1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,640 Welcome back to another episode of Edup L&D. 2 00:00:03,920 --> 00:00:07,200 I'm your host, Holly Owens, and today's conversation is one I've 3 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:08,800 been looking forward to for a while. 4 00:00:09,440 --> 00:00:13,120 After conquering some technical issues behind the scenes, I 5 00:00:13,320 --> 00:00:16,200 finally get the chance to sit down with Doctor Jennifer Berry, 6 00:00:16,520 --> 00:00:20,720 the CEO of Smartlab. Doctor Berry's journey is 7 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:23,840 nothing short of inspiring. She went from the world of 8 00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:26,680 professional dance and retail management to becoming a 9 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:30,440 powerful leader in education and STEM innovation. 10 00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:35,840 In this episode, she shares how storytelling, curiosity, and 11 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:40,360 drive to remove obstacles shaped her path to the CEO seat. 12 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:43,760 We dive deep into Smartlab's mission of building STEM 13 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:47,360 identity in learners, helping students believe they belong, 14 00:00:47,640 --> 00:00:51,560 master rigorous challenges, and understand that their ideas have 15 00:00:51,560 --> 00:00:55,400 real impact. And trust me, whether you're a 16 00:00:55,400 --> 00:00:59,440 teacher or thinking about your next move, an LNB professional 17 00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:03,560 looking for a fresh perspective, or an inspiring leader with CEO 18 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:07,760 dreams, you're going to walk away with practical wisdom and 19 00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:10,160 inspiration. So let's jump in. 20 00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:13,240 Here's my conversation with Doctor Jennifer Berry. 21 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:18,560 Hi, we're Ice Spring, an international team of e-learning 22 00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:22,720 enthusiasts who help more than 60,000 clients across the globe 23 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:25,400 succeed with better online learning. 24 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:29,920 Our two flagship solutions are Ice Spring Suite and Ice Spring 25 00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:35,000 Learn LMS ispring Suite is an intuitive, all in one authoring 26 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:39,320 tool for creating engaging e-learning content, and ispring 27 00:01:39,320 --> 00:01:42,000 Learn is an innovative online training platform for 28 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:45,640 onboarding, upskilling, and certifying your teams. 29 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:49,360 We also provide tons of free resources for aspiring and 30 00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:52,320 experienced e-learning professionals, conduct weekly 31 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:56,200 webinars with top industry experts, and organize annual 32 00:01:56,240 --> 00:01:59,840 e-learning conferences, challenges, and championships. 33 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:03,840 We'd be happy to get to know you and pick a solution that fits 34 00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:08,759 your needs best. Go to www.icepringsolutions.com 35 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:13,000 to learn more about us, download our resources, and connect. 36 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:19,480 Hello everyone, and welcome to another fabulous episode of Add 37 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:23,080 Up L&D. My name is Holly Owens and I'm 38 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:25,200 your host. And I'm really excited today 39 00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:31,040 because I finally, finally, finally we got all the technical 40 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:35,480 bad things out of the way. Get to talk to Doctor Jennifer 41 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:37,680 Berry. She's the CEO with Smart Labs. 42 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:39,960 So, Doctor Jennifer, welcome to the show. 43 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:43,200 Thank you for having me Holly. I really appreciate your, your 44 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:46,080 time and your listeners time. And I know we had a little bit 45 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:48,640 of technical challenges, but we wouldn't be a STEM organization 46 00:02:48,640 --> 00:02:50,640 if we didn't figure out those technical challenges. 47 00:02:50,640 --> 00:02:52,040 So. Exactly. 48 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:55,400 We are steadfast. We, we don't let challenges, you 49 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:57,480 know, block us. We, we, we figure it out and we 50 00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:00,320 move forward. So I'm excited to have you and 51 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:03,960 to learn more about you. So our audience is obviously 52 00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:07,440 made-up of like L&D, professional CEO's, founders, 53 00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:10,120 transitioning teachers, people who are still teachers in the 54 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:12,720 classroom. So I would love for you to share 55 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:16,800 your journey with the listeners. How did you become a CEO of 56 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:19,840 Smartlab? I love this question. 57 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:23,120 So I started early in my career. Well, first of all, I was a 58 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:28,560 professional dancer so early in my career I did storytelling 59 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:32,720 through a physical movement. So I am a physical movement 60 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:35,240 individual. I really believe in telling a 61 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:38,600 story through your body. I also been in the performing 62 00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:40,520 arts theater world for some years. 63 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:43,120 Everything from directing and choreographing and all of that. 64 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:45,640 You know, after your body ages and you can't professional 65 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:47,600 audience anymore, you have to go into choreography. 66 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:50,560 Yeah. And I'm really passionate about 67 00:03:50,920 --> 00:03:55,200 especially young, young storytellers that want to tell 68 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:57,040 stories through their bodies. I'm really passionate about 69 00:03:57,040 --> 00:03:59,160 that. So that was my early career. 70 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:03,760 And then through my college experience, I needed to get in 71 00:04:03,760 --> 00:04:05,800 state tuition at University of Arizona. 72 00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:10,080 And I decided to walk down the mall with a baseball hat and a 73 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:13,600 sweatshirt, ask for applications in the mall and happened to meet 74 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:18,560 a meet a bunch of men that were standing in front of the Gap 75 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:22,000 store. And and they said to me, hey, 76 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:24,440 not only we're going to give you an application, do you know that 77 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:28,320 we're starting a management intern program for individuals? 78 00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:30,600 Yeah, that are in their junior year of college. 79 00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:34,120 And this will be the first time that we do this intern program. 80 00:04:34,120 --> 00:04:36,120 And at the end of the program, we'll automatically give you a 81 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:39,680 job and you can move to anywhere that you want, preferably San 82 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:41,320 Francisco, where Gap was headquartered. 83 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:44,280 Headquartered. And I was like, wait, me in this 84 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:46,720 baseball hat and a sweatshirt? I'm just walking through the 85 00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:50,960 mall, but that sounds great. So here I joined Gap Inc and 86 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:52,320 joined their management intern program. 87 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:56,080 It was the first intern program across for the company. 