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Josh Schachter:

Christy, are you ready to take your your host? We can be doing it on the show. Chapter.

Kristi Faltorusso:

No. We’re good.

Josh Schachter:

I I like it canceled.

Jon Johnson:

I don’t even know. I feel like what needs to happen for every podcast is Josh needs to say something totally out of left field and then hit record.

Kristi Faltorusso:

But I don’t know that it’s out of left field for Josh. That’s that’s the funny thing here. Like, I feel like we anticipate or expect him to say it, just not usually the first thing out of his mouth.

Josh Schachter:

Hey, everybody. Welcome to this episode of CS and BS, a an unturned podcast series sponsored by series sponsored by UpdateAI? I’m Josh Schacter. I am here with the renowned Christy Falter Russo, CCO of client success, And that guy, John Johnson, principal customer success manager, key accounts at UserTesting. Today, We are going deep, deep into Christy’s father. So

Kristi Faltorusso:

Let’s not go that deep. Maybe just one deep.

Josh Schachter:

We’re going all the way into understand you as a person, Christy, you as a professional. Yeah. It’s gonna get it’s gonna get hot and spicy. It? So with that being said, guys, we haven’t prepped this at all, but I felt like, you know, based on our relationship

Kristi Faltorusso:

with you, you know, prep. I feel like this needs no prep.

Josh Schachter:

Christy, where do we start? You guide us here.

Kristi Faltorusso:

Okay. Do we start from the beginning? Like, I don’t know how how deep do we wanna go. Like, I said 1 deep. You said 2

Jon Johnson:

deep. Love each other?

Kristi Faltorusso:

Yeah. So we’re starting with mommy and daddy.

Jon Johnson:

A bottle of whiskey.

Josh Schachter:

Yeah. Let’s start with that. Christy, you know what? Let’s start with mommy and daddy. I don’t know if you could beat John’s, like, upbringing story because that’s, like, the most fat that’s a movie.

Kristi Faltorusso:

No. I’m not gonna start with you. I can. Okay. Well, I definitely I don’t have an inter as interesting of a Background is John Johnson. So I I’m not gonna try to compete. So I’ll give you, like, just a a very basic boring background, which basically just leads me right back to where I am today. So I was born and raised in Queens, New York.

Josh Schachter:

Which borough? Which which which neighborhood?

Kristi Faltorusso:

Okay. So, Howard Beach, for folks that are familiar with that area. So born and raised in Howard Beach, Ozone Park. My parents, after a couple years, Didn’t want me to go to school in Queens. Like, I had an older brother, so they were like, it was fine if they had a boy, stay in Queens. But if they had a little girl, my mom said, no. No. No.

Kristi Faltorusso:

No. No. We’re We’re moving out of the boroughs, and we’re gonna move to Long Island. So 5 years after my brother, I came along. They’re like, okay. Great. We’re gonna leave Queens. We’re gonna move to Long choose? So that’s where we did you know, I started my preschool career and, like, my life in, in Long Island.

Kristi Faltorusso:

Career. That’s right. Did you not have a preschool career? My, like, my preschool was a career. I have to say that because I was also a baby model. What? And lately. Oh, yeah. Wait. Hold on.

Kristi Faltorusso:

Listen. I was a baby model. No. You’re not gonna find it. But listen. I was also on the cover of the

Josh Schachter:

We’re leaving it in the show notes. Christy is gonna provide us with photos for the show notes. Photo.

Kristi Faltorusso:

I was on the cover of New York Magazine, and, I was a baby model and did that for a while. I was on the Joe Franklin show. It was, like, the eighties version of, like, Letterman, Leno, and stuff like that, so Joe Franklin. But I was, like, a very early baby model. Like, I started modeling when I was, like, under a year, And I did pageants, and I did all that stuff. So I had a preschool career, John Johnson. Yes. I did.

Kristi Faltorusso:

Oh, okay. And then my mom my mom could not compete with, like, stage moms. Like, my mom is, like, this little feisty Italian lady. Like, she just is no nonsense. You haven’t my mom, Josh. She’s just no nonsense, and she doesn’t like, Like, these catty other women who thought that their children were better or cuter than me, and so she pulled me out because she just, like she probably would’ve just gotten to, like, street brawls and stuff. It just would’ve gone ugly. So Yeah.

Kristi Faltorusso:

I did not pursue a career in modeling, which is fine. Some 5 corduroy probably

Josh Schachter:

would be one time. What have you taken from your modeling experience into customer success?

