Episode 102: Setting Trends in Global Sportswear & Curating Their Modern Family | Mark & Elizabeth McGarry | York Athletics & McGarry & Sons
Mark and Elizabeth McGarry are a true power couple, leaders in global sportswear and partners in life, business, and family. Mark is the CEO of York Athletics and Elizabeth is the owner and creative director of McGarry & Sons, a design studio they helped launch together. Their careers span iconic brands like Reebok, Puma, and DC Shoes, but their focus today is on building a family and businesses that reflect their values. They share how they’ve navigated entrepreneurship, creative collaboration, and parenthood while staying true to their vision of a modern, intentional life. From designing sneakers to curating a home, from global trendsetting to building community, Mark and Elizabeth prove that success comes from alignment, trust, and taking the leap when it matters most. Their story is a blueprint for blending passion, work, and family into something bigger and more beautiful.
“It’s the universal law in entrepreneurship where you can’t be on the edge of the cliff and then these things happen. You have to jump and then these things align. ”
-
-
Follow along using the Transcript
Chapters
00:00 Meet Mark and Elizabeth McGarry
03:45 How They Met and Began Collaborating
07:20 From Global Brands to Building Their Own
12:15 The Leap to Launch York Athletics and McGarry & Sons
16:50 Designing for Function, Style, and Storytelling
20:35 The Role of Trust in Business and Life
24:10 Lessons from Working with Iconic Sportswear Brands
29:00 Navigating Parenthood and Entrepreneurship
33:40 Designing Their Home and Lifestyle
38:15 Health Challenges and Resilience
42:50 How Surfing, Running, and Meditation Shape Their Lives
46:30 The Four L’s: Love, Labor, Learn, Laugh
50:15 Advice for Entrepreneurs and Creatives
54:00 What’s Next for York Athletics and McGarry & Sons
I remember just putting Ki to bed, like just wrestling with that decision. You know, like, what am I doing? Like is this a huge mistake? What I quickly learned? And you know, I'm sure yourself as an entrepreneur when you make the decision, it's go time.
That's Mark and Elizabeth McGarry, and this is The Powerful Ladies podcast.
Hey guys, I'm your host, Kara Duffy, and in this episode I am so excited for you to hang out with Mark and Elizabeth McGarry. They are inspiring as individuals. Both are on my favorite humans list. And together it seems their powers are magnified from building their family to designing their home, to creating businesses together, and collaborating and designing a life on their terms.
This Power Couple is setting the example for how to blend everything together and create something bigger and more beautiful. Before we jump into this episode, I want to remind you to come and join my Powerful Ladies Thrive membership. The best way to ensure you live your dream life is to have a community and a coach that will help you get there, and that's exactly what Thrive is for.
Join us today. Go to powerful ladies dotn.co and jump into our twice weekly group coaching sessions to kickstart everything that matters to you and to transform your year all month. In February, we'll be discussing how you can discover your business love language, and use that to create your ideal career and business that you can spend as much time as possible.
Working in your zone of genius and aligns with your purpose.
Hi guys. Hi. How's it going? Good. Welcome to The Powerful Ladies Podcast. Thank you for having us. Of course. Well, I've invited all of my favorite power couples on. We're doing a segment. This might become a recurring series. I love Power couples because I have like forever, like I would rip 'em outta my magazines and save 'em because I love both the romance of it, but also the fact that you're collaborating on so many things in life and seeing how it's working.
So the fact that you guys are a real life power couple, I can't wait to ask you all my questions.
Powerful Ladies and their sidekicks
episode. Well, let's begin. Please introduce yourselves and tell everybody what you're up to. Go for it. McGarry.
No, LA ladies first. You, you go first. I'm Elizabeth
McGarry for your listeners and um, I feel honored to be back 'cause we, um, had an awesome chat at the start of your, um, year new venture with this, so.
Mm-hmm. It's called you're episode number one. It's cool to be back with, uh, with Mark. Um, I'm, uh, I'm Mrs. McGarry and I'm, um, a mom of two awesome boys and a business owner and creative director, um, collaborator, daughter, wife, daughter. Sister. Sister. Yeah. All of it. All the things. Yeah.
Um, yeah. It's great to be here.
Uh, it's good to see you again. Yeah,
you too.
Um, my name is Mark McGarry. I am Elizabeth's husband, uh, father, uh, entrepreneur, um, the CEO of York Athletics. And, um, not so much involved in Mcg and Sons, uh, Elizabeth Design Studio anymore, but, um, years ago helped her kinda get that, uh, formalized and off the ground.
Um, I'm a surfer. Skateboarder, um, meditator. Um, yeah,
obsessive runner.
Obsessive runner. Yeah. I've been, uh, I've been, I thought about after my run this morning, I feel like since the pandemic I've been. Like Forst Gump style, like, you know, and he just like keeps running. Mm-hmm. And doesn't for like a year. I feel like that's, that's me since, uh, last March I just, the, the dojo shut down and
mm-hmm.
Running just kinda like became my thing. So yeah, I've been doing lots of running.
Well, I'll have to get you connected with Jesse and his, uh, Ragnar team. They have a whole, it's, it keeps spreading. It was just the team and now there's people in other states and now everyone's like trying to beat each other with how many miles they can do all the time.
Oh, cool. It's like, yeah, I'm in.
Jesse found running and like hasn't turned back and I'm sure like you, it just like became natural. And I'm like, what if I had to just go run half marathon? I'd need to train for like months and he just runs one. I'm like, Ugh. It's so frustrating. What I think is so fascinating about my story of knowing you guys is that Elizabeth and I worked together at Reebok.
Then I left Reebok, went to Puma where Mark was, and we're at a Christmas party and Elizabeth shows up and I'm like, oh, that's weird. It was a Puma Christmas party. I'm like, she must, you know, have come with her friend. Who I knew was, um, uh, I think it was, um, Vick's wife at the time. Oh yeah, right. Yeah. And I was like, huh.
And then all of a sudden I saw you guys together and I was like, wait, is everyone dating someone else or in a relationship? So it's crazy to have the crossover, even switching brands, which also speaks to how incestuous those brands are. You know, whether if you're in footwear apparel, in the, in the sports space, it really is so much crossover.
Um, but it was one of those moments where I was like, the first time seeing you guys in the same room. I'm like, wait a second, what's happening here? That's funny. Some of my first, my first friendships that I made here. Were the wives of Mark's coworkers. We kind of jokingly called ourselves the Wives club, but mm-hmm.
At the same time, we all had jobs in the industry as well. We were just, they were all at Puma, all the guys, and we were at Reebok, converse, new Balance, whatever. And, um, yeah, that's, that's our industry. Right. We're gonna definitely bump into each other For sure. For sure. Well, so when I call you guys a power couple, what do you guys think?
When I say that, I feel very, I feel like an imposter. I feel very humbled by, um, your association of that. But it's also, to me, it was like a nice time to just kind of pause and reflect and say like, yeah, you know what, like we've kicked some ass and we've done some cool things, and someone who we respect sees us that way.
That's, that's like humbling and very cool. So thank you.
I, yeah, same, like very humbled and, um, yeah, we, we were chatting before this, like, it's a cool opportunity to reflect, you know, in the new year. Mm-hmm. And, um, yeah, it's been a crazy ride, you know, as partners in life, um, raising a family, um, starting two businesses together.
Um, and I feel like we've gotten to this point now where we've like, like found this balance and peace with everything and our, our life feels, uh, I don't know, I'd say like, not as chaotic as it was, you know, a couple years ago and, mm-hmm. Um, yeah. No, it, it's, it's an honor and I, I think, yeah, I'm also just really proud of where we're at and, and kind of the balance that we've, we've found, you know, after years of, of navigating this together
when you guys have had so many collaborations together, right?
Whether it's your house or your family, or just going out and like living your best lives, right? Part of my power couple qualifications was like, who's really chasing after the life that's best for them and making sure that they're creating their path versus just being stuck on some other path that's taking them who knows where.
Yeah. And I've always been so impressed at how for, first off, you guys have always prioritized your family and making sure that that was working. And second, like you guys have been very intentional about like, what do we want? Yeah. Did that come naturally to you or is that something you guys built over time together?
