Latest / AI for Founders with Ryan Estes / How SmartLab builds STEM Identity: hands-on ecosystems for future-ready students

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How SmartLab builds STEM Identity: hands-on ecosystems for future-ready students · AI for Founders with Ryan Estes

0:00
Welcome back to AI for Founders. I'm Ryan Estes.
0:02
Today we've got Doctor Jennifer Berry, CEO of Smartlab, joining
0:06
us. And this one's a big deal.
0:08
Smartlab is transforming classrooms into hands on tech
0:11
powered ecosystems where students don't just learn STEM,
0:15
they become STEM. Jennifer calls it building STEM
0:18
identity, the belief that you belong, you can solve hard
0:21
problems and your ideas actually matter.
0:24
In this episode, founders and leaders will learn how Smartlab
0:27
is manufacturing those aha moments that unlock curiosity,
0:31
resilience, and future ready skills in a world where AI does
0:35
the tasks but humans solve the problems.
0:37
If you're a founder thinking about talent, culture, or the
0:40
next generation of problem solvers, this one is for you.
0:44
High energy, big insights and yes, we even talk about Old Navy
0:47
and Hugo Boss suits along the way.
0:50
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3:00
Jennifer, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for coming on.
3:03
Appreciate having me, I'm excited to be here.
3:06
It's my pleasure give us a quick summary of Smartlab.
3:10
Oh, I'd love to start off with Smartlab.
3:13
Thank you so much for again having me on your show.
3:16
And Smartlab is an integrated ecosystem where we spark aha
3:20
moments and give students the ability to build their STEM
3:24
identity, right? And so a lot of people ask me
3:26
like, well, what is an aha moment, right?
3:28
And we, we, we call an aha moment, a sudden realization
3:31
that occurs when a learner connects new and meaningful
3:34
ideas in new ways. Then obviously these are sparked
3:39
by curiosity and hands on engagement and problem solving,
3:42
right? And, and I know as a business
3:44
leader and founders out there that are listening to us, that's
3:48
really important in the future is to have workforce that is
3:52
sparked by curiosity, hands on engagement and problem solving,
3:55
because AI is going to obviously do a lot of the work for us.
3:58
And so we need to have leaders that can rise above that and
4:01
have that curiosity, hands on engagement and problem solving
4:04
ability so that they can navigate in this AI powered.
4:06
World so cool and you know, I've gotten to know you a little bit
4:11
and know what you do pretty well.
4:14
Looking forward to learning more.
4:16
But is it an assessment to say that you go into schools and you
4:19
transform a room, an office, a library into like this
4:25
interactive technological laboratory?
4:29
Yeah, it's such a great question because yes, that is what we do,
4:33
right? So we sell learning
4:35
environments, right. So we will go in and create
4:37
learning environments in school districts that are conducive for
4:40
this hands on and project based learning so that students can
4:44
get their STEM identity. We lead with this idea that the
4:47
goal is to get students to get their STEM identity right and we
4:51
define STEM identity is the learner self belief that they
4:53
belong. They can master rigorous
4:56
challenges and then my ideas have an impact.
4:58
So that is sort of what we lead with that.
5:00
We're trying to make sure that the learners feel like they
5:02
belong. They can say I belong here, I
5:04
can do this, I add value, I'm future ready.
5:06
But in order to do that, we need an environment to create that
5:10
sort of manufactured way in which they can get these aha
5:13
moments. So what you're talking about is
5:15
what is the thing that we create, right?
5:18
And we create these environments that are conducive and optimized
5:22
for this learning environment. And the learning environment is
5:25
for us comprised of an ecosystem.
5:27
We really believe it's an ecosystem that drives this
5:31
learning. It isn't just stuff that we put
5:33
in a room, right? Many STEM companies, many STEM
5:36
environments is and, and, and ours included.
5:40
We sell stuff, right? We sell the furniture, we sell
5:43
the kits and equipment, we sell the curriculum, we sell PD.
5:47
But the reality is, is all of that integrated together creates
5:52
this optimized learning environment so that the students
5:54
can get the STEM identity. And what we do is create this
5:59
environment that is conducive to learning with these five
6:02
components. And the five components are this
6:04
customized learning environment. Now that customized learning
6:07
environment could be, we take a blank room and it's a turnkey,
6:12
we'll turn that blank room into a STEM learning environment.
6:16
So that could be the way. Other times we'll create, we'll
6:19
take a multi purpose room, a library, a corner of a classroom
6:26
and turn it into a STEM learning environment, right?
6:28
Where the students can get dirty and they can move things around
6:32
and they can build and create and get curious and fail a lot,
6:36
right? Have the things topple over and
6:38
go, that didn't work. How do we fix that, right?
6:41
So this, this can be created in a full white room where we can
6:45
do turnkey and recreate the room, or it could be in the
6:48
corner of a library, It could be in the corner of a classroom, it
6:51
could be in a hallway, it could be in a Community Center in a in
6:54
a community. So the environment, the
6:56
customized STEM learning environment is really, really
6:59
important. Within that customized STEM
7:01
learning environment, you need the curriculum, right?
7:04
And we have a SAS based learning curriculum that it is rooted in,
7:09
in really strong pedagogy, rooted in state standards.
7:13
So it meets all the expectations of school districts across the
7:15
country. And that curriculum is really
7:18
driven and scaffold scaffolded so that the students can have
7:23
productive struggle and they can learn how to become a STEM
7:28
leader by projects, by units that teach them how to aim
7:36
themselves. Really it's we take industry
7:38
pathways and we take STEM applications and merge those
7:42
together so that they're using these STEM applications in
7:45
particular industries and they understand the impact of what
7:48
they're learning to a career for their future.
7:51
So that's the curriculum piece. You can't have curriculum in a
7:54
STEM environment without kits in a equipment, right?
7:56
So we have really curated some amazing kits and equipment so
8:01
that the students can actually build robots and use really
8:05
great manipulatives in order to tie that to their curriculum.
8:10
And the 4th, the 4th we do is invest in the facilitator
8:14
because a room is just a room. Curriculum is just curriculum.
8:19
Kids and equipment are are just kids and equipment.
8:22
But the magic and every educator out there knows this and even
8:25
every parent knows this. The magic is when that
8:28
facilitator can, can light up a student's perspective, can light
8:33
up a student's curiosity. And so we spend a lot of time
8:36
investing in our facilitators, investing in who the district
8:40
brings in train, we train them, but we don't just train them and
8:43
let them go. We train them, we coach them, we
8:46
give them a community across the country that they can partner
8:49
with and share with and get their own ha moments and fail
8:52
themselves in order for them to learn and be even more effective
8:55
with their students in the future.
8:57
We give them extend trainings and we don't leave them behind
9:00
even after the initial training. So that's also something we're
9:03
really proud of. And then lastly, and this is
9:05
really important to us is that, and this is for the
9:07
sustainability of these labs and the sustainability of the impact
9:11
for students is we invest in partnerships and support for the
9:16
school. So we have the basics like every
9:18
company does. We have customer support and we
9:21
have tech support to ensure that the school district has people
9:24
to help them troubleshoot if there's a problem.
