Trust Your Intuition for Transformational Growth with Wendie Veloz

In this episode, I interview Wendie Veloz, owner of Wellness Grind and Mental Health Public Health Guru.  Wendie shares her career story, how she followed her intuition to navigate her career, which led to transformational growth.  Wendie was the first in her family to go to college, through her intuition, programs, networking, and mentors have helped her take advantage of opportunities that came to her.   Listen to hear how she uses her intuition and what happens when you do!

EPISODE LINKS

• Connect with Wendie via Instagram @WendieV
• Wellness Grind Website & Wellness Grind on Instagram @livingthewellnessgrind
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
• Get Your Free Career Guide at ManifestYourCareer.com
• Click Here to learn more about my career coaching services. 

Thank you for listening, please Subscribe and leave a Review, and Follow me via IG @ManifestYourCareer

Transcript

Norma Reyes  0:07  
welcome to the manifest your career podcast i'm your host dr Norma Reyes a latina career and life coach with this podcast i help successful women learn how to combine their intuition and logic so that they can manifest their dream career by listening to my podcast you'll learn how to go from feeling stuck and lost on what to do next to having the clarity motivation and strategies to manifest the career of your dreams each episode i'll teach you the skills strategies and mindset you need girl to get in alignment with your career goals now let's go ahead and get started

Norma Reyes  0:57  
welcome back guys this is episode six and i have a new guest interview for you all her name is when dave aloft and she is an inspirational leader known for igniting change in the human services field Wendie is currently the director of the office of policy and planning and harris county public health in this role she leads a team of policy experts overseeing the agency's strategic planning performance based budgeting public health accreditation government and legislative affairs and health equity portfolios that is so much she has so much going on and she has so much wisdom to share with us guys she started her career in the us government as a presidential management fellow and i'm so excited to have her here with us so that you guys can learn and grow and she has lots of career tips for you guys too thank you Wendie for joining us and our first question is can you tell us about your family background where did you grow up and who did you live with

Wendie Veloz  2:12  
well first of all thank you for having me i'm excited to be here with you today so my family background while i'm Mexican but i'm also like fourth or fifth generation depending on what side you're looking at and so you know my family grew up without speaking spanish and at home my parents and private generation were speaking Spanish wasn't a thing for them to do if they were going to be professionals and so you know i very much was just an a primarily english speaking pretty i would say pretty low income single parent house and you know i lived with my mom and my sister but my grandfather was also there of course and we had in the same mexican thing that happens a lot you know family members move in and move out and you know all these unofficial cousins and uncles around and so it's always you know a good time and we had a lot of really good memories at that time so it's always something i think of fondly yes

Norma Reyes   2:55  
i can see you smiling i'm sure they can hear you smiling too so when you were young and people asked you what you wanted to be when you grew up what do you recall telling them

Wendie Veloz  3:06  
i never had an answer this is the best part about it i only just wanted a phd i just tell them i want to be a phd and people would be like that's not a career that's not that's not you got to make more choices but but that's really what i want i just want to have somebody call me dr dr wendy or or dr hellos that was really my goal was just to get a phd and you know and i almost didn't care what it was because i really wanted the status more than the job and then once i realized that a phd primarily does research i finally said no thank you to them they moved on from there

Norma Reyes  3:39  
that's funny yeah well i do have my phd and i'm definitely not doing research i did not do it for that part

Wendie Veloz  3:46  
i know see look at you should have been my idol back

Norma Reyes   3:49  
speaking of that so who do you recall as some of your earliest career models those that you imagine being like when you grew up and what kind of work did they do

Wendie Veloz  3:58  
probably my mom yeah because of being a single mom she worked a lot and she had a really good work ethic she used to take me to work with her when i was little she works in insurance and so i was kind of looking at different claims and things she always had these big stack of papers to file and here's my little like eight year old hands filing things because i could barely read and so i'm there you know trying to read people's names and put it in the right file and stuff and so she put me to work when she'd go to work on the weekends just to kind of learn you know what happens in office and to see an office setting and to know you know what back then paperwork was which now we all do electronically but you know then there's just reams of paper and files everywhere and hold big file rooms and so i remember just sitting you know in the file room and looking at stuff that kids probably shouldn't see about insurance claims pictures ever really graphic and things like that but the point was that i was really able to then you know look at the systems that were in place and how she operated within them and how she was able to kind of show me the basic skills that happen in an office pretty early on and so i was grateful to that so that was probably my biggest idol i have to say Yeah. Anyone else? Yeah, I mean, I think that there was always teachers, you know, who you kind of look at and you say, Oh, I might want to be a teacher. When I grew up. I had some pretty fantastic teachers. I grew up in Whittier, California. So we have had a pretty good education system. I don't know how it is now. But back then it was pretty good. And there was a lot of teachers who invested extra time into me, and who kind of said, Hey, you have potential or, hey, you are someone that I want to put forward in this program or something like that. And so I always had a kind of soft heart for teaching just because, you know, they were so nice to me. And I thought, Oh, if I hadn't had that extra push from XYZ, teacher, this teacher, that teacher, maybe I wouldn't be where I'm at today.