Kristi Faltorusso:

That you probably shouldn’t pose topless on the cover of magazine.

Josh Schachter:

Okay. Good advice.

Kristi Faltorusso:

As a baby model, I mean, it was Alright. This is 83. I’ll find the cover. I’ll give it to you guys. I I was in a diaper. That was it. And it the article was about single moms. Interestingly enough.

Kristi Faltorusso:

It was like a single working mother’s article because back in the eighties, like, that wasn’t really a big thing. Like so this is yeah. So I feel like I was, like, on the on the cusp of, like, some kind of power movement for women and, like, yeah. But, yeah, I didn’t know what’s going on. Anyway, cover the magazine in a diaper, moved to Long Island. Great. Went to school like a normal middle class person that we didn’t you know? It was fine. We had a very boring bringing upbringing, boring life.

Kristi Faltorusso:

The only interesting thing I’ll give you is that I grew up in a in a community where my mother is Italian and my father is Puerto Rican. This is the only interesting part of my upbringing.

Josh Schachter:

And you are a

Kristi Faltorusso:

place to eat with

Josh Schachter:

us. Yeah.

Kristi Faltorusso:

Sure. Sure. But interestingly enough, my brother and I my brother is 5 years older than me. He gravitated more towards the Puerto Rican side and, like, definitely very much represented himself as being, like, a 100% Puerto Rican, And I very much represented myself as being a 100% Italian. So, like, it was very interesting how we both growing up in the same house with same parents actually took on middle school and high school and, like, what we were like and how we built our own personas and stuff because we very much just gravitated toward certain cultures, which said a lot about who we were as individuals. So I think that was interesting. We’re not gonna unpack all that today. That’s, like, a whole, like, 4 hour therapy session

Josh Schachter:

Yeah.

Kristi Faltorusso:

Which I am still overcoming today. But, yeah. So grew up on Long Island, left, went to all the boroughs. Right? So I went away to college, went to all the boroughs. I lived in Brooklyn twice. I lived in Queens 3 different times. Lived in Westchester. I didn’t do Staten Island because nobody should, And I didn’t live in Manhattan because I can’t handle that borough.

Kristi Faltorusso:

Like, I just I’m not a city girl. So, like, that’s just not who I am. Eventually, As before I got married, we we found our way back to Long Island. So here I here I am back in my my safe place.

Josh Schachter:

Cool. Wow. Alright.

Kristi Faltorusso:

I have a very boring upbringing, John. Like, I don’t have I don’t have the stories that you have. So I thought getting to my career would be more interesting in my basic boring upbringing.

Jon Johnson:

No. But can I point something out that I actually do love about you as an individual? Yes. I know that you are very career focused today, and I know that you care very deeply about what you do and and and who you do it with. But I love that you started, like, this whole thing as, like, my career in kindergarten, which no normal career

Kristi Faltorusso:

would ever It was a preschool. I had a career.

Jon Johnson:

Whatever say. Nobody would ever phrase it that way, but, and I mean this in a positive way. Like, I actually really like that, You do look at your life all the way back to preschool thinking about, like, the steps that it led you to today. So

Kristi Faltorusso:

Well, listen. I think one of the things that I I like I don’t know that it’s interesting. One of the things that I think has made me who I am today is my work ethic because I’ve been working since I’m 8 years old. Like, my parents owned a deli, for as long as I can remember, different delis over the course of the years. They just retired 2 years ago, and they’ve worked 7 days a week for my entire life. And so growing up, we didn’t have babysitters. I didn’t have daycare. Like, my parents couldn’t afford for that.

Kristi Faltorusso:

Right? They were entrepreneurs. They didn’t have, you know, PTO. They didn’t have days off. Like, they work 7 days a week. They work every Christmas, every New Year’s, every holiday. There were no days off. And so my babysitting in my daycare was they would go pick up the bagels and the pastries and the stuff for the deli in the morning and leave me at the bakery. And so, like, my daycare was working in the bakery.

Kristi Faltorusso:

So I would be making boxes. I’d be slicing bread. I’d be cleaning windows. I’d be helping people once I got old enough. So I started working at 8 years old. And by the time I was graduating high school, I was working 3, 4 jobs in the summertime just to make make money. And, honestly, I think that that has a lot to that has helped shape who I am and the work ethic and the drive that I have today. One, I saw my parents.

