Cassie Kellner [00:00:01]:
Welcome to The Bloom Effect. I'm your host, Cassie Kellner, former chairside assistant turned team coach and founder of Everbloom. This podcast is all about the real stuff. Honest convos, leadership lessons, and the heart behind thriving orthodontic teams. If you're ready to grow, lead and bloom, let's dive in. Welcome to the first episode of the Bloom Effect. I'm your host, Cassie Kellner. I'm so excited that you're here. I'm so excited to be doing this. I can't even tell you. It's been like a lifelong dream of mine to host a podcast and I'm trying to be in my 40s. I'm trying to be much more intentional about what I'm doing. So in 2025, it's official and we're here. Welcome to the Bloom Effect. Oh, my gosh. Okay, so what I want to talk about today on this very first episode is just my journey and why I'm doing this and what you're going to get out of this and how I got here. So let's start from the very beginning. I was born in 1984. I'm just kidding. I'm not going to go that far. I am a small town, Northern California girl who, this is no joke, always had a weird obsession with teeth. Like, this is real. I remember going to the dentist. Shout out Dr. Goodell. He's, he is retired now. I believe his son took over. And I would go to the dentist and get my teeth cleaned and I loved it. And I. They would put like, you know, you would get your toothbrush and all of that and then you get to pick a prize. And all I wanted was gloves. I would play dentist with my cousins. Growing up, we were all around the same age. I would use a ballpoint pen as like my explorer and like explore my cousins teeth and gums like a crazy person. I was like 6, 7, 8, 9. And it just kept going fast forward. I, confession, school was not for me. I didn't love it. Could I have done it? A hundred percent. Should I have done it? Yes. I went to a small dental assisting program and I dabbled in hygiene a bit. And it was working in the mouth was just the goal. I didn't know how I was going to get there or what that was going to look like. And I worked in a general dentistry practice in Northern California for four years. And that general dentist dabbled in orthodontics. And that's how I was exposed to the world of ortho. And the minute it happened I was like, okay, this is, this is for me still in my early 20s, my best friend and I decide we're going to move to San Diego because everyone wants to live in San Diego. And I'm glad I did. I lived in San Diego for four years and it not only is it an incredible city, I lived in Pacific Beach. Shout out. I lived a block from the beach in a tiny little studio that I could barely afford, but it was worth every single penny. And I answered a Craigslist ad to Dr. Rick McLaughlin in Ocean Beach. And Dr. Paul Upatham at was his associate and I answered the ad, I had the interview and I got hired and I ended up working in ortho. And little did I know I was working with a giant in the orthodontic field. If those of you who do not know that are listening to this, Dr. Rick McLaughlin is the M in MBT in that bracket system philosophy. All the things I had no idea. And I started as records because again I was really new to ortho. And then I moved into the clinic and I worked chairside for four plus years with, with them and Dr. Rick McLaughlin and Dr. Paul Upatham were single handedly the best teachers I ever had. Not to mention chairside assistants who showed me what to do, how to do it and patiently communicated with me and taught me ortho. Shout out to Gina and Tiffany and Jessica. I mean I, the list could go on. I worked in ortho and I loved every second of it. And did I love it because it was ortho? Yes. But more importantly, that practice changed my entire world. It changed my view on what I wanted to do in the future. So for those of you who don't know, Dr. McLaughlin used to have a two year program and he would host orthodontists in, in our practice when we were working. So I one day I would go in and all of a sudden there'd be seven doctors from Japan and they were observing on how to do an indirect bonding. And I was walking through every single step. There were video and cameras like paparazzi where they were learning how to do these things. And this experience gave me a front row seat to how much orthodontists want to do right by their teams and by their patients, but they don't always have the tools to do it. And so I became also an educator in the two year program. I would host my little mini sessions upstairs with orthodontists in the two year program and talked all about appliances, appliance management, how the appliances that we used in this practice worked and that my friends sparked something in me. I didn't realize it at the time but that was probably single handedly the learning experience and then being able to teach and educate orthodontists, that was a massive shift for me. I then fast forward, I moved to the east coast, I work in a boutique practice, I'm chairside, I'm clinical lead, I dabble in office management and I then in 2016. Sorry, did I say 2006? I meant 2016, 2016. I then become a clinical systems consultant with a massive consulting group. And I spent eight years with this consulting group as