I think it's both, right? Like we have always, thankfully we kind of have thrown into the deep end in the very beginning of our relationship with, um, with big things. You know what I mean? Like, we, we. We learned, we were learning how to become parents as we were learning to fall in love with each other and be in a relationship.
And do you wanna explain that to people who, dunno that story? I was a kid.
Um, yeah. So right at the time that Mark and I met through, um, some mutual friends, we, uh, what we did, what he didn't know was that I was actually, um, working on becoming, uh, the foster parent to my, um, to my biological nephew. Mm-hmm. And so, and he was a ba you know, he was a baby, a 17 months old little guy.
And, um, so yeah, I, I was. Embarking on this totally new journey of mm-hmm. Of, um, working towards motherhood. And Mark and I kind of had a little
zingy moment of chemistry out with some friends where it was kind like, um,
well you had a boyfriend, I being a gentleman that I was, I knew Elizabeth had a boyfriend at the time. I was dating someone. Uh, but yeah, definitely had like little crush going,
um, for yeah, for a few months. For little, for a little while.
Yeah. Yeah. But then there was this little magical moment one night we all went out and I, yeah, we just kind of, everyone was saying goodbye. We kind of made eye contact and then it was just, that was it. It was like that moment of like, oh, okay. Like, yeah, it's on. We gotta, we gotta figure this out.
Wow. Those TV moments, right.
Or movie moments. You didn't know that the next morning I was getting plane, no idea. To go to Georgia to go, um. Pick up my 17-year-old, uh, 17 month old. He's 17 now. Uh, uh, nephew. And I think that when, yeah, when I came back and I, I got settled in back at work and I had an email from Mark McGarry and I was just like, like flies and craziness and it was just like such a crazy wild journey from the very beginning.
Mm-hmm. Because I was like so focused on not being a 20, um, typical, like what, 22-year-old that um
mm-hmm.
That, that I was like for two weeks prior. Um, and I had broken up with that boyfriend 'cause he wasn't gonna be a part of this journey that was very clear. Mm-hmm. Um, so yeah, it was just sort of like this courtship friendship, total admiration from the very beginning, but also like.
Confronted with, you know? Mm-hmm. We got to see each other in action in a lot of ways that I think we fell in love with each other maybe faster.
Mm-hmm.
Of, um, Mika's just being like
part of it.
Yeah. Just like love bubble. Yeah. Well, you get to see each other probably stepping into both values that you shared.
Mm-hmm. And, you know, commitments and you get to really see what's inside of someone when you're kind of in that, you know, diamond creation, getting crushed a bit by life phase and like having all thrown at you at once. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
And I remember for me at the time, you know, I was, yeah, oh, you're gonna have to help me with the year.
I like 26, 25 or something. 25. I think. Um, you know, obviously that age I was so focused on my career. I was at Nike at the time, um, you know, living with friends and, you know, snowboarding. Mm-hmm. Surfing my brains out in, in Oregon. Um, so the last thing on my mind was. You know, settling down and having a kid.
And then I remember, um, I mean, just the first date we went on, um, sharing our, you ended up talking about our, our family and Yeah, like grandparents, our grandparents and, you know, so like value aligned and mm-hmm. And then obviously when I met Mikhail, um, I just fell in love with him and, and like, I, I mean, I think what accelerated everything for me was seeing how Elizabeth, um, was with Mikhail.
Mm-hmm. Really mama bear instincts. Um, and I mean, that was so attractive to me and mm-hmm. Um, I think we were so respectful of one another, knowing how young we were, like knowing, you know, we were just getting our careers going. Um, we were so respectful of one another that I never honestly felt that like, holy shit, like she's turning me into a dad, like overnight.
There was none of that. I mean, I was just choosing and loving spending time with, with Mikhail and Elizabeth and mm-hmm. I mean, I, my life up until that point, I feel like everything was accelerated. You know, I started partying way too young in high school. I started, you know, we, I traveled a ton. I was like, I think I was like feeling the benefits of like, settling down a bit and, and, and, and it, that's like what I wanted and it felt really good.
So it just, yeah, I think the timing was, uh, timing was, was good. As scary as it was, it was timing. It wasn't
like the timing when all your friends are settling down and you're like, I guess we should do the same thing. It just, mm-hmm. It just was, it was just meant to be. It was just meant to be. Yeah. I can't explain it any other way other than that I never believed in, in that that much.
But yeah, like taking on that commitment with Mikail, it was just sort of like this turning point where all these really beautiful. Um, right. Things started to happen in my life. Um, and maybe it started before that too. I don't know, but it just felt like bigger, you know? And meeting Mark was, was just a huge part of that.
And yeah, there, there was something there too, like coming full circle to now I feel like. Mm-hmm. I did, mark and I were really similar in a way, like
mm-hmm.
Value aligned in terms of our family, um, our, our desires and our wants to be close to family. Um, loving, you know, nature and, um, certain films and like that kind of stuff.
But then we also had this real ambition and hustle mm-hmm. And focus on our careers and, um, and had similar approaches to it, you know, I think mm-hmm. Wanted to take some risks and, um, I kind of always. Knew that we would be a good partnership. Mm-hmm. In a lot of ways. I just, I just felt that early on.
Mm-hmm.
Well, and speaking about that, that respect and partnership, you guys have been entrepreneurs at the same time, and you've been, you've also taken turns, right? Where like one person was holding down a corporate job by someone else took the risk. How did that come about and how did you guys choose kind of who would go first or how to support each other?
Like, how did those conversations go?
Um, yeah, I think it happened really organically, right? I mean, um, we, we both were doing like the big company thing, you know, I was at Puma mm-hmm. Working with you. Um, Elizabeth was at Reebok and then, um, I mean, I never thought Elizabeth would choose to, um, you know, stay home when, when our second son was born, Kieran.
Um, I just never even. Planned on it, or we didn't talk about it that much. Um, and I remember Elizabeth had this like great gig waiting for her at, at New Balance, and then Kieran was born and like everything changed. She's like, mm-hmm. I can't go, I can't go back to work. Like, how could I leave this little dude with somebody else?
You know? And then again, I was so, um, I just felt really fortunate, um, that we were in a position to make a choice, right? Like mm-hmm. Um, and, and Elizabeth, um, yeah, decided to, to stay home and take care of Kieran and, you know, holding down the fort at Puma. Um, mm-hmm. But then as soon as, you know, Elizabeth kind of found her groove with, with staying at home and holding down the, the home front.
Um, you know, she was getting hounded by, you know, companies to do their design and creative direction. Yeah. And, and quickly saw this opportunity to freelance. And then, um, I mean, I think you were pretty careful about how you. Got into that or, or you know, you didn't take it all on at once. You're like, Hey, there's this huge opportunity to like work independently and you know, like what could that look like?
Mm-hmm. Um, so it's cool. I mean, that, that's my memory of it. I'm sure, I'm sure there's more to it than that. Well, I'm
like, I'm even going back even further now. 'cause actually when Mark and I started dating, um, you had just left Savier and Nike family and you were starting your own company. And I remember thinking like, what 25-year-old guy is like, starts his own consulting company, you know what I mean?
And he was doing all these cool creative projects and, um, working on like film and brand marketing kind of campaign stuff. And I, I already saw that kind of glimpse too in him, you know, from an earlier, and I was, and I was working at Nike at the time, so actually like. It started even way before that, I think.
Um
mm-hmm.
Just like you, you can just do that, you know? Like you can take what you know and call people, you know, and tell them that you're, you wanna work with them. It's like, it's not that, you know, that that's the great thing about being like, young and naive. Naive too. You know, you're just like, you're like, I, I, of course I can do this.
And then mm-hmm. Um, that evolved, like, without that experience you wouldn't have gotten that the job at Puma, which is what brought us to Boston from Portland eventually. And then, yeah. And like, we used to always, like, every time we'd go on a road trip together, like every weekend we'd go, you know, go away and we drive to the beach, whatever.
We would always, he was at home when I was at Reebok and, you know, the nature of a business. Yeah. Designers and PMs are like oil and water, like cats and dogs a little bit. But we always had this wave of, um. We just were really confident that we could take mm-hmm. These two sides of business that, um, tend to what, for whatever reason, like not gel.
