September 25, 2025 • 40 mins
Imagine an education system designed for joy, growth, and connection. No fear. No neglect. No isolation.That’s the mission behind HumanizEDU, co-founded by sisters Sandi and Dr. Stacie Herrera. In this discussion with Lisa Chastain, they shine a light on the mental health challenges in schools, the importance of psychological safety, and how their book, Unpacking Bliss, encourages educators, parents, and communities to embrace joy and connection in learning.The future of education starts with putting people first. 🎙️ Explore the ideas reshaping education:- Why disruption is necessary in education—and why it’s a good thing- What it really means to put the human back into schools- How proactive solutions are addressing the student mental health crisis- Why Brain-wired Strengths are shaping the future of learning- What YOU, as parents, can do today to be part of the solution- How the lessons from Unpacking Bliss are shaping safer, more empowering schools
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Education today isn't just aboutteaching kids math or reading.
It's become politicized, weaponized, and it's stripping
us of our humanity. the US spentnearly $947 billion on K through
12 public education last year, and a staggering 1.64 trillion
across all educational levels. That's 5.6% of our GDP, more
(00:23):
than most developed countries. And yet, despite all investment,
students, teachers and parents are struggling.
My guest today, Doctor Stacy Herrera and Sandy Herrera, are
disrupting the system with theirmovement Humanized Edu.
They're asking the question, what if education actually put
humans 1st? And they're proving that
(00:44):
disruption is not only good, it's essential.
Today you'll learn why disruption in education is
necessary and why it's a good thing.
What it really means to put the human back into schools, how
proactive solutions are addressing the student mental
health crisis, why brain wired strengths are shaping the future
of learning, and what you as parents can do today to be a
(01:08):
part of the solution. Today we're going to talk about
how Stacey and Sandy are birthing a movement of
humanizing education along with their new book, Unpacking Bliss,
so that joy, self trust, and connection are shaping safer and
more empowered schools. You've got to be here for this
conversation. Let's get it started.
Today I want to highlight our guest starting with Doctor Stacy
(01:30):
Herrera. She's a licensed psychologist,
founder and thought leader, reshaping education with
strengths based and neurosciencedriven solutions and her sister
Sandy Herrera, education innovator and CEO, transforming
school culture to help both students and teachers thrive.
Welcome to the show. Let's get it started.
(01:51):
Here we are. Hi, here we are.
Hi. Hi.
From all over the planet. One from Florida, one from
Vegas. What state are you in?
Portsmouth. I'm in Maine.
Maine, I don't know where any ofthose.
I've never been to any of those states, so my brain does not.
Orient well, you need to visit. That's that's what I'm hearing
(02:13):
is you need to visit. Yes, I will be in this beautiful
place at least for the rest of this calendar year.
You need to make time. Seed is planted yes Stacey and
Sandy, I I was very intentional with choosing you for this
season for this conversation andfor my listeners, I have
(02:36):
interviewed individually Stacey and Sandy.
So if you want to get to know them on a deeper level, their
money journey, we can. You can go, you can go down that
rabbit hole. In this episode today, we're
talking about how these amazing,brilliant women's worlds have
collided professionally. Now they're sisters.
So we see Herrera, Sandy Herreraare sisters, cats out of the bag
(03:00):
on that one. And not only are they sisters,
but they're best friends. If you follow them on Instagram
or any of social media outlets, you'll see them literally
travelling the world together. They've written a book together
talking about unpacking bliss asthis all relates to their
company, which they have broughttheir worlds together to form
(03:20):
humanized Edu. So what I, what I first want to
do is talk about setting the stage of education and what the
state of education is today as you see it, both of you.
And then we'll talk about why humanized Edu is so important
today, now more than ever. And then we're going to talk
about unpacking bliss and how people can learn from you in
(03:41):
their own journeys in in particular, educators create
more bliss in their lives because right now education is
it's tough out there. Can we just call it a hot mess?
It's a hot mess. It's.
A hot mess, yeah. Sandy and Stacy were you?
You were both together in Minnesota.
We were. Recently, yeah.
And down the street, there was aschool shooting.
Yeah. At a Catholic school.
(04:03):
I mean, what the hell is going on?
There were. There were two, actually.
We spent a full day with almost 200 educators in an another
Catholic school network of schools that we're we're working
with this entire year. And it was our first trip to
Minnesota. And we had the opportunity to be
with all four of the schools as well as their central office
(04:26):
team for the entire day. And at the end of that day,
there was a shooting across the street from one of the schools
that they actually feed into. And then the following morning
there was a shooting that was atthe school that was about 1/2
mile away from the place we werestaying.
And we were, we spent that day with the other Minnesota
(04:46):
Institute for trauma informed education coaches that we're
working with this entire year. They're doing trauma informed
education for the Ascension Academy schools that we're
working with. And so we had that day, that
Wednesday, we were all together holding space, planning forward,
you know, what is within our control, How can we make a
(05:08):
difference? We're all so committed to
proactively solving this mental health crisis that we're facing
in the, The thing is that the, the piece that I don't believe
is getting enough attention is the mental health crisis of our
teachers, not, not just classroom teachers, like
educators as a whole, even our support professionals.
And it's, it's a ripple of impact that we're not paying
(05:32):
attention to in a way where if we don't get proactive with
this, we're going to continue having Band-Aid conversations.
I mean, we can have conversations about cell phones.
We can have conversations about bullying.
We can have conversations about suicide prevention, about, you
know, guns. We can, we can have all those
conversations. They're important.
And if we don't also, and more importantly, swim upstream and
(05:54):
get proactive with solving our mental health crisis in our
schools, as a society, we're notactually growing and healing.
And yeah, you know, we just wholeheartedly believe that it's
that's where that's where the focus needs to be is let's swim
upstream and get proactive together.
Get proactive together. You're both individually.
We're on this mission professionally.
(06:16):
Sandy, you were working with school educators through.
Remind me of the company name again, Because in a minute.
Yeah. Educator Dynamics.
That's right. And that's when we met.
That's when we met in 20/17/2018.
You were getting Educator dynamics off the ground,
nurturing, supporting educators,not just teachers,
administrators from the highest levels down to say we have to
(06:38):
create school cultures based on values, based on supportive
learning, based on brain wired strengths.
And then on the flip side, Stacey, you were you were
birthing your child psychology career.
You had gotten your doctorate, and at some point the three of
us had a conversation and we were like, why don't you just
pull it all together? Because you're doing the same.
(06:59):
You're doing the same work with different people.
And this is how humanized Edu was born.
So we actually had piloted it with one charter school here in
Florida and, and what we began to recognize is when you address
the needs of the adults in the building, it was so much easier
to talk about and support the social emotional needs of the
(07:22):
children. And so really the, the
conversation between the three of us was, was a big why, why
not? And, and loved your support
during that, Lisa, to just be like, which is it's just a
weaving of the teams and a weaving of the money and just,
and we woven it all together. It's it's been an incredible
journey. And we're only just starting.
(07:43):
We really are on on a mission tocreate a movement right to
create psychologically safe, thriving working and learning
environments in our schools and.Doesn't that sound like a no
brainer though? Wouldn't I mean so for for
parents, for people outside of education?
What? What do you mean that's not in
(08:04):
existence? What do you mean that doesn't
already exist? Wouldn't you assume that that
happens? But from both of your point of
views, the answer's no. Why?
Well, I think the pandemic really highlighted the lack of
psychological safety in a, in a number of areas throughout our
society. And so we began to look at how
(08:25):
do we intentionally create psychological safety?
And right now we're recognizing the the barriers to that, right?
Because often we're looking downstream, we're looking at
attendance, we're looking at retention, we're looking at
graduation rates rate. And how do we, to Sandy's point,
(08:46):
get upstream and really begin tointentionally create
environments where all of those things, all of those data sets
will rise, will allow us to see that we are making a difference?