a clinical systems consultant. So shout out to all of those chairsides that are listening to this, every single dental assistant, those of you that work in the mouth, you are my people. I love you. It's where I started and I worked with clinical teams for eight years showing them how to run smoother and faster and stronger and more efficient. And it was absolutely incredible. I was always on the road during that time. I got married, I had two babies and fast forward in 2024 it was time for me to make a shift. And in 2024 it was year 20 orthodontics, which is wild. It was also the year that I turned 40. It was also the year that my, my son, my oldest, started kindergarten. And so I had this massive pivot in my career, in my personal life, at home. And this sparked something in me to start something that really centered around creating safe spaces and well being in orthodontic practices. I have been a disc coach for five years this year and this really started in 2020 when the whole world was one big dumpster fire. And I needed to do more for teams, needed teams to be able to self reflect and I needed to create safe spaces for people to say hey they this really motivates me or hey this really stresses me out. And I did a ton of research and disc was what I chose. And so I continue to do this with Everbloom. But things really started to shift for me. And so Everbloom was born and founded on just the principles of making sure that we are putting our team first. While I fully, fully, fully, fully hear me in this, recognize that production and your bottom line, this is very, very important. I also firmly believe that your team also is very, very important. And I've seen a lot, not just in the orthodontic industry, but a lot of workplace cultures that can fall toxic very quickly. And so it's my goal with Everbloom to create clarity, collaboration, communication amongst teams. So I started Everbloom because I believe that practices bloom when people do. Culture, clarity, connection, that's all the heart of it. So something that really drives me and those of you that have worked with me or have seen me lecture or, you know, have spent time with me, you know that helping teams and helping people is, that's my number one in life. I love structured task management, clarity, meaningful connections, and that's what Everbloom is built off of. So why am I starting this podcast? This podcast is to dive even deeper into all of that. You know, for years, years in this industry we said, I mean, everybody heard it. If you've been around, you heard patient, we have to give a really good patient experience. Patient experience, Patient experience. And what we forgot in that building a patient experience, we forgot to build the practice experience, the team experience. What was happening within your own team, how were you supporting them in what they are doing in these very robust, very fast paced practices. And so this podcast is a way for me to connect with like minded individuals. I have some of the most, I can't even stress this enough, incredible guests who are willing to share their stories and create. I. My goal with this podcast is to create a space in this industry where we don't just talk about wins, we talk about the growing pains. You're going to hear this from me a lot. We talk about the messy middle. The middle where it feels really hard to dig out of as a practice owner, as an orthodontist, as an associate, as someone who's doing a startup. The pivot that you had to do and how you crawled yourself out of that hole. That is what's really important here. We're going to talk about all of these things and we're going to talk about this with all individuals in this industry. Orthodontists, yes, but also leaders, office managers, people who have shifted and made a massive pivot in their career in this industry. We are going to talk to chairside team members, we're going to do fun roundtable discussions. I'm hoping that everyone in this industry will take something from this, where people talk about their stories and how they overcame these things. I'm hoping that in this podcast people feel less alone and more a part of a community that is going through the same exact thing. Thank you so much for joining me on this first podcast. I cannot wait to share these stories and experiences with you. I love this. This is going to be the most incredible journey. Until next time. Keep leading with heart, keep building with intention, and keep blooming right where you're planted. Thank you for joining me on the Bloom Effect, where we keep it real, keep it growing, and always keep it team. First, if today's episode sparked something for you, an idea, a shift, or just a reminder that you're not alone, take a second and share it with your team or a fellow ortho leader. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss a convo. And if you're loving the show, leave a review. It helps more practices. Find us and join the movement. And if you're ready to bring this kind of energy into your practice, visit discovereverbloom.com to learn more about working together. Until next time. Keep leading with heart, keep building with intention, and keep blooming right where you're planted.
