- [Narrator] Funding for this edition of One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been provided by Atlantic Health System.

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- This is One-On-One.

- I'm an equal American just like you are.

- The jobs of tomorrow are not the jobs of yesterday.

- Look at this.

You get this?

- Life without dance is boring.

- I don't care how good you are or how good you think you are, there is always something to learn.

- I did do the finale, and guess where my trailer was?

A block away from my apartment, it couldn'’t have been better!

- People call me 'cause they feel nobody's paying attention.

- (slowly) Start talking right now.

- That's a good question, high five.

(upbeat music) - Hi, everyone.

I'm Steve Adubato.

You're gonna see, if unless you see her already, that's Michele Siekerka, President and CEO of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association.

We are doing a program all about women in leadership.

First of all, welcome, Michele.

- Nice to see you again, Steve.

- As always, we'll put up the website of NJBIA, but tell everyone about the seventh annual forum that took place on women in business at BIA.

- Well, it was extraordinary.

We kicked off the Seventh Annual Women Business Leaders Forum Live, which for many women, was the first time they came out, actually women and men.

We had a lotta men there that evening as well.

Wonderful reception, great way to trigger some momentum for what was then a two-day set of panels and keynotes and TED Talks with some extremely dynamic women, who shared some inspiring stories but at the same time shared some hardcore leadership skill-building tips.

- Michele, again, we've heard so many.

We have two other people who participated, I believe Joetta, who joins us, and also Kerry Barrett, right?

- Correct, yeah.

- Kerry's terrific, and so is Joetta.

You had so many people come in to make a difference for the women who were there.

Describe some of the most significant challenges facing women in business at the end of 2021, going into 2022.

- Well, let's talk about right now that this is an unprecedented time when it comes to our workforce, the hiring crisis and the disparate impact it's had on women.

You know, people say, "Why do we still have to do these types of programs for women?"

Well, let me say that COVID has had an extremely disparate impact on working women, and particularly those child-bearing.

We had 1.8 million women across the entire nation leave the workforce last year, one out of four, okay, many because of childcare issues.

Do you know, if you don't have a safe place to put your child, you can't get back to work.

Steve, you know, we have the lowest labor participation rate by women right now in over three decades, in over three decades, and if women were in the labor force to the extent that men were today, our GDP would be 5% more.

(hands smacking) - So stay on this for a second, because you talk about some of these challenges, and by the way, business and industry association NJBIA has been focused on this.

Michele has been with us in so many different situations.

She's also joining us to talk leadership, which I'm gonna talk about in a second.

So this is what hits me as you talk about the pressures and the stress disproportionately falling on women in the workplace and business, et cetera.

Here's a question: mental health, work-life balance, I mean, seriously?

How the heck, what, are you supposed to spin plates and throw balls up in the air and, I mean?

- Especially over the last year, when you were, you know, your children were being taught from home, and yet again, they had to be overseen and supervised.

Oftentimes, the way the education was taking place, a parent had to assist the child, especially young children, with technology, not just helping with homework, like when they came home after school, and then because online learning really truncated the school day, you had kids without something to do for many hours in the day that now, the parents were the educators.

They were also the friends and, you know, they were the play dates, and all of that while we as employers invaded their home while they were living at work.

Some call it working from home, but guess what, many of them are living at work, and we're in their homes, their private space.

- So talk about this.

You know, Michele and I have done so many leadership seminars together, we talk about this all the time.

So when it comes to wellness, and I've been focusing on that a lot in my leadership coaching, and the reason is this: I don't see how you can separate work, your work life and your home life anymore, and COVID has only laid that bare even more.

How do you, on a very personal level, create a sense of, even if it's not balanced, but a sense of work-life integration and wellness that works for you that would be helpful to other women watching?

- Yeah, let me tell you, it's taken me a long time, and it's a lotta discipline, and you know, I have forced myself to be disciplined in my actions, and so you know, I get up in the morning, and I make sure I get out and I get my exercise to really juice up my brain before I tether myself to the computer for 12 hours at a minimum, (laughing) okay?

I'll tell you that I committed to my husband of leaving the home office during COVID at 6:30 every evening because- - Do you really?

