Crystal Khalil and Dr. Nicole LaBeach

Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Woodstock, Georgia. Welcome to Women in Business, where we celebrate influential women making a difference in our community. Now here’s your host.

Stone Payton: [00:00:30] Welcome to another exciting and informative edition of Women in Business. Stone Payton here with you this afternoon. This is going to be so much fun. I know it’s going to be informative, inspiring. I’ve been looking forward to this conversation for some time. Had to chase these ladies all the way to Aruba to get some time with them. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast Krystal Khalil and Dr. Nicole La Beach. Good afternoon, ladies.

Speaker3: [00:01:00] Good afternoon.

Speaker 4: [00:01:01] Hello, everyone.

Speaker3: [00:01:03] Hi, everybody.

Stone Payton: [00:01:04] What a delight to have you on the show. There’s a thousand questions I have. We won’t get to them all. My very first one, though, back story. What got you too? Involved in trying to provide this kind of value for people out in the marketplace? What was what’s the origin story in the and the catalyst that got you going down this road?

Speaker3: [00:01:29] So. Stone We met as a business introduction. It was really interesting. One of my colleagues at Porsche at the time, I was the head of procurement for Porsche Cars North America out of Atlanta. And one of my business colleagues said, You’ve got to meet this young lady that I know she’s interested in doing some business with Porsche. But I think beyond that, you all would make a wonderful connection. You have so much in common. So we met for this business conversation and we instantly connected and decided to have another lunch with just the two of us. And what started out as a lunch turned into a four hour conversation. We closed the restaurant down, we’re laughing, we’re crying. And it was just it was something that we had not experienced before. It was like, you know, both of us are very professional businesswoman. She’s the CEO of her own organization here. I am an executive at this this large automotive company. And we showed up with the mask on, with the mask of professionalism and titles and all those things. And it fell off. And we were able to truly see each other and connect. And we maintain that connection.

Speaker3: [00:02:48] We could not we could not grow it because of the potential business that the impending business. So what we decided was we will just, you know, stay in contact. But once this is all over, we’ll get together again. And within a year I decided to retire from Porsche and she found out about it from that colleague that introduced us and reached out to me and said, congratulations, and I would love to celebrate you. I’ve been an entrepreneur now for 20 years and I celebrate you leaving corporate America and entering the arena of entrepreneurism. And I want to avail myself to you and whatever you need in this journey, I’d like to help you. And it was refreshing. It was just like, wow, how, how beautiful is that? And so I went to her house and she made me an amazing breakfast. Everything was made from scratch. So listen, you’ll have to get one of these. Breakfast is one day she had fresh, fresh corn in the eggs and it was just like, wow. And what turned out as a celebration, breakfast lasted 8 hours. And from that day forward, we were in business with one another.

Stone Payton: [00:04:05] Way to go, Doc. What a heart of service.

Speaker 4: [00:04:08] That I tell people all the time. It’s the best breakfast I’ve ever made, and the return on that investment just keeps on coming. So I am so glad that I didn’t order in.

Speaker3: [00:04:23] And you know what, Stone? What we realized over that eight hour breakfast where we had similar we had similar qualities and they became our pillars, service, humility and excellence, which is she right? She has humility and excellence. And I was focused and leaving corporate America and starting my own business. I was focused on the word illumination, shining my light, and she was focused on the word collectivism. And so we realized when we came together, collectivism plus compassion coming together to shine our lights is brilliant. It’s just brilliant. And we said Other women need this. Yeah, right. We are all, every day showing up in corporate America or in business and our own businesses. And we are the ones that are taking care of everybody else. We’re high achievers, but we cannot achieve our way to happy. And we also need a circle. We need a community to help us to get where to our true north, where we’re being called in life. We need this community. We need the opportunity and the safe space to be able to say, I need help to be able to say, how, how did you do this? And Can you help me and can I and people to celebrate us along this journey? And that is the basis of what we’ve put together.

Speaker 4: [00:05:50] Absolutely.

