SPEAKER_03: 0:41

Danielle, have you been to any networking events recently?

SPEAKER_01: 0:45

You know, the only networking events I go to are when you invite me, because you know how I am. I am not one to get out and chit-chat. You're the you're my person who networks.

SPEAKER_03: 0:56

Yes, and also I do have to add this in before we really get into it is that when we went to the TEDx Met and I knew you were gonna bring this up. And the woman who was, you know, kind of emceeing and leading everything, the curator, and she says, okay, now you guys are gonna go and you're gonna take this piece of paper and you're going to meet a stranger that you don't know and ask a question. And ask a question. Personal question. All this up, and she just said she goes, This is my worst nightmare. And so just, you know, for those of you listening to us, this is kind of our dynamic. I'm all about going and meeting the strangers. I, you know, strangers just a friend I haven't met yet. And Danielle, I just pull her along with me.

SPEAKER_01: 1:37

And I didn't used to be that way. I actually used to be very extroverted. And then I think I figured out I'm an introverted extrovert. Like I can turn it on, but if you've been the choice, I will back away, disappear.

SPEAKER_03: 1:50

Okay, so you're like, and I will be like Homer Simpson, where I dissolve the bush. Fade into the bush. Fade into the bush.

SPEAKER_02: 1:58

Okay, so as someone who's like so extroverted, yes. So my question is when it when they say like walk up to a stranger and you introduce yourself, ask the question, what's the difficult part of that? Is it is it is it picking the stranger? Is it initiating the conchat? Is it the the small talk of it? Because to me, that's like, oh, how fun and exciting.

SPEAKER_01: 2:18

That's a great question. I think it's picking the stranger. I'm I'm picking up on the vibe on of the person I'm looking who feels safe, who's got a good energy, who's more open and who's kind of shifting, you know.

SPEAKER_02: 2:32

Or like you're gonna go up and talk to them and then they're gonna be awkward and not talk back, and then you're gonna be stuck. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 2:37

So we actually have an expert on this. Uh, Danielle, you introduce our guests.

SPEAKER_03: 2:41

Yes. So today in the studio, we have Becky Luther, aka Queenie B of Queenie Connects and NWA Networking Alliance, which just announced their new name for their group, which is actually Hive Network. Is that correct? Networking. Networking. And so Queenie is here to talk a little bit about her journey and how she's connecting not only singles in Northwest Arkansas, but even on a bigger scale, connecting business owners here in Northwest Arkansas together through networking events. And she just, you know, sit before recording today, she had her first official networking event, and there were 300 people there. And so I don't want to steal all the thunder from her because I want her to talk about what she's doing. She's really making a lot of waves here in Northwest Arkansas and is becoming a massive leader in this space. And so we're so excited to have you here. And I I love that, you know, not love. We've had to reschedule this a couple of times because of illnesses, but it was meant to be. It was meant to be that we had to reschedule because that transition happened.

SPEAKER_02: 3:52

Yes. So funny you should say that. Yeah. Because I actually was thinking about that on the drive here. Like if we had done this, so we had to reschedule for you because your baby and then one of my babies was sick. So yeah, but if we had done it sooner, we wouldn't have like all of this that has happened so quickly over the last five weeks. Yes. I guess it's we're we're about six weeks now, but yeah, so much has happened, we wouldn't have all of that.

SPEAKER_03: 4:14

So much has happened to talk about. So one of the things that we love to start our podcast with is asking our guests how they ended up in Northwest Arkansas. So, what's kind of your origin story of ending up and becoming one of the people of Northwest Arkansas?

SPEAKER_02: 4:27

Yeah, not very many people are like, oh, I was born here. So, yes, I moved here from Miami, Florida as a teenager. Okay. With my dad, moved here for, of course, Walmart back in the 90s. He was hired by Sam Walton, and we moved up here, and I'm married a local guy, had some babies, divorced a local guy, and stayed. So I love it. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. That's awesome. How old are your kids? So I've got a seven-year-old, he's my baby, my little unexpected blessing is what we call him. And then I've got a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old.

SPEAKER_03: 4:58

Okay, you're in the thick of the teenager. Oh my god, scared. I was just texting her the other day about I can't believe I'm a 13-year-old. She's probably like, yeah, okay, get ready, buckle up.

SPEAKER_02: 5:07

Okay, so my boyfriend has a 13-year-old. So we have a 17-year-old, a 15-year-old, and a 13-year-old. And sitting at the kitchen table for dinner, the amount of angst that is there, they're angry that they have to eat healthy food, they're angry that they can't bring their phone, they're just angry. They just slice the angst with a knife at every dinner. I can't wait. But of course, I love them so much.

SPEAKER_03: 5:29

Oh, so you wear a lot of hats and you are a nurse practitioner. I am you're a community builder, an event host, and you are a connector of people.

