Win(e)d Down Wednesdays

00:05 Amanda Hammett: Alright, in today's episode of the Millennial Rockstar podcast, I have the fortune of interviewing rockstar Maria Banjo, who happens to be an assistant district attorney here in Atlanta, Georgia. Now, the wonderful thing about Maria is that she is incredibly passionate about helping other people. And you're going to see that passion really truly come through in the interview. And one of the things that you need to know about Maria is that she is smart and she's collaborative, and she uses that to help out some of the oldest and sometimes most vulnerable citizens, the elderly.

00:38 Amanda Hammett: Now, one of my big takeaways from this interview with Maria, was that Maria has this incredible sense of loyalty to her boss. Now her boss actually works specifically in order to develop that loyalty not just with Maria, but among all of the employees in the District Attorney's office. And man, that loyalty really shows with Maria. Join in and see what she has to say.

01:02 Amanda Hammett: Hey there, this is Amanda Hammett. I'm known as the Millennial Translator®, because I help companies attract, retain, and engage top millennial talent. And today we have a very special millennial rockstar on the Millennial Rockstars podcast. We have Maria Banjo. Maria, welcome to the show.

01:19 Maria Banjo: Thank you.

01:21 Amanda Hammett: Alright. So what you guys don't know is you're looking at Maria and she looks very nice, and very kind. But man, you get her in a courtroom, and not so much.

[laughter]

01:34 Amanda Hammett: Maria is an assistant district attorney for a major county in the Atlanta area. So, yeah, a little scary, right?

01:42 Maria Banjo: You know, I do what I can.

01:45 Amanda Hammett: Well, alright, so tell us about your current role in the District Attorney's office.

01:50 Maria Banjo: Well, I am currently in the Elder Abuse Unit, so I prosecute cases against elders and those adults who are also disabled. And so, we basically investigate the case from beginning to end, including trial.

02:08 Amanda Hammett: Nice, nice, nice. Okay, fantastic. Now, Maria is a very special rockstar to me, mainly because she and I attended the same college, and not at the same time because one of us is older.

[laughter]

02:25 Amanda Hammett: But I had the pleasure of meeting Maria at an alumni event, and it was just amazing. Your passion came through, you're just... Your knowledge and just general, just, "This is how it is, this is what we're gonna do," and just your command of a room in that alumni event, this all came out. [chuckle] It was amazing to see.

02:46 Maria Banjo: Well, thank you. Thank you, thank you. All I can do is be me. And I think that's what everyone should really try to do, Be yourself.

03:00 Amanda Hammett: That's very, very true. Okay, so tell the audience a little bit about... Because you've had a really interesting career since you left law school. So, tell the audience a little bit about your career path. How did you get from college undergrad to your current role as Assistant District Attorney?

03:21 Maria Banjo: Well, let's see here. So, I knew early on I wanted to be a lawyer. Decided I wanted to help people, and the way I wanted to do it was by being a lawyer. And so after my time at Agnes Scott, I went to John Marshall Law School. That was a very difficult process because I ended up having a really low score for the LSAT. As a result I applied, I think to 15 law schools and only got into one. And I thank God everyday that I ended up at John Marshall Law School in Chicago 'cause it ended up being one of the top 10 schools for legal writing, and as well for trial advocacy. And so, I graduated in January of '09 in the midst of the recession, which was very difficult for a lot of us attorneys. So, as a result, I ended up opening my own law firm. I grew up, my parents owned a business, so I always had entrepreneurial spirit.

04:24 Maria Banjo: And so I figured if there isn't a job out there, I'll create one for myself, and so that's what I did. And I had my law firm for a year, and then I was still looking for a job. And what I did was I opened up Google Map, the map of Georgia, found all the counties, and started going one by one to each county and applying to the jobs. And my goal was to apply to all 159 counties in Georgia for a public defender job.

