After Living The Crude Life since high school working in the heavy industrial construction industry, Brittany Diederich has began her next professional chapter in life – The Business Lesbian.
According to Brittany, The Business Lesbian is a podcast to highlight humans and businesses using their power for good.
Brittany is a 30yo woman who is married to a woman and live with two dogs and a cat. She is very invested in seeing others succeed and be happy, some would say it helps with the pursuit of her own happiness.
Often sarcastic, funny and smart, Brittany is quite good at faking confidence. She is a Family-Business Drop-out and is enrolled in the MBA program at the University of Minnesota.
The Business Lesbian with Brittany Diederich is available and live on anywhere you listen to podcasts, please like, follow and support her new endeavor anyway you possibly can!
Below is the raw, unedited transcript from our artificial intelligence translator.
Speaker 1
Alright, we're gonna go to our zoom line here and we're gonna, let's see, we're gonna do a little bit of some talk of the town on bismarck radio and then we're also gonna do a little crude life podcast and we also have some other podcast that we are getting syndicated and picked up with were in the formation of those right now. So Brittany Dietrich is our guest.
She is starting a brand new podcast. I think she's got one episode out, I know she's got a couple in the can, but she's transitioning out of the family business which has been construction and industry and she's gonna go into a new direction. And so we talk a little bit about that and we can also talk about her new podcast and Brittany, how you doing today?
Speaker 2
I'm great Jason, how are you?
Speaker 1
Pretty good. Now let's start with the podcast. What is the name of the podcast?
Speaker 2
It is called business lesbian with Brittany Diedrich and I am, it is not interviewing just queer people. Um my first episodes are, my first guests are both gay and then the episode that's in the can is also with a queer person but we're interviewing all people, I am the business lesbian. Now,
Speaker 1
is there a difference between gay, lesbian and queer because I know there's all these different acronym names and that kind of thing. So is there a difference or does it kind of
Speaker 2
interchange? I mean it's always safe to call. I mean it depends, it's all identification and you can call us the alphabet mafia if you want. Um it's interesting. My wife actually chairs Fargo Moorhead Pride, which is next week. Um, and I've learned so much through her on it. But really it's, it's however people identify queer is like a safe catch all are
Speaker 1
you for real. I thought that was the most offensive one of all the alphabets. That's the
Speaker 2
safest. No, I mean unless you're like, you're calling someone queer as and you are a strange, but even then it's just an adjective, I don't know, it's all about intent. I think
Speaker 1
Brittany I I grew up in the air. Anything that was on tv in the eighties is offensive now. I mean everybody was just so watch it, watch seventies and eighties program. It is so offensive today. Holy smokes. So it's
Speaker 2
kind of sad because it's starting to happen to some of my favorite shows. I love 30 Rock and everyone, I'll rewatch it every once in a while and I'm like, okay, there's a couple of things in here that are a little okay. Yeah, I still love it and it's just, it's just intent and it, it wasn't weaponized at the time I don't think or I don't know. It's
Speaker 1
no comedy is mostly done to advance the mind, You know, it allows you to think, you know, it helps to be, to be comedic versus angry. And so if you laugh at something, your mind at least goes there. And so it's been something since Socrates that, you know, comedians have been, you know, or or Mercutio from Shakespeare days and there's been, there's been a need for comedy and in America, one thing that's very unique about comedy is that we're allowed to go places that you can't go in
other countries, a lot of the comedians can take on the president or even some religious or lifestyle choices and although might be controversial is still allowed. And that for me, I'm a big proponent of that type of, you know, hey, let everybody to the party type of a thing. You know, even even kind of the offensive folks. Let them let them remind me why I'm offended by
Speaker 2
that. I mean that is right,
Speaker 1
as long as there's some responsible education and some responsible discourse to go along with that. And, you know, one of the things that's always impressed me about you professionally, because we've been uh linkedin companions for a number of years and I've been able to follow your career folks just through a little transparency. I gave Brittany her first interview back, oh, probably 10 years ago at when I was at K.
F. G. Oh, she was a student at Fargo South doing a deca project. And so uh we connected on social media through that. So I've been able to, you know, sporadically just kind of follow what you've been doing professionally through your construction company and just your industry work. And then you mentioned your wife earlier.
So let's talk about that lifestyle choice a little bit and lifestyle choice, but that was offensive right there. Let's talk about that lifestyle direction and the podcast because business lesbian. And then that's that's pretty direct by the way, that's that's
Speaker 2
letting people
Speaker 1
know exactly what what what your target market is. So we'll start with just first, how long have you been married?
