Media Interview Prep with Rookie Firefighter Loveday - Be Your Best Self In The News

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Transcript

Speaker 1:  0:05 
Hey there, and welcome to a really great episode of her brotherhood. This is Abby bolt. I just had a gal that I saw on one of our Facebook groups, she reached out to the whole group and said, like, Oh my gosh, I have my first media interview coming up, and I don't know what to do. So I said, Hey, you know what, let's talk. I would love to help you with this. And why don't we make it into a coaching call and, and put it on the podcast? Because there's probably a lot of people out there wondering, how in the heck do I handle media interviews? And what do I do so, enjoy? We're gonna see how this goes and have a call with her and go through it step by step. And you guys might learn some tips along the way. And thanks for being here on her brotherhood.
Hey, Emily. Yeah, it's so good to talk to you. So, um, this is great. I think this is a perfect way to do this to talk about your first news interview and make it into a little bit of like a training conversation for others to I thought, you know, why not? Yeah.

Speaker 2:  1:17
Yeah, absolutely. It's definitely an uncomfortable and awkward territory. It's definitely nice to have that.

Speaker 1:  1:25
Nice. Very cool. Well, this is so we're, I figured, you know, if we put her under a little bit of pressure by, like doing it on a podcast and recording it, that's like a great little initial pressure for you to be like, Oh, my god, she's recording this, and then Saturday. But there you can see how comfortable it is. And we're good. It's just a conversation. So now tell me, so introduce you, to me and everybody else, your name where you're from? What what you got going?

Speaker 2:  1:53 
Yeah. So my name is Emily. And someday, I just got officially hired for the Duke fire department here in Oklahoma. I am a mother of two. And I compete in CrossFit. So between those three things that literally what takes up my time.

Speaker 1:  2:17 
Very cool. So you're a rookie firefighter with two little ones. Yes, that's awesome. What an accomplishment, because I'm sorry, but it's one thing to tackle it. So it is another thing to be a mama and manage a family too. So congrats to you. Now what, tell me real, what are your keys to that? What do you think? What makes you successful? What does it take to be a mom of two kids and be able to pull off the training and do all that I have.

Speaker 2:  2:50 
It was a struggle Not gonna lie, it was there were days that I would only get a few hours of sleep because after you go through your day, and then you have to study for your for here in Oklahoma, you have to have your EMT license. So I was going through EMT school and then putting in hours at the fire station, and then with the kids and stuff. So by the end of the day, you're up late studying, and then you're only going a few hours. And that part was challenging. But luckily, I had a awesome support system. My parents and my friends actually would help with my kids and help getting them to events and stuff that I couldn't make it to or whatever the case would be. So I think that having a support system, honestly, is kind of what helped me get through that.

Speaker 1:  3:42 
Right on that is I figured that's where you're probably going to go with that because it truly takes a tribe. So since we're since we're kind of doing like a coaching call here on media interviews, I'm going to immediately bring something to your attention, and we'll see if we can't work on it throughout the chat. Okay. Okay. Okay. So on that last question that I asked you, I think you hit about seven or eight arms? Were you aware of them? I'm sorry, I can't hear you. Sure. I think you hit in that last question. When I asked you I think your answer you had about seven or eight maybe more arms? In your answer. Did you think so. So, um, is definitely your pause word. And I would think it probably would be a good idea of every time when you're, you're jumping from thought to thought, just take a breath, and try not to use and then the next thing when we talk about as you go through it, I'll be kind of conscious of now you're going to be more conscious of it too. And so but yeah, okay. It's okay to have a little bit of radio silence, then, that I just did right there then Because see, when you're trying to capture your next thought, that's when your arms hit and so it can be really hard, but if you need to take a beat and think about the next few You're going to speak about and let that be internal and silent. It's so hard I know. But once you start thinking about it, Oh, great. Okay, so remind me again, and tell me about the department, you'd said, Where were you got picked up at. But tell me about the fire department where you work and give me a little bit of history of them.

