For our fifth episode of the Parks and Recognize Podcast, we were treated to a special guest from the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA)! Datis Mohsenipour, VP of Marketing at Xplor Recreation sat down with Cort Jones, Senior Manager of Digital Content at NRPA.

Many of you already know Cort—whether by name or by voice—from his work on NRPA’s Open Space Radio Podcast. For over seven years, he’s been a trusted source of news and storytelling that parks and rec professionals across the country rely on.

In this episode, we flipped the script and interviewed the interviewer! Cort shared a behind-the-scenes look at his journey in the parks and recreation world, some highlights from his career, and a few surprises he’s encountered in this industry compared to others he’s worked in.

Tune in to the podcast or check out the interview transcript below!

Listen to Episode 5 of Parks and Recognize:

Prefer to Read the Interview? See Below.

Datis: You've tuned into a couple of our episodes, so you know the drill. We always kick things off with a bit of an ice breaker. My question to you is what's your favorite non-work-related podcast?

Cort: I love this question and I get this question pretty regularly. I never know how to answer because I feel like I listen to a lot of podcasts, but I don't have like a favorite one. I feel like I will seek out a podcast about a topic that I'm trying to learn more about in that moment, but I'll share some that have been some kind of staples for me. So one, I'm a big fan of storytelling, and so there's a podcast called Beautiful Stories from Anonymous people, or Beautiful Anonymous for short. It's hosted by this comedian Chris Gethard, and the premise is people just call in anonymously to this number that he promotes and they share a story and he cannot hang up. They have a conversation for an hour and he just can't hang up regardless of the topic, he doesn't know this person's name. He doesn't know what the topic is going to be, and it's some of the most powerful stories because when people can share anonymously and whatever their story is doesn't come back to them and impact, you know, their life or career or whatever it is, they're a little bit more open and so some really amazing stories on that podcast. I'm a big snowboarder so I love the Bomb Hole Podcast. They talk to professional snowboarders all the time, so I love that. And then just a big fan of anything NPR podcast. I love Invisibilia, I love Life Kit, just learning about random things and then Louder Than a Riot is a really cool podcast about the history of hip hop.

Datis: I got to check that one out, I'm a big hip hop fan. Have you heard of the Dissect Podcast?

Cort: I haven't, I have to check that out.

Datis: Yeah, it's a really good one. They break down the different lyrics, not just of hip hop, but different genres of music, but predominantly hip hop. It's a really good one to check out if you're a fan of music.

Cort: Yes, I’m a big, big music fan. So I'll definitely check that out.

Datis: Amazing. Thanks for sharing that. By the way, how's it feel to be the subject of a podcast rather than the host?

Cort: Oh, I mean, there are butterflies. My palms are a little bit sweaty. I'm used to being the one that can just grill the guest and they have to figure it out. I'm not used to being on this side of it. I think I've been a guest on maybe one or two other podcasts, and that's been years ago, so the nerves, the nerves are there.

Datis: Well, I can empathize with that, because it's definitely nerve wracking for me having somebody of your caliber on the podcast as well. I mean, you've done such an amazing job as a cohost of open space radio. So, we really appreciate having you here.

Cort: Yeah, well, I appreciate that. And thank you for listening to our podcast. That's like my baby and my favorite thing that I get to do at work.

Datis: It's a great thing you are doing well. Speaking of the podcast, I was listening to an earlier episode in the year about Imposter Syndrome, and it was a fantastic episode. But in the intro you talked a little bit about how you feel a sense of Imposter Syndrome because you're in the parks and rec space, but you don't feel that you're truly a parks and rec individual because of your background. I mean, first of all, I fully disagree with that. I think what you're doing is incredible and so profoundly impactful for all the advocacy work that you're doing. For all the support that you're providing to parks and rec professionals, umm. But for those listening in, why don't we talk a little bit about the work that you do and what organization you do for?

