In this episode of The Boulos Beat, host Greg Boulos engages with Meredith Strang Burgess, President and CEO of Burgess Advertising & Marketing, a prominent advertising and marketing firm based in Portland, Maine. They explore her diverse career and the personal experiences that have significantly influenced her life. The discussion covers Meredith’s tenure as a state representative, her journey as a cancer survivor, and her forthcoming book on breast cancer. She also highlights her pivotal role in founding the annual Maine Tri for a Cure triathlon, which, this year, successfully raised $2.18 million for the Maine Cancer Foundation. Additionally, Greg and Meredith reflect on the evolution of the advertising industry, her active participation on various nonprofit boards, and her political contributions, including co-sponsoring the landmark 2009 same-sex marriage bill. Meredith underscores the importance of women supporting one another and the profound impact of her efforts in cancer prevention and support.
In this episode of The Boulos Beat, host Greg Boulos engages with Meredith Strang Burgess, President and CEO of Burgess Advertising & Marketing, a prominent advertising and marketing firm based in Portland, Maine. They explore her diverse career and the personal experiences that have significantly influenced her life.
The discussion covers Meredith’s tenure as a state representative, her journey as a cancer survivor, and her forthcoming book on breast cancer. She also highlights her pivotal role in founding the annual Maine Tri for a Cure triathlon, which, this year, successfully raised $2.18 million for the Maine Cancer Foundation.
Additionally, Greg and Meredith reflect on the evolution of the advertising industry, her active participation on various nonprofit boards, and her political contributions, including co-sponsoring the landmark 2009 same-sex marriage bill. Meredith underscores the importance of women supporting one another and the profound impact of her efforts in cancer prevention and support.
Keywords
Burgess Advertising, cancer survivor, state representative, book writing, triathlon founding, Maine Cancer Foundation, Ronald McDonald House, advertising evolution, business challenges, political involvement, same-sex marriage bill, polarization causes, succession planning, community support, fundraising events
Speakers
Speaker 1 (89%), Speaker 2 (10%), Speaker 3 (1%)
GB
Greg Boulos
0:00
Greg, I'd like to welcome our listeners to the Boulos Beat podcast. I'm your host. Greg Boulos, The Boulos Company is northern New England's largest commercial real estate services firm with offices in Portland, Maine as well as Manchester and Portsmouth New Hampshire. We've been selling and leasing real estate in Maine and New Hampshire since 1975. This podcast is designed to provide insight into Maine's leaders, its movers and shakers. And speaking of leaders, I'd like to welcome Meredith Strang Burgess President and CEO of Burgess Advertising and Marketing. The company is about 40 years old and located in Portland, Maine, from what I can tell, Meredith has done it all, from CEO of one of the state's most successful advertising firms, to state representative for six years, to board member at mimic insurance, to cancer survivor to cancer fundraising organizer and 20 triathlons. Let's hear Meredith tell us about her journey through business and life. Welcome to the bowl of speech podcast. Meredith. Meredith, anybody who knows you realizes you overflow with energy. Where does that come from? Is it genetic? Is it caffeine? Is it cocaine?
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
1:06
That's a great question. Greg, energy, no, not me. I think it's genetic. It's certainly not the other two, I didn't drink coffee until I got in the legislature, and then I needed it badly there. Probably
GB
Greg Boulos
1:20
didn't start drinking till you got there too.
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
1:23
There's that, but it was actually, I just early morning is not my time, so to speak. And every day, you know, you're in the car heading to Augusta, and you need to get going pretty early. So I developed a little routine where I would stop and top some for, you know, going to McDonald's for the quick drive through, sure, and I haven't had a soda since having had cancer. So I was like, Well, I guess I'll have a cup of coffee. So that's the coffee did come in there, and it was helpful, and it got me all the way to Augusta.
GB
Greg Boulos
1:57
And are you still hooked on it?
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
1:59
Just only, like one cup a day. I'm not a super caffeinated although there's some people in my office that say you need to cut back on the coffee. Too much energy. Too much energy.
GB
Greg Boulos
2:11
Word has it? Meredith, that you're writing a book. Why does that not surprise me? But can you tell us about it?