88 00:04:56,160 --> 00:05:00,280 And this was this was back in the 90s and so early. 89 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:02,720 Of the 90s. Yeah, the 90s are the best, 90 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:04,280 right? And this is when Gap was at 91 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:09,240 their peak and really at the forefront of advertising and 92 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:12,200 customer service and really branding themselves as something 93 00:05:12,200 --> 00:05:15,040 that was differentiated in the marketplace from the way in 94 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:18,040 which they presented their product as well as how they 95 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:21,280 joined the customer service atmosphere. 96 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:24,240 Although they mostly sold jeans and sweatshirts, they also 97 00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:26,720 differentiated themselves from their wow factor when you walked 98 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:27,960 into a store and through their advertising. 99 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:31,920 And so I got to learn a ton about every aspect of retail, 100 00:05:32,280 --> 00:05:34,360 spent 15 years of my career in retail. 101 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:36,880 So from there I moved to San Francisco. 102 00:05:36,880 --> 00:05:39,360 I was store manager. I was, I worked at the corporate 103 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:42,600 office for some years. I then worked in the field doing 104 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:45,880 regional management and then district management. 105 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:49,000 So I really got to learn all facets of the retail business. 106 00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:52,880 And I got recruited one day by somebody that said, hey, we have 107 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:57,840 this education company who is looking for retail heads, as we 108 00:05:57,840 --> 00:06:00,520 were called back in the day, back in the 90s, looking for 109 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:02,560 retail heads. Because most of the individuals 110 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:05,760 that have joined and started this amazing organization, this 111 00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:08,880 amazing education organization are educators. 112 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:11,880 And so they need people to really understand customer 113 00:06:11,880 --> 00:06:13,280 service. They need people to really 114 00:06:13,280 --> 00:06:16,080 understand leadership and leadership skills. 115 00:06:16,280 --> 00:06:20,640 And so they brought me in and I had just received my master's 116 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:23,080 degree in public administration. So I was looking for something 117 00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:26,760 that really made me feel like I was computing and doing 118 00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:30,720 something bigger than myself. And so I, I gladly jumped into 119 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:34,280 the, into the, the boat of the education field and have been 120 00:06:34,280 --> 00:06:36,840 there ever since. And I, and I really have been 121 00:06:36,840 --> 00:06:39,520 thoughtful and intentional about the roles I take. 122 00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:43,680 I like to not only be able to give and be able to produce 123 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:46,640 something from my talents to the organizations that I give, but I 124 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:49,480 also really like to learn. I'm a real consummate learner 125 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:54,480 and I really make sure that when I am in an environment, 126 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:58,920 especially in an environment that is an education space, that 127 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:01,400 I feel like I'm contributing, but I'm also learning. 128 00:07:01,400 --> 00:07:04,640 So I've done everything from the tutoring space that I started 129 00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:08,480 in, so the supplemental tutoring K through 8 tutoring space. 130 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:11,440 Then I did test prep. Then I moved over to a company 131 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:14,560 that helped teachers become more effective in their craft. 132 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:17,440 So focused on the students first and then moved to teachers and 133 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:19,760 administrators to make them more effective in their craft. 134 00:07:20,280 --> 00:07:22,960 Then I moved into the special education. 135 00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:24,920 Well, first I went to the nonprofit space. 136 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:26,520 I wanted to dip my toe into that space. 137 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:29,120 I spent five years in the after school space to really 138 00:07:29,120 --> 00:07:35,440 understand the the work that amazing educators to do do in 139 00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:39,080 that space to help students grow and develop and things outside 140 00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:41,080 of just the basic learning academic environment. 141 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:43,760 And then I moved into the special education space, which 142 00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:47,480 was really a passion point from for me to really understand that 143 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:51,080 niche market and what it takes for learners that need 144 00:07:51,080 --> 00:07:54,240 differentiated learning for their own, for their own unique 145 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:55,880 brains. So that was really amazing. 146 00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:59,040 And then recently, for the past year, I've been in this 147 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:04,080 beautiful STEM space where I get to sort of bridge all of my 148 00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:07,160 learnings along the way. Into this Yeah, my. 149 00:08:07,160 --> 00:08:13,280 Passions of hands on, you know, project based learning all into 150 00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:15,840 one and that's been really, really exciting for me and I'm 151 00:08:15,840 --> 00:08:18,840 really happy to be here. What a journey, yeah. 152 00:08:19,040 --> 00:08:21,880 It's been really fun. Wow, Yeah, it sounds really fun. 153 00:08:21,880 --> 00:08:23,400 Yeah. And I'll tell you that we do 154 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:26,520 have sort of a commonality. I worked at Old Navy, which is 155 00:08:26,520 --> 00:08:31,120 learned by Gap, Yeah, when I was in college and I, you know, they 156 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:34,240 were huge with the with the dog and all the different things. 157 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:38,360 And like, I learned so much in that role, like just about like 158 00:08:38,360 --> 00:08:41,039 marketing, merchandising, like that wasn't what I was going to 159 00:08:41,039 --> 00:08:43,720 go into, but it was, it was a great learning experience for me 160 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:45,600 to be in retail and like say customer service. 161 00:08:46,080 --> 00:08:49,440 That's definitely something that helps when you're in the, in 162 00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:51,520 this space. So I love that we have that 163 00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:53,320 connection. And I'm a former high school 164 00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:55,840 teacher. So accessibility is very close 165 00:08:55,840 --> 00:08:59,360 to me in terms of like, you know, knowing all the different, 166 00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:01,600 like the 508, the the compliance. 167 00:09:01,720 --> 00:09:04,360 And of course, as an instructional designer, that's 168 00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:06,360 big to us too, and the people listening on the show. 169 00:09:06,360 --> 00:09:10,080 So I love that you dipped in all these different spaces. 170 00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:13,080 You kept quite the journey. Yeah. 171 00:09:13,080 --> 00:09:14,720 Thank you. You know, it's interesting. 