Gena Jones
A CPA and attorney dedicated to protecting taxpayers, a classically trained chef, and a devoted wife, mother of six, and grandmother of three.
Growing up on the South Side of Chicago, she learned resilience early. At just 15 years old, becoming a mother changed everything—instilling a deep sense of responsibility and purpose. She and her husband, Gerald, are on a mission to see the world with their family while building a legacy together.
Gena is full of wisdom, and her journey has provided her with lessons and insights.
Episode Transcription
This episode is sponsored by Gilbert Independent, Yourvalley. net, dedicated to serving readers with good community journalism. The Gilbert Independent is a nonpartisan newspaper, an online site that covers your town's institutions, development, and events. Describe and follow your alley. net daily to stay up to date with the latest local news. This podcast is brought to you by the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce and Modern Moments wedding and event venue and produced by Sleepy Time Studios. All right, here we go. Today's guest is a beautiful powerhouse, a CPA and attorney dedicated to protecting taxpayers, a classically trained chef and a devoted wife, mother of 6 and grandmother of 3.
Growing up in South Side of Chicago, she learned resilience early. At 15 years old, she became a mother, and that changed everything, instilling a deep sense of responsibility and purpose. She and her husband, Gerald are on a mission to see the world with their family while building a legacy together. She is full of wisdom and her journey has provided her with lessons and insights. Let's dive in. Please welcome Gina Jones. Gina is in the house. All right. All right, in the house. That's right. Welcome. I actually love Chicago.
I can't wait to talk to you about that too. OK, awesome. OK. Well, let's start with what we call rapid fire. Here we go. Would you rather travel to the past or to the future, the future? What is your hidden talent? I don't have any hidden talents. They're They're all exposed. It's all out here. Yeah. Would you rather attend a hip hop or a rock concert? hop. Have you ever lived abroad? No. What is your go to snack? These days, after speaking to my doctor? It can no longer be ribs with barbecue sauce. Yeah.
So now it is grapes. I know, right? Grapes and pistachio nuts. OK. OK, well, there are a lot of types of grapes, red seedless. We're going to quiz Ben on his grape colors later. It's like a crayon box. OK. What makes you hopeful? Just my family, my children, and just seeing them develop and Uh, see them do things and say things that I do and just want to like strangle them, but it's like my fault, so. Are you more of a thinker or a doer? Yeah, I was going to say I can't call that one on you.
I think you could be both. Yeah. Well then, if someone were to play you in a movie, who would you want it to be? I would have to say Angela Bassett. Wait, wait, why her? Because she has beautiful arms and she clearly does go to the gym while I am just dreaming gym and doing push-ups and stuff in my sleep. OK. Yeah. Well, and your sleep counts. At least you. Sleep is everything. Everything happens in my sleep. What is your favorite pastime or hobby? I like to eat and I like to drink cocktails and um grapes.
Also grapes, pistachios. I don't drink wine. I drink martinis, wine. Gross. Um, but yeah, I like to eat, honestly, that's what I like. So I have two glasses. One's half full, one's half empty. Which one are you going to take? I'm going to pour the half empty one into the half full one and I'm gonna have a whole glass. There we go. I love that whole glass of grapes. There we go. Everyday, APS, we're here to help you save energy and money. APS solutions for business can help you make energy efficient upgrades more affordable.
Find rebates at APS. com/business rebates. Want to start your own podcast? Whether it's a business, personal, internal, or hobby podcast, Sleepy Time Studios can help you with everything you need to get your podcast recorded, edited, hosted, and shared with the world. Get started on the podcast of your dreams at sleepytimestudios.com. Mention guiding growth and get 10% off any podcasting package at SleepytimeStudios.com. Well, we have so much to explore with you, and we would love to start at childhood in Chicago. What did childhood look like for you?
It was awesome. You know, just a kid outside on my bike, walking around the neighborhood, um, at my grandmother's house, pretty much was my life. Were you an only child? No, I have 2 brothers and 203 sisters. So, um, you know, they're much older than me. So I'm the youngest and the baby, yeah, I'm the baby, so totally spoiled, which I love. Um, sometimes I tell people I'm an only child, so you know it is. What's the separation from you in the next how many years? Like, I don't know, 15.