Stone Payton: [00:05:51] I am so glad that I asked what a what a marvelous story. So I think you’ve touched on many of the key aspects. But I’ll ask you, when you’re asked in the elevator or in a brief conversation, how would you describe your mission and purpose, like boiling it down to what you’re really trying to do to for folks?

Speaker 4: [00:06:11] Sure. We help women unbind and unleash their unlimited potential and business and relationships. So you know we recognize the happy really comes from experiencing purpose being. Able to feel fulfilled in what you’re doing in your relationships and how your relationships are showing up and your business promise. Right? Whether you decide to be an entrepreneur. To move up the ladder, whatever that looks like for you when you feel like you are moving in purpose and on purpose, and what’s happening personally and professionally complement one another. That is the sweet spot.

Speaker3: [00:06:58] We call it the.

Speaker 4: [00:06:58] Yummy, the.

Speaker3: [00:07:00] Ultimate, most.

Speaker 4: [00:07:01] Meaningful.

Speaker3: [00:07:02] Yes.

Stone Payton: [00:07:06] I love it. So let’s talk about the mechanism, the work, how you’re able to get people from from point A to to point B, is it is it workshops? Is it community yet? If you would speak to that a little bit.

Speaker 4: [00:07:19] It’s a mix, right? We recognized, like Crystal said, when we’re speaking of illumination and collectivism, when we come together, we shine a light that gives a path to other women that are seeking to move in the same direction of purpose. So community for us is really a big deal. The other side of it is our our yummy method, which really looks at mindset and being liberated in that mindset and then being able to move forward with action that is powerful and meaningful and then being able to experience acceleration as a result of that. Because when you’re able to support a woman in her dreams, in her passion, in her purpose, and she moves with that liberated mindset and she’s in a space of being open and free to not only learn, but recognize that her ceiling often is created by limiting beliefs. Then she’s able to take action and to leap in ways that really show her, Oh my goodness, my wings do work. And then in community you see that acceleration because you find other women that are willing to be a resource, other women that are willing to share how they did it. And what are some mistakes that you don’t have to make. And before you know it, she really recognizes, Oh, I’m not falling, I’m leaping. And there’s something to that that’s quite magical. When you talk about women working together to help each other soar and to help each other move towards the results that are going to be most meaningful to others.

Stone Payton: [00:09:14] So you’re going to hear that again sometime, and I’ll try to remember to credit you. I’m not falling. I’m leaping. That’s a.

Speaker 4: [00:09:21] Yes yes, isn’t it? Isn’t it something how we are so quick to put different words. Yeah. Into the same meaning. And when we separate them and we really look at what they are we recognize, wow, I’ve been afraid of falling. And that shouldn’t be my focus because what I’m really seeking to do is to leap. And that is it makes all the difference in the world when you shift your mindset.

Stone Payton: [00:09:53] So in your work, when you find that that women have are beginning to make that transition and they find themselves leaping and not falling in there and they’re enjoying some success. Do you find that even those who are enjoying some degree of success sometimes have a challenge? And when I say this, I mean maybe more so than than a man in balancing the, you know, that success with other aspects of their lives like relationships or family. Is it magnified for women? And if so, I got to ask why if you know.

Speaker3: [00:10:31] Absolutely. Stone So, you know, we call that the Tara barrier, right? And a lot of times sabotage will show up even when you’re seeing success will begin to sabotage ourselves or will allow others who we are in relationship with, to sabotage us based on their own limiting beliefs and fears and doubts. Right. And you have to push through that Tara barrier. But that Tara barrier also requires requires a sacrifice. And for women, sometimes that’s really, really difficult. It’s difficult for anybody to make that sacrifice, to push through the terror barrier, to create a new baseline for yourself, to create change and success. But for for the women that we serve, they are typically the ones that are taking care of everyone else. They are taking care of their family. They’re pouring out into their children, their husband, their community, their church, their nonprofits, you know, their job. They are pouring out into everyone else, but their cup is empty and they don’t have anybody that pours into them. So when they start to take this leap and push through the terror barrier, they start to experience a little guilt and they start to sometimes feel selfish because now the focus has to be on you and you have to take care of you. You’ve got to seek out sources that will pour into your cup, into your vessel, so that you can begin to serve from your overflow and not from an empty cup. Because when we serve from an empty cup, everybody else is happy, everybody else is feeling good. But we’re resentful. We’re overwhelmed. We’re tired. Tired in exhausted. And when we sit down and think about what it is that I need to do, what is my purpose? We fall asleep because we’re so tired. So it is a challenge because as the high achieving woman, the woman that’s doing everything else, we begin to see over time that we cannot achieve our way to happy.

