Dreaming Bold Futures: Altagracia Montilla on Conflict Brave Relationships and Communities
Business as UNusual Ep 17 - Season 3 Transcript
Aicila [00:00:00]:
Hi. Welcome to business as unusual. This is Aisla, and I'm here today with Aldegressia Montia. Welcome to the show.
Altagracia Montilla [00:00:07]:
Thank you so much, Aisla, for having me.
Aicila [00:00:09]:
I have been really looking forward to this. We actually started a show a while back, and then some things came up, and we had to put it on pause. And as I was telling Elle de Gracia right before we started recording, I'm actually pretty excited because I think I'm doing a better show now. So you guys should let me know. Obviously, this is her first time. So would you let people know a little bit about, what your business is?
Altagracia Montilla [00:00:32]:
Yes. So I run AM Consulting. And what we do is we bring humanity into the workplace. Which I just love offering to people and I love how people respond when they hear that. What's that what that means is essentially work with mostly mission driven organizations, where we help them become the change they want to see in the world, right? A lot of organizations are doing great work, big work, right, in changing the world, making the world a better place. But oftentimes, they forget to bring those same practices organization. And so, again, we use a lot of like data and stories and narratives and frameworks and strategic plans, but at the at the heart of it all truly is to bring humanity into the workplace.
Aicila [00:01:19]:
So you said am? I was reading it as AM. So AM. That's what
Altagracia Montilla [00:01:23]:
I said. I said AM.
Aicila [00:01:25]:
Oh, right. I heard it as am, and I I suddenly was like, oh, I am bringing this humanity. I was like, oh, that's very clever.
Altagracia Montilla [00:01:31]:
I like that too though. Consulting. Yeah.
Aicila [00:01:36]:
That's fantastic. All right. So for you, you know, we tie we've touched on this a little, and I think it'd be interesting for Popul to hear what you define as success.
Altagracia Montilla [00:01:47]:
Oh, oh my goodness. Wow. What I define as success? Listen. I will say I have had quite a journey just with my, you know, as far as my relationship to that word success, it's come a long way. I think if you had asked me this many years ago, I think I would've said things like having a particular title, a particular role. And even though I've always been driven by this, like, you know, wanting to make the world a better place or leaving it better than I found it, I did recognize that even in my younger years at the early start of my career that it's very easy to still get kind of lost in in, you know, essentially what is capitalism and the harm that capitalism does. Right? In many ways, we're socializing to believe that once you have a particular role and a particular, title, salary, etcetera, then you're like making it. You've reached success.
Altagracia Montilla [00:02:44]:
And I do recognize this also comes from me originally being from a a family where, you know, I'm 1st gen. Right? We're a family of color. I grew up in the South Bronx. There's only one parent in the household. Like, there's so many things that in many ways kind of told me that once you are able to provide for yourself and provide for your family, then that means that you are achieving success. But at a very, very young age, I actually received a fancy title and a fancy salary, etcetera. And I started to really assess and think about what success really means, especially creating the change that I want to see in the world, being the change that I want to see creating the change that I want to see in the world, being the change that I want to see in the world. Success looks like or is also living with integrity.
Altagracia Montilla [00:03:31]:
Right? And and feeling like I am a true embodiment of my my values. Right? So, yeah, that's I I really appreciate the question. I really do.
Aicila [00:03:43]:
Something you said prompted me to reflect a little. Why does it have to be separated? Like, I hear that story a lot from folks where they achieved the goal, not just on the show, you read it all the time. Oh, I got the title and I was making $17,000,000 or whatever. And I was Right. I mean, and then the other side of it is you people who were really committed to good work, but they were just like, gosh, it was a little more my journey. Like, I was like, man, you know, there's gotta be something to this because this whole, like, not being able to afford health care isn't really great. Right? Like, I love serving. I love the the work, and there also needs to be some sustainability.
Aicila [00:04:23]:
So what Elle de Gracie and I met in a a book club around anti racism work, And I feel like that's that division that comes with white supremacy, capitalism, colonialism, is that this idea that we are individuals and and so separated and compartmentalized that those two things, what sustains us in our heart and what sustains us in our body somehow has to be separated as opposed to that weaving together. I don't know. I guess that came up for me when you said that.
