Designing the Future of Work, Education, and Communities

Apr 13

Featuring Marti Grimminck, Founder and CEO of International Connector

Marti Grimminck is a global business executive, social entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and digital/interactive designer. As the Founder and CEO of International Connector, Marti designs the future of work, education, and communities for corporations and governments. She brings a deep knowledge of emerging global trends through the cultivation of an unparalleled network of GenZs and Millennials across 190 countries.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

Her extensive background in theatre.
Her extensive travel pre-kids and how it influenced her worldview.
Her ability to reach generations and communities outside of her own.
How her platform, Your Big Year, stemmed from her passion for social impact and connecting with the next generation’s desire for social change.
The creative innovation process “Rethink, Reimagine, Redesign” developed by Marti and her team that’s utilized by corporations worldwide.
Creating a safe, engaging learning space that brings young people in and amplifies their voices.
Co-designing the future of work, communities, and education.
The modern integration of a person’s personal and work life.

In this episode…

Designing the future of work, education, and communities is a daunting but crucial task in today's rapidly changing world. As technology advances and globalization continues to impact society, it is essential that societies adapt to these changes and create a better, more inclusive tomorrow, but how can we create a future that resonates with generations and communities outside of our own? Reimagining traditional models of work and education, embracing diversity and inclusivity, and fostering collaboration and community building that resonate with future generations requires a deep understanding of them and an openness to co-designing the future.

In this episode, Paige Buck hosts the CEO and Founder of International Connector, Marti Grimminck. As a global business executive, social entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and digital/interactive designer, Marti takes businesses to new horizons in technology, global markets, and the next-generation workforce. Along with her team, she leverages a multi-platform approach; creating virtual engagements for young people and co-designing programs that stimulate and empower them. As Marti says, “If you can find a better solution or a new approach, you might just end up with a better path forward.” The programs she’s developed also focus on the future of work, communities, and education; bringing diversity together to spark new creative ideas and ways of thinking that will pave the way toward the future.

Resources Mentioned in this episode

Sponsor for this episode…

This episode is brought to you by Kennedy Events.

Kennedy Events creates stress-free conferences and events, providing expert management and design for all your corporate event needs — from in-person to hybrid and virtual events.

To learn more about our services, visit our website at www.kennedyevents.com and schedule a consultation today to find out how we can guide you in making your event successful.

Transcript

Paige Buck 00:04

Welcome to the Kennedy events podcast, where we feature top marketing, communications and future of work leaders and share their biggest takeaways and insights. We love these conversations and hope you will too. Let's get started. Welcome to the Kennedy events podcast. I'm your host Paige buck. past guests of ours have included Kim Alpert of Udemy Sara, Xavi of Working Solutions, and Erica Pichardo, les of capital works. Today's episode is brought to you by Kennedy events. We create stress free conferences and events providing expert management and design for all your corporate event needs, from in person to hybrid and virtual. You can learn more about us at Kennedy events.com. Today, I get to talk to Marty Grimek, a global business executive, social entrepreneur, and Keynote speaker and digital interactive designer who's making faces at all her bone a few days right now. As the founder and CEO of international connector, Marty designs The Future of Work Education and Communities for corporations and governments. She brings an intimidatingly deep knowledge of emerging global trends through the cultivation of an unparalleled network of Gen Z's and millennials across 90 countries. Hey, Marty, how are ya?

Marti Grimminck 01:28

I'm good. Thank you. You tell I take myself very seriously.

Paige Buck 01:34

And I just read that all those impressive words. And I'm like, Okay, let's dive into what the heck that means. But before we dive in really deep, I want to start with like how you got started. I know. You got your start in a theater and that one of your early like grown up jobs, although I understand you were like still quite young boys as a tour manager for Dame Edna, among other luminaries and amazing. Wow, okay, what was that like? And what did it teach you that you use now?

Marti Grimminck 02:07

Yes, a lot. Great question.

Paige Buck 02:11

I'm like, where do I start on that?

