Tonya J. Long: 0:00

Welcome friends. I'm Tonya Long and this is RESET. Each week, we share conversations with thought leaders, innovators and the dreamers and doers who are reshaping the future of work, technology, longevity and purpose. So settle in and let's explore what happens when purpose meets possibility. Oh my, there goes the music, because we are starting today with RESET, with Tonya here at beautiful.

Tonya J. Long: 0:31

I always give a weather report and today it might be more beautiful than ever this spring here in Los Gatos Beautiful blue skies, the color of a robin's egg. And I'm talking about robin's eggs because I've been visiting with my friend, Keshia Theobald Van Gent, and I'm sure that she can say it much more articulately than me, but we were talking about all this shared history we have. We both have a pension for foreign countries, we both travel in a lot of the same circles, we both have an affinity for shoes and we both have Airstreams. And I just learned that a minute before the show started and I thought, oh my God, this is the most horrible time to learn this, cause I could talk about Airstreams with Keshia for the next hour. But we're gonna talk about resets, because Keshia has had several fascinating resets in her career.

Tonya J. Long: 1:27

Starting with, she grew up near me. I grew up in Tennessee and Keshia was between Kentucky and Indiana, so over on the eastern side of the US, but then she went to school in the Netherlands and we'll talk about why, what brought her there. And then she had a storied career. From the Netherlands. She said she studied of all things I have it here, look global. She studied here we go conflict, religion and globalization, and today she's a vice president at one of the premier VC firms here in the valley, and so I think her story about how she went from conflict, religion and globalization in the Netherlands to an educational nonprofit, to being one of the top VCs and the top leader at the firm is an amazing story, and we might slip in conversations about shoes and Airstreams. So, Keshia, welcome. Thank you so much. Welcome, teresa. I'm so excited you're here.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 2:24

Yeah, me too. Thank you so much, and that is a very kind introduction. I appreciate that.

Tonya J. Long: 2:30

We are, for once, not in a panel in front of a bunch of industry people and we can have the conversations we want to here Agreed, and I do hope there's plenty of Airstream and shoe talk. Airstream and shoe talk. All right, I wore some shoes. I always wear shoes when I know I'm going to see Keshia that she hasn't seen before. So my goal is to run out of shoes because I've seen her so much. I think that would be a great goal.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 2:52

That would be amazing. Yeah, yeah, but you always have fabulous shoes Every time. I've ever seen you, in fact, when we first met.

Tonya J. Long: 3:11

I believe my first words to you were I love your shoes and, just for the record, because of who I am and where I come from, they're all cheap. When she says she loved my shoes, they're not Louboutins, they're not the red soled house payment on my feet. They are from, they're ordered online and they're just fun.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 3:19

But they're fabulous, but that's all that matters.

Tonya J. Long: 3:21

We, we want to have fun. Good, awesome, Keshia, tell us what you're working on. I said you were a VC, yes, and I gave some of your history, but tell us what your priorities are right now.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 3:31

Yeah, thank you. So I'm at BDev Ventures and at BDev we're investing in like late C to series B startups. We're something of a generalist fund, so we invest B2B software with some exceptions, so we're not looking at anything that's really heavily regulated. We're not looking at crypto or even cybersecurity, so things where it really we would need that deep expertise built within the team, our expertise is really more around go-to-market.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 3:58

So, in addition to capital, we provide all of our portfolio companies with access to a couple of lead generation tools, provide all of our portfolio companies with access to a couple of lead generation tools and through that, we are able to systematically add significant value to the companies that we work with. And this is really what the core of our investment thesis is built around. And so, in addition to capital, we are, in addition to traditional diligence, we actually run a pilot as a part of our diligence process in these tools. So, before we ever invest, we're asking ourselves and of the startup can we actually help you move the needle? Today, we make up somewhere between 6% and 65% of all new revenue for the companies in our portfolio that are utilizing these tools, which is what a great start for those who own companies.

Tonya J. Long: 4:43

Yes, yeah, amazing. And you've done. I think I recall you've done over 50 investments, so that's 50 and maybe more at this point. From that stat 50 little companies you've nurtured into more success.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 4:55

Yes, yeah. So we have 64 investments, but a few of those are follow-on, so in our portfolio we have about 50 companies. Nice.

Tonya J. Long: 5:03

Very nice.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 5:11

In the last three and a half years, so pretty high volume investors. In April of this year we made six investments and in March we did five. We're on track this month for seven, which is nice. It's amazing. We're all exhausted.

Tonya J. Long: 5:21

Yeah, but it's the good kind of exhausted I've seen yourself about the companies that you nurture and I think it's a deep heart attraction for you because you get to be involved. It's not just writing checks, it's the partnership and the relationships that you develop that, I think, drives you.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 5:38

Very much, I think, and we have talked a little bit about this, but my background is untraditional so I did not.

Tonya J. Long: 5:45

Let's take it back to school. The Netherlands, yeah, religion, globalization, conflict yes, gosh, what a fascinating area of study in your 20s. I'm assuming you did the traditional route, age-wise. Yeah, what took you to the Netherlands from Kentucky, indiana, and of course it's always a man? It was probably a man. The Netherlands, from Kentucky, indiana, and of course it's always a man's probably a man.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 6:07

I hope it was a man with you. It was even before that, so I did all my undergrad in Kentucky. Went to Northern Kentucky.

Tonya J. Long: 6:13

And there are a few people listening who probably identify with these schools from home, from my home, so now hopefully from your home as well.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 6:22

Yeah, so I did my undergrad there and I probably shouldn't tell people this story, but it is interesting. So I, when we when I were talking earlier about failing up, and I did that big time I did my undergrad in three years. I was a research assistant. I really like, I loved school and I desperately wanted to go to graduate school. And this is right, 2008, jobs were non-existent anyway. Oh, 2008,.

Tonya J. Long: 6:46

Not a good time to come out of school. I was already well into my career at that point. But yeah, it was a hard time for everyone. It was rough.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 6:55

And so I really wanted to go to graduate school, and I could not, for the life of me, get a decent score on the GRE. I took it multiple times.

