The Future Of Work
Pasadena City College presents The Future Of Work. We are leading the conversation of how to begin closing the gap between what our students are learning and what the demands of the workforce will be once they enter. We’ll be talking to policy makers, business owners, educators and the students we are advocating for. We’ll explore topics like how education can partner with industry, how to be more equitable and how to attain one of our highest goals, more internships. This conversation impacts the future of all of us.
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Transcript- Episode 140: Building a Sustainable Future: The Role of Clean Energy Economy Construction with Kate Gordon, CEO of CA FWD Episode 140
03/04/2025
Transcript- Episode 140: Building a Sustainable Future: The Role of Clean Energy Economy Construction with Kate Gordon, CEO of CA FWD Episode 140
00:00:00 - Kate Gordon I do think that across the board in education, we have to get better at interdisciplinarity and interconnected systems. Like if I'm going out to install solar panels on a roof, I should also be trained to do like basic electrical work because the reality is you don't want to train people for these very, very niche jobs. This needs to be part of a bigger system where people have a longer term ability to turn it into a career. 00:00:28 - Christina Barsi The workforce landscape is rapidly changing and educators and their institutions need to keep up. Preparing students before they enter the workforce to make our communities and businesses stronger is at the core of getting an education. But we need to understand how to change and adjust so that we can begin to project where things are headed before we even get there. So how do we begin to predict the future? 00:00:53 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Hi, I'm Salvatrice Cummo, Vice President of Economic and Workforce Development at Pasadena City College and host of this podcast. 00:01:02 - Christina Barsi And I'm Christina Barsi, producer and co-host of this podcast. 00:01:06 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo And we are starting the conversation about the future of work. We'll explore topics like how education can partner with industry, how to be more equitable, and how to attain one of our highest goals, more internships and PCC students in the workforce. We at Pasadena City College want to lead the charge in closing the gap between what our students are learning and what the demands of the workforce will be once they enter. This is a conversation that impacts all of us. You, the employers, the policymakers, the educational institutions, and the community as a whole. 00:01:40 - Christina Barsi We believe change happens when we work together. And it all starts with having a conversation. Hi, I'm Christina Barci. 00:01:47 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo And I'm Salvatrice Cummo. And this is the Future of Work. Hi, welcome back to the Future of Work podcast. I am your host, Dr. Salvatrice Cummo. Today, we are joined by Kate Gordon, the CEO of California Forward, a statewide organization dedicated to a more sustainable, resilient, and inclusive economy across every region of California. Kate has spent the last two decades working at the intersection of climate change, energy policy, and equitable economic development. Prior to leading California Forward, she served within the Biden Harris administration as Senior Advisor to US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and in California state government as the Director of the Governor's Office of Planning and Research and Senior Climate Policy Advisor to Governor Gavin Newsom. In addition to her policy work, she teaches a regular course on climate, politics, finance, and Infrastructure at the University of California, Berkeley and serves as a nonresident scholar at Carnegie California. Today we're diving into how climate policy and energy Transitions can drive equitable growth and create meaningful community benefits and what that means to the future of work. We are so thrilled to have you with us here today, Kate. How are you? Welcome. 00:03:14 - Kate Gordon I'm really well, thank you. It's great to be here. 00:03:16 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Thank you. Thank you. We're going to dive right in because we have a ton of questions. I think the first question we always like to ask our guest is, you have an interesting journey. We shared that a little bit in the intro, but could you tell us how you started working in this intersection of climate and economic development? 00:03:34 - Kate Gordon You know, I'm a little unusual, actually, in the climate space in that I come to it from an economic development perspective. Many people come into climate policy from an environmental perspective, and I got a joint degree in law and city planning at Berkeley, and really, in that journey of getting that joint degree, got very interested in the underlying systems that lead to kind of the types of regulations we pass, the types of systems we design, the types of cities we design. So it kind of started out very interdisciplinary, and I stayed very interdisciplinary. And I think that in some ways, the world is coming around to this perspective. I've been working on the idea that climate is kind of fundamental to economic development for a really long time, and now we see through sort of the Biden and Harris administration policies and other policies that people are starting to come around to seeing that that's true. So I think, in a way, it's sort of. I was early to it, but it's definitely becoming part of the conversation. 00:04:27 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Thank you. This is a Future of Work podcast. 00:04:29 - Kate Gordon Yeah. 00:04:30 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo And when we think about the future of work, where do you start looking for trends in energy transitions? 00:04:37 - Kate Gordon I mean, that's a big question. So I think something that sometimes is not obvious to people who don't obsess about this like I do, we're talking about a fundamental change of our entire economy. We built the industrial economy on the back of fossil fuels. It's built on the back of an energy system. So you can't actually have a functional economy without energy. You can't do entrepreneurship. You can't build a small business. You can't run a manufacturing plant. You can't send things around the world to other markets. Like, you cannot have an economy without energy. And the energy we've been using for 150 years is fossil energy. We're now talking about shifting that to a whole different system away from sort of the inputs of coal and gas and oil into, like, hundreds of different inputs across thousands of different places, mostly connected by Wires. It's a completely different system. So what's important, I think, is that it isn't about a set of green jobs over here in a corner that are special and different. We're actually talking about greening the entire economy. And that means jobs will look different everywhere from tech to transportation to logistics to manufacturing to construction, to sort of everything. I think there's enormous opportunity. There's massive opportunity across every aspect of the economy, frankly. It is not a new thing that we've never seen before. It's just different types of jobs in existing sectors. 00:05:56 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Can you share a little bit about what those opportunities might look like? Potential occupations that we have not seen just yet, but you've got a closer. 00:06:04 - Kate Gordon Eye to on the sort of pure energy industry side. We're shifting from a set of occupations that have to do with mining and refining and transporting and trading a commodity which is oil or coal, but mostly oil at this point in the United States. That brings with it a very specific set of occupations. Right. Like they're permanent jobs in mining, they're permanent jobs in refining. It does create a lot of jobs, actually, that set of industries. But we're moving from that to, in California, let's say the electrify everything movement. We're moving to a set of energy generation, like ideally renewable, so wind, solar, increasingly hydrogen, some geothermal, you know, some hydropower going onto wires and moving around. Right. And the thing that's different about that is it's mostly construction jobs. So if you think about a solar plant or a wind plant, the great thing about those in the long term, besides that there's zero carbon, is you don't have to mine and refine anything. The energy is free because it's the sun or the wind. But you do have to construct a big plant to do it. So what we see is that about 60% of the jobs in the emerging energy economy are construction jobs. That's also true of energy efficiency. Primarily that's construction occupations. Those aren't new. They're not different than construction jobs, but they are construction jobs. It's an interesting question about sort of a major expansion of that sector. We're already seeing job shortages on construction because of all this new build. We're also seeing the need for some new skills in construction. So skills around green building, how to put in a heat pump is a new skill for electricians. New skills around just different types of plant construction. I think that's a sector that we need to keep our eye on. We tend to think of it as these are not Permanent jobs. These are temporary. But the reality is if you're building a lot of things, construction workers can have a whole career being construction workers because there's project after project after project. So that's a big area to think about. We also see a shift in the types of skills that you know, that sort of engineering jobs. For instance, we've spent the last few decades really focused on computer engineering as the main growth area of engineering. Right. So especially in California, we've oriented a lot of education toward computer engineering. But what we're starting to see is that if you're bringing all this renewable power onto the grid, the sun only shines at certain times, the wind only blows at certain times. You need to integrate that with storage. You need to think about how to balance out that load so you actually have energy coming in all the time. That's power system engineering. That's a different kind of engineering. We have a shortage of those in the United States. Nuclear is coming back as a really significant power source in a lot of parts of the US. Nuclear engineers, I'd be hard pressed to find very many of them under 50 years old. We just don't train people to do it. So we need to be thinking about like this new system really does require a different set of skills in these industries that we're used to thinking about. But we need to kind of bring back some of those skills we've lost. The final thing I'll say is there is a ton of manufacturing opportunity in the clean energy economy. The bills passed under Biden and Harris are very focused on domestic onshoring and manufacturing in the clean energy supply chain. We should be making the solar panels, not just installing the solar panels. Manufacturing trade skills are lacking in this country. We stopped training people through career tech education. We have not focused on manufacturing and skilled trades and we are at a disadvantage because of that. 00:09:23 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo That's right. Yeah, we certainly are seeing that as well and adjusting as we see fit. The challenge with any of our larger institution is how swift, agile, and quick. 00:09:34 - Kate Gordon We can be 100%. And you also have a kind of a geographic dislocation. Right. Like one of the things about traditional energy, fossil energy is it's very place based. Right. You have oil fields where the oil is. Right. Like you can't, you can't like do location decisions based on anything else. It's like that's where they are. That's really different than electrified system where you can do many things in many places. It's very distributed. So I think that's going to Be a question too is economic mobility and where we're training people to do what are the folks who have been trained in the fossil system. I think there are real opportunities for transitioning and job skill match for those folks. But some of the new stuff won't be where the old stuff was. 00:10:17 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Good point. Are you seeing a growth or specific regions within California where we might see this growth spurt in construction and those occupations emerging? Are you seeing that? And then I also wonder too what will get in the way in your opinion, what might get in the way of this growth? 00:10:36 - Kate Gordon Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, the construction side is pretty broadly shared across geographies just because I think we'll see a growth in the construction of major projects like big solar and big wind, mostly in the Central Valley and inland because that's where the land availability is. So that's likely where we're going to see that. We also have a lot of population growth in those areas. So it's a real opportunity. You know, we've got some mining opportunity, right, Like Lithium Valley. That's mining for the clean energy economy. That's down in the Inland Empire. That's a place without a lot of people. But that's where that opportunity happens to be. That's very place-based construction, though. Also, we're to see a lot of it in just urbanized areas because anything that has to do with energy efficiency or retrofitting existing buildings or building new green buildings is all going to be in population centers. So I think a lot of opportunity across the board, different types of construction. It's just that we know from when I was in state government that we did an analysis of all the dollars spent under the cap and trade program, all of which were spent on kind of clean energy economy work. Across California I just can tell you 60 to 70% of the jobs are in construction. We expect to see a lot of it. Manufacturing will be interesting. It'll depend on where there's industrial land. And a lot of parts of California have don't have zoning for industrial land. And so the places that still have zoned industrial land will have a leg up. Richmond, California, is a great example. The shipbuilding passed still a bunch of industrial land. It's right by a port. That's a really good kind of location for manufacturing. So I think some of it's going to be sort of a competitiveness analysis. But the interesting thing about the clean energy economy is that there's opportunities in a lot of places. They just look different. Up in Humboldt, they're rebuilding the port for offshore wind that's, you know, rekindling that port after years of it being dormant. Those are jobs that are probably folks coming out of, you know, lost jobs in logging and timber, getting retrained. It's a very regional issue. Part of why California Forward we're so focused on regional economic development is because the regions of California are bigger than most states. The way we think about the economy is really inherently regional. Oh, and challenges. I mean, some of the challenges are, you know, just the inherent challenge of workforce training, which I know you know well, which is the worry about training for jobs that don't exist. How do you get ahead of the projections? How do you know if they're real? I do think the benefit of the infrastructure bill and the Inflation Reduction Act that passed under this current administration. The benefit is they're both long-term bills. So the infrastructure bill is five to 10 years spending, and the inflation reduction act is 10 years. That means there is some running room. Right? I mean, the goal there is there's 10 years of investments that then anchors an economy in a number of places. I hope that's true. I mean, that's the goal. And so I think there's some amount of planning that can happen. But look, energy transition and climate-related issues are inherently political. And so some of this is going to be about political decisions that get made that are out of our control as people who want to find high-quality jobs for workers. 00:13:33 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Yeah, that's right. That's right. Some of it is out of our control and hopefully more dialogue is around just conversations that we're having here today. But more of those conversations get amplified so that we start to reduce some of those barriers that we inherently will see. Just because it's, you know, the nature of the beast here and some of. 00:13:54 - Kate Gordon It's not politics in terms of climate. Some of the reason that we're focusing again on manufacturing and domestic supply chains is our relationship with China, which is changing dramatically. Right. So some of it is geopolitical, and I don't think that's moving to a new place anytime soon. I think a lot of these trends are sustained trends. 00:14:13 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo That's good to know. I want to spend a little bit of time talking about the community benefits plan and your role in it and shift gears just a little bit because I think it's important for our listener to understand first explain what that is, the community benefits plan and why it's so important that energy projects like those continue to help our communities. 00:14:36 - Kate Gordon Yeah, thanks for the question. When I was at Department of Energy as Chair. Jennifer Granholm Senior Advisor One of the things that happened while I was there was the infrastructure bill, which is really a significant bill. People in the climate community often talk about the Inflation Reduction Act as the big climate bill, but I would argue that actually, if you think about the impact on the economy and the workforce, the infrastructure bill, the Chips and Science Act for semiconductors, and the Inflation Reduction Act are all critically important. They're all building parts of the foundational building blocks for us having a kind of a vibrant, diversified climate energy economy. The infrastructure bill for the Department of Energy was very significant. That Bill alone appropriated $62 billion to the department. Just for context, like the entire department budget, including the nuclear side, was only about 45 billion before that. So it's a lot of money, more than 60 new programs, right? I mean, just a massive, just hard to even overstate how big this was. But it also was a different color of money. The Department of Energy has traditionally been a research and science agency. This funding is primarily for big construction projects like hydrogen hubs, direct air capture hubs, manufacturing plants like steel in the ground, and transmission build-out. So it required us to first of all redesign the whole department, which I won't go into, but was a whole thing that happened. 00:16:04 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo That's an undertaking in itself. 00:16:05 - Kate Gordon It's a 19,000 person department, so it's a big deal. So bringing in a new Office of Infrastructure, redesigning the department. But it also required us to really think hard about what these projects would mean in places. So just to give context, energy, I said earlier, is sort of the basis of the whole economy because it's the backbone. But it's also, these projects are like anchor economic projects in places. If I'm doing a hydrogen hub in a place that doesn't have a lot of jobs right now, like that's thousands of jobs at one time in a place. One of the first investments was the small modular reactor plant for nuclear plant in Kemmerer, Wyoming. Kemmerer has about 2300 people in it in the middle of Wyoming. This plant would take a thousand people to construct. So just as an example of the impact of these things on places. Right. And so when you're doing that, you have to start thinking about is it going to actually create benefit in places. I think there's a part of the climate community that said for a long time, oh, these are inherently good because they're green projects like green jobs are good jobs. Right. The reality is that that's not always true, that unless you pay attention to pathways into careers to the true training piece into job quality, not just quantity, into environmental impacts on a place like paying attention to those things is what creates benefits from big projects. It has to be done intentionally. So that's essentially the backstory of the community benefits plans. What we did was came into this whole infrastructure bill implementation with the perspective that we had to make sure that these were beneficial projects. In places they're multi decadal projects that are about transitioning the economy. So they had to work. And so we designed a system where 20% of the points on the...
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Building a Sustainable Future: The Role of Clean Energy Economy Construction with Kate Gordon, CEO of CA FWD Episode 140
03/04/2025
Building a Sustainable Future: The Role of Clean Energy Economy Construction with Kate Gordon, CEO of CA FWD Episode 140
What does it take to build a clean energy economy? Kate Gordon, CEO of CA FWD (California Forward), believes it’s about more than just new technology—it’s about putting communities first, preparing for the emerging career opportunities, and making sustainability a part of everyday decision-making. Creating a greener, more resilient future requires everyone to play a role, from policymakers to local businesses to individuals. CA FWD invites people to share their thoughts and questions on the clean energy transition because real progress happens when we work together. You’ll learn: Why community benefits plans are important for large-scale energy projects. How job opportunities in regenerative agriculture, adaptation planning, and wetland restoration contribute to sustainability. Why zoned industrial land is crucial for manufacturing growth in the clean energy sector. Why partnerships between educational institutions, industries, labor, and government are essential for workforce readiness. What job opportunities are emerging in the clean energy economy, and how individuals can prepare for them. About the Guest: Kate Gordon, CEO of CA FWD, has spent over two decades at the intersection of climate change, energy policy, and equitable economic development. She previously served as Senior Advisor to U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, leading initiatives like the Community Benefits Plan under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Cleanup to Clean Energy initiative. Before that, she was Director of California’s Office of Planning and Research and Senior Climate Policy Advisor to Governor Gavin Newsom, spearheading programs like California Jobs First and the state’s first integrated climate budget. Gordon also founded the Risky Business Project, assessing the financial risks of climate change, and held leadership roles at think tanks like the Paulson Institute and the Center for American Progress. She holds a J.D. and a master’s from UC Berkeley, teaches at UC Berkeley, and serves as a Non-resident Scholar at Carnegie California. Engage with us: , & : @PasadenaCityCollegeEWD Join our newsletter for more on this topic: Visit: More from Kate Gordon & CA FWD Website: LinkedIn: & & : @movecafwd YouTube: Partner with us! Contact our host Salvatrice Cummo directly: [email protected] Want to be a guest on the show? Click to inquire about booking Find the transcript of this episode Please rate us and leave us your thoughts and comments on Apple Podcasts; we’d love to hear from you!
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Transcript- Episode 139: Driving Diversity & Equity in the Sports Tech Industry with Albert Basilio, CEO & Founder at Launchball Episode 139
02/25/2025
Transcript- Episode 139: Driving Diversity & Equity in the Sports Tech Industry with Albert Basilio, CEO & Founder at Launchball Episode 139
00:00:00 - Albert Basilio I would like to see the company as a place where we can hire the best Latino and Latina talent from the greater Los Angeles area. People that can bring their talents, earn a high wage from their work, and know that if they love sports and technology as much as we do, that it can be a place for them to contribute to the creation of an unforgettable experience for those that would like to be a part of what we build. 00:00:29 - Christina Barsi The workforce landscape is rapidly changing and educators and their institutions need to keep up. Preparing students before they enter the workforce to make our communities and businesses stronger is at the core of getting an education. But we need to understand how to change and adjust so that we can begin to project where things are headed before we even get there. So how do we begin to predict the future? 00:00:54 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Hi, I'm Salvatrice Cummo, Vice President of Economic and Workforce Development at Pasadena City College and host of this podcast. 00:01:02 - Christina Barsi And I'm Christina Barsi, producer and co host of this podcast. 00:01:06 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo And we are starting the conversation about the future of work. We'll explore topics like how education can partner with industry, how to be more equitable, and how to attain one of our highest goals, more internships and PCC. Students in the workforce. We at Pasadena City College want to lead the charge in closing the gap between what our students are learning and what the demands of the workforce will be once they enter. This is a conversation that impacts all of us. You, the employers, the policymakers, the educational institutions, and the community as a whole. 00:01:40 - Christina Barsi We believe change happens when we work together, and it all starts with having a conversation. Hi, I'm Christina Barsi. 00:01:48 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo And I'm Salvatrice Cummo. And this is the Future of Work. Hi, welcome back to the Future of Work podcast. I am your host, Dr. Salvatrice Cummo. Our guest today is Albert Basilio, founder of Launchball, a company that merges sports and technology in innovative ways. Albert has been navigating the unique challenges of creating a Latino-led startup in the sports team tech space, an area where diverse representation is still growing. Today, we'll discuss Albert's experience founding Launchball, the challenges he's faced as a Latino founder in sports and tech, and how Launchball is contributing to the future of work in both of these industries. Albert, thank you so much for joining us today. 00:02:35 - Albert Basilio No, thank you so much for inviting me today. I appreciate it. 00:02:39 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo You bet, you bet. I'm really super excited to kind of dive deep into what is Launchball and how you've created Launchball and what problem are you solving as an innovator and entrepreneur in this space. But before we begin, we had an opportunity to meet at the Future of Work conference most recently and tell me a little bit about how. What led you there? What led you to the conference? 00:03:00 - Albert Basilio Yeah, so I found out about the conference because I was looking for podcast episodes featuring either Mr. Stephen Chung from the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation, Ms. Renata Siemril from the LA84 foundation, or Ms. Julie Ehrman from Angel City Football Club. So I had seen in the show notes that there was going to be a conference soon in the episode featuring Mr. Chung. It was going to be focused on sports and entertainment and how that landscape is looking right now, especially with the Olympic Games and the World cup that are going to be hosted here in the Los Angeles area pretty soon. So it was then when I knew that I couldn't miss it, I couldn't miss that conference. So luckily I was able to secure some tickets just before they ran out. 00:03:51 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo We were happy that you attended and thank you for spreading the word as well. You were really great ambassador the day of. Super. Super. Appreciate it. I'm really curious and I'm sure our listener is as well is a little bit about your background, Albert, and really kind of what led you into this space of sports and technology and also what led you to build Launchball. 00:04:16 - Albert Basilio Yeah, of course. So, I am Mexican American, and currently, I'm 29 years old. So I was born in Los Angeles, and I've lived through in various cities in and around Los Angeles county. But currently, I'm living in the city of Palmdale, up about an hour north of Los Angeles. So we've been living here for a little bit over 20 years, and pretty much, I've always been interested in how things are invented, how they're built, how they're made, ever since I was a kid. So, you know, growing up, I would be either building Lego sets or, you know, trying to fix things, quote, unquote, around the house. And then also from a young age, I would go with my dad and again, quote, unquote, help with whatever I could in our small swimming pool cleaning business. 00:05:11 - Albert Basilio So it was just doing a variety of things that interested me from a young age. Not only that, but I would grow up reading books, you know, about outer space and technology and a whole other wide range of topics. But even though I was doing all that growing up, I felt as a first generation American that some things were possibly not going to be on the cards. 00:05:39 - Albert Basilio I guess the main one being am I going to be able to go to College as I get older, because I knew it was going to be expensive and I didn't know if it was going to be within those realms of possibility just because we really didn't know how to prepare for something like that. So instead of going to college after graduating from high school, I was able to work at a medical tech company as an assembler since someone my family knew was kind enough to offer a referral to get in there. So I would spend a couple of days there, and eventually, those days turned into a couple of years, but a couple of impactful events happened. And it was pretty much after these events happened that I was like, okay, you know what? I know what it's like to work now right after high school, so I'm going to see if I can go back to school. 00:06:34 - Albert Basilio And so that's when I enrolled at my local community college, Antelope Valley College and Lancaster. And that's where I began that journey of taking the first courses necessary to be able to transfer as an engineering major. And so I spent a couple years there at Antelope Valley College, and then eventually I was able to get the credits necessary to transfer to the University of California at Riverside. 00:07:02 - Albert Basilio And that's where I was majoring in electrical engineering. But I don't know if it was due to just having to work, you know, during the day or during that time off when I didn't have class at community college. And then it just eventually caught up to me because after a few months I kind of felt burnt out and I withdrew from UCR a couple of months in into after my transfer. Pretty much I didn't know what I was going to do after that. I felt a little bit down, but. But I would always be scrolling through social media, especially TikTok. 00:07:36 - Albert Basilio And I had seen other entrepreneurs around my age starting to build their businesses centered around either a new sport that they were inventing, creating, or just giving existing sports a different spin. So in those moments I would think to myself, well, why can't I do that? Why can't I do the same thing that they're doing? I mean, it seems fun, Seems. 00:08:00 - Albert Basilio Seems like a fun industry, so why not invent a new sport as well? Thought I was going to end up working in the aerospace industry, but I guess that didn't end up happening. But it was then when I would be like, okay, if I'm going to take this serious, I want to see how much I can learn if this is what I'm going to do from here on in. So I would start watching videos Listening to podcasts, asking other founders the process of going about this, of starting a sports startup. 00:08:33 - Albert Basilio And so I had gotten enough information that I thought would be good to take action on. And so that's when I started looking for manufacturers after I had already made a design that I thought would be good enough to send to these manufacturers. And so I was able to find one overseas and I sent them the design. We went back and forth over several months and when I thought that everything had looked good enough and ready, I had them ship it over to my house. And after that, well, seeing that now I had the prototype, I was like, okay, so I have this now. But I see that other companies are taking advantage of the technology that we have at our disposal and kind of using those two things together, right? Sports and also technology. So even though I wasn't a computer science major, I was like, okay, this is one more thing that I have to learn in order to be able to really create something that might not be seen at the moment. 00:09:44 - Albert Basilio Then that's what I have to do. So that's when I just started learning how to code in Apple's programming language called Swift and started making also the prototype for the application that I hope will be the main application that those who are going to want to participate in this new sport, it will be that sort of gateway for them to join a local game in their respective cities and just find out for themselves what the sport is going to be like and how their experience is going to be once they participate in it. 00:10:27 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo I mean, let's spend some time there, Albert. I mean, some of our listeners may not know what Launchball is. I know what it is and you obviously know what it is, but if you can give us, you know, your elevator pitch of what Launchball is, that would be really great. 00:10:42 - Albert Basilio So as for the sport itself, it's a team sport similar to soccer, otherwise known as football in other countries, and American football, basketball, those sort of sports. So pretty much you have 10 players against 10 players playing at the same time. And it's going to be played on a grass field similar to a soccer field, the dimensions of a soccer field. But in this sport there's no goalkeepers like you would see in, for example, soccer. And the players will have to pass and throw a small ball that kind of fits into the palm of their hands. And then for the equipment that I designed, it's basically a square shaped goal with a net attached. And then that goal itself is attached to an about 4 foot tall pole. And pretty much there's Going to be an area drawn in front of the goal itself, just to indicate that there's some sort of area in which the players cannot enter. So the whole point of why it's called Launchball is because you're going to have to throw it really hard or launch it into the goal from a certain distance in order to score. 00:11:53 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Got it. The arena of sports and technology has its own challenges, and you've navigated those challenges, and we'll spend some time on that in just a minute. But before we talk about those barriers and some of those challenges, there are many entrepreneurs. In fact, we're seeing the highest surge in entrepreneurship now than ever before in history. What would you say is the most important factor or most important thing to do when you're looking to build your own and to innovate and transition from what we call the normal workforce? Right. Working for someone else versus building your own. What's the one most important factor you think? 00:12:37 - Albert Basilio In my opinion, I think the most important factor it would have to be having that prototype made, because then you can see that it's not an idea anymore. So now you can interact with it for whatever the purpose it was made for. So, for example, in this case, designing and seeing the sports equipment that I had drawn out on the computer and now having an actual first prototype. So you can now start to slowly evolve that idea into a physical product. In this case, start using it for what your product or service is eventually going to be. So if there's one thing, it's that it's building the prototype. And it doesn't matter if it's a physical product or if it's a mobile application. If you can get that first iteration of many finished for the moment, then that is really going to motivate you. And see, okay, I got this first version down and now this is where the work is going to commence after that. 00:13:46 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Along the theme of motivation, Albert, you know, you mentioned earlier that you were kind of teeter tottering with college and then discovered that your heart was leading you to innovate and to solve something. You were solving community. In my humble opinion, when I think about Launchball, I think about how it brings together the community. How did you stay motivated? Because entrepreneurship is very difficult. There's lots of trans trials and tribulations. Right. There's lots of successes and there's also just as many tears that go along with it. But how do you stay motivated in taking that leap? And those who are listening, what would you say would be their motivation factor? 00:14:25 - Albert Basilio I would say that having that support around you, especially when you're trying to build something new and bring it into the world, having that support is really critical, especially at the beginning. There's going to be more difficult times than there are ones where you're going to celebrate and be happy of the progress that you've made. So whether it's your family or friends or other entrepreneurs in your community as well, I think that's key to not losing that motivation and really just using that to continue. Because sometimes you might hear on a podcast, oh, yeah, it was really hard, right? But you don't know how hard until you've lived it. But then again, they would also mention, but I got through it because of my family, because of my friends, because of professors at my community college or at my university or other entrepreneurs. And it didn't matter whether they were here in person, in front of me, or whether they were offering guidance and their support online. So that is really key to not losing that motivation, just having that support, for sure. 00:15:36 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo And I would imagine that as a Latino founder in a very niche industry, you've had some unique challenges. Being unique to you doesn't mean they're not unique to others, but specifically for you, there are some unique challenges that you had to face. How did you overcome them? Like, let's talk through that. Let's talk through some of those challenges and then how you chose to overcome them. And perhaps you might be experiencing them now, and you're trying to overcome them. 00:16:01 - Albert Basilio Yeah. So in this case, being a Latino founder, I already know what the statistics are. I think other professionals in various industries are aware just how difficult it might be to start building a startup. So I would say the main thing is lack to access of capital for these type of ventures. So. So it is a significant barrier, but it's not impossible, regardless. So it might take a little bit more work, but it's not impossible. I would listen to other audiobooks and podcast episodes where they would talk about how other founders would be able to, for example, raise their first round of financing for their startups, either through family or friends, for example. I don't know if this is the case with every member of the Latino community, but we sometimes just don't have access to friends or family that have maybe a little bit of extra capital to where they would be willing to invest in startups such as these founded by other members of their community. So not only that, but just the fact about knowing what startups are not really being exposed to starting ventures such as these. So it's really necessary. Because if you don't have this in mind, if you don't see it as a goal in your life, you're not really going to go out and start building connections that could maybe one day help significantly when you do decide to start something like this. That's pretty much it. In my case, what I'm trying to do right now, seeing what ways I can go out and connect with industry leaders, seek help, seek advice, and hopefully after building disconnections and having the education that my professors were already able to give me during my time in college, hopefully those two things will lead eventually to some form of, who knows, maybe finding investors that are aligned with the mission and goals of the startup and wanting to invest in this. 00:18:20 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Thank you. I do want to maybe shift gears just a little bit still along the theme of connection. You know, Launchball connects the community through sports. And there are many different industries and entrepreneurs creating their own ventures that may struggle with connecting with their audience. What are some things that you've learned in your building of Launchball that creates that sense of community that connects with your audience? What are some lessons learned that you've had that you think that other industries and entrepreneurs can learn from? 00:18:57 - Albert Basilio Yeah, so I think sports lend themselves, in this case to building community a bit more easy just because it's a physical activity that you have to go out and do. So usually that attracts a crowd of people to go and support them or as a way of entertainment. But for other industries or entrepreneurs, I think that they can create those real lasting connections as well with their audience by setting up that environment that facilitates forming those connections. So it'll vary according to industry. But for example, I was able to connect with two Latino founders a little while back. They're USC alumni, so their names are Anthony Ramirez and Elmer Vasquez. And right now they're building an artificial intelligence calendar in the EdTech space and it's called the First Gen X. And the goal is to aid first generation college students transition into their college workload. So there's a lot of first generation college students at universities across the country and their AI calendar can serve as that older sibling, if you will, that can guide students throughout their studies at university. So in this way, not only are the founders, in this case creating a more profound connection between their product and their users, but this also allows the opportunity to potentially connect first generation students amongst themselves since they're going in similar. 00:20:33 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Journeys and it seems as though, you know, partnerships for you, particularly with Launchball, it appears to me that partnerships with community College or any other educational institutions might be a great fit and some good synergies between Launchball and, let's just say, you know, Pasadena City College or, or any other educational institution. How do you see collaborations such as those really help not just Launchball, but perhaps maybe other startups as well that are looking to grow and scale. 00:21:08 - Albert Basilio As a person that attended a community college, I can personally say that I have a great admiration for the academic institutions that we have so, such as Antelope Valley College, Pasadena City College. Because usually for the majority of us trying to gain more skills in this ever changing workforce and landscape, it is usually...