9:26
But really we also build programs and opportunities for
9:30
the community to come into these labs to inspire these students
9:34
through their own stories and through their own journeys.
9:36
And so we build these opportunities and these ways in
9:39
which the community can come in because we really have seen time
9:43
after time that it isn't again, about the room and the kitchen
9:45
equipment and curriculum and even just the facilitator.
9:48
But it's also about the community investing their time
9:50
and energy into the spaces. And that's really important to
9:53
us. And I have seen time and time
9:55
again when parents, business leaders, adults come into these
10:01
spaces, the students not only get to share their learnings,
10:04
but to get inspired by what they could potentially be in the
10:07
future. Incredible.
10:10
I I, I do love it, you know, and I love that it all kind of kind
10:14
of builds out of an aha moment. You know, you guys have gone to
10:18
great lengths to to facilitate that.
10:22
Now that is not easy. I think everybody knows what an
10:25
Unka moment is. And you know, it's really it's
10:28
kind of an expand of consciousness where it's like
10:30
not like an idea pops and rather you see a whole new level of
10:34
capacity. You know, these are life
10:36
changing, game changing opportunities that happens for
10:39
kids. You know, and truly to your
10:41
point, you know, there's precedence of this like you have
10:44
to have set in setting if you're doing some kind of consciousness
10:48
expanding thing, like it's very critical.
10:50
I mean, we know this innately because, you know, our
10:53
monasteries look a certain way, our churches look a certain way,
10:57
the food court at the mall looks a certain way.
10:59
You know, you really got to have the right vibe in order for
11:02
something like this to to occur. Yeah, I even think about it.
11:07
So my early career, I was in retail and the retail
11:11
organization that I was with really spend a lot of time
11:14
thinking about even as the customer was walking by the
11:17
windows, what were they experiencing?
11:19
Even when they walked across the threshold, what were they
11:21
experiencing? Where were we aiming the
11:23
customer in order to get their own aha moments to purchase
11:26
something, right. So even just that philosophy of
11:29
like shopping for jeans and how important it is to like inspire
11:32
somebody to come into your store and shop for something.
11:34
We and get very intentional about how to produce aha moments
11:38
for these kids because we know that it isn't just about one aha
11:41
moment. It's about multiple aha moments
11:43
that build. And when those aha moments
11:46
build, then all of a sudden these light bulbs go off where a
11:49
student feels like, Oh, I, I just conquered something.
11:53
I mastered something that I was, I, I thought when I first
11:56
started, I, I was overwhelmed. I was going to fail at it, or I
11:58
did fail at it a few times. But now I've conquered something
12:02
and now I have this self belief that I can master those
12:04
challenges and I can master anything, right?
12:06
And that's what we need right now.
12:07
We need students and adults to come out into the workforce
12:11
knowing that they belong, right? And I know that as a business
12:14
leader myself, it's really important when I'm even doing
12:17
interviews right now that it's way beyond the technical skills,
12:20
right? Of course, they have to have the
12:22
base level of technical skills, but it's way beyond that because
12:25
AI is powering technical skills at this point.
12:28
And so I need leaders and I need just individual contributors
12:32
even to think beyond that, to be really curious, to be really
12:36
strong problem solvers, to be able to think beyond just the
12:40
obvious. Those leaders are the ones that
12:42
are going to really take and catapult businesses like mine
12:45
and businesses like others. And I'm assuming many business
12:48
leaders on on listening to this podcast.
12:51
I think that's really critical and important for us to empower
12:54
these students young and to be a part of that solution, I think
12:58
is really, really key, right? And so we're constantly looking
13:01
for people to come in, not only come into these labs with with
13:04
their time, but also to resource be a part of the solution and to
13:09
resource putting in smart labs across the country into school
13:14
districts, because right now the budgets are tight, right?
13:16
It's very, and there's declining enrollments in many cases
13:23
there's across the country, There's conflict on what is the
13:29
right pedagogy, what is the right teaching?
13:31
What are the things that the students should be learning and
13:33
not learning. And the reality is what we do
13:36
know and what we cannot argue about in any setting is that
13:39
students need to be future ready, right?
13:41
That is just the obvious. And so nobody is going to deny
13:45
that we want people to be critical.
13:46
We want students to be able to critically think.
13:49
Nobody can deny that. We want students to be able to
13:52
feel confident and to be able to say, I can master any challenge
13:56
that's put in front of me because I am curious, right?
13:59
I am confident and I have the strength and fortitude to push
14:04
through challenges. Nobody can deny that.
14:06
And, and I have witnessed time and time again when I go into
14:10
project based learning, hands on learning environments that
14:14
students get that, they get that confidence, they get that
14:17
curiosity and, and all those aha moments lead to this, what we
14:20
call STEM identity. And STEM identity can cut across
14:23
any field, even if it's not the STEM fields, right?
14:27
And there's industries out there that you STEM in every single
14:30
aspect of the work. And we need students that are
14:33
ready for that. And so we really want to inspire
14:36
business leaders to be a part of the movement, be a part of
14:39
investing their dollars and their employees time and.
14:47
You hit. It's muted for some reason.
14:50
Do you see that it's you're muted somehow?
14:57
Probably on the screen. No problem.
15:00
Cool. You know, this is really
15:01
fascinating because, you know, you talk about future proofing,
15:06
but ultimately the future is an illusion.
15:09
It only exists in like your our mind.
15:11
Truly, you just go from one aha moment to the next, and they
15:14
compound on each other. And I, I loved your analogy for
15:17
retail. I was a old retail dog many
15:20
years ago. I worked at Nordstrom.
15:22
I worked at Nordstrom and sold men's underwear.
15:24
Yeah, I. Love it.
15:25
You might not think there's an aha moment in there, but let me
15:28
tell you, make an aha moment with purchasing some underwear
15:31
and then I'm walking those guys down to buy some Hugo Boss
15:33
suits. You know what I mean?
15:36
I did very, very well working in men's accessories, largely
15:40
because, you know, when you create, it's.
15:42
The point is, is that when you have a facilitating a moment
15:46
where the lights turn on, you know, and it seems like this
15:49
moment, you're kind of calling it their STEM identity, where
15:52
not only do they have the confidence to fail, but the
15:55
confidence to succeed. And they have kind of the
15:57
encouragement to know like, oh, this other thing I'm interested
16:00
in. Yeah.
16:01
This is there's a place for me here.
16:02
Yeah. You know, I can pursue this
16:04
direction. Yeah.
16:06
I really love that. I love this sort of like
16:08
compounding aha moments in our lives as adults, right?
16:12
Like every day you and I, I think are in the same same kind
16:17
of world of always trying to learn, right?
16:18
Constantly pushing, pushing ourselves to say we don't know
16:21
it all. So like every day something
16:23
comes in our way that we're like, oh, OK, I'm going to be
16:26
better today because I just learned something, right?
16:28
And students innately are like that, right?
