SPOKANE, Wash.–Are you ready to create You 2.0? Prepared to push that chair just one step further, despite the pain? Ready to push on even when Sharks don’t want you?
Using a TED Talk-like format, the Northwest Credit Union Association kicked off its MAXX annual meeting here with three far different but equally inspiring stories from people who overcame long odds to achieve success.
Below is a look at the three stories that were shared.
Technology: Savior or Villain?
SPOKANE, Wash.–A student at Stanford who developed a product idea at the age of 12 that eventually became a company and even appeared on Shark Tank told credit unions that the world needs to make a decision about the role technology is going to play.
Brooke Martin was 12 years old when she conceived of an idea for a product that allowed people to remotely connect with their pets using mobile devices—and to even deliver their pets a treat. By 14, the idea was a company called iC Pooch, and by 15 she was pitching the product to TV’s Sharks (none of the Sharks invested) after using Kickstarter to raise funds.
Today, the company is no longer operating, shutting down in 2016 over what Martin described as “unforeseen circumstances,” and she is a freshman at Stanford.
But Martin remains concerned with the question of whether the society foreshadowed by The Jetsons cartoon series 50 years ago—where machines replace much of the interaction between people–is the future, or whether technology can enhance those connections, instead.
“The question now is whether technology is affecting us in a positive or negative way; is it a hero or a villain?” she said in remarks to the Northwest CU Association’s MAXX Annual Meeting here. “Technology in communication has influenced us in an unfortunate manner. People are connected to technology but disconnected from the tactile relationships of the human race.”
In Martin’s case, she said she developed her product idea after having to be away from her three golden retrievers, whom she referred to as her “sisters,” when she was younger.
“I know many of us worry about our pets when we are gone, so I imagined a world where we could use technology to interact with our family, human or otherwise,” she said.
Working with her father, she developed the prototypes of iC Pooch, which allowed a smartphone or tablet to be connected to the device.
“You can call up your dog or cat or turtle or chicken and talk to them face to face, and deliver them a treat. It’s a great way to stay connected with your favorite furry family member.”
While she was developing that product, Martin said she began to see applications for connections in other ways, including with her grandmother, who had a disability and couldn’t easily initiate a conversation.
“So, I thought, ‘How can we make sure these elderly or disabled people can overcome this barrier of technology?’ We’re now trying to deliver iC LovedOnes, which allows caregivers and family members to connect with loved ones and even dispense medication to loved ones who are isolated.”
“I believe it is all of our responsibilities to re-humanize our experience using technology,” Marin continued. “We can target these technologies to include socially isolated portions of society.”
Are You Ready to Create You 2.0?
SPOKANE, Wash.–Dawnna St. Louis has a question for credit unions: “What is the worst part of being homeless and sleeping in your car in the woods when it’s very dark at night?”
It’s not animals or being attacked by bad people, she said.
“It’s actually hearing the worst thing you can imagine: ‘I told you so.’ It’s hearing my (high school) guidance counselor’s words in my head every day,” said St. Louis, an entrepreneur and author. “It’s hearing, ‘I knew at some point you would be exactly where you are, homeless and living in your car.’”
The counselor, as St. Louis would go on to explain, was actually trying tough love with her, recognizing her potential as she had a 3.95 GPA. But she didn’t see it at the time.
“He had explained to me clearly that I didn’t stand a chance,” St. Louis shared, “that I couldn’t get from the existence I had been born into to where I wanted to be. He made sure I had a default path that had been created for me.”
A default path, she said, is one that is based on one’s parents (or pedigree), place of birth, race, gender, level of privilege, opportunity and access. I was born in a poor neighborhood. I did extremely well in school, but…”
That counselor told her her default path meant having "five babies and seven baby daddies, drug abuse, three of the five children going to jail, one dying, and one who would follow in her footsteps.”
“He gave me three options,” said St. Louis of that high school counselor. “The first was a card for a military recruiter. Number two, he said, ‘Here’s $25, get on I-95 and head north and get out of South Florida.’ Number three, he pulled out of his drawer a bottle of codeine tablets and said, ‘You have to take the whole thing so only thing I have to pay for out of my tax dollars is your funeral.’”
St. Louis took option two, and started heading north out of South Florida in a “piece of crap” Dodge Omni, not stopping to take a break until she was in South Carolina.
“I drove as deep into woods as possible, stopped there and spent the night,” said St. Louis.
Unfortunately, she had only put gas into that car, not engine oil, and the engine seized. Homeless with a dead car, she saw few ways out.
Starting to Ask Questions
“By day eight, I was done. The issue was I was a mathematician but I couldn’t figure out how to properly tie a noose,” she said. “And it really bothered me that there are some toothless, racist people out there who have figured this out.”
As she sat there in South Carolina, St. Louis said she began imagining her new path, asking herself what “Dawnna 2.0” would look like.
What were her family look like? What would a day in her life look like? She said she fantasized over a four bedroom, two bath house, a job, a convertible, one kid, and just getting up in the morning and drinking coffee.
“So, I started thinking about one thing. What would it be like to take a shower?” she said. “I found someone who would barter my skills at the YMCA for a free shower. Then I started thinking about other things Dawnna 2.0 would do. I got a job as a receptionist at 19.”
Although she had a 10-year plan, St. Louis said that six years later, at age 25, she had that 4/2 house, two kids (“but one baby daddy husband”), and a convertible.
