HTM On The Line with BRYANT HAWKINS SR.

Girls on Fire: Lighting Up The HTM Industry

• Bryant Hawkins Sr. • Season 2 • Episode 24

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In this episode of HTM on the Line, host Bryant Hawkins Sr. welcomes two trailblazing guests, Kristen Register and Megan Cabot, the brilliant minds behind the Girls on Fire podcast. Kristen and Megan share their unique journeys into the Healthcare Technology Management (HTM) industry, shedding light on their roles at MD Publishing and their passion for bringing fresh perspectives to the field.

The conversation explores the origins of Girls on Fire, and how their podcast serves as a platform for connecting with young professionals, women in HTM, and anyone seeking inspiration. Kristen and Megan reflect on their favorite episodes, memorable moments, and the impact of creating a space for laughter, authenticity, and real conversations.

As they wrap up Season 2 of HTM on the Line, B-Hawk reflects on the importance of supporting innovative voices like Kristen and Megan. The episode also teases the exciting return of HTM on the Line with Season 3 on January 14, 2025, promising new guests and fresh insights. Don’t forget to check out Girls on Fire on YouTube at TechNationTV to continue the conversation with Kristen and Megan!

We are immensely grateful to our partners— College of Biomedical Equipment Technology, A.M. BICKFORD, INC., UptimeServices, PM BIOMEDICAL, and Talent Exclusive—for their support in making this podcast possible. Their dedication to advancing the Healthcare Technology Management industry is truly commendable. For more information about their contributions and services, please visit their websites.

For more podcast episodes, motivational videos, blogs, and newsletters, make sure to visit our website at htmontheline.com. We look forward to connecting with you.




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Bryant Hawkins:

Welcome to HTM On the Line. I'm your host, bryant Hawkins Sr. And today we're turning up the energy with not one, but two phenomenal guests. These two are more than just industry leaders. They're like family to me and they bring unmatched passion and personality to everything they do. But I won't steal their thunder. I'll let them introduce themselves, because their stories are what make this episode truly special. So get ready to be inspired as we explore their journeys, insights and the heartbeat behind their podcast. Girls on fire. Welcome to another episode of HTM on the line. This week I have two special guests. I don't know if I should call them guests or should I call them family, but they're two of my favorite people in the industry I have. Well, let me let them introduce themselves to you. Who do I have on the show this morning? First we go with Lil Sis.

Kristen Register:

Lil Sis. Here. I'm Kristen Register and I am a part of the HTM jobs portion of MD Publishing, and B-Hawk is my big bro, so that's why he calls me little sis.

Megan Cabot:

And I am Megan. I am cousin Meg, old cousin Meg. You might have heard from me, and I work for MD Publishing as well and I'm with Technation and ICE, so I kind of do a little bit of everything on that end with advertising and marketing sales. And then Kristen and I are Girls on Fire together.

Bryant Hawkins:

I was wondering if somebody was going to mention that part there. You guys wear many hats, but I want the girls on fire. Today we know about ice ATM jobs, but this one here is about the girls on fire podcast. I'm going to dig into this podcast and find what brought this podcast to life. How's it going? But first off, let's just get into it. What inspired you to create the girls on fire podcast?

Megan Cabot:

anyone, you can jump in it kristin, we probably have to talk about first how it got started, if you don't mind b hawk, because it's kind of a funny story. Um, we were at the hra conference, which is an imaging conference, if you're not aware of what that is, and we go there and represent Ice Magazine, which is our imaging public publication, and we were there with Jamie McKelvey, who is the director of sales of MD publishing, and she was building out our new well, not new, but she was building out our YouTube channels and she needed some more content for Tech Nation TV, which is our YouTube channel. And she looked at Kristen and I and she was like you two do a podcast, like she literally pointed at us. It was like you two do a podcast, and so that's kind of how it started and we like filmed a promo video there and then, I think the next week, we went ahead and recorded our first podcast.

Kristen Register:

So I don't think I'm missing anything, but that's kind of how the whole origin story of Girls on Fire started, did she cover it all pretty much, kristen. I don't know if it's because we had red hair or we're both really funny and amazing, but Jamie just decided that we were the perfect fit to start a podcast and I agree we, like Megan said, we started immediately. We had to rerecord the second episode twice. That was our only hiccup, but it's been pretty smooth, smooth sailing since.

Bryant Hawkins:

Awesome man, that's great, I mean. I enjoy it personally. But hey, I'm just being biased. Now, how has the journey been so far? You just made your year. What? In October, I think, you made your one-year anniversary.