Norma Reyes   5:40  
Yes. Until to have that in your pocket later. When you're facing challenges. That really helps, too.

Wendie Veloz  5:45  
Yeah, for sure. So

Norma Reyes  5:46  
can you tell us about your educational background?

Wendie Veloz  5:49  
Yeah. So I was the first in my family to go to college, which meant a lot of my life, I grew up thinking it was impossible, right? Like, it was always a mystery. How do you get to college? was a very good question. You know, I've asked people like, well, how does this work? And like other people were just assuming they were going to college. I'm like, figuring out the technicalities of college, right? It was really kind of funny, because once I started down the road of college, I was like, oh, there are technicalities, like, what is this FAFSA thing? And what are these essays, I've got to write like, what's going on with this essay T. And so I had to kind of navigate that whole road by myself. And my mom would do what she could in terms of trying to support me with decisions and things like that. But for the most part, I had to learn the process and get myself there. And so I ended up going to UC Irvine, I had had a bunch of choices, I actually had one of these two door situations where I could have gone to UC Berkeley or I could have gone to UC Irvine. And my intuition told me to go to UC Irvine. And so I ended up there in the first year, I got a very, very special program, called the sage scholars, I still work with it today, it still exists. And it's for people like me who come from low income backgrounds and come to college, a lot of first generation for first time education in higher ed. And the lot of the program was about mentorship and learning additional skills. And they gave us an internship and they have a scholarship. So I was able to go on to UC Irvine scholarship plus that scholarship. And for the first couple of years High School was pretty much paid for. And so then once I got to grad school choices, I said okay, well, let me kind of think about what I want to do here, because I'm coming out of an undergrad program is pretty low debt. And they had already been interning for about three or four years. So I took a gap year and kind of worked and stayed with my internship and took a job. And then I ended up going to Columbia for a master's in social work program. And that was a whole inspirational experience that happened. Even I was in my internship sort of pivoting from psychology and cognitive sciences, where I thought it would have a PhD. Again, getting back to that PhD, I was trying to get to that I kind of moved to another thing because one of my mentors said, Oh, you know, you're really good at helping people, I don't think you want to be a psychiatrist, I'm pretty sure you want to be a social worker. And I'm just like, what's a social worker, and then I started looking into it, like, I don't know if I want to work with individual clients. And so I ended up becoming a macro level social worker. And so when I went to Columbia, so in the only programs in the country that does policy, and so I got into the policy track, and that was kind of where I've sat since then, in the policy world.

Norma Reyes   8:09  
Nice, so transformational to just to see how it unfolded. So kind of to backtrack a little bit. Yeah, you're starting your first full time job. And you did talk about internships, what were some of your career interests,

Wendie Veloz  8:22  
I would say art actually, is really, really interested in art and pursuing some sort of creative space, something that I was able to make and do and have people enjoy. So I think that that was another road. And so I was actually president of the art club in high school. And my art teacher was like, Well, are you gonna go to like to psychiatry or psychology? And then you're gonna make your own inkblots? Or like what's going on? Like, how are you combining the two together? Because she didn't really see the connection. But I've been able to kind of keep that creative side. You know, it's kind of like my side stuff that I do just for fulfillment. But that really was another option. Yeah.

Norma Reyes   8:56  
And that's, that's what happens. We're growing up, people want to just keep us focus in one box versus just being able to explore everything. So that's nice. How you just did that for yourself. You're like, I'm not gonna be put in a box. Yeah. So how did your career interest changed once you entered the workforce?

Wendie Veloz  9:16  
I think I really was interested in like I said, helping people that's been sort of the core throughout my career is how do you help people? And I eventually pivoted to the question, how do you help more people? Like how do you do that in mass? How do you how do you scale efforts? And that's where I think I've kind of stayed at that in mass kind of conversation, because I believe it's helpful to help by individual and to really make a transformative difference. I just don't believe that my personality is really the one that needs to do it. Right. And so I like to empower others to do that work, but I like to kind of do the very high level thinking strategizing pieces that are going to really impact a lot of people at once.

