Episode 292: Why Creative Agency Culture Needs a Redesign | Roanne Adams | Founder RoAndCo & State of Feeling
Creative director and entrepreneur Roanne Adams joins Kara to talk about reclaiming your power, leading with purpose, and building a business that’s both beautiful and values-driven. As founder of RoAndCo and State of Feeling, Roanne shares how burnout, motherhood, and her daughter’s Type 1 diabetes diagnosis transformed her approach to leadership and life. They explore what it means to create regenerative businesses, why sustainability starts with self-awareness, and how women founders can do meaningful work without losing themselves in the process. This episode is for anyone balancing growth with integrity and redefining what enough looks like.
“I truly believe in regenerative agriculture and regenerative business practices. That’s why I’m building a hotel in Mexico. It’s an opportunity to create something that is both beautiful and purposeful and has responsibility with meaningful moments and lots of opportunities to give back. ”
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Follow along using the Transcript
Chapters:
(00:00:04) - Introduction to Roanne Adams and Her Journey
(00:00:51) - Life Transition: Moving from NYC to LA
(00:03:08) - Integrating Vacation Habits into Daily Life
(00:06:31) - The Impact of Personal Challenges on Purpose
(00:08:31) - Shifting Business Focus Towards Responsibility
(00:14:56) - Finding Balance Between Work and Family
(00:27:41) - Defining What It Means to Have It All
(00:42:15) - The Essence of Being a Powerful Lady
(00:58:30) - Closing Thoughts and Future Projects
I really wanted to make my own schedule. I really wanted to play my own music in my own studio. I really wanted to work with friends of mine who were starting their own businesses at that time. So, you know, I was young and naive and excited and in New York City and really felt like I wanted to be a part of the fabric of what was going on in New York.
That's Roanne Adams. I'm Kara Duffy and this is the Powerful Ladies Podcast.
Welcome to the Powerful Ladies Podcast. Thank you, Kara. I'm so excited to be here. I'm excited to get to know you today. This is going to be great. Let's jump right in and tell everyone your name, where you are in the world and the things that you're up to.
My name is Roanne Adams. I am currently living in Los Angeles. My business, RoanCo Studio, is based in New York, so I'm sort of back and forth between Los Angeles and New York.
I really appreciate people who understand the bi coastal life. , I'm originally an East coaster. I've been living in California for 12 years now and I need to get back, like, especially in the fall winter time. I'm like, I just need a little taste and then I can come back to 75 and sunny most days. Not today. Four days.
That's all you need. Just like, it's like a spark of energy. And then I don't know, us, us LA people were, we're a little bit soft these days. So, you know, after four days of New York, you're kind of ready to get back home to nature, to sun.
Yeah. How I know. Right. So we moved, my family moved. Seven years ago. It was a lifestyle choice. It was not a business choice. You know, running my business in New York at that point for almost I want to say a little over a decade and you know, just felt like it was time had been living in New York for almost two decades.
I had a baby in New York and was running a business and sort of burning it at both ends and really felt like. I, I just, I need trees. I need grass. I need birds. I need fruiting trees. So, you know, decided that LA was the place for us. I couldn't, I couldn't imagine moving out to the suburbs of New York at that point.
It hadn't, you know, COVID hadn't hit. So it wasn't as if all of my Brooklyn friends had moved out to upstate New York or the Hamptons quite yet. So moving to LA a an excellent choice for us. It worked out really well and it's been a wonderful place to raise our kids and quote unquote work remotely.
You know, it's got, it's got a lot of benefits this weather.
It definitely does. It's really, I was talking to another podcast guest recently about how it's so important to integrate. What like vacation habits into everyday life. Yes. And when you can, it completely transforms how any of it feels so that you just feel your blood pressure coming down. You feel your soul going up, you're like, okay, this is the right direction.
Yes. Yeah. And, you know, I think that there's, LA has so much to offer that it's not as if you can, you can't get bored here. There's, you know, so many things going on, you know, constantly going to see shows and there's so much art here and music.
Yeah, I, I'm really enjoying it for this stage of life. We'll see what next brings, but for this stage of life, it's been incredible. Where did you grow up? So I was born and raised in Connecticut. And then the formative years, 11 to 15, I lived in Paris. And then I moved back to Connecticut for a few years and then straight to New York City as fast as I could possibly get there.
Mm hmm. I understand. Yeah. No, I consider Boston home. That's why I was asking.
Mm hmm. East Coast.
Yeah. And I think it, I grew up between like, we moved a lot, but Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and there's just, it is a DNA imprint that's different. And then between Boston and California, I was in Germany for a couple of years. So. Yeah, there's, you can feel the imprints that are left.
I think getting outside of your, the country, getting outside of this country, and being able to experience another culture, and being able to look back at the United States from afar is invaluable. We're actually, moving our, our family just for a short period of time, January to June to Mexico, for a project that we're working on.
So it's going to be interesting for my two kids to, you know, leave this culture behind and see how it feels to be there. Even if it's just for six months, I think that, you know, they'll immerse themselves in language and culture and hopefully they'll have a new perspective on you know, in some ways, how incredible. the United States of America is, how convenient it is you know, how much has been provided for us here, but also to have a perspective of, well, what do you, what do you think is better? Or what do you think is worse? What do you think is valuable or invaluable? I, I think that that's what I gained from living in Paris.