0 yeah, that's a lot. 15 or so in my house. Yeah, my family, we call my sister the oops because she was like 210 years later. Not that you're the oops, but I have an oops. Oh yeah, she's she's 218. Yeah. I tell my husband, we were so close. oops, yeah, here we are. All right, so um you talk a little bit about your grandmother. Obviously she had a huge influence on your life. So my grandmother was awesome, but she did often have stray people in the house. Like you know you just come in like, OK, who is that?
Well, you know, that's such and such and You know, and she's cooking, cooking dinner for I'm like, these people, where are you getting them from anyway? Where did she get them from? I don't know. She like picked up straight people and then they became part of the family and it's just, it was so confusing like, where did this person come from? But anyway, and it was multiple people, but this is a time she was just blessing people. and cooking for people and you know, letting people live in her basement.
It was interesting the one food you think of that she made that you're like, Oh, Grandma, so much. When I think about my grandmother and um her little tiny kitchen, does she like cook dinner for 218 and 2180 of us every holiday? And it's like now you know we have to have the double countertops and the triple ovens and the da da da da da that we don't use. Well, I use them. Oh, that's good. But I'm just saying I need them to cook for like 218 people. OK. She had this one little stove, this one little oven and a In a kitchen as big as my bathroom and made magic.
And so I just don't know how that happened. But anyway, that's aside. So no, she used to do things like she had, um, you know, we used to grow fruit and veggies in her garden. She used to freeze grapes, you know, do things that just really don't make sense, but hey, you know, she did them. She had a pantry full of food. She was a child of the depression, so like. Afraid of starving, so it's like food everywhere and stuff everywhere, um, just in case. So I think that's why I like to eat because she just fed me all day.
Yeah, yeah. And then I talked to my daughter the other day because I came in from Chicago. And my throat was a little scratchy. So when, when my daughter picked me up from the airport, she had this bag of like vitamin C and basil stuff and blah blah blah. She's like, take all this. Yeah, all this. And I'm like, Where did you get this from? She was like, Well, you know. When I used to be in Nana's house, I just used to eat vitamin C because I thought it was candy, and I'm like, oh, I don't know if that was safe.
You know, too late. Everything worked out. So here you are. Yeah, you can kind of do anything in my grandmother's house. Who brought the barbecue into your world? That's what I want because that's like usually a young you get instilled in it. Yeah, that was my grandmother too. Yeah, grilling and cooking barbecue in the oven and I think it's more the barbecue sauce. Yes it is. It's all about the sauce. He's from Kansas City, yeah, so yeah, so in Chicago, like we have a lot of really great barbecue, but obviously it's like Texas style or Carolina style or, you know, Kansas City and our family has done like barbecue tours and pizza tours like in the country to say, you know, where we want to go to get the best pizza or whatever.
So. Has your family always been in Chicago or did, that's where it started. Born and raised. Yeah. So while I'm I want to get to how you got to Arizona, but first, I want, I want to tell you that in your interview, you shared, um, something that your grandfather used to do for you. And for me, it was exactly what I needed to see when I was reading this. I don't know why it struck me. It gave me goosebumps immediately. And so you said that your grandfather lived in Atlanta and that he used to write you letters telling you how great you were.
And I just like I don't know why it just struck me as like But just a wave of peace over my heart that he would take the time to do that and reminds me a lot of my own grandfather and was this on a different side, so not the same grandmother that was in Chicago. No, this was my grandmother in Chicago. This is her husband, her ex-husband. So my grand my grandfather, I don't know if he was born in Chicago, but anyway, he's from Chicago, but then he moved to Atlanta.
Um, so in Chicago, he was a dancer and he actually, now I just learned this, OK. He was actually like in the war and he led like Um, like a battalion of women soldiers. I think they just made a movie about this. So he was the one who led the Bad, I guess. See, I'm gonna mess up the whole story. I know I am. But anyway, he, he led this whole band and my aunt has a picture, a black and white picture, um, from above of this whole, you know, like procession of um drum majors and army people and You know, all of that in Europe, US troops in Europe, um, having this amazing parade or whatever.
He's front and he's the leader of front. So anyway, I came back to Chicago after his, you know, serving for the country, and, um, like I said, he was a dancer. He realized that there was no opportunity for the girls in his community, so he opened a dance school, Mayfair Academy. Um, was in business 220 years, shut down by COVID. Um, so I say that to say he's from Chicago. That's what he did in Chicago. Then he went to Atlanta and you know, started doing his thing there.
