January 2, 2025 • 21 mins
Happy New Year! This January we are revisiting the episodes that define the core of the Imperfect Genius mission.
In this first episode of the Imperfect Genius podcast, host Rachel Foster is joined by Assistant Podcast Producer, Emma Burgin. Together, they introduce the podcast and discuss their backgrounds in the tech industry. Rachel explains her motivation for starting the podcast: to provide technical advice to Black women entrepreneurs and career guidance to all women in the tech industry.
We want you to join in the discussion! Call or text (404) 425-9862 with your questions.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Happy New Year, everyone, and welcome to 2025.
You know, we've had a number of new listeners and subscribers to the podcast since itoriginally launched in April of last year, and I thought it would be a really good idea
for the new listeners to re-release some of the episodes that are essential to basicallywhat we do here.
(00:22):
And for the listeners who've been there since the beginning, an opportunity to...
go back and enjoy some of the laughs and fun that we had in the beginning.
this episode is the first ever released episode where I talk about why I decided to startthis podcast and start Imperfect Genius.
(00:42):
Enjoy.
Welcome to Imperfect Genius, the podcast helping black women thrive by providing technicaladvice on effectively navigating the business development journey and advice on building
(01:08):
successful careers in the tech industry.
I'm your host, Rachel Foster, a tech professional, educator, and entrepreneur.
And with me for this first ever podcast episode of Imperfect Genius is my assistantpodcast producer, Emma Burgin.
Emma.
Yeah.
It's happening.
We're doing it.
It's finally happening.
(01:29):
the first episode.
it's been a long time in the making.
so long.
I am so, excited.
For us and for you, this has been a really, really long journey to get to recording thisepisode.
And it's just, it's so fun to finally be here in the moment doing this.
No, that's true.
That's true.
We should talk about like how we know each other.
(01:50):
Let's, let's start there.
Do you want to do it or you want want to go?
No, you go.
Okay.
So Rachel and I met, we met I think in fall of 2021, I believe, where I was starting a newjob at a new corporation and Rachel was assigned as my onboarding buddy.
(02:12):
And anybody who's worked in the tech space for any amount of time would understand that Ihad some low expectations of my onboarding buddy.
Just based on my God, you never told me that.
That's funny.
I think the reason is because tech is super demanding and people generally have more workthan they can get through in any given day.
(02:40):
And taking on some extracurriculars outside of your assigned job responsibilities don'tactually help you with your performance reviews.
It's just something that you're doing to help out of the goodness of your heart or becauseyou have a teacher's heart.
So I had these...
these expectations that were maybe unfairly low.
And then I met Rachel and when I tell you she is the best onboarding buddy, the best likecorporate mentor that I have ever had, I am not exaggerating.
(03:10):
She went above and beyond to help me ramp up and understand what was going on in thecompany that we were at.
Because even though I had had years and years, I'd been in tech for over five years atthat point and been really involved through some family members who
had raised venture capital, really involved in the tech space, but I was in over my headwhen it came to the actual nitty gritty of the code and the product that we were selling,
(03:36):
which, you know, for some positions is fine, but for my position, I really needed to learnas much as I could about the product.
So working with Rachel- Yeah, it was kind of important for your job.
It was kind of the keystone.
You're only telling new hires what we do with this company.
(03:56):
Yeah, exactly.
I'm only teaching new people exactly what we do.
Rachel went above and beyond.
She really, really helped me to understand the product and understand it in a way that itcould be explained to new folks.
Basically, we're not at that corporation anymore.
We don't need to focus on them.
(04:16):
The point of this is you have the heart of a teacher and you're really willing to go aboveand beyond to help people learn and to help them better themselves in the tech space.
Which is why when you asked me if I would like to be involved in Imperfect Genius, I wasso excited.
It was an immediate yes.
So that's my version of the story.
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
(04:39):
No, actually, thank you.
First of all, I love the phrasing heart of a teacher.
We'll circle back on that when we talk about why am I even doing this in just a second,but I'll give you my take on my job as an onboarding buddy.
You're right that I do have a heart of a teacher, but we're going to actually in a futureepisode meet the person who was one of two of my mentors when I started working at the
(05:07):
company.
Gwen Hur, we're going to talk to her a couple of times actually, because she also has asmall business on the side.
We're going to talk about mentoring black women.
But she reached out to me in the second week on the job and she was like, you know what?
You need to come to my office hours.
She's like, I'm doing office hours.
We do the same job.
I need to teach you how to do your job.
(05:28):
You need to show up for these office hours.
And I was like,
Amazing.
Okay.
Hi, who are you?
It's just like, don't, I don't know you.
Why are you asking me to?
