The Unbreakable Advantage

The Invisible Threat | Tami Fitzpatrick on Surviving, Detecting, and Becoming Unbreakable

Misty Carson Season 2 Episode 2

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Some threats announce themselves. The most dangerous ones never do.

In the first guest episode of The Unbreakable Advantage, Misty Carson sits down with Tami Fitzpatrick, Founder and CEO of Entropy Technology Design, whose proprietary low frequency magnetic field detection sees storms forming 3,000 miles out and catches the weaponized drones that slip in under the radar. Her work protects people who have no idea it exists. And it was born from a life spent surviving threats no one around her could see.

Tami takes us back fifteen years to a marriage overseas that was not what it was promised to be. To the day a threat against her life rewrote her identity. To the decade she spent in denial, the rock bottom that woke her up, and the exit strategy that ended with her evacuating a third world country in the back of a military chopper with her three small children as war broke out around her.

Then she does it again in business. The day she voted four board members off her own board for cause, and the gut punch that followed: realizing the fight was not just something to win, but something that called her up to become a stronger leader.

The line from her forthcoming book, Invisible Threats, frames the whole conversation. Every catastrophe begins as something invisible. Tami believes the same is true of us. Our thoughts, our programming, our pain. Left undetected, they destroy. Brought into the light, they build.

This is a conversation about turning what tried to break you into the very thing that makes you unstoppable.

You were not broken. You were built.

A listener note: this episode includes honest discussion of domestic and emotional abuse and a description of reaching a breaking point. Please listen with care.

WHAT YOU WILL TAKE FROM THIS EPISODE

Why the threats that shape a life are almost always invisible at first, in the sky, in the ground, and in the mind.

How abuse can be quiet control rather than something loud, and why that version is so hard to name from the inside.

How two truths can live in the same person, a great parent and a poor partner, and why holding both is part of healing.

What it looks like to win a fight and still take accountability for your side of the street.

The difference between staying a victim and becoming a victor, and why roughly half of people who survive deep adversity grow from it.

Why the better question is never what did this take from me, but what did this give me.

LINES WORTH REPLAYING

"Every catastrophe begins as something invisible."

"Abuse is not always loud and abrasive. Sometimes it is quiet control."

"We are the authors and editors of our own stories."

"The only way you earn it is going through that fire."

"My question is not what has this taken from me, but what has it given me."

"It didn't break me. You made me."

REFLECTION QUESTION

What invisible threat have you been carrying without naming it, and what would change if you brought it into the light?

And the three questions Misty closes every guest episode with:

What does the unbreakable advantage mean to you? What did you have to let go of to become who you are today? What do you still need to let go of to become who you want to be tomorrow?

CONNECT

If this episode moved you, share it with someone who needs to hear it, and follow the show so you never miss what comes next.

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unbreakableadvantage Explore the movement, the book, and more: https://unbreakableadvantage.com/

Connect with Misty Carson on LinkedIn and on Instagram at The Unbreakable Advantage. Misty is the Founder and CEO of The Unbreakable Advantage Institute, with over 15 years in commercial insurance and employee benefits and more than two decades of leadership experience. If you want to be a future guest, reach out through the website.

Connect with Tami Fitzpatrick at www.TamiFitzpatrick.com and on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook, where you can also find her companies, including Entropy Technology Design. Watch for her forthcoming book, Invisible Threats.

Support the show

SPEAKER_00

We've been through things that should have broken us. Trauma, loss, hardship. The kind that leaves a mark, but it also left something else, something most people spend their whole lives trying to find. I'm Misty Carson, and it's time we stop surviving and start building with it. This is the Unbreakable Advantage. Tammy, welcome to the Unbreakable Advantage. I'm so excited that you're here.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you. Yes.

SPEAKER_00

You're my first guest episode, my first chair. I love it. Your story is so impactful, so incredible, so unique, and people need to hear everything that you've been through and what you've built out of it. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02

I'm so flattered. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00

Aww. So tell the listeners today who you are, what you're building, and what you're working on right now.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, Tammy Fitzpatrick, I am the founder and CEO of Entropy Technology Design. We are working on some amazing technology. I founded this company back in 2014. So I've been at it for a while. We work in low frequency magnetic field detection, and people don't often understand what that is. It initially started as weather detection. We're very, very good at that. We can see out about 3,000 miles. Everything is proprietary. We've developed all of it. And so that, in fact, I've been in that field for almost two decades, right? So when I I founded Entropy, we were initially just going to do weather detection and make a really robust product. And I looked at the data, we looked at the data a little bit farther down the road and realized we were picking up so many other threats, so many other things. And it shifted me to go down the road of government contracting and drone detection and all these other things. So we'll we'll get into that.

SPEAKER_00

We'll get into all of it. So as the founder of Entropy Technology Design, working with the Department of Defense on very low frequency magnetic field detection, which sounds already my brain is like, what is going on? Translate that for the rest of us.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. And I love this question because it has been the most difficult thing to explain because what we have created doesn't exist. So we've had to explain how our frequency works, where it works. So I'm gonna get funky a little bit. Love it. In detection. Okay. Uh you have, for example, radar does its own form of detection. You have LiDAR, you have acoustic, acoustic detection, a lot of times bouncing off sound, like it sounds acoustic. So you have these different detection capabilities, but they're all in different frequencies. And we are focused, we started with the weather detection focusing on that particular frequency. And I'm not going to go too deep into it because a lot of it's very proprietary, and everybody's like, what are you doing when they figure it out? And so we're able to hone in on the emissions coming off of things, okay, within a certain frequency. So a storm that's forming, it gives off an emission up there. There's electrical currents happening up there. So our technology is actually honing in on all of these different invisible frequencies that you can't see. So emissions coming off a drone, we can pick that up. Emissions coming off a failing transformer, it's arcing, it's a change in the in the signal. We can pick that up. All kinds of different things. So weather and infrastructure mapping, we can tell if there's tunneling going on. So there's a lot of different things we're honing in on as we filter out other noise to be able to understand what that is. And so it opened up an entirely new world, especially for the government right now, because these wars, all these things that are happening right now, they're the drones that are getting through, these weaponized drones, are coming in on that frequency and they're going under. You've heard the statement, flew in under the radar. The radar, yes. Literally. And so they are not picking those signals up. So these things that are exploding and and creating havoc are getting in and no one's detecting it. We see it. We hear it. So it's very, very exciting.

