The Evolution of Legacy Media with Nicole Pence Becker

I want to create a culture that Embraces the working mom go do stuff that's worth talking about and if you live a life that's worth talking about then people will talk about for you we're the group that's going to say this is what we did this is what we created value for our client who were the top three interviews on your highlight reel from South bin to Evansville and everywhere in between this is get in the show focused on the hooer state and the incredible stories happening here today I'm Nate spangle founder of get Indiana and I will be your host for today's conversation JC har company is your answer to to navigating the apartment rental Journey with almost 50 years of creating enjoyable living experiences in Indiana you'll be sure to find your new home sweet home you're going to find 30 communities in the best areas Indiana has to offer Hamilton County downtown Indie Bloomington just to name a few along with five brand new luxury communities visit HJC heart.

com Nate to find their list of locations and reach out to one of their many dedicated leasing agents for a personalized tour tell them Nate sent you and they're they're going to take good care of you looking for a career in Property Management you'll also find a list of open positions on their website along with all the reasons why jcr is named one of Indiana's best places to work want to sneak peek into Life as a JC har resident or associate be sure to check them out on Instagram at home is JC har or visit HJC har. com Nate one more time home is JC Hart today I'm joined by Nicole Pence Becker a proud hooer born and raised in Columbus Indiana with deep roots in storytelling and Community impact Nicole's a seasoned journalist with more than 15 years of experience she's earned four Emmy Awards and now leads Pence Media Group a caramel based PR and marketing consultancy known for its innovative approach balancing her role as a business owner with being a mom to four young boys Nicole embodies the spirit of Indiana through her dedication to family philanthropy and helping others tell their stories today we're going to be talking about growing a career in traditional media and the evolution we're seeing uh with with that traditional media then transitioning to business owner and growing Pence Media Group and finally we're going to wrap it up with family life around indie and a few of Nicole's recommendations welcome to get in I love it Nate thank you so much and and congratulations on your incredible success it's really been fun to watch you grow and watch the Indiana Community kind of love you back it's been awesome they're really really good to me and we're just getting started so it's be it's going to be fun I can feel it um well let's talk let's take it back so the first connection point that we have is depal University Tigers yeah which I which I love and that kind of slingshotted you into a career in traditional media so tell me about where you got that first job after depa yeah absolutely so when I went to depa I went there because of the D3 opportunity so I was a cross country runner in high school and I wanted to run but I didn't really want to run run you know what I mean oh yeah like I wasn't going D1 like my sister went to Vanderbilt and her whole life was running cross country I wanted to go D3 because I loved how depa could say you could do radio you could do TV you could do the sorority thing you could do whatever and it wasn't you know as you know time con did you know you wanted to be on like when did you know you wanted to be on TV I knew I wanted to be on TV since I was in I think 8th grade is when I started to tell my parents I wanted to be a CNN espanol news anchor wait oh yeah fun fact so I actually have my my degree at depa is Spanish and then uh Communications and I always kind of said I want to go and I want to be a television news anchor on CNN espanol it had just launched when I was in early high school years I know isn't that interesting wait so you're in Columbus Indiana do did you see did you go to North or east I went to North okay Columbus North go yes that's it come on that's it my friend You Got It Go Bulldog so you're an eighth grader at Columbus North and you say I want to be an anchor on CNN espanol see and people looked at you probably like you had an extra head grown outside neck yeah they did I mean they did but my mom is a first generation Italian immigrant so she spoke all Italian we didn't have Italian as an opportunity at Columbus North High School which you know lots of reasons there I don't even know if they had French so I got really involved in Spanish and loved it um and fun story cuz I know you're going to love this just as somebody who just loves Community I didn't have an opportunity at Columbus North at the time they didn't have a broadcast program they didn't have anything that you could kind of like show that you were a good Storyteller they had a newspaper but it was kind of like a newsletter that went out once a month so I went up to the principal and said I want to start this thing called the stall Street Journal and he was like okay what and I was like I want to write like just a little newsletter I want to print it and I want to be here early in the morning when I'm at Cross Country Practice and I want to tape it up in the Stalls of the bathrooms and see if people read it and get to know what's going on what's cool what's happening in the clubs what's happening and just around campus and half of them Nate ended up on the floor throughout the week but it was my way of kind of being a little journalist at Columbus North High School and I just was super proud of it so that was my first for into journalism that is an incredible start what year did you like of your high school ji year so did you do it for two years did it for two years and then I read the announcements and that's how I thought I was a news anchor because I read the announcements and I wrote the stall stre JN that was such a coveted job like if you got to be the student to read the announcements it's like she it she has made it it was and I do remember this is I don't know how I'm transitioning here but you're just kind of pulling things out um I remember then when 911 happened my senior year and I was reading announcements during 911 CU they were in the 9:00 hour and the assistant uh principal came in and was like hey Nicole can you pause so I paused and then I remember that whole experience because I was actually in the main office when that happened and so I was seeing the television you know before you know kind of and then we all got LED out of school and I I will never forget that moment yeah so anyways I don't know how I got there but that was my journalistic debut scho the the stall Street Journal I love it I mean I mean half of marketing just the name right and you have it there like people are going to be a little bit interested on that and here's the thing is the first like couple ones people thought oh gosh that you know Pence girl is being annoying and printing this thing and like you know wants everybody to read it and then after a while they were like hey I'm in theater or I'm in band or I'm in Key Club or hey the wrestling team won this over the weekend can you put it in and I got really proud that people were seeking out that opportunity to share information at first they're all like judging and making and then after you like persevere through that then they're like oh wait will you put my thing in there like it's the same thing with I've seen with social media with a lot of stuff it's like you put out one podcast and they're like oh great someone starting another podcast again then you put out 50 podcasts and they're like oh like this is a real thing like I want to be a guest and I want I've been here I've been doing this but thanks for just now noticing exactly you have to be a lot of that like early entrepreneurship type stuff is a lot of perseverance which I love I think that's so cool starting in e8th grade and then continuing like was the focus when did you sh shift from hey I want to be on cnns bolu I just want to be in the field or or what was that I think it was more like that was the only option so then I went to depa and depa had a great television program but not like Ball State not like IU you know we didn't even have a live newscast when I started at depa and so then the source started eventually where it was once a week a live newscast and I was the anchor of it but I actually learned all my chops for broadcast in radio so the most fun I was the news director of the radio station I was the general manager of the radio sound alternative yes right I love it I think that everyone so uh Lexi mayor's here as well uh and I think all three of us probably have some experience with d3tv with WG like here we go deot this is your case study for media coming out of Green Castle baby traditional and non-traditional right so I know we're going to get into that so then I went and got really involved at the radio station and I loved it I love just storytelling I love interviewing people I love kind of just pulling out nuggets going different places with the conversation and from there though Dr Jeff McCall got to give him a shout out at the Paw still I talked to him to this day and he said I love that you love radio but you are meant to be in broadcast you are meant to be on television and you have all those chops you need to get over to the TV station do a little bit more there and so I worked with Larry abbid made my tape and the reality was why I didn't necessarily go to CNN espanol is because they didn't take you like that so I thought if I worked my way up as a local journalist in Market to Market to Market I could then eventually get to CNN espanol now it transitioned and then I realized okay I don't necessarily want to go fully into CNN espanol um and I just wanted to keep growing as a broadcast journalist so okay I love Larry he uh he was awesome great mentor for me when I was coming through there and I hosted I think it was this would have been 2018 so Sports gambling wasn't legal yet in Indiana and I hosted a sports gambling show he was like well as long as you don't say you're betting on it then you're allowed to host this so I had read between the lines you're just talking about gambling yeah we're just talking about boards with the guys it was but it was so fun we had switched to like a YouTube channel at that point uh and it it was so much fun I I learned so much and it's crazy to see the stuff that we learned in an extra Club at depa kind of I guess you call like organization Club whatever you want to say now like in real career life it's like probably the most applicable like directly applicable thing that I had from my time in depal which is awesome which I love that so so I know a big thing with traditional media is you kind of have to like raise through the ranks like you start like Market to 100 or whatever and then you try to get to Market 170 and it's almost like slowly crawling up that ladder so where was your first Station at Fort Wayne Indiana so and I love the fort so you know from Columbus Indiana I kind of just hung down and at the time you know I feel like Columbus was like Southern Indiana you know now they're trying to call it Central Indiana and trying to pull it up a little bit closer to Indie but at the time it was you know really Southern Indiana there was two stop lights from my house to downtown to Columbus North High School now Columbus is incredible and I hope we