Resources in this Episode:

Christine Schlonski [0:02]
Hi Gorgeous. This is episode number 084 with the wonderful, Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk.

Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk [0:09]
Hi, this is Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk and you are listening to, Heart Sells! Podcast by Christine Schlonski. Enjoy.

Christine Schlonski [0:17]
I’m so honored and excited to have our guest today, Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk. Before we dive in, please subscribe to Heart Sells! Podcast if you have not already. If you love what you hear, hop on over to iTunes and give it a rating and a review and tell all your friends. Because here’s another amazing episode that is going to inspire you, that is going to uplift you and that might leave you with a question, what is there more? Can I achieve more in my life? Because Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk has achieved so much that you might be asking, “Well, is that all just one person in?”, and yes, it is. So let me give you her bio in a nutshell. Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk is the President and Co-founder of, The Memnosyne Institute. She is a humanitarian, a conscious capitalist, a published writer, internationally award-winning sculpture, a human rights and environmental activist, as well as a social responsible investor, and the frequently requested international speaker. And this is actually how we met because I saw her speaking on stage. And I asked her to be a guest on the podcast because I was inspired. And I hope to inspire you by her amazing achievements today. In 2018, she was presented with the inspiring award at the Harvard University and the Civic Pioneer Award at the UN, which being one of the highest awards, a female citizen of the USA can receive is entered into the congressional records. So with no further ado, please welcome with me, Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk. Well, I am so excited to have you on Heart Sells! Podcast today, Mary Ann, welcome.

Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk [2:24]
Well, thank you. I’m excited as well.

Christine Schlonski [2:26]
Yeah, I’m so excited. You are doing such amazing work in the world. And I would say it’s like by far more than just running a company, which is already a pretty big undertaking for so many people. Can you fill us in a little bit of what you are doing at the moment? What your huge messages so people understand where you’re coming from?

Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk [2:56]
Thank you so much for the opportunity. Yes, I’m the President and Co-founder of, The Memnosyne Institute, and our whole focus is basically helping humanity to deal with the challenges and opportunities of an increasingly globalized world. A lot of this came about because I grew up in a business-oriented family. I realized people were talking about globalization and financial terms, but they weren’t really looking at and environmental terms in terms of how we have such diversity of belief systems and cultures. I started thinking to myself, well, if we’re only looking at it from an economic point of view, and not from a sociological and environmental point of view, then we have a lot of opportunities to really mess things up as a species. So we started saying, “Well, how do we bring those necessary discussions, dialogues, and start finding ways in which to find solutions, and do it in a collaborative way?”, because a lot of times, it’s not about coming from outside a community and saying, “I’m enlightened, I have this solution.” Instead, it’s about, you have the solution. Let’s go through a process and let’s explore and find it together. That has now led us to establishing chapters in Japan, Israel, Palestine, and Mexico. In Mexico, we have two cultural centers, one serving the Tolteca, one serving the Mayan communities. In the United States, we have projects that have linked different ongoing, existing programs and organizations together. So for example, in the North Texas area, we have one of the number one things fighting food waste in the entire nation. That came about because we got area and interfaith leaders, imams, rabbis priests to go from as many food pantries and homeless shelters as possible. Take three years to interview them but you would never make a business cringe. They’d say, well, you do your due diligence and research beforehand. But in the nonprofit world, that was shocking. So for example, they were women, they asked questions. And then they found out that the biggest problem that all these food pantries and homeless shelters are facing was it means to store the food and a means to move it. And when they actually brought in those questions, people said, “You know, you’re the first people to ever ask us what we need. People just throw money at us. They never say, “You know, what is it you want? What can make your services.” And so now just by asking questions, and coming up with the informed strategy, we’ve been able, for example, this year alone, by the third week of January, we saved more than $3 million worth of food that would have gone to a landfill, instead of going to those that were hungry. So if that’s just one example, you know, but rather, we’ve done that or negotiating the first treaty in 300 years between the Hopi and Navajo Indian nations, it always comes down to the same thing, which is researching, finding all the different things that are contributing to the issue at hand, and working with the community who are always experts to find sustainable solution. So that’s what we’ve done all around the world.

Christine Schlonski [5:56]
That’s amazing. Yeah. And you know, even when we talk, nonprofit, people often think that it functions in a different way. But like, from a sales perspective, it’s the same. And that’s why I’m so excited to have that conversation with you today. So no matter where people are, and what they are trying to sell, it might be in their own business, it might be a service, it’s not tangible. It might be a tangible product. But it could also be an idea.

Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk [6:28]
Yes, yes.

Christine Schlonski [6:29]
So what have you found is the biggest challenge when it comes to sales?

Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk [6:38]
When it comes to sales, one of the hard things I think, especially for women, is really getting over the idea, who am I to do this? Who am I to say I have something? Really being able to say, “You know what, I have value.” And I like to liken it metaphorically to being an artist, because, you know, I have been an artist, and it takes guts to put something on the wall and say, “This is worth your time and money.” It takes guts, I’m blessed to be a speaker and have spoken around the world. And it takes guts to go on stage and say, “I am worth the next five minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes of you listening to me”, times the most valuable commodity any of us have. So anytime you say to somebody, I have value that is worth your time and money, it takes a certain amount of audacity to make that assumption. But if you’re really honing in with empathy, and going, “Wow, you know, I understand where you’re at.” And as I like to tell people, empathy doesn’t mean agreement, it means, I’m trying to comprehend where you’re at mentally, and emotionally and literally, in terms of your finances, and everything else that’s going on with you. And if I can understand where you’re coming from, and truly make that attempt, then I can use that information to see whether I have in my arsenal things, something that’s used to you, if I do, then I’m actually providing something of value and a service to you by offering it to you. And when you come at it from that perspective, it’s not something that’s egotistical at all, it may seem audacious because you’re offering it out of the blue. But in reality, you are helping somebody else to empower themselves and their journey. And when you see it like that you’re offering a partnership and a collaboration with that other person that’s going to further help them on their way of life, whatever their main project and passion is. So if you come at it from that point of view, it’s something that you’re actually providing for somebody. I think it’s important to keep that in mind.

Christine Schlonski [8:40]
Yeah, yeah, I love it. I think it’s super important. Because so often I see that people have these amazing, amazing gifts, these beautiful services that really make a difference in people’s lives. But they still are in that mindset that when the other person says yes, that they are saying yes to them, that they are saying yes to paying the price, so to speak, or I always see investment. But what it really is, is that the other person, they are supporting a saying yes to themselves. Because, yes, there wouldn’t be any change.

Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk [9:16]
Yes, I’d say it break it down to make it real simple. If someone’s building a house, and they don’t possess a hammer and nails, and you own that, and you provide because you make hammer and nails, it would be a simple thing to say, in order to achieve what you’re trying to do here, you need these hammer and nails. And I can tell you that from my experience that they are absolutely necessary to the job at hand. If I break it down like that, most people would never say the person trying to offer hammer and nails is doing something egotistical, let’s say it’s practical, the empathy was looking at the project and saying, “This is what you need.” You know, the reality is saying, “This is what I provide. So, let’s help each other out”, when you break it down to that basic level, then people go, “Oh, there’s nothing wrong with that.” But when we start filling it in with marketing, or marketing, or you say, “I offer public speaking”, or, “I have a nonprofit service that can fulfill this particular need in society”, suddenly people go, “Ah”, but the truth is, it’s no different than the person offering a practical hammer and nails that person trying to build something. It’s just get weird when we get into different nouns.

Christine Schlonski [10:24]
Yeah, yeah, I so agree. And I see that over and over again. And then there’s like a really tiny, well, big distinction, like, what can I ask for the hammer and the nail. So people asking their price, or what they really wanted to charge. That’s another huge challenge for a lot of entrepreneurs because they don’t know where to start in them rising and their packaging. And that also throws them off the wagon.

Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk [10:56]
And I’d say that people have to also take a step forward. And really in this increasingly globalized world, we are collaborators, we have to look at ourselves as collaborators, you know, we have a project that I’ve been working on within the Memnosyne Institute called, The School Out of A Box Program. And in creating it, our goal is to try and bring higher level education to the poorest regions of the world that they don’t normally have it. When you look at a program like that, are we in the business of being architects, no. Are we in the business of creating curriculum, no. What we needed to do is find people who are in the businesses and find collaborators to then take something that’s going to be sustainable and scalable, around the world, different situations. And that means sometimes our collaborators are for profit, sometimes or nonprofits. So then you go in and you make a whole plan and you say, “Okay, well, what do I need to do here that ends up producing value for you?” So for example, with our architect, Tania Arrayales Rodriguez, what we did with her is we said, “Can you donate your services to design the building, we’re paying for the builder not asking for freebie, but we are asking for your services to design it”, it ended up being something that helped lift her profile in her own country, to such an extent that people from outside read articles about her and then they start investing in what she was doing. And now she’s on the board of major international corporations. And she’s got a huge project. That is creating condos, a humongous condominium complex. And she was able to point to her experiences with working with our project to secure those things. So it takes nothing from her in terms of her owning that, earning it and being the qualified person to do it. But it does show that by going in and saying, “Let’s find a way that does not make you have to lose anything financially, but lifts your profile so that people are aware you’re there and we will help in the money to lift that profile up if you do this first.” So that’s an example and what I try and explain to a lot of women who get very intimidated about the international stage. And, you know, “Oh, I couldn’t do this.” Why not? You know, find a partner, look for active collaborations that are win-wins and before you know it, you will be working on the international stage. And in today’s world, that’s globalized. I’ll be honest, can’t afford not to look at the international stage.