Yeah.
So I did that.
And then she proceeded out ended up being the only one who attended was virtual.
This was during the pandemic.
So I was the only one who attended her virtual office hours.
And she just talked to me for an hour about the job.
(05:50):
And then she was like, okay, I'm going to put you on all the invites for all the demos.
Cause I was in, say I was technical sales.
I'm going to put you on the invite for all my demos.
can come, I'll just introduce you and say that you're just, you know, going to be there.
You don't have to say anything to the clients.
You don't have to worry about knowing anything.
You can just watch me do these demos.
anyway, so she watched, I mean, so she invited me to all of her demos and I just was, andit was, I was just basically watching her do her job.
(06:12):
So she was one and the other one, my onboarding buddy was the only other woman on my team.
And she was her name was Stacey Simmons or not was still is Stacey Simmons.
she was, if she's listening, she's like, wait, I'm still here.
I'm so to know Stacey.
Her is still Stacey Simmons.
she was the best onboarding buddy.
(06:34):
She was so patient with me.
I literally, we were meeting twice a week and I would have a, I literally had a list.
I don't remember what kind of document it was like an Evernote or something.
And it was just called.
questions for Stacey and every week or every I should try again twice a week.
I'm like, okay, so here are my questions for today.
And these were technical because we were all we're technical sales.
So these were technical questions.
(06:55):
These were not simple.
Like, you know, how do I, you know, check, enter my time?
I'm, it's a salary.
That's not a thing, but I'm just saying they weren't simple questions.
They were like, okay, so if a client is trying to do X, Y, Z, you know, it was, these arevery detailed questions.
And if she didn't know, she's like, you know what, let's figure it out together.
Or, you know what, let me go look into that.
Let me get back to you.
She never said.
You know what, you got to go, you're on your own.
(07:15):
You know, got to go figure that out.
Like she was the best.
She was absolutely the best.
so between Gwen and Stacey, the first time I'm trying to think if you were my firstonboarding, but you, think you were my first onboarding buddy.
had several after you, but, um, I mean, I was the first that you were the first that I wasan onboarding buddy too, is what I'm trying to say.
And I was like, I got to pay this forward.
(07:36):
was like, I had such great mentors.
I have got to pay this forward.
I was like, I've got to get like,
They gave me everything.
I've got to give that back.
So that was a little bit about like how I viewed my responsibility.
There was no slacking off.
I'm like, Emma needs help.
I got to figure out how to help Emma.
Yeah, you certainly did it.
You didn't slack off at all.
was amazing.
(07:56):
Thank you.
Thank you.
I appreciate that.
But circling back to your comment about me having a teacher's heart, that sort of leadsinto, because I wanted to talk about
Why am I even doing this?
Why am I taking this journey?
Why did I decide to start this podcast?
Why do I have this business?
And I'm going to tell you a story.
And I know you've heard most of my stories before.
I know they get a little redundant, but I don't think I've told you this story before.
(08:20):
It's my kindergarten story.
So here's the thing.
By the time I started kindergarten, I was a little bit ahead of the curve because I hadbeen in preschool for like two or three years.
My mother was an elementary school teacher.
taught third grade.
And she thought she taught third grade special ed as well as phys ed.
And so she, you know, I was in preschool from as soon as however young you can be inpreschool.
(08:43):
I was in preschool.
I forgot to mention my grandmother was also a preschool teacher.
duh.
Yeah.
my grandmother's a preschool teacher.
My mother's an elementary school teacher.
My family is full of men.
There's like one female per generation.
So those were my role models, this preschool teacher and this elementary school teacher.
So by the time I started kindergarten, I was, you know, I was a little bit ahead of thecurve because I'd already been in school for a while.
(09:03):
And so, you know, instead of sitting at my desk doing my work, because I'd already like,it was all stuff I already knew, I would walk around and I would help the other students
with their work.
And so I should mention that.
I should mention that.
the picture in my head right now.
Of me, you know, little like, five year old me walking around helping all the otherstudents.
(09:26):
So, but here's, here's where the typical Rachel twist comes in.
So I went to the school.
At the same school my mother taught, which was not my local elementary school.
So I went to her school.
So three days in, I'm three days into kindergarten, my mother gets called into theprincipal's office.
So she gets called into the principal's office and she gets there as the principal andit's my kindergarten teacher.
(09:48):
And my kindergarten teacher is livid.
She's like, look, there can only be one teacher in the room.
And since I get paid for this job, she's got to go.
They kicked me out of kindergarten and promoted me to first grade after three days.
I got kicked out of kindergarten after three days.
(10:09):
I got promoted to first grade because I was such a nuisance going around helping otherpeople.
