Cindy Choi

I used to try to practice, um, trying to slap people harder so that I could actually, like, I, I guess, like be able to match others who hit hard, but I just am unable to do it. Okay. Well, that makes a good quote for the beginning. Welcome to the Front Porch with Brian Bowry. I would like to welcome today's guest and associate project manager here at Pointer Rental, Cindy Choi. Cindy, welcome to the Front Porch. Thank you. And you are, you are an associate project manager? Yes.

Or are you now a project manager? No, associate project Manager. Okay. Uh, let's start with the basic questions. Yeah. Who are you, where are you from, and what celebrity's house would you like to visit and why? Um, well, I am, um, let's see. You're Cindy Cho. I, that One? I'm Cindy Choi. I know that one. Um, I actually grew up in, um, the West Coast all the way in San Francisco, like actually in San Francisco. Lived there for 18 years of my life.

And, um, and then I moved to another, um, place in San Francisco where I was only a mile away from Robin's Williams house. So I would actually say I would wanna go to, I would wanna see his house because every Halloween we would trick or treat around that area, and he would just send out people to, um, give out glow sticks or toothbrushes or, um, whatever it is. And we would just see his house. So, um, never got to go in, but kind of would be, I guess.

'cause it's like this nostalgic childhood thing, so I guess wouldn't wanna see his house. Yeah. And plus, I mean, you were right there. Yeah. I was there so many times there. It's like, oh, I never had the chance to go in though. Yeah. All right. Well, yeah, it probably would've been a little creepy of him to invite everyone inside Yeah. On Halloween. So I'm glad that, glad you didn't go in there. Yeah. All right. So what did you wanna be when you were a kid?

Whenever you remember first having that answer for, you know, every adult Ask the question. Yeah. Like, what do you wanna be when you Grow up? Um, I wanted to be a dentist. Um, I don't know what about teeth that I was drawn to, but I was just, I just wanted to be a dentist. Or maybe, I don't even remember. Or maybe it was because I only had a handful of careers in the back of my mind, so, um, Mm-Hmm. But yeah, I was always drawn initially to the health field.

I was interested in diseases, wanted to help people get cured from their diseases. So, entertained, dentist, doctor, that, that kind of thing. Um, yeah, so that was my, Okay. Well, c well, I'm, I'm glad that you wanted to cure them. You're, You're not, like, not to harm them. I was real interested in diseases and how I could spread them. Yeah. Okay. So at, at what point do you say, Hmm, I was interested in health as a kid, but this isn't, this isn't gonna be it for me moving forward.

Yeah. Actually, it wasn't until, um, I was an adult because I actually pursued nutrition as a major Mm-Hmm. Um, I really liked, um, learning about how food affects our body, um, and the systems. But then I got jaded with a nutrition major. Um, I mean, I graduated in 2006, so it was a long time ago. That was when we still had like, somewhat of a food pyramid. And then I learned that a lot of the USDA influences, um, my curriculum. And then I started to not like it anymore.

And then, um, after working for, um, in that field for a few years, I decided I should just switch out. Okay. So what fir first I wanna know what got you from dentistry into nutritionist? Yeah. I mean, obviously, you know, nutrition does start with teeth. I mean, yeah, It does. Um, when I, um, it was, it started with, um, my college applications and just looking through the list of majors. And so I didn't really have many people guiding me through that entire college application process.

And, um, so when I looked through the list of majors, nutrition really stood out to me. And I just remember growing up, um, um, my mom always talking about how fiber is really important, and then I just was kind of curious. Um, so there was no, like, dentistry major, obviously. And, um, I was kind of like on the pre-med track in college, and I just needed some kind of health major to get me there. And so I guess dentistry still was like an option too.

But, um, as I studied, um, biology and biochemistry, um, all of that with nutrition, it was just really intriguing at that point. Okay. And, hmm. All right. So what, what was your first job out of college?

You have this nutrition Oh, Yeah. You know, degree. Yeah. What, what's the first thing you're doing? So, I, I did work at a, um, a nutrition clinic. It's called Women Infants and Children. And so, um, surprisingly the first thing I did was help them build like a, a database to keep track of some medical equipment. Um, we had five different offices and had the challenge of, um, knowing which medical equipment got rented out to who. And, um, it was hard finding, keeping track of that.

And so I took that upon myself to like, yeah, let's, let's figure out a way. And so use, um, Microsoft Access and got with the dev guy. And yeah. So that was my first job, I guess my primary job. All right. Well, I think, I think a lot of people that would listen to this podcast could relate to the idea that it would be difficult to, uh, you know, follow stuff along as it's being rented out Yeah. And coming back. So that does seem, uh, absurdly relevant.

Yes. Okay. So is, is there a point where you're just like, this isn't really what I had intended to go to school for, and this isn't really like nutritionist stuff, or where you just like, I actually really like this and this is kind of a field I want to go down. Yeah. You know, um, I wasn't super ambitious. And so with my nutrition degree, I should have gotten like a dietetic, like I should have become a dietician, but then I didn't.

And then, um, so my job was actually as a degree nutritionist, and then I just kind of hit a ceiling and then I had kids. And to be honest, I think that was like what got me to say, okay, you know, I'm not, the childcare bills are more than my salary. So I think it's time. 'cause I have three kids, so I think after my second kid, um, yeah, that was when I switched out. Yeah. I think it's at a ca you get to a point where it's like, I'm actually losing money. Yeah, exactly. By doing this job.

And also, I don't necessarily love it that much, that I that much, yeah. That I really wanna lose money doing it. Yeah. Because it was this, um, appointments like every 15 minutes. And so I would get so drained by the end of the day. Yeah. Is this a thing where you would have to travel doing appointments or like people would Come? Um, I, I would work in, um, so I was assigned to like three different offices.

