Latest / Daily Influence / 724. Consistency & Belief: How Lyndsey C. Wilson is Transforming Foster Care Youth into Future Leaders

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724. Consistency & Belief: How Lyndsey C. Wilson is Transforming Foster Care Youth into Future Leaders · Daily Influence

• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to Daily Influence, your daily dose of positive influence.
• 0:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm Brian Smith founder of IA Business Advisors and co-author of the Iain team series.
• 0:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Each day we share stories and insights to help you find be and build your influence in a positive and responsible way.
• 0:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I'm Greg Kaleno, partner at IA Business Advisors and co-host of Daily Influence.
• 0:32
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• 0:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: CEO of First Star, a national nonprofit dedicated to transforming the lives of youth impacted by the foster care system by helping them graduate high school and successfully transition to college and other progressive post-secondary pathways like workforce pathways and certificate programs.
• 1:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: Under Lindsey's leadership, first star partners with universities and child welfare agencies across the country to create long-term, intentional pathways for young people who too often lack consistent support and advocacy.
• 1:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: Lindsey is a leader who embodies responsible influence using her voice to position and platform to create opportunity, stability, and believe for those who need
• 1:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you.
• 1:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you so much for having me.
• 1:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: Let's see, could you share a bit about your background and what led you to where you are today with our listeners and what experiences most shaped your commitment to serving youth and foster care?
• 1:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so my story definitely did not begin with CEO.
• 2:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: It started in the communities that raised me.
• 2:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I grew up about 30 miles east of LA where my parents decided it would be a nice community to raise a family.
• 2:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: The rest of my family however was in Los Angeles, so I always got this juxtaposition between sort of suburban life and being right there in the city.
• 2:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I also learned early on that people are often judged before they're understood.
• 2:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: So of course, I present as a woman, I'm African-American, but I'm also a Spanish speaker.
• 2:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: My first words were in Spanish, and so I understood both feet at typically and through language how people could start to determine who you are or judge you,
• 2:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: prior to really getting to know you.
• 2:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so that has truly shaped how I move throughout the world.
• 2:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: I started my my formal career as a teacher for America teacher later as a school principal.
• 2:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: And for me when it came to working in the foster care space,
• 3:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: The turning point didn't come through my career, it actually occurred much earlier on, and that was I had a very close friend that had experienced aspects of the foster care system.
• 3:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then over time, I started to meet people that had experienced the foster care system.
• 3:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: And now, as an adult, I have understood that some family members also just had some challenges with instability.
• 3:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so I was able to take all of those beautiful moments and memories and the ups and the downs.
• 3:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: to first star.
• 3:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so, you know, we work with young people who are navigating instability.
• 3:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Of course, the foster care system, yet they show up every day with courage, strength, beauty, intelligence.
• 3:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: And what became clear and what we always know, it's not about potential.
• 3:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's about access, it's about consistency and belief.
• 3:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so joining first star was like a stepping into that purpose.
• 3:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: It allowed me to take everything that I had seen at the individual level and begin addressing it at scale, building systems to ensure that our young people don't just survive, but that they're on a pathway to thrive.
• 4:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: So much responsible influence begins with our own story and understanding your experiences that shaped you.
• 4:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: And deciding how we use them is really important.
• 4:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: And at first start, you are influencing not just individual students, but systems, universities, and communities in your view, what does responsible influence look like when you're leading an organization that serves vulnerable youth?
• 4:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: One part of it is that it starts with humility.
• 4:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's a level of humility and there's a level of accountability which are incredibly hard at the executive level because they're also hard at the individual level, right?
• 4:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: Day to day sort of navigating life as as humble as possible is not necessarily a trait that we learn in society.
• 4:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Some people sort of have it as a natural
• 5:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: if they desire to grow in their effectiveness of working with people and then of course to strategically lead an organization.
• 5:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: So those are the two areas that I would say, you know, and I think about responsible influence and leading an organization.
• 5:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's a level of humility and there's accountability attached to it.
• 5:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: What makes first are unique when we're thinking about companies or organizations is that
• 5:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, our client, our students, it's young people, it's high school age young people, it's young adults right now the range is from 13 year old to 28 year old and so that's our North Star and knowing that our young people's lives have been shaped by some level of inconsistency.
• 5:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: you have to be an I've been deeply aware of the weight of the decisions that we make as an organization and that we make sort of on a day-to-day basis.
• 6:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so part of that responsible influence also includes co-creating, listening before leading, building systems that outlast anyone person.
