Louise Marie Skosey
Episode 66

Narrator: Welcome, friends, to another episode of The Story and Experience Podcast. Join your host, Japhet De Oliveira, with his guest today, and discover the moments that shape us, our families and communities.

Japhet De Oliveira: Welcome, friends, to another episode of The Story and Experience Podcast. My guest today is actually silently giggling right now across the table. You may be able to hear in a second. And I'm delighted. I'm delighted. We are at Adventist Health, Glendale. The sun has risen, the smog has cleared. It is a beautiful, beautiful day. And for this podcast, for anybody who's listening for the first time, we have a hundred questions. Those hundred questions progressively become a little bit more complex about stories and experience that shape this person sitting across the table from me into the leader that they are today. So let's begin straight away. I'm going to ask her the first one, which is, what's your name? And does anybody mispronounce it?

Louise Marie Skosey: Well, thank you, first of all, for having me today. My name is Louise Skosey.

Japhet De Oliveira: Louise Skosey.

Louise Marie Skosey: Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: Brilliant. And anybody ever mess that up?

Louise Marie Skosey: Oh, all the time. It's very interesting because I'm Swedish, I have a French name, and then I married a man who is half Mexican and half Scottish. No, wait. He's Mexican, Scottish, and Czech. And Skosey is a Czech name. So especially here in Los Angeles, people want to call me Louise or Lois. And my last name, people always, for some reason, they put an extra K in there, so it's Skoskey.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's actually pretty good. That's pretty good. They would've thought it was maybe Polish or something.

Louise Marie Skosey: Yes, exactly.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, that's fantastic. Well, Louise, it's a pleasure to have you join us today. Would you share with us what you do for your work?

Louise Marie Skosey: So I'm a vice president of development in the Adventist Health Glendale Foundation.

Japhet De Oliveira: Really? What does that really mean?

Louise Marie Skosey: What does that mean?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Louise Marie Skosey: Well, that means that eventually we will be raising a lot of money for this hospital, and I'm very excited. We have a brand new team here. I work with an excellent team. Our president is Elizabeth LaBorde. She has decades of experience in philanthropy and management. She's amazing, and I have so much admiration and respect for her. We have been here now for about a year, and we're building like crazy, and it's very, very exciting.

Japhet De Oliveira: I have heard. So you have some amazing plans, I heard. So this is really good. I mean, connecting people with purpose and care, it's fantastic. So well done. All right. How long have you been in this current role? You said about a year, is that right?

Louise Marie Skosey: Yeah. Actually, I'm celebrating my one year anniversary here with Adventist Health in October.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right. But you've been doing this for a long time?

Louise Marie Skosey: Yeah, I have. Well, actually, I'm an immigrant, and I came here about, let's see now, how long is it? I'm trying to think. So it's about 16 years since I came to America, and it's really interesting because I had a friend who introduced me to philanthropy. And as I was going through the process of getting my green card, she said to me, "I have the perfect job for you. It's in philanthropy at Children's Hospital Los Angeles." And I thought, what are you talking about? Because where I come from, it's a completely different thing. We have high taxes. The system in Europe is so different. We have high taxes, and people pay high taxes, and then they just want the state and the government to take care of everything else.

So she took me on a tour and I was just completely hooked. I thought, oh my gosh, this is an opportunity to really be able to make a difference in the world. And I have never looked back. And I love this work. To see people, the volunteers, the donors that we work with, to see how they really, truly shape our community and what they do to make our communities better, it's such a blessing.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's fantastic. And I agree with you. It is a real blessing, for those who give and for those who actually receive as well. Yeah, that's great. In the morning when you wake up, what's your drink that you start with? Do you start off with coffee, tea, liquid green smoothie, some water?

Louise Marie Skosey: Licorice. What was that last one?

Japhet De Oliveira: A liquid green smoothie.

Louise Marie Skosey: Oh, liquid green.

Japhet De Oliveira: Well, licorice would be good as well.

Louise Marie Skosey: I thought licorice what? Excuse me. I've never heard of that one. I would probably start my day with a glass of water and then, of course, coffee. I don't think I could ever go anywhere, do anything without a cup of coffee. And actually, I drink a really strong espresso with milk.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, nice. Just straight milk, steamed milk?