- Well, with minor exception, and now, we know the world is opening.

We're out at events.

We're back hybrid.

You know, I'm out and about, right?

But throughout COVID and still to this day, you know, shut down that home office, and spend time with your significant others.

You need that connectivity, right?

When the weekend comes, I make sure now I always have a book to read.

I've done more reading in the last few years than I did in the first 30 years of my profession, okay, and not just self-help books because my reading was always like, oh, I should be reading in order to improve myself professionally.

Okay, yes, I learned how to read for pleasure as well.

I usually have one of each - How, I'm sorry.

- at the same time.

- I'm sorry, read for what?

- For pleasure.

(both laughing) (hands clapping) And I'll tell you one more thing, Steve, in the middle of COVID, seriously, there was a point in time I said to my husband, "I refuse to be the only person alive who did not binge-watch something through COVID," 'cause that's what I thought was happening.

(laughs) - And by the way, everyone should be binge-watching public broadcasting.

(laughing) I'm sorry, I did.

(Michele laughing) But I'm gonna say this.

- That was my go-to.

(laughs) - There it is, and by the way, NJBIA is one of our media partners, and we collaborate with them on a whole range of things.

Michele, before I let you go, the two women that we're about to see, Joetta and Kerry Barrett, why are they, again, people watch segments individually, but those two women, why are they so significant, particularly with the conference that you held, the forum?

- Well, let me say that Kerry brought an extraordinary experience of a woman in media and how she was coming up and how she had to create her own discipline and address and lean into the challenges and then realize at one point, "You know what, I'm just gonna do something else because I've tried my best here, and for myself, I'm now gonna go and take all my professionalism that I learned and put it to another energy."

Joetta, you know, oh, my gosh, right, an athlete who you think, okay.

- An Olympian.

- Yeah, she's fantastic, and she had her leadership garden that she talks about, right, and she talks about, you know, reaching above the 'nots' and how, you know, when you reach above, you also reach back, and she talks about a strong mind has to do with a strong body and a strong will, and those things all go together, and if we don't pay more attention to our strong bodies to have our strong minds and our strong will, we're not gonna make it.

We're just not gonna make it.

- Well said.

That's Michele Siekerka, President and CEO of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, this program dedicated to women in leadership, women in business.

Michele, thank you, my friend.

- Always a pleasure, Steve.

Be well.

- Same here.

Stay with us.

We'll be right back.

- [Narrator] To watch more One on One with Steve Adubato find us online and follow us on Social media.

- The Public Television Family is honored to join our good friend Joetta who is a four-time olympian, entrepreneur, motivational speaker.

This is, as I said, part of our Women in Leadership initiative done in cooperation with the Business & Industry Association, New Jersey.

Joetta, how are you doing my friend?

- I am doing well, thank you.

- That picture over your right shoulder of you up with the big, the swoosh, that's you?

- That is me.

Actually, that was me from 1996.

I was on the Nike campaign for women over 30 and that outfit was the initial part of the jog bra, the brief that we now wear, the bras are really short now, but back then, that was as much skin as we were showing.

(Steve laughs) - Yeah, put it in perspective.

- Yes.

- Joetta, you are a motivator, you have lived it.

You've walked the walk, you've run the run, if you will.

The "Gotta Do" keynote message that you delivered, in so many conferences, including with the Business & Industry Association, New Jersey.

Gotta do, gotta do what?

- Well, you know what, thank you very much.

I was honored to be part of that conference and the "Gotta Do" is what is inside of you.

So for me, I've gotta make sure that I'm making a difference in people's lives, via health, motivation, wealth, and finance.

So that gotta do, is that thing that bugs you in the deep minds of your soul.

So it varies for different people.

But the one thing that doesn't vary is that you gotta put in the work.

- So for people who get stuck, for people who say, I'm going to do this, they haven't done it yet.

I'm gonna start working out.

I'm gonna start a business, I'm gonna do whatever, but it's been a while that they've been saying that Joetta.

- Yes.

- What is your message to them right now, as they are watching.

- Well my message to them is that if you gotta do something, then you have to feel it.

