Jean Kay Ibanez Payne is a Military Sexual Trauma Survivor, Certified Coach (Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, DEI) Entrepreneur, Author, Speaker Born in the United States and raised in Colombia, South America, she represents a remarkable blend of cultural experiences that shape her impactful narrative.
Following her military service, Jean embarked on a 20-year career spanning workforce training, communications, marketing, diversity, program management, and risk management. As a corporate leader, she excelled in communications, marketing, and diversity efforts, culminating in her role managing the Diversity and Inclusion program for a Fortune 200 utility company with over 14,000 employees, where she launched groundbreaking employee resource groups for veterans and women.
In 2014, she left a successful corporate career, selling their dream home and cashed out savings to start TI Verbatim Consulting (TIVC) with a mission to help people work better together. TIVC rapidly gained trust among corporate clients and government agencies such as, NASA, FDIC, and the Departments of Treasury, Homeland Security, and Defense.
Her impressive credentials include a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice, and a Master of Business Administration. She serves on several nonprofit boards and holds multiple professional certifications from accredited institutions in the areas of change management, leadership coaching, resilience, emotional intelligence, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).
Today, Jean stands as a powerful advocate for survivors of abuse, using her voice and her story to ignite hope in others. She embodies the belief that every woman, no matter her past, has the power to reclaim her worth and forge a life filled with purpose and joy. Through coaching, workshops, speaking engagements, and personal storytelling, she engages with her audience, imparting valuable lessons learned through her journey..
Connect with Jean on LinkedIn and follow her on Facebook.
What You’ll Learn In This Episode
- Brief overview of her book “Reclaiming Your Worth”
- Her experiences of losing her worth in different stages of life – during military service, in the corporate world, and as a small business owner
- How she managed to overcome the adversities in life
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.
Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of High Velocity Radio, and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show we have Jean Kay Ibanez Payne and she is with T.I. Verbatim Consulting. Welcome.
Jean Kay Ibanez Payne: Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today.
Lee Kantor: Well, I am excited to learn what you’re up to. You’re an author, you’re a women’s advocate, and you’re the CEO of T.I. Verbatim Consulting. So tell us a little bit about your work.
Jean Kay Ibanez Payne: So I ten years ago, I took a leap of faith working in the corporate world, decided to to leave that behind and start a company, sold everything, cashed for one K and started this amazing company called Verbatim Consulting, which is focused, is to help people work better together. We focus on culture in the workplace, improving the culture of the workplace. So then yeah, so.
Lee Kantor: What about your your work in the corporate world kind of led you to this moment. Did something big happen or what was kind of the genesis that got you moving in this different direction?
Jean Kay Ibanez Payne: Well, I always believe that there’s nothing in isolation. Every decision comes about as a combination of many different things. So I just had I just had adopted a baby and I had a listing ideal boss. And then I was also navigating some aspects of my mental health from the sexual trauma in the military. So it was a combination of many different things that led me to leave everything behind and start the company.
Lee Kantor: So when you decided to start the company, did you have clients already or was this kind of like, okay, now that I’ve done this, I better find some people that want to buy some services, like how did you get your first clients?
Jean Kay Ibanez Payne: My passion has always been human capital optimization and how to help people work better together, how to attract, develop and retain talent. So I was doing some of that work in the corporate world, and I literally, you know, it was a situation, kind of precarious situation where I thought about it for a moment, but I decided just to leave everything behind overnight. I didn’t have any business experience whatsoever. But my father has always been an entrepreneur in Colombia, South America, and I just decided to leave everything behind. And I’ve given some thought to what kind of company I wanted to do. And I know my passion was to help people work better together. And so that was kind of like the baseline, that trampoline for me to, to, to get going. And, uh, you know, for the first two years, I just knocked in a lot of doors and, and I was able to not take a salary for 2 or 3 years, and I was able to get my first contract within one year of starting the company. So that was kind of the launch of that of, of, uh, of the company. And I do remember that the first service that we, that we received, it was $50. And then things just kind of kept growing from there on for the next couple of years.
Lee Kantor: So when did you kind of develop this methodology around culture?
Jean Kay Ibanez Payne: So the, the, the mission, it was something that I wanted to do. But um, once I started the company, it was kind of based on the dynamics and things that, that we were seeing in the marketplace. Uh, the, the suddenly quitting or they just people just leaving workplaces because of the culture. So from there, we created our own model of culture optimization, qualitative and quantitative Approach. And fast forward to two years ago, we decided to create our own software and how to analyze the culture in natural language software. So he has been an evolution for us to get to where from where we started, which was very tactical and very manual to be able now to to have something that that we can use and stand behind and have the credibility to do so.
Lee Kantor: So, um, how does kind of an engagement with your firm work, what pain is your client having right before they contact you.
