Re-listening to it or just in the moment that I took. So I know that you’re gonna walk away, you’re gonna have to smash the like button or the subscribe button for my sponsors on this. They’ll really appreciate it. But the seriously squad, it is an amazing, amazing chat that I had with Miss Nancy Gale.

So, [00:01:00] without further ado, sit back, relax, break out your notebooks. ’cause again, here comes my good friend Nancy Gale from JAMAH Luxury Handbags. And ambition.org. Let’s level up.

Time to Shine today. Podcast Varsity Squad. This is Scott Ferguson. I was just off the mic kind of getting to know a good friend now, good friend Nancy Gale, who’s introduced to me by my business crush out there, miss van Ly. And this is gonna be a fun conversation where both just kind of discover we’re both have some Midwest roots both of us, , she’s over on the left coast out in California.

I’m over here on the East Coast and we just had a really fun conversation about how we mesh. Kind of, , our thought processes and our persistence and resilience. And Nancy Gale is the founder and Desi designer of Luxury Leather handbag, brand JAMAH. She also founded ambition and nonprofit entrepreneurial program for the disadvantaged youth.

Nancy’s embraced her role as a leader by speaking at universities for organizations and on podcasts, weaving together [00:02:00] remarkable stories from our professional and personal lives, including challenges. Such as rape and losing her mother in a brutal murder. With her journey of resilience and perseverance, Nancy is dedicated to inspiring and motivating entrepreneurs of today and tomorrow.

And Miss Nancy, what a story. Thank you so much for coming on. Please introduce yourself to Time to Shine Today, podcast Varsity Squad. But first, love. What is your favorite color and why?

Nancy Gale: Yellow,

L. Scott Ferguson: yellow, and why? It’s happy and

Nancy Gale: fun and, and

L. Scott Ferguson: bright and like about four of those handbags back there kinda have a yellow yield to it as well.

So this is awesome.

Nancy Gale: For quite some time now, yellow has been the new block in fashion. So you

L. Scott Ferguson: know what? I have no idea what you’re talking about, but now that you say, I live in Palm Beach. Okay, so it’s like Wir Ave is here and. Probably, I’m sure your purses might be on worth that. Mm-hmm. It’s like I see a lot of yellow now you think about it.

? So I just don’t have the eye for it, so, so tell me, let’s, like I, I, [00:03:00] you have two of my favorite words with perseverance and resilience, right? And I obviously went through quite a story and I’d like to get to the roots and only sharing what you’re comfortable with sharing, but. I’d like to kind of get to the roots to kind of where you started to where you lived, a life of service, a total Go-Giver, but to where you’re at now.

Nancy Gale: Where am I now? Gosh, I am at the, probably, I mean, I. And this can, , every day I, , I always say every morning I get outta the shower and I say, God, that was the best shower I’ve ever had. Right? So, so today I can say I’m at the most exciting place and some really interesting sort of fantastical crossroads with JAMAH and ambition.

And again, , something can come up tomorrow where I’ll. That will be the most exciting time.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right.

Nancy Gale: But we just in the last two months, Ja JAMAH turned 25. Wow. Ambition turned 15. Wow. And so it, it, we, there’s [00:04:00] substance to what we’re doing. We have this real a true foundation.

And what happens also at those numbers is everybody takes you seriously. Which that’s so true,

L. Scott Ferguson: right? So true.

Nancy Gale: The growth becomes just exponential,

L. Scott Ferguson: right? So funny you say that because. When I was younger, my, my background is real estate investing. , I owned a lot of properties and I was also a real estate broker, and I remember I got started in 1997, which would’ve been, I would’ve been what, 25, right?

Mm-hmm. 26. And like people would be like, how long you been in the business? And my best comeback would be, seems like a lifetime. Right. Like that’s what I would say. But now you, when you have almost 30 years, , under your belt, people are like, I become kinda like a silverback, like the gorilla, , the, the lead where people will come to me, the younger generation and the older generation where I’m not quite too old and I’m not too young, so they take us seriously.

Right. So that’s what you’re. The maturity of your, , your brands. So [00:05:00] can we dig a little bit into kind of your roots, kind of, , I heard the R word in there and the M word, and if you’re comfortable kind of talking about that and how you use maybe some of those obstacles to, to navigate through life and really build what you have built right now, which is super impressive.

Nancy Gale: Thank you. So , it’s interesting when I describe my life, I say I have this extremely charmed life. Yeah. I feel like I had, , just an abundance of opportunity around me. But what I’ve, I learned as time went on is that none of that means that. We haven’t endured challenges, and my life has definitely taught me that my challenges do not dictate my constitution.