But as we know in preventative work, it takes a lot of really
intentionally passionate people.It's gonna be like, no, we're
(09:07):
doing it this way. We're done catching and pulling
out of the river at the Rivers Bend, right?
We're going upstream. Right, the very same
conversation that you're having as a united front in your book
on packing bliss with humanized Edu, with helping educators and
(09:28):
cultures work toward brain educational environments that
support kids and people based ontheir brain wired strengths.
Everything that you're speaking into is in education is what I'm
doing with money saying no, no, no, no.
I just had a guy he he like cameat me on, on LinkedIn because I
talked about how money is emotional before it's logical.
(09:49):
And he's like, no, well, isn't this what we're talking about in
education, that it needs to be psychologically safe before
anything? But hearing you say swimming
upstream, you are literally swimming upstream right now in
the world of education. Not only the world of education,
but the world of education that is dismantling and
disintegrating before our eyes. And so those kind of pre
(10:12):
programmed ideas of like how money flows for professional
development are new. And so trying to find new ways
to support this movement is really where we're at right now.
We're so thankful to be partnering with a, with a couple
of very forward thinking companies who are like, no, I
(10:35):
understand that in order to havemy business thrive in the
future, I need to backtrack and go to the educational system so
that I know that I can have the neurosurges of the future so
that I know that I can have the the plumbers of the future.
How can we do that? Well, we have to have spaces
(10:56):
where children are learning. And how do we learn when we're
in a relaxed, supportive environment that is naturally
psychologically safe, so we can challenge our thinking and try
new things. But that's not how the system
was designed, no. In, in the system over the years
has had so many cooks in the kitchen, so to speak.
(11:17):
Or it's like, no, we should do it this way.
No, we should do it that way. And it's like new thing
implementation, new thing implementation.
And before you know it, the educators are like, no, like
this is not. And yet then then that's how
they're evaluated and then that's how they're paid.
And then that's how. And so then you start to mess
with their Maslow's hierarchy and they can't even breathe.
And yet despite all of that, they're showing up for their
(11:40):
students this weekend. I was coaching our our culture
and well-being coach certification cohort.
And we've got a a second grade teacher in there and he's
talking about how the the world outside is so much.
And yet he has this one student who was just disruptive a lot
(12:00):
and he threw to his credit as aneducator.
He goes, I just started hanging out closer to him, wasn't in his
space, wasn't trying to just Co regulating through being close
to it. We we know all the terms for it.
And he said slowly he started wanting to come to school and he
(12:21):
was like, this is fun. I want to come because I want to
be in your class. And it's like, yes, just that
just for teachers to recognize that and, and they do, they know
it. Yet when so much pressure is put
on themselves, they've got this vice grip around their head.
They're not free to do what theyintuitively know how to do, what
(12:42):
they've been trained how to do, which is to help children thrive
in all aspects of life so that they can learn.
And when we ask teachers, what'sthe number one thing you would
love for your students to walk away with when they leave your
school? Nothing has to do with what?
What is 2 + 2 or what is this algebraic equation or what is
this whatever it's everything has to do with to be resilient,
(13:06):
to know that they love learning,to know that they like.
Everything has to do with mindset.
Everything has to do with their emotional well-being, with their
sense of being psychologically safe as a human being, to be
their unique word selves. It's amazing.
It's amazing. It makes so much sense and we
(13:26):
are so far off track. How did we get off track?
Because we're attempting to quantify success and learning.
And so we pulled away from the love of learning that we are all
hardwired for. Our brains love to learn new
things. We know this because we're
(13:48):
constantly comparing ourselves to our future vision, right?
We're always like, well, what else can I learn?
What else can I do? And when it's in alignment with
our passion, when it's in alignment with our higher
purpose, it just flows and it makes sense.
And school has become this very structure that you must learn
all of these things and you mustbe good at all of these things.
And when you're not and when youcan't show up with this love of
(14:11):
learning for something that justleaves a taste in your mouth,
like educators know how to bringall of these things to life.
But to Sandys point, the mandates and you should do it
this way and every classroom should be at this particular
page at this particular time, right?
Are attempts to make it a factory or use the Industrial
(14:36):
Revolution way of like putting everybody on a conveyor belt and
they're just going to walk away with their little diploma and
then everybody's going to be prepared to work on the conveyor
belt as we move forward. It's just, it's not, it's not
going to benefit the children ofthe future.
It's not going to benefit us as business owners in the future.
It's not benefiting anybody now.It's not betting any anybody now
(14:59):
and so there. Are pockets, at least I don't
want to say there aren't. There are pockets, right, of
these glimmers of like, oh, thisclassroom that just revolves
around this one teacher or this little tiny school that like has
figured this one thing out. There are so many pockets.
But you're right, it's not it's across the board.
The numbers are not like wow. Is it a responsibility question?
(15:23):
Is it a, and I see this, I see this a lot with money and people
putting this conversation, inserting this conversation into
schools. And I'm, I'm far removed.
My kids are in school right now.But in, in terms of the, the
conversation we're having right now, I'm out of, I'm out of it
in terms of looking at it as like, how do we solve this
problem is that people are like,well, we need to teach financial
(15:45):
education in schools. And I say, Hey, hey, hold on a
minute. Like what job is the school
really? Because it seems like it's now
the school's job to raise the kid, to teach them how to blow
their nose, to feed them. Whose job?
What is the job of the school now?
Or what are you saying? So in this disruptive season,
(16:08):
women, women across the board inthe world, or we're just, we're
just disrupting a lot. But what do you believe the job
of schools should be? Ignite the love of learning.
In all aspects. All aspects so that we can
thrive as humans. To to offer that, that variety
of experiences so that students can choose where their passion
(16:28):
is and to find it and to foster it and to fuel it and encourage
it. We, we know there's so much
science around play, science of learning, and we learn through
doing and play and, and creativity.
And if we look at the future of the world, it isn't what it was
when the system of education began.
(16:50):
And yet we haven't evolved it. And until we actually empower
and equip our educators, it's not going to happen.
And so what's happening is they're leaving the system of
education and then they're goingto help a child, a child at the
grocery store instead, because they can't not serve children.
And they're going, they're goingto work at Starbucks, they're
(17:10):
going to work at other corporations and they're going
into real estate. And they're like I, I thought I
was meant to be a teacher, but Iguess not.
You can see they're. Heartbreaking, right?
What they're communicating is that yes, they love children and
yes, they want to make an impactfor children, but they don't
love the system of education that they're in.
And that's what you're here to do.
You're here to change that. What's the mental health cost of
(17:33):
keeping the current system the way it is?
What do you see happening real time and in the future if we
just keep it the way it is? We're seeing, we're seeing the
increase, the the number one cause of death for children is
guns. Really.
Yeah. Come on.
Like, I can't. I can't.
(17:53):
Like, yeah. Speaking of radical ownership,
for we get to do better. We get to do better right now,
and we know how. How, how?
How you have the answer? What is the answer?
So someone's give me the answer,help me solve the test.
What's the answer you guys? We actually create
psychologically safe containers for people to to be their
(18:16):
authentic selves. We celebrate what is working.
We stop focusing on what isn't working.
We stop focusing on, you know, thinking people are broken or
think, no, every human is perfect exactly how they are.
And when we start celebrating each other's gifts and we start
focusing on what is working, we get more of that.
We know that and yet in the system of education, it's like,
(18:38):
oh look, this is broken, That's broken, that's broken, that's
not good enough, that's not enough, not enough.
And we're breaking out the shamebat so that not only the
teachers, but the students are like, oh, I'm not good enough,
I'm not good enough. If I'm not good at all five
classes and I have straight A's,then I'm a bad person.
You have 5 classes, you have 4A's and AD.
What do we focus on? We harp on the D better get good
at that when who we naturally are as humans is we're good at
(18:59):
what we're good at. So why don't we Foster and fuel
that and your love of learning? And that's your personalized
learning journey that you get todiscover.
