March 27, 2026 • 10 mins
Wendy Hodges-Kent, Director of Development for Junior Achievement, joins Joanna & Sean for Women Who Shine!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sunny when I was six point five. Good morning, it's
Joanna and Sean. Another beautiful morning to introduce another incredible
woman here in the community, which we've been doing all
month long spotlighting incredible women that are making an impact
on Southern Nevada through our annual Women Who Shine program.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
This morning, we're going to welcome to the studio Wendy
hodges Ken. She is the director of Development for Junior
Achievement of Southern Nevada. Wendy, thank you for coming in
this morning.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
All Right, So we're going to dive into a little
bit more later about Junior Achievement and the incredible work
here in Southern Nevada. But first we want to get
to know you. How long have you been here in
Southern Nevada. Tell us about your career journey to becoming
the director of development at Junior Achievement.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Absolutely, thank you, Igin for having me. So, I've been
in Las Vegas for probably about five years, okay, and
this was something that happened kind of over COVID, kind
of back and forth, and you know, decided to stay
because I enjoyed my family that was here. Yeah, and
so I actually worked for Junior Achievement twenty five years ago. Wow,
I was the vice president of education for JAY Dallas,
(01:01):
and when I saw this position opened up in not
Las Vegas, I thought, oh my gosh, I would love
to you know, recreate some of the you know, the
magic that was able to happen in Dallas. And you know,
thankfully I was awarded the position. And so being on
the development side now I really see the program full
circle and the amazing things that Jaausa is able to
do all across the country. Jay has been nominated for
(01:25):
the Nobel Peace Prize about three years in a row.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
That's incredible.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
It's really about the work that we do across the world.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Yeah, it's absolutely impactful. Now, you know, you've been here
in our community five years. Your career spans back. You
said to Dallas twenty some years ago, you know, if
there was a piece of advice that you wish somebody
would have told you first day when you were starting
out in your career journey, what piece of advice would
have been really helpful for you.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
It really is about building relationships, you know, and don't
make things transactional and so really begin you know, get
a chance to get to know folks and that's how
you you know, deepen those relationships and grow your career
and you know the impact that you're able to make.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yeah, especially here in Las Vegas, right, all about relationships?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah, yeah, I think it's. Uh, you see the community
side here so much, and you develop those interpersonal relationships
that just go, they go with you regardless of where
you might land professionally. Those relationships are always in place.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
So we're big on inspiration here. We try to like
bring people some feel good every morning on the radio.
Do you have any inspirational quotes, mottos, mantras that you
live by that kind of help you through your day
to day life.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
You know, there was This is a song that I
play almost every morning, okay, and it is ain't no
stopping us.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Now.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
I'm mcmattman and wife, and I know that I'm aging
myself with that song, but it really is about you know,
living beyond whatever the obstacles are in your life, you know,
no stopping you, you know, just getting up and facing
adversity or whatever that day challenge is and making it
happen and making it a great day.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
I love that, such good positive outlook that you have
every morning. Would you say that's your kind of your anthem,
your theme song too?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Absolutely, we love that. Now let's dive in a little
bit more to Junior Achievement. Tell everybody listening this morning
about the great work that Junior Achievement of Southern Nevada
does well.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
JAY is the world's leading organization teaching economic education for
young people at K through twelve, and about three years
ago we expanded that from five to twenty five and
so excited to be able to help young people understand
kind of what's next yep, you know, and so create
just unlimited possibilities so that they can begin to dream
and get creative about how they reach their goals.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
So important to.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Do financial literacy. Economic literacy is something we all need
to strive to understand. I think that goes doubly for adults.
You can't wait too long to know that kind of stuff.
So the sooner you can get ahead, start on understanding
those things that better off you're going to be when
you're you know, in the shoes of say Joanna and I,
you know, as parents, and you wish you'd learn those
stuff at such a much earlier age In your life, right, yep.
