[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign Now, Season four. I'm your host, Keith Mavigensini. Today I'm talking to Rene Bellejolet, CEO and sounder of Victory Over Time. Renee, welcome to the show.
[00:00:35] Speaker B: Thank you for having me, Keith. I'm honored and proud to be here.
[00:00:40] Speaker A: Thank you.
How did you discover my podcast?
[00:00:49] Speaker B: I was doing research on podcasts that concentrated on disability empowerment and awareness, and your name was at the top of the list.
[00:01:02] Speaker A: Money talks. What did I say?
No, I'm honored that I would anywhere on that ledge, not to mention the top of that ledge. Really? That surprising?
But.
So you wrote a very wonderful book called Soaring Through Adversity. I meant to read it again before we did this episode, but as I just told you, I'm like an old factory cranking out views. I love my walk.
Tell me more about what led you to your.
[00:02:10] Speaker B: Well, I had a company that I founded and I served as its CEO for 30 years and then I sold it. And right after that, Covid hit and I decided that I needed to tell my story because I had so many different adversities in my life, both in business and personally. And so the book contains it originally was going to be about business, but I realized that I needed to put the adversities that I face personally in there as well because I hope that when people read it, they will learn something from it, maybe avoid it or if they're in the middle of it, maybe have a more positive attitude when they see somebody else got through it.
[00:02:59] Speaker A: What led you to title your organization what you titled it? Because the name is very person Bono. It has to convey meaning. You're kind of stuck with it in most cases.
And so you can just slap a name on an organization and just say, oh, I came up with that on a hike or in the shower.
All I don't think you can link. You shouldn't be able to. What.
What led you to your name as a organization and how has the name's meaning evolved over time?
[00:04:12] Speaker B: I think for me, it. It meant that you're going to go through stuff, but if you are faithful with what you're doing and think positively. For me, prayer played a big role in it.
And so it was faith first, not last, will lead to victory and in time. And that's where I came up with it and it stuck with me. And so that's what I went with.
[00:04:46] Speaker A: Did you say faith of fate?
[00:04:50] Speaker B: Faith.
Faith first, not last.
[00:04:55] Speaker A: Yeah, that's what I thought. Your faith is very important to you. That's something we share in common.
Would you mind Talking about that journey and how it has evolved and shaped you over time to the success forbidness woman you are today.
[00:05:37] Speaker B: I think in the early years my faith played a role second, not first.
I think that I was more determined that I could do it on my own, whatever it was.
And I learned over time as things became more difficult, you know, the, the mountains became higher, the the valleys became lower, that my faith needed to come first. And once it did, it just really enlightened me to understand that I was not doing this alone, that I had help of a greater power than I could imagine.
[00:06:20] Speaker A: And so looking back on this book, which is really your story and the persever, not true Vape but aided by vape.
What. What are the main takeaways that you hope people will take away from the book?
[00:06:56] Speaker B: The lessons learned at each chapter. There is a. There's like three lessons that I learned from whatever it was that I was going through. I went from being homeless at one point in my life to breaking my back and with the opportunity that I could have been paralyzed. But it didn't work out that way. Thank God I was able to continue with my life as normal. But then there was victories and adversities during the. During work that in 08 I went from 49 employees down to six. And it was tough. It was really tough. But it was a huge adversity that my fate played a role. You know, it really helped me get through it because also during that time I found out that I had a huge brain tumor sitting on the top of my head.
And I didn't know if I was going to live or die from the description that the doctors were giving me.
It was a time in my life where I had to concentrate on living instead of work and I would consider myself a workaholic. And it's apparent in the book and I talk about it in the book. So part of what I want people to see is if I can do it, they can do it too.
[00:08:19] Speaker A: But the organization is non judge organization.
You do other things. You have a podcast yourself.
What is it like running a organization that operates in several different media?
[00:08:49] Speaker B: For me it's about getting the word out.
Being disabled was for a time I had to learn to walk again and I was left with my voice. So I'm able to talk and communicate like I am with you today.