Cort: Thank you for that question, and yeah, that was one of my favorite episodes with Gabby Vieira, she's amazing. I am the senior manager of digital content for the National Recreation and Park Association. The primarily consist of producing and co-hosting our podcast Open Space Radio. I also manage our blog, which we do a lot of really wonderful storytelling through the blog sharing context for various NRPA resources and stories from you know, professionals who are on the ground doing the work. I also oversee our social media strategy at NRPA, which, uh, if you're listening and not following NRPA on social on all of our social platforms, I'd really recommend that, our social media manager Christina High is doing an incredible job. And then this was the first year that I didn't manage Park and Rec month. That's been kind of my thing for the past few years. It's transitioned over to another staff member, I was still highly involved, but that's also a big piece that I've been involved with at NRPA and just one of my favorite campaigns, which we just wrapped up recently.

Datis: It's such a great initiative. What inspired you to apply for your first job at the National Recreation and Park Association?

Cort: Yeah, that's a great question. As you mentioned, I don't come from a background in Parks and Recreation, that's primarily like, I have personal experience but not working in Parks and Recreation. My background was in journalism. So have a formal education in journalism, have worked for a number of different publications and media companies. But I'm also a big fan and advocate for outdoor recreation. I'm always trying to find something to do outside. I really love nature, so when I saw a job position open up for an associate editor for Parks and Recreation magazine, I was like, this sounds like the perfect marriage between my love of writing and journalism and my love of nature. And so I applied. Luckily, they liked my writing samples and I got it and I've transitioned from the magazine team kind of got into communications and now I'm on the digital content side. I think doing my research into NRPA when I was applying for the job, I was like, this seems like such a wonderful organization. I hadn't heard of NRPA before seeing this job opportunity, and so, luckily they took a chance on me and I think it's paid off. It’s been one of the most rewarding careers I've ever had. I think it's definitely my favorite job that I've ever had, I just love it. I'm so glad that I found this opportunity, found this organization, and it's provided me so many opportunities and I've met so many amazing people and made built a lot of relationships that I wouldn't have otherwise had.

Datis: That's a really special part about working at least adjacent to the industry or part of the industry, is the relationships you build. It really is all about community and it's a really special breed of folks that we get to work with.

Cort: Absolutely.

Datis: I think we're all fortunate that they did take that chance on you and that they did enjoy your writing style because it's just the impact you've had has been really incredible to watch and witness. So, prior to getting into the NRPA, had you known much about the industry outside of just reaping some of the benefits of it.

Cort: Yeah, I think you said it like I think I was reaping the benefits of it, but I didn't truly know or appreciate the full scope. You know, I grew up playing sports and going to camp and going to the pool every day in the summer and you know, I was participating in a lot of these programs without, you know, probably my parents probably knew that I was participating in Parks and Rec programs, but I didn't know it at the time. And as I said, you spend a lot of time outdoors on trails and going to the skate park and snowboarding and things like that. So I was, I guess, adjacently familiar with the industry, but I really didn't appreciate the full scope and everything that happens or the importance of local park and recreation professionals until I joined NRPA. I think that really opened my eyes in the best way because I think my perspective was probably like a lot of people in our communities who don't truly understand the value of Parks and Recreation. I think it switched that thing in my mind was like, this is not a nice to have, it's essential. It truly is, and I feel like it's hard to see that until you're in the industry or adjacent to the industry. I think that speaks to the opportunity that we can take advantage of to advocate for the importance of Parks and Recreation to our Community members.

Datis: I couldn't agree more with you Cort. It's such a special industry and so much goes into supporting what we as community members, just kind of get to reap the benefits on the day-to-day basis being back in the industry, especially as a father has really emphasized my appreciation of the parks and rec industry and the oftentimes tireless and unfortunately thankless work that goes to support what us and other community members get to enjoy daily.

Cort: I agree, and I think you said it like it's a lot of times we don't understand, or like the regular community member don't understand what goes into putting on these programs, keeping these spaces clean and safe and welcoming. A lot of times, we think that these spaces just appear and they take care of themselves and it's not true. There are people that are working really hard to maintain these spaces and offer these programs and I think the more that we can shout that out that it's the people behind all of these things that are making it happen, the better off we will be.