So each day I would be at a different office, sometimes driving as close as 15 minutes, as far as 45 minutes. And so it was just very, it was kind of taxing. Yeah. That, that sounds like a pain. Yeah. I was gonna say. Yeah. But they came to me, luckily I didn't have to go to anyone's homes. Okay. Well at least that's a little bit less, uh, driving around. 'cause I know in a lot of parts of California, you definitely don't wanna be driving around a whole lot.

Oh, yeah. Okay. Um, yeah, I, I was looking at your LinkedIn. I saw that you are a fellow higher ed, former higher ed person, and, and that you worked at uc Davis. Yeah. What were you doing there? Yes. Um, I was kind of doing HR for, um, professors. So I would put together, um, mainly their dossiers so that they could get their promotions or different advancements. So, um, I worked with about 50 professors there, and so just had to coordinate that process for them.

Okay. So they're not, they're not creating their own like promotion stuff? No. There's a very strict process, um, that, um, they have to go through and the documentation for it is very specific. So I was just helping them manage all of those. Okay. That, that entire process. And you can never like, play favorites if No. There are a lot of people that are like going to you for accumulating all this stuff and putting it forward. You're like, well, I kind of like this person a little more.

Yeah. Lemme prioritize That. Yeah. It was a very interesting job because, um, I've never been in the physics world and I got to meet a lot of physics and math professors and kind of learn about what they're doing and yeah. Let's just say they're very interesting people. You can't just say that. What, what was so interesting about it? Is that something that you had been interested in before?

No, no. It was just, um, I guess, you know, if you watch like Big Bang or something, you kind of get a flavor for like, oh yeah, what physics people are like. But then I would actually meet these quintessential physics professors, and there is this one professor who came to visit to give a like, um, I guess these special talks Mm-Hmm. At, um, uc Davis. And he's kind of famous. And, um, he's known to lecture for a really long time.

So I was helping out at that event, and it ended, I left about seven or 8:00 PM but, um, when I came back to work the next day, it turned out that he lectured until 4:00 AM Oh, that's, and, um, Interesting. Yeah, he's very interesting. Um, I thought it was gonna be a case where you were like, and it came back the next morning and he was still going and that he was almost, almost

On level. Yeah. They actually took a, a photo, I think at like every hour when it hit the wee hours of the, the night to remember who is at that stage. So the crowd got smaller. Yeah. All right. Well, that sounds like a, a fun little experiment on it sounds Yeah. It sounds more like a sociological experiment rather than like a, a physics thing. Yeah. Who will stick around till the end. Yeah. I did not want to, Yeah, I was gonna say, you clearly did not win.

I, I felt responsible, so I felt like, okay, I should stick around until as long as I could. But then there came a point where I realized, no, he's just gonna keep on going, so I'm gonna go, I'm not gonna, I refuse to enable this. Yeah. Okay. Um, and, and then you move across the country and you started project management officially. So what happens there? Like, I assume that it wasn't just this one lecture that you're like, all right, I'm freaking done here.

Yeah. I think I always really liked project management. I liked, I liked processes, um, kind of thinking about how to best streamline things. I think in every single job that I've been at, there was that aspect that I applied project management skills. Even at the, um, when I worked at uc Davis, um, it was, it was such a crazy process that wasn't cleaned up. And so I, I really tried to streamline that process, kind of created like a Gantt chart and all of that.

Um, and so I felt like, yeah, this is the field i, I wanna get into. And, um, so that's where I kind of pursued it after moving out here to the East coast. Okay. But, but why'd you move to the East Coast? Oh, okay. So my, my move to the East Coast, um, didn't have to do with my job, but I was, my, um, husband and I were very involved with our, with our church, and so they needed help in, um, our Maryland campus.

So we are college ministers, and we, um, are mentors at, um, at a Christian fellowship on the u University of Maryland campus. And so we came to help out there. And so that's why, that's why I moved. So packed up our bags and moved across the country, but we didn't just move ourselves. We, um, we had a team and so of like, it's like 12 people total, so we all moved at the same time.

That sounds pretty crazy. Right? I Was gonna say that seems like it would make it a little easier for the people that do move, because you already have like a built in group of people You can hang out with. Yeah. And they were all, they all volunteered to come, and so I was like pleasantly surprised, oh, you would wanna move with me. Nice. And it's, it wasn't just a case of like, well, we're going, so we're taking volunteers to go with us, or was it just like, uh, hey, this is like a, a task.

How many volunteers do we have? Yeah. So it was kind of, yeah, like the latter. Okay, this is a task. How many volunteers do we have? Because we had like a group of like, I don't know, 20 something people. And so yeah. A lot of, yeah, a good amount of them said, yeah, I'd, I'd like to go and move across. I guess the East Coast was kind of appealing too, just Yeah. Wanting to move. And a lot of them are a lot younger than I am without kids, and so it just sounded adventurous as well.

Okay. And now that you're, now that you're on the East Coast, is this something that like, I don't know, when you took on this, uh, task Yeah. Is like, is there an obligation period? Is is it just like, go for this many years and then you can do whatever? Or is it like, Hey, you're here for life, or what? Um, it's, it's indefinite. I mean, things can always change, but Yeah. Um, anytime I make the move, it's not my, it's not my first time moving for a similar reason.

Um, I just go with the assumption, okay, well, we're just gonna go and, um, indefinitely and until the tasks change or the needs change, I'm, I'm flexible. All right. Well, uh, good on you for being that flexible. It's like, I guess I've moved around a lot, so I, I'm, yeah, I'm okay with it, but So you don't, there's not like a plan to, to move back or anything? There's just, uh, wherever I am here wherever you may be taken, type thing. Yep. In A DMV.

Alright. Okay. So how did you find a point of rental?

Because you're not even in the Dallas Fort Worth area, it seems like you've been on both coasts and you're not even near the middle. No. So how do you discover point of rental? Um, so it was just through LinkedIn. It was, uh, the type of job that found, that got me to find point of rental, um, looking up associate project manager. And it came up and I was looking for something remote, just, um, needing that kind of flexibility at the season of my life as a mom of three kids. Yeah. And so, yeah.

