Episode transcript:

Angela Barrett – “Hey, Douglas Thanks for being here with me today.”

Douglas Berry – So thanks for having me.

Angela Barrett – “Absolutely. And how appropriate to have you here today. As it is, Veterans Day, and you spent 20 years in the Air Force.”

Douglas Berry – I did 20 years as a bomb loader. I loaded the eight engine F-16s with all munitions.

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, I was going to say thank you for your service. And, aircraft armament specialist, I think is the official title. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Great. AKA bomb loader,”

Douglas Berry – Or load is I used to coalition Air force.

Angela Barrett – Called.

Douglas Berry – What a load towed.

Angela Barrett – “Oh. Load towed. Oh my gosh. So, what do you remember, about the day you enlisted?”

Douglas Berry – The the most poignant thing I remember is being in the plane and just being emotional.

Angela Barrett – The day you listed enlist.

Douglas Berry – “Yeah, yeah, the day I enlisted in flew all of the basic training because you’re leaving everything a little behind you.”

Angela Barrett – Yeah. So what was the motivation to join? What was the reason?

Douglas Berry – “Do something bigger than me. I mean, I at the time, we were in Maryland, and, I guess we were four years into being poultry farmers, and I just graduated high school, and there wasn’t a lot to do down there in Maryland, except, being a commercial fisherman. Oysterman, truck farmer. You know, a vegetable farmer or a or poultry.”

Douglas Berry – “That was a lot of work. I didn’t really want to go back to school. And I’m like, well, let me do something really important with my life, and we’ll join the we’ll join the Air Force. And, nobody really thought I’d make it through basic training because I was a little scrawny, 125 pound kid at the time.”

Douglas Berry – “You know, I’d say I made it.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I made a career out of it. Now, when did you meet your wife in this process?”

Douglas Berry – “We actually, met before I left to join the Air Force. We were both working at a place called Side Street Seafood Market. Was a little seafood restaurant market right on the Chesapeake Bay in Crisp Field, Maryland. And, we met there and, got engaged before, before I went off to basic training. And, we ended up getting married, and, 86.”

Angela Barrett – “While you were obviously in there. Yeah, yeah, the first base. And so now, where was boot camp for you?”

Douglas Berry – Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.

Angela Barrett – “Gotcha. Now, what is your funniest moment that you can remember in boot camp?”

Douglas Berry – “In boot camp? The funniest moment can. Weren’t too many of those, but.”

Angela Barrett – “Oh, come on.”

Douglas Berry – “Well, probably the funniest moments were just going to go for humor was, after we were all done, they pulled us out of the, the barracks we had been staying in and put us in a, like, a little side barrack off to the side because they had a road, another flight through. Sure. And, RTI came over to that other barracks that we had moved to with our stuff for, like our last night.”

Douglas Berry – And they just cut up cracking jokes with us and everything else. And that was that was a good time.

Angela Barrett – “Well good good, good. Now you served two tours, two tours in Kuwait and two tours in Saudi Arabia. Correct?”

Douglas Berry – “Yes, ma’am. Yep.”

Angela Barrett – What can you tell us about that?

Douglas Berry – “Oh, that was that was quite an experience. The, because I did the two Kuwait tours first and then the two Saudi Arabia tours, the first Kuwait tour. I was in, it was we were the third rotation in after we got back from Saddam, and we were told, the, the we were told to stay on the hard and surfaces because we didn’t know where the landmines were.”

Douglas Berry – “So we were forbidden to, to step into the sand.”

Angela Barrett – “Well, let me just second was what was the name of this particular two or do you have one? Well.”

Douglas Berry – “If it did, it’s been so long ago, I’ve probably forgotten that.”

Angela Barrett – Okay.

Douglas Berry – “And I find that that happens a lot with my, like, the little particulars. Like, did I run into guys all the time? And they’re like, remember when we used to do that low down had, you know, two, eight nines. And the beauty is what what do we call that? And I’m like, I don’t remember.”

Angela Barrett – So y’all were over there again after you had the the capture had taken place. So you were going keep going.

Douglas Berry – “Yeah. That was a that was an experience because, that was my first time ever in what was a war zone. And see, the devastation from war, was pretty, I don’t know. I don’t, I don’t know that I would say traumatizing, but it was definitely an eye opener. To see, the, the residents and stuff of Kuwait just blown up.”

Douglas Berry – “And, we went to one part that was, I think it was called the resistance House, or there was a batch of Kuwaitis that were resisting. And, they’re doing a good job for a while. But, then they rode some tanks and, and some, I guess it was RPGs and stuff and just started blowing the daylights out of the house, and you got to walk through the resistance house, and it was, that was something to see.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, I imagine, I imagine, now that was your first story or what about the second one?”

Douglas Berry – “The second one I don’t remember too much about, because it’s basically the, a mirror image of the first door. I mean, it’s hard to remember. They were. They split up. And the same with the Saudi Arabia tours. It’s. I remember being in.”

Douglas Berry – “I remember being in, there’s nice accommodations. We called tents, but the first two Kuwait tours and the first Saudi Arabia tour, the second Saudi Arabian tour, I remember we were actually in dorms that they finally built. The one thing I didn’t like about that, and I remember it specifically for the second Saudi Arabia tour, is there were other, dorm areas, separated from ours.”

Douglas Berry – “And the one thing I didn’t like is they each each area had a water tower, a big tall water tower, and all the other, areas there were painted, tanned, except in ours. Ours was painted red and white striped. And I’m like, I don’t know how I feel about that.”

