Brand Strategy Through the Eyes of a 5-Year-Old

This week’s episode is quite a treat because I have a guest who was able to record right here with me because she lives with me. I’m bringing my daughter Huxley Haney onto the podcast today and it was just really a joy to get to talk to her and have a conversation, just the two of us, because when we live in close quarters with all of her brothers and of course her dad, it’s always like a group conversation instead of a one-on-one conversation. So I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I did and I even learned something new about my daughter!

A: Okay, let’s test it out. Now you speak into the microphone.

H: But what do I need to say?

A: You can say something silly.

H: LALALA

A: Okay, so I’ve never recorded with you before, but what we’re going to do is I’m going to ask you a question and then you can answer it. And some of the questions are just going to be random and some are going to be about Mommy’s work.

H: Okay.

A: Okay, the first question I want to ask you, actually, tell everybody who you are.

H: My name is Huxley. I am five. I am turning six on October 5th.

A: October 5th. Whenever you talk, can we put your hand down here so that everybody can hear your beautiful voice?

A: Mm-hmm.(2:28) 

A: I have a question for you. Are you ready?

H: Mm-hmm.

A: What does Mommy do for work?

H: She does a brand strategy.

A: How did you know that? Do you know what that means?

H: Mm-mm.

A: No? That means I help people make their business different than everybody else’s business that sells the same thing as them.

H: Brand strategy.

A: Brand strategy, wow, I’m very impressed that you knew that. So when mommy goes to work, what does she do? Like what am I actually doing when I’m doing brand strategy? What does it look like to you?

H: It looks like to me that you’re doing calls.

A: I do some calls. What else?

H: Um, brand strategy.

A: Brand strategy, that’s what your go to answer now? Very, very good. You’re a pretty smart girl. Alright, what’s your favorite thing to do?

H: My favorite thing to do is with mommy, I like, I love to do work with her.

A: Like what kind of work?

H:  I like to color with mommy for her work.

A: Why don’t you explain to everybody what this is right here that you colored for me?

H: On this picture, it’s me and mommy holding computers up with a stack of computers, and I, and I write words on it.

A: What’d you write?

H: Ali Rae Haney, Huxley Rae Haney.

A: And you told me I could use this for what?

H: Your work.

A: Yeah, but it was a specific part of my work, right?

H: Mm-hmm.

A: Do you remember what? You did draw it a while ago, we’ve been planning out this episode for a while.

H: Mm-hmm.

A: So what was that picture supposed to be for?

H: Mom.

A: Right, but didn’t you say you drew it for a podcast episode?

H: Mm-hmm.

A: This podcast episode that we’re recording right now?

H: Mm-hmm.

A: Oh my goodness, I’m so excited to upload this. It’s gonna be so cool. Look at these shoes, those are, those are nice.

H:  Mm-hmm.

A: Can’t wait for everybody to see our matching red high heels.

H: Mm-hmm.

A: All right, tell me something about yourself, something funny or random or cool. I like to do funny things with my brothers.

A: Oh yeah? What are your brothers’ names?

H: Emerson and Jackson.

A: What kind of funny things do you do with those guys?

H: Make silly faces and do silly things.

A: Yeah, usually in the back of the car while we’re riding, huh?

H: Yeah.

A: Yes, sis is a good co-pilot to have in the back seat when I can’t get back to the boys. She’s good at giving snacks and passing out drinks and taking trash. You do all the things, don’t you?

H: Yep. 

A: All right, tell us something that you’re really good at.

H: I’m really good at coloring and doing crafts.

A: Yeah, you are! Where do you get all your crafts?

H: Um, sometimes I just make them and sometimes people give them to me.

A: Where do we go sometimes to get crafts? Same place that has all the books.

H: The Virginia Library.

A: The Virginia Library?

H: Mm-hmm.

A: Yeah, as opposed to which other library?

H: Sometimes the Kentucky Library. 

A: Yeah, we used to go to the Kentucky Library.

H: Yeah, you can just color there.

A: But not really crafts, just coloring stuff?

