Christina and Jacky - The Breakthrough Squad

"I want to help people realize that they're not alone, that they can do whatever the heck they want, and sometimes it's just a matter of someone knowing, "I know that I know what you're going through."

" - The Breakthrough Squad

CHECK OUT THIS EXCLUSIVE VIDEO CLIP:

ABOUT THE BREAKTHROUGH SQUAD:

Ever feel the need to smash some sh*t? Well, so did Christina and Jacky, the two founders of The Breakthrough Squad. Their message is simple: Reveal! Release! Reclaim! With their mobile break room, you can walk out of your office, smash some stuff (safely) to let go of stress and tension, and return to work refreshed and ready to kick some ass. Visit www.stressfractureny.com or check out The Breakthrough Squad on Facebook!

TRANSCRIPT:

Jeff:
Ladies, thank you so much for joining me on the show. I really want to start kind of in the now where we are because we met because you brought your incredible business to Death Wish Coffee and let me smash stuff in the back of your van. It was the greatest day of my life. And I really want to start off with the inception of this idea. Breaking things is such a release. You guys start the breakthrough squad, and being able to be mobile and bringing it everywhere seems like a no brainer. But correct me if I'm wrong, are you guys the only ones who are mobile?

Jackie:
Yes, that's correct. Yep.

Christina:
Yep.

Jeff:
That's incredible. So, how did this all come to be? How did you guys start this idea?

Jackie:
Well, Stress Fracture, the mobile portion of the Breakthrough Squad started out with my own need to release some stress. I was a chemist in a forensic lab, and it happened by chance somewhat. We were doing a laboratory clean-out day, one day, and I floated the idea of, "Well, what if instead of taking it out to the trash, I just dropped it off the counter here?" And I was given the okay, if you will. And when the glass hit the ground, the sound of the glass shattering was incredible. I can't even really explain it, but there was a release almost and I wanted to do it again. So, I was like, "What if I pushed this off the counter?" And then, of course, my coworkers got, "Well, I want to break stuff, too."

Jackie:
So, we'd gone around the laboratory that day during the clean-out, virtually just breaking things, and we were the most productive we had been in weeks. And people that typically wouldn't talk to one another in their normal course of business throughout the day were high fiving each other and saying, "Oh, I've always wanted to break that." And it really kind of brought us together as a team, so it was this weird team building thing also. So, that was about six years ago. And I always wanted to run with that but it was kind of an out of the box idea, and I was like, "No one in their right mind is going to pay or want to break things because you're always told growing up not to.

Christina:
Right.

Jackie:
So, fast forward to last year when I was even more frustrated with the new position that I had, and I was like, "You know what? I'm going to go with this." And I thought, "In case it didn't take off, maybe I'll go mobile. That way, not only is it easy, it takes the stress out of people having to come to me, I can come to them, but if I need to take a week off or something or a month off because I like to travel, I can do that because it's mobile. I don't have to pay rent, I don't have to do whatever."

Jackie:
Throughout that process, it started off as just a fun stress relief, like it was for you guys. We came here and just let you let off some steam, but as that was happening, people would come up to me and they would just discuss and tell me, "Holy cow, I've been working through this issue," or, "That was so great because I've been sad about this," or whatever. So, I realized that I wanted to make it a more meaningful experience for people, not just fun, and that's when I met Christina and the Breakthrough Squad was formed.

Christina:
Right. Because what I was doing at the time, I wrote a book called Let My Legacy Be Love, which is about getting to the root of your stuff so you can release it and move on. And as I was out doing workshops around that topic, I was doing a lot of studying, too, about neuroscience and how all this affects the brain and the body and the organs in the body. There's a great book called The Body Keeps Score that gets into all of this. So, I was out doing workshops on digging into your story to figure out what you could get in and then how you could change it.

