Fireside Chat w/Jessica Santana, Co-founder/CEO @ America on Tech

[00:00:00] How's it going folks? [00:00:10] Thanks for popping in. [00:00:11] We'll get started in a minute. [00:00:30] Hey, Katie. [00:00:36] Hey, Russell. [00:00:37] Hey. [00:00:38] How's it going? [00:00:40] Katie. [00:00:41] How's it going out in LA? [00:00:43] I hear there's a huge heat wave. [00:00:45] There is. [00:00:47] I don't know about a heat wave, but it is warm. [00:00:56] I would trade 90 degrees for Chicago weather in the winter anytime. [00:01:14] So Tomas, what's a fun thing you got to do today? [00:01:17] Fun thing I got to do today. [00:01:22] Oh, I had to do today. [00:01:23] Well, I was on a lot of meetings, let's put it that way. [00:01:28] Not sure if I'll call it fun, but it was a lot of preparation still. [00:01:32] So sorry that I can't give you a lot more excitement up to my day. [00:01:39] But this is being recorded. [00:01:43] So no worries at all. [00:01:46] But I can tell you everything is coming together quite nicely. [00:01:53] And I'm very hopeful that everybody who will be watching will have a great time. [00:02:03] Sweet. [00:02:04] Katie, what was the best part of your day? [00:02:05] Katie, what was the best part of your day? [00:02:09] Well, Russell, I mean, the risk of sounding like I am tooting the horn of our room here. [00:02:17] This is always the highlight of my Wednesday. [00:02:19] It really is. [00:02:22] I love this room. [00:02:23] I'm excited to hear the story tonight. [00:02:26] And this is probably the best part. [00:02:28] I had a very busy day myself. [00:02:30] So this is always kind of where I slow down and I get to hear someone's story and think [00:02:34] a little bit more about the human factor. [00:02:38] So I enjoy this space a lot. [00:02:42] So I'm excited for this combo. [00:02:43] Hi, Octavia. [00:02:45] Hey, Katie. [00:02:46] Hey, Russell. [00:02:47] Hey, Thomas. [00:02:48] Hey, Octavia. [00:02:49] Hey, VG. [00:02:50] How's it going? [00:02:51] Very well. [00:02:52] Good evening, everybody. [00:02:53] Good evening. [00:02:54] Hey, Lisa. [00:02:55] Hello, hello. [00:02:56] Hey, hey. [00:02:57] Hey, Hey, Hey. [00:02:59] Hey, Hey. [00:02:59] how's it going very well good evening everybody good evening hey lisa [00:03:10] hello hello hey hey [00:03:16] oh you know what russell i changed my mind oh go you know what happened this morning no [00:03:22] my nine-year-old um he decided to show me that he was doing square dancing at school right before [00:03:29] i was taking him to school and he even he did a do-si-do and then he twirled me [00:03:35] so that was actually it was like one of the best things that ever happened in my entire life oh my [00:03:38] gosh that is so such a long day i forgot that was this morning how cute is that it is that's way [00:03:43] better than getting together with us nerds i have to thank the public school system for [00:03:53] teaching our kids how to square dance i guess that is awesome square dancing wow [00:04:04] we i i remember having that in elementary school actually and uh you know all i remember was [00:04:09] there were a lot of sweaty hands going on um i was like in elementary school [00:04:18] i don't know the only part i like about square dancing is do-si-do because we just like swung [00:04:23] everybody around all that's right that's right that's the best part [00:04:28] there's probably some life lessons in there somewhere we dig enough if you don't like the person [00:04:34] then then square dance with them and just do-si-do them around they'll think you like them i don't [00:04:39] know maybe no i don't think that's it all right there she is hey jessica how are you just a quick [00:04:48] microphone check hey everyone i'm good how are you tomas doing a-okay uh so we are excited to uh we are [00:04:58] excited to have you join us this evening um so we're just going to run through let me let me do a [00:05:05] quick uh start set off of the room uh sorry that if i sound a little bit muffled i am on the street [00:05:12] and i have a mask on and i am uh waiting for thank you my friend and people will just randomly walk by me [00:05:21] saying thank you not to me but to other people but in any event uh this is our weekly fireside chat [00:05:28] thank you all for sort of popping in and joining us this evening uh we are joined by jessica santana [00:05:34] who's the co-founder and ceo of america on tech and we'll get into that in just a minute uh just [00:05:41] very quickly we have we have some very basic i'll call it house rules or guardrails one let's have fun [00:05:46] as vj always says let's have fun it should be a great evening this evening uh our for the most part [00:05:54] some of the folks on the stage our comments and opinions are our own and not representative of our [00:05:59] current or prior employer so uh we ask that you keep that in mind as we continue to talk through uh [00:06:05] today's evening we're not we're here really to talk talk to jessica and understand and learn a little [00:06:10] bit more about her um so let's keep that all in mind and then lastly if you do pop up on stage to ask a [00:06:19] question we ask that you try not to solicit us uh today's not the time to sell us your latest and [00:06:25] greatest project or service offering [00:06:39] uh [00:06:49] i think tomas is on mute sorry no sorry i i uh sorry sorry about that um [00:06:59] just got a little bit distracted here on the street and uh and anyway so look we're gonna have a good [00:07:05] time this evening we're joined with jessica we've got our great moderators that usually join us and [00:07:10] uh we've got a good amount of folks in the audience so sorry folks that i'm a little bit disoriented [00:07:15] today but i will try to get back on track with you all so without further ado i'm just going to go [00:07:21] through quickly and introduce ourselves i'll introduce myself and then the bonds will introduce themselves [00:07:26] and then jessica will leave you for last uh so i'm tomas maldonado i'm the cso for the national [00:07:31] football league katie over to you hi i'm katie hannahan i am the vice president of cyber security [00:07:38] strategy for it savvy and i run our vc so program um over to you russell thank you katie hey russell [00:07:45] eubanks here last couple years been doing my own thing in cyber security consulting and helping folks [00:07:50] realize their dream of being a cso before that was privileged to lead cyber at the federal reserve [00:07:56] bank of atlanta octavia over to you thanks russell i'm octavia howell i'm the cso of equifax canada [00:08:05] which is a region in canada i am in toronto um ontario and as tomas said every comment and opinion [00:08:13] as my own i have my own personality that does not represent equifax equifax canada or any other [00:08:19] organizations that i am affiliated with over to vj thank you octavia hey good evening good afternoon [00:08:26] good morning everyone uh my name is vj bala i'm the cso of goldman sachs asset management jessica glad to [00:08:34] have you as we call in the hot seat tonight and looking forward to learn more from you lisa over to you [00:08:41] hi everyone i'm lisa beth lentini walker i run a compliance ethics and corporate governance consulting [00:08:50] firm called lumen worldwide endeavors i teach law school in the united states and in europe and i am [00:08:56] really excited to hear more about jessica tonight welcome to uh fireside chat over to you anil [00:09:03] thanks lisa welcome everyone um welcome on board just looking forward to the engaging conversation this [00:09:09] evening anil varghese i am a five-time cso currently serving as a virtual cso for a firm on the west [00:09:15] coast and the one in the uk at this time back to you tomas all right thanks for that moderators so [00:09:24] jessica look as i mentioned we are excited to have you on and on tonight and to join us on this [00:09:29] conversation so why don't you take a moment and introduce yourself let us know a little bit about you [00:09:34] and i usually like to start off the the conversation with an art with with finding out your origin story [00:09:40] so while you're taking the time to introduce yourself why don't you tell us a little bit about [00:09:44] you and your origin story absolutely well first and foremost i am so excited to be here with you all [00:09:51] tonight um i haven't been on clubhouse in such a long time so to be on the platform again is always [00:09:57] really exciting um as tomas mentioned um i you run an organization called america on tech america on [00:10:06] tech is a national non-profit that's working to decrease the economic and racial wealth gap in [00:10:13] underestimated communities and what we do is that we provide tuition free technology education courses [00:10:21] on different um skill sets within technology whether that be software engineering ux design [00:10:27] data science product management what have you um with the ultimate goal of giving skills to students [00:10:33] that oftentimes don't have these things available to them in their schools or in their communities [00:10:39] you know i'm a very proud product of new york city public schools i am a proud new yorkian woman [00:10:45] i was the first person in my family to graduate from high school college and then ultimately actually [00:10:51] start my career in the technology industry and i think that those experiences really [00:10:57] early on informed me that genius is equally distributed but opportunity is not um and you know what [00:11:06] started out as a passion project that was really just supposed to serve a few students in brooklyn new [00:11:12] york has grown into what america on tech is now so i'm very happy to be here with you all tonight and [00:11:19] i really appreciate the opportunity to share more about our organization and my personal story [00:11:27] um awesome thanks for that jessica uh katie why don't you uh take it over from here i will thank you [00:11:38] jessica i am so excited to have this conversation with you um i did a little research coming in you [00:11:44] have so much out there in terms of um the way you've been able to get out on various platforms and [00:11:49] promoting um what you're doing it's amazing i so appreciate it as being a person in this industry [00:11:56] who is always having a conversation with various other cyber security leaders where they're saying [00:12:01] why can't we um have a more diverse um uh cyber security team within my company within um you know [00:12:08] with within the within the military or whatever it is um in a daily conversation so knowing that there [00:12:13] are programs like yours out there it's just so um enlightening and empowering um for the entire [00:12:19] community um one of the things that i noticed though in my research and preparing for tonight is that [00:12:24] you were able to go out to um provide the the funding for your scholarships um via various corporate [00:12:33] sponsorships and and that kind of thing i'm really interested in that i know that a lot of other people [00:12:38] in the room um that are in the audience as well are able to tap into resources like that so i was [00:12:44] just wondering um what that process was like for you um and um kind of what maybe a story about the [00:12:52] first scholarship you were able to to hand out maybe a little bit about that experience and where [00:12:57] you were able to kind of jump start that part of starting a non-profit like this yeah for sure so you [00:13:05] know we started the organization in 2014 and prior to 2014 you know i was