And so I feel like I'm obligated to do that and to tell the story that I learned from being in a wheelchair and what people face and just all the things that went along with that. So from that perspective, you know, from the executive coaching through Victory in Time, and the book is sold through Victory in Time, it's. But it became a bigger picture for me to where my husband and I started a foundation called the Victory Advantage, and that is to assist people with disabilities to live independently.
And that is really close to my heart. And one day a friend of mine said, you should start a podcast. And I said, you're crazy.
What are you thinking? But, you know, thought about it and I thought, you know, similar to what you do, Keith, it's how better to get the awareness out and the empowerment that we can still have, whether we're disabled or we're abled, whatever, you know, we can overcome it. And it just needs the attention, the proper attention, so that people that are are disabled do not feel that way and that they have a voice. Because the people that I interview have some sort of disability where it could be an invisible, like, I call it an invisible wheelchair, but they've got, you know, a severe disability. You know, maybe in a mental issue. We all walk around with things like that. I put it in the book, you know, I talk about the depression that I've faced from time to time. I made the book real so that people would see that, yes, I might have owned a large company, but I was much more than that. And my life went through, you know, as a person, I went through a lot more than that. So, yeah, it's. The foundation is really, it's going well. We've had a couple of board meetings. We've granted some money. We. We've been able to help a man get into an electric wheelchair.
Gave him some freedom that. I think it gave me more freedom in the heart than you can imagine. But it was just a wonderful day. It was a wonderful day. We've worked with the Autism Society and. But I, I can tell you that the people that I interview is such a blessing to be in the same room with them. They inspire me tremendously. And that's what I'm hoping the podcast does.
[00:11:29] Speaker A: And so faith and family is incredibly important. If I may accident you over it in your, in the book, how did you meet your husband?
[00:11:47] Speaker B: In a bar.
The more typical way. You know, the old fashioned way.
[00:11:57] Speaker A: Appearance, probably bad at country. Dancing in the checkout line, in supermarkets, on the subway. Way ball. Yeah. Yeah. The next evolution of courting.
[00:12:19] Speaker B: I love that word, courting. You don't hear that very much.
[00:12:22] Speaker A: Yeah, no. I would add a wedding of a cousin and often, often relationship. And they have one of the most successful annoying marriages that you see kids, they've been married for almost 10 years and they look like they're still newlyweds. It's like how the pastor who married then said they met the old fashioned way in a ball.
It's like, yeah, yeah. And in 50 years the old fashioned way will be something else entirely.
[00:13:22] Speaker B: Good point, good point. Yeah. And it will be very normal at that point.
[00:13:28] Speaker A: Yeah. And so again I think I get the logo but judge like the name of an organization.
How did you come what, what creativity went into the logo design and mag matching it up with the organization name and its mention.
[00:14:11] Speaker B: Why I've always loved eagles and I don't know where that love came from. Just they're just so majestic and powerful. And so as I've worked through the years, that was the logo for the company that I had the eagle and it just kind of transpired and it stuck with me. I have learned different traits of an eagle and how they coincide with the traits in leadership.
And I want. The more I've learned about eagles, the more I, I feel like that entrepreneurs and leaders could learn a lot from how the, the eagle performs and, and lives. And you know, I mean everybody knows that an eagle mates for life. They just are such partnership building.
[00:15:00] Speaker A: Imagine that. Mating for life. Imagine that.
[00:15:06] Speaker B: Chant fans I have been. I'll be honest and transparent because it's in the book. This is my third marriage. It's kind of like I said, three strikes I'm out or third time's a charm. And he and I have been married for 19 years now.
[00:15:24] Speaker A: Well, I mean that something and that comment would really me not poking fun but I didn't know that and about eagles and that's something very like if you didn't know, I don't know why you would know that.
And when you think about it, it's very sweet from an animalistic perspective.
[00:16:11] Speaker B: It is, it is. I actually do some speaking and one of my topics is living the eagle way. And I have spun that over into the podcast because the people that I interview are just so majestic in their own way and they're so. Their tenacity is just through the roof and you know, and if you look at an eagle, they get something, you know, in their, in, in their talons and they're not letting it go. It's just, that's just what who they are. And so I've got different eagle traits on my website that ties into the blogs that I do that then ties into the podcast. So I'm all In with an eagle.
