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Speaker 1: I'm Will Lucas and black Tag Green Money. Did you

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Speaker 1: know this podcast was nominated for an Double ACP Image Award?

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Speaker 1: So head over to vote dot Double ACP Image Awards

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Speaker 1: Information Podcast category and vote for black Tag Green Money.

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Speaker 1: It's not often that we see a podcast for us

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Speaker 1: by us which highlights the stories of black innovators, technologists,

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Speaker 1: venture capitalists and angel investors, scientists and engineers with this

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Speaker 1: big of a spotlight. So I'm asking for you to

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Speaker 1: take a moment out of your day and vote for

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Speaker 1: black Tag Green Money. Do it now. Voting closes this Friday.

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Speaker 1: Every every employer is pretty much dropping the requirement to

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Speaker 1: have a college degree. This non profit organisations like one

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Speaker 1: ten a thing to constant of the audience, Shout out

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Speaker 1: to one ten all these fortunate for our hundred copies

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Speaker 1: that dropping the dequirement that have a cost to gree

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Speaker 1: be because since the pandemic kid. One point four million

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Speaker 1: people haven't stopped going to college and that enroll those

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Speaker 1: enrollment numbers are dropping. And the reason why isn't because

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Speaker 1: college isn't important. What people are starting to shift towards

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Speaker 1: the outcomes driven education bottel and it's not just about

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Speaker 1: did you graduate to get a certificate? Did this education

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Speaker 1: get you a job? I'm Will Lucas and this is

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Speaker 1: Black Tech, Green Money, afro Techo Austin, Texas, our very

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Speaker 1: young Tearran pod rails on the main stage at afro

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Speaker 1: Tech talking with Ruben Harris, who's co founder and CEO

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Speaker 1: at Career Karma, and Sydney Sampson black Well, an engineer

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Speaker 1: who came through the Career Karma programming about how to

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Speaker 1: better prepare ourselves for the changing demands of the workforce.

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Speaker 1: Career Karma is technology what helps match students with educational

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Speaker 1: opportunities like boot kids, so we're better prepared for product

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Speaker 1: and technical careers. Let's listen to the discussion. Hi, everybody,

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Speaker 1: I'm Taran Powdrew. I am the director of People Operations

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Speaker 1: for Blevity, and I'm really excited to be here with

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Speaker 1: Ruben and Sydney today to talk about rescaling and breaking

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Speaker 1: into tech. UM. So we have a lot to cover.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna jump right in. UM. So, Ruben, can you

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Speaker 1: start with just giving us the backstory on a career

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Speaker 1: karma for those that don't know what is career karma

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Speaker 1: and how did it come to be? Yeah, So career

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Speaker 1: Comma gives product led career guidance for people or for

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Speaker 1: workers that are seeking skills, peers, colleges, mentorships, job opportunities,

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Speaker 1: but even ongoing career training after they're employed. UM. It's

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Speaker 1: a product that we wish that we had when we

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Speaker 1: were breaking in the tech when we realized that you

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Speaker 1: can get jobs that pay six figures without going into college. UM,

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Speaker 1: that was pretty interesting to me. Before career karma, UM,

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Speaker 1: everybody wanted to break into finance. So there's things like

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Speaker 1: breaking into Wall Street, UM, merging and inquisitions and we

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Speaker 1: started a podcast called Breaking into Startups UM. And and

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Speaker 1: that's how it all starts. The product that we wish

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Speaker 1: that we had when we recommence set All right, UM,

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Speaker 1: and Sydney, I know that you actually utilized career karma

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Speaker 1: to break in attack yourself. Can you tell us about

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Speaker 1: your backstory and what led you to a career Karma perfect.

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Speaker 1: Hello everyone, So I'm sitting me from East Stokland, California. Uh,

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Speaker 1: I have had a long life. Um, I feel like

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Speaker 1: my life is long. I feel like I'm an o

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Speaker 1: G already. I'm only twenty four. I've been taking care

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Speaker 1: of myself since I was sixteen. So the last eight

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Speaker 1: years have been some of the longest, most hardest, and

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Speaker 1: challenging times of my life. But now so um yeah,

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Speaker 1: So I think back in twenty nineteen is when I

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Speaker 1: fell upon career Karma and I met Reuben. And up

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Speaker 1: until I found career Karma, I was outside during door

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Speaker 1: dash delivering for Postmates, delivering for Instacart, caviar Um, every

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Speaker 1: single app that you can think about to make money

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Speaker 1: in the Bay Area. I was doing it and I

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Speaker 1: needed to figure out, you know, how can I use

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Speaker 1: my skill set, my entrepreneur mindset to you know, get

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Speaker 1: to a point where I don't have to work all

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Speaker 1: the time. I could smile. You know, I can wake

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Speaker 1: up happy about going to my job, and I can

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Speaker 1: do things that not only motivate me, but motivate other people.

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Speaker 1: So right, I think the day when I found a

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Speaker 1: career Karma app, I was actually working as a SNA.

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Speaker 1: So I went from delivering, you know, delivering food and

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Speaker 1: to working in the hospital as a SIENNA and I

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Speaker 1: was just like, this is not it. I'm not happy here.

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Speaker 1: I got so much more to offer to the world

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Speaker 1: and I just wanted to figure it out. My friends

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Speaker 1: sent me the Career Karma app. I downloaded it and

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Speaker 1: I've been with grouping never since. All Right, so I

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Speaker 1: know that squads are a core component of what Career

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Speaker 1: Karma offers. Can you tell us about squads? What are

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Speaker 1: squads and why are they important? Yeah? So there's there's

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Speaker 1: a few things that are important in career KMMA. So

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Speaker 1: when someone like Sydney comes to Career Comma there they're

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Speaker 1: looking for new skills. And the problem is that there's

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Speaker 1: thousands of job training programs that exist. So the first

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Speaker 1: thing that we provide is matching, UM to talk about

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Speaker 1: it in the second so as we match you too

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Speaker 1: a program. UM that can be very overwhelming because UM,

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Speaker 1: as you're trying to go through interviews, it's hard to

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Speaker 1: know you know what to ask in the interview. UM,

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Speaker 1: it's hard to know who else in your neighborhood and

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Speaker 1: in East Oakland, UM is actually going through this process

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Speaker 1: as well. So rather than putting you into this huge

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Speaker 1: network of thousands of people and the app, we actually

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Speaker 1: focus on small groups. So the short answer is a

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Speaker 1: squad is a small group. We actually connected the peers,

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Speaker 1: coaches and mentors and and live audio rooms. Um. And

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Speaker 1: so what the squad is essentially is a peer group

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Speaker 1: of people that are enrolled in job training programs that

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Speaker 1: help you stay psychologically motivated while you're enrolled going through

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Speaker 1: a program. And Sydney actually created one of the first

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Speaker 1: squads in Career Karma so that um, after they graduate,

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Speaker 1: they could also find jobs since most jobs are offline

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Speaker 1: and come to a frall. So this peer group stays

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Speaker 1: with you during the program and then also when you're

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Speaker 1: looking for a job, they let you know about opportunities

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Speaker 1: that are not websites. Okay, and what would you say

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Speaker 1: are some of the core skills that you would look

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Speaker 1: for in a squad mentor like what makes the squad

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Speaker 1: mentor impactful? Yeah, so there's a UM. The squad concept

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Speaker 1: also was inspired by uh this concept called the mobile.

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Speaker 1: So it's a really good article in New York Times

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Speaker 1: called the Power of Positive People, and so UM it's

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Speaker 1: about Okinawa, Japan, and it's where women live, the oldest

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Speaker 1: in the world. And the idea is it's easier to

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Speaker 1: go through life if you have a safety net. So

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Speaker 1: as a squad leader, you're someone that essentially is going

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Speaker 1: to make sure that you hold it down for your

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Speaker 1: people no matter what if they have a question that

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Speaker 1: if they're they're seeking guidance, you're gonna look out for them.

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Speaker 1: And in order to do that, you have to be

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Speaker 1: a very good communicator. If you're having a hard day,

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Speaker 1: you still have to be able to put a smile

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Speaker 1: on your face to make sure that they stay motivated

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Speaker 1: as well. Um, you have to make sure they're not

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Speaker 1: just connected to educational resources, to financial resources. You might

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Speaker 1: have to help them find housing or financial um innovative

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Speaker 1: things like that. So those are some of the key elements. Okay,

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Speaker 1: so that's a good segue. Sydney. Can you tell us

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Speaker 1: about your experience forming the squad that you formed and

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Speaker 1: how that impacted your experience? Perfect? So, as I mentioned,

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Speaker 1: I started in Career Karma. I think it was maya,

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Speaker 1: twent nineteen, So I remember the first day I downloaded

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Speaker 1: the app. There's so much going on I'm hearing all

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Speaker 1: these topics stuff that I don't know, you know, what

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Speaker 1: is going on? What is this? What is HTML right?

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Speaker 1: What is JavaScript? Um? Like? What is all of these things?

