Latest / We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits / 198. Community Week: The Promise of Generation Alpha + the Mission of In a Perfect World - Manuela Testolini

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198. Community Week: The Promise of Generation Alpha + the Mission of In a Perfect World - Manuela Testolini · We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits

• 0:00
  Jonathan McCoy: Hey there, you know we believe community is everything. And that's what we're taking this week to introduce you to some of the incredible people doing really amazing things in the we're for good global community. Today's episode features Manuela Testa Leni she's the founder of in a perfect world. And we met men while in our pro community and then fell in love with her mission and passion for equipping the next generation of changemakers to meet Manuela and find more like minded friends.
• 0:22
  Jonathan McCoy: Visit Weir for good community.com. Hey, I'm John.
• 0:24
  Jonathan McCoy: And I'm Becky. And this is the we are for good podcast.
• 0:31
  Becky Endicott: Nonprofits are faced with more challenges to accomplish their missions and the growing pressure to do more, raise more and be more for the causes that improve our world.
• 0:41
  Jonathan McCoy: We're here to learn with you from some of the best in the industry, bringing the most innovative ideas, inspirational stories, all to create an impact uprising.
• 0:49
  Becky Endicott: So welcome to the good community. We're nonprofit professionals, philanthropist, world changers and rabid fans who are striving to bring a little more goodness into the world.
• 1:00
  Jonathan McCoy: So let's get started. Hey, Becky,
• 1:03
  Becky Endicott: I love community weeks so much.
• 1:06
  Jonathan McCoy: Like the stories the people that we get to spend time with this week are just making us pinch ourselves.
• 1:11
  Becky Endicott: I just think that the world is so small and we met our guests today within Pro we met her in the community and we started peeling back the layers of her nonprofit. And we just fell in love with it and what it is doing to inspire provide mentoring and artistic expression to underserved an at risk youth around the world is game changing. And then we met them. Oh my gosh. And we fell in love with Manuel and Stephanie and I am just so geeked out to introduce Manuela to our community today man. Well it has to Leni is the founder of in a perfect world. And she is the head of this foundation, which just has a deep and impact driven history into the philanthropic space. And she has done so much to create these programs that provide education, mentoring, artistic expression, and she's channeling all of that into underserved and at risk youth around the world in places like her favorite Malawi, Senegal, Haiti, Nicaragua, all over in here in the United States. And so we are going to talk about in a perfect world program their body of work, what they're doing to build schools and really create Youth Ambassador programs. But we got to meet Manuela, because she is the most lovely person inside and out. She's bringing her beautiful daughters along on this journey. And we're watching what happens when you create some intentionality with children at the base of empathy, service and compassion. And she is living walking proof of how this works to mold young minds.
• 2:48
  Becky Endicott: Manuela Welcome to Community, we are so glad to profile your nonprofit.
• 2:55
  Manuela Testolini: Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here.
• 2:57
  Becky Endicott: We're so excited to have you. So I want you to give just a little bit of background because you have such an interesting life story. And just tell us a little bit about your story and what led you to start this nonprofit.
• 3:10
  Manuela Testolini: You know, I think it's really important for me to start with who I am and where I grew up, because it's such a big part of my story. I'm first generation Canadian, I was born in Toronto, which is, you know, an incredibly multicultural city to two parents who were immigrants. And I had this amazing upbringing where, you know, most of my friends were also first generation Canadians, I learned how to say, you know, Hi, how are you in 20 different languages, so I could greet their parents, who were also immigrants. And I really had, I mean, such a unique experience with one of my best friends who still my closest friend today, you know, when I first met her was a refugee from Sri Lanka, who didn't speak English. And now actually her daughters and one of our programs, which I'll talk about a little bit later, but having this kind of cultural competency kind of woven into my life, very early on, then was then amplified by spending summers in a developing country, because my mom's from Egypt. So we spent quite a number of summers there. And it gave me you know, Canada's in Toronto is very idealistic in a number of ways, but going to somewhere like Egypt regularly showed me that, you know, not everybody's living the same life experience, not everyone has access to the same things. And I think those two things, I didn't recognize it, you know, at the time, but, you know, having those experiences really sunk in for me that we should all be part of helping each other. And there should be, you know, a focus on empathy and really getting people to see each other and see each other's needs and, and kind of meet each other and bring whatever we can to the table.
• 4:48
  Manuela Testolini: So, as I grew up in that space, I soon found myself in as a teenager in social justice very quickly, you know, starting programs at highs in high school. I think the first one I started was a called stop that was students and teachers opposing prejudice. I did no community cleanups and cultural awareness events at the school, but really felt like you know, I have to, I have a responsibility to make a mark. And I found myself in university and thought, I'm going to continue this track and be in the social justice space in the legal system. And so I started studying law and criminology and was going, going going, and then the more I learned about the injustices in the system, I became disenchanted is what I like to say. So I thought, like, Okay, what am I going to do? I'm going to continue on to law school, or like, what's the plan here? And so I stopped and took a pause, much to my mother's chagrin at the time, and volunteered in homeless shelter.