Tonya J. Long: 7:04

That's amazing. I love it. I love this.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 7:07

I studied. I even took like the prep classes where you're actually like really studying, test taking, and I could not get a score that would get me into any graduate school that I was interested in. And I took the LSAT. I was graduating, I think, cum laude, and so the university paid for there was some program where it was like you got to take the LSAT for free, and this is not. I could not repeat this, certainly couldn't do it now, but I got an amazing test score because I had been doing all of this prep for the GRE.

Tonya J. Long: 7:35

Oh, interesting.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 7:36

And then I killed it on the LSAT. I went to law school and, to be frank, I went to a very conservative law school in Kentucky, at Chase Law, and it wasn't a great fit. But I got a full ride and I probably similar to yourself, I don't come from a background where, like free education is a big deal.

Tonya J. Long: 7:57

You and I didn't get Stanford MBAs because we went where we could.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 8:02

I don't. I'm not sure I know what. I knew what Stanford was at that time.

Tonya J. Long: 8:06

Yeah, we probably we didn't understand the impact.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 8:08

Certainly not. Maybe I understood it had a football team. Actually, they don't. I'm sorry.

Tonya J. Long: 8:12

I'm saying that to all my friends out there. My apologies.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 8:17

Yeah, I went to law school and it was a really poor fit, so I took some time off. It was supposed to be a year. I moved to Laos, worked for an NGO, taught English, among other things.

Tonya J. Long: 8:30

What took you to Laos? Just an interesting environment, or was it the impact of your work?

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 8:35

Yeah, it was the opportunity. I had traveled, I had backpacked a couple of summers in Southeast Asia and really fell in love with the culture and the people and the food and it was a place near and dear and to some extent maybe a place really far away from where I had grown up and spent my time. And I, on the way over, met this fabulous Dutch guy, very tall, blonde blue-eyed.

Tonya J. Long: 8:59

You said on the way over, so I'm like yes, I was playing strings and automobiles, take your pick.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 9:04

I was visiting a friend in the Netherlands on my way over to Laos and was supposed to be like couch surfing and use that as a launch point other things in Europe, and I didn't. I ended up hanging out with this guy and I basically said, hey, moving to Laos, he had just finished his MBA, he was moving, he's Dutch, he's moving back from Boston and he was like, didn't have a job lined yet. We're all in our early 20s at this point. And I said, look, why don't you come? Let's be rational about this. It's going to be much cheaper for you to just hang out in Laos on my couch and apply for jobs from there. That was the logic that I convinced him with.

Tonya J. Long: 9:36

You invited him to your couch after having spent a week with him in Europe. A couple weeks, a couple weeks.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 9:42

A couple weeks, that was okay, yeah.

Tonya J. Long: 9:45

Yeah, still, he came, that was okay. Yep, we, 15 years later, you wear, yes, you wear his last name.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 9:52

I do. We've been married 12 years 12 years. He stayed with me in Laos. We were there.

Tonya J. Long: 9:55

I'm assuming you at least dated a few years before. Yeah, we've been married 12.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 10:00

Oh sorry, yeah, we've been married 12 years. I love it, yeah. And so we. He stayed there with me for about a year and a half and then at some point we said okay, he has this degree, I also have a degree Like we should go do something. That was maybe more in line with our expected path. And I moved back to the Netherlands and that was when I didn't speak Dutch. So I decided to go back to school and I studied conflict, religion and globalization, as well as business. So I did an honors program in business as well.

Tonya J. Long: 10:24

So what I pull from this thread is you've did you get your JD? No, so you went to law school. You didn't enjoy it, so you moved on. But you, it feels to me like you were at a time when you were like what do I do? Yes, because you had an undergrad. You had partially gone to law school. You were looking for your next thing.

Tonya J. Long: 10:45

You were on the way to Laos and my thread there is things happen for you, not to you, Because you. It led you into that confusion and uncertainty Because I think a lot of us exist in uncertainty right now.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 11:00

I have no idea what I want to do when I grow up. Still haven't decided.

Tonya J. Long: 11:03

That's one of the questions at the end, so you've got 45 minutes to figure it out, but still, I love that you have a firsthand story about how the journey led you to something that you'll have the rest of your life.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 11:16

Very much and I think for me, a lot of that is. We talked earlier about what's the through line, and I genuinely sat and contemplated this last night and I was talking to my husband about it and I think for me the through line is probably a combination of service and learning. So even going to Laos, all of that was really about service. Right, it's about giving back. You were in the AmeriCorps, I was in AmeriCorps later on, yeah, so that's been a big and important thing for me. But also learning I love. It's actually why I like venture, because I get to kind of perpetually be the if I can say this like the dumbest person in the room.

Tonya J. Long: 11:55

No, I think you're brilliant for knowing that, for knowing I don't know anything about their technology, and what a privilege it is to be able to learn about it Exactly and learn about so many things and not be stuck with them.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 12:06

Yeah, and I think that's why you and I get along so well, because I think that's a trait that we share.

Tonya J. Long: 12:11

Well wait, you're only a couple of months into your Airstream. I have been humbled by that process, but it's been so much fun.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 12:18

The Airstream is so much fun. I just got back. We did a week in the Eastern Sierras and ours has a standing desk in it. Oh, the Eastern, so you went over.

Tonya J. Long: 12:28

Yeah, we did, because Bishop's Reservoir is one of my favorite little places in the Western Sierras. You may have gone through Bishop.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 12:34

We did. We were in Lone Pine and then up toward Mammoth as well, but today, with satellite internet, you can work from anywhere yeah, I'm not gonna go.

Tonya J. Long: 12:45

I could do the rest of the show just on air. I think we're having a silver alert okay, because if you guys hear just a little kind of growling in the background, it sounds like one of those emergency alerts it does. In california or in the bay area we have those Haven't had one lately when someone's missing. So that's how it works.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 13:09

It's important, it's worth interrupting it definitely got us distracted.

Tonya J. Long: 13:12

Should we be leaving the building? So you went to Laos With an additional piece of luggage you didn't expect for a year and a half. What do you feel like you brought back from that experience that you've? Besides, is Daniel your husband's name? Ari Ari, thank you. There's another Daniel that has this, so Ari besides Ari, what did you bring? Back from Laos that mattered.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 13:37

Yeah, I think for me that Laos was deeply humbling.

