A new day is dawning for Cindy, but it won’t come without some help. So, catch up with Cindy’s story today. Take your time with these episodes. It will be well worth it. And while you are at it you can create some magic of your own during our year-end campaign. Click here to make your tax-deductible donation. If you have somehow missed Episode One or Two you can catch up by the following links:
https://wordmasteracademy.net/cindyella/episode1.pdf
https://wordmasteracademy.net/cindyella/episode2.pdf
Episode Three: Assembling a Team
by Terri Main
The desk clerk looked up from the screen. “Ah, yes, the Marquez Technology party booked in for the TechAngel conference. The conference discount was applied. We have you down for three of our executive premier suites and one economy room.”
Cindy picked up the card keys knowing exactly who had the suites, and it wasn’t her. But she would make do. She always did. And so far, the trip hadn’t been that bad. Carolyn seemed nice. She treated Cindy like an equal. She found it easy to talk to her.
The same could be said for Sam Prince. He seemed truly interested in DocMatch. He wasn’t the type of person she envisioned as a venture capitalist. He could see the value of the program both for commercial and nonprofit use. He didn’t see that one didn’t have to preclude the other. Also, he was just pleasant to talk to. She might like to talk to him about things other than AI-Enchanced technology.
After getting Kathyrn, Connie, and Emily settled in their rooms, Cindy took the elevator down to the basement where the economy rooms were located. She shifted her tote from one hand to the other. It was only a short flight, but it still wore her out. She just wanted to get to her room, get something from room service and settle into bed.
The doors to the elevator opened. The signs indicated her room was to the left. Far to the left. It was the last room next to the staircase and vending machines.
“Well, at least I won’t have to walk too far for ice,” she mumbled before seeing the “out of order” sign on the machine.
Cindy opened the door and fumbled for the light switch but her hand hit something that felt like a cardboard box. When she finally found the switch, she surveyed a room filled with boxes. She could hardly navigate around in the small room.
Taped to the lid of one box was an invoice for 1000 brochures, 1000, prospectuses, 1000 investment contracts, 1000 imprinted pens, 10,000 business cards, and 1000 portfolios.
Cindy rummaged in her bag for her phone, hit the link for her mother, and tried to remain calm.
“Hello, darling,” Kathryn said in her best imitation of a caring step-mother. It was what she used just before she gave Cindy some odious task. “How’s your room?”
Cindy measured her words and spoke slowly. “It is filled with boxes. I can barely move.”
“Oh, good, they’ve arrived. I had them sent to your room. After all, we might be meeting with potential investors up here. Boxes just wouldn’t set the right ambiance. Now, be a dear and make up portfolios for the potential investors. Include a brochure, prospectus, contract, and pen in each portfolio. Make up at least 500. If we start running low on Friday, I’ll text you and you can make more.”
“Five hundred!” Cindy could sense her voice rising. “I need to make up five hundred packets tonight?”
“Of course not, dear. We won’t need them until our brunch meetings at 10 a.m. Thanks dear. Got to go. We’ve got dinner reservations at one of San Frans’ best restaurants with an investment banker. Tootles.”
Cindy barely opened her mouth before the line went dead.
“Tootles to you too, Ms. Helstrom. Have a great dinner.” She said bitterly.
Knock, Knock
“Oh, what now!” Cindy yelled before swinging open the door.
“Hi, there. Don’t bite my head off. I brought Fresca,” Carolyn said as she lifted the two-liter bottle and pushed her way into the room.
“What – What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to help and we don’t have much time. So, I’m going to get right to the point. I’m your fairy godmother.”
Cindy opened her mouth but Carolyn kept talking.
“Okay, you are going to say, ‘This isn’t a fairy tale,” then I would respond with some sort of philosophy about dreams coming true and wish energy or some other hogwash. Then I would have to perform some magic to convince you. So, I’m just jumping to the end of the story because we are pressed for time.” Carolyn says as she takes a pen out of her pocket waves it in the air and says, “Bibbily, Bobbilty, Boop.”
In an instant, all the boxes are gone and stacks of portfolios line the wall of the room.
“The Bibbilty, Bobbilty, Boop doesn’t actually do anything but I like the way it sounds.” Carolyn slips the pen back in her pocket. “Oh, and this is just a regular pen. No magic power. I just use it for effect.”
Cindy’s mouth is wide open staring at the stacks of portfolios. Carolyn snaps her fingers. “Over here. I know you are amazed, shocked, in awe, but you have to snap out of it we have work to do.”
“I can’t believe it. Well, I must believe it. It’s right there in front of me. But I can’t believe it.”
Carolyn shook her head. “Scientists. They are the hardest. They claim to limit themselves to empirical evidence, but when the evidence is right before their eyes; they deny it if it doesn’t fit with their worldview. But I never thought Bill Marquez’s daughter would be like that.
“You knew my father?” Oddly, Cindy found that harder to believe than stacks of portfolios appearing before her eyes.
