Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to woke F Daily with
Speaker 1: me your girl, Danielle Moody recording from the Long Island Bunker.
Speaker 1: You know, I often say to you that you need
Speaker 1: to take a break so that you do not have
Speaker 1: a breakdown. And with all of the compacted crises that
Speaker 1: we are dealing with at this time and making the
Speaker 1: march to midterms, there never seems like the right time
Speaker 1: to take a break. But I say that you have
Speaker 1: to make that time. And so for me, dear friends
Speaker 1: here on woke F, I am going to be taking
Speaker 1: a much needed vacation so that I can rest and
Speaker 1: recharge as we head into what I believe is going
Speaker 1: to be one of the craziest falls we've ever seen.
Speaker 1: I have left you with eight amazing episodes that we
Speaker 1: have recorded back in twenty twenty one with some of
Speaker 1: the most thoughtful, engaging and insightful commentary that looks at
Speaker 1: our politics, our spiritual nature, our emotional well being, and
Speaker 1: a look inside frankly with some of the guests that
Speaker 1: we are bringing to all of you. These conversations have
Speaker 1: been heard by our amazing Patreon supporters who get video
Speaker 1: episodes every single day. Because of their belief and financial
Speaker 1: support of woke F throughout the years, and so I'm
Speaker 1: really excited to bring all of you across all the
Speaker 1: platforms that you listen to woke F daily on these
Speaker 1: episodes and these interviews that I think will be enticing
Speaker 1: to all of you. They hit on all of the
Speaker 1: major topics that we consistently discuss here on woke F,
Speaker 1: from racism to gender inequality, to police misconduct to wealth inequality,
Speaker 1: which my God, and the need and the need and
Speaker 1: the need upmost for spiritual connection and wellness practices that
Speaker 1: allow us to successfully maneuver all of the things that
Speaker 1: have been thrown at us over the past couple of years.
Speaker 1: And so, friends, while I will be out from the show,
Speaker 1: I will not be out of sight for the next
Speaker 1: several days, and so you can continue to follow me
Speaker 1: on Instagram and on Twitter at D two Cents, D
Speaker 1: E two c E n TF. Of course, I will
Speaker 1: be dropping in with my two cents and you can
Speaker 1: check me out on TikTok, where I'm sure certain that
Speaker 1: I will drop a few videos in the next couple
Speaker 1: of days, and there you can find me at Danielle
Speaker 1: Moody Underscore. I hope that you all enjoy these next
Speaker 1: fantastic episodes that we have. Do drop your thoughts in
Speaker 1: the comments section, do hit me up in the socials.
Speaker 1: Just don't draw my attention to anything that is terrible
Speaker 1: because I'm taking a break from the news. But dear friends,
Speaker 1: I really do hope that you enjoy these next eight
Speaker 1: episodes and I will see you with brand new episodes
Speaker 1: after Labor Day. It's no secret that the news is
Speaker 1: horsepill hard to swallow. Thankfully, there's The Bituation Room podcast
Speaker 1: hosted by comedian and commentator Francesca free Er and Tini
Speaker 1: for a lighter take on the heavy stuff. Each week,
Speaker 1: The Bituation Room brings you progressive comedians, experts, and activists
Speaker 1: to break down the issues in a way that won't
Speaker 1: just leave you crying under a weighted blanket. Get The
Speaker 1: Bituation Room on Apple Podcasts, Scotify, Stitcher and streaming on
Speaker 1: YouTube and Twitch. Hey, I'm David Plots of Slaves. Political
Speaker 1: Gabfest another election season accelerates. It can be tricky to
Speaker 1: sort through all the noise and the news. Each week
Speaker 1: on the gap Fest, John Dickerson, Emily Bathlona and I
Speaker 1: decipher the headlines break down the races and tell you
Speaker 1: what issues really matter. We do not always agree, We
Speaker 1: definitely do not always agree, but we always deliver thoughtful
Speaker 1: debate and we always have a good time. So subscribe
Speaker 1: to Slates Political Gapfest new episodes every Thursday, folks. I
Speaker 1: am so excited to be joined on woke FFI daily
Speaker 1: with the newly anointed CEO of Girls Who Code, doctor
Speaker 1: Terica Barrett. Welcome to woke f and congratulations on your
Speaker 1: new position. You were co of Girls Who Code, which
Speaker 1: is an international organization dedicated to connecting young girls two
Speaker 1: computer skills to technology and giving them the ability to
Speaker 1: succeed in the twenty first century in an area that
Speaker 1: is largely dominated still by men and mostly white men
Speaker 1: and boys. Tell us about what it means to take
Speaker 1: on this role at this time, in the midst of
Speaker 1: a pandemic, when we are at the height of remote
Speaker 1: learning essentially everywhere, not just in this country in the
Speaker 1: United States, but your organization globally represents girls around the world.
