December 2, 2025 • 67 mins
In this inspiring episode of Shaping Freedom, Lisane Basquiat sits down with Jasmine LeFlore—an aerospace engineer, MBA, nonprofit founder, community advocate, and beacon of representation in STEM. Growing up in Flint, Michigan, Jasmine transformed early curiosity and powerful affirmations from her family into a career that bridges engineering, leadership, and impact.
Jasmine shares her journey from watching airplanes above her childhood home to earning engineering degrees from the University of Michigan and Purdue, and ultimately leading applied research at Collins Aerospace. She opens up about navigating identity, representation, and resilience while carving out space as a woman of color in a highly technical, male-dominated field.
The conversation also explores Jasmine’s nonprofit, Greater Than Tech, which equips underserved youth—especially girls—with STEM and entrepreneurship skills that empower them to build solutions, not just compete in them. With honesty and heart, Jasmine reflects on unlearning rigid systems, embracing intuition, compassionate leadership, and the importance of creating opportunities for the next generation.
Filled with insight, vulnerability, and purpose, this episode highlights what it truly means to lead with humanity, authenticity, and vision.
Jasmine shares her journey from watching airplanes above her childhood home to earning engineering degrees from the University of Michigan and Purdue, and ultimately leading applied research at Collins Aerospace. She opens up about navigating identity, representation, and resilience while carving out space as a woman of color in a highly technical, male-dominated field.
The conversation also explores Jasmine’s nonprofit, Greater Than Tech, which equips underserved youth—especially girls—with STEM and entrepreneurship skills that empower them to build solutions, not just compete in them. With honesty and heart, Jasmine reflects on unlearning rigid systems, embracing intuition, compassionate leadership, and the importance of creating opportunities for the next generation.
Filled with insight, vulnerability, and purpose, this episode highlights what it truly means to lead with humanity, authenticity, and vision.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Time and time again throughout my career, people were surprised
that I was an aerospace engineer and sant to Brittany, and
one of our taglines was like make the uncommon common.
When we show up as our authentic self, it reminds
students like, oh if mis Jazmin and doctor Brittany.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
We can do it too. Yeah, it's just the.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Really little moments that just reminds you, like, Okay, we're
talking about big vision goals, but it's these little touch
points that just like show them that you care.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Welcome to the Shaping Freedom podcast, where we dive into
conversations that inspire personal growth, transformation and clarity and challenging times.
I'm your host, Lysan Bosquia. Today I'm sitting down with
someone who embodies what it looks like to lead with
purpose and possibility. Jasmine Lafleur is an aerospace engineer. She
(01:02):
holds an MBA. She's a nonprofit founder and community advocate
who is carved out a path that defies the limits
placed on so many young women of color entering technical fields.
She grew up in Flint, Michigan, and went on to
earn engineering degrees from the University of Michigan and Purdue
and an MBA from Indiana University. She now leads applied
(01:26):
research work at Collins Aerospace and co founded Greater Than Tech,
which is a nonprofit helping girls and underserved youth learn
STEM and the business skills that turn ideas into impact.
She has been recognized as one of San Diego's Top
fifty Women of Influence in Technology. Her story is one
(01:48):
about identity, access, resilience, and the courage to design a
life that aligns with your values. Jasmine brings clarity, discipline,
and heart to every space that she enters, and I'm
honored to have her here. Thank you so much for coming, Jasmine,
(02:13):
Thank you so.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Much for having me, and thank you for that beautiful introduction.
It's just an honor to be in this space and
to share a conversation with you today. So thank you
for the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
You're welcome. And for those of you who are listening
on audio and don't have access to the video which
is on the YouTube Shaping Freedom podcast page, this woman
is a ball of light. I met you in person
(02:46):
during Soulful Saturdays last month. Whenever that was. It feels
like a lifetime ago. Yeah, and we caught eyes and
said hello to each other, and You're like, I'm Jasmine.
I'm like, oh my god, I'm so happy you're here.
So we had the opportunity to meet to meet there.
That was the first thing that really excited me about
(03:07):
this conversation that we're going to have today was how
alive you are and how bright you shine. And so afterwards,
I'm glad you do please please do. Uh. And then
afterwards when I kind of went to start, you know,
thinking about the kind of questions that I was going
to ask, I felt, I'm so honored to have you
(03:33):
here and so honored to have the opportunity to have
you share your story with the folks who are going
to be listening to it.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
You know, I just want to give you a hug
right now, because the hugs the hugs honored is felt.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah. Yeah, you have created and are charting a path.
In some ways it feels like a very technical path, right,
engineering and and this work that you're doing. What was
it that led you toward engineering as a as a
(04:09):
career path?
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Yeah, okay, what was it? I feel like there were
so many things. I normally start off talking about how
I lived, like near the flight path of airport. So
I just was seen planes flying and asking my mother
how do planes stay in the air. And my mom
(04:33):
was an educator, early childhood educator, so her question back
to me was.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Maybe one day.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
You'll have a job where you can answer that question yourself.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
So even before that, I've always been a tinkerer, Like
my uncle called me the puzzle wizard when I was
a kid. I used to do puzzles with my grandma
all the time. So just someone that was naturally inquisitive.
I'm still naturally inquisitive, and I think those type of
skill sets make you want to build and wonder and create.
(05:06):
So I loved school, math and science was fun. I
eventually joined the robotics team.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I would say I.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Grew up in a home where my mom and my
grandma very much would call me smart and made me
feel like I was that girl, Like there was a
lot of positive affirmations in my home growing up, and
then getting to the path of deciding to do engineering
and the experience of becoming an aerospace engineer. That was
(05:37):
when I had to learn despite what the metrics and
the type of school I went to and the folks
who normally enter those rooms. I was still smart, but
in my own way, not in a way that was
noticeable to folks who I would say were the gatekeepers
of entering those different spaces.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Yeah, that's interesting. I interviewed Ingrid Best this morning and
she part of her origin story was having her mom
share with her that someone said that she was a star,
and how she held onto that as my words, kind
(06:20):
of her north star in her career path and the
things that she did later. And so I want to
stop for a moment to acknowledge what an impact someone
helping you to see yourself yeah, as smart, as beautiful,
(06:41):
as capable, the impact that that can have on a
person's life, and how important it.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Is, and especially at young ages. Right. There are science
that says the childhood brain is in theta from zero
to seven, So that's where a lot of that identity
building and subconscious is being formed and developed. So I
think that was my ethos of like, Okay, I'm smart.
(07:09):
I'm smart because that's what I was told.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Yeah, and conversely, when we're told the opposite, you know
what that does to create limitations in a person's life.
So you grew up in Flint, what was that like?
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Wo? I mean it was great. Like I think it's
that story where you don't really know how your city
or environment is viewed until you step outside of it.
So that said, I mean growing up in Flint, I
had a lot of friends, I did a lot of activities.
(07:46):
I was involved in many different clubs, and just like
a lot of community, it's predominantly black city. So one
of the things I remember growing up is my fourth
grade teacher, Ms Walker, who was the first person that
told me about Juneteenth and we had to like remember
the continents of Africa. Like she was very euro I
(08:10):
mean afrocentric looking back, but at the time it's like, Okay,
this is ms Walker and now growing up, I'm like WHOA.
I was exposed to, like so much culture at a
young age, and a lot of the spaces that I
was in was predominantly black, And unfortunately the way I
grew up in a sense of wanting to achieve aerospace engineering,
(08:34):
I felt like I needed to align with people who
didn't look like me to help me get there. You know, Flint,
Michigan isn't necessarily the place you think about when you
think of an aerospace engineer, So stepping outside of that,
I feel like I was kind of playing to classism
a little bit to figure out, Okay, how do I
(08:56):
get to this step when I don't know anyone in
my neighborhood or in my direct connections that can guide
me on that path.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
So you mentioned aerospace engineering. When did you know that
that was what you wanted to do?
Speaker 1 (09:12):
So you're speaking yeah, yeah, okay, six. So I would
say at six it was like the question how do
planes fly? But I was a part of a nonprofit
organization when I was a kid. It was called the
Carrera Program and it was for at risk youth and
it was all about preventing teenage pregnancy. So they made
sure there were activities for I think I joined it
(09:34):
in the sixth grade and I was in that program
to twelfth grade, and they gave us a lot of
different opportunities about like life skills, and they took me
on my first college tour. So that college tour was
at the University of Michigan my eighth grade summer, and
I remember seeing the wind tunnel at the Aerospace Department
and that's when it clicked for me, like, oh, this
(09:56):
is how I learn about how planes fly. To go
to this school, I got to do whatever it takes
to be here. So wow, eighth grade summer.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Wow, and you knew that was the thing that you
were marching toward. Wow. You talked about a few moments
ago about kind of realizing or noticing that the people
who were in the space that you were looking to
work within were different from you. So how do you
(10:26):
how did you navigate kind of that choice between kind
of fitting in and being yourself having come from I'm
from Brooklyn, Yeah, right, And so I love to ask
people like what their place was like, because it's part
of our origin story, like who we are, Like I'm
very much informed today is very much informed by having
(10:48):
grown up in Brooklyn, as I'm sure it is for
you having been brought up in Flint. But you also
mentioned that it was a very you had a lot
of black culture, of people of culture of color around
you and then having your kind of navigating space. So
(11:08):
how did you navigate that?
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Yeah? You know, I always credit the teachers in my life,
whether they are a teacher by education or a teacher
as a mentor. I so my physics and chemistry teacher,
mister John's. He was someone who believed in us and
was someone who I think just like saw our light.
(11:31):
And when I say, are like all of the students,
who's who was a student of mister John's. So you know,
by eighth grade, I knew like, okay, I got to
get to this school. And then I'm looking out all
the requirements. You got to have this ACT score, you
got to take this class in this class, so.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
This is a high school that you were getting into.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
University grade was when I realized what college I wanted
to go to to learn aerospace. But between ninth and
twelfth grade, I at least knew like the requirements to
it there you have to take like chemistry, you have
to you know, just all these different requirements. So I
had a list of schools I was interested in. University
of Michigan was the first choice because it was the
(12:11):
number one aerospace school at the time, and mister Johns
was just someone who was very like you can do this.
Like I had a whole list of schools. I was
super oldie when it came to like structure and like, okay,
let's make sure we check these boxes. And I had
a whole list of schools. I'm like this school, of
that school, this school, and I have pros and cons. Okay,
this school costs this much, this school is this far away,
(12:31):
this school is this, and he just circled University of Michigan.
Was just like, you belong there. Oh, wow, you belong there.
And I would say conversely, my advisor at the time
or high school counselor, who was someone of color and
mister John's was not of color, saw my transcript resume,
(12:53):
and you know, knew I was smart, but I think
there's a idea of what type of like environment you
need to grow up in to get to a prestigious
type of school like that. So it's this weird thing
I remember feeling where someone who looked like me wasn't
necessarily an advocate or maybe trying to protect me, and
(13:14):
someone who didn't look like me was like, oh, you
got this, no problem. So even understanding other people's origin stories,
as hey, this is an advisor and their job is
to put my career interests, you know, to the best
of their ability. And I look at it as now,
(13:34):
that was what they saw at the time. They just
didn't see someone like me achieving and making it that
far right? Did that help to get you there? The advisor,
you know, the.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Kind of pushback. I'm a person. Tell me I can't
do it, Yeah, tell me I can't do it right.