[00:16:57] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, you. You also do blog, you do a podcast, you do speaking engagements, you do mentoring.
I think that's all. I mean, what else could you do?
But it's like, that's.
That's incredible to be that active and to keep up the talents or the pillars of the organization in many different ways. Because, I mean, I. I thought about doing a blog, but then the podcast became too much work, and then the podcast became a video cats, which to me, it's much more engaging than just a podcast. Not that there's anything wrong with a podcast, but being able to see each other bouncing off the mannerisms and vocal tones of the other person or people, it's quite something.
The logo I chose, I wrestled with quite a lot because it's the most generic stock image of what people think of when they think of disability.
And since I'm not yet in a wheelchair, I didn't.
I wrestled with whether I could use that or not faithfully, without.
Faithfully, without pandering the logo. But then I realized that the logo wasn't for me. And it's not really for people with disabilities.
It's more for people who aren't disabled and who are trying or stumbling on to the podcast of the video cats. When you think of, when you say the word disability, what is the third thing, the third image that comes to your mind? But I wrestled with that through prayer and workshops until I could finally use it. And then I would like, well, you have to fall in love within Kajins gonna be out there.
And if you can't sell that, if you won't sell it, then no one ever. It's going to take anything you say or do seriously with that logo. And I have it on both of my business cards. I have a personal one with my name and my information and the logo.
[00:21:54] Speaker B: Don't you have it on your T shirt?
[00:21:56] Speaker A: Yes, I do as well. And then I have another one that just has the podcast information and not my name. So the only commonality to both of those business cards is the party cards of the show, which is interesting.
But so going back to the book When Words it written.
[00:22:44] Speaker B: In 2019, it took me a little while. It was, you know, the good times roll through. I was, you know, it was just. It gave me an opportunity, you know, to show people that things can go well. And a lot of times they did, especially other business owners. That is really a target audience for that book because I made it real. You know, a lot of CEOs or. Or individuals think well, you own your own company, so, you know, you got it made. I mean, that book is more the reality of what it is to have a business.
[00:23:25] Speaker A: I'm showing the. Laughing at that. But do people actually come up and say that or think that could. I mean, on one sense.
Okay, I get that.
On another sense, whoever thought that running your own business will be all glamorous all the time. Who. Who came up with that mindset?
Oh, you're your own box. You might have it made.
Wow. You made it Renee, or you made it Robert, or whatever. Yeah, like that. That should like. And so dispute that, because it's.
Well, I marvel at why people think that.
[00:24:49] Speaker B: Well, I immediately tell them that they have no idea how many bosses I have. You know, it's. I'm responsible for a lot of people that I feel like I. I feel like I view that more as a mentorship, but I still have responsibility to those people.
You know, I joke and I talk about the irs. You know, they're one of the biggest bosses that I've got. The bank, the accountant. You know, all people are telling me what to do on a regular basis. So it's far from not having anybody telling me what to do or, you know, the consideration is big. There's a weight that comes along with being a CEO and somebody that.
That I've dealt with in the past that was. Ended up being a great friend of mine. He talked to me about how when he worked in the warehouse, he got tired, that when he went home, he slept very well because he was physically tired. Then when he was promoted in the office, he spent a lot of time being, like, mentally fatigued. And when he would go home, he would think about everything he needed to do. And I said, you're getting that entrepreneurial spirit, you know, built into your mind. And that's what it's like to be an owner. You never stop thinking. You're always working in your mind on what you can do better next and what you can do to help somebody else. And it's. Yeah, it's not all roses. And that's what I wanted the book to show. And then I'm also in some CEO groups where they talk real talk, too, which makes us feel really good.
You know, social media today, I think is a deterrent for young people that encourages them to have that mindset that if you're your own boss, you have made it, because they make it look so beautiful.
[00:26:40] Speaker A: Oh, wait, you.
You mean not everything you see are here on social media is true?
Mine alone.
Sadly, there are Some people who actually think that it's all sound like that. And I would just trying to be a goofball for a second, but there are some people who actually think that.