“Of course, I provided a nudge or two that helped him find his first investor,” Carolyn paused for a moment and with a sad look, “and I introduced him to Kathryn.”
Cindy’s eyes flashed. “You mean you are responsible for…”
Carolyn nodded sadly, “Yes, it was my last case. It was my most colossal failure. They seemed like a great match. They were both idealistic. He was the creative genius. She was the financial wizard. They both had dreams of helping people.”
“Then you…”
“Yes, I was the woman who mentored your stepmother, smoothed the way for her to get through college, provided a bit of help here and was there as she built her business career. Then I arranged for her and Bill to meet. But I got busy with other things and didn’t check in on them for a few years, but there had been a crisis in the business. Bill knew computers but not business. They almost lost everything. Kathryn took over determined that they would build something crisis-proof. Something happened. She blamed Bill. She became cynical and greedy. And when she saw all of Bill’s traits showing up in you, she turned against you as well. Bill and now you represent to her what she gave up to be a success and keep the company afloat.”
“I didn’t know.”
“Now, none of this is an excuse. But healing begins with understanding.”
A computer pad appeared in Carolyn’s hand. “I’m sorry. I digressed too much. I’ve been out of the field too long. Let’s talk about you and your dreams. And maybe together we can help her get back on track with hers.”
“My dreams? I don’t have any dreams. I just have a few things I would like to do, but their impossible.” Cindy countered.
“Hey, Fairy Godmother here. We specialize in the impossible. You just need the right team. So, what do you want to do? Don’t think about it. What’s the first thing that comes to mind?”
“Why – well – DocMatch. But that would take access to a mainframe computer, a network of health professionals, massive funding for R&D, logistics, marketing. Contrary to what my stepmother thinks, it would be profitable. But we are talking about millions of dollars.”
“So, you are at TechAngel Con. It brings together companies with an idea and investors with money to spend on good ideas. They even call them ‘angel investors.’ Can you get more fairy tale-ish than that?”
“I guess not,” Cindy said smiling. “So, what do we have to do?”
“We start by building a team. I know your stepmother talks about becoming a success on her own. And she certainly drove that success forward, but she had a team around her. I was part of that team, but there were others as well. No one achieves true success without a team to support them. But it’s getting late. Your family will be in meetings all day tomorrow beginning with that brunch meeting. As soon as you deliver the portfolios, meet me in the hotel coffeeshop, and I’ll take you to meet your team. But get some rest. The next few days will be busy. Now, I have to go as well.” With her last words Carolyn simply faded into nothingness. Cindy hardly noticed as she began to hope once again.
* * *
Carolyn pushed open the heavy glass door. Cindy followed her into the lobby of a bustling office complex. Over the reception desk which was larger than the lobby of the hotel was the sign “FGM Support Services.”
Carolyn walked confidently to one of the receptionists who stiffened as she approached.
“FGM agent 365, so good to see you again,” she said. “It’s been a long time.”
“Too long, Marissa. This is Cindy Ellen Marquez, a new client. I need you to contact the support team and have them meet me in conference room two. It’s good to be back.”
The receptionist touched a hidden button. There was a buzz, and part of the wall slid back. Without even looking back at Cindy, Carolyn marched confidently down a long hall lined with doors.
Cindy tried to keep up with the pace set by Carolyn until they reached a door marked “Conference Room 2.” Carolyn opened the door for Cindy. Sitting around the table were four individuals.
“This is your staff,” Carolyn said.
“My staff?” Cindy had never had a staff before. Most of the time she was the staff.
“Yes, your staff. You didn’t think I’d just wave my magic pen, have you turn around a few times, and you would emerge the consummate business woman all by yourself. That’s a Disney movie. There will be some magic, but you will supply most of it yourself. We will just help you get that magic out where it can do the most good.”
Carolyn then turned to the table. “That scruffy looking fellow on your right is Oscar. He will provide tech support.”
Oscar waved. “Don’t worry about me. I’m tech support with emphasis on the word ‘support.’ Think about me as a second pair of eyes for your code and someone to crawl around under the table to hook up the power supply and set up the connection to our supercomputer. Sounds like you have some smokin’ hot ideas. I’ll look forward to seeing what you can do with our resources.”
“Next to Oscar is Angelina. She will be your marketing coordinator. She will be doing for you what I’m doing for your family,” said Carolyn pointing to a blond woman about Cindy’s age.
“You won’t be there with me?” Cindy said, suddenly fearful.
“Oh, I’ll be around,” Carolyn assured Cindy, “But my cover is working the Marquez Technology booth. Besides, you need to be your own person tomorrow. In addition, I have unfinished business with your stepmother. Angelina will help you set up your booth, keep the handouts stocked, and be there to give advice in the event you need it.”
“We’ll need to talk about your program, it’s benefits, and why people should invest with you. I promise, everything will be tasteful and professional,” said Angelina.
“At the head of the table is Anthony. He’s our stylist. He will help with your image. He is a master of helping you present yourself in a way that will be create the best impression of who you really are inside.”
