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Welcome.
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Welcome to Sorting Through Life with Colleen Watterston on AM950, the Progressive Voice of Minnesota.
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Today I am so excited to invite my guest, Charlie Green of Remento.
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Welcome, Charlie.
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Hey Colleen, it's good to be here.
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So, Charlie, I am thrilled that you accepted my invitation to be here.
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And I particularly had this written down to reach out to you because it's Mother's Day that we're airing this show, and you have co-founded and are running this amazing business, Remento, that produces legacy books for families, inspired a lot by your own parents.
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Your mom was the first user of this.
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And so I was just like, this is this is the guest I would want to have on my Mother's Day show.
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And and I had reached out to you and I told my friends, this was not an AI edited email.
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It was like, let me tell you what I'm thinking.
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Um I just think what you're up to is so cool.
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I have this home organizing business, space-by-space organizing.
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I've been expanding my own offerings into something I call legacy lifting, which really focuses on more senior downsizing, more, you know, looking at a lifetime of stuff and what do we do with it and how do we make sense of it, whether that's property and um, you know, things that could be resold or gifted or donated or trashed.
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But there's so many stories behind the stuff, and and there's so many just great stories that come with a lifetime, and you so I I thought like I provide a service and it's very hands-on.
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And you provide a service and a product because your product is is the book, but you have created this platform that's a service to anybody who uses it to be able to capture their stories in a really compelling way that that honors their life.
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And so if someone's never met you or never dove into your website, or never watched probably 10 to 20 podcast interviews you've done recently, tell them what Remento is all about for the first time.
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Yeah, 100%.
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Well, Colleen, thank you again so much for having me today.
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I'm I'm really happy to be here.
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Uh yeah, the company is called uh Remento, and it's like the words remember and memento uh combined into one.
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So clever.
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What we're doing is we're helping families capture and preserve the stories of the people they love most.
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You know, for hundreds of years, if you wanted to create a memoir of your stories, there are basically two ways to do it.
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You know, you could either hire someone to write your stories for you, or you could sit down and write them yourself.
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The first one was very easy, but extremely expensive, right?
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$10,000,$20,000,$30,000 in some cases.
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That could be the editing after the words are written.
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Yeah, exactly.
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Exactly.
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And then the second approach was to do it yourself, which for some folks, maybe as they get into retirement, is a really exciting prop proposition of writing your life stories.
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But what we find in our research is for the vast majority of people, it feels like a massive homework assignment.
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And that's why the vast majority of us won't capture our stories.
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And it's why when we're no longer here, our families will hold on to things like the voicemails that we've left them.
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Right?
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And so, you know, inspired very much by personal experience, we set out to build a way to be able to document your memories and your stories and your voice in a beautiful legacy book without you having to write a single word.
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And so what we do with Remento is we will interview you or someone in your family every week for a year using our fully autonomous interviewing technology that will either call you, text you, or email you.
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And you click the button in your email, your text message, or you pick up your phone call, and you just start talking based on the storytelling prompt that is sent to you.
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And then Remento will record your answer and turn those recordings that you share into beautifully written text, as if you had hired that really expensive biographer to write them for you.
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Uh, and then we'll take all of the stories that get compiled over the course of a year, all the photos that get added into that Remento book, and actually put it into a physical hardcover keepsake book, like a beautiful heirloom piece.
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And my favorite part is there are little QR codes on the inside that when you scan are going to play the recording that was used to write each one of those stories.
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So for your mom or for your dad, the feedback that they'll share is this is a book that wrote itself, my legacy on paper.
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Uh, but for you, for your family, for future generations, it's both having that physical heirloom in your hand, but way more importantly, it's the ability to scan those QR codes and hear that person's voice.
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And it is the process of actually capturing those stories and being able to have the person's voice at your fingertips, which is the reason why uh we feel so honored and proud of the fact that our product gets referred so often after it is ultimately used.
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Okay, my eyes kind of widened because I didn't know you had like text and phone call option.
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I thought it was email.
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I know you don't do it on an app.
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It's like a prompt, and then that gets captured, correct?
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Yeah, I mean when we when we started this, we we did a bunch of research, and our research was exclusively with people over the age of 60.
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Many of them were over the age of 80.
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And we said, what would it take for you to feel comfortable recording yourself?
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And they said, Well, I don't want to have to download anything, and I don't want any passwords, and I prefer not to have to log in.
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And actually, when you're building technology, that rules out a lot of options, right?
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It really does.
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And so what we built was a completely web-based application.
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And so if you sign your mom or your dad up for Remento, they're gonna get a text message in an email that's gonna say record now, and they click on the link in that text message or that email, or they can pick up the phone call that calls them and they they they just start talking.
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And what it's meant is that uh the majority of our storytellers are over the age of 65.
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Many of them are over the age of 80.
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I've spoken to almost a I've spoken to seven people who are over the age of 100 who have used our product without any intervention from a family member.
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And uh, that's a really special thing to be able to uh to experience as someone who builds products.
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I have a client who does not have email.
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She's 84, and every other week I bring her invoice and we get a check, and you know, it's like, I don't want email.
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I'm like, what would a life be like without email?
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I think peaceful.
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I'm like, I'm not gonna push it on you.
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You know what's funny is you know, we thought at the beginning of this process that age would be really correlated with tech capability.
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And there is a correlation, but very interestingly, it's not nearly as tight as we thought it was.
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You know, there are there are 60-year-olds who are not on email, and we have people over the age of 100 who are on Facebook all the time.
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Oh, yeah.
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I have an 88-year-old best friend who's been on this show.
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I helped move her from her home for 40 years into a senior community, and she's very sophisticated with tech.
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But there are a lot of scams out there, so it's good to be mindful for people of all ages that this is how this is going to be received.
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You can trust it.
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It's very easy.
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You don't need to worry about, you know, clicking the wrong thing.
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So then if somebody answers, like how long is that answer?
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It totally depends.
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We always say there's no right way to use Romento.
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We have people that will record 300 stories that are each a minute long, right?
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And we have some people that will record a handful of stories that are 30 minutes long.
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And so there's no right way to use the product.
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But I will say one of my favorite ways that we see people using the product is very much in your wheelhouse, which is to record the stories behind old photos.
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I saw that on the website.
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So it's like it can be a question, it can be a photo.
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So like if I'm setting this up for someone, I could put photos in and then it would prompt them to tell me the story behind it.
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That's exactly right.
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Or you end up with what we call, what we call like a narrated photo album.
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Just think about think about those moments when you've been sitting with you know a parent, or you think about the moments where you had your kids with you and you you had the scrapbook open and you were going through and you were saying, Here's great uncle Harry.
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Like so much of the detail behind those photographs exists in the mind of a select few people.
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And when when those people leave us, the stories and the details behind those photos, they they leave too.
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And so we announced last year a partnership with a company called Legacy Box, uh, which is the largest digitizer of photographs in the U.S.
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And when you buy Remento, if you choose to add Legacy Box into your package, we'll send you a Legacy Box box.
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You take all your old photos, the physical images, put them into the box.
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Legacy Box will digitize all of them, and then you can add those into your Remento account and invite your storyteller, or if you're the storyteller yourself, to record the story behind each one of them.
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So you end up with not a dusty album in the in the uh in the attic that no one knows the story behind, but a a beautiful hardcover book that has all of those incredible photos, but also brings the who, what, one, where, why behind each one.
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Well, and and okay, so amazing, but this also gets into, we've all been in those conversations with the person who wants to tell all the stories.
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And at the time that they want to tell the stories, the person they want to tell the stories to may have varying degrees of interest.
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Like, okay, thanks, Mom, but like I got a lot to do.
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But then when the day comes that you can't have mom tell you the stories, you wish you had sat down for those hours and taken them in.
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So what I love about this is it allows for somebody to anticipate a day where people are really craving the stories and create that so that at your own convenience, and when when the time comes where you value that and you say, gosh, I wish mom was here to tell me that, it's like now I have it.
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Like now I can sit with this with this photo book and feel like I'm still with my mom when she's not here to be here with me.
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Like that's what I think is really cool, is it's enabling, you know, a future interaction with a person that you loved that you might not be making time for right now, but they have the time.
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You know, in that way it's really almost an insurance package, right?
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It's to make sure that you have that person's voice in the future.
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But I one of the one of the first you know features that we built into our product is what we call our speech to story technology, where we're taking the words that come out of someone's mouth and we are restructuring them in a way that would look and sound a lot like if it had been written by a professional, but maintaining your voice, your personality, your tone, your word choice.
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And you can choose first or third.
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This technology allows you to have the story written in first person or third genius, Charlie.
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Yeah, the first person would be making it sound like you wrote it yourself, and the the third person as if someone had written it for you.
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And as part of that, there's a little slider that you can adjust the length, right?
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And so we have we all know someone in our lives who we I we joke, you know, speaks in paragraphs.
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You know, they know where they're gonna land the plane.
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They know where they're gonna land the plane when they start the start the story.
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Sometimes we don't.
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Sometimes we're just on a joy ride, and eventually we get we know that we're happy to go on the plane ride, uh, but we are just kind of looking around.
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What's up?
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You're hoping you're gonna find a destination as you're as you're cruising out the plate.
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That looks nice.
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Yeah, and so for the people who speak literally, you know, in in prose, um, you know, we have an option where you can basically print a verbatim transcript of what was said into a book.
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And for those families, that is incredibly meaningful and it's very readable.
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For a lot of us, you know, we start with the middle, then we move into the beginning, and then we remember a detail and we change our mind.
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And that that transcript becomes really difficult to try to synthesize, synthesize and digest, whether you're reading it or if you're listening to it.
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And so one of the things that's really beautiful about the technology that we've built is it is it turns it into a format that is digestible by the family, both long into the future to your point when there's interest, but also maybe maybe I don't have 30 minutes to listen to my mom talk about a childhood photo now, but I'd really love to be able to read the one-minute overview of what was happening there, and then to know that I can look at it in the future.
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And so having those options is something that we've gotten a lot of positive feedback from uh on specifically.
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Amazing.
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And and you guys have designed such a great technology, product, service.
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Okay, so remento.co, r-e-m-e-n-to.co.
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I'm here with Charlie Green.
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We're gonna take a quick break and we come back, we're gonna talk about the importance of questions.
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All right, welcome back to Sorting Through Life with Colleen Waterston.
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And my guest today, Charlie Green, co-founder and CEO of Remento.
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We just talked all about this brilliant software and product and service that you are providing by capturing stories and capturing answers to loved ones' questions about all sorts of things.
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And we talked a lot about the technology of what you've designed before.
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Not a lot.
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I think we probably you could probably do a whole day on what your team has done to create this technology that is so much more than just sending your mom a question.
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So, okay.
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I am um I'm the one in the family who is like oh Colleen and her questions.
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Okay.
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So I love a good question, I love a good conversation, I always have my phone.
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I'm the one that the that the nieces and nephews roll their eyes at, you know, like always get the phone.
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The one thing that's worked really well for me recently, my oldest niece is 12, my youngest niece is four.
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So I show the four-year-old and the younger ones the images and videos of the 12-year-old when she was their age.
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And it's like, oh, that's why you do this, you know, like they think that's so cool.
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And I'm like, you kids are growing so fast, and and I just want to capture all the cute things I think I'll remember, but I know I won't, because I look at these videos and I and I don't remember them.
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But I'm also the one who's always pulling out my audio notes and my parents, so I brought some props to show you.
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Like my collection of 300 writing prompts, you know, your father's story book, the story of my life, 4,000 questions to getting to know everybody.
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That's just the book forms.
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The card game, do you how do you really know your family?
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Questions, question cards.
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This one, my family was in the funeral business.
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And so this is actually from the National Funeral Directors Association.
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Cards on the talk of a lifetime.
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I mean, we all know these cards that have come out to ask people questions.
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But I know that you guys have done an enormous amount of work and research in what questions to ask people.
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So will you just give us a little background on like what you guys have done?
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Because I've heard you talk about you have different prompts or suggested prompts for different ages of people's life, or you know, how did you guys come up with what you, if somebody doesn't come up with their own questions, how did you come up with your questions?
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Well, from the very beginning, the thing that we were asking ourselves was what if we built a product that would allow you to capture memories and stories of someone you love in a way uh that was incredibly easy for them, first of all.
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And then secondly, would allow them to share things that maybe they hadn't shared before.
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Right?
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Like what would be true of that?
