In this episode, host Lorie Jones spotlights powerhouse Rhonda Overby, chair and CEO of Camera Ready, who went from humble beginnings to reporting at the White House and ultimately building her own thriving business.
You’ll hear how Rhonda built a remarkable career in network news before boldly pivoting to entrepreneurship, founding her own strategic communications company. Along the way, she shares how perpetual learning, smart financial decisions, and knowing when it’s time to chase new challenges shaped her extraordinary career. She also opens up about navigating unique challenges as a woman, learning the value of firm boundaries—and her proudest accomplishment of all: raising a thriving daughter while paying it forward.
Tune in for a masterclass in self-belief, ambition, and making things happen on your own terms—this episode will leave you inspired to dream big and work fearlessly towards your goals.
Show Highlights:
- A masterclass in choosing and pursuing the right career path. [05:29]
- Becoming an entrepreneur to create generational wealth. [11:26]
- The power of perpetual learning and identifying self-mastery. [14:05]
- Financial lessons for minimizing debt and learning to invest. [16:54]
- Why you must seize unique, time-sensitive opportunities. [23:06]
- How to handle the fear of failure with mindfulness strategies. [30:27]
- “Me-too” moments, and gender bias in entrepreneurship. [33:55]
- The need to dismantle myths about success for young women. [36:46]
- What does it mean to raise children vs. being their friend? [40:12]
- “Why, what, how” advice for the next generation of career women. [42:48]
To connect with Rhonda Overby or learn about her signature message, “Propertize®”, visit https://camerareadyinc.com/.
If you enjoyed this episode, please go to Apple Podcasts and leave a review!
For more information about Lorie Jones, go to https://fearlessfinancialadvisors.com/fearless-females.
00:01.95
Lorie Jones
Good morning, fearless females. So we are here today with Rhonda Overby. She is the chairman and CEO of Camera Ready. And I’m so excited for this interview today, Rhonda. i just, I’ve been thinking about our our pre-interview conversation and I just am so excited to hear about your journey.
00:19.05
Lorie Jones
Thank you so much for doing this.
00:21.04
Rhonda Overby
Thank you for doing what you do, inviting fearless females to share their stories in hopes of helping someone else achieve their dreams. It is why I am on the planet. So thank you for having me.
00:35.21
Lorie Jones
So I love that we’ve got like aligned goals and mission statements. I think this is going to be really great. Rhonda, tell me first, it’s my very favorite question because I’m a reader. What is your favorite
00:49.17
Rhonda Overby
So Laurie, superlatives are very different difficult for me because I’m like favorite for what? But if I had to pick only one, i would say The Wisdom of Florence Scoville Shin. Are you familiar with it?
01:04.28
Rhonda Overby
It is four books in one and it is not a big book. It is timeless. And that’s not just my opinion to the extent that the first book, The Game of Life and How to Play It,
01:17.58
Rhonda Overby
and in that means to win was written in 1925. For 100 years ago, it remains a bestseller on Amazon because its advice is still relevant.
01:22.47
Lorie Jones
Oh my gosh.
01:25.64
Lorie Jones
huh.
01:32.37
Rhonda Overby
It goes into love, money, your word is your wand. And I think that is particularly important in this alleged post-truth era, which is just frightening on so many levels. So if I have to only have one, it would be the wisdom of Florence Goebbelschen.
01:54.74
Lorie Jones
I know i I laugh at that question all the time, Rhonda, because like if you asked me to choose one, it would be like the favorite book of the week. Like I could not narrow that down to one. So I appreciate you doing that for me.
02:07.94
Lorie Jones
So first, tell me a little bit about your journey. How did you get started? um where are you at today? Kind of what do you do? Just tell me a little bit about how you how you got where you’re at.
02:19.20
Rhonda Overby
How far back do you wanna go?
02:21.64
Lorie Jones
Yeah, i love those that like, knew when they were young what they wanted to do. Were you one of those?
02:28.32
Rhonda Overby
i was not. I thought I wanted to be an attorney and my high school guidance counselor asked me why.
02:33.58
Lorie Jones
Okay.
02:38.33
Rhonda Overby
And i said, I think it would be enjoyable. I think I would be good at it and i need to make a lot of money and they make a lot of money. And I needed to because I grew up impoverished.
02:49.47
Rhonda Overby
And she said, attorneys don’t make a lot of money. And I said, yes, they do. And she said, oh, well, if you become a partner at a major firm, you do.
02:59.98
Rhonda Overby
She said, but they don’t start out making much money. In fact, they start out making what teachers make. And I’m from Virginia where teachers don’t have high salaries. So, and she’s like, furthermore, you have to go to college post undergraduate and you have to pass the bar. So it really, so she said, you should be an engineer because you have such great science and math scores and they need female engineers now and they start out making a lot of money.