Kristi Faltorusso:

Right? Like, they set a great example of, like, you work hard for everything you have. Nothing is given to you. You want something, you have to work for it. And then being able to work the way that I did for as long as I did, I feel like that has just been ingrained in who I am. And so there are no handouts. Are no charities. You want something, you have to go put in the work and go get it.

Josh Schachter:

Interesting from an outsider’s perspective, having spoken to John a couple weeks ago and speaking to you now And about how your parents have impact who you’ve become. With John, it was about relationship building and about creating that, like, that nuclear community, Which is very much how John operates. And with you, we can see that grind and that grit and that hustle and that entrepreneurship, which came from your parents. What what was your favorite deli sandwich?

Jon Johnson:

Oh. Important.

Kristi Faltorusso:

Oh my gosh. Okay. For the record though, I never worked in the deli. I was allowed to work in bakeries and pizzerias, but never the deli. They wanted something better for me. But if I had to pick my favorite sandwich, it was probably the Godfather, which is basically your classic Italian subs. So think salami, pepperoni, Here’s, prosciutto, capicole. You have provolone, mozzarella, roasted peppers, Italian dressing, all in a hero.

Kristi Faltorusso:

Messy, sloppy, greasy, and delicious.

Josh Schachter:

Who come here for it? I love it.

Kristi Faltorusso:

Yeah. Yeah. That would be my favorite. Alright. So do we wanna get into the good stuff?

Josh Schachter:

Wanna do when you grew up?

Kristi Faltorusso:

Anyway, continue.

Jon Johnson:

What did you wanna be when you grew up?

Josh Schachter:

I wanted

Kristi Faltorusso:

to be an attorney. I wanted to be like a like a like a litigator. Like, I wanted to be like a criminal criminal attorney. I wanted to be in a courtroom, and I wanted to be, like, fighting with people all damn day. And I’ll tell you the only reason I did not pursue it, sadly. I was dating a guy in college. So as as I was getting ready for, like, figuring out what I wanna do after my bachelor’s, and I told him I want to go to law school. And he came from a very old school European family, and, like, we thought we’d get married, and he very much probably just wanted me, like, home raising babies.

Kristi Faltorusso:

And he said that You’re born into families like that. You can’t just go and build your career. He goes, you’re he goes, no. He’s like, you don’t come from that background. Like, you’re not gonna go become a lawyer. Like, that’s not basically, that’s not who your family raised you to be type of thing. I was like, what? I don’t know what to do with that. So I didn’t Pursue it, but that’s really why I

Josh Schachter:

wanted to what he said?

Kristi Faltorusso:

Yeah. I mean, he was, like, he was a very big part of it. And I thought I want to get married. I was like, yeah. You’re right. Like, I don’t need to go to, like, another 4 years of school because as far as we were concerned, we were gonna start our lives together. Right? We were 21 years old, and I knew the entire course of my life at that point. So decided to forego any additional education because he said that I shouldn’t or couldn’t be an attorney.

Josh Schachter:

What what’s this guy’s name and number?

Jon Johnson:

Let’s give

Josh Schachter:

him a call

Kristi Faltorusso:

right now.

Josh Schachter:

About it

Jon Johnson:

right now?

Kristi Faltorusso:

He is living in Brooklyn. It’s my understanding he’s living in Brooklyn with a girlfriend. That’s the extent of what I know.

Jon Johnson:

From miss I

Kristi Faltorusso:

mean, it was clearly a downgrade.

Josh Schachter:

Yeah. And and is his girlfriend a CS influencer?

Kristi Faltorusso:

She is not a CS influencer. She is also not an attorney. I actually love that

Josh Schachter:

much about her.

Jon Johnson:

A lawyer.

Kristi Faltorusso:

Yeah. That would be amazing. No. I don’t know much about her. They look happy in photos. I’m I’m still friends with his sister-in-law, so on social media.

Josh Schachter:

Good to know. Good. So, alright. So so what’d you what’d you, major in in college?

Kristi Faltorusso:

I was public relations major, but I started off as a communications major, and I thought that was, like, too vague. It was like, well, okay. Literally, what am I going to school for to communicate? Like, it didn’t make any sense after a while. So After 2 years, I was like, I gotta, like, find a concentration. So I went to school of public relations because I thought that could be a great career path for me. But when I was going to school, public relations, like, you didn’t have social media. You didn’t have the depth of the Internet. So I was, like, doing newspaper clippings.