So I'm wondering, and sometimes that can go two ways.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
I think it was first a little bit of defeat.
Like I said, I loved school. I was the kid
who loved math and science. I joined the robotics program.
I was in an engineering graphics class. I was in
an engineering camp. So everything I was doing between ninth
and twelfth grade was like preparing to be an engineer.
So to get to the stage where I'm applying to
(14:21):
colleges and submitting applications and you know, the one person
who's kind of the like yay or nay or the
support system to do that's like, h, you should aim lower.
So for me to have grown up in a home
where I'm told I'm smart, I'm told i'm like worthy
high Yeah, and then that felt like a backlash, like Okay,
(14:43):
maybe I need to reconsider. And so at first it
was a I don't know, but then it turned into fuel.
So that said, I now feel like I'm fueled by
that doubt. But when I first had that m it
was like, Okay, maybe I need to reconsider, and you didn't. Yeah,
(15:06):
And I would also say I've been able to navigate
paths by being inquisitive and understanding what is like the
true and real need for a certain requirement or if
it's just like a recommendation based on what people have
seen before. And I think in that moment, you know,
(15:29):
this is the crossroads between high school and college. Am
I going to make it to this school for aerospace engineering?
I started figuring out other paths to get there. So
I had another person say, well, if you don't make
it into engineering, do a cross campus transfer and then
(15:49):
go into the engineering college. So that was a way
to like kind of sidestep the not side step, but
just find another way to.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Find another way, which is important. I appreciate the fact
that you seem to be a person who, like you
know what you want and you're going to figure out
how to get there. And I think that in a
time when people can oftentimes be deterred by a little
(16:20):
bit of pushback or by the energy an effort that
it takes to live in uncertainty.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Yes, and honestly, Lisan, I think that's who I was
being so laser focused, and now I'm more into what
am I guided by in the flow versus I got
to check this box, I gotta achieve this, you know,
unlearning a lot of the structure. I feel like I've
used to be successful and now looking at things more energetically.
(16:53):
What is my truest why? What is my deepest yes
for something more than like If it doesn't look like that,
I don't want it.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
I used to be like that. Marshall Goldsmith wrote this book.
The world renowned coach wrote a book called what Got
You Here, Won't Get You There? Or something. Yeah, I
may have the title botched, but it was basically saying like,
sometimes we have these these behaviors that get us to
(17:26):
the thing right, but then you get to a point
where you have to do something else to get to
that next evolution of your journey. What made you realize that?
Speaker 1 (17:40):
I don't know if it was one single thing. I
think maybe after twenty twenty and just you know, thinking
about like power structures and who's making decisions and who
is representing certain things I started unlearning. You know, I'm
(18:05):
in the aerospace now and very male, not dominated field,
and I remember early on in my career there were
certain leaders that I wanted to be like they were
very like straight, no chaser, you know, this is mission
critical like just and I'm like, yeah, I want to
be like that. And then I joined a program called
(18:27):
Rye San Diego. It's more about leading from within and
more about just decolonizing leadership honestly, and I started unlearning
some behaviors that I saw of people in positions of
power and really just started unraveling and thinking about, like,
(18:47):
you know, what does it mean to show up as
my authentic self? I think about nature verse nurture a lot.
Like you know, engineering is very structured. Aerospace is very structured.
You know, you get one thing wrong, can a whole
plane can just go down past? So you know, the
precision and the thoughts of like okay, this one bolt
(19:08):
can just mess up everything. It trains your brain to
always highlight risks, always highlight like what could potentially go wrong,
and being an environment like that and starting to learn like, oh,
some things can be both and some things are more
about energy and flow, and oh, by the way, like
there's a whole thing called the divine feminine and like
(19:32):
where does that really show up in spaces like aerospace?
You know, So then looking within more about okay, it's
not that I want to be like this particular leader
who's like doing all this more than I want to
be in a position of power to support people. And
that's more about, you know, when you think about women
and the way we lead, it's more about collaboration. It's
(19:55):
more about you know, supporting people from a communal level
more than hierarchical, top down level. So I think I'm
still in the phase of like, how do you know? Yeah,
And I would say I'm unlearning what it means to
be a leader in a technical space and show up as.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Me next year, we have a series of sessions around
through shaping freedom, and it's around the idea of how
to type a differently right, because I think that I
was raised by my dad, and so I had a
relationship with my mom and adored my mom, but was
(20:39):
raised in my father's home. And one of the things
that I learned, I'm also first generation Haitian and Puerto Rican,
and so I really learned like strong work ethic and
these kind of behaviors that helped me to accomplish some
pretty incredible, wonderful things with focus. But one of the
(21:02):
things that I observed both during the time that I
was in a corporate environment, and since in the work
that I've done in human behavior is that holds what
falls into that type a bubble and cup has wonderful things,
but there were also some things that really move us
away from our that dehumanizes us right where we start
(21:28):
to see ourselves as robots, tools as tools. That's a
great way to put it. As tools. What are you
going to do to make this tool do all the
things that it needs to do? And I believe that
we can. It can be both, you know, being the
(21:49):
divine feminine or being led by the divine feminine being
a human having compassion and empathy and creating collaborative environments
can coexist absolutely with getting things done. And so I
very strongly believe in and we're going to do some
more work on that next year. In this idea that
(22:11):
we can type a differently, I would love to be
involved with that, yeah, because it's so important. The consequence
(22:32):
of believing yourself to be or seeing yourself as a
tool is that you lack compassion for other people, but
you have to lack compassion for yourself, So it disconnects
you from the relationship. The quality of the relationship that
you can be in with yourself because you don't see
yourself as a family. You see yourself for what you
(22:54):
can do, not who you are. Yep.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
And I even think the resume concept is part of
what is that. So I did a ted X talk
last year about it's not only the resume, sometimes it's
the unresume and part of that story or that why
came from two things. One, I was not a great
(23:21):
student in terms of GPA on paper. So a lot
of times when you're looking for your first job, they're
just looking at your GPA and what internships you had.
And I didn't have a great GPA, and I had
one internship and two what I learned and rise through
our spirals. So basically I felt that there were things
(23:43):
I was dealing with or learning underneath a resume. So
for example, I was my third year of college, my grandmother,
granddad and mom passed away, and I took a leave
of absence from school, and I remember a mentor asking
me about my resume, and I remember thinking like I
(24:06):
wish I could put planned three funerals in three months
and showed up to class without crying on the resume.
And you know, those were the things that don't necessarily
buy eurocentric standards say oh she's smart, she knows what
she's doing. But those were real life events and lived
experience that are transferable to a work ethic. So that
(24:31):
was part of it. And then when I was in Rye,
San Diego, just learning other people's stories and thinking, wow,
I want to work with those people. At the time,
I didn't know their titles, I didn't know what they
did for work, but just seeing someone's heart and soul
and who they are and how they show up, I
feel like it's a metric of success. So that's where
(24:55):
it came from. And to your point about like being
connected within, that's a little bit of the journey that
I had to do reflecting on who I am as
individual more than what you see on a resume or
a piece of paper.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
You ensure that you got support navigating the path that
you wanted to go down. And now here you are.
You're an aerospace engineer. We're going to talk about greater
than Tech in a few minutes, and I'm also wondering,
what have you done or what are you doing to
(25:29):
support yourself? So now you've accomplished some things, so you
set out to accomplish. It seems like you're You've talked
about unlearning some things and kind of seeing things a
little differently and seeing kind of the energetics of things.
How do you how do you care for yourself today?
And how do you work plan it?
Speaker 1 (25:49):
I think more than ever for me, getting out of
my head into my body is like paramount. I did
a lot of activities when I was a kid. One
is dance, ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, so I think
once a dancer, always a dancer, and being able to
just play a song, dance it out, you know, before
(26:12):
I go into a meeting, just to raise that frequency.
So moving my body is so important to just you know,
feel feel better, feel enlightened. Music is big for me
as well, so too making sure that I'm listening to
I have a whole like high Vibes playlist, so that
(26:33):
and then writing. Sometimes I feel like I'm always like
problem solving or thinking about stuff, so it feels like
a download when I have these aha moments where I
just have to like record it or just express right,
Like I talk to some of my best friends every
day and I'm in so many different rooms and meetings
(26:55):
that I'll just start seeing patterns about things, whether it's
with exactives talking about innovation or mentoring students talking about
we have a VR cap stone going on right now,
or I'm on the school board so talking about workforce
development and skill set. So it's just like all these
(27:15):
aha moments will happen. I'm like, Okay, I got to
write this down because I don't know if anybody else
would have thought this about me, just to you know,
get the thought out or you know, get something out
of my body or out of my mind to let
it live and breathe.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Yeah, so you had You also mentioned navigating being in
a predominantly black area and then navigating other spaces as
an adult. Now, how do you ensure that you stay
connected to who Jasmine is? Like, you have these incredile
(27:53):
you have an incredible resume, right and you're you're in
all these spaces and places and having these conversations, and
you're a leader in your profession. How do you also
ensure that you're filling your self up?
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Yeah. I think it's a myriad of things. I mean,
I think creating greater than tech and being in community,
the type of communities that I serve. You know, I'm
based in San Diego, but you know, underserved communities, like
folks who aren't expecting to be an engineer right away.
(28:36):
Making sure that I'm connecting with those students brings me
back to that like grassroots reality of like I remember
what it's like to be thirteen and not feel like
I had support to get to the next level, or
you know, be dealing with stuff at home that you know,
(28:58):
really causes you to show up to school and disarray.
Outside of that, I'm a big, like I said, a
music person, but also water like cancer, cancer, sun at least,
so taking a bubble bath, like going into a hot
tub or something that just allows me to have flow,
(29:20):
like going to nature right like not that I'm a
big hiker, but at least like walking around the Bay
in area, just being able to see like there's more
than just my problems and issues, Like there's a whole
Like yeah, like we're on a floating rock, Like everything's
(29:41):
gonna be fine. So being able to kind of zoom
out a little bit is important because I can drill
down into like every single detail and every single problem
and try to fix every single one, or I could
just look at water and breathe and know that I
am a part of a bigger ecosystem.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
And I think that's zooming at is. And I was
talking Antonio, who I spoke with before you today. We
talked about that zooming out, and we were talking about
it from the perspective of maps, you know, and how
like the paper map, right, and how today everything is
so it's GPS, but it's also very focused on like
(30:20):
this like intense concentration on a very small thing, and
in doing that, it really takes us away. I believe
that when you it's like I want this, I want
more space, I want more spaciousness, I want more silence.
We have to curate that for ourselves, absolutely, and we
have to also understand that there needs to be a
counterbalance between this concentration into your phone to see where
(30:46):
you're going and the value and benefit of really zooming
out so that you can see yourself within the scope
of the fact that we're on a floating rock or
you know, the fact that you're part of a city,
and to see things from that perspective. Yeah, I think
it helps.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Yeah, And I'm a millennial, so they say like we're
the last generation that connects the physical and the digital.
