We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Katrina & Tyler Brooks & Payne a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Katrina & Tyler , thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
Katrina Brooks:
I attended The University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) for my BA and MA degrees. I was very unsure of what I wanted to do after graduation but did finally love what I studied which was Psychology. I worked at various jobs after college, exploring my likes. I got hired at a community college 8 months after graduation working with the TRiO program, which impacted me during my undergrad career. After 2.5/3 years there, I got hired as a Specialist with the Buffett Scholars Scholarship Program, better known as the Thompson Learning Community at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO). That program literally changed my life and made me into the leader that I am today and will continue to be. Now I am leading another program, working with students, and just doing what I know–empowering students to be their best, realize their potential, and to find true peace/happiness.
Tyler Payne:
Katrina and I both were working at the University of Nebraska at Omaha back in 2015. Katrina was the Assistant Director of the Thompson Learning Community for the Second Year Experience Program and I was a Specialist in the Thompson Learning Community as well. We were Gallup Certified Strengths Coaches for CliftonStrengths and a close friend of ours had mentioned to us the opportunity to work with the high school students with the NorthStar Foundation. Originally, we did not consider this to be the initial steps to what would one day become Journey To Talents Consulting. We had high school students that were deeply invested in becoming part of the college experience and wanted a personal guide to transition from high school to college. Overtime, the level of interest from students ranging from elementary all the way to post-secondary age has increased tremendously.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Katrina Brooks:
I transform people and environments for the better. I specialize in leadership, student development, programming (small and large scale), strategic planning, motivation self and others, and comfortability being you. I am known for being loving, kind, supportive, and a significant person in the lives of others (this and more is what I usually hear).
I am proud of all of all the students and people that I have helped; their accomplishments, their goals, and the way they are taking over the world. I’ve learned to not minimize my impact and appreciate what I have done. I learned from a friend to take it in and when I am thanked, loved on, appreciated to say “my pleasure.”
Tyler Payne:
I serve in dual role and at local community college. One role I am the Director of College Success and Career Readiness and partnership. For my second role I am the Assistant Director for a career pathway scholarship program that focuses on the trades. I love the work that I do. I have been in Academia since 2012 and I have no intention of ever leaving it. I love education, I love development, I love growth, I love seeing people and transform and become their greater selves.
I always think of the quote, “if i have ever seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”. Throughout my life and my career, I’ve been blessed to stand on the shoulders of giants. Now, I get to be a giant as well and have people stand on my shoulders. Seeing people strive to thrive and obtain that achievement is the greatest reward to me.
People in the community know me as an educator and as a professional. I am fun yet, firm and am very disciplined in principles of growth mindset and neuroplasticity.
What I am most proud of is being a “human gardener”. What it means to me to be a Human Gardener is to know that for the last 15 years I have planted seeds in of education, hope, esteem, love, confidence, empowerment, and so many other positive attributes in people and it is truly a grand gift and blessing to see the seeds bloom into a beautiful garden of success and creativity.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
Collectively, Katrina and Tyler have over 30+ years of experience in the education field working with ages from K-12 and post-secondary education. As a result, the social capital obtained throughout the years provided a springboard to increasing and sustaining our reputation as high-quality service providers that ensure growth, development, personal and professional transformation.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
When it comes to resilience, there was some bumps in a road in terms of our learning on how to establish a business. In terms of being supported by our community and clientele the road was rather smooth. One considerable struggle that I can think of was learning that we were under pricing our services. We had a client who had admonished us greatly because she felt that we were undercutting our own value and worth of our services. She had challenged us to excellence and made it very clear that she would not ever hire us again to provide our service if we did not turn our business into a legitimate LLC and start charging a reasonable price for our high quality service. As much as that can be considered a struggle, we view it in the lens of positive psychology and that was a grand opportunity for us to take our idea and turn it into an actual business. If it was not for that client we may not have ever made the leap into the major successes that we are experiencing currently.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.journeytotalents.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Journey-To-Talents-Consulting-LLC/61564820481932/
