Going Public and Staying Grounded | Shayra Melo

Episode Topics:

• Hear how a 27-year-old Colombian-American tech leader helped take an AI company public.
  
• Learn what 200% growth really looks like inside a high-performing startup.
  
• Discover how blockchain is protecting kids and reshaping AI security.
  
• Get inspired by Shayra’s story of turning curiosity into career-defining success.
  
• Understand what it truly takes to step into — and live out — your vision.

 

Rick Jordan  

What’s shaking? Hey, I’m Rick Jordan, and today we’re going all in, all right? Today I’m so pumped because we have a guest in the studio, and this is someone I’ve known for a little while. She’s amazingly brilliant and amazingly beautiful and just is doing a lot of cool things in the world of AI and blockchain. So listen up. Turn up your volume on everything here, because welcome for me. Shayra Melo, what’s up?

 

Shayra Melo  

Thank you. Hey, what’s going on? Let’s shake in shaken all in, all in team, all in Podcast. I am here. Yeah.

 

Rick Jordan  

You are, yeah. This is awesome. So you’re here; you’re actually here in Chicago. We’ve talked about doing this for a while, right? And we were looking at doing remote, but you’re here because there’s a company, a CEO friend of both of ours, and a company you’re involved with called Vocodia that literally just went public. That’s, that’s fantastic, yeah? So at this time, it was probably, like, a couple weeks ago this morning; while you were here, they just went public today on the Chicago Board of Trade. Absolutely, yes, amazing.

 

Shayra Melo  

And tomorrow we’re going to be ringing in the bell, and I’ll be on stage ringing the bell in with them.

 

Rick Jordan  

That’s a first. How does that feel? For real, being up on stage with the bell ringing?

 

Shayra Melo  

Oh, I mean, it’s surreal, right? It’s the American dream and all sorts. You know, I think that the the reality is, it’s that only a select few companies end up doing that, but the hard work that goes in it, the journey that goes into it, yeah, is a lot more difficult than, like, what the picture is, so I’m definitely happy, but there’s a lot of work to do right after this.

 

Rick Jordan  

For sure. I mean, well, you know, my company is reaching out, and we just went public a couple months ago on OTC, but what you’re saying is so cool to me, because it’s like, you come into the office, and it’s like it looks and functions just like any other office, just like any other cybersecurity office. I mean, we got a bit cooler of a vibe here, you know, for real, like most IT companies, you know.

 

Shayra Melo  

Get the music playing, and all the rooms, everything sank, yeah.

 

Rick Jordan  

Sure, but it’s, it’s the, it’s the everyday stuff that so many don’t have the visibility into. And I say so many don’t see because it’s not that they don’t see it. They probably would love to see it, yeah, but you’ll start to see it as well, like some of the comments about the stock and the direction of the company and all that. And it’s a—there’s, there’s, of course, negative things that will be said, but there’s also positive things that will be said. And generally speaking, that’s like a barrier of visibility, you know? So I’m excited for you tomorrow. Capture as much as you can, right on photos and on video, and then afterwards, it’s like, you’re gonna think it’s a surreal experience. I’m sure it’s just like getting married, right? Yeah, it’s like, where’d that day go?

 

Shayra Melo  

Right? It was so quick, but, yeah, so impactful for that day, yeah?

 

Rick Jordan  

Or like, when your daughter was born, right? It’s like, oh my god, that day’s gone already, right?

 

Shayra Melo  

No. And it’s, it goes so quick, right? And so everything after that is just like catalyzing, yeah? So fast, but you’re right, the visibility into certain scenarios, or into the companies, is not really visible from that point of view, like you don’t realize what’s going on in the back end, or anything like that. So I think that this is definitely the moment for that.

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah, right on, you mentioned something.

 

Shayra Melo  

Share our stories, right? Oh, yeah, for sure, yeah. And for you to share, be sharing these stories too. Because, like, I think so many people want to hear what it is to be running a public company, and it’s like, okay, great. Like, how do I even get to that first stepping stone? 