And it's just like with money personalities, we're not all the
same. We don't all navigate money in
the same way. It's not cookie cutter.
So why is learning cookie cutter?
Why is development cookie? It's not.
And yet for some reason we feel like we should be forced into
(19:22):
making it that. And so if we can just let go and
trust in humans, hire well and get out of the way.
Hire well and get out of the way.
That's a great segue, Sandy, to the mission of humanized Edu.
Help someone understand the dynamics of humanized Edu.
So first of all, I mean, any listener I would think is like,
(19:45):
well, isn't education human? Not well, especially as we're
talking about AI and things coming down the road, It's easy
to lose sight of that. And what you're saying is some
of the metrics, some of the waysthat in my words, education has
been politicized and weaponized and all the things that
humanized. Edu came forward to say it's
(20:05):
not. And here's the formula.
What's the formula? It's our Me we school model is
the formula is that when we flipsystems like the MTSS triangle
and Stacey can describe that when we flip it on its head and
we focus on the individual firstand we focus on who we show up
as. Because the culture in any
(20:26):
environment, not just in schools, the culture of your
home, the culture of your churchgroup, the culture of your
business culture anywhere is thecollective capacity of who
everyone shows up as. That's what culture is.
There's no culture in MP building.
So if it's a collective capacityof who everyone shows up as,
then it has to be about who everyone shows up as.
So if we're honoring and celebrating the individuality of
(20:47):
who everyone shows up as and their gifts that they bring to
the table on their best day, andwe create that collective in the
we level of this is who we are. And this is how we do things
here. Because we've designed it that
way. Because we've done it on
purpose, Not because we've always done it that way or
because we're supposed to or because we should.
Because we need to break out theshame that no, it's because we
designed it that way because it works for us, because it's
(21:09):
aligned to our core values of who we are on our best day, not
who we're striving to be. That we get to drop into the
present moment and know you're good enough right now.
And if you're working out of values alignment, you're
speaking through that lens and going, OK, well, you're out of
values alignment. Now we can have values
conversation and get back in alignment with your core values
versus a you're a bad person conversation.
(21:31):
And we need to worry about discipline, yes, but through the
lens of why it's violating the core value.
And how do you have those healthy, conscious conversations
for adults and students and thatthey're all playing by the same
rules? Not in a way where we're putting
mom against Dad, so to speak. Right, right.
Where does data fall into all ofthis, Stacy?
(21:53):
The data behind our movement. Yeah.
So there's a lot of data right now we that in your, in your
words, the system of education real time is disintegrating and
the there's data to support that.
When individuals are acknowledged, when talents are
acknowledged, when people come together based on values, what
kind of data are you seeing thatsupports it?
(22:14):
Actually, this is the answer. This is the solution.
I'd like to start with one data point and that is that we know
over an educator's lifetime theyimpact approximately 3000
students. So if we start with that one
educator, we see the ripple of impact for the schools that have
engaged with us. What we've seen is increased
(22:34):
teacher retention, which not only helps the overall
organization, but it helps each individual child.
Why? Because children like to see the
continuity. Because children like to know
that they've had one key person that they've connected with and
you're giving them multiple touch points because you have
that same stuff. We're seeing increased
(22:56):
graduation rates. Why?
Because we're creating those environments where you feel a
sense of belonging and you want to show up every day and you
feel seen, heard and valued. And when you do, it's so easy to
ask for help, to stretch your goals, to really ignite your
(23:20):
inner passions. And so we're seeing a lot of
great data. If you want to see some really
specific numbers, go and check out our website.
We are super excited about the impact that we are making and
this year in particular, we are partnering with Eye Wellness.
And Eye Wellness has a very awesome tool that surveys all of
(23:41):
the students at a tier one leveland then allows the teachers and
the schools to be responsive to the five questions that they're
checking in on. And so then they begin to
recognize, oh, is it an individual student problem?
Is it a classroom problem? It is a school wide problem.
And then we're coming in with that professional development
because once you assess something, it's important to use
(24:04):
that data to then move the needle somewhere.
Right. So really partnering with other
organizations that are that are like minded and wrapping around
schools as we all figure out what the structure of school
looks like in the next 5 years. It's, it's really important that
we collaborate and work togetheraround this and become that
(24:28):
humanize or or the center, knowing that the human is at the
center and AI is a tool towards that.
Correct. AI just supports us, facilitates
all the things. Yeah, but it doesn't become the
the middle, the humans in the middle.
And I love what you said about that.
(24:50):
Let's let's shift gears to the book then, because you're you're
doing, I think, I think the words that you used is you're
swimming upstream right now. And that has to happen.
And at some point, well, you'll reverse it.
When humanized Edu is successful, it will create a new
flow and A and a new way of being.
(25:11):
But right now it's swimming. You're swimming upstream and,
and ultimately Sandy, I've heardyou talk about this over and
over and over again. This is exactly where we align
is that positive people perform,happy people perform.
And the answer and the solution to all of this is joy and love
of learning. And we've lost that.
(25:32):
And especially if you listen to the news, Oh my God, right.
We've lost that sense of joy andwonder.
So unpacking bliss was born as aresult of your story, but then
also saying, Hey, educators, people, if you want more
success, start with happiness, not more money, not more
anything. Let's talk about the book.
(25:54):
What does the book mean for you?Why does someone have to read
the book? Want.
To go to states. It's such an opportunity to sit
and reflect and remember those blissful moments make up an
entire lifetime. And if you had a chance to
intentionally dive in, unpack all of the things that we packed
(26:17):
into our beautiful suitcases over the years and be
intentional about what you put back in.
That's my hope for a reader of the book is that they're able to
really see, OK, this is what I've collected along the way and
what is what is serving me now and weaving in some neuroscience
in there and, and some other really cool tools that Sandy and
(26:38):
I have picked up along the way. But it's, it's just an
opportunity to do a personal deep dive.
And when the world feels so uncertain, you need to create
certainty. And how do we do that?
We create certainty by being very clear and intentional about
what we want, our vision for ourselves and doing that inner
work. Now is the time to be reading
(27:00):
this book. Totally agree, Sandy, what do
you think? What do you say?
Unpacking bliss is is, and I've,I've heard it in using the word
happiness for so long and havingworked with Tony Hsieh and the
team at delivering happiness. And it's like, oh, that's,
that's just the happiness lady or that's just a.
And they, they think of it in terms of the rock star style of
happiness versus really what, when we think about the
(27:24):
definition of, of happiness and the definition of joy is, is
well-being. And so then when we bring the
word bliss in and why Stacy and I intentionally chose the word
bliss, unpacking bliss, the suitcase theory of life is that
bliss is that that piece, right?It's that yeah, that it's not,
(27:46):
it's not Rockstar. It's not jumping around as a
cheerleader. Those things are cool too.
Please do those things. That's that's awesome.
But bliss is when you find just that deep centered piece of
yeah, this is this is what life's about.
And we all have so many of thosemoments that happen and when we
(28:08):
can collect those in our suitcase, how much lighter it is
versus collecting all the shoulds and the woods and the
not enough's. And so the opportunity to really
just take our story to give you a little bit of fun and
anecdotal adventure along the way.
(28:29):
But to even look at at the key Nuggets and the really the theme
of the book is to notice, get curious and take aligned action
at the end of the day, you know,really grow yourself awareness,
grow yourself advocacy through through yourself regulation and
understanding that piece is is really important.
(28:49):
And it's been a game changer forme personally.
And I know for Stacy as well in,in our own evolutionary journey
that we weren't, none of us wereBorn This Way.
We're evolving as a human species.
And so we get to hold each other's hands and slime, shine
the flashlight backwards. When we learn things, we get to
share. And it's how we we really grow
(29:10):
in community. And I think that's really
important and vital as we grow forward as a human race
alongside of AI, because it's not going anywhere that we
elevate our consciousness and wetake our power back as humans,
not as task people. We get to be humans and we get
to connect and collaborate and support one another and
(29:30):
celebrate one another along the way.
