What does it take to transform an idea into a movement? Prepare to be inspired in this episode of The Fire Inside Her, where host Diane Schroeder connects us to the journey of Tina Guiller, the innovative mind behind a line of dolls that’s changing perceptions and encouraging young girls to envision themselves as firefighters. You’ll discover how Tina's entrepreneurial spirit helped her navigate change, led her through the maze of overseas production, got her through a global pandemic, and led her to seek mentorship from top-tier business minds. Hear how a touching story from a grateful mother redefined Tina's purpose, and hear the exciting news that’s on the horizon for this impactful project. You'll also learn about the community for women Tina has launched, kindness in leadership, a bit on generational gifts, and the importance of play. This episode is a powerful testament to perseverance and community—don't miss it. 

Tina Guiler has been as a Lieutenant for the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue since 1999. She is a firefighter, paramedic and fire inspector. She also co-manages the prominent Facebook group "Fierce Female Firefighters," which was originally founded in 2013 by her colleague and friend. This group was created as a supportive platform where female firefighters could convene to tackle common issues in the fire service and support one another. The private group has over 7,200 female firefighters from 58 different countries. It is the largest social media group and support network for women in the fire and EMS services. She also designed the female firefighter plush dolls to help inspire & empower little girls and show them they can be anything, even a firefighter.

How to connect with Tina Guiler:

www.FirefighterDolls.com

https://linktr.ee/femalefirefighters

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www.thefireinsideher.com 

Diane@Thefireinsideher.com 

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@TheRealFireInHer 

LinkedIn-

www.linkedin.com/in/dianeschroeder5/

Are you excited to get a copy of the Self Care Audio download that Diane mentioned?

You can get that HERE –TheFireInsideHer.com/audio

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When I was a little girl, I loved to play with friends, ride my bike around the neighborhood, dance in the front yard, and let my imagination run wild. I can't really remember when or even why I stopped playing, probably around middle school when I suddenly became more focused on being liked and accepted and cool over being creative, carefree, and connected to play. Doctor Stuart Brown dedicated his life to the study of play. His research shows that play is as basic and natural as sleep. Unlike sleep, many of us aren't getting enough of it. A life devoid of play faces major health risks such as depression, a decreased immune system, and stress related diseases. Play and being connected to your inner child are both tools and challenges. It's easy to come up with a million reasons why you don't have time to let loose and have fun for no purpose other than joy.

Fortunately, we here at The Fire Inside Her Community don't shy away from challenges and we love collecting tools that make us happier, healthier, and stronger. This is exactly what play does. So this week, I am challenging you to do something that brings you joy, makes you laugh, is fun, and has no other purpose than that. Another tool that can bring you joy is my newsletter, which I send twice a month, So head on over to thefireinsideher.com list and sign up. Welcome to The Fire Inside Her, A brave space to share stories of navigating life transitions with authenticity. Using our inner fire to light the way, and self care as our loyal travel companion. I'm your host, Diane Schroeder, and I'm so grateful you are here. This week's badass guest is on a mission to get more girls interested in a career in the fire service.

Tina Guiler has spent the last 25 years at the Miami Dade Fire Department and currently holds the rank of lieutenant, although she's officially dropped and might be retiring any day. She is passionate about creating a safe space for women in the fire service through her Triple f Facebook group, And at the time of this recording, it has over 72 100 women from 58 countries worldwide, making it the largest social media and support network for women in fire and emergency services. And speaking of play, Tina has created a plush fire doll to inspire young girls that they can be anything, even firefighters. These dolls are amazing. She has not left any detail out. I can't wait for you to hear about Tina's journey. Alright. Well, welcome Fire souls.

Today's episode is really special because I get to interview someone that I look up to very much and I have in the space of firefighting and being a badass, being a trendsetter, supporting women, and also just being really genuine and authentic. So welcome, Tina Guiler.

Thank you, Diane. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate those kind words. That's very nice of you. Thank you.

Absolutely. Well, I mean them. And to get started, I would like to know what your favorite candy is.

I would say I really like Kit Kats. I don't know. I like that.

Kit Kats are good. Now it's Easter time. Have you tried the lemon Kit Kats with white chocolate?