• 5:46
  Manuela Testolini: And I got there, and it was kind of my first big aha moment, like, wait a minute, I think, I think this is where I'm supposed to be. I think there's something here and I really thought, Okay, how do I now parlay this into a career. And so what I did first was actually start acting as a liaison between private companies and private foundations that had money and organizations in the community that didn't, and kind of finding, helping them find each other and being the person to that the organizations on the community level so that the foundations and the corporations will feel comfortable giving. So I did that for a while. And one of the organizations that I ended up landing with workwise was Prince's Foundation, Prince musician. And I started they're kind of doing some a little bit of work for them and kind of expanding their work from the US into Toronto, and then also into Egypt as well. And suddenly, I was working there full time. So I feel like there's so many moments in my life story.
• 6:44
  Manuela Testolini: They're just an organic unfolding, and like to say, it's like, no, I'm here, and I'm in Minneapolis, what am I doing in Minneapolis. So there, I was doing that work for them. And what I found with the way that they had set up their work was was pretty much as grant making.
• 7:02
  Manuela Testolini: And for me, I felt like the what was lost was the connection that I found when I was working just with the homeless shelter. And I felt like Okay, wait a minute, I'm worried how do I regain that connection? And I started talking to the prince's foundation about, you know, how do we make more strategic decisions around how, who we support and how we support them.
• 7:25
  Manuela Testolini: And at the time, their work was focused on helping a lot of people or a lot of organizations on a small level. And so we switched that around to let's help a smaller number of organizations, but help them in a more meaningful way and more sustainably. And in order to do that, I started not only having conversations with the administration's of these places, but also started talking to the beneficiaries, like what do you need on a day to day basis to survive what you're going through, whether you're going through, you know, you're in a family shelter, or homeless shelter? You know, what is it that you need to get by and this is when I started asking this question, in a perfect world, and in a perfect world is really born from those conversations.
• 8:03
  Manuela Testolini: And that's where I am today, in 2005, is when I started in a perfect world.
• 8:09
  Becky Endicott: I mean, just the casual nature of just dropping so many of those items is hysterical to me. And your story is so interesting. And I know I said this to you the first time I ever met you, but I believe it's so much, you are a dirty hand founder like you like your hands to be dirty. And I think about what a gift it was that you walked away from law school, like the fact that you walked away and you found your place.
• 8:36
  Becky Endicott: And you listened as a as a so much. That's a hallmark of who you are listening, whether you're in the homeless shelter, listening to beneficiaries, listening to prints, listening to people who are wanting to create these connections. And I had to give you a little shout out because you said something.
• 8:53
  Becky Endicott: To me that has stayed with me.
• 8:53
  Becky Endicott: And I've thought about it many times since I last talked to you. And you said there are so many nonprofits that teach kids about issues. But where do we ask kids for their opinion, we want to cultivate natural empathy. And when we tap into their existing talents, that's when we start that journey. And I think that that is the beauty of what your story has, has brought to bear. And I just thank you so much for sharing that with us. I love this nonprofit.
• 9:20
  Manuela Testolini: Thank you. I think that you know, what was really important for me, and even working with Prince, you know, there were times where he's like, Well, isn't Can't you pay somebody else to do that.
• 9:27
  Manuela Testolini: Because I'm, I am the you know, get in there and get my hands dirty kind of person. I want to be in there having a dialogue.
• 9:36
  Manuela Testolini: I'm not here to sort of tell you what's going to happen to you. I want to talk about how do we co create a better situation. And when we talk about you know, the work with him, it evolved from you know, grant making to really strategic partnerships in the community. How do we find those organizations that will help to see things through so it's not a you know, write a check and hope for The best but it's like, you know, let's support you in a meaningful way. Let's get the beneficiaries involved and get their voice involved. But you know, one of the most fun things I did with his organization was, through a series of partnerships, we launched a young women's empowerment conference, this is going back, oh, my gosh, date myself. 2000, I think in the year 2000. And it was so impactful. And once he saw that, he's like, okay, I get what you're doing, I get this.
• 10:25
  Manuela Testolini: And it was, it was really a big, definitely game changer. For me, obviously,
• 11:07
  Jonathan McCoy: I just, I love that you started your story at such an early age to because we are geeks for this probably because we're raising six kids between the two of us to separate into separate, very happy. But I just think like the small things matter, you know, and growing up and how you expose your kids to some of the painful and different ways of life and just experiencial I do believe in building an empathy.
• 11:33
  Jonathan McCoy: And I think it can be really void, especially in the typical American life that can just kind of desensitize you to some of those things. And so, I love that you put a flag in the ground, because I know you, I hear it in your personal story, and just how you become such an evolved in deep leader because of all those experiences that started at an early age. So as you think about this with your own girls now, generation alpha is in front of us, like how are you creating this natural empathy within them, and just trying to cultivate these really evolved humans, you know, that can see the pain, but also have an opinion, you know, and lean into it?