get to talk about Columbus and its kind of transformation that I've even seen you know from when the time that I was younger but my first television market was Fort Wayne Market I think at the time was like 125 and I was really proud that I got into top 15 and I that's a really good starting spot it was a great starting spot because they decided this was the first television station in Indiana that was going to uh connect and be the NBC and ABC Under One Roof and it was Indiana's news center and still Indiana's news center today in Fort Wayne and we were the first me and another reporter were the first reporter hires and it was the best first job I could ever have because I knew who's your people I knew Indiana I didn't know Fort Wayne I'd never been there but I kind of you know I felt comfortable there was like a familiarity to it but it was also the general assignment of the world because politics is big in Fort Wayne Sports you know you have some of those you know leagues up there yeah you have the what at the time it would have been the Wizards that switch the tin caps and then you have the the Mad the Comets com like there's comets was big that was they love so I'm from I'm from like just west of Warsaw originally so we would drive over to Fort Wayne to go to comments games and watch like you know some Amateur Hockey or I guess professional hockey players professional hockey players like you know punch each other and I didn't know much about hockey so in general like I had to learn a little bit so we covered Sports there we covered politics we covered General assignment we did a lot of Education uh the city government was really growing at that time so it was the best first Market I could have ever asked for and I loved the city I really enjoyed it yeah I thought it was fun I be like what year was this 2006 2006 and for8 I feel like the last maybe 15 20 years of Fort Wayne they've been up and the right really really investing I know Sweetwater I've had the the CEO of Sweetwater on and uh they just like have like the way that they're able to attract people from Nashville and Los Angeles to go to Fort Wayne and live like they've definitely taken a a Hands-On approach to helping make that place a great place to live and don't forget Vera Bradley so I know you talked with Lindsay about that on your last podcast and Vera Bradley they were they they were awesome I did so many stories with the ladies from Vera Bradley I did so many stories with Sweetwater all these huge companies that were saying we're not leaving we're investing in Fort Wayne and I just I really enjoyed it it was hard it was my first you know assignment and I just was in every sort of opportunity and then I'd fill an anchor but i' mostly be a reporter I mean it was fun you know the hours were wild you know I loved it and you're it's like you're getting started like you got to say yes to everything and cover everything and learn you learn what you really like to do you learn what you don't like to do but you got to do it all how long uh how long were you up in for Wayne I was there for two years and so that's kind of what it is as a general assignment reporter so you're in your Market that first market for two years and then you go out and throw your tape out and then I got the opportunity to go down to Lexington Kentucky which would be market like you're Market 65 so I took a big jump and I was like really excited and really proud and got to work at the NBC station there and for for people that don't know like when we talk about Market 120 Market 60 it's based on viewership in the the Metro so Indi Indianapolis like the Central Indiana Market 25 yeah Market 25 right so you can kind a stair step like I know one of my buddies started in terot which was Mark at like 160 something and then like has just been jumping and you kind of climb up this ladder based on viewership for your station so Market from Market 120 to start is one really good then you go to market 65 65 I think okay so you're two years out of college you're in Market 65 what are you doing there I'm General assignment reporter to start and then I just was in the right place at the right time and just kind of piggyback on what a phrase you just used and I was working hard and I was saying yes and so the main morning anchor who had been the morning anchor there for 12 years had a baby and decided the exact same time I was the morning show reporter that she didn't want to return that she wanted to stay home for a while and shift up to a different she did not want to return to the morning show she wanted to shift and have a less reduced schedule and go up to the noon show and she left the coveted number one morning show in in Lexington Kentucky I was like I want my name in the Hat and so there were a couple other people that put their name in the Hat and I got the opportunity so what do you think helped you get that opportunity because I always said yes you know I'm the daughter of a marine and my dad always said you know you know yester I may I have another kind of that mentality from the Marine Corps and that's what it was for me and and I was good what I did but it was also like I was working hard I was saying yes and I was always curious so whether the story was about politics or education or uh you know business I was curious about it enough so then I made I think a great story out of it because I asked enough questions so the viewer felt like we all learned together and that was always fun that is like oh my gosh in media being curious and you can't really I don't know if necessarily you can completely teach that but I I've just learned so much from City Gear just like probing just a little bit deeper of like huh interesting like and just like if you have a Natural Curiosity and can talk a little bit about a lot of things you can do super super well in any sort of media which I love curiosity also implies that you are a good listener and I think that's something in this world today we're not quite all focused on right like if you're truly curious you're also going to listen to hear other people's opinions and whether they're different than yours and you agree with them or not you're still curious enough and you take it in to hear it and I think that's something you know the world isn't doing as well today but in Lexington man that was kind of the best opportunity that had landed in my lap I mean okay so take me back you're sitting at the desk morning first morning like how are you feeling how does the first show go oh I'm like sweating I'm certain of it and I was so overwhelmed because everybody around me had been a veteran anchor but what was fun about that show that morning show in Lexington WLEX TV is not only was it the number one and we grew it every single year is it was me and three guys and so it was just a fun show there was a lot of light-heartedness and I brought in and along with our co-anchor a different energy like at the time news was very rigid and kind of do this and talk about this and I was very like and use your newscaster voice and use your newscaster voice and everybody needs to know that it's snowing right but it I really wanted it to be more Community Focus like what are people talking about what's happening what's a new uh business that's opening let's showcase it so I started to do really Community initiatives um I started something that I ended up bringing up here to Indianapolis Nicole in your neighborhood and these were just focus segments and features on like hey somebody open a bar I'm curious about it I'm sure my friends are too and I brought that perspective and so did our whole team and our producing team and it just was fun and NBC station and being in Lexington have you ever been to Lexington Kentucky I have not been to please put it on your list I tell people if I didn't live here home in Indiana I would move to Lexington tomorrow really it is so cool there's just like pump and Circumstance and you know you've got the UK basketball and SEC and football and then you've got you know the Regal you know horse country and you know there's a lot of money in Lexington it's bourbon country it's Cole country it's just it's interesting there's a lot of Dynamics down there it does seem very proper like you know like everything around it's so funny cuz when I think of Kentucky proper is probably not the first thing I think but when I think of the Derby and all that stuff comp in circumstance very uh and now and in Derby's in Louisville and so we were the NBC station so I got to do all the um anchoring from Derby on Oaks day oh huge hats they always do and the mint julips mint julips big hats fabulous outfits I still have all of my hats and bring them out on Kentucky Derby but in Lexington they have a racetrack called keenland yeah and that one is to be honest better it's cleaner it's brighter it's gorgeous hot take um um it's gorgeous it's fun it's got this energy people get dressed up Kean races in April and October every single year so Nate put it on your list of things to do if I ever decide to leave state lines to go out and explore somewhere I know I love it I I it's on the list Kean and actually going to the derby I think that would just be a really fun experience so I got to do all of you know all the anchoring for the NBC station I would prep you know it took a lot of work to prep know the jockey know the trainer know the horse uh know the OWN ERS you know you had to be ready to come but I think that people think it's easy to just like get on and like you maybe you read off of teleprompter and stuff the prep work that goes into being a good host of anything that that's where you really win like if you want to be a great interviewer great podcast host great anything great just have great conversations it's like go in there knowing enough to like have a an intelligent conversation and ask the right questions it's all about preparations so whether it was UK final four New Orleans we won that year Anthony Davis our point guard so that was pretty good I'm down there those days were 15 hour days I did 17 live shots in every single day and I was field anchoring all of our coverage and the cats won what did I need to do oh I had to learn basketball I'm like I mean yeah I'm from you know is Columbus Indiana right next to IU that's where I got my Master's Degree I know a thing or two about basketball but not the particulars I had to learn them real quick because the final four in UK oh yeah I know you want to sound like you at least sound like you know what you're talking about I needed to know know what I was talking about and then you get excited about and I I can just sense the personality like it's very like I see like similar to me where whatever the thing is I can get really excited you like talk take me to Derby weekend or final four basketball or the symphony and I'm going to get really into symphony for like a week and just be like I love this that's that Curiosity right that you obviously have having created this awesome platform that I love it okay so how long were you the anchor of the morning show I was there for 5 years so I loved Lexi and then I got called up to be the anchor up here in my home City in my home state WTHR brought me up to be the weekend anchor and then I officially moved over to Fox 59 to launch the 11:00 show called newspoint and so I was the solo anchor developed that show executive produced that show alongside the executive producer the ticker that's still a part of that 11: PM show on Fox 59 that was our idea so that show was really kind of my most proud 11 p.