(03:56):
So is there any like any women that you've come
across on your journey or in your life that have
been particularly inspiring to you.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Oh, I've had some amazing women. I work for the
Children's Defense Fund twelve and a half years and so
being able to sit at the feet of people like
Mary right Edelman, you know, and just kind of watch
that compassion right and make sure that you know that
no kid was left behind. Yeah, you know that was
that was you know, invaluable.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Wow. Yeah. And I love the word compassion, right, And
I think oftentimes many of the women that we've interviewed,
they've talked about just like compassion and how it's important
to them in their career. It's important to be compassionate,
to show that towards people. And you get to do
that every day, developing such an incredible you know, nonprofit
or excuse me, an organization here in our community that's
(04:44):
doing such incredible work. So you're you're doing that also
for so many people out there.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
I thank you so much. It's exciting to go to
work every day, you know, I get a chance to
tell the story of what my education team is doing,
and you know, live the vision of my of our president,
Michelle Jackson, and so it's amazing. I enjoy every day
of it.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Can you tell, because I've toured this, Can you tell,
Sean and everybody listening this morning a little bit about
the Inspiration Center here in our community, because this is
such a hidden gem. I've been here since two thousand
and nine, and I just toured not too long ago,
and I was blown away at what is right here
in our city.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
So this was a vision for a long time. And
let me say, great educators find great programs, and so
they would, you know, drive all the way to San
Diego or to Phoenix to make sure that their kids
are add an opportunity to experience an inspiration center. And
so in May of twenty four we opened our doors
and we have forty thousand square feet of inspiration. It
really is an opportunity for us to help young people
(05:42):
dream of unlimited possibilities. And so there's one side is
for elementary school students and that's called Biztown. The other
side is for middle and high schoolers and it's called
Finance Park. And in Biztown, young people become executives for
the day they run our city. They campaigned to be
the mayor. So the mayor does an opening speech welcome
his constituents, his or her constituents to their city, and
(06:05):
the CEOs of each of those companies get a chance
to stand up and talk a little bit about why
you should spend your biztown bucks with them. They become
they understand how the city works and how they become
the larger part of the community. And then they become
consumers within that community. And so they get a chance
to go around the city and spend their money. And
it really is eye opening for young people. It's a
career exploration. You know, at ten, most young people don't
(06:28):
dream of being a CEO or you know, the senior auditing,
you know, executive and something like that, and so it
really does give them a glimpse into the world that
their parents are living in.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Yep, it feels like you're just building such a strong
like foundation and appreciation for civic responsibility and involvement is
super incredible. I think I think a lot of people
like myself, even prior to just now our conversation, they're
familiar with junior achievement. They've heard it before, they don't
know exactly what it is. So your explanation of it
has opened my eyes a lot for I think for
(07:03):
a lot of other people too. What about parents or
anyone else who might want to be or listening and
want to get involved? Like where what do they do?
Where should they start? What's your advice?
Speaker 3 (07:11):
They If we're not at your child's school, give us
a call, you know, go to our website JASNV dot
org and you know, hit us up on our contact
page and let us know where your young person is
in school. On the finance park side, are young people
become an adult for a day. It's an AI based program.
They put their interest into an iPad and it generates
(07:32):
them an adult PERSONA So they went to sleep and
they were sixteen, and they wake up and they're twenty eight,
and it's like, you know, oh my gosh, you know
I went to the military. Great, Now what's my credit score?
They get a credit score, they get an occupation, they
get a salary, and they get a family dynamic so
they're married or single? Tells them if they have kids
or not, and how all their young people are. So
you went to again, you went to sleep at sixteen
and you woke up and now I have to manage
(07:53):
my budget over twenty six different categories for one month.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
And it really creates an appreciation for or the decisions
that are made in their household. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
I think about stuff that I wish I had when
I was younger that would have helped me Now as
an adult, This would have helped me out. This would
have opened my eyes.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
I want to ask one of the kids in your
programs what I should do as a forty one year
old radio DJ with credits cadet exactly exactly. Maybe they
can help me out because I need it, believe me.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
What we tend to do is that, you know, they
understand that young people are expensive and so don't do
the things that a lot they get you, kiddos before
you're ready prepared for that, you know. But but it
really doesn't make them, you know, consider it. Oftentimes our
kids think, you know, Taco Bell, which is in our location.