SPEAKER_00

I just got the chills thinking about the fact that you I have absolutely heard flu in under the radar. That's a metaphor that people use for all kinds of things, but it absolutely came from war or threats that were coming across. And the fact that you are on the precipice of something that no one else can offer or do but protect us in our daily lives. Absolutely. We just go about our la la lands, putting on our makeup and curling our hair, no idea, right? And you're out there surfing the skies and in the in the ground. It's incredible. It's very exciting. And how many people can say that they do that for a living?

SPEAKER_02

Well, especially.

SPEAKER_00

Your crew. They're the only ones, which is which is incredible.

SPEAKER_02

So we're told, you know, never say never. Somebody's gonna figure it out, but we are so far ahead of the game. Yeah. Because my chief technology technology officer is a physicist. He pioneered the very first handheld lightning detector back in the late 90s. That's where the theory came, right? And so he's been working in this field for a long, long time. What he knows doesn't exist in any textbook. And so we have incorporated that into what we're doing now. And I've been working with engineers and physicists long enough that I almost sound like one, even though I'm not.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that's so beautiful. I can't wait for the listeners to hear your epiphany and how you ended up doing what you're doing and what is the source of all of that. And we're definitely going to get into that. But before we do, before we do, you sent me an excerpt from your book called Invisible Threats, which is not available yet, but is coming. And one line has haunted me. Every catastrophe begins as something invisible. And I got the chills just now, just saying that out loud. Walk us through what you mean by that, because I believe deep down, knowing you and your story, this is the frame for everything you do and everything we're gonna talk about today.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. So when you think about it, I'm doing uh, you know, my career has been spent on detecting threats before they happen. That's the goal, right? Is to provide information early enough that you can change the outcome. And one of the most difficult things has been to explain to people what we do so that they'll understand and say, yes, you go right ahead with that, right? Continue to develop that technology. It wasn't easy because nobody had understood it. And so moved along, made progress. And I'm sitting at my desk one day and I had an epiphany, and I went, you know, all threats begin as invisible threats, right? We do our thoughts are the same. Every war that started, every act of violence that started, any any type of chaos that you have, it began as a undetected threat. Whether that threat was in your mind or it was weather related, whatever it was, it began as a thought. And so that shifted me into really going deep into my own consciousness and saying we all act upon these threats. We start getting programmed. That data is is poured into us when we're born. Our parents are trying to keep us safe. Yes. Oh, don't do that. That might be a threat. You know, I'm gonna use the word threat, but so we danger. Right, danger, danger. And and so I I looked at the mind and it was like our mind is kind of like a software program, and we're just getting that data fed into it from childhood, and we move along. Now, think about those who are abused.

SPEAKER_00

Yes.

SPEAKER_02

And think about those that um don't know how to handle or process those threats. Those are the ones that become violent, perhaps, or they're abusive to others. But that was where the the epiphany of undetected threats, if they're left alone, they only do what? They they can destroy. Right?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Yeah. Oh my gosh. So I I just I'm thinking in my mind it's just racing. It's so interesting because everything does start with a a thought. And thoughts can either destroy or develop. Right. And it's terrifying.

SPEAKER_02

And if your programming is off, yes.

SPEAKER_00

What do you do? You're going the wrong way or going the wrong way.

SPEAKER_02

Right or the right way, and yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So you told me one of the seasons that shaped you was a 15-year sequence of events that ended with you evacuating out of a third world country with your three small children in the back of a military chopper. So take us back and what was happening to lead up to that day.

SPEAKER_02

Hmm. Well, that's a podcast on its own.

SPEAKER_00

That's what we're here for, Sammy.

SPEAKER_02

That's what we're here for. Yeah, that's another book I am writing. Um, so without going too too deep into it, I had met and married someone I was it was love at first sight, went over overseas, followed him there, um, married there. Um again, I won't go too deep into it, but let's just say it was not as it was portrayed it would be. I thought it was gonna live a life of a princess. Yes, third world country, however, they were very affluent and had resort hotels, it was around the Mediterranean. It was this beautiful life that I thought I was going to. And I gave up career and you know, family and everything to do this. And sadly, it was not as it was described. It got very difficult. Um, there was a moment after my son was born where I I really believed that it was perhaps a good idea to come back to the States because I hadn't I I don't want to go too too deep into it because I do want to um stay focused on some of the other parts of this. So uh it was a very difficult, let's just say that there was a bit of a threat given to me um when I said maybe I will leave if things aren't gonna change and and my life was threatened, if you will, uh you will never live to tell about it. Um and at that moment that threat changed me, lost my identity, and I continued to stay there. I had two more kids. I was very in love with this man and um endured just a lot of pain, a lot of hopelessness. Didn't meet other Americans until I was five years there, didn't take me to the embassy. Um so it was a it was a very heartbreaking time. I was in denial. I didn't tell anyone, I didn't tell my parents, and I lived, you know, like it was a secret. So that was very difficult. Um ten years in, I was still living in my pell. And um it wasn't physical abuse, so you know, very subtle to have emotional abuse and just kind of believing that I had no options. I really I I remember when that was said to me. It was so odd. I remember all of a sudden thinking, I have no options. I I can't go back to the States, I won't be able to get a job. I had had my own business. It it's odd what happens. It was later diagnosed as Stockholm Syndrome. Yes. And so, you know, it it's all explained. But it it was a very difficult time. Um, ten years in, I hit rock bottom. Um wanted to just go to sleep and never wake up. And I did wake up and I was alone. And again, that's a kind of a deeper story, but uh when I woke up alone in the home after trying to go to sleep and not wake up again, um I woke up briefly as I was being propped at the kitchen table for dinner and the kids were around me, and I remember I was, you know, and anyway, I I woke up the next day and everybody had gone about as though nothing had happened. And I realized at that point, okay, if I don't get myself out of here, I won't get out of here.