m. or 11: a. m. 11 p. m. oh this is late night and like they did all these you know when I when I so when I gored the that show at on Fox 59 it was called you know Fox 59 newspoint at 11 with Nicole Pence and I was a solo anchor and carried the show and everything was very serious because I was 11: p.

m and you know crime and everything and I liked it but I do love morning shows better because I can show my personality and then I eventually went and anchored the morning show on CBS 4 because Fox 59 Tribune took the CBS affiliate from Wish TV and so we took uh cbs4 in House at Fox 59 and I went down to the morning with my brand to Anchor The Morning Show and then Debbie Knox anchored the evening show and I wanted mornings back again because it was a little bit more aligned with my personality yeah like you don't have to be so like serious like me luging you know yeah but one some Emmy on newspoint one some emmies on that I wanted to get into this cuz Emmy are this is something I've recently learned about because I think when people think oh I want an Emmy there's like the national EMS but then there's also like Regional Emmys too so and that's a big milestone for a journalist right to win four of them is incredible so take me through the process of how winning an Emmy goes an Emmy is decided not only by your peers as a part of the board of Emmys but there's groups of so the Emmys are part of the National Organization so when you win an Emmy I mean I wouldn't say it's equivalent is like when Susan sarand and wins and Emmy for the daytime soaps but kind of because you're in your you're judged in your own zone right you wouldn't maybe put you know the Mad Ants up against the Pacers yeah it's like you're not competing against uh The Today Show exactly right so they just it's about your dma it's about your viewership and so here in Indie we go in What's called the Great Lakes region and we compete against people in this area and I you know have been honored to be nominated for I think eight or nine EMS um and have won four and then recently with Pence Media Group we were nominated for another Emmy for a production that we did for client I also anchored and hosted National FFA oh heck yeah I love so that's kind of cool cuz just full full circle you know having done and been an Emmy award-winning journalist and then I know we're going to get into that pivoting and then starting this company and then still bringing it back to broadcast somehow that's been kind of cool yeah that's super cool and I think that yeah learning about the Emmys is just super interesting to me about like how this is a big milestone and can and can help you it's say you're in Market 60 and you win an Emy and you can get that J up to you know 25 or whatever right because it's affirming right it's affirming from your peers and from from you know the the the Emmy board saying this person knows how to tell a good story and knows how to be organized so I won them in won a couple miamis for you know Morning Show uh anchoring breaking news uh you know I love breaking news because you know you got to you got to really carry a lot and think through and ask questions um I want an Emmy for my coverage for David Letterman uh his retirement so I went out to New York and did all of our field anchoring for that and and did some awesome produ stories beforehand and that was really cool that's super cool well it's clear that you are ambitious which I love and I think in traditional broadcast right if you want to be ambitious you have to continue to climb up markets so you are in Indianapolis which is Market 25 and the clear next upep I think you're already hosed a Morning Show in Indie you're winning emys like the next upep for an ambitious person would be Chicago New York la like I don't like one of those top 10 markets right and was that was that appealing and and obviously we end up making a different choice to kind of pivot out of there into something different but like were you considering a move to a bigger Market well short answer no because I love Indiana and I love my family and I've always put my family first so I did not want to uproot my family leave my extended family and go chase those dreams and so after a while you just you know you might have aspirations I did in eth grade to be on cnna espanol in Washington DC and then you have reality and you realize what is the balance what do I want what do I value more and in my life I've always valued my personal life and my family more than my professional career and I'll say too with broadcast it's one of those rare areas like sports it's zero sum it's only one morning anchor on that television show there's only one evening anchor so in Indianapolis right now there's five female morning anchors and there's five female evening anchors it's so zero some right so if you don't you know it's not like a PR Company I can own a PR Company and soaking a thousand people in a 25m radius right now television like sports there's only one quarterback there's only one anchor and so because it's so zero some and a little Cutthroat as they say it's not as collaborative as maybe I would have wanted it to be um because I'm such like a hype girl team player and so that's kind of I think part of the reason I've developed this company because I really was looking for a little bit more collaborative well so take me to that to the moment where you you decide to step away and go pursue something besides traditional broadcast it's called having too many children in a short amount of time yeah this was a a big mstone that I wanted to talk about so three kids in 13 months that's right that will that'll do it that so I know you don't have any kids yet but doing that math is is a little wonky so I uh was pregnant with the twins when I was the morning anchor on cbs4 I came back uh when they were 8 weeks old at 2:30 in the morning I got up left the house you know uh anchored the show didn't get home till about 1:00 tried to take a nap then momed until about 8:00 p.

m. went back to bed and then boom woke up every day at 2:30 it was a grind and I was totally ready to do it I was like this is my thing I've worked my butt off I'm finally at the top I'm the main anchor on this morning show in Indianapolis and then I went to a Beyonce concert um with my husband and some friends in Chicago this is a true story obviously and I had like two drinks and I woke up the next day I was like man I don't feel good and the twins were 4 months old and I found out I was about 6 weeks pregnant with Matthew Beyonce the Queen deonce the queen I had I had all this energy of like I'm going to go and kick butt and like get back into my career and dive into it and then it was like nope there's a different plan so I worked up until four days before I had Matthew and the station was like we're going to give you 10 weeks of maternity leave you know not eight we're going to give you 10 and I looked at him I said guys I just can't like this is God telling me it's you don't have a choice you got to Pivot for your family and to be honest Nate like I was mad I was sad I cried a lot I was frustrated my whole identity was wrapped up in being this television news anchor since 8th grade since 8th grade CNN manol Stall Street Journal yo and that was hard it was hard but I had a one-year-old a one-year-old and a newborn who was going to take care of them you know you couldn't even do them alone cuz you had like two bucket seats for the Twins and then the baby and it was like couldn't even leave the house so I just retired from TV so from like the moment you left four days before Matthew was born you were like hey I'm not going to come back no they were like hey we'll give you 10 weeks why don't you think about it so I had him and then I went into to see them um like mid mid into my maternity leave and they were like what are you thinking I'm like guys I just can't and I was sad what year is this uh 2017 2017 okay I mean seven years ago you're you know you're riding high on being like one of the top coveted seats in broadcast in Indianapolis I loved my job that was the thing I loved it I loved loved it and but then obviously you have three kids and it's like you know sometimes you got to prioritize family life and you got to Pivot sometimes there are signs in your life that are saying pivot pivot your career pivot your choice pivot this and you need to watch those Signs Now mine was a very clear sign yeah you know there were 30 diapers a day to change and everything else um I can't imagine and and again it was just too much emotionally physically mentally and it was the best choice for our family and so that was what it happed was the plan hey I'm going to retire from television and I'm going to Mom yeah okay so you're just chilling not chilling but like professionally professionally is just like hey I'm going to be a mom right now then when did like you decide I still want to I still have this new chapter that I want to write this is a real story I know I don't think you've met my husband Jason also went to depa I think I have at a depa thing at at some point throughout the years um in about a year Matthew was turning one and I remember being upset I was like I am not you I I got my Master's while I was on television to in public affairs at IU and I just felt like I wasn't using my I love to call them rare and valuable skill sets I wasn't using the gifts that I was given intellectually and kind of like god-given abilities every single day and I knew I was pivoting but I was also like well what's my next era you know to borrow Taylor Swift and I sat at the kitchen table after we' put you know I call them fake triplets after we put the fake triplets to bed and Jason and I are sitting there at the kitchen table and he saidwell what do you want I said I don't know and he saidwell what are you good at I want you to take a piece of paper and he threw me a piece of paper in a pen said what can you do I can read a teleprompter he's like okay write good stories and he was like okay but what are your skills what are your rare and valuable skill sets and he was like you're a good critical thinker you're a great multitasker and he made me write them down and then he was like what how do you want to use them and that was the qu the conversation I you know I can still see it vividly you know there's those moments in your life you're like I remember that one like I told you about the 911 story but he forced me to say you have these skill sets what are they and how do you want to apply them and the only person that can answer that question is you you can't wait for other people to say go do this go do this go do that you have to answer the question what do you want and I said I just need to use my brain in this different way 10 to 15 hours a week and that's how that conversation got started went online opened an LLC Pence Media Group LL C and I was like all right cuz I kept getting questions from people about how do you get your good product or service on television you know how do you do that what do you know how does that happen how do you do this how marketing Communications PR and I knew I could do it for him because I was intelligent I had experience but I wasn't tactically trained and then I got thrown another loop and my father Congressman Greg Greg Pence decided to run for Congress and he said I need a communications