• 12:10
  Manuela Testolini: Right? Well, I think that, you know, when we talk about, you know, it's talking about having those conversations in these community organizations about somebody's perfect world. So for me, talking to adults is great. I much prefer hanging with the kiddos and hearing what they have to say, because it's always amazing. And so I soon found myself asking that question of little kids. And, you know, I was telling Becky, before that, that the, the answers that came back, were some of them were obvious. They were you know, in my perfect world, I would like a Gameboy in my perfect world. I'd like to go to Disneyland, and all those things that kids who don't have access to the extras, the fun stuff might ask for.
• 12:51
  Manuela Testolini: But, you know, the real pivotal moment for me was a kid in a shelter who said, you know, in my perfect world, I want to Blue crayon. In me, I thought he doesn't understand what I'm asking him. I you know, so I said, pretend I'm a superhero magician, I could snap my fingers. I could get you what you want. What is it that I could get for you? What is your perfect role look like? And he said, without ever looking up from the page he was coloring on, mind you, I just want a blue crayon. And so for me, I thought, Okay, I need to get to the bottom of this story. So I went and found his mom. And through a face full of tears, she's telling me that the two of them had left this domestic violence situation in the middle of the night. And she had grabbed what she thought were the most important things to him. So the Tonka truck, the teddy bear, the box of crayons, she left behind the blue crayon, this, you know, this famous blue crayon or this this favorite of this child. And in that moment, of course, then I'm in the Facebook tears with her. But in that moment, I thought two things. One is a kid's perfect world is not necessarily that hard to accomplish or achieve.
• 13:54
  Manuela Testolini: But the other thing is, nobody's asked him this question. Yeah, because this is an easily solvable thing. And so the mom said, you know, here we are in the shelter, we're now safe, we have clothes, we have food, I'm, you know, the job program, I've all these things, we're in a much better place. And she said, I never thought to ask him, What else does he need? And so that's really where this dialogue started. And the more I asked the question from kids, the more I was just like, completely blown away, because they didn't always ask for things for themselves. There was a little boy who's whose conversation always, always stuck with me, because what I did was, first we started, you know, asking this question, I thought, okay, I can solve all these little things that the kids are asking for.
• 14:39
  Manuela Testolini: But then I thought, well, how do we use the arts as a tool to get kind of draw them out a little bit more, because the kids in particular in those situations are not necessarily ready to sit down next and adult and spilled or, you know, their heart open.
• 14:54
  Manuela Testolini: And we started doing these arts festivals. And we, they were arts empowerment workshops, really, but the kids thought it was like it's a it's an art day.
• 15:06
  Manuela Testolini: And we'd have all the kids come and we do all these themed activities like you know, let's make we're going to make a wish boxes, you're going to tell me what your wishes are, or we're going to make change the world banners that you can hang up in your room at the shelter or the foster home. Just so we can draw them out through the arts and which is why the arts is such a big thing for us. Still, but one of the kids when he was making his change the world banner was making this drawing a house and I looked over shoulder and he wasn't quite done. But I said, Oh, I see, you're in your perfect world. Or if you could change the world you would get a house to live in. Because that's was my assumption, because he's in a shelter for the unhoused.
• 15:47
  Manuela Testolini: And he just said, No. And it was silence. I thought, Okay, well, I'm going to zip it and just wait. And when he finished, and he came to show me his banner, it said, Oh, my gosh, I'm gonna start going, um, it was a picture of a house. And it said, If I could change the world, I would build houses for all the people that need them. And I said, Okay, why did you think about building a house for somebody else? Before yourself?
• 16:15
  Manuela Testolini: And he said, Because I already know how it feels. And I don't want any other kid to feel that way. And so I was just standing there with this kid thinking like, Okay, you're eight or nine years old, you're in this incredibly difficult situation.
• 16:29
  Manuela Testolini: And your first thought was to help other people. And I think that really speaks to there is a natural empathy in kids. And you know, you spoke earlier, John, about being desensitized. I think we all get desensitized, because we're bombarded with so much information, there's only so much you can really process.
• 16:48
  Manuela Testolini: But you know, the kids are seeing things, whether they're talking about it or not. So our goal is to really get them to talk about it, and then not to burden them with the information that they've now uncovered that kids need homes, for instance, but to give them a way to feel, to not feel disenfranchised, to feel like they can be part of the solution. And so with Jalen, this little boy, I explained to him that, you know, I can't necessarily help you get homes for everybody. Well, what I can do is sit with you and talk about what it felt like for you to come to the shelter? And what would have made you feel better about your experience? Like how would you have felt more at home or more welcome. And so with that we had Jalen basically create his own service project to create care packages for other children that were arriving at the shelter. So once they got there, they'd get a Jalen care package that had the things that he thought were important. So he had some art supplies, he had his, you know, stuffed animal. And I think that, you know, just seeing him feel like he's part of something, you know, he's really is part of creating change. And again, it's not the houses he wanted to get, but it's really making an impact because it started starting with his own empathy. And so I know that that exists. That was way before I had children, then, you know, I have my own. So I get to kind of watch this on a daily basis firsthand how they envision the world, how do they see things?
