4.4 - "We don't always run into celebrities...but when we do, they're Aggie celebrities"

Transcript

Welcome to episode four, five, five, four, I don't know of Coffee Talk.

Our guest today is Morgan. Meet her meter.

Sorry, I told you I was going to mess that up. Hey, I got it right here. It's Meador, Meador, Meador. I met her. Meet her.

Yes, it's fine. She is the convention sale services manager

for the George and Cavalry Court Hotel since March of 2021. Morgan is responsible for all the planning,

organizing and managing the in-house details for all large groups and convention bookings at both hotels.

And in addition to all of the catering events in-house, including weddings, Texas A&M events and corporate meetings.

Having spent ten plus years in the food and beverage industry before making the leap to sales and convention services in 2019, as the sales manager

at the Phillips Event Center in Bryan, Texas, Morgan is from Montgomery,

Texas. Went to Texas A&M for Sports Management and Sam Houston for Mass

Communication, Mass Communication, Mass communication for the masses.

Interesting. Are we masses? Do we mass? Hey, I have a side question.

Do you ever read to like the children on Sunday, like on the Sunday reading day at bookstores? No. You should.

You have your definite like Old Lady Reader Voice. Thank you. My Grandma used to read at the library at our school, I got it from her.

So we're good. Yes, welcome, yes, but no, sorry. Thank you for having me.

All right. So you do a lot. Yes. Can you break it down for us?

Yeah. You gonna give her a beat? Thank you. I needed that.

And so basically, we have our group sales managers that go out and bring all these big conventions and corporations to the hotels.

And then they turn it over to me and I'm in charge of all the details kind of making their big event dreams come to life.

So these corporations will come to me wanting just to have, you know, a couple of day meetings

and I work with them to make them more than just meetings. So adding in luncheons and audio/visual

and reception events and working with them to get the details so that their days go flawlessly

and all they have to worry about is the material for the meetings. And then I'm also in charge of all, like the one off catering events

that we have here. So any sorority events, Texas A&M events, weddings, recruiting events, all of that.

So I will talk to those clients and just work with them to get the details and.

have a successful event. So when you do the planning with them, do you also do a lot of pairing

like the hotel reservations or is it just mostly like the on site events? And there's no stay involved?

Yeah, pretty much. My department will just take care of the actual on site events. And so I will work with the rooms

when the group sale managers actually go out and get those big corporate schools, they sell the rooms in with them.

So I'm in charge of like getting the names that are going to go on the reservations and pretty much every detail they'll need once they get here.

So like, are you going to do gift bags? Do you want to have a welcome reception as people are entering in?

Are you going to need any transportation? All of those kind of details as well.

Lots of lists. Is there a base checklist that you use? There is

One of the most valuable classes I ever took at Texas A&M was that very first class that they make you take

where you learn how to study and organize and make a planner. I still use all of that.

Today, I still have a planner that is a school planner that I use for each event, my daily To-Do list.

I plan it out all the day before because you can't. Someone in my position has to be so detailed

that if we miss one thing, it could make an entire event fall apart. Yeah, so a lot of pressure,

but it's a blast. I love it. I love it. I mean, like because we do events. But you know, only one little thing that we might forget.

We can typically easily remedy. We're like oh yeah, we got it. No problem. Yes. If I do that, it's somebody else's event falls apart.

Not just my event. If it's my event and it falls apart, you know? That was my fault. But I have multiple events happening at the same time.

Like, I'll have Calvary Court events happening at the same time as the George event. So I have to make sure all the details are perfect for both events,

which is really hard when you have two events going on the same time and you're trying to figure out who needed what and where.

So how many people when you're - so you talk about the corporate sales and then what you're doing plus working with bookings.

So how many people do you think from y'all's company, like touches an event? I mean, leading up to it?

Yeah. So we have four people in our sales office, so we each have our own little departments, like ones in charge of fire.

One's in charge of Texas A&M. So realistically, you're looking at about three people

touching every event.