[00:27:23] Speaker B: Especially the younger generation that is coming up, that's what they think. And, you know, it is, It's. It's so bad on so many levels. You know, young girls, young boys that, you know, trying to look like somebody else or be somebody else when their life is probably no better or maybe even worse than theirs is. And if they would just speak the reality of that, I think the world would be a better place.
[00:27:48] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, not all young people are like that, but to your point, they're all online.
[00:28:00] Speaker B: Yeah, there are. Yes. I didn't mean to say that all of them. But yeah, I think it's just the generation that's growing up that they need to understand that it's not. And.
But, you know, but a lot of it is. You know, there's a lot of good to be had in social media. You know, like we were talking about the blogs and I. It's funny that you were talking about that, about how the podcast was more for people without disabilities. And that's. That put it very well for me because I'm hoping the people that listen to my podcast. Yes, I'm interviewing someone that may be in a wheelchair. I interviewed somebody last week that he was a pilot, crashed his airplane, ended up being paralyzed from the waist down and laid the air in the airplane for eight hours before somebody found him. He went on to be an attorney and a CPA and has living a full life. And I'm hoping that there are people that listen to that podcast that are, well, that are able to do anything, that they may take something for granted that they won't anymore, or they may be complaining. They got stuck in traffic that day and then they hear his, you know, his podcast, and then they're like, I. If he can do that, I can do whatever I'm facing. So my podcast is that way too. So thank you for pointing that out.
[00:29:22] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, I came to that realization.
I'm now smack dab in the middle of season four.
And I became very aware of that recently, that the podcast, the overall messaging, the takeaway, it's more geared towards the not yet to see board.
[00:30:07] Speaker B: Good point.
[00:30:08] Speaker A: But also, like, when you have the name I have in the show, I call it a show now because it's audio and video, so it can't. It's not one or the other, it's both. But when you have the name disability empowerment. Now you have to have the main focus be empowering the disability and having that be the focus.
So you have to walk both paths, cater to both sets of people.
At least in my line of work, throughout each and every episode, which thankfully I've learned and dreamt about and fantasized about because I have no log outside of my walk.
That's me joking Hap and not really joking the other half.
I mean, you put in the hours and you work hard and if what you create means something, you have to have faith that what you create, what you put out will stick and will have the impact to empower, inspire, motivate, encourage others.
That's, that's the whole message behind the show. And we're launching a non profit next year. Oh, when this episode ends, it will be that year. Next year.
I like 24 to 2025. But like I tell people, besides getting married and hopefully one day becoming a father, this show and the nonprofit that precedes it will be the two things people read about in my eulogy, in my obituary.
That's how impactful I want this line of work to take me and to encourage others throughout their lives. I'm electronic musician on the side. I do that for fun. I do that for myself, my own creativity, I do writing on the side. I'm a poet, I'm a songwriter, I'm a singer, I'm a gamer. But all of that stuff I do for myself and I'm not ashamed of any of it, but the work that I do, this work, it's what I want people to remember me by because this is what I was placed on this planet to do.
That's it. I mean, that's not it. Hopefully only it.
But I mean, that's a lot.
[00:35:10] Speaker B: That's a lot.
[00:35:12] Speaker A: Yeah, but it's. It's like this form of advocacy is incredibly valuable and it is at the end of the day, one of the only thing that. The only things that mattered to me. I'm also a mature actor on the side, but again, this is my main mode of work of interviewing people of England, encouraging them through my story, and having the legioner of the viewer get encouraged by the interviewee, or of the gats, rather.
It's.
It's hard work, but I'm very much taken with the, the quality and the caliber of gads and material that I'm able to put out into the inland echo chamber of life.
And hopefully I'm able to encourage a dungeon or more so people along the way. I'm terrible with numbers.
And I mean I'm, I'm in reflection mode, Rob, because I started that not even four years ago and I've busted my bot and I worked with an incredible group of young professionals and we always try to not one up ourselves, but constantly improve or alter a new feature or a new gimmick.
Not gimmick a new feature, new method of communication. A new form of enhanced accessibility.
We never stagnant here. We never repeat and repeat. We always try to climb the staircase or go up the ramp or go up the rope.