Speaker 2
Uh Chelsea and I met after high school um and we've been married since 2016. So today, six years this november,
Speaker 1
which state did you get married? And if I may ask,
Speaker 2
we got married in Minnesota. Um we we got engaged right after the Supreme Court um legalized or made, you know our marriage legal. Um and I talked about that at the end of the podcast actually now like that there's been hints set revoking or repealing um over rafael. We are making sure that our wills and everything also basically contractually bind us to each other because if our marriage gets dissolved, it's if I don't I don't really know what happens, but it's just like marriage
is a contract and you don't have to worry about it. If I get in a car accident, my wife will be able to make decisions on my behalf. And I'm like, okay, well if something were to happen, I need to make sure that it's still in writing, which is kind of a bummer, it's weird.
Speaker 1
I've never even thought of that angle where some states if they don't recognize your marriage, they might, your spouse may not be able to make medical or just life and death decisions for you.
Speaker 2
Yeah. And there, and it's really hard if you have kids in the picture too, because if you don't carry the child, then in some states you have to adopt them and, and so you can lose parental rights and all that stuff. So it's, it's pretty, I'm hoping that everything um stays in place, but we'll see.
Speaker 1
So the business lesbian podcast, how many episodes have hit the streets or hit the airwaves or dropped dropped? How many episodes have
Speaker 2
dropped? Yeah, yeah. Like subscribe to the first episode dropped last night. Um I was going to do it this morning because the internet says the best time to release the podcast is Tuesday Wednesday or thursday morning. Um but then I got too excited. Apparently there's yeah, yeah. I I don't know what I'm doing, I'm just having fun with it. Um but yeah, so I'm transitioning out of the family business and I'm trying to figure out what I and one of the magical things about being in
industry, but being, you know, a child of the family that owns the businesses. I've been able to, it took a lot of time, but I've I'm very much myself. And so that's part of why the name is kind of a little jarring because it's like, okay, this is, this is who I am. And if if it offends you that um, the show is called business lesbian. And you know, maybe maybe we won't, you won't enjoy the content, but it's just, it's just who I am.
And because I was in a family business where I knew I wasn't gonna get fired for being visible, um, because my dad loves me and you know, I was able to prove my credibility in my, in my job on my own. But I also knew that I could be authentic. That kind of really became a big part of how I am professionally where I'm, I'm pretty candid with people. I'm very direct. I like, I like to have like we were talking before having a sense of humor about things is really important.
Um, and and bringing other people into the fold. So that's, that's kind of why I picked the name because I was like, oh, now I'm just just a business lesbian. I don't know what I'm gonna do. And then I was like, that's kind of funny. So I don't know, it's,
Speaker 1
well, it's it's very to the point and you know, it actually, it, it surprised me a little bit because I just last week I used you as an example. We were talking, I don't know how it came up, but uh, we were talking about social media and social media etiquette and all the different angles and politics and roe v wade and uh, you know, just gun rights and you know, you name it any any trigger issue. And, and you know how that mixes on social media and when we we came up with um some of the
alphabet people or alphabet mafia as you call them and which I like much better than alphabet people because I stole that from Dave chappelle. So that's that's all uh is um I brought you up as an example because like when you came out, um whenever that was with your announcement that you were married, was that the first time that you would like publicly came out I guess. Uh, is that even a thing that people do anymore? Do people come out anymore?
Speaker 2
Okay, well I have to come out still all the time too because I mean if you I probably don't present as like a stereotypical lesbian. No,
Speaker 1
you don't. It shocked me when I saw that, but
Speaker 2
but you have to kind of tell everyone. So that's why I'm pretty vocal about. Oh yeah, my wife, I'm like, yes. And I, the first time I came out at industrial builders, I was so nervous. It was before I got married that I came out. Um but Chelsea and have been together for three years at that point. So, and everyone just thought she was my roommate? Um Yeah, it was, it's wild. Now
Speaker 1
I imagine some of the older generation they still haven't figured out there like, okay, so what is it now they're doing? Like, that's
Speaker 2
why I'm so like, I'm like business, lesbian, please. There's so many more things for us to talk about. I don't want you to, you know, just my wife is my wife and that's just how it is I guess. So I'm like, let's just get that out of the way right away. It's not,
Speaker 1
Well I could say for, you know, kind of following or being, you know, you being a part of my social media world for the past 10 years. I call you one of the classiest ones when it comes to integrating that, that lifestyle into your professional world, that's not an easy thing to do because even, you know, I'll use the sports example, you know, when somebody scores a touchdown and they spike it.