SPEAKER_04: 5:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 5:40

Um, so what were some of those defining moments that kind of led you down such a people-focused path?

SPEAKER_02: 5:46

Yeah. Well, I mean, I I think the big thing, and I've talked about it a little bit on my page, is the way I was raised. So I was actually raised in a well, some people call it a cult, but it was a very isolated and restricted upbringing. I was homeschooled, we lived in the country, sort of only interacted with those that were in our church and in the same belief system as us. And so just a lot of isolation. And for someone like me or you, right, we're super extroverted. And so that just did not feed my it did not fill my cup. And so then I, you know, I go to college and it's like this new world and it's overwhelming. And I was married and I had some babies and uh disentangled myself from the upbringing, sort of a long, complicated, do I live believe this? And the answer, I'd tried for many years and I didn't. So then once I sort of joined I hate to say joined society, but I started saying, okay, I'm like every I'm I'm like everyone else, right? And then I started so I just want community. I just want to build, I want to know all the people. I'd just been in such a small corner for so long, I just wanted to know everyone all the time. And so I started a single mom's group on Facebook called the NWA single mom sisterhood of NWA. And then I started a a nonprofit called Gownsational, where I give free prom gowns to to teens, underprivileged teens, a lot of them in the in the system, that who's gonna buy them a prom gown? Well, I'm gonna get them one for free. So then I started, of course, the singles group, which is when everything really started to explode, and and recently started the networking group. And what I sort of am able to do well is is build connections and bring people together. So I do well. I honestly I think that you do too. Yeah, I I think that you intrinsically have that skill and that warm nature.

SPEAKER_03: 7:38

So I appreciate you saying that. That is definitely something that everything you were saying, I was like, ooh, that resonates with me. That resonates with me, that resonates with me. I think that this community is so special and what you're building is so amazing. And I'm like, ooh, I want to be a part of that. Do I have time? My husband and I keep having these conversations. Do you have time for this? I'm like, well, I'm gonna make time for this.

SPEAKER_02: 8:01

You know, they say ask the busiest people for help because they're the ones that will make it happen. I think that's true. I think there's those of us like, I want to be like too busy. Yeah, like if I just have like a normal amount of food on my plate, I'm like, no, I want it to be piled so high I can't pop, you know, and then I just make it happen.

SPEAKER_03: 8:18

But it's like productive busy too. Like we just heard a speaker at the TEDx Bentonville, Dominique Blake, she was talking about. Are you busy or are you just are you just busy or are you productive? And that really spoke to me because I was like, okay, how am I, you know, and as I've like grown as a person, I've learned to like say yes to things that I want to say yes to. Like I'm saying yes to this and I'm giving it. Or there's the things that I've learned to say no to. Instead of saying yes to everything, it's like, what are the things that I'm intentional about and what are the things that I'm gonna be able to give to and be productive with rather than just, you know, so that I I think that that was just like an interesting kind of redefinition for me of like my busyness, you know, and I love that because the things that you're doing are very productive.

SPEAKER_02: 9:02

Well, and to me, I I feel like if I'm not, if I don't feel productive, then to me it's like I feel I'm I don't matter if I'm not actively pursuing a goal or building or being productive. And some people don't feel that way, like my ex-husband. He just he thrives on quiet and solitude and just sort of piddling. He he loves to piddle. That sounds that sounds bad. Like but just like go in the garage and do whatever. Tinker. Tinker. That's a better maybe that's a better word. Yeah, he loves tinker, takeout. And uh, and I do that's not me. Like tinkering or clean, you know, that's not for me. So I gotta be like pursuing, like actively, proactively pursuing something.

SPEAKER_03: 10:15

I think you're doing a lot of things. Have you always been the organizer of like groups? Like when you're like groups of friends and stuff. Have you always been that? Yeah, I tend to be the organizer.

SPEAKER_02: 10:22

Like, let's all get together at my house. Yeah, that tends to be me. Yeah. I have a question about the gowns.

SPEAKER_01: 10:28

Okay. I was like, no, because I've been thinking about this. Um love it. How does that process usually work? Are you taking news, new or like gently used?

