Latest / Teach Me Something Hosted By DJ Prostyle & Penny Dellas / The AI Playbook for Entrepreneurs with Randy Gomez

Transcript

The AI Playbook for Entrepreneurs with Randy Gomez · Teach Me Something Hosted By DJ Prostyle & Penny Dellas

0:00
Speaker 1: Hey, what's up.
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Speaker 2: This is DJ pro Style and this is Penny tell
0:03
Speaker 2: Us and this is Teach Me Something.
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Speaker 3: Brought to you by Berkeley College.
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Speaker 1: Hello, beautiful people, welcome back to Teach Me Something. I
0:11
Speaker 1: go by the name of DJ crow Style.
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Speaker 4: And I am Penny Shot out to Berkeley College.
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Speaker 1: Of course, we're back. We're in season three. We're up
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Speaker 1: and running.
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Speaker 4: Feeling great today, Penny excited? Which Penny, do we get to.
0:26
Speaker 3: The podcast instead of today?
0:31
Speaker 5: Anybody doesn't know what she says. She says, I'm feeling amazing.
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Speaker 5: I'm just so happy to be sitting here next to.
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Speaker 4: You, my people.
0:37
Speaker 3: You know your translation is what you want it to be.
0:40
Speaker 1: That's what everyone heard, Penny.
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Speaker 3: That's what I heard. You know it's true. It's true.
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Speaker 1: Can we be about today's guest, Penny?
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Speaker 5: We can and war winning strategist, educator, and entrepreneur who
0:51
Speaker 5: is helping business owners unlock the power of artificial intelligence.
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Speaker 3: Let me tell you about this nomenal woman that we
1:02
Speaker 3: have here on this podcast, which just is winning across
1:06
Speaker 3: the board as a tech founder, as a serial entrepreneur
1:10
Speaker 3: because multiple businesses, as well as a Berkeley College alumna,
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Speaker 3: a colleague, really a woman that uplifts other women, including myself.
1:20
Speaker 3: She's phenomenal and also forty under forty. I mean we
1:26
Speaker 3: are here with a business go og we am benidos
1:33
Speaker 3: randi omens.
1:34
Speaker 1: There we go.
1:35
Speaker 6: What an intro? Oh my goodness, it's.
1:38
Speaker 1: Long intro of this because that's how much you know,
1:40
Speaker 1: you have so much going on.
1:41
Speaker 7: Thank you, thank you, it's amazing. Super excited to be here.
1:45
Speaker 3: And speaking of your journey, Randy, So you let's just
1:47
Speaker 3: bump into it, right, But you migrated here from the
1:50
Speaker 3: Dominican Republic jun New York and you went straight into business.
1:56
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, that's pretty much the story.
2:00
Speaker 3: Was that something that you were ingrained in from a
2:04
Speaker 3: child or was it something of coming here or learning
2:06
Speaker 3: a new culture, learning how to pivot?
2:09
Speaker 7: Right?
2:09
Speaker 3: Where does that stem from?
2:10
Speaker 6: Yeah?
2:11
Speaker 7: No, I mean I think it's the story of most immigrants, right.
2:14
Speaker 7: You come to this country and you're not speaking the language.
2:17
Speaker 7: You don't speak the language, and it's sink or swim.
2:20
Speaker 7: You have to make it out here, right. And so
2:23
Speaker 7: for me personally, my parents migrated from the DR and
2:27
Speaker 7: they were professionals back home and now they're in this
2:30
Speaker 7: new country where they have to figure it out. They
2:34
Speaker 7: have to take care of two small little girls, and
2:37
Speaker 7: like many immigrants, my parents had to make the difficult
2:41
Speaker 7: decision of coming to the country working, building a solid foundation.
2:45
Speaker 6: Before bringing their children.
2:47
Speaker 7: Yeah, and that's the immigrant story that a lot of
2:49
Speaker 7: people don't hear, right, all the sacrifices that come with it.
2:52
Speaker 7: But in true entrepreneurship fashion, it all stems from solving
2:56
Speaker 7: a real world problem, right, And in most cases it's
2:59
Speaker 7: your own problem. You're just striving and looking for a
3:02
Speaker 7: solution to a problem that's affecting you. And for me,
3:05
Speaker 7: that was doing my little sister's hair in the morning.
3:09
Speaker 7: My little sister has beautiful blonde, curly hair, and every morning,
3:13
Speaker 7: because my mother would work late, it would be my
3:16
Speaker 7: responsibility to do her hair. And so I quickly learned
3:20
Speaker 7: how to braid hair out of necessity because we did it,
3:23
Speaker 7: we couldn't do her hair every single morning. It was
3:26
Speaker 7: very time consuming. So I learned how to braid hair
3:28
Speaker 7: and then became the braider of the neighborhood, started working
3:33
Speaker 7: in a barbershop.
3:34
Speaker 6: Shout out to Blade's barbershop.
3:35
Speaker 7: They're still up and running and yeah, and just starting
3:39
Speaker 7: my entrepreneurial journey that way. You know, rented a room
3:42
Speaker 7: in the back of the barbershop, started having clients. I
3:47
Speaker 7: remember my first business cards. It said Randy Candy because
3:51
Speaker 7: I was like thirteen years old, Randy Candy.
3:57
Speaker 6: With my phone number.
3:58
Speaker 1: Also your Instagram is.
4:01
Speaker 7: Because people will be hitting me up for other things.
4:07
Speaker 6: But yeah, I know, like I said, you know, solving
4:08
Speaker 6: your own problem.