Datis: Couldn't agree more. Parks and rec pros, in my opinion, just kind of as we discussed just now, are really special breed of people and I really believe that they are the heartbeat of communities everywhere. I'm sure you do as well. What does community specifically mean to you, Cort?

Cort: I really love this question because I think community can mean so many different things and it means so many different things to different people, depending on where you are, you're lived experience and I think community can sometimes be a tricky thing to define. Because of that, aside from the literal community as a physical place definition, to me, community is all about, support and love and belonging among a group of people with shared values and sometimes not even shared values. Maybe it's different values, but how you bring people into see what's valued by each individual of this community. I think to me, community is more human centered than location centered. It's all about, the people who are there for you, who see you and hear you, who you can rely on when you need something or when they need something they can rely on you. I see community every Saturday morning when I go to my local farmers market and I see everyone catching up. I live in a pretty small town, so people know your name. When you go up to their booth and they remember what you got last time and I see community when my neighbors brought my wife and I meals after we had our son, you know, a few months ago I see community. When I go to the local coffee shop and the barista and I carry on a conversation that we started last week or, you know, the day before or whatever, and they know my order, we know each other. I see it when I can connect with someone who has a similar lived experience as I do. We all have our own lived experiences, but when you can connect with someone on a commonality there, I think that's community. It's a lot of things I think, but at the end of the day, it revolves around people in connection, and I think there's not just one community that anyone can be a part of. You can be part of various communities and I just think community is a beautiful thing and it's very personal to everyone.

Datis: Love that answer and this is always such a fascinating question for me to ask on these episodes that we do and I love getting the perspective of somebody who's not directly in the agency space. It's so cool to see how it overlaps with so many of the responses we've got from other agency professionals. I really like the point that you touched on. I think values obviously play into community, but also not necessarily having the same values but connecting over similar interests. I think to me is a really fascinating part of community where values may differ, opinions may differ, but there's a shared love for something in common. I think that's so special too. When I look at your involvement in community, your supporting these community catalysts in the Parks and Recreation space. But you're supporting at this almost macro level where you're having a hand in creating advocacy for these individuals that are building community across the nation and continent. Can you tell me a little bit about what community kind of means to you from that lens of the work that you specifically do?

Cort: I think you kind of said it just a minute ago when you were talking about the differences and how community can bring that together. I think that's a big part of our work at NRPA and especially our equity work. I think our Chief Equity Officer Autumn Saxton-Ross always loves to say ‘difference meets on the playground’ and when we're thinking about Parks and Recreation like that is such a bipartisan issue or it should be when we're thinking about, you know, recreation and protecting these spaces that are beneficial to all of our lives and our health and wellbeing, it's a bipartisan issue. There are not very many bipartisan issues in the world right now. So I think in my work, it's being able to showcase community and showcase how differences can come together in spaces like this and how these programs and spaces are welcoming to everyone. Regardless of your background, your experience, your ability. I think building community through my work is being able to facilitate conversations where people can advocate and share the important ways that they're doing that. The way that they're building community and so I feel like especially with the podcast, we've built kind of a community for communities. I just love being able to amplify the good work that's going on and the true community building that's happening across the country. Then I think that in turn builds a community within like NRPA of all of these people who are doing similar work across the country and lifting up their communities. I hope that answered your question.

Datis: It sure did, and it's quite meta if you think about it. Community supporting communities within communities.

Cort: Yeah, 100%, it's super meta.

Datis: Thanks for that Cort. We talked about a lot of different ways that you are involved in communities and I think we touched on a few ways that you impact these communities across the nation of parks and rec professionals. You've worked for about 7 1/2 years in this space. I've personally witnessed quite a bit of the impact and the time that I've followed you on LinkedIn and seeing the work that you've been doing. I know you’re a very humble natured individual, but I want you to talk a little bit about your impact and maybe a couple highlights in your career and why they were so special to you.