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Speaker 1: And it didn't make sense to me. So Ruben had

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Speaker 1: this thing where, you know, we can all go to

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Speaker 1: a live zoom call. We could connect with other people

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Speaker 1: all around the world who were also interested in the

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Speaker 1: same thing. We connected, shared our stories and I was like,

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Speaker 1: all right, boom, I got my squad. I'm gonna call

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Speaker 1: my squad young and Ambitious, because we're all young and ambitious, striving,

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Speaker 1: you know, to change the world. And I think one

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Speaker 1: of my first members is in the audience somewhere, miss

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Speaker 1: Danielle Madri who uh but yeah. We formed this group

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Speaker 1: together back in twenty nineteen, and I think as of

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Speaker 1: right now we're hitting about we're a little over thirty

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Speaker 1: jobs right now that we have landed across our squad um.

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Speaker 1: Not only do we help folks get jobs, we help

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Speaker 1: folks level up at their current job. We help folks

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Speaker 1: pass their interviews, We do resume reviews, we do open

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Speaker 1: source projects. Everything you can think of to level up,

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Speaker 1: break into the industry, or get to the next level.

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Speaker 1: My squad is doing it right now and we've been

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Speaker 1: doing it for the last three years. I mean, name

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Speaker 1: some of the companies where people got jobs and what

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Speaker 1: roles they had, so Boom Mamatic Centure. UM. I think

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Speaker 1: the first job Danielle had she was at get Lab.

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Speaker 1: My sister Lanie was at New Cella. UM. I got

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Speaker 1: two people that got hired at Lows. UM, I got

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Speaker 1: another guy, a couple of people that was at Twitter. UM.

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Speaker 1: We we just be all over the place right and

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Speaker 1: when people see why and they walk in the room,

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Speaker 1: they know who we are and they know what we're

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Speaker 1: standing for. That's amazing. UM. So, Sydney, can you talk

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Speaker 1: to us about how having this squad impacted your experience

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Speaker 1: as you went through boot camp? Like I said, the

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Speaker 1: boot camp was very hard, and it was like if

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Speaker 1: I didn't have my family to me, I don't know

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Speaker 1: how I would have made it. Like there were many

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Speaker 1: nights where a lot of us were trying to pass

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Speaker 1: projects or trying to pass lads. We didn't know what

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Speaker 1: to do or we would get into, you know, come

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Speaker 1: into a roadblock. And I had some of my Wayne

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Speaker 1: folks that would be online all night. So it'd be

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Speaker 1: like twelve midnight and I'm posting the Slack channel. Yo,

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Speaker 1: I ran into an issue. This project is due tomorrow.

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Speaker 1: Who can come online right now and help me out?

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Speaker 1: And I know that there's been several people that we

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Speaker 1: didn't stayed up all night working through errors together, working

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Speaker 1: through bugs together, and now like exactly exactly we cried.

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Speaker 1: Some of us wanted to give up. Um. I remember

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Speaker 1: during the boot camp. I think in the beginning we

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Speaker 1: were all like, we can't do this, this is too much. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and Ruben was like, y'all started this for a reason,

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Speaker 1: Like y'all got your family, Like y'all not doing it

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Speaker 1: by yourself. So if you have a friend, you have

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Speaker 1: a community, it makes it a little bit easier when

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Speaker 1: you run into those bugs because you've got somebody to

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Speaker 1: lend on. Yeah, okay, And were there any particular skills

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Speaker 1: that you felt like translated well from your prior experience

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Speaker 1: into the text base that was okay? Yeah. So I

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Speaker 1: think one of the main things that help me get

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Speaker 1: to where I am now is that I've always been

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Speaker 1: an entrepreneur. I've been an entrepreneur since high school. I

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Speaker 1: started building businesses in high school. I think the very

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Speaker 1: first business I built was a cleaning company. And I

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Speaker 1: was sixteen and seventeen cleaning houses for software engineers and

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Speaker 1: data scientists in San Francisco, and I was just like, Okay,

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Speaker 1: I have all of these skills. I know how to

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Speaker 1: run a company. I know how to you know, manage people,

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Speaker 1: I know how to manage teams. Now I need to

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Speaker 1: bridge all of those things into what I'm doing right

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Speaker 1: now in technology. Quick question, did everybody that get those jobs?

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Speaker 1: Did they all go to college? Nope. I didn't go

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Speaker 1: to college either. I think I I was in the

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Speaker 1: middle of my college degree when I found you, and

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Speaker 1: I started becoming a career coach at Career Karma and

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Speaker 1: realized that people that are not saying that college is

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Speaker 1: a bad thing. I'm not gonna tell you all that

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Speaker 1: because I want everybody to get educated. I want everybody

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Speaker 1: to do what's for them right. But for me, it

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Speaker 1: was a lot going on. I was working three jobs

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Speaker 1: and trying to go to school, where when I found

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Speaker 1: a boot camp, they're like, Okay, you can do part time.

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Speaker 1: You can still keep your jobs. We are asking you

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Speaker 1: for no money. You don't got to pay no tuition.

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Speaker 1: We want you to learn these skills and get a job,

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Speaker 1: and when you get a job, then you can start

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Speaker 1: paying us back. Sign me yet. Yeah, that's a great

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Speaker 1: pivot point because I want to talk a little bit

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Speaker 1: about what's going on, you know, kind of more at

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Speaker 1: the macro level. Um. So there have been a lot

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Speaker 1: of shifts in the post secondary education market, particularly in

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Speaker 1: the last couple of years. UM, can you talk to

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Speaker 1: us about that, Reuben, what's going on in the post

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Speaker 1: secondary education market? Yeah? I mean you you've heard sudainly

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Speaker 1: talked about bootcasts multiple times, and like she said, it's

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Speaker 1: not just about bootcapts first colleges. Um. There's a really

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Speaker 1: good article called the post secondary education market is Unbundling.

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Speaker 1: So there's there's Bootcaster, there's colleges. There's corporate led courses

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Speaker 1: like Google Certificates. There's non degree courses like e Cornell.

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Speaker 1: There's massive open online courses like Cours Sera UM. But everyone,

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Speaker 1: every employer is pretty much dropping the requirement to have

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Speaker 1: a college degree. There's nonprofit organizations like one ten. I

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Speaker 1: think to contests in the audience out out to one ten.

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Speaker 1: All these fortunate companies are dropping the requirement to have

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Speaker 1: a cost degree because since the pandemic hit one point

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Speaker 1: four million people have stopped going to college and that enrolled.

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Speaker 1: Those enrollment numbers are dropping. And the reason why it

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Speaker 1: isn't because college isn't important, but people are starting to

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Speaker 1: shift towards the outcomes driven education model and it's not

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Speaker 1: just about did you graduate and get a certificate? Did

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Speaker 1: this education get to a job. Sidney has been talking

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Speaker 1: a lot about Bootcasts. Book has pioneered short form outcomes

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Speaker 1: driven education that is relevant for today's students. Most students

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Speaker 1: aren't eighteen year olds. There thirty five plus with kids

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Speaker 1: that can't go to schools full time. So even if

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Speaker 1: you make education free, you actually can go to school.

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Speaker 1: So you need part time and self pace options. But

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Speaker 1: most schools aren't free, and so there's a lot of

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Speaker 1: innovation happening with how you pay for education. So Sydney

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Speaker 1: was able to take advantage of something called an income

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Speaker 1: share agreement. There's things like their tuition, but these days

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Speaker 1: there's now employers that are paying for your college and

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Speaker 1: on the job training and starting to be a big deal.

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Speaker 1: So long story short, um, the education system will continue unbundling.

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Speaker 1: It won't just be every day that I mentioned. There

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Speaker 1: will be individuals training people, um, launching their own courses. Um,

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Speaker 1: there's organizations like reforge and on date that exists. Why

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Speaker 1: Combinator is an education institution, so UM that optionality, those

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Speaker 1: stacks of course are going to also create more difficulties

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Speaker 1: in choosing where you want to go to school, which

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Speaker 1: is this process by analysis, which is why matching to

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Speaker 1: the right education matters, and why one education system won't

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Speaker 1: train the entire world, and why you need some some

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Speaker 1: some kind of directory. Yeah, so there's a lot of

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Speaker 1: opportunity then for people who are seeking a post secondary education.

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Speaker 1: How should people be strategically thinking about how they invest

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Speaker 1: in their education? I mean, I think it's really important

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Speaker 1: to understand, like why are you signing up for education?

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Speaker 1: I think most people that are going to school And

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Speaker 1: some people will disagree with me on this, and that's okay, Um,

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Speaker 1: is you're going to school to get a job in

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Speaker 1: more money. Um. And for a lot of people, even

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Speaker 1: after they graduate, whatever they studied and they're actually not

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Speaker 1: using it in their employment. And so if I were

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Speaker 1: you and you're trying to figure out where you want

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Speaker 1: to go to school, I would ask them how many

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Speaker 1: people have gotten jobs in the role that you want. Um,

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Speaker 1: do they have an online or part time self pace options.

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Speaker 1: This is really important because some people will say online

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Speaker 1: education isn't for me. But after the pandemic hit, the

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Speaker 1: remote work genie came out of the bottle. I mean,

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Speaker 1: people are here at Avro Tech, so shout out to

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Speaker 1: Afro Tech. But for the last two years this was

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Speaker 1: all in the metaverse, right, That's what helped it survive.

