Overcoming Obstacles: "You know, that my dysfunctional upbringing and my own insecurities growing up are what made me fearless in the pursuit of my career." - Danielle Roach

I welcome Danielle Roach to the podcast, Brady Ware's Recruiting & Engagement Specialist. We talk about our reactions to the previous episode featuring the incredible Pat LaLama, a story that left a significant impact with its energy and insight.

Danielle shares her own journey of overcoming personal demons and using them as drivers to success, much like Pat's experience. Together, we explore the power of women supporting women in their careers and personal lives.

Hear how stepping out of her comfort zone and heeding wise advice has shaped Danielle's path, all while celebrating the essence of fearless ambition and genuine connection. I know this inspiring conversation will encourage you to chase meaningful fulfillment over money. J

Here are some key Inspiring Takeaways from our conversation:

1. Embracing Your Demons as Drivers: Danielle opens up about finding common ground with Pat's stories of overcoming a dysfunctional upbringing and using those experiences as fuel for personal and professional growth.
2. The Importance of Women Supporting Women: Danielle and I explore the profound impact of women lifting each other up in their respective journeys. Together, we share personal anecdotes that underline the strength found in community and empathy.
3. Stepping Out of Comfort Zones: Danielle shares her own adventures and how stepping away from familiarity paved the way for meaningful connections and personal growth. A true testament to being fearless in pursuit of one’s goals!
4. Advice from Influential Voices: Reflecting on Pat's relationship with her father, Danielle emphasizes following one’s heart and passion over the allure of money—a reminder to all of us that fulfillment often guides success.
5. A Passionate Push for Adventure: We both highlight the value of embracing change and seeking new experiences. It's these steps that often lead us to the most rewarding and unexpected paths.

Inspiring Moments

00:00 "Relating to Shared Upbringing Struggles"

03:04 Fearless Drive Amidst Adversity

07:52 Empowering Women's Leadership Stories

09:24 Women Supporting Women in Choices

13:02 Embracing Change: A Personal Journey

17:57 Money-Driven Decision's Consequences

19:54 "Mom's Voice as Guiding Force"

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This is THE podcast that advances women toward economic, social, and political achievement.

Hosted by Betty Collins, CPA, and Director at Brady Ware and Company. Betty also serves as the Committee Chair for Empowering Women, and Director of the Brady Ware Women’s Initiative.

Each episode is presented by Brady Ware and Company, committed to empowering women to go their distance in the workplace and at home.

For more information, Brady Ware and Company.

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Brady Ware and Company

I'm Betty Collins with Inspiring Women, and today we're recording our Brady Ware's women follow-up where they've listened to the podcast, you should too, on Pat LaLama. She was phenomenal. Wonderful story, energetic. I could have talked to her to her all day. She was amazing. So don't forget to listen to that episode. But today, we, are having Danielle Roach with us, and she is in our HR department. I'm gonna let her tell a little bit about herself.

So, Danielle, tell us about you.

Well, thank you for having me today, Betty. Absolutely. As she said, my name is Danielle, and I am the recruiting and engagement specialist here at Brady Ware and So if you are seeking opportunity at our firm, I am the first person you speak with.

Excellent. I love the advertisement. Go ahead. We have more than just accountants here at Bradyware. Okay.

Yes. Yes. I, you know, I've been in the recruiting industry for about over six years now, I would say kind of going on seven. I've been specialized in the accounting and finance industry, and I truly just kind of fell into recruitment. I think most people do. And, it just has combined my two passions. I would say, you know, forging genuine communication and connections with people and being able to help them pursue, their potential in their career.

Yes. Danielle, if she knows Arizona better than anyone, and I'm a big Arizona person. Love going to Sedona. So I had mentioned to her, hey, I'm going to Sedona. And she goes, you must go to the Birthing Caves. And I went there, and it was a great easy little walk. And I'm thinking, how did anyone go to this birthing cave to have birthing because you had to go straight up the wall, but it was it was just fantastic. I know she's a big fan of it out there.