Christina:
But what I was finding is when people would start to share their stories, they'd be crying or they get frustrated and they'd say, "I don't want to think about this. I don't want to do this." So, I was looking for some way to add some fun, that they could release that frustration, release that stress, as it was coming up. And it was right at that time that a mutual friend of ours said, "You need to meet my friend Jackie." So, Jackie and I sat down and we had one discussion, and I think it was the next day we were like, "How about breakthrough? Reveal, release reclaim." And then, from there it was like, "How about the Breakthrough Squad? How cool." Because then we're like the Breakthrough Squad plus you, so there's three. So, it's like working together, we can get to the root of some of that stuff, and then physically release it from our bodies.

Jeff:
Wow. That's so incredible. So, did you immediately start breaking stuff then when you met Jackie?

Christina:
Well, no. I didn't-

Jackie:
Believe it or not, no.

Christina:
Believe it or not, no. There's the hysterical thing, right? So, the first time I did it was like this summer, right? We started working together in May. I think it was August when we were up in Saratoga, and I went in and I... Jackie goes... We were waiting for people and nobody was coming, and I said, "Well, do you mind if I go in there and do it?" So, I went in-

Jeff:
For science.

Christina:
Yes, exactly.

Jackie:
Exactly.

Christina:
Well, I went in there and I picked up a wine glass, right? And I just went... And when that thing shattered, I turned around, I looked at Jackie-

Jackie:
She laughed hysterically.

Christina:
... and I could not stop laughing. I go, "This is great." And then, I kept doing it. And then, one other night I was having a really bad time. I think it was like the beginning of September. I was just like frustrated with a lot of things. And Jackie said, "Why don't you come over and you can break some stuff?" And I said, "I'm afraid you're not going to like me when you see all this anger coming out." But it was so funny because I did go over, and I took a bunch of stuff outside and I just was smashing... And I finally started to cry, and then I felt better. I was like, "This works."

Jackie:
Yeah. Yeah.

Christina:
Yeah. Because then it released this block that I had that I just couldn't seem to work my way past, and it was just poof. And once that happened, then things started moving forward again, so it was pretty cool.

Jackie:
Yeah.

Christina:
Yeah.

Jeff:
That is so cool. I mean, just from the little bit that I got to experience, like when you guys showed up at Death Wish, as you explained to us, we got kind of the the truncated version of what you do because there are so many of us, and you're so gracious to allow us to go in there. And one of the things I loved about it was you had us write down something on a plate that was pissing us off. That was the first thing I threw against the wall, and it made me feel great. I have to say that. But can we talk a little bit about like the full experience, because you touched upon that a little bit? It's not just about taking a wine glass and smashing it to smithereens. It really is about this cathartic thing. Can you talk a little bit about everything that goes into this?

Christina:
Yeah. Well-

Jackie:
Do you want to do ahead [crosstalk 00:06:46].

Christina:
... yeah. Yeah. Well, what happened was, when I was first trying to figure out what I was going to do with this, because writing the book I was working through my own stuff, right? And when I finally finished it, I said, "How do I explain this to other people? How do I keep this simple?" And I had come up with an acronym, just kind of popped into my head, that kind of explains the whole process and why you would want to do it. Right? And that's what we work through when we do the entire workshop. We go through that whole acronym, we let people, which is a pearl, and which is interesting because a pearl is started from something that's an irritation and turns into something beautiful. So, it was interesting that it came in like that.

Christina:
And everybody gets a chance, because as human beings, we're meaning makers. We're making meanings out of things all the time. We get up in the morning, none of us intends to get up in the morning and be a jerk. And we judge ourselves by our intentions, but we're judging other people by our perception of what it is they're doing. So, we're making meanings out of things that may not be true. So, the whole point is to get in there and say, "I need to get to the truth of this," and basically with curiosity. So, you get in there and you say, "Okay, Jeff doesn't like me. I know Jeff doesn't like me. Why do you think Jeff doesn't like you? Okay, let's get into this. What is it about Jeff that makes you think he doesn't like you?" To kind of help people get into their little bit of stories that they're telling and then help them really think it through. And it's a quick process once people get in there and say, "Wow, gosh, I didn't even think of that."