• 6:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is really important to me because I have seen where
• 6:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: environments or ecosystems are dependent on one person sort of one personality and what I've learned now in gosh 15 plus years of executive leadership is that our lives are very vulnerable and we don't realize that our lives are vulnerable to the decisions of others to our own personal journeys and to unexpected health and life challenges and because of this
• 6:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have to ensure in terms of our leadership and it's a responsibility that we build out sustainability for our organizations.
• 6:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: And what that looks like in practice is cross collaboration, cross training, and really incorporating those aspects into the ethos of your company.
• 7:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: the culture of your organization.
• 7:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: So departments are working together to never siloed.
• 7:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have team meetings together every week, once a week.
• 7:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: Where we talk about our projects, what we're proud of, we talk about what we're working on, we talk about the challenges.
• 7:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: So from operations to programs to development, we get a chance at least on a weekly basis to get to know what the other person is doing.
• 7:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so I think that's,
• 7:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: equally as important when you're thinking about sort of this responsible influence and then also that data matters.
• 7:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: So we also have to get to sort of the brass tax of things.
• 7:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: We got to look at the numbers.
• 7:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Our outcomes of course matter as well, but so does dignity.
• 7:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so responsible influence is holding both sort of driving results and protecting humanity for the young people that we serve.
• 7:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's great.
• 7:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for sharing that Lindsay.
• 7:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: In our I&T series, we've talked about how the I represents personal ownership and the idea that leadership begins with individual responsibility before collective impact.
• 8:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: How do you create a culture within first star where every team member understands their personal responsibility in changing a young person's life?
• 8:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, part of it at this point in my leadership is the proximity to the purpose.
• 8:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: How often are we talking about why we're doing this work?
• 8:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: When you hire folks and you're going through this arduous process of phone calls and Zoom interviews and in-person and complete a project, part of those steps are to understand
• 8:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: their true sort of desire and motivation for the mission of your work.
• 8:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: So that's sort of one of the first steps that we take as an organization to determine the proximity to the purpose.
• 8:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then beyond that, it happens during our team meetings, it happens during our site visits, spending time with our directors and our scholars.
• 9:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I will say that
• 9:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: This sort of understanding of building culture for me has taken time to get there.
• 9:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: When I started off as a school principal, I was in my mid-20s.
• 9:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think I was like 27, 28.
• 9:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: And mind you, my staff was 10 years, my senior in terms of their average age.
• 9:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so understanding how to navigate groups of people, there's been a learning curve over time with that.
• 9:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: So with my current team, I'm excited to share, you know, I've been here now nine years with First Star.
• 9:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: And my team has had very little turnover and I've seen the growth in my team, which is equally as important to proximity.
• 9:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: It is the time that an individual leader is willing to give to the individuals and to see their growth and part of the way that we do that is, you know, my first year with First Star, we instituted annual reviews.
• 10:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: People needed to understand what are their attributes when it comes to the professional environment, what are their competencies as it relates to not profit work.
• 10:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: So the competencies change depending on the company or the business environment you're in, but your attributes really don't because that's who you are just generally that's your character that you bring to your space.
• 10:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: So we started conversations like that.
• 10:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now I guess eight years ago,
• 10:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: that is helped to also grow the team.
• 10:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: And to really who they are today, which is like a dynamic, super team.
• 10:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like I'm so proud of everyone from my COO to our coordinators, they do amazing work.
• 10:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: So that's one, so that those are a few ways that we do this.
• 10:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then ultimately, by incorporating staff voice, cross collaboration, et cetera, there's a sense of ownership in the work.
• 10:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're not just observers.
• 10:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: We are participants in someone's future.
• 10:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so when we internalize that, the culture shifts from task oriented to mission driven.
• 11:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: That sense of ownership can really be transformative.
• 11:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: Even especially for young people who may not have always had experience consistency or advocacy and it's great that you're providing that support to your team.
• 11:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, absolutely.
• 11:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
• 11:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: Can you tell us about a moment or experience where you thought you made a positive impact on someone's life?
• 11:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: Perhaps a student who's journey deeply moved you or one of your team members?
• 11:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I think there have been so many and that's the privilege of working in non-profit and education
• 11:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, often people say, like, oh, it's so awesome that you're working in your passion, and I agree, it is awesome.
• 11:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: It is a blessing.
• 11:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's an honor, but I also sort of turn that around and remind other folks, even if you're in the corporate environment or military or, you know, wherever sort of your journey has taken you that you too have the ability to still make change and impact people's lives.
• 11:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: it's not only reserved for educators and non-profit, right?
• 12:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so I think it's really important that people are just reminded of that.
