Expanding Talent Pipelines with IMEC the Illinois MEP

Curt Anderson  00:01

Hey Damon. Good morning. Happy Monday to a wait a minute. We’re using live on Monday. What is today? I’m kind of mixed up what’s

Damon Pistulka  00:07

got a holiday week, Curt so we’re doing it Wednesday.

Curt Anderson  00:10

I’m dude, I’m all discombobulated. So what an honor what a privilege today man. Are you? Did you get a good night’s sleep for this one?

Damon Pistulka  00:18

I did that a boy.

Curt Anderson  00:19

I’m glad you rest up because we got two dear friends. We are talking about the MEP network. We’re talking about IMEC we’re coming live from Chicago. Let’s start with our dear friend. We have a repeat offender on a program to today. Paola Velasquez how Paola, how are you? Happy Wednesday to you my friend. Good. Thank

Paola Velasquez  00:37

you for having us today.

Curt Anderson  00:38

Absolutely. Paula and what did we figure out? How many times have you been on the show? This is the fourth fourth fifth in you know what and we’ve been live together at least twice. And so you know what an honor privilege love the friendship that we’ve developed and I love what you’re doing the IMEC what we’re going to dive into. And David, we got John Azara on the program today, John Happy Wednesday, dude. How are you man?

John Azara  01:03

I am good. Good morning, everybody. And to if we ask the question, this is my first time. So BZ

Curt Anderson  01:11

Daymond it’s a maiden voyage for John Azara. And so we’re going to take it light and no curveballs. No super heavy curveballs today. And we’re gonna we’ve got a tight timeline. So we’re gonna dive right in. And so I want to I’m going to kind of lay the groundwork here first. So Paola, you’ve you’ve got a new title, Director of people, culture and equity man, how, how do you get How did somebody get such a cool title like that? I have title envy right now. How did you get that title? Yeah,

Paola Velasquez  01:37

yeah, no, it’s kind of exciting, because I think I had shared with you before that, you know, the director of de eyeroll was a new role for IMEC. And in in the two and a half years that I’ve been here, we’ve really identified my role for IMEC for the MEP for our clients and realize that we’re really working with people that are cultures and ensuring there’s equity across the board. So it made sense.

Curt Anderson  02:04

Yeah, I love it. And you know, what I admired is when you know when you and I first met couple years ago when you first came on, is IMEC I just feel was always on the cutting edge kind of a leader in the industry, if you will. And I thought it was great bringing on your role. And now I love the transition here. John, you’ve had a vast career of sales just fierce advocate for US manufacturing. Great fit for you to come over to IMEC we’re going to take a dive in IMEC. Now. You are the director of client engagement, perfect title for you. Why don’t you tell yourself a little bit for our friends out there that are not familiar with the NMEP That’s a Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program through and throughout the United States. What is the MEP and specifically what’s going on at IMEC? Yeah, so

John Azara  02:46

the MEP and its results. Thanks, Curt MEP. Our mission is to help Illinois manufacturers manufacturers across the country as the MEP network in Illinois within IMEC. Our specific mission is to help Illinois manufacturers I met Central Illinois Manufacturing Excellence center. And what we’re really focused on is improving the performance of Illinois manufacturer and helping them grow their businesses. So the best way to think about IMEC and the MEP and advocacy, we are a resource for manufacturers, and for us, specifically Illinois manufacturers to exactly that. help them grow the business, help them improve the performance of their operation. So we’re thinking about Paul and myself and the rest of that team. We are a resource, we’re here to help and support Illinois manufacturers. Well,

Curt Anderson  03:36

I love it. And I’ve had to I’ve had the honor and privilege of having a front row seat. And you know, we’ve done this live show multiple times in Illinois, with your clients and what have you. And it’s just it’s so impressive, so admirable. You’re literally helping hundreds. It’s staggering. Hundreds and hundreds of manufacturers came in. We’ve had how many folks from the iMac network on the show over and over and over? Right. It’s it’s such an inspiration. So Paola, you have a wonderful program that you are here to talk about today. And it’s really building the pipeline. You know, again, I you know what, I can’t help myself. Paola, can you just I know every time you come on, I ask you can just and I know we were a little tight on time, but just give us a little sliver of like, what was your background on what really inspired you to get into manufacturing? Just share your story quickly? Yeah,