And really what what this book is about?
It's beautiful. What I'm hearing you say over
and over and over again is that the pathway forward is
connection, self discovery, curiosity and play.
And somewhere along the way, theworld of education lost that.
And I think that that's a message that we can take into
(29:52):
corporate America. And I know Sandy, you've done
that. And Stacey, you're doing that
into the households and ignitingchildren's love of learning,
helping them heal. And we even had a conversation
at dinner on Friday night where you looked at me and you said
this is what healing generational wounds and patterns
and traumas looks like and feelslike is that we can return to
(30:13):
joy and love for the sake of joyand love.
We. Don't need a reason, we just
kicked me, Duffy. I worked in higher education
before I was on the money journey.
And one of the things that I regret the most, I didn't know
what I didn't know, and I forgive myself for it.
But I remember walking into highschools telling kids that if
they got a certain degree, they would make a certain amount of
(30:37):
money. And I literally as a 23 year old
kid, went into high schools and sold education based on that
metric, that if you get this degree, you'll make this amount
of money. And the thing that I regret the
most about that is this conversation saying that no, you
choose education because you love to learn, and working with
(30:59):
a private liberal arts school and the Honors College was
structured like a private liberal arts school.
I'll never forget Doctor Starkweather telling me, Lisa,
the love of learning is the onlyreason that we're here.
And when we and I bring curiosity into money a lot, when
we have the courage to be curious, when we have the
courage to look within, when we have the courage to create
(31:19):
cultures filled with love and not just performance, We create
worlds, internal realities for students and for teachers and
administrators, where you show up to a place every day because
you love to be there for no other reason.
That's safety. That safety, that's choice.
That's a world that works. And so really, at the end of the
(31:39):
day, what Humanized EDUEDU is set out to do is to create a
world that works. Yes, order out of chaos.
And really give, give humans their power back, right?
Just that sense of, of, you know, where is your power?
And to be able to understand howmuch is outside of our control,
(32:00):
but what is within our control? And how do we operate from our
position of strength? What does it look like in a
healthy way in order to really create the lives that we love?
Where do parents fit into this equation?
I know you're both parents to amazing.
Children unpacking bliss and anda lot of the stories in there
for us is our parenting journey,right?
(32:22):
Our our bumps and bruises along the way.
And parents are vital. You know it's to be your child's
champion and advocate and accountability buddy because you
also get to be partners with their teachers in all facets of
(32:45):
their life and understanding. Stacey always says it takes a.
Village. Yeah.
Stacey, where do you see the parents role fitting in here?
Well. I think it's really important to
remember that we as parents are building this social network for
our children. And the the first question I
think needs to shift when we go to the pediatrician, when we go
(33:08):
to a therapist, and it needs to be okay.
Who is your child connected to? Where are the trusted adults in
their lives? Because it's that social network
that will get us through any extreme trauma, chaos,
disruption in their lives. And so it's, it's time we as
parents recognize that we are the ones building the village
(33:31):
around our children's lives. It is no longer embedded or just
kind of a given any longer, right?
We're, we're moving and shiftingand, and have more of a global
mindset. And so we need to be more
intentional around who that is because I know as a parent, when
things became heavy and I couldn't hold what my child was
(33:56):
navigating alone, it was important for me to call my
siblings direct aunt connection,right?
It was important for me to call colleagues like Lisa Chastain
and say, OK, they're having a money struggle.
Who else can I connect them withso that they can figure out
their best path? And I know that they're getting
(34:16):
the appropriate wisdom around this.
And we actually, through humanized Edu, will ensure that
the parents have a voice in those collective core values of
the school. Because again, it's all about
creating that sense of belonging.
And there's no belonging withouteveryone and every stakeholder
(34:37):
invested. Yep, agreed.
And that we can't address the youth mental health crisis
without looking at the stakeholders in youth's lives.
That's. Right.
Parental burnout is at an all time high.
Teacher burnout all time high. We have children looking around.
Going adulthood does not look good.
(34:58):
Yeah, I'm not opt out. You all are telling me to do it
this way because that's going toget me to adulthood.
No, thanks. I'm going to.
I'm going to go do something that's going to flood my brain
with dopamine. But we'll have another
conversation around technology. We'll be back on that.
We'll come back around to that. You can't the the ultimately
what you're what I'm hearing youboth say is that it takes
(35:20):
everyone. Yes.
And that responsibility is everyone's and that the least
helpful thing that we can be doing.
My opinion is putting anybody for my kids, sending them to
school, saying it's the school'sresponsibility and not my
responsibility. My sister's an educator.
I feel like that's one of the conversations that hurting,
that's hurting us the most. Is it then, then in effect, no
(35:42):
one takes responsibility and we can't afford that right now.
So that the real, the real disruption right now is back to
personal responsibility and thateveryone's on the same team for
the sake of our children, for the sake of our future.
It is that important. It is that important, which is
exactly why you're on the show today, because we can't just
(36:04):
talk about money without talkingabout the human.
We can't just talk about education without talking about
the human. And the two of you are on a
mission, like you said, Sandy, and this is a mission born from
your own pain and struggles and worries as parents now
professionally seeing this happen in schools and with
administrators. And we're saying there has to be
(36:26):
a fix, but the fix is not more of the same.
There has to be a new way. And you have the way, you have
the way love, compassion, kindness, values, alignment,
brain wired strength, all the things.
And if you're, you're listening to this today and going, Oh my
God, please trust me when I tellyou that Sandy and Stacey know
(36:46):
what they're doing. And if you're looking for a
solution when it comes to education, we have to in all
areas of our life right now. We have to look at what's
working. And this is working, and we have
to be willing to join the conversation and jump in where
we can. So, Sandy Stacy, where can
people find you? Where can people join the
movement? They can follow at human ICD you
(37:07):
in all the places. Our Stacy's youngest daughter is
in charge of all of our social media and branding and she's
even got us on TikTok, which is a whole thing.
Apparently we're trying to go viral on TikTok.
So if you're if you're a TikTok fan, go there.
Help them go viral. Help us go viral.
You know my TE DX talk is out aswell.
(37:30):
How the system is breaking teachers.
Our book Unpacking Bliss. You can follow us on social at
the Herrera Sisters as well. We're in all the places you can
go to humanizeddu.com and get the links to everything.
You just. Even if you have ideas about how
you envision education, even if you want to somehow give back
(37:52):
and you don't know how to becomeinvested, just just reach out.
We at our core are collaboratorsbecause we believe that this
issue is too large for anyone organization, any one person to
navigate through. And so we're looking to connect
and we look forward to anyone who reaches out.
(38:14):
Please reach out Sandy Stacy, what do you want your kids to be
able to say about their kids futures That's.
A good question. It is because they're like 20
somethings now. And so they're just finally at
that cusp of like, I'm never going to have kids and well,
maybe when I turn 30, I think so.
I would love with them to know that there are educational
(38:40):
options that allow for personalized learning that will
ignite their child's inner genius in an environment that
values community, the love of learning, and love.
And love, Sandy, how about you? I want them to know that they
have nothing to prove, that theyget to trust people, they get to
(39:07):
follow their heart, they get to focus on relationships, and they
get to cultivate a life that they love on purpose, aligned to
the unique little humans that they.
Are I love that. Thank you both for being here.
Thank you for both being guidinglights.
Wrapping up today's conversation, it proves that
disruption isn't dangerous. It's absolutely necessary.
(39:29):
And these are two women who are in the thick of it right now in
the world of education. With nearly $1.6 trillion spent
on education every year, we cannot afford to keep funding
systems that aren't serving our kids.
We need to fund solutions that bring humanity, joy, and
strength back into schools. To learn more about Stacey and
(39:50):
Sandy's work, visit humanizeedu.com.