Marti Grimminck 02:14

Yeah, I came out of the theater world. That was, that was everything that I did from, and I think I've had almost every single job in theater, from performance to directing, to producing, to marketing, you know, every single end of it, and even to building props and putting up lights. It was just, it was my world for so many years. And being on tour with Daymond, that was a trip. We used to tour, I was living in Australia, then and we would tour back to North America. So that was quite fun as well able to come back to the US and visit family and just, you know, see lots of cities that I never saw before. And the executive producer wasn't usually on the road. So I was the producer on site, and would, you know, be up at all hours trying to get all the details together for that night. It's run, watch the show, and then take our Dan Barry Humphries who plays de mundo out to dinner afterwards. So it was a crazy time where there's not much sleep. And there's a lot of chaos. And there's always a lot of things going on. And you have to be like calm, cool, collected, and just on top of any details possible. So I think it was probably a good crash course in being organized, even if you're not being calm, even if you're not, and just putting on a good face with it all. Yes. And

Paige Buck 03:48

I feel like it's one of those, like, if you've figured that out, you can do anything, we may look back at that you're like I bravely took that on. Does that feel true?

Marti Grimminck 03:58

Well, it certainly gives you the ability to think on the spot, right? Anything in theater, whether you're a performance or a producer or creative person, like all the different roles, there's always problem solving. There's always something that ships and changes. I mean, I I love live entertainment in general, because it's, I can't, I have to on the on the fly, make it and craft it and make sure that it's happening. And it doesn't always happen the same way every night, even if you plan every single detail. So being able to think through that in the moment is what always made it exciting. And Oscar just lends itself to understanding a whole bunch of different ways of thinking about solution sets.

Paige Buck 04:48

So then take me from on a little trip from Marty grimacing. Touring producer, thinking on our feet at a really young age. I, like set free on the world and Maggie Kennedy and I were saying was that before the internet? What did you do? Write a letter to the theater? Like, how does that work? That can the olden days for all of us, the journey from that to the impact work that you were doing, and then how that leads into what you're doing now.

Marti Grimminck 05:20

Oh, my goodness, okay. I think it's really important to take a moment, especially as a female leader, that I shifted everything when I went to have kids. And I didn't do it simply. I basically started back at grad school, started a tech startup and I can kind of get into all this. And I also got pregnant all in the same month decided that that was logical and, and pushed ahead. And somehow, you know, juggled all of that. But, in general, I spent a lot of time traveling and traveling as a backpacker, and seeing places around the world, I met my husband traveling, he's Australian, and I got to live in Australia, which is also how I ended up working on de Meghna, and many other really cool productions out there. But the travel around the world, we took a lot of extra time to do that, because we this was before kids, this was, you know, taking the time to see the world and to see different cultures and people and understand how people were living and different realities from where I grew up in the world and where I was living in Australia, and just, you know, seeing these places. So are we went on a very monumental trip from, I mean, we've all over Southeast Asia. And this trip in particular that I'm thinking about, we spent six months on the road from the very south of South America all the way up to Mexico City, and went Overland. And then came back to New York and I, and I went back into theater, but I realized that I was not doing the kind of work that I wanted to be doing. There was more that I wanted to dive into at that stage after seeing all these different cultures and understanding where people were in the world. And so I did the craziness of like stopping everything and taking on all these new challenges all at once. And my business wasn't really meant to be what it is today, when I first launched it, I wanted to be a mom and I wanted to stay relevant as a professional. And so I dived into consulting on the side. And that led me towards consulting on projects that were around impact and around youth empowerment. And so that work led me to where we are today.

Paige Buck 08:03

Yeah, interesting. Yeah, you were saying that you were telling me before we got started that about your program your big year. And before we before I like take that to like the next leap. Talk a little bit about your big year. And I think you were running that program when I first met you through Maggie. And it was just it boggles the mind to me a little bit like how you were I don't know, I think a lot of people who meet you and hear about your work, express some amazement at your ability to reach generations that you're not in. And then other people for some reason struggle to understand. But you, you get it?