03:29.57
Rhonda Overby
So she excitedly arranged for me to spend the day at an engineering firm. And it happened to be an engineering architecture firm. And so the partner takes me around and he excitedly goes into the kitchen with the plumbing and turns on the faucet and excitedly says, don’t you just wonder how all the pipes are connected so that we get water and we do the same with the light switches, et cetera. And I’m thinking, you know what, as long as I turn it on and the water flows, I’m good.
03:59.18
Lorie Jones
Bye.
03:59.17
Rhonda Overby
Same with the light switch. On the architecture side, however, I found that creativity fascinating. And I thought, wow, to be able to dream a building, a home, and at whatever it is, and bring that to life, that would be fantastic. fantastic dick But I thought, I don’t have enough natural drawing ability.
04:18.92
Rhonda Overby
And the architect is like, oh, you know when I was coming up, we needed to be able to draw. Everything is computer-aided now. You don’t need to be able to draw at all. And I thought, but wouldn’t it be better if I could?
04:29.95
Rhonda Overby
And he’s like, yeah. So me always thinking you should be optimal. um I thought, OK, not that. But I had always done ah the announcements. And one morning, the assistant principal, after I’d given the announcements, came in. She said, your voice carries so well over the PA system.
04:47.58
Rhonda Overby
Have you ever thought about doing that for a living? And for a fraction of a second, I’m like, the announcements. And then I thought, news. Yes. So I thought, that’s actually what I want to do.
05:00.34
Rhonda Overby
And I went to my counselor and she said, well, the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill is the best school on the East Coast for that. But I was a presidential scholar and I skipped the 11th grade, although skipping was illegal the entire time I was in school.
05:15.18
Rhonda Overby
That’s a whole other story that was only because I realized as a sophomore. when we had this meeting, that every class would be an AP class because I was always and gifted and talented. And I would have to take each test. So each class would be a freshman college course. And I would have to pay the money to take each test so that I wouldn’t have to repeat that as a freshman. And I thought that was just insane. Why not just be a freshman? So after they…
05:41.39
Rhonda Overby
went to the school board and everything behind closed doors because I was a minor and I had to lobby, et cetera, et cetera, but it happened. But I ended up applying late to UNC Chapel Hill because all of a sudden I’m a senior and I’m away in Washington as a presidential scholar.
05:57.51
Rhonda Overby
um So I forfeited the National Merit Award, forfeited a full ride to the College of William and Mary and get to UNC. where they say, oh, fewer than 13% of the people who graduate with degrees in the field ever get jobs in the industry, much fewer on television. So if that’s why you’re here, you need to come up with something else.
06:20.95
Rhonda Overby
And I thought, oh, there is no plan B. I declared independent status to get here. And I don’t know what that number is, if it’s 0.002%.
06:34.52
Rhonda Overby
But whenever I turn the news on, i hear somebody saying, good evening, thank you for joining us, topping the news at this hour. I’m like, I’m going to be in that number. So I started working in radio as a teenager, a young teenager, my freshman year, first semester on campus.
06:51.36
Rhonda Overby
And then applied for an internship, which happened to be at WTBD in Durham, which is an ABC owned and operated station. And it was more than a half an hour from campus.
07:04.02
Rhonda Overby
I did not have a car. When I think back now and when I interviewed, um they asked if I wanted to see the stars or if I wanted to get real experience.
07:16.44
Rhonda Overby
And I said, real experience, because why else are you interning?
07:20.06
Lorie Jones
Right. Yeah.
07:20.69
Rhonda Overby
And so she suggested that if I showed up at four in the morning and very at eight, I think on the weekends, no other intern wanted that. And I would actually report because they didn’t have the staff.
07:34.81
Rhonda Overby
So that’s what I did. When I look back, Lori, how I got there. every time is fascinating to me because we didn’t have ah public transportation at that hour between the two destinations, but where there is determination, you can make things happen.
07:47.68
Lorie Jones
yeah
07:54.51
Rhonda Overby
So I always say, don’t let someone else tell you what you cannot do. If you’re willing to do what it takes to do it. And one thing led to another,
08:05.00
Rhonda Overby
um
08:08.23
Rhonda Overby
until I decided I didn’t want to do news anymore. It was fantastic training. I was on the fast track. I would move to a different market every year ah
08:17.35
Lorie Jones
Uh-huh.
08:18.33
Rhonda Overby
and realize, wow, okay, now I’m really well paid and would go from the White House to the ghetto, sometimes in the same day, from boardrooms to operating rooms to all kinds of environments have solved murders before the police, literally in more than one state.
08:36.82
Rhonda Overby
Um, so just incredible training, but I felt like I could not to create generational wealth or have the possibility of so doing if I didn’t become an entrepreneur.
08:47.68
Rhonda Overby
So I decided to leave to become an entrepreneur and that’s how camera ready was started.