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
2:16
Oh, Greg, so it's, it's a, it's a little on the somewhat naughty side in that it's about cancer. So the title is breast cancer in the single woman, and then the subtitle is dating without. And then there's like a little carrot, if you will, that says real boobs, and that the carrot was put in because of my one of my surgeons who was like, what you have boobs. They're just not real. So that's why that's there. And it really talks about I had gotten divorced 10 days before I was diagnosed with cancer. And so stress does play a factor in this? I think it was pretty stressful leading up to that moment in time, and then, for some crazy reason, going, I don't know, I just decided that I was going to be very public with my journey. I didn't quite know how it was going to twist and turn over the next two years after that, but somewhere in the process, I felt compelled to get a date. And it's bizarre, but in those days, okay, Greg, remember there were the ads in the newspaper in the Phoenix, in the Phoenix. And you would read about, you know, and they had all those single white male, whatever, you know, all these abbreviations and stuff. So you would look in the newspaper for the personal column, and I would find the ones, and it would say, you know, single male. Sometimes they would have their, you know, 40s or whatever they might be, loves to ski or something that would do that. So I actually contacted a few people, and they this part hasn't really changed to today, but you know, you say, let's meet in a public place, and how will I know who, where, who you are, which one you'll be. And I always tell people, I'll be the one wearing the hat. So they would come in, and we would sit down, and we would have great conversation about it. And then in the process of, usually the first 10 minutes, you can tell they're like studying my face. I had no eyelashes, I had no eyebrows, and yes, under my hat, I had no hair, and they would sort of shock and awe would wash over them, and then for would wrap this up, and they would literally run to their cars. It was hilarious to see. And then all of. Them were sad too well. I thought it was really funny, because they would stumble over themselves with all of these things, and they're just like, well, if I was to choose to get involved with someone, I don't think I would choose to get involved with someone who is sick. I'm like, Well, I'm actually a pretty fun person. You know, you're missing out. But okay, anyway, so it's filled with silly stories about the various country people I met along the way over the next couple years. And my office would say, Meredith, please stop doing this. I don't know why, but I just didn't want to die alone. It's like, if I'm going to die in a year or two, I want to have some fun. So what is about that is
GB
Greg Boulos
5:41
the book published.
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
5:42
The book is not published, but it's about 98% written. It's been sitting around for a little while, Greg, because my dear mom, who lived until 97 years old, and she's been gone now a few years, but she said, Meredith, you can never publish this book. And I said, why she goes? It says boobs in the title. And if you publish this book, you will never be governor interesting. So it has been sitting around, and it's a piece of one of those things that just needs to get done. So we're working on it. Stay tuned. I guess it'll be 2025, by the time. So
GB
Greg Boulos
6:22
you think about this, this coming year, that's that, yes,
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
6:25
by gosh, I'm making myself make these promises, because I need to do it. I think you should. It's pretty funny. I'm told
GB
Greg Boulos
6:34
you were one of the founders of the annual main try for a cure triathlon, which is held every July, what's the history of how that started and when was it formed? I assume your own history with cancer had much to do with your motivation to get that off
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
6:49
the ground. It sure did. And let me just say that there's a whole team, you know, as they say, it takes a village, and there's a whole team of incredibly talented women that are led by Julie, Mark Casey. So Julie and I have been dear friends for a long time, and really through her mom's cancer, we sort of really got a little closer through that process, and then we're very focused on giving birth to sort of the new generation of the main Cancer Foundation. Then we were always looking for fundraisers and different things to do. And we kept hearing about an all woman's triathlon that used to occur every year in Massachusetts, and it was done in those days by Dan skin. And it's, it's now totally evolved into something completely different, but everybody kept raving about it. Now, Julie is a much more athletic and in shape person than I am, so this was the year I turned 50, and she's like, let's go do a triathlon. And I was like, you have to be kidding me. She says, oh, no, you can do this. We're going to get a trainer. And we did for maybe, I don't know, the eight or nine weeks leading up to this triathlon in Massachusetts. It was in Webster, Massachusetts, and we went down and did it. You know, I was the first time she's ever done a triathlon as well. And now she's done many, many, many, but we did them. We sort of learned how it's done. Saw these about 25 or 3000 women surrounded by, I don't know, 10 20,000 supporters, going through what's known as a sprint triathlon. So it's sort of the shortest version, if you can and it was, it was a really inspiring day. You know, when crossing the finish line has this like sense of accomplishment, and there was a lot of women power to that. And we were both pretty, pretty blown away by the whole process. Then I went back the next year, and then the third year, Julie came back with me, and at that time, we had pretty much figured out that we could steal this whole concept. And one of the key roles, in addition to sort of running the whole thing, was Julie sort of said, you know, I can do that. I have the time, and I love, love this. And so I'm going to go get certified to be a race director. And in the process of doing this event for a couple years, they had a woman who happened to be an incredible triathlete in her day, but her role was to start everybody at the water coach, everybody talk along the way. And then she finished last, and then so that no on purpose, because women are so self depreciating. You know, I can't tell you, this is the 17th year of the triathlon that we completed this past July. And I've obviously told many, many women. Into, Hey, come on out and do the triathlon. And they're like, Oh no, no, no, I can't do that. I'm like, Sure you can. If I can do it, anybody can do this. You know, you don't have to do this to be you know, in the record books, it just counts. If you get up, get off the couch, get out there, do it, and you complete it. We will give you almost the whole time that you need. And so people always would say, Oh, I can't. Oh, I can't, I'd be last. And I'm like, actually, you won't be last. And they're like, No, Meredith, you don't understand, I'd be last. I'm like, No, you don't understand, I'll be last. It's my job, and I do it well.
GB
Greg Boulos
10:39
So every year, you're the last person across the finish line. I
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
10:43
am, I am I carry kind of the course time, if you will, which averages about four hours to four hours and a half. So you see, I go slow, but I can look good during the course. Do
GB
Greg Boulos
10:55
you in order to participate? Do you have to have had cancer? No,
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
10:59
it is open, but you do have to be a woman, I know. So you see, we're already, we're in trouble, right? But it's still, it's about the power of women and women supporting women. And yes, breast cancer happens mostly to women, but there's a ton of men right here in Maine that have had breast cancer as well, and I try to get them to come volunteer and help support the process, but we haven't quite opened it up to them yet.
