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Hi, everyone.

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Welcome to the next episode of

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the Bay Street capital holdings

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podcast titled, How do you do

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it? And why should I care? This

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series aims to highlight women

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doing amazing work in various

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industries. So today, we are so

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lucky to be joined by Kim

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Flanery-Rye, who is founder and

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principal consultant, MyKimisms.

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Hi, Kim, lovely to have you on

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the show.

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You too. Thank

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you so much for inviting me.

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So I guess we can first start off with an introduction as to who you are,

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and perhaps an answer to the

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main question of the podcast,

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which is how do you do it? And

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why should I care?

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Fantastic.

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Yeah. Again, my name is Kim.

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Honestly, why should you care

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about what I do, I actually work

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in the area of diversity, equity

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and inclusion, as we know, of

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the massive changes that

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occurred in 2020, after George

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Floyd's murder, especially,

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there was definitely people like

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to call it an awakening. But

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obviously, it's been something

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that's been happening for

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centuries. But especially around

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that sort of like, sand, you

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know, like a line in the sand

1:07

has made this industry

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definitely much more important,

1:11

and others to really want to

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know more about it. So I think

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that's why it's what I do and

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why why I do it.

1:21

Awesome. So my next

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question to you is what inspired

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you to join this industry and to

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become an entrepreneur? I know,

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it's really tough

1:28

entrepreneurial scene out there,

1:30

you know, it's like risks and

1:30

failures galore. But I'm so glad

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that you know, you found your

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own company, and you're doing

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something you're really passionate about.

1:38

Yeah, absolutely. You know, I think many of us that are

1:40

entrepreneurs, we are we have

1:44

been entrepreneurs, all of our

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lives, even if we didn't have

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our own business yet. I, on the

1:47

other hand, have had actually

1:51

another business, I would say

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probably about 15 years ago,

1:55

where I started my own

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organization for supporting

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local artists and designers and

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community around that in the

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northwest. So I started with

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about 40 local artists and

2:07

designers and had about 140

2:07

different artists and designers

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that I supported through that

2:11

business. So I think for me,

2:15

always been an entrepreneur, and

2:15

even within organizations that I

2:19

work for, now that I have 20

2:19

plus years behind me, I can look

2:23

at it historically, really, back

2:23

and know that I've always

2:27

created even roles and new

2:27

departments within every job

2:31

that I've ever had. And so I

2:31

think this is it's just part of

2:35

who I am, and how I just tend to

2:35

function in the world,

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also, and so what

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were the best resources that

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helped you along the way, you mentioned that you've kind of been an entrepreneur all your

2:45

life, you had a company founded

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like 15 years ago? I'm curious

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what helped you, you know, found

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this company, my Kim isms?

2:54

Yeah. So my

2:54

Kimball isms is, again, focusing

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on Diversity, Equity and

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Inclusion, there's a couple of

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things that happened, really,

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that was probably significant in

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my life in the way that the

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change occurred. One is that I

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went back to get my master's, I

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got my, my MBA, through a

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university that was what's

3:16

considered a Jesuit university.

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And for me, not particularly

3:20

specifically focused on the

3:25

Christian religion or anything

3:25

like that, but I do love their

3:30

approach to and philosophy,

3:30

which is all about ethical

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leadership, how you show up in

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the global commons? How do you

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impact from a social justice

3:39

and, and other way of looking

3:44

and thinking, and since my

3:44

master's in my MBA was for

3:49

executives, and I was a, I was a

3:49

working professional at the time

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and an executive that had a huge

3:52

shift in the way that I want, I

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wanted to show up as an you

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know, as someone in, like I

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said, in the world, and at that

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time, I was an executive, that

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it's been in business. And it

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was a vice president at that

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time, and working at a business

4:11

to business marketing, digital

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marketing organization. So I

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think that also helped me really

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set up really looking at it from

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a business foundation

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fundamentals and how I can

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approach my new business moving

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forward, for sure.

4:32

Yeah, definitely. I

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would agree that that experience

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that you had with your first

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company would probably carry

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over into your second and that's

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really awesome that you kind of

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were very expertise when setting

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up your second company. But I'm

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curious as to in this second

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time that you had you set up

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your own company. What lessons

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did you wish you would have

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known before starting in the

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field of Diversity and Equity

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and Inclusion?

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I think just

4:56

like many of us that are in the

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As field, we have very, very

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diverse intersections that are

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us. And during this work is both

5:05

pretty internally can be

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traumatic, as well as, as you're

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trying to teach others. So

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really understanding the balance

5:16

of how do i Oh, my apologies

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while people are coming in and

5:20

out of my space, and how do I

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really balance that that

5:24

emotional burden, the emotional

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impact that has on me, while I'm

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trying to support others in

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their learning journey? Right.