Kristen Register:

I believe in August was our first one year yeah.

Bryant Hawkins:

Well, how has the journey been, Kristen?

Kristen Register:

It's been, honestly, way more than I expected in terms of listeners and people that come up to us at the show. In my mind it doesn't even feel like work. It's just an hour out of my month where I get to hop on and chat to Megan and sometimes I even forget that we're doing a podcast for work because we're just having so much fun. But it's been a really fun journey. I feel like it almost is like a good inspirational boost for myself. Every time we do it, like the topics that we discuss we pick to share with the industry, but it also pertains to young professionals or even when we have our guests on, just like hearing their perspective and having like a whole new breath of fresh air is exciting. So a year blows my mind and we're about to come up on a year and a half and I just don't even know how the time has passed because it hasn't even felt like work yes, yes what about you, megan no, she, she literally said it all honestly.

Megan Cabot:

We have so much fun. Kristen and I I don't really know exactly we just connect super well. I don't know if it's the red hair or if people have just these vibes, that mix, but honestly I think that's what makes it so special. The podcast is that it's like talking to just one of your really good friends and we're talking about important things, like things that for the young professionals, anything that has to do with the HTM industry, but we're never going to give you medical advice. I think I said that during our first podcast. I was like you will never hear us say how to fix a piece of equipment because we literally have no idea. But it's just a really fun outlet and it's really fun to see everybody at the conferences and they'll be like oh my gosh, I listened to your podcast. We're like what? No way, we didn't think anybody was listening to the podcast.

Bryant Hawkins:

But one cool thing about what you guys are doing is you are humanizing the HTM industry with your laughter, and your energy is showing that we may do a job. That's life-saving work and it's very serious, but y'all give it a human aspect and that's one of the things I like about it the most. You're authentic. You guys are constantly laughing. I don't know, do y'all ever have bad days? Because it don't show on your podcast? I mean, it's like y'all just you don't even know b hawk well, that's the parts that we cut out.

Kristen Register:

That's the beginning. In the end. In the middle is the sunshine, but if you can see my face, right now I'm smiling ear to ear. That's so nice for you to say that we're kind of the the light in some people's dark days. That's really kind to hear, hey that's the facts.

Bryant Hawkins:

Now the industry. Here we talked about the healthcare technology management, htm, biomed. How did you guys get started? I know you kind of mentioned it somewhat in the beginning, but how did you get started in the HTM industry? Let's go with you first, megan.

Megan Cabot:

So I started almost about seven years ago. It'll be seven years next March that I've been here and I it's so crazy I actually applied for a MedRanch marketing position. So I saw this marketing coordinator position. I interviewed with Kaylee McCaffrey I'm sure a lot of you know Kaylee. She worked for us, she was the queen of MedRange, honestly, for years and then now she works for Avanti.

Megan Cabot:

But she and Jamie, they interviewed me and then I had got an email back saying that they weren't interested in me for the MedRange position but they wanted me to apply for a sales position on the MD publishing side of things. So I went ahead and I was like I don't know, like they didn't want me for that first position. But my mentor at the time was like Megan, no, like this is a good thing, maybe they saw something else. So I went and interviewed with Jamie again I want to say in Kristen Lavoie and I went and then I had my third interview with John Creek and that's kind of how I ended up there with just a sales executive position. And the funny thing is is that Jamie always says that she stole me from MedRanch. So she saw, they saw something in me there, but they thought I'd be way more better on the sales and marketing side of things with MD Publishing. So that's kind of how I got started here.

Bryant Hawkins:

Shout out to Katie McCaffrey. She's pretty cool. What about you, Kristen?

Kristen Register:

Well, mine's a little different than Megan's, so I got into this industry about four and a half years ago.

Kristen Register:

I graduated college during COVID, which is the best time to look for a job.

Kristen Register:

So I was kind of stuck in my small town in Georgia and I'm actually family friends with the Creek, sean Creek, who is the CEO founder of MD Publishing. I'd never met him but my sister actually had been working with the company for a little while and I was looking for something to do and John said bring her on part time, she can help with some data entry stuff. We just need some help with this new venture called HTM Jobs. It had just been up about two, three months when I joined and next thing I know I'm going from data entry to making phone calls to making a sale my first two weeks there. And you know, next thing I know John's like you should probably stay and you're going to be a good salesperson and you're going to run this HTM jobs branch. And I blinked and it's been four and a half years. So it's been a crazy entry into it, an industry I'd never even heard of until this job, but really happy to be a part of it.

