Ep. 127 - Founders Month: A Conversation with Grandmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber

Zach Hayden: 00:00:00

It's founders month.

Zach Hayden: 00:00:01

Let's talk about what that means here on the ATA Nation podcast.

Zach Hayden: 00:00:06

Let's get started.

Sir: 00:00:07

Sir.

Sir: 00:00:08

I will live with perseverance in the spirit of taekwondo, courtesy for fellow students, integrity within myself, and to become a black belt leader.

Sir: 00:00:21

Welcome to the AtA Nation podcast.

Zach Hayden: 00:00:26

Ladies and gentlemen, students, instructors, parents of song arm Taekwondo.

Zach Hayden: 00:00:31

Welcome back to the Ata Nation Podcast.

Zach Hayden: 00:00:33

This is episode 127, and I am your host, senior master Zach Hayden.

Zach Hayden: 00:00:39

I don't know if you guys have followed us on social media, but I was lucky enough to go to ATA headquarters last week and get to interview some people there for the podcast and for some other cool things coming up.

Zach Hayden: 00:00:50

And it was just really awesome.

Zach Hayden: 00:00:51

If you guys haven't been to headquarters, make sure you check it out.

Zach Hayden: 00:00:54

We've got some interviews from there coming up.

Zach Hayden: 00:00:56

And actually, that brings us to today's interview.

Zach Hayden: 00:01:00

We have the interview of the century.

Zach Hayden: 00:01:03

Maybe not the century, but we are talking with Grandmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber.

Zach Hayden: 00:01:10

And if you don't know, this is the ATA's first female grandmaster.

Zach Hayden: 00:01:14

Amazing martial arts.

Zach Hayden: 00:01:15

But we're specifically talking about the Hu Lee Scholarship foundation and founder's month.

Zach Hayden: 00:01:21

October is founders month.

Zach Hayden: 00:01:22

We're going to talk about a little bit in the interview, and then we'll recap at the very end to make sure you know what you can do during Founders month to make a difference and continue to spread the vision of eternal Grandmaster.

Zach Hayden: 00:01:34

So let's get right to the interview now.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:01:38

Special guest interview, ATA Nation.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:01:42

We have with us the ATA's very first female grandmaster, Grandmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:01:51

How are you today, ma'am?

Master Tammy: 00:01:52

I'm good, sir.

Master Tammy: 00:01:53

I'm doing great.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:01:54

How is, how is the, the grandmaster title?

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:01:58

Does it take some getting used to?

Master Tammy: 00:02:00

It really.

Master Tammy: 00:02:01

It really does.

Master Tammy: 00:02:02

It really does.

Master Tammy: 00:02:03

And I've always, since I made master, I just always went by Master Tammy.

Master Tammy: 00:02:08

And so for now, that name change, that's probably one of the hardest because I'm just so used to master Tammy.

Master Tammy: 00:02:16

So to get used to that, it's taken some getting used to, but I like it.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:02:22

Yeah, it's well deserved.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:02:23

I know.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:02:24

I'm sure it's a, you know, I mean, you came up through the times where it's, its eternal grandmaster was like, he was the only master.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:02:31

I mean, you know, and then there were other masters, and then, and then he was the grandmaster, and then it was like, that's it.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:02:36

That's it, you know.

Master Tammy: 00:02:37

didn't even, it wasn't until: 1978

Master Tammy: 00:02:49

And then at that point, we started calling him masterly.

Master Tammy: 00:02:53

And then it was, you know, as song on Taekwondo was formed and the way there was going to be one grand master x number of chief masters and down.

Master Tammy: 00:03:01

So the possibly the fact that I even have received that title is such an honor.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:03:09

That's super cool.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:03:10

And everybody's so excited.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:03:12

I mean, just to have our first female grandmaster for it to be you, everybody's just so excited.

Master Tammy: 00:03:18

Well, thank you.

Master Tammy: 00:03:19

It just going through ceremony, it was very heartfelt.

Master Tammy: 00:03:23

I could feel the energy in the room and it was very emotional.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:03:30

I am sure it was.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:03:32

We are obviously here in the museum at headquarters, which is a great place to be.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:03:36

And we're getting into Founders month, October.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:03:40

And so thinking about this legacy from eternal Grandmaster Mister Lee to master Lee to eternal Grandmaster Lee, what does founders month mean to you?