Altagracia Montilla [00:04:54]:
What's coming up for me with you offering that is I'm thinking about the just community. Like the term community, what it means to do community. That's something I've been deeply rooted in recently and really have been exploring in different ways. But I really do believe that community is a way that we can heal, we can connect intentionally, that we can have wealth and not just in the traditional ways that we think about wealth, right? And then we can really care for each other outside of the ways that we think about this capitalist economy. Right? But can we have a way to kind of do offer some of that what you were just saying, I think it's a way to it's a technology. I think community is a technology that allows possible to be possible.
Aicila [00:05:36]:
Yeah. I do agree. I feel like the community is the antidote being here, taking care of the people in our world. Right. And, you know, it's it's not the it's not the glamorous savior thing. Right? And it is the thing that I think is actually gonna make the difference.
Altagracia Montilla [00:05:53]:
It is. And, you know, it's funny you said the word glamorous, and I'm laughing because I was just thinking, you know, I was having a conversation recently that we were talking about how community takes work.
Aicila [00:06:01]:
It takes
Altagracia Montilla [00:06:02]:
a lot of work. And unfortunately, the way we think about work, we think about like labor and
Aicila [00:06:07]:
Mhmm.
Altagracia Montilla [00:06:08]:
9 top 5 or, like, you know, give you know, kind of this, like, backbreaking work or just mind breaking too, but I think there's this beautiful version of work that can exist, and I think that's what community requires. You know, love is work. Friendship is work. Care is work. Like, mutual aid is work. All of that is work, and all of it can really be beautiful and sustaining. So Yeah.
Aicila [00:06:30]:
That's
Altagracia Montilla [00:06:30]:
glamorous? Maybe that's a little glamorous.
Aicila [00:06:33]:
I I think that it's the it's powerful. And I think it's there's a way that it's very restful. I think once you realize that community is I like the way you say technology to work through some of the changes we wanna create is that you're not alone in this. To go back to that concept of the separation and the individualism, I I was sharing with Alta Garcia. I went to an event last week. It was an indigenous event here in Colorado. And one of the Lakota elders who spoke said, there is no individualism. We are all part of one another's puzzle.
Aicila [00:07:16]:
And I thought, that feels so much more real to me than this idea that somehow I have to pull back and be separated enough that I'm not a problem or, like, in your way or whatever. There's a lot of that, like, fear of being a burden, I think. And yet the reality is that in the way you were talking about the work part anyway, that, yeah, sometimes friends and and family could be a little bit of a burden and that's okay. Like, we lean on each other. It's like when you it's like when 2 people lean against each other and then neither of them holding things up as hard. Right? Like, they put their backs to each other and they can kind of basically be a chair or whatever. And I I don't know why that that particular type of work is somehow seen as, I don't know, maybe more mysterious than going and punching a clock. It just feels like because you're saying that, like that does take work, but it's not the same thing.
Aicila [00:08:08]:
And And while we seem to be a nation of workaholics, that community effort doesn't seem to be in the bucket of the things.
Altagracia Montilla [00:08:19]:
Yeah. I mean, listen, it's interesting because, you know, this is touching a lot on the difference between, like, what the western colonized colonial way of thinking versus more indigenous ways of thinking, I think, or ancestral, which is a term I like to use, ancestral ways of doing work. That's what I'm really reading for what you're offering. Mystery. I think you used the word mystery. Right? I mean, listen. I think the reason why it feels like a mystery is because in many ways, it is it feels spiritual. You know? Not in the way not in a religiosity kind of way, but spiritual and that is really connected to something you can't necessarily see in bright.
Altagracia Montilla [00:08:58]:
It's not, like, in the room with us, except in what we feel and how we're connected to each other. Right? Like, that is where the technology exists or how to put into practice. Yeah.
Aicila [00:09:12]:
Yeah.
Altagracia Montilla [00:09:14]:
Community.
