This is it! This is the interview that made it so clear that the Think Tank of Three needed Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris as a co-host on this podcast.
We talk a lot on this podcast about making big moves in life, breaking free from fear, and stepping out to pave a new path.
But what about when those moves are decided for you?
Join us as we walk through our newest co-hosts story of her climb to the top and starting over after hitting the peak of her career.
Julie Holton:
You lose a job, a contract isn’t renewed and suddenly you’re left to figure out what comes next. Welcome to Think Tank of Three. I’m Julie Holton here with Audrea Fink and a special guest today who knows what it’s like to climb to the top and then have to figure it all out all over again.
Audrea Fink:
If you’re a sports fan, you might recognize her name. Reischea Canidate was an anchor and a host at ESPN. Before that, she worked as a weekend sports anchor and a reporter in New York City, San Diego, and Fresno, California. She was also nominated in 2007 in New York for an Emmy.
Reischea, thank you so much for joining us today.
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
Thank you. It’s my absolute pleasure and honor to be here.
Julie Holton:
Well, we are so excited to have you, and we’ve had so many conversations with you. I’m really excited to see where this is going to go. First, let’s really focus on that climb to the top. You were a woman working in the very male-dominated world of sports. Tell us what it was like for you as you were working your way up in your career to ESPN.
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
It was exciting. It was also unexpected. I went into sports broadcasting, not realizing that that’s exactly what I wanted to do. Originally wanted to be in sports medicine. I wanted to be the orthopedic surgeon for the San Francisco 49ers, my hometown football team. That’s what I wanted. When I say hometown, I grew up in Fresno. So hometown was going to be San Francisco for the professional sports team.
Julie Holton:
Okay, so I have to stop you right there for just a moment because already we’re listening and it’s, “Wow. She made it. She was an anchor at ESPN.” Which is, for many women working in sports broadcasting, that is as high as you can go.
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
Peak, yeah.
Julie Holton:
But then come to find out that wasn’t even what your original goal was when you were starting out. So right away, we’re hearing that success can look so different from person to person.
Audrea Fink:
Whereas what I heard was she was a 49ers fan and I’m a Seahawks fan. Now we’ve got some issues. Now we’ve got some issues.
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
Exactly, right?
Julie Holton:
And as a Lions fan I have no issues with either of you.
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
Love of sports, it doesn’t matter. There’s only one team that I just can’t bring myself to even try and bring an inch of cheer for, and that’s the Dallas Cowboys, which happens to be my husband’s team, so whatever.
Audrea Fink:
This is a sign that you are correct. Nobody loves them. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who likes the Dallas Cowboys.
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
I just can’t.
Julie Holton:
Except for her husband now.
Audrea Fink:
Right, who I haven’t met so it’s fine. You want wanted to be in sports medicine, which is still a big deal. You wanted to be in sports-
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
I wanted to be in sports medicine, and that fell apart after molecular biology. After graduating, I hosted a sports banquet for the women’s track team. I was on the track and field team at the University of Southern California. And every year the senior women host an awards banquet. And I was the co-host with another fellow track and field athlete on my team. And that night was when it hit me. Oh my gosh, sports broadcasting. So I call my mom and I’m like, “Listen.” My dad, I’m like, “I think I finally figured it out. I think I want to go into sports broadcasting.” And the two of them are like, “It took you four years to figure that out. My mom-
Julie Holton:
Hey, it could have taken longer.
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
Exactly. My mom said, “Duh.” But then we kind of got the ball rolling. My mom knew a couple of people at the local CBS affiliate. So I was able to get in there to really learn the ropes. I learned to produce and edit. And I remember the guy that was in charge of the intern program was also the main anchor when I was growing up. And by the time I got back home after graduating, now he’s doing the morning show, but I remember sitting and talking to him, and then he told me, “You want to make yourself fireproof.” And I’m like, “What?” And he says, “If you can do multiple amounts of things, you become an asset. So learn to anchor, learn to write, produce, learn to edit, all of those things, to help you, that they become assets and something to hold on to.”
