Deb Drummond went from the music industry to holistic health, building 7 businesses including her current venture, Mission Accepted Media. Over the years she’s stuck to her vision, taken risks and made things happen all while continuing to empower the women around her.
Tune into this inspiring conversation to gain some gold nuggets of wisdom from the media legend herself. I will also be sharing the stage with her at the Book Launch of the Stand Up Show Up Speak Up Summit Series on May 11th. Register for free to get inspired, connect with other women, and win some incredible prizes.
Tune Into The Episode
Show Notes
Register for the Book Launch Speaking Summit: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/the-official-launch-of-the-262-book-tickets-881632064237
Mission Accepted Media: 262 Women Creatives Ultrapreneurs and Media Rock Legacy and Tell All Book: https://debdrummond.com/mission-accepted-262-women-creatives-ultrapreneurs-media/
Free Honey Pot Meditation: https://janninemackinnon.com/honey-pot/
Free Sexuality Shadow Work Play Sheets: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/21057/114943557669749787/share
Complimentary Catalyst Call: https://tidycal.com/janninemackinnon/catalyst-call
Unapologetic Practices: https://janninemackinnoncom/practices/
Nourish Through Pleasure: https://janninemackinnoncom/nourish/
Join the free Unapologetic Women Community: https://unapologetic.circle.so/c/community/
Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jannine.mackinnon/
Transcript
Hello, this week’s episode is a guest interview with Deb Drummond, a woman who has lived many lives and who came into my life when I recently started getting back into the networking scene. I was quite involved with in person business networking events before I had kids. kids. It was a great way of building connections and relationships and building my online marketing business.
And I did that right up until I was super pregnant with my son, probably the month before I gave birth. And then, Everything kind of went on pause because life changed. I had two kids under two years old and then COVID hit and I was not getting out of the house very much at that point in time and it was something I actually missed. I quite enjoy in person networking and making those in person connections. It just has so much of a different flavor to it than anything that is done online. You have all of those like behind the scenes, between the moments, moments, those connections at the table while you are eating your meal, noticing something of one another, and just being able to start up a conversation about it similarly before and after the event.
There’s just more opportunities for that real human connection. And so much of what I do is really bringing people back home to themselves and being able to have a real, true, deep connection with themselves and with others. And I really put a high importance on that. And so, in person networking events is one of those facets that I personally get that from.
And when I started back into these events, I want to say it was February of this year. So just about three, two, three months ago now. Um, I went and had two or three, I think probably three different women say, you need to talk with Deb Drummond. You need to talk with Deb. So after hearing this from many different people, and again, I think I had one or two conversations after the eWomen event, and they’re like, you need to talk to Deb Drummond.
So I connected with Deb and it was a great conversation. She is currently facilitating, organizing, running, I’m not quite sure the proper name for it, but she is the lead of the 262 Women’s Project.
And this has many different facets. She did several speaking summits over two years. And the 262 women, entrepreneurs, creatives and media.
Book. And I was invited into this project, an incredible project, really uplifting women from across the globe. So Deb is from Vancouver, the West Coast, like me, just more in the city than the small town of Sooke, where I’m from. And we span, this project spans throughout Canada, throughout the States, moving into Ireland.
And there is Oh, somewhere else quite far away that I can’t quite remember now, but it is just incredible the expansive connections this project has fostered. And in connecting with Deb, I really see how her deep, deep mission is supporting other women in making connections and saying, Hey, What do you need?
What will help you? And making those connections, starting those conversations to help support women in those ways. It has just been really uplifting and inspiring. And I really feel like I came into this particular project at the right place, right time. I had to sign on within 48 hours, I believe. And my summit speaking opportunity is now open.
It’s the book launch coming up on May 11th, which is very exciting. The book is just being accepted to be a part of the Emmys VIP backstage packages, which is very exciting. So it is quite the project to be a part of. And this is just awesome. One facet of the amazingness of Deb, she started out in the music industry, did that for quite a long time, then shifted into the holistic health industry.
She has some experience in teaching about Tantra, which I connected with her right away. She built up this incredible network marketing business, started up in person networking events in Vancouver. 30 ish years ago when none of that was happening and has really been supporting women, connecting women throughout that whole time.
Her business has evolved. She has gotten into media, supporting women in business in that way. And of course, steering the ship when it comes to this 262 women’s project. And I am so grateful to have her on the show today. It is a very inspiring. It’s a really inspiring conversation for those that are really building a life that they love, that are willing to do the scary thing, to say yes, even though you’re scared and you’re not sure how it’s going to make you want to feel fulfilled with connections and with truly creating a life of purpose.
If you resonate with any of that, this episode is for you. For you. So without further ado, let’s get into it.
Today I am very excited to be here with Deb Drummond, founder of Mission Accepted Media. Thank you so much for being here.
Oh my goodness. It’s such an honor. And you know that because you’re such a great guest as well, right? It’s always such an honor to be on someone else’s platform because you know, and I know what it takes behind the scenes.
So I, it’s a really nice gift. Thank you.
It really is and thank you so much for coming on as well and sharing your message and being here to connect with me and with listeners as well. Awesome. Yeah. So we are together, uh, Deb is the founder putting on this incredible series of songs Summits and the summit I will be speaking at is coming up on May 11th.
