Day 278: Christina Talarico

July 5, 2010 at 12:01 am, Category: Inspiration

“… sometimes people think it’s money or the things you can achieve, and been there, done that.  I don’t know that necessarily those are the things that inspire me anymore.  I’m going through my own transition, and I think that just making somebody happy and making them realize that they can overcome and achieve is more inspiring to me.”

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Toni Reece: Thank you so much, Chris, for agreeing to be with us today, and before we begin, can you please introduce yourself?

Christina Talarico: First of all, thank you for having me.  I’m happy to be part of the Project.  My name is Christina Talarico.  I’m a crazy entrepreneur, dreamer, author, and some people say savvy job expert.

Toni: I love that, “crazy entrepreneur.”  I just love that.

Christina: I actually have a domain name that I bought that I want to do something with.

Toni: That’s great.  Well, Chris, when you think about that word inspiration, who do you think you inspire, and how does that happen?

Christina: I would like to think that when I think about the word inspiration, I inspire others.  I owned my own staffing company for over 20 years and really have tried to mentor people and help people be motivated to pursue the things that they want to do in life, their careers, my own staff, you know, helping them to be inspired to achieve success and be happy and fulfill their personal goals, too.  And my child, I would like to think that I inspire him.  I have a nine-year-old.

Toni: And what happens between you and the people that you work with, and your staff, the people that you help?  What type of inspiration happens?

Christina: Well, I think that the people that I’ve worked with, I feel inspired, and their goal is to help inspire other people, too.  So with what we do and helping people achieve their dreams and look for work and learn how to find a job, that whole process I would like to think inspires people.  A lot of it involves goal setting and actually asking them questions.  What gives them hope?  What inspires them?

Toni: And so really opens up somebody’s thinking, doesn’t it?

Christina: Right.  It’s really almost like you’re asking me questions.  It’s a whole process that really causes them to go inside their head and see what inspires them.  And we kind of … you know, working with people for years, I learned what inspires.  You know, just what motivates people, and try to play on that and work with that and help for them to see that potential, too.

Toni: And that’s the second question of the Project, is how do you think that you help others to explore their potential?  Does that go a little bit deeper for them, by giving them that opportunity?

Christina: I believe so.  I believe now with my book, that really has some tools that makes people have to really even explore things about themselves further.  It’s not just about looking for a job, it’s really what are their goals, what makes them happy?  Things about themselves.  What inspires them?  What motivates them?

Toni: What’s the name of your book, Chris?

Christina: It’s Your Employment Marketplace:  A Quick Read To Help You Succeed at Finding a job.

Toni: Oh, okay.  What I’m really gathering from you so far is that who you inspire and how, plus how you help others explore their potential really goes a lot deeper than the ability or the support in helping them find a job.  It’s to … you talk to them about what motivates them, where their passions lie, where their values lie, so that, I would believe, would make them be a bit more successful in the next job that they step into.

Christina: Correct; and it really … it’s not just about the job thing.  I also have a little TV show called Dreamers:  Believe, Achieve, Succeed.  Actually, one of the questions I ask people on my show is “What do you do to inspire others, and what inspired you to achieve your dreams and to believe in yourself?”  So I’m not just supporting people that are looking for jobs.  I believe that people really, you know, have dreams and they have things they want to achieve, or there’s people that have and there’s things that they’ve done that can influence others, and I try to put that out there whether it’s a musician, an artist, a philanthropist, an entrepreneur, or just a person that has overcome some obstacles.  By other people hearing those stories, I think that inspires them, too.

Toni: And I think that’s really important to clarify that, because it’s all about … first, it seems all about finding a job, but boy, it really is that much more.  It’s going towards what you’re dreaming about, whether it’s a job or, like you said, another career step for you, whether you’re a musician, an artist, or whatever, so thank goodness there’s people like you out there helping everybody.  Well, Chris, what inspires you?

Christina: I guess I could say what inspired me is I … I don’t know.  I really come from a whole lot in life, and what inspired me was not having to keep living that way as I grew up, and just, you know, seeing that I could help people and give people that same motivation to achieve their dreams.

To be able to make a difference in people’s lives inspires me, and when I got a feel for that, whether it was when I was originally in management in retail, or suddenly when I joined the staffing industry way back in 1988, I realized the impact I could have on people’s lives.  That was so inspiring to me to do that.

And I think there’s just so many things that inspire me.  Like nature inspires me.  There’s, you know … I like to think … sometimes people think it’s money or the things you can achieve, and been there, done that.  I don’t know that necessarily those are the things that inspire me anymore.  I’m going through my own transition, and I think that just making somebody happy and making them realize that they can overcome and achieve is more inspiring to me.

Toni: Well, I’ll tell you, when you find yourself needing some inspiration or a day where you’re going “You know, I could use a little help here,” what do you tend to reach for?

Christina: I reach for bodies of water, it seems like.  Like I gravitate towards Blue Marsh or the ocean, or actually I’ve been gravitating towards … it’s weird, because I go from the nature thing and … I’m sorry, you’re interviewing me outside so if you can hear sirens … I miss nature right now …

Toni: That’s okay.

