Dr Crystal Morrison Podcast
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I am so excited to be sharing with you today. The interview I did with Dr. Crystal Morrison. We talk about our journey going from being a scientist in the corporate world through to dreaming and launching her own business. And as a mother of three, Dr. Crystal Morrison is the perfect example of a woman who dreams big and gets into action. But even with these incredible achievements, [00:01:00]
She's real and ready to talk about the reality of it all. Dr. Crystal Morrison is a highly regarded executive advisor, strategist, leader, scientist, and tech entrepreneur. Her experience navigating the complex system of care on behalf of her children. Inspired her to co-found and lead Meerkat village.
A software company dedicated to improving outcomes for children with special needs, by building collaboration and communication amongst the adults providing care.
Trust me, this is not an episode that you want to miss. If you're in the mood for real inspiring practical conversation.
Mel: Hi Crystal. How are you doing?
Dr Crystal Morrison: I'm great. How are you Mel?
Mel: I'm good. Thank you so much for agreeing to come on and chat to everybody listening in on this podcast. I really appreciate it
Dr Crystal Morrison: yeah, I'm really excited to be here. I know what we're gonna talk about is totally in line with where I'm at and the way I think.
So I'm really looking [00:02:00] forward to our conversation brilliant.
Mel: Yeah. Where I found you, really appealed to me in the work that you're doing, but also the story around it. So yeah, I'm really excited to share that with our listeners.
Dr Crystal Morrison: Yeah, absolutely.
So start by
Mel: just tell us a little
Dr Crystal Morrison: bit about you.
Yeah, so I am originally from Arkansas, which is in the south, here in the United States, and I was always interested in being a scientist and after high school went on to study chemistry and in college and in grad school, and After grad school I went out to Los Alamo National Lab and worked for a long time.
And at the same time I was growing my professional career. I was growing my family and I have three teenagers now. I have a 14, 17, and 19 year old, and we live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Now. Beautiful kids [00:03:00] and two cats, one dog pretty standard family situation for the most part, the way it sounds.
But as with most families, it's non-standard. So yeah that's a little bit about my background to get started. Yeah. That's
Mel: brilliant. Thank you. And it, that's a funny phrase this like what is a standard family anyways now, right? like
Dr Crystal Morrison: Exactly. It might look like it
Mel: on paper, but really like maybe the standard is that it's all chaos
Dr Crystal Morrison: behind the scenes.
I think so. I think so. And that's why I said that cuz it's yeah, it's my husband and I and our three kids and dog and two cats and that sounds standard, but there is nothing standard about what goes on in his house, . For sure. Amazing. So you grew up wanting to be a scientist. Yeah.
Which is amazing. What kind of science were you doing? So I'm a chemist by training and my specialties in polymers and plastics. And so I worked on [00:04:00] lots of different types of materials, including paints and coatings and adhesives and sealants and all kinds of good stuff like. Ah, really interesting.
Yeah. And so that was your,
Mel: that was your past job? And where has that led you to? I had the opportunity to work in academia and also national lab here in the us and then about 10 years ago I moved to Pittsburgh to join industry and really had an opportunity to work for some amazing different companies and places.
Dr Crystal Morrison: But about five years ago there was a lot of things going on in my life. my family was in crisis, if I'm being honest. There was just an awful lot going on and I was at the position I wanted to be at. I was leading global teams in r and d, but just really struggling in a corporate environment and looking to do something different.
Looking [00:05:00] to spend some time creating companies and building ideas and working on some things that were interest to me. So I decided to leave my corporate role about five years ago, and, Crazy. Absolutely crazy. No, no one could believe that I would step away from my corporate position, including my mother.
But over the past five years, I've had the opportunity to work on a variety of topics that are important to me. I've worked on supporting and growing new leaders in, in. I'm also doing consulting in my professional field and creating a startup of my own. Completely a complete different departure from what I knew and was trained in professionally.
