Bio:Reagan is a mother of three and the Executive Director leading the creation and implementation of the Innovation Outpost in Amarillo, Texas.Growing up in Amarillo, Reagan saw her peers leave town to chase opportunities that seemed to exist only in big cities, and she herself followed that same narrative to pursue a better life. Movies, books, television series all reinforce the idea that success lies in a big city. Now, Reagan is back in Amarillo to reshape the narrative.Reagan is leading the ideation and development of the Innovation Outpost, which will help lead Amarillo and regional businesses through the digital transformation needed to compete in the 21st century. During the pandemic, Reagan noticed how technology has decentralized business, allowing for partnerships to be built across time zones and reducing the need to relocate to a big city.Reagan’s vision for the Innovation Outpost is to boost Amarillo’s business community, assist with reskilling and upskilling companies and turn Amarillo into a regional business hub bustling with high quality jobs and opportunity. She hopes that in ten years, her children will graduate high school and feel proud to chase career opportunities in Amarillo.What led you to create Innovation Outpost?Reagan has had to reinvent herself multiple times as she moved around because of her husband’s job.Her experience was all women who stayed home. She moved back to her hometown, and had an incredible opportunity to help her community become more innovative. How do you give yourself grace?Everyone makes simple mistakes. You need to be willing to let yourself make mistakes. Always try to learn from any mistake you make. It doesn’t make it any less terrifying when you mess up, but it does help you to learn from your mistakes.What obstacles have you faced being a women leader? When she was working in the finance industry, her boss wouldn’t let her go to face-to-face client meetings because he didn’t want people to see how young she was. She has had a lot of experience at board tables where she is the only woman. She learned to speak up and give her perspective and stand up even to people more senior than her. Find your voice! Be confident. It’s on you to show that you have worth. Play to your strengths as a woman. Women tend to have more emotional intelligence. What does the future hold? Opportunities for women are starting to really come. COVID is an opportunity for women because working from home is becoming more and more common. A lot of employers are starting to look at work as a more flexible thing. Speaking upVery rarely will you be met with pushback. If you do get pushback, the organization will struggle because they aren’t adapting to the future and where things are going. If you have a toxic relationship with a boss or a company, leave. There are other opportunities and other places where you’ll be valued. You can be so powerful in the workplace.LinksWebsite: https://www.innovationoutpost.com/ Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/innovationoutpost LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/innovation-outpost/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/innovateoutpost Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/innovationoutpost/ Follow Karely:Branding For Women WebsiteInstagramFacebookListen & SubscribeApple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsOvercastSpotifyI’d love to hear from you!Have some feedback about the show? Feel free to reach out to me at www.brandingforwomen.com or send me a message on instagram, @brandingforwomen. You can also rate the show in Apple Podcasts or your favorite app to help more people discover The Female Empowerment Podcast!