August 27, 2025 • 29 mins
Finding the right college fit in today's rapidly changing admissions landscape feels like navigating shark-infested waters—overwhelming, confusing, and potentially dangerous to both family relationships and bank accounts. Leigh Norwood, founder of College Sharks, dives deep into how she's revolutionizing access to expert college guidance through her innovative video-based platform.
"This ain't your father's Oldsmobile," Leigh emphasizes throughout our conversation, highlighting how drastically college admissions has transformed since parents went through the process. After 23 years in pharmaceuticals feeling disconnected from making meaningful impact, Leigh pivoted to college consulting after successfully guiding her own children through higher education decisions—one attending college with substantial financial aid, the other choosing military service.
What makes College Sharks revolutionary is its mission to democratize expert college guidance. Through monthly video releases and comprehensive workbooks, students receive step-by-step direction through the complex admissions process at a fraction of traditional consulting costs. Leigh's passion for "taking a bite out of college admissions" stems from seeing how misinformation and outdated approaches hurt families.
The most eye-opening segment comes when Leigh dismantles common admissions myths. Contrary to popular belief, colleges don't want "well-rounded" students anymore—they seek students with "angular focus" who demonstrate leadership and commitment in activities aligned with their intended majors. She also clarifies the confusion around test-optional policies and offers strategic insights on when standardized tests still matter.
Perhaps most valuable is Leigh's advice on preserving mental health during this high-pressure process. By "cutting down on the bullshit" from sideline parents and social media, families can approach college planning factually rather than emotionally. Her recommendation? Limit college discussions to one 30-minute family dinner conversation weekly.
Whether you're a student beginning the college journey, a parent navigating changing admissions waters, or an educator guiding others, this episode provides the clarity and direction needed to find the right college fit without sacrificing mental health or family harmony. Connect with College Sharks on social media and use code SUMMER75 for $75 off annual membership to start your journey with expert guidance.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Fatima Bey (00:04):
This is MindShift Power Podcast, the number one
critically acclaimed podcastwhere we have raw, unfiltered
conversations that shapetomorrow.
I'm your host, fatima Bey, theMindShifter, and welcome
everyone.
Today we have with us LeeNorwood.
(00:27):
She is out of North Carolinaand she is the founder of
College Sharks.
How are you today, Lee?
I am doing great.
Thank you Great.
I'm looking forward to thisconversation.
So why don't you go ahead andtell us about yourself?
Tell us your background.
Lee Norwood (00:42):
Well, I'm really excited to be here with you
because I think I shift someminds myself all the time.
I came from 23 years in thepharmaceutical world and didn't
love it and didn't feel like Iwas doing anything to make a
difference.
So about eight years ago Ibought a college consulting
business to help teens find theright school for them, because
it's a really expensive part oflife if you choose to go to
(01:06):
college, and I had two kidsgoing in that direction.
One did.
We ended up with a Pell Grantand quite a bit of merit aid and
I got her in and out of sixyears of school with grad school
at a really good price and Ithought I want to pass this
knowledge on.
And my other student, who mayeven be I hate she hates it when
(01:29):
I say this.
So I'm so sorry, carson, but hemight be a little bit more
emotionally intelligent, buthated school, hated holding a
pencil, hated everything aboutit, and he's a US Marine now.
So I don't think college is foreveryone, but for people who
want to go.
I wanted to lower the barriersof that and I started, and I
know it's very expensive to geta one-on-one coach because
(01:51):
that's what I do.
So I started a new businesscalled College Sharks, which you
get me on video guiding youthrough the entire process at a
fraction of the cost andsometimes free.
So I just want more kids toknow that college is a place
where they can go and it can beless expensive than they think,
and they can come out and changethe world.
So that's what I do.
Fatima Bey (02:12):
Okay, so let's take a deeper dive.
What exactly does CollegeSharks do?
Lee Norwood (02:17):
So College Sharks well, I'm laughing we take a
bite out of college admissions.
How do we do that?
So there's a process.
When you're looking at collegeand we're looking at which
college do I want to go to, whatfits for me financially,
geographically, academically,you have to think of all of
those things.
But you also kind of needsomeone to guide you through
(02:37):
that.
Because here you are, you're 15, 16 years old, depending on the
amount of help you have at homeand how helpful your counselor
is at school, because right nowa lot of public schools are 465
kids to one counselor, so youmight not be getting all that
guidance you want.
Hey, I'm looking for guidance.
Well, someone like me is goingto be expensive one-on-one.
(02:59):
Chop this down into bite-sizedchunks of digestible information
that comes out monthly.
So, if you're a member ofCollege Sharks, each month
whether you're a junior or asenior we're giving you three to
four really short, digestible,cool, fun videos of me telling
you what you need to do next, etcetera, with a workbook that
(03:22):
will get you through junior andsenior year and by the time
you're done our two-year process, you will have your application
pretty much completed, a listof schools that fits for you and
a level of knowledge about whatit costs to go to college.
That will really be a greatthing.
It's priceless.
So we just wanted to be able toreach more kids with the
information.
You can't duplicate yourself,right?
(03:43):
I mean, how many one-on-onescould I actually do?
I can't.
So in order to reach hundredsof students and families, I had
to duplicate myself.
So I did so on video with acool, thematic animated
character who doesn't have arace, a gender, anything.
He's just a shark.
(04:03):
It's a shark.
So I got through all of that byjust being a shark as our main
character.
Fatima Bey (04:12):
Well, you have a lot of personality, so I can only
imagine what that's like.
Lee Norwood (04:16):
Yeah, Well, the shark was wearing New Balance
for a while and then I got acall from a different tennis
shoe company.
They're like we want him towear our shoes.
I'm like, no, he's just.
He's wearing New Balance rightnow because my teen said New
Balance is cool, next year he'llbe back in you know, jordans or
something whatever.
Fatima Bey (04:38):
Right.
So who do you focus on withCollege Sharks?
Lee Norwood (04:43):
That's a great question because right now, you
know, we're letting the worldknow that College Sharks even
exists.
So we are looking at everythingfrom going to schools for
counselors who are overwhelmedto be able to say, hey, here's a
resource for you, for a student, to going into the communities
and sharing with libraries.
(05:03):
You know, hey, you can jointhis and doing ads out to you
know, when you do a Facebook ad,you can kind of target your
audience.
We're just targeting thefamilies and students that may
not be able to just pay cash outof their pocket for college and
they need to understand how toget through the process.
So it's kind of an unknown.
So I want to thank you forhaving me on here because I want
(05:26):
to be reaching out.
You know your whole listeninggroup is teens and families.
Listen, do not get overwhelmed.
