Welcome to Episode 432 of What’s Your “And”? Follow-Up Friday edition. This is John Garrett, and each Friday, I follow up with a guest who had been on the show a few years ago, to hear what’s new with their passions outside of work, and also to hear how this message might have impacted them since we last talked.

I’m so excited the book is out. You can order it on Amazon, Indigo, Barnes and Noble, a few other websites. All the links are at whatsyourand.com. If you want me to read it to you, that’s right, this voice reading the book, look for What’s Your “And”? on Audible or wherever you get your audio books. Thank you so much to everyone who’s read it and leaving such nice reviews on Amazon, and for changing the workplace cultures where you are because of it.

Please don’t forget to hit subscribe to the podcast, so you don’t miss any of the future episodes. I love sharing such interesting stories each and every week, and this Follow-Up Friday is no different with my guest, Crystal Shin. She’s a business development director out of the EisnerAmper Dallas office, and now she’s with me here today. Crystal, thanks so much for taking time to be with me on What’s Your “And”?

Crystal: Thank you so much for having me, John. Very excited.

John: This is going to be so much fun. We’ve been able to hang out in between, which was cool, to meet up in Dallas and grab some drinks. That was so much fun. We get to now show everybody the magic of hanging out with John and Crystal. This is what it is.

Crystal: Absolutely.

John: Right? All right, here we go, rapid-fire questions. Harry Potter or Game of Thrones.

Crystal: Game of Thrones.

John: Oh. Okay. All right. How about cats or dogs?

Crystal: Oh, definitely dog, furry one.

John: Oh, okay. All right. All right. How about a favorite toppings on a pizza? You can load it up.

Crystal: I would do arugula.

John: Oh.

Crystal: Some fig, yeah. That’s it. I’ll make it simple.

John: Okay. All right. What kind of sauce goes with that? Is it like a white pizza?

Crystal: White pizza.

John: Oh, okay.

Crystal: Yeah.

John: And arugula and fig. Okay. All right. How about your favorite cereal, even as a kid, growing up, whatever.

Crystal: Cinnamon Toast, a whole bunch of sugars on it, yep.

John: Yes. Okay. The milk after is.

Crystal: Oh, yeah, I drink it all.

John: So good. So good. How about when it comes to books, audio, e-book or real book?

Crystal: Real book, or audio when I’m driving, but I like the real book. I like the smell, the touch and everything.

John: Right. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Oh, here’s one, more shower or bath.

Crystal: Oh, shower. Make it sweet and short. Yeah.

John: Just get out of here. I’m clean. Let’s go. I’m not sitting around in this. The last one, toilet paper roll, over or under.

Crystal: Over. Over.

John: Over? Okay.

Crystal: Yeah. That took me a while. I’m like, is it over or under?

John: Against the wall or coming out over the top. Yeah. So, right over the top. Yes, Episode 211, it’s almost double now, which is crazy to think. We talked then about performing, especially at your church, and the cool wigs and the the musicals and all that stuff. Is that something that you’re still doing or a little more on the side? I’m sure the last year and a half has put a wrinkle in performance.

Crystal: Absolutely. Yeah, unfortunately, I haven’t been doing a ton of children’s play musical stuff lately, but I’ve been doing the dancing and jumping and dancing with the kiddos every Sunday for, what, 14, 15 years. I’m still doing that. What a blessing that I could do, after COVID, that I could get to do in real life. We used to videotape it and then cast it out. Now it’s all in person, which is amazing.

John: Yes.

Crystal: Yes, something new I’ve been doing more of, using my creative brain lately.

John: Okay.

Crystal: I would say my new thing would be creativity, using many different facets.

John: Like what? Because that was still pretty creative. I saw the pictures. You don’t create those costumes on accident. It’s maybe just a different extension of your creativity now.

Crystal: Absolutely. Yeah. My latest creativity nowadays is, so, like social media, the only thing I do is LinkedIn, but when I post on LinkedIn, it’s got to be good, right?

John: Oh, they are.

Crystal: I’m a very visual person, so I try to put visual graphics together. I do all that because I enjoy it. It’s fun to put those together. I do that for some of the not-for-profits that I’m involved and also for groups that I’m involved within the firm, employee resource group. I do some of that, here and there, which is fine.

John: There was one that I saw just a couple of weeks ago. It’s like a boomerang sort of a thing where it was posing and moving. Yeah, it catches your attention on LinkedIn, for sure, because it’s like, wait, what?

Crystal: Yeah. Did she just move?

John: Right. Exactly. It’s like little hips. I was like, all right, all right. It was fun. Hopefully the other two people in the picture get the memo. Hey, you’re supposed to move too. Do over. Do over. That’s really cool. That’s how your brain works, and that’s how it comes out, type of thing.

Crystal: Absolutely.

John: Then other ways that the creativity is coming out?

Crystal: Yeah. I’ll do a shameless plug here. My husband, Kevin, actually just wrote a book. It’s called Stop Dieting, Start Happening. Who came up with the title? Me.

John: Yes. There you go.

Crystal: Who did the book cover too?

John: You get 100% royalty.

Crystal: Absolutely.

John: Oh, and you did the cover, as well.

Crystal: I did the book cover as well.

John: Nice.

Crystal: Just things like that, where I could use my creative here and there. It’s just really fun.

John: Yeah, and then by doing that, it’s exercising that muscle. Then when you get to work, you can be better and stronger there as well, with the ideas and stuff like that, which is really cool to see how it accidentally feeds, one side feeds the other, type of thing.

Crystal: Mm-hmm.

John: Very cool. Do you feel like people are sharing hobbies and passions and “ands” more now? Or is it still hit and miss?

