D1 Athlete Gets Brutally Honest About Life After Sports | McKenna Doe

but Kristen Press, who went to the national team from my Club as well.

and a lot of them would come back and play during the summer.

They would come and train, with some of the older club teams.

So we got to train with some of the players

So cool.

From National Team or Top 10 D1 schools, and they would come

train with us that I'm like, this is…

I almost looked up to them more, because it was more tangible to

me, and they weren't a famous person, they weren't a celebrity.

Obviously, Kristen Press eventually became one, but it almost made it seem like,

wow, this is actually more attainable for me than, just seeing, Mia Ham on screen.

I've gotten to play with this girl and, I have beat her, to the goal.

okay, so is it doable for me, you know?

Like Mallory Pugh, I played against her.

Remember she used to dribble the entire team and score a goal.

I'm like, "Yeah, it makes sense she's starting for the

US Women's National Team."

Intro Band: Lean in closer. This is your time.

Hit record on your crooked

life. What's your story?

(Hey!) Say the words out loud!

Mike & Scott gonna crack that crowd.

What's your story? (Hey!) Turn it up, let's go!

Every voice. Every scar.

Every road. What's your story?

Mike and Scott.

Let's talk.

What's up everybody?

Welcome to another episode of the What's Your Story podcast.

I'm Scott Lease.

This is my good friend and co-host Mike Lindstrom.

What's goin' on, bud?

Let's do it.

Another day, another way, baby, let's get it.

Yeah, we're ready.

Let's get it.

Wait till you hear about the unique way that our next guest and I met.

Is that part of the story behind the story?

It, it is part of the story behind the story.

It also involves you a little bit.

Uh-oh.

I can't wait to hear this.

It

involves San Diego.

And you didn't tell me any

of this.

That's your roots, San Diego.

We didn't tell me any of this stuff.

Yeah.

I'll give you the quick breakdown.

All right, let's go.

Okay?

So our next guest, McKenna Doe.

She's, works for a client of my consulting business.

Mm-hmm.

So we're just chit-chatting a little bit, and turns

out she played D1 college soccer

- Mike Lindstrom: mm-hmm.

With her twin sister.

My college teammate from the '90s was the head coach at USD when

her and her sister played there.

Then we didn't know any of this, obviously, beforehand, so we just,

out minds were kind of like, blown.

So how did you guys obviate that between each other?

How'd that come up come about?

Well, we'll have to ask her.

All right.

Welcome to the show McKenna Doe.

Thank you guys for having me.

Yes.

Yeah.

So-

Yeah, I think we were

…tell them-

it was on Slack.

I think the moment you had put two and two together, because I had told you,

"Oh, I played soccer at USD." And I don't know if you knew how old I was at the

time So I don't know actually, at what moment you connected and you were like,

"Was Ada Greenwood your coach?" Yeah.

And I was like, "Yeah, how would you know that?

" And you're like, "I played soccer with him and was it college?"

In college, yeah.

He's your team.

Yeah, he was my teammate.

Kind of roommate.

turns out, yeah, he was the coach while I was there for several

years before I actually, joined the team my freshman year.

and then we got a new coach after that fact, but that was kinda…

It was over slack at work that

Yeah.

We kind of put two and two together.

Wow.

Mind was kind of blown.

So USD, huh?

Yeah.

So I went to UCSD.

Oh, okay.

So we ha lot of friends that went to USD and I

went to law school at Cal Western.

USD had a better law school.

Yeah.

I have friends that went to Cal Western as well.

Yeah.

So we have the, their law school's way better than our law

school, but a lot of USD friends.

A lot of USD.

do you still have a 619 cell phone or?

No.

So I'm not from San Diego-

Okay.

Originally.

I'm from Orange County.

Okay.

Grew up in Huntington Beach, which I could always start there.

Well, let's get into that.

Yeah, let's get it.

We start off every show by just trying to get to know people

- McKenna Doe: Yeah yeah.

And I'll give you a chance to kind of tell your story, who you

are, how you got to where you are today.

Awesome.

So what's your story, McKenna?

My story.

So 28 years old.

I'm born and raised in Huntington Beach, California.

But I actually live here now so I moved and I can get into that later as to why.

but yeah, grew up with an identical twin sister, older brother, great

family, very sports oriented.

So that's kind of what led me to soccer eventually.

But, ever since I could remember when I was little, it was, I was always

outside riding bikes with my siblings, playing catch with the football,

baseball, soccer, you name it.

I was doing it all from probably the age of four years old and onward.

Soccer was probably the one… Well, it was the one that eventually

stuck the most just because I had, well, A, the most fun doing it.

I like how fast-paced it was.

I over-indexed on the skillset in that sport in comparison to

softball to… I did every sport.

