Julie Flowers with Elevate YOU Coaching

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Houston, Texas. It’s time for Houston Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. I’m really excited about the guests that I have on the show today. We share a few things in common. We might talk about those Julie Flowers, founder and CEO of Elevate You Coaching. This is where she dedicates herself to empowering seasoned career women. A certified leadership and transformational coach. Julie inspires women to elevate their personal worth, value and purpose. With nearly three decades as an HR executive at Chevron. She excelled in HR, making a global impact in talent development, talent, talent acquisition, and strategic air partnerships. But wait, I’m not done. She serves on the Greater Women’s Chamber of Commerce Board and Texas A&M HR Master’s Advisory Board. She is also the co-host of the dynamic and witty podcast Savvy Sisters and Cocktail Conversations. Julie is also a published author and collaborator of the book Six Figure Chicks. Houston. Julie, welcome to the show.

Julie Flowers: Woo! I love it. I love hearing all that stuff because then it feels like I’m. I’m doing some stuff. I’m making some stuff happen.

Trisha Stetzel: Yes, exactly. Sometimes it’s the only time we reflect on all of the things that we’ve done when somebody shows up and reads our bio.

Julie Flowers: Right, absolutely. And it always feels it used to feel awkward. And now I’m trying to celebrate the wins. Like, no, girl, you’ve you’ve worked hard for all that stuff. You’re stuff. You’re continuing to work hard. Let’s celebrate that. And I’m not doing it in a cocky way. I’m doing it to inspire others and live my joy.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. So I know I told a lot of things about you, Julie, but I would love for you to tell us a little more about Julie and then let’s talk about elevate you coaching.

Julie Flowers: Okay. Great. So first and foremost, I say I am a woman that strives literally to bring the joy and energy out of others, especially women. I have an affinity to women. I think we all need to band together even more. I have a, uh, issue with Mean Girls, and so I just want to make sure we are all coming together. So first and foremost, I’m a connector relationship builder helping women see the how awesome they are just fills my cup completely. I love seeing that light bulb go on and a change in someone. But I’m also a mom of two boys. I’m not sure why God didn’t give me girls, but maybe because I think I’d be bankrupt or in jail for killing some boy. Anyways, so the the the boy mom is great because now I’m teaching them how beautiful and wonderful and intelligent women are and how much they bring to this world and how to treat a woman. So I think that really helps and I love them dearly. As one is 19, one is 17. So I just finished a college freshman and a junior, so I got a rising senior in high school and a rising sophomore in college, and they are my delight. Uh, been married over 20 years and like you said, been in corporate America for almost three decades.

Julie Flowers: So don’t do the math on my age. Okay. Now I’m old. What is it? But in my mind, I’m still some crazy 20 or 30 year old, so that’s all that matters. Um, but I loved my corporate job. I learned a lot. I traveled the world, uh, lived and worked in, born and raised in California. Lived and worked in California, Houston. This is our second time here. And Angola, Africa for three years, which was an amazing experience not only for my husband and I, but our two children, because they were small boys when we went there too, and we got to travel that part of the world, which is amazing because I believe it really opens up your mind to diversity of thought and ways of living and and patience. Right. And so that was really awesome. So all the things that you said podcaster, public speaker, about to be in a book with you, which is super exciting. This is how we met. I love that and all the things. But my coaching company came after I decided to leave corporate America. It was. It sounds cliché, but like after Covid, you know, you have these epiphanies. And it wasn’t that the company is a bad company.

Julie Flowers: It’s an amazing company. Chevron. Um, but the function I was in HR, it was HR. My entire career was changing, and not in a way that was aligned with my own purpose and passion. And it was becoming difficult to stay, uh, personally. And I’m all about listening to my mind, body and spirit. And so I made the decision to say when they were doing another downsizing, which seems to be the norm in every company these days. Right. I’m ready to go. I’m going to I’m going to I’m going to head out. And I’ve always had in my mind, I love coaching people and I love public speaking and giving back. So I decided to launch Elevate You coaching, which is just what it says. How do I elevate you? How do I help you? And it’s only for seasoned career women. Doesn’t mean I’m excluding the men. I do go to corporate events sometimes where men are in the audience and we look for that allyship. But I love the one on one coaching the group, coaching us, creating a program that goes with it. So all the things and I just love this part of my life’s journey because I feel like I’m just having fun. It’s not a job, which is awesome.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s the best thing ever. Being in a place where you can enjoy what you do and you enjoy the people, and you get to choose who you work with.