Aicila [00:09:16]:
Love it. Thank you. So, you you there's something in your life and experience that led you to create this. And more than, like so lots of people have, you know, challenges or inspiration or share your identity in some way. And yet for you, all of that together, there's some spark that turned into, I'm gonna create this consulting business. I'm gonna create this approach to work. And that I'm curious always, like, what took all of these things? Was there a moment or something that you can point to that really sparked that shift from knowing or being in whatever it was to this is what I'm doing about it. This is how I'm showing up now.
Altagracia Montilla [00:10:13]:
This is how I'm creating.
Aicila [00:10:15]:
I love that. I love that.
Altagracia Montilla [00:10:16]:
Thank you so much for asking that question. I I will say that one thing I I I really do believe is that I'm trying my best to do to put my ancestral gifts into practice. Right? The gifts that the ancestors have brought me into this universe with, I'm like, let me put it into practice and doing this work really feels like that, right? Because in many ways it is facilitation. I see myself and I'm really leaning into this identity as a facilitator. But I will say, most recently, I when I started this business, I was working as a chief equity officer of a national organization and I was being asked by many persons to support with like anti racist work, anti white supremacy work, creating new systems. Right? So I recognized that I was really good at creating systems that challenge the systems that we have now. But I also started to notice and recognize that one of the gifts I was able to bring into spaces is to help unlock people's ability to dream up something beyond what currently exists. Right? And I think that's what a lot of folks are kind of missing.
Altagracia Montilla [00:11:18]:
And through that exploration, I started to realize, damn, people are really struggling with the ability to do things like connect with others. Like the most basic, what feels like human thing. Right? To see someone and say, I can feel connected to you or I wanna feel connected to you or I'm open to it, and I'm open to seeing how you can change me and how I can change you. I can see how, you know, us even sharing space in this moment, whether it's a moment or, you know, extended period of time because we work together, I can see how we can support each other and be a support to each other. I can see how we're tethered in some way, but the ability to do that, people really struggled with. And so I recognize, like, you know, our practice, AM Consulting, we're able to do those 2 things. We're able to come into a space and do a kind of like a audit of culture of of what community looks like in the space of whether the work is truly happening the way it's supposed to and embedded in all of that through the frameworks and the numbers and the stories and the narratives and right? Is helping people be able to unlock that humanity. Right? We're rewriting the way, the workplace what the workplace looks like.
Altagracia Montilla [00:12:24]:
For so long it's been you keep yourself at home and you bring your workplace person to work, right? This is just a separation, but we're really helping people unlock, and see and use their imagination and recognize that you can be all things in one place, and it's possible to create an organization, a space, a community, a collective where that is possible. Right? And so I think it's a mixture of recognizing a need and also understanding my gifts at the same time and wanting to put that out in the world.
Aicila [00:12:57]:
Can you do you remember the first time you experienced that gift? Like, did it surprise you, or how did you notice it? How did you notice that you could help people unlock something beyond their own, field of vision so that they could see farther? What what what what was that?
Altagracia Montilla [00:13:14]:
It was in community with people. Just being in community. I've I've always wanted a person who just loves it sounds corny maybe. I'm okay with that, but I love community. Like, I'm really I really do. I love the idea of building community. I love connecting with people. I love listening to folks' stories.
Altagracia Montilla [00:13:31]:
I love seeing people light up when I ask them questions about their stories. I love celebrating people and helping them see themselves in a different kind of way. That's always been ultra exciting to me. And I do, you know, I feel like in many ways, it's, you know, it's not just me recognizing a gift, but I feel like it's also me allowing myself to heal myself across time. Because in many ways, as a young kid, I'm not sure that I had that community in the same way, and I always searched for it, and I was able to just build it for myself. So Mhmm.
Aicila [00:14:01]:
That's what
Altagracia Montilla [00:14:01]:
I played. I'm a huge role in that. And I guess, you know, going through the world of receiving a lot of positive feedback and seeing the impact that can be made within certain spaces and seeing that you know, I recognize that in our world when we talk about power, unfortunately, a lot of times that power looks like, you know, exploiting someone. Right? We talked about the capitalist system. Right? It's typically what the power looks like that we've seen, but then I started to, you know, through community recognize that love is extremely powerful, care is extremely powerful, reflection is power. Right? Like, all of those things have power. And so I feel like those are powers that I really had and was able to to use to create transformation within organizations. Mhmm.