So me working with the youths of today. They are
so ingrained in the digital world. So even with greater
than Tech, like, yeah, we started with robotics and just
(31:27):
very you know, physical systems, but now it's more about Okay,
what is technology and nature integration looking like? So they
do know the difference between like northeast, south and west,
or they know how to grow a plant and it's excellent,
you know. So it's un learning, unraveling. I'm becoming every day,
say greater every day at GTT, and I think like
(31:50):
the lessons and the AHAs that I'm learning as an
individual will be part of the seeds of GTT and
how we evolve there.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Let's talk about greater than tech?
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Is it greater than tech? Yeah? So I co founded
a nonprofit with my friend and sister in STEM, doctor
Britney Wheeler. Oh what inspired you to do that? A
couple of things, Lisan. So doctor Britney Wheeler and I
we were employee resource group leaders for the African American
Forum at the time. At work. She also works at
(32:23):
the same company as me, and at the time we
were so even before that, I think she got an
award for something at work like Diversity Champions Award, and
she was the first black person I saw on our
company website. Oh wow getting an award? Okay, So I
was like, hey, yeah, what's you doing over there? And
(32:44):
at the time, I was living in Connecticut, so she
was just on a company website. So we became friends
because I reached out and she's like, oh, like this
could be you too. Solely met in person at Nesby.
We started doing the African American Forum together. That was
a sense of community building and you know, doing events
for like cultural relevance of you know, Black individuals and
(33:05):
career prep. And then we were robotics instructors at a
nonprofit called Elementary Institute of Science for middle school girls.
So that was also my first time doing community work
in San Diego. So we were doing like internal work
together at the company, we were doing external work with
(33:27):
the other nonprofit. And then we were also in grad school,
so I was doing my NBA at the time. She
was doing her doctor at engineering, and I also was
the chief of staff to a VP of engineering who
was saying that engineers don't know business. So all these
little patterns I had moments were happening for me where
(33:48):
I thought about how STEM is great. But there's more
to learning about STEM or science, technology, engineering, math than
just going to a robotics competition and competing with affluent boys.
As well as if you know a little bit about
entrepreneurship or a little bit about business, you can also
think about creating products or creating solutions using technology. So
(34:12):
that was how Greater than Tech came to be. And
we're all about STEM and entrepreneurship for underserved youth middle
and high school. And the idea there is you know,
I think when I was growing up, Mark Zuckerberg and
all these people with these big tech companies were kind
of the like north Star try to be like them,
(34:32):
and I think we can, but differently where our youth
are being introduced to how technology can change the world
for social impact for their communities, and they're thinking about
development early on more than just compete at a competition.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
And who does Greater than Tech serve?
Speaker 1 (34:54):
So middle and high school underserved youth. Our mission started
with girls, and specifically middle school girls because middle school
is where a girls start forming their identity about their career.
Then we expanded to middle and high school underserved youth
because we started being asked to do programs. So based
in San Diego, but we've done programs or at least
(35:16):
workshops in the LA area, and we're focused on emerging
technology because there is more usually less barrier to entry.
You don't necessarily need to go to a four year
university to learn how to do computer aided design or
design for additive manufacturing. You don't necessarily have to go
(35:37):
to four year college for learning how to fly drone.
So finding those emerging technologies that can be workshopped or
even produced for a workshop early on instead of having
to go down the route I did to be an
aerospace engineer.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
So it's almost to drive more efficiency into someone else's
journey like that. What is STEM the acronym for you said.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
It before, but just technology, engineering and math? Okay?
Speaker 2 (36:07):
So are you just working with you're working with youth? Yeah, okay,
And so what are some of the struggles that those
folks that you serve tell you that they're experiencing as
they're trying to enter the field? You know, is STEM
considered a field or yes, we're trying to enter STEM.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
I'll just say yeah, I mean STEM is so vast. Yeah,
I'm just gonna say STEM field because there's so many
different ways a lot of it. So something is minor
is like just transportation to get to a program. So
we make sure that our students can join us at
(36:47):
the programs. And you know, that's an easy one, easy
in the sense of we know how to do its funding.
You know, it isn't always easy. However, when it comes
to I think the way doctor and I show up
as our authentic self. I think time and time again
throughout my career people were surprised that I was an
(37:07):
aerospace engineer and saying to Brittany and one of our
taglines was like make the uncommon common. And I think
when we show up as our authentic self, it reminds
students like, oh if mis jazzmen and doctor.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
Brittany, we can do it too.
Speaker 1 (37:22):
Yeah. So there's been parents, and I mean it's just
one of those like the subconscious things like you naturally
do that you don't even realize is a thing for someone.
I think one of the parents are like, oh, like,
it's so cute seeing you and the girls with your
nails on working on robots. I'm like, oh, okay. So
(37:44):
I think the way we show up allows them to
feel seen and like, Okay, you know, they seem cool.
We can do that. But in terms of like struggles
when we have deeper conversations and a lot a lot
of the time that's through our Alumnae Club, which is
the part of GTT that's really more about like that
personal development. It's not really a curriculum program, and it's
(38:06):
like how can we help the individual girl in the
way that she needs. We've had students say that like
they're on a i EP, you know, individualized. I don't
know what the E and P stand for, but you know,
at a at risk plan at school and them doing
a program with us. We did Girl Meet Cybersecurity last
(38:28):
year that allowed them to have a something they wanted
to strive for, Like, Okay, although I'm on this IEP,
I'm seeing how I can get into the cybersecurity field,
and like I want to pursue that. Doctor Britty and
I both have a lot of personal struggles in the home.
So I think even when we open up and share
like hey, I had a mother who struggled with substance abuse,
(38:52):
like it almost gives them permission to feel comfortable sharing
and feeling like they can strive for greatness strive for,
you know, the careers that they want when they know
someone else that looks like them or resonates with them,
have has done the same.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
Or just that other people are experiencing the same thing,
because sometimes we don't realize that, Yeah, we think it's
just us, especially when we're younger, right, And so I
think the more that adult people can share some yeah
of what we've walked through, I think the better it
is for everyone.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
What has surprised you about creating a nonprofit?
Speaker 1 (39:35):
Ooh, I surprised that the work that you do, Like
so we're talking about like STEM and technology and you know,
emerging technology, business entrepreneurship, like that is the basis. But
(39:56):
I feel like the work that's really being done is
like the confidence in the self efficacy. I can't tell
you how many times, like like I wasn't a nonprofit
when I was a kid, So I'm having all these
IHA moments about like man, mister Domino was so sweet
and miss Michelle is so sweet. I now so like
the impact of just like they're in the car with
(40:19):
me and we're going to the Maverick Center at UCSD,
Like you know, my little twenty ten court they're just
like having a good time and they can listen to
a song that they want to listen to. Like, it's
just the really little moments that just reminds you, like, Okay,
we're talking about big vision goals, but it's these little
(40:40):
touch points, yeah that just like show them that you care. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
I think it's also that moment knowing that there are
people who are willing to connect, you know, in a
time and in a culture and society. Yeah, people feel
so disconnected in so many ways. Yeah. So, and here's
the thing. The beautiful thing is I was thinking about
(41:09):
you talking about your child, your experience as a child,
and these human beings who really really touched your experience,
and how you're able to give that to some other
young person who, you know, a couple of decades from now,
will be sitting somewhere, you know, talking about their journey
(41:32):
and how you and doctor Brittany were able to help
them to get there. That's beautiful work.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
Thank you. Yeah, that's beautiful work.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
Okay, I didn't mean to cry, but hey, we talk
about human human being. Yeah, what do you think the
next generation of engineering leaders need besides the technical stuff?
Speaker 1 (42:02):
Compassion, grace and space engineering is a very structured field,
and I think the idea in which you have to
do engineering is not necessarily representative. For I would say
the communities I serve like what we need. I know,
(42:24):
I love music. I'm sure I'm neurodivirgin in some way.
So what does it look like to design space for
the folks who are tinkerers, who can connect dots, who
may have, you know, some type of trauma or even
like different abilities. Yeah, so having space or a place
(42:49):
where they can just learn and wonder the way that
their brain works, without judgment, without feeling like the only one,
without feeling like they have to conform to certain standards.
On top of there's a lot of tools and a
lot of information out there where I feel like they
(43:13):
can learn faster and you know, just figure out what
resonates with them most instead of having to follow things
a certain way.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
Yeah. I think you're demonstrating this, but I wonder, in
that space that you work within, what does effective leadership
look like today? In these technical spaces, effective leadership affective leadership?
Speaker 1 (43:41):
I would say for me, it's wanting to follow someone's mannerisms,
looking up to someone saying I want to be like that,
or I want to learn from that person, or I
want to embody who they are. It's not I would
(44:06):
say the formalities of what I think I grew up
thinking what leadership was.
Speaker 2 (44:11):
Yeah, because I think that there was a time where
like effective leadership would be like time management, being clear
about your goals and that make sure that you accomplish
those things.
Speaker 1 (44:22):
I think it's about being human understanding humanity understanding. We
actually just updated our core values for GTT and one
of them is start with compassion or with integrity. And
I think compassion is a big part of it because
(44:43):
typically you don't know people's story or background or why
they show up the way they do. And that's a
huge part of like why structures are like you know,
when you assume, we get the same results of what
we think it is to be successful, what we think
(45:05):
it is to be you know, worthy, valuable, this GPA,
this resume, this school, this connection, this title, and you know,
I guess going back to the resume, like the compassion
in which people had to show up a certain way
for the life that they were given.
Speaker 2 (45:27):
Yeah, for how long it's greater than tech been in business?
Speaker 1 (45:43):
So paperwork twenty nineteen. I always say false Start twenty
twenty one and that's when we really started getting into
the community of delivering programs.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
Tell me a really great story that you like to
chat about someone that you were worked with, that you've supported.
Speaker 1 (46:03):
She's our OG student because now she's in college and
she's maybe going into her third year. Her name's Jackie,
and I met her through Elementary Institute of Science, so
we were doing a workshop there in twenty twenty one.
It was a one week robotics camp for girls, and
she was a lab assistant. So Greater than Tech is
(46:25):
all about like stem and entrepreneurship, so we're always adding
that business like do a pitch, think about your customers
or your beneficiaries. And she was a lab assistant, so
she was like teaching middle school girls how to code.
And at the time she was probably fourteen, so I'm
like wow, like you're already so advanced. And then she
(46:47):
did our Girl meets Strone program and that's when she
started like pitching, and that was when she went from like, oh,
I want to she went from I want to do
robotic to I want to have robotics company. So she
has this like she already had this idea of engineering
in her heart, but for her to start thinking about
(47:10):
like startup entrepreneurship now it's like, wow, she actually can
do it. So now she's at Columbia studying mechanical engineering.
Like I said, she's such a light and someone who
already had that edge, but definitely first generation college student,
like someone who's going to change the trajectory of her
(47:32):
family tree. And you know, there's been many moments where
we were able to support her and I think we
like bought her first business casual clothes like for interviews.