Julie Flowers: And when I work just.

Trisha Stetzel: Yes, absolutely.

Julie Flowers: And don’t.

Trisha Stetzel: Have to deal with.

Julie Flowers: Politics or shenanigans. Yeah.

Trisha Stetzel: Absolutely. So you have an affinity for working with women. You’re drawn to women. Was that always the case when you were in the corporate space? Julie.

Julie Flowers: So yes and no. So in my role in, at Chevron, probably the last 7 or 8, maybe ten years. We had what was called development committees. So I was on a development committee for my function, where we helped make development and career decisions for the HR individuals worldwide. So I’d loved helping any person, uh, coach them on their career, what skills they need to develop, how to navigate corporate America, all of that. And being an HR professional and a leader in HR, you know, a lot of times I’ve reported to the business, not to HR actually, which was great. So I got to lead and coach, uh, business leaders, male and female. And I loved it. So it’s not. But the affinity for women is because I’ve seen over my career how women downplay themselves so much and don’t feel good in their own skin, or don’t feel confident or downplay their worth and value, or not sure how to make meaningful connections or contribute back to other women. I’m like, gosh, if we all could just do this together, the ripple effect that it would that would occur would be amazing. And the and the ripple effect down to the next generations because it’s still happening. I’ve spoken to some college students, you know, with my, my, um, affiliation with Texas A&M. And I didn’t go there, by the way. But, um, I love the school, love the people. And we really need to change that mindset of women and men of how they perceive women. I don’t want to be known as the only female at the table, which has happened a lot in my career. I want to be known that Julie was at the table. Um, not the only female or the first female CEO. You don’t say it’s the male CEO.

Speaker4: Right? Yeah. So we need to stop that.

Trisha Stetzel: So yeah, I love that and I I’m I’m with you. I grew up in a space that’s part of my story in the book. And you probably, uh, conquer that space as well, which is you are the only female in the room. You are the only female at the table. And it is a little different. And you have to do things differently to fit in. So one, where do you where do you think that’s coming from with the younger generations? Because I see a lot more women like you and I who are out there trying to help change that mindset of even our generation. Right? The generation that we grew up in and starting to help and support and love women again. Um, but it still happens. Younger generations. Why do you think that is still happening?

Julie Flowers: A couple things pop in my mind, so I want to use a term that I stole from my friend Kat. She was on a docu series with me. She stole it from someone else I was not in and will never be in a male dominated industry. I was in a male populated industry. No man is dominating me. Okay.

Speaker4: Okay. Mindset that.

Julie Flowers: Shift there. Did you just feel the power of that? Right?

Speaker4: I did.

Julie Flowers: No, it.

Speaker4: Just made me feel.

Julie Flowers: Different because we’re using words that are pushing us down. Right. And I think the new the up and coming generation and even my child, my children’s generation, I truly believe they’re ahead of us in some of this. They know what they want. They’re all about impact and their life. They want to.

Speaker4: Work.

Julie Flowers: To live, not live to work. Right. So I think they’ve cracked the code on some of it. However, they’re being raised by women and men, and society is telling them they have to be this or you’re not good unless you have this or look this way. So we’re still influencing it. So I’m hoping these new generations are going to start to and I see it breaking the cycle. But then you’ve got this conflicting people telling them the opposite, or the internet telling them the opposite. So the more and more we see, um, thought leaders like Mel Robbins and Brene Brown and Sheryl Sandberg and all of them coming out and saying, no, you are worth. And Jamie Kern Lima coming out and saying, no, you are worthy just because you are born, you know that. And you, you belong and you’re important and you bring a lot, male or female, I don’t think it’s, you know, we need to make that change and thank goodness for them. And I see it happening more. But we need to amplify it like turn up the volume even more, post stuff about this stuff rather than posting that you need Botox or whatever. You know what I mean? No offense to.

Speaker4: Yeah, you.

Julie Flowers: Know, getting the stuff done, but it’s a lot of pressure physically, let alone intellectually.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. I, I love the way you rephrased dominated to populated that.