• 18:09
  Manuela Testolini: With my own kids, I've seen so many things that are, you know, we as I said, we get desensitized to so we spent quite a bit of the pandemic in Toronto and downtown and my youngest daughter, Luna has saw, you know, the number of homeless people. And she's like, what do they do when it gets cold?
• 18:31
  Manuela Testolini: Because we don't usually, usually we're in Toronto, usually for the summers, and then we're home. So we don't see the seasons change and get to freezing cold. And so we were there. We were there November, December, you know, January, February, and she's watching she's like, what do they do?
• 18:45
  Manuela Testolini: Like, how do they stay warm and, and she was really upset about this whole thing. And so again, I explained to her, you know, there are places for them to go, but you know, not everybody can get into a shelter. But what would you like to do about it?
• 18:58
  Manuela Testolini: What can you do about it? And so she spent a lot of time, kind of DESIGNING HER OWN care package, like okay, if this was me, what would I need? What would I want?
• 19:10
  Manuela Testolini: And one of the funniest parts for me was, we were out and about, and she saw gentlemen sitting outside of the store, and we were just going to pick up some groceries. And she said, I think we should get him something to eat. And I said, I agree. What should we get him and he was there it was November he was in a sleeping bag bundled up and she said, you know, hot chocolate and oatmeal was the things that she thought up and I thought well, I don't know if we can get make oatmeal, but we can get him hot chocolate or coffee or something. Maybe a sandwich and and she said Why don't we ask him what he wants. When I thought yes, this is what we
• 19:48
  Becky Endicott: used your against you. This is it.
• 19:51
  Manuela Testolini: This is what we're supposed to do. Like okay, it's working. So we asked and she was a bit shy. So I asked and he said he wanted an Oreo ice cream sandwich. And we busted out laughing because I thought it's freezing out here.
• 20:03
  Manuela Testolini: Like why are you asking for ice cream? And he said because I never get any treats. And I thought okay, this is another thing like we would never think of that. We're thinking about necessities. He's like people buy me coffee all the time. I would like an ice cream. So we got the you know, the coffee the sandwich and the Ice Cream Sandwich. And but when it came to Luna doing her her care packages for a project down the road, she said we have to make sure we include treats, because they don't get treats, people don't get treats. And so she had, you know, chosen bunch of granola bars and candy and all these other things to add to the necessities, we identify the necessities. So it's fun for me to watch kind of firsthand, this involves evolving from my own kids. Because I think that all kids are like this. And we just need to tap into it and give them these channels and this opportunity.
• 20:58
  Becky Endicott: This is a conversation about empowerment.
• 21:01
  Becky Endicott: And I don't think many people think about how to empower a child. And I think you ask the most perfect question. When you go into a space and you ask the child this, what do you want to do about it? You see a need, what do you want to do about it, and the creativity in the empathy, and the fact that I'm guessing your Luna will never not think about treats the exact same way ever again when she starts working with people. So I just love the story. And I feel like that's what's been baked into in a perfect world. Taking a quick pause from today's episode to thank our sponsor, who happens to be one of our favorite companies to neon one, neon one provides software solutions to growing nonprofits.
• 21:44
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• 22:29
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• 23:05
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• 23:20
  Becky Endicott: Can you kind of give our listeners like a little bit of a behind the scenes of your mission and some of your flagship programs and initiatives? Yes, absolutely.
• 23:28
  Manuela Testolini: So we have three flagship programs, the ones that my little ones are in is called the dream catchers.
• 23:34
  Manuela Testolini: They're kids five through 12, that are learning about big social issues, and then finding a way to have an impact immediately. What's fun about that program for me is that we address that all through art and storytelling. So we'll read you know if there's something in the news maybe that kids have been hearing about so, you know, one of the ones we did not too long ago was immigration. And the kids started learning about, you know, not about, you know, kids in cages or scary things, but like, what does it mean to be a newcomer to a country? Let's read about this boy Alfredo, who came from Mexico? And what is this story? What is this journey like, and we stop and talk through from an empathetic lens, or through an empathetic lens?
• 24:15
  Manuela Testolini: What this kids experience was so that they can then put themselves in Alfredo shoes. So that was an interesting project, because the kids are able to, you know, envision, Okay, I'm leaving my home, and the only things I can take I have to fit in a backpack. So we start talking about what would you bring? Yeah. So you know, the stuffed animals, the favorite book, you know, some snacks, one kid wanted to bring a PlayStation, we had to kind of tell them that wasn't gonna work. But, you know, talking about things like that, and then saying, Okay, well, there are lots of left radios here. So how do we help them and the kids were then tasked to bring whatever they thought they wanted to put in care packages, we ended up making, you know, 100 care packages. The goal was 30, we made 100. Because the kids brought, you know, the parents would have a trunk trunks full of their own stuffed animals. They didn't go to get new stuffed animals, they wanted to give something of themselves, which, again, was so amazing, because they really felt like, oh my gosh, I want them to have something of mine. And so, you know, while we teach kids about these issues, as I said, we don't want to burden them with the information immediately give them a touch point that they can say, Okay, I did something about this. And it's not about solving the whole problem. I'm not asking the kids to solve, you know, immigration crisis or, you know, climate change. I'm asking them to do their part. And so we teach the little ones through art and storytelling about that from the beginning. Once they get to the teen years, we start to focus on how do they use their talents to pick their up and pen pick their passion so that they can have an impact.
