Recap: Phoenix, AZ

We arrived in Phoenix, Arizona on the morning of Sunday, May 16. Amy was kind enough to let us take over her home for a couple days to regroup and reorganize. We took hot showers, ate hot meals, caught up on work, did all of our Zoom meetings, and even got the dog groomed.

On Monday, we drove over to the hiking location to meet up early with Rebecca Clyde, CEO of Botco.ai to record a podcast episode and then meet up with the rest of the group. It was a small, but mighty pack. We were joined by Jordan Jozwick, the VP of Marketing for the Arizona HIMSS Chapter, Loren Deutsch - a former (and returning) guest on the show, and couple other lovely ladies.

The hike was in the afternoon, so we got to see the colors shift in the sky as the sun prepared to set. The view as we made our way up the trail just kept getting better and better. So did the company. The women seemed to really gel, even though none of them knew each other before this day.

Phoenix, AZ

Where we stayed: Amy’s House!

Where we hiked: Lost Dog Trail

Indigenous Acknowledgment - Tohono O’odham | Akimel O'odham

Friends We Made

• Rebecca Clyde - LinkedIn, Twitter, Botco.ai

• Loren Deutsch - LinkedIn, Twitter, Loren Academic Services

• Jordan Jozwick - LinkedIn

• Mandy Lintz - LinkedIn

• Jessica Santa Cruz - Instagram

Conversations That Inspired Us

• About halfway through the hike, we stopped in some shade to drink water and take a short break. Loren prepared a brief mindfulness exercise and talked us through ways that we could “see with different eyes” and think about what small (or large) adjustments we could make in our lives to solve just one problem.

• The theme of “leaving a place better than you found it” really hit home, because it can be applied to physical places, work environments, or even cultures.

• Loren continued about how it’s important to just take one step in the right direction, so as not to feel overwhelmed, and how “little by little is how a bird builds its nest.”