What happens when you decide to create your own destiny? We're kicking off season 4 of Outside by Design with the incredible Micayla Gatto: professional athlete, artist, and damn good person. Micayla shares her thoughts around this month's keyword, Initiative, discusses her experience making Ferda Girls, and shares how she stays balanced as an athlete and artist.
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episode transcript
Lisa: Hi everyone. Welcome to season four of Outside by Design. This is Lisa, and guess what? Because Iris, who works at Wheelie, is the one that schedules all the podcasts and she's just a badass, I'm making Iris get on the podcast this season.
Iris: hi. That's me.
Lisa: That's Iris.
Iris: So Lisa, it's been a while since our last season of podcasting.
Lisa: It has been a while because our last podcast was right before the holidays, right? Oh my gosh, so much has been going on. First of all, we are doing a remodel on our new office. And construction and everything and it's just been horrible.
Iris: So if it's a little echoey, that's because our walls are unfinished.
Lisa: Yeah Iris and I are sitting in a unfinished office surrounded by tools and saws and a fire extinguisher. And a lot of dust.
Iris: Not a lot of furniture.
Lisa: No furniture, lot of dust. What else... we've been doing the remodel, a lot of our crew traveled down to Denver for Outdoor Retailer and that went really well. We filmed a Super Bowl commercial. So that was awesome. Maybe in the show notes will include a link to our Super Bowl commercial.
Iris, tell everybody about some of the changes we're doing this season.
Iris: We're going to have a theme every month centered around a word. So we're going to have our guests talk about that word and what it means to them and so each month we'll have a new one and we'll get some different perspectives on what that word means to each one of our guests.
Lisa: So February the word of the month is...
Iris: Initiative!
Lisa: And by definition, initiative is the power or opportunity to act or take charge before others do.
Iris: So that's going to be our word of the month that we center our podcast episodes around and we'll see what what initiative means to a few different people.
Iris: All right. So, who do we have on the show this week?
Lisa: Okay, so on the topic of initiative and to kick off season four strong we have the one and only, badass Micayla Gatto on the podcast today. Do you know who Micayla Gatto is?
Iris: Yes, we're so excited. She's a mountain biker and artist.
Lisa: Yeah, and she started the phenomenon Ferda Girls, I don't know if you remember that video. And she's just a badass in general. So I really like Micayla Gatto and I think she's my secret long-lost best friend.
Lisa: Yeah, everyone that is going to listen to this will want to be her friend for sure.
Lisa: She's awesome. She's really nice and you guys, it's so nice when somebody that you follow on Instagram is as cool as they seem on Instagram.
Iris: Yeah.
Lisa: In this episode, Micayla talks about...
Iris: She talks about initiative and a story in her life where she took initiative and she put herself out there, kind of for the first time, to try to pursue her dreams and it ended up working out. Pretty good story of initiative, but she also talks about some common problems that creatives run into, like not feeling done with your work or having trouble when you're an artist doing commercial work it's hard to set time aside to do personal work. I feel like basically anyone who is creative can relate to that.
Lisa: Well, thank you so much for being here today. And the first question I always ask everybody is to describe where they are and like... where they are in the world and what they're looking at. So where you at?
Micayla: Oh, I'm let me just open my blinds. Here we go. I am currently sitting in my studio, home studio in Squamish, BC staring at some beautiful mountains with some fresh snow on the top of them. I have a pretty nice view from my little window here. So yeah, feel pretty lucky. I just moved here in November. So even though I grew up in Vancouver, it's still a shock and kind of a goal, dream come true to be here. So, yeah.
Lisa: I know you are an incredibly badass mountain biker. Are you an equally bad ass skier do you think?
Micayla: [laughs] Absolutely not. I snowboard and I would say I'm an intermediate to advanced snowboarder, nowhere near professional. And as far as skiing goes, I've skied like maybe four times and I'm okay. I can get down like a blue run, but I can't use poles. So yeah, I've skied a couple times and I'd love to get more into it, but nope. No, definitely not... my skiing is very subpar.
Lisa: Nice. I was just up in Revelstoke and I saw so many women with the Ferda Girls sticker cruising around. Yeah, everywhere.
Micayla: Oh, that’s awesome, sweet. Has it transcended mountain biking? Was it on like skis and stuff?