Not too many hands in the cookie jar, no planning by committee is awful. Yeah. That is my biggest

You know, it gets very confusing, especially with multiple people, but we have to have really good communication in the sales office

so that when you sell something and give it to me, we have a conversation about every little detail before it gets to me.

Sure. Yeah, it's good. I feel like that's us. But no, no,

I think we're more organized chaos. Yeah. Chaos, for sure. Yeah.

Well, but I mean the I'm just thinking our clients are pretty. That's what I'm saying. I'm thinking from a client standpoint.

The planning by committee is not fun from the client's end or as a event planner working with the planning committee.

Oh yeah, we'll have planning committees come in here and I'll just sit in on their conversations.

Do you feel like by the end of it, you're more exhausted than when you walked into it?

It's a lot easier for me when they have their meeting and then come in with one unified like idea,

then when I'm there while they're coming up with all the ideas. You. I just like take notes and then you like double back

and you're like, Wait, so did you agree on this? I don't even take notes anymore

Because by the end of it, nothing's ever resolved, ever. Well you don't do events anymore.

Well, I mean, I have a few. But that's just because I pick the ones I want to do.

Yeah. So what's your favorite part of your job? The people.

I'm a people person, and I love getting to work with these clients. And especially when you're talking about like weddings and rehearsal dinners and stuff like that,

where you're getting to take somebody's vision and make it like, beautiful Why am I getting side eye?

You hate weddings! But the thing is, there's people out here who enjoy doing them, and that's wonderful. I won't.

They're definitely the hardest to do. 100%, the most stressful, hardest event.

But after the event, it's also like the most rewarding feeling when you get that like email afterwards that like, couldn't have done this

without you or anything like that. It just makes it 100% worth all that stress you dealt with leading up to it.

Yeah, I like the micro wedding. Oh yeah, like the baby weddings. Not the big weddings. Not gonna lie, rehearsal dinners are my favorite.

Well, yeah, because they're the pre party. Yes, because they're still the same vision coming together and dealing

with those clients, but they're way more relaxed than that wedding day. Absolutely.

I think for me, it's just it's frustrating because people have this idea of what the wedding day should be and then if anything goes slightly wrong,

according to timeline, their plan, whatnot, whether you have someone helping you day of or not,

but no one's going to remember, that's the part that I think from a logical standpoint, OK, if like no one's going to pay attention to the place setting,

how many people actually know how to set the table correctly ? Well, that's what I'm saying. Like, I know I do.

Yeah, I look at that. It really is. Yes, we all do.

But you're also in this industry and you're thinking like family, friends that come into this, that aren't in this industry, and that's not their daily job is to look at the details of these things.

I mean, think about it every time you even had it happen to you with AV when you first started,

like with the cabling, the spacing of the tables and chairs, those things you didn't pay attention to until you started actually doing them.

I mean, when I was in catering, well, maybe not the AV stuff, but I knew when cable looked messy.

Well, yes. That's a trip hazard. Yeah, I'm sure. But I mean, like going into a place.

I mean, for example, the first time it happened to me, I'd started doing this stuff for a year and I go into a church service on a Sunday and I'm like, Oh my gosh,

the pastor's going to trip, going upstairs because there's people like those things that you don't think about normal day, you know?

So that's the part for weddings that makes me frustrated is because the little things that are

not going to be detrimental to what's happening to the day of is what people hold on to. And so it's like you should just be excited and celebrating what's happening.

It's going to happen no matter what. And let it ride. Yeah, but that's also how I plan events anyway.

Yeah. So I just knew very many. I feel like mine are very successful because I'm just like, whatever?

Because you get the clients that already have everything planned that we've been doing the same event for ten years.

Not true. That's not true. The one I'm helping with is first ever. Yeah, well, clearly I'm

doing more than helping. My phone keeps blowing up. I just started ignoring them and sent them back to Michael.