Tonya J. Long: 13:41

Yes, deeply, that's my experience with India. Yes.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 13:44

Yeah, and I've spent some time not as much time, obviously, as you in India, but I've spent some time there and I think it's similar. I really had the opportunity to work with people from a very different background who, in large part and the population I was working with who had materially significantly less than I had grown up with that just poverty is exists on a very different level than I had experienced it here in the United States and I think for me it was a major mindset shift to understand the global world and understand that problems exist so far beyond the scope of what dress I should wear or what's going on with so-and-so down the street. And I think, because I had grown up in a fairly small community and that is in many ways a beautiful, wonderful thing, but also very limiting in your exposure to the world I think it made me I'd like to think it made me a kinder person and a better person.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 14:38

I'm sure it did yeah to.

Tonya J. Long: 14:39

Really that was my experience. Yeah, I would go to India like every month and be there for a week or two, mostly a week, but I found that when my time extended, like during the holidays, that I didn't go back.

Tonya J. Long: 14:50

I got edgy because being in India made me more grateful it made me realize, instead of being so pop, got to get it done, got to get it done Very much. There weren't the resources or access. You had to wait, yeah, and it wasn't humbling as much as I was humbled to see people so happy with their lives, who had so little compared to other parts of the world. But they didn't need it. They had each other and they had their traditions, and relationships were so deep. Yes, and that's what I think the experience was probably similar for you. Each other and they had their traditions and relationships were so deep. Yes, and that's what I think the experience was probably similar for you. But I got edgy when I'd be here too long.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 15:29

I knew I needed to go back to India because it made me appreciate what I had Very much and also, I think, opened up for me without getting too far into politics. Yeah, I grew up far into politics. I grew up in a very conservative area, it's not a secret and I think for me it really opened my eyes on how similar we all are, on how there's I think there's this mentality sometimes in certain political groups that it's an us versus them and the resources are limited. And I think that experience, and having traveled significantly in other countries as well, it's very clear that no resources are limited. But when we work together and when we support each other, all boats rise in a high tide. And I think that lesson when I was younger would have considered myself very conservative politically and I certainly don't today, and I think that experience really shaped that.

Tonya J. Long: 16:25

It does, it does. That's amazing. I'm going to break for just a quick second to do a quick station ID. We are at KPCR, lp 92.9 FM in beautiful Los Gatos. That sky has not changed. It is still bright, baby blue. Also calling out from Sister Station in Santa Cruz, kmrt LP 101.9. So back to us, Keshia and Laos. And how it changed your heart you came back from Laos. And did you after coming back from Laos is that when you started your own startup in the educational world, so yes and no.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 17:04

So I was in the Netherlands for a few years, did my graduate work there and had a small business there working.

Tonya J. Long: 17:10

You had that entrepreneurial experience that you're now Shepard.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 17:13

Yeah very much. And then we had an opportunity. Actually this is, it's funny I Silicon Valley was not on my radar again, just not. I knew that I wanted to, just not. I knew that I wanted to work in business. I knew that I wanted to do something where I was community building and working with others. My husband got a job out here. He got this great offer and I was like out here, I took a year, something I'd always really wanted to do was AmeriCorps.

Tonya J. Long: 17:35

I'd always wanted to give back and have that service experience. So you did AmeriCorps separately from Laos? Yes, wow.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 17:52

Wow, yeah. So my first year in the Bay Area, I did AmeriCorps. I think I made don't quote me on this I think it was like $19,500 for the year.

Tonya J. Long: 18:04

That's what I made running the dorms 35 years ago.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 18:07

Yes, yeah, if anyone's listening and they're familiar with housing prices in the Bay Area, that was not yes, what?

Tonya J. Long: 18:14

did you do? Clearly, the salary is shocking, especially in the framework of how much it costs just to live here compared to other places. But what activity did you fulfill?

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 18:25

So I ran a program for a nonprofit called Playworks and I was a community organizer for them. So I worked with low-income elementary schools in East Palo. Alto, I love all these breadcrumbs, and their motto and their mission is power through play. So through games and some recess, but think more like a gym class, really building out some of those cooperative skills that students need, especially in those areas, and their outcomes are amazing. So if you're interested in this at all, anyone listening Playworks is a really great organization. Can't say enough good things about them.

Tonya J. Long: 19:02

Is it W-O-R-K-S? Yes, sometimes there's funky spelling, just how you would expect. Just how you would expect.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 19:10

And I did that for one school year, so it's nine months or ten months or something to that effect and then at the end of that I realized that it wasn't. Even though there was an opportunity to maybe stay and become an employee for them, that wasn't something I was interested in. I worked with a principal that I met who was doing their postdoc at Stanford and he was an elementary school principal in East Palo Alto at the time and he and I created Dialogue to Learn and basically our mission was this was an ed tech company and this is, you have to remember, this was at a time when ed tech was like Corsair, was getting funded, like ed tech was. So it was a big time. Big and Were you big?

Tonya J. Long: 19:52

No, in retrospect I knew I knew what the answer had to be, but let's talk about it. Yeah, because I know it was a great experience.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 19:58

It was an amazing experience and it really launched me in many ways, launched my career into what it is today. But I think I built this company. It was focused around literacy, so we were pairing students in low-income elementary schools with tech professionals, Okay, and we had created I had worked with volunteer engineers to create an app that connected these students and professionals over email, but it was very safe. There was an extensive backend for teachers and that process of managing a product roadmap, that process of fundraising because I was still fundraising. The process of creating partnerships with the schools, school districts, other nonprofits because we were working with, like the Boys and Girls Club, afterschool programs, stuff like that and then also with all of the tech companies.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 20:49

It was an amazing experience. I learned a ton. I did it full-time for about a year, got everything set up and then transitioned to a board member. So it was not the intention, was never that it was going to be my full-time role. I knew that, but it was something I felt could just add a lot of value to the community I was working in.