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Speaker 1: But now employers have to provide either fully remote work

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Speaker 1: options or hybrid remote work options. So you actually don't

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Speaker 1: have a choice but to learn how to work with

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Speaker 1: other people online. So if that's going to be the

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Speaker 1: case and people are always going to be learning, then

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Speaker 1: you should probably find to learn. You should probably learn

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Speaker 1: how to learn online because at some point in your

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Speaker 1: life you're going to be educated in that way. In

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Speaker 1: my opinion. UM. Third, it's important to find a cohort

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Speaker 1: of people that are like you, that are going through

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Speaker 1: this as well, because you're not always going to be

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Speaker 1: able to cry on the shoulder of your teachers, like

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Speaker 1: you'll be able to ask your teachers questions, but also

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Speaker 1: your teachers might have limited amounts of time and especially

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Speaker 1: as the world, because of world global because of remote work,

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Speaker 1: you're not going to have that peer group of people

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Speaker 1: that are going to help you along the way. And

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Speaker 1: then finally you have to decide that you really want this,

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Speaker 1: because I promise you, if you're trying to do anything

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Speaker 1: that's hard, you're gonna feel like quitting and you're gonna

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Speaker 1: have to psychologically put yourself to go through this. Career

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Speaker 1: navigation isn't about education. Career navigations about psychology. So you

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Speaker 1: have to decide first today. All right, well, Sydney, can

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Speaker 1: you tell us about some of the factors that you

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Speaker 1: considered when you were weighing your options around post secondary education. Definitely,

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Speaker 1: to me, it was all about my future, um, And

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Speaker 1: it was like, I can either keep doing what I'm

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Speaker 1: doing now, keep stressing, keep working hard, keep working two

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Speaker 1: to three jobs, or I can imagine life ten years

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Speaker 1: from now. Imagine you know, the house I want, the

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Speaker 1: family I want to build, Um, Imagine just getting up,

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Speaker 1: going to go clock in to work, you know, having

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Speaker 1: stand ups, then going out for lunch, being able to

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Speaker 1: run Like we don't get those things in these you know,

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Speaker 1: regular jobs, these regular nine to five working labor jobs.

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Speaker 1: You don't get these luxuries right, Like, so the fact

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Speaker 1: that tech it gives you that opportunity, like to do

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Speaker 1: things that you've never been able to do before for

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Speaker 1: your family. Like right now, I finally got a house.

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Speaker 1: I never had a house growing up. You know, like

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Speaker 1: it feels so good. It feels so good that when

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Speaker 1: I get paid, I can pay my bills and I

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Speaker 1: don't have to worry about Okay, let me pay this bill,

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Speaker 1: or let me eat top Romen for the night. You know,

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Speaker 1: I don't gotta worry about those things because tech put

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Speaker 1: everything in a place for me. So you gotta think

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Speaker 1: about yourself. You gotta think about what you want. You

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Speaker 1: gotta think about your life ten years from now, twenty

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Speaker 1: years from now, thirty years from now, forty years from now,

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Speaker 1: Like you got to think about that, what do you want?

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Speaker 1: Who do you want people to look at you as?

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Speaker 1: What do you want people to look at you? You

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Speaker 1: know when you walk in the room, Like all of

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Speaker 1: that matters. And to me, like I said, I wanted

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Speaker 1: to live luxury, so baby, I had to go get

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Speaker 1: it all right, Uh, Ruben, can you talk to us

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Speaker 1: about the role that employers play. How do they fit

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Speaker 1: into the post secondary education ecosystem. Yeah, I mean, I'll

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Speaker 1: take a step back and talk about the segment employers.

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Speaker 1: So before I mentioned a career common house, job training programs,

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Speaker 1: find qualified applicanst we have about two and a half

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Speaker 1: million people a month that come to us looking for

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Speaker 1: career advice, mostly women and people of color. And UM,

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Speaker 1: what's interesting about this whole phenomenon now is that employers

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Speaker 1: themselves wanted take an active role in people's education. UM.

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Speaker 1: Sydney talked a lot about, um, the luxuries that education provides.

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Speaker 1: And there's a lot of fear in the market right now,

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Speaker 1: a lot of layoffs, there's there's a recession that's coming. Um.

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Speaker 1: But what a lot of people forget is that benefits

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Speaker 1: were introduced during the depression, during the the Roosevelt era

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Speaker 1: to compete in the market. And so there's health care benefits,

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Speaker 1: there's for one, key benefits, but there's also education benefits.

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Speaker 1: Now pretty much any employer can actually pay for your education.

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Speaker 1: You know, the g I Bill which is available for

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Speaker 1: veterans to pay for your education existed. So there's things

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Speaker 1: like I says in the first tuition. But I know

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Speaker 1: where Sydney works and at a lot of employers they

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Speaker 1: will actually pay for your education. So there's actually a

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Speaker 1: whole movement of people that are just going straight into

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Speaker 1: education and the employer will either pay for your skills

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Speaker 1: training or your college action. There's a whole big phenomenon

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Speaker 1: called UM stackable credentials. So sometimes you can choose to

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Speaker 1: do a boot camp and get college credit, and if

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Speaker 1: you want to advanced to do college, you can. And

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Speaker 1: so now Career Common started to work with employers UM

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Speaker 1: providing product led career guidance for employees that want to

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Speaker 1: continue up leveling their careers UM and and figure out

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Speaker 1: how to get all these points solutions that they've invested

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Speaker 1: in to talk to each other and really manage that

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Speaker 1: experience and to end And why do you think that

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Speaker 1: employers are kind of moving in this direction of like

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Speaker 1: pivoting away from kind of the more traditional educational benefits

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Speaker 1: and going more in this direction. Here's here's a cool

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Speaker 1: step that I just learned. So fifty of babies born

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Speaker 1: in the last decade are going to live until a

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Speaker 1: hundred and four. Fifty percent of the babies in the

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Speaker 1: last decade are going to live until a hundred four.

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Speaker 1: What does that mean is that means that we're gonna

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Speaker 1: switch from a three stage career where you go to

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Speaker 1: uh school, work and retire to you know, fifty age

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Speaker 1: fifty being the new thirty, right, so you're gonna actually

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Speaker 1: be working longer, so you're gonna go to multiple schools

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Speaker 1: and multiple companies in the lifetime, or if you decide

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Speaker 1: to stay at the same company. You know, you saw

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Speaker 1: what happened with the Great Resignation. This is a weird

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Speaker 1: recession where there's still a lot of open jobs, a

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Speaker 1: lot of employers here that are hiring heavy, but they're

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Speaker 1: also focused on retaining you because, like like Sydney said,

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Speaker 1: a lot of the employers want to take care of you.

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Speaker 1: And you can't take care of your people only by

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Speaker 1: paying them good money, because you can get good money

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Speaker 1: wherever you go. Right. So um, because technology is changing

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Speaker 1: the world so crazy. Um, the skills that you have

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Speaker 1: will get outdated. I think the half life of the

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Speaker 1: skill is like a year and a half or two years.

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Speaker 1: So employers are really getting active and providing ongoing training

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Speaker 1: to their people. But also community. Right. One of the

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Speaker 1: early elements of community inside companies is e RG groups.

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Speaker 1: There's a lot of RG groups represented here, and I

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Speaker 1: think it's one of the biggest like examples of kind

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Speaker 1: of a squad inside of a company that exists that

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Speaker 1: isn't fully levelaged as much as it should be or

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Speaker 1: it could be. Um, some people do this well. I

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Speaker 1: mean even when you have large employers that are not

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Speaker 1: thought of as tech tech companies, like a big bank

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Speaker 1: or a big logistics or truck and company, they're investing

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Speaker 1: heavy and technology. But if you're heavy investing like driverless

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Speaker 1: cars or in electric cars, or in robotics in the warehouse,

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Speaker 1: what happens to all the other people? You know? You

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Speaker 1: guys heard Mark Cuban yesterday talking about cost plus drugs.

429
00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:43,680
Speaker 1: You saw a big pharmacies investing in digital shutting down

430
00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:46,800
Speaker 1: the retail stores. What happens to their people? Right? So

431
00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:50,040
Speaker 1: for us, if you go to Career, Commedy, Constus Enterprise,

432
00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:52,720
Speaker 1: you'll see it says every company is a tech company.

433
00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:55,040
Speaker 1: Bring your people to the future with you. The way

434
00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:57,040
Speaker 1: to bring your people to the future with you is

435
00:23:57,080 --> 00:23:59,600
Speaker 1: by investing in their education, because all of us are

436
00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:07,040
Speaker 1: students and need to always be learning. Um. All right, Sydney,

437
00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:08,719
Speaker 1: is there anything that you would want to add to that?

438
00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:11,600
Speaker 1: Just from a perspective of why is this important for

439
00:24:11,600 --> 00:24:15,159
Speaker 1: employers to do? Yeah, like I know right now, Like

440
00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:17,959
Speaker 1: I said, I'm a software engineer UM at a centre.

441
00:24:18,520 --> 00:24:23,080
Speaker 1: UM and Accenture is very much invested in us, right

442
00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:28,080
Speaker 1: like we are their products. So if they can't you know,

443
00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:31,480
Speaker 1: sell us and sell our skills, they don't make money. Right.

444
00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:34,600
Speaker 1: So ever since I've been there, I think I didn't

445
00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:37,640
Speaker 1: gotten like two to three certifications in the last year.