I have not. And during Easter, I kind of like the marshmallows covered, like The egg marshmallows with chocolate.

Yeah. Those are pretty good. Well, if you see the Kit Kats with the lemon, my son and I love them and we buy them and then we keep them in the freezer so we can eat them all year.

That's good. I used to have to get a bunch of these marshmallow candies for my grandmother. She would go I'd have to go to, I couldn't tell you, dozens of stores to find them because they run out quick. And I would go all over the place shopping. Every holiday would come up, and my grandmother, she was 99. That made her Her day.

Oh, yes. Yes. I've watched your journey with your grandmother and your grandfather and your mom over the last few years, and you've definitely had to navigate a lot of transitions with them. And I am sorry for your loss because I know how special they all were to you and just what an amazing granddaughter and daughter you are. On top of everything else being a badass, the love and connection with you and your grandmother, it was very heartfelt, and I loved watching it. It reminded me of me and my grandma who passed away almost 27 years ago and barely made it to 80, and it just I there's not a day goes by that I don't miss her and think about her.

Exactly. I feel the same. It's her.

It is. So wow, I don't even really know where to start because you do so many amazing things to raise up women in the fire service and and just be you are a tireless advocate. And I guess we can start with how I found you, which was through Triple F. So why don't you talk a little bit about your incredible robust Facebook group?

Okay. So The F means fierce female firefighters, and it was started as a group page on Facebook back in 2013 by a girl named Jia Half, who I worked with, and she is a gem. And she just made this group to help other females navigate the issues that we see in the fire service and to have each other's back and to just have a place to for us to go. So she invited me Fire years. She was trying to make in there to help her run it. And finally, I said yes. And I kinda helped Her, basically took it over in Fire 2016, somewhere around there.

Mhmm.

And then I just grew it to today. I've grown it to over 7,200 women in the fire service from 58 different countries. And we have all ranks Fire chief to firefighter. We have volunteer to career. You have wildland firefighters in The, and you do have some EMS women in there as well because we do invite EMS women as well. But it's mostly firefighters and we just talk from a to z in the fire suit. Talk about, you know, the rookies, the the people that are just getting on. We'll talk about what kind of bra is the best for them, or we'll talk about, you know, menstrual cycles.

What do you do when you're on a call? I mean, women's women's issues, right, that we can't really talk to our brothers about.

Mhmm.

So and, you know, there's deeper topics into that harassment and all that stuff that we talk about. So it's just a place where women can go and feel safe to talk with each Her. And we also train differently than the men. So the men just pick things up and go, and they're like, you know, barbarians, women have to use different parts of their bodies or the whole body to do, the same kind of task. So we train differently. So you get a lot of tips in there. I would post videos. I got a training captain to post videos in there for women, and she would go through the whole thing and just step by step video and post it.

So it's a real good place to go to learn, train, ask questions. We do meetups too. I meet women from all over the world. We do trainings together. We've been on trips together. I'm planning another trip soon, just a fun trip, to get us all together and just have camaraderie because it's really a different fire service when there's women in it. I can tell you one time that I had all girls on a fire truck with me. That was the best day of my career.

I was the firefighter in the back. I had a captain as the officer, driver, woman, and she had been on, like, a year or 2 before me. It was the best day of my life. I mean, it was so much fun that I can't even tell you. And the looks you get on the street is just ridiculous. They're like they look at you like it's an all women. There's no men? Fire, though That's weird. There's that.

And to us, it's normal. But people look at us like we're aliens, and I'm just like, no. We're just firefighters. That's it. And that was probably, gosh, a good 15 years ago probably. It's just different. So I really want every woman in the fire service to experience that because it's a different feeling. It's you feel more relaxed, oddly enough.

And I was newer in the crew back then, so I was just like I thought this was the best day of my life. You know? And it was. And I look back now after I'm almost at 25 years now. June, I'll have Fire, and I'm just like, nope. That was the best day. And I've had all crew you know, women crews on a rescue truck where there's 3 of us. We go into fires, but we also transport to the hospital. So that's just fun as well when it's an all woman crew, but it doesn't happen very often.