Louise Marie Skosey: Steamed. We bought this little thing, the Nescafe steamer. And actually, I've started to try oat milk.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Oh, it is very good.

Louise Marie Skosey: It is very good. It's so delicious.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes. I love oat milk as well. I'm a huge fan. I agree. All right. So you mentioned a little bit that you're an immigrant. Where were you born exactly?

Louise Marie Skosey: So I was born in Stockholm, Sweden.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's safe. People mostly know where that is.

Louise Marie Skosey: It's funny sometimes, and I shouldn't say this, but sometimes people do get Switzerland, Sweden, sort of nixed stop a little bit. I have a Swiss friend here, and we always laugh about that. You say you're from Sweden, and then people go, "Oh yeah, I love your chocolate and your watches." We do have delicious chocolate in Sweden. So sometimes I go, "Yeah, that's right." So I think, to be on the safe side, usually I say Scandinavia. And then people always say, "I've always wanted to go."

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. You should encourage them to go.

Louise Marie Skosey: I am. I am.

Japhet De Oliveira: It is great.

Louise Marie Skosey: It's a beautiful country.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Oh, that's fantastic. When you were a child in Stockholm, what did you believe you were going to grow up to be?

Louise Marie Skosey: Oh, that's such a great question. It's interesting because when I was a really young child, I thought I was going to be a nurse or a doctor. And I remember I had this little doctor's bag or whatever, and I was walking around and trying to check people's vitals and things like that. I wanted to be a lot of things, I think, as a kid. I wanted to be a writer. I wanted to be an entertainer. I wanted to be a magician. I guess you start school, and then you want to be a teacher. But one of the first things that I was really aiming for, I think, was to work in healthcare. And here I am working in healthcare, so maybe that did shape me. I don't know.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's really good. It's lovely to see a full circle kind of come together.

Louise Marie Skosey: Right?

Japhet De Oliveira: No, absolutely. If people were to describe your personality, would they describe you as introvert, extrovert, and would you agree?

Louise Marie Skosey: People who know me, I think they know that I am a very happy person. I think when people first meet me, they have, I don't know what kind of ideas they have. Maybe they think, I don't know.

Japhet De Oliveira: They're horrified often.

Louise Marie Skosey: No, but it's interesting because people think, I don't know, sometimes I guess I come across as, I don't know, maybe I look snobbish or I look a certain way that makes people think that I'm not very approachable. But I am.

Japhet De Oliveira: No. I've seen you connecting with people. It's great.

Louise Marie Skosey: I'm super warm. No, but I am. And I love to laugh, and I'm really interested in people. I love asking people questions, just like you, dragging of their history out of them. I'm curious. I've always been very curious as a person.

Japhet De Oliveira: People are amazing, aren't they?

Louise Marie Skosey: They are amazing.

Japhet De Oliveira: And I believe everybody has a great story.

Louise Marie Skosey: Everybody has stories. I mean, it's amazing what people go through.

Japhet De Oliveira: No, that's fantastic. All right. So habits, a little bit of habits. Are you an early morning riser or late night owl?

Louise Marie Skosey: Used to be an owl, for sure. That has changed. That has changed with age. And you know what? I love it. I love the early morning, and I love waking up on a Saturday. Or now I can't, like 07:30, I'm up. And I love it, to have the whole day and to have that peace and quiet in the morning before you go to work and sip your coffee. The coffee thing is a big thing for me.

Japhet De Oliveira: It's a ritual.

Louise Marie Skosey: It is.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Yeah.

Louise Marie Skosey: And just to smell. The whole thing is just-

Japhet De Oliveira: You're making everybody think right now they should go get a cup of coffee. Get a light bean, single source, and enjoy it.

Louise Marie Skosey: We took it to a turn here too.

Japhet De Oliveira: Another level.

Louise Marie Skosey: Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

Japhet De Oliveira: So this morning when you woke up early, what was the first thought that went through your mind?

Louise Marie Skosey: Oh, gosh. I think, and this may sound really horrible. Or not horrible, but really odd, I guess. I think a lot about work. Like you wake up, and you're kind of think, okay, where am I with this? Or what am I doing today? Or you think about something that happened yesterday. Especially during a work week, I think I am very focused on work.

Japhet De Oliveira: Which would you say that, it really depends, though. Some people wake up and they have anxiety with work, and some people wake up and they have kind of energy with work. How do you feel about that when you wake up and you're thinking about work this morning?