Yeah. Anyway, sorry, people, I think it's my goal as a planner is to like, try and take all that stress away for them so that they don't have to worry

about that on their day. That's like my goal. Absolutely. I want to think of all of those things before you even show up

so that you don't have to worry about them. Like, I've already thought about worst case scenario. We - those cables are taped down.

We are safety taped all the way. We're not breaking fire code. That's why the wedding stress me out is because they can't let go.

Even if you try and you do everything and it's going to go beautifully, they just can't let go.

Yeah, some do. Some not all of them, but all of them. Well, I'd like to think that I will, but I don't know. I'll let you know

in about 12 days. We'll do a follow up. Yeah, OK, so back to my question, I'm sorry.

Can you tell us a little bit about the facilities you have to offer when booking special events? Yes.

So the really fun part about my job is that we have two different hotels that are so unique

that we have a lot to offer. So we have Calvary Court, which is going to be like a rustic military themed hotel.

So we have our stables ballroom over here. It's a ballroom that can hold up to 180 people,

but it can also be divided in half and hold around 80 people in each side.

And we can really utilize that facility to do meetings, weddings,

reception style events. And then we have this beautiful outdoor courtyard area

so you can incorporate a indoor outdoor event over here as well. In our courtyards are the main thing that I love about Calvary Court

is that we have this beautiful courtyard area where once you're inside of it, especially at nighttime, you don't feel like you're in College

Station Texas, you feel like you are on a resort. We have a live music every Friday Saturday night,

so if you're having an event over here or just having a staycation with your friends, you really feel like you have traveled far away from College Station, Texas .

So I love that about Calvary Court. We also have a small board room like the one we're in right now, the

saddle room, and then we have a pavilion in our canteen restaurant.

If you're looking for a more casual setting while over at the George, it's going to be like a more modern take on,

like a Texas rustic venue. So it's going to be industrial

and that ballroom over there is going to be kind of your typical ballroom. We can hold up to 300 people in there.

It also divides kind of into one third and two thirds for different size events.

And then we have a boardroom over there that it's full of windows.

So it's going to be great for your little board meetings where you want to not feel like you're actually in a board meeting.

You're just kind of hanging out in a room with your coworkers. And then we have a beautiful pool area over at the George, too,

and it's kind of sunken in to look like a watering hole and makes a great space for like reception.

Wow, that's a lot. Yes, we have a lot of space. We'll say I do love the fire pits at night outside of Calvary Court.

It's really nice. So that was actually give me one of my questions. So if you guys who live music every Friday and Saturday, if someone comes and does a wedding, is that something that's just

you guys don't cancel that. That's a normal part of what you'll do. So that is a normal part of what we do

on Fridays, Saturdays. Typically for weddings, We'll have their band or

DJ inside. And you cannot hear the band outside.

You can not hear the deejay inside. It's going to be two separate sounds. And then we have had like rehearsal dinners

that want to band out here on the parade green. And we've worked with the canteen to kind of schedule the bands so that they won't be playing at the same time.

It just has a lot of preplanning to go into it and just to make sure one our rehearsal dinners get exactly what they want

and then two our just hotel guests get to enjoy live music as well. So I would pass on paying for a DJ and

band just book on a Friday Saturday night. Right? Hm we're just gonna wander over here. Yeah y'all just go outside and listen

But the fire pits are really cool too, because we can incorporate those into doing like s'mores at the end of the night.

And like, we have one event coming up that's doing a whole variety of s'mores stations

that will have actual s'mores for them to do. Then we'll have a little s'mores shooters that are already made for people who don't want to make s'mores and then these little s'more cupcakes.

So it's just a whole little variety that you can use. What day is that?

Yeah, just randomly show up. Yeah. So with that, how you said that, how do I randomly show up?

So how do you separate like an event that's happening outside with something that's available to the guests of the hotel?

So it is a little bit difficult. Basically just staffing. And really, we haven't had an issue with it because

hotel guests just see something going on and they're like, Yeah, that's not me. You know, we really haven't had that.