4:09
Speaker 7: That's what entrepreneurship is all about, a real world problem
4:12
Speaker 7: and that's what really set me off. And I was
4:14
Speaker 7: so fortunate to be in a place where there was
4:16
Speaker 7: just so much love around me. You know, these guys
4:18
Speaker 7: took me under their wing that I was like their
4:20
Speaker 7: little sister.
4:21
Speaker 6: You know. I remember having the DJs come into the
4:23
Speaker 6: shop with the mix tapes.
4:25
Speaker 7: You probably you probably one of them that walked in there,
4:27
Speaker 7: you know what, DJ Clue, DJ Camillo, and you know,
4:32
Speaker 7: the barbershop was our third place. I feel like that's
4:34
Speaker 7: something that doesn't exist nowadays, a third place where people
4:36
Speaker 7: just come to get a haircut, but really to hang out.
4:39
Speaker 5: On a Friday night, a barbershop is still a thing,
4:41
Speaker 5: like as far as people definitely go hang out. I
4:44
Speaker 5: actually stopped going to barbershop because of how much time
4:48
Speaker 5: consuming it was because of the hanging out and the
4:50
Speaker 5: conversation and yeah, I actually cut my own hair at
4:53
Speaker 5: this point, or I guess somebody, come, yeah, I actually
4:55
Speaker 5: should cut here.
4:56
Speaker 4: It's like almost the same thing she was saying. I
4:57
Speaker 4: started cutting here. I was cutting hair all through like
5:00
Speaker 4: I get that.
5:02
Speaker 6: Oh my gosh, well that's actually where I met my husband.
5:05
Speaker 4: At home, I bought a barberchair. I have the little thing.
5:07
Speaker 6: Yeah, we have a barber share in our house.
5:10
Speaker 4: Save some money because.
5:14
Speaker 6: Not ten dollars. Definitely not to come over to your house.
5:17
Speaker 4: But you know that's their great for the shots.
5:20
Speaker 5: All anybody out there watching or listening to us, who
5:22
Speaker 5: cuts who's who's in the.
5:24
Speaker 4: Business of hair. It's such a great business to be in.
5:28
Speaker 5: I know barbers who have thrived and they're so successful
5:32
Speaker 5: because I mean, you're cutting something.
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Speaker 6: It's like it's a necessity.
5:35
Speaker 1: It's going to constantly grow if you're lucky, right.
5:37
Speaker 5: But so like if you're somebody who cuts hair, that
5:40
Speaker 5: person you're cutting their hair, it's you're gonna cut them
5:42
Speaker 5: forever and then their kids and you keep and their
5:44
Speaker 5: hair keeps growing. And it's generational, perfect business. It's generation
5:50
Speaker 5: even when they lose their hair, they still come in
5:51
Speaker 5: and they get the sides faded up or something like that.
5:53
Speaker 1: You know.
5:53
Speaker 5: And when women and women, I mean it's women. I mean, wow,
5:57
Speaker 5: it's so expensive to.
5:58
Speaker 7: Get to get your hair done. And there's always money
6:02
Speaker 7: to get your hair done. You know, there's always money
6:04
Speaker 7: for that. But you're right, you know, with your barber,
6:06
Speaker 7: it's generational. You go to your barber. You know, you
6:09
Speaker 7: take your son to your barber. Your son takes you know,
6:12
Speaker 7: so it's generational money.
6:14
Speaker 1: It is. If I wasn't in this game.
6:20
Speaker 3: Okay, I know where I'm getting my haircut.
6:23
Speaker 4: I got you, you know it.
6:29
Speaker 3: From starting your first business to now owning over six
6:33
Speaker 3: businesses over the trajectory of your career, how do you
6:37
Speaker 3: find the market now? Being the founder of sparks Labs right,
6:42
Speaker 3: building a powered solution for entrepreneurs, how do you see
6:47
Speaker 3: the business landscape pivoting.
6:50
Speaker 6: Well with the with emerging technology.
6:53
Speaker 7: I and I was just on a panel, you know,
6:55
Speaker 7: yesterday morning, an AI panel, and I say that this
6:59
Speaker 7: is so such a tremendous opportunity. You know, for me,
7:02
Speaker 7: I feel that AI is the equalizer of our time,
7:05
Speaker 7: right because for many decades, these corporations had access to tools, applications,
7:12
Speaker 7: marketing strategies that the average average day person did not
7:15
Speaker 7: have access to.
7:16
Speaker 6: I mean, you know, let's let's talk about CANBA. Right.
7:19
Speaker 7: CANBA is in application. It was built by a woman,
7:22
Speaker 7: and you know, it's been transformational for entrepreneurs.
7:25
Speaker 6: Now they have incorporated AI into it.
7:28
Speaker 7: And this right now, this technology is really the equalizer
7:32
Speaker 7: because you do not need the technical background to use it.
7:35
Speaker 7: The return on investment is tremendous. It allows entrepreneurs to
7:39
Speaker 7: scale their business at a speed that is unheard of.