Stone Payton: [00:12:43] This must be and I don’t mean to suggest for one moment that that your work doesn’t have its own set of challenges. I’m sure it does. But this must be incredibly rewarding work.

Speaker 4: [00:12:55] It really is. It really is. Because, you know, we recognize that we are shifting the paradigm. Right. When you think about women supporting women, that’s not work for us. That doesn’t feel like work for us. We recognize that we are the support system that we’ve been looking for. And when we have a paradigm that we are just the support system, that becomes a challenge. Because then if you think you’re always the support system, that means when it’s time for you to get support, you may not even know what that looks like.

Speaker3: [00:13:38] You haven’t had any maintenance. Right. Right.

Speaker 4: [00:13:41] So so what we say is, you know, there really is nothing else that is living right. And even some of the inanimate objects, like our cars that do well optimally without some level of support and maintenance. Well, guess what? Neither do we as human beings. So when you add to that that we really are aligned with purpose and we understand how we’re supposed to serve and we understand what our gifts and our talents are and how to utilize them. It makes sense that we would need support in those roles and in moving forward to try to help those that we’re supposed to serve our clients, our customers, our families. But it is a shift because often that is what brings about the guilt. Oh, I’m not supposed to need help. You’re not. Everybody else needs help. Right. I’m not supposed to have other people that are bringing their talents and their gifts to the conversation. So I don’t have to do it all. Really? That’s how other people are doing it. And it’s now in this shift of really supporting, giving ourselves permission to recognize that’s how other leaders are made. That’s how other talents get to come to the table. That’s how community is built. That’s how teamwork makes the dream work, right? So it’s not going into that space of guilt and I should be able to do it all myself. And I’m the smartest person in the room and all of that stuff that really just agitates you and makes you lonely. When it’s all said and done, it’s it’s opening up and saying, Hey, we can go farther together.

Speaker3: [00:15:35] And it’s in this process of this yummy process of liberation, activation and acceleration that we teach women that we learn. Before that process, women come to us and they feel bound, bound by other people’s needs and expectations, sometimes bound by the cage that they’ve built for themselves. It may even be a golden, beautiful cage with.

Speaker 4: [00:16:00] A.

Speaker3: [00:16:00] Swing swing beating them every two weeks. It’s a beautiful cage, but it’s a cage nonetheless. And every time they try and spread their wings, they bump up against the size of the cage. And so we usher them, usher them through this process of freedom, through liberation, activation and acceleration. And what we found is free women, free free women. So we are free women that are freeing other women. And that’s not a job. It’s somewhat of a ministry. It’s joy. And just to see them when they come in in that cage, to see them with their wings spread wide open and really soaring, it’s an unimaginable joy.

Speaker 4: [00:16:47] Yeah.

Stone Payton: [00:16:47] So did either of you, I suspect. Perhaps both of you. Did you have the benefit of a mentor or mentors at some point in your career that at least, you know, began to spark the ember of some of this insight and perspective? Or is this more the product of I don’t know, what would you scar tissue you had to give or is a little a little bit of both?