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah, yeah. A lot of it’s, I mean, for what you’re listening for, everyone listening, a lot of it’s actually the same, like, it’s the same day in and day out. It’s almost kind of surreal. It’s like, oh yeah, we have stock that’s trading, yeah, and it’s a, it’s because it, I mean, just three months ago, well, actually, even, like, prior to today, with the company you’re involved with, Bokodia, it’s like, you didn’t have that prior to today, and now it’s, it’s there, and it’s just something that takes a little bit to sink in, because you’re still just going to, knowing you, as I do, you’re still just going to push forward. You’re still just going to execute the plan. You know, it’s almost like, yeah, the stock price matters, but at the same time, what matters even more? So it’s almost like the price becomes kind of a symptom of what you’re doing in the execution of your plan and your vision.

 

Shayra Melo  

Absolutely, definitely it does. Because, I mean, even most companies like to stay private for a reason, so they don’t have to have that mentality of looking at that price or the ticker, right? And I think that, you know, with that being kind of like in front of mine now, it doesn’t really change anything, you know, because personally, for me, it’s always been about 200% growth, and 200% growth was already top of mind for me every single time. So this is just, this is just like a Hey, by the way, you can see it.

 

Rick Jordan  

Now, that’s interesting. You say that because I also want to dive into you a little bit too, because you said something about the American dream, and you’re Colombian, which is pretty awesome. Them, because I want to talk about that in a bit. That’s what you’re talking about, about the 200% growth, though. I don’t want to skip over that, because a lot of people are like, “I dream of that.” You know, if it’s an entrepreneur, which you have been there, I’ve been there to where it’s like, we’re in a startup mode. It’s like we’re so grateful that we just took in $30,000 in revenue over the last six months. Whoo, we’re actually making something, but then it’s like 200% growth; sure, that becomes 60. Then if it’s another 200, then that becomes 120, you know, and it continuously doubles. But how long do you think that something like that is sustainable?

 

Shayra Melo  

I mean, I believe it’s really sustainable. I don’t think that. I mean, you can see it with Apple right now. You can see it with companies that are just, you know, progressively growing. I mean, meta, yeah, it’s like, it’s, it’s, it’s right there, as long as you can continue to understand, Hey, how do we really refine within the culture, within the company, and then also align that with the financial goals? I think that that’s really healthy growth. Obviously, having the tech is super important for understanding what that merge looks like for the revenue and all of that. And you know that yourself, so, yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s definitely sustainable, but it’s difficult.

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah, for sure. I think of, uh, I think of, like, in the future, because reach-outs are doing eight figures in revenue, you know, and it’s like, okay, if you take, if you take, hypothetically, 20 million and double that, you know, you’re going to 40 million in revenue. I’m not talking market cap, right? With the if you go from 20 to 40, that’s, that’s a big jump. If you go from 40 to 80, that’s an even bigger jump, you know. So it’s like, the 200% growth, as I look out, it’s like, I don’t know, you know, because it’s like,the industries, if you’re listening, it’s like SaaS platforms, any kind of tech company is typically considered successful with a rule of 40 or a rule of 50. I’m sure you know this, right? It’s like gross margin percentage plus revenue gain percentage. If it equals 40, you’re good. If it equals 50, you’re doing really, really good, right, right?

 

Shayra Melo  

Well, I think that, you know, you know when our VC backed us, and when we were going through that process, I really started to understand, “Hey, what makes a unicorn company? What really brings that valuation to what it needs to be?” And I think that SaaS platforms are there. There’s this like dance, right? Because I’m not really a big fan of SaaS platforms. Funny enough. So it’s just the reality, right? Like we once owned software, and you can own it, and I just think that’s kind of coming back into a trend, or into a phase of what software can be. But I think that when we talked to our VC, he really gave me an insight into what 200% growth or what a unicorn company looks like. And so I really took that and ingrained it into the process for revenue, for our entire productivity, yeah. And so, yeah, that’s, it’s just a mantra that I go through.