Kristi Faltorusso:

Like, I was going through the newspaper to go look for these articles on things, cutting them out, writing up blurbs, giving them to publicist. Like, It was boring, horrible work. And then if you were working with brands that were just, like, cringe like, you just had nothing exciting. Like, faking interest in in something I just had that wasn’t interesting, it was too painful. So I just really I hated the work I had to do, and I did a bunch of internships, and I did them for Nassau County. So I live on Long Island. One of the counties here is Nassau County. So I worked in politics for 2 of my internships, And I think that really probably sent me in a downward spiral around public relations.

Kristi Faltorusso:

And so I decided that I will never do this, and I will never go to politics either.

Josh Schachter:

What was the foray into customer success? What was the 1st role?

Kristi Faltorusso:

I tripped. So no. I was working in marketing for the 1st decade of my career. So primarily, like, digital marketing, like SEO, PPC, 2 of the companies I worked at. I was actually using a product called BrightEdge, and it was helping with my search engine optimization efforts, And I loved it. It, like, made me, like, 10 x more powerful as an individual because of all the things it could help me do. And I basically after working with them at the 2nd time, I I told anybody who works there, hey. Listen.

Kristi Faltorusso:

You guys should be opening up a New York office because this is where all the search agencies are. All the digital agencies are in New York, so you guys should have a presence here. Your number one competitor is in New York. And I’m like, listen. If you open an office in New York, please hire me, and I will come work for you. And they did, and I did. So they opened up a New York office shortly after some initial conversations I have. I don’t think that they opened an office because I told them to.

Kristi Faltorusso:

I’m pretty sure they They made a good business decision, but when they did

Josh Schachter:

it, they were all For for that matter, most executives do do things because you tell them to. I I Yeah.

Kristi Faltorusso:

Maybe now, definitely not then. So in all fairness

Jon Johnson:

But you started as a CSM, though. Right?

Kristi Faltorusso:

Oh, yeah. Yeah. I went oh, yeah. So, like, I was leading teams. I was, like, a director. I had, like, teams of people under me, and, like, I was a GM at one point for a publishing company. Like, I actually had built up my career pretty, like, nicely. And I I was on a I was on a path.

Kristi Faltorusso:

I thought I was on a path to becoming, like, a CMO or a chief digital officer. Like, that was my career ambition. I was like, I’m going to the top in marketing, loved it. And then I made this pivot into customer success via BrightEdge. And and I’ll tell you. When I started, I didn’t even know what SAS stood for. Like, talk about uncomfortable. Like, that transition into tech was brutal for me because I just didn’t know what I was doing.

Kristi Faltorusso:

I was a subject matter expert, and my customers got more value for me than probably anybody else in the organization, but it was It was hard for me. It was a big learning curve.

Josh Schachter:

Then you went to IntelliShift.

Jon Johnson:

You went to

Kristi Faltorusso:

No. I did not. I had, like, 4

Josh Schachter:

more jobs before I started BetterCloud.

Jon Johnson:

BetterCloud? Yeah. Sisense first.

Kristi Faltorusso:

Right? Sisense first. Thank

Josh Schachter:

you, John.

Kristi Faltorusso:

I missed Yes. I was like, scroll down on the LinkedIn. I was like, no. No. No. Yeah. So I did 5 well, I’ll I think it’s worth noting. Like, I did do a long time at BrightEdge.

Kristi Faltorusso:

I did five and a half years there, and I went from an individual contributor a VP of customer success and practice development. So I did grow my career there, and I do feel like I got a PhD there. And in fact, if you go look at a lot of the folks Like, Amelia Danzica and others. Like, we all worked at at BrightEdge, and then everyone that worked there basically went off to go do really impressive things with their I think it’s been a huge launch pad for a lot of CS thought leaders and and just fantastic people, individuals. But then I left Because I was like, okay. I’ve hit my ceiling. There’s probably no more growth here for me. And I did wanna go, like, build something.

Kristi Faltorusso:

Right? I got to watch this this organization get built up BrightEdge, and it was so cool. But now I wanted to do it. I wanted to see, like, can I go build this on my own? So I went over to Sisense, And it was an awesome opportunity right at the time. Like, they were blowing up in the BI space. They were doing OEMs, so it was, like, embedded analytics. Super cool. You could white label it. I was, like, impressed.