And remember, real change doesn't start with policy.
It starts with people. Together, we will disrupt the
system for good. Thank you for listening to Real
Money with Lisa Chastain. Follow the show wherever you get
your podcasts and share this episode with someone who cares
about the future of education, and we'll see you next time.
Thank you, Doctor Herrera and Sandy.
(40:12):
Thank you.
Education today isn't just aboutteaching kids math or reading.
It's become politicized, weaponized, and it's stripping
us of our humanity. the US spentnearly $947 billion on K through
12 public education last year, and a staggering 1.64 trillion
across all educational levels. That's 5.6% of our GDP, more
(00:23):
than most developed countries. And yet, despite all investment,
students, teachers and parents are struggling.
My guest today, Doctor Stacy Herrera and Sandy Herrera, are
disrupting the system with theirmovement Humanized Edu.
They're asking the question, what if education actually put
humans 1st? And they're proving that
(00:44):
disruption is not only good, it's essential.
Today you'll learn why disruption in education is
necessary and why it's a good thing.
What it really means to put the human back into schools, how
proactive solutions are addressing the student mental
health crisis, why brain wired strengths are shaping the future
of learning, and what you as parents can do today to be a
(01:08):
part of the solution. Today we're going to talk about
how Stacey and Sandy are birthing a movement of
humanizing education along with their new book, Unpacking Bliss,
so that joy, self trust, and connection are shaping safer and
more empowered schools. You've got to be here for this
conversation. Let's get it started.
Today I want to highlight our guest starting with Doctor Stacy
(01:30):
Herrera. She's a licensed psychologist,
founder and thought leader, reshaping education with
strengths based and neurosciencedriven solutions and her sister
Sandy Herrera, education innovator and CEO, transforming
school culture to help both students and teachers thrive.
Welcome to the show. Let's get it started.
(01:51):
Here we are. Hi, here we are.
Hi. Hi.
From all over the planet. One from Florida, one from
Vegas. What state are you in?
Portsmouth. I'm in Maine.
Maine, I don't know where any ofthose.
I've never been to any of those states, so my brain does not.
Orient well, you need to visit. That's that's what I'm hearing
(02:13):
is you need to visit. Yes, I will be in this beautiful
place at least for the rest of this calendar year.
You need to make time. Seed is planted yes Stacey and
Sandy, I I was very intentional with choosing you for this
season for this conversation andfor my listeners, I have
(02:36):
interviewed individually Stacey and Sandy.
So if you want to get to know them on a deeper level, their
money journey, we can. You can go, you can go down that
rabbit hole. In this episode today, we're
talking about how these amazing,brilliant women's worlds have
collided professionally. Now they're sisters.
So we see Herrera, Sandy Herreraare sisters, cats out of the bag
(03:00):
on that one. And not only are they sisters,
but they're best friends. If you follow them on Instagram
or any of social media outlets, you'll see them literally
travelling the world together. They've written a book together
talking about unpacking bliss asthis all relates to their
company, which they have broughttheir worlds together to form
(03:20):
humanized Edu. So what I, what I first want to
do is talk about setting the stage of education and what the
state of education is today as you see it, both of you.
And then we'll talk about why humanized Edu is so important
today, now more than ever. And then we're going to talk
about unpacking bliss and how people can learn from you in
(03:41):
their own journeys in in particular, educators create
more bliss in their lives because right now education is
it's tough out there. Can we just call it a hot mess?
It's a hot mess. It's.
A hot mess, yeah. Sandy and Stacy were you?
You were both together in Minnesota.
We were. Recently, yeah.
And down the street, there was aschool shooting.
Yeah. At a Catholic school.
(04:03):
I mean, what the hell is going on?
There were. There were two, actually.
We spent a full day with almost 200 educators in an another
Catholic school network of schools that we're we're working
with this entire year. And it was our first trip to
Minnesota. And we had the opportunity to be
with all four of the schools as well as their central office
(04:26):
team for the entire day. And at the end of that day,
there was a shooting across the street from one of the schools
that they actually feed into. And then the following morning
there was a shooting that was atthe school that was about 1/2
mile away from the place we werestaying.
And we were, we spent that day with the other Minnesota
(04:46):
Institute for trauma informed education coaches that we're
working with this entire year. They're doing trauma informed
education for the Ascension Academy schools that we're
working with. And so we had that day, that
Wednesday, we were all together holding space, planning forward,
you know, what is within our control, How can we make a
(05:08):
difference? We're all so committed to
proactively solving this mental health crisis that we're facing
in the, The thing is that the, the piece that I don't believe
is getting enough attention is the mental health crisis of our
teachers, not, not just classroom teachers, like
educators as a whole, even our support professionals.
And it's, it's a ripple of impact that we're not paying
(05:32):
attention to in a way where if we don't get proactive with
this, we're going to continue having Band-Aid conversations.
I mean, we can have conversations about cell phones.
We can have conversations about bullying.
We can have conversations about suicide prevention, about, you
know, guns. We can, we can have all those
conversations. They're important.
And if we don't also, and more importantly, swim upstream and
(05:54):
get proactive with solving our mental health crisis in our
schools, as a society, we're notactually growing and healing.
And yeah, you know, we just wholeheartedly believe that it's
that's where that's where the focus needs to be is let's swim
upstream and get proactive together.
Get proactive together. You're both individually.
We're on this mission professionally.
(06:16):
Sandy, you were working with school educators through.
Remind me of the company name again, Because in a minute.
Yeah. Educator Dynamics.
That's right. And that's when we met.
That's when we met in 20/17/2018.
You were getting Educator dynamics off the ground,
nurturing, supporting educators,not just teachers,
administrators from the highest levels down to say we have to
(06:38):
create school cultures based on values, based on supportive
learning, based on brain wired strengths.
And then on the flip side, Stacey, you were you were
birthing your child psychology career.
You had gotten your doctorate, and at some point the three of
us had a conversation and we were like, why don't you just
pull it all together? Because you're doing the same.
(06:59):
You're doing the same work with different people.
And this is how humanized Edu was born.
So we actually had piloted it with one charter school here in
Florida and, and what we began to recognize is when you address
the needs of the adults in the building, it was so much easier
to talk about and support the social emotional needs of the
(07:22):
children. And so really the, the
conversation between the three of us was, was a big why, why
not? And, and loved your support
during that, Lisa, to just be like, which is it's just a
weaving of the teams and a weaving of the money and just,
and we woven it all together. It's it's been an incredible
journey. And we're only just starting.
(07:43):
We really are on on a mission tocreate a movement right to
create psychologically safe, thriving working and learning
environments in our schools and.Doesn't that sound like a no
brainer though? Wouldn't I mean so for for
parents, for people outside of education?
What? What do you mean that's not in
(08:04):
existence? What do you mean that doesn't
already exist? Wouldn't you assume that that
happens? But from both of your point of
views, the answer's no. Why?
Well, I think the pandemic really highlighted the lack of
psychological safety in a, in a number of areas throughout our
society. And so we began to look at how
(08:25):
do we intentionally create psychological safety?
And right now we're recognizing the the barriers to that, right?
Because often we're looking downstream, we're looking at
attendance, we're looking at retention, we're looking at
graduation rates rate. And how do we, to Sandy's point,
(08:46):
get upstream and really begin tointentionally create
environments where all of those things, all of those data sets
will rise, will allow us to see that we are making a difference?
But as we know in preventative work, it takes a lot of really
intentionally passionate people.It's gonna be like, no, we're
(09:07):
doing it this way. We're done catching and pulling
out of the river at the Rivers Bend, right?
We're going upstream. Right, the very same
conversation that you're having as a united front in your book
on packing bliss with humanized Edu, with helping educators and
(09:28):
cultures work toward brain educational environments that
support kids and people based ontheir brain wired strengths.