And if you're not feeling it, that means it doesn't matter to you.

So what is it inside of you that is relevant, that you dream and think about?

And then, you know your purpose, you get prepared, you be patient, you get perturbed and you persevere.

And those are my Ps that I use in everything, in all walks of life.

So anyone that has to do something, has to do something is not really relevant.

Coz' I would like to do something.

It would be nice if I did something, but the "Gotta Do", you gotta do this.

So when I was, go ahead.

- No, no, go ahead, you the one, listen, I was gonna sit there and talk about my weak workouts and I have a little 'no excuses' sign that I always look at because I'm making excuses, but you're the one who's really motivating everyone.

So what were you about to say?

- I was gonna say when I was trying to make the Olympic team and it would've been nice to say, "it would be nice if I make the team," but I was in fourth place at one time and I gotta get the third place to make the team because they only took three people.

So that is the thing that's inside you that, it has to happen right now, not tomorrow, next week, but right now.

- Joetta, you, the brand of Joetta, first of all, explain to us why the one name Joetta, two the branding of it, and three, you also have some other aspects of this branding initiative, talk about it Joetta.

- Yes, well the one name is simple.

You've heard of Oprah, Madonna, Magic, Socrates.

Now you have Joetta.

So that's-- - Love it.

- There you go.

And it works with the brand.

So I have a line of perfume and body splash and body scrubs, that all goes under Joetta and I thought it sounds really well.

So we go by the one name, Joetta.

- I'm gonna ask you something, your passion for fitness, your passion for wellness.

Do you connect?

Cause in my crazy, I shouldn't use the word crazy, but in my mind, in order to do this work and you, and I've had so many interviews over the years, so many conversations in my mind, I correlate as a non real athlete, working out and taking care of myself and wellness with doing this work.

Meaning you have to have the energy to do this and do it well for a long period of time.

Do you connect wellness to your business, acumen and passion for business or are they just two separate things?

- Absolutely business, fitness.

It all works together.

We believe in a strong body, strong mind that equals a strong future.

And so if you want to be successful in anything, you have to have a good body.

So we had this new venture called JoTyme Fitness - What is it again, JoTyme, say it again.

- JoTyme Fitness, J-O-T-Y-M-E fitness, JoTyme Fitness.

And what we do there is we meet you where you are.

But we want you to know that if you have a strong body strong mind, it will equal a strong future.

- So someone says, particularly women watching right now, I would like to, I believe in what Joetta is saying, she's motivating, she's obviously, as I said, walk the walk and it speaks for itself.

And by the way, Google Joetta to find out all about her accomplishments as an Olympian.

But you know what?

Kids, spouse, significant other, whatever.

Work, stress, COVID, it's a long list.

At what point are they not excuses Joetta but rather real challenges that have to be overcome.

- Well, you know what, Steve, we always say, you have to put yourself first.

And that is what we've been putting through all this year.

You are a priority.

If you're not taking care of yourself, you will be no good for anyone else so although those are real issues, real challenges.

Nothing's more real than you being healthy financially, mentally, and spiritually.

So if you don't put yourself first, then you will be put somewhere else where no one will be able to see you.

So we believe that putting this on first, take 15 to 20 minutes at JoTyme Fitness, that's all we give 20 minutes, Steve, and you will have a solid program that will get you ready for the rest of your day.

- So as a student of leadership who teaches, coaches it and makes mistakes at leadership every single day, many times a day.

I'm curious about this.

I've asked every leader who's come on.

How he or she has dealt with COVID.

COVID has impacted your life.

Those around you.

Has it deterred you in any way from pursuing what you're doing or in fact, invigorated you or something in between?

- Well, as the motivational leader, and an authority on wellness and achievement accomplishment.

COVID did two things.

One, it helped me to realize the significance of life and being present.

And the second thing it did was it helped me get things in order.

So from a business perspective, it allowed me time to redo my mission statement, to get my team together, to get new material out and to be relevant for the now, and the now is that I'm back out speaking.

I am back out motivating.

I have a podcast out, we have JoTyme Fitness going on.

So all of this was developed during the quiet time of COVID.

- So you use that time, even though, as I said, there's been loss in your family.