But we do. I mean, even though we have the most women in the United States for female firefighters, we have 262 right now. And on average, I've had 230 to 250 since I've been on. And, you know, Gia still started this group because she felt like she couldn't get enough support from the women in our department at the time. And so she's like, I don't like that feeling. I'm gonna help other people. So she's the one that started the group, and then I took it over. I made it into a business, and there we go.

And you're crushing The. And I love that. I I was as you're talking, I was trying to think back in my career how many times I had an all women crew, and I think, less than I could count on one hand. And our numbers you know, I worked for a big city department for almost 20 years, and the numbers pretty much stayed the same. I think they do have some women, more women now than when I left. And then I went to a much smaller organization, and we Her, statistically, a lot more women, which was fantastic. I think we were at 18%, and, you know, that's changed a little bit since I left, but it it really does change the conversation when you have women together. And to go back to your group, I I love the group, the Triple F Facebook group, because I still wear sports bras that were recommended on that group, like you said.

I got tips on how to deal with my hair on that group. Maternity policy was a big thing, and just a really safe space. And I really appreciate how you've always supported other women. It's not like this threatening, you know, no. Only you get to promote things. I reached out to you. It was, well, it was how we connected. In 2018, I wrote a blog post that was really pissing the guys off, and I was like, I need to share this elsewhere.

And you were like, put it on. That's fine. That's great. It was memorable to me because I haven't always felt supported by other women throughout my career, and it just is nice to be in a space where that doesn't exist, and it's healthy. And it does it just creates momentum and really inspires women who, you know, from all different walks of the fire service, like you said, careers, big departments, small departments, international, and it's just, you know, there's a lot of differences and a lot of diversity within the group. And to just label us as, you know, oh, female firefighters is very inaccurate.

Definitely inaccurate. I mean, I've heard that a lot from women in the fire service, you know, that they don't feel supported by other women, and I think that's kind of an anomaly to really I mean, I've tried to dissect that a 1,000,000 times why that happens. I think it's just because they don't have other women that they can turn to, or they had a bad experience with 1 of their the girls in their department. But, you know, there's always gonna be bad apples any any job, but that doesn't mean every single woman is gonna treat you the same. Like, I would have people complain about a girl in the group page, let's say. And they're saying, oh, she's kinda mean and she says that. I'll just go on the side and said, are you okay? You know? And I talked to her and I say, what's going on? Because she's not acting like that because she's not a nice person. She's acting like that probably because she's been Her, she's been damaged by prior relationships, or she's been picked on.

And then she doesn't wanna support other girls because she think that's gonna get her hurt from the guys she works with. So there's a million reasons, but that's just a couple. And so I pull them Inside, and then I tell the girls that are upset at the other girl. I said, just give her a chance. You know? She's learning. She needs to be she's the one person that needs to be in this group as somebody who is not kind of being nice and kind of, you know, speaking out and not necessarily saying nice things. I mean, as long as they're not too mean, they can stay in the group, but they need to learn because there's so many different women in there that you can learn from everybody in The, whether you're new, old, doesn't matter. You know? I'm one of the old girls now, so I don't like to judge people.

I'm like that in life. So I think, you know, a lot of people are very quick to judge. And I gave this analogy of how people are quick to judge once, and I'm sticking to this because it totally makes sense to me. And we could talk about this later, but, you know, when I had cancer, I didn't lose my hair. I went through chemo and all the surgery. I did everything that you could do when you have cancer. I didn't lose my hair. I still had kept my hair because I used a cold cap.

Well, people looked at me like I was fine. I wasn't you don't even look like you have cancer. You know? That's what I would get a lot. And I'm like, so cancer looks like something now? Like so people just really judge you. People wouldn't even know I have cancer, you know, and people would be mean to you and stuff like that, and they didn't even know. But here I am fighting for my life, and just because I'm not bald, like, I should have lost my hair, but I kept 50% of it because I used the The cap. But that's kind of an analogy I use because people just judge. They don't know you, and they're just quick to judge without really thinking about what they're gonna say before they say it.

So I don't really judge girls at all. I try not to. I mean, I'm human. I might do it, you know, because we're human, but I try not to. And I always think The person's been through a lot, and I'm gonna help her. So I help all the girls. One that's upset at the other girl. I've done this so many times.