Everything that you're speaking into is in education is what I'm
doing with money saying no, no, no, no.
I just had a guy he he like cameat me on, on LinkedIn because I
talked about how money is emotional before it's logical.
(09:49):
And he's like, no, well, isn't this what we're talking about in
education, that it needs to be psychologically safe before
anything? But hearing you say swimming
upstream, you are literally swimming upstream right now in
the world of education. Not only the world of education,
but the world of education that is dismantling and
disintegrating before our eyes. And so those kind of pre
(10:12):
programmed ideas of like how money flows for professional
development are new. And so trying to find new ways
to support this movement is really where we're at right now.
We're so thankful to be partnering with a, with a couple
of very forward thinking companies who are like, no, I
(10:35):
understand that in order to havemy business thrive in the
future, I need to backtrack and go to the educational system so
that I know that I can have the neurosurges of the future so
that I know that I can have the the plumbers of the future.
How can we do that? Well, we have to have spaces
(10:56):
where children are learning. And how do we learn when we're
in a relaxed, supportive environment that is naturally
psychologically safe, so we can challenge our thinking and try
new things. But that's not how the system
was designed, no. In, in the system over the years
has had so many cooks in the kitchen, so to speak.
(11:17):
Or it's like, no, we should do it this way.
No, we should do it that way. And it's like new thing
implementation, new thing implementation.
And before you know it, the educators are like, no, like
this is not. And yet then then that's how
they're evaluated and then that's how they're paid.
And then that's how. And so then you start to mess
with their Maslow's hierarchy and they can't even breathe.
And yet despite all of that, they're showing up for their
(11:40):
students this weekend. I was coaching our our culture
and well-being coach certification cohort.
And we've got a a second grade teacher in there and he's
talking about how the the world outside is so much.
And yet he has this one student who was just disruptive a lot
(12:00):
and he threw to his credit as aneducator.
He goes, I just started hanging out closer to him, wasn't in his
space, wasn't trying to just Co regulating through being close
to it. We we know all the terms for it.
And he said slowly he started wanting to come to school and he
(12:21):
was like, this is fun. I want to come because I want to
be in your class. And it's like, yes, just that
just for teachers to recognize that and, and they do, they know
it. Yet when so much pressure is put
on themselves, they've got this vice grip around their head.
They're not free to do what theyintuitively know how to do, what
(12:42):
they've been trained how to do, which is to help children thrive
in all aspects of life so that they can learn.
And when we ask teachers, what'sthe number one thing you would
love for your students to walk away with when they leave your
school? Nothing has to do with what?
What is 2 + 2 or what is this algebraic equation or what is
this whatever it's everything has to do with to be resilient,
(13:06):
to know that they love learning,to know that they like.
Everything has to do with mindset.
Everything has to do with their emotional well-being, with their
sense of being psychologically safe as a human being, to be
their unique word selves. It's amazing.
It's amazing. It makes so much sense and we
(13:26):
are so far off track. How did we get off track?
Because we're attempting to quantify success and learning.
And so we pulled away from the love of learning that we are all
hardwired for. Our brains love to learn new
things. We know this because we're
(13:48):
constantly comparing ourselves to our future vision, right?
We're always like, well, what else can I learn?
What else can I do? And when it's in alignment with
our passion, when it's in alignment with our higher
purpose, it just flows and it makes sense.
And school has become this very structure that you must learn
all of these things and you mustbe good at all of these things.
And when you're not and when youcan't show up with this love of
(14:11):
learning for something that justleaves a taste in your mouth,
like educators know how to bringall of these things to life.
But to Sandys point, the mandates and you should do it
this way and every classroom should be at this particular
page at this particular time, right?
Are attempts to make it a factory or use the Industrial
(14:36):
Revolution way of like putting everybody on a conveyor belt and
they're just going to walk away with their little diploma and
then everybody's going to be prepared to work on the conveyor
belt as we move forward. It's just, it's not, it's not
going to benefit the children ofthe future.
It's not going to benefit us as business owners in the future.
It's not benefiting anybody now.It's not betting any anybody now
(14:59):
and so there. Are pockets, at least I don't
want to say there aren't. There are pockets, right, of
these glimmers of like, oh, thisclassroom that just revolves
around this one teacher or this little tiny school that like has
figured this one thing out. There are so many pockets.
But you're right, it's not it's across the board.
The numbers are not like wow. Is it a responsibility question?
(15:23):
Is it a, and I see this, I see this a lot with money and people
putting this conversation, inserting this conversation into
schools. And I'm, I'm far removed.
My kids are in school right now.But in, in terms of the, the
conversation we're having right now, I'm out of, I'm out of it
in terms of looking at it as like, how do we solve this
problem is that people are like,well, we need to teach financial
(15:45):
education in schools. And I say, Hey, hey, hold on a
minute. Like what job is the school
really? Because it seems like it's now
the school's job to raise the kid, to teach them how to blow
their nose, to feed them. Whose job?
What is the job of the school now?
Or what are you saying? So in this disruptive season,
(16:08):
women, women across the board inthe world, or we're just, we're
just disrupting a lot. But what do you believe the job
of schools should be? Ignite the love of learning.
In all aspects. All aspects so that we can
thrive as humans. To to offer that, that variety
of experiences so that students can choose where their passion
(16:28):
is and to find it and to foster it and to fuel it and encourage
it. We, we know there's so much
science around play, science of learning, and we learn through
doing and play and, and creativity.
And if we look at the future of the world, it isn't what it was
when the system of education began.
(16:50):
And yet we haven't evolved it. And until we actually empower
and equip our educators, it's not going to happen.
And so what's happening is they're leaving the system of
education and then they're goingto help a child, a child at the
grocery store instead, because they can't not serve children.
And they're going, they're goingto work at Starbucks, they're
(17:10):
going to work at other corporations and they're going
into real estate. And they're like I, I thought I
was meant to be a teacher, but Iguess not.
You can see they're. Heartbreaking, right?
What they're communicating is that yes, they love children and
yes, they want to make an impactfor children, but they don't
love the system of education that they're in.
And that's what you're here to do.
You're here to change that. What's the mental health cost of
(17:33):
keeping the current system the way it is?
What do you see happening real time and in the future if we
just keep it the way it is? We're seeing, we're seeing the
increase, the the number one cause of death for children is
guns. Really.
Yeah. Come on.
Like, I can't. I can't.
(17:53):
Like, yeah. Speaking of radical ownership,
for we get to do better. We get to do better right now,
and we know how. How, how?
How you have the answer? What is the answer?
So someone's give me the answer,help me solve the test.
What's the answer you guys? We actually create
psychologically safe containers for people to to be their
(18:16):
authentic selves. We celebrate what is working.
We stop focusing on what isn't working.
We stop focusing on, you know, thinking people are broken or
think, no, every human is perfect exactly how they are.
And when we start celebrating each other's gifts and we start
focusing on what is working, we get more of that.
We know that and yet in the system of education, it's like,
(18:38):
oh look, this is broken, That's broken, that's broken, that's
not good enough, that's not enough, not enough.
And we're breaking out the shamebat so that not only the
teachers, but the students are like, oh, I'm not good enough,
I'm not good enough. If I'm not good at all five
classes and I have straight A's,then I'm a bad person.
You have 5 classes, you have 4A's and AD.
What do we focus on? We harp on the D better get good
at that when who we naturally are as humans is we're good at
(18:59):
what we're good at. So why don't we Foster and fuel
that and your love of learning? And that's your personalized
learning journey that you get todiscover.
And it's just like with money personalities, we're not all the
same. We don't all navigate money in
the same way. It's not cookie cutter.
So why is learning cookie cutter?
Why is development cookie? It's not.
And yet for some reason we feel like we should be forced into
(19:22):
making it that. And so if we can just let go and
trust in humans, hire well and get out of the way.
Hire well and get out of the way.