And that I can hold two truths. So and I’ll, I’ll, I’ll in a moment, I’ll get into those challenges. But when I’ve, I’ve noticed through my life, whenever I’ve gone through something tricky, people will say to me, I don’t [00:06:00] know how you put on that brave, happy face. And when I came to to learn was that like, I’m happy Nancy.

That’s just who I am.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it.

Nancy Gale: And when I’m going through these challenges. I’m still happy Nancy, going through those challenges. So this sort of realization of holding true truths has been so amazing for me because my constitution is to have this strength and this joy and this happiness, and I’ve learned that that’s exactly what’s going to help me through.

Any situation,

L. Scott Ferguson: love that.

Nancy Gale: And that nobody is going to take away my joy and my happiness. I’ve worked I’m conscious and diligent, and diligent and vigilant about that.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah.

Nancy Gale: And so I thought the best gift in the world is that people look at me and they don’t see [00:07:00] the. A teenager whose mother spent the better part of four years in the hospital, in and out of a coma.

They don’t see the 25-year-old who was walking down a lovely street in New England and attacked and raped, and they don’t see the woman who 10 years, a little over 10 years ago, whose mother was murdered in a home invasion. They get to see me and who I am and all of those things are a part of me, but they don’t own me.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yes, you, you see the lessons. And the, the, the emotions that kind of like blended together to become who you are now and who you walk this earth with, this, that gorgeous smile on your face and lighten up rooms and have, , highly desired bags, ? Mm-hmm. For the ladies, if I’m messed up with calling it bags, ladies, I’m really sorry.

But no, that’s like the, what would you say would be the biggest kind of lesson that you’ve taken from. [00:08:00] Your, your, your past, , the, from the rape from mm-hmm. , your mother, , going in and out of, hospitals from her murder, unfortunately, like what do, what do you think the biggest lesson that you’ve pulled forward that you may also pay forward?

Nancy Gale: I’d say one life is a series of choices that we get to make. Yep.

And the other, and it may sound trite and trivial, but it’s my motivator for the moment that we smile, we cannot be sad.

L. Scott Ferguson: A hundred percent. Yeah. It’s impossible to,

Nancy Gale: it’s impossible. Now. It’s not. If it’s one of those half-assed sarcastic, you’re like,

L. Scott Ferguson: right, right.

But you

Nancy Gale: smile from your gut. It changes your, your physiology, it changes your conversation. Hundred percent. Right? And it doesn’t mean that, oh, now I’m not sad and I’m all fine, just as crying doesn’t mean we’re fine either. Mm-hmm. Because that, that’s, I think, a big misnomer. People will [00:09:00] always say, you can cry.

You know, and I think, I know people who cry at the drop of a hat and they’re not healed.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right. And

Nancy Gale: I, but I think what I, the, the biggest lesson for me is that all of our challenges, just like all of our excitement. It’s not about getting over, right. It’s about marching through. And if we get through things, I think that’s when the solutions stick.

L. Scott Ferguson: So where did you, because I, I kinda live, which I talk to my squad a lot about this, , my coaching clients and stuff that we have our faith. Mm-hmm. Right? We have what we desire, we back it by faith. Mm-hmm. , and we back that faith with a persistence. That doesn’t recognize failure. Right? So where did you kind of say, listen, I’m putting my foot down and this is how I’m going to approach life.

It’s like I can be happy. I have the responsibility. I believe that responsibility is the ability to respond, right? It is rooted right in the word Right. [00:10:00] Not react, but to respond. But what was that moment when you woke up and was like, and were like the. Fuck this or , like, just this is, , I’m going to do this this way.

Nancy Gale: Yeah. So I’ve always been a very like, giggly, joyful person. I can see that in my and, and interestingly even that’s been a, a funny journey because I. For so many years as I became a young adult, people would say, you can’t, you shouldn’t smile and laugh so much. People won’t take you per seriously.

Seriously.

L. Scott Ferguson: Hmm.

Nancy Gale: And that, in fact, I deviated from my career. I decided to become a technical writer and become this serious person, which did not work for me.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah.

Nancy Gale: Because what I ultimately discovered in my, , mid to late twenties was, whatever I decide to do, whatever my path is, I have to have the confidence in my intelligence, my intellect, my ambition.

But I would say and it’s been coming, but [00:11:00] it’s honestly in the last 10, 15 years or so. Mm-hmm. What I really discovered, and I feel so deeply is the world in our day-to-day is not supposed to be this complicated. Big things are complicated. We have big things that we need to do to. To fix big problems in the world.