working in the private sector [00:13:14] um you know as a technologist and so my understanding of like non-profit fundraising was very very scarce [00:13:22] and also very very limited um but i think through the support of a lot of mentors and people who [00:13:28] were really invested in the early stages at america on tech we started to understand how we actually can [00:13:33] build up you know strong corporate partnerships that could lead um to us getting the financial [00:13:40] resources we need to pull off the program that we pull off um you know in the beginning i would say [00:13:46] the first year of america on tech none of our funding actually came from corporate partners i think we were [00:13:52] too early and there wasn't a lot of data to share about student outcomes and so what ended up happening [00:13:58] was that we ended up getting off our first fifty thousand dollar grant from an education incubator that takes [00:14:05] social entrepreneurs working on um you know social problems to be able to you know seed the organization [00:14:13] and take it to the next level and it was that fifty thousand dollars that ultimately um led me to leave my job full time [00:14:19] as a technologist in order to take the organization on full time um and so the beginning stages it was really about [00:14:27] finding those early supporters um that were really committed to just entrepreneurs working on social [00:14:33] problems and as our organization got a lot more sophisticated we got a lot smarter and i think we [00:14:39] also started understanding how non-profit fundraising works especially when they're trying to establish [00:14:45] corporate partnerships and so now you know us um our corporate partnerships really range from you know us [00:14:53] partnering with companies to engage their technology workforce and volunteering opportunities and in [00:14:59] exchange they give us donations in order to be able to provide scholarship opportunities and the free [00:15:05] trainings and the stipends that we give our students we also work directly with technology human resource [00:15:12] departments to create hiring pipelines where you know if they take on an america on tech student for an [00:15:19] internship or a full-time job they're able to you know give back a donation in order for us to be able to [00:15:24] serve yet another student who might follow the same pathway and then we also started partnering directly [00:15:31] with corporate social responsibility departments who were really committed to wanting to make sure that [00:15:37] their companies knew that they were agents of change in the communities that they reside in [00:15:42] um and wanted to make sure that they created pipelines for from their business to the actual local community [00:15:50] that poured in the resources that they had um in order to be able to you know make that change locally for [00:15:57] our youth so it was uh a very like i would say it wasn't a clear uh it wasn't a clear process um but now i think you [00:16:07] know seven years later we've learned a lot and i think corporate partners play a critical role in [00:16:12] helping um you know organizations like ours you know grow to be sustainable um resources for young people [00:16:21] yeah thank you for that um it's i love the fact that you know there's the execution factor you know [00:16:28] that you started out and seeking out that grant from an education incubator and then how that has [00:16:33] evolved it's really inspiring quite frankly and um just hearing how that process worked for you um you [00:16:39] know is is so helpful sorry i jumped kind of right into the weeds there i'm sure everyone has a lot of [00:16:44] questions around your more about your origin story and how you even got to the point where you were um you [00:16:49] know leaving your job as the technologist so um i will pass the mic over to russell to continue [00:16:55] digging into your story thanks so much jessica [00:16:59] thanks katie hey jessica we're so grateful you're spending time with us this evening we always [00:17:03] learn things get inspired and hopefully become better leaders ourselves a question for you as [00:17:08] you think about what you're describing with your organization america on tech are there some common [00:17:14] barriers that may not really be barriers after all that keep companies that keep people from engaging and [00:17:21] supporting uh the good work that your organization's doing and if so can you tell us what those might be [00:17:26] um that's a really good question i think that the the one thing i'll say is i think um i think the first [00:17:37] step in uh trying to i guess you can say create the business case for an organization that currently does [00:17:45] not have a lens for partnering with non-profits it's probably a change in mindset right like you have to have [00:17:53] a company and buy in from leadership at a company that really believes that their company should be [00:17:58] involved in youth development and in workforce development initiatives in their local communities [00:18:03] because without that leadership at the corporate level then the funding for programs a lot of times [00:18:11] won't move forward so like you actually need visionary leaders that believe equity and inclusion and [00:18:17] diversity are important and believe that the ways in which they can achieve that is through building early [00:18:22] pipeline programs and sometimes you know with people being busy and a lot of corporate structures um [00:18:29] being sometimes a little bit archaic is not always as easy to get through the doors or to get that buy-in [00:18:36] from leadership some of it is because maybe there's a general apathy some of it because maybe people don't [00:18:41] even know where to start or some of it is also just not a priority for the organization so so many people are [00:18:47] focused on their bottom line so when i think about um you know the first barrier i think a lot of it is [00:18:55] like you know do we have a corporate leadership team that wants to prioritize young people's experiences and [00:19:02] the ways and they ways in which they engage with technology so that they can be future hires for us [00:19:09] i think maybe another barrier would be an understanding that this is a long-term investment in young people [00:19:17] and so while they not might while they might not be ready to hire immediately because some of our [00:19:22] students do our programs and then become college bound um you know it's still an opportunity to build [00:19:30] skills during a very critical time in their careers and in their academic journeys that can help build [00:19:37] employer loyalty a little bit later on so that when they are seeking full-time employment they have an [00:19:43] opportunity to go back to these organizations that they know invested in their development to pursue [00:19:48] those kinds of employment opportunities so those are the two things that i think from a barriers [00:19:52] perspective stands in the way um of developing like corporate partnerships uh for nonprofits and maybe [00:19:59] like you know there's obviously a lot of barriers for our students um to you know even get these services [00:20:05] in the first place which i'm happy to talk about but those are the barriers that i see from the corporate [00:20:09] perspective thank you jessica i can think about eight more questions i want to ask but let me go ahead [00:20:15] and pass over to octavia and if there's more time i'll dig into that uh in just a little bit octavia over [00:20:21] to you thanks russell um hey jessica um i'm really excited about what you're doing and it's interesting [00:20:28] because i actually i used to work uh for a company that's based in new york and i've actually um come to one [00:20:36] of you guys meetings before um and did not realize that it was used so i'm really excited um that that [00:20:43] you're with us tonight one of the things that you know that i always think about is when we're actually [00:20:51] looking at diverse communities and we're actually looking at the pipeline right one of the things [00:20:56] that i know is that the pipeline has to you know we can get people in and we can actually give them [00:21:01] entry-level positions but what really matters is those who are you know making the decisions have [00:21:08] their authority have the autonomy and the power right and and when i think about youth programs like [00:21:15] america on tech and like some other uh you know pipeline programs i'm really wondering like the founders [00:21:22] what would be the ideal situation like to see what would it be like to actually see one of the students [00:21:29] that came through really make it to the top and really um be able to pour back into the community [00:21:36] so my question for you is like when you look at the students you've been in this for seven years now [00:21:41] and you look at the students and you look at what you're training what you're building up [00:21:46] what would be like a aha like a like a nostalgic moment for you um for within the success of your [00:21:55] students that participate in the program yeah for sure and i think what you asked octavia is a very [00:22:03] very important question because i think a lot of people they are very interested in funding youth [00:22:08] programs right and in the beginning stages everyone was excited about our high school program and as time [00:22:14] passed we started having a growing alumni pool that were enrolled in colleges and universities across the [00:22:20] country um who were still looking for resources even while being on college campuses and what we said to [00:22:28] ourselves was we need to start framing this as a problem that spans just the high school level and get [00:22:37] you know our current supporter base to understand that they're making really sometimes a five to six [00:22:43] year investment in a young person when they are investing in america on tech because we can't leave people [00:22:48] behind you know you'll notice that there are a lot of non-profits that just focus on youth and they [00:22:53] have no wrap around services for for their alumni and that is not the case with us we actually have a [00:22:59] dedicated um alumni and employment team at america on tech that is dedicated to ensuring that our alumni are [00:23:06] getting jobs um after they graduate college or if they graduated from a two-year or four-year and i think for [00:23:13] me like we have so many of these moments all of the time now because after seven years you do have a [00:23:20] group of students that are working in the industry so you know the first student that comes to mind to [00:23:25] me is a young man his name is gregoire um he is a fantastic he came to us in 2016 did a few programs with [00:23:34] us at the high school level got um on the user experience design track with our organization we paired him [00:23:41] up with an internship at accenture during his senior year of high school another internship with other [00:23:48] corporate partners and then ultimately this past summer he did his junior year internship at accenture [00:23:54] again and now he has a returning full-time offer for next summer we've seen that case again with another [00:24:01] young man his name is jeremy de la cruz and he did an internship you know after doing our high school [00:24:08] programs with warby parker which we paired him with then he went and did one with morgan stanley and then [00:24:14] he ultimately ended up doing a postmates internship in engineering and then