04:57 Maria Banjo: And so eventually I got an offer, or an interview in Covington, Georgia. I didn't realize it was just in the Covington Highway in Stone Mountain. There are two Covingtons. When I opened my GPS I realized it was a little further east. [chuckle] So, anyways, I got there, and at the time I had a semi-fancy vehicle, so what I did was I hid it, I parked two or three blocks down the road 'cause I didn't want anyone to see the kind of vehicle I was driving and make an assumption about how much I needed the job and what kind of work I would do.

05:42 Maria Banjo: And so for me, I got hired before I even made it back to Sandy Springs, I got a call from them giving me an offer, and I took it. I spent about three years over there, three and a half years, and I ended up defending those charged with serious felony crimes including murder. And then it got to a point where I got too comfortable, I was like, "I wanna try something new, challenge myself." And so I was like, "I wanna switch sides." And so, I had my current... Or my boss then, was helping me with my job search. I asked him a few times to make some phone calls into the offices that I was interviewing, go in through the back. In addition, the prosecutor that I was working against, she specifically wrote me a letter of recommendation.

06:36 Amanda Hammett: Wow.

06:36 Maria Banjo: She sent me a recommendation letter saying that they should hire me. And as a result of that, I ended up getting hired as a prosecutor in metro Atlanta area.

06:50 Amanda Hammett: Awesome.

06:52 Maria Banjo: And honestly, I would say, throughout my legal career so far, it's the things that you can't really put to paper that make people wanna speak on your behalf, as far as your ethics and your loyalty, and the kind of person you are. And with the legal field, it's very small, and one of my early mentors said, "All you have is your good name," and that is so true. And so, I work hard to keep that good name untarnished.

07:31 Amanda Hammett: Well, I can't imagine you ever doing anything that would tarnish that name.

[chuckle]

07:38 Amanda Hammett: Alright. So Maria, tell us a little bit about... You walked us through your career path, and so how long have you actually been practicing law?

07:47 Maria Banjo: Almost 10 years now.

07:49 Amanda Hammett: Okay, so just a little bit of time.

07:50 Maria Banjo: Just a little bit of time.

07:52 Amanda Hammett: A little bit of time.

07:52 Maria Banjo: Just a skosh. Just a skosh.

07:55 Amanda Hammett: So, tell me a little bit about, I know that there's obviously been some ups and downs, I mean with any career there's ups and downs. Tell us a little bit about what things have worked or have not worked for you in your career so far?

08:11 Maria Banjo: I would say, maintaining the status quo..what's always worked. I think a lot of times, whether it's in private sector or especially in government, sometimes people like to... Or they get too comfortable in what has always been. Things has always been doesn't mean that you continue. I discovered early on that I can't help myself but fix things. No matter where I'm placed, I'm like an issue spotter. 'Cause I like to do things and make things more efficient, but to that end, also that doesn't... That rubs some people the wrong way.

09:07 Amanda Hammett: Okay. Absolutely.

09:09 Maria Banjo: For sure. But I think I'm not being afraid to speak up when things don't make sense. But it's not an easy thing to do, for sure, but I think trying to maintain any kind of status quo or shrinking yourself... Shrinking yourself is something that I think, especially women or younger people discount their own experiences and what they can bring to the table. So I think doing things like that is not... One, it's not helpful to you personally, but also it's not beneficial to your boss. Because they're looking for talent and they're looking hopefully for you to be able to push them forward.

09:58 Amanda Hammett: Right. I would agree with that wholeheartedly. And that's one thing that I think that we see a lot of, is a lot of times I'll talk to organizations or teams or divisions and they're like, "We want innovation." "Innovation", that is the buzzword of the day, but then when they bring people in that are supposed to be innovative thinkers, they wanna put them into a box.

10:19 Maria Banjo: Right.

10:21 Amanda Hammett: That's not how innovation works.

10:22 Maria Banjo: No.

10:23 Amanda Hammett: Innovation is, you gotta have the rough edges and you gotta deal with them because from those rough edges, you get these crazy ideas that you can take to the bank.