Mm-hmm. We always kind of had each other's backs. We always gave each other like the good Right. Good career advice or relationship, you know, work, really good advice, all that stuff. And I don't know, I think we started fantasizing about having an opportunity to do something together, to kind of put together the two pieces of the puzzle that we Yeah.
Each good at. And, um, especially when the two of you were like, top in your fields, right? Like, you guys are experts in what you do. So, like, to have two experts come together, in my mind, I'm like, Woohoo. Like, what will they make next? Yeah. Yeah. It felt like that, it felt like that. It's like, I wish I, I wish my PMs were like you, you know?
Mm-hmm. Designers.
Yeah. Like
we just, we, we always kind like, wouldn't it be cool if we work together, but. When, uh, yeah, when that there's sort of like a decision point and it wasn't easy to make. 'cause as a designer
Yes. You know,
I was pregnant with Kieran. I was sitting out on a non-compete, and I'm like, I was really to, you know, and I called my old mentor at Nike and I said, look, I, am I ever gonna get a job as a designer again if I mm-hmm.
If I take time off and stay home with my kids? And she was like, yes, you will. And like, you have to do that if that's what your, your, um, heart's telling you to do. And she was absolutely right. You know? Yeah. Um, sort freelancing right away. And it was totally like in between feedings and like naps and it was kind of crazy, but, um, it, it started organically.
Mm-hmm. And then Mark, when you decided to make the leap from Puma. How, how did that come about? You know, how did you know that it was your turn again?
Yeah. Yeah. And that was a very, um, very hard decision for me, I think. Um, mm-hmm. Yeah. When, when our second son was born, um, I, um, again, like fortunate that we made, we were able to make that choice.
Um, that's when I was promoted to head of lifestyle footwear at Puma. Like, like career wise, I was just in such a good place, really happy. Mm-hmm. Um, there was a lot of transitions going a few years after that, you know, there was a bunch of transitions going on. Um, you know, the, we had, or I, I had teams in Germany and London and Tokyo and was like.
Rotating the globe and it was just killing me. Mm-hmm. A plane, like every month. Um, something that I, again, like I appreciated so much, but after, yeah. You know, that, and, and with kids at home, it was getting pretty tough. Um, but seeing Elizabeth, you know, like getting busy with projects and then some of our clients were reaching out to me like, Hey, can we grab some lunch?
Like, I'd love to get more your, like, brand building, brand strategy. Mm-hmm. Uh, business development, uh, advice and, and it just. Was like this, no brainer. Mm-hmm. Like I've seen the opportunity not saying it was mm-hmm. You know, an easy decision to like, you know, like kinda jump ship into starting a company together.
Um, but the opportunity was becoming really clear and, um, it was tough, you know, I was, yeah. I was like looking at some great opportunities within Puma.
Mm-hmm. Um,
but, you know, some would require a move. Um, yeah, we didn't
wanna upgrade and then
it was, yeah, it was kind of like that, that skateboarder inside of me.
Like nobody tells me where to live or,
yeah.
Hold on. You know, you gonna, you know, move here for this job. Like, yeah, Germany, but I didn't wanna move my family there at the time. Um, so yeah, that was a really hard decision. I remember like, I remember the night I was putting Kira to bed, um. He was just a little guy, like, kind of when I've already made the decision and I was like, mm-hmm.
Mark, like, what the hell are you doing? You know, like, you have this great job, this stability, and I, 'cause I think ultimately we were really feeling good about the stability we had built in our life and for our children. Mm-hmm. Um, I remember just putting ki to bed, like just wrestling with that decision, you know, like, what am I doing?
Like, is this a huge mistake? Um, and what was, what I quickly learned and, you know, I'm sure yourself as an entrepreneur, um, and your listeners can relate to this, like, when you make the decision, it's go time. Like you, there's no failing or, or there's failing, but you're, you're. Your behavior and your mindset just completely changes point.
Mm-hmm. When you need it. When you relying on it. When need it.
Yeah. When you need to make it happen. Like you will make it happen. Like if you have to trust and you learn to trust yourself in that way. Yeah. As you grow on that entrepreneur path. But at the beginning it was so scary. Um, but again, we were in a very fortunate position where we turned some of Elizabeth's, um, existing clients.
Like we increased the scope of work, like layering in this strategy component and slowly, you know, those, that client list grew, um, to a point where we could sustain ourselves with that business. Um, yeah. But
within a year, we were making more, we were making more than we had ever made, like Right. Combined salary, you know, like, yeah.
You just, we knew the opportunities were out there. Mm-hmm. It's scary when you're, when you ha like. You because of the self-doubt cycle of like, I see them, but are they there for me? And then yeah.
Right. Mm-hmm.
Um, but to paint a picture too, Arian sons, we had maybe five clients going on that I was juggling at the time.
I was outsourcing a lot of work to other friends, designers, collaborators and, and like, what I'm not that good at as it terms of like, um, some of the just Mark brought some Polish and some organization. Mm-hmm. And with that, you know, yeah. The confidence, I think for some of these clients mm-hmm. We're already working on with mcg and sons on the creative side.
But what about this business marketing strategy side? Um, I have ideas there, but I'm not gonna by any means like lead the charge and Mark, mark gave that confidence and so yeah, it was like really quickly people were just sort of. Shifting, you know, more and more responsibility to, to us as a team.
Yeah. I, I think too, I, I'm reflecting back on, on that, those tough decisions.
And I, I would say though, I think we were really fortunate, um, at that time to be surrounded by some friends of ours that had also built successful companies. Mm-hmm. Like, you know, some of my homies from Portland had started like successful snowboard outerwear brands. Yeah. Um, you know, my friend Eric, you know, who started his own agency and, you know, it was really speaking with those guys that it just like, duh, like no brainer dude.
Like, you guys got this, you know, like, we'd hire you to do this. Like mm-hmm. It just so that, that encouragement I think really helped, I think 'cause we needed a little. A little nudging
mm-hmm.
To, to make that final decision. We
also always have this attitude that like, nothing's permanent. Mm-hmm. The worst thing that can happen is that we, that it doesn't work out.
Worst thing that can happen, we have to go get another job. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, we are like, we're, we are hireable. We know people, we have good experience. We still have a lot to give. Mm-hmm. So the worst case scenario is like, this isn't the thing and there's another thing. Yeah. Um, the scariest thing is like having a mortgage and having two kids and all of a sudden needing to pay for your own health insurance.
Mm-hmm. Like all those things. Yeah. But, but yeah, when it has to happen, you make it happen. So that's what Yeah. When people, I remember calling you, mark when I was still at DC so like two years before I went off on my own and having that conversation of like. How did you know exactly when, what were you thinking?
And like, you gave me this great advice. Um, but I can still remember sitting in my office having that call with you because so many people are like, how do you know? And I think for most of us, we felt the poke of like, you should be doing something else way before we ever do it. Mm-hmm. Um, and for people who are listening, they're like, practically, how do I do it?
I mean, I just said, can I make it through three months? Like what's my runway? Is it three months, six months? Do I have nine months where I can pay for basic bills? Yes or no? Yeah. And one of the advice that piece of advice that you gave me on that call was how do you live as cheaply as possible so you can do more of what you want?
Mm-hmm. And that's
always stuck in my brain. I don't even know if you remember saying it, but
I'm gonna take that. Say that to me now.
How to live as cheaply as possible to make all the things you want happen. Yeah. We actually got this like really. Like pretty cheesy, but maybe we can put it in the show notes or something.
And, yeah. I shouldn't say cheesy actually was like useful, um mm-hmm. Kind of just cheat sheet book on financing finances. Mm-hmm. You know, like just getting your own personal finances in order and it was great. Mm-hmm. Like quick chapter and then like, here's your to-do list. Yep. We did all the, like, I gave this book to Mark and literally within like a month, you know, we, we, we were, we were smart about the timing of that.
We had saved, um, aggressively
mm-hmm. Um,
to have like a, a cushion, you know, and our thing was like, what, what will make us feel. Like, we're doing the right thing, you know, that we're being foolish. And so, you know, like a six month cushion, you gotta de-risk
it. Everyone's different, right? Mm-hmm. Every individual's gonna have, like, what is a de-risked plan look like?