And Deb is just a fantastic champion for women. She herself has, as her media company Stades Mission Accepted has Followed her mission time and time again, followed what she is being called to and is a really big champion for other women doing that. So we are going to be expanding into that, but before we get right into it, I would love it if you could share more about who you are, what you do, and why you’re so passionate about it.
Oh, my goodness. Um, so, you know, Deb Drummond and if anyone’s had the, you know, the grand opportunity of being in Vancouver, Canada, that’s where I reside. I’m born and raised, um, two incredible children. Um, my daughter, who’s 31, who has made me an official yaya of two, and then my son, Ocean. Uh, who just launched his company and he just hit 20 years old.
So that’s kind of where I play. And I do a lot of that whole world we were talking about that earlier, you know, being a momager and all that good stuff, but my career wise, I started in the music industry and then
landed into the health and wellness industry, which was a really interesting transition, as you can imagine.
Um, and then I. Became a pretty strong advocate for two things. Women in, um, women in business. Cause there wasn’t even a women’s networking group when I started 30 years ago. So my basement Sunday at two, bring your kids. If you have them, those of us that were, you know, moms and or entrepreneurs or trying to put it together, kind of all met and we’re trying to figure it out.
And so, um, I’m kind of a bit of a platform creator. I created, you know, um, direct sales companies. So people could create platforms so they could build economic, you know, sustainability for their families. So just, uh, a lot, I spent 27 years in the health and wellness industry, pretty strong. And it’s, and when I was there, people kept saying, go talk to Deb, she makes wealthy healers.
And the thing would happen is for some reason, I was born with this double sided. People call me a professional hippie. So I have a brain that works like an engineer, right? I can formula and reverse engineer and strategic plan and, you know, keep companies alive through recessions and weird things. But truly I’m a hippie.
Like I’m just like this. You know, vision creative, let’s create, but I have that infrastructure piece. So I have a lot of people I do personal training with and personal coaching with, uh, to top perform their businesses that particularly are visionaries that have no desire to do infrastructure, right? So that’s kind of how I’ve made my way through my whole world and why I created the media company, which is called mission accepted because I have worked and do work with people that take the mission predominantly that’s self funded people.
Whether it’s profit, nonprofit projects, and they take this mission and it’s a journey. I mean, you know, it’s a journey. And so I’m like, we need to inspire each other. But we also, I also wanted to create a platform for people that are on that, you know, self funding I’ve taken on this mission journey, because it’s super important to help them stay there.
And how you can help someone be sustainable, which is my whole thing is to give them as loud of a voice as possible. So if I give you a loud voice, if I give you more than what you’ve got on your Facebook, if I give you a book opportunity or a speaking or what have you and properly media the platform, then you are properly mediated.
And so that was for the whole idea around mission accepted media and how this whole project came to be. I’m going to say that, uh, in the, when I was in my twenties, which I’m not anymore, if you don’t see me, but, um, you probably guess that my daughter’s 30, so you can just put it together. But my first company in my 20s.
I sat with my business coach and I’m a huge advocate of coaches before they were, you know, before everyone was really promoting coaches. Um, and we came up with my mission statement and it was to help men and women stand up, speak up and show up in their business and personal lives. Here I am, you know, 25 years later and finally put into an action in this media company, which I obviously didn’t have then this platform called stand up, speak up and show up.
Yes, you. Because people think that they don’t have enough, aren’t smart enough, don’t speak like her enough, don’t make his kind of money, they don’t think that they have the platform yet, yet, yet, yet. And then there’s crones and mavens that have been doing this forever and they’re like, Oh man, I’ve spoke a million times.
I’ve done this. I’m like, get your butt. Back on stage and inspire this wave of entrepreneurs that are just exploding. And I went on a little bit of a rant, Janine, I apologize.
That’s okay. I’m here for the rants. And here for the rant, that’s a t shirt here for the rant. Uh, and I got goosebumps when you were talking about the stand up, show up, speak up and how incredible it is that that was a part of your mission statement back 20 something 30 years ago when you’re working with your coach and that you’re able to continue to carry that through is really a driving force and then really label this summit series as that the stand up, show up, speak up summit series.
Oh, it’s such an incredible project and I really see your passion come through not only for yourself and you have the manager thing as well and helping your kids and others and just really lifting women up. Um, starting out with the. That networking group when there was no other networking groups around and really having those mavens and those crones be able to come back and really bring that inspiration in support of this next generation of entrepreneurs.
It’s incredible. And we’re so lucky to have you and to connect with you. It’s funny you touched on. Back when you were in the health and wellness and everyone would be like, speak to Deb, speak to Deb, because I feel like that was my experience and my introduction to you. I have started getting back into networking, which is something I loved pre kids, shifted my focus to raising my babies, and now I’m back in the game making those connections with other women and Over and over again, it was like, speak to Deb, you need to speak to Deb Drummond, speak to her, and that’s what connected us.
So that’s really carried through for you over these 30 plus years, which I think is really interesting. Um, but I’m curious, What was it like for you in those early days, say 30 years ago, um, starting at more and creating these spaces of women supporting each other in building your businesses from those more early days?
What was that like for you?
Yeah, you know, it was definitely a mixed bag. Um, it’s definitely, it, it has evolved. I think it’s stepped forward, sometimes stepped back, stepped forward. I mean, it’s been, it’s been a 30 year run. When I first left the music industry and I went into holistic health, you got to think that was pretty different.