And she has listened to Pat LaLama, our last episode, and, Pat talked about demons and drivers and sometimes the demons drive us, you know, that the things that haunt us or the things that that have affected us. What does that mean to you? And have you ever had that demon within that has driven you like like Pat talked about?

Yeah. I mean, honestly, listening to, the previous podcast, I felt so many commonalities between us. She fired up how she had a dysfunctional upbringing, how she was bullied in school, and I really related to that. I also, you know, had a dysfunctional upbringing, I don't mean that there wasn't any love, there was plenty of it, but you know, I saw my dad grow up, you know, with addiction and struggling with that his whole life, and that, you know, gave me somewhat of a drive in that sense. Sure. Also, you know, the woman he married, my mother, is the one who also gave me that drive. You know, her being such an example of the opposite extreme of that, really also drove that home for me. I remember, in the podcast she had said, you know, I love people, and you know, she was talking, I want, I'm gonna actually quote her here.

That's true. It's like, you know, I love people, I need acceptance, and I knew I was going to make a mark, and passioned, and I turned into a pit bull, and I had a lot to say, something to prove, and I wasn't going to be stopped, and that just really resonated with me, you know? I just felt like she was honestly reading out of my diary in some kind of way, because, you know, it made me comfortable to come on here today and talk about that same drive in that sense. You know, that my dysfunctional upbringing and my own insecurities growing up is what made me fearless in the pursuit of my career. And, you know, like I said, watching my dad struggle with addiction his whole life and then him passing in 2017, his demon was the only thing that ever was remembered of him. And I remember overhearing a statement of someone saying, you know, he was so talented, if only, you know, he applied himself and he did something with it. And I hated that. And that was just never going to be me. So I think from that moment, I was just like, alright.

I don't know what I'm going to do, but I am going to make my mark. I am going to connect with people, and I am going to be successful. Yeah.

I mean, you can choose to especially you hear a lot where, you know, parenting is not easy.

Yeah.

Being parents are not easy. There is no book. There is no you kind of punt. And hopefully, you as the child looks and says, I'm gonna learn from that. Sounds like that's what you did. I know my own children, are very determined to stay married because they went through divorce. Right? And they both have very healthy marriages today, and I think part of it is is because they saw and went through divorce, and they never wanted their children to. And so they took it like you and said, I'm I'm gonna look at this differently.

And they also look at me differently in the terms today of, okay. It happened. You know? It's not the only mark. So I like the fact that you saw more than your dad's addiction. Yeah. Because there was, You know? But, unfortunately, it probably overshadowed him, you know, because that's what happens when you sometimes have those choices, but I don't think addiction's a choice. I think it's when it happens

to trauma response Sure. To something that's happened in your life, and that's another commonality that I drew from the podcast of, you know, her investigative journalism and understanding that, you know, and taking the parallel of the courtroom being the arena for human nature, and you know, I, growing up with an addict, you know, you understand that there is a why. Everybody has a story, and I just happened to find a career that I get to find out people's why and help them kind of carve out a different story.

Right. She definitely was driven and she definitely in her time of those seventies and eighties took that drive, the things that she grew up with that she was determined not to let drive her and said she was gonna drive. She was very bold, very tenacious. Yeah. We look at that today and go, whatever. Yeah. Okay. You why wouldn't you tell an employer that or why wouldn't you tell your peers that? It's a little easier today than it was when she was doing it.

Right? So we get to learn from that, which is awesome. Yeah. You know, the the the episode really does highlight the importance of of women supporting women in their careers. I say this to the everyday I don't know everyday, but I say this a lot. Women would rule the world if women supported women.

I don't know

men's, I don't know men's support men, they just get over it, they go on, they keep moving, women don't always do that, and if women would be more supportive to women and that doesn't always mean rah rah, support sometimes means I need to have a conversation with you and here's why, right? But we don't always do well with that, but what point stood out to you about women supporting women in their career and why, you know, why is that important to that we support each other in from your perspective?