ultimately um you know started [00:24:21] his career with microsoft so i think for us um it's really understanding that this is a long-term play for [00:24:28] young people um especially those that are college bound um because you can't just invest at the high [00:24:35] school level and then think you're going to see massive returns and that you know them pursuing a [00:24:41] college education poses no barriers you know for us we're working with students who are oftentimes a [00:24:47] part of marginalized groups um that we've historically seen how black and brown kids and black and brown [00:24:56] young people are often um met with very unique challenges even when they go to college that you have to [00:25:02] continue to provide services for them um and getting people to just buy into the vision that this is the [00:25:08] long-term play is probably the biggest um thing that we've learned over the last seven years and i think [00:25:15] convincing everyone and them seeing the outcomes of the young people that are getting jobs um has been [00:25:22] one of the strong suits for our organization i hope that answers your question i know that was pretty long [00:25:27] um no it does and i have follow-ups too but i think we can actually get into it when we start talking [00:25:33] but i would love just to like i'm really interested in the full journey and i would love to see where [00:25:38] you guys are 10 years from now over to you vj [00:25:45] thank you octavia jessica phenomenal hearing your story uh you know a lot of us talk about [00:25:52] how we can you know bring this next generation of pipeline into cyber security and tech and here [00:26:01] you are doing it right so i have two questions for you one on the personal end uh and one professional [00:26:07] personal as in share to the audience like what makes jessica tick right that's my personal question [00:26:15] and then i'll i'll come to my you know personal one [00:26:17] um yeah you mean like what uh when you say what makes jessica tick me like what keeps me passionate [00:26:24] about the work yeah oh yeah i mean i think for me it's like even my personal story and just seeing [00:26:31] how that story can be replicated when you have um young people that can follow a similar pathway like [00:26:38] you know for me when i graduated so just some background like my mom and dad raised me on maybe [00:26:44] like 15 to 20 000 per year right when you're growing up low income in new york city um sometimes [00:26:50] you don't even know that you're living in poverty right um and i think that like one thing i realized [00:26:58] um was that when i graduated from college and i started my career in tech and i told my mom you know [00:27:04] my starting salary she was like do you know that you make about like four or five times like what i made [00:27:10] my entire career in a year um and i that was such an eye-opening experience for me so when i think [00:27:19] about what keeps me passionate about this work because if i'm being fully transparent like this is [00:27:24] really hard work um you're working in communities it requires so many different stakeholders and so many [00:27:29] different collaborators um that the work does get hard but in those moments like i just think about how it [00:27:36] feels to um receive an offer or receive your first job or receive your first internship with an [00:27:45] organization that's a big brand name and how it can make you feel valuable and seen and heard in a way [00:27:51] that our students haven't always been seen and recognized and heard and for many of them a lot of [00:27:56] times the only professionals they've had are the teachers within their classrooms because a lot of our [00:28:01] students are first generation so i think that's what keeps me passionate and what keeps me tick is [00:28:07] like the idea that we can use technology for good and we can use technology to create a pathway towards [00:28:13] economic empowerment for communities that oftentimes didn't even know that this was a possibility for them [00:28:22] thank you for that uh you know my my professional question was going to be like hey you know i'm [00:28:29] i'm sure uh your role is going to be very unique in trying to market and sell uh what your firm does to a lot of the executives in [00:28:42] various companies right and uh you know i can see firsthand a lot of that pitch is your passion that you bring into it [00:28:51] but for us right if you could share a couple of [00:28:54] tips tricks not tricks but you know uh themes that have helped executives in different organizations [00:29:07] buy into you know you and your firm and what your mission and vision is that'll be really cool [00:29:16] yeah for sure you know um i always go back to the data because [00:29:20] the reality is that like there are all the anecdotes that i share that can feel like very qualitative [00:29:27] and can feel like oh my gosh she's just inspirational but there is data out there and there is research and [00:29:33] there are publications out there that show a lot of things and the first thing i'm going to say there's a [00:29:38] lot of research out there that shows that better diversity brings about better business outcomes you know [00:29:44] there's also data out there that shows that when you invest in technology education for students at [00:29:50] the high school and at the high school and college level um i'm sorry at the middle school and the high [00:29:54] school level women are are 10 times more likely to go into field to the field and the black latinx [00:30:00] students are seven times to eight times more likely to go into the field um there's also data that shows [00:30:06] that students who do internships prior to going to college and those that do internships [00:30:11] what even while in college are about 80 percent more likely to actually get full-time employment [00:30:18] after you know post-secondary um education and so i think for me like when i'm thinking about you know [00:30:26] talking to an employer i'm thinking about um pitching this from you know a social return on investment [00:30:32] where it's like you might be giving america on tech a fifty thousand dollar grant but because you are [00:30:39] making this investment that reaches 25 students these 25 students if gone through the program and [00:30:46] graduate have the chance to make two or three times their expected lifetime income have an opportunity to [00:30:53] have 80 percent likelihood of actually obtaining full-time employment have the opportunity to make x [00:30:59] amount of money if placed into internships and i think when you can share those quantitative anecdotes with [00:31:05] people um it actually moves them to seeing that their fifty thousand dollars they've actually you know 10x or [00:31:14] a hundred x depending on the metric that you're moving by in order to see that the investment goes beyond [00:31:20] that initial um you know the initial capital because the good thing about organizations like ours is that [00:31:26] that 50k we stretch it so much that you see good you see um you know social returns on it [00:31:34] so that's the way that i think about um you know creating the business case for a lot of executives [00:31:40] because a lot of times people think it's just like the right thing to do and it obviously is but um it's [00:31:47] also you know you can add methodologies to help um quantify you know the the the social return on investment [00:31:55] thank you love the qualitative aspect uh gee i got so many follow-up questions but uh at least i'm gonna hand it over to you [00:32:03] um great question so far jessica thank you so much for being here um i've seen in your background that [00:32:14] you've been named to 30 under 30 and 40 under 40 and all of these wonderful accolades now you work with [00:32:25] youth as you continue to do what we all do which is uh age and mature and develop how do you stay in [00:32:34] contact with that youthful spirit and understand where your you know students are so that you can [00:32:44] connect with them even as technology and everything around us is changing so rapidly yeah that's such a [00:32:51] good question that is very very good question so you know um yes you know i started america on tech [00:32:58] when i was very very young um and obviously i've grown older now but i think what has helped a lot [00:33:04] is like i have a lot of nieces i have a lot of nephews and i also stay involved in the programs i think a [00:33:10] lot of times um people who work in the social sector especially non-profits like once you get to like the c [00:33:16] level of a non-profit um and you know it's in the million dollar range now and you have staff you know [00:33:24] you tend to outsource these things to people to carry on the work but i think the one thing that my [00:33:29] co-founder and i have been very intentional about is that even though we might not be individual [00:33:35] contributors to the program in terms of its execution we want to be feeling the experience of the students [00:33:41] who are going through the program so we have the language to connect with them so we're on the [00:33:46] social media platforms that they're on like i have a tick tock account where i act silly as well [00:33:53] and i think it's important for them to see that because so much of um you know so much of what we [00:33:58] believe at america on tech is that young people cannot be what they cannot see um and i remember when [00:34:04] i was coming up um in my academic and career journey a lot of times i could not find you know that brown [00:34:11] girl puerto rican girl from brooklyn who you know made me feel like i could also operate in spaces of [00:34:17] innovation and i've been very intentional about curating a brand that still feels youthful in front [00:34:23] of our students and then very professional in the areas and in the spaces that it needs to be [00:34:28] professional and i think the idea of quote switching um is a skill that i try to flex a lot because [00:34:35] the only ways in which our programs stay culturally relevant and even age relevant um is if i make the [00:34:43] intentional decision to engage in the same things that they do and that our staff also engages in the [00:34:49] same things that they do which means designing things with them and not for them um and always [00:34:56] listening to you know the things that they put in our surveys um always listening to the things that [00:35:02] they share in our focus groups so that we are responsive to their needs and that and not us [00:35:08] trying to spoon spoon feed them things that we think they should know um you know when i think about [00:35:13] like equity and when i think about inclusion you know i try to treat it as a product right and everyone [00:35:21] that knows anything about technology is like you listen to your users um and so for us um you know we try to [00:35:29] make sure that you know with us being equity minded that like we design experiences with our users in [00:35:35] mind and that they actually are part of the design process and i think that's what keeps things youthful [00:35:42] and relevant how i would feel when i start hitting 40 i'm not sure but that's just how i feel right now [00:35:50] i love it i love it and i you know i'm so glad that you're willing to share with us your you know journey and [00:35:57] also you know how you're looking at things as you know we all continue to grow and develop and mature [00:36:04] so um i will uh let anil speak next because i'm sure that you have even more questions anil [00:36:13] sure thank you lisa jessica thanks for taking the time uh this evening i think i met you and evan at [00:36:19] an event years ago when i was working out of new york uh definitely appreciate that time uh want to [00:36:25] ask you quickly uh get your insights on you know over the last several years a lot of corporations have [00:36:32] other foreign partnerships leverage corporate social responsibility what avenue have you seen [00:36:38] gain the most traction that's my first part of my question [00:36:44] um you mean like um you mean like what like what programs do we want do we run that are getting the most attention [00:36:51] exactly yeah um it really that's a good question um i think at the beginning stages because we only [00:37:01] operated the high school program it sets the precedence that we are only a high school organization [00:37:07] and so convincing people that the high school program is important i think has not been a difficult [00:37:13] thing because that's the brand that we've built however now in the last two or three years having [00:37:19] developed our alumni program um i think that people have started to understand that we are more than just [00:37:29] um the high school program and as a result of that are now you know pouring more dollars into students [00:37:35] who are 18 to 24 in our college program because they can actually see um a return on investment um you know [00:37:43] a lot quicker than when they invest in the high school space and so i think from a traction standpoint i [00:37:50] would say first it was high school and now it's evolved to alumni and i think for us um getting [00:37:57] i think the next phase of the work is getting everyone to understand like that it's a multi-layered approach [00:38:03] that happens over the course of five to six years um that we're hoping to attract you know the the [00:38:09] traction too if that makes sense but i think that's the way it's played out so far no it's great to [00:38:16] hear and i you know one of the things that's you know great just like lisa talked about saying you [00:38:21] know tied to the times you know i know you guys are uh recently got involved with nfts can you give us [00:38:27] a little bit of a backstory on what fueled that cause oh yeah so um my co-founder and i we are the [00:38:35] co-creators of an nft project called high tech heroes um this actually is not affiliated with america [00:38:43] on tech at all however we are trying to find ways to make it synergetic um you know but for us the the [00:38:50] goal for high tech heroes was to create an nft project um that was focused on technology innovation and [00:38:57] building generational wealth um for uh communities that want access to it and don't necessarily have [00:39:04] access to it so a portion of the proceeds from the project are going to go to non-profits that are [00:39:10] working on technology education and bridging the digital digital divide like america on tech [00:39:16] um and the goal of the community is to provide um in terms of utility is to provide access to um [00:39:24] events that cover um you know hot trends and hot topics and technology that oftentimes um you know people [00:39:33] of color are very interested in but they don't necessarily know how to navigate the spaces to [00:39:38] get the accurate information that's awesome that's so great to hear appreciate that jessica back to you katie [00:39:47] thank you um so quick room reset um this is the fireside chat uh room tonight we're speaking with [00:39:52] jessica santana co-founder and ceo of america on tech 30 under forbes 30 under 30 cranes new york 40 under 40 [00:40:01] um and you know what it's not so bad after 40 jessica i promise no i don't think i don't think it's [00:40:09] bad at all i always imagine my life being really great i've as i've aged i feel like it's uh it's [00:40:16] been on on trend with wine you know how wine gets better page that's right i'm better with age as well [00:40:22] i agree entirely um and uh so yeah i appreciate that and um so in terms of the way we we run the room here [00:40:30] every single week is um we usually we'll open it up in about 10 minutes or so we'll open it up uh [00:40:36] to the rest of the room sanju i see you in the audience so good to see you in the audience um so [00:40:40] anyone else who has a question uh for jessica please raise your hand we'll bring you up on stage a couple [00:40:46] of the moderators though i know had a couple of follow-up questions and i just wanted to make sure [00:40:50] we got those in uh real quick um but then you know those of you in the audience would like to come up [00:40:54] we'll be bringing you up um as well so with that um octavia did you want to ask your the follow-up [00:41:01] questions that you had i do thanks katie so you know i'm all about this again the full pipeline right [00:41:11] and just wanted to know we talk a lot about on this fireside chat about generational wealth and how a lot [00:41:20] of us grew up like a lot of us moderators um did not grow up um with either both parents or we didn't [00:41:28] grow up like a lot of us live below the party poverty line when we were coming up and so i think it's so [00:41:34] important for us to actually be able to be in a situation that we're in right now also to give back [00:41:41] right what do you wish or hope like how could those of us who have been through you know you have a [00:41:48] program that's trying to help these high school students college students and and they're beyond [00:41:53] kind of get to a point where they're not living in poverty and actually breaking that that generational [00:41:58] curse like how can people like us help you um and how can you utilize us to actually close the entire [00:42:05] pipeline that's a really good question octavia i think that um who let me see you know i used to work [00:42:15] in the private sector and i think that like um i i had i have a lot i had a lot of mentors at the time [00:42:22] when i was working in the private sector that i think very much cared about equity and inclusion [00:42:28] but to be quite frank with you i think they were a little bit afraid to become advocates because the [00:42:34] data also shows that um you know those who are at companies sometimes are chastised when they start [00:42:41] trying to promote diversity and inclusion um within the company so they start to see they their start [00:42:47] they they fear being perceived as like the angry person or you know the person who's trying to push [00:42:54] an agenda or um you know the person who's trying to uh make sure that the company doesn't pay lip service [00:43:00] to diversity and as a result of that they tend to stay a little bit quiet and i think that um you know [00:43:08] and and and quite frankly that happens because like this is also their bread and butter right like [00:43:12] this is like your job this is your salary you probably have mouths to feed families to take care of but i [00:43:18] think that we're in a time right now where the last two years um there has to have been an awakening for [00:43:25] everyone in that when covet hit there were communities that were like you can't even argue were [00:43:33] disproportionately affected by the effects of the last two years and we also saw how black and brown [00:43:41] communities were the ones that were oftentimes disproportionately affected women were disproportionately [00:43:46] affected the students who've had disabilities were disproportionately affected so there's no better [00:43:52] time than now to become an advocate for change within your community within your corporations because i [00:43:58] think that companies are starting to understand that they are agents of change in the business in [00:44:04] in the communities they reside in and in places like new york for example which is our headquarters you [00:44:10] know you have companies that are headquartered maybe two or three blocks away from um subsidized housing [00:44:17] projects or two to three blocks away from public schools that are struggling and i do think it's incumbent on [00:44:23] a number of the things that we're taking on leadership at these companies no matter what background they're [00:44:27] from whether white black orange purple um to play a role in actively creating connections between [00:44:35] the companies that they're working in and their local communities and i think the way you can do that is [00:44:40] one you can partner with organizations like america on tech in sponsoring programs in hosting interns and [00:44:49] bringing in volunteers um in you know getting your employee resource groups involved [00:44:56] inviting us to speak like you did today because sometimes half the battle is just getting the word [00:45:01] out there um and i also think it's um giving leadership who's oftentimes very busy an [00:45:10] opportunity to gain visibility into the social problems as well because you know when you're cc [00:45:15] c-suite and organization like sometimes you're so busy that sometimes you just need the primer of [00:45:21] like okay who is this what do they want from us what is the return um and like how can we you know [00:45:27] how can we support because um you know i have the ability to say yes or no so that's what i think [00:45:33] um that's what i think about when i think about getting um and then the role that executives play [00:45:39] in getting involved in their local communities um and i really just think that now is the time [00:45:46] and i think that also if there is general fear or just like lack of lack of guidance around it like [00:45:52] all non-profits especially if they're good and established ones are going to have a development [00:45:57] team that can help you craft the pitch to whatever internal stakeholder um you know is necessary in [00:46:05] order to make those partnerships come to fruition yeah that's good i would actually uh challenge you [00:46:14] to kind of think about in a different way as well because and this is what i know a lot of us [00:46:21] executives now are those children who were in poverty who needed social programs and we do have the [00:46:29] authority to actually make a difference and so sometimes it's just about how can we actually [00:46:36] help and what can we do and so it's you know kind of look at it from that way because i think sometimes [00:46:45] organizations may think that the ones that's making the decisions are not those who actually went to the [00:46:51] same thing that some of these children are going through so so yeah so that's kind of where i'm [00:46:56] kind of looking at like what can we how can we make sure that we're making that you know a bigger impact [00:47:02] and i think a lot of executives also want want to actually show the the youth that there's a there's a [00:47:10] way right that that we made it and they can make it too and it's not just lip services it's not just a [00:47:16] a charity program but this is actually a way out in the past right does that make sense oh for sure [00:47:24] for sure i definitely don't disagree i definitely don't disagree there are many of us that have um [00:47:29] you know actually followed the path and i always say that i am the student um that i now serve and so [00:47:36] i definitely definitely agree i was more saying that sometimes you know when um when you are in that [00:47:43] position it could be a little bit fearful to uh try and you know advocate for programs like ours because [00:47:51] you know sometimes people aren't as receptive to it that's all i was saying but i definitely agree yeah [00:47:56] yeah absolutely so it's time for us to step up right and actually be able to to advocate when we see [00:48:02] those those people who don't know leaning towards no right we can actually speak on where we came from [00:48:09] possibly for sure absolutely i don't know russell i know you you were interested in having more questions [00:48:17] as well yes octavia thank you and i think that this is a uh i'm really curious and maybe building on what [00:48:25] you were uh discussing just now octavia is there such a thing jessica is a typical timeline for a a person to [00:48:34] go through the process say from their day one until they're engaged and they've been trained and they're [00:48:41] making a contribution at a company i don't know about any means trying to like pigeonhole or anyway [00:48:46] but just i'm curious to kind of what that timeline might look like or maybe what it has looked like [00:48:51] uh with recent um students who've gone through this yeah for sure so every every student experience in [00:48:59] the program is very different um you know for us uh you know if the student is enrolling has enrolled [00:49:07] in our intensive course um directly after that initial program they actually can get a job um directly [00:49:15] after it so if they do decide to get a direct a job directly after it it's about 12 months um before [00:49:21] they actually get a job in the industry for some students though wanting to pursue employment directly [00:49:27] after the program is not the goal because they are in high school and so they some of them go college [00:49:32] bound um so what ends up happening is like rather than pursuing a job after the program they pursue an [00:49:38] internship and then our alumni team you know is very very dedicated to ensuring that internships then [00:49:44] follow and that we keep track of the students um and that the time horizon um is in alignment with [00:49:50] with what the student's goal is and so for those students it can be two years if it goes if they decide to go [00:49:56] to a community college and then pursue employment after the training um but for some students it can be [00:50:02] four years so it really just depends on the young person and what their goals are but for us the immediate [00:50:08] outcome is year-long training and then internship thereafter um and that usually is a 12-month time frame [00:50:17] got it that's super helpful for me to kind of visualize kind of think about the different paths that you [00:50:22] uh outline right there awesome well vj over to you and i think then we'll turn it over to folks uh [00:50:27] in the audience thank you jessica quick question you helped numerous hundreds of kids right was there any [00:50:36] one particular story that you know touched you uniquely that you could share with us yes yes yes yes [00:50:45] it's actually um it's uh the mccullum family so in 2016 we had a young woman in our program do our [00:50:54] program um her name was samara and she had such an amazing experience that she told her sister and then [00:51:01] her sister followed through the program and then she had a good experience and then the sister told the [00:51:06] brother and so at that point at this point we have three generations or three different um brothers and [00:51:13] sisters who had um who done who's done the american tech program who are all pursuing technology degree [00:51:22] uh degrees one is at carnegie mellon the other one is at cornell and the other one is at a local cuny [00:51:28] school and they have all done internships with our organization um one of them did an internship to [00:51:34] somewhat at bny mellon the other one was at deutsche bank and so honestly i think seeing that generational [00:51:42] impact like how you can get into one student's life and then it can become a trend for their family [00:51:50] to then follow that same pathway i think probably is my favorite story to tell because it was such an [00:51:56] unexpected um outcome of the work you know a lot of times we think about like how do you bring a young [00:52:02] person in and train them and get them the resources and put them on a path but to see that it kind of [00:52:07] created a butterfly effect where it was like you got one sister and then you got their brother and their [00:52:13] other sister um to to do the program as well now they're all following that pathway has been a very [00:52:20] exciting story for me to be following at aot that is awesome thank you for sharing all right i see we have [00:52:28] a few members from the audience join us jason over to you to uh ask jessica a question thank you very [00:52:39] much and jessica it's a pleasure meeting you and thank you so much for your story you know when i hear [00:52:43] that and uh you know coming from the background i have with being you know family blue collar like [00:52:49] yourself and so forth you know we're really blessed and it's a reality check from time to time going you [00:52:53] know really how blessed we really are and what we're doing and like you talked about the ability [00:52:58] to give back um within your programs where are you seeing a lot of your students gravitate towards [00:53:04] as in what tracks are they beginning to follow as you begin to train them and they move on are they [00:53:08] going down the more network security route are they going down infosec programming can you give us a [00:53:13] little feedback on what those programs look like and how they're moving through so that we can start to [00:53:18] kind of visualize what kind of mentorship we can offer because we got so many diverse [00:53:23] backgrounds and experiences on this on this session yeah for sure so although so it's it's interesting [00:53:30] because i think that all the students at aot in general come to us trying to become software engineers [00:53:40] and then what they learn in the process of creating a lot of the projects and doing a lot of the projects [00:53:46] that we have at the organization and throughout the curriculum is that they start to realize that [00:53:52] they might have an affinity for some of the other tracks that they didn't even know that they were [00:53:56] exposed to and so when i'm thinking about um what students are gravitating to i'm thinking about it [00:54:03] from more of a major's perspective so all of our students are pursuing computer science um well not all [00:54:10] of them 85 percent of them are pursuing computer science or working in tech right now and the roles that [00:54:18] have been the most popular at this point have been the software engineering roles the user experience [00:54:25] their design roles as well as the product management roles um we've not had a track on cyber security up [00:54:32] until now um we actually are piloting our first cyber security program with mbc universal this spring [00:54:39] for our college students that's going to be focused on cloud um and cyber security with in partnership with [00:54:46] them and um you know it's it's hard to share a little bit more on the cyber security from because [00:54:52] it's the first time we're doing it but the one thing i'll say is the interest in technology is there [00:54:57] for all of them and they end up opting into one of the tracks that we have after the first semester [00:55:05] based on their experiences and the most popular ones have been engineering ux and product at this point [00:55:11] all right awesome thank you so much no problem all right and sanju over to you thank you uh jessica [00:55:23] congratulations um on creating uh your non-profit and all the awards that you received um i love to give [00:55:31] people their their flowers when they do such great things in their career and personally so what is your [00:55:39] world the domination plan you've done so much already like what does success look like personally for [00:55:47] you that's my question um personally for me to be honest with you um on a personal level really the [00:55:58] only thing i want to do is be able to say that like when i'm an old woman and i'm in my rocking chair [00:56:05] um that i did everything that i wanted to do up until that point because it's so hard to say that [00:56:14] this is what i want to do for the rest of my life because i don't know what i want to do for the rest of [00:56:18] my life i know right now my life's mission is definitely americontech and i feel very called to [00:56:23] this work um but you know i want to give myself the ability to be flexible in um you know my passions and [00:56:33] the way that i experienced the world and so i think me personal success will look like just being able [00:56:40] to say that i had no regrets at the time of me sitting in my rocking chair drinking my tea as like [00:56:46] an older woman if that makes sense it does make sense and we probably will be in a technology a tech [00:56:56] old folks home together sipping tea so thank you i love that [00:57:04] hey don't make fun of the people over 40 again no no i feel like i'm coming off as an agent and i promise [00:57:15] no i really loved what you had to say about uh aging wine though i've been thinking about which [00:57:19] one i would be um i think i'm at about like an 80 bottle now like a nice california cab maybe i love [00:57:26] that i was kind of but i think that rocking chair might be iot though that's funny so sorry move i [00:57:38] digress uh but moving on so um tom ryan uh just joined the stage tom uh what question do you have [00:57:44] for jessica tonight so jessica one simple thing i know you're having problems with the cyber security [00:57:52] stuff so feel free to reach out if you need help with that also if you need software donated you know [00:58:00] to teach application security anything like that also let me know that's all i have for you thank you [00:58:07] i appreciate that i appreciate that i'm definitely take that taking that as a note for tonight thank you so [00:58:12] much tom and i'd even i'd reiterate that as well and i mentioned it at the top of the hour um just [00:58:20] because um you know we do have a diverse background in terms of the people that are in the room the [00:58:24] people that are moderating tonight that's why i jumped right into corporate sponsorships and figuring [00:58:28] out how we can help you um one of the questions though i had from your previous statements you [00:58:35] mentioned at the very beginning that you had some mentors as well in your life but i don't know that [00:58:39] we really explored that um are you open to sharing uh who some of those or one or two of those mentors [00:58:46] and how they impacted your trajectory yeah for sure and i feel like there was always one very important [00:58:54] figure at every important stage of my life um i think in high school i had an english teacher named miss [00:59:01] panette and she was this amazing black woman who was radical and exciting and always had me thinking [00:59:09] about myself um as like a young woman growing up in brooklyn and like she gave me just so she just gave [00:59:17] me the permission to feel like i should be confident in who i am regardless of where i was from [00:59:23] um and she really believed in me and my voice and so you know everyone that knows me knows that like i [00:59:30] am super opinionated and i love having opinions about the world and i'm very like passionate about [00:59:37] you know social problems and stuff like that and she never made me feel um like i guess you can say she [00:59:45] never made me feel like any less than for it she actually encouraged me actually using my voice so [00:59:50] thing at high school definitely was miss panette um in college it was a woman named josie otero she used [00:59:58] to be um the program coordinator at the office of multicultural affairs at syracuse university which is [01:00:05] my alma mater um and to just be able to see a woman who was unapologetically puerto rican from the bronx [01:00:13] and she was really running the show in that office and you know made me get involved um in in [01:00:20] student organizations and take leadership roles in those student organizations made me feel like [01:00:25] actually belonged on campus because there was a point where i felt like huge imposter syndrome [01:00:31] attending syracuse with so many young people that were from a lot more affluent communities or perceived [01:00:39] affluent communities um than i was from and who had read books that i hadn't even read and so [01:00:46] her making me feel comfortable to you know make that college experience my own regardless of whether [01:00:52] or not there weren't a lot of other young puerto rican girls on campus with me um was very pivotal for [01:00:58] me and then in the private sector um there was a woman um who i'm gonna not name because she is [01:01:09] actually an executive in tech and i don't know if she would feel comfortable me saying that but [01:01:13] or saying this but you know just being able to see her be a c-suite executive at a large technology [01:01:20] company but still be able to take the time to mentor me and provide me advice um while i was working [01:01:27] um in tech was really important because it made me feel like no matter you know what level i was on [01:01:33] i was still important important and my voice mattered and then now that i'm in nonprofit you know i go back to [01:01:40] the early days where i had a woman named jennifer um negron who was our first institutional investor [01:01:49] at america on tech who like literally served as a catalyst for advocacy for our work um and really [01:01:57] provided like the validation um that we needed and a sponsorship that we needed for us to be taken [01:02:04] seriously because truthfully you know when you're young a lot of people don't think you can run anything [01:02:10] and so to have her say regardless of their young if they're young they're proximate to the communities [01:02:15] and continue to advocate for us in that way showed me that like i can do the same thing for my communities [01:02:21] um and just being able to observe all and i think there's a trend here these were all women um i think [01:02:29] just being able to see these slew of women and the way that they carried themselves and the confidence in [01:02:34] which they carried themselves and the fact that they were exactly who they said they were and they [01:02:40] like advocated relentlessly regardless of you know how they were perceived i think were the mentors that [01:02:47] played a really a huge role in my life that i'm very thankful for today [01:02:51] that's fantastic um so let me just take a moment to do a quick room reset for anyone who has joined us um since we started [01:03:05] this is the fireside chat we have fireside chats every wednesday um this has been going on for over a year now i believe [01:03:12] uh if you haven't joined the club you can click on the little green house at the top of your screen and make sure [01:03:20] that you get the updates about the fireside chats that we have each week tonight we are here with jessica [01:03:27] and it has been a ving and exciting discussion um if you would like to join us on the stage and ask your questions [01:03:35] please feel free to raise your hand and we'll make sure that you have an opportunity to speak [01:03:40] um but jessica before we move on um to anyone else who has questions one of the things that i wanted to ask [01:03:50] you is you you know you talked a little bit about um imposter syndrome one of the things that keeps coming [01:03:58] up um and that we keep hearing about is um well-being and um mental health particularly for youth right now [01:04:07] um but in general in many different professions what do you do in terms of helping students what do [01:04:15] you do for yourself when it comes to your own well-being how are you thinking about these topics today [01:04:24] for sure um for the students in aot i always say that we are investing in the whole title and so while [01:04:31] we're known for technology education and skills training we have partnerships with several [01:04:38] non-profits um where we can actually refer our students to for mental health services [01:04:45] because while we don't have the capacity on that on staff there are other non-profits that their [01:04:50] sole mission is to provide good mental health for young people and so for us it's establishing really [01:04:55] good partnerships with leaders and experts in those areas and then serving as a catalyst and [01:05:01] a champion for our students to gain access to those services with no barriers in place [01:05:07] i also think it's being very intentional about the classroom experience for our students because [01:05:12] i know a lot of people love folks to be on camera but you know the young people that we work with a lot of [01:05:19] times you know they're living in one bedroom apartments possibly with like four or five other people [01:05:25] and it is not exciting for them to be on camera um with um you know with the backgrounds that they have [01:05:34] in terms of like the actual physical backgrounds that you can see on zoom and so it's creating safe [01:05:40] spaces for our young people to engage and not having to have the pressure of having to look a certain way [01:05:47] just to learn on the camera um and i think the last thing we do on the aot front is making sure that we [01:05:53] keep parents in the fold because a lot of times you know we put the onus and the responsibility on just [01:05:59] young people to show up as their best selves but their parents and their guardians and their families [01:06:07] are the ones that are with them almost every single day in their homes and so keeping them in the loop [01:06:13] about what's going on and keeping an open communication between them and their family so that their families [01:06:18] feel comfortable with sending an email to one of our program managers saying like hey so and so is not [01:06:24] feeling well today um so she might be on camera or he might be off camera um or you know he's having an [01:06:32] episode of some sort it's like really important for us um so that's what we do on the aot front and then on [01:06:38] my front um i think i'm still learning work-life balance um and and i honestly i think at this point [01:06:46] it's more work-life integration for me um because sometimes it doesn't feel like i'm working when [01:06:52] i'm doing aot stuff which can always feel like endless hours um on the pursuit of our mission but [01:06:59] i think you know what i've been very good at is having sundays be jessica appreciation days where i [01:07:06] don't touch email and i just go out and i spend time in the sun and i water my plants and i do stuff like [01:07:13] that because it recensors me for the week um and then making sure that um i really just put my phone [01:07:21] down at a specific [01:07:26] my um my phone and i don't touch it again until the next day [01:07:31] such great advice i think we could all um have a i think i need to incorporate a katie appreciation [01:07:43] day what do you think lisa i totally agree i like that there's a lot of appreciating that needs to [01:07:50] happen especially when you got mom as a title too um there's there's just a lot that could be done there [01:07:56] i was just telling i think it should be the whole month of march let's just take off march appreciation [01:08:04] yes yes i am in [01:08:09] um and i think we had guy jump up to the stage as well and i think uh there may be some additional [01:08:15] questions guy did you want to go ahead and ask your question [01:08:26] man of mystery guy would you like to ask a question [01:08:35] okay we'll come back to him um uh what about the other mods did you have any [01:08:40] additional questions for jessica [01:08:44] yeah i've got one thanks katie um jessica in your role and just such an amazing organization we've all [01:08:51] got to learn about america on tech what's the is there a typical balance in the time that you're [01:08:57] leading the organization versus the time that you're doing things like fundraising or awareness [01:09:02] activities to shine a light uh on the go i'm kind of curious the balance between the many hats that [01:09:07] i'm sure you get to wear yeah that's a good question um so you know mondays i call them like my alignment [01:09:17] days so those are the days where i spend um aligning with my direct reports and so that's like me getting up to [01:09:25] speed on things that are going on um meeting with them making sure that like if they need anything [01:09:31] from me i prioritize it i put it on my next steps list to get it done by whatever time frame they need [01:09:36] me to get it done um and so mondays are usually alignment day so if we were doing quantitative it's [01:09:42] like eight hours on alignment um and the other uh 32 hours in a 40-hour work week i think it depends on the [01:09:52] season so in the fall time frame it's mainly fundraising and partnership because that is usually the time where we bring in [01:10:00] the most dollars um and then january through april i think it's mainly program um activities and you know [01:10:11] cultivating um new prospects and bringing them to see the work and advocating and doing speaking engagements [01:10:19] um and then in the summer time i think it's a healthy mix of like all the things that i'm responsible for [01:10:25] at the organization because we're running summer programs and internships and at the same time [01:10:30] preparing for the fall fundraising season so it's very seasonal it's very very seasonal but i think [01:10:37] maybe the busiest time where it's not always as clear where my time is going is always like the september [01:10:46] through december 31st time frame because after labor day things get really crazy at aot [01:10:56] got it thank you super so insightful to kind of look at the seasonality as well as the mix of of your [01:11:02] roles so thanks so much let's go i have a question all right and and uh you know this whole uh [01:11:16] situation where the kids students everybody gets free education you know they get a pathway and you [01:11:22] know so you know someday if you crack this problem my question is what next what other uh aspirations and [01:11:34] journeys uh is jessica looking into next um that's a good question i think um [01:11:47] i think you know i think i will have to report on that i think right now i think i'll have to circle [01:11:53] back on i think right now um having a vision for anything else when this work feels so urgent all the [01:12:00] time um is a little bit difficult i mean i will say i definitely have interests outside of america on [01:12:07] tech like you know the nft project um honestly that's still tech related obviously and i'm still trying [01:12:12] to figure out how to get it to involve america on tech in some capacity but i think you know i do have [01:12:19] interests outside of the organization um i'm very interested in the social impact sector in general [01:12:25] i think my work um and my life's mission is always going to be around social justice and equity and [01:12:31] inclusion um so if there was ever a time where