That it came up and, um, and it seemed like a good fit. Like did you know anything, uh, about the company, about the industry or Anything? No, not until Lathan called me. Yeah. I thought when he called, when I had a call with him, I thought, okay, I should at least look up. I should learn some basics. Yeah. I should learn some basics about the company. Okay. I can relate. Yeah. When, whenever I applied to here, I also like didn't know anything Yeah.

About the industry. I was like, oh, yeah, I guess, I guess those people would need software. Huh. All right. I guess I can see, yeah, see why they exist. I have to say, I was very impressed by, um, all the testimonial videos, though. That was one of the things that caught my eye. All right. Well, good. Hopefully, uh, you know, hopefully we get some more people to, to join based off of this. Yes. Um, okay. So we, we've talked about this a little bit, but what does an associate project manager do?

It's a, yeah, it could be anything. It feels like, yeah. It, it can be, and I kind of like it that it is pretty, um, open-ended. Um, um, I help out with various projects in the company, so I'm not wedded to a certain department per se. And so, um, like helping out with l and d or helping out, um, with Robert and his, um, team with the hackathon.

Yeah. Um, um, or even with hr, I'm on a HR project, and so pretty much just getting in there to make sure that, um, their tasks, um, are recorded somewhere that someone follows through with it. And I'm there to try to help to remove any blockers, set up meetings, um, just whatever I can do to help move and push that project along so that it doesn't get stuck or just there to kind of remind people, Hey, we gotta do something here.

Um, Yeah. It seems to be kind of a theme with you is like, you're, you're willing to go wherever. Yeah. You're willing to do whatever you're like, I'll just make sure things happen. But wherever people need me or wherever I need to be, I'm comfortable with not like, controlling that outcome. Yeah. And then I'll just make the best of whatever when I get there. Yeah. All I like that. Yeah. All right. Well, hmm.

Oh yeah. So project management has been something that I've looked into getting into in the past because, you know, I've had spaces between some jobs and it's like, oh, what, what other skills do I maybe sort of have that maybe would be something that I can sell myself on?

Um, and, but I think the perpetual, like teenager in me would if I, I want the PMP certificate so that I can have it at that after my name, but then I would get like that 50 cent song, PIMP stuck in my head every single time I see that. So it's like, uh, let's maybe not get that. But what are the biggest challenges about project management besides potentially getting that song stuck in your head all the time?

Um, I think it is, um, trying to, I think one is, is just keeping track of all the tasks. Yeah. It's terrible of me to say, but yeah, I, I have challenges with that too. Um, asana's great, but there's this, when you got a lot of things going on, things can get lost. Yeah. Um, and then also, um, scheduling appointments with, um, the different groups of people, especially when they're really busy. Yeah. Um, and knowing how to prioritize.

'cause I would hate to push something along, but then not realize in that other person's world that they have so many higher priorities. And so I think that's where it gets challenging. I want to make sure that, um, it is pushed along in the right way. Yeah. I don't, I don't wanna just force it down people's throat. Like, did you get this done? Why not? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I was, I was wondering about that particular thing.

'cause that's one of the things that seemed, I know it would be a challenge for me anyway. It is. Like, I like to get things done and it would be extremely frustrating, like always being on these projects where it's like, look, I can't do any of this stuff. Yeah. I need you to do this stuff. Yeah. And, and figuring out that way of, um, delicately wording the where's my stuff. Yeah. Um, so does being a remote employee, does it make it easier or tougher to, to manage that type

Of thing? I think, um, I think there does come with, with its own being remote does have its own challenges. 'cause I'm not interacting with people as much, so I'm not aware of everything else that might be going on, um, with their work world. Um, like for example, if I'm in the office and I'm able, I'm seeing that they're really stressed out over something, then I know, okay, I should kind of back off and give them some more time. Um, I think that's the hardest part about being remote.

Um, just not being able to understand everything that's going on with that person. Um, but yeah. Other than that, I was gonna say on, on, on the plus side though, if you are remote, then like, people know, Hey, she's remote. She doesn't necessarily have all this extra context that Yeah, That's True. You would maybe be expected to know if you're in the office with me. Yeah. So please gimme Grace if you're watching this. Yeah.

All right. Uh, so what's the part of the profession that makes it all feel worth it? Why do you stick around with this? Um, I really, I just really like working with, um, the people here. I think, um, we have a great set of employees, um, people who work really hard. I think this is the one place where I've, um, found people who really care about their job and who, um, just put in a lot of good thought and effort, creativity into, um, excellence.

And I think that really motivates me to wanna give my best too. And, um, it's just more invigorating when other people care about their job because I've been in situations where it's kinda like, mm. Yeah. You know, it's kinda like those group projects in college where you're not really sure what to do with these people who are just relying on you to do all the work. Yeah. And it's like, okay, I don't wanna do it 'cause you're not wanting to do this.

Oh, so you were, you were the person within the group that was always depended on? Or were you the one that was like, I see all of you are trying to depend on me, so I'm not gonna Oh, I, yeah. I, I was the one depended on. Yeah. Okay. Before we get into your

non-professional life, we gotta play a game. All right. The game is gonna be called Sin D or Saudi. It's, it works better in text. Okay. Uh, if you agree, if you agree with the statement, or if it's true, say Cindy Uhhuh. And if you disagree with it or it's untrue, say Saudi. Great. Um, I apologize in advance for, oh, wait, Nope. This one? Nope. Delete. All right. Cindy or Saudi? Cindy Or Saudi, you're, you're a, you like singing in the shower Saudi.

Okay. So you're not, you're not gonna sing for us. No, no. There's like a karaoke set up out there. I don't think, um, anyone would wanna hear me sing. Oh, okay. Well, all right. Maybe we'll find some, something else for you to do. Yes. Uh, Cindy or so you've cheated at a board game, Huh? You know, I probably have to say Cindy, because I'm pretty sure I've cheated at some point in a board Game. Yeah. I was gonna say, I don't remember why.

