Cranking Up the Volume on Real Change

00:02.03
Betsy Hamm
Welcome to Loud and Lifted. I'm your host, Betsy Hamm, and this is episode number one. I am so excited to finally get this launched. If you are hearing this, this means that it's real and it's finally out and running. It's been a long time coming.

00:17.43
Betsy Hamm
ah Launching a podcast takes way more time and effort than I ever imagined, but I'm happy ah that we're finally hitting the ground running. So with episode number one, I wanted to take a little bit of a different approach. Typically, this podcast will feature conversations with guests. However, with episode number one, I wanted to take a minute and I wanted to introduce myself and I wanted to tell you a little bit more about why I wanted to do this and what you can expect on future episodes.

00:45.26
Betsy Hamm
So let's get started. i am a mom of two teenage daughters who are 17 and 14. So yes, fun times, raising them with my husband. And I've always been a working mom.

00:57.40
Betsy Hamm
I spent the first 15 years of my career at Hershey Entertainment and Resorts in various marketing roles, so obviously big corporate world where our job was to get people to the sweetest place on earth.

01:09.23
Betsy Hamm
I left Hershey about eight years ago and I took a job with Duck Donuts. If you're not familiar, Duck Donuts is an international donut franchise where they do made-to-order donuts.

01:20.00
Betsy Hamm
And when I first started at Duck eight years ago, it was founder-led, and they were just getting started. It was very small, sort of mom-and-pop feel, ah just looking to grow and expand. And I had the opportunity to, at first, work really closely with the founder to help grow and scale the business.

01:35.87
Betsy Hamm
The last four years that I was at Duck, I was actually the CEO, ah which was an amazing opportunity to grow and scale a brand literally across the globe. So I left Duck in January, and ah with that, we had almost 200 locations open.

01:52.48
Betsy Hamm
And ah when I left, this now gave me the opportunity to have the time to finally launch this podcast. So through my 20-plus year career, I've experienced a lot um as a woman in the workplace and even in leadership.

02:08.93
Betsy Hamm
If we go back to the very beginning of my career at Hershey, I was fortunate enough at the very beginning to have a ah boss who was a VP of marketing who was a woman. Now, at the time, she was the only executive VP level woman at the company.

02:25.13
Betsy Hamm
Luckily, that has changed through the years. There's a lot more women in leadership at Hershey, but at the time she was the pioneer and she was the trailblazer. And I obviously, an early 20-year-old woman, looked up to her and realized that she was it, right? She was the only one representing women's perspective at the table.

02:43.64
Betsy Hamm
And what was amazing about her was is that she took her um role very seriously as ah as an executive woman back in the day when there wasn't that many. And she created women's groups um within the organization where we had a lot of professional development opportunities. We got to meet other women across the company um and just really focus on that professional growth, gave us some tools and resources that we would need in order to succeed as women in the workplace.

03:10.37
Betsy Hamm
So that really meant a lot to me and stuck with me. And to this day, she is one of my mentors. And I'm very excited to say she will be one of our guests on an upcoming episode where we'll get to hear more from someone who, again, was really a pioneer in supporting women and and helping them grow and the workplace 20-some years ago.

03:27.79
Betsy Hamm
So when I left Hershey and the big corporate organization and and started at Duck, I realized that there weren't a lot of women in leadership roles within franchising or with even in the restaurant industry.

03:39.61
Betsy Hamm
So what's crazy, in the franchising industry, only 16% of CEOs, presidents, founders are women. Now, that's not a stat from 20 some years ago. That's a stat from a year, two years ago.

03:52.95
Betsy Hamm
um So it's crazy when you go to conferences and you realize that that leadership level um There aren't a lot of women. I had the opportunity to have a lot of exposure within the industry um because I was a CEO and I was a woman and I spent some time a lot of time doing podcasts and and talking at different events because I found it really important um to capitalize on the opportunity that I maybe had a bit louder of a voice ah being a woman in the industry.

04:17.82
Betsy Hamm
Now, the great thing is whether it's in the restaurant industry or in the franchising industry, they've started women's groups who are actually impactful. um In the restaurant leadership kind of restaurant leadership and franchising, there's there's groups that um give women a voice. They put on amazing conferences and are really helping to acknowledge the fact that we need to um have more women in those executive roles. So I love that and I completely support that.

04:43.39
Betsy Hamm
And, you know, I also think about the fact that we're just on the heels of International Women's History Month, Women's Day. And as I'm sure you all saw, there are a lot of posts about supporting women and women in leadership. And um it's very cheerleader-y and very rah-rah, which is great.

05:01.95
Betsy Hamm
It's great to see that optimism and that excitement around women um in the workplace. However, the problem is it needs to be more than one day and it needs to be more than one month.

05:13.22
Betsy Hamm
And while it's really great to talk to post about it we need to actually do something about it. And we need to have actions and behaviors that align with supporting women. Because one thing I found through my career is that women don't support other women.

05:28.32
Betsy Hamm
You know, we talk about the glass ceiling and we talk about the boys club and we'll just pause right there and and acknowledge that the boys club is real. It is definitely exists. It is very strong.

05:39.33
Betsy Hamm
And I can't even be mad about that because at the end of the day, men have found a way to support each other. And maybe sometimes they're too loyal. And it certainly sucks when you're on the outside of that circle or that club.