Speaker 1: This is a situation that we're dealing with globally. What
Speaker 1: does this undertaking mean to you at this particular moment, Danielle, First,
Speaker 1: thank you for your wonderful introduction. Your excitement is infectious
Speaker 1: and I can't tell you how energized I am to
Speaker 1: be stepping into this role of CEO at Girls who Code.
Speaker 1: Everything you're saying about what this moment represents is true
Speaker 1: and for me, you know, COVID has really laid bear
Speaker 1: the inequities that so many of our girls and our women,
Speaker 1: especially our girls and women of color, are facing, both
Speaker 1: in school and in the workplace. You know, as a
Speaker 1: lifelong educator and equity advocate, and as someone who's helped
Speaker 1: lead Girls who Code now for the past five years.
Speaker 1: As challenging as this past year has been with the
Speaker 1: layers of inequity, I also feel energized to build on
Speaker 1: this incredible foundation that Rushma has laid to close this
Speaker 1: widening gender gap in tech. You know, as you pointed out,
Speaker 1: a space that is typically you know, white, male dominated,
Speaker 1: and we have worked so hard over close to nine
Speaker 1: years now to build this incredible movement of girls and
Speaker 1: women who now see a path forward in tech. And
Speaker 1: as CEO stepping into this seat, it is my job
Speaker 1: to harness that movement and really expand and extend the
Speaker 1: pipeline so that more girls and women and especially girls
Speaker 1: and women of color, have opportunity. And you know, it
Speaker 1: means tangible things like tripling the number of after school
Speaker 1: clubs that we launch over the next few years. It
Speaker 1: also means launching workforce development programs and mentorship programs so
Speaker 1: that our young women know that we're going to support
Speaker 1: them as they move into the workforce. We know that
Speaker 1: as bad as things are now, tech is still going
Speaker 1: to be central to the job markets recovery, and we
Speaker 1: can't have our girls and women, especially our girls and
Speaker 1: women of color, being left out when these opportunities present.
Speaker 1: So this moment is dire, it is urgent, and as
Speaker 1: I step into this seat, I want to make sure
Speaker 1: that our most marginalized girls, the ones who've dropped out
Speaker 1: of remote learning opportunities, that we are paying attention to
Speaker 1: them and supporting them in our work moving forward. You know,
Speaker 1: let's talk about that for a minute, the fact that
Speaker 1: young girls are dropping out of learning. You know, UNICEF
Speaker 1: estimates that we're looking at roughly twenty million secondary school
Speaker 1: age girls around the globe, around twenty million dropping out
Speaker 1: of school because of the pandemic. We hear reports in
Speaker 1: the United States with at least two million women dropping
Speaker 1: out of the workforce because of the pandemic. Why do
Speaker 1: you think that this is affecting girls and women more
Speaker 1: so than it is any other demographic And what is
Speaker 1: Girls who Code doing in order to stemmy this, to
Speaker 1: stop it from happening, or at least bring attention to
Speaker 1: the fact that it is happening. Yeah, Danielle, I'm so
Speaker 1: grateful for that question. You know, if we think about it,
Speaker 1: our girls and young women are the caregivers. They're the
Speaker 1: ones who are often turned to in families to support,
Speaker 1: to take care of siblings, to take care of parents.
Speaker 1: It's also connected to the culture shift that Girls who
Speaker 1: Code has been so committed to changing. We know that
Speaker 1: when you think about a computer program or a coder,
Speaker 1: you don't think of a girl. They're often not encouraged
Speaker 1: by parents, by peers, by teachers. Our education system doesn't
Speaker 1: it's not set up to funnel them into these opportunities.