Weird analogies but we always, we're always looking forward to.
And we never, we never leave people behind. We try very, very hard not to do that here.
We try to be as accessible and ads available and ads diverse.
[00:39:35] Speaker B: I was going to say that you. I've listened to several of your podcasts and your guests are very diverse, inclusive, just delightful. I love your podcast and, and you are right, you do. You. You tend to step it up a notch and change things up because I went back and I listened.
[00:39:58] Speaker A: I love that. I love that.
[00:40:02] Speaker B: Well, it's. I enjoy. I've enjoyed listening to them what may. I'm going to ask you a question if that's okay. What made you go to the video side of it? Just changing things up or so I.
[00:40:16] Speaker A: Had actually this was season four, was supposed to be the first season we introduced video at a ramp up but it was interviewing the ditzer disabled actor Kurt Yeager last year.
He's a below the knee amputee and that episode was so fun and really reach set how I do interviews to a more conversational back and forth deal that and I, I still geek out over that episode because if I needed a fired to be lit under my bud about why I should continue to do the work I do, it was that episode that really was a paradigm shift.
And this is how you make it more engaging, more interesting. You bring in humor, you bring in the banter, you move around you.
Every episode starts as a interview, but it quickly evolved into two colleagues judge having to use a political phrase, a fireside chat.
[00:42:38] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:42:39] Speaker A: I mean and if this show is successful in doing anything, I hope it's the best format that people respond to because it's a very accessible format. It's very lively and made doing video cats, which I would. Before that episode, I was terrified of doing any video work at all. And then right after I recorded that show that episode, that's all I wanted to do. And that had really true. But we registered the YouTube channel at the very, very beginning of the podcast and we only used it two and a half years in to the show and because my original producer was and still it's a very big fan of YouTube and she would like you have to register the handle now tribes me even if you're not gonna use it for a few years.
Yeah, red shirt. And I would like okay Alex.
And I mean at that time it was the last thing I was ever, ever going to do. But I reg and then two, two and a half years later we ran it and by the end of well when this episode is recording we're still in 2024 and so by the start of 2025 all of our episodes, podcast or otherwise, will be on our YouTube.
So and when this season ends, to say nothing of the post season content, you'll have over 115 hours of content. And again we're not even at year four.
[00:46:17] Speaker B: That's a lot of content.
[00:46:18] Speaker A: And that may sound like I'm bragging and I kind of am, but I don't goes back to you put in the hours and you shape, shape, shape the content regardless what it is. Whether it's writing a book or hosting a child show or developing a business plan for your organization, if you care about it, you shape it and you go through as many drafts or as many edits as you have to and then you put it out and then, then you hope for the bet but you put in the hours and you hope that they get you somewhere.
[00:47:39] Speaker B: We've started a YouTube channel and like you I didn't realize the importance of it and it's working out well for us. But I got to go back to something. You said that the video, doing the video portion frightened you. I don't really see a lot of things frightening you.
[00:48:00] Speaker A: Well, I should say that's a good catch.
I should say when before I did the video catch angle I did not do any video work before.
[00:48:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:48:26] Speaker A: And so that I didn't.
I was over hyping that the video mode would be too different and much more complex and take much more time and effort than the audio podcast mode because I didn't know the difference. And it turns out there's not much of a difference. And if you're the more and more you do it, the more and more comfortable you become which is what you're seeing seen now. But like at the beginning of the show I always mentioned that I, I used to only be able to do one or two shows a week recording rides and then after each show I would have to go take a nap because it would take all of my energy. And I see that with slight fatigueness. But it's right at the beginning of the journey of what I do now. That's where I was to where I am now, talking to you. I could not envision that I would be here doing at the time of this recording. This is my third episode of the day back there.
[00:51:03] Speaker B: I cannot. I cannot imagine. I'm at the place where you were back then. It's one episode, maybe two, and I too, am exhausted.
It's hard work. It's hard work.
[00:51:20] Speaker A: Very, very hard work. And like I said at the beginning, before we started recording, when you asked me, in three episodes, what are you gonna do afterwards? I said sleep for a gazillion years because it is exhausting.
