Cross Pollination in Life and Nature with Kelsey Ayres Part 2 (of 2)
“Being in nature is the most holistic way for me to really remove myself from my thoughts...it’s hard to not be overcome with gratitude and just amazement and awe”
YOUR KEY INSIGHTS FROM Kelsey ayres
With an unlikely background studying anthropology and working in social work, Kelsey has come to truly love working in and with small businesses. She is the president of Mike Michalowicz's brand company, Obsidian Launch. Small business owners are true change-makers and it is her mission to support them so they can create a more equitable and just world. Growing up in rural New Jersey and now living in the woods of Northeast Pennsylvania she has a deep appreciation of nature and has made it a life priority to travel the world to see its many wonders.
Adaptability in Nature
“I think about this all the time, the adaptability of things in nature. So I love the way you'll find different species of a tree in different areas. It’ll create these different mechanisms within its biology to survive that specific environment, which I think is amazing. Even now that we're engineering different flowers and things. But the way that there's kind of cross pollination. We'll get completely new, hybrid flowers and things that happen, just because of the nature of the circumstances that exist. And I think as humans, we can do that. We can bridge our perspectives by sort of cross pollinating with each other. We can adapt to new places and new things, and we can develop new resources within us to survive and thrive in those places. And honestly, anytime I travel, that's what I think about. What are they doing? How are they doing it that you can mimic? Who can you ask to teach you how to speak? What's the lingo? What's the thing? What is the street food that you should be eating? What's the thing that you should not be eating? How do you survive within that environment? I think that's my biggest lesson from nature.”
The foundational aspect of any business
“I genuinely just want to create these kinds of interconnected systems so that we can really serve more meaningfully. And I think that culture is such a foundational aspect of any business. Because it really does impact the way each person shows up. And definitely the way that we collectively have movement forward in an ideal world. And so I just wanted to create a space that people felt empowered in, and they felt like they had agency and certainly a voice to express themselves. And a place where they felt encouraged to explore and build and grow more. And hopefully, a place where they felt community. Even from the beginning, as I was hiring people, I was really hiring for their sense of responsibility, their sense of caring about the people in their world, and how that would show up within the organization. And then I felt like I could teach them the skills. At that point, I had been doing all the things so I could teach you the thing. But I can't make you a person that fits in here and thrives here. So that's been a really lovely, lovely experience to be able to hire each person on the team and look at them through that lens. And I think that we've created a space that that meets those requirements, and it's never going to be perfect, but ultimately, at the end of day, I want everybody to feel like I value them, that they have a stake in this, and that we're doing something together. Nobody's ever on their own.”
Simple Practices
“I would say two things that I really adore. One is going to the same place over and over for a walk. And maybe that's not as possible if you're in an urban setting, but maybe there is a botanical garden or something that you get a membership to where you could see the magic of different plants in season. I think particularly springtime, for me is so renewing, because you're watching the ferns as they're unfurling, and it just feels like everything is new and fresh. Or even if it’s going along the same street that you can see a sunrise and you can watch the sunrise day over day because the nuances that come out in the colors based solely on the random aspects of the atmosphere that day. The way in our worlds, the nuances of the dynamics of our relationship show up that shaped us that create the beauty of each individual person. Or, if you're in a more rural setting, going on a nature walk day after day in the same spot is awesome. But also even just going outside and drinking your coffee. So just not reading the paper, not reading something on your phone, or scrolling or checking your email. But just drinking your coffee outside, wherever that is or whatever that looks like. So that you get some vitamin D, first and foremost, and just again, have that perspective to just hear the sounds around you, be present with exactly what that moment looks like outside because you get tuned into all the different things, and it helps you separate yourself from your own brain.”
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