Bryant Hawkins:

Oh, that's amazing. I forgot your sister did work for the company.

Kristen Register:

I know I mean time has flown, but yeah. So she likes to remind me every day that I'm I'm here because of her Love, aaron.

Bryant Hawkins:

Well, you've made us forget about Aaron. Shout out to you, Aaron.

Kristen Register:

Yeah, I'll remind her of that next week when.

Bryant Hawkins:

Megan's here. Okay, now. Now, what has kept you? Guys passionate about the industry. I mean you mentioned I know you don't do repairs, I know you don't do service calls, but what keeps you guys so passionate about it? Because your podcast. It shows the love you have for this industry and that's probably one of the reasons why you do the podcast. But how do you keep that passion going to do each episode?

Kristen Register:

I think it's. Megan and I are both people, people like we just like feed off energy and like being around people. We obviously like to have our alone time, but when we go to these shows, like seeing people in person and making these connections and being a part of something that's way bigger than ourselves, I feel like personally, is what keeps me passionate. Vendors, that kind of is in a similar role, in relating to them on that sense, or talking to biomeds, where I have no idea what their day-to-day looks like outside of what they tell me. I'm just very passionate about hearing other people's stories and just like their everyday lives because it makes me want to learn more and do more and like just get more information on how I can better the industry. And again, we know nothing about holding a ranch, but it's really fun to hear about it.

Bryant Hawkins:

What about you Meg?

Megan Cabot:

I just adore the people of this industry. I had no idea what HTM was or what biomeds did in the hospital and I came in here totally blind. So I feel like I really started to absolutely love what I did when I started going to conferences almost every single month if it was either ours that we put on or a state association conference, whatever it was and just meeting and talking to people. It's one of the things I tell people the most that if you are a new person coming into this industry or a young professional, is just to listen to everybody's stories when you go to the shows or you're on the phone with somebody, whatever the case might be, I just feel like that's how I've learned so much and just from what I've learned from talking to these people. That is what I think has fueled my love for it.

Megan Cabot:

This podcast is a young professional podcast mainly, but we started our YP at MD, which maybe we'll talk about a little bit more later, and that is what I'm super passionate about is just having a safe place where young professionals come and they feel like they have a friend, just to kind of get through the day-to-day or the struggles that we all probably go through just to try to make a name for ourselves in this industry or whatever they might do. So that is probably one of my biggest passions since I've come here is, you know, helping start that YP at MD program that we have at MD Publishing with the 40 under 40. And all of that because there are some really incredible people that have helped me during my journey here and I just appreciate that and want to highlight them so that they can keep thriving.

Bryant Hawkins:

Yes, yes I know you mentioned a lot of shows. You just got back from RSNA, correct?

Megan Cabot:

Yes, I did, and that is one of the biggest shows.

Bryant Hawkins:

Yeah, that's a huge one there. Now, I love the fact you mentioned about the YP and young people, and that's one of the benefits, I think, of you doing a podcast. You bring people on who can share their stories and you don't know who that story is going to influence or motivate or encourage. So that's a great thing you're doing with the YP. And just for those who may not know, since you said we can just get into it right now, what is YP?

Megan Cabot:

So YP is our Young Professionals at MD Expo group.

Megan Cabot:

We call and we say at MD Expo because almost I want to say since fall of 2019, at our Baltimore show we had our first networking event.

Megan Cabot:

It was at Pickles Pub and Kennedy and I talk about all the time Kennedy, craig, she and I kind of started the group together and then obviously everybody that's a young professional in MD publishing has helped build it and we always talk about that first event and then how they have grown since then. So then almost at every other MD Expo we tried to throw one of the parties and Prescott's who it was Adepto and Pilebile before before they got acquired by Prescott's. They've always been a huge sponsor of ours for YP and MD, so we always appreciate their support. But, just like I said earlier, it's a great place to network with young professionals in the HCM industry and it's awesome because you kind of always have a friend whenever you go somewhere, which is nice or a familiar face. So that's kind of the reason why we started it. It's just so there was like a support group for the young professionals in the HTM world.

Bryant Hawkins:

I mean that's great. I mean I'm about to start an OP. Old professionals, you know, 40 and up.

Kristen Register:

Oh, john Krieig is already ahead of you and they sit outside the bar that we're at for our networking event and just wait for us to let them in. Okay, man, I?