It's an overwhelming processbut I can chunk it down into
step by step by step and you'llknow exactly what everyone else
knows, whether it's that richkid from the private school who
has everything they've everwanted given to them, or the
middle that often gets squeezedout because you make too much
(05:47):
money to get any money towardscollege but you don't make
enough to pay full price to kidsthat are brilliant and broke
and help them just get thesupport they need so that they
can go find the money out thereand get that.
College education because it'sthe way to the future is just
educating ourselves and ouryouth.
It doesn't always have to bethrough college, but that is
(06:07):
kind of set up and that's myspecialty, and is this available
to students and families allaround the country?
Yes, so it's US-based right now,but with AI and technology, my
partner is in Mexico.
We're going to be coming outwith a Spanish version very soon
.
My partner speaks oh, I loveyou now, but with AI and
technology, my partner is inMexico.
(06:27):
We're going to be coming outwith a Spanish version very soon
.
My partner speaks fluent French.
Her name is Marcy Cowan.
She lives in Mexico and we'llbe going that way.
You know, with the invention ofAI I'd be able to download
transcripts.
We're going to be able to getthis out in almost any language
and again, because it's a shark,it's kind of a cool thing.
You don't know where he's from.
They swim in internationalwaters, so let's go, but for
(06:48):
right now it's mostly in Englishand will be in Spanish soon.
Fatima Bey (06:53):
Let me ask you this so you've really explained what
College Sharks does.
What would you consider to besome of the problems that
College Sharks solves for peoplethat they're not even thinking
of?
Lee Norwood (07:06):
Well, I'm going to quiz you.
Can I quiz you?
Put you on the spot.
Sure, no-transcript Potential.
How would they look at?
How would they find potential?
Fatima Bey (07:20):
Are they involved in extracurricular activities?
Are they disciplined?
Grades will show that to acertain extent, Some tests All
right you're doing well, Wellwhat I would look for if I was a
college is a different answerthan what I think they're
looking for.
Lee Norwood (07:36):
Well, that's true, but you know they are a machine.
Colleges are a machine andthey're a business and you have
to remember that all the time.
So the number one thing that acollege is going to look for is
what is on your transcript.
Did you take the classes thatwere available to you at your
school?
So they're not going to comparewhat you took to another
student that maybe their schooloffered more or different or
(07:56):
higher level classes.
You'll never get dinged forthat, but they're going to look
at what was offered at yourschool and what did you take?
Did you push the curriculum?
So that's number one, theclasses that you took.
Number two is then how did youdo in those classes?
So, as much as we'd love to saythat APs and honors give us
that push in their GPA, collegesare going to recalculate.
(08:16):
They're going to look at yourbasic GPA, your unweighted, and
some schools let's take Georgiaas an example, the state of
Georgia they're going torecalculate and only use the
five core classes English, math,science, social studies and
foreign language to give youyour new GPA.
So they're going to look atwhat did you take?
And then how did you do in thatclass?
(08:37):
Those weighted grades andweighted GPAs?
They just help you with yourclass rank in your own school.
So don't get all braggy aboutyour 4.6 because, Johnny down
the road couldn't get one rightBecause his school didn't offer
AP.
So those two classes, gpa.
Then the third thing and testoptional is out there, but it
does not mean test blind.
(08:57):
Test optional just means thatit grew a lot because of COVID,
because it was test unavailable.
But testing testing showsthere's a correlation to future
success with standardized testgrades.
So you want to have thosescores.
But none of those things tellme that you're creative, that
(09:18):
you have potential or anything.
They just tell me that you'regood at school and you can nail
a test.
So the fourth thing is a smallnumber of activities where you
show leadership.
Leadership can be shown in lotsof ways.
You don't have to be thecaptain of the team to show
leadership.
You might have turned your teamdinners into a coat drive in
the winter.
So there's a lot of differentways to show leadership in your
(09:40):
community and at your school.
And then after that, what aboutvolunteering?
Love it, we love volunteering.
Volunteering is huge becauseit's an indicator of what you're
going to be like at my campus.
But don't run around and justvolunteer all over the place.
If you think you like scienceand you're a STEM kid, let's try
to focus our activities in thatdirection.
(10:01):
So for us, fatima, they wantedus to be well-rounded.
They want kids now to have anangular focus.
I think that's really hard forsomebody when they're 17.
So you said what are weteaching people that they don't
know?
Well, mom and dad are tellingyou to be well-rounded.
I'm telling you to be focused.
So when you're doing yourvolunteer stuff, if you want to
be a future doctor, let's try todo it at the local hospital or
(10:24):
at a nursing home, and if youwant to be an accountant, let's
try to do volunteering anotherway, maybe you're helping a CPA
in your community.
Do some free tax help for otherpeople in your community.
So we want to be a little bitfocused on those activities.
Can you write?
I know you've done some pastepisodes on your ability to
(10:44):
write and express yourself as a17-year-old student.
I say that because there areways to kind of try to cheat the
system with all this newartificial intelligence.
Don't do it.
We know what a 17-year-oldsounds like.
So you want to be able to writea great essay about yourself
and it doesn't need to beanything like what you write in
school and then how yourteachers feel about you.
(11:06):
You know teacherrecommendations and things like
that.
So we're letting kids knowhere's the top seven things.
And guess what?
Pick your classes right,because you can't put the
toothpaste back in the tube.
You want to do this all throughhigh school and have a plan and
you need to start early because, again, that toothpaste in the
tube thing much as I'd love tohelp everybody, if you roll in
(11:27):
four months into senior year, Ihave less to work with because I
can't guide you.
So we really think looking atthe junior and the senior year
and making all of your decisionsbecause of who you want to be
in the future is a really greatidea.
Then our timeline and ourworkbook.
Here's a problem we solve.
We solve family fights, wepreserve parent-student
(11:49):
relationships, because there'sjust things you do.
So it's not what you think youneed to do now.
There's a timeline, this iswhen you need to do it, and I
think that pulls a lot of stressback from families.
Like I was just on the phonewith someone who she very wants
her student to start studying,studying for the SAT.
He's not even a junior yet.
I'm like, okay, hold up, what'sthe rush?
Like there isn't a rush.
(12:09):
She hasn't even completedAlgebra 2, yet that's what the
math is.
So you've got a parent thoughtprocess up here of trying to
rush their kid through, and thenyou've got the reality of I
don't even want you to thinkabout the SAT until you're
halfway through Algebra 2.
So things like that justputting things in perspective
and getting rid of the folklorethat's out there, because you
(12:31):
listened to two or three parentsdown the street or the three
people sitting next to you inthe dugout, like all of that,
most of that information is notright.
So we try to spread the truthso that you can really, you know
, take a bite out of this.
Fatima Bey (12:44):
Can you?
I was just going to ask youabout it and you dove right into
it Can you take a moment andjust talk to the parents out
there, because I do think, and Idon't do what you do, but I can
see it.