A few years later, she said she used that same mindset to start a business intelligence company with just a high school diploma that she was able to and grow it into a global consultancy. Twelve years after its founding, the company sold for $250 million.
“That is the recipe for You 2.0,” said St. Louis. “Where do you want to be in the future, and how do you take steps into it? It’s one thing to have information. It’s another to do something with it. That’s how I went from being a homeless teen to standing on the stage.”
Think You Have Obstacles? Think Again
SPOKANE, Wash.–Colin O’Brady told credit unions he was there to talk to them about overcoming the biggest obstacle they’d ever face.
O’Brady, who today is a professional endurance athlete who holds world records for two grueling, ultimate endurance events. But what makes his story so unique is he just a bit more than a decade removed from being burned so badly he had been told he would never walk again.
O’Brady shared the story of having just graduated from college and packing a surfboard and backpack and heading off on an adventure. Three months later, on a rural beach in Thailand, he watched as flame dancers were performing and decided to join in. He became trapped in a rope and he burned much of his body, especially his legs.
“I awoke looking down to see my body severely burned. I was in dire circumstances in an unsanitary hospital that could kill me,” he said.
The pain was unimaginable and I wanted to give up. I found myself spiraling downward. Luckily for me, five days into this ordeal, my mother arrived as my protector. She chose not to show me her fear. She showed up every day with a smile on her face and was positive.
“Every day she would ask, what do you want to do next? Let’s set a goal. I was like, ‘Mom, my life is over.’ And then three days later, I announced a goal. I am going to race a triathlon, something I had never done before. She smiled with a tear in her eye.”
It would be seven more weeks before O’Brady would be released from the hospital. Flown home to Portland, Ore., he never took a single step along the way.
“My mother said, ‘I know your goal is the triathlon, but the goal today is to take one step to get in a chair. It took me three hours,” he said. “The next day my mom moved the chair five steps away, and the next day, 10. After many weeks I could finally walk a little bit, and the day I could jog felt like flying.”
O’Brady said he spent 18 months “grinding” until he took a shot at participating in the Chicago Triathlon. He did more than participate; he won ahead of 4,000 participants.
“The first thing I thought about was those moments in that Thai Hospital and what would have happened had my mom not arrived,” he related. “Through this tragedy I learned a lesson. Life will deal us setbacks, but we all have reservoirs of untapped potential. The biggest thing standing in our way is our own minds.”
Now a professional triathlete, O’Brady said he and his then new wife, Jenna, set a goal of trying to set a record for the Explorers Grand Slam, which involves climbing the highest mountain on all seven continents (known as the Seven Summits) and reaching the North and South Pole.
Colin and Jenna O’Brady formed BEYOND 7/2, a not-for-profit world record journey to inspire active, healthy kids.
Antarctica is the Warm-Up
In 2016, O’Brady began in Antarctica (which he described as like being inside a ping pong ball), and reached the South Pole, before then working his way to various summits and the North Pole.
Seeking to summit Mt. Everest, he said, “For three weeks I battled and climbed my way up until I reached Camp 4, the last camp before Summit. My eyes were bulging, my face swollen, my legs felt like ice. There were no doctors around. Nothing can truly prepare you for what is known as the Death Zone, the altitude above 26,000 feet. I was scheduled to leave for the summit at midnight, and I was terrified. I called my wife, Jenna, and in an incredible moment of bravery, she told me exactly what I needed to hear. She said ‘People are going to summit Mt. Everest tonight, and there is no reason you can’t be one of them. Face your fears.’
“In the darkness of that night, I began counting my steps. One step at a time. Ten steps felt like 10 miles,” he said. “I was hopeful the sunlight would give me new energy, but it only illuminated the two-mile drop-off on each side. But Jenna’s words, my mom’s words, filled my head. I switched to a positive mindset, my body regained its strength, and soon I gazed out at the top of the world.
“After descending to Camp 4, I called Jenna. She then said, ‘I need you to put your boots back on.’ It had just taken me an hour to take them off. She said if I get to the summit of Denali (in Alaska) in the next week, I could set not one, but two new records. I would have three days to climb Denali, even though it usually takes three weeks. And 100 hours later I was at base of Denali embarking on my last climb.”
O’Brady did indeed set new records for the Seven Summits and the Explorers Grand Slam.
“We were also able to engage with millions of kids about their goals for the future,” he told the MAXX meeting.
Today, O’Brady still carries a rock from the summit of Mt. Everest.
“This rock reminds me of the moment I kept pushing forward. It stands for my untapped potential,” he said. “This rock reminds me that even Mt. Everest can be broken down to its smallest parts. Maybe right now you’re struggling in your own day-to-day life, feeling it’s too much. Or maybe you have a great idea for an innovation and people are telling you it isn’t possible. Tragedies and obstacles face all of us and we are flooded with doubt and leading us to a negative mindset. But you don’t have to stand there. The only question is, how will you respond? You have a choice.
“I am just a regular guy from Portland (Ore.) But I know this: achievement is not limited to the select few,” O’Brady said. “Achievement is simply for those who never quit. It is for those who set goals, who put the most steps in front of the other. Achievement is for those who overcome the greatest goal of all: their own minds. So, set a goal, the chair is right in front of you. And when you get there, push the chair further.”