Bryant Hawkins:

gotta go find join the crew. Now you talked about the young people. I think that's awesome. Now also, you've been noticing a lot. I don't know if y'all noticed, but at the MD Expo in Connecticut there was a lot of females at this show. I don't know if y'all went promoting to females more of Northeast, but I noticed a lot of females there. So what advice would you have for a young female who may be considering a career in the HTM industry but feel it's a male dominated field? I'll let you answer that, Kristen, because you deal with HTM jobs, so you may be trying to get into the industry. So what advice would you give a young woman?

Kristen Register:

Yeah, I agree with you. I noticed there was a huge female presence at Connecticut as well. I think a big part of it was Carol Davis Smith brought a lot of her UConn students and I want to say like 25 out of the 27 were women. So that was so awesome to see just even the new generation being female heavy. So the advice I would give is to just be confident in yourself. I think that's in any field, but specifically a male dominated field, that I would say on the technical side as well, where women are sometimes not necessarily listened to or respected. They have to gain that respect.

Kristen Register:

I would say, just be confident in yourself. It's okay to ask questions, but only you can really exude that confidence. So you know, making sure that you go into every situation, backing yourself is the best advice I can give. And just connect with people in this industry. Find a, you know, female leader or mentor to kind of show you the ropes as well. There was a panel, a women in HTM panel at Connecticut and the and B-Hawk. You were in there. You crashed that, but I'm just kidding, anyone can go. But that was awesome to see four or five industry leaders that were all women and they all said you know, connect with us. We want to help you through this navigate guide, so connect with someone that's been in the industry is always a great way to really help get started in your career.

Bryant Hawkins:

Wait, was that supposed to be a women's only question? No, okay, oh because, there was only like three guys in there. I'm about to say, well, I missed that memo, but it was a great. It was a great class though.

Bryant Hawkins:

But it was now, like you said on the um in Connecticut, you see, like a shift happening, with women being represented in the industry. Now do you think, um, but you guys, what I'll just say? I'll maybe say it this way Instead of asking you I think personally that the fact you guys are hosting a podcast and you're both females, that to me is a light or a breath of fresh air for young females in this industry to see young women doing it, because we have mature hosts also I don't want to say older, we have mature people that's also doing podcasts.

Bryant Hawkins:

Sherelle but, she is so young for real but um, but I'm just saying I think that's a good y'all give a good um example of young females stepping in the forefront of this industry, because it's extremely male dominated. So I applaud you guys for that. But do you think that maybe have you got any feedback from females in the ACM industry saying how they appreciate you guys? Podcast?

Megan Cabot:

I would say, yes, we have Some of the people in the Women in Leadership group. They have come and told us about how they loved that they listened to our podcast and it's just one of them had said it was a breath of fresh air, which I really appreciate that, and I take that as a huge compliment Because, like you said, kristen and I we just are loud, we say everything, we're super genuine, but we're just who we are. That people want to actually listen to what we have to say. I truly do appreciate that, definitely from them. We had Allison Wolford on. That was a great podcast episode. If you guys want to go listen to that on Technation TV. She is a great example of a young professional who is doing amazing things in the HGM industry and I feel like she has so much wisdom to learn from. So I feel like anybody should have her on their podcast. Who hasn't had her on yet? Yeah, shout out to Alison Wolford, she has an excellent mentor.

Bryant Hawkins:

But yes, she's great. Also, let me ask you this question Can you share perhaps I know you guys probably get a lot of people come on, like you mentioned Allison Can you share an amazing story you probably heard on Girls on Fire that you think can stand out to both of you? Like Kristen, you go first what story? You think one person you bought on the show who maybe shared something with you that stood out the most to you?

Kristen Register:

oh, that's tough. Well, I'm not going to choose anything you said, because that's easy. I'm gonna have to choose someone else. I guess, since she was our most recent guest, the first person that comes to mind is Sherelle. The biggest thing that stands out to me is just like hearing someone's like background and how they got to where they are today. And we see these people all the time at shows and we connect with them on a professional level and a personal level, but we're always running around with our heads cut off sometimes. So to sit down and actually have like a full conversation with Sherelle and hear more about how she got to that point, how she used to be a police officer and worked in all different parts of law enforcement and things like that, it just it gives you a bigger picture of someone as a whole, which I just think is really special, and it just shows like their work, ethic and everything like that. So that's the first thing that jumped out to me okay, what about you, megan?