Tonya J. Long: 21:04

We're not even halfway through your story and there's that thread for you, that theme of you keep moving because you make your impact, you have your value, you establish or make something better and leave it in good hands and then move on. Yes, and I love that about you. I was surrounded in tech by. I've been managing QA for hardware for 30 years and you and I don't sit still no.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 21:34

In fact, sometimes when people and I have a ton of respect for people who can stay somewhere and really operate, who can develop that domain, yes, but my God, I think I'd people who can stay somewhere and really operate Develop that domain? Yes, but my God, I think I'd be bored. Yeah, like really bored.

Tonya J. Long: 21:46

Just a couple different. Yeah, you talk personality profiles, yes, like Firesbridge and Enneagram on a whole different conversation. But yeah, it's just some people are meant to stay and go really deep and some people are meant to hit the tops of the waves on many things yeah. So from there I at this point had built a really interesting network on the nonprofit side, but mostly in the tech space, always have the community partnerships.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 22:11

Yeah, and I ended up taking a role because I started looking and I started saying to people hey, this was amazing, I'm so happy I did it, it's up and running, it's looking good. I'm so happy I did it, it's in, it's up and running, it's looking good, I'm ready for what's next. And I ended up at GSV labs. So GSV capital the time Mo and that crowd late stage tech investor wrote 50 million plus checks into like Lyft, lime, coursera yes, that's a big connection. Spotify Nikhil Sinha was the CEO at the time he had come over from Coursera. Yes, that's a big connection.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 22:46

Spotify Nikhil Sinha was the CEO at the time he had come over from Coursera. So there was a deep ed tech connection. So GSV Capital had the labs arm, which was their earlier stage arm. They had a significant accelerator themselves, a big co-working space. Now they have a fund and they had teams here in Boston and all over. It's pretty global. And they hired me on initially to work on a consulting arm for them and then pretty quickly I was promoted to the director of strategic partnerships and that was really the first experience I had in venture capital and with that world from the investor side, not from the operator side, which was amazing. Yeah.

Tonya J. Long: 23:22

This theme you've had of doing different things and taking I don't even want to call them risks, because risks is an ugly word for a lot of people, and these experiences you curated. The Bay Area is a big melting pot of cultural backgrounds, of these profiles of personalities, right, yes, there's just there's so much diversity of thought and style and all those things out here. Yeah, Do you think that having those experiences where you had to fit yourself into the culture of Laos you hadn't you might've visited before, but you certainly hadn't lived there before Do you think having the experience with different cultures made you more successful at dealing with all the, especially because you have to deal with so many companies, therefore so many cultural profiles of the?

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 24:10

companies A hundred percent. Okay, I think it. I think a lot of those experiences, whether it was living abroad in Asia or Europe, whether it was I think my educational background speaks to this a little bit too but being able to quickly walk into a situation and understand or recognize the social rules and that they're different and to be able to quickly adapt to that and maybe even more so than that, understanding and being exposed to different systems. So not just the one-on-one interaction, because I think we can all very quickly build some of those skills, but being able to go in and understand fundamentally different systems quickly and maybe, to that extent, ask different questions.

Tonya J. Long: 24:58

I have a very different background About the curiosity, yeah, and I want to step into that systems thing because systems for some of the people listening they might immediately go to the mechanical technologies. But there's systems of people, like company. I'm a big change, hyper change leader and some companies have very loose cultures and you can't come in and apply heavy process. Some companies on the other side of that spectrum are so heavy process that when you try to loosen up and ask why people do things and what value it provides, it's very disconcerting for them because we've always done it this way and we need to, and we have to do everything in triplicate and we have to have 17 approvals on things. So the culture of the companies that we work with is a system Very much the hardest one to read. There's no PRD for that.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 25:48

The hardest one to read, one that sometimes, maybe even oftentimes, people within those systems are not always fully aware.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 25:55

So it's not stated yes If you sit down and you're getting that upload, whether it's a new job or a company that you're talking with. Oftentimes people within the system have a for them. That's it's normal. It's just normal. It's just this. Of course, this is what we do, right? I think that's often why it can be very difficult to understand some of the, even just the hierarchy. So there's a formal hierarchy often, and then there's where power sits, which is, in my experience, somewhat similar to the formal, but typically not exactly the same. Yeah, I enjoy that type of thinking, and actually I think women in general are very much so. System thinkers tend to focus on these like long-term outcomes, much more than our male counterparts, and I do think that's something that I can bring to the table as well.

Tonya J. Long: 26:48

There's been a lot said about men achieve because they're able to compartmentalize and very much focus. I came up during a time when I was almost always the only woman in the room and I loved it because I was so uniquely differentiated in what I focused on and I existed because I could go really broad and manage very broad, rather than those really deep vertical slices that I think male thinking often prefers to be very linear about what it focused on, what I do, how I'm measured and for me, my personal power, my heart, is in how do I help lots and lots of people?

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 27:29

Yes, and I don't know that's. I think my take on that is it's probably not so biological as much as it is. That's how we're socialized as children, right? Girls get Legos and girls get dolls, so girls are often encouraged More collaborative and that's possible.

Tonya J. Long: 27:45

I still think there's some genetic.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 27:46

A biological Biological predisposition too.

Tonya J. Long: 27:50

Yeah, because, but still.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 27:51

It's always nature and nurture.

Tonya J. Long: 27:53

It is nature and nurture and but we will say this, women have. I think, I'll say it, I think women care more about the breadth and all the dimensionality of how are people reacting to ideas, how are we communicating purpose, what are the layers of things people need to know to enroll in something new, where men can be very. This is the roadmap. This is the roadmap.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 28:23

Yeah, I think and I will say I think women are definitely socialized as very young ages to be more cooperative and to think about the group and think about others. We're often socialized to be caretakers. Yes, and I think that is 100% how it translates into the work world or business world. Is I lead with empathy and sometimes even, maybe even to a detriment? Right, sometimes I care, maybe even too much in the sense of sometimes I envy some of my colleagues that are able to just be like nope and walk away. This is my box.

Tonya J. Long: 28:57

This is my box. Find somebody else to do that. It's outside my box.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 29:00

Yeah, something I'm still working on, still learning that one, I get it.

Tonya J. Long: 29:05

We'll have more conversations on that, we will.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 29:07

Yes.