Speaker 4: [00:17:13] Well, you know, it’s it’s interesting because we live by the word. Mentorship, coaching, allyship, sponsorship. We just call them the ships because the value of of all of that in the conversation of. Starting your own business or leveraging your way to your next in the corporate arena or starting your nonprofit. It is just so important that you have other people that are able to share their wealth of knowledge. They’re able to share their resources and their relationships. They’re able to to let you see that some of what you’re going through is normal. Right? Because when we take a leap, sometimes the first thing we really want to know is, am I am I flying? Am I am I flying or am I dropping what’s happening right. And every feeling doesn’t mean that you’re about to crash and burn. And mentors are amazing at letting you know, know you’re feeling the right thing and you’re seeing this at an in an elevated way. And now what would you like to see happen? What’s the vision? What’s your strategy? So, you know, for me, my oldest mentoring relationship is 25 years old. She’s been in my life for 25 years and the relationship has grown and different roles and different nuances, but that mentoring has remained really solid and it’s made sure that I stay healthy, not only as an entrepreneur, but also as a woman.

Speaker3: [00:19:09] And for me. Stone It was a it was a lot of scar tissue that led me to seek out sponsors and mentors. I was raised by two very hard working salt of the earth, beautiful parents. But my mom, she’s from Greenville, Alabama. She grew up in a segregated town. She marched with Martin Luther King. She had a really hard life. My dad grew up in Beaumont, Texas, sharecropper’s farm. You know, he was a truck driver. She worked in a manufacturing facility. I was the first generation college student. And what they taught me was you’ve got to work twice as hard to get half right. And you go to work. You keep work, work and personal. Personal. You achieve every KPI that they give you, you exceed expectations and you will naturally move up. And it really does not work like that. And it was after eight years of trying to prove myself and work harder than everybody else while staying, you know, in this bubble of I’ve got to, you know, I’ve got to prove myself and I can’t I can’t connect with other people because I don’t need them to know my business. And and work is work and personal is personal. Right. And it was after eight years of that that I was like, I have got to do something different. This is not working. I’m watching other people get promoted.

Speaker3: [00:20:34] And yet every year I get this great performance review and a 3% increase. But nobody’s talking to me about future and growth and moving into a leadership position. And I had a conversation with my director and he said to me, You know what? You are the hardest worker, but that’s all you’re ever going to be until you learn the network. And he said, hard workers work, hard, networkers move up and, you know, you don’t make the necessary connections to navigate through the corporate culture and move up in the organization. People hire and fire and promote and demote based on relationships. And that’s like what I do ever told me that. And I was upset. But when I sat back and I looked at it and I realized, you know what, this is game changing now. I’m looking at people who are being promoted and I see that they are building networking relationships and they’re they’re going out with people on the weekends and out for drinks, and they’re not there working as hard as I am, but they have balance. And so I decided I was going to do things differently. And then I started to build connections and sponsors and mentors, and it was game changing for me. And I was able to move from that first generation college student to becoming an executive.

Stone Payton: [00:22:02] The demand for your work must be incredible. Certainly the need for it is. And I’m going to ask anyway, because you’re also running a business, you’re running this organization. How does the whole sales and marketing thing work for a for an enterprise like yours? How do you get new members and customers and that kind of thing?

Speaker 4: [00:22:24] It’s it’s exposure, we say exposure and authenticity. Those two things are huge for us because we leave everything on the table. We’re very authentic about our experiences, what we’ve done, what we seek to do, what’s worked, what hasn’t worked, and being authentic about who we are, who’s we are. And where we’ve been has made a huge, huge difference for us and the exposure of of community. The great thing about women is when they experience something that’s positive that works, they share it. So what we’ve been able to do is really understand the woman that we serve, be very clear about her needs, her pain points, the solutions that she’s seeking so that in our efforts marketing and in what we do from an exposure standpoint, we don’t apologize. We speak straight to her.

Speaker3: [00:23:31] Yeah. And the entry point for women into our tribe is in an experience that we’ve curated called Women Unlimited Live, Women Unlimited Live. We do this experience once or twice a month, virtually. It’s a four hour experience where we talk about the process of liberation, activation and acceleration and how you move towards your own personal freedom in business and relationships. And it is a free event. Really? Yeah, it’s free. And women are truly coming and they get a breakthrough in those 4 hours. They do not leave the same. And then they’re given the opportunity to learn more about how they can connect with our tribe and grow with us to the next level. So that’s typically the entry way. And then we also have retreats. So we do a retreat in Aruba. That’s why we’re here now. We just had an amazing retreat where women come here from all over the world and we spend the weekend together transforming, relaxing, connecting with one another. And it is truly a transformative experience because it’s called the Just Be Retreat, and it really is about just being we are all very, very practiced in the doing muscle. We’re the Hulk when you look at our doing muscle, but we’re Pee-Wee Herman and the just being muscle. We don’t know how to just sit down and be.

