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Seeds Into Steps · Is Your Way In Your Way?

0:25
Cassandra: Good day out there to all my listeners, and I'd like to welcome you to Is Your Way in Your Way podcast.
0:32
Cassandra: And I'm your host, Cassandra Crawley Mayo.
0:36
Cassandra: And for those new listeners out there, let me tell you a little bit about what this podcast is about.
0:41
Cassandra: It's for individuals who are stuck.
0:43
Cassandra: This is for individuals that you know there are things that you want to do in your life.
0:50
Cassandra: And if I ask you this question, are you living your best life on purpose?
0:55
Cassandra: And I give you a scale from one to 10, and 10 being the highest, what would what would you rate yourself?
1:03
Cassandra: Just think about that for a minute.
1:06
Cassandra: Because if you're in the in between, I mean, anything you rate yourself is okay, but yet I'm on a mission to empower purpose-driven women to start living your best life on your terms.
1:24
Cassandra: So that's why this podcast is geared for individual what I say, self-development, self-improvement, and also enable you to do some self-reflection.
1:35
Cassandra: And I'm always prayerful that one in my podcasts will give you like an aha moment and say, you know what?
1:43
Cassandra: I've always wanted to do this.
1:45
Cassandra: And based on what I heard today, I'm gonna pivot and I'm gonna make it happen.
1:49
Cassandra: So therefore, I bring guests on my podcast that that uh I would say play a role, a significant role, and what it is that I would like to do for all of my listeners.
2:03
Cassandra: So today, the name of the podcast is dropping seeds with impact and purpose.
2:11
Cassandra: And let me, I want to ask you this have you ever felt like boxed in by the rules?
2:17
Cassandra: You know, whether in the lab, the classroom, or life itself, like the rules, but what if that what if the way out wasn't more structured, but more of a movement?
2:27
Cassandra: So today I'm gonna speak to to Sasha Sesha, and she's gonna repronounce her name for me.
2:35
Cassandra: I've tried this before, Jackson Wood.
2:37
Cassandra: She's a powerhouse scientist who traded white coats for dance floors to inspire the next generation of steam leaders with over 20 years in pharmaceuticals and a heart for youth empowerment.
2:51
Cassandra: She is reimagining what education and equity look like through a program that literally puts purpose in motion.
3:00
Cassandra: So get ready, guys.
3:01
Cassandra: Get ready to hear how she broke free from convention, launched her own movement literally, and is helping others get out of their own way.
3:12
Cassandra: And trust me, you've never heard a story like this one.
3:16
Cassandra: Let me introduce her to you now.
3:19
Cassandra: Okay, uh, hey, um Sha.
3:25
Cassandra: Yes, hello everyone.
3:30
Sesha: Hey, did I pronounce it correctly?
3:32
Sesha: You did, you did.
3:34
Sesha: Thank you so much.
3:35
Sesha: Thank you so much for having me today.
3:37
Cassandra: Yeah, as you are here, and I probably won't say your name anymore during this podcast in case I messed it up, guys.
3:44
Cassandra: Now, before I start, although I talked a little bit about what you've done and what you're doing, but I want to read a little more of your bio so individuals will get a better understanding of what qualifies you to do the work that you're currently doing.
4:03
Cassandra: So, as I indicated, my listeners, she's a scientist, an educator, and a national health equity leader with over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and preclinical research industry, blending her deep knowledge of STEM with a passion for youth development and educational reform.
4:25
Cassandra: She founded the Dropping Seeds in Motion.
4:29
Cassandra: That's a transformative initiative that integrates movement and dance with STEAM learning to close academic gaps and ignite purpose in students and educators alike.
4:41
Cassandra: Her innovative approach equips youth, educators, and early career professionals, especially from underrepresented backgrounds, with the tools to thrive and STEM and beyond.
4:55
Cassandra: So, listeners, as she talks to us today and we have this conversation, if you have children, if you're a grandparent, if you're an aunt, if you're uh and have nieces, just listen to this.
5:08
Cassandra: I think um this is evolution to me, an evolutional moment could be revolutional based on what I what my passion is as well.
5:18
Cassandra: So I want her.
5:20
Cassandra: Well, I'm gonna ask her this before you you found the dropping seeds with impact and purpose.
5:28
Cassandra: Tell us a little bit about what was going on with you before that time.
5:32
Sesha: Sure.
5:33
Sesha: So I was an earth science teacher at the time.
5:36
Sesha: My background is in pre-clinical research.
5:39
Sesha: However, there was a short while I served as a high school earth science teacher, and it was in that class where I had a revolutionary uh thought, a moment.
5:50
Sesha: Okay.
5:51
Sesha: From the textbook, I would throw with worksheets, and God showed me that there was an opportunity.
5:57
Sesha: And what the what was the opportunity?
5:59
Sesha: Well, to take all of my gifts, all of my talents, had danced for 30 plus years of my life from tat, ballet, modern African jazz.
6:10
Sesha: I was also a scientist, so I said, hmm, how can I make an opportunity for these students to learn in a different way, to get out of the textbook, to get off the worksheet.
6:22
Sesha: And so that's how drop and seas emotions started.
6:26
Sesha: Now, what let me ask you.
6:30
Cassandra: So you were a teacher, right?
6:32
Cassandra: Initially.
6:33
Sesha: So as pharmaceutical, right?
6:36
Sesha: Mm-hmm.
6:37
Sesha: So I started out, so my degree is in laboratory animal science, and as a scientist conducting preclinical research studies for several years.