Angela Barrett – “Well, why was that?”

Douglas Berry – “I never got a good answer, but it felt like a giant target on our back is what it felt like to me.”

Angela Barrett – Wow. The how long each time were you over there?

Douglas Berry – “I believe the Kuwait tours were, were three, months. The first Saudi Arabia tour was three months. The second Saudi Arabia tour, I had to stay for, for two rotations. So it was almost six months. I think I stayed over there for the last tour. Well, now I and I didn’t know I was going to stay there for two rotations until we got ready to leave for the first group.”

Douglas Berry – “And they’re like, oh no, you got to stay. And we need that. We can’t have everybody leaving at one time. So you and your crew’s going to stay until the other, you know, and work with the other crews when they get here. What they it’s kind of like another.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. So, what was the, I guess the throughout your career in the Air Force, what was the thing that you miss most about civilian life? Other than your wife? Well, go hands.”

Douglas Berry – Yeah.

Angela Barrett – Before you get in trouble.

Douglas Berry – “No. And I and my my son joined the guard, I told him, I said, you know, once you get in, it’s almost like a regular job. I mean, if you can figure a load in bombs or an aircraft is a regular job. I mean, you know, it’s it’s.”

Angela Barrett – It’s.

Douglas Berry – “It’s just a day to day grind kind of thing that you go through. So I don’t remember missing too much. I missed that. I didn’t even really miss many of the the holidays, even with the tours I did the Middle East. But you do lose a little freedom. But you just adapt to it, and you just don’t even think about it.”

Douglas Berry – “After after that point. But, I mean, you you you have to, you know, take leave and make sure everybody knows where you’re at, when you’re going to be back in, in this. So I mean, that’s the maybe the main thing is just your time really isn’t your own.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. So now what do you now as a civilian, what do you miss the most about military life?”

Douglas Berry – “Oh the comradery. Yeah. You just don’t get that. And, no offense to the civilian world, but, I mean, you just don’t get it there, because, I mean, you’re everybody’s got your back. I mean, whether you care for the person or not, if if, the rubber hits the road and, and, you know, you’re in a bad spot, you just know everybody’s going to have your back.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, yeah. So I’m gonna take a just a minute. So this elephant out here. So there has been talk for many years now that I’ve when I say talk things that I have read where some people, have who have been in the service, appreciate what. Thank you for your service. And then there are others who please don’t say it was that for sure.”

Douglas Berry – “Take well, I don’t mind. I usually respond with thank you for your support because, without the support from home, you know, we almost make our job non-existent.”

Angela Barrett – Right. And and why do you think that is? For those that don’t want that saying.

Douglas Berry – “I don’t know, because I, I never really thought about it. I mean, in my mind, it’s not a bad thing. I mean, those folks are asking you know, one to express, you know, how much that they appreciate what you did. I don’t I don’t see any reason why we should not want to hear that.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, right. I’ve always thought, well, maybe I’ve done a little more in-depth digging on that because that’s interesting. Why they would not.”

Douglas Berry – “Yeah. And there’s, there’s some who, And they may be the same people I don’t know, but like, I’ve got my retired Air Force hat on today. There’s some people who are like, oh, you know, some of the guys are reading this like, why do you feel like you don’t walk around with that or what? It’s like, because that was 20 years of my life, you know, it was probably the most important thing I’ve done with my life, you know?”

Douglas Berry – Makes the family.

Angela Barrett – Right?

Douglas Berry – “Yeah, I’m all proud of it.”

Angela Barrett – “I’m Luke Lee, and you should be absolutely. Yeah. Moo Moo Moo will collaborate. Do a deeper dive on that one. So now tell me how in the world of all the Santa Clauses that you went from loading on, bomb to, whatever you called it, to writing children’s books.”

Douglas Berry – “That was it. I always, God put me on this path. It’s it’s pretty obvious to me. It wasn’t supposed to happen. I mean, when your kids are growing up in your reading stories, you always think it’s like, oh, these are cool. I should be able to write a kid’s book. You know, I should try that sometime.”

Douglas Berry – “And it’s one of those thoughts that you have. And then it passes and it goes away. And one day my son went out in the backyard and he caught a baby rabbit. He named it Jasper, and he brought it in the house, and he spent the night with us. And we let it go the next day. And I leave it to my wife.”

Douglas Berry – “I’m like, what a great idea for a kids book. I said, I should, I should write that. And, yeah. So from that point I thought it would be a cute story, for the family, you know, to have a book to pass down to the grandkids. And then it gained traction. It actually sold like 500 copies in the first six months or so.”

Douglas Berry – “And I. Willa. Wow. I check, you know, maybe I’m on to something, maybe push this a little bit, see how far it goes.”

Angela Barrett – And so that.

Douglas Berry – Was the start of the other books. Yeah.

Angela Barrett – “That was, I think the night I spent, in a people house that actually comes from that rabbit.”

Douglas Berry – Yeah.

Angela Barrett – “I got a lot of the name Jasper. That was my grandfather’s name. But, so how did you actually. I mean, did you just say, okay, I’m going to go in here, sit down and start writing, or how did how did that go?”

Douglas Berry – “The first book, I had a rough draft, almost a full book, written in probably 20 minutes, because it just, my brain just started firing on all cylinders, and I just started thinking about all the things the rabbit went through. And when he goes outside and tries to tell his little woodland friends, are they gonna even believe that he spent the night in the house?”

Douglas Berry – “So he has to try to. Yes, to try to convince them that he did. And, so he goes through all that process. And, at the end of the story, there’s a little surprise. I went out.”