L. Scott Ferguson: Sure.

Nancy Gale: But we let that filter into our day to day. Right. And if we’re living our day to day with more joy and laughter and ease and and lack of complication Sure. Then we have much more strength. As a community to endure the bigger real problems. And so, you know, I’m one of my favorite expressions, right?

Is sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, right? Feel like we live in a world now that. Everything we do right is about our past. It’s about a [00:12:00] problem there. The, the yes. Abuse now of the term PTSD, especially my husband is a veteran.

L. Scott Ferguson: You do? Yeah. And

Nancy Gale: so and. So I feel like, again, it sounds so simple and because it comes from this, , happy person, right?

It’s very easy for people to say, well, that’s sweet. In fact, what I hear a lot is that’s sweet and funny, but you’ve never really experienced some cha real challenges. Right, right. When they hear my story. Right. So I, I feel one of the, the, something that’s so important, and especially interestingly for entrepreneurs and people who are building businesses.

If you can simplify your life in your home, you have, again, much more strength in, in your foundation to then be able to build a successful business. A hundred percent.

L. Scott Ferguson: It’s the bedrock, right? Yeah. It’s whatever. Especially at home, it’s, it’s gotta be on point. Yes. it’s, it must be, if not it, you’ve gotta go through that before you take a [00:13:00] lot of that out in the world and it’s just not.

It’s not fair to the world. Right. Especially as much as you wanna give. , it’s funny that you say that. Not funny. It’s, it’s very important that you kind of mentioned that a lot of people live. In the past, like we, I’ll have my clients, my coaching clients sit in their car if I’m blessed to coach ’em in person.

And I’ll say, Hey, this rear view mirror right here, it’s small for a reason. That’s your past. It’s a great place to learn from. It’s a great place to maybe visit for some good memories and pull them forward. But we can’t live there. It’s happened, but if you need help there, I don’t have an alphabet after my name.

 That, that you need a doctor. You need a. , a therapist, , but this big windshield in your car. Oh my gosh, it’s scary. Where are we going? Oh my gosh. , but since 2011 on the dashboard, now everybody has it in their pocket is a GPS. Mm-hmm. And that’s where I kind of come in and if we need to make the turns, , and whatnot, we’ll we’ll get you there, but I still can’t buckle your seatbelt if you so choose to start the car and drive.

Right. So when they get in their car every [00:14:00] time they’re like. Oh, I get, oh there’s, it’s like, it’s almost subconsciously I planted it Uhhuh, but so many people live right there. Like try driving like that. I told, , I’ll tell ’em. Right. It’s, it’s crazy. So what do you feel then, this is super blanket question right now, but what do you feel then makes a great entrepreneur?

Nancy Gale: I think. Firstly, like the, this foundation, I, I believe for an entrepreneur is that we see things that other people don’t believe exists, right? That we have answers to, questions that haven’t been asked along the way. Anybody who can’t see things that don’t exist are the people that will tell you it can’t be done.

Yes. So I think one of the first things that makes a great entrepreneur is knowing not to be offended by that. But to stay really steadfast to what you believe.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yes.

Nancy Gale: [00:15:00] Another I think key component, and this one’s an interesting one, right? Because one of the first questions people ask you when you’re starting your business, especially if you’re looking for funding, is what’s your exit strategy?

Right. So immediately we’re taking someone from a thought to an end. Right. I think when you’re building a really serious business, at least one that you’re really impassioned about, you are not looking at your exit. Nope. Right? We and I, people shudder when I say that because I, you, in fact, 25 years ago people looked at that as though I didn’t understand what building a business was.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah.

Nancy Gale: But when you go back, especially in my industry, right, a hundred, 125 years Coco, Chanel Terry and Hermes, they didn’t say, I’m going to build this big brand.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right?

Nancy Gale: You work. And, and so this, I would say would be the key,

L. Scott Ferguson: right?

Nancy Gale: Working really hard at what your, [00:16:00] at, at in your passion, looking at your goals and believing that that.

Hard, hard work that, that dedication, ultimately the end goal will, will reveal itself.

L. Scott Ferguson: I love that so many people say, I’ll believe it when I see it, right? People like you and I and other people that , I’m blessed to coach and other people that I hang out with. My community is people. , we see it when we believe it, right?

