Ashley Albert: How ADHD and "Saying Yes" created The Matzo Project, Shuffleboard Clubs, and a Kindie Rock Band

0:06 So, you know, I have lots and lots of ideas and I know which ones I should follow through on because they're the ones I keep talking about. Like if I know that I keep telling people like I have this game show idea and I'm like, have I told you about Escape the date? I am thrilled to be talking with Ashley Albert, founder, public speaker and Idea Man Ashley Albert is grateful that being a polymath requires no math. As Co founder of The Matzo Project, she's the creative voice behind the artisanal cracker brand which can be found in the fanciest restaurants, hotels and specialty stores around the world.

0:47 As the founder of the Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club in Brooklyn and Chicago, she's introduced hundreds of thousands of people to the majestic century old game and she was ranked 10th best female player in the world. As a 25 year veteran of the New York City voice over industry, you have probably heard her on countless commercials, video games and cartoons for clients like McDonald's, Nutella, Coca-Cola and Nickelodeon. As the lead singer-songwriter and producer of the kindy rock band The Jimmies, she's performed for throngs of screaming first graders at festivals like Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits.

1:32 Known in the Bay Area, where friends call her Birdie, she spends her free time buying domain names, taking too many pictures of her dog, dreaming up badge ideas for her new adult Scouting project, and threatening to confiscate her teenager's phone on the hour. Birdie, welcome to the show. Wow, that is quite a bio. I quite something. I feel like when I, when I sit at a like in an airport or an airplane and I talk to someone about what I do, I start listing things and they they either think I'm making stuff up or they're like, wow, this, this girl's really trying to make ends meet. She's just doing too much, just doing too many things. You are in fact the ampersand of ampersands, yeah. I feel like I could be on the poster. So from voice over acting to artisanal crackers to shuffleboard clubs and so much more, you share your gifts with the world in so many ways.

2:37 If we were to rewind to your 10 year old self, what have you always been into and how did that evolve into the grown up you? Huh. Well, I think when I was young, I was already hustling for sure. I was actually just telling the story the other day that I used to sell like my special Ritz crackers out of my bedroom window for 1/4 to like all the kids in the neighborhood. And they would line up for these special Ritz crackers that were actually just Ritz crackers that I would heat up in my Easy Bake oven. Like they were literally light bulb warmed Ritz crackers that I would dole out like golden coins of deliciousness to the people. So maybe I was always a branding, a marketing genius because the people were like, she's making her crackers today. It was like a thing.

3:31 And then I, I think a junior high was like selling cinnamon oil toothpicks. And so I always had some sort of business going on or some sort of invention. I'm pretty sure that I invented Amazon, maybe the Internet, because I used to dream when I was a kid. I would watch TV and I would pretend that there was a little door in my wall where I could just have the product immediately that was on the screen. I'd be like, oh, wouldn't it be good if I could just boopy boop, I'm going to take this chocolate bar out of my wall. So I don't know which what what I invented. Maybe it was the Internet, maybe it was Amazon.

4:12 But I mean, you know, you're welcome, world. There are so many ties, yeah. Marketing and branding for sure. Entrepreneurship and creativity and getting people into things. That's a great segue to the world of shuffleboard. So you've stumbled upon shuffleboard kind of by accident, went into the business of owning 2 shuffleboard clubs, and you were ranked the 10th best female shuffleboard player in the world. I could ask how this happened, but I'm actually more interested in what qualities in you did you really lean on to make this happen?

5:02 That's a good question. I, I think one of my superpowers, aside from telling if someone's gotten their haircut, which is like my top superpower, the other superpower I have is that when I have an idea or if somebody tells me about their idea, I can really see it all the way through to its manifestation. I could sort of see easily how those steps are taken to get the idea to become a thing. And so it doesn't feel maybe not as intimidating to me as I think to some people because I go, oh, yeah. So yeah, you have a space to do the thing, go away, make a club. So I and I also, I think it's hubris.

5:43 I think most of it's hubris and a suffering from an I can do that syndrome where I'm like, yeah, what's how hard going to be they start a Matza company and I I also, you know, I have lots and lots of ideas and I know which ones I should follow through on because they're the ones I keep talking about. Like if I don't, if I know that, I keep telling people like I have this game show idea and I'm like, have I told you about escape the date? I know that this is something I should continue to follow through on because I'm excited about it. If I don't, even if it's a great idea, if I am just not thinking about it, then it's not worth falling to rhyme for me. But this was one where I was like, oh, this would be so good. Tell us about Escape the date because I think our listeners want to say we were there when, so please tell us about the idea you can't let go of right now.