• 12:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: But in terms of over my career, I mean there's so many stories but one that is more particular to first start is gosh, I have so many.
• 12:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: When I was a principal in
• 12:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: I knew that we had young people in foster care, but at that time I didn't know I didn't know as much about sort of the pedagogical work that goes into working with kids that have experienced care.
• 12:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: I sort of knew the best ways to work with them because of my own personal experiences and having met incredible people that experienced foster care.
• 12:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I joined first star and I think I want to say it was my second sort of Saturday academy with the students and all of a sudden a student comes up to me and says Miss Collins and he was one of my students when he was in middle school
• 12:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: had no idea he was in care.
• 13:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: So that was incredible because he was also one of my favorite students.
• 13:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Every morning he was, you know, you know, sometimes the principal or the AP kind of has like their own little gang of students and hang out with them while they're doing like morning the supervision and things like that.
• 13:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: And he was one of them.
• 13:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so I just, I was just overjoyed that I, some of my students were going to be, we were a part of the first start program.
• 13:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so I'm thinking about this young man, I'm in a thing about to another student as well.
• 13:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: Ultimately, what happened in both cases is that they didn't think college was possible.
• 13:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: So in first, our number one obligation and responsibility to our students is to get them through high school.
• 13:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's to say that the 50% graduation rate at that time, that wasn't California, that's not you.
• 13:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to get you through high school, right?
• 13:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: At 100% of you guys, we're going to move through through high school and on to whatever the next path is.
• 13:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: So that's your first obligation with your scholars and then you achieve it.
• 14:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: But in the interim, especially their junior senior year, you start to talk about, well, what about college?
• 14:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: What about certificate programs?
• 14:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: For both of these young people, they didn't think that college was possible.
• 14:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because they had some challenges in school and of course, that sort of move from school to school and have been in different homes.
• 14:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: But in both cases, they both got into college and it was a journey because they really thought it was impossible.
• 14:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: And in fact, we had to connect with EOP offices at these universities to let them know about our students, to let them know that they were great candidate, both of them got into school.
• 14:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I just remember celebrating that.
• 14:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the entire first dark academy at that time, we all celebrated them, because it was sort of a shot in the dark, but we knew that it was possible.
• 14:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so we helped and we held onto that belief with our young people and so those are, you know, those are sort of two experiences that come to mind that will always stay with me and and it was special to hear them say they could see a future for themselves now.
• 15:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: So that's the work.
• 15:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's not about changing trajectories.
• 15:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's expanding what a young person believes is possible.
• 15:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: What a great story lensie.
• 15:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for sharing that.
• 15:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, stories like that remind us why the work matters.
• 15:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: And they also speak to the ripple effects of influence.
• 15:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: And how one steady adult presence can alter the trajectory of a life of a young one?
• 15:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, absolutely.
• 15:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
• 15:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: First, our partners with universities, child welfare systems and communities.
• 15:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: What have you learned about building strong partnerships?
• 15:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: True teams, essentially, that create sustainable impact rather than short-term solutions?
• 15:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've seen both.
• 15:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've seen what it looks like when you build a relationship where they're shared ownership.
• 15:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: and just how fantastic the outcomes are.
• 15:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: And beyond the outcomes, it's the process because that's really where the magic happens.
• 16:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's in the day to day, it's in month to month, and sort of seeing the trajectory and the growth of the scholars, but also the program.
• 16:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then I've also seen it where there isn't as much excitement or energy around supporting young people in care.
• 16:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: So the most effective partnerships that we've built with our universities, community organizations are the ones that are not just aligned with mission, but in responsibility.
• 16:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, when you're navigating an organization and you're working and executing MLAs with universities, you really want to ensure that everyone has skin in the game.
• 16:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: We've also learned that sustainability comes from integration, not addition, so it's important that, you know, when you're working with partners that there's a clear sense of the value add that both of you are seeing this mutually beneficial relationship.
• 16:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: So that level of symbiosis is so important when you're working with partners and if you're really wanting to create this sense of shared ownership and finally I would say trust is
• 17:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: So strong partnerships require transparency, consistency, and a willingness to navigate the challenges together.
• 17:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: I agree, and our books talk about moving from intention to execution and turning that vision into measurable action.
• 17:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 17:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: If you could go back and offer advice to your younger self, what would you share and how might that guidance help others who are early in their journey today?
• 17:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, I feel like there's a lot.
• 17:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: So there's a lot to share there, right?
• 17:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: I would tell my younger self that you don't have to have it all figured out, but you do need to move forward every day.
