Susan Jacobson’s Post

Transcript

So hi everybody. I am so thrilled to talk with my good friend and colleague, Angela Val. And before we chat with Angela, I just want to remind you all that we're doing the series because. We believe that we need to empower others, particularly now in this time of uncertainty. No matter what side of the aisle you're on, if you have some kind of an illness, doesn't matter. There's a lot of uncertainty going on. And So what I decided to do was to basically invite our great civic leaders, education, government, business, nonprofit to join us. Just a handful of people to share. Their thoughts about how they bet on themselves. So Angela Val, just to let you know. I've had I've worked with her forever on different projects, but I knew she would be and now is one of our great civic leaders. I like to call her feet with me push back Angela, but our next generation of leaders, not here only in the region, but I believe in the country. And she I just was teasing her beforehand and saying she's working too hard, but we're all the beneficiaries and there's this wonderful. So so Angela, just so you know. She's the CEO of Visit Philly. She does all of the. Promotion and before that we got to work together on ready set Philly was during the pandemic when I chaired the chamber board. She basically brought got everybody ready to prepare to jump start the economy by bringing people back to the city after COVID and did this remarkable job and I do remember saying to Angela OK Angela what are we stepping up to the next thing what big thing are you going to run and so I know I have no credit I get no credit for you doing your job but. I was one of the your hundreds or whatever fans who knew that you were destined for greatness, so I apologize. I hope I'm not embarrassing you, but I actually feel that way, so thank you. I appreciate it, Sue. Thank you. OK, so so I mean, look, talk to us, you know, back on that subject of empowerment, talked to us about you and when was that moment when you decided to bet on yourself? And look, it might not have been a bet you won or it might have, you know, that doesn't matter. Just, you know, tell us about what was it when, what was that aha moment? You know, I always believe that it is up to you as an individual to get yourself where you want to be, but that's really hard to do, right? Saying it and doing it are two really different things. And I think the time that I really did have to bet on myself and take that chance was when I decided to leave Visit Philadelphia. So I was at Visit Philadelphia for 17 years. Most of my career has been spent. Here and I was getting to that point in my career and at Visit where I just could not go any further. I had been promoted several times and I did want to be considered to be in that CEO position. But at the time, Meryl Levitz, who is the founder and the CEO of that of Visit, at the time, she was not ready to leave and I was getting bored. I just didn't know what to do. But I was also really scared because I had worked at this organization for 17 years and I had never even imagined myself leaving. I got an opportunity to take a job at the 2016 Democratic National Convention Host Committee and this job. Although it sounds great, it had a lot of things that most people would run from. One you have to raise your salary. There is no guarantee that you will be paid on time or consistently. Two, it has an end date. It's a project job that when the, you know, when the DNC leaves, the job is over and you probably won't have another job waiting for you at that time. And the third one is if this did not go well for the city, if this big event did not go well, it would probably be really hard for me to find a job here in this city based upon how well I did or did not do in this. Last position and I could not come back to visit Philly. That was clear that my position would not be held for me and if I did come back, it might be at a different level or a different type of work. We had just purchased a house, so we're kind of that house poor after that first year where you take all the money. But I left and I did go to the host committee and it did work out for me because what happened in that job is I became more confident in myself. All this time I had really believed that my success was because I was at visit and that I had this amazing team around me and that I would not have that same type of success without that same team with me. It's just that I've been with them for so long when I left. I saw myself in a different way. I did see that I had gained a tremendous amount of skills and knowledge over that time period, that I had a much wider network than I believed I really did have and that people were really willing to help where they could. And that was just something that I just could not see from visits perspective when I was in this role. Because I had just been in that role so, so long. But once that happened, I also saw it as an opportunity later on to take a chance and go and work at the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau. Very few people from Visit Philly ever leave here and then go to the sister organization. But I really wanted to learn the other side of the business, and it gave me an opportunity to learn more about operations of an organization, which was something. That I had begun to learn at visit, but really honed my skills and experience at the CVB. But without taking that chance, I mean, I even had to call my parents to say if I can't make them mortgage, would they help us? And they said yes, they would help us. We wouldn't lose the house. If I couldn't give, I couldn't raise the money to pay myself. That never had to happen. But I bet on myself and my friends and family. They surrounded me to make sure I was supported so I could do that. So I'd love your courage. I always have. And it's interesting because you've built all these wonderful experiences that actually led to your or built your self-confidence. I would never say think of you as not being confident. You know, I mean, that's a gutsy thing to do, right? I remember leaving a large PR firm and sitting in my Speaking of folks, sitting in my folks's couch and thinking, Oh my God, I'm a fraud. Can I really open my own? Communication shop, that was 15 years ago and I think we all have that and you know, as far as your like. I think that message about you, you know, just the a question for you about, you know, So what do you say to people about, you know, how to get where you are like to empower others to get them out of that feeling, to get them more into your feeling of like, I'm going to take a risk, I'm going to go for it. I might fail. I think, I think that you were saying there's a chance or maybe or maybe Angela, you were like, no, no, no, I'm just going to make this happen. I believe in myself. I'm going to do it. Which? Which one of those are you? I was willing to fail. I was. I was willing to let it not work. Right. I think the thing that I wasn't willing to do was not try it. And see, right. But there's always that feeling that I have, like in my gut, I call it the inner knowing where you know that you can do this thing. It would just maybe. Be harder for you or not. Not happen in the same way you imagined in your head, but the thing inside you propels you forward to take the chance because there's something. I, you know, it's the thing in your belly that says run and the one that says that might be the right guy. It's the same type of thing for work where I was just like something kept saying it's going to be scary, but you need to do this so you can. Move on in your career. And so that's what made me do it. I do think oftentimes. That betting on yourself is not just like a personal experience. Other people are watching you act right and see you do that and. I think by other people witnessing it that they too might think about taking a chance too and believing and betting on themselves. And you know, when I left visit, I left a lot of staff and friends that I had made over those 17 years were really close. We're close to this day and I had one young lady that worked for me and she really. Was in the wrong like industry altogether. She was great, but she really wanted to work in a music company, right? She really loved music. Not a singer, but she's like, I need to be in a place where I'm just around it all of the time. So working for a record company was her dream. That dream was not going to happen here in Philadelphia. We just don't have record companies like that. So she really needed to either move to California or move to New York. Once I left. She shortly. Thereafter also left, but she left knowing that she had this one chance to really make something happen in a point in her life where she didn't really have responsibilities for anyone else but her but herself. Right. And when she did that, we talked about what it was, how you talk to your parents about it, you know, all of those things. And till today, she lives in New York and she works for Title. And she did it. She slept on my sofa for a month. But I think by her seeing me take the chance, she also was willing to take that chance. And the same thing that happened for me, people just gathered around her to help her make that dream come true. I think the other thing that's really important for people to do when somebody in your life comes to you with an idea or a dream. Try to be the cheerleader around it, right? Might not be your dream, but it doesn't mean it's wrong and it does sound scary. Be supportive in any way you possibly can because I think that's what life is about, right? Doing the things that you don't think you can and how you change things. And oftentimes we try to talk each other out of those things. And we shouldn't. You should help them bet on themselves. As love it and you know, I love when you talked about having that inner knowing and you gave that to that woman, your former colleague, right, and to others, and that's how you empower others and I love that is like, let's find that. So hey, Angela, you're the best. Thank you, I mean for sharing this with all of us and thank you for giving us that wisdom and and for being such a wonderful friend. Thank you. Thanks for the opportunity, I really loved it.