7:42
Speaker 7: And it also allows you to leverage all of the
7:45
Speaker 7: different things that you can do with the technology, so
7:47
Speaker 7: you can minimize outsourcing a lot of those processes. And
7:52
Speaker 7: at the end of the day, what's really powerful about
7:54
Speaker 7: this technology is that it gives you your time back,
7:56
Speaker 7: right because now with you automating things that are tedious,
8:00
Speaker 7: send that are time consuming, you can now you know,
8:02
Speaker 7: do that and then take that extra time to engage
8:06
Speaker 7: with more clients to do more of the things that
8:08
Speaker 7: you love to do. The you know, the things that
8:11
Speaker 7: really inspired you to start your business to begin with, right,
8:15
Speaker 7: which was not to write invoices and you know, respond
8:17
Speaker 7: to emails all day, so you're able to do more
8:20
Speaker 7: client facing activities that move the bottom line. So for me,
8:24
Speaker 7: the technology is transformational. The landscape is a great opportunity
8:28
Speaker 7: for entrepreneurs, and you know it's only upward from here.
8:33
Speaker 3: What is your recommended first step into automation and we
8:38
Speaker 3: can get into your toolkit, because guys, I downloaded a
8:42
Speaker 3: free toolkit that should provided me and I've already been
8:44
Speaker 3: instilling it. You need that for your business?
8:45
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, I have a bunch of questions I'm going to.
8:48
Speaker 3: Share with you, But what is the first step? Absolutely
8:51
Speaker 3: aside from downloading the kit?
8:53
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, no, the kid is definitely amazing, But even
8:57
Speaker 7: before downloading the kid, I would say that, you know,
9:00
Speaker 7: like anything in business, you first have to assess your foundation.
9:04
Speaker 6: What is your process to begin with?
9:05
Speaker 7: You know, most entrepreneurs don't even know what their business
9:09
Speaker 7: process is and how they acquire customers, So you can't
9:12
Speaker 7: automate what you don't know, right, So you first have
9:15
Speaker 7: to really take inventory of your business and also identify
9:19
Speaker 7: what is the one aspect of your business that takes
9:22
Speaker 7: the customer from a prospect to a client and really
9:27
Speaker 7: understand if that is something that you want to automate
9:29
Speaker 7: or if you want to keep the personal, hands on touch.
9:32
Speaker 7: And I always say this, you know, people buy from people.
9:34
Speaker 7: You cannot automate the entire thing because humans purchase from humans,
9:39
Speaker 7: and so really taking that inventory first before you start
9:42
Speaker 7: automating processes, understanding what your process is and what has
9:46
Speaker 7: the biggest impact on your bottom line, and then dedicate
9:49
Speaker 7: the time to solving one problem, not everything, one problem
9:54
Speaker 7: at a time. You know, are you spending too much
9:56
Speaker 7: time responding to inquiries? Okay, how do we automate that
10:00
Speaker 7: and put an automatic response that feels human that when
10:03
Speaker 7: people you know, interact with your brand, they feel that
10:06
Speaker 7: you're they're talking to someone you know, not something who
10:09
Speaker 7: wants to talk to a bot.
10:11
Speaker 6: Right. You know, when you call customer service, oh my gosh.
10:14
Speaker 7: You're streaming at the phone, you're screaming and you're pressing
10:16
Speaker 7: zero zero.
10:18
Speaker 5: Now, even when you go online, let's say you guys,
10:20
Speaker 5: as soon as you go let's say I went into
10:21
Speaker 5: my bank, friends, as soon as you log into think
10:24
Speaker 5: it pops up on the screen.
10:27
Speaker 2: Exactly, you know in the new generation that's where but
10:30
Speaker 2: you could get a lot of answers quickly.
10:32
Speaker 3: And correct Yes, it's about access. But you know self
10:36
Speaker 3: awareness is so important, right, and that's a transferable skill set,
10:40
Speaker 3: whether it's business or your personal life, because if you're
10:43
Speaker 3: an entrepreneur, your personal being is behind that business. So
10:48
Speaker 3: doing that self assessment, conducting a gap analysis, seeing where
10:53
Speaker 3: are the areas of improvement and growth, but also understanding
10:57
Speaker 3: that consumer journey funnel that you were speaking about and
10:59
Speaker 3: how those converts jens apply and what that business model
11:04
Speaker 3: will look like. So identifying all of those things are
11:07
Speaker 3: extremely important. So I concur with you. Also download the toolkit.
11:11
Speaker 3: I'm just saying you're gonna need it. But there's also
11:15
Speaker 3: another facet to Sparks Labs. And it's not fair because
11:19
Speaker 3: I know the backstory, but we're going to share it here.
11:22
Speaker 3: You founded the company because something sparked in you working
11:25
Speaker 3: at Berkeley College and being a proud alumna and working
11:29
Speaker 3: on the sales team there. But you also have brought
11:33
Speaker 3: this full circle momentum where you provide scholarships to students
11:39
Speaker 3: in tech and you create these opportunities to fly to
11:44
Speaker 3: Brussels and fly all around the globe the Dominican Republic
11:48
Speaker 3: and do all of these excursions with these students. To
11:51
Speaker 3: have them have an experiential learning component. So why is
11:55
Speaker 3: that so important for you to do?
12:00
Speaker 7: I started at Berkeley as an admissions associate, you know,
12:02
Speaker 7: I was hired quickly after graduating, which was really life changing.
12:08
Speaker 7: And shout out to my admissions associate, Sandra Hasib and
12:13
Speaker 7: just all of the incredible people that I've worked with
12:14
Speaker 7: that have seen me not for the person that I
12:17
Speaker 7: was at the time, but for my potential and what
12:19
Speaker 7: I could be. And I think that's what makes Berkeley
12:21
Speaker 7: so special and unique that you know, everyone understands the
12:25
Speaker 7: impact that they have on our students, and so, you know,
12:29
Speaker 7: having that experience with my.