And particularly in the last year, you use that time to regroup.

- Absolutely.

COVID was a time for you to regroup, for you to rethink, for you become rejuvenated and although you were going through challenges.

The fact of the matter is that just through here, and since you're still here, you're here for a purpose.

So let's get busy, what was that purpose?

What does that gotta do?

So the gotta do might have been a business.

It might've been a relationship.

I don't know what it was, but it needed your time and your energy.

So that's what I did.

I put everything into the business and recheck, redeveloping it, becoming more relevant.

So when we came out of the pandemic, the pivot was easy for me.

- Hey, Joetta, next time I'm in our home gym working out and doing some weak, lazy, lame workout.

I'm just gonna think about you.

- You should be ashamed of yourself (Joetta laughing) - I'm just saying that sometimes I'm going through the motions, but I'm gonna think about everything you just said and do what I have to do.

You gotta do it, gotta do it.

Hey Joetta, thank you.

You honor us by joining us on this Women in Leadership series, all the best, my friend.

- Thank you very much.

- That's Joetta, just Joetta and I'm Steve Adubato.

I am not at the point where I could just go by one name.

She is, thank you Joetta.

Stay with us, will be right back after this.

- [Narrator] To watch more One on One with Steve Adubato find us online and follow us on Social media.

- Talking about women and leadership.

We're joined by Kerry Barrett, who is a media communication trainer, award-winning journalist.

She spoke at the New Jersey Business & Industry Association, Seventh Annual Women Business Leaders Forum.

Good to see Kerry.

- It's great to see you, thank you for having me here.

- It's our pleasure.

Hey, listen, you coach people in communication, in my other life I do it as well, but we came to it very differently.

It's not about me, it's about you.

What do you mean you were gonna be a vet or a veterinarian because you didn't want to talk to people and now you're helping people talk to people?

- Yeah, and that's why I'm good at it.

Yes, so I used to have this debilitating fear of public speaking, and I don't mean the normal sort of like, "I don't really want to get up in front of these people, but I can muddle my way through."

I mean, back of the room, puddle of my own vomit, likely in the fetal position, very possibly passed out fear of public speaking.

And so I started in pre-veterinary medicine, right?

I don't have to talk to people as much, it's mostly animals and they don't talk back, and they don't judge, which was the biggest problem.

Well, about a year and a half into that, I realized that the only thing I got along with worse than public speaking was chemistry.

So I had, I had a nasty break-up with my pre-veterinary medicine major and I took a year and a half off.

And I finally was like, I got to get back in the game.

I don't know what I'm gonna do, but I'll do communications.

Namely there's no math or science.

And number two, maybe I can get a handle on this fear of public speaking that I have.

And so, you know, I was gonna have to take a couple of public speaking courses and one of the ways that I could jam a bunch of credits into my schedule and make up for that last year and a half worth of time was by getting an internship.

Well, the news industry, as you know Steve, it's a 24/7 industry, so I could jam that time into early morning, overnight, weekends, late night, the whole shebang.

So I got an internship at a local TV news station, and it was love from day one.

Now I had to figure out how to overcome that fear of public speaking and that's what eventually landed me here as a media trainer and a communications coach.

- So let's do this because again, not just women, but disproportionately women who are watching us right now want to get out there, difficult time.

It was, you do this late into 2021, the pandemic has impacted all of us, but they want to start their own business.

They want to move up in their organization, but they need to be better public communicators, and my good friend and colleague Mary Gamba, who has been with us for a long time, 21 years, when I first met her, she didn't want to speak in public, she turned red half the time when she spoke.

Now she's my co-host on another show we do on leadership.

She's out there leading the seminars, meaning where you start and how you start is not how you ultimately, if you will, wind up as a public communicator and everyone can grow.

Is that a fair assessment?

- It is absolutely a fair assessment and frankly, if you saw some of my very first newscasts, you'd realize that I was far from a polished speaker when I first got behind the desk as well.

And confidence is a huge part of that.

And understanding that you're never going to feel 100% confident right out of the gate.

Your first public speaking ventures, whether you're on a stage or you are on a camera, will likely always be bad unless you're just naturally gifted or you're like 15 and you grew up in front of the camera.