My parents were like, "Go into everything. You're in tennis, hockey, softball,

soccer, lacrosse. Like just try it all and see what sticks." Because they

just… At the end of the day, they wanted us to have fun and it didn't matter

about putting us in any specific boat.

I mean, we did karate, we did dance.

It was just like, "Okay, now we've tried it all. What do we actually like

to do the most and where do we see it taking us the furthest?" And, that

ended up being soccer for my sister and I around the age of eight or nine.

we got recruited by a local Huntington Beach Club team to come play.

So we were doing the normal AYSO, that's what everybody gets thrown into as a kid.

so yeah, he an - the coach ended up coming and watching a game and he was like,

"Yeah, I want you guys to join the team." And we were like, we didn't even know.

We were like, "Okay, cool." So obviously we found out Club is pretty

much the route for at least women's soccer to, to get to play D1 and

eventually on to play professionally.

So, yeah, pretty much spent the rest of our, middle school, high school

years playing competitive Club soccer.

and at the end of the day, I just, I loved the sport so much.

I loved, I mean, scoring goals was my favorite aspect, but, it also taught me

so many things about how to be a leader.

I was a team captain.

I played attacking mid and forward, so I wasn't as much of a defensive player.

I really loved the… It was almost like a high, my serotonin was just boosted

every time I hit the field and I just wanted to be the go - to person to

assist the goal, to score the goal, or to save our team from getting scored on.

I just loved to be on the field.

That's where I lived.

Um

- Scott Leese: So-

what was it like getting recruited and going and being on the same

team with your twin sister?

I'm, I don't know anything about twins.

I don't know if you have twins-

no, I don't.

…in your family.

I don't.

So you guys went to college together?

Yeah, yeah.

We-

OK.

We pretty much-

They were on the same team!

did everything together.

Yeah, that's

incredible.

That's probably everything together until we

- Mike Lindstrom: That's amazing.

…weren't playing soccer anymore,

is that all positive?

Is there negative to that?

is it hard to establish your own kind of sense of self and identity with that?

No.

All great questions.

I think growing up, it had its pros and cons.

pros meaning, especially in the soccer field, we kinda knew where each

other was on the field all the time.

It established a sense of comfortability automatically walking into, like,

when we got recruited and you join a new team and you don't know anybody

- Scott Leese: Yeah.

I have an automatic built-in best friend and we click.

it seemed to become almost like a weapon for the coaches as well,

because we were always in sync.

But again, I come from a very competitive family as well being raised in sports.

And so I'd say a con of it was we were always at the same time in competition.

Mm-hmm.

And even when we didn't wanna be, it's natural for a coach or

another human to compare the two of you.

Yeah.

And, okay, is this… Are you… Who's better?

Who's not as good?

Like, there were instances where I would get pulled up onto a higher team and

she wouldn't, and then I would have to navigate, do I not celebrate this win

because I, out of sake of her emotions?

And same thing for her in her own life as well, that we've balanced,

but I'd say that was probably the biggest con in general growing up as

an identical twin is struggling to figure out who you are on your own.

So I think as you grow up, you start to acquire some of things that she

does, and then she acquires things of me and then it's okay, who,

who is McKenna and who is Mikayla?

You know?

So I think, to answer your question, yeah,

- Scott Leese: Yeah.

I'd say pros and cons for sure.

and it wasn't probably until later in college that we started to really figure

out, who are we, what are we good at?

It was after soccer.

I think so much of both of our identities was wrapped up in the sport

version of us, the athlete, the soccer player, and not okay, what else is

there to me besides being an athlete?

And so I think once we hit college is when we started to

explore, our own journeys there.

So what about now?

How often do you communicate or connect or

- McKenna Doe: Very often.

every day?

I'd say we're probably the closest now that we've ever been.

but yeah, p- pretty much every day.

She's actually recently pregnant.

So she's due in October, which is super exciting for the family.

It's the first one.

she's having a baby girl.

Oh, that's great.

So very excited about that.

And I'm excited to explore being an auntie and all that fun stuff.

Yeah.

Is there any competitiveness there?

I have a lot of clients that will tell me that.

my sister's getting married and I'm the single guy, you know, I'm the male at 32

and everyone's giving me grief about it.

Is there any of that as you get older, you get married, kids and all that stuff.

Does that still come into play when it comes to competition?

I'd say I'm in a very healthy spot with all that now, but

rewind to kind of like before I moved to Scottsdale, was a lot of that.

I was recently out of a breakup at that time, so it's been, gosh, a little over

two years since I moved to Scottsdale.

I had moved home.

So I was living in San Diego for eight years total.

So college for four years, then a few years after, stayed for work.

Went through a relationship, ended, I lost myself in that.