6:48
Sesha: There was a part of the time in my career where I had my first child and I wanted to, I was at home with her, and I was slowly transitioning back into the pharma space.
7:01
Sesha: Well, that transition within that window, it allowed me the opportunity actually to actually work as a science teacher for a short while.
7:09
Sesha: So yes, that's a revolutionary moment for me at that time.
7:16
Cassandra: So when you were growing up, you know, because one of the things that we talk about here on is your way in your way, is there's something you would you wouldn't answer, but was it something you always wanted to do and growing up, or was it totally different?
7:35
Sesha: I always loved being in nature.
7:39
Sesha: Okay.
7:39
Sesha: Always loved being outside.
7:41
Sesha: My father worked in um herbal medicine.
7:45
Sesha: He loved me in nature.
7:46
Sesha: So oftentimes he would take me and my sister out swimming and just to be in nature, without hug trees, just embracing nature.
7:54
Sesha: Now, at that time, I didn't really know that I had a passion for science until I started to get older.
8:01
Sesha: So, really, my passion for science started in nature, it started being uh it's just experience in nature and embracing it out and seeing how all the synergies of life just works together from the rain, the grass, the trees, all of that.
8:18
Sesha: So that's where my passion for science started.
8:20
Sesha: Also, my my mother was a medical doctor, she was a physician.
8:25
Sesha: Uh, Dr.
8:25
Sesha: Sandra Magruder practiced in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for many, many years, and her passion to work in the community, uh, she's left that mantle on me.
8:35
unknown: Okay.
8:36
Sesha: I have a passion to help the next generation, that now generation, be inspired in the area of as well.
8:45
Cassandra: Oh, wow.
8:45
Cassandra: Okay.
8:46
Cassandra: But because you know, it's interesting because a lot of people try to figure out well, what you know, I'm I'm currently in this role right now, but it's like something is calling me, you know, like it's something else that I know I should be doing, but I just can't put my finger on it and I'm stuck.
9:04
Cassandra: But you realize at a young age, science, nature was your thing.
9:09
Cassandra: So you made a decision maybe to pivot and really get into what your passion is and included it with movement.
9:19
Sesha: Yes.
9:19
Sesha: And and I think too, I think sometimes people think they have to do one or the other.
9:25
Sesha: Okay.
9:26
Sesha: I believe that when we show up in the world with all of our gifts, with all of our interests, with all of our talents, you can do it all.
9:34
Sesha: I still work in the pharma space.
9:36
Sesha: I'm a manager at Johnson Johnson as well.
9:39
Sesha: I'm also an entrepreneur and an author.
9:42
Sesha: And I also still work with kids and I train teachers and I train educators and I mentor.
9:47
Sesha: So that's when you talk about being stuck, who who said the box is there?
9:51
Sesha: The box doesn't exist.
9:53
Sesha: We put ourselves in the boxes here in our mind, right?
9:56
Sesha: So for me, it was acknowledging my gifts and talents and knowing that there was something more that I wanted to do, a greater calling, a greater purpose that God wanted me to plant in the earth.
10:10
Sesha: So for me, it was just stepping out and um taking the leap of faith.
10:18
Sesha: Wow.
10:18
Sesha: Challenging, but when you step out and you're prayerful about it and you're allowing the Lord for me, my faith is a big part of my work, my role um as a believer in Jesus Christ.
10:30
Sesha: When you step out and believe God is leading you, okay, this will fall into place.
10:36
Cassandra: Okay.
10:36
Cassandra: Um, so that's why in the beginning, I'm like, you know, a lot of us think we we should be we're boxed in these rules, you know, like we should, you know, um have this job when we graduate from nine to five or whatever, and then after that get married, have a white picket fan, have kids, and all of that.
10:54
Cassandra: But I see that things are changing for many of us as women.
11:00
Cassandra: Um, I want to know about um tell us a little bit about the integrating the dance.
11:10
Cassandra: Like, how do you how do you do that?
11:12
Cassandra: Like, give us some examples with the movement with STEM learning, because STEM is like science technology.
11:20
Cassandra: Well, tell everyone what STEM is.
11:22
Sesha: Sure.
11:22
Sesha: Everyone knows.
11:24
Sesha: So STEM, or what I like to use the term is STEAM adding the A for arts as a dancer.
11:30
Sesha: So stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math.
11:36
Sesha: And the A can be, it could be uh visual arts, it could be poetry, but for me, with my 30 years of experience as a dancer, it's dance.
11:45
Sesha: And I get that question a lot, a lot.
11:48
Sesha: What does it look like?
11:49
Sesha: I mentioned I love science growing up, you know, like to be in nature.
11:55
Sesha: I can see science move.
11:56
Sesha: I think that that is a gift that I have.
11:59
Sesha: Science moves all around us.
12:01
Sesha: So take, for example, photosynthesis.
12:04
Sesha: Photosynthesis is the process by which plants use to make their food.
12:09
Sesha: So they need light, they need soil, and they need nutrients, right?
12:12
Sesha: They need light, water.
12:14
Sesha: Um, and so part of what I do when I work with kids is that we become this process.
12:19
Sesha: So I'm also a choreographed, a choreographer, so I choreograph movement as well in dances.
12:24
Sesha: So if you could just imagine if you have a group of students, they're learning about photosynthesis, the sun, the soil, the water, you bring it in sound as well.
12:34
Sesha: You have students who can group together and be the sun rays.
12:37
Sesha: You can include movement with the dances when you're talking about sun rays, water.