You know, when I, when I grew up, the coach would say, act like you've actually scored a touchdown before. You don't have to spike it at the end of the Super Bowl, at the end of the playoffs. Hey, you can get excited, you can get emotional, but we're playing, you know, more head, we're playing, you know, Valley City what, you've never scored a touchdown before and that's kind of like how I, you know, I view a lot of things in social media, There's some people that just, you know, go
through their day to day and it's their day to day and then other people, they get excited at certain times when you kinda anything that involved, like your lifestyle like that, it was just so, as a matter of fact, it wasn't, you know, it wasn't Lebron James the six months, where am I gonna sign, you know, on ESPN?
So I was, I, I think you have a lot of class when it comes to um, just integrating, I guess the lifestyle and uh, you know, business, because there are some people still that maybe not be as accepting in business as others. Are you finding that to be the case still?
Speaker 2
Uh, I'm sure it is, I think, and and that's probably part of why I lied so much because people kind of self select on their own and so I, I would, I like to live as myself, I like to be authentic and if who I am is disturbing people, people aren't as abrasive. I mean, it happens every once in a while or someone gets really upset and tells me, you know how I'm gonna go to hell or whatever.
But um, for the most part, people aren't like outwardly unkind about it, so they're not gonna just like blow up, they might just kind of go to a different part of the room or whatever. And so all of a sudden the people that are left standing with you are people that you can, you can work with, you can talk with. So it people kind of sort themselves into different categories as time goes on, which is, you know, and, and that's part of why I'm always just like this is who I am and I hope that you,
you know, that's not the only part of my identity, but it seems to be a part that can be divisive, so let's just get this out of the way um, and you can make your move and then we can get to know each other more if you're, so
Speaker 1
you live in North Dakota and you work in the construction and you know, heavy, heavy machinery, you know, diesel is the entry level type of, you know, liquid industry. Um how is, you know, the North Dakota and the construction, you know, the industry side of things, is there, is there an acceptance there is there, you know, you're transitioning out of the family business, but it's also, you know, it's a construction business too.
So it could be geez, it could be a family, it could be, let's see, you got a lot of pressures coming from a lot of different areas, stereotypically speaking, so that's why I just kind of ask you about your experiences and you know what, what, what you've seen, you know, because you're, you're generally a pretty positive person for that from
Speaker 2
Yeah, I mean, I enjoy, I, one of my favorite things about working in construction for so long is that, you know, I out of the box, like, especially when I graduated high school, I was like, oh, these are not the people that I necessarily want to be around or that I have a lot in common with, but you have things that you can find in common with everybody.
And so I've gotten really, I've gotten to meet so many people without writing them off and getting to learn so many other parts of people's personalities through. I mean in the construction, you're kind of stuck with the people that are working around you. If you're on a crew, if you're in a department of a office, like you're the people that are around you are the people that are around you and it's a lot more fun to enjoy the company of people around you.
Um, and you can do that by getting to know them and, and picking around in their, in their personalities to find the things that you think are really interesting and everyone has something about them. That's really interesting. Uh, to answer your question about, you know North Dakota and construction, it's getting better for sure. Um, I think my experience would have been a lot different if again, the nepotism was like this magical cloak of invisibility where, you know, there,
there really weren't a lot of incidents within our company where people were um, close minded because I'm the president's daughter. So, you know, if you put two and two together, you're like, all right, let's not bite the hand that feeds. Um, but yeah, so it was within my organization. I think there was probably some forced good behavior just because of who I am.
And then as time got on kind of like everything in my career, I made sure that people got to know me and gave me credibility because of who I am. Um Part of it was being the torchbearer of for a lot of those people being the only queer person that they knew and having some very uncomfortable conversations with people that mean really well where they're like, huh?
I thought you people weren't like this and I'm like, I'm probably the first person you've ever talked to, huh? And they're like, yeah. And so knowing that you're kind of the person, the only person that they know, um that's out or is vocal about it is a little bit of pressure. But people, I don't think I've ever been someone where at the end of the interaction, they're like, oh yeah, gay people suck.
Like after they walk away from me. I think that I try to represent pretty well. Um in general, I would say construction is certainly getting more tolerant. I don't think it's like pro diversity yet. It's getting there and as leadership is changing as more people are getting involved and bringing more people to the table. It's, it's getting more diverse and people are valuing other opinions, but in my career in North Dakota.
No one was ever abusive or or terrible or anything like that. But it wasn't like a, hey can we come to pride with you? It was more of a okay we're okay with that. And so that's that's kind of in this space which is I mean far better than like a negative perspective.
Speaker 1
Yeah. I would imagine your story and your background pedigree is a little bit different from most being the daughter of a president of a pretty big sized construction company. You started in high school so you were not afraid to you know get your hands dirty and some stress in your life and the construction side of things.
