How Losing Your Job Became a Launchpad with Christopher Bylone
What happens when a layoff becomes your runway?
Christopher Bylone tells the story of walking out of corporate predictability and building Innovation Unbiased, a practice that treats belonging like both data and devotion. He shares the “belonging formula” and real examples of accessibility failing where it counts.
If you want practical steps to lead with heart and measure inclusion, this episode will challenge how you think about equity, bias, and the everyday choices that make people feel (or not) like they belong.
Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments
Christopher’s turning point – how being laid off sparked the launch of his consulting business.
Belonging is actionable – Christopher’s formula: equity + diversity × inclusion^accessibility.
Equity as policies and practice – diversity as representation, inclusion as leadership behaviors, accessibility as real-world access.
Why small design choices – like office layouts, send big messages about who belongs.
Unconscious bias is inevitable – the goal is shifting to purposeful, unbiased behavior.
Authenticity speeds opportunity – leaning into identity opens more doors, not fewer.
Network nourishment matters – relationships fuel traction and transformation.
Vulnerability is strength – childhood lessons shaped Christopher’s lifelong commitment to dignity.
Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode
“Fear shows up on every bold move — the trick is making it ride in the backseat, not drive.” — Courtney Turich
“Owning your path isn’t a destination; it’s the daily choice to show up as you.” — Courtney Turich
“When someone dares to be authentic, they don’t make you less — they make the room better.” — Courtney Turich
“Bold choices don’t wait for permission; they ask for practice.” — Courtney Turich
“If you want people to belong, start by designing workplaces that would welcome you.” — Courtney Turich
“Belonging isn’t a feeling you hope for — it’s an it you can measure and build toward.” – Christopher Bylone
“Your bias may exist, but being purposefully unbiased means your behavior doesn’t harm others.” – Christopher Bylone
“Equity is the policy; inclusion is the action; accessibility is the proof.” – Christopher Bylone
“The day I was laid off I didn’t lose my job — I gained permission to make my work my purpose.” – Christopher Bylone
“Humanity isn’t optional in business; it’s the metric we keep ignoring at our peril.” – Christopher Bylone
About Christopher
Christopher Bylone is the founder of Innovation Unbiased and host of I Know I Belong When…, where he amplifies bold voices and stories of inclusion and impact. A cancer survivor and lifelong advocate, he has led global belonging strategies at Krispy Kreme and IFF, driving ERGs, inclusive policies, and multimillion-dollar DE&I initiatives. From launching a Gay-Straight Alliance in college to shaping corporate ESG strategies, Christopher’s journey is rooted in resilience and authenticity. Living in the Charlotte Metro area, he’s also a proud dad of two and a leader who proves that belonging isn’t just a value—it’s a movement.
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BLOG TRANSCRIPT
Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies
Courtney Turich: Hey, it's your friend and host, Courtney Turich, and welcome to Bold Moves, confident Choices, the podcaster re owner path, make fearless decisions, and get real about what it takes to turn bold ideas into reality. So today I've got a guest who is more than just a strategist. He's a storyteller with conviction building spaces where equity.
Belonging and impact aren't buzzwords, but a way of life. I am so excited to introduce you to Christopher Bylone and he recently left Krispy Kreme where he chose to purpose, but we're starting over. See, I'm just showing you reality. It's fine.
Some of this I free, I kind of free flow. Um, okay. Here we go. Hey, it's your friend and host, Courtney Turik, and welcome to Bold Moves, confident Choices, the podcast where we own our path, make fearless decisions, and get real about what it takes to turn bold ideas into reality. Today's guest, Christopher Bylone, is a strategist.
He's fuck. That was not good.
I think we're just, we might need to keep these for takes. This is why I don't like to have a meeting before I do a podcast. Give me a moment. You okay, Christopher?
Christopher Bylone: I'm good. I'm good.
Courtney Turich: Are you having fun?
Christopher Bylone: I'm having loads of fun.
Courtney Turich: Okay, good.
Here we go. Hey, it's your friend and host, Courtney Turik, and welcome to Bold Moves, confident Choices, the podcast where we own path, make fearless decisions, and get real about what it takes to turn bold ideas into reality. Today's guest is my friend Christopher Bayone. He is more than a strategist. He's a story storyteller with conviction building spaces where equity.
