Day 101: Sandy Kovach
“… sometimes whatever button that I push through the quote that I post just clicks with them, and it helps them go from point A to point B to reach that potential, because I think so much of where we get to in life all depends on our attitude. There are so many different ways we can look at things.”
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Toni Reece: Thank you so much, Sandy, for agreeing to be part of this Project, and before we go into the questions, can you please introduce yourself?
Sandy Kovach: Well thank you very much for inviting me. It is an absolute honor. You have some awesome people, very inspired people on your site, so I’m happy to be part of that.
Toni: Thank you.
Sandy: My name is Sandy Kovach. I was on the radio for many, many years, got laid off in October, and I am in the Detroit, Michigan area. I worked at Smooth Jazz 98.7 in Detroit. That was my last station.
I’ve since started concentrating on full-time work as a voice-over talent. I have a studio in my house. I’m also a blogger and try to be a motivational blogger. Then of course I’m a mom; and I consider that my most important job.
Toni: Well, that’s a great lead-in to the first question. When you think about the word inspiration, Sandy, who do you inspire, and how do you think you might go about that?
Sandy: When I was on the radio, I guess that question was a little bit easier, because I would hope to be an inspiration to my listeners. As the public affairs director, I had an opportunity to work with a lot of charities and got an opportunity to meet a lot of people, a lot of inspirational people, and touch a lot of people that way.
Right now, what I’m doing — and what I found when I was laid off, through my Facebook page — I made a lot of friends through the radio station and posting my positive quote of the day which I started doing on the radio many, many, years back. People reached out to me and asked me to keep doing that; that really helped them through their day. I got just all kinds of people.
I guess my … one of the most interesting people that used to comment on my quotes of the day – this was prior to Facebook, this was a few years ago – was the University of Michigan basketball coach Tommy Amaker said he used to post these quotes in the locker room. I’ve gotten calls from heart surgeons. I’ve gotten calls from moms trying to get through their day with their newborn babies needing these just little snippets of positive words.
They’re not my words; they’re from great authors that I look up and used the same on the air and post them on my website. That turned into posting them on my Facebook page, and then I’ve expanded into a blog, which I dabbled in a little bit when I worked in radio as well.
I guess what I’m saying, to make a short story long, is that I’m inspiring people through these positive quotes and these little mini-blogs just to be the best that they can be.
Toni: When you’ve done this and, my gosh, what a ripple effect you’ve created, have you found that by being … providing those nuggets of inspiration, do you think that that helps people to explore their potential?
Sandy: I think so. You know, it’s no magic bullet but from the feedback that I’ve gotten it has … it depends where people are at and what they’re needing that day. Sometimes it might be they’re having a tough day at work or they’re having a tough day in a relationship or they are just needing to put one foot in front of the other, they’re just feeling depressed.
And sometimes whatever button that I push through the quote that I post just clicks with them, and it helps them go from point A to point B to reach that potential, because I think so much of where we get to in life all depends on our attitude. There are so many different ways we can look at things. Some things are clearly negative, but we can turn them around and try to look for the most positive that we can get out of it.
Toni: Have you gotten that feedback from people that that’s what they were able to do just by a quote or a suggestion, a powerful recommendation? Is that the type of feedback that you would get?
Sandy: I have gotten some feedback like that, indeed, and I also get feedback that … for instance, one of my favorite people that I still keep in touch with through Facebook, her name is Jan, and she is a teacher … I think it’s fifth grade. She puts them on the board for students and they talk about it. So, how cool is that?
In my introduction, I said mom was my most important job. And of course I try to be an inspiration to my son, but to know that I can inspire kids in their formative years just by inspiring a teacher who, in turn, inspires her kids … so you’re right, yeah, ripple effect. I guess that’s a good way to describe it.
Toni: When you think about inspiration for yourself, what do you need to be inspired?
Sandy: The thing that I do rely on the most is God’s word, is the Bible. My relationship with God, my relationship with Jesus, is really the core of who I am. That, first and foremost, is my basis. I try to surround myself with positive people and other inspirational reading and things as well.
Toni: Did you always come to the table this way, Sandy, that you were very positive and knew what you wanted? Were you always that way?
