Title:
Rewrite the Narrative: Melissa Salazar on ADHD & Opportunity

Subtitle:
Teenage Motherhood to Talent Leader & How Self-ID Fueled Success at Netflix

Transcript:

Alycia Anderson: Welcome to Pushing Forward with Alycia, a podcast that gives disability a voice. Each week we will explore topics like confidence, ambition, resilience, and finding success against all odds. We are creating a collective community that believes that all things are possible for all people. Open hearts, clear paths.

Let’s go.

Welcome back to Pushing Forward with Alycia. I’m Alycia and I wanna start this episode with a question. What if being called too much was actually your greatest superpower in the entire world? Our next guest is gonna talk about that. We met at Netflix last year during an event. And this was a bucket list moment for me for obvious reasons, but, top of the list, I gained an amazing new girlfriend, an ally, and, really a coworker.

I met a colleague in the disability advocacy space. We clicked right away, and that connection felt very fitting because our guest’s journey is all about opening doors. She has gone from being told that she is too much as a kid with ADHD, to surviving domestic violence, to teenage motherhood, to even having a season of living in her car.

And, after all of that, finding safety in a beautiful place called Jubilee Village, which sounds lovely, I can’t wait to hear about it. She’s turned purpose into her path, and has led to a very successful career in staffing that led to major impacts at Netflix, where she’s been building programs that help overlook talent, shine as bright as they possibly can at work. From family to career, she’s had a mission that tells everybody that they deserve a fair shot, a fair chance in life. And this conversation is not only about resiliency, but it’s about possibility, and it’s about turning too much into absolutely just right.

Melissa Salazar, welcome to the show. I’m so grateful that I get to invite you into my space now.

Melissa Salazar: I appreciate you so much. Also it’s an honor to be here, and I’m just so excited. Also, I don’t feel like I could have captured that as eloquently and as beautifully as you did. And hearing my own story back, it’s, ” Oh, wow, that’s me.” So thank you for that.

Alycia Anderson: Your story’s incredible. We were on a call a few weeks ago and we were just catching up, and you broke down your story even more than I even knew. And I was like, “Oh, my God, you have to come on the podcast and talk about this, because it’s so layered with so many seasons of life and so many adversities that you’ve overcome.”

And, I am so excited to share your story. But let’s start with something a little fun at first. Can we?

Melissa Salazar: Yes, of course.

Alycia Anderson: What is something fun or quirky that you did this week that made you smile?

Melissa Salazar: Oh, probably this morning. This morning, I woke up at four o’clock in the morning with a giant business plan, an idea of what I wanna do to change the world. So, that would be my ADHD in high gear, but also my superpower of when I have a vision, or a mission, or empty time. I fill it with something that means something to me, and I’m able to open my own doors.

Sometimes we’re all stuck in our own spot. And this morning, it was one of those mornings where I was like, “Yeah, I know what I wanna do next.”

Alycia Anderson: The 4:00 AM clarity. I love those moments. Those are the most magical moments of the day for me too. So I love it that you just shared that actually. I used to ignore them and go back to sleep, and now I get up and I’m like, “This is a moment that needs to go on paper or something,” so I love that.

Melissa Salazar: Yeah, I wrote a whole business plan.

Alycia Anderson: Oh good. That’s impressive.

Melissa Salazar: With my ADHD, I’ve learned that when an idea comes on, you gotta just see it through, otherwise I could lose it.

Alycia Anderson: I like it. That’s a good tip of the day, too. Okay. Speaking of ADHD, we kicked off the introduction about how you were often called a lot to handle, and how ADHD has become really a superpower or something that’s really magical in your path. Can you talk a little bit about the past, and the present, and the future with that specific path?