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Driving Diversity & Equity in the Sports Tech Industry with Albert Basilio, CEO & Founder at Launchball Episode 139
02/25/2025
Driving Diversity & Equity in the Sports Tech Industry with Albert Basilio, CEO & Founder at Launchball Episode 139
What drives innovation and diversity in sports and technology? Albert Basilio, founder of Launchball, is merging these industries to create immersive experiences while championing inclusion. He sheds light on the barriers Latino founders face in securing capital and discusses the power of support networks in entrepreneurial success. Basilio also explores how community colleges and universities can bridge the gap between education and industry, fostering the next generation of diverse sports professionals. Discover how collaboration and community can shape the future of sports and tech. You’ll learn: How Launchball is shaping the future of work in sports and technology through diversity and inclusion. The challenges Latino founders face in accessing capital—and how to overcome them. Why equity is a priority for PCC in expanding student opportunities. How Launchball enhances participant experiences by merging sports and technology. About the Guest: Albert Basilio, a 29-year-old Mexican American entrepreneur, is the founder of Launchball, a pioneering company at the intersection of sports and technology. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Albert's journey showcases the challenges and triumphs of leading a Latino-driven startup in the competitive sports tech industry. Albert's commitment to innovation and diversity is exemplified through his efforts to create a more inclusive workplace, reflecting his personal experiences and dedication to empowering underrepresented communities in tech. Engage with us: , & : @PasadenaCityCollegeEWD Join our newsletter for more on this topic: Visit: More from Albert Basilio & Launchball Website: : @albert-basilio & : @launchballsport Partner with us! Contact our host Salvatrice Cummo directly: [email protected] Want to be a guest on the show? Click to inquire about booking Find the transcript of this episode Please rate us and leave us your thoughts and comments on Apple Podcasts; we’d love to hear from you!
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Transcript- Episode 138: Rebuilding After The LA Fires: A Comprehensive Guide to the SBA’s Disaster Support with Julie Clowes, Director, Los Angeles District Office, U.S. Small Business Administration Episode 138
02/18/2025
Transcript- Episode 138: Rebuilding After The LA Fires: A Comprehensive Guide to the SBA’s Disaster Support with Julie Clowes, Director, Los Angeles District Office, U.S. Small Business Administration Episode 138
00:00:00 - Julie Clowes Even though you're not certain maybe how you want to utilize all these programs, I do say apply, get yourself into the queue, the application queue, and preserve the ability to tap into these resources beyond that March 10 deadline. With SBA's program, for example, if you decide you don't want the loan, at the end of the day, SBA offers you and you're like, you know, I think I can manage without it. That's okay. You can say, no. You can take a lesser amount than what SBA might offer you. But what I don't want people to do is get two months from now and say, gosh, I wish I would have applied. 00:00:38 - Christina Barsi The workforce landscape is rapidly changing, and educators and their institutions need to keep up. Preparing students before they enter the workforce to make our communities and businesses stronger is at the core of getting an education. But we need to understand how to change and adjust so that we can begin to project where things are headed before we even get there. So how do we begin to predict the future? 00:01:03 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Hi, I'm Salvatrice Cummo, Vice President of Economic and Workforce Development at Pasadena City College and host of this podcast. 00:01:11 - Christina Barsi And I'm Christina Barsi, producer and co-host of this podcast. 00:01:15 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo And we are starting the conversation about the future of work. We explore topics like how education can partner with industry, how to be more equitable, and how to attain one of our highest goals, more internships, and PCC students in the workforce. We at Pasadena City College want to lead the charge in closing the gap between what our students are learning and what the demands of the workforce will be once they enter. This is a conversation that impacts all of us, you, the employers, the policymakers, the educational institutions, and the community as a whole. 00:01:49 - Christina Barsi We believe change happens when we work together, and it all starts with having a conversation. I'm Christina Barsi. 00:01:57 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo And I'm Salvatrice Cummo. And this is the Future of Work. Hi. Welcome back to the Future of Work podcast. I am your host, Dr. Salvatrice Cummo. Today, we are joined by Julie Clowes, Director of the U.S. Small Business Administration's Los Angeles District Office. Julie has spent 28 years at the SBA holding key leadership positions across Detroit, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and now Los Angeles. She also has a legal background, having worked as an attorney in the SBA's Office of General Counsel for a decade. Julie has been instrumental in guiding small businesses through economic recovery, disaster relief, and funding programs to ensure sustainability during crises. Today, we'll be discussing how SBA is supporting businesses, homeowners, and communities in the wake of the recent LA fires, what financial assistance is available, how small businesses can rebuild, and what economic recovery looks like moving forward. Julie, welcome to the show. 00:03:03 - Julie Clowes Thank you. 00:03:04 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Thanks for spending some time. I know that we. We are in the midst of lots of activities responding to the crisis here, but again, just thank you. The SBA has been instrumental in this process, and so to carve out time means quite a bit to us. So thank you. 00:03:20 - Julie Clowes Oh, no, thank you. I appreciate the invitation. 00:03:23 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo You bet. You bet. So I think before we kind of get started on the SBA offerings and recovery, I think it's important that our listener understands a little bit about you and who you are. And so I posed this question. If you could tell us a little bit about your journey, how you got here, how did you come to work with the SBA, and what has kept you intrigued about staying with the SBA for nearly three decades? 00:03:49 - Julie Clowes Thank you. I was asked this question once by one of my former supervisors, and I was like, it really was a lot of just luck as opposed to any sort of strategy. But no, I actually started working for the SBDC, the Small Business Development center, in grad school, and obviously, I know you have intimate knowledge of that program, and I had never heard of SBA before. When I was in school and working with the SBDC, which is a program of SBA, I got to learn all about the programs and services and working with the business owners one on one, and I discovered that I really loved it. I loved working with these men and women, seeing their passion, their commitment. I mean, you just want to. You cheer for them. You can't help but cheer for them. And it's so inspiring to me. And so it's really kind of what I love to do and talk about. I've been fortunate to have three very different careers inside of SBA, going from public affairs specialist to attorney, and now back on the field side to working with all of our programs and services delivery across the community. But it's really the small business owners that I meet that keep me inspired and keep me wanting to do this day in and day out. 00:05:03 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Thank you. I think that being on the field gives us just a different dose of reality. And I feel the same way, too. I'm just thinking about my own respective roles within the institution. Always outward facing, but nonetheless in my current role. Just like in your current role, being on the field, it's just where everything happens and it's for me, and I see it from you, too, is that's where your heart lies? 00:05:25 - Julie Clowes It is. And it's you know, people always ask me, like, well, you could go be a consultant, make a lot of money. But because I see a lot of these people that don't have those kind of resources to pay for, you know, the top notch consultant firms and all of that. But they have such a great idea and they are really committed to seeing it through. And like, I love seeing that. I love being a part of that journey in some little way, shape or form. So that's really what has driven me to public service, because I love being able to provide that for people who might not otherwise have a way to afford it or be tapped into resources. And I'm sure you have the same kind of commitment. 00:06:03 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo That's right. That's right. We certainly do. And speaking of which, those who we serve are in quite a bit of pain. I'm just gonna call it that. That's the only word that comes to me right now. Both in economic injury as it relates to the aftermath of the Eaton fires, or just the fires in general across LA county, and then more economic injury than physical injury of the establishment of the business. And so before I ask you really about what are the offerings of the SBA, I think I want to spend a little bit of time around how these businesses can access the SBA assistance and what steps they need to take. And then I kind of want to transition to like, what's available. 00:06:43 - Julie Clowes Yeah. So the district office, you know, we're here in good times and bad, and we have all of the resources available of SBA right now. So people can find out about this information in so many different ways. They can contact us here in the district, and we usually recommend they use our email box because we're often out on the road or somewhere else, and that's [email protected]. But we also have, if they're looking for disaster-specific assistance, we have the recovery centers that are propped up across LA County right now. And all of those centers have SBA representatives that can sit down and work with you one one-on-one if you want to apply for any of the assistance that we'll talk about in a little bit. And then another way people can reach us, especially if you're a business owner, is through our extensive network of resources that we have. We have business advisors in multiple programs and that again are spread out across the county, whether you're Small Business Development Centers, Women Business Centers, our SCORE mentors, and we have a Veteran Business Outreach Center. So if you stumble into any one of those or look those up or are already working with an advisor. They can certainly connect you with all of the resources of SBA as well. And then there's a good old-fashioned phone. 00:08:03 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Yeah. 00:08:04 - Julie Clowes Which seems so old school now. 00:08:06 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Yeah, yeah. The SBA, until I got into this work of being a public servant, I didn't really recognize or understand all of what is available to our business community. And the SBA has an enormous amount of resources, those of which you just mentioned. Right. From a technical assistance provider through the SBDC, the Small Business Development Center, the Women's Business Center, the Veterans Centers, the score, all of those. That said, those are all entities so that our listener understands those are all entities that could help support our business owners to access loans. This is one of the things, one of many things that they assist with. So that said, these business centers or these technical assistance programs that assist our business owners in accessing the loans. Can you break down for us what are the three loans right now, disaster loan programs available, and how and who are they designed to help? 00:09:06 - Julie Clowes Sure. So when it comes to the disaster assistance programs, we do have three different loan programs. And I tell people that just because we have business in our name, in the times of disaster, we're actually here to help everyone. So whether you're a homeowner, a renter, a business of any size, actually, or a private nonprofit organization, between our three programs, we do have something that can assist you. And if you are both a homeowner and a business owner that has been dually impacted, you know, you can combine these programs together as well to kind of help you with both on your home side and on your business side with your recovery journey. The three programs are all loan programs. And so for homeowners and renters, we do have a loan program that allows you to receive funds to help repair or replace disaster-damaged property. That includes real estate, but it also includes your personal property and then even includes things like automobiles. So homeowners can borrow up to $500,000 to help repair or replace their real estate. Then, for personal property, our loan limit is $100,000, and those can be combined. So it could be up to $600,000 for a homeowner. On the flip side, for businesses, we also offer a loan that will help them repair or replace their real estate if they own the building that their business is located in, but also anything inside the business. Right. So it can include inventory. If you have equipment or machinery, or just the fixtures and furniture, whatever it is that has been either damaged or completely destroyed, the program can assist. And this program will work. For businesses of any size and also for nonprofit organizations. We have a limit of $2 million on that program. And then the third piece for businesses, and this is only for small businesses and nonprofits, is our Economic Injury Disaster Loan, or EIDL. A lot of people heard about this program during the pandemic. Very popular then, this is working capital. So this is for businesses that they may have been directly impacted by the fire or they may not, but they have been impacted economically. There are dozens of reasons why a business anywhere in LA County could have been impacted as a result of the fires and the winds. Maybe you were fortunate enough to have your business remain intact, but your customers were maybe in the fire zone. So you've lost business, you've maybe had contracts that were canceled, your employees maybe were impacted, and that impacts your ability to operate normally. You know, lots of reasons. And so this is meant for those businesses that need. Think of it almost like a bridge loan, some working capital to help them get through their recovery period until we get to a place where they can start earning their normal revenue again or hopefully increase their revenue. So this loan helps them pay their ordinary business expenses. You know, whether you have a lease or a mortgage or utilities and inventory and, you know, employee salaries, etc. 00:12:11 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Oftentimes what we hear on the field is SBA does not apply to me because I'm an independent contractor or I'm a home based business and there's misconception about, and misinformation maybe that those individuals do not qualify for an SBA loan. You kind of already answered this question, but what do they need to know? What do independent contractors and home based businesses need to know about qualifying for aid from the SBA? 00:12:40 - Julie Clowes The first thing I would tell people is please don't disqualify yourself. There's lots of nuances, right? Especially when it's coming to independent contractors. There's a lot of different questions. If you're an independent contractor, that SBA will ask you to kind of understand more about your role and how you're operating as an independent contractor. So it's not an automatic yes and it's not an automatic no. There's a lot of different factors we'll take take into consideration. So I do encourage people to go ahead and apply and then let SBA ask you the question so that we're able to make a determination on your eligibility. Please don't automatically think you won't qualify. And home based businesses are typically even easier to qualify because if you are operating as a business, it doesn't matter where you're based, whether you have a brick and mortar site or whether you're operating out of your home, whether you're engaged in ecosystem commerce, whether you know you're on the street selling goods and services, the business test is pretty easy. You know, if you're filing taxes as a Schedule C or LLC or any other form of business, you would qualify for this program. So if you have a unique scenario or an independent contractor, please don't hesitate to apply if you're interested in these programs and let SBA make that determination. 00:13:55 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo For, you know, sometimes when we think about these resources, they may not relate to us because for XY reasons. Might you be able to share real life examples of businesses that have leveraged the SBA programs and the outcomes and successes of that? 00:14:12 - Julie Clowes You know, I've been in many parts of the country and seen different types of disasters. And I will say that the one theme or the thread that really helps these businesses through what impresses me is the resiliency of the community when things happen. Prior to this fire, the worst wildfire I had experienced personally was up in Northern California with the Tubbs fire in Santa Rosa. There were a lot of businesses that were impacted. Again, it's similar to what we have here in directly and indirectly. So lots of different needs. But there was one restaurant that I remember speaking, speaking with a bit, and they pretty much lost the restaurant in the fire and they really had to rebuild everything from ground up. And so they were thinking of creative ways to keep their business alive, to have some sort of revenue and to have some sort of presence even in the community. So they pivoted to a food truck and they were able to get a food truck and they were able to stay in the community and even assist feeding first responders and others that were in the community and helping them with their rebuilding and recovery process. And this kept them in the community. It kept their name visible. And they leveraged the business loan in order to help them rebuild. So insurance proceeds coupled with this loan enabled them to rebuild. And, you know, and actually they were a little bit excited. They got a whole brand new kitchen out of it because everything was modern, and all the appliances were modern and up to date. So that just even helped create some more efficiencies for them as they brought it back. And I think that, you know, food trucks didn't necessarily give them the same level of revenue as the brick-and-mortar business, but they did keep their name in the community. And so when they did, they were able to reopen. There was that excitement from the community that they were able to come back. 00:15:59 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Yeah, that's a really great story. I mean, especially, you know, a restaurant that naturally brings synergy within a community. When that's absent, it affects so many different people in so many different areas. And so the fact that they were able to recover in a way that was, you know, again, to your point. Yes, it wasn't a physical building, but they still were able to recover the business and bring the community back together. 00:16:23 - Julie Clowes You know, not saying it was easy, but they just stuck with it. It always amazes me. I meet so many businesses where no matter how devastated or how impacted they may be, they are always looking at other people like, well, they're worse off, so I can help them. That just always sticks with me. And one of the reasons why I love small business. 00:16:42 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo That's right, yeah. I mean, the way the community fuses together to support one another is impressive. And none of this works just like us, right? As an institution, when we respond to anything within our community, we are always leaning on other agencies and other partners because this work cannot be done on its own. Right. Any work, any kind of recovery effort, any kind of assistance effort, any kind of response to whatever within our communities. And so what I'm curious about is what other agencies the SBA aligns with or leans on for support during times like this. 00:17:23 - Julie Clowes Yeah, that's a great question. Because it really does take all of us to help, especially with fires and how devastating they are, and the fact that it does take time to rebuild the community, as we keep saying, it's a marathon, not a sprint. So immediately, with disasters, especially these presidentially declared disasters, SBA goes in with FEMA automatically. So FEMA has been kind of our primary partner in disasters for as long as I've been with the agency, at least. And the resources are complementary. Right. A lot of the FEMA assistance is targeted to the individual to take care of immediate needs like shelter, making sure you have access to food and the essentials that you need and can afford to get some of those things. And then SBA kind of comes in for the longer term recovery side. But in the meantime, too, there's lots of other agencies. When we look at longer-term recovery, we're not just looking at our federal agency partners, we're also looking at local government especially, and here of the county and the cities that are leading the efforts to help rebuild these communities. And I think as we get further into the recovery, we have these loan programs which are great, but we'll be looking at all of SBA? And how do all of the different programs and services come into play as we look at the longer-term recovery? Like, what can we utilize in six months, in a year, in two years? And, you know, encouraging some of the communities to think about leveraging some of the tools that we have as a way to help bring back those commercial corridors and really bring more business into the areas that were devastated. So I'm looking forward to having some of those conversations, whether it be about other financial assistance, whether they're leveraging our technical assistance providers, and then also looking at other opportunities through contracting and any of those means....
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Rebuilding After The LA Fires: A Comprehensive Guide to the SBA’s Disaster Support with Julie Clowes, Director, Los Angeles District Office, U.S. Small Business Administration Episode 138
02/18/2025
Rebuilding After The LA Fires: A Comprehensive Guide to the SBA’s Disaster Support with Julie Clowes, Director, Los Angeles District Office, U.S. Small Business Administration Episode 138
How can small businesses rebuild after a crisis like the recent LA fires? The Small Business Administration (SBA) plays a crucial role in recovery; offering financial assistance, business counseling, and disaster relief. Many independent contractors and home-based businesses don’t realize they qualify for SBA loans, but resources are available for a wide range of business types. Julie Clowes, Director of SBA’s Los Angeles District Office, joins us to discuss how the SBA provides critical support, especially in times of rebuilding after disaster. From financial assistance to business counseling, the SBA helps entrepreneurs access vital aid. Their local assistance tool on SBA.gov connects businesses with nearby advisors and recovery services. In response to the fires, the SBA is actively providing financial relief and guidance to help businesses, homeowners, and communities rebuild—while also emphasizing policy changes and mitigation efforts to strengthen future resilience. You’ll learn: How small businesses can access resources like district offices and business centers. What kind of assistance the SBA has to offer in response to the recent LA fires. Who is encouraged to apply for SBA loans and aid. Learn critical strategies for small businesses to prepare for and recover from future disasters. Where individuals can locate resources based on their zip code for small business assistance. About the Guest: Julie Clowes is the Director of SBA’s Los Angeles District Office where she oversees delivery of SBA’s programs and services within Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Prior to joining the LADO Julie held numerous positions within SBA including Acting Deputy Associate Administrator -Office of Entrepreneurial Development, Director of the San Francisco District Office, Deputy District Director of the Washington Metropolitan Area District Office, Chief Marketing & Outreach attorney in the Office of General Counsel and Public Affairs Specialist with the Michigan District Office. Julie also volunteers her time for colorectal cancer advocacy efforts and was a Board member of the Colorectal Cancer Alliance. Engage with us: , & : @PasadenaCityCollegeEWD Join our newsletter for more on this topic: Visit: More from Julie Clowes & U.S. Small Business Administration Website: LinkedIn: & & : @sba.gov Partner with us! Contact our host Salvatrice Cummo directly: [email protected] Want to be a guest on the show? Click to inquire about booking Find the transcript of this episode Please rate us and leave us your thoughts and comments on Apple Podcasts; we’d love to hear from you!
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Transcript- Episode 137: Unapologetic Leadership: Driving Positive Change Through Diversity in Higher Education with Dr. Keith Curry, President of Compton College & CEO of the Compton Community College District Episode 137
02/11/2025
Transcript- Episode 137: Unapologetic Leadership: Driving Positive Change Through Diversity in Higher Education with Dr. Keith Curry, President of Compton College & CEO of the Compton Community College District Episode 137
00:00:00 - Dr. Keith Curry How do we, as institutions, connect workforce development across all academic areas to ensure that all students are getting opportunities for employment, Ensure all students are getting opportunities for internships and apprenticeships? And what does that look like? How do we connect with businesses within our community so our students are able to work at those businesses within our community that's related to their field? Where our students are not making minimum wage, we're looking at our students making wages where they can say, you know what? I'm good. This is good for me. 00:00:32 - Christina Barsi The workforce landscape is rapidly changing, and educators and their institutions need to keep up. Preparing students before they enter the workforce to make our communities and businesses stronger is at the core of getting an education. But we need to understand how to change and adjust so that we can begin to project where things are headed before we even get there. So how do we begin to predict the future? 00:00:57 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Hi, I'm Salvatrice Cummo, Vice President of Economic and Workforce Development at Pasadena City College and host of this podcast. 00:01:06 - Christina Barsi And I'm Christina Barsi, producer and co host of this podcast. 00:01:09 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo And we are starting the conversation about the future of work. We'll explore topics like how education can partner with industry, how to be more equitable, and how to attain one of our highest goals, more internships, and PCC students in the workforce. We at Pasadena City College want to lead the charge in closing the gap between what our students are learning and what the demands of the workforce will be once they enter. This is a conversation that impacts all of us. You, the employers, the policymakers, the educational institutions, and the community as a whole. 00:01:43 - Christina Barsi We believe change happens when we work together. And it all starts with having a conversation. I hi, I'm Christina Barsi. 00:01:51 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo And I'm Salvatrice Cummo. And this is the future of work. Hi. Welcome back to the Future of Work podcast. I am your host, Dr. Salvatrice Cumo. Today, we're joined by a visionary leader in higher education whose work has redefined advocacy and support for underrepresented student populations. As president of Compton College and co-founder of Black Student Success Week, Dr. Keith Curry has driven systemic changes that benefit countless students. Dr. Curry has been at the forefront of educational reform, championing educational policies and initiatives that ensure all students, particularly those who are underrepresented, have equitable access to resources and opportunities. His contributions, including Spearheading Senate Bill 1348, which designates California Black serving institutions and establishing impactful programs like Black Student Success Week. Today, we'll explore his journey, the purpose behind his advocacy, and why this work is essential for the future of education and employment. Welcome, Dr. Curry. How are you? Welcome to the show. 00:03:04 - Dr. Keith Curry Thank you for having me. I think the show should be changed. The title should be called the Unapologetic Future of work with Dr. Curry. 00:03:11 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo We should change the title up. That's right. 00:03:13 - Dr. Keith Curry Just for this episode. 00:03:15 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Dr. Curry, I want to just get right into your advocacy works. I think that that's where a lot of your influence and your experience comes into play. And I kind of want to step back just a little bit. Go back to when you were 19 at UC Santa Cruz, where you began developing programs for underrepresented students. I wanted to kind of pause there for a moment and think about or have you talk through what your experiences were and kind of what led you here, what led you to this point of advocating for underrepresented students. 00:03:45 - Dr. Keith Curry I say thank you for the opportunity to be here. And also for the first question for me, as I look back at When I was 19 years old at UC Santa Cruz, I think about my own experience dealing with housing, food insecurity, dealing with conversations or being involved in conversations regards to Black student enrollment. I think about being involved in conversations with individuals from other ethnic minority groups talking about their success or non-success at the University of California, Santa Cruz. And so as I reflect on my experience and those three examples I provided is I think about being a student and having to pay for housing and also to visit the cafeteria knowing that I didn't have enough money in my meal plan. I only had a certain number of meals, right? And so, I had to be very strategic about when I would eat at the cafeteria and when I would not eat at the cafeteria. Thinking about being in conversations in the Black Men's Alliance group, as you see Santa Cruz, talking about the decline in Black student enrollment, they continued in ongoing conversations, but there was really no action that played into that. And then think about my experience with other ethnic minority groups and look at the retention of individuals of color who stayed at UC Santa Cruz and then also who graduated from UC Santa Cruz. And so I look at those three areas and thinking about where I am now in my own professional career, where I'm very involved and engaged with Black students success and what we should be doing for Black students, really zoning in and really amplifying the work as leads to basic needs, and then also building bridges with other individuals who have similar interests as I do, but may not look like me and being open to having conversations with those individuals of how you can work together as a part of a partnership. So when I look at my experience at UC Santa Cruz as a 19-year-old, I look at advocacy as a way to. To really impact change. Change for me does not just happen with programs. It happens with changing policy but also advocating and telling your story about student success and about your own experience. And so I look at my experience at UC Santa Cruz has defined who I am as a leader because I was able at UC Santa Cruz to advocate for Black students and create a program called Destination Higher Education which. Which was for many African American students who graduated high school who showed an interest in going to UC Santa Cruz. And it was funded. That was my first grant that I wrote and that program still exists today. And then, I think about my experience work with other ethnic minority groups. We put a initiative on a ballot which was called Measure C to create a retention center at UC Santa Cruz. It lost. Right. But I learned a lot about elections. It's very important to read the fine print to understand what percentage you need to pass and election, but also knowing how to tell your story of why it's important to vote yes on something. And just give you a. Fast forward to this. In 2014 at Compton College, we had a ballot initiative for. It's called Measure C again for $100 million facilities bond for Compton College. That measure passed with 78.39%. But the measure C that I worked on in college did not pass because we did not understand the percentage. We thought if you get half, you get 51%, you win. But. But you actually needed two-thirds. So, we did not read the five print. But I learned a lot from that experience which has helped me in my professional career today, from working on basic needs, housing, food insecurity and my own experience dealing with that to my experience with Black students and really looking at how you increase the number of African American students at UC Santa Cruz to also working with, building coalition with other ethnic minority groups, with individuals who don't look like me, to be able to continue to push for initiative and programs to help students that are underserved. 00:07:34 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Thank you. And now fast forwarding to Senate Bill 1348. I'm privileged to be close to this work and close to your work specifically, but tell us a little bit about Senate Bill 1348 and the critical components of it when it comes to supporting the underserved student population. 00:07:53 - Dr. Keith Curry I wrote an article in December of 2022 regards to Black serving and serviceness and we could serve Black students and look at it differently. I talk often about how do you transform institutions to serve Black students? And so when I Look at this bill and I talk about this bill. It's about how do you transform your whole entire organization around a movement to really service Black students. And not looking at it from a 30 or 60 student program or 90 students, really looking at how do you serve all your Black students on your campus, but engaging everyone into this process. And so when I look at Senate Bill 1348, which is authored by Stephen Bradford, who is our local senator for the area that service Compton Community College District, it really looks at, you know, one, getting buy-in from your constituent groups on your campus about what is your strategic plan to service Black students? What does that look like over a five-year period, how do you engage your academic senate in this conversation regards to what's going to happen inside the classroom, but then also looking at the support services for students, but also knowing that the support services is not about pointing someone to another area on campus. It's about we all take ownership regards to what programs and services are being provided on our campus and ensuring that those Black students are being able to participate in those programs and services, but really being at the forefront of it and looking at serviceness. With this bill include legislation. It creates a committee through Sacramento State where colleges that can apply to to be a Black serving institution, you have to have 10% of your student population as Black students or 1500 students. It applies not only to community colleges, but also California state universities, University of California campuses, and also private institutions as well. Included in that you have to do an application to the committee which talks about your data. You have to share data regards to student success on your campus and looking at students completion over 150% over or 300% completion, what the data looks like, but also saying where are you going to go in the next five years to improve that for your student population? Looking at what professional development you provide with existing resources that support all students, but also support Black students and Black student success. And then really talking about what are you going to do differently on your campus. But taking ownership, that is not just one person's job. This is collective of the entire institution to transform the work that you're doing to improve student success. And that's documented in your strategic plan which is a part of your application. 00:10:24 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo So speaking of the work of the collective and this is about institutional movement and it's. You're right, it doesn't lean on one person or one organization. What are you seeing as the ultimate goal? If you had just a magic wand, what would be the ultimate goal for Senate Bill 1348 as an accomplishment, the. 00:10:43 - Dr. Keith Curry Ultimate goal is to see more colleges and universities who are Black serving institutions where Black students feel welcome and valued and have a sense of belonging at these institutions. Even they might have interest, who might not look like them, who work at the institutions, but they feel valued, appreciated and a sense of belonging. They feel that people want to see them complete their degree or certificate and get a job with livable wages. They're able to participate in programs and services, but also linking those programs and services to jobs and really focusing in on the job component as we move forward, but really feeling that a part of the campus community, but also feeling that they got someone that got their back. Right? When I was in college, what I think about a lot is there's a professor, her name was Ann Lane. She was my American Studies, that was my major. And she did not look like me, right? White woman, upper middle 60s, over, I don't know, she would never tell me her age. But she allowed me to be Keith Curry in her classes. We were able to talk about issues as race to race. And I could use hip-hop music and have conversations. She made me feel like it was okay to use hip-hop lyrics as titles for articles, right? But she made me where I wanted to go to her class. I wanted to be involved in everything that Anne Lane did. And I took every single one of her classes. She was my advisor for my thesis, but I took every one of her classes, right? But then, I also had a counselor. Her name was Rosie Cabrera. She was my EOP counselor at UC Santa Cruz. Did not look like me, but whenever I went to her office, I need help. She was there for me. When I got in trouble. I'm not going to talk about what happened when I got in trouble. When I got in trouble my senior year, she stepped up for me and my friends to make sure we got out of trouble, right? But she made sure when I went in that office that I felt that motherly love and I was taken care of. So when you think about Black serving institutions, I think about that experience that I had at Santa Cruz, where it was a part of everyone's job that connected with Keith Curry, too. To make sure that Keith Curry was able to be successful. They showed me love. They also showed me how to do it the right way. They showed me how to look at policy. They made sure that I read. They made sure I worked on my writing. They made sure whatever deficiency I had, they were able to tell me in a nice way that was a deficiency. But they also was able to tell Me, you need to work on this, right? So, with Black serving institutions, it's looking at how you transform your institution to support our students. But also we change in a way. We provide serviceness to these students, basically showing them that, you know what, we're here for you, we love you, we want you to be successful. So we'll create a system, right? We'll create a system. It's not just about a program. It's about a system that's going to work regardless of who's in these positions, that's going to support Black students and Black student success. 00:13:27 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo I love the way you said that we're supporting a system or creating a system to support our Black students and underrepresented students. And I feel like a lot of your initiatives leading up to Senate Bill 1348 really held space for that, a moment of learning and growth. And so I want to talk about the Black Student Success Week, that specific initiative, and how that space kind of provided that learning and growth for not only our students, but as educators and practitioners. What value do you believe that these more micro, smaller initiatives assist within leading towards, like, more impactful, systemic changes that you're creating right now? 00:14:08 - Dr. Keith Curry That's a tough question, right? And I'd be a little vulnerable here regards to why this is a tough question. Because for me now, in my professional career, I've been in higher ed since, you know, I count my undergraduate years, right? I've been in higher ed for over 25 years. 00:14:24 - Dr. Keith Curry And I'm always looking at ways to transform systems, really looking at policies, systems, and structures of how do you change that to support student success, but also knowing that there might be programs and initiatives that start the change before you're able to get to a policy initiative as well. And so when I look at the work that I've been doing with Black Student Success Week when Black Student Success Week was founded in 2020, it was supposed to be an advocacy day as it relates to Black students and walk in the halls in Sacramento. 00:14:57 - Dr. Keith Curry And I remember having the conversation at the Los Angeles Hyatt Hotel with some African American groups about this proposed event. And there were some individuals in the room who had no idea who I was, never knew the work that I've done in the past. And I laid out how this thing was going to happen. And they were asking a lot of follow up questions. 00:15:16 - Dr. Keith Curry And at that point I was like, hey, you might want to go read my resume. Like, I get things done, but I continue to ask those questions. And the reason why I bring this up Is because when we first started, we did not know what we were doing, right? We were just looking at how do we amplify the work that's being done for Black student success and build a coalition among several Black and African American groups throughout the California community college system to begin having these types of conversation. And then Covid hit and then the question was, what do we do? And I remember having a conversation with Dr. 00:15:48 - Dr. Keith Curry Ed Bush, who was involved with the men, and I said, you know, maybe we just go on Zoom. We do a podcast type style. I don't think I use podcasts. Nobody was doing podcasts at a time like this. But I said, maybe do a zoom meeting and do a workshop every day. And then the Mondays would kick off and every day have a different workshop. And that's what we did. 00:16:08 - Dr. Keith Curry So it started out as going to be a one day event just for advocacy. And then it became a teaching learning space for professional development for all types of educators, not just community college. K12, also higher ed folks. Just to talk about what we can do to support Black students and the next. No, we started doing a website, right? So then we had the website. Then we start doing gear and Black Student Success Week gear. Now we start to have regional leads who are working within each of the region and having campus contacts, right? So every year since 2020, we've been expanding on that movement. 00:16:42 - Dr. Keith Curry And then we added an advocacy day where we met with our elected officials. And we've been doing that every year, come up with a policy agenda. Then that led to different initiatives we got involved in, but then also led to Senate Bill 1348 because it was a part of the Black student success movement about how we can continue to transform our institutions to support Black students. 00:17:04 - Dr. Keith Curry And working with Black Student Success Week, that was our advocacy tool for Senate Bill 1348, where our people that have been involved in the movement since 2018, 2020, had an opportunity to do something that was transformative, right? They were able to be a part of creating a designation in California, but for Black serving institutions. But they were a part of it since 2020. So yeah, it started as a program, as a Nista through Black Student Success Week. But now our title for this next year is Rise Up, Level up the Rise of Black Serving institutions. Now we could talk about how Black serving institutions has rose up and how we can transform our institutions where we could be able to be Black serving. And even if you don't get that designation, you still could be able to be a Black serving institution by looking at how you service students on your campuses. 00:17:53 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo You touched upon Level up as the upcoming initiative that's in the pipeline for you, and it has been instrumental in addressing the challenges faced by marginalized learners. Can you spend a little bit of time about how you think this initiative is transferable to other educational settings that aim...
