Heroes in Business - Debbie Gaby, cofounder Sleep America, Carrie Collins CEO Brain Injury Alliance

Episode Date: August 23, 2022

Debbie Gaby, cofounder Sleep America, Carrie Collins CEO Brain Injury Alliance is interviewed by David Cogan host Heroes Show and founder Eliances entrepreneur community.  

up in the sky look it's captivating it's energizing it's alliances heroes alliances is the destination for entrepreneurs investors ceos inventors leaders celebrities and startups where our heroes in business align now here's your host flying in, David Kogan, founder of Eliance's. Oh, that's right. And we always have so much going on on the show. And I so much appreciate, again, everybody always commenting. The reviews that we get is just absolutely phenomenal. Thank you, too, again, for the feedback we continue to have when I head on the founder of CNBC on. So make sure that you go to alliances.com. Many of you know, E-L-I-A-N-C-E-S.com, the only place where entrepreneurs align. And not only again, are we on AM and FM radio, we're also on over 50 now plus outlets out there. So just do a search,

you'll find us and so much is going on. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Well, I'm super excited. We're going to do two interviews here at the same time because I'm honored to have with us today, Debbie Gaby, former president and CEO, co-founder of Sleep America, co-chair of the Brain Injury Alliance, and also Carrie Collins, the CEO of Brain Injury Alliance. And you can reach them both by going to biaaz.org. So let's start first with you, Debbie. Debbie, you're an icon in Arizona. You are an icon in Arizona. That's very sweet. And it comes with a lot of hard work, a lot of advertising, of course, and a lot of support and making a difference in this community. And I feel so honored and blessed to be able to do this. I'm excited about the new event. I guarantee you we're going to put the fun in fundraising.

I love it because you are involved. You do so much for so many charities and organizations and that. How did you get involved with the Brain Injury Alliance? Well, it's full of good people, number one, and it's absolutely a good cause. And I've never really had anything to do with the brain injuries. And this event is only a year old, so this is going to be its second year. And I feel so honored to know the people that I know. And Carrie, you're doing a phenomenal job, but she surrounds people.

She's like a magnet. We all just love being around her and she attracts the best people. So what happens when you get the committee and chairs like Kathy Pigeon and me be in the chairs, you're going to have a great fun event. And we're going to raise a lot of money just like you did last year. We like to beat goals. So let's talk about our goals. Okay, Carrie. Excellent. So in fact, let's go, let's talk about Carrie and stuff. So, and again, you've, Carrie, you've been involved with various nonprofits and stuff in the past. How did you make your way to, and what does it mean to be part of the Brain Injury Alliance? And then we'll talk about the gala coming up. So I had worked in a number of large nonprofit systems, United Way, and I built some of the first public policy and marketing programs for the Alzheimer's Association in Michigan.

So I really had a lot of different pieces of brain health from United Way, how people could become destabilized and need programs when there was trauma and injury and also the process of Alzheimer's. But when I came to Arizona and started working with the Brain Injury Alliance, I realized how brain health and the business community really intersect. We are all at different levels through different times in our life concerned about our brain health, whether we want brain function or we want to recover from things like trauma, PTSD, stroke, concussion. So everyone really has a stake in brain health. And this gala that Debbie is helping us with is just going to take things again to the next level. We take that money and put it out into

the community with programs that help and serve people who work in our businesses and make our community run. And I think the thing is, is most people, if they're not involved in the planning, have no idea how many steps and how much work goes into it. So how do you both go about like being able to plan the gazillion steps to be able to do it? And again, this is your second time. So quote, should be a little bit easier. It usually is as challenging, it. And again, this is your second time. So it quote should be a little bit easier. It usually is as challenging, if not more again, because you need to up it each time. But how do you go about like managing all the people and all the steps involved? Well, it really does take an army to pull off something like this. And everybody gets,

army to pull off something like this. And everybody gets, what I like to do is make a list, which I have my formula. It's a two page list of everything that needs to be done. Maybe in the chair, I will attract other people to be co-chairs and let them take ownerships of different categories. For instance, there might be a decorating committee. There might be a different categories. For instance, there might be a decorating committee. There might be a sponsorship committee. I have all of these different subtitles that I like to get co-chairs involved and give them, you know, let them have ownership of different things. I think that's where the difference is when people take ownership. And we really haven't gotten to that part yet, but we will soon. But we're waiting for it to cool off a little bit because it's just too hot. Everybody's out of town.

It's hot, but you know what's also hot? The Alliance's Hero Show because you both are on it because you're listening and watching me. David Kogan, host of the Alliance's Hero Show. So make sure you go to alliances.com. That's E-L-I-A-N-C-E-S.com, because we have both of us, Debbie Gaby, former president and CEO, co-founder of Sleep America, co-chair of the Brain Injury Alliance, and also Kerry Collins, CEO of Brain Injury Alliance. And you can reach them both by going to biaaz.org. And they have this gala coming up.