Jackie:
And most of the time it's a reflection on something internal within themselves, that it's not really Jeff, it's me projecting that onto Jeff.

Christina:
Right, right.

Jackie:
Or whomever.

Christina:
Exactly. Or whoever it might be. Although, some people will think that it's a deep process, it's really not, because we start at that upper level of something that's bothering you. Well, what it is? Maybe Jeff makes me feel that I feel like less, and he got the promotion that I think I deserved. And because of that, I think he's a big jerk, and I know he doesn't like me because now there's competition between the two of us," when there's none of that at all. So, it's getting into that to see that. And then, they get their focus on that and say, "Okay, I want to let that go." And that's what they write on the plate, and then they take it to the trailer and they smash the heck out of it.

Christina:
And it's a whole different thing going through that smashing experience after you've done that work and then say, "Wow." Then everybody gets back together, they talk about the experience, and then we have like an art sort of project depending on who it is we're working with and what it was that they're trying to work through.

Jeff:
I love that you're bringing art into it. So, what kind of artistic project are you talking about?

Christina:
Well, right now we're doing something with a plant because our program is, and you can step in and talk-

Jackie:
It's okay. Go ahead.

Christina:
... I don't want to do all the talking.

Jackie:
You're doing a great job.

Christina:
Okay. Okay. which is reveal, release, reclaim. Right? So, the reveal is getting to the root of why you think Jeff is a jerk or Jeff doesn't like you.

Jeff:
And I don't like this Jeff guy.

Christina:
I know. I know. I can't believe it. He's really annoying.

Jackie:
Who is he?

Christina:
Okay. So, now we've gotten to the root of that. Now, we've gone out and we've smashed... It's a physical expression of letting it go and looking at it a different way. We've got lots of different things in the works, but right now what we're doing is we painted these little pots, and on the edge it says nurture. And then, the person gets to write on there what they want to nurture more of in themselves, like self-worth, maybe compassion, maybe kindness, and they plant a plant as a reminder that that's something they want to nurture. And there's a lot of people will say, "Well, I kill plants." Well, this is the whole point. You're going to water that plant as a reminder.

Jackie:
You're going to take care of it. Yep.

Christina:
You're going to take care of it. And if the plant dies, just get another one. That's okay. And another thing that we're doing with a group [crosstalk 00:10:54].

Jackie:
Some mosaic stuff.

Christina:
Yep. There's a mosaic piece, and one of the things that we're doing with the broken glass in it so that they take a piece, like a little memento, we just put it in a little jar for them so that they have it as a reminder that this is what they're working through. It's just so they don't go home and forget.

Jeff:
Right.

Christina:
People have lot of fun at these type of workshops, and they go home and then that's it.

Jeff:
Right.

Jackie:
Yeah.

Christina:
And this is just a reminder to say, "Okay, I've got to remember to water my plant because I'm working on self-love, I'm working on forgiveness, I'm working on compassion, I'm working on realizing that Jeff is actually a really nice guy."

Jeff:
Thank God.

Christina:
Thank God.

Jackie:
What a turn of events.

Jeff:
That's so incredible, though, and it's so inspiring because, again, from the outset... I'll tell you my own experience, like I heard about random break rooms and your business and the mobile break squad and all that, and from an outset perspective, I'm thinking, "Okay. I can just smash it off and have a good time, and that's it." In fact, full disclosure, before the job that I have now at Death Wish Coffee, I was in the food service industry for about two decades. Very high stress, very, very crazy hours, and I worked for two separate kitchens where the cook, the head chef, actually implemented where when we would have really high stressful days, one of my favorite things, well the one kitchen that I [inaudible 00:12:21]... I won't name it so they don't get in trouble. But one of my favorite things was is when we really were stressed, really had a bad day, we would take the ceramic bowls that we would make like creme brulees and just huck them against the walk-in cooler.

Jackie:
And it felt so good, right?