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Unapologetic Leadership: Driving Positive Change Through Diversity in Higher Education with Dr. Keith Curry, President of Compton College & CEO of the Compton Community College District Episode 137
02/11/2025
Unapologetic Leadership: Driving Positive Change Through Diversity in Higher Education with Dr. Keith Curry, President of Compton College & CEO of the Compton Community College District Episode 137
What does it take to transform higher education and create lasting change for underrepresented students? Dr. Keith Curry, President of Compton College and CEO of the Compton Community College District, shares his passion for equity, detailing how initiatives like Black Student Success Week and Senate Bill 1348 are redefining what it means to support Black and underrepresented students across academic and workforce landscapes. With his signature “Unapologetic Leadership,” he challenges educators, policymakers, and community partners to rethink traditional approaches and build systems that not only promote academic achievement but also pave the way for livable, rewarding careers. You’ll learn: The importance of establishing a support system for Black and underrepresented students in higher education. How bipartisan initiatives like voter registration can help in driving positive change. Why it is crucial to establish partnerships between education and industry for providing equitable access to resources and opportunities for all students. The role of grant programs in supporting Black-serving institutions and enhancing student success. Key objectives of Senate Bill 1348 in transforming institutions to better serve Black students. About the Guest: Dr. Keith Curry is the President of Compton College and CEO of the Compton Community College District, overseeing all departments and serving as secretary for the Board of Trustees. Known for his energetic and innovative approach in higher education administration, he has led multiple ACCJC Visiting Teams as Accreditation Team Chair since 2017. In June 2020, he was invited by Governor Newsom’s Senior Policy Advisor for Higher Education to join the California Higher Education Recovery with Equity Task Force. A champion for equity, Dr. Curry co-founded and chairs Black Student Success Week, and he leads national panels and advisory committees focused on Black student enrollment. He also contributes to the California Alliance for Open Education Steering Committee and the USC Racial Equity in Guided Pathways Commission Taskforce. Since 2021, he has served as a Distinguished Research Fellow/Adjunct Faculty at CSU Los Angeles Charter College of Education. Dr. Curry earned his doctorate in educational leadership from UC Irvine and his bachelor’s degree in American studies from UC Santa Cruz. Engage with us: , & : @PasadenaCityCollegeEWD Join our newsletter for more on this topic: Visit: More from Dr. Keith Curry & Compton College Websites: LinkedIn: , : @IamKeithCurry Facebook: & : @compton_college Partner with us! Contact our host Salvatrice Cummo directly: [email protected] Want to be a guest on the show? Click to inquire about booking Find the transcript of this episode Please rate us and leave us your thoughts and comments on Apple Podcasts; we’d love to hear from you!
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Transcript- Episode 136: Stay Ahead of the Game: Aligning Education with Industry Demands with Monique Reaves, Chief Revenue Officer of the Rose Bowl Stadium Episode 136
02/04/2025
Transcript- Episode 136: Stay Ahead of the Game: Aligning Education with Industry Demands with Monique Reaves, Chief Revenue Officer of the Rose Bowl Stadium Episode 136
00:00:00 - Monique Reaves If there's something that schools can arm students a little bit better, I think just if we're going to speak to all populations, to all demographics, then we need to be able to teach students how to do that because they're the next ones up to take the torch and do these events. That I think would be really helpful. 00:00:19 - Christina Barsi The workforce landscape is rapidly changing, and educators and their institutions need to keep up. Preparing students before they enter the workforce to make our communities and businesses strong is at the core of getting an education. But we need to understand how to change and adjust so that we can begin to project where things are headed before we even get there. So how do we begin to predict the future? 00:00:44 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Hi, I'm Salvatrice Cummo, Vice President of Economic and Workforce Development at Pasadena City College and host of this podcast. 00:00:53 - Christina Barsi And I'm Christina Barsi, producer and co host of this podcast. 00:00:57 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo And we are starting the conversation about the future of work. We'll explore topics like how education can partner with industry, how to be more equitable, and how to attain one of our highest goals, more internships and PCC students in the workforce. We at Pasadena City College want to lead the charge in closing the gap between what our students are learning and what the demands of the workforce will be once they enter. This is a conversation that impacts all of us. You, the employers, the policymakers, the educational institutions, and the community as a whole. 00:01:31 - Christina Barsi We believe change happens when we work together. And it all starts with having a conversation. I'm Christina Barsi. 00:01:38 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo And I'm Salvatrice Cummo. And this is the Future of Work. Hi. Welcome back to the Future of Work podcast. I am your host, Dr. Salvatrice Cummo. Today, we have a very special guest, Monique Reeves, the Chief Revenue Officer of the iconic Rose Bowl Stadium. Monique is the first Latina to hold an executive position at the Rose Bowl Operating Company, which is significant in itself. Over the past decade, she's overseen some groundbreaking events, from Carol G's sold-out concert to record-breaking viewership numbers for the Rose Bowl game. But what truly sets Monique apart is her drive to make diversity and inclusion a key part of her leadership, creating opportunities not just for the venue but for the entire community. Today, we'll talk about how Monique and her team are preparing the Rose Bowl for world-class events like the 2028 Olympics and the FIFA World Cup. And we'll explore how those events will impact the future of sports, entertainment, and workforce development with that. Welcome. Monique, how are you? 00:02:47 - Monique Reaves Thank you. I'm very good, thank you. Nice to see you. 00:02:50 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Again, nice to see you again too. We had the pleasure of being on the panel over at the Future of Work Conference. And so I'm really happy to have like a one on one time with you. 00:02:58 - Monique Reaves Yes, it was a great conference. There was so much more to be said. So I'm glad we're doing a recap here. Good. 00:03:05 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Well, I'll tell you what, why don't we just get right into it. I know a little bit about your background, but for the listener, what led you to your current role as a Chief Revenue Officer and just a little bit about your journey and kind of what led you here to this point? 00:03:20 - Monique Reaves For starters, I don't that I can recall. I don't believe I've ever said no to an opportunity. When the door opens, the window opens, whatever that's sane may be. I've always went through it and tried it out for size. It just happened to be the right place, the right time in my college cycle for my internship to have it be with the Rose Bowl stadium. And just every door I opened was just so exciting and new, and I just kept pushing through. I never took no for an answer. I just kept asking more questions and kept pushing my way through. So, it led me to where I'm at today. I didn't have CRO in my sight line at the time when I was out my future dream board or vision board as I love to do once a year. But the right opening came across my desk, and my boss is now our CEO of the stadium. He was promoted to that role, and his opening came across, and I felt like I was the best candidate for the position. I had been through so many different roles, so many different departments, so many different journeys and operations and in sales. And so I just have always kept the be ready mentality at the forefront of my mind, and here I am. 00:04:32 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo I love that. I love that as a community. We've been talking so much about the Olympics, the World cup and what does that mean for us and we touched upon it a little bit at the conference. But I wanted to spend a little bit of time kind of thinking about through your perspective, through your lens with these two major events coming and the Rose bowl being a historic venue. What does that mean to you personally to be at the helm of these events and what is your approach and then how are you preparing to leverage the opportunities both for the Rose bowl as well as the community? 00:05:11 - Monique Reaves Yes. So, just to clear up one item I forgot to mention, for the World Cup. So we are hosting the Club World cup with FIFA next year in 2025. That will come to us in June, towards the end of June. And that one is a first time tournament overseen by FIFA. They tried it a year prior, but they're making this one bigger and better. Bringing in six of the most prominent soccer club teams, football club teams, and including 32 teams in this round robin style tournament. But that aside, so the focus currently is on LA28. I will say to briefly address the World cup though in 2026. Even though we are not a selected venue, that doesn't mean that we have plenty of interests coming our way in the soccer world that may play out. I definitely foresee us having a role in the games that are to come. And also building a great relationship with FIFA for 2025 is a great lineup as well. So a little bit of addressing the World Cup. I'm sure we'll have plenty of opportunities along the way in 2026, especially knowing that we will be the host venue for soccer in the 2028 Olympics. There's a lot of inquiries out there for teams to come and try out the field just in a friendly, just to get ready for that Olympic round. But that aside, you asked about the opportunities that probably will face in the coming years for these events. Before I did the Future of Work conference, we were actually in the thick of meetings with LA28. We actually have them on site with us today. A week before I went into the Future of Work conference, one of the guests that was visiting with us was mentioning I shared with him my journey of going to be at the Future of Work conference and he was excited and wanted to pass along information. And the jobs aren't there yet, but we're going to need a lot of help and we'd love to tap into to the local colleges or local community and how do we get out there? Please help us navigate. If you have a way, send them to me. So definitely see a lot of opportunities playing out for us. It's not an uncommon conversation that's being had. And as I mentioned in the conference as well, there's just so many entities that staff are building that they will need to ramp up when there's one big event in town. The workforce is so stretched thin. So, ramping up all these entities with jobs is going to be quite a task, and we're all up for it. 00:07:30 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Absolutely. I think that, and you mentioned it, these events do bring on not just financial impacts but also boost the local economy in the way of creating jobs and local businesses. At the conference we talked A little bit about and not enough, and that's why I'm bringing it up here, is that we talked a little bit about how influential and vital your role is in pushing for more diversity in the workforce. Right. And so I want to spend some time talking about that because you shared some really great golden nuggets at the conference. And so I'd like to extract them and kind of build upon them here. But how do you see this increased representation, both in leadership and across the board, affecting the success of the stadium? And why is it important for others to really understand the value of diversity and leadership? 00:08:27 - Monique Reaves It's funny when I took my position, I didn't really see the part I brought to the table in diversity and inclusion. And really how that came about was I had a nice little influx of people in my LinkedIn reaching out to do conferences or speaking engagements. And there's been so many little moments along the way. Up until now, I'm two years into this role where it definitely made me look at my role a lot differently and want to find ways to open up more opportunities. You know, when PCC reached out to another one where it was, you know, said yes to help bridge that gap and be in this chair and let others see me for me being here. And I think that's step one of, as I mentioned, the conference. If they can see it, they can be it. So. But I also just find so much joy in seeing there's a lot of different business associations I want to speak to more on, like Latino Business Association over at. I'll give the University of Irvine a shout-out. They were the first one to ask me to be their keynote speaker, and I was just so honored. 00:09:29 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Oh, congratulations. 00:09:31 - Monique Reaves Thank you. So that was a while ago, but just moments like that of seeing just how much interest there is, it's just you don't see a target audience just showing so much continued interest into my field, because when I was going through school, I didn't really know about it. I didn't really see it. There really wasn't much to look up and say that I could do, that there's someone like me in that role, I could be there. I think it's just a natural gravitation to as many times as I can get out there and do these types of podcasts. That's kind of a big step for me on inclusion, diversity. I didn't really get to touch on it at the conference, but, yes, there are thousands of people that work here. However, we are city entities, so we range between 38 to 42 full time employees at one given time. So as far as me holding the door open to let someone else come through, it's not as easy as I say it. When there are thousands of job opportunities that link back to the Rose bowl, there's one or two hires a year, if that, and we'd like to not do as much turnover. So hopefully it's less than that in opportunity. But as much as I can hold the door open and help create new opportunities for the next generation, and if that not be with the Rose bowl and I can inspire them to go through the realm of security or any of logistics, parking, traffic, food and beverage, I will do that and continue to be that bridging gap. But I know you had a second part to this question as well, and I already forgot what that second piece was, but hopefully that answered a little bit on the diversity and inclusion piece. 00:10:57 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Yeah, my second piece of it is why you feel that it's important for others to understand the value of diversity and leadership. 00:11:05 - Monique Reaves I think we're in a unique spot in California specifically. We have a large, very diverse population. So I don't think you see that as strongly throughout the country and specifically in our region. We need people in this field, in any field. Right. That are relatable to the population at hand. And the more we can integrate that, the better we all get at our jobs. I couldn't do my job. I think it's, we're going to talk about it later, but I couldn't do my job without interpreters or someone to help communicate certain things to me to different audiences. And as we saw with Carol G. That was our first Latina concert, sold out two nights. And that's a whole demographic that we've never spoken to. So how can we not have a work population that reflects the population that's coming to our events? So that is the definite what we need to what we love focusing on and diversifying. And it's not just, that's just one demographic. Every. I think every. There's pockets of communities that we still haven't addressed but, you know, 102 years old. We're going to keep working at it and keep knocking them off one by one and making sure that we're addressing every culture and race that we possibly can because we're a proud, diverse community and we want to reflect that in our business. 00:12:16 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Excellent. And just kind of along the same line of conversations around diversity in the workplace. Equally as important is the alignment of programming as educational institutions as we prepare the incoming workforce and channels and Platforms like this, the Future of Work conference and the Pulse newsletter. Those all offer our students and our community to see what is possible, to hear what is possible. And so I really appreciate you talking about your experiences even coming into the roles bowl in this position and what it did for others and for yourself and opening up doors and holding the door for others. And I'll end what you just shared because what I'm hearing is you didn't know that that was going to come. It naturally came because you're seated at that seat and you're able to share and show what is possible and that we need to pay closer attention to the diversity in leadership. Specifically, in previous conversations you talked about the importance of bilingual and community centered hiring practices. I want to spend a little bit of time thinking about how can educational institutions better align their programs to prepare students for these roles in both leadership and event management. So tell me a little bit about how we could better align our programming. 00:13:52 - Monique Reaves Yes. Gosh, I feel like when I speak about anything college related, I feel like the dark ages because it was so long ago and I'm sure curriculum has changed and there probably are classes on exactly what I'm speaking on. But. 00:14:04 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo But you know what Monique is like, we need to hear from you. So okay, we have to hear it. We have to hear it. We have to constantly be in this momentum of growth and constant improvement. If we don't keep going back to what is it that industry you yourself are facing in the workplace, we have to hear it. It doesn't suit us not to. So don't feel, you know, just go for it. It doesn't even matter when you went to college. 00:14:28 - Monique Reaves Okay, it might be repetitive but examples for me when I was in school, I didn't realize in the event management world I touched on a few of the areas when I. Sustainability wasn't really a thing back then, but that is a whole nother area. But the areas I wasn't aware of, I wish there were classes or focus on when it related to accessibility or ada. ADA compliance even like sign language has become such a huge thing. It slowly trickled in a little bit. In my beginning years here at the stadium we always had to have a sign language interpreter for our concerts. That's the first time I ever saw an interpreter. But it's definitely gained a lot more momentum. I think you see on social media there's been some really engaging sign interpreters that interpret a concert and that's looks like a lot of fun. But these are requirements in an event. I think when we think of an event, we just think of the basics of how you set it up, how it happens, and how you put it all away. And there's just so many other pieces in there that are so huge, and you have to do it by law. So if it's something by law and we're not even teaching that piece of it, then that goes a long way into inclusion for our events. I wish the workforce put a few classes into place that are definitely an ordinance or a law, because you step into that and that's. I think I'm more paranoid because I'm in a city spotlight. So you really have to be on your P's and Q's for public safety and for inclusion and ADA and all that stuff is at the forefront to make sure that you're checking all those boxes. But that's something that those are classes that aren't really taught in schools, and I don't think anyone's ever thought to teach them. But it plays such a huge role. It's so much bigger than those three components of an event. There's just so much more detail that goes into it. And I wish that we had a little bit more of those types of programs available to understand and. And to speak to different demographics, because you're just maybe classes for language, I think that's like a known thing. Like you have classes for that you can sign up and grow your skill set and speaking multiple languages to help with your future career event, whatever that may be. But that's kind of really it of how you can become stronger. Maybe there's certification for logistics or event planning, but I don't think we have any of those types of classes that address all of our ADA needs or any different types of compliances that we need in these events. And we're missing the mark on that one. It's definitely siloed, but it definitely speaks very. One of the things on these Olympic site visits or in conferences that I keep hearing is accessibility is a really huge thing for the Olympics. And we just haven't put eyes on it yet. And it's a law, which is strange that we haven't. So if there's something that schools can arm students a little bit better, I think just if we're going to speak to all populations, to all demographics, then we need to be able to teach students how to do that because they're the next ones up to take the torch and do these events. That I think would be really helpful. 00:17:15 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Monique, I was thinking that perhaps maybe we could spend just a Moment if you could share a time when you had to be creative in hosting an event at the stadium. 00:17:27 - Monique Reaves I do have a few examples. I'll probably lean on a fun one with a Coldplay. They are a very huge sustainability focused artist and group and they imposed a lot of different requirements for us to become more sustainable than we currently already are. We had to engage with a company called Turn cup and we had to pretty much flip all of our drinks into a recyclable cup and come in with recyclable trash cans and make sure that in the night all cups are picked up and placed into big recyclable containers. It was quite a feat for a sold out show, but we had to pivot with that one for them as well as another fun project we had to work with them on was they flipped all of our CD and pageantry that you see when you come into shows into tote bags. They recycled all the banners and fundraised with the tote bags from the banners. So that was a fun, unique, creative opportunity that we got to embark on together. 00:18:24 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Excellent. And what do you think those two creative opportunities or creative thinking that you had to do in hosting those events, what do you think the implications are for the industry as a whole? You know, where should we be focusing on as an industry as it relates to stadium and event management? 00:18:41 - Monique Reaves It's definitely not going away. Definitely see quite a few local stadiums and arenas that are flipping to these recyclable cups. It is pretty costly to keep up with the program and we haven't figured out a way to make that affordable for venue and consumer. But that...
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Stay Ahead of the Game: Aligning Education with Industry Demands with Monique Reaves, Chief Revenue Officer of the Rose Bowl Stadium Episode 136
02/04/2025
Stay Ahead of the Game: Aligning Education with Industry Demands with Monique Reaves, Chief Revenue Officer of the Rose Bowl Stadium Episode 136
What skills will students need to lead the charge for events like the LA28 Olympics and the FIFA World Cup? Monique Reaves, Chief Revenue Officer of the iconic Rose Bowl stadium and the first Latina in an executive role at the Rose Bowl Operating Company, discusses the importance of aligning educational programs with industry demands to prepare future leaders. She advocates for incorporating creativity, sustainability, and diversity into workforce development while emphasizing accessible, community-centered hiring practices. Through innovative collaborations, such as the Rose Bowl's partnership with AEG Golden Voice, Reaves illustrates how blending tradition with modern strategies can drive economic growth, elevate event management standards, and empower communities to meet the challenges of global events. You’ll learn: Why educators and institutions need to collaborate with industries for workforce needs. The role of workforce diversity in serving communities during significant events like the LA28 Olympics. What new requirements in event management educational programs should address. How the event management industry can balance tradition and innovation. Why it is crucial to emphasize diversity and inclusion in leadership roles for workforce development. About the Guest: Monique Reaves is the Chief Revenue Officer for the Rose Bowl Operating Company and is responsible for all concert and sporting event bookings. Leading the charge on revenue management and generation for Americas Stadium, she oversees and supports stadium sponsorship, premium seating, enterprise events, and tours sales departments. Most notably, she booked the Rose Bowl Stadium’s first sellout concert of two consecutive nights by a female artist of Latin-American descent, Karol G. She has been a part of the sports and entertainment industry since 2009, following a successful internship with America’s Stadium, where she has since received several national accolades for her risk-taking revenue ventures. Before joining the Rose Bowl Stadium full-time, Monique held positions with American Golf and Lucky Strike Entertainment. Monique graduated from Long Beach State and resides in Rancho Cucamonga, CA, with her family. Engage with us: , & : @PasadenaCityCollegeEWD Join our newsletter for more on this topic: Visit: More from Monique Reaves & the Rose Bowl Stadium Website: LinkedIn: & , , & : @RoseBowlStadium Partner with us! Contact our host Salvatrice Cummo directly: [email protected] Want to be a guest on the show? Click to inquire about booking Find the transcript of this episode Please rate us and leave us your thoughts and comments on Apple Podcasts; we’d love to hear from you!
