Gordon Gecko, Poli Sci, Cara K discussed on How I Got Here with Dave Fiore

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That now we didn't have to know everything about everything. Right. And now we do. So after high school, you go to college at UCLA. And earned a degree in political science. Yeah, why did that happen? Why did that happen? I don't know. Are you interested in politics? I think I saw the movie Wall Street and I thought that that Gordon gecko. Yeah, I figured that's what I should do. I did not like it, but I had everything kind of mapped out and was going to get my poli sci degree and go to law school. So I think it was my second year in college. I took some sort of graduate level like pre law class. It was part of the honors program. And I literally got in there. I had no idea what we were doing. They were doing a moot court. I think I freaked out and didn't go to the class. I think I sobbed in front of the professor and somehow got out of it with the sea and left. And I'm like, this is not for me. And I knew that in this, I'm not cut out for this. And it was probably the wrong class to throw a 19 year old in. Or maybe some 19 year olds, but not for me. But I stayed with it because I was so far into the major because I did business and honors and poli sci. So I just stayed with it. And it was an interesting degree, but I should have been a communications major. Like hands down, I have no idea why, and it's my own fault for not digging into the possibilities, but I just have to say, it's my own responsibility to have created a support system for me, but I just didn't have people around me to guide me. And I wish that I would have taken more advantage of that. I feel like as a parent, I'm more connected with what is available for my kids than my parents ever were. But that's still my responsibility. I should have figured it out. But I think that's different too, maybe it's not for everybody, but I was completely on my own. I mean, I went to college to be a band director and then the only reason I went into got my degree in PR, but the only reason was because I had a friend whose sister was in PR. And I'm like, that sounds fun. Yeah. That was my whole process. Yeah. I think there's more, maybe. I don't know. I think that there may be a little more guidance and a little more maybe more resources for young people. But I'm not entirely sure okay. Worked out fine. And I loved school. So where did you do after graduation? Oh, so I graduated and I'm smiling because, boy, I ended up as an account executive at the second alternative rock station in the U.S. so at the time it was 91 X in San Diego and anyone that knows what that whole scene was like there was Cara K rock in Los Angeles and then 91 X was the second one. In fact, their logo, if anyone is familiar with 91 X and there may be some listeners, it's the same logo that they had. They haven't changed it. And it's basically, I just, it was really fun. It was a complete transition into what, you know, alternative music was. So what was alternative rock in this time period in the 80s? You're talking about. Wow. So it would have been like the cure and Depeche Mode. And the facts and I mean, just any of that. Yeah, I mean, it basically was what was on MTV. And so it was just a different type of experience. And it was also the 80s and there were just, it was a little wild. But it was great training and we had a lot of fun. And that's ultimately where I met. My husband. Okay. We'll come back to him in a second. Yeah. Were you selling time were you an account executive or what was your role count executive? And I basically started with no account list and strike commission. So you're going door to door? We made phone calls. Made phone calls, and it was extremely intimidating. I was 22. Right out of school. And the majority of the aes are counting executives were men in probably the early late 20s or early 30s, but you know, when you're a 22 year old, those are grown people, right? And of course, they are like kind of obnoxious and they look at me and be like everything. Would you sell today, you know? And I was just terrified. And you're in this room with a bunch of cubicles and everyone can hear you. And somehow I didn't fail. But I learned a lot. I learned a lot about sales that I learned about being kind of fearless in a very, very tough. And often very inappropriate. Environment. By inappropriate, I mean some sexism going on. Oh, absolutely. And things like go to Mexico because I'd be calling on some of the nightclubs. Go to Mexico, go pick up a $1000 and bring that back over the border. Those kind of things, or yeah. Yeah, I see your face. Those are things that I was expecting. Yeah. Those are things that you did. You got to call on the nightclubs, and then you had to go basically pick up the cash. So they just things that wouldn't happen today. Interesting. It was just, you know, this was not the radio station I worked at, but there was a station in San Diego, where when the women made a sale, they would go stand on a table and they would take a bell and hold it between their knees and ring it. Now the male account executives did not have to do that, but the women did. And somebody actually called them on it and there was a lawsuit. And that was what I remember being like the beginning of the change toward. This is what we do at work on this is what we don't do at work. There weren't a lot of rules back in the day. The 80s were different. The ideas were different. Yeah. Yeah, so you met your husband doing radio. I did. So I want to hear that story. Oh, so we met at a Jason Jennings sales seminar, Jason Jennings was a sales trainer. Okay. And I do remember meeting him. He had just been hired and I remember meeting him and he was doing that he was an account executive in the county executive also, and I remember we were friends for a long time, but I do remember sitting in the back of various workshops and seminars and probably not paying attention and writing notes or I don't know what we did. How did you end up in Tallahassee? So we were one of the mom and pop owner operators and we, if anyone remembers the old WMO radio station, mellow one O 5 melanoma 5. So we bought that and we actually flipped it to a hot AC, which was live one O 5 and ran that for several years. And then sold it to, I guess, I don't know who the I think it's been sold several times, but it's the hot one of four 9 property rights. Okay, so let's stop there for a second. You know, being an AE at a radio station is different than owning a radio station. So how did you all end up owning your own radio station? That would be a much better question for my husband than for me. Okay. But he that was always something that he had wanted to do. And again, this was many years ago. I'm going to say it was 25 years ago when you still could actually. Somebody could do that. Somebody could do that. And so but that was pretty cool. It was pretty cool. It was a different Tallahassee, 25 years ago, and

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