Marti Grimminck 08:45

What I think? Yeah, that's great question. I mean, I think what's unique, I guess, about what we do overall is that we're starting we, we really listened to communities of people. So whether it's a youth or whether it's going into a new community, where we're doing another type of impact project, we work from what we're hearing, and we really create a space to hear that voice and then to build up from there and to build out a stakeholder community from there. So yes, your big year is a global platform that challenges young people around the world to make an impact in their life and in their world. And this program has had youth from across 190 countries, and youth meaning 15 to about even up to 30 year olds. We've worked with hundreds of 1000s of youth. And we continue to evolve this program. So where it started is completely different than where it is today. And there's so much that we were doing in the virtual space around this but now it's even progressed so much further because of COVID and it's taken on a lot life of its own, because there is so much more connection points with the Internet. And we create this safe, engaging learning space that brings young people in, and we can really hear their voices. And we develop programs based on that.

Paige Buck 10:16

And I feel like I have a broad understanding that like generations and folks who are 15 to 30, or younger or older, have a real sense of urgency around their future and the future of the world in which they live. It sounds like you had an opportunity to like, get really curious about that sense of urgency early on. That's something I understand in 2022, you've understood that for some time.

Marti Grimminck 10:43

Yeah, absolutely. That's a really great description, I, I just fell in love with the youth that we were originally serving through your Vigier. And just hearing the passion, and I learned so much from them. And similarly to the youth that I met, when we would travel in different countries, I just realized that there were so many creative ideas, and so many great passionate young people, but who were left out of conversations, just because of where they were born in the world and where they like their circumstances in their world. So to me, it was super important to bring all these young people together and to give them skills and a platform where they could voice that and they could make an impact. And so that's been the drive of everything that we do with your big gear. What's interesting, and sort of what you were asking before is like, how did you get to running what we do today international connector or umbrella company. And that actually came out of this, like, we were engaging so many young people. And originally, this was sort of at what I call the height of the millennial craze where, you know, companies were losing millions of dollars, because they didn't know how to sell products or employee, sorry, sell products to or employee in millennials, and they didn't understand that generation. And so I started with friends, just calling going, what are you doing to engage these young people? And we took that, and we were like, well, let's just bring them in and ask them what went wrong with what you did? Or, you know, and, and, yes, there are things out there that are like focus groups or surveys. But actually, what we realized early on in working with young people is that this generation was different. And so you're asking for a focus group are a survey with a generation that's now utilizing social media and the internet and different forms and that has, and so the way in which they engage in the world is completely different. And so using old tools and old techniques and, and things that haven't progressed, the way technology has progressed, doesn't land you the information that you're trying to find. And so then we've spent a lot of time cultivating with young people designing ways to engage them, that is built for a digitally savvy global generation. So even

Paige Buck 13:21

the tools you're using to listen and ask questions are the wrong, like places to start from?

Marti Grimminck 13:29

Yes, like, that's what we have found, we can do a survey. And we get results that don't correlate to the same type of results as creating an experience for young people utilizing tools and ways of communicating that they like to use. So the stuff that we're doing is very multi platform. Very, it's like creating an event, you know, just like what you do. And so we create these virtual engagements for young people and can co design or gain quantitative and qualitative research, but in a way that really highlights what a younger generation like it, it stimulates them in a different way. You can learn different things, by the way, they're engaging, and you're getting the insights that you're trying to garner. And so that work has led for us to be working with a lot of corporations around what is the future of work? What is the future of communities was the future of education, really co designing these things? Because we've been developing so many tools and ways of engaging young people, their future customers or employees. That is just very distinct within the market.

Paige Buck 14:52

Can you describe like, what one of these experiences looks like? How long is it like how are people engaging with it? How are they How are they participating? What does that look like? Yeah,