H: Yeah.

A: Well, tell us about Kentucky. Did you like Kentucky?

H: Yep.

A: What did you like about it?

H: The library.

A: The library. Anything else?

H:  Um, getting books. 

A: Okay, it doesn’t just have to be about the library. Did you like anything else about Kentucky?

H: Yep, I like to go to Virginia from Kentucky.

A: You liked coming back to Virginia when we were in Kentucky?

H: Mm-hmm.

A: What about church? Did you like church?

H: Uh, yeah.

A: Oh, yeah. That was probably the best thing about Kentucky, wasn’t it?

H: Yep.

A: Yeah, I agree. Very cool. What do you like about Virginia?

H: Um, I like, I love going to the library and spending time with my grandmas and grandpas.

A: Oh, yeah.

H: Mm-hmm.

A: Yeah, I think they love spending time with you, too, girly. 

H: Mm-hmm. 

A: What’s your favorite thing to do with your grandmas and your grandpas?

H: TV and crafts.

A: Always the crafts, girl. You love some crafts, don’t you?

H: Yep.

A: Okay, what else do you want to talk about?

H: I don’t know.

A: Maybe mommy should have had more questions ready.

H: Aw, yep.

A: So you know mommy does brand strategy. Do I do anything else for work?

H: Um, do calls.

A: eah, you mentioned that that’s part of the brand strategy portion. What else do, what else do I do?

H: Um, I don’t know.

A: Record podcast episodes?

H: Record podcast episodes.

A: Okay. Now, if you could be anything you wanted when you grow up, what would it be?

H: Um, I want to be an artist when I grow up.

A: An artist?

H: Mm-hmm. 

A: Do you have a favorite type of craft or art? I would say like a favorite medium. Meaning, do you like painting or pencils or markers? Like what’s your favorite thing to create art with?

H: Painting and markers.

A: Painting and markers?

H: Mm-hmm.

A: Daddy just showed me this really cool video where you put paint in water guns and you spray a canvas and you make art that way. Would that be fun?

H: I’d like that.

A: That would be wild. Would we get so messy?

H: Yeah.

A: Probably so.Who do you think would get the messiest?

H: Um, Emerson.

A: For sure Emerson. Maybe we’ll have to do that. Oh, you want to talk about our summer bucket list?

H: Yep.

A: What all do we have on our summer bucket list? Do you remember?

H: Um, I remember a few things.

A: Tell me what you remember.

H: I remember Daddy saying that he wants to go fishing on our summer bucket list.

A: Oh yeah. Did we go fishing?

H: Um, yep.

A: Check that off our list.

H: Check it. 

A: Checky check. What else?

H: Um, go to the beach and the pool.

A: Did we go to the beach?

H: Yep. Checky check.

A: Did we go to the pool?

H: Yep. Checky check.

A: Anything else? I think you said you wanted specifically a picnic by the pool. Did you have a picnic by the pool?

H: Not really.

A: What? Yes, you did. Izzy bought like a whole picnic basket to take. I thought you guys had sandwiches and stuff.

H: Yep. 

A: Okay, so checky check.

H: Checky check. 

A: That one you can do more often than just once though. It doesn’t have to be a one time thing. I wanted to take you to the Green Valley Book Fair and look at all the books. I don’t think we’ve done that yet.

H: Okay, and Izzy wanted to take us to the zoo again.

A: To the zoo again?

H: Yep.

A: And then we also, um, I don’t remember if it was on the bucket list or not, (11:06) but we went on a really cool trip with Lolly last week. Do you remember where we went?

H: Mm-mm.

A: Really? Yes you do. Where the steps lit up and it looked like piano keys and the zip line.

H: Yeah! 

A: What was that?

H: Um, the Kids Museum.

A: Yes, and do you remember where the Kids Museum was?

H:  Um… 

A: It started with an L. 

H: Left. 

A: It was in Lynchburg.

H: Lynchburg.

A: Yeah, called Amazement Square.

H: Amazement Square. 