I was living nocturnally, you know, you know, finishing up with the bands at two or three, going for dinner. You know, at three o’clock, which some people, you know, and then we get home and go to bed at five or six in the morning. So very nocturnal life, not so much into personal development, not so much, you know, and it wasn’t even big, right.
Personal development was not big. There wasn’t books, there wasn’t Oprah, there wasn’t Starbucks, there wasn’t cell phones. I mean, really, it sounds so odd to say that, but I mean, this whole, This has been a very transformative, very quick, like what’s happened in the last 10, 15 years, very quick. Right. So there wasn’t a lot of that.
So when I had my journey of, you know, I was, it became clear as day that I needed to leave the scene and go find myself. And as I went to find myself, that journey took me to finding a flyer at a health food store that I called. And I ended up, you know, in a massage class while I was almost due to have my baby.
And You know, uh, taking that class and then just getting inspired that I knew I would do this rest of my life. So I did it for 27 years. But, um, so that was really difficult. My friends, you know, I went from nocturnal to, you know, living in the day. I went to personal development classes. I was taking massage.
I was learning about aromatherapy and Ayurveda. And, uh, it, you know, it was a really tight crew. Like we were really tight and not that they didn’t love me anymore, but they were like, what are you doing? Like, I remember one person’s like, Oh, did you go find God or something? And I’m like, I just can’t live like this anymore.
You know, for me, I was like, I just been to too many funerals. That was kind of the thing I was like, this is not, I don’t want to be sitting on a bar stool talking about all the things that I could have done. And I didn’t even know, you know, I didn’t even know what that looked like. So that was, that was okay, but tough, but lonely, right?
I mean, I completely left and went into a different world. And then I went into holistic medicine, which again, 30 years ago, people were like, what, like, what are you doing? I remember telling my girlfriend, you know, bless her heart. Cause she’s over now, but she, um, she was in the direct sales industry and my mom was in direct sales.
And I’m a big believer of direct sales because I just really see that someone could be in a country and never be allowed to leave that country, but they can leave. Build an international business. And again, I’m about sustainability. So I’m a really big proponent of that. So I was starting to direct sales companies.
I talked about this the other day. I was like, I had 2, 000 to my name. I was massaging somebody. I heard a message. What would you do if you had a million dollars? I said, I started an aromatherapy home party company. I had 2000 how I created 300 products, built two companies and started that company on 2, 000.
I have no idea. And I, you know, I had a five year old and soon to be a single mom. I honestly, I don’t know how I did it. But anyways, my girlfriend who I loved and respect looked at me and said, uh, I don’t think the world’s ready for an aromatherapy on party company. And I was like, inside, I was like, you know, I had a few words, right?
I love her still love her. She’s trying, you know, but I’m like, you know, uh, the brass way to say, watch me. And that kind of was my fuel for the law for a long time. So, um, I think that it was, Received, not received, right? It was received in my community. It was received in my head. It was received in my partner and a few friends that I needed it to be received in.
90 percent of the time we didn’t really know what we were doing. We were just, you know, researching, doing, there was no Google, like there was no Google, like we’re going based off what we knew, who we could talk to, how we could talk to. I remember joining one of the big prominent business networking groups, uh, that was, you know, in Vancouver.
Um, and the gentleman that I was introduced to was like, you know, you should join a committee. And I’m like, you know, you should. You know, not, uh, say that to me, but, um, so there was a lot of that. I remember a family member telling my daughter that, you know, she made the decision to give up her career so she could raise her kids properly.
And that was just the sign of the times. And I remember calling her and going, that’s the last time my kid’s sleeping at your house. You know what I mean? Get it together. You So, um,
I just tried to keep staying true to myself, but it was really well received to not well received to, I didn’t care if it wasn’t well received.
I was just so busy with kids. Making my way and really for the most part having to financially make it work So I didn’t have the grace to care if people weren’t supportive But it was a it was not an easy client like it was a climb for sure
for sure Yeah. And I’m so glad you touched on that because I think where a lot of people go to look for information and inspiration, different coaches, it can make it seem quite easy.
Like there’s definitely that chunk within the industry where it’s like, Oh, the five hour work week and you can make money from your laptop anywhere. And it’s just kind of like this shiny object syndrome in a way that attracts people and. The true story is like, it’s not like that. Like perhaps you can build your business to that after doing that nitty gritty, but it is hard to get there.
And I think you put it so well that like, yes, we can have our support, our champions, and that can really help us. And we can also use those naysayers. Those ones who question us, perhaps talk bad about us and use it as fuel. We don’t need to completely put our blinders on. We don’t need to let it affect us so much and have us like reassess what we’re doing in our life, but we can use it as fuel and continue it to push us through focus on what’s important to our family, our business, our mission, and keep going while staying focused.
I just finished producing a, uh, because, uh, I do top performance. I shared that, like, that’s how, you know, I do top performance training. And so one of the, the sectors that I have a considerable reputation in would be in the direct sales. And so we were just going through that, you know, and, and I, this is what, I love this because even for me with all the experience, it was like, oh, so just build a funnel, you know, people just build a funnel, but I’ll tell you a year later, uh, 67 videos later, you know, going through all the verbiage later, having it like, it is not, it, again, it sounds really easy, even if you don’t understand it.
Um, so there’s two things. One is. It tends to take more time and energy than you think. It’s just whether your why is strong enough to make it worth it. That’s it. There’s no different. The second thing is that in terms of what you were saying, there’s something really important that I like to share with people.