Lisa: Yeah. I kept seeing it on ski helmets like at the ski resort.
Micayla: Sweet. Yeah. I still get messages from people asking where they can purchase stuff. Yeah, that's, that's great. That's good to hear. I like that.
Lisa: Yeah.
Micayla: It seemed to have a positive effect on a lot of people and that was the goal.
Lisa: So yeah, and I think you know, for our podcast listeners. We are referencing the video parody you made called Ferda Girls. Do you want to talk about that and also the topic of the month for us at Wheelie is initiative and I feel like that ties in really well to like, no one made you make this revolutionary video. You just kind of did it right? Like how did that go?
Micayla: Yeah. So first of all, I guess Ferda Girls itself was just it, well, if you look at the lyrics, kind of a chronological recording of my experiences as a female athlete in the mountain bike industry. And even before I started racing, so the first verse is all about being a kid. “I remember buying my first bike with my allowances.” That's like the first line of the song. And growing up with an older brother, going to school, hitting puberty, starting to race, get more into mountain biking and then kind of being hit with the what the industry was doing at the time and kind of what the world was doing at the time... the mindset of objectifying women to sell products and and the pressure I felt to… like the more skin I showed in the hotter I was, maybe the more I get paid in the more sponsors and attention I would get. And just my conflicts with that and kind of like, why can't I just ride my bike and be paid to do that? The guys do that.
And then moving forward into modern day and how you know, “her last whip just went viral” and how the girls are getting way more recognition for their skills and how I've seen like a huge positive change in a big shift in the industry over my career. And yeah, and then there's all that funny kind of “sit down bro” just saying that as women, we’re just as prominent in the industry and we can shred too, kind of thing. And like yeah, I don't know, it was really fun to make and it was really scary to put it all out there like that, but it was conversations that I'd been having with a lot of females in the industry. And in other cycling… well cycling disciplines, but other sports backgrounds. And I just felt like it was a good opportunity to be able to voice some of those opinions and kind of speak for a lot of women were feeling these things as well.
Lisa: Yeah. Did you think of this whole thing yourself? Where you were like, hey, I have an idea. Let me find a filmmaker?
Micayla: No, so I got selected to be in Dirt Diaries, which is a video competition held at Crankworx and they chose six athletes to be, you know, in the running for this, to make a video and compete against each other. And I was the only girl out of the six, so I thought okay. Since I'm the only girl, I felt this automatic pressure of like, all right, I need to do something that's going to represent... and like, I want to make like all the girls proud, sort of thing. And for me just my own opinion, I don't really enjoy watching shredits as I call them of people just, you know, shredding their bike, mountain biking. Because like you see tons, we’re like inundated with that all day long of like... burm slash, slow motion drift, going off a drop... and like as inspiring as it is to watch girls do that. It's like all right, I'm being put up against these guys that are way better riders than me, some of them, and I want to I want to say something more than just like... “this is a day in the life” sort of thing.
So I knew I wanted it to be funny. Because I like funny stuff. And yeah, I kind of just wanted to make something that I would enjoy watching. So I hit up IFHT because I'd worked with them before, Matt Denison and Jason Lucas and that whole team, and they originally said no. Because they'd already competed in Dirt Diaries a few times, they'd been judges, they’d kind of been through that whole thing and to them it's not like a lucrative thing. It's a good thing for filmmakersers who want to get recognized but it's not... like doesn't pay, you know, the big bucks.
So I begged them and then finally came back to me said okay. Yeah, I think we can do something. So I said I wanted to be funny I said I wanted to be something with women and they're like, all right. Okay. Why don't we do like an all-girls? Something with all girls? And I automatically was like scared because I'd seen like a lot of women's only stuff and like women's only camps and things like that and they were all very like... not really my style. A bit over the top, a bit to like “you go girl, yeah”, like wearing pink tutus and things and so I was a bit nervous. I was like, I don't know... and then I realized that it was the perfect platform to like go ahead and do something that I was in complete control of and didn't really have... I could fulfill my vision of what I thought a woman's-only kind of video or something should look like.
Yeah, and then we decided it should be a music video because I love music and yeah, it was a team effort for sure from IFHT and me and everybody involved. But yeah, that's kind of how it came about I guess.
Lisa: Yeah, that made big waves and I live in Whitefish Montana. And I mean, I think people were sharing that video like crazy.
