 Welcome for those of you who are joining right on the start of the hour. We are with Andrea Samson, who's been kind enough to join us for a second event after last week's Art of Impact speech presentation. We're also joined by my colleagues, Eli and Ann, who will be on the chat as well, supporting this event. So if you see Ann or hear Ann, she's with TechSoup on this project. Thanks for joining us for office hours. You can kick us off in whatever way you feel is right for the time, and let's use the time however you see fit. Great, wonderful. Thank you for having me back, and it was so much fun working with the team last week, and I'm excited for today. And what I thought we could do as we get in, and I know people are still arriving, so we can maybe just start with some questions. And once we get some people in, we can maybe do a little exercise, because I know so many people had questions last week about the idea framework, the story spine, how to put those things together. So I would love to be able to do that with the group that comes today. So go ahead and add your questions to the chat. And anything that, and again, Ann, maybe you and I, because we've worked together, maybe we can talk a little bit about the effectiveness of some of the tools that we've talked about, the talk canvas itself, which is a powerful tool, but inside of that talk canvas is the idea framework and the story spines. When we were working together, I know the idea framework was something that was new to you and just even the idea of building an idea. So maybe from your perspective, you can talk about what it was like to actually build that and how it impacted the way in which you gave talks going forward from there. Yeah, I think the biggest change that I noticed from using your tools was this shift from me being what I would consider, and maybe you disagree, a decent public speaker with great knowledge and ideas, but they didn't flow and they didn't fit together and they didn't create this big overarching storyline that kind of helped people walk with me from the very beginning to the very end. And so it's as opposed to getting up and viewing sacks at my audience, which I did a lot of, this was the tools really helped me to turn that into a big idea narratives and what's the really, what's the big piece I want the audience to get across to the audience by the end of my talk and then how do you weave them through a story that brings them along that journey in a really compelling way? So I think that was the biggest change for me. And I think it really took my storytelling from maybe a 75 to a 90. I think that was, it was really helpful. Thank you for that. I appreciate that. And yeah, I would agree. I watched you, like I said, you were a good, you were always a good presenter. Even I think there were many times when you really were, did a great job on stage, but it was that takeaway that was always the challenge. It was, you had so much packed into a short period of time. And I think that was the thing that we really were able to address well with the work that we did together. And I'm working right now with a couple of people and I had, I was working with an investment advisor out of Hong Kong yesterday. And it was interesting because we're working on building his pitch. And it was one of the things that as we were chatting and going through his pitch that suddenly something occurred to him. And I may have said it or not said it, but what he said was, oh, that idea is my, it's my North Star. It gives me something to hang on to. It allows me to have something to go back to when I get lost in my story. And so I know where I'm going with my story. And I think that, that is exactly what it is. When we build an idea first and understand what it is we want our audience to get, it allows us to create that very North Star that brings you back and equally as important your audience back to that key takeaway. And I think that's key. I've actually used that element of my speech when I lose my place and I'm on stage and I forget what I'm supposed to say next. And then I'll just be like, Hey, what's the big picture of this? Oh yeah. And that's why actually going to help us achieve this great North Star and it buys me like 10 seconds to get myself back to where I'm supposed to be. I'm wondering if we maybe want to have, if anyone would want to talk about their organization and maybe give just a quick one liner about what their organization does and we might be able to help you tell your story a little bit differently. Is anyone interested in? Yeah, maybe we can build an idea first and then maybe we can build a story around it. Does anyone want to do some work together? I can do that. Who's right? I'm sorry, my name is Charisma Cannon. I'm with an organization out of Chicago called Shoe Heels. We provide new shoes to people in need. Wonderful. Thank you. So I wanted, I'd like to incorporate and I haven't done any public speaking yet but we are getting ready to fundraise in the spring for Shoe Mobile. And so I know with the Shoe Mobile I'll be pitching and I'll need to tell people the story of how I came about giving new shoes and things of that nature. So I like to intertwine my personal story of how I came about the organization also with the need of why people need access to new pairs and why people in need need access to new pairs of shoes. Okay. Hey, you're dipping your toe in the water of English speaking. I am, I will be. So I'm trying to get it out together because I've talked before, not in front of a big crowd, but just when talking to a few people or whatever, I realize I'm all over the place. So I'm like, okay, what's the narrative? What am I trying to get across and why are shoes so important? Okay. So I'm just gonna share my screen quickly so you guys can all see the framework. And what we're gonna do, Charisma, is we're gonna actually go through building out your core idea. So that way you've got that, what we've just been talking about, which is make sure that you