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And and then frankly, frankly, Colleen, a lot of this stemmed from my own personal experience with my mom.
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Like I sat down with her shortly after she had been diagnosed with with lung cancer, and we thought there was a good chance she might not meet, uh meet her future grandchildren.
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And I remember I asked her some really basic questions, the kinds that are probably written on the different decks of cards that you were just sharing.
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And I remember being blown away by her answers, not because they were particularly remarkable, but because they were things I had never heard before.
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And I remember looking at all of those cards and thinking to myself, I have no idea if this is dumb luck that I happened to ask her questions that led to these incredibly interesting answers, or if there was actually a lot of thinking and science that had gone into the creation of these questions.
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And so one of the first things that we did as a company is we created a scientific advisory board that would help us think about the ways to ask great questions.
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And we thought about it from a couple different dimensions.
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Uh, we started working with a guy who had done literally thousands of life story interviews to learn what were the what were the answers that were given, what were the questions that had been asked that the families of those people responded most positively to.
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What did he done those for?
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Like for books, for memoirs, for what was it?
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He's a seven-time New York Times best-selling author.
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He's kind of like the story, the family story guy.
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His name is Bruce Feiler.
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He's got a new book that's just come out, which is incredible.
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Everything that he writes is gold.
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But this is a guy who's probably done more life story interviews than just about anyone.
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Uh, we also really wanted the scientific, the hard scientific perspective.
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And so we recruited a neuroscientist who's done a lot of um uh of research on kind of the moral molecule, as he calls it, like um how our brains, when stories are shared, actually like can can be seen in the MRIs to be able to start flowing in the same directions, like how we how we cognitively connect when we're sharing stories.
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And then the last perspective was uh around research, uh, researchers who had worked with cognitive impairments, specifically Alzheimer's and dementia.
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And as it turns out, the questions that you ask someone who is losing their memory need to be very different than someone who is, you know, earlier in life making their memories.
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And so we took all those perspectives and we started building questions.
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And we had the tremendous benefit of two things.
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First, was this incredible scientific body of understanding about what the questions are, but then also real-time feedback about how are these questions that we're asking the tens of thousands of people that are using our product actually leading to answers that are worthy of preserving?
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And we weren't, for the record, looking at those ourselves.
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We were looking at a you know aggregated sample set of how does this question generally perform?
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Is it picked by families?
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And and are the answers that are given the kinds that lead to reactions and discussions and more questions.
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And so what we were able to do is we were able to combine uh those into a bank of questions that probably in some cases are a lot like the ones that you have in front of you, but are backed by both science and our own data.
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And what I'll what I'll say, Colleen, is like the big macro learning as we've done all of that uh has been the most important thing to a great story, and for that reason, a great question, uh, is specificity.
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Right.
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Okay.
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If I asked you about um an important moment in your life, maybe a wedding day, or the first time you held your niece or your nephew, and the story that you shared sounded like, I'll never forget that day.
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It was so special.
00:20:14.079 --> 00:20:15.519
I was gushing with love.
00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:17.519
I love this human so much.
00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:19.839
It would be utterly boring.
00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:21.440
Right?
00:20:21.680 --> 00:20:24.160
What we want is the specifics.
00:20:24.960 --> 00:20:26.640
My niece came two months early.
00:20:28.480 --> 00:20:34.480
I had to, my mom worked for Delta, I flew standby, I jumped on an air, I was getting like 10 calls at 5 a.m.
00:20:35.200 --> 00:20:41.440
I I had not been uh asleep early the night before, and it was like, why is home calling?
00:20:41.599 --> 00:20:44.799
I had to jump on an airplane, she was born while I was in flight.
00:20:44.880 --> 00:20:47.920
I told the sweet guy next to me, my niece came, and it's a girl.
00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:49.519
I thought it was gonna be a boy.
00:20:49.839 --> 00:20:52.240
And yeah, no, there's so much to that day.
00:20:52.319 --> 00:20:52.720
You're right.
00:20:52.799 --> 00:20:57.119
That like I remember that my brother brought us caribou coffee smoothies.
00:20:57.279 --> 00:21:00.480
You know, like I those those moments, you're so right.
00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:03.119
It's not like I was so happy.
00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:05.920
We want to go as specific as we can.
00:21:06.079 --> 00:21:12.480
That's one of the reasons why photos can be really helpful with inspiring memories, is because there are specifics rooted in pixels, right?
00:21:12.640 --> 00:21:22.400
And so we're able to dig in and go deeper and deeper and deeper, and then the answers and the stories that get created are the kinds that only could ever apply to the experience that you shared.
00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:28.160
And ultimately, that is that is the way that you build a story that's actually worth both telling and remembering.
00:21:28.640 --> 00:21:36.400
And that's where, you know, if you if you go back to that day, it's like that's what my niece wants to hear.
00:21:36.559 --> 00:21:43.839
You know, that's what's gonna make her giggle is kind of hear how everybody around her came together to welcome her into the world.
00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:47.839
It's not it was, you know, a chilly September day.
00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:50.559
It's like, who showed up at the hospital?
00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:52.640
You know, like how did this go?
00:21:52.720 --> 00:22:02.160
Like what um yeah, that's so I just think everything that I've seen from your platform, and I do want to point out you you see Said, these are these are private.
00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:05.119
You know, these are kept private, they're not accessed.
00:22:05.440 --> 00:22:09.200
You get to download everything that you do in the program.
00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:11.440
You get to download it very easily.
00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:14.880
It's not like your answers are held hostage to a book.
00:22:15.119 --> 00:22:19.680
You guys have really made this this is that's why it's that service.
00:22:19.839 --> 00:22:28.720
Like there is a product involved and it's an excellent, beautiful product, but you you want this to be consumed by the family.
00:22:28.880 --> 00:22:31.119
You want them to have it for a lifetime.
00:22:31.279 --> 00:22:33.759
You want them to back it up on a hard drive.
00:22:33.920 --> 00:22:40.000
Like everything I've seen is really about taking this Remento service.
00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:46.559
You can turn it into the Remento book product that's included in what you sign up for.
00:22:46.960 --> 00:22:53.440
But you guys do not hold this, you you're very transparent about download these.
00:22:53.519 --> 00:22:55.279
You know, these are yours.
00:22:56.400 --> 00:22:57.440
Yeah, one 100%.
00:22:57.759 --> 00:23:04.240
I mean, at the end of the day, this is of the most important data that you'll ever have access to.
00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:16.079
Like the number of customers that tell us I didn't realize until I saw my mom's first recording that I don't have any other recordings of my mom talking to a camera.
00:23:16.799 --> 00:23:18.079
It's like staggering, right?
00:23:18.319 --> 00:23:32.240
That happened that's the experience that most of our, you know, we we see our parents on FaceTime or we're with them, obviously, but actually looking at a parent talking about something meaningful on your phone is an experience that many people have for the first time using our product.
00:23:32.480 --> 00:23:51.920
And so that's that's a huge responsibility that we carry, both to make sure that the experience for mom or dad is seamless, but also that with that data we apply you know all the most cutting-edge uh, you know, and and and critical protocols related to security, privacy, and data standards.
00:23:52.160 --> 00:23:57.359
Um one other thing that I want to know, and I think you're right, like we've built a product, but ultimately this is a service.
00:23:57.599 --> 00:24:10.400
One of the things that we are really trying to focus on is not just productizing the pathway towards creating a book with the book as the destination, but really productizing the journey.
00:24:11.920 --> 00:24:13.119
I feel that.
00:24:13.599 --> 00:24:20.559
And like when our product works best, it's a collaborative family experience.
00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:30.079
And so to go back to the old analogy, if you were writing your memoir, most people would go into their attic or their basement, they'd create this document, and then they would present it for the first time to their family.
00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:34.640
And we have plenty of storytellers who buy Remento in private and then share their book at the end.
00:24:35.599 --> 00:25:07.279
But our our product exactly our product is our our product works best when it becomes a family experience when members of the family are invited to see these recordings as they come in, to ask follow-up questions, to share reactions, to show grandma that she's not like a liability to be managed in the senior living community, but that the family is genuinely curious to learn more about what it was like to be 12 years old during the Vietnam War.
00:25:07.440 --> 00:25:07.839
Right?
00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:13.359
Because these are stories that are really hard for us to engage with out of the blue on a random on a random day.
00:25:13.599 --> 00:25:21.200
But when you look down at your screen and you see a story from grandma that you never knew, it creates excitement within the family that compounds.
00:25:21.279 --> 00:25:29.759
And that's where we get most excited when the book becomes a way of memorializing that experience rather than this time capsule to be unlocked and read for the first time in the future.
00:25:30.720 --> 00:25:35.920
And I I opened up to you that my parents, I bought them story worth.
00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:46.559
I bought my dad for his birthday, and I bought my mom thinking if my dad's doing it, maybe my mom will want to, you know, like that they could kind of, you know, oh, did you answer Colleen's question this week?
00:25:47.039 --> 00:25:51.920
Well, my dad answered none, and my mom answered five.
00:25:52.480 --> 00:25:54.799
And one was, I hate questions like this.
00:25:55.119 --> 00:26:00.720
It's like, well, pick from the other 40, you know, however many more are available.
00:26:01.039 --> 00:26:09.519
But it was just not, it was not a priority, and I think they felt a lot of what you've what you've discovered is some of that resistance.
00:26:09.839 --> 00:26:18.160
Um, I'm gonna switch this focus and um kind of totally take it a different direction for a bit, which you said you're up for.
00:26:18.480 --> 00:26:22.160
So you talk about these questions and question design.
00:26:22.319 --> 00:26:28.480
Now, twelve years ago, I I have a master's in international development.
00:26:28.559 --> 00:26:34.559
I was living out in DC and I was working for an advocacy group for the foreign affairs budget.
00:26:34.720 --> 00:26:47.119
So it's all about um, you know, our effective diplomacy and and smart power and um some of that is no longer in existence today thanks to being completely wiped out.
00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:49.119
Um but that's a totally different topic.
00:26:49.279 --> 00:26:58.160
But I thought, you know, we were we were talking about how connected the world is, and I was like, we need a human interest story about how connected our world is.
00:26:58.400 --> 00:27:00.960
So I created this little project for myself.
00:27:01.119 --> 00:27:06.160
This is it feels like a different life, but I called it Big Shared World.
00:27:06.480 --> 00:27:08.240
And I traveled around the world.
00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:14.240
I went to 40 countries and I asked over 750 people the same three questions.
00:27:14.720 --> 00:27:23.039
And and I have a big manuscript in progress that I do intend to get out into the world sooner than later one day.
00:27:23.279 --> 00:27:26.319
But right now I'm organizing houses in most of my time.
00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:30.079
But I thought I would love to ask Charlie my three questions.
00:27:30.240 --> 00:27:48.640
It was just an idea I had last night because so much of what I think this conversation about is about is about how questions and asking people to think about things and their answers to things differently can shift a dynamic and can open up, you know, a new conversation.
00:27:48.880 --> 00:27:54.960
And what I felt from my questions, I'm not gonna get into but people were so grateful to be asked some questions.
00:27:55.359 --> 00:28:04.720
So I wanted to ask you those three questions, and then we can talk about the power of questions and conversation briefly after that.
00:28:05.039 --> 00:28:09.279
So my first question, Charlie, so I'd say, Hi, I'm Colleen.
00:28:09.440 --> 00:28:11.920
I'm traveling the world asking people the same three questions.
00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:13.279
I'm gonna write a book about it.
00:28:13.440 --> 00:28:14.799
Can I ask you my questions?
00:28:14.960 --> 00:28:18.079
And they would say, Yes.
00:28:18.640 --> 00:28:19.279
Let's do it.
00:28:19.599 --> 00:28:20.240
We'd love to.
00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:21.200
Okay.
00:28:21.759 --> 00:28:25.039
Charlie, what does a good life mean to you?
00:28:31.759 --> 00:28:33.519
Starting with a softball, eh?
00:28:34.319 --> 00:28:38.559
You know, I said um I want these to be questions that you can answer on the fly.
00:28:38.720 --> 00:28:39.680
Anyone could answer.
00:28:39.839 --> 00:28:43.920
They aren't like college, you know, essay questions, but they have depth.
00:28:44.079 --> 00:28:48.880
I wasn't going to take time off my life to just ask people's favorite color.
00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:49.920
Yeah.