Micayla: Yeah. It's got like over a million views now, I think yeah. So that was pretty cool. And I think it was also very much like, right place right time. Because it was a good platform. There was a lot of people at Crankworx. There's a lot of initial viewership and it was cool because it was like a video premiere so it came out with a bang and then the whole Me Too movement was going on at the same time. And there was just like this huge surge of feminism and kind of taking initiative as women and I think it just spoke to that. It was just kind of like a happy mistake that all that kind of stuff in general society was happening at the same time that the video came out.
Lisa: Yeah, yeah, that was sweet. And I think like one of my favorite things about you and kind of your style is that you are able to address heavier topics through a lens of humor, or just honesty, and I think that's a really powerful thing that you bring to the bike industry.
Micayla: Thanks. Yeah, it's definitely like something that I'm hyper aware of because I've seen women before try and talk about these issues and have them be received by the industry and men and women as kind of whiny or complainy or bitchy. And that's not something that I ever want people to think I'm doing or like... so when you add humor into it and you can kind of laugh at yourself and laugh like, come on. Are you guys serious? Like is this actually happening right now? Are we still doing this in 2017 or whatever year - yeah 2017. I think it kind of makes people be able to be like, oh, yeah. We should probably change that. Instead of, you know, coming from a place of attack or a place of defense or a place of insecurity it kind of just allows everybody to have a laugh and at the absurdity of it all. It’s kind of pointing out how silly the whole thing is and yeah. Being able to laugh at ourselves and you know, the fact that there are still these problems in the industry that are still going on. It's kind of funny to me.
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Lisa: And now it's time for commentary with Iris. Iris give the people what they want.
Iris: Okay. I thought what Micayla said about her process with Ferda girls is really interesting. She said that she started to become a professional mountain biker that she felt the more skin she showed the hotter she was, like the more attention she would get and how that's not a problem that men have an industry. She said, “why can't I just ride my bike?” and I thought this was interesting. REI found in a study in 2017 that 60% of women think that men are taken more seriously than women in the outdoors. Especially as athletes and in outdoor Pursuits. So this still hasn’t gone away and a big problem in our industry and in Sports in general is companies hiring big models to show off their their women's lines, but they hire male athletes to show off their men's lines instead of hiring female athletes. Which is not cool and so this is something that if you're working with a brand, or do any type of Photography or anything like that, we can be careful of.
Lisa: You know, showing actual human beings getting after it, showing people of color, showing diverse sizes and ages of human beings because that's how we're going to work toward making a more inclusive Outdoors.
Iris: Yeah, okay.
Lisa: back to Micayla.
Lisa: And then after Ferda Girls, I remember watching your movie with the mountain biking and all your artwork was it called Intersection?
Micayla: Yeah. Yeah Intersection.
Lisa: See you're doing all these awesome things. So how do you do that? Like, on the topic of initiative, like what makes you kind of like have this need to ride your bike and need to create and how do those things play together for you?
Micayla: Well, let me tell you a little story. So. I was not always like this, definitely not. I was always, you know interested in riding and wanting to push my own personal boundaries and stuff but as far as like taking initiative to create things and... kind of one of my favorite quotes “create what you want to be a part of,” that didn't happen until I would say... January 2017. So that was before Ferda Girls came out and before Intersection came out and everything. So before that, I was kind of living in this place of... I don't know how you describe it but. Kind of like I was waiting for things to happen to me. So I was putting in the work. I was racing my bike. I was doing everything I could to be the best I possibly could be and would get really disappointed when you know, opportunities wouldn't come to me. And it was still hard to get sponsors and I'd see I'd see girls that weren't as fast as me getting like a better shoe sponsor than me and I'd be like why didn't I get that? I'm sitting here with all these results. What why aren't people knocking on my door asking me to be in movies? Like it was a very like, I just didn't get it. Like I was like, what am I doing wrong? I got a world cup Podium. I'm national champion. What am I supposed to do?