There's so many, I think this is what I love about like the travel side of TikTok and Instagram, all the people comparing, you know, families living in, you know, Copenhagen, one of my favorite cities. And there are like the pros and cons make sense, but it's usually it should be inspiring us for, again, what do we want to do? How do we want to make a difference wherever we are? So we can, it can be better. There's, I find it fascinating that every challenge we're facing, we have an answer to. It's just who's going to do it.
It's just who's going to do it. Yeah. How can we get everybody on board?
Mm hmm. When did making an impact become so important to you?
It's a great question. I you know, about a decade ago my daughter was one years old. She was diagnosed with type one diabetes and, you know, that flipped my whole world on its head. And I think I went from being, you know, quite privileged and selfish in some ways to just realizing. Wow. You know, there's a lot of people suffering out there and there's a lot that we can do to help and impact, you know, whether it was environmental impact, health social responsibility, all of a sudden became very top of mind for me.
You know, and it was interesting that I had to go through that moment of. Suffering and challenge with my own child and my own health too. It really affected my own health that I had a baby who's on verbal chronic disease that I was caretaking for them, you know, 24 7 essentially. And with my husband, of course and running a business simultaneously, you know, I, I burnt out before anyone was even talking about what burnout is.
I didn't see the signs. I didn't take care of myself. And As a result, I, I was a bit of a mess and thankfully, I had a lot of friends who kind of came to the rescue and said, okay, you know, you need to start taking care of yourself essentially, like you need to meditate, eat well, see this, you know, amazing doctor get your, get yourself back essentially.
And I think that once I got myself back, I was like two fold more. You know, for lack of a better word, powerful centered, grounded, balanced. I had my energy back. I had my spirit back. And with that came this newfound energy to sort of help others and want to, you know, be better. Not want to settle for status quo and not want to settle for you know, in, in the agency industry, for example.
We get a lot of inbound organic business leads, and we sort of typically would take whatever came our way, whether it was, you know, fashion or beauty or lifestyle brands, hospitality, and then something started to shift in me where I started to think, Are these brands good for the world? Is this good for people?
Are we being fed a lot of marketing and advertising for products that we don't need or services we don't need? And so, you know, with that Sort of up 12 questioning came, well, how can we start working with businesses and brands that are actually environmentally responsible or socially responsible, and how can we inspire those people to go beyond what they've done before?
And that's been a bumpy road. I mean, to be honest, it has not been easy. Especially when, you know, you're running a small business and you have to make a certain amount of money to cover everyone's payroll and benefits. And you know, the clients, there's clients that come along that, you know, at first glance don't appear to be environmentally or socially responsible, but you know, you have to make that decision tree and decide, is this a client I want to take on and I want to educate and I want to bring into the fold and give them the opportunity to shift?
Or is it one that feels like, you know, it's going to be falling on deaf ears and I might as well hold off on that client and move on to the next, even if that one that is. Doing incredible, responsible things has less of a budget. So it's been, it's been an up and down, you know, it's been a back and forth.
It's been all the things over the past decade, but I think right now we're in a really, really, you know, I would say pivotal moment where more and more brands are realizing they can't just sell products. They can't just You know, do it for, for growth or for money's sake, they have to have strong core values and they have those values have to be reflected in an authentic way.
So that's really what we, we enjoy working with brands like that and appreciate that there, a lot of them are already doing it and we don't have to. sort of educate or nudge them.
It's really interesting seeing the, the evolution. I worked in for footwear and apparel companies for 20 years before doing what I'm doing now. And it's such a, I think in the fashion space in general, it's, it's really fun to make new products. And we also know that we don't need more. Right. And that's why I think It's so interesting to work with and just connect with different companies who are trying to reconcile those two things. Like if we're going to make more, how can we make it impactful or worth it or have more of a circular economy than it would have had previously?
And I mean, I remember working on sustainable, biodegradable, you name it type of products. Thanks. 20 years ago, and we had the technology, we could do it, but customers didn't want to pay for it. Right. And it was so interesting to see the shift of, we're not going to do it till they'll pay for it to being like, no, we just have to do it. Like we have to choose it.
Yes. That is what leadership is deciding. No, it's actually up to us. We actually now have to make the decision. We can't just wait for someone else. And I think it goes both ways too, in the sense that like you know, a lot of us have spent a lot of time waiting for big brands and businesses to do it or waiting for you know, lawmakers and policymakers and government officials to do it.
And then when, you know, you get to the point where we're at right now and realize, oh, they're not going to do it until we put pressure on them. Mhm. That's where you start to realize I actually have to step into the ring and lead as well and I actually have to voice my opinions about these things because if if not, you know them who is and and and not that I'm any expert in you know the field of of of of you know environmentalism but I know enough that I know it's important.
To everyone's job now, you know, unless you truly are a climate denier it is important to everyone's job to bring it up and to, you know, Put a little bit of pressure into the world so that people start to shift their, their ways of being.