So not a lot, but I've done it enough. You know, where somebody's not getting on, I'm like, just give her a chance. She's probably going through a tough time. I mean, why hammer somebody that clearly has an issue? So you wanna help those people.

Absolutely. And I think it it speaks to your character and who you are and really the culture that you're trying to create, the community, really, that you're trying to create of a safe space. And Fire all communities, you know, no one's gonna get along a 100% of the time. I mean, that's unrealistic. And as you're talking, all that's running through my mind is hurt people hurt people. And if you've had a crappy experience, and now you're armored up and you're like, oh, man. I don't know what to expect. It's natural to be on the more defensive Inside, and taking that time to let your guard down and work through that conflict, not only does that help the person who may be struggling, it gives valuable life lessons of how to have hard conversations, how to deal with conflict, how to, you know, still move on.

Right? Continue on and be part of a community that overwhelmingly does so much good. And so when you decided to turn Triple F into a business, how has that process been for you while still working for the fire department full time and navigating life? When do you rest, and how has that been?

My life is kinda like being at the fire station 24/7. You know? Okay. Don't sit still. You're constantly busy. I do like, in the last 7 years, I mean, that's pretty much when I've done the business. But before that, I just started it just for us. I started it to just not only promote women in the fire service, but have a place where women can go and find female firefighter items. Because all my career, I go around and I'd see all these male things, like a male statue of firefighter or a picture of a male Fire, but I'm like, there's nothing women related.

And I'm like, man, I feel so bad that we don't have anything. That's not right. And then Gia had created these, you know, the founder of Triple F, the group page, she made these two logos of the Ash logo and the Ember logo. I just thought they were really amazing logos, and I'm like, they're really badass but beautiful. The girls loved them in in our group page. So I said, alright. I'm gonna start putting them on t shirts. And so I kinda just made a business out of that, and I went around the country just selling all the female firefighter items so that girls can promote The.

Yeah. We can be firefighters too. And then my whole career, and I'm sure you've gotten this too, and I ask pretty much every female firefighter, I go, have you had this happen to you? And 9 out of 10 have said yes. So little kids will come up to them and say, are you really a firefighter? And you'll be in your ear and they're asking you, or even adults will do that as well. But I have little girls coming up to me and saying, I didn't know girls could be fire fighters. Or little boys will say, I didn't know girls could be firefighters. So they honestly just do not know, and there's a lot of adults that do not know. So I'm like, wow.

This is crazy that this many people don't know in 2024 that women can be firefighters because they're just not out there. There's no we're only 6% of all the fire service in the United States and worldwide. I don't know what it is, but it's not much higher, if a lot lower in most countries. But I wanted to figure out a way to show little girls that they can be like us. And I'm like, how am I gonna accomplish this? I can't just do it with my logos and selling T shirts and decals and challenge points. So I was like, I'm gonna make a doll. And I Googled dolls. What dolls are out there? Barbies out there.

Okay. Great. And I didn't really find anything except, like, you know, some women just knitting female firefighter dolls and stuff like that, but I never found anything that was an authentic female firefighter doll. And I'm like, that's it. That's what I have to do. I have to make a doll, put my logo on the dolls. So and I came up with the same because I'm like, if they see it, they can be it. And it simple as that.

If little kids can see that they can be a firefighter, they're gonna know they can be, or they're gonna know they can be anything because everybody knows if you become a firefighter, you can pretty much do anything. If they know that, then I've done my part in trying to change fire service and changing, letting little girls dream of being a firefighter like we are. Never dreamt of being a firefighter before because I didn't know I could be, so why would I?

How did you get into the fire service then? What was your entry into this profession?

Funny story. My father was a firefighter. He retired, though, when I was, like, 3 or 4. I don't remember anything about it. He never talked about it. He never even brought me to a fire station that I can remember. I don't remember anything about it. Like, basically, he didn't teach me anything about the fire service, but, you know, he retired out early.

