Dyllan McGee & Lilliana Vazquez | DNA of a MAKER

Lilliana Vazquez (0:00)

The DNA of a MAKER podcast is brought to you by 23andMe. Discover your DNA with 23andMe, and what makes you, you. Join us whenever and wherever you listen to podcasts. Since launching in 2012, MAKERS has been helping to accelerate the women's movement by sharing stories of real life experiences that ignite passion and action. With the DNA of a MAKER podcast, we wanted to push the conversation forward to the next level, a deep dive into the traits of our MAKERS and ask, what are the traits that make MAKERS leaders? What traits give them the courage to fight for diversity and inclusion, and in turn, the courage to affect change? On DNA of a MAKER, we're bringing together all different kinds of change makers, unified in their commitment to do better and be better, and see what we can learn from their journey. I'm Lilliana Vazquez, and this is the DNA of a MAKER podcast. We would not be here talking without Dyllan McGee, the founder and executive producer of MAKERS, our fearless leader and the woman who had the brilliant idea to ask other makers and incredibly inspiring women, what their traits are, who are they, what makes them up. So Dyllan, I have to ask you, tell us a little bit about the origin of DNA of a MAKER. Where did it come from?

Dyllan McGee (1:23)

The concept for DNA of a MAKER was one of those moments where the team was sitting around and we had interviewed over a hundred women and we thought, gosh, is there one thing that all makers have in common? I was like, let's go to all these women, let's ask a handful of questions, and then we'll find out that they're all early risers. Like every maker wakes up at 6 a.m. or they're all domestically challenged. So we went out and we asked a handful of questions, and I remember getting the results back and just feeling, oh, we have no headline. It's like 50% in all of them, you know? iPad, notepad, direct diplomatic. And I thought, how disappointing. And someone turned to me and said, no, Dyllan, that's the good news. I was like, really? Yeah, that means there is no formula for what it takes to be a MAKER. MAKERS come in all shapes and sizes. And I was like, that's the headline. It's great. So it turned into the best concept, and it's something that we think about all the time. You know, there are things that all MAKERS have in common. We've all been through failures, and it's how we've risen above those failures. But I get excited when I get an unexpected answer.

Lilliana Vazquez (2:46)

Yeah, and I know for me, even going into this, I have to say I had preconceived notions of what these women would answer. I think the journalist in you is always like, I know the answer. I've researched deep into your Instagram, and I've read every article written about you. And then you ask them a question, and their answer completely shocks you. And you can't believe they're saying that. And I think that's what I learned was to expect the unexpected from these types of women.

Dyllan McGee (3:12)

Sometimes I feel like these women have told their stories so many times, and that's why I'm so excited about this podcast, is it's asking people to go deeper into their five most important traits about you. And so we get to learn at a deeper level who these women really are beyond just their stories.

Lilliana Vazquez (3:29)

And one of the qualities that continued to come up was all of these women are incredible leaders. Some of them are learned leaders. Some of them are natural leaders. Do you think that there are certain qualities to being a successful leader that you've seen?

Dyllan McGee (3:44)

I love learning that leaders are actually really good at knowing what they're good at and what they're not good at. And so they surround themselves with people who can fill their weaknesses. And I've been amazed at how many leaders are introverts.

Lilliana Vazquez (3:57)

Yeah, I think that's true. I think there's a public persona and then there's a very private persona. What DNA of a MAKER does is really connect both of those, and you see that connective tissue through these traits, which is really interesting.

Dyllan McGee (4:08)

Lilliana, have you actually gone through the exercise? Can I do the DNA of a MAKER with you?

Lilliana Vazquez (4:14)

I get to have the lightning round questions asked of me?

Dyllan McGee (4:17)

You do.

Lilliana Vazquez (4:19)

Okay, Dyllan, let's do it.

Dyllan McGee (4:21)

iPad or notepad?