HOW TO BECOME A CEO WITH CAMILLE WALKER

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I gave him my spiel, introduce myself was really hopeful what this relationship could look like. And he said to me, but what do you really have to offer? Because all I see is a pretty face.

So, you want to make an impact, you're thinking about starting a business, sharing your voice. How do women do it, that handle motherhood, family, and still chase after those dreams? We'll listen each week as we dive into the stories of women who know. This is Call Me CEO.

Hello, and welcome to Call Me CEO episode one. I can't believe this journey is finally getting started. This is a project that has been on my mind for a very long time. And I believe it is the recent pandemic that has given me the kick in the pants to get myself and my voice out there doing something different and a little uncomfortable. And honestly, that is kind of the part of this journey with this show is that I hope to give you motivation, inspiration, and answers to how you as a mother can find the answers to discovering your own voice and learning from stories of mothers who have done it before you. Now, this show is going to be all across the board. I'm going to be sharing stories of women who are mothers that are doctors in New York city, product specialists, inventors, innovators, entrepreneurs, and also those who are doing side hustles. So, if you're not quite sure what it is that you want in this part of your journey, that's okay. This is just a part to allow you to be introduced to something different that you may not have thought of in the past. Now, who am I? My name is Camille. I already mentioned that. I'm a mother of four and their ages are 4, 7, almost 10 and 12. I now have a junior high kid, which is totally freaking me out and equally amazing because I now have a babysitter in the house. And I think it's this transition of having older children that has allowed me to take my journey a little further. And I have been building a business from home for almost nine years. Www.mymommystyle.com was started as a passion project, a hobby, actually, I never imagined it would grow to a six-figure income, but it did. And I’m so grateful. And I want that for everyone.

Being a mother is my greatest, my most fondest mission and calling in this life. But I found that I am an even better mother and a greater empathizer when I have experience outside of the four walls of my home. So, let's take a step back and go a little rewind into my own story. I was raised in Utah, the youngest of five with educators, for parents, which is such a gift. My father was a principal and superintendent, and my mother was a stay at home entrepreneur, although she wouldn't call herself that and eventually became a teacher. So, by the time I went into third grade and was the youngest of five, she was out of the house for the majority of the day. And I believe it was because of that, that I was allowed and afforded the opportunity to become more independent earlier on than maybe I would have. And I developed a lot of traits that you typically wouldn't see in a youngest child or so they say, and it's really in that journey that I developed more about who I was and who I wanted to become, but I always knew the education and the process of teaching was important to me. I love learning from others. I love giving and sharing stories. I love connecting with people. And so, a podcast to me is kind of the perfect trifecta of all of that. I love the idea of sharing these women's stories to inspire you and give you tools of how you can manage both home and family as you go apart in your journey.

So, I graduated in family and consumer science education. Now, let me tell you that I come from a conservative Christian background and I pretty much believed that there were, you know, maybe three to five jobs that were mother approved. Those were to be a teacher, a nurse, an assistant preschool teacher, maybe a part-time dental hygienist. And that was pretty much it. Because for me, I had the understanding that my place was in the home, which is my favorite place. I love being with my children. However, when I became a mother, I also realized that I couldn't be the best version of myself as a mother for my children when I was only primarily focused on them all of the time. For some that's a great fit for others, they find more fulfillment having hours outside of the home. For me, I wanted to find a space where I could work from inside the home. And what I think is so amazing about this environment that we're in now is that there are so many opportunities and ways that you can build a fortune in your own home and at home with your babies in the in-between hours. And yes, sometimes it does require hustle and some less than preferable or desirable hours that you put into that shift. But I think there is so much out there that we, as women can now take on. And that is why Call Me CEO. The name was kind of built is because in my experience, I haven't always been treated as though I should be considered a CEO, even though I’ve built a pretty incredible business on my own. If I do say so myself and let's back up a little bit.