A: Why don’t you tell everybody about the Kids Museum. What else did you do there?

H: Um, we played in the water and we painted. We went to a chicken farm and I ride it on a horse. 

A: And there was this, like, cool exhibit with a cow where you could kind of pretend like you were milking the cow and water came out.

H: Yeah, that was pretty fun.

A: What about the, the cool system in the middle that you could go between different, um, levels of the museum?

H: What levels?

A: Like if you wanted to go from floor one to floor two. Or floor two to floor three. You didn’t have to use the steps, right?

H: Yep, or the elevators.

A: How did you get there if you didn’t use the steps or the elevators? 

H: We went down slides and climbed through slides.

A: That was pretty cool.

H: Yep.

A:  I actually went to Amazement Square when I was a little girl. And I remember loving not having to go up the steps or the elevator. That was one of my favorite parts was using this, the slides and the playgrounds to go from level to level. And then my other favorite part, which I think you enjoyed too, was the glass room that you got to paint on the walls.

H: But my feet got dirty and paint on it.

A: Yeah, your feet did get paint on it, but that’s okay. You can always wash them off. It’s okay to get messy sometimes.

H: Yep.

A: Especially when you’re an artist and you’re creating.

H: Yep. I am already an artist.

A: That I know. That I know.

H: But I want to be a more artist.

A: Do you want to be an artist like for fun? Or do you want to be an artist to make money?

H: Artist to make money.

A: Oh, you want to be an entrepreneur like your mama?

H: Yep.

A: Start your own business?

H: Yep.

A: Oh, that makes me happy. I didn’t know that.  Can I help you?

H:  Mm-hmm. 

A: Oh, my goodness! Thank you. I would be honored. I want to show you a craft that I used to do too. When I was little, I used to love doing them. I think I first learned to do them at like…

H: School? 

A: No, it wasn’t school. It was during summer. It was like an overnight camp, maybe Girl Scout camp.

H: What’s a Girl Scout?

A: A Girl Scout is… Oh, that’s kind of a hard question. It’s like a group of girls that gets together to learn new…

H: Things?

A: Yeah, it’s like learn new skills and stuff. So like, you earn different badges as a troop. And the troop is the group of girls. And the skills could be like camping skills, money skills. I’m trying to think of all the different things. Sports, you get to learn different sports. And then, of course, like the big thing that Girl Scouts are known for are like selling cookies. But one of the crafts that I learned while at…I think it was Girl Scout camp was how to do friendship bracelets. And it was like tying specific knots.(15:08) But you could make cool like patterns with all of the colors and stuff.

H: Different colors?

A: Yeah, exactly. And I would always make rainbow ones. I loved rainbows.

H: I love rainbows too. 

A: I know you do. That’s what made me think of it. Because I made one… I even made them into high school when I was like 16 or 17. Because I remember I had one on my backpack that I took to Europe with me. And that’s how I knew it was my backpack on the… What’s it called? The luggage thing. Where you pick up your luggage. You know what I’m talking about?

H: What does luggage mean?

A: Luggage means like your suitcases and stuff. Like when you go on a big trip. And then you fly and you have to wait for your luggage to come off the plane. What is that thing called? Oh, I can’t remember. Oh well.

H: Mommy’s brain is silly.

A: Yeah, it is silly sometimes. But I’ll show you. I’ll teach you how to make friendship bracelets.

H: Okay. 

A: And the other thing that I learned at Girl Scout camp was how to tie-dye t-shirts.

H: I want a tie-dye t-shirt.

A: Do you remember doing that last year with Lolly and Pop and Jess and Ellie and Parker? Remember doing it at the beach?

H: Yep, yep.

A: Yeah, that was a fun trip. Even though it rained most of the time, I still have good memories. Okay, if you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be? If you could go anywhere, where would it be?

H: Like a long trip? 

A: Anywhere. Could be long, could be short.

H: Long is to go to the kids museum.

A: That’s the long trip?

H: Kind of.

A: Is there a different short trip that you’d like to go on?