Christine Schlonski [13:17]
Yeah, yeah. I love that, to get the to get the higher reach. You seem to be so confident, was this always the case?

Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk [13:29]
No, of course, and a lot of times, just like any human being, you hear people go, “Oh, that’s crazy. That’s insane. What are you doing? No one’s ever done that before.” When I like to tell people is, the person who’s telling you that, “Oh, no one’s ever done that before. You’re nuts, don’t even go after that.” They’re going to be in the same place that they were in 10 years ago, and 10 years from now, they’re going to be in the same place that they are now. If you fail, you’ve gone further than the person who’s never tried and you gain knowledge. Attempted failed, attempted failed, attempted failed, attempted win, that’s just the nature of entrepreneurism. That’s the nature of anyone who has any idea throughout history that’s made any significant attempt. You know, Galileo tried about six different things before he dropped the ball out of the, Leaning Tower of Pisa. You’ve got to look at it and say, “How do I fit into this world? Are other people already achieving what I’m envisioning? If they’re not, well, then why not?”, because no one’s tried it. So don’t be afraid to be the first.

Christine Schlonski [14:31]
Yeah. What kind of wisdom could you share around failure? Because often failure makes people feel.

Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk [14:41]
Plenty. I had, for example, with the, School Out of A Box, you know, I went in and, first of all, as a humanitarian, 90% of my time goes to the Memnosyne Institute, but as a humanitarian, I don’t just look work with philanthropy. I work with social responsible investing, I work with conscious capitalism, I work with activism. To me, all of these are tools, just like philanthropy is. When I look at a situation, I go and say, “Which one is the appropriate one for this scenario that I want to impact? And what kind of impact I want?” Sometimes being a philanthropist isn’t the right answer, sometimes in many times, it requires all those tools. For example, with the, Schoot out of a Box situation, I once invested a significant amount of funds in a for-profit corporation that had an amazing model that was about delivering education, free education. By doing this investment, and it was going to make its money off of the advertising. It’s other things, especially in the social media. Through doing this, I thought this would provide access to higher level education to all of the school, the boxes that we would put around the world. It turned out that the person in charge that was basically a con man, and I got taken, it was very painful. But it was very expensive. I had a couple of times, later on, the opportunity to regain my money. But if I did that, it would have left it open for other people to be taken advantage of. So I had a real hard, ethical question, do I recoup my money? Or do I allow myself to be a block in the road legally so that others would not be taken advantage of? It was an expensive lesson that I took the financial hit. So because basically, when I brush my teeth at night, I wanted to live with myself. That was for me more important. But that expensive, very expensive lesson taught me one thing. What are my values? They couldn’t be for sale, and I could sleep better at night because I didn’t sell it. But what it also taught me was basically being able to scrutinize people better. I’ve had other people say, “Oh, well, I could have seen that from a mile away.” Well, if you could great for you, I didn’t. I became better at understanding because not everybody involved that project was part of this scam, there’s only a few people that were doing the con, a lot of people who were very good business, people were part of it. In the process of working with them, I learned valuable things that then I was able to translate into make it into a real sustainable solution. There are many, many times I failed. As just an entrepreneur, I wanted to launch a line of dinnerware. Once again, for me, it was hard with my ethics because people were manufacturing things in China. Unfortunately, if you manufacture in China, you’re working with slave labor. I didn’t want to do that. I’ve learned the hard way that in today’s market, it’s very difficult and almost impossible to compete if you’re not going the route of slave labor. For me, it’s been costly, sometimes sticking with my ethics but on the other hand, by learning those things, I’ve now been able to invest in things like, Dakia, Women That Soar and other investments, Christian Iles – Hair Care, and they’re making money for me. Yes, you learn expensive lessons along the way, and it’s painful. I’ve always been someone that when I go in and I invest, I don’t just invest my money, I invest my time, my connections, I become an active participant. So now that I’ve learned from those difficult lessons, it just makes me a better partner for people that are actually really making money for me.

