The Let's Get Comfy Podcast
Hosted by Founder and CEO of Comfort Measures Consulting LLC, Norman Harris. The Official Healthcare Edutainment station. Empowering listeners with the knowledge and resources to age comfortably. The podcast platform will uniquely provide laughter, peace, joy, resources and most of all COMFORT. Fostering professional partnerships and engaging the audience by providing them access to a REAL family-like conversation. That gives them the REAL reasons. Connects them to REAL reliable resources. To get REAL results. For REAL Comfort! Through interviews with C-suite healthcare leaders, experts, caregivers, founders, authors, educators, and thought leaders who are doing incredible work for older adults, family caregivers, and the healthcare community.
The Let's Get Comfy Podcast
The Advocate's Journey: Michelle Hogan on Community Service
Norman Harris welcomes Michelle Hogan, Associate Director of Community Donations at Metropolitan Ministries, for a conversation about finding purpose through service and making an impact on homelessness.
• Michelle's childhood experiences with racism sparked her passion for advocacy and social justice
• Metropolitan Ministries serves the homeless through services that alleviate suffering, promote dignity, and instill self-sufficiency
• Coordinating a donation of 300 bed sets from Ashley Furniture provided essential comfort to children and elderly individuals who previously had nowhere to sleep
• Becoming homeless is often just one missed paycheck away, but helping those who've lived outside for years requires addressing deeper issues beyond just resources
• Metropolitan Ministries offers multiple ways to help, including volunteering at meal sites, sorting donations, participating in food drives, and hosting collection drives
• Michelle's personal journey from corporate life to homelessness to nonprofit leadership demonstrates resilience and the importance of following your purpose
• Finding your voice through platforms like podcasts and social media can create change by helping people understand issues from new perspectives
To learn more about Metropolitan Ministries or to get involved, visit metromin.org or follow Michelle Hogan on LinkedIn.
Welcome to another episode of the let's Get Comfort podcast. I'm your host, norman Harris, the sole proprietor and owner of Comfort Managers Consultant. Thank you for joining us. Once again, I have another heavy hitter, the unstoppable Michelle Hogan, and, as usual, I always let my guests introduce themselves. But, ms Michelle, I'm so happy to have you join the platform. Give me this opportunity and I always say this on a Saturday your weekend. Be sharing what you love.
Speaker 2:I appreciate it. Thank you so much for having me. My name is Michelle. I serve as the Associate Director of Community Donations at Metropolitan Ministries. I am a UF Gator and a USF Bull. I got my Master's in Family, youth and Community Science at UF. At USF, I got a Bachelor's in psychology and sociology. In my free time I serve as a volunteer for the Tampa Bay Fair Housing Consortium, helping to spread fair housing education awareness and, most importantly, I'm a mother to two beautiful children, jayden and Amina.
Speaker 1:Wow, that is awesome. Again, thank you for joining the platform. So you're passionate about driving community impact and social justice through empathy, social justice and dedicated hard work. Where did this passion originate?
Speaker 2:You know, I really just feel like that's kind of ingrained in the DNA of who I am. My dad they used to call him the Reverend, and not because he was a part of the church or anything like that, but just because he used to always preach. And so I've kind of found that I sort of tend to do the same thing sometimes. You know, I've always just felt very comfortable with speaking up against of whatever I think isn't right and sharing what I think is, and so it's really just a part of who I am.
Speaker 1:Right, well, that takes bravery. A lot of people sit back and take the back seat and don't want to be at the forefront, but so I commend you for that, because that's something that I had to grow into over time. Was there something from your childhood that sparked your professional journey.
Speaker 2:I don't really think there was any one thing in particular that sparked that more so, just my experience of life, just naturally within me. I've always felt like I was a natural born advocate. If there was something that didn't seem right to me, it felt like my blood was just boiling. I had to speak up against it, I had to do something about it. I was always protecting people around me, and so when you have that type of energy, you have to channel it somewhere, and so when I think about my childhood and how intense I felt those emotions, I think to the first time that I can recall feeling that, and that was when I learned about what racism was.