SPEAKER_00

Yes.

SPEAKER_02

And I turned things around. I managed to get myself contracted by the State Department within three months. I was the only US citizen who worked on the inside of the compound. It's a a guarded fortress there, the embassy there. Um and I was the only one who, you know, lived on the outside but worked on the inside. It was a phenomenal transition. It was clearly a miracle, a manifestation, whatever it was, but it was my I realized I need to get out of here. So I need, I need to put myself in a different environment. And that was the beginning of uh my exit strategy, if you will. Um it was also I had to kind of deal with things a little more carefully while I was still there. It took another five years for me to get out. Um, you know, had spies in the embassy watching me, very un unfaithful, you name it. Anyway, I and I hate it's hard to talk about it because my kids love their father. Yes. And he's been a fantastic father to them. Yes. He just was not a good husband. I'm quoting my daughter. In fact, she said, Dad's a great dad, he just wasn't a good husband. Yes. Um so when when we got closer towards the evacuation, um, so I'd been there another five years working at the embassy. It was a phenomenal job, it was wonderful. Uh, war broke out broke out between Israel and Hezbollah. And when that happened, um all hell breaks loose, of course. They bomb each side. Oops, I hit the mic. You want me to start over? No, people.

unknown

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

They they bombed each side of the country, people couldn't get out. We had about 10,000 U.S. citizens trying to get out of the country. And so that's another story in itself. Um, because I took part in the evacuation, I would help the last group that were able to evacuate from the military choppers on base at the embassy. Everyone else was being told, go to the port, get on a ship. Uh everything kind of broke down. We uh it should have been organized, but it wasn't until the military got there and they snapped things into shape really well. So people were just, it was chaos. And I like I said, because I was the only US citizen that worked there and lived outside, people were just calling, calling Tammy, what do we do? What do we do? And so it was an interesting process there. And those that could depart from the embassy were those that either had medical issues or they were diplomats or you know, dignitaries. And I realized at that time this was my opportunity because everyone's leaving. And so I went to the ambassador and we asked him if it was possible for me to be on the last chopper out, and he approved it.

SPEAKER_00

Wow.

SPEAKER_02

And that day, I think you were a asking me, you know, what did that feel like? Everybody's going crazy trying to get out of their country. I'm like, yes.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, yes, I'm like finally free.

SPEAKER_02

I'm I'm I'm out of here.

SPEAKER_00

Finally free.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I know everything you went through is complex and it's a lot deeper and a much bigger story than that. I want to a show and express gratitude and appreciation for you sharing. Secondly, to the listeners who are out there, abuse is not always loud and abrasive. Right. Sometimes it's quiet control. And that's to me the more terrifying abuse because bruises heal.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

But the mental manipulation is a lot more difficult to overcome.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So I I appreciate also that humans can be more than one thing.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_00

That he can be a great father and a a poor partner.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_00

And those two people can exist in the same body. Absolutely. And I don't think that people separate enough of the two, especially the ones who are going through it. You see them through this lens of the beauty, but that doesn't mean that it's the right situation for you.

SPEAKER_02

Well, and an interesting thing, you know, with time when you heal from things, I I realize that a lot of it he probably didn't even intend to do.

SPEAKER_00

Yes.

SPEAKER_02

Because he had his own cultural rights. He had the the family, and and because he loved me. I believe in his way he did love me. You know, that's another twist, right?

SPEAKER_00

Yes, it makes it harder. And it makes it harder to reconcile. It makes it harder to reconcile as well.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So anytime people go through that, and everybody who's listening, there is no straight line or straight path. And it's so complex in all of its emotion because everything is not just one thing.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

There are so many layers to everything that we go through, especially the difficult times. They're not usually just difficult, they're clouded with beauty. Yeah. Yeah. And that can make it even more complex.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00

Uh, I had some more questions about this particular time in your life. Um, so, but I would like to, I'm gonna skip a couple of these things that I had written on here. I I do want to ask the kind of invisible threats that your technology now detects came from your own life experiences.

SPEAKER_01

I know, right?

SPEAKER_00

Which is and not only that, but weave in the military capacity, and now you're serving the Department of Defense. Right. And to think that what you're doing to protect the rest of us and the the people who, like I said earlier, are going about our day making our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and driving down the highway would likely not exist if you hadn't went through what you went through. And because it wouldn't have been something top of mind for you. How do you marry those two ideas?

SPEAKER_02

I like what you just said about not exist or you know, we all have had our versions of threats, right? That have been undetected. We all and I've gone through a lot of obviously crazy things, but you know what? Once you get through them, I look back and I I'm grateful in a way for them because anyone who can you know be born and live a life of complete complete tranquility, I'm like, that's interesting. I don't know anyone that's been able to do that, right? If you haven't had trials and tribulations and and had things do gut punches, which we'll talk about here in a bit. But um, you know, without those things, we we aren't who we become and they strengthen us. That's what the whole point of this, right?

SPEAKER_00

Yes, that's exactly the unbreakable advantage, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, unbreakable advantage is the things that have really roughed us up.

SPEAKER_00

Yes.

SPEAKER_02

I'm grateful for at this point. If I hadn't lived that life there, I wouldn't be anywhere near the person I am today. Yes. And so you if you can get through them, and this is something you and I touched on at one point. I'm at that point in my life where I've made it through all those things. And all of the uh difficulties I felt felt before, all of those, I I now appreciate them for what they did for me. Yes. And so you do get to a point in your life where okay, this it's kind of all snapping together. I kind of get it. I'm really comfortable where I am right now in my life. And so I went completely off topic, didn't I?

SPEAKER_00

No, this is beautiful. I love it. I love exactly what you're saying. This is a hundred percent why I built it. I appreciate what you're saying. I feel exactly the same way. I believe you have two choices. Yeah. You have a choice to take what God gave you and the trials the universe has laid at your feet and the pain that you've been through, and decide that it forged something in you unbreakable, right, and gave you a strength that people who have never been through that thing can even remotely, they can't buy it.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_00

They can't learn it. Right. The only way you earn it is going through that fire. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And it's invisible.