16:30
Kids are innately curious, they're innately playful, right?
16:33
And yet many times we confine them to these boxes and want to
16:38
teach them to the test. We want to teach them how to do
16:41
things the way that we believe is the the, the appropriate way
16:45
to learn. And yet kids are itching to get
16:48
up. Kids are itching to play with
16:50
things just like we are as adults.
16:51
And so when you talk about that retail, sort of walking them
16:55
from underwear to the Hugo Boss suits, right?
16:58
That, that, that was my grooming.
17:00
I spent 15 years in retail, right?
17:02
And it's some of the biggest retails in the world.
17:04
Gap Inc being one of them, right?
17:05
And that, that, that was our earliest learning.
17:08
We were not just selling jeans. We were selling an experience
17:11
and we were selling a journey to get people from one place to the
17:14
other. Gap doesn't have any unique,
17:17
uniquely different clothing than any other store, but what they
17:20
did have is this ability to aim you towards something that and
17:24
they still do. You can see it through their
17:26
commercials and you can see it how they're really positioning
17:28
their brand. They have this unique ability to
17:30
make you feel something when you put AT shirt on, feel something
17:33
when you put a pair of jeans on. And the reality is, is when
17:36
you're in a a school and a student is in there, we want
17:40
them to feel something. We want them to get their hands
17:43
into something so that the learning and the light bulbs go
17:46
off so they can be become a better human in the future.
17:49
Ready. It's so important and you know,
17:52
shout out to the Gap. And particularly I want to give
17:54
shouting out. I want to give a shout out to
17:56
Old Navy. I go into Old Navy with 100
17:59
bucks coming out looking mint. I mean.
18:03
Totally right, Dad. Dad is the place, man, I'm
18:05
telling you well. Yeah, when you think about those
18:07
brands, right, Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, all of them,
18:11
right? They all have really figured out
18:13
who their audience is. And you clearly are an Old Navy
18:15
guy. And.
18:16
And you come out of there feeling something, feeling
18:18
something special. Yeah.
18:20
And that's right. And then guess what?
18:21
It's just jeans and T-shirts. But you feel great every once in
18:25
a while. A.
18:26
Sweater every once in a while a. Great sweater or a hoodie, I
18:29
know I love it. When you're talking about
18:32
education kind of putting people in a box, you know, this is
18:35
something, and I think Smartlab is going to be just the
18:38
beginning of this humongous wave that's coming for education now.
18:42
I remember when I was in 3rd grade and I was in a box school
18:46
was very hard for me because before they had the letters, you
18:50
know, the A's, the D's, the ages, you know, they didn't know
18:53
what to do with the kid, you know.
18:55
So I was like, just like, I am so bored.
18:58
I have the fidgets, I'm going crazy.
19:00
And Miss Dusko, shout out to Miss Usko.
19:02
She just was like, Ryan, why don't you just go back to the
19:04
classroom and you can just stand at your desk, you know, And so I
19:07
just stood all day long as I similarly do now, you know, but
19:13
you know, now we're looking at at situation where ADHDADD,
19:17
these things are just commonplace.
19:19
We've all got it. It's almost like a symptom of
19:21
the the culture that we've built.
19:23
And so like to have this expectation like we're going to
19:26
pack 40 kids in a classroom and, and have them work on a packet.
19:30
It's dated and it doesn't work for students who really need the
19:33
extra challenge, the extra stimulation and extra fun of
19:37
like using technology and building things.
19:40
And now we have this opportunity, particularly with
19:43
the vibe coding apps and all these different tools to
19:45
incorporate and really unlock a lot of creativity, a lot of
19:49
passion that maybe has been missing in the past.
19:52
Yeah, I, I am very impressed by your ownership of what you
19:58
needed as a student now that you've looked back on your life
20:01
and thought, oh, shout out to that teacher who recognized that
20:04
I needed to stand up, right? I also feel very passionate
20:08
about linking it to something, right.
20:11
I remember as a kid always thinking, why are we learning
20:15
this? What is the point?
20:19
Like, sure, I'm going to memorize these math facts sure
20:22
I'm going to understand this chemistry, you know, problem
20:26
set, you know, or even in it in my college years, like read a
20:30
case study and be able to analyze a case study but what to
20:34
what end? What is this all for, right and
20:38
my passion and I have really dug in with my curriculum and
20:43
development team to understand what is rooted in our curriculum
20:48
and the connectivity, the connectivity to careers and
20:52
industries, right? So to take the STEM applications
20:55
and not just like get kids to play with the STEM application
20:59
and to build something, get their hands into it.
21:02
And I can imagine you as a kid loving this, right?
21:05
Going in there and just like being able to stand, sit, get
21:08
up, get down, throw it on the ground, roll it out.
21:10
Oh, that bro, that thing towered over.
21:12
Let me pick it back up. Like you would have thrived.
21:15
But I asked the question, great, you would have been excited
21:18
about that and some aha moments would have been happening, but
21:21
to what end? So being very intentional and
21:25
thoughtful about connecting it to industry pathways, like
21:28
saying to the student, saying to to young, to young, young, you
21:32
okay, I'm doing this. But wow, they use this AI or
21:37
they use a circuitry and electronic thing that I'm doing
21:40
in advanced manufacturing. What is advanced manufacturing?
21:43
This is what advanced manufacturing is, right?
21:46
They're using this thing in finance.
21:48
Wow, what? Oh cool, that's a job out there.
21:51
Oh my gosh, I would love to be in that job because now I've
21:54
learned how to do it as a third grader and I'm seeing that
21:58
that's a career out there for me.
22:00
So that intentionality of bringing it to real life career
22:04
pathways, I think is also really, really critical even at
22:08
the youngest ages, right? Like we have a unit that is it's
22:12
called Harvest Hauler and it's about teaching kindergarteners
22:15
how to code, right? That in and of itself.
22:18
So they have this really cool robot that they get to build and
22:20
they get to teach it how to move and bring how to move from one
22:25
place to the other. So how to turn right, how to
22:27
turn and left, how to go straight right?
22:28
That's like the basics of coding.
22:30
And this is at the kindergarten level, right?
22:31
Four and five year olds. But we take it a step further.
22:34
It isn't just about teaching you how to code.
22:37
It's actually saying, all right, you're learning how to teach
22:39
this robot to go from point A to point B.
22:42
But why? Oh, you're teaching how A, A, a,
22:45
a truck, how to bring farm, how to bring food from the farm to a
22:51
grocery store to a farmer's market, right?
22:54
And that is a career. How to code a self driving
22:57
truck, right, is in the agriculture field, agricultural
23:02
industry, right? That's really empowering for a
23:06
kid because now they can see themselves not just knowing how
23:10
to code as a 5 year old, but also that, wow, I know how to
23:15
code. And I also know the point and
23:17
the purpose behind coding and I understand how it connects to an
23:21
industry. And maybe that's a job I could
23:23
have one day, even as a 5 year old.
23:25
So instead of a 5 year old just naming the things that they see
23:27
in front of them as what their career choice is.