08:50.73
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
08:55.30
Rhonda Overby
Although I didn’t plan to start a strategic communications company, I’d planned to go to wall street, but because, um, the station wanted me to stay and work out my contract.
09:08.36
Rhonda Overby
I stayed. I didn’t want to burn any bridges until they found replacements and my shows were number one in the ratings. So people learned i was leaving and Catholic Charities USA asked me if I could do this broadcast that they did every year. And I said, okay, but me having grown up in live network television,
09:29.81
Rhonda Overby
instead of just doing what they asked me to do, I made suggestions on how we could make it better. And they were like, oh my goodness, this is fantastic. We’ve been doing this for more than however many years, no one has ever.
09:41.26
Rhonda Overby
So I ended up training their communications directors all over the contiguous United States and beyond And there was enough organic growth that I decided there should be some corporate structure around whatever this was.
09:56.18
Rhonda Overby
And that’s how Camera Ready was born. a really long answer, but.
10:01.62
Lorie Jones
No, no, it’s fascinating. So how long did you work in network news with delivering the news?
10:08.03
Rhonda Overby
from gosh, long ago enough to mind the question. So from undergraduate um until ah the late 90s.
10:19.51
Lorie Jones
ah So ten ten years fifteen twenty
10:27.41
Rhonda Overby
You know what? I’m always forward looking. I haven’t quantified it in that manner, but let’s say 10 years.
10:31.09
Lorie Jones
You haven’t looked at that, huh?
10:34.57
Lorie Jones
10 years. That’s great. That’s a lot of experience to pack into 10 years too. I mean, that’s, I loved your idea of like grit and determination. And I think that, that one thing that you didn’t specifically mention, but I saw in that was the consistency.
10:53.78
Lorie Jones
Like you were determined, you were gritty, you got up, you walked there, but you did it every single day, like 4.30 in the morning. Like, sure, you can do that one time, but yeah. Every single day for years, putting in the work is huge.
11:10.47
Rhonda Overby
My roommate also in college was a radio television motion picture major with an emphasis in broadcast journalism. She would be asleep when I left in the middle of the night and would be just rousing to go to her 930 classes when I returned. And I remember thinking, if she gets a job in this industry and I do not.
11:34.17
Lorie Jones
We’re going to have some words. Yes, I i get it. um i love that determination. What, Rhonda, as you look back across your journey and and your experience, what would you say is the best investment you’ve made in yourself?
11:48.96
Lorie Jones
Is there something you can say that, oh my gosh, without that, I just wouldn’t be where I’m at today?
11:53.71
Rhonda Overby
perpetual learning. Stasis is not sustainable for any living thing. An animal, a plant, a human, change is inevitable.
12:04.30
Rhonda Overby
We’re either progressing or regressing. Too many just don’t recognize that they’re regressing. And so as change is inevitable, whatever it is, learning.
12:15.87
Rhonda Overby
So I continue to study. I was at Tuck Business School, which is at Dartmouth. Last summer, executive education. I’ve gone to Oxford in England for creative writing, Hopkins,
12:32.30
Rhonda Overby
postgraduate for accounting when I decided, oh, wow, you’re running this business. So let’s get some. So just perpetual right now, I’m fascinated with AI because it is changing the communications industry.
12:45.96
Rhonda Overby
So perpetual learning.
12:46.33
Lorie Jones
yeah Yeah. And quickly, it’s changing it quickly too. So what you, you mentioned that kind of like you’re either you’re growing or you’re regressing, but where do you get, okay, I, I worry about this myself because I get to that place where I’m like, I know how to do things. I’m feeling comfortable.
13:07.60
Lorie Jones
Like, how do I know when it’s time to progress and when it’s okay to kind of um stay where I’m at and learn? Like, was there a ah tipping point where you’re like, Oh,
13:18.44
Lorie Jones
Ooh, I’m getting too comfortable here.
13:21.60
Rhonda Overby
Oh, that’s an excellent question. And it ties back to news because when I first thought, oh, okay, it’s now just time to accept the offer um at a different level.
13:37.46
Rhonda Overby
And um when I thought about it, I thought, no, it’s not that I just don’t want to do this anymore. I felt like I had gotten everything that I could in terms of training and growth.
13:50.36
Rhonda Overby
and that um there was not much more to learn. So I think that when you get to the point where you feel like you have mastered the topic, it’s time to sail if you haven’t had the opportunity to implement it, because sometimes there is the learning, then there’s the implementation.
14:11.23
Rhonda Overby
And with the implementation can come additional learning. So I think it it depends, but you kind of know
14:19.30
Lorie Jones
Mm hmm. You’re just feeling. For me, it kind of feels like it’s just I’m a little bored. Like i when I get a little bored in the subject, I’m like, oh, I’m I’m I’m in a place where I kind of know what there is to do here and I need to challenge myself.
14:37.43
Rhonda Overby
I love that.