12:42
Sesha: The students can actually become the water, right?
12:45
Sesha: And even the soil.
12:47
Sesha: So there's different uh movements that can be integrated and incorporated together to help the students learn and retain the information.
12:56
Sesha: In fact, there's thousands, and I mean thousands of studies that support when kids are moving, their brain is engaged, their body is engaged, and they could actually remember more of what they're they are learning.
13:31
Sesha: In fact, I've seen it myself.
13:33
Sesha: I was pre-K kids all the way up through high school, and it's amazing the amount of content that they can retain and learn and actually enjoy learning it, right?
13:43
Sesha: When you create that movement in a learning environment.
13:47
Cassandra: Okay, give us an example of something that you teach or have taught individuals and they sustained it as a result of movement.
14:00
Sesha: So I'll go back to the example of photosynthesis on the process by which you know plants make their food.
14:06
Sesha: One of the things that I try to do in every workshop where I'm working with youth is to do an assessment.
14:14
Sesha: Now, sometimes that word assessment can be make students nervous, but however, I want to make sure that when I show up in the workshop, that they're learning it, the content, and they're retaining it.
14:24
Sesha: But I think in those workshops is at the end, my assessment is a movement assessment.
14:29
Sesha: So I might have them um line up in a line, right?
14:34
Sesha: Or if there are students who have some physical disabilities, I'm adjusting um for that as well.
14:39
Sesha: I might say a true or false question.
14:43
Sesha: If I say um photosynthesis is not the process by which plants make their food.
14:49
Sesha: If you think it's true, tap your head.
14:52
Sesha: If you think it's false, step forward.
14:55
Sesha: And so now I can visually see what areas I need to reinforce.
15:01
Sesha: If everybody steps back, or if one or two people tap their head, I can do an assessment without pointing out a student and saying, you tell me this, you answer this question.
15:11
Sesha: So when I show up and I do the workshops, I facilitate these workshops, the content, the science content is aligned with the science standard at the grade level.
15:21
Sesha: So they're gonna be learning the content already, or they've already learned it and I'm just reinforcing.
15:29
Sesha: And that's that's how I make it really, really impactful to help set them up for success because I'm not just there twirling around with the students, they're learning, they're having fun, they're moving around and they have retained it, they've learned it for the first time, they're reinforcing it and they're having fun.
15:48
Sesha: And you should see the teachers too.
15:50
Sesha: The teachers, they just sometimes they jump right in and that that really helps with um, you know, teacher-student rapport, class cohesion.
16:01
Sesha: Um, the research supports that it decreases um poor behavior problems.
16:05
Sesha: There's so much research out there that says that students um are more focused when you're integrating physical activity movement in the classroom.
16:14
Sesha: So I'm passionate about it.
16:15
Sesha: I train teachers as well on um best practices.
16:19
Sesha: I have a framework that I share with them as well, the how-to.
16:24
Cassandra: Okay.
16:24
Cassandra: Okay.
16:25
Cassandra: When you were teaching, um, would you still teach, but what grade was it?
16:29
Sesha: Is it the certain grade?
16:31
Sesha: So I have taught from pre-K all the way up to you know, mentoring through the college level, but for specifically for integrating the dance and science, it's been pre-K all the way up through school.
16:47
Cassandra: Okay, okay.
16:48
Cassandra: Why do you think it's um essential to prepare students for the next in today's society?
16:57
Sesha: So one of the things that I am seeing as someone who has worked in pharma for 20 years, working on global teams, um, multicultural teams, multi-generational teams, I've noticed that there is a gap from where they come from, the education system to the workforce.
17:20
Sesha: And so when you talk about being in school, being in college, learning the technical skills, that's great.
17:27
Sesha: The technical skills are important, but what I'm finding is that there's a uh an opportunity.
17:33
Sesha: Um, I don't like to say challenges.
17:37
Sesha: Challenges, there's opportunity, right, to help train these students um to have the emotional intelligence to learn how to work together in a team to understand what it means to work in a multi-generational team because us when students graduate from school, they're gonna be on a team where you may have someone who's a baby boomer, you may have someone uh who's a millennial, like myself.
18:05
Sesha: I'm Gen Zers, I'm raising Gen Zers now.
18:07
Sesha: So sometimes I say, oh mama, you're such a Gen, I mean, such a millennial.
18:12
Sesha: So I think it's really important for to prepare our students for what they are going to expect when they get out here in the real world.
18:21
Sesha: And a part of the framework that I've developed um hits around that.
18:26
Sesha: And there's there's um uh questions, is there's this constants and around how they can show up and really understanding the team dynamics where they work, even the intelligence as well.
18:37
Cassandra: Wow, that's good because I have a chapter in my book about um, you know, once you get out of school, like you're indicating, go to college, and I'm like, so now welcome to the real world.
18:48
Cassandra: And I recall when I relocated um to Birmingham, Alabama, I wasn't ready for what I was up against.
19:01
Cassandra: Um, you know, with the racism and the uh different cultures and all of that.
19:10
Cassandra: And so how would you, let's say at the college level or maybe senior in high school, what are some of the things that you do to prepare them for the real world?
19:26
Sesha: So, as I mentioned, I do have a framework that I've created that is called Proactive, and uh it really digs into you know planning the piece where like planning for change.
19:37
Sesha: One of the things that I think is really important, um, and there are is renewing your mind.
19:43
Sesha: There's just several different elements of it, but when I because I have a rising high school senior myself, so we have conversations about this as well.