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Transcript- Episode 135: Building Tomorrow’s Leaders: Transforming Education for the Next Generation with Jasmine Star, CEO of Social Curator Episode 135
12/03/2024
Transcript- Episode 135: Building Tomorrow’s Leaders: Transforming Education for the Next Generation with Jasmine Star, CEO of Social Curator Episode 135
00:00:00 - Jasmine Star Do you want to catch a big vision and do the impossible? It matters less that you got straight As. I want to have straight vision. How do we assess for that? And into the future? Embrace technology and embrace storytelling. Clap our children up for being creative. Strip off their socks and shoes. Your students out here, make them get uncomfortable and sit under a tree and do something different that will be more valuable for them in the workplace than any academic book that you can put it in front of them. 00:00:32 - Christina Barsi The workforce landscape is rapidly changing, and educators and their institutions need to keep up. Preparing students before they enter the workforce to make our communities and businesses stronger is at the core of getting an education. But we need to understand how to change and adjust so that we can begin to project where things are headed before we even get there. So how do we begin to predict the future? 00:00:57 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Hi, I'm Salvatrice Cummo, Vice President of Economic and Workforce Development at Pasadena City College and host of this podcast. 00:01:06 - Christina Barsi And I'm Christina Barsi, producer and co-host of this podcast. 00:01:10 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo And we are starting the conversation about the future of work. We'll explore topics like how education can partner with industry, how to be more equitable, and how to attain one of our highest goals, more internships and PCC students in the workforce. We at Pasadena City College want to lead the charge in closing the gap between what our students are learning and what the demands of the workforce will be once they enter. This is a conversation that impacts all of us. You, the employers, the policymakers, the educational institutions, and the community as a whole. 00:01:43 - Christina Barsi We believe change happens when we work together. And it all starts with having a conversation. I'm Christina Barsi. 00:01:51 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo And I'm Salvatrice Cummo. And this is the Future of Work. 00:01:57 - Jasmine Star Coming here, I was told that you are the visionaries and you are the architects, and you are the bridge builders of tomorrow. And I also have to tell you that Pasadena is the city for me, because my parents met and fell in love in East Los Angeles. Yes. And we found ourselves moving a little bit farther south. Baldwin Park. La Puente. Yes. La Puente. Ooh. And there in the glorious streets of La Puente, our family experienced a lot of beautiful things and sometimes not so beautiful things. 00:02:36 - Jasmine Star If you've grown up in those areas or areas of that nature, you will know that rich culture, people, community, dwell in that. But statistically, we are often overlooked. And so it's in those times and moments that my mother, my father, we would ride the bus. We didn't have a washer and a dryer in our home. So we would walk my mom and her five children to the laundromat, and she would make a game of things. 00:03:00 - Jasmine Star And on the time that our family car did decide to work, my dad worked at General Hospital in the shipping and receiving departments. And on the day that my mom would want to take her kids to go and do something, we would all wake up early in the morning, we would get in the car, we would drop my dad off at the shipping and receiving area, and then she would take us, not quite to Pasadena, because she was going to wow us. We were going to San Marino. Ooh, ooh, ooh. That's right. San Marino with the large, lush lawns. San Marino with the gates out front to keep everybody else behind and out. And there at Lacey park, we would enter in through these gates, and our car would rickety move right on up. And there we would park, and then we would strip off our shoes, our socks, and she would go to her five kids and say, run, explore, and do. And so it's at those moments that my mom would look at everything as an educational experience, which still to this day, I stand before you and I look at everything like an educational experience. And so there she would say, okay, guys, so we're going to do physical education PE in the park. So run. 00:04:09 - Jasmine Star We're going to do science. Let's collect some bugs. Go. And then she would say, we're going to do art. We're going to do the fine art things. And so there. My mom had this play school recording set with a tape player. It was white with bright red and blue buttons. And then she would say, okay, guys, get on the swings. And she would hold up this art piece. And then she would put on Mozart's Symphony number 19, or 41, if my memory serves me correct. 00:04:37 - Jasmine Star And we're sitting there, and she would say, get on the swing, Push your legs. And as the music is going, your feet go out in front of you. Your feet pull in underneath you, and you're pushing and you're pulling and you're pushing and you're pulling. So in this moment, if I might, can you indulge me and my mom, who's sitting in the second row, could you, for one instance, join me in Lacy Park? And I'm gonna ask you to do something a little bit weird, but trust the process, because this is what good homeschool kids do. We're a little bit weird, but you let us go with it. Okay? So just close your eyes. Just close your eyes for me. And push your feet out. And then Pull them back in and then push your feet out and pull them back in. 00:05:22 - Jasmine Star She sang a poem. As your feet are pushing out and pulling back in and pushing out and pulling back in. Swing, swing through the drowsy afternoon Swing, swing, swing Up I go to meet the moon Swing, swing, swing I can see as high I go far along the crimson sky I can see as I come down the tops of the houses in the town High and low, fast and slow Swing, swing, swing. 00:06:05 - Jasmine Star Welcome back. Did you enjoy Lacy Park? So did I. But maybe some of you educators, smart, brilliant people that you are, were wondering why was a 9 year old at Lacey park on a Tuesday afternoon? It wasn't just me, it was my twin sister, my younger sister Alexandria, my younger brother Sebastian, and our soon to be sister Zoe there at Lacey park because we grew up where we grew up. My father is an immigrant from Mexico, my mom is from Puerto Rico. And there the school options in La Puente were not the best of us. 00:06:36 - Jasmine Star And though my parents are not formally educated, they decided to do something counter opposite and counterculture and they said we're going to homeschool our children. And every single person in their life looked at them, including their parents, as you you. So how did we get from Lacey park to where we are today? My name is Jasmine Starr. I am CEO of Social Curator. I'm an advisor to companies, I'm a proud investor and I am a podcast host and I create content. And for all intents and purposes, I had to remind myself as I came here is I am not going to teach anybody anything. I have a tendency to get nervous because I stand on stages and I have this pressure deep honor of your time. I want to teach you and I want you to do something well. And I realize that you are far too smart for me. I am batting outside of my league. But may I make a reference? Could it quite possibly by the end of this moment, could I by any chance feel like Freeman last night? Anybody? That's right. 00:07:34 - Jasmine Star And for those of you who don't know, okay, by any chance, we together as this room, hit a grand slam and win the game at the last moment. Could we do that? I'm a first generation Latina and college student. My twin sister and I, we graduated high school and the idea of college was so foreign that we were swimming in fafsa, in Pell grants in applications and it was the blind leading the blind. 00:07:57 - Jasmine Star And somehow we made it to an end point. My sister and I both got accepted to Whittier College. We will always be born Brown bred and love LA County. And so for us, in the glorious state of California, we got to go to college. My father was a cook at Azusa Pacific University, and on weekends, he would take my sister and I, nine, 10 years old, and we would wipe down and clean down the tables in that college campus. And I thought to myself, could I ever be so lucky and go to college? That idea was so far from reality for me, and it felt like a wish. So the fact that my sister and I were able to go to college, we thought, the minute you get in, then you're going to be okay. And what I realized is that I. And we were alone. I did not know how to speak to my parents about college because they had no idea what this beautiful, foreign, amazing opportunity was. 00:08:49 - Jasmine Star And so I had no idea that you weren't supposed to study for a placement test in college. So I spent my summer diligently studying for the math placement because I wanted to shine. Why I actually did so well that I tested into a math class that I realized halfway through the semester, I have no idea what's going on. I kind of bypassed the foundational stuff to college level calculus. And I was like, ooh. And so I went to admissions, I went to the registrar's office, and I said, I think I'm going to fail this class. 00:09:19 - Jasmine Star And then she said, well, you can get a W. And I said, but what's a W? She's like, a W is a W. I was like, yes, a W is a W. And so I'm completely lost, because what is a W? And all I know is I really want to go on and I want to pursue my education, but is the W going to stop me from getting to where I want to go? And so in my just conversations with my family, I was like, I don't even know what a W is. And my dad. You want to know what I think a W means? Wonderful. They think you're wonderful. I was like, no, puppy. I think you're just missing the point here. I think this is going to ruin me. And at the end of the day, lo and behold, for anybody who doesn't know, your life does not begin or end with a W. 00:09:54 - Jasmine Star It just means you withdrew from a class. And lo and behold, not because I'm smart, not because I'm gifted, not because I'm brilliant, I ended up graduating summa cum laude because I believe that hard work gets you to wherever you want to go and nobody will stop you. So I just decided to say, I'm going to work on campus, I am going to work as a waitress five nights a week, and I'm going to get straight as. 00:10:17 - Jasmine Star And when I graduated college, I sat on stage, myself and nine other students representing those who graduated summa cum laude. I was one of two women, and I was the only person of color. And to be able to sit in those stadiums and watch my parents and my grandmother was one of the proudest moments of my life. So that I thought to myself, okay, so what does a good Latina do when she's sumo cum laude? You just keep on doing what you know. 00:10:43 - Jasmine Star You see, I wanted to move the family from the east side of LA to the west side. I wanted the zip codes and the cars and the people. I wanted the finances. So I thought to myself, can you get to UCLA on a full ride? And the answer was yes. So there I was, first generation Latina, first generation college student at UCLA Law School. And then I realized, I am so unhappy here. My mom, who was diagnosed with brain cancer my junior year of college, battled nine years. And it was at this time at UCLA where they had said, we've done enough. The brain surgeries, the chemotherapy, the infusions, we're done. And all I thought to myself was, I'm done. I'm not happy here. I don't know what I'm doing. My mom is 50 years old and I'm 25. And I thought to myself, if I have 25 years left in my life, I don't want to die a lawyer. 00:11:36 - Jasmine Star And I thought, what am I going to do? And so I get married so that my mom. Now I get married. The man who chose me, and I chose him, my high school sweetheart, the kindest, best, most generous man, said, let's get married finally. I had planned my life. Oh, Excel spreadsheets. Because this is what we do. And then I'm going to go to school, and then I'm going to graduate, and then we're going to get married. 00:11:58 - Jasmine Star And all I knew was like, can we get married now? And he says, yes, let's go. Let's get married. So we got married. Just our family's. A small, little, tiny wedding. And I get a letter because at the time when I decided I had enough, I quit law school. I walked into the dean's office and I said, I'm depressed and I think my mom is going to die. And I don't like where I'm at right now. And she said, you have three years to get your scholarship. Because I went on a full ride, scholarship to ucla. 00:12:26 - Jasmine Star I Said, okay, I'm going to come back. And when it came time for me to come back, my brand new husband had said, what do you want to do? I said, I want to become a photographer. And he's like, okay, you don't own a camera. I know, but you see, I think if I had a camera, I might be able to make a go of it. 00:12:44 - Jasmine Star If you just take a second right now and you think about this really stupid, idiotic, nonsensical thing that you want to do, anything at all. Can you just hold on to that right now because I will hold the space for you. And he told me what I want to tell you. I would rather see you fail at something you love than succeed at something you hate. Worst case scenario, give it a year and it doesn't work out, go back and get your scholarship. I said, okay. In that first year of business as a photographer, he's with a startup company. I'm working part time at my dad's church in Montebello, California. And I don't have an office. Like I have a fold out table in a storage room. But I'm just like, that's okay. Because I have this dream and one person believes in the dream. So Best Buy Christmas buys me a simple camera. And that year I said, I'm just going to make a bet and see if it works on me. So in my first year of business, I made $100,000. 00:13:40 - Jasmine Star Now that might not sound like a lot of money to many people, but to a girl whose family of seven, my dad did not make $100,000 in three years combined, the fact that I made $100,000 in 12 months, we took the whole family to Claim Jumper. Everybody is going to order whatever they want. And guess what? Nobody's ordering water. You want a Sprite? I got a Sprite. 00:14:05 - Jasmine Star You want a Coke? We got the Coke. We don't have to do that anymore. And to me, when somebody says, Jasmine, what was the first moment you felt like a success? Claim Jumper. Very few things can compare to Claim Jumper. And thank you, God. I have come a long way from that day, but that moment is still so sweet. And no, it wasn't. The 27 chocolate layered cake that we ordered at the end, it was just good. So what will you do with your one wild and amazing life? That is what brings us here to Pasadena City College. And so throughout the course of my career, I have realized that possibility is simply disguised as impossibility. What you think is impossible? I think it's possible because you would not have been given the idea, the hope or the dream if the capacity inside of you did not exist. You didn't wake up this morning and say, you want to know what I want to do? I want to be on the PGA Tour. 00:14:57 - Jasmine Star And you don't even know going to golf club, right? You didn't, but you woke up and you thought something. I want to be a restaurant owner. I want to be a videographer, I want to be a poet. You wouldn't have that dream if it wasn't inside of you. And everything is calling on you to go and create it. Because here's a crazy thing that happened. I became a photographer. And during that time, I didn't have any money for a website, so I just started creating content on a free blog. 00:15:21 - Jasmine Star I would write and then people would end up booking me. And other photographers were very interested in what I was doing. And so I had created an online following of people who were interested around this thing that I was doing. And guess what? I wasn't even good. I was mediocre at best. But I documented the journey. And then businesses said, hey, we like what you're doing with your marketing and branding. 00:15:41 - Jasmine Star Can you come and do some things for us and we'll pay you? And I said, okay, how much do you have? Like this much. Funny, that's how much I charge. Great. And then I started realizing, I started doing work for other businesses and their businesses were growing. I thought, okay, I'm trading hours for dollars. I said, you know, I'm gonna take a step back. Then they said to me, well, can you be a consultant? And I literally was like, googling, what's a consultant? Oh, great. 00:16:04 - Jasmine Star And they said, you will come in and you'll teach our teams and we'll go and do it. I was like, well, how much do you have? Funny, that's how much I charge too. So I started doing that and I realized that the more successful I became, I was still getting paid more, but trading hours for dollars. And I realized that I had less of a passion to build big companies. What I wanted to do was build the business owner. I wanted to build the business owner. So what I started to do was to create online courses. And lo and behold, in addition to getting a payment stream from photography, from consulting, from the resources that I had created for an online store for photographers, I created an online course. 00:16:39 - Jasmine Star And over the years, each progressive seven figure revenue stream continued to build. And after we had built courses, people said, well, we know what we need. We need consistency. So I decided, I'm going to create a membership. And after creating a membership, I started realizing that there was a friction point between our members and them getting their marketing resources out online. And I thought to myself, okay, the there's a way that we can figure this out. And I've never done this before, but I really think that we need to integrate with every social platform in order for marketing to be effective. Have I ever written a line of code? No. But when I said I wanted to become a photographer, I didn't own a camera. 00:17:12 - Jasmine Star Impossibility is possibility in disguise. Can we look past what we don't know? So I started hiring for a cto, a Chief Technology officer. And I had no idea what I was looking for, but I knew I needed a solution and I needed to surround myself with people who could get me to yes. 00:17:27 - Jasmine Star In 2021, my husband and my co founder we launched a SaaS platform software as a service that we now integrate with every social platform and we empower small business owners to market their business and build a brand. And along the way, I continued creating content which has empowered me to become an advisor, an investor, and a creator. So why am I here? Because I was asked to share a look into the future. And I will say that that was very intimidating because all I know is I look into the past. But I have been told, and this is what I hold to be true, I represent an underrepresented demographic. 00:18:05 - Jasmine Star I am Latina, I am female, I'm a first generation college student and I'm a first generation entrepreneur. Statistically, I have beat the odds by far. But I don't think I'm special. That's the crazy thing. So I just did a deep dive into my past to say, what can you do today so that I don't become an outlier, that we become the norm. So how are we going to do this today? Break it down in three simple pathways. I want to remind you of the past, I want to enlighten your present, and I want to prepare you for the future. From my humble, lonely opinion outside looking in, because I believe, and I've been...
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Building Tomorrow’s Leaders: Transforming Education for the Next Generation with Jasmine Star, CEO of Social Curator Episode 135
12/03/2024
Building Tomorrow’s Leaders: Transforming Education for the Next Generation with Jasmine Star, CEO of Social Curator Episode 135
What will it take to prepare today’s students for leadership in a workforce that’s evolving faster than ever before? Jasmine Star, CEO of Social Curator, challenges educators and leaders at the Pasadena City College Future of Work Conference to rethink traditional teaching methods and embrace a paradigm shift. She underlines the importance of equipping students with the skills, mindset, and adaptability needed to navigate rapid technological and cultural transformation. In a world where resilience, belief in one’s vision, and a willingness to embrace change are key, she highlights how the pursuit of success—and the sacrifices it demands—can inspire future generations to dream bigger and achieve more. You’ll learn: The key to preparing students isn’t academic achievement but teaching them how to adapt and lead with vision. What it means to empower students to borrow belief from those who guide them. Why embracing storytelling is essential for connecting across generations and building trust in the workplace. What role delayed gratification plays in shaping visionary leaders for the future. How teaching "how to human" skills revolutionizes workforce readiness. About the Guest: Jasmine Star, a world-class speaker, thought leader, podcast host, CEO, and entrepreneur, is dedicated to helping individuals reach their fullest potential. Beginning her entrepreneurial journey as an internationally recognized wedding photographer, she transitioned into a sought-after speaker and business strategist for creative entrepreneurs, spending nearly a decade empowering business owners worldwide to take risks and live boldly. She later founded Social Curator, a tech company offering a monthly subscription service that functions as a digital marketing agency, complete with an AI-powered social media manager providing customized marketing content. As a top podcast host and keynote speaker, Jasmine’s mission is to inspire professionals to transform how they approach their ambitions. Her approach focuses on helping individuals build the future they desire by recognizing and unlocking their own potential, no matter the obstacles in their path. Engage with us: , & : @PasadenaCityCollegeEWD Join our newsletter for more on this topic: Visit: More from Jasmine Star & Social Curator Website: Listen: LinkedIn: Instagram: Partner with us! Contact our host Salvatrice Cummo directly: [email protected] Want to be a guest on the show? Click to inquire about booking Find the transcript of this episode Please rate us and leave us your thoughts and comments on Apple Podcasts, we’d love to hear from you!
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Transcript- Episode 134: Empowering Students for Competitive Industries: What You Missed at PCC’s 2024 Future of Work Conference Episode 134
11/26/2024
Transcript- Episode 134: Empowering Students for Competitive Industries: What You Missed at PCC’s 2024 Future of Work Conference Episode 134
Pasadena City College (PCC) is enhancing its focus on aligning education with industry demands through partnerships, equity initiatives, and increased internship opportunities, particularly in the sports and entertainment sectors. Emphasizing sustainability and athlete mental health, these efforts aim to prepare students for emerging trends and address the challenges driven by the rapid growth of sports teams in Los Angeles. Educational programs are equipping students with specialized skills for non-traditional sports like surfing and cricket, while hundreds of internships are being developed to connect underrepresented populations with industry opportunities. In panel with Stephen Cheung, President & CEO of LAEDC and WTCLA, Liliana T. Pérez-Palacios, Senior Director of Cultural Affairs for the L.A. Chargers, Monique Reaves, Chief Revenue Officer of Rose Bowl Stadium, Matthew Cacciato, President and CEO of the LA Sports Council, and Dr. Salvatrice Cummo,Vice President of Economic and Workforce Development, you will discover insights into the evolving landscape of sports and entertainment industries in Los Angeles and the crucial skills needed to thrive in these competitive fields. You’ll learn: The importance of aligning education with industry demands. What skills are essential for success in the sports and entertainment industry. How career centers and professional development programs can benefit students. Why internships are crucial for career advancement in sports and entertainment. How education institutions can better prepare students for careers in sports entertainment. Engage with us: , & : @PasadenaCityCollegeEWD Join our newsletter for more on this topic: Visit: More from Stephen Cheung, President & CEO of LAEDC and WTCLA Website: LinkedIn: , , : @laedc More from Liliana T. Pérez-Palacios, Senior Director of Cultural Affairs for the L.A. Chargers Website: LinkedIn: , , , : @Chargers More from Monique Reaves, Chief Revenue Officer of Rose Bowl Stadium Website: LinkedIn: , , : @RoseBowlStadium More from Matthew Cacciato, President and CEO of the LA Sports Council LinkedIn: Website: , , : @lasportscouncil Partner with us! Contact our host Salvatrice Cummo directly: [email protected] Want to be a guest on the show? Click to inquire about booking Find the transcript of this episode Please rate us and leave us your thoughts and comments on Apple Podcasts, we’d love to hear from you!
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Empowering Students for Competitive Industries: What You Missed at PCC’s 2024 Future of Work Conference Episode 134
11/26/2024
Empowering Students for Competitive Industries: What You Missed at PCC’s 2024 Future of Work Conference Episode 134
Pasadena City College (PCC) is enhancing its focus on aligning education with industry demands through partnerships, equity initiatives, and increased internship opportunities, particularly in the sports and entertainment sectors. Emphasizing sustainability and athlete mental health, these efforts aim to prepare students for emerging trends and address the challenges driven by the rapid growth of sports teams in Los Angeles. Educational programs are equipping students with specialized skills for non-traditional sports like surfing and cricket, while hundreds of internships are being developed to connect underrepresented populations with industry opportunities. In panel with Stephen Cheung, President & CEO of LAEDC and WTCLA, Liliana T. Pérez-Palacios, Senior Director of Cultural Affairs for the L.A. Chargers, Monique Reaves, Chief Revenue Officer of Rose Bowl Stadium, Matthew Cacciato, President and CEO of the LA Sports Council, and Dr. Salvatrice Cummo,Vice President of Economic and Workforce Development, you will discover insights into the evolving landscape of sports and entertainment industries in Los Angeles and the crucial skills needed to thrive in these competitive fields. You’ll learn: The importance of aligning education with industry demands. What skills are essential for success in the sports and entertainment industry. How career centers and professional development programs can benefit students. Why internships are crucial for career advancement in sports and entertainment. How education institutions can better prepare students for careers in sports entertainment. Engage with us: , & : @PasadenaCityCollegeEWD Join our newsletter for more on this topic: Visit: More from Stephen Cheung, President & CEO of LAEDC and WTCLA Website: LinkedIn: , , : @laedc More from Liliana T. Pérez-Palacios, Senior Director of Cultural Affairs for the L.A. Chargers Website: LinkedIn: , , , : @Chargers More from Monique Reaves, Chief Revenue Officer of Rose Bowl Stadium Website: LinkedIn: , , : @RoseBowlStadium More from Matthew Cacciato, President and CEO of the LA Sports Council LinkedIn: Website: , , : @lasportscouncil Partner with us! Contact our host Salvatrice Cummo directly: [email protected] Want to be a guest on the show? Click to inquire about booking Find the transcript of this episode Please rate us and leave us your thoughts and comments on Apple Podcasts, we’d love to hear from you!
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TRANSCRIPT -Blending Community & Global Reach in the Modern Workforce With Julie Uhrman, Co-Founder & President, Angel City Episode 133
11/19/2024
TRANSCRIPT -Blending Community & Global Reach in the Modern Workforce With Julie Uhrman, Co-Founder & President, Angel City Episode 133
00:00:00 - Julie Uhrman When you think about the future of work, how do I engage them? Whether it's membership or content, storytelling or experiences or travel, how do I make the Angel City fan that lives in England or Australia or Germany feel a part of us? We've sold merch in 50 different countries in all 50 states. How do I continue to engage that fan? 00:00:25 - Christina Barsi The workforce landscape is rapidly changing and Educators and their institutions need to keep up. Preparing students before they enter the workforce to make our communities and businesses stronger is at the core of getting an education. But we need to understand how to change and adjust so that we can begin to project where things are headed. Before we even get there. So how do we begin to predict the future? 00:00:41 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Hi, I'm Salvatrice Cummo, Vice President of Economic and Workforce Development at Pasadena City College and host of this podcast. 00:00:57 - Christina Barsi And I'm Christina Barsi, producer and cohost of this podcast. 00:00:58 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo And we are starting the conversation about the future of work. We'll explore topics like how education can partner with industry, how to be more equitable, and how to attain one of our highest goals, more internships and PCC. Students in the workforce. We at Pasadena City College want to lead the charge in closing the gap between what our students are learning and what the demands of the workforce will be once they enter. This is a conversation that impacts all of us. You, the employers, the policymakers, the educational institutions, and the community as a whole. 00:01:32 - Christina Barsi We believe change happens when we work together. And it all starts with having a conversation. I'm Christina Barsi. 00:01:40 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo And I'm Salvatrice Cummo. And this is the future of Work. Good morning, good morning and welcome to our sixth annual Future of Work. And waking up early to be here with us today. It's such an honor to not only have you here present with us and talking to our speakers and our wonderful lineup of speakers, but also, this future of work lands on the centennial celebration for this campus. So yes, you can say woohoo. 00:02:07 - Julie Uhrman That's good. 00:02:10 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo My name is Dr. Salvatrice Cummo and I am the Vice President of Economic and Workforce Development here at Pasadena City College. And our Future Work conference is really a key signature event that we do every year. We're very excited about it and pleased about it because it really brings forward our connections to industry, what we and how we can be positioning ourselves, our institutions, our systems to better align with our partners that we'll see here today. It's my pleasure to introduce our first keynote speaker, Julie Uhrman, Co-Founder and President of Angels City FC. Julie is a trailblazer in the world of sports and entrepreneurship, creating one of the most inclusive, forward-thinking soccer clubs in the nation. Her work not only transformed women's sports but also redefined how teams can serve their communities. Please help me welcome Julie Uhrman. Well, we're going to have a delightful conversation, Julie. 00:03:17 - Julie Uhrman We are, we sure are. Thank you for having me. 00:03:19 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo You bet, you bet. I want to just kind of dive right in. I mean, you are at the forefront of career opportunities within this industry, within this sector, and I want to spend some time around looking at the startup models within this space. What career opportunities are you seeing moving forward as we prepare our students and upskill the existing workforce in this arena? 00:03:43 - Julie Uhrman Well, that's a softball question to start with. Let me start by saying that I think sports has gone. Sports has had a significant transformation in the last 10 years. And if you think about what has fundamentally changed in sports, it's social media. It used to be the only way that you could connect with the team or connect with a player or learn about event was through broadcast media, right? So the games were broadcast on television. You'd have to listen to ESPN or read Sports Illustrated, the LA Times to understand what was going on. And your connection with those teams and with those players came through these large third party distributors of content, creators of content. With the advent of social media and the acceleration of participation of social media, you now can create a direct connection with your fan, with the athlete that you love and with the club that you love. You don't have to go through a Fox Sports or an ESPN or Sports Illustrated to create the connection. And the reason that that is so fundamental is it allows players to become brands, it allows players to talk directly to fans, it allows teams to talk directly to fans. And so when you think about the future of work and how the startup culture can play a meaningful role in sports, it's how do I identify who my fan is, how do I connect with my fan? What kind of stories do they want to hear? What type of events do they want to be a part of? How can they give back to their community, how can they give back to their club, how can they engage with their club? And so I think when you think about sports, it's not just about the 90 minute soccer game or the 3 hour football game or the 10 hour baseball game, right? It's really about how can I engage a fan and how can I transform them into being sort of an activist for the club. 00:05:34 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo And I really appreciate you saying that because as we develop our programs and we think about Skills alignment and skill development. With the rise of what you just shared this, you know, with data analytics and really paying attention to how we engage with the fans and multiple different vehicles in which we do so, what would you say are some of the skills that we need to be paying attention to not only as educators, but also as young professionals kind of moving into this space? 00:06:03 - Julie Uhrman Right. So if we break it into three categories, how do you find the fan, how do you engage the fan, and how do you build the sport? If you talk about how do you find the fan? It's exactly what you said. It starts with data and analytics. How can we use the tools we have today to understand who our true fan is? Because then I can build a product that resonates with them. So they want to come to the game. Some people want to come to the games because they love football, they love watching soccer. Other people want to come for a sense of community, for a sense of belonging. Others want to come because it's fun and exciting. 00:06:33 - Julie Uhrman Others come because it's a FOMO experience. Right. But it better be for Angel City. Right? But the first question is, who is your fan and how do I connect with them? And that's really rethinking data and analytics. And when you think about data and analytics, it's almost two parts. One, we use data and analytics as relates to ticketing and ticket pricing. 00:06:52 - Julie Uhrman How do you think about dynamic pricing? It's not just $10 and you walk in the door. Right. I think that is an old model and it certainly does a disservice to women's sports, where, you know, I think women's sports used to be thought of this charity, and if we make it inexpensive, people are going to come. The flip side of that is if you make it inexpensive, you are now making a statement about the value of the product and the experience. Right? So if it's inexpensive, then you're saying, well, maybe the product isn't that good. Right. Or even think about it this way, if I charge 10 or $15 for a game and it's raining Los Angeles going to get in their car or there's traffic. No, because for $10, you might decide it's not worth it. But if I paid $50 or $150, it's a much different decision making process. 00:07:38 - Julie Uhrman So using data to understand ticket pricing for different areas within the stadium, for different experiences, and then also on that experience standpoint, how do you create a package for a different type of fan? If my fan is a family, what is the experience? And Price point for them. If my fan is a 21 year old millennial, I don't think they're millennials anymore. Gen Z, Gen X. I don't know what we've come to now, but what is that experience? Right. And so you can see how data not only has a quantitative role, but also plays a qualitative role as well. 00:08:10 - Julie Uhrman I think AI is really fascinating as far as how do you communicate to your fans. So one of the tools that I'm asking my team to use is as we think about our advertising and our email marketing, if you're a designer, those are really boring things to design. Designing an email is really not that interesting. Designing an ad isn't that interesting. So there are now tools where we can provide a dozen different assets, a dozen different messages and let AI put them together and then point them to the right audience once we understand who those audiences. 00:08:42 - Julie Uhrman So as you think about roles in the future of work and careers, data analytics, marketing, segmentation, messaging, pr, it's all really important. When we started Angel City, when you talked about, you know, thinking about it as a startup, who would you think? The first person I would hire is a coach, a general manager, head of sales. Right. The first person I hired was the head of pr. First person. Because everything is storytelling. Everything is storytelling. How do I get you to care about a brand new sports team? There are 11 professional sports teams in LA. There's you, USC, UCLA. How do I get you to care about a new team? Right. So what's going to cause you to connect with us? So I think the role of creating content, of storytelling through PR is really important. 00:09:30 - Julie Uhrman I think the other benefit that young adults have today is you are digital first. You have been telling stories already forever, the span of your life on social media. That is incredibly important to a sports team. How do I tell the story about our players, our community, our games, our fans, on TikTok, on Insta, on threads, on Twitter, on Facebook? Each one of those platforms is different. 00:09:55 - Julie Uhrman Each one of the audience members of those platforms are different. So how do I shape that narrative and how do I tell that story differently? And then the last thing is the game experience. So think about game day, think about the game day presentation from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to bed. How do I engage a fan in this? And that's the pre game events that we have with the fanfrest where we create an experience for everyone and actually partner with PCC as a number of your students are ambassadors for us on game day. So there's operational roles. We have PR coordinators. Right. How do we make sure that we're satisfying all of the media outlets and making sure they get the right stories? How do we give opportunity to women? This is a women's game. The PA should be a woman. You think that's obvious? I think we're the only team in the league that has a female PA reader. Right. 00:10:52 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Let's talk about that a little bit about career opportunities and storytelling. Angel City promotes gender equity, social impact. How are those two pillars of the organization shaping career opportunities for women and specifically within underserved communities. Right. That we shared. 00:11:09 - Julie Uhrman Absolutely. So I think what's important to note is Angel City was built with a bigger mission than just being a team in a city, which I think is how most teams think about themselves or more importantly, just winning championships. When my co founders, Natalie Portman, Karen Nortman and I sat down, we really talked about wanting to build a club that was representative of our community and gave back to our community because if we could lead with values and create an emotional connection with our fan base, they would be lifelong Angel City fans, regardless of how many rings that we won. And so the idea was very early on that we were going to use sport and entertainment to drive to equity. One of the things that was happening in 2019 when we were building Angel City was the MeToo movement. The time's up movement, talking about equal access and opportunity for women in sports. And with the MeToo movement in Hollywood, is giving women opportunities and access to not only have great roles to be directors and get paid accordingly. So we wanted to be able to use our platform to drive towards pay equity, gender equity, even visibility equity. And what that means is as we built our club, it wasn't just about what are the roles that we need to service the football club, but what are the roles we need to service our community. And so we developed its social impact model that stood for equity essentials in education, giving back to the community, young girls, non binary individuals, underrepresented communities that can have equal access and opportunity to sport, to nutrition, to education, to financial services, information, and to be able to use our platform to service them. So we created the first of its kind Angel City sponsorship model where 10% of our sponsorship dollars goes back into the community. To date, we've put $3.5 million to work, and as Jen Gardner said, we have another 3.5 million committed due to the length of our sponsorship deals. As we think about putting that to work, we created an internship program for BIPOC high school students so they can get opportunities to not only have the opportunity to look at a sports team, but also to be able to build their resume. We've had 27 kids come through our program that have gone on to UC Santa Barbara and UCLA and Princeton. We've also partnered with an organization in LA called Los Photos, which is giving young Latinos and Latinas opportunities to utilize their craft of photography and content storytelling and give them the opportunity to capture our games and then be able to share their content not only with Angel City, but with media partners. And so we are really intentional about how we work with our community, focusing on initially women and young girls and non binary youth. 00:13:43 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Are there specific examples of that? I mean, you shared some, right? In general, in a nutshell. But are there specific examples of local community development as it relates to gender equity and social impact? 00:13:54 - Julie Uhrman Gender equity? One of my favorite stories is one of our sponsors from our first two years was crypto. And there was a lot of concern around crypto because of the impact on the community and how it's really only for a certain segment of people that really understand it. And so there was a question about why Angel City was partnering with them. But what we learned was that when new financial instruments are brought to market, women are typically left behind. So when you think about cryptocurrencies and new financial instruments and mechanisms, men are early adopters and women are late to the party. So the time women get to the party like that opportunity potentially for the big upside or to be a first mover, they've missed. 00:14:36 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Why do you think that is, though? I mean, in your humble opinion, why do you think that is? 00:14:39 - Julie Uhrman Because they are not being educated because they are not in the room. Right. And so we decided with that partnership with Crypto.com to address financial literacy and to help women be first movers. So we created a program that educated women. You know, on the one hand, we partner with the Downtown Women's center, which are women that are getting back into the workforce, that have been homeless and families. We've taught them about checking accounts and savings accounts and savings. So like the fundamentals. But then we also created a program to educate about all these sort of new financial instruments. And so it's sort of incredible to have this platform where we address equity essentials in education, where we can look at the marketplace and say, how can we help? How can we Make a difference. How can we get women on an equal footing with men? Because again, the goal of Angel City is to drive to Equity County. We've partnered with Ifund Women, which supports minority and women entrepreneurs. It not only gives funding, but education and resource and tools. We've launched a program called the Player 22 Fund, which allows former women's football players of any level, of any team, not just Angel City, to be able to get access to money through a grant program so they can have monies not only to support their educational endeavors. Maybe they want to be a coach or they want to get a license or they want to become a broadcaster, or maybe they have an entrepreneurial business that they want support in. So that's sort of another example. But we have about 15 different partners in LA that we work with and every time we bring on a new sponsor, we sit down with them and determine where our values align, where we can have that positive impact in the community. And then we develop a program around them. 00:16:13 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Excellent. And Angel City has built, has done so well in building a global brand. 00:16:18 - Julie Uhrman It's not just local, we're not the Yankees, but we're working on it. 00:16:22 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo It's a global brand that has a very high emphasis on local impact. Yes, those dualities kind of offer some great opportunities and some challenges. Can you talk a little bit about what have you seen as positive impacts on that duality in our workforce? 00:16:38 - Julie Uhrman When Angel City came to market, we made a lot of bold statements. We were female founded, majority female owned and majority female run, and we still are today. We talked about having a positive impact in the community while we won on the pitch, we talked about driving towards equity, which we know is a many year endeavor, but you have to take steps going forward. And we talked about being a global brand. And the reason for the global brand aspect was if you think about who has the most influence in the world, right. Who has the most ability to create impact, they're global brands. It's the Nikes, it's the Netflixes, it's the Apples. Right. Of the world, it's the Googles of the world. If you are a global brand, everybody is paying attention to what you say and what you do now, what you deal with that is different for everybody. So we felt like if the most ambitious goal there is is to use sport and entertainment to drive to equity, we wanted to have the best chance of being successful. So if we were a global brand, we would get the most attention and awareness on what we cared about. And then the goal was to convert you into a fan that drives revenue, that ultimately drives impact. So if we're a global brand and we can drive the most revenue, we can pay the players the most, and then we can have the most impact in our community. And I think leading as a global brand has helped because I don't think there's any way we would have been able to put $3.5 million to work, generate over $30 million in revenue, $13 million in sponsorship revenue. That doesn't happen if you have parties that are interested that not only are local, but national and global. We have sponsors like Gatorade, Johnnie Walker Heineken, Chevy Doordash, Sprouts, Birdies. They're really a combination of local and global because they know that because Angel City has this global presence and reach, you know, their...