But, you know, with hiring security, They've clearly never had people like you in their hotel. Yeah, wristbands, you'd be going down there talking to everybody.

We're a part of the family by the end of it. But like if people have hotel rooms too like, say that their event

is going to be in the courtyard, well, we would just book all their hotel rooms like these corporate groups in that side of the courtyard.

So that whole section is all of that one group anyways. Yeah, and they can just stumble back to their rooms.

Yes, absolutely. Yikes. That's the best part about having an event at a hotel is because you don't

have to go anywhere you can, and if you need to change your shoes, it's fine. You just go back to your hotel room

and then come back and change your shoes or put on a coat. I agree

I'm with you on that one. So what all is included in a room rental, so we include all of our tables.

We have 60 inch rounds, 72 inch rounds, we have cocktail tables, we have classroom style tables.

We also include floor length linens. So we have those in ivory, black or maroon.

Of course, we have to have maroon and we have our banquet chairs. These really beautiful, grey chairs with black trimming so they go

really well with both our George Ballroom and our Calvary Court Ballroom. We have plenty of decorative tables too.

Yeah I like the wood top ones y'all have and we have beautiful like shelving and smaller tables.

So if people want just like little displays, we have those that they can use. We do have standard centerpieces unique to both the George

and Calvary Court that people can utilize. And then we've we include all the glassware, the plating, all of that and our waitstaff.

Wow, that's a lot. So and typically we run off of like food and beverage minimums rather than room rental.

So if you're coming here to have an event, we aren't going to charge you for the room. It's just like a food and beverage minimum that you have to meet.

Wow. And we do all the catering in-house, we do all the bartending in-house. We have our own AV department in-house,

so we really are like a one stop shop for events. Yeah, that's awesome.

We're getting there. We are slowly. Do you guys have- does your in-house caterer Do they ever go off site?

Yes, we do have a couple events that we do offsite. We work really close to the Texas A&M football team,

do some offsite catering for them and then, you know, one offs.

It has to be a big enough event for us to go off. We before COVID, we were we did a lot of offsite catering,

and that's just one of those things we had to scale back during COVID. So we're slowly rebuilding that.

Put them on my list Yeah, I ask, well, because originally when it was built, we had been working with.

I don't remember his name, but I guess it was Rosemary's catering. Yes. Is that what it's called still? No

They left in the middle of COVID. So now it's all in-house. Okay, so it's all of us. Okay.

Yeah. So they originally talked about doing it off-site, so I wondered if they were still because they were still trying

to find an offsite kitchen, but I think they just did everything out of here for the time being. Yes.

So that's good to know. I didn't know if they did off site or not I'm sure they definitely rather have it in-house for the hotel part.

But yeah. Off site's pretty difficult when you're talking about moving all of the equipment,

we don't currently have a truck, so we have to rent a truck and then all of that, so that's just stuff we're slowly rebuilding

to do offsite. I don't know that I would I think in my opinion,

I would just make people come here, enjoy the whole entire complex. Put more money into the shops.

Small shop at the King Ranch store is still there. Oh yes.

And yeah, they're moving to a different location at Century Square. But that King Ranch, we have a Lucchese that we're about to have a huge

Kendra Scott. Yeah, that's right. I'm so excited about that one. When does the Mexican place open? Juanitas?

There you go. I didn't know it was called. Why are you looking at me? you're so mean.

You going to hit me today, too? Maybe. Yeah. When does Juanita's open? I don't know, because when I looked on their website, it's

the only reason we came to eat at the Canteen is because Juanita's was closed. They have not opened yet. They have not.

And they're very, very close. But we don't have a definite opening date yet, but they're very close.

That would be a fun partnership. Margaritas. I'm excited about that.

Just go straight from I know work to happy hour. Then you just rent a room for the night, then you can walk.

You never have to leave. That's the plan right? That's how they get you hooked into to work here?