H: Yep.

A: What’s that?

H: Library. 

A: The library and the kids museum. Nowhere new?

H: Okay, new.

A: I mean, you don’t have to. I’m just curious.

H: Where is new?

A: Is there anything that you’ve always wanted to do that we’ve not been able to do yet? Have you seen a waterfall before? 

H: Yep.

A: Where?

H: Um, on the way to North Carolina.

A: What? When? I don’t remember that.

H: When we stopped to go potty.

A: Oh, that was a fountain. That wasn’t a waterfall. But you’re right, they do have a really nice rest stop on the state line of Virginia and North Carolina.

H: Um, waterfall when Cassie showed you a video of all the beautiful waterfalls.

A: Oh, that’s true. I think that was in Iceland.

H: That was the video she showed me with the beautiful waterfall.

A: But have you seen a waterfall in real life where you actually went and saw it with your own eyes?

H: I don’t think so.

A: So is that something you would want to do? 

H: Yep.

A: How about going on a plane? Do you remember going on a plane when you were a baby?

H: Yep, when I was riding on your suitcase.

A: You remember that? Wow, you weren’t even two years old yet. You’ve got a good memory, girl. 

H: I’ve seen a video of it.

A: Oh, you remember it from the video. That makes sense. That’s actually kind of how I remember my first memories, too. Because Lolly and Pop used to have this old, big video camera. And Pop would sometimes use it, like, at special occasions and holidays. 

H: Like Thanksgiving?

A: Yep, Thanksgiving. My first memory, though, I think, was when I was around two. And it was Easter time, and we were going to church, and Lolly had me in this really cute outfit. And the shoes were white. And I guess it had rained like the day before. And Lolly was like, “Alex, don’t you step in that mud puddle!” And then what did I do?

H: You stepped in it?

A: I stepped in the mud puddle in my nice Easter outfit and nice white shoes. And that’s one of my earliest memories.

H: Why?

A: What do you mean, why? Why did I step in it? Oh, I don’t know. I don’t know.’

H:  Then you shouldn’t have stepped in it.

A: You’re right. You’re right, I shouldn’t have stepped in it. She asked me not to, but I didn’t follow directions. Isn’t that funny? And now I wonder why you guys don’t sometimes follow directions. And it’s because I didn’t follow directions when I was a girlie. I think that’s what they call a full circle moment.

H: Did you have a dress with an Easter bunny on it or an Easter basket or an Easter egg?

A: No, I don’t think it was any like specifically Easter related item on my dress.  I actually think you might have worn the dress when you were a little girl too.  It was blue and white and had like smocked, like a smocked collar, I think. And like a white tie around the waist or something. I cannot remember, but I was really young because I didn’t even have like long hair yet. Sis, did you enjoy recording a podcast episode?

H: Yep.

A: Are you going to listen to it back? Are you going to listen to it with me? 

H: Yeah.

A: Well, thank you.Is there anything else you’d like to say?

H: I don’t think so.

A: You don’t think so? When should I release this episode? As soon as we record it or should I wait until your birthday to record it or release it?

H: Right now. 

A: Right now? Okay, I’ll release it on Wednesday then. Alright, say something funny that you like to be silly with your brothers.

H: I like, they like me turning my head over and making silly faces and then turning my head back over and they laughing at me. 

A: You make them laugh?

H: Yep.

A: I do love that about you. You’re always down to make somebody laugh. Alright, well thank you all for hanging out with us for this episode of the Ali Rae Haney Show.Now I’m going to have to change the name to Ali Rae Haney and Huxley Rae Haney Show. But Huxley has made this very special piece of artwork of me and her holding computers for this podcast episode’s cover. So please go and take a look at that. I’ll make sure that I pair it with the episodes that everybody can see because this is a masterpiece from the artist Huxley Rae Haney.  And you heard it here first yourself that she is going to be an artist when she grows up. So you don’t want to miss out on this piece of artwork. Isn’t that right? Alright, thanks again for tuning in and we will catch you next week.

H: Bye!