Speaker 1: So in this moment, I find that our girls and
Speaker 1: young women are the burden bearers. They're the ones who
Speaker 1: are spoking in and doing all of this work. And
Speaker 1: we know what's happening to young women with children. They've
Speaker 1: had to step out of the workforce to support families
Speaker 1: ed girls who code. The way that we think about
Speaker 1: this urgent issue is to make sure that all the
Speaker 1: programming that we design and that we launched contemplates the
Speaker 1: needs and challenges that our girls are facing. So, for example,
Speaker 1: we would run typically a seven week summer immersion program.
Speaker 1: We shifted that with COVID to a two week program.
Speaker 1: We surveyed our girls. We checked on what they needed.
Speaker 1: Were they taking care of loved ones, did they have
Speaker 1: to do, you know, get earned money on the side,
Speaker 1: Did they have a computer? Did they have access to internet?
Speaker 1: We have to make sure that we are asking our
Speaker 1: girls what they need, but that we are also planting
Speaker 1: seeds of hope and remembering that as much as we're
Speaker 1: talking about learning loss in one breath and disengagement and marginalization,
Speaker 1: we know that our girls are going to be the
Speaker 1: key to what gets transformed in this world. You know, passionate,
Speaker 1: ambitious and diverse young women are going to change our workforce.
Speaker 1: So we have to continue to invest in them, and
Speaker 1: so at Girls who Code, our programming is very much
Speaker 1: designed to support them in spite of the burdens that
Speaker 1: they're facing in this moment with COVID. You know, I
Speaker 1: we oftentimes you don't deal with things until we until
Speaker 1: we're in crisis, and the reality is, you know, I
Speaker 1: was just speaking with New York City MARYL candidate Maya
Speaker 1: Wiley earlier this week, and in our conversation talking about
Speaker 1: New York City Public Schools, who you and I both
Speaker 1: worked for at one time, the largest school district in
Speaker 1: the country, she I said to her, you know, we
Speaker 1: knew years ago that these communities didn't have broadband. We
Speaker 1: knew years ago that they didn't have the access to technology,
Speaker 1: let alone the devices that we're going to set them
Speaker 1: up for where we are now with remote learning. But
Speaker 1: we did nothing. You know, we continue to create pandemic
Speaker 1: on top of crises, on top of pandemic on top
Speaker 1: of crisis, as if we're layering some type of lasagna,
Speaker 1: and the reality is that we have the tools right
Speaker 1: and the awareness to fix it. Why don't we tackle
Speaker 1: these things on the front end. You think that's such
Speaker 1: a good question you had me when you set a lasagna.
Speaker 1: I've nothing to do with Danielle. I mean, that is
Speaker 1: an important question, but I would say that very often.
Speaker 1: You know, inequity is complex, and you know, people deal
Speaker 1: with what's in front of them. When you think about
Speaker 1: this digital divide that you said has been here forever,
Speaker 1: that is true. We've always known it, but we decide
Speaker 1: to pay attention to other the gaps in schools or
Speaker 1: other things. And now we're recognizing, like, oh, we wonder
Speaker 1: why our black and brown kids were never succeeding in
Speaker 1: school when they would go home and they couldn't Google
Speaker 1: search up the answer to their homework, just like these
Speaker 1: other kids who had access to high speed internet. So
Speaker 1: it's really laid bare the inequities in a really stark way.
Speaker 1: I'm hopeful though that the steps that are being taken
Speaker 1: now to level the playing field. I think it's something
Speaker 1: like over a third of you know, black and Latino
Speaker 1: students don't have access to computers, you know, and high
Speaker 1: speed internet, and we know that twelve million students don't
Speaker 1: have access to high speed internet overall. This is the
Speaker 1: moment to not only sort of bridge that gap, but
Speaker 1: go a step further. We have to take the learnings
Speaker 1: that are positive in this moment around learning and digital
Speaker 1: and the ways in which some kids have been given
Speaker 1: some different kinds of engagement and opportunity and we have
Speaker 1: to build on that and do even more. I wish
Speaker 1: I knew why folks didn't act on some of these things.
