Sam Moulton [00:00:08]: We do this a couple times. All right, muting. Cecelia Taylor [00:00:13]: Hello and welcome to the Tent podcast, that is to say, thriving in technology. Your host, Sam Moulton, Mercedes Adams and Cecilia Taylor, friends and colleagues at NetApp. Today we're speaking with Brandy Einhorn and Amy Vargas, us both recently selected as speakers for the Grace Hopper Celebration, held in person in Orlando, Florida. Florida, please introduce yourself and let us know what your day job is at NetApp and tell us how people can find you on these lovely interwebs. Brandy Einhorn [00:00:44]: Awesome alcohol first. My name is Brandy Einhorn. I'm a customer education specialist with NetApp Learning Services. So what that means is I work with sales to make training easier to sell, and I also map the training we have to customers, different business needs. I've been at NetApp for about four years. The role before this, I was managing the certification program. I've been in the tech industry for around eleven years now. Was there another question, Cecilia? Sorry, I feel like I missed one. Cecelia Taylor [00:01:13]: Oh, let us know how we can find you on the Interwebs. Brandy Einhorn [00:01:18]: You could Google me like my eight year old did, or find me on LinkedIn, which is my preferred method for you to find me on the interwebs. Sam Moulton [00:01:26]: Excellent, excellent. Amy, would you like to introduce yourself? Amy Vargas [00:01:30]: Sure. So I'm Amy Vargas. I have been working at NetApp for a little over 20 years. Yeah, long time. I've worked in lots of different groups, lots of different roles. The full gamut, pretty much outside of management. I have delved into a software engineer. I currently do development test. They need to plug me in at as far as finding me, LinkedIn is my preferred method as well. You can just search for Amy Vargas and I should be the first one to pop up, but who knows? Sam Moulton [00:02:01]: Excellent, excellent. Well, thank you very much for introducing yourselves. You are the featured guests on today's podcast, where we want to dive in and talk a little bit about Grace Hopper Conference 2022. And what I would like to do right now is just pull Mercedes in and have her give us some background on GHC and how it works. To submit your request for I'm not even going to use the right lingo because she is really the expert at this. But give us a little history, Mercedes, about NetApp's involvement in GHC and what the process is for submitting the papers and getting accepted and all the logistics that go into preparing, et cetera, et cetera. Because if I'm not mistaken, we have a good number of speakers that were actually selected for this year. It was a boon year, as they say. Mercedes Adams [00:02:53]: It was a great year, Sam, and thanks for the invitation to share a little background. So, the Grace Hopper Celebration is one of the world's largest technology conferences, specifically targeting women and non binary technologists. NetApp has been sponsoring for about 15 years, and we've had a lot of engagement, from speakers to recruiting, to sending attendees to grow their technical skills and get career development networking. All of that happens at one of these amazing events. And for years, it was in person. What a great, energizing event to be together with tens of thousands of passionate technologists, sharing advice, experiences, ideas, and inspiring each other. Then through the pandemic, it was virtual. What was special about this year was the first year back in person for about half of those participants. So just wanted to set that context, that it's one of these events that change your life to participate in, as it did for me. I think my first event was in 2017, and that's where I got a little bit of the bug. I saw a couple of women from NetApp who were on the stage. They were speakers at the conference. And my friend Mary Jean Schmidt and I, we looked at each other, we said, we want to do that. And so at NetApp we created the speaker series. We actually are a community of practice, people who are working together to become more confident, powerful speakers and to do things like submit speaking proposals to technical conferences. So that's what we've been doing for a couple of years here, and we did, in 2022 have, I think, our most success ever in the number of speakers who were selected, because it is a rigorous process. Grace Hopper they get thousands of speaker proposals every year, and they pick a small percentage of them. So I think for us, the prep that goes in everything from brainstorming together, making sure everyone knows all of the rules, how exactly you'll be measured. So there's a rubric for all of these speaking proposals and then supporting each other, practicing dry runs, all of that, making sure that we're super ready when the event rolls around. So I think there were five speakers this year with four sessions and testing my knowledge right now. Sam. But we had so much fun at this year's event. I do want to hear from Brandy and Amy. And these events, I think, can be so much fun as an attendee and so much of a heavy lift when you're a speaker and you need to prepare and be ready. Sam Moulton [00:05:45]: Yeah. And before we hear from Brandy and Amy, I actually have a couple more questions for you, Mercedes. Thanks for laying that out. You do have the lingo, as I expected you would. And that whole speakers bureau that you have created is so impressive, because it isn't. Yes, there's a big focus around GHC, but it's more than that. And helping people, helping women and others at NetApp prepare for these great opportunities to explore, getting on stage and being more confident in what they're talking about and how they're presenting and that whole big package. But I have to ask you so I've attended GHC in person. I found it completely overwhelming. Personally, it was just packed wall to wall with all these amazing women. And I'm curious from back, did I attend more than one year? I think I did. I don't know. I know I attended at least one year. Maybe I did it virtually again, I'm not sure. But this year I gave everybody else an opportunity because, frankly, my schedule wasn't going to permit me to attend. But I'm curious as to whether or not it had that same level of energy or what they changed or how did your experience this year compare to years past? Mercedes Adams [00:07:02]: Like you, Sam, after the first two years that I attended, I said, oh, I'm going to step back because I know there's a limited number of participants, and I wanted to make sure as many people as possible got that bug. They got activated, energized, enthusiastic, because, like I said, it's life changing to be there and just to feel that energy, to be motivated, inspired, to be celebrated amongst your peers. There's so much benefit to doing that that I wanted as many people as possible to go. So for a few years, I was nominating others. And this year I wasn't planning on going until the papers, the workshops, were selected. And what was thrilling was being back in person, walking those halls at the Orlando Convention Center and seeing the excitement on people's faces, feeling that energy, a little bit of hesitation here or there. Do we high five? Do we hug, do we fist bump? Masks were mandatory. However, it seemed like more of a suggestion after the first couple of hours. So there were a few of those little elements of, oh, what should I do? How should I behave? But really, by the end of day one, I think it was full smiles, hugs, and it felt really good to be back in person again. Sam Moulton [00:08:20]: Great. So you mentioned that we had five speakers selected. Were any of them new to Grace Hopper or new to the whole presentation or having their papers selected? Mercedes Adams [00:08:33]: Yes, and I would say not new to the process. Participating and submitting a speaker proposal, which has been wonderful, is that whole concept of a community of practice, is that we're working towards a goal, and achieving it is a major milestone. All of us had papers that have been rejected in the past, and so I just want to start out by saying rejection is a part of the process. Not every paper is immediately accepted. So lots of first time speakers, but not first time submitters. Sam Moulton [00:09:10]: All right, so, Amy and Brandy, you joined together or did you do two separate presentations? Brandy Einhorn [00:09:19]: We had two separate presentations, and to piggyback on what Mercedes is saying here, I first joined in 2019 in person. It was just as crazy and energetic this time around, going in person, and I submitted three times, and this was the submission, the third one. So I say third time's. The charm was the one that was chosen. Sam Moulton [00:09:39]: Excellent. Great. So would you like to kick us off and tell us a little bit about what you talked about, why and what you were hoping the audience would take away from your presentation? Brandy Einhorn [00:09:49]: Yeah, no problem. So I talked about transformational networking, this idea that you make the fish swim toward you. And my session was a virtual live. It was a bumpy road because at first we thought it was live, then we thought it was virtual and then it was virtual live. In the morning of actually in the hotel, their systems were down. I was having some internet issues, so I was planning I said, okay, I could do this. I'm going to use my cell phone as a backup, as a hot spot, and I'm going to make this happen. I didn't really know how many people to anticipate on the session. I can get to that a little bit later. Topic was really a fancy way of using that concept of working smarter, not harder. And it's by using networking to achieve your goals. So it was overall a conversation about networking, but it also rubbed up against goal setting, identifying your audience, boundary setting. And I say in my talk that networking is a common topic, but I think it's common because it's important. And burnout is also a common topic. So what if we can use networking to help prevent burnout? So we play with some of these ideas during the it was the 15 minutes, so right, there's a lot packed into those 15 minutes. It was almost a teaser session. And within this time I had this method of navigating the corporate ocean. So I think you're probably sensing some sort of ocean fish shark theme because it was there. But in this method you start