Belonging and impact aren't buzzwords, but a way of life. After leaving Krispy Kreme, he chose purpose over predictability and created innovation unbiased to redefine what true belonging looks like. His podcast, I know I belong when. Carries that mission forward, honoring names as legacies, treating belonging as a daily practice, and reminding us that leadership must be both data-driven and heart led.
His belonging formula is more than math, it's a mindset, a mirror, and a megaphone for change. So without further ado, I am so excited to introduce you to Christopher. Hi, Christopher.
Christopher Bylone: Hi Courtney.
Courtney Turich: How are you today?
Christopher Bylone: I'm fabulous. In yourself?
Courtney Turich: I, you know, I am doing, I'm having a really good day too. I can, you know, I can't complain.
I'm actually more excited that I'm talking to you and I get to learn more about my friend.
Christopher Bylone: Wonderful.
Courtney Turich: So before we jump into some big questions, can you just share a little bit more about yourself?
Christopher Bylone: Sure. Uh, so Christopher Bayone, uh, born and raised in South Jersey. So I am a Jersey boy, born and bred on a farm, uh, bachelor's degree in agriculture, science from Rutgers.
Um, and. You know, I, some of those bold moves came from the family business, uh, closing down and having to find a new path in life. Um, as you can see, for those who are viewing this, uh, and video, you can see that I'm surrounded by a bunch of photos. Um, I have my sons on my left and my right of me, uh, my best friend Angie, is up in the corner.
My mom is behind me and my cousin Paul. Uh, these are my happy places. Um, and so being a dad, a friend slash brother, a son, a cousin, uh, that's really who makes me who I am. I'm currently based, uh, just outside of Charlotte, North Carolina now, uh, but I'm a a Northeastern guy. Uh, I'm missing the cold weather.
I don't really like the, the weather in Charlotte. Eh, it's okay. Um, but, uh, I love the outdoors. I'm a hiker. Uh, I, if I'm not in the office, you're gonna find me in the garden. Um, and so, yeah, that's just a little bit more about me.
Courtney Turich: So, Christopher, I have to ask you came from New Jersey? Yes. I mean, the weather in Charlotte is a lot better than the Northeast.
Christopher Bylone: No. Really? No. Give me snow. Give me snow. Oh, I want cold. Like I was just up a couple weeks ago. I was up visiting my mom in Connecticut and I got to sit and have a fire outside by the fire pit every night, and it was. Gorgeous. And so for me, I am a cold weather. I'd rather have a hoodie on, right? Like, you know, you can only take off so much clothing, right?
Um, when you're hot, you can put more clothing on when you're cold. And so give me cold weather any day of the year and I'll take it like my happy place is like 75, no humidity, light breeze.
Courtney Turich: So assumptions. This is a lesson learned, right? We say to never assume, and I initially assumed you wanted hotter weather, not colder weather.
Christopher Bylone: No, no, no, no. I, when we moved here, uh, to take the job for Krispy Kreme, um, that was another bold move. Um, I cried when we had to sell on my snowblower.
Courtney Turich: Oh my goodness. It's very rare that I hear people say they wanna move more towards the snow, but I agree with you. I love seasons. I love to actually put on layers and get really cozy.
I'm not far from Charlotte. I'm in Asheville. It's a little, little cooler here, but it's not still what the…
Christopher Bylone: I have been able to wear some of my favorite sweaters. Since I've lived here, because it's not weather. Weather ever.
Christopher’s Leap from Layoff to Leadership
Courtney Turich: Oh my goodness. Okay. Enough about this. I wanna talk, I wanna get into the detail into the real thick side of Christopher.
So yes, could, could you please share with the audience what was the bold move or confident choice that took things for you to the next level, personally or professionally? Christopher?
Christopher Bylone: Yeah. So, um, I think there, there's been a lot of bold moves in my life. Uh, going back to when I was really young in high school, um, when I challenged my mom and said, I will be taking certain classes in high school when her and.
My teachers did not think I had it in me, and I took the bold move and said, Nope, I'm doing it. Um, you know, uh, when I left higher education and was transferring into corporate America, I was in Connecticut and I took a chance of signing a one year lease to an apartment in Stanford, Connecticut for a temp job.
Uh, because I knew I needed to be down in the lower Fairfield, New York City metro market to be in the job market, that I, so that I could get a job. Because there were hardly any jobs in Eastern Connecticut. My mom thought I was crazy, right? She was like, I don't know why you're doing this. This is a really big risk.