 

Rick Jordan  

That’s cool. I dig that. All right, I’m gonna go back to the American Dream thing. All right, because you’re Colombian, right? Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever asked you this, American, Colombian, or American-Colombian. So you’re born here, born here. Oh, cool. That’s awesome. Yeah, your family came over here. Then first generation, first generation. Nice. How did that go for them? Oh, what did that look like? 

 

Shayra Melo  

Yeah, it was so difficult. It was; it was really difficult growing up. Yeah, I mean, for the most part, you know, my grandmother came here first, and then all the sisters, all the daughters, sorry to come in. My auntie came with her, and then my mom was, like, kind of like, forced through her sister. She’s like, No, you’re coming here to America. So, yeah, it was; it was really difficult. I mean, buying a house. My mom is a homeowner, and, you know, she did it on her own, and she’s, like, really shown me what it is to be a powerful woman. And all the women in my family are super, super powerful, and I’m so grateful for them and what they’ve done, and what my mom’s been able to, you know, provide for me here.

 

Rick Jordan  

You’re a woman in tech too—awesome. That’s, I mean, it’s still a minority, you know? I think tides are starting to shift a little bit, which I love, right? It’s still a minority, but it’s awesome to see that, you know, and you’re what, 27? Yeah, 27 years. I got that right. That’s to be that, right? And to be part of a company that’s going public is just freaking fantastic. Yeah, so you’re a badass. Where did you live when everybody moved because you said your grandma moved over here, right? She was the one who immigrated. That’s interesting, because mine did too, you know; she came over from, from Wales, you know, which was very interesting to me. So it’s like, I go all the way back to England and all of that, not Colombia. I mean, clearly it’s like, not exotic. I’m just glad I have good teeth. When my family came from Great Britain, you know, that’s a common theme over there. Yeah, exactly. I’m like, Thank God I got this. I’m cool, right? When she came over, where did they end up living at first? Like, what city did they end up landing in? 

 

Shayra Melo  

Yeah, that’s good. I think they—yeah, they moved immediately; they had family in New York. He had, like, a husband in New York, and then that American husband—no, he was—it was like her husband lived here in the US. Oh, okay. And he was Colombian, and so he had moved here, so she moved from love basically. oh,

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah, that’s awesome. We don’t hear too many of those awesome love stories anymore, do we? No, no, that’s so cool. So, from New York, did they just stay there? 

 

Shayra Melo  

They went. So he was living, so their family was living in New York, and then they had moved down to Tampa, okay, so, yeah, they’re, they, yeah.

 

Rick Jordan  

That’s in Florida, yeah, exactly, for sure. Right on. It’s a good place. I like it. Yeah, yeah.

 

Shayra Melo  

Florida is great. I mean, you know, it’s not the most, like, the biggest tech scene out there, especially in Tampa Bay, Florida. It’s starting to grow. But, you know, compared to, you know, Palo Alto, or, you know, bigger cities like Chicago even, it’s, it’s definitely growing, but it’s, it’s a little bit more, a little bit harder.

 

Rick Jordan  

That’s cool. That’s awesome. Now, from a tech perspective, you know? Because I know you. I mean, just like all of us, right, we’ve had different jobs. It’s like, I started at McDonald’s, you know, all of that. Yeah, but when did you start getting into tech?

 

Shayra Melo  

Well, I started getting into tech in 2018 with decentralized technologies and investing in them. So that’s, that’s when I started in it.