00:28:50.160 --> 00:28:51.599
Well, my favorite color is blue.
00:28:51.920 --> 00:28:52.640
Okay, good to know.
00:28:53.039 --> 00:29:01.519
Uh I um I think for me that the the key is connecting my time to purpose.
00:29:02.319 --> 00:29:27.599
And so feeling like I'm spending my time with intention and um, you know, making investments in the areas, whether it be family, friends, or work, that uh, you know, give me purpose in my in my day-to-day and bring me joy by being able to be around the people that I love, hopefully supporting them and uplifting them.
00:29:29.599 --> 00:29:34.400
In your opinion, what is the biggest threat to humanity today?
00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:36.559
Ignorance.
00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:41.359
What do you think the world will be like 50 years from now?
00:29:50.720 --> 00:29:52.480
I think it'll be different.
00:29:52.720 --> 00:29:53.759
I think it'll be different.
00:29:53.839 --> 00:29:56.160
I think it'll be really different five years from now.
00:29:56.720 --> 00:30:01.200
Um my hope is that 50 years from now.
00:30:09.839 --> 00:30:16.319
As the world becomes faster, more globalized, more connected with incredible new technology.
00:30:16.480 --> 00:30:27.279
My my my hope is that technology actually lives up to the promise of making us feel more connected to each other and creating more human, meaningful experiences.
00:30:27.839 --> 00:30:30.720
Um that would be my my my hope.
00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:34.720
Thank you for answering my questions.
00:30:35.279 --> 00:30:36.240
What did you think?
00:30:36.720 --> 00:30:37.519
Those are wonderful.
00:30:37.680 --> 00:30:39.359
Yeah, I think that's those are great.
00:30:39.519 --> 00:30:40.720
You're very provocative.
00:30:41.279 --> 00:30:44.880
Well, and I I appreciate you answering them.
00:30:45.119 --> 00:30:51.440
It there was so to me, I I kind of was reflecting last night on how I think they relate.
00:30:51.599 --> 00:31:03.599
And I do think that a good life is full of good stories, like a shared life, and with depth and meaning and value, and and having a life, you know, that you that you have fun stories to share about it.
00:31:03.759 --> 00:31:06.240
You know, you should like your own stories, right?
00:31:06.720 --> 00:31:15.200
And what your what your platform gives is people's opportunity to reflect on their stories and to to to take them.
00:31:15.440 --> 00:31:22.000
And I think the reflection can make them maybe want to even make better stories with the time they have.
00:31:23.359 --> 00:31:25.680
I think you're 100%, you're 100% right.
00:31:25.839 --> 00:31:48.240
You know, uh there's there's been a long-standing practice um uh among mostly the the older population of what's called reminiscence therapy, which is basically um a clinical application of going through and being nostalgic about your life, thinking about how all of the decisions and the people and the moments all connected to each other.
00:31:48.480 --> 00:31:53.920
And um it's often done at the end of life, but frankly, it's quite productive to do in the middle of life.
00:31:54.240 --> 00:32:02.720
And um, you know, you brought up a really good point about good stories and why these are so important to harness and to make a part of who we are, and thinking about our personal narrative is important.
00:32:02.960 --> 00:32:11.039
But I would say equally important uh to you know being able to find purpose in your life is identifying those difficult stories, right?
00:32:11.359 --> 00:32:39.039
Understanding how the moments that you have faced have shaped you, understanding how you've responded to resilience, understanding how your family, the people who have come before you have responded to resilience and developing a comfort of talking about those moments, being vulnerable with the people that you love and helping them understand that the person who you are has been shaped by incredible moments of gratitude and wonder, but also moments of potential hardship.
00:32:39.119 --> 00:32:43.119
And and we don't do anyone a credit when we steer away from those.
00:32:44.400 --> 00:32:57.680
I I love that and I feel that from you because you you've had such a fun journey, and you are in such a cool spot with this with this business that you've created.
00:32:57.759 --> 00:33:09.039
I mean, you're talking to New York Times bestsellers, you're neuroscience researching, you've been on Shark Tank, Mark Cuban is in your cell phone.
00:33:09.279 --> 00:33:10.880
Like, I imagine.
00:33:11.119 --> 00:33:19.759
Um that is like there are so many quintessential desired ideas for what to be an entrepreneur.
00:33:19.920 --> 00:33:30.400
Like, oh, you've reached so many of these amazing spots, but I've also heard you talk about some of the setbacks or moments of questioning and what do we have?
00:33:30.559 --> 00:33:32.000
What are we putting out in the world?
00:33:32.160 --> 00:33:40.000
Like, and I think I heard uh I love these long-form YouTube three-hour interviews that have come out of people.
00:33:40.079 --> 00:33:45.839
I I try to imagine myself like having dinner with the people thinking, could I hold my own in this conversation?
00:33:46.079 --> 00:33:58.000
But there was a really successful person who said that success is in enjoying the journey of it, you know, not waiting for that, oh, I'll be happy when I have a car, and that well, when I have the car, no, I just want the house.
00:33:58.079 --> 00:33:59.359
When I have the house, I want the bigger house.
00:33:59.440 --> 00:34:01.279
When I have the bigger house, I want the best vacation.
00:34:01.359 --> 00:34:06.640
You know, it's like always working, but it's like enjoying it, including the struggles.
00:34:06.799 --> 00:34:19.280
And when I heard that, it shifted so much for me because you know, I'm s I have my own thing, and it can feel 10 steps forward, three steps back, five steps forward, one back, you know, you're just but isn't that life?
00:34:19.599 --> 00:34:26.079
And the entrepreneurial journey takes you on an amplification of of that, you know, back and forth.
00:34:26.239 --> 00:34:29.039
But you know, just just life can be a struggle.
00:34:29.119 --> 00:34:42.800
And I think your point is well made, and that capture giving people the opportunity to not just say, oh, here's the highlights of my life, here's my favorite things that happened, but here's something that was tough.
00:34:42.960 --> 00:34:48.159
You know, here's I remember something about this day that that picture was taken.
00:34:48.480 --> 00:35:03.760
It was a hard day, or I was in the middle of this at work, and and then I went to this party, you know, who knows what comes out of it, but it's like there's this richness in not glossing over those harder moments.
00:35:05.440 --> 00:35:06.800
Yeah, one one 100%.
00:35:07.280 --> 00:35:32.960
All of the research, all of the science on this topic indicates very squarely that especially if you have kids, uh, either directly or in your orbit, sharing with your kids moments of challenge, of adversity, and actually overcoming, it it increases um their uh well-being across just about every single measure that you can, from self-esteem to resilience, uh down the list.
00:35:33.039 --> 00:35:46.639
And so, yeah, if you if you love, if you love your family, if you want them to be well-balanced, if you want them to have high self-esteem, if you want them to feel connected to who they are and their roots, like yeah, don't shy away from the moments of challenge because those can be the ones where they can learn the most.
00:35:47.360 --> 00:35:55.119
To that point, so my dad had a big funeral business here in Minnesota, and he's like my best friend.
00:35:55.280 --> 00:36:01.599
I just, my dad is such a great guy, and I'm so grateful to be super close with him.
00:36:01.920 --> 00:36:08.159
And um, he hates these questions, you know, like we'll go on a boat ride and I have a book.
00:36:08.239 --> 00:36:10.960
Okay dad, like, you know, what are you gonna do with your retirement?
00:36:11.119 --> 00:36:12.960
You know, who's your top five role models?
00:36:13.199 --> 00:36:14.719
Like, one's Ronald Reagan.
00:36:14.800 --> 00:36:20.239
You know, it's like, okay, like let's go deeper, let's, you know, but but there's something to that.
00:36:20.400 --> 00:36:25.519
But he just he always like, oh, Colleen, you know, the eye rolls are are just beyond.
00:36:25.840 --> 00:36:31.280
But then he got interviewed by some up-and-coming funeral directing podcast.
00:36:31.760 --> 00:36:59.039
And I learned so much about my dad in that one hour of someone else asking him some questions from a different perspective than daughter, and how him and my uncle grew the business and when it wasn't popular because they really doubled down on cremation and you know, certain things that you know, why he didn't bring my mom to certain conferences because they they were kind of the industry wasn't open to that.
00:36:59.119 --> 00:37:01.199
And I was like, I'd never known that.
00:37:01.440 --> 00:37:06.320
And it was having somebody else ask my dad questions.
00:37:06.559 --> 00:37:08.639
I mean, I sent that interview to so many people.
00:37:08.719 --> 00:37:11.840
I was like, dad, I've watched this three times, I love this.
00:37:12.320 --> 00:37:16.239
And I think that that's that's so good to know.
00:37:16.320 --> 00:37:23.039
Like, you don't just have to tell the the happy, fun stories, like be honest, be real, be human.
00:37:25.199 --> 00:37:26.400
Yeah, yeah, 100%.
00:37:26.639 --> 00:37:33.679
And you're you are you're also pointing to a really important and important insight, which is that the person asking the questions matters.
00:37:34.000 --> 00:37:47.840
And it's it's often the case that the people who are closest to the storyteller are not the best positioned to ask the questions that lead to um the story is really worth preserving, right?
00:37:48.000 --> 00:37:54.480
Like what we're doing right now, this conversation is very different than if I was having a chat with you know my wife or my sister or my mom.
00:37:54.639 --> 00:37:58.880
You know, I would I'll share more context in this in this conversation than I would with them.
00:37:59.039 --> 00:38:07.199
We have a shorthand, which is helpful for the day-to-day, but not actually the most helpful if we're trying to fully contextualize a memory and its meaning.
00:38:07.440 --> 00:38:19.199
And so, yes, there's a reason why people hire professionals for um for making memoirs, and there's a reason they hire uh people as therapists who don't know them and don't have judgment about them, right?
00:38:19.360 --> 00:38:22.800
Like the the answers do change based on who's asking the questions.
00:38:23.280 --> 00:38:25.599
Well, and I think that you guys have done such a great job.
00:38:25.760 --> 00:38:26.719
Remento.co.
00:38:26.800 --> 00:38:43.760
We'll take a quick break, and I I want to come back and go go back into Remento and different ways that you're using this technology you've developed and and different ideas I I have about where I would love to use it within my own organizing business and legacy lifting business.
00:38:44.000 --> 00:39:02.719
But uh Remento.co, R-E-M-E-N-T-O, I'm here with Charlie Green, the brilliant co-founder and just curator of so many people's stories, and and you can just tell so genuinely this is you really are doing a service to the people.
00:39:02.880 --> 00:39:15.360
You've really developed something with a lot of thought behind it that for a minimal cost, I can use, anyone can use, and capture this, their stories of their family and their loved ones.
00:39:15.519 --> 00:39:21.119
So we're gonna come back and dive back into that sorting through life with Colleen Watterston.
00:39:22.079 --> 00:39:28.159
Welcome back to Sorting Through Life on AM950, the Progressive Voice of Minnesota.
00:39:28.400 --> 00:39:33.360
This is your host, Colleen Waterston, and I am here with Charlie Green of Remento.
00:39:33.679 --> 00:39:50.320
Charlie, I I would love to know everything that you know because it's so amazing how this company that you've built putting together legacy books and a story platform for people to share their life stories through.
00:39:50.559 --> 00:39:55.519
You have done so much research and so much work building the back end.
00:39:55.599 --> 00:40:07.920
I'm sure you have a week's worth of beyond, but of just interesting topics of what you've been through the last handful of years as you've been building this and bringing this to life.
00:40:08.559 --> 00:40:11.519
But I also am interested in where it's going.
00:40:11.760 --> 00:40:16.639
So today this show airs on Mother's Day.
00:40:16.880 --> 00:40:32.159
And I mentioned to you that while I have my legacy lifting where I help people go through, you know, more with a downsize in mind, or more with, you know, a career is over in mind, let's let's kind of go through our things to minimize.
00:40:32.480 --> 00:40:38.960
Um I also help many busy families make sense and better systems of their stuff in their house.
00:40:39.280 --> 00:40:50.239
And many baby rooms or toddler rooms or kid rooms or memorabilia boxes of high schoolers have a lot of half-started baby books.
00:40:50.480 --> 00:40:59.039
And I was like, this is so interesting with the audio prompts because you know I see the best intentions of the parents.
00:40:59.360 --> 00:41:10.559
They write the birth weight, you know, and the time, and they throw, you know, like the footprint from the hospital in there, but usually that's about it.