Mm-hmm. There’s so many people. I believe it when I see it. I see it when I believe, if I believe in something enough. I can see that fricking thing happening. You know what I’m saying? That’s where my vision takes over and be like, okay, what do we do with this? And then there’s a lot of different nuances that are gonna come up and different paths.

And I’m blessed to have, have had the same coach for 19 years. Mm-hmm. , she puts up with me and she, you holds my feet to the fire and makes that responsibility happen. But like again, you, you see it when you believe it. A hundred percent.

Nancy Gale: I.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right.

Nancy Gale: I love that. , it’s interesting. I had this sort of [00:17:00] pivotal moment I was driving on the 10 freeway with a gal that I, I used to know.

L. Scott Ferguson: Mm-hmm.

Nancy Gale: And I said, you know, what I’ve realized about JAMAH is it’s not just a brand. It’s destined to become the first ultra luxury made in USA handbag house.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it.

Nancy Gale: She turned to me and said, well, that won’t happen. There will never be another big house, especially not made in the USA. And my whole intention was Sure.

Made in the USA and I remember in that moment

L. Scott Ferguson: you dropped her off on the tongue. I’m kidding.

Nancy Gale: Well, I, what helped me is because after I got over that, I thought to myself, don’t be upset with her. Right. She just can’t see it. Yeah. She can see. I think one of the biggest components of entrepreneurship is I thought to myself in that moment, and I am really [00:18:00] patient.

I don’t care if this takes me 25 years to build.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah. Patience is huge as long as you’re persistent. Patience is cool. Mm-hmm. You know? Yeah. And, and doing it. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. So, JAMAH, the name, where did it come from?

Nancy Gale: Oh gosh. So, , JAMAH has a, a bevy of meanings and I, I always joke if my last name was, , Al, she, perhaps I would’ve gone with that.

Right? Right. But I, I. Went through a, a long period of time looking for names, figuring, , do I wanna be eponymous? I didn’t want it to be Nancy Gale. Mm-hmm. I wanted something that felt that it had sort of depth of meaning. And so I, I came upon the word drama. I loved what it looked like. I had an immediate idea of the letter J being, the, the representation of the word, and we’d have that in the bags. Right? So some of the meanings so it’s a, a [00:19:00] name for girls derived from the Arabic world word for pearl or diamond. Oh wow. That’s perfect for a luxury brand. A hundred percent. Another meaning is JAMAH represents community or togetherness.

Okay. There’s a park in the Western Cape of South Africa South Africa, sorry. Called JAMAH Park.

L. Scott Ferguson: Okay. And that

Nancy Gale: has been said to represent freedom.

L. Scott Ferguson: Wow. Okay.

Nancy Gale: But then I had a really interesting moment. I. Someone asked me one day if I practice Buddhism.

L. Scott Ferguson: Mm-hmm.

Nancy Gale: And I responded, well, I do not. Why do you ask?

And he said, well, you have such a calm energy that you are always laughing and giggling and excited. And so it makes sense to me that your brand is called JAMAH. And because he said, , perhaps you aren’t aware, but in Buddhism there are certain sounds that represent feelings or words and the sounds.

Mm-hmm. JAMAH represents to [00:20:00] be, and I thought that was just fascinating to me.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right.

Nancy Gale: And my favorite expression has been always been Be who you are. Yeah. And be where you are. Right. It’s, yes.

L. Scott Ferguson: Okay.

Nancy Gale: And so I thought, well, that’s kismet. So that then became my tagline, be who you are. Sure. And then Brad became JAMAH.

And one thing I love about it is that we are constantly asked what that means. Right. Which I know is a very good thing.

L. Scott Ferguson: Well, absolutely. That’s, and it’s amazing, like, , even when all those people. That will tell you, begin with the end of mind. , Stephen Covey, Stephen Covey’s number four rule.

Like when you have a, a branded name like that, you can, if you ever wanted to sell the company way down the road, it’s there. It’s not like you’re selling your name. So they’re, they’re the company, right? So, which is a brilliant move on your part. So I’m sure you get approached by, , entrepreneurs that want to become at your level and stuff like that.

I’m sure you get bombarded with questions, but is there one [00:21:00] question? That you wish they would ask you but never do.

Nancy Gale: yes. And it’s, sort of the, the theory of overnight success.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah, overnight success. It took 25 years, right? Yeah.

Nancy Gale: Yes. And I wish they would dig into that because again, we’ve been in my industry, right?