172 00:09:14,720 --> 00:09:18,120 When I decided to get my doctorate, I really looked for a 173 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:21,160 doctorate program that was focused on leadership and 174 00:09:21,160 --> 00:09:22,960 change. And so you would see they had an 175 00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:27,760 amazing leadership and change degree and I dove head first 176 00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:31,800 because I and, and this is what we really focus on with our 177 00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:36,040 students at Smartlab too. I love to master rigorous 178 00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:39,880 challenges, right? And I love to look change in the 179 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:43,760 face and look at hard things in the face and like figure out how 180 00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:46,160 to remove boulders, right? My most of my career was in 181 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:49,520 operations essentially before I became ACEO, as ACEO of many 182 00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:52,800 different organizations. And that was my passion point of 183 00:09:52,800 --> 00:09:55,120 figuring out what is the obstacle that gets in people's 184 00:09:55,120 --> 00:09:58,200 way to being effective, to be efficient, to be effective in 185 00:09:58,200 --> 00:10:00,960 their job and to be the best, best versions of themselves. 186 00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:04,960 And that, that sort of like removing of obstacles and 187 00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:07,080 mastering rigorous challenges is something that's been really a 188 00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:10,560 passion point for me. And I love that I get to be a 189 00:10:10,560 --> 00:10:13,920 part of an organization that focuses on students and focuses 190 00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:16,360 on how they can own a STEM identity. 191 00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:20,280 And, and we define that smart lab STEM identity as a learner, 192 00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:23,120 self belief that they belong, they can master rigorous 193 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:26,320 challenges and and their ideas make an impact. 194 00:10:26,360 --> 00:10:29,600 And when you think about that, when I think about my journey 195 00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:32,800 and I sort of explore and, and do that reflective exercises 196 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:36,720 that we do as we grow older, I really believe that all the 197 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:39,640 things that got put in my way helped me gain my own STEM 198 00:10:39,640 --> 00:10:41,640 identity. Although I'm, I'm not in 199 00:10:41,640 --> 00:10:46,720 directly an S TEM field, I have STEM identity because I do 200 00:10:46,720 --> 00:10:48,920 believe I belong. I do believe I can master 201 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:50,920 rigorous challenges and I believe I add value. 202 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:55,720 So that is what my wish is for all students across the country, 203 00:10:55,720 --> 00:10:58,440 whether they're in a smart lab or in a STEM environment, in 204 00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:01,280 their, in their, in their classroom, that they're really 205 00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:03,720 getting that self belief that they belong here. 206 00:11:03,720 --> 00:11:05,440 They can do this. They're future ready and they 207 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:07,280 add value. I love that. 208 00:11:07,280 --> 00:11:10,200 Well, tell, tell the listeners who haven't heard of Smartlab 209 00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:13,400 like what it's all about. I love your, you know, your logo 210 00:11:13,400 --> 00:11:16,240 is really cool. And I love the I love the little 211 00:11:16,240 --> 00:11:18,200 subtitle Learning is different here. 212 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:21,720 That really resonates a lot, especially as a former educator. 213 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:24,320 So tell us all about Smartlab, what you all do. 214 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:27,640 I love already some of your philosophies, your goals, your 215 00:11:27,640 --> 00:11:30,360 connections, the things that you make with students and 216 00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:31,720 educators. So tell us all about it. 217 00:11:32,160 --> 00:11:35,560 Yeah, thank you. So Smartlab is an integrated 218 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:39,160 ecosystem that sparks aha moments and build STEM identity 219 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:41,840 for learners. So many times when I first got 220 00:11:41,840 --> 00:11:43,560 here, everybody said, what does Smartlab do? 221 00:11:43,560 --> 00:11:45,440 And it's like, oh, we're a learning environment, we're a 222 00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:48,880 STEM learning environment. And I worked really hard with 223 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:52,280 the entire staff because I believe that you get the best 224 00:11:52,280 --> 00:11:54,240 ideas from the people that are doing the work. 225 00:11:54,520 --> 00:11:56,600 To say, hire people smarter than you. 226 00:11:57,120 --> 00:12:00,480 For sure hire them and make sure they're around you at all times, 227 00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:01,600 right? Exactly. 228 00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:05,920 But I I, what I tried to do is really listen to the people that 229 00:12:05,920 --> 00:12:07,160 worked here. You know, I did what I call 230 00:12:07,160 --> 00:12:08,880 listening tour. I listened to every single 231 00:12:08,880 --> 00:12:10,800 employee. I made an appointment with every 232 00:12:10,800 --> 00:12:12,760 single employee. I went out to every single 233 00:12:12,760 --> 00:12:14,480 school. Well, not every single, we have 234 00:12:14,480 --> 00:12:16,760 over 600, but I've got to a lot of schools. 235 00:12:17,840 --> 00:12:19,960 Yeah, I went to a lot of facilitators. 236 00:12:19,960 --> 00:12:22,200 I talked to a lot of students. I got on the floor with the 237 00:12:22,200 --> 00:12:24,200 students and played with the manipulatives that they were 238 00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:26,960 working with or the robots they were designing to understand 239 00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:30,880 what really is it that we do? Sure, we put an environment in. 240 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:31,720 Sure. We have. 241 00:12:31,720 --> 00:12:34,560 Amazing curriculum. Sure, we train the facilitators, 242 00:12:34,560 --> 00:12:38,120 but what really do we do? And what we really do is create. 243 00:12:38,120 --> 00:12:44,000 We manufacture a, an environment that gives that child the 244 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:47,800 ability to, to have productive struggle. 245 00:12:48,280 --> 00:12:51,760 And so when I talk about an integrated ecosystem, the 246 00:12:51,840 --> 00:12:55,800 ecosystem is really important because as we all know, as an 247 00:12:55,840 --> 00:12:59,240 ecosystems, integrity is out of whack as one of the components 248 00:12:59,240 --> 00:13:01,520 of the ecosystem is not optimized. 249 00:13:01,800 --> 00:13:04,680 And so we talked about 5 components of the ecosystem, the 250 00:13:04,680 --> 00:13:07,880 customized learning environment. So whether the learning 251 00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:11,560 environment is a room, which Smartlab can absolutely design a 252 00:13:11,560 --> 00:13:16,720 full turnkey room, or you put it in the corner of a, of a multi 253 00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:21,240 purpose room, or teachers just build STEM into their their 254 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:25,400 classrooms and, and, and use STEM applications and industry 255 00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:28,120 pathways to like merge whatever is being learned. 256 00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:31,160 However you do it, we believe in a customized learning 257 00:13:31,160 --> 00:13:33,240 environment that fits the school district. 258 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:36,600 So we will do consultative conversation as well as help 259 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:39,720 design what that customized learning environment is to the 260 00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:41,440 school district. So that's one thing we do. 261 00:13:41,800 --> 00:13:45,560 We also make sure that we curate curriculum and the tools and 262 00:13:45,560 --> 00:13:50,600 equipment that is hands on on tools and equipment, career 263 00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:53,400 connected project based curriculum and really make sure 264 00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:55,760 that that's intentional within the customized learning 265 00:13:55,760 --> 00:13:59,840 environment. And then we also not only train 266 00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:01,880 the facilitators that are going to be in these learning 267 00:14:01,880 --> 00:14:04,920 environments, but we create an environment that is sustainable, 268 00:14:04,920 --> 00:14:07,080 meaning we put them in professional learning learning 269 00:14:07,080 --> 00:14:09,440 communities. We ensure that there's extend 270 00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:12,000 trainings for them. It isn't just like we train you, 271 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:14,520 we leave you, we're out right? We're we're more of the 272 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:19,640 organization that says you matter almost the most out of 273 00:14:19,640 --> 00:14:23,000 all the components facilitator. And so our job is to make sure 274 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:25,080 you're set up for success. You're having your own aha 275 00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:27,760 moments. You yourself are are practicing 276 00:14:27,760 --> 00:14:32,960 and learning and really pushing your ability to put the best 277 00:14:32,960 --> 00:14:36,640 environments in front of are the best tools and equipments and 278 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:40,160 goals in front of the students. And then of course, lastly, 279 00:14:40,160 --> 00:14:43,600 which I'm really proud of, is our support and partnership. 