00:41:10.880 --> 00:41:14.079
So when are you launching a baby book?
00:41:14.800 --> 00:41:16.800
Well, I've got a two-year-old at home and I can empathize.
00:41:16.880 --> 00:41:24.719
It's really hard when you're sleep deprived to like write down how you're feeling about your second week of being a parent when all you're trying to do is just keep everyone alive in the family.
00:41:25.039 --> 00:41:25.360
Right.
00:41:25.679 --> 00:41:30.239
Um and by the way, those books are very different for the first child compared to the second or the third child.
00:41:31.119 --> 00:41:32.159
I don't even think I have my name.
00:41:34.400 --> 00:41:35.199
They don't exist.
00:41:35.440 --> 00:41:38.719
At least the first one has the empty book, the third one never even had it in the first place.
00:41:39.039 --> 00:41:42.480
I have like some photos thrown in without much.
00:41:42.719 --> 00:41:43.760
I I love my parents.
00:41:43.840 --> 00:41:46.239
It's it's a little better than that, but not much.
00:41:46.400 --> 00:41:46.880
Love you, mom.
00:41:47.280 --> 00:41:47.760
Exactly.
00:41:47.920 --> 00:41:48.559
Exactly.
00:41:48.719 --> 00:41:49.199
Uh yeah.
00:41:49.360 --> 00:41:50.480
Love all the moms, by the way.
00:41:50.559 --> 00:41:51.599
Happy Mother's Day to all of you.
00:41:52.559 --> 00:41:53.360
Happy Mother's Day.
00:41:53.440 --> 00:41:54.960
You all are amazing.
00:41:55.199 --> 00:41:56.400
You lift up this world.
00:41:56.480 --> 00:41:58.079
I don't know how they do it.
00:41:58.559 --> 00:41:59.119
Yeah.
00:41:59.360 --> 00:42:01.679
Our moms, moms are incredible.
00:42:01.920 --> 00:42:11.840
Um, so yeah, right now Romento is very focused on helping uh our aging loved ones preserve their memories in retrospect.
00:42:12.159 --> 00:42:28.239
And our focus at this exact moment is to make that process more simple than it's ever been, more intuitive than it's ever been, and ultimately able to capture memories that have not been shared and preserve them in a way that brings them to life, in a way that pulls you in rather than feels like something that gets put on the shelf.
00:42:28.400 --> 00:42:31.280
And so that is our attention and focus right now.
00:42:31.519 --> 00:42:37.280
But uh what we've been hearing a lot from our from our customers is I want to use this technology in other ways.
00:42:37.440 --> 00:42:37.599
Right?
00:42:37.760 --> 00:42:46.159
The fact that you're turning my memories into this book feels like a way to document memories, not just in retrospect, but actually as they unfold in real time.
00:42:46.559 --> 00:42:48.159
Or like a family vacation.
00:42:48.639 --> 00:42:49.280
A hundred percent.
00:42:49.760 --> 00:42:52.400
Like, hey, every day at the end of the day.
00:42:52.639 --> 00:42:54.800
Uh I mean, and technically people could.
00:42:55.360 --> 00:43:08.079
People could take your platform and say, I'm gonna buy one for my vacation, I'm gonna put the photos in, and just kind of, but you don't have it on your website of like document your family vacation.
00:43:08.880 --> 00:43:13.360
Yeah, it's not it's not positioned that way, but but we've had we've had hundreds of families do exactly that.
00:43:13.440 --> 00:43:16.960
And so there are a couple of use cases that we're really excited about expanding into.
00:43:17.039 --> 00:43:18.320
The first is around the baby book.
00:43:18.400 --> 00:43:28.320
And I did this with my daughter in her first year, a photo every week for a year, and I exclusively record the stories behind those photos while I was changing diapers.
00:43:28.559 --> 00:43:40.239
And the videos of me doing that are pretty are pretty hilarious because they are not the most deep emotional things of the world, but they're pretty hilarious and they capture that moment in time uh really beautifully.
00:43:40.480 --> 00:43:46.320
Um, you know, a second use case that we're really excited about is the narrated photo album, right?
00:43:46.480 --> 00:43:57.280
Being able to preserve the stories behind those photos, either from a recent family trip or the photos from that um family trip from 80, 90 years ago, potentially.
00:43:57.440 --> 00:44:10.320
Um and then the last the last use case that we're also Really excited about is documenting the stories behind physical objects and heirlooms at some point in our life are going to experience downsizing, whether we're the ones doing the downsizing or a loved one is.
00:44:10.480 --> 00:44:14.480
And it can be really hard to part with those things that have been passed down for generations.
00:44:14.639 --> 00:44:21.519
That dining room table with the divots in it that no one in the family wants anymore, but has so many stories behind it.
00:44:21.599 --> 00:44:32.559
And so what a lot of our families will do is they'll take photos of the things that they're going to be parting with, they'll tell the stories behind them, they'll be able to capture those in a uh a physical book that preserves all of that.
00:44:32.719 --> 00:44:40.480
And it makes them feel, you know, a little bit less guilty and a little bit less sad about having to part with those items, but but cherishes them and celebrates them.
00:44:41.360 --> 00:44:44.400
That's the use I'm truly most excited about.
00:44:44.639 --> 00:44:47.599
I do think my sister, she's a mom of three.
00:44:47.679 --> 00:44:50.960
Um, my sister-in-law is a mom of three, and they're both amazing.
00:44:51.119 --> 00:44:55.840
I'm on Mother's Day hosting the brunch so that they can relax and I can celebrate them.
00:44:56.000 --> 00:44:59.840
I'm the child-free, I want to be the child-free matriarch of my family.
00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:08.320
I want to hold us all together and always be there for them, but not be responsible for for them, not go to the to the school conferences.
00:45:08.719 --> 00:45:16.400
Um but my sister's really good at putting the photos together, a photo book after we go on a vacation.
00:45:16.480 --> 00:45:22.239
And so I'm so grateful for her, but I but she works at it, you know, it's a she prioritizes it.
00:45:22.480 --> 00:45:35.360
And I love that this could be, you know, if you use you could use Remento as it is, as a great platform for getting that done, you know, and don't let perfect be the enemy of good or done.
00:45:35.440 --> 00:45:51.280
You know, it's like, hey, this could be a great way to just document what you're doing and then turn it into something and it's better than nothing, even if it's not, you know, the most perfect scrapbook or designed for that, you could make it pretty cool.
00:45:51.519 --> 00:45:58.480
And for my clients, like I'm constantly helping people go through stuff, you know, an enormous amount of stuff.
00:45:58.800 --> 00:46:18.960
And I think even if you're not parting ways with it, but if you're planning to leave it behind, it's almost like people could make a catalog for their family because when they aren't there, and I'm also helping people in their 80s who are in aging in place at the moment, but one fall could make them not return to their home.
00:46:19.119 --> 00:46:31.679
You know, that's a very common, um, very sad occurrence for people at that age where it's like they're walking downstairs to dinner and a fall takes them to the hospital and they never make it back.
00:46:31.840 --> 00:46:38.639
And so it's like, wow, you can capture your stories so that when your family's going through your things, it's like, oh, here's this book.
00:46:38.719 --> 00:46:40.239
I I already wrote about this.
00:46:40.320 --> 00:46:42.639
I I wrote who I thought might want it.
00:46:42.800 --> 00:46:50.000
I wrote where I got it, you know, and some might be like at Target, you know, 20 years ago and I liked it.
00:46:50.079 --> 00:46:54.639
And some might be a really cool story, you know, while I was traveling.
00:46:54.800 --> 00:46:59.119
You know, I'm very big about not throwing things away for people because I'm like, I don't know.
00:46:59.519 --> 00:47:07.199
This might mean more to you than this might seem like trash, but it's actually the last note your parent wrote you, and it means so much.
00:47:07.360 --> 00:47:11.280
So I love that you're thinking about all of those different things.
00:47:12.159 --> 00:47:14.159
And Charlie, we only have a minute.
00:47:14.320 --> 00:47:15.280
So what do you want?
00:47:15.440 --> 00:47:18.719
What how can people go and buy this book?
00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:23.280
Uh so uh our product is available for sale on our website.
00:47:23.440 --> 00:47:28.400
Again, it's like the words remember and memento combined into one, Romento.co.
00:47:28.960 --> 00:47:39.920
Our product costs$99, and that includes one year of unlimited prompts, unlimited stories, and unlimited collaborators added to the account, and a credit for a hardcover book.
00:47:40.079 --> 00:47:41.280
And today's Mother's Day.
00:47:41.360 --> 00:47:44.000
We're on sale right now, so you can take$15 off your purchase.
00:47:44.239 --> 00:47:44.880
That's$84.
00:47:45.679 --> 00:47:52.800
Um, buy Romento for yourself or for a mom in your life, and yeah, you've got our commitment that it'll be an investment that you won't regret.
00:47:53.119 --> 00:48:02.000
I might buy it for myself and just start telling stories and uh give people, you know, hey, here's Colleen's thoughts from the last year, every year.
00:48:02.159 --> 00:48:04.400
Um, Charlie, thank you so much for being here.
00:48:04.559 --> 00:48:05.840
Thank you all for listening.
00:48:06.079 --> 00:48:09.360
Sorting through life with Colleen Watterston on AM950.
00:00:01.919 --> 00:00:02.560
Welcome.
00:00:02.720 --> 00:00:09.519
Welcome to Sorting Through Life with Colleen Watterston on AM950, the Progressive Voice of Minnesota.
00:00:09.839 --> 00:00:14.400
Today I am so excited to invite my guest, Charlie Green of Remento.
00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:15.519
Welcome, Charlie.
00:00:16.160 --> 00:00:17.760
Hey Colleen, it's good to be here.
00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:22.160
So, Charlie, I am thrilled that you accepted my invitation to be here.
00:00:22.239 --> 00:00:42.479
And I particularly had this written down to reach out to you because it's Mother's Day that we're airing this show, and you have co-founded and are running this amazing business, Remento, that produces legacy books for families, inspired a lot by your own parents.
00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:45.039
Your mom was the first user of this.
00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:52.399
And so I was just like, this is this is the guest I would want to have on my Mother's Day show.
00:00:52.719 --> 00:00:58.560
And and I had reached out to you and I told my friends, this was not an AI edited email.
00:00:58.719 --> 00:01:02.240
It was like, let me tell you what I'm thinking.
00:01:02.479 --> 00:01:05.680
Um I just think what you're up to is so cool.
00:01:06.079 --> 00:01:10.079
I have this home organizing business, space-by-space organizing.
00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:32.879
I've been expanding my own offerings into something I call legacy lifting, which really focuses on more senior downsizing, more, you know, looking at a lifetime of stuff and what do we do with it and how do we make sense of it, whether that's property and um, you know, things that could be resold or gifted or donated or trashed.
00:01:33.359 --> 00:01:46.239
But there's so many stories behind the stuff, and and there's so many just great stories that come with a lifetime, and you so I I thought like I provide a service and it's very hands-on.
00:01:47.040 --> 00:02:06.799
And you provide a service and a product because your product is is the book, but you have created this platform that's a service to anybody who uses it to be able to capture their stories in a really compelling way that that honors their life.
00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:21.039
And so if someone's never met you or never dove into your website, or never watched probably 10 to 20 podcast interviews you've done recently, tell them what Remento is all about for the first time.
00:02:21.919 --> 00:02:22.560
Yeah, 100%.
00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:24.719
Well, Colleen, thank you again so much for having me today.
00:02:24.800 --> 00:02:26.240
I'm I'm really happy to be here.
00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:33.360
Uh yeah, the company is called uh Remento, and it's like the words remember and memento uh combined into one.
00:02:33.759 --> 00:02:34.400
So clever.
00:02:35.039 --> 00:02:41.599
What we're doing is we're helping families capture and preserve the stories of the people they love most.
00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:49.759
You know, for hundreds of years, if you wanted to create a memoir of your stories, there are basically two ways to do it.
00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:56.240
You know, you could either hire someone to write your stories for you, or you could sit down and write them yourself.
00:02:56.800 --> 00:03:00.319
The first one was very easy, but extremely expensive, right?
00:03:00.879 --> 00:03:03.680
$10,000,$20,000,$30,000 in some cases.
00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:06.479
That could be the editing after the words are written.
00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:07.680
Yeah, exactly.
00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:08.400
Exactly.