Master Tammy: 00:03:52

Well, obviously, October 5 was when eternal grandmaster Lee passed away.

Master Tammy: 00:03:57

And so founders month, to be able to raise money for the Hu Lee foundation, just for me, it carries on his legacy.

Master Tammy: 00:04:09

ame up with the foundation in: 1991

Master Tammy: 00:04:24

And to be able to give people the ability to get higher education that was so important to him.

Master Tammy: 00:04:34

And so, yeah, it's for me, personally, being able to be the director of the Hili foundation means.

Master Tammy: 00:04:46

It means a lot to me because for me, that's one way to continue to keep his light shining very bright.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:04:53

And for a lot of people, they might not know exactly what the foundation does.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:04:59

Um, you know, there's a lot of different things.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:05:02

October is a busy month anyways, with lots of breast cancer awareness.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:05:05

Pink melts the Huli foundation.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:05:09

You know, we've got all kinds of holidays and stuff during October.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:05:12

What specifically for those who might not know what the foundation does?

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:05:18

What, what do they do?

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:05:21

What do they raise money for?

Master Tammy: 00:05:22

We raise money to provide financial assistance to individuals that are going to an accredited college, junior college.

Master Tammy: 00:05:33

And now that we've got people going to being a part of Songam University, we're in the future, hopefully part of the Hu Lee foundation funds will be able to go to help those students that are a part of the Songam university.

Master Tammy: 00:05:52

But right now, we give out nine national scholarships.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:05:57

Okay.

Master Tammy: 00:05:57

Okay.

Master Tammy: 00:05:58

And then, so when money is raised for the Hu Lee foundation, let's say that your school raises $150 of that money stays in your region.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:06:11

Okay.

Master Tammy: 00:06:12

Only 25% of it comes to the national.

Master Tammy: 00:06:16

That goes to the national scholarships.

Master Tammy: 00:06:19

Excellent.

Master Tammy: 00:06:19

So for instructors that do, especially if you know that you've got a student that's graduating, I mean, it's.

Master Tammy: 00:06:28

And I don't think a lot of people realize the 75 25 split.

Master Tammy: 00:06:31

I think everybody thinks that it just all comes to the.

Master Tammy: 00:06:35

It does all come to the foundation.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:06:37

Yeah, but it comes back out.

Master Tammy: 00:06:38

But it goes.

Master Tammy: 00:06:39

75% of it goes back out to your region.

Master Tammy: 00:06:42

And a couple of the people that have been awarded the regional scholarships were chief master Jean Kandriva's daughters.

Master Tammy: 00:06:52

Back when they were younger.

Master Tammy: 00:06:54

Shelby and Sabrina received a regional scholarship.

Master Tammy: 00:06:57

Senior master CJ Barrett in Texas received a regional.

Master Tammy: 00:07:03

Senior master Sean Barry in California received a regional scholarship.

Master Tammy: 00:07:08

Chief master Kevin Kaminsky in Pennsylvania.

Master Tammy: 00:07:12

Those people were all reciprocants of the Hu Lee foundation.

Zach Hayden: 00:07:16

Wow.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:07:17

And not one of the big national ones, but one of their regional.

Master Tammy: 00:07:19

Just regional.

Master Tammy: 00:07:20

Just regional.

Master Tammy: 00:07:21

And the regionals, depending on how much the region raises.

Master Tammy: 00:07:26

I mean, if the region raises a whole lot of money, sometimes the regional scholarship is bigger than some lower tier national scholarships.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:07:39

Well, I know when we have hosted fundraisers at the end of the year, when they will get an email from the scholarship foundation, and they're like, hey, this is how much is going back to your region, which is so cool.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:07:53

And I tell my students, we've had students that have gotten regional awards.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:07:58

When we have a student going off to college, I'm always like, you got to apply.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:08:03

You know, our region tries to raise money, and I'm like, the chances are pretty good you're going to get a couple, you know, some money.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:08:09

And depending on how much we raise, you know.

Master Tammy: 00:08:11

Right.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:08:11

Uh, you might pay for one or two college books, depending on, uh, sure.