So I did, I learned how to edit, and I was producing. I got in there, and it was a great experience. And they gave me my first opportunity. I got my official first anchoring gig with the local CBS affiliate in Fresno, at KJEO. From there, I got some interest from agencies, and an agent reached out to me that we seem to really connect. It was If Management. They signed me up and, and not long after that, an opportunity in San Diego popped up.
Julie Holton:
Was there a point in time when you had started your broadcasting career in sports and you thought, “Okay, ESPN is going to be it for me?” Was there ever a point in time when you were looking ahead to what that next step would be and where you would go?
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
When I originally got into broadcasting, that was my goal. That was the pinpoint, pinnacle, the career. I want to be a Sports Center anchor for ESPN, Everything I was doing, I kept that in my mind. I want to be a sports anchor for ESPN Sports Center.
As I got closer to that, I realized something was changing in me. That was strange because I was making my way to my goal. I leave Fresno, I go to San Diego. Not long after being in San Diego for about a year and a half, two years in San Diego, I ended up in New York City, which blew my mind. Phenomenal opportunity, loved it, got my opportunity working with the New York football Giants and the Yankees, the Mets, the Jets, Islanders, the Devils, all of it. Experienced the New Jersey Devils winning the Stanley Cup. All of these things were amazing experiences.
ESPN comes knocking. Oh my gosh, this is it! My goal has been attained. I’m going to ESPN. Then you get to ESPN and that’s a whole other world of expectation. You are now thoroughly inundated in the world of sports like nothing you could ever have been a part of before. Which is good, because that’s the point. That is Sports Center, ESPN. That is their world. So many different avenues.
So I get in there and it was tough. It was hard. You have to really work and fight to be seen and be known and get your place at ESPN. I ended up being there for four years. We split my contract into a two and two. They picked up that first option for me to stay on for the second two years.
Then, things changed. And I’m not 100% certain what way they changed, but it was not working there anymore. I didn’t fit the mold that they were looking for. And in all honesty, at that point, I wasn’t feeling that fire that I think you absolutely should have to be at ESPN. The problem was I wasn’t ready to walk away. I still wanted to fight. I still wanted to do. I was in my career and I knew that there were other avenues that I could maneuver from that vantage point of being at ESPN, but that door got slammed.
Now I’m trying to figure out what to do next. My son was born within that first year of not being at ESPN. My father passed away. Things were going on that took my focus away from concerning myself so much with the career.
Figured out that my son, a phenomenal kid, there were some things going on with him that we needed to work through and work on, to this day that we are working on. He’s a very intelligent, smart kid. Tested onto the spectrum, but high functioning. He processes things a little bit differently. You have to work through all of that. So there was all of that aspect of things. I mentioned my father passing away and that all was happening when I was realizing that this career thing is not happening.
So when I first left ESPN, I really wasn’t that nervous. I honestly was like, “Six months, maybe a year. It’ll be fine. I’ll figure it out. Someone’s going to want me, there’s no problem with that.” But then I wasn’t getting calls. I wasn’t even getting opportunities. My agent said he wasn’t making any traction. Now the fear sets in. Well, wait a minute, wait, what am I supposed to do, now? And that’s not a fun place to be.
Julie Holton:
And I want to talk about that fear, but for a moment, can we back up? Because you’ve said so many things for us to zero in on. You’ve talked about mindset when your contract wasn’t renewed, working on figuring out issues with your family, and obviously, you had a lot of life just being thrown in there all at the same time.
But before that, you mentioned, while you were still at ESPN, you weren’t quite feeling that same fire that you had been feeling that really propelled you up in your career to get to ESPN. And I think that that will be relatable for so many women who maybe are in a position right now where they’re not really feeling that full passion that they once felt. Can you talk about that a little bit and about that fire?