guys, nope, that's not what I want you to see. Ha, ha, ha. Well done. That's my screensaver with my daughter and her partner. They're very cute. Not really what you guys wanted to see. There we go. Let me do that again. Try that again. All right, share screen. There we are. There you go. Okay. So what we're gonna do, this is the North Star that we've just been talking about. So let's build the what, how, why for you Charisma. So let's start off with the topic. So your area is, what did you say, it was shoes for what? We provide new shoes to people in need to restore their confidence, dignity and hope, to empower them to walk forward on the path, to stability and wellbeing. Okay. So from a what standpoint, so from a context, is it about, so your what could be, restoring confidence to those in need, your what could be providing support through shoes, like that could be something about shoes. So your what can be a couple of different things because you're a charity, so you are in fact supporting people, but you're also working with their mental health and confidence and you're also providing an actual physical product, which is shoes. So in your mind, what is your what? What is the thing you want to contextualize for the audience to be able to know what you're gonna be talking about? Your how is gonna be the unique thing you do, just know that's gonna come. You don't have to put everything into the what. The what is just the context or the concept. Okay. So I think in terms of in doing the work, we'd see a lot of stuff. And when I was founding the organization or just researching to see if something like this was needed, I would go into social service agencies and see that people were donating shoes that were just deplorable. And so with that, I saw around the city of Chicago that shoes were the least donated item. Like people would donate their coats. They give these great coats, these toys, they do food drives, they do all this stuff, but they would never give a great pair of shoes. So really our what is like, how do people in need get access to a great pair of shoes that they need to walk forward into? I really see an element of dignity coming in through there is like the dignity that comes from restoring dignity. Yeah, those in need. Cause shoes are such a fundamental piece of that, right? We don't have shoes, I agree. I think, Chris, my head is, so because again, the what is not gonna be your whole story. It's actually the context for people. I think the shoes piece, what you just described might be your how. So if we were to say today, I'm gonna talk to you about how you can contribute to restoring dignity to those in need. Okay. How does that? No, we definitely can do that. I just made that like the second thing because in doing the work, I see that people really do need access to a new pair of shoes. They really need access to shoes. And because they have different foot ailments, they can't wear anybody else's shoe. They have to have a shoe of their own because their foot is wide or they have, they just walk a lot. And so they need something with comfort. So often the shoes that people donate are not, so good and are not appropriate. That's what I should say. They're not appropriate for the people that we give shoes to. So it's really a need for them to have like comfortable, durable, stylish pairs of new shoes. Like the foundation for everything else in their life. It's like the foundation for everything else. So I always am all over the board. I'm with my story and then I come in about shoes and I wanna tell every little detail to try to reel somebody in. And then I think I overwhelm myself because I'm just talking too much. I'm just writing, sorry, if I'm looking down, it's because I'm writing as you're talking. I think I agree with Andrea around the shoes and the how. I think that that's gonna be the second part. So I, okay, actually that's actually part of the why. So today I'm gonna talk to you about restoring dignity to those in need and I'll show you that what is it you're gonna show me? So if that's our opening, I want you to finish the sentence because now we're getting into the unique point. It is driven by what it is you do. It's how you're activating. So how are you restoring dignity to those in need? We're giving them the unsunctional, first of all, quality, stylish new pairs of shoes. So you said functional, stylish. What was the other one? Functional, stylish, quality, durable new pairs of shoes. So today I'm gonna talk to you about restoring dignity to those in need and I'll show you that when we provide functional, stylish, quality and durable shoes to them, they are able to what? Walk forward to change their life, their situations for themselves, their families and ultimately their communities. What were the three, so it was the say it again? So we're giving them new shoes to restore their dignity for them to walk forward into a future where they into a bright future for themselves, their families and ultimately their communities. So we want them to change their life for themselves, their families and then be able to contribute to their communities. That's really pretty, I like that. Yeah. Okay, so today I'm gonna talk to you about restoring dignity to those in needs and I'll show you that by providing functional, stylish, quality and durable shoes, they are able to hold their head high and become a functional part of society for themselves, for their family and enabling them to contribute to their community. Yes. I think I worked a little better on my car but yeah, that's the gist of it. Okay, so go ahead. I want you to say it now in your own words because what I've just given you is a raw setup. It's the basis underneath your idea and I've said it in a very literal and not very sexy way, but how would you say it? So I would say today I wanna show you how we can transform the confidence, the self-esteem, the dignity, the hope of a person through a functional, durable, quality, stylish new pair of shoes so that they can