Tonya J. Long: 29:08

But first it's time for another station ID. We're at the bottom of the hour and we're at Pirate Cat Radio, kpcr, lp 92.9 FM, and lovely Los Gatos and sister station KMRT LP 90, sorry 101.9 in Santa Cruz. And we have a program this summer that we're putting on for those of you out there who have teenagers and you're wondering what you're going to do with them after out of school. And we are doing a radio camp starting on June 9th to bring 13 to 17-year-olds into the studio and it's over the course of several weeks. We will teach them to put on their own show.

Tonya J. Long: 29:43

Now you might say to yourself my kid's not gonna be a radio host, no, but they're gonna learn to speak and they're gonna learn to organize and it could lead to a podcast for them. So I think there's lots of applicability. I've had some adults say we wanna come. We'll figure that out later, but there is a program this summer. Look online at kpcrorg if you'd be interested in sharing that with your teenager to see if it's something they might like to do for a few weeks this summer. So that's awesome. Yeah, I think it is great because you are such a clear communicator and a delightful communicator. I've seen you lead discussions as a panel moderator. I've seen you be handed the questions as a member of panels or even as a solo fireside chat, and no matter what environment you're in, the way you present yourself is always so authentic that is very kind.

Tonya J. Long: 30:34

Thank you, it's true it's not kind. It might be kind, but there's good things to say and it's a skill. It's a skill that I think you and I probably started curating a long time ago.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 30:46

Yes, I often I was a lifeguard all through high school and, as weird as this sounds, I think a lot of it goes back to that and giving swim lessons and just being able to, and I think this is something a lot of people struggle with being able to be loud I won't do it here because there's a microphone.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 31:04

I can imagine that would be hard on everyone's ears. But just being able to be loud and still happy, that ability to translate ideas simply, and I think so much of that goes back to childhood. So I think the radio opportunity for kids is really cool. Yeah.

Tonya J. Long: 31:20

And kids are. Many people are so into podcasts these days. I think for them to come out of that, get the framework to build their own. It's pretty amazing. We were talking about all this variety of things you've had that led you to venture, but you were an entrepreneur before you came into venture. Yes, so you've sat on both sides of the table. Yes, what did that duality help you do as you nurture other companies into?

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 31:48

their own maturity levels. It's a really good question, I think. Fundamentally, as weird as it sounds, I've cried those tears. I know how difficult it can be to build, to have limited resources, to not make payroll to. Back to empathy. Yeah, back to empathy, I do think it. I ask different questions when I talk to founders than a lot of my colleagues and I think a lot of it goes back to I understand oftentimes when you hear stuff like it's on the product roadmap and you're like, okay, cool, why is the order this way? I think sometimes, if you're coming straight out of business school and you don't have that experience of accepting reality, a little bit right, yes, no, we know that's important, but we haven't done it yet. And here's why I think there's also an element there certainly empathy, but also there's a human element that I think sometimes is lost in venture. I make it a point I try really hard to respond to every LinkedIn outreach, all of my emails. It's overwhelming. Sometimes it can be very overwhelming.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 32:54

But it's a priority for you yeah, and because, at the end of the day, I've been there and even if the answer is no, I try to say why and I try to give genuine feedback. And I think that is at times, very much so lacking in the venture community and oftentimes because the feedback is, if we're honest with ourselves, we're not going to invest what we, just we found a different company. That's just a better investment for us today. And that can be very difficult feedback to give a founder, but it's meaningful and it's helpful and I don't see enough of that in our ecosystem today, that kind of human approach to you're a human, you're not just a founder, I'm not just an investor, we're both humans. Let's have a conversation.

Tonya J. Long: 33:33

How? Because you've done the journey and you really appreciate how complicated it is to be an entrepreneur, and I'm sure it affects you when you see a story, because people are stories, yes, and they're just not ready at all. What are? What's your? Because I think we are all, no matter what vertical we work or live in, there are times when we have to tell people, we want to tell them yes, but there's just, it's just not something we can sign up for. What's your advice to people on helping, on saying no and protecting your own boundaries yeah, and in versus and keeping them whole so that they grow from it. What's your advice?

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 34:15

It is such a good question. The truth is, I'm probably not. I don't know. There are very few people who are really great at this. It's hard. It's difficult to tell people.

Tonya J. Long: 34:26

When you're good at it, you're mean. When you're comfortable saying it, you often come across as mean, as mean yeah and I think I've gotten.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 34:37

But look, the reality is my a lot of my job is saying no. I often, I'm sure, yes, I often tell our associates. So I lead a team of our, I lead our investment team at BDEV and as well as our operations and product team. But oftentimes I'll tell our associates your job is twofold. Your job is like when you're communicating with the founder. You are equal parts gatekeeper and salesperson. You're a salesperson. Sales is everywhere we are. I hate that, but yes, it is true. I am trying to convince you, if I find an amazing investment, that I'm the right investor for you, that I can help you, whatever the argument might be. And it is somewhat sales, but the majority of the job is gatekeeper, being able to say no in many cases, saying no very quickly. Yes, it's being able to say no in many cases, saying no very quickly, yes, which I genuinely even though it doesn't always feel nice genuinely think it's a kindness to say no quickly, to not lead people through long, arduous discussions.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 35:31

Yes.

Tonya J. Long: 35:31

And expectation building yes, if you know the answer is going to be no.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 35:36

Exactly so. I don't want to give the impression that I don't royally make people very upset sometimes with my feedback.

Tonya J. Long: 35:43

I do?

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 35:43

I absolutely do. We've had founders before that have gotten really mad. But I try to be genuine, I try to be honest because I do believe in the end that will be the most helpful thing, even when it's hard to hear.

Tonya J. Long: 35:54

I love it. Yeah, I love it. It as, segueing into other conversations, I didn't mention in my intro that you were just recognized as a 2025 woman of influence. Thank you. What does that mean to you to have your peers and people across industry recognize you that way?

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 36:15

Yeah, I was truly honored. The opportunity popped up. One of the PR people that we work with brought it to my attention. She was like hey, we're going to nominate you. And I was like, oh, are you sure?

