Seasonal Series: Winter Winter Winter
Writing a titles is complex for the women in my Season Series as they all wear many many hats; hence their inspiration for these WSJ Magazine-like cover story Q&As.
I’ll keep trying to give my Season Series Cover Girls their best titles.
Gayle Kalvert is a Founder, Mom and Bucknell alumnus. It’s been a decade (really two decades) since we have connected in a meaningful way. She’s been in my feed, thank you algorithm, for once! My intutuition guided me to reach out to Gayle about her CEO role, Winter, business and how to keep it all feel balanced. Her Linkedin posts like this one share more than the highlight reel of work-hard only to keep grinding more. Her work persona is polished yet her vibrant caring personality also comes through in posts about looking for deeper meaning around every corner. She’s a truth seeker at work and a motivated wife and working mom while at home. Both sides of Gayle shine through.
December 21, we enter the official winter season. We spoke on a rainy Friday morning as the holiday season was starting off. In 2024, the winter solstice arrives at 4.19 am ET Saturday.The world is half light and half dark for the equal amount of hours, a natural balance. Often in December, I find myself wishing for true balance. An equal amount of work, fun and family traditions. For everyone I know, Stress increases 10 fold with school emails flying, requests to spend client budget increasing work hours and the idea of house guests lingering in the near future. Business year-end and a distinct ‘December to Remember’ holiday season creates a perfect cacophony of fun and work. Often, in the hustle culture where Gayle and I started our careers, taking more on was the norm, just like all of us do to close out the year but we did it 12 months a year. Now, as business leaders and founders, it’s clear to Gayle and I that a pace that allows for sports practices, our own doctors appointments and college trips with high schoolers.
Enjoy this WSJ Magazine inspired motivated female founder interview.
You can find Gayle Kalvert here: https://www.creocollective.io/ or https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaylekalvert/
Q: Seasons are just that, a constant shift in nature reminding us of rest or Growth. Today, I’d love to dive into how your career steps have progressed more like a road than a ladder. Can you talk about your pivot to start your own business after years in consulting at Deloitte and Technology marketing?
Gayle: I started Creo Collective because I saw a gap in B2B technology marketing that I inately knew so much about. The name has a lot of meaning about things being more that a ladder, metrics-only business model.
Creo means to create and collective is the team element of life, work and client services that is important to me. Just like the name, the Creo Collective has two focuses under our umbrella – to create an exceptional client experience and work together as a team. Clients deserve services that are above and beyond their expectations while working in a culture that you feel has symbiosis. Our team members are important to the ecosystems of our virtual environment. Creating personal yet professional connections and cross pollinating what we know and how we do it helps Creo Collective evolve.
Perhaps we started speaking about a pathway to success and I think about it metaphorically like a garden on the many stops along the way. Each season you have to plant or prepare to plant new garden beds that work for your team and clients.
Stagnation is not a possibility for our clients and therefore us either. I look at trends and our client experience to stay nimble.
Q: You are bringing up a new visual as we speak. A ladder feels stagnant on each rung. Maybe we shuffle one foot left or right but the illusion of the career ladder also fails to provide real growth.
The cross pollination is a fantastic way to also bring parts of our work from the past into the future where it applies or is most useful. I believe the Bucknell University teaches up how to network, which you just mentioned, too. Having a professional network is part of your work model. Netowrking can have a negative connotation. How has that network and others you’ve created been part of your career trajectory?
Gayle: My company is named after the work connection. I cannot function without connecting the strategic dots of people, places and ideas.
Q: What was the biggest challenge in your shift from consulting to running your own business?
Gayle: ALthough there are business cycles or projects that feel like we are about to be a big challenge, I persist with data and self confidence. I see others getting stuck in a wheel of overthinking decisions or letting their egos get beaten down when the work is not perfect or life hits a downturn.
For me, I believe in myself, my ideas and my business.
It’s backed by years of experience and a great Education. What has never let me get to a challenging place is my longstanding professional and personal network I’ve built over many year.
Connecting and building Relationships is the core of my extroverted personality. Staying connected in business and personally fills my cup to keep going. I know Creo Collective can overcome anything if we analyze the data and get moving.
Q: I love the consistency of your connections internally at work and externally for you personally. It’s also refreshing to hear that you know you have a great backstop with your experience and to keep on moving along with confidence. Doubt really slows us down ultimately.
I’m curious about how you think about your business in the seasons of a year or more. Early on in my childhood I sat on our front steps and watched the moon move through the sky. My fascination with the moon today is more about showing up, being big and also shifting with ease. When I consider careers as moon phase is my career metaphor to step back to examine the phases at each step of the way and not wait for a season shift from fall to winter or winter to spring. Do you have a favorite way to mark phases of life or milestones?
Gayle: Interestingly enough, I am focused on both big and short term goals. My focus is not on seasons or even months. The thought of seasons is an interesting one. However, rather than disecting each week or season, I wholeheartedly stay focused on growing our business to meet our clients where they are and where they are going.
Q: You wear so many hats and although it’s winter and hibernation on the east coast is certainly real in the short days and cold nights, how do you stay motivated at work and parent with the same gusto?
Gayle: My family immigrated from Sweden and it’s so important to keep both cultures alive in how they work and how they live. Many of my relatives in Sweden have started businesses there; its in my DNA. My background and work in major firms was a great place to start but I knew I’d work for myself one day. It’s not easier, necessarily, but I leverage the lessons I’ve gained from working with clients in many scenarios.
Here, as I sit at my desk on Long Island and work to shuttle kids around and wrap up the year, I know that my ability to be focused at work is as critical as staying focused on my kids and husband. When I am there with them I am there. As a working Mom, I am giving my kids the gift of seeing hard working parents grow.
Q: My last question is the same for everyone-What is one low cost wellness practice that works best for you at this stage in life?
Gayle: Noticing my daughter and her friends take time on themselves has been inspiring. When I do my hair or play with a few makeup trends, it’s my version of mediation. The sound of the dryer and my busy hands helps me zone out while allowing great ideas to flow. Why do we stop taking care of ourselves and allow the kids to have all the fun?
Touche!