• 25:49
  Manuela Testolini: So, you know, I think what's unique about our ambassador progress, Youth Ambassador Program, in particular is that we don't say, Okay, we're going to learn about climate change.
• 26:00
  Manuela Testolini: And then here's what you're going to do about it. We say, let's talk about what it means to be a leader. What it means to be an empathetic leader, actually, you know, how do you pick your passion? How do you find your purpose? What are your talents already? How do you find a mentor? How do you draw support for your cause? And then say, Okay, now, what is the cause you'd like to work on, we're going to mentor and guide you to do that. And that's the most fun part. Because the kids come up with amazing ideas that we've never even tackled, we end up being in so many different cause areas because of it. We had one young Ambassador last year who, because of the pandemic was hearing about, you know, mothers with who are pregnant or had young children, who were suddenly finding themselves homeless. And so he wanted to do something about it.
• 26:50
  Manuela Testolini: And he started, you know, as baby love campaign in February, and found a beneficiary in DC, and raised a lot of money to buy supplies for all these moms. And this is again, just because it's timely, and he heard about it.
• 27:08
  Manuela Testolini: And he's like, this is never a cause area I thought a young teenage boy would get into. And so I can never make assumptions, because they always surprise me.
• 27:15
  Manuela Testolini: But when I said to him, you know why? Babies? Like what? Why did you choose that? And he said, because there are future. Like, that's awesome.
• 27:28
  Manuela Testolini: There's what else could you say after that? So it's really amazing to see, you know, the evolution from the dream catchers to the Youth Ambassadors, we also have our REACH program, which is rural education and community harmony, which is where we spend the time overseas building schools with our amazing partners in the field. And I got into that, again, in another organic unfolding moment of my life, I was in Mumbai, wanting to expand some work into India. And we I was volunteering with the organization, actually, that was teaching kids living in the slums. But the teaching was happening at a private school after hours. But I asked to go see where the kids lived and to meet some families. And actually, a couple of the girls didn't show up for school, and I wanted to go talk to the parents. So I went there into the slum, and I was so blown away by the amount of social issues in one place. It was it was completely overwhelming. And I honestly felt helpless. I thought, like, what am I doing?
• 28:27
  Manuela Testolini: How could I even make a dent in all of this? And because there was, you know, child, brides, teen pregnancies, domestic violence, alcoholism, sanitation issues, nutrition, like, wow, you know, where do you start.
• 28:40
  Manuela Testolini: And I realized in that moment that, you know, education is really the great equalizer, because it is going to impact all of this, if we can just break this cycle of poverty, break the cycle of illiteracy, and really give these kids the opportunity to be the next generation or the first generation of changemakers in their communities, because they will then have, you know, a greater awareness and competency to do things differently. And we started building schools, again, another organic unfolding, I came home from that trip, I ended up being it was my last night there and the Mumbai terror attacks happened to happen in my hotel. And I spent five days trying to get out of there. And, you know, very grateful to get home, it was very solidified in my mission to like, we need to do something internationally with this work.
• 29:30
  Manuela Testolini: And I went to a gala and sat next to a gentleman who I spoke to talk to the ear off. He said, you know, what do you envision for in a perfect world? What are your plans, and I said, this is what we do. This is what I like to do. I'd like to really start building schools in place that you know, for kids who don't have access to education. And I said, So what do you do? And he says, I build schools in remote villages where children don't have access to education, like but of course you do. Of course.
• 29:55
  Manuela Testolini: This is how my life works. And so build on his name was Mark Friedman, Mark, from build on a shout out. I love mark. We've been working together for umpteen years now. We built our first school together we've now done over 30 schools in eight different countries with him with build on and also our partners school, the world and Central America. And it's really been amazing to see you know, the change that just bringing a school to a community can make, you know, some of the kids were going to school but they're walking you know, a couple hours with them. shoes to get there.
• 30:36
  Manuela Testolini: And now to bring a school into the community and really start building out opportunities for the kids, it's been amazing to watch.
• 30:44
  Jonathan McCoy: I mean, there, we could obviously talk for Forever, forever, because I'm trying to narrow where I want to go back. But I just want to commend you for seeing that this is the long game, you know, it's something that we hold as a value of our company. And I just feel like not enough people are leaning in because you're subscribed that it's not going to be a quick fix, like changing the way a generation engages with this ever changing the way a community engages, you know, in some of these problems is going to take a long time, and it's going to be a winding path.
• 31:15
  Jonathan McCoy: Because there's a lot of innovation that needs to happen.