Paola Velasquez  04:24

so I’m a first generation immigrant migrated here as a child, my parents parents worked in manufacturing all their life. They retired from manufacturing and I started manufacturing and and the story that you’re referring to is that when I was 18 years old, my mother and I would stand outside of manufacturing plant Saturday mornings at six in the morning, and we’d wait in line hoping that they had enough work and they would just pick day people so we wanted to be the first ones there. So we would be picked. And so when we did get picked, we would spend the day packaging plastic plant pots. And so we would do Do that for the entire day. But that that really helped me meet a lot of people that were that grew up in the United States. They were American born, right. And so they would actually encourage me to go to school and asked me a lot of questions, things that my parents didn’t grow up in this country, they didn’t have that insight to college and things like that. But through through that, I learned to, to, to admire culture, admire the diversity within culture. And I also saw a lot of, I would say things that were a little bit inequitable. And I always thought, you know, I’m gonna go to school, and one day, I’m gonna come back to manufacturing, and I’m gonna work something related right to to helping build some bridges and creating equity across the board. And that’s really exciting, because now today, you’re having us on the show, because we’re talking about pipelines, and how we can create expand our talent pipelines and think a little bit outside the box. Wow,

Curt Anderson  06:01

I love it. And if I’m not mistaken, you know, you had, you know, I told you, like, Damon and I were like, we’re too, you know, we’re weepy guys. But you had it’s like, it was such a wonderful story. And that’s a great thing about you know, you know, a program like this, or that opportunity to share your story. It’s just so emotional. I think the question I asked you was, who is your hero growing up, and you shared your mom and you shared that wonderful story. So you know, let’s, let’s jump to John real quick, because I shamelessly I want to ask John, that question, then we’re going to dive into your talent pipeline program here, John, little guy growing up as a little guy growing up, who was your hero? Who was your hero? Who did you look up to? Who inspired you to be the great dude that you are today?

John Azara  06:39

You know, I’m gonna have to go back to my dad, really, you know? So my dad was Chicago police officer for 30 years. You know, and, you know, when I think about those that, you know, inspired and motivated and really taught me right from wrong and how to treat people. And it said, right, and I think about them every day. So yeah, it’s definitely that

Curt Anderson  07:06

well, and very admirable, are hats off to Dad, what’s dad’s name? John as well, John, as well. All right, perfect. And so you know, boy, being a Chicago police officer, you know, you know, that’s one thing, you know, I’m in my basement, I don’t have to worry about me or my life being at risk unless I tripperz. You know, something happened in here and your dad goes out, you know, protecting, you know, lives in Chicago, what an admirable career that he built. Great inspiration, and just absolutely love that question and love those answers. Paola, let’s come back to you again, you know, your hero was your mom, manufacturing, and you’ve just dedicated a career, your mission, your purpose, your passion, is really just helping manufacturers just relentlessly like the rest of the team here at IMEC. Just share a little bit about this exciting program that you guys have going on for manufacturers in Illinois. Yeah,

Paola Velasquez  07:53

so we have a program called the expanding talent pipeline. It’s an initiative, where I make his partner with community based organizations to support workforce development. So if a manufacturer has faced talent shortages, or anticipate facing any challenges with recruitment, hiring, retaining employees, we’re supporting them. And so this includes partnering manufacturers with, again, a community based organization to source and expand their talent. The talent includes skilled, skilled justice impacted individuals, individuals with disabilities, and hiring of immigrants and refugees who have a work authorization. So we are partnering with these organizations that have the expertise and working with employers, to set them up, set their employees up for success, but also setting the employer up for success. So along the lines, we at IMEC have created a best resource guide for employers that’s downloadable at our imec.org website. So anyone can download it. And you can read through the tips and things that you can be asking when for interviews, what to ask what not to ask how to interview places to look for sourcing candidates, how to think a little bit outside the box, when you’re looking at your job descriptions, right. For example, in a manufacturing plant, you might be paying someone you know, a high salary, are there anything, any work that they’re doing tasks that they’re doing that are repetitive that maybe you can pull away from that person and offer that as a part time position for an individual with a disability, because we know many of these individuals with a disability have a great attention span. They have attention to detail, they can do that repetitive work. And so it’s really this resource guide gives you some of those tips to start thinking a little bit differently on how you’re sourcing talent. Yeah, and

Damon Pistulka  09:46

we’ve worked with organizations in the past that that do that help people with disabilities find find employment and wow, is that such a win win? Because there’s a 70% unemployment or more higher In people with developmental disabilities, and they can do so much if we structure the jobs appropriately, and there are a lot of jobs that we can structure for him. So it’s it’s great. And it’s a it’s an untapped workforce for manufacturers. Yeah,