So it's just little things like she did the programs
she got into the school. But you know there's still
like little elements of love that we can give her
(47:53):
and show that we care and even share our story
about what it's like being in engineering as probably one
of only women of color.
Speaker 2 (48:04):
And what is your advice to women of color who
are stepping into these engineering programs if.
Speaker 1 (48:11):
There were like three, yeah, pieces of advice that you
can yeah. So I know that my journey and engineering
would not have been possible without the other black girl
who was in my aerospace program. Her name is Sydney Hamilton.
So we were pretty much like you know, Belman Luise
(48:31):
trying to thug it out through aerospace engineering and studying
together doing flash cards, like finding a network or somebody
that supports you and you can be yourself with and
understand like, okay, this is how I learned. I got
to sing a song to figure out how to get
this equation right. Also asking for help finding mentors who
(48:56):
resonate with you, who can keep it real with you.
A story I'll tell is my first job offer I
got was actually for an analyst position and not an
engineering position. So I asked a mentor who was working
for Boeing at the time, and it was a Boeing
analyst position at Boweing. So you know, with someone as
(49:19):
someone who I didn't have the best GPA, didn't have
the best resume, I'm thinking, okay, it's Boeing, maybe I
should just take this analyst position. And that person said, no, Jasmine,
you're engineer. Yeah, you have an aerospace engineering degree. You
should be doing engineering. So someone that can give you
permission and a lock and give you a real answer
(49:39):
for how to show up. And then I think, third
learn how to I don't know if I want to
say self soothed, but like, how do you maintain your
own mental health, your own mental sanity, being able to
zoom out, being able to take a break, take a walk,
(50:02):
touch grass, like, just have some type of mechanism that
allows you to release yourself of all of the things
going through.
Speaker 2 (50:13):
Life and just be Yeah, what's something that you're learning
about yourself right now?
Speaker 1 (50:19):
M learning about myself. I love to learn. I think
more than ever, I'm learning that I already have the answers.
Speaker 2 (50:35):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (50:37):
I am someone who I think big picture. A lot
of my career has been a lot of technical breath.
I work very closely with subject matter experts. I think
I can look at things from a bird's eye view
often and although I may not be like in the
(50:58):
details so specifically, actually we know what I'm talking about.
So trusting my intuition about things, trusting my brilliance, like
reminding myself I am smart even if I don't have
the answers right away, and giving myself grace to know
that answers will arrive.
Speaker 2 (51:19):
So, yeah, what happened? The answers and smart aren't always yeah,
you know, don't always correlate to each other, like one
has nothing to do with the other exactly. Yeah, is
there anything that you're intentionally letting go of.
Speaker 1 (51:34):
Hmmm. Uh, I feel like there are so many things.
The one thing I would say is just other people's
expectation of It's a good one. I think early on
in my career, you know, there's this level of like
assimilation that I was doing where it's like, I gotta
(51:55):
wear the blue collar shirt like everyone, and like I
remember when I joined the company, it was I got
feedback to like not wear my hair natural or curly,
so being okay with showing up how I dress. You know,
I'm a professional if I don't have on the blue
the funny little blue collar shirt, and you know, just
(52:19):
letting people react to me. I think I've spent a
good amount of time almost anticipating different things, risks like oh,
I gotta go this way because they're going to go
that way. Like you know, now it's not reacting to
what I think is going to happen more than like
I can control what happens next.
Speaker 2 (52:39):
Yeah. Yeah, that takes trusting in yourself absolutely. As you
were making your way here today was what did you
want to share?
Speaker 1 (52:50):
What did you want to talk about? What did I
want to talk what did you.
Speaker 2 (52:56):
Want to talk about if there was anything where you
were like, I really want to share this to the
folks who are listening. I want them to know this
about me, about.
Speaker 1 (53:06):
You know, Listan don't. I don't know if I had
that thought at all. Okay, I will say that I
truly believe that we create our own reality and thoughts
become things. So maybe I'm questioning how things have manifested
in my life based on my mindset going into things,
(53:29):
so to go from I was told I was smart
from zero to seven to you know, fourteen to twenty two,
I felt like I wasn't And how that imprints on
you subconsciously when you're constantly battling that like identity of
(53:51):
like wait a minute, am I smart? I don't know.
So just like being able to stay in frequency, stay
in alignment to your or higher self on who you
want to be versus like what these negative what people
tell you who you are? So really just practicing staying
(54:12):
in that affirmation of myself and gratitude for who I am,
and you know, just staying in alignment with who I
know myself to be.
Speaker 2 (54:24):
How do you define joy? I've been having that conversation
a lot lately with people. You know, in my mind,
there's a difference between joy and happy. You know.
Speaker 1 (54:35):
Joy for me is like any laugh. I like randomly
write down stuff, and I remember writing a list of
tiny Joy for me and a couple of things on
my list is like driving past the speed limit when
my music turned up. Like that's a form of tiny,
Like I love music, dancing in the mirror, a long
(55:00):
pedicure that comes with a foot massage, bubbla bath with music,
and like just moments.
Speaker 2 (55:06):
Joy is what does joy feel like to you?
Speaker 1 (55:16):
And it's laughing, it's smiling.
Speaker 2 (55:20):
It's what is a boundary that you have learned how
to enforce, either with yourself or with other people, professionally, personally, whatever.
Speaker 1 (55:35):
I don't know if it's a boundary, more than I
know that I can tell people what I'm doing versus
me asking for a permission.
Speaker 2 (55:48):
I love that for you.
Speaker 1 (55:50):
So there was this book called Nice Girls Don't Get
the Corner Office.
Speaker 2 (55:55):
I've heard of it, I haven't read it. It's a
good okay.
Speaker 1 (55:58):
I think I read it first year in engineering, and
one of the things she said was don't ask your
manager if you can take time off, tell them you're
taking time off, and ask them if that's an issue.
Speaker 2 (56:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (56:13):
So now I feel like I approach situations with partners, managers, whatever,
like I'm going to do this, let me know if
that's a problem. Yeah, they will let you know.
Speaker 2 (56:24):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (56:25):
So is that a boundary more than just like it's letting.
Speaker 2 (56:29):
Letting a person know what you want, which is you know,
in a roundabout way, it's like, this is what I want. Yeah,
and I'm being very clear eno upfront about it. Firsus
asking for permission, to even ask to put asking for
permission to put your wants on the table exactly.
Speaker 1 (56:45):
Now you say that all the time, like ask for forgiveness,
not for permission. But now it's just like, no, I'm
going to tell you and you're gonna let me know
if that's a problem.
Speaker 2 (56:53):
Yeah. What is one thing that you want to be
remembered for?
Speaker 1 (56:57):
I would say just being a good human someone who
was compassionate, loving, cared for others, cared for the environment,
someone that is referenceable when it comes to how people
want to show up. I have this whole little like
(57:20):
art art installation in my office. It's the Black Cabinet,
but it's my black Cabinet, which is based off the
Black Cabinet of Franklin Roosevelt's Black Cabinet, which was spearheaded
by Mary McLeod but Dune. She's one of my favorite
historical figures. And I have this whole compilation of like,
(57:41):
who are the forty five black leaders that I would
want to listen to?
Speaker 2 (57:44):
Oh wow, that's interesting.
Speaker 1 (57:47):
So Tupac is one of them for me, right, so smart,
He's so smart and authentic and real and courageous. So
he said something like, I may not be the one
that's going to change the world, but I'll spark the
brain that will something like that. I'm probably butchering it.
So I think it's that type of impediment where like
(58:10):
its seeds being sold by way of how I showed
up in my lifetime, and it inspire someone to show
up as the plant that they're supposed to be.
Speaker 2 (58:22):
Yeah, you plant the seeds. Yeah, because that's the plant
that actually comes up. It's the one that you're supposed
to be. I like that if you weren't doing this work,
which path might you explore or might you have explored?
Speaker 1 (58:45):
I used to joke and say that it's not that
I wanted to be like an ar or producer I
wanted to be a song perfectionist.
Speaker 2 (58:54):
What is that?
Speaker 1 (58:55):
It's basically a ar producer, but someone that listens to
a song before it's released art. You know, it's like
that final, final I ad lib person. For some reason,
I feel like my favorite part of songs are ad libs,
and sometimes I feel like there are more allips that
need to be added to songs or like another bridge.
(59:19):
So music is a big part of my life and
I probably would be some type of producer AR music
perfectionist person that's just listening to music and providing feedback.
Speaker 2 (59:34):
What is one thing that you want the next generation
to know about resilience and access and and about creating
a wife that truly feels like your life.
Speaker 1 (59:47):
I think we have to start with joy. I think
the way in which I was taught to be successful
was like the get the work done, work hard, like
got to work towice is hard to a blovable And
I'm not going to discredit what our ancestors had to
(01:00:09):
do to be who they were and allow us to
be on their shoulders. I will say that the frequency
in which we orient ourselves not fear, but joy, can
(01:00:30):
be how you start.
Speaker 2 (01:00:31):
It opens so many doors both the professional physical kind
of doors, but also the doors inside of yourself that
help you to get to where you want to be. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:00:43):
So now I'm I'm singing songs, I'm listening to my music,
I'm blowing bubbles, I'm having joyful reflection before I start work.
Good for you. I would recommend the next generation start
with what is that joy for them before they go
(01:01:07):
into I gotta do all the rest of the world.
Speaker 2 (01:01:09):
Yeah, how can we support your Jasmine.
Speaker 1 (01:01:13):
Lisa well one, you're supporting me by offering this opportunity
to have this conversation, So thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:01:21):
You're welcome.
Speaker 1 (01:01:23):
An easy way is follow greater than tech dot org
or greater than tech on any social and honestly, we're
in a time where people now no longer want to
support our people call it d I call it whatever.
(01:01:43):
But there's a lot of impact work that is being
reduced because some people in positions of power think they're
not worthy. So funding is mission critical. But I know
whatever happens, will still support our students the way we can.
Speaker 2 (01:02:06):
That's powerful.
Speaker 1 (01:02:08):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:02:09):
Yeah, I want to thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 1 (01:02:12):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
I want to thank you for the generosity of getting
yourself to LA to have this conversation. You're in San
Diego as am I, and I know it's a trip,
and I want to thank you also for being such
a role model for young professionals everywhere, right, whether they're
(01:02:35):
in aerospace engineering or not. There's something to the trajectory
of your path and journey that can be used to
help and inspire and guide other young people who are
sitting at that point of decision making, you know, like
(01:02:57):
I want this thing, how am I going to get there?
And what I got out of your story is first
of all, the determination, the clarity about who you are
and about what you're filled with, you know, the wisdom,
the smarts of the intelligence and all of that. The
ability to navigate rooms and spaces whether they reflect who
(01:03:19):
you are, you know, thank you your skin or not.
There's also something to be said for really having that
gratitude and appreciation for the professionals that helped you to
get here to where you are, and then to also
turn that around and give that back to other young
(01:03:40):
people who are in the shoes that you were in.