I didn't really know who I was.

And at the same time, my sister was, extremely happy in her relationship,

heading towards engagement and I was navigating a little bit of that,

jealousy or envy or, like, when is it gonna be my turn type of thing.

And that it did come out in our relationship a little bit that, was tough.

But I knew deep down, I needed to find out who I was.

And because I was not happy with where I was at in my life, I knew

I could put two and two together.

I was self-aware enough to be like, "Okay, this is why, we're having

tension and why I'm, like, frustrated or angry at her for no reason." so I

knew, I need to figure out who I am.

It's not about what she's doing in her life.

what is good for Makenna right now?

What does she need to go do?

so yeah, we battled a little bit of that, I wanna say maybe three years ago.

so anyways, moved home from San Diego back to Huntington Beach, just to figure

out, like, where I wanted to go next.

I felt like I really outgrew San Diego, had the ex relationship there.

I felt like I was very reliant on all of my friends around me to, I

know how to be alone at that point.

and so I was like, okay, first step is just moving home.

Let me quiet the noise.

I don't wanna feel like I'm getting asked to go out all the time.

And, party, partying was a big thing in San Diego.

It still is.

It's a big reason probably why I left.

it was really hard to say no to all that stuff and I couldn't, focus and

just be like, "Okay, who am I? What do I wanna do? I'm having, an identity

crisis." So I moved home, that was the greatest decision I could have made.

I got really, really quiet and honed in on what are my goals?

What are my dreams?

what do I want in a future partner?

I know that I want to get married and settle down and have kids, you know,

at a relatively young age how do I make that happen and then stop looking at my

sister and her journey as a comparison

- Scott Leese: Yeah.

And just be my own person.

So

- Scott Leese: What was it about Scottsdale in particular?

Mike has been here for a long time.

Yeah.

what was the reason to come here?

great question.

I think I was home for about six to nine months before I actually made the move.

but in that time, I was doing a lot of just self-work, getting

really back deep into my faith.

I grew up in a Christian household.

God is I'd say, who saved me at that time.

so, I was researching, like, where I would wanna move.

I didn't want to go somewhere where I didn't know a soul.

I think that was a little too out of my comfort zone, but I didn't wanna know

too many people where it didn't force me to branch out and meet new people.

I was looking at Nashville at the time.

I had only, one family friend there, and that was it.

And I was like, "Oh, this would be great.

I love the Southern country culture, you name it.

without really considering, okay, this is really far from home.

I only know one person.

it has four seasons.

I grew up in Southern California.

I'm used to perfect weather pretty much year round.

I never really actually though about all those things.

And then I was out with some friends in Newport Beach, one

weekend and, it was my best friend from college and her now husband.

I was updating them on life and I was like, "Oh, I'm looking to move

to Nashville." And they were like, "Why?" "Why Nashville?" And I was

like, "Honestly, I couldn't tell you.

I just see everybody having so much fun there." And they're like, "Have

you ever though about Scottsdale?" And I was like, "I don't know

why I've never thought about it.

I've, visited so many times.

Every time I've been here, I have so much fun.

I have a good amount of friends, not too many where I felt like I was not gonna

actually go out and meet new people.

I have, I, he's kinda like a second uncle here, as well.

So once we started to talk about it, it started to become more real, like,

oh, actually, I could see myself here."

And every time I visit, I always say, "I wish I lived here.

It's so much fun.

The culture of the people here is not too different from the pace in

San Diego or even Orange County.

So it's also a 45-minute flight from home.

So if I ever wanna go home and see family, I can do that as

well." So that's kinda what led to

- Mike Lindstrom: So you think this is where you're gonna stay or

- McKenna Doe: For the short term.

my boyfriend and I, we've built, a pretty good community of friends here in life.

So I think the idea of leaving that right now doesn't really… there's

not as much for me back home.

Like, I have my sister, her husband, my mom.

So it's like I have a niche there, but I don't really, I haven't

really kept in touch with a lot of people from high school.

All my friends were made in, or my best friends were made in San Diego in college.

Now everybody's spread out.

San Diego would really be the only place that I would probably

move back to in California.

But then again, it's an hour, like, why, I would just move back

to Orange County in that instance.

I love the fact that I have… I left that city on my own.

I came here.

I built a brand new life.

Did the whole apartment hunting on my own.

It was the first time I furnished a place by myself.

It was the first time I was living alone.

And then I met my now love of my life here and he was kinda in the same boat

at the same time doing the same thing.

And so I think what Scottsdale means to me, is, like, where I

found, ultimately who McKenna is.

I found that, the most strength, I'm secure in who I am.

Like, and I did… Me and God did this.

we got me here and I took the leap of faith.