Melissa Salazar: Yeah, I remember when I was a kid, I just would always be in trouble, and I didn’t really understand why. ‘Cause I was like, “Of course I invited every single kid from first grade and kindergarten to my house for a Halloween party that we weren’t having.” And my mom had to throw a party together in a week. The entire first grade and kindergarten class RSVP’d to my mom for this party that I had literally told everyone about very elaborately. And my mom was like, what? And didn’t wanna drop the ball. So she put it together. So thankful for my mom with that. But just my whole life, I remember it was hard to sit still. It was hard to, I don’t know, fit in this box that everybody felt like I should be in. And, it also led to a lot of self-doubt and a lot of questioning, ” why can’t I just sit still?

Why can’t I just stop thinking all the things? How come I can’t stop interrupting or my thoughts just keep going?” And it led to a lot of challenging times, but then other times, I just lean into it and I embrace it. And I think throughout my career, I’ve realized I could channel that energy, channel those ideas. Sometimes I’m still too much, but that’s okay because that’s how you break barriers. That’s how you break norm. And anytime somebody tries to shove you into a box, you should realize that that’s their box, not your box. So live your box. And I just continue to let myself live freely.

I think one of my managers was like, “You must have been a hippie in a previous life. You’re just like this free flowing, tied to nothing.” And I’m like, “Yeah, that’s pretty good way of describing me.” And it served me well, but then other times it’s challenging. I still deal with having ADHD, which makes, small things seem really big at times, makes organizing things very hard. I also live by tools and accommodations that help me with making sure that I can stay focused and get through things. ‘Cause it’s easy to get overwhelmed and overstimulated, and go down 10 rabbit holes versus focusing on what I need to do.

Alycia Anderson: What is a tool? What’s your top pick for a tool or an adaptation that helps support that? That’s interesting.

Melissa Salazar: It’s funny, because mine is like a tool everybody probably has access to and uses, but it’s my calendar. If it is not on my calendar, it doesn’t exist. Even my own birthday, even though obviously I know my birthday, but everything has to be on my calendar. If I agree to go meet a friend or do something, I put it on my calendar because within five minutes, I will forget and I will not show up and I’ll feel horrible. So something as simple as my calendar app and having it on my phone, having the reminders. I use my Alexa all the time to remind me of things. And I keep a log and task list from also AI, right? It’s great having ChatGPT to check in and be like, “Can you organize this for me?

Can you help me make this schedule better or can you help me optimize my time?” Because I’ll also triple, quadruple book myself, because I have unlimited energy at times during the day. And so I’ll just say yes to all the things. So using those different tools really helps me pull back and say, “Okay, here’s what I can do, so I’m not pouring from an empty cup. So I still have time for my family, still have time to do fun things, but I get to still be productive during the day.”

Alycia Anderson: I love that. I need to download all of those things and do it myself. Because I, oftentimes, overschedule myself too, and I’m just frankly overwhelmed. So love that.

Melissa Salazar: I do use Calendly sometimes, but I don’t have a subscription to that. I definitely pay for ChatGPT.

Alycia Anderson: Calendly stresses me out sometimes too though, because I sometimes leave my calendar too open, and then I wake up the next day and I have five meetings that I wasn’t mentally prepared for, and then I gotta tackle that piece too. But, yeah. So, can I ask you? You’ve overcome a lot of adversity, like I just listed off a lot of things.

Your ADHD, teen mom, living in a car for a little bit. Can you talk a little bit about your lived experience of the adversity that’s presented itself over and over again for you, and how that’s created your power, your self-worth, how that’s translated in your life?

Melissa Salazar: Obviously started from when I was a young kid. I grew up in a very broken home. There was a lot of feuding and conflict, and it was just constant turmoil. And being somebody who has ADHD, already I get overstimulated and those type of things. Those environments are hard. And so growing up, and it being Monday through Sunday, every single day without a break, it was challenging.

And I think that’s also probably why I was always in trouble, because I was constantly very overstimulated and running on fumes pretty much all the time. ‘Cause I’m constantly trying to manage the environment around me to help me stay calm. So with ADHD, I mirror other people’s energy.

