2025 CASE Awards Entry 2: Lasada Pippen: All Grit. No Quit. (excerpt)

00:00:00 Sumer Beatty: Welcome to Tomorrow Makers, where we explore how we learn, live, work, and play, now and in the future. I'm Sumer Beatty. 00:00:11 Carlos Ramos: And I'm Carlos Ramos. What a great conversation we just had. 00:00:15 Sumer Beatty: Yes, Lasada Pippen. 00:00:17 Carlos Ramos: Who's Lasada Pippen? 00:00:18 Sumer Beatty: Lasada Pippen is a computer engineer turned public speaker, and he was with us on campus today to talk to our students, and he's gonna hang around, do another presentation this evening to the community. Just a really cool guy. So much energy. He's overcome a lot of obstacles in his life, and he really uses that very authentic approach to, to inspire people. 00:00:41 Carlos Ramos: It's a lot of fun. This is now the second one where we've done an event or attended an event and then gotten the opportunity to have that interview with the presenter. As we're sitting in the audience, I'm like, I hadn't looked at our questions yet. Surprise, surprise. And I'm like, oh, well, I can ask this and I can ask this. And that's the other thing. But then I'm like, yeah, we got to show up. We got to show up with intention here. I mean, this, this, this guy, you got to be on your game because he's on his game. 00:01:11 Sumer Beatty: He is. He really is. In the end, we, asked him a question about his legacy. And he talks a lot about, finding your more and to always expect there's more to want more. And I think we, as a team actually do a really good job of not settling for anything less, but what is your more? 00:01:32 Carlos Ramos: Oh my God. I, you know, and when you said, you're going to ask me a question, I'm like, you are going to ask me that. 00:01:36 Lasada Pippen: Okay. I was just trying to not have it asked to me. 00:01:39 Carlos Ramos: And it's, and it's a, It is a fantastic question. That's also a delay tactic to say how great a question is. So I'm trying to process, but I'm speaking so much that I can't process this at the same time. So what is my more? My more is seeing every single member of the team just be able to achieve their greatness, to achieve it in what we do, but also for themselves. And nothing really fulfills me more than just seeing everyone thrive and loving what they're doing. So if I can get a little bit more of that out every day and I can go home feeling like I either was part of that development or I got out of the way. enough for that to happen. I'm gold. 00:02:26 Sumer Beatty: Okay. Spoken like a true leader. 00:02:29 Carlos Ramos: So let me throw this question at you. We talked about the future self and the current self. Have you ever done that to where you are imagining that future self and that future self talking back to your current self? 00:02:40 Sumer Beatty: No, but I imagine myself currently talking to my past self. 00:02:46 Carlos Ramos: I think we all do that. 00:02:47 Sumer Beatty: Yeah. Well, I, yeah, I mean, I almost think that's, I think that's recognition for like, okay, I've come a long way. 00:02:53 Carlos Ramos: Yeah. 00:02:54 Sumer Beatty: That's really cool. But future, future self, no, I don't think about that. 00:03:01 Carlos Ramos: Maybe we're not all doing that because I think a lot of times we're critiquing ourselves, but you're just having that conversation with your old self. 00:03:10 Sumer Beatty: Yeah. 00:03:11 Carlos Ramos: That's cool. 00:03:12 Sumer Beatty: Yeah. Like I never thought I would be on a podcast. Somebody would say, you're going to be a, in the future, your future self. It's going to tell you you're on, no, in the future, you're going to be on a podcast. No, I don't think so. I wouldn't believe them. 00:03:26 Carlos Ramos: And I think you're having fun with it. 00:03:27 Sumer Beatty: Yeah, it is fun. 00:03:28 Carlos Ramos: I'm having fun with it. 00:03:29 Sumer Beatty: Yeah. All right. 00:03:31 Carlos Ramos: A little bonus on this episode... So after the closing credits, you may have noticed that there's always a little bit of snippet afterwards. 00:03:38 Sumer Beatty: Did you notice, did you notice people? 00:03:41 Carlos Ramos: If not, go back and listen to, I don't know, starting like episode, I don't even know what episode I started doing that. But, today, we actually have a little mini interview afterwards, so you may hear us call out to Kaysey, who was helping out Lasada today. 