Pivot With Purpose Season 5 Episode 2 Full Transcript

Meghan Houle (00:00.386) Kate Lucio, welcome to the Pivot With Purpose podcast. I'm so excited to have you here. Yes. I feel like we were saying, as we were chatting a little earlier, we have a dear friend connection, shout out to Liza Licht. And I remember listening to you on her podcast as we were saying really before the pandemic. And I'm like, I wanna be like Kate when I grow up. And it's so crazy, right? Almost four years later. Cate Luzio, Luminary (00:05.754) I'm so excited to be here! Cate Luzio, Luminary (00:22.322) I'm sorry. Cate Luzio, Luminary (00:27.674) I know, I know. Meghan Houle (00:28.578) how we're doing all the things and we persevered and we got through and you know, still a lot of things and challenges going on in the world. But I'm just so impressed with all that you've built and so happy to have you here. And in the spirit of all things, stories, you know, pivots, podcasts, careers, whatnot, tell us a little bit about you. Like, what are you doing? What titles are you holding? Tell us all about Kate and where we're catching you. Cate Luzio, Luminary (00:56.21) Yeah, so while you're catching me in New York City today, I'm actually at Luminary. So we, you know, a little bit of my background and we can dive into that. But Luminary right now, right? So we're almost five years old, which is crazy. Sometimes it feels like 50, but we're five years old. And we're really, I'm very proud that we're here because as a, we started, you know, almost five years ago as a gathering space for our community in New York City, right? 15,000 Meghan Houle (00:59.648) Yay! Meghan Houle (01:22.743) Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (01:26.45) with the intention of building community around content and programming, right? So everything that we do is around this delivering programming that could upscale and uplift women and our allies because we're gender inclusive. But our mission is to advance women in the workforce. And so that was what we did that first year to all of 2019, which is where you heard me in that podcast towards the end of that year, a great year and then the pandemic hit. And so I'm kind of fast forwarding, but... Meghan Houle (01:45.71) Mm-hmm. Cate Luzio, Luminary (01:53.978) that first year really showed us that there was a need for community. There was a need for bringing people together around learning and development. Um, and then we went online literally overnight in March of early March of 2020. And then that really, really catapulted us, um, into building our digital offering. And, you know, we went from a couple, you know, a thousand members to now several thousand over the 10,000 mark around the world. Um, and. Meghan Houle (02:20.792) Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (02:22.126) Everything that we do is around, as I said, community content and programming, but we are now truly a global professional education and networking platform where four and a half years ago, we were definitely a professional education and networking community, but that is just, again, accelerated thanks to the pandemic. And we work with both individuals as well as companies. So we have a B2C and a B2B model, and that... Meghan Houle (02:40.846) Mm-hmm. Meghan Houle (02:44.723) Right. Meghan Houle (02:49.496) Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (02:51.482) has been since we launched. And so we're just, we're happy that it's almost the end of 2023. We're looking forward to 2024. Ha ha ha. Meghan Houle (02:53.688) Yeah. Meghan Houle (03:03.636) I was trying to think about the, you know, every year I very much like Elisa, I hate resolutions because you never stick with them and you're like, blah, blah. I want to do this. Although one year I did, I think it was 2021 because I like needed it, needed the community. I wrote down, make new friends. So I'm very happy to say I've gotten that resolution off the ground. But you know, I feel like in this day and age, Cate Luzio, Luminary (03:10.864) Me too. Cate Luzio, Luminary (03:20.291) Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (03:25.073) Hahaha. Meghan Houle (03:29.334) you know, there's so there's so much out there in terms of like the digital space and like career advancements and there it's so needed. But you know, my theme for this year was I'm disappointed, but I'm not surprised. And I feel like I've seen that in memes. And although you know, I think there's a great expansion that has gone on, you know, it's definitely been a challenge. It's been a challenging years in like a lot of ways. So I think we like rode this Cate Luzio, Luminary (03:55.512) Definitely. Meghan Houle (03:58.718) amazing wave like my business last year was on fire, like it was so amazing. And then, you know, the highs and lows of entrepreneurship, which we can get into. And both of my businesses are filled with uncertainty, Kate, like nothing is guaranteed in my world. You know, I think I'm also looking to 2024. So I'm with you and maybe doing some fun things together. But yeah, so to dive into your pivots, in exploring your background and doing my due diligence on you. Cate Luzio, Luminary (04:05.007) Yes. Cate Luzio, Luminary (04:18.075) Yeah. Meghan Houle (04:25.646) who maybe you had some very big career vivids coming off of a career which I know as you've introed yourself, you're very much not doing today. So give us some of those early highlights. However, I think like what you started in probably has propelled and fueled you into the success that you've had. So give us those early career highlights. What what were you doing early Kate years? Yes. Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (04:35.271) Yes. Cate Luzio, Luminary (04:45.98) Yeah. Yeah, so early Kate year, so I started my career in nonprofit. I was a political science major and then very quickly realized that I needed to make money. And I was living in D.C. and this is back in the late 90s. And so it was the internet boom before the bus and got a job at a startup and never really thought that would be the path. And it was incredible learning opportunity, had the opportunity to be in China quite often. And then. decided to go back to school at night because I needed to work to pay for that, that master's degree at Georgetown. And then I got recruited by a bank. And that was something that I never thought about. I didn't have a finance background, no accounting, nothing. But it was an opportunity. The recruiter for that bank was saying, you know, we love your profile. We can teach you all the technical stuff. And I say this because I think oftentimes, and we know the stats, right? Women don't go for the job because they don't want everything. And this was nothing that I had ever thought would be something I would be qualified for. So I thought, well, this is a great financial institution. Let me just try it, see where