I feel like it doesn't necessarily need to be a, I think it's more of a philosophical thing rather than a specific time. Yeah. I think with board games, um, I think it's kind of okay to cheat because you're not, there's no like, real consequences to that game. It's just all for fun. And usually when I, I'm like a bad cheater, so people would know I'm cheating. Okay. Yeah. Um, and so I can go along with that. I think,

yeah. I'm generally against lying, but I feel like yes, at some point the lie is so obviously fake that Yeah. It's on you. If you didn't understand that, I was clearly lying there. Yes, I agree with that. Okay. Yeah, I can understand that. But no, uh, board games are serious business and, uh, I will not tolerate any of these, uh, any of this cheating, uh, Cindy or Saudi, you've told an outrageous lie to a child. Oh, You have kids? Yes, Cindy? Yeah, I, I probably did.

I don't, I can't recall any. And I Oh, well that, that's follow up been Interest I know. Is what's your best lie? What, what did it, yeah. What is my best lie? Okay. Well, if you think of one, you know, we'll, we'll try to edit it back in. But I, I do like hearing other people's stories. 'cause often it helps and we share 'em. Yeah. And then other parents are like, Ooh, that one's good. I like that one. Keep it. Uh, Cindy or Santi your favorite, your favorite fast food fries are from McDonald's,

Cindy. Yes, it is. I think, um, McDonald's did a really good job in, in, um, marketing to me as a child, as they did to many other children in America and now in the world. Yeah. Um, even though I know it's not the most crisp fries, but I do like the soggy ness of it. And there's just something about the particular McDonald's fries that I really enjoy. All right. I, I can understand that. I don't think that I usually get soggy fries for McDonald's, so maybe that's a, your McDonald's type

Issue. But yeah, maybe my McDonald's, it does get kind of soggy after a little bit. Yeah. If, if you leave it in there for A while, it's a t it's not like BK fries. Mm. See I haven't gone to BK for a, a long, long time because Yeah. I don't really go to bk, but I had a bad experience with them as a, as a kid. And I've since realized that it's, I think I actually just was super dehydrated. Oh. So it wasn't actually them that caused what I thought was my sickness.

Ah. But it's actually probably 'cause I had played tennis for a few hours in some a hundred degree heat, and only had two giant sodas as hydration. Oh, No. That's terrible. I was a, I was a teenager, so I was like, ah, I can do whatever, but, uh, maybe I couldn't do whatever. Yeah. It's funny how like, that one bad experience, even though it's not directly connected. Yeah. I associated it with that for years. And then eventually I realized, oh, wait, dehydration makes you throw up.

Oh, that's probably what had happened. 'cause yeah, it was not pleasant. All right. Cindy or Saudi, you have an embarrassing nickname or a nickname that you hate Saudi? I don't have one. I think people have not been able to come up with a embarrassing nickname for me. Okay. So that's our new goal is to come up with embarrassing nickname that you hate. Okay. All right. Well, let's get to your, uh, about you type questions after this break.

Yeah. It takes something special to dive into the unknown, to face the unpredictable and unlock the mysteries that awake beyond something tough, reliable to fuel your confidence where elements seem to conspire to blur your senses. An unwavering ally, relentlessly field tested by the pioneers who ventured there before It Was constantly perfected over time. For those who push their limits always further and shine an avenue light on our world, the point of rental. Go.

All right, Cindy, this spring you went to Honduras. Yes. And you apparently didn't go there as a vacation. So what were you doing? So I went, um, with, um, an organization called Filter of Hope. And we went to provide clean water to, um, families in, um, a little town off of a big city in, in Honduras. So, Mm-Hmm. We would go house to house, and this never happens here, but you would just go Buena.

And, um, they would let you come in and we would sit there for like an hour and a half sometimes just getting to know the family, um, put installing the filter, teaching them how to use it. And of course, because I went with a, um, that organization, which is Faith-based, we also, um, shared the gospel with them. And so that was what we did for three days straight, um, morning and afternoon with a lunch break in between just going to these homes to install these filters.

All right. Well, I'm glad it was like a filter and you didn't just bring like a bottle of water, like, here you go. Yeah. Yeah. It was really impactful. I mean, like that, um, I think just to see, um, the living conditions of the people of Honduras, um, they're very poor. Um, the, their source of water is like river water, and sometimes they're lied to and they think that it's cleaner water, and they have to clean that water in all these different ways, but it's still inadequate.

Yeah. And so, um, we come and in order to demonstrate how good the filter is, we actually dirty the water with dirt from just outside. And it's a leap of faith for me. It's like, each time it's like, all right, so I've installed this and let me show you how it works, and I'll be the first to drink this water and to demonstrate that it's, it's good. It's not gonna make me sick.

And usually that kind of sells it to them because they think that Americans have weaker stomachs than they do, which I think Yes. Is true. And, um, they're like, okay. Yeah. If you think it's clean, if it's clean for you, then it's clean for me. All right. Well, I was gonna say, I think it's more of a, like when you get accustomed to the local type of water thing Yeah. Rather than necessarily an Americans thing. But, uh, I'm okay with leaning into the stereotype.

You know what, if you wanna provide me extra clean water Yeah. Overseas I am. I'm great with that. Yeah. Um, okay.

Another thing that we talked about that you are into is coaching. Yeah. So I'm assuming that, well, I, I don't want be judgy about this. Yeah. Is it sports or like regular, regular, more career type coaching? Yeah, Regular career type coaching. I do not intend to be a coach, um, in my career.

Um, but it's mainly because of the role that I have with a lot of, um, people at my church is as a older person mentoring them and needing to, um, learn this skill in order to better have conversations with people, um, just to help guide them through different decisions that they come to me with. Because, um, my default is to problem solve. Like, I wanna give you the solution, but I don't wanna do that all the time. I don't think it's necessarily good to provide people with the solution.