Like I just like, cannot help myself.
literally, I'm that person that like, if you've ever been like in a, like you're in agrocery store or you know, you're in a store or Target, whatever, you're walking and
you're talking with your friend and you're like, Hey, I wonder, you know, how.
this work or what?
Like if you're, if I'm in earshot, I'm going to say, if I know the answer, I'm gonna say,excuse me, but, the answer is, actually, I'm like that person.
(10:37):
I'm you're going to be people are looking at me like, we're not talking to you.
Like, why are you in our business?
Like, why are you in our conversation?
And Rachel's like, why did you ask a question in public that I know the answer to?
Exactly.
That's the way I see it.
That is exactly the way I see it.
I'm like, well, you asked the question.
Did you not want the answer?
(10:57):
So like, mean, and then having been having been intact since, know, we're not even gonnasay the years, because I'm just gonna feel really old.
But having been intact for a long, long, long time, I've like, provided a lifetime oftechnical support, like people are always asking me technical questions.
And so I'm like, you know what, and you've heard me this part, I know you've heard before,I have a philosophy, it's not my philosophy, it's a well known, I don't know if it's a
(11:25):
philosophy, but it's a well known,
what's the word I'm looking for?
It's a thing.
It's a saying.
There's a word for that.
can't think of what it is right now.
Idiom.
Idiom.
Yes.
Thank you.
It's a well-known idiom.
There you go.
Thank you.
But it's feed a man a fish, he eats for a day.
Teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime.
(11:46):
And that's how I feel about tech because people, if they'll ask me a question and I justdo it for them, like, can you help me do this?
And I just go do it for them.
then the next time they need to do that thing again, I have to go help them and do itagain and again and again, versus if I say, okay, let me show you how this works and
explain it to you so that you get it and then you can do it yourself, then they don't haveto come back to me and ask me again.
(12:10):
So it's again, feed a man a fish, he eats for a day, teach a man a fish, he eats for alifetime.
So I very much live by that.
I just wanna...
specifically, I wanted to focus specifically on helping women entrepreneurs and morespecifically black women entrepreneurs, because again, so many times I just encounter
(12:31):
black women entrepreneurs who are trying to get their businesses off the ground and theyjust are, they're either, I don't even want to say the word isn't afraid.
Technology is intimidating.
And now I could do a whole separate podcast episode about
women and technology and the intimidation that is felt by women with regard to technologyand why it is that way.
(12:53):
I will say, we'll put this in the show notes, Emma.
is, PBS did this great like eight minute, they had this series called The Origin ofEverything.
And there's one Origin of Everything episode called Why Are There So Few Women inComputers?
And in eight minutes, they sum it all up, which is basically like, even though women werefounders in this field, they were pushed out by men.
(13:13):
And then, you know, in like the eighties,
computers were marketed as like toys for boys and not for girls.
Like there's a whole big thing about why society has told women computers and tech are notfor you.
And we've internalized that.
Well, I didn't internalize it obviously.
Otherwise I wouldn't have doing it for 30 years.
Thank you.
(13:33):
Actually, can blame, you can blame my mother for that.
I did not pick computers as my field of study when I was going into high school.
went to a high school that would be considered
a magnet school now.
It wasn't called that back then, but you had to apply to get in.
had to declare a major.
Shout out to Cass Technical High School in Detroit, Michigan.
(13:54):
But you had to apply to get in.
You had to declare a major and my mother filled out the application and she chose computerprogramming as my major.
And I was just a good kid who did what I was told.
So was like, guess I'm studying computers.
I mean, I was good at math and science, but that was not something that had ever occurredto me.
So she chose that.
again, more on that in future episodes, I'm sure when we talk about my background.
(14:16):
But my point is that I encounter a lot of women who, you know, they don't feel comfortablewith technology, women business owners, they don't feel comfortable with technology.
they, or even if they're comfortable with technology, they think that the things that theyneed to do for their business are outside of their, that there's too advanced for them.
(14:36):
it's just, there's just a lot of,
insecurity around technology with regard to women business owners.
So I just want to give them knowledge and confidence and independence to be able to dothings on their own without having to pay somebody every single time they need something
small done, smaller, even some of the bigger things.
So that's, that's sort of why I decided to do this.
(14:59):
Yeah, I love that.
And it's also speaking to the confidence, it's just the confidence to make mistakes andknow you're not going to break everything.
Or you can get back to where you were before.
Just the confidence to click around in whatever application you're using, whatever toolyou're using.
That's something that I noticed with my parents.
I spend quite a lot of time with them.
And when I'm helping them with the technology, they're scared.
(15:22):
They're scared to touch the buttons.
They're scared to do this.