6:34 OK so the tagline is will they find a mate or escape the date? And it is an escape room dating show so you know it's a blind date. They start out on opposite sides of a wall with a timer that has a pot like that's draining by the 2nd and the they're trying to figure out these clues together, working together, only talking through their headsets. They haven't seen each other yet. When they finally, you know, the wall slides open and reveals the two of them. They're either already feeling bonded and excited to see each other and have this sort of false sense of intimacy, like they've achieved something, or they're already, you know, irritated with each other.

7:20 Like did I not? Did I? Where's did I not say a purple button? That's a pink button. That's a that's a purple, right? And every minute that they're squabbling or not getting it right, they're losing money from their pot. And so then it goes to the next gauntlet, which is a little bit more physical moral challenge. Something like somebody, one person has to get a light electric shock while they hold hands and then the other person has to like light up a light bulb or something. So arguing about who's doing what, and then they get separated again for the final room and they have to make a decision whether they're going to work together to get out and get the big prize and the dream date, or work against each other. And only one person gets out, and only one person gets the prize. This characterizes so many of your projects. You started the matzo project with a lifelong friend and on your web page you say quote what started out as a good idea accidentally became a great cracker. And in in a way there's a through line like great idea has legs, but also, you know, you're selling food, working with distribution partners, running social media campaigns. Pretty different from voice over acting and shuffleboard world. What has been surprising?

8:40 What has been rewarding about the Matzo project? Well, the Matzo Project said a really interesting one because it is a great cracker, but for so many people it means so much more to them. Like there's something about the brand that resonates with people in a way that's so much more meaningful than just a cracker. Similar with the Royal Palms, you know, it's, it's a shuffleboard club, but people write me the most gorgeous letters telling me that I've completely changed their lives forever, you know, and, and fundamentally changed how they live because they're going, you know, we've leagues and so they've made friends and they have a place to go and they have a skill that they, you know, I was the last person picked in PE always.

9:24 And I am an internationally ranked shuffleboard player and, and it is considered a sport, by the way, not a game. It is like, but technically a sport, which no one would have ever guessed. I definitely did not win the most athletic superlative in high school. I did win a superlative and I don't remember what it was. I got to find out. I don't know who would know somebody. Somebody probably still has a yearbook. I I remember what I wore to the photo shoot for it. I got some guesses. I do too, but I have no idea what it was. I got to. I got to find out anyway. Not most athletic 100%. I can tell you right now it wasn't that. So, yeah, I think that we get with the matzo project people saying I, I I haven't had matzo ball soup since my grandmother died.

10:13 And yesterday was the day of anniversary of her her death. And I found your soup and it made me feel like she was letting me know she's still with me. You know, it's like, Oh my gosh, this is just this is soup, you know? So yeah, it's really a a deeper project than I anticipated it being for sure. Wow. And I'm seeing community as a through line too, right? This is bringing people together, having people be obsessed with the thing, right? Like they found their place, they found their soup, they've found the thing that makes them feel like them.

10:56 Let's talk a little bit about the Jimmies. So you put that the it's a kindy band, which I'm deducing as kid indie rock band. Yeah, that's a technical term. Great. And you also started this by accident. So another another theme here of starting this by accident. You've. Performed at these huge events. You also mentioned that your proudest moment as a musician is when you found out that a second grade class sang one of your songs for their recital. And that's very touching. And again, goes back to community. What do you think helped make the Jimmies go from the idea phase?

11:40 Just, you know, a great idea into a pretty big reality. Well, the jimmies was not an idea that I manifested. The idea was thrust upon me. So I many years ago started this group called Eggs and it stood for every goal gets served. And I feel like they have things like this now, but they did not have this this many years ago. This was like in maybe 2006 or 2007. And my plan was I was going to get some of my friends together at a diner and we would eat eggs that was a little on the nose. And we would discuss, we would come up, everybody would come up with a goal and we would be like a support group for goals. So and my goal was just to pick a goal. I like didn't you know, I was very happily doing voice overs, but I knew that I was capable of more than just doing voice overs.