Speaker 2:So, just for a bit of context, I'm a mixed race woman. My mother's black, my father's white, but we didn't talk about race in our household at all. We were just existing different colors. It meant nothing to us other than how we looked, and in the nineties this was like the era of, you know, the golden age of black sitcoms. So this time it was nothing to see a bunch of black people on TV, and all my cousins are mixed too, on both sides. So everywhere I was looking, I'm seeing black and white people coexisting. No one taught me that there was some sort of meaning to this, until one of my best friends who was white as a child. Until one of my best friends who was white as a child explained to me that her parents told her that when she's older she could only bring home a white man, that she could never date someone of color. And so, she told me, her plan was she was going to secretly date people of color.
Speaker 2:But when it came to bringing someone home, it was going to be someone who's white, and I thought that this was the most bizarre thing I had ever heard. It didn't make any sense to me. What do you mean? They don't like someone because of the color of the skin. You know what I'm saying? This is not something that people are born thinking about. This was taught and it had never been taught to me. So, at nine years old, this is the first time that I'm hearing that. You know, people form opinions about you based on the color of your skin, and in such an unfair way. Yeah, you know, and she said that one of the reasons they gave her was that mixed kids feel confused about their identities. I had never felt confused about my identity. I thought I was unique.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a lot of it's taught for sure.
Speaker 1:Right, it's taught in your household. You can see me dropping kids off at daycare and through high school Until their parents put and bent that in them. Then that's when you really learn. Yeah, it's all getting wrong. But to be honest with you, for me, my mom, that wasn't taught in my house, but I think probably when I grew up without older, it was like I don't know about that, you know that type of field, but it was never taught to me to like not have a particular race as a spouse, you know. But you know, you know what a black woman, right, yeah, yeah, but yeah, but that, so that that really changed your perspective on life a lot.
Speaker 2:It did. I learned that people created meaning for the color of our skin and that they will judge you without even knowing you, but also that they can make exceptions. You can be racist and make exceptions for certain people, because obviously the parents are racist if they felt that way, but they welcomed me with open arms and even considered me like a daughter. So I knew that a part of racism is people not being exposed to other people like them. Before they were in the military they were from Idaho. I may have been one of the first people that they met of color and they thought they were making an exception for me, but really we're not really all that different and they would not judge people based on the color of their skin if they met more people like that. So I hope it's changed since then, but I just remember that so vividly as one of the first times that I felt outraged by something that was socially accepted.
Speaker 1:That's beautiful that I felt outraged by something that was socially accepted. Gotcha, yeah, wow, better from a childhood, so that's a serious one, michelle Hogan. Now what about the playful Michelle Hogan? What do you enjoy doing?
Speaker 2:I enjoy doing anything creative. I like to be crafty. I like to explore new things. I love to eat.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I really enjoy a good nap on the weekend. I do, I don't sleep, I don't even take naps. Never can take a nap. I remember as a kid like my whole house would be sleep on sunday. Sunday like nap day, like good good old Sunday dinner on.
Speaker 2:Mama.
Speaker 1:Cook. Everybody take a nap, but I'd be up. I'd be up the only one playing a game outside, playing basketball, doing something like that so what have you learned about resilience, both personally and professionally, through families and individuals that you serve today.
Speaker 2:I've learned that we all face adversity no one is free from that but we all experience it to different degrees, where some are faced with it more than others. And really, the most, the strongest skill that you can develop is how can you pivot and adapt when you're faced with adversity, adversity, and so really the work that I do is about how can we help people adapt to the new challenges that they're facing, to help them, you know, persevere and get out of that situation.
Speaker 1:I know you touched on that in your intro. Let's talk about where you are now, what you currently do, your company. Give me the description, the mission of your organization as well.
Speaker 2:So I work for Metropolitan Ministries. We are a nonprofit that serves the homeless and those at risk of becoming homeless in our community through services that alleviate suffering, promote dignity and instill self-sufficiency as an expression of the ongoing ministry of Jesus Christ, and so my particular role there is I oversee our community donations team and we support our programs that serve the community by ensuring that we can get the things that we use to serve. So we try to get physical things donated, like food, hygiene items, toys for Christmas, school supplies and baby products and different things like that.
Speaker 1:Wonderful mission, Wonderful organization as well. So definitely proud to have a representative of Metropolitan Ministries here on this platform. It's truly an honor. So thank you so much. Thank you so. You shared the mission of Metropolitan Ministries, but with the organization. What's one of your proudest moments you share with?