• 31:18
  Jonathan McCoy: There's a lot of voices that need to be at the table that are not anywhere near at the table yet. And so I just commend you for taking on such a big, crazy old beautiful dream, you know, and chasing it. But to see the fruit of what you have accomplished already is just humbling, you know, truly love what you're saying about education and just catch me up, like what is happening? You've got 30 schools now like, I mean, where do you go next? And I think it sounds like he asked you this question. I love to put it back on you. But it's like, what is the perfect world beyond where you've already gone?
• 31:51
  Jonathan McCoy: Because, I mean, there's such a huge vision, and I'm sorry, this wasn't on the script, so I get the unscripted answer to you
• 31:58
  Manuela Testolini: know, I think you know, where we're really looking is a couple different things. One is going beyond just building the brick and mortar school, and really building communities. And so you know, what we've done in the last couple of years in Malawi, we have two projects there where we've looked at, okay, we've gone back to the school and said, okay, the schools here, what are the remaining barriers to education. And so that takes a lot of time to sit and just listen. And so I do two things.
• 32:27
  Manuela Testolini: One is I have tea with the moms in the village and ask them what they see what they, you know, would like to see for their children. And then I meet with the chiefs, and also the headmaster's of the schools to see like what you know what's remaining, and it's pretty much the same thing, everywhere we go. Access to water is obviously huge. And food, those two things prevent children from coming to school. So when the kids are hungry, either they don't come to school, or they're not energized to learn when they get there. When there's no water or access to water nearby, the girls in particular spend hours going to fetch water and just miss you know, they miss school, then girls who are on their menstrual cycle will then miss you know, a quarter of each month, right? Because they're at home because there's no facilities for them. And so we started looking at things from that perspective, like what is the you know, kind of holistic development opportunity here and so we've now had you know, water projects put in at the schools we have rainwater sir, rainwater harvesting systems on the schools as well. And then we have, which is my favorite thing is we've just done a huge permaculture project with to the communities where there's a four acre farm now. So these families and the students are learning how to farm sustainably and be able to have their own feeding program. So for us, it's really not about like, we want to come to the community want to do all these things for you. It's like, tell me what you need, and I'm going to help you get there. And so, you know, with the farming projects, for instance, they're able to now harvest and start their own feeding program, the moms are running the feeding program. The kids come to school very early in the morning, because they know they're guaranteed breakfast, and they're ready, and they're energized to learn. And it's amazing to me, because when I walked through the village, a number of the families had picked up on the permaculture practices and created their own small gardens, where they can feed their families just to have you know, diversity of food, for instance, because it seems like you know, there's such a narrow focus on you know, soy and corn, and a couple little things. But you know, I had one mom say, You must come see, you know, she was very excitedly speaking to me.
• 34:50
  Manuela Testolini: And she say, Well, my Chihuahua is not great. I can say a few things. But I went over to see what she was showing me she had, you know, pumpkins and sweet potatoes and all these things.
• 35:00
  Manuela Testolini: And she said to me through through the translator that, you know, now when they're when the drought comes, or now when you know there, I don't have enough money to buy things at the market. I can feed my family here and there understanding that it's not food just to survive, but you need food, you need food from a variety of sources to actually be healthy.
• 35:19
  Manuela Testolini: So it's been amazing to see all of that unfold and then you know, bringing solar panels into the community. We've actually done some playgrounds for kids as well because we believe social emotional learning is very important and seeing kids go into playground for the very first time ever is the most amazing thing. Because you know, we have my kids, I will tell them, you know, there's kids playing with, you know, a ball of garbage as a soccer ball, like that's it. So no fighting over anything you got here, because they're all playing nice that. But to see them really, you know, not play just for the sake of play. But really you know, that's where you learn how to negotiate, you learn how to share all those things happen on the playground. And so we don't take any of that for granted as well. So really looking at things beyond just the immediate school, and how do we create more holistic communities is one. The other thing is, just before the pandemic, we were creating this bridge more of a bridge between our teen program in the US and the schools overseas. So in 2019, I was able to take a group of teens to Guatemala to build a school in an indigenous community in the highlands there, which was the most amazing thing because I've been on a lot of these trips, but to see kids, some of whom had never left the country before be transported to like the village with no Wi Fi.
• 36:42
  Manuela Testolini: And, you know, they had a little bit of culture shock, I think the first day or so but then after that, it was just like they were all in, they were all in they were teaching them English, they were you know, doing construction, there, it was just so amazing to see them kind of connect all the dots, because, you know, they're learning about education and poverty in the US. But then education and poverty overseas is a whole different thing. So to see them create these connections and, and really deepen their cultural competency is really important. So we're hoping to do more of that and hoping that next year, we're able to go and travel overseas, again, safely and have some more of that impact. But that's really what we'd love to see.
• 37:19
  Manuela Testolini: And then for the ambassador program in general, see, I have lots of things to tell you. I'm really I mean, I'm going back a little bit. And I when I first started in a perfect world, I was really overwhelmed because I felt like how am I going to do all this. And so I realized at some point that in order to do all these things, I need to create more kids that think like I thought, and so this is what we're doing, we're kind of unfolding this. So with our signature ambassador program, you know, it's direct and personal mentorship. And what we're doing for the academic year in 2022, is evolving that to satellite programs. So we'll be teaching facilitators in different cities, how to then implement the same programs, because it's really about creating a movement of changemakers versus, you know, kind of, you know, here and there, we'd like to really make this a movement that takes on a life of its own, because it's, it's not for us to own the perfect world. It's really for us to get there all together.
