Erica Squared with Special Guest Erica Conway
Hello!
Welcome to another episode of The Funny Kind!
Erica Conway is a dear friend who has been such a source of inspiration and joy in my life and it was a blast being with her for the first segment of “Erica Squared.”
Join us for some laughs and deep talks on how how to find your frosting, both in Oreo consumption and in life.
Erica Conway and I fell in love many years ago, but it wasn’t until we joined a book club (thank you Kerri) that the idea of “Erica Squared” was born. Because, after all, if you like Erica, you’re going to LOVE Erica! I even had some shirts made to commemorate our newfound squared-ness.
Here we are at The Milkmen game - so fun!
Ok, enough stalling. It was finally time to film our first episode of “Erica Squared.” We met up at Fiddleheads https://fiddleheadscoffee.com/mequon/ and had some much-needed coffee and yummy food as we made our way to the community room (darn other people having fun and talking while we were recording, jeez la weez - HA HA).
Our discussion of said food and spicy mayo sparked a lively discussion on Oreo consumption. I might be a dunker who likes the simple soft deliciousness of the good ole OG Oreo, but Erica is more of a risk taker, willing to go the route of double stuff (which I guess makes sense because of her love of frosting). My favorite Erica Conway quote when asked “How do you eat your Oreos?” is the deep yet profoundly truthful statement of “By the handful.” I do believe we might have a taste testing episode coming soon…
**Note to the reader: Please be mindful to choose the right utensil when dunking Oreos, “crab fork” could confuse some and cause some awkward albeit hilarious discussions..
PS - if you haven’t been to the Oreo website lately - WHOA - who knew there were so many customizable options.
Alright - now let’s learn some more about amazing Erica Conway.
Erica leads not one but TWO companies:
One is C2 Graphics, which is the only family owned and locally owned, creative staffing firm here in Milwaukee.
The other is Talimer, a company that she co founded which is a human centric marketplace that connects innovative, tech, creative and amazing people with dynamic enterprises.
So, that's what she does (in addition to always saying yes to helping others and making a difference like EVERY day).
AND- this is who she is.
Erica Conway is not just a connector, she is a MASTER connector.
Let’s say Erica meets someone who needs help with something with their business, their career, or a project in their company (the list of things Erica can help with is literally endless).
Erica hears the need and quickly flips the huge rolodex (you know what that is, right?) in her brain and BOOM the synaptic connection happens and a match is made. I should say a match made in heaven because with what I’ve experienced with Erica connections, they feel more like spirit connections than just business.
Speaking of, let’s talk about the amazing Sandy Ploy from Find the Glitter.
It was a few years ago (PC - or Pre-Covid) when the idea of The Funny Kind came to me. I was telling Erica Conway all about it and thought wouldn’t this be fun? Focusing on humor, kindness, good stuff with videos and blogs sounded like such fun. Little did I know how much I would need this years later :)
As is the case when you start telling people about your hopes and dreams, things started to happen and fall into place. While I was getting excited, I started to freak out a bit when I began thinking of all the things I would need: a website, branding, video stuff, and like a million other things that coursed through my mind and kept me in my overthinking stall zone.
BUT THEN - enter Sandy Ploy. Erica knows a lot of the people in the creative space who are great at all things creative. But somehow Erica knew Sandy would be the right fit for me.
Sandy can somehow get a clear message out of the ramblings I have and helps me speak my voice and find my messages in such a mind-blowing way. It was months before we actually met in person (stupid COVID) but you would never know it. I feel like I’ve known her forever. I know have an amazing brand and website and I honestly don’t know how I would be here without her.
Sandy is my forever Sherpa because even though I’m not climbing the Himalayan slopes, she was able to guide me through rugged terrains of the ups and downs reimagining my life and purpose and, for that, I will be forever grateful to you Sandy and of course to Erica for making this and so many other connections that have been amazing!
What’s your frosting? Find out more here https://talimer.com/cake-and-frosting/
Speaking of reimagining, I would be remiss to not mention the work that Erica does to help SOOOO many people find their purpose and passion.
I often tell Erica how amazing she is at pumping people up (see the video above for more slightly inappropriate commentary on this). Erica explains that what she does is different than just pumping somebody up. She strives to help people accurately reflect their value to the world, something us Midwesterners aren’t so great at. Charlie Berens nails the concept of Midwest nice with this video
But, hiding your talents isn’t serving anyone and, as Erica says:
“When you're awesome, you should just wear it like the cape that it is.”
~Erica Conway
You need to know what makes you special and how you show up differentially than any other cakey colleague. Here are the ingredients of an amazing, buttercream like frosting:
Aspirations
Accomplishments
Character
Passion
Skills
If you don’t know what your frosting is (and I bet you do you sweet and modest little thing), reach out to Erica and she can help you erica@c2gps.com
When I asked Erica how she brought kindness and light into the world, she of course turned it on me and gave me words of encouragement - one of her super powers (note - she will not be wearing a mock turtleneck with her cape though, sorry). That’s just so Erica. Always pumping up others and making people feel all frosty inside (which is especially helpful for us menopausal gals).
Thank you you for joining us on this episode of The Funny Kind. Leave your comments below as long as they don’t involve and references to NOT eating the cookie part of an Oreo. I just can’t have that kind of negativity here.
Now go and find some kindness and light in YOUR everyday places. And if you can’t find find any, then you just bring some OK?