¶ Kindness Matters Podcast Featuring Christine Kutnick
Well , hello there and welcome . You are listening to the Kindness Matters podcast and I am your host , mike Rathbun . What is this podcast all about ? It's about kindness .
It's a pushback against everything negative that we see in the news and on social media today , and it's a way to highlight people , organizations that are simply striving to make their little corner of the world a little better place . If you want to join in on the conversation , feel free , Go ahead and follow us on all of your social media feeds .
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Thank you so much for taking the time to listen , and if anything you hear in this podcast moves , you , inspires you , make sure to share it with your friends and family . My guest today you guys , this is so cool . My guest today is Christine Kutnick , and she spent over 25 years making an impact in the nonprofit sector .
She raised millions of dollars for amazing organizations and in 2021 , christine and her husband made the bold decision to leave their 9-to-5 routines behind and embark on a journey to explore the world . However , because there's always a however right lore of the world . However , because there's always a however right .
However , a life-changing fall in Switzerland , where she broke her ankle in not one , not two , but three places , became a pivotal moment of reflection and transformation for her . She was ready to get off the hamster wheel . In her 20s , christine drafted her personal mission to be a catalyst for joy , harmony and peace .
Encouraged by friends who recognized her unique strengths , she stepped confidently into her next chapter . Today , christine is a certified joy coach guiding her joyriders and see , this is an audio podcast , so nobody will see that Joy Riders to embrace change , cultivate inner peace and rediscover happiness .
Endearingly called their Joyologist by her friends , christine inspires others to create lives filled with purpose and full of joy . Welcome , christine , to the show .
Thank you so much . I'm excited to talk about kindness with you , my favorite , one of my favorite topics .
Is it really Mine too , it was . You have done so much , I just I can't . So . How many years did you ? It was 25 years . You were in . See , you don't look over 25 anyway . I mean , what did ?
you start when you were 10? . I don't feel it at all . You know , my children remind me of my age .
but other than that , they have a tendency to do that , don't they ? My oldest turned 36 in December . I'm like what 36 ? That would mean never mind .
Yeah , exactly Exactly . You know , I worked for many of those years just doing so many great things and I don't regret being the age I am , because I just know that I have been able to do so many good things , I've got so many people I've got to meet and so many lessons I've gotten to learn over time .
Yes , yes . So what kind of nonprofits did you work for ?
So I'll start my very first job . I worked for Neiman Marcus . I did PR for Neiman Marcus , that's not a nonprofit yeah , that's not a nonprofit at all and my husband and I moved to Corpus Christi , where he was from , and there was no Neiman's there . So I had to figure out how I could use the skills that I learned at Neiman's and do something different .
And the one thing I knew , as I knew how to plan events . So , you know , I started working in the nonprofit sector . So , you know , I started working in the nonprofit sector and I quickly learned that you could just go to almost any nonprofit and and you could fall in love with their mission .
And so that is why I had to come up with what my personal mission is , so that it could help me choose the organizations that I wanted to work with . I say all that to say that every mission , every organization I worked for , was aligned with my own personal mission , as you mentioned to be a change agent for joy , harmony and peace .
Right .
My first position I was with American Diabetes . I did American Diabetes and help people who are kids especially , find happiness and find content with what they were going through Not even content , but , you know , find a place to thrive . We used to do camps for them . And then I had an opportunity to be executive director for an organization that's now defunct .
It's called National Conference for Community and Justice , and our mission was to fight bias , bigotry and racism and teach respect and understanding among all races , religions and cultures , and that's where the harmony came in . You know I was about creating harmony and so at that , at that point , I really leaned into the harmony piece and inclusion .
So did a variety of different things , helped found a nonprofit that came out of the Junior League of Austin and we became our own nonprofit and that helped Hispanic women especially get into higher education . Our mission was to increase the representation of Hispanics in higher education . I worked for University of Texas in their business school .
In my last position I had an opportunity to work for Blue Cross , blue Shield of Texas and was the COO of their foundation , and I was helping people who didn't have access to health care , especially children , get their essential care , such as immunizations so that they could thrive and be able to grow and make it happen .