They think they're going to break it.
I'm like, you're not going to break it.
You can just push anything you want and you can close it out and get back to where you areand having that confidence in the business setting.
is going to be huge for these women that are going to learn from you.
Yeah.
guess what?
Spoiler alert.
I don't know everything.
(15:44):
But you know what?
I can figure it out.
Whenever I need to do something, if I've never done it before, I'm like, OK, well, let'sfigure out how we're going to do this now.
Because now, again, I'm not saying everybody can be me, because again, I've been doingthis for 30 years.
But I have that confidence.
OK, I'm going to take a backup before I do this thing.
in case I do break it, because
(16:04):
Believe me, I've broken many things technically speaking.
But I always have a backup that I can go back and I'm like, okay, well, let's start over.
Let's try that again.
Whoops, didn't mean to do that.
Let's find another way forward.
So yeah, I just want to be able to give people that confidence.
So let's talk a little bit about what people can expect to hear on the podcast.
(16:26):
We're gonna have a couple of recurring segments.
So mostly we're gonna have guests and we're gonna hear their stories.
Like I mentioned, for example, coming up on a couple of episodes coming up, Gwen Heard,one of my mentors, we'll talk to her when I do an episode about mentoring black women in
tech.
but also Gwen has a bakery.
And so we'll talk to her about starting her bakery and a little bit about her businessownership.
(16:50):
So we'll have guests in their stories, but we'll also try to make sure we always have somesort of tech takeaway or some tech resources that we're providing folks.
But I also want to provide career advice for women in tech because being a woman in tech,especially a black woman or a woman of color in tech is so rough.
is just...
really rough.
(17:10):
I want to be able to, know, 30 years of mistakes and living through again, hopefully it'sgetting better.
I don't know.
That's a, again, a conversation for another day.
but I just, have some advice.
have some things to share or here's how, you know, here's how you can navigate this andhere's how you can feel, you know, more included or here's how you can not even care about
(17:32):
the fact that it's a boys club and you can still do your job or whatever it is.
It just provide advice.
We'll occasionally do segments on, you know, we'll call them office hours for students andnewbies in tech.
A lot of times I get people who ask me, they're like, I really want to get in tech becausemost people want to get in tech because of the money.
Which believe me, you're going to pay and you're going to pay for it in blood, and tearsand pain.
(17:56):
But most people want to get into tech for the money and they think that they have to writecode in order to be in tech.
And that's not the case.
mean, you're in tech, you don't write code.
know, we're going talk to, yes.
Not very, Have you ever written any code, I have never written any code at all.
And the thing that I would say also just to jump in here is that can also be an advantagebecause no matter what, at some point, somebody non-technical is going to come into
(18:25):
contact with the technology, especially if you're working at a tech company.
So somebody needs to be able to translate what the uber smart coders are doing into plaineveryday speak.
So don't...
Don't let that be something that gives you an inferiority complex either.
and then also the other thing I wanted to say with regard to recurring segments that we'regoing to have on the podcast is Q &A.
(18:46):
So we're going to take listener questions.
So if you want to leave us a voicemail with your questions, you can call us at404-425-9862 and then you can possibly hear the answer to your question on a future
podcast.
Or if we do, you know, like we got a podcast episode coming up where we talk aboutfranchising and maybe you've got questions about franchising.
You can call in and leave your questions and we'll follow up in a future episode.
(19:09):
So we've got a lot of content that we've got planned for you.
and I forgot to mention one more thing.
Also, we've already, we've been doing, like I said, it's been a long time coming, eventhough we're just now recording the first episode, we've been working at this for months
now.
And we've already got a treasure trove of behind the scenes and things that were probablyeventually put out as premium content.
(19:29):
But we've got all kinds of behind the scenes clips and things like that that we'll alsoprovide at a later date.
Yeah, I'm really excited for the different types of episodes that we have planned.
We have so many great groups of guests and topics that we're already working with.
Like Rachel mentioned, we've been working at this for months.
So we're already recording episodes and getting people lined up for future episodes.
(19:51):
So you won't have to wait long for us to get started on each of these buckets that Racheljust mentioned.
So we hope that you will absolutely subscribe and follow us.
in fact, let me give you some information.
First of all, I want to say thank you to Emma for helping me to introduce the podcast toour listeners and to our, I want to say thank you to our audience for listening.
(20:13):
but let me give you some ways that you can follow us or get in contact with us.
So you can, visit subscribe.imperfectgenius.com to subscribe to our newsletter and get acopy of our show notes.
Again, I will re I can't talk today, Emma.
I will mention again that you can leave us a voicemail with your questions at 404-425-9862to hear your answer on a future episode.
