 Hi everyone. I'm Cindy Bank. I'm the Associate Director of the Program Practical Policy Engagement and we're going to get started even though I know that we'll have additional students who will be joining us as they transfer from their last classes onto another Zoom. But I want to welcome everybody today and I want to thank my colleague, Merriam, who is in the background helping us with all the tech. And later, Crystal, who is just up down as our SAC chair, will be moderating the Q&As. So thank you. And just as a reminder, this is being recorded. And we're really hoping that when we get to the Q&As that everyone who's able to will turn on their screens and ask their questions or if not, you can put them in chat and Crystal will ask them. I am not going to do an introduction because Dexter's going to talk about himself, but I really want to welcome him. I have to put this out front. Dexter is basically my son from another mother and I met him when he was still an undergrad. It's quite a few years ago, but not that long ago. And I remember the first phone call I had with him. I was standing in the Rayburn cafeteria and he called me and just asked so many really delving questions until what life and work was like in DC because that's where he was coming. So he's really become a close friend, a mentor to my son, and has had an incredible career so far at a very young age and truly serving the public. And even though he's working for a for-profit company now, it's really what he's doing is really focused on the public good. And he continues even in his private life to continue in public service. So Dexter, please take it away. No, thank you, Cindy, for the kind of introduction. And I remember that conversation via phone and in person. So as I kind of go through the arc of my early career, it was not that long ago, but still some time. But I will definitely go through kind of that moment as well. I think it's relevant for today's conversation about service. But thank you all for having. It's definitely an honor and privilege to be here and speak to you all. I'm Dexter Mason. I am a proud U of M alum as well. Even though I was not in the Ford School, I definitely used to walk by the school all the time, especially going up that hill on State Street. So definitely beautiful building, beautiful space. But just a little bit more about me. I'm a native of Metro Detroit. I grew up in Girls Point right outside Detroit. I'm calling in from Detroit now, so I'm a proud Detroit resident for the last five and a half years, but grew up in Girls Point Public Schools K through 12 and then entered University of Michigan in fall 2009. I was in the School of Kinesiology Sport Management major so that major focus really on the business side of sports. And so growing up. I really had aspirations of going to the NBA. I wanted to play professional basketball, had hoop dreams, a lot of folks call it. And for me, my height and my weight allow me not to become an NBA player. I was cut from my seventh grade basketball team in middle school and my parents, you know, told me, hey, you will not be the next Michael Jordan, and that's okay. But you can own a team, you can run a team, you can work for a team. And so for me, that opened up my career outlook that I can still work in sports, but without being an athlete. And so for me, as I kind of mutilated to University of Michigan, that's why I picked U of M for the athletics, obviously the academics, but the fact that the School of Kinesiology offered a sport management program. But during that time to kind of going back to right before Michigan, my senior year in high school coincided with President Obama's historical election in 2008. And then for me being a black male and seeing the first black president being elected really had a profound effect on me for the rest of my life and into this day today. And so as I, you know, went to Michigan, wanted to work in sports on the back of my mind because of President Obama's historical election. I really wanted to find a way to intersect sports and politics. At my time on campus, I was mostly active in kind of the sport business community, I was president of the sport business association on campus. I also was a student manager for the men's basketball team. All my four years when I was on campus, my senior year in college in 2013 coincided with our final for run for the men's basketball program where ultimately lost in national championship game. And so for me it was, you know, heartbreaking loss but once again really, you know, profound impact in my life. But during that time as a theme of graduation what I want to do after graduate graduation I want to find a way to find a way to really still work in sports, but also at the same time my senior year in college was President Obama's reelection in 2012. During my four years at U of M I think President Obama came to campus three times as a commencement speaker, and also during his, his campaign and so for me once again, how can I, you know, intersect, you know, my passion for sports and politics for me I didn't believe those two I was delighted. And, and, and at that time I took no, you know, I did not take any forward classes, any classes in L SNA within the political science room. So for me I was very, very lost. And as President Obama was elected for the second time that's where I knew I want to find a way to get to DC, did not know how it didn't have a roadmap did not have any guidance. And so I was very fortunate to attend the second inauguration for President Obama in 2013 and January, and that's where I actually got a chance to meet Cindy and kind of tell me the roadmap on how to get to DC. And so I was very fortunate to attend the second inauguration for President Obama in 2013 and January, and that's where I actually got a chance to meet Cindy and kind of tell me the roadmap on how to enter, you know, enter politics, how she leverage University of Michigan network to get there there's a lot of alum that are there as well that we all know. And so, as I was graduating college I actually applied for a one one year master's program at Georgetown, it was a master's in sports management. So very similar to my academics here you have them for undergrad, but the program allowed me to get to DC. And so the program also allowed me to work or intern during the day, and all my classes in the evening so for me wow I can finally, you know, hopefully, you know find a way to intersect both of my passions interest and service and and sports. And so as I, you know, moved to get into the Georgetown program graduate you have moved to DC and fall 2013 and end up having a unpaid internship on Capitol Hill for my congressman at the time. And so as I went through my 18 month program at Georgetown I was very fortunate to intern that for Senate or for Congressman Peters at the time I intern at the NCAA in their government relations office. That was also the same time that student athletes at Northwestern University