So when someone’s really angry, I have to work really hard to not mirror that, because I feel that. Also very empathetic. So it’s hard to not feel someone’s pain or suffering. I cry all the time through commercials. Sarah McLaughlin gets me every time with her son. So I feel very deeply, and being a kid going through that emotional turmoil. Also, I’m a survivor of domestic violence. There’s a lot of violence in my house. And I didn’t have an escape at home, but I did with my grandparents. And I think every ounce of amazingness in my body is from my grandma and grandpa, and the patience they showed me and the connection to nature.

They totally didn’t know what I was going through, and they were just like this soft landing space for me. They really taught me to disconnect and go find nature, go find peace with yourself.

But throughout my life, I think that’s helped me with managing through things.

So when I was young, like I said, I went through a lot of turmoil in my home, which drove me to spending way more time outside of my home and with my friends. I’m fluent in Spanish. No one in my family speaks Spanish, but I am completely fluent because I spent so much time with my friends and their families that they wouldn’t let me speak English in the house. So now I am fluent in Spanish.

Alycia Anderson: Wow.

Melissa Salazar: But that also meant that I was with my ex-boyfriend for a very long time, and I was always with him. And eventually we ended up having a baby very young which was my son, my oldest son. At the time, I didn’t have anywhere to live, so I chose to stay in my car and take a shower at the Y.

Alycia Anderson: Wow.

Melissa Salazar: I was working multiple jobs. I can hone my brain and I can do really well when I’m working. Especially when I’m making money, that helps me with finding purpose and routine. And so I just worked really hard, and it was extremely tough having him that young. Not that I would have chosen anything else. I was extremely excited. I was like, “Hey, I’m gonna be a mom. I’m gonna be the best mom I can possibly be.” But it also gave me all of my life’s purpose, I feel like shifted that moment I found out I was pregnant which I actually had no idea. I really thought I just had a stomach bug, and the doctor was like, “No, you’re four months pregnant.” I was like, “Oh, didn’t think that could happen.” You’re very naive as a child. But through that adversity of having to find somewhere to stay, having to pay for my insurance, having to tell employers “Hey, I’m pregnant, I’m gonna need to take time off.” When you’re a teenager, it’s extremely hard.

And it was through opportunities, like people believed in me, people saw the potential, they saw my work ethic, so they gave me opportunities. Lot of times they didn’t. And I lost a lot of opportunities because I didn’t have childcare, or he was sick, or something happened. Through all of that, I really found my passion for helping give back to other people and got into staffing, which I was helping connect people to jobs. I was helping them with finding the means to support their family or their dreams. I was also really good at sales and helping them network and get into different places.

So I really found myself in staffing. And I think over the years, it just helped me lean into my own self, bring my whole self to work. Because I had gotten through navigating having a child so young, and then living through all those things. And I just used it as fuel to say, “No one else should have to explain why they’re having a hard day.”

I can probably put two and two together and know they probably are down on their luck right now. And if I just give them this opportunity or just give them the shot, it could be exactly what they need to help them save their life, or move forward, or pay for their kids’ tuition, or whatever it is.

And it’s just those small little things you can do. And then through that, led me to Netflix. Yeah. Yeah.

Alycia Anderson: Before we get to Netflix, I love that, and I’m gonna even track back a little bit more. Your work in staffing, and even the advocacy work that you do at Netflix, that you’ve done in your career, the disability inclusion stuff, all that we’re gonna talk about.

But, I track it back to safe place at Grandma and Grandpa’s, and you’re creating that safe place for employees that are working for you, or the people that you’re advocating for, or leading. Creating that calmpath that you feel comfortable to allow you to rise as much as you possibly can, in situations that can be very stressful, especially if you feel othered at work.

I feel like maybe it’s a lesson all the way back from Grandma and Grandpa, like creating that cozy warmth for other people, which is how you present. You’re very warm and sweet. You gave me an opportunity at Netflix.

You offer other people opportunities. It’s amazing.

Melissa Salazar: I appreciate that. Honestly, it’s funny you say that because I remember, 10 years ago, I was like a hypnotist. It was just like a calming exercise and they’re like, ” Take 10 steps backwards in your brain and close your eyes and picture the most magical place.” And I pictured my grandma and grandpa’s pier, which I have tattooed on my arm.