And so I think the idea of leaving that, leaving this place would

also be shedding that, piece of me.

Short term, I have no intention of leaving, but at the same time, my sister's

about to have a baby and, do I wanna be constantly traveling to, to be there?

I wanna be a really close aunt and spend time and I like the

idea of being down the street.

yeah.

And fortunately, my boyfriend's family is also from Orange County.

He grew up in Orange County, but we didn't actually meet until Scottsdale.

Yeah.

Which is another funny story.

so him and I talk about it a lot where, it would be easy to go back home.

If we are gonna move, it would be back there.

It's just, we don't know when.

We're having fun here and enjoying the newfound life we've

both created for ourselves.

I got a question about soccer.

Let's go back a little-

Okay.

…real quick, cause I, I was gonna ask this earlier.

Influences, heroes, like when you're a young girl-

Yeah.

you know, all these sports, which I'm a big fan of.

Mm-hmm.

I think, parents should put all the balls in front of you.

Yes.

Tennis ball, golf ball, just pick one you like.

Yeah.

Yep.

And you pick soccer, right?

So who are some of those influences for you in soccer?

I'd say Alex Morgan was probably my,

- Mike Lindstrom: Uh-huh.

Idol growing up.

She was probably, who I looked to, to be like, okay, when I was, like, eight years

old, I wanna be a pro soccer player, was what, in my mind, like, where my dream was

- Mike Lindstrom: mm-hmm.

Was to go.

And so I looked at her a lot.

And just the Women's National Team in general, I was obsessed with the USA team.

I actually got to go to a World Cup I think when I was in high school.

It was the one in Vancouver.

I was there.

Really?

I was there.

Wow.

what year was that, by the way?

I just

- McKenna Doe: I think it was 27 - wait.

I can't remember.

20… I graduated high school in 2016.

okay.

and I think I was a junior in high school at the time.

I could be way off on the timelines.

Yeah, that's alright.

But,

So, no-

but anyways, yes, that

was

kind of

Mia Hamm-

my-

Mia… I'm surprised you didn't say Mia Hamm.

Mia Hamm.

So actually, funny enough, She wasn't, coaching, but she started working at

the Club team I was playing on pretty much for, like, most of my duration.

It was a club team based out of Newport Beach, California: Slammer's FC.

but you forget though that Mia Ham is a

no, I get it.

I get it.

Prior to Alex.

No, you're right.

Yeah.

She, she was still, big though.

My generation's probably, Abby Wambach, Alex Morgan-

Yeah.

Rapinoe, and now they're all retired, obviously, but they were new.

And they all live in Orange County, by the way.

So Tish Venturini-

Really?

Tish Venerini, who played on that team with-

Uh-huh.

Mia Ham, went to UNC with Mia Ham.

is from Modesto, where I grew up.

Got it.

And she, we text each other from time to time and

she'll, she's "Oh, yeah, all of us, we all live in Orange County."

Yep.

Yep.

So they're all different.

I feel like most people want to end up there.

They do soccer camps.

I was gonna ask that question because I know there's a lot of the gals down

there that are retired or big influences.

I'd say one of the coolest things for me I don't know

if that was just the name that our Club team started to carry.

It was, I'd say it was one of the top clubs in the US that I got to play for.

but Kristen Press, who went to the national team from my Club as well.

and a lot of them would come back and play during the summer.

They would come and train, with some of the older club teams.

So we got to, like, train with some of the players

So cool.

From National Team or Top 10 D1 schools, and they would come

train with us that I'm like, this is…

I almost looked up to them more, because it was more tangible to

me, and they weren't a famous person, they weren't a celebrity.

Obviously, Kristen Press eventually became one, but it almost made it seem like,

wow, this is actually more attainable for me than, just seeing, Mia Ham on screen.

I've gotten to play with this girl and, I have beat her, to the goal.

okay, so is it doable for me, you know?

So, I'd say the, the older years where I got… It was a little bit closer

to the people that were actually making it on the national team.

Like Mallory Pugh, I played against her.

Remember she used to dribble the entire team and score a goal.

I'm like, "Yeah, it makes sense she's starting for the

US Women's National Team." But

- Scott Leese: So how did you decide after you get through school and all

this, how did you decide, "I wanna go into startups. I wanna go into tech."

How did you get into customer success?

How did you decide that startups was the right channel for you?

Yeah, great question.

I think as I was looking at a career in general, I'd known that I always

just wanna help people, whatever capacity that actually looks like.

but I grew up with a pretty, entrepreneurial business-minded family.

My grandpa started our family business back in 1975, selling chlorine out

of his garage, doing a garage sale.

He re… And this was in Florida at the time.

And he'd realized, "Oh, wow, chlorine is, a massive necessity

for people who have swimming pools."