Mm-hmm.
And
yeah, we, um, and, and I'll connect that back to your point of like every entrepreneur, I think. Yeah. You have that inside of 'em. Like, I, I don't mm-hmm. Know, I started Mark's Mowing service when I was nine years old, you know, that's when I
had my first business at nine
too. And I, yeah. Anyway, continue you and mm-hmm.
Um, you know, like that was, and like, you have to listen to that, right? Mm-hmm. And like, we both had really awesome careers, all of us, I guess, right? Mm-hmm. And like big company corporate land, and then, yeah. Awesome check. That was great. Learned a ton. Like now let's try this. Like mm-hmm. Always be evolving and like being open to that journey is, is really important.
Yeah. Um, and I, I, I think my de-risk at the time was we were like, we were going into this with existing clients and mm-hmm. Um, so like that was there and then, um, like kinda maybe segue into York athletics too at the time. My, um, now my co-founders, um, how that started was, you know, we, we were like dreaming up this vision together with, um, Travis and Kyle York, my co-founders of the company now, and, and Elizabeth, um, together like dreaming up this vision for this D two C footwear brand training, footwear brand.
Um, and then, you know, they, that became a part of Magar and Sons too, where they brought us on and, um, you know, to, to figure out this white space and, you know, how could we carry on this third generation legacy footwear brand, so, mm-hmm. That was like a new project that we were super excited about. Mm-hmm.
That's when I, you know, like we just got to this point. We're like, oh, we got this. Like, yeah, we gotta figure out X, Y, and Z. But it's not like I, I didn't feel like we were starting from like ground zero. No. Yeah. And it was like, yeah, you know, Monday you have a job. Tuesday we're like, okay, now you don't, and what are we gonna do?
Like,
yeah.
And again, like acknowledging that, that's like what a great place to be.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. We had a
choice. Um, you know, and we had options, you know, that mm-hmm. We grateful for obviously, you know.
Well, and I think it also does start with those small conversations, because I know that all of us have been called by a friend or someone who went to a different company or something else to be like, can I talk to you about something?
It's that, you know, on my last podcast we said the magic words were, wouldn't it be fun If, and how That becomes like the manifestation you weren't expecting. Like, wouldn't it be fun if we worked on a business together? And then someday it happens. But I also think another one is. Do you have 10 minutes?
Like it sounds so innocent, but do you have 10 minutes? Can literally end up creating your whole new path. Yeah.
Yeah. It's cool.
You mm-hmm. You went out to coffee or lunch with, with Travis York to talk about something else actually. Yeah. And then he was kinda like, you know, we kind of have this thing that we've sort of been kicking around.
It's,
yeah. You
know, and, and, and when he kind of said like, we have this family hair, this Yeah. It's just like this, can I just run this by you? You know? Yeah. And then that, that has become like what, you know, what Mark's been building for the past five years. Um, I'm adding that, can I run this by you into the incidental manifestation starters?
Like, um, it's like this universal law and like entrepreneurship where like. You can't be on the edge of the cliff and these things happen, they won't happen. You have to jump off. Then the planets align. It's this like energy. Yeah. Because like, I think you, you push yourself, you put yourself out there. Um, yeah.
And I remember Travis and I, Travis was, um, building up his marketing agency at the time, and we were always connecting, you know, sharing talent, you know. Mm-hmm. Back and forth, just making intros and it was this nice, you know, friendship and like symbiotic relationship. And then, yeah, lunch one day he mentioned, um, the fact that his, uh, grandfather used to own, um, this shoe manufacturing company in New Hampshire.
I was like, what? Like what?
Those amazing relics. Yeah.
So a week before we literally, because you know, with Mcg and Sons, we were like, okay, like. Dream we're based in New England, like this is where sportswear was born. Like mm-hmm. We gotta find some dormant sportswear brands and resurrect them and turn them into digitally native brand brands.
Like we had like, but we'd already that
us brainstorming on what our dream projects would be and then like,
and then, you know, it was like, oh my god. This is an opportunity to do this. Mm-hmm. And then, you know, that's, that's, that's kind of how Yeah. Everything started. So we just jumped on it. Um, it is that energy, I think like when you jump off the cliff, you commit mm-hmm.
To entrepreneurship, you've gotta make it happen. Like your behavior changes. Yeah. And I think the energy you put out changes and, you know Yeah. You, you know, that's when how you make stuff happen. Right.
Well, and I think we don't realize, like, you know, we, it feels in that moment like we're jumping off a cliff and there's nothing there.
But I do think those prior connections and moments are actually creating these like, little steps across, like whatever we're jumping into. Mm-hmm. And we don't realize that we actually maybe have that umbrella that's making it like, we're not risking our lives. It feels like we are. Yeah. We're actually not, when we look at all the options we had the, I, I went to lunch with a friend of mine who had been running her own small business for like five years.
At the time and I was like, should I do this? Should I not? Like I really feel like I should do it right now. And she goes, okay, let's just make a list of 10 things that you could do to make money right now if you had to. Yeah. And the list included everything from like consult to get another job to drive Uber.
Like it was like whatever we can make money doing.
Right. Yeah.
And I was like, oh, I have like more than eight things. Okay. I'll be fine. Yeah. You realize you're not as stuck as you,
it's our conditioning. Yeah. Yeah. Just like we're wired. And I think once you can, you know, kind of break out of that thinking and rewire a little bit, especially now I'm so, yeah.
Like I don't. I look at opportunities so differently now than I did like five years ago. Like, I just see so many more opportunities. Mm-hmm. Um, I actually feel like, you know, like perhaps it's more risky to be at a big stable company these days than it is to be, you know, yeah. Steering ship and mm-hmm. Um, I think, but I get it, you know, I think a lot of, you know, friends of ours that are mm-hmm.
You know, in higher positions at big companies and it's like, you know, you got that, that nice house you got a family to look after and there's that, that fear of like, yeah, like I can't lose this. This is it. But then. You
could have so much more.
Yeah. And,
and
just that there are other ways, like there are other ways to, you have to
break
ties, see and succeed, you know?
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Like cut the cord to get there. Yeah. Um, so it's, it's, yeah. It's such an individual kind of thing for everybody. Whether it makes sense or not.
When I left, um, corporate design world and you know, as a senior design manager, I was working on the highest profile collaborations. I was mm-hmm.
Directing a global team, all that stuff. It felt so, it felt so important and like, the only thing I could do at the time. And then when I left, um, and I had ki and it was just like a little bit of space, a little bit of that time and space
mm-hmm.
To kinda incubate And, um, I started freelancing and then I started creating my own environment to work in.
And then I started pulling in friends and I was like, this light bulb just kind of hit me one day that. There should be no such thing as Yep. A corporate design team. Like, it just shouldn't exist. Everyone should just like, like I'm gonna build it. I'm gonna create a space where designers can just be designers and be creative and we can, you know, like we can do our jobs really well and be collaborative and, um, work on your own schedule.
Like the flexibility, the autonomy, the mm-hmm. Music on the volume you want. Just like all, you know, no cubicles. Yeah. These little things, you know, that made me feel like myself again. Mm-hmm. Um, and, and then also just like being able to kind of embody that with my boys at my side and have them be a part of it.
Mm-hmm. It literally called Ian Sons. Arian sons, because sometimes my sons were with me or we were having meetings at the house where it was sort of an inside joke. But then it was like, was it, was there like a
story where like, like team from Korea came here and they like visit you at the house and we had this black cat jaws that would like sneak up behind you and like he'd just like claw into you.
Like all
sudden you have claws in the back of your shoulder and you're like, um,
like yeah, I had this like five people from Korea at the table here, like at our dining room table today. And Jaws like clawed one of them like scared the shit off. Like, you know, Kieran sleeping in the, in little bassinet, little bassinet in the corner.
You know? So that was kinda like how that, where that name came from, like all those little funny experiences, you know.
But I think that that ended up kind of being what the whole vibe was mm-hmm. Was and what we brought to, to work, it was like we were able to create. The structure and the process and the environment that we wanted.