So and my mom never liked the fire service. It was old school fire department where it was much different than today. So it just wasn't in my life. But when when I was 12, I used to have a babysitter. She would babysit us every once in a while, but she was my best friend's mother's best friend. She was a firefighter and worked at a nearby department. I knew she was a firefighter. And then when I was 17 or 18, I met another bunch of girls, Like, 4 other women that were firefighters in my department I work for now.

So we had a group of friends together just hanging out, and they were all just like, you guys should be firefighters. You know, you can do this job. We were very into sports and outdoorsy. We loved adventure. You know, we skied Diane we went camping and we did all The stuff. So we already loved the adventure of life. So they're like, you can do this job. And we're like, yeah.

We could. So they kind of pushed us and gave us and they were, like, 10 years older, I guess. And they kinda pushed, you know, a bunch of us girls into, hey. You guys can do it. And I'm like, yeah. I'm gonna do it. And before I was a firefighter, I worked for UPS. I was a UPS driver.

And back then, not many women were doing that already. So I was like, I can do that. So I love adventure. I love helping people. I love rescuing animals. And I'm like, that's the perfect job for me, and I'm outside. I don't like being in the office and whatnot. So I was like, I'm gonna do it.

So I did it. And now I'm here 25 years later, and these women are now retired. I got to work with them on the trucks. I mean, that was just amazing after they got us all into the fire. I mean, they didn't get us in, but they helped us see that we could be firefighters. Not everybody has that opportunity. Kids do not see a female firefighter, so they won't know that, which is why I made the dolls. But that's actually how I got in.

And then my dad was very old school. I didn't get along with him that much. He was very shocked when I became a firefighter. He's like, I didn't think you'd pass fire college. Because he's the old school mentality, women can't do this job. He He didn't even believe it, and he's my own father. But, you know, that's a whole another story. So, yeah, that's how I became a firefighter is these 5 girls that are now all retired, who I still talk to, they got me into it and said I could do it, cheered me on.

I love that. Thank you for sharing your story. And my dad was a firefighter too. Very, you know, same old school. When I told him I wanted to get Inside fire service, he told me to lay down until the feeling went away. And he was as supportive as he could be in the only way he knew how, and I I don't know if that makes sense. He did the best he could. Yeah.

And he still said dumb shit. Even, you know, until the day he died, you know, right before he was gonna go into hospice, my brothers and I were there, and he, you know, was I'm so proud of you guys, and it was a very emotional moment. And, like, in that moment, he paused and looked over at me and was like, I know we've had our differences. And that just summed it all up like that, you know, and I was like, well, goddamn it. Could you have said this before you were on your deathbed? Like, could we have could we have worked that out?

My dad would say, you know, proud of you, whatever, but I didn't I didn't really get along with my dad. Just put it at that. I don't I don't actually talk to him now, but it was a rough life with him for sure. But I did it anyway because I was a kid The, don't tell me I can't do The, I'll do it.

Exactly. Just watch. Just just wait. I'll get it done. So you decide that you're gonna create dolls. And this is so exciting because these dolls are amazing, and it's growing. I love watching this for you. I'm so it's just so cool for so many reasons because I think back to if I were, you know, 5 year old Diane, what I would have asked for instead of a Cabbage Patch Kid, it would have been one of these dolls.

How is that going? Tell my listeners more about the dolls.

I could just cry about this. I just have so many positive, good things that have happened. I mean, I just keep writing the list. I would say the most powerful thing that that I found in making these dolls, I was at a kids' convention. So I was in my uniform in bunker gear or whatever and had the dolls there, and a mom comes running up to me. She's like, oh my god. I cannot believe you made these dolls. I I have to tell you the story.

And she had she came up with her daughter in a stroller who was probably, like, 4 or 5. So she kinda left her in the background. She was playing a game or something, so she wasn't even looking at the time. And she comes Her. She goes, I gotta tell you this. And I'm like, okay. And she goes, I'm just so happy that you made these dolls because my daughter came up to me one day and she goes, mommy, I wanna be a boy. And mommy is, like, kinda taken back, and she goes, why do you wanna be a boy, honey? And she goes, because I wanna be a firefighter, and you have to be a boy to be a firefighter.