Speaker 2:  5:22
So it's in Oklahoma, I am the first female. So this is a new chapter for them, as well as me trying to figure out the course of how things go, that the guys at the station and the department as a whole, I could not have asked for a better department to be at. They are very, very helpful. In definitely, they want me to succeed, and just as much as anybody else, they are very quick with to help me with training or anything that I need. They are definitely helped me get through, I volunteered for a year, and then got hired. And they helped me through everything that I initially

Speaker 1:  6:15
 Had a technical difficulty. Okay, there it goes. My computer was gonna stop recording. I'm like, no, no. Okay. Not now. No. Okay, so in that piece, I, I listen to all your information. And I love the answer. And so I want to do both all you know, I was listening to what you're talking about. And then also, it was killing you. Hmm. That. That is that it was hard for you to even think about what you wanted to say. Because we get so used to now just you and I talking, it's so easy to and then if you throw in an arm, because that's where your thoughts are. And when you're just having a regular conversation, we don't even think about it. It's just how we roll. And it's like, you can't even get to your unless you have that filler word. So it's hard to remember, and you kind of have to go into, you know, media mode. And there's different things like when I have an interview on here, and there's somebody that's just like, inundated with passwords, that is totally cool, I will go back in and fix all those for them. Because I don't want to take away from the value of their, their interview. But when you're on like, let's say live TV, or a live, you know, news interview, there, they aren't going to go back and fix that because they can't or if you're doing their Facebook Live or whatever. Now typically, if you're doing one where they're going to edit it, and you feel like you're giving all of this value for an hour long conversation, and then it turns into a three minute news interview. Trust me, they can. So then it's totally cool. So it's really about you know, being conscious of what it is that you say how you say it. My habit, which I'm doing it right now. And it's just how my brain works is I talk too fast. And from the time my grandfather talked to me when I was a little kid, until he'd be like, you have to slow down I can understand. And I had someone tell me a couple days ago, Oh, it's so great. When I listen to your podcast, I don't have to turn it up to the 1.5 speed cuz you're already going that fast. And I was like, that's a compliment, or, cuz I know sometimes I have to speed podcasts up just because I'm like, I want information out of you. I don't care about how slow you go. I just want the intent. Right? So it's it just really depends on the audience that you're talking to. And the more fired up, I know I am about something, the faster I talk, it's not so much a nervous thing for me is it's like I have so many thoughts in my head that I want to get out. So that's a that's the first thing to think about. Now, tell me about. So to remind everybody, what we're doing today is we're having like a coaching call with Emily to prepare her for her first official interview as a fire department employee. Now, why in the heck did they reach out to you? So tell me about that?

Speaker 2:  8:56
I honestly, I'm not sure. They? I'm the first female engineer. 

Speaker 1:  9:01 
Well, I think that that way to me, you are sure because you're the first female for your fire department. So that is great. And I want you to own that. I thought about that on my way in today. And I thought we always have the habit of being like, well, first of all, I don't want attention because I'm a female. We don't want to be pointed out. And then you don't even want attention well, and as a rookie, you're like, I don't want extra attention, right? So there's all these things. So I struggled for a long time and I know a lot of people did and I probably turned away a lot of opportunities that could have helped people because of that. However, why not own it in this era that we're in because you are inspiring. Like you can't think about your small circle that area. They're going to roll their eyes at you or make fun of you or be like here's another chick. You're inspiring, like so many ripples away. So you have to think about the other adult The parents, the children, the young women, that you're inspiring far far away, or someone who is struggling and needs to hear from a woman who is being successful and happy in what she's doing. Or a mother who is wondering, can I be a firefighter? I have kids. And then hearing from this gal Emily that did an interview. So we have to remember how strong our messages and that we keep hearing like, oh, the first female, this the first female bat, and it's like, let's embrace it. Let's take those news interviews. Let's turn it to what we need the message to me. So Naveen says that, yeah, good. Oh, good. So I didn't want because I know you being the first female department, there's a lot of pressure already. So I'm glad when I saw that you were, you're doing this and it sound like you're excited. I was like, cool, because a lot of us, as we're coming up are like, we're either too cold to do it. Or we don't want the attention. So good on you. Oh, that's great. Okay, sorry. So I kind of took over there, but I just wanted to share that. Not to doubt. See, there's my own. Now you've got me really conscious of them. Okay, so you're being interviewed? And tell me the medium? So who is interviewing you? And what type are they doing? describe to me what they told you so far,