19:51
Sesha: Okay.
19:52
Sesha: One of the things I really there's so many things I could talk about, but one of the things that's most important, I think, is to be flexible, is to prepare for change.
20:03
Sesha: All right.
20:04
Sesha: I have an example.
20:05
Sesha: When I first started working at Johnson Johnson, I was hired for one role within a couple months.
20:10
Sesha: There was a reorganization of uh the department, and my manager where I was working with, I had now had a new manager in a whole new role.
20:21
Sesha: There was no successor to that specific role in that specific position.
20:25
Sesha: So I was put in a position where I had to figure it out with the resources that I had.
20:31
Sesha: I had to know what questions to ask, had to know who to go to to ask the questions to actually do my role uh an efficient way.
20:39
Sesha: So here I am, got this job right out of school.
20:42
Sesha: I mean, right after right after my previous role as a um quality insurance auditor, and there's a shift, there's a change.
20:48
Sesha: Now, I've could have waddled in that place.
20:51
Sesha: Oh my goodness, what am I gonna do?
20:53
Sesha: I don't know, but no, how do you plan for change?
20:57
Sesha: Okay, planning for change is to is renewing your mind.
21:01
Sesha: Planning for change is um asking the questions to the right people, it's finding the information, it's being prepared for it, like expect it because it's going to happen.
21:13
Cassandra: Right.
21:14
Sesha: One thing that I would say because also it's really, really important to be flexible.
21:19
Sesha: Being flexible means that you are agile, you're agile in how you work, you're innovative.
21:28
Sesha: Things are changing constantly.
21:30
Sesha: Look at technology.
21:31
Sesha: I remember I was uh uh there was an old school rotary phone, and my kids were like, What is that?
21:39
Sesha: You know, what's that for?
21:41
Sesha: So you know, being flexible and and changing is really um is really important.
21:46
Cassandra: Okay.
21:47
Cassandra: Well, what do you start?
21:49
Cassandra: Uh so you teach that with your your framework, but do you start that at a certain um age group?
22:01
Sesha: The framework.
22:02
Sesha: Uh-huh.
22:03
Sesha: So I I believe that you can actually implement those skills as early as you can.
22:10
Sesha: When you think about it, us as human beings, we're comfortable with what we're comfortable with.
22:17
Sesha: I mean, think about it when you go to church or your religious organizations or the way you take to go to work or school every day.
22:24
Sesha: It's usually the same thing.
22:26
Sesha: You usually sit in the same place, right?
22:29
Sesha: But when you are intentional about changing and doing something different, there's a mind shift that happens.
22:36
Sesha: And the something different could be learning something different.
22:39
Sesha: For example, I'm also part of the Society of Quality Assurance, which is an organization that supports quality assurance professionals, providing training and education.
22:49
Sesha: A couple of years ago, there was an opportunity for me to lead the organization as the chair of the STEM outreach committee.
22:56
Sesha: Okay.
22:57
Sesha: Love working with STEM, I love working with outreach, and I was being pushed to actually take that role.
23:06
Sesha: It was uncomfortable at first because it was new.
23:10
Sesha: There was no one who had done it before.
23:12
Sesha: So I think that's really important to pay attention to um to release the Holy Spirit to know when the spirit is pushing you to greatness, pushing and pushing you to grow.
23:25
Sesha: Because when you stay in a place of comfort, yeah, you could potentially get stagnant and you want to grow.
23:31
Sesha: So it's really important to be able to push yourself, challenge yourself because that's how you grow.
23:38
Cassandra: Right.
23:39
Cassandra: So listen, so today, you know, STEM jobs, so to speak, are king, queen, you know.
23:46
Cassandra: If I could get more students to get in that field of the science, the technology, even the arts, as you're talking about, um, math, and you talk about how you um speak about overcoming limiting beliefs.
24:09
Cassandra: And I think, and I I don't know, but a lot of people aren't in those programs.
24:17
Cassandra: I think more are getting more women.
24:19
Cassandra: It was like a lot of men, but more women are getting into that program, and they didn't before because of limiting beliefs.
24:27
Cassandra: So, what do you think was the was the part about why why won't they get in that program?
24:35
Cassandra: What what is that about, you think?
24:37
Sesha: I think that's a really good question, a really reverent and timely question.
24:41
Sesha: My background was such that I grew up with my mother, was a physician, as I mentioned.
24:47
Sesha: So I saw, and she was a chair of the National Medical Association, so I saw people who looked like me, who were doctors, physicians.
24:57
Sesha: I saw that growing up.
24:58
Sesha: Literally, my mother would drag me to her medical meetings.
25:02
Sesha: So I so I saw representation, I saw myself in the field.
25:07
Sesha: Um, you know, being she put me in different programs, my dad also put us in different programs to help expose us to the industry.
25:16
Sesha: I think I know representation matters.
25:21
Sesha: When students see their self, so for example, when I go to the schools, uh, done some work in some rural areas as well.
25:29
Sesha: When I show up, I'm inspiring them, I'm speaking life over them, I'm telling them, you can be a feminist, you can be an epidemiologist.
25:39
Sesha: This is what I've done.
25:40
Sesha: And so when they see it and then the fret, the flesh, they're like, well, wait a minute.
25:46
Sesha: I sure do that.
25:47
Sesha: I was working at a summer camp at Fayetteville State, um, facilitating a workshop, and we were talking about polymer science.
25:55
Sesha: And at the end of the workshop, this young lady comes up to the table because we've had an experiment as well.