director and I said yeah we better find you one and he said no you're going to do it and I said I am not fing doing that that and he said yeah you are I hated it because I don't like you know aggressive confrontational always you know you know I don't like political communication I'm so great and you are terrible you're the worst person ever and I just didn't want to get involved in it but it was your father and he asked me to do it and I'm glad he did because I learned all the Tactical applications of PR and marketing crisis Communications social media management CRM email marketing name it I learned it and had to do it on my own and that's how I learned to kind of apply my rare and valuable skill sets what year was that to that that was in 2017 okay 2017 late 2017 2018 how long was that campaign uh or 20 2018 I'm sorry so it was um I told him I would help him till the primary CU an Indiana want you in the primary usually pretty good and then I sent them out so I did it for six months six months and then from there so kids are over one now yeah they're like 221 221 okay no two and a half two and a half one and a half okay fun campaign ends and you're like great I do not want to do politics not not for me uh what was like the next kind of shift then and like what was the first big break for pen Media Group we had some really great people take a take a chance on us and say yes I'm going to bet on her and bet on I going to say using the US was there an Us in I just think of it as an us you know because now it's not just me right and so I had people who said I'm going to bet on this person I know they know what they're doing those original clients were Slapfish ccha church church H and antrum here in Indiana third largest law firm in Indiana and then also mashcraft Brewing all clients still today oh heck yeah and so and and Linda zenako with he knows your name those four clients took a bet on me and I'm forever grateful um and as a small business owner and every small business owner remembers those moments when they happen the first check that you deposit everything and so that was 2019 really and then we're we're rocking and rolling heck yeah I love it and what's kind of like the focus like you get your first customer and you're like well you're because you're not like traditionally agency trained no you're not traditionally PR trained like you've been on the other side of it you've been the the public maybe less of the relation so what was like the first task or first customer that you were working on we did a lot of work with like strategic Communications and and like going back and looking at church church on the entrum looking at their organizational structure as it relates to marketing Communications I always tell everybody we are a true consultancy we come in and we help you identify what issues you have strengths weaknesses in marketing PR and Communications we're not going to we're not going to tell you if the or is built right we're not going to tell you if the right people are in the right seat but we can tell you what we see with you know PR Communications and marketing and I think Nate the reason that I was so confident in doing all that is because I did go through my Master's experience with my public affairs degree and I was privy to working through complex issues you know creative you know thinking also critical thinking and and and being solution oriented and was really beneficial to me I think right now I I love that and I think right now something that's really popular is like the solo preneur right where you kind of be a consultant about whether it's you know marketing or technology or a lot of people go off on their own but they're just kind of like their own employee was your goal from the beginning to build a media company yes because going back to what I said I love television because I loved working with the producer and the executive producer and the videographers and everybody but it also still felt a little little it just didn't feel as collaborative because as the expert in my Lane I was the expert anchor this was the expert producer this was the expert videographer and that was your team assembled and so you didn't have another Peer who was also another expert now I have mentors and great friends in the industry Angela gnote fansin Stinger who were also anchors who were truly my friends and mentors and we could work off of each other but you didn't get to collaborate with the same role very often if that makes sense so so why I love creating Pence Media Group is because I could then bring and we flipped it and I love the word that you used at the intro Innovative approach we are a true consultancy of experts women who have 12 plus years of experience at PMG this is not the agency model where you've got somebody here somebody here somebody here somebody here we all are here master's degrees um and are ready to come in and truly solve client problems from the jump um and we operate as a true consultant so that's been fun because I'm learning from my colleagues and they're learning from me because we're all at the same level of expertise I love that and I mean you've won some awards so if you've been you kind of started in 2018 six years in won some pretty cool Awards right we won the Emmy right but then was it nominated for the Emmy nominated for the Emmy yeah nominated for the yeah with National FFA we won I don't know 15 Telly Awards which those are pretty coveted in video production um those are kind of like the video production awards for the in and kind of like in the video in the video they're the emmies of video productions so they're called Telly Awards uh we've won a lot of prsa awards and then in the last two years we've won a muse creative Award for best small agency of the year and that's been a big one because right now I can tell you confidently we're at 15 women you know 15 women servicing anywhere between 30 and 35 clients a month that's pretty impressive oh yeah I mean in an agency I mean everyone who's like on the agency side it's like It's a Grind like for sure and but it's it's fun for people that have are able to contact switch right where you're like you're helping with one customer doing solving this one problem then you like switch over and you're like okay now we're working on our Facebook ad strategy or whatever it is you know like the next thing and so being able to contact switch I think that like you can get your whole MBA from spending a couple years in the agency side working with all these different customers right I'll say this though to that point about the grind like not only did I want to flip the models so when I looked at the space I said okay I want to build a true consultancy so we charge for our expert time and we have experts at the table only but then secondarily I want to create a culture that was different I want to create a culture that Embraces the working mom the women on our team we don't have the same hours uh billable every single week as other traditional agencies because I want them to have a really positive work life balance I want them to be able to feel supported I don't make them go out and do business development that's my job you know we work 8:30 to 4:30 and before the pandemic when I started PMG I said this is all remote and that was kind of a big deal people were like so you're the group that like of moms that you know wears their pajamas and and lives in Hamilton County and I was like yeah but our brain still works and so that's that's truly what what we've done you know we were remote first before it was a thing before it was and yeah before it was a thing and we are a true expert of consultancy of women who are prioritizing e :30 to 4:30 and we don't do the extra stuff I I love networking I love connecting with people I love people that's why I went into broadcast journalism but I don't really believe in using people's time to go out and do things because everybody else is doing it and so that made us I think that's made our culture a lot different at Pence Media Group I have a question for you did you know that Indiana has been a hub for sports Innovation for over a century starting with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where Pioneers tested game-changing Tech like seat belts and anti-lock brakes that Forward Thinking spirit is still in overdrive today and sports Tech HQ is at the center of it they're on a mission to scout the most groundbreaking Sports Tech that is shaping the future of sports and to bring those 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org now let's get into the show background in traditional broadcast journalism y was it intimidating to go start making some hires and run a company for sure to me I'm I'm kind of in the seat where I'm like starting to think about like hiring people and stuff and I'm like it's kind of terrifying yeah especially not having like I don't have the Wharton MBA like all these accolades you know and and to go and get someone to like join your team who was your first employee my first employee was Emily Sullivan shout out to Emily Sullivan I think I think there's two things to think about number one do you believe in betting on yourself and if the answer is yes then make sure that you're set up to be able to bet on yourself so make sure that you've got a plan in place so if I'm scaling what does it look like what does that mean how can I own the responsibility and the risk of bringing in this full-time employee and knowing that like that's AIS you're choosing to take like that they rely on you as in charge of Business Development to go out and close clients to bring in money to pay their salary to feed their family and I always say that's why I refer to PMG as like this elusive female you know she like we are all a part of this like we're all feeding off of this thing and it's a shared responsibility and so again that's how I approach it with that mindset and that's why it's not like yeah it has my name on it but it's not just mine I love that I think that's that's super unique and is it like like 100% intentionally like you only going to like grow it with women I I think when I started it right it was a true consultancy for that working mom initially it was built only with contractors and they worked 15 to 20 hours a week because they had a lot of children at home including myself now we've got 11 full-time employees four contractors that are all in and have been all into to PMG for four years so they're effectively a part they are part of the team and and whole wholeheartedly but yeah they're all women and I think it's also because there's that that's the culture we've created at PMG that people are attracted to but also I think our clients are aligning with that you know some of our clients are preschools or startups like um pluie the startup the world's first and only self- sanitizing diaper changing table we got them on Shark Tank we've got them in every you know Good Morning America I mean their story is incredible we've you know incredibly you know you know flipped that you know startup to something that is Mega that will one day be sold to koala care and that's a cool uh receipt for Media Group so it's kind of like a little bit of both it's that's the culture and that's what our clients align with a little bit um and yeah it just happens to be women but there's no world where I'm like