280 00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:46,880 So as an organization, we do what most do, which is we have a 281 00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:50,760 customer success team, We have a technical success team, of 282 00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:52,760 course. But the partnership piece is 283 00:14:52,760 --> 00:14:54,400 really key. Because what I've heard from 284 00:14:54,400 --> 00:14:57,760 principals and superintendents and really even business leaders 285 00:14:57,760 --> 00:15:00,280 when they're thinking about helping fund these labs into 286 00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:04,240 schools is how do we ensure that this thing is sustainable? 287 00:15:04,320 --> 00:15:07,600 How do we make sure that people don't just purchase, yeah, 288 00:15:07,600 --> 00:15:11,760 purchase a bunch of stuff and then make it a a dusty storage 289 00:15:11,760 --> 00:15:15,560 unit after? After overtime, a lot of the 290 00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:18,320 times like teachers are like all this Ed tech, you get Ed tech 291 00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:20,560 fatigue, like all this stuff being thrown at you and you just 292 00:15:20,560 --> 00:15:22,120 want, you want something that, like you said, that's 293 00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:24,200 sustainable and that can last and something that's really 294 00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:26,920 impactful throughout. Yeah, I agree. 295 00:15:26,920 --> 00:15:28,880 And I'm sure you've had many environments where you've had 296 00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:31,120 something that's sustainable and then something that the school 297 00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:32,800 district purchased they forgot about. 298 00:15:33,640 --> 00:15:36,640 Yeah, absolutely. Or they purchased it without 299 00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:40,600 consulting with the educators. You know, I teach graduate level 300 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:43,480 courses in instructional design and most of my students are K to 301 00:15:43,480 --> 00:15:47,400 12 New York City public school teachers when they they have 302 00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:52,120 constant like feedback about when technologies are purchased 303 00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:54,960 and they're not consulted and then like how that just a bad 304 00:15:54,960 --> 00:15:56,600 experience for the. Kids a bad experience. 305 00:15:56,920 --> 00:15:59,760 Yeah, I'm glad to hear that you're there the whole way 306 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:01,480 through and and what you're doing to support. 307 00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:03,040 Yeah. And and we hope that they 308 00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:04,960 continue to stay with those professional learning 309 00:16:04,960 --> 00:16:06,920 communities. And we have a community that 310 00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:09,640 they can talk to other facilitators across the whole 311 00:16:09,640 --> 00:16:11,400 country. So they're also gaining skills. 312 00:16:11,400 --> 00:16:14,200 So they're not because again, as you know, when you're a STEM 313 00:16:14,200 --> 00:16:17,320 teacher, you're sometimes the only STEM teacher in that school 314 00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:18,960 or sometimes in the whole district. 315 00:16:18,960 --> 00:16:21,480 And so there's a special education department and then 316 00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:24,680 there's the teachers and then there's the staff right to, and 317 00:16:24,680 --> 00:16:27,040 then there's you all by yourself. 318 00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:29,880 So we really try to make sure there's a community that people 319 00:16:29,880 --> 00:16:32,920 can reach out to and coordinate with and communicate with and 320 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:34,960 talk and share and learn with each other. 321 00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:39,360 And that's part of the support for the facilitator that we 322 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:41,440 give. But we also believe part of the 323 00:16:41,440 --> 00:16:45,640 sustainability is bringing the community into the environment, 324 00:16:45,720 --> 00:16:49,200 right? When when parents and, and 325 00:16:49,200 --> 00:16:53,760 business leaders come in or, or employees of particular 326 00:16:53,760 --> 00:16:57,360 businesses come into the environments and tell their STEM 327 00:16:57,360 --> 00:17:01,000 identity journey, talk to the students about what careers are 328 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:03,720 out there. Because every industry uses STEM 329 00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:06,760 applications, right? A lot of people think of STEM as 330 00:17:06,760 --> 00:17:09,680 just science, just technology, just engineering, just that. 331 00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:14,000 Pouring liquids out of graduated cylinders and making things, you 332 00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:16,760 know, blow up. Explode or building robots, 333 00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:19,079 right? That's not only what STEM is, 334 00:17:19,079 --> 00:17:20,920 right? There is STEM applications in 335 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:24,960 every single industry, right? You think of data collection and 336 00:17:24,960 --> 00:17:27,119 analysis, that's a STEM application. 337 00:17:27,119 --> 00:17:30,240 Data collection, analysis, pretty much every industry, 338 00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:35,000 agriculture, entertainment, sports, advanced manufacturing, 339 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:38,400 I mean you could go on and think about all the industries, data 340 00:17:38,400 --> 00:17:41,320 collection and analysis is in all of those, right? 341 00:17:41,320 --> 00:17:44,680 So you know, mechanics and structures are in pretty much 342 00:17:44,680 --> 00:17:47,920 every industry, right? Robotics and control technology, 343 00:17:47,920 --> 00:17:51,320 especially with this AI powered world that we live in, is in 344 00:17:51,320 --> 00:17:54,160 every industry. And so really giving those 345 00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:57,440 students that ability to take those STEM applications and 346 00:17:57,520 --> 00:18:00,440 align them to industry pathways I think is really key. 347 00:18:00,680 --> 00:18:04,200 And bringing the community in to talk about that with students, I 348 00:18:04,200 --> 00:18:07,960 think is the magic because it isn't just about mastering A 349 00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:10,720 rigorous challenge like you, you build or you're trying to code 350 00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:12,440 this robot to go from point A to point B. 351 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:13,760 And you're like, yeah, I did that. 352 00:18:14,120 --> 00:18:17,440 But what career is that it? How how is that thing that you 353 00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:21,040 just learned something that you can apply to a real industry? 354 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:24,280 That's really exciting. And we really make sure that we 355 00:18:24,280 --> 00:18:27,960 have avenues for bringing the community into the lab. 356 00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:30,320 In fact, on November 7th, we have what we're calling STEM 357 00:18:30,320 --> 00:18:32,760 Identity Day. We're going to have it not only 358 00:18:32,760 --> 00:18:35,120 in. Yeah, not, not only in every 359 00:18:35,120 --> 00:18:39,080 smart Lab, we'll have the STEM Identity Day, but also we'll 360 00:18:39,080 --> 00:18:41,520 have it in any school that wants to participate with us. 361 00:18:41,520 --> 00:18:44,160 So whether you're a Smartlab school or not, you're welcome to 362 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:46,920 join us on November 7th for STEM Identity Day. 363 00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:49,640 And so you can find free resources and contact us on our 364 00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:51,000 website in. Order. 