Happy Thanksgiving to our Multiemployer Family!

Transcript

Traci Dority-Shanklin: 0:36

Many years ago, I went to hear Iyanla Vanzant speak at Agape Church in Los Angeles. Her speeches theme was telling your story because it will heal you and others. I also heard Bono give an interview where he said he was born with eccentric thoughts. Then recently during a conversation with Segal's President and CEO, David Blumenstein, on The World of Multiemployer Benefit Funds, he said, rather than lead with the catchphrase of passion, he chose to lead with curiosity. While I don't think I have eccentric ideas. I have taken an eccentric path. I can't say I have just one passion, but many things intrigue me and I think we are all telling our story and all here healing each other through our shared experiences. Through my two podcasts, The World of MultiEmployer Benefit Funds, and The Nuclear Families Evangelist, I strive to share two of my curiosities and a piece of my story. I do hope that they help or heal people who listen. These two podcasts are seemingly unrelated, yet I often ask myself what I value most. Two words dominate my thought,"building relationships" and"family." I specifically use the word"building relationships" because build implies time. Have you ever watched the building of a house? A lot of preparation goes into laying the foundation. The exterior frame goes up rather quickly, but there is an agonizing period while the inside home details are built. When you come from or have a blended family, you learn that the foundation is critical for stability and the framing can happen very fast when two people fall in love for the second time. But the intricate building of relationships takes time. I am the mother of two adopted children and the stepmother to two stepchildren. I am also a stepdaughter, a half sister, and a step sister in a nuclear families where there have been multiple divorces resulting in multiple blended families. So I know a little something about this process. In my career working with labor unions and multi-employer benefit plans, I have been using my relationship building for over two decades. Recently, I was reminded of the deeper meaning of my professional relationship building when I connected it to something more profound. My family. I was attending an event hosted by the Loveall Foundation, an organization dedicated to providing resources to deserving children who desperately need help and can't get it elsewhere. As I watched the video depicting this organization's enormous impact on the lives of so many children across the globe, a personal photo filled the screen. It was the orphanage in Haiti where my daughter spent her first few months of life. I will never forget the generosity of the love all foundation donating on my behalf to the orphanage. At that moment, I connected to how personal my career is. First. Seeing this photo reminded me of my daughter's unique story. Then the memories of our journey to become a family filled me. Like most painful memories that have a happy ending, we quickly forget the trauma of those moments in seconds. It all flashed through me and I was enormously grateful. Grateful of course to have my daughter in my life and thriving but grateful for something bigger. Grateful for my multiemployer extended family. I can't begin to tell you how many angels we had helping in our arduous process to complete our Haitian adoption. But I can tell you that everyone who helped us is someone I know or worked with in the multi-employer business. My multi-employer family helped me expand my already Nuclear families to my motherhood path. I feel blessed to share my stories and bring the thoughts and perspectives of experts to many topics on this Thanksgiving day. I wanna thank everyone who has listened or will listen in the future to either The World of Multiemployer Benefit Funds or the Nuclear Families Evangelist. If you want to hear stories and information that can help better your life, please listen and subscribe to one of the podcasts. Again, that's The World of Multiemployer Benefit Funds or the Nuclear Families Evangelists. Anyway, I hope you have a blessed holiday and happy Thanksgiving.

Narrator: 6:16

Sisu Partners, LLC hosts The World of Multiemployer Benefit Funds podcast, which contains content and discussions that have been prepared for informational and educational purposes only. No listeners should assume that any discussion on this podcast serves as the receipt of, or substitute for personalized advice from an investment professional. As the information provided on the podcast is not intended to be investment legal or tax advice. The company is not an SEC registered investment advisor and does not solicit clients or raise capital for money managers. Sisu Partners offer securities through XT Capital Partners, LLC.