It's like bids mid leaders pick up this book and non bids leaders pick up this book. And I'll like, oh, well, you run your own company. It's successful. You must have it made. Oh, in some pod cats. All of video cats. You should talk and then you release it.
No, that's not. That's an over.
Horrible, over simplification of what we do.
I mean it. But, yeah, people think, oh, it's an easy job because you like to talk. And I'm like, I like going on meditation retreats for a few weeks where I don't talk. How can you do that?
Easy, because it gives my voice time to recharge. You think this happens naturally? No, it doesn't. But, oh, you make it look so easy.
Looks can be deceiving.
[00:53:25] Speaker B: It certainly can be. But I want to add something here that I think the listeners need to hear as well, is that when, you know, you were listing, you know, the things that I do or I have done. And the same thing with you when you're talking about what you do and how many podcasts you do. And it is hard work, but it's also our passion. And I think that these young people and. And anybody that's, you know, has a business that if you're not passionate about it, it's very difficult to do, and it's difficult anyway. But if you're passionate about it and you love it, that's why you do it. That's 100 why you do it, and that's why you're. You're pushing through and you've had the energy to do the three today. And I'm with you on the nap deal. That's a good idea.
[00:54:13] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, it. It's George like, and I mean, I'm heading into a big birthday at the end of October, and I have this goal that no one cares about but myself, which is fine, by the way. The goal is to get all 40 episodes of the main season recorded by my birthday on October 30th, and I'm going to make that goal. Will anyone care if I don't? No.
Will I care if I don't?
No. But you have to realize that the first year of this, then podcast, I decided to record two seasons, one year. The third season was 10 episodes because I didn't know if there was gonna be a season two.
And then season two was 20 episodes.
[00:55:57] Speaker B: That's fantastic.
[00:55:58] Speaker A: No one said, oh, yeah, you should definitely do that. No one told me not to do it.
But, I mean, I would like cricket.
I'm gonna come out of the gate swinging with the new venture. I mean.
[00:56:29] Speaker B: Why not be good joke.
[00:56:32] Speaker A: Why not? And, like, the get angle was so important because it adds so much more dynamic to the presentation.
So what.
What are some of the key takeaways that have evolved since you've wrote the book? And how have you taken the principal board of the book and put them into other mediums, like the podcast, like the mentoring program?
How have they been fledged out in daily life?
[00:57:47] Speaker B: One of the things that came out of the book, that actually was during the book, but so much so toward the end of the book, was a lot of times, or I was hard on myself. You know, mistake here, mistake there, beat yourself up, try to figure it out. I really realized that there were. There were lessons learned in there that I was able to share.
And through those lessons learned, I realized that I did have a lot of success. Success. And. And I'm not saying that to brag. I'm saying that that also comes from my faith and. And through my faith. But how that ended up with the mentoring. I realized when I sold the company that I had for 30 years, I did not realize how much I'm a salesperson by nature, and that was a role that I played the entire time I had the business, But I didn't realize how much I mentored the employees that I called my team. They weren't my employees. They were my team. And I didn't realize that how much I would miss that. So that is what led typically into the Victory in Time. I needed an outlet to sell the book. But when I came up with the Victory in Time name, I'm like, you know, I missed the mentoring, and that's what I need to do.
So also, during that time I realized during the writing the book that I viewed, I mean, the company that I had for 30 years, I literally sold nuts and bolts, which is a very unique industry to be in for a woman.
But what I realized is I looked at my job as helping people and for a profit. You know, I looked at it like I'm helping people and then the money would come. I didn't concentrate on the money. I concentrated on what I was able to do for the customer, for the employees, for the community. It really fulfilled me. Which is why then the victory in time led to the non profit that we've started called a victory advantage. Because what better way to help people than through how we were able to sell the company and be able to do something like this. I feel very blessed to be a part of the journey that I've had and I look forward to more days with this. And I'm learning from you on the podcast side and would consider the video. But I'm also, like you said, you were frightened. I'm a little nervous about that as well. But that'll be down the road for me because there's still a lot of time. Like I say, I can't do more than one or two at a time. And you're up to three today.
[01:00:24] Speaker A: Oh, well, usually I'm not like the lunch time. I did three.