I also see a willingness to be a lifelong learner
and to grow and evolve and to check yourself and
to check yourself out. Thank you, and also the ability
(01:04:01):
to integrate self care and connecting to nature and remembering
that you're a human being standing on a pile of
floating rock as you put it right, and then also
to step into this field that you're in with such
grace and such humanity, you know, such such a connection
(01:04:25):
to your humanity, to your humanness, because people see that,
and somewhere there are young people who are watching the
work you're doing and the way you're showing up and
and who can also see beyond your accomplishments, of which
you have many. Right, You're pretty you got it. You've
(01:04:49):
done a lot of things, right, You've done a lot
of things. And it's and what I'm really tuning into
here is the what you've done, yes, which is very important,
but it's the how you're doing it, doing it from
a perspective of being of service, doing it from the
perspective of caring about those other people who are watching
(01:05:11):
you and who may need that inspiration, that encouragement, that help.
You know. Yeah, I'm glad you do. Thank you, thank you,
thank you, thank you. So I'm so glad that you
took the trip thank you for that. Please, For those
who are listening, this is a very interesting time for
nonprofits and for people and organizations who have chosen service
(01:05:37):
as their part of their life journey. And a lot
of the funds that were available are right now being
held back. And I think it's one thing to know that,
to talk about it, to be upset about it, to
be outraged about it, and all of those things are
absolutely appropriate. And what are we going to do? What
(01:06:02):
are we going to do when we happen to be
people who are part of this chapter in this country's history?
What are we going to do? So, if there's a
way to support a nonprofit that you believe in, the
cause that you believe in, like Greater than TEK looking
(01:06:23):
to support the next generation of professionals within the STEM space,
do that. If there's something you can do, do it.
And so I encourage those who are listening to follow
this organization, follow this incredible leader, and if you can't help,
directly share it with those folks who can, because I
(01:06:44):
think it's going to take us. It's going to take
human beings, human to human connection, human to human compassion
and support for us to get make our way through
this chapter and all the chapters. Yeah, absolutely, you know so.
Thank you so much for listening to the PODCAS cast.
Those of you who are coming back, I appreciate you.
(01:07:05):
Those of you who are new here, I appreciate you.
And please again follow Greater than Tech like and share
this episode. And that's it. Thank you so much for listening, love, please.
Speaker 1 (01:07:22):
Thank you, thank you for curating this opportunity movement shaping freedom.
Speaker 2 (01:07:30):
I mean, wow, it's important. It's important. First you have
to realize that you're free, right, It's so important. Yeah,
Time and time again throughout my career, people were surprised
that I was an aerospace engineer and sant to Brittany, and
one of our taglines was like make the uncommon common.
When we show up as our authentic self, it reminds
students like, oh if mis Jazmin and doctor Brittany.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
We can do it too. Yeah, it's just the.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Really little moments that just reminds you, like, Okay, we're
talking about big vision goals, but it's these little touch
points that just like show them that you care.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Welcome to the Shaping Freedom podcast, where we dive into
conversations that inspire personal growth, transformation and clarity and challenging times.
I'm your host, Lysan Bosquia. Today I'm sitting down with
someone who embodies what it looks like to lead with
purpose and possibility. Jasmine Lafleur is an aerospace engineer. She
(01:02):
holds an MBA. She's a nonprofit founder and community advocate
who is carved out a path that defies the limits
placed on so many young women of color entering technical fields.
She grew up in Flint, Michigan, and went on to
earn engineering degrees from the University of Michigan and Purdue
and an MBA from Indiana University. She now leads applied
(01:26):
research work at Collins Aerospace and co founded Greater Than Tech,
which is a nonprofit helping girls and underserved youth learn
STEM and the business skills that turn ideas into impact.
She has been recognized as one of San Diego's Top
fifty Women of Influence in Technology. Her story is one
(01:48):
about identity, access, resilience, and the courage to design a
life that aligns with your values. Jasmine brings clarity, discipline,
and heart to every space that she enters, and I'm
honored to have her here. Thank you so much for coming, Jasmine,
(02:13):
Thank you so.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Much for having me, and thank you for that beautiful introduction.
It's just an honor to be in this space and
to share a conversation with you today. So thank you
for the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
You're welcome. And for those of you who are listening
on audio and don't have access to the video which
is on the YouTube Shaping Freedom podcast page, this woman
is a ball of light. I met you in person
(02:46):
during Soulful Saturdays last month. Whenever that was. It feels
like a lifetime ago. Yeah, and we caught eyes and
said hello to each other, and You're like, I'm Jasmine.
I'm like, oh my god, I'm so happy you're here.
So we had the opportunity to meet to meet there.
That was the first thing that really excited me about
(03:07):
this conversation that we're going to have today was how
alive you are and how bright you shine. And so afterwards,
I'm glad you do please please do. Uh. And then
afterwards when I kind of went to start, you know,
thinking about the kind of questions that I was going
to ask, I felt, I'm so honored to have you
(03:33):
here and so honored to have the opportunity to have
you share your story with the folks who are going
to be listening to it.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
You know, I just want to give you a hug
right now, because the hugs the hugs honored is felt.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah. Yeah, you have created and are charting a path.
In some ways it feels like a very technical path, right,
engineering and and this work that you're doing. What was
it that led you toward engineering as a as a
(04:09):
career path?
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Yeah, okay, what was it? I feel like there were
so many things. I normally start off talking about how
I lived, like near the flight path of airport. So
I just was seen planes flying and asking my mother
how do planes stay in the air. And my mom
(04:33):
was an educator, early childhood educator, so her question back
to me was.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Maybe one day.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
You'll have a job where you can answer that question yourself.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
So even before that, I've always been a tinkerer, Like
my uncle called me the puzzle wizard when I was
a kid. I used to do puzzles with my grandma
all the time. So just someone that was naturally inquisitive.
I'm still naturally inquisitive, and I think those type of
skill sets make you want to build and wonder and create.
(05:06):
So I loved school, math and science was fun. I
eventually joined the robotics team.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I would say I.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Grew up in a home where my mom and my
grandma very much would call me smart and made me
feel like I was that girl, Like there was a
lot of positive affirmations in my home growing up, and
then getting to the path of deciding to do engineering
and the experience of becoming an aerospace engineer. That was
(05:37):
when I had to learn despite what the metrics and
the type of school I went to and the folks
who normally enter those rooms. I was still smart, but
in my own way, not in a way that was
noticeable to folks who I would say were the gatekeepers
of entering those different spaces.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Yeah, that's interesting. I interviewed Ingrid Best this morning and
she part of her origin story was having her mom
share with her that someone said that she was a star,
and how she held onto that as my words, kind
(06:20):
of her north star in her career path and the
things that she did later. And so I want to
stop for a moment to acknowledge what an impact someone
helping you to see yourself yeah, as smart, as beautiful,
(06:41):
as capable, the impact that that can have on a
person's life, and how important it.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Is, and especially at young ages. Right. There are science
that says the childhood brain is in theta from zero
to seven, So that's where a lot of that identity
building and subconscious is being formed and developed. So I
think that was my ethos of like, Okay, I'm smart.
(07:09):
I'm smart because that's what I was told.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Yeah, and conversely, when we're told the opposite, you know
what that does to create limitations in a person's life.
So you grew up in Flint, what was that like?
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Wo? I mean it was great. Like I think it's
that story where you don't really know how your city
or environment is viewed until you step outside of it.
So that said, I mean growing up in Flint, I
had a lot of friends, I did a lot of activities.
(07:46):
I was involved in many different clubs, and just like
a lot of community, it's predominantly black city. So one
of the things I remember growing up is my fourth
grade teacher, Ms Walker, who was the first person that
told me about Juneteenth and we had to like remember
the continents of Africa. Like she was very euro I
(08:10):
mean afrocentric looking back, but at the time it's like, Okay,
this is ms Walker and now growing up, I'm like WHOA.
I was exposed to, like so much culture at a
young age, and a lot of the spaces that I
was in was predominantly black, And unfortunately the way I
grew up in a sense of wanting to achieve aerospace engineering,
(08:34):
I felt like I needed to align with people who
didn't look like me to help me get there. You know, Flint,
Michigan isn't necessarily the place you think about when you
think of an aerospace engineer, So stepping outside of that,
I feel like I was kind of playing to classism
a little bit to figure out, Okay, how do I
(08:56):
get to this step when I don't know anyone in
my neighborhood or in my direct connections that can guide
me on that path.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
So you mentioned aerospace engineering. When did you know that
that was what you wanted to do?
Speaker 1 (09:12):
So you're speaking yeah, yeah, okay, six. So I would
say at six it was like the question how do
planes fly? But I was a part of a nonprofit
organization when I was a kid. It was called the
Carrera Program and it was for at risk youth and
it was all about preventing teenage pregnancy. So they made
sure there were activities for I think I joined it
(09:34):
in the sixth grade and I was in that program
to twelfth grade, and they gave us a lot of
different opportunities about like life skills, and they took me
on my first college tour. So that college tour was
at the University of Michigan my eighth grade summer, and
I remember seeing the wind tunnel at the Aerospace Department
and that's when it clicked for me, like, oh, this
(09:56):
is how I learn about how planes fly. To go
to this school, I got to do whatever it takes
to be here. So wow, eighth grade summer.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Wow, and you knew that was the thing that you
were marching toward. Wow. You talked about a few moments
ago about kind of realizing or noticing that the people
who were in the space that you were looking to
work within were different from you. So how do you
(10:26):
how did you navigate kind of that choice between kind
of fitting in and being yourself having come from I'm
from Brooklyn, Yeah, right, And so I love to ask
people like what their place was like, because it's part
of our origin story, like who we are, Like I'm
very much informed today is very much informed by having
(10:48):
grown up in Brooklyn, as I'm sure it is for
you having been brought up in Flint. But you also
mentioned that it was a very you had a lot
of black culture, of people of culture of color around
you and then having your kind of navigating space. So
(11:08):
how did you navigate that?
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Yeah? You know, I always credit the teachers in my life,
whether they are a teacher by education or a teacher
as a mentor. I so my physics and chemistry teacher,
mister John's. He was someone who believed in us and
was someone who I think just like saw our light.
(11:31):
And when I say, are like all of the students,
who's who was a student of mister John's. So you know,
by eighth grade, I knew like, okay, I got to
get to this school. And then I'm looking out all
the requirements. You got to have this ACT score, you
got to take this class in this class, so.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
This is a high school that you were getting into.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
University grade was when I realized what college I wanted
to go to to learn aerospace. But between ninth and
twelfth grade, I at least knew like the requirements to
it there you have to take like chemistry, you have
to you know, just all these different requirements. So I
had a list of schools I was interested in. University
of Michigan was the first choice because it was the
(12:11):
number one aerospace school at the time, and mister Johns
was just someone who was very like you can do this.
Like I had a whole list of schools. I was
super oldie when it came to like structure and like, okay,
let's make sure we check these boxes. And I had
a whole list of schools. I'm like this school, of
that school, this school, and I have pros and cons. Okay,
this school costs this much, this school is this far away,
(12:31):
this school is this, and he just circled University of Michigan.