Marti Grimminck 15:03

absolutely. So, I mean, if if I take a sort of basic study. And what we also believe in is that we and this is even before all these social reckoning that has come to pass, which I'm super glad about. But we've, we've felt diversity is so important when you're thinking about creativity and new ways of thinking. And so to bring out of the box ideas, or to understand what the signals are for the future, like, how do I design products, for the future that take a while right to come to market, we have to be thinking far ahead. And so being able to find what is going to influence stuff, we have to look all over the world. And that's why we've always felt like a diverse group of perspectives is really important. And when you bring diversity together, it always sparks these new creative ideas and new ways of thinking, as well as confirms things that that are the same and similar in different parts of the worlds and beliefs that are similar and shared. So bringing these groups together from so many different time zones, right, is the challenge. And then add on to the fact that young people have busy schedules, they are involved with activities, they have school hours, or they're working, they're, you know, they need their video, game time or whatever, they're socializing their social media time. They're going out time, whatever that looks like. So we wanted but we didn't want to lose people like great people along the way, because they had a busy schedule. So how did we create something that they can pop in and out of, and they're doing that on their phone, they're doing that on their computers, or whatever device they can get access to. So that's that was the the foreground of what we decided to work from, how can we have something that brings groups together in a 24/7, pure 24/7 hour period, and allows that flexibility that young people need to engage. So we've utilized a lot of tools along the way. And we still continue to use different tools. One of our the tools that we've used the most is now called Miro, it used to have a pattern or name when it first started. And there are very similar tools to that. But MIROS worked well for us. And in the sense that we can put up this whiteboard and do stuff on it. However, as I'm sure you can understand from an event creative events planning side is that then there's storytelling that has evolved. So yes, Miro gives you great templates. Now, they didn't used to give you all these little things that you can throw up there. But that doesn't catch attention for our young people. So actually designed do a lot of work with visual design to create a place that feels like you're you're entering into a story. And so there are things behind it, how do they how do they flow through the questions? What kinds of questions and activities are these. And so the visualization of that is really, really important. And then on top of that, we do need to have touch points where people can come together, there are different types of learners. So some people may want to talk, right, I can talk all day.

Paige Buck 18:40

I don't know what you're talking about already. That's not me at all. Exactly.

Marti Grimminck 18:46

And so we bring people together, you know, through different video conferencing and layer in all the different elements. And there's more things to that as well that we layer together. And then we have to simplify it into a way that they can just pop in for five minutes, disappear, come back for an hour, you know, disappear. Like that's the beauty of it, and it builds and so you watch these progressions over a couple of days while we run them. And it's amazing to go from point A all the way to the end.

Paige Buck 19:17

That's amazing. And so I imagine that for the folks who like to talk and engage and share. I can picture what that space looks like. And then I imagine you have the folks who need to process internally and make a note to themselves and then be invited to share that in a written form and that I'm so sounds like Nero is a good tool for that. As long as it doesn't look like a corporate I'm sure folks our age are excited by a corporate whiteboard with a question on it and a mind map but I think you're saying a little more is needed here.

Marti Grimminck 19:52

We try to create whole worlds within it. You know that they're there. They're entering into a world it It is the storytelling. I mean, you're talking about a generation that is busy with social media is busy with video games is busy with their lives. And, you know, I think some of the data talks about even our, our age, right, you spend one to two seconds looking at something, and then you're on to the next thing. So catching the attention and keeping that attention is really a challenge. And that's, that's a fun challenge, in my opinion.

Paige Buck 20:26

Are you aiming to hook them? Like for increasing amounts of time? Are you totally happy to have their attention for that little moment? And as long as they you can, like, share and learn from them?

Marti Grimminck 20:40

Exactly. I, I don't believe in trying to force something on I think meet people where they're at, and and create the tool or the situation that allows you to benefit from their involvement, but just to engage them in that that moment. So if that's all they can give, that's okay. Because I can tell you, I've gotten some of the most amazing things where somebody's popped in and was like, hey, you know, really quickly went through a bunch of stuff or came on for a few minutes and said something and it just changed the whole perspective.

Paige Buck 21:16

Yeah, can you can? Do you have any examples of like a little gem or a little nugget that you or a client took away? I'm sure there's so many, but and I imagine that then your this all just like feeds into the next thing for you? I was like, I don't know, Crusher? I don't know. Questions?

Marti Grimminck 21:38

Yeah. Many things. I mean, I think what's interesting working with a lot of especially a lot of our tech clients, where we're still a couple years later, building upon the original data set, and then going back to it, of course, data changes. And that's part of it as well, like, you have to keep going back to these younger generations, because things shift so much they shipped overnight. But it's interesting to see how much effect end to end directional effect it is had for companies and the way in which they're working, that they understand at a very deeper level, that if they need these voices, embedded into their, you know, product design in their campus designs, and or into how they work with employee recruitment, or how they build a pipeline of diverse talent. So the application goes in so many different directions. What's nice, I think, for me, coming out of a theater, right? There's an events right there, there's a formula, right? There's a formula, how you can what goes into putting the show up or an event together. And in some ways, we can jump between so many different industries, and so many different projects and topics because there is a basis of coming back to the youth and understanding their perspective. And so for me, I've run a business that still feels like running a production house, because we're each of these projects, you know, in each of these platforms that I can start talking about from impact side, all sound like different things like how does that relate to this, but actually, it all relates together? And they're all They're all like having a portfolio of a number of events or a number of productions.