Jean Kay Ibanez Payne: So different things can happen? Either they’re having a hard time attracting talent, the people that they have are leaving or companies have, um, ethics or just general HR complaints. So they’re trying to figure out is kind of like what is causing the issues is a is it a managerial, is it a policy? It’s a process problem. And then that’s kind of where we go into doing the qualitative and quantitative analysis, the one on one interviews, the the focus groups and really kind of going through all the policies and procedures to really understand the root cause of the problem, because there’s a big difference. With full disclosure, I love donuts, okay. Especially Krispy Kreme hot donuts. So there’s a big difference with with one person saying, well, I do want I do not want to work for X company because they do not provide donuts for us to have every day with their coffee versus having a group of employees five, 15 or 20 say that we want the same thing. So we really try to isolate what is the big root cause of the problem and what is causing that, and how does that align to policies, processes and procedures.
Lee Kantor: So now, um, when you’re working with a company, does sometimes do you have the feeling the person who hired you might be part of the problem that, um, because like you said early on, you don’t most people don’t quit jobs. They quit bosses.
Jean Kay Ibanez Payne: Yes.
Jean Kay Ibanez Payne: It can be a very difficult, very difficult situation that we have had some instances. One of the agencies that we did a cultural assessment for, it was the US mint, and we actually ended up in a newspaper. So if you Google Verbatim Consulting, you will find, uh, you know, you will find an agency that that agency that we did work for. And there has been many other agencies where where the leaders who have hired us to, you know, to find out what is causing the the toxicity in the workplace Have been part of the problem. And then when you conduct a cultural assessment and you provide the results. They challenge the methodology or they might challenge the the, you know, the items, the that we have looked at artifacts. So it can be it could be it can be quite challenging and actually fascinating at the same time. Because yes, you might be cause of the problems, but it’s all about improving what you can do as a leader to create a better place.
Lee Kantor: Now, can we talk a little bit about your new book, Reclaiming Your Worth? Um, what was kind of the impetus of writing a book? Uh, that’s a, you know, that could be a job by itself.
Jean Kay Ibanez Payne: Mhm. Mhm.
Jean Kay Ibanez Payne: So in addition to leading a company, I am a Navy veteran. I am a service disabled veteran. I served in the US Navy for. For a little over four years. Many years ago and over that time, I was sexually abused, assaulted and harassed. So I suffer in silence for for 20 years, which included depression, suicidal ideation and, uh, in many mental health issues. So the book really came about me reclaiming my worth because for many years, suffering in silence. And nobody knew about it, not even my husband of 30 years. What I was going through, and I was outsourcing my, uh, my mental health to other people and hoping that they would fix it. So it wasn’t until back in, you know, late 2022, when I decided to reclaim my worth, which is me taking ownership and stop outsourcing it to people around me to fix it, that I decided to take control. And, uh, in January of this year, I was finally in a place that I could write a book about my story and how I could help other sexual abuse, you know, people. And I just kind of, like, hunkered down in January and I wrote 50,000 words in four weeks. 35,000 of those in one week. So that’s how my work came about, is my story of abuse, empowerment, and how I was able to to build my life on my own terms and stop relying on people to, to resolve my issues. And that’s a long winded answer, but that’s kind of how it all came about.
Lee Kantor: So it it’s a book about your what went on personally with you. Is it does it have any kind of ties to your business at all, or is it about just as an individual kind of reclaiming your worth through that trauma?
Jean Kay Ibanez Payne: Well, it is it is my story as I reclaim my worth to the trauma. But it also details the fact that as I was creating my business, executing my strategies, and being what we call and define as a successful professional in the corporate world. I was suffering in silence and nobody knew because all they saw was somebody who was motivated to grow, somebody who presented themselves well. So there is a story within the story.
Lee Kantor: So now the readers who are kind of learning about the book and reading about the book, are there kind of tactics for them to kind of take control of their lives, or is this something that it’s like, well, it’s your story and this is how you dealt with it, but are there lessons from this that other people can learn from?
Jean Kay Ibanez Payne: Yes, yes. So the book has 20 chapters and it tells my story, but it also shares a lot of tips in in how you can reclaim your worth and just just really quick. So I have the book has been released in English and Spanish, and I also released a children’s book in December. So some of the tools that I have for the book is, um, you know, stop outsourcing your worth to people. It’s not the responsibility of anybody around my circle to to make me happy, because that just led to disappointment and unhappiness. Uh, the other thing is, as a business, as a business owner is for me, there has never been a plan, you know, a plan B, because I always have a strategy and how I’m going to execute plan A, and I’m so committed to it that I don’t even think about about plan B. Plan B means that you you’re not fully committed to plan A, and, you know, there are other things is that that I’m finding out and, you know, and you might be able to speak to this too is something that my mom taught me is surrounding yourself with cheerleaders and protectors. That’s a big one. That’s a big one for me as a business owner, as a as a as a person and realizing sometimes not all the time, that regardless of where you are in your journey of success or not, that people may only be happy for you when they’re happier than you.