10:34 Maria Banjo: Absolutely. Absolutely. I think having brainstorming sessions that are unfiltered... My coworkers know that I will have off the wall ideas and with those ideas, and I know that some of them aren't practical. But you have to shoot big and see what you can do, instead of starting out small and already saying no.

11:00 Amanda Hammett: Yep.

11:01 Maria Banjo: Yeah.

11:02 Amanda Hammett: I agree with that. Absolutely. Now, tell us a little bit about, and you've told us a little bit about what doesn't work for you, or what has not worked for you in your career. Can you tell us a little bit about a specific stumbling block that you've had?

11:26 Maria Banjo: There are a lot. I would say there are a lot of stumbling blocks, and it comes in the form of... When you're a trial lawyer, you have the judge, you have 12 jurors, you have the defense counsel, you may have an audience, you have the clerk's office, you have the bailiffs, right?

11:46 Amanda Hammett: Okay.

11:47 Maria Banjo: These are various organizations that are judging you every day. And so, as a lawyer it's virtually impossible to know the answer to everything or anticipate everything. Sometimes you will forget things, but unlike other jobs where if you forget something that happens, silo or whatever, so various times that I have, whether I've forgotten a key witness or forgotten how to swear someone in. The very first time I had a motion, this was six months into my new job, four months into my new job. And I had four motions scheduled, motions to suppress, and I had my head elected official or appointed official, at my table.

12:36 Maria Banjo: And I got up to get my first witness ever, ever, ever, ever. And the judge was like, "Ms Banjo, you gonna swear in your witness?" "Judge, I don't know how to do that, I don't know those words to swear in." And so, he swore in my witness. Next case, 20 minutes later. "Ms Banjo, you gonna swear in your witness?" I went, "Judge, between the first time and the second... Now I still don't."

[chuckle]

13:11 Maria Banjo: Third time my boss had to write it out, on the table, and I ended up reading it. The very next day, one of my clients called the office, "I want a real lawyer," you know, blahzay blah blahzay blah. I was like, "Oh my God, I'm about to get fired. I really don't know this basic stuff." And I ended up winning one of the most difficult hearings that day, and then because of my performance on that particular day, I got a promotion two months later to do the drug, guns and alcohol cases because of my legal analysis. And the judge in that courtroom fell in love with me, 'cause he saw how I just kept going forward. I may not know something, and you may feel personally embarrassed, but I did not let define me, and so... But, it just took me that one day. After that day, I knew how to swear in a witness. [chuckle]

14:10 Amanda Hammett: You can probably do it in your sleep now, right? [chuckle]

14:13 Maria Banjo: Yeah. So things like that happen all the time where you're really going to look crazy. That's what I call looking crazy. So I always prepare to make sure that Maria does not look crazy.

[laughter]

14:27 Maria Banjo: But those times when you do look crazy, it's important to really take full responsibility, your failures, and then learn from it. Because I will tell you there are some people out there who will say, "Well you know, in other counties, 90% of them, the bailiff will always swear in the witness." Your boss should have told you that and prepared you for the hearing. That could have been true, right? But, at the time, you as a lawyer, you know every single courtroom is gonna be different. You need to do your homework. I should've asked, "Hey, what do I need to do? Are you guys gonna swear in the witness or do I need to do that?", beforehand.

15:06 Maria Banjo: So I think in any situation there's always gonna be someone to scapegoat. But relying on other people when you can take ownership of your own learning, is the way to avoid. And that goes into what I always say, you need to create your own standard for yourself. So it doesn't matter what kind of boss or supervisor comes in, your standard will always exceed anyone else's standards, and you're not going to have to shift it based on where you are. If that makes sense?

15:45 Amanda Hammett: No, it makes complete and total sense. I think that's probably a type A personality rule right there. [chuckle]

15:53 Maria Banjo: Maybe. Maybe.

15:56 Amanda Hammett: But one of the things that I really love that you pointed out in that story and I really wanna emphasize it for just a second, is the fact that you took responsibility for your not knowing, for your mistake, whatever, and you were embarrassed and you totally admit that. But you did not let it stop you, you did not let it affect your performance for your... In that courtroom, and to protect the people of the county.

