Leadership and Mentorship Empowering Women at SOAR 2024 with Rebecca Woods and Christopher Kunney

[00:00:02] Hey everyone, welcome back to the Outcomes Rocket. I'm so excited to be here with the amazing Rebecca Woods and Christopher Kunney. We're here at the SOAR 2024 conference and I got to tell you guys, this has been amazing. The empowerment of women in IT and health IT has just been incredible. So what I wanted to do is just kind of give a little highlight and let Rebecca and Christopher talk about the experiences here. But Rebecca, talk to us about why you've done this, the journey, and just some highlights of the show.

[00:00:33] Yeah, I think it starts from I have two girls, right? I want to empower them. And then also when I became CIO at a young age and went off to a conference and saw there were no women, I think that's where the fire started. And then many years later and two kids later, helped a lot of startups, helped a nonprofit and realized it was go time to start to make a difference. I have lots of executive years under my belt now. And so created Bluebird Leaders where we're creating a community to have more women in IT and healthcare.

[00:01:03] Well, it's incredible. I'm thinking about some of the ladies on my team that I'll be sending to Colorado next year. So certainly very inspiring. Thank you for sharing that with us. Christopher, talk to us about you. You know, why has this meeting been important for you and why should other people consider coming?

[00:01:23] No, absolutely. Well, first of all, thank you, Rebecca, for allowing me to be a part of this amazing event. I've gained so much from the speakers and the lecturers and just the networking that has taken place as well, too.

[00:01:37] So my reason for being here, as I mentioned on the panel that I was a part of, is that the majority of the mentors and coaches and folks that inspired me throughout my career were women.

[00:01:50] I learned so much from those amazing women who taught me how to navigate politics and corporate America who inspired me to stretch myself beyond what I thought I was capable of doing and supported me as, again, coaches and mentors and just friends now on my journey in life.

[00:02:08] And so I just felt compelled to be a part of this. Rebecca and I are colleagues as well, too, both recovering CIOs who've gone through that journey as well.

[00:02:18] So we can appreciate, you know, the good, bad and ugly of being a part of that environment.

[00:02:22] And I just have, you know, the need to also give back and support individuals who are, you know, navigating their careers and trying to figure out, you know, their passion in life as well, too.

[00:02:32] And so it's just, again, a pleasure and an honor to be a part of this exercise. And if at all possible, I'll be in Colorado next year as well, too.

[00:02:40] Amazing. Thanks for that, Christopher. So let's look ahead for everybody that wasn't able to come to the event.

[00:02:47] What can they be looking forward to in the coming next year?

[00:02:50] Yeah, well, we always have our mentor program that's free for everyone. We do two cohorts a year.

[00:02:55] So there are six months in time. We have our membership program, which is only $50. It's access to our closed LinkedIn group.

[00:03:02] So $50 a year. Moving forward, Bluebird Leaders has also become an agnostic 501c3 for many other conferences to have an avenue to highlight women.

[00:03:14] And so we'll be at Chime Fall Forum. We'll be at Vive. We'll be at Hymns again.

[00:03:18] They've asked us to come back and put on another little party or something.

[00:03:21] And then we'll also have our Aruba retreat, second time going to Aruba, only 20 spots.

[00:03:28] Yes. And bring your flip flops, no suits allowed.

[00:03:30] And then the fall or in September of 2025, we will bring the nest to Colorado.

[00:03:37] I love it. I love it, Rebecca. Healthcare is small. Healthcare IT is even smaller.

[00:03:43] You know, I want to give you kudos, Rebecca, for putting such an amazing community together.

[00:03:48] Folks, as you heard from Rebecca, she'll be at all the main events, Chime, Health or Vive, right? Chime, Vive.

[00:03:55] And so certainly make sure you tune in. Hymns, let's not forget Hymns. Obviously, that's a big one.

[00:04:01] And so there's many opportunities in person, but also digitally for you guys to connect.

[00:04:06] We'll make sure to leave all the links for the groups and things like that so people could take advantage of it.

[00:04:11] It's literally low barrier and high, high ROI. So definitely check it out, y'all.

[00:04:16] Lastly, a lot of the things that happens is collaborations here.

[00:04:20] I'd love for you guys to hear maybe one key thing that you're going to do differently or a new partnership or collaboration that's come out of the meeting.

[00:04:28] We just came out of an amazing session just a few minutes ago that I think whether you're a man or a woman, hopefully someone recorded that because you really need to be playing that back.

[00:04:38] Don delivered on just how to overcome fear.

[00:04:42] And I was just reflecting on this past year that I've gone through some transitions that have taken place and what I'm attempting to relaunch in my own company as well, too.

[00:04:51] And part of it was overcoming that fear and now getting really some practical tools to deal with those moments in life where you're paralyzed and you're not quite sure what to do.

[00:05:04] And I just thought it was such a very practical exercise and tools that I learned from that session that I'm going to take with me going forward as well.

[00:05:13] That's awesome. Congrats.

[00:05:15] What about you, Rebecca? You know, you're on the organizing side.

[00:05:17] You're doing so much, but yet you're still finding time to connect.

[00:05:21] What have you taken away from that?

[00:05:22] I think I'm the unicorn extroverted retired CIO.

[00:05:26] So I'm willing to talk to anybody.

[00:05:28] But I mean, in terms of what I'm taking away, you know, I started my first company in 2018 and was, you know, but prior to that was, you know, CIO.

[00:05:37] Learned real quickly that although I wanted to become CIO, how lonely it is at the top.

[00:05:42] We had a conversation about that yesterday.

[00:05:44] But the whole reason I put together Bluebird Leaders was so that other women can connect and realize it doesn't have to be so lonely at the top.

[00:05:52] And Dawn and Sarah and Maureen literally were in a text chain with me for every ticket sale.

[00:05:58] Right. And we've tripled this year in size.

[00:06:00] And so to have those people and mentors to help, you know, through everything and realize it doesn't have to be lonely at the top.

[00:06:10] So definitely took that away.

[00:06:12] And I hope a lot of connections were made the last two days so that other women feel that way as well.

[00:06:17] Oh, well, I got to tell you, I definitely am seeing it everywhere.

[00:06:21] And I as well, you know, connected with a lot of great people from our side, by the way, guys, just kind of leaving a little plug here.

[00:06:27] If you guys have heard Christopher's podcast, the Straight Outta Health IT, stay tuned.

[00:06:32] Oh, there you go. You got the T-shirt on.

[00:06:35] Got a little surprise there, a little collaboration with the Outcomes Rocket.

[00:06:39] You never know where things are going to go.

[00:06:41] It's so great to be in person together.

[00:06:44] By the way, Rebecca, too, I want to say thanks for the opportunity to speak here at the conference on marketing.

[00:06:48] This has been great.

[00:06:49] And so for me, just incredible to connect with your community that you've worked so hard to put together.

[00:06:55] And for everybody out there, make sure you check us out next year.

[00:06:58] It's going to be incredible.

[00:07:00] You're not going to want to miss this one.

[00:07:02] Thanks, guys.

[00:07:03] Thank you.