So, I mentioned before that I graduated from Utah state university in family consumer science education, where I met my wonderful husband who might have been married to for over 16 years. I can't even believe it's been that long. And in that process, I went through student teaching and I taught financial responsibilities, nutrition, cooking, interior design, sewing and foods. Oh my gosh. It was crazy because I was only two years older than a lot of the students that I had at the time. And while I enjoyed the process of teaching, I got involved in some rather unfortunate political situations with a teacher that was going through a divorce at the time, wasn't showing up to class. And then I was being asked to report to the principal when she was coming in, when she wasn't coming. And anyway, it was kind of a mess. And I got a little disheartened and shied away from the idea of becoming a teacher right away, because it was a pretty toxic environment. My advisor actually pulled me out of that one teacher's class and said, we need you to finish up with your other two teachers because those are, there are things going on you just don't understand, and we want you to have the best experience possible.

Thank you so much for supporting this first launch week of Call Me CEO podcast. You might've heard that we're doing some pretty awesome giveaways this week. And the code word for this episode is love yourself. If you want the chance to win, please subscribe to this podcast, leaving a five-star review, screenshot that review and dm it to me on Instagram at Call Me CEO podcast with the code word. I'm so excited for you to hear more stories and for the chance to win hundreds of dollars of prizes.

So, I graduated from family consumer science education, and at the time I was working as a mortgage loan expert. I was on phones doing sales and surrounded by men. And let me tell you, it was never a job I saw myself doing. In fact, when I interviewed for the job, I said, I’m happy to do this. I love to teach, but I do not want to do sales. And the people said, oh no, no, this isn't a sales job. You're just teaching people how to better understand their loans. And with my finance background, I felt really comfortable with that. I wanted people to feel empowered and to have a better understanding of how to create wealth and use their mortgage in a way that would help them to achieve that.

Now, this was right before the 2008 recession explosion. And at the time I was helping people to better understand to pick a payment loan. Now, if you don't know what the pick a payment loan is, it is pretty much the exact reason why we had such a big fall in our economy, because this was a loan that allowed people to pay a below interest payment, a full interest payment, a principal and interest payment, or an extra principal with interest payment. Essentially it was meant to give people an option so that if they were going through a hard time, a job loss, a death in the family, some extenuating circumstances that they had an option to pick a payment that was best for them for that time in their life. However, many people were approved for loans that they shouldn't have been approved for and chose the very lowest payment. And that was actually what a lot of them were being qualified on. Huge mess.

Anyway, I was a part of that, unfortunately, but being in an office with a bunch of men taught me so much about what it was to be female.

Now, let me back up by saying, when I interviewed for this job, I was interviewed by two men and a woman. I had no sales experience, no real financial training, if you will. And I felt like the interview went pretty well. And when I started the training, I was in a room full of probably about 15 men. They were all college age, just like I was. However, I very much stuck out because I was one of only a few women in the entire office, aside from underwriters and some of the secretaries in the office space. So, when I started this job, I felt very intimidated. I wasn't sure if I was in the right space, but I wanted to keep going. I knew that it was a really good paying job. And at the time I was a newlywed and we really needed this good paycheck.

So, as I was teaching, I found that I really did okay. I was pretty good at communicating and talking with people. And my sales went up and up and up. And all of the men in the office were starting to have to be listening to my conversation, what I was saying to my customers, what were the questions and how was I answering those questions. And it was a huge bit of flattery for me. Trust me, I didn't think that this would be something that I would be seen as doing very well. And eventually my numbers put me in a position where I became the top salesman in, or saleswoman, excuse me, in the office. And people started to take me a little more seriously. When I say started to, I say that because my very first week of training in that office, I was sitting down at the computers, terrified that I was going to do something wrong. And I was set up with all of the equipment. I had my computer, I had access to my financial calculator and all of the answers and questions that I had studied in training. And I was in very intimate loan details of each person that I was talking to on the phone.

Well, my manager and the other people that had trained and also other people around me decided it was a good idea to train to pays the new girl. And even my manager got involved in coming over, tapping me on the shoulder, sending an alert to my computer and saying that I had done something terribly wrong. That I had siphoned money from one account to the other, that it was being reported to security. Now this isn't just a small gift card center. We're talking about people's mortgages and real financial statements. I was terrified. And this hazing went on for probably a good 20 to 30 minutes. And I am not lying when I tell you, I had the biggest pit in my stomach. I was about to cry when finally, the manager and all the guys around me started to laugh. And it was just a prank. Isn't that so funny?