You know our kids, theirparents' generation.
They were taught differentlyand things were set up
differently than they'reactually set up right now, and I
think a lot of parents don'tknow that and they're just
(13:05):
regurgitating what they've beentaught.
Everything's focused on worship, your SATs worship.
Yes, thou art greatest.
And you know a lot of them weretaught that and that's just not
the way it is anymore.
And could you take a momentjust to talk to those parents
who just are disconnected fromtoday's reality?
Lee Norwood (13:22):
Yes, this ain't your father's Oldsmobile.
I don't remember if youremember that commercial, but
it's not.
It's not your father's Dodge.
This is a new, faster, betterlooking, more electronic version
of what we went through.
Things are harder.
The admit rates are plummetingbecause of test optional.
(13:43):
More and more kids are applyingto schools because there's less
barriers of admissions, ofapplying entry.
Now the admissions are stillhard.
To get in is still hard.
If you've got a school thatrequires no test scores and no
additional writing, everybodyand their brother's going to
apply because why not?
There was no extra work to do.
So you really need to have thefacts.
(14:04):
You need to know that.
You really need to know thefacts.
When you're sitting on thesidelines, I will tell you right
now.
Sat and ACT scores grow updramatically because the parents
don't really remember and whatthey do remember is always way
higher and way better.
That whole joke of oh, he hadthe same test scores and the
same GPA as my child, but thatone got in and mine didn't.
Why?
(14:24):
Well, because you don't knowthe whole story.
What's the whole story?
What classes did they take?
I told you that was number one.
You don't know what classesthat other kid took?
What major did they want toapply into?
You don't know.
Can they write?
You have no idea.
You have no idea what the truthis and the different layers of
those seven things that collegesare looking for.
So I'm going to tell you toclose your eyes and go find the
(14:47):
truth about your student.
The details and the facts areall out there.
It's called the common data set.
Every school replies to it thatyou know what their middle 50%
test scores are.
You know what their average GPAis.
Then they'll tell you theparameters of getting in.
That's what you need to look at.
Shut down the noise, becauseit's all BS.
Parents are full of shit on thesidelines, especially if their
(15:09):
kid's a better player or getsmore playtime.
Now, all of a sudden,everything in their life is
elevated and it's not the truth.
So I heard that when a parentleads into me with, I heard that
I'm just like just don't evenfinish the sentence, because I'm
pretty sure it's not right.
Fatima Bey (15:24):
That's true.
I can hear a lot of things.
Doesn't make it true, doesn't?
Lee Norwood (15:27):
make it true and that's why I say sometimes I'm a
crusher of dreams.
But if you come rolling in hereand tell me you're going to go
to Georgetown and you've alreadytaken the SAT twice because you
started too early and youweren't ready, and you've
already taken the SAT twicebecause you started too early
and you weren't ready, you justcrushed your own dreams because
that school looks at everysingle time you took the test,
not just the super scores.
So while you were pushing yourkid through too fast, you
screwed them up.
(15:48):
Because you don't want to testtoo often.
If you're going to Georgetown,you want to put your best foot
forward the very first time,right?
So who knew that?
You don't always know that.
And other schools keep ontesting.
If you get into Ole Miss, keeptesting, man.
The higher your test scores go,the more money they're going to
give you.
So you just really have to tryto find out the truth and you
(16:08):
can find it out there.
You just have to get rid of alot of false prophets.
Fatima Bey (16:23):
I think you hit on a very key topic in that the
familial dynamics is somethingthat you run into and you know I
get that because, well, youwouldn't know this, but I'm a
professional seamstress.
I make and design wedding gowns, internationally awarded, et
cetera.
I've been doing it for a longtime and when you're working in
the bridal industry, somethingthat you see constantly is you
basically earn a PhD inpsychology.
I feel like I have that justfrom working with brides,
(16:46):
because you get to seerelational dynamics from the
fiance, from the mother, thesister, the best friend, the
daughter, whoever it is, and youget to see all these different
dynamics.
No-transcript.
Lee Norwood (17:11):
Well, gosh, that's a hard thing for me to answer.
Like I said, it's not yourcollege journey.
You can't repeat and dosomething better than you
thought you did with yourstudent.
It's their journey and it's whothey are.
There are over 3,000 four-yearcolleges out there.
There are a lot that may be thebest for them and you don't know
(17:33):
because your circle ofinfluence, your sphere of
influence, might have beenreally small.
You know we've got parentssaying, oh, we're only going to
go in-state, we'll only payin-state tuition.
Well, that's going to limit you.
If you have a super smart kidwho does well, they might be
able to go to a private schoolout of state and pay way less
than your in-state school.
So you just don't know what youdon't know.
You don't know what HowardUniversity is like right now.
(17:55):
You haven't been there.
So, whatever it was 35 yearsago, it's not that anymore.
So you've got to know that andyou've got to know that fighting
with your child through this ortalking about it incessantly
every day does nothing but hurttheir mental health.
It hurts, it stresses them out.
Fatima Bey (18:12):
They're going to feel unworthy.
Lee Norwood (18:14):
You pick one.
I tell my kids your parentsstart getting on your nerves.
You need to call me.
I will be there to help.
They can have one day a week atdinner as a family where
everybody sits down and you canspeak about college for 30
minutes.
That's it.
I give them talking points onThanksgiving on how to shut down
.
I give them talking points onThanksgiving on how to shut down
the ant who won't stop diggingand digging and digging.
(18:36):
It's a very stressful process.
You need to know what's goingon and you need to be doing it
the right way.
Everything has changed.
We don't have enough time forme to tell you how much
everything has changed.
Fatima Bey (18:49):
Yeah, everything has changed.
I totally believe that, andthere are lots.
Would you agree that there area lot of students out there that
don't have real genuine support?
Lee Norwood (19:01):
So my group of students that I work with
one-on-one typically do haveparents that are supporting them
.
So that's a hard question forme to answer.
So my one-on-one kids, theparents are there and supporting
.
They're just sometimessupporting incorrectly or saying
we're only going to go to theseschools because they're highly
selective schools.
And then when I tell them, well, you're going to pay $90,000.
(19:23):
Oh, but no, john is such anincredible kid and he's so ahead
of his class.
I don't care, he looks likeeverybody else standing in line
for that school.
So you're not gettingscholarships and you need a
reality check.
So there's that piece of thatkind of middle the kids who are
being supported, but they'rebeing supported by a parent who
thinks they know too much.
(19:44):
The kids who aren't beingsupported, that's who I want to
reach with College Sharks.
I need teachers and mentors tosay here, we don't know, we
don't know everything that'sgoing on, but here is a set of
videos that's going to dropmonthly so you're never
overwhelmed.