Speaker 1: But let's be honest. Racism is real inequity of pop
Speaker 1: and very often it becomes a hierarchy of needs and
Speaker 1: it's a it's a messed up hierarchy. It shouldn't be,
Speaker 1: you know this. Instead of that, I would say, access
Speaker 1: to high speed internet is a human right. You cannot
Speaker 1: succeed in society without it, and so I'm hopeful that
Speaker 1: it's a complete paradigm shift that we're looking at moving forward.
Speaker 1: You know, one of the questions that I wanted to
Speaker 1: ask you and next was about that, because I think
Speaker 1: you know what I talk about on woke app is
Speaker 1: that there are lots of opportunities that you can see
Speaker 1: in obstacles right if you were looking for them. There
Speaker 1: are lots of lessons and learnings that we can take
Speaker 1: from the last year of living in this pandemic of
Speaker 1: having to shift our lives in such a way right
Speaker 1: and adapt into a situation that is completely abnormal and
Speaker 1: foreign to us, like remote learning. And I think about
Speaker 1: the challenges that teachers have, that parents have, and caregivers
Speaker 1: have in this moment, not only to take care of
Speaker 1: the emotional well being of children right as you're explaining
Speaker 1: this moment to them, but also their academic needs. What
Speaker 1: are some of the things that you think that we
Speaker 1: should take from this moment, take from the last year
Speaker 1: of remote learning, of innovation, building the plane while we're
Speaker 1: flying it, that we should take with us as we
Speaker 1: move forward in our education because to me, honestly, our
Speaker 1: education system has been very stagnant. It has not adapted
Speaker 1: to the ways in which we are working and living.
Speaker 1: Right we're still operating as if we're living in the
Speaker 1: twentieth century as it pertains to our education, even in
Speaker 1: just the timing the time that school starts right and
Speaker 1: the time that it ends. So what are some of
Speaker 1: the things that you were seeing the girls who code
Speaker 1: is seeing that we said, you know what, this obstacle
Speaker 1: presented this opportunity and we should dig more into this.
Speaker 1: I love that question, and I'm proud that there are
Speaker 1: educators you being a former educator yourself, who are really
Speaker 1: actively thinking about this. Let's be honest, you know, I
Speaker 1: would say a lot of folks kicking and screaming, had
Speaker 1: to figure out how to teach kids in this moment,
Speaker 1: And the good news is that we're never ever going
Speaker 1: to go back to what you describe, which is some archaic,
Speaker 1: antiquated way of thinking about things. At Girls who Code.
Speaker 1: What it did for us is that it really broke
Speaker 1: down the geographical barriers, especially with our summer immersion program,
Speaker 1: which was in person girls going on field trips in
Speaker 1: corporate partner spaces. All of a sudden, we could say
Speaker 1: to ourselves, what would it mean to reach even more
Speaker 1: girls than ever before? And we did. We would typically
Speaker 1: register sixteen hundred girls, and then this past summer we
Speaker 1: register five thousand and most diverse groups. Also quote already
Speaker 1: half of the girls we serve our black latins low income.
Speaker 1: But here we were these rich, diverse classrooms that we
Speaker 1: were able to assemble because of geographical boundaries broke down.
Speaker 1: And I think every educator has to think about that
Speaker 1: in a very similar way. Why is it that some
Speaker 1: schools offer ap computer science and some don't. All of
Speaker 1: a sudden, with online learning, we realize you don't have
Speaker 1: to do it that way. Why would you deny any
Speaker 1: child access to advanced coursework? So I would say things
Speaker 1: like that, how you group students in terms of levels
Speaker 1: and all these things. Leverage the technology for equity, leverage
Speaker 1: the technology for access. There are so many ways in
Speaker 1: which that we can learn from this moment. So I'm
Speaker 1: hopeful that folks continue to push themselves and think outside
Speaker 1: the box. I really love that question. You know. One
Speaker 1: of the problems too that we are seeing is, aside
Speaker 1: from the fact that millions of Americans have lost their jobs, right,
Speaker 1: that young people that our college age are trying to
Speaker 1: figure out now how they navigate one uh their higher education,
Speaker 1: but with the understanding that there may not be a
Speaker 1: job on the other side. Right, And this is this
Speaker 1: has been a problem that we've had, We've been facing
Speaker 1: on multiple fronts. It's why we talk about debt relief.