were trying to unionize to be paid. You have that conversation 2014 is definitely very interesting now now college athletes are able to, you know, make money off their like this obviously there's a very contentious conversation that I was part of back in 2014 working for the NCAA. After that experience I ended up interning for the NFL players Association, and their public policy department that NFL players association was actually the union for the NFL players, and they were actually supporting the student athletes and Northwestern at that time. So for me I was actually able to get kind of a 180 or 360 perspective of both of both sides of the issue there. My last semester of graduate school Georgetown coincided with. I was able to get the White House internship, and so this internship with President Obama I applied I think this was my fourth time applying and four time getting I applied a handful of times when I was an undergrad at Michigan applied for a couple of times in graduate school so my fourth and final time I was able to maybe do this internship I was I was had the really the privilege to actually be accepted into the program and end up interning for. Yeah, for the Obama administration fall 2014. So during that time I was interning in the office of public engagement. The person who ran that office was Valerie Jarrett who was a University of Michigan law alum. And so it was really great experience where I worked on the, on the private sector engagement team, and I was able really to understand how President Obama as administration really partnered with the private sectors, whether a Silicon Valley. The CEO small businesses, the Treasury Department, etc. In order to spur economic opportunity competitiveness, and also expand President Obama's agenda, whether it's raising the minimum wage, decrease in agenda pay gap and expanding family, you know family leave. So those are issues that were I know we're still fighting for in our society but it was really great to kind of see the, there's different ways to solve problems there's the government and also the private sector in order to work hand in hand hopefully to solve some of these societal issues. As I, you know, graduate from Georgetown that fall and ended my internship at the White White House. I was looking for a job I was looking for an opportunity, you know was really was really, you know, glad I was in DC but really trying to figure out what my next steps were. So during that time, my congressman ended up being elected to the US Senate Gary Peters, and just me, you know maintain relations with their chief of staff who was a U of M alum, and other staff members in on his staff. I was able to become one of his first staff sisters in DC. So I had to work in there for about nine 10 months on the hill and got to see Cindy all the time. My experience also was really, you know, profound that was also, I was there at the same time and only a few blocks over when Supreme Court had the ruling historical ruling of gay marriage being the land, the law of the land, and be able and having that great moment of running from our Senate offices to the Supreme Court and celebrating that historical ruling in landmark case. So during my 10 months being working for Senator Peters, I ended up actually working back at the White House in White House operations, working on large events that happened on the White House complex as a staff assistant so that that that meant events such as Pope Francis and the White House to sports teams they won championships visiting Easter egg roll. So my responsibilities are very, very generalist, but really great experience of really work with the pope, you know, having the public come to the people's house, which was the White House and really engaging with everyday Americans, and just seeing their faces when they come to the White House on different levels of engagement. The time was, you know, I was a political appointee for President Obama at that time and so I was going to be out of a job regardless who won in the 2016 election. And so as I, you know, really love my experience in public in the public sector and public service. I really miss working in sports. And so once again kind of going back to the Michigan difference and our strong alumni base throughout the whole whole campus and whole university I was able to tap back into my, you know, sport management base and get connected to a organization that was just starting at that time. It was Rise, the Ross initiative in sports for equality. It was an organization that partnered with the sports community to use the power of sports to improve race relations. It was started by Steven Ross as we all know the building right around the corner from the Ford School and so he founded this organization using the power of sports for good. And every single lead commissioner the head of eSports League was on the board of directors. And so I joined I joined that organization in July 2016. And then about a month later, Colin Kaepernick, Colin Kaepernick started started kneeling. And so we all kind of kind of saw the intersection of athletes using a platform for change, sports organizations using their platform for change and then, you know, kind of seeing that intersection and be the middle of that was really a dream job for me as we kind of talk about the beginning of my career and what I wanted to do post graduation. Of course we all know a few months after Colin Kaepernick started kneeling. President Trump was elected. And so once again we kind of saw the, the intersection and the rise of athlete activism or the resurgence or renaissance of athletes and me being in the middle of those conversations and events and all those, all those engagement for, for three years that included, you know, making sure a student athletes that you have them register to vote partnering with the Chicago Cubs on events, working with the NFL and the NBA and all these leagues and athletes on community police reform, etc. After three my three years there I actually transitioned out of rise and joined the Kresge Foundation. You know, one of your alum actually is not my successor. Christopher, the floor and so, you know, strong and strong forward for school ties there but at the Kresge Foundation Kresge is a national foundation based in Troy, Michigan so about an hour or so from Ann Arbor's campus is an organization that I think gives about the almost $300 million dollars per year in grants in order to, you know, support American cities and in the work in American cities, since 80% of the US population lives in or near a US city and so my role at Kresge I reported to the presidency of George Floyd and managing special projects for him for about two years. Obviously during that time we saw the historical 2020 election. We saw the historical 2020 with the horrific murder of George Floyd, and I was really privileged and fortunate enough to really help with Kresge designing what our racial justice package was where we