SPEAKER_00

It's 100% invisible. It's a hundred percent invisible.

SPEAKER_02

And that's that's I think where the epiphany came for me was these invisible threats, these invisible things that happen to us go into our mind and they program us the way we are. And like you said, there's two choices. We can be a victim or stay in that victim mentality, or we work through it and work up and we move forward. And there's a lot of people that still feel the victim, right? They they don't know how to get past that. Maybe they don't have the right software for it, right? The internals. And so, yeah, that's that's what I'm hoping when I when I get my book out there, that I can provide some additional feedback for people like that that are not able to really reprogram their subconscious and and start giving things a little different perspective to try and pull themselves out of that victim mentality.

SPEAKER_00

Yes. So I say victim or evictor. Yeah. Yeah. That that's definitely what I've hung my hat on. And from the research that I found, people who have been through ad birth. Experiences, deep adverse experiences. I don't mean you broke your ankle on the playground. Right. I mean something roughed you up. Something you experienced, you were abused, domestic violence, you were manipulated, you were brainwashed, you grew up in uh poverty, you your parents went to prison, there was addiction, something like that. When people experience those you tap into something that creates this person who's uber resilient, uber capable. And how do you get past the programming to your point in your own mind that you're always going to be this person, this person who was abused, who's damaged, quote unquote, broken, quote unquote. I say that that's bullshit, but you literally have become the your own competitive advantage. So if you can talk kinder to yourself, if you can quiet the sabotaging beliefs that you're just that person who came from these circumstances, you can grow into this extraordinary person God crafted you to be. And and this is what this is all about. This is why I'm doing this. I discovered that people feel like I did, like I didn't belong, like I didn't deserve. And it's harder when you're those close to you in your circle remind you of who you're supposed to be and not who you are.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So learning how to navigate that space and grow again.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, your subconscious, your con to me, you have your conscious, your subconscious, and then you have your higher self.

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_02

And that higher self is connected to God or universe or whatever beliefs you have. And so you you have all of those. I'm I delve very deeply into all of that. I'm a very conscious person. I'm an empath. You're an empath. Yes. Um, and when you're able to really delve into those a little deeper, you begin to understand the mechanisms and the other influences that we've had that that really uh shift your perspective the wrong way or the right way, whatever it is. But these are all you you have control. You're you're you are in control. That's probably another very important part of this. Is we often feel as though this was out of my control. Maybe, maybe not. You had yourself in that situation. If you can get yourself out of it, that was you. Everything really reflected on how you handled things, what you did. We have so much more control, but we're programmed from little that we don't. That's right. We're not good enough. Or we're a woman and uh whatever that is, right? And so there's that pre-programming that we get, and we just assume it's correct. Yes. Until things happen to shift us.

SPEAKER_00

They're all stories we learn and stories we tell ourselves, or someone else tells us, or that's exactly right. Or what society tells us or our loved ones tell us, culture, whatever that looks like. I decided when I moved to Florida four years ago, and I turned 47 last Saturday. That think about that. Thank you. Thank you. That no one n any longer is going to be the author and the editor of my story. Yeah. I get to write my story, not where I came from. And again, had you not gone through what you went through. 100%.

SPEAKER_02

100%. Would have coasted through life, and that, you know, you know many people that do that. I I think that's another interesting thing. Everyone you meet has gone through something incredibly impactful to them. And so many times they don't have people like you that are reaching out, that are providing this kind of information of how there's answers, there's there's ways to work through it. You're not alone. That's right. You know, and and I think that's really critically important. It's not because a lot of times when we get depressed, you know, there's the depressions, we res we withdraw. Yes. And we assume that I'm alone and I can't tell anyone. Yes. That's what happened to me overseas. And you know, for so long I just sat there feeling as though I had no choices, and that's a deep dark hole to go down to. And so many people have that. And you know, I'm hoping that these kind of podcasts that you're doing can reach in and tell people there's there's some answers for you. There's there's bright hope in the future. If just don't give up, just don't give up. There's answers for you.

SPEAKER_00

That is the hope. Yeah, that is what I'm building this for, and I completely agree, Tammy. So many of us carry this quiet pain and what they would consider a a quiet shame around what they've been through. Yeah. And I'm here to flip that on its head. I want people to see what they've been through, not as something to get past or to get over, but the gift that it is that everything that you've been through has brought you to this moment where you are unstoppable. Yes. Unstoppable if you allow it. Yeah. A little bit of training. Yes.

SPEAKER_02

A little bit of thought work. I love that. I do, I love that. And one thing that's very difficult to actually do, but it it's beneficial, is when you're in those moments of trauma, when you are feeling threatened, when those things are happening, if you can attempt to step away from the emotion and view it as opposed to feel it.

SPEAKER_00

Yes.

SPEAKER_02

That is a very difficult thing to do, but it is also very powerful because it helps you move through whatever the trauma is. Yes. And then once you reach, excuse me, once you reach through the other side, you can look back and say, uh huh, okay. Because trauma is difficult, right? You're your knee-jerk, your own. That's that's the way we react to it. But and that's been pre-programmed from birth.

SPEAKER_00

It's so interesting that you say that. So in my book, To Your Point, I wrote an evidence over emotion framework that slows people down in those moments and asks very particular questions of what you're going through so that you can discern whether you're going to feel it or whether you're going to logically move through it based on what's true and not what's an emotion. And that is a skill that takes a lot of practice. It is, yeah. But most people don't even know where to start.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. They don't.

SPEAKER_00

And I didn't either. Uh I have learned this over time through therapy, through coaching, through my own internal work. And it's not perfect, but it definitely is a starting place for a lot of people. Yeah. So we're gonna move into season two, forging season two. So the second moment when I had sent you all the questions to answer, you named was the day you had the courage to vote four board members off your board for bullying and terminate all of them for cause. First off, bold move. I have seen so many people put up with harassment because they bring in the dollars in so many places that I have worked. What had been happening that built up to that decision?