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 36:26

Why me? Yeah, okay, whatever, sure. And then, yeah, when I got the email, I was like, oh my goodness, it's an amazing feeling. But the truth is that I think it's much more a testament to the amazing teams that I've worked with, much more so than it is to me, because the reality is, like you mentioned earlier, we've made since I've been in leadership at BDEV, we've made over 50 investments. We marked up 25% of our portfolio last year.

Tonya J. Long: 36:51

Oh, that was last year.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 36:52

Yeah, yeah, I didn't do any of that on my own. I don't do anything at BDEV on my own. I have an amazing team, and that's been true for me on my own. I don't do anything at BDiv on my own. I have an amazing team, and that's been true for me throughout my career.

Tonya J. Long: 37:04

When you look back at your amazing career, what do you think those common threads are that you've held on to, because I think you've always been a leader, no matter what the title was. So what's been the thread that you think has facilitated your success?

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 37:19

Yeah, that's a good question. I definitely go back to service. I'm very service-minded and even, as a leader, very consciously service-minded. I don't ask my team to do things that I wouldn't do. I'm not happy to get my own coffee and, quite frankly, the proverbial get me my coffee. Not that we actually do that.

Tonya J. Long: 37:41

We're all in different places, but Mad Men was so fun to watch.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 37:44

Full, different era.

Tonya J. Long: 37:46

Yes, I have been asked to get coffee. I'm the age that I experienced that once with a gentleman from Bain who didn't realize it was the project that I was leading.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 37:57

Yeah, I've been asked and I don't mind. Actually, I make it a point now to ask others. I, yeah, I've been asked and I I don't mind. Actually I make it a point now to ask others. I'm B to get your coffee.

Tonya J. Long: 38:04

And, but I take that into work. There's a difference, there's a oh, there's a big difference, oh, there's a big difference.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 38:09

Yes, especially as a woman, I and I'm sure you've had this too I always got the oh, you're so good at community building, you should plan the party.

Tonya J. Long: 38:17

You're like I don't, yeah, this doesn't feel, wait a second, I'm planning all the parties and I will say early in my career and I think this is, I think this is, this happens to all of us early career, you just want to be valuable and contributory yes and so you plan all the parties and you load your car up with things from Sprouts and get there two hours early to the park where your team's going to meet. But I think as we've grown, it's become more OK to.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 38:48

As we've grown as a society, it's been OK to say it's your turn now Very much and I think it's really important actually, especially for women, because we oftentimes are pushed into those categories.

Tonya J. Long: 39:04

Getting the snacks, all those things, yeah, but I see things changing.

Tonya J. Long: 39:10

And I'm going to be and we don't have to say on this topic but I'm going to be harsh. I think it's not changing for the women who don't change themselves. It's not changing for the women who don't change themselves. If you just and this will be harsh, I don't know how to say it now that I've stepped into this pile of steaming poo but you have to change your life and if you just complain about it, it doesn't change it, and there are many examples and many other people that are living into equity to watch as an example or to get input or guidance from on your own teams, to stand up for yourself. You can't just whine, no, find the way.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 39:51

I think, yeah, I don't disagree. I think that's true for men and women. You see it across both genders.

Tonya J. Long: 39:55

Oh, that's interesting.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 39:56

That this you can't be complacent, right, you have?

Tonya J. Long: 39:59

to yeah, speak your truth.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 40:01

You have to, yeah, and add value, and I think, if you're doing that, that you will see the results. I think Silicon Valley, like when I started, when I moved here we were this was pre-Me Too it was a different. It was a different culture. I actually think the culture in Silicon Valley has changed significantly in the last decade. I would agree. Yeah, we used to have and I won't say where, but I'll say we used to have I worked at a company a lot of founders and we had beer and wine on tap.

Tonya J. Long: 40:31

Oh yeah, this was common.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 40:33

Oh, and also common, like Thursday noon oh, come on, let's have a beer. And then the beer continues. I think this is not to say there's not still a lot of drinking and partying happening, but I do think it's a little more contained today.

Tonya J. Long: 40:46

And.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 40:46

I think that does provide more opportunities for women. I feel like as a woman. Yeah, I often felt left out of some of that because, because you didn't play golf, you know what I'm very, do you? Play golf you know what I'm doing? Play golf, not well.

Tonya J. Long: 41:01

I have closet. Oh, oh, my gosh. Okay, we've got crossfit and common airstreams and we're both poor golfers but we want it's a nice walk.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 41:09

I have not played in years, but I was actually on the golf team all through high school. Oh wow, so you are better no, I'm not.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 41:16

I know I'm I. This is really embarrassing. I took my team as like our. We just had a big off-site at the beginning of April. It's like our fun activity. We were together for three days. It was really intense workshops, and so one afternoon we're like let's do something fun, kind of bond over not Driving Ranger Putt Top golf. Oh, top golf is fun. I was so embarrassed I had the lowest score and everybody was like silently judging me because they all. I was like, oh, I played golf all through high school. Like I'm probably still okay at golf. No, it turns out it's not a bike. If you don't practice, you will lose that skill.

Tonya J. Long: 41:52

Maybe if you want to golf. I'm on the board of ACG and we do pretty frequent outings with some of our different segments at.

Tonya J. Long: 42:01

Topgolf and it is a great way to enjoy the outdoors. It's a great concept. I love what they've built for Topgolf. I agree, and I think it's a great team exercise. You're being hard on yourself that you missed the ball or whatever it was you did, but I think for a lot of people, people with zero golf skills it's fun. It is fun to be there. It is, yes, kind of like me and bowling that's.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 42:25

I once bowled.

Tonya J. Long: 42:26

I look like a clown when I bowl same.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 42:28

Yeah, I once bowled a 19 and my mom still has. This was a long time ago she still has it.

Tonya J. Long: 42:34

Yeah you'd love it. Yeah, I love it. That's, that's awesome.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 42:38

That's awesome. I am not athletic in that way More of a hiking, swimming, CrossFit kind of girl than a hand-eye coordination. Yes.

Tonya J. Long: 42:49

Yes, At Alkamaia we once had our Christmas party. It was one of the times we were tough around the world. And we had our Christmas party at a really big bowling alley here and it was like this fun and it was fun and it was fun and it was like all these lights and it was very high entertainment bowling.