They think, you know, that's one of their best places.
And how often can they eat out? Well, Cox is there?
And what kind of you know, what kind of data
package can I get? Yeah, so we begin to ask, well,
(08:45):
are you homeschooling your children? Do you need a high
speed internet in the middle of the day, right, you know.
So it's those kind of conversations we begin to have
with young people. You know, Okay, you want to eat
out at Taco Bell? How often can you eat out?
Why do you want to eat out a Taco Bell
right day?
Speaker 2 (08:58):
You know?
Speaker 3 (08:58):
How big? What is your family dynamic? Is it better
to go to La Bonita and purchase your items and
then you can spread that Hamburger meet out for a
week as opposed to just one on one meal.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Yeah. I think the most shocking thing for me and
even right now my current life is how expensive child
care is. So I get to learn all those fun
surprises at a young age, which will I think stay
with them for the long term, which is what the
sole purposes.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Absolutely, we have a state mandate that says young people
should have at least a semester of personal finance before
they graduate high school. But it's an unfunded mandate, So
our legislators understand that this is important information, but we
had to have to make sure that there's some resources
behind it so that our educators can get you know,
professional development and then really begin to share what that
you know, what it means to manage your own finances
right now Nevada ranks number six in bankruptcy filings, and
(09:46):
so we say that, you know, even our adults aren't
managing their resources necessarily properly, and so they can't then
teach their young person, and so the inspiration center needs
to exist.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Yes, it does, Wendy, I got to say, I think
junior achievement is and really really great hands With you
at the wheel as the director of development, you are
such like a breath of fresh air. Your energy, the
way you lead with your heart, you can tell how
much you care, and it is just infectious, it really is.
It's contagious.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Thank you, and thank you for being a part of
our twenty twenty six Women who Shine.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
I'm valuable.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Thank you.
Sunny when I was six point five. Good morning, it's
Joanna and Sean. Another beautiful morning to introduce another incredible
woman here in the community, which we've been doing all
month long spotlighting incredible women that are making an impact
on Southern Nevada through our annual Women Who Shine program.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
This morning, we're going to welcome to the studio Wendy
hodges Ken. She is the director of Development for Junior
Achievement of Southern Nevada. Wendy, thank you for coming in
this morning.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
All Right, So we're going to dive into a little
bit more later about Junior Achievement and the incredible work
here in Southern Nevada. But first we want to get
to know you. How long have you been here in
Southern Nevada. Tell us about your career journey to becoming
the director of development at Junior Achievement.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Absolutely, thank you, Igin for having me. So, I've been
in Las Vegas for probably about five years, okay, and
this was something that happened kind of over COVID, kind
of back and forth, and you know, decided to stay
because I enjoyed my family that was here. Yeah, and
so I actually worked for Junior Achievement twenty five years ago. Wow,
I was the vice president of education for JAY Dallas,
(01:01):
and when I saw this position opened up in not
Las Vegas, I thought, oh my gosh, I would love
to you know, recreate some of the you know, the
magic that was able to happen in Dallas. And you know,
thankfully I was awarded the position. And so being on
the development side now I really see the program full
circle and the amazing things that Jaausa is able to
do all across the country. Jay has been nominated for
(01:25):
the Nobel Peace Prize about three years in a row.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
That's incredible.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
It's really about the work that we do across the world.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Yeah, it's absolutely impactful. Now, you know, you've been here
in our community five years. Your career spans back. You
said to Dallas twenty some years ago, you know, if
there was a piece of advice that you wish somebody
would have told you first day when you were starting
out in your career journey, what piece of advice would
have been really helpful for you.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
It really is about building relationships, you know, and don't
make things transactional and so really begin you know, get
a chance to get to know folks and that's how
you you know, deepen those relationships and grow your career
and you know the impact that you're able to make.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yeah, especially here in Las Vegas, right, all about relationships?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah, yeah, I think it's. Uh, you see the community
side here so much, and you develop those interpersonal relationships
that just go, they go with you regardless of where
you might land professionally. Those relationships are always in place.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
So we're big on inspiration here. We try to like
bring people some feel good every morning on the radio.