Was just like, you belong there. Oh, wow, you belong there.
And I would say conversely, my advisor at the time
or high school counselor, who was someone of color and
mister John's was not of color, saw my transcript resume,
(12:53):
and you know, knew I was smart, but I think
there's a idea of what type of like environment you
need to grow up in to get to a prestigious
type of school like that. So it's this weird thing
I remember feeling where someone who looked like me wasn't
necessarily an advocate or maybe trying to protect me, and
(13:14):
someone who didn't look like me was like, oh, you
got this, no problem. So even understanding other people's origin stories,
as hey, this is an advisor and their job is
to put my career interests, you know, to the best
of their ability. And I look at it as now,
(13:34):
that was what they saw at the time. They just
didn't see someone like me achieving and making it that
far right? Did that help to get you there? The advisor,
you know, the.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Kind of pushback. I'm a person. Tell me I can't
do it, Yeah, tell me I can't do it right.
So I'm wondering, and sometimes that can go two ways.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
I think it was first a little bit of defeat.
Like I said, I loved school. I was the kid
who loved math and science. I joined the robotics program.
I was in an engineering graphics class. I was in
an engineering camp. So everything I was doing between ninth
and twelfth grade was like preparing to be an engineer.
So to get to the stage where I'm applying to
(14:21):
colleges and submitting applications and you know, the one person
who's kind of the like yay or nay or the
support system to do that's like, h, you should aim lower.
So for me to have grown up in a home
where I'm told I'm smart, I'm told i'm like worthy
high Yeah, and then that felt like a backlash, like Okay,
(14:43):
maybe I need to reconsider. And so at first it
was a I don't know, but then it turned into fuel.
So that said, I now feel like I'm fueled by
that doubt. But when I first had that m it
was like, Okay, maybe I need to reconsider, and you didn't. Yeah,
(15:06):
And I would also say I've been able to navigate
paths by being inquisitive and understanding what is like the
true and real need for a certain requirement or if
it's just like a recommendation based on what people have
seen before. And I think in that moment, you know,
(15:29):
this is the crossroads between high school and college. Am
I going to make it to this school for aerospace engineering?
I started figuring out other paths to get there. So
I had another person say, well, if you don't make
it into engineering, do a cross campus transfer and then
(15:49):
go into the engineering college. So that was a way
to like kind of sidestep the not side step, but
just find another way to.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Find another way, which is important. I appreciate the fact
that you seem to be a person who, like you
know what you want and you're going to figure out
how to get there. And I think that in a
time when people can oftentimes be deterred by a little
(16:20):
bit of pushback or by the energy an effort that
it takes to live in uncertainty.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Yes, and honestly, Lisan, I think that's who I was
being so laser focused, and now I'm more into what
am I guided by in the flow versus I got
to check this box, I gotta achieve this, you know,
unlearning a lot of the structure. I feel like I've
used to be successful and now looking at things more energetically.
(16:53):
What is my truest why? What is my deepest yes
for something more than like If it doesn't look like that,
I don't want it.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
I used to be like that. Marshall Goldsmith wrote this book.
The world renowned coach wrote a book called what Got
You Here, Won't Get You There? Or something. Yeah, I
may have the title botched, but it was basically saying like,
sometimes we have these these behaviors that get us to
(17:26):
the thing right, but then you get to a point
where you have to do something else to get to
that next evolution of your journey. What made you realize that?
Speaker 1 (17:40):
I don't know if it was one single thing. I
think maybe after twenty twenty and just you know, thinking
about like power structures and who's making decisions and who
is representing certain things I started unlearning. You know, I'm
(18:05):
in the aerospace now and very male, not dominated field,
and I remember early on in my career there were
certain leaders that I wanted to be like they were
very like straight, no chaser, you know, this is mission
critical like just and I'm like, yeah, I want to
be like that. And then I joined a program called
(18:27):
Rye San Diego. It's more about leading from within and
more about just decolonizing leadership honestly, and I started unlearning
some behaviors that I saw of people in positions of
power and really just started unraveling and thinking about, like,
(18:47):
you know, what does it mean to show up as
my authentic self? I think about nature verse nurture a lot.
Like you know, engineering is very structured. Aerospace is very structured.
You know, you get one thing wrong, can a whole
plane can just go down past? So you know, the
precision and the thoughts of like okay, this one bolt
(19:08):
can just mess up everything. It trains your brain to
always highlight risks, always highlight like what could potentially go wrong,
and being an environment like that and starting to learn like, oh,
some things can be both and some things are more
about energy and flow, and oh, by the way, like
there's a whole thing called the divine feminine and like
(19:32):
where does that really show up in spaces like aerospace?
You know, So then looking within more about okay, it's
not that I want to be like this particular leader
who's like doing all this more than I want to
be in a position of power to support people. And
that's more about, you know, when you think about women
and the way we lead, it's more about collaboration. It's
(19:55):
more about you know, supporting people from a communal level
more than hierarchical, top down level. So I think I'm
still in the phase of like, how do you know? Yeah,
And I would say I'm unlearning what it means to
be a leader in a technical space and show up as.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Me next year, we have a series of sessions around
through shaping freedom, and it's around the idea of how
to type a differently right, because I think that I
was raised by my dad, and so I had a
relationship with my mom and adored my mom, but was
(20:39):
raised in my father's home. And one of the things
that I learned, I'm also first generation Haitian and Puerto Rican,
and so I really learned like strong work ethic and
these kind of behaviors that helped me to accomplish some
pretty incredible, wonderful things with focus. But one of the
(21:02):
things that I observed both during the time that I
was in a corporate environment, and since in the work
that I've done in human behavior is that holds what
falls into that type a bubble and cup has wonderful things,
but there were also some things that really move us
away from our that dehumanizes us right where we start
(21:28):
to see ourselves as robots, tools as tools. That's a
great way to put it. As tools. What are you
going to do to make this tool do all the
things that it needs to do? And I believe that
we can. It can be both, you know, being the
(21:49):
divine feminine or being led by the divine feminine being
a human having compassion and empathy and creating collaborative environments
can coexist absolutely with getting things done. And so I
very strongly believe in and we're going to do some
more work on that next year. In this idea that
(22:11):
we can type a differently, I would love to be
involved with that, yeah, because it's so important. The consequence
(22:32):
of believing yourself to be or seeing yourself as a
tool is that you lack compassion for other people, but
you have to lack compassion for yourself, So it disconnects
you from the relationship. The quality of the relationship that
you can be in with yourself because you don't see
yourself as a family. You see yourself for what you
(22:54):
can do, not who you are. Yep.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
And I even think the resume concept is part of
what is that. So I did a ted X talk
last year about it's not only the resume, sometimes it's
the unresume and part of that story or that why
came from two things. One, I was not a great
(23:21):
student in terms of GPA on paper. So a lot
of times when you're looking for your first job, they're
just looking at your GPA and what internships you had.
And I didn't have a great GPA, and I had
one internship and two what I learned and rise through
our spirals. So basically I felt that there were things
(23:43):
I was dealing with or learning underneath a resume. So
for example, I was my third year of college, my grandmother,
granddad and mom passed away, and I took a leave
of absence from school, and I remember a mentor asking
me about my resume, and I remember thinking like I
(24:06):
wish I could put planned three funerals in three months
and showed up to class without crying on the resume.
And you know, those were the things that don't necessarily
buy eurocentric standards say oh she's smart, she knows what
she's doing. But those were real life events and lived
experience that are transferable to a work ethic. So that
(24:31):
was part of it. And then when I was in Rye,
San Diego, just learning other people's stories and thinking, wow,
I want to work with those people. At the time,
I didn't know their titles, I didn't know what they
did for work, but just seeing someone's heart and soul
and who they are and how they show up, I
feel like it's a metric of success. So that's where
(24:55):
it came from. And to your point about like being
connected within, that's a little bit of the journey that
I had to do reflecting on who I am as
individual more than what you see on a resume or
a piece of paper.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
You ensure that you got support navigating the path that
you wanted to go down. And now here you are.
You're an aerospace engineer. We're going to talk about greater
than Tech in a few minutes, and I'm also wondering,
what have you done or what are you doing to
(25:29):
support yourself? So now you've accomplished some things, so you
set out to accomplish. It seems like you're You've talked
about unlearning some things and kind of seeing things a
little differently and seeing kind of the energetics of things.
How do you how do you care for yourself today?
And how do you work plan it?
Speaker 1 (25:49):
I think more than ever for me, getting out of
my head into my body is like paramount. I did
a lot of activities when I was a kid. One
is dance, ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, so I think
once a dancer, always a dancer, and being able to
just play a song, dance it out, you know, before
(26:12):
I go into a meeting, just to raise that frequency.
So moving my body is so important to just you know,
feel feel better, feel enlightened. Music is big for me
as well, so too making sure that I'm listening to
I have a whole like high Vibes playlist, so that
(26:33):
and then writing. Sometimes I feel like I'm always like
problem solving or thinking about stuff, so it feels like
a download when I have these aha moments where I
just have to like record it or just express right,
Like I talk to some of my best friends every
day and I'm in so many different rooms and meetings
(26:55):
that I'll just start seeing patterns about things, whether it's
with exactives talking about innovation or mentoring students talking about
we have a VR cap stone going on right now,
or I'm on the school board so talking about workforce
development and skill set. So it's just like all these
(27:15):
aha moments will happen. I'm like, Okay, I got to
write this down because I don't know if anybody else
would have thought this about me, just to you know,
get the thought out or you know, get something out
of my body or out of my mind to let
it live and breathe.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Yeah, so you had You also mentioned navigating being in
a predominantly black area and then navigating other spaces as
an adult. Now, how do you ensure that you stay
connected to who Jasmine is? Like, you have these incredile
(27:53):
you have an incredible resume, right and you're you're in
all these spaces and places and having these conversations, and
you're a leader in your profession. How do you also
ensure that you're filling your self up?
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Yeah. I think it's a myriad of things. I mean,
I think creating greater than tech and being in community,
the type of communities that I serve. You know, I'm
based in San Diego, but you know, underserved communities, like
folks who aren't expecting to be an engineer right away.
(28:36):
Making sure that I'm connecting with those students brings me
back to that like grassroots reality of like I remember
what it's like to be thirteen and not feel like
I had support to get to the next level, or
you know, be dealing with stuff at home that you know,
(28:58):
really causes you to show up to school and disarray.
Outside of that, I'm a big, like I said, a
music person, but also water like cancer, cancer, sun at least,
so taking a bubble bath, like going into a hot
tub or something that just allows me to have flow,
(29:20):
like going to nature right like not that I'm a
big hiker, but at least like walking around the Bay
in area, just being able to see like there's more
than just my problems and issues, Like there's a whole
Like yeah, like we're on a floating rock, Like everything's
(29:41):
gonna be fine. So being able to kind of zoom
out a little bit is important because I can drill
down into like every single detail and every single problem
and try to fix every single one, or I could
just look at water and breathe and know that I
am a part of a bigger ecosystem.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
And I think that's zooming at is. And I was
talking Antonio, who I spoke with before you today. We
talked about that zooming out, and we were talking about
it from the perspective of maps, you know, and how
like the paper map, right, and how today everything is
so it's GPS, but it's also very focused on like
(30:20):
this like intense concentration on a very small thing, and
in doing that, it really takes us away. I believe
that when you it's like I want this, I want
more space, I want more spaciousness, I want more silence.