SPEAKER_02: 10:36

Yeah, so well, it's a super simple process. So, what I do is I will go to like 10 local businesses and I will say, here is a clothing rack. I am going to advertise that anyone who has a gently used formal gown can drop that gown off at your business. So we worked with a lot of banks, so like United Bank. And we would say, Okay, there's a there's a rack at United Bank. You walk in, you drop off your prom gown, you're done with it. And then we go around, we gather all of those gowns. So the idea being so many of us have a formal gown in our closet that we're never gonna wear again because we've already worn it once, right? Well, you don't want to throw it away because you spent so much money on it and so beautiful. So you keep it in your closet and it gathers dust until you're like, this is out of date. I'm gonna throw it in the landfill. Right. Meanwhile, there's a whole sector of kids, of teenagers that cannot possibly afford a$400 prom gown. Yeah, they're so expensive. Or one thousand hundred dollar prom gown. Or even a hundred dollar prom. They can't afford that. And so, how do I take the gown that you already have and gift it to a teen who won't be able to go to prom otherwise? And so I basically you drop it off at one of these businesses, I gather them up. I have worked with local businesses that would seamstresses that will fix things that need to be fixed and donate their time, local dry cleaners that will clean the dresses that need it. And people have donated it, so it's completely donation-based. There's no exchange of monetary funds whatsoever. And we put on a massive production. Someone even donated like the really huge mirrors, so that like, look, if you try on a gown, you gotta twirl. You gotta look at it from the backside. Yeah, you do. So like we we they come out and I have videos of these girls in these unbelievably gorgeous gowns. Twirling in front of the mirror. And I'll tell you what, you want instant tears right here knowing that you did that.

SPEAKER_03: 12:29

I'm about to cry right now.

SPEAKER_02: 12:30

Yeah, and like this girl could now. Don't cry, don't cry. But you know, we work closely with the DHS system or uh yeah, it's wonderful. Yeah, so that's what we do. It's a it's a one-day event. So last year we did the the event on March, like March March 8th. We gave away as many gowns as we could, and then we donated the rest of the gowns that we had gathered because we had like 650. So we donated to dress for success. They actually built a trailer that took the gowns to local schools because some kids don't have transportation and would schedule days to go to this school, to go to this school. Okay, and then the girls, uh the teens could come in and and pick the gowns there because they couldn't get to our event. We donated to the I think sixty or seven to the to the children's safety center, gowns that we had left over another place where you know they don't have access to and so and then address just address for success, children's safety center, and beautiful lives. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we were able to donate about 200 dresses to them.

SPEAKER_03: 13:25

So that's amazing.

SPEAKER_02: 13:26

All good things are special.

SPEAKER_03: 13:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 13:29

Because clothes really are so important with how you feel. Well you know, you look good, you feel like well, and when you're a teenager is is going to promote life or death, you know. But for a teen who has been through a lot and they are in this place where it feels maybe like no one cares or they want it the as a teen, you just want to be like everyone else. Yeah. And maybe you can't if you can't go to prom.

SPEAKER_01: 13:53

And so it's not something you can recreate later in life, too. You know, it's kind of like you have that window of time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 13:59

So my goal is like, let's just get these kiddos a prom dress. So that's one thing that their mom doesn't have to think about. There's you know, so yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 14:06

That's really special. It really touches my heart a lot when I was a teenager and my senior year. My parents went through a lot of things that happened to them financially. Um, and my parents' friend actually bought my prom dress for me. That's nice. So you understand. Yeah, so I really understand like what that's like.

SPEAKER_02: 14:25

You know, it's crazy because a lot of the volunteers, so it it's it's entirely volunteer-based, so we sort of all rally around in in January and we make this happen. And a lot of them say, you know, I didn't go to prom. I didn't I didn't have money. Yeah. So this would have been such a blessing for me. Or, you know, I remember my mom having to, you know, skip XYZ so that she could afford to prom buy me a prom dress. Or, you know, I told my mom, I one girl said, I told my mom I couldn't stand the thought of going to prom that I wouldn't go even if I had a dress because I knew she was scrimping and saving to try to get me one and that she couldn't afford it. So I just told her I didn't want to go.

SPEAKER_01: 15:03

And I'm like, mm-hmm, you know, so yeah, we're trying to help. You're doing a wonderful thing and connecting single moms because I was raised by single mom and dad. Mine divorced when I was two. And so, but you know, that was like before the internet really connected people. Wow, it would have really benefited my mom to have a network.

SPEAKER_02: 15:25

Just a support system of there's nothing like this is something that I've I've really has been driven home to me the last couple years. There's nothing like empathy to drive connection. So, you know, just the fact that you're both single moms gives you a a connection and a tie that you share that a lot can be built upon. And then the same thing, you know, when I started the singles group, there was just hey, it's not a dating group. Uh sh I will be saying this on my death. It's not a dating group. It is a single social group. It's two different things. You can be a singles group without being a dating group. A lot of dating happens, but that is not what the group is about. And so, yeah, like just be hanging out with other single parents in this most of them are single parents. So just hanging out with a lot of other singles are in the same phase, they have free time, you know, whatever. It's very powerful.

SPEAKER_03: 16:15

So when did you start Queenie Connects and the kind of singles social group?