Well, and the more people who are bringing it up and asking the questions, suddenly there's a echo effect of like, okay, everyone's talking about this. Like we have to do something now. There are plenty of days when I wake up and I'm mad at past me for Creating a company called Powerful Ladies. Cause I'm like, I just don't want to be powerful today, but, and like, obviously you're allowed to have. the self care and you're allowed to have a day off. But I think more and more women owned business owners, like those of us who are choosing to, to lead it can be really exhausting when we don't realize that there are other people doing it too.
Yeah. I mean, I also think that there's power and vulnerability in the fact that you can say out loud, some days I don't feel like being powerful or some days I don't feel powerful is, is powerful in and of itself. I think that hiding that feeling is the thing that renders you powerless or you know, I've been in, I've been in moments in my career where I have felt less powerful.
And thus given away my power to others. I have you know, allowed decisions to be made by employees or you know, someone else's opinion reign over mine. And I think that those are those moments where you have to actually go back inward and do a little like self inquiry work to find your power source again.
And once you've found it, you'll know it.
Well, you've created a successful company that's worked with some of the biggest brands. And really helped transform them. You know, there was so many phrases that were being used to describe what you do. And I was like, wow, like it's, we do different things, but I really feel like our commitment is in a similar place of there's incredible people doing great things out there and.
We're not telling those stories. We're not, I hate it when you see, when you know that a brand or a person or a product is amazing and either no one else does, or we're not telling like the juicy story about it. What made you decide to create the company on your own? And we'll just start there. What made you create the company?
It was a, I think it was a combination of things. When I was attending Parsons as a design student, I had a, an internship at a small design studio that was led by someone named Stella Bugbee, as well as, you know, two other men. And Stella was probably about four or five years older than me. So I saw, you know, that she was able to have a, you know, a small studio.
And I love the idea of an independent practice. And I, I worked for Wollf Olins for a few years, which is a bigger branding agency, it's global and got to work on incredible, you know, massive brands like American Express and PricewaterhouseCoopers and Product Red. And I realized at a certain point, you know, there's just certain things like I really wanted to make my own schedule.
I really wanted to play my own music in my own studio. I really wanted to work with a lot of the, the friends of mine who are starting their own businesses at that time. So, you know, I was young and, you know, naive and excited and in New York City and really felt like I wanted to be a part of the fabric of what was going on in New York.
And working for a big global branding agency, you know, you're working with brands in Europe or in Asia. And it didn't feel like I could, you know, leave my day job and then go talk about what I was working on and have people light up and get excited. They would get light up, they would light up and get excited when I talked to them about the freelance work I was taking on the weekends or nights.
So I think that that was, you know, a big part of it was just wanting freedom and wanting to be a part of what was going on in New York City at that moment. And you know, again, I was like, I was 25. I had nothing to lose. I had no big responsibilities. You know, I was living with my now husband, then boyfriend, who was just like, quit your job.
Come on, do it. Like, we'll be fine. And he was right.
Those are the best types of partners to have, right?
Yeah. Yeah. He's always been my cheerleader. And, you know. Massive, massive support system. So, you know, having owned my business for 18 years now as a sole owner, I'm always reminded, you know, Oh yeah, I've owned this business for 18 years by myself, but I've always had a partner.
I've always had my husband in the background helping whenever, you know, shit hits the fan or I'm in a crisis moment or we're having to go through a major transition. He's always been there to support.
Well, that's a really big deal. Like 18 years for a business is a long time.
It really is.
Like, especially in the creative space, like there's so much pressure to be like evolving and staying on trends and is like, there's all these, all the spaces that you touch new and interesting and often younger will show up as like where people are chasing, but clearly you have a magic that keeps bringing people back to you and your team.
What do you, how would you describe that magic that either how you see the world or see the brands? Like what is that magic wand that you have?
Oh, thank you. Appreciate that. Not sure if I have a magic wand. I think I have strong work ethic I think always willing to evolve and change. You know the second that things are challenging and I start to innovate and shift.
I think in terms of branding, you know, yes, I've honed a formula or a skill at branding just from the sheer amount of time that I've been doing it for. So I think, you know, in, in a big way, it's, it's also about just Really listening, deeply listening to the client or the customer and truly understanding like what they're looking for and then deeply listening to what's going on in the world and what, what customers are looking for and need.
So, yeah, I don't know about the magic one, but I do have an incredible team. And I would say if there was any magic one that I have, it's the designers, art directors, the creative director, the strategists that I have in, in my team or in my network that they all work so beautifully together. And after 18 years, what you have is, you know, a group of incredible people that you can call on that trust you and trust the business and we'll hop onto a project if needed.
Or, you know, I even have employees who have, you know, left and come back and you know, are full time again or freelance. You know, that, that's really the, the magic is that it's the teamwork makes the dream work at the end of the day.
I think it's really interesting that people think you can't have a dream team.
And I'm such an advocate for like, yes, you can, like, are you, are you not demanding what you want? Are you not clear on what you want? Where are we settling? Because having the right people around you, it ends up feeling like a really fun project Work.
Yeah.
You know, having being in a creative space, they founders of similar companies often say like, Oh, I can't delegate this or that or the vision.
How have you learned to either brief your team or delegate and share your vision so that you're not the only one who has to be doing all the work?
The great question. I think it just comes really naturally to me. I I really do value delegating. Like I, I, I would say that I can do a lot myself. I can do the doing in a lot of ways, but I also once I find people that I trust, I love letting them be autonomous, letting them, You know, run with things and just sort of report into me.