broad with a big splash. And I think that's where a lot of us just end. We start and end at big splash. But this talk was to be more intentional and strategic with your networking at each step. Down you go in the method to establishing advocates, to building reliability by being available. Once you drive that demand for the value you offer because you have value. I do have to say I had Imposter syndrome going into it and I'm embarrassed that I didn't realize how big Imposter syndrome was that label. But I definitely have it. I had who am I to talk about networking? Talking to engineers, they're like networking. No, not networking in the engineer sense, the social soft part of networking. So that was another thing I was thinking, this is a soft skill at a tech conference. So do I have a place here? And funny enough, before I left, my eight year old daughter even said to me, I hope people show up to your talk, mommy. It'd be really sad if no one comes. And so I walk out the door with all of these negative thoughts in my head. It's very validating to say that over 850 people showed up. So seeing on zoom issues and all, just seeing the numbers climb and feeling, okay, this is real, and then knowing, all right, they want to hear about this is important, right? I have things to share and I wanted my attendees to have a process to follow, whether you're introverted, extroverted, regardless of where you're starting on this networking journey. I wanted to share something that's worked so well in the past for me and that I know can be applied to other roles. But the best part of the talk and this is my last piece, because Amy, I know you have a lot to share and I saw your session, it was awesome. But the best part of the talk was the response afterwards. So it seemed everyone picked up on something different. In my talk, one person reached out as a mom. She has kids the same age because I did mention my children, and she felt she should give herself grace, she doesn't have to do it all alone. Another person was an engineer asking how to define her audience. And I said, we start with your goals. What are your goals? And that's where it's that whole goal setting piece. And then it really inspired me to think of a level of lab. So all these different takeaways people had, how can I channel it? And at Grace Hopper next year, maybe make it more hands on and build out this concept a little bit more. Sam Moulton [00:13:40]: Wow, that's a lot. And I have to say, in having known you for some time now, I already think of you as a networker because you are great about reaching out to folks for assistance when you know that they are doing a certain thing. And if that's something that you can leverage in what it is you're doing, you've always been good about that. Reaching out to the A Team, for instance, to see if there are people within that group who would want to support you on things that you are doing. I'm wondering, were you honing in on or focusing on internal networking or was it within your organization or was it bigger than that? Brandy Einhorn [00:14:15]: Anyone you'd network with to achieve your goals? Right? So if I have personal and professional goals, this talk was geared more towards my organizational goals and the current roles that I was in. It's this idea that you can still sign offline at night. So I mentioned having kids. I have a six year old and an eight year old. So it's important to me to achieve and really, it's important to me to overachieve. Let's be real. But then also as a mom and then sign off. So it's like, oh, there's got to be a system in place that I could do these things where I could be super efficient. And that's when you realize you can leverage people, you could leverage teams, you could leverage programs to accomplish different things in your life and to be more effective. And if you have very clear goals now, you're not just what is it? Throwing paint at the walls, right? Is that one of the expressions? Yeah, I get my expressions mixed up, so you got to keep me honest. Sam Moulton [00:15:08]: I do it all the time. I do it all the time. Brandy Einhorn [00:15:11]: But it's the idea of being intentional. Right? And so if it's the personal part you're going towards right. Or if there's financial goals, or if there your goals are you just use this method and you try to figure out my cat really enjoyed if you could hear my cat, he enjoyed the speech, too. But it's really about figuring out, what are those teams? Then you need to align with how do you provide value to them? How do they provide value to you? How can you leverage each other? Sam Moulton [00:15:37]: So I'm going to ask you one more question, and then we're going to move on to Amy. If you had to share one thing with this audience, with our thriving in technology, our Tint podcast audience, the first step or a step that you could take to get this ball rolling, what would it be? Brandy Einhorn [00:15:54]: Put yourself out there. I think that's the biggest thing. Right? I made light of saying we stop at a big splash, but you also start at making a big splash. You have to take that first step to drive awareness for who you are, and you have to recognize the value you bring because you