00:03:08.639 --> 00:03:18.319
And then the second approach was to do it yourself, which for some folks, maybe as they get into retirement, is a really exciting prop proposition of writing your life stories.
00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:23.599
But what we find in our research is for the vast majority of people, it feels like a massive homework assignment.
00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:27.919
And that's why the vast majority of us won't capture our stories.
00:03:28.080 --> 00:03:34.400
And it's why when we're no longer here, our families will hold on to things like the voicemails that we've left them.
00:03:35.039 --> 00:03:35.520
Right?
00:03:35.759 --> 00:03:48.879
And so, you know, inspired very much by personal experience, we set out to build a way to be able to document your memories and your stories and your voice in a beautiful legacy book without you having to write a single word.
00:03:49.120 --> 00:04:01.360
And so what we do with Remento is we will interview you or someone in your family every week for a year using our fully autonomous interviewing technology that will either call you, text you, or email you.
00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:09.199
And you click the button in your email, your text message, or you pick up your phone call, and you just start talking based on the storytelling prompt that is sent to you.
00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:20.079
And then Remento will record your answer and turn those recordings that you share into beautifully written text, as if you had hired that really expensive biographer to write them for you.
00:04:20.160 --> 00:04:33.680
Uh, and then we'll take all of the stories that get compiled over the course of a year, all the photos that get added into that Remento book, and actually put it into a physical hardcover keepsake book, like a beautiful heirloom piece.
00:04:33.839 --> 00:04:42.000
And my favorite part is there are little QR codes on the inside that when you scan are going to play the recording that was used to write each one of those stories.
00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:49.360
So for your mom or for your dad, the feedback that they'll share is this is a book that wrote itself, my legacy on paper.
00:04:49.439 --> 00:05:00.800
Uh, but for you, for your family, for future generations, it's both having that physical heirloom in your hand, but way more importantly, it's the ability to scan those QR codes and hear that person's voice.
00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:16.000
And it is the process of actually capturing those stories and being able to have the person's voice at your fingertips, which is the reason why uh we feel so honored and proud of the fact that our product gets referred so often after it is ultimately used.
00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:21.680
Okay, my eyes kind of widened because I didn't know you had like text and phone call option.
00:05:21.839 --> 00:05:23.279
I thought it was email.
00:05:23.439 --> 00:05:25.360
I know you don't do it on an app.
00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:30.079
It's like a prompt, and then that gets captured, correct?
00:05:30.959 --> 00:05:37.279
Yeah, I mean when we when we started this, we we did a bunch of research, and our research was exclusively with people over the age of 60.
00:05:37.439 --> 00:05:39.040
Many of them were over the age of 80.
00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:42.000
And we said, what would it take for you to feel comfortable recording yourself?
00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:48.800
And they said, Well, I don't want to have to download anything, and I don't want any passwords, and I prefer not to have to log in.
00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:53.199
And actually, when you're building technology, that rules out a lot of options, right?
00:05:53.279 --> 00:05:54.079
It really does.
00:05:54.399 --> 00:05:57.759
And so what we built was a completely web-based application.
00:05:57.920 --> 00:06:11.839
And so if you sign your mom or your dad up for Remento, they're gonna get a text message in an email that's gonna say record now, and they click on the link in that text message or that email, or they can pick up the phone call that calls them and they they they just start talking.
00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:18.000
And what it's meant is that uh the majority of our storytellers are over the age of 65.
00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:20.000
Many of them are over the age of 80.
00:06:20.160 --> 00:06:29.680
I've spoken to almost a I've spoken to seven people who are over the age of 100 who have used our product without any intervention from a family member.
00:06:29.920 --> 00:06:34.639
And uh, that's a really special thing to be able to uh to experience as someone who builds products.
00:06:35.040 --> 00:06:37.199
I have a client who does not have email.
00:06:37.360 --> 00:06:43.680
She's 84, and every other week I bring her invoice and we get a check, and you know, it's like, I don't want email.
00:06:43.839 --> 00:06:46.639
I'm like, what would a life be like without email?
00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:48.160
I think peaceful.
00:06:48.319 --> 00:06:50.160
I'm like, I'm not gonna push it on you.
00:06:50.720 --> 00:06:58.160
You know what's funny is you know, we thought at the beginning of this process that age would be really correlated with tech capability.
00:06:58.399 --> 00:07:02.959
And there is a correlation, but very interestingly, it's not nearly as tight as we thought it was.
00:07:03.199 --> 00:07:08.959
You know, there are there are 60-year-olds who are not on email, and we have people over the age of 100 who are on Facebook all the time.
00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:09.600
Oh, yeah.
00:07:10.399 --> 00:07:13.360
I have an 88-year-old best friend who's been on this show.
00:07:13.519 --> 00:07:21.199
I helped move her from her home for 40 years into a senior community, and she's very sophisticated with tech.
00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:29.839
But there are a lot of scams out there, so it's good to be mindful for people of all ages that this is how this is going to be received.
00:07:29.920 --> 00:07:30.800
You can trust it.
00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:31.920
It's very easy.
00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:35.199
You don't need to worry about, you know, clicking the wrong thing.
00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:39.120
So then if somebody answers, like how long is that answer?
00:07:39.920 --> 00:07:40.800
It totally depends.
00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:42.959
We always say there's no right way to use Romento.
00:07:43.279 --> 00:07:47.279
We have people that will record 300 stories that are each a minute long, right?
00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:52.639
And we have some people that will record a handful of stories that are 30 minutes long.
00:07:52.879 --> 00:07:55.519
And so there's no right way to use the product.
00:07:55.680 --> 00:08:03.279
But I will say one of my favorite ways that we see people using the product is very much in your wheelhouse, which is to record the stories behind old photos.
00:08:03.839 --> 00:08:05.360
I saw that on the website.
00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:08.720
So it's like it can be a question, it can be a photo.
00:08:08.879 --> 00:08:16.319
So like if I'm setting this up for someone, I could put photos in and then it would prompt them to tell me the story behind it.
00:08:16.720 --> 00:08:17.439
That's exactly right.
00:08:17.600 --> 00:08:21.199
Or you end up with what we call, what we call like a narrated photo album.
00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:32.960
Just think about think about those moments when you've been sitting with you know a parent, or you think about the moments where you had your kids with you and you you had the scrapbook open and you were going through and you were saying, Here's great uncle Harry.
00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:38.559
Like so much of the detail behind those photographs exists in the mind of a select few people.
00:08:38.639 --> 00:08:45.440
And when when those people leave us, the stories and the details behind those photos, they they leave too.
00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:53.279
And so we announced last year a partnership with a company called Legacy Box, uh, which is the largest digitizer of photographs in the U.S.
00:08:53.519 --> 00:08:59.600
And when you buy Remento, if you choose to add Legacy Box into your package, we'll send you a Legacy Box box.
00:08:59.759 --> 00:09:04.399
You take all your old photos, the physical images, put them into the box.
00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:16.159
Legacy Box will digitize all of them, and then you can add those into your Remento account and invite your storyteller, or if you're the storyteller yourself, to record the story behind each one of them.
00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:30.960
So you end up with not a dusty album in the in the uh in the attic that no one knows the story behind, but a a beautiful hardcover book that has all of those incredible photos, but also brings the who, what, one, where, why behind each one.
00:09:31.519 --> 00:09:41.759
Well, and and okay, so amazing, but this also gets into, we've all been in those conversations with the person who wants to tell all the stories.
00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:50.799
And at the time that they want to tell the stories, the person they want to tell the stories to may have varying degrees of interest.
00:09:51.039 --> 00:09:54.080
Like, okay, thanks, Mom, but like I got a lot to do.
00:09:54.240 --> 00:10:02.240
But then when the day comes that you can't have mom tell you the stories, you wish you had sat down for those hours and taken them in.
00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:22.240
So what I love about this is it allows for somebody to anticipate a day where people are really craving the stories and create that so that at your own convenience, and when when the time comes where you value that and you say, gosh, I wish mom was here to tell me that, it's like now I have it.
00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:31.759
Like now I can sit with this with this photo book and feel like I'm still with my mom when she's not here to be here with me.
00:10:31.919 --> 00:10:46.159
Like that's what I think is really cool, is it's enabling, you know, a future interaction with a person that you loved that you might not be making time for right now, but they have the time.
00:10:47.600 --> 00:10:50.480
You know, in that way it's really almost an insurance package, right?
00:10:50.559 --> 00:10:54.080
It's to make sure that you have that person's voice in the future.
00:10:54.240 --> 00:11:14.320
But I one of the one of the first you know features that we built into our product is what we call our speech to story technology, where we're taking the words that come out of someone's mouth and we are restructuring them in a way that would look and sound a lot like if it had been written by a professional, but maintaining your voice, your personality, your tone, your word choice.
00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:16.639
And you can choose first or third.
00:11:16.799 --> 00:11:22.080
This technology allows you to have the story written in first person or third genius, Charlie.
00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:27.679
Yeah, the first person would be making it sound like you wrote it yourself, and the the third person as if someone had written it for you.
00:11:27.759 --> 00:11:32.320
And as part of that, there's a little slider that you can adjust the length, right?
00:11:32.480 --> 00:11:37.519
And so we have we all know someone in our lives who we I we joke, you know, speaks in paragraphs.
00:11:37.679 --> 00:11:39.679
You know, they know where they're gonna land the plane.
00:11:40.879 --> 00:11:44.480
They know where they're gonna land the plane when they start the start the story.
00:11:44.799 --> 00:11:45.840
Sometimes we don't.
00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:54.720
Sometimes we're just on a joy ride, and eventually we get we know that we're happy to go on the plane ride, uh, but we are just kind of looking around.
00:11:54.799 --> 00:11:55.200
What's up?
00:11:55.759 --> 00:11:59.120
You're hoping you're gonna find a destination as you're as you're cruising out the plate.
00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:00.240
That looks nice.
00:12:00.559 --> 00:12:10.240
Yeah, and so for the people who speak literally, you know, in in prose, um, you know, we have an option where you can basically print a verbatim transcript of what was said into a book.
00:12:10.399 --> 00:12:14.559
And for those families, that is incredibly meaningful and it's very readable.
00:12:14.879 --> 00:12:22.000
For a lot of us, you know, we start with the middle, then we move into the beginning, and then we remember a detail and we change our mind.
00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:30.080
And that that transcript becomes really difficult to try to synthesize, synthesize and digest, whether you're reading it or if you're listening to it.
00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:51.440
And so one of the things that's really beautiful about the technology that we've built is it is it turns it into a format that is digestible by the family, both long into the future to your point when there's interest, but also maybe maybe I don't have 30 minutes to listen to my mom talk about a childhood photo now, but I'd really love to be able to read the one-minute overview of what was happening there, and then to know that I can look at it in the future.
00:12:51.519 --> 00:12:57.200
And so having those options is something that we've gotten a lot of positive feedback from uh on specifically.
00:12:57.519 --> 00:12:57.919
Amazing.
00:12:58.080 --> 00:13:01.679
And and you guys have designed such a great technology, product, service.
00:13:01.840 --> 00:13:06.720
Okay, so remento.co, r-e-m-e-n-to.co.
00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:08.639
I'm here with Charlie Green.
00:13:08.720 --> 00:13:12.879
We're gonna take a quick break and we come back, we're gonna talk about the importance of questions.
00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:27.759
All right, welcome back to Sorting Through Life with Colleen Waterston.
00:13:27.840 --> 00:13:33.200
And my guest today, Charlie Green, co-founder and CEO of Remento.
00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:47.279
We just talked all about this brilliant software and product and service that you are providing by capturing stories and capturing answers to loved ones' questions about all sorts of things.
00:13:47.840 --> 00:13:52.559
And we talked a lot about the technology of what you've designed before.
00:13:52.639 --> 00:13:53.200
Not a lot.
00:13:53.279 --> 00:14:04.000
I think we probably you could probably do a whole day on what your team has done to create this technology that is so much more than just sending your mom a question.
00:14:04.159 --> 00:14:05.279
So, okay.
00:14:06.399 --> 00:14:13.279
I am um I'm the one in the family who is like oh Colleen and her questions.
00:14:13.440 --> 00:14:13.600
Okay.
00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:19.519
So I love a good question, I love a good conversation, I always have my phone.
00:14:19.679 --> 00:14:27.360
I'm the one that the that the nieces and nephews roll their eyes at, you know, like always get the phone.
