How She Leads

In this episode, we interview Katerina, the founder of ENGin that connects young Ukrainians and their peers in the US and all over the world. Katerina shared how she started with only a lofty goal as helping and giving back to her community in Ukraine but gradually and organically arrived where she is now. During this process, she explored many ideas and learned a lot of essential skills. She said “no” to Yale who offered her admission and now introspect, Katerina commented that is the best decision she has ever made. In college selection, it is not about the level of prestigiousness but how well the program would fit one’s (current and/or long-term) goals. Without a clear career path at the very beginning, Katerina was learning all the critical skills that eventually helped her in creating and leading her own non-profit organization. Let’s hear more from Katerina.

In this episode, we interview Jessyca Matthews, a language arts teacher, a racial, environmental justice, and institutional racism activist. In 2017, Mathews was a finalist for NEA’s Social Justice Activist of the Year for her work on the Flint water crisis. Mathews was named Michigan’s Region 5 Teacher of the Year in 2019-20. In 2018, she was named Secondary English Teacher of the Year by the Michigan Council of Teachers of English and received the Samford Award for Most Inspirational Teacher of Michigan. Mathews has a voice in multiple areas of needed change in education. Let's hear about Jessyca's stories, how she stands for what's right and is involved in good trouble, and most importantly, how she assists young people in finding their own voices. 

You can learn more about Jessyca here: http://www.jessycamathews.com/. 

Dr. Ingrid Murra is a mission-driven entrepreneur and orthodontist passionate about democratizing access to confidence by way of smiles. She’s the 48th Latin woman to secure over $1,000,000 Venture Capital funding in the history of the United States, a Harvard-trained orthodontist, and the founder & CEO of the orthodontic startup, Two Front. In this episode, Dr. Murra shares her journey how she's revolutionizing the dental industry by connecting top orthodontists to dental offices and providing orthodontists with the tools to run modern, clear aligner practices from unused office space at dental offices. Not only do doctors make more money, but customers save money and time as well! Let's hear more about Dr. Murra's entrepreneur story. 

In this episode, we interview Dr. Lynette Henry. Immigrating from Barbados, Dr. Henry serves as the manager of college success program at the 10th largest public school district in the United States. During the interview, Dr. Henry emphasizes on the direct impact of our counselors and teachers on our students. To succeed, besides acquiring necessary skills, students need to be affirmed, to be seen and heard to build up their confidence in pursuing their dreams. Let's hear more from Dr. Henry.  

In this episode, we interview Helen Adeosun, Founder & CEO of CareAcademy. Helen has been listed as one of Fortune’s 2020 40 Under 40 in Health. She has worked with Teach for America, Boston Public Schools, and Pearson Education as well as a number of companies focused on caregiving issues. She holds a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame in Politics and Arabic Studies and an EdM. from Harvard University in Education Policy and Management.

As a daughter of Nigerian immigrants to the US, Helen combined her family tradition of work in the healthcare industry with her own passion for education and established CareAcademy to provide professional training for home care workers. In our conversation together, Helen explores the journey she has traveled, including her constantly changing her roles and responsibilities as an entrepreneur and leader. Let’s hear more from Helen and her journey as an influential and impactful entrepreneur.

In this episode, we interview Lorena Racanelli who is a dance resource teacher at Bailey’s elementary school, Fairfax County Public Schools. Lorena sets a great example of integrating non-core subject learning into core subjects. She has developed an integrated curriculum with the grade level standards so students are not only learning the elements of dance, self-control, and self-expression, but also deepening their understanding of science, social studies, language arts, and math. Lorena used social studies as an example and illustrated how movements could be integrated into storytelling and provided students a vivid picture of the settings of certain historical events. Lorena is able to combine her passion for dance and education to provide unique learning experiences to ESOL students at FCPS. With limited English proficiency when first landed in this country, Lorena believes understanding her own core values and persistently pursuing it is critical. She works with students everyday and teach them the importance of being strong internally. Let’s hear Lorena’s story of “strengthening the core” both physically and mentally.

In this episode, we interview Dr. Kimberly White-Smith, Professor and Dean of the LaFetra College of Education (LFCE) at the University of La Verne. Dr. White-Smith was adopted when she was a little girl, and her adoptive mother told her stories when she was growing up about her biological parents being highly educated university graduates. It later turned out that her adoptive mother had fabricated such stories, but in part as a result, Kimberly attributes this to never doubting her own abilities, or likelihood to succeed.

The power of storytelling is so important for people to see all possibilities in themselves, and consequently achieve their potential. Dr. White-Smith also recognizes the great community support she received along her journey. As a way to give back to the community, Dr. White-Smith is dedicated to fostering academic justice for minoritized students through enhanced educational environments, organizational structures, policies, and teaching practices. In our interview, Dr. White-Smith talks about how the teaching approach should not be limited to one norm and it needs to be adapted to meet individual students’ needs as well as their learning styles. Let’s hear more from Dr. White-Smith about addressing historical schooling inequalities through teacher education.

In this episode, we interview Dr. Lisa Williams, Chief Equity Officer at Fairfax County Public Schools. Before taking on her current role, Dr. Williams was the Executive Director of the Department of Equity and Cultural Proficiency in Baltimore County (MD) Public Schools for 11 years. During our conversation, Dr. Wlliams emphasizes the “whole child” educational approach and the importance of self-exploration for all students. Starting as a Biology teacher, Dr. Williams soon recognized limitations of Biology teaching content and pedagogy in order to support diverse students’ learning needs. She then pursued Psychology as a way to better understand and holistically support students. Let’s learn more about Dr. Williams’ journey of advocating for cultural inclusiveness and equitable educational practices at both the individual and systemic level.