I did them too close together. And I'm like, I'm never doing that again. Never say never.
But Renee, in case there are any inspiring vids neds later red scene two vids have been showed watching this is a multimedia show.
What would be some advice you would give them as they start out in.
[01:01:19] Speaker B: Find what you're passionate about.
Find what you can, what you love to do. If it's. If, if you have a job, it's going to be hard to get out of bed in the morning.
Everyone has to have a passion in order to. And everybody deserves to have a passion to get out of bed in the morning. That's something that. And I never. I experienced it. When I sold the company and I was working for the other company for a little while, I realized I didn't want to go to work. I didn't have the passion that I once did because things had changed so much. And I. And I prayed for the people that felt that way that just got up every day and went through the drudge and you know, that have a job which is honorable. Don't get me wrong, that's honorable. But it helps if you are working towards something you're passionate about.
[01:02:11] Speaker A: And I like to think that both advocates with disabilities and those who have yet to discover and embrace their own disabilities legend and view this show.
But I'm not naive to think that each group, in groups within those groups take away the same things from each episode. So as my dad, what do you hope that advocates with disabilities take away from this episode? And what do you hope that those who have yet to discover our ingredients, their own disabilities take away from this episode?
[01:03:25] Speaker B: That people with disabilities learn to adapt.
They don't have it as easy, but that doesn't mean they can't do it.
I'm talking to a lady now that has no arms, but she lives alone and she does everything anybody else can do because she has had the wherewithal to to do it. And I'm hoping that the advocates see that from the standpoint of we've kind of touched on it a little bit, we've talked about having a job and all that that you know, everybody has special talents. It may be different, it may take somebody longer to learn. But if somebody has is at home, that was something else that I've learned in my life and my lessons learned is I've been a person that would solve work to solve issues. That that's one of the things that I love to do. And so that's what a person with disabilities does on a regular basis. So if they can do it in their personal life non stop, what could they do for an employer? And that just resonates with me in a big way. And that's part of what the, the victory advantage does is to help people live independently by having a job, by having an employment opportunities where they're passionate about and can get up every day out of bed and have somewhere to go that they love and where people love them and can enjoy life just like anybody else does.
[01:04:55] Speaker A: And Renee, before I let you go and please come back, I think there's a lot more we could be talking about because one of the things throughout this season is employment.
Why do you think that employers, not all employers, but a lot of them are afraid to hire employee with a disability.
The employment statistics for people with disabilities are three times that of their non disabled counterpart.
Why do you think when we both know that people with disabilities are a untapped workforce in this country and how do you think we can help other employers realize that going forward?
[01:06:30] Speaker B: I think fear is a big part of it.
That they just, they just don't know. When I was in a wheelchair, people didn't talk to me anymore. They would talk to my husband.
And I'm not saying that people were mean. They just didn't know how to behave. And that's part of what I want to do, is to help teach people how to treat people with disabilities. From an employer standpoint, too. I think they believe that the cost of hiring someone with disabilities would be too high for them when it is really very.
It's not. It's just. It's not. And that's where we need to teach people that it's not. It's not a barrier. And that, like I said, if people with disabilities can do what they do on a regular basis, teach them that they would be one of the best employees that they've ever had. Plus, they would be the most appreciative people that they've ever worked with. And there's organizations out there that we're partnering with that will literally help find the job for the person and then actually go out and train them. So I think there's a lot of employers that just haven't tapped into it, and they need to be aware of what they're missing out on.
[01:07:56] Speaker A: Renee, thank you so much for coming on. I look forward to our next episode where we'll talk more about your book in depth and hopefully all adventures together will continue as God holds us to them.
Thank you for making the time to talk with me today.
[01:08:40] Speaker B: He thank you so much for having me. And I do look forward to collaborating a great deal with you in the future.
[01:08:47] Speaker A: Thank you. Take care of yourself.
[01:08:49] Speaker B: Okay, talk to you later.
[01:08:51] Speaker A: Bye.
You have been listening to Disability Empowerment. Now I would like to thank my dads, you are listener and the Disability Empowerment team that made the disappearance episode possible.
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