GB
Greg Boulos
11:30
Have you ever had an instance where a man wanted to run, you know? Say, No,
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
11:35
I am not involved to that extent to know, but I we haven't had anybody yet that I'm aware of, but obviously, in this day and age, I'm sure that's coming, but it's really it's about women supporting women, and women communicate differently than men. We are again, this whole self depreciation thing, but I always tell women who are nervous about it or just they're intrigued by the camaraderie, because the team and support piece is really huge. I mean, it's really huge. And people hear about that, but they're like, oh my gosh, but I'd have to swim, bike and run. And I say, not necessarily. You can find two other friends. So you can do it as a team. You can do it as three of you. So you just have to pick who's doing what. Or you could have two people with one person doing two events and the other person. So there's 100 ways to do this, but then you come in and you just experience this amazing process. And I always say, if you, if you're not ready yet, come volunteer, which, by the way, we need over 500 volunteers every year to make this whole event happen. It takes a ton of people to make it happen, and we run it well, and it's run safe, and people really come on the other side. And if they volunteer, and they see these women of all different ages, shapes, sizes, different health conditions, different everything you go, huh? Maybe I will try it. And then we hope they get get going. Get motivated in the spring. I always say it's something on your calendar to you know, get you going in the spring, go out for a walk. You know, dust off your bike.
GB
Greg Boulos
13:25
It's not really about winning the race, so,
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
13:27
oh no, it's much. Now, there's people who do win, and I, I'm grateful that they like to come and and do that, but it's really about just getting out and doing your best
GB
Greg Boulos
13:39
and raising money. And as I understand it, this is the largest single day fundraiser in the state of Maine, yes, it is. And how much did you raise this? Pastor, Lai,
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
13:47
we raised $2.18 million
GB
Greg Boulos
13:56
we can round it to two, two. It's it's like
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
13:59
two two, yeah, it's getting there, and I think our goal next year will be, you know,
GB
Greg Boulos
14:04
2.2 that's amazing, and then that money goes in your pocket. Is that right? Absolutely. And
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
14:10
I have a hell of a party. No 100% of it goes to the Maine Cancer Foundation, which is this amazing organization that's been around, actually, since the late 70s, and it was doing its thing on a sort of a smaller scale, shall we say. And then in the around 2000 we kind of it happened to coincide with the same time that I was going through my treatment. And so many people kind of go through their treatment and go, This has to stop. What What can I do? You know, where do I write a check? Or how do I help? And how do I help so that it stays here in Maine, which I'm a huge Maine supporter. So I was kind of all about kind of being. Parochial and keeping our money here in Maine, I think a lot of times, some, you know, a lot of our charities, and they're all so wonderful, it's really hard to support them all, but I am. I would like to help my my friends and neighbors right here first. And there's a ton of people that are going through cancer, you know, every day. So the money stays here in Maine, and the Maine Cancer Foundation turns around and gives that out in grants or supports programs. And the biggest one that they were able to add, thanks to the try really, was transportation. And I'm sure Greg, as you've noticed, Maine is a geographically huge state, and there's a ton of people who live in all sections of the state, and yet our hospitals and our health care system is very focused either, you know, it's Presque Isle, it's Bangor, it's Portland, you know, Augusta, it's a few spots in between, but people really come large distances and cancer, especially if you're in radiation, it's a daily thing for a period of weeks or months, that's a lot of travel. So we really, they've done some wonderful things in supporting transportation programs that are then, in turn, run by, usually the CAP agencies in different areas of the state. So that's something we're all very, very proud of and support. And so the try is obviously a nice annual event that the Maine Cancer Foundation works extremely hard to handle and educate the women about what we do with the money and how important it really is. So you're right, it's a two fold thing, but I think a lot of women come in because it's just a healthy thing to do. And, gee, cancer, okay, aside from genetics, which are what they it's it is what it is for all of us. But then, you know, we can try to make some healthy choices along the way, and exercise and just being out and taking care of yourself is really hard for women to do. We're all about sort of taking care of everybody else. And we, you know, certainly in those child rearing years, you're last, you are just last. And it's really cool that I see the younger women joining us and getting out there, and then their kids and their husbands and their families are out cheering them on. It's a really good message for their kids.