OK, so what I love is that he naturally empowered women. This is pretty cool. Yeah. I didn't make that connection, but now that you say it, and he had two daughters. So you know, yeah, but he did take the time. He wrote me letters all the time and I have some framed at my house, um, and so it was really impactful. Thank you for sharing that with us. When I read that, I just thought that just reminds me. where it came from too. Yeah. Now, in a couple of letters, he did say, now last time I saw you you were gaining weight, so I need you to, you know, do a little more dancing or something to be honest, man, I was like, OK. Truth is the truth.
That's it. And the truth is you've got some dancing genetics in you then. I do. I do. I mean, in our family, you danced, period. Like from the time you're 20203 to adult. So I was in my last dance recital probably. In 22020, no, no. In 224, because the school actually closed in 27. I'm so sad that the school closed. I'm so sad. Everybody's sad because now my daughter has no rhythm. It's like, what are we about to do? Now what? How do I explain this? You're gonna have to show her the ways.
Maybe you need to open one here in Gilbert. Something needs to happen because it's ridiculous. We could talk about that. We should talk about that because it's a serious, it's about to be an epidemic and I don't, I don't know what to do. Oh, that's that's funny. All right, so tell me how you get from Chicago to Arizona. So Chicago to Arizona, we had been wanting to um make a move, but you know, obviously kids are in school, it's never the right time, blah blah blah. But the pandemic, because our kids were obviously at home learning, um, gave us that opportunity, that window to move to Arizona.
Now the reason that we moved to Arizona, two things. My daughter went to um Scottsdale Culinary Institute in 2007 when she graduated, she said, I'm not coming home. I'm like, OK, but because she came here for college, um, and she, they didn't have like dorms, so she had her apartment. I obviously had to come here every other month to look and see what was going on. So it's like I was kind of like a resident of Scottsdale. So I'm like there like religiously every other month. Every other month, I think is exercising restraint.
I feel like my son's getting ready to go to college and I feel Like once a month I'm going to have to go see what's going on. Well, I did have the other kids at home, so it's like I forgot about the other one. Yeah, yeah, I forget about them too sometimes, but you know, whatever. So I made sure that I was here every other month for a week just to kind of make sure her grades, make sure, look at her apartment, make sure everything was cool.
And so, you know, when you go from 2007 and you know and I just didn't stop because she never came home and she never has been at a point where she didn't need supervision. So you know, here I am. I'm like, OK, let's just go. So how did the, the other kids were in school in Chicago. How how did they take this? Um, they didn't really care, you know. At that point they were just being schooled at home, so it's not like they were going to school every day to see their friends or, you know, making those connections.
Yeah, so it's doing COVID, so it's like, whatever. I'm on a laptop here, I'm on a laptop there, you know. Let's go see Arizona. Had they been here? They brought them here soon. Yeah, OK. Yeah, yeah. The whole family usually would come like we would actually stay here. Like in the summer months, over spring break, you know, this was like our go to vacation spot and also keep an eye on on my daughter, so what do you miss about home? Uh, the food. Yeah, definitely the food, not the weather.
I was going to say I was going to say, and I have to ask what you don't miss. I'm sure can stay. Yeah. And the only the only person that's really still in Chicago is my mother. Like she is a city girl, like an urban dweller, and she's like, I am not coming out to that country. So I'm like, OK, very, very different worlds, I will say. Yeah. It's a different world, but one of the reasons the first reason was my daughter. But then when my grandmother passed away um in '96 and nobody had a plan for her and nobody thought about, OK, so what happens when Nana can't live alone?
Nobody in the whole family even considered this conversation and I felt like it was really my place to do that, even though I wasn't, but I felt like I should have. But because I didn't even think about it. What happened is she had to go into a nursing facility and even though we did hire additional 24 hour care for her in the facility, we could have done a lot better. And so at that point I sat my mother and my aunt down and I said, I'm not going through this again.
We're going to have a plan right now. So if you can't live alone because they both had two story homes, if you can't live alone, what's the plan? So they got it together. And they said, my aunt said, Well, I'd like to move to Arizona. So I said, Well, let's go get a house because I'm not playing with y'all. I'm not, you're not going to disrupt my life because we haven't had this conversation. Well, in this, so at this point were you practicing your plan? I mean, how was it focused on estate planning?
Um, my end. To the whole tax and legal piece was through tax controversy because my father was a musician who was in tax trouble, and I saw the way that played out. And I saw that my mother didn't want to put money in the bank, and she had all these envelopes of cash and I'm like, what are you doing? And but it was, you know, because the IRS had levied them before and because they had done all these things. And so at that point I said, I don't, I don't like this and I don't want taxpayers to have to experience this.
