and drink kava, which is this root, the, like, kava root, and you Yeah. Like, you drink that communally. If you have money, like, a lot of the artists that I worked with would sell a painting, they're expected to give that money right back into the community almost immediately to the point where it was almost like, some it was annoying for some people, I think, that lived because you you basically are expected to let go of anything that you had. Yeah. But everybody has what they need for the most part. Right? But it's not a lot, and Elsa's a third world developing country. But the people that lived in that communal way, they had housing, shelter, and they had family and connection and and time to spend with each other because it wasn't just go and work as hard as you can for as long as you can to make as much money as you can. And let's Yeah. It it doesn't matter if you're away from your family or your friends.

Erica: Do you feel like your time in Fiji shaped kind of your view that you have now, or do you feel like it was always there as a part of who you are and then that kind of, like, amplified it, I suppose?

MaryJane: I will say I was probably a part of who I always was, and then it it amplified it and or, like, I just fit fairly not super well because I'm still an American. Like, I still want to go. It was weird. I realized, like, I wanna go buy something today. Even if it was just a soda from a gas station, I'm like, I need to buy something today. So weird. And I had not, like, a shopper or my I mean, I love thrifting and stuff, but I am not like, I need to go buy. But I realized that there's that. But I think it I think it I I it I think you're right. It amplified it or it just is like, oh, this is more in line with the human experience that I think is probably healthy.

Erica: Interesting. So and then I loved earlier you talked about connecting that with your self worth and your value in, like, the business and working. How does how does that kinda tie in for you?

MaryJane: Well, it's tough because it's on the one hand, I feel that I shouldn't ask for money in my job because I well, one, in in that way, it ties in. It's like, well, I mean, if if I'm working for a place that has a great mission and vision and I believe it, why should I ask for more money when I know, like, that could be going someplace else in the organization? But oftentimes, that place in the organization is

Erica: not where I want that money to go anyway. Right. You're not directing.

MaryJane: Hey. I wanted to go in Yeah. Why is that? So I should just get the money and then re put it back into that community if I want it. Right? So I was like, no. I wanna fund that project. I think that project's important. I'll be the benefactor of that project. So so there's that. It's like, why should I ask for more money if we have a good mission and vision? Like, what's what and I believe fundamentally that we should be putting more money into the community, but that's not how it works. Right? Like, that's just somebody's gonna be asking for that money. And if it's not me, it's somebody else because that's the culture we live in.

Erica: Yeah. I was gonna say that's a really sticky sticky one. Right? Because that is how in corporate America, most most people, not all people, most people want to be recognized and feel recognized. Right?

MaryJane: Like Including myself. Yeah.

Erica: Yeah. And, like, think about the burn you would feel if you're doing the same job and that Bob next to you is getting 30,000 more dollars than you and y'all are doing the same work.

MaryJane: I know that burn well. Yeah. I mean

Erica: serious that burn. That's burn.

MaryJane: Yep. Mhmm.

Erica: So how do you then right. Because that's almost like now we've got two conflicting sticky floors here. So it's like a very much this internal struggle of the capitalistic society not connecting with money being the be all end all, right, but still knowing and valuing what you are contributing in the workplace. Yeah.

MaryJane: How do you work through that? I am still where I don't Well, I

Erica: was gonna say, Oris, that's still

MaryJane: the journey. Yeah. Part of my journey. I I have become a lot more I I've decided, I guess, that I guess I don't I I I haven't thought about it. I guess I'd be I I've decided to become a stronger advocate for myself. I made that decision when I felt that bird at that one place that I if if I I know my value Mhmm. And I advocate for myself. I don't even and I think I'm worth more than I even think I am. What I mean, I'm I think I'm worth more than what I will ask for, but that's o whatever. I'm still working on it. And then I guess the what I would do then, ideally, is put more money back into the organizations that

Erica: They care about.

MaryJane: That I wanna that I care about, yeah, to help them with their mission. And so we do that in our household. And not to say that we're giving away all of our money by any stretch of the imagination because I'm still, you know, still a capitalist living here in there.

Erica: Still a capitalist. Well, you know, it's it's one of those things where it's like, you may not agree with it. Right? And you may not align with it, but we also have to adapt and and, for lack of better words, like, use the currency of the place we're at. Right? Like, I can't take my US dollars and go spend them in Europe. They take euros. So, like, here, that is the transaction.

MaryJane: Yeah. Something I feel like I realized in my in my you moving to South Carolina, moving to Fiji, like, just anywhere I was living that wasn't home to me, that you have to adapt to the culture in order to be happy a little bit. Right? And so that meant and means having to adapt to the culture that we live in. Like, I can't I am not comfortable, and I have tried living as a starving artist. It is. Not comfortable. Yeah. I was too stressed out, and it wasn't like, even though I would love to just value my time with friends and making art and being creative, the reality is that in this culture, it's very hard to survive without a decent weight.