23:30
Of course, the first thing we want them to say is my career is
23:33
I want to be happy. We want kids all to say that I
23:36
want to be happy. But after that they could say,
23:39
Oh, I want to be the, the, the kid that designs a self driving
23:43
car to bring amazing fresh food to local communities, right?
23:48
Because I'm looking around my community and we don't have
23:50
fresh food. We have old stale carrots that
23:54
maybe have have already mold on them.
23:56
So I need to figure out how to drive us.
23:58
I need how to command a truck, a self driving truck to bring
24:03
amazing fresh foods quicker to my local community, right?
24:07
So to give them some purpose behind what they're learning.
24:10
And I think that's really exciting.
24:13
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It's so important and it gives them the opportunity to figure
26:26
it out because honestly, like we don't know what their jobs are
26:30
going to be. I mean, when I was in 3rd grade,
26:32
missing us goes class like you would have somebody would have
26:36
from the future be like, hey, guess what, you work in
26:38
podcasting. They're like, you know, be like,
26:43
I, I thought I'd be a, a laundry delivery driver or a trash man.
26:46
Like what those are the jobs I know are Mr. Rogers.
26:49
The heck is a podcaster, You know, So now it's, I mean, just
26:53
compounded. I mean, I think there's going to
26:54
be no different jobs evolving every three months.
26:58
So, you know, you give kids the skills to, to do something
27:01
proactive. You give them the agency to make
27:03
mistakes and fail 'cause that's a big part.
27:05
And over time, they gain the confidence to be able to adapt
27:08
to a world that is changing so fast.
27:12
I mean, we can't even barely keep our finger on it.
27:14
Yeah, that's why we focus on the industry, not necessarily the
27:17
job, right? That's the difference.
27:19
There's a difference between, oh, we're going to teach you how
27:22
to be a, you know, coder for, for driving cars, like to get
27:26
cars from point A to point B. That's not the that's that's
27:28
cool. But that job might be taken over
27:30
by AI. AI, that job might already be
27:33
developed somewhere else. And we don't even need to have
27:35
humans do that at all. But the industry is not going to
27:39
go away, right? Like the advanced manufacturing
27:42
industry isn't going away. Arts and entertainment and media
27:45
isn't going away. So if you as a young kid thought
27:48
you might have wanted to be a trash, trash driver because
27:50
that's what you saw in front of you, you didn't know about this
27:53
podcaster. Yeah.
27:54
But if we talked to you about arts and entertainment, I bet
27:57
you back then you would have been like, oh, I like that
28:00
field. Something about that is cool,
28:01
right? Like, I don't know what I'm
28:03
going to do in that field, but something in that is cool.
28:05
And then let's say you were learning about, right, modeling
28:09
and design and you're like, oh, I could design And then you make
28:13
up the career. Maybe back then in 3rd grade,
28:15
you could have made-up podcast host, right?
28:19
And and that wasn't even a job yet because you're inspired
28:22
through this sort of ability to again, fail and learn and do
28:25
some hands on learning against an industry that you can then
28:29
make up a career for. And that to be is also exciting
28:34
because I agree, we don't know what the jobs are going to be
28:36
and they're going to change by the minute.
28:37
But how? Why not teach the kids to create
28:39
the jobs? Yeah, well, and if I had
28:42
Smartlab, they'd be like, hey, that kid never shuts up.
28:45
Give him a microphone. Like what's?
28:47
What's going on? Right, right, right, right.
28:49
And your STEM identity would have given you the like I
28:51
belong. I can do this.
28:52
My ideas make an impact. My, my, I, I'm, I'm future
28:55
ready, right? Because I, I know there's a job
28:57
out there for me because give me a microphone.
28:59
I can do that. 100% Now it's interesting too, like your your
29:05
category of business too, because it's kind of surrounded
29:07
in controversy. Everything in education is kind
29:09
of a a minefield with banana peels on it, you know, But
29:14
particularly like how private industry and public education
29:18
and private education and a voucher system, all these things
29:21
work together. It seems to get mixed into a lot
29:23
of politics, which is, which is too bad because ultimately we
29:28
all want what's best for our kids.
29:30
But what I do like the idea of, of private companies, they're
29:34
incentivized in a different way. You know, with public education,
29:37
the timetables are much longer. But with companies, it's like,
29:40
hey, we have to do something that works because otherwise we
29:43
don't have traction and we don't have customers.
29:46
So talk to me a little bit about your customers and what it it's
29:49
like working with school districts and, and kind of what
29:52
goes into that. Yeah.
29:55
School districts never say no to us.
29:57
So when we go into a school district and say, hey, let me
30:01
tell you about what Smartlab does, we're an integrated
30:03
ecosystem, right? That sparks aha moments that
30:06
drive STEM identity for learners.
30:08
Let me tell you what how we define STEM identity.
30:11
Let me tell you about our five components of our ecosystem.
30:13
Let me tell you about how nobody goes.
30:16
Oh yeah, that's so controversial, right?
30:18
They go absolutely right. I want my kids to feel like they
30:22
belong. They add value, they can master
30:23
rigorous challenges. No, nobody, whether you are
30:26
preferring the voucher system or you love straight up public
30:30
education or you're like, miss, I want to start a micro school,
30:35
whatever it is, right? Nobody denies that they want
30:38
their kids future ready and feel like they belong and they can
30:41
master rigorous challenges. So we don't get a lot of
30:43
pushback. Where the pushback comes from in
30:45
our, in our, in our world is with the competing priorities,
30:49
our budget cuts, the aim, the aim of whatever the aim is on
30:53
the federal level, the state level and or district level.
30:57
Where do we get the money to this?
30:58
Because it's an investment, right?
31:00
It's an investment that's bigger than just the basics of
31:03
curriculum. It's an investment bigger than
31:05
just the the teaching staff and ensuring you have the the the
31:09
strongest teachers to be in in the face of our students.
31:13
And so this is the piece where we're really trying to rally a
31:18
movement around business leaders to get excited about being a
31:22
part of the solution. Right to me, yeah, going into
31:27
school districts and partnering with a company like ours to say,
31:30
hey, I want to donate to a foundation local in my
31:34
community. I want to donate to a school
31:37
district. I want to donate to a local
31:38
Community Center, right? Because I want to be a part of
31:41
the movement. The solution to help kids above
31:45
the, the noise of all the K12 controversy, as you call it,
31:50
right? We, we want to say to them, if
31:52
you want to be a part of that movement, which you should, that
31:55
it isn't just about donations, it's about strategy, right?
32:00
It's a strategic move for an organization to say, you know
32:03
what, if I'm going to donate to something, I'm going to donate
32:05
to the future. I'm going to ensure that we we
32:08
rise above the noise and the controversy and we get into
32:13
donating to school districts in order to drive students that are
32:18
future ready. And we can help schools, our
32:21
businesses partner with local nonprofits or national
32:25
nonprofits to say we're going to make sure that these, that your
32:29
money, your donations to them is used for smart labs in schools,
32:34
is used to ensure that smart labs are embedded into every
32:38
school across the nation so that every student gets these kind of
32:41
opportunities. And that rises above every
32:44
controversy because there's not many school districts that are
32:46
going to say no. If we walk in and say, I've got
32:49
this amazing business in your local community that wants to
32:51
put an amazing smart lab in your schools so that your students
32:56
can get their STEM identity and get hands on project based
32:59
learning. Every school, in fact, we've got
33:01
businesses that do this right now.