446
00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:42,520
Speaker 1: For the last two months, I've been working on Google certifications,

447
00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:46,720
Speaker 1: AWS certifications. Everything they send me on my email, I'm

448
00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:50,080
Speaker 1: signing up for it, right because what company do you

449
00:24:50,119 --> 00:24:53,800
Speaker 1: know that's that much invested into their people? We all,

450
00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:56,480
Speaker 1: day by day, you know, are trying to figure out

451
00:24:56,720 --> 00:24:58,480
Speaker 1: what are we gonna do, how are we gonna feed

452
00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:01,000
Speaker 1: our families? And then we find only get that job,

453
00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:04,000
Speaker 1: and a lot of us like to take a break.

454
00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:06,800
Speaker 1: You know, we think just because we got the job

455
00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:10,080
Speaker 1: that we're here, we don't have to keep learning, we

456
00:25:10,119 --> 00:25:13,200
Speaker 1: don't have to keep getting up skilled and getting certified.

457
00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:16,000
Speaker 1: And that's not true. So if you feel like that

458
00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:18,280
Speaker 1: you got your job, and you feel like you made

459
00:25:18,320 --> 00:25:20,879
Speaker 1: it and you can sit down, you should move over

460
00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:25,160
Speaker 1: for somebody else because you wasting time. Right Like, you're

461
00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:29,160
Speaker 1: there and you have these companies that are invested in you.

462
00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:32,119
Speaker 1: The world is moving, like he said, right now. You know,

463
00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:35,080
Speaker 1: we're about to go into you know, a recession. People

464
00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:39,160
Speaker 1: are getting laid off. So why would you get high

465
00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:41,600
Speaker 1: You're at a company and choose to just sit down?

466
00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:44,560
Speaker 1: Why would you choose to not keep learning? You know,

467
00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:47,760
Speaker 1: keep getting educated, keep trying to reach to the top.

468
00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:50,920
Speaker 1: You know, when I sit in meetings at Accenture and

469
00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:54,000
Speaker 1: people are asking me about my experience and who I

470
00:25:54,119 --> 00:25:56,640
Speaker 1: want to be, I'm telling everybody that's at the top,

471
00:25:56,680 --> 00:25:58,520
Speaker 1: I want to be like you. I want to re

472
00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:00,680
Speaker 1: running you know, the company. I want to be sitting

473
00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:02,639
Speaker 1: next to Julie Sweets in a few years, you know,

474
00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:04,960
Speaker 1: like I want to be at the top. So show

475
00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:06,840
Speaker 1: me what I gotta do to get to the top.

476
00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:10,320
Speaker 1: If I gotta do to three four, five, seven, nineteen

477
00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:13,400
Speaker 1: certifications a month to get there, then I'm gonna do it.

478
00:26:13,400 --> 00:26:15,399
Speaker 1: It is what it is, but you gotta want it.

479
00:26:15,640 --> 00:26:18,400
Speaker 1: You gotta be hungry. And I think that's one thing

480
00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:21,719
Speaker 1: that set me different when I came to career Karma,

481
00:26:21,800 --> 00:26:24,680
Speaker 1: because I came hungry I came ready to win, I

482
00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:28,240
Speaker 1: came ready to take over, and yeah, my brain is

483
00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:34,280
Speaker 1: filled with knowledge and certifications right now. Well, speaking of

484
00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:38,440
Speaker 1: being proactive, if you're at a company that doesn't offer

485
00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:40,720
Speaker 1: these kinds of benefits or programs, what are some things

486
00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:43,440
Speaker 1: Sydney that people can do proactively kind of on their

487
00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:47,359
Speaker 1: own to come joinin? There? We go, there's there's there's

488
00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:50,320
Speaker 1: an option. Um, what are some things that people can

489
00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:53,200
Speaker 1: do on their own to advance their skills? Find mentorship

490
00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:56,399
Speaker 1: outside of a more formal program. I would say the

491
00:26:56,440 --> 00:26:59,959
Speaker 1: number one thing is to find your community, find your

492
00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:02,560
Speaker 1: people that you want to sit with, that you want

493
00:27:02,600 --> 00:27:04,800
Speaker 1: to win with, that you want to be great with,

494
00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:08,040
Speaker 1: and you guys come up with a plan of how

495
00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:10,520
Speaker 1: you guys are going to get there. My entire squad

496
00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:13,000
Speaker 1: we all went to boot camp together. The majority of

497
00:27:13,080 --> 00:27:15,800
Speaker 1: us went to flat Earned School because we said that

498
00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:18,520
Speaker 1: we didn't want to do it alone. One of us

499
00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:20,719
Speaker 1: got enrolled and it was like a boomerang effect. Right

500
00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:23,040
Speaker 1: after one person got enrolled, the next one did, the

501
00:27:23,080 --> 00:27:25,240
Speaker 1: next one, and then I remember at one point it

502
00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:27,840
Speaker 1: was like eight of us in Flatterer and School at

503
00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:31,040
Speaker 1: the same time, in different cohorts, but we were all

504
00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:35,240
Speaker 1: able to you know, pivot off of each other, help

505
00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:38,080
Speaker 1: bouncing the ideas off of each other, and still help

506
00:27:38,119 --> 00:27:40,760
Speaker 1: each other. So the number one thing is finding your community,

507
00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:42,840
Speaker 1: finding the people you want to eat with and you

508
00:27:42,840 --> 00:27:45,840
Speaker 1: want to win with. And then from there is now

509
00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:49,639
Speaker 1: you know, maximizing the opportunity. See what's hot in the

510
00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:52,480
Speaker 1: market right, See who you want to be if you're

511
00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:55,760
Speaker 1: somebody right now, there's a recruiter right and you're seeing

512
00:27:56,920 --> 00:28:00,680
Speaker 1: all of these, you know, other black engineers becoming engineers,

513
00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:03,240
Speaker 1: and you're trying to figure out how they're doing it.

514
00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:06,000
Speaker 1: Go sit down and have lunch with a black engineer.

515
00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:08,800
Speaker 1: See how they got to where they got, See what

516
00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:11,679
Speaker 1: they're doing to keep their job, and see if you

517
00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:13,959
Speaker 1: can even just you know, get ten minutes on their

518
00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:16,680
Speaker 1: calendar a week just to talk to them and see

519
00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:19,120
Speaker 1: what's that life like and how you can get there.

520
00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:22,399
Speaker 1: But if you don't take that initiative, you're gonna be

521
00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:25,320
Speaker 1: in that position or wherever you are, stuck forever. You

522
00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:27,200
Speaker 1: gotta be the one to take that leap of faith.

523
00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:29,639
Speaker 1: And if you want to find that community and you

524
00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:31,560
Speaker 1: want to get those skills to go to career coming out,

525
00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:34,480
Speaker 1: call slash apply and will connection and then after you

526
00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:39,240
Speaker 1: do that. Fine, all right, So Ruben, I want to

527
00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:43,360
Speaker 1: talk about another player in the post secondary education market. Um,

528
00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:45,080
Speaker 1: can you talk to us about the public sector and

529
00:28:45,120 --> 00:28:47,440
Speaker 1: how they fit in? Yeah? Um, I think the public

530
00:28:47,520 --> 00:28:50,000
Speaker 1: actor actually fits into also what you can do if

531
00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:52,040
Speaker 1: you're working out a company. So if you had a

532
00:28:52,080 --> 00:28:56,560
Speaker 1: company that isn't paying for education, there is a tax

533
00:28:56,680 --> 00:28:59,760
Speaker 1: code that exists, a tax code I see, so pretty

534
00:28:59,840 --> 00:29:03,560
Speaker 1: much every employer can pay for your education is five thousand,

535
00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:07,240
Speaker 1: two hundred fifty dollars um. It'll be tuition reimbursement, which

536
00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:09,360
Speaker 1: still requires you to go out of pocket, but they

537
00:29:09,360 --> 00:29:11,640
Speaker 1: will pay for education. So you can talk to your

538
00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:15,320
Speaker 1: HR team and say, hey, do you offer education benefits? No? Well,

539
00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:17,640
Speaker 1: I mean can you you know follow this task? Could

540
00:29:17,680 --> 00:29:20,840
Speaker 1: actually one twice seven? You can actually do this. Um.

541
00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:23,840
Speaker 1: There's also a bill called the upskilling and reskilling coming

542
00:29:23,880 --> 00:29:26,040
Speaker 1: out to double that amount as well. But a lot

543
00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:29,240
Speaker 1: of employers are moving towards employer funded education because most

544
00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:31,360
Speaker 1: people don't have that money in their pocket to be

545
00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:33,760
Speaker 1: able to do it, so they'll pay for up front.