We have to curate that for ourselves, absolutely, and we
have to also understand that there needs to be a
counterbalance between this concentration into your phone to see where
(30:46):
you're going and the value and benefit of really zooming
out so that you can see yourself within the scope
of the fact that we're on a floating rock or
you know, the fact that you're part of a city,
and to see things from that perspective. Yeah, I think
it helps.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Yeah, And I'm a millennial, so they say like we're
the last generation that connects the physical and the digital.
So me working with the youths of today. They are
so ingrained in the digital world. So even with greater
than Tech, like, yeah, we started with robotics and just
(31:27):
very you know, physical systems, but now it's more about Okay,
what is technology and nature integration looking like? So they
do know the difference between like northeast, south and west,
or they know how to grow a plant and it's excellent,
you know. So it's un learning, unraveling. I'm becoming every day,
say greater every day at GTT, and I think like
(31:50):
the lessons and the AHAs that I'm learning as an
individual will be part of the seeds of GTT and
how we evolve there.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Let's talk about greater than tech?
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Is it greater than tech? Yeah? So I co founded
a nonprofit with my friend and sister in STEM, doctor
Britney Wheeler. Oh what inspired you to do that? A
couple of things, Lisan. So doctor Britney Wheeler and I
we were employee resource group leaders for the African American
Forum at the time. At work. She also works at
(32:23):
the same company as me, and at the time we
were so even before that, I think she got an
award for something at work like Diversity Champions Award, and
she was the first black person I saw on our
company website. Oh wow getting an award? Okay, So I
was like, hey, yeah, what's you doing over there? And
(32:44):
at the time, I was living in Connecticut, so she
was just on a company website. So we became friends
because I reached out and she's like, oh, like this
could be you too. Solely met in person at Nesby.
We started doing the African American Forum together. That was
a sense of community building and you know, doing events
for like cultural relevance of you know, Black individuals and
(33:05):
career prep. And then we were robotics instructors at a
nonprofit called Elementary Institute of Science for middle school girls.
So that was also my first time doing community work
in San Diego. So we were doing like internal work
together at the company, we were doing external work with
(33:27):
the other nonprofit. And then we were also in grad school,
so I was doing my NBA at the time. She
was doing her doctor at engineering, and I also was
the chief of staff to a VP of engineering who
was saying that engineers don't know business. So all these
little patterns I had moments were happening for me where
(33:48):
I thought about how STEM is great. But there's more
to learning about STEM or science, technology, engineering, math than
just going to a robotics competition and competing with affluent boys.
As well as if you know a little bit about
entrepreneurship or a little bit about business, you can also
think about creating products or creating solutions using technology. So
(34:12):
that was how Greater than Tech came to be. And
we're all about STEM and entrepreneurship for underserved youth middle
and high school. And the idea there is you know,
I think when I was growing up, Mark Zuckerberg and
all these people with these big tech companies were kind
of the like north Star try to be like them,
(34:32):
and I think we can, but differently where our youth
are being introduced to how technology can change the world
for social impact for their communities, and they're thinking about
development early on more than just compete at a competition.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
And who does Greater than Tech serve?
Speaker 1 (34:54):
So middle and high school underserved youth. Our mission started
with girls, and specifically middle school girls because middle school
is where a girls start forming their identity about their career.
Then we expanded to middle and high school underserved youth
because we started being asked to do programs. So based
in San Diego, but we've done programs or at least
(35:16):
workshops in the LA area, and we're focused on emerging
technology because there is more usually less barrier to entry.
You don't necessarily need to go to a four year
university to learn how to do computer aided design or
design for additive manufacturing. You don't necessarily have to go
(35:37):
to four year college for learning how to fly drone.
So finding those emerging technologies that can be workshopped or
even produced for a workshop early on instead of having
to go down the route I did to be an
aerospace engineer.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
So it's almost to drive more efficiency into someone else's
journey like that. What is STEM the acronym for you said.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
It before, but just technology, engineering and math? Okay?
Speaker 2 (36:07):
So are you just working with you're working with youth? Yeah, okay,
And so what are some of the struggles that those
folks that you serve tell you that they're experiencing as
they're trying to enter the field? You know, is STEM
considered a field or yes, we're trying to enter STEM.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
I'll just say yeah, I mean STEM is so vast. Yeah,
I'm just gonna say STEM field because there's so many
different ways a lot of it. So something is minor
is like just transportation to get to a program. So
we make sure that our students can join us at
(36:47):
the programs. And you know, that's an easy one, easy
in the sense of we know how to do its funding.
You know, it isn't always easy. However, when it comes
to I think the way doctor and I show up
as our authentic self. I think time and time again
throughout my career people were surprised that I was an
(37:07):
aerospace engineer and saying to Brittany and one of our
taglines was like make the uncommon common. And I think
when we show up as our authentic self, it reminds
students like, oh if mis jazzmen and doctor.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
Brittany, we can do it too.
Speaker 1 (37:22):
Yeah. So there's been parents, and I mean it's just
one of those like the subconscious things like you naturally
do that you don't even realize is a thing for someone.
I think one of the parents are like, oh, like,
it's so cute seeing you and the girls with your
nails on working on robots. I'm like, oh, okay. So
(37:44):
I think the way we show up allows them to
feel seen and like, Okay, you know, they seem cool.
We can do that. But in terms of like struggles
when we have deeper conversations and a lot a lot
of the time that's through our Alumnae Club, which is
the part of GTT that's really more about like that
personal development. It's not really a curriculum program, and it's
(38:06):
like how can we help the individual girl in the
way that she needs. We've had students say that like
they're on a i EP, you know, individualized. I don't
know what the E and P stand for, but you know,
at a at risk plan at school and them doing
a program with us. We did Girl Meet Cybersecurity last
(38:28):
year that allowed them to have a something they wanted
to strive for, Like, Okay, although I'm on this IEP,
I'm seeing how I can get into the cybersecurity field,
and like I want to pursue that. Doctor Britty and
I both have a lot of personal struggles in the home.
So I think even when we open up and share
like hey, I had a mother who struggled with substance abuse,
(38:52):
like it almost gives them permission to feel comfortable sharing
and feeling like they can strive for greatness strive for,
you know, the careers that they want when they know
someone else that looks like them or resonates with them,
have has done the same.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
Or just that other people are experiencing the same thing,
because sometimes we don't realize that, Yeah, we think it's
just us, especially when we're younger, right, And so I
think the more that adult people can share some yeah
of what we've walked through, I think the better it
is for everyone.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
What has surprised you about creating a nonprofit?
Speaker 1 (39:35):
Ooh, I surprised that the work that you do, Like
so we're talking about like STEM and technology and you know,
emerging technology, business entrepreneurship, like that is the basis. But
(39:56):
I feel like the work that's really being done is
like the confidence in the self efficacy. I can't tell
you how many times, like like I wasn't a nonprofit
when I was a kid, So I'm having all these
IHA moments about like man, mister Domino was so sweet
and miss Michelle is so sweet. I now so like
the impact of just like they're in the car with
(40:19):
me and we're going to the Maverick Center at UCSD,
Like you know, my little twenty ten court they're just
like having a good time and they can listen to
a song that they want to listen to. Like, it's
just the really little moments that just reminds you, like, Okay,
we're talking about big vision goals, but it's these little
(40:40):
touch points, yeah that just like show them that you care. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
I think it's also that moment knowing that there are
people who are willing to connect, you know, in a
time and in a culture and society. Yeah, people feel
so disconnected in so many ways. Yeah. So, and here's
the thing. The beautiful thing is I was thinking about
(41:09):
you talking about your child, your experience as a child,
and these human beings who really really touched your experience,
and how you're able to give that to some other
young person who, you know, a couple of decades from now,
will be sitting somewhere, you know, talking about their journey
(41:32):
and how you and doctor Brittany were able to help
them to get there. That's beautiful work.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
Thank you. Yeah, that's beautiful work.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
Okay, I didn't mean to cry, but hey, we talk
about human human being. Yeah, what do you think the
next generation of engineering leaders need besides the technical stuff?
Speaker 1 (42:02):
Compassion, grace and space engineering is a very structured field,
and I think the idea in which you have to
do engineering is not necessarily representative. For I would say
the communities I serve like what we need. I know,
(42:24):
I love music. I'm sure I'm neurodivirgin in some way.
So what does it look like to design space for
the folks who are tinkerers, who can connect dots, who
may have, you know, some type of trauma or even
like different abilities. Yeah, so having space or a place
(42:49):
where they can just learn and wonder the way that
their brain works, without judgment, without feeling like the only one,
without feeling like they have to conform to certain standards.
On top of there's a lot of tools and a
lot of information out there where I feel like they
(43:13):
can learn faster and you know, just figure out what
resonates with them most instead of having to follow things
a certain way.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
Yeah. I think you're demonstrating this, but I wonder, in
that space that you work within, what does effective leadership
look like today? In these technical spaces, effective leadership affective leadership?
Speaker 1 (43:41):
I would say for me, it's wanting to follow someone's mannerisms,
looking up to someone saying I want to be like that,
or I want to learn from that person, or I
want to embody who they are. It's not I would
(44:06):
say the formalities of what I think I grew up
thinking what leadership was.
Speaker 2 (44:11):
Yeah, because I think that there was a time where
like effective leadership would be like time management, being clear
about your goals and that make sure that you accomplish
those things.
Speaker 1 (44:22):
I think it's about being human understanding humanity understanding. We
actually just updated our core values for GTT and one
of them is start with compassion or with integrity. And
I think compassion is a big part of it because
(44:43):
typically you don't know people's story or background or why
they show up the way they do. And that's a
huge part of like why structures are like you know,
when you assume, we get the same results of what
we think it is to be successful, what we think
(45:05):
it is to be you know, worthy, valuable, this GPA,
this resume, this school, this connection, this title, and you know,
I guess going back to the resume, like the compassion
in which people had to show up a certain way
for the life that they were given.
Speaker 2 (45:27):
Yeah, for how long it's greater than tech been in business?
Speaker 1 (45:43):
So paperwork twenty nineteen. I always say false Start twenty
twenty one and that's when we really started getting into
the community of delivering programs.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
Tell me a really great story that you like to
chat about someone that you were worked with, that you've supported.
Speaker 1 (46:03):
She's our OG student because now she's in college and
she's maybe going into her third year. Her name's Jackie,
and I met her through Elementary Institute of Science, so
we were doing a workshop there in twenty twenty one.
It was a one week robotics camp for girls, and
she was a lab assistant. So Greater than Tech is
(46:25):
all about like stem and entrepreneurship, so we're always adding
that business like do a pitch, think about your customers
or your beneficiaries. And she was a lab assistant, so
she was like teaching middle school girls how to code.