33:03
Welcome us with open arms because they're yearning for
33:06
solutions. They're yearning for help from
33:08
their community, right? Because most of the time when
33:11
communities invest and pay, put a smart lab in their community,
33:15
they don't just put it in. They then send their employees
33:18
to volunteer year over year. They then make sure that their
33:21
volunteers are coming in and bedding themselves into the
33:24
community and bringing the parents along the journey with
33:26
them. And school districts love when
33:29
the culture reeks and reaps the benefits and the rewards of
33:33
community involvement. And so that that to me is where
33:37
it's at. It's it's rise above the K12
33:40
controversy and say, Hey, this is strategic for us as an
33:43
organization. This is strategic for us because
33:45
we know that we need students that are going to be our next
33:49
workforce. We this is beyond, you know,
33:53
beyond any side of the aisle, right?
33:58
This is beyond all of that. This is this is about students
34:02
need us right now, right? They're not going anywhere the
34:05
way school looks today might we might have a micro we do we
34:09
already have a micro school movement.
34:11
We've had a charter school movement.
34:12
We've had public school really, really embedding themselves
34:15
across the country and really deep and really meaningful ways.
34:18
We have private schools that are doing their best to meet the
34:22
students and the parents and the needs of where where the parents
34:25
and the students are at right. All of these different entities
34:28
are all doing one thing. They're trying to focus on the
34:30
student, give them what they need so that that they can be
34:32
future ready, right? Because we all care about this
34:35
next generation being successful.
34:38
We care about that. There's nobody that denies that.
34:41
So that's what smart lab cares about.
34:44
We care about inviting the community in and saying let's
34:48
partner, let's partner you with local foundations.
34:51
Let's partner you with local school districts, let's partner
34:53
you. And but when we partner you,
34:55
you're demanding that smart labs go in so that smart labs are
34:58
changing these students lives and that that to me is not
35:02
controversial. Not at all.
35:05
And very interesting, you know, So of course the schools want
35:08
it, but they're just like, hey, we're strapped for cash.
35:10
So you go out and find people to sponsor it.
35:12
Now I see a amazing opportunity right now.
35:15
OK, I'm starting Estes ice cream cones and I want to sponsor a
35:21
smart lab. Now, can I plaster Estes ice
35:23
cream logo all over the Smart lab to make sure that those kids
35:26
go absolutely nuts after school? Yeah, I.
35:28
Mean that's the beauty of you know, right businesses don't
35:32
want to just give their money and go well, some do actually,
35:35
we do have some that don't want their brand on it at all.
35:37
They just want to make sure their philanthropic efforts go
35:39
into the school and support students because they care about
35:42
the community and, right. But most businesses want to make
35:45
sure that it's a quid pro quo, that there's some useful
35:52
agreement between, hey, I'm going to give this money because
35:54
I care about kids and I care about their future, but also
35:56
that these kids want to come buy my ice cream, right?
36:00
And that's really important. And absolutely we will go as far
36:04
as not just making sure that we're plastered all over the
36:05
school, but we'll help. We'll, we'll work with
36:08
businesses to develop curriculum that meet their needs.
36:11
Right. So if, if, if your new ice cream
36:14
shop is like, you know what? I'm trying to create an AI
36:16
powered ice cream scoop that scoops up ice cream and does it
36:20
for me so that I don't always have to rely on the college
36:23
students to come in and scoop the ice cream.
36:26
Instead, I can use those college students to do some higher level
36:30
jobs for me, right? The more more, you know, taking
36:33
orders in a different way or really going out and being the
36:35
marketers in the face of the organization.
36:37
So I can use the college students in a different way.
36:39
And then instead I could have these, these cool robots, you
36:43
know, scooping the ice cream out, right?
36:45
So we can create curriculum that talks about that, right?
36:49
Talks about the industry of ice cream making, talks about how
36:52
you can build an AI powered or a coated ice cream scooper, right?
36:58
We can partner and then plaster the company's name all over the
37:01
curriculum. So it isn't just in your local
37:02
school, right? Because you, you want your name
37:05
on that local fence, right? But you also would love to say I
37:10
might want to scale my ice cream shop across the country, right?
37:13
So now you're in the curriculum across the country, Your name
37:17
and, and goals and your brand is in our curriculum that the, the
37:22
students in New York are seeing, right?
37:24
And the students in, in Texas are seeing and now parents are
37:28
demanding, where is, where is that ice cream shop in my local
37:31
community, right? And now you've got these people
37:33
that are like investors that are coming to you saying, Hey, I
37:36
want to invest in you to come to the Houston market right now.
37:40
You're getting to expand. So we're really excited about
37:43
partnering with businesses to say, what do you need from us to
37:46
make sure that your brand is front and forward, right and
37:49
that you are being seen? Is it just local that you care
37:52
about? Is it national that you care
37:54
about? Do you want to help us develop
37:56
curriculum and get branding in it?
37:57
Do you want us to just develop the curriculum and you get your
37:59
name slapped on it? Do you know whatever it is that
38:02
the, the business wants, we are willing to have a conversation
38:06
about because we, one of our five components of the ecosystem
38:11
is partnership. And partnership means a, a real
38:16
partnership that its meaning for each party in that partnership,
38:21
right? You and I want to be a partner
38:22
because there's in something in it for you and there's something
38:25
in it for me, right? And then together, we're giving
38:28
something in it for the students that we're serving, right?
38:31
But we still need what we need from it, right?
38:33
And so we're going to power it by your ice cream shop and in
38:37
any way, shape or form that we can.
38:39
And, and, and we're willing to have lots of different
38:41
conversations of what a particular partnership might be
38:44
and what is meaningful for particular organizations.
38:48
Yeah, it's, it's so interesting, especially as we're kind of like
38:50
at just this pivotal moment, you know, of how AI is influencing
38:55
absolutely everything. And, and one thing that's true
38:57
is that we're all developing a relationship with the tools we
39:02
use, like a personal relationship.
39:04
Now, you know, GPT is a little bit too complimentary.
39:07
And my friends are kind of mean. So I'm not used to that, you
39:10
know, but but that's to say that like, it's very sticky because I
39:14
get used to the way that GPT talks to me as opposed to like
39:18
Gemini. So, you know, finding that
39:20
adoption early on is going to be critical because I really think
39:23
that like, you know, when when I was a kid, we had Teddy Ruxpin.
39:27
Yeah. I.
39:27
Remember Teddy? I love Teddy, remember?