Megan Cabot:

um, well, I'm just gonna name because we haven't had a ton of.

Megan Cabot:

We just recently, this year, really started bringing on guests. So we had sydney creek, who is kristin's other um counterpart for htm jobs, and then we had you b hawk, and then allison, and then john krieg, our boss, and then we had cheryl. So we only had five, but I think the most, um, what I've gotten the most out of was having you and allison on one, because you guys are like actually in the hospitals doing the work and we are on the other end where we're kind of just trying to be the. We wanna showcase you all Like we wanna be the media partner, we wanna put out all the great things you all are doing, we wanna get all the information out to the community.

Megan Cabot:

So talking to you guys has been super helpful to me and, I'm sure, kristen, because we don't have a lot of knowledge on what's happening inside those careers. We only know kind of the outside and just from talking to you on that end. So I think learning more about what you all do, the actual HTM professionals that we do all of this for, I think is super important and I want to keep on with that next year with the podcast, because not only I feel like are we teaching everybody else listening from hearing from you guys, but I feel like Kristen and I are learning a lot too.

Bryant Hawkins:

Now there's also another segment on the podcast where you guys break down different segments and in a sense, in a sense, you, you start storytelling honestly when you share experiences like I think, oh man, I don't want to quote it wrong, but it's like one of your what's it called? Guys?

Kristen Register:

Moments of joy.

Bryant Hawkins:

Yes, and those moments of joy, that's like you know you're sharing a story. It's once again humanizing the HTM industry, because your moment of joy might not necessarily be about the industry, but it's a moment of joy. So what brought upon that segment of the show? How y'all came into wanting to put something like that in your show I, I think kristen, I came to you about it.

Megan Cabot:

I was like right, didn't I come to you about it?

Kristen Register:

yes, I know for a fact, I didn't think of it.

Megan Cabot:

Okay, okay, I was like I can't remember because we've done it for a while now I had heard somewhere, and I don't remember exactly where, something on social media and it was somebody talking about how they think of moments of joy, and it could be like the silliest little thing where, like I always talk about, john Kring makes fun of me. I always talk about the lady at the Starbucks drive-thru because she always is so sweet and it's early in the morning and I just it just starts my day out so happy. So we say things like that or it could be like oh, like we took an amazing trip with one of our, with our mom, or whatever the case is. It could be really anything big or small, but I feel like we all get caught up in the day-to-day and craziness of life and so we just want to stop, start the podcast on a good, positive note and talk about something you know happy that we found in our day-to-day life.

Bryant Hawkins:

What's so great about that? That gives you guys a different lane from all the rest of the podcast. So that's what's awesome, because each podcast has something different to offer and the fact you guys have that and you have other segments too, that sets you apart, you know, and if you don't know it, you probably will become like a trendsetter. You can probably start seeing other podcasts, maybe not exactly using that mindset, but it's going to be a good trend and it's a great trend, honestly, I would think as a compliment if you see it happening in other places. But that's what I love about it the most, cause you talk about things other than HTM and that, like I mentioned before, humanizes the industry. Now, I guess you mentioned you had five guests, three females, two males, which I guess you would have more females girls on fire. Well, I can figure out how you went about choosing me. What makes a person a perfect fit for girls on fire in your opinion, megan? I mean Kristen, let's go with you this time, megan talking enough.

Kristen Register:

I was going to say anyone with a pulse, but anybody that wants to sit in the chair.

Kristen Register:

Yeah, no, I mean, I think we've really tried to choose our guests based on, like, either something that's like happening or coming up, but we wanted to make sure to get a great variety.

Kristen Register:

So, having you on, we wanted to have you to kind of speak to the young professionals to share your wisdom and you're a great mentor and you have so many amazing things that you're doing so highlighting that, and then having Allison on, who is a young professional, like Megan said, that's in the hospital and doing the day-to-day that is what the HTM industry is looking for and sharing her experience and her expertise. And then even just having Sherelle on, who can show a little bit more insight on the vendor side and someone that we connect with a lot at shows. I think just the perfect fit is anyone that's willing to come on but has something that they want to share, whether it's the technical side, sales side. Htm is so much such a wide umbrella I think the perfect fit is just anyone that wants to come on and share how they play a small part or a big part in the industry.

Bryant Hawkins:

Right, right, you want to chime in on some of that. Megan or she pretty much covered it.

Megan Cabot:

She covered it. Can't think of anything else. I would say more Right right Now.