(20:36):
You can follow us on social media at Ask Imperfect Genius, or you can head over to ourwebsite, imperfectgenius.com and find other ways to get in contact with us.
So until next time, I want to say this is Rachel Foster reminding you while your journeymay not be flawless, it can be phenomenal.
Happy New Year, everyone, and welcome to 2025.
You know, we've had a number of new listeners and subscribers to the podcast since itoriginally launched in April of last year, and I thought it would be a really good idea
for the new listeners to re-release some of the episodes that are essential to basicallywhat we do here.
(00:22):
And for the listeners who've been there since the beginning, an opportunity to...
go back and enjoy some of the laughs and fun that we had in the beginning.
this episode is the first ever released episode where I talk about why I decided to startthis podcast and start Imperfect Genius.
(00:42):
Enjoy.
Welcome to Imperfect Genius, the podcast helping black women thrive by providing technicaladvice on effectively navigating the business development journey and advice on building
(01:08):
successful careers in the tech industry.
I'm your host, Rachel Foster, a tech professional, educator, and entrepreneur.
And with me for this first ever podcast episode of Imperfect Genius is my assistantpodcast producer, Emma Burgin.
Emma.
Yeah.
It's happening.
We're doing it.
It's finally happening.
(01:29):
the first episode.
it's been a long time in the making.
so long.
I am so, excited.
For us and for you, this has been a really, really long journey to get to recording thisepisode.
And it's just, it's so fun to finally be here in the moment doing this.
No, that's true.
That's true.
We should talk about like how we know each other.
(01:50):
Let's, let's start there.
Do you want to do it or you want want to go?
No, you go.
Okay.
So Rachel and I met, we met I think in fall of 2021, I believe, where I was starting a newjob at a new corporation and Rachel was assigned as my onboarding buddy.
(02:12):
And anybody who's worked in the tech space for any amount of time would understand that Ihad some low expectations of my onboarding buddy.
Just based on my God, you never told me that.
That's funny.
I think the reason is because tech is super demanding and people generally have more workthan they can get through in any given day.
(02:40):
And taking on some extracurriculars outside of your assigned job responsibilities don'tactually help you with your performance reviews.
It's just something that you're doing to help out of the goodness of your heart or becauseyou have a teacher's heart.
So I had these...
these expectations that were maybe unfairly low.
And then I met Rachel and when I tell you she is the best onboarding buddy, the best likecorporate mentor that I have ever had, I am not exaggerating.
(03:10):
She went above and beyond to help me ramp up and understand what was going on in thecompany that we were at.
Because even though I had had years and years, I'd been in tech for over five years atthat point and been really involved through some family members who
had raised venture capital, really involved in the tech space, but I was in over my headwhen it came to the actual nitty gritty of the code and the product that we were selling,
(03:36):
which, you know, for some positions is fine, but for my position, I really needed to learnas much as I could about the product.
So working with Rachel- Yeah, it was kind of important for your job.
It was kind of the keystone.
You're only telling new hires what we do with this company.
(03:56):
Yeah, exactly.
I'm only teaching new people exactly what we do.
Rachel went above and beyond.
She really, really helped me to understand the product and understand it in a way that itcould be explained to new folks.
Basically, we're not at that corporation anymore.
We don't need to focus on them.
(04:16):
The point of this is you have the heart of a teacher and you're really willing to go aboveand beyond to help people learn and to help them better themselves in the tech space.
Which is why when you asked me if I would like to be involved in Imperfect Genius, I wasso excited.
It was an immediate yes.
So that's my version of the story.
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
(04:39):
No, actually, thank you.
First of all, I love the phrasing heart of a teacher.
We'll circle back on that when we talk about why am I even doing this in just a second,but I'll give you my take on my job as an onboarding buddy.
You're right that I do have a heart of a teacher, but we're going to actually in a futureepisode meet the person who was one of two of my mentors when I started working at the
(05:07):
company.
Gwen Hur, we're going to talk to her a couple of times actually, because she also has asmall business on the side.
We're going to talk about mentoring black women.
But she reached out to me in the second week on the job and she was like, you know what?
You need to come to my office hours.
She's like, I'm doing office hours.
We do the same job.
I need to teach you how to do your job.
(05:28):
You need to show up for these office hours.
And I was like,
Amazing.
Okay.
Hi, who are you?
It's just like, don't, I don't know you.
Why are you asking me to?
Yeah.
So I did that.
And then she proceeded out ended up being the only one who attended was virtual.
This was during the pandemic.
So I was the only one who attended her virtual office hours.
And she just talked to me for an hour about the job.
(05:50):
And then she was like, okay, I'm going to put you on all the invites for all the demos.