Kristi Faltorusso:

Plus, the company was super cool. It was an Israeli organization. So, culturally, I, like, I liked the idea of, like, working with different people. I’d have a team in Israel. But the reality of it is when I got there, there was 2 things that just didn’t click for me. The first was it was a super technical product. I mean, like, really technical. And the my persona of the customers I was working with, they were, like, engineers.

Kristi Faltorusso:

Right? Like, they were, like, brilliant but technical people. And as a customer success leader not coming from that world, I had a really tough time connecting with them. And, you know, that was part of my job. Right? As a customer success leader, you gotta be able connect with your customers, and help sell value. I felt like I shouldn’t be talking to my customers ever because I don’t really know what they’re doing, and so it made me feel less valuable in the scope of my role. And then the second thing, honestly, everything was built. Like, I worked for this awesome leader there, Galli Qatar, and she’s doing wonderful all things now, another company. And she was great to work for, but she built everything.

Kristi Faltorusso:

So they didn’t really need me to build anything. It was kinda like go Just execute on this strategy that’s already been put in place to go do this work, and that didn’t excite me. Right? So, like, I wanted to, like, put my I wouldn’t put my name on something. I wanted to go make an impact, And I felt like just doing the work that somebody else built wasn’t that for me. So my tenure there was short lived. It was, like, just under a year. I had a great time while I was there. I made a lot of really great friendships.

Kristi Faltorusso:

I did get to go to Tel Aviv a bunch of times, and I think that was probably the the coolest part of my job is being able to go to Israel. Probably not a place I would have ever gone by myself, just like I don’t travel much. So I probably would have never gone there, and it was just gorgeous, and it was really wonderful building all those But after that, that’s when I went to better cloud. Josh, so now

Josh Schachter:

Gorgeous. I mean, you went you went clubbing in Tel Aviv. Let’s talk.

Kristi Faltorusso:

I did not go clubbing it. Literally. Okay. I get the worst jet lag of anybody, so there was no clubbing. It was, like, basically, like, stay up long enough to get through the day to then fall asleep began because I didn’t know what day or what time it was. So that was that was painful, but super cool experience. So Yeah. Left there because I was like, you guys don’t need me here.

Kristi Faltorusso:

This is, like, cool, but I’m not the right leader for this business. So got to do some cool stuff. Learned I did learn a bunch in the year, but it was time for me to go take on something else. So And

Josh Schachter:

And then then you went to BetterCloud, then you went to IntelliShift, and and now you’re at, client success. I’m just I’m just speed fast forwarding, Christy. All impressive. Great. Great. Great. Awesome.

Jon Johnson:

Wonderful. Wonderful. You’re great. We love you.

Josh Schachter:

Yeah. Good good. Goodbye. So I wanna go into, like there there’s the professional corporate, you know, salaried Christy Felterusso?

Kristi Faltorusso:

Mhmm.

Josh Schachter:

And then there’s the the KF emblem on your mic stand right now, Christy Felterusso.

Jon Johnson:

That has the adviser roles and all the founding roles Yeah. And all the

Josh Schachter:

And literally being the number 2 influencer in CS.

Kristi Faltorusso:

A call. I’m, like, never gonna be number 1. It’s, like, so sad.

Josh Schachter:

No. No. That’s right.

Jon Johnson:

We’ll take care of it.

Josh Schachter:

You know? We’ve got an over under on the number of years Nick has left this? Yeah. So you’re you’re you’re on the horizon for being the number one spot. Good.

Kristi Faltorusso:

Good.

Josh Schachter:

So, like, where where did and I remember when I first met you, like, two and a half years ago, You show you were so excited to show me, like, your Google spreadsheet files or Excel files of, like, all of the playbooks that you come up with and you were sharing them with people and stuff like that. Where did that originate? Where did that drive to create this content? Because I don’t think you initially did it to become, like, the queen bee of customer success? I think it came from a place of you just have, like, a passion. You was helping people. Like, where did all this come from?

Kristi Faltorusso:

Okay. So, like, I am driven by success. Like, I want to be wildly successful, and I don’t know what that means. I don’t know what that’ll look like 5 years from now, but I I do feel like I’m driven by success. Yes. Well and for me, it looks and feels very different. But when I originally started doing anything with the community, this is, like, 2017. Okay.