Paola Velasquez  10:15

we have, I mean, the percentage that you said right there, right high and people with disabilities, there’s one in three, I think people that have a criminal background, also high rates of unemployment, and recidivism, this them again, say that word, right, and we want to make sure that they’re not returning to jail, they want to be out, they know what it’s like, and they want to work. They, they’re dependable. And then we also have many refugees in Illinois alone, we have about 20,000, that just came this past year, right. And these are people that have skilled, skilled backgrounds, they may have education and in degrees, the lack of them is there may be a language barrier. But we shouldn’t make that a barrier for us. If we can hire them. There’s so many resources and solutions out there to be able to navigate that communication barrier, and get them hired. So if you go on our web, our social media, page two, we just posted a story of a gentleman who was a refugee. He had, I think it was a biochemical background in his country, and he got hired in manufacturing, and he’s been working there and has created some stability for his family. So it’s just a lot of great stories of why it’s important to be hiring these individuals.

Curt Anderson  11:35

I love it. And it’s such a win win win all the way around. So that’s, so I’m packing a few things there. Apollo, so you mentioned, you know, folks with different differently abled or with different challenges, right. You’ve talked about, you know, incarcerated folks getting back into, you know, civilian life and into the workforce, and folks coming from other countries. And again, you know, we can go back to his Dave and I are history buffs. You know, I’m, I got this thing on Henry Ford recently, you know, and that’s exactly, you know, the auto industry in Detroit. That’s, you know, they need more workers more labor. Yeah. And we have a massive shortage here in the United States. And it’s just such a great opportunity. have, you know, these winwin programs that you’re creating, I’m going to dive into a little bit more than that guide, you really piqued my curiosity. I know a guy that’s, you know, we work with a lot of folks on the marketing aspect. And so emerging, encouraging folks to do that guide, share a little bit what inspired you do the guide, what’s in the guide look like? Just take us a little deeper on that guide that you’d have available?

Paola Velasquez  12:27

Yeah, well, I think it goes back again to my background. So I grew up here learned English here in this country. My parents didn’t speak English, I was interpreting for them. I worked in health care interpreted there, I’d go to a store, I’d be interpreting there, right. There’s just a lot of interpreting. And then I just saw a lot of barriers. And so the guide really speaks to me, when I think of the immigrant population that’s coming here to United States, right, they have that dream of creating some stability for their family, they’re fleeing their country for a reason. So they want to have a safe place. So they’re dependable. But they’re being they have this barrier where English is not allowing them to even get to the interview. Right. And so, again, they’re skilled workers, I look at my parents, my father, 30 years of manufacturing retired from there, right. And to this day, his English is limited. But that employer, you know, confided, trusted him hired him. And they didn’t see that as a barrier, his limited English skills allowed him to still stay there for 30 years, right. And so, in writing this guide, I put myself in that perspective of some of the beers that immigrants and refugees are facing I partnered with got jobs America, they work with Justice impacted individuals to get their insight on, what are some of those barriers that are just as impacted individuals are facing and how do we help employers get past those barriers? So that’s where the guide comes into place. We’re also partnering with World Relief for the refugees and immigrants and then parents Alliance employment project for people with disabilities. These are all organizations that have experience in working with employers and getting them talent. So they sit down one on one with the, with the employers to identify what are the jobs you have? How can we think differently, and these are the candidates that we have that think will work with you, some of these organizations even send a job coach in to work with the individual to make sure that they’re, you know, things are going to be successful for the employee, but then also for the employer, you

Curt Anderson  14:31

know, so impressive and Damon when you think about, you know, entrepreneurship, and again, like, you know, the heroes of our economy are certainly our manufacturers in our humble opinion. Right. And just, you know, we had Sao Paulo, you’ll love this. We had one of our iMac clients on the show, we talked about, you know, hey, you know, your early entrepreneurial career, and you’re like, you know, when an employee came in and they got their first mortgage, he was like, that’s when I really felt like I’m doing I’m making a difference. Like, just think about that. The difference that our manufacturers are As printers are making of, you know, you’re helping provide those soccer games. So it’s dance lessons, a first mortgage at first birthday, and now you’ve taken to a whole new level on creating this wonderful opportunity for folks that are differently abled. John, let’s get you in the game here, my friend, you’ve had a wonderful career of helping folks with different challenges, you have some great stories to share, give a little bit of on your background. And how many of you have a wonderful story that I’d love to hear from you.