ultimately walk into the world self-assured, ready to make a change for themselves, their families and ultimately within their communities. Wow, now how did that feel saying that? It felt good. Yeah, that was fantastic. Now do you see how easy it is? If somebody says to you, what is it you do? You've got an answer, right? You've got a quick answer. Now you'll unpack that, right? Because the reality is that there's a lot in that and that they'll people will be like, what do you mean about giving them shoes? And then you can go into that or how does that restore dignity? And then you can go into that. But by having it so succinct, now it gives you a startage to what it is. That's what it is. I love it. And now if you want, we can build a little story around it. Okay. Because remember what the story spine does is it holds your idea in the middle of it, right? Like it holds it right here, as you can see. So what we do is you might have a story of perhaps somebody who you've helped and you would start off with this person and maybe that's it or maybe it's a story of yourself. Maybe this was something that you came to realize. Now, when we tell our own story, it's really powerful because we align to the need, but it doesn't have to be your story. It can be the story of somebody who you've served. Do you want to try it? Yeah, okay. Do you want me to incorporate my story? Well, whatever. So whether it's your story or someone you've served. So let's go through the elements first and we'll just, we'll get the elements out and then we'll tell it as a story. So I'm going to ask you some questions, which will help you to formulate the story because we're going to do it. We're going to use the story spine. What we're going to do is we're going to go through these first four elements of the story spine. We know what we're leading to. You've got your core idea, right? So you know that what you're leading to is this concept of restoring dignity to those in need by giving them quality, durable, stylish and functional shoes so that they can become a functioning part of society for themselves, their family and their community. That's what we're leading to. So we want the story to lead to that, right? So we want to leave some little clues along the way. The audience won't know that's what you're leading to but what you're doing is you're almost foreshadowing that idea. Make sense? Yes. Okay, good. All right, so let's start with the environment. So think about whatever story you want to tell. Now tell me, where is this story taking place? Tell me, let's go into some detail here. Okay, we'll go back to 2008 in Atlanta. And where are you in Atlanta specifically? Are you in a house? Are you in a... Yes, I was in a house. Yeah. Okay. In a house, it was at a rental. Was it, did you own it? I owned it, yep. Okay. Okay. And tell me, so you're inside of this house, where are you? You're in the living room and you're in bedroom, where are you? Where's the story taking place? In the bedroom. Okay. Okay, and is the house tidy? Is it messy? Tell me a little bit about it. It's tidy. Okay, tidy, okay. And all right, and what time of day is it? Night time. Night time, okay. You getting ready for bed? I'm in bed. Okay. Great. Perfect. All right, now, who are the characters in this story? Me. Okay. Anyone else? Sorry, God. Yep. Okay, so tell us about you. So give us a little backstory on you. So I'm laying in bed and I had just lost everything. My job, my car, my home, unemployment ran out, exhausted my 401K, and I'm just really in bed. But then at God, like how do you do everything that society tells you to do to be successful and you just pull everything from me like a rug, like you're pulling a rug from under a table? What do you want me to do? How do you want me to reclaim my life? So I was really going through my own crisis of confidence. I think you've given us a little on you, but you've also given us the issue, right? The issue here is that you've lost everything and you're in a moment of crisis of confidence. Yes. Okay. I don't know how to get myself back together. I don't know how to get back on my feet. I don't know what to do. Okay. Now, what happens? What is the raising of the stakes? What is the and then moment? In my spirit, something said, give away new shoes. And I was like, I'm not giving away any shoes. I don't have a pair of shoes. How am I gonna help somebody else get a new pair of shoes? I'm not doing that. And it just stuck with me. And then I started doing research to see if something like this was needed, which is how I found out that shoes are the least donated item. Like people will give you their coats, their food, their clothes, their toys, all this other stuff before they'll give you their shoes. There's even some research behind why people don't give their shoes away. All right. I'm gonna tell you your story and I'm gonna put your idea in it. And then I'm gonna get you to do the same thing. I'll do it first so you can hear it and then you put it into your own words. Make sense? Oh boy. Okay, great. All right. So I'm gonna speak as if I'm you, although I certainly don't have the beautiful accent that you do, so I will apologize. My Canadian accent might be a little flat. Okay. So there I am. It's 2008. I'm living in Atlanta. I'm living in my home that I own and it's the last thing that I have. I'd lost everything. My job, my savings, everything is gone. And I'm lying in bed one night, praying for guidance because I am at the end of my rope. I don't know what to do. I can't seem to find a job. I'm feeling lost. I feel like I've done all the right things. I feel like my life has been a good one. I've really followed rules. And yet here I am in my small bedroom, in my beautiful home in Atlanta, Georgia, praying for support. And in that moment, in that crisis of confidence, I hear a voice in my head saying, give away shoes. And I'm thinking, give away shoes. What a subtle idea. Why would anyone give away shoes? I was praying for support and I'm not gonna ignore