have value and you belong in tech, and value is okay. Those are the messages I walked away with Grace Hopper for. It's the same thing that applies to this networking conversation on taking that first step. Right. You just have to get yourself out there. Sam Moulton [00:16:27]: That's great. I would love to listen to your session because you're never too old to learn new tricks, and I bet networking is incredibly powerful and we sometimes take it for granted. I think that if we were to look at it again and ask ourselves, are we doing enough? Personally, I would probably have to say no, because you can get so focused and so narrowly focused, if you will, in your own little fish pond. Notice that fish pond. Get it? I'm playing on the are you following me? Mercedes Adams [00:16:56]: Okay. Sam Moulton [00:16:56]: Boy. I'm not really getting a lot of response on that. I was expecting a little more. Anyway. Brandy Einhorn [00:17:01]: That was good. I picked up on it. Sam Moulton [00:17:03]: Thank you. Thank you, Cecilia. The look on your face right now, it's priceless. Cecelia Taylor [00:17:07]: You lost me at fish pond. Brandy Einhorn [00:17:09]: Really? Sam Moulton [00:17:10]: The pond? No, the fishing, the splashing, all the references. Ocean. Now we got it. We got it. All right. Anyway, so I really think that is very interesting topic, and I appreciate that. You put a lot of effort into 850 people listening to you. That's pretty daunting, actually. So you got the message out there to a pretty wide audience. Let's hope we get 850 listeners to this episode of the podcast. Anyway, moving right along, amy, if you would be so kind as to share a little bit about your process and what you presented to the Grace Hopper audience and why you picked the topic that you did, et cetera, et cetera. Amy Vargas [00:17:56]: Yeah, absolutely. So my journey to GHC was a little bit different. I started out in 2019. I was selected to be a speaker at Insight, and the speaker group found out about that and started including me in their discussions. And I am so glad they did because I had no idea about submitting for GHC or anything like that. And I got to say a big thanks to Mercedes and MJ and all the speaker group. Oh, my goodness, it's been tremendous to be involved in all of that. Sam Moulton [00:18:31]: If I could just interject real quickly, you mentioned Insight. I just want it for people who aren't familiar with Insight, that is NetApp's big user conference that has unfortunately moved. I shouldn't say unfortunately, but I'm not a fan of the virtual. I can't wait for it to go back in person. But for a couple of years now, we have been doing it, doing Insight digitally. But it is a big deal, very well attended event, and it takes a lot of focus from folks at NetApp. And Amy, it sounds like you had gotten selected to present something there which you were able to morph, but I'm going to let you keep telling your story because I think, if I'm not mistaken, was this your first year picked? Amy Vargas [00:19:14]: Okay. Yeah, I did the insight. I got involved in the speaker prep series, and that motivated me to submit papers for GHC. So I submitted a couple of papers, one by myself and one with Tracy Cummins, who I work with, and by some weird crazy magic, they both got selected. And that was a little overwhelming for me. I didn't want to take on too much for my very first GHC, even though it was virtual at the time, because this was for 2020. So I went ahead and did the one that I had been selected with, Tracy so we would both get to have this experience. And then they put my other one on the back burner and said, okay, we'll consider this for future GHC conferences. And that was my speaking up without stepping on toes. So 2021 rolls around and they don't select that paper again. However, it did get picked up for a mentoring career conversation midway through the year. So not for GHC, but Anita B did put on a special get together with the members where we discuss that topic. So 2022 rolls around and they say, surprise, you've been selected for a mentoring workshop. So I'm like, great. That's wonderful. I'm expecting that I'm going to be sitting at a table with around seven people and they'll switch out every ten to 15 minutes. But then about a couple of weeks after I was selected, they said, oh, by the way, we're switching this to in person with about 500 people. So that was a big ol switcheroo on me. Took me a little aback, but it was an amazing experience. My talk was speaking up without stepping on toes, as I mentioned earlier. And it all came about because of hardships I went through during my career, things that I went through based on incorrect assumptions I had about being assertive. I always thought it was tell people what to do, make sure it gets done, all this different stuff. But you've got to take the people in mind and their reactions and how they feel about things. So I went through various tips that I had that I've learned along the way. You got to be sure and include the right people. You got to explain why you want them to do what you're asking. You got to allow them to say, do they have any feedback on it? Do they have any questions, concerns? And then you got