14:40.73
Rhonda Overby
Absolutely.
14:42.13
Lorie Jones
Rhonda, what is though worst advice someone gave you? Have you ever gotten some really bad advice and just did you take it? Did you not?
14:51.40
Rhonda Overby
I did. And it goes back to having turned down all those scholarships, claiming independent status as a teenager. too fond to fund my undergraduate degree and i was eligible for grants of course and that was not enough to meet the out-of-state tuition room and board etc so there were student loans so you would go to the financial aid office to apply and I’m trying to determine what amount I should apply for
15:27.01
Rhonda Overby
And the aid officer actually um influenced me to apply for the maximum amount each semester.
15:37.97
Rhonda Overby
And I’m thinking like, oh, I don’t need that much. Like I could make, and she’s like, you only have to pay back $50 a month. And with your degree from here, who’s not going to be able to pay that?
15:50.95
Rhonda Overby
So I actually thought she meant collectively $50 month. not $50 per month per loan per semester. And sometimes the maximum amount required more than one loan for more than one lender.
16:05.98
Rhonda Overby
And because I was on that network news fast track moving to a different state every year, for some reason, unbeknownst to me, one lender could not find me. So I was delinquent, but I didn’t realize I was delinquent because I was never getting any bills. every bill Every bill I got was paid in full.
16:25.99
Rhonda Overby
All of a sudden, you’re moving to a different state. Of course, you need to have utilities, yeah movers, whatever is new for that situation, wardrobe, everything.
16:37.66
Rhonda Overby
um And in one market, I applied for a gas card or something, I don’t know, ah local store, department store credit card, and I was denied. And I’m like, my credit, it got to the point, and I didn’t know why, ah I could not get a gas card when I most needed it because of this student loan.
17:01.13
Rhonda Overby
um So that was the worst advice. In hindsight, with that experience, it has taught me to be extremely responsible with resources.
17:16.63
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
17:18.02
Rhonda Overby
So now I don’t believe in paying interest and fees and passive income is a beautiful thing. And so um the pain um and it was, that was exacerbated because I think it would not have been so bad with student loans. I think there’s some grace given to that by lenders, but I also totaled a car that was 11 months old.
17:43.34
Rhonda Overby
So a brand new car depreciates the moment you drive it off the lot because now it’s a used car and it depreciates most during that first year. And so um totaled this car, ah needed to buy another one as I’m working all hours alone in a state without family.
18:06.93
Rhonda Overby
And the car dealer says, well, you know, we’ve run your credit report and you already have a car and based on your salary, you can’t afford to pay for two.
18:20.37
Rhonda Overby
And I’m like, you’re right, but which one do you think I’m going to pay for? The one that’s totaled, that’s rolled over in a ditch, or the one that I’m depending on to get to three jobs every day?
18:32.94
Rhonda Overby
So that was, I think, the needle wit with the credit. But once I resolved that, I resolved to never um have that challenge again and went to the opposite extreme to actually learn trading equity derivatives, which is how I provided the initial financing for Camera Ready. And when I learned how to trade derivatives, I’m like, wait a minute, I can sell something today that I never bought to begin with and get the money in my account this afternoon and this is legal. I’m like, oh, stop playing.
19:10.56
Rhonda Overby
I’m like, I’m kidding.
19:12.64
Lorie Jones
Well, yeah you are speaking my love language there with the idea of like, you know, making sure that you’re financially stable, making sure that you can, you know, living on like less than what you make, giving yourself a lot more options for for taking advantage of those opportunities. And I i am so with you, Rhonda. I feel like like they talk so pretty when you were in college and they’re like, well, just take the student. It’s a good debt.
19:44.19
Lorie Jones
You’re fine. Everything’s going to be fine. And you find that that they maybe are not giving you advice in your best interest there. I love that you, and i love that you learned that investing piece, you know, how to invest strategically and how to, and the sort of risks that are appropriate to take to to make your money grow so that you can take advantage of those opportunities.
20:14.27
Lorie Jones
i I always love, I say that my one true love is more women in finance and um whether that’s women learning how to use finance to make their their goals come true or their dreams happen, or whether it’s, um you know, women in in the financial realm.
20:33.49
Lorie Jones
i I just love that you did that. I like kudos. Yeah.
20:37.90
Rhonda Overby
Thank you. Thank you. We live in a capitalistic society. It takes a certain amount to live.
20:44.80
Lorie Jones
Yeah. And it’s important that you understand how things work so that you can be the one that, you know, becomes financially stable and even grows that so that you can take advantage of of the new business.
21:00.44
Lorie Jones
You know, at that that was that shows a lot of gumption. What about regrets?
21:06.28
Rhonda Overby
Thank you.
21:07.54
Lorie Jones
Is there something that maybe not regret, but something that you kind of look back on and say, i would do that differently if I could do it again. If I had all the knowledge that I have now and I went back, I would do that differently.