Jeff:
And it felt amazing. And on that, on the basis, it was a release, and that's great. But you guys are having so many more layers to it, so much more of meaningful intent behind it, which I think is so inspiring, so amazing from what you guys created. But that's kind of the question I wanted to get to. How do you create that? Never in a million years was I working in these kitchens and smashing creme brulee boats against the side of a freezer and thinking , "This is a business idea." How do you go from smashing stuff at your old job to, "I'm going to turn this into a business"?

Jackie:
Well, it started off when I moved here from my last job, and quite honestly, there was a frustrating coworker. So, when I broke that initial flask in the lab six years ago, it was just kind of a little seed, and then about two years ago, it was the frustrating coworker situation. And I went home one day, I was like, "I need to break something." So, I went down into my basement, and of course, I didn't want to clean it up because that was no fun. But I have this little section, it's bilco doors, and it was like this perfect little cube of place for containment. So, I put on some safety glasses and some gloves and just smashed some stuff and realized that, just like your experience, it was just this release and I knew I had to do it.

Jackie:
I actually sat down that night and thought about it, "Could I do this? I'm a scientist by day." So, I had no clue what an entrepreneur does, how you start a business, so it was a lot of research and things and then trying to determine if I even wanted to do such a thing. But being divorced, I also had gone through some therapy when I was getting divorced, and a lot of times the therapist would have you write a feeling on a piece of paper and then have you rip it up. So, I thought to myself that night, "What is it about me? Why am I frustrated with this person?" And I would write these things down, and often on the glass that I was breaking, and realized, "I'm almost doing exactly what I was doing in those therapy sessions, and if it's going to help me, it's bound to help other."

Jackie:
So, that's really what it was all about. And my mission is to help people. Yes, I want it to be fun, and I tend to think, most of the time I live life kind of outside the box and love to come up with fun things to do and get people outside their comfort zone. That's what I really like, and which, when I started the business, was really what I found because people were like, "You can't break that. You can't do that. That's $1,000 worth of china." I was like, "Exactly. And when it feels good to break it?" And they would do it. And just the feeling of seeing people immediately change from like tension to... was incredible. Because I had some people come over and try it out, too, just in case, and the feedback was amazing. I actually rented, I don't know if I should say this, but a U-Haul and put up a makeshift wall in the U-Haul and had people just come over and throw some stuff to test out the mobile idea. And the feedback was incredible, and so I just went with it. I figured, "Why not?"

Jeff:
That is really incredible. And I love the mobile idea of it, I love the aspect that you guys can come to me or my job or whatever event that you guys want to throw, which I think is great. And that's a big step to... Like you said, you came from a completely different background, then you decided, "Can I do this? And I'm going to do this." I'm sure you had a thousand hurdles. I mean-

Jackie:
I didn't even know how to haul a trailer, so that alone was huge.

Jeff:
Yeah, that alone. Not only that-

Christina:
Go practice.

Jackie:
I know.

Jeff:
... you guys make sure that we're safe there, we're suited up, we got gloves on, we got goggles, we have all that kind of stuff. I can't even imagine what your insurance costs are.

Jackie:
Oh, yeah.

Jeff:
[inaudible 00:16:31] crazy.

Jackie:
Yep.

Jeff:
But you guys are providing such an amazing service. And I love that this is coming from the... Again, it's this wonderful intent that you're putting into the world, that you want to help people, and it is, at its core, a primal urge to release something, which is great. But you both are coming at it from a scientific stance, and that's amazing to me.

Jackie:
Yeah.

Christina:
Yeah.

Jackie:
And that's-

Jeff:
That there is science in that. There is a lot of science behind what you do.

Christina:
There is a-

Jackie:
Absolutely.

Christina:
... there is so much science behind it. Because my background was business, I was always in business. I was a corporate controller for an international company for years, and then,

Jeff:
Sounds fun.