Speaker4: Yeah, I stole that. I love.

Julie Flowers: That. Yeah.

Trisha Stetzel: And then. Well, so now that you’ve used it at least three times, it’s yours. You know, that’s how that works, right? So you borrow.

Speaker4: It or steal taking.

Julie Flowers: It’s.

Speaker4: Mine.

Trisha Stetzel: Now that you’ve used it at least three times, it’s all yours.

Speaker4: I love it, I’m taking it, so I’m stealing it because it’s my.

Trisha Stetzel: First.

Speaker4: Time. I’m gonna keep.

Julie Flowers: Saying it so people steal.

Speaker4: It. Yes.

Trisha Stetzel: And I, I love this idea of the language that we’re using in ING and verbal. Just shift it a little bit, then it affects those that are listening. Right. Which are our, our children and our children’s children and.

Speaker4: Some right.

Trisha Stetzel: At this point.

Speaker4: And it’s affecting. Thank you for that thinking.

Julie Flowers: It’s affecting your thinking as well. Right.

Speaker4: It is if.

Julie Flowers: I’m saying I’m less than or I’m being Dominated or I am the only female. It’s affecting you as well?

Speaker4: Yeah.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. So the whole idea of self-acceptance, um, or maybe women who are listening right now that are, um, they’re afraid to take the next step because they’re not sure that they’re going to be respected in that next position as a leader. Um, what what would you say to them based on your experience in corporate as well as your coaching experience, what would you say to those women who are afraid to take the next step because they they lack the self-acceptance that they are amazing.

Speaker4: Mhm mhm.

Julie Flowers: It’s hard and there’s no one right formula. Now I have a formula. I use air quotes that I use. But it has to be customized for the individual too. But I’ll talk about it um at a high level. First and foremost, take the advice of Jamie Kern Lima of you’re worthy because you’re born.

Speaker4: Full stop.

Julie Flowers: Now, how do you become confident and and be your and being your authentic self? Now, I’m not saying because we talk about this on my podcast. I’m telling you to be your authentic self. But if you’re a jerk, that’s not what I’m telling you to be. Okay, so don’t be a jerk about it. Okay. All right. So be your authentic self. But know that you need to take stock in what skills, gifts, attributes you have. What impact have you made? I guarantee you, if you stop and self-reflect, no matter what age you are on your life to date, you have had some wins personally and professionally and then you pick that win apart. On what did you contribute? How did you do it? And then most importantly, how did it impact whatever you were doing, the value that it brought? Okay. You start to bring those good things into your mind, heart and body. You’re going to now go, oh, I am the I’m the bomb. I’m doing some good stuff here. Right? It was exactly what I said earlier. You have to celebrate the wins. You have to own the wins. We often lean on the losses or the failures. We do a whole podcast on the word failure. Like it’s the F word I don’t like. Okay, you can pick up.

Julie Flowers: I like the other one, but not this one, because a failure is not a bad word. We’ve put a negative connotation around it, right? It’s a learning moment. So turn your brain to that. So I think when you’re going up for the next role or a job interview or a promotion Ocean or even to present a project and you feel that lack of confidence. Confidence comes by doing. It’s an action. It’s not a mindset. You have to keep doing stuff to get the confidence. So the more you do that hype in your head before you walk into the promotion, the more you do your homework of the wins you’ve had or what you’ve learned from your mishaps, and that you’re growing that way, that you speak, your narrative is going to come out more confidently and you have to practice it. It’s a muscle and it’s also a dialog you have to have with that inner survival character in your head. Mine is named Penny perfect. Damn woman always thinks she’s got to be perfect. And I know says, no you don’t, girl. It’s not going to happen today. Never going to happen. But that will give you the confidence to move forward. And then the last thing I would say in this spot space is surround yourself with the supporters.

Speaker4: Right.