That's a great segue, Sandy, to the mission of humanized Edu.
Help someone understand the dynamics of humanized Edu.
So first of all, I mean, any listener I would think is like,
(19:45):
well, isn't education human? Not well, especially as we're
talking about AI and things coming down the road, It's easy
to lose sight of that. And what you're saying is some
of the metrics, some of the waysthat in my words, education has
been politicized and weaponized and all the things that
humanized. Edu came forward to say it's
(20:05):
not. And here's the formula.
What's the formula? It's our Me we school model is
the formula is that when we flipsystems like the MTSS triangle
and Stacey can describe that when we flip it on its head and
we focus on the individual firstand we focus on who we show up
as. Because the culture in any
(20:26):
environment, not just in schools, the culture of your
home, the culture of your churchgroup, the culture of your
business culture anywhere is thecollective capacity of who
everyone shows up as. That's what culture is.
There's no culture in MP building.
So if it's a collective capacityof who everyone shows up as,
then it has to be about who everyone shows up as.
So if we're honoring and celebrating the individuality of
(20:47):
who everyone shows up as and their gifts that they bring to
the table on their best day, andwe create that collective in the
we level of this is who we are. And this is how we do things
here. Because we've designed it that
way. Because we've done it on
purpose, Not because we've always done it that way or
because we're supposed to or because we should.
Because we need to break out theshame that no, it's because we
designed it that way because it works for us, because it's
(21:09):
aligned to our core values of who we are on our best day, not
who we're striving to be. That we get to drop into the
present moment and know you're good enough right now.
And if you're working out of values alignment, you're
speaking through that lens and going, OK, well, you're out of
values alignment. Now we can have values
conversation and get back in alignment with your core values
versus a you're a bad person conversation.
(21:31):
And we need to worry about discipline, yes, but through the
lens of why it's violating the core value.
And how do you have those healthy, conscious conversations
for adults and students and thatthey're all playing by the same
rules? Not in a way where we're putting
mom against Dad, so to speak. Right, right.
Where does data fall into all ofthis, Stacy?
(21:53):
The data behind our movement. Yeah.
So there's a lot of data right now we that in your, in your
words, the system of education real time is disintegrating and
the there's data to support that.
When individuals are acknowledged, when talents are
acknowledged, when people come together based on values, what
kind of data are you seeing thatsupports it?
(22:14):
Actually, this is the answer. This is the solution.
I'd like to start with one data point and that is that we know
over an educator's lifetime theyimpact approximately 3000
students. So if we start with that one
educator, we see the ripple of impact for the schools that have
engaged with us. What we've seen is increased
(22:34):
teacher retention, which not only helps the overall
organization, but it helps each individual child.
Why? Because children like to see the
continuity. Because children like to know
that they've had one key person that they've connected with and
you're giving them multiple touch points because you have
that same stuff. We're seeing increased
(22:56):
graduation rates. Why?
Because we're creating those environments where you feel a
sense of belonging and you want to show up every day and you
feel seen, heard and valued. And when you do, it's so easy to
ask for help, to stretch your goals, to really ignite your
(23:20):
inner passions. And so we're seeing a lot of
great data. If you want to see some really
specific numbers, go and check out our website.
We are super excited about the impact that we are making and
this year in particular, we are partnering with Eye Wellness.
And Eye Wellness has a very awesome tool that surveys all of
(23:41):
the students at a tier one leveland then allows the teachers and
the schools to be responsive to the five questions that they're
checking in on. And so then they begin to
recognize, oh, is it an individual student problem?
Is it a classroom problem? It is a school wide problem.
And then we're coming in with that professional development
because once you assess something, it's important to use
(24:04):
that data to then move the needle somewhere.
Right. So really partnering with other
organizations that are that are like minded and wrapping around
schools as we all figure out what the structure of school
looks like in the next 5 years. It's, it's really important that
we collaborate and work togetheraround this and become that
(24:28):
humanize or or the center, knowing that the human is at the
center and AI is a tool towards that.
Correct. AI just supports us, facilitates
all the things. Yeah, but it doesn't become the
the middle, the humans in the middle.
And I love what you said about that.
(24:50):
Let's let's shift gears to the book then, because you're you're
doing, I think, I think the words that you used is you're
swimming upstream right now. And that has to happen.
And at some point, well, you'll reverse it.
When humanized Edu is successful, it will create a new
flow and A and a new way of being.
(25:11):
But right now it's swimming. You're swimming upstream and,
and ultimately Sandy, I've heardyou talk about this over and
over and over again. This is exactly where we align
is that positive people perform,happy people perform.
And the answer and the solution to all of this is joy and love
of learning. And we've lost that.
(25:32):
And especially if you listen to the news, Oh my God, right.
We've lost that sense of joy andwonder.
So unpacking bliss was born as aresult of your story, but then
also saying, Hey, educators, people, if you want more
success, start with happiness, not more money, not more
anything. Let's talk about the book.
(25:54):
What does the book mean for you?Why does someone have to read
the book? Want.
To go to states. It's such an opportunity to sit
and reflect and remember those blissful moments make up an
entire lifetime. And if you had a chance to
intentionally dive in, unpack all of the things that we packed
(26:17):
into our beautiful suitcases over the years and be
intentional about what you put back in.
That's my hope for a reader of the book is that they're able to
really see, OK, this is what I've collected along the way and
what is what is serving me now and weaving in some neuroscience
in there and, and some other really cool tools that Sandy and
(26:38):
I have picked up along the way. But it's, it's just an
opportunity to do a personal deep dive.
And when the world feels so uncertain, you need to create
certainty. And how do we do that?
We create certainty by being very clear and intentional about
what we want, our vision for ourselves and doing that inner
work. Now is the time to be reading
(27:00):
this book. Totally agree, Sandy, what do
you think? What do you say?
Unpacking bliss is is, and I've,I've heard it in using the word
happiness for so long and havingworked with Tony Hsieh and the
team at delivering happiness. And it's like, oh, that's,
that's just the happiness lady or that's just a.
And they, they think of it in terms of the rock star style of
happiness versus really what, when we think about the
(27:24):
definition of, of happiness and the definition of joy is, is
well-being. And so then when we bring the
word bliss in and why Stacy and I intentionally chose the word
bliss, unpacking bliss, the suitcase theory of life is that
bliss is that that piece, right?It's that yeah, that it's not,
(27:46):
it's not Rockstar. It's not jumping around as a
cheerleader. Those things are cool too.
Please do those things. That's that's awesome.
But bliss is when you find just that deep centered piece of
yeah, this is this is what life's about.
And we all have so many of thosemoments that happen and when we
(28:08):
can collect those in our suitcase, how much lighter it is
versus collecting all the shoulds and the woods and the
not enough's. And so the opportunity to really
just take our story to give you a little bit of fun and
anecdotal adventure along the way.
(28:29):
But to even look at at the key Nuggets and the really the theme
of the book is to notice, get curious and take aligned action
at the end of the day, you know,really grow yourself awareness,
grow yourself advocacy through through yourself regulation and
understanding that piece is is really important.
(28:49):
And it's been a game changer forme personally.
And I know for Stacy as well in,in our own evolutionary journey
that we weren't, none of us wereBorn This Way.
We're evolving as a human species.
And so we get to hold each other's hands and slime, shine
the flashlight backwards. When we learn things, we get to
share. And it's how we we really grow
(29:10):
in community. And I think that's really
important and vital as we grow forward as a human race
alongside of AI, because it's not going anywhere that we
elevate our consciousness and wetake our power back as humans,
not as task people. We get to be humans and we get
to connect and collaborate and support one another and
(29:30):
celebrate one another along the way.
And really what what this book is about?
It's beautiful. What I'm hearing you say over
and over and over again is that the pathway forward is
connection, self discovery, curiosity and play.
And somewhere along the way, theworld of education lost that.