to try and seek some sort of agreement or compromise. So my talk revolved around all of that. And as I said in front of 500 people live, unfortunately, it wasn't recorded. They didn't record the career conversations, so it's not something we can go back and listen to, unfortunately. But if anyone listening to this is ever interested, they can definitely reach out to me and I can give them the little spiel I have on it. Sam Moulton [00:22:04]: It's unfortunate it wasn't recorded. That's too bad. But I would love it if you would just give us a little tidbit of spiel right now, if you don't mind. Amy Vargas [00:22:12]: Yeah, sure. Absolutely. I started out my talk with a situation that I had run into, so I had this initiative that had come to my attention that I put forward to our process team, and I felt very strongly about it, and so I pushed to get it through. And I happened to notice that the people that were most impacted by this change were not in the meeting where it got pushed through. And when they found out, it reflected very poorly on me. So that spawned into, you've got to include the right people or otherwise. I had a ton of coworkers that were upset with me for a very long time and lost their total trust in me, and it took a really long time to get that back. So that was part of including the right people. And then explaining why. I gave a few examples of why you need to explain why you would prefer why you would like someone to do something a certain way. And that opens up the door to saying, do you have any questions or concerns? And at that point, they can come back saying something that totally changes up what you were originally planning on doing, or it could be something minor. You don't know unless you ask. And then that leads into seeking agreement and or compromising where you got to try and at least have everybody get something out of it if at all possible. Because if one person just says, we're doing it this way, too bad for you, that's going to lead to a lot of upset people. So that's my real quick in a nutshell presentation. Sam Moulton [00:23:47]: So I'm having trouble grasping that because I've never been in the engineering organization and I'm not sure how it would work that you could even present something that would impact a lot of people without them knowing about it. But what I heard was the pain that you felt about having just taken that misstep was never your intent. And think sharing that with folks, this is a technical audience, right? So they were probably able to grasp that a little bit better than I can, because I guess that opportunity to push an initiative that would impact I'm guessing it impacted other engineers, just not something that I'm familiar with. Thinking about that very same episode or instance, what would have been the step you could have taken to prevent that? How would you socialize or communicate that to skip that unfortunate outcome that you ended up having? Amy Vargas [00:24:45]: So if I were to go back in time to that meeting and see that those people weren't there, I would have said, we need to postpone this topic. I can't do this without them present because I need their input, because they're the ones impacted by this. That's how I would have changed it. I was naive at the time, and it didn't fully sink in that, hey, these people should be here and they should provide their feedback. I learned the hard way it did filter all the way up to the head of our department. So it reflected very poorly. Cecelia Taylor [00:25:18]: What happens if you don't know that there's a group that you need to include? That there's a group that should be included that is not currently present? Amy Vargas [00:25:28]: If you don't know who needs to be there, you need to pull in some probably some higher level folks and say, hey, do you know of anyone in your group that would be impacted by this? If so, we need to get them to be represented at this meeting. So you do need to reach out if you don't know who is going to be impacted. Sam Moulton [00:25:49]: Okay, that's good advice. So if you think about the overall experience, brandy or Amy, tell me what your takeaway is in terms of what you would take into next year's Grace Hopper conference. Would you love to present again or do you have ideas for doing so? Brandy, you want to take it? Brandy Einhorn [00:26:08]: Yeah, sure. I have a notebook full of ideas, constantly coming up with ideas as I was listening to the different presentations. And Amy, listening to your story again, this version you shared on this podcast here. What I loved about it was so genuine and it was personal, and that's what I loved about all the sessions I attended. And now, I'm not super technical, right? I'm more of a generalist, even though Specialist isn't my title, but who goes by titles, right? I attended a lot of the Career sessions just to hear how other people are presenting their content. And I love the personal stories. I love when there's a method or process to follow because it makes it easy and it helps you to reflect on your own personal story and how it could fit into that process. But a big message I heard across the event was and I think I mentioned this before, Sam, and you were