gave about over, we designed an architect about $30 million going out to different grassroots organizations and organizers on racial justice on the front lines throughout American cities and a lot in Detroit as well so for me to kind of lead that project from A to Z during that time was definitely a privilege and something that I'm still tracking to this day when talking to my former colleagues there. And so now my last destination where I am today and I definitely open up the questions and I'm currently now working for my first for profit entity buzzard media company so the first time ever worked in my career. You know full time for a for profit buzzard is a technology startup is a sports media app that allows fans to sign in, put their, you know, indicate their favorite sports teams and leagues to watch and athletes to watch, and you actually get a notification click to your phone, when amazing things are going to happen in sports, when it's five minutes left tide game tune in now bodily knife any tune in now and you actually get the notification click on it and you're able to kind of see that that moment live in real time. A lot of times you you notice sports highlights is usually after a moment happens we're trying to get the moment before and so for me it kind of goes back to my ethos of working in sports and politics and social change in in public good so my role is actually leading the social impact work and deny work for buzzard. In that role, I've actually designed what is called our impact model at buzzard, we have, we committed 1% of our companies equity, our net sales, our consumer user engagement and also our employee volunteer time for social justice and economic justice. So we want to make sure that's, you know, this this work is in the core of the business, along with the DNI efforts that we have internally. We have a mentorship program that pairs over 500 mentees with mentors majority from HBC us, and a lot of other suites of engagement that we're doing, even though I am working for a for profit I'm definitely, you know, learning a lot is definitely very fast paced we're in year two of the company so very early but I'm excited that I'm here at the ground at the ground level and really building up how can startups really can, you know what the blueprint for startups you can make money and you also can do do good at the same time it's not mutually exclusive, and that's what I'm learning every day in this role. I will pause their introduction. I know it was very long but want to make sure hopefully that it provided some good context for our discussion today so thank you once again for allowing me to be here. Hey, thanks sector before I turn this over to crystal I just want to make a point of as you're going through your career. And I think for students you often hear about the Michigan difference and using your Michigan contacts. So Dexter mentioned he worked for Congressman Peters, whose chief of staff was a U of M alum at the NFL players Association, there was a U of M alum at the NCAA DC office on the assistant director there was a U of M alum. The office of public engagement at the White House was run by a U of M alum. So never underestimate the contact or never. You should always reach out, use, use your Michigan contacts. They're really incredible. Now thank you. And I got to give you credit you were the you were the foundation for that so a lot of folks you connected me with so do not underestimate Cindy bank as well. So thank you. Thanks for sharing your story I know it was really great just hearing all of the different factors that led to you pursuing different activities and like how it really impacted your journey. You know, especially with my generation our generation right there's this idea of constantly looking for the next thing and like not being afraid to try new things and so wondering if you could speak a little bit more to that of like, what was that process like to try to sort of pivot and any recommendations that you have for us as we're seeking either internships that may be in a different field and what we where we came from or pursuing jobs that are different from what our background is. Yes, really good question. I mean for me, I didn't, you know, I could not if I would have predicted even a year or two ago, I would not have been at buzzer I never thought it was a company. It was not a company at that time two years ago essentially and so for me I always take opportunities that allow me to grow personally and professionally like what am I looking for in my next chapter I know that the times where I can speak for my grandparents and even some of my aunts and uncles where they graduate high school here in Detroit worked at you know whether for their Chrysler General Motors in the plant and they work for 40 years and they retired and had a pension. I know those days unfortunately are not there and in terms of having a steady middle, you know, middle class lifestyle and so for me I just knew that I always wanted to find these a lot many grow personally as I mentioned, I knew I was not going to be an organization for the rest of my life. And so but also how can I, you know, grow in those aspects whether there's leadership growth whether it's, you know, can maybe a salary increase, whatever those challenges like I've never worked in technology before I was interested did not know about it but this was a great opportunity to explore it and you know do something I've never done before I'm now leading a social impact arm I developed the budget I developed a three year strategic plan I designed it I've never done these type of things before. I knew this opportunity was going to stretch me to places that were in a flexing muscles, discover muscles I did not have it really challenged me every single day and so as opportunities there's definitely the growth as I mentioned personally professionally, but also every role taken I always want to make sure it was like, I'm always serving in that role, I'm the company or what role I'm doing is always giving back to the communities that look like me, or they don't look like me who's not, who's not in the room who's at the table so for me, whatever I think it has always been about, you know, how to use that platform use that entity using that role for larger societal good. And that was always been the common theme, regardless is in the public or private sector. Yeah, I, I think jumping off of that last point of the wall the public sector right and even with this new program of driving partnerships and social impact, which I think it's also sort of a new field that a lot of companies are trying to expand really come bring to the forefront because this is a really important topic that I think a lot of new employees are really paying attention to and so I know you were speaking earlier of how when you were joining rise and then you know the activism was coming from athletes. And so now you're a buzzer and there's also sort of this growing field