12:33 And I didn't know what else I wanted to do. And I have ADHD. So a lot of times those ideas that I have, you know, it's like I'm going to make sweater clips and then you buy all the stuff and then you never make a single sweater clip. But I did have all all that in a bag of clips, which was a good idea. But so one of my ideas when we were just brainstorming on the very first Eggs meeting was to make a children's album. But I meant make a spoken word album. I had all these like sort of Shel Silversteini poems that I have always written. And I had access to all of the best voice over talent in New York and I could do all kinds of voices. And that just made sense to me.

13:13 And one of the people in Eggs was, I was the voice of Nickelodeon for a long time and she was one of my producers. Actually she was casting director. And she went back to the office and they were looking for a kids band for something a few days later. And she said, oh, Ashley Albert has a kids band. And they were like our voice over girl. And she was like, Yep. And then she called me from her office and she was like, holy shit. I don't know why I said it, but Eggs in effect, you're on kid. And like, how so could you put a band together? And I was like, what? What? I didn't consider myself a singer. I did not know that I could write music. In fact, I have a, a story about not considering myself a songwriter because that's another that's another story for another time. But I really didn't think that I was a had to do that. But the audition was in three days and so I quick wrote 3 songs and I got my best friend to sing backup and some dude to play guitar.

14:11 We came up with the name the Jimmy's in the elevator on the way to the audition and we sang our songs and they said this is great. You know what else have you got? And we were like most mostly this. And they're like, where else do you play? We're like, ah, here is the place. Mostly where we play. And they were like, OK, you're not ready for what we need you for, but pull your act together and we'll get you on next season. I'm having a party for all of my friends but nothing fancied a drink. We won't have this get to tea or milk, just the finest water from the sink.

15:08 Won't you come, won't you come to a tea party in the sun? Won't you come won't you come to a tea party in the? So I my best friend was out, the dude with the guitar was out. My dad is a record producer and he has a recording studio in Miami. So I quick wrote 10 more songs and I flew down to Miami and I made the album with my dad and his studio. And I came back up and I cast the band like on Craigslist. And I had the band and I had the album and then the show got cancelled.

15:54 And but I had a band and I had an album. So I was like, all right. And so that's how the Jimmies became the Jimmies. It just was an accident. And, and now we have, you know, music videos and Christmas albums and wow. OK. So I'm kind of putting this together of of the steps that you took, which really was a lot of go before you're ready. Something was promised. You had to get your act together and put it together. And then it was fun. And then putting your songs out in the world got them discovered by, you know, random serendipity.

16:37 Yeah, and I, I will say that even to this day, the Jimmies feels to me like my most self expressed, like I when I when I hear the songs, they make me laugh still, even though I know all the jokes and I I'm incredibly proud of it. And I that's something that I have found with all of the projects that I have done where I have to feel proud of it or I'm not going to be able to tell people about it. But when I would tell people about the Jimmies, it wasn't like, oh, hey man, check out my band. It was like, here you go. Like if I had someone with kids, I'd be like, here's some music videos for you, you can thank me later. And so I, I, I really am very, very proud of the music videos and of the songs themselves and, and even of like working with my dad, which was really transformative for our relationship to get to do that together. But yeah, I think almost everything, all of the successes I have had in my life have been like I Love Lucy level capers that I just said yes to and then had to make good on. Let's take a moment to reflect on this question. When have you said yes to an opportunity before you were ready?

18:00 Are you and Ampersand looking for community inspiration and resources? Come join us in the cohort where we help you grow and scale your creative and professional aspirations. If you're looking for more dedicated support, ioffer executive coaching for business leaders, people managers, creatives, and of course, Ampersands. Find out more about the cohort and one-on-one coaching at jessica1.com. Now back to the show, let's talk about voice over acting. So you were known as the voice of Nickelodeon, so much so that you once told me there's something in the industry called the Ashley Albert voice. What was it like to be in the heyday of voice over acting and at the top of the game?

18:54 You know, I, it was, that was really serendipitous luck. You know, I, I moved to New York and I was 19 to do voiceovers. That was the reason I came to New York. And I just had very good luck. I was young enough and dumb enough that I had like a, I'd never been to New York before. I didn't know anybody before I moved there. And I just took a list of names and called everybody like, hi, I'm Ashley. And I just and I went to a party and I wish I could remember whose party it was, but I met an agent there and started getting sent doubt. And and it's probably the thing that I do the best. And I always say to people, you know, I don't have a particularly mellifluous voice, but I'm a very good out loud reader. And I was like the kid at school who when everybody, you know, have to go around and read like a paragraph out of like the science chapter, and then they send it to me like, all right. And Ashley, you just bring it on home and I'd like finish, I'd finish out the chapter if we didn't get to the end. You know, I always was a very good sort of old reader and I think that that is the unsung skill of voiceovers is really just being able to, without reading it ahead of time, be able to read something with with expression. And it was a wonderful, super fun job to have. I mean it, it paid really well.