these little signs because maybe it was actually the voice of God. I don't know, but maybe it was. And so the next morning I get up and I can't shake this. So I go on the computer and I start doing a bit of research and one of the things I find out is that shoes are the least donated item. And in understanding that, I started to understand that shoes represent a form of dignity for people. When we see people who are barefoot and they're a form of identity and we see people who are barefoot, we feel bad for them or we think that there must be something wrong with them, we judge them. And yet we don't know their stories. And so this idea of give away shoes stayed with me. Now my situation wasn't getting any better but I was actually really intrigued. So I started, I decided I was gonna give away one pair of shoes and I felt better. And it was funny because I wasn't trying to make myself feel better, but I did. And what I started to learn from that simple exercise is that when we focus on others, when we look at what others need and we do that, we restore dignity to those in need. And in doing so, we can actually help ourselves because when we restore dignity to those in need, we're able to help them become a functional part of society for themselves, their family and the communities within which they live. And we can also help ourselves do the same. Now the way in which I did that was to start a foundation that provides functional, stylish, quality and durable shoes to those in need because we learned that in fact, it does restore dignity. And so today, what we're looking for is a way to get you involved in our cause. So you just heard me do that. How did it sound for you? Andrea, let me tell you, I just told the guy I was like, this is gold. I am like going to really, I can't do it now because what you just, it was just like amazing. But I am going to use this to formulate my own story because like I said, we're going to fundraise for Humobile. And that story right there or how you're telling it and then I can just, we get for myself, we'll definitely pull people in to understand the importance of shoes. Great. And just before we go, because I'm sure there might be some other people who want to do this. But Chris, the one thing that I would say is as I was building that story for you, what was missing is what happened for you because I think what we needed and it was where I struggled was what was the point at which so you were at the end of your rope, what happened for you? And how did we wait to actually get out of that clit of destitute and crisis of faith? So did the giving away of shoes actually help you? I made a little bit of something up that it actually helped you but that's the piece because that's going to be pivotal for you when you're building this is that you went from this moment of having nothing into hearing this divine intervention of giveaway shoes and then what? So just think about that because I think that's your actual tension point is did you give away shoes and suddenly you got a job? Or because sometimes these crazy correlations happen that like we had no idea that if we did this crazy thing something else would happen and there's no, there's nothing that says one correlated to the other but of course in some way we know that they did. Okay, I like that because then that's how you bring it full circle. That's right. Okay, got it, got it. Oh my gosh, you are amazing. Thanks for being our first playmate here. Who else wants to play with me? This is fun stuff and it's good stuff. So anyone? Good stuff. Yeah. Hi, my name is Emily. Okay, Emily, go ahead. Tell me, let's start off, let's go back and we'll start with your what, how, why. Tell me a little bit about what it is you do, why you do it, just talk. I'm going to make some notes as you talk and then we'll come back and look at what I've taken away from what you've said and we'll try and put it into an idea. Awesome, cool. We, our tagline is that we connect classrooms to careers. Okay, we empower teachers by connecting them directly with industry professionals and helping them translate their learnings from those industry professionals back to the classroom. Teachers have only ever been teachers in their lives. They've only ever worked in schools and schools operate entirely than the rest of the world. Yet they're trying to prepare these students for careers that they know that nothing about. I think that one of the challenges is that we don't do direct to students. And I think in the past, some of our messages have gotten like a little bit confused in that way and talking about the impact direct to students. Our ultimate goal is to change those students but we are not directly like working with the students if that makes sense. Yeah, so it sounded to me like what it is you're doing is you're creating educational programs that connect education to industry. Yeah, and then your how, tell me again what it is you're doing with teachers. We connect them directly with industry professionals. So what I like to say is I don't teach anybody. I just put smart people together in a room, have them talk and learn from each other. So teachers get to connect directly with people in these various careers, talk to them about their jobs, what is from them, and then they write a lesson plan, coached, guided by our coaches to bring this to translate this information back to the classroom. Okay, what happens? Okay, so I'm gonna say it back to you. So today I'm gonna talk to you about building educational programs that connect education to industry. And we do this by connecting. I think that was changed by, sorry, I would say it by teachers to industry. So let me just finish and then we can come back. Okay, so today I'm gonna talk to you about building educational programs that connect. So today I'm gonna talk to you about connecting education to industry. And I'll show you that when we connect teachers to industry professionals, they understand the real world needs of today. And when we do