anti-man I'm the mom of four boys I don't consider myself a feminist I don't consider myself you know rah rah female I'm super I love females I'm super supportive of it but I'm not anti right and that's really important to me to say that out loud and to always affirm that because I have this female company that's a sorority and then I have a fraternity at my house and so I wonder if I wonder if I just did it that way because I'm living in these two extremes all damn day yeah especially as your boys get older too it's going to become like way more fraternity right you get plenty of that you're like ah I'm just going to hang out with the ladies at work it's I live in extremes all day I love that well talk about your family right you have four boys you live up on the North side of Indie it's a crazy cool time to be a resident of I can't believe I'm going to say this of Hamilton County I'm like an out word I'm like I'm a Broad Ripple guy I love it down here but a lot of my friends have started moving up there I've spent some time in Midtown caramel this is slowly becoming like the caramel hype podcast I suppose you're like just saying it right now like when did you get on like when did you move up to the north side of Indie okay so I'm from Columbus Indiana I ran cross country I was super competitive we hated caramel High School hated I went I still drive by the caramel High School cross country course to this day and I'm like oh I remember when that girl spiked me in my heel that one time I had that same kind of affinity thought process about Carmel however when you're growing your family and you get pregnant and you find out that you're having twins and you wake up at 2:30 in the morning my mother-in-law lives in Carmel and I told my husband if we're going to do this whole live near one of the grandparents we're going to do it we're not going to live 10 minutes away we're going to live in the same neighborhood area so we're either moving to Columbus where my parents are or we're moving to Carmel where your mother is and then we found out we were having twins so it was like duh and then we found out we had Matthew obviously on the way and that that was it game done um so that's it that's how we landed in in the caramel area but it's really Westfield so I want to kind of correct that all right so we're saying Westfield we're saying weld we're claiming Westfield we're we're shifting out of the carel well let's talk about that then give me then diagram compare and contrast Columbus Indiana to Carmel Westfield Indiana okay so Columbus Indiana from when I grew up was small town I mean I had 300 people in my graduating class you knew every single person it was very agriculture focused and and and and and motivated and lots of manufacturing down there those are not the same businesses that are obviously rooting right now in Westfield and Carmel so I think that's a big difference and just the proximity to cool things you know Connor Prairie downtown Carmel everything that's up there for families is huge a large portion of people from rural Indiana I grew up in a town of 12200 people middle of Northern Indiana like I was an avid like no no private schools no caramel I don't like them all and then I came here and I was like oh you can find your community in your pocket and like the small town Vibe within the city of Indianapolis within the north side of like there are definitely simil similarities and it's not I'll say to my small town friends it's not as bad as I once thought right I think that it's interesting to see when when you spent time in both like what were your favorite things about Columbus and what are your favorite things about Westfield uh my favorite things about col Columbus is just the variety of like what you can do down there there's a lot going on at Columbus you know Columbus Indiana is like a Hidden Gem you know I know I know you love it's an it's an art like anure architecture Mecca like the AR I don't know what the whole story saw I just saw another uh article published it was I think it was the Wall Street Journal about Columbus and the architecture and the history of it and just everything that happens down there and that's absolutely it's International a national claim to fame but the People Are Awesome down there and it's pretty you talk about International like it's vibrant it's very um cultured like like I mean with cumins being there there's just lots of different cultures that come and want to work at Cummins and it ends up making it a little bit different if you took the same if you took the same exact City and put it somewhere away from cumins it would probably be uh less diverse but there's a lot of Diversity in Columbus there's tons and even before cumins really started to pop on the map or um any of the other companies Arvin when it was growing down there we always had this event in Downtown Columbus called the ethnic Expo and so each Booth was set up you know there was Italy there was India there was China and there was it was like you were walking around Epcot in Disney and we always went to it and we loved eating all the different food and again as somebody who was you know I've been so blessed to travel the world and speak languages and my mother being you know first generation Italian immigrant like that cultural connection was has always been super important to me and I know people who aren't from Columbus are kind of like yeah right there's a lot of you know culture variation in Columbus Indiana go go down there you will see it and there's a lot of stores that sell different products you know it's it's kind of it's neat it's neat and then you've got like gorgeous you know places down there like Grand View Lake I think is one of the most beautiful lakes um in Indiana uh and a lot of people are starting to discover that I know all the like hidden really good Lakes are starting to be discovered I know uh which is like sad a little bit up near your area there a lot yes there's some really and it's just gets so expensive oh like which like I've always been kind of known but it's like everyone loves like wa SE and now it's like Lake tippy and some of the other ones up there are like kind of getting like and that's how Grand View is in Columbus I think too where the Sweet Water crew is now shifting over that way y we had uh we grew up with a place uh that we got to frequent on Lake Monroe and obviously that's Indiana's Premiere um and gorgeous uh lake max oh you think Max is oh I did a whole thing on I thought that Lake Monroe was two and Lake Max and Cy and cver was one they're both really really good uh I just think that Lake Max and cooky and Calver is you have the Lake Community like the tight-knit small community uh but to that church there on Sundays every now and again for Mass when we gone up there I love that I'll put Lake Monroe as number one but I still think you've got a good top three there yeah um okay so so take me to let's talk about north side of Indie like recommendations a lot of times people are traveling in maybe there's different spots they want to check out where are you hanging out with your family on the north side of Indianapolis downtown Westfield so we will ride our golf cart to downtown Westfield and I love how mayor Willis has really embraced that whole idea of creating like a golf cart Community downtown Westfield is still Charming it's got incredibly awesome local businesses this is east of 3:30 or of 31 right like cuz there's like the food correct strip with the houses or something so you've got you know the Italian House there you've got Greeks Pizzeria which is locally owned you've got nyas I just went to my husband and I had a date night there and then you've got something Splendid which is an awesome um locally owned business that has like gifts and goodies and has a paw connection so you'll have to check it out they actually were one of our first clients at Pence Media Group and helped pop them up on the map love that um and then just the downtown Westfield charm and what they're trying to do down there it's exciting to see all that because the growth is going to happen in Westfield caramel's all done you know caramel's as big as it can be they're not making any more caramel no they're not but it's I mean I love caramel but the Westfield area that's what you know is going to be fun to watch Grand Park my youngest son my baby Luke he goes to school um up at kidss 360 at Grand Park we play Elevate football on Wednesday nights we have a playoff game tonight so they are like they literally are like let's go what is their team this year they Chang it every year I feel like it's just like the Raiders yeah right it's like I'm like and you know I got fake triplets that play together so today on the way to school they're like I'm scoring the touchdown Colin's thrown to me Andrew's doing this Matthew's doing this I'm like all right boys these are great big pipe dreams for tonight's playoff game will be pretty cool it's like the that the the twins get to be senior Junior and you have like if you had like the center the quarterback and the wide receiver like that would be could be something they think they're Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce let me tell you they really do they they Envision that for their future and I'm like boys I'm here for it so make it happen I love that that's super fun U okay so downtown Westfield is that like where field Brewing is is that like that area yeah yeah right right there it's all the same but I think downtown downtown is like that strip where the new library is the library is gorgeous um and just really impressive what do you like more about Westfield than Carmel Westfield's so much smaller so it's like you can't even compare it yet because I'm a huge fan of like downtown Midtown in Carmel uh City Center in Carmel like I love going there and shopping at those local stores but I think what I love about Westfield is that there's still so much opportunity like I think it's fun to be a part of something that's growing and like being there and saying I was there from the jump you know I watched this thing didn't look like this back when there were still Fields were still like walk into school you know so that's I I you know what I mean it's just fun to be a part of that the come-up story it's just fun to be a part of it I love that I think that Westfield for sure I mean you like think of like all that expansion I had Mark Julene from JC Hart on the show and he said that he thinks Sheridan is like the next one it's going to just keep going yeah it's there's only place to go North and Cicero like Cicero up there will be like one that to watch out for which the north side of Indianapolis is just like it's ripping I was just at the new Fishers Event Center yeah it's incredible it's insane like the fuel and then the new volleyball team the ignite are going to play there we went to Turnpike trors which is like a country western band Imagine The Coliseum down the fairground oh I remember brand new like it just like feels it's just amazing it's like oh my gosh which I was there when the Coliseum was recently new in Fort Wayne and I remember it being such a big deal so it is fun to see that yeah the Coliseum at the sorry I was talking about our Fort the for that that one's really nice too that's a really good yeah so like it's just you know I remember seeing