They're like yeah , there's some really timely things in there we won't go into that , no , but I mean it's such a wealth of experience and that's freaking amazing , but that's time consuming , right ? I mean that's not really . Those types of jobs are not really nine to five . That's not really those types of jobs are not really nine to five .
We talked about you quitting your nine to fives and I noticed on your website you say nine to five ish , exactly , exactly , especially when we were in Corpus Christi .
Everywhere we went I saw donors , and so I our local grocery store is HEB shout out to HEB , and so every time I was HEB I would run into a donor , and so I always had to talk about what we were doing . You know so I was always on .
I remember at a young age younger age than I am now when my son was you know less than he was still in preschool and my daughter was just born , I would literally come home from work , put some food on the table quickly , whatever I could come up with quick , and then go back on the computer and back at work .
So you know , nonprofit sector is not a job that you can just leave at the end of the day , especially when you're executive director or in a senior leadership . It's there's .
You know , we came from a place of scarcity in that space , and so it was very draining , and that's why , after 25 years of being on that hamster wheel of every every January or every August one , whenever that fiscal year started , we were back at zero , and so we had to recreate , come up with something new , and you know in the years that you did really
good in fundraising . They're like awesome , that's amazing . Now you're going to increase that by 20% .
Do it again .
Yeah . So it wasn't like , okay , we're gonna increase our number of , like , what we were budgeted for , but it's like , no , but the number you did , we're going to increase that . So yeah , so it was just kind of a hamster wheel and pressure .
Yeah , and a lot of things , that at the end of the day , I just felt like I didn't want people to feel like I did . And so the burnout is real in the nonprofit sector and the expectations are strong and we're , all you know , most nonprofit people .
We come from a place of wanting to give , wanting to be kind , wanting to improve our world , and it becomes such a part of who you are that it's hard to leave it behind . So that's one of the reasons why I wanted to coach , because I wanted to help people know you are not your mission , you're not your organization .
Not your mission , you're not your organization . Every time I went to any event I went to a fundraiser , the first thing I did was I ran over to who the donors are and checked out the donor wall .
If I went to a play , I went to the donor wall Like , okay , who do I know , who do I need to get to know I can never be present and just being with my family , just being with my friends , because I always had that fundraiser hat on and you know , after a while it does take a toll on you .
Sure , but now you broke with all that and you said I'm just going to focus on making people happy and fulfill their own dreams . Teach them how to do that .
Yes , yeah , yeah .
It's amazing what three weeks laid up in bed will do for you . Three months , three months , oh my .
God Three months .
I cannot imagine sitting in bed for three months . I am not a go-getter , but that's too much .
Yeah , and I was stubborn because I had friends . I had friends even before we left when we would announce this is what we're doing .
We're both quitting our jobs , we're going to go travel and you know , so many people would say to me I have a dream and and I'm so envious because I'm not making it happen and you know , I the curiosity in me that I've always had . I was like well , what , what is it that's holding you back from wanting to reach your dream ?
And they were could never say the answer and it just broke my heart because I'm like you can make it happen , you can make the choices to make it happen . It's not like my husband and I were living an extravagant lifestyle . My husband was a state employee , I was in the nonprofit sector , and so we figured out how to do it .
We knew what resources we needed . We figured out how to do it .
So , between hearing that , the fact that people are like I have a dream and I don't know how to make it happen and you need to coach people on how to do it and seeing that there was a change in , I want to say guard in the nonprofit sector , but a lot of younger people are like I don't know if I want to go into that space and being one of the
execs , because they saw us never getting off our computers working responding to emails at two o'clock in the morning , except I don't know that I really want to do that to emails at two o'clock in the morning , except I don't know that I really want to do that . And so you know , that's what I listened to my friends and like this is what you're good at .
You're good at being curious , you're good at being opened and listening to people and without judgment , and you're good at just being present . For someone like , coaching is the answer . So that's how I fell into the coaching world .