39:30
That it was great. You could put your finger in its
39:33
mouth and it would like hurt, you know, when it was talking to
39:36
you. But you know, The thing is going
39:38
to be the same. I mean, kids are going to grow
39:40
up with their AI companion and it's going to start as a teddy
39:42
bear that they can talk to and they'll sing songs at night and
39:45
then it'll grow as they grow and evolve, you know, So if you're
39:48
thinking about it, like, is there, what if Elon Musk wanted
39:53
to acquire Smartlab largely just so that he could encourage Grok
39:58
adoption to kids when they're coming up?
40:00
Would that what would you would you consider an offer like that?
40:04
Yeah, we're going to talk to anybody.
40:05
We're going to talk to anybody that's interested in being a
40:08
part of the solution that wants to help kids master rigorous
40:11
challenges, right. AI will do tasks.
40:14
That's a fact. AI is going to do tasks.
40:16
Humans will solve problems. Yeah.
40:20
That's a fact, right? That's why we need smart labs.
40:23
That's why we need Smart Labs, because that's going to help
40:25
students grow confident and creative problem solvers.
40:30
And so, yeah. If any business, any leader
40:33
wants to come to us and say, hey, I'm interested in investing
40:35
in you, buying you, partnering with you, investing in smart
40:38
labs in schools, however they want to have a conversation with
40:41
us. We just want people to be a part
40:43
of this movement and if it's because they are looking for
40:46
more profit or they're looking to care about the kids and the
40:48
impact on the kids or they're looking to be a part of the
40:51
solution, we're here for it and we're here to have the
40:55
conversation. So my ultimate goal though, is
40:57
to impact students. It's a win win all around.
41:00
But my ultimate goal as a leader of this organization is that
41:02
student that the students on the other end are the ones that are
41:05
getting the win out of this, right?
41:07
So ultimately, as long as I get that as a leader of an
41:11
organization is that I know that the kids on the other end of the
41:15
stick are going to get the the win, they're going to be the
41:18
biggest winners in this, then I'm open for any conversation.
41:22
Amazing. I'll just make an introduction
41:24
to elon@tesla.com and see if that goes there.
41:29
But I want to talk about the organization too.
41:32
How big is the team? You know it, it depends on what
41:36
you think of as a team. So we have a team of incredible,
41:39
about 50 to 100 incredible in house employees depending on if
41:44
you're looking at the full time versus the part time employees.
41:47
But we also have over 600 facilitators across the country.
41:51
And then we have lots of 1090 nines that help us build
41:54
curriculum and otherwise. So we we really feel strongly
41:58
that we're a small but mighty in house team that cares about
42:02
student outcomes for kids. And then we have this large,
42:06
vast community across the country that is our arms and
42:10
legs and spider, spider webs, if you will, to be our brand
42:13
ambassadors and implementers of this amazing work that we do
42:19
with students every day. Cool.
42:22
And I've met a couple members of your team.
42:23
Shout out to Hannah, shout out to Noel.
42:26
They're fantastic. I'm very.
42:27
Fantastic with with the way you guys move.
42:30
How would you describe your your leadership style?
42:34
Yeah, I, I love this question because people ask me this all
42:37
the time and I my answer is it depends.
42:40
My leadership style is based on who's in front of me, and I
42:45
personally have a very high standard for myself, right?
42:49
I am one of those people personally that takes on a lot
42:52
of things, right? I got a doctorate in the middle
42:55
of 2020. Who does that, right?
42:58
Like, I graduated in 2022, got my doctorate, walked across that
43:03
USC stage, very proud that I got through a pandemic and still
43:08
received a doctorate during that, right.
43:10
I direct my daughter's school play.
43:14
I am a casting director at a theater.
43:17
I'm a CEO of a company. I continually add things to my
43:21
plate. So I have a very high threshold
43:25
of what I can take on and I move it very high, rapid places.
43:29
So most people that work for me are in that sort of mind, like
43:32
take on a lot, run through walls.
43:34
You know it as long as as long as we have 70% of the
43:38
information and we feel good about this kind of decision
43:40
making. If we've got 70%, we're going to
43:42
push through that and make that decision and, and fail hard and,
43:46
and regroup and start all over, right.
43:48
So we have a very fast-paced environment here at Smartlab.
43:53
I feel like I'm a very fast pace, high standard leader.
43:58
I'm rooted in our mission and the our why.
44:01
You could hear me talk about as long as the kids get the benefit
44:03
at the end of the day, I'm all for it.
44:07
But I also care about our standard of excellence from a
44:10
brand perspective, the work we do, the customer experience.
44:14
So I'm the leader that really values high excellence
44:19
standards, Fast-paced, moving, hungry.
44:24
We're humble in what we do, but we don't, we don't accept the
44:29
norm. We don't accept we don't settle
44:32
in what worked. We push past what works because
44:35
there's always something higher that we can achieve.
44:38
But when I say it depends, it depends on the leadership
44:41
because it depends on the problem that we're trying to
44:44
solve. It depends on the person I'm
44:46
talking to. It depends on what the community
44:49
and customer is yearning for. It depends on what the market is
44:54
wanting and I like to flex and be responsive to the community
44:59
that I'm serving. I like to flex and be responsive
45:02
to the, the employees that are in front of me.
45:06
And ultimately, I ensure that whatever I'm, I spent my whole,
45:10
my whole last half of my career now over a couple of, you know,
45:14
2 decades now, 2 decades plus actually in the education space
45:19
because I believe in the future. And I want to put my heart and
45:23
soul towards something that I can lay my head down at night
45:26
and know that I'm being, I'm a part of something bigger than
45:30
myself. And I ensure that I create
45:33
people. You mentioned, Noel and Hannah,
45:35
that we find people around us that are deeply rooted in our
45:38
mission and that deeply care about the outcomes for students
45:41
in our school districts. Because if not, we're only here
45:45
for one reason, profit or growth or what a sustainability and all
45:48
those things matter. And I'm clearly a leader that
45:50
cares about that because I am a driven person.
45:54
But more importantly, I want to ensure that the the end user is
45:57
getting what we promise. Yeah, amazing.
46:02
Couple of things I want to hear about theater, but also how how
46:06
do you think your your team would describe your leadership
46:09
style? How would my team just, I think
46:14
they'd say I was a visionary and not somebody that sleeps.
46:21
I think they'd say those two things.
46:23
I wake up every morning with a new idea, right?
46:25
And I surround myself with people that say great idea.
46:28
However, remember this road map and these milestones that we
46:31
need to hit. Are you saying you want to
46:33
replace that new idea with that? Right.
46:35
And I love that. I love bringing people around me
46:38
that can like bring me down of my vision and say we're good
46:41
with that vision, but that means we're going to have to replace
46:44
something because we only have so many resources, right?
46:46
So I'd say they would say I was a visionary and somebody that
46:49
doesn't sleep. I'd also say that they would say
46:52
I'm a people leader. I care about, I'm a human
46:55
centric leader. I really care about the people
46:57
that work for me. I'm, I'm passionate about
47:01
getting the best versions of people.
47:04
And I'm passionate about creating equity in the workplace
47:07
and that people feel like they're included and they're
47:10
seen and they're heard and they have a seat at the table, right?