16:26 Maria Banjo: Absolutely. Absolutely.

16:27 Amanda Hammett: As a resident, I appreciate that.

[chuckle]

16:32 Maria Banjo: Well, you're welcome. I think people have this idea about lawyers and you being self-centered, but there's a lot of folks out there like myself, who put people first, and so no matter how I'm feeling, I'm having a good, bad or whatever day, I need to make sure I preserve, whether it's a defendant I'm defending or victim I'm trying to be an advocate for. And so getting into, I know I'm segueing into other things, but getting into fights with opposing counsel, act in an unprofessional manner with the judge, whomever, is not beneficial. One, it looks bad on you, looks bad on your boss, and it doesn't move the ball further down for your case or anyone in the future.

17:24 Amanda Hammett: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, 'cause at the end of the day, you've already said this, the legal field is a very small field, and you're seeing these judges all the time, you're seeing these opposing counsel all the time, and you have to work with them, sometimes in opposition, all the time.

17:43 Maria Banjo: All the time. Yeah, for sure. And I think there's a lot of principles that you can really apply in other industries. Because the legal field is so contentious, you would assume that we are constantly working with people on opposite sides, but being able to find a middle ground where both parties can be somehow happy, I think is a skill that it would be applicable to other fields and industries.

18:20 Amanda Hammett: I would agree with that wholeheartedly. So Maria, let me ask you something. Being a millennial, millennials are known for their collaboration abilities. Do you find that that's been helpful for you in this field doing what you do, having to constantly pull in people from opposing sides?

18:38 Maria Banjo: Yes, yes, I'm a major collaborator. When I deal with a case, I have a victim advocate, I have an investigator, and they have their own things that they're focusing on. I have my own role. There's a lot of vintage ways of doing things where the attorney is hierarchically up high, and I can do all these things, I don't really need you to do this. And I think it works to the detriment of the victim, and really the citizens. So I make sure I stay in my lane. I can do a lot of great things, but I know that there are skill sets from other people. And so whenever I'm doing something, even if it's purely legal, I ask my victim advocate, "Hey, what do you think about this? Does this makes sense? Does it make common sense or not?"

19:40 Maria Banjo: My investigator... And honestly, I've had a few of them say, "I've never been asked to give an opinion on this," and I'm like, "Well, you are an ordinary individual, right?" Sometimes we can get in ourself and really heady and use all this verbose terms and think we're just super smart, when we're trying to talk to real people, and so they have... Being able to appreciate the different things that people can give makes collaborating very useful, 'cause I don't know what they know, I don't know how they're gonna be hearing the information and receiving it. And so, through collaboration, they've saved me from looking crazy, multiple times, multiple times.

20:25 Amanda Hammett: That's awesome. That's awesome.

20:26 Maria Banjo: Collaboration is key, it really is, with anything. And instead of... People have titles in organizations, whether IT professional, that we have in our organization or what have you, but no matter what someone's position is, they have an opinion on what it is you're doing. And so I think just bouncing things off of people from different aspects is really helpful.

20:57 Amanda Hammett: That's awesome. That's really good advice, I think. So let me ask you this, you've been the assistant district attorney now for how long, three years?

21:12 Maria Banjo: I was a solicitor general downstairs doing misdemeanor cases for about three years, and then I moved up here in January of 2016, and then promoted nine months later to the Elder Abuse Unit.

21:25 Amanda Hammett: Okay, alight. So a little over two years, you've been there.

21:28 Maria Banjo: Yes.

21:30 Amanda Hammett: Now, what is it that your current boss or maybe a previous boss has done that really keeps you motivated and engaged and wanting to every day, wake up, come into the office and help the citizens of DeKalb County?