00:03:56 Sumer Beatty: This is the first time we had somebody in the room, the fly on the wall, who didn't say anything, but she kind of did. She did speak up a few times, so we want to give her credit. She was in here. She put a lot of time into the interview. planning and executing this First Generation College Student Week. So she deserves props for that. And Kaysey works here at the college. She's the coordinator of student success solutions. 00:04:21 Carlos Ramos: She popped into the studio when we had an open house back in February, and she was so kind to sit down, hop on the mic with me, and give a little mini interview. So, a little bonus for you at the end of the episode. Here we go. Tomorrow Makers. 00:04:37 Sumer Beatty: Enjoy. All right, welcome. We are here with Lasada Pippen. 00:04:48 Lasada Pippen: Glad to be here. 00:04:49 Sumer Beatty: Yeah. How's it going? 00:04:51 Lasada Pippen: So far so good. Good? Yeah, having a blast. 00:04:53 Sumer Beatty: We just got done with a, was that a keynote speech? 00:04:57 Lasada Pippen: Yeah. 00:04:57 Sumer Beatty: First gen. Yeah. 00:04:58 Lasada Pippen: Yes. First gen, yep. My people, my experience, my life. 00:05:02 Sumer Beatty: That was fantastic. So, here at Penn College, we're celebrating First Generation College Student Week. So, it's a perfect time to have you, have you here on campus. 00:05:13 Lasada Pippen: Yep, right on time. Love it. So. 00:05:15 Carlos Ramos: You had a great message for the students that were there and a lot of students weren't. He had classes and you know, a lot of conflict. Do you mind giving us the three step framework that you gave the students? 00:05:26 Lasada Pippen: Turn obstacles into opportunities. That's to think of that as the top of the umbrella. Right up under that. If you have all grit, no quit, you can turn obstacles into opportunities. If you realize that your challenge is also your chance, you can turn obstacles into opportunities. And then finally, if you just simply fight back, you can turn obstacles into opportunities. I kind of like to play on words almost, you know, and that's why you hear the challenge and the chance. And then I think I mentioned something about if you see the problem as the promise. So if you play on words like that, but if you think about it, you can turn obstacles into opportunities, easily with those, 3-step proces, 1-2-3. 00:06:05 Carlos Ramos: And so much of what you had in that, I mean, the, the three step process, I mean, you took almost the full hour giving the group that, that three step process. So there was so much there. Hopefully we get little bits of that as we go through. 00:06:18 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, totally. I think my first question when I was done, I was like, did I go over? I was like thinking that I'd go too long, but it's like, yeah, but I realized I was like, Oh, I think I landed well. So yeah. 00:06:29 Sumer Beatty: Yes. 00:06:30 Carlos Ramos: Everyone was still in their seats, ready, ready for more wisdom. 00:06:33 Lasada Pippen: That's what I looked at. I was like, man, they were locked in. Nobody left really. So I was like, got them. 00:06:37 Sumer Beatty: Yeah. And they're students, so they don't mind leaving. 00:06:41 Lasada Pippen: That's right. So totally cool. 00:06:43 Sumer Beatty: So we know you as this inspirational, motivational speaker. I'm just curious about your early experiences and how they shaped your decision to go into this line of work. 00:06:55 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, totally. So I have to go back to just childhood. I grew up in a faith based home. And so seeing speakers of faith based is actually what ignited or triggered the desire to actually speak. And watching them, I was like, wow, these people are great with words and you can ignite something in people. So that that's kind of where it came from. But when I was in college, or when I was getting ready to go to college, I didn't know anything about the business or the art of motivational speaking. So I chose something that I thought was the next best thing. So that's why I shied away from it and that's why I was in engineering and technology for over a decade because I just didn't know. And I think that was a little bit of fear there also. I didn't know if I could succeed or make it or, you know, so. So that's why I went that route and came back to what I love. It never left. It never went away. 00:07:56 Sumer Beatty: Isn't that interesting? That seed was there that whole time and you had said in your talk, Well, I was looking for something that would always be in demand. 00:08:04 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, that's right. 00:08:05 Sumer Beatty: It would make a lot of money. 