And, you know, eventually we outgrew the house and we had our own studio space, but people always just felt like really renewed and refreshed. Mm-hmm. And that's one of the things I'm the most proud of. Like, they would come into this space and just like, leave all their baggage at the door, you know, and literal and just yeah.
Um, kind of get embraced by, you know, I think again, our values got to come into play. We care about, yeah. We wanna work with good people. We had like mm-hmm. Asshole policy when it came to work, taking on like, yeah, not with you, sorry, it's not gonna work out. Um, and, and yeah, just being able to integrate that and be own it and then like, give that back to others and let that be something that, you know, I think even like my, the team we ended up building.
Are gonna, like now, if they have that and they're going off into their, like corporate mm-hmm. Um, rendezvous and they're kind of like, they know what it, it's important. Yeah. I, I, I think the, the mis the phrase I hate now, or not hate, but strongly dislike and think it's unnecessary is a work-life balance.
Yeah. Anyone who's playing the game of, how do I have work life balance is asking the wrong question. I think because it's so much more about integrating and choosing what parts you want to make your life Awesome. And as an entrepreneur, like there's no work in life are not different.
Yeah.
Yeah. And they shouldn't, they don't have to be like, I think it's important to have breaks of course.
So we can pause and, and do everything else that we need to. Digital detox and all that kind of stuff. Right. Mark. But it's certainly different. Been saying something lately, which I'm sure you could maybe say the quote where it came from, but, um. Just less doing, more being.
Mm-hmm.
And, um, that's kind of become a mantra as of recently, you know, and especially this past year with the, uh, quarantine and pandemic and the boys have been home for almost a year now from school, which is crazy.
Mm-hmm. Crazy. Um, you never thought you'd have a home office with the two of you and the two boys, literally.
I know. Yeah. Thank, thankfully we still have us the, you have the studio close by.
Yeah. That's become like a
little escape. It's like a mental health studio at this point. Like, yeah, we need to get outta the house,
let's have a date night at the studio.
Um, but yeah, I think it, it's become more, even more important to. Understand that. Yeah. Work life balance is not the, the thing. It's just, um, creating the space and having the temperament that you want to be in mm-hmm. And have all the time and that's it. Fluid, you know? Yeah.
I think for me, my biggest learning there was like, you know, as like a ambitious like type A charger.
Mm-hmm. Like, like once you learn, like after practicing that over time, you know, I think on your like entrepreneurial journey and like me, my like meditation and Muay Hai running, like, you know, all that stuff starts working together and you start feeling the benefits. You realize that, you know.
Integrating that all and balancing that out and, and staying focused on like what you're actually doing, you become like way more effective mm-hmm. At your job. So like, it's funny, like be more do less. You hear that, you're like, oh, it's like I'm gonna turn into a pile and not be successful. It's like, for me, my learning has been the actual opposite.
Mm-hmm. Like the more focused I am, the more present I am, um, the better I am a better leader. Mm-hmm. I'm focused on what I need to be focused on, you know, at work and with the business at home. Like, it's, yeah. It's been such a good learning. We actually, we have like a little sign downstairs to remind the boys every day too, that they get to choose like, how do you want be today?
Yeah. You know, like, you get to choose how you want to be, um, with everything in your life. Yeah. Mm-hmm. You know, with work, with school, with your friends, with your family. Um, and yeah, that's, that's been like a really good, cool lesson.
I, I, one of my favorite words to be is dazzling, and I'm so much more effective on converting the client or having a great call or just making it work in my favor when I take that moment.
Either at the beginning of the day or even before I go into something and I'm like, okay, today I'm going to be dazzling and just let it go.
That's great.
And then it's like, it, it's working. And the first time I chose that word actually, was when I was in Boston going in for a converse interview and it went so well.
I'm like, damn, this word's powerful. All right. We're keeping that one.
Yeah.
That's a na, that's you. Yeah. That's so natural to you. Very natural. What do you, how do you mean you're dazzling? You're dazzling energy. Yeah. I've
always been putting that out. I mean,
like, I have, I have to have a different word because that doesn't, you know, that's not like my natural, um, ability.
But I come in doing like high kicks or something, way too much. Um, but no, you, you have a very, um, you bring out good energy in people. Yeah. Like you emo Thank you. And, um. You, you're like a confidence booster, I think for everyone in the room.
Always.
Thank you. I That means a lot. Yeah.
I, yeah, Kara, I remember, what do we call those?
IPT meetings? Yeah, like the big global, uh, like strategy reviews, sneaker reviews, um, I don't even remember we were talking about, but I remember like, you know, we had our little, as we do like a little internal huddle, you know, with the team before we go and, you know, how we're gonna accomplish our mission and what we gotta focus on.
And I just remember, again, I don't remember like the topic, but I just remember you were sitting next to me and, you know, just bringing such a positive energy and outlook on the conversation. And like, you know, the team was dragging on something and I, I don't know, I just remember like having you by my side being like, I'm so thankful for Kara's.
Energy and just positive attitude, like that's what was required at the time. And as you know, like some of those meetings can be beat downs and really tough. And
especially at when they go until midnight.
Yeah. And it's a choice, right? So like, how do we wanna, you know, like as the product team for this global company?
And, uh, anyway, so yeah, tie that back to your dazzling, uh, thank
you.
Because it's, yeah, it comes very naturally.
I, I, I feel so lucky to have been part of that group, and I don't know what it was about, like that class of Puma, and I don't know if it's happened before or after, but
feel the same way.
I, I feel so blessed to have been put in that mix with those people.
Like, I remember my first week at Puma was in IPT in the Boston office. Before I had moved to Germany and the, it was like show up at 9:00 AM I didn't leave till midnight the first day. Yeah. And that was the whole week. And I remember looking around being like, I am not good enough to be here. Like, that was my thought that week.
I was like, I need to get my shit together and real fast. And it was like, but it wasn't because I felt it was not just like the level of of skills people had or the conversations we were having. It was just having like the whole room was a people and I was like, this is, I never wanna be in a room that's not full of a people ever again.
Yeah. It was. It was. It was. Mm-hmm. The A team, you know? Mm-hmm. And I remember just the complexion of that team. Right? Yeah. And so just think like global footwear business, there's like. Your performance categories, there's your lifestyle categories. And then, you know, this team was like the product strategy for the company.
Mm-hmm. You know, there were like a lot of heavy hitters in the room, but just the personalities were amazing. Like, yeah. Louis Joseph, I mean, that's where I met Noah and we all came from such different backgrounds, right? Mm-hmm. Like I, lot of the skate world and action sports and you know, Noah was this like professional runner from Texas and Right.
You know, and then, you know, for me, when I joined Puma, that, that opened my whole world up to like this international business and traveling mm-hmm. World. And anyway, I feel the same way. I learned so much from that time and I really like miss everybody From that time. I actually, I just got a text. I saw that like, Yoshi is moving back to Japan.
I like the other day, I, I got a note from Yoshi, um, and just. Was kind of reminiscing on that time at Puma too. Just lots of good people and I felt like I grew so much in my career because of that.
Yeah, it was. They talk about like how there's some companies that give you like a, a bonus MBA and I feel like that's what that was like.
Yeah. I would, I would go to Puma school again instead of ever, like, I really like the MBA half. But it did not prepare you for like the, the intensity of what could be created and how many opportunities there were. Like it went, it was a whole dial change. Yeah. And when I look at how many people in that group now have their own thing, it's a shocking percentage.
Yeah. Like it's, I think it's abnormal. And there should probably be a Harvard Business Review of like that group, because it's just, it's not normal. It's not normal to have it happening like that. Cool. Yeah. So it's, it's very interesting. But I know, um, you know, you Mark, you and I caught up the other day and you were talking a lot about how meditation and Buddhism has really changed your perspective of yourself and leadership in the past couple of years.
How did that come about and how has that filtered into all areas of your life?
Yeah. Um, I'll try to keep this one short. Um, it started when, um, when I, when I was at Puma and I was promoted, uh, into the head of lifestyle position, it was very hefty role for me. I was traveling a lot. Karen was born like all good stuff.