Yeah. I mean, I love how she talked about being emotionally charged and I think as women, we're told, especially, you know, the higher climb in your career, to kind of shut that off. And that's so wrong. I mean, what makes us women and what makes us strong is the exact opposite of everything we're told to turn off. And I think that, you know, we do that because we live in this patriarchal society of that's how you climb success in a way. And it's important to have women and representation because no one's gonna understand issues other than the women itself. You can be successful in your career, but, you know, yes, what if you decide to have a family? What if you decide to add on to that? You still have to have the role as being a mother, and that's never taken away. Like a guy can become a father, but that's not an identity.

So just being able to, you know, have that representation of I am successful, I don't think you can have it all, but these are ways that I have had it all. And to see that and to have that guidance, it's just so impactful and powerful. And I remember, when I first came in to interview here, you were talking to me about, you know, the women's conference. And, you know, at the time, it didn't really hit with me until, you know, a couple months later to then see it and be there in a whole room of women from all walks of life and all colors, and it was just telling their story and even just saying, hey, yeah, I'm in my third act of life, so to speak, and I've changed it. And that was just, I loved every moment of that. I love that we got together for an internal women's day, and talked about things that, you know, maybe some of the guys in the organization just wouldn't have that lens or that perspective. But it's what makes women leaders, that attention to detail, that empathy, that is what makes us strong. And for us to be told to turn that off is just so wrong.

And that's, to me, what, you know, women supporting women, but also just the greater scheme of the community that you're around, and you should try to make an impact in that way. Right. And Do you think that sometimes

we think of women's support yeah. Is it did it stop with It did for a second there. Did we get the audio? Yeah. That's the audio though. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. We're okay there.

That because my wife did. But anyway, so, yeah, we got audios on. We're good. So Okay. I'm you know? No. No worries. So we're back on now? Yeah. Okay.

So women supporting women, what's funny about it is you look at that and it's sometimes women supporting women because we're both in careers, so we support each other, or we don't look at certain things as maybe as more important of a career or whatever. It's women just supporting women, whatever choice they choose, wherever, you know, they go. My daughter is a teacher, and her son is her world. She does not want to go to a woman's conference, it doesn't interest her in one bit, it's okay. She has been interesting over the years, She did come to a couple conferences because I basically made her and gave her new clothes for the from head to toe if she would come and volunteer. And she did she did the first year she did it, she said, I get it, mom, now. I I get it. You know? But it doesn't mean she is gonna come every year.

It doesn't mean she's gonna do that every year or, you know, she doesn't wanna be the principal. She doesn't wanna be the school superintendent. She's very content where she is. And it's important that I support her right where she is. In this episode, I refer to Jessie Ray. She's one of my favorite people on Facebook and I honestly, I don't like a whole lot of people on Facebook but she's one of them and her whole goal in life isn't is not even close to what my goal has been in life. She wants her children to be raised by their mom, not their siblings. She wants them to have dinner every night as a family.

The things that are so in meant too many of the school and well that's just whatever. No. She didn't get that. And so her five kids are getting that. She wants them to have that. And and it's amazing to be the negative comments that she gets on her Facebook page because this is just what she's doing. It's, like, ridiculous. So women supporting women doesn't mean women supporting women who you're like.

Women is supporting women because you can and you get it. It's women supporting women. It's period. It's very simple.

I also like how she, like, drew into, you know, even though at being at the top of her career that, you know, it's about, you know, what can she give back in that regard? How can I change? How can I impart that to the next generation? And I think that mindset is so important to, you know, even though you're up at the top of your game, to always learn from the newest person in the room, and I've told that to our managers as well, you know, or our directors, you know, just because you are a partner in our firm, no knocking it at all, but there's not you can still learn from the newest person. You can still learn from the intern. You can still learn from the staff accountant, and hearing from their perspectives in their regard.