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah. I mean, in essence, like blockchain, if we could call that a decentralized technology, it is, yeah. It is, yeah. Did you ever get into the NFT space? This is totally an aside, because nowadays, they’re just not worth anything. But anyways, going back to 2018, decentralized tech, everybody at that point, and still to this day, kind of confused blockchain and crypto, yeah, you know, as if they’re, like, the same thing, whereas, like, blockchain is really the tech that’s kind of behind crypto. Crypto just happens to be like this layer of monetization on top of blockchain, just like anything else can be monetization on top of blockchain. Crypto is just that kind of thing. 2018 is early for all of that. Yeah. I mean, Bitcoin might have been, what, 10 years old at that point, I think, like around 10 grand, right? Yeah, exactly. You know, people knew about it, but not many did. You know it still hadn’t caught mainstream; almost next to nobody understood what actual blockchain was. You know, it was just all crypto. You know, then blockchain was sort of like the straggler behind the forgotten about stepchild. You know, when that actually was like the—that was like the firstborn here, the prodigal son. That’s really what blockchain is. That’s what everything is built on. How did you be like, Oh, that looks cool? I think I’m going to do that.

 

Shayra Melo  

Look, I always wanted to get into investing. I was; I kept hearing everything on the news about this Bitcoin thing, and Bitcoin is the next financial piece. It’s like, huge. And I just kept going through all these other kinds of, like, all these news channels, and they just repeatedly coming up. And I was like, Okay, well, let me just go look at it. I was, like, super young.

 

Rick Jordan  

2020, so you’re talking six years ago, so like, 2120, 21 years old. 

 

Shayra Melo  

And I was like, Okay, well, you know, maybe I’ll, you know, I’ll invest in this. This is, like, super new and nascent. And, yeah, I did. And that’s, that’s how I started getting into it. Somebody was like, “Oh, it’s never gonna grow.” It’s never gonna be there. They were going for school, for, like, to be a financial advisor. I was like, “So I was trying to listen to them,” and I was like, “Making sure.” I was like, maybe, am I checking all the boxes to see if I’m, like, making the right kind of financial investment? But yeah, no, yeah, I wrote it, and that’s how I figured out tech to begin with, but at a financial perspective. So that’s, that’s how I started getting into it. And like, being first generation, like, especially from South America, like my family is, like, all from there, especially my family, they are not tech orientated at all. So, like, learning all of that by myself and going through that, I was like, Yeah, that was, like, probably, like, the biggest shift, like, just pushing past that,

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah, that’s cool. So, I mean, so you were really looking at crypto at that point in time, right, right? And then when did you go deeper, you know? And how did you figure out, like, oh, there’s a deeper layer to this? There’s this thing called blockchain, and that’s where the magic is.

 

Shayra Melo  

Yeah, I started investing a little bit right before the crypto haze, like the craziness of it, and during covid, yeah, I started diving deeper into NFTs. I started understanding that a little bit. I think a lot of people did too, yeah, for sure. But I understood the technology, but then I took it a step further to understand the technology a lot deeper. And that’s that was the point of catalyzing versus understanding NFTs or what was going up and down in value. I really focused on the proposition of each chain and what they were bringing. And I was like, oh, there’s. A need, yeah, in the market, I was like, Oh, there’s a big need. No one knows about that.

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah. So you look deeper into, like, the Ethereum chain, the Binance chain, all of that.

 

Shayra Melo  

Yeah, exactly. And then, like, and then also, how to like, create layer two. And then I started creating a white paper behind it. And then I met Jason Mello, who is, you know, our CTO, and he was also the founder of Paxos. So it’s like, oh, well, that just worked out heavenly, yeah, for sure. So, yeah, that was, that was just like, the perfect merge.