Speaker3: [00:25:13] So we have curated an experience with this retreat where you don’t even have to think about what to pack. We give you a packing list. All you need to do is get to Aruba, and once you get to us, we take care of you so that when you leave, your cup is full. Women show up here with empty vessels. They’ve been pouring out all over the place, and when they come, we fill their cup and we send them back home with a new charge to do whatever it is that they’ve been purposed to do, to renegotiate some relationships and agreements that that have been causing them harm or not serving them. And they are on fire to to really walk in their purpose. So the Women Unlimited live is the entry point and then we make them an offer to join us at the retreat or just join us in our in our membership, which is the collective. The Sister Diamonds Collective is a membership of women that are all this high achieving woman and have gone through this process with us. And now the acceleration happens. So the collective is where the acceleration takes place because now you’re in a membership, a collective of women who will do for you what you do for everyone else.

Speaker 4: [00:26:37] And the women that we serve. Stone They will do almost anything for someone that they care about.

Speaker3: [00:26:47] They typically set themselves on fire to keep everybody else warm.

Speaker 4: [00:26:53] Pretty much. Pretty much so. You know, the biggest surprise for many of them is, oh, my gosh, other women do this and oh, my gosh, we’re all in this tribe together. So that means if I’m having surgery. I do have someone that is willing to come to my home and bring me a hot meal and just sit with me and recognize it is hard enough for me to just be in recovery mode, but now I don’t have to do it alone. So there are all of these amazing nuances in our community for women that are doing extraordinary innovative things in the world, but now they’re doing it with a higher sense of purpose. They’re doing it recognizing that they don’t have to be on empty or dish out crumbs to others and make it seem like it’s this huge gift. They really are moving from the overflow.

Speaker3: [00:27:53] Yeah. And the beauty or the other beautiful thing about it is when you’re in community with other brilliant women, you’re sexy excuses.

Speaker 4: [00:28:02] Yeah.

Speaker3: [00:28:03] Just don’t fly anymore. So they’re able to see you and like, yeah, that was really cute. Yeah, but it’s an excuse. Yeah. And I need you to come up with something different. I need you to reposition yourself. And oftentimes we don’t have people that see us because our average may seem like other people’s excellence. Yep. So they don’t see us. They think, Oh, you’ve got it all together. You’ve got this great job and this great family and da da da da da. But, you know, inside that you’re not living up to your full potential. And when you give excuses because you’re brilliant, they are brilliant excuses and you get away with it most of the time. Yeah, but in this tribe, you’re called to a higher level of accountability because we see one another because we are one another.

Speaker 4: [00:28:53] Yeah. And it’s not just accountability in what you’re doing, but it really is accountability in who you’re being. Are you wearing the mask? Are you taking care of yourself? Is there self compassion or is there just grind and grit and being able to to see that and hear that from another woman, it helps you recalibrate to be able to say, wow, I’m being a jerk to myself and that’s not okay. Just to go after a contract. I don’t get to beat up on myself the entire time I’m going into this bidding process because. I don’t feel all the way worthy. Right. So there are a lot of things that we often do and don’t even know we’re doing it when we’re doing it alone. That in a collective experience you’re elevating your accelerating. You’re doing all of these amazing things, but you’re not demeaning and damaging yourself in the process because other women are shining a light and letting you know that’s no longer OC as if it was ever okay. But it’s really not okay because now we have each other, we can see each other. We want the best for each other, and that’s what’s most meaningful.