00:08:06 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, that's right. Yeah, and I didn't realize that when you're in speaking having that skill of communication I didn't realize that if you're a CEO and you have a communication skill, you're going to make more than just your average CEO. It's usually about a 10 to 20 percent bump if you have communication skills. I never thought about that, or I never even processed that in my mind. It was just something that I love doing, and I think I mentioned it in the talk as well that I was doing this for free for over seven years. So I would use PTO and leave work to go do an event and come back and it got to a point to where I was just like, you know, I can't keep juggling this. I have to make a decision. Kind of what I talked about today is that either I'm going to go after it or I'm just going to, you know, hope and wish that I would have did it someday. So that's kind of how that transition sort of shifted and so forth. But yeah. 00:08:59 Sumer Beatty: So you didn't go to school to learn how to do public speaking or presenting or almost theatrics like so that you just learned by... 00:09:09 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, so a lot of books. Okay, a lot of practice And if you, if you heard earlier, a lot of, a long time in parks, empty parks. 00:09:19 Sumer Beatty: Explain that. I think that would be a fun thing to talk about. The squirrels. Make sure you talk about the squirrels. 00:09:24 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, totally. So, I took one class, the squirrels, right? When I was in engineering and information systems, I took one class that was on public speaking. And I hated it. I didn't even like it at all. I was like, this class is, lame. But anyway, it wasn't through school or some type of program or anything. I did Toastmasters for a little while. I was in NSA, which is National Speakers Association, for a little while. But those things weren't what honed my skills. It was actually just doing it, going to do it. And when I had that moment where the lady told me how awful I was, that kind of lit a fire under me. And so I would go to these random parks, not random because they were down the street from the house, but I would go to these parks and literally use that as a practice ground. And I'm pretty shy for the most part. It's, it's weird because when you're on stage, it's like, I come alive on stage, but everyday personality, I'm, I'm shy. I'm introverted for the most part. So going to those parks was like golden for me because it was just me, no one out there by myself, nobody can see what I'm doing. So I love that. And so I use that as a practice ground in those moments. And so I would go out there and act like trees were people, you know, and squirrels running around and so it was so much fun. But it was so weird for other people when they found out that I was doing that. It was like, that's weird, but, but for me, it was actually a stomping ground, a learning ground for me to actually build a craft and develop it. You know, reading all these books and stuff on how to present and all this kind of stuff. So, yeah. 00:11:04 Sumer Beatty: Yeah. So, for our listeners who weren't at the event earlier, some woman came up to you after your speaking engagement. You're greeting all these people. They're telling you how wonderful you are. She's coming towards you. And, like you said, I think a Halloween character, you're like, oh, no, she's a zombie. And she says, You're awful. Or you were awful. And you were just like, what?! 00:11:26 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, I was devastated. That was heartbreaking for me because, because I had been doing it for free. And, you know, I thought my skills were at least good enough to get booked. And I was getting booked, you know, even though they were free events, I just didn't think I was awful. And so for someone to say that I was totally confused and devastated at the same time, because I took her words as if they were gold. And I didn't even know this lady, you know, I had never seen in my life, a total stranger, you know. So you would think that a total stranger shouldn't have that much value on how you feel or how you respond to it, but she did, you know. And her saying that, that actually challenged and lit a fire under me because the other side of me is very competitive. So, 00:12:12 Sumer Beatty: Yeah, I love it. 00:12:12 Lasada Pippen: Yeah. 00:12:13 Carlos Ramos: You talk about challenges, you know, becoming those, those opportunities, those obstacles becoming those opportunities there. That was an obstacle. 