• 17:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Stagnant, stagnancy is not a good thing for sort of any aspect of life, whether it's like, mental health, physical health,
• 17:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Embracing joys is incredibly important.
• 17:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think the other thing that I would share is and this is through my faith and Christianity is that grace exists and it finds its deepest strength and our commitment to mending what has been broken.
• 18:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: I would let my younger self know that even mistakes that you will make, there's grace still in those moments that you can still find a sense of reconciliation
• 18:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: even though you've made some natural mistakes as a 20 year old or you know 30 in your 30s all of that will frankly for the rest of your life people make mistakes.
• 18:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: But that's what I would tell my younger self and I would also let my younger self know that
• 18:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: sort of the deeper you go into the wrong direction.
• 18:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I mean, this is a lot of different things, whether it's not taking care of your physical health, your mental health, relationships with others, sort of navigating both personal intimate relationships with people and sort of your familiar relationships that there could be some consequences to that or some outcomes to it.
• 19:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you may not understand the value of restoration
• 19:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: But you have the ability to still restore yourself things are not broken and that restoration can be an intensive emotional process clearing away the debris acknowledging the breakage and making a plan to rebuild.
• 19:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes individually you just have to do it for yourself even if it was connected to something or someone else or with others in some instances.
• 19:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: And sort of earlier to what we were saying just reminding yourself to protect your energy and that embrace the joy along the way.
• 19:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: This work that is this work that we do as my younger self and my older self it is meaningful, but it's also heavy.
• 19:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: And again, that goes to this notion of like, just move forward every day and know that any mistakes or some of those challenges.
• 19:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's opportunity to restore yourself and to restore others, but that you do have to sustain yourself if you want to sustain impact.
• 20:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: I shared a few years ago, I was honored by Spelman, the LA chapter as an alumna of the year.
• 20:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: The magic happens sort of in the middle of the work, right?
• 20:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't happen in sort of the failure moment, and it doesn't happen in the highlight moment.
• 20:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Your leadership, your desire to impact others to grow and to do whatever it is that you've set your heart to, that work happens in the middle.
• 20:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so how do you ensure that every day,
• 20:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: you're waking up and again, you're taking one step forward moving in the direction of your passion, your desires, your goals, your belief.
• 20:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I also mentioned during that speech that there's sacrifice and there's compromise that happens as well along the way.
• 21:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Your comfort ability
• 21:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it's not easy.
• 21:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so that's why I say that as a young person, like give yourself some grace, because you'll have some time to mend these things, because you were working, you were walking your path, all the ups and downs you were walking your path.
• 21:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: So it's okay.
• 21:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, and then the last thing is just trusting your voice.
• 21:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: And even if you're the youngest one in the room, or the only one who sees something differently, your perspective has value.
• 21:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: that perceptiveness is so powerful.
• 21:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for sharing that.
• 21:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, many of the youth that you serve have faced instability, what role do consistency and belief play in responsible influence?
• 21:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: There, there are everything.
• 21:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: So when we think about the sort of secret sauce that makes first our work, it's consistency and it's belief.
• 22:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: The consistency is that our program for our high schoolers
• 22:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: for summers, for academic years, and then we get to that finish line of high school, right?
• 22:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: And because of that, we graduate 99% of our kids from high school.
• 22:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Which is better than anybody's average, right?
• 22:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Just the average American doesn't graduate at 99% from high school.
• 22:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: And our young people that have experienced foster care do not graduate at 99%.
• 22:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the number at this point really fluctuates.
• 22:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: We often hear 50%, but there was some new data that came out that said it's maybe in the 60s.
• 22:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it depends on sort of how we're defining it.
• 22:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Nonetheless, the consistency with our students got us to 99%.
• 22:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: the belief in short that we stayed there alongside them every step of the way.
• 22:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Consistency is a verb, it's an action, belief I think is an internal feeling.
• 23:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: It is one of those, it's an attribute, it drives you.
• 23:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're belief in somebody will drive you to support them and to see the circumstance out.
• 23:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's what we do at first arm.
• 23:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: I often tell people when I I learned this actually
• 23:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: When you're working with young people in care, because there's such a level of instability from their family environments, which means living with a resource family, so that means you're living with a foster family.
• 23:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're living in a group home, so you're living in a home where the folks that are caring for you are staffers are getting paid to come in for eight hours shifts and they leave.
• 23:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: You live in an STRTP, which is a much more residential facility that someone might
• 23:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: You might live in kinship care, which means you live with a family member for your duration and child welfare.
• 23:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: In all of those scenarios, young people end up moving around.
• 24:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: So not only do they move around throughout those types of environments and placements, but they also end up in different schools.