GB
Greg Boulos
17:24
Meredith, your advertising company is called Burgess Advertising and Marketing. You started that 37 years ago and now located in Portland on commercial street. How has advertising changed over the years? What was it like when you first started, versus what it is like now. Now
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
17:41
there's a there's a conversation we could have for a couple weeks. I really fortunate Greg, I was in got a chance to start the world of advertising in the late 70s, when it was still the sort of the ending of the era of what we've now. We get the thanks to the TV show of Mad Men. It really is true, all of that was really there. And I worked for Arnold worldwide in Boston, so I had a had a good glimpse into that culture. And, you know, there were distinct differences between the creatives were sort of kept in a certain space. They weren't allowed to kind of come out in and conversely, we were, I was on the account services side of the house, and we were not allowed in the creative department, because you were, it's how they crafted and how they came up with the winning campaigns, or sort of a secret sauce. And it's a little perhaps less conventional than we might have been over on the account service side, which is sort of the budget, the strategy, the goals, keeping track of the bigger picture. I think they had a lot of fun in the creative department in those days. And for that matter, there really were the two three Martini lunches still going in there. Also, there was a woman who ran the media department at Arnold, Marie Kaczynski, and she was just brilliant, brilliant woman, I think, smoked, you know, end to end, continuously through the day in the office, too, in the Oh, in the office, it was A regular smoke filled crowd everywhere. And she was so knowledgeable about the her craft and so well respected. And yet she never married, because she said to me in when I she started, she says I had to make a decision. I was either going to have a career or or not I would stay home and do my thing. And she says, I love this business. And so she really strategically chose the career. And that was a big decision that a lot of women had to make. You know, if we were starting out in the 40s and 50s was was not accepted like it is now, and there weren't. Lot of women in advertising in those days,
GB
Greg Boulos
20:04
predominantly a manscape. It really
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
20:06
was, you know, the men were doing creative. The men were really running the agency and the strategy, and I can tell you, and it was really cool that I actually saw this. There were days where there would be a pitch, and maybe it was going to be in Chicago, you know. And the guys were leaving on a jet plane, and they had a general idea. They'd probably been beating it around for weeks, but it really wasn't written down. And by the time they get off the plane in Chicago, it's on, maybe it's on cocktail napkins, but they go in and they pitch the concept. You pitch the big idea, you know, and it really, it wasn't completely baked out all of that. It still had that germ of, you know, it still could be molded and changed. But they had the concept, and now it's almost the opposite. We almost bake out the creativeness to it's so steeped in strategy and detail, and it's going to run like this on digital, and it's going to run like this, if you're you know, TV, you'd have social media influencers, you're going to have this that it almost sometimes I wonder, have we lost the concept? And there was a wonderful article that was written in the 70s, and it was the great lost art of thinking. Do people really think and then think big? It was, it was an interesting time. So it's really changed a tremendous amount. And of course, now we have so many tools in our toolbox, if you will, of ways to reach the consumer that you can get so specific, it's almost becomes like shooting fish in a barrel. It's like, I know we're all the 45 year old men who play golf and, you know, live in certain geography. We can go right to them.
GB
Greg Boulos
21:57
I know it's like on Facebook, if I look at a ad for a car, say, or your LL Bean pants or LLB pants, all of a sudden they follow you dated with ads like that. So it's kind of, it's it's interesting, because there's obviously a huge business behind this, and a whole strategy and how they come up with these algorithms. But yeah,
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
22:22
it's pretty incredible. What happens? Yeah, I
GB
Greg Boulos
22:25
know I could see Alexis all over my home. Are they listening to us?
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
22:29
I think they do from time to time. Yes, I don't think that's certainly the official but I think we've all been sitting somewhere in our house, and all of a sudden Alexa answers a question that someone has asked, and Alexa goes, hmm, that's a good question. Let me check on that. And you go, Oh my gosh, yeah, yeah.
GB
Greg Boulos
22:51
Interesting times. You know, for a long time, Meredith, you owned your own office building on Congress Street in Portland, but then you decided to rent, to sell it and rent it. What was your motivation for changing from an owner being an owner to a tenant?
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
23:04
Oh, well, you're gonna, you're gonna love this. So we started out the agency in 8687 and we rented, and it was great. But the prices in the real estate world and the market in, you know, 8990 91 got really crazy at our market, and we lost so many wonderful community banks. And it was, it was a huge change that went on. And in the process of that, you know, we sort of looked for some different things. And the idea of buying something came up. I mean, I just started, you know, our own agency. I was 29 or 30 years old, scared out of my wits, thinking, like, seriously, I Okay. I mean, I had clients saying, You're so young looking, I don't know if I can believe you. You need more experience. I remember my partners would say, let me go put some baby powder in my hair and come back. You know. So we did. We bought this. It was an old house that had burned and sort of been put back together with some offices on the first and second floor, and the rest were apartments in there. Took a lot of elbow grease, if you will, to turn it into some offices. And I think over 30 years, we sort of changed it around from time to time. And then I was like, Okay, I'm ready to really invest and build this out and make it ADA compliant and all that. And the city of Portland, unfortunately, was not interested in helping me work that out. And it became very difficult. And ultimately, they sort of declared what we were doing in the building was just all wrong. And, oh, by the way, you shouldn't have parking. And. And we really, I tried hard, Greg to work with them, and it just didn't work. And then, I don't know, sort of another time after I came out of the legislature, we started to downsize a little bit. The market was going through a lot of change around then. And I thought, wow, 2017 the prices are pretty decent. I can't believe that they could get any higher. So I thought, well, this is the perfect time to sell. And of course, we all know and smiling away that, oh, okay, I should have stuck that one out. Well, hindsight
GB
Greg Boulos
25:38
is always 2020, I know, but it was, it was
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
25:42
time, though I was the building was ready for another huge infusion of some cash, and I owned a building beside of it, so actually, it was, ah, okay, I'm done with that chapter. Sometimes
GB
Greg Boulos
25:56
it's easy to rent.