Yeah , and you are all of those things I can . I can . I can empathize with some of your friends , though , because my brother and his wife , they left on the 18th of December , they flew to Paris and they did one of those , those Desain River cruises , viking cruise .
Yeah .
And then they came home like the day after Christmas I'm like Christmas in Paris , oh my gosh and he'd send me pictures of food , which was really mean , I might add .
¶ The Power of Kindness and Connection
The thing I hear so much is people want to travel , people want to explore , explore , people are curious about other cultures . You know , it's not just about just saying I've been there , but it's actually learning about people , um and being , you know , filling that curiosity bucket oh , absolutely I .
I have a good friend , I've had her on the show , lisa Metwally , and she used to own a cafe in St Paul , minnesota . It was called the Q Kindness Cafe . It was kind of a natural , it was inevitable she was going to be on the show . But her other job , her day job , is flight attendant for Delta and so she gets to travel to all these amazing places .
She just got back with her husband from Egypt and I'm just like now I mean part of that . Probably it's easier to travel when you can get a pass right when you work for the airline .
But yeah , that's what people are doing . They're figuring out how to make it happen . And that's the key is understanding really what you want . Stop focusing on what you don't want and figure out what you want and then get creative to make it happen right so many of us are like I don't want to be poor , I don't want to work a 9 to 5 well .
But when you say , what do you want to work , they can't answer that question . I don't want to be poor , I . I don't want to work a nine to five , well . But when you say , well , what do you want to work , they can't answer that question .
I don't know .
Yeah .
Yeah .
And that's where the fun gets in . You know , that's what I love , cause I'm like let's get creative , let's , let's think outside the box to work for uh , for airlines , and they work for their travel , I mean that's what they work for yeah , I know my dad .
My dad worked for northwest airlines not around anymore , delta swallowed up in the early 2000s . But as kids we had so many more opportunities . A lot of our other friends did right , took a trip up to New York one year and then drove from New York to Washington DC and then back . It's like who does that ? I think we're 15 . I was 15 .
My brother was 13 at the time . It was a great trip .
What great memories you made .
I know Fantastic . So let's go back to kindness for a second , though . You said something when we were talking and the phrase stuck with me , but I can't remember the context . And you said kindness is a secret bullet .
Yes , I think kindness is a secret bullet to so many issues that are happening in our country right now . You know I've done a lot of research on it . One of my volunteer activities is I volunteer with a group called Actions and Happiness .
They're based out of the UK and when I started looking at like where to volunteer my time , kindness kind of resonated on the top of the list One , because it's in part of , you know , my vision . You know , to be happy , to have joy , to have harmony and have inner peace . You got to be kind to people .
So the things I found out in the research I have done is that kindness actually lowers our risk for cardiovascular issues . People who are kind have less cardiovascular issues . Nice People who are kind can lower their A1Cs . Research has shown people who are demonstrating kindness are building trust with their neighbors , things that we are not .
We don't have as much anymore . We have high risk of heart attacks right now . Diabetes in Texas especially is at sky high . Um , and there's a , there's a lack of trust in our , in our communities and you know somebody actually just trying to remember who it was I've heard it now twice Um , people saying that trust is going to be the new currency .
Yeah .
And you have to be , you have to show kindness , to build trust yes and so I really believe that it is our new silver bullet to helping heal a lot of things that are just not working right now in society for sure , yeah , and , and there's a lot of them , um .
But you know , the more I look around , the more I'm seeing kindness , and I think you really do have to look for it , right , I do . I mean , it's not just going to come up and slap you in the face someday and go , hey , I'm kindness , I'm out here , maybe it will , I don't know .
And people don't want to talk about the things they do that are kind , as I'm sure you hear all the time .
You know . But okay , that kind of goes both ways , because you do see those people who all they want to do is talk about and they're not genuine , right ? You see , like the Mr Beasts of the world , and it's like I'm sure he's doing those kind of things , but is he doing it for the right reason ?