Oh yeah. I mean, I'm content living in my own little tiny bubble, too. That's fair. Yeah. OK.

Is there an event at the George or the Calvary Court that has been your favorite

jumps out? Yes. But I think just the whole like recruiting events

like corporate recruiting events are my absolute favorite because they come here, they're looking to get Texas A&M students,

so they're always willing to do like off the wall things. So instead of talking about just like a specific one, like just in general,

they're always coming here with like huge ideas like let's do a 300 person crawfish boil or we want to do

like action stations all over the courtyard at Calvary Court.

We have poolside receptions, so those events are my absolute favorite.

And they do fun things just to get people to, like, talk to each other, like hand out bingo cards and you have to go find people to go and meet them. Or

we've even done passports so they'll have like an Italian food station and a Mexican food station and a barbecue station.

And you have to go get your passport stamped at each station and talk to the recruiter at that station.

And I just really love how innovative these recruiting events are.

That sounds painful for me, That'd be great for me, I could talk to a wall.

Yeah, yeah. I love when people just come and they want to do something crazy.

Yeah. And I'm like, Yeah, let's do something crazy. Yes, I agree. I agree.

So maybe that's how we need to get more student workers. Recruiting? Look, you're already doing a vendor fair. Come to me, we'll talk about it. So that's the next thing.

You can have them come to our next vendor fair. You can do fun things. I know you can start working on things.

She can start sharing those ideas at her table and see what happens. I'm not opposed to any of this stuff.

We just deal with a lot of people in academia. Who are very used to doing things a certain way and they don't like to deviate.

So it's less fun. That's why I don't do them. I don't think they're less fun.

I think they're fun in a different way, but that's like actively fun. Yes. I mean,

they're fun depending on the subject matter and what clients you're working with. That's part of my job is to take people like that and try to make their event more fun.

I'm like, But hey, wouldn't it be cool if instead of a fajita station you did a chef attended chopping board fajita and like, engaged your crowd?

That's one of the things I like to do. They don't all, they don't all take it, but some do.

Just the idea person. Yeah. Well, yeah, I mean, that's why you're talking to her

and then you're right there with her instead of doing a normal bar. Let's do a margarita machine.

Like, yeah, so hard to find a margarita machine to rent in this town. There used to be a place off of here

off highway 6 in south College Station, I think they closed. I had somebody ask once

where can we rent a margarita machine? I feel like places like Specs should do that,

especially since they sell kegs like, I think that's another part of their - Isn't there a Mister Margarita in this town

traveling margarita truck. That would be awesome. It's like a Houston based company, but they're all over.

Know, yeah, I'm sure they'd come here. Or the ice cream dude. Wasn't there an ice cream guy that came out of Houston or something that was supposed to come? Yeah

I need an ice cream dude. What's Good. What's Good Ice Cream.

Yeah, yeah. We just have a margarita machine.

Yeah. Go to the Daiquiri Barn. It's fine. That's a good idea. OK.

You could have Daiquiri Talk instead of Coffee Talk. Yeah, lunchtime. What is the next question? So

you're getting married? Yes. April 2nd

Tell us about your fun wedding fact because I was super excited when I found out about this, I was like, what?

Yeah, and then I had to google it. I had the most random. So April 2nd is going to be my second wedding.

Not because it was - to the same person Yes. second wedding to the same person, to the same person in less than a year.

So the most random thing ever. I was on Facebook in August of last year or in 2021

and saw a Facebook ad that said, Are you a Texas A&M fan and engaged?

And I was like, Oh, cool, I'm both those things. Let me just apply for whatever random Facebook thing

you are asking me to apply for, and I did. And then I get a call and it is Dos Equis wanting to sponsor a wedding.

So we go through the interview process. You're the one that did it out of Kyle Field? Yes, yes.

Yes. I remember that I was like, How did that? Yeah, yeah. So it was Facebook just a Facebook ad.