Julie Flowers: The relationships and the connections that are going to lift you up. They’re going to put the mirror in front of you and tell you how good you are or where you misstep, but you can learn from it. The ones that are talking about you in the positive, when you’re not in the room or in the room. Those are the things that are going to bring you up and give you more confidence to go forward with whatever is in front of you. Those are just some things. And like I said earlier, I would I would coach that in a specific way if I was talking to you because you’re you’re in a character is saying something similar yet different. So it’s not a one size fits all. We might focus on one one thing more than the other, but those are some of the things I think really help women.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s fantastic. And before I want to dig into this, collaborate with other women, because I think it plays right into, uh, the book that’s coming and having the right people in the right room at the right time, helping you with the right things. But before we go there, if we’ve got listeners who want to connect with you already, because I know they do, and they want.

Speaker4: To learn.

Trisha Stetzel: More, more about you or even your coaching, how can they find you, Julie?

Speaker4: Yeah.

Julie Flowers: So I have all the, you know, normal social media stuff. Um, my website is Elevate coaching.org. Um, LinkedIn, I have my personal profile and then my elevate coaching. Um Instagram. You know, dot dot flow is what I go by. Yeah. I gotta be sassy too, right? Um, and then it’s elevate you. But you could go to my website and get through to all that stuff, or I can give you my link tree, you know, click on the bio thing, kind of whatever that gives you all the different social media handles. But it’s a way that you can book time with me to just have a discovery. Talk about for free, you know, 30 minutes talk about what is it that you’re looking for, whether it’s coaching one on one group, coaching or me coming to do some kind of talk with the. The conference association or meeting or what? All the things. Yeah. Or listen to the podcast Savvy Sisters and Cocktail Conversations. We talk about all of this. And it’s my co-host is a colleague of mine that is at Chevron still, but she’s retiring this year. So I’m excited because I kept telling her her day job is getting in the way of us doing fun stuff. So you can listen to that and, you know, follow us and do all that, like share, post, blah, blah, blah, all that things.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s fantastic. And I’ll put all of Julie’s contact information in the show notes. So any of you who are sitting at your computer, not in your car, can click and point and click to get where you want to go, um, to connect with Julie. Okay. So let’s circle back around to this contributing to help other women. Um, I’d like to talk a little bit about the book because.

Speaker4: It’s.

Trisha Stetzel: Very exciting and a way to collaborate with other women, and also a way to give back to younger women, because there’s a part of this where we’re going to go out and talk to younger women. So six figure chicks. Houston Julie is one of the contributing authors. We will I’m putting this out there into the world. We will be a best selling book.

Speaker4: Yes we will. It’s going to be on the best.

Trisha Stetzel: Selling.

Speaker4: List.

Julie Flowers: Absolutely.

Speaker4: So excited.

Trisha Stetzel: So, Julie, tell me why you wanted to be a part of this collaboration and what this means to you to get out and bring these stories to a younger generation?

Julie Flowers: So I’m going to tell you a story then about me first. So when I started so I didn’t go to college right out of high school, I was one of those that I liked high school for the fun of it. You know, I was cheerleader. All that fun stuff. Wasn’t sure I was going to graduate because I was having too much fun. And I’m like, I’m not going to college. And I wasn’t really motivated by my parents to do it either. They didn’t have they they weren’t going to help me financially and so forth. So I’m like, I’ll go make some money, right? So I immediately went into the workforce and realized a couple years in that all my college friends were making the money. And when they graduated and I wasn’t. And, um, so I went to college while working full time. So I got both my degrees while working full time. And in that midst started working at Chevron at the bottom, like Nonexempt assistant HR assistant type role. Right. And for the and so coming into a corporate fortune ten company with not done with your degrees and you’re at the bottom. I had some shame that went with that and comparing myself to others. So I downplayed my story, my entry into corporate America. I tried, I shied away from telling my true story. What I just said to you. And it was about literally ten years into my career before a leader, a very inspirational leader for me. Female leader said, what is your problem? Why do you not tell people your story? It can inspire others. You should be proud. You put yourself through college while working full time. Two degrees start at the bottom. Your trajectory is going up. You know, I left at an executive level, you know, so I did something right in that space.