Do you have any inspirational quotes, mottos, mantras that you
live by that kind of help you through your day
to day life.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
You know, there was This is a song that I
play almost every morning, okay, and it is ain't no
stopping us.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Now.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
I'm mcmattman and wife, and I know that I'm aging
myself with that song, but it really is about you know,
living beyond whatever the obstacles are in your life, you know,
no stopping you, you know, just getting up and facing
adversity or whatever that day challenge is and making it
happen and making it a great day.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
I love that, such good positive outlook that you have
every morning. Would you say that's your kind of your anthem,
your theme song too?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Absolutely, we love that. Now let's dive in a little
bit more to Junior Achievement. Tell everybody listening this morning
about the great work that Junior Achievement of Southern Nevada
does well.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
JAY is the world's leading organization teaching economic education for
young people at K through twelve, and about three years
ago we expanded that from five to twenty five and
so excited to be able to help young people understand
kind of what's next yep, you know, and so create
just unlimited possibilities so that they can begin to dream
and get creative about how they reach their goals.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
So important to.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Do financial literacy. Economic literacy is something we all need
to strive to understand. I think that goes doubly for adults.
You can't wait too long to know that kind of stuff.
So the sooner you can get ahead, start on understanding
those things that better off you're going to be when
you're you know, in the shoes of say Joanna and I,
you know, as parents, and you wish you'd learn those
stuff at such a much earlier age In your life, right, yep.
(03:56):
So is there any like any women that you've come
across on your journey or in your life that have
been particularly inspiring to you.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Oh, I've had some amazing women. I work for the
Children's Defense Fund twelve and a half years and so
being able to sit at the feet of people like
Mary right Edelman, you know, and just kind of watch
that compassion right and make sure that you know that
no kid was left behind. Yeah, you know that was
that was you know, invaluable.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Wow. Yeah. And I love the word compassion, right, And
I think oftentimes many of the women that we've interviewed,
they've talked about just like compassion and how it's important
to them in their career. It's important to be compassionate,
to show that towards people. And you get to do
that every day, developing such an incredible you know, nonprofit
or excuse me, an organization here in our community that's
(04:44):
doing such incredible work. So you're you're doing that also
for so many people out there.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
I thank you so much. It's exciting to go to
work every day, you know, I get a chance to
tell the story of what my education team is doing,
and you know, live the vision of my of our president,
Michelle Jackson, and so it's amazing. I enjoy every day
of it.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Can you tell, because I've toured this, Can you tell,
Sean and everybody listening this morning a little bit about
the Inspiration Center here in our community, because this is
such a hidden gem. I've been here since two thousand
and nine, and I just toured not too long ago,
and I was blown away at what is right here
in our city.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
So this was a vision for a long time. And
let me say, great educators find great programs, and so
they would, you know, drive all the way to San
Diego or to Phoenix to make sure that their kids
are add an opportunity to experience an inspiration center. And
so in May of twenty four we opened our doors
and we have forty thousand square feet of inspiration. It
really is an opportunity for us to help young people
(05:42):
dream of unlimited possibilities. And so there's one side is
for elementary school students and that's called Biztown. The other
side is for middle and high schoolers and it's called
Finance Park. And in Biztown, young people become executives for
the day they run our city. They campaigned to be
the mayor. So the mayor does an opening speech welcome
his constituents, his or her constituents to their city, and
(06:05):
the CEOs of each of those companies get a chance
to stand up and talk a little bit about why
you should spend your biztown bucks with them. They become
they understand how the city works and how they become
the larger part of the community. And then they become
consumers within that community. And so they get a chance
to go around the city and spend their money. And
it really is eye opening for young people. It's a
career exploration. You know, at ten, most young people don't
(06:28):
dream of being a CEO or you know, the senior auditing,
you know, executive and something like that, and so it
really does give them a glimpse into the world that
their parents are living in.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Yep, it feels like you're just building such a strong
like foundation and appreciation for civic responsibility and involvement is
super incredible. I think I think a lot of people
like myself, even prior to just now our conversation, they're
familiar with junior achievement. They've heard it before, they don't
know exactly what it is. So your explanation of it
has opened my eyes a lot for I think for
(07:03):
a lot of other people too. What about parents or
anyone else who might want to be or listening and
want to get involved? Like where what do they do?