Christina:
Oh, it was totally fun. It was til I got sick of traveling. And then, I was an entrepreneur. I started a business services company, and I was doing all of that too. So, that was always my focus. So, when I started working on my own stories and digging into this stuff, I started to get interested. It was like, "Wow." So, this was actually in my body, it was held in my body. I had an issue with my liver, and I was working with a nutritionist and she said to me, "That's frustration, and that's tamped down anger." Really? And there were all these different things that were coming up, so I started to read. And I love to read because I'm a researcher by nature. And then, I started studying the central nervous system, how our body is, all this stuff gets into this vagus nerve back here, and it's just trying to protect us. So, we've got this little wall of protection around us. So, how does that all work? Right?

Christina:
So, then I was curious like, "How does the brain function into to this, and what about this whole mindful movement? What is this?" And as I started digging in, I started finding all these incredible scientists, especially neuroscientists and central nervous system scientists. So, when we got working on this, this is the release part of all of this, and we all need to release this stuff to get it out of our bodies.

Jackie:
When I first started the business, one of the...I don't know if I should call it criticisms, but it was, "You're promoting violence." And so, that was my very first, "Oh gosh, people think I'm a violent person," so I really had to overcome people's thoughts of that. But really, what it is is I'm providing people, we are providing people, an outlet in a safe and fun way. Yoga is not for everybody. I personally don't like yoga. It's too slow for me. So, I prefer something where you can actually, it's physical, where I can get it out. You actually work up a sweat doing it, which you probably did that day. Right?

Jeff:
Oh, totally. Totally. Totally.

Jackie:
So, it's not for everybody, but I do find that the people that go in with a little bit of hesitation come out with some of the biggest smiles ever.

Christina:
Yeah. Yep.

Jackie:
Yeah.

Jeff:
That's [inaudible 00:19:31]. So, I know that this is fairly a new idea, you guys have been doing this, but have you seen any incredibly insane transitions in people like that? Because I know just with my coworkers, I saw some of that. Have you experienced that where people have completely changed just from [crosstalk 00:19:48] meet them to going through this?

Jackie:
Absolutely. I have a good friend of mine whose son has some anxiety issues and anger management issues. So, when she first said, "I want my son to come over and do it," I was like, "Okay."

Christina:
Okay.

Jackie:
And you would never know it to see him, but again, he was very quiet and reserved and it's because he was holding it all in. And he had just gone to town. In fact, he put a hole in my table, but when he came out, he actually hugged me. Complete stranger hugged me. Well, not a stranger because she's my friend's son, but not living with her at the time, hugged me and said, "I needed that." And he was somewhat shaking, but completely different from the minute he went in to the minute he came out. He released something. Whatever it was, he released it, and it was incredible.

Jeff:
So cool.

Jackie:
Yep.

Jeff:
I know from my own personal experience, again, from doing this, I was looking forward to it because we know who's coming, and you guys were were coming out to the warehouse so we could do this. So, I was really looking forward to it. I really wanted to get in there, and I didn't know how good I was going to feel after it was over. And I really did, I was on cloud nine the rest of the day. I felt more productive. I felt more focus. And it was even in the moment, because again, we didn't have the full experience, we just had a few items that you allowed us to break, which was really nice. But even in the moment, I broke down walls that were just like... You said it earlier, like you're not supposed to break this stuff, right?

Jackie:
Right.

Christina:
Right.

Jeff:
But you're in there, and you're telling me I can so I can. And in the moment, I remember, I believe I had the baseball bat in my hand, and I smashed a plate on your table. And it like smashed into like three pieces, and my brain went, "That was great." And then, the awesome part of my brain was like, "Those pieces could be smaller."

Jackie:
Right. Exactly.

Jeff:
And I got to say that to anybody who gets to do an experience like this, just because you hit it once doesn't mean it's over.

Jackie:
Exactly.

Jeff:
I went in there, and I just went to town on all the little tiny pieces. I pulverized that plate. It was amazing. And I did say, too, because we got so many of us to be able to do it, and I know a lot of us were looking forward to it, I now know which one of my employees, which a couple of my employees, that I would want on my side of a fight.

Jackie:
Right?