00:12:24 Lasada Pippen: That was a huge one, too. 00:12:25 Carlos Ramos: You know, you talk about fighting through fear to get to the other side of something. We have to do that in order to improve. 00:12:33 Lasada Pippen: Absolutely. So think about this for a moment. Someone walks up, they say, you are awful. You believe them. You take it to heart. Think about going to your next event, to your next stage. The only thing you have in your head, at least I did, or in my mind was, hey, you were awful. So how, how are you gonna, how are you going to do this one? That's kind of the question. It's kind of like a, I dare you, I dare you to get up there and do it again, you know? And so, but again, I had to really dig deep because I really felt, I really believe that. I was supposed to be in the keynote speaking space. I believe that. And I believe that enough to go back even after she said that. But I took some time off though. I took a few months off before I went back on the stage just because I was scared. And I was thinking, I was like, wow, what if, what if I really am awful? You know? So what if this is true? You know, what if she was the only one who was bold enough to say what maybe a few other people was actually thinking. So yeah, you have all this stuff playing in your head and your mind and you know. But I had to go back and face it because it was something that I wanted and it was something that I felt like I I could really make a difference in this space. So that drove me more than stopping 00:13:53 Carlos Ramos: What was that moment like when you were you're at two three months that you're in this break? Yes What was that moment that said, no, get up. 00:14:04 Lasada Pippen: Yeah I have to credit It My wife here in this moment because she believed even when I wasn't believing, she was still believing. She was like, no, I think you're great. And that's actually how we met. She met me speaking at some little class gathering. That's how she saw me. She was in the class. And I was on my way there, she was already in there, so I always tell her, you got in my way, because I was going to do what I was supposed to be doing. But nonetheless, her believing was kind of like, I felt bad because I wasn't believing in myself, and then she was. So I felt bad. I felt like I was kind of letting her down. I felt like she was fighting for my dream and I wasn't even fighting for my own dream. So just mentally going through that every single day, you know, I finally had to say, you know, like, Hey, you, you have to go back and try again. You know, you have to. And she even stopped talking about it. She stopped talking about speaking and pursuing it. She just stopped. She, and she said she stopped because I wasn't putting the effort there anymore. And so when I noticed that she stopped, I sort of got a little annoyed, I guess, at her. Like, I don't, I don't know how I got annoyed at her over my stuff. 00:15:23 Sumer Beatty: We know, we have relationships, we all know, all the listeners understand. 00:15:27 Lasada Pippen: Totally. 00:15:27 Sumer Beatty: Yeah. 00:15:28 Lasada Pippen: So I got annoyed at her, and then that kind of made me challenge myself, like, hey, what are you doing, dude? Like, you're going to be a loser, you're going to pout. For the rest of your life, you're going to just feel sorry for yourself. What was me, you know, the pity party story. So just going through those, you know, personal raw conversations with myself was like, yeah, get up, go do it, get back at it, bro. 00:15:51 Sumer Beatty: So I think a lot of those first gen students And we don't, we know we have about 50 percent first gen students here at Penn College. They're out there in the audience. Did you have any conversations afterwards with anyone? 00:16:05 Lasada Pippen: I did. Yeah. 00:16:05 Sumer Beatty: Okay. 00:16:06 Lasada Pippen: I love the offstage conversations. A lot of times those are so fulfilling and a lot of times they can be greater than the actual onstage, you know, entertainment or whatever. One guy in particular, he was just sitting there afterwards, right? And I think Kaysey noticed him also, and she mentioned, you know, hey, he may want to talk. So I walked over to him and he was just sitting there. He was like, I'm good. He was like, I just felt this so much. I cried twice, you know, and so just moments like that, it's like, yeah, like, yeah, that's why I'm here. That's why I do what I do, you know, just being relatable, tangible, authentic, and understanding the journey that they're on is where