Paige Buck 23:36

Do you have any observations as you've been doing this work now for quite some time about, like, do the perspectives or the values or the beliefs of a young person shift over 510 years as they as their, like, their position in the world changes as their, you know, their power, or their clout or their stability? It now changes? Yeah, that's a

Marti Grimminck 24:03

really great question. And it comes up a lot because people, they're definitely the cynics out there that go, Ah, I was that way when I was young,

Paige Buck 24:17

right? Just do wait until they have a kid of their own.

Marti Grimminck 24:23

I know, like, when they came walking them. Yeah. And I think the difference is that the technology, right, that and the way in which people socialize and their lens of the world has shifted because of the technology that they've grown up with. Right so they, yes, there are certain things that may be quote unquote, settle or into a more traditional, you know, I don't know what is traditional these days, but an old school traditional thing I had this kid, I want to have a house or I want to do this. But actually the realities are very different today. So they are not settling in the same way that probably like baby boomers had. And then I know where I'm at with this

Paige Buck 25:18

lead gen xers Yeah.

Marti Grimminck 25:21

Yeah, there's just a different reality set and things from, you know, climate change are affecting them impact. You know, COVID, obviously was a huge overhaul the economy's another overhaul, like, there's a lot more things in that mix that is making that more difficult to have that same path or that same mental set, and then add on top of that, the technology and the lens, the way you know, again, the way they socialize is so different. They feel much more connected to people they've never met before only met in the virtual space, then maybe I would, and that affects how they come out in the world and how they interact.

Paige Buck 26:08

And your corporate clients that you mentioned, are coming to you for this insight. But as you touched on your big year started from social impact, and connecting with the youth desire for social change. And how do you find that the corporations you're working with are hearing the message that you're sharing with them.

Marti Grimminck 26:39

I would say that I don't necessarily lead with it, I more and more lead with it. Now. Even if you see my websites like, you know, innovation and impact, I was like, we've got to have that impact there. Because it's all about impact for us. But I would say that I didn't lead with it. And but what's been interesting to see is how profoundly impacted a lot of our clients have been from the experiences and some of the projects that we've created. So I was talking a lot about the studies and how that impacts or how that's created. But that actually impacts young people greatly. Like we train them, we give them free training, and a lot of what we call bridging skills from academia to career. And these youth walk away with those skills, they walk away with this professional experience. And they walk away with a peer group from around the world and that cultural collaboration experience. And that goes a long way in everything that they do. So they're we're making a profound impact back to them. And that that connection point is a real win win situation for both the companies and the clients. And now I hear in presentations where our clients will lead with the impact, which is amazing. And that makes me like warm hearted, everywhere. But I think for a successful business deal impact, it really does need to be embedded with it these days. And vice versa. Like when you're going to make an impact. You need to think about what the business case is, there's a happy spot where that intersects. But that business return is a reality. So how can you have an impact? How can you do something in a way that brings something back to the company and bring something back to the community?

Paige Buck 28:40

What you know, certainly COVID amplified and then accelerated, you know, a shift in the way we all work. What are some ways that that probably combined with the things you've learned, and you're excuse me and your clients have applied? What do you see change has already changed and is changing about the way your corporations engage with their employees and what they the way that the way we are working now in larger organizations?