this, what happens? Their lessons are much more authentic. Their kids get to now start to learn the skills and concepts needed for these various careers. And then their students are aware that these careers even exist. I think one of that, for example, we work with a company called Genentech, which is a big biotech company in the Bay Area, among many others, but a place like Genentech, everybody looks from the outside and assumes that everybody is standing in front of a lab bench and pipetting all day because it's a biotech company, right? So of course everybody's pipetting, but no, that's not true. It's only 90% of their careers that are actually doing that. The rest of the people are basically like in various elements communicating the science in some way, either internally or externally. But that is totally hidden to us, to teachers and to students. So if a kid does not see themselves standing in front of a lab bench and pipetting all day, they do not see a job for them at a place like Genentech. And that is true for every one of those big tech companies. So let me say it to you again. Yes, today I'm gonna talk to you about connecting the importance of connecting education to industry. And I'll show you that when we connect teachers to industry professionals, so they can understand the real world needs of today, we are able to prepare students to choose and train for careers that are being shaped in real time, so they create or so they contribute to a future or something like that. I'm not... Yeah, we used to fail the next generation preparing the next generation of innovators. I think my concern with that is that the direct to student thing. The thing is we're not doing that, but that's what the teachers are doing, right? That's the outcome. Cause the thing is you don't have to be the ones doing it. In fact, you shouldn't be the ones doing it. That's what the teacher's job is. But in your idea, students have to be a part of it because they are the recipients for everything you're doing, right? So it's the importance of connecting education to industry. So that's high level and really what we're talking about is the future of education, right? So you could even say, like you're what could be the future of education, but I personally like the importance of connecting education to industry as you're what. And then your how is connecting, and really what you're doing is creating an ecosystem where teachers and industry professionals connect regularly. So the teachers are able to understand the career needs that are today and tomorrow. Sorry, I'm just gonna... I like that. I like the ecosystem. That's good. Yeah. I'm wondering about is the connecting the education with industry more of the how is the what more like preparing students for meaningful careers or something, or like changing the education system to prepare students for meaningful careers? Could be. I like the second that you said and the changing the education system because my fear is like again, that implying that we are doing direct to students, right? And I'm coming from the caveat that like everybody wants to do direct to students, especially like these big companies. Students are cute. They can get these cute little pictures of these kids like pipetting all day, right? And like adults, teachers, they're not cute. They're cool. But like the scale that we can have, and I think this is part of the thing that I always say as well, the scale that we can have by impacting one teacher, each individual teacher reaches 150 students per school year. Yeah, there's something like about that systemic level of change that I think is gonna be a powerful message for particularly like major donors that understand that sort of level. Yeah, I like the systemic, yeah. We also talk about how parents are the number one, influence in a child's career sort of decisions and teachers are number two. But if you think about students who are coming from underserved communities where their parents don't have those connections, teachers are a huge importance to make those connections more explicit and help prepare them, that's where I don't have good words. Yeah, I think you're now getting into the body, like when you start bringing in teachers, because really what you're doing, so I just made some more notes. So the what is creating an educational system that keeps up with the rate of change, with the rate of, you might even say industry rate of change. And then now is creating an ecosystem of teachers and industry professionals that builds understanding and awareness of the career needs of today and tomorrow. And why? So that students are able to choose and train for careers, careers that where there are jobs. I like that career needs, and you said that before, I wrote about what teachers are doing, their understanding the career needs of today is in tomorrow, and students are able to train for careers that are evolving quickly, or careers that don't exist, quite frankly. Like a dynamic career ecosystem, or like something like that. Yeah, for the dynamically changing career needs. Yeah, that's nice. I like that. Needs of tomorrow, because that's actually what's going on, right? On the one hand, teachers need to understand what the needs of today and tomorrow are, but students are actually going to be training for the needs of tomorrow, not of today. So they need both. So I'll say that to you again. So today I'm going to talk to you about creating a systemic approach that connects a systemic approach to education that addresses the exponential changing environment we're living in, and the way that we're going to do that is by creating an ecosystem of teachers and industry professionals who connect and address the real world needs that industry has today and tomorrow, and that are coming tomorrow, so that teachers are able to work with their students to enable them to train for and choose dynamically changing career needs that will be required in the future. Is it complicated? It is, because you actually are