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
Sure. Especially as women, and it’s not just women, men go through this too, but I think we tend to be a little bit more in tune with it. I could feel that there was something different. I wanted to do more. I did not want to just be talking about sports anymore. I was getting more drawn into the news aspect of things. I wanted to do something different. And I wasn’t quite sure how, but I also didn’t want to rock the boat. I was getting a good paycheck and I didn’t want to make it seem like I was slapping that gift horse in the face. Because I also knew what it took to get there, and I felt that my path… Am I then turning to God and saying, “Scorn you for giving me what I want.”
Audrea Fink:
Which we all do from time to time.
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
Exactly.
Julie Holton:
Well and that’s a real thing. We get what we want, but that doesn’t mean that that’s all we want or that’s where the journey ends.
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
Or that we haven’t changed because all of a sudden that desire, that thing isn’t necessarily what you thought it was going to be for you, because you’re not that same person who made that goal 15 years before.
And you have to be okay with that, but also recognize that when that feeling comes up, acknowledge it, try to see where it’s coming from. Is it that they’re asking you to do something new and you might be getting a little nervous? Is it that you’re not doing what you really want to do? Or is it, I just don’t want to do this and I need to figure out what my next this is.
There are various aspects of coming into that could be very disconcerting, but that’s also where some of those go-getters who walk away and start whole new things. That’s where they tune into that and they say, I have to make the change. I read that in Mika Brzezinski’s book about the news. I had to make a change and you have to do that.
Audrea Fink:
I think it’s so easy to get comfortable where you’re at. I don’t love this. It’s not perfect. And it takes a lot of my energy to do it, but I know what I’m doing. I’m here, I’m at my comfort level, and the energy to really do some self-reflection and figure out like, where have you evolved that your career has not evolved with you or your personal life? Where have you evolved? Are you serving yourself anymore? Does this serve your family? Does this serve your life goals?
Getting to the top is a great feeling when you get there when you realize you’ve arrived. It was the impetus for this podcast, right? Julia and I were talking about, we feel like we’ve arrived in our careers. What a cool feeling.
We don’t feel like we’ve arrived anymore. We’re back in the journey, which is what happens. But you have to be willing to take the time and the effort to reflect and to be uncomfortable and to really assess, am I good where I’m at, or am I comfortable where I’m at?
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
And that’s not easy because being on the journey is work. It takes work. And I do feel that sometimes we hear all the super successful self-help gurus who make it sound like it’s going to come together. But there is work in that. There is stepping into that fear. There is stepping into that unknown. That can be very uncomfortable, but you have to be okay with that and be in a position to say, if this is worth it, if this is truly who I am and what I want to do, then I need to do it. Or if you’re still trying to figure it out, that’s the next thing.
You got to sit and talk to yourself. You have to get to know yourself, which is where I’m at right now. I am literally in the process of figuring out who I am. In my heart of hearts, am I a good person? I believe so. I love my family. I understand the blessings that are in my life and I do not question those blessings one iota.
Simultaneously, there is something in me that wants something more and there’s nothing wrong with that. But now I have to figure out who that person is, what that person wants to accomplish, and then I have to take those steps of accomplishing it. And when you’re 20-something that is so easy because the world is your oyster. And you’re like, “Whatever. I could just travel for a year and go find myself.” When you are hmnmm years old and married with two kids, it’s a little scarier because there are other people involved in that decision-making and that process.
Audrea Fink:
So you took a step back from your career from actively seeking the next career to focus on being a mom, which when we talked earlier, that was never part of your plan. At no point were you like, “I’m going to be the stay at home mom.” That sort of happened, and you took it. So talk to us a little bit about how you made that switch from the front lines to maybe behind the scene. What were the struggles you had? What were your successes? What were the lessons you learned?
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
I don’t know if I ever 100% wholly embraced the don’t pursue the career. I think what basically happened was career was taken and then opportunities weren’t coming through. So I really didn’t have that much of a choice, but to focus on at home. And then when things started creeping up with regards to my son and those aspects, you do your job. You focus in. You lock-in. This kid needs me. I need to get to work with this.
At the same time, I also had a super supportive husband. He could see it in me and he would say to me, “What’s going on with you?” And I would tell him, “This is not comfortable for me. I feel like I’m trying and I’m not a great wife, I’m not being the great mother, my cooking is weak. I cook because we need to eat.”