365 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:52,520 You will have all of that in the show. 366 00:18:52,520 --> 00:18:53,920 Notes yeah, all about in the show. 367 00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:56,960 Notes yeah, So you can learn more about STEM Identity Day and 368 00:18:56,960 --> 00:19:00,080 invite the community into your school to talk about. 369 00:19:00,360 --> 00:19:04,920 It's like an oversized career day, but connected to STEM 370 00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:07,960 identity and really challenge the community to come in and 371 00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:10,360 talk about their own semi identity and to talk about how 372 00:19:10,360 --> 00:19:12,400 it applies to their careers and their jobs. 373 00:19:12,440 --> 00:19:14,280 Yeah. To make it free, all this is 374 00:19:14,280 --> 00:19:16,080 just connected to everything that we do. 375 00:19:16,080 --> 00:19:17,760 Yeah. You're connecting it to careers, 376 00:19:17,760 --> 00:19:19,920 you're connecting it to professional development, You're 377 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:22,800 connecting it to building communities and building that 378 00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:25,400 space. And you mentioned AI, so I did 379 00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:28,640 have a question for you. And in terms of like students, 380 00:19:29,040 --> 00:19:32,440 you know, these students that are coming up are going to be 381 00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:36,000 living in a world that didn't, they don't know pre what it was 382 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:37,160 like. We know what it was like in the 383 00:19:37,160 --> 00:19:40,040 90s without cell phones and AI and all that stuff we do. 384 00:19:40,080 --> 00:19:43,680 How are we going to prepare them for jobs and roles that 385 00:19:43,680 --> 00:19:45,720 currently don't exist? Because what's going to happen 386 00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:47,480 with AI? What is happening with AI? 387 00:19:47,480 --> 00:19:51,480 What's your take on that? Yeah, I've thought a lot about 388 00:19:51,480 --> 00:19:55,480 this and my team and I spend a lot of days and a lot of hours 389 00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:59,280 really grappling with what is our goal in helping students be 390 00:19:59,280 --> 00:20:02,200 prepared for the future, for the careers that to your point don't 391 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:06,000 exist yet. And we've, we've honed in on 392 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:10,160 STEM identity because if you have STEM identity, whatever 393 00:20:10,160 --> 00:20:14,520 career you're in, whatever application or whatever AI is 394 00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:18,360 going to do. Today or tomorrow, that is not 395 00:20:18,360 --> 00:20:21,400 being done today, which will be many things because it's already 396 00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:24,920 at the speed of light training itself to do many things. 397 00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:29,600 If a student comes out on the other side of their learning 398 00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:33,240 journey with STEM identity as we've defined it so as we've 399 00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:35,960 defined it of a learner self belief that I belong. 400 00:20:35,960 --> 00:20:38,880 I can master rigorous challenges and my ideas add value. 401 00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:43,880 Whatever's in front of them, they can be the ones that create 402 00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:47,120 those prompts, right? They can critically think about 403 00:20:47,120 --> 00:20:49,960 whatever AI is delivering and going, yeah, but is that 404 00:20:49,960 --> 00:20:51,960 actually solving the problem that we need? 405 00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:54,000 Or do we need to tweak this prompt? 406 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:57,080 Or do we need to tweak what AI produced for us in order to 407 00:20:57,080 --> 00:21:01,360 solve the problem at large? They will think almost above 408 00:21:01,360 --> 00:21:04,040 what AI creates because what we're not going to get rid of as 409 00:21:04,040 --> 00:21:06,280 humans, right? As much as people are very 410 00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:08,560 worried and scared that there's going to be robots out there. 411 00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:12,040 I know there's even like controversy about students 412 00:21:12,040 --> 00:21:13,680 dating robots, right? All this. 413 00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:14,920 Is. Happening. 414 00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:16,680 I know it's pretty scary out there. 415 00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:19,520 However, it is scary. However, we have a 416 00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:23,080 responsibility as educators and as adults to ensure that the 417 00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:27,680 students are fearful that AI just does things for them, but 418 00:21:27,680 --> 00:21:30,800 instead knows that it can do stuff for them, but knows 419 00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:33,760 they're smarter than the machines, Knows that they can 420 00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:37,960 master master the rigorous challenges better than the AI 421 00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:40,240 can do it for them. Because we all use AI. 422 00:21:40,360 --> 00:21:42,160 I'm sure you do. I know I use it. 423 00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:44,920 Every day. Every day and I'm ensuring that 424 00:21:44,920 --> 00:21:47,720 I'm using it for good and challenging when it spits 425 00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:51,720 something out like I'm not sure I gave it the right question. 426 00:21:51,960 --> 00:21:55,160 Or or. Wow, that didn't actually say 427 00:21:55,160 --> 00:21:57,200 the thing that I was trying to say, right? 428 00:21:57,200 --> 00:22:00,520 So, but because I have STEM identity, right, I believe I can 429 00:22:00,520 --> 00:22:02,560 master rigorous challenges because I've proven that in my 430 00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:06,280 life over and over, right? I've failed hard many different 431 00:22:06,280 --> 00:22:09,480 times over and so giving students in that controlled 432 00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:14,000 environment the ability to fail and to be OK with that, whatever 433 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:16,600 answer they come up with is the answer right? 434 00:22:16,600 --> 00:22:19,200 To not be like, there's only one answer to this problem. 435 00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:23,360 That ability to do that Yum from kindergarten all the way 436 00:22:23,360 --> 00:22:26,320 through, right is really important because the more they 437 00:22:26,320 --> 00:22:31,320 learn how to fail, the more they learn how to sit in discomfort 438 00:22:31,320 --> 00:22:34,680 of not knowing answers and or celebrate when they come up with 439 00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:37,760 something, something that was new and novel that no teacher or 440 00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:41,080 adulthood ever thought of. The more they do that, the more 441 00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:43,440 when they come out the other side of their education journey, 442 00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:46,120 they'll be able to be smarter than the AI world. 443 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:48,080 That's power. And I don't mean smarter from an 444 00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:51,200 intellect standpoint, but smarter from their capacity to 445 00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:55,080 think above it, right? To be able to say great AI can 446 00:22:55,080 --> 00:22:56,640 do that. But I am the one that can 447 00:22:56,640 --> 00:22:59,560 critically think. I am the one that can master 448 00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:02,640 rigorous challenges. I am the one that is OK with 449 00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:06,800 productive struggle and I sit in comfort actually in productive 450 00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:10,280 struggle struggle. So we believe that STEM identity 451 00:23:10,280 --> 00:23:14,200 is actually even more important than learning how to code right? 452 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:16,120 Like we actually teach kindergarteners. 453 00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:18,680 How to codes for you now? AI codes for you. 454 00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:20,800 That's what I was going to say. We teach kindergarteners how to 455 00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:23,760 do basic coding, right? And what we said to ourselves is 456 00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:25,600 like, oh, but AI is going to do that. 457 00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:27,200 Why do kindergarteners need to learn it? 458 00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:31,040 But instead, what we've spun on it is instead of we still want 459 00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:33,680 the kindergarteners to learn how to put the green down for go and 460 00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:35,840 put the red down for stop and yellow for paws, right? 