I've been and so forth. You know, a lot of thank yous. Hey, I took so many notes. I'm really going to apply myself and do A, B and C, you know, just from different people. And, you know, and then a lot of times it trickles in through social media afterwards. I'll get a lot of messages that they don't want to say right there in the moment, but they can say it there. And, you know, I always make sure I try to respond to every message. Everything that comes in, I try to respond and make sure that they know that, Hey, I wasn't just a guy on stage, you know, so. Yeah, totally. But I love those interactions after the offstage moments is what I call them. Yeah. 00:17:29 Sumer Beatty: Yeah, that's success I mean you get one person afterwards. I mean if I were you I'd be like, okay job done. Yeah success like I'm... 00:17:36 Lasada Pippen: Yeah. 00:17:36 Sumer Beatty: So rewarding. 00:17:37 Lasada Pippen: Yeah. 00:17:38 Sumer Beatty: And you weren't getting that in as a computer engineer. I'm assuming not the same kind of feedback. 00:17:44 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, not not the same. You know, I was sharing this with my wife the other day, we were coming from an event in Florida. This was the first time I, I, my kids got to saw what I do. They had never seen me actually speak live like that. And so I was excited about that, but we were coming back and I, and she said, you love doing this stuff, don't you? And I was like, yeah, I do. I salivate over this stuff. And, but there was never a moment in engineering to where I can say, oh, I love, I salivate over this. There was never that moment. And so transitioning was, it wasn't, it wasn't hard and it wasn't easy. It was neither. It was both. Because I do have an appreciation for what engineering, what that field did for me, you know, for our family. And so, yeah, it was tough though. But yeah, I love this. And that's what I want to be able to say every day. I love what I do. No matter what comes with it. 00:18:46 Sumer Beatty: Yeah, and when you're doing something for seven months free 00:18:49 Lasada Pippen: Seven years. 00:18:51 Sumer Beatty: Wait, you were doing it for seven years. 00:18:52 Lasada Pippen: Oh, yeah years 00:18:53 Sumer Beatty: For free? 00:18:54 Lasada Pippen: Yeah. 00:18:54 Sumer Beatty: Okay. I mean, holy cow, that is pure evidence of passion. 00:18:58 Lasada Pippen: I never asked for I never asked for a paycheck I only started asking for... It's funny because I only started asking for money because my wife was like, hey, we need to monetize this like if this is what you want to do, you need to figure out, you know, how to get paid for your services or whatnot. But I never, I never asked for money. I never even thought about it. I didn't even think I wanted to ask for money. I just love doing it. I just love the opportunities, you know? And for me, it was like, hey, this is, these are ways that I am getting better, you know, that I'm actually getting on stage and so forth. So yeah, but seven years, I will use all my PTO. 00:19:32 Sumer Beatty: Wow. Okay. So I was thinking seven months was a long time. I'm thinking that's amazing. Seven years. Wow. 00:19:38 Carlos Ramos: I'm pretty sure that's the 10,000 hour mark. 00:19:40 Lasada Pippen: There you go. 00:19:41 Sumer Beatty: Is that? Okay. 00:19:41 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, there you go. Yeah, that's the 10,000 hour mark. Yeah, pretty much. So I've, yeah, I've put in the work and, but I feel like I'm still working. I feel like I'm still growing, still learning. I can still get better. I always record my presentations. If I don't record them with a camera, have somebody do it, I usually record the audio and I'll go back and listen to it. Go back, listen to it, critique it. Oh man, hey, you could've paused here, you could've put bass here, treble here. Just all the fine detail stuff. Yeah, it's just my passion, it's just my obsession over, over this stuff, so, yeah. 00:20:13 Sumer Beatty: So when you decided, okay, I want to start doing public speaking, how did you know you wanted to have the topic of motivating the audiences and encouraging them. 00:20:22 Lasada Pippen: I kind of took my story, my experience. Hey, what would they benefit from? There's a lot of people that need to turn an obstacle into an opportunity. There's a lot of people like that. And there's a lot of people that don't have a good relationship with obstacles or with problems. So I took that and I said, Hmm, I've been climbing, fighting pretty much my whole life. I grew up fighting, not