So it's been constant constant learning every single day for sure. Yeah. And that's a huge leap
Mel: going from corporate [00:06:00] presumably a stable, pretty well paid Yes. Job. Yes. And leaping away from that. Yeah. Into something that maybe lights
Dr Crystal Morrison: you up in a different way. Yes. Yeah. Lights you up in a different way, makes you feel like you're having an impact, but not always a consistent paycheck.
Yes.
Mel: Yeah. So how was that shift
Dr Crystal Morrison: for you? The shift was as scary as it sounds if I'm completely honest. Part of the reason I was able to make that shift again, if I'm completely honest is because I have a partner. We have health insurance, I was going to continue to have health insurance. And here in the states, that's often at the forefront of your mind when you're thinking about a career change.
And I knew that myself and my kids and my husband, we weren't gonna starve. Certainly we weren't gonna be in the same financial situation we [00:07:00] were, but my, my partner, my husband was very supportive and we knew we were gonna be able to eat and pay the mortgage. So that was part number one.
I had that support system. But it was very scary, if I'm honest. I like to think of myself as fearless and bold and I am for the most part. Not really knowing about how to get your own thing off the ground and learning on the fly was, it was scary, but it was also really fun.
Like really fun, just learning stuff about nothing that you know, anything about marketing and there's so on and so forth. And seeing something come to fruition is really exit.
Mel: Yeah, that's such an interesting way to put it. It makes me think of the, like the different zones, the kind of stretch, the comfort zone, the stretch zone, the red zone.
Yes. And it sounds like for the most part it was in the [00:08:00] stretch zone, which is where it can be scary and exciting. Yeah. But maybe tapped into the red a few times when you're like, oh. Right. Yeah. This is a lot.
What have I done, . Exactly right. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's really fascinating.
And I'm curious, what is that? What is that big, audacious dream that you were leaning into there? I did a lot of soul searching before I decided to leave my corporate role. A lot of soul searching about where, like what parts of my day and what interactions gave me the most energy gave, made me feel like I was the most valuable and It was always talking to people, developing people, supporting people, and empowering them.
Dr Crystal Morrison: And that was consistently the theme. And it's somewhat strange to hear a scientist say that because you're like, [00:09:00] oh, it's creating and all of that. And one of the things I learned early on in my career, fortunately, was that it didn't really matter how smart you were. You were never going to get great ideas and great r and d done and accomplished if you couldn't bring people together.
And really bring the best out in them. And so doing, that's always what gave me the most energy. And so as I thought about what came next that was at the forefront of my mind in terms of my big audacious goal or my guiding light. It's very simple. It's to work on.
Really big problems that can have a massive impact if we solve them. And to work with rockstar people. Like basic premise. That's where I thrive. And as it relates to what I'm doing now my big audacious goal, , is [00:10:00] to dramatically improve outcomes for children, 1 million children in two years actually by using technology to build communication and collaboration among the adults surrounding them.
And so again, it's all about empowering people, bringing people together and really harnessing the collaborative of the community yeah. Oh my goodness. You just said so
Mel: many words that are like my words and where my heart lies, that I'm just like yes. Oh,
Dr Crystal Morrison: the angels are singing .
Mel: Exactly.
Right. It's make an impact, be with people, rockstar people, I believe. What's the actual phrase? Yes, absolutely. That collaboration and communication and I don't know. Depending on who's listening in on this, may or may not know that my background actually for quite a few years as I worked with adults with learning difficulties as the phrase would be in the UK when I lived there. And [00:11:00] it's, it really holds something
Dr Crystal Morrison: strong in my heart to Right. To
Mel: enable people whatever ability they have, whatever. Background they have. It ne we need that support system around us. Right. We absolutely do. Right. Like it doesn't, every single human being does, essentially.