20:15 It was really fun. There was a ton of community there. You know, it's just, you see the same people. It was like being in a perpetual waiting room and a doctor's office. Like every day you just go from waiting room to waiting room. And yeah, it was great fun. So we've talked about your projects, your work, your job. How do you how do you think about these words? Even project, work, job, career, are they all the same thing? Are they slightly different? I mean to me like job and work and career. So I'm very grown up and I think I'm not. I did hear once someone say something like a career is a job that goes on too long. And I thought, Oh yeah, that, that makes perfect sense. And so I never want that.

21:05 I, I don't think of myself as any one thing, you know, and I, I think that has served me well. I didn't figure out that I had ADHD until I was almost in my 50s, like my late 40s. And, and I think that it, it was serving me well without me realizing it and also, you know, hurting. I think now I understand much better that when I come up with an idea, I can celebrate being the person who comes up with the idea and not also have to be the person who executes the idea. And that has made everything much more possible.

21:45 I think in the past, if I had a great idea and I was trying to do it all myself, it was never going to get all that far. Whereas now I feel like I don't, I don't limit myself. I really, I, I believe in the, the things that I'm good at. I feel actually quite confident in the things that I'm good at, which helps because then you can be unafraid to, you know, explore and play and do because I'm like, oh, I'm good at this. The things that I'm not good at. I'm not someone else here. The other day, I think I read somewhere it was something about why, like people with ADHD, they seem like they're really good at a lot of things. Like, are there everything they try they're really good at? And it's not that we're really good at stuff, it's that the minute we figure out very quickly that we're bad at something, we give up on it and move on to the next thing. So we've just tried a lot more things that we know what we're not good at.

22:39 We skip right over those and just go to the good stuff. I'm trying harder to do more things that I'm not good at now than I used to before for sure. Oh, that sounds wildly efficient. And it sounds like you've learned how to work with your own brain, which is wonderful. I mean, I, I also wonder, Oh my goodness, I wonder what Ashley's backlog of ideas looks like. If, let's be real, you have been successful and many of these ideas and some things that seem like there isn't much overlap, you know, the Matzo Project and a Kid Rock band and shuffleboard clubs and voice over acting.

23:21 So yeah, well, I, I do want to look for some similarities though. I wonder when you think about some of the main projects or work streams that you've had in your life, what ties them together? I mean, I think play, you know, I think silliness and play and not taking anything too, too seriously has been a big part of it. Yeah, I think, and I value play probably above all else except maybe snacks. That I that's true. I do own thesnackademic.com, which is that serious snacking. But I think, yeah, I think that that's probably in all of the things.

24:11 It's really the Jimmies are very much celebrating sort of quirkiness and play and and not taking things too seriously or very seriously. Not, you know, very serious in their silliness. Yeah, yeah. On a practical level, how do you think about your work across many worlds in terms of your own time and energy? Yeah, again, I feel like as I've gotten older, I've gotten better at delegating A trusting. I'm also, you know, sort of recovering perfectionist and like an aspiring good enough fist, you know, definitely have suffered from wanting something to be specialer than special and needing it to be not just good, but like the best anybody's ever seen ever with anything.

25:07 And that can be a lot of pressure. And also it's hard to leave that to somebody else to do. And so I think accepting as long as you've chosen well and have great people around you, that they may not do it to your standards, but they're going to do it to a high standard that I can live with most of the time or else sneak in the middle of the night and change it. But not really. I try try not to do that as much anymore, but also I think because so much of what I do revolves around play it, none of it feels like work. Someone once said that I worked both more and less than anyone they knew.

25:53 So I feel like I'm always working and I'm never working. It's all, it's all very holistically a part of who I am all the time. I love that you, I mean, for anyone listening or who knows you, they know that you have an incredible energy, enthusiasm, passion, drive and creativity that just spans everything you do and you've had lasting power. I, I think just, it feels like you've been able to adapt to change in so many senses of the word, right? Like technology changes how the world is changing trends and getting on top of trends. How have you developed resilience to change and the ability to adapt?