Bryant Hawkins:

let's shift gears a little bit here. What's the future like for you guys? Where do you see this podcast? I'm not going to say the five-year moment. Where do you see your podcast at the end of 2025? Let's just look into the future right now. Where do you see it in 12 months?

Megan Cabot:

I don't know. Where do you see us 12 months?

Bryant Hawkins:

I got a laundry list for you, but no, what do you just think? Like, 12 months from today, where do you think your podcast is going to go or where would you like it to go?

Megan Cabot:

You know, I don't know, kristen, we've actually never talked about this.

Kristen Register:

We truly have never talked about this. Okay, this is literally off the top of my head, so don't hold me to it, but Megan and I do see each other a decent bit throughout the year, whether that's work, travel or personal. I think maybe what we could start doing is little like because it's already being put on YouTube maybe little vlogs when we're together so that people can, like you said, if we are hopefully this breath of fresh air and lightness to the community, just show you guys a little bit more about what we do, either at our shows or other people's shows, or just when we're together yeah, I like that.

Megan Cabot:

maybe also adding in you know, right now we're only doing one a month, so maybe we would do two a month. I know, b-hawk, you've told us about doing them more often. I think it, um, is just that we want to put out good quality content and so far we really have been, and we just I don't know if we're going to be doing more we just want to make out good quality content and so far we really have been, and we just I don't know If we're going to be doing more we just want to make sure it's good.

Bryant Hawkins:

One thing you can do. Just let me give a thought to you. Maybe do two guests instead of one guest.

Kristen Register:

Oh, that is a good idea. Who wants it?

Bryant Hawkins:

That way you can have two guests you can touch more. It could be the person that's been sponsoring your last few yps. That'd be a great one to bring on.

Kristen Register:

You know, I'm just, yeah, talking out loud, you know um, well, considering that they told me at the last yp event that they've never listened to our podcast, they have some work to do.

Megan Cabot:

Yeah, clint is one of my very good industry friends and this guy doesn't even listen to our podcast.

Bryant Hawkins:

You know how you get somebody to listen to your podcast Bring them on. Absolutely. They will listen to it. They'll become your number one fan and all of their family members will too. So you won't get Clint to listen to one. Put him on it and watch, and you can even make him do a commercial in between. You know he like to do skits, so y'all can have a break where he can come in there and do a commercial and go back to the show, just thinking out loud.

Megan Cabot:

No, that's perfect.

Bryant Hawkins:

Now let me see. I don't know if I want to ask a future question, because y'all ain't thinking about the future.

Kristen Register:

We're just trying to get through the end of the year, B-Hawk.

Bryant Hawkins:

Hey, we already there. I'm thinking of 2026 and y'all ain't on 2025 yet. So are there any big projects or ideas you guys are excited about, maybe with Girls on Fire? I know one thing I think about. It just hit me where I'm talking to you guys Maybe at one of the shows y'all can have like a Girls on Fire podcast, you know, like a little sidebar or something At the YP event, maybe Girls on Fire you can interview some people.

Kristen Register:

That's a thought. Yeah, definitely. Well, we always have these big hopes and dreams to get some good content at the shows, but then we're running around in every different direction doing a million things. So I think actually, the yp event would be perfect because we're already allocating time to be there and we can have a nice little beverage beverage while we chat with some young professionals yeah, no, I no, I think.

Megan Cabot:

I think the thing is that we just like, we just enjoy doing what we're doing right now. Normally, you know, I am a very big like thinking of the future type of person, but it is so funny that you really stumped me on. I have no idea what we're doing with girls on fire in the future.

Bryant Hawkins:

But I'm thinking about the YP event because a lot of times people don't want to come on a podcast. So if you got like 50 people there and you just gave 30 seconds to a few, just talking about them, asking what they love about it, that can probably be an episode. Honestly.

Bryant Hawkins:

You're not wrong and you can also be promoting your event and it can be maybe not even an episode for Girls on Fire. It can be like a Girls on Fire on location and that could be a side. That could be an episode between episodes.

Bryant Hawkins:

Road trip and it could represent, you know, somebody might want to know what the YP event really like and can see more than the pictures, you know. Just a thought if you want me to come be your guest podcaster, I will. You know, I get to get in the yp group too.

Bryant Hawkins:

I was about to say I see what you're doing there we can come in together, huh, but I mean, hey, that's just thoughts. If you had to say, what is the favorite part about working with Megan and Kristen Working, megan working with Kristen, kristen working with Megan, what is the favorite thing you love about working with each other and you can't say laughing?