Fast fashion, right? In the tech world, right. Everything is moving like that. So I wish people would, dig into the idea of overnight success because one of my favorite conversations, and especially now while we live in this world of, , this idea of balance. Mm-hmm. Which I don’t understand. I’m, I’m big fan of Blend.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah. Like,

Nancy Gale: we just blend all the components of our life together. But I think I love that too. We have,

L. Scott Ferguson: yeah.

Nancy Gale: More conversations about the joy of hard work.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah.

Nancy Gale: Yeah, so that, yeah, so

L. Scott Ferguson: many people want balance. You put 10 pounds here, 10 pounds here, it’s like zero. , like I believe in harmony. [00:22:00] Like my book that’s coming out, another shout out, it’s called Harmonic Hustle, right?

And Oh wow. Basically, like I love jazz. , me and my Susan, we love jazz. We like to seek out little holes in the wall and listen to jazz, but. , when I’m with clients, , my clients out there, thank you for like hearing this out again. But I’ll say, okay, your God or spiritual is the drums, right?

Your personal might be the guitar. Piano is the family community is the horns and on and on through work. Money, living environment, health and ed, , recreation, right? Each one of them is a different instrument. If one of them’s outta tune, it sounds like junk. But if you could just tune up that one area of your life, , that needs it the most, you bring back harmony in it.

I’m not saying you have to be Beethoven or Eddie Van Halen or anything like that, right. Or Louis Armstrong. You don’t have to be that, but just get it back into harmony and blending, like you said, is where I believe that the magic really happens and that you can progress. If everyone’s like, I gotta get this.

Then, then where do you go from there? , there’s no more [00:23:00] notes to play, , there’s nothing else to do. So I

Nancy Gale: love that.

L. Scott Ferguson: Thank you. So going into this, then, maybe this will segue into this question is have you seen the movie Back to the Future? Yes. Okay. Can’t believe it’s 40 years old tomorrow.

The movie is 40 years old tomorrow. So let’s get in that DeLorean with Marty McFly. Let’s go back to the double deuce, the 22-year-old Nancy. What knowledge nuggets would you drop on her? Not so much to change anything right? But to maybe shorten her learning curve, blast through maybe a little bit quicker.

What might you tell her?

Nancy Gale: I think the first thing would be, and it sounds so I.

Commonplace, but the idea of not worrying about what people think. Yes, thank you. And but in a little bit of a different way, because , there’s this idea, people always say, oh, the great thing about getting older is you stop caring about what people think. I always wanna care about what people think because [00:24:00] I don’t wanna be a dick.

L. Scott Ferguson: Thank you.

Nancy Gale: Right. But I have to, I had to. Put aside what they thought when it came to the building of my business.

L. Scott Ferguson: Sure.

Nancy Gale: Because this vision was so embedded that I knew that any of those conversations would really take me away from my goal and my mission. However, I also had to build a place to hear what people that I found successful thought even then, though, right?

That didn’t mean that they knew better and more about my vision.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right. Right. It, it, it’s so funny ’cause not funny, but like, I make two year’s resolutions every year. Mm-hmm. Like one, make someone smile every single day, okay? Mm-hmm. And two, unless I’ve hurt you, disrespect you, owe you or judge you, I give zero shits about what you think about me.

I don’t care if I’ve did one of those things. Like, you just kind of said, be nice, but don’t give energy to what people think I believe is what you said. So it it, [00:25:00] it’s, that’s what it is. I believe that that success in anything is buried there. Yeah. Whether it’s success in relationships with such in your business success, in your studies, your sports, it’s like, if I’ve hurt you, I, I will apologize profusely.

Hopefully you accept it. But if I didn’t, I don’t care. , I got my beat, my drum, it’s going and this is the way I’m marching, ? And I do it with guidance from people that I trust that wanna be part of that squad. Right? Yes. And I can see you as being the same. So how does Nancy want her dash remembered?

Then that little line in between your incarnation date and your expiration date, your life date, and death date. How does Nancy want her dash remembered?

Nancy Gale: I want to be remembered for my smile.

L. Scott Ferguson: Okay. That’s it. You lighten up the room, right?

Nancy Gale: That’s it. Yeah. And if you’re

L. Scott Ferguson: watching on Vimeo or YouTube, she’s stunning people.

Like she’s awesome. Her energy is just flowing through and I can feel, I could just talk to you all day. , this is, this is, this is awesome. But somebody that remembered that smiled probably gave a whole hell of a lot [00:26:00] too. Right. Yeah. You’re, you’re, yeah. You’re so humble. Yeah. You gave a lot of your time and energy and resources, but that’s what you have to, to kinda get somewhere.

So, Nancy, what do you think, if anything, people might misunderstand the most about you?