Marti Grimminck 29:14

Yeah, it's great question. And it is certainly the lame answer is that it's certainly different everywhere in every place. But I do think there's a much more broader understanding that corporations have a diversity that they need to serve. And I don't mean diversity in in just a racial context. Like there's, there are there's many more things that make somebody diverse and an understanding that and understanding people's situations that that we are all you know, living within and we don't really always understand what that is. We have to embrace that more. And we have to find ways to start Have that, that diverse working relationships, that diverse work situation. And so we're seeing that a lot more, and then just an understanding that, that they play a responsibility in the whole being of somebody, right? It's not just what a worker does for the company, and that they show up, and they have to do X, Y, and Z. But actually, a lot more of the companies, at least that we're working with, are much more aware of the fact that they think it is a person's personal and work life are so integrated now, that and that needs to be taken into account, I think, because maybe we all saw each other's living rooms and bedrooms and you know, kids and dogs and parents in that work situation, it was very different. And it's it's humanize the experience a lot more.

Paige Buck 30:57

I think that some of us took that for granted, maybe because we had built our own thing and created cultures that it like, acknowledged the human experience. And then others had like a real rude awakening to, oh, you're not just like a cog in my little machine. And that's what I needed from you. But you're telling me that you have needs to? I wonder were like, I wonder what the frantic calls look

Marti Grimminck 31:24

like to you. Help us

Paige Buck 31:26

solve this fast?

Marti Grimminck 31:31

Is definitely I mean, it's still an interesting world, right? I just, we just held a panel with young people who were speaking to a roomful of corporates down in Australia. And it was so interesting, because there was a conversation going on around flexibility. And it dawned on me in the middle of it that actually, the way in which young people are defining flexibility that they're looking for in the workplace today and in their life is very different than the way sort of the Gen Xers and baby boomers in the room. Define it, right? Like when I think about flexibility and work, it's it is different. And so, it is I was trying to pull out for a while, like teasing it, like, What are you saying? And what are you saying, let's try to come together, you're using the same word, but you're not say you're not saying the same thing. And there's, there's definitely, the expectations are going to continue to shift and change. And we are in this, you know, hybrid remote working in person where we don't know what we're in, like every company is different, and then trying to navigate this wave.

Paige Buck 32:40

I imagine if you could make a two columns, like what, what Gen X thinks flexible means like, you can leave it for 30. Sure. Like, what pops into my head from what like the workplace was like 15 years ago, that was flexible, right?

Marti Grimminck 33:00

Exactly, exactly. Yeah.

Paige Buck 33:02

It's okay. If you take that phone call from home this morning, as long as you're at your desk by 10am. And yeah, I didn't mean something completely different, completely different now.

Marti Grimminck 33:16

What do you mean, I can't be in Thailand for the next month?

Paige Buck 33:20

Right? Yes. And but also, I'm, I was up in my PJs in my bed last night working on this presentation, because that's when the passion struck me.

Marti Grimminck 33:30

Yeah, exactly.

Paige Buck 33:32

What do you do you have an idea? Or where would you like, where do you think the youth that you're connected to? Like, would like to see that land? Like what do you think in an amazing, flexible workplace like one or two things? That would be true in maybe we don't even have all the tools yet and five years in 10 years?

Marti Grimminck 33:55

I that is a great, great question that a lot of the young people are, I think the other thing that we've seen prior to COVID is just the movement between jobs like it's, there are less people staying on at companies long term. So and a lot of and when we ask young people, like how many years do you imagine you be at a company? It is very short. And so yes, some of them may stay there for many, many years, they may just fall in love or find all the opportunities and stuff. But the reality is, most of them are probably going to be there between two and four years. And so, if you think about that, in terms of a cycle and knowledge set, and then that rotation is happening in many, many different places. What does that mean in terms of who has the the company knowledge set or the way in which Which, you know, a certain company works? What does that look like? Yeah, so there's a lot more movement, whether it's as extreme as I'm describing, if it plays out that way, don't know, you know, no one can exactly predict. But that movement already happens. And it has shifted jet greatly, even from Baby Boomers to Gen Xers, right? And the rights of time that we spend places. But what does that look like even as younger generations come around?

Paige Buck 35:28

And my first reaction as a business owner, was that scary? And then my second reaction was, that's exciting, because you're getting more voices and like, fresh ideas, fresh faces, fresh ideas, but you know, on some sort of, yeah, and some sort of accelerated cycle.