And so in the coaching model, you actually assume that the person being coached is the expert and you would lead with certain questions for them to arrive at a decision that they want to make. Yeah. Okay. I like that. So what, like, how did you get started in this? Is this something that you realized? Is this something that someone like, reached out to you in words like, you know, you'd be good for this?

Yeah. This is something that, um, some people at my church, they, um, they found very beneficial and then they, um, made the ask to other people if they would wanna do it too. And so I said, yeah, sure, give it a I'll give it a shot. And I was surprised by, um, just what I learned. And in going through some of these sessions and watching sample coaching sessions, I was amazed at what, um, those sessions could do.

It often went deeper than just solving the initial, um, problem that the person brought. And it really got deep and people were in tears sometimes. And it, I just saw the power of questions, the power of, um, leading someone to make their own decisions. Okay. So you wanted to make people cry? Is Yeah, I I wanna make people cry. Yes. Okay. I, I hate telling people what to do.

I think that's one, one thing I, I don't want to be, um, if people, people often come to me with different questions or needing advice, and I don't want, I feel responsible if I tell them to go one way or another. Yeah. And if it's really something that they should, a decision they should make because they're an adult, they should be able to make their own decision, and I don't want to influence them, then I should empower them to make their own decisions.

Okay. I'm, yeah. I'm picturing this working out as, I don't think it would work well for the, like, due dates in, in project management. No, not that. And that is something I would, yeah. But yeah, now, now that I think about it, it's like, hey, you do kind of generally ask like what the priority is on this, instead of necessarily saying like, Hey, this needs to get done now. Yeah. It's like more, it's like, is is this still a priority type thing? Yes. Okay. So, Hmm.

All right. What, what, so you mentioned that you're still doing it within your church and with mostly younger people. Is is this something that you're still doing or are you like exploring it more beyond that? Or is this just like a side thing that you do? Um, I'm, I'm still doing it. I'm almost done. It's just, um, I'm getting a certificate after, I guess like in a few weeks I'll be done with my, I, um, with this portion of, of coaching, there's like different levels of coaching.

Uh, do, do they give you like belts or what, what's the, Um, they, they have different levels of, uh, certification. This is terrible. I don't even know what, what it's called. The, the first level that I'm hitting. I was gonna say, once you have that first certificate, then you'll know. Yeah. Then, then I'd be certified coach. Like in this process, I can't even say I'm a coach because I'm not certified yet.

But once that certification comes in, I could say I'm like a certain level of, of, of a coach. Interesting. Yeah. So what's, what goes into the, the coach training process? Like Yeah. Are you required to go through particular classes or do you listen to podcasts, read books? Yeah. It was, it's kind of like a mixture. Um, I did do an in-person training. Um, I did do like, like four hours

of like video training prior to that session. And then, Oh, wait, you're, so are you coaching people in these trainings and they judge you or are you being Coached? So, yeah. So that, that was the first part. And then the, what I'm doing currently now is I'm in a small cohort where, um, each time we get together, um, we would coach each other and other people would give feedback on the coaching session. And so we would learn through that.

And then, um, I also have one-on-ones with a coach, with another coach who's coaching me, um, through this. And, um, I would have to come with like a video recording of me coaching someone else who gave me permission to coach them and record them. And I would receive feedback on that. And then we would learn, um, different principles of coaching. And, um, there's like a rubric that would rate that, you know, she would go through to kind of say, yeah, this is the feedback form.

This is how you did, and this is how you can improve. So it's a little bit nerve wracking at first, but it's all very good training. Yeah. I was gonna say, it feels all very meta of like getting coached in coaching. Yes. Yeah. I learned that I'm not as good as a listener as I thought I was. Yeah. I think that it's something that everyone kind of realizes at some point. Yeah. Yeah. I just, it's just amazing, like the levels of listening that people can go, go to. Like, yeah.

I was just in watching other people get coached and seeing the, um, the very seasoned coach, coach, she just was able to pick up so much more. And I always just left to floor, like, wow. Like, I wouldn't have caught that. It was just pretty cool. I can, I can see it being kind of like an art form, and you're like, yeah. Whoa. That's another, that's a whole nother level. Yeah.

All right. I wanna, I wanna do some, some coaching chat with you at some other time, but we don't, we don't need to spend the whole time talking about. Yeah. Uh, you mentioned earlier that you wanted

to run a half marathon this Year. Yes, I do. I Do. How, how's training for that going? Oh, I'm glad you asked, because this is where I'm going to recommit to, um, my training. Well, what do you mean recommit? Like how long has it been? It's been a long time. The last time I did, um, a half marathon was in 2019. So you do the math. It's been a while. That means I've done a half marathon more recently than you.

Yes. And I've realized I don't wanna do that again. So, Oh, I, I want to, I, I bought like a treadmill too, because now in Maryland, the weather is Yeah. Yeah. It's just not good for, for running. Consist It, it's not that California weather Consist No, it's not. I, I miss my old running route in California. It was, um, we were in a drought back then too, so I was able to get in running pretty consistently, but now I need to get back into it. So I'm gonna start after I get back from this trip.

All right. Well, good luck to you. Thank you. Um, Are you gonna do it too? I don't know. Maybe, maybe I will, maybe I'll say you've inspired me and I am starting to get back into running. Um, my half marathon was like during Covid, so it was a remote one. So I ran my entire thing around a track. Oh. So it was 53 laps and it was like, wow, that sense. This is very boring. I'm impressed you did the whole thing.

Well, it was like, I, I sort, I'd sort of trained for it and I'd been running all this thing and it was like, I promised, and then, yeah. It was one of those things where it's like, all right, I ran 53 laps with no one watching. Wow. And with random people just stopping by and running on the track for a little bit of it as well, because Part of my motivation is running with everyone else. Yeah. It, it felt like it would've been a little more fun Yeah.