546
00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:36,800
Speaker 1: So a quick way to do this action ADOM, go

547
00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:38,880
Speaker 1: to the HR team, child them this and we can

548
00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:42,280
Speaker 1: figure it out. Going back to the public sector, UM,

549
00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:46,440
Speaker 1: the public sector puts more into workforce development than the

550
00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:50,120
Speaker 1: private sector ever will UM. You know, if you look

551
00:29:50,160 --> 00:29:52,160
Speaker 1: at job Core, you look at GI Bill, you look

552
00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:55,360
Speaker 1: at even just the funding for college, it's mostly coming

553
00:29:55,720 --> 00:29:57,800
Speaker 1: from the government. I think student loans is like what

554
00:29:57,920 --> 00:30:01,800
Speaker 1: what point seven one point eight trillion dollars now, UM,

555
00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:04,360
Speaker 1: But it's clear that this has to change. That's why

556
00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:07,400
Speaker 1: you're hearing things like student loan forgiveness. You're starting to

557
00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:09,880
Speaker 1: see these big like I think it's National Apprenticeship Week

558
00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:12,120
Speaker 1: this week. But a lot of these initiatives from the

559
00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:16,160
Speaker 1: public sector are very low volume. So you know, you're

560
00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:18,680
Speaker 1: not going to really move the needle with like fifty

561
00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:21,400
Speaker 1: year hundred people. We need thousands of people, need millions

562
00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:23,080
Speaker 1: of people, like we want to have a billion people

563
00:30:23,280 --> 00:30:25,400
Speaker 1: in the next ten years, and so long story short,

564
00:30:25,440 --> 00:30:29,680
Speaker 1: I think that if UM, if employers provide, if the

565
00:30:29,680 --> 00:30:33,239
Speaker 1: public center house provide incentives for employers that want to

566
00:30:33,280 --> 00:30:36,160
Speaker 1: invest in the education, for the employees and for the

567
00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:38,240
Speaker 1: people that they want to attract, that's going to be

568
00:30:38,280 --> 00:30:40,760
Speaker 1: really important. Another thing that the employers can do is

569
00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:47,480
Speaker 1: like really embrace uh technology training, provide free online WiFi access,

570
00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:50,840
Speaker 1: give devices to people. We actually have a campaign powered

571
00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:53,400
Speaker 1: by the care poor centers. So shout out to Capital

572
00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:56,640
Speaker 1: Capital Mischief free to care poor. Uh they actually uh,

573
00:30:56,840 --> 00:30:59,600
Speaker 1: we actually have employers that donate laptops to us and

574
00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:01,840
Speaker 1: we give wait for free to people that wanted to

575
00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:04,000
Speaker 1: roll into books. She actually got a lap to us,

576
00:31:04,040 --> 00:31:06,760
Speaker 1: So that's that power her too loud to us actually,

577
00:31:07,040 --> 00:31:08,960
Speaker 1: so if you all want to get loud, test will

578
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:10,720
Speaker 1: give away lad talks for free. But I think the

579
00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:12,480
Speaker 1: public said that can help a lot and do a

580
00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:15,120
Speaker 1: lot and doing things like that. Yeah, that's great. It's

581
00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:18,240
Speaker 1: good to know. Um. All right, so I do want

582
00:31:18,280 --> 00:31:20,680
Speaker 1: to get into some actionable advice in a minute. But

583
00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:23,040
Speaker 1: before we do that, UM, I would love to just

584
00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:24,880
Speaker 1: kind of hear what's next for both of you? What

585
00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:27,959
Speaker 1: can we expect to see in and beyond? Um, So

586
00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:31,120
Speaker 1: we'll start with you, Ruben, what's next for career Karma? Yeah,

587
00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:33,080
Speaker 1: so our big focus right now is just really working

588
00:31:33,120 --> 00:31:36,600
Speaker 1: with employers on on that product led career guidance that

589
00:31:36,680 --> 00:31:40,800
Speaker 1: this career management for employees across all levels. So if

590
00:31:40,880 --> 00:31:43,840
Speaker 1: you are an employer that's here. You're part of an

591
00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:48,520
Speaker 1: HR team and you are really thinking about internal talent mobility,

592
00:31:49,080 --> 00:31:53,800
Speaker 1: building out external talent pipelines, about offering UM education benefits,

593
00:31:53,840 --> 00:31:56,000
Speaker 1: and thinking about coaching a mentorship. We would love to

594
00:31:56,040 --> 00:31:59,400
Speaker 1: speak with you. So that's career commam slash Enterprise and

595
00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:02,440
Speaker 1: then all ways. We're forever going to be focused on

596
00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:06,080
Speaker 1: serving people. So if you are someone that's looking to

597
00:32:06,120 --> 00:32:08,560
Speaker 1: break into check right now. Just career COMMA to comp

598
00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:13,720
Speaker 1: slash apply. We were initially UM expanding into higher education. UM.

599
00:32:13,720 --> 00:32:17,640
Speaker 1: We are still working with higher education institutions, but really

600
00:32:17,680 --> 00:32:20,720
Speaker 1: focused on skills training. So a lot of these educations

601
00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:24,560
Speaker 1: are are launching these these bookcat formats that are tagabook credentials,

602
00:32:24,600 --> 00:32:27,480
Speaker 1: so we're not necessarily matching people directly to college. So

603
00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:29,200
Speaker 1: if you want to get a job in a year

604
00:32:29,400 --> 00:32:31,280
Speaker 1: or less, come to us. If you want to job

605
00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:33,960
Speaker 1: in two to four years, don't come to us. I'm

606
00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:36,280
Speaker 1: Will Lucas and black tag Green Money. Did you know

607
00:32:36,360 --> 00:32:39,600
Speaker 1: this podcast was nominated for an ACP Image Award, But

608
00:32:39,760 --> 00:32:42,000
Speaker 1: we are and I need you to support the a

609
00:32:42,040 --> 00:32:44,760
Speaker 1: CP has opened up the opportunity for the public. That

610
00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:47,520
Speaker 1: means you to weigh in and vote on our category,

611
00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:50,920
Speaker 1: and the opportunity for you to vote ends this Friday,

612
00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:53,960
Speaker 1: So head over to vote dot ACP Image Awards dot net.

613
00:32:54,240 --> 00:32:57,800
Speaker 1: Scrolled to the Podcast and Outstanding News and Information Podcast

614
00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:00,840
Speaker 1: category and vote for Black Tech Green Need. It's not

615
00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:03,520
Speaker 1: often that we see a podcast for us by us

616
00:33:03,720 --> 00:33:07,760
Speaker 1: which highlights the stories of black innovators, technologists, venture capitalists

617
00:33:07,760 --> 00:33:11,120
Speaker 1: and angel investors, scientists and engineers with this big of

618
00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:13,360
Speaker 1: a spotlight. So I'm asking for you to take a

619
00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:15,120
Speaker 1: moment out of your day and vote for Black Tech

620
00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:19,600
Speaker 1: Green Money. Do it now. Voting closes this Friday. Um

621
00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:23,000
Speaker 1: and my Um, I guess I would really say that

622
00:33:23,400 --> 00:33:27,000
Speaker 1: over the next year, I'm gonna be working a lot,

623
00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:32,360
Speaker 1: not sleeping. Right now, Wyna is building an open source project. Um.

624
00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:34,800
Speaker 1: So I told you guys, we work on upskilling and

625
00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:37,680
Speaker 1: leveling up. So I have a lot of people who

626
00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:41,960
Speaker 1: come to me that are either already working or they're

627
00:33:41,960 --> 00:33:45,080
Speaker 1: in career karma right now trying to go through a

628
00:33:45,120 --> 00:33:48,080
Speaker 1: boot camp. They need to get their skills because they

629
00:33:48,120 --> 00:33:50,560
Speaker 1: never had a job in tech before, and they their

630
00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:54,240
Speaker 1: resume is shallow, right, you need that experience on your resume.

631
00:33:54,520 --> 00:33:57,920
Speaker 1: So Yna gets you that experience. You come into yn

632
00:33:57,960 --> 00:34:00,400
Speaker 1: A and like I said, you can be a cruder,

633
00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:02,880
Speaker 1: you can be somebody. You can be a data engineer.

634
00:34:03,080 --> 00:34:05,920
Speaker 1: And you want to learn software engineering. So I'll put

635
00:34:05,960 --> 00:34:08,600
Speaker 1: you on a team, you know, with the developers, and

636
00:34:08,640 --> 00:34:11,800
Speaker 1: you'll start right then and there learning how to code

637
00:34:12,280 --> 00:34:15,320
Speaker 1: or learning a new technology that you never learned before.

638
00:34:15,680 --> 00:34:19,759
Speaker 1: We also have a project management pipeline. I'm building the

639
00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:24,480
Speaker 1: DevOps pipeline right now. UM. So everything that you know

640
00:34:24,680 --> 00:34:27,239
Speaker 1: you can see yourself doing, you can come to yn

641
00:34:27,239 --> 00:34:30,520
Speaker 1: A and make happen. So our plan is to launch

642
00:34:30,640 --> 00:34:34,520
Speaker 1: our first m v P for our project next summer. Um.