Speaker 2:  11:22
I don't have a lot of information on it. My tape, set it up and asked if I was okay with it. And I said, Yes. And then I got told it would be on Friday at one of our local news stations for channel two here. Until for and that's all the information I have on it. So I'm not

Speaker 1:  11:42
completely know it's gonna be on camera, then we know it's on camera, we know it's not just a written piece, it's actually going to be on camera. And then it would probably be helpful to know if it's live or a pre-recorded segment. So you might want to just either do a little digging or just flat out, ask the questions because it's okay to once he tells you who it is like look up the phone number, don't be afraid to call the station because they want you to be successful too. So if you rack up the station call for whatever the production desk is, whatever contacts they have there and just let them know Hi, I'm going to be interviewed tomorrow, I was just curious, I could prepare. And then they'll tell you and they'll tell you up front, like if Don't worry, we can edit it or you should be freaking out because it's gonna be like a heads up. All right. So I am as I go through here, so I've got some like some standardized like training tips to hit on. So the first one, number one is decide what you want to talk about. So you know that they're coming to you for you being the first female on this fire department, yada, yada. So we know that it's going to be about that. But you want to you want to control the narrative to be what message you want to share. So think on that. And when that when you think of that right off the bat, like what comes out of your head, like what is the message that Emily wants to get out there?

Speaker 2:  13:07
to get across just the idea that, yes, females can do it. And not necessarily just females, but maybe there's a dad out there that has kids and wants to pursue fire or young girls. Really just everybody just to inspire them to have that face out there that says, This is what I've gone through, but I'm here you can too.

Speaker 1:  13:39 
Great. So that picture their questions are really just a springboard for you to go off up because they're asking a basic question, hoping that you're going to then fill it like they like to talk as little as possible. They just want to give you a little kind of spark to light, whatever your messages so that's perfect. So go in there remembering those key messages. And even when you're driving around or today or whatever on your way in just start talking to yourself. Like you have an interview right there and just blah, blah, blah about you know, this, this and that and women and moms and that, you know, whatever that. Yeah, whatever it is. So then. So you you want to prepare, though for certain questions. So are there some questions that you're worried they may ask you that you're not going to be able to just spout off or that might set you back? Is there anything like that?

Speaker 2:  14:29 
I don't know that there's anything specific. Generally, when getting put on the spot I freeze. So really, any other questions? Okay, let's kind of worried about

Speaker 1:  14:42
think about that then. So your freeze tactic. So you did your mind just go blank? Yes. Okay. So what do you do you have any mode, like? Do you have any strategies for that in your life regularly, like what do you do when that happens?

Speaker 2:  15:00
I just worked through it, I don't know, how to appropriately get through that and an easier way. Okay?