With other people. But I mean, hey, I had my, I had my headphones, I had some Oh, nice. Nice tunes. So it worked. All right. Well, you can follow up with me, which, um, half marathon I signed up for. All right. Well, we'll check in and we'll do, uh, uh, coaching sessions about Yeah. About preparing for the half marathon. Yeah. All right. Uh, what's something that people misunderstand about you? Oh, I think, um, I would have to say I interact a lot with my husband. So, uh, my tone.

I, I don't know, I guess for all the people out there with relationships, maybe this is the thing where I would say something in a certain tone and he would, um, misunderstand me as a, not respecting him or something, or being sassy. But on my end, I'm just responding. I'm trying to be helpful or I'm, I didn't mean anything. Mm-Hmm. By that tone. See now I didn't think about your tone before that, and until you said I didn't mean anything, then it's like Mm. Kind of has a little sa to it.

Yeah. Yeah. And even when I'm trying to be mindful of my tone, I'm not, I'm unable to produce the perfect tone by which to respond to a certain question or whatever it is. Okay. Well, maybe, maybe you can just claim that you have like, the inability to control your tone and really like, should be mindful of the fact that you don't have the ability to control this. Yes. Um, do you have any questions for me? I get to ask a lot of you, but you can only ask one. Oh, I can only ask one. Yep.

Gosh, I was kind of thinking about this and me, IM curious, what was your, what, um, what was your career path leading up to where you are now? So I've done marketing for, I, it's a long career path. I started in the military, learned basically, that was kind of when I kind of figured out, Hey, I should actually go back to school and, and try, uh, this time. And so then I got my degree, um, got in journalism, but knew that I was gonna go into marketing whenever I just wanted to write.

And, you know, bounced around a lot of places. Went worked in sports, worked in higher ed, worked in, actually, those are pretty much the main two since I've graduated. And yeah. Then came down here to point of rental and have stuck around for almost eight years now. Nice. Yep. And then if we wanna discuss myself in, in further detail, we'll, we'll wait and we'll talk about that, not on camera.

Okay. Before we go to the five important questions, I, oh, I definitely popped the microphone on that one. Before we get into the five important questions, I need you to give me a top five list in a segment we'll call gimme five. Um, it seems like not everyone knows the rules of a top five list, so I'm gonna clarify with you. Mm-Hmm. You do start at number five and go up to number one. Okay. 'cause if you tell everyone you're number one first, then why would you listen to the rest of the list?

So, first of all, what's your top five list gonna be about? Oh, um, We, we, we can have some choices. So I, yeah, I, I made up some potential ones for you. Sure. Which is like, you know, your top five church trips, top five things you can do to help your project manager, top five favorite plants, because I didn't mention anything. Oh, yeah. The plants that you like plants. I, I said that you would have to intro that with. Another thing I didn't mention earlier is that I really like plants.

Ah, well, yeah. How about my trips? I think maybe those are the more interesting Ones. Okay. So your top five trips that you've, that you've taken. All right. Let's start with number five. So I hope you haven't prioritized. Alright. Your fifth best church trip that you've gone. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So that was, um, to Taiwan. Okay. What was, what was that? Um, uh, so I also moved there like for a year before. And, um, wait, When, when was this?

Oh, this was in, this is the whole timeline thing that we, oh, I know. We messed up the timeline. I Know. I'm sorry. This was in for one year from 2009 to 2010. Okay. Yeah. And so, um, I just remember I was, I look like everyone there, but I don't speak a lick of Chinese and I'm deaf and mute in a country where people look like me. And it's really disconcerting to people there. I was gonna say, that does seem challenging. Yeah. And so, um, people drive in very, yeah.

There's no rules of traffic there. And so I was terrified of driving. And so it took me three months to get the courage to drive. Um, yeah, It's interesting. So have you only been on five trucks? 'cause right now it sounds like that should not even be on the list. Oh. But if it's your number five, then it's like, okay. Well, I, I can see why there would be at least four better than that If, yeah.

Um, I guess it's, it's, it's the least in terms of like, uh, I guess we'll, we'll see because we go onto 4, 3, 2, and one. Okay. So you're number four. Best church trip that you've, that you've Been on. Okay. So number four, um, would be to, um, Oregon. Where North, Um, you still live in Oregon? I went to, uh, Portland, Oregon. Yeah. Yeah. Um, one of the things we did there was go on a food tour, of course, because of all the food there. And, um, I was looking forward to Voodoo Donuts. Yeah.

And then, um, but then my friend said, blue Star is better. And so Have you been to both? I've been to Voodoo, I haven't been to Blue Star. Yeah. We had a, we had a, like promo opportunity, ah, partnership thing with Voodoo. So we went there. Oh, nice. At that time I did like Blue Star more. And um, yeah, it was funny 'cause we, we were a big group and we stayed in this house and I was wondering why is this house so huge? And like, everything's labeled and they have like all this stuff.

And I realized they're like a Mormon couple. Oh, okay. With a bunch of kids. Um, but it was, uh, it was kind of a, it was a nice house and they had chickens in the backyard, so we got to play with the chickens and all of that. So that was memorable. And then we got to go to, um, crater Lake Okay. On our drive back. So that made it memorable. Yeah. I'm gonna say I'm kind of jealous 'cause it's like, I've lived in Oregon for a couple years at a time.

Never actually have driven by Lake several times, no way. But I've never actually gone to it. Have you flown over it? I mean, I don't think so. Uh, probably, I dunno. I I lived on the West coast for most of my life, but yeah. Yeah. Um, That's pretty cool. Okay, your number three? My number three, um, top trip was to, um, this was to Canada in Vancouver. So we, we kind of, yeah. That, that trip it was like 40 people. So that was kind of memorable. Wow. And everywhere we went, we played games.

And I was slightly embarrassed because we're so loud and obnoxious. And so we would go to, um, UBC, university of British Columbia every day on to do some stuff there. And, um, one day we went there and some random stranger shouted out to us, Hey, were you guys a group there at that restaurant last night? I'm like, oh my goodness. We are, I'm so sorry. I felt embarrassed. Maybe it was not a thing for them.