26:00
Sesha: She's she's like interested, intrigued.
26:03
Sesha: I'm like, did you think this is interesting?
26:05
Sesha: She said, Yeah.
26:06
Sesha: So maybe you consider uh you know, studying uh material science.
26:11
Sesha: So all you need is one seed, all you need is one engagement for them to see, oh, yes, that can be me.
26:20
Sesha: You know what?
26:20
Sesha: I will pursue it, I will do it.
26:22
Sesha: And that's part of my purpose here on earth is to inspire those who might never see anybody that looks like them and see anymore.
26:31
Cassandra: Wow.
26:31
Cassandra: So dropping seed with impact and purpose it is our title.
26:36
Cassandra: How like my listeners that have children, um not only children, but people in their family that are underage?
26:49
Cassandra: What would you suggest or how how would they be able to get them that exposure that you had because you were in that family?
27:03
Cassandra: So it was kind of easy for you because your mom was a doctor, you know, your dad was big on nature.
27:09
Cassandra: How would you share or what would you say for them to get that type of exposure?
27:16
Sesha: Good question.
27:17
Sesha: So there are a lot of organizations, both for profit and nonprofit, that provide different opportunities for students to experience theme.
27:27
Sesha: What I would suggest is try your local community colleges, try your local uh universities.
27:35
Sesha: I mentioned I work with Fayetteville State through Drop and Seeds in Motion, they had a 21st century learning program at the time.
27:43
Sesha: I'm not sure if that program is still in operation.
27:46
Sesha: However, there are a lot of um programs in those spaces.
27:52
Sesha: Um go on um LinkedIn, you know, Facebook, Instagram, like do a search for um, you know, programs in in um that space.
28:01
Sesha: Myself, I can bring workshops to uh any organization if you're interested in having some science and movement at your school, university, church, um, and um have a great experience for students.
28:17
Sesha: So there's a lot of opportunities out there.
28:18
Sesha: Some of them are low or no cost.
28:21
Cassandra: Okay, I'm just gonna ask that.
28:23
Cassandra: Yeah, okay.
28:24
Cassandra: So just like do your research.
28:27
Sesha: But if you wanted to bring a drop of season in motion science and dance experience to your your organization, your your community, um, just get a group of kids together that I would love to help support their let me talk about math.
28:42
Cassandra: Um, how okay?
28:45
Cassandra: I I'm thinking about this movement thing, you know, like when you are instructing someone to do a math problem, and you know, and I hear people say, math was not my thing.
28:59
Cassandra: And then there are individuals that love math.
29:02
Cassandra: Now, an individual that's not really good in math, but really need to know math, you know, when you get older, I mean, you can't get over trying to figure out the percentage of this and the percentage of that.
29:15
Cassandra: What type of movement, like, like, for example, if somebody wants to understand uh what percent, um I don't know, 20% of a hundred dollars or whatever.
29:29
Cassandra: What is that?
29:30
Cassandra: What type of movement, what do you do with that as an example?
29:35
Sesha: That's a good one.
29:36
Sesha: So what what I initially feel and see with that, so I mentioned, I might have mentioned this to you, but I'm trained in action-based learning, which is the uh pedagogy of teaching uh related to um when the brain and body are connected, students can remember more.
29:53
Sesha: It was created by Jamie Blaze Months.
29:55
Sesha: Um, one of the things that is important to know that's the foundation of learning is rhythm and beat.
30:02
Sesha: So rhythm and beat.
30:04
Sesha: You remember back in school when we used to learn different songs?
30:08
Sesha: We used to learn different, um, at least I did in school, different beats.
30:14
Sesha: Well, that was strategic because it was a foundation of learning.
30:19
Sesha: So back to the question about percentages and beat, I mean percentages of um different numbers.
30:26
Sesha: You can actually pull that A out, that R, and have their students create a song or a dance related to with their own rhythm, their own B, because students are always moving and dancing, usually, to help them remember how to take 20% of what you say a hundred dollars.
30:45
Sesha: So what happens?
30:46
Sesha: Is that when you and you can give them an example?
30:48
Sesha: What happens is that they're taking ownership of their learning.
30:52
Sesha: Not only are they doing that, if they include the music, the rhythm, and beat, they're also developing their brain as well.
31:00
Sesha: They're also um they're also taking an opportunity to take advantage and take a hold of their own education and their own learning, and they can use that for other subjects like English, like physics.
31:18
Cassandra: Interesting.
31:19
Cassandra: Interesting.
31:20
Cassandra: Uh, because I know, you know, there are individuals listening.
31:26
Cassandra: You know, when we talk about uh living your best life on your terms, there are many individuals say uh a piece of that, and it could be personal business, living your best life.
31:38
Cassandra: And many people will say, you know, I want my child to be successful.
31:43
Cassandra: You know, what what does that look like?
31:46
Cassandra: I want them to uh be great in school, or um, I want them to go to college, or how would this so one of the things you said is based on your instructional learning, there you've seen students really enjoy it, you know, um they're having fun, and you know, just think about that.
32:13
Cassandra: They're having fun, but they're sustaining, but they're learning and they're excelling, you know.
32:18
Cassandra: And uh do is there a percentage of individuals that you worked with that will you believe go to college as a result of how you taught them, what they picked up?
32:31
Sesha: Is there so there are about 33,000 studies, over 33,000 studies that support students in a space with physical activity and learning and being successful?
32:49
Sesha: One of the things as you mentioned is um parents wanting their students to be successful.