5:34

So I wish I had probably a

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little bit more understanding

5:37

about that before I really got

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started. But again, there's it's

5:41

part of the journey. I think, in

5:45

any entrepreneur, certain

5:45

things, I definitely learned a

5:48

lot of things from my first

5:48

business, and then all of that

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business experience to bringing

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into this one. But it was

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definitely that one wasn't I

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wasn't ready for for sure. Well,

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at least you learned our lesson. And you saw it as a learning opportunity.

6:02

And you didn't kind of like shy

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away from the opportunity

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because of that. Because you

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obviously at the end of the day,

6:07

with diversity, equity and

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inclusion work, you're dealing

6:10

with people's lives, people's

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stories. And yeah, I think you

6:12

took that very well.

6:15

Yeah, thank

6:15

you. And again, we're installing

6:18

part of the pandemic. So you get

6:18

to see real life happening as

6:22

going through a puppy's going

6:22

through my house and

6:26

adjustments. Yeah, that we do

6:26

just I think, in general. So

6:30

that's just a work

6:30

from home ethic, I think. Yeah.

6:34

And then so talking about

6:34

learning opportunities. What

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would you say throughout your

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career was your biggest failure?

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And what did you learn from it?

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I think the biggest failure, I think, especially as an entrepreneur,

6:44

is that feeling like you have to

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do it on your own to be

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successful. And that is, I mean,

6:52

a failure waiting to happen

6:52

every stage along the way.

6:55

Because, you know, as we know,

6:55

in life, we can't do things on

6:59

our own. And there's always a

6:59

group of people that are there

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to help you succeed, and that

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they're more than happy for you

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to tap their resources, their

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community, the way that they can

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support with their expertise.

7:13

And I think, you know,

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ultimately, that is something

7:16

even still to this day, that I

7:21

still don't always leverage in a

7:21

way that would make me more

7:26

successful, I think, I think

7:26

that that's part of that

7:29

independent is or maybe feeling

7:29

like, you know, feeling like

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that I don't want to show up

7:34

looking like a failure, or that

7:38

need help, or all of those

7:38

things that sometimes that we go

7:41

through as entrepreneurs, the

7:41

difference between how you want

7:46

to, like, show up externally,

7:46

and how you really, you know,

7:50

behind the scene, like what's

7:50

happening behind the scene?

7:53

Yeah, definitely

7:53

does some very helpful advice

7:55

and sort of speaking about

7:55

advice, what would you give as a

7:59

piece of advice to somebody who

7:59

is wanting to pursue a career

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similar to yours?

8:04

Oh, around diversity, equity inclusion, I would say for sure, just like

8:06

the learning that I had, which

8:10

is know that it is it can be an

8:10

emotional, emotional term,

8:13

emotional journey for you

8:13

throughout the process, and be

8:21

open to that and know how to

8:21

rest in a way that can be

8:26

healthy for your conscious and

8:26

your body, it's going to be

8:30

really important. And then of

8:30

course, really understand that

8:33

even in diversity, equity and

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inclusion, you're not you're

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also on a journey, and you're

8:36

going to step in it a lot. And

8:40

know that you this idea of

8:40

expertise or an expert, I always

8:44

have a hard time sort of

8:44

wrapping my mind around that.

8:46

Because I always believe that

8:46

we're always students always

8:50

learning. And so I think

8:50

approaching it from that

8:53

perspective of knowing that,

8:53

that you are also going to fall

8:58

into all those, I would say,

8:58

traps of being a human, of doing

9:03

things were unintentionally or

9:03

not going to, you know, fall

9:09

into the things that you're

9:09

trying to teach others and how

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to avoid those.

9:13

Definitely, there's

9:13

some very helpful advice. And

9:16

obviously, you're quite the

9:16

season entrepreneur. So you've

9:19

probably seen it all. What is

9:19

one common myth about the

9:22

entrepreneurship industry that

9:22

you'd like to debunk right here

9:25

right now?

9:26

Oh, my gosh. So

9:26

this idea that entrepreneurs

9:31

are, their ideas are just like,

9:31

boom, light bulb moments. Right.