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Blending Community & Global Reach in the Modern Workforce With Julie Uhrman, Co-Founder & President, Angel City Episode 133
11/19/2024
Blending Community & Global Reach in the Modern Workforce With Julie Uhrman, Co-Founder & President, Angel City Episode 133
How can today’s workforce be prepared to connect with a global audience while still nurturing real, local community ties? At Pasadena City College’s Future of Work Conference, Dr. Salvatrice Cummo’s conversation with Julie Uhrman, co-founder of Angel City FC, offers a fresh perspective on addressing this challenge. Angel City isn’t just changing the game for women’s sports; it’s showing how a team can create a global impact while staying true to its community-focused values. Julie’s take on this evolving landscape demonstrates the shift in what’s needed from professionals—storytelling skills, fostering genuine connections, and leading with equity. For students and future professionals, the path forward is clear: the future of work means blending local roots with a global vision and preparing for careers that are as inclusive and connected as the world they aim to serve. You’ll learn: How fostering local community ties can prepare the workforce for global engagement. Why inclusive leadership is a competitive advantage for building lasting audience connections. Real-world examples show how to balance local impact with global ambition. Which essential skills training programs we should focus on for global career readiness. Why values-driven organizations are key for future workforce development. About the Guest: Julie Uhrman is an American soccer executive and entrepreneur who is president of Angel City FC, a National Women's Soccer League team based in Los Angeles, California, that Uhrman also co-founded. She was previously an executive at Playboy Enterprises, Lionsgate Entertainment, IGN, and Vivendi Entertainment, and founded the former video game console company Ouya. Engage with us: , & : @PasadenaCityCollegeEWD Join our newsletter for more on this topic: Visit: More from Julie Uhrman and Angel City FC: LinkedIn: Website: , , & : @weareangelcity LinkedIn: Partner with us! Contact our host Salvatrice Cummo directly: [email protected] Want to be a guest on the show? Click to inquire about booking Find the transcript of this episode Please rate us and leave us your thoughts and comments on Apple Podcasts, we’d love to hear from you!
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Transcript- Episode 132: Tackling Systemic Racism in Education Head-On With Alysia Bell, President of UNITE-LA Episode 132
11/05/2024
Transcript- Episode 132: Tackling Systemic Racism in Education Head-On With Alysia Bell, President of UNITE-LA Episode 132
00:00:00 - Alysia Bell If you are a business and employer listening and you want to support the young people in our community, opportunities to engage can really range to meet you where you're at. They can be designing industry focused work based learning models. It can be advocating for equitable education and workforce development outcomes. It could be just leveraging your experience, providing expert insights to help companies reimagine their strategies for attracting and retaining local talent. 00:00:32 - Christina Barsi The workforce landscape is rapidly changing and educators and their institutions need to keep up. Preparing students before they enter the workforce to make our communities and businesses stronger is at the core of getting an education. But we need to understand how to change and adjust so that we can begin to project where things are headed before we even get there. So how do we begin to predict the future? 00:00:57 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Hi, I'm Salvatrice Cummo, Vice President of Economic and Workforce Development at Pasadena City College and host of this podcast. 00:01:05 - Christina Barsi And I'm Christina Barsi, producer and co-host of this podcast. 00:01:09 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo And we are starting the conversation about the future of work. We'll explore topics like how education can partner with industry, how to be more equitable, and how to attain one of our highest goals, more internships and PCC Students in the workforce. We at Pasadena City College want to lead the charge in closing the gap between what our students are learning and what the demands of the workforce will be once they enter. This is a conversation that impacts all of us, you, the employers, the policymakers, the educational institutions and the community as a whole. 00:01:43 - Christina Barsi We believe change happens when we work together, and it all starts with having a conversation. I'm Christina Barsi. 00:01:51 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo And I'm Salvatrice Cummo. And this is the Future of Work. Hi, welcome back to the Future of Work podcast. I am your host, Dr. Salvatrice Cummo. We are joined by Alysia Bell, who has served as President of UNITE LA for the past two years. Though she's been with the organization for over 13, her extensive career spans K through 12 districts, higher education institutions, economic development and workforce advocacy. With her unique perspective, she's helped bridge gaps between these sectors, working to ensure equitable economic mobility and educational access for all. Today, we'll dive deep into the critical in between spaces of education and workforce development, helping individuals navigate transitions such as moving from high school to college and into meaningful careers. Alysia, hi, how are you? 00:02:50 - Alysia Bell I'm well. Thank you so much for having me. Salvatrice. 00:02:53 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Pleasure is all mine. Thank you so much. Let's kick off the conversation if you don't mind talking about your journey and what led you to UNITE LA with your extensive background, I would be happy to. 00:03:07 - Alysia Bell And you know, before I start, I just want to express appreciation for the incredible partnership of Pasadena City College as well as the LA Regional Collaborative of Community Colleges. Our team at UNITE LA is really grateful to collaborate with you all. So I would say over the course of my career, I've had the pleasure of working both in the education space at LA Unified School District in their personnel selection branch, and in post secondary education. I served as an adjunct professor of Industrial Organizational Psychology at Pepperdine University and then also in business, in economic development specifically, and more broadly as an executive for multiple chambers of commerce. And so I really credit the arc of this experience for sparking my interest in the work that I do today with UNITEd la. So, for example, when I worked in economic development, in my experience meeting with site selectors and corporate executives when businesses were considering relocating or expanding, one of their first questions was always related to education, both for their own children who, you know, their families would be relocating with them, but also, of course, for the workforce pipeline. When I worked at my first Chamber of Commerce nearly two decades ago, I staffed that Chamber's Education and Workforce Development Committee. And I just fell in love with the intermediary work, those in-between spaces that you referenced, and I know we'll talk more about today. I would say that before I worked for UNITE LA, I had long admired the impact they had through their intermediary work. And I actually pursued UNITE LA for two years until they hired me. So, through attending various meetings and events, I had the pleasure of getting to know UNITE LA's founder, David Rattray, as well as our late sister, Dr. Alma Salazar, two incredible leaders in this work and wonderful mentors. And you know, to me and to so many in our community, I really pitched to them how my career to date had intersected with K12 higher ed in business and how I believe that would position me well to work with them at Unitala. So I joke that eventually I wore them, and they offered me a job. And that was back in 2011. So now, as you mentioned, 13 years with UNITE LA. About to start my 14th year with the organization. And I just feel so lucky to collaborate with so many partners across LA and beyond. UNITE LA's name, despite LA being in the name we started focused on LA City. We work regionally, and we actually work statewide and nationally as well, but entirely focused on equitable economic mobility through education and workforce development. And I just, I feel like I grow more passionate about the work each day, really inspired by our team. We're almost 50-strong. We should end the year with about 50 team members. We have extensive tenure on staff, so our leadership team, the average tenure is over 11 years. So, a really deep commitment. And then of course, our incredible board. We have about two dozen board members, currently chaired by LACCD Chancellor Rodriguez, and Dr. McKeeshan is a new member of our board. So just thrilled and inspired by partners, by our board, and by our staff. 00:06:23 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Excellent. Well, we certainly had the pleasure of working with you and your team for many, many years, even prior to us building the Los Angeles Regional Consortium. I personally know your work and the work of your team very intimately. And so I'm really excited about unpacking this conversation a little bit because there's so much that UNITE LA has been able to do for us as a single institution and now as an institution hosting the Los Angeles Regional Consortium. And so we definitely thank you. But I want to unpack the in between space that we keep talking about and what that looks like. Can you share a little bit about through your lens and the lens of your team, how you bridge those gaps of those in between spaces between education and workforce? 00:07:10 - Alysia Bell My pleasure. This is the daily conversation. So I think of these critical in between spaces, which are of course foundational to the role of intermediary organizations such as UNITE LA. I think of them in a number of ways. So number one, cradle through career. Right? So along that full spectrum of early education, K12, post secondary education, and workforce development, both as it relates to the rising workforce as well as upskilling and reskilling opportunities for the incumbent workforce. 00:07:43 - Alysia Bell So that's the first in-between spaces, cradle through career, the navigation between the different institutions and systems. Number two, through systems, policy, and programs. So, UNITE LA likes to describe itself as working in three domains: systems policy, advocacy, and programs. We say that we're a systems change organization that's enabled by the policy advocacy work that we do and informed by the programmatic work that we do. 00:08:12 - Alysia Bell For example, oftentimes when we implement a program, honestly, I'd love to sit here and tell you that it goes 100% perfectly with no roadblocks, but we do run into challenges sometimes and honestly, we learn from that and that tends to give us an idea for a desired policy change or a needed budget investment at the state level. And so our programmatic team will take those lessons learned and then tag our policy team. So our policy team advocates. We do advocacy regionally, statewide and federally, but predominantly at the state level. Our team will advocate for policy changes, for budget investments once those are passed or Those investments are made then kind of tagged to our systems team. 00:08:57 - Alysia Bell Our systems Change team helps to implement those and really has built trust up over the last quarter century, working in collaboration with partners across the region and helps to convene those trust tables where we can implement and make those systems changes and support our partners where needed. So our team refers to this interconnectedness of systems change and policy and programs as the multiplier effect. 00:09:25 - Alysia Bell So that's our lingo that you would hear in all of our internal meetings is how are we multiplying the effect of policy programs in systems systems? And then I would just say number three, how I think about these kind of in between spaces is partnerships. So those in between spaces with partners, this is really UNITE LA's DNA. Taking just a moment to look backwards. UNITE LA was founded as an intermediary in 1998 by the City of Los Angeles, Louisiana Unified School District and LA Community College District. And these partners had envisioned a world where every young person would enjoy education and training opportunities leading to fulfilling high mobility careers of their choosing. So since then, and honestly, in partnership with you and with numerous partners throughout LA and beyond, UNITEd LA's impact has really resonated. So some of our systems work, we've collectively with partners, advanced a lot of shared goals. Through the LA Compact, which is now 16-years-old, we've advanced a number of Career Pathways programs in growing sectors such as healthcare and in tech. 00:10:32 - Alysia Bell We've served over 300,000 youth through our Cash for College programming. And the Cash for College attendees have been associated with nearly a billion dollars of state financial aid. And then that third domain, in partnership with many in la, we've advocated for a lot of key policy priorities. So everything from the California Dream act to the Career Pathways Trust Fund and from expanding paid family leave to CAL Grant modernization. So exploring those in between spaces with part partners and how we expand on that, moving to the future, we have expanded the partnerships in our systems change work through countywide partners. 00:11:14 - Alysia Bell So we're the proud convener of the LA Regional K16 Collaborative in partnership with you all. And then we've also really deepened diverse business engagement in our cradle through career policy agenda. We now have partnerships with over 30 business organizations throughout LA and throughout the state to really bring that diverse business voice to a lot of these issues. We're building pathways now not only in healthcare and in tech, but also really focused on an inclusive clean tech workforce in Los Angeles. 00:11:45 - Alysia Bell And this is really at the height of the clean energy transformation. And then finally we're advancing Numerous strategic partnerships. Again, back to that being UNITE LA's DNA. Everything we do is in partnership with others and some of these strategic partnerships support digital equity, early care and education, and of course broadly equitable economic mobility. So just really the moral of UNITE LA story is that, you know, those in between spaces, everything we've been able to accomplish has been done collaboratively. And so really looking forward to continued and expanded partnerships. Moving forward. 00:12:20 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Thank you. Sounds like to me there's several layers to those in between spaces, but one particularly is that transition from high school to college and or college to the workforce. Can we spend a little bit of time on some of the challenges you see in that transition and then just maybe share how the team has developed strategies in addressing those challenges for that transition period? 00:12:45 - Alysia Bell Yeah, thank you for that question. That actually allows me to share one of the three major growth areas for UNITE LA that's been identified in our recent strategic plan, which is really the evolution of our systems change work to grow and expand at the regional level. So again, as the proud convener of this K16 regional collaborative, our systems team collaborates with dozens of partners countywide to co create and grow streamline pathways for students from historically marginalized communities in key sectors. So in healthcare, computing and engineering. And speaking of the transition, as you asked about, you know, between high school and college and or from college to the workforce. So the K16 collaborative's regional goals are to increase college enrollment and persistence, to eliminate racial and gender enrollment disparities in these targeted pathways and then also to increase the percentage of students of color who are employed in their field of study. And the regional objectives are centered on those in between spaces that we talked about. So those include those transition points. So between high school and community college, expanding and enhancing dual enrollment offerings to really support Those transitions from K12 into post secondary education. The second objective is around enhancing transfer pathways. So really supporting those transitions if you are at a two year college and want to transfer to a four year institution. And then the third objective is yet another transition point from education into the workforce. So that's around expanding work based learning opportunities to really support those transitions into the workforce. And I'll just say a little something about the inclusive nature of those strategies. The LA Regional K16 collaborative leverages recommendations from California's Recover with Equity plan which came out a few years ago, I want to say in 2021. And these inclusive strategies are specifically aiming to retain students through inclusive supports. Number two is to provide high tech, high touch advising. Number three is to support college prep and early credit. And then number four, important to everyone, improving college affordability. And then I will just say that all of these objectives, these strategies, the expected impact includes, among other things, greater connectivity between these segments and systems of education and then also greater alignment of pathways to specified career fields. Again really focusing on those career opportunities that are high mobility in growing sectors. So as you may have seen UNITE LA evolve over the last two or three years, definitely our systems change team has grown to support this work and really navigate those in between spaces alongside partners. 00:15:41 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Would you say there's a specific mindset in approaching this work and if so, what would it be and how does it really shape how you lead, how programs are developed, the collaboration, the partnership, everything in between. So just kind of want to spend a little bit of time on your mindset specifically and engaging in this work because it's heavy and it's fluid and there's a ton of moving parts. 00:16:08 - Alysia Bell Yeah, I mean, I want to give so much credit to UNITE LA's founding CEO, who retired two years ago, David Rattray. He was a master at encouraging all of us to frame challenges as opportunities and always encouraged us to rewrite our narratives using asset-based language. 00:16:34 - Alysia Bell And we have found that that really puts us in a good frame of mind to be solutions oriented as we are working in community and with partners to address barriers. So let me give a specific example to demonstrate that. Let's talk internships for example. So some data. We see data that shows how internships can positively impact individual outcomes in the labor market following graduation. A recent report from Strada Education foundation shows that college students who complete a paid internship during undergrad have higher paying jobs after graduation, even when you account for differences in pay based on whether it be field of study, gender, race, ethnicity. 00:17:22 - Alysia Bell And so while many students recognize the benefits of internships, a challenge is that about 70% of first year students plan to complete an internship during college and less than half of students actually find and complete an internship and less than a quarter secure a paid internship. And so it's a challenge, right? But it presents UNITE LA with an opportunity to reframe it as an opportunity to collaborate with numerous systems, partners, institutions and community members to really address these barriers to these high mobility careers. 00:17:58 - Alysia Bell So as an intermediary, UNITE LA has the pleasure of facilitating connections between employers and post secondary institutions and other training programs to provide work based learning opportunities to our local talent here in la. I'm happy to share a couple of examples of employers in the high growth sectors of healthcare, tech and cleantech who are really successfully engaging. So in the tech sector, Snap offers an academy. Accenture has a summer internship and apprenticeship program in healthcare, Cedars Sinai offers an internship program in cleantech. One of our partners, Veolia, they have hired two community college interns for an internship that honestly was originally designed specifically for four year students. And again, a challenge as an opportunity. Right. So in our role as an intermediary, UNITE LA advocated for the company to consider scholars from our LA regional Cleantech Career Academy. 00:18:55 - Alysia Bell They did. Our candidates applied and interviewed and were hired in 2023. And the two who were hired, they both remain employed a year after their 2023 summer internship placement. And one was advanced to an engineering intern. And they both work part time while continuing their education. Another example, West Basin, they hired one of our cleantech Academy graduates, another community college student for a very competitive nine month internship program. 00:19:23 - Alysia Bell And so these are just a couple of the many, many employers who are so engaged and wonderful. But you know, we also try to track with trends and so what are some of those best practices or promising practices that we see with those employers? And I would say a few of the things we notice that they have in common. They have leadership that's really committed to investing resources. They have dedicated staff to engage with community partners in the recruitment of talent. They have specific programming that's funded and facilitated by their organization to cultivate local talent pipelines that meet their workforce needs. They have dedicated staff to support program implementation, a community benefits plan aligned with leadership's vision and commitment to hiring local talent, including community college students. And then I would just say a focused talent development plan that includes a focus on hiring local talent. And we see these employers supporting community career and job...
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Tackling Systemic Racism in Education Head-On With Alysia Bell, President of UNITE-LA Episode 132
11/05/2024
Tackling Systemic Racism in Education Head-On With Alysia Bell, President of UNITE-LA Episode 132
Connecting education and industry is vital for preparing students for real-world careers. Organizations such as UNITE LA bridge school-to-career pathways, focusing on equitable transitions for marginalized communities. Central to this is a strong commitment to equity and anti-racism, integrating these values into daily practices. Alysia Bell, President of UNITE LA, champions these efforts by promoting programs to combat racism, creating internal workgroups for race equity, and emphasizing collaboration, strong frameworks, and quality work-based learning. Technology and healthcare businesses are key partners with UNITE LA, contributing to industry-focused learning models that prepare students for high-demand careers. By working together toward inclusivity, we can build a more just society where everyone has the opportunity to thrive and pursue fulfilling, successful careers. You’ll learn: How businesses can collaborate with institutions to tailor a curriculum that meets both student interests and industry needs. What strategies ensure seamless transitions from high school to college and into the workforce. How organizations can combat systemic racism. What approaches can be used to design industry-focused, work-based learning models that prepare students for high-quality careers. About the Guest: Alysia Bell serves as President of UNITE-LA, joining the organization in 2011. In her years with the organization, she has led national work in partnership with the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE). This partnership has raised more than $13 million, which resulted in sub-granting more than $700 thousand to chambers across the country. This led to promising practices in higher education attainment and graduated nearly 200 business organization leaders from the Fellowship for Education Attainment. Together, UNITE-LA and ACCE designed and engaged more than 600 chamber professionals in the Education and Talent Development Division, which UNITE-LA and ACCE co-launched in 2011. Engage with us: , & : @PasadenaCityCollegeEWD Join our newsletter for more on this topic: Visit: More from Alysia Bell and UNITE LA: LinkedIn: Website: & : @letsunitela LinkedIn: Facebook: Partner with us! Contact our host Salvatrice Cummo directly: [email protected] Want to be a guest on the show? Click to inquire about booking Find the transcript of this episode Please rate us and leave us your thoughts and comments on Apple Podcasts, we’d love to hear from you!
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Transcript- Episode 131: The Winning Edge: Multidisciplinary Skills for Tomorrow’s Workforce With Matthew Cacciato, President & CEO, Los Angeles Sports Council Episode 131
10/22/2024
Transcript- Episode 131: The Winning Edge: Multidisciplinary Skills for Tomorrow’s Workforce With Matthew Cacciato, President & CEO, Los Angeles Sports Council Episode 131
00:00:00 - Matt Cacciato One of the things I think that's important to understand is that you know, there are people that are studying subjects in their school curriculum, in their degree programs that may not seem attached to the sports ecosystem, but there really isn't any specialization that you could think of that isn't a part of that. Already. 00:00:23 - Christina Barsi The workforce landscape is rapidly changing and educators and their institutions need to keep up. Preparing students before they enter the workforce. To make our communities and businesses stronger is at the core of getting an education. But we need to understand how to change and adjust so that we can begin to project where things are headed before we even get there. So how do we begin to predict the future? 00:00:48 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Hi, I'm Salvatrice Cummo, Vice President of Economic and Workforce Development at Pasadena City College and host of this podcast. 00:00:57 - Christina Barsi And I'm Christina Barsi, producer and cohost of this podcast. 00:01:01 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo And we are starting the conversation about the future of work. We'll explore topics like how education can partner with industry, how to be more equitable, and how to attain one of our highest goals, more internships and PCC students in the workforce, we at Pasadena City College want to lead the charge in closing the gap between what our students are learning and what the demands of the workforce will be once they enter. This is a conversation that impacts all of us. You, the employers, the policymakers, the educational institutions, and the community as a whole. 00:01:34 - Christina Barsi We believe change happens when we work together, and it all starts with having a conversation. I'm Christina Barsi. 00:01:42 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo And I'm Salvatrice Cummo. And this is the Future of Work. Hi, welcome back to the Future of Work podcast. I am your host, Dr. Salvatrice Cummo. Today we are excited to be joined by Matthew Cacciato. Matthew is the president and CEO of the LA Sports Council, a key figure in uniting the sports and business communities in Southern California. He's had an impressive career spanning over three decades, with leadership roles in sports television at ESPN and Fox cable networks, as well as in academia shaping the next generation of sports leaders at Ohio University. He's also a panelist at our upcoming Future of Work conference at Pasadena City College. In today's discussion, we'll dive into the role of the sports industry in preparing the workforce for the future, with special attention to how Los Angeles role as host for the upcoming global sporting events like the 2028 Summer Olympics and the FIFA World cup, and how those two events will impact local industries, talent development and educational partnerships. This conversation will give you a sneak peek into the insights Matthew will share at our future work conference. Remember you can buy your tickets to see him and other experts in person. Check out the link in the show notes Matthew welcome to the Future of Work podcast. 00:03:09 - Matt Cacciato Pleasure to be here, Salvatrice, and thanks very much for the invitation. 00:03:13 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Great. I like to start these conversations about what led you here. So if we could spend a little bit of time sharing with our listener what led you to your career within your career of sports and entertainment and how you got to be president and CEO? 00:03:28 - Matt Cacciato Yeah, absolutely. And it's always a great question and it's fun to answer it as well. I grew up very active, youngster and really just was in a neighborhood setting where my friend group were all fairly athletic. And, you know, we tried everything, whether it was, you know, on the field or out in the street or in a pool or on ice. I grew up in the northeast, so sports was a big part of my upbringing. And, you know, as I kind of matured through the various educational levels, I started to focus, you know, a little bit more on competitive sports. And through high school, you know, I played football, American football, I wrestled and I played lacrosse, which was new to a lot of public schools in the seventies and eighties, but I fell in love with it the minute I saw it. And so sports was really always a driver for me and kept me focused on school because I wanted to certainly go to college and I wanted to compete in collegiate athletics. So upon graduation, I started to realize that the industry was changing and that there was going to be sports positions, jobs, roles, careers in the industry as it grew. And I started to focus on that early and often. And, you know, it's hard to believe all these years later we're going to sit here and kind of talk about that as our subject matter. 00:04:48 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Exactly. I too, thinking about my own career and academic journey. Sports was really not something that we looked at as a professional career outside of actually doing the sports. So thank you for sharing that journey. As I mentioned earlier in our introduction, we have two very large global events coming to LA, and I wanted to get your thoughts about what are some of the challenges that you think our sports industry is going to face as it aligns the needs of the sports industry and workforce development, and how do you think we should meet those demands. 00:05:22 - Matt Cacciato I would say there's been such an evolution of how we educate our college students at every level about the opportunities in sports. I was talking with some folks earlier today about my previous professional stop at Ohio University running the Master of Sports Administration program there. That was one of the very first programs, actually the first program and it was really the idea of Walter O'Malley, who brought the Dodgers to Los Angeles. And I. Over the decades, the number of schools that have either added curriculum or certificates or degree programs has increased. Now there's probably 3500 plus colleges that have some form of sports business, sports planning, athletic administration in their curriculum offerings. So I think it's important for people to realize that there are a lot of young, developing professionals that have had this in their sights for a while. That and the fact that Los Angeles, the greater Los Angeles area, is incredibly well equipped from a facility standpoint, from seasoned professionals that are here to really fuel and to make sure that they can staff up for these great challenges. And really you're talking about FIFA, International World Cup soccer in 2026, and then 2028. Obviously, with the Olympics, large-scale events, none really bigger than those that will really test the readiness, workforce readiness that we have. So I feel like we're in better shape, certainly than they would have been in 1984. The last time the Olympics came through here, the World Cup, FIFA World Cup, was here in 1994, and again used a lot of different venues. So I feel that LA has the benefit of just being one of the more progressive and workforce-ready ecosystems when it comes to global sport. 00:07:12 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Well, speaking of workforce-ready ecosystems, there's lots of conversations about the impact of these global events and what they'll do, particularly to job creation and economic growth. Wanted to spend a little bit of time talking about how the LA Sports Council is looking to ensure or make known that these benefits are going to be felt across LA. 00:07:35 - Matt Cacciato Yeah, well, the Los Angeles Sports Council is a collection of three different nonprofit sports entities. The original of the three is the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games. It's not a title we use anymore, it's more of our legacy. But the reality is it was born out of the need to try and save what was the 1940 Olympics. Unfortunately, that was interrupted by the World war. The International Olympic Committee realized it was going to be tough for those games to actually be held, and they tried to come back to Los Angeles, who had hosted the 1932 Olympics, to see if they would have certainly try and save the games from 1940. So it's a chartered business in the state of California's Secretary of State Business Library and still in good standing today. And they were a bidding committee. They were here to really drive the economic workup that's required to put a well-planned bid in place for the US and ultimately the International Olympic Committee to evaluate. A lot of times those bids aren't successful just based on the spacing that the Olympic Committee likes to keep in place. But eventually they were successful and they secured the 1984 Olympics. A lot of our emeritus or our alumni board members were actually part of the LA 84 operating group that brought the Olympics here. Out of the success of 1984, they started the next of the nonprofit entities, which was the Los Angeles Sports Council, and that was actually chartered as a 501c6, which is a little bit different in that we're a sports business trade association. So they had the foresight, you know, in the late 1980s to see that, you know, the evolution was underway and there was going to be a greater level of sophistication when it came to sports. So that was really a collection and remains a collection of relatable businesses to this day. Some of the professional teams, the collegiate athletic departments, as well as their general administration, are part of our organization. A lot of the main businesses that our community is fortunate to have, whether they be banks, law firms, accounting firms, a lot of event companies, are part of our board. And it's really about looking forward, trying to see what Los Angeles can attract in terms of events to support both, you know, amateur community as well as professional sport. And we've been fortunate that, again, we've been able to just develop our expertise. Overdose. Four plus decades. So again, nonprofit entities really brought together to better serve the community and ultimately the global sports community. 00:10:14 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Thank you. I also want to kind of just maybe touch upon one of the council's initiatives, correct me if I'm wrong, called the Ready set gold. 00:10:22 - Matt Cacciato It is correct and ready set gold is our primary community outreach program, and it was designed as part of a bid that the Los Angeles Sports Council put together for the 2012 Summer Games. Again, 2012. It doesn't sound particularly close to 1984, but the reality is the IOC does move the Olympic Games around the world with the focus on developing sport in some underdeveloped countries. But we put a bid forward and letting say gold was one of the legacy programs that they had designed for that bid. LA didn't win 2012, London did. But out of the 2012 effort, I. It was decided that the program was strong enough foundationally as a concept to launch. So we really started offering that to public schools, generally title I schools. So schools that have less resources available to them and no cost to the schools that participate. Generally elementary grades and middle school grades, are the target here. We do some high school programs, and then as important, is really employing Olympic alumni, athletes, former Olympians themselves, to execute and deliver the program inside the school. So, unique in that it's no cost to the public school districts, and we offer stipends to our Olympic athletes to go and execute the program and build relationships and help the students understand the importance of physical, emotional, and social well being. 00:11:52 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo And in the context of these two global events coming to LA, how are you envisioning this program growing, or impacting the workforce in LA? 00:12:01 - Matt Cacciato I would say that, you know, we continue to grow. Ready, set, gold. We're pushing out into some school districts that have previously not been affiliated with us, and again, just spreading the story that is kind of the Olympic spirit. The Olympics are just a global phenomenon, and it has the ability to really unite people and to, I would say, bridge certain differences that various cultures, you know, and races and ethnicities have and bring about a spirit of collaborative competition. Yes, everybody wants to win for themselves, for their teammates, for their country, certainly. But at the end of the day, it's a massive undertaking, and I think that's a lot of the message that our athletes deliver, how they were moved. You know, personally, I would say as much, if not more so, than athletically in their experiences. And it's just not the Olympic Games. It's what happens, you know, in between, you know, the winter and the summer Games, the four years of trials and world championships, and, you know, internal and external, you know, competitions to hone their skills and ultimately decide, you know, in as fair and democratic a manner as possible, who's gonna represent the country in particular sports. So, again, that's been what has been most inspirational for me is just listening to the athletes, no matter their age. And we have athletes who are as young as 18/19 years old, and we've had athletes that are in their seventies, and they all share an unbelievable connection in that they represented their countries. And it's not just the USA. Since Los Angeles is so diverse, we welcomed athletes from other countries that competed for their flags and are glad to have them part of our outreach program. 00:13:49 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Thank you so much. And just switching gears just a little bit selfishly, I want to talk a little bit about the future of work conference, and you've generously agreed to being one of our panelists, and thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for being a panelist. 00:14:02 - Matt Cacciato Absolutely. 00:14:03 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo The intention behind the future work conference is always to showcase the gap between industry and academia, and how do we better align, and what are those skill gaps? What are the growth occupations through your perspective? Right. And what you're seeing now in preparations for these global events and just in general, what should be our area of focus for colleges and universities as we prepare these students for the future of work. 00:14:31 - Matt Cacciato I think the most important aspect of staffing a global sporting event doesn't have to be a global sporting event. I mean, there's national championships, so it doesn't have to be FIFA World Cup or the Olympics. It could be any one of a number of large-scale events that have significant number of athletes. Keep in mind, the athletes are supported by, you know, equally as large, if not larger workforces, whether it's athletic trainers, whether it's the coaches themselves. Digital aspect of sport now, artificial intelligence, you know, the science. So one of the things I think that's important to understand is that you know, there are people that are studying subjects in their school curriculum, in their degree programs that may not seem attached to the sports ecosystem, but there really isn't any specialization that you could think of that isn't a part of that already. I was at a conference here that was held by a philanthropic outreach and venture capital group last week called plug and play. And it was astonishing, the breadth of specializations and talent and brainpower in the room. You know, one of the panels just talked about cybersecurity and some stunning facts and figures about the number of attempts to try and interrupt the Paris Olympics, unfortunately. But, you know, that requires, you know, some of the smartest people that we have. A lot of our society now is driven by what happens in orbit, the satellite traffic that really is this information super highway for how we exchange these pictures that we see, the video, the voices, the data that drives the competition, the metrics that people are trying to achieve. So again, bioscientists, aerospace engineers, programmers, coders, graphic designers, and trying to build brands so people can better attach to some of the serious aspects of holding large-scale events, that trying to retain and recruit new talent to ensure the safest possible games, whether it's within the lines of play or just for the fans and how they move around. So it is a massive ecosystem, and there really isn't, there's nothing you can point to. There's no profession or specialization you can point to. And they said, yeah, they'll never work in sports. There's just no place for this skill set in sports. It just doesn't exist anymore. So we need everybody from all walks of life to bring their unique talents to making the games as best as possible. And that goes for division three or a junior college or a community college sporting event. You know, they require attention and care and careful planning that at times, you know, replicates what's going to happen on the global level. So that's one of the big misconceptions, that it's a very closed loop with a limited number of opportunities. And if you're one of the academics that study international sport, you would be aware and have the wherewithal to communicate this on a regular basis to your students so they understand if it's something that they aspire to, there's a place for them. 00:17:38 - Dr. Salvatrice Cummo Thank you for saying that. I mean, you touched upon a little bit the technological advances that the sports industry is currently facing. How do you see that evolving, you think, specifically within the next decade? And then what do you feel are some roles and skills are going to be critical for us in this profession or those incoming talent? 00:18:03 - Matt Cacciato Well, if you look at the highest level of competition, I would say the training and the technology that's involved in the science of training athletes, whether it's the ability to instantly edit and label certain movements that athletes make or don't make, staying healthy, the recovery is just such a big part of it now, strength training. And I less so with traditional weightlifting and more with sophisticated scientific motion experts. And so I would say that that is happening at every level. Our younger athletes are exposed to more technology. It can correct the path of someone early on that just might need some technical assistance to improving the biggest and fastest athletes already. At times, it levels the playing field. So, again, I just feel that on the Olympic side, it really continues to increase performance and in turn, the enjoyment, I think that the viewers and the audiences love to see and witness. But on the paralympic side, it's even more astonishing. And the fact that there's tools now for athletes with various challenges to be able to overcome those technology can help those who may have hearing problems or certainly sight problems. We know the accomplishments that some blind athletes and deaf athletes have overcome, not to mention those with physical challenges themselves. So I think it's growing the Paralympic space at a faster pace than it would be the Olympic space. And really, that's how this should be referred to disabled athletes is a term that we really try to avoid because we've grown beyond that. I think the academics have done a great job of presenting a kinder, gentler environment for those that are more challenged to learn, grow, compete, and ultimately, you know, to win within the athletic space. So it runs from A to Z. It runs from our youngest athletes, you know, to our oldest athletes, k through gray, as a lot of educators like to say. And that's certainly true. And again, it grows the ecosystem,...