So I'm not sure if that truly answers the question, but I, I think my employees would probably be better suited to answer that question. But I think that you know, I've noticed a lot of, you know, Managers that I've hired over the years struggle with either delegating, but they don't know how to ask or struggle with delegating too much sometimes and not being clear on what they're going to be doing versus what they expect.
Yeah, a team member to do. And so I do try to be clear. I'm pretty direct person. But of course there's sometimes there's lost in translation. The team is ever evolving. There's always going to be something that falls through the cracks or too much work on board or too little work on board and expectations haven't been communicated.
And sometimes I'm in the process of figuring out what to do. And don't aren't ready to explain to people what's going on behind the curtain or so it's always great to have people who are really good at communicating all around you to to say, Oh, hero, I know that that's all in your head, but you haven't communicated that to the team yet.
Yeah, like, Oh, yeah, I've been ruminating over it for three months. Yeah, they don't know.
How did I forget to tell them? I think that's the most important part of onboarding someone. Like, I'll often, like, for my process with employees or even contractors, I'm saying, I might forget to say, how are you in the morning?
I'll just jump right into the list. I do care. I'm just so oriented and excited about what we're talking about. So please stop me. Remind me to be a human. Remind me to say good morning. And if I sound like a psychopath, like, ask, like, That's not how I want my communication to come across. Not in a bad way, but in more of the scattered way.
So it doesn't make sense to you. I didn't do it right.
We do live in a very urgent world. And it's up to you to decide whether you want to get swept away by the urgency of things or Slow down and I think I tend to like centripetal force just start going very fast and then I have to slow myself back down and I think that's also why having a meditation practice or breathwork practice and yoga practice for me, it's like a yin to my yang like I absolutely have to have those things to those practices in my life because I I generally like to move quickly and take on a lot and Sometimes overdo it.
For sure. And you know, I think there's also a big difference between when we overdo it because we're so excited.
Yes, I'm usually generally just so excited.
Yes. Yeah. So like it's okay to like do a sprint and be working more hours or working on weekends because you want to and you're excited in that moment, but that shouldn't be the normal. So. Even when we're excited, I have to remember to like pull back out and say, no, we're going to shut the laptop even if we want to keep going.
Yes.
Because future us will thank us.
Yes.
What are you most proud of balancing, you know, your relationship and your business and being a mom and everything else that you are like, what are you most proud of at this point?
Wow. I mean, I think I'm incredibly proud of myself for running this business for 18 years and You know, we've gone through some very challenging times with business and I have gotten to the brink sometimes of wanting to close up shop. I think I'm most proud of pulling through to the other side.
Yeah.
You know, and finding the conviction to keep going. I'm also incredibly proud of being a mother of two and being, you know business owner, entrepreneur. It's, it's amazing to look back at my life, to look back at, you know, childhood, for example, and how maybe homework was overwhelming for me, or being on a, you know, swim team was overwhelming for me. And now how much I can sort of exponentially take on, even in the moments of overwhelm, I can now sort of find myself, find my center again, and, you know, essentially take on more. allow the universe to hold me, you know, I think that that's something that I'm very proud of. And yeah, I'm really proud of my relationship with my husband.
We've been together almost since high school. We met in high school actually, and we dated through high school and then broke up a few times transitioning to New York city life. And then, you know, we've solidly been back together for 20 something years. We've been married for, married now for 14.
And you know, he's still my best friend, my partner, my everything. And so I, I guess I'm very proud of that as well. And having that has been invaluable to my life. It's been, you know, probably the best thing that's ever happened to me.
I love that. It's, you know, people, one of our methodologies that we work through in my coaching business is the have it all method. And it's controversial. Like some people are like, you can't, you can never have it all. And so I'm curious what your take is on having it all and what that means for you.
I think, you know, I think about having enough and what is enough to you. Because having it all sounds, like almost overabundance sounds like, how can you have it all really?
I think that you have to kind of like recalibrate that and think about like, what is enough. And that's where I'm at right now in my life is I have an abundance of love. I have an abundance of, you know, new business leads coming in and but I'm lacking or I'm deficient in certain areas of my life.
Would I like to be spending more time with my kids? Yes. Would I like to be, you know, walking on the beach every day at the end of the day? Yes. I'm deficient in some of those areas. I have enough of everything that I need right now. Even when my bank account fluctuates and I'm like, ah, where'd all the money go?
I'm like, but I have enough and I can find ways to make more. back again. So yeah, I, I like thinking about it that way, I guess, is not having it all, but having enough.
No, it's the enough part is like, so it was one of the core parts of it because no one ever, we're not trained to ask what is enough.
We're usually, especially looking at The usually male dominated entrepreneurial space, it's always like, grow, grow, grow more. Yeah. It's like, why? Right. At the expense of what? Yes. Yeah. And I have so many clients, especially female business owners who are like, okay, we're going to double business again next year.
And I'm like, okay, hold on. We, we absolutely can. Why do you want to, and do you actually want to, when you look, when we look at what that's going to take, because lots of 101 ways we can double your business, but do you really want to, and which one is actually going to be in alignment with you? Cause it's so easy to.
Build a business that is successful that you hate.