• 24:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: At first star, it's the consistency that we see them, regardless of what their placement is, regardless of what the challenge is.
• 24:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then it's the belief that we have internalized as a staff and as an organization.
• 24:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: We call ourselves a first-door family.
• 24:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's that belief that drives the mission forward.
• 24:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so it's everything when you're thinking about our work at first star, showing up consistently is following through.
• 24:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: It means your present and that alone is transformative and belief is just as powerful.
• 24:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I think about belief through, you know, sort of these more singular approaches of like, I believe in this young person, I believe in this cause and here's what I'm going to do about it.
• 24:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: But belief is also powerful in that it's a part of your faith, right?
• 24:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Belief is one of the strongest words when you're thinking about faith, you're thinking about your religious background or spirituality.
• 25:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so I like to think that part of the belief that we have in our students is bigger than sort of a singular outcome, but we're looking at it as the ripple effect of believing in someone and in something.
• 25:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so when young people truly feel like folks believe in them, it can begin to rewrite their internal narrative, and that's what we've seen at first, I mean, we have students that are now in law school.
• 25:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have students that have graduated from graduate school at Parsons and in New York.
• 25:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's doing great things.
• 25:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have alumni that are now in our board.
• 25:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: we have alumni that have become mothers and fathers and raising families now.
• 25:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we're just we're proud of them.
• 25:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I like to think that at the core of the work, the consistency and the belief, the belief is that sort of, when I think about the power of belief, that's where the internal narrative has started to shift as well, right?
• 26:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so that's, you know, it's everything.
• 26:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for sharing that and in closing for our listeners who aspire to make a positive difference in the world, whether an education, not profit leadership, business or in their own community, what message or words of encouragement would you like to share.
• 26:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Start where you are.
• 26:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I mentioned it a little earlier that you don't have to necessarily just be a teacher or a doctor or a nonprofit to change lives.
• 26:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: that you can be a secretary, you can be a lumber, you can be in the skill trades, you can be a software engineer, you can be in transportation.
• 26:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Any of these places or spaces you find yourself in start there.
• 26:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: You don't need a title, you don't need a platform or perfect conditions to make impact.
• 26:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: I just need a willingness to show up in care.
• 27:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Be intentional about the spaces you're in,
• 27:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: your workplace, your community, your relationships, that's where change begins, you know, sometimes it's as simple as in the grocery store paying for the person in front of you, their items and sort of deliberately telling yourself once a month, you know, I'm going to put aside $25.
• 27:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: to pay for somebody's items or to help them with something.
• 27:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: Or I'm going to sign up to volunteer with an organization like first star.
• 27:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: So you can always work with us.
• 27:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Or you can be there for a family member in need.
• 27:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's not always loud, it's not always visible.
• 27:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes it's just a conversation, it's a moment of encouragement, or simply being consistent in someone's life.
• 27:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: If enough of us commit to that, meeting people where they are helping them move forward, we don't just change lives, we change systems.
• 28:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: That is so true, Lindsay, thank you for the work that you're doing.
• 28:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: And for the example you said is a leader, you remind us that responsible influence isn't about visibility, it's about commitment, it's about showing up consistently building systems that serve others and believing in potential long before someone else does.
• 28:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: If our listeners want to get in touch with you, what's the best way to do so?
• 28:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: I would say LinkedIn.
• 28:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: I definitely check my LinkedIn at least three to four times a week.
• 28:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: So message me on LinkedIn.
• 28:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'd love to connect.
• 28:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can also go to firststar.org.
• 28:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's our website to for our organization.
• 28:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: So there are ways to connect with me and my team through the website.
• 28:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Those are probably the two best ways.
• 28:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: LinkedIn and firststar.org.
• 28:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: Great.
• 28:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: We will put that information in our show notes, Lindsay.
• 28:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: the youth of the, you know, America and beyond and so grateful you are here to your story and the story of the work that you're doing.
• 29:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you.
• 29:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much for having me here and just having the opportunity to highlight some of the great work that we're doing.
• 29:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: And to our listeners, influence starts with the eye.
• 29:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: It starts with choosing to take responsibility for the impact that we have in our homes, our workplaces and in our communities.
• 29:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: If today's conversation moved you, share it with someone who could use a little positivity today, and consider how you might use your voice, your resources, or your relationships to support organizations like First Star, and to advocate for you, young people who simply need someone to believe in them.
• 29:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: Remember small actions create big impact, keep showing up, leading, and growing one-day-to-time.
• 29:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: Until next time, stay inspired and keep having a positive, responsible,
• 29:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: Bye-bye.