So I ended up starting this family business, and so I

grew up around that energy.

My mom worked for the business, my uncle ended up taking it over.

So from a young age, I was always around business.

So I just knew if I wasn't playing soccer, there was some type

of path forward into business.

fast-forward to, junior year of college as it was rounding

out, I knew, okay, I haven't…

The only work experience I've had was, like, working for a couple months for my

family, which was great, but it wasn't extensive enough on a resume to probably

get hired on a full-time position.

So senior year and what a big thing at USD was through the business school was

getting internships for class credit.

okay, let me just start there.

I was a communications major and a minor in marketing, which was

basically code for, I have no idea what

[laughing]

the hell to do with my life.

I thought that was PoliSci.

I thought that was psychology.

PoliSci for me.

Maybe everybody says that.

But,

[laughing]

but yeah, I was like, "Okay, how can I, like, how can I party,

start, play a sport and balance school?

what's the easiest major to… at the time when I got into that major, I was

playing soccer, so that was my priority.

And by the time I ended up quitting soccer, it was too late into the

degree to, go switch around and I wanted to graduate in four years.

I'm like, I'm not a school person.

Like I just want to go out into the real world and work." so anyways,

I got the, opportunity to do an internship for class credit for school.

I ended up seeing, our co-founder and CEO repost something, I think, on her

Instagram story of another girl who had just closed down an internship.

I was like, "I didn't even know they were hiring." I had known they had

just started brand new tech company, very small, not a lot of money.

I didn't even know that they were hiring.

So I saw that and I was like, "Oh, they probably could use some help."

And I will likely wear multiple hats because it is a startup.

And I at that time still didn't know what exactly I wanted to do.

I had no idea what I was good at outside of playing soccer.

I just knew that I had drive.

I was tenacious.

I wanted to, see what I was good at.

I just, I knew I, I could finish… The fact that I could

finish school, I worked hard.

Like I always put that first because I knew I wanted to get a good education.

I wanted to get a good job.

I knew the work ethic was there.

It was more so about, what am I actually good at and what would I actually like?

so I felt like a startup presented the best space to be able to figure out

what exactly that was versus being like, oh, I'm just gonna go become another

digital marketing intern or digital marketing analyst at a corporate company.

I didn't really wanna be in corporate.

So it felt like it was gonna put me in too much of a box and I've never been

somebody who wants to be put in a box.

I wanna create my own path.

So you, you do all these different roles when you get there.

How do you kinda hone in on the role you're in now?

Yes.

What made you fall in love with that specific function?

Yes.

So I loved the almost like it kinda mapped to a similar energy I would feel when

I would step out on the soccer field.

It was like, like good nerves where it's like I knew I had

to perform under pressure.

And the idea of, getting on a meeting with, whether it was a sales call

or a client, I always felt like I stepped into this new persona of

myself when I got on that call.

And always wanting to achieve, a positive end result on that meeting.

And so I knew as I navigated between sales, marketing, client support, pro

- I've even been in product at the company.

[laughing] So pretty much all for, the first three years when I started there,

it was a lot of just doing sales calls.

I was, helping design different decks.

I was talking with our engineers and figuring out drumming

up the next best feature.

And then I was troubleshooting some client issue with somebody because

I, we didn't have a big team.

I was running onboarding, then I'm implementation, then I'm

success, then I'm renewing.

it's a lot to carry at one time.

But I think where I felt like I thrived the most was, almost from

a consultative perspective with the client, and it brings in, I just, at

the end of the day, I wanna help you.

I get so curious about your problems and how, let me dig into my repertoire

and my brain, or what can we do at the company to help you in any way

possible, regardless of the end result.

Yeah, it's great to renew this client.

It's great to get their business, but, am I helping Sarah across from me?

that's what actually, gets me

- Scott Leese: Yeah.

Up in the morning.

when people ask you, "What do you do for a living?" What do you say?

[ McKenna Doe: laughing] Tech sales.

[laughing]

She doesn't say-

Is that what you said?

You… you don't say that you help people.

I don't.

She says tech sales.

Which I should, which it's funny, it always leads to,

like, a 10-minute conversation

That's our next book "From the Pitch to the Pitch."

Yeah!

[laughing]

[laughing]

You get it?

I get it.

It's good, huh?

I get it.

That's your, that's your book.

I don't say a lot because then people ask, what is that?"

[laughing]

Instead of me just, leading with it, then it's I'm just giving too

much information without even being asked.

Well, the-

So…

the, the question that I was thinking about was,

do you love what you do or do you love what it forces you to become?

Who you have to become in order to do that function?

I don't know if you've ever heard of that.

It's a good question for you.

That's a great question.