So that was my whole endgame into the whole career. But then I said, well, I could be a CPA and I could do the numbers. But I need to go to court to be able to advocate. So that's kind of how both ends came in together. OK, so what about what timeframe in your life was that? That was when I was a kid. Yeah, that's fascinating. Yeah. OK, so I guess we jumped ahead. We missed the whole journey. Let's talk about high school, college. Let's go back.
Um, those are blurry. You know, it just kind of happened. I graduated from college in 3 years. Because first of all, I'm an introvert. I don't like to talk to people. And so I'm like, what am I doing here? Like we're on a podcast. This is this is a good thing. It's therapy. Um, but yeah, no, high school was awesome. Um, my mother was actually a substitute teacher. And so this is another thing like In my life, my mother was a substitute teacher. My father was a musician.
Like nobody ever got up in the morning and went to work. So I was just like, OK, this is how we do it. How come I have to go to school? What's happening? Well, I was OK with going to school, but as an adult, like getting a job and working for someone, well, I did. I had plenty of jobs, but at some point I was just like, what? Like why am I doing this? This is not what I've seen at my house. So anyway, just a sidebar.
But um, yeah, so that's, that's my, my high school journey was great, so my mother was a sub. So I always would text her like, OK, I'm leaving school. Like, um, it's lunchtime, I'm going out too. You know, this restaurant or that restaurant, I'm not coming back. You know, just so that when she got the alert that I wasn't in school, she already knew. And so now your kids do that, I'm sure, and you got to respond. No, no, my son is a hanger out in the bathroom.
Well, he graduated from high school last year, but he was a bathroom hanger. And the nurse's office hang around bathroom and nurse's office, yeah, sometimes the library. Yeah, my daughter in elementary school was the nurse was her best friend. Yeah, yeah. So I was starting to look at him like, well, do you like vets? What is vets meaning older women? Like, are you liking enough? What are you doing? But anyway, so he wasn't in class either, but other other um goals there. OK, so college, where did you go?
College, I went to um Illinois Institute of Technology and um I started out as a chemical engineer. Why did you go that route? I like math and science. Um, I was very interested in strategies and formulas and all of those things, but then when I failed physics, I was like, ah, this might not be it. This might not be it. I could still do numbers and accounting, so let me do that because this is not working out. Um, so then I just transferred to the business school and then I got my bachelor's.
Then I, um, you know, had no aspirations in life. I just finished my degree and I just wanted to kinda chill at home, but then all of my friends were going to law school and so I was like, and and so they were studying for the LSAT. So I was like, well, you know, I don't really have anything to do. I'll, you know, study with you guys, I'll take the test. And so I had gotten a um a high score on the LSAT. So colleges uh law schools were sending me letters like, come here, come here.
So because I went to the Illinois Institute of Technology, I had always wanted to have a black experience at a at a college, like a HBCU. So Howard University sent me a letter and they said, come to our law school, we're gonna give you a free ride. Everything is gonna be paid for. And I was like, oh, this is my chance, this is so awesome. So I went down there, you know, got my apartment, blah blah blah. I so excited um to be able to have this experience.
And then they, they sent me a letter and said, well, you know, well, no, I called because I hadn't gotten any correspondence. So then when I called, they said, well, you know what, we lost your financial aid for the moment, but we know it's here. So if you just come, I'm sure we'll find it. So I was like, oh, that's not gonna work. I have a whole daughter. Like we can't just, you know, fly by our pants, fly by the seat of our pants. So I said no.
That's OK. And so I ended up going to Chicago Kent Law School, um, you know, right there at home. So it was just easy. But that's the only reason I was in law school. I had no desire, matter of fact, I specifically said out of my mouth, multiple times, I don't want to be a lawyer. And yet. So do you remember, was there anyone in particular in that period of time that really pushed you towards it and encouraged you, or was this really just self-motivation to do this?
Um, even though you kept telling yourself you didn't want to do it. Well, well, my mother is an interesting person and so she always was, would say just in in passing, like I always wanted to be a lawyer, I always wanted to be a lawyer. And I'm like, oh, OK, you missed the boat. Um, but She would be a, anyway, um, so her listening to that and then really wanting to be this advocate and being able to go all the way for somebody is kind of why I was like, OK, let's you know.