Speaker 1:  15:13
So let's see, I would say, for you, you just need practice, you need to how often you talk yourself in the car. Probably never. So that is probably one of the best thing if you have if you have cielo drive time, whether it's like commute time, whatever it is driving down the road, just start talking out loud, like somebody just asked you an interview question, you know, think of a question in your head. And then, you know, just picture the today show a picture, whatever, where they're, they're asking people these random questions and you're watching them answer and then just start talking and, and throw yourself into the middle of it now, to talk to ourselves by ourselves. That's like, it's sounds crazy train. So a lot of times we don't. But if you can get through being nervous in front of yourself, you know, that's going to help you get over the being nervous in front of other people. So you know that you lock in. That's great, right? Because you're conscious of it. So what you want to do is figure out what keeps you from locking up and what helps is to be able to just get that tunnel vision like forget about the camera. Forget about the you know the reporter forget about you have to just forget about all of it. And listen to the words that the question like listen to what they're saying focus on them finite Lee and shut everything else out. And that will that will help you do that. So yeah. Oh, perfect. Yeah, it's a whole like, are we like, oh, picture everybody naked? No picture, nobody in the room. It's just you, you're just there having a conversation, you have to forget about like, all the chatter happening inside your head has to all go away, take it all, throw it away, you're in the now and this teeny tiny place like you are with me right now on the phone. That's all it is. You're right there. Speaking imagery. So you are, you are explaining something to some people that have zero idea about what you're talking about. They've either never been a firefighter, they don't know what it's like to be a mother. They don't all that stuff. So think about before you go in there, you know how to describe that stuff in a colorful way. Because it's hard for us to do things like this and forget, we're not just talking to our tribe. And we feel silly being like, you know, pirate fighting is Bah, blah, blah. And you know, that everybody at the station is like, oh, okay, Emily, like, yeah, you know that, but it's not for them. The news interview is not for your department, okay, it's for the outside. And it's to shine a good light on the department. Because so often we have women in the news that are, it's for a bad reason. And it's so cool to be able to see all these good news interviews, the first woman, this first woman that so this is your chance to also make the department shine. But you know, don't be afraid to talk about some great things about the department or describe what if I, what it's like being on a fire engine, you know, describe the struggles in the academy, or the physical disability, disability, the physical difficulties and how you overcome them, you know, but, but talk, talk descriptive, so that they understand, avoid a litany of statistics, which I don't think in this situation, you're going to because you're not going to be like, you know, for this many years, or have been this percentage of women, so I don't think you're gonna you know, but they may come at you with that, they may come at you and say, because you are a statistic, you are the first woman. So there may be a little bit of that, but as but nobody cares about the numbers. So you know, just but that is this whole news story is going to be about a statistic and it's you. So remember that and then just turn that however you want it whether it's you know, you could even talk about to what's your I don't know if your chief wants to but why there haven't been you know, that's also something interesting to talk about and how they can increase that or like how in the heck did you end up on the department? How are you there? First one,

Speaker 2:  19:08
I don't know the guys like I said the guy there are awesome. You hear all these stories of some females getting in these departments where they go through different types of struggles just with the group that they have with the guys they're in. I am blessed enough to I don't have any of those negative stories. So I honestly I'm not sure why there has never been a female, especially with this type of group of people that are in there.

Speaker 1:  19:43 
Is it just the interest low in the area or the applicants low?

Speaker 2:  19:49
Possibly, I know, we have we just got a girl volunteer but outside of that, I haven't seen Another female application are interested in it. Okay.

Speaker 1:  20:06
How many I'm sorry, I just curious as you're talking as I wanted to know how many, how many members of the fire department are there?

Speaker 2:  20:12 
We have two stations and three on each. Each station on each set. There were a total of eight teams. Okay. Like that. So we're fairly small.

Speaker 1:  20:23
Yeah, having one out of 18 is a pretty good. That's a it's a pretty good statistic. pretty high. Yeah. Yeah, that is crazy. But yes, it is. So that's good. Yeah. Okay. So they may ask you something, but they're the news stations gonna be more familiar with your local statistics. And I am so though there'll be no I won't. Because I immediately I'm like, okay, you have 3000 members here and fire department and two are women, what the hell? You have a full time you have one woman way to go. perspective. Right. Okay, so let's talk about, like your actual speaking there. So I don't think you're gonna have a problem with like volume, you come across really great, your voice is strong. Just remember when you're in there, if you do go into like, weird shut down mode, just be louder than you think you should be. Because we're always, we always in our head, think we're being louder when we might be being quieter, and be slower than you think you should be. Even though it's really hard. So if I was being interviewed right now, on a news, this is probably the speed that I would try to go. It's slower than our natural conversation. And it's actually difficult, because my brain is tripping over all my thoughts right now trying to race to the next one. So just find someplace in the middle. And that the interview person just go off of whatever their cadence is, whatever their speed is, and whatever their volume is, you should be fine. Did, what are you planning to wear?

