When Leaders Become Caregivers: Family Crisis, Boundaries & Hard Decisions

Leadership often means making difficult decisions, staying calm under pressure, and showing up for others. But what happens when the hardest leadership challenge isn't at work, it's at home?

In this episode, Shelby and Belinda sit down with former diplomat and operations leader Brittany Carroll to discuss becoming a caregiver for her father while managing a demanding professional career.

Together, they explore:

• Leadership during personal crisis
• Caregiving and aging parents
• Difficult family conversations
• Workplace flexibility and employee support
• Boundaries, resilience, and decision-making
• Financial and legal preparedness
• The hidden challenges many professionals face outside the office

Whether you're a leader supporting employees through difficult seasons, caring for a loved one yourself, or simply preparing for the future, this episode offers practical insights and thoughtful leadership lessons about navigating life's most complex responsibilities.

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Transcript

Welcome And Why This Matters

0:01

Welcome to the Leadership Tea Podcast, where leadership, culture, and clarity meet conversation. I'm Shelby Smith Wilson alongside my co-host, Belinda Jackson Ferrier. And if you're new here, we would love for you to subscribe to our YouTube channel or wherever you get your podcast. And if this episode moves you, please share it with someone who needs it. And so today's guest is someone who had us nodding and taking notes even before we hit the record button. Brittany Carroll is a native Washingtonian, a former U.S. diplomat with over a decade of experience managing complex operations all over the globe. And now she is the manager of event operations at the Library of Congress. But what drew us to Brittany wasn't her credentials, it wasn't her impressive resume, it was her courage. After returning home from working abroad, Brittany discovered her father in the middle of a medical crisis. And in an instant, she gained a new title, Caregiver. What followed was a dual crisis, health and administrative, and she has been navigating these crises with the same skill set that she honed in the Foreign Service. From logistics to advocacy to managing difficult conversations to exhibiting grace under pressure. Brittany has been documenting her journey in real time on her Substack, Life Be Lifen, because she knows that she is not the only one going through it. And she refuses to let the rest of us feel alone. This conversation is one of the more honest, raw, and important conversations that we've had during this season of the Leadership Tee podcast. Grab your cup, grab your notepad. This one is going to stay with you. You'll find out information on how to get in touch with Brittany in the show notes. So please connect with her. She is building something worth following. And now, let's get into it. Hi, Britney.

From Diplomat To Event Operations

2:10

Thank you so much for joining us. And we're really excited to have you here on the podcast. I'm wondering if you can start by telling us a little bit about yourself and your story, and also sharing what led you to begin your blog about caregiving. Yeah, absolutely. I'm so excited to be on the show. Um, I am a native Washingtan. So right now I am here in DC. Um, but a couple of weeks ago, I was a diplomat and I've been serving for about a little over a decade, specializing in management and operations all over the world. And while I was in that career, I found sort of my passion. And so I decided last year that I was going to pivot. So now I am leading event operations at the Library of Congress, which is a perfect blend and a perfect marriage between my operations background and also what I'm passionate about, which is events. So I'm on week three. It's quite early. Um, and I don't know quite what I'm doing yet, but it's really exciting to be sort of one of the world's or the US oldest cultural institution. What led me into caregiving was last year I was coming back from a two-week work trip in Korea, and I went to go pick up my dog from my parents' house. My dad was supposed to be watching my dog for two weeks. And when I saw my dad, I said, man, he doesn't look too good. Uh and I saw him two days later at my aunt's house, and I knew something was wrong. It was seriously wrong. He had dropped probably about 15 pounds in the two weeks that I was gone on the trip. And so I tried to get him to, I tried to actually call the ambulance at that time and he refused. And so the compromise was that we were going to take him to his primary care physician. So a couple days later,