Angela Barrett – The day that.

Douglas Berry – “You can point to and be like, see, I told you, you know, kind of all week.”

Angela Barrett – “Right now, I know you said it probably was about 20 minutes, but are in real reality from when you sat down and wrote the draft, the original draft to the time it published. How long was that?”

Douglas Berry – “That was a long time. TJ was, about nine when you call it the rabbit. I wrote the story. He’s, 28 now. 29. No. And I didn’t get the story published until I think September 2020 is the published date on that first book. So it was a lot of probably 3 or 4 publishers telling me, no, through the years.”

Douglas Berry – “And, you know, somebody told us, you know, so you put it on the shelf for like six months to a year, you lose track of it, maybe two years go by, you know, and you try it again. But, you just keep hacking away at it, you know? And it’s, Covid hit and we had some, extra money.”

Douglas Berry – “I worked at Lowe’s at the time, and they were giving you, you know, frontline worker, checks and stuff like that. So I had some extra cash and I’m like, let me take another swing at this book thing and, phone publishing, send it off to them. And they said, yeah, we’ll do it with you.”

Douglas Berry – “So we started to do it. And, everything went pretty good. Yeah. That’s, but it did took a long time. And that’s one thing I like to tell folks. You’re going to get your nose going and stuff. Don’t let them bring you down, everybody. There’s no, and, there is. I always tell folks, it’s like, get the word failure out of your vocabulary because you don’t fail.”

Douglas Berry – “You just learn. And, you know, any time you really fails when you’re self quit, but you’re learning and you learn what not to do, what to do. And if you just keep pushing, you’ll get to a success on the other side.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. I’ve talked to quite a few authors, over the years, and I don’t know anybody had what I would call complete success their first go around or not. Meaning anyway, it is not an industry for the faint of heart is what I do.”

Douglas Berry – “And it’s not. You’re not going to. Well, at least I’m not. Anyway, at this point, I’m. It’s not a great way to get involved in something, but think you’re going to make it some quick cash or anything. Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”

Angela Barrett – “Right. But, now what about, your illustrator in this book? Who who is that?”

Douglas Berry – “The publisher hooked me up with the illustrator. I don’t know why they keep it secret. Maybe it’s because that I maintain rights to the illustrations, and they don’t want any back and forth going on there.”

Angela Barrett – Gotcha.

Douglas Berry – “So that that’s probably why that is. But they they gave me like ten to choose from, ten styles, ten illustrators. And I knew I wanted to keep it simple because I knew I was shooting towards like the preschool kids. So I didn’t need a whole lot of, of, detail. I didn’t need to get all clogged up in detail when the a lot more cartoonish.”

Douglas Berry – “And, actually, I’ve got commenting on that. People are like, these look just like the, you know, the books I used to grow up with, you know, folks, you know, my age and, you know, 50 years old. So that made me feel good. That was a good compliment to know.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. Now, the second book that you wrote, the Beach? No. Where did that story come from?”

Douglas Berry – “Well, I had no intention in publishing a second book. I thought that was going to be one and done. And then, when people started asking me, where are they going next? Where are they going next? I’m like, I have no idea. But we like to vacation in Myrtle Beach, so it’s like, well, these are all these are woodland critters who probably have never been to a beach.”

Douglas Berry – “So we’ll have a new character move into the pond and tell them it’s like, hey, I saw this great, cool place on my way here. We should go and investigate it someday. And, yeah, I think it’s called The Beach. And they’re all like a beach. Never heard of one of those. And so they all go off to the beach and build sand castles and pick up seashells and they run into a sea turtle there all kinds of stuff.”

Angela Barrett – “Right neatly. And then your very latest, which just, Published, September of this year. Yeah. Farmer. Jasper. Right.”

Douglas Berry – “Farmer. Jasper. Yep. That’s a throwback to my my poultry house days there. And I didn’t know, the same thing. I didn’t know that there was going to be a third book. But people keep asking me what’s next. And that’s what really drives me and makes me think that God really has his hands on this because, folks that don’t, folks, they could easily say these things are no good.”

Douglas Berry – “No, don’t do that. Everybody comes by and says, wow, these things. You’re really on to something here. And some folks even say, I can see it as a cartoon at some point in time on TV.”

Angela Barrett –

Douglas Berry – “But, yes, but the, the farmer Jasper kind of came from the old farmhouse. Figured they could go, see what’s going on in the farm. The way that one starts out is, all the little woodland critters get together, and they haven’t seen your friend mouse in a while, so they’re like, well, what’s yours, mouse?”

Douglas Berry – “What’s a mouse here? You know, they want to play. And so they’re like, well, he lives down in that big red barn over there. Let’s walk down and see what he’s got going on. And he could take it down there. And they realize that he’s just swamped in chores and he’s like, well, I can’t do anything until I get these these chores done.”

Douglas Berry – “I, you know, he’s got to feed the animals and play in the garden. And he has him. He’s like, well, you guys help me. And we’re like, yeah, that’s what friends do. So they all get together and they, they feed the animals, water the animals in the garden, and they actually have a I’ve actually got a couple of activities for the kids and the most recent one, there’s a at the.”

Douglas Berry – “Yeah. The thing for my, my dad who’s passed away now. Oh. There’s a little corn maze they go walk through to gather corn to feed the chickens so they can trace through the corn maze with their finger and stuff. And.”

Angela Barrett – One more maze.