Marti Grimminck 35:44

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think it with any trends that are out there, these things like you have to embrace it. So figure out how to utilize it. And you know, I will I, when I present in person, I tell people to pull out their phones, right? I just embrace it, like people are going to be on their phones. So how do I incorporate that in to what I'm doing right? Again, like, meet people where they are, and then start to do it. If I if I come into a room to present and I don't, you know, and I want everyone's phones away, like, where's that gonna? What is that going to do for me that I'm going to be fighting it the whole time. Whereas once I say that, like pull it out, it all of a sudden generates a whole other side to the experience. And

Paige Buck 36:30

everybody exhales like, Oh, thank God, because if you thought I was going to be able to wait another 90 seconds. Or sneak off to the bathroom, I feel so much better now. Hidin in their lap? Totally. I warned you. I was going to ask this question. I'm super curious who somebody you admire in your in your world? And who else you look to? Since we're all you're the future caster?

Marti Grimminck 37:01

Yes, I was. I was going, you know, my mind was racing. I was like, What am I gonna say? I don't know. I don't know if I have a perfect answer to that. But I just I really think that I, the person I would mention right now, I think was Kenzie Scott Bezos, if she even if bases there, but just because I thought it was so bold, how she has decided to give away basically most of her fortune and put it towards philanthropic causes. And we need more of that in the world. And, and in she hit, you know, a lot of praise. But she had a lot of criticism. And I think that was just it's a very bold move to do that and to continue to support a lot of causes that are out there. I think, you know, again, I don't know if philanthropy is always the answer, which is why when we come out, and we talk about impact or social causes, from more of a business perspective, I think that at least it's building awareness that we need to take action, and we need to take serious action. And so that's where I really admire what she did on that front.

Paige Buck 38:21

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I think one thing you're doing is embracing the fact. You know, I think we like to pretend that like capitalism doesn't exist, or like endo and or like class and financial divides don't exist. But if you can accept and embrace that, that's where the power and the resources are, then maybe we can redirect some of that. And yes, she's giving a model for that, which is, that's a great answer. I love it.

Marti Grimminck 38:47

There we go.

Paige Buck 38:49

I love it. Well, Marty Grimek, it has been amazing talking to you. Anything else you want to make sure you share about international connector?

Marti Grimminck 38:59

I think, Well, I would I want to say, you know, we have a philosophy that I could share out to people, which it's, you know, it is embedded now is like a process of how we work. But I share it in the sense that I think everything today can be rethought, like, take a new perspective, take a time to really like what you're doing can shift and change. And so we call it rethink reimagine redesign. And that's not to scare people, but it's to take that breath and realize, Ah, okay, things are shifting and changing things are going to inherently change. So just in that moment, where you were talking earlier about live entertainment, and everything can shift in the moment, right, we've experienced that collectively around the world with COVID and then climate change issues with natural disasters and you know, so many things in people's thing in their lives, right and even just an email Like, is that the way you have to do it? So our philosophy at our companies is always rethink reimagine, redesign. And if you can find a better solution or a new approach to it, you might just end up with a better path forward.

Paige Buck 40:14

I love that. Okay, I want to throw out my notebook and half of my to do's and just start from there. Like, do I need to do that? No, I need to shift and get more comfortable with change. already. Where can people learn more about you?

Marti Grimminck 40:30

I'm easy to find. I'm on LinkedIn. I don't know I'm on Instagram. Well, we'll

Paige Buck 40:37

share links to all of that and more on to international connector so folks can can find your work. Thank you so much for your time today.

Marti Grimminck 40:44

Thank you. Thanks. Great.

Paige Buck 40:46

Thanks for listening to the Kennedy events podcast. Come back next time and be sure to click Subscribe to get future episodes.

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PAIGE BUCK

Paige Buck is the co-owner of Kennedy Events, a large-scale event management company based in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York City. Our team creates stress-free conferences and events with a positive impact, which allows our clients to resonate with their audience. Kennedy Events specializes in producing flawless product launches, award ceremonies, fundraisers, and multi-day conferences while keeping our eye on retention and engagement goals.

About Kennedy Events

Kennedy Events began with one goal in mind—to produce high-level corporate events with just as much strategy as style. Maggie founded the company in 2000, found her match in Paige, and in 2011 the two became official partners. Since then, these two resourceful and brilliant creatives have pooled their strengths to build one one of the most the most sought after corporate event companies in San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles.