GroomPod 481 Stephenie Calhoun and Korea transcript

Susy, Barbara and Stephenie Four hundred and eighty one of the groom pod. We are so excited to have you here. I want to thank the people that make our show possible. Those who support our show on Patreon, the people that donate on our website, the groom pod dot com and of course our corporate sponsors, Best Shot Show Season, Precision, Sharp Groomer and Stasko. Hey, you guys grew more, did a big update recently, and they've now got better filtering for your searches and better bulk message options and upgrades. So they are constantly, always improving their stuff. So check out grew more software. And today Barbara and I have a guest who is absolutely living her best grooming life, all the while making an impact in our industry. We're sitting down with Stephanie Calhoun, the owner of the Meditative Groomer Academy in Wisconsin. And of course, we have Barbara Bird here as well. Hi, Barbara. Hey there. Hi there. I'm so happy to be here. Hey, Stephanie. Nice to see you. Hi. Nice to meet you. Guys are again? Sort of. Yes, yes. Sort of. Well, yeah. Yeah. So Stephanie recently packed her bags and headed straight to the source Korea to immerse herself in the world of high end Korean grooming and advanced model dog sculpting. So we're talking about those flawless physics physics that physics defying, hyper precise scissoring techniques that we all drool over on Instagram, I know I do. Anyway, we are going to find out what it's really like to train over there, how she's bringing those secrets back home, and how her unique, mindful approach to teaching is changing the game for the next generation of groomers. Stephanie, welcome to the Groom pod. Thank you. Thank you for having me. So, Barbara, you had a question. Yeah. So Stephanie, how did it come about that you were so lucky to go to Korea? Paid. So it's so long story, but, um, basically the Korean Kennel Club has been doing, um, these international competitions for a long time where they are trying to invite, um people from other countries, they have judges from other countries and come and um, they do it twice a year where it's international. Um, and they were having a really hard time, uh, just getting the word out here. Um, they, things work very differently there. So it's hard for them, like even with social media and stuff to, to get the information out. And, um, they found the North American model dog Club, which is a, I mean, it's a model dog team. Um, and I'm I'm part of it. We have our captain, um, Emily Shannon, um, who runs it. And then we have a, there's like a Facebook group where we do competitions, um, like online competitions, so people can do it from home. Um, and so they found, uh. Emily and so we decided to try to get a team to go. And last year we went, um, just for the competition part. Um, me and Emily and, um, Alison Murphy um, and we competed, uh, and it was, it was a really cool trip, um, but very, very short. So, um, and in the while we were there, we did go on tours of a bunch of the grooming schools there. That was like my one thing that I wanted to go to do because I run a grooming school. And so I'm like, I want to see what it's like. Um, so we toured three of them while we were there and I just kind of like fell in love with the way they, they groom, um, and the way they teach. Um, I specialize in neurodivergent learners. Um, and so we like to have structure when we're learning, we need to have structure when we're learning. Um, and they are very, very structured there. That's, it's all laid out exactly how it works, like how it goes. And, um, just, it's, I, it makes my brain tingle so makes my brain tingle just thinking about it because we all need structure and there just isn't much. Boy, I got trained in it took four years to get me off the ground just because it was so unstructured. Yeah. You know, like, like basically I would be assigned to Doctor Groom and I would groom it to the best of my ability. And my mentor, who was a Scissorhands would come in and just put it to do. He never explained himself to do and fix it. Yeah. And that was, you know, like from that I'm supposed to learn. And then he gave me, you know, like some bullet point things to latch on to, like terriers have a t shirt look to them and they always want to see their shoulder and their, and their hips and, you know, like stuff like that. But other than that, I just had to study the AKC breed book because there wasn't even decent book learning. I mean, I learned, I learned to, to groom in like nineteen seventy one. And it was so unstructured, so. And model dogs, I'm so envious about that because I struggled so to learn to scissor. And, uh, I would have just like given my left boob for a model dog. Yeah. I was actually self-taught. So I had, I also didn't have any structure. And so when that's why when I started the school, I was like, I need, I need it to be structured. I need it to help people that were like me who wanted to groom, but they didn't. They can't thrive in the other environments as well. So I learned from someone who was very structured and, and just come out of the Nash Academy. So she had like everything that they had given her all the paperwork and she just went through day by day and taught me what she learned out of paperwork. And so I was lucky because there was a lot of structure in that. And our friend Meg, our common friend Meg post the. Actually the thought that perhaps I'm a little neurodivergent. And I said, oh no, I'm just quirky. It's fine. It's her first clue. Uh, but when you mentioned structure, when I went into our local school here, of which the people I'm very fond of, there's zero structure there, and it's the only place in Washington State really, actually locally at all in the northwest that is taking students and putting out groomers. And so just that idea of the Korean way of life and the Korean way of structure being implemented into a school for me would have made it so much easier to learn. Um, yeah. So, well, maybe Meg might have a little let's, let's hear, let's, let's hear a little bit, Stephanie, about how it's structured. And so, so do they. Is it so structured that a instructor from different part of the country would be teaching the same way? Uh, very much very similar. Yes. Um, it's it's all fairly standardized. Um, the KKK actually they do because they have licensing there. So the KKK has where they have, um, competitions just for Korea and the ones that we go to also do it where they are like doing the certifying people for their licenses. Um, so they usually have like a student day and then like a master, a masters day. So people who already are fully certified and licensed. Um, and so they're, they're very structured with everything is usually taught pretty much the same way. Slate. You know, there's always slight difference differences because it's yeah, it is an art, but um, very, um they rely heavily on doing um, teaching structure with like draw, like having them drawing. Um, so, uh, like the first time I went the one school, I went into the classroom and they were, um, they had this book that the teacher had actually created, but it was, um, like the, it was like a profile of a dog and they had to go through with like drafting tools basically and draw out all of the angles on it. Wow. Uh, I was immediately obsessed with that when I saw it. I'm like, I need, I need all of this. You know what I ran in, what I ran into just yesterday was that on Amazon, they have all of the. There. This is a thing. Coloring books for dogs structure where it is. They don't have to draw the dog, but they color all the different parts. Mhm. And, um, I thought, God, that would have helped me. And I would have loved it because I was a coloring book freak in my youth. Yeah, I loved, I loved it and I, you know, I, I, I even want to get one now because nothing wrong with that. All I can think about, you know, like coloring books. Yeah. I, I, you know, like, and, and there's several, there's several of them that are available and it's affordable. And, uh, I said, what a, what a good thing. I, I really want to recommend that to beginning groomers to get one of those coloring books. And even though the Korean way might be more rigorous when you actually have to, you know, like visualize the structure and draw the structure itself. Yeah. Um, not enough coloring and you'll, you'll get it. Yeah. So did they have a lot of classroom work? Did they do classroom work every day and grooming every day? Or was it like one in the other? Or how did that work? Uh, yeah, they usually do for me, not so much because I was doing something different. But, um, yeah, for all of the other students, yeah, they there's like classroom work and then there's like working on dogs work. So I think that's lacking around here. I don't think we do a lot of classroom work where we look at the structure of the dog and talk about why the angles are important and that kind of stuff. So that's pretty cool. How big would you say like the average school classes are? Um, it's hard to say because a lot of like the schools that I went to, they usually had multiple instructors, um, teaching multiple classes, but I usually in a class, I'd usually see like five to ten. I would say so. Cool. So Stephanie, are they teaching anything about products and ingredients? The chemistry? Um, I know they do. I don't know, like a whole lot about what they're teaching and what they know, like, you know, what, what they're talking about. Um, but I do know that they do talk about like products and stuff. Um, I actually, I have last year, one of them gave me their, their workbooks actually that they created for their school and I was working on trying to translate it because it's all in Korean, but there is like a whole section on on product. Uh, I just haven't gotten. Yeah. Well, if you send it to me, if you just send it to me, I'll translate it for you. Okay. Because I know, because I can recognize what they're talking about. Yeah. I mean, I really I'm serious. If you if you ship me that file, I mean, you know, send me a link. I, I will translate that. I'll just use Google translator, which I've done on a couple of studies that I want really wanted to see what they were talking about a Japanese study on brushing versus combing and stuff like that. So I mean, I can, I Google will do it paragraph by paragraph, but I usually go sentence by sentence. Yeah, I'll be happy to take my time to do that for you. Yeah, that would be awesome. So you went to schools. Did you go to shops as well? Um, I went to I only went to two. We went to two shops and they were like ones that were owned by the school that like people would kind of transition to if they needed, you know, more time kind of thing. So that's, that's right there. Summer school. Cool. Yeah. If we did that, if there was a, I mean, there's always a grooming department attached to every school, I think. I mean, it seems to be because otherwise you don't get the dogs, but to actually have a place where you could maybe do an apprenticeship after you're done at school, where you still got the guidance of the teachers, but you're more off on your own, yet still attached by the building? What a great idea. I love it. That's very cool. No, that's actually one of the biggest issues that my students when they leave, because I teach them, you know, all the information and they have the references to go back to. But it it's a fifteen week program. They don't have all the experience. So, and, um, they really, most people can't afford to go to school, especially in our country. Can't afford to go to school longer than that. So, um, yeah, that like all of them, like they're, they're like, I have the skills. I just need someone to be kind of supportive, but then they have a hard time finding someone to be supportive. So, um, yeah, I really liked how they had that. Our yeah, local local school, they used to set up mentorships with for their students and their students would go from school then to a mentor who may or may not have come out of that school. That was helpful. But yeah, that's tough because you're a big brother. Big brother, big sister kind of thing. You know that. That makes sense. I'd be a big sister. Yeah. You know? Yeah. No, I'm actually I'm starting something with some of the local shops, uh, where, um, I'm going to also help them with like their, because I do a lot of like systems for things. I'm, I build a lot of systems to make things easier. Um, so like I can help them with their systems and then they can help me by taking care of my students. So very good. Well, just ring a bell for that. Uh, so culturally, did you stay in a hotel or did you homestay? Uh, I stayed in a hotel for a few days, but when I was in, uh, at the school, I stayed at an Airbnb, so. Oh, kind of Homestay? Yeah. Did you enjoy the culture of Korea a lot? Very much. Um, they are very quiet. I think I, I recently posted about that. It's so much quieter in general there. Um, you go out in public and even I walk, I was walking in like the busiest district in Seoul, and it was still better than sitting next to my window at home. So, um, but yeah, I find it interesting that no one has a phone that rings. Yeah. No phone ever rings in public. Ever. Mhm. Yeah. And that was true in Japan. I'm pretty sure it's probably true in Korea as well. Yeah. What surprised you about the culture? Um that right. The the quiet. That one. Definitely. Um, also, just like it's like, almost like the, the whole culture, their love language is like, uh, taking care of people. And so they're just, they are super. Like it's always taking care of you. Did you eat, here's a coffee, here's a snack. Um, oh, your muscles here hurt. Here's something for your muscles. Um, it was and it like it was. I mean, they were nice. Uh, they were all very nice. But like, I've also met very nice people here and it was just a very different type of very nice. Um, and so it was just like, you know, I'm especially, I'm someone who I tend to forget to eat if I have alarms on my phone that tell me when to eat. Um, and so like they were just, I, I was never hungry because they were just like, so making sure that I was eating and making sure, you know, like, because I was there long hours, um, like they would give me like these little patches for my muscles and, um, they give you like, I got a lot of like vitamin things, like little vitamin shots. Um, they would, they just, it's like a gift giving is all the time. Um, yeah. And it was, it was very cool. I really like that. Um, just everyone is like that to each other kind of thing. So are their houses filled with dogs and cats like ours are, or other animals or do you know, because you didn't really get to go out there. Yeah. There's, there's a lot of dogs. Um, they're all mostly small, so Very seldomly did I see big dogs? The few that you do. It's like Goldens. Mostly Goldens. Um, they. There's like Maltese and Pomeranians everywhere. Um and multi poos. Um poodles. Not, not so much like doodle the like the ones that we get, um they get the multi poos. Um, but that's really the main like one that I saw that was like a designer kind of dog. Um, but it was really cool. They all just carry their dogs around with them everywhere. Um, and not just the groomers like everybody. And so like you can go into a, if you have your, your dog in your bag or whatever, you can go into a store and walk around and get groceries or whatever you have to do. So the dogs just go everywhere. Um, and they're all really well behaved, probably because they're all getting lots of stimulation. So yeah. So do you see really neat Korean style grooming or is it just a lot of regular grooming? And then occasionally a nice Korean nifty little Asian fusion thingy or um, what, what do you mean? There's definitely like there's a Korean style for sure. Um, to all of the dogs. Um, very, just very clean lines, very, um round kind of, you know, big round, you know, cute round faces and stuff like that. Um, and then usually they keep them pretty short. Usually most people have them pretty short. Um, but nothing like not usually anything crazy. Um, other than the groomers who are obviously using their dogs like guinea pigs, just like we do. So. What? So did you go by yourself or did someone go with you? Uh, so I was by myself this time. Um, I did have once I got there. Um, her name is Harley, and she is the manager of foreign affairs, um, for the KKK, but she is basically our guide and translator for the whole time. Um, so she made sure, you know, she took, you know, took, took me to all the good food spots, you know, made sure I got to do all of the things that I wanted to do, um, helped me when I had to, I had to buy some equipment while I was there. so she helped me find equipment. Um, you know, basically a personal assistant of sorts. Um, and she's awesome. She's, I, I like to call her my Korean mom because she's just like that. Um, but yeah, so I was once I was there, I had someone I was comfortable with at least. So did you actually go to learn or to compete or both? Uh, this time it was for both. Um, so I went there a week before the competition and I went to a grooming school there. Um, it's, uh, Kim's dog school and, uh, he's, um, one of the, the top like instructors there. Um, and so, uh, I went there to learn the trim that I've been working on for the competition. Uh, I've been working on the Manhattan poodle trim. Um, and so I was there to get just some help fixing it up, and they ended up kind of just tearing apart my entire process and then restarting it. So. Oh, of course, because they're structured. Yeah. Their structure, their and also like here, especially with model dogs, there's zero structure because we're all just kind of figuring it out as we go. There's no one here to be like, this is how you do it. It's just like, okay, so you gotta brush the dog out and then you gotta figure out how to make it look like a dog. Um, let's talk about that because I don't know much about model dog grooming. Um, do you need different equipment like your scissors or your clippers or. It kind of depends on the dog, the wig that you're using the brand. Um, some of them are, uh, they're the material they use will dull your scissors and stuff. Um, the ones that, uh, the ones that I use that I got over there, those ones are, they don't affect your scissors at all. Um, or your clippers. It's great. Um, I usually do still have like my model dog scissors and my grooming scissors, just because my model dog scissors are usually pretty expensive. So, um, but yeah, they the one, the ones that are made over there are much nicer material, much better material. Um, they're just more expensive because then we have to get them over here. So the average groomer that's wants to get into this since I mean we might as well be an advertisement, a megaphone, if you will, for their model dog stuff. So how much does a model dog cost? Um, and can you put new hair on it or is it just a one, a one off. No, it's on like a wig. So yeah, it's a plastic dog. And then um, you just change out the wig. Uh, the dog is usually depending on where you get it, usually between like forty and I've seen up to like seventy dollars. Um, but then you can reuse it over and over the wigs, depending on they have different ones. Um, there's different brands, but then they usually have like, um, different