• 38:16
  Manuela Testolini: Wow.
• 38:19
  Jonathan McCoy: I don't know what I was expecting. But I just think the way that this is how I know that you're you have all the hallmarks of just an evolve leader that's going to accomplish your mission is that you are looking at like the whole community, the ecosystem, like it's not just one thing, it's always a lot of things, it's complex. And it can take a lot of partnerships, and a lot of people that are all working together and just your ethos and the way you go about it. You're 100% going to get there, you know, and I disagree. I'm excited for our community to lean in. Because I want to get my kids signed up. I'm like, how do we do this here? How do we replicate? And maybe you can, you know, I don't want to go totally off script. But how do kids get involved that are in the middle of Oklahoma? Do you have a program for that?
• 39:02
  Manuela Testolini: We do. So we we launched in response to the pandemic, we launched something called everyday kindness, because we I initially honestly felt so defeated by the pandemic, I'm like, Oh, my gosh, I can't meet the kids in person.
• 39:14
  Manuela Testolini: What are we going to do? I mean, we can't, you know, we did things with the kids like, the little ones like, Okay, we're going to do you know, in other people's shoes activity, where we put on other people's shoes, and we describe what that person might be feeling like, how do you do this? Mine? What are we planning to do? So we launched everyday kindness, we figured out that, you know, just because we can't meet doesn't mean we can't do good from home. So we created this portal for parents, for teachers, for anybody who needed something, to be able to go and download different activities where kids would be learning about an issue and how to have a direct impact. A lot of it was informed by our personal experiences of family you know, I said to my kids, like these poor delivery people, you know, we got like sudden 75 packages coming all the time now because we're ordering the groceries or we're ordering everything ever moves locked up at home. And so we you know, as a simple thing, put out a gratitude basket with a sign that said, you know, thank you for all your help and put in all these snacks and like, and my kids felt like oh wait, I'm doing something I'm still doing something. I'm still making somebody stay you know. And so you know, for the delivery worker to knock on the window and you know, say thanks and all that stuff was was so gratifying for them but we turned all those things into, you know, little activities that families could download. And so it's still building we still add to it.
• 40:34
  Manuela Testolini: Really kindness, because it's so needed. But there's a wide range of activities there. Then also, we'll be doing some dream catchers workshops online. We did a series of them not too long ago, which ended up being amazing. The kids are so fun. So we'll definitely send you some information on that. But you know, anybody who wants to get involved just need to sign up to our newsletter, we have our Good News Digest. It's all about you know, amazing things that we're doing amazing things that we've heard as are happening in the community and ways that parents and teachers and kids can get involved immediately.
• 41:07
  Becky Endicott: You know, this is like, my favorite topic of all time is talking about how to democratize and integrate kids into the philanthropic process.
• 41:13
  Becky Endicott: But I want to give you a very big compliment, because this is the thing I noticed when I came to your website that I love the most. When I went to your board of directors, which is completely again democratised.
• 41:29
  Becky Endicott: She has all of your board members listed on your page alongside your youth ambassadors. So if Quincy Jones, the Quincy Jones is on your board, but however, so is Logan Russell, who is a youth advisory council member, your daughter, Lou Chia is on your board, we have children and adults that are moving forward together in very unique and interesting ways. Because it's a totally level playing field. That's empathy leadership. Number one.
• 41:59
  Becky Endicott: The other thing that I want to compliment you about is how well you listen. You listen. So well.
• 42:08
  Becky Endicott: We've had several conversations on the podcast where philanthropists to tell us that they think that the thing that development officers misstep the most in is in listening, you are chronically you have baked listening into the culture and the DNA of your of your nonprofit. And that is why I believe it is thriving at the level it is. So congratulations on those two things. And by the way, your daughters are darling on the website. So I want to ask you about a moment of philanthropy that has stayed with you. Because I'm going to guess with the periphery that you've had with your worldview, you've seen some pretty incredible things in your lifetime. What's the story that stayed with you and has resonance? Oh, there's
• 42:49
  Manuela Testolini: so many. I mean, that one with my daughter, and the Oreo ice cream sandwich is pretty awesome. But there was one where I was in Malawi. And sitting in the back of one of the classrooms just kind of observing. And the little girl in front of me I saw was trying to write and her pen wasn't working. And so I handed her my pen. without thinking anything of it, it just kind of handed to her. And I kind of took a little bit of prodding for her to take it and she took it and she used it. And then I was leaving. And I was sitting in the back of a pickup truck. And this little girl is running after the truck waving her arms. I'm like what's wrong, you know, like something something's going on. And she's trying to give me back the pen,
• 43:29
  Jonathan McCoy: oh my gosh, like, please keep
• 43:32
  Becky Endicott: the pin. But I thought
• 43:34
  Manuela Testolini: I said this to my kids. When I got home, I said, you know, all the things I saw this stuck with me because she was such gratitude. And we didn't have to speak the same language. She was just like, so grateful for, you know, my simple act, but her to, you know, for me actually took me some time for me to say keep the pen, I want you to keep the pen, you know, but she didn't feel she felt enough gratitude. She didn't feel they should make an assumption that I've given this to her. And I thought it was such a beautiful moment. Because it was such a simple thing. And I really feel like all these little simple things is what makes the biggest difference.