/So I really love
Dr Crystal Morrison: where you're going with that. And think it's such an honorable and amazing dream. And I can, I was watching your face talk about it, right? And you're like, yes,
this is it. And you're like, I'm gonna reach 2 million people. I'm not thinking small
Mel: here. Yeah. I'm I'm thinking big and that's just in.
Dr Crystal Morrison: Incredible. Yeah. Yeah. That's what that, what's, that's what lights you up. Right? That's what really lights you up daily. It's your why it's what fuels you. It's what drives you when literally nothing else is going. Right. . Yeah. Yeah. And how do
Mel: you hold onto that? Do you have a phrase that you look at or [00:12:00] think about or that thing that lights you up? We all have those days when we forget what that is.
Dr Crystal Morrison: Yeah. Or it's
Mel: just a little too far away for us to see. Yeah. So how do you remind yourself? As much as I talk about being bold and I am there, there's always these voices in my brain like, you're crazy. That's never gonna happen
Dr Crystal Morrison: like telling myself that. But I have a little quote here in my office and it's absolutely something that I remind myself. And that's the status quo. Status quo is a bigger risk than the unknown. And I love that, and it resonates with me so much and it's such a it's such a theme for my life because I hate status.
Just this whole idea of we've always done this, done it this way, just makes me wanna barf Like that is no fun at all. Who wants to be status quo? yeah, [00:13:00] the status quo is just no fun. And but really and truly, Mel, Just being complacent and doing the things the same old way.
Just because you've done 'em that way, that's a huge risk. Like doing that is a bigger risk I totally believe than the unknown. And what could be possible? Oh, that's so amazing. Everything, everything went in there.
And that phrase, that quote was barf. I just wrote it down as you were talking and I'm like,
Mel: that's the quote I need on my wall.
/I have a lot of quotes on my wall. Yeah. But but I really, yeah that's so fascinating to me. And it really relates
Dr Crystal Morrison: back to, and this is me bringing my own journey into it, but. Yeah.
Mel: This, I, so I identify strongly, very strongly with that. Status quo is always it's never made
Dr Crystal Morrison: me feel comfortable.
Right. Like the way it's intended to. Right. Yeah. And the just cause is just not good enough for me. No. And and it's, and with those thinking, because it is against [00:14:00] the grain and not status quo. So many stories from others, but also just in my head, because I've
grown up in this culture. Right. Yeah.
Mel: Just say what the hell are you talking about? Who are
Dr Crystal Morrison: you, right? Who are you to think you can change the status quo, , and that comes
Mel: up so much . Yeah. So it's so, so nice to hear someone say. Yeah. This is, I believe this too. And actually the status quo in whatever way it might be that you feel like it needs to shift.
Cuz that's, it's a very broad statement.
Dr Crystal Morrison: Yeah. Is worth challenging,
Mel: right? Yeah. It's really worth challenging. It is. And and that's from a work perspective through to just general life perspective, right? Yeah. We've got a big decision
Dr Crystal Morrison: to make in my family in terms of where my children
Mel: go to school.
As we have a new one coming into kindergarten and. , one of the things we're thinking is quite an alternative solution. And that, that's what I thought of actually [00:15:00] while you read that out. I was like, oh my God. You're right. Like just staying in the status quo is way riskier.
Dr Crystal Morrison: Yeah. Than leaping into what feels
Mel: Yeah. Right. And that is, is very much not the status quo . Right. So thank you so much for that. You've just Move my
Dr Crystal Morrison: brain on quite a lot, that issue without even knowing it. But
Mel: yeah, I love that. I'm gonna read it out again for anybody who might've missed that.
Or maybe you can actually, cuz I've written it down in like
Dr Crystal Morrison: note forms, so you might have a better
Mel: phrase. So what's the quote that's on your wall?
Dr Crystal Morrison: Status quo is a bigger risk than the unknown. Yeah, definitely something I've looked That is your,
Mel: yeah. And if that's your strong. I can also see how this is the, where your journey is led.