Get the legal piece because you know as a CPA I can only do so much. But when I'm an attorney, I can go in front of the judge and make it happen. Yeah, it's a great pairing. Yeah, I love it. OK, so tell me then, because you're also a trained chef, how does that, where does this come into play? You know, I just like to eat again. It's a common theme. But I also like to entertain. So I always would have, um, you know, parties at the house and dinners at the house, and I was like, you know what, I might as well just make it official.
You know, how do I make this yo dough? I want to learn how to do this. So I just was like, I'll just go to. So what strikes me is that you have like Tenacity to learn, like you seek out opportunities and answers and you seek to understand which. I mean, clearly you have, you have tackled some things in life that most people would be like, I don't know how you make that feeling like pass on to the next thing. And you're you're digging deep on things.
Yeah, I I do like to dig deeper. So after my law degree and I had already decided I was going to be a tax attorney, I went ahead and got my LLM and taxation. And so then a couple of years ago, I said, you know, this crypto thing, this, this whole, you know, thing just seems like it's not going anywhere. So I uh took a program at um Penn State, like, OK, I got to know more. So, you know, that's why I said I'm a thinker and a doer because like if I think it and I, I want to know more, I want to just do it.
And I'm not really, you know. OK, so let's talk about crypto then you want to tell us what we need to know. Yeah, what do we need to know about this crypto thing? It's not going anywhere um for people like me who are not techies, uh, who can't write code and things like that. Um, you just need to know that you should, well, I'm not going to say I should, you should. I suggest that people put money in or invest in some type of crypto, whatever you feel comfortable with.
Because you know, if you lose your small investment, so what? But what if it blows up and you're like, man, I should have got that Bitcoin at 166, you know what I mean? It's such a foreign concept. It is foreign, but get comfortable with it because it's not, it's not going anywhere. So you heavily invested into it then? Not heavily, carefully. OK, that's what I was looking for. That's what I was looking for. All right, let's talk family. Family. Let's talk about your babies and what they're up to.
Oh my God. These people drive me nuts. You know how people, well, OK, so you know how parents, and maybe it was not all parents, but some parents are like. Man, my baby is 20. When they get to be 5, I'm going to be able to blah, blah blah. And then when they get to be 8, you know what I mean? It's called. It's dreams, but it's really not real because as they get older, their lives just become more complex and that makes your life more complex. So when they're 2 and all they could do is sit there and run around and throw things, their world.
Their world and it's awesome. Yeah. Sorry you broke that window, but it could be replaced. Physically demanding, but emotionally so much easier. So much easier. So anyway, uh, parenting never ends and it gets more complex. But uh I think it's awesome. It's the it's, I believe my single biggest ability to impact the future. And so that's really what I'm focused on now. So my Youngest daughter Bailey, she's 10, she cries when she uh is making a purchase and they add tax and I have to explain to her that's not going anywhere, babe.
Got to just be OK with it. She's like, but I didn't tell anybody I wanted to pay this, and I'm like, I'm sorry, me neither. Nobody wants to. And then, um. She should be a lobbyist. Oh, well she might be. I I don't know, but she talks nonstop. So she's very vocal. She's got a good people person. Yeah. And then I have um my next one is Barack. So he is the guy with all the answers, knows everything. Teenager. He isn't uh 18. Yeah, just graduated from high school, has a story for everything, will try to talk you out of your pockets, your, your pants, your backpack, your everything.
He's an interesting guy, but, but he is also a great guy. Then there is my, I get confused sometimes. My daughter Princess, she is a. She, everybody says she should be a model. She is so beautiful and she doesn't know what she wants to do in life. She started as a business major, then she was a Spanish major, then a ballet major. Now she is a criminal justice major who just decided she wants to go into nursing. So here we go. This is the time to explore.
Figure it out. I'm telling you, and I keep telling her, you know, just just figure it out. And but but figure it out, you know, soon. But you know. Is she going to school locally here or back in Chicago? Yeah, no, she's in Maricopa. Yeah, that's why I'm like, well, just figure it out in Maricoppa so we could, you know, then decide what we what we want to do, um, moving forward. And then after her there is, um, my son Prince. He is a super duper senior at um.