461 00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:39,560 So they understand the process. But instead we're teaching them 462 00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:43,280 to think about, OK, let's talk about a career application. 463 00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:44,760 This is for five year olds, right? 464 00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:46,600 Let's think about a career application. 465 00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:50,720 Your job is to get a, a car, right? 466 00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:55,120 That you are going to have self driving from the farm to the, to 467 00:23:55,120 --> 00:24:00,600 the, the, the market from the farm to the, to the house, right 468 00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:03,960 to deliver to the house. And so your job is to create 469 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:08,040 this self driving car that can get from point A to point B. 470 00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:11,160 So whether you create it or AI creates it, we want you to 471 00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:13,320 create it because you're going to learn how like when you put 472 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:15,760 the red down, it stopped and it didn't make the right turn that 473 00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:18,080 you wanted it to do, right? So you understand that. 474 00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:20,680 So you understand the coding, basic coding for 475 00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:24,560 kindergarteners, but more importantly that there's a way 476 00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:28,480 to design A car to get farm to table, right? 477 00:24:28,480 --> 00:24:31,360 And that there's a career in that, right? 478 00:24:31,360 --> 00:24:34,840 So that's really what we push in on, which is the STEM 479 00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:36,640 application that connects to careers. 480 00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:40,240 Not necessarily that we're teaching you to code because 481 00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:41,920 again, AI is going to teach you to code. 482 00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:46,560 But what AAI can't teach a student is how to fail. 483 00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:52,000 And what AI can't teach a student is how to critically 484 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:55,280 think through a problem and and figure out a way to solve the 485 00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:58,040 problem, right? Because in the future, kids are 486 00:24:58,040 --> 00:25:00,840 going to be like, OK, I see the problem, this is the way I want 487 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:02,800 to solve it. OK, I'll just have AI do that 488 00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:04,960 for me. But that's good. 489 00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:07,120 But if they haven't thought of the problem and they hadn't 490 00:25:07,120 --> 00:25:09,800 thought of the solve, AI is just going to sit there and wait for 491 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:11,880 you to give it to prompt. Exactly. 492 00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:14,720 It's it needs you to, it needs you to solve the problem and put 493 00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:16,040 in the information. Absolutely. 494 00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:18,120 And I think all of what you're doing really makes me think 495 00:25:18,120 --> 00:25:20,200 about application. Like application is something 496 00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:22,640 where you have to try something and you fail about. 497 00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:25,760 It's like trial and error when you get to that point of the 498 00:25:25,760 --> 00:25:28,320 blooms, if we're talking about Bloom's taxonomy in that point, 499 00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:31,840 like the higher order thinking skills, you definitely have to 500 00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:36,040 fail and feel fail safe. I think that's something like, 501 00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:37,680 you know, probably when we were growing up, that wasn't 502 00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:40,160 something that existed necessarily like this 503 00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:41,400 environment where you could fail. 504 00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:45,480 Like if you didn't get 100% on the quiz, it was like the 505 00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:47,200 recall. It's like, what's wrong with 506 00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:49,880 you? You know, like what's wrong with 507 00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:51,280 you? Why can't you remember that? 508 00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:55,600 You know, whatever Napoleon did and it's just crazy stuff. 509 00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:56,640 It's. Crazy stuff. 510 00:25:56,680 --> 00:25:58,000 Yeah. You know, it makes me think of 511 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:00,040 this story. So I was, when I first joined 512 00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:03,600 Smartlab, I was out talking to friends of mine and thinking 513 00:26:03,600 --> 00:26:06,840 about like, what is how did you get into a STEM field or how did 514 00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:09,360 you get into not a STEM field, but use STEM applications in 515 00:26:09,360 --> 00:26:10,960 your field? And I was just asking a lot of 516 00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:13,800 my friends, my peers, their stories, because I believe 517 00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:17,680 stories helped me root into who we are as an organization beyond 518 00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:20,120 the stuff we sell, right? Because that's a very important 519 00:26:20,120 --> 00:26:22,960 to me that our mission is really being accomplished and we're 520 00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:25,320 optimizing on what our goal is for students. 521 00:26:25,800 --> 00:26:29,000 And one particular woman told me now she is in the STEM field, 522 00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:31,240 she's a doctor. I asked her, tell me about the 523 00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:34,600 first time you remember that feeling of I want to be a 524 00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:36,600 doctor. And she told me this really 525 00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:38,240 fascinating story. It's a little gory. 526 00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:41,440 So here you go. Not gory, but it was great. 527 00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:43,840 She was, she said she was about. A gory Warner Brother was in 528 00:26:43,840 --> 00:26:46,960 the. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 529 00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:49,320 She was 8 years old. Her brother was in the backyard. 530 00:26:49,320 --> 00:26:52,440 She was watching television, and her brother fell out of a tree. 531 00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:54,800 And she heard him fall out of a tree, and she heard him 532 00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:55,440 screaming. Right. 533 00:26:55,440 --> 00:26:57,960 So she's 8, and they're home alone because, you know, back in 534 00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:00,800 the 80s, people were home alone. And when they were kids. 535 00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:03,320 Yeah, exactly. I had my key around my neck, 536 00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:05,840 Right. And she ran outside and her 537 00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:08,480 brother was laying on the ground and his phone was sticking out 538 00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:11,760 the side of his leg. And she was like in a panic at 539 00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:13,240 8, right? This is the story she's telling 540 00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:14,600 me. She was like, I was in a panic. 541 00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:17,960 I looked down and the tree had fallen out of there was a branch 542 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:21,120 that fell down with him. So I grabbed the branch, I stuck 543 00:27:21,120 --> 00:27:23,520 it on his leg and I found a hose that was right there. 544 00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:28,600 And I wrapped the hose and the branch and pushed his bone back 545 00:27:28,600 --> 00:27:30,440 into his leg and wrapped it right. 