Speaker 2:us. It's hard to think about the proudest moment because I'm so honored to say that I get to be involved with so many amazing things, so I really just kind of have to chunk it up into time. My most favorite thing recently was I was able to coordinate a donation from Ashley Furniture. You may not know this, but they have a nonprofit, a part of their organization called Hope to Dream, and they were able to give us 300 bed sets. So it's a frame, it's a mattress, it's everything that goes on top of it, everything that someone needs. And in my role it's kind of like a baton race. You know where maybe I'm coordinating the donations but I don't get to see them in the hands of those that receive them. But with this one, one of our my colleagues, chris Gates, who works with our Mealsite partners, he was able to help, you know, find those families that were in need and get those beds for us, and they in return sent us photos of these beds in different spaces. So I got to see children on their first bed that they ever had.
Speaker 2:Um, one of the ones that gives me goosebumps still thinking about it is, uh, an elderly woman who was in housing for and I'm so sorry that I'm the name is escaping me now, but she's in one of those affordable housing units specifically for the elderly and she didn't have a bed. She had an apartment, thanks to them, but she didn't have a bed and they were able to show her space and the picture of her with her bed. You know and you can imagine the aches and the pains that she must have felt. You know sleeping on the floor and now she's got the comfort of sleep. You know things that you take for granted that you may not think about if you're blessed to have a bed, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that is real big Cause. I was just last week complaining about my server bed Right here. Yeah.
Speaker 2:What a privilege.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what a privilege. So the gratitude and being grateful you get a constant reminder of those type of things For the community out there. They don't have those encounters. How can a person, just a normal, regular-day person, get involved with Metro Policy Ministries or even improve some of their actions just to help out someone that's in need?
Speaker 2:There are so many ways that you can help out if you want to, the most obvious being volunteering. We rely on volunteers as a nonprofit. That's how we're able to keep going and being able to continue to serve every day. There's about a hundred volunteer opportunities a day, whether it's in our kitchen serving meals, whether it's in our warehouse sorting donations that have come in, whether it's holding babies. You could even do that. You can come hang out with our kids, even keep the grounds clean. So there's always something. Occasionally we have special events that you can come and help with. My team is hosting a drive event soon in May.
Speaker 2:Every May, the day before Mother's Day, we do a drive at the post office called Stamp Out Hunger. This is huge. It's a national food drive and what happens is the post office puts bags into different mailboxes around the cities here and we just ask the people to fill it up if you can. You don't even have to go shopping. You can go to your pantry, fill the bag up with food and the postal carrier will pick it up that Saturday before Mother's Day. So this year that's May 10th and we have volunteers at each of those post offices helping to collect food. It's a huge feat. We're not talking small numbers here. Last year, we got 77,000 pounds of food. We wouldn't be able to do that on our own. We need volunteers for special things like that to help us such generous donations that will keep us covered through the summer.
Speaker 2:That being said, you could always donate, of course. That's what I do. My whole job is, you know, making sure that we have everything that we need to be able to support the community, so you can host a drive. It's really easy. I don't know how many other nonprofits do this, but we make the giving process as easy as possible. All you need is a space and people that want to help. We can deliver collection containers. You can put it in the corner of your office space, like here. Your people bring the donations and then we come back and pick it up, and it's as easy as that, wow.
Speaker 1:That's really good. That's really good, wonderful way to give back. Can you share a website where people can actually go and sign up and look at more information?
Speaker 2:Yes, go to our website, metrominorg. At the top you'll see a tab that says ways to give, and it'll give you a whole other menu option of ways that you can give. Maybe there's something else that I didn't mention today. If you want to host a drive, there's a drives tab. If you want to volunteer, there's a volunteer tab, and whatever you do, try to share it. That's another way that you can help. You never know who you may inspire because you posted your self-giving or the impact that you experienced by doing so.
Speaker 1:And just talking about donations and giving I'm reviewing this You've helped raise over $8 million in kind donations. What's your secret sauce to rallying the community?
Speaker 2:I can't even begin to talk about that without first thanking the community. Everything that we do is because of the support from the community to be able to make it all happen. So I I almost feel strange saying that I helped raise that when it's really I just helped facilitate and hopefully make the giving process easy.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I appreciate you being so modest. It's the term healthcare heroes, uh advocates like yourself, which is celebrities, so we us Okay.