Sandy: No, not always. I think … there are a few things that happened. First of all, I mentioned the Bible. And as I’ve taken my relationship with Christ more seriously and tried to live that way, it’s sort of grown out of that.
Also, growing up, becoming a mom, having family become more important to me, just appreciating people more, I think I’ve grown into that. I used to be, in my more single, carefree days of just pursuing money or pursuing … not that I don’t think money is important, but I guess my priorities have shifted is what I’m saying.
So no, I haven’t always been that way. It’s been a process.
Toni: Some people are consciously aware of it, and others, it just kind of happens, doesn’t it?
Sandy: Yeah, yeah. I think you need to be on purpose with it, though. Like I mentioned, getting into the word of God or reading inspirational books. I like to listen to people like T.D. Jakes and people like that on purpose, just to remind me. Because it’s easy to slip back into being negative even if you’ve reached some kind of place in your life where you are more positive. You know what I mean? If you don’t constantly have that around you, it’s really easy to slip backwards.
Toni: I can relate to that. That’s why this Project is so important, because every day I get to listen to people like you, and so it makes it really hard to slip back into any kind of negative thought.
When you talked about these very important things to you that provide you with inspiration, what do you need to explore your own potential?
Sandy: I guess some of the things that I listed for you before, just surrounding myself with the positive motivation and the positive people, definitely friends and family. Yeah, I guess it would just be a repeat of what I’ve already said.
Toni: Moving forward though, going through what you’ve been through as far as being in radio all those years, touching those people in a very public way and now going into the blogging and so forth, what is it that you see? Do you find inspiration at different places to keep you moving in that creative manner through the blogs and so forth? Moving into a different potential?
Sandy: Absolutely. I’m always on the lookout for things, always trying to network with people. The internet is a fabulous thing — as you see with your website — whether it’s Twitter or it’s Facebook or it’s Linked In, or just looking at other people’s blogs, or You Tube. There’s all kinds of resources out there, and then the good old fashioned face-to-face as well; we forget about that sometimes.
One thing I do miss about being in radio and going to events constantly is the encouragement and the friendship that you build, not just with coworkers, but people that you meet. I just love meeting new people all the time, and I am moving forward in that vein. I’m doing some work with some of the charities that I worked with prior to when I was with the radio stations, some of the contacts I still have.
I’ve got to remember that I need to keep doing that, because I think it’s easy to fall into just “Hey, let’s sit in front of the computer and network that way.”
Toni: That is very, very true, and there’s a movement right now that we’re starting to feel that people want either that verbal connection not so much the typed word. Oh yeah, that’s amazing.
So, Sandy, what advice would you give for people that are reading or listening to your interview, with what you’ve been through and what you’ve done in your life and where you’re going? What would be the thing that you’ve learned the most, that either you’ve learned the most or has inspired you the most to just keep going? What is it that just keeps you going?
Sandy: Well, I go back to what I said before and that’s God’s word and the fact that he has a plan for my life and for everyone’s life, and he is in control ultimately. For whatever reason, I’m still here, and he’s giving me the opportunity to write or be on the radio, or however it is I’m connecting with people. He’s giving me the opportunity to do that, and that’s the most important thing I can do, is to be a positive influence on somebody else.
It can be so hard to put one foot in front of the other some days if you’re down, if you’ve lost a job, if you’ve had a loss in your life of another sort, a personal loss, even worse. If I can be there for somebody, even if it’s just some person that I don’t even know and I’m blogging about something or I’m putting a positive quote out there or a scripture or something, and I can help in any way, that’s what would keep me going. That and, of course, being a good wife and mother and friend.
Toni: Well, Sandy, we thank you so very much for being as honest as you were during this interview and the information that you’ve provided, and so many people will find great value in that. We will also post a link to your blog site so that people can get that inspiration from you that you are putting out there. We can’t thank you enough for taking part in the Get Inspired! Project. We’re honored to have you.
Sandy: I’m certainly honored to have been a part, and I have to say after years of interviewing people it’s harder to be on this other end. I can’t believe how many times I said um and ah!
Toni: Well thank you so very much; that’s what keeps these interviews real, so we really appreciate it, Sandy, and hopefully we will connect soon.
Sandy: Sounds good. Thank you.
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For more information about Sandy Kovach: www.positiveagenda1.blogspot.com, www.sandykovach.com
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