I think I, that's something I'm still figuring out.

I think I love, I love that I get to help people every day in some capacity.

And I think I've over the last, almost seven years, I've gone through a lot

of, shedding identities of myself I've almost had to evolve and adapt

who I am as the company's evolved and adopted and it's a great question.

It's as if, am I evolving into what the company wants me to be, or am I evolving

into what McKenna wants me to be?

Right.

So, I think that's something that I'm still navigating,

but, I got really into just, mental health and mindfulness and mindset and

all this stuff as I was going through that little bit of an identity crisis

and figuring out, okay, I can find aspects of this job that I do love.

And just be - like, I don't have to love my job to find reasons to enjoy my job.

Yeah.

I know that I like, this job challenges me.

This job, no day looks the same because I get to wear a few different hats,

which is best suited for my personality.

I love who I work with.

I'm big on, I know that I wanna be in a team.

I don't wanna just be a one-star show.

And I think I've had to pull back the layers of working to realize,

okay, I know all the core things that I like, would like at a job, and it

doesn't necessarily matter where it is.

If I can find those core things there, then I can be happy.

and that's enough for me today.

I think there's a lot I dream about outside of this that I don't know

is, the right, which everybody says, it's never the right time.

No time is ever the right time.

You kinda just take the leap of faith.

but for where I'm at right now, it's where I feel like I'm supposed to be.

and I know that it's leading me to something greater beyond this.

So what, what is, what is that next "greater?"

What's the next chapter?

I've always talked about it amongst my friends or my

family, residential real estate is something that just, really excites me.

my sister actually, she got a major in real estate and finance.

and then her husband is in commercial real estate as well.

My brother's in commercial real estate.

and so I've over the last few years, been around a lot of that lingo.

I love interior design is so fascinating to me.

I actually took one semester of architecture back at USD because I was

like, "Oh, interior design sounds fun." But then I was like, "Okay, actually,

I suck at like, architecture." But I have an eye for, like, what looks good

in a home, and I have an eye for what looks good on the outside of a home.

I know that it wouldn't be, commercial real estate, it's too dry for me.

I don't wanna work in warehousing and industrious, all that stuff.

and then I think just the financial opportunity there for sure.

Yeah.

And then it provides an in - person element that I've actually never

had just because we… I graduated in… During COVID in 2020.

Our business went pretty much fully remote, slash hybrid.

and then I moved, so I've been

- Mike Lindstrom: Did you actually get a graduation?

we did, a virtual graduation 2020-

So crazy.

But then a year later, they did.

We did have, an actual, so I got to watch.

It's such a weird time in our lives, all of us.

I know, it feels

my kids were in transition between two schools at that time.

Yeah.

You just look back on that, and you always think about how much more

resilient you probably are because

- McKenna Doe: Oh, yeah.

Of what you went through at that juncture of your life,

Yeah.

Right?

Yeah.

It was an interesting time.

But the one thing about not being in San Diego where a company is that

I don't really have an in-person element other than maybe two

times a year when we have a QBR.

So you crave that a little bit.

I do.

Yeah.

And, like, I, I feel like more of who McKenna comes out.

you get the more true side of me versus I feel like when I'm on Zoom calls

all day with clients, it's like I'm putting my best foot forward, of course.

You get the Zoom personality, right?

It's a little bit more, not that I'm not put together in the real world, but

it's if you guys can relate to that when you hop on, I feel like a Zoom call.

Oh, you go into character sometimes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You go into character.

And I feel like when you do it for so long, you've put, you've built

now… I've built a Zoom character

- Mike Lindstrom: Yeah,

That's so true.

That, I step into the moment that call starts.

And is it, me or is it this character that I'm playing, versus I feel like when I'm

in person, I'm just being me, I'm natural.

Yeah.

And I haven't really had the opportunity to explore that aspect

- Scott Leese: I think that's the goal that…

Business.

That so many people are looking for in business

- McKenna Doe: Yeah.

is how can I find a role or a

- Mike Lindstrom: Yeah.

…job function where I don't have to put on this caricature

- McKenna Doe: Yeah.

Or this avatar or whatever.

It's funny how people do that.

Yeah.

I was on a big group call with a big insurance company the other day, and

I got off the phone after the fact.

It was, like, I don't know, 30 boxes on the virtual.

"Oh, is that the guy that looks like so-and-so?" Like, everyone tries to

make, because you don't know them.

Yeah.

Like, all is this little box, and then they go

"Oh, she's the one that looks like Demi Moore?" "Right?"

I've actually gotten that.

You ever got that before?

Yeah.

That's so funny.

I'm like…

No, I'm just saying, that's what people have in association

- McKenna Doe: Yeah, yeah.

With this little tiny box, and you're like, "That's not who I am."