Speaker 2:Alright. Well, what I think I do, a little bit differently than some other people that work with donors is I'm really big into educating. You know, there's definitely an approach to just say yes. Just say yes to whatever the donor requests or whatever they want to do. But because I believe in education, because I believe in us working together in harmony, I always want to have a conversation about it.
Speaker 2:Maybe you want to do a clothing drive, but what we really need is hygiene. So I'm going to talk to you about me. I'm going to talk to you about a need you know, and and I try to educate as much as I can I, since I've taken this role, I offer presentations. So if you do a drive, you can opt in for a presentation. I can come and speak in front of your group and share all the ways that we use your donations. It always surprises people and that's always fun. You know, I love when people say, instead of just calling me and saying I want to give you this, they say. I love when people say, instead of just calling me and saying I want to give you this, they say what do?
Speaker 1:you need, can we set up a time to talk about it.
Speaker 2:Lights me up, lights me up. That's when the $18 comes in. I got you.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you've worn so many hats, from case management to community engagement to operations. Which role challenged you the most and how did you shape your leadership style?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm so fortunate to be able to say that I've been able to do so many different things in the space of Metropolitan Ministries, though certainly one sticks out the most to me, and that was working in our mobile outreach team. It's called Brigade, and this program started in 2018. And when it began, it was just one lone woman. Her name is Anne-Marie. She had the insight and the courage to say this is what we're missing. You know, we have this beautiful outreach center that is so helpful to many, but not everyone can get there. She knew that we needed to go out and meet people where they were, and she was doing that on her own, just going out to places setting up a table, coming with plan fits, coming with a computer to help people, and they, after a while of doing that, they trusted her to lead a team to do it, and so I was that pilot person, and so for a while, it was just me and her and going to different places and finding out, you know, who's serving the homeless, how can we partner together to serve them better. And that experience changed my life forever. When I started that job, I thought great, there's people that are outside and there's all these resources that could help them that they just don't know about. That's it. They just don't know about it. I'm going to come there with my resources.
Speaker 2:We're going to get people housed, but it's not that easy, because anyone can become homeless. It's very easy. Many of us are living one paycheck away from that. You miss one paycheck for whatever reason. Maybe your car broke down, maybe you've encountered a health issue. You miss one paycheck for whatever reason. Maybe your car broke down, maybe you've encountered a health issue. You miss your rent one time. You're on a time clock. You've got a few weeks before you face eviction. So becoming homeless is very easy. But those that are living outside and have lived there for years, there's something so much deeper going on beyond just resources, and that was such a huge wake up call that I'm not that powerful that I could just come with resources and your homelessness will be resolved. It's not that easy. If someone is on the street for years, there's something incapacitating them. Many times it can be something with their mental health. It can be something, some sort of struggle with addiction. Whatever it is, it isn't going to be resolved with a pamphlet and a nice smiling face. It's going to take time.
Speaker 2:Do you have some resources to share? I do have some resources to share, again that same website that I shared where you can go to ways to give. You can also go to a tab called get help, and all the different programs that we have are there and we really have something that can meet you wherever you are in that spectrum of needing help. For some people, you may just need help with a meal or help with groceries for that week and you'll be fine. With that help, you'll be able to take care of your rent.
Speaker 2:For some people, you may need more than just a one-time assistance. Maybe you need someone that can walk alongside you like a case manager or a counselor, that can listen to you, to hear what your barriers are and you could work together to come up with a plan to figure out how to give up that situation. Or maybe you've lost it all and you need the most amount of help ever, which is trusting someone with your life and your children's lives by providing shelter. And our website, I think, is so easy to navigate and really does a great job of all the different ways that we can help and you can find what works best for you.
Speaker 1:At Comfort Measures Consulting, we're here to help you navigate the complexity of health care. If you're caring for a loved one as a caregiver, you don't have resources, you don't know what questions to ask. You need to have options right. Give Comfort Measures a call. Give us a chance. First consultation is free. Speak with me Comfort Measures Consultant 850-879-2182. You can also visit our website at wwwcomfortmeasuresconsultingcom. Talk to you soon. So this just came in my head right now. So I just thought about, like, if you have a person, for example, that's homeless, that's been homeless for years and while you were speaking I was just thinking at one point, like near my neighborhood they had this property that was vacant and it became like tent tent field with homeless individuals there. If you was to take a person from there and meet with them on a weekly basis, what would you discuss?