Stone Payton: [00:30:20] I’d love to leave our listeners with a handful of Pro Tips, some things that they could take some immediate action on. Number one, pro tip gang is, you know, reach out to Crystal and Dr. Nicole. That’s my number one pro tip. But maybe a few things prior to doing that. Just something actionable, something for them to begin thinking about or studying or reading or one habit to maybe consider anything along those lines would be terrific.

Speaker3: [00:30:53] We both are published authors. My book is Hard Workers Work Hard and networkers Move Up, and that is for those of us who need to increase and enlarge our territory and our circle of friends and begin connecting with people to create a new narrative for ourselves.

Speaker 4: [00:31:15] And mine is a woman’s true purpose. Live like you matter because it’s really important that we are pouring from a full vessel and a lot of times we are convinced we’re going to fall because of other things that have happened at different points in our lives that have given us a limiting belief. So what a woman’s true purpose gives you the opportunity to do is really look at have you been living like you matter? Yes, we know all of the other things matter, but you are the guarantee. And if you’re not living like that, then you’re really looking around for everything else to be the guarantee because you’re missing the true jewel, which is you. So what we say is, is mind works from the inside and Crystal takes it from the outside and together that gives a full experience for so many women. When they’re able to read our books, they’re like, Wow, I didn’t know that I could have this kind of roadmap. But it makes sense to us because we just want to illuminate the path for other women to be able to do what it is they’ve been called to do.

Speaker3: [00:32:33] And what we know, Stone, is typically we don’t have to convince women that they need our services. It’s something that’s been pulling on them on the inside. And when they hear our voices and they’re hear our messaging that it’s like a confirmation for them, and they say, yes, that’s that’s me. Yes, that’s me. And if you’re hearing this and you’re saying, yes, that’s me, then join us at the next. Woman Unlimited live. Woman Unlimited live. It is an intimate experience. You can join from anywhere in the world and come prepared to turn your camera.

Speaker 4: [00:33:15] On that part.

Speaker3: [00:33:17] Because we don’t allow you to hide even in a virtual.

Speaker 4: [00:33:21] Space. Yeah, because we want to get the benefit of your genius and your presence. And when we’re just looking at a screen with your name, we’re missing out. And Krystal and I are not greedy by any stretch, but we do want what is ours. And that experience of you being on camera and us being on camera gives a connection that you just won’t forget.

Stone Payton: [00:33:49] Okay, before we wrap, let’s make sure that our listeners have immediate and easy access to to all of these resources. Let’s make sure they know where they can get their hands on this reading material, which I think that’s marvelous. Counsel, begin asking yourself some of these questions. Tap into some of these resources, challenge your thinking, expand your horizons. I want to make sure whatever you feel like is appropriate. Let’s let’s get them pointed in the right direction to to attend this free. I can’t believe it’s free. That’s fantastic. This opportunity. So whatever you guys feel like is appropriate websites, emails, whatever. I just want to make sure that that our listeners can can reach out, have a conversation with you guys or someone in the group. So, yeah, lay that on us.

Speaker 4: [00:34:36] Woman Unlimited, live. Woman Unlimited. Live dot com is where you can register to be a part of our women unlimited live experience if you want to reach out to us by email info at Sister Diamonds dot com info at Sister Diamonds dot com and socially.

Speaker3: [00:34:59] We’re at Krystal and Dr. Nicole on Facebook and Instagram or I’m Krystal Carlile and she’s asked Doctor Nicole on all forums. So LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. So but if you come to Woman Unlimited live, we will be there. We’ll meet you there. We show up and you can find out everything that you need to know about joining this tribe of amazing, brilliant women.

Stone Payton: [00:35:30] Well, Crystal, Dr. Nicole, it has been an absolute delight having you on the show this afternoon. You’re doing such important work, and we really appreciate you both. Thank you so much for the work that you’re doing and for taking some time out of your Aruba activities today to visit with us.

Speaker 4: [00:35:50] Thank you so much.

Speaker3: [00:35:51] Thank you, Stone.

Stone Payton: [00:35:53] All right. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Crystal Kalil and Dr. Nicole La Beach and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying we’ll see you next time on women in Business.