Aicila [00:14:44]:
Yeah. I've been working a theory of power with versus power over that that the a lot of the dominant culture expectations are very power over. It's you know, you see it sort of everywhere. And, the community spaces, indigenous ancestral knowledge is frequently power with. Everybody's sort of a sovereign being, and they step in. So nobody themselves. There's not the same level of infantilization that you can see also in modern culture of adults. And I know if you read, it's a little bit of a deviation.
Aicila [00:15:19]:
It comes back to it. Like, they there was a report they did. They actually studied wolves in the wild, and they found that there's no such thing as an alpha wolf. It's a role. Wolves come into that, and they come out of it. And and they've shown also they've done more than a few research projects. Not Not that it's necessary, but it's kinda helpful sometimes to realize like, oh, healthy family systems do the same thing. You know, you have a role someone steps into because they are the one that has the skills, knowledge, tools, whatever, but it's not there's a fixed point of, like like, the boss.
Aicila [00:15:52]:
Right? And then so it's very much a shared communal power with kind of scenario as opposed to you get everything, we all advocate. And so just got that to mind.
Altagracia Montilla [00:16:04]:
No. That's great. Let's play I mean, let's even play with that. Like, imagine that being within a workplace. Right? Right? Like, even the conversation I bring to a lot of organizations is I say, like, this leadership role. Again, we think about it very quickly and easy. Organizations will turn into just telling people what to do. Right? But you are playing a particular role.
Altagracia Montilla [00:16:26]:
Shouldn't be that you are necessarily above, below, etcetera. Like, you are with the collective. And your role is to help people cast vision and to believe in it, and to have a reason to believe in it, to to to really buy into it, to feel excited, to feel comforted, to feel a part of something greater than themselves possibly. Like that's the role you're supposed to play. But unfortunately, many times people, have to heal from their own understandings of what it looks leadership looks like. Right? A lot of times people are performing like the leader they had when they were kind of earlier in their career, and they usually aren't the best examples. Right? And so Mhmm. You know, like, a lot of that a lot of the healing is you can be something completely different than what you have ever seen.
Altagracia Montilla [00:17:11]:
That's okay. Right? Yeah.
Aicila [00:17:14]:
No. I I think and that's part of why I I have a podcast is that I I think that business as usual is causing problems. And so I'm curious as to what people are doing that's unusual because I feel like they've that'll lead us in a if if not a better direction, at least a different one. And that seems corrugated to me.
Altagracia Montilla [00:17:34]:
Yeah. Because this one is. Right?
Aicila [00:17:35]:
Uh-huh. So so in terms of what the work that you're doing, it's not the same as your traditional DEI. Can you share, like, a story or either a problem you solved or a success that you had or a a moment of joy and connection in the work that you're doing? Gives people sort of a sense of what it means. Like, if I'm like, hey. I wanna reach out to AM Consulting because I feel like my company needs this. Can you give them a little taste of an example of with how that shows up or how a result you're feeling so they can maybe get connected to that?
Altagracia Montilla [00:18:13]:
Yeah. Absolutely. So, typically, organizations will reach out to us when there's change happening. Mhmm. And so there is maybe new leadership coming in. It could be a change in, like, the workplace mood, which a lot of times that looks like tension, it looks like burnout, it looks like it could be confusion, it could be a new strategic plan, so persons are looking for a new, like fresh energy into the space. I will offer to folks that while that's a great time to come in, I do recommend to organizations, to whoever is listening, that this these are some of the practices that should be embedded into your organization, what we bring in. So, don't ever wait till there's a point where there's tension or, you know, big change because typically that's when a lot of, I would say, internal conflict can come up.