You can't go forward, you canonly go backwards.
We're going to drop them eachmonth so you know what to do,
(20:05):
when to do it.
You can't work ahead.
But here it is.
Here, chill out, this is thesupport you need, here's the
workbook and everything.
And if you go through and youdo all of this, you're going to
have a lot of options, andthat's the goal at the end of
the day to have options andchoices that fit for you, based
on who you are and what you needto do.
So, yeah, I think there'sprobably tons of kids out there
(20:27):
that don't have support, and inthe industry that I'm in and I
go to a lot of conferences thereare tons of people that do what
I do, that do work withunderprivileged or
under-resourced students, whowork with CBOs, community-based
organizations.
That's not my ballywick, I'mmore the middle class that can't
quite afford it, but that's whyI made Sharks so that people
(20:49):
could use that tool.
Fatima Bey (20:52):
Okay, how does what you do affect mental health?
Lee Norwood (21:11):
That is so much stress on a young person they're
trying to.
Things have changed.
They've got screens.
I was just at my 40th highschool reunion.
We had to really do quite a bitof research to find pictures of
us outside of what was in theyearbook.
Now these kids have a record oftheir life on screens and that
(21:33):
diminishes mental health.
Right there Kids are comparingthemselves to each other.
If you know what colleges arelooking for and know who you are
, you can bring down that stressbecause you're level-headed.
You're quieting out the noise.
You know, this is my journey andthis is what needs to be done
for me the parental pressurethat kids are sometimes put
(21:55):
under, the pressure from theother kids at your school that
are telling you where they'regoing, the pressure from the
sidelines of other parents fullof crap with the details of what
they know, or one parent whoput two kids through college
already who now all of a suddenknows more than everybody else.
It's just quieting the noisebecause we live in a very noisy
world and we do a music eventevery year to raise money for
(22:20):
mental health awareness thatthen we give away to high school
students so that they canaffect change in their school
because it happens.
We're watching more and morethings happen and we know that
sometimes high schools don'thave the resources to either
have extra counselors if thereis an event that needs to be
addressed or that they need todo a walk, or they just want to
(22:42):
be able to talk about it.
It has come out of the darknessa lot.
We can talk about mental healtha lot more now, but just look
at the amount of things that areaffecting our kids.
That didn't affect us.
There were less food allergiesthere was less mental health
strain, there was less ADD,there were way fewer IEPs All
(23:03):
those things we're trying to getour hands around but I think it
boils down to the bullshit ofsocial media that just casts the
wrong information out to people.
So how do we fix mental health,or how does it affect mental
health?
We want to lead with the truthand with facts so the kids can
feel like they're on solidground.
Fatima Bey (23:24):
So you cut down on the bullshit.
Lee Norwood (23:25):
Cut down on the bullshit.
Yep Cut down on the bullshit.
Fatima Bey (23:30):
Yep, Clear the noise .
I love that.
I love that.
I do agree that that was myfirst thought when I was looking
at what you do how stressfulthe whole college process really
is and how having the rightinformation and the right
guidance can relieve some ofthat at least some of it.
(23:50):
But yeah, I think you hit anail on the head when you said
some of the biggest problems isthe parents who think they know
because they're still stuck in1993, not realizing that things
are different now.
Very, very different for ouryouth and it's something I'm
constantly saying on the show isthat adults have to stop
comparing their youth to theseyouth, because they're growing
(24:11):
up on a completely differentplanet than we did Completely
different, you know, completelydifferent.
And what they have available tothem that is a blessing is also
a curse, and that's where wediffer greatly.
And there's, you know, ourbrains are actually, their
brains are actually being wireddifferently because of what's
being put in front of them on aregular basis that we didn't
(24:32):
have, and you know that totallymatters a regular basis that we
didn't have, and you know thattotally matters.
So I'm going to ask you thiswhat advice do you have for the
youth of the world today.
It could be anything you want.
Lee Norwood (24:45):
I want you to live now, today, breathe and enjoy
what's going on right now andlead with kindness.
What's going on right now andlead with kindness.
I know that sounds so cliche,but think of the fights you have
with your friends and you endup really still wanting to be
friends with them.
Whatever happens for one minuteis not going to be there for a
(25:05):
lifetime.
If you just try to be present,be present.
I would love to tell you to getthe heck off the screens, but I
know you're not going to do it.
So be present.
Oh, sideline.
Check the flipping email.
Check your email.
Check your email.
That's really my number one.
Forget it.
Don't be kind, don't live now.
(25:26):
Check your damn email.
That's my, that is my, thankyou, took me a minute to get
there.
That's my advice to the youthof today.
Check the email.
Oh, good Lord, have mercy.
That's it.
Check your email.
Fatima Bey (25:41):
Okay, so how can people find you?
Lee Norwood (25:45):
You can find us on social media and I highly
recommend this.
You know what Free advice isonly good if it's good advice.
And we give great advicebecause it's sourced, because we
are members of both the HigherEducation H-E Higher Education
Consultants Association andIndependent Educators
Association, so we have all ourstreet cred right.
(26:08):
So you can find us at CollegeSharks.
That's on Instagram, that's onTikTok and that's on Facebook
and on YouTube.
Lots of free stuff on YouTubefrom us.
You want to make sure you getgood information from the source
, so we'd love to be your sourceand you can go to
wwwcollegesharkscom and you cancheck out our memberships.
(26:30):
If you check out ourmemberships, you can use Summer
75 75 and we'll give you $75 offIf you do the annual and you
can put in Sharks 10 and you canget 10% off the monthly or the
essay clinic that's out therenow.
So, depending on where you arein your journey, we'd love to
(26:50):
help you and we also give awayfree 30-minute.
I wanted to say family planningsessions, but that just sounds
like birth control and we'rereally talking about college
planning sessions.
If you want to get on and justchat with us for a minute and
have us guide you in a certainway, have your stuff together,
have your transcript, haveeverything ready for you to tell
(27:11):
us a little bit about who youare and we'll talk to you for 30
minutes and give you someguidance.
But lots of free, greatinformation out there.
Fatima Bey (27:20):
Well, thank you, Lee , for coming on.
I really, really appreciate it.
I love your no bullshitapproach to things.
I absolutely love it.
I really appreciate you comingon to the show and thank you.
Lee Norwood (27:33):
Thank you so much.
I love what you do.
I love the shifting of themindset, because we need more of
that in today's world.
Thank, you for everything thatyou do too.
I think you're awesome and I'llsend my daughter you when she
gets married, for her weddingdress.
Fatima Bey (27:46):
All right.
Lee Norwood (27:47):
Thank you, see you later.
Fatima Bey (27:51):
And now for a mind shifting moment.
And now for a mind-shiftingmoment.