And I was like, mom, we are to the point where there is like, this is go big or go home. Right? Uh, and then I think another bold move for me was when, uh, I left my pr, I left IFF and took the job at Krispy Kreme. Um, we relocated the family from Connecticut to Charlotte, North Carolina area. Um, and that was a big, bold move.
Um, you know, my family had to come along for the ride because it was my job. Um, and you know, they gave up their school. My now ex-husband gave up his career in Connecticut to move down here. And then two years later, Krispy Kreme, uh, needed to, uh, do a round of layoffs. And I was included in that. And I think for me, the bold move that came was I woke up the next morning and went, I'm not going back into a corporate seat.
And so I took the. This opportunity, right? One would think, okay, you just got the news that you got laid off. But I believe in serendipity, right? I had already started thinking about taking the business and getting it going. The day that I got the news I already had on the calendar for well over a month, a meeting with a marketing consultant to build the brand for innovation.
I'm biased. That meeting was scheduled for five 30 that evening. I received the news at 8 45 that I no longer had a job at Krispy Kreme, and so I called my marketing consultant and about an hour or two later and said, Hey, just want you to know the mindset that I'm going to be walking into this meeting with was just, you know, laid off, but it is.
Full steam, if not fuller, steam ahead because I wanna make a go of this consulting company and
Courtney Turich: Incredible.
Christopher Bylone: Yeah.
Courtney Turich: Christopher, is that the fact that meeting was already scheduled on the same day that this all happened to at Krispy Kreme?
Christopher Bylone: Yeah, I mean, I scheduled it for five 30 in the afternoon because I was planning on doing this off the side of my desk.
Right, right. As the side hustle. Right. And actually even the, a week before that, the Thursday before this happened on a Tuesday, the Thursday before I was at a dinner, a gratitude, a dinner. Um, and I met a woman, um, who, uh. Who said, you know, Christopher, your one runway is too long. 'cause I said My runway is gonna be 2030.
I wanna, you know, work at Krispy Kreme until 2030, get Jacob graduated from high school and then I'm gonna go off and do this consulting thing. You know, make sure I have enough money in the bank and, you know, feel very comfortable making this transition. Um, and she said, your runway's too short. You gotta be thinking like 20, 27, right?
And so I texted her on the Tuesday and said, Hey Christie, so that runway is today. Um, and so just everything happened for a reason. Um, and you know. Uh, Courtney, I'm not gonna lie, I think there's still a lot of fear in me about this. Right. 'cause this is still all new. Right? Right. Um, however, I am confident that it's gonna be successful.
Courtney Turich: Right.
Christopher Bylone: Uh, why? Because I have a great network, right? You part of Yes. You know, part of why I felt confident in making this bold move was because I am somebody who feeds my network constantly. Right. Nourishing the network. Well now I'm asking my network to feed me 'cause I'm hungry.
Courtney Turich: Yeah,
Christopher Bylone: I like that. It is feeding me in spades. Yeah. You know, it's sometimes a little too much and I have to go. Can you hold that for a second?
Belonging Isn’t a Feeling—It’s a Formula
Courtney Turich: Yeah. I mean, Christopher, this is incredible, and to the audience out there, Christopher, when I met you, you were still at Krispy Kreme, and I remember you talking about this next phase in your life where you wanted to take your.
And how you have been really now pushed out of the nest. Yes. To spread your wings and fly. It's incredible. And I, I do wanna highlight the fact that fear is in all of us, and every time we step out of our comfort zone, the fear will always be there. It's back to making sure that fear isn't in the passenger seat or in the driver's seat with you.
We kick it to that back seat and use it as fuel to keep us going. Because what you're doing, Christopher, is amazing and I would love for you to share more about what is this next chapter for you? What does it mean? What are you trying to accomplish? Because it's powerful.
Christopher Bylone: Yeah. So I. I want everybody to know that they belong, right?
They're, uh, when you define belonging, um, most organizations define belonging as when people feel that their authentic self is welcomed. I challenge people to say it needs to be belonging happens when people knows their bold, authentic self is welcome, valued, and loved.
Courtney Turich: No matter what form you come in, is that what you're saying?
Right. So we're not, no matter what, putting on the authentic face, we're putting, coming in as our raw, real self
Christopher Bylone: bold, authentic, right.
Courtney Turich: Bold, authentic self,
Christopher Bylone: um, bold, authentic self. But that's not the focus of the definition. Mm-hmm. The focus of the definition is on the word nose. Because if you know that you belong, it's a fact you can hold onto it.
