Tracie was delighted with the first interview and was convinced that her focus on each of the difference makers as individuals was the right approach. She recalled from her own intern experience that she felt that she would be out of place when she met her intern class. But that wasn’t the case. Everyone in her class was different, and those differences are what she hoped to capture in the interviews. Next up was Audra.
Tracie: I’d like to start with what led you to Charley and difference making.
Audra: I grew up on a family farm and life was tough. All around us families were losing their farms to corporate factory farming operations. I started losing my friends from school as they moved away. We had one bad summer and couldn’t make our loan payments, and we also lost our farm.
We moved to a city and my dad got a factory job. Life was ok, but it wasn’t the same. One day when I came home from school, my mom was in the kitchen fixing supper. She had tears in her eyes. I asked her what was wrong, and I’ll never forget her answer: “We’re having a supper of things I grew in our backyard. I really miss those days when we produced almost everything we ate.” Those were both tears of joy and those of sadness, but to use a phrase I learned from Charley, this was a value shaping event for me.
Tracie: What was your toughest challenge when you took up your cause of revitalizing family farms?
Audra: I’m an introvert. My favorite thing to do is read. So creating a venture to make family farms relevant again was tough. When I was putting together the marketing network, I was scared. But I’ve found that you can have both a personal and professional side to the way you manage your life.
Tracie: I’m intrigued, can you tell me more?
Audra: My personal side is characterized by shyness, caring, and creativity. Those were great in winning our families to join my cause. They weren’t very good however in dealing with the business world. I had to develop traits of toughness, doggedness, and salesmanship. I became an entrepreneur. I would have never guessed that ability was in me.
Tracie: Fascinating. That’s a lesson for all future interns.
Audra: It really is. Our minds are always growing, and we should never limit ourselves by believing we can’t do something. I’m proud of the impact of the cause I’ve taken on, but I still would rather be alone reading a book than being in a boardroom.
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“What you resist persists. And only what you look at, and own, can disappear. You make it disappear by simply changing your mind about it.” – Neale Donald Walsch (Author, religious writer)