of social impact and so what is that like of sort of being on the forefront of all that and do you think, what do you think your role is in terms of also helping other others pursue that similar field. Yeah, I know I think there are these be more of us. I think that one thing I always looked at and I whether you're in a private or public sector. There's just so many ways to serve. I think that there's when you look at societal issues whether it is the student loan crisis whether it is climate change whether it is, you know racial injustice and inequity. And all these topics that we've been advocating for centuries and decades right. I think there's not a silver bull solution because there was a hopefully there would have there already would have been one. So I just noticed that it takes multiple players in order to in sectors that come together to solve these very kind of complex issues. I was very fortunate to have the experience in government and in foundation, I working at Kresge really opened a whole nother way the world of foundations major, you know, private foundations play in this in this and then also now. You know, in the in the four, you know, for the for profit. And so for me I had to ask you like how it feels I mean, for me I'm learning every single day but I really want to get more of us into this space in terms of folks who come from more I guess nonprofit government space I think that we all have a role in here and so my goal was like, as I build out my team and hire more people I want to be able to bring you know folks that come from more you know grassroots mobilizing that understand what community needs are, and be hopefully to bring that kind of that spirit into a company especially where I am now we're very early, we have 60 full time people like every person we bring really affects the culture of the organization. And so for me if I bring in more folks like that I think it might help, you know just shape the work that we're doing every single day. I'm secondly to I think a lot of these, you know, especially big tech you look at they have a lot of these charity arms whether it's Google Twitter Facebook. I think it's meta now they're called but you know they definitely have all these charity arms is which is doing great work but if you look at their board of directors they look at their senior C sweet you see their engineers is not, you know there's not a lot of women not a lot of women of color people of color in these roles. So for me yeah there's the impact side where we're like, you know, donating, drawing awareness for a lot of these great work and nonprofits but internally we don't. You know we can say black lives matter but if our board and our leadership and our team does not look like that, then there's no it's you lose instant credibility. So that's why I kind of I'm grateful I'm serving kind of the external facing social impact work but also internal leading dni as well because I want to make sure we're walking in the talk as well. And looking in the examining, you know, examining, not just our team but also we have investors and we have VC investors I'm worried about that process, you know the whole VC getting millions of dollars, you know how can we get that capital to, you know, own businesses. I'm looking how can we get more minorities be investors of buzzer so we create generational wealth, when you know when the company hopefully becomes big, whether it's going public or whatever that looks like in the future. With the fact that outcome looks like hopefully can we create generational wealth there, then we look at our board of directors as well making sure that's reflective so, and also even honestly the sports that we're offering on our app we're making sure we're highlighting women's sports we have the NBA and WNB on our app now how can we get more other sports on there, maybe highlighting more HBCUs as well in terms of getting more exposure them and other women sports those equity issues so there's a lot of things where yes there's the social impact arm but I think we could do a lot of things internally as well and I'm really grateful to have a great CEO in bohan at at buzzer who is very passionate about justice. He's really led by his spirituality in that regard and he really feels like we buzzer could be a blueprint of how starters should be created and not just having charity in this deny work 10 years after the company's been founded. Yeah, I, I appreciate you naming the the importance of the internal work right I think that's definitely. I think something that probably we have all experienced some shape or former right are seeing how it can really to your point sometimes not match what is being said and so it's exciting to hear that there's somebody like you and in that position to really drive that work forward and so that's really exciting. And I also know that the work is not easy right especially for, for people who identify sometimes as part of those communities and so I know, you know in a previous role like I was only like woman of color as well and so it's just definitely challenging of time some. And one of the questions that was submitted was, do you have feelings of burnt out related to I work, especially with such a large non non POC audience and so how do you, how do you reconcile that in terms of driving the work forward and take care of yourself. Also trying to be urgent, because to your point where we are sort of in this pivotal moment. Yeah, that's actually a really good question I'm glad you asked or whoever and you know who submitted that question is really good question I think it's something. Everybody's in these roles I think especially in 2020 kind of go back to that in the perfect murder George Floyd I mean I had so many black and brown friends who are working in corporate spaces or any entity, where like, they're not a D&I team they're working in the people operation to HR team they're working in their traditional corporate roles and then they're getting tasked to hey we need a response to, you know, to this what should we do they're going to like the black employee resource group or whatever groups they have internally. And they were those a lot of burden a lot of burnout, you know, a lot of my friends who are in these structures did not even get compensated for the additional work that's not their day day responsibility so we saw a lot of that in 2020 and even well before that but I think that was definitely important because of the events in society and yeah yeah it's definitely a balance. One thing on my girlfriends on a call as well we talk about you know self care often and really what I look in this role is honestly is it's a, you know, a blessing and not a burden I think I have a responsibility I'm in this role for a reason. I feel like you know I do try to find you know quiet time to take care of myself whether it's meditating and getting physical activity and drinking wine I love wine so in terms of there's definitely a lot