Cort: I appreciate that question. I think these are sometimes the hardest ones for me to answer because I think I look at this work as not about me. I'm kind of just the catalyst to provide the platform and give the space, but there are definitely some highlights. I think the biggest one for me was right at the beginning when I started NRPA in 2017. It was right before the 2017 NRPA annual conference in New Orleans. I think that was like the defining moment for me when I when I started it NRPA, I wasn't interacting with our members as much and I was kind of behind the scenes and so going to that first conference, I finally saw like thousands of parks and rec professionals come together and just seeing the energy and the commitment to service and just hearing everyone talk about the work that they were doing just opened my mind up so much. So that was, I think a whirlwind, a little overwhelming. I was taking in a lot of information, but just the energy of that conference. It made me realize that I was in the right industry. I was working for the right organization and that it was something that I wanted to be a part of. As you know and you've said it, parks and recreation professionals are some of the most amazing individuals I've ever met. I've been in a few different industries and there's nothing like this one, and so being a part of that was like, I want to contribute to this how I can, whether that's from the national, like supporting level or whatever it was, I just wanted to be a part of it. I think that was a big highlight for me. Obviously, I think launching the podcast when we did my previous cohost Roxanne Sutton, our supervisor at the time, came to us and was like we should start a podcast or something. We were like, ‘OK, we could probably do that, neither of us have done this before, but I have a little bit of video and audio editing experience from a previous role’, and so I think leadership was like, ‘oh, that translates into creating a podcast, this would be perfect’, and they wanted us to host and we're like, alright, we'll do it, we'll explore this and we went to a couple podcast conferences and then we just kind of got to work and we launched the podcast in 2017 as well and that I think has been one of my proudest projects that I've been a part of at the organization. We've gone through a lot of changes. I was with my original cohost then I was hosting and producing solo for awhile, and now I have two co-hosts, Christina High and Cara Myers, which has been amazing to get those additional perspectives from the hosting side and feel like I'm not doing it, all on my own. I mean just seeing the response to the podcast and the fact that people actually listen. When I get an email about this episode really resonated with me, or when I get a message from one of our guests who we were talking about some wildfires that had impacted their community, this was a couple years back and they were able to use our interview to go and get a grant to be able to help with recovery efforts. So to be a part of something like that in just our little platform is like truly helping others amplify their work and then make a case for better funding or better resources or what have you. That's makes me really proud and just being able to create space for others to share stories when they might not have otherwise had the opportunity I think is something that I value a lot. I think that's been really a proud few years for me with the podcast and it's been fairly successful. We've been on, you know, charts for Apple Podcasts every now and then. That's always cool like, we're not in it for the charts, we're not in for the ratings or what have you, but it's nice to see when the content that we're producing is resonating. Then Park and Rec month, I think I led Park and Rec month for about four years up until this year when it transitioned to another staff member. There's a whole lot of work going on behind the scenes for a campaign like Park and Rec month, and it can get stressful, it can get overwhelming, you know? It's a lot, but then when July first hits and you get on Instagram or Facebook or LinkedIn or whatever, and you just see everyone celebrating, it's the most amazing feeling, this is something that we worked so hard and now everyone's excited and they're doing the thing that's always amazing and really seeing all of this work on the community level unified under one central theme, like our theme was ‘Where You Belong’ this year. We were really leaning into the belonging and just seeing how many agencies that resonated with, and how many were supporting that theme and really building belonging in their community is always cool. I think one last thing, part of Park and Rec month is Park and Recreation Professionals day. I think it was 2019 and I'm sorry if I get the date wrong and the person who came to us is listening. But Tim Herd, the CEO from the Pennsylvania Recreation and Parks Society came to us and was like, ‘hey, I was on a trail of the other day thinking about how we need to have a Parks and Recreation Professionals Day to honor the folks who are doing this work’. And he's like, ‘we did one in Pennsylvania. It was a really great idea. We would love to take it, you know nationwide’. We were like, yeah, this sounds like a really awesome idea. Let's try to do it. We recorded a podcast with him. He talked about the day and then we created some simple materials for folks to be able to get involved and promote the day. And I mean to see the response from that first year and then to see what Parks and Recreation Professionals Day was like this year. I mean, it was like everyone was talking about it. Everyone was celebrating their staff and doing special events and having parties and luncheons and all this stuff, and it's just it's really cool to see something go from like idea to really impactful campaign. I think is always really rewarding to be a part of something like that and I think at this point it's just like it's carrying itself forward because it was a really solid start. It's just been really fun to watch.