 

Rick Jordan  

Didn’t we just talk about how, like, the love stories don’t exist anymore? But then there’s one, right, that actually got involved in tech too. That’s cool, yeah, yeah. Everybody listening? I mean, she talks about him like he’s a third person, but he’s actually her husband too. So he’s a really brilliant dude, you know, doesn’t hold a candle to his wife, though. Jason brings an interesting piece to the puzzle. Yeah, you know which? Which is really cool. So was this, like, late-night sessions with a bottle of wine. As he started, like, unraveling the world of blockchain for you,

 

Shayra Melo  

Kind of, yeah. No, it was super professional. We met, and we had, like, basically, I told him, I was like, Hey, this is what I want to do. This is when I was to create. And he was like, Yeah, this is interesting. And at that point he had, like, another startup that he was involved in that was their unicorn company, actually funny enough. He was like, “I don’t know if I’m gonna leave my unicorn company right now for, you know, a startup again.” So it was; it took a lot of convincing. So yeah, that was it, but the vision was there, and he saw that there was a great opportunity to really create something different. So we, we actually, we have a privacy solution for—think of it like architecture privacy vaults, but their privacy votes are on the blockchain. Cool. 

 

Rick Jordan  

So yeah, tell me about that a bit, because that’s something we’ve talked about. Hold on. I swallowed weird when I drank this. Dang it. Yeah, no kidding. I took a drink, and good God, it just went, like, “Oh, you’re talking,” too fast right to the back of my throat. You didn’t see me take a hit. No, exactly, too fast, like I pounded water, like it was a shot. That part we can keep in; it’s funny, so I almost make sure we do a spit take. Yeah. All right, cool, okay, I think I’m cool. I have a cough box. You don’t have a cough box. That’s on here. Anyways. All right, cool. Well, thanks. All right, here we go. We’re good, yeah, okay, of course, we’re good. We’re keeping going. All right, private security vault, yeah, you told me about this a little while ago, and I was so intrigued, coming from the cybersecurity space, yeah, but it’s interesting. Can you break it down, you know, not so technical, but in, like, very, very minimized terms, so that we can just follow you, because it is a technical thing. It’s an extremely technical thing, but it gives a very human result to it.

 

Shayra Melo  

Yeah, so think about it. The first use case that started to come out of this was an AI company that came up to us, and the AI company was like, “Hey, I have an AI model that’s got, like, 7 million database points inside of it, like, of students.” It was like it was a platform that focuses on, you know, keeping children safe. And so they had 7 million students on their database. So really sensitive information, right? Yeah, they were serving multiple states, and they were like, How can we, you know, implement the blockchain into a solution on our AI? And we’re like, “Yeah, you can definitely do that, and especially on our platform, because our platform, you’re able to create real-world assets and also blockchain applications. That’s originally where we started, and we were a no-code platform for that. Sorry, this thing’s coming out.” And so, yeah, so they came out to us, and we’re like, “Hey, how do we do this? And I was like, “Well, you know, what do you want to get out?” So they’re like, “Okay, well, we have sensitive information in our database, and we don’t want it associated with the children.” So, like, we want that at all on our database, and it’s like, great.

 

Rick Jordan  

But they still want to use AI to extract this valuable analysis of certain things, you know, kids, you know, like, probably how they’re doing in school. Like, if there are specific demographics, you know, if it’s kids that are, like I was—I’m dumbing it down here. Or way down, you know, not trying to minimize anything, because it’s actually badass. Is what this does, you know, like, I was one of the younger kids always in my class, versus, like, the older kid in the class, you know, just because of where the date cut off was, you know, I would be curious to see, like, who excels more, you know, something like that, just based off of if it’s, like, somebody who was right before the cut off or right after the date cut off for age.

 

Shayra Melo  

Right, right? So what they do is threat detection. So they’re focused on, Oh, very cool. So any kind of threat detection within the child or the school—yeah, if there’s a mass shooting, or if the child’s at threat of suicide—and so it’s really, you know, sensitive information of children, and yeah, and ultimately, you know, what they didn’t want is that information to continue. Obviously, it doesn’t even right now. But what they really wanted to add was that extra layer of protection and preventative cybersecurity essentially.

 

Rick Jordan  

It’s the separation, yeah, of the identifiable information from the actual anonymized data points.