12:30
Speaker 6: Missions associate really really helped me.
12:33
Speaker 7: Understand how we are all catalysts for other human beings. Right,
12:39
Speaker 7: someone walks into your office. They've not only made the
12:42
Speaker 7: decision that they want to better their life and continue
12:45
Speaker 7: their education and they want something more than what they
12:47
Speaker 7: currently have, but they've actually taken action towards it because
12:51
Speaker 7: they got up from their house, probably took a train,
12:53
Speaker 7: and we all know the trains.
12:55
Speaker 6: In the city.
12:56
Speaker 7: You got to be motivated, you know, to go through
12:59
Speaker 7: that journey. And so they're stepping into your office because
13:02
Speaker 7: they're seeking support from you to you know, to move
13:06
Speaker 7: on to that next phase of their lives. And so
13:09
Speaker 7: that those ten fifteen years that I worked with in missions,
13:12
Speaker 7: working with students really inspired me to start the brand
13:16
Speaker 7: because I believe that every single student that I met
13:19
Speaker 7: with has a flame within them, something that you need
13:23
Speaker 7: to just fan and it will spark up their passion
13:26
Speaker 7: and you know, you're really essentially supporting them with deciding
13:29
Speaker 7: what they're going to do for the rest of their
13:31
Speaker 7: lives or that first step into their career. And so,
13:35
Speaker 7: you know, that experientially motivated me to start Sparks, And
13:37
Speaker 7: as soon as we went into business, we dedicated a
13:41
Speaker 7: portion of our revenue to support that next generation of leaders,
13:45
Speaker 7: which I feel is our responsibility. Right, you've made it
13:47
Speaker 7: now it's your you know, it's your responsibility to usher
13:50
Speaker 7: that next generation of leaders to that opportunity because we
13:55
Speaker 7: all know as business professionals, you know how access.
13:58
Speaker 6: Really makes a difference.
14:00
Speaker 7: Right, Being in the room is extremely important, and that's
14:04
Speaker 7: why I really pride myself in always prioritizing having someone
14:07
Speaker 7: in the room with me because I know firsthand how
14:10
Speaker 7: that changes your world, you know, coming you know, working
14:13
Speaker 7: in a barbershop, growing up in a really tough, you know, neighborhood.
14:17
Speaker 7: My parents they had a bodega, right and not the
14:21
Speaker 7: best of the areas. And so there's a lot that
14:24
Speaker 7: you see when you're growing up in that environment. You know,
14:26
Speaker 7: a lot of drugs, a lot of unfortunately overdosing. There's
14:29
Speaker 7: a lot of real life that you see in those
14:33
Speaker 7: situations that unfortunately, if you don't have someone to usher
14:37
Speaker 7: you out of that environment, you get stuck, you know,
14:40
Speaker 7: and a lot of people don't make it out of that.
14:42
Speaker 1: You know.
14:43
Speaker 7: Just two years ago, we had a friend that overdosed
14:45
Speaker 7: thirty five, you know, thirty five years old. It's terrible,
14:50
Speaker 7: but that's a reality. That access means I meet someone
14:53
Speaker 7: professional and that person takes me under their wing and
14:57
Speaker 7: shows me another world that's different from the one that
14:59
Speaker 7: i'm current, And I believe that's that's our responsibility as professionals.
15:03
Speaker 3: Do you feel that education in a way saved your life?
15:08
Speaker 6: Absolutely, you know, And I'm actually not first generation. My
15:11
Speaker 6: father's a lawyer, and I have.
15:13
Speaker 7: A really fun story, you know about how growing up
15:18
Speaker 7: in the barbershop scene. You know, I was hanging out
15:21
Speaker 7: with the guys. Again, little sister going out to these
15:23
Speaker 7: clubs Club Deep, not Deep, yeah, exactly. And you know,
15:30
Speaker 7: typical Dominican parents saw me going in the wrong direction
15:34
Speaker 7: and they decided, you know what, you go to dr
15:36
Speaker 7: every summer. This summer, you're gonna go with a one
15:38
Speaker 7: way ticket and you're gonna stay there.
15:42
Speaker 6: Yes, I got the deportation.
15:49
Speaker 1: Took it upon themselves to make sure that they took
15:51
Speaker 1: you out of.
15:51
Speaker 4: That exactly, that situation that you could have changed your.
15:54
Speaker 7: Life absolutely, you know, And I don't share this story often,
15:58
Speaker 7: but I feel like it's important. It's extremely important because sometimes,
16:02
Speaker 7: you know, students and people see where you are right
16:04
Speaker 7: now in this nice house in the suburbs, and they
16:07
Speaker 7: don't know what that journey was, that trajectory to get there,
16:11
Speaker 7: you know, and all of the things that you sacrifice.
16:13
Speaker 7: But you know, long story short, you know, that experience
16:16
Speaker 7: living in the Dominican Republic was also very eye opening
16:20
Speaker 7: and again access right. My father's a lawyer. He has
16:23
Speaker 7: clients that have hotels. We're staying in hotels. That's not
16:27
Speaker 7: what I was seeing in Corona, Queens in a two
16:29
Speaker 7: bedroom apartment with you know, ten family members, you know,
16:32
Speaker 7: so just opening up your eyes to what is possible.