Tonya J. Long: 43:09

It wasn't a crowd that wanted to put on a tux and show up at a hotel in the old days, yes, so it was really fun. I think that might have been the last time I went bowling, but it was a great team building. I agree, everybody can be good at different things yes, I'm very good at emailing and spreadsheets you are so much more than emailing it.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 43:30

Thank you yes, quickly.

Tonya J. Long: 43:33

We are at KPC, our LP ninety two point nine FM see this, these come up so quickly, as well as KMRT LP 101.9 FM See these come up so quickly. As well as KMRT-LP 101.9 FM out of Santa Cruz. And we are a community-funded radio station. But we want to give back to you and we've started something called the Signal Society. So we have membership tiers and for as little as $5 a month you can support me and you can support all of the artists that come into the studio to deliver content back to the communities that listen, and those communities aren't just here in the Bay Area. I have people on the East Coast who are listening right now on kpcrorg. So if you'd like to join the Signal Society, you get a membership card that gives discounts maybe on bowling, if not, I'll have to check that out but definitely not Topgolf. I'm sure that Topgolf isn't on our membership card, but it gives discounts on coffee and there's a bakery down here. There's all kinds of small things that are local I shouldn't say small things small businesses that are local where you can use your membership card. You can get a studio tour. You can even get a one-hour guest DJ with one of our regular studio hosts as part of your membership. So it's pretty cool to be able to give back. It's starting in such a small way If you want to give more than five dollars we will certainly take it but it's a really wonderful way to contribute to the work that this station does for the community. Again, you can find that on kpcrorg slash donate and you'll see how to register for the Signal Society there.

Tonya J. Long: 45:04

So we were talking Keshia. Yeah, I can see Keshia head. I can see her brain turning. She thinks about ooh, you can have a DJ slot anytime you want. Oh, that is very kind of you. Anytime you want.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 45:16

It's a great. I think it's important to support local radio and to support the local community. And actually, you know what Science? There's? Several studies that have come out where supporting your local community is ultimately what leads to happiness, much more so than Because you feel connected to it. That's exactly right.

Tonya J. Long: 45:34

And you and I have moved. I wouldn't say we've moved around a lot, but we have experienced different parts of the world where we still retain community. Yes, bangalore will always be home for me, just like Tennessee is home. Bangalore is home and the Bay Area is home, and I think that it may be local radio, but the fact that technology has allowed us to put this out in real time to the rest of the world, yes, our community is just so much bigger and easier to access than it would have been 20 years ago.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 46:05

I agree, and also, let's be honest and say Los Gatos, the Bay Area. We've both lived in a lot of places and amazing places, but there is uniqueness to this part of the world and our local community is yeah, it's unique and awesome.

Tonya J. Long: 46:23

I want to save some time here at the end for a speed round. I've not done a speed round, but any of my guests okay. I've been doing this a few months and I thought. Keshia is my speed round. Oh, if you could see her. She just set up straighter. She's almost going into competition because you set up straighter. Okay, your tone and your face got so much more like intense.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 46:43

Yes, I'm ready, you're ready, oh my.

Tonya J. Long: 46:46

God. But see, let's just, let's have fun. I like it Starting with startup pitch or CrossFit workout, which makes you sweat more CrossFit workout.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 46:57

I love CrossFit. I CrossFit is amazing. Sorry, I know we're in speed rounds.

Tonya J. Long: 47:02

No, I left a little time for this, okay.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 47:04

CrossFit is. For me, working out has is a major stress reducer. My job is stressful. Our jobs are not. They're not always straightforward, they're ups and downs. I love CrossFit and I love that. It's super and we talked about this earlier. It's so community-based. Yes, it is, and that is also, I think, for me, what keeps me going back is like okay yeah, but People expect you there.

Tonya J. Long: 47:25

That's right, and if you're gone for a week, they're looking for you they ask yeah, I love it. What's one question you wish founders would stop asking VCs?

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 47:36

The question I get the most that I find frustrating and frustrating because I've been a founder is do you want to invest in us? And without the context of it is very easy to see what I invest in and what I don't. It is very clear on our website. It's on my LinkedIn we invest in B2B software, linkedin, we invest in B2B software, and so when medical device companies or other amazing companies come to me if that sits outside of my thesis, the answer is categorically no, it's not because you're not. You could be the best company in the world and I'm still not going to invest in you because it's not. That is not my job, that is not the agreement that we have with RLP, and so I think, from that perspective, I get most frustrated when founders don't do their homework because they're not. And it's not just that. It's easy for me to say no, we don't invest in that, but they're wasting their own time, they're wasting a lot of resources by not doing a little bit of homework up front.

Tonya J. Long: 48:33

Yeah, Good, good, android or iPhone, iphone. What is the one app on your iPhone that your professional community would be surprised? You have, oh, libby. Well, I don't know if they would be surprised. What is Libby? Oh my gosh.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 48:49

If you're not, you have to get on Libby. She just lit up. For those of you who can't see her, she's glowing. Libby is the best app ever. It is your public library app. It is free. You can download Libby. How cute. Yes, you can download audiobooks. You can download books to your Kindle directly. There's even some shows and stuff on there. I don't do that. Comorg L-I-B-B-Y Okay, so it's an app app. It's an app Okay, love it and your public library's. Part of the support that they get and the funding that they get is based on usage from the community.

Tonya J. Long: 49:24

Okay, and this is a great way in our heavily digital world.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 49:28

This is an amazing way to support your library, which provides resources to your community that they really need.

Tonya J. Long: 49:32

Oh, no wonder you glowed about that. That's wonderful, I'm glowing now, yes, and I'm a big reader. I read a lot Wonderful, wonderful, all right. Dutch cuisine or Silicon Valley food scene which one wins in your and Ari's kitchen? Have you ever had Dutch food? I dated a Dutch man for about 18 months once, and so I've cooked lots of crazy stuff. Yeah, they have. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a whole. I know it's interesting. It's like my Southern food gives people heart attacks, so much grease, and Dutch food is just heavy, it's a lot.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 50:07

Their most famous dish is called stompot, which is literally where you put potatoes and kale into a pot and you mash it down and then serve it with sausage? Definitely not a regular experience in our house. I'll be honest, Ari doesn't miss the food from home. We make a lot of like Dutch Indonesian food at our house Like a lot of satay or like nasi goreng, but actually we try to eat fairly healthy so we're on like the salads and we're vegetarian. So very Bay area, very California.