I want to pull from one of theprinciples that Lee talked about
today.
She talked about how a lot ofparents are stuck with old ideas
of what it was like for them inthe 90s or maybe even the early
2000s, and want to give thatadvice to their children, and
(28:14):
that becomes a point ofcontention.
Let's move over to theprinciple behind that.
Are you stuck in the waysomething used to be and you try
to give advice based on 1984?
Are you stuck in the past?
Are you stuck in your pastexperience and you're trying to
pass that advice on to someoneelse?
(28:35):
I want you to take a moment toreassess your experiences, and
we all give advice based on ourexperiences.
That's normal.
But are they relevant in 2025,in 2026?
Because sometimes it isrelevant, Sometimes it's not.
I want you to think about that,because it is a trap that many
(28:58):
people often get caught up in.
You've been listening toMindShift Power Podcast.
For complete show notes on thisepisode and to join our global
movement, find us atFatimaBaycom Until next time.
(29:18):
Always remember there's powerin shifting your thinking.
This is MindShift Power Podcast, the number one
critically acclaimed podcastwhere we have raw, unfiltered
conversations that shapetomorrow.
I'm your host, fatima Bey, theMindShifter, and welcome
everyone.
Today we have with us LeeNorwood.
(00:27):
She is out of North Carolinaand she is the founder of
College Sharks.
How are you today, Lee?
I am doing great.
Thank you Great.
I'm looking forward to thisconversation.
So why don't you go ahead andtell us about yourself?
Tell us your background.
Lee Norwood (00:42):
Well, I'm really excited to be here with you
because I think I shift someminds myself all the time.
I came from 23 years in thepharmaceutical world and didn't
love it and didn't feel like Iwas doing anything to make a
difference.
So about eight years ago Ibought a college consulting
business to help teens find theright school for them, because
it's a really expensive part oflife if you choose to go to
(01:06):
college, and I had two kidsgoing in that direction.
One did.
We ended up with a Pell Grantand quite a bit of merit aid and
I got her in and out of sixyears of school with grad school
at a really good price and Ithought I want to pass this
knowledge on.
And my other student, who mayeven be I hate she hates it when
(01:29):
I say this.
So I'm so sorry, carson, but hemight be a little bit more
emotionally intelligent, buthated school, hated holding a
pencil, hated everything aboutit, and he's a US Marine now.
So I don't think college is foreveryone, but for people who
want to go.
I wanted to lower the barriersof that and I started, and I
know it's very expensive to geta one-on-one coach because
(01:51):
that's what I do.
So I started a new businesscalled College Sharks, which you
get me on video guiding youthrough the entire process at a
fraction of the cost andsometimes free.
So I just want more kids toknow that college is a place
where they can go and it can beless expensive than they think,
and they can come out and changethe world.
So that's what I do.
Fatima Bey (02:12):
Okay, so let's take a deeper dive.
What exactly does CollegeSharks do?
Lee Norwood (02:17):
So College Sharks well, I'm laughing we take a
bite out of college admissions.
How do we do that?
So there's a process.
When you're looking at collegeand we're looking at which
college do I want to go to, whatfits for me financially,
geographically, academically,you have to think of all of
those things.
But you also kind of needsomeone to guide you through
(02:37):
that.
Because here you are, you're 15, 16 years old, depending on the
amount of help you have at homeand how helpful your counselor
is at school, because right nowa lot of public schools are 465
kids to one counselor, so youmight not be getting all that
guidance you want.
Hey, I'm looking for guidance.
Well, someone like me is goingto be expensive one-on-one.
(02:59):
Chop this down into bite-sizedchunks of digestible information
that comes out monthly.
So, if you're a member ofCollege Sharks, each month
whether you're a junior or asenior we're giving you three to
four really short, digestible,cool, fun videos of me telling
you what you need to do next, etcetera, with a workbook that
(03:22):
will get you through junior andsenior year and by the time
you're done our two-year process, you will have your application
pretty much completed, a listof schools that fits for you and
a level of knowledge about whatit costs to go to college.
That will really be a greatthing.
It's priceless.
So we just wanted to be able toreach more kids with the
information.
You can't duplicate yourself,right?
(03:43):
I mean, how many one-on-onescould I actually do?
I can't.
So in order to reach hundredsof students and families, I had
to duplicate myself.
So I did so on video with acool, thematic animated
character who doesn't have arace, a gender, anything.
He's just a shark.
(04:03):
It's a shark.
So I got through all of that byjust being a shark as our main
character.
Fatima Bey (04:12):
Well, you have a lot of personality, so I can only
imagine what that's like.
Lee Norwood (04:16):
Yeah, Well, the shark was wearing New Balance
for a while and then I got acall from a different tennis
shoe company.
They're like we want him towear our shoes.
I'm like, no, he's just.
He's wearing New Balance rightnow because my teen said New
Balance is cool, next year he'llbe back in you know, jordans or
something whatever.
Fatima Bey (04:38):
Right.
So who do you focus on withCollege Sharks?
Lee Norwood (04:43):
That's a great question because right now, you
know, we're letting the worldknow that College Sharks even
exists.
So we are looking at everythingfrom going to schools for
counselors who are overwhelmedto be able to say, hey, here's a
resource for you, for a student, to going into the communities
and sharing with libraries.
(05:03):
You know, hey, you can jointhis and doing ads out to you
know, when you do a Facebook ad,you can kind of target your
audience.
We're just targeting thefamilies and students that may
not be able to just pay cash outof their pocket for college and
they need to understand how toget through the process.
So it's kind of an unknown.
So I want to thank you forhaving me on here because I want
(05:26):
to be reaching out.
You know your whole listeninggroup is teens and families.
Listen, do not get overwhelmed.
It's an overwhelming processbut I can chunk it down into
step by step by step and you'llknow exactly what everyone else
knows, whether it's that richkid from the private school who
has everything they've everwanted given to them, or the
middle that often gets squeezedout because you make too much
(05:47):
money to get any money towardscollege but you don't make
enough to pay full price to kidsthat are brilliant and broke
and help them just get thesupport they need so that they
can go find the money out thereand get that.
College education because it'sthe way to the future is just
educating ourselves and ouryouth.
It doesn't always have to bethrough college, but that is
(06:07):
kind of set up and that's myspecialty, and is this available
to students and families allaround the country?
Yes, so it's US-based right now,but with AI and technology, my
partner is in Mexico.
We're going to be coming outwith a Spanish version very soon
.
My partner speaks oh, I loveyou now, but with AI and
technology, my partner is inMexico.
(06:27):
We're going to be coming outwith a Spanish version very soon
.
My partner speaks fluent French.
Her name is Marcy Cowan.
She lives in Mexico and we'llbe going that way.
You know, with the invention ofAI I'd be able to download
transcripts.