9:38

I think that's why a lot of

9:38

times people have and that is a

9:41

definitely a myth. Most

9:41

entrepreneurs, I think, in

9:45

general, they probably have

9:45

thought things through. They're

9:48

looking at things where there's

9:48

gaps in certain areas that

9:52

they're like, could fill, fill,

9:52

fill that gap, or that they're

9:57

not necessarily innovators,

9:57

right. Sometimes, they are

10:01

maximizers. And they're folks

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that can really showcase certain

10:07

things where you can make

10:07

whatever that next thing are

10:13

that they're launching to solve

10:13

something else. And just because

10:16

you're entrepreneurs, that

10:16

doesn't mean, this is one of the

10:19

other methods that it's because

10:19

it can't work for anyone else. I

10:23

think I've showed it throughout

10:23

history, I work for several

10:25

amazing other founders and

10:25

entrepreneurs, and also

10:30

enterprise companies. And I was

10:30

able to sort of have that

10:33

entrepreneurial spirit within

10:33

those organizations. So it's not

10:38

because we can't work for

10:38

someone or that we don't want to

10:41

work for someone, there's things

10:41

that we're trying to solve. And

10:44

there's a way that may have not

10:44

been able to do in a different

10:49

context.

10:50

That's also and

10:50

obviously, as an entrepreneur,

10:53

you're probably really, really

10:53

busy. But what is one thing that

10:55

you've read or listened to

10:55

recently that's really inspired

10:58

you.

11:00

So I read a lot

11:00

because of the space that I'm

11:04

in. And also from my own

11:04

learning, I think for me, one of

11:08

the biggest impact that I've had

11:08

this, in the last year of

11:15

reading is cast. And I think

11:15

just this idea of history, and

11:21

Black history is American

11:21

history. And the way that the

11:25

idea of why it's so important

11:25

when people say, you have to

11:30

look at history from all

11:30

different angles and sides,

11:34

because there's been so much

11:34

whitewashing when it comes to

11:37

our historical reference, and I

11:37

think just the way that she was

11:41

able to write in the idea of, of

11:41

also systemic racism, and

11:48

various ways that it shows up,

11:48

that book cast has been like,

11:52

just, well, it's definitely not

11:52

only just this last year, but

11:56

probably one of the most

11:56

influential books I've read. So

11:59

far in my life,

12:01

I've definitely had

12:01

that book is definitely one to

12:03

pick up. So make sure to check

12:03

it out. And then following on

12:06

from our conversation,

12:06

obviously, I think

12:09

entrepreneurship can sometimes

12:09

be a lonely industry, but a lot

12:12

of people got to realize it

12:12

doesn't need to be so who are

12:15

three people in your life who

12:15

have been the most influential

12:18

to you?

12:19

Oh, Mikayla

12:19

Ayers, she is also the DEI

12:23

space. She is an anti racist

12:23

community builder, and her

12:30

organization is called nourish,

12:30

she is one of the probably most

12:35

influential person because we

12:35

tend to really work together a

12:39

lot in this space as, as

12:39

consultants, it can be pretty

12:43

lonely, I would say, one of my

12:43

original, original, but one of

12:51

my managers and mentors, Annika

12:51

leading who is a woman, again, a

12:58

founder entrepreneur, I mean,

12:58

just that kick ass woman who is

13:03

just understands her place of

13:03

privilege and white power that

13:06

she has, and she shares the

13:06

wealth shares the space. And all

13:12

of that is just phenomenal. And,

13:12

and just I can't, I can't say

13:21

more about how wonderful she is.

13:21

And then I would say, the third

13:28

person really has to do with.

13:28

And this is really hard for me,

13:34

because I want to sort of like,

13:34

put them in a group is what I

13:41

would consider my chosen family.

13:41

Right, my chosen family, those

13:46

are the friends that have been

13:46

with me, I have friendships that

13:49

have been 23 plus years strong.

13:49

And they're the ones that are

13:53

my, you know, trusted advisors

13:53

that I can go for anything and

13:57

everything who will be there to

13:57

hug me while I cry, who will you

14:01

know, bring me champagne to

14:01

celebrate, who will drop

14:04

anything and fly, you know, to

14:04

the place that I need for the

14:09

support that I that I craving or

14:09

need or didn't even know I

14:14

needed at the time. And so that

14:14

amazing group of people me just

14:19

saying my chosen family I don't

14:19

know even watching this. Don't

14:23

know who they are. So they're

14:23

just some of the most amazing

14:26

people that I've had in my life.

14:29

And then finally,

14:29

to round off our conversation,

14:31

what is one piece of advice that

14:31

you wish you gave yourself at

14:34

any point in your life?

14:38

Don't take yourself too seriously. Honestly, even even in like deep

14:41

work, I would say in diversity

14:46

and inclusion. Like it's just

14:46

you can't you can't take things.

14:51

You can't take yourself too

14:51

seriously.

14:54

Yeah, I agree. I

14:54

agree. I would love me to stand

14:57

on so thank you so much, Kim for

14:57

taking the time to speak with me

14:59

today. It was truly engaging to

14:59

have this conversation

15:03

Well my gosh

15:03

thank you so much and I really

15:05

appreciate you reaching out and

15:05

great talking with you as well

15:08

thank you for bye bye