Cause I was in, say I was technical sales.
I'm going to put you on the invite for all my demos.
can come, I'll just introduce you and say that you're just, you know, going to be there.
You don't have to say anything to the clients.
You don't have to worry about knowing anything.
You can just watch me do these demos.
anyway, so she watched, I mean, so she invited me to all of her demos and I just was, andit was, I was just basically watching her do her job.
(06:12):
So she was one and the other one, my onboarding buddy was the only other woman on my team.
And she was her name was Stacey Simmons or not was still is Stacey Simmons.
she was, if she's listening, she's like, wait, I'm still here.
I'm so to know Stacey.
Her is still Stacey Simmons.
she was the best onboarding buddy.
(06:34):
She was so patient with me.
I literally, we were meeting twice a week and I would have a, I literally had a list.
I don't remember what kind of document it was like an Evernote or something.
And it was just called.
questions for Stacey and every week or every I should try again twice a week.
I'm like, okay, so here are my questions for today.
And these were technical because we were all we're technical sales.
So these were technical questions.
(06:55):
These were not simple.
Like, you know, how do I, you know, check, enter my time?
I'm, it's a salary.
That's not a thing, but I'm just saying they weren't simple questions.
They were like, okay, so if a client is trying to do X, Y, Z, you know, it was, these arevery detailed questions.
And if she didn't know, she's like, you know what, let's figure it out together.
Or, you know what, let me go look into that.
Let me get back to you.
She never said.
You know what, you got to go, you're on your own.
(07:15):
You know, got to go figure that out.
Like she was the best.
She was absolutely the best.
so between Gwen and Stacey, the first time I'm trying to think if you were my firstonboarding, but you, think you were my first onboarding buddy.
had several after you, but, um, I mean, I was the first that you were the first that I wasan onboarding buddy too, is what I'm trying to say.
And I was like, I got to pay this forward.
(07:36):
was like, I had such great mentors.
I have got to pay this forward.
I was like, I've got to get like,
They gave me everything.
I've got to give that back.
So that was a little bit about like how I viewed my responsibility.
There was no slacking off.
I'm like, Emma needs help.
I got to figure out how to help Emma.
Yeah, you certainly did it.
You didn't slack off at all.
was amazing.
(07:56):
Thank you.
Thank you.
I appreciate that.
But circling back to your comment about me having a teacher's heart, that sort of leadsinto, because I wanted to talk about
Why am I even doing this?
Why am I taking this journey?
Why did I decide to start this podcast?
Why do I have this business?
And I'm going to tell you a story.
And I know you've heard most of my stories before.
I know they get a little redundant, but I don't think I've told you this story before.
(08:20):
It's my kindergarten story.
So here's the thing.
By the time I started kindergarten, I was a little bit ahead of the curve because I hadbeen in preschool for like two or three years.
My mother was an elementary school teacher.
taught third grade.
And she thought she taught third grade special ed as well as phys ed.
And so she, you know, I was in preschool from as soon as however young you can be inpreschool.
(08:43):
I was in preschool.
I forgot to mention my grandmother was also a preschool teacher.
duh.
Yeah.
my grandmother's a preschool teacher.
My mother's an elementary school teacher.
My family is full of men.
There's like one female per generation.
So those were my role models, this preschool teacher and this elementary school teacher.
So by the time I started kindergarten, I was, you know, I was a little bit ahead of thecurve because I'd already been in school for a while.
(09:03):
And so, you know, instead of sitting at my desk doing my work, because I'd already like,it was all stuff I already knew, I would walk around and I would help the other students
with their work.
And so I should mention that.
I should mention that.
the picture in my head right now.
Of me, you know, little like, five year old me walking around helping all the otherstudents.
(09:26):
So, but here's, here's where the typical Rachel twist comes in.
So I went to the school.
At the same school my mother taught, which was not my local elementary school.
So I went to her school.
So three days in, I'm three days into kindergarten, my mother gets called into theprincipal's office.
So she gets called into the principal's office and she gets there as the principal andit's my kindergarten teacher.
(09:48):
And my kindergarten teacher is livid.
She's like, look, there can only be one teacher in the room.
And since I get paid for this job, she's got to go.
They kicked me out of kindergarten and promoted me to first grade after three days.
I got kicked out of kindergarten after three days.
(10:09):
I got promoted to first grade because I was such a nuisance going around helping otherpeople.
Like I just like, cannot help myself.
literally, I'm that person that like, if you've ever been like in a, like you're in agrocery store or you know, you're in a store or Target, whatever, you're walking and
you're talking with your friend and you're like, Hey, I wonder, you know, how.
this work or what?