Christine Schlonski [18:26]
Yeah, I love that view and how you just told that story. I’m going back to something that’s really crucial when we do make mistakes, and we all do we are failing for years, right?

Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk [18:40]
Oh, yes.

Christine Schlonski [18:42]
Even though it doesn’t feel good. What is the chatter that needs to go on in your mind about those situations where we know exactly, “Well, I screwed up on this one.”? Why didn’t I do enough research? Why didn’t I do this? Why did I listen to this person? Then we are going on and on versus chatter in our mind, and sometimes even beating ourselves up. What do you think is crucial in that situation to be able to come out of it strong? At the end of the day, those situations taught you something and you gain something that you have now to make yourself even more valuable and collaborating with you more interesting or better, or what, whatever word you want to use.

Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk [19:33]
For me, when I look at it, and I dealt with those things, the first thing I look at is, what do I have in my hand? If I can say, “Okay, well, I’m coming away with having met these new people”, those are assets, if I’ve come away with knowing that there’s a need, and that’s quite often something that I do. “Okay, well, people still need a, b, and c. Okay, that’s knowledge. I know exactly who needs that. If I can provide that I can sell to that.” You come away with knowing who potential clients, come away with knowing who potential real collaborators are, you’re going to come away with that every time. If you can take those as tools and go, “Okay, I can build toward this by that.” Other times, sometimes I’ve been in situations where it’s a matter of bringing a third person to the table, and I’ve gone, “Okay, well, it didn’t work with this original situation but I still know the need is there. People who are knowledgeable and can do this are here. And so a third person needs to be brought, let me look in my arsenal and find who that is”, and I find by making myself self-aware of that. It’s kind of like a little alarm that goes off in my head, you bump into that person, you go, “Oh, this is who I need”, and you start planting it also in your circle. I’ve had people that have called me up, this happened recently, someone called me up and said, “Mary Ann”, so and so, “Do you have anything that could?”, and I guess because I’m connected people just throw things out of me, “Do you have anything?”, it’s this, I’m afraid no one wants that. And if you have it in there, and you have those alarms ready to go off, you just pick up on it and you start reading it together. And right now, that’s what I’m doing a lot of both on my entrepreneurial side, and on my nonprofit side, I’m doing a whole lot of weaving. But you can’t do that and be in the mindset to be ready to make that happen. Unless you’ve set those alarms to go off in your head.

Christine Schlonski [21:28]
Yeah, yeah, I love the connection stuff. It’s so magical, what the universe can bring to you by just by making a tiny decision.

Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk [21:38]
Oh, yes. And it’s always there. You know, people talk about synchronicity and if you want to encourage the synchronicities, you have to become self-aware and you have to put that alarm in your mind. That even when you’re you’re out for having a picnic, and your mind is nowhere near your business. But if you have that in the back of your head, and someone just says, “Hey, I had dinner with so and so the other night and they had a guest and they’re doing this, really? Can I meet them?” A lot of people forget that if you just have it. It’s not about working 24/7, it’s not like you’re only focusing on that, because we need balance lives. But if you just have that, you’re going to be amazed at how synchronicity increases.

Christine Schlonski [22:17]
Yeah, yeah. Well, for me, I felt like just being open and in going with the flow and allowing yourself to say yes, I think when you’re at the point where you really love what you do, and you will get so excited about it, then you don’t have like, this is my business life, this is my private life, this is my whatever life, you have just one. When you have that picnic, and somebody mentioned somebody, it’s just an automatic kind of thing, because you’re not compartmentalized, “Oh, well, it’s after five.” you know, private picnic kind of thing.

Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk [22:56]
I’d extend it further to because what I find, and I want to encourage more women, especially to do this is, I grew up in a family that was very, very powerful in terms of business. I would watch my father and my uncles, and they were always in sync with this. They were doing it for their associates and their friends as well. That’s how they create those old boy networks. A lot of women and minorities often labor under the illusion that there’s only room for one of us at the top. People need to get that out of their head, that doesn’t exist. If you empower people around you, because I’ve seen women go, “Ooh, so and so it’d be great for that. But I don’t want to let them know about her. Because you know, what, if I need this for one day, no, no, get that out of your head.” If you see something opportunity, and it would be good for an associate of yours, and you are the connector, you’re going to make an impression on both ends of that the person who needs someone, and the person who’s being connected and helped. As you raise their profile, you’re increasing the power of your own circle. That’s how men have been for centuries and that’s how women need to learn to be better at it as well.