John Azara  15:27

Yeah, so my background is before joining IMEC is operations, you know, operations, Leadership Management types of roles, primarily electronics, some aerospace medical device industry, I think heard the story referring to is, shortly before I joined iMac, I worked for a hearing aid manufacturer in the Chicagoland area. And what was great about about manufacturing, hearing aids, building hearing aids is that every device we made was for somebody, right? It was helped improve the quality of their life, and allow them to hear things that they couldn’t hear before. So we would get a lot of you know, emails and stories about our devices and how they changed people’s lives. And you know, a couple of quick little stories is, you know, one time we got a message from a, I think she was an eight year old girl, and she wore hearing aids in tire life, and she tried one of our devices on and I guess during the fitting, her boyfriend blew her a kiss. And up until that point, she didn’t know that made a noise. But trying our devices also now she hears that a noise. All right. So there’s just all these tremendous stories about helping people make a difference. So when I decided I was going to move on from there, it was really important to me, whatever I do next, had a purpose had a mission had a driven to help people. So that’s what I founded I’m right, I’m because a unique organization that we get to help and make a difference and make an impact in people’s lives, both from an employee standpoint, and from a manufacturer standpoint. So that’s why I needed to be part of the iMac team. Right, is that I could I could take that experience of producing hearing aids, being a purpose driven organization and take that into IMEC community to be a purpose driven organization to help and make a difference in manufacturers. Like that’s what I met us. And that’s what this program does, as well. And even going back to my experience with with a hearing aid manufacturer, you know, obviously tell it’s a big deal, right? You know, we had over 500 employees making, making and servicing hearing aids there. In order fulfillment, we tapped into the refugee, right, we had a large population of immigrants and using refugees to help with that, obviously, you know, same thing with disabilities, we had a number of our folks on the line that had hearing loss, right, that helped build products, right. So it’s doable, right as as a, as running an operation running the manufacturer organization, I think you just have to structure and and take the time and understand what these folks bring to the table and how they can help the organization grow and benefit and diversify your organization just bring a whole different level of experience and knowledge. It’s the right thing to go do. So that’s why I’m really excited about this program and allow manufacturers to really kind of tap into some talent that maybe they haven’t thought of in the past. And really bring it forward because it really is going to benefit, you know, their organization help them, you know, go to the next and next level and face some of the workforce challenges that have been around for years. So let’s hit it head on and go for it.

Curt Anderson  18:42

All right, John, you’re new to the show. We have these things because I dropped the mic. That was just a drop the mic right there. Right. Paula, you’ve heard a drop the mic, though. That was phenomenal. And just think, you know, how many manufacturers were worked with as mere fact of another I met clients that I’ve worked with during the apparel industry. And they’re like, you know, what, we’re not making apparel, we’re making memories. You know, we’re providing a t shirt for that sporting event that, you know, the, you know, maybe a nonprofit cause or a race for a lost loved one or you know, a wedding or that type of thing. John, I couldn’t love this more. And I just I want to run with it for one more second. And know the baby that hears for the first time, like you said, the 19 year old the senior citizen who’s lived decades with no sound whatsoever that we take for granted on a daily basis. I mean, like, what an admirable, wonderful opportunity that you had for and how many years did you work in that in that industry?

John Azara  19:36

I was there about a lot was made. Well, I was in making hearing aids for about eight years before that. I worked for a company that manufactured components for the hearing aid industry. So about 1516 total years. And the hearing aid, let’s say

Curt Anderson  19:49

industry, right, right. And I mean, how did that impact you as a person just like, again, like, you know, the 19 year old all these stories?

John Azara  19:57

Yeah, so the stories are great. Right, and they really do an annual We’ve had patients come in and tour the factory, because we love to give tours, right. That’s how we hear engagement, because it’s pretty fascinating our hearing, it’s actually manufactured. And some of the technology that you would think is in there to manufacture hearing aid that, again, every hearing aid is custom, because no two ears are like, right, so think about that. But it really makes it, it changed me from just wanting to build widgets, to building something that’s purposeful mission, impact people’s lives. And it’s really easy to take that message onto the production floor of that that device, that order has someone’s name on it, that was part of their name, and it can have the full name part of their name on it. And you understand that that device is going to in three days is considered somebody and they’re going to hear their grandchildren. Right? They’re going to be have better conversations, they’re gonna enjoy their life better. And I mean, even simple things like, you know, I didn’t know the toilet flushes so loud as it does, right, you get all those kinds of stories that happen, when you’re, you’re part of something that’s bigger than you, you know, helping you make a difference. And that’s, again, why this program is so important. That’s why what we do and how we help manufacturers. So important is it’s bigger than we do I help really kind of give back.