you know i decided to step down as ceo america on tech [01:12:39] um whatever i do next will always still have a focus on social justice um but i think right now it's a [01:12:48] little bit difficult to say because there's no time horizon because the problem we're trying to solve [01:12:54] at america on tech still hasn't been solved thank you [01:12:58] um maybe you know if you know if months are okay you know i have a follow-up question to that maybe on [01:13:08] the fun side um on the same plane of thought like let's say you know the wonderful day you get you know [01:13:17] a hundred million dollars tomorrow what would you do next then oh like a hundred million dollars for [01:13:25] america on tech you just yeah it could be that's one way to look at it yes yeah or or even just [01:13:34] yourself what would you do oh um that's a good question i mean i probably would invest it in [01:13:44] some kind of financial instrument that will continue to grow so that we don't actually have to spend so [01:13:53] much time fundraising for america on tech and we actually have a sustainable funding source that's [01:14:01] driven by the market that funds the organization itself um because you know while we've been successful [01:14:08] at fundraising at aot i would definitely say it's not my favorite part it's not my favorite part of [01:14:14] the work um i don't really enjoy the fundraising process i more enjoy actually doing the work for young [01:14:21] people and providing them with resources more than anything else and so um if there was like that [01:14:27] kind of investment that came to me personally i probably would just put that money into a fund of [01:14:33] some sort that will generate um ongoing dollars that keeps the organization sustainable um so that we [01:14:41] weren't reliant on philanthropy to keep the organization going wow that's thank you thank you [01:14:50] so practical yet selfless jennifer i i see you joined us on stage good to see you again [01:14:55] hi thank you thank you um thanks for jane um you asked you asked one of the questions i was going to [01:15:00] ask which was what was what was next for jessica jessica i've been listening you are so impressive [01:15:05] um giving me chills on all this and i i'm with you i've been with non-profits and fundraising is the worst [01:15:10] and providing the actual uh benefit is you know working with the kids is the best um and i'm impressed by your uh [01:15:17] really broad view there both running the organization fundraising providing the tech and then recognizing [01:15:22] the um the mental health that in people being on screens all the time and all of that um i was going [01:15:30] to follow up on your you said um your nft project might be next and i was wondering what that was or if [01:15:36] that was actually a part of this because it's it's tech and it's interesting it's interesting i would think to [01:15:41] um you know youth because it's a growing area that includes both tech and hands-on and [01:15:47] and and a lot of things so i just wanted to hear what that was [01:15:51] yeah i i think i talked i mentioned it a little bit earlier but um we i basically am working with [01:15:57] three friends on an nft project um called high-tech heroes nft um we launched it a month ago right now [01:16:05] we're in the community building phase in terms of building up the following getting people excited [01:16:10] trying to build traction trying to gauge demand for you know what we're trying to build and essentially [01:16:15] what it is it's a project that's focused on um building a community around technology innovation [01:16:22] and building general wealth um and the goal is that you know we have um the nft project actually unlock [01:16:30] a tech utility associated with in-person and virtual events that cover those same topic [01:16:37] topics on tech innovation and building generational wealth um and right now we're actually hosting a [01:16:42] black history slash black future month series um that's focused on educating the community about what [01:16:49] nfts are because one thing we've noticed is that there is a lot of buzz about nfts um and there's a [01:16:57] a lot of buzz about web three and the metaverse and crypto but like a lot of people actually don't [01:17:01] like know what it is um and i think part of our contribution is making sure a part of our [01:17:07] contribution with the project is making sure that we make this information easily digest digestible [01:17:13] and accessible to um communities that we care about and so while it's not affiliated with [01:17:19] america on tech as of yet we see a world where the work that we do with the nft project a portion of [01:17:26] the proceeds will actually go to fund um america on text operations because i think that because of [01:17:33] our focus on tech and innovation um and building generational wealth we think we can build a [01:17:38] community of socially conscious people who are interested in these topics that care about our [01:17:44] young people as well where they would buy into the nft project because they know that um not only are [01:17:51] they gaining access to these events um with the utility but they also are creating pathways for [01:17:58] other people to um gain access to that in the local community that's awesome you've just hit like the [01:18:05] best things there um one actually getting through a lot of the hype and uh tom's in the audience so i'm [01:18:11] sure he felt me cringe he knows that i can't stand all the um hype around the metaverse and the [01:18:17] blockchain and and web 3.0 being this giant decentralized world except that you have to get [01:18:22] on to everything through centralized platforms um so love that you're actually getting people [01:18:26] involved in that and and it sounds like you're getting them to understand what the realities of [01:18:31] those are at this stage and then um also love you have the two things about nfts that i think are [01:18:36] valuable which is um community it's all about community and then the um you know quote utility and [01:18:42] what is that and usually it's access to something is the is the good um you know ongoing access to [01:18:46] something and building that community and giving access is the value so i'm super glad to hear [01:18:50] that you're you know dual function having them build it out and also educating people on it nice job [01:18:56] um and same as anybody else here i'm an attorney so if you ever need legal help feel free in that [01:19:01] area to reach out and i'm sure um katie uh the cab up in the corner can always get us connected [01:19:05] if needed yeah thank you we really appreciate that i know um part of like what we're learning about [01:19:13] because i'm still learning about the space as well i'm not an expert by any means necessary but i know [01:19:18] enough um to know that like well no just because someone has 15 000 instagram followers does not [01:19:25] mean that they have a good nft project um and so i think um yeah i think yeah i definitely agree [01:19:34] that there is a lot of hype and i think what i'm afraid about and why we're trying to create high-tech [01:19:39] caros is because um with the amount of misinformation that goes around um a lot of times the communities [01:19:47] that are um going to be victims of that misinformation are those that are left out of innovation in the [01:19:55] first place which is our students in our communities and that can actually hurt them exponentially in many [01:20:03] many ways um and if we really believe in a world where everyone should participate in the metaverse [01:20:08] we got to get back to the basics because um we don't even have computer science education in all [01:20:15] of our classrooms in this country so we need to we need to start at the at the very basics with people [01:20:21] and meet them where they are and right now there's just like a lot of hype and a lot of people who are [01:20:27] buying into these things and not really understanding that like they can lose their money in a second [01:20:32] yeah and the hype to your point about what is the there's no the metaverse right so metaverses are [01:20:37] just ecosystems and so there's you've got all this hype of you've got to be in the metaverse and [01:20:41] people feel like they're behind to your point people are going to get preyed on it's going to be a big [01:20:45] bubble and then a pop but um just helping them yeah and to your point actually it's all under you [01:20:50] know go back to first principles and critical thinking it's all under delayed by tech right so if [01:20:55] people can go back and understand what is an nft it's a digital token what does it connect to and to [01:20:59] your point it's going to connect to access it's going to create community now anyways i could go [01:21:04] on i'm passionate about that i think you guys are in the right direction and and so i'm just super happy [01:21:08] to hear that and yeah katie can connect us if you ever need um just straight legal help on on that stuff [01:21:13] yeah thank you jennifer for jumping up on stage and yeah jennifer is wanting to i i was one of those [01:21:21] people saying the metaverse by the way so just full disclosure um but um i digress again um wanted to [01:21:28] go to heather who was our guest uh two weeks ago an amazing guest um and i'm sure she has a wonderful [01:21:35] question to ask jessica so um would love to pass the mic over to heather next thanks katie and thanks [01:21:43] jessica for coming and talking to us all um you're obviously working with a pipeline of individuals that [01:21:49] many of us here are their future people managers right so like i work for a company where um you [01:21:56] know we're working to hire people straight out of college or you know bypassing college degree [01:22:01] requirements and hiring people straight out of um high school to increase diversity right and to [01:22:08] increase our talent pipeline and so i'm curious what your advice would be having worked with this you [01:22:15] pipeline of amazing young youth like what what would your advice and your hope be for their future [01:22:20] people managers i love that question i love that question um honestly i think that my i think my first [01:22:33] piece of advice would be that to understand that this generation is a very different generation than [01:22:40] previous ones like i think that their ability to access information on demand has given them [01:22:51] the ability to have to gain or to to give them the motivation to actually work on projects that like [01:23:02] many well i will speak for myself i know i at some like you know growing up the way that i did i didn't [01:23:07] always have the opportunity to be a leader at a young age because those experiences weren't like weren't [01:23:16] there or readily available for me so i think that my first piece of advice is understanding that like [01:23:22] they're looking for leadership skills really early on they're looking to be project owners really early [01:23:28] on um and i think a lot of that has to do with the fact that they are creating and they are tinkering [01:23:36] all of the time because of they have because they have access to technology readily and on [01:23:41] readily at their fingertips um i think the other thing is um understanding that social movements [01:23:50] really matter to them because you know i've seen students who have graduated from our programs that [01:23:57] are working at companies that maybe were not responsive to um you know a lot of the movements that have [01:24:05] happened over the last two years that relates to black lives matter as it relates to um you know just [01:24:12] social justice movements in general and building anti-racist workplaces that you know it sends them [01:24:17] the signal that this is not a place that they want to work because it might not be aligned with their [01:24:22] personal values so understanding that like social causes um and social missions um that their companies [01:24:30] get involved with matter um and i think they have a tendency to want to have a voice right and i think [01:24:40] for some people um that have been used to having managers that you know wanting them to be seen but not [01:24:47] necessarily heard is not going to work with this generation because they are so opinionated and whether [01:24:54] they are right or they are wrong i think that just the idea of wanting to be heard is really important [01:24:59] to them um so those are the three things so to recap i think it's one making sure that we give them [01:25:05] you know the opportunities to be leaders on projects really early on i think it's making sure that we give [01:25:10] them a voice um you know and give them an opportunity to express themselves authentically and i think the last [01:25:18] thing is um is making sure that the companies are committed to you know social movements and social [01:25:25] causes they care about [01:25:26] thank you jessica i really appreciate your response [01:25:31] no problem well we really appreciated your question too heather it's um it's always uh nice that you're [01:25:39] actually someone i look up to after our conversation um a couple of weeks ago um the that component of [01:25:46] leadership um i really i've thought about a lot of things i'm looking forward to when we can [01:25:51] actually catch up over a glass of wine um at one point soon um but there's a i'll go ahead and wrap [01:25:57] this we're kind of coming to the end of our evening i want to be respectful of your time jessica and [01:26:02] um tomas always asks um a question at the end and i like this question particularly for you [01:26:07] with the position that you're in he always asks the question um what would uh what would you say to your [01:26:15] younger self i think i got that right is that right mods is that how he he says you landed it [01:26:20] okay great yeah just so if you're looking back at you know jessica uh 12 year old jessica or whatever [01:26:27] age you want to go to just the fact that you're working with high school kids now what would you [01:26:30] say to yourself um as as looking back at yourself and at the age of the the kids that are coming into [01:26:36] your program yeah i think the two things i would say to myself is jessica it is okay to be yourself [01:26:45] and jessica it is okay to be kinder to yourself um i think that you know i i have as a first generation [01:26:55] um as first generation in this country like i have always found myself in spaces where [01:27:03] i felt like i didn't belong because i didn't belong i felt like i couldn't show up authentically [01:27:09] as me um and i think i was looking for someone to give me permission to be myself and i wish that [01:27:18] when i was younger i would have um known that it was okay to be me because you know i am authentically [01:27:26] and uniquely made to be who i am um and i didn't always know that and so i felt that like a lot of [01:27:33] times i suppressed my personality or you know my thoughts or my voice because i didn't necessarily [01:27:39] think it was of value that i think people would take me seriously as someone who's always felt [01:27:44] different um and i think the kinder to myself piece is that um i i have like but i think my mom and [01:27:53] dad had raised me to have a very high bar for performance for myself and and it's worked in [01:28:01] some aspects you know i was like really good in school and i you know worked and i always worked [01:28:07] very hard but at the same time i when the moments that i did fail like i internalized those failures [01:28:16] so deeply you know to the point where um i didn't realize that i could also be okay with [01:28:24] just having tried um and even if i didn't succeed and so i think those are the two things that i would [01:28:32] say to my younger self is be kinder to yourself and be okay with being yourself oh man thank you for [01:28:41] that i think that i need to tell myself that still um at this point in my life too um so it's a it's a [01:28:49] nice reminder although everybody in this room knows i'm myself i i gladly fall on my face every single [01:28:54] day and while everyone's watching it's you know part of the appeal i suppose um but you know great [01:28:59] advice for for all of us even in the place that we are we are now and um the other thing that you said [01:29:04] prior to that too and and what prompted me to ask the question at that time is um really getting in [01:29:11] tune with um and what i'm this is kind of my last comment i'll go around the room as we close the [01:29:15] room to the other mods with the last comment but one of the things i'm really taking away [01:29:18] here jessica is the the concept of really understanding the generation that's coming up [01:29:23] um i have children in this age bracket so i try to think that i know what's going on in their heads [01:29:29] but just the fact that um this new generation that is coming into our industry really wants to be [01:29:34] heard um and i'm taking that with me as a nugget to you know really really think about and um [01:29:41] appreciate your insight on all all topics but that's the that's the thing that really rung uh [01:29:45] and really struck me uh at the end here so i want to thank you again um before we close the room [01:29:51] um just wanted to go around quickly uh to all the the mods um and you know of course jessica [01:29:58] anything we can do to help you um before i do i just want to make sure i reiterate that anything [01:30:02] we can do to help you um if if if and even i'll open open-ended ask it actually before we move to [01:30:09] the mods is what can we do to help you um as a follow-up to this uh this uh conversation today [01:30:15] yeah for sure well i just want to say this in and of itself was helpful i think i think i said it [01:30:22] before just getting the word out about what we're doing um is so important because people can't help [01:30:29] you or advocate for you if they don't even know who you are or what you do so just thank you so [01:30:33] much for the platform you could have invited anyone to be here with you all today and you invited me so [01:30:38] i really much appreciate that um and then i guess my only ask is like if you find that um you know [01:30:45] you are looking to get involved with a non-profit um you want that non-profit to be focused on [01:30:52] technology and bridging the digital divide to go visit americaontech.org because we are continuously [01:30:59] growing we're always looking for new partners always looking for volunteers and um you know our [01:31:05] team is always excited to bring new people into the fold and into the network um to get involved [01:31:11] with our programming so thank you so much yeah thank you for that and um yeah i'm sure you'll be hearing [01:31:18] from um several of us um that were on the stage with you tonight um so with that if i can i'm going [01:31:23] to go around the to the mods uh with some final thoughts before we close the room uh russell sure [01:31:29] thanks katie jessica you know thank you for not only spending the last hour and a half of your life with [01:31:34] us but sharing what's possible and just an amazing organization that i've got to learn about tonight [01:31:42] that i'm now a fan of in america on tech for what you're doing and the impact [01:31:46] you're all in you've demonstrated to that uh that to us in the way you've talked about and shared uh in [01:31:54] so many ways and so again just a massive gratitude to you uh and uh continued success for america on [01:32:00] tech octavia over to you absolutely i ditto everything that russell said jessica you your passion [01:32:08] is amazingly contagious and the fact that you are so selfless um we were kind of laughing in the [01:32:14] background when uh vj actually if you had a hundred million dollars i was like she's not taking [01:32:20] anything for herself so thank you just for being uh just for being an advocate for youth right especially [01:32:27] those youth who are um who are you know historically disenfranchised to make sure that they are no [01:32:34] longer disenfranchised so thank you for everything that you do lisa [01:32:37] thank you i will you know i always feel like i always get um following some really really tough [01:32:47] acts because our mods are are uh amazing in this group but jessica you are an inspiration and a light [01:32:54] and it gives me so much hope knowing that you are out there advocating and empowering youth um who you [01:33:02] know and the youth are really our future um so i'm i'm glad that they have a role model in you [01:33:08] and the work that you are doing to help create a better tomorrow um so thank you for that and thank [01:33:14] you for sharing your stories with us aniel [01:33:16] yeah ditto what the team conveyed jessica thanks for taking the time being candid uh and then i'll reach [01:33:25] out behind the scenes uh there's a couple different groups i think you'd be able to help out and be able [01:33:30] to partner with you so again uh leverage us as we can you know work with you and certain whatever [01:33:36] capacity uh you feel if it feels uh going to be beneficial for the organization [01:33:42] thank you thank you so much everyone i really appreciate it and just really quickly octavia [01:33:48] thanks for calling that out i didn't even realize that the question i realized like he did ask like [01:33:54] what would i do with the funding and i don't know that just seems like a lot of money [01:33:59] we were cracking up [01:34:01] yeah that is pretty amazing yeah your brain just went completely and it was funny as soon as he [01:34:09] asked the question i thought i i bet she's just going to talk more about how he would put it into [01:34:14] her program so um we appreciate you so much um echoing everything everyone else just said as well [01:34:21] um you know uh we're here every week uh jessica you're please don't be a stranger you're always [01:34:26] welcome to come back um we always have a very interesting uh person like like yourself although [01:34:31] you stand alone here uh obviously but uh we always have really interesting people we'd love to have [01:34:36] you back uh as as uh and in our audience to ask questions and be a part of the community it really is a [01:34:41] is a community um uh i don't have the the list of who's next week lisa do you have that handy just [01:34:49] to make sure we announce who the guest is next week yep next week it's going to be jack kaiser who's on [01:34:55] the red team for albertson's and uh it should be a really interesting discussion um uh with with loads [01:35:04] of you know questions from us and from the audience so we hope that you join us next week [01:35:08] so with that everybody have a wonderful uh rest of your evening uh thank you jessica russell lisa [01:35:16] anil and octavia and tamas and all the other mods that were on stage tonight everyone who [01:35:21] came up and asked questions we really appreciate you we really appreciate this community [01:35:25] have a great evening and we'll see you next week [01:35:27] you