SPEAKER_02

So the first thing I will say is I always respected their investment, right? You know, if you put money into something, you expect a return on the ROI. And so I've always respected that. However, it was very unfortunate because they had ulterior motives, it became very clear that, and and we brought them in in sequences, smaller investments, and and our goal, excuse me, our goal was always to hit um a certain amount. And we reached almost there, and then we kind of started spinning our wheels. We weren't finding others. And it became very clear that they were they had doubts about my leadership capabilities. And um I'm sure behind the scenes they all were talking and decided we're gonna, we're gonna see if we can't get her out because I had controlling ownership of the company. And um, and they were all brought on as an it was a very odd business model. People listening will be like, what? You know, you bring someone on, they invest, they get a board seat and an employment agreement. It's like that was yeah, again, that was uh we were having a hard time getting moving, and so it seemed to make sense, and that's how we we did it. But um, so yeah, the bullying started. There would be there would be board meetings where uh I would come up with an idea, it would be turned down the next board meeting, it would be their idea and a great idea, things like that. And played that game, yeah. And so there was a lot of harassment that was just very subtle, you know, uh trying to to pull pull me off my guard or whatever you want to call that. It was just and so it was very traumatic. It became um everything that I did was being questioned or or push back on, whatever it was. And so I started to feel very unstable. And so the the bullying intensified. They started going behind my back, talking to the chief technology officer who was my co-founder, and basically saying, you know, we'll put more money in, because that was a problem. We were having a hard time. I even brought potential investors in and they sabotaged it. It was just crazy. Yeah, and so um, because they had an agenda, they were looking to try and edge me out, and so they were telling him things like, uh, you know, we'll put more money in, but let's let's get her out because I had control. So I was very much traumatized by these emotions. And I mean, even P PTSD, when I would open my email, I know a lot of people relate to that. They'd be like, I have to open my email, but unless you've been through something like that, you don't understand what it's like. I would I would be kind of like, okay, what's gonna hit me today? But so we went on for a while, and I was literally drafting the letter, resigning, and just like in overseas, something hit me where I hit rock bottom, and I thought, what am I doing? I have control of this company. Why am I allowing this? I contacted my attorney and I said, I told him what I wanted to do. He called a board meeting, and I'm sure everybody came on thinking I was going to announce my resignation. And instead, I voted them all off the board. 80%, I had 50%, and I was surprised some of the others even joined with me, voted each one of them off the board, and then a week later terminated them for cause. But let I missed one part of it that was the the shift. I'm traumatized. One day I get a text message and it says, we're almost there, but if we're not careful, there will be a lawsuit. Oh. That was the moment, the epiphany, and that was uh okay, that's what was happening. It was intentional, and I forgot to put that in before because that's what provoked me to call the board meeting, and I thought, mm-mm. So that was that was incredibly sorry, that was incredibly gratifying for me to be able to free myself of that. Yes, but I want to add something really, really important because you know they may watch this. Yeah. And again, I respect their investment. And at this point in my life, I even respect what happened. I respect what they did because here's something about accountability. We can play victim. Oh my God, they were bullying me. Well, why were they bullying me? Why were they disappointed in what I was doing? I needed to toughen up. They saw something. Yes, maybe they came in with ulterior motives, but had I been who I am today, it would have never happened. And so I appreciate it. It took me a long time, but I do because man, did I become a badass after that? I was I was completely unstoppable. And in fact, I shifted, I pivoted the company to government contracting because I knew that if I got grant money, it was non-dilutive, I'd maintain control of my company.

SPEAKER_00

So smart. So smart.

SPEAKER_02

And so I, yeah, and that's what I've been doing ever since. And that was like 20 nine, 2018 when I did that.

SPEAKER_00

So first, I'm just gonna applaud you for doing the right thing. And you touched on this a little bit. I just want to share with the listeners something you wrote. You called it a gut punch that made you recognize areas where you needed to take responsibility and elevate your game, which is exactly what you just said in different words. Most leaders, after winning a fight like that, would feel vindicated, but you felt called up.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And I want to know where does that response come from in you?

SPEAKER_02

Oh, I don't know. Um, where does that mindset you mean?

SPEAKER_00

Yes, like how like most people's minds would be like rocky, right? You're standing, right? And you're dancing around and you're like, ah, woman, bitches, like everything is so great. And I that's not what you thought. You're like, well, I did it at first, right?

SPEAKER_02

I I did my little rocky dance and was like out of my attorney's office, and like, yeah. Yes. And then it took time because when I look back on it, that's what shifted again, just like when I was overseas, hit rock bottom, bolted up, and you know, took over my life again. Um, that was another moment like that, right? And so in the moment, the trauma was real, the threat was real. It did take time. And I think that's part of the the process of recognizing things, right? When the pain goes away, if you can witness the pain instead of being in the middle of it, try and shift away from it and recognize, take responsibility. Yes for, you know, what did I do? Yeah. Instead of, oh my God, poor me. You know, so that I think is really important when we go through things of how do you look at it after you're through that storm and how do you apply it to your life? And so again, it's it's something that I am big enough to say, I obviously had some weaknesses, or I wouldn't have found myself in that position to begin with.

SPEAKER_00

So many people could take a nugget out of that. I am the same as you. I always ask myself, what does my side of a street look like? Am I keeping my side of a street clean? And most of the time, there's minimum two things, but a lot of times a handful of things that I could have done differently that would have led to different outcomes as well. And being able to carry those forward, having grace that I didn't do them in the moment, learning and growing, yeah, and moving on. You wrote a saying that I want to read back to you. The rewards for working through obstacles define who we are and made the success of our persistence even sweeter. When did you first write that down? And what was happening in your life after when that came to you. I love that.

SPEAKER_02

That was right after I survived all of that and you know, took control again and stepped into the role that I was supposed to. And it was just it resonated with me. That's how I felt.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Right?