Paola Velasquez  21:14

Well, and Kurt, can I add, if you think about it, all of us, or I should say all of us, but many of us are going to fall into that that bracket of disability right there manufacturing, how many of us have had a hearing loss because of the noise level, or how many of us use glasses and eventually, right? We need stronger glasses. I mean, we were I was in one of my first lien simulations. And I was, the gentleman stood up and said, I can’t see the parts of someone want to replace me. And at that moment, I was like, replace you. That’s what we’re doing. We’re replacing people because they can’t do the work instead of getting them a magnifying glass instead of offering them you know, looking at work ways, you know, workflow doing things a little bit differently to have them continue to work. Just fascinating to me. And if we think that it’s not possible, the Chicago Lighthouse, gives tours, they employ 100% of blind individuals or visually impaired individuals. And their, their, their number one, I think client is the Navy, they’re making wall clocks for the Navy. Right. And they’ve been able to do this successfully. There’s no reason why a manufacturer can’t do this successfully. And I want to share one last thing because I almost forgot to share. The exciting thing about this, about this program, too, is that we partner with King County, and we’re offering a fully funded grant for King County manufacturers that want to partake in this. And so this is up to $20,000 in receiving solutions to complement their current employment practices.

Damon Pistulka  22:50

So nice.

Curt Anderson  22:51

I’m sorry, Paul. I didn’t hear that dollar amount. Could you repeat that?

Paola Velasquez  22:55

Yeah. 20,000 up to 20,000. Fully funded.

Curt Anderson  22:58

Well, that is phenomenal. So okay, I know it, man. Oh, my goodness, I’d love I’d love to talk to you guys all day. Now, Paola, I did have one friend that sent me a note one me to ask you a question through this program, which folks that are chosen. Folks that are hair challenged? Are there any programs for folks that are here, I’m just I’m asking for a friend, not for my son. I’m just kidding. So all right, let’s start we’re gonna we’re gonna start winding down as we’re coming to the top of the hour. John, I want to come back to you. For folks that are new to iMac new to the MEP, can you kind of give us a little run through on the menu, you guys are doing an amazing job on a talent pipeline. I know you’ve got a huge menu just shared with folks that are new to you know, if you’re coming to us from outside of Illinois, there’s an MEP near you manufacturing extension, partnership, Google manufacturing, extension, partnership, and EP, you’ll find your MEP, John, just a little bit of all the awesomeness that goes on at IMEC. So

John Azara  23:52

as I mentioned, we are used for filling manufacturers and, and our actual directive or mission is to be all things to all manufacturers, right? So we do everything right. It’s interesting business model. But that’s what we try and do and really supporting manufacturers. So it does range from consulting services to training trainings as well. But it’s from workforce to operational, proven strategic to help help you grow your business on the marketing side to ERP to cybersecurity, to quality systems. And the list goes on and on and on. You know, so what I tell my clients, the more we know about your business, what you’re trying to accomplish what you’re trying to do, then we can bring you the right resource to help you get where you want to go. Right. So. So that’s what we do, right? We’re there. We’re partners, we want to be part of your conversation to help you. Again, grow your business, improve the operations. So the more we know about your business, the more we could bring the right resources to support that manufacturer and what they want to do and where they want to go. Yep,

Curt Anderson  24:56

and Paulo if they want to learn more getting you have a wonderful Cook County grant so for manufacturers that are in Cook County, I know you have a great grant that you’re supporting folks with and palate let’s, let’s give a shout out to I know you have the who’s who you kind of have like it’s, it’s it’s incredible the amount of talent you have on your team. And if I tried to name off everybody but Ray your fearless leader de belay Christy Jacqueline Melissa Zerbo, just Yeah. Michelle Foster, you want to share, you know, give a shout out to some of your teammates here.

Paola Velasquez  25:28

Right. One of my favorite teammates is Stacey

25:31

stage show a few weeks ago. Yeah, yeah,

Paola Velasquez  25:35

I love attending any of her workshops. I’m the first one to raise my hand if I can participate because she is so engaging. And it’s incredible. We’re lucky to have her on our team. But we have so many so many talented. I mean, we have Jeremy, we have Ken, we have Angelica, HR specialist on board. So we have a lot of great talent saw. I’m fortunate to be surrounded by such great talent. Yep.