Lee Kantor: So let’s talk about that a little bit. So are you saying that it’s important to have supporters and celebrators around you, or are you saying that you. That’s nice to have, but don’t kind of over rely on them and you need people maybe to tell you some hard truths as well.
Lee Kantor: Like.
Jean Kay Ibanez Payne: Yes, yes.
Jean Kay Ibanez Payne: So my analogy of the the cheerleaders and protectors is that I travel a lot. And sometimes when you travel a lot, you have to become loyal to to an airline to get, you know, perks. And, uh, the one that resembles the most for me is I like Delta, and I know that with when you’re flying, you know, you do have choices, but sometimes it’s based on what you can afford. So if you do take that that that the money aspect of of the selection, you have first class, you have comfort plus and then you have main cabin. So you have three choices. So for me I look at it the same way. I have my protectors who are going to be having those tough conversations with me when I need to face the truth. I have the true leaders who are always rallying around me, and I’m talking about all the cheerleaders, you know, like 2000 followers on on Facebook and all that stuff. But I’m thinking about the people who are going to protect me when I am not in the room. And then you have the acquaintances, which are the your main classes, that those will come and go, right? They will come and go and, and you know that often you can rely on them. And those may be the people who are happy for you when they’re only when they’re happier than you.
Lee Kantor: So I think this is an important, um, point that you’re making. And I think that a lot of people don’t really, uh, lean on their team and the people around them in the most effective ways. Like sometimes you need your team to just cheer you up, and that’s all you want from them is just say, good job. You know, just appreciate me and just let me kind of vent here and just say, good job. And then other times you need their real truth. Tell me if there’s something in my teeth, you know, tell me the truth. Let me know if I’m off the mark here.
Jean Kay Ibanez Payne: Or.
Jean Kay Ibanez Payne: If I’m coming out of the bathroom and have toilet paper, you know.
Jean Kay Ibanez Payne: Right.
Jean Kay Ibanez Payne: And you tell me, will you tell me if, uh, if, uh, in, that’s when I go back to people will be happy for you and they’re happier than you. You know, if I have a if I have, uh, a spinach in my teeth, will you be will you tell me or will you just let me walk away and have people make fun of me.
Jean Kay Ibanez Payne: Right. So.
Jean Kay Ibanez Payne: Um. And I have become I think it’s part of my mental health journey. And also as a business professional, once I decided to reclaim my worth, I truly cleaned up my circle. I have a couple of protectors. I call them like my two, 3 or 4 maybe. I have like five cheerleaders. And then there’s the other, the the the acquaintances that I have. It’s nothing bad, it’s nothing good. But I’m just going to be very picky in how I spend my time. And spending time with me is a privilege.
Lee Kantor: Well, this is really, uh, really important things that we’re discussing here. And I hope the listener really appreciates, um, what you went through in order to have this kind of wisdom right now, I’m sure you, as you were going through this difficult times that, like you said, maybe other people weren’t aware of it, but obviously you were learning from it, and for you to be able to articulate these important messages is so important. And thank you for sharing.
Jean Kay Ibanez Payne: Mhm.
Jean Kay Ibanez Payne: And Lee, one other thing that I want to touch on when I, when I, when I say stop outsourcing your work to people around you. How many times have you, have you had somebody who, uh, you know gets a gym membership? Let’s just be real and talk about the beginning of the year. They get a gym membership, they go to the classes maybe once a week. Uh, you know, they’re still eating bad and unhealthy food. Then they cancel the membership because I’m not seeing any results. Or. Or you are expecting the people around you to make you happy. Yeah, it is. And that’s kind of what I did for a long time is I was I was going to the, the therapist, I was going to the, the psychologist and I was not using the tools. I was not using, you know, the the items, the things that they were giving me so I could get better. And then I blamed them for that, for not improving. And it is not the responsibility of my team to make me happy. I have to find that. And that’s why I talk about self. That’s that’s why I talk about self-worth. Because self-worth is all about your self love, self value and self respect. If you can find that within yourself, you’re always going to be looking for things in a different place and you’re always going to be disappointed.
Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more about your consulting firm or get their hands on this book, what is the website? What is the best way to connect with you?
Jean Kay Ibanez Payne: Tiara. Beetham. Uh w-w-w at tiara. Com is the website. And then if you want to purchase my book, you can go to w-w-w, reclaim your now.com. Or you can go to Amazon. The book actually has been a best seller. And my goodness I have received so many. So much feedback from men and women that are telling me this resonates. Yep, this happened to me. Thank you for telling your story. So that’s what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to create awareness to people so people can feel safe in telling their story, but also getting help.
Lee Kantor: Well, Jean, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.
Jean Kay Ibanez Payne: Oh, thank you for having me. It means a lot. It means a lot to me to be able to just talk to you and then also share my story.
Lee Kantor: All right, this is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on High Velocity Radio.