Mm hmm. Yes. And that's what I, what I preach is, you know, I came to a point at that 10 year mark where I was burnt out, where I felt like I had built a business that I hated and I wanted to get out. And that's, I mean, we haven't talked about it yet, but I'm, I've been leading retreats for women founders.
And I do that because I, I feel that that time in my life where I found the way to love my business again, to love my life again, to love myself again is, you know, invaluable to anyone at any stage in their, in their life or career. And, you know, thanks to a lot of different modalities, you know, a lot of different teachers and attending the Hoffman process, you know, there's, there's so many learnings that I, Took and put into a workshop curriculum that I call state of feeling.
It's, you know, really built for women, business owners, and it will potentially expand to more people beyond that, but that, you know, aligning your purpose or your passions or your potential with your business is really going to put you into that flow state. The second that you feel like I have to grow this business twofold every year.
And if you're resisting it, or if you feel resistance in you, then you are going to build something that you end up hating. So I, you know, again, like I've never wanted to grow my business in a big way. And maybe that's why I've been able to sustain it for 18 years. I think if it got the second that it got a little too big for me is when I started to feel like, oh, you know, I'm a creative director.
I'm, I'm an artist. I'm someone who grew up making design and creating things. I don't want to be overwhelmed every day by how many employees, how many clients, how much, you know, we have to make every year, of course, I want to make enough money that we, that we sustain and we feel comfortable, but I don't want to be in a place where I have a fire under my ass every day to, you
Mm hmm.
Double our revenue.
Well, and I bet the irony is that when you chose your alignment, I bet your business grew at an easier pace than it had up to that point.
Absolutely.
I was reading an excerpt from a book right now, and the question was, Will this choice expand your soul? And I was like, that is such a juicy question because we're going through so many new things that we're building the strategies for 25 right now in my own businesses.
And I had a call with my coach the other day and I was having The most human of human days, like full meltdown day and the day that like we grade ourselves so hardly for and she's like, okay, well, what if you don't do all those things in the next two weeks? What if you just do what the essentials and relax? for the rest of October. She's like, what would you, if you were your own client, what would you coach yourself on? And I'm like, push it all off to November. She's like, okay, maybe you should listen to yourself.
Incredible.
And like, that's why we all need coaches, but it's, it's also, it's so easy to get stuck in the productivity space and the producing space and stop to like, feel I love that that word is in the The name because I spend so much of my time now coming back to my feelings.
It's like, how does this make me feel? And I want to preface this because this came up on a client call the other day. There are feelings that we should ignore because they are trying to protect us. And it's a small game feeling. There's like feeling in your body is more of a knowing than. I feel like snoozing until 10 today.
Like they're, they're different levels. So like when you're working with these women and helping them tap into that, what are you seeing from a transformation perspective?
Oh, it's incredible. You know, and, and again, I learned this through taking coaching courses and you would know you know, at the beginning of the week, we're sort of airing out our, our baggage.
We're, you know, writing down and talking about all the things that are challenging us. We're essentially unearthing bad patterns or bad storytelling, storytelling inside of our heads when I say that. And then in the middle of the week, I think once all that has gotten out, which, you know, for some people means they, they cry for hours and for some other people, it just means they feel really tired and in the middle of the week, they just start to blossom and come to life again and they stop ruminating or worry that worry pattern starts to really dissipate.
And. You see them start coming back into their essence. And by the end of the week, they're like bouncing off the walls and they're hugging each other and they're open. Their eyes are clear. You know, it's just incredible to watch that arc happen. You know, for people who are a little bit more reserved, they come out of their shell for people who are, you know, maybe we're very unreserved and extroverted.
They're actually quieting down and listening more. And it's just a beautiful, it's like, To be able to witness that is probably one of the greatest gifts that I've been able to, you know, have in my life and my career to be able to see the shift in people. And unfortunately we're not taught that, you know, that we can all achieve that, that the second, you know, you start to get stressed and burnt out, there is solutions.
It's not just a pill or you know, Netflix and chill. You can go through that process. Of course, I know this is coming speaking from a place of privilege where you know I can afford to go to a retreat or I can afford to go you know have a coach But, you know, to be able to do it on your own without the pill or without the, you know, I don't know, years and years of suffering to be able to pull yourself out is one of the most empowering things that you can do.
And then staying out. That's the hard part. Yeah. That's the hard part. Cause there's that integration back into real life. There's the, like you get smacked in the face. The second you get home you know, maybe literally maybe metaphorically you know, you. You have to go back to your work and all the things, all the challenges you have, but if you can change your perspective on those challenges and, and realizing that sometimes it's our internal voice and our emotions that are actually creating the challenges.
It's not everybody else. It's not the job. It's not the people. It's maybe a, like a big part of it is actually you. That's, that's what, that's where the major transformation happens.
Mm hmm. There's the saying that you will always fall back to your strongest step. And so putting in, it's work, it's a practice, right?
To be building up. The steps that get you out of whether it's a victim mentality or just being in the story, like whatever, wherever your, whatever whirlpool you find yourself in again and again, it's hard, it's hard work to build up those steps to get out, but it's so refreshing when. You're like, Oh, well, I don't go that many steps down anymore.