Norma Reyes   9:55  
Yeah, sounds like you wanted to have big larger impact versus two Though the one on one. So before I ask you more questions, can you kind of tell us about your journey? You got your bachelor's degree that your internship, you got your master's degree? How did your career unfold after that?

Wendie Veloz. 10:13  
Well, I went to Africa a few times. I know it's no, I really, I have a very random career. When I went to Columbia, I, you know, I chose policy as my field. But I had a concentration I could do. And I really was interested in going abroad. I had never gone abroad before, I had never left the country, not even I think I had been to Mexico as far as to one at once, right? Like I had not really my country. And I was trying to do this international track, and my mentor was like, I see your passion, I'll let you do it. However, you know, you need to decide where you're going to go. And I said, okay, because I started looking into it and told I'm going to go to a program and believes and she's like, why would you do that? Why would you not go further, you have the opportunity to go like, wherever you want. So in talking to another professor, I chose to go to Uganda, and live in a village with no power, no water for six months, doing a needs assessment for the schools with a local parish. And it was the most like transformational time in my life, you know, everything that I was ever afraid of happened, everything that I ever had no idea how to navigate happens, completely different language, you know, think extreme poverty and seeing poverty, like I had never known it before. So all of those things really kind of changed my perspective on how to help people and what is really helping mean, and who are you really helping? And how are you helping them? And why and do they want help? There's this kind of help. Question came 360 for me, where I was able to see all these different facets of what I was trying to do. And so I think that that's really where I made a lot of decisions on, you know, what would be the next levels of what my career would look like this? Because I had a lot of time to think and you got into it with no power, no water

Norma Reyes  11:44  
Wow, I cannot imagine that. It's on some main theme. I did my own study abroad, the end of my undergrad it was in Guatemala. And when I tell people that I went to Guatemala, they're like, Oh, are you want them all? And I'm like, no.


Norma Reyes   12:05  
But it was it was very interesting. I did not go that extreme, though. I wish I had though, that is an opportunity that I wish I'd done. So for those of you listening, if you are able to go and do a study abroad, far, far away completely different from your culture. Because what Amala? I mean, yeah, it was not where I'm from, but it's still similar culture.

Wendie Veloz 12:24  
Yeah. And I think that was what she was saying, with believes it's like, go go as far as you possibly can, so that you're going to get the most experience that you possibly can. And I definitely think it was a good push in that direction. Because like I said, there was things I would have probably never learned today made the choice to go to believe. Yeah,

Norma Reyes   12:39  
yeah, that's nice. So nice, unfortunate for you to have had that, like had that push those people in your life to push you there, right? Because I know, I didn't have that. And it is something that I wish I had back then. And that's, that's really the reason for the podcast, because I want people to know know, what questions to ask when you don't know what to ask. So with that, what would be some things that you would share with us? What are some questions to ask when feeling unsure?

Wendie Veloz 13:04  
I think a lot of times, you're unsure because you don't feel confident about the choices in front of you. And sometimes I literally just rely on my gut instinct and say, Okay, if I don't feel confident about these choices, which one do I feel most confident about? or which one doesn't make me feel like a pit of my stomach is gonna fall out? What is what is that weird little thing inside, that tells me that this one might be a little bit better than the other one. So sometimes I think if you have multiple choices, you kind of get paralyzed, and you just don't make a decision, you know, you just kind of sit there in the decision for longer than you need to. And so I think sometimes stepping forward into what feels the best is really the advice that I would give. And that's really worked for me a number of times, the whole go to UC Irvine to go to Berkeley. And then when I go to Columbia, go to Belize, or go to Uganda, you know, really it was about what was my intuition telling me? And how happy did I think I would be with the outcome of the decision I was making. And so I think that's another thing you can ask yourself, you know, in your future life and your future, you looking back on where you are now? What kind of happiness do you envision? And what is the road to get there? And which of these choices or which of the options or which of the things that you could possibly do will get you closer to that happiness? And it might not get you there with a full like one on one decision, obviously, but you know, incrementally trying to get there. Yeah, yeah.

Norma Reyes 14:21  
Thank you. Thank you. So you go to Africa, you come back. What's your first full time employment after that? 