Speaker 1:I'm just asking.
Speaker 2:First you have to build trust and rapport with them to be able to really get to the root of whatever is going on. That takes time, but you can start with the basics, and that is just helping people survive, and so there's so many things that we can do initially to help people that are living chronically. Do you have regular access to food? We can help you do that by making sure that you've applied for food stamps so that you can go and get food on your own. Did you know that there's meal sites all around the county that you can go and get meal?
Speaker 2:We we happen to have over 40 meal sites with different organizations where we provide the meal, but they, you know, they know the need by name and they're able to serve the serve those meals. But Hillsborough, pasco and Pinellas that's also on our website under hot meal sites. Maybe they don't know that there's somewhere they can go get a hot meal. So making sure that they know where they can go for meals, for showers, to get mail that's maybe something you don't really think about. But if you apply for food stamps, you have to be able to receive that card somewhere. You're not going to go to Tallahassee to get it. So there's even places where they allow you to use their mailing address and you can go pick that up.
Speaker 2:No like physical mailboxes where you can have your mail sent there and go and get it. Um, so, helping them with you know the essentials to help them survive and and if you do that well and you do that consistently, over time they will, they will begin to trust you more to listen to, to what you have to say, and you hope that once they've got all their needs needs met and they're not distracted by trying to find those needs, then that kind of opens up some space for them mentally to think about. Okay, I'm tired of this and I'm ready to try a shelter again.
Speaker 1:That's great Good guidance too. Definitely visit the website because, as you can see, there's a lot of options and opportunities. You may not know someone directly but it's something maybe you can share at your church directly, but it's something maybe you can share at your church, at your place of employment, with your family members as well, because someone else is always in need out in which you can help, so helping the homeless reclaim their independence.
Speaker 2:But I want to talk about donor engagement.
Speaker 1:So not only is that something consistently that you're involved in, but how do you make that exciting, like people to be engaged and be involved? Because, like with my platform, this is a healthcare resource platform. I only have right now currently 194 subscribers. Okay, so we do understand that healthcare isn't like pretty and entertaining. How do you make it people want to be engaged and want to? How do you make it people want to be engaged and want to get it?
Speaker 2:Well, I love to collaborate with people. I'm always open to ideas that you think may be, you know, more interesting for you. Sometimes people like to do what we call in-kind engagements, where maybe, rather than just hosting a drive, you're putting some kids together. Hosting a drive, you're putting some kits together. If you're into babies and you like helping babies, you could create an event with your friends, your family members, your coworkers to build baby baskets. Or, if you want to build hygiene kits for those that are living outside, there's fun ways that you can get involved.
Speaker 2:Another thing that we like to do is we like to overly thank and reward people that have given to us. So we started something a couple of years products, the most toys for Christmas. We track all of that and we have this beautiful crystal award that we go and hand deliver and, you know, maybe we can make it fun. We can have lunch, we can, you know, make a presentation out of it, but we like to be gracious for everyone that helps us, because this is all truly, you know, a collaboration between the community to serve. We couldn't do anything on our own. So we're truly gracious for everyone that helps make that possible and we try to make them feel as special as they are with little things like that.
Speaker 1:Do you all partner a lot with healthcare organizations?
Speaker 2:We do. We have a lot of healthcare organizations that do drives for us. We also have a partnership with BayCare. They come a few times a month to our campuses providing free medical services. There's one for children and one for adults. They also help us get fresh produce at our Pasco campus.
Speaker 1:That's amazing.
Speaker 2:BayCare. Good job, we will add you in this too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all your employees to watch. Let's get a couple podcasts, all right, but a wonderful initiative that you're doing before Metro Ministries. What was your career path there?
Speaker 2:Well, I took a little break and I went to Hillsborough County and I worked in affordable housing, which is not quite what it sounds like. Everyone thought that we had our own housing, but not that department. What we did was grant administration. So we helped make more affordable housing possible by administering grants to developers that want to develop affordable housing. But we also had a subset of grants called the Community Development Block Grant, which just helped any nonprofit. So if you're watching this and you have a nonprofit and you're trying to expand what you're doing, that could be an opportunity for you to grow what you're doing by applying for that grant which happens every year.