Like I was on cloud nine. Um, I used to meet my buddy Sean, um, on the outside here, every corner on the corner down the street at like 5:30 AM every morning we would meet up and go for a run together. Mm-hmm. And Sean was a doctor. Um. A good friend of mine, and I remember at the time I was having like some stomach, like little nausea symptoms, nothing like crazy.
But I went to my doctor and they're like, oh, you're overproducing acid. And I was like, okay. Like took like some proton pump prohibits or whatever they're called, take a tablet. Yeah. Here's a pill. Mm-hmm. And he was like, you know, so then, you know, Shah's like, dude, he is like, that's stress. And I was like, I'm not stressed though.
I got like, I feel good, dude. He is like, dude, I know you and you internal, but that's just stress that's causing some, you know, wreaking havoc on your, on your stomach or whatever. And he was like, you know, and I have so much respect for him as a father, as a, as a friend, a husband, doctor. Um, he was like, have you ever tried meditation?
Um, and, you know, I was like, whoa, no. Like, definitely like super skeptical. Mm-hmm. Um, but at the time Elizabeth bought me, um, a book called Saltwater Buddha. Um, and that's kind of surfing's been my link to mm-hmm. Like, you know, meditation and yoga. Like, if surfers do it, I'm like, okay, I'm open to it. You know, Jerry Lopez does yoga, like I'll try it.
You know, so like, surfing was kind of like the conduit, you know, that, that connected me to that, um, that world. And anyway, um, I signed up for a meditation class at, um, the Henry Benson Institute. It's like a Harvard and MGH program where they just teach you the, you know, the basics of meditation, but they really get into the science and the physiology of like actually what it does to your body.
Mm-hmm. I think that's what I needed. Like I needed that science back. Yeah. Like, yeah, like here's the benefit. Like here's why you do it and what it. It does to your body.
You need a meditation, but in a type, a kind of way. Yeah. Yeah. I, I totally understand.
Seriously, I did all my homework. I was, I was loving
it best student.
Um, and then
enough, like I, one week later, two weeks later, after meditating every day, you know, for like five, 10 minutes, like crazy, all my stomach symptoms went away. Just mm-hmm. And I think that was my first like, mind body experience that was, that I, I tried, it worked. I wasn't reading about it in a book.
Mm-hmm. You know, it worked on me and that's just what I, you know, I became a believer in it and that practice, and it just set me on this whole path of like, I just wanted more, I wanted to learn more. Yeah. Um, about, you know, we, we go to the gym and we run and we, you know, we work so hard on our bodies to be physically healthy, but what are we doing to manage our mind for our mental health?
Mm-hmm. And yeah, that's just set me on this whole like. Meditation, secular Buddhism, um, secular Buddhism for your listeners is kinda like the practice of Buddhism without the religious, you know mm-hmm. Portion of it. Um, so just, you know, meditation, training, um, mindfulness, you know, just being present and not getting tugged around by your thoughts and your emotions all the time.
Yeah. Um, so yeah, that, that kind of set me on that path and, um, it proved to be really useful and skillful to have that practice with me on this entrepreneurship journey. You know, that, that more than anything is probably what I've drawn on for strength and clarity. Um, and, you know, it's kind of kept me, kept me sane mm-hmm.
Through this, through the ups and downs of entrepreneurship and, and life. I mean, life's. Mm-hmm. Yeah. People always like. You know, I think sometimes focus too much on their career side of things, but, you know, life sending blows left and right too, right? Mm-hmm. It's like tying that back to just the work life balance, right?
It's all interconnected, it's all, we're all like, kind of, it is sharing a very similar experience, you know, in this world together.
I just got certified as a psychotherapeutic yoga teacher and it is the yoga for type A people because it's the only yoga that layers in psychology and neurobiology. So you see the science.
Yeah. And it's the only one that exists in the world. Um, a client of mine created it and I had the opportunity to go through the program and I'm obsessed, like, that's awesome. Awesome. I love
it.
Yeah. I, I recommend it to anyone because to me it's really just human optimization, right? Like, that's one of my personal motivators is like, what's next?
Like, what else can we try out? Like how else do we do it? It's such a cool program. Um, I never expected to get so much out of it 'cause I was like, it's just yoga teacher training and then literally I've used something every week we are in it. And, and since either with clients or from myself and just the fact there's even a mind diet out there.
You know, there's so many people get nervous about losing our mental capacity as we age and knowing that there's a diet to prevent that, which is actually much easier to follow than so many other diet that are out there. Like, you're allowed red wine on this diet. And I was like, oh, interesting.
Motivator, motivator.
Uh, for me too, just with, with COVID and all this stuff and you know, I just, we constantly like talk about just putting everything into practice for our boys too. Like just leading by example and I think, yeah. Um, you know, with the amount of time kids are spending on screens and with like the pandemic, like I'm super insecure as like a father with that.
Like, I, you know, I just want my boys to be outside, like doing what I was doing growing up and mm-hmm. You know, but they can't, like, they can't be connecting with their friends in that way now in the physical world. And anyway, so I think with just yeah. Where things are out in the world like this, this practice of mindfulness and just this mindset training is, is actually like really important for people to Yeah.
Race and I really like, I just, I do, I think the world would be a better place if people, you know, could step back and just. You know, put, put this into practice a little bit. Mm-hmm. And realize that we're all sharing a very similar experience in life, but we're all, we're
Yes.
Oftentimes just so caught up in running and
our own
ego and protecting ourselves and acting out of fear that it just, mm-hmm.
At some point we gotta like, kind of evolve beyond that, you know? And, um, yeah. It's, it's, that's why I think you see it spreading too. Mm-hmm. Yoga practice, meditation, mindfulness, like, 'cause I think there's an appetite. There's an appetite for it. Yeah. And it's, uh, it's cool. It's, it's grown. Yeah. And I love that.
It's cool to be a part of that, you know,
and Yeah. And I never thought that yoga meditation was part of, sorry. Mindfulness meditation was part of a yoga practice to the depth that it is. Until I took the training. To me, they were like three separate buckets and I'm like, oh, this is actually all in the same space.
It's actually, yeah. I mean, I think. I remember getting Mark that book 'cause I heard the author, uh, saltwater Buddha, the author was on being interviewed on NPR or something like that. And I've always been a little more woo woo. Yeah. Than, than Mark as like a baseline. But, um, I was like, oh, this will be the Gateway.
'cause it's like a surfer. He like ran away from home and was a teenager and partied really hard. And he like found, you know, he, he found himself through this practice, but it had to be kind of introduced to him, um, through the, the, um, lifestyle of surfing and the after surfing. So anyway, when Mark started taking that class though, I think you were maybe in week three or week four, and I was seeing such a dramatic transformation
mm-hmm.
In, um, in his mindset and in his mood and everyth. And then also like just the physical things. Um, I think it's easy as a person whose baseline is runs a little more like, um, like I'm not as Type A, you know, like I'm, I'm a little all over the place all the time, but, but kind of mellow in general. Mm-hmm.
But I would, I would like hit my wall of stress. It would, is like, you know, I get like pneumonia for two weeks. Mm-hmm. Every, every year. You know, like, so I signed up to take it soon after. 'cause I remember thinking like you have as a couple. Mm-hmm. And, you know, we evolve, we're like constantly evolving if we're doing life right and mm-hmm.
To constantly evolve in the same direction as your partner is a challenge for any marriage. Mm-hmm. Any partnership. So, um, I, you know, we practice in different ways, but we're on the same page and we have the same dialogue and we are able to. Impart that on the boys. But I remember after that class I was like, every human should just have to take this class.
You know? We had offered it up for our team at work, we're like, we'll pay for it because it's mm-hmm. It's just life skills that un it's like you wish, you know? Yeah. Everyone, everyone does have the opportunity to, um, you know, be exposed to it. So I think even through York Athletics, just like using the platform you have to mm-hmm.
To be that, to be that and have that, um, education kind of component to when, I love the idea of the two of you kind of building off of each other and how you're growing and how do you then translate that. You, you know, even that share, you're like both for the boys and for your work, like. The fact that you guys want to be helping other people elevate and have their best lives too, um, I think also speaks to what it means to be a power couple, right?