Like if you're, if I'm in earshot, I'm going to say, if I know the answer, I'm gonna say,excuse me, but, the answer is, actually, I'm like that person.
(10:37):
I'm you're going to be people are looking at me like, we're not talking to you.
Like, why are you in our business?
Like, why are you in our conversation?
And Rachel's like, why did you ask a question in public that I know the answer to?
Exactly.
That's the way I see it.
That is exactly the way I see it.
I'm like, well, you asked the question.
Did you not want the answer?
(10:57):
So like, mean, and then having been having been intact since, know, we're not even gonnasay the years, because I'm just gonna feel really old.
But having been intact for a long, long, long time, I've like, provided a lifetime oftechnical support, like people are always asking me technical questions.
And so I'm like, you know what, and you've heard me this part, I know you've heard before,I have a philosophy, it's not my philosophy, it's a well known, I don't know if it's a
(11:25):
philosophy, but it's a well known,
what's the word I'm looking for?
It's a thing.
It's a saying.
There's a word for that.
can't think of what it is right now.
Idiom.
Idiom.
Yes.
Thank you.
It's a well-known idiom.
There you go.
Thank you.
But it's feed a man a fish, he eats for a day.
Teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime.
(11:46):
And that's how I feel about tech because people, if they'll ask me a question and I justdo it for them, like, can you help me do this?
And I just go do it for them.
then the next time they need to do that thing again, I have to go help them and do itagain and again and again, versus if I say, okay, let me show you how this works and
explain it to you so that you get it and then you can do it yourself, then they don't haveto come back to me and ask me again.
(12:10):
So it's again, feed a man a fish, he eats for a day, teach a man a fish, he eats for alifetime.
So I very much live by that.
I just wanna...
specifically, I wanted to focus specifically on helping women entrepreneurs and morespecifically black women entrepreneurs, because again, so many times I just encounter
(12:31):
black women entrepreneurs who are trying to get their businesses off the ground and theyjust are, they're either, I don't even want to say the word isn't afraid.
Technology is intimidating.
And now I could do a whole separate podcast episode about
women and technology and the intimidation that is felt by women with regard to technologyand why it is that way.
(12:53):
I will say, we'll put this in the show notes, Emma.
is, PBS did this great like eight minute, they had this series called The Origin ofEverything.
And there's one Origin of Everything episode called Why Are There So Few Women inComputers?
And in eight minutes, they sum it all up, which is basically like, even though women werefounders in this field, they were pushed out by men.
(13:13):
And then, you know, in like the eighties,
computers were marketed as like toys for boys and not for girls.
Like there's a whole big thing about why society has told women computers and tech are notfor you.
And we've internalized that.
Well, I didn't internalize it obviously.
Otherwise I wouldn't have doing it for 30 years.
Thank you.
(13:33):
Actually, can blame, you can blame my mother for that.
I did not pick computers as my field of study when I was going into high school.
went to a high school that would be considered
a magnet school now.
It wasn't called that back then, but you had to apply to get in.
had to declare a major.
Shout out to Cass Technical High School in Detroit, Michigan.
(13:54):
But you had to apply to get in.
You had to declare a major and my mother filled out the application and she chose computerprogramming as my major.
And I was just a good kid who did what I was told.
So was like, guess I'm studying computers.
I mean, I was good at math and science, but that was not something that had ever occurredto me.
So she chose that.
again, more on that in future episodes, I'm sure when we talk about my background.
(14:16):
But my point is that I encounter a lot of women who, you know, they don't feel comfortablewith technology, women business owners, they don't feel comfortable with technology.
they, or even if they're comfortable with technology, they think that the things that theyneed to do for their business are outside of their, that there's too advanced for them.
(14:36):
it's just, there's just a lot of,
insecurity around technology with regard to women business owners.
So I just want to give them knowledge and confidence and independence to be able to dothings on their own without having to pay somebody every single time they need something
small done, smaller, even some of the bigger things.
So that's, that's sort of why I decided to do this.
(14:59):
Yeah, I love that.
And it's also speaking to the confidence, it's just the confidence to make mistakes andknow you're not going to break everything.
Or you can get back to where you were before.
Just the confidence to click around in whatever application you're using, whatever toolyou're using.
That's something that I noticed with my parents.
I spend quite a lot of time with them.
And when I'm helping them with the technology, they're scared.
(15:22):
They're scared to touch the buttons.
They're scared to do this.
They think they're going to break it.
I'm like, you're not going to break it.
You can just push anything you want and you can close it out and get back to where you areand having that confidence in the business setting.
is going to be huge for these women that are going to learn from you.
Yeah.
guess what?
Spoiler alert.
I don't know everything.