21:23.75
Rhonda Overby
So one thing that comes to mind with that, I told you I was leaving television news and I had a contract and they wanted me to stay. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the William Morris Agency, one of the largest talent agencies the world.
21:40.23
Rhonda Overby
long history they asked me to new york they wanted to propose something to me so i take the meeting i’m in manhattan and they want me to be the next oprah winfrey so they’re offering me this package but i don’t want to do that i’m like oh no you don’t understand because i was an anchor talk show as well talk show host as well as a reporter and i i didn’t want to do that
21:54.41
Lorie Jones
Thank you.
22:04.44
Rhonda Overby
I was interested, however, on what they call the legit side, where they handled actors, because in fulfilling requirements along the way, I would always dabble in that.
22:18.22
Rhonda Overby
And so they said, oh, that’s a whole different department. we don’t We’re not agents there, but we can go over to the legit side and see if one of the agents is willing to meet with you.
22:33.68
Rhonda Overby
So it took a while because they were at the height of their popularity. And by the time they came back, they were like, wow, we can’t believe it. They’ve looked at your reel, they know like, and we got you a meeting.
22:47.52
Rhonda Overby
Well, by this time I had made a commitment for lunch with a friend in New York. And I thought, ooh, if I take this meeting, I’m not going to make it to the lunch.
22:59.57
Rhonda Overby
And I made a commitment. So that would be rude. So I turned down the meeting, go to the restaurant where the person never makes it before the restaurant closes for a lunch.
23:16.48
Rhonda Overby
So I know not what might have happened had I taken that meeting, but acting always felt like, getting paid to play, no disrespect for those who do the massive amount of work to do that exceptionally well.
23:34.33
Lorie Jones
Right. Yeah.
23:35.02
Rhonda Overby
But it just always, felt like being paid to play because I enjoy that so much.
23:41.68
Lorie Jones
yeah
23:41.76
Rhonda Overby
um So that that’s probably the first thing that comes to mind. I believe your word is your bond and you make a commitment, you honor it, but sometimes I guess you need to not take an opportunity for granted.
23:57.73
Rhonda Overby
And at that time with such access I didn’t know that um you couldn’t just, oh say, oh, I’ll be back next month to do this. um No.
24:12.49
Rhonda Overby
So.
24:13.56
Lorie Jones
That’s a hard learning experience too, isn’t it? to To realize that that sometimes these opportunities really only come up once in a lifetime sort of thing.
24:23.67
Rhonda Overby
Yeah, yeah.
24:25.77
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
24:25.75
Rhonda Overby
So knowing when to say when.
24:27.90
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Yeah. I think that I think that leads really well to the idea, too, of like um boundaries of like, you you know, like your word is your bond and committing, but knowing when to to change that.
24:45.12
Lorie Jones
that commitment or reschedule something so that you can take advantage of a different opportunity. I think boundaries come into play there too, where you’re like setting your boundaries and knowing what you can, you can reasonably do and be expected to do and and making them fluid enough to work for you, but, but also, um strict enough that, that you don’t burn out or something like that. It just, it just struck me as kind of a analogous.
25:11.41
Rhonda Overby
That is very wisely stated and true.
25:17.40
Lorie Jones
I know that I sometimes, sometimes I have a hard time with my boundaries. So I think that that advice probably would work really well for me in my life.
25:28.12
Lorie Jones
um If you could five your past self for one financial decision, what would it be?
25:36.82
Rhonda Overby
Becoming debt-free. Learning to invest.
25:43.85
Rhonda Overby
Recognizing is not what you earn, it’s what you do with it.
25:51.10
Lorie Jones
Yeah, 100%. I’m just going to let that sink in just a little bit because that is so true. Learning to invest, and understanding that it’s not what you make, but it’s what you do with it.
26:03.05
Lorie Jones
And hard lesson to learn really early on, like we talked about, but so vital. And and who’s to say that um that lesson didn’t come around at probably the perfect time for you because you have your entire working career
26:20.34
Rhonda Overby
Exactly.
26:20.42
Lorie Jones
to have the advantage.
26:22.15
Rhonda Overby
Exactly. A young person said to me once, oh, this person has a lot of money. And I said, oh, how do you know that? And this person talked about the car driven, the home, the clothes, et cetera.
26:38.00
Rhonda Overby
I said, now what you have just explained to me is this person spends a lot of money. which may mean they don’t have a lot of money.
26:48.91
Rhonda Overby
And so a lot of people get confused by that.
26:54.69
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Yeah. And I think it it’s so important that that we realize that just spending a lot doesn’t mean that you are saving and being responsible and kind of like there is such a thing as as good debt, you know, taking out money to earn your college education in a lot of ways.