643
00:34:34,640 --> 00:34:37,880
Speaker 1: Right now, I think we started for October Fest. So

644
00:34:37,960 --> 00:34:42,640
Speaker 1: it was a month long of October hacking. UM, stuff

645
00:34:42,680 --> 00:34:46,680
Speaker 1: getting broken, Uh, people messaging me at night like you know,

646
00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:49,839
Speaker 1: you'll see, I need you to come fix this issue. Um,

647
00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:51,600
Speaker 1: I'm waking up in the middle of the night. But

648
00:34:51,640 --> 00:34:54,000
Speaker 1: I love those things. I love those things and I

649
00:34:54,080 --> 00:34:56,879
Speaker 1: love them a lot. And I think from what I'm

650
00:34:56,920 --> 00:35:01,400
Speaker 1: doing with wy and A and then so I didn't

651
00:35:01,480 --> 00:35:04,440
Speaker 1: tell you guys. I also manage a store. Um so

652
00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:08,400
Speaker 1: I print and design clothes in Stockton, California, and my

653
00:35:08,520 --> 00:35:11,399
Speaker 1: company is called ship tech Prints. You can learn more

654
00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:14,919
Speaker 1: about us or ship tech prints dot com. And right now,

655
00:35:15,120 --> 00:35:20,120
Speaker 1: my priority is to amplify Oakland. I want to get

656
00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:22,560
Speaker 1: you know, all of my babies out the streets. I

657
00:35:22,600 --> 00:35:25,279
Speaker 1: want to get them involved in tech. I want to

658
00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:28,919
Speaker 1: get them jobs. I want to teach them entrepreneurship, teach

659
00:35:28,960 --> 00:35:31,760
Speaker 1: them how to run their own company. So from now

660
00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:34,759
Speaker 1: until y'all next time, y'all see me, That's what I'm

661
00:35:34,760 --> 00:35:40,560
Speaker 1: gonna be working on. All right, well, I'm inspired. I

662
00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:42,920
Speaker 1: can't wait to see what you both do um in

663
00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:46,760
Speaker 1: the next year and beyond. So let's talk about some

664
00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:50,320
Speaker 1: calls to action here for people who are looking to rescale,

665
00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:54,440
Speaker 1: up skill, maybe leading changes within their organizations around education.

666
00:35:54,840 --> 00:35:57,240
Speaker 1: Um So, first question, UM, we'll start with you, Ruben.

667
00:35:57,400 --> 00:36:00,399
Speaker 1: What are the top three skills? Um it, you would

668
00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:05,160
Speaker 1: recommend reskilling or upscaling and t ging a competitive edge attack. Yeah. So,

669
00:36:05,520 --> 00:36:07,520
Speaker 1: I don't know how many people listen to Nevoll, but

670
00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:10,760
Speaker 1: Neval has a great podcast and he has a really

671
00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:14,839
Speaker 1: good uh thing called how to Get Rich Without Getting Lucky? Um.

672
00:36:14,960 --> 00:36:17,040
Speaker 1: And he says, if you want to learn two things,

673
00:36:17,080 --> 00:36:19,319
Speaker 1: So if you learn how to code and you learn

674
00:36:19,320 --> 00:36:22,560
Speaker 1: how to sell. You're unstoppable. So I think the quickest

675
00:36:22,600 --> 00:36:23,840
Speaker 1: way to break in the attack if you want to

676
00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:26,000
Speaker 1: be technical is learn how to code. And if you

677
00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:28,480
Speaker 1: learn how to sell, you'll never go hungry. That's the

678
00:36:28,520 --> 00:36:30,920
Speaker 1: first two things, UM. But the last one that I

679
00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:35,719
Speaker 1: just said, UM, is tied to both of the other ones. UM.

680
00:36:35,840 --> 00:36:39,640
Speaker 1: The third skill that I think everybody should master is communication.

681
00:36:40,400 --> 00:36:44,719
Speaker 1: Communication is not just verbal communications, not just written communication

682
00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:50,239
Speaker 1: is how to speak emotion emohi meme gift, especially in

683
00:36:50,280 --> 00:36:52,160
Speaker 1: the remote work worle like. One of the biggest things

684
00:36:52,160 --> 00:36:55,600
Speaker 1: that I'm still learning as a leader is the value

685
00:36:55,640 --> 00:36:58,719
Speaker 1: of communication. And UM. As an engineer, if you want

686
00:36:58,719 --> 00:37:02,000
Speaker 1: to get promoted, you you're not gonna get promoted from

687
00:37:02,040 --> 00:37:03,920
Speaker 1: just being a great colder. It's going to be your

688
00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:06,080
Speaker 1: communication skills, the way that you manage, the way that

689
00:37:06,160 --> 00:37:10,719
Speaker 1: you you organized projects. So really mastering communications is the

690
00:37:10,760 --> 00:37:13,640
Speaker 1: third thing that I would say. It is key for everybody.

691
00:37:13,760 --> 00:37:17,399
Speaker 1: That's great, Thank you, Sydney. Anything to add to that, UM, yeah,

692
00:37:17,440 --> 00:37:21,120
Speaker 1: I would say that I have some skills that I

693
00:37:21,160 --> 00:37:24,319
Speaker 1: want you to learn, UM, that I feel are very

694
00:37:24,440 --> 00:37:30,000
Speaker 1: marketable right now. And like I said, considering that company,

695
00:37:30,080 --> 00:37:33,759
Speaker 1: the company right state to state, we got layoffs and

696
00:37:33,760 --> 00:37:36,839
Speaker 1: it's my my people getting laid off, you know. Um,

697
00:37:36,920 --> 00:37:41,439
Speaker 1: And I feel like, not only do these skills help you,

698
00:37:42,040 --> 00:37:46,160
Speaker 1: but my number one is always entrepreneurship and building your

699
00:37:46,200 --> 00:37:50,400
Speaker 1: own brand. Right, Like, just imagine as a collective if

700
00:37:50,640 --> 00:37:54,480
Speaker 1: people started forming squads and forming groups, you know, and

701
00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:58,840
Speaker 1: they started coming together, building their own companies, hiring their people,

702
00:37:58,920 --> 00:38:02,360
Speaker 1: hiring their friends, hiring their family, and we don't have

703
00:38:02,400 --> 00:38:05,359
Speaker 1: to worry about people getting laid off, you know, and

704
00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:10,640
Speaker 1: doing certain things. So my number one besides like leveling

705
00:38:10,719 --> 00:38:14,439
Speaker 1: up yourself and building your own personal brand, stay and

706
00:38:14,480 --> 00:38:17,120
Speaker 1: what's hot in the market. Right three things that's hot

707
00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:20,080
Speaker 1: in the market right now is cloud data science and

708
00:38:20,160 --> 00:38:23,440
Speaker 1: Python and DevOps, which a lot of people don't know

709
00:38:23,760 --> 00:38:28,080
Speaker 1: that DevOps is becoming very very very popular right now, Um,

710
00:38:28,120 --> 00:38:33,759
Speaker 1: just because of how much DevOps has changed things. Right, Like,

711
00:38:33,800 --> 00:38:38,040
Speaker 1: I've worked on projects where we didn't have any type

712
00:38:38,080 --> 00:38:41,920
Speaker 1: of DevOps tools in place, and there were certain things

713
00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:45,120
Speaker 1: that took hours to do, you know, took hours to

714
00:38:45,200 --> 00:38:48,760
Speaker 1: figure out, and it's simple. That's adding a DevOps tool

715
00:38:48,840 --> 00:38:51,600
Speaker 1: in there. You can automate something in the in minutes

716
00:38:51,760 --> 00:38:55,480
Speaker 1: in seconds, right, So to the crowd. I would tell

717
00:38:55,520 --> 00:38:58,719
Speaker 1: you guys to go learn about the cloud, Go get

718
00:38:58,760 --> 00:39:02,359
Speaker 1: certified in the cloud. Um also get skilled you know

719
00:39:02,440 --> 00:39:05,839
Speaker 1: in data science AI. Python is taken over right now,

720
00:39:06,160 --> 00:39:09,200
Speaker 1: and then the devlops will be the takeaway. One other

721
00:39:09,239 --> 00:39:11,440
Speaker 1: thing related to this is I remember when you first

722
00:39:11,520 --> 00:39:14,359
Speaker 1: drained UM and we're talking about personal brand. A lot

723
00:39:14,360 --> 00:39:17,200
Speaker 1: of people were very shy about social media and putting

724
00:39:17,239 --> 00:39:19,920
Speaker 1: themselves out there, and they were just focused on resume.

725
00:39:20,040 --> 00:39:22,640
Speaker 1: They didn't have LinkedIn profiles, they didn't have Twitters, and

726
00:39:22,680 --> 00:39:28,000
Speaker 1: we will say, um, you know, if your resume is

727
00:39:28,080 --> 00:39:30,839
Speaker 1: essentially what pops up when people google your name, right,

728
00:39:31,200 --> 00:39:33,799
Speaker 1: And so if you don't tell your own story, other

729
00:39:33,800 --> 00:39:36,160
Speaker 1: people are gonna touch joys about you. A lot of

730
00:39:36,160 --> 00:39:39,440
Speaker 1: people talk about how every company is a media company,

731
00:39:39,520 --> 00:39:42,560
Speaker 1: every every VC is a media company, but every person

732
00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:44,759
Speaker 1: is a media company. So you need to tell your

733
00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:47,240
Speaker 1: own story, right, And this is this is really important

734
00:39:47,239 --> 00:39:52,160
Speaker 1: because people program computers and media programs people, right, and

735
00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:54,200
Speaker 1: so you need to take control of your own narrative

736
00:39:54,400 --> 00:39:56,799
Speaker 1: if you want to really um stand out in this

737
00:39:56,840 --> 00:40:00,600
Speaker 1: world in my opinion. Okay, so I want to talk

738
00:40:00,640 --> 00:40:04,919
Speaker 1: a little bit about kind of the mental barrier component here.