21:48 Maria Banjo: I think at the end of the day, my bosses have earned my loyalty...to do things throughout. I would say, most importantly, asking what I care about, asking how they can make me happier at the current job, what upcoming issues you're seeing in the current job. Investing in me, viewing my personal success as their success. So in my current office, there's this thing called "boomerang," right? Someone will work here or work for her for a few years, and they will have to move on. She will do what she can to help you get a new job, but they always come back. People boomerang back, 'cause... And it also is, there's a certain level of self-awareness. One job can't be your everything. It'd be a situation where you need to learn a particular skill set or hone a particular skill set, and you're able to do it in a different office. And once you have done that, then you can proceed to a different position that you're looking for.

23:17 Maria Banjo: So I can tell you right now, 10 people that have boomeranged back to work for my current boss. And I mean, I'm lucky, beyond lucky, to work for her. To give you an example, she had recommended me recently, a few months ago, for this leadership academy, sent me an email, "Hey, are you interested? You should apply." I applied, I found out two weeks ago, I got into the WIN List 2018 Leadership Academy, and they... Thank you. They train women to run for office or work on local campaigns.

24:00 Maria Banjo: And so just yesterday, we had a little reception. And I have three young women on my current campaign that I'm managing. One goes to Clark Atlanta University, one to John Marshall Law School. One's about to graduate in May in law school, and the other one is a 2.0. I invited them as well as one of their mothers to come, and they were my guests yesterday, and were so inspired by the women and they were just elated. And I learned that from my current boss, because she's in circles that I can never get into.

24:43 Maria Banjo: There are opportunities that will come to her that won't come to me, but if she has an opportunity to give me an extra seat at a table or an opportunity, she is going to pass it along. And so, but for me asking these young women to come with me, they would never have been at this golf course eating this food, meeting these people. And so, investing in your employees' happiness. With globalization, as well as the internet, employees have options, and I think employers need to accept and know that. Employees have options, very good options.

25:29 Maria Banjo: So it's not enough to just win an employee over once you hire them, you continue to invest in their future and see that when they're happy, they're more productive. When they feel like they're personally growing, it's beneficial to your bottomline. It's not a short-term, you're not gonna see how your money or profits tomorrow, but it will definitely help you out in the long run. That's what I think.

26:03 Amanda Hammett: That's awesome. No, and I love that your boss is invested in you, and has one long-term loyalty with you through just small investments of time and effort and energy. It wasn't necessarily big investments of money.

26:21 Maria Banjo: No, no.

26:22 Amanda Hammett: Maybe it was just like, "Hey, I see this opportunity. I think it would be great for Maria. Let's pass it along." And I love that. I love that you've been the beneficiary of that, but I love that she's doing it. And I think that that's something that millennials, they want and they desire, and a lot of companies get, or organizations as a whole, get all caught up in like, "Oh, how much is this gonna cost me?" Well, it cost your boss, what, 10 minutes?

26:52 Maria Banjo: Right. And most people don't realize there's a lot of perks that are really either inexpensive or free, that you can do to encourage or make a connection. I always start thinking about, "Do you like your employees?" I think that's important to ask yourself, "Do you like your employees?" If you don't like your employees, you need to figure out who you're hiring, and what kind of environment and culture you have at your office, 'cause that could detrimentally affect the productivity. So I think it's a two-way street.

27:29 Amanda Hammett: Absolutely.

27:30 Maria Banjo: When my boss first took office last year, the employees who weren't used to her kinda leadership. What to do? She would, my boss would send emails like, "Hey, the first five people get free tickets, or can join me for this." And I'm telling people, "This is not a setup." [chuckle] It's not a trick question. This is real. I gotta... [laughter] But that's the thing, a lot... And I would say it's not a... It's unfortunate that people are surprised when the boss is asking you to come for lunch, or to come after work, saying, "That's not really work-related." But I, well I said, "You got to, it's a two-way street, people need to get to know one another, and people are going to help people they like." It's not just about money, 'cause you can get that anywhere.

28:31 Amanda Hammett: No, absolutely, I love that. And I love that your boss has invested in finding people that she likes, and has... And you like her in return. And so, I'm guessing, I'm gonna do some math here, but I'm guessing she likes you, you like her.