47:13
As a woman leader myself, I've, I've been in rooms that I didn't
47:17
feel seen and heard or I felt like I had to be the louder
47:21
voice in the room in order to be seen and heard.
47:24
And so I work really hard with my team to ensure that everybody
47:28
is seen and heard and everyone feels valued and everybody's
47:31
voice, it has a, has a place. And sometimes that means not
47:36
just listening to the loudest voice at the table.
47:38
Sometimes that means going deep into the depths of my
47:41
organization and asking the person at the ground level, what
47:44
do they think? What is their their point of
47:47
view? So I think my team would really
47:50
champion and say that I'm a human centered leader and care
47:52
about the people that work for me and we create, I don't like
47:55
to say family because, you know, sometimes we have to do layoffs.
47:58
Sometimes you have to do make hard decisions about things.
48:00
And so you don't do that with family.
48:02
But I definitely would say we're a tight knit group that cares
48:04
about each other and we're a tribe of people aimed at a a
48:07
mission and a goal. Yeah, I always wonder about
48:12
those people who call their they're a coworker's family.
48:14
Because it's like if we were family, we would have had a fist
48:17
fight years ago. Right.
48:19
Right. Yeah.
48:20
Family's a tough word for me in a workplace, but unified,
48:24
unified front is important. Buddies.
48:28
Yeah. Buddies.
48:30
Yeah, buddies or you know, I don't, I don't even know
48:33
buddies. I think, I think driven, Yeah,
48:35
driven, driven to for a 'cause that that we know is, is of
48:39
value and we care about each other, right.
48:40
If somebody has having a hard day or somebody needs something,
48:43
you know, I'll be the first to call, check in, make sure
48:45
they're OK. I, you know, I, I think that
48:48
it's important to care about the people that you work for, with
48:51
and around. I think that's important.
48:53
So because everybody deserves care in this world and sometimes
48:57
we forget about that. We forget about being caring.
49:01
And I think in this sort of universe and space we're in
49:06
right now, we've got a lot of noise and a lot of dissent and
49:11
anger that's floating in the universe.
49:13
And I just, I believe, leading with love.
49:18
I love that it's amazing. You ready for the you asked
49:21
about? Theater.
49:22
You said theater. You want to know more about
49:24
theater? I love.
49:25
I love talking about theater. Yeah.
49:28
Well, so Mike. Yeah.
49:29
So my dad's a professional actor and director, and he owns a
49:32
theater in Los Angeles, West Valley Play.
49:34
Shout out to West Valley Playhouse for anybody that's in
49:36
the San Fernando Valley. Please go check it out.
49:39
But so I grew up, I grew up in Los Angeles.
49:41
I grew up in the theater space. My dad's a, a tried and true
49:45
theater actor. So I grew up there.
49:46
I also was a professional dancer myself growing up.
49:48
So I love that I now I will choreograph in various
49:53
professional theaters. And because I have a daughter
49:56
that's in elementary school, I've been pulled into that
49:59
volunteer Ness, that volunteer circle.
50:02
And now I also direct and choreograph the local play of my
50:05
daughter's elementary school, which is really fun too.
50:08
So, so I, I also see that as hands on learning, right?
50:11
I'm a person that loves to move my body like loves to engage in
50:15
storytell, both in a dance way, but also in, in through
50:19
storytelling. And I, I, I encourage every
50:25
child adult to see live theater because you can hear stories
50:29
from different perspectives that get you out of your own circle
50:32
every day, that gets you out of your own box.
50:35
And you can hear other people's triumphs and trials and
50:38
tribulations. That a way that I think brings
50:41
meaning to your own life because you can maybe see yourself in a,
50:45
in a, in a story or see something that you would never
50:48
have been exposed to in your own 4 walls and go, oh, there's a
50:52
bigger world out there. And it just brings more empathy.
50:56
It brings more empathy and appreciation for others when you
50:59
listen and learn and stories and theater to me is where it's at
51:02
because it's live and every time you're seeing it, it's, it's,
51:06
it's the first time that, that that actor might be telling that
51:10
story that way, right? Even though they do it maybe
51:13
five times a week, every night, every night that they do it,
51:16
it's a little bit different because they feed off the
51:18
audience. They maybe have their own
51:20
revelation in a little a different way.
51:22
They're listening to their fellow castmate and there's
51:24
something new. And so they create a new journey
51:27
and a new story. And I just love that about
51:28
theater, which is different than movies.
51:30
Movies are great and they're lovely, but it's a story you see
51:32
and you hear. If you watch it 10 times, you're
51:34
seeing the same story 10 times. You go to the same play 10
51:37
times. You learn something different
51:38
every single time. Yeah, and it's live.
51:41
And I mean, I like theater for the same reason, because I'm
51:44
like, I'm like deeply in the moment.
51:46
You can tell when somebody's like a little stage fright or
51:49
they flip a line like the how the the rest of the cast is
51:52
reacting like it's very, it's so cool.
51:56
It's so. Cool.
51:57
You know, it's so cool. I never would have known you
52:00
were in the theater. I would expect you to wear a
52:02
scarf. Right.
52:05
Don't all theatre people wear a scarf?
52:06
Yeah, No, I know. I thought it was a rule.
52:09
And it rained something. You know, yeah, yeah, you're so
52:12
old school. That's so old school.
52:13
There's amazing, amazing theatre actor actors there that really
52:17
study human existence and how humans think and when they put
52:21
themselves. You know, I, I have the best
52:23
story. When I was little, my dad would
52:25
come home from a show right late at night or whatever, from
52:29
rehearsal, and it would take him a minute to undo the character
52:33
that he was. And so as a child, 56789, I'm
52:37
like, is this my dad or is this Lenny from Mice and Men?
52:41
Yeah. Like, I wouldn't know sometimes
52:43
who who he was, right. And it would take him a second
52:47
to like unravel his character to then become my dad.
52:50
And so I, I, I just think growing up in that, I really
52:54
appreciate that there's so many different perspectives, There's
52:57
so many different ways of viewing the world.
53:00
There's so many different cultures that see world through
53:03
their own lens. And I, I, I really strive to
53:08
always remember that my way is not the only way and my way of
53:11
looking at the world is not the only way.
53:14
And there are so many beautiful, rich stories and originations of
53:20
things that we don't even know about until we listen to others
53:23
and we surround ourselves with different cultures and different
53:26
stories and different ways of thinking and being.
53:29
And that that can really be the tapestry to a beautiful life
53:33
when you open yourself up to a other ways of viewing the world.
53:38
Otherwise you get really pinned into like, this is how I see it
53:41
and this is the way it should be.
53:42
And it's like, come on, right. I mean, there's a long history
53:46
and a lot of things that have happened in a beautiful way and
53:49
really horrendous way that we all need to own up to and live
53:53
and step into to know that like, this world didn't get here from
53:57
like your way of thinking, right?
53:59
This world got here from a lot of different journeys and a lot
54:02
of different stories. And being an appreciation
54:05
appreciator of that, I think is really beautiful.