But, um, my thing is I'm always trying to keep up with people a lot younger than me, and so try to bring my energy and not, and I'm like so thin skinned, I get embarrassed easily, but that was a trip I had to like, like, all right, this is just who we are. We're just gonna make a scene everywhere we go, we're gonna be obnoxious. So that's all right. So Now you're just gonna lean into it. Yeah. You're like, all right. You know what, we're the obnoxious people and That's Yes. We're the obnoxious

people. Yeah. All right. Uh, number two. Number Two, um, I think that would be to Mexico. I did go to Mexico, Ensenada, Mexico, um, years ago. And we also went to different villages, um, to try to like evangelize there. And yeah, that was just my first time in Mexico. Mm-Hmm. So that was really cool. Um, I learned that I should call the credit card company to tell them that I'm leaving the country. Yes'. Probably good idea. And should be more cash with me.

Um, but it was just, it was a very, um, it was beautiful there, and I yeah. Really enjoyed that trip. Trying to make, I think the reason why I put that as number two is because it, it was just a place I've never been to before and I've never gone there. I've never tried to like, practice any Spanish. Yeah. I think before then. And, um, just being out of the country where, yeah. Yeah. I was gonna say, you know, the games of British Columbia sounded a lot more fun Yeah.

Than, um, Mexico having your, having your card, uh, have some issues. Yeah. But it's usually those stressful moments that make it more memorable. And maybe that's why it, it came up to number two. That's true. All right. Number one, beating all of these other things. What was your best trip? Oh gosh. Okay. Um, okay. Maybe it was, I went to Cambodia.

Okay. Once in 2008. Um, and it was, um, that was just wild for me because I, I guess in going there, I, I learned about the history of, um, the Khmer Rouge and how it, yeah. I was gonna say it's not, not great from what I, No, it's, it, it's such a war torn country. And, um, it fell from great heights from where it was.

And, um, I think it was just very heartbreaking for that reason to see every single person that I met, they had people who, um, were affected by the Khmer Rouge, whether it was that the family members got killed. Yeah. Something like that. And it was just a very impoverished place. And I just learned and on that trip, how to appreciate just what I have here in America.

Just even running water plumbing. Yeah. Um, in order to have water, you just collect rain water and you have to use that water for everything. And, um, I, and when it did not rain, you did not have water. And so I had to experience that too. And there was another thing that made it memorable, but I think it's too gross to share. 'cause it's a bathroom story. And let's just say after cleaning that bathroom, I can handle cleaning any bathroom. I am not daunted by that task anymore.

Yeah. I've, I've, I've been around some pretty gross bathrooms. Yes. Um, one of my, well, I was in the military and we went over to Iraq and one of my roommates, uh, he was tasked with having to empty all the, the porta potties. Oh. And he had one day Wow. Where it spilled. Oh no. On him. Oh, that's gross. Okay. That's like, okay. That my story. Okay. That seems gross. At least, at least it wasn't me though, so. Yeah. Yeah. You still have me beat as far as stories go.

Yeah. Okay. The, the first thing that we do before, the five important questions that I keep forgetting to move to the previous page, where I should put it, is a game. I'd like to call it first pitch. Mm-Hmm. Um, so pitch me on your rental business, if you were to start a rental business of your own within the next month or so, so you don't have like a whole ton of time to plan it, um, what would your niche be? Niche. Oh. What would your niche be? Uh, um, maybe renting out, um, kids toys.

Okay. The reason is, um, I guess my world is my kids. So, um, just as I see them go through, as I see them grow older, they just have so many toys, but then they get tired of those toys and it's still good, and they're like wanting more or newer toys. And, um, I just felt like, okay, surely other parents have the same problem of needing to supply their kids with like, newer toys so that they're entertained.

And so why not just do this, like, swap Like maybe we'll have like this rental thing where we could just collect toys and switch 'em out. Do that with books so that you don't have to like, I don't know, get rid of them, or there's just a more efficient way of sharing our resources. Yeah. I like it. I, I don't have a good name for this business yet. I don't either. Yeah. But I like it, uh, everyone listening, you're not allowed.

You gotta credit Cindy and you gotta like, cut her in on like, what, 80, 20 year way if they start this business and it works. Five Important questions. Five important questions. Five important questions. Five important questions. Uh, okay. Let's do the five important questions. What would you say is your greatest success in life?

Oh, my greatest success in life. Wow. That's a, that's a packed Question. We like to start it off with an easy, like, light one. Um, I think it's, um, well I, I'm very involved with, you know, my church and there's different people that, um, I've kind of mentored and I think that's my biggest success. Some people that I've known for the pa 10 years ago, they're still with me.

Yeah. And, um, just to go through the ups and downs of life with them and to help guide them through different rough patches, I think, yeah. I think that's my biggest reward. Okay. So like you did mention that you have three kids. Yeah. And it's kind of weird that they would not be mentioned here, but maybe it's a case of like you do. I think a lot of the thing that people like about, you know, raising kids is that whole, you get that mentorship type thing.

Yeah. You get to watch them grow. Yeah. It feels like you're already getting some of that and you already are to the point where it's like they're already grown. Yeah. I think so. I think with my kids, um, I, I feel like I will get to that. I, I will experience that too when they hit their teenage years. Um, 'cause my oldest is 12 and then that the second one's like nine. Oh no, 10 and nine. Yeah. So 12, 10, 9 now I'm getting their ages

Mixed up. Well, it's okay. We don't know when this will actually air, so it might change anyway. Yeah, Yeah. But when they're so young, they don't, they're, they're just in diapers and you're just trying to keep 'em alive. So, but I, I am fully preparing myself for, for the few next couple of years. I know that I was a lot of like, tough years come up. Come up ahead. Yeah. So you're gonna have lots of teenagers. Yes. Uh, okay. Well that might lead into the next one. Yeah.