00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:33.600
The one thing that's worked really well for me recently, my oldest niece is 12, my youngest niece is four.
00:14:33.919 --> 00:14:41.519
So I show the four-year-old and the younger ones the images and videos of the 12-year-old when she was their age.
00:14:41.759 --> 00:14:47.840
And it's like, oh, that's why you do this, you know, like they think that's so cool.
00:14:48.000 --> 00:15:00.320
And I'm like, you kids are growing so fast, and and I just want to capture all the cute things I think I'll remember, but I know I won't, because I look at these videos and I and I don't remember them.
00:15:00.559 --> 00:15:06.399
But I'm also the one who's always pulling out my audio notes and my parents, so I brought some props to show you.
00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:19.360
Like my collection of 300 writing prompts, you know, your father's story book, the story of my life, 4,000 questions to getting to know everybody.
00:15:19.519 --> 00:15:21.039
That's just the book forms.
00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:24.080
The card game, do you how do you really know your family?
00:15:25.279 --> 00:15:27.440
Questions, question cards.
00:15:27.600 --> 00:15:30.159
This one, my family was in the funeral business.
00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:34.080
And so this is actually from the National Funeral Directors Association.
00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:37.519
Cards on the talk of a lifetime.
00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:44.879
I mean, we all know these cards that have come out to ask people questions.
00:15:45.360 --> 00:15:52.480
But I know that you guys have done an enormous amount of work and research in what questions to ask people.
00:15:52.720 --> 00:15:57.200
So will you just give us a little background on like what you guys have done?
00:15:57.440 --> 00:16:12.080
Because I've heard you talk about you have different prompts or suggested prompts for different ages of people's life, or you know, how did you guys come up with what you, if somebody doesn't come up with their own questions, how did you come up with your questions?
00:16:13.440 --> 00:16:27.919
Well, from the very beginning, the thing that we were asking ourselves was what if we built a product that would allow you to capture memories and stories of someone you love in a way uh that was incredibly easy for them, first of all.
00:16:28.080 --> 00:16:32.799
And then secondly, would allow them to share things that maybe they hadn't shared before.
00:16:33.679 --> 00:16:34.000
Right?
00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:35.360
Like what would be true of that?
00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:40.080
And and then frankly, frankly, Colleen, a lot of this stemmed from my own personal experience with my mom.
00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:50.399
Like I sat down with her shortly after she had been diagnosed with with lung cancer, and we thought there was a good chance she might not meet, uh meet her future grandchildren.
00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:58.480
And I remember I asked her some really basic questions, the kinds that are probably written on the different decks of cards that you were just sharing.
00:16:59.120 --> 00:17:08.720
And I remember being blown away by her answers, not because they were particularly remarkable, but because they were things I had never heard before.
00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:24.079
And I remember looking at all of those cards and thinking to myself, I have no idea if this is dumb luck that I happened to ask her questions that led to these incredibly interesting answers, or if there was actually a lot of thinking and science that had gone into the creation of these questions.
00:17:24.319 --> 00:17:33.599
And so one of the first things that we did as a company is we created a scientific advisory board that would help us think about the ways to ask great questions.
00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:36.319
And we thought about it from a couple different dimensions.
00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:49.440
Uh, we started working with a guy who had done literally thousands of life story interviews to learn what were the what were the answers that were given, what were the questions that had been asked that the families of those people responded most positively to.
00:17:49.839 --> 00:17:51.119
What did he done those for?
00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:55.440
Like for books, for memoirs, for what was it?
00:17:55.680 --> 00:17:57.680
He's a seven-time New York Times best-selling author.
00:17:58.400 --> 00:18:01.200
He's kind of like the story, the family story guy.
00:18:01.279 --> 00:18:02.400
His name is Bruce Feiler.
00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:04.960
He's got a new book that's just come out, which is incredible.
00:18:05.039 --> 00:18:06.240
Everything that he writes is gold.
00:18:06.400 --> 00:18:10.000
But this is a guy who's probably done more life story interviews than just about anyone.
00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:13.839
Uh, we also really wanted the scientific, the hard scientific perspective.
00:18:13.920 --> 00:18:37.279
And so we recruited a neuroscientist who's done a lot of um uh of research on kind of the moral molecule, as he calls it, like um how our brains, when stories are shared, actually like can can be seen in the MRIs to be able to start flowing in the same directions, like how we how we cognitively connect when we're sharing stories.
00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:45.279
And then the last perspective was uh around research, uh, researchers who had worked with cognitive impairments, specifically Alzheimer's and dementia.
00:18:45.440 --> 00:18:53.920
And as it turns out, the questions that you ask someone who is losing their memory need to be very different than someone who is, you know, earlier in life making their memories.
00:18:54.160 --> 00:18:57.200
And so we took all those perspectives and we started building questions.
00:18:57.359 --> 00:18:59.519
And we had the tremendous benefit of two things.
00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:15.279
First, was this incredible scientific body of understanding about what the questions are, but then also real-time feedback about how are these questions that we're asking the tens of thousands of people that are using our product actually leading to answers that are worthy of preserving?
00:19:15.359 --> 00:19:18.400
And we weren't, for the record, looking at those ourselves.
00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:23.599
We were looking at a you know aggregated sample set of how does this question generally perform?
00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:24.880
Is it picked by families?
00:19:25.039 --> 00:19:30.160
And and are the answers that are given the kinds that lead to reactions and discussions and more questions.
00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:42.000
And so what we were able to do is we were able to combine uh those into a bank of questions that probably in some cases are a lot like the ones that you have in front of you, but are backed by both science and our own data.
00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:56.160
And what I'll what I'll say, Colleen, is like the big macro learning as we've done all of that uh has been the most important thing to a great story, and for that reason, a great question, uh, is specificity.
00:19:58.079 --> 00:19:58.319
Right.
00:19:58.640 --> 00:19:58.960
Okay.
00:19:59.839 --> 00:20:12.720
If I asked you about um an important moment in your life, maybe a wedding day, or the first time you held your niece or your nephew, and the story that you shared sounded like, I'll never forget that day.
00:20:12.880 --> 00:20:13.920
It was so special.
00:20:14.079 --> 00:20:15.519
I was gushing with love.
00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:17.519
I love this human so much.
00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:19.839
It would be utterly boring.
00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:21.440
Right?
00:20:21.680 --> 00:20:24.160
What we want is the specifics.
00:20:24.960 --> 00:20:26.640
My niece came two months early.
00:20:28.480 --> 00:20:34.480
I had to, my mom worked for Delta, I flew standby, I jumped on an air, I was getting like 10 calls at 5 a.m.
00:20:35.200 --> 00:20:41.440
I I had not been uh asleep early the night before, and it was like, why is home calling?
00:20:41.599 --> 00:20:44.799
I had to jump on an airplane, she was born while I was in flight.
00:20:44.880 --> 00:20:47.920
I told the sweet guy next to me, my niece came, and it's a girl.
00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:49.519
I thought it was gonna be a boy.
00:20:49.839 --> 00:20:52.240
And yeah, no, there's so much to that day.
00:20:52.319 --> 00:20:52.720
You're right.
00:20:52.799 --> 00:20:57.119
That like I remember that my brother brought us caribou coffee smoothies.
00:20:57.279 --> 00:21:00.480
You know, like I those those moments, you're so right.
00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:03.119
It's not like I was so happy.
00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:05.920
We want to go as specific as we can.
00:21:06.079 --> 00:21:12.480
That's one of the reasons why photos can be really helpful with inspiring memories, is because there are specifics rooted in pixels, right?
00:21:12.640 --> 00:21:22.400
And so we're able to dig in and go deeper and deeper and deeper, and then the answers and the stories that get created are the kinds that only could ever apply to the experience that you shared.
00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:28.160
And ultimately, that is that is the way that you build a story that's actually worth both telling and remembering.
00:21:28.640 --> 00:21:36.400
And that's where, you know, if you if you go back to that day, it's like that's what my niece wants to hear.
00:21:36.559 --> 00:21:43.839
You know, that's what's gonna make her giggle is kind of hear how everybody around her came together to welcome her into the world.
00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:47.839
It's not it was, you know, a chilly September day.
00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:50.559
It's like, who showed up at the hospital?
00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:52.640
You know, like how did this go?
00:21:52.720 --> 00:22:02.160
Like what um yeah, that's so I just think everything that I've seen from your platform, and I do want to point out you you see Said, these are these are private.
00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:05.119
You know, these are kept private, they're not accessed.
00:22:05.440 --> 00:22:09.200
You get to download everything that you do in the program.
00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:11.440
You get to download it very easily.
00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:14.880
It's not like your answers are held hostage to a book.
00:22:15.119 --> 00:22:19.680
You guys have really made this this is that's why it's that service.
00:22:19.839 --> 00:22:28.720
Like there is a product involved and it's an excellent, beautiful product, but you you want this to be consumed by the family.
00:22:28.880 --> 00:22:31.119
You want them to have it for a lifetime.
00:22:31.279 --> 00:22:33.759
You want them to back it up on a hard drive.
00:22:33.920 --> 00:22:40.000
Like everything I've seen is really about taking this Remento service.
00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:46.559
You can turn it into the Remento book product that's included in what you sign up for.
00:22:46.960 --> 00:22:53.440
But you guys do not hold this, you you're very transparent about download these.
00:22:53.519 --> 00:22:55.279
You know, these are yours.
00:22:56.400 --> 00:22:57.440
Yeah, one 100%.
00:22:57.759 --> 00:23:04.240
I mean, at the end of the day, this is of the most important data that you'll ever have access to.
00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:16.079
Like the number of customers that tell us I didn't realize until I saw my mom's first recording that I don't have any other recordings of my mom talking to a camera.
00:23:16.799 --> 00:23:18.079
It's like staggering, right?
00:23:18.319 --> 00:23:32.240
That happened that's the experience that most of our, you know, we we see our parents on FaceTime or we're with them, obviously, but actually looking at a parent talking about something meaningful on your phone is an experience that many people have for the first time using our product.
00:23:32.480 --> 00:23:51.920
And so that's that's a huge responsibility that we carry, both to make sure that the experience for mom or dad is seamless, but also that with that data we apply you know all the most cutting-edge uh, you know, and and and critical protocols related to security, privacy, and data standards.
00:23:52.160 --> 00:23:57.359
Um one other thing that I want to know, and I think you're right, like we've built a product, but ultimately this is a service.
00:23:57.599 --> 00:24:10.400
One of the things that we are really trying to focus on is not just productizing the pathway towards creating a book with the book as the destination, but really productizing the journey.
00:24:11.920 --> 00:24:13.119
I feel that.
00:24:13.599 --> 00:24:20.559
And like when our product works best, it's a collaborative family experience.
00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:30.079
And so to go back to the old analogy, if you were writing your memoir, most people would go into their attic or their basement, they'd create this document, and then they would present it for the first time to their family.
00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:34.640
And we have plenty of storytellers who buy Remento in private and then share their book at the end.
00:24:35.599 --> 00:25:07.279
But our our product exactly our product is our our product works best when it becomes a family experience when members of the family are invited to see these recordings as they come in, to ask follow-up questions, to share reactions, to show grandma that she's not like a liability to be managed in the senior living community, but that the family is genuinely curious to learn more about what it was like to be 12 years old during the Vietnam War.
00:25:07.440 --> 00:25:07.839
Right?
00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:13.359
Because these are stories that are really hard for us to engage with out of the blue on a random on a random day.
00:25:13.599 --> 00:25:21.200
But when you look down at your screen and you see a story from grandma that you never knew, it creates excitement within the family that compounds.
00:25:21.279 --> 00:25:29.759
And that's where we get most excited when the book becomes a way of memorializing that experience rather than this time capsule to be unlocked and read for the first time in the future.
00:25:30.720 --> 00:25:35.920
And I I opened up to you that my parents, I bought them story worth.
00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:46.559
I bought my dad for his birthday, and I bought my mom thinking if my dad's doing it, maybe my mom will want to, you know, like that they could kind of, you know, oh, did you answer Colleen's question this week?
00:25:47.039 --> 00:25:51.920
Well, my dad answered none, and my mom answered five.
00:25:52.480 --> 00:25:54.799
And one was, I hate questions like this.
00:25:55.119 --> 00:26:00.720
It's like, well, pick from the other 40, you know, however many more are available.