Douglas Berry – “And at the end of the book, there’s a, where they can finally play. They’re going to play hide and seek. So, there’s a they’re all hidden, peeking around corners of buildings and stuff for the kids. So we should try to find them neat.”

Angela Barrett – “So now let me ask you, the characters that are in, all the books do they have or do they represent, like, real people in your life or. These are truly just fiction from.”

Douglas Berry – “Yeah, they’re really just fictional little critters.”

Angela Barrett – “And no personalities. Because I know a lot of writers. I mean, they don’t obviously, it’s not about their wife or their kid or whatever, but some of the little personalities that come out in the books, maybe. So none of that either, Nope, nope, nope. So which character do you think that you identify those with?”

Douglas Berry – “Oh, that’s a good question. Never been in someone before. Well, I’d have to say the main character, Jasper.”

Angela Barrett – “Was this because he sort of the the leader or, leader may be the wrong word, but he certainly comes up with the ideas for the most part. Right?”

Douglas Berry – “Yeah. He’s a, he’s a if there would be a main character, that would be the main character. Yeah.”

Angela Barrett – “Right. Now, there was another question I was going to ask you. Let me see if I can get, Well, you answered me about ask him. Say, while rabbits were. You did answer any sort of stuck with the rabbit thing, right? Yeah. Yeah. And now is in your in the books. There are some children stories that are trying to teach something or they’re lessons to be learned in these books.”

Douglas Berry – “There are, but I don’t write them specifically for the lessons, if that makes any sense at all. I like the my tagline is just fun stories, the quiet, the noise of the world and let kids be kids because there’s a another second. I’m not a teacher. I just want kids to be able to pick up a book, read it, and kind of giggle and laugh at it and that sort of thing.”

Douglas Berry – “But having said that, and having been in the military, you are going to find like and as you can imagine, the former Jasper, both there’s teamwork in there and there’s responsibility in there and there’s integrity in there. And I mean, if you dig hard enough, you’ll find them. And I actually think that’s kind of cool because the kids will learn without feeling like they’re actually learning.”

Douglas Berry – “You’re not picking up a book saying, this is how you do this, or this is how you’re supposed to do that, that kind of thing. But in being a good rabbit, you’ll learn.”

Angela Barrett – The.

Douglas Berry – “Proper way to, to, to handle and talk to people and deal with different situations.”

Angela Barrett – “Well, that is neat. That is neat. What’s next? You got another one coming.”

Douglas Berry – “I do, I do it’s and it was 75% written until I started thinking about it a little bit. So we’re back down about 50%. We’re back down to about 50%. Written. But it’s going to be Jasper’s Christmas. Everybody’s like, you ought to write a Christmas book. Everybody needs a Christmas book.”

Angela Barrett – So oh yeah.

Douglas Berry – “That’s going to be Christmas. And this may be the first time that I’m really going to teach a little bit, because the first half is going to be winter fun, Santa Claus, and the second half is going to be a wise old owl, because they’re going to go out and they’re going to look at the houses and see the decorations, and there’s going to be a church where there’s a manger scene out front, and they’re going to question who those people are.”

Douglas Berry – It was all that I was going to fly down and explain to him the manger scene.

Angela Barrett – “Oh, neat, that would be fantastic. Well, I can’t wait. Now, when do you think you’ll be finished with that? I know you said you’ve sort of backtracked. I think it now.”

Douglas Berry – “It’s going to be a while. It’s going to probably be a year or two, probably.”

Angela Barrett – Gotcha.

Douglas Berry – “Because along with that comes, the, the financial part of it. Yeah. The promised my wife that I would not go on a financial hole making these things and let the last book pay for the next one. So we always kind of are, above water. So, get some sales under our belt. I think Farmer Jasper is going to sell well, so I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”

Douglas Berry – “But yeah, I’m looking forward to that. And, I’ve even got a story beyond the, the Christmas story. So there’s, and it’s going to be, again, a teachable moment without really being a teachable moment. Sure. There’s going to be a a storm, and the ground is going to get flooded out of his house will grow.”

Douglas Berry – “Lows when you’re above ground, can’t see, so he’s going to have to the friends are going to have to help. Basically a blind ground rule, try to find his house.”

Angela Barrett – Oh. Wow.

Douglas Berry – “So that’s going to that’s going to be kind of cool and may, you know, be a good book for the the handicapped kids and stuff.”

Angela Barrett – “Oh, yeah. Interesting. Yeah, absolutely. Well, you can get your books, I know, on Amazon because I saw on there and what’s.”

Douglas Berry – “Yeah, they are literally everywhere online during Barnes noble.com books-a-million or even on Walmart.com. My big push at this point, since I don’t have any problem getting them everywhere, is to get them stocked in stores. They are distributed through Ingram Content, which is one of the largest book, distributors in the country. And they are 100% returnable through them.”

Douglas Berry – “So, I mean, there’s really nothing holding folks back. They probably already have an Ingram account. It’s just, be a one man show trying to get the information out there so everybody knows about them. And that’s that’s why I’m here.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, absolutely. Well, it’s very interesting. And we’ll have to collaborate maybe on something about a book signing or something, because that would be pretty cool. But, well, I just want to thank you again for being with me today, and, again, thank you for your service. And I’m glad that you do like that phrase, because I.”

Angela Barrett – I really do mean it. We none of us would be here without the service of our veterans.

Douglas Berry – So I appreciate it.

Angela Barrett – “Certainly appreciate it. And, I’m looking forward to the next book.”

Douglas Berry – “Yeah, as am I.”