546 00:27:30,600 --> 00:27:33,920 Then I ran in, called, called my parent, they called the, you 547 00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:37,360 know, 911911 came and it basically saved his leg. 548 00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:40,800 And she goes, from that moment on, she had my identity because 549 00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:44,400 she was like, oh, I reacted, I knew what to do. 550 00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:47,480 I kind of looked at the problem and I solved the problem. 551 00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:50,440 And from then on, she had STEM identity and then had passion to 552 00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:53,760 be a, a doctor, right? That's her journey. 553 00:27:54,080 --> 00:27:56,680 I thought about that story and I thought, you know, what could we 554 00:27:56,680 --> 00:27:59,400 at Smartlab do so that people don't have to wait till their 555 00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:01,880 brother falls out of a tree? To figure it out. 556 00:28:02,360 --> 00:28:05,000 Yeah, like something tragic, you know, it could have been worse. 557 00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:08,040 Yeah, because many kids are sitting and playing video games 558 00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:09,840 all day, right. So they don't actually have that 559 00:28:09,840 --> 00:28:12,600 ability to go out there and explore and get hurt and figure 560 00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:15,320 out how to solve it. Or, you know, they're not, 561 00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:19,480 they're not as outdoors as we used to be when we were were 562 00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:22,760 children and, and alone like we were when we were children, 563 00:28:22,760 --> 00:28:23,720 right? I find a lot. 564 00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:26,840 I have a 10 year old and I'm constantly letting her just go 565 00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:29,320 be outside. And many of my peers are like, 566 00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:31,640 do you know where she is? Does she have a smart watch? 567 00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:34,280 And I'm like, no, I we're in a STEM organization and she 568 00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:36,160 doesn't have a smart watch. She doesn't have a phone. 569 00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:39,680 And I just know that I've given her boundaries and I want her to 570 00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:44,520 go explore the world and to like come be bored and to maybe. 571 00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:48,640 Come on. Skin a knee skin a knee right 572 00:28:48,640 --> 00:28:52,320 and know that like she can be OK without me jumping to putting 573 00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:54,760 new stuff on it a Band-Aid right so she can figure it out. 574 00:28:55,040 --> 00:28:58,360 But the story that my friend told me about her journey as a, 575 00:28:58,560 --> 00:29:01,880 as become her STEM identity, become a doctor really made me 576 00:29:01,880 --> 00:29:06,080 think about that's our job at Smart Lab is to manufacture 577 00:29:06,080 --> 00:29:11,160 environments for folks for, for students that, that they can 578 00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:14,880 have those aha moments, right? That sudden realization that 579 00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:18,080 occurs right when they connect things in new and meaningful 580 00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:21,960 ways that like sudden realization that they go, oh, if 581 00:29:21,960 --> 00:29:25,560 I put this here and I wrap this here, right, without it actually 582 00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:27,800 being broken. If we manufacture those 583 00:29:27,800 --> 00:29:30,800 environments, then we're giving those students that STEM 584 00:29:30,800 --> 00:29:35,000 identity in a manufactured way. And that those moments of STEM 585 00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:38,840 identity will then serve them in their future, whether they 586 00:29:38,840 --> 00:29:42,400 become a doctor, or they become ACEO, or they become a podcast 587 00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:45,840 host and a teacher, whatever they choose, that STEM identity 588 00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:47,960 can really serve them in this AI powered world. 589 00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:52,680 Love that, love that and and that wasn't too gory of a story, 590 00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:54,280 I mean. I know, I know, but some people 591 00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:56,880 don't like to hear. About yeah, I know they're like 592 00:29:56,920 --> 00:29:58,520 they, yeah. I don't, I don't really get the 593 00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:00,880 egg. But yeah, that's a really great 594 00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:02,440 story. And as we're coming up on the 595 00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:05,360 end of the episode here, I think one of the things I would love 596 00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:07,840 for you to do is we have a lot, we have a variety of different 597 00:30:07,840 --> 00:30:10,440 people in our audience. Like I told you, mostly L&D 598 00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:12,880 professionals, people looking to transition possibly out of the 599 00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:16,440 classroom, do their own thing, have their own business, be a 600 00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:18,200 CEO. So if you could give them like 3 601 00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:22,240 pieces of advice on like how they could potentially do that, 602 00:30:22,240 --> 00:30:25,200 like some takeaways for them, I'm sure they would love to hear 603 00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:27,880 that coming from you and your vast experience and the, and the 604 00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:30,240 journey that you told us about the beginning of the episode. 605 00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:31,840 So what would be 3 pieces of advice? 606 00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:35,960 Let's say if they wanted to be ACEO at A at a edtech company, 607 00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:38,840 Yeah. Thank you for that question. 608 00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:41,840 I appreciate it. The first thing I'd say is be 609 00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:45,120 curious. I have found that I've always 610 00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:49,320 been curious. And what I mean by that is don't 611 00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:50,920 be afraid to ask people questions. 612 00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:54,600 Find another CEO, call me, find me on LinkedIn, Doctor Jennifer 613 00:30:54,600 --> 00:30:57,680 Berry, find me on LinkedIn, reach out and say, can you meet 614 00:30:57,680 --> 00:31:00,600 with me for 10 minutes, 15 minutes, an hour and just share 615 00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:03,160 with me your journey. What were some of the hard 616 00:31:03,160 --> 00:31:05,840 parts? What were some of the the pain 617 00:31:05,840 --> 00:31:11,000 points that you experienced? And I think that curiosity of 618 00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:15,280 asking other people how they got somewhere is key. 619 00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:21,640 I also would say the second thing is take jobs or 620 00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:25,400 assignments that you're not expecting anything from, right? 621 00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:28,960 Meaning you're not expecting a title change, you're not 622 00:31:28,960 --> 00:31:32,520 expecting more money, you're expecting to learn, you're 623 00:31:32,520 --> 00:31:37,520 expecting to gain skills, you're expecting to fail and maybe not 624 00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:39,000 be the smartest person in the room. 625 00:31:39,600 --> 00:31:42,640 I have found through my whole journey when I just sort of took 626 00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:46,360 on a role without any expectation, I then magically 627 00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:47,960 was given that role. And I don't know if it was 628 00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:50,720 magic, just maybe prove myself. And then people said, right. 629 00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:54,200 And I talk a lot about this with women, young women leaders that 630 00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:57,480 are yearning to be CE OS because even to this day, there's not a 631 00:31:57,480 --> 00:31:59,360 ton of women CE OS out there, right? 