Like, yeah, my one down is like, Oh, instead of a week, it's a, it's a one day or it's a five minute meltdown instead of a, you know, it's that's the, I think the Jedi skills, like you start shrinking the window of impact because it ends up being a distraction. So everything we actually play. care about. Yes.
Yeah. And I think in the world that we live in right now, we are bombarded by so much fear and so much doom and gloom. And, you know, and we're required to be on our devices, you know, for these lengthy amount of times, hours and hours a day. So of course we're in an uphill battle. So I know, you know, it sounds like I'm preaching, but it's to even be able to survive a lot of what we're going through collectively, personally.
We have to do the work or put in the put in the time to rejuvenate ourselves, heal ourselves.
Yeah. When so many of the forces that we collectively don't want to be determining things for us or the decision makers anymore, they're hoping we're distracted. They're hoping we're burnt out.
Yes, they're hoping we're disempowered.
Yeah, they're hoping we don't have the agency to, you know, I don't know, be an activist or raise the big questions of today or, you know, speak out. But once you find your power source, you absolutely. To empower to do those things.
Yeah, because, and I do think like some people get so overwhelmed about the impacts and the differences they want to be making at a neighborhood level to global level.
But there's that tipping point and like, to me, the biggest hurdle, just like a business, right? It's the, it's starting to do it. And once you're there, like once you do that first summit, of course, there's more, but they're, the magnitude has shrunk. And. In what? Because you have some momentum, you know, you've done it like the scariest part because it's not just starting starting is the hardest part, but it's not just the start.
It's through that first phase and then I think it's also.
Making sure that the the impact that you want to have on the world aligns with your passions and your purpose for lack of a better word. Like just make sure that you feel passionate about it. Don't do it out of guilt. Yeah.
Yes. Amen. Don't do anything out of guilt. Can we, how do we just have that campaign, that PR campaign needs to go out, like, just cause we should doesn't mean we could like, or could doesn't mean we should, like, yeah.
Yeah. And on that subject, you know, so, The next big project that my husband and I are working on is we're going to be building a regenerative hotel in Todos Santos, Mexico. And that's why we're moving down to Mexico for six months to immerse ourselves in the community and, you know, truly kick this project off. And, you know, 10 years ago, did I know anything about regenerative agriculture or care about agriculture period? No. You know, I've all of a sudden Found it to be fascinating and found that, you know, regenerative business practices, they're actually ancient practices that we can bring back and we can bring into not only agriculture, but into our own business practices.
I find it fascinating and, you know, again, I'm not starting this hotel project out of guilt with a regenerative lens. I'm starting it because I'm really passionate about that now. And it really aligns with my values. And I see it as you know, the next amazing step in my career. And I hope that that's, you know, I hope that that works out because I, I truly believe in it.
It sounds like it's going to be so beautiful as well. Like just, that's, That's the best part. Like it can be good and beautiful at the same time.
Yes. I think that that's the goal is, you know, I, I think I've also come to realize that what I love to do is bring beauty and meeting and responsibility into the world, not just Beauty, which is probably what I was after for the first 10 years of my career was creating beautiful things, creating great looking brands, creating cool stuff.
And then, you know, it's sort of like that second mountain career comes along or second mountain thinking comes along and it's like, Oh, actually want to imbue it with responsibility and meaningful moments. And. You know, truly give back in some way. Yeah. That's what brings me joy and pride these days.
Well, I think we found your magic wand in that too.
Why, thank you.
You know, we ask everyone in the podcast, what does a powerful lady mean to them? And do the words powerful and ladies mean something different when they're not next to each other?
I love that question because I think that we, like, historically have always thought the word ladies can almost feel you know, No, I wouldn't want to say weak, but there's a, there's that feeling of, Oh, they're ladies. They're just having fun. You know, they're going to play tennis. They're going for ladies cocktails. But I love the word powerful in front of it. I love the juxtaposition. I think, you know, to me, a powerful lady is someone who is both empathetic and resilient. and exudes confidence, but also is willing to be vulnerable, willing to open up and tell you how they're really feeling. You know, I, I, I really appreciate. powerful ladies that are authentic. I, I don't appreciate inauthentic powerful ladies, if that makes sense. And I think that it, you know, maybe it takes one to know one to, to see through some of the guys or, you know, the, the masks that people put on to act powerful or to act like they're in control.
And I would much prefer for, you know, that confidence or that empowerment to come from within and, you know, to come out in an authentic way, not in a way of living up to a powerful lady thing. So I'm wearing three inch heels and I'm you know, I mean, maybe that is your thing, but in a lot of ways you can be a powerful lady and you can actually be an introvert or you can be a, you know, you don't have to dress in a certain way or look at a certain way.
So I appreciate that too.
When you can feel it at a pure energy level, you can feel when someone's inauthentic. And for, and, you know, going back to trusting what we feel and intuitively kind of can hone in on. I'm also like, Ooh, like it, it makes you want to push away from people who are in that space. It doesn't matter what gender they are.
They're just like, please, like, please go do the work. I know that there is a magical. star in there, please go do the work and come back because we're protecting this space so hard.
Yeah, I think self awareness is huge. And you know, it's interesting. Once upon a time, I was very inspired by women entrepreneurs.