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The Winning Edge: Multidisciplinary Skills for Tomorrow’s Workforce With Matthew Cacciato, President & CEO, Los Angeles Sports Council Episode 131
10/22/2024
The Winning Edge: Multidisciplinary Skills for Tomorrow’s Workforce With Matthew Cacciato, President & CEO, Los Angeles Sports Council Episode 131
The sports industry plays a pivotal role in shaping the future workforce, offering a range of opportunities for individuals with diverse skills. Matt Cacciato, President and CEO of the LA Sports Council, works to bridge the gap between sports and business in Southern California. With over 3,500 colleges featuring sports business curricula, there’s a growing emphasis on multidisciplinary education to meet industry demands, particularly in cities like Los Angeles, which is preparing to host major global events like the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics. By fostering partnerships with educational institutions and community stakeholders, Matthew aims to cultivate an inclusive and dynamic workforce, essential for the continued success and innovation within the sports ecosystem. Don't miss the upcoming Future of Work Conference at Pasadena City College, where Matt will be a panelist. Join us on October 29 to explore how we can prepare our workforce for emerging industries and take advantage of global opportunities. Register today to secure your spot and be part of shaping LA's future! You’ll learn: The role of the sports industry in preparing the future workforce. How Ready Set Gold promotes well-being in schools. How technological advancements enhance fan experiences and athlete training in the sports industry. Why partnerships with community stakeholders and educational institutions are crucial for developing talent in the sports industry. About the Guest: Before joining LA Sports Council, Matthew Cacciato served as the Executive Director for Ohio University College of Business’ AECOM Center for Sports Administration, and their renowned Master of Sports Administration graduate program. He also held the titles of Executive in Residence and Assistant Professor of Instruction. Prior to joining Ohio University, he spent 23 years in the cable sports television industry as a distribution executive for ESPN, Fox Cable Networks and the Yankees Entertainment & Sports Programming Network (YES Network). Engage with us: , & : @PasadenaCityCollegeEWD Join our newsletter for more on this topic: Visit: More from Matthew Cacciato and LA Sports Council: LinkedIn: Website: , , , : @lasportscouncil YouTube: Partner with us! Contact our host Salvatrice Cummo directly: [email protected] Want to be a guest on the show? Click to inquire about booking Find the transcript of this episode Please rate us and leave us your thoughts and comments on Apple Podcasts, we’d love to hear from you!
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Transcript- Episode 130: Building LA’s Future: Small Businesses, Global Events, & Workforce Evolution with Stephen Cheung, CEO & President of LAEDC & President of WTCLA Episode 130
10/15/2024
Transcript- Episode 130: Building LA’s Future: Small Businesses, Global Events, & Workforce Evolution with Stephen Cheung, CEO & President of LAEDC & President of WTCLA Episode 130
00:00:00 - Stephen Cheung We have to be a lot more careful and specific about how we train the next generation of workers. That's why we need to start aligning with the growth sectors, with the sectors that are going to produce the best jobs, the best paying jobs, the best career opportunities, so that we can have transformation throughout this entire region, so that you can have economic wealth and economic mobility for our communities, especially those that have been often left behind. 00:00:28 - Christina Barsi The workforce landscape is rapidly changing and educators and their institutions need to keep up. Preparing students before they enter the workforce to make our communities and businesses stronger is at the core of getting an education. But we need to understand how to change and adjust so that we can begin to project where things are headed before we even get there. So how do we begin to predict the future? 00:00:53 - Salvatrice Cummo Hi, I'm Salvatrice Cummo, Vice President of Economic and Workforce Development at Pasadena City College and host of this podcast. 00:01:02 - Christina Barsi And I'm Christina Barsi, producer and co-host of this podcast. 00:01:06 - Salvatrice Cummo And we are starting the conversation about the future of work. We'll explore topics like how education can partner with industry, how to be more equitable, and how to attain one of our highest goals, more internships and PCC students in the workforce. We at Pasadena City College want to lead the charge in closing the gap between what our students are learning and what the demands of the workforce will be once they enter. This is a conversation that impacts all of us, you, the employers, the policymakers, the educational institutions, and the community as a whole. 00:01:39 - Christina Barsi We believe change happens when we work together, and it all starts with having a conversation. I'm Christina Barsi. 00:01:47 - Salvatrice Cummo And I'm Salvatrice Cummo and this is the Future of Work 00:01:50 - Salvatrice Cummo Hi, welcome back to the Future of Work podcast. I am your host, Dr. Salvatrice Cummo. Today we are thrilled to have a returning guest who's been instrumental in shaping Los Angeles economic and global trade landscape. Stephen is also moderating a key session at our up-and-coming Future Work conference, where he'll discuss these themes in depth. He is the president of both the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, also known as LAEDC, and the World Trade Center Los Angeles. He has been at the forefront of economic development in Los Angeles, working to attract international investments and position LA as a major global trade hub. Under his leadership, the World Trade Center of Los Angeles is helping shape the future of the region, especially as LA prepares for major upcoming events like the 2028 Olympics. He also plays a key role in workforce development initiatives, ensuring that local businesses and educational institutions are aligned with industry needs. Today, we're going to dive deeper into what this means for LA's future, exploring how infrastructure, workforce development, and local business opportunities will evolve in the upcoming years. Stephen, welcome back to the podcast. 00:03:14 - Stephen Cheung Thanks so much for having me back. 00:03:16 - Salvatrice Cummo You're very welcome. It's always a pleasure to have you on the podcast, as well as doing all this tremendous work across LA. So thank you so much. I recognize the value of your time, and so thank you very much. 00:03:28 - Stephen Cheung Thank you. 00:03:29 - Salvatrice Cummo How about we just jump right into the Future of Work Conference, because that, for me, is in the near future, and I want to make sure we get to that because you play a very important role in this conference. We know that this year is kind of really focused on the sports and entertainment theme, preparing our future of work individuals. From your perspective, what do you feel are the key industries that students and local businesses should focus on for preparing this in this evolving job market? 00:03:59 - Stephen Cheung Well, the amazing thing about Los Angeles is that we have so many different industries that are already available. And as you mentioned, the world and Los Angeles continue to evolve. There are new opportunities are available. So some key industries include. We've been working on some of these industries with you and with PCC already, the bioscience industry, the life science industry, space commercialization, space exploration. There are the sports and entertainment, digital media, entertainment. These are growing sectors that continue to dominate the region, but they're also locally serving industries that's been growing significantly. Based on our projection, for example, the healthcare industry will continue to grow. Government and education institutions will also play a significant role in our industry. And of course, our small businesses here, 94% of all LA county companies have less than 20 employees. That's really the backbone of our diverse economy, and that's why small businesses continue to be a major, major sector that we need to pay attention to. 00:04:59 - Salvatrice Cummo Thank you. I often wonder. We're preparing ourselves for LA 28, right? The Olympics and other major events that are coming to Los Angeles. You've shared with us a little bit about industries in which our workforce should be paying attention as it relates to job growth. Perhaps maybe career changes. But I want to kind of spend a little bit of time talking about how our small business community, particularly 94% of them with 20 employees or less, how they can position themselves to really benefit from what we will be seeing soon with these global events coming to LA. 00:05:34 - Stephen Cheung There are a lot of factors that are involved when these international global events are happening throughout the region. One of the reasons is because we have this amazing infrastructure that's already tied into our region, not only when it comes to the major stadiums, but also the hotels and transportation that allows them to very quickly fly in and out of Los Angeles. With that said, when these visitors are coming, they're going to be dependent on the hospitality services that are located here. This is where the small businesses can really benefit. There are going to be a lot of spending power with the visitors are coming through, but many times they're just going to be very much concentrated in the location that they're located at. Is there a way for the small businesses to start working more closely with their regional partners so that they are more visible on the LA stage? So when folks are actually seeking for different experiences, for example, more and more so we're hearing that a lot of the visitors going to the Paris Olympic Games wanted to experience different parts of Paris, exploring different cultures, different types of activities. Besides the sports, if we're able to feature the 88 different cities and over 100 and incorporated regions of Los Angeles, we have some of the largest diasporas outside of any nations here. Between all the amazing restaurants and cultural destinations that are throughout the entire region, turning them into their own destination in itself, this is really going to help the small companies be able to secure some of these spending and the dollars that will be spent by these visitors. So that's just one example of many, many things that these small businesses could do and should be doing. 00:07:10 - Salvatrice Cummo I mean, it'd be a bad idea for us to share those potential ideas and thoughts with our small business community at some point, and perhaps maybe not on this episode, but I think it's really kind of incumbent upon us as practitioners and leaders in this space to share what is possible with our small business community. And I'm just thinking about, you know, those are very short-term wins, if you want to call them, for our small business community. I wonder a little bit about kind of long-term legacy with having such a major event like the Olympics here. How do we grow a long-term legacy? How are you envisioning that for LA, specifically within sports entertainment? 00:07:47 - Stephen Cheung We've been hoping to be able to turn some of these major opportunities into a full industry. A lot of times when you're talking about either the Olympic Games or the FIFA World Cup, it's once in a long time, I was going to say once in a lifetime. But here in Los Angeles, we actually are blessed. So we have multiple opportunities. But when they leave, it's going to be maybe years, if not decades before they come back. But in between those major events, and while we're waiting for the next event to happen, don't forget, we have eleven professional sports teams that are already here having events on a regular basis almost every single week. Those are major events in itself. If you tie all of them together, that's one single industry. So when it comes to the legacy that I would like to see our small business community be able to take advantage of, is that if they are able to be grouped together and be provided with enough resources and enough training so that they can become vendors and contractors, so they can procure for these business opportunities. When major sporting events or major teams are selling their jerseys and their caps, can it not be manufactured by a local Los Angeles company? We have a huge garment sector here. When they are doing event activation, can we not have marketing and event production team here in various regions of Los Angeles do those activations? So that's the legacy that will be left behind. Because if those companies are able to succeed, secure contracts and procurement opportunities with some of these major venues, major events, or major sporting clubs and teams. This is a stamp of approval around the world. If you are a vendor to the Dodgers, to the Lakers, to the Clippers, to Super Bowl, to FIFA World Cup, to the Olympic Games, you now have a global reputation that you can now export your products. This is the second step of the legacy. Most of the consumers, when I say most, I mean about 95% or more of the consumers around the world live outside of the United States. So this is actually a much, much bigger market. Given that Los Angeles already so globally connected with the part of Los Angeles, part of Long Beach, Lax, and our trade and logistics sector, it becomes easy for them to actually export their products and services internationally as well. That would be additionally another legacy that I would like to see our small businesses be able to take advantage of. 00:10:11 - Salvatrice Cummo And would you agree that our consumers are really hyper-aware of that? They're hyper-aware of where their goods are coming from, and not necessarily the branding behind it, but who they've served and the impact they're making in their local communities, would you say? 00:10:24 - Stephen Cheung I would say so. I think more and more so with new generations of consumers. They're very, very conscious and they do their homework in terms of whether the products are made or sustainable, whether it's going to be negatively impacting a certain community. So because of the standards and the regulations that we have here in Los Angeles, sometimes people use that against us. But I think we should turn it into a positive and say that by supporting our local businesses, you're supporting the communities here in Los Angeles. I knew that previously that there were efforts to create a maidenhouse Los Angeles branding logo to unite the manufacturers are here. I don't think that has continued as robustly as it should. And that would be great if we can use the major events that are coming through as a way for us to unite so that becomes a branding mechanism. We've seen how great that the I love New York logo has been for New York. That's right. How about we basically do something similar for LA, utilizing these major events as a way to launch our products. 00:11:27 - Salvatrice Cummo I agree. I agree 100%. I'm even thinking about that as a potential strategy for sustainable growth. Just in the specific industry that you spoke of and underscoring your vision for this long term legacy, were there other strategies that you were kind of toeing around with in your mind about how we establish? And when I say we, I mean this is not a you problem, right? Like, this is not a you thing to fix, Steven. This is really an us thing, right. And everyone who really works and leads in this space, how do we, what strategies are you seeing as? Look, Savatrise. We really need to focus on this to really sustain this growth that we are going to see from these major events coming to LA. 00:12:09 - Stephen Cheung A few things. One, there was a time when we didn't have these major events. There was a time when we didn't have NFL teams in Los Angeles. It's not that long ago, and sometimes we forget. And so in order for us to have these competitive factors in place, we have to be competitive ourselves. So we can't take it for granted that these teams and these events would just come to us. Which means that we have to make sure that we're always innovating when it comes to technology, making sure that we're able to be sustainable and meet the global standards so that we can compete for these contracts. But the other thing, as we're talking about, the legacy, as we're talking about, what do we need to do now is we really need to unite ourselves as a region many times. Because we have 80 different cities, 100 incorporated regions, it's very easy for us to compete with each other. And a lot of folks around the world, they might not even know that Antelope Valley belongs to LA County. It's a part of our ecosystem. So how do we make sure that we're able to unite all these regions together as one brand, as one region? Make it easy for them to do business with us so they don't have to look anywhere else, because they really don't have to. But because we're so spread out, it becomes very challenging for them to enter this market. A lot of times when I talk to international companies, I have to give them a new perspective. I let them know that this region, LA County, is about 10 million people. Our GDP is well over $800 billion, making us the world's 21st-largest economy in the world if we're a country. So you would never go to a market this size with a city approach. You really need to have a country approach. When you have a country approach, you have multiple states, multiple provinces, multiple cities. You have to target, and that's what they have to do. But not a lot of businesses have the resources to be able to enter a country approach. That's why we have to do our homework. And I love what you said, Salvatrice. It's nesting. We need to do a much better job to make sure that we're not competing against each other. We're actually branding ourselves as one region. And so when a company comes over here, they want to open up operation or they want to do a major game. They know that from food and beverage to tourism, to production of garments, to marketing services, to whatever they need, it's all on one single location that they can reach. But that will take investment from our side to actually link all these resources into one single location for them to access. That's, I would say, one of the priorities that I would like to. To identify for LADC and would love to be able to work with our partners across the region to make sure that we turn it into a reality. 00:14:36 - Salvatrice Cummo Absolutely. Yeah. Count us in. Because, I mean, you and I both know regional work is very difficult. It's not as easy as we think it is. You know, in theory, we align our respective objectives, leveraging shared assets and talent for greater impacts. Yes, in theory, it sounds wonderful, but in practice, it's very, very difficult. And it does require all of us to understand that it takes a united front, and we certainly have to kind of let go of some things. So, all that to say, we are your partners at LAEDC, and we. For LADC, I should say. So please do count us in those. In those conversations. Speaking of conversations, like, you know, you mentioned a little bit about speaking to these international companies and attracting new companies here. I have to believe that infrastructure becomes a topic of conversation. Right. Using your words, we're approaching them through a country mindset, not a city mindset. What have you seen as projects that are being developed or in progress to not only build an infrastructure that's critical for us to receiving this influx, coming to us for the Olympics, but also for long-term growth and gain? What are some projects that you're seeing as relates to, to critical infrastructure? 00:15:54 - Stephen Cheung Well, I think the most visible one would be the investments that we've made for our transportation sector, with Metro really taking the lead, getting support from various federal and state sources in order for us to move forward with our transportation project. We know that traffic has always been an issue for LA, but we didn't wait around for support from the federal or state government. LA County actually passed Measure R and Measure M years ago in order for us to generate the tax revenue, in order for us to support the growth of these major projects. And many of them are underway and will be completed before the Olympic Games. One of those major projects is connection with LaX. And Lax in itself has put in over $14 billion, if I think all together it's tens of billions of dollars that they're putting in in order for us to modernize the airport. And so when that happens, this is going to be a major legacy project, an infrastructure project that will transform La altogether. Don't forget, for many, many years we have a rail system that stops probably a mile and a mile and a half away from the terminal of LAX, which doesn't make it easy for that connection. And that's why we see the congestion at LAX, which a lot of travelers, they do talk about and they are not happy with. But with this transformation, it allows us to change that and now make it easy for travelers to come in and out of LAX and then get connected not only with Santa Monica and with Sofi Stadium and with downtown but now with a new rail line going to UCLA that will be hosting and housing the Olympic village, this is also going to be. We're anticipating that the Westwood station is going to be one of the busiest stations after it opens in the metro system. So all of this is actually going to be great news for LA, the long-term transformation. What we need to do is also make sure that we change our human behavior. We're not a region that has adopted public transportation as a system that we can use regularly because our reliance on vehicles, but we are seeing that with generational changes. Gen Z, Gen Alpha, a lot of them are really gearing towards moving away from purchasing cars or using single-passenger vehicles. So that's a really, really good sign. What we're hoping to do is utilize major events like the FIFA World Cup and LA 28 as a way to showcase that you can actually take proper transportation. And hopefully, that's a lasting behavior change for the entire region. Because if we can get, you know, an increase in ridership for 20, 30% of our population that will significantly impact our traffic conditions as well. So those are just the highlights, right? The infrastructure projects that are going to be really driving this region is really going to be focused on the transportation side visibly. But there are things that people are not looking...
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Building LA’s Future: Small Businesses, Global Events, & Workforce Evolution with Stephen Cheung, CEO & President of LAEDC & President of WTCLA Episode 130
10/15/2024
Building LA’s Future: Small Businesses, Global Events, & Workforce Evolution with Stephen Cheung, CEO & President of LAEDC & President of WTCLA Episode 130
Los Angeles thrives on unity, innovation, and collaboration for economic growth. In this episode, we explore the intersection of major global events and local economic growth with returning guest Stephen Cheung, President of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC), and the World Trade Center Los Angeles (WTCLA). As LA prepares for the 2028 Olympics and other major events, Stephen shares his insights on how these opportunities can shape the region's workforce, infrastructure, and business landscape for years to come. Stephen highlights the need to align education with growth sectors like bioscience, space exploration, and sports/entertainment. He also discusses key infrastructure projects, technology’s role in the future economy, and the importance of regional unity for economic competitiveness. Don't miss the upcoming Future of Work Conference at Pasadena City College, where Stephen will be moderating. Join us on October 29 to explore how we can prepare our workforce for emerging industries and take advantage of global opportunities. Register today to secure your spot and be part of shaping LA's future! You’ll learn: What key growth sectors will shape LA’s future economy. How small businesses can leverage global events like the Olympics for long-term success. The critical role of infrastructure in supporting both immediate and long-term growth. How technology and innovation will drive the next wave of job creation in Los Angeles. About the Guest: Stephen Cheung is the President and CEO of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) and the World Trade Center Los Angeles (WTCLA). He leads LAEDC’s efforts in areas such as business assistance, workforce development, international trade, and public policy, aiming to advance growth and prosperity across the region. In 2023, Cheung became CEO after serving as COO and Executive VP. He continues as President of WTCLA, a role he’s held since 2014. Previously, he served under Mayors Eric Garcetti and Antonio Villaraigosa, managing international trade and foreign affairs, including major trade missions and clean technology initiatives. He also directed international trade for the Port of Los Angeles. Cheung sits on several advisory boards, including UCLA’s Luskin School, Coro Southern California, and the LA County Workforce Development Board. Engage with us: , & : @PasadenaCityCollegeEWD Join our newsletter for more on this topic: Visit: More from Stephen Cheung and LAEDC: Website: LinkedIn: & , , : @laedc Partner with us! Contact our host Salvatrice Cummo directly: [email protected] Want to be a guest on the show? Click to inquire about booking Find the transcript of this episode Please rate us and leave us your thoughts and comments on Apple Podcasts, we’d love to hear from you!