We have an intern right now out of our Atlanta office, and I love it because he always says, Dear Mrs. Collins, I hope you're having a great day. I hope you enjoyed your weekend. Here's what I need

from Doctor. Joe.

I love it. Yes. And I'm like, wow. I mean, just his whole he doesn't go right into the list. You know? He doesn't go into this is what I need, and I need it right now and blah blah blah. He always is personal. Mhmm. And I've really and I've really had to step back how I email right now because I'm tired.

It's tax season. It's awful. And so, yeah, you can you can learn from anyone. But, you know, Pat emphasizes the significance of being adventurous. You're definitely that, especially with we've compared our stories with Arizona. Right? Yeah. But being adventurous and adding change in her career journey, how can stepping out of your comfort zone help you and have you ever done that?

Yeah, I mean, there's a few times.

Just a few. I'm sure there's more than a few, but go ahead.

Yeah. But, I mean, I think that, you know, after my dad passed away in 2017, you know, I was pretty lost at that point in time, and then, you know, 2020 happened, and who knew where the world was gonna go? But, around that time is kind of when I was starting to, you know, turn 30 or about to turn 30, and I think that everyone has that mental freak out around that time, and, I just remembered not really knowing, like, what I needed, like, what I wanna change. I just knew that I needed to, like, change my environment, that, you know, being in my hometown and being around in just in a stagnant kind of way, I needed to push myself outside of that comfort zone. So, I remember taking a trip, up to Boston to Bar Harbor, and I kept seeing fives, and, I'm a pretty spiritual person as well, so when you see, that number, it does represent change, and it doesn't always mean, you know, physical change, but it could be like a mental change. And, that really just stuck with me, and I was like, alright, maybe I'm supposed to move. And I found myself going to Buffalo every weekend, or coming down to Columbus. Cleveland just wasn't holding me down like it was before, and I just felt stagnant, and I have a friend here from college, and I was just like, yeah, I'm I'm gonna move to Columbus, why not? Hacked up with my cat, and made it, you know, the change here, and while two and a half hours away doesn't seem like a big deal, it really is when you just have one person, it's not like I was relying just on Carrie to forge those friendships, but of course, the support system that I had here really didn't mean something to me. I wanted to be around like minded individuals.

I wanted to be able to have fun with friends on the weekend, but also talk about what was going on with work, and I'm actually caring about it. And right now, looking back three years later, I have such a group of girlfriends around me that I've never had before that is just so meaningful, and all of us are so different, but at the end of the day, you know, our drive is what I think keeps us all together. Yeah. And I love that support that I have here.

You know, my comfort zone, it you know, over the years, I have a podcast called My Nevers Are My Opportunities, where where my opportunities, and I was a never person because I'm pretty pretty, you know, one, two, three, four, five. My best moments have been out of the comfort zone. Sometimes I didn't even know I was out of the comfort zone till I've looked back and went, that was a big stretch for me. Right? Yeah. Where even with Pat, as she talks about just, you know, she she did things that were definitely, like, I'm gonna go do this intern and I'm gonna go to Boston. Well, now I'm gonna go to California. She's been all over and everywhere, and she has no regrets, you know, that she ended up at the end of the day in California and on 2020. Just a dream thing.

Let alone, you know, she's so specific about the courtroom is where she lives, you know. Yeah. And so even though you say '17 and then twenty twenty the world we didn't know, I think today, 2024, we don't know any more than we did in 2020 about uncertainty. Yeah. And you just have to navigate through it and chances are your comfort zone's gonna be really not just, you know, everyday things. Yeah. My mom has talked about she just loved the fifties because everything was so predictable and we all knew what and then the sixties blew that up, the seventies got worse, and eighties were crazy. And she goes, I really just have no expectation of any of it now.

Right? Yeah. So she's been a good person in in that. She she also is like me. She's kind of that steady heady, but she said you can't really control sometimes that you're just thrown into the comfort in and you're not in your comfort zone anymore.