We're going to be able to getthis out in almost any language
and again, because it's a shark,it's kind of a cool thing.
You don't know where he's from.
They swim in internationalwaters, so let's go, but for
(06:48):
right now it's mostly in Englishand will be in Spanish soon.
Fatima Bey (06:53):
Let me ask you this so you've really explained what
College Sharks does.
What would you consider to besome of the problems that
College Sharks solves for peoplethat they're not even thinking
of?
Lee Norwood (07:06):
Well, I'm going to quiz you.
Can I quiz you?
Put you on the spot.
Sure, no-transcript Potential.
How would they look at?
How would they find potential?
Fatima Bey (07:20):
Are they involved in extracurricular activities?
Are they disciplined?
Grades will show that to acertain extent, Some tests All
right you're doing well, Wellwhat I would look for if I was a
college is a different answerthan what I think they're
looking for.
Lee Norwood (07:36):
Well, that's true, but you know they are a machine.
Colleges are a machine andthey're a business and you have
to remember that all the time.
So the number one thing that acollege is going to look for is
what is on your transcript.
Did you take the classes thatwere available to you at your
school?
So they're not going to comparewhat you took to another
student that maybe their schooloffered more or different or
(07:56):
higher level classes.
You'll never get dinged forthat, but they're going to look
at what was offered at yourschool and what did you take?
Did you push the curriculum?
So that's number one, theclasses that you took.
Number two is then how did youdo in those classes?
So, as much as we'd love to saythat APs and honors give us
that push in their GPA, collegesare going to recalculate.
(08:16):
They're going to look at yourbasic GPA, your unweighted, and
some schools let's take Georgiaas an example, the state of
Georgia they're going torecalculate and only use the
five core classes English, math,science, social studies and
foreign language to give youyour new GPA.
So they're going to look atwhat did you take?
And then how did you do in thatclass?
(08:37):
Those weighted grades andweighted GPAs?
They just help you with yourclass rank in your own school.
So don't get all braggy aboutyour 4.6 because, Johnny down
the road couldn't get one rightBecause his school didn't offer
AP.
So those two classes, gpa.
Then the third thing and testoptional is out there, but it
does not mean test blind.
(08:57):
Test optional just means thatit grew a lot because of COVID,
because it was test unavailable.
But testing testing showsthere's a correlation to future
success with standardized testgrades.
So you want to have thosescores.
But none of those things tellme that you're creative, that
(09:18):
you have potential or anything.
They just tell me that you'regood at school and you can nail
a test.
So the fourth thing is a smallnumber of activities where you
show leadership.
Leadership can be shown in lotsof ways.
You don't have to be thecaptain of the team to show
leadership.
You might have turned your teamdinners into a coat drive in
the winter.
So there's a lot of differentways to show leadership in your
(09:40):
community and at your school.
And then after that, what aboutvolunteering?
Love it, we love volunteering.
Volunteering is huge becauseit's an indicator of what you're
going to be like at my campus.
But don't run around and justvolunteer all over the place.
If you think you like scienceand you're a STEM kid, let's try
to focus our activities in thatdirection.
(10:01):
So for us, fatima, they wantedus to be well-rounded.
They want kids now to have anangular focus.
I think that's really hard forsomebody when they're 17.
So you said what are weteaching people that they don't
know?
Well, mom and dad are tellingyou to be well-rounded.
I'm telling you to be focused.
So when you're doing yourvolunteer stuff, if you want to
be a future doctor, let's try todo it at the local hospital or
(10:24):
at a nursing home, and if youwant to be an accountant, let's
try to do volunteering anotherway, maybe you're helping a CPA
in your community.
Do some free tax help for otherpeople in your community.
So we want to be a little bitfocused on those activities.
Can you write?
I know you've done some pastepisodes on your ability to
(10:44):
write and express yourself as a17-year-old student.
I say that because there areways to kind of try to cheat the
system with all this newartificial intelligence.
Don't do it.
We know what a 17-year-oldsounds like.
So you want to be able to writea great essay about yourself
and it doesn't need to beanything like what you write in
school and then how yourteachers feel about you.
(11:06):
You know teacherrecommendations and things like
that.
So we're letting kids knowhere's the top seven things.
And guess what?
Pick your classes right,because you can't put the
toothpaste back in the tube.
You want to do this all throughhigh school and have a plan and
you need to start early because, again, that toothpaste in the
tube thing much as I'd love tohelp everybody, if you roll in
(11:27):
four months into senior year, Ihave less to work with because I
can't guide you.
So we really think looking atthe junior and the senior year
and making all of your decisionsbecause of who you want to be
in the future is a really greatidea.
Then our timeline and ourworkbook.
Here's a problem we solve.
We solve family fights, wepreserve parent-student
(11:49):
relationships, because there'sjust things you do.
So it's not what you think youneed to do now.
There's a timeline, this iswhen you need to do it, and I
think that pulls a lot of stressback from families.
Like I was just on the phonewith someone who she very wants
her student to start studying,studying for the SAT.
He's not even a junior yet.
I'm like, okay, hold up, what'sthe rush?
Like there isn't a rush.
(12:09):
She hasn't even completedAlgebra 2, yet that's what the
math is.
So you've got a parent thoughtprocess up here of trying to
rush their kid through, and thenyou've got the reality of I
don't even want you to thinkabout the SAT until you're
halfway through Algebra 2.
So things like that justputting things in perspective
and getting rid of the folklorethat's out there, because you
(12:31):
listened to two or three parentsdown the street or the three
people sitting next to you inthe dugout, like all of that,
most of that information is notright.
So we try to spread the truthso that you can really, you know
, take a bite out of this.
Fatima Bey (12:44):
Can you?
I was just going to ask youabout it and you dove right into
it Can you take a moment andjust talk to the parents out
there, because I do think, and Idon't do what you do, but I can
see it.
You know our kids, theirparents' generation.
They were taught differentlyand things were set up
differently than they'reactually set up right now, and I
think a lot of parents don'tknow that and they're just
(13:05):
regurgitating what they've beentaught.
Everything's focused on worship, your SATs worship.
Yes, thou art greatest.
And you know a lot of them weretaught that and that's just not
the way it is anymore.
And could you take a momentjust to talk to those parents
who just are disconnected fromtoday's reality?
Lee Norwood (13:22):
Yes, this ain't your father's Oldsmobile.
I don't remember if youremember that commercial, but
it's not.
It's not your father's Dodge.
This is a new, faster, betterlooking, more electronic version
of what we went through.
Things are harder.
The admit rates are plummetingbecause of test optional.
(13:43):
More and more kids are applyingto schools because there's less
barriers of admissions, ofapplying entry.
Now the admissions are stillhard.
To get in is still hard.