Angela Barrett – Yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Episode transcript:

Angela Barrett “Hey guys, thanks for joining today. I have Elizabeth Smith with me today. She is, well a very busy lady. She has a lot of different hats that she wears. Hey, Elizabeth.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith Hey. How are you doing?

Angela Barrett “Good. Yeah, let’s start out. I don’t even know where to start, but, Look, we’ll start with, your photography capture, your happily ever after. Tell me about that.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Yeah. So capture your happily ever after. A very newly started photography about ten years ago, but, I think the name and started cap for Happily Ever After about a year, four years ago. It’s photography, videography and coordinating capture happily ever after. I really take that name because I wanted. I felt like the capturing your happily ever has.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Like, capturing someone’s happily ever after is very, the cliche happily ever after. Are you sure are. And when you fall in love, you get married. Is normally where that comes from. But happily ever after. I wanted to put in your, happily ever after indicating that it doesn’t have to just be love. That I do admit.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Wedding. It could be a number of different things. I mean, people can be nearly content and happy and find their happily ever after within a career path. Sure. Be a graduation. It could be, You like a baby? A new business opportunity. And so I really expanded from there.”

Angela Barrett “Oh, and speaking of having a baby year, do any date?”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Okay. I am, yeah.”

Angela Barrett “Well, good luck and congratulations. And this will be your second. Right.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “It is. Yeah. Thank you. He will actually be for a day at the fifth born. Oh, wow. And, I’ll be going in, and would, like, five, seven day.”

Angela Barrett “Oh, wow wow wow wow. And graduations. And excited for you. Sorry to interrupt, but I was like, oh.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “No, no, no.”

Angela Barrett “No, no. You know.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “What? He’s very excited, so he digs. I don’t know if this is going to be confusing for him for the next year, but.”

Angela Barrett If.

Elizabeth Grace Smith “That’s that’s, he bakes that for his birthday. He gets a baby sister. So I’m hoping next year he’s not baking. That’s the only birthday he’s going to get. I know there’s no blank because he did. He tells everyone you know he has a sibling coming for its part.”

Angela Barrett “Oh, that’s so cute.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith Yeah. Oh that’s.

Angela Barrett “Right. Yeah. So you sort of, I mean, happily ever after. So you do a variety of different. That is is. Yeah.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “I don’t work with newborns, so I just find that, you know, newborn photographers enough to have a very, you have to specialize. And I say that because you really need to, I feel like a lot of the newborn photographers have, backdrop and the the lot that goes into it. Sure. Birth is I mean, there’s a lot that goes to the other photography as well, but I just don’t personally specialize newborn photography.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith Anything else? I’m pretty much there.

Angela Barrett “Right. Good. Yeah. And I’ve seen some online. You do a great job. So again, let’s. We’ll switch to another hat. Tell me about this. I’m curious. This empowered, prosperous connections.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Yeah. Empowered. Prosperous connections. The networking company that I came up with. And it and it was it was back in August. Of 2023. And right now we have about 40 different, business owner within the networking group.”

Angela Barrett

Elizabeth Grace Smith And then.

Angela Barrett So has it.

Elizabeth Grace Smith Really.

Angela Barrett Has this work. Oh. Where do. Somebody wants to join the networking group. Say let’s just say I want to join your networking group. What do I need to do? What are the qualifications. What are the requirements. Work through there. Kind of. Give me that.

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Yeah. Mainly it’s kind of like a you’d actually probably just reach out to me and we would discuss your profession, making sure there’s not someone else within that same profession within the group. You know how long you’ve actually been doing the company? As well as, you know, insurance license and just making sure everything in, you know, legit, like, kind of the business owner side.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “We also work with nonprofits and they’re the nonprofits, you know, just finding out learning details. We work with, for example, nonprofit. There’s the, the Hope project with Chad. They’re, a mom’s group, which online. We have some business owners, such as, Ultimate Interior System.”

Angela Barrett

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Yep. And just I can go on and on, but, It seems like around this area, I kind of started doing a little bit of networking. Other group before I guess if I, if that was my group and I noticed a lot of what the groups were about was just meeting, mingling both partners and going, to exchange practically just business cards and think, hi, I’m so and so and I really got tired of it.”

Angela Barrett So.

Elizabeth Grace Smith “My group, we actually picked, a perfect, professional to go ahead and speak within 15, 20 minutes in the group. Really dive in deep to know you know who you’re going to be working with. So, for example, just we’ll say, Kim, who is my admin for the company, he also works for other company, Body Shop.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “In fact, the we have her speak for about 15, 20 minutes the following, meeting we might have through the, with cleaning talk about her business. And we have a PowerPoint. We might have. We might actually go to their place of business and then some food, some drinks, and then other people will mingle, will share some video.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “You know, we’ll get into, kind of like business seminar stuff. Go ahead and help with the businesses when it comes to marketing. We have Carly. And she can help out with website design. So it just really offer a lot more, than the E I. Great. Yeah. You know. Net. Yeah. So I really wanted to dive in deeper with businesses to get that connection going from one business to one nonprofit.”

Angela Barrett And so there’s a thi in it.

Elizabeth Grace Smith Yeah.

Angela Barrett Then you can do.

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Yeah. The fee right now is 150 every six months. And so we usually have two meetings a month. And it normally every second Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. for about an hour and a half to two hours. And then the second meeting is the last 30 of the month, 630, about 830. But normally you don’t have that. And that’s that ends up going from like three to 9 to 30, just because people are still hanging out on to talk to other people.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Yeah, I like my Adam. And that’s really, recently changed up the group. And it’s very exciting because we’ll be doing this towards the end of the year. We now have a public page for that, like foster connections on Facebook, not just a private.”