Right? Even when I say it now, I get the chills, right? Um, and, but if you were to come to me and say, Hey, Christopher, you know, I really don't feel I belong here. I could come to you with the laundry list of corporate talking points about why you do belong here. But if you came to me and said, Christopher, I don't know that I belong here.
I'm gonna go, Courtney, what's up? What's going on? What happened? You know? And you are gonna be able to pinpoint two factual things that, oh, somebody talked down to me in a meeting. Somebody took my idea, somebody did this, somebody did that. Right? It was specific actions that made you feel that you don't know that you belong here.
Right? Yes. Um, and so when it's a feeling I can change that subjective thing, right? Because it's very subjective. But when you say it's an it, you're, you know, it, it's objective, right? And so part of what I'm trying to do with innovation, unbiased is very much taking that qualitative stuff. Turn it into quantitative results, right?
So how are we taking the things that feel kumbaya, right? Mm-hmm. And you really, how do you, how do you measure belonging? Right? Right. Because most of the time it's a feeling, right? There's not a, it's not a widget.
Courtney Turich: So how do we measure this, Christopher?
Christopher Bylone: So there's a lot of, one of the reasons why I came up with the belonging formula, right?
That's why belonging is the outcome, right? And so when we think about when the, so the belonging formula is equals equity plus diversity multiplied by inclusion to the power of accessibility. So let's unpack that a little bit.
Courtney Turich: Yes, please. Equity, I'm not a ma, I'm not a math major.
Christopher Bylone: Me neither. Um, uh, but, uh, I like to have fun with math.
Um, so equity is about your policies and your practice, right? Mm-hmm. How are you? Do you have a good code of conduct and human rights policy, and what is your parental leave policy and how are you doing pay equity? Et cetera. Right? Diversity is, is literally talking about humans, right? Who is making up your organization and is it representative of the markets in which you serve, right?
Right. Then inclusion is about the leadership. What are the behaviors that individuals. Espouse to make sure that they are taking actions in an inclusive way. Right? How are they checking their unconscious bias? How are they making sure that they are, um, approaching things from an empathetic point of view?
Mm-hmm. And then where accessibility comes in. We wanna make sure that people can actually access not just our physical buildings, but our websites, um, can access our products, right? It's not just about the employees, but it's about the people who interact with your business. Right. It's one of the, the, I, I'll, I'll share this story, an accessibility story of a past company I worked for.
It was in New York City and our headquarters was on two different foundations. If people know New York City at all, it is a hilly place. It's not flat, right? Mm-hmm. Especially when you get in uptown. Um, uh, there's, it's a hill. Uh, and so a lot of buildings are, uh, on separate foundations. And when you're inside the building, if you occupy multiple buildings, well, the floors aren't equal.
Right? And so our headquarters was divided between 5 31 and 5 37. They were two different buildings. Well, to get from the reception area to the HR suite, 'cause the reception was in 5 31 and an HR seat was in building 5 37. There were four stairs between the levels. Right. And. Um, to get, you had to either walk down the stairs right now, that is you.
Everybody who isn't in a wheelchair or does not have mobility issues, it was fine for them, but if you needed, uh, to, if you were in a wheelchair or had mobility issues, you had two options. One. Get on the elevator at reception, go all the way down to the street, exit walk, uh, travel up to 5 37. Go into the elevator on 5 37.
Come back to floor nine and enter the HR suite. Wow. Or use the, the el, the service elevator that maintenance and catering used. However, that, that went between the half floors, right? That elevator needed to be operated from the outside. So you pushed a cart in, you shut a door, there was no light on the inside, and you operated it on the outside with a key.
Courtney Turich: Oh, wow.
Christopher Bylone: So if you were in a wheelchair, you would need to go in there, be shut in and pray that the person on the outside was still going to be nice and operated for you. That was a DA compliant.
Courtney Turich: Wow. And that is not accessibility?
Christopher Bylone: No, that's not accessibility. Right. That's not accessibility at all.
So when we're like, those are the type of things when we're talking about, do you feel that you would belong here? Right. If you were a candidate for a job, and this was the experience where you were told that the address you needed to go to was 5 31 for your interview, 'cause you needed to check in at reception, but then the recruiter was coming to get you and went, oh, whoa, you're in a wheelchair, uh, we gotta take you downstairs, and then we gotta bring you back up.