North Carolina A&T, so he's a marketing major. One day he'll graduate and um tuition will stop, but uh that hasn't happened yet. But I'm just grateful, you know, I'm telling, I'm saying things about each of them, but I'm grateful because they're all healthy, they're all, you know. I would say, but you know, and seeking out just like you. And then our son, Jordan, he's he does like custom boats and custom cars in Las Vegas. And then my oldest daughter, uh, Laurie, she is a um powerhouse.
She gave me a run for my money, but at the end of the day, she is a great uh daughter, a great mother, and a great wife, and um she is, she graduated from Scottsdale Culinary. And for a degree in hospitality, but then she manages a legal department at a tech firm, so listen. I'm just here. I just work here. That's all. That's all. So everybody's doing well. It sounds like you did your job. So great. So like when you all get together, there's amazing food being produced with all this culinary backgrounds. Hospitality.
Yeah, yeah. And my son Barack always says how you know how proud of us he is because he taught us how to cook. He taught you how to cook. I'm not understanding the numbers, but listen, listen, I just, I'm not asking questions. I just work here. He was your taste tester. He was telling you it was good or not good, and that's how he helped you, right? That's not OK, but we'll go with it. I also have an 18 year old and yeah, they just see the world a little differently.
Their history is a little different than ours for the time being. Life will bring some perspective, I hope. Yeah, we'll see. Listen. Time will tell. Uh, my daughter Laurie just, I mean, as she grew more mature, she just made a 180 turn. So I'm like, thank you, God. Yeah, but that is the journey. I think if you knew everything you know now when you were 18, you wouldn't have been able to fathom it. Yeah, yeah, it's crazy. Look, I'm here for the journey and then hopefully part of the journey we'll be able to see the world together because I think that um that is a Um, that is something that a lot of people don't do and a lot of people don't, I don't want to say they don't value it, but they don't prioritize it.
And um, you know, it just, it just creates a different type of person. What is your, because I know that's important to your family, is there a particular experience that really stands out to you? Um, Well, one of the things that does stand out is when we were in Singapore last year, we were, um, you know, out at all the markets and things, and so they had this, they have this um produce, it's called Dorian, and It's a fruit, but it tastes like garlic and onion. And I couldn't understand why people would eat that, but everybody's every culture is different.
But you did say you would try grapes that taste like barbecue. Because I like barbecue. I mean, I like garlic and onions, but not in a fruit. Maybe you need to make a fruit salad of the barbecue. I'm going to say no. I'm going to say no. But the kids were like, OK, I'll try it. And you know they cut it and they tried it. Now, of course, you know they spit it out and you know some but my granddaughter, honesty, she said, you know. This is not that bad.
I never would have even thought about touching it. Like I didn't want to smell it, but as an adult, you just have created more limitations for yourself than a child who is pretty much open. And so while they're open, you know, pour all that stuff in there, you know, mix it up. And so your your grandkids travel with you too. I love that. Yeah, we all go together. What is on your bucket list, something that you want to do? Well, still on my bucket list is Greece.
We had a fully planned trip, tickets purchased everything. We were leaving on March 20th, March 20th, 2020 and obviously, but I think this year, and one of the things we're going to do over in Greece, because my thing is, once we take that long flight, we're doing everything. So the idea was to go to Greece, um. Israel, Jordan, all those things. So hopefully this year we'll get to Greece, you know, we'll see what happens with the Israel piece. We might have to make two trips to do that, but that's something that um has been on the table for a while and just unable to really get there.
How many trips have you guys been able to take? Um, well, last year was our first official trip and we went to Asia, we went to several countries over there. This year, we were scheduled to go back to Europe because the, the grandkids had not been to Europe yet. So we're gonna do this European tour, but my daughter. is in a program where it's like a legal program where you don't have to go to law school, but you can practice law to some degree and so she has her exam this summer, so she's not able to go.
I'm like you're just busting up the trip, you know, busting up the whole schedule, but so we'll probably do that the following summer. Yeah, I love that. When you think about, you've shared a lot today about the influence your parents and grandparents have on you. When you think about your kids, what is the legacy that you hope they think of when they think of you? Um, I just want them to. Know and just remember and and hopefully what I'm demonstrating is that there are no limits, you know, if you see it, you can do it and even if you don't see it but you think it, you can do it.
If you dream it, you can do it, so you know, don't let anybody. You know, proofre your vision because it's not their vision. They can't see it. Yeah. I and I love that you said that. Yeah. And I, I just think you're fearless. I think fear is what stops so many people from exploring, asking questions, and you are fearless. Yeah, I don't because when you think about fear, and when you think, my whole thing is, what's the worst thing that can happen? Yeah. If I fail, I fail.