Like that was like, you know, who I was looking to for you know, the powerful ladies. Looking at the girlbosses of the world, you know, working with them and, and then I think as I went through my spiritual journey, I started to see all these other powerful women and ladies coming to, you know, the surface.
You know, sometimes the powerful lady is like barefoot with a goddess dress on now, and I never would have expected that that would be the person that would be most inspirational to me. But, you know, it's, there's, there's a shift inside of me now that I'm much more self aware. You can see the power in others.
You know, we went two nights ago to see PJ Harvey play live and, you know, she's always been one of my favorite musicians. She's just incredible. But the power of her voice and her presence on that stage, I was choked up. I was like, literally on the verge of tears with every song because she is innately powerful. There's something that that woman, you know, has cultivated over the years or maybe she was just born with, but because she's so herself. And she writes music that's so her, you know, I don't even know most of the time what she's saying about, but it feels like it's singing about her childhood. She's singing about her, you know, experiences through life.
And she is certainly not trying to be anyone else. She is not, you know, she's not modeling after any other female musician that came before her time. She's just uniquely herself. And that was so powerful to witness.
Yeah. And, and, You know, there's been so many questions and pushbacks about the name powerful ladies and who qualifies and people saying they're not powerful when I invite them. And that's like a whole other thing. But there's this, for me, part of the, the impetus for doing this was like showing the power almost like through the stages, right? Like we had a woman on a couple months ago who, you know, When we interviewed her, she hadn't even graduated college yet. And it was like, okay, well, how can this person fit into this list that we're curating?
And I was like, but look at what she's doing. Look at what she's saying. Look at what she's standing up for. Like she has the cojones of people who are 90 years old and don't have any filter anymore. And she's 21. We need to show that like, it doesn't, it's not an age factor. It's not a, Achievement factor and I, I really do love being alive in a moment when we're seeing so much redefining of what power is and what success is and what the male and female energies and roles and all the things are because I think about women in history who would have done anything to have had some of the opportunities right now, and to think about what they did achieve and do, and be like, wow, like, we have so much possibility right now if we choose to be brave and embrace it.
To your point, like step into that totally authentic space and we don't have to know what authentic, like our authentic today does not have to be the same as five years from now. Right. That I think can also be a scary thing of like re identifying ourselves.
Yes. Going through the shift in identity is a big thing. I'm actually hosting a women's Day workshop next weekend around just changes in general processing change, but also identity shifts. And what are all these identities that we have as layers, you know, mother, daughter, sister, boss, entrepreneur, creative director. But, you know, when you peel back those layers, who are you at the core? I love that's the big question. And I don't think people ponder it very often. Like, who am I at the core? Without the label.
I one of my rackets about the coaching space and the self help space is that sometimes all you need to do is ask the right question, but you need someone who can ask it and hold the space for it as well.
And I think that's I just started going to therapy for the first time ever, and I checked out a couple different people. I'm like, no, no, because I want someone who has a lot of modalities for like talk therapy to me is not I'm like, I talked to people all the time. I've always had coaches. That's not gonna I need someone who can like go in there and like rip it open.
Yes. And I'm like, I want somebody who can ask me the right, the, the bigger question and I know that I'm probably a complete pain in the ass because of. What I've learned and I've, I've worked on and what I'm like, I'm not an easy candidate, but like who, who can, who are the people in my life? They're going to ask me great questions.
And I have this post it on my monitor, just who are my VIP people that those are the juicy conversations I want to be having with the people in my life. And not just with a therapist and her, she's amazing. Her name is Barbie. I'm obsessed. We're doing all the cool, weird things. And I love it.
Nice. But yeah, I agree with that, having someone who can speak with and also if you have a therapist, you know, I, I have spent some time with therapists, but I actually, I do prefer, and this may be just the life stage that I'm at, I do prefer having a coach and I do prefer going to group ceremonies and I facilitate group ceremonies because I think that there's a lot of healing that can be done. In group and a lot of, oh, you're going through the same thing I'm going through. Wow. Okay. We should talk. And what I love about my coach Allie Stark is that she does exactly that. She asks the right questions. And then when she sees the reaction, she'll make a decision of, okay, let's go into a spreadsheet or Okay.
You need to go lay down on your bed and I need to walk you through a visualization meditation right now and you need to get like vulnerable and like cry this one out, you know, like, yeah, and you know, I do think that there's obviously therapy has its place, but I think that the, the somatic experience is so important to touch in on how is your body holding this pain or this suffering or this pattern and how are you going to release it from your body not just from your intellect.
And as women we're at least I would say our gen like maybe not younger but us and older for sure but we're regularly taught in western culture to ignore our intuition, to ignore our feelings.
Like there was this great video I found of a dad who caught himself when he was worried, stressed out about work and his daughter asked him, are you okay? He's like, Oh yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Totally unintentionally gas litter because he was like, Oh, we just don't need to talk about it. He went back and said, you were right.
I was worried about something. He's like, I do not want to be causing this problem where we're shutting down what women and girls feel, think, All the time because now you and I and like all the cool people we know are having to go back and be like, wait, I felt something that I have a feeling. Oh my gosh. Oh, that rage that I feel that's valid.
Yeah. I shouldn't just step that down. Exactly. I should let that surface so that it then moves out of my system, doesn't stay in.