I feel all of that, and then he reminds me, “Listen, if you still were, let’s say at ESPN, or if you had gotten that gig on The View, someone else would have to fill some of these roles. We’d have to have someone here to do these things.”
Because that was my big thing is I would say, “I’m not contributing. I’m not financially contributing to our family.” That was something I would constantly say.
He said, “You need to understand that you are contributing financially because that money is not leaving our home.”
He said, “So you need to recognize that if you really want to look at it in that case, then you are financially contributing because we are not paying someone else to take care of these things that need to be taken care of.”
He said, “What you’re doing is really hard, so please give yourself some credit for that. You’re not sitting at home eating Bonbons. You are helping this family.”
It’s tough though when you don’t feel geared for that. He was a boy raised with a mom who made three meals a day from scratch and six o’clock in the morning she’s up and cooking. She’s wonderful. I literally am dreading, I’m like, “Oh my gosh, what are we having for dinner? Do you have an idea because I thought of it the last four nights and the fifth night it’s really kicking my butt.”
So then once I had to focus on that, that’s all I needed to do. Then as my son became older, the school days become longer. Now is when it’s starting to creep in. I need something that’s for me. I need my thing. And coming back into tune with that. Especially when you were always a self-motivated, do-it-yourself person.
When I met my husband and even prior to meeting my husband, I remember always saying the same thing. I don’t need someone who can take care of me. I can take care of myself. I just need someone who can partner up with me.
Now I’m in a position where I am a little more dependent on someone than I ever wanted. And that is excessively uncomfortable for me. That is the constant struggle. That I am no longer bringing in a paycheck of my own. I don’t like that feeling. That’s a hard thing to have.
Audrea Fink:
There are two things that you’ve talked about that I want us to dig into a little. One is how hard it is to be the mom at home all the time. There’s that sense of like, I’m not contributing financially, the purpose is different. You’re doing your job, but it’s not what you wake up in the morning to do like your mother-in-law, she wakes up in the morning to do this. That’s her purpose. It’s not yours. So there’s this sort of trying to do right by your family, trying to be this stay home person. And also that’s just not where your purpose lies. Can you talk a little bit about the ways in which you walk yourself through that?
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
Again, it’s an evolving thing because I need to make one thing very, very clear, abundantly clear. Stay-at-home moms are phenomenal.
Audrea Fink:
They sure are.
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
I am not talking about me. I’m talking about the ones who dig in and get it are just awesome at it and make it look easy because it’s not. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. One reason, because I also have a four-year-old daughter. So there’s having conversations with a four-year-old where you are repeating the same thing over and over again. There’s that part of you that craves an adult conversation that’s not, “Yes. I see you, I did. Let’s go play.” There’s part of that, but it’s not… when you also have that thing in you that says that there’s something more, if you have that thing in you that says there’s something more then you need to be okay with tapping into that.
And that was something I needed to go ahead and do and be okay with tapping into that because we’re all wired in a different way. And I have to constantly tell myself it’s okay to want more. There’s nothing wrong with that.
If you are fulfilled, waking up and being the stay at home mom who is kicking butt and taking names high five, because I bow down to you. If you are also the person who wakes up and yes, you are the stay at home mom, but there’s something calling for your attention, then you need to acknowledge that as well. Because if you don’t, then those feelings, they can get a little bit ugly, sometimes. The resentment that might climb up.
The guilt that goes in there. Why aren’t I just satisfied just being a stay at home mom? And why do I use that term “just being?” Because that does not properly accurately at all describe a stay-at-home mom. It’s not a “just” anything. It’s hard. It’s work, but why is that not enough?
Because for me, I came up differently. In my mind, didn’t want that. When I was five years old, I wasn’t thinking about babies and stuff like that. I was thinking about my awesome acting career that was going to happen.
So I’ve always been… I call my daughter right now, I call her Miss Independence. There was so much about her that reminds me of me at that age, the little snippets that I can remember. And I see that and so I also want to encourage that in my daughter.