Wendie Veloz  14:30  
Oh, so that's another story. You'll see I'm really good at working programs. Like I always, that's always part of my dog isn't background, I always had an option for different types of personal development, and I and I actually seek them out great. It's not like something that just presents itself to me. I tried to find, you know, what are the ways that are gonna get me, like I said, a little bit closer to what I want. And so at the end of grad school, there was a program called the Presidential Management Fellows. It's a pretty prestigious fellowship. It's with the American government and you come in at a lower level of staff and you kind of Stay there, you'll learn you do some professional development things, and then you move on. And you eventually can transition into a full time staff. And so I did that program for two years. But I didn't find out about me getting into the program until I was in Uganda. So there is a career fair here in Washington DC that I totally missed, because I was half a world away. And so when I got back, I didn't have any prospects in this program. I had, like, no one had chosen me because I didn't put myself out there. So all these other people are getting placed in the State Department and Treasury and all these other places. And I'm just coming back from Africa, like completely dazed. I said, Okay, I got to do stuff big. And so there was a couple of people who reached out to me and said, Hey, we have some things you might be interested in, we employ a lot of social workers here. And you know, we're interested in you coming to interview. And so I ended up working for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or samsa. for 13 years, I did the two years that I just sort of stayed there forever, it was really funny, because it ended up being like, I did other things while I was there, but that has been kind of the home base for a number of years. And then I finally moved on eventually from there. But it was very much the first job that I had outside of grad school. And it was a job I kept for

Norma Reyes 16:12  
over a decade. Yeah, amazing. And wha I'm an OPC. So I'm very familiar with samsa samsa. Yeah, I often go on there. And for those of you that don't know, I'll make sure to put it on the show notes. Because, yeah, I don't want to take us on a tangent.

Wendie Veloz  16:30  
There's so many tangents of my story.

Norma Reyes   16:32  
But that's how life and careers unfold. And really going back to the purpose of the podcast that, you know, there's so many roads that can lead you to your purpose, and your purpose changes with you. And over time, it's not like an enrolled, I'm sure you're not thinking oh, I've made it, you're probably thinking about the next move that you want to do the next exploration that you want to have. So with that, can you tell us a little bit about maybe your networking or mentoring experiences that you've had?

Wendie Veloz 17:00  
Yeah, like I said, I've always been part of these programs. And so the program's always had given you and sort of networking opportunities. So first of all, sage scholars, they taught us how to network, they were like, Listen, you guys are going to practice on each other until you kind of figure out how to introduce yourself, where you placed your name tag, how you do it from handshake, but not too firm. I mean, we went through like the whole thing, and the step by step. And I think when you're new in your career, or you're in college, it's really important to have that practice. And you can get it by going to mixers. I mean, you don't have to be a part of a formal program. But I think it's important for you to understand the best way to present yourself and to enter a room to be a memorable person. And if you're really trying to step out into the crowd, and come out with people remembering you after these little tiny, tiny skills and tips really make a big difference. I mean, sometimes just repeating the person's name several times throughout the conversation, so you remember it not even so they know you know their name. But just so you remember, it is really, really important. And so I think if you can do all of those pieces and learn networking, you'll be more successful at actually doing networking. So you know, I like I said, the sage scholars provide us, like, I think the baby steps into networking. And then once I was in the Presidential Management Fellows, and I got from New York to DC, between the two between Columbia and DC, they're really really network heavy cities. And you know, your your existence in DC very much depends on who do you know it? How well do you know them? And how much do they actually like you? And so there's a lot of times where you would present yourself in a room and you would have to really make sure like, okay, am I working this network opportunity the way I want to? they've definitely left things that they didn't like, I didn't like the opportunity, or I didn't think I was in it that day. And I said, Okay, no, I'm giving myself permission to step away. And not do this. But I joined the young government leaders actually was, I was a board member. And I ended up being the person who put on the network, big events for them. So I kind of went from a networker to the one who creates the networking opportunities. And so it's been it's been nice to have like all those different facets from barely learning networking, to figuring out like, what do I need to put into a space so that people can facilitate that conversation in a way that's going to be productive for people?

Norma Reyes   19:06  
Amazing. So do you have any tips for the audience?