SPEAKER_02: 16:20

Yeah, so I it was in June, it was in let's see, I did Gon Sational in January of 2024, and then I had the idea for for the singles group sort of while I was doing Gonzational, didn't have time. So the end of March 2024. That was a long answer to a single question. No, that's for a simple question. So the very end of March 2024, and we had our first in-person meetup two weeks later. There was about 400 members in the group. Wow. And I just posted on the group page, me and another girl, we posted on the group, hey, we're gonna just go hang out to the at the piano bar. It's random, but if anyone wants to join us, you know, show up. Yeah, I'm wearing a green shirt type of a thing. You know, you can find them wearing a green shirt. And 25 people showed up.

SPEAKER_03: 17:00

Wow.

SPEAKER_02: 17:01

And we were out till two o'clock in the morning. All of us, like single parents that didn't have our kids that weekend, and so we were out till two o'clock. So much fun that we went out the next night. That's awesome and we were out till three o'clock and ended up at Denny's. So I was work that night. I know. So then then I know, and so then the third night, some people went out because now the group is seeing like what's happening, and these people are getting together, and lots of people are showing up. So we did one that third night, and the fourth night, and the fifth night, and we ended up doing an event every day to the point where within a couple of months I was doing two events a night because they were so big I couldn't fit them all in one location. And so it was like it blew up really fast. It did blow up really fast.

SPEAKER_03: 17:44

That was only two weeks after the group started. And that just speaks to just the need that exists here in Northwest Arkansas to find people that are going through similar things as you, you know. Like I can definitely say that like I've resonated with communities that are kind of, you know, draw me in because of the things I'm walking through in life, whether it's business, family, being a mom, now being a mom of teen. Where are my people? Just kidding. I I do have people for being a mom of teen. So when you went, when you kind of created this, uh, what was your goal with the group? Or did you have a goal, or are you just kind of like, okay, this is what's happening?

SPEAKER_02: 18:24

So my goal from the very beginning, actually, when I started the group, is for it not to be just an online group. I wanted it to be like an in-person group. So when I did that, oh, does anyone want to join me? You know, that night two weeks after the group started, like I had had that in my mind the whole time. Like I wanted to create a place where single parents could hang out and just like like chill, like just hang out together and feel like they're not a pariah for being. I mean, the the fact of the matter is when you become single, when you've when you've not been single and you become single, that's a huge shift. And you lose relationships. Now, sometimes you lose relationships because you know, there's the old like, oh, did they choose his side, her side? Unfortunately that happens, but then also just like you're in a different place when you become single. Like I was a I had been married for to the same guy, been with him for 22 years, and now I'm a single mom, and I don't want to go hang out with my married friends and be the third wheel. And so I wanted to create a place where the singles weren't the outcast, they were the norm, I guess. And it worked, it worked in terms of building community, and even though it is not a dating group, I will say that again. We had let's see, in a year and a half, uh eight marriages, I think. Wow of people that met in the group. That's just a nice outcome. It is a nice outcome, it's an added bonus, it's a bonus, yeah. And then and then the friendship groups. I mean, thousands of people that just like found their friendship group of other singles, you know.

SPEAKER_03: 19:47

Yeah, I love that. I know that you know, I got married later in life, and as a single person in Northwest Arkansas at the time I was living in Silem Springs. Yeah, there's nothing to do in Sylem Springs in that area. I live there for a year. A major shortage of single people in that area. So it was I can see how that would be a benefit just as a single person and then knowing friends who have gone through divorce or a loss of a spouse, like finding your community is just so valuable.

SPEAKER_01: 20:14

So well, my mom is single and she's debated moving here and she keeps going on the dating apps and not really seeing or she sees the same people. So maybe I need to connect her with you. Yes, yeah, absolutely. She is very she does very well in her career. Yeah. She's a therapist and she's, you know, yeah, has but it would just not even just to date, just to hang out with other single people.

SPEAKER_02: 20:38

Well, and that's the thing. It's not even that she's coming in because she's looking for, you know, uh her next relationship, but just like meet other women in the same phase. And yes, so uh there is a massive girl. I put too much room. I cannot do this right now, but I want to because there's a trend, the graying of divorce. I don't know if you've heard about this trend. People more and more are getting divorced later in life. So we have this huge surge of people that are in their 50s and 60s that are starting over, and they need connections. And so there is a massive need, even you know, Northwest Arkansas, to find a way to connect people who are vibrant and energetic, and they, you know, they're not career focused right, you know, anymore, or uh they have more time on their hands than they're retired.

SPEAKER_01: 21:29

Exactly. And they want to get to they want to find a way to get together. Some of her married friends, like they get together, but a lot of time it's more focused on couples' um trips or couples' dinners, and she's not necessarily I don't know if she's ready to dive back back into she goes through little spurts where she'll date and then she's like, I'm done. Yeah, and then I totally get that.