If you want to be a mother, I’ve known women who said, “That’s all I wanted.” And I say, “Okay, awesome. And you’re kicking butt at it. So this is what your calling is. Go for it. Good for you.” And if my daughter says that to me one day, okay. But if she says, “Mom, I want to go be the CEO of this or I want to start my own company, or I want to, whatever.” I want to encourage it, no matter what it is. But I also, for myself to be true to myself, want to show her that you can do that too if that’s what you so choose.
Julie Holton:
And what I appreciate about your story and you sharing it with us is that you are very much on this journey. So many of the women we talk to are in their journeys too, but we talk to them about how they’ve achieved their success, how they got to be where they are.
Audrea, you said this earlier, even about the two of us that yes, you can get to that point where you’ve achieved great success, however, you define success, but the journey doesn’t end there. It’s just a part of the journey. And hopefully, for most of us, we’ll see multiple successes throughout our lives, because I really hate to think that this is all I get, so far, where I am.
But I really love that you’re sharing with us the hard part of your journey. Even when you were at ESPN, you felt that fire, that flame was kind of flickering for you, you wanted something more and it takes a lot of work to figure out what that is.
How do you get there? Who helps you along the way? What does that journey look like? And there are so many different paths to choose from. I’d love to hear, as you look ahead to the future, as you really focus now on figuring out what comes next, where are you in the journey? What are some of the things that you’re doing to figure out what comes next?
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
First. I’m doing a lot of reading. And what I mean by that is reading those encouraging books that are talking to women, especially in my mid-forties age group and saying, “Listen, just because you’re mid-forties, doesn’t mean this journey is done and good luck, move on, we’re done with you.” So that encouragement. Listening to podcasts, such as yours, that give women a window and a lift and say, “See, we’re here for you too.”
I have a friend. Her name is Lisa Katasick. She started this women’s connection group. Her whole point was women should be lifting one another up, not constantly fighting one another. We should be sending that hand back to one another, which fed into also something that I had anticipated with my career. I always looked forward to that point where I said, if I reach a certain point, I will be able to go throw my hand back and say, “Here. I was able to do this, come along, come along, come along.” And I didn’t quite get to the point that I had anticipated. So that is the other part of this.
In this journey right now, reading, listening to podcasts, trying to find individuals who can help me get a clearer picture because you have all these ideas and they’re flickering all over the place and it’s hard to make sense of it. So I talked to people like your guests from before, Seannon Owens-Jones. She’s got tentacles into everything. She’s amazing.
Audrea Fink:
She does. She’s so well-networked.
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
Yes. It’s amazing. And when you are able to tap into those individuals who actually those individuals, they tend to push you without even you realizing it. You say I’m thinking about A, B, and C. She knows that I’m trying to start my voiceover company. And then I was talking to her about some of the frustrations of it is the website, the marketing. And, she says to me, “Website? What’s going on with the website?” And I said, “Well, I have to figure out how to build it. I don’t have a whole lot of capital to hire out to do it.” She goes, “Well, wait. I might know someone.” Well, that’s a push because now it’s where you’re like, it’s getting real. No longer just an idea. You can’t just write it down. You have to actually take some steps. Those steps can be very scary.
I took a course with regards to voiceover, did a whole course that included some of the marketing and everything, but I knew I still needed some other aspects of it. And there’s a lot of bits and pieces that you need. Surrounding yourself with… Mentorship is a huge thing, but not everybody necessarily can find a mentor. So what do you do in that case? So now you need to look at those individuals that you like, who are doing what you want to do and figure out well, what is it that they’re doing that I can learn from? What is their story? You might find out some stuff about them that you don’t necessarily want them anymore to be your mentor, too.
I’m not speaking on anyone in particular, I’m just saying in general, you want to find individuals who are going to push you and not just support you, but also support you in making sure that you are holding true to whatever the goal is. Who will ask you, what have you done this week to make this dream come true?