Curt Anderson  26:00

And please forgive us ever. Anybody really leaving out but Melissa Basa we have Noah. I know Cassie Jordan. Cameron has been on the show. We’ve had tons of your folks have been on the show. And I of course I get a double shout out to Jacqueline. But let’s find Don, we’re coming to the top of the hour, folks can find you. Please connect with both of these guys. We have Polycom, John, connect with them on LinkedIn. Drop them a note. You can find them on an IMEC. I would love to ask you guys one last question as we close out. John, I’m going to start with you my friend. First off. Thank you for joining us today. John, I’ve been looking forward to this for months. Just you know, just my respect, admiration for you what you’re doing for manufacturers. Love to hear Nate’s story. If you’re just catching us, man, hit that rewind button in here. John’s hearing aids story, John, best business advice that you’ve ever received in your career that you would love to pass along maybe to a young entrepreneur, young person out there today?

John Azara  26:55

Yeah. So I want to go back to you earlier you asked about my heroes. And it’s some advice my dad gave me early on, and it was about feedback. And always take feedback as a gift. Whether you like what someone say or not with something, it’s a gift and receive it as a gift. Because someone that’s giving you feedback has taken the time to really think through and they care about you. And they care enough to make you better. So take that feedback as a gift. And enjoy it and absorb it and digest it. But you know, it’s never negative. It’s always a gift. Boy,

Curt Anderson  27:33

God bless you, man. What are your dad is a wise man you’re very blessed to have. That is brilliant advice. Paula, how about yourself best business advice you’ve ever received? Well, I

Paola Velasquez  27:45

don’t know. I think I’ve received several. But one of them that that I always hear is right you ask? Always ask for whatever you need or ask because the worst someone can say is no, right? That’s the worst someone can say. But you will always not know if you didn’t ask. So just go out on the limb and ask for the things that you need or the ones or the desires that you have.

Curt Anderson  28:10

More brilliant advice. Might you know what Paula? My sister says that all the time? The answer is always no, unless you ask. And so absolutely love that. As we close out parting thoughts, words of wisdom, anything that you guys want to share as we wind down our show today, John, any last words of wisdom, anything that you want to share as we close out?

John Azara  28:30

No, I thought Tom maybe talked about where someone if they’re interested in you can kind of grab where they could sign up and find out more information.

Paola Velasquez  28:37

Yeah, so the nice thing is that, again, we’re talking about barriers. There’s no barriers for this King County grant, if you’re interested, you have the grant right there, we did not put an application process in on purpose, right, we did not want to have any barriers for anyone. And so it’s, they can reach out directly to me, but you can also visit imec.org That’s I m ec.org. And on that web, the landing page, you’ll see the King County grants. If you click on there, then you’ll see that have access to all the resources. We have their upcoming webinars in person events, the best resource, the tips for the resource guide is their downloadable past webinars. We’ve had webinars with a TPR is that we’re partnering with where they’ve shared some of the work that they’re doing and great stories so you can view those. So just a lot of great resources on that page. So again, that’s imec.org

Curt Anderson  29:31

Excellent, excellent as we close out Hey, welcome, sir today. Well, thank you for the comment. station. Thank you for sharing Curtin. Damon. Damon parting thoughts on your read? What do you think?

Damon Pistulka  29:40

It’s just cool. I tell you what, when you really open up your mind to who we can help employ in manufacturing, there are solutions to the problem we’re having today. But we got to open your mind use technology. There’s just so many things that we have available in the grants like you guys are given there. Are the counties giving grants to help people do that? I mean, take advantage of it because it’s going to benefit your companies. Absolutely. So

Curt Anderson  30:08

I,

John Azara  30:09

how about Damon?

Curt Anderson  30:10

How about a big round of applause for our dear friends here today and everybody out there give a big round of applause for Paula and John. Just absolutely. Thank you guys. What an inspiring conversation. I’m like, Dude, I’m ready to run through a wall on after having this conversation with John and Paola. So, guys, thank you for what you’re doing for your clients, your manufacturers. Big shout out to our friends at IMEC and just keep palette just keep firing on all cylinders. You are an incredible inspiration and Damon as we’d like to close out, just go out and be someone’s inspiration just like these two wonderful human beings, and you’re just gonna make the world a better place. So we’re gonna close out for today. Paola, John, thank you both. God bless you keep doing what you’re doing. We’re going to be back here Friday. We have another great guests coming on. We’re going to be we have more inspiration coming at you this week. So have a great rest of your week, you guys and we will see you soon. Paola and John want to hang out with us for one second, and we’ll close out. Sounds great. Bye everyone.

John Azara  31:03

Bye bye