So I applied and they chose me. And then two weeks later, after getting chosen,

we are getting married beside Kyle Field before the Auburn football game.

That's awesome. That was awesome. I mean, Jamie sent us the pictures. And I was like, what is happening? When did Dos start doing this? This year

Yeah, yeah. My question was how like, how many people applied?

But you didn't think like, Oh, this is a scam? I- no. Just from like-

And I do have family who works in like film. So I know like how producers talk and how they act and stuff.

So I knew it wasn't a scam. And the fact that I mean, like they weren't asking for money or anything.

So and I, they always Zoomed me, it was never phone calls. So I saw the person's face.

But yeah, and they had like real contacts at Kyle Field. So I mean, yeah, it was just bizarre.

It was bizarre because they called me and they told me what was - I didn't even have time to process it until the wedding was over with.

Everything was happening so fast they would call me and be like, Hey, are you afraid of heights? You're going to go on a hot air balloon? And I was like, Oh,

well, I guess I don't really have a choice like good thing I'm not. But then it was like, Oh, hey, you need to find a wedding dress in seven days.

And I'm like, Oh, OK, cool. So hauling to every single wedding dress store.

But other than that, they took care of everything. And it was just me, my fiancee

and 30 of our closest friends and family who And I tried to invite all my big Aggie family.

So my family's huge Aggies we're huge Aggies Both my brothers played on the football team.

one of my brothers is currently on the football team. And so it was just our whole life has revolved around Texas A&M football.

And good thing, we also really enjoy Dos Equis beer. So it was kind of the perfect day.

Nice. Yeah. I mean, like, I would have a Dos Equis wedding. Well, yeah. But I mean, it was like pictures.

They were just showing pictures on game day and I was like, When did this even happen? Like, just now? Yeah, like I said, but it's, you know, it's interesting

to know that they put it together in like a couple weeks. Like, I thought it would have been like someone just had called, asked.

And they just, you know, I thought this was like years worth of planning. Well, they probably planned it a lot longer than I knew about it.

The bride and groom? Yes. So talking about events, that thing got, I mean, it was gorgeous.

Yeah, they I mean, they worked with all like local vendors for the flowers, the food,

the they had a mixologist from Austin come in and we had a DJ from Dallas and the photographer was from Houston.

And it was just it was a massive production.

We'll just go ahead and get in there. Um yeah, that was crazy.

I just remember seeing the pictures and I was like, What is happening? Yeah. So it's like, I loved the floral arrangements.

I didn't. I didn't look that. I don't have Facebook haven't had it for a couple of years, so I was merely helping.

Yeah. Well, I before I stalked her on Facebook. OK, yeah. See, I don't do that. I believe in giving people a chance.

I wanted to know what she looked like. So I knew who she was when we got here Did you look on their website for the hotels.

Yeah, you're weird about that. I personally curated my Facebook

so that people stalk me, so I appreciate it. I make my Facebook because I want you to have an idea of me when you meet me.

Here's the stupid. I put to Facebook. Yeah, you should definitely look at yourself

on Facebook, oh gosh, we might have made a fake account. Good to know. All right. We cut that part out, too.

I think everything should. Everybody should look Google themselves because sometimes there's like false information I did, I do.

Sometimes definitely. Facebook does not pop up anymore. Good. Yeah. Hmm. Yeah.

Instagram one. Now I'm getting random friend requests. If happened to me several times. Yeah.

Well, yeah, well, yeah, you do a lot of searching, there's a lot of history there. You should clear your browser. Paper trail, Yeah, yeah, OK.

Leave a paper trail. OK, so Dos wedding, that's exciting. Yes, I would have picked a green dress.

He was in a green tux. That's awesome. He was in a green tux. I would have gone all out.

Yeah, that's awesome. Well, that's exciting. That's fun. Oh, it was a lot of fun. Yeah. So, yeah, so who catered?

or we can't say? I don't know. Oh, that's fine. I don't remember. It's OK.