Erica: Absolutely. Absolutely. It's very hard to

MaryJane: be happy if you can't if you basic in in general, in the world, if your basic needs aren't met and you can't have your basic needs, which I do think in this country, like, having a plan for after you can't work anymore is a basic need. Like Absolutely. What are you gonna do? We don't have the systems to take care of each we don't have the culture to take care of

Erica: I was gonna say, nor do we have the culture. Right? But that's I mean, it's a big thing in a lot of different cultures where the elders move in if they're already living in the same house. Exactly. And we're like, yeah. We're gonna put you in a home. That cost money. Exactly.

MaryJane: Yeah. So I guess and this

Erica: is just kinda where my brain is going. Right? Is is this capitalistic society exists, the value sticky floor exists, understanding worth knowing worth, but also knowing your currency and your I guess, currency is the right word. That's the word I wanna use. Understanding your currency. And I've heard you say it a few times, like, connection and community, and then you also said time with friends. So, like, for you I mean, I guess you could also put this to the love languages. Right? That book?

MaryJane: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I haven't taken a lot of time, but yeah.

Erica: I haven't read it. I think I read it, like, when it first came out, but it sounds to me like that time and that community and connection is what speaks to your soul. So it's like, okay. How do I find my way in this capitalistic society, right, where money is power and is everything and find my own social currency, which is time and collaboration and community?

MaryJane: Mhmm. That's just me. Yeah. How do I do that? Well, I mean, I

Erica: I just make time for it.

MaryJane: I I I neglect my yard. No. It's okay. Like, I mean, ideally, I would have a beautiful yard. My mom is a beautiful landscaper, and I am always measuring myself against her yard, which is thirty years to do it. But I'm like, my yard is, like, full of weeds, and that's fine because I don't wanna put chemicals on it necessarily. Anyway, so I neglect the yard. I neglect certain projects to hang out with friends and family. And I I'm not I can't work a job that requires me to just do things that take too much time. Right? Like, I'm not gonna be an eighty hour a week worker. Like, I'm just or sixty. I mean, maybe some weeks we do. Like, some weeks when we have a bunch of one days, I can work fifty, sixty hours, but it's I can't do that regularly. And I, yeah, I'm rejuvenated. I'm inspired. I'm inspired by community. I'm inspired by visiting new communities, being in new visiting new communities, being in new places, obviously, Fiji, like, turned my whole life. And I love just I mean, even I just draw better when I go to new places and they are inspired by different landscapes and things. So if I could travel, which we haven't been able to do for the past couple years as as much as I would have liked, that's that's huge too to kind of feel that connected to the world.

Erica: Yeah. So what do you do when you're feeling stuck?

MaryJane: Okay. So I do a lot of thinking too hard for a while. Yeah. And then I think moving my body, like, if I'm not exercising hard enough, like, it's really about just releasing some of that stuck stress, I think. So it depends on what it is. Like, if I'm just overall feeling stuck, like, I know I need to move my body. I know I need to, like, sweat. Right? And so that and then if I have, like, a specific I just had this thought, and I can't remember what it was. So if I'm feeling stuck, Oh, like, with the sticky floor and the the value and the worth and being burned by, like, finding out that somebody was making more than me and I was actually had more experience there, more time, blah blah blah. I just revisited I I made a list of everything that I felt like I've accomplished in the in this space and said, like, yeah. I have value, and I am going to go like, I am gonna remind them the value I have here. They're the value I bring. Right? That's a

Erica: good one. We talk a lot about, like, reminding self. Right? Like, when you're struggling with imposter syndrome and knowing your worth, but I like how you were like, let me remind some other people. Right? So when other people are not seeing your value too, bring them that damn list.

MaryJane: Yeah. And it's good to, like, revisit your for yourself, obviously. Like, I should definitely do that more just as a general practice to feel like I'm contributing things when you get especially when you get super busy and you don't even have time to think about all the stuff you're doing. It's like, what should I do today? Yeah. Another thing that I do sometimes, like, actually, it was suggested to us by a therapist. My husband and I, we we have fallen off of this practice, but it's a great one. At the end of the night, you kinda talk about your highs and your lows. And so that's just a great way to kinda have, like, this gratitude thing at the end of the day. Like, oh, this was such a great day. And, like, this is something that isn't so good happened. That kinda just talking about it helps you kind of unstick from whatever that seems to be.