Crystal: I think people are a little bit more lax, in a sense, where, because of COVID, the human aspect of everything came a little bit more, I guess, evident through this all-COVID stage, through Zoom meetings, WebEx meeting, whatever it is. I think people are connected in a more human way. That being said, they’re bringing whatever, if it’s hobbies or family members or cat’s, furry employees or whatever. We’re connecting at a different level, so I feel like even for the passions and the hobbies, I think it just comes out naturally. Because whenever you see golf balls at the back of the background, you’re like, oh, what’s that? You golf.

John: Yeah.

Crystal: There are different conversation points that come out of it, which is amazing. It’s fascinating to me.

John: That’s so awesome to hear because yeah, we’ve been in each other’s homes now. You would have never been in that person’s home, and vice versa. Now you get to see what brings them joy because that’s why it’s on their walls or in their office or wherever they’re shooting from. That’s really cool to just get those other dimensions to people, and as we move towards more in-person things, don’t forget about that part. The toothpaste is out of the tube kind of thing. Ask him about those golf balls or their cat or whatever. Even though the cat’s not in the office, who cares? They still have the cat.

Crystal: Yeah, and it’s a great way to just connect with people. I do a lot of connections outside of work because I’m in business development. I meet a lot of new people. Even now, because we just merged in with EisnerAmper about several months ago, so, being part of a larger firm, you could get lost easily. Able to share my passion and the things that I do, I’m connecting at a different level with different offices all over the world.

John: That’s so cool. That’s so cool. I think we need to bring the purple wig in then, because maybe it’s a whole new audience that we need to be bringing in here, with the purple glitter, type of thing, which is great. It’s so great to hear that you’re like, no, no, I need to share these “ands” and find out your “ands” because that’s where this is going to happen, type of thing. Even though you’re at a bigger firm, or it’s global or whatever, it doesn’t matter. It’s probably more important, actually, because you’re not just down the hall from them.

Crystal: Yes.

John: That’s super awesome. Do you have any words of encouragement to anyone listening that feels like they have an “and” that has nothing to do with their job or no one’s going to care?

Crystal: I would say, do what you love and share with others. People are drawn to passionate people. Whatever your passion is, people are drawn to it, so ignite it.

John: You’re right. Because when people are talking about work, sometimes they’re animated, but sometimes they’re not. They’re just talking. When you’re talking about your “and”, you’re always alive. You’re on fire.

Crystal: Oh, yeah.

John: Yeah, you want to be around people that are alive like that and have that energy.

Crystal: Yes, absolutely.

John: No, that’s awesome. It’s so cool to hear that it’s in the real world. You’re seeing it and living it, even more importantly, which means a lot to me. That’s awesome. So cool. Well, I feel like it’s only fair, since I started out the episode peppering you with questions, that I turn the tables and make this the first episode of the Crystal Shin podcast where you can ask me whatever you want. I’m on the hot seat. I’m actually very nervous. I’m not going to lie.

Crystal: I’ll take that.

John: Okay.

Crystal: John, what’s your “and”?

John: Oh, okay. Easily, college football, concerts and ice cream and then probably also travel.

Crystal: Ice cream? You’ve got to tell me more.

John: Yeah, ice cream is the greatest thing ever. It goes with so much. Brownie? I’ve got ice cream. Cake? We’ve got ice cream. Who serves brownies without it? I think it just comes together. When I travel, it’s fun to go to a local ice creamery and just see what the local is and some of those flavors, if they have a salted Oreo or just weird flavors that you’re like, oh, this is.

Crystal: Like bacons.

John: Yeah, exactly. You’re like, okay. In Las Cruces, New Mexico, they have green chili on everything, literally. They actually put green chili on vanilla ice cream. It’s weird. I don’t know if I like it, but I had to try it because where else am I going to do this? Yeah, it’s just fun to just see the different flavors, and just ice cream is just always good. I don’t know. Maybe it’s the inner child in me that wants to come out.

Crystal: Keep that, that inner child. I love it. Why be adult? You could still mature, but you don’t have to be acting always like an adult. Bring your kiddishness.

John: Yeah. Your passion, your “and” can literally be ice cream. It could be something that simple. It doesn’t have to be an active thing or world record-breaking. Ice cream. Yeah. Okay. If somebody also loves ice cream, let’s talk about it. Where do you go? What kind? What’s your favorite? All that.

Crystal: I love it. I love it. Another question for you.

John: Uh-oh.

Crystal: You look super nervous, but that’s why.

John: Right.

Crystal: What’s the best thing that happened in the last 30 days?

John: Oh, that’s a good question. Well I went to a Notre Dame football game, in person. That’s pretty awesome. I also got to speak at a leading partner retreat, which was pretty awesome. It’s kind of just doing my “ands” or doing the things that bring me joy and light me up. Yeah, both of those, I think, would count as pretty awesome. I also talked to Crystal Shin. That’s also on the list.

Crystal: Oh, thank you.

John: You’re like, um, that should have been number one, and I agree. I agree.

Crystal: I know. Exactly. I was waiting.

John: Right. I agree. You’re like, let me ask again.

Crystal: Hey, cut this out. Let’s do it again.

John: Exactly. Of course, talking to you is on the list. This has been so much fun, Crystal. Thank you so much for, well, living the what’s your “and” message, but also just coming back and chatting with me again. Thank you.

Crystal: This was so much fun. Thank you for having me, John.

John: Cool, absolutely. Everybody listening, if you want to see some pictures of Crystal outside of work, or maybe connect with her on social media, so you can see all these LinkedIn posts I’m talking about, be sure to go to whatsyourand.com All the links are there, and also the link to her husband’s book will be there too. While you’re on the page, please click the big button, do the anonymous research survey about corporate culture.

Thanks again for subscribing on iTunes or whatever app you use and for sharing this with your friends so they get the message that we’re all trying to spread, that who you are is so much more than what you do.