Yeah. It's so interesting. We also ask everyone on the podcast, where you put yourself on the powerful lady scale? If zero is the average everyday human and 10 is the most powerful lady you can imagine, where would you put yourself today and on an average day?
Hmm. Wow. That's a great question. I would say I would put myself on. In a seven, eight, you know, from my capacity, I know that I'm not, you know, Oprah, I'm, you know, you know, what are we comparing ourselves to? I hate comparison too. So, you know, I would say today I'm feeling an eight, but on an average day, a seven.
And what that means is that I know I have capacity to be more powerful, but we all do a little dimming of that capacity to make sure that the world, you know, spins and make sure everybody's taken care of because we are, you know, nurturing and are taking care of, we are supporting others. There's power in that too, I guess.
For sure, and I think, you know, Oprah's a great example of, I'm often having to tell people, like, hold on, how old are you versus how old was Oprah when she became Oprah?
Mm hmm.
Are you, where are we tracking? Mm hmm. And she also, I don't, I've been doing an exercise with clients lately about seeing and stepping into your villain.
Mm.
Because again, stereotypically for women, not all, but we are so afraid of being the villain side of ourselves, but it prevents us like Oprah's not taking any shit. She has 800 people like, when's the last time you think Oprah went grocery shopping? She probably can't remember. It was probably because she ran out of water on a trip somewhere and had to run in and I bet she didn't even run in because it would be too distracting if she did.
So we forget that the women that we are putting at that 10 or beyond number, how like they have a, an entire community around them that. There's they are never hesitating to delegate to so they can yeah days like in that it's not even zone of genius at that point. It's like tip of the comment space.
Yeah, it's totally different ballgame.
Yeah, yeah, it's really interesting. Well, before we get into my last question for the day, let's for everyone who is obsessed with you and wants to hire any of your companies at this point, where can they find and follow you?
Well, our. Website for my agency is roandco.com. You can hire us for brand strategy, branding, web design, campaigns, art direction, you name it. We'll help you with your brand. And for the state of feeling that website is actually launching in November, it's going to be state of feeling. com. And, you know, if you're a woman founder and you are looking for a community of women founders who are working on themselves, doing the work. You know, we do everything from take women on retreats for five days in various places like Mexico or California to one day retreats at my home that I host, you know, and we start the day with. Yoga, typically I facilitate a workshop on whatever theme we're working through.
And then at the end of the day, we come together in a group ceremony, whether it's a breathwork ceremony or a sound bath sort of integrate all the learnings from the day. Love that. And then Orife, the hotel project, that's, that's going to be in three years. But if you're interested in regenerative hospitality, if you love Chota Santos or, you know, just Mexican culture in general we are right now looking for investors and very passionate about this project and starting to build hopefully by the end of the six month stint that we're going to spend down there in Chota Santos, hopefully we'll be breaking ground.
I have already made a list of people I have to connect you to. So I'm very excited about this.
Thank you. And yeah, come down visit.
Well, the last thing we've been asking everyone is What's on your manifest list? What do you need? How can we help? This is a big connected community who loves to help and pay it forward and connect as they can. Big or small, what's something that you'd like to ask for?
That's amazing. Well, I did just bring up that we are looking for investors for the, the regenerative hospitality group. And the specifically for this project, the hotel in Todos Santos. Okay. We are, you know, looking for incredible people who understand that this is, this is a project that is dear to our hearts, that it's going to be, you know, giving back to the community.
It's not just going to be extractive, it's going to be you know, a sustainable project and a healing space. I'm going to be leading the retreats that I currently lead. You know, at hotels, I'm going to be leading it at that hotel in the future. And, you know, it'll be a healing space for all and hopefully a healing space for the environment as well.
And the other thing that I'm looking for is sponsors for state of feeling events, you know, to try to keep the costs of the retreats and the costs of the, you know, the, the workshops down bringing in sponsorship dollars from, Brands would be incredible. You know, it's a group of really powerful women business owners who, you know, can can use their dollars in various places.
So if there are brands out there that would be interested in sponsoring, we are looking for you.
Love it. Well, it has been such a delight to talk to you today. We probably could have talked for eight hours at this point. But just thank you for being a yes to Powerful Ladies. Thank you for the work you're doing.
It can feel so overwhelming when All of us have no, the to do list that is facing us as a collective. And I know that I sleep better at night knowing that women like you are doing everything you can in your corner to, you know, check some things off that list and lighten the global load that we are all carrying.
So thank you for the work you're doing the values that you're kind of living by. And yeah, I hope that we get to connect and collaborate in the future.
Thank you. Kara. This has been really incredible. Wonderful conversation. I appreciate you.
All the links to connect with Roanne, Roanne Co, state of feeling and her coming soon hotel in Mexico are in our show notes at the powerful ladies. com. Please subscribe to this podcast wherever you're listening and refer us to your friends. Join us on Instagram at powerful ladies. And if you're looking to connect directly with me, visit Kara Duffy. com or Kara underscore Duffy on Instagram. I'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.
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Instagram: @roanneadams @roandcostudio @state_of_feeling
Website: www.roandco.com www.stateoffeeling.com
LinkedIn: Roanne Adams
Email: ro@roandco.com
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