doing something that is complicated, but remember when you're doing this, and you just heard me do it with Charisma, is that this statement, now, and right now, look, we've just cobbled it together, I would work on this and work on this to simplify it a little bit, but the reality is when you're trying to get everything you do down into one sentence, there is going to be complexity, and it's going to be dense, right? It's going to have a lot in there, but what it does is it intrigues, and that's what you want it to do. You want somebody to go, oh, tell me more, how are you doing that? What do you mean an ecosystem? How can you know what a dynamically changing career is? So you're using words that are descriptive in and of themselves. They are, if I heard that statement, I might mostly know what it means, but I might not specifically know what it means, and so that's where you want them to engage with you. And when you're doing this, what it's allowing you to do is to now look at the way in which you're describing everything and you come back to it. Like we said, it's a North Star for you. So the what, you're really addressing a systemic approach to education to address dynamically changing careers. And you go, oh, okay, if that's what we're doing, what programs are we offering for that? We have, how are we building this ecosystem? Do we have a feedback loop in place? It's not just an idea that you use potentially in a talk. It's actually something that helps you as a filter for everything you're doing, because now you're looking at it through the lens of what's the context that we're in, the how, what is it we deliver to the people we serve, which are teachers, and what happens when we deliver that to teachers, that's the students, right? That's the outcome. It allows you to really look at your business in a little bit of a different way, more clear, more succinct, and probably without the noise, because that's actually what we're trying to do is to take the noise out of this. Does that make sense? Yes, yeah, totally. As we've been talking, do you want to try to put it in your own words? I think I need to write it down and work with it before I can do that. I feel like I can't do it off the top of my head, but yes, I do. I will. Yeah, and the good news is that there is a transcript of our call today. So everything that we've just said is now in a transcript. So the other question that I had actually was, last week I was on and I listened to your story part and I guess my question was like, what is my story? And I guess I feel like I have so, we have so many stories. We have so many that have existed since 1985. And so we've got ridiculous numbers of stories, ridiculous numbers of students that have been impacted. Do I choose one teacher and talk about what their normal life as a teacher is? And you have no time to prepare, you're just running from class to class, you've got 150 kids on your docket, you've got complaints coming, compare it's left and right, you've got like, this is the normal life of a teacher, you go home and you got a plan for tomorrow and you got to grade your lesson plates tonight, you got no time to think. And then we take them out of their context and break all of those things, put them in a boardroom at Amazon, sitting amongst all of these super powerful tech professionals, is that the story? So I don't know, Andrea, I have a thought on this that I'm curious what you think about, where for me, I would tell the story of the students and say Bobby was always interested in science, but maybe just wasn't, this is bad, but wasn't good enough to pipette at the bench or something. But what was so special about Bobby is his teacher had this incredible impact on his life, kind of she had gone to this Amazon thing and then come back to like Bobby is now the CFO at Genentech because he realized that his skills in math could be applied to his passion in science or something. Yeah, I think you can come at it both ways. I love the idea of coming at it through the lens of the student. And I think in this case, I usually don't say this, but because what we're talking about is future, if you have a student who you can take that through, great, but if you don't, you could make up something. You could create the fictional story of the, and in fact, take a real person, somebody who probably a bad example, but I've just read the biography is, let's say Elon Musk, okay, bad example, but let's just pretend it's not a bad example. And here's young Elon sitting in the classroom bored silly because he's a brilliant mind and he's being taught what the internet is because that's what's on their docket for that day. And Elon, like his classmates, could actually teach this teacher what the internet is. They don't need to be taught what the internet is or what it's capable of. And it's a wasted day of his time and the teacher's time quite frankly. But Elon, actually his next class he goes into is with a teacher who maybe had gone to this is what I've been looking for. Had been learning about AI. And that teacher didn't talk about the internet, but in fact talked about, told them stories that started with Isaac Asimov and the three rules of robotics and then took them into 2001, a space odyssey and then took them to a place of organizations that were actually delving into these things. And Elon was absolutely transfixed. And from that, Elon went on to begin to study. And so now we're telling this story through him and through what it was. And you can weave in again, like I just brought in a couple of sci-fi references. Why? Because we know that actually that has influenced. And of course when we're teaching children, we want things that are stories. And so you can build the story that may not be specifically true, but it's generally true because it's exactly. We definitely have stories. We definitely retract down on students. We've gone through our teachers have tracked down students and stuff like, yeah, I think I could probably. And I think for you, the