Louise Marie Skosey: I think I wake up with energy. I'm sure that there has been times when something is not working in your favor or there's stress around it, but most days, I think it's more about, okay, so let's think, what is my first meeting today? I was probably a little bit stressed about doing a podcast today. That was kind out of my wheelhouse.

Japhet De Oliveira: Well, we'll see. All right. Here's the last question for you, and then I'm going to hand over to you to pick numbers.

Louise Marie Skosey: All right.

Japhet De Oliveira: It's a leadership question. Are you a backseat driver?

Louise Marie Skosey: That's a really good question. I think that as a leader, you have to sometimes be a backseat driver. As a leader, there is always a give and take, because you are never alone, you're always part of a bigger team. You always have to answer to somebody, and there's always somebody who has to answer to you. And also, even if it has to do with the folks that you manage or that are on your team, you have to be a listener most of the time. So you could call that being a backseat driver as well a little bit because even though you may be sitting in the backseat listening to what they're saying, you still have to drive the car. So a little bit of both.

Japhet De Oliveira: A little bit of both. Fair enough. Brilliant. All right. So the floor is yours. We're now between number 11 and 100. Where would you like to go? Which number?

Louise Marie Skosey: Let's start with 11.

Japhet De Oliveira: 11. All right. Yeah. Tell us about the most adventurous food or meal that you've ever eaten.

Louise Marie Skosey: I'm such a picky eater. This is the worst question, because I'm such a picky eater. And you know what? I had done a lot of traveling in my days. Like I said before, I love to learn. I'm very curious. Big surprise, I'm a traveler, right?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Louise Marie Skosey: I've traveled. I've been to a lot of countries. I have seen some of the most scary things that people eat in different parts of the world, and I have not tried them. I'm not going to talk about it on the podcast because I don't want to offend anybody. But I guess in terms of adventure, the most adventure is probably frog legs. That's really lame.

Japhet De Oliveira: Well, I haven't done that.

Louise Marie Skosey: I see myself as a big foodie, actually. I love cooking, and I love to eat, but frog legs.

Japhet De Oliveira: Well done. The French would appreciate you. All right. And where would you like to go after 11 then?

Louise Marie Skosey: Let's do my number. 17.

Japhet De Oliveira: 17. All right. So share, what day is most special for you in the entire calendar and why?

Louise Marie Skosey: Well, 17 is my birthday. I was born on July 17. And it's interesting because in the last couple of days, so my mom actually, she passed in 2012.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, sorry.

Louise Marie Skosey: Oh, thank you. And after that, when she passed, I started seeing 717 everywhere. I would look at my watch, and it would be 07:17. Or the little thing on telly would come up, and it would be 07:17. Or there would be a sign on the street. Just really odd.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Louise Marie Skosey: But 717 keeps on popping up. So every time I see it now, I think, oh, it's my mom saying hi to me.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's beautiful. Hey, we need to remember the people who shaped us.

Louise Marie Skosey: Absolutely.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. That's beautiful. That's good. All right. After 17, what next?

Louise Marie Skosey: Let's do 21.

Japhet De Oliveira: 21. Share the very best compliment you've ever received.

Louise Marie Skosey: Well, going back to what we were talking about, me being happy, the one thing that comes back to me, and I keep on going back to it. Do you know, when we graduate high school in Sweden, it's a big deal. And the kids, they have these little white hats. They kind of look like captain hats. I know it sounds really weird, but they have little white hats with black brims. And it shows you the kind of courses you took, how many years, has all kind of symbolism on them.

And the day of your graduation, the whole school, it's very symbolic. The doors open, and here comes all these kids running out, "Yeah, we graduated high school." The hats go up in the air. It's a thing that you keep for the rest of your life. And so everybody kind of writes something inside of that hat. And I keep on going back to the memory of my friend writing, and she wrote in the hat, and it was like in the middle of the hat, and she said, "You're always happy." So I kind of feel like that is my spirit in a way. I have a very positive spirit, I think.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. That's great. We need more people like that. No, that's fantastic. All right. After 21, up or down?

Louise Marie Skosey: Let's go up. Let's do 29.

Japhet De Oliveira: 29. I don't know how you ended up picking this one, but share three things that make you happy instantly. I'm like, oh, it's going to be very difficult for a happy person.