SPEAKER_02: 21:47

I totally do get that. I think Carla gets it too, yeah. Yeah, so yeah, I mean that's what it's about. It's about finding community and finding the people that are in the same phase as you and just making friends.

SPEAKER_01: 21:56

That's what's and you kind of shifted that into business networking, yeah, right?

SPEAKER_02: 22:00

Well, but you have both, but you kind of like well, you know, Queenie grew very big very quickly, but it was nothing compared to how this really networking. Oh, I want to know more about this exploded. Yeah, Daniel can take you. So yeah, so I was as a small business owner for Queenie or or Organizational, it just gosh, felt like I was alone. And I talked to some local organizations that whose goal is to work with small businesses and uplift them. I didn't feel uplifted. I felt like they were you know just trying to sell me something that I couldn't afford. And I'm like, where can I just find a place where small business owners can just the same thing, just build a community of people that are in the same face. We're small business owners and working hard, wearing all the hats like you alluded to earlier, Danielle, and just feeling alone and isolated and you know, and grinding all day, every day to grow their business that they believe in and just find a supportive place for them. So I I started a Facebook group called NWA Networking Alliance, formerly known as NWA Networking Alliance, so now Hive Networking. I started it like a couple days into October last so last month. And girl, in the first five years.

SPEAKER_01: 23:21

I've noticed now that she invited me on to it.

SPEAKER_02: 23:24

Yeah, we're at almost 7,000 members. Over a million. We hit a million group views. A million think about that, guys. A million group views in five weeks.

unknown: 23:36

That's a ton.

SPEAKER_02: 23:37

We have made, I was I was trying to count today, and Facebook does not make it easy. I want to say five people have gone viral because they posted an intro in our group. Oh one of them is Andrew from Hearts of the Father. He owns a small nonprofit where he takes children from troubled homes and he takes them camping and fishing and just like get in the outdoors, and it's a free service, of course. And he got 80,000, 90,000 views, and he's not the only one. There's quite a few. And they post an intro and it's become just a wonderful supportive. So awesome.

SPEAKER_03: 24:10

And that's what it's about, you know. Like that's really it's really neat being in that group and seeing all the things that are happening and kind of knowing like your heart behind it and the team that's working with you and the different business owners, and it's just another example of a need in the area. And I'm I'm excited to see where it grows.

SPEAKER_02: 24:30

I have had so many people reach out to me and be like, Queenie, I I couldn't tell you how grateful I am because all I did was post an intro in your group page, and you have doubled my leads. Wow. That's amazing. I've been working this job for years and you doubled my leads. All I did was post an intro in your group page for free. It was completely free. And so we did a we did an in-person event that was last November 4th. We did our very first in-person event. It's like, guys, let's hang out together, let's meet each other. Over three hundred people, and we and we had to like Top Golf was like, no more people can come in. Like we're at fire capacity. Wild. 300 people.

SPEAKER_01: 25:06

I love I love that because I mean it seems like I haven't asked your why specifically for that, but it sounds like from what you've said, you feel productive in your life when you're connecting people. Yes, oh, 100%. That's our why too. Someone literally just asked us, a friend of ours through the the media world, our why behind the podcast. And I was like, well, I guess it's just that we like, well, first of all, we like meeting people and hearing their stories, but I think it's just connecting. Yeah. See, well, we like to know what's going on in the community. Every week when we're in the studio, I learn about something new. Or like what you were just talking about where you said heart of hearts of hearts of Hearts of the Father, yeah. Yes. Didn't even know my husband used to do Big Brother in Dallas, and I didn't know something like that existed here. So it's crazy.

SPEAKER_02: 25:52

It's crazy how many people are out there doing incredible things, but like me, their marketing budget is zero.

SPEAKER_01: 26:00

You know, like I can't afford to their Facebook friends, which may not make it to well, and that's one of the things that well, and all the algorithms are the algorithms. Well, yeah, we were just talking about that before you got here. We were talking about how like our algorithms are so different. Yes. And yeah, you never know what's going to be fed into your, you know. Well, that's what am I seeing today? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 26:23

Why Facebook decided to show me today? I had I had someone that I would send them, I would send them reels and they would say, Stop sending me reels because you're changing my algorithm. And I like, oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01: 26:34

I don't want to watch it. I'm like, if I open this, my reels, my album.

SPEAKER_03: 26:41

You're welcome or puppies or whatever. You're so welcome. I know. Hey, you send me bazillion TikToks. I do. We're even.

SPEAKER_01: 26:49

Okay, so we're going back to how we started talking about networking. Since you're the queen of networking, what are some tips for someone like me? I'm an introverted extrovert. Sometimes I just need a little push. It's not that I can't turn on once I'm talking to somebody. It's just that I would prefer to keep to myself and be approached instead of approaching.