16:35
Speaker 7: And that's what education does. Right, You're in a classroom
16:38
Speaker 7: with a professional with ten fifteen years of experience, and
16:41
Speaker 7: you're sitting there with a group of individuals who are
16:44
Speaker 7: also striving to do more and be more, and that
16:48
Speaker 7: is very positive, positive, positive, that's very powerful. That energy
16:51
Speaker 7: in the room is just life changing. So you know,
16:54
Speaker 7: education is not just getting this piece of paper. It's
16:57
Speaker 7: the experience, it's the network, it is the not that
17:00
Speaker 7: you're downloading in the classroom. And that's why I'm so
17:04
Speaker 7: passionate about what I do. And I really love what
17:07
Speaker 7: I do. I feel like we you know, we change
17:08
Speaker 7: lives every single day.
17:11
Speaker 1: That's awesome.
17:13
Speaker 5: And getting a bunch of thriving entrepreneurs that are in
17:16
Speaker 5: the same room, like you're saying together, I mean, they're
17:17
Speaker 5: networking with each other, and that opens doors to I
17:20
Speaker 5: mean that's just all great things exactly.
17:24
Speaker 3: Mm hmm, I know, right, yeah, wow, Okay.
17:35
Speaker 4: See, I feel like she's answered so many of these questions.
17:37
Speaker 1: I'm looking at.
17:38
Speaker 3: Them like this could go so many ways right now?
17:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you go back to AI or do
17:43
Speaker 1: we go?
17:43
Speaker 3: But well, now you spoke about access and the importance
17:47
Speaker 3: to provide access. And we've spoken through the seasons, right,
17:50
Speaker 3: we're in season three now, but we've spoken season one,
17:52
Speaker 3: season two about how your network is your net worth
17:55
Speaker 3: and it's so important. And we've spoken about mentorship and
17:59
Speaker 3: giving back and how pro mentors you know, upcoming personalities
18:03
Speaker 3: and like even me and us like we mentor each
18:05
Speaker 3: other and we learned so much. Why is it important
18:11
Speaker 3: to have emerging technology so accessible and how can companies
18:16
Speaker 3: begin doing that starting at home?
18:18
Speaker 2: Right?
18:19
Speaker 3: Internally?
18:20
Speaker 7: Yeah, absolutely, there's so many reasons why. You know, there's
18:23
Speaker 7: so many reasons why it's important to engage with the technology.
18:27
Speaker 7: We have all seen that it is very it is
18:29
Speaker 7: transformational really and so you know, from a student perspective,
18:34
Speaker 7: and this is something that we really pride ourselves at
18:36
Speaker 7: Berkeley is giving students access to the technology but also
18:41
Speaker 7: the mentorship that is needed, right, so they feel confident
18:44
Speaker 7: about what they're doing and they can see the transformation
18:47
Speaker 7: that the technology can have with them on them with
18:50
Speaker 7: their career opportunities.
18:52
Speaker 6: But I personally believe that it's all about access.
18:55
Speaker 3: Right.
18:55
Speaker 7: Access to this technology allows you to really go beyond
18:59
Speaker 7: what is present and see into the future of what
19:02
Speaker 7: is possible and utilizing these tools, utilizing these platforms to
19:06
Speaker 7: take what you're doing today from zero really to one hundred.
19:10
Speaker 7: You have an idea, now you have access to technology
19:13
Speaker 7: that can support you in taking that idea from something
19:16
Speaker 7: in your mind, something in your heart, to execution taking it.
19:19
Speaker 6: To the real world, so you're solving real world problems.
19:24
Speaker 3: I love that. I keep thinking about guys we work together. Okay,
19:28
Speaker 3: so we have conversations all the time, but I keep
19:31
Speaker 3: thinking about the past month and Women's History Month, and
19:35
Speaker 3: how we've been uplifting each other and everything we do
19:39
Speaker 3: on the back end with this partnership, and how we
19:42
Speaker 3: continue to, you know, aspire to inspire and provide sometimes
19:47
Speaker 3: unsolicited advice, but inspiration. But what is the best piece
19:53
Speaker 3: of advice you have ever received?
19:56
Speaker 6: Oh, that's a powerful question.
19:59
Speaker 7: The best piece of advice that I have ever received.
20:04
Speaker 7: The best piece of advice that I've ever received was
20:06
Speaker 7: actually from a faculty member at Berkeley College, you know,
20:09
Speaker 7: and I've received a lot of great advice, of course.
20:13
Speaker 7: And his name is doctor ray Cart. I'm not sure
20:17
Speaker 7: if he's still at the college, but you know, he
20:20
Speaker 7: sat me down one day and he saw that I
20:22
Speaker 7: was going through it right, and I was having a
20:24
Speaker 7: hard time in the class for personal reasons, and he
20:28
Speaker 7: sat me down.
20:29
Speaker 6: And he noticed the change in my grades.
20:31
Speaker 7: And I feel like that was so powerful because as
20:34
Speaker 7: a faculty member, you know, he's not required to do it.
20:37
Speaker 6: It's not within you know, his scope of work.
20:39
Speaker 7: But he cared deeply enough to pull me aside and
20:42
Speaker 7: have the conversation and he told me, you know, Randy,
20:45
Speaker 7: you are more powerful than you think. And for someone
20:50
Speaker 7: at that level of profession and that level of experience
20:53
Speaker 7: to sit down this college student who's just getting her
20:57
Speaker 7: career started and just feed that pas our, you know,
21:01
Speaker 7: or feed that inspiration into I think it's extremely powerful.
21:05
Speaker 6: And sometimes that's what you need to hear.
21:07
Speaker 7: You need that validation from someone that you feel has
21:09
Speaker 7: made it that you're in the right direction and that
21:12
Speaker 7: you got this.