And so it's taking those very first steps and it's, it's understanding the skills and the performative aspect, so even if you're not feeling up to snuff, you trust that you've done the work and your butter-- your stomach may be full of butterflies, but you can fall back on the fact that you understand the, the performative aspect of it if you will.

I don't like to use that word, but that's what it is.

- I'm sorry for interrupting, as we're talking about communication, I interrupt you, but Carrie, here's the thing.

In the work that I'm doing, talking to people about digital communication, I'll say, "Look at the camera.

No, look at the camera.

No the camera, the little dot, whether it's green or red or whatever it is," how much of your work now, because you're talking about performance, performing in public if you will.

By the way, we're not teaching acting, it's telling a story, sharing, getting passionate.

How the heck are you coaching people to community, communicate into a little dot and saying, telling people that's eye contact.

- It's a tricky one.

And I'm decent at it because I had to do it for 20 years in the news business.

I understand looking into that black hole or the red dot or the green light or whatever it is that you see is the way that I'm connecting with the audience on the other side, right?

It feels awkward usually when you start, but nobody on the other side of the lens sees or feels any of that.

All they see is you looking at them in the eye and if you're missing that opportunity, you are hands down missing the easiest way to gain rapport and trust with your audience.

You know if you were having a conversation, one to one with someone, you know, face to face, in person, you would never have the conversation like this because it's awkward and rude, and after a couple of seconds, the person would wonder what the heck is wrong with you?

Well that's the same thing when you're speaking on camera.

So I actually will tell clients that are getting used to it, practice for five minutes a day, get in front of the camera and just riff.

Whatever it's about, just practice looking in the lens, put a pair of Google-y eyeballs next to it if you need to so you can remind yourself that there's a person on the other side and then I remind people as well, you know, if you are trying to speak to an audience of millions or thousands or hundreds, or even dozens, you speak to all of them, you speak to none of them.

So imagine one person on the other side of the lens and talk to that person and that's how you connect with everyone.

- But hold on one second, watch this for a second folks.

This is where the camera is for me.

A great, a camera operator is here, Scarlyn's here.

He's right behind that camera, he's there.

The camera's there, Kerry's here, so Kerry, if I conducted this interview, looking at you on my screen, I'm looking at you so I'm making eye contact with you in my head, but am I really making eye contact with you here?

Here is making eye contact.

So, so the point Kerry, it's unnatural, but it doesn't matter how you see it, it's how they see it, right Kerry?

- It's all about the receiver.

The whole point of communicating via camera, digitally, video, whatever it is, I mean, it is the ultimate one to many communication, it's just, it's on steroids.

And if you master it, you've got a great opportunity from moving out of obscurity, struggle, fear, whatever it is and coming out on the other side, but you have to remember, it's all about the receiver, it's never about you.

- Hey Kerry before we let people go, for everyone and I won't do communication coaching because she's the coach today.

For all of you who are hiding behind, "Oh, I only want to be on audio for this meeting.

I don't really want anyone to see me because of my background because whatever.

Kerry real quick, 20 seconds or less, why does everyone need to be on camera unless there some extraordinary circumstance?

- Because, like I said, it is the ultimate way of one to many communication.

Putting video marketing content out there is a 24/7, 365 endeavor, takes no holidays, takes no weekends, takes no sick days.

If you're not meeting your audience where you are, where they are, excuse me, you're not meeting them.

- That's Kerry Barrett.

She's part of our Leadership and Women Initiative.

Leadership and Women?

Women in Leadership with the New Jersey Business & Industry Association.

Kerry, I wanna thank you so much for joining us.

I learned a lot from you and I know others did as well.

All the best.

- Likewise.

- I love animals, but I'm glad she didn't become a vet.

I'm Steve Adubato, see you next time.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by Atlantic Health System.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

New Jersey Institute of Technology.

IBEW Local 102.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

Prudential Financial.

Choose New Jersey.

Summit Health And by Johnson & Johnson.

Promotional support provided by New Jersey Globe.

And by ROI-NJ.

(hands clapping) (drums banging) (fingers snapping)