32:56
Sesha: What does success?
32:57
Sesha: Ask a question.
32:58
Sesha: What does success look like for your student or for your child?
33:03
Sesha: Success vary.
33:05
Sesha: A lot of students might not go to college, and that's that's the part as well.
33:10
Sesha: There are students who may want to, you know, take a trade, or there may be students who want to go straight into entrepreneurship, you know.
33:18
Sesha: I think that's really important when you're asking that question about success, define success because success will be different from the one person to the next.
33:28
Sesha: And I think it's really important for parents, you know, guardians to really lean in and really understand the gifts and talents of those that they are um student, those kids that they have.
33:42
Sesha: Um college might not be for all students, but it's really important to know what their gifts and talents are and to be help them be their advocate and to make sure that they are being introduced to different opportunities that will expose them to different areas that they're interested in, and even new opportunities they wouldn't even think of.
34:05
Cassandra: Okay, okay, because you know, right now, like you indicated, technology changes to me every day.
34:11
Cassandra: I'm like, oh my gosh, now something different.
34:13
Cassandra: You know, but a lot of us people, students, young adults, they're on that phone, you know, they're using the phone to tell them what time it is.
34:25
Cassandra: You know, if you put a clock up there from 1 to 12, and you say, Well, what time does that clock say?
34:31
Cassandra: Uh, but they could look at the digital, you know.
34:35
Cassandra: Um, do you believe even though STEM is critical and they are encouraging individuals to get in those programs because that's where the jobs are, so to speak?
34:48
Cassandra: Um what do you see as the pros and cons of technology for the kids today?
34:57
Sesha: That's a good question.
34:58
Sesha: So I am considered a millennial, uh, if you want to label me.
35:03
Sesha: Um, one of the things that I think is really important is to have a have an understanding of both.
35:12
Sesha: Okay.
35:12
Sesha: Because at any time and any day, you know, you might not have technology.
35:18
Sesha: And so by way that I mean you know, what if there's the power outage, right?
35:23
Sesha: You know, what if um there's a bug that comes into our computers and we can't do our work, right?
35:29
Sesha: We can't be connected.
35:30
Sesha: So what I what I tell my students, uh my kids actually uh uh that I that I have is that you need to ask the questions.
35:37
Sesha: Well, if this happens, how would you function?
35:41
Sesha: Like if you didn't have your phone, how would you figure it out?
35:44
Sesha: I remember back in the day, actually, I was just talking to my kids about it, traveling with my my mom and my dad and my sister on road trips, and we had a mat.
35:52
Sesha: You know, we would get the uh trip ticks from from AAA and we would pull out the mat, right?
35:57
Sesha: And we could figure that out because I I think that there is a level of um critical thinking that needs to continue to occur when we take off the technology.
36:09
Sesha: We don't want the machines to think for us, we don't want, but we STEM is very, very critical in that as you mentioned, technology is changing, STEM is changing you know every day.
36:21
Sesha: We need the people to build the technology.
36:26
Sesha: We need those people, those students with those critical thinking skills, that innovation, that creativity, yeah, um, in STEM.
36:34
Sesha: So I think that there needs to be sort of they need to be on both sides of the fence.
36:39
Sesha: That's what I share with the next generation, is to really have an understanding of what could you do if this was to happen, if there wasn't technology, it's gonna be really important as well as we're moving forward in life.
36:57
Cassandra: Now, I asked this question before, but I'm gonna ask it again only because uh individuals being stuck and not moving forward or um, you know, and I give you a personal example.
37:13
Cassandra: I've always wanted to do like a TED talk.
37:16
Cassandra: All right.
37:17
Cassandra: And I'm like, I don't think I could, I don't know if I could do that.
37:23
Cassandra: But what's going on is those limiting beliefs, you know, and those limiting beliefs, we all had them, but you you talked about one of the things you even speak about is overcoming them and preparation for your next.
37:41
Cassandra: Take us through an incident or a story or or a methodology that you do with your students to overcome, and not students, maybe teachers to overcome these limiting beliefs.
37:57
Cassandra: How do you do that?
37:59
Sesha: So living to limit limiting beliefs are, I believe, are one of the biggest hindrances from people really maxing out all of the gifts, all of the talents.
38:15
Sesha: Um, and it comes down to your mind, it comes down to you know your previous experiences, whether you had a positive experience from a different organization, whether you had a negative experience with someone who had a similar title, someone within a similar industry.
38:33
Sesha: There's a there's a lot of um touch points when it comes to limiting.
38:39
Sesha: However, as I mentioned, my faith is a big part of the walk.
38:46
Sesha: And I know that a big part of it is why I'm here today and able to max out because I know I was created with a purpose.
38:55
Sesha: I was fearfully and wonderfully made.
38:57
Sesha: So, for what I do, what I tell people I work with, I mentor students, I tell them your gift is your gift, despite what the other person next to you may have.
39:10
Sesha: It's not the same.
39:12
Speaker 3: Right.
39:12
Sesha: I shared this in the past too.
39:13
Sesha: If someone has the same title as you within the same company or organization or even a separate company, they cannot do it like you do it.
39:22
Sesha: That's organizations who support and work in the area of STEM in science and in arts and dance, but God called me to do this the specific way.
39:33
Sesha: And I think that it's important for us to, as my um bishop says, right, watch what we say and watch what we speak because there's power in our so when I when I work with kids, students, you know, all ages, I'm constantly encouraging them.
39:53
Sesha: I'm constantly saying, you can do it.