Speaker 1: It's why we you know, why we talk about the
Speaker 1: fact that one should not have to go into debt
Speaker 1: in order to get a higher education. One of the
Speaker 1: surveys that you all have done in the spring, in
Speaker 1: surveying your alumni is recognizing that thirty percent of those
Speaker 1: have either lost jobs or lost opportunities and internships. And
Speaker 1: we know that those are what set us up for
Speaker 1: the future. Right, These internships and these opportunities, the exposure
Speaker 1: or what allow us to really have fine success. So,
Speaker 1: how how is Girls who Code navigating that space? Understanding
Speaker 1: that in many ways that the job market has shrunk. Right,
Speaker 1: we know that we've been losing various industries. You're in
Speaker 1: a space where you're you're in the expanded space, but
Speaker 1: even still right focusing on technology, they have still seen
Speaker 1: loss in their ability to advance their academic careers. How
Speaker 1: are you meeting that challenge? Thank you, As you were talking,
Speaker 1: before I even knew you were going to cite our statistic,
Speaker 1: I was going to say thirty percent our young women.
Speaker 1: It is so stark. The minute that we heard it,
Speaker 1: we had to jump into action and think about what
Speaker 1: we could do. I mentioned the fact that we are
Speaker 1: deeply committed to workforce. We have over eighty thousand college
Speaker 1: age alums that we have talked to code at Girls
Speaker 1: who Code, and we recognize that supporting that group and
Speaker 1: entering the tech workforce and thriving is our agenda. And
Speaker 1: so among the things we did, we launched Girls who
Speaker 1: Code Talks, a talk series to just begin to especially
Speaker 1: our young women at the beginning of the pandemic who
Speaker 1: hadn't even visited colleges at that point, how did we
Speaker 1: bring the information to them? And again the survey, we
Speaker 1: ask them what are you experiencing? And then we immediately
Speaker 1: go back as a team and say what can we
Speaker 1: do as an organization in this moment? And we have
Speaker 1: you know, a number of generous corporate partners that we
Speaker 1: work with, and we immediately said, what do we need
Speaker 1: to do with you? How do you change this moment
Speaker 1: for our young women who need this desperately, And we're
Speaker 1: proud to say that, you know, when job opportunities evaporated
Speaker 1: and internships evaporated, we said, you know what, let's step
Speaker 1: into this gap and have a hiring summit. We have
Speaker 1: over eight hundred girls participate, you know, just off the gate.
Speaker 1: We also decided to launch a work prep program pilot
Speaker 1: that we're doing right now because what you said is true.
Speaker 1: It's those experiences, those social networks, getting your feet wet,
Speaker 1: understanding the culture and what's happening at these companies that
Speaker 1: allows our young women to feel confident to also make connections.
Speaker 1: We know that things have to change on the culture side.
Speaker 1: That's a whole other conversation in terms of what's happening,
Speaker 1: you know, at tech companies and other companies, but we
Speaker 1: want to make sure that our young women feel supported,
Speaker 1: and so we're making we're providing that connective tissue for them,
Speaker 1: especially in a moment when jobs have evaporated and internships
Speaker 1: that have evaporated. I can't say that we've figured it
Speaker 1: all out, but we are so deeply committed to this
Speaker 1: that we think that these pilots are the beginning of
Speaker 1: deeper work that we're going to do as an organization
Speaker 1: moving forward. And as CEO, I am so committed and
Speaker 1: passionate about this issue because I think it's the thing
Speaker 1: that's going to allow us to continue to have the
Speaker 1: kind of impact we've had in serving over three hundred
Speaker 1: thousand girls with our programming. This is the next frontier
Speaker 1: for girls who code, making sure we get them into
Speaker 1: the tech industry and that they actually stay there. You know,
Speaker 1: I've had the good fortune of being an advisor over
Speaker 1: the last I think five to six years with Lesbians
Speaker 1: Who Tech and Allies and as Lesbians who Tech works
Speaker 1: to integrate the tech industry in a space where queer
Speaker 1: women can see themselves and essentially create a culture or
Speaker 1: be a part of a culture where they can bring
Speaker 1: their full selves in what are some of the I guess,
Speaker 1: the skills, the counseling that you provide for these girls.