21:13
Speaker 6: You got this.
21:14
Speaker 7: You have the power within you, and you have all
21:17
Speaker 7: the tools that you need to be successful. It's just
21:19
Speaker 7: activating them and making it happen.
21:22
Speaker 3: That's so beautiful.
21:23
Speaker 6: Mhm, that's awesome.
21:25
Speaker 3: What's what's the best advice you ever got?
21:26
Speaker 1: Oh God?
21:28
Speaker 3: Or one for me?
21:32
Speaker 1: Going to roller decks in my head? Right? I don't know,
21:37
Speaker 1: I have to come back.
21:38
Speaker 2: To that one.
21:39
Speaker 6: Think that's a tough one, right.
21:41
Speaker 3: Advice, Well, you get so much right, and it's it's advice,
21:46
Speaker 3: it's constructive feedback and.
21:48
Speaker 4: So many what I remember.
21:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it's good advice.
21:53
Speaker 3: I don't think they always say Papa prout, you know,
21:55
Speaker 3: because I don't.
21:56
Speaker 5: Think I was blessed enough. I always say, like I
21:59
Speaker 5: wish I had somebody like me or me right when
22:01
Speaker 5: I was young. Right, Yeah, so you have to always do.
22:03
Speaker 5: You have to make sure you remember that when you're
22:05
Speaker 5: around other people to help. So I'm always willing to
22:08
Speaker 5: have or down to have a conversation about this or that.
22:10
Speaker 5: I always find myself whether it's in the radio or
22:13
Speaker 5: street or in the club or something after the club ends,
22:16
Speaker 5: like I'm sitting in the DJ booth like two or
22:18
Speaker 5: three other people who are and then you know, coming
22:19
Speaker 5: up or whatever, and we're having conversations and I'm explaining
22:22
Speaker 5: certain things. But yeah, that's you know, I don't think
22:27
Speaker 5: I got advice more than just I've always been somebody
22:31
Speaker 5: who's been more of a quiet person who listens more,
22:34
Speaker 5: you know, And I think that and kind of like, yeah,
22:38
Speaker 5: observes more, and I think that's what's helped me out.
22:41
Speaker 5: And obviously my life could have gone different different directions
22:44
Speaker 5: a lot of times, and I think just having faith
22:47
Speaker 5: and just observing and trying to make the right decisions
22:52
Speaker 5: is what helped me get.
22:53
Speaker 1: To where I'm at.
22:54
Speaker 5: So obviously, you know, it's funny because a lot of
22:57
Speaker 5: times when you ask that question, you know who probably
23:00
Speaker 5: gives all of us the best advice probably would have
23:03
Speaker 5: been our parents. We just probably didn't hear it or
23:06
Speaker 5: listened to it the same way you would listen to
23:08
Speaker 5: it from an outsider. That's like for now, with our kids,
23:11
Speaker 5: we make sure that we're really going to be on
23:13
Speaker 5: top of them as they get older because of what
23:16
Speaker 5: they take in. As they get older, there will be
23:18
Speaker 5: more you know, children seem to be more reluctant to
23:21
Speaker 5: accept advice from people strangers versus versus your own parent
23:26
Speaker 5: or something.
23:27
Speaker 3: Tell me two teenagers, Well, my mom would always say
23:31
Speaker 3: do as I say and you'll be fine. So I
23:34
Speaker 3: don't think that was so much advice, if not a
23:37
Speaker 3: directive and instruction, But we do.
23:39
Speaker 4: You know, one of the things I'll say is my dad, right.
23:42
Speaker 5: My dad always one thing he always really pushed on
23:46
Speaker 5: us always was not to be a follower, would always
23:51
Speaker 5: be a leader, just never be a follower, and it's
23:54
Speaker 5: funny and this is way for social media and followers
23:56
Speaker 5: and da da da.
23:57
Speaker 1: It was really that like and you know, you know
23:59
Speaker 1: the clice say that.
24:00
Speaker 5: That, oh, if all your friends jump off the cliff,
24:02
Speaker 5: where you can jump off your cliff, But it was
24:04
Speaker 5: really you And I really found myself being that person
24:08
Speaker 5: who would go a different direction when everyone went And
24:12
Speaker 5: it's kind of like my whole career kind of like
24:13
Speaker 5: if you really if I went back and talked about
24:18
Speaker 5: like I've always been the type who I would be
24:19
Speaker 5: successful one thing and then veer off and to not
24:21
Speaker 5: give up on what I'm doing, but not be afraid
24:24
Speaker 5: to step outside the box and do something different where
24:27
Speaker 5: everyone else. And it's always been like that for me,
24:29
Speaker 5: Like I've never been a follower, Like I'm not going
24:31
Speaker 5: to follow the trend or the wave. I'm going to
24:33
Speaker 5: go with wherever my heart takes me and wherever I
24:35
Speaker 5: feel like I want to do.
24:36
Speaker 3: You know, our parents were you know, you can be
24:38
Speaker 3: whoever you want to be, just do what I say.
24:40
Speaker 4: And yeah, that was the other thing.
24:42
Speaker 3: But I think early on in my career in my
24:44
Speaker 3: early twenties was very young and I was in a
24:47
Speaker 3: studio session and I spoke up about something and they're
24:54
Speaker 3: like artist manager. Yeah, was basically like like know your place.