26:44 Again, I got to give props to ADHDI think I just it really is just that object impermanence thing. I have really am able to, you know, you wind me up and you point me in a direction and that's the direction I'm going in. I, for better or worse, you know, I, I was in New York for 30 years and I moved to the Bay Area almost three years ago. And my life in New York feels like a dream. I hardly remember it at all. It's as if I've always been here doing this. And I think I have pivoted and made major life changes many, many, many times. And the key is I think just, you know, sort of really, I mean as as as Northern California as it sounds like kind of the be here now thing of like this is what I'm, this is what I'm focusing on today.

27:38 And so everything else falls falls away. Yeah, and you became a parent in the last few years as well? How has? That how has that added to your ampersand and and change the way that you are thinking about your life. Big question, I know. Yeah, You know, I never planned on being a parent. I adopted a teenager three years ago. Also a perfect example of sort of an impulsive. My decisions aren't impulsive. Like, I'm not thinking this true. I'm just going to do it. It's more like, I like when we found our space for the shuffleboard club, you know, I knew immediately we didn't have a business plan or any money raised or anything, but we walked into the space and I was like, OK, if we're doing this, we have to take this space. And if we don't take this space, we're not doing this. I just knew and moving to the Bay Area. And same with my son.

28:34 You know, I was helping out a friend who was part of an organization and they needed a couple of people they'd run at. You know, they've lost some people who were taking these kids. And I was just supposed to have them for five weeks. And he arrived at 6:30 in the morning. And by 7:30 I was like, all right, send me the paperwork. I'm keeping this one. Like, you know, I just when I know, I know. You're all in? Yeah. Yeah, and like, take a long time. And I lived for 30 years in New York without it ever occurring to me to move anywhere else. And I, somebody said to me, they were in the Bay Area. And I said, how is it? And they said, I have found a welcomingness and an intellectual curiosity here that I never encountered in New York.

29:15 And I thought, well, that sounds good, Should I move to the Bay Area? And then within 15 minutes, I was like, yeah, I'm going to move to the Bay Area. And that was it. I knew. And I, I was in May and I, by July 1st, I was here and I'm talking to you. Yes, one goal we have with this podcast is really to Co create the Ampersand manifesto together. When I think of the manifesto I think of principles for leading a multi passionate life. What are some principles that you live by? Oh, well, I say yes to anything. I can say yes to anything.

30:02 I, it's how I ended up, you know, beware because that's how I ended up the proud owner of a 16 year old. But I, I, yes, I, I really try to trust the map and, and say yes to the things that come in front of me, whatever those things end up being. And some of them feel totally random. But I I really do believe in my own luck, and so I am willing to put myself in places where that luck can manifest. And but whether that means making a new friend or learning something new, or hearing about something that might become my next favorite thing, I just try to say yes to as many things as I can.

30:49 I love that, Bertie. It's been incredible talking with you. You are an inspiration, folks. You can check out Ashley Albert's work at ashleyalbert.com and we'll link to this in the show notes. If you liked this show, share it with your friends and fellow ampersands and make sure to hit the follow button to be notified when new episodes drop. It would mean the world to us if you took two minutes to rate and review the show. Just go to the main show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and look for the stars. I had a chance to listen back to my conversation with Bertie and I wanted to share a few key takeaways. One, there's something magical about starting things by accident.

31:41 I have experienced this in my own life. Last year I was walking my dog on a Friday afternoon and ran into a group of people playing and singing bluegrass. What started as a simple dog walk became me first trying to harmonize with them and then realizing I could dust off my violin from high school and call it a fiddle. So then I learned a bunch of songs in a style I never thought I'd be into, and now I'm jamming on my fiddle with my husband at the banjo now. This was such a happy accident, and the key to these happy accidents is to stay open and to say yes, something Birdie is really good at. 2 Knowing yourself. Birdie discovered later in life that she has ADHD, and she knows herself well enough to know how to get the best out of her amazing brain.

32:42 There's something in here about the special combination of knowing what you're good at and what you're not, and using ADHD as a superpower. This isn't the first time ADHD has been talked about on the Ampersand Manifesto, and each time we talk about it, it's been about discovery, harnessing the power of your brain, learning more about yourself, and also allowing these many interests to flourish in their own way or not 3 Be here now, accept change, and find the best in your current reality. So many examples in Bertie's work and life center around a knowing of what's right for right now. I admire her decisiveness and listening to her intuition. I think to be able to do that, you must have strong values and a strong sense of knowing yourself. So I always had some sort of business going on or some sort of invention.

33:53 I'm pretty sure that I invented Amazon.