Nancy Gale: You know, it’s funny sort of just turn that off. We’re on sort of on point with that, that because someone smiles and is happy and exudes joy that you don’t know about them. We actually have a program in my, in Ambition, our nonprofit called You Don’t Know About Me.

L. Scott Ferguson: Mm-hmm.

Nancy Gale: And I think I have. Spent years and, and again as an adult or in this sort of segment of my life, have learned to not put too much weight on that, but I’ve spent years.

And maybe some of it’s just me but sort of battling that because I’m this happy, joyful person, right? [00:27:00] Perhaps there are things that I don’t know, understand challenges that I haven’t been through. So I would say people. What’s been most understood is that the, the look and the excitement don’t equal what I haven’t, haven’t

L. Scott Ferguson: been through.

You’re a savage. Mm-hmm. They, they don’t, they don’t see that. All they see is the smile. They see the M product. Yeah. , I’m blessed to coach a lot of athletes. A Super Bowl winner, major league baseball player. They’re won the World Series. Like they don’t see the reps that they put in to get to where they’re at.

Right. Yeah. They don’t see what you did in the background. They might not take you seriously. ? Exactly, exactly. So was there ever a time, okay, and I, and I say this with all due respect, but was there ever a time when, ’cause I know a lot of females that are on the come up, right? Mm-hmm. That overplay something to be believed.

They’ll like play way more into it to be believed, but [00:28:00] then they realize that they don’t really ever have to do that. Did you ever do that? Like actually maybe embellish or anything like that? Like, like I did, I’ll tell you right now, I faked it till I made it, ? So I’m not gonna lie to you, but like for a woman, it’s a different route to be taken seriously.

Unfortunately we’re still there, but . Did you ever kind of do that?

Nancy Gale: I mean, I literally, like I knew I wanted to be in the fashion industry. My sure. Entire life, right? And I became a technical writer to show people that I was, I could be serious. I worked with Bank of America, Transamerica, I mean, Ernst Young, everything that was not me, right?

And so I, I changed my entire life to sort of appease that notion. So if you think that I’m not serious enough, if you can’t take me seriously, I will change my entire career. Right. And become that person who who, who’s sort of, , affiliated in the [00:29:00] very left brain world. Sure. So I feel like I, I sort of told the biggest lie and the biggest embellishment is to the point where I changed my entire trajectory just to

L. Scott Ferguson: prove something to him.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Wow, that’s stepping out. That’s bold. That’s bolder than anything else, to be honest with you. So what is Nancy’s definition of a life or live.

Nancy Gale: A life where you wake up every day and you without thought, look around and take in the greatness that you have. Right? That you’re, you can smile every day no matter what you’re going through, that you can again, be those two things at once.

So I can live with a life of big challenges, daily challenges. Yeah. Struggles with my business, struggles with, , anything in the world, but that I can go to bed at night saying, gosh, I’ve got a lot.

L. Scott Ferguson: You’re gonna want to give more and more and more to the world. , like I, I’m a big believer when I die, my inbox won’t be empty.

, I don’t care if I’m [00:30:00] 90, , it’s, I think I’m always gonna be giving and, and, and moving forward. ’cause it’s just, it’s more fun. It’s just super fun to do that. Yes. , I’ve just found out, I mean, you make some serious like connections when you’re that way. You make your squad of people, you’re flying with eagles instead of clocking with chickens.

It’s kinda like that happens, right. And it’s just living that life of, , everyone wants to get to live in a life of options and not obligations, but there’s stuff that has to be done within that. .

Time to shine today. Podcast Varsity squad. We are back. And Nancy, if I’m over on the left coast or so, I, I know I have a speak engagement in Santa Monica in a couple months, so maybe, I don’t know if you’re close to there or not, but like we can kind of meet up, enjoy a coffee or something and I could probably ask you some of these questions when we talk 15, 20 minutes.

But today you have five seconds and with no explanations and I promise you they can all be answered that way. You ready to level up? Okay, here we go. What is the best leveling up advice Nancy’s ever received?

Nancy Gale: Received [00:31:00] is it’s a little exercise called stop. Stands for, settle down, take a breath, own it.

L. Scott Ferguson: Poof. Enjoy. I love it

Nancy Gale: For 30, 40 seconds, five, six times a day. And it, it’s the, that’s beautiful. The best reset ever.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it. She one of your personal habits that contributes to your success.

Nancy Gale: Smiling.