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
25:57
And we were all on one floor, in our new rent space. I had been on three floors, running up and down stairs for 30 years. I was like, you know, one one floor has its advantages.
GB
Greg Boulos
26:09
Sure does. Meredith, when I was preparing for this podcast, I was impressed by how many profit and nonprofit boards and organizations you've been involved with, literally too many to mention. Here's a sampling. Let me name the organization. Give me a short explanation of your involvement. Okay, okay, memic.
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
26:31
Memic been involved since before they were born, actually, when they were created in 1992 legislatively, as a result of the Blue Ribbon Commission the previous year under Governor McKernan, when workers comp completely fell through the cracks and didn't exist, and we needed to put something together. Help them work on their culture, their position. They were run at that point by a board of, I don't know, 20 some odd people that represented every different kind of employer in the state of Maine, literally, loggers, next to manufacturing. It was really diverse and brilliant. It was just brilliant the way they brought that together. You
GB
Greg Boulos
27:18
were there at its birth, and then you came back and you're on the board now with me. Yes,
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
27:24
yes, after serving in the legislature, because you can't do that and be on the board. We were still doing some projects here and there, but they happily, was so pleased and honored to serve on their board, something that you and I have been doing for now. I think this might love it here, yeah, and we'll you're right behind and I'm right behind you. We turn off. Next I do, and it's going to be really sad, but it's so amazing to see what that company has become. Very
GB
Greg Boulos
27:56
impressive. Here's another one, main Cancer Foundation. Well, we
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
28:00
sort of talked about that already, and that Maine Cancer Foundation has been around for a really long time, but I tried to find an organization in Maine. So when I was diagnosed, I tried to find an organization that I could get behind and support. And at that point, we had the Cullman Foundation, which is a wonderful organization, but it's not based here. What they raise, they kind of take out of the state. They they did do some programming in the main market, but a lot of it left. And of course, the American Cancer Society is is amazing and wonderful, and they provide such an important resource. But again, to fundraise the money really left the marketplace, and I found what used to be called the main see. Now I can't even tell you what it is, but it was the cancer was Education and Research Foundation. It was like Maine cancer, Education and Research Foundation. And I probably still have that wrong, and I couldn't remember it at the time, thanks to chemo. So it was like, mccruth mccruff is the Crime Dog, you know, coming out for the marketing. So we, I loved, loved their their position, their principles. It was a main based organization. It wasn't planning to take over the world from here. We just wanted to take care of cancer in Maine be advocates for research, advocates for supporting those that are currently in treatment and also prevention. So if we could talk about cancer prevention, which is also education in this skin cancer. You know, everyone thinks we're in Maine. Nobody gets skin cancer. Well, that's not true. That's not true at all. So it was really cool. We kind of picked them up, dusted them off a little bit, shortened their name to the Maine cancer foundation so that I could. Remember it, and they have just gone, just been wonderful over the last 25 years at really making a huge difference in Maine. Very proud of them.
GB
Greg Boulos
30:12
And another organization that's made a huge difference is the Ronald McDonald House. And what was your involvement there? Oh, so
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
30:19
the Ronald McDonald House, I always say was my first love. So I worked for McDonald's Corporation right out of college. That's a whole nother story, which is sort of like getting your master's in marketing. And the Ronald McDonald House program had begun a few years earlier in Philadelphia and Boston was gonna was in the process of opening their first Ronald McDonald House, and that was in 1979 gosh, I think I would remember the date, but it was in the sort of Spring Summer of 79 that that opened. So in my year prior to that of being with McDonald's, I became very aware of the program and what it was doing, and in its infancy, it was always meant to be, it's a home away from home for families of children being treated for cancer in nearby hospitals. So that's their sort of, their motto and their positioning. It's evolved since then so that, but they were trying to open these near children's hospitals so Boston, Boston Children's the sickest of the kiddos come there from all around the world. And we only had, and we opened in Boston 10 bedrooms. And needless to say, they were filled in the snap of a second. And the people I participated in the grand opening of the Boston Ronald McDonald House. And at that point in for the next six months of the house in Boston, something like 44% of all of the families that came and stayed at the Boston Ronald McDonald House. We're from Maine now, remember Boston Children's Hospital. Kids come there and they're the sickest of the sick, and they come from all over the world. That Maine could play such a huge piece in this cancer conversation was mind blowing to me. It was what percent, 43 or 44% in the first six months of the Ronald McDonald House in Boston, the families that stayed there, in other words, these were families that were from further away than, you know, two hours or greater, away from Boston. In other words, they they truly can't go home at night, they're there, and they want to be as close to their kiddo as they can. And the hospital was just down the street, so it served all of those purposes. And then the families themselves, you know, in the evening, they assuming their kiddo is actually an inpatient. You know, they have each other to support, because it's a pretty horrific experience for any family to go through. And a lot of times it was one parent because the other parent was back wherever home. Was working anyway, the main families that came down, I hunted them all down, and sort of, you know, what is your story? And we had a particular family that was from Augusta, and it makes me sad because Diane, little Diane, we lost her within about a year or two after I got to meet the family, but they were just this amazing family. But they were, let's see. So we opened well then, so come I came back to Maine, and I worked for McDonald's