Altagracia Montilla [00:18:58]:
So but I will say one of my favorite, I think, stories where we created changes, New York City based organization. And I say it's one of my favorites because I would say out of all of the organizations we have worked with, they were an organization that was experiencing the most internal conflict, and they were so you know, talk about the inability to dream. Right? They couldn't even see beyond their point of tension. Right? This is an organization where they had a leader present, and the leader decided to leave after receiving some feedback about, their leadership. This person has left, so then those who came in to step into leadership were kind of had to take on this organization if they were not necessarily, they didn't know they would be, you know, leading on their own, and there were a lot of persons within the organization who had communicated experiencing hurt. You know, hurt from just having to overcome the challenges that they were experiencing in the moment, hurt from people saying things that maybe weren't sensitive during a very difficult time. Right? And so our process was, 1, first, making sure that we paused what was happening in the organization, and this is a very extreme example of of conflict happening. But we paused what was happening, and we kind of we did a a a 2 day retreat where folks we spent time away from work, where we were just able to sit, reflect, and really unpack what was happening in the organization.
Altagracia Montilla [00:20:19]:
This is the first time the organization had ever the persons who were part of it really talked about their own conflict, had a moment to reflect, to kind of open up in a very vulnerable way to really name the thing that everyone's avoiding having to talk about. From then on, then we're able to really draft what the rest of their year would look like. Right? So from then, we collaboratively created a strategic plan together that we then started to support the organization implementing. So we had a team to go in, help them bring the build the infrastructure to make the necessary changes possible, so they can live out this new strat plan of theirs, where they were able to decide what kind of organization they wanted to be, what kind of leadership they they wanted, you know, to run the organization or support the organization. And I mean, listen, I I it was really beautiful because there were folks in there who really explicitly named they had never been a part of anything like this. There were persons actually who were a part of the organization's community, who hadn't talked to them for a very long time, but were finding their way back to the organization Because of this kind of multi you know, they heard about the process we were going through, and then we came they decided to engage with the organization again, which I thought was really beautiful.
Aicila [00:21:37]:
I feel like something you said about you sometimes people wait till conflict shows up. And I know from my own experience of doing different kinds of inclusion work and being human, I think, is the ultimate inclusion in your workplace, is that sometimes it can expose things. So I just wanna put that caveat out there that if you're if you think you're smoothly sailing and you have somebody AM consulting or somebody to come in and suddenly all of a sudden everything is in conflict, it's not because there wasn't conflict before. It's because it was under the surface. And without it being exposed, what that means is usually in times of crisis or change, that's when it bubbles up because people are moving too fast or the person that was always going around soothing people ends up leaving or it gets sometimes it's even just fat. Like, a person who is kind of that social emotional glue for the organization gets sick, or they have a cool thing happen and they're less able to focus. And then suddenly, what's happening? What? It was always there.
Altagracia Montilla [00:22:41]:
Oh, of course.
Aicila [00:22:42]:
Right? It just didn't get exposed until that. And so I thank
Altagracia Montilla [00:22:46]:
you so much for naming that too because, also, you know, again, we work with both, you know, mission driven organizations. And a lot of times, I've noticed in these organizations, there is, a culture of conflict avoidance that is present. Mhmm. And because they're doing good work and wanna do good in the world, and and I love these folks who are part of, you know, who are who are again, who decided to do work that is about, again, making a better world. But oftentimes that conflict avoidance turns into a lot of passive aggressiveness, it turns into like everything's fine and so they're like gaslighting themselves, each other, right? So that's what's really present. And you also reminded me of 1 organization we worked in with, and also I love all the orgs we've worked with. So when I'm naming the tensions, there are also other beautiful things that are happening to make sure I knew them as well. But I just to your point, we had an organization where when we met during the first kind of phase with them and kind of cut the stories, there were a lot of folks who said, things are great.
Altagracia Montilla [00:23:45]:
I love this work. I love being here. I love the people I work with. Great. We love to hear that. Right? 2 things happened. 1, we started to ask more specific questions about whether folks were taking care of themselves. And from those conversations, we started to, you know, more was uncovered about how folks were overworking themselves through their love.