Wendie Veloz  19:09  
Like I said, I think the basics of just being present and how you present yourself as number one, you have to really come into this space, always, obviously, dress your best and kind of look presentable. I know sometimes you go from like work to networking things. So taking that break in between and like refreshing yourself or even, you know, like, if you have a coat on, you know, changing your outfit just a little bit. I think sometimes that physical change in your appearance, also can change your behavior and can change how you're going to present yourself in the room. So that would be another tip I would say is like if you're going straight from work to a networking event, take a little bit of time to refresh yourself and not just your makeup. I mean really, really refresh your spirit and come into the networking event as you want to be presenting ourselves. And I think when you're talking to people that give and take is really important, but sometimes you get engaged and people don't stop talking You're like, okay, so I thought I was gonna have my turn. And I did. And now I'm just standing here listening to your life story. And I think that's really sometimes awkward for people to navigate. And so I would say, sometimes, I just will say, oh, excuse me, you know, I'm gonna go get another beverage, or I just saw somebody that I need to talk to, let's connect later, Here's my card. And I will just pivot and walk the other way. And so you know, I think that you have to find what your what your strategy is to get out of those conversations, because they think that sometimes they can pass their productivity. And you will then have spent your whole networking event just talking to one person, which that's another tip, you know, don't don't do that kind of networking is you're creating a network, not just a friendship with one person. And so you want to make sure that you're trying to get to as many people as you think will be productive for you, but also to not deplete your energy. And so I recently had gone to a creators forum, where there was opportunity to network with 1000s and 1000s of people and everybody did. So every day you went home drained, just completely dead, because you had solved 50 people in the hallway, you met, you had 500 cards in your bag, and you're going What am I doing? Tomorrow, I'm doing this all over again. Oh, no. And so with that, you know, every time I went home, I had to do a serious like, pause, refresh myself, take a bath, you know, cook a meal, and just process the day so that I could come back to the networking event and still be present the next day. And then when I got rid of all those cards, I actually took them and bundled them with a rubber band, and said, These are the people that are my priority. These are the people I met, I know I connected with, and I need to follow up with them. These people were interesting to me, but they weren't necessarily my priority, but I don't want to lose them. So I'm gonna put them here. And then these people I just met, but I don't know that I jive with them, or for whatever reason, they're not in my priority, or my maybe list. So I'm just gonna put them over here. And so I had literally hundreds of cards batch this way. And then when I went through them, I took the first batch that were my priority. And that same day or week, or whatever it was, at the end of it, I ended up just emailing and sitting down for about two hours, saying at least I reached out to that person, if that person doesn't respond, a person forgot me or if the opportunity is in this to connect, that's fine. But I did my homework coming out of the networking event with as much as I possibly could to make those connections for later. And then I just kind of went down all the way through those first two batches. And as far as that has gone, it's really had done probably about 20 connections that were genuine after that. And so it was worth the effort to catalogue those people after. And I think that's a good tip, too. You don't have to put them into batches the way I did, but just to go back through them and remember who you need to follow up with and then doing it right then

Norma Reyes   22:45  
yeah, that is good. And that way you don't feel obligated with those people in that batch that you just didn't jive with. Because sometimes we feel that way. We spent that time they spent that time with us. And I loved your tip on how to get out of a situation that's no longer productive, because that happened. And that person might just be needing someone to talk to. And unfortunately, you're the one that's there. And it's hard, I know for myself to just, you know, walk out of a conversation. So to say like, Oh, I got it, you know, it's respectful, you know, you're not making it about the person that's continuing to talk. So thank you for that one.

Wendie Veloz  23:20  
 And if there's a third person have to give you another way to do this one might help you too. If there's like a third person in the conversation and that person starts getting engaged, you can just say, Oh, you know, I've got to excuse myself in the conversation, have a great conversation, great to meet you both. And just turn walk away. Don't even if you don't even have to give the business card. Because that second person who entered the conversation with you, that person will then take that energy on, and you're able to kind of escape from it. So I think there's a couple of different ways you can do it respectfully, but just make sure you you kind of interject that you are leaving, like I think that's a good part of it.

Norma Reyes  23:55  
Thank you. That's a really good tip. So now, what has been the most influential experience in your career thus far?