of pressure there, but no it definitely could be burning out and one thing I'm really fortunate once again having a great CEO and founder and leader. I, you know, I tell him he's the chief diversity officer. Yeah I lead strategy and some execution but this is a share responsibility is not should be on one person one team. This is your responsibility, I want to make sure the strategy I laid out was that every single person at buzzard has a responsibility in driving this culture and this work forward from our engineers to our senior level to entry level people. That's something that we are advocating that's not every company's not like that unfortunately but I really think that if you are if my advice would be if anybody is having that that burden put on them hopefully they're getting compensated for that that is responsibility if not hopefully finding these spaces whether it's within your company or outside your company to take care of yourself because work is hard. It is ever it's every day and it's not it's not going to end but how can we you know, you know, Dr King said famously how can we kind of move the Ark of Justice forward right and bidding it forward toward justice right and so I that's what you know when I look back at my reflecting on my life, as long as I know I did my best that's what I, you know, I'm happy about that. Thank you for for the response and highlighted the importance of self care like definitely I think that's been a lesson for all of us during this global pandemic especially so. I appreciate that we're still in that we're still. Yeah, we're still still. Yeah. I see Maya put a question in the chat and so as someone whose career has span sectors what insights do you have about the unique challenges and opportunities that exist in each sector as they relate to advancing goals of di and social justice. And based on your experience how can these sectors best collaborate. Yeah, that's a really good question I really appreciate that question my I guess I'll start with the second question first like, as I mentioned I've worked in government now private and also foundation, I think everybody plays a different role. Obviously, I think we think you all you know being for students we all know that government is the, the, the strongest and best and most effective way to make change and effective change and impact the most people so that's always going to be the most powerful lever in the toolkit that that that we should be using by addition to that I think private sector plays a role in terms of like job creation obviously you know providing more opportunities hopefully investing back in the communities that they're in. And hopefully being you know what climate change and all these things and hopefully most companies are trying to be net zero now and I think there's responsibility since you know so many, you know companies pump out so much. There's a lot of carbon and everything admission into the to the world so I do think there's responsibility there and even you're seeing a lot of car companies a lot of emphasis on electrical vehicles to especially here in Michigan to so hopefully that provides a little more so there's a role in that we're using products every day we are getting a paycheck every day so hopefully these private sector plays a more responsible role in that effort and then foundations what I learned at the Kresge foundation which is so interesting and I did not know like a private foundation before that and it didn't understand how it worked. What crazy at least I guess be for crazy foundation crazy foundation was what we did we also we planted a lot of seeds like hey what's. This is an innovative way of looking at reinvesting in neighborhoods or looking at supporting small businesses in X city or whatever. I really thought that was very unique we're like hey what's what's kind of like use a startup mentality what's going to happen to money in this even worse get the learnings, hopefully from there, it will be enough for maybe the government to implement on a lot larger level. So I started noticing like different roles were like foundation maybe you can, you know, I think government sometimes can can't be as innovative as they want for many reasons but I think one of it is because of lack of resources being allocated where I think private foundations and private sectors can help maybe spur some of these really interesting ideas what I think are needed for example universal, you know, income. And that's been such a trend through a lot of American cities now a lot of foundations and corporations are exploring that pumping into foundations that are really working cities to study what universal, you know, income looks like and I really think based on these findings I think we all know the impact of it and the positive impact that hopefully now we have some you know solid base on this can work what scale and that's when the government comes in what's making city why it was making statewide or county wide or country wide and so that's where I kind of see all the different sectors kind of work hand in hand concretely. All right, and it challenges opportunities really quick to answer your first question Maya. I mean yeah there's definitely challenge opportunity I look at opportunities more than anything just like once again how can we problem solve and once again I don't think solving complex problem has one solution only so therefore I just really grateful that the wealth of diverse spirits I've had, hopefully allows me to kind of understand a little bit what what the other sectors doing what the right hand is doing with the left hand it really provides some some solutions for that work. Yeah, it's exciting to hear more a little bit more about the role of foundation so I know that's also I think something that not all of us are really know about so thank you for sharing that piece of you know them being part of the conversation and hopefully planting seeds for for new work or innovative work that's like really exciting to hear. So, in terms of you know the multitude of experiences you've had wondering if you can share like maybe some of the challenges or lessons learned that you've encountered so that we can hear about you know your journey as as we're beginning to continue or beginning our careers or continuing our careers and so that we can take your lessons with us. One of the challenges that we all know this change takes time. I think change takes time sometimes you don't see the fruits of your labor you might see the fruits your labor after you leave right and so that's the hardest thing I do believe you continue to like push it forward and plant the seeds I think you'll see fruits in time so I think one thing is I think just being patient being patient. I think we all want to see where we're society culture now is an instant gratification. We want to see like the work that we're doing making immediate impact we want to see the communities have been suffering for decades and