54:11
Me too. You know, I could see how they'd
54:13
be challenging with your pop, though, You know, he comes home,
54:15
he's really excited about a new role he just got cast in and
54:18
you're like, it better not be a Scottish accent again.
54:21
That was unbearable. Yeah, actually, I mentioned
54:25
Lenny from Mikes and Men and that that is probably one of my
54:28
biggest scars on life. You know, I had to watch my dad
54:30
die 100 times over because I'd go to the rehearsals, I'd go to
54:34
the play over and over and over. And so like, I have a real,
54:39
yeah. Anyway, I could get into a whole
54:41
that's a whole another podcast and talk about like my own
54:43
personal journey or maybe it's maybe it's therapy I need to go
54:47
to. But yeah, I, I had to watch my
54:49
dad die a lot as a child. And, and you know, that brings
54:52
you closer to, to, to, to the realities of death too
54:56
sometimes. So.
54:57
Yeah. Interesting.
54:58
Amazing. OK, this has been awesome.
55:00
I've got a couple more questions for you.
55:02
You got a little bit more time. Sure.
55:03
Let's do it, OK? Considering what you know now,
55:07
let's imagine you're going to be a freshman in college.
55:10
What would you study right now? I'd study communication
55:21
Communication. How so?
55:22
Yeah. You know, it's funny because I
55:24
remember being a freshman in college going what should I
55:26
study? And I ended up selling studying
55:28
political science, which clearly I did not do anything with.
55:31
Well, actually I probably did because I have a whole PR
55:34
department. I just got off with an amazing
55:36
company who's going to do some conversations with us about
55:38
earmarks in various states, right?
55:40
So maybe it did help me on some level.
55:43
But I, I feel like because AI is going to do tasks, because
55:47
students are going to know how to do things quicker than we
55:55
ever did when we were younger and in college through this use
55:59
of AI, we need to have really strong orators.
56:03
And even if AI is going to write our speeches for us, even if AI
56:07
is going to tell us the, the road map of how we tell a story,
56:11
right, we still need people to inspire.
56:14
We still need individuals to be able to pull an audience along,
56:18
to pull a community through, to rally people around a common
56:23
good cause. And so I believe that
56:26
communications is a really good way of helping people understand
56:30
how meaningful it is to tell stories, right?
56:33
Storytelling has been since the beginning of time, right?
56:36
Indigenous people have been used storytelling as their mode of
56:40
communication, right? And so whether we're back then
56:44
when there were sticks and fire or now where there's computers
56:47
basically doing everything for us, including picking the
56:50
berries, including fit, right, getting the meat, we still need
56:54
storytelling. We still need great people to be
56:57
able to inspire a movement. And we can see this in politics,
57:02
right? We need people to rally good
57:07
causes. We need people to inspire truth.
57:12
And I think that good communications degrees can teach
57:18
people where there's communication that can inspire
57:22
but in a negative way or communication that can inspire
57:26
in positive way. So I think that would be a
57:28
really good degree to get as a freshman in college.
57:34
I also think degrees obviously in the STEM fields, right?
57:39
Degrees in engineering, right, I think is really important
57:45
because it teaches problem solving skills.
57:47
And if you have a degree in engineering, you could still be
57:50
a CEO of a company, right? Because you have the ability to
57:52
think and to problem solve and to take a lot of complicated
57:58
issues, pull them together and create a road map for success.
58:01
So I think engineering is a really great degree, you know,
58:06
lastly, because I'm going to give a shout out to the
58:08
education space, I think that we need more educators and I think
58:12
that the students need educators.
58:16
And so getting degrees in education, I think a lot of
58:19
students stray, stray away from education right now because the
58:23
dollars aren't that great for educators, right?
58:25
And you get into becoming a teacher and you don't get to get
58:28
paid a lot, but there are a lot of jobs as teachers that that's
58:34
a calling, right? But also as administrators.
58:37
And then in companies like mine, right, most of the employees
58:40
that work for me were former educators, right?
58:43
And so I, I really think that education is the key because
58:47
that is helping build the future.
58:50
Those would be the three, three degrees that I would, I would
58:52
inspire, you know, and then of course, I'm always going to say
58:56
theater. If you just have money to burn,
59:01
yeah, study theater, right? If you have money.
59:02
To burn. Yeah.
59:03
I remember the day my mom said to my dad, OK, I love this
59:06
theater thing. However, could you maybe figure
59:10
out how to make us some money? And then of course, he went into
59:12
TV and and commercials and all that good stuff, but he hated
59:15
it. He just did it because my mom
59:16
said you need to make money because theater is not where
59:18
it's at. Doing a lot of conversation with
59:22
my wife. You know, I, I, I recorded
59:24
records and toured playing music for many, many years.
59:27
And she's like, buddy, this is not the fulcrum of commerce.
59:30
We got we got a couple of kids over here.
59:33
Exactly, exactly. Shout out to the berries though.
59:37
They did the best they can and and and raised to me and you and
59:41
my brother, me and my brother, they raised two kids that are
59:43
really trying to do some great in this world.
59:44
So. You certainly are.
59:48
Where can people find you online?
59:50
Yeah, so anybody can find me on LinkedIn personally.
59:53
So if you go to Doctor Jennifer Berry, you can find me online
59:56
there on LinkedIn and reach out, do a private chat.
59:59
I'm happy to talk to people, DM me.
1:00:01
But if you want to find more about my company, which I really
1:00:04
hope that people do, go to www.itssmartlablearning.com.
1:00:09
So smart lablearning.com, there's lots of free resources
1:00:13
there. There's ways that you can
1:00:14
contact us. And if you're a company that's
1:00:17
like, hey, I want to be a part of this movement, I want to do
1:00:20
something local, I want to do something national.
1:00:21
I want to invest money from our our company's foundation into
1:00:25
inspiring STEM identity in students across the nation or in
1:00:30
my local community. Please, please, please.
1:00:32
There's forms on our website that you can fill out and we'll
1:00:35
get in touch with you and figure out how to broker a relationship
1:00:38
between you and a school district, broker a relationship
1:00:41
between you and a foundation at a local school so that you can
1:00:44
demand that your money gets smart labs into schools.
1:00:47
So we're happy to do that and happy to have you guys join us
1:00:50
in this movement. Amazing.
1:00:54
That's smart. lablearning.com, definitely check that out.
1:00:58
And I, I tell you what I think next time I go to Old Navy, I'll
1:01:02
be thinking about my STEM identity.
1:01:03
It's Panalovian at this point. I love it.
1:01:09
Shout out to old Davy. Come to me.
1:01:10
We can do a commercial together about STEM identity.
1:01:13
Yeah, maybe have maybe have Cat's Eye do a dance to it or
1:01:16
something. That would be great.
1:01:19
Jennifer, I really appreciate it.
1:01:20
Thank you so much. Thank.
1:01:21
You I appreciate your time. Thanks to you and thanks to all
1:01:23
your listeners. Talk to you soon.
1:01:26
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