Wendie Veloz 24:04  
Yeah. So if I was at SAMHSA, they had a bunch of White House projects that came up pretty rapidly, I would say, Well, I went to CDC in Tanzania for a bit, I came back and my leadership knew that I was someone who kind of likes to travel and likes to do things. And so a presidential opportunity came up to be on a program called strong police on communities. And it was a pilot from the White House under the Obama administration. And they said, Okay, well, we need somebody to go down to New Orleans and to be our mental health expert for the city. They don't have a behavioral health portfolio in the health department. And we want somebody to basically be our attache on the ground along with a whole bunch of other federal staff. And so there was department justice person and department housing person, and there's me and then there was the person from CDC. And so there was kind of like all these people who worked together as a multidisciplinary federal team to give the city a little bit of easier access to the federal government so they could cut some of the red tape and have expertise that they normally wouldn't have on the ground. And so we jumped in And we're there for about eight. I was there for eight months. And we just did a whole bunch of development projects with the mayor. I was working under Mayor Landrieu. And so I, you know, had such a great experience with that, I came back to samsa. And they were like, okay, you did a really good job with that. Thanks. And then they kind of reframed their thinking about me, and I became like, the Special Projects girl. And I always call myself this, I am very much the special projects, girl. If you need a paratrooper to come and fix something like just tell me to come do it, I'll do it. And so after Sandy Hook, which was such a tragedy, my expertise is actually in mental health promotion for young people and violence prevention. And so I had already been pivoting my career towards the violence prevention piece. And I said, Well, you know, Sandy Hook is one of the biggest, most violent acts we've seen in our country in a very long time. And we really need somebody who understands this, to lead this White House Initiative on mental health. And we're calling it the national dialogue on mental health. And I said, Okay, well, what is this national dialogue? Like? How are we going to make people talk about this? And what are the details? What do you need me to do? I had like, 50 other questions. And there really was no answer. Because they were like, well, we kind of think the White House wants to do this. And this, and I gave me like this laundry list. And I said, well just go get it done. So I created this flash workgroup, I made this term up flash workgroup is like, I've seen it since but I had never heard it before. So I'm coining it. And it was basically me just grabbing a bunch of my colleagues and say, Hey, I don't have enough people to do this. And we're not going to be able to hire contractors, I need your expertise. And I hand picked who I needed, I went to their bosses and said, I need these people to come under me and work under my guidance, it was actually able to convince everybody to give me staff, which is like, unheard of, for a staffer to be like no idea, my colleagues. And so we created this little team, we had a whole website that was made mental health.gov. I'm actually the the ghost author of mental health.gov. And we created a toolkit. And so the toolkit was to facilitate community conversations on mental health. And so we had an infographic and all these toolkits and things that we did. And so as a primary author, and developer of all those materials of my little team, and some contractors that we were able to secure. And then those same contractors were actually working on the deliberative democracy conversations that were based on the toolkit. And so they had over 200 conversations around the country. And that became the dialogue. And it was supposed to be actually normalizing mental health, so people have more of an understanding of what are the basics of mental health? And how do you engage with somebody who may have a mental health challenge or a mental health problem? And then also, if somebody comes to you, how do you get them to help if they're seeking help. And so it's kind of the basic basic conversations and awareness. So I did that for about almost two years, a year and a half, two years. And then I went back to my regular portfolio. And so this whole package under the Obama administration came together with this big partnership that they had all these commitments from different national partners, all these people. So I ended up having to be the samsa contact for all of these different national partnerships and national organizations. And so I very much well known in that space for that work. And so it became really transformational for my career, because there's people now that at the head of organizations who will call me and say, Oh, yeah, hey, Wendy, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, hey, Jed foundation on suicide prevention, the head of it, yeah, I'm still gonna work with you, because I love working with you. And so that work was really transformational, because it really put me on the national scene as someone who can get things done. And not only for the government, but also for the other organizations who want to raise awareness around the same issue we're all passionate about. And so I think that that work was really good. I mean, I got to meet the Sandy Hook parents that came to meet Secretary Sebelius. And so I got a voicemail from Secretary Sebelius thanking me for my work. So it was really transformational in that aspect, too. Because it was not only something I worked hard at, but it was rewarding. Yeah.

Norma Reyes   28:32  
And so much impact and so important. Looking back, were there any missed opportunities that you had during your career?

Wendie Veloz 28:40  
Yeah, there was, I think, when I was early in the Presidential Management fellowship, there was a time when USA ID, the United States Agency and development, they asked me to come and work on their education portfolio for education in in Africa, obviously, I had just come back from Africa. So it made a pretty big impact in what they were thinking I could come and work with them. And it was a second what we call rotation, which is when you leave one federal agency, and you go and spend time learning and growing in another federal agency, it's fairly common in terms of the Presidential Management fellowship, because they actually require one. But it's uncommon to have two opportunities. And I had just come back from Department of Labor working on child labor issues for six months. And so my boss said, Oh, well, I'll go ask and see. And my previous boss, who had said, Oh, yes, you could do too. He had actually left the agency and scenario is kind of up to the person who is above him. And she went and said, you know, oh, my boss said that, you know, I can't let you go. And I know now that that wasn't true that that man didn't know that I even had that opportunity. And that that had never been presented to him. And it very much was heard just not wanting me to go on a second six month opportunity. And I consider it probably one of the biggest mysteries in my career because it wasn't my choice to have missed it and I didn't have any other way to get it back. And I've never been able to get back into that space in the way that I really wanted to early in my career, have a made the best out of my career where it went, yeah, of course, and what they be here saying all these things about the national dialogue and better health, possibly not, but I, you know, I may be talking to you about doing something, you know, that I also was passionate about. And so I feel like, at least for me, you know, I consider it a missed opportunity. But I also think that when I missed opportunity, I turned it around and was able to then make what I wanted out of what I had. And that's how I ended up moving into the education space and the education and mental health space.