Right? That big audacious dream that you have is so incredible and so needed as well. And I love that you're stepping into that version of yourself [00:16:00] to make that difference and empower those people to communicate and collaborate and support the people that they're
Dr Crystal Morrison: with, yeah there's certainly a big there's a big personal, there's a big personal why behind specifically why I'm doing certain things too.
And so if I could just maybe talk a little bit more to that piece. So I, I mentioned that I was growing my career and I have three teenagers and. So at the same time, I was growing my career professionally and thriving and growing as a scientist. I was growing my family and I as I mentioned, I have three teenagers.
Two of my children were adopted and they had A lot of really significant early trauma. One of my children is autistic and has a number of different mental health diagnoses as [00:17:00] well, and so I had a treatment team from, for my kids. I had lots and lots of people involved in my life and my children's lives supporting.
So in my professional life, I was building these high performing teams to try to tackle really hard technical problems. And then in my personal life, I had all of these people trying to support my children, but they never, ever behaved as a team. They despite all of the consent forms and permissions and me trying to keep everyone on the same page, they just, we just never operated truly as a team to support my kids.
And at the end of the day, it was my kids that maybe didn't make quite the progress they could have if we had all been on, on the same page as a team and. So when I talk about my why and when I talk about what I'm doing now [00:18:00] with Mere Cat Village, it's because of the personal challenges that, that I myself have faced as a parent in navigating the system of care.
It, of course, here in the United States, it's incredibly complex system of care and I'm sure to many listeners in other countries it's also very complex. There's a lot of. Different agencies and players and different people and it's very overwhelming. It's very frustrating and we need to simplify it in so many ways and make sure that we're not only empowering the parents, but we're leveraging the professional supports, the teachers, the therapists, all of the professional supports, but we're also leveraging the natural.
That are supporting our family, our extended family, maybe our church community or coaches, et cetera, neighbors, families, friends that are [00:19:00] supporting us, our village, our legitimate village, right? And so that's where the work that, that I'm doing now came from, again, back to this idea of empowering people, building communication and collaboration and.
Seeing something very clearly that needs to be changed and seeing a path forward for creating that change and just not being able to let go of it. Because I know there are millions of parents in the exact same shoes that I've lived in every day and experiencing their frustrations that I'm feeling.
For sure that's, I wanna say beautiful, but sadly beautiful. That's the reality. Yeah. But also beautiful that you're you're acknowledging that and that you've, this is a lived experience that you're working with. Yeah. It's not some problem you've made up. Right, right. And and you're right in my experience,
Mel: I've seen that a lot as well.
People just sure aren't working
Dr Crystal Morrison: together. And I love [00:20:00] the phrase
Mel: you used there around your village. . Like we hear it takes a village to raise a
Dr Crystal Morrison: child. Right. What? But also it just takes a village
Mel: to raise anybody. Right? Yeah. And to support all of us need this. In the uk, I'm not sure if they use it in the US to the phrase, but it would be called your circle of support.
So it's like all the different levels out of your neighbors through to your professionals. Right. we all need it, right? We really do, and I'm, I am so intrigued by how you're making. This happen? Like how are you taking that and what technology are you using? And maybe this is like
Dr Crystal Morrison: too detailed for everybody else, but I'm
Mel: so curious of how, like how do you tackle something
Dr Crystal Morrison: like that?
I've been working with my co-founder, Dan, for about four and a half years on trying to bring Near Cat Village to life. And it has been a rollercoaster. It's been a lot of starts and stops. Even though I had a technical background, I don't [00:21:00] know the first thing about software development, about building an app.
I don't know any of that. And Worked with a lot of different people over the years and really over the past year and a half, we've finally built a very strong team with all of the right talents. So people that are excellent in product and excellent in software development. And brought them together.
So it has been a journey and we could probably spend an entire additional podcast just talking about that journey of building a company, but it was really surrounding myself with people who had. Different skillsets than I and the skillsets that are needed to build a tech platform. finding those people and bringing 'em together and aligning around the same mission.