Angela Barrett

Elizabeth Grace Smith “And what we’re doing is actually having the business owners meet the first hour. By the second hour, we’re going to be opening up to the public. In other words, people that might be interested in learning about the business. Would be joining the meetings as well. The second hour.”

Angela Barrett Oh.

Elizabeth Grace Smith “That’s neat. Spotlight member talking. Yeah. So that’ll be closer to the end of 2024. And it’s exciting because, you know, we’re not just going to have the spotlight. What business owners allow for the second hour. It will be maybe people that want to assist in the company in turn potential clients. You know anything from that nature?”

Angela Barrett “Yeah. Well, that sounds pretty neat. Yeah, I like the way you do it. You know, there’s network, network, network. You know, that’s what they say. And what they do. I’m like you. It’s like cheese. If I went to every network right.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “And yeah, I know.”

Angela Barrett That’s a lot.

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Yeah. That seems like, you know, a lot of them are the meet and greet. That’s right. Get something out there a little bit more different.”

Angela Barrett Yeah.

Elizabeth Grace Smith Hopefully it takes 16th. We’ll see where it goes.

Angela Barrett “Right, right. Absolutely. Well, good luck with that. It sounds like it’s, a great plan, a great program. Now, a different yet again. The Charleston, South Carolina wedding planner.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Yeah. Yeah. I am, I’ve actually, I’ve been doing coordinating for some time with Capture Happily Ever After. But I, I wanted to establish a new company with the wedding planning. You know, it’s more so other people working, underneath the Charleston wedding planning company versus more just myself out there. And we have, you know, because I have the empower passport connections.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “I have a list of business owners as well that we deal deals with underneath the wedding planning. Through empowered prosperous connection. And so, it just seemed to make sense to have a different company with that. And honestly that one has just been established, you know, a couple months ago. The wedding planning can help with just about anything you need.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Like I said, I even go beyond a little planning to get, you know, the partnerships and the deal with have like, other vendors to really get the wedding to be smooth, to get within the budget of the bride or the groom or the.”

Angela Barrett “Yeah. And to date, in this, this day and age. Good lord. At the price of a wedding. Oh, Lee, tell us. Well, yeah, I had some.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith Friends recently.

Angela Barrett “Had kids get married, and they were telling me we had to give them a budget. Ni tell me what the budget is. And I’m thinking, oh, dear God.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Right. Well, you know, the big thing is, you know, the trick of getting married with it within the budget in this area, it really going to be the time of year number one. And number two, you know, so you actually pick the help you you need the wedding, all that stuff. Because if you have the wedding planner out there that, does it know certain venue, does it know certain vendor.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “But you’re not going to find the best price. They might be able to help you find people, but they’re not going to be able to find exactly what you want within your budget.”

Angela Barrett “Yeah, I understand that. So to clear something up for me, like there’s a a debate between my sister and I about this, text, texting invitation. And that’s a big thing. And I’m like, how inappropriate. But, I mean, you know, you guys remember how old I am. Is that what a what a.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Again, texting.”

Angela Barrett “Yeah, it’s it’s an invitation. Instead of getting a paper invitation.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Oh, yeah. That is definitely a thing. Now that, like, more of the digital side. You know, I, I’ve helped out with seating charts and, when I help with the timeline, but, I mean, I really feel like the biggest thing for a wedding that the biggest thing for a wedding. Even if you don’t go with a wedding planner, you still need to have a timeline.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “So I’ve I’ve worked, you know, having a digital tech timeline, for example, as well.”

Angela Barrett “It just it just baffles me. But again, you know, I’m old school, you know, or, you know, some calligrapher, right? By my hand. All the invitations, Zen, blah, blah, blah. And I’m like, you gotta what? But text.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Right? Right. And so, I think, you know, over the years, I think I’ve seen just about half now.”

Angela Barrett Wow.

Elizabeth Grace Smith You have the paper invitations. You have the the text. But I think it’s increasing more with the digital tech.

Angela Barrett “Well, I don’t imagine there’s a big cost me humongous costs and.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Right. Yeah, exactly. And I mean, if you have normally people work through Canva. Yeah NBA. Com I think it is. And yeah.”

Angela Barrett That’s what they all.

Elizabeth Grace Smith Did for Titanic.

Angela Barrett Yeah. Yeah yeah. Yeah I love Canva.

Elizabeth Grace Smith No.

Angela Barrett “So the way and most of the weddings that you, help people with are in that Charleston area all the way to, like, Summerville or not that far or.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith But I try to stay within the Charleston limit.

Angela Barrett Gotcha.

Elizabeth Grace Smith I just did a wedding out in Myrtle Beach last month. That was for photography Anthony Walker.

Angela Barrett

Elizabeth Grace Smith

Angela Barrett And then now you’re my stomping grounds.

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Oh, yeah. Where where are.”

Angela Barrett “You? Well, I don’t live there, but I grew up. I grew up near there. And we all my family had a house. They are close to North Myrtle Beach. Yeah. So,”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Oh, cool. Yeah. I’m.”

Angela Barrett I feel like I lived there.

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Well, yeah. Yeah. I think it was. I grew up until about does one p Conway and Myrtle Beach area. Yeah. And then we came down here. Yeah.”