And I think that that's a message that we can take into
(29:52):
corporate America. And I know Sandy, you've done
that. And Stacey, you're doing that
into the households and ignitingchildren's love of learning,
helping them heal. And we even had a conversation
at dinner on Friday night where you looked at me and you said
this is what healing generational wounds and patterns
and traumas looks like and feelslike is that we can return to
(30:13):
joy and love for the sake of joyand love.
We. Don't need a reason, we just
kicked me, Duffy. I worked in higher education
before I was on the money journey.
And one of the things that I regret the most, I didn't know
what I didn't know, and I forgive myself for it.
But I remember walking into highschools telling kids that if
they got a certain degree, they would make a certain amount of
(30:37):
money. And I literally as a 23 year old
kid, went into high schools and sold education based on that
metric, that if you get this degree, you'll make this amount
of money. And the thing that I regret the
most about that is this conversation saying that no, you
choose education because you love to learn, and working with
(30:59):
a private liberal arts school and the Honors College was
structured like a private liberal arts school.
I'll never forget Doctor Starkweather telling me, Lisa,
the love of learning is the onlyreason that we're here.
And when we and I bring curiosity into money a lot, when
we have the courage to be curious, when we have the
courage to look within, when we have the courage to create
(31:19):
cultures filled with love and not just performance, We create
worlds, internal realities for students and for teachers and
administrators, where you show up to a place every day because
you love to be there for no other reason.
That's safety. That safety, that's choice.
That's a world that works. And so really, at the end of the
(31:39):
day, what Humanized EDUEDU is set out to do is to create a
world that works. Yes, order out of chaos.
And really give, give humans their power back, right?
Just that sense of, of, you know, where is your power?
And to be able to understand howmuch is outside of our control,
(32:00):
but what is within our control? And how do we operate from our
position of strength? What does it look like in a
healthy way in order to really create the lives that we love?
Where do parents fit into this equation?
I know you're both parents to amazing.
Children unpacking bliss and anda lot of the stories in there
for us is our parenting journey,right?
(32:22):
Our our bumps and bruises along the way.
And parents are vital. You know it's to be your child's
champion and advocate and accountability buddy because you
also get to be partners with their teachers in all facets of
(32:45):
their life and understanding. Stacey always says it takes a.
Village. Yeah.
Stacey, where do you see the parents role fitting in here?
Well. I think it's really important to
remember that we as parents are building this social network for
our children. And the the first question I
think needs to shift when we go to the pediatrician, when we go
(33:08):
to a therapist, and it needs to be okay.
Who is your child connected to? Where are the trusted adults in
their lives? Because it's that social network
that will get us through any extreme trauma, chaos,
disruption in their lives. And so it's, it's time we as
parents recognize that we are the ones building the village
(33:31):
around our children's lives. It is no longer embedded or just
kind of a given any longer, right?
We're, we're moving and shiftingand, and have more of a global
mindset. And so we need to be more
intentional around who that is because I know as a parent, when
things became heavy and I couldn't hold what my child was
(33:56):
navigating alone, it was important for me to call my
siblings direct aunt connection,right?
It was important for me to call colleagues like Lisa Chastain
and say, OK, they're having a money struggle.
Who else can I connect them withso that they can figure out
their best path? And I know that they're getting
(34:16):
the appropriate wisdom around this.
And we actually, through humanized Edu, will ensure that
the parents have a voice in those collective core values of
the school. Because again, it's all about
creating that sense of belonging.
And there's no belonging withouteveryone and every stakeholder
(34:37):
invested. Yep, agreed.
And that we can't address the youth mental health crisis
without looking at the stakeholders in youth's lives.
That's. Right.
Parental burnout is at an all time high.
Teacher burnout all time high. We have children looking around.
Going adulthood does not look good.
(34:58):
Yeah, I'm not opt out. You all are telling me to do it
this way because that's going toget me to adulthood.
No, thanks. I'm going to.
I'm going to go do something that's going to flood my brain
with dopamine. But we'll have another
conversation around technology. We'll be back on that.
We'll come back around to that. You can't the the ultimately
what you're what I'm hearing youboth say is that it takes
(35:20):
everyone. Yes.
And that responsibility is everyone's and that the least
helpful thing that we can be doing.
My opinion is putting anybody for my kids, sending them to
school, saying it's the school'sresponsibility and not my
responsibility. My sister's an educator.
I feel like that's one of the conversations that hurting,
that's hurting us the most. Is it then, then in effect, no
(35:42):
one takes responsibility and we can't afford that right now.
So that the real, the real disruption right now is back to
personal responsibility and thateveryone's on the same team for
the sake of our children, for the sake of our future.
It is that important. It is that important, which is
exactly why you're on the show today, because we can't just
(36:04):
talk about money without talkingabout the human.
We can't just talk about education without talking about
the human. And the two of you are on a
mission, like you said, Sandy, and this is a mission born from
your own pain and struggles and worries as parents now
professionally seeing this happen in schools and with
administrators. And we're saying there has to be
(36:26):
a fix, but the fix is not more of the same.
There has to be a new way. And you have the way, you have
the way love, compassion, kindness, values, alignment,
brain wired strength, all the things.
And if you're, you're listening to this today and going, Oh my
God, please trust me when I tellyou that Sandy and Stacey know
(36:46):
what they're doing. And if you're looking for a
solution when it comes to education, we have to in all
areas of our life right now. We have to look at what's
working. And this is working, and we have
to be willing to join the conversation and jump in where
we can. So, Sandy Stacy, where can
people find you? Where can people join the
movement? They can follow at human ICD you
(37:07):
in all the places. Our Stacy's youngest daughter is
in charge of all of our social media and branding and she's
even got us on TikTok, which is a whole thing.
Apparently we're trying to go viral on TikTok.
So if you're if you're a TikTok fan, go there.
Help them go viral. Help us go viral.
You know my TE DX talk is out aswell.
(37:30):
How the system is breaking teachers.
Our book Unpacking Bliss. You can follow us on social at
the Herrera Sisters as well. We're in all the places you can
go to humanizeddu.com and get the links to everything.
You just. Even if you have ideas about how
you envision education, even if you want to somehow give back
(37:52):
and you don't know how to becomeinvested, just just reach out.
We at our core are collaboratorsbecause we believe that this
issue is too large for anyone organization, any one person to
navigate through. And so we're looking to connect
and we look forward to anyone who reaches out.
(38:14):
Please reach out Sandy Stacy, what do you want your kids to be
able to say about their kids futures That's.
A good question. It is because they're like 20
somethings now. And so they're just finally at
that cusp of like, I'm never going to have kids and well,
maybe when I turn 30, I think so.
I would love with them to know that there are educational
(38:40):
options that allow for personalized learning that will
ignite their child's inner genius in an environment that
values community, the love of learning, and love.
And love, Sandy, how about you? I want them to know that they
have nothing to prove, that theyget to trust people, they get to
(39:07):
follow their heart, they get to focus on relationships, and they
get to cultivate a life that they love on purpose, aligned to
the unique little humans that they.
Are I love that. Thank you both for being here.
Thank you for both being guidinglights.
Wrapping up today's conversation, it proves that
disruption isn't dangerous. It's absolutely necessary.
(39:29):
And these are two women who are in the thick of it right now in
the world of education. With nearly $1.6 trillion spent
on education every year, we cannot afford to keep funding
systems that aren't serving our kids.
We need to fund solutions that bring humanity, joy, and
strength back into schools. To learn more about Stacey and
(39:50):
Sandy's work, visit humanizeedu.com.
And remember, real change doesn't start with policy.
It starts with people. Together, we will disrupt the
system for good. Thank you for listening to Real
Money with Lisa Chastain. Follow the show wherever you get
your podcasts and share this episode with someone who cares
about the future of education, and we'll see you next time.
Thank you, Doctor Herrera and Sandy.
(40:12):
Thank you.
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