But I pictured my grandparents’ pier. My grandpa built it, and that’s where I would sit and fish and hang out with my grandma. And I remember, they asked, “Describe your happy place or describe the most magical place.”

And I described it, and it was this whole emotional journey of, ” Yeah, that’s where I felt the safest.” I could be myself. There in that space, there was nobody there to hurt me. Everyone loved me. I felt comfortable. I could run around, and I would jump outta trees.

I would go for hours, just high energy. And my grandparents thought it was hilarious. They never told me, “Sit down, you’re too much and stop. And none of that.” It was just, “Alright, you wanna go climb a tree? Go ahead. Do you.” So, yeah. I love that you’ve made that connection ’cause I feel like it is very true.

Alycia Anderson: It’s like the place where you could be free to be you. It’s beautiful. Where was this pier? Just so I can envision it myself.

Melissa Salazar: Yeah, it’s a little town in Wisconsin off of the Wolf River. It’s called Fremont, Wisconsin. I still have this place. I share it with my mom and my sister, and now my kids and my husband.

We still go there. I was just there last weekend. I’ll be there this weekend. Yeah, it’s the most magical little place. It’s a tiny little town, but it’s amazing. Yeah.

Alycia Anderson: Lovely. I love that. Okay, so from staffing to Netflix, disability inclusion advocacy. Talk about where your career has taken you, your dreams, your aspirations, what your North Star is, where you are, where you’ve become.

Melissa Salazar: Yeah, I started in staffing. I leveraged my speaking Spanish to help folks with getting roles. I started in light industrial. I would work a full desk. I recruited, I sold, and it came in really handy. Everyone was always shocked. “Oh my gosh, you speak really great Spanish.” And it absolutely helped me.

One little advice to everybody. If you’re learning a second language, go hang out with people in the community, ’cause it’ll help you exponentially. But, I also realized, I have a sister who’s hard of hearing, and I have cousins who are deaf. And so again, disability has touched my life in so many ways, and it’s really shaped and molded who I am.

But from experiencing it and understanding others’ perspectives. I’m never gonna say I know everyone’s, but I know my sister’s experience and the things that were challenging for her. Also, now I experience it with one of my children and one of my nephews. That also gave me opportunity to push the clients I was working with to be like, “Hey, you don’t have anybody who needs interpreters in these warehouses.”

You don’t have anybody who is a wheelchair user in this warehouse. Yes, you’re ADA compliant, but how are you ensuring that you’re making a space that people want to work at, who have disabilities? Not just compliant, but I would thrive here. I would love to work for this company. I wanna give my time and my energy to this company. And so I started that in staffing, and then going to Aquin, which was my employer right before Netflix. That’s where it really budded, and I helped with founding some of the ERGs there, and just really lived with the culture. It’s a really great community. And then moving to Netflix, I feel like that’s when I really owned my story.

I had never told anybody I had ADHD until I filled out the Netflix form, and it was like, “Do you have a disability?” I was in it, and it’s listed like ADHD, and I was like, “Yes I do. And, after being there for a while, I was there for about a year and a half. And noticed again, there was this gap.

We didn’t have anybody asking for accommodations in our program. So, I went out and found a deaf supplier, and helped bring them in the program and get them up to speed. An amazing colleague, who wasa leader at Netflix at the time, tapped on my shoulder and said, “Hey, you should lead our employee resource group for accessibility.” And I was like, “I can come in as an ally. Sure.” And within 10 minutes, I was like, “Okay, I have a disability.” And it was this full circle moment where I was like, “Okay, I’m finally myself again, and I can finally be me and show up authentically and share my story.” And of course, Netflix is amazing about sharing stories and connecting with people.

And so from there, obviously built some programs, did some great things. I’ve truly enjoyed that experience, but I feel like it really unlocked my passion for accessibility and disability representation. I think even a step further, like going back to my roots. Anybody who’s experiencing something difficult in their life, whether it’s a disability, whether it’s an early pregnancy, or unplanned when you’re a teenager, or maybe going through a hard time in their life through divorce, whatever, right?