The Moment Caregiving Begins

3:55

I picked him up, take him to the primary care physician. Some of the symptoms that I saw when I first saw them when I got home, they were still there. And then about three days later, an impromptu random trip at my parents' house, I found my dad in my parents' basement. Uh, and he was in the middle of having several strokes and a lot of other complications. So that is when I gained a new title, which is Caregiver. I decided to write about it because I wanted to always find something to write about in general, but I think there were so many things that were happening in my mind and emotionally that I found writing to be the most constructive outlet to just sort of get it out. And the other aspect of it was that I wanted to capture in real time what this experience is like. Because you don't just like go, oh, I'm gonna start caretaking on this date or at this time. It sort of like happens, and so that was my experience, and I wanted to capture that through writing. I can say personally that I've been really moved by your blog. That's what led us to wanting to have you on the podcast because I think a lot of people can relate. I know a lot of people can relate to suddenly having to be in this position of caregiving, whether your parents are already in excellent health or not. A lot of us are facing unexpected challenges in taking care of our parents. And I can't imagine what it must have been like to find your father in that state. But one of the things that you've talked about is that your your role as a caregiver has really evolved into a dual crisis. There's the the health part of the crisis, and then there's the financial administrative part of the crisis that's that's happening at the same time. And I'm wondering if you can take us into that moment in terms of what did it feel like when you realized the full scope of what you were facing and what are some of the unexpected life decisions

Health Crisis Meets Paperwork Chaos

6:10

that you had to make as a result? Yeah, I it kind of was, if I can uh like it to any sort of imagery, it would be like a a ball rolling down the hill and you can't stop it. I think for all of us, we think, you know, our parents may be super independent and you don't quite know what's going on. They just sort of have been spending their most of their life handling their affairs. And so for the most part, I didn't really have an inside peek at what that looked like. Like if something actually did happen, I wouldn't know where their passwords are to their phone or to their social media accounts or to their email or what bank, their primary bank account. You know, I don't, I wouldn't have any of those numbers. And I do remember before I went to Iraq, there was something about going to Iraq. I was like, just in case I don't make it, here are all my papers. And, you know, this is where you'll find my beneficiary forms if something happens to me. And then it starts sparked that conversation of, well, well, if something happens to you, where are your papers? So I think I planted the seed probably like five years ago, and it just didn't happen. But now, you know, now I'm in this crisis with my dad and he's in the ICU and he's kind of incapacitated. And now it is sort of like I have to learn all of this medical terminology, but then I also need to figure out what's going on with his finances because with all of the administration that comes with getting the right resources, they're going to start asking about assets and what that looks like. I'm like, I all I know is the physical things. I don't know what's going on with the liquid assets, right? And so I do remember probably within the first week, if not the second week, my mom handed me a tub full of like all of my dad's papers that he had like stuffed in a drawer. Stuffed in a drawer, just said I had it strewn in place where he was like just sleeping. I was like, okay, it was a big tub. And I remember going, All right, the only way that I can get through this is if I can organize it. So I think I've already put on my management cap. And I don't think I was, I put the emotions in a box and I was like, I've got to sort this out so I can understand what's going on. I got two of my really close friends that were asking at the time how could they help? And I was like, actually, I need help sorting. And I remember sitting in my basement with this big tub of papers, and I think I was like laughing to keep from crying because it was getting more ridiculous by the hours, right? I'm like, what were you doing? Like, what is going on? So I think for me, it's like finally, whatever they may have not been comfortable sharing, sort of like but wide open. I'm looking at mail, I'm looking at old legal documents, I'm looking at accounts, I'm looking at bank statements. I am just bewildered. So I remember sorting through all of that with my two friends. And then even, you know, days afterwards, when we had gotten it all sorted out, at one point, I think I just like sat and cried in my house alone because I was like, what in the world? We are not only in a health crisis, now I'm in a financial crisis because the things that I thought may have been taken care of are not taken care of, or they just didn't have time to get to those things. And so now it's like, okay, this is why I'm here. This is why I'm home. You know, they put you through school, some of the best schools to help, then this is the time that I can help. So that's what I sort of did. I just kind of was very methodical about making sure that I can get everything organized so I can tackle things um bit by bit. Yeah, no, thank you. That sounds like a good transition, actually, to my next question. I'm kind of thinking