Master Tammy: 00:08:15

And like I said, if.

Master Tammy: 00:08:16

When the regions.

Master Tammy: 00:08:17

w, uh, when Covid hit that in: 2020

Master Tammy: 00:08:23

The foundation had.

Master Tammy: 00:08:24

Was doing from the inception, had always kind of been on a rise.

Master Tammy: 00:08:28

Well, when: 2020

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:08:32

Oh, yeah, that makes sense.

Master Tammy: 00:08:33

And we're slowly starting to go forward.

Master Tammy: 00:08:36

And, you know, last year, we were right at 85,000.

Master Tammy: 00:08:40

That was through donations and board breakathons and the different activities I'm hoping and would like to reach just between now and December 55,055.

Zach Hayden: 00:08:57

Yes, ma'am.

Master Tammy: 00:08:57

The 55th year anniversary, the 55,000.

Master Tammy: 00:09:01

And that sounds like that's a lot of money.

Master Tammy: 00:09:04

But if we had 55 licensees raise $1,000 in a board breakathon.

Master Tammy: 00:09:11

Yeah, we matched it.

Zach Hayden: 00:09:13

We could do it.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:09:13

No, problem.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:09:14

And 55 licensees is not very many licensees.

Master Tammy: 00:09:17

Right.

Master Tammy: 00:09:17

And so, and I, you know, last year we had master Cordry and master Paul Mazzana both.

Master Tammy: 00:09:27

One of them was right.

Master Tammy: 00:09:29

A little over: 2001

Master Tammy: 00:09:32

And so we awarded them black belts.

Master Tammy: 00:09:36

And so we will do that again this year when, if a licensee raises over $2,000 or more, then we'll award that licensee.

Master Tammy: 00:09:46

And then the people doing the breakathons or kick a thons, there's different prizes that are awarded to them individually.

Zach Hayden: 00:09:54

Yes, ma'am.

Master Tammy: 00:09:54

But as a licensee, when you come on board and you participate and you're able to donate that, that amount of money to the foundation, then we want to recognize you also.

Zach Hayden: 00:10:04

That's awesome.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:10:05

So licensees are doing fundraisers now.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:10:09

Let's say I'm just a student, and I'm, like, really motivated to raise some money.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:10:16

Can I do something on my own?

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:10:19

Can I just donate money?

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:10:20

I go to a website somewhere.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:10:22

How do I donate?

Master Tammy: 00:10:23

Absolutely.

Master Tammy: 00:10:23

There's an Huli memorial foundation website.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:10:28

Okay.

Master Tammy: 00:10:28

And we've had that website for quite a while, and we're about to launch a new one, hopefully.

Master Tammy: 00:10:36

Hopefully in November.

Master Tammy: 00:10:38

But, yeah, you just go to the website and there's donate buttons everywhere on there.

Master Tammy: 00:10:43

Everywhere.

Master Tammy: 00:10:43

Click the donate button and there's like 25, 57,500, and then there's another.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:10:52

Okay.

Master Tammy: 00:10:52

And so you can basically, you can donate as much or as less, you know, but there's, there's buttons for a specific amount, but then on the other, you can donate whatever your choice.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:11:05

Maybe.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:11:06

Maybe like $55.

Zach Hayden: 00:11:09

That would be.

Master Tammy: 00:11:10

Yeah, $55.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:11:11

A thousand members donate.

Master Tammy: 00:11:13

$55 maybe?

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:11:15

Could be.

Master Tammy: 00:11:16

That would be great.

Master Tammy: 00:11:16

You know, and, and then there's.

Master Tammy: 00:11:18

We also partner with, you know, we partner with chief Master Ingram Lee with the pink belt challenge, and a portion of her proceeds that, that she raises comes back to the foundation.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:11:29

Okay.

Master Tammy: 00:11:30

And then, you know, not everywhere has Kroger's shopping centers, but anywhere that there is a Kroger's, if you have a rewards card, you can go in and choose your charitable donation, and then a portion of the sales will come back to the foundation.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:11:50

Okay, so, like.

Master Tammy: 00:11:51

And that's.

Master Tammy: 00:11:52

That's such an easy way.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:11:53

Yes.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:11:54

Everybody's getting groceries.