“I don’t want to look like my stepmother and her daughters with all that jewelry, short skirts, heavy makeup and hair plastered in place, if that’s what you mean,” said Cindy wondering once again what she got herself into.
“Not to worry,” said the stocky man with the short cropped hair at the head of the table. “Your fashion statement needs to reflect who you are. Most importantly, it must not draw attention to anything other than your personality and your message. Close your eyes and imagine the perfect presentation of yourself if you knew you could pull it off. My guess is that it is not in anyway similar to Ms. Helstrom.”
“I don’t have to imagine,” said Cindy tartly. “I know it’s not like that.”
“Finally,” Carolyn said pointing to the woman closest to her. “This is Karen. She will be your facilitator.”
“Facilitator?” asked Cindy looking at the short woman with light brown hair and a sense of energy flowing through her.
“Carolyn is just being nice. Facilitator is just a fancy word for gofer. If you need anything, I’m your girl. Just hit the comm, and I’m on the job. Anything you want from water – or Fresca to extra chairs. If you have a lot of investors dropping by for your pitch, I can get them one way or another,” Karen winked, “if you know what I mean.”
“This is your team. They will advise and produce minor miracles for you, but you have the final say. We will not make you a new woman. You don’t need to change who you truly are. We are here to help you release that person into the world.” Carolyn looked at her watch. “We have a little over seven hours. So, let’s get started.”
The rest of the day, Cindy was rushed from one room to another. Oscar gave her access to the FGM supercomputer and created a three thousand sample doctor profiles making it possible to do live test runs in the booth.
Angelina worked up a complete marketing plan, booth design, brochures, prospectuses, and promotional items including tote bags, thumb drives, pens, and water bottles. Cindy thought it was much more impressive than the cheap pens Connie had ordered. Of course, they were printed at a factory and not materialized by magic.
Working with Anthony was more contentious. Cindy had never been fashion conscious. She was comfortable in casual clothes and doing her hair mostly involved brushing it occasionally and pulling it back into a ponytail. Eventually, they agreed on a short style that framed her face, natural looking makeup, and a stylish pantsuit in neutral colors and a soft white blouse.
Anthony wanted to replace her heavy-rimmed glasses with contact lenses. Cindy refused. She felt her glasses were as much a part of her identity as aids for seeing. They finally compromised with a more stylish pair with lighter frames.
Nevertheless, Cindy couldn’t help but feeling attractive for the first time in a very long time. But she was very careful to not let on and simply refer to the results as “adequate.”
Karen had taken down everything Cindy felt she needed to stock the booth. But the facilitator made more suggestions that Cindy would never have thought of like a portable refrigerator to keep her stock of Fresca.
By the time she returned to the hotel, she was exhausted. She just wanted to stumble into her room and fall into bed. However, she ran into Kathryn as she was exiting the hotel bar. It seemed like she was walking slowly and deliberately like someone who has had just a little too much to drink.
“Oh, Cindy, dear, they have the most incredible cocktail in this bar. It has gin and… well, it has a bunch of stuff in it. Delicious. And it packs a punch.” She paused a bit. “There’s something different about you. What is it? Oh, you did your hair differently. And is that make up you’re wearing?”
“Oh, I had a little time so I got a makeover. It was on special.” That was mostly true.
“Well, good for you. Anything you can do will help. You’re never going to get a man with that computer geek look. Connie is making friends right now with some venture capitalist or investment banker or someone like that back in the bar. It might be the start of something special.”
Connie was finding someone special each week. But Cindy merely smiled.
“Well, I’d better get to my room. Tomorrow’s the big day.” Kathryn said as she made her way to the elevator to the executive suites.
“It sure is,” said Cindy as she headed to her room in the basement.
Assembling a Team
In the book of Nehemiah, we read about the Israelites rebuilding the walls around Jerusalem. While Nehemiah had the vision and arranged the financing with the King of Persia, he could not do the work alone. Nehemiah put it this way: “So we built the wall; and all of the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.” (Nehemiah 4:6)
Too often those of us who are lay people view building the church as someone else’s job. It’s the pastoral staff, it’s the organization, it’s the deacons or board members. It certainly isn’t my responsibility.
No great work is ever accomplished alone. Even Jesus called the twelve and later the seventy to help him expand his ministry.
Here at the Catch we know the power of teamwork. We have people all over the world working with this ministry through our boots on the ground program, through our prayer team, through our outreach ministry, and, of course, through our MemberPartners.
Certainly, one of the ways our team can help is through tax-deductible donations. However, we have many other opportunities for service. One easy way to help us is to copy and paste our daily Catches to your social media followers. Include a note of your own and encourage them to subscribe to the Catch.
We can also use volunteers to help with ministry, administration, and social media. Just drop us a line at the Catch to volunteer.
We are in this ministry together. We have a great team. And with God’s help a great team can perform miracles.
John Fischer The Catch 