So when I was first in my business or first making decisions, I would go to who I naturally trusted. Right? And they are, we’re not necessarily business people. They never knew anything about aromatherapy. They didn’t know anything about my sector and I always say, don’t go to your bank manager and ask them advice about your marriage.
You would never do that. So if you’re going to someone, go to someone that’s more successful than you in the same sector or at least in the same sphere. So business, I mean, I remember talking to a woman who’s on Dragon’s Den. I won’t tell you who her name is. So she’s on Dragon’s Den. I flew all the way to Toronto to get advice and she gave me advice.
And my body was like, that’s not good advice. Like my body was not so nodding because, you know, giving respect, um, the opportunity to be in front of her. She gave me advice. I was like, that’s not good advice. She didn’t ask me the questions that I needed to know. Now she was great at advice in her sector.
It just didn’t apply to my situation at the time. And good, thank goodness I had the experience to be able to, you know, have a decent conversation and get to know someone better, but not necessarily incorporate the advice or let it deter me.
And I
think that is really important. Where do you go? Who do you ask?
Right, which is why even myself, I’m taking on a new level of play. And there’s a woman that’s really experienced in that level of play and we are doing work together and I am taking her advice because it’s exactly where I want to have some expert advice in. And at this point, even if it gives you a different, like it’s gem drops, it’s not like you necessarily don’t know, but it’s two or three different ways to look at that, then it’s worth it.
Uh, again, so
I think where you go. Who’s advice? Who are they giving you advice from? I wouldn’t go to, you know, look at, I’m not in a relationship right now, right? I’m not in a relationship right now. So someone coming to me to ask me how to keep their marriage together, I would say, you probably want to go talk to someone.
You know, I was married for almost 20 years. I can talk from that place, but I’m not in it right now. So am I the best person to talk to about that?
Maybe not. Probably not. Probably not. And yeah, it’s so true. I, that’s a piece of advice that has really stuck with me is like, don’t let things your family or friends or your past or current job deter you or affect you.
Get your advice from people that are where you want to go. And that’s where should that should really be focused and keeping that in mind has really been helpful for me when those different naysayers come up that may be close to me, they might be people I respect or love, and I can still have that respect and that love for them and not necessarily take their advice because they are not where I want to be going.
And I love that you touched on that body wisdom as well. That is such a big part of the coaching that I do. I think our bodies hold so much wisdom. And even though you heard that great advice from someone who’s doing very well in their industry, you had that initial response and had the awareness to be able to tune into it and make a decision from that space, which I think is so, so important.
I spent years and thousands of dollars with a business coach who is an amazing woman, um, she helped me in many different ways. And through our work together, I found the trajectory of my business completely changed from what my actual ideas and inspiration and where I wanted to go was because I didn’t have that awareness.
I would get excited by the ideas and go along with it without actually checking into my body and I think that was a really important piece.
It is an important piece and it’s tough. You know, I mean, let’s talk about that. It’s tough. I mean, I mean, I’m a pretty transparent person, right? Um, and I’ve built seven companies.
So look at, yeah, you know, I’ve had it. I’ve had my back against the wall. You know, we know what it’s like when all of a sudden something happens, like, you know, 2008, nine and 10. Right. And you’re like, Oh, I have 18 staff that I need to pay still every month. You know, no matter what’s going on in the world, but the, so there’s all of those pieces that come into play.
It’s interesting. So knowing yourself, and there’s two things that I ask around that, because I think maybe I’ll talk about myself many times. I’m like, does it not fit? Or am I up against like a saboteur, you know, like, like, am I getting advice and I’m defensive to that advice? Is it that I don’t want to change?
Is it that I don’t want to hear something new? Is it that I don’t want to hear something? Like I just got off a call before I came on here and I’m like, look, I got to get on to a screen pretty quickly, which means I have to Janice Joplin. Are you okay with that? And she was like, yeah, I’m like, okay, this is, I could say it nicely, but we don’t have time for that.
And I know her, she’s like, okay. And so, um, it was a place for her. I’m like, you’re just sabotaging. You’re playing the same circle. So I asked myself, is the advice is the advice or is the experience I’m having for me now? Is it in the future? Is it bringing up resistance? Or am I, or, or is my body telling me that it’s right?
So sometimes I, you know what I mean? Because sometimes you need to hear something to grow. You’re like, Ooh, I don’t really like how that fits, but is there, is there something in there for me, but always, you know, and
is it that I don’t want to be uncomfortable because I know the biggest paychecks come from being uncomfortable, is it that I don’t want to be uncomfortable again and I need to stretch in that arena or really, truly it’s not for me ever, or it’s not for me right now.
Yeah. Anyway, I don’t know why I threw that in, but sometimes it’s important because sometimes we won’t, you know, this is not about being comfortable.
Absolutely. And like, there’s a, I’m really happy you expanded on that because there is more to it than the simplicity of listening to your body because we’re going to have different resistances or different reasons.
And it’s so having that awareness to really take a look at it. Like, okay, what’s going on? Is it because this is not right for me? Is this, like you said, that uncomfortableness? Am I getting that defensive? Is there something triggered? And I think that’s where like doing that shadow work, that personal development work, working with the coach, surrounding yourself with women who will call you on your shit.
Yes. We want to be celebrated. We want to be around our cheerleaders And we want people around that are true to us and will call us out on our shit. I think that’s really important as well.