Erica: I actually, like, maybe a week ago. So super recent. Just started that with my kids. Oh, nice. And, yeah, it's been really fun for them, number one, just to see what their highs and their lows are because they go to school, so I don't see them all day. But the and also hear their perception. But then number two, like, if they don't if they can't answer, like, a low, then I ask we ask, like, a a question, like, a would you rather question. And sometimes they're silly, like, would you rather be a mermaid or a unicorn? So sometimes we ask, like, would you rather go to the beach or the mountains, or would you rather be this or that? So we

MaryJane: come up with, like, a

Erica: just a question to learn more about each other, honestly. Awesome. Gonna see into their brain. So I love that you said that because I've heard it multiple times, but I think it's really cool to do with kids too.

MaryJane: I know. I should I'd I wanna start doing that with my son. He's four. It'd be very interesting to hear what he

Erica: I have a four year old, and let me tell you. Sometimes, the things don't make sense. But sometimes you will be surprised. And I Yeah. Like, what she told us one day, like, what her low was, and it was like this activity that we did with friends, and

MaryJane: it was this big thing was bowling.

Erica: And she was like, Milo was bowling. And we

MaryJane: were like, oh my god.

Erica: Like, you didn't have fun? I mean, I

MaryJane: think she had enough fun, but I was like, well, we're not taking you bowling again. Yeah. I was like, well, good to know that you don't like

Erica: Marking that down, but sometimes she

MaryJane: just makes up some BS just because she thinks she's being funny.

Erica: Yeah. I digress. Well, cool. Well, one question I ask everybody on my podcast is now that you have everything now, what would you tell the hungover MaryJane who's snatching up the Fiji water bottle? What advice would you give her knowing everything now?

MaryJane: How do I say this? It would be remember what now. I feel like I definitely had, like, a kind of figure I mean, obviously not, but kind of, like, that carefree spirit of just remember which now. Like, that this is you have the things that make you happy.

Erica: Yeah. I think that's such a good one because to give back to our society, we're always looking at the next thing. Mhmm. Very rarely do we stop to really and I know gratitude is a big practice, and and it's also a buzzword. Right? Like, everybody's into being gratitude

MaryJane: and Yeah. Yeah.

Erica: That and the other. Keep your journal.

MaryJane: But

Erica: and I know myself too. Like, I get a job or whatever. Like, I'm always looking at, like, how can I do this? What can I do next? Where can I go? And it's like, when do we just take a moment to be like, what I have? What is right here? Like, I am happy. I am healthy. I am safe. I am connecting with people. Like, take a moment and just be.

MaryJane: Mhmm. Yes. Absolutely. I think that I spent a number of years kind of feeling like I was a part of the rat race in climbing a ladder and how can I get to the next step? And it was exciting and fun and but I always realized when I got to that next step, it wasn't what I thought it was going to be anyway. And and I didn't feel more valued to anyone. Myself, the company, like, nobody it wasn't like you they bring you balloons or something when you get a promote. I mean Right. But now get the work done. Go. Exactly. It's like, okay. So now you need to justify why you got the job. I'm like, woah. Okay. Like so fair enough. I gotta get to work and no to celebrate more than

Erica: that. Yeah. Well and I think that also brings up the point of, like, we always think that next thing is going to give us happiness. So, yeah, I was like, some other level of enlightenment or something like that. And so many times, we've always heard this, like, I'll be happy if Yep. I get this job title or if I get this salary or when I hit this milestone. I'll be happy when I check, check, check, check.

MaryJane: Mhmm.

Erica: Been conditioned and told that these are all the things you need.

MaryJane: Yep. So if we're not getting those, so that

Erica: I mean, that's a whole other bag of potatoes.

MaryJane: Right? Yes. Absolutely. You're a 100%

Erica: too. To just remember that what remember what now and keep it throughout

MaryJane: what? Mhmm.

Erica: I like that. Cool. Well, MaryJane, where can people find you? LinkedIn. What's the best place

MaryJane: to see? Yeah. I'm on LinkedIn. It's I it's hard to find me because my name is two words, and I don't think I can do it on LinkedIn as two words. Like, I had a hard time finding myself, but I do have a website, maryjaneconnor.com, and then we have a link I have a link to Busy Busy's website on there as well, or you can find us at busybusycreative.com if you're interested in one day websites. Yeah. And, one more thing I wanna say though. Another thing I wish I would have known as a hungover art student is take some marketing classes. All the art students out there, like, take some marketing classes because Amen. Is super fun. It's incredibly creative. It gives you direction on your art project, so I wanted to throw that out there. If there's any young artists listening

Erica: And, like, I may have a bajillion listeners who are gonna be like, duh, Erica, but, like, who knew marketing would be so important? As an HR professional, I certainly did not for a very long time.

MaryJane: Yeah. I and I think yeah. And then break culture and HR and and culture and branding is tied a 100% together. So I love her saying with HR. Awesome.

Erica: Well, MaryJane, thank you so much for being here. It was awesome.

MaryJane: Thanks so much for having me, Erica. I had a great time reliving my life and figuring out what I know and don't know.

Erica: Well, we still need to figure out. Exactly.