centuries to, you know, be better and be more empowered and have the more resources so I guess the biggest challenge because you know every day people are struggling to find transportation or get to school get to work safely having masks like we see it every single day and it's hard we're like we're seeing these day to day things but it doesn't the problem solving is not as quick as that. And so I think that's the biggest like challenge every day have that mentality. For example, when I when I was working in philanthropy like we did grants on a monthly basis which is great we've gave a lot of money but a lot of times like I never got to see like the work like what what do we do with the grant money I never got a chance to really see that many grantees and you know the impact of our investment and just seeing what they're doing we're really so far removed from that work. When I worked at you know at the White House or Capitol Hill that's you're kind of an ivory tower in the sense you're on the hill and you think the whole world around or revolves around DC which is not true. One kind of quick thing we're kind of from from a perspective base I remember when I did move back from DC to Detroit and that was summer 2016 so obviously it was a heat of a historical election between Senator Clinton and at that time you know, Donald Trump and to be candid with you living in DC I live in New York for a little bit I lived in Ann Arbor and so for me I was in a bubble. I did not I thought it was a can I know, you know, this is a safe space and audience I thought it was a joke that you know Trump was running, I didn't think it was a real like I didn't ever it was a real thing I literally, you know in DC we all laughed about it with the happy hours played bingo games about it and I didn't realize how real wasn't I move back to Michigan saw abundance of people over where I grew up in girls point to different communities in a metro area and I did not realize that. And so for me I think that's the number thing what I learned the most is that like perspective to yeah I lived in a lot of bubbles and it was kind of an ivory tower in the sense of being able to learn more and continue doing my career is making sure that with the communities that were I'm trying to serve and helping uplift. Not just by myself but just in the roles I'm in, I'm you know, trying to really understand and hear and learn what their needs are what's going on and not kind of live in this, you know, kind of elite bubble that I was on at Michigan on campus to be in Michigan and even being at, you know, Kresge even buzzer now so my thing is I kind of get myself out of that bubble and have better perspective. Thank you for for sharing that and for also highlighting how impactful, I think like that election was for so many of us and I, I definitely agree that you're not alone and you know, how that just, you know that candidacy played out as a result of that election. I know, came from classmates I was also a big factor for why they came back to graduate school like okay I want to join the fight now I want to be part of, you know, serving the public and so I know you were serving now you're sort of not with the foundations and now you're in the for profit sector and so any advice or words of wisdom for for students who are considering joining the public sector right to going and going for office and because we know that we are in a reckoning moment right now, how important it is to your point of diversifying also the elected decisions. Yeah, you're saying advice for going to the public sector. I know you entered into the White House for a couple of years and so like speaking more to that experience. Yeah, I know I definitely advice I mean I think just being patient, I do think government experience and I know Cindy really taught me that when our first phone call almost 2012 so about 10 years ago now to almost to the date. Exactly, which is crazy 10 years ago but that conversation I think public sector experience is the best experience I think it like it helps in terms of like problem solving and being complex and serving others I really believe like anybody I always like when people do I when I talk to students like undergrad students that are thinking about DC should I make the jump or working in Lansing or whatever your state capital is or even your cities like working locally here in Detroit and the mayor's office or city council might yes yes yes I always believe government work is probably the most challenging yet rewarding experience. Yes it's a tough I really feel like I always take a lot of lessons from my time as an intern on the hill to working full time on the hill to internally at the White House and working full time at the White House. I take a lot of those experiences to this day and also relationships I built you're in an environment where everybody there is part of the fight. We're all kind of like in the struggle together but I really think you know it's a powerful experience. Those are some of the best friends I've made working in the public sector where I still I taught to and every single day even I had not been in the government in about five years. So, yes, anybody wants to make the jump please do at some point in your life that's a huge endorsement. And last thing that yeah we definitely need more, you know, public official better elected officials obviously I think we all know that as well. We all know the importance on all levels of government so. Dexter, speaking about getting like being in public. Um, can you share a little bit about the experience I've got with the exact program you were part of the bipartisan leadership program so in case we have students are going to stay in Michigan. About that program and what you took away from that it's a go ahead and let you talk. Oh yeah no yeah thank you for bringing that up I was going to think about public yeah about running for office but yeah. Michigan State I know it's unfortunately is the other other school. No Michigan State does have a great program called the Michigan little Michigan political leadership program MPLP. I think I'm not sure Gabby went through I know the first speaker but I know a lot of friends and a lot of civic leaders here in Detroit gone through this program. As Cindy talked about it's bipartisan so it's 24 people in the cohort, I think it's 12, it's 12 Democrats 12 Republicans, it might be a mix of independence as well but they do group and from all over the state of Michigan. So you folks that are kind of representing Metro Detroit and more the urban areas to folks that are more rural Michigan as well so they put you in this program where once a month you go to a different part of Michigan Grand Rapids Kalamazoo. It's really up north of places I've never been to before, and you go through to kind of like this leadership development and really supposed to train us to run for public office in the future. So you learn about how to, you know do media training, how you