And that just broke my heart. Like, this is why I made the doll for her. And so I brought the doll over to Her, and I was in my uniform. And she looked at me like she was seeing a ghost, Fire, she didn't believe it. She you know, for a second. And then when she saw the doll and me hold giving her the doll, she just lit up like a Christmas tree and was just so happy and just staring at this doll, like and you could see her wheels turning. Like, wait. You mean I can be a girl and a firefighter? It was just the most beautiful thing.

And the mom, after she got the doll, I literally had to go behind and just cry because it was just so beautiful, and I just changed that girl's life. I made her happy, and that's that's what this is about. This is about showing little girls that they can be this, and they love the fire station. They love going with their brothers to the fire station, but then there's no women there. And they're like, oh, my brother gets to be a firefighter, but not me. So I have so many stories like The. Parents and grandparents sending me messages with pictures of their kids holding the doll saying, you just made her day. She hasn't put this thing down since she's gotten it.

It's been months. She's still holding onto it every single day. It goes on trips with us. I mean, just all these messages of how these dolls are affecting little girls is Fire, that's that's all I wanted to do. Give those girls something to to dream about.

I love that. And it also speaks to your perseverance and leadership and dedication to seeing that through? Because I'm just gonna go out on a limb and say The hasn't been an easy journey to get the the heels to where they are.

No. It's been a very long journey. It took me I mean, Triple f members got to see it from start to finish, which is very special because most people don't get to see this kind of thing happen. So and I would post as much as I could, probably not as much as I should because it was just a bunch of it was a mess. I mean, I'm doing this after COVID. So there's factory shutting down. You know, I can't get them made. They're not made in the US.

I cannot make these dolls here if I tried. So even all the big companies, every doll is made overseas. It's not made here, unfortunately. But, yeah, just dealing with The, I mean, I didn't even really play with dolls when I was a kid, so making them, I was like, I don't know. I had no idea what I was doing. None. Zilch. So, yeah, it was definitely you know, I've always been kind of a person.

When I say I'm gonna do something, I'm gonna do it. And if I wanna make something happen, I will make it happen at whatever cost.

And you're crushing it now. I mean, there's there's a really big exciting news coming with these dolls, and I would love for you to share what that's gonna look like.

I just can't even believe it's not. Sometimes I just have to pinch myself because I can't believe that I made this happen. Just goes to show you, anybody can make anything happen if perseverance and just finding the way. There's a way to do it. You just have to find the The, and that is the hardest part. How I found the way was, like I said, I never play with dolls, so making them was Fire, I don't know. Had no idea what I was doing. I was like, holy crap.

What did I get myself into? So I watch Shark Tank a lot. On Shark Tank 1, yeah, I used to watch it with grandma all the time too and my mom, so they loved it. So I've always been wanting to find that one thing. I started my own business at 18. So I've watched Shark Tank. I saw a guy making Jewish plush dolls. His name, Mensch on the The Bench, is the name of his company, and it's Jewish plush dolls. He won a deal on Shark Tank, and I basically cold contacted this guy.

And I said, listen. I need a mentor. I'm just a firefighter. I am trying to make a female firefighter plush doll, and I have no idea what I'm doing. Can you help me? And the guy said yes. So I was like, wow. Okay. Great.

Let's talk. So because I'm going through the holidays, and it's too busy right now. I said, okay. Fine. So I called The in January before my mom had passed away. She was she basically passed away in January. So I called him, and I said, okay. How do I do this? And he basically started sending me throughout the next couple months all his contacts.

He put me in touch with the doll prototype person, the doll packaging person who designs it and knows all about that, what you have to put on it because you have to go through all these government things because it's a product that kids can choke on and you have to go through hoops and and everything to get this done. And he just gave me all his contacts. He gave me a guy that he deals with, to get the factory for you. So, otherwise, I'd have to go to China and find a factory. And where do you start there? They have 100s. So I got the prototype made. When I got this prototype, all I did was just cry. That's exactly what I asked her to do, and she made it.

Now these are people that work for Mattel, all the big toy companies. They've done my little pony prototypes and the packaging. So I'm not working with Joe Schmo. I'm working with people that have been in the business for a long time, and that's what they do for a living. Top notch people to make me a prototype that is badass. And she nailed it. She nailed it the first time. I never even had to tell her to change it.