39:56
Sesha: Right.
39:57
Sesha: And I think that oftentimes when I mentor college uh students, recent grads, they see positions they're interested in, and they see that, oh, I don't have that qualification.
40:08
Sesha: Hold up, wait a minute, let's talk about that.
40:10
Sesha: Because what I'm working in industry is that you need to be able to speak to and articulate your transferable skills.
40:18
Sesha: Oftentimes that's that confidence piece that needs to be developed.
40:24
Sesha: A limiting belief is it's pseudo, it doesn't, it doesn't exist in my world.
40:29
Sesha: It's yeah, how can we change our mind, shift to thinking?
40:35
Sesha: How can you show up?
40:38
Sesha: How can I take an experience that I've had, whether it's volunteering, whether it's um a challenge that I've had at an organization, how can I make that fit what I'm looking for, where I'm where I'm wanting to go in life?
40:54
Sesha: And I think that that's that's what we have to do.
40:57
Sesha: We have to build community around it, build connection around it.
41:02
Sesha: We need to talk to each other.
41:03
Sesha: We need to get off our phone sometimes.
41:05
Sesha: I mean, honestly.
41:06
Sesha: That's right.
41:11
Sesha: Uh-huh.
41:13
Sesha: Connection.
41:13
Sesha: And I think that it's really, really important working within the space I've been working in for many, many years, that that rapport, that connection, while technology is great, you can't replace it.
41:25
Sesha: People all around the world, from Belgium to France to the Netherlands, and that people connection is going to be a game changer because people want to be able to see that you can work in the teams.
41:37
Sesha: And that's part of what I share and mentor students and you know facilitate the workshops with them as well.
41:44
Cassandra: Right.
41:44
Cassandra: And that's good, preparing them, them for the next.
41:48
Sesha: Yes.
41:49
Cassandra: Yeah, yeah.
41:49
Cassandra: Yeah.
41:51
Cassandra: And making that connection with individuals.
41:54
Cassandra: You know, I was listening to something the other day, and um, you know how individuals, you know, you meet somebody and you say, So what do you do?
42:04
Cassandra: I'm I'm an author, you know, just like that.
42:10
Cassandra: Rather than saying, based on what you do, what is it about what you do that you really like?
42:17
Cassandra: You know, open-ended, you know, to start the connection.
42:22
Cassandra: Because you're right, we are, yeah.
42:26
Cassandra: No, no, you know, because we're so busy doing, you know, on the this on the phone, on the computer, you know, we don't make that connection.
42:36
Cassandra: And connection to me is critical.
42:40
Cassandra: Never underestimate the power of relationships.
42:43
Cassandra: We need them, we need each other, we need the community.
42:47
Cassandra: Yeah, so right with that.
42:50
Sesha: Unbelievable.
42:51
Sesha: And I agree because, you know, as I mentioned on global teams and you know, work with many people, you know, even if my entrepreneurship endeavor, when I show up to a meeting, if this is if this is our first time meeting, or if you know, this is a meeting where we've been together, you know, for several cadences, I'm trying to connect with them.
43:11
Sesha: Um, it could be something super, what seems super small, like having a similar interest, that goes a long way when you just ask what your interests are.
43:22
Sesha: Share a little bit about yourself.
43:23
Sesha: You don't have to tell your whole life story, but exactly because what I found too is that when you made that connection, there's a certain energy and synergy that happens in a team that's positive when you make that connection.
43:38
Sesha: So it is a it is a good uh business decision to do that, right?
43:44
Sesha: So it makes good business sense to connect with your teams because at the end of the day, you can meet your goals in a better way.
43:52
Cassandra: Exactly, exactly.
43:54
Cassandra: And if you think about a lot of people are working from home and it's by themselves, and they just that's socialization, you know, um it kind of stagnates individuals, you know.
44:09
Cassandra: Um, I'm not saying anything's wrong with it.
44:11
Cassandra: Um, I used to work from home and and I loved it, but then there was a time when I'm like, I think I'm gonna go in the office and see what's going on, you know, and things of that nature.
44:21
Cassandra: Um, what can my okay, what could my listeners do as parents, grandparents, aunts, nieces, um uncles, as I said, to carry on the legacy that you're doing now.
44:45
Cassandra: What can they do?
44:48
Sesha: Be present, advocate for your youth, um, ask them questions, talk to them.
44:59
Sesha: My husband is an educator as well.
45:02
Sesha: He's he was created and anointed for it as well.
45:06
Sesha: And one of the things that when we talk, we talk about the importance of really showing up for our kids.
45:16
Sesha: What does that look like?
45:17
Sesha: It could be something simple as you not having your phones at the table uh when you're having dinner and asking them a question.
45:27
Sesha: How would you say?
45:28
Sesha: How did that make you feel when this happened?
45:30
Sesha: Like, what made you smile today?
45:32
Sesha: Because what I found is that when you have that authentic connection, and that's what I do when I work with students, you know, through my uh my Steam Extension through success and drop and season emotion, I talk to them.
45:47
Sesha: Nobody's talking to our kids.
45:49
Sesha: I shouldn't say nobody, but there's an opportunity for us to really grab them and hug them.
45:55
Sesha: Yeah.
45:56
Sesha: Mental health is real.
46:00
Sesha: Yeah.
46:00
Sesha: And sometimes, oftentimes, when you make that connection, whether it's your niece, your nephew, whether you just call them and say, How are you doing today?
46:11
Sesha: Is there anything I can do to support you?