They were out of Houston. It's written down somewhere. Maybe, maybe It was delicious.

It was definitely not Cityview then It was what? Cityview. No, it was not that. Yes.

I have no idea who the caterer was. We'll just leave it, poor experiences.

Well, I mean, you're you're so wrapped up in like the wedding and everything that's going on and it's exciting, you know, I mean.

I cannot imagine if they're bringing vendors from all over that they would bring Cityview in for this wedding.

Oh, we're past them. Well, then what are you talking about?? About her not knowing who the caterer was. Oh, yeah, that's fine. Yeah, yeah.

It's not like she's planning this one. This was impromptu. Yeah. Yes. I didn't have to plan this one. This one was planned for me, so I got a PowerPoint presentation sent to me

with all the details of everything, like three days before the wedding. That's not a joke.

Also, they didn't announce the time of the football game until three days before,

so I didn't even find out what time I was getting married until like the Tuesday before my wedding, which, by the way, it was happened to be a 2:00 game.

So I got married at 11:00 a.m. But we were just praying it wasn't 11:00 a.m. game because that would have been Oh, did you go to the game afterwards?

Yes, in the wedding dress. Yes, in wedding dress. So it was funny because like,

I am so wrapped up in the day that I didn't have my cell phone on me . And then once we got up out of like the reception was over with,

we did like the grand exit and then go into the stadium. I got my cell phone back. And that's when I get to see,

like my Twitter blown up, Instagram, Facebook and like, there was a tweet from some Fox reporter or something like that being like

the only way to get married on a game day and it was going viral. And so then people, as we're walking in are like, this is you!

on their cell phone, I'm like, Yeah, nobody else is walking into a football game in a wedding dress. I mean.

So the real exciting part was like at halftime, I got to get changed out of the wedding dress and then go stand on the sidelines

for the rest of the game. So that was really fun. And then we won. So that's also a plus.

I'm going to take credit for that one. The lucky wedding dress. Yes, the lucky wedding dress.

Are you wearing that lucky wedding dress again? I am. You should. Yes.

Yeah. Every year on your anniversary, on both anniversaries,

Yeah, that is one thing that me and him we're trying to decide is like, which each anniversary do we celebrate?

Both. Yeah I like that idea. Yes, both. I like both. And then when you have kids, you need to like, add

two extra celebrations like the other half of the year. You know, make sure you do it like a lot so you can get a break from children.

Oh, OK. I was like, Where are you going with this? Well, no, because I'm just saying like, make sure like, you know,

or dogs, animals. Yeah, either way, I mean, I just spent like six days with my kids. I'm ready to drop them off at the fire station,

We'll take them. As someone who's the oldest of six children. I'm like, Yeah, I was about to ask, how many people are in your family?

Because you mentioned how many brothers you have three brothers and two sisters. And so as the oldest, that's probably why

I'm 30 years old with no children, because I've dealt with them my whole life,

I've changed enough diapers. Yes. That's ok.

Animals are easier. They are. I don't know my corgi,

She's a little high maintenance. I'm not comparing my corgi to kids, that is a joke.

I mean, it's okay if you are yeah, I mean, fur babies, fur kids, why not? My cat talks back to my husband, so

That was real country. he does.

You did get a twang when you said that. It's because he's very country. and you're not. Your cat brings that out in you or your husband?

There you went, did it again. How else do you say your husband, my husband? Your husband?

Sounds like the way I'm saying it. It's not. Well, you must have just been hearing the country accent for so long now, you just

don't hear it anymore. Yeah. Well, moving along.

Yeah. If someone was interested in going into this industry, what's one piece of advice you would give them?

Network go out and do things like, yes, you really want the degree

you want, the degree in communications or RPTS or marketing.

But the most important thing is be involved in things and go out, meet people, make yourself uncomfortable,

make yourself comfortable being in uncomfortable situations. Why are you staring at me?