Medicaid Breakdowns And Mixed Messages

10:12

about what you said about a ball rolling down a hill, right? And and you just can't stop it. I know that you've joined the DC Medicaid Advisory Committee because of your experience and the things that you've seen. And I'm wondering what are one or two of the biggest systemic failures that you've seen and what needs to change? Yeah, this is a good question. The two like most notable things that I have experienced and sort of observed is that the systems are not talking to each other. And I think we all have been in very large organizations where we see this very complex, sort of, you know, different parts moving and they're different departments. And you have this one mission and one goal, but somewhere through that process, the communication is sort of lagging, or there is sort of a lack of communication or flow and process of information. So for instance, they have in DC, uh, if you have Medicaid, for example, they are asking individuals to go to a platform called District Direct, which is supposed to be this electronic platform where you can upload things and get status updates and basically facilitate all of those different administrative actions that are needed for your resources. The problem is you can't find the forms. And also, you know, if the electronic platform is supposed to cut down on the paper mail, I get probably a paper mail on each transaction or each singular action, like almost every month. So it's sort of counterintuitive. Like if it's supposed to help sort of streamline the process and probably also cut down on costs, you're still, you know, not saving anything by sending paper mail. And then the other aspect of it is that I don't think that when the system was built, they really thought about the type of individuals navigating that system. You know, if you are on Medicaid assistance, um, you're probably one of this like part of the vulnerable population. So you may not necessarily be computer literate or know how to navigate it, or you may be a minor, or what if you're incapacitated? Which means that then the advocate is navigating the system. And if the system is arduous to navigate, it's now more unpaid man hours that I you would have to spend just trying to navigate the system. The other aspect of this is that I noticed that when I would go to Medicaid centers, um, they were giving me different messaging. And so what I brought up to the Medicaid advisory committee was that I, you know, I wonder if you all are doing what we used to we call in the department Norman sessions and counselor operations, if we were doing sort of visa adjudications, we want to make sure that everybody behind that window is kind of adjudicating a case um similar across the board, right? And so we call that norming sessions. So I brought that up in my first meeting. Hey, are your different um, you know, your different sort of offices doing cross-training and going through crisis simulations and different problems so that you all are thinking about an issue or a problem and it's uniform. And so I think it's it's hand in hand. It's it's making sure that the systems that you built, that you will also test them out yourself and putting yourselves in the customer's shoes. And then also making sure that internally you have training that will constantly bring about different types of cases, unique cases that are going to come across. You shared a lot of practical tips on what sounds like an incredibly challenging process to navigate. One point that you made on communication that I wanted