25:01
Speaker 3: And when everyone left the studio, the producer that was
25:07
Speaker 3: there asked me to stay back, and it was Lenny
25:09
Speaker 3: Santos from Aventura, and he told me, don't ever be
25:16
Speaker 3: afraid to take up space, own your space, follow your
25:21
Speaker 3: gut because the notes you gave were valid and I
25:25
Speaker 3: incorporated them, and he said, you know you have a
25:27
Speaker 3: light about you and you know what you're doing. Just
25:31
Speaker 3: own that and be confident. So it goes back to
25:34
Speaker 3: what you're saying when someone like you know, El Baba
25:37
Speaker 3: right is giving you this feedback and validation of you
25:41
Speaker 3: do belong here. You do have that, And we speak
25:44
Speaker 3: about all these imposter syndromes and all these things, but
25:46
Speaker 3: I think when you're young, you have sort of that
25:49
Speaker 3: fear of speaking up or is my point valid? Am
25:53
Speaker 3: I giving a benefit to the table where I'm sitting?
25:59
Speaker 3: And you go through that navigation of who am I?
26:01
Speaker 3: Who do I want to be? And sometimes your placed
26:04
Speaker 3: with people who see that way ahead of you and
26:07
Speaker 3: give you these nuggets that stay with you through your.
26:10
Speaker 7: Career, absolutely, and that have such a tremendous impact. I mean,
26:14
Speaker 7: you know, when we were sent to dr my sister
26:17
Speaker 7: decided to stay with me, thank goodness. So we both
26:20
Speaker 7: were out there in DR and we were meant to
26:22
Speaker 7: stay for one year, but we loved this so much
26:24
Speaker 7: we stay two years. So we did two years of
26:26
Speaker 7: high school out there, and I kid you not. Every
26:30
Speaker 7: single morning we would wake up to go to school.
26:32
Speaker 7: My father would sometimes drive us, other days we would
26:34
Speaker 7: take the Moto Concho, you know, and he would wake up,
26:38
Speaker 7: he would read the Bible and he would tell us, like,
26:40
Speaker 7: you know.
26:41
Speaker 6: You need to continue your education. And he did. He
26:44
Speaker 6: made tremendous sacrifices. Grew up in the farm.
26:46
Speaker 7: You know how they say walk ten thousand miles to
26:49
Speaker 7: go to school. And he would always tell us continue
26:53
Speaker 7: your education. He didn't say go to college. He said
26:56
Speaker 7: continue your education. Become a lifelong learner.
26:59
Speaker 5: You know.
27:00
Speaker 6: We had a ton of books in the house.
27:01
Speaker 7: We were always reading, and so that was his message
27:05
Speaker 7: every single morning, seriously, every single morning he would tell
27:09
Speaker 7: us that before we left and we went to school.
27:11
Speaker 7: So that was engraved in us. That, you know, we
27:13
Speaker 7: needed to continue our education. That that was our ticket,
27:16
Speaker 7: you know, out of whatever situation we were in, because
27:18
Speaker 7: you can always learn something new, right, you can always
27:22
Speaker 7: expand yourself. Whatever whatever situation you're in today is not permanent.
27:26
Speaker 7: You have the power to change that through learning something else,
27:29
Speaker 7: through meeting someone new, to changing your circle, continuing your education,
27:34
Speaker 7: continuing to expand and improve yourself as a human being.
27:37
Speaker 7: So you know, those are things that stay with you
27:39
Speaker 7: and you think that you're not acting based on those
27:42
Speaker 7: messages or sub you know, subconscious messages that they.
27:45
Speaker 3: Engrave in you. It's there, it's there, carry it with.
27:47
Speaker 7: You one percent. And our parents have such a huge impact,
27:50
Speaker 7: you know, they really do.
27:52
Speaker 6: But so true. You know, I have two teenagers.
27:54
Speaker 7: I'll tell them one thing and you will literally come
27:56
Speaker 7: and say the same exact thing, and they'll be like, yeah,
27:59
Speaker 7: that's true.
28:00
Speaker 5: Say they learn it from somebody else you heard, Yeah,
28:02
Speaker 5: tell you just for years.
28:04
Speaker 6: Yeah exactly.
28:05
Speaker 1: But something you said is so important. Never stop learning.
28:07
Speaker 5: That's that's such an important thing in life. Never stop learning,
28:10
Speaker 5: because it's not about going to school and then getting
28:13
Speaker 5: a degree and then you're done. No, like, every single
28:16
Speaker 5: day you should be open to learning something.
28:19
Speaker 7: Absolutely, and it's a two way street, right, Like I'm
28:21
Speaker 7: always learning from my students. You know, you guys had
28:23
Speaker 7: Ida on here, she's she is, right, She's amazing, and
28:28
Speaker 7: we love I love Ida. But we're I'm always learning
28:31
Speaker 7: from the students that you know, we're mentoring that we're
28:33
Speaker 7: working with, whether it's new slang or what's happening or
28:38
Speaker 7: you know, what's the new music, or just a unique
28:40
Speaker 7: perspective on something that you know I do every day
28:44
Speaker 7: and they're with me in this event and they're like, oh,
28:47
Speaker 7: you know, have you ever thought of this?
28:49
Speaker 6: And you know just that.
28:50
Speaker 7: The students, right, yeah, fresh pair of eyes that look
28:53
Speaker 7: at the information from a different lens.
28:55
Speaker 1: You know.
28:55
Speaker 7: So it's a two way street when you're learning and
28:57
Speaker 7: when you're ussuring these students, it's going to be great.
29:01
Speaker 5: Probably if it hasn't happened yet, there could be a
29:03
Speaker 5: time where you end up working side to side, side
29:06
Speaker 5: by side with a student that you taught.