And that may be a whole other show , and it's like I , I'm sure he's doing those kind things , but is he doing it for the right reason ? And that may be a whole other show go ahead .
Well , I was gonna say is that , um , you know , in in my coaching , I talk about the fact that there's the joy recipe and kindness is embedded at each one of those . You know , I say in the joy recipe , you have to be , you have to be grateful .
Well , that means that you have to be kind , right , you have to be able to look for those special things that happen in your world and so kindness shows up .
Second thing that we , you know , we talk about in the joy recipe is we have to be connected with people and that means being kind , right , that means having that connection because we are meant to belong , and kindness is one of those ways to be able to connect with people .
Oh yeah , and that whole thing kind of took um , kind of took a hit during the pandemic right , Because we just weren't getting together and some people came out of that really , really wanting to get back into that and missing that .
And people I'm not going to say who , because it might be me was like you know , I'm pretty good sitting here just talking to somebody like this .
Um , I I started going to , I tried to start to go to a toastmasters event and I went once and I'm like it's too people-y here and you know I still go out , but like the Minnesota State Fair happens towards the end of August here , I absolutely had no desire to go stand around with about 5,000 other people crushed in . You know that did not .
But yes , and I know you don't have to do that kind of big thing , but connection is absolutely paramount .
You only need one other person to connect with somebody , right . Right , you mentioned how COVID changed connections .
¶ Community Kindness and Joy Coaching
My neighborhood we had recently moved to a new neighborhood . My last child graduated , so we decided to pick up on life and try something different and it was so cool how our neighborhood leaned in to kindness , leaned in to kindness . We were all pretty new here .
We all kind of felt disconnected , and I mean to the point where someone's like , okay , I'm braving going to the grocery store , we're walking distance to our grocery store , and so we were like , okay , who needs what ? And so whoever was braving , their way to the grocery store that day would pick up stuff for everybody .
Nice , we have a couple of restaurants in our neighborhood and they're the people who you know . They're distributors or whatever that people they got their produce from . Since they were not selling to the restaurants , they would sell their boxes of food you know , of vegetables um by through their truck and you could purchase a big , a big um box of food .
That's a great idea .
So literally what you know we , one of us would do is like hey , just bought a box , this is what I have . Um , you know , I have 15 turnips , you know parsnip , uh , you know five heads of lettuce . My family's not going to eat all that , and so we would literally just give it away and it kind of .
And then someone was like oh , I'm going next week to get it , you know . So it kind of just felt that community .
Yeah .
Helped us trust each other .
Yeah .
And so you know there's other ways , there are many ways people handle .
So many ways to connect .
Yeah , and so yeah , and that's the key is just to figure out what can you do . That's kind to help you connect .
Yeah .
Because we , like I said , we were born to connect . We are born to belong .
You know , we are social animals .
Yeah , if you believe in the story of Adam Eve there were two people , not one , not one , you know . Think of Noah . You know , when Noah boarded , he knew that the animals needed to have their person , so he boarded two of every animal .
Exactly , not one yeah , two , yeah yeah , absolutely , that's fantastic . So talk to me about your joyriders now . Yeah , those are your clients , right ?
Those are my clients . So , yes , so I always say that I have the luxury of getting to experience joy through my clients . My firm's called Mudita , which means the joy you receive from others' joy it's a Sanskrit word and I get to . They invite me to be a part of this journey for them to find joy in their life , and so I always picture myself .
I'm like they're driving the car and I'm literally in the passenger seat Hopefully it's a convertible , because my hands , I want to go , I want to go high and I'm just joining the joy ride with them by just partnering with them and creating that space . And you know , we , we get clear on what they are wanting to do .
We , we create small action plans , are that are they can see that they can turn that reality in . You know , just like my , the people who are like , oh , I have a dream , but I don't know how to do it . Well , we create an action plan so they can say , oh , well , huh , let's take care of that for you . That's not so far-fetched after all .
We address our limiting beliefs , all the little messages in our heads that are like , yeah , this can't happen , and we celebrate the small momentums so that it lets us move forward . And along the way , we're incorporating the joy recipe , the other parts of it values , alignment .