Datis: No shortage of things to be proud of. I'm sure there's many more, but thank you for sharing that and thank you again for just all that you do to advocate for these parks and rec professionals that impact all our lives so significantly. I love that bit about the parks and rec professionals day, I think I actually got a message in my inbox from Tim about Parks and rec professionals that I've got to get to. But it's so special that you folks are giving that platform to these professionals. I think it goes such a long way because they're really unsung heroes in a lot of ways. Again, we talked about it a few times, how folks don't necessarily know the work that goes into managing our parks and recreational programs. The other thing that they don't necessarily or the average person doesn't necessarily know is all the extra work that parks and rec professionals do. So many of the folks that I speak to volunteer in either statewide associations or branches within those statewide associations. A lot of them are involved with the NRPA. Then, of course, they have their own lives, families, kids, all that, so they're juggling so much. But we don't know that we don't see that unless we're directly involved. So to give that platform to give that recognition, I think is just one of many ways you folks are really doing a great job of advocating for parks and rec professionals.

Cort: Well, I appreciate that and I agree. The commitment to service doesn't just stop with their day job as a parks and recreation professional in their local community, they are truly committed to service. I think it's so admirable.

Datis:  It really is. You touched on something about the first annual conference that you into attended. It was that really eye opening moment for you. What really surprised you about this industry? That's different than previous industries you worked in.

Cort: I think the willingness to share. I think the collaboration, especially when we talk about NRPA membership, things like NRPA connect, which is our platform for members where they can share ideas, best practices, things that have happened in their community that they're navigating. Someone from an entirely different community across the country may have gone through something similar and they can share how they got through it. I feel like that's really unique to this industry because there's a lot of similar work going on, but it's very dependent on the community and the needs of that community. There's a lot of different work happening in communities across the country, but just the willingness to share that work and share resources and collaborate on solutions to things. I mean, it's absolutely the most fun group of professionals that I've encountered in any industry. The journalism industry is not this fun. I think you know just that willingness to share and openness to collaboration and just that commitment to service I think is so incredible that you don't see that in every industry.

Datis: You really don't, that service component, it’s just the root of everything parks and recreation professionals do.

Cort: I'll also add the ‘welcomeness’ and I don't even know if welcomeness is a word, but just that the welcoming nature of parks and recreation professionals, I think I mentioned the fact that I was not in this industry previous to this role. But I feel like I've been embraced by any of the professionals that I've had to reach out to and work directly with on certain things, or talk to on the podcast. I may not be a, you ‘quote unquote’ park and recreational professional, but I feel like I've been accepted into the group, and welcomed. I think that says a lot about the type of people that park and recreation professionals are like. I don't feel like an outsider. I don't feel like, you know, just the nonprofit association guy for this industry, that's not a part of it. I truly feel like I'm a part of the industry and that's not my own feeling. That's because of the way that I've been welcomed and embraced and just engaged with. I think that's pretty amazing.

Datis: I full heartedly agree on that as well. You know, I have friendships that I know will stand the test of time just through people I've met on these different trips. Going to trade shows, being at the NRPA Annual Conference, I have a lot of people that I text with fairly regularly that I've met in that year and a half that I've been back in this industry. They really, truly do welcome everybody and anybody into the industry and it's that whole nature community, it's a special thing.

Cort: Yeah, it comes right back around the community, it's that it's an amazing community.