levels of hair. So because there's like creative, you a lot of times want a lot more hair than you would for like just doing an Asian fusion or a poodle even. Um, so like per like, but like follicle. I mean, it's not follicles obviously, but little hair strands per square inch, like they're more dense. Uh, some of them are more dense or longer. Yeah, some are more dense, some, some are longer. Um, there's all sorts of different ones that are different. Um, but usually they're between like fifteen to thirty dollars I think. Um, so Amazon or do you, do you, uh, I believe there's some on Amazon. Um, I would suggest, uh, model dog that is like model dog USA or something like that. Um, it's actually someone who does a, she just, she does a lot of model dogs. Anyways, so she started a business where she sells them. Um, and they're ones that come from overseas. So, um, Um, those ones are probably the best ones as far as getting them here and getting them at a reasonable price. So how does the competition work? Do you have to, do you have to prep a model dog? Like do you wash it and dry it and blow it and all the regular stuff? No no no. Yeah. You just have to brush it out and then comb it. Um, some people I have, I have actually tried like, like doing a whole, like I washed it and dried it. It took me like a week to get it dry. And then, uh, it really didn't feel like it made much of a difference. Um, and it wasn't worth it. So, uh, but they actually taught me a really easy way to do it with, um, you just need to use like a really short, stiff, tined slicker brush to brush it out. Um, and then once you get most of it brushed out, you put it on the dog. Um, and then you comb it out the rest of the way. So you brush it out like on your table flat. Yeah, yeah. No, because it comes, most of them come vacuum packed. So like they're, yeah, they're like just a big matted ball of fur. So you gotta get it all brushed out. So, so you get it all brush is there like a front and a rear? Yeah. Does it have a certain. Yeah, you can tell like where the head comes out and stuff like. Yeah. So, so then so you get your dog, you get it all prepped before the competition. Yep. Okay. And then you go into the, do you go into a ring and cut it down just like you would in a regular grooming competition? Yeah. Um, so over there, a lot of the competitions here, you do it outside the ring, outside the ring. And they just, they just look at the finished dogs. Um, but over there they did basically you, um, you go in the ring, We they actually usually have like one hundred and fifty to three hundred competitors. Um, wow. And you get almost all of them get two hours. Uh, I think creative gets like two thirty or something, but, um, yeah, they just, um, they have you do the whole, you know, you do the whole haircut all the way through in the two hours. Um, and then you clean up, clean off your table and you leave your dog there, and then they kick everyone out of the building for judging. Oh, wow. That's crazy. Yeah. It's my favorite part because I don't have to sit there and wait for all of the judging. I know that seems excruciating. Yeah. To me, like, uh, the ones here, like that was the always the worst part. I'm like, I'm finished now. I have to sit here, get it over with. Like. Yeah. Um, and so, uh, yeah, they kick us out. We usually went and got lunch. They would tell us like, you know, be back by two. Um, and then we'd come back and they'd do the awards. Um, and actually I thought the awards was really cool too. They do. Um, so in a class, I mean, there's so many people there. Um, they do anybody who is the top half of the class, they do point systems there. So, um, basically there's a, a rubric, the judge, there's like usually like ten judges, um, and they go through and they fill out their rubric with points. Um, and then all of that is averaged to see what your average score is. See even that is a real structured. Yeah, even the judging is real structure. Okay, you judges, listen up, I love it. Um, I've actually like, I made a rubric for competition at one point and no one will use it, um, for model dog. Um, and yeah, so, but yeah, they do that. And so anybody who's in the top half of the class, they get a um, uh, recognition award, I think they call it. Um, but it's you, you made it into the top half. So you get this award, um, which just, I think is really nice because then everybody or a lot of people can still get something when they leave because it's not everybody. So you still gotta, you gotta meet a, a bar if you will. Yeah, you still have to meet a bar. But like, you know, at least when it's that many people in a, in a class, only the top three getting prizes is so many people are disappointed then. Um, and it makes it harder to keep going for me. So, um, creative, creative model dog grooming. Amazing. Um, actually they, so they do a really good job of it, but they are really new to it. Um, creative hasn't really taken hold there so much. Um, they still kind of a lot of people view it in the, in society as abuse. Um, so they're kind of, they're working on that, but they're learning, they're still in the learn more in the learning stages of their creative. So that's still, that's, and it's an evolution. Yeah. I'm sure. Yeah. So what did you bring back from this trip that you're going to use in your own grooming? Um, so much. Uh, so for my own grooming, I probably, um, I don't really groom much myself anymore. I'm mostly teaching, um, but I am practicing my model dog. Uh, I am going to work on this trim for the rest of the year because I plan on going next year again and I want to just do a much better job. So did you make it into the did you make the cut? I did, I did make I did get the, that one. Um, so I'm like, next year I want to try to get one of the, the other awards places. Yeah. So yeah. Um, cool. But yeah, uh, now I lost track of what I was going to say. Oh that's alright. I was just asking what you brought back. It happens to me all the time. Yeah. Um, but yeah, with that, like I learned. So I'm going to, you know, I learned a lot for that, but I also learned a lot for teaching my students. And I think that was the big thing for me. Um, they even just as far as like using the model dogs now I'm feel more confident using it as a teaching tool because I, I understand how it works and how they're learning from it more so. What a fabulous segway. It's as if I wrote it and sent it to you on an email and said, hey, say this. I want to know about the school, how you developed it, because I've been watching, of course, from the sidelines and I've watched your journey in Korea and all the model dog stuff. When you started that, because you were doing that kind of when you had gotten here. Yeah. Yeah. So what, what in the world made you want to start a school? I also wanted to start a school and I ended up starting a podcast instead. Yeah. Um, honestly, mostly it was, uh, I always say it was kind of spite. Um, so, uh, I. Became a groom when I became a groomer. Uh, I was self taught. And so I struggled a lot. And at the time I also didn't have my diagnosis of like, I didn't know I was autistic and ADHD. Um, so I was even more lost because I, I didn't understand my own brain. Um, and so I always wanted to like teach, um, and, and like, like, be able to spread that knowledge. I always liked teaching. Um, I used to teach, uh, baton twirling when I was in high school. Um, and so I, I knew I wanted to do some teaching and I had gotten, um, I was training people at a mobile unit or a mobile business. And I really enjoyed that. Um, but the thing that really got me to make a school, especially specifically, uh, specializing in neurodivergent learning was because I had struggled in high school, um, a lot because of being neurodivergent. Um, and when I went to my counselor to talk about choices, my counselor, I'm like, I want to work with animals. I want to be a vet because that's the only thing I knew about working with animals at the time. Um, and he was like, you'll never make it through that, that much schooling. And I was like, well, I'm going to show you I'm going to become successful somehow. Um, and so like, when I finally figured out why I was struggling and I realized like, I'm like, I'm, I'm actually, I can, I, I am good at grooming and I can teach this to people, and I can actually, like, fill that void that we're missing. Um, and so that's kind of what got me to start it. Um, and, um, I got a lot of help and like coaching from, uh, Mary Oquendo. Um, she helps me a lot to, uh, really get myself going. Um, and it was a process. Um, looks like you're doing well though. I mean, I can see that it's going places. Yeah. And it's, it's options. It has been going, it's been slow. Um, you know, mainly because it's, I mean, I'm a private school, so I can't do like any sort of like funding type of things for them. They have to do that on their own. So it's I'm pretty cheap, but it's not cheap for any anybody. Like normally it's, it's still a lot of money. Um, so it was, it's been hard to get students at first, but um, we actually have gotten an influx of students. So we're going to, I think we're going to finally reach our, our max max capacity for the amount of students at one time, which is four. Um, because I want small class sizes, but so what are your, what are the options for the school? What do you have going on? What curriculum are you putting out there? Um, it's a curriculum that I put together myself. Um, and I have it set up where I have four different parts basically, um, there's the seed program, which is like basically to become a bather. The seedling is for basically a groomer assistant. So they start learning silhouette trims and like sanitary paw pads, that kind of stuff. Um, and then sprout is um, basic level haircuts. Um, they can be an entry level groomer at that point. And then we have one, the plant is more of a continuing education where we really put into like going into like breed standards and stuff like that. We like hit on it in the other ones, but we really focus on it in the, in the plant. So, so how do you tailor it to neurodivergent people? Um, lots of different ways. We like to offer all sorts of different types of learning, um, ways to learn. So like everything, any time of any type of lecture, we have, we have workbooks that go with it that have, um, they can reference back. Um, they, uh, and it also has like things for them to like places for them to like write notes or whatever or answer questions. So they keep themselves, they can keep themselves more engaged. Um, and, uh, just, it's, it's hard to explain sometimes, um, as a neurodivergent person, you kind of understand the differences in learning processes, I imagine. Oh yeah. And so yeah, so just being open to that probably makes it better because a person going to a regular school that those people may not, may or may not understand that. Yeah, sometimes you got to teach it one way. Other people learn it a different way. I was a dance teacher for most of my life, and people learn very differently. And people learn differently at different ages and different mindsets and all that. And it is I find it kind of fun to teach different kinds of people at the same time. Yeah. No, I like it too. And that's why, partially why I have the the four student limit. Um, because I wanted to be able to kind of tailor it to them to, um, I usually try to, um, will try to take them, you know, to see other grooming salons or like, and stuff like that and show them different ways of working to try to help them figure out where they want to go after they leave. Um, so like we had one who really wanted to get into mobile and, uh, so we actually got to, got us, uh, it worked out with timing. Uh, Hanvey let us, um, test out their, um, all electric mobile unit because we're in a cold place and they needed a place to test it. Um, and so we, we just had it in our parking lot, but they got a chance to really see how it worked. Um, and how, uh, how they, you know, what all the processes are and stuff like that. So do you think grooming is a good industry for people who are neurodivergent? I can talk really? Uh, absolutely. Um, I there, I would say most of the people in the industry are neurodivergent already. Not at all. Um, it's, it's one of those kind of industries where it's, it, it really does kind of invite the neurodivergent people because it's, it's creative. Um, you get to work with animals who are much easier to, to understand than humans. Um, and, uh. There's lots of different ways to do it. So, uh, you know, a lot of neurodivergent people, they have to do things differently than others. Um, and in some places we get in trouble for that. And, um, but in grooming, it's usually, it's a lot of times it's like, well, you get it done. So as long as you're not hurting anyone, then yeah, do it your way. So, um, I really feel like we just kind of invite that the neurodivergent people a lot more in the industry. So. Excellent. Barbara, anything else you'd like to ask Stephanie while we have her on? Well, uh, I met back here in my head because I wondered about that. I'm looking at you and I'm seeing the wheels turning and I'm thinking, what is she thinking about? Asking? Because I'm not hearing anything about teaching the things that I'm that I'm passionate about, like knowing basic chemistry of grooming, knowing basic cosmetic info, skin and coat care. I'm very much into skin right now. Um, and I, and I really, I, you know, and I, I'm partnering a lot with Chris and, um, Chris and I talk and we talk about that we're skincare skin awareness, skin knowledge needs to come in is with the bath, you know, like, um, the, there's a big hole there like you, the way that it's working now in our educational system is that you got to go through the whole thing and then you can learn about skinning. You can add on skin and coat care. Whereas really, I mean, and that's why Chris will never work with an assistant. I worked with assistants and had mixed experience with that, especially after I became skin conscious. And, um, and I just, uh, wish that we could teach some foundation, some foundational stuff to people who are bathers and maybe having even more of a progressive ladder for employment, you know, levels of bather skin specialist bather. Yeah. Kind of. And then move into to, you know, and then you can, you can move into grooming at any time. But, um, it's, uh, you know, I'm not hearing that they're, they're not doing that in Korea either. So I'm in my head, you know, like