 

Shayra Melo  

Exactly. And so what we do is, so, what we created was a synthetic data set that’s very similar to the same data set of the child or the entire school, like the children in school. And then what we did is put that synthetic data into the database, and then we took the actual information and put it into a private network. The private network is owned by them. They have full control. They have access to that. And then we have a sentinel that’s kind of like on the outside of it. I don’t want to use a super technical term, right? So we have something that basically, like, covers it right on top of that to phone home if you need the real information to get that information to tap into that. So that’s, that’s what we created. And this is all a full-on-premise solution, and it’s in data, like it’s in real-time data flow.

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah, on premise, meaning not in the cloud. It’s localized, which is interesting, because it’s everybody. I mean, there’s always been a push to the cloud for the last decade, right? But then at the same time, when your data is stored locally, that’s like one of the most secure frickin things that you ever could possibly have, you know, because it doesn’t go anywhere; it literally doesn’t go anywhere. That’s cool. Your earpiece is bothering you. Yeah, it is, yeah, like coming out. No, you’re good, yeah. It’s got weird ears.

 

Shayra Melo  

Columbian lawyers here.

 

Rick Jordan  

Oh, is that it, like, for real? Is that like a trait? I don’t know.

 

Shayra Melo  

No, I’m just joking.

 

Rick Jordan  

I was wondering that though, like, when I see people on TV, it’s like, sometimes there are these guys who have, like, you know, the tiniest little ears, but then there are also these ones that end up being, like, super huge. I’m like, what ethnicity are they? Because, I mean, everybody you know, but it’s like, if I’m looking at two white guys, you know, it’s like, what’s the difference? Why did this guy have, like, Dumbo ears, and this one has, like, these little, tiny things? We’re solid now. Yeah, the curiosities that I have now.

 

Shayra Melo  

You guys have a little personal insight into Rick Jordan.

 

Rick Jordan  

But yeah, so the privacy ball, we should keep some of this in. It’s kind of fun. Yeah, just the rants. Yeah, right on, good, good. I’m glad we’re keeping some of this in. I mean, we were talking about the cloud, and how still, the most secure thing is having something—the tech term is “on premise,” right? You know, which means, Hey, it’s right, right here. You keep it there. But there are, of course, limitations to that too. Yeah, you know, because there’s no accessibility to even other systems that might need that, you know. Except I think what you’re saying is that you stop me where I’m wrong, because I don’t think we got this deep before. You almost act as kind of like a, kind of like a traffic cop, almost like a gatekeeper to the real data, you know. So it’s like, it sounds like you take a copy of the real data, sort of anonymize it, you know, make it a synthetic form that is similar but not exact, right? And then that’s what’s pushed out to the AI model, so you can learn and do the analysis and get just the points you need to accomplish whatever outcome you’re looking for. And those individuals are not even those individuals, but the individuals, the kids—they’re completely safe because there’s no identical identifiable information whatsoever. But on the other side of it, somebody who might need to see that, like the child’s parent. Boom, right? So they can; they have access to the AI model, but then you’re the traffic cop that says, Hey, only let this person in. Yeah, that’s cool.

 

Shayra Melo  

Boom, all right. And downloadable. Yeah, yeah, download that software too. Yeah, it’s, there’s no, there are no developers needed to do a manual process to implement the software on top of that. So we’re totally a zero-trust model.

 

Rick Jordan  

That’s brilliant. So I think I broke that down pretty, pretty well, super well, okay, it’s. A, if you’re, I mean, DM us, whatever, if you have questions, but it’s a, it’s really cool tech, you know, and it’s something that can keep kids safe. I can see other, other, I mean, a lot of other uses, yeah, FinTech, for sure.