it goes, could build something. And then the better part of two decades later, I was still doing it. Obviously, I had spent basically my career in finance at three different banks, Bank of America, JP Morgan and HSBC, and had the opportunity to really pivot in roles quite... Meghan Houle (05:45.408) Right. Cate Luzio, Luminary (06:13.194) significantly in each of those banks and grow my influence and grow my teams and my P&L. But to your point, all of what I learned in those 20 something years, because I include that tech and nonprofit, that's what prepared me to be able to launch my business. I even say, if I had tried to do this five years before that, Meghan Houle (06:33.869) Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (06:40.106) I don't think I would have been ready. I don't even, some days I don't even feel like I'm still ready, right? But all of those skills are so transferable. And I think that we tend to downplay them in particular as women and women of color. And I think it's like, no, you've got to lean into your skills and your strengths. And if you are the type of person that I learned by just doing, right? And I want to listen and listen and just sort of absorb. Meghan Houle (06:40.11) Mm-hmm. Yeah. You're like, what am I doing? No, you're good. Yeah. Meghan Houle (07:06.614) Yeah, same. Cate Luzio, Luminary (07:09.894) then I'm gaining new skills when I'm doing that. So I came with a hell of a lot of skills and now I'm in it with a hell of a lot of new skills that whether I continue to build Luminary and obviously that's what we're doing or I completely do something new. And by the way, that is definitely on the table at some point in my life. I'm still young or I consider myself young. And so I will leave this entrepreneurial journey with whatever I do next at that point with a. Meghan Houle (07:24.336) Mm-hmm. Meghan Houle (07:28.298) Right. Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (07:37.934) of skills that I can apply to whatever that looks like in my next chapter. Meghan Houle (07:41.838) I love it. And it's so true. I mean, in all of the, mostly, high profile to mid manager plus, you know, plus women that I coach and assist with, with career pivots, and both sides of my jobs as a recruiter as well. You know, the conversations that I have when people come to me and like, I wanna make a career move. Okay, what do you wanna do? I'm flexible. No, you're not. There's definitely those heck no things that, you know, you don't wanna be doing. And, you know, Cate Luzio, Luminary (08:07.579) Yes. Meghan Houle (08:11.198) I think the stigma is like, I can't pivot into a different industry and I can't go from fashion to beauty or I can't go from this. I'm like, you can. And also, what are those foundational skills that you have that no one's going to be able to take those away from you? There's hard skills, there's soft skills, those are the people and the culture skills. And I think sometimes it's so hard for individuals to really sit down and be like, what am I good at? And I'm sure you probably... speak to this a lot in Luminary, which we'll get to, but it's just really fun. I mean, I was a retail leadership manager for 15 plus years running huge global stores, but I always was staffing positions, Kate, right? So when I knew I wanted to get out of the floor, out of working 24 hours a day. Cate Luzio, Luminary (08:55.311) Right, right. Meghan Houle (09:02.994) I'm like, oh, I really like hiring people and helping them, you know, make their career moves and here I am. So 15 plus years later. So that's really cool. I love that. And you know, was there a pivotal moment, you know, getting through banking, kind of being at the end of this journey, so to speak. Was there a moment or a year or something that stood out where you're just like, okay, it's time to go. Like I remember my moment when I'm like, time to pivot, but did that happen to you? Or was there anything that really stood out? Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (09:31.89) Yeah, you know, I, again, I use this poor, my, one of my mentors, poor guys, probably like Kate, you just constantly are talking about me. Um, so he and I, so he had been my mentor for many years. He came, he was at JP Morgan for a really long time. Um, he's now at Citizens Bank and he and I, um, met for drinks, um, just to get a catch up. And I, I was just telling him about what sort of where I was and what I was thinking about my next, you know, the next big job. Meghan Houle (09:32.556) Yeah. Meghan Houle (09:39.502) Oh, that's okay. I love it. Meghan Houle (09:45.899) Mm-hmm. Cate Luzio, Luminary (09:58.294) And he really asked me, again, I didn't realize it then, but a pivotal question around, is this really what I wanna do for the rest of my life? And one of the things he mentioned to me was, you tell everybody this wasn't your story. You didn't have this goal to be a banker. You sort of fell into it, got recruited into it. So did I wanna do something different? And one of the things he said was, you love having impact, whether that's with your clients, with your people, with the women's network. all of the things that you do, you are so focused on impact. So is there something else that you can do or that you've ever even thought about around? And I had not, right? Cause I'm a traditional gen Xer. It's like, what's the next thing, climbing, climbing. And several, couple of weeks later, I was like, wait a second, I am not gonna be able to figure out what that next step is in my life if I don't wanna stay in banking. And I wasn't sure. And so I left, I left banking. Meghan Houle (10:38.208) Mm-hmm. Meghan Houle (10:52.779) Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (10:55.794) Oh my goodness. I left banking. And one of the things he also said is, you can always go back, right? You're not losing, right? You're not losing all the skills and you have a great network and you have a great reputation. And so then about eight weeks later, after interviewing with lots of different places, I wrote a business plan. Didn't know that's what I was gonna do. And then a few weeks, yeah. And then a few weeks later, I was like, this is what I'm gonna do. Meghan Houle (11:04.81) Yeah, oh, 100%. No, you're not gonna lose those kills, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Meghan Houle (11:16.812) Hmm Meghan Houle (11:21.342) And here you are. Yeah. I love it. Well, so what inspired you to bring Luminary to life? Like why Luminary? Like tell me the story behind the name. Like what did your business plan look like? How'd you get there? Yeah, tell us. Cate Luzio, Luminary (11:36.474) Yeah, so the business plan was paramount, right? So I literally had this idea. I was talking to my boyfriend about it and he said, write it all down. And so I said, okay, I'll write it down. And I had known from building businesses and strategic plans for the banks that I worked for. So built a full, spent two weeks in my pajamas, built a business plan, then did our financial projections and said, wait a second, I can do this on my own. I'm gonna use my own capital to do this. That's a huge risk, but I'm taking a big risk and a bet on myself. Meghan Houle (11:40.103) Mm-hmm. Meghan Houle (11:45.034) Yes. Yep. Meghan Houle (12:03.298) Huge. Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (12:05.858) And then I started to do focus groups. I'll call them focus groups, just meeting with people, friends, my network. Would you, would this be something you would, you know, you would participate in that you would put money down for? Would you join as a member? Um, and then I fake pitched to a number of, you know, friends in, in finance that were part of VC and private equity to just hear what, like have them poke holes in what I was building. And, you know, obviously adjusted the business plan, um, before we, we formally sort of like. Meghan Houle (12:27.882) Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (12:33.798) went out and launched, but I didn't have a name for a while. And then in March of 2018, I was posting, I posted on LinkedIn about Women's History Month and something that I was doing with Girls Inc. where I sit on the board and a gentleman that I worked with, I didn't know him, he was a colleague of mine at JP Morgan in India, sent me an email on LinkedIn and said, hey, I love what you're posting. I've followed you since you were at JP Morgan and you've always been such a luminary. And that was it. Meghan Houle (12:46.338) Mm-hmm. Meghan Houle (13:00.946) Oh, stop it. Yeah, you just like nose. Yeah, yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (13:03.214) That was it. It was like ding, ding. Because that's what I wanted to build a community of luminaries, right? Of role models of people that lift each other up, that propel each other forward. And so that was the name. And then eight months later, we launched our physical location and the rest is a little bit of history. Meghan Houle (13:18.045) I love it. There you are. Yeah. Amazing. Well, I want to dive more into Luminary, but before we get there, so you decided to make this pivot, leaving finance, which I call, you know, there's definitely those jobs, we call them certainty jobs. Like I was just saying, like you have structure, you have a paycheck, you have a lot of things, aka corporate America. You know, so making this pivot, especially I think when you have… Cate Luzio, Luminary (13:37.554) Yes. Stability. Meghan Houle (13:51.158) family and listening into your podcast, I know you have some pretty amazing like mom and dad, you know, job history back there, you know, that are established those, you know, family career professionals that may not have the same entrepreneurial stole. Like I remember when I had left my I used to work at LMH. And I remember saying like, Oh, I'm just gonna go recruit and make no money and they're like, are you okay? Like actually, you know, so you, some people will believe in you. Some people are going to question you or stuff of the way. But what was that conversation like for you? Cause I think a lot of people struggle with saying, I want to do this because there's so much shame around the expectations that family members, Aunt Sally, someone talks to you at Thanksgiving and they're like, Cate Luzio, Luminary (14:16.44) Hahaha! Cate Luzio, Luminary (14:34.307) Yes. Meghan Houle (14:35.778) girl, you're not doing that. Like you crazy, you know, so and I feel like you have a good family kind of getting to know you like through podcasts and all the things but like, how was those conversations and like how important is also a network of support for you and where did you find it? Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (14:51.682) Yeah, so I, you know, my, I'll talk about my, the conversation with my parents in a minute, but I think that my, my network of support, obviously the huge network when I, when I was leaving. And so really tapping into that, what did they think? And, and, and friends that were not in banking, but were in different industries. Right. And so really again, being as diverse as possible around perspective and opinion. Meghan Houle (15:03.329) Yeah. Meghan Houle (15:14.731) Uh huh. Cate Luzio, Luminary (15:15.298) And I will say 99% were like, go for it, right? If anyone can do it, it's gonna be you and you'll make a success out of it because you don't give up, right? You just keep going. The parental conversation was a little bit different because while they understood that I had a very senior role in banking, I think it's always like, what do you do, right? My brothers kind of would always make fun of me too, like, oh, she's so corporate America. And one of my brothers is an entrepreneur. So... Meghan Houle (15:21.599) Yeah. Meghan Houle (15:25.846) Yeah, yeah. Meghan Houle (15:37.07) Mm-hmm. Meghan Houle (15:41.774) Mmm. Cate Luzio, Luminary (15:45.834) I told them and so of course they were supportive and we'll support you but one and I've shared this a couple of times but I, my aunt who I love dearly, worked at Procter and Gamble for years. She was a senior executive and so I saw her as like a very, like here's a woman in business. My mom was a teacher and huge respect for her but as a woman in business, you know, watched my aunt. I was in Florida visiting her. Meghan Houle (16:00.526) Mm-hmm. Meghan Houle (16:04.468) Mm-hmm. Cate Luzio, Luminary (16:12.754) and we had lunch and I was telling her all about Luminary and I asked her if she would read the business plan and et cetera, et cetera, blah, blah. She was very supportive. As I'm in the car ride home to my hotel, I texted my mom and my aunt on a group text saying, hey, here's some pictures, it was so fun. Well, they don't realize it's a group text. I don't know, it's an age difference. And my aunt says, Katie's leaving banking WTF. And then my mom is going. Meghan Houle (16:39.982) Oh, you're like, tell me what you really think. Oh man. You're like, hi guys, I'm here. Cate Luzio, Luminary (16:42.942) Yeah, now they're going back and forth. And so I waited a while as I'm watching and then I was finally like, this is a group text that I started. I'm okay, I appreciate the concern and I'm happy to kind of talk through. And then it was like bubbles, no bubbles, no bubbles. And then what I did later that, I think that would have probably been in April and then in May, I was going out to visit another woman's space out in California. Meghan Houle (16:58.304) Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (17:11.678) and my uncle had lived there too. And I said, mom, why don't you come with me? And so she walked into this space that unfortunately was a pandemic casualty, but we walked out after kind of being in there and she's like, I get it. And this is your calling. Meghan Houle (17:12.136) Hmm, mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. Meghan Houle (17:21.006) Mmm. Meghan Houle (17:25.91) Mm hmm. I love it. That's so crazy. The text. Like the text chain. You're like, tell me how you really feel family. There you go. Well, it's funny, too, because I knew you talk about I mean, your dad, is he still in the FBI? former FBI? Oh, I got so surprised that he was in like, come to my side. Like, I'll take you on. Because I think you considered that, right? Like, did you consider like going into like, the police and yeah, that's so cool. Cate Luzio, Luminary (17:32.158) Oh my God, I'll never forget it. Like I probably still have it. Cate Luzio, Luminary (17:41.909) No, he's retired, but yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (17:47.452) Yes. I did. Yeah, that's what I thought I was gonna do. I thought I was gonna be an FBI agent and then that again, I didn't go forward. And my dad would say over many years, like I'm glad you didn't do it. Nothing, again, no disrespect to the FBI, huge respect, but I feel like that private sector sort of career that I've had and then leading into entrepreneurial, it's the right thing. Plus I've also now been... Meghan Houle (17:55.501) Yeah. Meghan Houle (18:00.81) man. Yeah. Meghan Houle (18:15.767) Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (18:18.882) I've kind of utilized the platform and financially as well to give back to the nonprofits that I work with and that I'm on, the boards that I'm on. So that's important to me. And I think that was instilled in me in a very young age around public service. And I do feel like Luminary in a sense is a lot of public service. Meghan Houle (18:26.234) So nice. Yeah. Meghan Houle (18:39.958) Yeah, I mean you're changing lives, mindsets, direction. Wow, that's amazing. I can't imagine, I would love to be at like your holiday, Thanksgiving and things. Poke your dad a little bit for information. I'm not sure, I'm not sure, I'm not sure. Oh my gosh, yeah, dear, like don't let Megan hold on. So the life of entrepreneurship, as we know, I deal with it, you know, like I was saying, high highs and low lows is not for the faint of heart. Cate Luzio, Luminary (18:50.574) It's... Yes. He's a vault. He is a vault. Cate Luzio, Luminary (18:59.056) Ha ha. Meghan Houle (19:07.242) Right? So what is one of the biggest challenges on this journey you have embraced? And what have you learned about yourself as well? Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (19:15.11) Oh my gosh. So I definitely underestimated. I have a very strong work ethic. I worked really hard and my whole career, I never thought I would be working this hard and this many hours. And part of it is, yes, I'm driven to succeed and I wanna make everyone a success within the luminary community, but also it is, you own it, right? everything is your responsibility. And we now have 25 people on our team. We've got, you know, it's, it's not, yes, it's still a small business and we're not VC backed or anything like that, but it is, it is on me. So that is something that I definitely under appreciated when I started this. I think too is how isolating it is. And Meghan Houle (19:59.025) Mm-hmm. Meghan Houle (20:04.078) Mm-hmm. Meghan Houle (20:10.262) Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (20:12.714) You know, you can't, it's even if you talk to other founders, which I do, it's still hard to share all of what you're mentally going through. And like I said earlier, and kind of joking, there are many times within a week, even sometimes within a day where I'm like, did I do the right thing? Should I stayed in corporate? Am I cut out for this? Meghan Houle (20:16.458) Yeah. Meghan Houle (20:38.72) Mm hmm. And how do you manage those? Because it is as well. It's high highs, right? There are days where I'm like, or we some like I get you know, five offers, everything comes through coaching clients coming in. And then there's days where you know, clients are yelling at you candidates think you're you know, piece of trash like you had to be right. You're like, okay, that's it. Like I'm burning down and going soul cycle and having like unkind thoughts about myself. Cate Luzio, Luminary (20:43.366) Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (20:57.951) Hahaha Meghan Houle (21:00.118) I was like, if Sol's not gonna help me, I'm really in trouble. So how do you manage those high highs and low lows? Like what are some things you do? Because as a founder, as a front-facing piece of your business, we have to protect ourselves because I feel like if we don't show up and we're burning the kennel at both ends, we're not able to give into all the things that we wanna do. And I've learned that a hard way too of just trying to do it all and then being frustrated and shutting down. So how do you manage? Yeah, what's some of your... Cate Luzio, Luminary (21:13.734) Yes. Meghan Houle (21:28.914) strategies for the roller coaster. Yeah. Yeah, same. Cate Luzio, Luminary (21:30.066) Well, I'll be honest. I'm not great at it. Someone asked someone asked me the other day like what do you do for yourself? I'm like, there's not a lot Because I am I am really always thinking about the business now One of the things that I do when I'm with my I have ten incredible nieces and nephews and I have amazing parents and brothers when I'm with them, I'm present right I'm not sitting on my phone and Meghan Houle (21:36.962) Yeah. Mmm. Meghan Houle (21:44.374) Yeah. Meghan Houle (21:49.326) Oh, that's so fun. Yeah. Yeah. Good. Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (21:56.546) and checking emails. So I really carve out that family time and my boyfriend is amazing. And so, you know, making that time with him, he also helps me very think very strategically and also pulls me out of that rabbit hole sometimes, like get out of there, like you're just gonna keep going down, down. But I have to learn also ways to do that myself. And sometimes it's just... Meghan Houle (22:12.395) Mm-hmm. Meghan Houle (22:16.26) Yeah. Meghan Houle (22:20.939) Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (22:23.214) looking at where the business is from where it was. The fact that we survived the pandemic as a business is remarkable. And three of our almost five years were in a pandemic, right? So, and the fact that we're continuing to build and grow and do very strategic things, that to me, I have to remember that. And it's often hard because to your point, you get the bad news or someone's like, I don't have the budget. You're like, damn it. Meghan Houle (22:26.736) Mm-hmm. Meghan Houle (22:33.259) Yeah. Meghan Houle (22:36.65) Right? Yeah. Meghan Houle (22:47.018) Yeah, yeah. Right. And you're like, you lost the contract. And I know, I know. Cate Luzio, Luminary (22:52.274) Yes. And, and so you can go into that very easily. And so, you know, I have an incredible team around me. And so I also look to them around how they're focused on their roles and all of how they've grown over the years. So I get a lot of life out of, out of my team. But the last thing that I would say is oftentimes I will be in that sort of low and it, it happens again, pretty regularly and a member. Meghan Houle (22:59.602) Mm-hmm. That's right. Yeah. Meghan Houle (23:09.838) Good. Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (23:21.398) will find me or send me an email or say, oh my gosh, Kate, because of Luminary, this happened or because of Luminary, I'm here. And that to me is like, whoever's up there, God, whoever's like, they know you needed to hear that. Meghan Houle (23:24.074) Yeah. Meghan Houle (23:34.358) The blanket see universe. Yes, I that's happened to me before too. I mean, I remember getting this like, huge complaint. Like, again, sometimes you can never do anything right. And then, you know, into our group, there was this woman who wrote this like amazing, like beautiful, like, you know, thank you for changing my life and whatnot. You're like, okay, all right. Yeah, we're doing the things. There's a purpose here. People, people need us. So I love that. And thank you for, you know, candidly sharing as yeah, I mean, just sometimes I'm also just not good at taking care or listening to my own advice. I'm happy to tell other people what to do. But yeah, you're like, listen to yourself again. So, oh, my gosh. OK, tell us more about Luminary, because yes, as you started, you know, starting the pandemic, had what I assume is probably this beautiful space in New York and 10,000 percent coming to visit you ASAP in New York to see it all and do all the things. Cate Luzio, Luminary (24:05.85) Yes, yeah, totally. I'm the worst. Absolutely, I'm so bad at it. Meghan Houle (24:30.986) But tell us about what you offer, how did you pivot, and then how now, maybe arguably, we are back. Events, I mean, I just threw a huge event in Boston. People are way more comfortable. I think this is the year where people just really got comfortable. I don't know if you agree. So what is Luminary, through all the levels and layers, how can we engage work? Who is it for? Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (24:40.175) Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (24:46.802) Totally. Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (24:56.858) Yeah, so at the core of what we do is deliver programming. I mean, I think we do almost 20 to 30 programs, workshops, events every month, right? And so I would say 50% of those are geared towards those in entrepreneurship or aspiring entrepreneurship or thinking about it. And then the rest is around advancing your career, developing your career skills building. Meghan Houle (25:00.995) Mm-hmm. Meghan Houle (25:08.562) awesome. Wow. Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (25:22.574) And then a lot around expanding your network and tapping into other networks and diverse networks versus just what you know. And then the last piece of that programming is around you holistically. So financial confidence, self-care, mental health, women's health, everything we forget about, right? Because we're so focused on the day-to-day and we deliver that now in our space, absolutely. But we also deliver that and have since the beginning of the pandemic digitally. So. Meghan Houle (25:27.387) Yep. Meghan Houle (25:34.466) Mm-hmm. Meghan Houle (25:50.998) Hmm? Cate Luzio, Luminary (25:51.706) what happened in that April, May of 2020 was all of these people that wanted access to our programming now were somewhere else in the world. We could now get to them. And that happened on the individual level as well as all of our enterprise clients. So if I'm working with JP Morgan, which they're a great partner, their women or their men in New York had access. Now anyone has access. And so they can zoom into our programming. So that's a big part of what we do. Meghan Houle (25:53.506) Thank you. Meghan Houle (25:59.818) Right. Yeah. Meghan Houle (26:07.847) Mm-hmm. Meghan Houle (26:14.271) Right. Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (26:18.446) We also, because of what you said around, you know, peeing back in person, we grew so much virtually and digitally that we also realized people in these other cities were like, hey, we wanna do something live. So we've spent the last two years, literally, in 15 cities across the US popping up. We were just in Philly and we're heading next week to Atlanta and we bring that live experience of luminary into these cities for a couple of days. Meghan Houle (26:24.323) Mm-hmm. Meghan Houle (26:32.587) Yeah. Mm. Yeah. Meghan Houle (26:47.435) Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (26:47.97) and it's all programming and community driven. And then we really focus on how are we driving impact. So again, from the community side, from the programming side and one of the things that we felt we were missing was really cohorts, like smaller groups that can hold each other accountable, that they've got a coach or a guide. And so two months ago we acquired a company called The Crew. Meghan Houle (27:12.588) Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (27:15.446) founded by my friend and mentor, Tiffany, exactly. Longtime Luminary member. And so we acquired the crew and now that's a new offering for both our enterprise clients, as well as our B2C customers around, if you wanna participate in these smaller group cohorts of like-minded people, as you're thinking about really hitting your goals and setting intentions and holding yourself and others in that cohort accountable. So. Meghan Houle (27:15.954) Okay, yeah. Tiffany, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Awesome, yeah. Yeah. Meghan Houle (27:33.079) Whoa. Meghan Houle (27:43.427) Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (27:43.514) That's kind of a big part of what we do. And the last thing that I would just say is we're so focused on supporting founders because we have a big entrepreneurial community as well as those in the traditional workforce around their journeys. And so we launched our fellowship program at the end of 2020 and that supports women-owned businesses, women of color-owned businesses that really financially can't afford a membership at Luminary, but they need access to the community and the resources. Meghan Houle (28:11.958) Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (28:12.078) So those are funded by a number of our corporate partners and we've done more than 2000 of them over the last three years and that will continue into next year. Meghan Houle (28:19.063) Awesome. Yeah. Wow. So, so many different levels and layers, so you don't just have to be in New York. It's not just, right? Yeah, yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (28:25.322) No, and oh, and yeah, and one last thing we have, not that I forget about it, but when we started in 2019, I said, remember I said, I went out to California, I met this, well, there are all these incredible spaces from women and BIPOC owned. And so we started reaching out to them and saying, hey, let's create a reciprocal membership where if you're traveling here or you're traveling there, you could have access. Meghan Houle (28:35.339) Yeah. Meghan Houle (28:38.722) have. Cate Luzio, Luminary (28:49.358) And so now we've got a partner network that's about 36 spaces around the country and growing abroad where our members in New York, if you're going to Houston or LA, they can pop into SESH or Blackbird. But also if our digital members, right, that want that digital programming are in those cities, they also have a certain level of access to those spaces. And part of it is you need a community, we're a community, but also that physical location, they're more traditional workspaces. Meghan Houle (28:53.134) Wow. Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (29:19.034) go there. That's a built in community and it's also driving business opportunities for those partners. Meghan Houle (29:21.571) Uh-huh. Oh yeah, okay, so I'm like my wheels are turning in Boston. So, you know, we'll get on that conversation after, but that's so interesting. And I agree, I mean, just coming off of a mastermind as I was telling you about, and something I never was a part of back in the day. Excuse me, I mean, I feel like it's always such a big investment at all levels. So I love that you have a lot of different ways that you can work. Because... Cate Luzio, Luminary (29:28.328) I know. Meghan Houle (29:48.83) I feel very fortunate to be able to make the investment, but I make it in myself so then I can bring it to other people. And what I loved about this mastermind is I'll tell you, and maybe you can really, at some levels, early on in my career, and I do what I do because I truly did not have mentors growing up. I didn't have a lot of women that wanted to see me do well. It was a little crazy. Because I feel like, again, I was cut from the same cloth. Cate Luzio, Luminary (29:54.866) Exactly. Meghan Houle (30:16.49) I'm not a wallflower, I'm not afraid to share my voice. But at certain points I think I was because I was sort of like held down and shrunk a little bit around these other bigger women personalities that I think were really managing and shame and ego driven and fear and all of this. And I was like, oh wow, yeah, I got lots of stories. There's a book coming somehow. But in this mastermind, they asked us this first question as we're all like going around the room, like, what are you most excited about? Cate Luzio, Luminary (30:20.357) Yeah. Meghan Houle (30:46.842) So I stood up and I kind of shared that story, but I also said, I'm really excited to see collectively, 42 strangers, women strangers, many who are doing the same things that others are doing. So competition, as we always are like, ah, so much competition out there. There's people for everybody. Clapping for each other and genuinely wanting to see the best, share ideas, share what's working. And I just was like blown away. Cate Luzio, Luminary (30:59.876) Uh huh. Meghan Houle (31:13.566) So, you know, this community, like now I'm completely sold because I feel like in Boston, we've never really had that before. And I always get so jealous of New York and LA because in my soul, I'm just that like, what can I do? How can I do more of it? And how can I be involved? And how can I connect people? So I feel like there's some like, I've met a lot of women who have those spaces in other cities, so I will connect you. But, you know, I think it's so amazing what you're doing and just so needed and so. Cate Luzio, Luminary (31:20.868) Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (31:27.439) Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (31:34.179) Yes. Meghan Houle (31:41.614) freaking life changing when you can get women that can come and be vulnerable and share without feeling shame and get actionable solutions to like make changes in their life, right? Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (31:46.842) Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (31:51.362) Absolutely, that's what it's about, right? It's like then you can immediately apply things or conversations or connections. This isn't, I'm watching, and this is not a negative, but some celebrity that I can't really think, I can't get there right now, right? I'm just trying to get to the next week. And so how do you put the stories out there and getting women and men, because again, we're gender inclusive, to share these stories so that... Meghan Houle (32:07.37) Right. Yeah. Meghan Houle (32:18.286) Mm-hmm. Cate Luzio, Luminary (32:20.186) We're collectively having impact, but as a community, we're creating change, we're creating new opportunities, we're creating that impact. Meghan Houle (32:28.826) Love it. And to have people, people that wanna help, genuinely wanna help. I love that so much. So there's digital options. And then in New York, you say you have, yeah, you have your physical. And it's so smart. I mean, and then especially with digital, people can tap in all over the world. So I know you've talked a lot in podcasts and whatnot about having also a network called like the Whisper Network that are these like kind of specific. Cate Luzio, Luminary (32:31.266) Absolutely. Cate Luzio, Luminary (32:37.474) Yes, physical. Cate Luzio, Luminary (32:52.495) Yes. Meghan Houle (32:55.394) conversations. I know you kind of talk about a lot of different topics. I would have I would love to like dive into that negotiations topic because I love negotiating the heck out of money and finance and salaries. But that's like such a huge main point as well. And I know you referenced this in a Lisa podcast of like women just talking about money in general. Like, do you know what your best friend makes? Like you know, no, we don't talk about it. There's a lot behind that too. And then us women being able to ask for more. Cate Luzio, Luminary (33:02.107) Yeah. Yes. Meghan Houle (33:20.254) or getting an offer and maybe feeling like it's low ball, then how do you go back and say, this is actually what I'm worth, if you would like to invest in me. So do you still have the Westford networks going on? What conversations are in there? Yeah, yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (33:32.61) Absolutely. And they've, I would say they've evolved, transformed. So we have a, every other month we now have a breakfast that is called Defining Success. So it's part of that Whisper Network umbrella, but it's really around 30, usually 30 women in a room and talking about how they have really changed their view of what success is and how they are looking to get there. Meghan Houle (33:41.019) Oh, awesome. Yeah. Meghan Houle (33:47.063) Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (34:02.01) There are so many women in the workforce that are also what we say in transition or thinking about transition, right? Whether they're looking for a new opportunity, they've just reevaluated priorities or they've got a different purpose. And so this is something that is coming up over and over. The other piece we have is a series around owning your worth. And that is really also about, I'm speaking at something, how do I know what to ask for? Meghan Houle (34:17.74) Yeah. Meghan Houle (34:31.755) Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (34:32.622) If I'm going to negotiate for that raise, if I feel like I've continued to be passed up in my job by my manager, what are those tips? What's that advice? What would others share? And it's amazing because once you start the conversation and one person shares or one person talks, everyone feels like they have that, okay, now I can do it. Yeah. Meghan Houle (34:36.034) Mm-hmm. Meghan Houle (34:46.878) Mm-hmm. Meghan Houle (34:57.446) Right, like I can do it. Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (34:59.682) And that's, and then when you walk away and the people go, oh, great, I can do that. I can actually have this conversation or go back tomorrow. And a lot of that is corporate, right? Cause we work with so many women in the work, the traditional workforce. I think the other piece that's happening on the entrepreneur side is, it's again, if you're going in your fundraising, if you're talking to customers, really evaluating, you know, my time is money, right? So, Meghan Houle (35:14.807) Yeah. Meghan Houle (35:23.647) Mm-hmm. Meghan Houle (35:27.494) Mm-hmm. Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (35:28.986) That's one thing. Two is what are my products or services truly worth? Where have I benchmarked? And am I undervaluing myself and what we're doing or what I'm providing? So spending a lot of time on just making sure we're, again, owning that money conversation. Meghan Houle (35:36.013) Yeah. Meghan Houle (35:40.375) Yeah. Meghan Houle (35:47.03) Oh God, we have to. Cause I feel like that was the biggest thing for me starting coaching, my coaching business. And again, like starting it when a lot of people were not working. And then I was like, Oh, I probably shouldn't charge people or I'm scared to charge people. And you're like. No, you know, you have all this X years experience. And I think like, you sort of like beta test things and you get better and better. And I mean, I'm certainly like far beyond where I started to like where I am now with all my programs and whatnot. But it is so tricky in terms of like valuing what we really bring to the table and standing in that worth. And I always say the people that see, don't let your value be defined by somebody that doesn't see it, right? So they're Cate Luzio, Luminary (36:18.78) Mm-hmm. Cate Luzio, Luminary (36:28.942) Yes, yes. And I know your number, right? Know that number that you'll walk away from too, right? Because it's not just the number that you want. It's also, you've got to have that line where, you know, you know what, this isn't worth it. And I think whether that's again, in a traditional corporate lens or that entrepreneurial lens, you've got to have that and then be okay with it. Meghan Houle (36:30.978) I call it the prices right? Right? No, that number. Yes. Yeah. Meghan Houle (36:53.566) Yeah, no, and just and I say like drop the anchor, sit with it. Don't over explain. Don't over discuss like this is it this is what I'm looking for boom and move on. So is there beyond that? Is there another you know, after these four years building this community, I know you have a lot of different programs, but is there like a constant theme that you've seen or something that really has come out of the pandemic that is like always that pain point? Or what do you feel like we just struggle the most? Cate Luzio, Luminary (37:00.229) right. Cate Luzio, Luminary (37:17.934) Yes, I mean, it's crazy to me because after almost five years of doing this and also my former life, still what's coming up is this confidence piece and you and I talked about at the beginning, figuring out that next step, how do I get there? This idea of mentorship and networking and investing time in relationship building, I think. Meghan Houle (37:20.983) Yeah. Meghan Houle (37:27.308) Yeah. Meghan Houle (37:31.034) Oh, huge. Yes, yes. Meghan Houle (37:37.719) Uh-huh. Meghan Houle (37:42.314) Mm. Cate Luzio, Luminary (37:46.51) again, especially the younger generation thing is it just comes so easily. It doesn't, right? You've got to really invest time in this and building that network. And then I think the other piece is just around communication, right? Effective communication, delivering tough conversations and feedback. And all of that is sort of wrapped around this communication, knowing your style, knowing your tone, knowing your audience. And so a lot of the workshops that we do both. Meghan Houle (37:52.178) No. Yes. Meghan Houle (38:06.939) Uh-huh. Meghan Houle (38:11.682) Mm-hmm. Cate Luzio, Luminary (38:14.374) for our general community and then a lot of the corporate, our enterprise clients, because we work with so many companies is delivering that. And those are the topics that come back time and time again in employee surveys. Meghan Houle (38:22.591) Yeah. Meghan Houle (38:27.238) Yeah. Oh, always. And I want anyone for listening, whether you're just starting out of your career or the senior executives out there that have held presidents, CEO level roles, isn't it crazy to see those C level people where we look up to them or like, they get it all figured out, they get all the confidence or honestly sometimes the ones that come to me and are struggling the most. I'm like, tell me your story. They're like, I don't know how to talk about myself. I'm like, you brought a team of 500 people. What do you mean? Because we're always so focused on everybody else. Cate Luzio, Luminary (38:46.503) Totally. Meghan Houle (38:55.986) Right? When does anybody, except if you're an interview, sit down and be like, who are you? What do you do? What do you love to do? So, yeah. Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (39:01.062) Oh, exactly. I spoke at an event last night in New York, a great event. And there, I think there was, let's call it a hundred people in the audience. And I asked, I was doing the closing kind of remarks and I said, okay, how many of you feel comfortable doing your elevator pitch, right? Not a sales pitch, you know, about you, five people, maybe, and three of them were men, right? So they were comfortable. We love you, but Meghan Houle (39:11.571) Awesome. Meghan Houle (39:18.294) Right? Yeah. Meghan Houle (39:23.366) Of course. We love you men, but of course you are, yes. Yeah. Yes. Cate Luzio, Luminary (39:27.17) And so the exercise as we like headed into the end was, practice it, right? Do it in front of your dog, do it in front of the mirror, practice it with your friends. Like you need to be able to tell your story concisely, right? But also get the points you want to get across because these are missed opportunities when you don't. And I think this comes back to competence and communication and just feeling this. Meghan Houle (39:38.286) Mm-hmm. right? Meghan Houle (39:44.395) Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (39:53.154) I hate the, I'm not a big fan of like the word permission, but just feeling this ownership around, you know what? I should be sharing my story. I'm pretty amazing. Meghan Houle (40:01.474) Yeah, and also what no one is going to know what you do or who you are unless you tell them like we're not mind Reaser readers and I think right speak up Yes Cate Luzio, Luminary (40:07.262) Exactly. Same with your managers, right? You've got to tell them what you're contributing and your accomplishments. Or if you're going for a new job, like they've got to know, right? Because this whole thing that we were told as women for a long time, keep your head down, don't worry, you'll get tapped. That's bullshit. Meghan Houle (40:17.599) Yeah, yeah. Meghan Houle (40:22.162) Yeah. No, no, no one's thinking about us. And yes, yeah. And especially too in opportunities where maybe you are looking for a career pivot or looking to do something else. Like you have to be so clear of what that is. And then also like be able to have a network of people that can keep you in mind to say. Cate Luzio, Luminary (40:27.41) No, you've got to have your head high, raise your hand, be visible, be engaged. Meghan Houle (40:47.898) oh, by the way, like, oh, so and so wanted to do that and recommend you and things like that. But I think the connection and the networking these days, too, people just, especially if you're an introvert, you're like, no thanks. But I'm like, you gotta get out there, make friends. Join Luminary. So what are your plans for the future, Kate, as we wrap up? Like, what are you really excited about for 2024? We'll get through 2023 together and then, yeah. Yeah, awesome. Yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (40:59.27) Yeah, exactly, exactly. Cate Luzio, Luminary (41:08.13) Yes, we're excited about this integration of the crew that we acquired and kind of getting that, you know, for 2024 really hit the ground running. We're excited to, you know, get back on the road so we'll do another six to eight cities again next year. And we're excited to hopefully see the companies that we're working with today really doubling down and investing in their people because it is a tough market, it is a tough world, it is a tough time. So you can't forget about investing in your pipeline and in your people. And then hopefully we'll see some of these numbers change around women and access to capital. And so we wanna be part of that conversation. We wanna be driving the change there. So we're excited about 2024 and hopefully we'll continue to shine and grow. Meghan Houle (41:48.588) Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's so awesome. Meghan Houle (41:57.334) You will. So how can people find more about Luminary? I mean, I know you have a really great website, but you know, what is the best way for someone to find, tap in, tune in, engage with you? Yes. Cate Luzio, Luminary (42:08.854) Yeah, so our website's just weareluminari.com. That's the same, our social Instagram is the same, and then you can find us on LinkedIn. For me, it's just, it's very simple. I'm Kate Luzio, Kate with a C, L-U-Z-I-O for LinkedIn, as well as for Instagram. My preferred platform is where I spend most of my time is LinkedIn, so connect with me. If you're an individual, if you're a company, Meghan Houle (42:16.091) Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. Meghan Houle (42:27.604) Mm-hmm. Meghan Houle (42:30.806) LinkedIn, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Cate Luzio, Luminary (42:35.999) And again, driving that to We Are Luminary, you'll see all of what we do and our offerings. And we're excited to continue to grow the community. Meghan Houle (42:45.022) Yeah, no, and I feel like you're so generous on LinkedIn. I mean, I remember two years back, you were doing those chats, right, going live. And I just always appreciate women who are not the gatekeepers, but are like really truly like looking and open to sharing all the things and people and individuals. And I'll tell you, coming from my live event, like... Cate Luzio, Luminary (42:50.487) Yes. Meghan Houle (43:05.602) bringing like minded people together, like the connections that are made that someone like, it's like, oh, Kate, you know Kate in this, or Kate talked about you. And then, you know, there's just like, there's this beautiful synergy. That's what I, I love it's all synergy. So that's really amazing. So I cannot wait and hopefully one of your stops will be in Boston. And before I let you go, I always love to like close out with this question. What does it mean to you to pivot with purpose? Cate Luzio, Luminary (43:08.754) amazing. Yes! Small world. Cate Luzio, Luminary (43:31.366) Oh, so I think the word pivot is an interesting one. So I think there's one is, are you truly pivoting? Are you doing something in a complete different direction, which amazing, but know what that path is, right? What your priorities are as you pivot to go down that path. And then for those of you that are sort of adapting, right? Maybe you're not doing a full pivot, it's the same. It's like, what is that path going to provide me? What am I gonna learn? Meghan Houle (43:32.135) Mm-hmm. Meghan Houle (43:35.829) Mm-hmm. Meghan Houle (43:44.942) Mmm. Cate Luzio, Luminary (44:00.658) and how do I navigate that path using communities, using my network, using my skills. So in my mind, that's that pivot with purpose. Meghan Houle (44:10.354) I love it. So it's clarity, confidence, communication. You know, those are those are our pillars. Okay, so we're building new brand pillars as well. We got something that works over here. But oh my gosh, you're freaking incredible. I am so excited to be connected with you. And thank you for sharing this amazing story. And I just know like my network to have access to like other resources and tools to help Cate Luzio, Luminary (44:14.784) Exactly. Cate Luzio, Luminary (44:20.738) Exactly. Meghan Houle (44:37.098) women advance at all levels. It's just really so important and so needed and so needed as we move forward into the new year. So thank you so much, Kay, for being a part of our podcast. I look forward to seeing you soon. Yes! Cate Luzio, Luminary (44:47.974) Thank you. Yes, we're gonna stay tuned because next year we're gonna do something live. I promise you in New York. Meghan Houle (44:54.466) Stay tuned! Yes, thanks Kate! Okay. All right, awesome, let's make sure we upload. Cate Luzio, Luminary (44:57.554) Thank you.