I told her what gear to put on, how I wanted it, how I wanted the hair, because little girls like to play with hair, and she nailed it. And then the packaging, that took another few months to go back and forth rearranging stuff, but she knew how to set up the packaging. And I told her what I wanted, and she nailed that. So it was born. And then the factory guy, he he lives here in the United States, and he knows he's been in the business 40 years. He's helping me now. And I'm like, he's retired. I don't pay this guy a penny.

I'm sure the factories pay him, but I don't pay him a penny. And he had to deal with me for a year and a half of of, nope. I need the dolls this way. Nope. I need them this way. And that was not easy. The factory that we worked with said this was the hardest doll they've ever had to make in their 30 year history. So I just accomplished something that nobody's ever done because it's a very expensive doll to make because of all the little nuances, the little parts.

You know, the suspenders come down. She's got removable gloves. The jacket come you know, the bunker coat comes off, and a hood and all these little things, and the pockets actually work. So it's like a real authentic firefighter. It was amazing. I just couldn't believe that this little doll, I'm like, really? This is what I created. So and then I just went and got the other 2 dolls done. So I had Amber, Ash, and Molly.

The whole business aspect of it, I mean, oh my gosh. It was just ridiculous. And it's not cheap either. I mean, I borrowed on my retirement. I borrowed on my house. I'm I'm in it. So and I still haven't gotten paid back yet. So I'm not making any money yet.

And I knew that going into it. So, I mean, yeah, that's how it was born. You you never know what you're gonna get until you ask. And I'm a good asker, I guess you could say, because you need help. You ask.

I say that, you know, confidence comes when you take action. You can have confidence, but, really, you have to take action. And to take action, you need courage. That's an inside job. That's part of who you are and how you were raised. So my question, to steer away from the dolls for a second, and I'll put the contact and link and everything where people can find the dolls, is, you know, we talk a lot about or there's a lot of talk about generational trauma and how that's passed down. And I believe, because I come from a long line of really incredibly badass women, that there's also generational gifts that are passed down. And what would you say are the generational gifts that were passed down to you from your grandma and your mom?

Definitely creativity and resilience. Those 2 could get anything done. And I realized that she was dying of cancer, and she smiled every single day. I had never seen her do that before. When she found out she was gonna die and she only had a certain amount of time left, we didn't know how long, but we were thinking The and a half years. She taught me so much in those two and a half years to just be happy, enjoy life, and you could do anything. She I don't know how she did it, to be honest. And my grandmother was the same way.

She's 99. She was 97, and she asked to go to Disney World the year after my mom had passed away because we didn't have any family to celebrate with. So, you know, and I just helped them achieve whatever they wanted to achieve. I did it for him and made it happen. So that's resiliency is something they really taught me that you can do anything you wanna do. Just keep moving forward.

What a powerful message. So how do you find the time, because you're so busy doing all this, to take care of yourself, and what does it look like? What does your self care look like?

It's a great question. I would think I mean, I enjoy what I'm doing. I enjoy the dolls. That's kind of, like, appealing to me. I honestly haven't had time to do that since I've been taking care of my mom. She moved into my house. I moved my grandmother into my house. I was taking care of them while I was going through cancer.

I just we're firefighters, so I was already kinda trained to just go, go, go. Literally, that's just who I am. Keep working. I keep moving. You know? Every day, it's something. It's kinda like ADHD on Schroeder because you kinda have to do everything. I don't work on the trucks now. 2017, I've been a fire inspector, so I work 4 to 5 days a week.

Work a lot of after hours. So I could be working for, like, 15 hours. Come home, take care of my mom, my grandmother, and then do triple f after that. And then on weekends, that's all I'm doing is triple f. So, literally, I put my entire life as far as fun, traveling, you know, doing things that I love to do outside of my job or triple f on hold for 7 years. I've just been go go go doing that. So now I'm just in this cycle where I'm going. I'm not stopping.

I can't stop now. Well so, sister, my challenge to you then is when these dolls land and things start to slow down, that you take some much needed time for yourself and spoil yourself rotten in whatever guilty pleasure that is, whether it's a vacation or a trip or just sitting in a quiet room.