Speaker 2:  21:58 
I think I have Well, I'll be on shift. So I'll be in my, in my gear that we have. Oh, good. And what color is that? I don't know what color shirt I'm going to have? Aren't we so red for our probies until they get a certain amount of textbook stuff done. And I don't know if I'm still gonna have my red shirt or my blue shirt.

Speaker 1:  22:21
I bet he wants you to wear your blue shirt. He'll probably be like, yeah. And the reason I ask is because it is one of my faults is that I'm a sweater when I get fired up. It's not even when I get nervous. It's when I'm fired up. Like I get I start sweating. And so depending on what your dress is your uniform dress or your regular, you got to think about that. And it's something that I am very conscious of, if I'm going to something right now I'm either going to be fired up or stressed out. So that's why I asked you the question of sounds like you'll be safe either way, but I either end up wearing something that is safe like that, or I have my elbows pinned to my side so hard. I look like a T rex and I can't move my arm. Because I was so afraid that it's gonna be I had what I would teach in our academies in California here. I teach all these classes in the uniforms that we had that color was not in the material was not conducive to sweating. And it would just say, Oh, no, no, so bad. And so I just embraced it. And one of my guy that was on one of my crews, he was like, I'm just gonna nickname you Pitts. And I was like, what he's like, yep, that's a nickname. Like what are you talking about? He's like, Evie, have you seen yourself when you're teaching? That's like, oh my god. Because I'm a girl and you know, don't sweat. So yeah, I just embrace it as like, screw it. So then I started getting really creative on what kind of undershirts I wore and what kind of deodorant I used. And, but it wouldn't even it was it was just being fired up and pumped up about what I was talking about. So yeah, so that's why I asked about what are you wearing. And it's okay to wear a little bit of makeup to make yourself feel better on camera because you are going to be on camera and so if you typically don't wear anything you're doing you're doing in station in a new station, so it's not like they're just catching you on the side of the road. So it's okay to throw in some mascara and some you know, whatever on your skin to make yourself feel like more camera ready. So don't be afraid to do that. I don't know what your norm is. But on the flip side, don't overdo it. We don't need a shadow and lipstick and you know, but yeah, you want to make yourself feel confident on the camera and because the news reporter has about 12 layers on and they're gonna look like some weird HD thing anyways, so you might as well you know, so I encourage that because you want to you're trying to put on the good face of the department and it's okay to be you know that you're coming into a studio so why not? So don't be afraid to do that. Nobody's gonna like oh my god, she's wearing mascara like Yeah, it's okay to not look like you're all that bad. It's cool. So, yeah. Let's see here. So reboot with each question. So every time they stop, because it's almost like most of our questions are going to be completely different subject or they may be following up on one. But that's your chance to reboot. So if you just finished an answer to a question that was like, well, I screw that one up, or you don't have, you know, the next question is your chance to like, reset, and then start over again. So just remember that and if you didn't like how you just answer the last question, or if your mind you're going like, Oh, no, I either missed something or I need to fix something. Your next question, you can fix that, even if they ask you like, on this one, hey, why is the sky blue? And you're like, blah, blah, blah, then they're like, you know, why is the grass green, where you can be like, yeah, grass, but you can finish explaining why the sky is blue. Or go back to why the sky is blue. Like you control the narrative in this. And don't forget that this is not like, hey, Emily, your department sucks. And we're here to attack and you suck. And this isn't what this is, this is a celebration. So it's all about you, it's all about making the department look great. Celebrating the community where their tax