It sounds easy, but it's not. It's really hard actually. Yeah. But yeah, so what [00:22:00] we've created is a new technical platform that we call Mer Cat Village. And it's designed for parents that have children with special needs, and that could be a variety of different things.
Could be autism, A D H D speech delays, could be medical complexities. But it gives the parent the ability to invite in all of their support system, the circles of support that you mentioned the village that you mentioned, to invite all of those people in and get them legal consent authorization to communicate and collaborate within the platform on behalf of their child.
And so it. Simplifies our ability to communicate it allows us to get everyone on the same page and around the table at the same time. And it also allows the team to create strategies and implement those strategies [00:23:00] and to monitor the child's progress over time. So it's an incredibly powerful platform with the end goal of really being able to.
Outcomes for children because we're staying accountable to following through and what we say we're going to do, and we're monitoring the child to see if what we're do is working, what we're doing is working and if it's not working, let's change. pivot and do something different rather than waiting six months before another appointment.
Yeah.
Mel: Brilliant. Yeah, it just,
Dr Crystal Morrison: I can see so many gaps that is filling. there. Assuming we can get everybody on board, yes. Being the biggest challenge
always, but always . And I'm curious with the child being at the center of that circle how are they brought into it in terms of their voice and
ownership of it?
Yeah. So the platform right now is geared toward Primarily like early childhood, [00:24:00] early intervention, elementary school age. Our, one of our goals on our product roadmap is to develop a complimentary child version of the app so that there's like a social emotional learning component.
There's a way for the child to provide input on their feelings and things like that would compliment it. For older children and young adults, they actually have the ability to join the village than themselves. Assuming that they and their parents are okay with that and to speak on their behalf.
So it's mere Cat Village is not taking the place of any. Traditional therapy sessions or meetings among teachers. It's just being that connective tissue outside of, in, in the 99% of the life we spend outside of those sessions. It's providing continuity and collaborative care. [00:25:00] Brilliant.
Mel: Love it. Thank you for sharing that. I'm excited about what will come and I can, I have a few people in my head that I'll be like, listen to this episode because you might be interested.
Dr Crystal Morrison: They'll be off in the uk. But yeah really
fascinating. Thank you.
Mel: So I'm really curious of how does your family versus this big, audacious dream and work life, what does that look like now?
How do they play? I think there was always it's, I don't know that I'm very good at balance, if I'm being honest, but I try one of the benefits of the career move for me was being able to work from home. And I see my kids when they come home from school. I often drop them off at school in the morning.
Dr Crystal Morrison: So I'm much more visible than I was before. My kids also really understand the work that I'm doing and they understand the [00:26:00] why behind the work that I'm doing. And that's important. I think it's important for them to have that example. Because when they see me working They don't see me as toiling away on somebody else's company or somebody else's dream or someone else's priorities.
I'm working on something that they know and understand and that they are excited for me about. And I think that, . That's been really powerful in my family. It's also been very powerful because my, my kids have. Seeing me like try to create and build something and had a front row seat in entrepreneurship and all of the tears and frustration, but all of the success too.
And I think it's been very important. And for [00:27:00] my husband is my partner. Incredibly supportive, but it's been really cool for my kids to have that front row seat in, in entrepreneurship also the reality of it. And there's a lot of chaos on our, in our house on a regular basis. But it's very supportive chaos.
I like to say . Yeah.
Mel: That's a great way to say it. Yeah. And I love that your kids are excited about that and understand Yeah. What you're trying to do there. And I agree that does make a big difference. Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, oh, I want my kids to understand. Mine are a little, it's a little harder for them to understand
Dr Crystal Morrison: they're only four and seven.