We talk about self-care , once again connections , and the joy recipe it's gratitude , it's values alignment , it's connections , it's self-care and then some kind of spirituality . What is the purpose of us being here ? Whatever that is .
Right , right . That's so fun , that's awesome . You have the best life and you teach people how to have their own best life and , in the process , be kind . I love that you got a wife from the nonprofit area , but then you went to work . You volunteered for a nonprofit .
Definitely .
yeah , you can take the nonprofit out of the girl , but you can't take the girl out of the nonprofit , right no ?
No , you know it's important to be part of helping our world be better . And you know we can't depend on businesses to do everything . We can't depend on the government to do everything . It's you know it's a tripod .
It is .
We have to have all three sectors in our society , and so I love that I get to do all three of them .
Yeah , absolutely . Wait a minute , Where's the government part ?
Well , my husband was a government employee . Okay , check that box . I feel like I served my time with that .
Oh , Christine , it was so nice to have you on . Thank you so much for giving me a half hour to chat with you . It was the most easy conversation I think I've ever had .
Well , it was so much fun getting to know you . Thank you so much for being part of a movement that is inspiring people to be kind , to think outside the box . Just one simple thing to do . I have a kindness bingo that I throw out once a year . I'm happy to include that where it's . You know it challenges you . What can you do kind every day ?
Can you make it a blackout over the course of a month to do simple things , simple things kind .
You know what We've been talking about ? Your business , and I guess I forgot to ask what is the name of your coaching business .
Say thank you , it's Mudita .
Mudita .
Yeah , mudita , m-u-d-i-t-a Coaching Got it . The meaning of Mudita is the joy you receive from others' joy , and that's the best kind of joy .
Oh , that was the Sanskrit work you were talking about .
Yeah , that's the best kind of joy and I think that has to do with you can feel mudita when you are connected with people , absolutely . You can feel mudita when you are showing kindness to people and seeing the reactions when you do something little like buying them a coffee in line , opening the door right when people are like , oh , I am being seen .
That's simple kind acts and ask how you're doing and then really listen for the answer exactly and you feel it .
You feel it back . You know kindness . Kindness is ways you know . Another statistic about kindness is that our blood pressure lowers when we're performing acts of kindness to each other .
Yep , absolutely , that's so great .
As somebody who just their blood pressure , just you know , got raised for some reason , I'm like I'm going to do more , more acts of kindness and try to get lower my blood pressure .
I'll get that blood pressure down . Well , I will have a link to your , to your website , in the show notes . It was so awesome to talk to you . I really appreciate your time .
Lovely meeting you . Thank you so much and keep up the amazing work .
Thank you .
Thank you , take care .
I want to thank each and every one of you for taking time to listen to this episode with my guest , christine Kutnick . I really hope you're able to take something positive from the time you spent with us . Maybe you'll be inspired , maybe you'll be motivated , maybe you'll be moved .
If you experienced any of those positive feelings , please consider sharing this podcast with your friends and family . Also , please feel free to follow us on our socials like Facebook , instagram , linkedin and TikTok . And you know what ? If you're feeling really moved , maybe give us a review on whatever podcast platform that you listen to us on .
That would be amazing and I would be so , so grateful .
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This podcast is part of the Mayday Media Network .
If you have an idea for a podcast and need some production assistance , or have a podcast and are looking for a supportive network to join , check out maydaymedediaNetworkcom and check out the many different types of shows , like Afrocentric Spoil , my Movie Generation Mixtape In a Pickle Radio Show , wake Up and Dream with D Anthony Palin and Stacks Opaques .
Also the Time Pals podcast . There are so many different podcasts there . I'm sure there will be one for you that you will enjoy and you just need to go and take a look at them all . In the meantime , we will be back again next week with a new episode and we would be honored if you would join us . You've been listening to the Kindness Matters podcast .
I am your host , mike . Mike Raffin . Have a fantastic week .