SPEAKER_02

You know, that's the truth.

SPEAKER_00

I I think it's so interesting. You mentioned earlier, and statistically it's accurate, that only 50 to 60 percent of people who go through really traumatic things develop post-traumatic growth, which is what I built my whole framework around. The other 40 to 50 percent stay there. Stay there. They stay there. Yeah, they don't know how to break free. And I don't know what the answer is either. I do not answer that in my book. The why you and why not someone else. I don't know the answer to that. All I know is there's a group of us, me and you included, who go through the things and decide they're not going to break us, they're going to build us.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And we allow those things to be fuel in our engine to move us forward to the next thing. I wish I knew what the secret sauce was so that I could help the people who are stuck.

SPEAKER_02

I'm trying to do that with my book, honestly.

SPEAKER_00

I believe I hope that that works. I really do.

SPEAKER_02

It again, it's a lot of it is pre-programming, you know, what beliefs that you are fed when you are born and culturally and through parents and whatever, they they set that framework for how you view everything. And and I think that recognizing at some point that you do have control, and here are some of the tools, showing people the tools to do that. Our our human mankind, humankind, whatever you want to call that, is evolving consciousness. And and I know we're gonna get into accelerated consciousness in here in a little bit, but again, I'm very, very much into all of that and and thinking um through thoughts, there no thinking through traumas and how you address them, and why did I feel that way and how can I get myself out of it? I mean, I've had very dark, depressed times in my life, clearly, and you don't know how you're gonna get out, right? But finding the tools that recognizing this isn't me, I don't have to live this way. Why am I afraid of this? You know, sometimes your thoughts are not even your own. They're again, they're that pre-programmed information that you have. So I I believe that there are a lot of ways to get around it. And I've reached that point in my life now where I recognize a lot of that, and I'm hoping to give back that information to others so they can find their way out of that darkness as well.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I I that's what I want for all of humankind as well. Absolutely. What a better for world that we would live in if everyone could see their pain and turn it into purpose. Yes. So you mentioned about pre-programming, you said that all of your beliefs and expectations were pre-programmed from the moment you were born.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Parents, religion, culture, friends. I completely agree. Yeah. And not only that, society just as a whole, and add in a whole nother complexity with social media.

SPEAKER_02

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I I do not envy my daughter, will be 17 this month, and I do not envy what she goes through. When I was growing up and being bullied, I could get away. Yeah. I could go home, I could get away from those things. They can't, kind of it's a constant barrage.

SPEAKER_02

Social media AI.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, who they should be, yeah, who they're supposed to be, what they're supposed to look like, sound like, what they're supposed to do. So differently. All of the things. Yeah. When did you first realize that you could decipher those boundaries instead of living inside of what people told you you should be or think or feel?

SPEAKER_02

That was a process. And when did I realize I again it's a process that you go through? If if you give up and give in and and allow this anything to defeat you, that's where you stay. But I've just always been curious and seeking answers and trying to work through things. Um I'm gonna share something kind of interesting and it's very personal. Um I will say, for example, and I'm I'm very intuitive, as I said, I'm very connected to higher self, whatever you want to call it. Um and I had been on antidepressants for quite a while, as many people turn to, right? A lot of people turn to that, and I'm not saying there's anything against that, but I made the decision because I felt as though I was very blocked from it. And so I made the decision to stop taking them. And it's interesting how strong your mind is, because the doctors will say, Oh God, you're gonna have withdrawals, you're gonna have this or that. And I used AI, use it carefully, kids. Um and I I researched how I could go off of these, and I was on a very low dose, right? But still, and researched it, replaced it with supplements, and within two weeks' time I was off. That's amazing. And I have never felt better, clearer minded. Um and I so again, I don't want to shit talk medication or doctor, but there are so many other options, and and those are numbing you. They're just they're they're taking that nerving ending and numbing it so that you don't feel. Yes. But again, that is not really the answer, is it? There's more internal work that you can do to do the same thing. Um yeah, that's kind of an odd shift.

SPEAKER_00

I no, I appreciate that so much. I share, and my son shares, he'll be 29 this year, getting married. Super excited about that. He is severely bipolar and has had very difficult times in his life. And I don't remember which type it is, so don't hate me for this, everybody who's listening, but it's the type that is the the hardest kind, where he is either flying high on mania or having an ex accidental crisis. Yeah, there is no in between. Yeah, and I remember we found out. In college, through a way that I I won't share now, because I want my son to share his own story. Very difficult time, especially as a single mom, didn't know how to help him. But I remember when he first got put on medication, he told me he felt agnostic. He said, I just don't feel anything.

unknown

Right.

SPEAKER_00

And for somebody who's so used to feeling such high highs and such low lows, feeling like nothing to him was almost worse. Because the other ones, he he at least knew it was coming. He had he had warning signs, he knew, and he knew what he was gonna get, the version of him he was gonna get in those moments. He could navigate that in some capacity.

SPEAKER_04

Right. Right.

SPEAKER_00

But the feeling nothing, he didn't know how to live in that space. Yeah. That was extremely difficult.

SPEAKER_02

Isn't it? With those, with those medications, and there are so many of them and so prevalent. And um, yeah, I know others who rely on them heavily. They just believe that that's the way to go, and they go back and they get their counseling, and they're feeling a little emotional, and they'll increase the meds, and it's like we're humans.

SPEAKER_00

We are we are we need we need to feel emotional, and some people do meet need medication. I want to I want to clarify this. Yes, I do too. So, yeah, because my son definitely needs something to temper, but he needed the right therapist, the right psychiatrist, yeah, the right dosage, somebody for him. And he's finally now getting that. And that's wonderful, it's amazing. And he's marrying somebody who got her doctorate in psychology.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

So she knows exactly how to handle him in those moments and has grace around the I couldn't have asked for a better partner for my son. Yeah. I'm like, God divinely brought this woman to you, and I'm so excited about it. So we're gonna talk about the bigger picture. And I absolutely love how everything you've been through ties into what you created and how you move through the world and this company that you designed, and how you protect the rest of us. Yes. Because you didn't feel protected and you felt alone in your uh plight with these threats that no one else knew existed. And it it all weaves so intricately into what you do today. So the same sensors that you're building to detect drones, you said one day will help us better understand human consciousness. That is accelerated consciousness. So, for listeners hearing that for the first time, what is the bigger picture you're actually building toward?