Now this might sound something like it could happen to anyone, but it never did. And I’ll tell you why it didn't. It was because I was the only girl and whether it was meant in jest or not, it was one of the first times I had been an experience where I was surrounded by all men and they decided to make me other, because I was a woman. Now fast forward to when I graduated from student teaching and I had a wonderful surprise waiting for me then, they asked me to be a manager of this call center that I had been working out for the last couple of years. I was so flattered. And my answer was absolutely yes, because it was a much higher paycheck than what my promising salary of $24,000 would be as an educator. I loved working and training and sharing my experience. And it was one of the first times that I kind of looked around and thought, you know, I can hold my own here. I may be a female. I may not have the look of what people are used to seeing in this financial space, but this is something that I could see myself doing for a long time.

So, as I finished up there, I moved to a new part of Utah and became a mortgage broker. What a thrill this was. Because I was now in the space where I was able to go out to other real estate offices and meet realtors on a face-to-face basis and develop a relationship where we could fulfill people's purchasing and qualifying for refinances and buying new homes. I loved it. I loved the real estate business. I love the real estate world. But once again, when I interviewed for that position, that move up from one to the other, I was point blank asked in my interview, but what happens when you get pregnant? Are you going to quit? I was so baffled. And so, taken aback by the question, I can't even remember exactly what I said. I think, it was something like I’m not sure I would love to keep working and we'll see when we get there. I was stumbling on my words. I knew what this person had asked me point blank was illegal. It is illegal to ask a woman what she plans to do with the job once she gets pregnant. Oh, it made me so mad, but it was just another experience of being other, because I was a woman. Now fast forward into when I had that job, I was going office to office, place to place, meeting new people, introducing myself, trying to make that commitment of a relationship and trust.

And I sat down with a well-respected man, realtor in the area, and I gave him my spiel, introduce myself, was really hopeful what this relationship could look like. And he said to me, but what do you really have to offer? Because all I see is a pretty face. You guys, it was because I was a woman. Why, why are we put in this situation where we have to be treated as other, because of our gender. Now I’m not saying all men treated me that way, that it would be the farthest from the truth. That is not the case. However, it made me feel as if I needed to be treated in a separate way because of my gender. I worked at that office for, oh gosh, another three years. I was in the mortgage business for about a total of six. And I became pregnant in the year 2008.

Well, technically 2007, had my baby in 2008. That was when the big recession hit. And all of the mortgage businesses I had been working for closed their doors. It was an incredible timing. It was a gift to me from god I believe, because my ultimate dream was to be at home with my babies. And while I loved the idea of pursuing this wonderful career that I had found; I knew that I wanted to be home with my new baby. And it was in that space in time that I was actually given a severance package because I couldn't return back to the office that I had left when I went on maternity leave and I was at home and I was a stay-at-home mom. And didn't work from home for a couple of years. Not until my daughter was born. I did some mortgage business, a little bit of that time while I was home. But it was hard. It was hard to feel like you could schedule face-to-face meetings with people and really give them the experience they need when purchasing a home.

However, that was a long time ago. And I feel like things are even better now than they were before. So, there are opportunities out there I know of, because I did it for a short time. So, it was about the time that my second was born and she was, oh gosh, probably six to eight months old. I had been a stay-at-home mom at that point for nearly four years. And I realized that I was so lonely, and I was feeling like I was drowning in who I used to be and my brain and what it was doing. I felt like my brain had gone to mush. Like I wasn't quite sure what I had to give. And I had a loss of community. I felt lonely. I didn't feel like I had as much connection to the outside world as I once did. And that was when my business was born. I decided to round up six of my closest friends/relatives. Cause I had a cousin and a sister involved and we created what was then called sweet solstice.