Christina: Philadelphia inspires me.  I actually took a place there.  I live there  part-time.  It’s just when I’m in the city like that, the view just inspires me.  I gravitate, I go there, I seem to feel more creative.  There’s a couple things that inspire me.  My son – I have a nine-year-old.  I try to just block out everything else and spend time with him, and he’s very inspiring, too.

Toni: And how do you continue to explore your own potential?  You know what you’re drawn to, you know what inspires you to keep you going – what do you do with that?  What do you do with that inspiration for yourself in order to continue to explore your own potential?

Christina: Well, I’m going through my own whole transition.  I think we were even calling it the Reinvention Tour like Madonna, but I’m really inspired to take things right now.  What I’m doing to explore my potential is I’m taking things to a whole other level, where I’m not strictly working on the staffing company anymore.  I’ve written a book.  I have other books I want to write.  I’m writing a book about entrepreneurs as we speak, starting other web businesses that are reaching such a more huge audience, and I actually am not very computer savvy, and even the other day I started … I thought, I need to learn to do this myself, and I have never even looked at designing a website, and I just thought, I’m going to do it.

That really is exploring my potential, thinking I can’t do this.  Everyone was saying if you really tried, you could, and I did.  I’m starting to design a website.  I need to go out of my own comfort zone.  There’s other bigger challenges, I think.  Trying to reach people from a broader audience.  I’m starting a radio show.  I have my little TV show.  I might be taking something to a larger internet site.

Toni: So, really, you know, Chris, listening to you when you say about what inspires you and how you’ve moved forward, you really … you said I stepped out of my old life; I knew I didn’t want to do or be how you grew up, and you wanted to step out of that, and you really did that primarily by just stepping out of that comfort zone, by being brave, and that’s the word that I wrote down for you is being brave and you know, moving forward and reinventing yourself.

I can only imagine how many times you must have had to bounce back, which is, you know, resilience and to be resilient.  I’m wondering if that’s what you’re also trying to do for others, to say “Look, it can be done; let’s look at your strengths, your weaknesses, the gifts, the talents, and reinvent yourself to move to that next step in your career.”  It kind of sounds to me like it goes hand-in-hand.

Christina: Actually, thank you.  I just heard a name of my new radio show.  But you know, you really touched upon something here, Toni, because when I was 17, when I decided I don’t want to live in this house anymore with my family, I just need to get a better life, and I actually moved to Philly and I went to school.  I had no money, I had nowhere to live, I was basically on the floor of a friend’s dorm, and yeah, I guess it’s being brave and just taking the next step.

I’ve kind of come full circle in my life right now where it has to be more brave than ever, because it’s one obstacle after another every day.  My own book kind of made me … when I was writing that last year, made me think about, you know, “Why am I doing something I don’t want to do?  It’s time for me to step out of that comfort zone and go to the next level.”  It’s true, and there are so many people right now, especially in this day and age how it is that they just have to be brave.  They don’t have a choice.  Some people don’t know how, and my goal is to teach people how to do that.

Toni: Not only for yourself, but for others.

Christina: Right – for me and others.  I’m very grateful that I have that trait, because I constantly hear people saying to me all the time “I don’t know how you do it.  I don’t know how you get through this.  I don’t know you can deal with this and that.”  I had a lot of tragedy in my life, a lot of death, a lot of, you know, just things that are really … I’m not going to go into details, but I don’t know … sometimes, people saying that to me, it makes me think “Is there something wrong with me that I am, you know” … and then I think “No” … I remember times that I got through.  Like now, I think what did I do before to get through difficult times, and I just kind of grasped onto those traits of what I did and things, you know, that help me, the traits that help me through that, and things that I … I just do that.

Toni: You know, there’s a saying that I have in my office that I’m looking at as I’m listening to you speak, and I think I’ve only said it one other time on the Get Inspired! Project, and I’m looking at it right now, and it just reminds me of what you’re talking about in this interview, and the quote is “She didn’t just survive, she became.”  That seems to be the lesson and the legacy that you’re living, and how cool is that?

Christina: You know what, I love that – thank you.  I actually in my book, and one of my little plaques actually that I have is “She believes she could, so she did.”

Toni: There you go!

Christina: It’s very similar.  That alone is inspiring and keeps me going, looking at something like that.  It takes believing, and it takes just …  thank you, I appreciate that.

Toni: Chris, it’s been a pleasure to have you on the Get Inspired! Project, and we wish you the greatest success.  There will be a website … your new website will be listed at the bottom of your transcript so people can find out a little bit about you and your book, and for showing up today on the Project today, we cannot thank you enough.

Christina: Well thank you.  I’m really happy to be part of it, actually.  It’s very inspirational to me.  Thank you, Toni.

Toni: You’re welcome.  Take care, Chris.

Christina: Thanks, you too.

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For more information about Christina Talarico:  www.youremploymentmarketplace.com

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