27:18.20
Lorie Jones
it bounced you further and further than you could be. It’s just, we have to be really careful about, you know, how much and what’s right for us and what we can pay back and what gives us a little bit of wiggle room so that we’re not, um we’re not worried about making, yet i just don’t want you to miss an opportunity because you didn’t plan properly, right?
27:42.43
Rhonda Overby
Oh, that is so well stated. I heard a talk show host say the other evening, ah study just was released showing that most Americans, I can’t remember the exact quantification, nor if it was explicitly quantified, but it was definitely the majority, were one disaster away from homelessness or being completely upside down and the number given was like $400.
28:11.76
Rhonda Overby
And this person who’s been successful for quite some time could not fathom that $400 could be the cost the cause of someone being evicted.
28:23.12
Rhonda Overby
But those who live in poverty or the working poor definitely get that. um So it’s it’s interesting. The divide keeps widening.
28:36.67
Rhonda Overby
um so So it’s interesting.
28:40.19
Lorie Jones
yeah yeah and it’s and it is it’s valuable and difficult to see both sides of that equation you know to have the opportunity to to be resource deficient maybe you know to live in poverty and And valuable to understand what what sort of decisions you need to make in order to to live a different life, but also heartbreaking to live there.
29:12.51
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
29:12.54
Rhonda Overby
That’s part of the American promise. It’s not what you look at is what you see.
29:23.58
Lorie Jones
Did you, what scared you the most when you started out on this journey or did anything scare you? You seem absolutely like on top of things to me. don’t think anything scares you. So tell me if it did.
29:36.43
Rhonda Overby
Failure.
29:37.80
Lorie Jones
Okay.
29:39.68
Rhonda Overby
failure, the fear of failure. And yeah, it still scares me. Not that I’ve not been successful, but I don’t feel like I have accomplished enough.
29:53.50
Rhonda Overby
And so, yeah, that scares me still. i I think it’s, it would be shameful to not have helped more people
30:09.76
Lorie Jones
Yeah, to kind of think that I was, i was given all these opportunities and blessings and I want to give back. Maybe I didn’t do enough, but you’re doing so much.
30:21.20
Rhonda Overby
thank you, my daughter says I’m insane. Like, have ah how successful you are and and how many people you’ve helped. But it just, it does not feel like I have had to use all of my skills in a manner
30:44.13
Rhonda Overby
that makes me say enough. Does that make sense? Mm-hmm.
30:49.25
Lorie Jones
It does. How you combat that, though? That sense of always, because I have a little bit of that where I set a goal, I reached the goal, and then I immediately set another one because I’m always constantly trying to better, more, better. leads to
31:06.94
Lorie Jones
it leads to burnout in a lot of cases. So how do you fill your bucket? How do you how do you show yourself? Like your daughter says, you’re amazing. How do you help yourself feel that?
31:19.26
Rhonda Overby
Well, thank you for what you’re doing, always becoming better, has a domino effect. um And thank you for that compliment. It means something coming from her because she knows me better than anybody on the planet. So it’s one thing to have an impression of somebody. It’s another thing to know them intimately and to and to feel that. So that is something that that I’m proud of.
31:42.69
Rhonda Overby
But I have studied mindfulness-based stress reduction. I don’t know if you’re familiar with Jon Kabat-Zinn, but I’ve graduated from his 12-week stress reduction program. So practice mindfulness, start each day with journaling and meditation and working out mind, body, soul, um and trying to achieve balance, though um that remains goal, an idea that I get that I have a difficult time practicing, um but starting the day mindfully,
31:54.71
Lorie Jones
I love that.
32:15.58
Rhonda Overby
mindfully um both mentally, emotionally, and physically, at least is a step in the right direction, so to speak.
32:23.04
Lorie Jones
Yeah, I love that. and And it is always a work in progress. Always. It’s a work in progress. But I love that you’ve you’ve pointed out those things, those places where you can you can go and find that ah we’re as women, a lot of times we’re just hard on ourselves.
32:39.58
Lorie Jones
And i love that you’re taking the time to practice the mindfulness and the meditation and and maybe listen to those voices that are telling you, hey, you’re enough and you’re doing great things.
32:52.63
Rhonda Overby
Thank you. and And the working out too, it helps because if you don’t feel well, it’s difficult to do all the other things. Wow.
32:59.00
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Yeah. I am so, i admire, I’ve got a 70 year old in, in my life who does like hikes mountains and does um marathons and stuff like that.
33:13.24
Rhonda Overby
horrible
33:14.08
Lorie Jones
Yes. I’m so proud and pleased and awe and inspired. So I watched that.
33:21.04
Rhonda Overby
That is awesome.
33:23.64
Lorie Jones
Did you face any unique challenges because you’re a woman along your journey?
33:29.80
Rhonda Overby
Yes. um Me Too was very interesting because I definitely had my Me Too moments. One of them was a job interview in high school for the summer as a waitress.