Kristi Faltorusso:

So this is, like, before the pandemic, before it was cool to be on LinkedIn talking about work that you’re doing. And I didn’t have access 2 customer success professionals. Right? Like, I was in New York. I wasn’t in Silicon Valley. So I was in San Francisco. I was not, I didn’t have the network that those leaders had. Right? Like, they all were entrenched in, like, the like, where customer success started. I don’t have entrenched in, like, the like, where customer success started.

Kristi Faltorusso:

I don’t have that, so I use LinkedIn as a as a mechanism to get access to people and to connect. So I started very early, and I think it’s just because the time of when I started, it allowed me it’s, like, kinda like starting your your, you know, your 401 k when you’re 21 versus starting it when you’re 40. Right? That snowball effect. So because I started earlier, I was able to build a network that was larger and larger. And I originally just built it sharing. Right? Because I was just like, I’m just gonna be a selfless sharer and just give everything out because only good things can come from that. Right? I’m either going to learn that what I’m doing isn’t right that there’s other ways to do it, or I’m gonna help somebody who’s trying to figure out on their own. So I figured it is win win regardless.

Kristi Faltorusso:

And I got a lot of backlash. I will tell you, like, people are like, why would you do that? You’re basically creating your own competition when it comes to finding jobs, when it comes to doing work. Right? Like, this is all your ideas.

Josh Schachter:

Why why did you do that? Was it because you had these things lined up to help yourself? Feel like these were your own internal tools,

Jon Johnson:

or is this I

Kristi Faltorusso:

mean, this was all stuff I built, but, like, at the end of the day, I wasn’t I’m not threatened by other people trying to help, Like, try me trying to help other people. I wasn’t worried that they were gonna go take my IP and go build their own careers and compete with me. I don’t care. At the end of the day, like, I believe that my experiences would affords me the opportunities I have. Not a tool, not a spreadsheet, not a word doc. Right? So I can give all these things to people, but To me, it’s like, I’m not I don’t feel threatened by sharing knowledge. I feel like it just helps us all get better and it helps elevate our industry.

Josh Schachter:

So you were just like, I’ve got these these templates. I’ve got these tools I built over time. Why not help others and just kinda see where it leads? I mean, we’re I’m trying to tie together the the piece of, like, you’ve always been driven by success. Was there a goal in mind of, like, maybe this will lead into something where I can have a consulting business later on in in the next 5, 10 years or maybe, like no. No. No.

Kristi Faltorusso:

I don’t even think that that’s my path now. I think the big thing there was, like, share with other people because they’re either gonna validate me and tell me that what I’m doing is right. They’re gonna teach me something new. Or Right? Like, they’re they maybe it helps guide me. I don’t know. Like, for me, it was more about, like, what can I get from sharing? But I knew it was mutually beneficial. If I was sharing out, they benefit. But if I’m learning new things, that I’m winning too.

Kristi Faltorusso:

And that’s all it was.

Josh Schachter:

What what what what have you learned? Like, how have you improved and grown in your own ways through the experiences of sharing all your content and being at center stage?

Kristi Faltorusso:

So at the end of the day, listen, I’ve worked at 5 different companies, which have 5 different ways of doing customer success, But I haven’t done everything, and I’ve not done it every single way. So as far as I’m concerned, every time that I connect with somebody else and I learn something that they’ve done or Maybe they’ve taken what I’ve done and applied it a different way. Like, I’m learning. I’m still growing every single day. So for me, it’s I I’ve used my sharing as a mechanism to connect with people and to learn more.

Jon Johnson:

Yeah. And I think one of the things that I that I have seen in you, you’re an adviser to 6 or 7 different organizations and and platforms and and groups and communities and things like that. I think a lot of times people tend to just want to learn how to be a leader in their org, And it silos them. Like, it absolutely silos them. I’m a big fan of learning in public. I’m a big fan of building in public. And I think you’ve done an exceptional job of, Hopefully, Dave agrees, and everybody within your org agrees that these things that you’re doing outside, yes, there’s positive for the community, but also it’s given a perspective that That is different than what is inside client success and and inside, you know, the groups that are sitting in those boardrooms and sitting in those meetings. Right? So Continually bringing these perspectives.

Jon Johnson:

I like the way that you phrase that too is that you don’t know everything. Right? There’s things that you’ve never experienced that other people have that You you now have the ability and the willingness because you’ve given so much to learn. Okay. Alright. Skippy. That was the with the applause. Anyways,

Josh Schachter:

Well done. Well done. What what impresses me about you, Christy, is you’ve got this backbone. You are confident, And you are not afraid to speak up, which I’m sure has to do again with that Italian Puerto Rican upbringing. But, But, like, even we were talking who were we talking to a couple weeks ago? And they made a I was listening to the the the podcast after we recorded it where this person

Jon Johnson:

Oh, are we supposed to listen to these?