Yeah. I've been on a lot of trips, but it's been with my fire sisters.

Right. From your personal life and this crash course of being Diane NBA and creating a doll from nothing and that courage to reach out, how has that impacted your leadership style?

I would say it's really impacted me to make sure I mean, I've been like this for a while, but being kind to your crew, having their back, and sticking up for other people. That's a huge one because I I find a lot of people in the fire service, they do not stick up for each other. If somebody's harassing The person, nobody's right. Hey. Cut it out. I am that person. I do that. Whether it's guy or girl, I don't let it happen.

If I squash it immediately. Don't do that. You know, that's not happening in my station. So, I mean, that's one thing I've learned is I don't join in the antics. I stop them. So that's one thing that I think good leaders do. They don't just join in and make fun of somebody or hammer somebody when they're down. You know, I I'll pull them aside and say, are you doing okay? And I check on people.

And as simple as just saying happy birthday to somebody, text them happy birthday or call them. I wish I had a crew of people helping me all the time, but I do have some triple F'rs that come and help me at shows and stuff like that. But 90% of the time, I'm doing it. Maybe Fire, I'm doing it by myself. I run the triple f group page. I'm doing my job by myself, you know, full time 15 hour job a day, come home and do Triple F by myself. So that's what you have to do in the beginning. It's a grind in the beginning, and I enjoy it.

I have fun doing it. I love doing the interviews and just getting the word out about them because I'm I see the impact that's happening. I see it, and it just heals me. That makes me happy. It's just a lot of fun too. I'm having a lot of girls that wanna come out and help now as compared to before the dolls. They did wanna come out and help before, but now it just seems like a little bit more. I've given them a little bit fire to put under their themselves and, oh, this really matters.

You know? So now they're seeing a bigger picture when I've seen it since day 1. It just takes a little coaching, and I think showing that to other people, and then they start believing in and they see the big picture.

It's a master class in leadership. It's really neat to see kind of the paradigm shift, not just in the fire service, I think globally, of that really masculine dominant energy to more of the kinder, you know, equally as powerful, just a little softer energy as you've described your journey as you see people. You see people for who they are and where they're at, and that's really powerful.

When you said that, it makes them actually want to work better. Their work ethics change because you're actually empowering them without them even knowing it. Everybody really needs to do The, and you need to listen to people. I'm I'm a very good listener, and my door is always open for anybody to come and talk to me. As busy as I am, I still do that. I don't think busy really describes my life, but

No.

Way more than that. But I like it. I enjoy it, and I make time for anybody that wants to talk. I don't shoo them away because I would hate that to be done to me. So I'm I'm a big believer of doing on to others as you want to be done to yourself, and I've just lived my life by by that.

Well, thank you for sharing that and your story. And, you know, for the female firefighters and and emergency services that are listening, there'll be a link to the The f Facebook group that you can request to join. Correct? Is that still how it works? You gotta request to join and answer okay.

Request to join, send your ID, because I actually ID everybody to get in to make it as safe as possible. So all kinds of people try to get in the group because they see, wow. There's 7200 female firefighters I want in that group. And it's the wives, it could be non firefighters, it could be whoever. Yeah. They have to send an ID to get in so that we can make it as that's how it's gotten this big and private.

Perfect. And if you're retired, you don't have to be active in the fire service. Correct? But I've transitioned from no longer being active, and I'm still in the group because it's a powerful group, and it's no one really understands unless you've been in the fire service. There's just a a level of understanding that is only shared amongst us. Alright, Tina. Well, thank you so much for everything, for your open and honest conversation, for being vulnerable and genuine, and congratulations on the dolls and the successes to you. And I just I have so much respect and admiration. So thank you for giving me your time and sharing parts of your story with my audience.

I really appreciate the Fire, for sure. Enjoyed talking to you. This has been great.

Another great conversation. Thank you for giving the valuable gift of your time and listening to The Fire Inside Her podcast. Speaking of value, one of the most common potholes we fall into on the journey to authenticity is not recognizing our value. So I created a workbook. It's all about value. Head on over to thefireinsidehe.com/value, to get your free workbook that will help you remember your value. Until next time, my friend.