Louise Marie Skosey: Coffee.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Instantly. Coffee, yep. That's one.

Louise Marie Skosey: But I think obviously my family, my friends, and the work you do.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. That's great. That was great. All tied together. That's fantastic.

Louise Marie Skosey: That's like give and take in all of those three.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, I like that. That was good. We did not plan this, honestly. Louise has no idea what the questions are. It's just random numbers.

Louise Marie Skosey: Apart from that list that you sent me yesterday.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, sure. Right. That would be bizarre. Okay. Where next?

Louise Marie Skosey: I would like to go to 32.

Japhet De Oliveira: 32. If you were featured on the local news.

Louise Marie Skosey: Oh my goodness.

Japhet De Oliveira: What would the new story likely be?

Louise Marie Skosey: That I raised a hundred million dollars for my-

Japhet De Oliveira: That's fantastic.

Louise Marie Skosey: For Adventist Health Glendale.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Anybody interested? Connect directly with Louise. I mean, can you imagine the good that you could do? That'd be great.

Louise Marie Skosey: Yeah. Exactly.

Japhet De Oliveira: I love that.

Louise Marie Skosey: That's a great plug.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Good. All right. Where next?

Louise Marie Skosey: Let's do 33.

Japhet De Oliveira: 33. Tell us about the best gift you've ever given someone else.

Louise Marie Skosey: I think the best gift that you can give someone else is to truly listen and give somebody your attention as a friend or as a family member, or whatever it is, parent, colleague. But to really give them your time and to listen attentively and to try, and from your experience, give the advice and the guidance that you can. I mean, sometimes you can't, but sometimes you may recognize yourself in a situation that someone else is in, and to the best of your capability to just share what you did in a similar situation, or give some kind of guidance or whatever. But I think to really listen to somebody else, and to be there as a support system is the greatest gift that you can give someone.

Japhet De Oliveira: Listening without answers.

Louise Marie Skosey: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. I agree.

Louise Marie Skosey: And I think also, you've been in those situations before, I'm sure, where you just feel like you need to talk. I mean, we are all problem solvers. We just need to sometimes kind of express what's going on in order to see what it is. Because sometimes all those emotions are just jumbled up inside of your head, your heart, whatever. And once you kind of let it out, once you talk about it, you can see a thread, you can see a pattern, and from there, you can figure out what's going on. So you need sometimes somebody who is nonjudgmental, who is just there to hear you out and to guide you. I think that's a great gift.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's fantastic. Love that. And it is a great gift. It is a great gift. Good. Where next?

Louise Marie Skosey: That was 33, right?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes.

Louise Marie Skosey: 33. Okay. So let's do, how about 35?

Japhet De Oliveira: All right. Share a special interest, unique talent that you have.

Louise Marie Skosey: I'm a tap dancer. No, I'm joking. That was one of those things I wanted to do as a kid. A special talent that I have?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, or interest.

Louise Marie Skosey: Yeah. Interest is probably easier to answer. I don't know if I have any special talents. Who knows? Did I mention that I'm a big foodie?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes.

Louise Marie Skosey: I love food. I love to cook. And guess what? I love to entertain.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, really? Okay.

Louise Marie Skosey: Isn't that some kind of love too?

Japhet De Oliveira: That is true. A love language.

Louise Marie Skosey: You make food and you share that with your family, your friends. I remember as a kid, a really young child. I had this fascination with food. And I didn't really understand how to mix all this together to make it something. And I would experiment with food. My parents would be at a party or something like that, and I said, "Okay, wake me up when you come home, and I have a special treat for you in the refrigerator." And it would be chopped out tomatoes with flour and egg or something. Just inedible. But it was just so exciting.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great. Hey, that's great. I'm glad you kept it going and developed it. That's great. All right. That was 35. Where next?

Louise Marie Skosey: How about 37?

Japhet De Oliveira: 37. What do you like most about your family?

Louise Marie Skosey: What I like most about my family?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Louise Marie Skosey: I think that probably having the exposure to a lot of different things. And I'm thinking my family as my birth family, but also my family here in America. Again, being on that learning journey through life, I think my family opened up my world to a lot of different things, and being interested, learning about the world and people and all that kind of stuff. I think they really allowed for that. I met a lot of different people during my upbringing, a lot of people from different walks of life. And that kind of shapes you in terms of how to communicate with people and how to find a common ground. So I think I learned that at a very, very early age.

Japhet De Oliveira: It's a great space to be accommodating and great space to learn how to become accommodating, and to learn from all of that.

Louise Marie Skosey: And I think also, my sister and I, we grew up in the country, and so we had a lot of time to kind of roam free, explore things. And there's a lot of creativity in that. And you kind of create your own little world, and you populate it with people. But gave us the opportunity to meet a lot of people from, like I said, from different walks of life, and to kind of learn about their realities and have empathy. It really fostered a lot of empathy. And like you said, everybody has a story.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Louise Marie Skosey: It's just a matter of if you're listening or not.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's true. I like that. That's good. All right, where next.

Louise Marie Skosey: Okay. Was that 30?

Japhet De Oliveira: That was 37.

Louise Marie Skosey: 37. Okay. Let's go 39.

Japhet De Oliveira: 39. If you didn't need to sleep, what would you do with all that extra time?

Louise Marie Skosey: If I didn't need to sleep, I would probably read more. It's the one thing I realized. So I was a ferocious, well, surprise, I was a ferocious reader when I was a kid and young adult. And then something happened in this kind of entering into our tech world where we are just so attached to our devices. And I'm on it all the time. I text, whatever. But nowadays, I find that the only time where I am actually reading a book is when I travel. For example, you're on a plane.

Well, unfortunately on a plane now, you also have wifi, so you're back to. It used to be like, you could just, there's nothing else to do. I can either watch a movie or I can read a book. Let's read a book. But I used to read so much. And it's so funny because in Sweden, we used to have these crazy long summer vacations. People took four weeks off straight. Working in America, it's so completely different. But people used to develop these summer reading lists. And it was this thing in Sweden, people would compare, what are you reading this summer? And they would have a list of books.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. That's nice.

Louise Marie Skosey: I mean, I would probably read.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. You're going to have to find the time to make it happen now.

Louise Marie Skosey: Yeah. But if I wouldn't sleep, I would probably read.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good. Reading is good. It's good for the soul. All right. That was 39.

Louise Marie Skosey: 39. How about 45?

Japhet De Oliveira: 45. When people come to you for help, what are they usually asking for?

Louise Marie Skosey: I'm a good listener. I think I am a little bit their therapist sometimes.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good. We all need that.

Louise Marie Skosey: Yeah. I'm a good listener. I make time for people, and people feel that they can talk with me, and that they are safe and that they're not judged.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great. Hey, that space is important. All right. That was 45. Where next?

Louise Marie Skosey: Let's go. How much time do we have left here?

Japhet De Oliveira: We have time.

Louise Marie Skosey: We have time.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Louise Marie Skosey: Let's go 47.

Japhet De Oliveira: 47. You've just met someone. What would you want them to know about you and why?

Louise Marie Skosey: I think I would want them to feel comfortable with me. It's not a thing, per se, it's more like an experience to feel comfortable. I think I do have a knack to make people feel comfortable in my presence, I hope, so that people can open up. And it's interesting, in the beginning when you meet somebody, it's exciting. You want to learn about that person, and you also want that person to learn about you, and you want to encourage questions, and you also want to ask permission to ask questions. And after little going back and forth, you kind of realize that I can ask, there are certain questions that I can ask here. And the person also feels that they can ask you stuff. So then you know, oh, okay, we're jiving here. We have a conversation going. There's nothing worse, I think, than meeting a person who is talking at you and who can't engage.

Japhet De Oliveira: Who doesn't take a breath.

Louise Marie Skosey: Doesn't take a breath. The person is just talking at you. Then there's no empathy. There's no way to connect with that person because it's just words coming out of their mouth, and you just feel like, oh, okay.

Japhet De Oliveira: Two-way dialogue.

Louise Marie Skosey: Two-way dialogue. But you have to have curiosity with people. You have to have that kind of interest. People feel when you're interested in them, because it's genuine. I think I am genuinely interested in people and learning about people. And if you're interested in me too, of course, you can learn about me too. So to answer your question, it's about making people feel comfortable.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good. That is good. Well, we're down to the final two.

Louise Marie Skosey: What?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Isn't that crazy? I know.

Louise Marie Skosey: Let's go 55.