Josh Schachter:

We’re yeah. We’re supposed to. Oh. It was John. It was your friend. I’m I’m so sorry for blanking on her name.

Kristi Faltorusso:

Oh. Erica. Erica.

Josh Schachter:

Yeah. Erica Aykroyd. Acroy. Acroy. Oh, Acroy. Okay. And she was talking about, like, how she had going up against her peers and her friends for this position, and they had promoted her and not her other peers. And how she was like, Sorry, guys.

Josh Schachter:

I got and you’re like, you’re not sorry. Like, hey. I’m a badass, and I performed, and I I hustled for this role. And this I earned this role, and now let’s work together. But it was a very different perspective, and I feel like that epitomizes That anecdote epitomizes, like, what I see from you as far as, like and I hate to use this term because it’s completely shared, whatever, but, like, leaning in. Right? Like Like like, really, like, you like like, you lean forward into these things. Where did that come from?

Kristi Faltorusso:

That is that’s new. Okay. So in full transparency, like, I feel like my husband, Anthony, has spent our entire relationship coaching me And, like, helping me develop my voice and my confidence because he believes in me so much, and he knows I’m smart. I know what I’m doing. I know what I’m talking about. But, again, remember, I told you when I got into BrightEdge, I didn’t know what SAS stood for. Really? Like, I didn’t know anything. So I was I felt like I had a complete disadvantage.

Kristi Faltorusso:

Plus, I went was working alongside of people that went to, like, Harvard and Stanford and Duke and all these great places, and I went to, like, a local university on Long Island. So I I I feel like I’ve always been very insecure. But after a while, I don’t know. I think I just I stopped giving a shit what other people thought about me, And I let my work speak for itself. And I know that, like, maybe I’ve not been perfect and I’ve not done everything right, but I’ve made an impact whether it be on people or businesses. And so allow me to lean into that, right, and not not feel bad for myself and all the things I didn’t do or haven’t done or haven’t learned or haven’t experienced. I’d rather say I’ve done some really cool shit, and I can share that with the community. And I can lean on that.

Kristi Faltorusso:

And because of that, I could be great in other places. And My success is my success. I don’t have anyone to thank for it. I worked my ass off to get to where I am, and I’m pretty proud of that. Now do I still have a lot of work to do? Absolutely. But I feel like I’m proud of where I’ve come from. I’m proud of what I’ve done, and I’m gonna continue to keep hustling until I get to where I wanna go.

Josh Schachter:

Love it. That’s awesome. So if this is Christy 2.0 or whatever point o that we’re talking to, what’s the next version? What’s the 3 point o of Christy? Russo?

Kristi Faltorusso:

Well, you’ll just have to follow me on LinkedIn to find out.

Josh Schachter:

Oh, there we go. Okay. Alright. We’re gonna wrap it with that, folks. Christy, thank you for what you do to the community do to the community, to for the community. Yeah. Yeah.

Jon Johnson:

Yeah. What you enjoy

Josh Schachter:

with us all. Yes. Yes. But thank you. I think you set a wonderful example for many others who have followed in your footsteps and continue to do so, And I’m looking forward to seeing the Christy 3 point o as soon as I subscribe to your newsletter.

Kristi Faltorusso:

Yeah. Just just sign up my website, christyfiltrusso.com. Follow me on LinkedIn. Like and subscribe.

Jon Johnson:

Like and smash that subscribe button.

Kristi Faltorusso:

Yep. Hit that bell.

Josh Schachter:

Thanks, guys.

Jon Johnson:

Thanks, guys. Did he just leave? He just left.

Kristi Faltorusso:

Well, I did tell him I had a hard stop at 3.

Jon Johnson:

So still recording.

Kristi Faltorusso:

Yeah. Well, you know recording. That’s what he does. Sometimes he stays. Sometimes he goes. We don’t know.

Jon Johnson:

I I think he has to stop it.

Kristi Faltorusso:

I think we’re just gonna leave and let him figure it out.

Jon Johnson:

Okay. Well, hey. Love you. Miss you.

Kristi Faltorusso:

Love you. Bye.

Jon Johnson:

Bye.