Yeah. And, you know, having someone that you give that, um, permission to, right. I have a woman in my life, um, more in my personal world that, um, she has full permission and she knows it,
you know,
like, well, you know, this is kind of what I see, we do that for each other.
You know, you have that, that trust and that bonding. Once you get to be with a coach for a while, there’s that insight that happens as well, right? I mean, you’ll know it right away where that person who I just spoke to, I’m like, okay, look at, I got like 12 minutes before I got to leave you and I have to be seen.
So I’m going to pull a Janice Joplin. Cool. She’s like, cool. I’m like, okay, it wasn’t very soft and fluffy, right? I’m like, so that’s what I think. And she’s like, okay, cool. I’m like, so I would do this. And she’s like, okay, let’s do this. Then, you know what I mean? So I had that permission, um, from her. And I think it’s important, even in friendship, like, do you really want me to see you?
Do you really want me to tell you what I see? Could be just what I see, but.
Yeah, how you hold yourself through that is really important on both sides. Like, having that permission, having that relationship in that certain kind of way, having those boundaries around it. Like, not being a complete bitch about it.
Like, you’re doing it with the intention to help and yes. Yeah. might be blind, they might not necessarily love hearing these things, but it’s important for them to hear. And when we’re on that receiving end of it, taking that time to really reflect and not just be defensive and have those ego wounds around it.
But like you said, like really taking through that lens, is this serving me now? Perhaps this is something for the future and really taking time to sit with that.
And you know, we go through it like I’m, you know, you are speaking on our stage, right? You are in the book. We’re super excited. Like that took risk.
That took willing to be seen. That took willing to be heard. I’m going to be on a stage. And, you know, not only am I going to be heard from the women there, we’re streaming, it’s going to go televised. I mean, I have walked a lot of women through, even from myself, look at, we all have, uh, invitations that can be intimidating or who am I going to be sitting in the room with?
I don’t feel that, that, that I haven’t died yet, or just walking through the fear being seen on stage. I mean, from a background standpoint, I spent a lot of time with women. Um, Kind of banter and first of all polishing what it is that they say so that they can feel they’re coming off in a way that they want to be seen, but there’s always that background.
So people say to me, Oh, you know, I spoke on stages of 20, 000. I wanted to throw up before I walked on that stage. Like, just because you see it doesn’t mean that there hasn’t been work behind the scenes to get. Someone there.
So I, I talked to women quite often about wanting to go to that next level, wanting to be seen.
What does that look like? What’s the nerves that are behind that? You know, because things kick off that we can’t even identify. Right. I’m like, Oh, which goblins talking to you today? Or someone will sign up for something. And I’m like, Oh, by the way, when you hang up more than likely, you’re going to have two goblins.
You know, they’re going to come visit you probably where you’re having dinner. One’s going to be like, Oh my gosh, I’m so excited. The other one is who do you think you are and that could show up in many different ways Who do you think you are can show up and you know what? I don’t know if I really should spend the money in that because you know My son has a field trip and I want to go with them and it’s gonna cost 2, 000 I mean, who do you think you are shows up and I need new tires for the winter What else does it show up in it shows up in I’ve already seen it I’ve spent so much time on this business already, I don’t know if I can afford to spend more time.
It can show up in, I’ve been on summits before I’ve been on books before they haven’t really ROI. Maybe I need to do something different. I mean, oh my gosh, the garbage that can get thrown up when you go to make a change is insanity, right? So I, you know, there’s, those are those goblins too. So we, we know ourselves what it’s like to have to walk through that.
Absolutely. And I really appreciated in our phone call when it was deciding and we were on a time crunch for my specific. Oh my gosh, you were like, you, you knew you were the prize. Yeah, but I appreciated you bringing that up because it really brings the awareness to me. to it. And then on the other front, it’s like, oh, we speak the same language.
Like this is the work I am in. And we all have these goblins, these protector pieces in different ways, and they have served a purpose. They have kept us safe. They have done different things throughout our lives. And we get to a point where these things are old news. They’re not supporting us, we don’t need that kind of support anymore, and so going into that shadow work, working with that ego, and it’s looking at like, okay, sure, I can listen to you, but I don’t have to abide by what you say, I can tap into this empowered piece, because that’s what is in line with where I want to go, and that’s who I want making the decisions now.
You know what, uh, for your listeners, they should know, I believe Janine joined our, our whole project. And you know what? I love that because it’s, you know, some, sometimes when you look at the majority of the time you act full on, full in, all in, in an immediate decision. I mean, I always say it works out because It’s, it’s that act of, right?
It’s that act of like, you know, you didn’t take the information, mull it over, talk to your code, da, da, da, da, like a lot of people did, figured it out financially, this, like all that stuff. We were down to the end of the wire, right? We were going to, we were going to publication. I think I even had to hold it up a little bit to make sure that we got your information in and then get you a date on the, on the stage and everything else.
I mean, it literally happened, I don’t know, 24 or 48 hours maybe. And you were like, yes, here’s my stuff and dah, dah, dah. And I’m texting you as I’m like, hang on. We’re going to put another person on the project. And, um, I love that. So, I mean, I’m sure your listeners know that you’re brave and courageous, but you really put, took it to the test.