Yeah, no.

But that's what the world, w- w- we grew up in sales.

It was like you're in that office, man.

Yeah.

Eight to five.

Every day.

Everything that's on Saturday, Sunday, closing deals quarterly.

Yep.

So that paradigm shift is massive.

But I'm always curious when I talk to younger professionals, how that's

really impacted you from the get-go

- McKenna Doe: yeah.

From COVID graduation to who you are today.

Yeah.

It's tough.

Yeah, it is.

I think the only difference is, I don't really have anything to compare it to.

It was my baseline.

Whereas if, I was doing that beforehand and then I did that, then I would have

some type of comparison to be like, what do I prefer?" so that's the thing,

is I haven't really, really known, but I feel like that's what I crave

more than anything and that's why I say, real estate would provide me the

opportunity to be in person a lot more.

I think also, too, the opportunity to meet people and it's a space

that homes are a necessity

Yeah, it's a must have versus a nice

- McKenna Doe: It's a must have for-

…nice to have-

…the whole world, right?

Yeah.

So, like, I love the fact that I could build more of

a one-on-one close relationship with somebody and, finance is a

real - is a really personal topic.

When they go to buy a home and, do they have the budget for it?

And what are they gonna have to sacrifice with this?

Yeah.

And helping, the excitement I could get from helping somebody purchase their

first home, being able to be a part of that energy is so fascinating to me

that I would love to get to experience that one day where it doesn't…

I look at it as almost like it wouldn't feel like work.

yes, there would be aspects to it.

It's not like it would be easy.

I would have to grind and I would have to go out and build my network

and meet new people and it's gonna be uncomfortable at first, but like I

can't think of a better way to almost feel like I'm like who I am just how

I'm gonna show up and work as well.

Yeah.

there's not as much of a disparity.

Yeah.

Of course you wanna put your best foot forward, but I feel

like it'll feel so natural that I'm helping somebody and not as like salesy,

so to speak, where I will rely on my relationship and my connection with

that person and the trust we've built.

And that's why they would buy from me versus somebody who may, maybe giving

them a better deal, but do you wanna work with me or do you wanna work with them?

I think younger professionals in real estate have

it, in a good way compared when we were selling to real estate industry.

When you're younger, because social media.

Yeah.

You know how to brand yourself and market yourself.

Back in the day, it was the average real estate agent in the

United States was 54 years old, mostly a woman, non-educated meal.

Yeah.

I knew the stats cold because we used to consult that industry.

Much different demographic now.

Yeah.

So if you were to jump into that, you already get way

ahead of that demographic because you know how to play the game.

You're a brander.

Yeah.

You know how to do that.

Marketing.

Right.

I've done a million things.

Yeah.

Now you just have to start working on branding yourself.

Yeah.

Correct, yeah.

that's something I've never… I'm a pretty private person as well.

Gotta start trying to nudge that part forward a little bit maybe.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Which I'm not opposed to.

I think I've just more of the, "Okay, what's on the other

side?" and then keeping that up,

So are you, are you a fan of social media or no?

no, no.

I am.

Are you-

I've got Instagram, I've got TikTok, I've got

But how about,

LinkedIn-

but are you on it?

I'm not, I'm not - I'm not

like,

promoting it?

The only thing that I actually post stuff on is Instagram.

it's more just like Instagram stories.

I post personal things, but my profile's private.

I'm not like… I don't use it as a way to generate eyeballs to me.

It's more so like keeping in touch with friends, seeing what's going

on in everybody's oldest life.

that might change as you

- McKenna Doe: Yes.

Move forward in your

- Mike Lindstrom: They'll have to change it.

If she goes into real estate

- Scott Leese: If she goes into real estate, that'll have to change.

Yes.

And that's kind of… Like I know that that's on the horizon, but

- Scott Leese: Yeah.

As far as for what I've been doing, LinkedIn is probably more of the

- Scott Leese: Yeah.

Where I should be focusing my time to grow my platform.

And a lot of the people that do follow me or I am connected to are

specifically in marketing or in sales.

So I could have insights for them that they could

- Scott Leese: Yeah.

…take back with them.

Versus I feel like real estate, it would be leaning way more heavily into

Instagram, the more broader socials than

- Scott Leese: Yeah.

Instagram, TikTok.

it,

way more

- Mike Lindstrom: So I have a question for you real quick.

…opportunity.

So we bring you back in a year.

So year-to-the-date, you sit on this couch.

What's happened in your life in the last year?

Hopefully I'm engaged.

Okay.

Somebody's on the clock.

Okay.

Somebody's on the clock.

Okay.

Okay!

Somebody's-

He's gonna watch this later too, but

- Mike Lindstrom: Hey, is, is he wa - is he watching?