 

Shayra Melo  

Healthcare, you know. So, right now we’re going after health tech companies. Health tech companies are focused on AI, health tech companies that are just health tech company systems, right? Yeah. And then also FinTech companies that are focused on different industries. Inside of there is the payment processing system, all the way up to, like, credit card acceptance and all of that. So yeah, there are those that completely different industries, but they all have the same kind of responsibility, some kind of compliance responsibility, and that’s the ICP. I guess

 

Rick Jordan  

That’s cool. I can’t help but notice that it’s only been six years since you first were like, “Hey, there’s this fun thing called Bitcoin that’s out there,” to now it’s like, “Tomorrow, you’re going to be standing on the stage in Chicago.” Board of Trade. It’s part of a company that’s going public, you know, the AI company, you know. And I know some of the cool things you’re doing with them. Still, though, that’s a very, very short period of time, you know. And it’s that—that’s one of the things I admire. I don’t think you ever lost sight of where you wanted it to be, like as soon as you got it. And this is something I talk about all the time. I’m going to talk about it all the time. I’m going to talk you up here for a little bit, because I think you have a natural curiosity, is it not? I mean, that’s the only thing that I can describe otherwise. I mean, where? Where else could it have been? I mean, how in the world were you like, Yeah, Bitcoins, cool,to and then six years later being like, Oh, hey, you know, tomorrow I’m gonna stand on the stage and ring the bell?

 

Shayra Melo  

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it wasn’t, it wasn’t out of, like, luck, you know? I mean, people say, you know, luck is a big part of it, but no, it’s not an overnight success either. Like six years. It’s still six years, right? And that’s like, prior to entrepreneurship, I had been trying even before, right? Yeah. So it’s not an overnight thing where I just got into business, and it was just like, Okay, cool. Like, this is what it is. No, you know, I think the biggest thing for me has been the curiosity, the curiosity to put myself in the right rooms, hey, ask the right questions, and then continuously put myself around amazing people, right, and make sure that I add value to every single piece that I’m going into, you know, like, it’s not a facade, right? Some people go out there, and they have—they claim—tech, and they really don’t have it. And so, like, this is the difference between professionals and a facade, yeah. And so that’s, that’s really what I—that’s what I bring down, hands down, 10 toes down.

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah, that’s phenomenal. Yeah. I mean, to be a Colombian American and just get to this point, it’s, it’s, it’s truly inspirational. And it’s, yes, it’s, it’s a short period of time, but at the same time, it’s like, you feel it’s long. I can relate to that, because it’s the same thing, right? That it’s like back from when reaching out finally hit. You know, seven figures was only six years ago, so the going public process took almost four years to go through all the stages that we needed to go through.

 

Shayra Melo  

And you’ve been saying it out loud every single time; every single time you’ve been on stage, you’ve been saying that we’re a public company, we’re going to be public consistently, just being that and just showing that. It just shows, and look at where you are right now. Yep, but it does feel like a long time, right? It does. Yes, it is a long time.

 

Rick Jordan  

For sure. I don’t think this is new. I mean, even on your IG bio, you know, it says building a public company. It’s the same thing that’s been up there way before, way before the codio was public. Yeah, you know, which is awesome. So it’s, it’s a, I hope everybody’s catching this, because it’s like you mentally step into where you know you’re going to get to, and the only way that you can know you’re going to get there is to actually mentally step in exactly. It’s the anchor point.

 

Shayra Melo  

Every single mindset coach will tell you the same thing too. Yeah, the same thing that you’re saying right now is just always put it there, say it, and keep saying it, right? These are continual rituals that you need to be doing for yourself. And it’s not the only thing, obviously, but that’s a big piece right there.

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah, right on. I love it. Everybody can find you. I mean, I know Instagram, right? shayra.me Yeah, right. Where else can they go to touch base with you?

 

Shayra Melo  

Yeah, you can. You can either email me at shayra@touchbrick.com, or you can find me on or you can go on our website at touchbrick.com as well.

 

Rick Jordan  

Awesome. Go there. Check it out. There’s some cool stuff there, but then listen to this again and send it to at least three people, because we just broke it down today for you. You got to get to know this girl. She’s awesome.

 

Shayra Melo  

Thank you. Yeah, thanks for being on. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. 

 

Rick Jordan  

You bet. Yeah. Boom.