Kenny Chesney at the coliseum in Fort Wayne and I thought this is before he popped I thought damn fort's getting real cool by getting Kenny here yeah like if he there would be like lines like all the way from I bet from Fort Wayne to Indianapolis if he played up there again 100% okay well now we're coming down to the end of the show I have some fun questions that we put together that we just like to uh one some that we like ask every week and another one that we have that curated just for you when it comes to traditional media uh if you were giving advice to a new you know someone who's just graduating from depal and wants to go pursue media what advice would you give to them I would tell them why do you want to be what storytelling are you trying to do so when somebody comes to me and they say I want to be a broadcast journalist do you want to be a broadcast journalist because you want to be in front of a camera or do you want to be a broadcast journalist because you're a truth Seeker because 15 years ago when I got into broadcast journalism the only way that you could have you know kind of a platform you could tell stories you could be in front of a camera was to be a broadcast journalist right think about it news was the way people got their information from local television stations now I push back on young people just to make sure is your intention to be a truth Seeker to inform the public or are you more just wanting to be a creative content person and if You' want to be a creative content person double check all your options you can do that by creating a platform like you have you can do that by being an influencer you can do that by making your own production company so days of old years ago you know the only way that you could share information and share stories and really get you know the meat and potatoes out there and have a broadcast microphone was to be on local news and now that's not the case so I've actually had conversations with young people where they've realized maybe I don't want to be an actual broadcast journalism and frankly that grind is pretty intense you know I never I never was home every holiday my hours were wacky I either worked 2: to 11:30 at night or I worked from 3:30 to 1: those were those were the shifts you know mornings or nights so I always remind people like you don't have to do those shifts anymore to be a true content curator so just making sure they know where they want to go um so they don't feel like they made the wrong choice I think we're going to get and I want to get a little more broad here too right so that is spectacular advice and then just 22y olds in general so this question is brought to you by our friends at or Fellowship they're a great organization here in Indiana helping develop young Business Leaders across the state Nicole what advice would you give to your 22-year-old self about life I would tell myself and like I've told other 22-year-olds that I go back and speak at college campuses I was at Franklin College a couple weeks ago I go back to depal frequently I would say write down and understand and truly authentically align your rare and valuable skill sets don't tell me that you're a great critical thinker a great multitask or if you're not what do you bring to the table and know that so when you go into an interview you can say here's what I am capable of doing here's what I tactically know how to do I'm good at Photoshop I'm good at canva I can use a DSLR whatever all of that is write it down own it and be able to completely explain your rare and valuable skill sets and do not exaggerate them that's my big thing with young people is they'll either exaggerate them or they'll kind of you know be a little wishy-washy with it and it does no one any good because then you're not put into a position where you can really shine and it's just in congruent so I'm really big on authenticity just in general a lot of times when people think of like they their rare and valuable skill sets it's like only the things you can put on LinkedIn where it's like I know how to use Microsoft Excel or whatever whatever or I know how to use a DSLR but things like like I think my number one rare and valuable skill set is energy and like when I was 22 I don't know if I would have said that in an interview like I'm very energetic but now I'm like oh people want to work with me or do anything it's like they know 100% they're going to get energy and that is a a rare and valuable skill set to bring because I love that not everyone has that right or curiosity or like find those ways it can just be character traits of who you are find your way to to articulate that in whether it's an interview or the sales picture whatever it is and and then then people will really know who you are and make sure it's authentic though right and so we even do this in brand development for clients we built so many brands in Indianapolis and National brands for our clients so Brands is equal part A brand is equal parts visual identity like your logo and also content and when you put everything together for a brand what are their unique value propositions to your point what's their personality what are their attributes what what are they selling their product service or good and so the same is similar for your personal brand what are your character traits what are your talents what are your skill sets and all of that makes your personal brand and don't over index anything because you're going to do yourself a disservice but also make sure you've got some things on there that are tactical like your saying can you use Google Docs can you do canva do you know how to edit a video or photos and if you don't that's okay but mind yourself if you're trying to go to be a Content curator you're going to have a problem yeah and I think a lot of times early on especially when I mean when I was 20 22 coming out of school I like tried so hard to make myself look cool I was like oh I want to have a I want to look cool online versus just then when I switched and just started to do cool stuff like don't try to like curate and fake these things to post but just like go do that's worth posting or like go do stuff that's worth talking about and if you live a life that's worth talking about then people will talk about it for you 100% that's like my biggest like everyone oh I want to make content it's like cool like go do the crazy stuff that you can where you can make the video whether it's like you want to be the next Mr Beast or you want to be on the Nightly News or whatever it is like go create the content and do the thing versus just trying to make it like fake it and make it look cool the Becker boys love Mr Beast so thanks for that shout out because I hear his voice all the time he's crazy he's crazy in theol way I know we love Mark Rober we love Mr Beast we're huge Pat McAfee fans at at at our home I I want to comment on that too though is is like I always refer to that whenever we have Team meetings at Pence Media Group is like the receipts so one of the things I also wanted to do when I started Pence Media Group is I focused on culture and then I focused on execution like we're all experts and that's what we're delivering but then I was always big about the receipts what did we do for our client and if you follow us on social media you see were so focused on the receipts we're not the group that's going to tell you that we got together and we did a chili cook off or we had some sort of you know hrah team meeting even though we have that incredible culture we're the group that's going to say this is what we did this is what we created value for our client and we show you the receipts because at the end of the day people are buying your product service or good because it gives them value so I always tell people that the receipts is what you need to Showcase that's great advice there you go on in the vein of rare and valuable talents okay uh what's a secret talent that no one knows about you I can do the splits I don't know if that's a talent I do it all the time at parties it's like my party trick your party trick is to do the my party trick is to do it is a fun trick you use like bust like you get in the center of a dance circle just like bust that out yeah it's not ideal um and then when I'm pregnant I just do like the air leg guitar so because I can't go down and do the splits for fear of you know like you know going into you know birthing um going into child labor so um uh so yeah that that that would be my fun random we're gonna need the receipts on that one we're gonna need the split receipts has a receipts and then I would say I mean I speak Spanish you know so maybe many people might not realize that I love traveling I Love Culture I love everything about it I don't know if that's a that is a skill I want to talk briefly like growing up in a house uh with a politician yeah right well you have the Marine background but I feel like especially today like people are mean to politicians so mean like especially the keyboard Warrior is what years were your was your dad running I grew up Loosely connected to politics for a while so when I was in high school my junior year is when my Uncle Mike Pence got elected as the congressman in Columbus so he was our Congressman he would come to the high school he would speak he would talk to us about voting and how you vote on the floor and the card you get when you're a congress member and what it looks like to be a service your constituents Etc so my uncle was my congressman growing up and when you were in high school did did you see people no no one disrespected Poli like that no they very much felt like and because it was it's equal parts the fault of the politicians generally and also the electorate who is just so mad at the divisiveness the electorate is and the politician has been so self-seeking for attention it's created this bad energy was this 2000 when you were a junior right somewhere around there so 2000 right it's like to complain to your politician you had to write a letter or show up at the meeting and you did and they called the office and they would talk to your face they would talk and I think as a politician or as anyone like even if you're posting on social media if someone comes up and says I have a problem with your take about Carmel I'll always listen to it and I'm like oh yeah that makes sense I see where you're coming from but it's the keyboard Warriors that are just like behind their like fake screen name talking to you and it's like I with politicians it has to be insane so so that's in 2000 your uncle is the congressman down in Columbus that's right and then when I went down to Lexington Kentucky he was still the congressman there and then when I came back up and I was the weekend anchor on WTHR is when he announced he was running for governor so at the same time you know it was interesting because obviously I had built my brand and worked my butt off um and there were keyboard Warriors who would write onto my Facebook page and say oh you just got the job because you're the niece of somebody who's running for governor and you know you just at the end of the day you know I always tell people ignore that if you have your own receipts your own rare and valuable skill sets you don't have to participate and guess what you don't owe anybody a comment everybody thinks they have to respond to