Master Tammy: 00:11:55

Everybody's getting groceries.

Master Tammy: 00:11:56

And it's at Kroger's.

Master Tammy: 00:11:57

And we're looking to see, are there any other places out there that we could possibly partner with to where they just kick back to?

Master Tammy: 00:12:05

Yes, and then there are a lot of times employers have employee, employer match, and we do have people that every, you know, whether it's however their pay period.

Master Tammy: 00:12:17

But you know, twelve times a year we're getting a $25 or a $50 donation from that person and you know, you think about that.

Master Tammy: 00:12:28

$25?

Master Tammy: 00:12:29

Yeah, $25 a month.

Zach Hayden: 00:12:32

Yeah.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:12:33

That adds, really, really adds up.

Master Tammy: 00:12:35

And it's very easy, you know, and all the donations that are made or tax deductible.

Master Tammy: 00:12:40

So you can write that off.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:12:42

And on this time of year, people are always looking at, you know, your taxes might be too high.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:12:49

It's time to send some money to the scholarship foundation, help a kid that's doing going off to college.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:12:55

You were mentioning song'I'm university.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:12:58

We've got a lot of students now looking at song'I'm university.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:13:01

If they earn a regional scholarship, I'm assuming they could probably use that for some of their songhom university.

Master Tammy: 00:13:07

Oh, absolutely.

Master Tammy: 00:13:08

Yeah, yeah.

Master Tammy: 00:13:09

Once they are awarded their scholarship, you know, and there's, there's an application, they have to keep a certain grade point.

Master Tammy: 00:13:16

Everything has to be sent, you know, every semester it has to be sentence in.

Master Tammy: 00:13:20

It's just not like here would you, there's a blank check and what you, you know, but once they're awarded that money and their transcript is, you know.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:13:30

Yeah.

Master Tammy: 00:13:31

The way it's what's required.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:13:32

Yes.

Master Tammy: 00:13:33

Then they receive, they receive their money and.

Master Tammy: 00:13:36

Yeah, and so, yes, we would love to be able to be.

Master Tammy: 00:13:40

For me personally, I just believe people who are going to the song on university, it's a win win for everybody because hopefully those people are going to eventually become some of our licensees.

Master Tammy: 00:13:52

And not only did we help them get through with their higher education, but now they're coming back and they're teaching and they're making a difference and they're.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:14:04

Going to host a board, break a thon or a kickathon and give money back.

ndmaster Tammy Harvey Stauber: 00:14:07

And it just keeps repeating.

Master Tammy: 00:14:10

It's like a ripple effect.

Zach Hayden: 00:14:11

Exactly.

Master Tammy: 00:14:11

Yeah.

Sir: 00:14:12

Here's what's going on in Ata Nation.

Zach Hayden: 00:14:16

We want to thank Grandmaster Tammy Stauber for the time she spent with us at Ata headquarters.

Zach Hayden: 00:14:23

What's going on in Ata Nation right now?

Zach Hayden: 00:14:25

It's founders month, ladies and gentlemen.

Zach Hayden: 00:14:27

So what that means is that you should get out there and challenge yourself, challenge your fellow students, challenge your fellow school owners, instructors, masters to raise money for the Huli Scholarship foundation.

Zach Hayden: 00:14:42

We've got a lot of awesome stuff going on with the pink belt revolution.

Zach Hayden: 00:14:45

People wearing pink belts.

Zach Hayden: 00:14:46

This month we want to make sure that we're out there doing our board breakathons kickathons, different kinds of events that you can do to raise money for the scholarship foundation.

Zach Hayden: 00:14:55

It's a great cause.

Zach Hayden: 00:14:56

And what's so great about it is how much money comes back to you, the local schools.

Zach Hayden: 00:15:03

If you are listening to this and getting ready to go to college, this is something you need to apply for, something you can definitely benefit from yourself.

Zach Hayden: 00:15:11

So that is what we want you to be out there doing beyond the belt.

Zach Hayden: 00:15:16

It's not just about what you're doing, kicking and punching.

Zach Hayden: 00:15:18

It's not just about what you're doing.

Zach Hayden: 00:15:20

Those push ups, those burpees, whatever it might be at the school, it's about what you're doing beyond the belt.