In this episode, we interviewed Francesca Raoelison, a social entrepreneur from Madagascar. She founded an NGO, Omena, which addresses emotional and psychological abuse, especially in developing countries. Francesca shared how she was awakened by a peer educator during one of the classes that she was actually growing up in an emotional and psychological abusive environment with a number of very familiar named behaviors. These behaviors seem to be normalized, unquestioned behaviors in many homes in Madagascar. As such, there is an intergenerational cycle of emotional abuse that is passed down from generation to generation. These behaviors leave a profound and lasting effect on an individual’s sense of identity, dignity, self-esteem and mental health. After becoming aware of, and naming these abusive behaviors, Francesca thought things suddenly made sense - her lack of confidence, lack of self-love, lack of boundaries and fear of taking risks. Ever since then, Francesca dedicated herself to breaking the cycle and encouraging healing. Let’s hear about Francesca’s experience of challenging the status quo and establishing new norms to promote social emotional well beings.

In this episode, we interviewed Romina de Costa. Romina has lived in 4 different continents (South America, North America, Asia and Europe) and followed a non-linear career path through anthropology, international education, leadership and entrepreneurship. Her recent passion for understanding the attrition of women in higher education, especially in the areas of science and engineering, have also allowed her to explore female leadership.

Romina grew up in Brazil and was raised in a family of doctors, as such there were expectations for her to follow a traditional and predictable career path. However, Romina’s curiosities about the world drove her to study in the US, first as an undergraduate at Yale University, so she might instead freely explore her interests. Arriving at Yale, even coming from a cosmopolitan city and international school, Romina still experienced “culture shock,” and felt lost in her first two years at Yale. A gap year allowed her to pause and recenter on her core values and purpose. It was a very different story and cultural dynamic when she moved from the US to China where “foreigners” were treated with a different attitude. Romina also had eye-opening experiences in terms of gender stereotypes in China. Let’s take a journey with Romina to understand how gender identities manifest in different cultural forms.

In this episode, we hear from Dr. Goodwin about how she grew up in a competitive environment, and has built great resiliency as a leader who is willing to step up at critical moments and take responsibility, even, and especially when things are not going well. Her multicultural experiences in the East and the West make her comfortable as “the only one” in many cases-- the first in her family to attend college, the only female Dean at the University of Hong Kong, and the only Asian American female Vice Dean at Teachers College, Columbia University. Dr. Goodwin reflects that she may have poked a few holes through the bamboo ceiling by working hard and resisting biased perceptions others projected onto her based on her multiple identities. She believes that overall, society as a whole is making progress (yet very slowly) towards equity. We discuss how the complexities of human behaviors and identities make it impossible to isolate and analyze a leader through a single lens, like gender. Let's hear what insights and advice Dr. Goodwin offers through our conversation.

Avery Blank J.D., is a Senior Contributor with Forbes and owns and manages her own consulting practice, strategizing with clients worldwide to help them achieve their business, career, and policy goals. Avery has worked with some of the most successful leaders and organizations in the world, such as Johnson & Johnson and the Executive Office of the President of the United States. She has been recognized by Bloomberg Law, Stanford Law, and the National Association of Women Lawyers for her work in strategy, women's leadership, and policy. Avery regularly speaks at conferences, companies, and universities and her writing has appeared in journals and publications including The Washington Post, TIME, Fortune, The World Economic Forum, Fast Company, and LeanIn.Org. You can find out more about Avery's work at https://www.averyblank.com/. 

In our interview, Avery describes how her core values guide her career path as a fierce advocate of equality and fairness. Starting with asking questions in the principal’s office to developing formal advocacy training through law school, Avery has now lifted justice and advocacy work out of the classroom and courtroom and brought them to a multitude of arenas and audiences. Avery attributes broadened perspectives (cultivated through travel), understanding differences and developing non-judgmental, keen observation and listening skills as key assets for her work. Avery leverages her own courage and confidence to speak up and to stand up against injustice as what drives her to help women gain gender parity in all corners of society. Avery hopes to help empower all women with these skills to become their own best advocates. Let’s hear what Avery has to share with us.

Amy Chang is an Executive Director for Global Cybersecurity at JPMorgan Chase, where she works on identifying new strategic and high-value business opportunities for the firm and leads cybersecurity collaboration with other leading financial institutions, U.S. government partners, and the intelligence community. Prior to JPMorgan, Amy has rich experience in both the public and private sectors. She worked on Asia-Pacific policy and foreign affairs in Congress, served as an officer in the U.S. Navy, as well as in several consulting roles across defense, technology, and cybersecurity.

In our interview, Amy shares how she became interested in policy work and public service, and identifies some obstacles that all young professionals will encounter. Growing up in a racially diverse community, Amy attended high school with predominantly students of color, after which she studied an elite predominantly white institution (PWI). She discusses how those experiences have shaped her worldview, and how she learned to navigate spoken and unspoken norms as both an insider and outsider. Throughout her career, Amy has found ways to overcome cultural and gender barriers, while noting how institutionalized inequity and discriminatory practices continue to pose obstacles to professionals. Whether it is your career, your skills, your passions, or your education, Amy offers valuable advice to younger women on approaching life’s big decisions.