Jeff:
Because some of them that were a little bit more reserved, a little bit quiet, that I've never really seen release like that, went in there with a sledgehammer and was like, "Okay, you're my new favorite. Okay, I like this."

Jackie:
Exactly.

Christina:
It is fun to watch how people go. And a lot of times it's the ones that you would least expect that are like... pulverize that thing.

Jackie:
We did a corporate event last year, and there was one person out of, I think it was a group of 12, if I remember right, and she was like, "I'm just doing it because my boss told me I had to." And she didn't want anything to do with it, and it was rainy that day so we were all out there with umbrellas. And I think it was around Halloween, so it was all sorts of like ceramic pumpkins and things. So, she went first because she's just going to leave after because she didn't want anything to do with it. So, she went in there, and I think it was the crowbar was her weapon of choice, and she turned around, I'll never forget it, she goes, "That was incredible." And she even asked for more items. I was like, "Ha, ha. I knew it was going to turn you around." So, it's those kinds of times that I really, I love seeing people's faces just... Changing lives, really, in a weird way, I suppose. I don't know. But yeah.

Christina:
In a different way. It's not a weird way at all. It's just a different. Like the guy that we met, remember, at the Empire State Plaza who said his wife was a therapist and she had been talking about doing something like this? And he said, "You guys beat us to it," because there's people that need it. They need like some sort of a release, and they don't know how to do it because as children we're taught, you sit down and you keep your hands folded. And when you're angry, you keep it to yourself, and you don't... Like when I used to get mad, I used to just rip up paper, like magazines, rip, rip, rip, rip, rip, and that would make me feel better. But it feels really good to take a wine glass and throw it at the wall.

Jeff:
It does. And again, like from the place that you guys are coming to with the power of intention and really kind of diving deeper into why are you throwing that wine glass against the wall, what does that really signify for you? You come out the other side a completely different person, at least with a different mindset. I think that's so important. And that kind of brings me to the theme of the show. We're all working towards the finish line that's inevitable. Spoiler alert, we're all going to die. But we all want to leave this world a little different before we actually do that, and I think you guys are doing a really good job in doing that. So, I want to ask each of you the question of what fuels you to do this? What fuels you to want to help people and scientifically and artistically and intentionally do the things that you're doing?

Christina:
Well, I know for me, I've had a really interesting life, and then in 2008, my entire world just fell apart. Everything went away at the same time. My husband left, my son had left for college, I got laid off from my job, and it all happened at the same time. And I got really depressed, and there were people there that were so willing to help me, people that would come and they would just say something, "Don't get bitter, get better," or like little things. And I found myself writing them down on cards. And when I first started writing the book that I ended up publishing, that's what it was going to be. It was going to be a whole book of these stories of people who reached out a hand and said, "I can help you through this part. I can help you through this part. Just think about this."

Christina:
And for me, it's like paying it forward. I've always had this whole... Like I knew I wanted to help people. I grew up in a great big family. I have 10 brothers and sisters, and I was one of the older ones, so I was used to helping. And I love the way it feels when I can see the look on somebody's face that something really resonated with them. And that's what drives me, when somebody says, "Wow, I never thought about that before. Thank you." That can like make my whole day, it can make my month. And that's what is driving me to do, that's what got me started in this whole thing.

Jeff:
That is so awesome. [inaudible 00:00:26:47].

Jackie:
So, I tell the story of when I was 30, I was recently out of a divorce, and I for the first time... Because I married someone young. I say young and dumb. But I was dumb, not him. And at 30 I realized I had no idea who I was. I didn't know what I liked, I didn't know, really, anything about me, and it kind of scared me. And I found that I was filling the void of whatever it was, loneliness or whatever from the divorce, with buying things, just shopping my feelings away, if you will, because I never really confronted the feelings. And a couple of years later, same sort of scenario, I found myself, I had like 500 makeup... That's an exaggeration. I had probably 40 makeup brushes. I don't even really wear makeup, so I'm like, "Why am I spending all this money on makeup brushes?" So, I had gone on this spending freeze, if you will.