other thing is to talk about in weaving that story, one of the things that you would want to actually put in there is that something around the fact that industry and education have not been connected ever. And that has been one of the biggest detriments to education and to industry. And it's what is actually leading to the demise of the educational system right now. That helpful? Yes, super helpful. Awesome. Thank you, Andrea. Thank you, Ann, as well. No problem. I think Regina was the next person who was up. Yeah, it's me, Regina Ripi. Yeah. Hi. Hi, how are you? Good. You want to tell your what, how, why? And we will try and work through something with you or do you have a different question? No, I'm looking for that opportunity. My name is Gina Ripi. I'm the founder of Okendo United Foundation. What I'm going to show you is how we connect the US and Kenya to on-power orphans and mattressed children using our core values of love, love, give, and connect to support them with education, food, nothing shelter, and learning from it. So Okendo is a Swahili word that means love. 20 years ago, I arrived in the US with two children, one luggage and $100. And in 2008, I received a call from Kenya during the political crashes where children were orphaned and abandoned at a church. And I was asked by my sister, would you be willing to support one child? That began my journey of supporting orphans and atreus children with food, clothing, shelter, and medical until 2019 when I had a vision to do more during the COVID. And that led to the founding of Okendo United Foundation where we are supporting 165 children. One of the things that we do from the US is you send them notes, papers, feminine cards, and books, and also computers to be able to out-power them. Right now, we have 165 that we are impacting. So far, we have built computer courses. Can I just jump in? I'm trying to get the gist of it. So you're connecting. So basically, you are supporting Kenyan orphans so that they're, so I just want to make sure that I'm correct in that. Is that the purpose of your organization? Yes. I support orphans and atreus children. And the way you do that is by you're working with, so you're getting support from the US for those orphans. Is that correct? So let's start off. So this is about raising, this is about supporting orphans in Kenya. So today, I'm going to talk to you about the importance of supporting orphaned children in Kenya. Is that correct? Yes. And how are you doing that? What is a unique about the way in which you're doing it that no one else is doing or no one else has thought of? Or it's the reason that you do what you do. What is the unique way in which you are coming at supporting orphaned children in Kenya? One of the big things is connect. So we are able to connect people in the US. And if they have talent, gifts, or in-kind donation, that they no longer, I believe it's in-kind, that they no longer need to be supported orphans. We have two individuals who are using skills, computer skills, to teach the children in Kenya as well. So you're using a skills-based approach? Is that so like you're doing? I'll say skills and gifts. Because one is like finding and give something that you're like commented on, the motor I come to you. Sorry, I didn't hear that. I'll say we use gifts and skills. It could be education or artificial. It could be input at the top of the motor. If I get it, it's a good gift. Sorry, you're cutting in and out. It's really hard to understand. Are you saying the gifts are like, skills could be something like computer skills, but are gifts actual gifts in kind? Like I'm giving, I might give clothes or I might give shoes. Or are gifts, the gifts that I've been given a talent that I have? Both. So it could be in-kind donation or it could be you have a talent or skill or a gift that you're not very talented with that you can use to impact the children. Okay. And so you've set up, it sounds like orphanages in Kenya for these orphan children. And you're looking for US citizens to help by offering a gift of their skills or of items that can help those children to thrive. Correct. Okay. And when you get that, what happens? Why is that important? A good example we have, our Vivo is teaching the kids computers from home. And these kids have never even touched a computer. We were lucky to be able to go with her and she's continue to teach them. So that's both it is important and creating awareness for these kids of technology. Our goal is to continue firing with skills so that eventually we can have skills that we can be able to create income for themselves. Okay. So it's so that they can become self-sufficient so they can be trained and become self-sufficient. So I'll just say it to you in our little framework. So today I'm gonna talk to you about the importance of supporting orphan children in Kenya. And I'll show you that when you offer your gifts of skills or items, you are able to help these young children learn the necessary skills and gain the confidence to become self-sufficient later in life. Is that what you're looking for? Now for me, I feel like, I feel like there's a couple of things missing here because right away as I hear that, the first thing I ask is, are you funded? Because that right away, right now we're talking about skills and gifts, but where's your funding coming from? So I wonder, is it more about supporting, is it about supporting orphan children or is it about educating, is it about an education or is it about providing, I think it's educations? Because support leads me to money. I think I missed one. So on the question of funding, yes, we do have a funding from Microsoft, both finance and resources. On the second portion, we do not just do education, but we also provide food, shelter, clothing, and medical aid. But all of that is funded through Microsoft so that you're not looking for... We are looking for funding. You are looking for funding. Yes, I see. Okay, I'll go back so that maybe I can be able to explain. So