Sweet solstice was a group of seven women on a blog. And the idea behind it was that we would write on a topic once a week and each of us would share our different perspectives on that topic. Now, why I liked this idea was that it was conversational. It was almost like the view but brought to a website space. And I loved it because it was so different. Not all of us were married, not all of us had children, but we all had very different standards and viewpoints. Well about, oh, I don't know, three to four months into doing this. I had a few friends that said, gosh, this feels a lot like homework and we're not making any money, we're out. And that was totally fine. You know, I started it truly as a way to feel connected and create a space that I could feel inspired and feel like I could reach outside of my own home while still being at home with my kids. So it came down to the four of us and a roommate, my sister, my cousin, and myself, and we renamed it, my mommy style, because at that point, all of us were mothers and we were sharing our different ways of being a mother with the idea that we are all different. We all are wonderful mothers.

You are your child's mother for a reason, and we all do it differently.

And that is the way it should be. And I love that message. I still passionately believe in this message and I am still running this blog to this day. Now it was through many years and trials that we built and grew this business. And it has been the wildest ride and afforded me the opportunity to work with brands I never imagined, like Disney, and who are Ikea. And let's see who some west elm are I’ve worked with. Oh my gosh, I didn't write a list, but Disney, you guys like that was my ultimate goal was to work with Disney. And that just happened three years ago. And I’ve been working with them for the past three years. And I cannot tell you what a joy it has been to develop something that matters. And that connects me with other women and helps teach and educate and inspire women.

And yeah, I’ve been able to turn it into a job that I can do from home in the in-between moments and also to find a way to reach outside of myself and feel connected. And I want that for you. I want you to hear not only my story, but the story of so many others that I have coming up on this podcast and the roster is already incredible. So, what can you expect from this podcast? Trust me when I say that it is going to be packed with stories that matter. We are going to dig deep into asking these women, these entrepreneurs, these CEOs, how they discovered their why, what was it that allowed them to call on that inner voice that they have been listening to that's been knocking at the door and allowing them to find that purpose on top of loving and embracing and cherishing the role of motherhood.

I feel like there are so many podcasts and resources out there that talk to women specifically, which yes, I want more of that. I felt like there was a gap and a space where we could talk about how motherhood fits into that equation. Perhaps working outside of the home is something that you didn't see yourself doing. And yet here you are in a space where you need to provide income for your family, because that is a very real and vibrant need and a very specific need that we have and I want to talk more about. Even now, women are given special names like mompreneur, mommy blogger, mom boss, you don't hear us talking about the female engineer or a dad boss or a dadpreneur. No, you are simply a CEO.

So, as we move forward, I’m going to be creating this space all about supporting women. Each week, I will be interviewing different women that will be sharing their stories about developing, innovating and creating side hustles that turned into something they never imagined. And also, those who may decide to do something on the side in their own time. It's interesting when I’ve been pulling my audience, you can check it out at, on Instagram at Call Me CEO podcast. When I’ve been pulling them there, they have said 80% or so want to stay at home with their children 20% or so say, no, I’m ready to do something outside the home. So, whether or not you choose to go in or out, I want this podcast to be a place where you can find resources for all of it. I will also include stories you may not expect like one that is coming up very soon is about a woman who decided to sell her franchise after 13 years of ownership and to focus solely on being a mom.

And that is the kind of stuff I want to hear. I want to hear the pivot. I want to hear the pitfalls. I want to hear the highs, the lows and the inspiration that kept them going. And I want to share that with you.

So, each week I will be sharing interviews. I will also be doing a q and an episode where I take questions that you send me on Instagram at Call Me CEO podcast, where we can discuss different ways to balance motherhood and business. And I will also be making sure to put all of this in the notes that you can find it, www.callmeceo.com and sharing it at my mommy's style.com.

Thank you so much for coming on along this journey with me, there are so many ways that we, as women can be fulfilled and create the life of our dreams. You are not limited. You have a voice within you that matters, and I am here to help you find the way, share the stories from the women who know, this is Call Me CEO. Until next time.

Hey CEOs, thank you so much for spending your time with me. If you found this episode inspiring or helpful, please let me know in a comment and that five-star review, you could have the chance at being a featured review on an upcoming episode. Continue the conversation on Instagram at Call Me CEO podcast. And remember you are the boss.