Corporation, handling there were 47 McDonald's in Maine in those days, but we need to Ronald McDonald House is I always thought of it as being around a really large hospital, because it really needs families and it needs community support to make it work. It's not just McDonald's Corporation writing a large check and running this institution that's not at all what it is. It's a very grassroots thing, and we were doing a promotion, and I had proposed to the main operators and Corporation at the time that we would do a fundraiser, and the money we would raise would go to the Boston Ronald McDonald House. And people were really shocked that I would propose such a thing. After all, Boston's a long ways away, and who really cares what goes on in Boston. And I said, aha, well, let me tell you my story, and they were just shocked that that was the case. And we learned a lot, and I involved that one of the families was in 1980 this family, the Belanger family, in Augusta, in day. In. She came, and we did this whole fundraiser for April 27 of 1980 and we were raising 25 cents from every big mac sold. And do you know, in the state of Maine, and we had stores all over the county and down east and everywhere. It was pretty amazing. You know the store in Maine that raised the most money to go to Boston, Madawaska really. Madawaska blew everybody off the map. Do you know why? Come to find out, a lot of those families that were going to Boston were from the county. They're from the blanchards were in Augusta. We had two or three in the county, because they really didn't have a they had boss Bangor had a program that was just beginning. But if you had a child in Maine with cancer, and we in the 60s and 70s, there was a tremendous amount of pediatric cancer going on. So boss Bangor, after we did this promotion, came forward and said, We want one of those things. We want a Ronald McDonald House and an incredible community swell came up from the parents that were around there that understood and Bangor had a pediatric oncologist, one of the first in the state was there. And lo and behold, in 1983 we opened the Maine's first royal mcdonald house in Bangor. That's really cool. And then in Portland too, right? And we then were contacted immediately by some families down here, and there was a Maine Children's Cancer Program had just been was up and running down in Portland, but it was too soon. You know, Maine's a small state, but boy, does it have a big heart, and we had a really big need. So we did slow that process down a little bit. So we opened in Portland in 95 is when we opened there. That's up on the west end. It is on the west end. And we started out with 15 bedrooms, and it's grown to, I've almost lost track over 30
GB
Greg Boulos
37:18
which Street is it on? It's
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
37:19
on the corner of bracket and Carlton Street, and you literally walk two blocks and you are inside main bed,
GB
Greg Boulos
37:29
just switching subjects here for a minute, Meredith, if you could go back in time somehow and speak with your younger self when you're starting out In business. What advice would you give young Meredith,
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Meredith Strang Burgess
37:43
Oh, great question. Greg, gosh, I think Believe in yourself a little bit more. Trust your instinct. I think I was had a combination of, I think being a female, although I had tons and tons of support growing up with my mom worked. My dad was a dentist. I grew up in Camden, and I was brought up to believe that you can do anything that you decide you want to do. So that was behind me all the way, and that's that that's huge, that's huge. But I think I had a pretty good instinct for some things, and when the time was right for certain messages and communications that worked. I wish I'd taken, maybe finance in college. Could probably have taken a little, you know, more of some more business courses. So to go to school, I went to Orono University of Maine, and I started out in pre med, and I didn't do really great with organic my heart was in it, but unfortunately, I was probably distracted by 14 other extracurricular activities. But then I moved sort of down the campus I trusted. I thought, well, I'll be a vet. And I was reminded that I'm kind of allergic to few animals. You know, that's not going to work. So you know that I ended up more in environmental science and the horticulture world, but I fell madly in love with glaciers somewhere along there in the geology side. So my actual degree. After four years, I didn't qualify for anything, so we actually created a degree. I worked with my dean, and I'm like, Look, this has got to add up to something. And he's like, I don't know, but you know, you've got this science stuff, and you have politics in here, you've got some communications things, and then you have all of this environmental and soil science and geology. So we created a degree, and it's called natural resource management, and it's still a degree. You were the first we sort of put this thing. And if you look at some of the courses. It's evolved over time, of course, but there's still some elements of, you know, strong science, but it also has some communications, some critical or technical writing, some different parts of it are still there. It's kind of funny, so I zigzag my way around. But yeah, you know, it's, it's a, it just teaches you, well, actually, so my degree, I was going to get my Master's in glaciology, and my senior year Harold borns is the chairman of the criternaly Institute at Orono. And do you know that right now, if you want to study anything about Antarctica, the greatest collection of ice cores exists right today at the University of Maine in Orono, and the deep freeze was up there. No one knew that. Yeah, and it's amazing what those cores can tell you. And so I was going to go with them to Antarctica, and they had to inform me that I couldn't go well, why not? Because I was our girl, and the scientific base station was kind of a guy thing, you know, and they only had one bathroom. You remember those days Craig, when women were not allowed to do a lot of things. But anyway, and then I I said, Okay, I'm done. I'm going to graduate. Ended up in Boston. There's no soil in Boston that wasn't covered with some impervious surface. And my new husband, at the time, said, You better get off your butt and get a job. I'm like, but what can I do? I just nothing here. I'm not an engineer. He says, You go over there to McDonald's and get a job. Anybody can do that. Well, it took me a week to get hired by McDonald's, but in the end, I ended up being hired directly into their corporate New England office, which was just like crazy. And that's what I did for my extracurricular activities at orno. I only did PR communications, all of that, nobody ever said. Do you know that there's actually a degree called Marketing and Communications?