SPEAKER_02

So, accelerated consciousness. Um I founded that company uh several years ago, and it's rather dormant because I need to continue with my current company. Um but again, it goes to invisible threats. It it will. I believe that our current sensors that are working in this low frequency a lot of the thing we do is noise suppression, right? We'll move the weather out so that we can understand or fingerprint and categorize that's a drone, that's a transformer, that's this or that. So it's about being able to detect and then you eliminate that as noise. And so it occurred to me one day as I was watching a program on TV, um, that wouldn't it be amazing, because it doesn't exist apparently, if there was a way to prove that your emotions and your thoughts have a true effect on the body. We all know that. I'm upset, oh I'm and and it ends up affecting your health. Yes. Because you're you're upset or it's a knots, right? Yeah. And so we all know that that happens. But unfortunately, the medical industry doesn't believe in woo, woo. So they're like, well, you know, and so there's no tangible proof of it. I think there's it's increasing more and more. There's Reiki, there's all kinds of things. But um, so I I saw this program and I went back to my the physicist and I said, Do you think we could convert this to the human body and detect the biofield? Yes. Because we give off energy. Yes, we know everybody knows this. You give off energy, your nerve endings are giving off a little spark. Yes, okay, you get emotional, it does eventually affect your health. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we had a tangible technology that's able to read that and provide that data for the medical field, for the counselors, for the psychiatrist, psychologist, so that you're able to actually show on the body. And then, and oftentimes when that translates to where in the body is it resonating? Because there's a lot of theory on that as well. You know, when you're emotional, you're back hurt. Well, that could be you don't feel supported, right? There's a lot of theories on these things that are unproven. And again, unfortunately, considered woo-woo if you go down that path. I personally believe in all that woo-woo because if we think we're that simple and it's just, you know, me and my life is tralala, I'm gonna go, and there's nothing outside of that, there's no universal. There's there's so much more than we realize, right? Because there's all these, and that was part of it too, is the invisible threat was these things are invisible. Yes. You don't see them, so you think, oh, that's not they don't exist. They don't exist. Well, yeah, they do, they do, and they have an energy to them because my technology is proving that that has an energy, and we're able to show that on a little screen. And and so accelerated consciousness, I'm very excited for when the day comes that I can focus on that because I believe that the medical industry then can merge science and medical and woo can woo-woo can all merge.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, and then we can have uh additional support for the human body and biofield. So a few things I definitely want to touch on there. I also believe in in energy big time.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And I say anyone who doesn't believe that, go to a sporting event, go to a concert, go to a church where everybody's praying over somebody, you can't outrun that feeling that overcomes you. That's an electromagnetic field we're putting out. Unless you're blocked. Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_02

Unless you're blocked by a lot of meds and yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00

I used to tell my children that I felt as people we were all little batteries, and the reason I feel prayer works is one I believe in something above me. But the reason I believe it works so much is because all of these batteries create this cell, and they're all focusing their energy into one thing in that moment, and that is undeniable to anything or anyone who is listening. That's right. You can bend the will like an airbender, like the last airbender. Bend the will to whatever you want or desire if you focus enough time and energy and space towards that thing. Yes, and clarity. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I love what you're building. I'm super excited about it. I met a woman in California on LinkedIn. Her name is Martha. I need to reach out to her. It's making me think about her a lot. I don't know why she created this technology, but she did, and it's the first of its kind. She created, it's called a sendo wave, this technology that goes on your head and it detects pain. And they've never been able to quantify pain through any sort of electromagnetic, any sort of energy. It helps people overcome opioid addictions because it distracts their mind when it detects that they're starting to feel pain and has an 80% efficacy rate. That's beautiful. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_02

That's beautiful.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. And it reminds me of what you're thinking of.

SPEAKER_02

Well, in my my nerdy brain goes to, you know, a lot of there's aura detection. A lot of it is heat that's coming off the body that that so some of those are detecting that, the heat that's coming off the body that you can actually pick up on, right? And so it's again difficult to pick those signals up. It takes a very, very um intense type of technology, hardware, software, and all of it, to analyze the data that it's pulling in, right? So yeah, there's a lot of different theories out there. There's some that um they they believe that they can detect. There's there's a lot of gimmicks out there. I'm not saying this woman is, but that's something that I've noticed, and it's been a frustration trying to get accelerated consciousness moving because I have some very scholarly individuals that are part of the company that really want to see this happen. Um and there are because there's others out there that are just out to make money, and they'll show you your aura, and you know, people think that's a valid uh detection capability. Ours is so much more, it will be so much more when I can develop that because it is very complex and it it's not an easy thing to do. But it's absolutely if we can detect a drone that you don't, you know, and it's miles away and it we detected when it turned on, though you can't see it. I mean, it's giving off an emission, it's giving off an energy. And so if we can do that, we can detect those currents that are coming off the body as well. When you, you know, your emotions peak, something changes. Yes. It's exciting. It's there, it's it's there. It's somebody's gonna figure out how to do it. And I hope it's gonna be you, it's gonna be me. It's gonna be you, girl.

SPEAKER_00

It's gonna be you. So you want to reach the person who believes they are beyond help, beyond anyone seeing them, beyond anyone caring. And I love your heart about that. I know that's so true because I know you as a human. If that person is listening to this episode right now, and somebody out there is who needs to hear this, what do you most want them to hear directly from you?

SPEAKER_02

Do not give up. Do not give up. There is someone out there who, you know, in your darkest hour, um just know that that there are answers, solutions. Keep going, keep going, you'll work through it. Um yeah, my heart goes out to anyone uh who struggles with things like that. Because as someone, we've gone through those kind of things, and and you feel alone and it's dark, and you actually regress, right? You just don't want to tell anybody about it. You want to just kind of pull back from the world, and that is such a sad place because you feel so alone. And you know, I'm hoping whether it's my book or just the your your podcast, there's answers, don't you know, and and it's okay to admit your faults and your failures and your weaknesses. It's okay because we all have them.