00:26:01.039 --> 00:26:09.519
But it was just not, it was not a priority, and I think they felt a lot of what you've what you've discovered is some of that resistance.
00:26:09.839 --> 00:26:18.160
Um, I'm gonna switch this focus and um kind of totally take it a different direction for a bit, which you said you're up for.
00:26:18.480 --> 00:26:22.160
So you talk about these questions and question design.
00:26:22.319 --> 00:26:28.480
Now, twelve years ago, I I have a master's in international development.
00:26:28.559 --> 00:26:34.559
I was living out in DC and I was working for an advocacy group for the foreign affairs budget.
00:26:34.720 --> 00:26:47.119
So it's all about um, you know, our effective diplomacy and and smart power and um some of that is no longer in existence today thanks to being completely wiped out.
00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:49.119
Um but that's a totally different topic.
00:26:49.279 --> 00:26:58.160
But I thought, you know, we were we were talking about how connected the world is, and I was like, we need a human interest story about how connected our world is.
00:26:58.400 --> 00:27:00.960
So I created this little project for myself.
00:27:01.119 --> 00:27:06.160
This is it feels like a different life, but I called it Big Shared World.
00:27:06.480 --> 00:27:08.240
And I traveled around the world.
00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:14.240
I went to 40 countries and I asked over 750 people the same three questions.
00:27:14.720 --> 00:27:23.039
And and I have a big manuscript in progress that I do intend to get out into the world sooner than later one day.
00:27:23.279 --> 00:27:26.319
But right now I'm organizing houses in most of my time.
00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:30.079
But I thought I would love to ask Charlie my three questions.
00:27:30.240 --> 00:27:48.640
It was just an idea I had last night because so much of what I think this conversation about is about is about how questions and asking people to think about things and their answers to things differently can shift a dynamic and can open up, you know, a new conversation.
00:27:48.880 --> 00:27:54.960
And what I felt from my questions, I'm not gonna get into but people were so grateful to be asked some questions.
00:27:55.359 --> 00:28:04.720
So I wanted to ask you those three questions, and then we can talk about the power of questions and conversation briefly after that.
00:28:05.039 --> 00:28:09.279
So my first question, Charlie, so I'd say, Hi, I'm Colleen.
00:28:09.440 --> 00:28:11.920
I'm traveling the world asking people the same three questions.
00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:13.279
I'm gonna write a book about it.
00:28:13.440 --> 00:28:14.799
Can I ask you my questions?
00:28:14.960 --> 00:28:18.079
And they would say, Yes.
00:28:18.640 --> 00:28:19.279
Let's do it.
00:28:19.599 --> 00:28:20.240
We'd love to.
00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:21.200
Okay.
00:28:21.759 --> 00:28:25.039
Charlie, what does a good life mean to you?
00:28:31.759 --> 00:28:33.519
Starting with a softball, eh?
00:28:34.319 --> 00:28:38.559
You know, I said um I want these to be questions that you can answer on the fly.
00:28:38.720 --> 00:28:39.680
Anyone could answer.
00:28:39.839 --> 00:28:43.920
They aren't like college, you know, essay questions, but they have depth.
00:28:44.079 --> 00:28:48.880
I wasn't going to take time off my life to just ask people's favorite color.
00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:49.920
Yeah.
00:28:50.160 --> 00:28:51.599
Well, my favorite color is blue.
00:28:51.920 --> 00:28:52.640
Okay, good to know.
00:28:53.039 --> 00:29:01.519
Uh I um I think for me that the the key is connecting my time to purpose.
00:29:02.319 --> 00:29:27.599
And so feeling like I'm spending my time with intention and um, you know, making investments in the areas, whether it be family, friends, or work, that uh, you know, give me purpose in my in my day-to-day and bring me joy by being able to be around the people that I love, hopefully supporting them and uplifting them.
00:29:29.599 --> 00:29:34.400
In your opinion, what is the biggest threat to humanity today?
00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:36.559
Ignorance.
00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:41.359
What do you think the world will be like 50 years from now?
00:29:50.720 --> 00:29:52.480
I think it'll be different.
00:29:52.720 --> 00:29:53.759
I think it'll be different.
00:29:53.839 --> 00:29:56.160
I think it'll be really different five years from now.
00:29:56.720 --> 00:30:01.200
Um my hope is that 50 years from now.
00:30:09.839 --> 00:30:16.319
As the world becomes faster, more globalized, more connected with incredible new technology.
00:30:16.480 --> 00:30:27.279
My my my hope is that technology actually lives up to the promise of making us feel more connected to each other and creating more human, meaningful experiences.
00:30:27.839 --> 00:30:30.720
Um that would be my my my hope.
00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:34.720
Thank you for answering my questions.
00:30:35.279 --> 00:30:36.240
What did you think?
00:30:36.720 --> 00:30:37.519
Those are wonderful.
00:30:37.680 --> 00:30:39.359
Yeah, I think that's those are great.
00:30:39.519 --> 00:30:40.720
You're very provocative.
00:30:41.279 --> 00:30:44.880
Well, and I I appreciate you answering them.
00:30:45.119 --> 00:30:51.440
It there was so to me, I I kind of was reflecting last night on how I think they relate.
00:30:51.599 --> 00:31:03.599
And I do think that a good life is full of good stories, like a shared life, and with depth and meaning and value, and and having a life, you know, that you that you have fun stories to share about it.
00:31:03.759 --> 00:31:06.240
You know, you should like your own stories, right?
00:31:06.720 --> 00:31:15.200
And what your what your platform gives is people's opportunity to reflect on their stories and to to to take them.
00:31:15.440 --> 00:31:22.000
And I think the reflection can make them maybe want to even make better stories with the time they have.
00:31:23.359 --> 00:31:25.680
I think you're 100%, you're 100% right.
00:31:25.839 --> 00:31:48.240
You know, uh there's there's been a long-standing practice um uh among mostly the the older population of what's called reminiscence therapy, which is basically um a clinical application of going through and being nostalgic about your life, thinking about how all of the decisions and the people and the moments all connected to each other.
00:31:48.480 --> 00:31:53.920
And um it's often done at the end of life, but frankly, it's quite productive to do in the middle of life.
00:31:54.240 --> 00:32:02.720
And um, you know, you brought up a really good point about good stories and why these are so important to harness and to make a part of who we are, and thinking about our personal narrative is important.
00:32:02.960 --> 00:32:11.039
But I would say equally important uh to you know being able to find purpose in your life is identifying those difficult stories, right?
00:32:11.359 --> 00:32:39.039
Understanding how the moments that you have faced have shaped you, understanding how you've responded to resilience, understanding how your family, the people who have come before you have responded to resilience and developing a comfort of talking about those moments, being vulnerable with the people that you love and helping them understand that the person who you are has been shaped by incredible moments of gratitude and wonder, but also moments of potential hardship.
00:32:39.119 --> 00:32:43.119
And and we don't do anyone a credit when we steer away from those.
00:32:44.400 --> 00:32:57.680
I I love that and I feel that from you because you you've had such a fun journey, and you are in such a cool spot with this with this business that you've created.
00:32:57.759 --> 00:33:09.039
I mean, you're talking to New York Times bestsellers, you're neuroscience researching, you've been on Shark Tank, Mark Cuban is in your cell phone.
00:33:09.279 --> 00:33:10.880
Like, I imagine.
00:33:11.119 --> 00:33:19.759
Um that is like there are so many quintessential desired ideas for what to be an entrepreneur.
00:33:19.920 --> 00:33:30.400
Like, oh, you've reached so many of these amazing spots, but I've also heard you talk about some of the setbacks or moments of questioning and what do we have?
00:33:30.559 --> 00:33:32.000
What are we putting out in the world?
00:33:32.160 --> 00:33:40.000
Like, and I think I heard uh I love these long-form YouTube three-hour interviews that have come out of people.
00:33:40.079 --> 00:33:45.839
I I try to imagine myself like having dinner with the people thinking, could I hold my own in this conversation?
00:33:46.079 --> 00:33:58.000
But there was a really successful person who said that success is in enjoying the journey of it, you know, not waiting for that, oh, I'll be happy when I have a car, and that well, when I have the car, no, I just want the house.
00:33:58.079 --> 00:33:59.359
When I have the house, I want the bigger house.
00:33:59.440 --> 00:34:01.279
When I have the bigger house, I want the best vacation.
00:34:01.359 --> 00:34:06.640
You know, it's like always working, but it's like enjoying it, including the struggles.
00:34:06.799 --> 00:34:19.280
And when I heard that, it shifted so much for me because you know, I'm s I have my own thing, and it can feel 10 steps forward, three steps back, five steps forward, one back, you know, you're just but isn't that life?
00:34:19.599 --> 00:34:26.079
And the entrepreneurial journey takes you on an amplification of of that, you know, back and forth.
00:34:26.239 --> 00:34:29.039
But you know, just just life can be a struggle.
00:34:29.119 --> 00:34:42.800
And I think your point is well made, and that capture giving people the opportunity to not just say, oh, here's the highlights of my life, here's my favorite things that happened, but here's something that was tough.
00:34:42.960 --> 00:34:48.159
You know, here's I remember something about this day that that picture was taken.
00:34:48.480 --> 00:35:03.760
It was a hard day, or I was in the middle of this at work, and and then I went to this party, you know, who knows what comes out of it, but it's like there's this richness in not glossing over those harder moments.
00:35:05.440 --> 00:35:06.800
Yeah, one one 100%.
00:35:07.280 --> 00:35:32.960
All of the research, all of the science on this topic indicates very squarely that especially if you have kids, uh, either directly or in your orbit, sharing with your kids moments of challenge, of adversity, and actually overcoming, it it increases um their uh well-being across just about every single measure that you can, from self-esteem to resilience, uh down the list.
00:35:33.039 --> 00:35:46.639
And so, yeah, if you if you love, if you love your family, if you want them to be well-balanced, if you want them to have high self-esteem, if you want them to feel connected to who they are and their roots, like yeah, don't shy away from the moments of challenge because those can be the ones where they can learn the most.
00:35:47.360 --> 00:35:55.119
To that point, so my dad had a big funeral business here in Minnesota, and he's like my best friend.
00:35:55.280 --> 00:36:01.599
I just, my dad is such a great guy, and I'm so grateful to be super close with him.
00:36:01.920 --> 00:36:08.159
And um, he hates these questions, you know, like we'll go on a boat ride and I have a book.
00:36:08.239 --> 00:36:10.960
Okay dad, like, you know, what are you gonna do with your retirement?
00:36:11.119 --> 00:36:12.960
You know, who's your top five role models?
00:36:13.199 --> 00:36:14.719
Like, one's Ronald Reagan.
00:36:14.800 --> 00:36:20.239
You know, it's like, okay, like let's go deeper, let's, you know, but but there's something to that.
00:36:20.400 --> 00:36:25.519
But he just he always like, oh, Colleen, you know, the eye rolls are are just beyond.
00:36:25.840 --> 00:36:31.280
But then he got interviewed by some up-and-coming funeral directing podcast.
00:36:31.760 --> 00:36:59.039
And I learned so much about my dad in that one hour of someone else asking him some questions from a different perspective than daughter, and how him and my uncle grew the business and when it wasn't popular because they really doubled down on cremation and you know, certain things that you know, why he didn't bring my mom to certain conferences because they they were kind of the industry wasn't open to that.
00:36:59.119 --> 00:37:01.199
And I was like, I'd never known that.
00:37:01.440 --> 00:37:06.320
And it was having somebody else ask my dad questions.
00:37:06.559 --> 00:37:08.639
I mean, I sent that interview to so many people.
00:37:08.719 --> 00:37:11.840
I was like, dad, I've watched this three times, I love this.
00:37:12.320 --> 00:37:16.239
And I think that that's that's so good to know.
00:37:16.320 --> 00:37:23.039
Like, you don't just have to tell the the happy, fun stories, like be honest, be real, be human.
00:37:25.199 --> 00:37:26.400
Yeah, yeah, 100%.
00:37:26.639 --> 00:37:33.679
And you're you are you're also pointing to a really important and important insight, which is that the person asking the questions matters.
00:37:34.000 --> 00:37:47.840
And it's it's often the case that the people who are closest to the storyteller are not the best positioned to ask the questions that lead to um the story is really worth preserving, right?
00:37:48.000 --> 00:37:54.480
Like what we're doing right now, this conversation is very different than if I was having a chat with you know my wife or my sister or my mom.