GB
Greg Boulos
42:17
That was my degree.
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
42:19
Well, there and look at you, commercial real estate, real estate,
GB
Greg Boulos
42:23
you know, speaking of what it was like when you were in college for a woman, right? Couldn't go to Antarctica, business wise. What's the difference now between that? I mean, what was it like for a woman in business? Because you were kind of a pioneer, you know, I
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
42:40
you know, I don't think of myself as that. I think the women who really came forward in this the 60s, you know, 50s, 60s and early 70s really had to make, make their own way. I mean, I think the business schools were so primarily male that I don't think the first few women that graduate from, you know, the big business schools didn't happen really, probably, until the 70s. It's, it's changed a lot. And it's interesting is women still, you know, we have women, CEOs. We have, you know, all over the country, but yet, there's still ceilings. I guess I hate to use that term, the glass ceiling breaking analogy. I can say that in the 70s and 80s and even into the 90s, as a woman, I know we were talking about being tokens the other day of whatever. And there were many, many committees that I was asked to sit on that had one or two women. And so I was always eager to say yes, and it was just a wonderful thing. I met so many amazing people in business around our great state in those early years that served me well. Going forward,
GB
Greg Boulos
44:06
when you were in the main house of representatives on the Republican side, you were a co sponsor of the successful 2009 same sex marriage bill. That's something I don't think of as a Republican issue. Were you at odds with members of your own party, or was that a non issue?
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
44:25
Wow, those were amazing times, and I'm very, very proud of that. History was happily on my side on that one. So my district, Greg, that I represented, was Cumberland, a little bit of North Yarmouth, and I also had the islands of shebig and long it was just the most amazing district. But politically, it's a really diverse district, as is much of the coast of Maine and. I'm a, what I like to say, even to this day, a Maine Republican, which, I think I'm feeling very lonely in that with that label these days, but it's still, I think, you know, fits in those days. The majority Cumberland has the ocean. We have the Cumberland foresight. We have the center of Cumberland, and we have West Cumberland. And literally, it that represented, in those days, the full spectrum of the political map. We had it all, and yet, I would say, and it's obviously continued to this day. It's, it's a much more liberal district. You know, every year as different folks move here, and the district has changed a lot, but it still has a core piece of the business side of the house. I would say a lot of people are socially very moderate to liberal side, but still sort of moderate to conservative when it comes to financial issues. And I think that fit me. I feel, felt like I represented my district, and I when the same sex marriage bill came, there's a process that goes on in Augusta when, when a bill, you can get sponsors of your bill, and you don't have to open it up to other people. A lot of times, people just like need to get there. You have to have sponsors of your bill. It can't just be one person that's sort of the process of proving that, you know, it's enough people come together and believe in what that topic is, enough to give it its day in the sun. And this particular bill was very popular for the Democrats to be bringing forward, and they opened it up because they wanted it. Were hoping, and people had talked to lots of people. So you have a process where you open the bill up for additional signatures. And I looked at the bill sitting on the table in an office for a day or two, and I was like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna sign this bill. And I was worked over, shall we say, with folks from the Republican Party about what that would mean, and da, da, da, and what's this, you know, does to your future career and political world and all. And I was just like, This is what I'm gonna do. But I just couldn't. I would just was waiting for that divine intervention to give me the courage to walk in in the daylight and sign that bill. And one night, I was driving home and I got a phone call. I just walked into the house. Probably was like eight, 830 at night. I walked in the house and just was my next door neighbor calling, and she was an older lady, and I wouldn't normally take a phone call. I was exhausted, and I was just worried about her in her home, and she said, I said, are you okay? And she goes, Oh, I am. If I you know, am I bothering you? And I said, No, I just was worried that you were all right. And she goes, Well, I just wanted to share something with you. She goes, I'm nearly 80 years old, and I know you guys are talking about this same sex marriage issue, and I wasn't really sure where she was going to go. And she said, the one thing I've learned in life is that being loved is the most amazing thing. And she said, I can't imagine how anybody could keep that apart, and it still affects me today. And she was so eloquent and so simple, so simple. And I said, Oh my gosh, I can't believe you called right now. And I said, that's I'm gonna go sign the bill. And the next morning, I went, marched up to Augusta, and in front of everybody there, I signed the bill. And was the right thing to do that backlash? Oh yeah, I did. I had backlash, right in my own town. It was really pretty funny. I had this one guy. It was like, I'm never speaking to you again. I was just like, why? You know, it's one, it's, it's a big issue. But seriously, you know, if I ever see you, I will cross the street to get away from you. I just, was just like, oh my god, this is, this is crazy, but, you know, and the twist of that story is about two months later, he had to call me because he had was involved in an issue, and I needed to help him. And he reminded him, well, I just he, he brought it up, he brought it up, and I just said, I represent. You're my constituents, and you're my constituent, and you always were, and you always will be, and that's that's that. But yeah, it was a pretty wild and crazy time, and I also was, I actually had the incredible honor of being on a late night when Governor Baldacci signed that bill into law. I was out in the rotunda when that all happened, with some pretty amazing people. I got to see a couple engagements that moment. It was a pretty amazing experience.