Speaker 2:And before all that, I was in corporate. I was in corporate not because I really wanted to, but I thought it was safe and secure, until I got laid off and I realized it's not really all that safe and secure, and so you might as well do what speaks to you. And you know, because I always consider myself a natural advocate and really get a lot of fulfillment from helping people, I thought I need to get into that. I went back to school, I served in AmeriCorps, which is like the American Peace Corps, for about a year and a half. It wasn't easy.
Speaker 1:What did you want to do?
Speaker 2:Well, my first assignment was actually they're both at Metropolitan Ministries. That's how I got my start there. Assignment was actually they're both at Metropolitan Ministries. That's how I got my start there. I started with our CREATE program, which is an afterschool program for the residents that live with us on campus. I did that for about six months and then I did the rest of my time in the mobile brigade. I did that as a volunteer, yeah, and that was a huge sacrifice because I had just gotten laid off. I had lost everything myself and, you know, was sleeping in in my mother's living room at that time and I was serving others as I was needing service myself. But I knew that I was safe where I was at and it was worth the time. Um helping others but also getting my foot into the door of the nonprofit world, and I've been doing that ever since.
Speaker 1:So you're still giving, making a way, following your purpose and your passion. But was it that very tough moment for you at that time, just being back at home in my house?
Speaker 2:It was. It was incredibly humbling. I'd always consider myself to be independent and I never thought that I would be in a situation where I needed help, but it happens, um, you know, especially as a single parent, it's a lot to juggle on your own, especially in an economy that's constantly changing.
Speaker 1:Everything increasing and inflation is rising, uh, Except for with your salary.
Speaker 2:Right, yes.
Speaker 1:Except for your salaries Years ago.
Speaker 2:I thought, if I can make what I'm making now, I'll be set, and then I get there. And then you know, the economy is like psych. That's not enough anymore. So that's, you know, ongoing, yeah, anymore.
Speaker 1:So that's you know. Ongoing. Yeah, thank you for sharing that too. And that time in your life where you overcame as well, I mean it sort of shows as well the connection you have. But finding your purpose and passion. Dr Bosmore will always say find your purpose in life right, do something every single day, then your life, it's no longer work, you enjoy doing it. So thank you for sharing that. So, speaking of your life, if you could divide your life up into chapters, what would you title your next chapter in life and why?
Speaker 2:I couldn't think of a fancy word for this, but I really just want to share more. Couldn't think of a fancy word for this, but I really just want to share more. So, opportunities like this, where I can share the ideas that I have, the experiences you know, and what I've been able to learn from those experiences, sharing ways that other people can help too, you know, I really just want to do more of that, to find more people that share the same interests as me, more like-minded individuals that want to make an impact, and just continue doing more of that Right right.
Speaker 1:So my friend recently. He told me he felt like I have great intuition. So really, how I select guests on the show is and one of my mentors said I need to improve my show and audiences, try to be more strategic with selecting my guests, people, that has the audience there. But that's not my approach. My approach is like, if I feel a certain way about someone that I see and I go down this rabbit hole of research, if you would treat me to do that, then I want you on the show. That's really how I select guests. Honestly, many people I don't know I just saw you for the first time today but really so that really means a lot you sharing your story, but I always go back to how does the thing make you feel and I really believe to go with my feelings to be honest and I believe this right here.
Speaker 1:What I'm doing today is passionate. It's purpose, passion and purpose. I didn't do this platform created for popularity or notoriety. It started and originated from heaven. Awesome and that way, and all for a different platform. Other than you know music videos, you know TikTok videos that we laugh at. You know because I watch them too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's so important. You know, for so long, I think a lot of change was sparked by protesting, right, you know, people physically going out, using their bodies to share an image, and we've come away from that a little bit, and I think there's some people that kind of criticize that we don't protest anymore, but we don't have to protest anymore because we can share those same sentiments in other ways, and social media is a great way to do that. Podcast is another great, great way to do that. All you have to do to enact change is to get people to change the way that they think about something, to help them understand something a little bit better, and the change will come. So what you're doing is incredibly important. And when he reached out to me no, we didn't know each other and you know, I didn't know what I should do, but instinctively I felt like this is an opportunity to share. Why would I pass it up? So I'm glad that you reached out to me and I'm happy to be here, thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you for that. Well, I feel good, good Me too.