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Transcript- Episode 129: Why Strategic Storytelling Is the New Corporate Currency with Aleya Harris, Speaker, Strategic Storytelling Consultant, Bestselling Author Episode 129
10/01/2024
Transcript- Episode 129: Why Strategic Storytelling Is the New Corporate Currency with Aleya Harris, Speaker, Strategic Storytelling Consultant, Bestselling Author Episode 129
00:00:00 - Aleya Harris If a story is told and no one hears it, does the story really matter? You have to be a storyteller and a story listener at the same time to create a good culture and that truly is a good leader. I'm creating an environment for you to tell your story and you know that I actually care about the beginning, the middle, and the end of it. 00:00:26 - Christina Barsi The workforce landscape is rapidly changing. And educators and their institutions need to keep up. Preparing students before they enter the workforce to make our communities and businesses stronger is at the core of getting an education. But we need to understand how to change and adjust so that we can begin to project where things are headed before we even get there. So how do we begin to predict the future? 00:00:51 - Salvatrice Cummo Hi, I'm Salvatrice Cummo, Vice President of Economic and Workforce Development at Pasadena City College and host of this podcast. 00:01:00 - Christina Barsi And I'm Christina Barsi, producer and co-host of this podcast. 00:01:04 - Salvatrice Cummo And we are starting the conversation about the future of work. We'll explore topics like how education can partner with industry, how to be more equitable, and how to attain one of our highest goals, more internships and PCC. Students in the workforce we at Pasadena City College want to lead the charge in closing the gap between what our students are learning and what the demands of the workforce will be once they enter. This is a conversation that impacts all of us. You, the employers, the policymakers, the educational institutions, and the community as a whole. 00:01:38 - Christina Barsi We believe change happens when we work together, and it all starts with having a conversation. I'm Christina Barsi. 00:01:45 - Salvatrice Cummo And I'm Salvatrice Cummo, and this is the Future of Work. Hi, welcome back to the Future of Work podcast. I am your host, Dr. Salvatrice Cummo. Joining us today is a leading expert in strategic storytelling and a powerhouse in the business consultancy world, Aleya Harris. Aleya is the founder and CEO of the Evolution Collective, Incorporated, and the mastermind behind Spark the Stage, a program designed to elevate professional speaking through authentic storytelling. With a background as a marketing executive and an ex-Google vendor partner, Aleya has garnered accolades, including being named speaker of the year twice. She's captivated audiences with over 100 presentations and webinars, and her expertise has been featured on more than 125 podcasts. Aleya is also set to release her highly anticipated book, Spark the Stage, which promises to change the way we think about storytelling in a public setting. Today, we'll explore how authentic storytelling is reshaping the workplace culture. Aleya will share how strategic storytelling can drive inclusivity, transform organizational dynamics, and set brands apart in today's competitive market. Aleya. Hi. How are you? 00:03:06 - Aleya Harris Hello. I am good. How are you, my friend? 00:03:09 - Salvatrice Cummo Very good. Very good. It's so wonderful to have you on the show. And thank you for just saying yes. 00:03:15 - Aleya Harris Of course, to you, there was no other option. I had to say yes. 00:03:20 - Salvatrice Cummo Thank you. I really appreciate that. Well, I'll tell you what. I have to get started with a background question. Like, I know a little bit about your background, right? But our listener may not. So I'm gonna pose to you a question about your career. Right. Like, you've worked with Stevie Wonders as a private chef. 00:03:38 - Aleya Harris Yes. 00:03:39 - Salvatrice Cummo To becoming a thought leader in storytelling. Right. Talk about a diverse career background. 00:03:45 - Aleya Harris What do you mean? Those are totally related. 00:03:48 - Salvatrice Cummo Totally related. Absolutely. Share with us. How did your experiences kind of lead to this intersection of storytelling and workplace culture? How did you get there? 00:03:58 - Aleya Harris So it was through not knowing myself and finding little nuggets along the way that I ended up where I am now. So, I started off in the fashion industry, the cosmetic industry. Hated it. Hated it. I was like, so let me get this straight. We make jeans that cost us dollar 20 to make, and we sell them for dollar 400, and they make your butt look flat. It was not for me. It was not for me. So, I was trying to. And I cried every day because the whole thing was just not for me. And then I got laid off. Luckily, didn't feel luckily at the time, but luckily I got laid off, and I ended up going to culinary school because I couldn't get a job doing anything else. I don't know why I was unhireable. And Uber was not around back then. So I was in culinary school for two years, and then I got some of the best, worst advice I'd ever gotten. Kind of got my cockles up. Chef instructor said, "well, you're gonna have to work ten years for $10 an hour before you're ever gonna make anything of yourself." And I said, excuse you. Wow. You clearly have never met me. Hi, my name is Aleya Harris, and I've never made $10 an hour, even in my first internship. So why the heck would I go to school and start now? So it was that that drove me to being the best. I graduated with 4.0 on the dean's list and president's list. And while I was in school, I said, how am I going to make it so I don't make $10 an hour? And so I started my own business. And that was my first foray into entrepreneurship. I started a private catering and chef business. And then, like any respectable person in Los Angeles, I got an agent. I got a chef agent. Yes. Everyone has agents, including chefs. 00:05:36 - Salvatrice Cummo You guys even know that that exists? 00:05:38 - Aleya Harris It's a thing. It's like, you know, for your household staff, you can go through an agency. You have your driver, your butler, your nanny. Everyone can have an agent should you decide to have one. 00:05:49 - Salvatrice Cummo Okay? 00:05:50 - Aleya Harris Find your niche. Find your agent. I found my agent. They were great, btw. They placed me some short term gigs, some long term gigs, and then they placed me among other people, like, with Stevie Wonder. And I ended up kind of doing my own business, but really focusing on being his private chef. And I traveled all around the world, and I thought I had found it because I definitely was not making $10 an hour. So, check. Mission accomplished. 00:06:17 - Salvatrice Cummo Yeah. 00:06:18 - Aleya Harris But after a while, I think I have delusions of grandeur, Salvatrice, because I was there with one of the biggest legends in music, and I was like, yeah, well, he's a legend, but I'm not. And the longer that I'm here, the more he will be a legend and the more I will not. And I said, how do I do what is burning in me? To be known, to be helpful, to be seen. How do I tap into that? But it still didn't feel quite right, that whole narrative. Oh, I just wanted people to know my name. For what? Like who? I'm not that important. Like, just to know the name Aleya Harris. What does that mean? And that actually gave me a clue when one day I was still working for Stevie, but I was also moonlighting with this other dude, like, this millionaire bazillionaire dude. He was, like, in his thirties. He had a house. I got lost in one time. I had to call the maid because I had no idea where I was. It had bowling alleys and movie theaters and wings. I mean, huge house. And I'm there, and one day, this dude comes home and I'm in the kitchen, and he brings me a jar of Prego. Like, Prego, like. 00:07:27 - Salvatrice Cummo Like the sauce, like sauce, okay. 00:07:29 - Aleya Harris Which I was, like, keeping it together, and I had my, like, public face on with that plastered smile, like, how can I help you? I'm behind my smile. I'm like, am I about to get fired? And you're about to do it in the most horrible way by telling me, like, this jar of Prego was better than your food. No, none of that was happening. He'd had a really rough day, and he comes from money, European money. And so his mom and him had grown up with chefs their whole lives. But when he was having a bad day, his mom would cook for him herself as a way to say, "I love you." And the only thing she knew how to cook was canned pasta sauce and noodles. 00:08:06 - Salvatrice Cummo Wow. 00:08:07 - Aleya Harris And so he brought me this pasta sauce, and he said, can you make this for me? I've had a really hard day, and I'm thinking to myself, this is the most expensive Prego pasta you are ever gonna have. But I did, and it was in that moment, and there were several moments with Stevie as well, where I was just like, wait a minute. My purpose here is not to be in someone's shadow. My purpose here is to love people into the highest versions of themselves, to allow them to connect with the place and the part of them that they don't get to show because they feel vulnerable, they feel trapped, they feel scared, they feel lonely. Rich people. Celebrities are some of the loneliest people I've ever met, right? And it's sad, but they're there. And through food, I had a medium to love them. That's why it was like. Like water for chocolate. It was like, let me love you through this food. So I had that whole I love you piece. I want to love you into the biggest version of yourself. And then I also had the but I want to be known, and everybody needs to hear from Aleya Harris. I didn't know how to rectify that, so I ended up working after Stevie, actually, after a couple other clients working at Google as a vendor partner in the marketing team, I was a regional marketing manager with my region being the United States, and I was like, I really love this. I'm loving people through food, through better behaviors. I'm able to help them understand, and I get to tell stories. I'm not cooking, so how do I translate that same feeling I'm able to give through the actual food well, but I could tell the story about the food and how it got there and how it can impact their lives. And that's how I started my storytelling journey. And the pieces started to come together, and I rose through the ranks of my parent company and became the head of marketing for North America and hated it again. I wasn't telling stories. I was surrounded by a bunch of bald white men in IBM suits who didn't know what the hell to do with me. They didn't know what to do. And I was like, I don't know what to do with me either. Within this, luckily, I got laid off, so God is just like, "I got you, girl." 00:10:06 - Salvatrice Cummo The universe has you covered universe had me covered. 00:10:09 - Aleya Harris So then I started my business, which had a different name, but I was doing the same thing, and I started putting those pieces together. And I said, well, if I have this knowledge of storytelling and marketing, my goal is to love people into the highest versions of themselves. And I have a really good knack of doing that. Well, all I really need to do, then, is to tell people how to tell stories and to tell really good ones so that they believe that their story is worth telling. And that's what I do now. I do that with individuals. I teach them how to be on stages and how to speak. I do that with companies. I had a brokerage company that was going up for sale, and they were valued at 2 million. And I got into their story, pulled out their differentiation points, gave them the tools to tell that story, and then their end valuation was 51 million. They closed in June. Stories, I realized, are a way of showcasing the part of you that most people look for externally. They're looking for what makes them unique, what kind of thing they can do, the gimmick, the cool thing that already exists inside of you. You just need to showcase it. And the best way that I've learned how to do that, since I can't cook for the whole world, my kitchen's just not that big, is to tell stories. 00:11:26 - Salvatrice Cummo Speaking of which, like, you really highlight the storytelling piece as part of workplace culture. But, by the way, wow, amazing story. Like, I learned a few things that I didn't know. 00:11:40 - Aleya Harris I'm so glad. See, I'm multifaceted. There's depth. Depth over here. 00:11:46 - Salvatrice Cummo 100%. 100%. The storytelling piece is what I'm really fascinated about and how you really emphasize storytelling and workplace culture going hand in hand and why that's important. So, can we talk a little bit about why storytelling and workplace culture really creates a supportive work environment? And why do you think it's so important for business leaders today to hone in on what their story is? 00:12:14 - Aleya Harris Okay, so let's break this down to, like, what we're actually doing, because business people are really good at all of the acronyms, right? ROI, KPI, DEI. Right? We're, like, gonna acronym it out to make ourselves feel important. And the thing that I've realized over my whole career. 00:12:32 - Salvatrice Cummo I'm gonna use that. I'm gonna use that. We're gonna acronym this out. 00:12:35 - Aleya Harris We're in an acronym. We're gonna use that phrase. It's just. It's never that serious. So we think, oh, workplace culture, that's such a big concept. Let's break it down. You got human beings. Human beings, in order to survive in the culture that we are in, have to go to somewhere or exchange their value, their expertise for money. That's what we do. And when you get a whole bunch of those people together, you have a workplace culture is happening whether you like it or not. It's a shared value system, shared beliefs, thought patterns, and behaviors. That's what makes up culture. So you got a whole bunch of people that have their own individual stories that are running twenty-four-seven. And that is creating your workplace culture. The human beings and the collection of their individual stories. So, instead of thinking about this workplace culture as those values on the wall, like integrity with the lion and resilience. 00:13:35 - Salvatrice Cummo And all of that stuff, with that tone as well. 00:13:38 - Aleya Harris That tone, it is not any of that. It is the storybook of each individual human stories. So it's up to you then, as a workplace culture builder, to find the golden thread between the stories. Because humans come as humans every single day of their work life. They cannot leave themselves behind. It used to be that in workplace cultures and very corporate environments, we tried. We tried our darndest. We did. We were gonna be as fake as possible. I'm not gonna let you. 00:14:15 - Salvatrice Cummo But it worked! 00:14:16 - Aleya Harris It worked right until people were dying inside and they realized what was it all for. I would much rather have a little bit of a mess that we have right now because human beings are messy. And as culture builders, we have to understand that not every story has a happy ending. And there are lots of stories with ogres and dragons and people who get limbs cut off and sickness and magic potions that put you to sleep for long periods. Our stories are filled with the real-world examples of those things. When you're looking to build culture, you're looking for the commonality between experience that everyone can relate to. Everyone can relate to stories of overcoming. So then what have they overcome? How can they tell their story within the cultural landscape of your company? And how do you paint the overall story of your workplace as well? We had bad Q4 figures, right? But we're going to overcome that as the heroes of this story. And what qualities of overcoming that you experience in your own life can we use in our group and collective corporate story? How do you highlight those element so that people can relate, so that they are bought in, so that the hero of your story is not just a logo brand name, but is actually all of the human beings at work underneath that company buying into that story, finding those human threads is your job as a culture builder. And you're a culture builder if you're an HR, okay, check. Be a culture builder. If you're a leader. You're a culture builder if you are an individual contributor. And the stories that you're telling and sharing are contributing to that storybook, and you got to live in the storybook. So you probably should make it a good story, because otherwise you're kind of, like, stuck under the bridge with the ogre, and nobody wants that. 00:16:11 - Salvatrice Cummo No one wants that. No. No. It's not a fun place to be. 00:16:14 - Aleya Harris No, it smells. 00:16:21 - Salvatrice Cummo Is there. Might there be an example that you can share with us if you're at liberty to share an example of that cultural storytelling and the impact it made to the organization? 00:16:32 - Aleya Harris So one example that I can share is, like, when the behaviors have gone wrong, so name is redacted for the personal benefit of the company. Right. So they had a problem with their founder and the legacy of the founder being almost bigger than the founder themselves, and then creating behaviors where they were then kind of incapacitated to moving towards a new way of doing things because, oh, well, if we move and if we change these behaviors, then we're not being true to our roots. But the problem was that the environment around them is changing. They're an older company, and they needed to be able to change the narrative and take the founder out of the seat of the hero and put that founder in the seat of the guide so that the hero, the people that were currently leading and being in the company could go on their own journey or the next stage of a journey. In every story, there's many, many characters, right? But for now, we're going to focus on the hero and the guide. The hero is the one who gets to go on the journey. They're the ones who experience the transformation. They're the ones who get to follow the plan of the guide, the sage that leads them to success and away from failure by putting this person that had already gone on their journey and keeping them in the hero seat, what it was like would be like the knight in shining armor coming back from all of these quests and then, like, having drunken ragers all day, every day for years, never wanting to let go of the glory days and never actually moving on. So then the kingdom falls into ruin because then the knight doesn't do what he was supposed to do. It's gotten. And then the rest of the people who could have risen up and taken control of the kingdom, they don't have the space to do that because that's not how we do things here. So, for this particular company, the first thing that we had to do was articulate what the roles were that everyone was playing and realize the value that each one had, articulate the behaviors that happened in those roles and needed to happen within those roles in order for everyone to be successful. And then how are we going to measure, then, how those roles were successful? How do we know whether we truly were going towards success and happily ever after or going towards failure? And we're stuck with the ogre under the bridge, and that is not, again, where we want to be. So we went through those three stages, and then we also started doing some work within the individual stories of the company and the individual humans. Again, workplace cultures about the individual humans, these are some of the questions we ask. What have you lived through that you think is important? What are the struggles that you've gone through, and how do they make you who you are? How do...
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Why Strategic Storytelling Is the New Corporate Currency with Aleya Harris, Speaker, Strategic Storytelling Consultant, Bestselling Author Episode 129
10/01/2024
Why Strategic Storytelling Is the New Corporate Currency with Aleya Harris, Speaker, Strategic Storytelling Consultant, Bestselling Author Episode 129
In today's fast-paced and competitive business landscape, organizations strive to stand out and retain top talent. One powerful way to achieve this is through storytelling. By crafting narratives that resonate with employees, leaders can foster a sense of belonging, purpose, and motivation within their teams. Aleya Harris, founder and CEO of The Evolution Collective Inc. and creator of Spark the Stage™, is a renowned expert in strategic storytelling. Advocating for radical authenticity, Aleya believes storytelling can revitalize workplace culture and drive innovation. Her book, "Spark the Stage," aims to revolutionize public speaking by showcasing the essential role of storytelling in promoting inclusivity and deeper connections, even in remote work environments. You’ll learn: The significance of storytelling in leadership. How radical authenticity in storytelling can benefit workplace dynamics. Why understanding individual struggles is important in leadership. How workplace culture is shaped by collective stories. About the Guest: is the spark for your spark™. A trailblazer in purpose-driven story crafting, she is a marketing executive and ex-Google Vendor Partner who brings her dynamic experience to her role as the CEO of Aleya is an international award-winning speaker, the founder and lead trainer of , and the host of the award-winning . She is also the bestselling author of Spark the Stage: Master the Art of Professional Speaking and Authentic Storytelling to Captivate, Inspire, and Transform Your Audience. Her unique approach as a Strategic Storytelling Consultant has revolutionized the way businesses communicate, transforming workplace cultures and market positioning. With her dynamic energy and proven methodologies, Aleya guides clients to unlock their potential, articulate their radically authentic stories, and achieve unparalleled success. Engage with us: , & : @PasadenaCityCollegeEWD Join our newsletter for more on this topic: Visit: More from Aleya Harris: Website: Read Aleya’s Book: Email: & : @aleyaharris TikTok: Partner with us! Contact our host Salvatrice Cummo directly: [email protected] Want to be a guest on the show? Click to inquire about booking Find the transcript of this episode Please rate us and leave us your thoughts and comments on Apple Podcasts, we’d love to hear from you!
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Transcript- Episode 128: Redefining Higher Education: Making Knowledge Accessible to Everyone with Shai Reshef, President of University of the People Episode 128
09/17/2024
Transcript- Episode 128: Redefining Higher Education: Making Knowledge Accessible to Everyone with Shai Reshef, President of University of the People Episode 128
00:00:00 - President Shai Reshef We will have a better world if we will have educated world. And I think that any single person who go and get higher education not only improves their lives, they improve their lives, their family lives, their community lives, and in extension, their country and the world. 00:00:23 - Christina Barsi The workforce landscape is rapidly changing and educators and their institutions need to keep up. Preparing students before they enter the workforce. To make our communities and businesses stronger is at the core of getting an education. But we need to understand how to change and adjust so that we can begin to project where things are headed before we even get there. So how do we begin to predict the future? 00:00:48 - Salvatrice Cummo Hi, I'm Salvatrice Cummo, Vice President of Economic and Workforce Development at Pasadena City College and host of this podcast. 00:00:57 - Christina Barsi And I'm Christina Barsi, producer and co-host of this podcast. 00:01:01 - Salvatrice Cummo And we are starting the conversation about the future of work. We'll explore topics like how education can partner with industry, how to be more equitable, and how to attain one of our highest goals, more internships and PCC students in the workforce. We at Pasadena City College want to lead the charge in closing the gap between what our students are learning and what the demands of the workforce will be once they entertained. This is a conversation that impacts all of us. You, the employers, the policymakers, the educational institutions, and the community as a whole. 00:01:34 - Christina Barsi We believe change happens when we work together, and it all starts with having a conversation. I'm Christina Barci. 00:01:42 - Salvatrice Cummo And I'm Salvatrice Cummo. And this is the Future Of Work. Hi, welcome back to the Future of Work podcast. I am your host, Doctor Salvatrice Cummo. Today we're joined by Shai Reshef, a visionary in the world of education and the founder of University of the People, which stands as the world's first nonprofit, tuition-free, accredited online university. Shai is an American entrepreneur whose career has spanned both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors of education. He founded the University of the People in 2009, and under his leadership, it has grown to serve over 137,000 thousand students globally, providing accessible higher education to individuals from all walks of life, particularly those in underserved and marginalized communities. Shai's innovative model has earned him numerous accolades, including the prestigious Eden Prize of Educational Development in 2023. Today, we'll explore how the university addresses the unique needs of adult learners and marginalized communities, and also discuss the broader implications of democratizing higher education through technology. Shai, it's an honor to have you here. Good morning. How are you? 00:03:02 - President Shai Reshef It's an honor to be here. Thank you for inviting me. I'm great. 00:03:06 - Salvatrice Cummo Thank you. Well, that's an excellent start. I had taken a moment to learn so much about you and your background and specifically around all your experiences kind of leading up to this point. And so if you don't mind, I think it'd be really great if we kick off the podcast for you to share with us. What led you to develop and create University of the People? What were your experiences that led the influence of this design? 00:03:35 - President Shai Reshef So I was involved in for profit education for over 20 years, every kind of educational services. And among other things, I started the first online university in Europe through partnership with the British University of Liverpool, where we delivered their online degrees. For me, it was a great revelation. It's the first time where I realized that through online learning, we can educate people from all over the world, make them get this great European education while staying at home and keeping their jobs. At the same time, I also felt that while it was a great opportunity, most people could not afford it because it was too expensive. I ended up selling that for-profit university, and I came here to New York just to realize that I want to continue and I want to do more. But I also felt that I don't want to do the same. I want to give back. It's my turn now to give back. But it was clear to me that I want to make it in a way that will have an impact on the world. And having impact on the world is obviously through education, because when you think about it, when you educate one person, you can change your life. When you educate many, you can change the world. So I looked around, and they realized that everything that made this European university so expensive is available for free. Open source technology, open educational resources, content that professors produce and put online for the rest of the world to use for free. And the new phenomena were professors came online and helped students for free with their homework. And I said to myself, open source technology, open educational resources, and free professors, that's actually university. All I had to do is to put it together. So I did, and I created University of the People, which, as you said, the first nonprofit, tuition free online university. 00:05:43 - Salvatrice Cummo And if I'm correct, the mission of the university is really centered around accessibility, as you mentioned, right? I mean, you mentioned it just slightly, but knowing that the accessibility is a massive component to the outcomes or to the experience of the student, how does the university also ensure that its programs are relevant? Because, you know, there's lots of, I'm sure that you've heard a lot of noise around, yes, it's accessible, but are we really developing these programs to position these students for success. And so how do we ensure, how are you ensuring those two things align? 00:06:22 - President Shai Reshef So you're right, it's a good question. Because the students who come to us, coming from all walks of life, we have survivors of the genocide in Rwanda, the earthquake in Haiti, and we have refugees, we have Afghan women, we have in the US, homeless, undocuments, etcetera. These people come to us in order to have a better future. While we want their experience to be beyond that and to make them well-rounded individuals, their goal is to have a better future. As such, we decided that we only going to offer the degrees that are likely to help them find a job. Business Administration, Computer Science, and Health Science, Associate and Bachelor degree, as well as Master in education, Master in information technology, and a Master in Business Administration, MBA, the degrees that are most in demand worldwide. When we do that, we make sure that not only the degrees are relevant, but also what we teach them toward a degree is very relevant for the job market. We are accredited, which is important to ensure our students that there is a stamp of quality over our degrees. Our advisory boards of the different programs coming from the best universities and industries, and also we make sure to help our students find a job when they graduate. 00:07:52 - Salvatrice Cummo When you say you help students find jobs after their completion, what does that look like? How does that happen? Is it with, in our traditional model of education, we call it a Career Center. What does it look like for the University of the People? 00:08:07 - President Shai Reshef So we are not traditional, but we still call it Career Service Center. Let me start by saying that a lot of students work while studying. So finding a job is not the issue, but actually finding a better job and helping get promoted while they study with us. We teach them, like other universities, how to write your resume, how to open a LinkedIn page, how to search for a job, how to be ready for an interview. So we teach them all this. In addition, we are able to offer virtual internship to every single one of our students. So we sign an agreement that enables us to offer a virtual internship to every one of our 137,000 students, including refugee and refugee camp, including women who are studying while hiding in Afghanistan. They get virtual internship of a seven and a half month while they doing it. They study and get credit for the internship when they are done. About 25% of them get job opportunities from the workplace, from the place they did the internship, and others go to the job market with actual job experience. I think that just talking about our graduate work in Google and Amazon and Wells Fargo and IBM and World Bank. We have quite successful graduates who do quite well in their life after graduation. We are very proud of them and we feel that it is our role. As I said, studying with us is part of the way toward their future and we need to help them in their future as well. So job placement is very important for us. 00:10:03 - Salvatrice Cummo Yes. I want to circle back just a little bit on the alignment of the programs and how you're ensuring that those programs are relevant. I know this information. I think our listener needs to know. The information is it really has a lot to do with the instructors. Can you talk a little bit about how the instructors are curated and their expertise? Because that lends itself to the relevancy of those programs and placement, everything that you just shared? 00:10:28 - President Shai Reshef Sure. So first of all, in terms of the courses are all created centrally, so we ensure that every course is being written and usually the dean decides who is going to write the course and we have instructors, instructional designers that work with them. Every course goes through peer review and we make sure that the content is very relevant for the job market. Then the instructors who teach for us are coming from all kind of universities, but all of them, in order to teach with us, need to go through screening and through training to make sure that they know the content, to make sure that they know how to use our platform. When they start teaching, they have a mentor spending the first term with them verifying that they know what they're doing. In every single term there is evaluation. There are evaluators, which are also senior faculty that are actually watching every class to make sure that our instructors are up to our standards, so we make sure that the quality is there. If the instructor is not doing as well, well as they should, we simply ask them to leave. So we ensure that the quality is there. It's extremely important for us. 00:11:49 - Salvatrice Cummo Right. And I imagine that yourself and the team and others are seeing unique needs for these adult learners. You know, outside of the work life balance and their careers. Some of them might be in existing careers, others might be transitioning to other careers. What have been other, you think, unique challenges for these adult learners? And how is the university kind of catering to those needs as they come? 00:12:17 - President Shai Reshef There are a lot of challenges to deal with. First of all, the majority of our students are working adults. And as working adults, many of them have families and many of them work. Now, how do you fit studying within your life? For that reason, we decided that all of our courses will be divided by weeks, and every week will start on Thursday and on Wednesday, which makes the weekend in the middle of the week. For those who want to study only in the weekend, or those who do not want to study to study in the weekend, because in order to study with us, they need to spend 20 to 30, 30 hours per course per week. That's a lot of time. When you think about it, it's three, 4 hours over the week. So we made it asynchronous to make sure that they can study anytime, anywhere. There is no live lectures. Maybe the professor decides to offer a live chat, but it's never mandatory. So they can study anytime, anywhere. And we are flexible. That's why we have a lot of single moms who raise their kids. The stay-home moms, either single or stay-home mom, or both, who actually during, I don't know, when the kid goes to sleep, that's the time to study. And they study in the evening. They can study in the morning whenever they choose in other places. And that's mainly for our students who are outside, outside of the US. Many of them are coming from developing countries where they don't have broadband. As such, a video is not mandatory with us. You can study, you can have text only for anything you study. Moreover, you don't need broadband. You can use only text. You can download anytime you are near Wi Fi. Study later on at home with any device. So it's any device, anytime. We made higher education accessible and affordable with the right quality. 00:14:24 - Salvatrice Cummo Speaking of tuition free model, that is absolutely no easy task and endeavor. You and I both know the trials and tribulations of running a university, the business side of a university or institution. What were some of the challenges you faced in developing this tuition free model? 00:14:44 - President Shai Reshef I'll go back to when I announced the university and I was talking about knowing that there is open source technology, open educational resources and volunteers. And I decided to put it together and create a tuition for university. And I announced it because I ran a university before I knew how to run a university. What I didn't know, and that was the big question mark, was I knew that I want volunteers, but how many of them will actually come was a big question. I can tell you that the day after I announced the university, actually in Munich, the New York Times wrote a page about it the following day. I already had hundreds of emails by professors who said, wow, this is a great idea. We want to help. So these amazing people built the university. We have by now over 40,000 volunteers. So I'm a volunteer, the deans are volunteers, the professors are coming to us as volunteers. So the university is based on volunteers, even though many of them are being compensated somehow or somewhat. Not somehow. So this was one question that I didn't know the answer, whether it will be, it will be sustainable. And it is. I think that the major challenge that we had from day one was how to spread the word. And by the way, we are tuition-free, but we are not free. We should talk about it so people would not think that it's totally free. We expect our students to pay $140 per each end-of-course exam, which turn out to be 5600 for a full BA. But it is a fraction of any American university. 00:16:31 - Salvatrice Cummo Correct. 00:16:32 - President Shai Reshef Which means that we don't have budget for advertisement. And how would people hear about us? I mentioned the New York Times writing a page about us. Well, if you are a Syrian refugee or a refugee in Sudan, you tend to skip the New York Times once in a while. So how would you find out about University of the People? Spreading the word is a big issue. UNESCO stated that there are 100 million people who need our services around the world. How do you let them know that there is an opportunity for them? So that has been a big challenge from day one. The challenge that comes with that is that when they come to us, many of them said, we don't even have this $140. Now, we feel that higher education should be a basic right for all and not a privilege for a few. So if you don't have the money, we need to help you. So we trying to have enough scholarships to let all of them in. We do not have enough scholarships. I'll give you maybe an example of Afghanistan. Following the Taliban taking over of Afghanistan, we announced that we're giving 1000 Afghan women scholarship in days with thousands of Afghan women applying. So we said, okay, let's double the number and then we triple it. So we have 3000 Afghan women now studying with us in their home, by the way, behind closed doors with a scholarship. But we have over 20,000 Afghan women who apply to study with us. We can't accommodate all of them. So that's a challenge because it's kind of, it's our mission to help them. We cannot, we cannot help all of that. Besides that, you know, it's like every business, you know, you have a budget and you have revenues and you have costs and you need to manage the growth because we are growing and you have technology that you need to support. So, yeah, yeah. 00:18:34 - Salvatrice Cummo And so what was the win? Or maybe it was several different wins that helped the university grow to 137,000. Knowing that there's, you know, there's challenges on publications and pr and marketing, there's no budget for that, you know. So what were one of the ways or a way that you felt could spread the word outside of, you know, publication? Are there partners perhaps? Or how do you spread the word to start with? 00:19:04 - President Shai Reshef Well, when we started the university in 2009 with quite a lot of publications, it drove students, even though it was so unique that a lot of people said, what's going on? What is it? In 2014, when we received our accreditation, it was a sign, you know, it was a stamp of quality. We got a lot of publicity. At the same year I gave a TED talk and with all this we start accelerated growth. So if from 2009 when we started, until 2004 when we received the accreditation, with 500 students, from 2014, now we're in 24, from 500 students to 137. Amazing exponential growth. 00:19:50 - Salvatrice Cummo Absolutely. 00:19:51 - President Shai Reshef I think that COVID also helped because when we started in the first few years, a lot of people look at us as, oh, you're on the margin, you're not the real thing. You know, the real thing is the traditional university online is not the real thing. Covid came and all universities closed their doors and look at us because we were the only one who knew how to continue the services uninterrupted. So a lot of students came and the perception of online. Today, every university in the US has at least the program or at least a few courses that are online and we know probably as good or even better than other universities how to make it a great experience. 00:20:38 - Salvatrice Cummo So, yeah, that's right. You know, just kind of circling back just a little bit on the workforce and programming side. One of the things that came to mind to me was how is the university positioning themselves for the evolving needs of the workforce is continuous. It changes daily. How is the university positioning itself to meet those demands? And what advice would you give educational institutions like ours who are trying to innovate in that space of meeting the demands of the workforce? I want to spend some time there a little bit. 00:21:15 - President Shai Reshef I talked about designing the courses, but it's beyond every program in our case have advisory board that is pretty much half and half. Half are academics, people who come from great universities, the other half coming from the workforce. And between them they decide of what we need to study next, teach next or what the students need to study. But it goes beyond that. We start offering recently certificates, both certificates from within our program. Take this number of courses and study and you get a certificate. But also we are planning on developing certificates that will be standalone certificates. The beauty of certificates from my perspective is twofold. You take a certificate, take five, six courses, you get the certificates and you can go right to work. At the same time you got credit. So you can choose, you can continue to earn a degree, you...
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Redefining Higher Education: Making Knowledge Accessible to Everyone with Shai Reshef, President of University of the People Episode 128
09/17/2024
Redefining Higher Education: Making Knowledge Accessible to Everyone with Shai Reshef, President of University of the People Episode 128
Higher education is a gateway to a brighter future, offering individuals the opportunity to expand their knowledge, skills, and career prospects. However, access to higher education has often been limited by factors such as cost, location, and time constraints. Shai Reshef, President of University of the People, believes education is a right, not a privilege. By removing financial and geographic barriers, the university offers accessible education to students from all backgrounds. Recognizing the unique challenges adult learners face, like balancing work and family, it provides flexible, self-paced online programs. Whether advancing careers or fulfilling lifelong dreams, University of the People ensures higher education is affordable and essential in today’s evolving world. Join us as we discuss why making higher education accessible to everyone is crucial for individual growth and global progress. You’ll learn: How making higher education accessible and affordable unlocks opportunities for learners from all backgrounds to thrive. Ways offering asynchronous courses and flexible learning options empowers adult learners to balance education with their busy lives. How designing courses around industry demands and evolving workforce trends equips students with the skills they need to succeed. How integrating AI and cutting-edge technology into education prepares students to navigate and excel in the future of work. About the Guest: President Shai Reshef is the founder of the University of the People, the first nonprofit, tuition-free, accredited online university. With over 20 years in for-profit education, he saw online learning's potential to make higher education accessible globally. Believing education is a right, not a privilege, he's focused on helping underserved communities. Under his leadership, the university has served over 137,000 students worldwide, earning him awards like the 2023 Eden Prize. Reshef's mission is to democratize education and foster a better, more peaceful world. Engage with us: , & : @PasadenaCityCollegeEWD Join our newsletter for more on this topic: Visit: More from President Shai Reshef: LinkedIn: TED Talk: More from University of the People: Website: LinkedIn: , , : @UoPeople , : @uopeople.official Partner with us! Contact our host Salvatrice Cummo directly: [email protected] Want to be a guest on the show? Click to inquire about booking Find the transcript of this episode Please rate us and leave us your thoughts and comments on Apple Podcasts, we’d love to hear from you!