29:08
Speaker 6: You know, so true, that is so true. Yeah, that's
29:12
Speaker 6: definitely very possible.
29:14
Speaker 1: As time goes on, these students will evolve and they'll
29:16
Speaker 1: be their.
29:17
Speaker 7: Own yeah, I know. Yeah, hopefully in a few years
29:21
Speaker 7: where because I'm really young right.
29:24
Speaker 3: Now, so we're only twenty, that would mean I'm older.
29:27
Speaker 4: No, not necessarily true.
29:30
Speaker 6: No, I'm kidding.
29:35
Speaker 3: I've been called the boomer say it. We're gonna cut
29:37
Speaker 3: that problem. But now this entire episode encompasses legacy and
29:44
Speaker 3: in true teach me something for him. And let's just
29:50
Speaker 3: do a little shout out to season one because for
29:52
Speaker 3: those of you that do not know the infamous award
29:56
Speaker 3: winning episode with Seampaul from season one, the the sunglasses
30:01
Speaker 3: that I'm wearing are Randy's. Randy's was behind the scenes
30:05
Speaker 3: after her partnership meeting because she does run the corporate
30:09
Speaker 3: partnership side of ther partnership, and she hooked it up.
30:13
Speaker 3: So Randy, you know what's coming next.
30:15
Speaker 6: Yes, yes, yes, I listened to every episode.
30:18
Speaker 3: If you could, you were prepared for this, prepared, if
30:22
Speaker 3: you could articulate what you aim your legacy to be
30:26
Speaker 3: in one word, what would that word be?
30:30
Speaker 7: That's such a challenging question, as I'm sure you guys
30:34
Speaker 7: you know, are tired of hearing your guests say, well,
30:37
Speaker 7: I have a unique perspective because I have AI, so
30:40
Speaker 7: you better bet.
30:40
Speaker 6: I had a conversation.
30:43
Speaker 7: With my AI assistant and funny enough, you know, it
30:47
Speaker 7: suggested a word that didn't jibe with me. And the
30:51
Speaker 7: word that I've selected is love. Not corporately huh, it's not,
30:55
Speaker 7: you know, business profession, but personally number one. I feel
31:00
Speaker 7: or that love moves the world, you know, it really
31:02
Speaker 7: does everything.
31:03
Speaker 6: You know, we do.
31:05
Speaker 7: Everything that we aim to be stems from love. Love
31:09
Speaker 7: for our children, our family, our friends. And for me,
31:13
Speaker 7: I feel that I always have this genuine interest in
31:16
Speaker 7: seeing others win, and that is love because love is
31:20
Speaker 7: not only a noun, it's an action word. And you
31:23
Speaker 7: see the love that people have for you through their actions.
31:26
Speaker 7: So I feel that everything that I do, I always think,
31:28
Speaker 7: how can I support this person with being better, you know,
31:31
Speaker 7: doing more? How can I be that person that you
31:34
Speaker 7: know supports them in that journey? And I love what
31:37
Speaker 7: I do, you know, I love what I do in
31:39
Speaker 7: every sense of the word. I am surrounded by love
31:41
Speaker 7: with my family, my friends, and for me, I think that,
31:46
Speaker 7: you know, love isn't everything, And so that's the word
31:49
Speaker 7: that I want people to remember. And I think Maya
31:52
Speaker 7: Angelo said it best right. People will forget what you do,
31:56
Speaker 7: they will forget what you say, but they will never
31:58
Speaker 7: forget how you made it and feel. And I want
32:02
Speaker 7: for people to remember and to yeah, to remember that
32:05
Speaker 7: they fell loved around me.
32:08
Speaker 6: It's all love, spread love. It's a Brooklyn away.
32:11
Speaker 1: I love it. It's funny. Love is a great word.
32:14
Speaker 1: Being that.
32:14
Speaker 5: We have a whole new show we're doing called Finding
32:16
Speaker 5: Penny Love, and hopefully she'll find some He has a.
32:20
Speaker 6: Lot of love around her.
32:22
Speaker 3: Thank you so much, always love. Thank you so much,
32:26
Speaker 3: at least.
32:29
Speaker 1: For me.
32:30
Speaker 6: Oh my goodness, I love it.
32:33
Speaker 3: But listen, it's it's all about love and greatness.
32:36
Speaker 7: Yes, greatness, Champaul, my lunch.
32:43
Speaker 1: That was crazy.
32:45
Speaker 3: We need to bring them back. We need we need
32:47
Speaker 3: to have some sandwich.
32:48
Speaker 6: I think that's why I never came back. Guys, trauma,
32:53
Speaker 6: So I'm still living through that.
32:54
Speaker 3: We have about of inside jokes, guys to spend three seasons.
32:57
Speaker 1: Well, thank you so much for joining us.
32:59
Speaker 6: Thank you.
33:00
Speaker 5: Today's episode of Teach Me Something, Yes, presented by Berkeley
33:03
Speaker 5: College and take.
33:05
Speaker 3: Us out all right. This is Pennydellas, this is pro
33:08
Speaker 3: style and you've been listening to Teach Me.
33:11
Speaker 4: Something, presented by Berkeley College.
33:14
Speaker 3: Follow us on pod dot Teach Me Something Bye, Hey,
33:19
Speaker 3: Thanks for listening.
33:20
Speaker 2: Tune in next week for all new episode of Teach
33:23
Speaker 2: Me Something, brought to you by Berkeley College