GB
Greg Boulos
50:36
So that polarization that you saw there seemed kind of mellow compared to today's politics. What do you think the main cause of polarization is today, both nationally and in the state?
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
50:52
Greg, if you and I had the answer to that, then we would need to drop it from the airplanes and try to change the world here, you know, as people become, I think, more polarized, whether it be right or left, and there's, you know, bad behavior on both sides of the aisle. You know, it just becomes a chasm. The middle becomes a chasm. And I have to say, I was extremely proud of the fact that I took each issue one at a time as they came, to the point that I sort of had a reputation of zigzagging. You never knew quite where I was. It was issue by issue. And towards the end of my time in Augusta that was, I was considered, you know, an outcast in that that was the first two years of Governor lepage's administration, and I differed with many in my caucus on many issues.
GB
Greg Boulos
52:00
What was your relationship like with Governor LaPage?
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
52:05
Unfortunately, I didn't have one at all,
GB
Greg Boulos
52:09
which was of the same sex marriage bill.
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
52:12
I think that there were probably some of those things that, you know, I was tagged with, whatever, but I actually always considered myself, you know, you need to be open. You need to listen. You need to think carefully about each and every one of these. You know, nowadays, 2000 bills that are up there. You know, I used to read every bill and and really think about them. It was very difficult for me during the those two LePage years, it was became very polarized, and it was, you know, the beginning of what continued to grow. And as is there today, some some sessions, I see the legislature working together more. And it goes really by leadership determines how that how that works. So in Maine, people still do talk to each other, which is a wonderful thing, not so much in in Washington, but Maine is small enough that pretty much people know their representatives and senators. And we also are incredibly fortunate in this state, because we many, many people know their their congressmen and their senators, and that's unheard of. I mean, you know, as you travel around and talk to people, you can say, well, you know and and our two senators and our two congressional representatives, you know, you know them. We can call them. You can email them now you have my relation
GB
Greg Boulos
53:43
response, yeah, well, from staff, but you get a response. Well, you'd get
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
53:47
a response. That's right, and that's pretty amazing, but that's, that's the beauty, I think, of our state, and we're also politically every bill. I always tell people in Maine, you know, you can laugh about all the different numbers of bills we have in Augusta. Is it too many? And are some of them, you know, necessary or not necessary? Well, there's only 187 people who can put in a piece of legislation. That's 186 folks that sit in the House of Representatives, in the Maine State Senate and the Governor, and that's it. And those people can put in bills that either they're representing their constituents or whatever, and happily, every single one of those bills, whether you like it or not like it or think it's dumb or think it's great, every bill has its day in the sun. Now, some will be killed, perhaps more quickly than others to deal with that, but they all have a chance to be heard, and there are many states in this country, including Washington, that does not work like that. And so I'd rather have everything have its day in the sun. And. Then have it be controlled and truly a filtered process. So we're very lucky
GB
Greg Boulos
55:07
going back to Burgess advertising. Is there a succession plan in place there, or what's going to happen?
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
55:15
That's a great question, Greg. It's the novel that's not quite finished yet. I have some wonderful, wonderful, talented folks that are that I'm working with now, and you know, we're going to see how some things figure out. It's very hard to have a small business. Many of my folks who are my age are are waiting for me to have a little bit more free time to join them on some wild and fun activities. But I think as long as it's interesting and fun, I you know, I'm still there, and I need to work on that. We'll have to, we'll have to have a conversation on how one really does that, but it's hard to small business because it's, it is, you know, do I just go away, turn the lights off? I don't want to do that. And clients still are interested in what we have to say and how we can help them. As long
GB
Greg Boulos
56:15
as you're doing that, yeah, then why not keep doing it? Meredith, that's going to conclude the Boulos Beat interview with Meredith. Strange Burgess, thank you so much.
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
56:26
Thanks, Greg. This has been a lot of fun, and you've made me cry. I
GB
Greg Boulos
56:32
do have that habit of making Moon cry. Usually, it's not for good things, but it's okay. No, I'm
MS
Meredith Strang Burgess
56:37
kidding. Thank you. Thanks, Greg.
GB
Greg Boulos
56:40
Meredith, thank you for being our guest today on the Boulos Beat The Boulos Company podcast. I really appreciate you taking the time to chat with us. You can learn more about Burgess Marketing and Advertising at the company's website, which is Burgess adv.com on Facebook and x at Burgess ADV on LinkedIn, at Burgess dash advertising, dash marketing. And if you'd like to learn more about the The Boulos Company, please be sure to visit us at bolous.com you can also find us at the The Boulos Company on Facebook and LinkedIn, and at The Bolous CO on Instagram and x and lastly, if you want to know the secret to owning real estate, it's pretty simple, just be sure to outlive your debt you.