I grew up with two parents who were so crazy supportive of me. They gave me that initial confidence that I needed to get to a certain point. And then I reached a point in my life where I lost that confidence. I’m in that space where I’m fighting to get that confidence back.
I look at a picture of myself from when I was at Fox Five in New York and I remember. I laugh because we have the headshot and I don’t know why we have it framed, but we do. My daughter was walking around with it one day and just hugging it. And I looked at it and I’m like, “Oh, I remember her.” I want to stop remembering her, and I want to just be her, but be her that’s confident in who she is again. That part of her I’m good with. I want to get that confident woman back and that confident woman, she can do anything. You’ve got to tap into her. Don’t let her fizzle away.
Audrea Fink:
What are some of the tactics that you think you take now to work on your confidence? What are the things you do that are different than staying where you don’t feel confident?
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
Just say thank you. Instead of “Oh, no, I…” No. “Thank you. Thank you, I appreciate that.”
Write down your strengths, put them on paper. Look at them, repeat them to yourself because they are real and they matter. And when you lose your confidence, those are the things you need to get back to yourself and you need to go back and look at that and say, you know what? I did command attention when I walked into a room. I do know how to speak to a crowd of people. I do have a smile that can light up a room when I’m feeling good about things.
And remember those things and hold on to those things and talk to the people who hold you in a positive light, because sometimes you need that. Sometimes you need to say, “I need you to lift me up today because I’m sitting on a weird ledge.” And they’ll do that for you. Your true friends who know you, who will also say, “Girl, get out of that robe, go take a shower, comb your hair. Let’s start there.”
Julie Holton:
Isn’t that the truth?
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
The very first thing to do in all honesty is to say, thank you and acknowledge your strengths and recognize that acknowledging your strengths is not the same as bragging. Acknowledging your strengths is doing that. Acknowledging them and figuring out now that I know that I have those, how do I use them effectively?
Audrea Fink:
And women seem to have such a hard time with it. I mean, I know I do. I know what my strengths are. I know I’m good at certain things. And as soon as I get a compliment on it, I’m like [inaudible noise].
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
Oh stop it, that’s not me.
Audrea Fink:
But it is. And it’s not humility. It’s not being polite, although I’m sure some of it is this deferential way women are taught to be. But some of it is just truly like I’m so uncomfortable when someone else recognizes this strength in me versus celebrating that someone has recognized this strength in me.
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
Men are so, and again, I speak in generalizations, but this is one of those things I think in a lot of differences in men’s brains and women’s brains. Because you’ve never heard a guy when someone throws him a compliment, “Oh my gosh, you are so good at that.” They don’t like, “No, I’m not.” They’re like, “Yeah, well, you know, and let me show you.”
I think that it’s one of those things that part of it is a humility thing because we never want to look like we think we own the room or that we think we’re all that. It’s even in the differences in how women are described, how prepared you want to be for something versus I know I’ve got about 5% of it, but I know once I put mind to it, I will get where I need to go. Men don’t think that way. You ask them, can you do it? And they’re like, “All right, let’s go. I’ll figure it out. Let’s go.” And we want to make sure… because we want to be prepared. We’re about making sure we’re prepared. I was trying to be prepared for this interview. And it’s like, but we’re talking about you.
Audrea Fink:
If anyone knows you, it’s you.
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
But I think we tend to do that instead of just standing at our strengths and saying, this is who I am. And we have to be able to do that. And that’s not so easy to do because we also get torn down in different ways. Men are complimented for being like, “Wow, he is so confident. He just knows what he’s doing.” And she’s like, “Oh my gosh, what is her problem?” You know, she’s such a-
Julie Holton:
Right, women are aggressive and men are confident.
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
Right, and that’s not fair, but that’s what leads to we stand back from a compliment. Because instead of saying, “No, just like him, he’s a savvy businessman. I am a savvy businesswoman. I just do it… I maneuver it a little bit differently than he does. He’s a confident man. I am a confident woman.” And there’s nothing wrong with that. But we need to be able to own that and don’t fight it anymore.