Tough Calls With Parents And Dignity

14:05

to pull the thread on, one of the things that Belinda and I talk about is that the internal diplomacy or the internal communications are just as important as the external. And I'm wondering, as we talk about professionally, how it can be difficult to have conversations with people who are senior to us, especially, you know, with people who outrank us. I'm wondering how have you had those difficult conversations with your parents as you're coming in to kind of take over roles that your parents traditionally have played when it comes to guiding you and making certain life decisions, and now you're playing that role. How are you holding the line with your parents when it's time to make those tough calls while still, you know, maintaining a level of respect for them and protecting their dignity? Oh my goodness. If I'm gonna be frank and honest, man, I'm barely holding the line by a thread, by a strew, like a shoestring at this point. Um man, those parents, they don't listen. Um it's so fascinating, so interesting, right? You would think that you uh you you would have so many different experiences professionally that will help you personally, but then you realize that sometimes even talking to individuals that have known you the longest and are familiar with you, like it is the most challenging and most difficult conversations you're having because it's not only just the facts, it's also the matters of the heart. And so, you know, as I'm also like I am dealing with the health crisis and I'm dealing with the financial crisis, I'm also dealing with relational changes, right? There's a lot of transitions that are happening. There is the physical transitions, um, you know, the actual physical body transitioning. My dad was able-bodied around this time, like he was the family handyman. And now, you know, he's using a stroller and he can't do all the things that he used to do. And then there is sort of the different dynamics between who's the next of kin and power of attorney. If you had asked this question, if this sort of situation came up three or four years ago, it would have technically been my mom. Well, that's no longer the case. They're no longer married. So then there's there's that shift in dynamic and sort of communications and what that looks like. Um, and then there's also just sort of like communicating and translating what the professionals are saying. So we could sit in a doctor's appointment, and I I realized that maybe in that first doctor's appointment, oh, my dad really is just he's listening to what the doctor's saying, but he's not asking follow-up questions. And I've got a list of follow-up questions. So it is translating what the doctor's saying and then also reiterating that or saying it in a way that I know my dad will be able to understand. And so I find that um I'm probably over-communicating, I'm probably over-sharing because I don't want them to feel like they're being left out of the decision-making process, especially if they've been used to making the decisions for so long. And then the other aspect of it is like when I cannot get an agreement or I cannot come to a compromise. And this is not just with my dad. This is also with, you know, my mom. If I cannot come to a compromise, I am going to make an executive decision. And I am going to be okay with the executive decision because I know I've already done all of the research. I've done all the back end, I've already played all the scenarios in my head on why this will be the best course of action. And so for me, you know, by doing that, I'm also triaging and prioritizing what's important. Yeah, you know, yeah, I I understand your feelings about this. I understand you want to drive. You're not driving. And and and also I'm taking the keys because I don't want you to be tempted by that. And then we're back in the emergency room or the hospital. And then also, you know, things like, hey, we we've got to pay this bill today, and I'm I'm gonna use this this account to pay that bill. Or I need to move you back home because that's where your resources are gonna be. That's how you can best sort of like integrate back into community, but also I can't access the resources that you need to also be able to live my life as well. So this is we we're gonna have to do this. And those are difficult conversations to navigate. I think I just take it sometimes day by day and sometimes week by week, right? Because if I know that thing has to get done and we have a deadline, I can't wait for it to feel good for every individual that's involved in that decision. Because if I don't do anything, then it's gonna get worse.

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19:35

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What New Caregivers Should Do First

20:25

that makes sense. And um I think Shelby and I already see that to an extent, being Gen Xers who are in this sandwich generation where we are balancing issues with our parents as well as issues with our kids. You know, we definitely encounter those kinds of difficult conversations. I'm wondering as you reflect back on your experience, is there advice that you would give to someone who is just entering this caretaking space? What are some of the most important things you wish you had known before all of this happened? I think if you're not super organized in your day-to-day, it's important to get really organized because the crisis is going to disrupt. It's going to disrupt whatever your flow is. And so you're going to have to find a system that works for you and whoever you're advocating for. And by creating that system, you need to get organized. Um, the other aspect of this is review your financial picture just because you may be thrust into a financial situation that you were not necessarily aware of. There are a lot of hidden costs and unspoken costs to caregiving that may sometimes don't even find it on your tax write offs, right? You know? And so you, I would say, review your own finances and then set parameters and boundaries on what you can do and what you can't do. A good example of this is. You know, we're all human. We all came into this earth and we're all at some point gonna leave this earth. That means we're gonna have to start talking about death a little bit and start talking about arrangements for what that looks like. And so uh I'm very sick, so I'm like, I I got time, right? But we we don't know the time or the hour, right? And so with that comes being honest about, hey, do you have all your stuff together if you don't make it? You know, and so that has made me wake up even with my own sort of affairs of, hey, I know you're still young, but if something happens, like you go on that trip, you know, for your vacation and you don't make it, you already got one parent that needs help. They're not gonna be able to go through this, you know. And the other parent also has caregiving responsibilities as well. Make this as easy as possible. So those are the the two things. Get organized and assess your financial picture. I think that's really important. I've been talking, I don't know if I was talking to Belinda or to my husband about this, may have even been my sister-in-law, where we we do a lot when it comes to preparing for someone's birth. And what you said about, you know, talking about death really resonates because, you know, you you have baby showers, you come up with registries, you you know, alter your house, you figure out where's the baby gonna sleep and all of these things. And yet when it comes to death, we're we're so afraid of dealing with our own mortality to our detriment. Because as you said, you know, if you don't have your finances in order, if you aren't organized, you're really leaving a burden for the people that you love to figure it out after you're gone.