That doesn't feel very welcoming.
Courtney Turich: It doesn't, so you're already gonna know I don't belong here.
Christopher Bylone: Right.
Courtney Turich: So, so Christopher, let, oh, keep going. I'm sorry to interrupt.
Christopher Bylone: No, no, no, no, you're good.
Childhood Lessons That Ignited Christopher’s Passion for Inclusion
Courtney Turich: I, I'll, help us understand what's ma what's given you this passion behind the innovation, unbiased…
Christopher Bylone: What's given me this passion?
You know, being, being a gay man, uh, being a gay man who is a cancer survivor. Um, I have grown up in a world, uh, that I just was always, even before I knew I was a gay man, um, just always focused on social justice, right? For whatever reason, I was always looking out for the underserved. Um, and I talk about this, one story that has stuck with me was when I was seven.
Growing up on the farm, um, we, on a Friday, we would have to give the paychecks to the, to the farm workers. Um, this was before paper, before electronic deposit. All right. Dating myself here a little. Um, and we would have a family that would come up from Puerto Rico and would be working on the farm, and on a Friday evening, they would be making a big dinner.
Uh, for themselves, and we would always be invited in to have dinner with them on a Friday. And I don't know why, but on this one particular Friday, I was seven or eight years old, I refused to go into the house and I said, we eat over there. And I pointed to my grandparents' house and I said, we don't eat here.
Well, my grandfather basically grabbed me by the collar and said, Christopher, you will eat with them. They are not better than you. We get to eat over there because of the work that they do for us. And they are humans just like you are. Right? And so I don't know what caused me to we lost, Courtney.
Courtney Turich: You've got to be kidding me. Can you hear me? Hi Courtney. Yes, I can. My internet. Um. Okay, it's still going, but I want you to, let's, um, go back to the, your, the Puerto Rican family. Let's start there with…
Christopher Bylone: Yep. Uh, so, uh, um, you want me to start the story over again?
Courtney Turich: That's fine. Yeah, that's good. Okay.
Christopher Bylone: Uh, so yeah, we'll just,
Courtney Turich: They'll blend it together.
Christopher Bylone: Okay. So, uh, going back to a story from when I was seven, seven or eight years old, um, is really what probably ignited the passion in me as an individual. Uh, so growing up on the farm, we would have to give.
Uh, our farm workers, their paycheck on a Friday, and this was before direct deposit people, so I'm kind of dating myself here. Right. Um, and on that Friday evenings, um, they would be making a dinner, uh, for them and the family that was visiting them, but also us. Right. They would invite us in every week to break bread with them.
Uh, and I don't know why. Yeah, I don't know why, but this one particular day I refused to go into the house. And I said, we eat over there. And I pointed to my grandparents' house and I said, we don't eat here. Um, and my grandfather grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and said, we will eat with them. You are not better than them.
They are human just like you are. We get to eat over there because of the work they do for us. You are no better than them. Now, I don't know what happened or what, like what made me take this action when I was seven or eight. But what stuck with me is that I remembered that they were human beings. Now, I think there was probably this little bit of we are the white.
Landowners and they are the people of color and they work like, and that was just the community in which we end. Right? Everybody who owned land was white, and everybody who worked for us was a person of color. There was definitely a separation. Right? Right. Um, but what may, but what I take away from this, oh, so many years ago, right, was that everybody's human.
Yeah. And everybody deserves respect and dignity. Um, no matter what your job is. Right? Right. Um, and so, and doesn't matter how much money you have or how little money you have, you are human. Yeah. And so coming back to this is how do we treat people as humans? We've lost that.
Courtney Turich: Yes, we have.
Christopher Bylone: We've truly lost that.
And so what I'm trying to do is bring humanity back. Right. And how are we treating our workers, right? How are we treating the people? Every, every corporation loves to get up there and say that the, you know, our most valuable asset is the employees that work for us. But then when you pull back the onion, do they really treat their workers that way, or is it just a good talking point?
Yeah. Right. So what I wanna do with innovation on bias is actually get organizations to live up to the values in which they espouse. Um, and if they don't have those stated values, I wanna help them get there.
Courtney Turich: That is great. Christopher. And the story of your seven, 8-year-old self. And that's a pivotal moment and that you're really level setting with everyone that you, you were the person who was actually the unkind and being biased in the moment.
And you've learned a lot since then.