If you've got a school thatrequires no test scores and no
additional writing, everybodyand their brother's going to
apply because why not?
There was no extra work to do.
So you really need to have thefacts.
(14:04):
You need to know that.
You really need to know thefacts.
When you're sitting on thesidelines, I will tell you right
now.
Sat and ACT scores grow updramatically because the parents
don't really remember and whatthey do remember is always way
higher and way better.
That whole joke of oh, he hadthe same test scores and the
same GPA as my child, but thatone got in and mine didn't.
Why?
(14:24):
Well, because you don't knowthe whole story.
What's the whole story?
What classes did they take?
I told you that was number one.
You don't know what classesthat other kid took?
What major did they want toapply into?
You don't know.
Can they write?
You have no idea.
You have no idea what the truthis and the different layers of
those seven things that collegesare looking for.
So I'm going to tell you toclose your eyes and go find the
(14:47):
truth about your student.
The details and the facts areall out there.
It's called the common data set.
Every school replies to it thatyou know what their middle 50%
test scores are.
You know what their average GPAis.
Then they'll tell you theparameters of getting in.
That's what you need to look at.
Shut down the noise, becauseit's all BS.
Parents are full of shit on thesidelines, especially if their
(15:09):
kid's a better player or getsmore playtime.
Now, all of a sudden,everything in their life is
elevated and it's not the truth.
So I heard that when a parentleads into me with, I heard that
I'm just like just don't evenfinish the sentence, because I'm
pretty sure it's not right.
Fatima Bey (15:24):
That's true.
I can hear a lot of things.
Doesn't make it true, doesn't?
Lee Norwood (15:27):
make it true and that's why I say sometimes I'm a
crusher of dreams.
But if you come rolling in hereand tell me you're going to go
to Georgetown and you've alreadytaken the SAT twice because you
started too early and youweren't ready, and you've
already taken the SAT twicebecause you started too early
and you weren't ready, you justcrushed your own dreams because
that school looks at everysingle time you took the test,
not just the super scores.
So while you were pushing yourkid through too fast, you
screwed them up.
(15:48):
Because you don't want to testtoo often.
If you're going to Georgetown,you want to put your best foot
forward the very first time,right?
So who knew that?
You don't always know that.
And other schools keep ontesting.
If you get into Ole Miss, keeptesting, man.
The higher your test scores go,the more money they're going to
give you.
So you just really have to tryto find out the truth and you
(16:08):
can find it out there.
You just have to get rid of alot of false prophets.
Fatima Bey (16:23):
I think you hit on a very key topic in that the
familial dynamics is somethingthat you run into and you know I
get that because, well, youwouldn't know this, but I'm a
professional seamstress.
I make and design wedding gowns, internationally awarded, et
cetera.
I've been doing it for a longtime and when you're working in
the bridal industry, somethingthat you see constantly is you
basically earn a PhD inpsychology.
I feel like I have that justfrom working with brides,
(16:46):
because you get to seerelational dynamics from the
fiance, from the mother, thesister, the best friend, the
daughter, whoever it is, and youget to see all these different
dynamics.
No-transcript.
Lee Norwood (17:11):
Well, gosh, that's a hard thing for me to answer.
Like I said, it's not yourcollege journey.
You can't repeat and dosomething better than you
thought you did with yourstudent.
It's their journey and it's whothey are.
There are over 3,000 four-yearcolleges out there.
There are a lot that may be thebest for them and you don't know
(17:33):
because your circle ofinfluence, your sphere of
influence, might have beenreally small.
You know we've got parentssaying, oh, we're only going to
go in-state, we'll only payin-state tuition.
Well, that's going to limit you.
If you have a super smart kidwho does well, they might be
able to go to a private schoolout of state and pay way less
than your in-state school.
So you just don't know what youdon't know.
You don't know what HowardUniversity is like right now.
(17:55):
You haven't been there.
So, whatever it was 35 yearsago, it's not that anymore.
So you've got to know that andyou've got to know that fighting
with your child through this ortalking about it incessantly
every day does nothing but hurttheir mental health.
It hurts, it stresses them out.
Fatima Bey (18:12):
They're going to feel unworthy.
Lee Norwood (18:14):
You pick one.
I tell my kids your parentsstart getting on your nerves.
You need to call me.
I will be there to help.
They can have one day a week atdinner as a family where
everybody sits down and you canspeak about college for 30
minutes.
That's it.
I give them talking points onThanksgiving on how to shut down
.
I give them talking points onThanksgiving on how to shut down
the ant who won't stop diggingand digging and digging.
(18:36):
It's a very stressful process.
You need to know what's goingon and you need to be doing it
the right way.
Everything has changed.
We don't have enough time forme to tell you how much
everything has changed.
Fatima Bey (18:49):
Yeah, everything has changed.
I totally believe that, andthere are lots.
Would you agree that there area lot of students out there that
don't have real genuine support?
Lee Norwood (19:01):
So my group of students that I work with
one-on-one typically do haveparents that are supporting them
.
So that's a hard question forme to answer.
So my one-on-one kids, theparents are there and supporting
.
They're just sometimessupporting incorrectly or saying
we're only going to go to theseschools because they're highly
selective schools.
And then when I tell them, well, you're going to pay $90,000.
(19:23):
Oh, but no, john is such anincredible kid and he's so ahead
of his class.
I don't care, he looks likeeverybody else standing in line
for that school.
So you're not gettingscholarships and you need a
reality check.
So there's that piece of thatkind of middle the kids who are
being supported, but they'rebeing supported by a parent who
thinks they know too much.
(19:44):
The kids who aren't beingsupported, that's who I want to
reach with College Sharks.
I need teachers and mentors tosay here, we don't know, we
don't know everything that'sgoing on, but here is a set of
videos that's going to dropmonthly so you're never
overwhelmed.
You can't go forward, you canonly go backwards.
We're going to drop them eachmonth so you know what to do,
(20:05):
when to do it.
You can't work ahead.
But here it is.
Here, chill out, this is thesupport you need, here's the
workbook and everything.
And if you go through and youdo all of this, you're going to
have a lot of options, andthat's the goal at the end of
the day to have options andchoices that fit for you, based
on who you are and what you needto do.
So, yeah, I think there'sprobably tons of kids out there
(20:27):
that don't have support, and inthe industry that I'm in and I
go to a lot of conferences thereare tons of people that do what
I do, that do work withunderprivileged or
under-resourced students, whowork with CBOs, community-based
organizations.
That's not my ballywick, I'mmore the middle class that can't
quite afford it, but that's whyI made Sharks so that people
(20:49):
could use that tool.
Fatima Bey (20:52):
Okay, how does what you do affect mental health?
Lee Norwood (21:11):
That is so much stress on a young person they're
trying to.