632 00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:05,520 And I believe that I had to force myself to push down that 633 00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:08,520 imposter syndrome, force myself to push down that I don't really 634 00:32:08,520 --> 00:32:11,120 know how to be that role, whatever that role was, that was 635 00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:14,600 my next part of my journey. Or I may be not good enough that 636 00:32:14,600 --> 00:32:17,120 I just forced myself to just try it. 637 00:32:17,120 --> 00:32:19,320 Be uncomfortable, be uncomfortable. 638 00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:21,200 Yeah. And so that would be my second 639 00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:23,080 piece. The first one being be curious. 640 00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:26,480 The second one is just put yourself in environments, put 641 00:32:26,480 --> 00:32:30,360 take on roles, take on assignments without expectation 642 00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:33,040 other than learning, other than gaining skills. 643 00:32:33,600 --> 00:32:35,680 That would be my second piece of advice. 644 00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:41,440 And then my last piece of advice is to root yourself in the 645 00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:45,080 mission of whatever your, whatever your value set is, 646 00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:47,680 right? I spend a lot of time in my 647 00:32:47,680 --> 00:32:50,840 early career watching my parents follow their passion, right? 648 00:32:50,840 --> 00:32:52,800 My dad's an actor. He runs a theater in Los 649 00:32:52,840 --> 00:32:54,400 Angeles. My mother's a flight attendant. 650 00:32:54,400 --> 00:32:56,920 She's passionate about traveling and would come home and tell me 651 00:32:56,920 --> 00:32:59,840 about all these amazing travel stories and these amazing 652 00:32:59,840 --> 00:33:03,320 different cultures that she got to experience and really got me 653 00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:07,560 out of my own 4 walls. And that sort of lens and 654 00:33:07,560 --> 00:33:10,800 perspective of learning about the world through my mom's 655 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:13,120 travels, learning about the world through my dad's 656 00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:16,080 storytelling of other people's stories as a theater, theater 657 00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:19,800 guy really helped me see the world bigger than myself. 658 00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:23,280 And so in that they kept reminding me, what is your 659 00:33:23,280 --> 00:33:24,920 value? What are you passionate about? 660 00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:27,720 What are you here to do in this world that's bigger than 661 00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:30,440 yourself? And so I've always tried to 662 00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:34,280 really root everything I've chosen, even the retail days, 663 00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:36,360 right? I tell my story. 664 00:33:36,360 --> 00:33:37,840 If they look good, they feel good. 665 00:33:37,880 --> 00:33:40,880 If they and if they feel good, they're contributing to this 666 00:33:40,880 --> 00:33:45,600 world in a positive way, right? And so like I've always rooted 667 00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:47,800 whatever I've done in my own value set. 668 00:33:47,800 --> 00:33:51,000 So that would be my third piece of advice that whatever passion 669 00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:53,040 point you have, if you're looking to get out of something 670 00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:55,800 and into something else, or you're looking at being an 671 00:33:55,800 --> 00:33:58,480 innovator and starting a new company, or if you're looking to 672 00:33:58,480 --> 00:34:01,160 just become better at the current craft you're in and not 673 00:34:01,160 --> 00:34:03,080 looking for something new, but better at the current craft. 674 00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:06,680 Root yourself in your own value set and really look at like, 675 00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:09,239 what is the mission that I'm about? 676 00:34:09,239 --> 00:34:10,880 What it, what am I trying to change? 677 00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:14,840 And go deep on that, right? Like Smartlab, we sell stuff, 678 00:34:15,080 --> 00:34:17,360 but I am rooted in what is the goal? 679 00:34:17,360 --> 00:34:19,560 What are we trying? The bigger picture here. 680 00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:22,960 What is the bigger picture here? And I think that as any leader, 681 00:34:22,960 --> 00:34:25,440 whether you're starting in your career or you're at the top of 682 00:34:25,440 --> 00:34:29,199 your game, you should always be pushing yourself to ensure that 683 00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:33,520 you're moving the needle on something in a positive way. 684 00:34:33,520 --> 00:34:35,600 It contributing to this world that's hard right now. 685 00:34:35,719 --> 00:34:37,320 It's hard. This environment that we're in 686 00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:39,440 right now is hard. There's a lot of, you know, 687 00:34:39,440 --> 00:34:42,440 social media and the news and our political landscape has 688 00:34:42,440 --> 00:34:45,320 created a lot of fear and, and polarization. 689 00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:49,960 And so how do you step above that and be on light to to make 690 00:34:50,120 --> 00:34:52,280 this world a better place? And I think that that would be 691 00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:54,480 my third piece of advice. Really look at your own value 692 00:34:54,480 --> 00:34:56,199 set and then make sure you're rooted in the mission and 693 00:34:56,199 --> 00:34:57,960 everything you do. I love it. 694 00:34:57,960 --> 00:35:00,680 Great, 3 great pieces of advice that we haven't heard before. 695 00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:05,480 Very awesome. I can't thank you enough for 696 00:35:05,480 --> 00:35:08,000 coming on the show and sharing about your your journey, 697 00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:10,680 Smartlab, your advice, all the different things. 698 00:35:10,680 --> 00:35:12,960 I know this is definitely going to resonate with a lot of people 699 00:35:12,960 --> 00:35:16,120 in our audience, so thank you so much for coming up on the show. 700 00:35:16,640 --> 00:35:18,720 Thank you, Holly. I'm glad we made it work and it 701 00:35:18,720 --> 00:35:20,040 was so nice meeting with you. No. 702 00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:21,920 Technical issues, we did great. We did great. 703 00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:24,720 And everything is going to be in the show notes about how to 704 00:35:24,720 --> 00:35:28,840 connect with Doctor Jennifer Berry, find Smartlab, all the 705 00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:31,000 different things to go to the show notes and you can find that 706 00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:32,440 information. So thanks again. 707 00:35:33,040 --> 00:35:35,120 Thank you. Talk to you soon, all bye. 708 00:35:36,840 --> 00:35:38,480 Thanks for spending a few minutes with Holly. 709 00:35:38,640 --> 00:35:40,600 She knows your podcast queue is packed. 710 00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:44,600 If today's episode sparked an idea or gave you that extra 711 00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:48,880 nudge of confidence, tap, follow or subscribe in your favorite 712 00:35:48,880 --> 00:35:52,000 app so you never miss an episode of Ed Up L&D. 713 00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:55,920 Dropping a quick rating or review helps more educators and 714 00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:57,720 learning pros discover the show, too. 715 00:35:58,280 --> 00:35:59,640 Want to keep the conversation going? 716 00:36:00,280 --> 00:36:02,960 Connect with Holly on LinkedIn and share your biggest take 717 00:36:02,960 --> 00:36:04,720 away. She reads every message. 718 00:36:05,120 --> 00:36:08,440 Until next time, keep learning, keep leading, and keep believing 719 00:36:08,440 --> 00:36:10,360 in your own story. Talk soon. 720 00:36:12,120 --> 00:36:15,120 Hi, we're ispring, an international team of e-learning 721 00:36:15,120 --> 00:36:18,400 enthusiasts who helped more than 60,000 clients across the globe 722 00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:20,520 succeed with better online learning. 723 00:36:21,040 --> 00:36:24,440 Our two flagship solutions are ispring Suite and ispring Learn 724 00:36:24,440 --> 00:36:27,160 LMS. Ispring Suite is an intuitive 725 00:36:27,200 --> 00:36:29,880 all in one authoring tool for creating engaging e-learning 726 00:36:29,880 --> 00:36:33,080 content, while ispringlearn is an innovative online training 727 00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:36,080 platform for onboarding, upskilling and certifying your 728 00:36:36,080 --> 00:36:38,240 teams. We'd be happy to get to know you 729 00:36:38,280 --> 00:36:40,280 and pick a solution that fits your needs best. 730 00:36:40,560 --> 00:36:44,720 Go to www.ispringsolutions.com to learn more about us and 731 00:36:44,720 --> 00:36:45,320 connect.