what I've done is create a story for each program, for education program, to make it equal so that it's not overwhelming, if that makes sense. Yes, but you need the overarching. And I think that's so, I think, and what I'm looking for here because there are a lot of programs out there that are focused on helping, sort of supporting, and certainly when it comes to orphans in other countries, there are programs out there. So what I'm trying to tease out of yours is what would make somebody listen to this and say, I need to do this one versus maybe somebody else. What is it about yours that's unique or different or provides something in the new way that is empowering for somebody? Thank you. So one of the greater, yeah, go ahead. I get what you thought. So what we do is, like when I say we provide food, so we ensure that we're able to grow food. So instead of using money to buy food, we literally grow food. So that would be a learning how to grow food and also seeing them pound it. But it comes to the question again, is we are starting from the Bible to the adult. They have skills over. We deal with the feeding portion as well. We have a livestock project, so we're able to get our own milk, eggs, and meat. So what we have on the Bible, we've got people. Got it. So we use that money for the food from the people. I just want to jump in and acknowledge we're at the top of the hour. So if anyone needs to hop off, we just want to say thanks for coming and Eli will pop in sort of any resources or further information into the chat that you might need. Yeah. So I think what I'm hearing you say, and we'll finish with you and I guess, and I think what I'm hearing you say, this isn't about your what isn't about supporting orphans. It's actually about creating a self-sufficient ecosystem and your how is so that those in need can take care of themselves, right? So it's like you're creating this ecosystem and so what you're looking for is support of the ecosystem and it ultimately creates us, it creates confidence and self-sufficiency amongst those who have that need, specifically these orphans. I think that's actually a really important distinction for you because if what you're doing is talking about orphaned children in Kenya, the challenge with that is that you're not differentiating on anything other than country because they're, and again, and not to be disparaging at all, I'm just trying to find what's the place that you differentiate. It's that there are a lot of asks out there for orphaned children. So what we want is to create something that makes what you're talking about even more compelling because you've got a better solution. You're not just giving money, what you're doing is you're teaching and training and building and creating a self-sufficient ecosystem. So I think when you start off, it's about today I'm gonna talk to you about the importance of creating community that is self-sufficient and I'll show you that when we help each other, when we help those in Kenya to learn, when we help orphans in Kenya, learn how to be part of a self-sufficient ecosystem through gifts of money, time, resources and goods. What we're doing is we're building insurance into the future that those who are at need have a place to go and don't have to depend on the system to save them. That's not a great, it was lots of stumbles and not quite there, but I think you're showing you get the idea. Do you, does that make sense? Yeah, yes. One thing that I use, because even like that you say boo, we think of putting them in blank, we upcycled them by equipping them in libraries, right? So I like that. Yeah. So I think I'm gonna look into it. Yeah, I was gonna say, I think community is a really important word for you, building a self-sustaining community that, and then you can go into the way you do that, but that I think is what you're talking about. Good. All right, and I guess I'll hand it back to you as our moderator today and let you maybe do a little bit of a wrap up. Sure, thanks so much Andrea for everything today. Really great concepts and hopefully everyone will be able to go home and think about those in their own context and their own nonprofits. And if you wanna attend any more of these sessions, TechSoup is putting on, is it four more? I think it's four more, all about kind of nonprofit, web three, how to connect with technology and get your story out there in the future. And Billy and Eli from the TechSoup team will have info on how to access those sessions, but we wanna thank you all for joining us today. Billy, any last things from the TechSoup side? Thank you so much Ann and thank you so much Andrea. For those of you who joined us, thank you for your time. Stay tuned in your inbox for the recording and more details about our event schedule. So we will have those in your inbox. On behalf of everyone, TechSoup, thanks so much for your support. And we look forward to your feedback and seeing you at the next events. Thanks again, Andrea and thanks Ann. Thanks to everyone. And I do just wanna remind people if you do want the handout that we gave out, it is, I believe that the link has been dropped into the replay and the frameworks that I've taken you through and that we were using today are in that. And so hopefully that will be helpful for you ongoing. And one last thing before we jump, Andrea, is there a place people can reach you if they care to engage you in your services? Of course, absolutely. They can email me at Andrea at TalkBoutique and also check out, we're actually doing a masterclass later today. If you go to my LinkedIn profile, you can find it there. And we have, of course, the Thought Leader Academy, which many people join as a way to continue doing exactly what we were doing today, which is practicing and learning from each other and doing a pure connect. So join us either at today's masterclass or the Thought Leader Academy or email me at Andrea at TalkBoutique.com. Awesome, thank you so much again, Andrea. So good to see you. Thanks so much.