asking me what the takeaway is to put yourself out there and know that you might fail. And, Amy, because of that, what you would qualify is, oh, I did the wrong thing. You have this story to share, and you were able to get out there and speak to other people and share it and come up with this process so others can ask, are the right people in the room? And I think that's what's so wonderful about both the speaker series is we're sharing internally, but also going to these type of events and really gaining new perspective and learning from others. Sam Moulton [00:27:33]: I really like that, just that phrase, are the right people in the room? I think if we were to add that to our list of things that we should review before we take action, that would be amazing in terms of just preventing us from potentially taking this step. And I know I don't want to speak for you, Amy, or for any of us, but alienating our coworkers, that's probably one of the very last things that any of us would ever want to do. Amy, I really appreciate you sharing that. That really touched me. And I'm sorry, Brandy, you were talking, but I can't help but keep going back to that story of Amy anyway. So next year you're going to be submitting some papers then? Brandy? Brandy Einhorn [00:28:11]: Yes, I absolutely will. And I'm going to look for my own personal stories and how I can make a message and make it relevant to a broader audience. Anyone listening who wants to submit to these types of conferences? I noticed the very specific topics they don't seem to resonate as well with review panels. So trying to figure out, okay, how can this reach people early in their career, but also reach, how can it apply to someone who's really technical? How could it apply to a general and just really come up with those examples and then using whatever forums that are available to you to practice? And don't let that be your run through at the event when you're getting up on stage for the first time. Sam Moulton [00:28:49]: You mentioned early in Career, would you say Grace Hopper tends to be more focused. On early in career. Brandy Einhorn [00:28:55]: I think there's a mix. I think there's a huge group of early and career. They have the fair where you go in, and the career fair. I don't think they call it a career fair. Mercedes, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but you go in and you. Amy Vargas [00:29:06]: See all the booths. Brandy Einhorn [00:29:06]: There's universities there. So there's a good level of recruitment. There networking in the broad sense, in the make a big splash sense. So I think there's a good following and there's a career track, but I don't know if it's only for early in career. I think we can get value out of it. And I also believe that you get out what you bring in, and that's another reason being a speaker was so powerful this year. I feel like I was bringing something different, a different level of energy and a different perspective. And I definitely got a lot more out of the sessions than I did the first time I attended. Mercedes Adams [00:29:38]: I can jump in a little, Sam, just in thinking about the Expo Hall, brandy, I think is what you were talking about, where all the companies are represented and of course they are marketing themselves and also recruiting. And when we think about that audience mix, I know there's some specifics that Anita B.org, the nonprofit that runs the Grace Offer Celebration, can share. But in general, there is a mix of early in career people who are maybe still in school because there's scholarships as well for students and then more senior and executive level members. And so I know at several of the tables I sat down at, there were people who had 20 years experience, and I even sat down with a board member. You could see a broad mix of participation, just thinking about who's there. Sam and representing. Sam Moulton [00:30:25]: That okay, because obviously I'm particularly interested in folks who are not early in career, just from a personal perspective, in terms of hearing experiences. And Amy, I'm going to just make an assumption here. Having been at NetApp for, what did you say, 16 years or something, or 20 years, you're not early in career, so your approach to things might be a little bit different than Brandy. Is that safe to say? Amy Vargas [00:30:49]: I would say that's probably true. And attending some of these sessions, there were a lot that were geared more towards early mid career, but I struggled to find some that more fit, more senior career. There's people taking tons of notes in their notepad, and I have one or two sentences. Sam Moulton [00:31:06]: I felt that was my experience at Grace Hopper when I attended is I was looking at which sessions do I want to attend someone who is not early or mid career, and found that I was challenged to select those that would be more applicable to me. And another thing that you had mentioned earlier, Amy, but you mentioned not being in a management role, is that true that you have not been a people manager? Amy Vargas [00:31:34]: That's correct. I've been in leadership positions, just not management. Sam Moulton [00:31:38]: Hail. Brandy Einhorn [00:31:38]: Hail. Sam Moulton [00:31:39]: All the individual contributors in the world, I fall into that same category as an individual contributor. And I don't know if that's a term that's commonly used. I don't know if that's an industry term or it's just what we call each other here at NetApp, but is there a thought around that in terms of how some of these Grace Hopper sessions or even what NetApp put forward? Is there a learning for you that is specific to the fact that you are approaching things a little bit differently because you are a very strong individual contributor? Amy Vargas [00:32:17]: You mean as far as, like, sessions and how I relate to them and various things? Sam Moulton [00:32:21]: Yeah. Did you take away we both just talked about the challenge of really finding content that fit us. Is there a learning for you as an individual contributor that you got out of Grace Hopper? And again, maybe there isn't. I'm asking this for personal reasons. I want to know, and it may not be applicable. Just tell me to go away if you needed. Amy Vargas [00:32:43]: I'm probably just biased, but I did tell multiple people that the NetApp sessions were the best sessions that I did. Sam Moulton [00:32:50]: There you go. Amy Vargas [00:32:51]: So the Dare to Prepare for Interruptions and the Stone Soup presentation, I actually got stuff from both of those. There were some nuggets. It was just a little hard to find them. Sam Moulton [00:33:06]: Got it. All right, we have covered a lot of ground here. I'm just wondering if either one of you has anything that you'd like to add that we haven't covered in regard to your experience with Grace Hopper or, frankly, anything else. Brandy Einhorn [00:33:19]: You're opening a door here, Sam. I could go on and on, but fair enough. Sam Moulton [00:33:23]: Cecilia, do you have our special question prepared? Cecelia Taylor [00:33:27]: I have a very basic question this time, and we're already toward the end of the year, and we've only got a few more months left. And I was just wondering, what are you looking forward to for the end of 2022? Is there something you'd like to accomplish or something you'd like to do or something you're just looking forward to as we wrap up 2022? Amy Vargas [00:33:52]: I am looking forward to the holidays. That is my big thing. Getting together with family after all the COVID times and not being able to spend time together, I really treasure that time and try to take full advantage of it. Yes, the holidays is my big thing. I'm looking forward to good brandy, and. Brandy Einhorn [00:34:11]: I have to echo that. But first, I have to say there's a little bit of travel for work, which I get really excited about, which then when I come home and don't travel, that I get equally excited about that. So you get to get out there and have some time with coworkers. I met my manager for the first time in person a couple of weeks ago. Sam Moulton [00:34:30]: He. Brandy Einhorn [00:34:31]: So that was awesome. But definitely with my mom hat. On all holidays, we have a rule in October that you could only watch Halloween themed a rule in December you could only watch holiday themed movies. So I'm all in on it with these two little quickly growing rainbow sparkly unicorns. Sam Moulton [00:34:53]: That's great. That's great. Cecilia, I know that you are a huge fan of the holidays, and why don't you our audience about your favorite thing for the month of December? Cecelia Taylor [00:35:04]: I am very much into the holiday season. It's been a very challenging year for me, but I am still yet looking forward to decorating the house and having family around. I think I'll have a little bit more family present with me this year than in past, but I am looking forward. There's something about the season that just really brings something out of me, so I am looking forward to it. Sam Moulton [00:35:27]: You know what I'm getting at, Cecilia. Okay. By the way, audience, cecilia doesn't always sound like this. She's struggling to overcome a cold, throaty thing that is her, but it's just a very different version of her. It's the sweaters. Cecelia Taylor [00:35:42]: The sweaters. I start my holiday tradition of swearing holiday themed sweaters beginning the day after Thanksgiving all the way up until Christmas day. So I have a sweater and I don't repeat them. Sam Moulton [00:35:57]: She has a special cabinet for you. Cecelia Taylor [00:35:59]: I have a special dresser just dedicated to these sweaters. And if you follow me on instagram, you will see them posted for each day. That's how I also keep track of. Sam Moulton [00:36:08]: What I wore, and I look forward to trying to find a sweater every year for Cecilia that she doesn't already have. So that's my fun for the holiday sweater situation. Thank you very much to brandy and to Amy for joining us today. I am intrigued about the topics that you brought up, and I'm looking forward to seeing what you're going to do next. And I love Amy, that you said that the net up presentations were the best ones. You can't get any better than that. So with that, let's go ahead and wrap up, everybody. Thank you so much. Cecelia Taylor [00:36:42]: Thank you. Amy Vargas [00:36:43]: Thank you. Brandy Einhorn [00:36:43]: Thank you.