And I’m like, there’s things that, you know, there’s benefits. I didn’t even have time to tell you all the benefits. I’m like, benefits will unfold this. You know, you’re going to be an OG of this project. This project’s going on for years and years now. Um, or it will continue on for years. Yeah. And as some of those, and I just think that there’s so much brilliance in making a decision quickly.
I’m not telling people not to think about it, not to quarter it out or whatever it is that you do for your strategic planning, but there is something pretty cool and fun and tells your body that bravery is actually a business tool. Like, you know, sometimes people talk about being courage, I’ve talked about bravery.
So bravery is probably been one of my strongest business tools. When people say, how did you get set up? How did you, I’m like bravery. It was bravery that made me decide to rent this condo when I couldn’t afford it. I only had the deposit like half a month. I didn’t have the other months in two weeks. And I’m like, sure, I’ll take it.
Or when the day when we used to pay our credit cards by check and you put it in the mail, I remember the visa bill came in. I just started my business, wasn’t making any money. And my daughter’s father said to me, like, Oh my God, we can’t pay that. I’m like, yeah, we can. And he saw me write a check, put it in an envelope, put in a stamp and take it to the mailbox.
He goes, what are you doing? I’m like, it’ll be fine. It’ll come now. I’m not telling you to go out there and again, do things that you’re not comfortable with, but that’s not an act of courage. I think it’s an act of bravery and I, I do think they’re different.
Yeah. It is
truly a business tool. It is an entrepreneurial business tool.
Absolutely. Absolutely.
It really is, and it has served me time and time again, and it’s not to say that that quickness doesn’t come with thoughtfulness. There is a lot of thoughtfulness with it, and there’s a lot of trust in yourself, in your mission, in knowing that this is the right decision, even though you are scared.
I’m scared shitless about it. Um, like for this particular project like being in a book, being on stage with all these women with different celebrities, like you gave me the option for different dates and like this, I could have taken the safe route and gone a certain way but I was like, you know what? Go big or go home.
If I’m in it, like, let’s just do it and go full blown. I’ll be on the stage with the celebrities and I am going to find a way to make it work.
And similarly, when I chose to go in the direction I have for my schooling, like before, I was primarily within marketing, supporting small businesses, content creating, And I left it all behind.
I joined my schooling program with, again, I think it was like a 24 hour turnaround. I had some sort of no pop up and a bit of a deadline to get certain add ons and bonuses. And it’s like, no, I’m going to figure this out. I told them yes. I had no idea how it was going to work out, but I trusted in myself that I would make it work.
And it was a very similar moment with this project with it being such a big scale. Like, it is way outside of my comfort zone, but I had that deep inner knowing that this is right for me right now, even though I’m super scared and I will figure out a way to make it work.
Well, and here’s the interesting thing.
So first of all, congratulations. And second is, um, you know, even the project itself has taken on, you know, when we first started, it wasn’t going to be televised to 350 million viewers. When we first started, it was a book. Then the summits came in like things organically came in and so I can appreciate that level of okay.
Sure. We’re going to commit to this and okay. Sure. And even now, women want this to continue on like, okay, we did 22 summits and 15 months. We’re now going to do 4 summits of 2 days. Right. Like we’re going to continue us on, you know, we just opened up the Instagram page. Okay, let’s go public. Like we’re, you know, like things organically.
And so I understand that process because I’m in it. This, these kind of projects. Bring that forward and then they open that door to that. Right. And let’s talk about that. I’m super excited. So Janine is on May 11. So if you haven’t followed our project, you know, the stand up, speak up or show up, you know, yes, you project.
Some people call it the 262 project because that’s how many women are in the book. Um, not only has there been a summit every month on the 8th from March 2023 to March 2024, 4, 000 women and those that support women have come. We’re at 34 million media impressions. What the heck, right? And then we went into like the most intense, you know, at the end of a fireworks where it’s like, it’s just like pop, pop, pop, pop, pop.
That’s what we’ve been doing with summits. And we, we actually have on the Saturday and then we’re going to wrap that up May 1st. And then We’re going to take a little breather for 10 days and then come back the day before North American’s Mother’s Day and have this incredible summit that’s going to go from Kenya to Canada.
Women globally all over the world are going to be speaking. Janine is going to be speaking, and then we are going to be ending that day with this incredible celebrity panel. Right. Um, I was just telling a woman who’s in music, who’s on that panel, right? Like Darby Mills is going to be there. Uh, you know, we call her the Janis Joplin of Canada, right?
There’s Lainey Strauss, who is a celebrity event producer, just produced at Seth Rogen’s event, producing Prince Albert’s, you know, world’s royal, uh, polo match in Monaco right now, just really super cool down to earth. There is going to be D Lippinwell, the most renowned A photographer in rock and roll.
Like you could look up Dee Lippinwell and she’s in Canada. She happens to live in Vancouver and she’s in her seventies. And first time I met her, she was wearing black. And so I was like, Hey, we’re both wearing black. She’s like rock and roll, baby. I mean, she photographed Zeppelin and Michael Jackson and Prince and YouTube, like you name it.
There she’s she’s photographed them and then we have oh my gosh we have Kathy Bushnell, you know, first woman rock and roll duo to break the British of a invasion first woman rock and roll duo to break into the UK. She’s going to be speaking and oh my gosh, Amanda May. Beauty boss, you know big in terms of QVC and home shopping network and all of that and I’m sure I hope I’m not forgetting somebody Please tell me I’m not forgetting somebody but um, but that’s the kind of you know What so that does take some bravery, right?