dollars are going, you know, so it's a positive one. Now, if it were a negative one, that's something you'd want to think about too. So I think we should go into some of that stuff as well. Going back to why, or going back to where we don't want to be interviewed, or we shy away from it. So coming from the culture that I started in, especially with wildland fire, and you got a bunch of, you know, tough guys out in the woods and a news camera rolls around, you want to see people disappear, holy cow, like people, one with the woods, and they're gone. So it's great. But at the same time, we're missing that opportunity to give the message that we want to give. So I always encourage people, that if they have the opportunity to go ahead and take it, because if you don't take it some nitwit is going to, that's when you're on a fire. Say we're on a campaign fire. And there are literally 1000s and 1000s of firefighters out there within however many mile radius, and some media truck shows up and they're looking for somebody, if they can't grab somebody that they want somebody, whoever will step up is who they're going to take. And that's how you end up with someone on the camera that has absolutely no idea what they're talking about. And then all the firefighters are leaving and going like Who the hell let this guy be the guy? Well, he or she was just the one standing there willing to get in front of the camera. So be that person when you know that you have a good message to share. You know, don't people need to not be afraid. So a really great example is, let's say the federal fire folks versus the State Fire folks in California. So Cal Fire, they're like Media Rockstars. And they are branding Rockstar. So we in the feds would hide we hide who we are, we hide the name of our agency, because we were taught in a culture to like be humble. Don't share, you know, to just be quiet, be in the woods, shut up and do your work. callfire has done a better job at having callfire branded on everything you can see it's on every side of their helmet. It's on every side of their shirt. It's everywhere. So whenever they get interviewed, it's callfire. Like you see that and then it's like for service who, like nobody knows, we might even be the ones running the fire. But when calculating on the camera, it's like they own the world. So it's smart of them because they're showing their tax base that hey, look, we're out here working for you doing a good job and they train other people how to be camera ready to sew and be ready to talk. So I think it's important. So now Okay, yeah, so don't be afraid rock the colors. You know, always be ready and don't be offended. People make fun of you. And but it becomes like that. It's like, a media crew would show up and they'd be like, go find Abby, you know, she'll tolerate and some people just couldn't stand it to be in front. They would freak out from the camera, but it'd be like, I'd be out on a division and this news crew roll up. I'd be like, Oh, hey, how's it going? And they'd be like, Oh, well, we were in camp and they told us to come find you like my they would drive for miles and miles but the incident commander would be like, okay, Abby's out here on this piece. Go find her. Like, I just got I got used to it. And it's I wouldn't, though because I was proud to think like, that's really cool. they relied on me to spread the right message to not say something stupid, you know. And so yeah, it's important. Now, if it does come down to something that is sensitive, like let's say something changed, there's a lawsuit going on or there's a sensitive fire incident that happened. Of course, we always want to get overheads approval. So in this case, if you're out on a working structure fire and reporter comes up to you, let's say there's been a fatality or somebody is talking that there could have been a fatality. And a reporter comes up and shove something in your face. Of course, you're going to want to default to your supervisor run that up the chain because it is an at home, you definitely, definitely want to pass that up. So we don't i don't want people to take that the wrong way. Like, you don't want to jump in front of the camera, when it's just going to, you know, put something at risk. So I don't want anything. Do you guys have a policy or like a media policy that you've talked about?