Megan Cabot:

No, well, ok, so we. So she does hdm jobs, I do technician on that side of things and so we don't really like technically, our day-to-day is not working together like girls on fire has like brought us, I would say, closer right, kristin yes, I would agree with that yeah, so like we.

Megan Cabot:

I mean we were really good friends before and had a great connection but I think we've grown even more from doing the podcast and like having to plan out guests and talking about what we're going to talk about and that sort of thing, and it's just fun. It doesn't feel like work and that's what I enjoy so much with working with Kristen is that we just have so much fun. Of course, like you said, we laugh the whole freaking time, but we just have a great connection. You can tell it's genuine and I don't know, kristen's one of my really good friends. I love her a lot, megan.

Kristen Register:

I love you too. I was going to say the same thing. It really is. Megan and I have been close since I feel like the day that I started, but we're in separate offices I don't know if we mentioned that I'm in Nashville and Megan's in Atlanta, so we don't see each other every day. We really only see each other at shows or if we schedule something outside of it, like Megan's coming early next week so she can stay with me an extra night and we can go to dinner and hang out with some people up here. So it's just stuff like that.

Kristen Register:

It's really hard sometimes, I think, to make friends in work environments, and having someone that feels like a genuine friend over a coworker is really special and that's what I love the most. But how you're saying we're happy all the time. The beginning of our podcast, we vent to each other. The end of our podcast, we catch up about what's ahead for our next few weeks before we see each other again. So we really do have such great conversations before and after doing the podcast that we probably wouldn't have if we weren't doing it. So I'm really, really thankful that Jamie looked at us and said redheads, do this. And it worked out.

Bryant Hawkins:

Yep.

Kristen Register:

Great.

Bryant Hawkins:

Now one thing I just noticed when I was thinking the questions to ask you guys, how come y'all don't have a theme song?

Megan Cabot:

I don't know what. I feel like we would have that one um the pitbull song. You know fireball fireball is great.

Kristen Register:

You know what else I thought about? And it has nothing to do with fire. Just how I feel sometimes. And if anyone were to hear our side conversations, they would say our theme song is Young, dumb and Broke. Oh my gosh.

Bryant Hawkins:

I'm going to work on y'all theme song. I'm going to get y'all a theme song. I'm going to get y'all a theme song. It's going to be pretty fire too. No pun intended.

Megan Cabot:

Love that.

Bryant Hawkins:

Now, what piece of advice? Because I think personally and this might be a stump question or may not be we know we have a lot of podcasts out there in our industry right now. I think we got four or five what piece of advice could you give to the other ones that have podcasts?

Kristen Register:

Ooh, that's a great question, I think. For me personally, the only advice I would have is just have fun with it and don't worry about how you look or how you sound and planning everything out so methodically. Like, just be your authentic, genuine self, even, like you said, be hug. Like and I think this goes for you too Like you can just feel when someone's genuine, when they're passionate, when they're happy. Like you can feel someone's emotions based on how genuine they are. And I think, megan and I, no matter if we're having a bad day or a good day, we always just come on and we tell you guys exactly how we feel and when we're feeling burnt out, when we're feeling motivated, and just like sharing that part of you know, your everyday, with your audience. I think it's just like the best way to engage your listeners and get more followers.

Bryant Hawkins:

Right, megan, do you want to jump on that question?

Megan Cabot:

No, she pretty much said it Honestly. I would just say I feel like a lot of the podcasts in the industry, you know, they're kind of like interviewing people and that sort of layout and I think maybe, like I don't know if you told us to do this B-Hawk, I can't remember but like we do have segments. So like we have our moments of joy, then we have the hot topic, which is either we're talking to our guests or whatever topic Chris and I want to talk about, you know, in the young professional sphere, and then we do, if we have guests, we do like a rapid fire. So I think that like helps a lot, especially with staying on some kind of outline for the podcast. So I would recommend doing that. I really like having segments because it does keep it kind of fresh and like I feel like you can see people's personality a little bit more if they do something like that.

Kristen Register:

And we typically go off the rails, if not.