33:44.59
Rhonda Overby
And I am on the other side of the desk, seated. And the owner tells me I’m going to need to wear the uniform and ask me to come around the desk so he can see how the uniform may fit or what size I may need.
34:00.42
Rhonda Overby
And he pulls me on his lap. And he was a very mature man, maybe 70. I didn’t know an old man could be that strong. amazing.
34:11.37
Rhonda Overby
um So there definitely have been me too moments. Probably what was most shocking though, was having grown up in corporate America.
34:24.16
Rhonda Overby
When I left to become an entrepreneur, I was not expecting to be perceived as less. I know my banker said, oh, you should get MBE certification. And I said, well, what is that?
34:40.16
Rhonda Overby
And when that was explained, I’m like, oh, no, no, no, you don’t understand. Like, we’re different generations. I’ve always competed in mixed environments, mixed gender, mixed races, and managed to be at the head of the class. Like, come on, I work in live network TV. How competitive, like, shocking to experience the broad expectation of less than as an entrepreneur at that point.
35:06.85
Rhonda Overby
And I came to realize it was not my work ethic, dedication to excellence, hard work. It was the power of the network flag that gave me all that access.
35:17.01
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Yeah. We find that a lot in finance too, that, that sometimes it isn’t kind of, you know, what you’re doing, but the, the brand behind you that, that helped propel you and, and you do end up with some challenges because your because of you know your gender sometimes.
35:42.33
Lorie Jones
So i I appreciate your honesty in sharing that with us. And that is hard.
35:50.26
Rhonda Overby
One businessman told me there was a fine line between an aggressive woman and a pushy broad.
36:00.01
Lorie Jones
I probably cross that line all the time. ah My husband might say that I do.
36:06.48
Rhonda Overby
yeah Good for you.
36:11.17
Lorie Jones
But I do think that it’s important to tell our stories and our experiences. and And now that you’re on the other side of the desk, like, how do you people?
36:26.17
Lorie Jones
So that women are not faced with those unique challenges or, or any sort of um ah diverse hire or, or, you know.
36:40.54
Rhonda Overby
I start by telling the truth, not setting false expectations. And sometimes that can be difficult at one um event that a university put on at the time that I was still doing news. There were newscasters from other stations and people from other career tracks and the students could choose at whose table they wanted to sit to get more in depth and go one-on-one, et cetera. And this young lady sat down, she waited so patiently for her turn.
37:18.31
Rhonda Overby
And she said, i just wanna be you. And I said, thank you, because I’m sure you mean that as a compliment, but please don’t say that because you don’t know me.
37:33.89
Rhonda Overby
You just met me.
37:35.59
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
37:35.70
Rhonda Overby
what I could be terrible. I don’t think I am, but I could be. you So what is it that you think you want? And so when she said that, I said, okay, so you appreciate what I do and that I’m good at it.
37:50.38
Rhonda Overby
Thank you. that’s I said, but do you recognize that every state I move to a different market going up the career fast track? So that means I’m usually working Thanksgiving and Christmas because I’m the new girl.
38:03.92
Rhonda Overby
So I’m like, while my family is gathering together, I’m doing the news and calling And I’m like, do you recognize I’ve been out on a date on the 4th of July and the fireworks barge blows up and all of a sudden dates over, I’m covering what happened.
38:24.58
Rhonda Overby
So she actually started, tears just started rolling down her face because that was not a price she was willing to pay.
38:35.22
Rhonda Overby
And I said, so that’s not, you know, there are other things that you may want to do, but that clearly, you know. And so I said, so just be careful what you see. And with social media today, people often look at it and they’re looking at somebody’s best curated life and judging it
38:47.12
Lorie Jones
Oh, yeah.
38:54.81
Rhonda Overby
against their everyday and feeling less than, and it’s probably one reason um mental health is such an issue now.
38:56.84
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
39:03.52
Rhonda Overby
So um I try to start with level setting with truth.
39:04.92
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
39:10.10
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Yeah. I, I, I was talking to one of my team members at one point and I said, i said, i don’t want you to have to work, you know, nights and weekends and all the days and hours that I did.
39:27.56
Lorie Jones
But I will say that I probably wouldn’t be where I’m at today if I didn’t work all those nights and hours and weekends. So i think it’s really important to understand that there are there give and takes.
39:41.66
Lorie Jones
And it’s okay to say, I’m not willing to do what you did. But that may mean that you’re not in the same place that you’re at.
39:51.57
Rhonda Overby
Exactly, exactly. Where some people see obstacles, others see opportunities.
39:58.05
Lorie Jones
Yeah, yeah.
39:58.34
Rhonda Overby
Where some give up with an obstacle, others find a way around it. With integrity.
40:06.32
Lorie Jones
Yeah, ah exactly. I love that. I love the way you put that. I think that’s really important.
40:11.89
Rhonda Overby
Thank you.