05:53.09
Betsy Hamm
um But it exists. And the reality is we don't have a girls club. And it's funny, when I first started talking about wanting to launch this podcast, probably years ago at this point,

06:04.12
Betsy Hamm
I wanted to call it There Is No Girls Club because there isn't. And don't get me wrong, there is a lot of amazing women out there. As I mentioned, there's amazing groups that are out there that are being formed that are actually making an impact.

06:17.27
Betsy Hamm
um But at the end of the day, there needs to be more. There needs to be more women who are amplifying voices and being supportive. And we need to do it all the time. We can't just do it once a month or one time um in a month out of the year. it it has to be just how we operate.

06:33.71
Betsy Hamm
as a society. So this podcast is intended to bring light to that. Let's talk about the issue, why it happens, and what are we going to do about it?

06:44.39
Betsy Hamm
How do we make it better? How do we treat each other better? How do we lift each other up and amplify that support? This isn't intended to be a bitch fest, although I'm sure there'll be a little bit of that.

06:55.98
Betsy Hamm
um But we want to talk about the good. We want to talk about the bad. We're going probably talk about the ugly. And then let's talk about how we can hold each other accountable to just do better. Now, i know what you're thinking. This isn't just a podcast for women.

07:09.31
Betsy Hamm
Men, this is important for you too. And and you may be thinking, well, why? um But you all have women you care about. And it may be your girlfriend. It may be your wife. It may be your daughter.

07:20.35
Betsy Hamm
But at the least, it's your coworkers. So a lot of times this is going on and men don't even realize it. And it's been very interesting as I talk about this topic to men.

07:32.42
Betsy Hamm
You can kind of see the wheels spinning like, wow, Okay, I had no idea that that was an issue, but now that makes sense. So again, it's bringing light to something, but then let's talk about what we're going to do to it. And at the end of the day, we really do need men's support as well in order to make this better.

07:51.59
Betsy Hamm
As I mentioned, I have high school teenage daughters, and you see that mean girl behavior at a young age. I always go back to the fact that when my oldest was four and was in preschool, she started to be sort of attacked by somebody who had that mean girl behavior at four.

08:10.39
Betsy Hamm
and remember being so upset about the fact that it had started so young. So let's talk about that and let's give our young girls the the ability to be able to know how to handle that because let's be honest, there's going to be mean people your entire life, guys, girls, doesn't matter.

08:26.62
Betsy Hamm
um But how do you deal with that? And for those who turn into the mean girls or boys, how do we eliminate that behavior or at least lessen that behavior? um for the next generation. Because the reality is my girls are not too far away from entering the workforce. And and my goal is to not only help the current generation, but also their generation. Like let's leave them a workplace that is more optimistic and positive and supportive than we found several years ago.

08:57.35
Betsy Hamm
And I think the other thing that we'll talk about moving forward is women not supporting each other isn't just in the workplace. That's you know primarily what we'll be discussing on this podcast, but it's happening in other groups. It happens with stay-at-home moms.

09:11.23
Betsy Hamm
It happens online. It even happens in so-called friend circles or maybe even within your family. So again, let's talk about that and how we can do better and how we can rise above.

09:22.92
Betsy Hamm
I think we all know a lot of the the mean girl or the women not supporting each other behavior is tied back to confidence. And of course, a lack of confidence, which leads to jealousy, which leads to the bad behavior.

09:34.41
Betsy Hamm
So we're going to discuss that. I've just read a great book about confidence, and I'm hoping that we can have the authors on an upcoming episode. So speaking of episodes, since it won't be me just talking at you, what can you expect on the upcoming episodes? Some of our content will include women overcoming barriers in male-dominated industries, the importance of mentorship and how to find one. i am a huge advocate of mentors, so we'll talk a lot about that.

10:00.53
Betsy Hamm
strategies for building a powerful network of women, the lack of support starting at a young age, which is talked about and speaking up and owning your own power. Uh, one thing I think you'll hear a lot about is the circles. And as I mentioned, ah Not only is your circle who you work with in your professional circle, but who is in your friend circle.

10:20.94
Betsy Hamm
I have been lucky enough to have not only an amazing group of friend friends, but I have an amazing group or two, maybe three actually, of professional friends. Some are women that i worked with years ago.

10:33.29
Betsy Hamm
and i still keep in contact. And we are such a great group of being supportive and cheering for each other, even to this day, and even though we all don't work together. So you need to find those circles. And if you don't have one, then let's talk about the strategies to build one, because you need that support.

10:49.60
Betsy Hamm
So our guest lineup is exciting. ah We'll be talking to CEOs of large companies. We're going to talk to small business owners. We're going to start to start to whip we're goingnna talk to women who started their own business, ah women just getting started, women who helped build our confidence, and may even be brave and have my teenage daughters on. And let's talk about that teenage drama and and mean girl behavior that we see.

11:14.12
Betsy Hamm
So there's my introduction, or maybe we'll call it a commercial for what's to come on the upcoming episodes. ah Episodes will be released twice a month, and you can follow us on Instagram and of course, subscribe at YouTube and any place that you listen to podcasts.

11:30.14
Betsy Hamm
I am so excited to kick this off. Let's turn up the volume on real support, real stories, and real change, and let's get loud and lifted.