Angela Barrett “Absolutely. So now, sort of on that coattail of your photography, you, are also a magazine photographer for about four different magazines, right? So this has had a for.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Yeah. Yeah. Well currently I am working photography with Western Marvel neighborhoods and that’s like I want to say ten different neighborhoods that were in Dorchester such as legend, Oak, Sparrow, Sparrow, Ethan and number of different one. Then I kind of West or now I have Brownfield living magazine. In Bay living magazine, as well as Low Country Living magazine.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith And that’s what next then.

Angela Barrett

Elizabeth Grace Smith “So if you’re a family out in those areas, you know, we can always go ahead and get your information and maybe go over to see if you’d like to be on the cover of that.”

Angela Barrett Yeah. Yeah.

Elizabeth Grace Smith “I’m not the editor or the publisher, but, you know, we can help you out and get you over there.”

Angela Barrett “Right? Right, right.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith To be on the cover and also get to do an inside article.

Angela Barrett “Yeah. And those magazines, I just they have different criteria for how you get on the cover and we blah, blah, blah, but, that would be a phone call away as well. Yes. Now, a couple other hats you’ve got here. I don’t know when you sleep, but anyway, we’ll get to that in a minute. But.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith Yeah.

Angela Barrett “So, You’ve also written children’s books.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith Yeah.

Angela Barrett And so.

Elizabeth Grace Smith

Angela Barrett How many are there? Three.

Elizabeth Grace Smith Just two. Two.

Angela Barrett Okay. I’m.

Elizabeth Grace Smith “I’m practically done with the third one, but I’m holding off on releasing it until 2025.”

Angela Barrett “Gotcha. And so now tell me, then tell me, the name. I know there’s one, something magical would like.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Yeah. That was my first book. And I read this poem by Nathan Colby. And it’s actually when I had my first child,”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Sorry. He’s actually talking right now. Oh, that’s something about him. Give me one second. Sure.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Sorry about that. I’m so good. So a step in magical woodland. Found. Want to know? The book. That was very exciting to get that. Well, I. Left, we dream a thing with TJ Nico, and he really helped put everything together. We were in there for, over 25 hours. I would say. And, that can be found at farms and or both as well.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Audio book. And I think it’s, play Store a few other places. I went ahead and picked out some of the care there. Well, I think that all the characters voices and me, the dream. Yeah. And so like, in other words, Dan played grand. Just like then, you know, a few other Ben. I really wanted to bring the book to life.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Sure. And, you know, dream. And I feel you’re the define the literary agent who specialized in animation. So I could sell that to be a cartoon.”

Angela Barrett Yeah.

Elizabeth Grace Smith “But, Yeah. And so mainly the the main character of A step in the magical was then resembled my son Benjamin. And, you know, so share the same name. And he meets a bear named Griff in a magical land that came from his backyard. Yeah. So encounters other animals within, the story and. The main lesson is paying it forward.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “All each, you know, don’t worry. That comes along within the the book. One animal health. Another does it look for anything in return? And it continues on throughout the the forest and the land. Another animal, you know, need help. And so, Benjamin, go ahead and pay it forward as well. So it’s a very selfless story. Lots of kindness.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “And lots of help without, picking. And it’s just a great adventure. Mainly for 4 to 9 year olds, I would say.”

Angela Barrett “Ni ni. Yeah. And the characters, They’re cute. Cute. But now I do have to say the dancing dinosaur and the stinking, monkey. No. That’s fine.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith Right.

Angela Barrett “Oh, yeah. Yeah. That’s funny.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith Thank you.

Angela Barrett “But so that’s your other book. And so, that came out, I guess, February of this year.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “I think so it would then. Yeah, maybe February or March of this year. Okay.”

Angela Barrett And tell us a little bit about that one. I love the stinky monkey. It’s the.

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Yeah. Well, pretty much. My son, who is now about to be four. I was really happy taking it in. What makes him finding funny? And of course, something ding stinky. Poor 3 or 4 year old and something hilarious.”

Angela Barrett Absolutely.

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Number two dying of the earth, dancing, being silly and, I wanted to also create a toddler book. You know, maybe has maybe 2 to 3 sentences math on each page. Right. And it goes into like that question repetition, rhyming, something that at that age really makes the the brain development right.”

Angela Barrett And holds intention to learn.

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Right. And hold the attention. So that’s where I went with that book. And there’s also an excavator in it. Okay. Tons of little boys. And you know some girls love excavator that the stage especially though yeah. And it’s, I don’t want to give away the whole story, but I mean, I guess this being a toddler book and it going into running and repetition and all that stuff.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “It’s completely different from what I’m actually going to tell you about the story from what you read in the story. Sure. For the parents out there, it’s mainly about, you know, dinosaur that love dancing. You get lonely. A stinky monkey comes along. To you try to help the stinky monkey get clean, and they, you know, start dancing together themselves and become best friends.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith So they just got the book.

Angela Barrett “Yeah. Lulu is very cute and, like, I love child, and I love, like I said, the stinky monkey. He’s kind of cute.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith Thank you.

Angela Barrett “So, you have are in charge of again, another hat? I’ve lost track of how many it that despite, a, pickleball tournament coming up in September. Tell me about that.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Yeah. So it actually is it’s coming from empowered, prosperous connection.”

Angela Barrett Your networking group.