everybody in their DMs like it's somebody talking to their face it's not I always say if you if you wouldn't take advice from them then they listen to their criticism yeah I love that if it's not someone that I like care about cuz no one that's out in front of you is ever turning around and like talking smack to you well I think those people do exist really oh yeah I think the world is that that inauthenticity of like you know you really want to know who that is if you're in front of somebody you really want to make sure is this somebody who has my back or this somebody who has my back only when I'm around um but yeah so the politics thing has been interesting and then eventually obviously my uncle was tapped as the vice president of the United States and then my dad ran for congress so people say to me oh you've been in this political family for a long time 10 years has been it um you know I'm was that hard to you know like support like I'm just thinking through of like the ads that you're seeing on TV and it's like I don't know if people are running I mean people clearly running ads against your uncle for sure I don't know about your dad is that hard like you go to Thanksgiving and you're like I don't like just like the dynamic there seems like it would be very challenging yeah I think it is but I think you know again if you are open to having you know constructive conversations with anybody whether it's with your family or it's with a friend you know I've had a lot of friends who don't agree with my politics you know I always say I'm a Republican and I'm not mad about it and I'm and I'm fine and I have those positions and I have tons of friends who are Democrats and we have that super super positive discourse because I respect them it's when you decide not to respect someone for their point of view or their opinion that's when the world starts to go yes the wrong way and that's like 100% I'm like interested in politics especially the local politics that I think make a huge impact on our day-to-day lives and it's like you turn on YouTube TV and all of a sudden it's just like like Indiana we everyone comes and sits in this chair and talks about how collaborative the state is and how much we all like each other and how much we work together and then I turn on YouTube TV and it's like Jefferson sh or this or hog set and I'm like guys we're supposed to be building each other up like I know but it's it's also imp part what people have wanted you know people want to watch watch people go like this you know for almost like a gladiator thing you know who's going to be the winner in the ring kind of thing there's a lot of reasons this Dynamic and discourse has happened but yeah I think growing up in and around politics and that's why as somebody who when I started my own company I said I'm not doing any of that I wanted to grow Pence Media Group by not working with a campaign a municipality or some sort of political organization because I didn't want people to say that my receipts were connected to something other than my yeah your success is connected to anything besides the effort that you're putting in exactly yeah I love that that is a such a so that's the route we went because it could have been you know not easy but Business Development would have been a little easier that's the way it goes like 100% you could have easily gone to probably almost every campaign in the state and been like I did this one like let me do your and like you would probably built a whole consultancy based around political campaigns I think that it is probably a lot more fun to not worry about that and to like go the the private like surprising people incredible shift gears a little bit there who were the top three interviews on your highlight reel I really do like asking politicians tough questions I loved I was the political Porter in Fort Wayne you know for a stint at my time there I loved doing that and then of course as my family got more involved I shifted away from it because I did want that conflict to be seen Billy Jean King was a really interesting interview when she came here you know tennis pro first female uh to win an Olympic gold medal in tennis for America something like that Google me Billy Jean King was really interesting what we haven't talked about yet is like I am super focused on philanthropic Endeavors like it is a really important part of like why I do what I do whether it's person or professionally and so to me working on stories that involve nonprofits or individuals or kids who are fighting horrible diseases and battles and their stories like Tyler Trent those are the stories that have impacted me the most and like now at PMG we have a whole vertical called PMG gives back and we do a ton of nonprofit work and we also donate a lot back to organizations because it is what fuels us and so to me it's like those stories are often the ones that impact me the most like hosting the Riley prom oh yeah hosting the Riley prom tell tell us about that one I I was doing our research I thought that was super interesting like just an amazing but that's a good example of you know we create this Riley prom experience and it's the kids who are outpatient who have fought cancer get to go to this Riley problem what about all the kids in the tower who are stuck in their rooms what should we do for them so I said let's develop a show let's be like blippy blippy is a guy on YouTube you know my kids love him so I basically am blippy and I go around I got to interview um Scott Dixon uh with chip ganasi and that's a pretty cool interview pretty cool interview I mean I I've interviewed all the celebs you know Indiana celebs but we make a show for the Riley Children's Hospital every single year I donate all of that time all of that um work all of that producing and the kids get to then watch a show as part of prom week and full circle I started working with Riley Children's and women and for Riley and make a wish years ago I started a Wishful Wednesday segment on television when I was in Lexington Kentucky and then I brought it up here and now fast forward two years ago my son Matthew was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and now unfortunately I say unfortunately because it's true I'm a Riley mom you know I'll get a little emotional but it's like how full circle is that so now I have always said yes to giving back to Riley and philanthropic Endeavors and make a wish and now I'm living this this world where I have a son who fights a chronic illness every single day super challenging not cool super hard I'm connected to it in a different way now so it has so much more meaning than it had before but you put out so much good into the world right and it's like and you never know when that's going to come full circle and like when you spend the early part of your career you know like oh like being a part of Riley or make a wish and all these different things and then like one day you're like now we're on the receiving end of that you know when I when we got the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes and didn't know much about it and if you know much about it you know it is a big deal it's it's the most challenging daily disease for a young person and for anybody and I got that phone call and they were like we're g you know you need to get to Riley right away he's very very very sick I was lucky I could make four phone calls right after I talked to my doctor to say I'm headed in you know well you know I was sobbing on the phone with the one of the medical directors there because I was so overwhelmed and I wasn't sobbing to say I need great care here I come it was like help me I'm scared I'm lost I'm worried about my child and they answered my call because I had answered so many requests from them so it was Full Circle I hate it I would do anything to get rid of this for him but it is a cross that we bear as a family and it creates a different perspective for us like nothing is so serious anymore when you have a daily fight like that it's just not I don't sweat the small stuff oh I got on my plate you know I got real on my plate I think through the fact of like being a young like how old how old's Matthew he was five when he's diagnosed like five and how old is he now he's seven he's turning eight in like two weeks like going to birthday parties you know so challenging like that's hard cuz you're already off the Jump excluded from like Halloween candy or something like that just makes it way more difficult parties for him all the other kids get dropped off him I have to stay there it's incredible it's like I in the back cuz he can't monitor his own diabetes he doesn't know how to dose himself he doesn't know anything about it he knows about it I'm sorry I shouldn't say that that's offensive to him but he doesn't know how to do it he doesn't know how much insulin he needs his mom is exactly see you know more about it but I didn't know anything so when we got this diagnosis it was so overwhelming so now I'm trying to figure out first year I was so overwhelmed I cried so much it's so grief it's overwhelming second year I'm acknowledging it and his diabetes anniversary was just a couple days ago and now I'm ready to be an advocate and so now I'm I couldn't even say this out loud a year ago I would never have brought it up on this podcast but now I'm like okay Matthew's comfortable with it I can't every morning I wake up I'm like do we still have diabetes I'm like damn it yep we do you know and that's where I'm at now dude oh so my college roommate was diabetic type one diabetic yeah he was shout out Zach and I could always tell like when he was so he was a football player too so like we'd come home from practice and he'd just be like a dick yeah extra dick you knew that he was high I was like hey buddy like you need to figure like like maybe you need uh Su yeah maybe you need sugar maybe you need some insulin I could always tell when he was out of whack cuz he like say one mean comment and I be like and were you there next to him when he was drinking at parties and making sure he didn't bottom out yeah I was no I was not there he luckily he was like he's uh very disciplined and mature enough that like he can handle it himself there but we could definitely like after practice or whatever he need to get sugar and stuff into him or if he gets too and he had like the meter and the stuff his little like Palm Pilot that he would carry around I would just be able to tell that his diabetes was out of whack based on you have so much more knowledge than anybody you know that about type 1 diabetes and how just impactful it is to a child and their family like I mean people don't understand and a fun fact when Matthew got diagnosed and we had to make it like some sort of like fun and understanding for a 5-year-old and then it impacted all of his brothers and it turned into a whole thing we decided that we were going to kind of call him Iron Man cuz you know how Iron Man has to wear Jarvis and Jarvis is his computer so we call Matthew's controller and Matthew's Dexcom uh phone and he carries it around in a pouch and we're like where's Jarvis did you get Jarvis you left Jarvis in the playroom grabbed Jarvis he's our Iron Man and that's his Jarvis so and I think they're making huge strides I believe he's going to have a stem cell research there's a ton coming out well and