what, what does that, what does that mean? That means that we're not there yet. We, we haven't, we haven't found the value of that information yet. That to insist that it be a part of the education. So, you know, like, um, but if you ever want to talk about inserting a segment. Of learning about that, I'm very much into systems and that kind of thing. And, and, uh, and I, I do want to translate that, um, Korean stuff for you? Yeah. Um, no, I actually, uh, funny, I, I actually have all of my students. They get, um, the animal esthetician from, uh, Michelle Knowles. Um, so I, I've started to do it, um, but I've been looking for because like hers is the, I like a lot of the information, but it's much more of like college style learning, which my students really struggle with. So, um, we're trying to, I understand that. Yeah, yeah, that yeah, I, I, I struggle with translating. How can I translate this, that I just read into something that a less educated person can grasp? Yeah. So, you know, I'm aware of that, that problem because sometimes it's very easy to, to absorb yourself in a technical realm and then your speech just becomes gibberish to somebody else. Yeah. You know, because, you know, like always, it's, it's scientific writing is terrible. It's terrible, you know, and, and, and so that's a big part of my sacrifice is that I'll read that shit and, and, and grasp it and feed it back to people in a somewhat more understandable level. And in fact, I, I work with AI on doing just that. Yeah. You know, I've got a great AI, I do, I work with ChatGPT. Mhm. And, um, my AI, my chat g t knows me, gets who I am at the party, get knows my concerns and will offer to to translate that something into clearer, more plain English. Yeah. For your groomers. Um, you know, and that's, that's so helpful because um, I can't always, uh, accomplish that. It's, it's a hard thing to do, you know, and I have to learn, I have to learn something very well before I can talk about it. Mhm. And then once I, once I really, I mean, it took me forever to really grasp what a freaking surfactant was, you know, like what? I mean, I read it and I read it and I read it and I, and it finally started, you know, but it wasn't until I got put on the spot to teach it that it, you know. So, you know, we might work on something like that together, you know, like, uh, there's a, you know, let's leave it open. Let's, yeah, look at a possibility of adding some technical material in a way that it will not be off putting to your neuro divergent. Uh, yeah. Friends. Yeah. Your students, I love it. You've got Michelle, you've got Melissa, you've got Angie Coates. Who else do you have teaching for you? You got a bunch of people. Uh, well, I'm having. I'm sorry guys, I put her on the spot here. My fault. It's my specialty. I'm really good at just hitting people with questions that they are not expecting. Uh, here. Chris. Anthony? Um. Oh, right. Chris. Anthony. Yeah. Uh, uh, Kate Klassen. Um. And then. Melissa. Yeah. Melissa Jepsen. Yeah. Um. I know there's more and I can't. Well that's okay. Okay. You're you're allowed. Give me where to find information about the school. Mhm. Where to find information about the model dog club stuff and where to find information about you in whatever order you would like to give it to us. Alright. Um, so the website, uh, would have, uh, all of it about the school is the meditative groomer Academy dot com. Um, you can find me on Facebook as Stephanie Calhoun. Instagram is chaos manager Calhoun. Um, and I think it's the same on like my tick tock and threads. Uh, I also have a YouTube where I've been doing lives of my practicing my model dog and talking about, uh, everything. And I'm, I also have a link on there sharing. I'm working on a study like a study page. I'm translating my, my chicken scratch notes into readable graphics and sharing them. So it's kind of a little study guide that'll be on there. Um, and. The model dog club is the North American model dog club. Uh, on Facebook, it's a Facebook page. Um, and also I am working on planning a trip for next year for North Korea, there will be, um, kind of like packages listed where it's all like planned. Um, and I haven't gotten that up yet, but it will be, I'll have it on my, my socials and, uh, my page, like my website and stuff. So you'll be able to find it when I do get it out. So. Cool, cool. Well, we really appreciate learning about this. When I saw you were going over there, I thought, you know, we've got to talk to her about this because that is very, very cool. So thank you for listening everyone. Oh, thank you for watching everyone. I'm still getting used to that whole trade over thing and, uh, happy grooming. See you next time on the groom pod. Bye now. Bye bye. Take care of yourselves, because you know we love you. Bye bye. Thank you for having me. Oh, it was fun.