739
00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:06,960
Speaker 1: So you know, for people who do want to put

740
00:40:06,960 --> 00:40:10,520
Speaker 1: themselves out there, they want to rescale, upscale, UM, but

741
00:40:10,560 --> 00:40:14,400
Speaker 1: they're doubting themselves or questioning the timing. What's your advice

742
00:40:14,400 --> 00:40:19,359
Speaker 1: to people to overcome that mental hurdle? UM. So, I think,

743
00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:22,880
Speaker 1: first of all, the way you frame uh imposter syndrome,

744
00:40:22,880 --> 00:40:24,640
Speaker 1: which is what a lot of people call this, it matters.

745
00:40:24,920 --> 00:40:28,960
Speaker 1: A lot of people have different definitions for imposter syndrome,

746
00:40:29,160 --> 00:40:33,200
Speaker 1: and my definition for imposter syndrome is when you are

747
00:40:33,280 --> 00:40:36,880
Speaker 1: fully qualified to do something, but you've convinced yourself that

748
00:40:36,960 --> 00:40:40,640
Speaker 1: you're not all right. Everybody here is fully qualified to

749
00:40:40,640 --> 00:40:42,440
Speaker 1: do whatever it is that they want to do, but

750
00:40:42,560 --> 00:40:45,759
Speaker 1: you're telling yourself that you're not. Something else that we

751
00:40:45,840 --> 00:40:48,120
Speaker 1: used to talk about is how whatever you feel is

752
00:40:48,160 --> 00:40:51,000
Speaker 1: weird about you and it's probably your superpower that you

753
00:40:51,040 --> 00:40:52,920
Speaker 1: want to double down on. So a lot of the

754
00:40:52,920 --> 00:40:55,000
Speaker 1: things that you might be embarrassed to share about your

755
00:40:55,080 --> 00:40:57,480
Speaker 1: upbringing and your story, you need to figure out how

756
00:40:57,480 --> 00:40:59,520
Speaker 1: to double down in that regard. And when she talks

757
00:40:59,520 --> 00:41:02,480
Speaker 1: about spreneurship or the project that you might be building

758
00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:05,080
Speaker 1: while you're going through a skills training program, you're not

759
00:41:05,120 --> 00:41:09,879
Speaker 1: gonna just the tech industry is interesting because every every

760
00:41:09,920 --> 00:41:13,120
Speaker 1: company is going into this hiring format where credentials don't

761
00:41:13,120 --> 00:41:15,040
Speaker 1: tell you if you've got to skill. Your degree doesn't

762
00:41:15,040 --> 00:41:17,239
Speaker 1: tell you if you had a skill, your output does.

763
00:41:17,719 --> 00:41:19,560
Speaker 1: And a lot of people are going to have a project.

764
00:41:19,560 --> 00:41:22,759
Speaker 1: We're moving towards project driven resumes. But the best type

765
00:41:22,760 --> 00:41:26,399
Speaker 1: of projects are aligned with something that's personal to you

766
00:41:26,560 --> 00:41:31,080
Speaker 1: in your life. Right, and so you might feel like

767
00:41:31,160 --> 00:41:35,160
Speaker 1: it's not right to talk about how you were a

768
00:41:35,160 --> 00:41:37,880
Speaker 1: bartender trying to break into tech, for example, there's no

769
00:41:38,040 --> 00:41:42,240
Speaker 1: shame in in any role janitor, pick any role waste

770
00:41:42,239 --> 00:41:47,000
Speaker 1: garbage waste management like build a a project related to that,

771
00:41:47,080 --> 00:41:50,120
Speaker 1: and then applied to republic services of waste management. And

772
00:41:50,160 --> 00:41:54,920
Speaker 1: now you're not a fortune year veteran of collecting trash.

773
00:41:55,200 --> 00:41:59,759
Speaker 1: You're a seasoned logistics waste management expert that happens to

774
00:41:59,800 --> 00:42:02,359
Speaker 1: know how to code. It's how you frame it, how

775
00:42:02,440 --> 00:42:06,080
Speaker 1: you talk to yourself really matters. And and and now

776
00:42:06,160 --> 00:42:08,319
Speaker 1: you actually have more to bring to the table than

777
00:42:08,360 --> 00:42:10,120
Speaker 1: the code that's never worked in the industry that you're

778
00:42:10,160 --> 00:42:13,839
Speaker 1: trying to go to. I would say you need to

779
00:42:13,880 --> 00:42:18,879
Speaker 1: weigh out your pros and cons and figure out exactly

780
00:42:19,280 --> 00:42:22,200
Speaker 1: what you want to do. Right. Like I mentioned earlier,

781
00:42:22,600 --> 00:42:25,680
Speaker 1: you know, we have people you know that get jobs,

782
00:42:26,280 --> 00:42:28,959
Speaker 1: you know, and stay in one place. They don't feel

783
00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:30,600
Speaker 1: like they want to level up and get to the

784
00:42:30,640 --> 00:42:33,360
Speaker 1: next level. Me personally, I know where I want to

785
00:42:33,400 --> 00:42:35,200
Speaker 1: go and i know where I'm trying to get. So

786
00:42:35,239 --> 00:42:37,839
Speaker 1: I'm always trying to do something to help me level up.

787
00:42:38,080 --> 00:42:40,840
Speaker 1: Your your biggest critic, right, So if you're telling yourself

788
00:42:40,880 --> 00:42:42,839
Speaker 1: that you can't do it and you're not good enough

789
00:42:42,880 --> 00:42:45,879
Speaker 1: and you don't know how it's going to turn out, well,

790
00:42:45,920 --> 00:42:48,279
Speaker 1: it's not gonna turn out right, right, because you're you

791
00:42:48,400 --> 00:42:51,440
Speaker 1: already putting that in the air. So I always tell people,

792
00:42:51,480 --> 00:42:54,080
Speaker 1: and I tell people in my group to stay positive.

793
00:42:54,200 --> 00:42:56,160
Speaker 1: You know, when we were all going through the job search,

794
00:42:56,200 --> 00:42:58,719
Speaker 1: it was a horrible time, you know, like we all

795
00:42:59,160 --> 00:43:03,200
Speaker 1: finished bootcare during the pandemic and everybody was laying people off,

796
00:43:03,239 --> 00:43:05,239
Speaker 1: which is what's happening right now. This was just two

797
00:43:05,360 --> 00:43:07,880
Speaker 1: years ago when we were sitting at home, everybody was

798
00:43:07,880 --> 00:43:10,080
Speaker 1: getting laid off. We were finishing boot camp, trying to

799
00:43:10,080 --> 00:43:13,399
Speaker 1: get jobs, and this is when the poster syndrome hit hard.

800
00:43:13,719 --> 00:43:15,920
Speaker 1: Because it's like we didn't did all this work, and

801
00:43:15,960 --> 00:43:18,480
Speaker 1: now we're here, we got the work to show for it,

802
00:43:18,520 --> 00:43:21,439
Speaker 1: and nobody will hire us. So you know what I said, y'all,

803
00:43:21,520 --> 00:43:25,040
Speaker 1: Let's just keep getting skilled, Let's just keep learning, Let's

804
00:43:25,080 --> 00:43:28,279
Speaker 1: just keep putting ourselves out there, Let's keep interviewing, Let's

805
00:43:28,320 --> 00:43:30,680
Speaker 1: keep reaching out to people on LinkedIn, Let's keep meeting

806
00:43:30,760 --> 00:43:33,080
Speaker 1: up with Ruben, you know, like, let's just keep doing

807
00:43:33,120 --> 00:43:36,600
Speaker 1: all of these things. Because if we give up on ourselves,

808
00:43:36,880 --> 00:43:39,400
Speaker 1: then why should anybody in the world take a chance

809
00:43:39,440 --> 00:43:43,279
Speaker 1: on you. That that's real. Like, if if you don't

810
00:43:43,280 --> 00:43:46,200
Speaker 1: believe in yourself, how how can everybody else? But how

811
00:43:46,239 --> 00:43:48,640
Speaker 1: can anybody else believe in you? The way you taught

812
00:43:48,719 --> 00:43:50,960
Speaker 1: yourself matters. Like something we used to talk about a

813
00:43:50,960 --> 00:43:54,080
Speaker 1: lot too, is you might feel like you're not you

814
00:43:54,160 --> 00:43:56,719
Speaker 1: don't you're not an engineer until you finished the boot camp.

815
00:43:56,800 --> 00:43:58,759
Speaker 1: But if you decided that you're going to be an

816
00:43:58,760 --> 00:44:02,200
Speaker 1: engineer today, you are in engineer. Think about it like music,

817
00:44:02,239 --> 00:44:05,520
Speaker 1: I play music. So you might not be a greatest artist,

818
00:44:05,600 --> 00:44:08,280
Speaker 1: but you might be a struggling artist or starving artist,

819
00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:10,640
Speaker 1: but you're still an artist, right, So whatever you decide

820
00:44:10,680 --> 00:44:13,000
Speaker 1: to do, that's who you are, And if you don't

821
00:44:13,000 --> 00:44:17,080
Speaker 1: believe in yourself, the interviewers are going to also see

822
00:44:17,080 --> 00:44:19,000
Speaker 1: that fear. They're gonna smell that fear. So you have

823
00:44:19,040 --> 00:44:22,359
Speaker 1: to you have to talk to yourself in a unique way.