It's not like, it's not Power couple as, as like Wolf of Wall Street. It really is a power couple of like, how do we, how do we let people be their best, brightest, light versus anything else? Yeah.
Yeah. And I think it's like a life stage thing too. I think a lot of people, I don't know, you get into like your thirties and your forties, you know, you start thinking more about like, yeah, like what is success?
Like mm-hmm. Is yeah. Making more money and, you know, there's like, like acquisition in that way or you know, then, you know, for us and everybody's different and it's, um, that's what's great about the world we live in. Uh, everyone can define that differently, but you know, for us and thankfully feeling very aligned.
Um, it's peace of mind and it's, it's, it's time, like time with our family, like free time. Like we wanna enjoy our time mm-hmm. Together and with the boys. And, um, I, I like using the term, and we use this on our team too, like these entities that we create, you know, whether it's Magar and Sons or York Athletics, like there are freedom vehicles for all of us.
Yes.
I'm like, what do you wanna get out of it? Mm-hmm. And how do we make sure that happens? Yeah. Um, and I know for myself and, and the, the team at York Athletics, um, you know, everybody shares this quality of just being very independent, like having the autonomy. Um, you know, uh, Tammy, who, you know, our marketing director, like, you know, she's, uh, going out to the desert for a month, you know, this winter, like that's, and working remote from out there.
'cause she loves to get out, you know, new England weather in the winter. Um, so it feels good, yeah. To be able to like, provide that and, and, and kinda just promote that, you know, mentality with, with the team. Um, 'cause yeah, I mean that's what it's all about with entrepreneurship and kind of doing your own thing.
You gotta like, why are you doing it? And yeah,
I think we very much know that when you're, I mean, we lost, we lost Mark's father this year, this summer, and, you know, when you're, and you've worked with my mom too on her goals. Um, she has metastatic breast cancer and I think when you, yeah, maybe it is a life stage thing you get confronted with, um, with mortality and, um.
Either from your, you know, your own health issues or scares or, or people close to you. And I think you kind of realize that when that day comes, no one's really talking about your successes at work. Mm-hmm. You know? Um, and so you're, you know, so much of what we shared with, um, bill, with Mark's dad at his memorial was just so much about his, his humor and his mm-hmm.
Um, willingness to make, just do anything for a laugh, always be there for his family. Like it was his pride and joy and, um. Like, we, we get to keep, we just, we get to, we get to use that. It's like our, our motivation and
Yeah. None of, yeah, none of that. There wasn't a mention of like career success. Like, it just, it was just really obvious, right?
Like, yeah. It was his sense of humor, his sense of adventure. And then I, you know, the adventurous life I've lived and you see it living and myself mm-hmm. Elizabeth, our boys. And you're like, that's the good stuff. You know, like, like that's, that's what matters, you know? And, um, and it's funny, I, I just, I like that balance.
'cause like, I know that about myself. I, I know that about our family and our values, but I, you know, I don't forget there's that ambitious, like I'm super ambitious and that is me. Like, that's my authentic self too. But it's just good to like, have an awareness of that and better, better integrate those together in a way that works for you, you know?
Um, but in the past, like before I get into the whole like meditation thing. I'll never forget, Elizabeth asked me, I don't know, we were just sitting around one day and she, you know, 'cause I was like, okay, um, just got promoted to this and like, my next step is gonna be the president of footwear. And then she's like, and then what?
And then what? And then what? And I'm like, like, what are you, like, making fun of me? You know? She's like, are you ever gonna be happy And content? I was the first time. And, and I, I will, I mean, I, I was happy 'cause it wasn't
the s
it was the, it, like the content, the waiting
for the next thing to be like, you've done a good job.
And you know, that's something you had learn first time.
It, it had ever like, specifically been kind of called out with, with concern and love and care, you know, I was like, oh, okay. Like, yeah. And I, you know, I'm, I just, I don't know. I grew up a competitive person, um, in the skate world that we came out of.
You know, I was very competitive. But I, I love that like, it's. It's fun and I enjoy it and I still embrace that on a, you know, on a daily basis. But, um, yeah, it was cool. I'm very thankful because I like, I feel like that day, maybe that was the day you gave me that book,
but because I've always been like, I just remember that conversation, Nan know it's not, it's like you gotta enjoy the process of getting to from A to B, not just waiting to get to B.
Yeah.
Um, and that's where Mark and I are like yin and yang. 'cause also without Mark, like I'll never make it to B because I'm, you know, like, this is nice and I'll go off on my, my tangent. So we've always kind of, we flip flop and um, yin and yang kind of each other. So yeah, you help each other be the best versions of.
Yourselves, right? Yeah. Like slow down and let's go. We can do Yeah. A little bit faster right now, please. Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Someone's always got one hand on the throttle, like up, down.
When you guys look at some key practices that you have in place to prioritize your personal connections, like I know you guys do date nights quite a bit.
Is there anything else that you guys have kind of made as commitments to yourself, your family? Like these are non-negotiables
Yeah. Um, that you're willing
to share?
So, one that come to mind are, um, dinner together as a family every night. Non-negotiable. Mm-hmm. Um, and usually we have this nice practice of sharing, you know, gratitude with each other or the four Ls.
I like that one. I, yeah. That was fun. I wish I could give credit. I cut this from some podcast I listened to. I don't remember who it came from, but to share something you learned that day. Mm-hmm. Um, share a laugh that you had from the day. Uh, love.
Yeah.
Share. Um, something
you loved or when you felt loved something love or
felt loved.
And then what's the, what's the fourth one?
Laugh. Learn love. And, um, labor.
Labor. Like what you worked hard on.
Mm-hmm.
Um, so that's been like a nice little ritual. Um, I love our, yeah, our little date night, Friday night, like pandemic date nights has been fun because, um, we'll just like order pizza for the boys and we'll get dressed up and order out and we take turns each week kinda designing the day, night making plan, you know, making the plans.
Um, initially
it sort of started as like we wanted to support the restaurants in our neighborhood know, at the start pandemic, we kind of jumped on that and we're like. Let's like set the table, like if we were out to eat and you know, like the candles and, and we, we kind of had fun with it. So we've been keeping that up and it's been important.
Um,
and out getting outside and, I mean, that's a huge one. Yeah. Where like, like it's our job every weekend. Like I just went snowboarding with the boys yesterday. Um, if we're not doing that, we'll go just on like a nature walk fishing, going to the beach. Um, we've had access to a boat here, um, and around the Boston Harbor Islands last two summers.
Um, so yeah, we're out, we're outside a ton. And I, I think, 'cause we live in the city, um, like we just work extra hard to make sure that we're all getting out as much as we mm-hmm. We should and, and can't.
Yeah. You can't really take advantage of. You know, the museums are shut down again, like all the things that you, that make living in the city awesome.
You know, and all our neighborhood joints and stuff. Um, but yeah, I think non-negotiable for me has been, and this has been especially tricky with, um, but important as we're working from home now, is Kieran is 10 and he still like, wants our attention for things. Mm-hmm. And so, you know, when he wants us, like, when he's like, mom, will you watch this with me?
Or will you, will you tuck me in? You know, it's like non-negotiable. Yes, of course, of course. Yes. Like, um, so just like when, when my kids want my attention, I, I am pretty committed now to just always giving it to them. 'cause whatever I've got is like. Get won't
leaving the house in a year. So
yeah, my kid's gonna be graduating high school this year.
Um, that's so crazy.
I know you met him when he was a little dude.
I know. Yeah. I mean, over 11 years ago.
Crazy. Right?
When he was giving out his rocks at dinner. Like I'll never forget that first story of like, that's why I was introduced to Mikel. He is still that thoughtful, you know, it's cool. Um, I've also been doing a Zoom call with my family.
We live, there's five of us kids. We live all across the US like every corner. And, um, every Thursday night since the start of the pandemic, we've been having a family Zoom call. And not everyone always calls in, but it's like someone, at least half of us are always there. And that the boys knows like, I'm not making dinner that night.
You know, I'm, I'm busy. Um. And that feels really good 'cause we never, we never really saw each other or talked on the phone or really connected before, beforehand. But it's been a cool, as an adult to reconnect with my family in that way. There really have been so many cool things to take out of what 2020 has been.