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Transcript- Episode 127: Unlocking Community Power: How Women’s Business Centers Create Thriving Entrepreneurs with Nancy Swift, Executive Director at JEDI & CA WBC Network Chair Episode 127
09/03/2024
Transcript- Episode 127: Unlocking Community Power: How Women’s Business Centers Create Thriving Entrepreneurs with Nancy Swift, Executive Director at JEDI & CA WBC Network Chair Episode 127
00:00:00 - Nancy Swift Women in business, they face barriers. I actually believe it's a crisis of confidence, if you will, which affects how you price your goods. How much do you think that it's really important in how we deliver our services at JEDI and the women's business center that we take into account that women hate to talk about themselves. So if we get them to talk about their service or their product, it changes things. And then that changes their own goals around what's possible. 00:00:33 - Christina Barsi The workforce landscape is rapidly changing, and educators and their institutions need to keep up. Preparing students before they enter the workforce. To make our communities and businesses stronger is at the core of getting an education. But we need to understand how to change and adjust so that we can begin to project where things are headed before we even get there. So how do we begin to predict the future? 00:00:57 - Salvatrice Cummo Hi, I'm Salvatrice Cummo, vice president of economic and workforce development at Pasadena City College and host of this podcast. 00:01:06 - Christina Barsi And I'm Christina Barsi, producer and co host of this podcast. 00:01:10 - Salvatrice Cummo And we are starting the conversation about the Future of Work. We'll explore topics like how education can partner with industry, how to be more equitable, and how to attain one of our highest goals, more internships and PCC. Students in the workforce. We at Pasadena City College want to lead the charge in closing the gap between what our students are learning and what the demands of the workforce will be once they enter. This is a conversation that impacts all of us. You, the employers, the policymakers, the educational institutions, and the community as a whole. 00:01:44 - Christina Barsi We believe change happens when we work together, and it all starts with having a conversation. I'm Christina Barsi. 00:01:51 - Salvatrice Cummo And I'm Salvatrice Cummo. And this is the Future of Work. Hi, welcome back to the Future of Work podcast. I am your host, Doctor Salvatrice Cummo. Joining us today is Nancy Swift, the executive director and one of the founders of the Jefferson Economic Development Institute, also known as JEDI. Nancy also chairs the California Women's Business Center Network, where she leads efforts to build capacity for women's business centers across the state, including the new one here at Pasadena City College. Her commitment to developing prosperity for all and her hands-on approach to community-driven economic development make her an invaluable leader in this field. We're excited to have Nancy on the show today and talk about the unique challenges faced by underserved entrepreneurs and the innovative solutions that can drive meaningful change in our communities. So let's get to it. We're excited to have you here. Nancy, how are you? 00:02:53 - Nancy Swift I'm okay. Salvatrice, thank you so much for elevating the voices of this work, this field, and women who are trying to help other women rise above. It's great. 00:03:04 - Salvatrice Cummo My pleasure. So, full disclosure, you know, you have accomplished, I mean, I know this. Our listener might not know this, but you have accomplished so much with JEDI and the Women's business center, and you have been instrumental across the state. And I think it might help the listener maybe understand a little more and unpack, really kind of what led you here? What was the spark that led you to dedicate your career to supporting the underserved entrepreneurs and really fostering this community driven economic development? 00:03:37 - Nancy Swift Well, thanks for the question. And it is true, you know, as we all consider our own position in our careers and in our leadership, that it is about those sparks and when we can connect to things that seem to matter a lot to us, that we follow. And I think that's some of the grit that I've held onto as we've persevered. What for me now is about a 35 year career. And most of my career, economic justice for women has always been important to me. And what's been of interest and my early days, it was certainly from an international perspective, economics. 00:04:19 - Nancy Swift When I took macroeconomics, I almost failed. When I took microeconomics, I started to understand when people connect to the economy, they find opportunity. And I just saw everywhere around me examples of when you were giving a woman that opportunity, the compound impact that that had when somebody got a new opportunity and what she did with that for her family, for her children, for the community. And so that's really where my interest has always been. What I studied since I was a little girl. And when I have been traveling to other countries to learn about other people, that was of interest to me. 00:05:01 - Nancy Swift But I had some influential mentors in my career, so way back when, and one of them is in the news today. So I think this is kind of interesting. But when I first got started, the world was on fire because this man had started a rural bank for women, and they were the owners of the bank, and it's called the Grameen Bank, and his name is Dr. Mohammed Yunus. And I got a chance to meet him, and he's an example of somebody who did the same thing. I mean, I think he was in Cambridge. He went to the London School of Economics, and he was studying economics, and he went home to start this bank for women. And when women got loans in a peer lending format, they then grew their businesses. They had more money to spend on their children. 00:05:49 - Nancy Swift In particular, their daughters going to school and changing the roof on their house so that when the monsoon season came, their house wasn't demolished. And it was just the purest form of community economic development, if you will. And it was from the ground up. And he's gone on to have lots of other things that he's promoted around social enterprise. And the reason he's in the news right now is that bank, which is 90% owned by low income rural people in Bangladesh and 10% by the government of Bangladesh. 00:06:22 - Nancy Swift He was falsely imprisoned by the president that was recently ousted by students, and he was asked to come back and be the interim president. And I just think that's such a power. In the meantime, from when he started Grameen until now, he got the Nobel Peace Prize, and he got it because he was creating economic and social development from the ground up with this Grameen bank. 00:06:45 - Nancy Swift And so he's always been a mentor to me about how important it is to look at not only just increasing business activity or increasing income to a household, but what are all the ripple effects of that? And how does that build powerful leaders in the future? So that's one of my early experiences about why I got in this field. I just wanted to mention one other one, too, because they're both international. And then why I came here then sort of what influenced me since I've been here in rural California, I was a volunteer professional with a program called Voca. 00:07:22 - Nancy Swift Volunteer Overseas Cooperative Assistance is the name. I actually don't think these exchanges exist anymore. But I went on behalf of the us government to Kazakhstan, and I got to work with a group of about 50 women. And they were five years post-breakup of the USSR, so five years post-communism. Many of their husbands had died in the wars that they were fighting, so they were widowed. 00:07:49 - Nancy Swift And here they were having to fend for themselves. And they were using this peer lending model. And it was the greatest experience in democracy with a little d, because we had to figure out how we're going to talk, who's going to get a loan, what are going to be the terms, and who's going to agree to this? But most importantly, it was what business are you going to run? Because they weren't used to thinking that this was an opportunity. 00:08:15 - Nancy Swift They were used to being given an instruction and following through on it or being. Giving food. So all of them wanted to be tomato resellers. And I said, well, what else do you all need? Oh, we need shoes and we need tailors and we need. I said, well, do any of you have those talents, somebody do something else, because then you can build a whole community and a whole marketplace, and you won't have to compete only on price if all of you are selling tomatoes. So that is just a silly example, but I saw how powerful it was in just the short time I was there, which was a month, how they started to go, oh, yeah, I can do this, and I want more. And I want to also be able to help my community. So those examples have been really powerful in shaping by commitment. 00:09:06 - Nancy Swift When I landed in rural California, it was in fact, to study the Grameen bank being applied in the fifth largest economy in the world, which. So that was just fascinating to me, how different those experiences could be. But so now I have seen the power of a business as the means or as a tool for women and men in disenfranchised communities. So whether you've been systematically left out of something or you just haven't had the opportunities that others have had, business people say, and it's partly true, that business is the great equalizer, but in order to have a successful business, you still need access to capital and real and good information, and that is not equal. 00:09:53 - Nancy Swift So it's really important that we get our kind of messaging and our kind of services out to people who maybe don't have other people in their family who have done this before, or they don't have other mentors around them, or they. They're not hooked into a system. We've seen time and time again that there's information out there, but people don't even know it's there, so to speak. So that over time, it's become important for anybody who's got some kind of big barrier that they're facing, that we're helping them because they've chosen to grow a business for whatever reason. Maybe it's to support their family, maybe it's because they're entrepreneurial and it's the greatest thing, and they don't want to work for anybody else. Or maybe it's because they have a product and they're going to build jobs for people. All these kinds of businesses matter to people. So one of our principles here at JEDI is that we serve people and their businesses. 00:10:59 - Salvatrice Cummo Yeah, I really appreciate that. And I know you said, oh, that was a silly example, and I understand what you're saying by that. But, Nancy, that's not silly at all. That's a beautiful example. And an impactful example. I mean, that is an example of how dedicating oneself to educating communities so that the community has a stronger trajectory forward to be successful, that is impactful. Yes. It's only a month, but gosh, it's like you've influenced an entire community. And that community continues to evolve and to grow and to establish itself and just have growth and prosperity. And so I wanted to share my thoughts around that. That I think that that is incredible. I think that is the most beautiful thing I've heard all day. And I'm so glad that you shared it with me. We don't really categorize community driven economic development. We don't really say that. We don't really talk about it in that way. We either just say workforce development or economic development. And we know that the community needs to drive this work. Right. Okay. But it also community driven economic development, when we categorize or phrase it in those terms, helps us to focus on maybe larger socioeconomic issues. Right. Similarly to what you touched upon a little bit, might there be other areas, other issues where a community driven economic development framework, I'm going to call it, that helps really address these larger socio economics economic issues? 00:12:34 - Nancy Swift Well, absolutely. Let me add to what you're saying because I too use the phrase community economic development. I've been talking about bottom up. That's always been when things made sense to me when I was one on one with an individual seeing the impact of something or watching them express their need and knowing that, one, we could help them with that. And two, what they then will do in their community is so powerful. It's more powerful than raising the GDP. It is way more powerful. So I just went looking for some definitions and I like this one because it sort of resonates also with the concept of b corporation. It's like, what is our actual bottom lines here? So I get, we work in the field of economic development and business development. We track things like business starts and jobs and created and financing acquired and things like that. But we are also track at jedi things like how many people have gone on and joined associations or run for office or how many people did this business help them rise out of poverty for what else did this business afford for them in their family? And what is the role of this business in their family. But I love this definition of community economic development because I think it speaks to exactly what you're talking about. That community economic developers focus on creating inclusive local economies. So that's hooking people up, developing nourishing livelihood opportunities, love that word nourishing, building on local resources and capacities, increasing community control and ownership. It's so critical that local control is present and wealth is being built locally and individually, enhancing the health of the environment and encouraging community resilience. If that's what community economic development is, then we integrate those into an approach, and then we see the multiple bottom lines that come out of that. Environmental sustainability, economic vitality and mobility, social equity and cultural appropriateness. We need all those things. We need to harness and piggyback every strategy so that our communities are stronger and building. 00:14:56 - Salvatrice Cummo That's absolutely right, Nancy. And earlier you mentioned that there's inequities within access to capital, which is a significant barrier for women entrepreneurs in underserved communities. From your experience, what might other barriers be that we need to pay high attention, focus to? 00:15:14 - Nancy Swift Time and time again, we see that access to good information and capital is not equitable across different ethnic groups based on geography, based on where you went to school, based on who you know, kinds of things. So also women in business, they face barriers. I actually believe it's a crisis of confidence, if you will, which affects how you price your goods. How much do you think that it's really important in how we deliver our services at JEDI and the women's business center that we take into account that women hate to talk about themselves. So if we get them to talk about their service or their product, it changes things. And then that changes their own goals around what's possible with this business. And I think oftentimes women think too small. And why would we do that if we hold up half the sky, so to speak, if half of us on the planet are women, we need all of our great thinking, some other things that are the certainly barriers to women in business. Small businesses, underserved women are mentors. I mentioned it before, if you don't have friends who do what you're doing, or you don't have a family experience of being an entrepreneur, or you don't have people around you who believe that that's a legitimate way to be taking care of yourself and spending your time, well, then you need to find some. We see that people don't have the networks, so that becomes then a service that some of us start providing that leads to also a network of professionals, because you need trusted professionals for sure, as you're growing. And the other thing that is very significant, and I will say that when you start to look at any one of those barriers with lenses, like what gender you are, whether you're a person of color or nothing or what your zip code is, that does change and generally makes the barrier harder. We have a lot of data around that. The other one, too, that is infused in all the work that women's business centers do is acknowledging the reality that women are managing a lot of things in their life. They are managing themselves. They are managing their families, whether that's children, whether that's elders in their family. They are managing their business. If you're starting a business and you got to get all that energy going towards your business, it's a distraction to have all these other things. The other thing, like related to workforce is that our workforce training and our education system, and then we move into, I guess I'm going to call it traditional or old school way. I believe things are changing a lot right now is that you go into a career. Well, the way businesses are set up, those career timelines do not fit a woman who's also managing a home and raising a family. So we just have to do a better job at that. So it is a barrier, though, because women think about other people. They think about their family almost first, and it's their, if you think about it, the reason that they're doing their business. I mean, I always come from the vantage point of business development or self employment. It's also true, though, in their careers, they're thinking about what they can do. But how does it fit with these other kinds of goals? When the pandemic hit, for example, 25 million women left the workforce and they haven't all come back and they can't because they can't get the childcare they need, and they can't because they're taking care of elders and something about the schedule doesn't work, and now they've taken time off and they're coming back in. So that point is a reason why a lot of women are choosing to start businesses instead. 00:19:06 - Salvatrice Cummo There's something to be said about, I mean, you mentioned the pandemic and 25 million. 25 million women left the workforce. And I don't know what the stat is. I'm not sure if you have it, the statistics of how many reentered. I do know that it's not 25 million, that's for sure. Like, not all of them reentered. But at least when I think about just the overall makeup or design of occupations specifically, I mean, lots of companies, and I'm kind of going on a tangent, so forgive me. 00:19:37 - Nancy Swift I'll go there with you. 00:19:39 - Salvatrice Cummo Oh, great. Many organizations downsized during the pandemic, and a lot of these occupations are now obsolete and they do not exist in these organizations. So you have that variable then. The second variable is that we as a system don't do a great job at the data around of these 25 million women that lost their jobs during the pandemic, how many of those went into self employment and are building their own businesses? We as a system don't track entrepreneurs well anyways, so it's kind of two massive variables. The variable of the organizations are not building talent capacity as they did pre pandemic. And then the second variable is our system is not designed to track entrepreneurs. We do a terrible job at it. I mean, Edd will tell you it's very difficult to track where the entrepreneurs are. What are they doing anyway, so massive tangent, sorry, but it really underscores the need for business technical assistance for women. I want to shift gears just a little bit. You know, you've had some experiences in addressing challenges within rural areas. Right. And I want to talk about that a little bit. You know, what were some of the unique challenges that you saw in some of these rural...
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Unlocking Community Power: How Women’s Business Centers Create Thriving Entrepreneurs with Nancy Swift, Executive Director at JEDI & CA WBC Network Chair Episode 127
09/03/2024
Unlocking Community Power: How Women’s Business Centers Create Thriving Entrepreneurs with Nancy Swift, Executive Director at JEDI & CA WBC Network Chair Episode 127
How do we dismantle the entrenched systemic barriers that hold back so many in the business world? The answer lies in access to capital, information, and networking. Nancy Swift, Executive Director at JEDI, points out that women, in particular, encounter systemic challenges, like unequal access to funding and exclusion from critical networks, making it harder to succeed in business. This is where Women's Business Centers and support systems step in, offering tailored programs that provide essential resources, guidance, and training. These initiatives empower women entrepreneurs, giving them the tools they need to overcome challenges and thrive in the business world. You’ll learn: How Women's Business Centers help support emerging entrepreneurs. Why collaboration among support systems is important for enhancing services. How women entrepreneurs found innovative solutions in the wake of pandemic challenges. About the Guest: Nancy Swift has dedicated her 35-year career to championing economic justice for women, emphasizing the profound impact that economic opportunities for women have on families and communities at large. As the Executive Director and a Founding member of the Jefferson Economic Development Institute (JEDI), she spearheads initiatives to support female entrepreneurs. Engage with us: , & : @PasadenaCityCollegeEWD Join our newsletter for more on this topic: Visit: More from Nancy Swift: LinkedIn: Email: [email protected] Phone: 530-926-670 extension 102 More from JEDI & CWBC: Partner with us! Contact our host Salvatrice Cummo directly: [email protected] Want to be a guest on the show? Click to inquire about booking Find the transcript of this episode Please rate us and leave us your thoughts and comments on Apple Podcasts, we’d love to hear from you!
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Transcript- Episode 126: The Future is Working: Addressing The Skills Gap in an Evolving Workforce with Shelley Hoss, Chief Executive Officer at Orange County Community Foundation Episode 126
08/20/2024
Transcript- Episode 126: The Future is Working: Addressing The Skills Gap in an Evolving Workforce with Shelley Hoss, Chief Executive Officer at Orange County Community Foundation Episode 126
00:00:00 - Shelley Hoss California is a beautiful place to be because we have such an incredible network of, especially public universities, from the community colleges to the state to the UC's, that are just these laboratories for innovation and critical thinking that are both vocational as well as academic. And I think it's a really exciting time to be here. 00:00:35 - Christina Barsi The workforce landscape is rapidly changing and educators and their institutions need to keep up. Preparing students before they enter the workforce to make our communities and businesses stronger is at the core of getting an education. But we need to understand how to change and adjust so that we can begin to project where things are headed before we even get there. So how do we begin to predict the future? 00:01:00 - Salvatrice Cummo Hi, I'm Salvatrice Cummo, Vice President of Economic and Workforce Development at Pasadena City college and host of this podcast. 00:01:08 - Christina Barsi And I'm Christina Barsi, producer and co-host of this podcast. 00:01:12 - Salvatrice Cummo And we are starting the conversation about the future of work. We'll explore topics like how education can partner with industry, how to be more equitable, and how to attain one of our highest goals, more internships and PCC. Students in the workforce we at Pasadena City College want to lead the charge in closing the gap between what our students are learning and what the demands of the workforce will be once they enter. This is a conversation that impacts all of us, you, the employers, the policymakers, the educational institutions, and the community as a whole. 00:01:46 - Christina Barsi We believe change happens when we work together, and it all starts with having a conversation. I'm Christina Barsi. 00:01:54 - Salvatrice Cummo And I'm Salvatrice Cummo. And this is the Future of Work. Hi, welcome back to the Future of Work podcast. I am your host, Dr. Salvatrice Cummo. Today we have an extraordinary guest with us. Since May of 2000, Shelley Hoss has been at the helm of the Orange County Community Foundation, one of the nation's largest and fastest-growing community foundations. Shelley's work with OCCF includes a broad range of initiatives, from supporting veterans and military families transitioning to civilian life, to spearheading efforts in building a resilient Orange County workforce. A notable initiative launched under her guidance is the Workforce Development Initiative, which aims to equip young adults with the skills and credentials needed for high-quality jobs aligned with the needs of local employers. We're very excited to delve into Shelly's expertise in workforce development and explore how OCCF's initiatives are really shaping the future of work and the innovative partnerships with local colleges and businesses. Welcome, Shelley. How are you? We're thrilled to have you here today. 00:03:05 - Shelley Hoss Well, thanks so much, Salvatrice. It's a pleasure to be with you, focusing on a really important topic that we care a lot about here in Orange County. 00:03:13 - Salvatrice Cummo I think both of our respective counties are just right at the center core of these conversations, and that's really the only way that we'll get to any kind of results and impact is if we just continue to talk about it. 00:03:26 - Shelley Hoss Absolutely. We're in thriving economies here in Southern California, and we want everyone to be able to participate in shared prosperity and economic vitality of our regions, and that builds stronger communities. So what is not to love about all of that? 00:03:41 - Salvatrice Cummo That's right. Very, very true. And I think the appropriate question right now, Shelley, if I can be brutally honest, is like just so that our listener understands and has a better idea of the Orange County Community foundation of what is OCCF, what is your role there? Share a little bit more about that. 00:04:00 - Shelley Hoss Sure, I'd be happy to. And some of your listeners may be familiar with our cousin, the California Community Foundation. We actually sort of emerged from their early work here in Orange County. And then our founder, Judy Swain, established the Orange County Community Foundation in 1989, being inspired by the work she had seen in LA. And community foundations have the great honor of being a partner for philanthropists in their community, individual donors, families, multi-generations of community members that want to prioritize giving back and then bridging to our local nonprofit sector and engaging in partnerships and collaborations to solve local needs, as well as to partner with our donors whose interests may expand beyond their local community to interests across the country or around the world. And we get to be their partner in giving, helping to amplify the impact of their philanthropy and build, we say, momentum for good. 00:05:06 - Salvatrice Cummo Thank you. As we talk about workforce development, I think you and I will both agree that workforce development is very fluid. It looks different depending on the organization that you're speaking to. Also the organizations that are really putting behind some of the initiatives around workforce development. It really depends on our assets, the talent, the resources, all those variables. And I'm really curious about your workforce initiatives there at OCCF. And really how did it all get started? How did it come to life? And if you could tell us a little bit about not only how it started, but also how has it evolved over the years, either pros or cons, but how has it evolved over the years? And where would you like to see it in the future. 00:05:53 - Shelley Hoss The inception of our workforce initiative that is now called the Future is Working, which is a very close cousin to your podcast title and was a great story, actually. That is a perfect case in point about what community foundations do. We had this amazing, unexpected occurrence in 2016 with someone who had passed away and had left a large estate gift to OCCF to carry out his philanthropic wishes, and one portion of that was to create an endowment. The only instructions that we were given in that case was that the annual payout should support educational institutions. 00:06:37 - Shelley Hoss So no direction as to topic or issue, area or spectrum of the whether it's from pre-K to college. So it was this blank canvas for us to really ponder what would be the highest and best use of those resources and educational institutions in Orange County. I should clarify. So we spent the first couple of years looking across the spectrum of educational needs and happened upon in 2018 2019, really startling statistics from one of our local partners who was doing some research about workforce development needs in Orange County. 00:07:18 - Shelley Hoss And it was the fact that we had more than 17,000 unfilled middle skills jobs in Orange County. Middle skills meaning at least high school with some additional training, perhaps some community college with apprenticeship or internship or specialized certification, but not requiring a four-year university degree. And we were both seeing the data and hearing the stories of local employers really desperate to be hiring for these positions in these growth industries and unable to find local talent, having to go beyond Orange County and being able to pair that with the data we had on those un or underemployed, sometimes in the philanthropy field, they're called opportunity youth, 18 to 25 or beyond, who are disconnected from school and from work. 00:08:09 - Shelley Hoss And we looked at this sort of mirroring data of this ready workforce who needed to have employment that could sustain themselves and their families to live here in Orange County with basic needs met and an opportunity to thrive with these employers that had these jobs to give and couldn't find people qualified. That was the spark where we realized, wow, this endowment for educational institutions could allow us to partner with our beloved community college network that we knew had this filling this gap as part of their mission, and allowed us to start a conversation about what was missing from their side of the equation. 00:08:51 - Shelley Hoss What did they feel could be limiting their potential for helping to address this gap, this gap between the open jobs and the prepared workforce? And we heard a lot about the difficulty partnering with employers, getting employers engaged so that folks in their programs how to place a next ready step to go. And we heard about some of their concerns about some of their curriculum maybe not being as aligned with the new and emerging jobs, and also the need for soft skills that they could provide some of the educational foundation through their programs. But there was so much more needed for folks who maybe hadn't been in a professional environment before, needed those soft skills, those interviewing skills, and the sort of bedrock of success for advancement in career. 00:09:42 - Shelley Hoss And so this idea emerged through these conversations that we could perhaps be the instigator for a collaborative approach that would be anchored by our community college partners and involve then collaborations with local nonprofits working in the workforce development space and employers in these high growth industries. So we targeted three of the highest growth industries that we saw in this data report, which was advanced manufacturing. So that need the CAD cAm, the computer assisted design, mechanics, healthcare, and it all thriving industry sectors within Orange county. And we felt we could perhaps step into a sweet spot where community colleges already had programs that could be adapted or built upon. 00:10:33 - Shelley Hoss And then in some cases, a new industry emerged that we did not previously imagine. And I'll give you one example, which is a program we funded at Fullerton College to certify drone pilots. Talk about industries that I could not have imagined ten years ago would be a growth industry. And another fascinating fact for everyone's next cocktail party. Southern California Edison now monitors its grid using drone pilots. Much more so than Edison employees driving around, monitoring the electrical grid in trucks and sort of at the street level. 00:11:10 - Shelley Hoss What a game changer environmentally, and what a game changer in terms of career opportunity. But the barriers are many for being able to ultimately get employment because you need to have an FAA license as a drone pilot. You need 600 hours of flight training that's been certified, and you have to have your own drone, which costs thousands of dollars. But it's just been so thrilling to watch the success of this program in carving out a microlending. So our funding helped create a partnership that involved the employer, Southern California Edison, Fullerton College, various nonprofits, and there was a microloan program so that as the pilots, after they completed their Fullerton College sort of baseline training, could begin flying with apprenticeship program through Edison that were paid, that allowed them to pay off their loan for their drone, and they exit the program in between twelve and 18 months, fully certified as a drone pilot with their own commercial drone. 00:12:15 - Shelley Hoss These are not the drones that people fly at the beach. These are large commercial drones. It's been a game changer. And the best part is they took a sort of seed funding grant from us that I think the first grant we made was $50,000, so not a burning amount. But they leveraged an $800,000 grant from the state because of that seed funding. That's just one micro example of stepping into a growth industry. And you know that these young pilots that are now getting these jobs, you know that they're influencing their brothers and sisters and cousins and friends and neighbors by showcasing this opportunity to leverage a community college program into a living wage, entry level career. 00:13:00 - Salvatrice Cummo I love it. That's like, the best example. 00:13:03 - Shelley Hoss I think I hit a few of the stepping stones along the way of your question. There might have been some parts I missed. 00:13:09 - Salvatrice Cummo No, it was absolutely fabulous. The thought for me was the middle skills occupational gap that you recognized based on the data and then the three sectors, and there was an emerging sector that kind of popped up out of nowhere that ended up being very successful in many different fronts, as you just shared. You know, for us, there's always an accountability piece or a relevant piece. When I say us, I mean community colleges. So as a foundation, as a partner to the community colleges, and thank you, by the way, thank you for including community colleges as a thought partner and as a implementator for these occupations that are very much needed and the partnerships with Edison, I mean, gosh, you couldn't have asked for a better synergy of work. How does the foundation ensure, hold accountable. I'm not sure what word to use that community college stay responsive and adaptable to these emerging markets. 00:14:09 - Shelley Hoss We learned so much in our early conversations with our community college partners, and for these large systems that are statewide, what we found in the leaning into the creativity and the flexibility was so encouraging. I feel that what has helped ensure the accountability has been approaching this work as full partners. So I will say that one of the original proposals, it wasn't a bad proposal, and it certainly wasn't surprising. But the initial proposals from the community college partners were, hey, why don't we use this funding to fund a position within the college that would be focusing on this topic? And while we appreciated the need, we felt that we might be more successful by having a more fluid partnership and that we could continue working together and having them be the anchor, but really fully engaging other nonprofit partners and employers through perhaps a more sort of balanced partnership versus having it embedded. And I don't know what the outcomes would have been in the other model. But what I do know is that there has been a lot of shared ownership in the model that we have used, where I believe we have absolutely showcased the strength and the relevance of our community colleges. I feel great about the fact that we've been able to put them center stage in the success, success of this program, which in many ways, because we launched fully in 2019 just before the pandemic. Of course, there was a slower roll, for obvious reasons, during the couple of years that was most impacted by the pandemic now going full strength, and we're several million, two and a half, almost two and a half million dollars into the initiative now, 23 grants, 14 different collaboratives. So we're really in the thick of the work now. And I really believe that approaching this as an ongoing, real time evolving partnership model has really been superb for holding accountability for all the partners, including for OCCF, to make sure that we are leaning into where the greatest opportunity is to meet these needs and being informed by all the partners, being informed equally by our college partners as well as our employers and our nonprofits that are dealing with many of our program participants sort of in their daily lives. 00:16:45 - Salvatrice Cummo Right. Thank you. You hit on something that touched home for me, and that is the breadth of workforce development and all of its complexities, because there's so many areas of focus. Right? I mean, OCCF chose to focus on middle skills occupations because the data shared that there's a massive gap. At the time, you said 17,000 jobs that were available. Right? Were there other directions that OCCF considered, perhaps before choosing the path of solving the middle skills gap occupation? 00:17:24 - Shelley Hoss I will answer that in being stewards of this endowment that was meant for educational institutions. So that I think it's helpful to understand that we came at this solution from that frame of being a steward of a donor's intention. And we, in the first couple of years after receipt of the gift, we did some local partnerships about children younger. We looked at some preschool programs and supported some of those head start type of preschool programs. We did a partnership about helping make sure kids are ready to read by third grade. That's such a crucial foundation. And we ultimately, I think, came to the conclusion that this was such a behemoth, broad based educational needs, that we would be best served to pick a focus area where we really felt we could move the needle and the filter we use when we're making those sorts of decisions. Are, is this an identified need that solves a crucial problem or issue or gap in our local community? Obviously, workforce, that was an easy. Yes. Based on the data, do we believe that there will be philanthropic interest, perhaps beyond what we're bringing to the table, so that we might inspire others to focus on this issue in their own philanthropy. We certainly saw that potential within our, we have 650 funds that we stored nearly $700 million in. Charitable assets are granting, on average, about $100 million a year. So we have a large circle of influence, and we felt that by taking some advantage of this opportunity and paving the way, perhaps we could inspire others. And then thirdly, we look at are there ready partners, people who are experts? So you were very kind in your introduction. I personally would shrug off any sense that I, or even we as an organization, have particular expertise in this subject area, but we do have expertise in assembling highly effective collaborative efforts and marshaling both relationships, resources, knowledge toward an effective end. So I feel that was the expertise that we brought was more around the process and leveraging our network of relationships and the trust that the foundation is held in by our many partners in the nonprofit community and donors. And so when we were coming at this responsibility as stewards of this endowment and needing to find a space within education and saw this data, it was, honestly, it was like a big bang moment. It wasn't. Let's think of 100 different ways we could do this or 100 different ways to do workforce. We had sort of a program model in mind already because, frankly, of the requirements of this endowment. So we thought, well, educational institutions, we know that community college colleges are right in this intersection of need. So we know thats going to be our anchor partner. And we built out from there, which tends to be our process for building community initiatives that you mentioned, our veterans work. Weve done work around immigration and embracing and integrating our immigrant communities for their extraordinary contributions to the economy and civic and cultural life of Orange county. We did a project in Anaheim at the request of Disneyland, the Angels, and the Ducks, who needed some help making wise charitable investments to help older youth. That was one of the first places we got exposure to these disconnected youth. And we saw that many of the problems being experienced were because there were high high school dropout rates, low college attendance rates, and really high unemployment in this age range. And of course, that's going to lead to outcomes that are not healthy for anyone, the individuals, or the community. So I would say we do have a very embedded practice here of trying to integrate all of the knowledge that we acquire through the different aspects of our...
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The Future is Working: Addressing The Skills Gap in an Evolving Workforce with Shelley Hoss, Chief Executive Officer at Orange County Community Foundation Episode 126
08/20/2024
The Future is Working: Addressing The Skills Gap in an Evolving Workforce with Shelley Hoss, Chief Executive Officer at Orange County Community Foundation Episode 126
Workforce development initiatives are crucial in preparing individuals for the ever-evolving job market. As industries change and technology advances, both employees and employers need to adapt to these shifts. But where does one start? How can new workers ensure that they’re equipped to thrive in the future workforce? Since May 2000, Shelley Hoss has led the Orange County Community Foundation, focusing on workforce development. The foundation launched the Workforce Development Initiative to equip young adults with skills and credentials for in-demand jobs. Partnering with community colleges, Shelley is dedicated to bridging the skills gap, ensuring that Orange County's workforce remains competitive and future-ready. Listen in to learn how collaboration between nonprofits, employers, and community colleges is shaping the future of work. Engage with us: , & : @PasadenaCityCollegeEWD Join our newsletter for more on this topic: Visit: More from Shelley Hoss: LinkedIn: More from Orange County Community Foundation: Website: LinkedIn: , , and : @OCCommunityFdn The Future is Working - OC Workforce Development Initiative: More from Invest in Women Initiative: Visit Partner with us! Contact our host Salvatrice Cummo directly: [email protected] Want to be a guest on the show? Click to inquire about booking Find the transcript of this episode
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