So then it was only until I got dropped from a team for the second time in my career that I actually started to realize that, oh, hey, maybe I should go out and start trying to create these things myself. And as soon as I did that, as soon as I started, you know, taking initiative in my own life and investing my own money into myself, people started paying attention and I started seeing success. So for me, like losing that sponsorship it was either... I had two choices. I was either going to cry and feel sorry for myself and say screw the industry. I've done everything and not gotten what I feel I deserve and you know kind of moved on and got a desk job somewhere. Who knows? Or I could make like one last push. And I had a little bit of money saved up and I was I told myself I was like, all right, this is the last time I'm going to try and make some money and make a career out of biking and if it doesn't work, then at least I know that I've tried everything.
So I bought a ticket to New Zealand. I went to Crankworx Rotorua. I sent out emails to everybody I knew, Pinkbike, Crankworx, Oakley like all of my sponsors that I did still have and I literally just said like hey, I'm going to New Zealand for Rotorua and was wondering if there's anything I could do for you guys. And that led to me managing pink bike’s social media accounts at the Crankworx world tours. Crankworx themselves wanted me to do their Facebook Lives. And then that kind of just snowballed, then I got invited to Dirt Diaries and that's when I did Ferda Girls and then it kind of just like got bigger and bigger and bigger. Because like, when people see you taking initiative and see you investing in yourself, I think that gains a lot of respect. And puts you kind of in a role of authority in your own life. And in the industry.
Lisa: Yeah, and did you go through a lot of rejection and a lot of nos before you started hearing some yeses?
Micayla: Yeah, for sure. So New Zealand actually. Yeah, New Zealand Rotorua crankworx. I did the Facebook live for Crankworx and they put me up in a place. No, actually that's a lie. I stayed with a friend. I stayed with a friend because I couldn't afford to book a hotel and then Crankworx said, oh you were awesome. We loved it. We got really good feedback, but we can't afford to pay you to go to the next two rounds and I was like damn it. Okay, so then I contacted Pinkbike and then Pinkbike was like, well we can't pay you but we'll fly you out and give you a place to stay. If you'll do all of our social media and I was like, okay. All right, I'll take anything at this point. So I did that and that went pretty well. And then I think I did it again at crankworx Whistler and then they actually paid me at crankworx Whistler. And then yeah, and then that fall Intersection came out and then crankworx actually came back to me and said hey, we have a job opening as the official like field reporter for the crankworx world tour for live broadcasting. We think you're great. We love your personality. Would you like the job and I knew absolutely still don't know that much about broadcasting or live TV or interviewing, but I said, yes, and I was terrified. But yeah, so it was kind of like a up and down kind of way and that was just that was just 2017 that doesn't include all of the rest of my life prior to that which definitely was full of ups and downs for sure.
Lisa: Right and I think like the artist side of your brain is so passionate and invested in what you're doing and you know, it's hard not to take nos personally. And I think like that's something we work a lot on with our team really is like you might get a lot of nos, but you're going to get some yeses.
Micayla: for sure. And the biggest thing that I learned is like, you are never going to get a yes if you never ask. If you just sit there and hope things will come to you. You're never going to get a no or yes, but if you go out there and put yourself out there and ask for things and and deliver yourself to these people instead of waiting for them to come to you, the worst thing that's gonna happen is they're going to say no and you're going to be in the same place you were before. You're not going to go down. You're going to stay at the same level until somebody says yes, and then you're going to go up. So it's like sitting around is just being stagnant in growth. I think.
Lisa: Mhm.
Micayla: And yeah, definitely learning not to take it too personally. I mean, I've had a lot of a lot of tears shed over lost sponsorships and people saying no to me and taking it personally because I'm pretty sensitive and like I feel like sometimes with sponsors like I feel... It's like a relationship and it's like, these are my friends these people care about me and like they are honestly personally invested in my career and it's like yeah, it's a business and if you aren't delivering numbers, you're going to get cut. And you just gotta kind of know that's the industry. It's a bit cutthroat, but it's not a reflection of your, you know, personal Integrity. I guess.
Lisa: totally, totally.
Micayla: and it doesn't even mean you're doing anything wrong like the business could maybe have just tanked that year and they need to cut 50 riders or something or your direction of creating videos where you're biking through your artwork is completely not what the brand wants to reflect. So it's like doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong or bad. Unless you are and then if you are you need to check yourself, but usually it's just, that's just business.
Lisa: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And the first time I saw Intersection, I was like, holy shit. She's biking through her artwork. Ooh. Yeah, that's so badass. How'd you come up with that?