Mm-hmm. Um, you know, I think both feeling for the first time in a long time, how big the world actually is. 'cause we, especially with our travel schedules and everything else, we get so good at making you feel like, oh, it's no big deal. I'm going, I'll be back in two days from pick the place, which most people would take 10 days to, to go to.
And having to figure out like, how do we connect with people still, how do we stay in our either block bubble, or house bubble and really still make the things happen that we want to. So I think between that and knowing that we can create these global teams and work and be wherever we want, like, I hope those things stay.
Yeah. So we can then layer on the actual real interactive experiences. Yeah. I think they'll, I think everyone's sort of seeing the huge benefits in that. Yeah. Well, for everyone who is now as in love with you guys as I am and wants to support you and what you're up to and be able to connect, how can they do that and where should they find you?
Uh, for me, I'm on Instagram, mcg and Sons, um, is my work handle and that's public. And, um, you know, it, it's been interesting, I think during this time, um, I've got a lot of, some cool new projects of to be launching soon, um, brands. But I try to post, you know, behind the scenes and just a good place to connect and, um, share other people's work.
Um, and, and then, you know, the website as well. But really, Instagram's the best place to, um, connect with me there.
Yeah. I'm, I'm lagging on the, the personal Instagram tip. Yeah,
you can learn to search. That's good.
Yeah, well, am I gonna announce that here? No. Yeah. So for me, um, york athletics mfg.com is, um, our training footwear brand, um, on Instagram, it's York Athletics, MFG.
And I think you'll, you know, I think your listeners can see a lot of this mindset, you know, coming through the, the messaging and the creative of your athletics and the, um, you know, what, what the team's putting out there. Um, I did, I, yeah. Let's, let's, it's official now. Talk about the idea behind Learn to Surf Tara's, uh, helping me figure out what, what that is at the moment.
But, uh,
I was so honored to be tagged with Elizabeth on that. I was like, like, yeah, it was a shining moment for my week.
Alright. I feel like you were trying to close now I'm like, open up a whole other,
no
worms here. Um, I was, I've been recently diagnosed with thyroid cancer, um, and have a surgery coming up that is, uh, you know, I haven't been sweating it too much.
We have a good head on about it. Um, been learning, thankfully it's, it's a, it's a cancer that, you know, surgery is usually the, uh, um, you know, kind of what does it. Um, so obviously processing that, you know, this year, um, has been, has been a challenge. But, um, I created, uh, learn to Surf or under underscore Learn to Surf, uh, as a little Instagram page and handle.
To help me kind of process that, but also share some of these learnings that we've talked about today with meditation, mindfulness training, um, and, you know, I'm putting it into practice every day and I'm, I'm really trying to lead by example for my family and my, my coworkers and my friends. Um, and then that was an effort to share that, you know, with, um, just a larger group.
And I always get, you know, it's nice whenever there was like a little nod to that in my own personal Instagram. Like, I'd always get comments from friends, like, Hey man, like that one hit, like, gimme more. And so it's been cool. It's like mellow, just friends encouraging me to do that. And it's, it's been fun, just like a fun little side project.
I'm super excited about it. Like, you know, we talked for I think 30 minutes about it. Yeah. And my head keeps going about like, oh, and then someday this, and someday that. Like, I can't turn off the. What could be next. Yeah. And as you and I talked about, it really is about how do we, how do you create that phase where you can like just let it be what it's supposed to be?
And it's a big thing I'm taking on this year, right? Like, we're leveling up every part of my business or all of the businesses and I'm committed to only leveling up like each part at a time.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. You know,
even bringing the video aspect of these podcasts to YouTube, um, the videos won't actually launch until March, but we're recording them all now so we can like, have them ready, actually take time to figure out the format and the production, all the other things that go into it.
Could I rush it and have it ready for Wednesday? Of course. Right. Does that align with what I'm doing? No. Right. Knowing that it's good. Right. And like Mark said, just has been saying a lot more recently, I think is, um, gives it fun, you know. Yep. You're having, you're enjoying it. Um. And if you're not, then maybe question why you're doing it and mm-hmm.
Yeah. Or you can, you can teach yourself to have fun doing it. Yeah. You know, I think that's like this choice that we have every day, you know?
Mm-hmm.
Um, yeah.
This, this whole month in the Powerful Ladies Thrive, uh, group is all about how to, um, organize your business to double your sales or whatever you want to achieve.
And the first stuff we're talking about is what do we eliminate?
Yeah. Because
it really is about like, okay, I, I'm not gonna care about this or this, or this. 'cause the things we wanna achieve are so great, but which ones are the ones that we actually want that align with how we're curating our life versus just the things that somebody else told us to do.
Yeah. Yeah. Um, creating your own priorities and then mm-hmm. Creating time and space to honor that is. Been a huge learning for me personally that, you know, is Yeah, I, I wish I, I wish I had that in my repertoire 15 years ago. Yeah. But I feel like it's just developing the last couple years. I feel like
Kara, I, I feel like I mentioned this on our call and there, maybe I didn't, but I was talking recently about this, about like just every day, like I always have like a, I have three priorities, you know, you have your like gazillion things to do, but I have three priorities and, you know, I'll always try to like get those done by noon.
That's like my thing. Like in the morning when your brain is fresh, like, you know, focus on those needle moving priorities and you know, leave your afternoon to, you know, for some meetings and catching up or whatever. But, um, I get into the habit too of like sometimes too, like answering or when someone calls me out of the blue if it's not a priority, I found myself even telling them in a very kind way that this is not a priority for me right now.
And like how powerful that was. Mm-hmm. And how surprised and shocked people are, I think to hear like, you know, this is not a priority, but like, I think also just appreciate the honesty and thank you. I don't know, for your entrepreneurs out there and hustlers running their own business, like, I think that is just a game changer.
Just knowing what's gonna move the needle and just stay true to that on a daily basis, and don't get caught up in all the other 26 things that, you know, you think you need to do. It's not about productivity in that way. It's about, you know, yeah. Putting that energy where it matters that, that, that's what's gonna make a difference.
Yeah. I love that. I, I think it's a great way to wrap up today. Um, but it's been such an honor to have you guys in my life, but also to have you now, um, on the podcast together. Thank you so much for being here today. Thank you, Karen. Oh, thanks so much. Thank so much to us. We got your email. We were both a little like overwhelmed and um, just really honored.
So
yeah, so proud of what you've built and yeah, it's been awesome to partner with you on this journey. Um, I forgot about the old Reebok that days too. You guys used to work together at Reebok. I love it. Mm-hmm.
Yep. Yep. It all just keeps coming back around, right? We're keeping all the good people. Exactly.
Thank you for listening to today's episode. All the links to connect with Mark Elizabeth, York Athletics Mcg and Sons and more are in our show notes@thepowerfulladies.com slash podcast. There you can also leave comments and ask any questions about this episode. Want more powerful? Ladies, come and join us on Instagram at Powerful Ladies, where you can also find some free downloads to start being powerful today.
Subscribe to this podcast and help us connect with more listeners by leaving us a five star rating and a review. If you're looking to connect directly with me, please visit kara duffy.com. I'd like to thank our producer, composer, audio engineer Jordan Duffy. Without her, none of this would be possible.
You can follow her on Instagram at Jordan K. Duffy. We'll be back next week with a brand new episode. Until then, I hope you're taking on being powerful in your life. Go be awesome and up to something you love.
Related Episodes
Episode 292: Why Creative Agency Culture Needs a Redesign | Roanne Adams | Founder RoAndCo & State of Feeling
Episode 274: Balancing Art, Family, and Creative Vision | Sarah Rhoads | Photographer & Co-Founder of We Are the Rhoads + Commbi Footwear
Episode 291: The Business Case for Leading With Story | Carling French | French Productions
Instagram: @yorkathleticsmfg , @mcgarryandsons,
Learn to Surf IG
Website: York Athletics Mfg, McGarry & Sons
Created and hosted by Kara Duffy
Audio Engineering & Editing by Jordan Duffy
Production by Amanda Kass
Graphic design by Anna Olinova
Music by Joakim Karud