L. Scott Ferguson: Go. Awesome. There’s, you see me maybe walking down the street or an event and you’re like, Fergie man. He looks like he’s in his doldrums a little bit.

Is there a book that you’ve read that kind of like flipped that switch in your brain a little bit that you might hand me

Nancy Gale: Char? Yeah, definitely Willy Wonka and the chocolate.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it. Love it. You most commonly used emoji, if any when you text.

Nancy Gale: Oh, the Happy Face, the star

L. Scott Ferguson: Eyes. Nicknames growing up.

Nancy Gale: Pollyanna, Disneyland.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it. Love it. So do you have any hi hidden talents or superpowers that nobody knows about [00:32:00] maybe until now?

Nancy Gale: People who don’t know me are pro perhaps a bit surprised that I jumped out of an airplane over a thousand times and

L. Scott Ferguson: I’m a, that’s good enough for me. Perfect. Chest checkers or monopoly?

Nancy Gale: Monopoly.

L. Scott Ferguson: All right. Headline for your life.

Nancy Gale: Oh, headline for my life. Happiness.

L. Scott Ferguson: Beautiful. So if you could take a time machine mm-hmm. And go 20 years forward, or any time in your past. Mm-hmm. But always come back to the now. Right. Within 48 hours, you could spend two days in the future and anytime your past, which would you choose?

Nancy Gale: Future.

L. Scott Ferguson: Me too. We kinda see what’s going on. Go to ice cream flavor, chocolate. All right. There’s a sandwich called the Pollyanna. Build that sandwich for me. What are we eating?

Nancy Gale: Cheese, lots [00:33:00] of meat.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right? Mustard. Beautiful. Love it. Favorite charity and or organization you’d like to give your time and or money to, which is probably ambition, but is there any ambition?

Okay. Without a doubt. Mm-hmm. Last question, you can elaborate on this one a little bit, but best decade of music, 60 seventies, eighties, or nineties?

Nancy Gale: Oh gosh. Ah.

L. Scott Ferguson: Sixties. Sixties. All right. Very cool. Very good. We talked off mic so I can understand why that might be like your jam there. Yeah. Love it. So how can we find you?

Nancy Gale: Two websites, JAMAH.com, JAH and ambition.org.

L. Scott Ferguson: Squad, here’s ambition, which we’re gonna get into both of these a little bit, but JAMAH I like, you’re right, that Jay on there is, it’s a beautiful Jay. That’s very nice. Ah, that’s cool. What a fancy schmancy stuff.

Nancy Gale: This is awesome. Good

L. Scott Ferguson: stuff made in the

Nancy Gale: USA

L. Scott Ferguson: Yes squad.

And if you have a lady has a birthday [00:34:00] or anything coming up, please visit the site. It will be in the show notes. Excellent. And the story behind with you building. This is just amazing. Thank you, Nancy. And how about ambition? Talk to us about the ambition.

Nancy Gale: Oh goodness. So when JAMAH was about 10 years old okay.

I, the, the one thing I knew that was missing, and I, and not even necessarily from my life, but just from my world was working with disadvantaged teenagers, just something I’d always wanted to do. I always felt like, , I grew up with a lot of access and exposure.

L. Scott Ferguson: Mm-hmm.

Nancy Gale: So I wanted a place and, and it’s interesting with JAMAH working with clients of great means.

I always thought, gosh, what happens when you don’t grow up that way? Like, who gives you access and exposure? And that for me was the real difference between, right, the haves and the have nots. It’s not dollars, it’s access and exposure.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right. Right.

Nancy Gale: And there was a, a big [00:35:00] trend, right, with cause marketing and what I felt like was a lot of companies were doing the find a cause, any cause, act like you care and then make right, sell more bags.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right?

Nancy Gale: But I don’t wanna do that. I want to start a program that is so intrinsically connected that one cannot survive without the other. Because I knew if I started a nonprofit. That my time would, I, I’d start fighting for my time and that when things got really, really busy, the nonprofit would fail.

Right? That’s just the way life goes. So I thought, I want to start, I wanna hold my feet to the fire, so I wanna start a program that depends on my livelihood and vice versa.

L. Scott Ferguson: They’ve merged in a sense, blended in a sense, right? Yes. They said, okay.

Nancy Gale: And instead of making it where when we sell a bag, we’ll donate I’m just going to build a really successful company that provides the [00:36:00] bandwidth to support my nonprofit.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it.

Nancy Gale: And the way I wanna connect the pieces is everybody who works with JAMAH will volunteer for ambition. So that’s the real connection for us.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it.