build out your own campaign, your campaign plan messaging fundraising so it was a really great experience where, and then also like they're putting people together that really you would never think, you know would be hopefully to go through this, trying to really promote more bipartisanship. And I actually made some really great friends from the program like that are, maybe not, you know, I agree with on every political ideology but some really great people who have been elected are since then in their hometowns And that's why that program actually gave me more hope about our future in our country and leaders when there's programs like that where, yeah they might not be identify as as identify but I know that they're working as hard as they can to make the country better in their own way so I'm definitely very encouraged I definitely think they are staying in Michigan to apply for Michigan political leadership program in PLP, like I said you meet once a month. And I was, I was in 2019 I was the last class before the pandemic. I think they did virtual last year I think this year they're trying to do like a hybrid so I'm not sure but really great program, definitely a lot of Michigan alumni have gone through that and it's okay you're not at Michigan State campus that much so you're definitely different parts but it was really really great experience and highly recommended. I hadn't even heard about program so yeah thanks Cindy. So I know right now. You know there's a lot of activity happening even even in sports and I know that sort of you know your area of expertise and so what are there like any topics or certain movements that you think are going to be become really relevant. There's like some talk with you know the Beijing Olympics and you know the the World Cup and so like any any themes there or any topics that maybe we should begin thinking about as we're thinking more about this. The role to your point right up like di and social impact and corporate responsibility. Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up. I mean historically it's always so funny where people say like you know kind of shop and shop and dribble. That was a famous quote you know I forgot her name on the journals his name on Fox News you said that in relation to LeBron James during his advocacy over the last several years but I always say sports and politics are intertwined they're always going to be I mean we say, you know, people say the national anthem before games so I think already right there right is political in itself in terms of I mean you always go back to even back in the early 20th century with Jesse Owens in the Berlin Olympics and kind of, you know, protesting against Hitler at that time and we saw the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City with John Carlos and, you know, kind of raising in the fist you always are going to have that intersection sports a very powerful, you know, thing for change and also for leveling or putting more issues on the forefront through that platform for example as you mentioned crystal the Beijing Olympics the fact that we're, you know, we're, you know the US is protesting the government we're not bringing any, you know, anybody from US delegation are not going to attend these games so that they even shows there another kind of level like that's our kind of process and using sports for that. So long story short I always feel like there's always going to be from an international level to a local level to statewide nationwide sports are always going to be kind of that that pillar whether to show economic and political power and dominance to advocate for change I mean for example kind of going back to the Beijing Olympics 2008 when they hosted the summer Olympics that was a big deal for China. So we're using the Olympics to show that hey we are a world power as well where a world economic power political power we're going to show the world. And so that was one of the major things where that's why you lie these countries that are emerging or you know country like Brazil, etc. A lot of these countries, brick countries in particular India Brazil, China, etc. So these games to show certain, you know, power that they're trying to exert doesn't, I'm not sure if it's true behind the currents as we all know but it shows there one thing I'm kind of looking forward to moving forward it's like as these conversations always happen. I really just hope there's more diversity in terms of like ownership and leadership in sports. And now in the National Football League, they had a suite of firing of coaches goes into the season and now there's only one black coach in NFL out of all 32 teams, the NFL is 70% black terms of players, but only one black head coach. There is only one black team president, there are zero black owners. And so those were I think where the real change needs to happen it kind of goes back to my ethos at buzzard yes you can do a lot of this great social impact work giving money to the athletes but look at your ownership look at your leadership and your house is not an order, you know, in house like that for me is just lip service it is this another charity arm. If you want to make real change hopefully there's more leadership in terms of diversity, especially in women's sports, etc. to so it's just, yes I do hopefully see the trend where there's this more ownership there but now what I love seeing to from a college athlete side is that college athletes are now able to make money off their image and likeness and name. So they're getting more, you know, finally some equity in some standpoint there where a lot of these universities are making billions of dollars off the bodies of black and brown athletes. And so I'm glad that there's some empowerment there and then also professional athletes like LeBron James and a lot of our great women athletes are now really becoming owner part owners of teams. They're making, you know, a lot of millions of dollars and owning their own content, owning their own companies investing in companies, taking equity instead of just endorsing hey no I want ownership of this company to. I do not just want to just be in a commercial and get paid X amount for I know I want to grow as a company grows I want to create generational wealth to. So for example at buzzard we do have a handful like we have Naomi Osaka as an investor of ours. So we definitely have a lot of folks who are you know big names big household names that are invested in our company and we want to bring more of that diversity into the fold. That's, that's super excited to hear that you have those big name investors and yeah I that that piece of generational wealth really stood out to me as well and I know how important that is especially given the high income inequality that we have in this country unfortunately and so it's. I think you're totally right that there is sort of this bigger trend and movement right of of individuals knowing that like pushing for what what