Datis: Full circle. Hey, Cort, obviously you spent a lot of time with the podcast. You do a lot of work advocating for parks and rec professionals. Always having a profound impact, but when you're not busy doing all these things, what can we expect you to be doing with your spare time?

Cort: Well, my answer today is a little different than it was maybe five months ago. Right now I'm like full blown baby-land dad life. I have a 5 month old son, so a lot of diaper changes, a lot of things like that, but it's amazing. I love it, I mean spending as much time as I can with my wife and son. Listening to a lot of like peaceful piano music, because my son really loves piano music. Aside from that, you know, I love to read. I love to get outside. We're really fortunate to have a lot of really wonderful spaces and trails right in our town, so we're able to get our son in nature from an early age, which is really cool. I love to cook. That's a big hobby of mine, so always looking for like new recipes. I love watching trash TV like I love substance. I love a good documentary, but, give me some trash reality TV and I can dissociate for hours with that. Oh and then you know I love skateboarding when I get the chance to. I am so excited to teach my son how to skateboard Datis. You sent me a really cool skateboard trainer thing that I've got in my cart. It's ready to go whenever he's ready. So, just anything with, you know, with family, friends, outside, or I also can be a huge home body too.

Datis: Fair enough. Fair enough. When you spend so much time in community, it's nice to have some of that downtime to yourself as well, and maybe catch up on some trash TV.

Cort: Yeah.

Datis: I did not expect that. 

Cort: I know I feel like I always surprise people when I tell them. Like, ‘yeah, I'm a big Bravo fan’, and they're like, ‘really? I didn't take you for a Bravo fan’. I'm like, ‘yeah, it's you know, guilty pleasure’. But I don't know if it's that guilty of a pleasure at this point. I'm all about it.

Datis: Wear it proudly my partner, she's all about that, and that's when the air pods go in. We're not so aligned on that one.

Cort: Well, you might break down soon though, because that's how it started in our house.

Datis: Oh yeah.

Cort: So yeah, I mean, you never know. Don't discount it yet.

Datis: Never say never. Well, Cort, I've really enjoyed this conversation. Before I wrap things up. I do want to ask actually two more questions. One, is there any exciting news you'd like to share about the NRPA to those tuning in today?

Cort: Yeah, as you know, we just wrapped up park and recreation month at the end of July and we'll be carrying that theme of Where You Belong into our 2024 Annual Conference, which is happening in Atlanta this year on October 8th through 10th. Really excited about that, really excited to get down to Atlanta and see everybody, catch up. The conference is always just such an energizing, refreshing time of the year. I think it's getting to that, end of summer, early fall, everyone's starting to like, feel it and then you go to conference and then you're like, OK, I'm energized to do this work again. Really looking forward to that, if you haven't registered, I would really encourage you to do so. And if you register before August 23rd, you'll get a lower price than if you register after August 23rd. So, recommend that, we're also going to be unveiling our new strategic plan at the conference. So, a lot of excitement there. We have some exciting partners that we're going to be announcing at the conference. As well as a NRPA's 60th anniversary celebration in 2025. We're gearing up for that. A lot of fun ideas floating around on our marketing team currently about how we're going to celebrate that. I know we're going to have some really fun stuff just celebrating the impact that NRPA and the park and recreation profession has had over the last 60 years. So yeah, I think those are those are the big ones and you know I'll always shout out Open Space Radio. We've got a lot of great episodes coming out. We've got a lot of episodes in 2025 already planned to support the strategic plan. I think lot of exciting stuff to come. It's really our busy time right now with Parks and Rec month wrapping up and the conference about to start.

Datis: Lots of exciting stuff. Lots to celebrate, 60 years, wow. Well, we'll make sure if there's anything else, we'll make sure to drop links into the page that we post this on and any socials that we share through. Thanks for sharing all that. My final question that I got for you before we wrap things up as somebody who's let's say adjacent, even though you're not, but if somebody who's adjacent to the parks and rec profession, what advice would you share to parks and rec professionals or listening on?