28:47 Maria Banjo: Right.

28:47 Amanda Hammett: And you have already said that you are very loyal to her, which means you would go above and beyond, above and beyond that 40 hours, above and beyond what's actually laid out in that job description.

29:00 Maria Banjo: Absolutely.

29:01 Amanda Hammett: You're gonna be way up here, when it comes to getting what needs to be done, done.

29:07 Maria Banjo: Absolutely. I think becoming the person that your boss can turn to in a crisis, is very important. And you can only be that person when you've demonstrated the ability to go above and beyond. Because you're willing to roll up your sleeves, do what's needed, try to fix a problem before they even think it's a problem. It's always, always going above and beyond. I've heard people say, "Well, that's not my job description. I need to do this, I need to do that." And you have to do things that are within reason.

29:47 Maria Banjo: I firmly believe in a good work-life balance. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a very hard worker, but I also really enjoy my personal time. In order to do that, you have to be really organized and you have to really prioritize, but by going above and beyond, you're willing to do that when you work for a boss you like, when you work for a boss who respects your opinion and is invested in your success.

30:21 Amanda Hammett: Right. I heard some really good millennial buzzwords there, in that last piece. I heard you feel heard, and I heard that you feel loyalty and going above and beyond, and I feel like there's a third thing that I'm dropped out of.

30:39 Maria Banjo: I can't remember.

30:42 Amanda Hammett: Well, regardless, you had some good quality millennial buzzwords. But that's the thing, you are a rockstar at what you do. Above and beyond, you are not a stereotypical millennial. You are this literal, legal rockstar. Legally, you are. [chuckle] And so...

31:00 Maria Banjo: Thanks.

31:01 Amanda Hammett: But your boss has done a really good job, has really done a good service, not only for you, but also for the entire county, because you guys are protecting us in a lot of ways. So by her pouring into you, and I'm assuming it's not just you in your office, it's a bunch of other people. She's like that with all of you...

31:20 Maria Banjo: A bunch of other people.

31:22 Amanda Hammett: Yeah. As much as I love you, Maria, I don't think that you're her teacher's pet.

[laughter]

31:27 Maria Banjo: No.

31:29 Amanda Hammett: I'm sure that attention is paid to other assistant district attorneys in that office, I assume.

31:38 Maria Banjo: Yes. Oh, yes, oh, yes. You're absolutely right, absolutely right. And I know, I think trainings as well is super, super important. I can't say how many times people are like, "Oh, my God, I've never been to a training. I'm just a legal assistant," or, "I'm just a secretary. What could... " There's always personal development training. Whether it's Word, whether it's Excel, whether it's you wanna learn how to manage people. We're asked, "Okay, within five years, where do you wanna be in the beginning of the year?" And it doesn't matter if where you wanna be in five years is not in this office, 'cause wherever you're gonna be, it's gonna look and reflect well on my supervisor and my boss.

32:24 Maria Banjo: So that discussion, honestly asking... I kinda think of how it was before, when you have people working for you for 30 years, and they didn't go anywhere so you don't have to really ask, "What do you like?" Because, well, there weren't options. There wasn't the internet where you can find another job that's going to actually make you happy.

32:45 Amanda Hammett: Right.

32:45 Maria Banjo: Right? So this is the... Where we are now, and I think that you can no longer ignore the personal desires of your employee.

32:56 Amanda Hammett: Yeah, no, I agree with that. And I think a lot is to be said with how connected we are. It used to be, you would walk out the office 5:00, 6:00, whatever it is, you'd shut your door, and there was the physical disconnect. But with technology, there is no physical disconnect from the office. You have to actually make that conscious choice. There's no door to shut, 'cause your boss can ping you in the middle of the night on your cellphone or call you in the middle of the night on your phone or email you, or whatever. And so you have to make that choice. And it's a really important decision to make. What was that? What was that? [chuckle]

33:34 Maria Banjo: I was gonna say, you would say your boss can call you in the middle of the night or whatever, whatever. I've never gotten a crazy... A work-related call at an inappropriate time. I'm friends with a lot of my supervisors, and if it's after 7:00 or 8:00, it's another personal issue, like a personal text message or call, not work-related. And I think that goes to respect, again.