So let's talk about the gala. What's going to go on? How do they go about? People go about getting tickets and the various things. So let's talk about that. Jump in, Carrie. We're really excited. Tickets and sponsorships on tables have just gone on sale.

And what happened last year, it was just so organic. When we started talking about brain health in the community, people just wanted to be involved because it really said something to them, whether they had someone that had attempted suicide or a veteran or a child had a concussion in school. It really just really took on a life of its own. And the event is fun. We have community dancers that showcase their dancing skills. Debbie's bringing back her famous catwalk. So we'll have national and local celebrities really making it a fun night. And there's so

much about dancing that is fabulous for your brain. So we'll have some wonderful professional dancers and it's just, it's an event that just keeps growing. Tell us about how do you, when you, you know, even the fact of just pulling everybody together in that and making it such a amazing time, like again, it was last year and upping it up this time and all of that, but how do you get, you know, people to really open up, open up their checkbooks to be able to provide to the Brain Injury Alliance to be able to help those who have brain injuries? Well, one of the things we did that was just fantastic last year, and we're bringing it back this year, is we award, we celebrate different individuals in the community. We have a veteran, a courageous veteran, an athlete that really has talked about and spotlighted brain injury, and also a man and woman of the community. We have a veteran, a courageous veteran, an athlete that really has talked about and spotlighted brain injury, and also a man and woman of the year. So through

telling their stories, everyone usually finds a connection to brain injury and sees some of themselves in the participants of the event. We also have Leticia Fry, the auctioneer, the entertainer, and she's receiving an award this year. Oh, nice. Talk to us where the money goes to and then how it's used. Absolutely. The money goes right to programs. So our first year, we were able to raise money to start a veterans program. We launched with different organizations utilizing the services, we launched a veteran navigator for both males and females that went out in the community and helped veterans and military families, and their services were immediately full. So we have a wonderful board and a wonderful

40-person advisory council made up of every healthcare system in Arizona, as well as the business community that helps us strategically look at where we should deploy those resources. Excellent. Now talk to us about, you mentioned about the catwalk, Debbie, what's this famous catwalk? Well, it's, it's, it's got to come out of the bag, but the catwalk is sponsored by Dillard's and it's a fashion show, which I think what we're going to do is have a fashion show luncheon building up to the big event that we're all so excited about because we have a lot of great dancing going on. You need to get your dancing shoes out and come on out and have fun. But don't you think, Carrie, that we could start it out with a nice sit-down luncheon maybe, and have the fashion show at that time leading up to the Brainiac event. I think there's so much going on and people are so excited. Yeah, absolutely.

Okay, so do the shout-out. Date, again, location. And again, you can go to biaaz.org to go ahead and get more involved, purchase tickets, donate and so on. But where is it at in the details? Oh my gosh. We are in Scottsdale at the beautiful Omni and it is January 14th, 2023. It is not too early to get your tables and your sponsorship. We're going to be bringing the entire community together. Debbie has absolutely made her mark in philanthropy in Arizona, and now she's bringing that to brain health.

So we're so excited. Awesome. Awesome. All right. Well, I think it's important to note, too, is that both of you really have a history of making an impact in the community. You continue to do that and stuff. But what kind of advice do you have for parents out there to instill those things into their children? So it's not just, you know, nothing wrong with it. Sports is awesome. You know, music is awesome, all these different things, but to also have that portion of the nonprofit and giving back as you both have done and continue to do in the community, how should they go about kind of instilling that? Well, my thoughts are that we've been blessed so very much and we're so fortunate that it is your responsibility to take care of those who haven't been as fortunate

as you have been. And why not have fun doing it? That's my theory. I think we've all seen too from the last two years, the nonprofit community has stepped up and played a role in helping everyday families get through things in a way we never thought that they would have to before. time, talent, and treasure. Even if you feel like you don't have much to give, sharing your story sometimes or reaching out and sharing your talents is just amazing. A donation is too small. You know, we'll take them all. Awesome, awesome. Well, ladies, you devote so much of your time and effort really to helping others.

That's a hero. Debbie Gaby, President and CEO, Co-Founder of Sleep America, Co-Chair of Brain Injury Alliance, Brainiac Bash at biaz.org, along with Kerry Collins, the CEO of Brain Injury Alliance. So make sure that you go and check them out. Make sure you reserve tickets now while there's room available because you've been watching, listening to me, David Kogan, host of the Alliance's Hero Show. And make sure that you continue to stay tuned when we have on the former CEO of Medtronic, a $30 billion company. This has been David Kogan with the Alliance's Hero Show.

Thank you, David. Thank you, Terry. Bye. Have a good day.