So a lot of people that probably we're a little bit shocked. They also worked next to you and grew up next to you a little bit too because you were there. Um I mean when did you start in the construction industry
Speaker 2
Right after I graduated high school, I started working at I. D. I. So yeah it was 18.
Speaker 1
Yeah and so I mean that's not normal for you know 18 year old girls that you know are I mean yeah and
Speaker 2
I mean still we don't we don't have a lot of women that work in our company with more now than we used to.
Speaker 1
But I
Speaker 2
was I was definitely at the time I started on a road a million crew and I was the only woman out there for the whole summer that I was on that crew
Speaker 1
and you're doing the business lesbian podcast, Is that the name of it? Right. Business lesbian.
Speaker 2
Okay
Speaker 1
now let's talk about that a little bit here. So okay the business lesbian podcast. Who was your first guest?
Speaker 2
Uh My first two guests were molly Swanston who is the owner of Swanson equipment and Megan McDougall who works at her family's tech consulting company. And so they're both queer as well. Um and so I just was like let's just get this first episode. We're all really good friends too. So the first episode was me interviewing them about how we talked a lot about working with your family and kind of the the vibe that comes from making sure that you are a good like you know you earn the chair
that you're in, you're you're given the chair because of your name but make sure you actually deserve it. And so we talk a lot about that. Um and then my second episode is with mortgage life of um life photography. And she's talking about um she's a professional photographer who went from being a hobbyist having an awesome really cool portfolio of work. And so um but yeah, we talk a lot about the, well we really just have conversations
Speaker 1
and how are these podcasts available through all the regular, different places I imagine.
Speaker 2
Yeah
Speaker 1
you have a website
Speaker 2
Spotify. I do. It's called the business lesbian dot com and I built it myself. So it's not the most beautiful thing, but I'm pretty proud. I'm not, I like to and I think that's the family business side of it where it's like you have to be able to wear all the hats, do all the things. I was like, I'm gonna build my own website. So it's the business lesbian dot com and streaming on Spotify or I heart radio Deezer amazon. It's, it's all of the anywhere you can find a podcast. It's it's up.
Speaker 1
You got yours on Spotify, huh?
Speaker 2
Oh yeah. That was probably the easiest one though. Actually
Speaker 1
I should probably go back and take a look because back when I tried they charge you for it and I'm like, no, I'm not doing that. And so I okay, well I'll go back and take a look at. In fact it might even be on Spotify now because you know how it goes. You put your rss feed in those little robot websites and
Speaker 2
they other places without you even knowing. Like
Speaker 1
I got an
Speaker 2
email, I
Speaker 1
was gonna say, I got an email the other day from somebody who listened to it off of listen notes. And I've never even heard of listen notes. And I went, I looked it up and I'm like, oh, okay, it's just like an online streaming site that people can listen to. Apparently my podcast. Okay, you
Speaker 2
aren't on Spotify yet when I search the crude life you do come up for being a guest on Talking Energy Show.
Speaker 1
Okay. I should see. So I should probably get on the Spotify. Yeah, I've I've been a little bit behind on some of that updating things because it it takes time, it takes time to get through all that difference.
Speaker 2
What I what one of my friends took me off to as a service called Sounder and so I upload the episode. You set up all the feeds first uploaded at that one spot and it distributes it to all of the other ones.
Speaker 1
And then um the other thing that I do and this is something that you know, I I everybody has their own strategy but I actually prefer when people listen to them off of the crude life website or whatever the podcast is. You know, and so like we have players right on our website because then we get website traffic. But um the like the different players are nice because when people have them downloaded then it's a reminder that a new episode comes up and
that sort of thing. So like I heart radio whenever a new episode comes up from the crude life it emails my texts or whatever the to my phone and says new episode up and running and
Speaker 2
stuff.
Speaker 1
Exactly. I'm like okay, so I'm the one they're telling no I'm just kidding. ... Well okay, I got a question for you then and it might be my naive a tay. But you mentioned earlier, I think that uh somebody does not have to be part of the alphabet mafia or queer LS key tea or something like that. They can uh key. That's a new word. That's a new letter. Um, so are you gonna go outside of, you know, um business a lesbian talk or are you the business lesbian or just
Speaker 2
the business, lesbian? Business lesbian. So it's just me labeling myself and no one else. The rest are are whoever they want to be if they'll just agree to talk to me. So,
Speaker 1
so I'm
Speaker 2
working on a couple of business owners. Um, I'm hoping to get Skyler Dutton from Thunder Coffee. I'm I'm working on a bunch of different, I'm gonna interview a bunch of my friends that are teachers um, about what their excellent teachers, but talking about their lives as, as educators in this environment because back to school is starting and they're amazing humans and it's just hard to watch.