Speaker 1: That isn't just about how you learn how to code,
Speaker 1: but I mean a lot of this, like we were
Speaker 1: saying before we started, is also about code switching, which
Speaker 1: we know that black and brown girls have to do
Speaker 1: more so than their white counterpart and peers. And that
Speaker 1: there isn't It isn't just enough that we know the
Speaker 1: ins and outs of the job, but it's also knowing
Speaker 1: enough of how to navigate a culture that doesn't actually
Speaker 1: want us to show up as our full selves. And
Speaker 1: so how do you how do you educate your girls
Speaker 1: about that so that they stay in they stay in
Speaker 1: this they stay in the workforce, and stay in this industry.
Speaker 1: You know, I love that question, Danielle. And you know,
Speaker 1: we did a study with Accenture where we've learned that
Speaker 1: I think it's fifty percent of women who enter the
Speaker 1: tech workforce actually leave within their first five years, which
Speaker 1: is hard to believe in As you said, when you
Speaker 1: think about women of color, queer women of color in
Speaker 1: a space that is not designed for them, not welcoming,
Speaker 1: we think our anchors and really exist in the way
Speaker 1: that we just approach the work at girls who code,
Speaker 1: So we're not just teaching, as you said, computer science.
Speaker 1: We're teaching girls to lead and to thrive in that
Speaker 1: tech workforce. And so much of that is knowing who
Speaker 1: they are. If you think about our curriculum, and of course,
Speaker 1: the coding is great. Girls build robots, they know, they
Speaker 1: design websites, they do all of this stuff. But guess
Speaker 1: what the secret sauce is. It's the sisterhood. It's the brave, if,
Speaker 1: the resilience, and that we create programs where they understand
Speaker 1: they're showing up as their full selves every day that
Speaker 1: they do either a seven week intensive or a two
Speaker 1: week intensive. And I'm proud to say that the projects
Speaker 1: that we have at the end are things like where
Speaker 1: do you climb black haircare products? What's going on? Oh yeah?
Speaker 1: They sure yes snatch up their projects and say, okay,
Speaker 1: I need this for myself. But they're the ones solving
Speaker 1: problems like bullying, racism, discrimination, because guess what, girls and
Speaker 1: especially our girls of color, know what's ahead of us
Speaker 1: and the challenges that are going to make this world
Speaker 1: a better place, and so they bring that spirit into
Speaker 1: how they enter the tech workforce and listen, it's not enough.
Speaker 1: We know that the tech industry needs a culture reset,
Speaker 1: but we continue as an organization to hold feet to
Speaker 1: the fire in terms of honest and candid conversations with
Speaker 1: our corporate partners and anyone who will listen. And we're
Speaker 1: so grateful for platforms like this one, Danielle. But we're
Speaker 1: also making sure on the other side that our girls
Speaker 1: and young women understand who they are and who they
Speaker 1: will continue to be because they add such tremendous value.
Speaker 1: And it's the industry that needs to change, not our
Speaker 1: girls and young women, and we're committed to making sure
Speaker 1: they know that. I love that. I love that you
Speaker 1: say that it's the industry that needs to change and
Speaker 1: not your girls. You know, last question that I have
Speaker 1: for you is really with regard to the fact that
Speaker 1: you're a working mom, right, And we started this conversation
Speaker 1: saying that, you know, two million women have left the
Speaker 1: workforce and probably by the time that COVID is all
Speaker 1: said and done, there will be probably millions more. What
Speaker 1: advice do you offer to women, I mean, especially you're
Speaker 1: taking on this extraordinary role at this extraordinary time in
Speaker 1: our country and our history in our world. What advice
Speaker 1: do you have to women that, frankly, you know, I
Speaker 1: can't imagine because I don't have kids, but I see
Speaker 1: how difficult it has been, how how hard the struggle
Speaker 1: has been. What advice do you have for women that
Speaker 1: feel like they're they're hanging on by a thread right now,
Speaker 1: that they're trying to do both and they're trying to
Speaker 1: be the mother, the partner, you know, the good worker,
Speaker 1: all of these hats that women are forced to wear
Speaker 1: right now. And I just think you know, whether or
Speaker 1: not you hang up a zoom and have a breakdown
Speaker 1: like the rest of us, I don't know, But what
Speaker 1: if you have advice for you know, for other women,
Speaker 1: you know, please let us let us know what tools
Speaker 1: you use in order to keep yourself going. I appreciate
Speaker 1: that question about tools. And I remember I was in
Speaker 1: an interview and someone asked me about a framework. I
Speaker 1: was like, a framework that sounds way too fancy for
Speaker 1: what I'm trying to do with my life right now.