Bryant Hawkins:

Off the rails all the time and we typically go off the rails, if not Off the rails all the time and I guess maybe you guys probably are great at that part of it because you're not overthinking it, because, like you mentioned before, you guys are not actually working in the hospitals, so you're coming at it from a different perspective and a lot of times we don't see that perspective because we're looking at it from the hospital mindset how we can do things this way, that way. But the way you guys do it it gives, like I say, humanizes, because a lot of biomedicine introverts. They may laugh, but they probably laugh at home, but you make it fun to laugh out loud and that's a cool thing, I think personally. And I would tell you to continue to be your authentic self and it's been working so far and I think it's going to work even more in the future. Now in closing, if you can leave your listeners, mine also, one key message about girls on fire. What would it be?

Bryant Hawkins:

megan, you go first one like one key, like thing, like if like they like one message, one message that the reason for what y'all do you can leave your listeners that this is what you're gonna get when you listen to girls on fire.

Megan Cabot:

We do this to just bring some more fun to the industry, which is what you're going to get when you listen to Girls on Fire. We do this to just bring some more fun to the industry, which is what we've been talking about. I feel like this whole time that we don't take ourselves too seriously. Like Kristen said, we just are our authentic, genuine self. You take us for whatever we bring that day. We go off the rails, we say what we're feeling. We're not hiding anything, and I think when you show that to people just who exactly you are that will make you stand out in really great ways. So I hope everybody can just do that.

Bryant Hawkins:

Kristen.

Kristen Register:

Yes, I agree. At our MD Expo in Connecticut we kind of wrote out little thank you cards for attendees and just left them all around to let people know that we're, you know, thankful for the hard work they do and for attending. And our videographer Haley thought she was, you know, writing something so profound on every single note card. And she wrote profound on every single note card. And she wrote you are why we do what we do, and that is something I say in my head all the time because I think it's funny that she wrote that. But also when you really break it down, when people come up to us and tell us that they've really enjoyed the podcast, or even when they get as specific as oh, I really liked on episode six, how you guys were talking about burnout and how you, you know they they're actually listening it it really brings a lot of joy to me. So one key message is just keep listening and hopefully that we can keep bringing you guys joy, because having all the feedback brings us joy.

Bryant Hawkins:

Great answer. Now, last question Just popped in my head. Listening to that, 10 years from now, 20 years from now, I'm going to tell them what this world will be like. There was this podcast Girls on Fire. What would you want that legacy to look like?

Kristen Register:

That's hard. Hopefully. I think our legacy would just be, hopefully to be an inspiration, not only to young professionals but to women, but to anyone that feels like they might not know exactly what this industry looks like. We just our legacy, is to be inclusive. We want people to be able to have a safe space to speak freely and ask questions and laugh and just have fun. We know that it's a very demanding job and sometimes we hear that technicians sometimes don't feel seen in their hospital and we want to make sure that everyone feels seen and heard and can just always have a good time. And, you know, enjoy each other and our young professionals group.

Megan Cabot:

Yeah, just go for it. I mean, look at Kristen and I, we did not think that people were going to listen to this at all. We thought we were just going to be talking to ourselves most of the time, so that people actually listen and like, think this is a value for the HTM industry. And we just had this random idea. Nobody else is doing anything like Kristen and I are. And look at it, people really like it, so they'll just go out there, put yourself out there, and we hope that people that listen to our podcast.

Bryant Hawkins:

Just you know do whatever makes them happy. All right, well said, look, man, I heard you coming on the show, kristin megan. You guys are killing it and I'll do whatever I can to help you guys. Whatever you need, you know you can call on me, but I appreciate you. You're welcome to come back anytime you want. There's an open invitation for you and I appreciate you for coming on.

Kristen Register:

Thanks, b-hawk. We love you, I know. Thanks, b-hawk. You are why we do what we do truly. B-hawk was our first call when we started doing this and he gave us great notes and reflections and feedback and we really appreciate that. I really don't think we'd be where we are without your insight into this world of podcasting, so don't forget it.

Bryant Hawkins:

Thank you, guys. That's a wrap for this episode of HTM on the line. A huge thank you to my amazing guests, kristen and Megan, for bringing their energy, insights and authentic passion to the show. They're proving every day that the HTM industry is about more than just work. It's about community connection and growth. If you loved hearing from them, you'll definitely want to tune in to their podcast, girls on Fire. You can find it on YouTube at Tech Nation TV for more of their engaging stories and perspectives. This is also the final episode of season two. Thank you to all our listeners for your continued support and encouragement. Hg Motorline will be back with season three, premiering January 14thuary 14 2025, with even more incredible guests, inspiring stories and exciting new segments. A lot of great things are in store for the new season, so stay tuned. Until then, stay motivated, stay passionate and keep making a difference. See you on the line.

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