Um I think people forget that teachers are people when their kids are working with them. So I'm just trying to show off how how they're engaged and how they're, so it's it's gonna be all kinds of different people and they won't necessarily be in business. Obviously educators are not for profit thing. Um, but they're just good people that are doing who are passionate about their work and are doing the right thing.
And so I'm just showing I'm kind of in an existential crisis where I'm trying to figure out what I'm gonna do with my life. But I know that I've connected to some really wonderful people and I've always had good conversations so why not record them and see if anyone else is inspired by them the way that I am.
Speaker 1
Professional identity crisis. Huh?
Speaker 2
Yes. Just a business lesbian. That's all I am now.
Speaker 1
That's it. So well what the heck? Um How about when it comes to social media? That's a that's a topic that's growing more and more for companies. You know you we mentioned the north Dakota which is a traditional little bit more conservative uh older values if you will that are from the last century and then the construction is what it is. Uh Companies some micro manage some kind of let people do what they want to do. Um You're getting a blending now personal business blends together,
people being protective of you know their image whether it be gun control or roe v wade. So um do you talk about that? Are you going to talk about that? Do you have any thoughts on that when it comes to social media and it comes to just anything whether it be you know you and your wife sharing something on social media and how that impacts you know companies and blah blah blah. I think you know what I'm trying to say, don't you?
Speaker 2
Yeah, for sure. I mean and that's it kind of comes down to culture by the way, it's
Speaker 1
no different than when I got my D. O. I just so you know, I I brought shame to a lot of people during that, but go on. Okay, well,
Speaker 2
but it's it's the whole thing where, I mean, I think the pandemic probably blended things up a lot more. Where are our work and our personal lives became really integrated. Um You kind of always I'm a very committed person like and I think obviously that started with working at the family business, like you're all in um and that's part of the reason that I made the decision to leave was because I wasn't feeling like I was all in and it wasn't fair to the business, but um when you work
somewhere you're you're representing that firm, hopefully you if you enjoy the work you're doing it because the culture kind of fits who you are and they support who you are as a person as well, which might be expressing yourself on social media, but you know, typically people kind of cluster into groups of people that are kind of similar to them that, you know?
But social media is it? We work with humans and humans are gonna represent themselves and that's just part of business. So I don't I don't think you can you certainly can make sure that people put disclaimers where it's like these views are my own, they don't reflect my organization or whatever it is, but the humans that work for you are they represent your organization. They are your organization. So I don't know, it's, it's kind of a tricky area, but after the pandemic, when all
of a sudden people are working from your kitchen tables and kids are running around the back, it's the lines are pretty blurred and you have to admit like it's not just a hat that you put on and take off when you go to work, it's, you're the same person and you should be comfortable being yourself and being able to express yourself at work.
Speaker 1
Well, I tell people all the time that if you have a student loan, a car payment or a house payment, you have a business. It's called your family because you're cash flowing it, you have to figure out a way for, you know, you have more revenue than you've got bills. That's just, there's no different than what a business does. And so, you know, the lines, they are getting more blurred. What we did at the crude life is we're very inclusive for for individuals where we draw the line as
ethics and if somebody starts abusing their their authority or their power and in our case somebody might use, you know the position to go get a big interview with the Ceo and then use that opportunity to solicit them, nope, they're not invited back to the party. That's the end of that. And so yeah, we kind of go more towards the ethics route than than the, you know, lifestyle,
Speaker 2
you know? Yeah,
Speaker 1
okay, well, well I suppose anything else that you want people to know about the podcast, you know, I wish you luck, It's gonna be, you know, I'm glad you're having fun with it and uh but also that you're, you kind of got a mission to a little bit.
Speaker 2
Yeah, I mean, I just wanna, yeah, there are some really amazing people. So I guess one thing is the website is live, the business lesbian dot com and I have a spot on there where you can submit if you have anyone that you think I should interview. So my circle, I have some wonderful people in my life, but there are a lot of people that I don't know that are doing amazing things and so if you know someone who is in that camp, just submit them and I'll try to reach out to them and see who I can, who
I can get on the show and I don't know where it will go, but I'm, I'm just having fun and getting to know people and hoping I'll find, find my next spot pretty well, um wrapping up at I b I, and then I'm finishing up grad school here this next year and and then come may, if I don't have something started out, I'm gonna have kind of an issue, but
Speaker 1
um
Speaker 2
yeah, well I will land on my feet before then, I'm sure.
The Crude Life Podcast: Brittany Diederich on New Beginnings