Zach Hayden: 00:15:25

And raising money for the scholarship foundation is something that you can do that's going to make a big impact.

Zach Hayden: 00:15:30

So we want to encourage you to get out there and do that.

Zach Hayden: 00:15:33

Talk to your instructor, say, hey, I am really excited about this scholarship foundation.

Zach Hayden: 00:15:38

I want to help be part of Founders Month and celebrating eternal grandmaster.

Zach Hayden: 00:15:43

What can I do?

Zach Hayden: 00:15:44

And I'm sure they would love to help you out.

Zach Hayden: 00:15:48

In addition, we are just like a week away from heading out to Pittsburgh for Fall national, so I hope to see you guys all there.

Zach Hayden: 00:15:56

We're going to be running some interviews out that direction.

Zach Hayden: 00:15:58

We've got some other cool stuff coming.

Zach Hayden: 00:16:00

One thing I would love for you to do is to hit me up on social media and let me know what you'd like to hear on the podcast or what you like that you're hearing on the podcast.

Zach Hayden: 00:16:11

We've got big plans, lots of things coming.

Zach Hayden: 00:16:14

One thing that we've been talking about the last couple episodes is our YouTube channel.

Zach Hayden: 00:16:18

And we have actually just partnered with ATA International, and our interviews are going to get posted.

Zach Hayden: 00:16:24

The video interviews are going to get posted on their YouTube page.

Zach Hayden: 00:16:28

So just make sure you head over to the ATA's YouTube page.

Zach Hayden: 00:16:31

Make sure you click subscribe to ATA's YouTube page.

Zach Hayden: 00:16:35

And when we do our video interviews, we're going to be releasing those online at ATA's YouTube.

Zach Hayden: 00:16:41

So check that out.

Zach Hayden: 00:16:42

Share it with a friend.

Zach Hayden: 00:16:43

If you're a, you know, a YouTube aficionado, if you love to watch YouTube, you know what we want to do?

Zach Hayden: 00:16:48

This is, this is, maybe this is a selfish personal goal, but I think we need to get ATa one of those silver play buttons.

Zach Hayden: 00:16:55

You know, like, I think you got to have like 100,000 subscribers or something like that to get one of those silver play buttons.

Zach Hayden: 00:17:00

We can hang at ATA headquarters.

Zach Hayden: 00:17:02

Don't you think Ata needs a silver play button.

Zach Hayden: 00:17:04

So let's get, let's get over to the YouTube page.

Zach Hayden: 00:17:08

I'm going to be posting these interviews on there, and we can see if we get Ata a silver play button from YouTube.

Zach Hayden: 00:17:16

Okay, guys, that's going to wrap it up for our episode today.

Zach Hayden: 00:17:19

Until next week, make sure that you're out there going beyond the belt.

Sir: 00:17:25

Thanks for listening to another episode of the ATA Nation podcast.

Sir: 00:17:30

Be sure to subscribe and share with your Ata family.

Zach Hayden: 00:17:39

Secret part.

Zach Hayden: 00:17:41

So I was down at headquarters getting to do some interviews.

Zach Hayden: 00:17:43

We've got some of those coming up.

Zach Hayden: 00:17:47

It was a busy trip.

Zach Hayden: 00:17:48

Lots of things going on.

Zach Hayden: 00:17:50

I hope you followed it on Instagram.

Zach Hayden: 00:17:54

You might want to know who the ice creams was.

Zach Hayden: 00:17:57

We had a couple of votes.

Zach Hayden: 00:17:59

We had people think that the ice cream was chief master skiles.

Zach Hayden: 00:18:04

Grandmaster deleggies.

Zach Hayden: 00:18:07

I think somebody else mentioned somebody else.

Zach Hayden: 00:18:09

But here's the deal.

Zach Hayden: 00:18:11

I found out it was actually just leftover from what, somebody's birthday party or something they had there.

Zach Hayden: 00:18:16

So I was a little bummed.

Zach Hayden: 00:18:17

I really thought, I personally thought it was.

Zach Hayden: 00:18:21

I thought it was probably chief master skiles.

Zach Hayden: 00:18:23

But maybe next time we'll dig in more.

Zach Hayden: 00:18:27

Okay, guys, take care.