Julie Flowers: And I’m like, dang, I think you’re right. So I shifted that narrative and started to tell the story and watched not only how it made me feel proud of what I’ve accomplished, but how other women said, wow, I was doing the same thing, either not sharing because of shame, or didn’t think they could do it or didn’t see the path. All of that. So this book for me is that how do you tell the story to help other women? I’m all about helping others. And if my story can help one person, you know, it’s cliche, but it’s true, then great. Hopefully it will help more than one really dig into whatever they’re going to do and feel pride in their journey. Because everybody’s journey is different. There’s not one right path, but that really made it spoke to me when I was approached by Mel for the book. I’m like, oh, a bunch of women like me telling stories to help other women and younger women too. I’m all in, and as you would get to know me, I’m never a loss of words and never a loss of stories. I got a lot of mishaps and I have a lot of successes. So the more you share, the better. And I think that contributes also back to how to contribute back to others and how to make connections. You and I would have never made this connection. And we live in the same state, right? Probably running the same circles. Maybe it would have happened, but the odds are probably slim. And so now I’m building my my community, my circle, my tribe, if you will, through this book as well. So that’s why I signed up for it.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s fantastic. And I was an early adopter. I met Mel through another connection. And when she told me about this book collaboration, I, I knew this was something that I wanted to get involved in. And I think the draw for me was that we’re going to share it with a younger generation. We’re going to have Mentor Day, and I think that that’s just I’m thrilled that Mel made all of us be in the same room at the same time, like I’ve done a book collaboration before and it didn’t work like this. You wrote your chapter and you put it in the book and it was fine. Um, and I was talking to Mel. She’s written several book collaborations, and none of them were like this, which is created this space for all of us to meet each other. And by the way, Julie, you and I have way more in common than you know. But I got to hear your story. So we’re going to have to connect offline.

Speaker4: To talk, for sure. We’ll have to have you on our podcast then.

Julie Flowers: And so we can hear your story for sure.

Speaker4: Okay.

Trisha Stetzel: So much fun. So I’m celebrating six figure checks. Julie has the book right behind her six figure checks. Houston, you guys, the E launch is on June 4th, so we’re going to be reaching out to all of you to do a preorder on the book so we can get on the best seller list.

Speaker4: Yes. Help us out. Help a girl.

Julie Flowers: Out. Come on, let’s do this, people.

Speaker4: Exactly. So, Julie.

Trisha Stetzel: As we get to the back end of our time here, I know it went by so darn fast.

Speaker4: It does.

Trisha Stetzel: What’s what’s one big piece of advice to the beautiful woman that’s listening today that is afraid and doesn’t have that that high feeling of self worth to go and do the thing that she’s always dreamed of doing. What would you tell her?

Julie Flowers: I’d say, listen, Linda, sit down and reflect and be curious. So curiosity is key on yourself. Dig deep. Identify those golden nuggets that you that are you and celebrate them. You don’t have to do big bang stuff. You can celebrate within your own mind and your own family, whatever. But realize that you are here, you are worthy, and you have so much to give, and the impact that you’ve made are making now and will make this world needs. This world is going cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs right now, and we need some change. And it starts with you. So do something and know that you have it. You just need to tap into it. And if you need someone to help you tap into it, I’m happy to do it. Whether it’s me or someone else, it’s there. So be curious and do some self-reflection and celebrate your wins.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s beautiful. Julie, thank you so much for being on the show today. Folks, if you want to get in touch with Julie, you can find her on social media. She is not hard to find. I’m everywhere you can connect. Uh, or, uh, tell us your website one more time.

Julie Flowers: Elevate you org.

Trisha Stetzel: Elevate you coaching.com. You can go directly there and find everything else that you’re looking for.

Speaker4: Yes.

Trisha Stetzel: Connect with Julie. Be on the lookout for that book launch. Uh, just before June 14th. We’ll be asking for your preorders. Thank you, Julie, for your kind, um, demeanor. I loved having you on the show. This has been wonderful and thank you for telling of your story.

Julie Flowers: Yes, and I really appreciate you. You have this glow in this energy about you that is authentic, and I know that you’re doing great things and will continue to do so. And I look forward to getting to know you better. And I can’t wait to hear your story.

Trisha Stetzel: Thank you so much, Julie. All right, folks, that’s all the time we have for today. If you found value in this conversation, share it with a fellow entrepreneur, a veteran or a Houston leader. Ready to grow. Be sure to follow, rate, and review the show. It helps us reach more bold business minds just like yours. Your business, your leadership, and your legacy are built one intentional step at a time. So stay inspired, stay focused, and keep building the business and the life you deserve.