The Invisible Load And Workplace Policies

23:50

And that's just an unnecessary weight. To that end, I'm wondering as the eldest daughter, as the person who holds power of attorney, as a woman, and I'm also speaking from an empathetic place, and and I think Belinda can attest to this too, the daughters often deal with a lot. We assume a lot of responsibilities that are invisible. And in your case, you know, you've you've made a complete career pivot in order to be available to your father in ways that you just didn't expect. And I guess I'm wondering, what do you want people to understand about the invisible weight that you're carrying? And not just people, but what can employers understand or or do even to support people like you who are carrying this invisible weight? Yeah, that's a good question. I think I've I've started to uh massage sort of this this topic of how can I speak to leadership, CEOs, organizations about workplace sort of norms and policies that impact their labor force, right, and their employees. Because uh one of the interesting things of working um back here in DC when I was uh with the State Department was that prior to the administration change, there was a big push for telework posture or job sharing, um, just trying to accommodate some of the challenges that were noted in the attrition surveys of why people were essentially leaving. And based off of the statistics, women overwhelmingly were leaving because of family obligations. And so I do remember at one point I was actually on a work trip and I was talking to a CG about this. I and he just he just wouldn't understand why I was already thinking about leaving. And I think in my spirit, I already knew in that very last, like my last full tour, that was gonna be my last tour. There was something that that needed me back home. At the time, I wasn't quite sure what was, but I was like, I think I need to go back home and stay home for a second. Obviously, this situation was one of the biggest reasons. But um, he just wasn't understanding. I was like, you know, I think the family obligation, I don't have anybody else to sort of like share the responsibility. Yes, I have a sibling that's younger, but they have special needs. So there's really just me to be able to triage and help my parents or my family. So there's that. So when there was an administration ship, there was then all automatically a return to the office mandate that was incredibly crushing for a lot of people because some people moved to their home state to help their parents. Some people were, you know, trying to balance both telework and coming in so that they could either care for children or they could care for their parents. And then now you have to scramble to figure out how am I going to go back to, I call it the pre-COVID era, where I was already struggling, but I was quietly suffering. Um, and so it's it's an invisible sort of stress that happens. I cannot show up fully as an employee if I'm stressed about my personal life, because my personal life and my professional life are not in two different individuals. I'm embodying that in one person. So imagine, you know, you having the stress of trying to figure out what's going on on the home front, and then I have to come to my office and also figure things out for my organization. And so I think there's an exhaustion that no amount of sleep is going to be able to resolve because you are constantly thinking. There's no time to actually stop thinking. Then also the cost, you know, if I'm if I was fine, you know, working from home, I'm not paying for gas, or I'm not doing a one, two, sometimes four-hour commute. If you're looking at the full commute, that that's four hours of my time that I can also probably multitask and do other things and still get my job done. In fact, I'm gonna be very honest, I think I worked more when I was teleworking than I was actually coming into the office. I think I wasted more time in the office because I found a reason to go visit somebody's office and chat with them for 30 minutes, then go down for my lunch for an hour, then take two breaks and maybe the 15 turn into 30, and then that's the end of the day. I have wasted time. But when I'm at home, you know, I don't have to worry about the four-hour commute of like fighting with public transport and where am I gonna park and all of that. So I think when you start thinking about particularly the younger generation, because I think the the previous generations really were like, I'm gonna go into work, I'm gonna clock into work, I'm clocking to work, I'm gonna stay at this job, I'm gonna stay at this job until I retire, and then I'm gonna retire. My generation's like, not this generation, yeah. You're not paying me enough, I'm about to dip. And the younger generation is like, I don't like how you're talking to me, I'm quitting today. I don't even care what the rules are. So a lot of leaders have to reimagine the priorities of this next generation, which is this workforce that's coming up, and then also just the demand. If people are having children much later, that means that they're experiencing caregiving much earlier. So you're not talking about caregiving towards the end of your career, you're talking about caregiving probably in the middle, and the reality is for some people, it may be at the beginning. So they really have to reimagine the roles within their organization and really take a look. Can this does this job need to be on site fully, or can we do it hybrid? Or is this job a fully telework eligible job and be honest about that and not make a workforce or workplace sort of like policy decision because you feel or you would like to have the meeting in person without thinking about all of the other factors into why someone would want to stay in your organization, your company, or your institution, or is already starting to fill out applications to find another employment. So that is what I would like to impart upon individuals who are making these decisions. As you mentioned, people who were juggling elder care and taking care of their kids. And I think the whole conversation around telework just shifted dramatically to like, oh, it's it's a perk. Like I'm giving, I'm doing someone a favor by allowing them to telework as opposed to thinking about the business case. Does this make sense? Does this role need to be in person, as you said, or you know, as you mentioned, perhaps people are more productive when they're at home. So thank you for elaborating