Julie Holton:
Okay, so here’s your first test of owning the compliment. Reischea, you are a beautiful example of what success looks like at every stage of the journey. So thank you so much for joining us today to talk about really the highs and lows of finding success in life.
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
I thank you. I thank you for the compliment and I thank you so much for having me on. It has been an absolute pleasure to be a part of this.
Julie Holton:
Well, but before we go, we are collecting advice from successful women in our communities and we share it in our Think Tank forum. So we have three rapid-fire questions for you. Are you ready?
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
I am ready.
Julie Holton:
No time to prepare.
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
Do you hear that confidence? I am ready!
Julie Holton:
All right. Number one. Is there a lesson that you’ve learned recently that you wish you would’ve learned earlier on in your career?
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
Networking, networking, networking. And it’s the one thing that I want to teach my children as they grow. You need to constantly build up a queue of individuals who are complimenting whatever it is that you want to do or just to have as an asset to send someone else to.
So you meet so many different people, try to do your best in trying to keep those people in your life in some way, shape, or form. Even if it’s just, hey. I just send out an email every now and again. I just want to say hi. Because it’s not good to only reach out to people when you need something. But it’s nice to have that group of individuals that you never know when those individuals are going to come back into play for you one day. I don’t necessarily know if it’s a new thing, but it is something that has really just been sticking in my forefront ever since everything in my career happened.
Audrea Fink:
What piece of advice would you offer to your younger self? Say maybe 10 years ago.
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
Ten years ago, I would have told myself, “If you have this agent, make sure that you and your agent are very clear with one another what it is that you want.” We didn’t really discuss them in this, but in the process of everything that happened, my agents ended up dropping me. Part of the reason is that I felt that they just weren’t doing for me what I needed from them, but I needed to fight harder for myself.
So I would tell my 10 years younger or my 15 years younger self, “Always stand up for yourself and be sure that you are having those conversations and your personal check-in with yourself and then with, if you have a representative that representative to make certain that you’re on the same track, and if they’re not with you, then you need to think about that relationship. And if that’s not a relationship that can be fixed, or if that’s not a direction that you guys can work together with, then it’s okay to say, you know what? Maybe I need to be elsewhere.” And that is definitely something I myself should have done a much better job of.
Julie Holton:
Last question. What do you think is the most important skill for a woman to hone in today’s professional setting?
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
Confidence.
Confidence in yourself.
Confidence in what you’re doing.
If someone asks you to do something, they are asking you to do it because they know you can already, and you need to recognize that as well and do it. Unless for some reason, you’re like that is completely out of my wheelhouse. I don’t know why you thought of me for that but that is such a rarity. Generally, when someone comes to you for a project or something of that nature, it’s because they feel like this is something you can do.
Have confidence start building that confidence in yourself. Believe in who you are. And if you have to mantra yourself on a daily basis, “I am good at who I am, I am good at what I do,” then that’s what you do. I tell my daughter right now, every day, “You are smart, you are strong, you can do anything.” She’s four.
Audrea Fink:
Wow. I love it. I love it.
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
And I look at her and I’m like, ” Chrisonia, what do you say?” “I am smart. I am strong. I can do anything.” That will be the first thing she says when she wakes up every day once I get her to regularly say it.
Audrea Fink:
That’s amazing. Thank you so much for joining us. Can you share with the audience the best way for them to get ahold of you if they have additional questions about your career path or want advice or want to talk to you about business interests?
Reischea Canidate-Kapasouris:
Sure, absolutely. So I can be found on Twitter at Reischea yes, I have that hard name. So it’s R-E-I-S as in Sam, C-H-E-A. Facebook, Reischea Canidate. And that’s C-A-N-I-D as in David, A-T-E. Gmail is the same: Reischeacandidate@gmail.com and LinkedIn: Reischea Candidate-Kapasauris.
Julie Holton:
Thank you so much for joining us today. And of course, you can connect with all of us in our Facebook group for our tribe. You talked a lot about networking and what a great place to plug in with our Think Tank of Three Tribe. Thank you so much, everyone, for joining us today. That’s all for this episode of Think Tank of Three.