• 44:13
  Jonathan McCoy: I mean, all these things are threading together. We're just finishing, we just finished the kindergarten series on the podcast. And it's like, we believe these are the things that become core to really meaningful movements and the small things absolutely matter.
• 44:26
  Jonathan McCoy: So okay, I don't want our conversation and but we always ask our guests, I can't wait to tap into your brain. What's your one good thing, it could be a secret to your success or a good habit or a mantra that you live by.
• 44:38
  Manuela Testolini: My motto is little by little a little becomes a lot. And it's a Tanzanian proverb, it weaves into everything we do. It weaves into the little kids and I say do what you can do your little by little because if we all do our little by little becomes a lot. It weaves into how we convene with others, because you know, the nonprofit space can be quite competitive, but we understand that we were going to get there faster and help more people if we can convene, and collaborate. So I'm like, if everybody does their little thing, we're going to get there.
• 45:09
  Manuela Testolini: So no, going back to our community development. I didn't go and figure out the water rig to dig the well. I found a great partner. I'm like come on down, you know, so we have our you know, partners in all these different areas. And I think that, you know, that's where it just everything lives for me if we can all do our little by little, it will become a lot even as people want to work Without us or support us, we love to create this community and this idea of the movement of us all doing our part so that we can get there to our perfect world. And I
• 45:43
  Becky Endicott: was I was just going to thread it back to that and she did it for me, it's like doing the little bit is going to get us to the perfect world that we want to see. And living that is not only such incredible modeling, you know that that informs and creates this agency where we feel empowered to speak up for things that we think are wrong in this world. Or when we see injustice has happened, we feel empowered to take those moments. But it's about the collective coming together and just making our little space of the world just a little bit better. So okay, Manuela how can people find you you have an incredible year in giving campaign? And I got to give you a little shout out because you created a very simple landing page for it with one simple button that go check it out. See everybody else definitely
• 46:27
  Manuela Testolini: waiting. Go
• 46:28
  Becky Endicott: Stephanie. I'm really proud of you. But how can people connect with in a perfect world? How can they find you give us all the details.
• 46:34
  Manuela Testolini: So you can find us at IA P W, just our acronym.org on the website, we have our year end campaign, which is called the future is bright. The future is bright, because you know, we are creating these leaders. Now we're not waiting for the you know, when what, what do you want to do when you grow up?
• 46:51
  Manuela Testolini: It's like, what are we going to do now. But also, you know, find us on Instagram, find us on Facebook, perfect world. FDN is our handle on Instagram. And you know, we'd love to connect. It's not just about you know, come and view our stuff. We want you to connect. We want you to join the Good News Digest, you can hear all about the great things that are going on and how you can get involved. And partners out there. Please join us. We're all all about it.
• 47:17
  Becky Endicott: partners come the indigo children and I would dare to say the McCoy children are going to buy two. Yeah, John's can still buy two. But yes, we would love to add it to the mix. And I just am so geeked out about the beautiful things that you are putting into this world. I love that you put your stake in the ground in a place where it matters most. And I bet your mother has forgiving you for leaving law school and she is probably incredibly proud of the wonderful woman that you have become and the things that you've created.
• 47:46
  Jonathan McCoy: Okay, this is why we say we love our we're for good community men. Wella is part of the community. You know this, these are the type of amazing, incredible people that are locking arms that want to collaborate. And that's what really fills our cup of why this is more than a podcast. It's a movement. We're all moving together to create more good in a perfect world.
• 48:04
  Becky Endicott: We are rooting for you. Please keep us posted.
• 48:07
  Becky Endicott: And thanks for being such an integral and special part of our community.
• 48:10
  Manuela Testolini: We appreciate Thank you. Thank you both so much.
• 48:13
  Julie Confer: Hey, friends.
• 48:13
  Julie Confer: Thanks so much for being here.
• 48:15
  Julie Confer: Did you know we create a landing page for each podcast episode with helpful links, freebies and even shareable graphics. Be sure to check it out at the link in this episode's description. You probably hear it in our voices but we love connecting you with the most innovative people to help you achieve more for your mission than ever before. We'd love for you to join our good community it's free and you can think of it is the after party to each podcast episode. You can sign up today at we are for good.com backslash Hello. One more thing If you loved what you heard today, would you mind leaving us a podcast rating and review? It means the world to us and your support helps more people find our community.
• 48:46
  Julie Confer: Thanks friends. I'm our producer Julie confer and our theme song is sunray by Remy Boris boom