physically fighting, but just fighting to get in position to get in certain places and to outlive, you know, or outlast certain conditions and so forth. So that fight was always like, hmm, I wonder if I can help other people learn how to fight essentially. So that's kind of what the topic was. I just kind of took what. what plagued me and was like, hmm, let's, let's figure out how other people can use this as well. 00:21:19 Sumer Beatty: Yeah. So tell our audience a little bit about your obstacles early on, just because some of us were at the event earlier and we have that background, but I think it might help to set the stage a little bit. 00:21:31 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, totally. I wish I had this picture that I could have showed to the audience, but I couldn't find it. But I mean, I, I grew up to parents who, Again, barely graduated high school. They left Alabama when they were 18, got to Atlanta 19 years old. No education, no funds, no car, just kind of almost nothing, you know, and my dad, he grew up poorer than my mom did, even though my mom was poor too. And my dad, he didn't have his dad in his life. So growing up, watching that, watching my dad struggle with that and not knowing how to make powerful decisions, not knowing how to overcome a lot of the challenges that kept our family in a pauper's position, I was like, no, I have to be able to fight out of this because I'm the last boy. I'm the last Pippen, you know, and I don't know, if somebody don't start it now, who will? Who would start it, you know? 00:22:38 Sumer Beatty: You started it. 00:22:39 Lasada Pippen: I did. Yeah. You know, I didn't want to wait for my nephew at the time, neither one of my nephews at the time. I didn't want to wait for, hey, let me see if they're gonna do it. Or if I have kids, you know, which I do, let me see if one of my kids can, can do it. Like no, let me change this trajectory right now. But just growing up with a whole lot of nothing, it's kind of how I put it. You know, we didn't have cars, you know, we didn't have money a lot of times. We rented. We didn't own a home until I was grown. I mighta had just graduated college before we ever could say that we owned something. So, just not having those resources, having all of those challenges and chaos, it actually builds something in you. It either breaks people or it makes them so resilient. that you almost can't kill them. Like ants, almost, you know. It's like, mm, yeah, either you're going to be a fighter or you're just going to sit on the sideline and pout about it. And so I'm grateful that the fight came out of me versus the option to quit. And so, you know, growing up in that chaos, You know, strange relationships, like, like I mentioned, you know, with my brothers is, you know, it was just so much chaos and dysfunction that I can see why it's easy to quit and how it's hard to overcome and even come out of that stuff when you don't have a blueprint, you don't know how, who to turn to, you just don't know, you know. So I'm just grateful that there was a fight, fighter spirit in me that, you know, made it through. So yeah. 00:24:11 Sumer Beatty: Yeah. You said a couple of times about not having any mentors. And we often, mentors come up in our conversations here on the podcast a lot. And the power of having that person, that go to person, you know, you're not sure what to do. I mean, even going to college is difficult. The process can be complicated, the forms and all of that. How, how do you, how do you do that? 00:24:34 Lasada Pippen: So when I was telling the story about the, that my parents brought the recruiter to me at Burger King, right. 00:24:40 Sumer Beatty: When you were working. 00:24:41 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, I was working at Burger King. 00:24:42 Sumer Beatty: Yeah. 00:24:43 Lasada Pippen: Yes, and they brought a college recruiter there. That was my parents last interaction in terms of how things were gonna go for me in terms of college. My parents never filled out an application. My parents probably didn't even know what was going on, like period, honestly. So a lot of stuff was on me. To just figure it out and find your way through, you know, and again, I'm just so grateful that I had a fighter spirit to want to figure it out. And I think coming back home after that, that summer and seeing people in the same position doing the same thing, it was the same stuff. And I was like, no, I don't, I don't want to do this. I don't want to end up like this. So it's either fight or, or sink, you know? And so for