Norma Reyes  30:30  
Yeah, definitely. That's what we have to do when a missed opportunity occurs, how can we make it better? What can we learn and move forward? And instead of feeling stuck and frustrated that a door was closed on us? So thank you for sharing with that. So what are some new ideas or creative ways that you create new opportunities for yourself? I mean, you seem like you are very, very exploratory with so many things, which is awesome. And how would you say that you do that even more so for yourself to open more doors,

Wendie Veloz  31:02  
if there's always the opportunity for you to make known what your biggest talents are. And I often am not shy about telling people I'm really good at this, or demonstrating to them how I've been good at it. And I think that that tends to present other opportunities that I didn't know about. And so sometimes, for me, it's not like looking for the opportunities so much as it is putting myself out there and waiting for an opportunity that really fits me. And I think when I've been able to do that, that's when I then kick into the intuition and say, okay, is this the right thing for me or not? This is what's being presented to me, but I don't have to take everything that's presented to me. And so I very much can decide, you know, do I want this? Or do I want that. And so that's one way that I do it. But then I also do sometimes seek new partnerships, I seek new things, I go to the farmers market, and I talked to all of the people who work there and say, hey, you're a small business owner, what are you doing? What do you know what's going on? Can I can I write about you on my blog? Or can I take some pictures of you and wander around my DSLR camera. And really, what that's taught me is people love to talk about themselves, and they love to talk to you about themselves. And sometimes you can actually create some space to work with that person as a partner, it just by having that initial conversation, when you went and said, Hey, I want to hear about what you do. I want to hear your experience, you know, everybody from the lady who makes coffee to the person who sells soaps, or the guy who sells spices until the lady who sells olive oils, all of them actually known me really well, they actually email me now that I'm in Texas, and no longer in Maryland, because we had that personal relationship. And we've had a lot of different opportunities to work with each other in an entrepreneurial spirit. And so I think that that's another good way to do that is just to be out there and say, Hey, I'm interested in you, I may not actually have the same thing in common that you do. But I'm interested in learning about your process and what makes you passionate about what you do. And that has really opened up a lot of doors for other projects and other side projects that I hadn't anticipated before.

Norma Reyes   32:56  
Yeah, probably didn't even know existed until you open that door of asking the simple question of Tell me more about you, I love. Both of those are two things everyone should do more, more highlighting ourselves and more just learning about another person just to learn without anything, you know, without any like a hidden agenda or education. Yeah, I don't know. Anything from it. Right?

Wendie Veloz  33:22  
yeah, I just expect to have a good conversation. And that's it.

Norma Reyes  33:25  
Yes, sometimes those conversations are the best. Yeah, I love learning all about people and their careers and everything, and not just their careers. But what makes them them. I think careers are something people think it's just one small window nine to five, Monday through Friday, but really a career is yourself and what you're putting into. And then that's another reason why burnout happens because people want to isolate this nine to five Monday through Friday thing, and then go live their life. But that's not really how it works both have to be really integrated in order for you to be able to actually live your life, which I'm sure I mean, everything you've said, You've never thought, Oh my gosh, this is not my life,