Speaker 1: I was in a staff meeting and explained to some
Speaker 1: staff members that I am an introvert, which is something
Speaker 1: that you know, many of the staff just did had
Speaker 1: no idea and someone said to me, you know, thank
Speaker 1: you for doing everything that you're doing every day, as
Speaker 1: hard as it may be, free you because you're doing
Speaker 1: it for our girls. And I almost wept because she
Speaker 1: said it in a way that I had never said
Speaker 1: it to myself. I think as women just barely holding on,
Speaker 1: and I want to just say, true confession, I am
Speaker 1: barely holding on to my kids who are disengaged who
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm losing every day to YouTube, you know, minecraft,
Speaker 1: endless tutorials and all kinds of things. You know, we
Speaker 1: all have sometimes our parents are loved ones who are
Speaker 1: struggling with different things. It's almost as though COVID has
Speaker 1: amplified and magnified every challenge that we've ever faced. Professional
Speaker 1: my advice is to just first know that you're not alone.
Speaker 1: I don't know any woman who isn't struggling, regardless of
Speaker 1: role or title. I feel like I'm stepping into this
Speaker 1: because of a need, not because I am somehow you know,
Speaker 1: special or different or superhuman. I'm doing it because our girls,
Speaker 1: and especially our girls of color, need this advocacy in
Speaker 1: this support or your anchor might be your own family.
Speaker 1: I know it's true for me as well, you know,
Speaker 1: I think about my mum in Jamaica, I think about
Speaker 1: my kids. I think about what I represent for every
Speaker 1: brown girl looking at this transition and saying, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: she's the CEO of you know, one of the largest
Speaker 1: girls organizations in the world. Find your piece, your anchor,
Speaker 1: your moments to stay whole because our hair is on fire. Yes,
Speaker 1: I don't even know which way is up or down.
Speaker 1: I don't even have a full size refrigerator, and I
Speaker 1: know that's not a big problem, but I just want
Speaker 1: to say that in COVID everything has broken in our
Speaker 1: home and we don't have anything working. And again, that
Speaker 1: is small, very tiny compared to what people are facing.
Speaker 1: But I use humor a lot. I laugh when I
Speaker 1: can't cry. Whatever is that grounds you? Meditation is big
Speaker 1: for me. I wouldn't call it exercise without putting very
Speaker 1: large air quotes on it because I'm not breaking a sweat.
Speaker 1: But I feel good about myself after twenty minutes because
Speaker 1: I did something. Find people who affirm you know that
Speaker 1: you know we're all going through it, and you know,
Speaker 1: I'm just so grateful for my fellow women who support
Speaker 1: me that can tie to support each other we are
Speaker 1: special that way, and we're going to get through this
Speaker 1: and we're going to make up the ground and we're
Speaker 1: going to do better than we ever did because we
Speaker 1: have no choice. But it's who we are, I think,
Speaker 1: and so I just stay as optimistic as I possibly can. Well.
Speaker 1: I think that we are going to do better than
Speaker 1: we've ever did because we have leaders like you that
Speaker 1: are taking the helm, that are doing the work, and
Speaker 1: that are inspiring us along their journey. Doctor Driga Barrett,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining wikaf and I hope
Speaker 1: that you will come back, as you know, grab the
Speaker 1: reins of girls who code and bring us along on
Speaker 1: this journey. Any which way that we can help, we will. Oh.
Speaker 1: I'm so grateful again. Thank you so much. Your show
Speaker 1: is wonderful, this platform is wonderful, and please keep doing
Speaker 1: what you're doing in elevating voices and things that are
Speaker 1: so critical for everyone. Thank you for who you are
Speaker 1: and what you're doing. No, thank you as always, dear friends.
Speaker 1: Power to the people and to all the people. Power
Speaker 1: get woke and stay woke as fuck. See after Labor
Speaker 1: Day