Where do you think that comes from in you? Um I don't know, I think that um. When I was a teenager and I was pregnant. My, you know, my biggest fear, and I remember being in the doctor's office and what I said to my mother is, don't tell dad. So obviously as a little girl, all you want to do is make your dad happy. That wasn't gonna make him happy. So through the whole thing, the whole pregnancy, the whole everything, he said not a word about it.
All he had was encouragement. All he had was normal conversation. There was nothing to say, Well, how did you do that? Why did none of that. We just all moved forward. He said nothing. And so to me, that was like, oh my God, what the heck did I just do? But you know, it was nothing to him, so it was nothing to me. So at that point I had conquered the worst thing that could ever happen. So it was like, OK, let's do this. So yeah, yeah, so.
It's there's nothing that anybody can do to me. Anything, there's nothing nobody can take from me. So what am I waiting for? Yeah, it's a lot of curiosity too. That's what I like about it. We'll see what happens. It's an adventure. Well, I have loved the way you have fully embraced this community. Um you have jumped right in and you've made a name for yourself and built relationships, and I'm just grateful to have you in our world here. Yeah, glad to be here. And so the end of that story with my mother and my aunt is.
you know, we got to go buy a house, so we ended up buying a house in Gilbert and we still have it. My aunt decided just to move here. She's like, you know, I'm not even gonna wait. I'm just coming now. And so we're just waiting on my mom to come over and, you know, once the city girl gets here, it's a wrap. See, it's a big party, so we'll see, but yeah, I love this community. We could have a ribbon cutting for your mom's arrival. Listen, don't get her started.
We'll have barbecue. It'll be great. Do not do it. Yeah, no, don't encourage her. Don't encourage her with the ribbon cut. We would be great. Listen, listen, I don't want the neighbors to come like, what is going on here? Well, yeah, I mean, just being here, even through the chamber, you have been so gracious in imparting wisdom on others and sharing your experiences and knowledge. Um, I'm just grateful for you. Yeah, I'm grateful and I just, you know, my whole thing is I have so much information, but I feel like I'm just the steward of the information.
It's not for me. It's for me to give to everybody. So I'm looking for ways to say, don't do this. Do that. Have the conversation with your family now. Don't wait until Grandma can't walk, you know. Don't pay more tax than you need to. You know, my whole thing is don't do that. He don't, you know, don't do this because you don't have to. You know, I've seen it, I've done it. I don't want you to have to do it too. If there was one place that you think people could start, if there was one thing that they could do immediately to make the process easier, what would that be?
The process of estate planning or planning for The future for your your parents or your family. Have the conversation. I was just going to have the conversation kind of think, see where everybody is like, like I said, just with my mom, it's not as easy as saying, OK, this is what you're going to do. No, it's like, what would you like to do? I was going to say, asking for a friend. What if that conversation is shut down every time you open that door? It's OK. It's OK. Take notes, just keep bringing it up and bringing it up and bringing it up, um, because At the end of the day, it's really your life that's going to be disrupted by anything that isn't planned out.
So yeah, even if they don't want to do it now, they'll come around. But it's like You know, when I, when I think about going to the gym, I know I need to go to the gym, but until the doctor says you need to go to the gym, I'm not going. I mean, it's gonna happen. Next week I'm gonna go, I'm sure. Yeah, so I'm just saying sometimes things need to get a little bit um. Perplexed to for people to take action. But that doesn't mean you don't have your plan in your back pocket to say, oh, OK, this is what I was thinking.
I got it all planned out, you know. I appreciate that. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, thank you for being here today. Yeah, this has been a great conversation. Glad to meet you guys. So looking forward to doing more stuff in Gilbert. Aly. That sounds good. Awesome. So I know you've enjoyed this conversation. We have absolutely loved this conversation. So if you want more of these to come in your box, join our tribe, subscribe, and we'll send them right your way right as we have the next conversation.
So thanks for listening today. Guiding growth, conversations with community leaders. Liv Northgate, located in Gilbert, Arizona, offers resort inspired living with modern amenities, spacious floor plans, and a vibrant community atmosphere. Enjoy exclusive resident events like Pancake Breakfast and Happy Hour, plus a 24/7 fitness center, multiple pools, and award-winning service in the heart of the East Valley. Come check out what it's like to live like no other.