SPEAKER_00

Yes.

SPEAKER_02

That's probably the most important thing is when you think you're not right, you're not good, you've screwed up, you this or that, you think you're the only no, we've all done that. Everyone. Yeah, there's not one person, even the most arrogant individual, has their demons in their their closets. That's exactly right. Right.

SPEAKER_00

So I would take that one step farther to the people who are listening, and I would say once you're past the storm, have some time to look back at what that built in you. Yeah. How much resilience, how much capability, how much ability to handle pressure, solve problems with limited resources, prioritize what's important, uh, hold empathy and space for other people because you've been through things or people have hurt you in some way, physically, emotionally, sexually, whatever that looks like. It has built something in you that you are not recognizing in this moment as a gift.

SPEAKER_02

And I want to add to that beautiful statement. We all have uh a mission, a destiny. You know, people oftentimes when you're in your darkest place, like, why am I here? What I have no purpose. Why, why? It's not true. We all we all come to this life with a purpose and a destiny, whether it's just to be a mom and raising beautiful kids, or it's to build skyscrapers or to do technology like I'm which I didn't tell you about the tsunami. It's too bad I forgot to tell you about that because it's actually a really cool story, but we may go over in time. But that that there are things that don't give up. And there's a reason that you're here, there's a reason maybe you're going through that. Like you said, step away, look at it once you're through that storm, or even if you're in the midst of that storm, try to sit quietly, journal about it, meditate, pray, whatever you need to do, but don't just give up on I'm stuck like this, I have no answers. And that that's what a lot of people end up hearing, right?

SPEAKER_00

So my question is not what has this taken from me, but what has it given me?

SPEAKER_03

Yes.

SPEAKER_00

And that is such a different question and such a different uh frame of thought around those things. And I'll have you on again, you can tell the tsunami story. Okay. So when your book gets ready to launch, I'll have you on, we can tell everybody about it, and then we can put a little QR code, they can get a little coupon, get a little discount, get some people reading your book so we can get all the things. We I have come to the end, Tammy, and I have three questions at the end that I ask every single guest. What does the unbreakable advantage mean to you?

SPEAKER_02

The thing we've repeated here quite a bit is you take your things that broke you and turn them into an advantage to you. Right. Yeah. It's and that's really what that comes down to to me. Is anything that tried to break me has become my strength and my advantage.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. It didn't break me, you made me. Yeah. 100%. What do you have to let go of? What did you have to let go of to become who you are today?

SPEAKER_02

Ego insecurity. Right? Um women, oftentimes we feel so insecure about ourselves and and everything. And l being free of that, as I said, at this age, I'm at that point where I've let go of those insecurities and those self-doubts, and I am happy in my own skin. And I had to let a lot of that go to get to where I am today.

SPEAKER_00

Ego's a big thing.

SPEAKER_02

Insecurity's a big thing. Yes, it is. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think I was ever ego. I was never, my mother raised me to be very humble. Yes. And and so I don't think I've ever had an overly inflated ego. In fact, it was probably the opposite of it, right? But yeah, just the insecurities and and the judgments. And and when you can stop, when I let that go, I I turned a different corner in my life.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, love that. What do you still need to let go of to become who you want to be tomorrow? Hmm.

SPEAKER_02

What do I still need to let go of? Oh gosh, I'm such a go-getter. I don't know. I have so much I want to do, you know. And um I'm not ready to let go of any of that. I I like where I am today, and I like the momentum and the power that I feel because I'm kind, I'm humble, I'm loving. I choose kindness all the time. I run my companies, you know, very much in touch with the emotional side, right? I I tell my engineer, I work with a bunch of guys, businessist engineers, and I'll be like, How are you feeling today? How you doing? You know, we're human. Yeah, we're all humans and we still have to function. And gone are the days in work where it's like, you know, you just I don't believe in that. And I don't run my company that way. And I run it with compassion. And I'm proud of that. Women a lot of times think we have to be just, you know, bowls in a China shop. Yeah, I'm in control, I'm strong. I had I let that go. I let that go, and I I believe that the people that work for me and with me, I never say anyone works for me. I like to say you work with me. Yes, team. And and that, you know, there's compassion there. And and I that's that's where I'm at today.

SPEAKER_00

Beautiful, beautiful. This has been an amazing conversation. I've loved every second of it. Definitely we'll have you on again. Especially when you're getting ready to launch your book. We'll do a whole push for you out into the ether because everyone needs to read it. Because just the little bits I read, I am dying to read the rest of it. Where can people connect with you online? You're in the ether? How can they get connected with Tammy Fitzpatrick?

SPEAKER_02

So, of course, I'm on all the social, I'm on Insta and Facebook and LinkedIn. Um, I have my own website, TammyFitzpatrick.com, and almost everything is there. You can find my other two companies, um, and of course, LinkedIn I'm on there. And I'd love to hear from anyone. I am very much uh interested in responding. You know, anyone that reaches out, I especially if they're looking for some hope or some help or whatever. I'm just I'm I'm here.

SPEAKER_00

You are a beautiful human. I will let everybody who's listening know it is spelled T-A-M-I. Yes. Because if they go looking for the traditional spelling of Tammy, they will never find you.

SPEAKER_02

They will never find me.

SPEAKER_00

Yes. So I think it's really important to point that out. Uh thank you so much for listening today. This has been an impactful and incredible conversation. You can find me at Misty Carson Ms H R M on LinkedIn, the Unbreakable Advantage on Instagram, or my website, unbreakableadvantage.com. Love to connect with you if you're interested in being a potential guest. If you want to send me a message, this is helping you, something you want to hear about, know about, please let me know. Until next time, please continue becoming. Subscribe wherever you listen and connect with me on LinkedIn and Instagram. We were not broken. We were being built. Until next week, keep becoming.