Mel: They do understand that I am, I'm in there trying to make a difference Some. Right. I'm not just sitting at my computer
Dr Crystal Morrison: Right. For the sake of it and I
also, maybe they don't understand exactly what you're spending your time on let's [00:28:00] be honest when parents and guardians and the adults surrounding children are filling, fulfilled, and are energized by what they're spending their time on, kids feel that kids see.
And so even if they can't quite comprehend, like what you're spending your time on or your business or what your podcast is about, they feel in sense your satisfaction and energy and it's it's an insane benefit to them. Insane benefit. I most definitely agree we everything.
Mel: If we feel more whole, our kids pick up on that. It's basically the gist of what you say, right? And therefore we're enabling them to see what it feels like to feel more whole and more energized
Dr Crystal Morrison: and more and the frustrations
Mel: that go with it all. Yeah. And and enable them to
Dr Crystal Morrison: do the same.
Mel: Right?
So I'm giving my kids permission to go off and follow a dream of. [00:29:00] Yeah. And take time and energy and
Dr Crystal Morrison: effort to do that. Yeah. My kids are a little bit older but I don't think there's, it's too early to start this. Because I work from home my kids will see me if I'm upset about a call or if I'm really excited or if something happened and I'm in tears and they'll ask mom, are you okay?
And rather than saying I again, my kids are teenagers, rather than saying, I'm fine now, I will say I just had a call. I was hoping for X, Y, and Z, but here's what happened. And I'm just upset about that and I'm sure everything will be okay, but I just need to be emotional right now. And that has also.
helped So much because my kids call bullshit on me [00:30:00] when they know I'm lying about my feelings and I give them complete and total permission to do that . But I, I think. . I think that's something that I've also gotten a lot better at. And it gives your permission, gives kids permission to also it's okay to be upset about some things you don't have to say.
I'm fine . And my kids have definitely benefited from that and they've seen me have some ugly tears on more than one occasion.
Mel: And that's beautiful, right? You're saying, here's your permission to be human. Because I've just given it to myself. I've just given it to you too.
Dr Crystal Morrison: And that's exactly one of the best things you could ever give a kid. Exactly. Especially someone who I don't know your kids, but I assume, like my kids definitely they have high emotion and they're very loud and they're so
they do react to things and you're saying, yeah, that's human.
Mel: There's no shame attached to that. Just Yeah, just.
Dr Crystal Morrison: Yep. Feel it and
Mel: then [00:31:00] you'll be able to move through it, right? Yep.
Dr Crystal Morrison: And sometimes mommy does a really. I was just gonna say sometimes mommy does a really bad to job of behaving and she needs to apologize too. . Yeah. Hundred percent. I have, there's a lot of apologies
Mel: in this
for sure the look on their face, you like
Dr Crystal Morrison: my tiny one, like really story like
Mel: I, I probably shouldn't have said that or done that, or whatever it might be. And they're like, Yeah. And my daughter, who's extremely socially aware, that's probably the most socially aware person I've met
Dr Crystal Morrison: ever.
We'll just be like, yeah, you're feeling a little bit like stressed right now, aren't you, ?
Mel: Yeah. Yeah, I am. That's not an excuse. I still shouldn't do that, but I am, and that's why I acted that way. And I'm working to try to like breathe through that instead. . Yeah. We go for a walk or whatever other techniques there might be.
Right? And Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And that's the I think that is the [00:32:00] unspoken side of all this. Cause especially once, if our big audacious dream turns into a business of substores especially, there's always gonna be those ups and downs and challenges and it's a real rollercoaster and and I think It's often we myself, I'll speak for myself, but many moms also that I, I speak to get worried about the impact that might have on our kids, right?
If we are having to step away and not being able to if we're in our office and I just I need to work right now. I need you to go sort yourself in whatever way it might be. And any we worry about the negative impact of that. But what I love about what. Talked about is there's so many positives, right?