I wanna help people get that chance. That one chance that they need to connect with something like a bridge program. So, that’s what I’m looking for next is, where can I make an impact and how can I help more people get connected to great work? Or something that they love doing, and not get looked over, or not get told, “Hey, you don’t have enough experience or you didn’t show up great to that interview, so we’re moving on.”

How do we just level the playing field and ensure that folks can have bad days, and still get the job, and still do great work?

Alycia Anderson: You just said a lot. There’s a lot to unpack with what you just said. First of all, I love that you went on to fill out the application and you decided in that moment to check off the box, ADHD, and I have two questions. What made you do that? Why did you feel safe? Or was it just a moment? ‘Cause I know a lot of people have a really hard time checking off that box for fear of not getting the job, or retribution, or whatever.

Then you get offered this position to lead the accessibility ERG, and you said, “Oh, yeah, I can come in as an ally.” Were you not putting the two and two together, “Oh no, I am disabled,” and then you realized? Can you talk through that for a minute? That was just, wow.

Melissa Salazar: I was in denial. It’s not denial. It’s just, again, I’ve always been told I’m too much. I’m too much. I take up space. I’m in people’s space. I’m in their way. I don’t read the room. Even though I’m extremely empathetic and I can read the room probably 10 times faster than everyone else, but it comes at me all at once in multiple ways.

And I have to figure out what I’m gonna focus on, which again is part of my disability. So when I filled out the form, I did feel comfortable. ‘Cause I was like, “This is Netflix. They’re not messing around if they’re asking me this.” I also don’t feel like I’ve ever, up until that time, seen it disclosed, What is a disability? Because when I had my previous thoughts about, what would make you say I have a disability or identify as having a disability, I didn’t know that ADHD could fall under that. And so that was eyeopening that it was there, and I was like, “Okay, that is me.”

Boom. So it made it really easy to be like, yes. Versus, had they just asked a broad question, I’d be like, “I don’t know. Probably no. Yes. Maybe.” And then when they asked me to be accessibility lead, again, same thing. I was like, “I don’t wanna step in and take space from someone else, someone who deserves it, someone who has more lived experience than I do.”

Again, it was like this denial. Imposter syndrome is very. I also have rejection sensitivity disorder as part of my ADHD. So sometimes I am just reading too much into something, and my RSD takes over. And so I think that’s what it was. I was like, “I don’t wanna take space.” But at the same time, “Heck yeah, I’ll lead this accessibility ERG, and I’ll come and I’ll show up.” And then after meeting one of the co-leads, who’s also neurodivergent, she was like, Girl, you’re neurodivergent, like, that is a disability.” And I was like, “You’re right, it is.” And she’s like, “It’s clear you are neurodivergent, like wave that flag.” And I was like, “Yes, done.” So, I think also having someone tell me and remind me was really nice. And that’s really what I worked on. The two years leading that ERG was, “‘How do we help more people hear my story or other people’s stories to say, ‘Oh, I do have a disability, outside of what their traditional sense might be and what they feel would constitute as being a part of our community.'”

Alycia Anderson: Yeah. And also, one step further on that, I have a lot of people, my whole life, that have non apparent disabilities, like yourself, that would say similar things to me. “I have a disability, but I don’t have to deal with near as much as you do. Or I have this, so you should have more because of this or whatever.” But I think that comparison is a little bit off in our own internalized ableism mind that we’re like, ” Oh, their disability is worse than mine. They’re not equal. They deserve more here or there, or whatever.” And I think it’s just nice to talk out loud about that.

We both have our own lived experience with this. For me, there’s no this, that. So, I think that’s an important conversation to have, honestly.

A trigger warning. But after I had my son, I thought, “Hey, it would be so easy to have another baby, right?” And so my husband and I set off to get pregnant and could not.

Melissa Salazar: I also have a chronic illness, endometriosis, which made it really difficult to get pregnant. So got through IVF, did all the things. And then I was like, “Great, I’m pregnant, we’re done.” I ended up losing my son during delivery, and it was,

Alycia Anderson: Oh no.