34:04 Amanda Hammett: I agree.

34:05 Maria Banjo: Respect of my time. I think it would be awkward for me to get something, a message or whatever, from my boss after 6:00, that's work-related, unless it's something super, super pressing, emergency, urgency. And just wanna know something right there and then doesn't mean you're gonna take... Yeah, that was just, I could not...

34:30 Amanda Hammett: Oh, no. I agree, I agree. When my son was little, I had a boss who, I had to call in sick because my son was sick, I had to take him to the doctor that day, and he called and emailed me while I was sitting in the pediatrician's office. And he knew what was going on. This wasn't a surprise. And it wasn't an emergency on his end. He was just like, "Hey, I needed to know this." And I'm like, "Are you kidding? Is this for real?" [chuckle]

34:58 Maria Banjo: Right, right. Usually, with my boss, you have to fight with her to stay in the office. If something happens personally, she's aware of it, you're virtually pushed out, like literally, "Get out."

35:12 Amanda Hammett: Oh, wow. That's nice.

35:14 Maria Banjo: Yeah. Having that work-life balance is like... Don't even call it work-life balance, it's just being reasonable.

35:22 Amanda Hammett: It is.

35:24 Maria Banjo: Reasonable and caring and nice and stuff. That's why people are trying to flock here, honestly.

35:33 Amanda Hammett: Yeah. It sounds like a fantastic place to be, honestly. If she is that caring about her employees and about their life outside of work, she knows that eventually... I'm sure this is not why she's doing it, she sounds like just a wonderful person, but she knows eventually that productivity and everything will come back to her benefit.

35:55 Maria Banjo: Totally. Totally.

35:56 Amanda Hammett: I'm not saying that that's why she's doing it, but... [chuckle]

36:00 Maria Banjo: Of course. And that's kind of, when things go left and you're put in a bind, and being able to have people available in time of need is really about how you live your life, and that's kind of what happens when you are this kind of a person, and that's what I try to do, is making sure that you continue to be there for people when... 'Cause a lot of times, you have something that someone else doesn't have, and you're able to just give it to them really easily, as far as price or connection, or what have you, and that people remember those things. People remember those small things that you think, "Oh, it's just an email," or whatever, but it really means a lot to someone else.

36:48 Amanda Hammett: It does, it does. No, you're 1000% right. When your employees like you as a person, they're far more likely, the statistics are just through the roof, they're far more likely to stay long-term. I wanna say it's close to 86% or something like that.

37:03 Maria Banjo: Right.

37:03 Amanda Hammett: It's unbelievable. Alright, Maria, how can our... Can our audience get in touch with you through LinkedIn, if they wanted to connect with you further?

37:14 Maria Banjo: Of course.

37:15 Amanda Hammett: Alright. Perfect, perfect, perfect. Well, we are going to wrap up. Maria and I could probably stay here and talk and you guys would get bored at some point, I'm sure. [chuckle] But thank you guys so much for joining us today on The Millennial Rockstar podcast. And thank you so much to Maria Banjo of the DeKalb County Assistant District Attorney. Thank you.

37:39 Maria Banjo: Thank you.

37:41 Amanda Hammett: Alright, everybody, thank you so much for joining us in this episode and we will see you in the next one. Have a good one. Bye.

37:47 Amanda Hammett: Thanks so much for joining us for this episode of the Millennial Rockstars podcast. If you are looking for even more information on millennials and some free resources, visit my website at amandahammett.com. The link is below. It's amandahammett.com. There you can download a free millennial employee engagement guide that will give you all kinds of tips and tricks on how to keep those millennials engaged on a day-to-day basis, because we all know that millennials who are happy at work are more productive at work.