Like when someone’s like even for me when I’ve been on the phone calls with some people they’re like, hey Let me put you together with her. I’m like, Oh, look at that, right? Oh, look at that. So check in on my, you know, we’re all human kind of conversation, but, um, it’s been amazing. So, uh, yeah. So you stepped up and things are unfolding.
Like they’re, they’re just going to unfold for you in a, in a different way. Cause you did. Right. So anyways, that’s a plug for Janine. So make sure you come and see her and support her. Cause she stepped up and on that day, you know what I mean? And it takes some bravery to, to be on the same show. To be on the same show.
Absolutely. Well, thank you for that. You’re welcome.
It really is just such an incredible project with so many incredible women who are doing amazing things all around the globe and you have been this mastermind behind it creating all of these different summits like you said I think 22 summits in 15 months I think you said like wow that is quite the project to take on and I really see Um, and it’s really important to see your driving force in wanting to connect women and really seeing people who are willing to take those risks to have that bravery to say yes and connect people.
Um, like I told you, different things I was looking for and you’re like, here you go. Talk to these women. And again, it’s like, Ooh, okay, I’m going to talk to these women. And it’s just saying yes. Yes, to yourself over and over again, and just doing the thing, even though it feels uncomfortable and scary and just seeing how life unfolds from you for you, because I really feel like when we are very grounded in our mission and our why, like you said earlier, and we are willing to trust ourselves and say yes, time and time again, the universe really has our back and incredible magic unfolds from that.
No, I mean, true that I could, you know, I could champagne and toast to that many times, you know, and they say it’s the journey and it is very true. A lot of the things are unforeseen and I say that to people when you say yes, all unforeseen pieces of act come into play. It’s a, it’s a Scottish proverb and I’m not going to go through the whole thing, but it really is.
And those unforeseens don’t come to fruition until you say yes. Like they just don’t come into fruition, um, because you haven’t put it into play. It’s still waiting in the ethers, right? And not everything like, you know, has been easy. I don’t think, you know, I, on days where this, this project doesn’t feel easy.
I too go to, you know, if you, if you’ve ever read the book, thinking go rich by Napoleon Hill. Ironically, I read that. Like seven times before I was in my twenties. I don’t know how I got the book. I think I was reading it even before I was an entrepreneur. Once I was an entrepreneur, I was like, I could just divulge it.
And there’s a part in there about creating, you know, creating that circle around you, right? That inner circle of people that can support you. And sometimes you don’t even really need to know them. I’ve woken up in the mornings and I’m like, this is a big project. This is a big project. And I don’t know why today it feels like it, but it does.
Before I picked up my first phone. For the day. And I’m like, who am I going to, who am I going to listen to while I’m in the shower? Who am I going to listen to while I’m putting on my makeup? So I’ll put on Oprah and like, okay, Oprah, give me the scoop. Or I’ll put on Simon Sinek or I’ll put on, you know, whomever I choose, whoever I choose to listen to, to be my advisor that day.
I’m like, give me the juice that I need to. And that’s why I think it’s important to, you know, listening to people that have done it. Like what you’re looking to do or attempting to do, like, I think you need to just pull that energy in and just hear. I remember the first time when I heard, not too, a couple weeks ago, because you never really hear it.
Like you listen, listen to Oprah, and she’s like, oh, yeah, and she interviews people and it’s great and it’s all that. But she was talking about how she was coming home from when she was doing her TV show and she knew she only had four hours to get undressed, sleep, and get back to the studio. And I’m like, I needed to hear her.
That she had that experience then, because sometimes that’s what this project is getting 262 women’s information in a book and getting it to the publisher. I think those are my pajamas for 3 days. And me and Dorothea, we worked and, you know, we slept 2 or 3 hours and I was like, okay, I just need to hear someone else has gone through that because when you go bigger.
You may be stretched a little bit and you need to have those people you can pull in. So if you don’t have a circle of people like, you know, I don’t have Oprah on my Rolodex, but I now have Lainey Strokes. And so do you sometimes when you stretch yourself and put yourself in different projects, you have different access as well.
Right. And so then you can call it in whether you know them and or not.
I feel like someone needs to hear what I’m talking about today because I just feel like it’s kind of getting taken over. I had no idea who that was for, but it was for somebody.
Yeah. Well, Oh, I’m taking that golden nugget. That is so great.
And it’s so important. Yes. To create our own circle, create those personal connections. And we have access to so much more than that in the world we live in. And so we can look at these different people that are where we want to go and have access through podcasts. Through different types of media. And we can plug into that one.
We need it and gain those little nuggets of inspiration to keep pushing us forward.
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, thank you so much for our time together. I think you have planted definitely many different golden nuggets throughout this conversation. Is there any last advice for women that you would like to share before we sign off?
You know what? I think what comes to me is I think it’s important and I don’t want to, I don’t want to use the word hero, but for some reason that’s, what’s coming up when I talk. So I’ll use it. So one of my biggest, one of my, I’m, you know, I’m not by nature, a starstruck woman. Like I don’t, I remember being at church when Pierce Bronson was there and I was just like, that’s cool.
I love your work. You know what I mean? Like I don’t, I just, uh, I’m just not a starstruck person. I’m in awe of what people do. And it’s not like I don’t have respect for what they do. There’s, we all, we all have people that we really would love to spend time with. One of them for me was Gloria Steinem. I followed her work.