There's so many positives to even the hard parts, right? Yeah. Yeah. So yeah I love all of that. Yeah. You're never going, we're never going to be [00:33:00] perfect at parent parenting, and I don't think there's a space for that, but My kids, like I said, have had a front, front row seat and they've seen an awful lot , as I've changed careers and even pivoted companies and had.
Dr Crystal Morrison: Relationships, professional relationships that I thought were excellent. Relationships fall apart and partnerships unravel. And they've they witnessed that and I'm honest with them about what's going on because it's is reality. And it's also an education too. I believe it's an education and lots of different things.
So while it hasn't been easy and maybe there's things I shouldn't have shared with my kids, I think it's giving them an amazing perspective on the reality of what it takes to follow your dream, what it takes to build [00:34:00] something and try to get something off the ground. And, Also that it's not a nine to five job.
That there's demands on my time outside of hours where sometimes I may need to juggle things and that's just a reality. It doesn't mean I'm not gonna be there for them. It doesn't mean that I'm not going to the football game or whatever. It means that I'm gonna have a Zoom call at nine o'clock at night and you need to be working on your homework.
Mel: Yeah. Yeah,
that's, yeah, I just agree with everything. . Brilliant. In thinking of who, our audience, who is probably listening to this. There might be some moms who are maybe a little earlier on in their journey and they think, I have this dream, but I don't even know how to voice it yet.
Or maybe they do, but there is still feel that crazy feeling. You mentioned earlier [00:35:00] am I crazy? What am I doing here? Whether they're transitioning from a corporate job or whether. Just transitioning from something, right? And what would your what would you
wanna say to those moms to
Dr Crystal Morrison: help them along their way?
I would say especially to, to moms that are, they just have this idea, they have this kernel in their head that they just can't quite loosen up. It could be a dream, it could be a business idea. It could be any number of different things. Is to try and. And carve out at least a little bit of time to put pen to paper or to put in your thoughts on paper.
The basic things, like why does this matter? What it, what why does it matter? How, like, how could I accomplish this? Start brainstorming on different things. And really start as simple as that. And I know that's what I did [00:36:00] early on as I was starting to contemplate a career pivot.
And then the last part of that is who who were the people that. I need to talk to or I need to bring into my life that can help me move this forward or provide the right networks to help me move this forward. But really that basic and what, why, how, and who and to start thinking through that.
Because that helps you writing things down forces you to be a little bit more concrete, to add a little bit more details, to add a little bit more meat to it. And that's a really great starting point. And so that would be my suggestion as that. Starting point. And this applies to even if you have pivoted careers I tell my kids I don't know what I'm gonna be when I grow up because we're constantly growing every single day.
And so I may have a new idea or a new thought on how I wanna [00:37:00] shape things from your cat village. And I try to. Same thought exercise. What is it? Why is this gonna be important? How are we gonna accomplish this? And who do we need to bring on board or do I need to get in contact with to help make that a reality?
And so that's just the little mental exercise I do. And I personally find that by writing things down or typing them out, it forces me, like I said, to be a bit more concrete on making it happen. Yeah,
Mel: that's brilliant. And I, there's lots of parts I love to that, but what really stands out is your value of collaboration, which is what your business all, all is, right?
But this, the, I think it's often the case that we can go into the what and the how, and the all that in our ideation phase. And forget the who. Forget the part that says who firstly, who do I need to talk to in this infancy stage of my idea that I trust and that I know will [00:38:00] say this
Dr Crystal Morrison: is amazing and
they're
Mel: not gonna tell me I'm crazy.
Right. Right. Because we're really vulnerable in that stage. Right. We need someone to be really excited with us
Dr Crystal Morrison: and, but also who's, who can
Mel: make this happen with me? Maybe it doesn't just have to be me in a room by myself. All the time. Right.
Dr Crystal Morrison: Exactly. Who else could that look
Mel: like?