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Company that, Yeah, that’s the company that chose that. And, I got in touch with the great recreational, and we now are hosting it at the Central Creek Park. 147 Old Monk’s on a road on September 7th, 2 to 8 p.m.. And the backup rain day is that 1028 to the 8 p.m. that if if it rains.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Right, you have until, family fun going on within that day. We have. I left a deejay Nico, with me. Drama. He will be out there. Between two now I say six. We have wild current live band between six a And it helps with the Charleston animal. They’ll be having foster dogs out there, I believe between 2 and 4.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “The meet trio with or which I want to say collection. We’ll be doing a dance perform at around 330. We are in the works, discussing a possible flashmob, which is quite a special area.”

Angela Barrett I love that. Yeah.

Elizabeth Grace Smith Yeah. And.

Angela Barrett “Again, this is to benefit the Charleston Animal Society, right?”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Correct. Correct. And so, you know, some of the vendors from SPCA will be out there as well. The Epcot that the networking company and, some other vendors, as well as food truck, bartenders. I think that’s about it when it comes to that. It’s called the sweet and sour smack down the hill. While all the family fun is going on, the pickleball tournament, will be in the background.”

Angela Barrett “And for people who want to find out more or sign up for this, how do they do that?”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Well, you would, I guess, reach out. I have a couple different numbers. The main number for myself would be (843) 345-7854. They could also reach out to Kim, who is the admin, and. Hey.”

Angela Barrett “Is there a, somewhere on a Facebook, more of your Facebook pages that this is,”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “The well, I just got the, the public in our math connection, so I’ll go ahead and share the link. Yeah. And the flier on to that as well. Oh, and it’s also on e w w w dot and powered prop thrift connections.com on the phone page for all the way down. Okay. The link.”

Angela Barrett “Oh cool. So if you are interested in that, pickleball is a serious thing. I know at least it is around here. So we’re Allianz. It’s just a while. And it’s I mean, we have a 24 hour pickleball place now. It’s like what? It’s like it’s playing pickleball at three in the morning. But I guess I did right?”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Yeah, we actually, I got the entire episode through two different meaning separately to boat, you know, on different sports ideas or whatever. And pickleball was one of them. At that time, I really wasn’t sure what pickleball was to be on. Yeah. And, you know, we wanted to go ahead and advertise epiphany. But also, I have a passion for helping animals and big and animal.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Right. So I of the animal society. Yeah. And then now it might admin as well as some of my phone numbers for me, but I really wanted to learn more about pickleball. And so I learned a thing three weeks ago. Okay. So I’m nine months pregnant. I did not run on the court. I didn’t do anything like that, but I.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “I had to go ahead before I had the baby. Before the tournament, I said to myself, I have to learn how to play pickleball. I have to learn that. And so I wound or I like a little bit here, turn it fly the fun. Or actually, I mean, I was thinking at first, there’s no way I could do that, but, it’s actually you have to bounce the ball, so it’s not like a scary sport being pregnant.”

Angela Barrett Yeah. Yeah. Right.

Elizabeth Grace Smith “You go at your own path because, you know, the ball’s bouncing and you’re tapping it.”

Angela Barrett Right.

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Now versus, you know, some sport for the ball just going howling, being thrown in the air at you. Right. I would never do it right now. Right, right, right. It was it was fun.”

Angela Barrett “The way I described it. The first time, I guess I ever saw it, I was like, oh, it’s like ping pong. I start.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Yeah, yeah. Kind of. Yeah, that’s what they said.”

Angela Barrett “Fast paced man, right?”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Yeah. Like tennis, then ping pong on a court something. Yeah, right. Yeah.”

Angela Barrett “Well, I listen to. So when do you sleep? I sort of know with all this going on because I think we cover so well.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith

Angela Barrett I do. Are you are you really just that organized? And if you are to come help me.

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Yeah, well, I can do that. That’s that’s also another reason why I do coordinate for you. Because they make sure I list down. That’s the biggest thing, is prioritize prioritizing. Every single night before I go to sleep, I write down a list of ten things I need to do the next day.”

Angela Barrett Right?

Elizabeth Grace Smith “I’m balancing a toddler. I don’t put it on a calendar. Surprisingly, I don’t put.”

Angela Barrett It on in a few days like a newborn.

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Yeah. Good luck. And yeah, I know, right? I, I actually already have everything set up, so it should be good to go. I have Kim on the next few UPC, meaning that, you know, for example, already I’ve done the next four months or the magazines right now and they clear that spot hopefully.”

Angela Barrett “Yeah. Well, no doubt it.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith They can do.

Angela Barrett “It. If you can juggle all this, you you’ve got it. You’ve got it down pat for sure.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “And I also don’t, don’t think the. No.”

Angela Barrett “That’s right, that’s right. Oh. Well, it’s, it’s been a great pleasure to talk with you. And, I am in all, you’ve been able to do all that, and, and, well, I mean, you know, with a many a successful businesses, I, and and absolutely and all and, I thank you so much for, be here today.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Yeah. Thank you so much. And then I just wanted to mention that we brought that up the next test. I am very excited to share that, after Happily Ever After is now five star. I want to say just hit 400, star reviews within the social media platforms between Facebook, Instagram, Google.”

Angela Barrett “Oh, that graduations. Wow.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith Yeah. Great.

Angela Barrett “You there? Well, and speaking of pictures, you know, baby, make sure you send me one.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith “Oh, yeah.”

Angela Barrett “And big Brother, take.”

Elizabeth Grace Smith Yeah. Might take me a month. Yeah I imagine I’ll definitely get there.

Angela Barrett Yeah. That’s right. Will you take care.

Elizabeth Grace Smith For that newborn?

Angela Barrett Thank you so very much.

Elizabeth Grace Smith Yeah. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate.

Angela Barrett It. Absolutely.