40:13.37
Lorie Jones
What, Rhonda, what is the thing you are most proud of?
40:18.41
Rhonda Overby
I probably, you know, I’m difficult with superlatives, but I think this is easy. It is my daughter be because i did not scale camera ready because I became a mother and made conscious choices to pay it forward.
40:41.45
Rhonda Overby
And she is just thriving.
40:46.55
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
40:47.11
Rhonda Overby
So I am really, really pleased with that because I didn’t feel like it was my role to make her like me or love me, but I felt like I was divinely assigned to enable her to the best of my ability to thrive without me.
41:11.82
Lorie Jones
But that’s hard too, because guess what? Then they grow up and leave and they do it without you. And you’re so proud of them on one hand and you miss them so much on the other hand.
41:22.65
Rhonda Overby
Yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah yeah
41:25.65
Lorie Jones
I always felt like that is that is an amazing job that that we as moms and women get to do is to raise daughters and sons to go out and be wonderful people in this world. And yet i cry every time they leave the house. So I like when they go to college and stuff like that. If I were crying every time they left the house, I’d be in big trouble.
41:50.97
Lorie Jones
But yeah.
41:53.71
Lorie Jones
But I love that we are so proud of of them and what they what they can accomplish and what they can do. And um i love that I love that you mentioned that your daughter tells you that you did a good job.
42:08.95
Lorie Jones
Like she’s proud of you.
42:10.92
Rhonda Overby
Yeah. And she is so gracious. She got an accomplishment recently and she called to share it and um sent a note immediately thanking me for my contribution to that.
42:27.28
Rhonda Overby
So it’s just, I’m like, oh.
42:31.49
Lorie Jones
Yeah, that’s, i I just think that’s amazing. And I really, really identify with that. Thank you for sharing that. Any advice for a young lady who is just maybe starting down this path and, and like this, yours is a, is a television turned entrepreneurial. So you can kind of choose which path she’s, she’s starting down, but any advice for her to help her be so successful like you?
42:59.94
Rhonda Overby
Dare to dream. Don’t look at where you are today and what somebody tells you is realistic. dare to dream.
43:10.59
Rhonda Overby
If I could be anything, i would be this. And why? The why is important. And then, okay, what can I do to do that?
43:24.76
Rhonda Overby
Sometimes thinking about the end result can be daunting, but if it’s okay, business, what kind of business?
43:36.47
Rhonda Overby
might I visit a business like that and talk to the people who work there, talk to the person who might be in charge, ask if I can get a job part-time intern, what should I read, where should I go to school, what should I study, two ask questions. And that is so much easier today with AI,
44:00.03
Rhonda Overby
ai And YouTube, you can learn a lot. Ask questions. Be careful who you associate with because it normalizes behavior.
44:16.81
Rhonda Overby
So if you are inspired by XY leader, you may not be able to meet XY leader. But if you know the people you spend your time around will never help you get to that point, then maybe you should disassociate a little bit because what becomes normalized can impede opportunity.
44:43.99
Rhonda Overby
Like somebody I learned ah recently in a meeting the other day lost a job offer because of something they liked on social media that was so anathema to what the corporation stands for.
44:59.07
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
44:59.11
Rhonda Overby
So association in many ways um is meaningful.
44:59.21
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
45:04.10
Rhonda Overby
And I don’t mean that to sound exclusionary. It’s just strategic.
45:13.67
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Well, and and who you surround yourself with is are the kind of ideals and the kind of drive and the kind of ambition. i’ve always loved working with people who are smarter than me, um more ambitious than I am, you know, just because that that kind of does inspire me to be more like them.
45:38.28
Rhonda Overby
I love that one of my tenants is if I can’t be better tomorrow than I am today, why get up?
45:44.83
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Oh, I love that idea.
45:47.11
Rhonda Overby
Thank you.
45:47.41
Lorie Jones
Just in one little way. And then maybe write it in your gratitude journal or your journal, right?
45:52.11
Rhonda Overby
Exactly.
45:53.05
Lorie Jones
ah Rhonda, thank you so much for spending some time and sharing your story.
45:53.08
Rhonda Overby
Exactly.
45:58.34
Lorie Jones
I’ve really, really appreciated it. And I’m sure my listeners will too. If they um want to ask questions or um set up coffee chat with you or something like that, how do they do that?
46:10.98
Rhonda Overby
Rhonda at camera ready.com is probably the easiest. Um, and if you just go to camera ready.com, there’s a contact page that can forward to me, but it is a pleasure spending time with you.
46:25.78
Rhonda Overby
I hope you got what you needed and, um, I hope you continue adding fearless females to a broader audience.
46:36.22
Lorie Jones
I love that idea because I think they’re just amazing. You fearless females out there are doing such great work. So I appreciate it. Thanks, Renda.
46:43.89
Rhonda Overby
you amongst them. Thank you.