Self Care That Actually Fits Real Life

31:45

on that. You are going through a lot. And I if I could just applaud you for the care in which you are approaching taking care of your dad, it's really admirable, these new roles that you have assumed and that you're juggling. And I guess I'm wondering, as a woman who knows what it's like to wear multiple hats, how are you taking care of yourself? What are you doing to make sure that Brittany is okay? And what advice do you have for other people who are caregivers when it comes to just finding time for you? Yeah, it's a good question. I think everyone sort of asked that question like, how are you, how are you surviving? Um, I I think for me, it's really an attitude uh posture. Like I think for me, it's like your attitude. Like a lot of things are gonna happen to you, right? And some of them, you know what's gonna happen, and some of some of them are absolutely unexpected. And I think for me, my my attitude was like, okay, at the beginning of each year or towards the end of the year, what do I want to look forward to in the new year? I know that there are some things that I may anticipate and some things that I will not be able to anticipate. But if you can sort of set your intentions on what the theme is for the year, then perhaps you can build that sort of life and activities around what responsibilities you have. So for me, I my theme this year, because I had a theme last year, and then gosh, all hell broken. So I was like, you know what, honestly, just scrap it. Um but this year it was about discipline and alignment. So that has really helped me focus on what I'm gonna say yes to and what I'm gonna say no to. And I also uh have a terrible habit as someone who often says yes to a lot of things of putting more on my books than I can actually handle in a day. I don't know why I do that. I just like to write lists and I love seeing it, the line go through it and say, oh, I accomplished it. Um I thought that was just me. No, I love it. I love to see it. But girl, you can't do 10 things in one day. There's only 24 hours, and you don't have Beyonce's team. So I think for me, I'm like, okay, if it's just seven. So for me, that has been my rule. Put seven things on the planner and that's it. Don't try to do all of them all at once, just do those seven things and then be okay with that. So, really managing my own expectations on how productive I am, and also scheduling in if I have to, doing absolutely nothing. That is also a thing. Like, I can take a couple of weekends or even a couple of weeks if I need to and do nothing. I did that over the Christmas holiday. I did not write that much in December because I was like, I don't want the pressure of writing on my Substack, and I just really want to sit here and eat cookies and ice cream and watch, you know, my TV series for a while. Um, so I'm just, you know, like revel in doing nothing. Then I also, um, going back to just like alignment, you know, I was like, okay, in order for me to balance my responsibilities, I also need to make sure I'm having fun. So I I call them like my side quest of the year. My side quest this year was to do hand dancing. DC, there's all different types of hand dancing in different areas. So DC has hand dancing. So I signed up for hand dancing class, and I've got, you know, I finished my beginner level of hand dancing. So, you know, I'm right, ready to get out there a little bit. And then I'm also, you know, signed up for marathons and running. So I did my first 5K, and so throughout the year, I've increased the distance because I used to run about 10 years ago. I'm like, why don't you take that back up again? Why don't you run and clear your head? And that was sort of my charge. It was like, as my dad learns how to walk, you know, again and get stronger, I will get back into running. So we've got two sort of goals, and you know, that's sort of our way of staying connected. But yeah, I just I try not to stress out too much about my responsibilities. I know that everybody has the capacity to do what they can. I know my capacity. And to take care of myself, I also make sure that I'm asking for help when I need it. So um I've tagged a couple of my friends when I'm like, I'm a little overwhelmed, which is something I didn't do before. I used to just sort of like quietly let it sit. And I probably may have like let it build and have a bit of a crash out moment. But I, you know, now it's like, okay, I'm overwhelmed, honey. I the my office looks crazy. Can you come by and help me organize this? Or can you, you know, I need to order this thing for my dad. Can you there's the prescription? I know you can like just go ahead and handle it, you know? So it's just been great, actually, like with all the responsibility, just leaning on my network and really getting good at just triaging and just enjoying myself. Like life is so short. If I decide, you know, if I don't make it today, did I live a full life and did I find pockets of joy? You know, in the midst of life life in, uh, did I did I find joy in that, you know, in the moments? And I think there's a lot of noise that's happening domestically, and there's a lot of noise that's happening globally. But are you are you ordering your relationships? You know, are you ordering yourself? And so that is that is what I'm leaning on to get me through this this tough season that I'm in is to make sure that I'm ordering myself. I love that. If we're not finding joy, then what's the point? If we're not finding, if we're not living life to the fullest, then why are we here? And yeah, responsibilities happen, storms happen, we've got to do the work, but we need to leave this earth knowing that we tried our best and we tried to have a full, comprehensive experience. So I 100% agree with that. Well, look, Brittany, this has been an amazing conversation. And as we wrap up, I'm interested