Where should they start? What's your advice?
Speaker 3 (07:11):
They If we're not at your child's school, give us
a call, you know, go to our website JASNV dot
org and you know, hit us up on our contact
page and let us know where your young person is
in school. On the finance park side, are young people
become an adult for a day. It's an AI based program.
They put their interest into an iPad and it generates
(07:32):
them an adult PERSONA So they went to sleep and
they were sixteen, and they wake up and they're twenty eight,
and it's like, you know, oh my gosh, you know
I went to the military. Great, Now what's my credit score?
They get a credit score, they get an occupation, they
get a salary, and they get a family dynamic so
they're married or single? Tells them if they have kids
or not, and how all their young people are. So
you went to again, you went to sleep at sixteen
and you woke up and now I have to manage
(07:53):
my budget over twenty six different categories for one month.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
And it really creates an appreciation for or the decisions
that are made in their household. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
I think about stuff that I wish I had when
I was younger that would have helped me Now as
an adult, This would have helped me out. This would
have opened my eyes.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
I want to ask one of the kids in your
programs what I should do as a forty one year
old radio DJ with credits cadet exactly exactly. Maybe they
can help me out because I need it, believe me.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
What we tend to do is that, you know, they
understand that young people are expensive and so don't do
the things that a lot they get you, kiddos before
you're ready prepared for that, you know. But but it
really doesn't make them, you know, consider it. Oftentimes our
kids think, you know, Taco Bell, which is in our location.
They think, you know, that's one of their best places.
And how often can they eat out? Well, Cox is there?
And what kind of you know, what kind of data
package can I get? Yeah, so we begin to ask, well,
(08:45):
are you homeschooling your children? Do you need a high
speed internet in the middle of the day, right, you know.
So it's those kind of conversations we begin to have
with young people. You know, Okay, you want to eat
out at Taco Bell? How often can you eat out?
Why do you want to eat out a Taco Bell
right day?
Speaker 2 (08:58):
You know?
Speaker 3 (08:58):
How big? What is your family dynamic? Is it better
to go to La Bonita and purchase your items and
then you can spread that Hamburger meet out for a
week as opposed to just one on one meal.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Yeah. I think the most shocking thing for me and
even right now my current life is how expensive child
care is. So I get to learn all those fun
surprises at a young age, which will I think stay
with them for the long term, which is what the
sole purposes.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Absolutely, we have a state mandate that says young people
should have at least a semester of personal finance before
they graduate high school. But it's an unfunded mandate, So
our legislators understand that this is important information, but we
had to have to make sure that there's some resources
behind it so that our educators can get you know,
professional development and then really begin to share what that
you know, what it means to manage your own finances
right now Nevada ranks number six in bankruptcy filings, and
(09:46):
so we say that, you know, even our adults aren't
managing their resources necessarily properly, and so they can't then
teach their young person, and so the inspiration center needs
to exist.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Yes, it does, Wendy, I got to say, I think
junior achievement is and really really great hands With you
at the wheel as the director of development, you are
such like a breath of fresh air. Your energy, the
way you lead with your heart, you can tell how
much you care, and it is just infectious, it really is.
It's contagious.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Thank you, and thank you for being a part of
our twenty twenty six Women who Shine.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
I'm valuable.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Thank you.
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