Who else could be
Dr Crystal Morrison: part of it? Exactly. And
Mel: I really like that emphasis. That's a great
Dr Crystal Morrison: point. Yeah. And it goes back to somewhat where we started. I know myself well enough to know that I like tackling big problems with impact and I like working with rock stars, . So whether that's like doing chemistry or empowering parents and supporting kiddos, that's the fundamental theme for me.
I've never done anything like solely on my own. It's always been through collaboration or leveraging my [00:39:00] networks and building new networks and that's just been incredibly. Important part of anything I've done. And it's all about that collaboration and also understanding what my talents and strengths are as a human and knowing that I don't have certain talents and strengths and I need to go find people to do
Yeah, definitely.
Mel: Definitely. And It doesn't, I don't think anything
Dr Crystal Morrison: happens on our own, even if we try to make it
Mel: happen on our own. Yeah. It either doesn't happen or it'll get to a little a point when other people have to be involved in.
Dr Crystal Morrison: Yeah. And. ,
Mel: and it's a really interesting topic. I could, we could probably talk collaboration for an hour, to be honest.
There's challenges to it. There's stories we're telling ourselves like, but what if I can't pay them right away? And there's so many things
Dr Crystal Morrison: that could come into it, right? Yep. Where maybe the first step is just opening like you say, writing it down, opening up the idea that who. Is important.
Mel: And then starting to talk to people about it
Dr Crystal Morrison: [00:40:00] and Yes. See what happens. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Or how your idea starts to change and morph and become something slightly different and better and more amazing. That's all possible. Yeah. I always
Mel: say that an idea is not created in a room by yourself, so you might have like enough to write down, get it outta your head, make it more concrete.
But it's when we start talking to other people that are morph into whatever is gonna. Right. Yeah. The first idea was never the best idea. . Yeah. As much as we'd like to hope it's , get really attached to it. But yes that's really brilliant. Thank you. Is there anything else that you wanted to say, note,
Dr Crystal Morrison: ask, talk about?
So I would just welcome people to connect with me. I'm on LinkedIn, Dr. Crystal Morrison. Love for you to connect with me on LinkedIn or Facebook or Instagram and. I would really encourage you to check out our website meerkatvillage.com. We [00:41:00] do offer a free 30 day trial for parents if you want to check it out and learn how to use it and really leverage your village.
And I'm more than happy to anyone who reaches out to give you a demo or the product or talk further about my. Experiences just really committed to being a resource. And so I'm happy to connect with whomever and hope that what you and I have talked about today will really resonate with people out there.
And they'll continue to listen to your great podcasts, as I'm sure you're gonna have many amazing guests to talk about these. Audacious goals that we as mom have and should follow through on .
Mel: That's brilliant. Yeah, and I really encourage everybody to go
Dr Crystal Morrison: and check it out, even if it's not directly to you.
I
Mel: bet you every single one of us could think of a person right now that would
Dr Crystal Morrison: benefit
Mel: from the work that you're doing if not directly then indirectly. So [00:42:00] have a look and. even if you wanna think about it just from oh, this is her dream. This is intriguing . What impact is she trying to make?
Dr Crystal Morrison: And let your curiosity lead there, but also spread the word about this amazing, impactful work that you are, you're doing.
Yes, much appreciated. Definitely. Excellent. Thank so much
Mel: for joining me today and I look forward to just seeing
Dr Crystal Morrison: more. Absolutely. . Appreciate you too.
Thank you
Wow. What an amazing woman Dr. Crystal Morrison is, it's truly been a pleasure to get so real with someone who has taken her experience as a mom. And used it to make such a big impact in the world. Again, go on over and check her out at Meerkatvillage.com. If her technology could help. You or those in your life?
And I'm so curious of how this episode lands with you. So please take the time to like, and rate the podcast. [00:43:00] And come say a low on permission to be human on Facebook and Instagram, or find me on LinkedIn as Mel Findlater tell me what you think. And until then, please remember to take the time to dream big because the world needs you. And your big audacious dreams.