Finding Brittany Online

38:07

in learning more about how our audience can connect with you. Where can they find your blog? And is there anything else that you'd like to share with us? Yeah, definitely. Uh, so on my Substack, which is Life Be Life In, um, you know, I talk about caregiving, I talk about professional pivots, and I talk about everything in the in-between. Um, that is where I sort of am archiving and also writing about this experience in real time, but also talking about now that I'm out of the Foreign Service, what my life was like as a diplomat. I think we see the formalities, but we don't see the behind the scenes. And so talking about some of the things that we do, because I don't think we tell our stories that often. And I think they are really good stories and could be connectors up to into sort of like the policy, but also some of just sort of the real world experiences and perspectives that we've been able to see the world. So that's my Substack. And then on my LinkedIn, I think I'm, you know, you can connect with me on LinkedIn. It's my name, Brittany Carroll. And that's where I also talk about like event management and operations. There's a lot about that space that people do not realize. And as I sort of um find sort of my niche, which is events and working in the government space, there's a lot of behind the scenes that people also don't know about. So um just being um opened and transparent about some of my experiences. I will probably dig from the archives to talking about working at multilateral conferences and what that looked like, or being in the room with some of these politicians a lot of times, and so just sort of the things that you would see, but also what the operations and the actual field looks like. So those are the two places you can find me. Perfect. Well, thank you so much. I think

Final Reflections And Thanks

39:55

you've given us a lot of great tips and things to think about, right? Whether it's the challenging conversations or getting organized or making sure that our families don't have papers in a tub. It's remembering to find joy and to not be afraid to pivot if that's what we need to do, and to build a life that encompasses all the things that we need to take care of, even though these systems don't always want to allow us to do that. So I know I'm walking away with a lot of food for thought. Chelpia, I would think you are as well. This has been just an amazing episode. Yes, thank you so much, Brittany. And again, just our hats off to you for everything that you're doing. You're a good daughter. Your parents are fortunate to have you in their lives. Seriously, everything that you're helping to helping them to navigate um should not be taken for granted. And as Belinda said, I've certainly learned a lot from this conversation. I'm going to continue watering myself, as you said, that you're watering yourself. That that is a bar. Um, but seriously, everything that you've shared with our listeners has been really meaningful and helpful. So so thank you. Yeah, thank you both for having me.