me, the fighter rose up, but my parents, yeah, they, they probably had no clue. about, you know, my college experience. The only thing they knew was when it was a graduation date. 00:25:40 Sumer Beatty: They were like, yes. Yeah. 00:25:42 Lasada Pippen: It was like, yeah, somebody finished, you know, so they get to put on their suit, you know, and celebrate, you know, we got a college graduate in the house now, you know? And so, yeah, but they didn't have a clue. So I had to figure all of that stuff out on my own. FAFSA, all that kind of stuff, financial aid, everything, you know, literally. So, but yeah, made it. 00:25:58 Sumer Beatty: How about mentors now? 00:26:00 Lasada Pippen: Mentors now, yeah. So I, I have two. Now that I primarily look to or have a direct connection to now. And you know, this is in my adult life though, you know, cuz I didn't even have well I would say one of my professors when I was in school. He was a he was a huge figure in terms of the IT world or the tech world. He was kind of a huge figure, you know, because he was someone that looked like me that was actually successful. You know, he was a doctor in his field, in his space, professor. So that was inspiring to see that, but just every day it wasn't, you know. And the thing is I wanted that. I wanted to be able to look at my dad and say, hey, you're my hero. I wanted that. But I had to be honest with myself and, and I, you know, I told myself like, no, I actually cannot say that, you know, I can't, I can't say that, but I wanted it though. I wanted to be able to look up to my two older brothers and, you know, hopefully that they would have led a path that I was like, yeah, I'm gonna follow you, you know, and go to that, but it didn't happen, you know. And there was nobody in the neighborhood that was. Yeah, because we, we grew up in a, in a, in a very low income area and so it was the hood, you know. And so there weren't people there that were doing things that you wanted to repeat anyway. 00:27:36 Sumer Beatty: So you grew up in Atlanta and you live in Atlanta. 00:27:39 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, I'm in Marietta, but it's, it's, I mean, it's Atlanta. 00:27:42 Sumer Beatty: But you decided you wanted to stay there and raise your family. 00:27:45 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, because I love Atlanta. I mean, I think it's a great city. You know, it's, it's thriving. It's a lot of exciting things there. You know, it's a lot of, wealth there. A lot of opportunities there. It's a great place. You know, it just, we grew up in, you know, the, I guess the down parts of, of the city, but, but it's a great place though. And I love it. And so it would be hard to take me away from Atlanta. I don't know if there's a lot that competes with it, honestly. The only place I would probably relocate to is Columbia, South America, where my, where my wife is from. We usually spend summers there. That, that would be a place where I could see. You know, possible relocation. 00:28:24 Carlos Ramos: I think Sumer just spun off a whole new podcast episode. 00:28:32 Sumer Beatty: Yeah, I could go down a rabbit hole on that, but we won't, it was going to go to Carmen, San Diego, where in the world is Carmen San Diego, but we won't do that. That's just more work for Carlos. And he does the editing. 00:28:43 Carlos Ramos: Now you mentioned in the talk today, when you got. But back from, I don't know if it was like your first year from college or, you know, getting done with college, you know, coming back to the neighborhood and people are seeing you different. 00:28:56 Lasada Pippen: Of course. 00:28:56 Carlos Ramos: They're treating you different. Were you able to impact anybody else when you came back? Since you didn't have that person. 00:29:04 Lasada Pippen: The unfortunate answer is, is no, because the friendships kind of dissolved. Yeah. It went the opposite way. It dissolved. And, and that's how I was alone a lot. I was. I found myself alone a lot. And I think that's how I embraced being introvert, shy, or whatever, is because we couldn't connect, we couldn't relate anymore, because they thought I was, I guess, trying to be something that I wasn't. And that was never my goal or my intentions, but I just wanted better. I just wanted, you know, a better, a better life. I just wanted a better outcome and they couldn't see it that way. So it kind of dissolved a lot of the relationships from the neighborhood. Like, I don't know anyone from my neighborhood. To this day. I don't, I don't. Talk to anyone from my neighborhood,..