Are you gonna see this episode?

He's on the clock.

We've, we've talked about it.

No.

our timeline is, sometime late this year is

- Mike Lindstrom: Okay.

Is the goal.

But

- Mike Lindstrom: And then shortly thereafter

- McKenna Doe: Outside of that.

You got your sister

having

ki - you know?

Wedding, kids, all the things.

if I, I would like to start having kids by 30.

But again

- Mike Lindstrom: Yeah.

You never know.

life happens,

All the things.

those are my plans, I think, long-term.

I grew up with a stay-at-home mom, and she's amazing.

I think it's the greatest job in the world anybody could possibly have.

It's a hard job.

I know.

Yeah.

long-term, that's probably, my end goal.

Yeah.

But at the same time, I know I'm gonna probably wanna do

other things as well because I've been in business my whole life and,

I love that aspect of who I am.

So I'm sure that I'm gonna have some type of…

Anything I could still work from home, be part-time, still

challenge my brain in that capacity.

And I also want to show my future daughters, God

willing, I can have daughters.

You see how she said that so quick?

They can be more…

She was just so assumptive.

She knows.

She said she was so assumptive!

She knows what she wants.

I do.

I do know.

I want boys and I want girls, but,

[laughing]

I want that…

I want them to also look up to me and se that I could do…

They could do both as well.

Yeah.

so yeah, I, I have no idea what is all gonna happen.

That's the rough, what I want for my life.

But in a year, as far as career goes, hopefully exploring what, the residential

real estate space looks like for me.

I think I need to… The starting place is, learning and educating myself

to begin with, and then obviously it's path to getting a license.

And then I do have a few connections in the residential real estate space here,

as well as back home in Orange County.

So I know that there's

- Mike Lindstrom: Good.

There are doors

- Mike Lindstrom: Love it.

that I could walk through, that would give me the

opportunity to explore if this is something I would even wanna do.

Yeah.

Fear has held me back a little bit on just taking

the leap to do it on the side.

And it is hard to balance, a full-time job that takes so much of me.

a startup is a lot different than just showing up to your, you know

- Mike Lindstrom: Yeah, that's good.

…corporate accounting job.

We got some rapid fires.You got some?

I don't got a rap-

I got it.

I got a few.

You can give it a rapid fire.

All right.

We gotta wrap.

All right.

All right.

favorite part of San Diego?

The beach.

I'd say

- Mike Lindstrom: Which part?

Which, which beach?

Well, Mission Beach.

Pacific Beach is where I spent most of my time in college and right after.

So was it Mission or PB?

Which one?

You gotta pick one.

PB.

All right, PB.

Okay.

Favorite book?

All time.

I think I'm reading it right now.

It's called "Let Them" by Mel Robbins.

Oh,

Yeah yeah yeah.

Mel.

We love Mel.

Love Me Some Mel.

Favorite movie all the time?

Oh, that's a tough one.

The Dictator.

It's The Dictator.

I'm, I've

- Mike Lindstrom: It's hilarious.

I did not see that coming.

I wouldn't see that one coming.

I mean, I would say, like, the God - Probably

That's a unique answer.

I just watched The Dictator and Borat, so maybe that's why.

It's a unique answer.

The guy's brilliant.

Sasha.

He's so good.

Biggest influence in your life was who?

My mom.

Mom?

Yeah.

What's one mom-ism that you'll never forget?

She said this to you from day one.

Oh, gosh.

She said I feel like so many mom-isms, so many one-liners.

I don't know that I could pinpoint one.

[scoffs]

Yeah?

I just feel like her aura as a mom, she just… I'll use a term

to describe her as, who is Janet Doe?

She's very sacrificial.

She's put, she's always put her children first, her husband first, her

extended family first, before herself.

She's a very selfless human being.

Yeah.

And I try to… I feel like I've acquired a lot of the

same characteristics and something that I use as a comparison to me

when I'm like, "Okay, who do I…

When I think about, what decision should I make?

Yeah.

Or I need to put this person first.

I think about my mom.

That's awesome.

We appreciate you spending some time with us.

Absolutely.

Thank you!

Been a, been a pleasure to get to know you a litle bit more.

Yeah.

We're gonna have to take a little picture and send it to

- McKenna Doe: Yes.

Our friend, Ada.

Yes.

…over there.

And Sam as well.

I don't think she knows that I'm here.

[laughing]

Unless you told her.

[laughing]

I may have told her.

[laughing]

I may have told her.

I may have told her.

All right, everybody.

Thanks for another episode of the What's Your Story podcast.

I'm Scott Leese.

This is Mike Lindstrom.

Give us a follow, share, tell everybody about the show.

And, we'll see you next time.