SPEAKER_02: 27:11

Approaching, yeah. So, you know, that's one of the things, and and one of the ways that I got connected well, one several ways actually. I got connected with Danielle here, is that for my events, we take that into consideration. So I went to a bunch of networking events, and I when I started the singles group, and I sort of noticed the same problem at all of them, like sitting back, I'd never been in the networking scene before, and I'm kind of seeing the same issues happening over and over again. And one of them is when you're forced to introduce yourself to people and you walk in and you don't know who to talk to, and they're all talking to each other, and you like feel like I'm me. So I just like elbow and I'm like, excuse me, you're in the circle. And then I will just stick out my hand. But so many people aren't like that. Right. And so what we do is we will do the connections for you. You don't have to seek out a connection. Danielle was an ambassador at one of my events, and we had eight or ten, I think, or twelve. And basically the role of the ambassadors is to grab people and make introductions. So, you know, she's perfect for that. Exactly. Oh, I asked her for a reason.

SPEAKER_01: 28:21

She in Ted Talks, she did that because, you know, I went there to to enjoy the the speakers. And of course, I wanted to network with the speakers and the people putting it on, you know, for potential guests for the show. But I was not willing to just go over. But she was. Yeah. So she introduced me to everyone. Now we have some great guests. Yeah. I was like, here, let's go talk to this person. Let's talk about. Can we take a selfie? She was like, Can we do pictures with every speaker? And I was like, Do we have to? Like, I'm just not the person that's like, hey, let's grab a picture, but I'm glad that she does because I enjoy them on the back end. I loved reposting all the content that she created. Yes.

SPEAKER_03: 28:59

And I've also learned to not be like afraid of people, you know, like I've learned in different just experiences that I've had in life and the different work that I've done, whether it's in the marketing world, that sometimes people are afraid to go up to someone because they're like, oh, it's so and so and so and so. And I'm like, yes, but they're a person. Like, and we can go and we can talk about it.

SPEAKER_02: 29:19

That whole thing where we all put our pants on like in the end. In the end, this is how I always think about it. This is weird, but this is how I always think about it. They've all vomited in the bathroom at two o'clock in the morning when they had a stomach bug, right? That's how it's true. It doesn't matter if you are the president, if you are the richest, like we've all been like we're just people. Yes, right. And so whenever I start to get intimidated by someone, I think they've vomited. They vomited in the bathroom at two o'clock in the morning, just like I have. When you feel like there's like so humbled in that moment, like you're on the bath on the bathroom floor, everyone's been there. So we're all just the same in the end. So that is weird, but works for me.

SPEAKER_03: 29:59

Yeah. No, I like that. That's a great analogy. Like we've all easy. We're all the same in the end. I might take it a step further, but I won't talk about them on there. Well, when you said I tried to give it PG PG. Danielle's about to start clutching her pearls.

SPEAKER_01: 30:12

No, no, no, I wasn't actually. When she said we all put on our pants one leg at a time, it actually made me think of an SNL skit with Christopher Walken because he knows, except when I put mine on, I make gold records. Yes. Oh my gosh, yes. Was that cowbell? Yes. Yeah. He's like, I make gold records. I'm gonna put mine on. Yeah.

unknown: 30:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 30:33

But all I could think of was cowbell. That's how my brain wins. I just dart one thing to the next.

SPEAKER_03: 30:38

Well, absolutely, there are people that we can have respect for and hold in high regard. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 30:43

But they're just people like ambassadors make sense, and that's smart.

SPEAKER_02: 30:46

It is, you know, and so they can grab and and you know, trying to pick personalities. I'm so big on, you know, let's not try to get people out of what they're best at, you know. So, like pick people, this is their strength naturally, and I'll get them together and give some tips. But yeah, and like Danielle was awesome. I mean, she's just so natural and connecting people so that you don't have to feel the pressure of who am I gonna connect myself with we'll do it for you. Trust me, we will literally grab your elbow and be like, come over here. I want to introduce you to this person and and it explains here's some things you two have in common, and then you're able to start a conversation without feeling like you walked up to a stranger.

SPEAKER_01: 31:22

Right. And you never know what's gonna come from one meeting. We've collaborated and partnered with so many people just off of a random event. Coffee shop, whatever.

SPEAKER_03: 31:32

Absolutely, yeah, yeah, absolutely. So I think it's great. I love yeah, I had so many great conversations that night. Good, good. Some really funny worrying over the darn name tags, despite the name tags just you know becoming this thing of yeah, I'm agony. Yeah, won't be doing that again. Yeah, but solutions. We'll come up with solutions. Yes, for sure. So let's talk about Queenie Bee, the name Queenie Bee. Uh-huh. Where did that come from?