Christine Schlonski [24:03]
Yeah, I love that I would love to go deeper. But this is, for example, this is something that I learned from the book, The Go-Giver, by Bob Burg and John David Mann. It gave me the permission to connect. I started to learn that I have a gift in connecting people and bringing value to the table and making the world like a better place for everybody. Because learning that there is no such thing as competition per se, because we are so different. Men have each our unique experiences. We learn different things and like, we mix it all together, and then it’s only there one person at a time. I love that. What advice, I mean, you said for women to connect. What have you learned on your own journey when you started to implement and give yourself the permission to connect and to kind of pay it forward to others, and not keeping it in the hat, in the back of your mind for one day?

Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk [25:18]
Well, what I found is, if you can make an opportunity occur for somebody, the power of that connection is going to be greater because you’re already connected to them, that’s why you know about them. When you help them to achieve something that they’ve been wanting, they wanted to be more on the international stage, they want to be recognized, they wanted a financial investment, whatever it is, and you can make them have that connection, and you go out of your way to make that happen, it’s remembered. You’re also perceived as being a more powerful person, because you’ve helped two people, or two corporations or two organizations to get where they need to go. You’ve made a significant impact, not just in making the world a better place and all that, but you’ve made a significant impact and how people perceive you. As you go further with that, then suddenly, in those connections as they start going higher and higher, guess what, your circle is more empowered. If you just hoard it all in, and all those people are down here, and they’re just stuck very low, “And so whatever. They’re good friends”, but if you help them grow, then maybe a year, two years later, when you know you need something, they’re in even better place to help you move forward. I tell people, if you need a sociopathic reason, to follow somebody, you’re actually investing in your own circle of influence. If you are someone to like myself moves from the heart, you find that the opportunities that come out of that, they are so amazing for yourself, and it feels good, it just feels good. You can feel empowered, not just from what you’re getting in your bank account, or what you’re getting from your public relations. But if you can feel empowered by knowing it well, so and so is really going up there and I had something to do with that. It changes your mentality, it changes your knowledge of your own self potential, and just that amount of feeling, yes, it’s an emotional thing but that translates into energy. You’re going to find that you believe in yourself and your capacity to affect change, and be motivated to motivate others increases significantly as well.

Christine Schlonski [27:29]
Yeah, I love that, what a beautiful ending for this first episode, I’d love to pick up on this idea of to empower others and kind of giving first mentality and also coming from the heart place. Because this is, Heart Sells! Podcast. So people come from that place and they they still listen because they want to find other ways to be inspired and motivated and how to grow by staying in their heart by being authentic and true to their values but make a bigger impact. Before we we are leaving, let us know where people can find you.

Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk [28:11]
But you can find me, the best place I tell people is, Facebook. It’s just, when you travel around the world it’s one of the easiest, laziest ways to go, “I’m doing this today.” The Memnosyne Institute is on there, Maya, which is our mind Cultural Center outreach is on there and our Tolteca Cultural Center is on there, Food Source DFW is on there and one of our programs, Green Source DFW are on there. So if you want to look for me, just, Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk, I have both a public and a private Facebook page, people follow both and again the, Memnosyne Institute. Just look at us on Facebook, and you’ll see the most up to date information.

Christine Schlonski [28:49]
Yeah, wonderful. I will definitely include it in the show notes and give people the resources to just find you with one click. Wonderful. Well, thank you so much. I’m looking forward to the next episode with you.

Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk [29:02]
Thank you. Appreciate it.

Christine Schlonski [29:05]
What a wonderful episode, Gorgeous. The biggest takeaway from me or the biggest reminder was actually own your value. Instead of asking, “Who am I?”, ask, “Who am I not to?”, because you provide so much value for the people around you, your clients, your family, your friends, that you really, really can own this value, and you can step into doing what you love to do, coming from the space of your heart, and really just offering and having this wonderful, thriving business. So I hope you were inspired by Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk because I was definitely inspired by all she is doing but all that is possible, and how you can actually step into the bigger vision of the picture you are seeing right now. I’m so looking forward to having her on for the next podcast episode. Make sure you are tuning in, make sure you have subscribed to Heart Sells! Podcast and please tell all your friends because I want to share all these messages with as many people as possible. I do think they’re inspiring and they do add amazing value to everybody who is listening. So let your friends know about this and share this wonderful podcast, Heart Sells! Podcast. Have a wonderful day wherever you are. Thank you so, so much for being here. Enjoy and tune into the next episode. Bye for now.