Which is what is your greatest fear? I think yes. My, the teenage years, I really am afraid of that. Um, I think I do try to keep, um, stay abreast on all the different generational trends that, um, young people go through. And yeah. Part of that scares me just because there's a lot that influences them that was shielded from me. Like just even having a smartphone. Yeah. Like that opens up so much more for them.

Um, and so yeah, just afraid of how I'm going to interact with them, how I can influence them, how I can not be that nagging mom voice. How I could maybe just coach them through different Yeah. I was gonna say, is this related to your coaching thing? Yeah, I think so too.

I think that's one of the things that I really wanna use coaching for, just to, um, as a way to communicate with my kids so that I put decisions on their, you know, leave the decisions with them, but help to talk through it with them. But they need, the kids needs to know. If it does come down to it, it's like, but I can't tell you what to Do. Yeah, exactly. There's gonna be certain conversations that are coaching conversations, but other conversations where it's clearly not. Yeah.

Okay. Uh, if you could tell first day at point of rental, Cindy, one piece of advice, what would you tell her? Oh, I would, um, say, don't be so nervous. Um, people here are really nice and you're gonna really enjoy it. You won't know, but you will. All right. I was gonna say, I don't know, I don't dunno how to make a joke off of that one, so I dunno. Uh, what is your most embarrassing moment as a pointer since you know, Oh gosh, gosh, I don't know. Maybe that's a hard one.

I'm sure you had, I'm sure you had a lot of awkward experiences early on because Yeah. There's a lot of, yeah. You know, Thomas used to work here and you guys have the same last name. Oh, Yeah. You know, and what it was, yeah, it was, it was the Christmas party when I came in and Colin thought I was Thomas's wife. I thought he was kidding, but he wasn't.

Yeah, that's, I mean, I don't, that's the problem is it's hard to also tell with, With Colin, I mean, I don't blame people because a lot of people here are related or like married to each other. So I totally expected that. And I don't get offended Cool. All right. Well, sorry. You've been sent to death is now being mistaken for Thomas' wife is a capital offense. That's a weird international, I'm sorry. But, um, it has to be that way. So what is your last meal and why?

Oh, my last meal. Oh my gosh. Um, I really like a dis so ramen bowl. Just 'cause I just love noodles and there's nothing in particular about why that one. Um, it's just kind of like a comfort food for me. Okay. And I'd be totally fine as that, as with that as my last meal. Yeah. I feel like if you're, if you're about to die, then you do do want some type of comfort food. Yes. Comfort food. All right. Are you gonna have any beverages or dessert with this ramen or no? Um, probably a seltzer water.

Okay. Well, yeah, that's, That's, that's it. I, it's not nothing too interesting. Yeah. I was gonna say, you're not being very flashy with this. No. This last meal. No. All right. Uh, if you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Um, I would be a lot more bold. I'm a very fearful person. And so even on my last trip to Honduras, we had a fun day of zip lining. And for a while I was committing to not do it because I was a bit afraid, but my husband made me do it.

He said, you're gonna go first. And I did it and it was fine. And so I think, um, yeah, just even learning through that trip that or that experience, that fears are often overblown and, um, the more you replay it, maybe it takes on, it just grows. Yeah. And, um, just gotta face it. I was gonna say it. I feel like you're not actually not bold. I mean, you've been to all of these places and done all these things.

It's like, I feel like if you're going through all this stuff, like you did Zipline, you didn't actually like not do it. I think that Yeah. Give yourself some more credit for, for being bold. Yeah. I guess so. But I, I can definitely relate to the, like, I wish this were easier Yeah. To do. Um, if you could change one thing at point of rental, what would it be? Ooh. Um, Immediately, like it's a snap change immediately, not a, like over a period of many years.

Oh wow. I hope to help project manage this to a happy resolution. It's just like, if I could just make this snap happen, Um, I guess, uh, to have a bigger project management team. Alright. And, um, I think that might even happen soon, but yeah. Just to have more people with me and right now it's just me and Kirk. Alright. If you, uh, what is your spirit Spice? My spirit Spice? Yes. Mm-Hmm. Um, I think it, um, it would be, uh, cumin. And why, why does Cuban, yeah. Why does cumin speak to you?

Because it's kind of, um, it, it's a, okay. Maybe that's the wrong spice. I think that's too, But you had such a good quick answer for It. I know, I know. I think it, This is us testing your boldness. Look, you boldly answered cumin. I boldly cu and cumin is a bold spice. So it is A bold spice, I think. 'cause I want to be bold. Okay. I want to be that flavor that kind of adds and, um, kind of is, you know, makes that whatever it is better. Okay. I think maybe that's

what I is. 'cause I, that's what I want. Okay. It's your aspirational spirits Place. It's my aspirational. All right. Uh, tell me a secret about point of rental. You have a unique perspective and you're in all of these projects, so I'm sure that you have some type of secret. I don't know if it's a secret to everyone else, but I'm like, wow. Like Robert Flack. He could be an actor, but, um, I don't know how many people know that.

And maybe people have only seen his back flips and maybe through the hackathon videos they've seen him, but he has this super creative side. Sometimes I'm thinking maybe we should pull him into marketing. Yeah. Sometimes to, yeah. Just get some of the juices flowing for ideas. Yeah. There's some level of, like, organizationally, I probably can't pull him in for that many hours. Yeah. But it's like, oh yeah, I do. Yeah. I do enjoy working on hackathon

Stuff. And then, um, he's also very organized, so I, I see the project manager in him too. Yeah. Thank you Cindy, for chatting today. Yeah. Thank you. Uh, thank you also to Andrew Sherington and Daria Tucker for the work behind the scenes. And everyone, to everyone who made it to this point with us, thank you for watching. Um, please subscribe, rate, review, do whatever you can to share us with other people so we can keep doing this and talking to more pointers like Cindy.

Uh, we'll keep the port site burning for you and bye Bye. I, uh, there's a lot of these games that, um, that I play that involve punishment and usually hitting is one of the forms of punishment that we used to resort to. Not anymore.