Tonya J. Long: 50:37

I have learned so much about you and this and the 30 minutes before this is awesome, all right, so this one's important because you might have to follow up on it. Okay, if you could instantly master one new skill tomorrow, what?

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 50:53

would it be? Oh, my goodness, that is such a good question. I would love to improve my language skills. I do speak some Dutch At one point I was borderline fluent, although I've lost a lot of that and I love traveling and meeting new people and I really wish that I could communicate better in other languages.

Tonya J. Long: 51:16

Yeah, Do you want that from a professional business perspective, or do you just have a desire to speak different or multiple languages to communicate with people when you visit those?

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 51:29

Yeah, so I do a lot of work. Today, about 30% of our portfolio is Latam based, and so I work with a ton of founders that speak Spanish or Portuguese as their native language, and even though, quite frankly, most of their English is probably better than mine, these are super bright people. It is the one thing I often find myself regretting that my Spanish skills just aren't there, and it's because you miss things. You miss the jokes and the bonding.

Tonya J. Long: 51:55

Yes, yes, good, good, love it. When you need a reset, because we are on reset with Tonya. When you need a reset, beach or mountains, mountains, yeah, yeah, good thing, because your streams don't do well with the ocean salt. That is good to know. Oh, I can help you with that. You need to meet Vinny up in Central Maryland. Get a ceramic coating. I've got so many things to add to your list. Okay, so good. Oh, but mountains Love it. Good, and you just came back from the eastern Sierras.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 52:26

Yes, yeah, I love being in the forest, like the Japanese concept of forest bathing, and there's so much research around this right. It's so healthy for your body and for your brain, not just mentally or spiritually, but actually for the structures of your brain. Being in the forest and touching the trees and touching the grass is healthy.

Tonya J. Long: 52:42

There's a foraging state park, mushroom foraging state park up north of Fort Bragg, so probably three hours north of here on the ocean and I sat in the canopy of a. It's a fairy circle when they're small, but it's where redwoods have been beat down by fire and they've grown together and then they've started to grow again, but it's like trunks of trees that are in a circle. So I was about 12 foot up in the air and I could hear the moisture hitting the leaves in the forest and it was magical.

Tonya J. Long: 53:11

My friends were all out doing a vigorous hike and I sat in the crown of this cathedral and a cathedral crown, I think that's what they call it and it was magical. I love the trees and the forest and yeah very good. Last question on the spin list what's?

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 53:36

the most outrageous founder pitch you've ever heard that actually worked? That is a good question. Oh, interesting. You know what? I should have a quick answer for this. I hear a lot of interesting pitches.

Tonya J. Long: 53:46

Sometimes you're like what's the craziest product you've ever seen, without defining it.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 53:49

Without saying the name. I got pitched on many years ago. Got pitched on a company that was a juicer, but instead of buying fruit, you bought prepackaged bags of juice from them and then you processed it through their juicer. But instead of buying fruit, you bought prepackaged bags of juice from them and then you processed it through their juicer.

Tonya J. Long: 54:05

I think I met him at an event over here.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 54:07

Yeah, probably.

Tonya J. Long: 54:08

Because they were going to put it in hotels and it was like eight dollars a bag for the pre-bent juice.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 54:13

That's right. Yeah, and it did not do well in the end and I remember thinking team. Yeah, I will say I haven't worked too much with D2C companies, but when I ran Germany Accelerator, I ran all their US programs and when I was doing that we would get some D2C brands from time to time. And I am not an average consumer. I try to be very sustainable. I really make an effort to buy less and be very intentional with my purchases, and we would get pitched on things and I would just and some of these companies and I won't say names because that would be very rude end up doing very well and there's a few examples.

Tonya J. Long: 54:50

There's a market for nearly everyone.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 54:51

Yeah, but I can remember sitting in pitches like who would ever buy a water bottle with a scent. That's insane, but actually it's a fabulous company and I have the product now and it's a fabulous product.

Tonya J. Long: 55:05

But yes, I bought some rubber flip-flops in Capitola that have scent. They are vanilla-scented plastic, almost like yoga mat plastic flip-flops, and they smell like vanilla. I paid way too much for the concept but it was a foolish purchase. But I bet a lot of people made that foolish purchase. Yeah, they're my Airstream flip-flops. They're slides. I love that. So it's the jump and run. It's kind of like wearing Crocs flip-flops I have. Crocs, but they smell like vanilla and I bet your Crocs don't smell like vanilla.

Tonya J. Long: 55:36

My Crocs do not Love it. All right, as we wrap up. Where can people learn from you? Watch you, even get in touch with you? Yeah, Meet your thesis and have done their homework? Yes, but where would you like people to watch for?

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 55:49

you. So I am on LinkedIn and I respond to almost all of my LinkedIn outreaches and you can find me. One of the fun things about being Keshia Theobald Van Gendt is I am the only one, probably in the world, but definitely on LinkedIn. Look me up. I'm very easy to find K-E-I-S, no K-E-S-H-I-A. Well done, she did that from memory. I did not look at my notes, because my name is difficult to spell. Yes, k-e-s-h-i-a. My last name is T-H-E-O-B-A-L-D.

Tonya J. Long: 56:21

hyphen V-A-N, space G-E-N-T, which is why I'm the only one, and we will put all that in the show notes. No people, it's amazing. There is so much to learn from you. There is so much to learn from you. I have loved having you here today. You can come back anytime.

Keshia Theobald-van Gent: 56:38

Thank you, we'll have a. You are fabulous. I really appreciate your conversation, thank you.

Tonya J. Long: 56:43

It has been a wonderful conversation. Thank you everyone. This has been reset, with Tonya here today with Keshia. Have a wonderful rest of your week. We will see you next Thursday morning at 11 am time. Ciao. See you next Thursday morning at 11 am time. Ciao, fun. Thanks for joining us on RESET. Remember, transformation is a journey, not a destination. So until next time, keep exploring what's possible. I'm Tonya Long and this is home. This is RESET.