Micayla: So one of my really good friends and my manager at the time so... Intersection actually, even though it got released I think November official release date was like Banff Film Festival... November, a few months after Ferda Girls, which was in August. I had actually filmed Intersection the previous October. So Intersection was filmed way before Ferda Girls.
Lisa: Wow.
Micayla: Yeah, and it took me a long time to figure out how to draw efficiently and properly to fit. Yeah, the release date kept getting pushed back a little bit just from animation issues and things like that. So, yeah, so Lacey Camp is one of my good friends and was my manager at the time and she was like always my biggest cheerleader as far as like, me owning my skills and being proud of my art and kind of doing this... She's like, you're super unique. This is awesome. Your art is amazing. How do we like, how do we show the world who you are? Because like you're awesome and I don't feel like you're showing anybody. You know, what really makes you, you and I was like, I don't know. We could we could bike with my art? And she's like or we could bike through your art. And I was like, I'm like wait what but how? And then she contacted Red Bull and they were like, yeah, this is a great idea and she actually did all the logistics. She found. Juicy Studios who animated the whole thing. And yeah, we just made it happen. So definitely a lot of encouragement from Lacey. It was as much her vision as it was mine.
Lisa: That's cool.
Micayla: And yeah, it was really cool. And just seeing how well it was received and it won best Mountain Sport Film at Banff Mountain film festival and then it went on the world tour and stuff like that. And that was like a huge encouragement to me that like wow, maybe I am worth something, you know, maybe people do like me.
Lisa: Yeah, I mean it was incredible. I was blown away the first time I saw that and every time actually.
Micayla: Yeah, it was a good... it was a good ego boost. Thanks. I look at it. And I mean I'm never satisfied with anything. I mean like truly satisfied. I'm really happy we did it. But I just look at it, especially with my art, I look at it and I'm like all we could have done this good, we shouldn't have picked like this area, this trail to ride, its too Gray ,and like you can pick it apart forever, but I would love to redo it and make it even better and and crazier. I just need to get the funding.
Lisa: Well, I'm sure you will.
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Iris: I thought what Micayla said about creating her own opportunities for herself was a great story of initiative to kick off our first initiative podcast, talking about how once she started advocating for herself people started paying attention and it kind of snowballed into success. I think a lot of people this industry have a story like that.
Lisa: I agree, and we run into a lot of business owners or brand managers who are like launching a business or launching a new product line and waiting for it to be fully perfect and then kind of just like incorrectly assuming that it's like Field of Dreams. If you build it, they will come, like, that's not a real thing, but it's like if you get out there and try over and over and over and over again, and maybe you'll get some traction. Yeah, I think artists care so much about the work that they're doing and they put so much passion and thought into what they're doing and that's what pushes the work to be great. However, it can also really hinder your progress as a professional if you're not willing to do your best, even if your best isn't perfect.
Iris: back to the show.
Lisa: back to Micayla.
Lisa: What what current projects do you have that are coming up that you're stoked on?
Micayla: Well I have in front of me right now. I am starting a journal series. It's actually Intersection in a Zine. So you know, what is zine is? Yeah, like those little magazines that you don't pay for and they're made out of like glorified newspaper. Hoping to make a bunch of those this year, once a month actually, released with Diamondback. And yeah, it's just going to incorporate photos, drawings, quotes, journal entries, little Snippets of trips and experiences that I have throughout the year. So I'm really excited about that because it's integrating my art back into my riding work which always feels good to me. It's nice to be able to you know, combine everything rather than keep everything separate.
Lisa: Yeah.
Micayla: Yeah, and then I've got a couple video projects and I'm announcing for Crankworx again, so I'm going to New Zealand in six days.
Lisa: exciting.
Micayla: Yeah, yeah, it should be good. Oh, and I'm guiding, well guest guiding in Peru this fall with Haku Expeditions. So there's ten spots that people can sign up for to come and ride in Peru and my best guy friend Jeff Galovitch does it every year and our times are actually going to overlap. So there's going to be me and Jeff guiding the mega train through Peru. So yeah, I'm really excited about that too because it gives people the opportunity to come on an adventure with me as well. And yeah.
Lisa: I love that. I'm sure you'll be an outrageously funny tour guide.
Micayla: Hopefully, I try.
Lisa: Yeah, I'm sure you'll keep people smiling.
Micayla: No pressure. No.