Melissa Salazar: Yeah, it was very hard, but he’s part of my story. But it really opened my eyes because so many people, like one in four women, experience a miscarriage or a loss, right? And everyone compares. They’ll say mine was only eight weeks. I was like, “But does that matter?” It doesn’t matter. Somebody lost a parent, you wouldn’t be like, “You only knew them for 97 years.”

You wouldn’t say that. So I don’t know why sometimes we lean into that, but I think it’s because as a society, we don’t talk enough about things. And so I think it’s great we have these conversations, but it’s no comparison. A loss is a loss. A disability is a disability.

Alycia Anderson: Your experience is your experience. It’ll be completely unique to just you. And even if you have the same disability as five other people in the room, you all will have a different experience. So just share and talk about it, and just be okay with your own experience. And I think that’s what I really learned from my incredible peers at Netflix and the co-leads of accessibility. Shout out to Joelle. She taught me so much. Hey, Joelle.

Melissa Salazar: Yes. She’s amazing. Don’t compare, just be you. You live your life, and I think as a society we could all get better about just holding space for ourselves.

Alycia Anderson: Don’t compare and don’t minimize

Melissa Salazar: Yes.

Alycia Anderson: to make somebody else feel better that you think you need to make feel better, so I love that. What is one of the things that you think leaders in organizations need to have?

Like a mindset shift maybe from an underrepresented talent standpoint. What do you think?

Melissa Salazar: I think the biggest thing is looking at the numbers, look at your team structure, and think about the different perspectives you have on it. But also go further and look out into the industry and say, “How many folks do we have represented from each community? Or is there the pathway to this specific skillset?

I’m just gonna use key artist, right? Obviously, I did something for key artists, but that’s such a niche community. It’s very small. It’s a very niche skillset. Is it accessible to everybody? Probably not. It really isn’t. And not everybody can get into that skillset and that’s okay, right?

That not everybody’s interested in it, but is it that they’re not interested or is it that they don’t have access to learning the skill and breaking into entertainment. So I think as companies are hiring, as managers are assessing who to bring on their team, it’s also what can they do to empower folks to get access to the skills or the niche skill sets that they need on their team? And making sure that there’s equitable playing field, right? Everyone could take this course. Or even if they don’t have access to college, they could somehow still get into this skillset. So that’s the way I look at it is, if you can step back and think big picture of how do I create those pathways. Because then you’re gonna have a really great team and future. There will always be more and more people in this skillset, no matter how niche it is. And it’ll be a very diverse pool of people.

Alycia Anderson: And I think expect more. I was just at an event last week, and there’s a bunch of politicians in the room and all big heavy hitter people. I got up on stage and I was like, “You need to challenge yourself to expect more out of people.” To go back to the beginning of this interview, we put in boxes that we think are limiting. Challenge yourself to actually expect more and allow us to show you that we have so much more to offer and give.

So yeah, that was powerful.

Melissa Salazar: Sometimes, again, as a leader, you’re like, “This is what we need to do.” And you get so micro-focused on it that you’re missing this opportunity to tap into something that, again, could make this 20 times more incredible.

As a leader, you should step back and say, “Okay, let me give everyone breathing room. See what they do.” And I think that’s like a culture shift, right? That people and leaders can do on their teams to say like, “How do we cultivate innovation?”

Alycia Anderson: Get out of the way. So what’s the North Star? What are we dreaming of? What’s in our dreams at night, and at 4:00 in the morning when we’re waking up inspired?

Melissa Salazar: Okay, so I haven’t shared this out loud, but I’m gonna share it with you.

Alycia Anderson: Breaking news on the podcast on Pushing Forward with Alycia.

Melissa Salazar: No, but it’s something that I’ve really always been passionate about. You talked about Jubilee Village when you announced a little bit about me, and I lived there.

It’s a place for young girls or women, who have children between the ages of 16 and 25. Actually, newsflash, failed the program. But I’m one of their model examples of

Alycia Anderson: go on to do great things. But through that program, I had to apply to it and I had a lot of rules.