even like the pump the way it used to be where you had like the wires that hung out now it's like the arm thing and like so he wears two different devices he wears his Dexcom and he also wears his pod that gives him insulin and fun story on my social media the Colts I've been connected with Lara Overton and the Colts for years obviously and they knew that Matthew had been diagnosed and I hadn't shared it externally and they connected us with number 10 ad Mitchell he's one of our newest recruits at the Colts he's awesome he's catching balls he's getting touchdowns and ad was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was 17 so video went viral the Colts actually posted uh about Matthew's type 1 diabetes before I did I wasn't even I I gave him the okay but I I needed someone to push me to do it because I was just so overwhelmed and AD Mitchell has been such a great person to Matthew he waves at him during the games he comes over and gives him a handshake uh he tags Matthew in social media like tags me in social media post and Matthew so type one diabetes Community is incredible you don't want to be a part of it but um ad Mitchell he's my guy that is amazing and it's so cool to be like yet we have this thing that we deal with we still Thrive like ad Mitchell is like doing it at the peak you have to watch this video you look to Matthew goes you're going to be in the NFL just like me you're going to do it you're not going to let it we're warriors and I was sobbing okay my husband I'm kicking on the lake I thought he was going to pass out he couldn't even speak and I'm speaking talking sports ball you know you know and and the other brothers are just so overwhelmed to see this guy it was incredible so you'll have to share it on your social oh for sure everybody shared it that's amazing as we wrap up we have a few fun questions that we ask every guest I know I think I'm ready PR a little bit okay so ni what's something the world needs to know about Indiana well I think like the blanket statement is there's a lot more to Indiana than cornfields but I think it's different than that I think Indiana is is Progressive I think Indiana is you know an agricultural Focus Community our work with National FFA has helped me realize just how incredible it is that Indiana is at the Forefront of Agriculture and it's all about feeding the world and making sure that we don't rely on other countries you know I'm a mama of four and one of them is a type 1 diabetic I we got to have healthier food in this country we've got to have healthier food so let's go Indiana lead this conversation lead the charge Eli Lily all these things let's go I just had Martha Hoover from patatu and all that uh I've interviewed Martha she is inred I think you'll really like I I'll send you the link when when it goes live her episode about food and the quality of food the value equation of food was super interesting and the way she thinks about it and how she's helping with food insecurity in public schools here in Indiapolis like it is amazing so I I love that taking pride in agriculture and not thinking of it as like old and stale and the like hey this is there are tons of really cool Innovations happening at Purdue specifically about agriculture 100% And when I was in high school right Columbus Indiana just like you huge Farm area National FFA was all Farmers farmers and tractors and they drove their tractors to school on FFA day but that's not the case now it's engineering it's Engineers it's broadcast journalists it's creative thinkers it's bloggers it's writers National FFA is just it's incredible and headquartered here in Indiana too a million member organization leadership Youth Organization I might need a I might need a uh let me know we got we got cool clients that you yeah give me a softball on that one that would be fun I can talk about drive your tractor the school day I'm here for that here we go what is a Hidden Gem in Indiana I really like Holiday World and I know it's going to be some people are going to be like what I like Holiday World I think it do I think it needs some love I think we all need to go down there and check it out it's easy we took the boys down there we stayed at French Lick then we went over to Holiday World and then we came back and I was just like this is so fun and and I loved it do they still have unlimited sunscreen and all you can unlimited drinks of course they do yeah they do I love so we loved it and I think there's a special thing around if you mail a Christmas letter H World some some writes it back in Santa Claus like that's super cool and like there's someone I don't know who I need to talk to that person the person who's been writing the Christmas letters for I don't know 50 years or whoever there's someone down there that that does that so I love holiday world that is a great Hidden Gem it a great even if it's a day trip or go and stay in French Lake go down there and check it out and of course I'll always bat for the home team Columbus there's a lot more in Columbus you could make a whole day out of it between you know the kids Commons and uh the architecture tour and the food and Grand View Lake and just everything Columbus is cool and the Antique Mall Exit 76 antique mall that's pretty cool finally who's a hooer that we need to keep on our radar okay I thought long and hard about this and I have two for you a female and a male so the female I think you need to watch and just continue to watch is Katie Lucas she's incredible so as the president of Lucas Oil Products Katie Lucas I really respect her because I'm watching a lot of Professionals in the community who are my age who are doing great big things but it is often more impressive to me and obviously I align with it because you you align with what you kind of aspire to be that they also are a mom and they also are somebody of uh you know married and and and a woman of faith and I so I'm really impressed by Katie Lucas she's you know taking Lucas Oil Products in an awesome Direction and then also she's super philanthropic she is leading all the initiatives at Payton Manning she's super dialed in to making sure that pton Manning and St Vincent continue to grow and service children here in Indiana and I'm just always really impressed by her so she is somebody we should watch that is a great who your just individual Katie you have a standing invitation to come on the show whenever oh yes that would be so much fun to talk about and then you said you had a mail I do I have a mail so um somebody that we've gotten to know as a client of ours at Pence Media Group but also just an incredible Guy is Ryan rman so who's your know Bob Worman do you remember the Bob Worman commercials he's auto automotive so he owned car dealerships you know you were younger when he was around but he said Bob rorman and that was his big claim to fame he was the first guy who had this idea that you could make a personality out of being a car dealership guy right Bob Worman and the Worman Automotive Group is one of the most successful Automotive groups and they're based here in Indiana they have dealerships in Illinois up in you know Wisconsin they're a big deal and owned by this family the rman family well Bob sadly passed away several years ago and his grandson so third generation Ryan rman has taken over and he is just a really impressive person he's smart he's intuitive he's Innovative and he's taking it away from old idea that you know a car dealership and and car dealership salese are slimy or they're distrusting to Innovative smart educated he's pouring into his employees and I think it's really impressive they are a really cool company here in Indiana that's doing big things they're super philanthropic obviously that that makes me really excited so you got to watch Ryan Worman okay he's leader that's right got it I'll never forget that ever again that's amazing uh Nicole thank you so much for the time today this was awesome talking about you know growing that traditional career in broadcast media to switching over to business owner and mom and all all the amazing things you're doing the philanthropy keep up the good work great follow on social media if you don't where can people connect with you at at Nicole Pence is social media and then at Pence Media Group yes and if there was like the right individual that was thinking about working with you who are you looking for I'm looking for somebody who's energetic I'm going to use your word I love it who's curious that's a word we brought up today and who's confident and capable and that capable has to be what are your wearing valuable skill sets you know we're looking for PR people marketing people social media people videographers and we just have a really special place at PMG because we have the best clients I swear we have the best clients that's it'll starts there well if you're out there and you're looking to get into media and you want to do fun stuff with cameras and other media assets you know where to hit up make it happen uh thank you so much for the time today thank you for all the amazing stuff you're doing across the hooer state this was an incredible conversation we literally talked about everything from politics to sports to diabetes all diabetes like I literally like everything it was amazing I love it and Mr Beast Mr I mean literally you can go back and there's like anything on the internet we talked about thank you for all you do we'll have to get you back on uh after uh we can check it on playoff football for the boys see how we end up doing let you know yeah please do and thank you thank you Nate and thank you for doing this cuz Indiana is a special place and you're helping to highlight it huge thank you to our friends at Greeks Pizzeria since 1968 Greeks have been serving up Delicious Pies all over Indiana from Fort Wayne to Crawfordsville down to Bloomington and everywhere in between Greeks Pizzeria is all over the state you need to go check out the video I posted of Mike Cole now Mike owns the Greeks in zionville he ran the mill race marathon in Columbus and broke the World Record for fastest marathon while holding a pizza it was a spectacle it was super awesome the man crushed it he ran a 3-h hour and 15minute Marathon while holding a pizza that's faster than I run my normal Marathon it was an insane feat to witness give yourself a break from making dinner tonight pull out your phone go to Greeks pizzeria.

com and find the store nearest you order a large pepperoni you're going to be a hero for your significant other your kids whoever they are they're going to love you there's a reason they've been in business for 55 years they know what they're doing when it comes to Pizza go check out Greek's pizzeria. com thank you for listening to this episode of get in if you like what you heard make sure you leave us a review wherever you listen to podcast this show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater whether you're looking to start a podcast or take your content to the next level click the link in the description to see all of my gear recommendations at sweetwater. com if you want to behind the scenes look at everything we're doing across the state make sure you follow me on Instagram and Tic Tac at Nate spangle thank you so much for listening and being part of what makes the hooer state great we'll see you next time here on get in