they're worth and the work that they're creating right like to your point right like student athletes like driving so much attention and money to to their campuses and so I think you're totally right. And I'm losing my trouble. I was curious about the, the role I guess of like the consumer when it comes to sports right I know there was also sort of a lot of pressure that led to like changing the NFL, some of the NFL names right or like. And so how do you think right like our role is within that and what can we do to like better maybe organize replace pressure where where there needs to be. Yeah that's I'm glad you brought that up to something I didn't think about or forgot to mention but yeah you see now like there's the baseball team in Cleveland now in the in the football team in Washington and it's about about time right it's been it's been time is about time I'm glad that those names are no longer there but no I think a lot of it to be fully candid with you. I think there's a lot of power a lot of it's driven by act economics, I think people forget in the day I think when I was falling more the Washington football team they're you know their name now. A lot of those live their corporate partners were saying you need to change the name. It was their corporate partners we were going to stop we're not going to be sponsored the company. If you don't change your name so in the day yes like so whether from the consumer side to corporate side so there's roles once again that can us as consumers are with our purchasing power. And the black community how many person how much person power we have billions and billions are so many studies on that already and so, and then also real corporate society that there's role there's role we all can play to put pressure on on these issues. We have the power like not show up. So I think a lot of it. We can, we can, that's a conversation the other day about the role capital, the impact of capitalism in our society but right now we do live in a capital society and so therefore we do know that money and power that drives a lot of decision making so therefore as a result. We saw the name change right before really quickly before I joined this conversation I was listening to a podcast with Bob Iger who's a former CEO and chairman of Disney. He talked about a little bit of that some decision making and candidly like it's good business to make sure you have more diverse, you know, voices and amplifying more diverse voices into the to the forefront he talked about the high I mean they're most successful film, you know, still was Black Panther. And so just talking about like they almost, you know, said they have based on data. We probably shouldn't green light of that but no we knew that it was powerful to have more diversity in terms of, you know, representation and all those things and it provided more economic opportunities so my point is that yeah there's definitely a role there too so thank you for bringing that up. Yeah. I know I really enjoyed hearing all of your answers and so I think that my last question was picking really similar to your answer just now I was wondering if you had any like book or podcast or recommendations for us so so that we can continue being informed about all of these important issues and so that that would be my last question and then No perfect no I guess in terms of books or anything I guess for this talk there's so many books I think coming from this topic one book I read my parents gave me I think I was almost in middle school so really young was called million dollar slaves. It was by a former New York Times columnist bill wrote in but he talks about candidly how the dynamics between owners and players and how it's kind of a modern day plantation. I mean that kind of like people can disagree agree how that is because the athletes are making millions of dollars but there is a lot of, you know, a lot of similarities and for me just open my eyes more and I was 13 when I read it so million dollar slaves that came out I think in 2003 the books I was a little bit outdated but I would love for him to write like a 2.0 version based on the recent efforts of Nami Osaka, Coward Kaepernick kind of scene where those are but so those are probably that's like the major thing I just finished reading Will Smith's memoir actually called Will so totally not sports related but a very, very, very good read I'm a big fresh Prince of Bel Air Will Smith fans so it's very vulnerable book about his life and relationships and it's really powerful so her to get audio book to because in his voice so for another kind of lighthearted just a random book I just finished that earlier this week so really powerful. Thanks so much for those recommendations I'll I'll for sure check those out and thanks to them for just engaging in this conversation. Thank you. I'll pass it over to Cindy. Thank you. Thank you, Crystal you did a great job moderating the questions and asking questions and Dexter. Thank you. I think one of the things that really comes out clearly and I would encourage all students as you're looking for job is follow your passion. Yes, and a lot of time at work. So follow something you're passionate about and you'll you may find those passions and places you never thought or being able to work on the issues you care about in air at places that you never thought we're working on them. So, Dexter, again, thank you. Thank you. Oh, I really appreciate it. Yeah. Our next young leaders in public services scheduled for February 23. We may do one before that but it's going to be with Eugene King, who also is a former Obama White House special assistant, but he's now working for an advisory company and the thing that's interesting is there's actually he's mentioned in a story in this week's Michigan Daily. When he was an undergrad he actually ran for city council. Yeah, and he only lost by 95 votes. I do know that story. I've definitely heard of sorry that's right. Yeah. Right, right. So, and I know Eugene's really excited to come talk to him for that. No, but thank you all for having me even I'm not afford a 40 I think you all call it. I'm always a big advocate. So, but thank you all for having me as a privilege honor and go blue. So thank you. You're a Wolverine. I have to tell you so you were the coach or you were a student coach when I'm john B line was coach. And when he spoke here one time he told us a story that he'd always bring recruits and he they write up on golf carts and come up and they point to the Ford building and say hey do you know who that Ford schools named after he was sort of testing them. He's a big history guy too. He's a big history. Unfortunately, many of them said Henry Ford but then he had to make sure that they knew it was Gerald. And I was I talked to I was talking to Andrew Andy B line the other day as well I know it was a 40 as well so we talked the other day actually so. Well, thank you. Thank you all have a good one take care. Thank you. Bye bye.