Lisa: Yeah, no pressure. Don't mess it up.
Micayla: Yeah. Oh god. Gotta get my dad jokes on point.
Lisa: Yeah.
Micayla: gotta read the crowd. Maybe I'll assess the the people that sign up and are coming with me and I'll stalk them and try and find their sense of humor. See what's appropriate so I don't you know, put my foot in my mouth too much.
Lisa: See how the jokes land.
Micayla: Yeah, maybe send them some DM's prior to the trip and just like send a joke and they'll be like, why is this girl messaging me? Like, I don't know. I can't even think of a joke right now. I was going to try and say a joke, but this nothing I got nothing. Clearly I need to work on it.
Lisa: That's hilarious. That's going to be fun. That's a lot of different things and I really like how you kind of you’re kind of like multi bucketed. We talk about buckets a lot. Like, you know, you've got like work where you're riding and you're moving your body. And then you've got your creative work reflects in your brain. And and then you know, you're taking people on trips and announcing so I think you that's smart. Like that's incredibly well-rounded.
Micayla: Thanks. Yeah, is it smart or is it just my ADHD? That's the question I ask myself. I'm like, is this really an efficient use of time? That’s either brilliant or I'm just going to burn out but for me, yeah for me to stay motivated and stay passionate and super excited about things. I need to constantly be doing different things so I can you know, go and announce for 10 days and be a bit burnt out from that and then just be like oh, but now I'm going to go do a photo journal and be really excited about that and then come home and sit and you know design a illustration for a magazine. And then get kind of bored of that and then go back to riding and like go guiding, go coach a women's camp or something in Austria. And then oh, yeah, I'm doing that as well this year, which is cool. But yeah just bouncing around a little bit and I think that reflects... I think so far it seems to be working for me.
Lisa: Yeah, it's a lot of a lot of movement.
Micayla: Yeah on a daily basis. I wouldn't say it's the most the most productive person can because I'll do all of those things within one day but kind of like not finish any of them. So that's something I'm definitely working on but when I'm away, it seems to work a lot better.
Lisa: Yeah, do you. Did you pursue like personal artwork or do you feel that enough of your personality is infused into like what you're doing for Diamondback?
Micayla: As far as personal and work do you mean just drawing for myself or do you mean commission's?
Lisa: Yeah, like drawing for yourself or do you feel like that's close enough to what you’re drawing anyway.
Micayla: No, I definitely wish I had more time. I have all these paintings in my head that I haven't done. I've got, like, I'm just staring at four large pieces of wood right now, actually five that I've been really excited to paint something on for I don't know... some of them are a year old now, so I definitely wish I had more time to do that and like my biggest goal forever is to paint a bunch of paintings, take proper scan, photographs or somehow get them digitized and then get my website up and running and sell prints of various sizes. Because people always are constantly asking me for commissions or prints and things like that and I just don't have any artwork to sell. And yeah, I get a lot of self, you know a lot of satisfaction out of painting and making prints and being able to sell them and give that to people at like a cheaper cost than just doing an original painting. That makes me, that's like yeah, that makes me so happy. I just need to find the time.
It's almost it's kind of like the self-love sort of thing like finding time for yourself to like, I don't know, take care of yourself. That's how I feel with painting for myself. I'm not very good at taking care of, you know, listening to my body and taking care of myself necessarily all the time. Like I'll just push myself to the edge and I feel like with just sitting and painting for a day is like... you don't deserve that. You can't, you don't have time for that. There's so many other things you should be doing than just painting because you feel like painting. So yeah, definitely something I need to work on.
Lisa: Yeah, but that'll be that'll be cool. When you do have an online store and prints. Yeah. Fantastic.
Micayla: Yeah my website. If you go to Micaylagatto.com, you'll see a landing page. At least. I think you will if I did it right? Let me see here. Coming soon. Mountain biker artists and creative. This great landing page has been there for I don't know... I think since July.
Lisa: That's cool, better than not having a site.
Micayla: At least. I keep people, you know on the edge. Yeah, and then it says keep me in the loop and you can click a link and you get put on a mailing list. My idea was to let people know when I actually got it up and running so.
Lisa: great. I'm signing up for it right now.
Micayla: Yeah, sign up, you probably will never receive an email. It's probably the best subscription you can have because nobody likes random emails from people and you know, you feel like you're going to be part of something and chances are I'm never going to write to you so. It's great. It’s a win-win.