SPEAKER_02: 32:01

So it's not the origin story anyone expects. So when I started the when I started the singles group, I sort of was like, oh, you know, I don't really want to start as Becky, like the girl that starts the singles group, so I'm just gonna come up with a pseudonym and I'll just hide behind the pseudonym. So no one will know who's running the group. But I also didn't think anyone would care who's running the group. Like you're in so many Facebook groups, right? Do you know who the admin is of any of them? No, you don't. So I didn't think anyone would care. Like I'm just the admin of the group, no one's gonna care who I am. And but then I started the group and it grew so quickly. So, you know, two weeks into the group, Becky went on there and said, guys, meet me. But no one knew that Becky was the creator of the group. As a matter of fact, when I was there, everyone was talking about it. You know, who is it? No one knew. So no one knew that Queenie was Queenie B was me. Why I used the name Queenie B is because I was thinking about a chess board and how the queen is the only one that can move in every direction, right? And so since I was a mystery, you know, no one knew who Queenie was. She's the only one who knew. Silly. But it was one of those things, you know, 10 o'clock at night when you drink a glass of wine, it seems like a good idea. Yeah. And so it wouldn't let me just put the queen or the chess queen or whatever I was trying. And so then I get frustrated. I'm like, how about queen bee? Well, it wouldn't let me do that, Becky. So then I'm like, How about Queenie B? There we go. And it worked. So yeah, it was actually alluding to a chess more than the bee. And then didn't come out publicly as who you know, the Becky as Queenie B didn't come out publicly until December of that year. And yeah, made a bit of a splash.

SPEAKER_03: 33:34

All right. Well, that's good. I like it. It's a fun name. And now you're taking that name and playing off of it for the networking group.

SPEAKER_02: 33:42

Yeah, I know. Right. Hive networking. So great. Yeah. Yeah. That was Brittany from uh Britney Seidelman from Cold Up Design. That was her idea. She's like, well, because we were talking about like, do we use the name Queenie? And I'm like, it just feels so so egotistical, I guess. So we were trying to do something else. She's like, well, how what about if we make it more subtle? So she came up with the idea for Hive, and I loved it like immediately when she said it.

SPEAKER_03: 34:04

Hive networking.

SPEAKER_02: 34:05

Yeah, hive networking.

SPEAKER_03: 34:06

And that the group, right?

SPEAKER_02: 34:07

What it conveys, which is like we're all in this together, we're all building each other up. We have a shared, you know, like you said earlier, we have a shared purpose, we have a shared community, and we're collaborating to build, you know, the honeycomb, I guess. Build this this community of of professionals.

SPEAKER_01: 34:24

Yeah. Yeah. That's amazing. Yeah. So what's next for you?

SPEAKER_02: 34:28

Oh my gosh. If only I had enough time in the day to do all of the ideas I have. I mean, I have invention. I I'm a visionary. Yeah. Like we can't help ourselves. Like just the ideas come. So right now I'm just super focused on building this networking group, guys. It is just creating so much goodness. And it's giving, you know, sort of a platform for a lot of people that, like, you know, I've mentioned a couple of times, people that have zero marketing budget, but we can get them connected and we can get them feeling a sense of community and heck, even get them new business leads, which is happening time and time again. So yeah, I'm I'm really focused on building this networking group. We've got a our next event is coming up, working on a location for that. I think it's gonna be uh December 4th, and then go from there, see how many new businesses we can uplift. I mean, the number of people that have posted intros that are, you know, two, five, ten, twenty, fifty, seventy thousand views is unbelievable. So keep boosting.

SPEAKER_03: 35:29

Wow, it's really amazing. So, what has been your biggest takeaway from all of this and this journey that you've been on and how has it impacted your life?

SPEAKER_02: 35:39

Well, you know, I am that's a big question. So I think that it has really shown me what my passion is. It shows me what I'm really good at. I think that, you know, finding what fits your personality and what you're really good at doing is amazing. And asking a monkey to lay an egg and a and a chicken to peel a banana, you know, like it, and so so many people are in a place where they're a chicken peeling a banana, right? And it's like, well, you're not very good at this, and you need to hurry up. Well, there's something you're else you're really good at. So for me, I've come to a place where I'm doing something that I just do really well, better than most, even though a lot of other areas I'm worse than most. Yes, that absolutely makes sense. So it's been really gratifying to me. I would say, in short, it's been really gratifying to me to find an area where I feel like that I'm in my element.

SPEAKER_03: 36:36

That's awesome. That's really awesome. And really encouraging too. I think that as people listen to this, and hopefully our listeners, their takeaway is you know, finding that place where they belong, and then going that step further of finding like what what drives them, what fuels them, and then what are they good at and what kind of builds them up? And and that's really encouraging to and it's so neat when you find that for yourself too.

SPEAKER_02: 37:02

It is, it is it really, really is and how naturally things can flow if you're doing what what you're intuitively good at versus how much you're gonna fight to succeed if you're doing something that really isn't your skill.