Wendie Veloz  34:06  
you spend so much of your time working with your life. And I think, you know, kind of spinning it around to wellness, I talk a lot about wellness and the work that I do outside of work. And even in my other work, I said all my works, I talk about wellness. And it's really part of your occupational wellness. So I try to explain it to people as your occupational wellness is important, because it's not only part of your life, but it itself is alive, right, like your career is is alive. And it's something that will continue to develop as long as you were planning to make it develop. So before retirement or before you decide to just, you know, stop doing something and go live on the islands. That's really something you have to manage actively. And you have to be looking at it and critically saying, Is this where I want to be? Is it going where I want it to go? And as I kind of move in the direction that I'm moving? Am I making the impact that I want to make? And I think when you ask yourself those kinds of questions, you're then able to navigate into the next steps of your journey in a way that you could be more confident about Because you've actually sat and actively thought about it, you're you're actively managing where you're going. And so I think some people, like you said, you know, you're getting this, this rat race, and you're just like, Okay, let me let me wake up and do this and do this, this, I can do that too. I wake up, go to the gym, you know, go go work, and then maybe come and walk the dog, and you kind of just go day by day by day. But then I think when you take a step back, and you realize, Okay, wait a second, is this fulfilling to me? Am I fulfilling my purpose? And we were talking about this earlier? What is what is my purpose? And do I feel like I'm fulfilling it? And I think as you get closer to that question, you may think, Oh, this rat race is not for me, and I need to do something else. And some people stay in that space and don't do anything about it, you know, they just kind of like, Okay, I know, I want to do something else. But I don't know how to, or I don't know what opportunity to find, or I'm just gonna go look on LinkedIn and, and apply to a bunch of things, because I'm nervous about what I'm doing now. Or I might need to change or whatever. But I think really what it should be about is you taking that pause and saying, Okay, this isn't working for me, my occupational wellness is suffering because of whatever it is, and how can I make my occupational wellness better for me, and for my career that is alive? Right. So I think that's really a place for people to do a little bit of self growth.

Norma Reyes   36:07  
Thank you. Thank you. That was more than I could ask for you said it so well. And I hadn't heard of the term occupational wellness before. So I probably will be using that later.

Norma Reyes  36:24  
So I will have two more questions for you. One of them is what other career advice do you want to give to us?

Wendie Veloz 36:33  
I do a lot of coaching for younger women really primarily, but I have had a few men. And I don't charge for it. Because I think that we all need to be giving back to the younger generations. And I particularly focus on people of color. Although I've mentored a number of different people. And I think you know, just doing something as simple as being willing to read somebody's resume, who's in your field and say, Hey, if I were recruiting or fire, we're hiring for this, I would want to see XYZ, I also think that it's helpful for people to quantify their experience. So when I talk about the national dialogue and mental health that I spoke about earlier, I don't say I created a toolkit, I say the toolkit I created has reached over 300,000 people, and very specific about the reach and the impact that the work that I've done has made. And luckily, I have the statistics on the back end to be able to find that, but some people get they think it's difficult on how to quantify. And so sometimes it's the number of years of experience that you have, or sometimes it's the the reach or the impact. And then other times, it's really just the experience that you took away from the thing. And so how do you then explain that and use that experience to get you to your next step at your field. And so often when I'm working with younger people in their in their work experiences are kind of limited. And they have maybe an internship under their belt, or they have a fellowship under their belt, we really dig into like, well, what did you do? You know, what, what did you feel good about? What did you come away from and say, Ah, this was this was a teachable moment. And I learned this, and how would you characterize that and quantify it? And sometimes we'll just really rewrite that experience. So it actually sounds like five experiences. They may say, Oh, I just did this and this and this, but then they say, oh, but it had this and this another thing? And I will that's 10 skills you just talked about. So it also kind of break things down in terms of skill sets, and I and I hire people based on skill sets. I don't necessarily always hire people based on number of years of experience I look at what intuition do I do, I think that these people are people that would fit well with my team. And so I often am looking for a certain skill set in the resume review part of it, which I think is why having your resume and having it characterize your skill sets really strongly is important. But then once it gets to the interview phase, I don't do the first interviews, I actually have my team do the first interviews, because I'm more interested in a person's personality, and if their personality fits with my team, so if my team that's you and says they like you, but I'm willing to listen to you, right, because at this point in my career, I have the luxury of having people under me, who will do that and who are very, very good at what they do. And so I respect their opinion. And I would never want to put somebody on the team that I like that that they don't like, because that will disturb the whole team dynamic, it would just change and I don't want that. I love my team. And so I think that that's the important part too is once you get higher in your career to being a manager, finding the way to make the best team is the most important thing you can do. And then rely on your team to tell you how your team is functioning, right. And so you have to be willing to listen and to change and to do different things. And I always tell people, like you need to do professional development, you will not work for me forever. I love you. I think you're great. But you're going to move on from here and I'm going to help you so what training Do we need to book for you? Where are you trying to go? Are you trying to go back to grad school? If you are, are you taking the time to apply? Are you looking at campuses? Can I help you redo your application? So I've had more than a boss, like a boss coach. It's really weird, but I try to like use all those things into my team as well that are actually hired enter me the same as I would somebody coming out of grad school and saying hey, I need some experience. What How can I characterize this and get a job? And so I think to me, it's really just having that well rounded perspective of how can you give back to those who are not yet at your level? Yeah,

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