Melissa Salazar: There’s a lot of things that I had to do. But basically, I was able to rent an apartment with all these other young moms. And I had my own living space for very affordable, especially having just had a baby, until I could get on my feet and get my own apartment for the first time.

So it helped me bridge from living in my car, to getting my own first place, to now having my own home. And I wanna build a program like that, but not just for one community. I wanna figure out how do I help more of these niche communities? But really kids. I feel so passionate about kids, especially between the ages of 15 and 25. ‘Cause 25 year olds, they’re still kids. I was still a child at 25, still growing and learning. I still am today. But I want to help them, whatever they’re going through. I hate that I said help, so I don’t wanna say help.

I wanna give people opportunities. I wanna create opportunities for kids to bridge those gaps that they have or overcome those hurdles in their life. Especially the kids that are too much, are told that they don’t fit the box, they don’t fit the mold. And I wanna give those kids those opportunities. So I have this little thing baking around in my brain.

Yeah. And I’ll have to share when I have more information.

Alycia Anderson: Oh, I love this. Exciting. I love that for you. I think you would be really good at that, and create really impactful, beautiful programs. Like, you’re sitting on a lake somewhere feeling safe, where you could run through the grass freely and be you.

Melissa Salazar: Yes, this is me. Yes. How do you know me so well, Alycia?

Alycia Anderson: So, for anyone who’s feeling too much right now, what’s the pep talk for them?

Melissa Salazar: You’re not. Just be you.

Alycia Anderson: Just be you.

Melissa Salazar: And let it be. Everything happens for a reason, right? And things get put in your path that suck, but you’ll get through it. And the only way to get through it is to keep going. So just be you. It’s okay.

Alycia Anderson: That sounded like a pushing forward moment.

Melissa Salazar: It’s really fitting for this podcast. Yeah.

Alycia Anderson: Did we miss anything?

Melissa Salazar: I don’t think so, other than this was amazing and I love working with you. And also shout out to you. People should invite you to their companies to speak and do keynotes, because it was so powerful and we didn’t really talk about that. But it was awesome meeting you in person and listening to your story. The whole vibe and the whole way the room changed, like instantly when you started talking, and it was just electricity. And people felt seen and heard. And we just had so much buzz afterwards. So again, just giving you a shout out for that.

Alycia Anderson: I really appreciate that. Thank you for the plug, and thank you for the opportunity. That’s one moment that I will never forget, being on Netflix stage at Netflix corporate office, and being there with you and your team. It was really wonderful. Especially with a company who’s creating so much content that is disability forward, honestly.

So, thank you for that opportunity. It was amazing for me. And maybe one of these days, we’ll be sharing the stage soon together. I think we need to do something together personally.

We definitely are going to.

We definitely are.

And it has to be completely outside of the box.

Melissa Salazar: Yes.

It’ll be a floating stage somewhere.

Alycia Anderson: Okay. Do you have another pushing forward moment as we close this episode out?

Melissa Salazar: I’ll share.

Be calm. You are enough. You’ll get through this. And again, just keep moving forward because that is truly the only way you could get through anything. And also, it’s okay to be an anchor and weather the storm without having to move forward. That’s also power in just being still. That’s something I struggle with is, like always wanna keep going, but sometimes it’s like you are moving, even though you’re still.

Alycia Anderson: Be still. It’s just made me feel like I’m at the spa somewhere.

Thank you so much for coming on the show. I loved this conversation. It was beautiful. You’re incredible.

Melissa Salazar: I love you. You’re beautiful. And I’m really honored, like truly. It’s so cool to have these conversations, to have this platform and opportunity, and I never wanna take it for granted. So thank you.

Alycia Anderson: Friends for life. Congratulations on everything. We’re gonna leave all of your information in the show notes, so our listeners can connect, and follow, and support, and all of the things. And I really appreciate your time. This has been awesome. And for our community, thanks for showing up again. We will see you next week.

This has been Pushing Forward with Alycia and Melissa, and that is literally how we roll on this podcast. We will see you next week.