Cort: I think this is one of those questions where I get that Impostor Syndrome. Because I sometimes feel a certain way about giving advice in a profession that I haven't personally worked on the ground in, but I think I've had the unique perspective of hearing a lot of professionals give advice to other professionals, so I can share at least some of that. I think the biggest one is to just get involved. I think whether that's with NRPA and our various volunteer opportunities or networks or your state association or just getting more involved on the local level. I know we talked about that a few minutes ago. Just how involved parks and recreation professionals are on so many different levels. I think just getting involved, like time and energy is the biggest resource that we don't have capacity on. I think getting involved in helping out with your state association or NRPA is a really good way to expand your network, get some experience. I would always recommend that and then using your network and peers in the profession as a resource. I think it's always really easy to get stuck in your own silo. Getting those outside perspectives and experience from others who may have gone through a similar situation in their community, I think is invaluable. And then I would also always recommend using NRPA's resources. We have toolkits for just about everything we have. A lot of really great research reports, our magazine, with some really valuable articles, the podcast. There's something for just about anyone working in parks and recreation if they're looking for content or resources on a specific topic, that can probably find it through NRPA and I know there's a lot of other organizations that have similar resources. There’s so many resources available, it's just finding which ones are relevant for your work. I would just explore those opportunities with NRPA, your state association and attend the conference, talk to somebody who you don't know. We recently published a blog post on our blog about Megan Cools conference experience and she said, ‘when you're there, look to your left or right, introduce yourself, just say hi’. I get really nervous in social situations and it's sometimes difficult for me to just go up to someone and introduce myself. But getting out of your comfort zone and doing that, I think it's so valuable. I've seen the value and I've been able to do that, so I always encourage others too, like give yourself grace and, like, try to do it, don't force yourself to do it obviously. But if you know if the opportunity is there to introduce yourself and learn about somebody new and what they're doing in the field, you know, take that opportunity and say hi and learn about somebody.

Datis: That's great advice, and especially at conferences where folks are there to meet other professionals and learn from others and have conversations with others and grow their communities. It's really for anyone that's the best environment where you know your guard should be the lowest for something like that because everyone's expecting it already in there for that purpose.

Cort: Yeah, I couldn't agree more. That’s I think what I continued to tell myself when I was in those situations like, look, everyone's here for the same goal, the same mission, everyone wants to just better their community here. So, if you go into it thinking that like the other person's probably nervous to say hi too. But at the at the end of the day, like they want to make their community a better place, you want your community to be a better place, and when you talk about that together and connect on that, that doubles the impact, right? Then there's just that trickledown effect and hopefully the impact continues to grow and you get to grow your network, you get to have more resources and people that you can go to and then hopefully some of your problems are a little bit easier to solve when you have others that you can consult.

Datis: So true, great advice Cort. Well, this has been really special. I really appreciate you taking the time to join us. Definitely was able to feel a little bit more comfortable as we went along the podcast. I think your hosting experience made it more comfortable for me as the host, so thank you for that. Hey I really look forward to meeting you in Atlanta. Hopefully we can sneak some time or hopefully we can get some time together at the conference. I know you'll be super busy, but I really hope to meet you in person there and thanks again for everything that you do, the advocacy that you do and NRPA as an organization. All that you do for the folks in the parks and Rec profession.

Cort: Well, thanks so much Datis. I mean my nerves I think started to subside at the end. I probably started rambling a little bit, but hopefully it's all coherent and yeah, I would absolutely encourage anyone listening to go register for the conference. And I can't wait to meet you in person and connect there. Thanks for the opportunity to share a little bit about my experience and what NRPA can offer to professionals in the field.

Datis:  Thank you, Cort. See you soon.

Wrapping it up:

Stay tuned for more inspiring episodes as we continue to spotlight remarkable parks and rec professionals. Want to share your story on a future episode of Parks and Recognize? Contact xr_marketing@xplortechnologies.com.