Things have changed.
They've got screens.
I was just at my 40th highschool reunion.
We had to really do quite a bitof research to find pictures of
us outside of what was in theyearbook.
Now these kids have a record oftheir life on screens and that
(21:33):
diminishes mental health.
Right there Kids are comparingthemselves to each other.
If you know what colleges arelooking for and know who you are
, you can bring down that stressbecause you're level-headed.
You're quieting out the noise.
You know, this is my journey andthis is what needs to be done
for me the parental pressurethat kids are sometimes put
(21:55):
under, the pressure from theother kids at your school that
are telling you where they'regoing, the pressure from the
sidelines of other parents fullof crap with the details of what
they know, or one parent whoput two kids through college
already who now all of a suddenknows more than everybody else.
It's just quieting the noisebecause we live in a very noisy
world and we do a music eventevery year to raise money for
(22:20):
mental health awareness thatthen we give away to high school
students so that they canaffect change in their school
because it happens.
We're watching more and morethings happen and we know that
sometimes high schools don'thave the resources to either
have extra counselors if thereis an event that needs to be
addressed or that they need todo a walk, or they just want to
(22:42):
be able to talk about it.
It has come out of the darknessa lot.
We can talk about mental healtha lot more now, but just look
at the amount of things that areaffecting our kids.
That didn't affect us.
There were less food allergiesthere was less mental health
strain, there was less ADD,there were way fewer IEPs All
(23:03):
those things we're trying to getour hands around but I think it
boils down to the bullshit ofsocial media that just casts the
wrong information out to people.
So how do we fix mental health,or how does it affect mental
health?
We want to lead with the truthand with facts so the kids can
feel like they're on solidground.
Fatima Bey (23:24):
So you cut down on the bullshit.
Lee Norwood (23:25):
Cut down on the bullshit.
Yep Cut down on the bullshit.
Fatima Bey (23:30):
Yep, Clear the noise .
I love that.
I love that.
I do agree that that was myfirst thought when I was looking
at what you do how stressfulthe whole college process really
is and how having the rightinformation and the right
guidance can relieve some ofthat at least some of it.
(23:50):
But yeah, I think you hit anail on the head when you said
some of the biggest problems isthe parents who think they know
because they're still stuck in1993, not realizing that things
are different now.
Very, very different for ouryouth and it's something I'm
constantly saying on the show isthat adults have to stop
comparing their youth to theseyouth, because they're growing
(24:11):
up on a completely differentplanet than we did Completely
different, you know, completelydifferent.
And what they have available tothem that is a blessing is also
a curse, and that's where wediffer greatly.
And there's, you know, ourbrains are actually, their
brains are actually being wireddifferently because of what's
being put in front of them on aregular basis that we didn't
(24:32):
have, and you know that totallymatters a regular basis that we
didn't have, and you know thattotally matters.
So I'm going to ask you thiswhat advice do you have for the
youth of the world today.
It could be anything you want.
Lee Norwood (24:45):
I want you to live now, today, breathe and enjoy
what's going on right now andlead with kindness.
What's going on right now andlead with kindness.
I know that sounds so cliche,but think of the fights you have
with your friends and you endup really still wanting to be
friends with them.
Whatever happens for one minuteis not going to be there for a
(25:05):
lifetime.
If you just try to be present,be present.
I would love to tell you to getthe heck off the screens, but I
know you're not going to do it.
So be present.
Oh, sideline.
Check the flipping email.
Check your email.
Check your email.
That's really my number one.
Forget it.
Don't be kind, don't live now.
(25:26):
Check your damn email.
That's my, that is my, thankyou, took me a minute to get
there.
That's my advice to the youthof today.
Check the email.
Oh, good Lord, have mercy.
That's it.
Check your email.
Fatima Bey (25:41):
Okay, so how can people find you?
Lee Norwood (25:45):
You can find us on social media and I highly
recommend this.
You know what Free advice isonly good if it's good advice.
And we give great advicebecause it's sourced, because we
are members of both the HigherEducation H-E Higher Education
Consultants Association andIndependent Educators
Association, so we have all ourstreet cred right.
(26:08):
So you can find us at CollegeSharks.
That's on Instagram, that's onTikTok and that's on Facebook
and on YouTube.
Lots of free stuff on YouTubefrom us.
You want to make sure you getgood information from the source
, so we'd love to be your sourceand you can go to
wwwcollegesharkscom and you cancheck out our memberships.
(26:30):
If you check out ourmemberships, you can use Summer
75 75 and we'll give you $75 offIf you do the annual and you
can put in Sharks 10 and you canget 10% off the monthly or the
essay clinic that's out therenow.
So, depending on where you arein your journey, we'd love to
(26:50):
help you and we also give awayfree 30-minute.
I wanted to say family planningsessions, but that just sounds
like birth control and we'rereally talking about college
planning sessions.
If you want to get on and justchat with us for a minute and
have us guide you in a certainway, have your stuff together,
have your transcript, haveeverything ready for you to tell
(27:11):
us a little bit about who youare and we'll talk to you for 30
minutes and give you someguidance.
But lots of free, greatinformation out there.
Fatima Bey (27:20):
Well, thank you, Lee , for coming on.
I really, really appreciate it.
I love your no bullshitapproach to things.
I absolutely love it.
I really appreciate you comingon to the show and thank you.
Lee Norwood (27:33):
Thank you so much.
I love what you do.
I love the shifting of themindset, because we need more of
that in today's world.
Thank, you for everything thatyou do too.
I think you're awesome and I'llsend my daughter you when she
gets married, for her weddingdress.
Fatima Bey (27:46):
All right.
Lee Norwood (27:47):
Thank you, see you later.
Fatima Bey (27:51):
And now for a mind shifting moment.
And now for a mind-shiftingmoment.
I want to pull from one of theprinciples that Lee talked about
today.
She talked about how a lot ofparents are stuck with old ideas
of what it was like for them inthe 90s or maybe even the early
2000s, and want to give thatadvice to their children, and
(28:14):
that becomes a point ofcontention.
Let's move over to theprinciple behind that.
Are you stuck in the waysomething used to be and you try
to give advice based on 1984?
Are you stuck in the past?
Are you stuck in your pastexperience and you're trying to
pass that advice on to someoneelse?
(28:35):
I want you to take a moment toreassess your experiences, and
we all give advice based on ourexperiences.
That's normal.
But are they relevant in 2025,in 2026?
Because sometimes it isrelevant, Sometimes it's not.
I want you to think about that,because it is a trap that many
(28:58):
people often get caught up in.
You've been listening toMindShift Power Podcast.
For complete show notes on thisepisode and to join our global
movement, find us atFatimaBaycom Until next time.
(29:18):
Always remember there's powerin shifting your thinking.
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