Lisa: that’s really good.
Micayla: I'm never gonna get around to making prints. So you're never gonna see my name in your inbox.
Lisa: That's perfect.
Micayla: Yeah, and when you do is probably going to be an apology like sorry I haven't done this yet. Sorry, just stay tuned.
Lisa: That's hilarious. Yeah, cool. Well, is there anything else that you would like to tell our listeners about, you know, around the topic of initiative? Most of our listeners are like brand managers or journalists or other creatives.
Micayla: People way cooler than me, you mean.
Lisa: they're a pretty cool crew.
Micayla: Yeah. I don't know. I guess I just, I believe when we take initiative in our own lives we create power and freedom, respect, self-confidence, Pride. I think it's like, really there's only beneficial results that you're going to get from taking initiative whether that's tiny things in your own life like taking initiative on working on your weaknesses and becoming a better person or a taking initiative as in like, you know cold calling everybody, you know to try and get a job like what I did. No matter what you do, if you're taking initiative you are growing and the chances are you will see success. And with that success comes confidence and it kind of has this Snowball effect on your life where you become more confident. You become proud of what you're doing. You become motivated because you're seeing success and then you gain respect from other people and then you know... I just, my goal always with taking initiative and stuff is like I have this Vision in my mind of that person. That like woman or man that walks into a room and is just an absolute magnet and it seems to be glowing and seems to be completely ambitious and confident and in control of their life and that's the kind of person I look up to you and that's someone that I try and be. And you can't really be those things without taking initiative. I don't think.
Lisa: Man. You got to do a TED Talk.
Micayla: Well because I was thinking about it. It's like yeah, think about being told what to do. And how to do it. So you have a boss and all they do is tell you exactly what to do and how to do it and your life is completely run by somebody else essentially. And think about how that would make you feel and what kind of mindset you would be in. And like I know me personally, I'm kind of even just sitting here talking about it. I'm sort of like stooping in my chair a little bit more. I'm feeling a little bit like, not so great. And then think about being your own boss creating your own success. You know, saying like what do I want? What do what what really motivates me? How can I be... even if you do have a boss. It's like, how can I best serve this company or like, how can I best manage this what I have in front of me and it's like all of a sudden you feel way more in control and way more, you know, I think motivated because it's like you're creating your destiny. Whereas if you don't take initiative, you're being fed your destiny, I think.
Lisa: yeah. Hell yeah.
Micayla: Hell yeah. Thanks. I sit around thinking about these things sometimes.
Lisa: cool. Well, I know you're a busy human being so I'll let you get back to your real life.
Micayla: I'm not really that busy. I mostly have to get back to my toast which is now cold. No.
Lisa: No, but thank you so much for being on here.
Micayla: Yeah!
Lisa: and yeah, thanks so much, that's awesome. That was a really like good, rich interview. So I think people are gonna be stoked on it.
Micayla: sweet. Yeah, I tend to ramble but I hope it made sense. Yeah, I tried really hard this time to just talk slower and think about what I was saying.
Lisa: Awesome. Well, have a good day. And thanks so much.
Micayla: Thank you again. That was super fun.
Lisa: I'm so stoked that Micayla was on the podcast and you should follow her because she's awesome. And I know that you guys are awesome. So you might as well let awesome grow. But you can follow her on Instagram. It's @micaylagatto and her website is micaylagatto.com you can sign up for that newsletter too.
Iris: We also will put some links in the show notes to Ferda Girls if you haven't seen it because you definitely should and to Intersection.
Lisa: which, both of those are just unbelievable. I can't wait to see what Micayla does next.
Iris: Thanks so much for listening to us on your Valentine's Day. Happy Valentine's Day. It’s Lisa's favorite holiday.
Lisa: I love Valentine's Day. I know it's like a Cheesy Hallmark holiday, but I just believe in celebrating love and I like to tell everyone I see nice things.
Iris: So happy Valentine's Day and spread the love by rating and reviewing us on iTunes.
Lisa: Oh!
Iris: Give us some love, some stars, tell us what you think about the show and don't forget to subscribe because season 4 is here and will have new episodes every Thursday.
Lisa: take some initiative.
Iris: wherever you get your podcasts.
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