Jackie:
And I shared my story on Facebook, and I must've gotten 40 replies in my inbox that day of people who were going through a similar situation saying they were shopping this feeling away and they were shopping this feeling away, and, "Thank you for sharing because I was embarrassed." So, I was like, "Wow, my crazy makeup brush story really affected so many people, and maybe if I just come clean with not knowing who the heck I am, I can actually help other people." I'm typically an open book anyway, so just that feeling and knowing that little story that I told, which to me didn't seem like much, really had a huge impact on other people. And which also led them to feel that they aren't alone, which is why we come together in groups and let people, around certain topics and things, so people can relate on a peer level instead of a therapist/whatever thing.

Jackie:
Because a lot of times it's just people want to know they're not alone, so that really is what fuels me. I want to help people realize that they're not alone, that they can do whatever the heck they want, and sometimes it's just a matter of someone knowing, "I know that I know what you're going through."

Christina:
Right.

Jeff:
That's so inspiring. You kind of hit the nail on the head with what you were saying with therapy. Therapy is so important to a lot of people, but it is also, for lack of a better term, it's a bad word to a lot of people.

Jackie:
Right. Exactly.

Jeff:
A lot of people really vilify it and think, "I don't need therapy. I'm not crazy. I don't need therapy." And that's fine. And you guys are creating a completely different scenario, completely safer space that someone who might not want to sit one on one in a room with a therapist and go through that can still reap the benefits of that, even in a different way, because what you guys are providing, and that is just amazing.

Jackie:
Yeah. Thank you.

Christina:
Yeah. So, what it is basically, the basic is, we're not professionals, we're witnesses to the process. We've been through it ourselves, and we want to share it with other people.

Jeff:
Yeah.

Christina:
Yeah.

Jeff:
And I mean, that kind of... I'm not refuting therapists. I don't want this to sound like I'm refuting therapists, but that makes you professionals, in a way. Not a professional therapist but-

Christina:
We're professionals at what we do.

Jackie:
Right.

Christina:
Yeah.

Jeff:
... you've been through the fire, so let's talk about what it means to be burned. And as much as a therapist is accredited and goes to school for what they can do to so they can deal with a myriad of different things, you guys have actual experience that you're bringing to the table, and that's so amazing and needed. And again, I can't say enough good things about what you're doing because I enjoyed it-

Christina:
Well, thank you.

Jeff:
... so, so much. Just a random question. How hard is it to constantly stock up on things to break?

Jackie:
Oh, boy.

Christina:
Oh, man.

Jackie:
Well, it's funny.

Christina:
Yeah. Go ahead, tell the story.

Jackie:
So, luckily, again, when I was thinking this process through, I thought, "How am I going to come up with all this stuff?" So, at first, I was going around to yard sales and thought that-

Jeff:
That's what I thought.

Jackie:
Yes. I would hit them up on the end of whatever, and I was like, "I'll give you $1 for all of it," and I collected so much stuff. And then, I got smart because I was like, "Let's work smarter not harder." And I don't know if you've ever heard of... It's a little girl, I think she's 12 years old, Ella, and she is of Project Ella, and she collects bottles and cans to... She turns the proceeds in to feed the homeless. So, I thought, "I don't want to go around collecting this stuff. You're already collecting bottles and cans. I will pay you double what you're getting for the bottles, and you just give me the bottles." So, that gave them more money. I got a whole bunch of bottles that I didn't have to go around collecting. So, in the beginning, it was that, so I thought that it was this cool little give and take and I was able to help them them.

Jackie:
Then when I realized I was going to need way more, because I took off pretty quickly, and then I teamed up with a junk removal company. And whatever they didn't get rid of, they graciously said, "Come and get it." So, I would go U-Hauls at a time and just pick up all sorts of breakables. And then, of course, I was like, "How am I going to get rid of this stuff after the fact?" So, Christina and I spent many hours sorting, but every single piece of glass so far has gone to local artists.