00:37:54.639 --> 00:37:58.880
You know, I would I'll share more context in this in this conversation than I would with them.
00:37:59.039 --> 00:38:07.199
We have a shorthand, which is helpful for the day-to-day, but not actually the most helpful if we're trying to fully contextualize a memory and its meaning.
00:38:07.440 --> 00:38:19.199
And so, yes, there's a reason why people hire professionals for um for making memoirs, and there's a reason they hire uh people as therapists who don't know them and don't have judgment about them, right?
00:38:19.360 --> 00:38:22.800
Like the the answers do change based on who's asking the questions.
00:38:23.280 --> 00:38:25.599
Well, and I think that you guys have done such a great job.
00:38:25.760 --> 00:38:26.719
Remento.co.
00:38:26.800 --> 00:38:43.760
We'll take a quick break, and I I want to come back and go go back into Remento and different ways that you're using this technology you've developed and and different ideas I I have about where I would love to use it within my own organizing business and legacy lifting business.
00:38:44.000 --> 00:39:02.719
But uh Remento.co, R-E-M-E-N-T-O, I'm here with Charlie Green, the brilliant co-founder and just curator of so many people's stories, and and you can just tell so genuinely this is you really are doing a service to the people.
00:39:02.880 --> 00:39:15.360
You've really developed something with a lot of thought behind it that for a minimal cost, I can use, anyone can use, and capture this, their stories of their family and their loved ones.
00:39:15.519 --> 00:39:21.119
So we're gonna come back and dive back into that sorting through life with Colleen Watterston.
00:39:22.079 --> 00:39:28.159
Welcome back to Sorting Through Life on AM950, the Progressive Voice of Minnesota.
00:39:28.400 --> 00:39:33.360
This is your host, Colleen Waterston, and I am here with Charlie Green of Remento.
00:39:33.679 --> 00:39:50.320
Charlie, I I would love to know everything that you know because it's so amazing how this company that you've built putting together legacy books and a story platform for people to share their life stories through.
00:39:50.559 --> 00:39:55.519
You have done so much research and so much work building the back end.
00:39:55.599 --> 00:40:07.920
I'm sure you have a week's worth of beyond, but of just interesting topics of what you've been through the last handful of years as you've been building this and bringing this to life.
00:40:08.559 --> 00:40:11.519
But I also am interested in where it's going.
00:40:11.760 --> 00:40:16.639
So today this show airs on Mother's Day.
00:40:16.880 --> 00:40:32.159
And I mentioned to you that while I have my legacy lifting where I help people go through, you know, more with a downsize in mind, or more with, you know, a career is over in mind, let's let's kind of go through our things to minimize.
00:40:32.480 --> 00:40:38.960
Um I also help many busy families make sense and better systems of their stuff in their house.
00:40:39.280 --> 00:40:50.239
And many baby rooms or toddler rooms or kid rooms or memorabilia boxes of high schoolers have a lot of half-started baby books.
00:40:50.480 --> 00:40:59.039
And I was like, this is so interesting with the audio prompts because you know I see the best intentions of the parents.
00:40:59.360 --> 00:41:10.559
They write the birth weight, you know, and the time, and they throw, you know, like the footprint from the hospital in there, but usually that's about it.
00:41:10.880 --> 00:41:14.079
So when are you launching a baby book?
00:41:14.800 --> 00:41:16.800
Well, I've got a two-year-old at home and I can empathize.
00:41:16.880 --> 00:41:24.719
It's really hard when you're sleep deprived to like write down how you're feeling about your second week of being a parent when all you're trying to do is just keep everyone alive in the family.
00:41:25.039 --> 00:41:25.360
Right.
00:41:25.679 --> 00:41:30.239
Um and by the way, those books are very different for the first child compared to the second or the third child.
00:41:31.119 --> 00:41:32.159
I don't even think I have my name.
00:41:34.400 --> 00:41:35.199
They don't exist.
00:41:35.440 --> 00:41:38.719
At least the first one has the empty book, the third one never even had it in the first place.
00:41:39.039 --> 00:41:42.480
I have like some photos thrown in without much.
00:41:42.719 --> 00:41:43.760
I I love my parents.
00:41:43.840 --> 00:41:46.239
It's it's a little better than that, but not much.
00:41:46.400 --> 00:41:46.880
Love you, mom.
00:41:47.280 --> 00:41:47.760
Exactly.
00:41:47.920 --> 00:41:48.559
Exactly.
00:41:48.719 --> 00:41:49.199
Uh yeah.
00:41:49.360 --> 00:41:50.480
Love all the moms, by the way.
00:41:50.559 --> 00:41:51.599
Happy Mother's Day to all of you.
00:41:52.559 --> 00:41:53.360
Happy Mother's Day.
00:41:53.440 --> 00:41:54.960
You all are amazing.
00:41:55.199 --> 00:41:56.400
You lift up this world.
00:41:56.480 --> 00:41:58.079
I don't know how they do it.
00:41:58.559 --> 00:41:59.119
Yeah.
00:41:59.360 --> 00:42:01.679
Our moms, moms are incredible.
00:42:01.920 --> 00:42:11.840
Um, so yeah, right now Romento is very focused on helping uh our aging loved ones preserve their memories in retrospect.
00:42:12.159 --> 00:42:28.239
And our focus at this exact moment is to make that process more simple than it's ever been, more intuitive than it's ever been, and ultimately able to capture memories that have not been shared and preserve them in a way that brings them to life, in a way that pulls you in rather than feels like something that gets put on the shelf.
00:42:28.400 --> 00:42:31.280
And so that is our attention and focus right now.
00:42:31.519 --> 00:42:37.280
But uh what we've been hearing a lot from our from our customers is I want to use this technology in other ways.
00:42:37.440 --> 00:42:37.599
Right?
00:42:37.760 --> 00:42:46.159
The fact that you're turning my memories into this book feels like a way to document memories, not just in retrospect, but actually as they unfold in real time.
00:42:46.559 --> 00:42:48.159
Or like a family vacation.
00:42:48.639 --> 00:42:49.280
A hundred percent.
00:42:49.760 --> 00:42:52.400
Like, hey, every day at the end of the day.
00:42:52.639 --> 00:42:54.800
Uh I mean, and technically people could.
00:42:55.360 --> 00:43:08.079
People could take your platform and say, I'm gonna buy one for my vacation, I'm gonna put the photos in, and just kind of, but you don't have it on your website of like document your family vacation.
00:43:08.880 --> 00:43:13.360
Yeah, it's not it's not positioned that way, but but we've had we've had hundreds of families do exactly that.
00:43:13.440 --> 00:43:16.960
And so there are a couple of use cases that we're really excited about expanding into.
00:43:17.039 --> 00:43:18.320
The first is around the baby book.
00:43:18.400 --> 00:43:28.320
And I did this with my daughter in her first year, a photo every week for a year, and I exclusively record the stories behind those photos while I was changing diapers.
00:43:28.559 --> 00:43:40.239
And the videos of me doing that are pretty are pretty hilarious because they are not the most deep emotional things of the world, but they're pretty hilarious and they capture that moment in time uh really beautifully.
00:43:40.480 --> 00:43:46.320
Um, you know, a second use case that we're really excited about is the narrated photo album, right?
00:43:46.480 --> 00:43:57.280
Being able to preserve the stories behind those photos, either from a recent family trip or the photos from that um family trip from 80, 90 years ago, potentially.
00:43:57.440 --> 00:44:10.320
Um and then the last the last use case that we're also Really excited about is documenting the stories behind physical objects and heirlooms at some point in our life are going to experience downsizing, whether we're the ones doing the downsizing or a loved one is.
00:44:10.480 --> 00:44:14.480
And it can be really hard to part with those things that have been passed down for generations.
00:44:14.639 --> 00:44:21.519
That dining room table with the divots in it that no one in the family wants anymore, but has so many stories behind it.
00:44:21.599 --> 00:44:32.559
And so what a lot of our families will do is they'll take photos of the things that they're going to be parting with, they'll tell the stories behind them, they'll be able to capture those in a uh a physical book that preserves all of that.
00:44:32.719 --> 00:44:40.480
And it makes them feel, you know, a little bit less guilty and a little bit less sad about having to part with those items, but but cherishes them and celebrates them.
00:44:41.360 --> 00:44:44.400
That's the use I'm truly most excited about.
00:44:44.639 --> 00:44:47.599
I do think my sister, she's a mom of three.
00:44:47.679 --> 00:44:50.960
Um, my sister-in-law is a mom of three, and they're both amazing.
00:44:51.119 --> 00:44:55.840
I'm on Mother's Day hosting the brunch so that they can relax and I can celebrate them.
00:44:56.000 --> 00:44:59.840
I'm the child-free, I want to be the child-free matriarch of my family.
00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:08.320
I want to hold us all together and always be there for them, but not be responsible for for them, not go to the to the school conferences.
00:45:08.719 --> 00:45:16.400
Um but my sister's really good at putting the photos together, a photo book after we go on a vacation.
00:45:16.480 --> 00:45:22.239
And so I'm so grateful for her, but I but she works at it, you know, it's a she prioritizes it.
00:45:22.480 --> 00:45:35.360
And I love that this could be, you know, if you use you could use Remento as it is, as a great platform for getting that done, you know, and don't let perfect be the enemy of good or done.
00:45:35.440 --> 00:45:51.280
You know, it's like, hey, this could be a great way to just document what you're doing and then turn it into something and it's better than nothing, even if it's not, you know, the most perfect scrapbook or designed for that, you could make it pretty cool.
00:45:51.519 --> 00:45:58.480
And for my clients, like I'm constantly helping people go through stuff, you know, an enormous amount of stuff.
00:45:58.800 --> 00:46:18.960
And I think even if you're not parting ways with it, but if you're planning to leave it behind, it's almost like people could make a catalog for their family because when they aren't there, and I'm also helping people in their 80s who are in aging in place at the moment, but one fall could make them not return to their home.
00:46:19.119 --> 00:46:31.679
You know, that's a very common, um, very sad occurrence for people at that age where it's like they're walking downstairs to dinner and a fall takes them to the hospital and they never make it back.
00:46:31.840 --> 00:46:38.639
And so it's like, wow, you can capture your stories so that when your family's going through your things, it's like, oh, here's this book.
00:46:38.719 --> 00:46:40.239
I I already wrote about this.
00:46:40.320 --> 00:46:42.639
I I wrote who I thought might want it.
00:46:42.800 --> 00:46:50.000
I wrote where I got it, you know, and some might be like at Target, you know, 20 years ago and I liked it.
00:46:50.079 --> 00:46:54.639
And some might be a really cool story, you know, while I was traveling.
00:46:54.800 --> 00:46:59.119
You know, I'm very big about not throwing things away for people because I'm like, I don't know.
00:46:59.519 --> 00:47:07.199
This might mean more to you than this might seem like trash, but it's actually the last note your parent wrote you, and it means so much.
00:47:07.360 --> 00:47:11.280
So I love that you're thinking about all of those different things.
00:47:12.159 --> 00:47:14.159
And Charlie, we only have a minute.
00:47:14.320 --> 00:47:15.280
So what do you want?
00:47:15.440 --> 00:47:18.719
What how can people go and buy this book?
00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:23.280
Uh so uh our product is available for sale on our website.
00:47:23.440 --> 00:47:28.400
Again, it's like the words remember and memento combined into one, Romento.co.
00:47:28.960 --> 00:47:39.920
Our product costs$99, and that includes one year of unlimited prompts, unlimited stories, and unlimited collaborators added to the account, and a credit for a hardcover book.
00:47:40.079 --> 00:47:41.280
And today's Mother's Day.
00:47:41.360 --> 00:47:44.000
We're on sale right now, so you can take$15 off your purchase.
00:47:44.239 --> 00:47:44.880
That's$84.
00:47:45.679 --> 00:47:52.800
Um, buy Romento for yourself or for a mom in your life, and yeah, you've got our commitment that it'll be an investment that you won't regret.
00:47:53.119 --> 00:48:02.000
I might buy it for myself and just start telling stories and uh give people, you know, hey, here's Colleen's thoughts from the last year, every year.
00:48:02.159 --> 00:48:04.400
Um, Charlie, thank you so much for being here.
00:48:04.559 --> 00:48:05.840
Thank you all for listening.
00:48:06.079 --> 00:48:09.360
Sorting through life with Colleen Watterston on AM950.