Christopher Bylone: Yeah, and, and I don't know why, like they were it, these were individuals. That I, we would work alongside with right. When I was a kid on the farm. Right. During the summers, I would be spreading crates. I would be, I mean, we would be picking vegetables right alongside of them telling jokes and having fun.
Right. I mean, I, they came to birthday parties. I went to their birthday parties. We swam in the pool together. We like, I don't know why on that particular day I just decided to be not a nice person. Right, right. But I'm so thankful that my grandfather. Called me out, held me accountable for my behavior. Was I a racist person?
Am I a racist person? No, I don't believe I am. Right. Yeah. But it was the behavior that I espoused that was inappropriate. Right? Yeah. And so this is the other thing is, is that when I, when I approach folks, I talk about behavior change, right? You may do something. That may be racist, homophobic, sexist, named the ism, right?
That that took place. We're gonna approach it from a, um, from a place of grace, right? Hey. Mm-hmm. You might not know what you did was this, now that you're educated, right? This is the unconscious bias piece. Yes. Right. It may be something that was unconscious to you. Mm-hmm.
Courtney Turich: Now…
Christopher Bylone: I don't want you to just be conscious about the bias you have.
I want you to be purposeful in being an unbiased individual. Now, I like that. That does not mean, that does not mean your bias isn't there. It means how do you change your behavior so that your bias does not impact people in a negative way.
Leaning Into Your Authentic Self: Lessons on Purposeful Unbiasing
Courtney Turich: Right. Christopher, thank you so much for sharing that story because it, it definitely allows us to all reflect on ourselves and where we've been, what we've said, what we've done.
You know, looking back at your 18-year-old self, Christopher. Yes. What would you tell him today
Christopher Bylone: Come out. Um, I, I say that jokingly, but it's true. Right. You know? Yeah. I came out when I was in my twenties and I wish I would've come out in high school. Uh, I think I would've had a much better experience. I would don't, I think the bullying would've not have been as much.
Um, I probably would not have had the thoughts of suicide that I did when I was a teenager. Right, because of the bullying that happened. And when I, because I look back and go, wow. The guy, the gay guys who were out and proud, they didn't get picked on because they owned who they were and they were like, nope.
Courtney Turich: Ah.
Christopher Bylone: Like f you all right? Right. Um, and I was still like fighting it. Right. For whatever reason, I don't know why. I mean, my mom's a lesbian. I have a gay uncle. You know, I just like, I don't, I don't know how, why I was fighting it. I just was, um, because the world told me I needed to be a straight man. That's all the signals.
I mean, even have a conversation with my mom, she'll tell me how, she'll tell you how she would talk about, you know, oh, when you get married and you have a wife and you have kids, so all the signals were you needed to be straight. Right? Right. Now I was a dancer, right? So I kind of brought, people would say, I brought this on myself.
Uh, jokingly I say yes, right? I mean, I was a ballet tap modern dance dancer. I was in a company, um, when any time that they needed to do some type of media for the dance studio because I was literally the only guy in the dance studio whose face was on the front page of the paper. Right with me. So like it definitely, you know, I, everybody knew that I was a dancer and so, and being a dancer wasn't manly.
Right. And I also had cousins, yeah. Who were football players. Three male cousins. My three older male cousins were all football players for the rival team to the town that I lived in. We share the same last name. Can't tell you the amount of times that the football coach wanted me to be on the team. And I was like, uh, no.
Um, uh, and now I have, and now I have football boys, uh, and know more about football than I ever thought I would. Um, but I would, what I would say to my 18-year-old self was just lean into your authentic self. Right. Lean into that and, and be okay with it. Um, uh, because when I found my authentic self in college Wow.
Did the world really opened up and I was happier and I got so many more opportunities because I was just being me. Um, and. I think that's where I'm at. Again, I, you know, I, I've been on a health journey. I've lost 90 pounds, you know, um, and so have a really good therapist, uh, who helped me really figure out who Christopher was again.
And that's also part of the reason why I feel that I could make the bold decision to launch this company, um, because I, I know who I am. I'm being authentic. To me, um, and you know, if nobody else likes my authentic self, well fine. I like who I am.
Courtney Turich: I love that right there. Right there. That is a moment is knowing that we love ourselves, we're proud of ourselves.
And you know, you mentioned when we know our authentic self, we've really become un unstoppable when we love ourselves. And you know, listening to this conversation today, Christopher, you've taught me a lot of things right? And it's. About that innovation, unbiased approach. And you can still be biased, right?