Altagracia Montilla [00:24:05]:
They love the org, they love each other, but they were overworking themselves to the point where we had folks in tears, you know, communicating how tired they are. Mhmm. We also discover through our data because one thing that we do with our any, like, surveys or any kind of numerical data that we're collecting from folks, we make sure that it is organized by subgroups. So we don't wanna hear what everyone is saying because in this organization I'm talking about, if you looked at collectively their data and some responses to questions that we had, things seem to be going fairly well. It's pretty positive. But when we broke it down by role, rank, tenure, broke it down by, you know, gender, race, etcetera, it starts to tell very different stories for different subgroups. So for instance, in this organization is one of the things that we discovered was that, folks with less power, hierarchical were experiencing were less happy, let's say, significantly less happy than those who had more hierarchical power within the organization. So I think it's a reminder for folks too that sometimes the conversations they're having, you need to know what specific groups are saying to know the full story, the full narrative.
Altagracia Montilla [00:25:09]:
I always say there are 4 layers of data or 4 pieces of data to the full data puzzle. And that is numbers, which we know, stories, which we're familiar with, Also, historical data, which is the history of the organization. And then I also add ancestral data, which is the data that we bring as individuals, like, what stories we bring with us, what is in our ancestry that also is relevant when we are coming together with others with different ancestral data in this space.
Aicila [00:25:38]:
I feel like conflict is access to community in a certain way. Like, the the fear of conflict is often creates this, like, veneer situation, and it also one of the things that I've had I both had the experience of and observed is that it it creates this bizarre belief that, like, a conflict will destroy the relationship. Mhmm. And the truth is, yes, there are some things that will. Most likely, that's not gonna happen if you simply sit down to say, hey, this day didn't work for me. This is you know, or I'm upset or I'm hurt or, you know, depending on the situation. Generally, people actually feel closer after that because they feel that sense of, oh, I can trust you to let me know where we are. I'm not wondering.
Aicila [00:26:26]:
So just a lot of relief. And and, personally, the other thing that I've seen often, it's it's so sad to me, is frequently people end up being in conflict because to a certain extent, they're trying to help each other. Like, it's like, oh, you you you're gonna be busy, so I'll just take on this thing. And then you're like, oh, but I had a plan and you didn't ask. And so then it turns into this thing, whereas if it was just a conversation and a quick, like, oh, by the way, I'm happy to get help, but ask first or whatever. But for some reason, there's a fear of that part, and then it turns into this big conflagration.
Altagracia Montilla [00:27:01]:
Right. I mean, listen. I it takes in order to have a very healthy relationship, confidence is critical. It really is. And, you know, I I offer to organizations that you won't be able to really change the world or create the world that you wanna see without conflict because we're in conflict with the status quo. Right? So we have to become comfortable with conflict as individuals so we can do it as an organization. When it comes to individuals, I do believe in that idea of, like, dreaming up the kind of relationship you wanna have with someone. You have to dream it up, and then you have to become it.
Altagracia Montilla [00:27:35]:
Right? Mhmm. I know for me growing up, no one taught me how to be a great friend. I wasn't taught that. I wish I was, you know, and I know some people get that teaching. I didn't get that. And I know most folks don't as far as what I have seen and what I have heard and what I've learned. But we must kind of create use our imaginations to think of what seems to be the dopest, coolest, most loving, caring relationship possible, and how can I lean into that and become that? And it will require some conflict to get to that. Especially when we are where I see it as, like, you know, 2 people are coming together and they're gonna start to you know, the stories are gonna weave into each other and the communities are weaving in each other.
Altagracia Montilla [00:28:15]:
And so there's going to be some of that that comes up. I believe in building conflict brave relationships. I believe in building conflict brave communities. I believe in building conflict brave organizations. And, actually, one of the things that AM Consulting is doing is we're hosting a virtual course on conflict bravery. So on the on our on altegrastimuntilla.com, the website, under the experiences tab, there is some information about that. And I, yeah, I hope that folks lean into conflict and recognize that you to embrace that in order to become the human that you wanna be, in order to have the relationships you wanna have, in order to to be an organization that can create change in this world. Like, that is a critical point, a part of our narratives as beings.
Altagracia Montilla [00:29:01]:
Yeah. Mhmm.
Aicila [00:29:02]:
Yeah. Does this always mean bad things? It can be very powerful way to overcome, I think, some of that emotional fear too to simply, like you said, step into that conflict bravery. I love that term.
Altagracia Montilla [00:29:13]:
Mhmm.