SPEAKER_03: 37:16

Yeah, I agree so much. I think that's one thing that has been special about this show is just how much we have poured into it, but the it just really resonates with us just as individuals and as co-hosts. And I mean, from day one, like when we were on Brock's radio show and just how everything just clicked for us was so special.

SPEAKER_02: 37:43

And then to just see where we're at now, I was like, I'm home, I was meant to be here all the time. It's really really cool.

SPEAKER_03: 37:48

It's funny to like think back and you know, we you know, here in our third season and getting to have like amazing guests that we get to introduce to the community is such I mean, I love it so much. So yeah, it fills the cup, yeah, it does.

SPEAKER_02: 38:03

Yeah, yeah, and that's what I said earlier. Like we find something that you truly are passionate about and and it fills your cup and makes you feel that sense of belonging or purpose or whatever.

SPEAKER_03: 38:14

That yeah, it's really cool. And just even like speaking on that as far as the group with the networking group, you know, you're meeting all these people who are talking so passionately about the things that they do. And some of these people are talking about things that I'm like, that sounds like I would want to like you know, pull my hair out, like and it's nothing against them, it's just more of a situation where it's like we all have the things that we gravitate toward, and we all have things that we love to do, and not everyone is gifted or passionate about different things, and so you know, like when people talk about like numbers and money and finances and stuff like that. I'm like a 11-year-old, she can't of advanced mathematics.

SPEAKER_01: 38:57

And I'm like, You got that from your dad?

SPEAKER_02: 39:00

I am cleasing. Okay, so I I'm working with Jamie from Outsourced Bookkeeping Solutions, and she's doing all my bookkeeping and she's helping me, you know. And we were working together yesterday, and as we were trying to gather statements and receipts, her eyes were shining. Oh, what is wrong? What is wrong? She was having so much fun. We're like trying to set up LLC and all of these things that just make my uh and her eyes are shining. She's like, Oh, this is we're gonna get this together. Think how organized it's gonna be. She's like, and spreadsheets, and I'm like, oh, spreadsheets, spreadsheets. She's like, Oh, I've got so many, and I'm like, oh, you know what? You do you, you do Sister and I'll do me. Because for her, the idea of introducing strangers in a crowd of 300 makes her queasy. So we all play door drinks.

SPEAKER_03: 39:45

Yeah, exactly. That's that is such a great example, and I love that you use somebody from the group.

SPEAKER_01: 39:51

Yeah, and variety is the spice of life, right? We gotta like have our things. What if we were all artists?

SPEAKER_02: 39:57

The place would be beautiful, and we'd all be really, you know, there wouldn't we wouldn't have beautiful houses like this if it would or if we were all mathematicians, there wouldn't be any color in the room.

SPEAKER_03: 40:05

So it's all about variety, and it really is all about the variety of life.

SPEAKER_01: 40:09

So we like to always finish our episodes to ask our guests what your favorite thing about the area is. And I mean it could be the landscape, the co whatever it is. What is your favorite thing? What has kept you here?

SPEAKER_02: 40:21

Northwest Arkansas? Uh that's a hard one. I'm gonna say the beauty of the Ozarks, but then I want also wanna say, like, sort of that we still have the fault, the the small town vibe, even though we're not really that small of a town anymore. Yeah, I guess that's my I I understand that.

SPEAKER_01: 40:38

I I love the feeling of the smaller town vibe. And it is growing, but I still feel that.

SPEAKER_02: 40:44

Yeah, I feel like I can still go to the square and walk around and bump into someone I know, but at the same time, you know, we have a melting pot here now, which is so exciting. So it is. Yeah, at the same time, we have one of the premier art museums in in the country.

SPEAKER_01: 41:00

So, you know, it's like a small town vibe, even though we're yeah. Exactly. Um tell our listeners where they can find you online, your social handles, your your website. Just this is your time to plug away.

SPEAKER_02: 41:12

Yeah, so you can join the networking group, Hive Networking, formerly known as NWA Networking Alliance, on Facebook and on Instagram. You can find me, Queenie B NWA, is on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook and LinkedIn. And website, we have a domain name. It may be up soon when this premieres, so I'll tell you it's Hive Networking NWA will be the new website or Queenie Connects for the singles group.

SPEAKER_01: 41:40

Awesome. Thanks so much for coming in. Thank you. Thanks, guys. Hey, thanks so much for listening today. If you liked what you heard, please consider subscribing to the podcast so you never miss an episode. You can also follow us on Instagram at PeopleofNWA. Thanks so much.

SPEAKER_00: 41:53

People of Northwest Arkansas with the two Danielles, produced by me, Brock Short of Brock Entertainment. Please rate, review, and like us on any podcast platform where you listen. For more information about today's guests and the show, please check the show notes. Thanks for listening.