824
00:44:22,360 --> 00:44:25,200
Speaker 1: Because something that Keisha from the Winds, why I used

825
00:44:25,239 --> 00:44:27,480
Speaker 1: to say, is is words are spells. That's why they

826
00:44:27,520 --> 00:44:32,399
Speaker 1: call it spelling. So talk talk right, I love that. UM.

827
00:44:32,440 --> 00:44:34,840
Speaker 1: All right, this is going to be our last question.

828
00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:37,759
Speaker 1: So if you are sitting out here today knowing what

829
00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:40,280
Speaker 1: a unique opportunity it is to be here this week

830
00:44:40,320 --> 00:44:44,120
Speaker 1: at the largest black tech conference, UM, what is one

831
00:44:44,400 --> 00:44:46,680
Speaker 1: simple actionable thing that you would do this week to

832
00:44:46,719 --> 00:44:51,640
Speaker 1: maximize the opportunity the opportunity here at that fro tech UM.

833
00:44:51,680 --> 00:44:54,200
Speaker 1: I mean something that that's sitting really emphasis aalized this

834
00:44:54,320 --> 00:44:57,600
Speaker 1: the value of networking UM. And I would also say

835
00:44:57,600 --> 00:45:04,520
Speaker 1: the value of serendipity or a randomness. UM. I think

836
00:45:05,000 --> 00:45:07,960
Speaker 1: once you have intention and you and you know where

837
00:45:08,000 --> 00:45:11,080
Speaker 1: you're going, I mean you believe in yourself, a lot

838
00:45:11,160 --> 00:45:14,360
Speaker 1: of magical things happen if as as you go go

839
00:45:14,440 --> 00:45:17,960
Speaker 1: around here. So I would encourage you to have conversations

840
00:45:18,000 --> 00:45:21,160
Speaker 1: with people, yes, with intention, but really just to understand

841
00:45:21,160 --> 00:45:23,319
Speaker 1: people's stories and so that you can help them with

842
00:45:23,360 --> 00:45:26,839
Speaker 1: no expectation into a return. A lot of times people

843
00:45:26,880 --> 00:45:30,440
Speaker 1: talk about the emotional bank account and like putting deposits

844
00:45:30,480 --> 00:45:33,400
Speaker 1: into people's emotional bank account so they can make a

845
00:45:33,440 --> 00:45:36,600
Speaker 1: withdrawal without a deficit. I think there's value to that,

846
00:45:36,800 --> 00:45:39,239
Speaker 1: but I actually don't think you should fully think about

847
00:45:39,280 --> 00:45:41,960
Speaker 1: it late that because when Sidney talked about that boomerang

848
00:45:42,000 --> 00:45:44,480
Speaker 1: effect and just that good career comma that you're putting

849
00:45:44,520 --> 00:45:47,399
Speaker 1: out into the into the ecosystem. When you do that,

850
00:45:47,760 --> 00:45:50,640
Speaker 1: the world is gonna gonna you'll never go home because

851
00:45:50,680 --> 00:45:52,400
Speaker 1: people are gonna look out for you. So if you

852
00:45:52,440 --> 00:45:54,480
Speaker 1: haven't taked to somebody random, I would encourage you to

853
00:45:54,480 --> 00:45:57,239
Speaker 1: speak to at least five people today just to get

854
00:45:57,239 --> 00:45:59,160
Speaker 1: to know them and see how you can help them

855
00:45:59,160 --> 00:46:01,680
Speaker 1: in some kind of way without any expectation to return,

856
00:46:01,800 --> 00:46:06,360
Speaker 1: and I promise you'll pay off. It's a lot of

857
00:46:06,360 --> 00:46:09,120
Speaker 1: people here, right, It's a lot of people here. You're

858
00:46:09,160 --> 00:46:11,879
Speaker 1: sitting next to somebody, is somebody behind you, in front

859
00:46:11,880 --> 00:46:13,960
Speaker 1: of you, and on you know, the right side of you.

860
00:46:14,360 --> 00:46:17,120
Speaker 1: I think the biggest takeaway that you guys can do

861
00:46:17,400 --> 00:46:21,920
Speaker 1: is form a group, form a squad, form a community

862
00:46:22,000 --> 00:46:24,960
Speaker 1: like or come joining. Ain't it community? It's all up

863
00:46:25,000 --> 00:46:28,240
Speaker 1: to you, you know, But these communities are very important.

864
00:46:28,280 --> 00:46:30,520
Speaker 1: I think I heard you say something about e r

865
00:46:30,600 --> 00:46:34,080
Speaker 1: G AT companies and how important those are. I don't

866
00:46:34,120 --> 00:46:36,160
Speaker 1: know if your company has the r g s, but

867
00:46:36,280 --> 00:46:40,520
Speaker 1: mind does. And ever since I became I'm a leader

868
00:46:40,960 --> 00:46:42,959
Speaker 1: in the e r G at my company, it has

869
00:46:43,040 --> 00:46:46,400
Speaker 1: made me love work so much more because not only

870
00:46:46,520 --> 00:46:48,440
Speaker 1: you know, am I just going to work to do

871
00:46:48,480 --> 00:46:52,080
Speaker 1: my project. I know that I have other people and

872
00:46:52,120 --> 00:46:55,160
Speaker 1: other events to put on, you know, happy hours that

873
00:46:55,280 --> 00:46:58,040
Speaker 1: I'm you know, helping put on, and other events in

874
00:46:58,080 --> 00:47:01,040
Speaker 1: the office that brings people together. So you need people.

875
00:47:01,400 --> 00:47:04,680
Speaker 1: Nobody can do it alone. Nobody can do it alone.

876
00:47:04,760 --> 00:47:08,400
Speaker 1: Nobody can do it alone. Everybody needs somebody. So with

877
00:47:08,520 --> 00:47:12,760
Speaker 1: all these people here, if you leave here without getting

878
00:47:12,760 --> 00:47:16,360
Speaker 1: nobody's number or joining the squad or creating your own community,

879
00:47:16,600 --> 00:47:20,200
Speaker 1: sleep fast. And if your company doesn't have an arg

880
00:47:20,440 --> 00:47:23,920
Speaker 1: an Employee resource group, start one. I think that's that's

881
00:47:24,080 --> 00:47:27,480
Speaker 1: very very important because community is gonna get you everywhere. Um,

882
00:47:27,520 --> 00:47:30,320
Speaker 1: if you're going to multiple schools, multiple companies in lifetime,

883
00:47:30,760 --> 00:47:34,200
Speaker 1: we say networks, not credentials. Move careers, so make sure

884
00:47:34,239 --> 00:47:49,200
Speaker 1: you get part of the network Black Tech Green Money

885
00:47:49,200 --> 00:47:51,400
Speaker 1: to production of black of the Afro Tech on the

886
00:47:51,400 --> 00:47:54,520
Speaker 1: Black Effect podcast Networking I Hired Media. It's produced by

887
00:47:54,600 --> 00:47:57,640
Speaker 1: Morgan in the Bonding Me with Lucas with addition to

888
00:47:57,680 --> 00:48:01,640
Speaker 1: productive support by Saying Argony Rose mcluca us special thank

889
00:48:01,680 --> 00:48:04,400
Speaker 1: you to Michael David Something that's a surrounto learn more

890
00:48:04,400 --> 00:48:06,880
Speaker 1: about my guests, other tech disruptus and innovators at afro

891
00:48:06,960 --> 00:48:10,960
Speaker 1: tech dot com. Enjoying Black Tech Green Money, Share with

892
00:48:11,040 --> 00:48:27,239
Speaker 1: somebody go get your money, peace and love. I'm Will

893
00:48:27,320 --> 00:48:29,600
Speaker 1: Lucas and Black Tech Green Money. Did you know this

894
00:48:29,680 --> 00:48:32,440
Speaker 1: podcast was nominated for an double a CP Image Award.

895
00:48:32,640 --> 00:48:35,120
Speaker 1: Where we are and I need your support. The a

896
00:48:35,160 --> 00:48:37,839
Speaker 1: CP has opened up the opportunity for the public. That

897
00:48:37,880 --> 00:48:40,600
Speaker 1: means you to weigh in and vote on our category,

898
00:48:40,920 --> 00:48:44,000
Speaker 1: and the opportunity for you to vote ends this Friday,

899
00:48:44,080 --> 00:48:46,240
Speaker 1: so head over to vote dot ub a CP Image

900
00:48:46,239 --> 00:48:49,759
Speaker 1: Awards dot net. Scrolled to the Podcast and Outstanding News

901
00:48:49,760 --> 00:48:53,320
Speaker 1: and Information Podcast category and vote for Black Tech Green Money.

902
00:48:53,680 --> 00:48:55,920
Speaker 1: It's not often that we see a podcast for us

903
00:48:56,120 --> 00:48:59,840
Speaker 1: by us which highlights the stories of black innovators technologists,

904
00:49:00,040 --> 00:49:03,799
Speaker 1: venture capitalists and angel investors, scientists and engineers with this

905
00:49:03,920 --> 00:49:06,160
Speaker 1: big of a spotlight, So I'm asking for you to

906
00:49:06,200 --> 00:49:08,080
Speaker 1: take a moment out of your day and vote for Black,

907
00:49:08,120 --> 00:49:11,040
Speaker 1: taking your money. Do it now. Voting closes this Friday.