But how people might you, how do I say this? You know, you might still have bias, but the goal is to really be purpose, purposely unbiased. And in, in the environment you're in, in the, in this, around, around people. Am I saying this right? See, I even need to work on this right here. Yeah.
Christopher Bylone: Well, one, I will, one I will say this, this is a journey for everyone, right?
Because yeah, a lot of people, they just talk about, you know, challenge your unconscious bias. Well, ev well, so what is the opposite of unconscious? It's conscious. Okay. So if you're just conscious about the bias you have, right? Well, that's not enough, right? Because how are you, that's not enough. Changing the behavior.
How are you changing the behavior? I know, I, I, I can know we're running up on time. Quick story. Yeah. This is a great example of how unconscious bias and, and how to be purposeful. So back in college I was driving through downtown New Brunswick, New Jersey. Um, and at the time I was an EMT, uh, and I was stopped at a stoplight and a woman was crossing the crosswalk and she fell in the middle of the crosswalk.
And she was not getting up.
Courtney Turich: Oh, no.
Christopher Bylone: And so I quickly ran out and using my education at the time, assessed that she should not get up right. We needed an ambulance to come. Now, right. I also knew that the light was going to change soon and we were on a two lane street, right? And if I left my car there, it was going to block traffic that people could still get around us.
Right. But my car sitting there would block traffic in downtown New Brunswick. That wasn't gonna be good. So what did I do? I grabbed my keys. I quickly scanned the crowd and found this couple who were dressed to the nines guys in a top hat, had a suit woman in an evening gown. They were going to some party, right?
Yeah. And I ran up to them and said, can you please move my car around the corner? I need to apply medical care to this woman until the ambulance gets here. Now I made the assumption in it because unconscious bias about what happens in your unconscious brain. Right. See a lion move to the other side of the, uh, street.
See a hot stove, don't touch it. Right, right. My unconscious bias said You are dressed really nice. You must be good people. Oh, and I'm going to trust you with my car. Right now I made a good decision because they did not steal my car, right? They just moved it around the corner and waited for me to hand off care to the woman of the woman to the, to the ambulance, the other emt, the EMTs that had bragged on scene.
But I could have made a really bad decision. They could have been not nice people, and just took the keys to my car and took it away. That is, yeah. So when I talk about unconscious bias, it's about the behaviors you do, right? I, yeah. So it's about understanding the biases you have and how do you act on them, right?
Right. So the, the bias I have is I see if you are dressed nice, you must be a good person. Right. Yeah. You must be educated. You'd Right. So how am I challenging the bias to when somebody isn't dressed as nice as that or in my whatever I consider to be nice dress, how am I making sure that I'm checking the assumption that I have so that I'm waiting for that individual to demonstrate to me, no matter what they're wearing on the outside?
Courtney Turich: Yeah. What a, what a great example again, just to help us all think and put this into perspective for ourselves.
Christopher Bylone: Right.
Courtney Turich: Yeah, so Christopher, this has been so insightful for me and I know for so many others, and I believe I could continue to soak in more myself. You know, I start to reflect on, um, my, the company I'm at now, and you start to check the boxes to your point.
And it makes me think, huh, are we really doing the best we can? I think we all have room for improvement. Me too, but I, I can't thank you enough for being here today and sharing your space. Where is the best place for people to find you?
Christopher Bylone: So I would say I'm on LinkedIn. Uh, so Christopher Bayone, you'll find me there.
Uh, if you go to my website, innovation, I'm biased, you can find me there too. Um, happy to have a conversation with anyone. Um, that's probably the, the best place, uh, if you are ever in Charlotte. I'm up for a coffee, uh, because I truly believe that the connection should not just be another number on my number of LinkedIn connections or how many people are in my phone.
I want it to be a human connection. I wanna understand who you are as an individual. Um, so you know, I, I'm flying Chicago in a couple days and I have a laundry list of people that I am scheduled to meet because I wanna make sure that those connections. Are in person. Right? And, and, and how And, and how do we truly treat people as humans?
Courtney Turich: Well, Christopher, I am happy that I've been able, able to have a coffee chat. I've been able to break bread with you. I look forward to another day where we get to have that moment together. And again, thank you so much for being here today.
Christopher Bylone: Absolutely. Thank you for having me.
Courtney Turich: Of course, and to my audience, please go be bold, be confident and be you.
Thanks.
Okay, I am.