46:13
Sesha: When I have students, you know, that reach out to me on LinkedIn who want to have a quick chat.
46:20
Sesha: If my schedule allows, I'm connecting with them.
46:23
Sesha: I'm meeting with them because that's that's part of my purpose.
46:25
Sesha: I'm not telling everybody to do that, but the connection is important, the community, and not just an email or a text.
46:35
Sesha: Like, let me hear your voice.
46:36
Sesha: Yes, I can put sound in the earth just for us to mute ourselves, right?
46:41
Sesha: Talk to each other.
46:42
Cassandra: Okay, that's good.
46:44
Cassandra: And I love it about dropping seeds with impact and purpose.
46:49
Cassandra: And for those individuals that are in their way, you know.
46:53
Cassandra: Um, um, I you definitely shared some things that will help some individuals get out of their way if they found that they were in their way, because they're individuals that have so much going on.
47:11
Cassandra: I know people that give the child uh um a phone, an iPad, and let them, you know, because I need to do this, you know, I'm busy, so let me give them that, and not knowing the impact it can have on individuals when you don't like when I was growing up, and I I maybe I'm dating myself, but we ate as a family, and some people can't do that, you know.
47:41
Cassandra: But uh when dinner was ready, you got to be at the table.
47:45
Cassandra: I'm like, oh man, you know, we never ate by ourselves unless you know somebody was busy at the work or whatever, but that's where we made the connection.
47:55
Cassandra: We have had a conversation, you know, and I take that on now as I am more mature and not older.
48:04
Cassandra: But I if I'm gonna eat, I I eat, you know, with my husband, and we just all sit down and eat together.
48:11
Cassandra: Um so I I I love the what you're doing.
48:17
Cassandra: Um, and for my listeners, just think about what it is that you want to do to start having if you're not your best life.
48:28
Cassandra: But whatever you do, you want to make an impact and a make a purpose because it's not all about you.
48:36
Cassandra: And I confess at the time of my life, it was all about me, you know what I mean.
48:45
Cassandra: But I have learned that it's not all about me, you know, and you get more joy and connect when you are sewing at others' lives, absolutely, as you do, uh huh.
48:59
Cassandra: You have more fulfilled and more purpose, absolutely.
49:03
Sesha: I totally agree, and I I echo what you said.
49:06
Sesha: You have to your listeners, you have a purpose, you have an assignment and assignments um for you to complete here in the earth.
49:15
Sesha: And I just you know want to say that those thoughts that you have, those ideas, doom, put them on paper, write it down.
49:23
Sesha: That's how I wrote my my first book.
49:26
Sesha: God gave me a vision because, like I mentioned, I was you know, I love nature, and he gave me the title years before it was birth.
49:34
Sesha: So I encourage you write it down, and it will come to pass.
49:40
Sesha: You gotta put in the work, but yeah, absolutely.
49:46
Sesha: Yes, yes.
49:49
Sesha: In the past year, um, the Holy Spirit told me that I said, You need to write this anthology.
49:55
Sesha: So, part of, and I'll just quickly share, part of what guy is giving me also is to build community and connection over my 20 years.
50:04
Sesha: I've come across many awesome um back and indigenous people of color, women in Steam with amazing journeys.
50:11
Sesha: And sometimes it can be very lonely because you're in spaces where you may be the only one.
50:16
Sesha: Exactly.
50:16
Sesha: Is that there is a connection, there's community.
50:22
Sesha: These these women have um great, great um journeys, triumphs, successes that need to be heard, need to be shared.
50:30
Sesha: And so the other book I have coming out, it's called Seeds of Germination, where it highlights their successes and triumphs and challenges.
50:39
Sesha: So the intent is not for me, but it's for us as a community so they can see, oh, I had that similar challenge, but I still succeeded.
50:50
Sesha: Oh, that happened to me.
50:51
Sesha: Oh, that person still succeeded.
50:53
Sesha: So we have to tell our stories, we have to put them down on paper.
50:56
Sesha: The book that you want to write, write it.
50:59
Sesha: The program you want to start, start it, the mentorship program, that that app that you want to develop.
51:05
Sesha: Do it now.
51:06
Sesha: Now is the time.
51:08
Cassandra: Yeah, seeds of germination.
51:10
Cassandra: Yes, nothing but nature, right?
51:14
Cassandra: Well, let's tell my listeners how they can get in touch with you.
51:20
Sesha: Yes, absolutely.
51:20
Sesha: So you can find me on uh my website is sesshawood.com.
51:27
Sesha: Or you can go to dropping seeds in motion.com.
51:31
Sesha: I'm also on LinkedIn.
51:33
Sesha: Uh, and you can also find me on the common social media platforms.
51:38
Sesha: I'm on Facebook D S I M.
51:41
Sesha: Excuse me, Facebook is dropping seeds in motion, and Instagram is D S I M.
51:48
Cassandra: Okay.
51:48
Cassandra: Okay.
51:56
Sesha: An email, you can send it to info at dropping seeds in motion.com.
52:01
unknown: Okay.
52:02
Cassandra: Well, thank you so much.
52:03
Cassandra: Thank you for dropping those seeds.
52:05
Cassandra: And you have um really spoken into my life, and I know you've spoken to many of my listeners as well.
52:15
Cassandra: Okay, so thanks again.
52:17
Cassandra: Thanks for being a guest on my show.
52:19
Cassandra: And as I always say, bye for now.
52:23
Cassandra: God bless, and I love you.
52:24
Cassandra: Thanks again, Sega.