Now how am I supposed to go after that?  IÕm really speechless at the moment.  After that I am going to 
try to be a little bit of comic relief.  So, bear with me, I might put on some inside jokes every now and 
again.  So, to start, to let you go where I am going to go with this, out of everything I am going to say, 
just take this:  The Executive Mentor Program is going to be exactly what you choose for it to be.  ItÕs a 
two way street, youÕre going to make it exactly how you need it to be.  I learn through stories.  So I am 
going to go through a summarized story format with this.  We first met in some pretty weird 
circumstances.  We couldnÕt really meet in person because of covid because it was still really strong.  It 
started with a phone call with me in my car parked at the casino beach parking lot. It was probably like 
thirty minutes to an hour, but I learned a lot about Jay just from that call alone.  We connected through 
our commonality of acting, we have previous background of acting.  He was Uncle Sam at Seville Quarter 
and then I was the Grinch for Winterfest.  [in Grinch voice] I donÕt really know how to get along, but he 
has been a pain in my backside since day 1!  Thank you, thank you.  But honestly, heÕs just been 
awesome! Because of me wanting to learn through stories I vicariously live through the people.  So, how 
I wanted to learn was by actually talking to him and learning his past.  And like he said, he opened up to 
me about his failures and his successes which is hard for anybody to do.  We first started to go grab 
coffee.  I never really had anything specific that I wanted to learn, I just asked Jay what he wanted to tell 
me.  He told me stories about his life; I told him stories about my life. About how he started his own 
business when he was younger and then he became the CMSCO for Hixardt Technologies.  Which, if 
youÕre wondering what a CMSCO is, I am wondering that too because it is a made-up title.  But he is a 
CMO at Hixardt Technologies and thatÕs what he focuses in on there.  But, IÕve learned a lot from Jay 
from this experience. But, itÕs a two way street, too.  So I canÕt speak to everything that Jay has learned, 
but he learned that at Polonza Bistro, the painting that is there isnÕt really a painting, itÕs a tv screen.  ItÕs 
a tv screen showing a painting and I knew that because the light bouncing off.  And I learned from Jay 
that I am not really setting myself up as a marketer when I only had one social media account at the 
time.  So,  I was a digital hermit.  IÕm now on almost everything.  Almost.  ThatÕs really what this 
experience has meant to me, is learning, and living the story that you want to live in.  Going off of the 
opportunity he gave me, I was looking for an internship whilst in this process also.  I was actively looking 
and there really wasnÕt a whole pf awesome marketing internships that I was really driving to go 
towards.  And then at Polonza Bistro, he introduced me to the CEO of Idea Group and they were really 
cool people.  At the time, I didnÕt really think anything was going to come of it.  Afterwards, maybe a 
week after that meeting, Dr. Hartnett put on her LinkedIn, which I wouldnÕt have had unless the two of 
you got me on it, I saw that there was a Handshake application for the internship.  It was the first time 
they ever did it.  So, I said, I believe in signs, I believe everything happens for a reason, so why not try it?  
I filled in the application and went through the interview process and now IÕm an intern there.  And IÕve 
been loving it ever since.  So, the main thing to take away from the Executive Mentor Program is that it 
is going to be exactly the way you set it up to be.  If you want everything and more from the experience, 
then youÕve got to put it in.  And youÕre hoping that your mentor will do the same.  And he did for me.  
And I want to thank you for that.