Japhet De Oliveira: 55. All right. Would you be willing to share about something that frightens you?

Louise Marie Skosey: Okay, let's go deep. It's interesting. As a child, I was terrified of death and how your parents are talking about when you die, you go to heaven and all, you are going to live there forever. And I tried to imagine that idea of infinity and living someplace forever and what that would be. And I used to get this kind of “huh” in my stomach. It's like thinking about the universe, where does it end? It's the same thing, right?

Japhet De Oliveira: Mind boggling.

Louise Marie Skosey: Exactly. And I used to rush out, like five years old, rush out into the living room, and my parents and my grandma would be sitting there, and I said, "If I die when I'm 80, how many years do I have to live?" And they looked at me like, "What? What are you talking about?" But I was so afraid. And I think in our society too, it's kind of a little bit taboo. It's something that we never talk about.

Japhet De Oliveira: It's true.

Louise Marie Skosey: And when my mom passed away, I realized that there is a way to death. There is a way to transition that we know very little about and all the things that happen in that journey. And to be honest, it made me less fearful. And I started opening up about what I had experienced through this journey, and people started sharing their experiences with this journey. And all of a sudden I was like, there's so many similarities. There's so many similarities, why aren't we talking about this?

Japhet De Oliveira: The fear of death?

Louise Marie Skosey: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. It's true.

Louise Marie Skosey: It was such an aha moment for me and such a beautiful aha moment for me. I think because we don't talk about it, it becomes something we just don't understand what it is. I mean, I took it to a very-

Japhet De Oliveira: No, you're right, Louise. Death, clearly, we all will face it. And yet it's not something that we all talk about. And we all have a different understanding of what it really means.

Louise Marie Skosey: It's a complete mystery, right?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. And I think that's one of the things that we subconsciously or intentionally avoid. And yet for those of us who've experienced, like you're talking about with your mom, there is a reality to it. That's entirely different. It shapes the way you now can hear other people talk about it and influence it.

Louise Marie Skosey: Absolutely.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. So true. That's good. Your last number? I can't believe it.

Louise Marie Skosey: 77.

Japhet De Oliveira: 77. All right. Ah, this is beautiful for you. It's fitting. No, it really is.

Louise Marie Skosey: You know me so well already.

Japhet De Oliveira: I don't even know how you end it. But this is great. If you could share one of the most cup filling experiences that you've had.

Louise Marie Skosey: I have to say, being in this line of work has been so transformative for me. I love what I do, and I mean, it is such a blessing. This is such a privilege. It's such a gift to be working in this kind of position that I am. The people who I meet, the people that I work with. I mean, from my team, from the executives at the hospital, the doctors, the nurses, the team, to our donors, this is such incredible and satisfying work. I mean, I truly feel like I'm doing God's work.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Oh, I agree.

Louise Marie Skosey: Having the opportunity to work with people who are philanthropic and who are giving and generous, and who want to make a difference in their community, and helping them on that journey. I mean, those relationships that you create are so intimate because you really get to learn about them, about their desires, about their families, about their history.

Japhet De Oliveira: It's a privilege.

Louise Marie Skosey: It is so beautiful.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Louise Marie Skosey: It is so beautiful. I am so grateful.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's beautiful. That is beautiful. I want to encourage everybody who's listening. Thinking about everything you shared, Louise, and I look forward to your future as well. But all of these stories and experiences that have shaped you today, I see a thread of happiness, obviously, and joy, but also of community, that you exist in community and you get energy from that, and you give energy back. I see you're nodding, which is a good sign. We're in agreement about this.

Louise Marie Skosey: Yes, totally.

Japhet De Oliveira: No, no, it's good. I want to encourage everybody who's listening to do the same, find good community, ask great questions, sit down, have great coffee and connect. We should have done that.

Louise Marie Skosey: Food.

Japhet De Oliveira: And food. Yeah, absolutely. If you can have that gift, then do that. And I think it will just change you. It will change you for the better, and you'll be better people for it. So God bless everybody. Thank you again, Louise, for being part of this.

Louise Marie Skosey: Thank you so much.

Narrator: Thank you for joining us for The Story and Experience Podcast. We invite you to read, watch, and submit your story and experience at Adventisthealth.org/story. The Story and Experience Podcast was brought to you by Adventist Health through the office of culture.