Meet Kerry-Ann Reid-Brown

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kerry-Ann Reid-Brown a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kerry-Ann, so great to have you with us today. There are so many topics we want to ask you about, but perhaps the one we can start with is burnout. How have you overcome or avoided burnout?
First, I want to say that I’m not sure there’s ever a way to avoid burnout. I feel like “Overcome or Avoid Burnout” is similar to “Work-Life Balance” so you never completely overcome or avoid burnout. Instead, it’s fluid and what we should focus on is how to pay attention to when we’re experiencing burnout and how to restore ourselves. That being said, here are some strategies that I’ve used to help me recover.

1) Plan to take a break. You need time to rest. Like sleep seriously. This could mean going to bed earlier than you normally do and I tried that consistently for 1 month and felt a world of difference. Sleep is a critical part of the process. This can be a difficult decision to make, but it’s important. Notice the word “plan” because burnout doesn’t happen overnight, it creeps up slowly so when you realize that you’re experiencing burnout it’s time to activate your burnout recovery protocols.

2) Put an end to your day. This is really really important especially if you’re like me working from home. Depending on your work hours this may look very different. The bottom line put an end to the work day to rest.

3) Do fun things – particularly things you haven’t been able to do because you’ve been working in overdrive, causing burnout. So if it’s the novel you’ve been wanting to read but didn’t get to. The botanical garden, beach, theater, museum. Whatever it is, do something fun that you’ve been putting off. Most importantly do these fun things solo and with the people who are close to you.

4) Spend time with friends and family doing fun things or just being more present for the things they want to do.

Recovering from burnout is not just physical, mental or emotional it also means a restoration of my sense of self and the relationships that matter to me.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I am a podcast producer and host. I develop and produce content on a variety of topics that reflect the interests, diversity and experiences of Caribbean Americans. I have produced shows including Strictly Facts: A Guide to Caribbean History & Culture, The Style & Vibes Podcast, as well as shows that I also host including Voice Note Stories, Reels & Riddims and Carry On Friends.

What’s exciting about what I do is that I get to create content for myself and with clients across a variety of topics that are of interest to me. I love meeting the guests that come on the shows that I host and I love learning from them as well as from the guests of the shows that I produce. I also love to share that information with others. It feels good when someone brings up a topic and I can say, I produced an episode for this podcast on that topic or I had this person on my show discussing that topic.

A lot of podcasters do not like to edit podcasts but I love editing. For the past 9 years I’ve been editing my episode, learning about my voice, the way I speak and it’s the same when I edit clients’ episodes. Editing is such a good way to learn a lot of people the way they think and speak. It’s through the editing process I’ve learned how to be a better public speaker, improve my storytelling skills.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
My three most important skills/qualities are: Being strategic – this is feedback that comes up on performance evaluations, psychometrics and from the people around me. I can quickly spot relevant patterns and issues and find alternative ways to proceed.
Operations/Project Management – I’m very organized operationally and I’m always looking for ways to do things better. I enjoy analyzing, designing or redesigning processes.
Resilience – Another feedback that I’ve received often is that I handle pressure and stress well and I overcome adversity and take setbacks in stride.

If someone thinks that they have these qualities naturally then I’d say lean into them. So do more things that allow you to be more strategic or share your ideas the same is true for operations/project management. If someone isn’t particularly good at strategy or operations/project management then I’d say make sure you have other people around you with these skills.

Resilience is unfortunately a result of going through difficult times or situations and don’t want to prescribe an overly broad approach. Therapists are great resources to use to help in the development of this skill that is specific to each individual

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
Play Like a Man, Win Like a Woman: What Men Know About Success that Women Need to Learn by Gail Evans; CNN’s first female executive vice president – played an important role in my development.

I was introduced to this book back in 2012 at a time when I was at a crossroads with my career. Not everything that happens in the workplace is fair but getting sage advice on how to get beyond it is especially helpful and when I began my entrepreneurial pursuits the advice extended my experience in that space as well.

By laying out the object of the game called business and the rules of the game, the author sets out to assist women become more successful in the workplace.

The book reaffirmed things that I was already doing right and things I was definitely doing wrong or not doing at all. Thankfully it offered up great advice and solutions on how to address and handle going forward.

Since reading this book I’ve shared the key wisdom to others – asking them to consider the game at play and the rules of the field. Many people might not like that there’s a game but unfortunately that’s a reality most of us cannot avoid.

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