Speaker 2:I feel real good.
Speaker 1:So wrapping up the show now, what would you say is your ultimate career accomplishment? It's an ultimate career accomplishment If you hit the top of your mountain, you climb, you toast you're almost there. But in your mind, what's your ultimate career accomplishment?
Speaker 2:I don't have a specific career accomplishment, but I will feel accomplished when I find myself with a seat at the table where I'm making decisions. I want to have a seat at the table. I want to be able to use what I have learned, what I've studied, what I've experienced, what I've seen, to be able to help inform decisions. I think sometimes there's not always the right people at the table and I want to be there because I think that I should be at the table, so I will feel accomplished when I get to do that.
Speaker 1:Michelle Hogan for me.
Speaker 2:Michelle Hogan for.
Speaker 1:Maritown. That's what we do, michelle Hogan. Michelle Holman from Maritown. That's what we do, michelle Holman. I know the mayor's have security too do they?
Speaker 2:they must be in plain clothes and kind of non-detectable they have security, so I love that.
Speaker 1:That's a big goal too.
Speaker 2:We'll get there thank you, I hope so and sharing.
Speaker 1:I really think this is my way of sharing, but you're more hands-on and actionable about it and I really admire that. A lot of my role now in my career in evolutionary healthcare. I work as business development. And so it's really spreading knowledge still in a form right in the healthcare space. I'm not hands-on with the you know, families and in the families and the patients and clients, like I was when I worked for hospice and as a nursing home administrator, you know. So it's a little different for me. I do enjoy what I do right.
Speaker 1:I think it is my, my purpose and my passion, right but it is different when you actually can see the smiles of people who makes it really feel that change, you know. So I really admire that it's all important, though.
Speaker 2:So don't try to discredit yourself by saying that you're not, you know, on the front lines, because it all makes it happen. You know, right now I'm not, you know, very hands-on. I'm behind the scenes making it happen, and sometimes you know me and the other people that work in development as well. We don't really get that recognition, but we're helping make that service continue to be possible. So if there weren't people behind the scenes making sure that we continue to get that support, those frontline people wouldn't even be able to be there to do it. So it's all important. Everybody has a place, you know, in this world with what we do.
Speaker 1:So so, as I sign off for today, thank you for joining us here and I hope you really enjoyed having the special guest Michelle Hogan with us today to share her purpose and passion. Provide knowledge and resources. That's always the goal here at Lesson Comfort Podcast, but also with Metropolitan Ministries as well. Please use the resources that are available. I always say knowledge and resources. People don't know where to get those things. I built a platform to provide that and, ms Michelle Holdenogan, you said everything I don't know. I need to really go, uh, to some like speaking classes or something you know can I plug in something?
Speaker 1:about that okay.
Speaker 2:Have you ever heard of toastmasters? Yes, I have. If you have never heard of toastmasters, it's a public speaking club. Metropolitan ministries has one. It's open to the public. We meet every Friday. I'm a part of it. I'm actually the VP of membership there. So if you want to hear more about it, you can find me on LinkedIn and I'd be happy to share the meeting information with you and have you come as a guest.
Speaker 1:What's your last name?
Speaker 2:H-O-G-A-N.
Speaker 1:Any other social sites you would like to share at all, no, LinkedIn.
Speaker 2:You can find me there leave me alone.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us. Please visit the website wwwalphamagicalsoultoncom. You've had an upgrade. Visit the website at wwwcomfortmanagersconsultingcom. We've had an upgrade to the website and we also have added services. So we're now doing business development services to support the professional and business growth for independent healthcare organizations. So if you're a small assisted living facility out there, a mobile physician practice, Comfort Measures Consulting is here to help you grow. We specialize in that area. You can join us here on the platform as well, but follow us on YouTube. You can also be found on Spotify. For those who would like to ride in the car and listen, Hit the like button. Subscribe notification bell to support. Thank you, See you next time, Please visit comfortmeasuresconsultingcom.
Speaker 2:We are here to support you and your loved ones.
Speaker 1:Thank you, thank you.