I'm almost 40. I've done all of that. I'm just cranky now. That's why you are so comfortable being uncomfortable that I'm uncomfortable

sitting next to you right now. I'm uncomfortable dealing with you. How does that work?

I feel like that feels right. Yeah, something special. I agree. Yeah, networking is a big.

It's hard for most people who are not very outgoing. So like, there's a lot of people in our industry that are very introverted

and it's hard for them as well. But you have to do it in doses. It's.

I mean, and joining organizations like volunteering to do things,

if there's a committee, you just volunteer, even if it's just to learn about what's happening behind the scenes

or listening to other people talk to people. Anything like that that's going to just help you grow.

I like that. I need you to volunteer for more stuff, you need to grow. I have a lot on my plate right now,

Which is what? The plate that you have given me. It's a plate Full of things. Did I ask for it?

I'll put sprinkles on top. I asked for it with my eyes. Yes. No your mouth

You did Want me to go back to your evaluations? Yeah, I pull it out

and emails. You document everything. And then, you know, you did this call.

I have of our monthly meetings on your performance evaluation. Yeah, those are notes that you take so that's what you hear

not what I actually said. But do you do her performance evaluations? Yes, I'm all their bosses.

But you know, you have to go in and approve that performance evaluation that you agree with it. You haven't denied one yet.

Yeah, because your boss. I'm not gonna be like, oh, no, I don't agree with that. You were wrong.

You would totally tell me if you thought I was wrong. Let's not deny that fact.

Yes, I do. All their evaluations. They're quite fun. It stresses all of them out, which is why we do monthly meetings,

so hopefully it wouldn't, but it still stresses them out. And I don't take notes.

Y'all can't see this. But behind the camera, they're all nodding like this. Every single one of them.

They're not. I don't even dare say they're painless. I've tried to keep them down. Well, you know, every anyway, I'm ready to see.

Yes, faces of the space. All of the things. I know. I know.

Yeah, it's about me. Yes, you are correct. You know, just know she's correct.

You went a little bride on that one. This is my day! But I do have one more question. So how long were you at Phillips before you came here?

I was there for two years. 2019 to 2021. OK.

And so you came here in 2021? Yes. So I was at Phillips, and I don't know if everybody knows

exactly what happened there. But during that great freeze in February of 2021, the pipes froze and destroyed the building.

And when I'm in charge of selling the building and there's no more building to sell, I had to go find something new.

Yeah. And luckily, because I've been networking, I knew a bunch of people from the George and Cavalry Court. So that was going to be my next question.

How did you make the jump over here? So pretty much as soon as it happened, one of the sales managers

from over here reached out to me was like, Hey, heard what happened, are you looking for a job? Because we have an opening.

So just from meeting her at different events, I was able to pretty much immediately make a jump over here

without having to search. which was nice. Yeah, and I love it here. So it just worked out really well.

That's good. That's really good. Yeah, because they're about to dump how many millions of dollars into that place. The city just passed whatever to rebuild it.

And yeah, I'm not sure I haven't really been following. Yeah, that's OK. I totally understand. I bartended there in 2017 or 2018.

I didn't last long. Not that I didn't last long, I didn't stay there long

Were you there before then? I thought we've crossed paths like three times. We have didn't even know it.

Yeah, yeah, I used to work there in the tennis shop when it was the tennis shop Oh yeah, long time ago. When it was the Briarcrest Country Club. Yes.

Yeah, small town. It is. I was really sad when they got rid of that grand staircase though, that was great.

We done? Why is he waving? OK, bye. Oh yeah. So we're going to go tour the facility. Tree branch, sorry.

See the spaces. Yeah, beautiful. That's it. Yeah.

Thank you. Yes, thank you. Thank you for having me. This was fun. Bye.

4.4 - "We don't always run into celebrities...but when we do, they're Aggie celebrities"

Morgan Meador

Sarah Chrastecky

Tracy "TJ" Hefti

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