Jeff:
That's amazing.

Jackie:
Yeah. So, it's this really cool life cycle of events for the items that we get, break, and then go back into the community somehow.

Jeff:
So, even the things that are getting smashed a bit are helping people, whether it's the homeless or artists or anything else?

Jackie:
Yep. Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeff:
That is so cool. That's so cool. And you never would have thought of that, because again, on the outset I'm thinking, "Oh, I get to walk into your place and you just break stuff, and then that's it." But then you have to think of getting more stuff. What do you do with all this I broke?

Jackie:
Yeah. Exactly.

Christina:
Exactly.

Jackie:
Yep.

Christina:
Yeah.

Jeff:
And reset. Did I hear you correctly? You also get stuff themed around holidays. Did you say you had pumpkins for Halloween?

Jackie:
Absolutely. I had pumpkins for Halloween. I have got more. We were hoping to do a Christmas, like your ugliest Christmas ornament when you were pulling it out, but we didn't.

Christina:
We were just too busy. Yeah.

Jackie:
Yeah. Too busy to get that going. But all sorts of stuff. And Valentine's Day is coming up. We're having a smash event.

Christina:
Smash for singles and-

Jackie:
And negative feelings.

Christina:
Yeah.

Jackie:
Yeah. So, we do a lot of fun.

Christina:
Yeah, a lot of fun things.

Jackie:
Fun stuff.

Christina:
Yeah.

Jackie:
Yeah.

Jeff:
That's so great. Well, again, I can't recommend this enough. I know that they are, wherever anybody might be listening to this, there are places that can have you do that, but you guys are incredible because you are mobile. How far mobile do you go?

Jackie:
As long as we can get to you, we will go wherever. We are limited in height to some bridges, so I know in this area especially there's some lower bridges. But if we can get to you, we will go wherever.

Christina:
Yeah.

Jackie:
Yeah. We like road trips. We're actually thinking about collaborating with someone in Washington, so we may be going as far as Washington in the next couple of months.

Christina:
Yeah, Washington DC. Yeah.

Jeff:
That's so exciting. That's so exciting. And for our listeners and viewers, what is the best way to follow your journey? Either social media or website, or what's the best way to follow what you guys are doing?

Jackie:
I would say I'm Stress Fracture. It would be on Facebook @StressFractureLLC. And then, the Breakthrough Squad, as well.

Christina:
And the Breakthrough Squad on Facebook.

Jeff:
Okay.

Christina:
Yeah. And we're building a Breakthrough Squad website right now, where a lot of that stuff will be on the website, as well.

Jeff:
Excellent. Excellent. Excellent. I love this. I love the model. I love how inspiring you guys are, and I love it from a standpoint of, again, I'm much more of a fast paced person, like you said. I wouldn't be really into yoga to get this out. I'm much more into smashing things. Although, million dollar idea you would downward dog into a smash of a-

Jackie:
There actually is smash yoga. I have actually... I've seen it. Yeah. Well, I haven't seen it in action, but I've heard that they're trying to bring that. So, beware, Jackie and the Breakthrough Squad may just be signing up for that.

Jeff:
Oh my gosh [inaudible 00:34:44]. I can't thank you guys enough for coming in and sitting with me and talking to me about this. I learned so much about what you guys do and had no idea that it was so many levels, not just on the scientific level but on the intentional level, on the emotional level, and everything in between. And you guys are bringing something really needed and amazing into the world.

Christina:
Thank you-

Jackie:
Thank you so much.

Christina:
... very much. We appreciate that.

Jackie:
Yeah.

Christina:
Yeah. We love doing it. We have a lot of fun.

Jeff:
[inaudible 00:35:10].

Jackie:
You guys are a great crew, too.

Christina:
Yeah, I know, you guys were totally fun.

Jeff:
Awesome. Awesome. Well, hopefully we get to do it again.

Jackie:
Yeah. Absolutely.

Christina:
Yeah, definitely.

Jeff:
Excellent. Thank you guys so much.