Speaker 2:  30:20 
reads generally just pointed to the captain or sees that he's gotten seen, right? We say go find the white hat.

Speaker 1:  20:28
Right. See, I know, we just all point to it, but they wouldn't want to hear from the white hat. They want to hear from the red and yellows. And, and yeah, I mean, that's, that's their job. And do you guys have somebody that's identified for public information? We don't. Oh, wow. Okay, well, I think you just became it. So congratulate. But, you know, it's, it's might be something, you know, women just have we, this is one of our strengths. One of our strengths is the gift of gab, and not being afraid to speak up and be in front of a, you know, to do all that. I don't know. I mean, we have so many more pianos that are females across the board. And I think it's because it's it's a strong point. So embrace it, if like, the one thing that gets pissed I get pissed off about is if we're always in meetings, everybody's like, Abby, can you take the notes? Because I'm always the only girl I got where I'm like, No, I'm not gonna say no, because I got tired of just because I was the one girl in the room. And that might be my, my strength. You know, I'm like, No, so yeah, but I think it's great to embrace doing the public information side and, and you're personable, and that's half that. So a lot of these interview interviews now are happening with like, Facebook Live, they're rolling up with their frickin iPhone, and they've already got it rolling. Or you've been on Facebook Live for the last hour, and you didn't even know it. Yeah, one time I was on this fire. It was burning through a bunch of homes it was an all nighter is like two in the morning, and I'm, I'm on the side of the road, and someone's like, hey, the news crews are gonna be showing up right here this roadblock? Can you go and you know, they want to talk to somebody. So can you just go talk to him, and it was a really sensitive situation. And we were I think we're up to like two or 300 homes at the time and some fatalities and then so they're they're all set up, well, then I just start be messing with this. This news reporter we're talking because you know, when you're off the camera, it's great to you, you build a rapport with them, you, you know, you know them and you're not worried that they're gonna throw you under the bus and you're just chit chatting, because you want to prepare and really let them know what's really off the record stuff going on. And then come to find out we've been talking for like 20 minutes, and she had had her phone on a tripod behind us filming Facebook Live the entire time. Oh, my goodness, I didn't say anything that was concerning. I was just shooting the shit and but I was I very well could have easily. So nowadays, yeah, they're on like a complete live feed all the time. So we have to remember that everything that we're doing, and it's okay. Also to talk to you know, you'll build a rapport with them. And whenever you're going to go into an interview, like I was saying, call the station, find out what, find out what the situation is going to be so that you're better prepared. It's okay. They're used to that and have a conversation. Whenever you're doing interviews. What is this for? You know, what, is it going to be edited? Is it going to be live? What you know, if I don't be afraid to be like, okay, so if I say something stupid, can you take it out? Don't be afraid to ask him that. Because that's what you want to know. You know? So you're like, you need to know that. Yeah, it's important. So like, you're doing a morning show. So it might be live, but it also might be taped for later play. So that's cool. I would ask him that be like, okay, so you know, if I do No, sir, you know, don't be afraid. Just be honest with them. Because your prep questions with them or not the interview, it's okay. They're, they interview nervous people all the time, and you're trying to protect yourself. So you're like, you know, because if you're going on and you say something that's completely detrimental to yourself, or to the department, you just, it just fell out. You know, you're who knows what it could be? You want to be able to say, Oh, my gosh, can you take that off that? And they'll be right. And they'll have no problem with that. So yeah, you just want to know, yeah, you want to know what the thing is. So they're out to help you. And yeah, if you're in a one where they're not out to help you default it to someone else. That's an easy one. I don't know. Talk to my chief. Yeah. Easy, easy. Okay, so what else? What else is making you nervous?

Speaker 2:  34:27 
Me, really just all of it because I literally talked about like, the pressure of being a rookie, and then being a female and have making sure that I say the right thing. That that whole group of things is really, really

Speaker 1:  34:50 
Well, I want you Okay, so your interview is tomorrow, right? Yeah. Okay. So I'm going to actually do Sunday. I usually do. I'm going to put this on the podcast today. So you can replay it back and just go over this again. And then I'm going to challenge you for from now until you're there tomorrow, I want you to be doing internal interviews the entire time. And I want you to be talking to yourself all day long. I'm not even kidding you. So, okay, okay, I knew that, okay, I want you to do that. And it's, and it's going now your arms your passwords are, so they're really not bad. And they're very natural. So I don't want you to be too over-conscious about that. But now you're going to be thinking about it more. But I don't want to, I don't want it to disable you, or, you know, set you back. Because actually, they come through so easily, it's not going to be a big deal. And then you'll hear this, I'm going to leave them all in that the interview, and I'm gonna leave mine in. And then you'll hear where like they are distracting or where they're not distracting, but they're very natural. So I wouldn't worry about that. And I want you to what are you doing for that? Like, do you have drivetime in the next couple days are solo time?