She’s in the woman’s rights sector. Right. And I remember the moment that I got to meet her. I honestly, it was like butterflies. Like maybe it was someone would feel purest bronze and they’re like, what do you mean? You just walk by them. I’m like, these love your work, you know? Um, But, um, I think it’s important to have people that if you are in the business of making a movement, like this is really a movement.
If you’re in the middle of making your movement, if you’re carving your path, I think it’s important to have someone that you, uh, maybe draw from or have respect for, or a lot of the times I’m like, so I have a picture of Gloria on my, on my wall and I’ll be like, Hey sister. Right. You know what I mean?
Like, cause it’s. It’s movement and follow and support them, like whatever they’re doing. So when I was doing this project, I was doing a lot of stuff around Gloria and I looked her up and I was like, it was shocking to me that someone who’d made such a big impact in women’s lives and women’s business, I looked at her net worth cause you know how it all comes up.
And it was like 1 million. And I’m like, what? How is it possible that she makes 1 million and nothing against hockey players, but they make 20 million in a season. I was like, I need to, I need to do something about that. Right. And so then when I saw that she had a charity and that she’s trying to keep her house alive where she’s had all this communal work for women.
I was like, Hey, that’s a place that I want to donate. I think when we get something from someone, um, in our field, in our sector that we look forward to, like, look, I love Janice Joplin, her music. Right. First time I put an album on when I was like, I don’t know, 13 or something. It made me, it didn’t make me feel alone.
Now, Janis Joplin is no longer here, right? She’s obviously an icon, but feeding back to music. I don’t know what I’m trying to say so much as. Um, I would say if there’s someone that you admire, someone that you pull strength with, or find someone that you can, someone that can be your, what we say, Shiro or your hero, right?
There’s something there for you. There’s been something very instilling in me in these 30 years of my work, because sometimes it gets funky, particularly if you’re trying to do a movement. If you’re trying to carve a new path, if you’re trying to build a large community, There’s You’re going to have to find an anchor for me.
That’s been the anchor for me. It’s been the anchor, just knowing someone’s done it, going through it and supporting that she may never know that that money that I donated came from me. She will never know that the money that I donated came from me. Right. But I don’t know. It’s a part of giving back. I’m a huge believer in paying forward.
A lot. Like if you were in a sector or for me in women, if there’s a woman that’s carved path before me, I have huge respect. And I think it’s important to say, thank you. Cause many times we always focus on who we’re bringing in and that’s important too, but they’re stepping into a changed world. Women coming into business.
Now it is a changed world than it was 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago. So I go try to find people 10, years ahead of me. Go buy them flowers. I was at an airport once and two women pilots were getting lunch at Starbucks before me. I’m like, I’ll get it. They’re like, really? I’m like, thank you. Do you know what I mean?
So for me, um, I like that kind of other energetic paying forward. You don’t have to be known paying forward, but looking, thanking forward and bringing upward. That’s my advice. Long winded today. Yeah,
and I’m here for it. And there’s like so many different things that really sparked for me in that. Um, but I’m really getting that human connection and that forwardness of it.
I think a lot of our focus can be on like where we are now. Yes. Where we want to go. Perhaps our driving force being our family or the naysayers, but really shifting that perspective or opening it up to really include who has Carve that path before and really bringing that human connection to it. Not necessarily seeing them as this bright and shiny star who is like led this way.
And they’re not really a human, but really getting that human connection, learning about how they got to where they are, what their life is like, the different things they have going on, their different struggles, the different things that push them forward and thanking them for that, building your own kind of relationship with them for that.
I think it’s important. I think that people that have gone before us don’t, um, they need to hear that they’ve made a difference. They need to hear that. It has been what they’ve dedicated their life to, and sometimes I think we forget about that. Yeah. All right. It warms my heart with that. I feel like I’ve got this like to do of like, Oh, people are popping in my head that I want to like build this connection.
So thank you for that. As we close things up for anyone really interested in our conversation and connecting with you more, where can they find?
Absolutely. So if you go to DevDrummond. com, there’s a tab that says 262 and it’s like if you want to speak because we will, we have speaking opportunities for women that want to speak, uh, for men that want to sponsor the project.
Some men have sponsorship opportunities. Women can speak. Um, we also have a beautiful, we always have a print opportunity. So. The 262 book is done and it’s golden, but we have a beautiful entrepreneur day planner where women can, and men can have voice and quote and things like that. So we always have a print opportunity.
We always have a speaking opportunity available. And if you want to learn about media, so when I talked about our project had 34 million, um, my apparently my PR person just said my name had a million impressions in media, which is lovely. That’s taken 5 years with 41 things that Um, I have a class that I teach to help those that need to have that, and I think we’ve been gifting it and we’ll be gifting it through till May for May 11th, which is normally 1500 for two hours and people, not just women, can come.
It’s like 47 or 50 and they can come and join and I will teach people about media and how to create a media score. So that’s open to everybody that wants to support that wants to get some extra exposure. It’s it’s open.
Yes. Thank you. And I believe I am signed up for that. And we’ll be awesome. Great.
Well, thank you so much for this incredible conversation for everything you are doing in supporting women around the world and inspiring these different perspectives. I’m so looking forward to getting on the stage with you and others on May 11th. And for those listening, I will include all the information for that as well.
If you would like to tune in, we would love to have you there. So thank you so much. No, thank you.