Aicila [00:29:15]:
Can you tell me about some advice you've received that's influenced the way you approach your work?
Altagracia Montilla [00:29:20]:
Oh, in the whole long, like, narrative of how I approach my work, some advice that I have received. I feel like I've received a lot of great advice. Right? There's things that I've read that I really appreciate. 1, you know, a lot of what I'm talking about, I feel like is rooted into the what Robin D. G. Kelley calls freedom dreaming.
Aicila [00:29:47]:
Mhmm.
Altagracia Montilla [00:29:47]:
The idea that we're supposed to dream up the world that we want to see, that we need, and as opposed to always thinking about the systems that we're trying to break down and destroy. Right? We need to, like, put ourselves in that. We have, a framework for emergence design or continuous improvement, sorry, that we use And it's a multi step process and a lot of it was inspired by Octavia Butler. All the you touch, you change, only change changes you and the ability to continuously see that the change you create within an organization is going to bring about other change, whether it's good, messy, great, amazing, wonderful, or confusing. Like, that's all things that have to be assessed and a part of it. And I think every single person who has also reminded me along the ways, particularly my elders, that my own authenticity is going to not only bring me joy, but also make the work feel more joyful for others, I think is another piece of great advice I've received. I love that question. I'm probably gonna have watched I'm sure in the comments of this, I'm probably gonna be like, here's this other thing that I just do not.
Aicila [00:30:52]:
Oh, maybe we will have maybe I'll have to have you come back and we'll do that little group, chat.
Altagracia Montilla [00:30:57]:
Yeah. Too bad. That'd be great.
Aicila [00:31:00]:
So what my experience of running a business and also changing things, doing things unusually, if you will, is that you also need a lot of time to kinda iterate, develop that dream, as well as keep yourself recharged and inspired. So are there ways that that you intentionally do that that you're willing to share?
Altagracia Montilla [00:31:22]:
Absolutely. My people, for sure. I have a community of people that I absolutely love. I have been one, I feel very blessed. I feel fortunate. I feel lucky, but I also recognize that I put in that beautiful, amazing, good work to kind of build this community of mine that I love and adore. I pour into them. They pour into me.
Altagracia Montilla [00:31:44]:
I have a partner that, oh my gosh Mhmm. Is so good to me, who I love dearly. You know, I I tell folks that, you know, a a a huge part of why I can put this, you know, beautiful work into the world and I can do this transformative work is because at the end of the day, I get to go home to a home that is loving, and my partner is a part of that. It's loving and caring and and important to me for sure. I think a lot of writing is important to me as far as recharging, so, like, journaling, processing thoughts through writing, through art as much as possible. Movement helps to recharge me. So I love dancing. I love to move my body.
Altagracia Montilla [00:32:28]:
I love to, like, feel energy in my body. I love to feel energize my movement. And even just as simple as, like, a walk in the park could be really energizing for me. And some music, I think I get lost in music a lot, which is really exciting for me. Mhmm. You know?
Aicila [00:32:48]:
Yeah. I do. Thank you. For folks that are listening, how do they learn more, follow you, get in touch? What's the best way to connect?
Altagracia Montilla [00:33:01]:
Yes. So, 1, I wanna thank folks who are listening. Right? Yeah. Thank you. And and thank you again for, bringing me into your space to to connect with me, to reflect with me. That's really this is, like, an example of kinda community in action. Right? We met some time ago, and here we are not just recording this, but checking in on each other, really. Mhmm.
Altagracia Montilla [00:33:22]:
And altigraciamuntilla.com is my website. Info@altagraciamuntilla dotcom is a way to reach out to me as well. And then we have LinkedIn, which I'm sure if you search out my name, I'm probably gonna be the only person who has
Aicila [00:33:37]:
to see. And I'll drop a link in the show notes too so people can grab that. Yeah.
Altagracia Montilla [00:33:43]:
Mhmm. And then my Instagram is alta_monte.
Aicila [00:33:48]:
Yeah. Lovely. Thank you so much. And thank you for being here today. I really appreciate it. Thank you again. And thanks everybody for listening. Appreciate you.
Aicila [00:33:59]:
Let's see.