Speakers 2:  35:57
Yeah, I do have drive time I I actually have a part time job that I work on my days off about 20 minutes from my house. So I have that

Speaker 1:  36:08
Perfect drive. And you have a smartphone, obviously. So it's got a record function. So don't be afraid to record yourself and play yourself back. And this is you know, that's too much for today. But in the future you can, but I want you to when you're driving this entire time home, and they're there and back, I want you to in your head, think of a question they would ask you. And then I want you to just go for it out loud. Say it, talk it as you're driving, just like you're on camera, in practice, okay, you're gonna rock it, it's gonna be great. And it's just the first of so many. And it's the best way to get our message out for others and the community. They want to know how their tax dollars are being spent. And a great story, a happy story is one of the best. And we all love hearing first time this first time that until we never have any more first women this and that we want to keep it going. And it's up to people like you to share that message. So I'm glad you're doing it, Emily. Thank you. I can't. So I want to follow up. So you're just starting in and I want to follow up with you in the future and know more about how it's going. And did you go through a regular Academy? How do you guys do that there.


Speaker 2:  37:15 
For my department, they've put us through our fire one, which we went to another town here and did it and Academy with them for the fire one and hazmat. And then that was kind of like an in house type Academy. It wasn't like a full fire. Five months, I think for the bigger cities here. So we just had this little in-house one.

Speaker 1:  37:42
Nice. And then the other piece that you mentioned at the beginning that I wanted to follow up with is tell me about CrossFit competition?

Speaker 2:  37:48
Yeah, so yeah, I did compete for a couple years. And then I had to take this last year off between the Academy, putting in my hours at the station, getting through a class and single mom business. I had to kind of take a year off from all of that. So I'm slowly starting to get back into her then back into training. And hopefully I can get back into competing sometime soon.

Speaker 1:  38:19
Now how do you feel that for those out there that have never been crossfitters? How does being involved in CrossFit prepare you to be a better firefighter

Speaker 2:  38:28 
Oh, and help tremendously just in the physical and mental aspects of it. As you know, the adjustment can be very physically demanding. And having that background in me has helped a lot for the physical challenges. And then also, when you are any type of competitor, having your mentality tested and mental strength that stays with you. And it's something that you just kind of put towards anything that you do. And that has also played a huge part in the roles of being a firefighter.

Speaker 1:  39:08
Very cool. I I think I need to get back into CrossFit. The more I hear you talking about it like Yeah, I do miss that. I need to get back into that. We don't have an actual box here where I live at but I just feel like I need to create one. Yeah. All right. Well, I'm gonna let you go. Because I gave you an assignment. I want you to speak in yourself. And I want you to call the station don't even worry about your TV or any of that stuff. You just call them they know you're coming. Give them a call and be like, Hey, I'm coming. I just wanted to know, is it live? Is it better that? Is there anything that I should be prepared for and let them give you their spiel? Okay, Okay, perfect. All right, girl, it's yours. You control the narrative. This is your message. So be confident in practice. I will thank you so much. You're welcome Emily, you have a really great day. You already Bye bye. I hope you enjoyed this edition of her brotherhood and being on that coaching call with us if there's anything that I can help you out with, come see me over Abby ball.com reach out to me, let me know, a couple of things on here that I don't think we hit on that I wanted to make a point of is when you're working with a reporter, especially with a camera, don't be afraid to ask them where you're supposed to look, if they don't tell you because you're not really sure if you should be looking at them, or directly into that camera. So always just ask questions, not a big deal. And always assume you're on camera. Even if you're being interviewed in a group and you think that they're just focused in on somebody else that speaking, always be poised like you're being watched on the camera. Don't forget to smile. Lots of smiles are great, even though you have an intense thing that you're talking about. Keep that light feel on your face. And above all, breathe. Don't forget to breathe. If you get flustered or you need to slow down or you're looking for your next idea. Just take a breath. That's all you got to do. Well, thank you so much for being here spending your time with me and her brotherhood. It's an honor whenever you do take the time with me. What I really would love is to have some more patrons. So if you go to patreon.com, check out the link in the show notes and show your support. And I'm so excited to announce that we have T shirts available now for her brotherhood. So let's show it out there celebrate women that put their lives on the line and with that, have an excellent day.