Yeah. I mean, I have a necklace that has five five five on it, and I wear it to remind myself to always embrace change because that's always going to be the constant in life. Right. You can always count count on things changing, and it's your way of adapting to it and moving forward that really shows, you know, how you can be as a person, and I mean, when I first came here, I mean I didn't move here for a job per se, I did have a job, and that will probably go into my next point here of,

what Let's go to that and you can do that. That's a great segue. So because she does talk a lot about the advice that she, got from her father.

Yeah.

And she talks about that very, you know, Catholic family, those hardliners, you know, all that, and but she learned and got took her dad's advice. Explain what that means to you, how when she talks about that or just, you know, to you in general.

Yeah. She had said, what was it, that, oh gosh, pick a career that comes from your heart and soul and fulfillment over money. I cannot believe that more genuinely. I tell candidates that all the time. Do not chase the money. The money will follow if you have the passion behind it and you're at a great place.

Yes.

Because when you make a move for money, it will come at that price. I promise you that. And, you know, like I said, I had a job that, I thought it sounded so much sexier to say that I worked in recruitment at a high-tech, you know, firm versus, you know, working in, like, the other opportunity that I had had. And they threw some money at me, I'm not gonna lie, it felt good to be wanted and all this other stuff, but it really didn't give me the warm and fuzzies that this other company did. And it was strictly a money move, and quite literally two days before I was supposed to move here, we parted ways. So I signed a lease, I was contracted, it was dependent on that salary, and it doubled my rent, tripled it, and all these expenses were on me, and I was like, what am I gonna do? And I called Lindy's Restaurant, started working there for a little bit of time, and I just moved with the motion of it. I wasn't getting caught in the details like I would've maybe five years ago, and like, oh my God. I was just like, I made this decision, I'm gonna ride the wave, and here we go.

And there have been so many waves since, but it has made the journey all the more, I don't know, looking back and just saying, like, wow. Okay. I did it. Yep.

You know, dads could give great advice since my father passed in 02/2018, and still those little things that he always said, I still sometimes will think of that. You know? So never never underestimate your influence when you're giving people good advice. Yeah. With dad or not. I mean, Pat talks about obviously, she had a really big connection with him. Yeah. And and those are things that we all want, obviously, you know, those parental things. But, sometimes life has a way of just throwing it all at you, and you're like, what what just happened? Yeah.

You know? And then those voices in your head like your dad or your that influencer start you you remember.

Yeah. I mean, I would say I'm in the beautiful blend of both of my parents, and I'm not gonna say that throughout the years, I haven't danced with my demons in a way. Sure. But it's been my mom's voice of make good choices that has always kept me in line, because I never wanna let her down. At the end of the day, you know, she's the one I wanna make proud. She's the one I wanna retire someday. And she's probably the bigger driving force than my dad is, but both of them have been driving forces just in different ways.

Yeah. I know. I I ended up visiting my mom Saturday. She is at a an assisted living now. She's 88 years old. And, she fell, and, so I stopped everything and went to see her. And she goes, you have taxes to do. You're busy.

I go, this is an hour of my time. I just wanna make sure you're okay. Everyone says you are. I wanna make sure you are. Those are moments she told miss, you know, and she was that adviser to me on many, many things, but so was my dad. I mean, it is a blend. They both came from total different ways. Not one isn't better than the other.

You know? It's just influence, and they they had that in my life, and it was impactful. Yeah. So well, Danielle, thank you for, first of all, listening to my podcast. I'm good.

Put a

gun to your head, but, thank you for listening to Pat Wallama. She's phenomenal. I would recommend anyone to listen to her, to her story. Her energy is off the charts. Check her out. Look her up. You'll find her. She's everywhere.

But she was great. So today, we are with Inspired Women, and this is our bradyware woman's moment that we have that, they give their perspective on the podcast and their perspective of how it affected them. So thank you for joining us today and go to Betty Collins Inspiring Women. You'll find about 70 plus great podcasts to listen to.