(15:44):
But you know what?
I can figure it out.
Whenever I need to do something, if I've never done it before, I'm like, OK, well, let'sfigure out how we're going to do this now.
Because now, again, I'm not saying everybody can be me, because again, I've been doingthis for 30 years.
But I have that confidence.
OK, I'm going to take a backup before I do this thing.
in case I do break it, because
(16:04):
Believe me, I've broken many things technically speaking.
But I always have a backup that I can go back and I'm like, okay, well, let's start over.
Let's try that again.
Whoops, didn't mean to do that.
Let's find another way forward.
So yeah, I just want to be able to give people that confidence.
So let's talk a little bit about what people can expect to hear on the podcast.
(16:26):
We're gonna have a couple of recurring segments.
So mostly we're gonna have guests and we're gonna hear their stories.
Like I mentioned, for example, coming up on a couple of episodes coming up, Gwen Heard,one of my mentors, we'll talk to her when I do an episode about mentoring black women in
tech.
but also Gwen has a bakery.
And so we'll talk to her about starting her bakery and a little bit about her businessownership.
(16:50):
So we'll have guests in their stories, but we'll also try to make sure we always have somesort of tech takeaway or some tech resources that we're providing folks.
But I also want to provide career advice for women in tech because being a woman in tech,especially a black woman or a woman of color in tech is so rough.
is just...
really rough.
(17:10):
I want to be able to, know, 30 years of mistakes and living through again, hopefully it'sgetting better.
I don't know.
That's a, again, a conversation for another day.
but I just, have some advice.
have some things to share or here's how, you know, here's how you can navigate this andhere's how you can feel, you know, more included or here's how you can not even care about
(17:32):
the fact that it's a boys club and you can still do your job or whatever it is.
It just provide advice.
We'll occasionally do segments on, you know, we'll call them office hours for students andnewbies in tech.
A lot of times I get people who ask me, they're like, I really want to get in tech becausemost people want to get in tech because of the money.
Which believe me, you're going to pay and you're going to pay for it in blood, and tearsand pain.
(17:56):
But most people want to get into tech for the money and they think that they have to writecode in order to be in tech.
And that's not the case.
mean, you're in tech, you don't write code.
know, we're going talk to, yes.
Not very, Have you ever written any code, I have never written any code at all.
And the thing that I would say also just to jump in here is that can also be an advantagebecause no matter what, at some point, somebody non-technical is going to come into
(18:25):
contact with the technology, especially if you're working at a tech company.
So somebody needs to be able to translate what the uber smart coders are doing into plaineveryday speak.
So don't...
Don't let that be something that gives you an inferiority complex either.
and then also the other thing I wanted to say with regard to recurring segments that we'regoing to have on the podcast is Q &A.
(18:46):
So we're going to take listener questions.
So if you want to leave us a voicemail with your questions, you can call us at404-425-9862 and then you can possibly hear the answer to your question on a future
podcast.
Or if we do, you know, like we got a podcast episode coming up where we talk aboutfranchising and maybe you've got questions about franchising.
You can call in and leave your questions and we'll follow up in a future episode.
(19:09):
So we've got a lot of content that we've got planned for you.
and I forgot to mention one more thing.
Also, we've already, we've been doing, like I said, it's been a long time coming, eventhough we're just now recording the first episode, we've been working at this for months
now.
And we've already got a treasure trove of behind the scenes and things that were probablyeventually put out as premium content.
(19:29):
But we've got all kinds of behind the scenes clips and things like that that we'll alsoprovide at a later date.
Yeah, I'm really excited for the different types of episodes that we have planned.
We have so many great groups of guests and topics that we're already working with.
Like Rachel mentioned, we've been working at this for months.
So we're already recording episodes and getting people lined up for future episodes.
(19:51):
So you won't have to wait long for us to get started on each of these buckets that Racheljust mentioned.
So we hope that you will absolutely subscribe and follow us.
in fact, let me give you some information.
First of all, I want to say thank you to Emma for helping me to introduce the podcast toour listeners and to our, I want to say thank you to our audience for listening.
(20:13):
but let me give you some ways that you can follow us or get in contact with us.
So you can, visit subscribe.imperfectgenius.com to subscribe to our newsletter and get acopy of our show notes.
Again, I will re I can't talk today, Emma.
I will mention again that you can leave us a voicemail with your questions at 404-425-9862to hear your answer on a future episode.
(20:36):
You can follow us on social media at Ask Imperfect Genius, or you can head over to ourwebsite, imperfectgenius.com and find other ways to get in contact with us.
So until next time, I want to say this is Rachel Foster reminding you while your journeymay not be flawless, it can be phenomenal.
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