Nancy Gale: Everybody that works with me in one way or another contributes to ambition.

L. Scott Ferguson: Got you.

Nancy Gale: And now what’s been fantastic is a lot of my motor car collection clients are now starting to donate to and volunteer for ambition.

Wow. Okay. So it’s become really holistic.

L. Scott Ferguson: Got you. So you are actually taking the. So some of the proceeds. I’ll call ’em proceeds, from the JAMAH and kind of built ambition. Right. So you didn’t really have to say, okay, I’m going to put this much of a bag, which they’re, they’re very well priced, but they’re not, , they’re for the certain person out there.

Yes. You’re not saying, okay, I’m taking this [00:37:00] part in, donating it towards ambition. So you wanted to build a, a, a structure of your company that really could carry ambition along for the ride then, right.

Nancy Gale: Yes. Okay. And, but I also had to be very mindful of the times that are tough with JAMAH. So like I, I had to figure out all the different ways that ambition would still be able to flourish.

Sure. No matter what was happening at JAMAH. Gotcha. But, but at the same time, for JAMAH to be carrying ambition

L. Scott Ferguson: right. So you have a kind of a fail safe in there in a sense, , where if like something happens that we’re still at least getting donations, scholarships, , stuff like that into ambition.

Yeah. Okay. I love that, that that platform. That’s beautiful. And squad I’m gonna put ambition kind of at the top of the show notes. And once you just go in there and click on the donate button, it’s, she makes it very easy. And it, is there a minimum or can somebody just donate anything they want? Oh

Nancy Gale: gosh.

$5.

L. Scott Ferguson: Okay. Yeah, that works. [00:38:00] $5,000. Okay. Beautiful. And then they have scholarship funds, student growth and entrepreneurship on initiatives program and curriculum operations. The use of your proceeds. So a hundred percent of anything goes right into ambition, right? That is donated. Correct. If you

Nancy Gale: generate there, and it goes to everything from programming, our volunteer programs, our scholarships, everything it takes to run.

And, and every day that could be something different, but it’s all in the the name of ambition and the growth of ambition.

L. Scott Ferguson: Gotcha. Can people donate anonymously on it too? Absolutely. Okay. Yeah. Very good. Okay, beautiful. That’s, that’s fantastic. And squad again, all that will be in the show notes. And I’m sorry we took us a little long.

I just love talking to entrepreneurs that have built companies out there squad. So I’m sure you’ve picked up a lot, but miss. Nancy, can you please kindly leave us with one last knowledge nugget that we can take with us, internalize and take action on?

Nancy Gale: Yes. Approach your [00:39:00] business and your life with power, not pity.

I.

L. Scott Ferguson: Wow, that’s strong. That’s strong in squad. Mm-hmm. I got a free masterclass, kind of an entrepreneurship by my really good new friend here, Nancy. And again van, thank you so much for the introduction. But she believes, , Nancy believes that day by day life gets more exciting. She’s a company that’s 25 years old and followed that up with another one that’s 15 years old.

She feels that she’s lived an extremely charmed life full of opportunities, but there was some roadblocks out there, but she didn’t let that stop us. she said never means. Never mean we are going to endure challenges. So she wants you to remind you about that, but they do not dictate their constitution and the, and the truths that we are held to.

So be vigilant about guarding your happiness and what you want to do with your life. , life is a series of choices that we make. So, again. Every, which goes back to questions that you ask yourself, squad that I’ve talked about a lot. Ask yourself powerful questions. [00:40:00] It’s gonna make you really dig deep and make those really solid choices.

, my friend Nancy is living a life of intention, not attention. She’s not out there going, look at me, look at me. she’s out there really building something through ambition that’s really providing for our youth. I mean, she’s planting trees. She’s never gonna sit in the shade of, , she’s gonna be remembered kind of as somebody that slid across home plate, bumped, bruised, had a lot of, , stuff in her life that was not so favorable, but she did not let that stop us.

Right? She’s building a brand that will be the first extra luxury brand that is fully USA baby. And I will love that. And , lastly. She reminded us approach your business with power and never pity and that you are the epitome of that. Nancy, thank you so much for coming on. You’ve leveled up your health, you leveled up your wealth, you gave us some serious knowledge nuggets here.

You’re in your Varsity squad letter here at Time to Shine Today. You’re absolutely stunning. Beautiful, awesome, powerful business woman, and that’s the people we like to align with here. So thank you so much for coming on.

Nancy Gale: Thank [00:41:00] you so much.L. Scott Ferguson: Awesome sauce. Chat soon.