And at the time she was probably fourteen, so I'm
like wow, like you're already so advanced. And then she
(46:47):
did our Girl meets Strone program and that's when she
started like pitching, and that was when she went from like, oh,
I want to she went from I want to do
robotic to I want to have robotics company. So she
has this like she already had this idea of engineering
in her heart, but for her to start thinking about
(47:10):
like startup entrepreneurship now it's like, wow, she actually can
do it. So now she's at Columbia studying mechanical engineering.
Like I said, she's such a light and someone who
already had that edge, but definitely first generation college student,
like someone who's going to change the trajectory of her
(47:32):
family tree. And you know, there's been many moments where
we were able to support her and I think we
like bought her first business casual clothes like for interviews.
So it's just little things like she did the programs
she got into the school. But you know there's still
like little elements of love that we can give her
(47:53):
and show that we care and even share our story
about what it's like being in engineering as probably one
of only women of color.
Speaker 2 (48:04):
And what is your advice to women of color who
are stepping into these engineering programs if.
Speaker 1 (48:11):
There were like three, yeah, pieces of advice that you
can yeah. So I know that my journey and engineering
would not have been possible without the other black girl
who was in my aerospace program. Her name is Sydney Hamilton.
So we were pretty much like you know, Belman Luise
(48:31):
trying to thug it out through aerospace engineering and studying
together doing flash cards, like finding a network or somebody
that supports you and you can be yourself with and
understand like, okay, this is how I learned. I got
to sing a song to figure out how to get
this equation right. Also asking for help finding mentors who
(48:56):
resonate with you, who can keep it real with you.
A story I'll tell is my first job offer I
got was actually for an analyst position and not an
engineering position. So I asked a mentor who was working
for Boeing at the time, and it was a Boeing
analyst position at Boweing. So you know, with someone as
(49:19):
someone who I didn't have the best GPA, didn't have
the best resume, I'm thinking, okay, it's Boeing, maybe I
should just take this analyst position. And that person said, no, Jasmine,
you're engineer. Yeah, you have an aerospace engineering degree. You
should be doing engineering. So someone that can give you
permission and a lock and give you a real answer
(49:39):
for how to show up. And then I think, third
learn how to I don't know if I want to
say self soothed, but like, how do you maintain your
own mental health, your own mental sanity, being able to
zoom out, being able to take a break, take a walk,
(50:02):
touch grass, like, just have some type of mechanism that
allows you to release yourself of all of the things
going through.
Speaker 2 (50:13):
Life and just be Yeah, what's something that you're learning
about yourself right now?
Speaker 1 (50:19):
M learning about myself. I love to learn. I think
more than ever, I'm learning that I already have the answers.
Speaker 2 (50:35):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (50:37):
I am someone who I think big picture. A lot
of my career has been a lot of technical breath.
I work very closely with subject matter experts. I think
I can look at things from a bird's eye view
often and although I may not be like in the
(50:58):
details so specifically, actually we know what I'm talking about.
So trusting my intuition about things, trusting my brilliance, like
reminding myself I am smart even if I don't have
the answers right away, and giving myself grace to know
that answers will arrive.
Speaker 2 (51:19):
So, yeah, what happened? The answers and smart aren't always yeah,
you know, don't always correlate to each other, like one
has nothing to do with the other exactly. Yeah, is
there anything that you're intentionally letting go of.
Speaker 1 (51:34):
Hmmm. Uh, I feel like there are so many things.
The one thing I would say is just other people's
expectation of It's a good one. I think early on
in my career, you know, there's this level of like
assimilation that I was doing where it's like, I gotta
(51:55):
wear the blue collar shirt like everyone, and like I
remember when I joined the company, it was I got
feedback to like not wear my hair natural or curly,
so being okay with showing up how I dress. You know,
I'm a professional if I don't have on the blue
the funny little blue collar shirt, and you know, just
(52:19):
letting people react to me. I think I've spent a
good amount of time almost anticipating different things, risks like oh,
I gotta go this way because they're going to go
that way. Like you know, now it's not reacting to
what I think is going to happen more than like
I can control what happens next.
Speaker 2 (52:39):
Yeah. Yeah, that takes trusting in yourself absolutely. As you
were making your way here today was what did you
want to share?
Speaker 1 (52:50):
What did you want to talk about? What did I
want to talk what did you.
Speaker 2 (52:56):
Want to talk about if there was anything where you
were like, I really want to share this to the
folks who are listening. I want them to know this
about me, about.
Speaker 1 (53:06):
You know, Listan don't. I don't know if I had
that thought at all. Okay, I will say that I
truly believe that we create our own reality and thoughts
become things. So maybe I'm questioning how things have manifested
in my life based on my mindset going into things,
(53:29):
so to go from I was told I was smart
from zero to seven to you know, fourteen to twenty two,
I felt like I wasn't And how that imprints on
you subconsciously when you're constantly battling that like identity of
(53:51):
like wait a minute, am I smart? I don't know.
So just like being able to stay in frequency, stay
in alignment to your or higher self on who you
want to be versus like what these negative what people
tell you who you are? So really just practicing staying
(54:12):
in that affirmation of myself and gratitude for who I am,
and you know, just staying in alignment with who I
know myself to be.
Speaker 2 (54:24):
How do you define joy? I've been having that conversation
a lot lately with people. You know, in my mind,
there's a difference between joy and happy. You know.
Speaker 1 (54:35):
Joy for me is like any laugh. I like randomly
write down stuff, and I remember writing a list of
tiny Joy for me and a couple of things on
my list is like driving past the speed limit when
my music turned up. Like that's a form of tiny,
Like I love music, dancing in the mirror, a long
(55:00):
pedicure that comes with a foot massage, bubbla bath with music,
and like just moments.
Speaker 2 (55:06):
Joy is what does joy feel like to you?
Speaker 1 (55:16):
And it's laughing, it's smiling.
Speaker 2 (55:20):
It's what is a boundary that you have learned how
to enforce, either with yourself or with other people, professionally, personally, whatever.
Speaker 1 (55:35):
I don't know if it's a boundary, more than I
know that I can tell people what I'm doing versus
me asking for a permission.
Speaker 2 (55:48):
I love that for you.
Speaker 1 (55:50):
So there was this book called Nice Girls Don't Get
the Corner Office.
Speaker 2 (55:55):
I've heard of it, I haven't read it. It's a
good okay.
Speaker 1 (55:58):
I think I read it first year in engineering, and
one of the things she said was don't ask your
manager if you can take time off, tell them you're
taking time off, and ask them if that's an issue.
Speaker 2 (56:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (56:13):
So now I feel like I approach situations with partners, managers, whatever,
like I'm going to do this, let me know if
that's a problem. Yeah, they will let you know.
Speaker 2 (56:24):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (56:25):
So is that a boundary more than just like it's letting.
Speaker 2 (56:29):
Letting a person know what you want, which is you know,
in a roundabout way, it's like, this is what I want. Yeah,
and I'm being very clear eno upfront about it. Firsus
asking for permission, to even ask to put asking for
permission to put your wants on the table exactly.
Speaker 1 (56:45):
Now you say that all the time, like ask for forgiveness,
not for permission. But now it's just like, no, I'm
going to tell you and you're gonna let me know
if that's a problem.
Speaker 2 (56:53):
Yeah. What is one thing that you want to be
remembered for?
Speaker 1 (56:57):
I would say just being a good human someone who
was compassionate, loving, cared for others, cared for the environment,
someone that is referenceable when it comes to how people
want to show up. I have this whole little like
(57:20):
art art installation in my office. It's the Black Cabinet,
but it's my black Cabinet, which is based off the
Black Cabinet of Franklin Roosevelt's Black Cabinet, which was spearheaded
by Mary McLeod but Dune. She's one of my favorite
historical figures. And I have this whole compilation of like,
(57:41):
who are the forty five black leaders that I would
want to listen to?
Speaker 2 (57:44):
Oh wow, that's interesting.
Speaker 1 (57:47):
So Tupac is one of them for me, right, so smart,
He's so smart and authentic and real and courageous. So
he said something like, I may not be the one
that's going to change the world, but I'll spark the
brain that will something like that. I'm probably butchering it.
So I think it's that type of impediment where like
(58:10):
its seeds being sold by way of how I showed
up in my lifetime, and it inspire someone to show
up as the plant that they're supposed to be.
Speaker 2 (58:22):
Yeah, you plant the seeds. Yeah, because that's the plant
that actually comes up. It's the one that you're supposed
to be. I like that if you weren't doing this work,
which path might you explore or might you have explored?
Speaker 1 (58:45):
I used to joke and say that it's not that
I wanted to be like an ar or producer I
wanted to be a song perfectionist.
Speaker 2 (58:54):
What is that?
Speaker 1 (58:55):
It's basically a ar producer, but someone that listens to
a song before it's released art. You know, it's like
that final, final I ad lib person. For some reason,
I feel like my favorite part of songs are ad libs,
and sometimes I feel like there are more allips that
need to be added to songs or like another bridge.
(59:19):
So music is a big part of my life and
I probably would be some type of producer AR music
perfectionist person that's just listening to music and providing feedback.
Speaker 2 (59:34):
What is one thing that you want the next generation
to know about resilience and access and and about creating
a wife that truly feels like your life.
Speaker 1 (59:47):
I think we have to start with joy. I think
the way in which I was taught to be successful
was like the get the work done, work hard, like
got to work towice is hard to a blovable And
I'm not going to discredit what our ancestors had to
(01:00:09):
do to be who they were and allow us to
be on their shoulders. I will say that the frequency
in which we orient ourselves not fear, but joy, can
(01:00:30):
be how you start.
Speaker 2 (01:00:31):
It opens so many doors both the professional physical kind
of doors, but also the doors inside of yourself that
help you to get to where you want to be. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:00:43):
So now I'm I'm singing songs, I'm listening to my music,
I'm blowing bubbles, I'm having joyful reflection before I start work.
Good for you. I would recommend the next generation start
with what is that joy for them before they go
(01:01:07):
into I gotta do all the rest of the world.
Speaker 2 (01:01:09):
Yeah, how can we support your Jasmine.
Speaker 1 (01:01:13):
Lisa well one, you're supporting me by offering this opportunity
to have this conversation, So thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:01:21):
You're welcome.
Speaker 1 (01:01:23):
An easy way is follow greater than tech dot org
or greater than tech on any social and honestly, we're
in a time where people now no longer want to
support our people call it d I call it whatever.
(01:01:43):
But there's a lot of impact work that is being
reduced because some people in positions of power think they're
not worthy. So funding is mission critical. But I know
whatever happens, will still support our students the way we can.
Speaker 2 (01:02:06):
That's powerful.
Speaker 1 (01:02:08):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:02:09):
Yeah, I want to thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 1 (01:02:12):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
I want to thank you for the generosity of getting
yourself to LA to have this conversation. You're in San
Diego as am I, and I know it's a trip,
and I want to thank you also for being such
a role model for young professionals everywhere, right, whether they're
(01:02:35):
in aerospace engineering or not. There's something to the trajectory
of your path and journey that can be used to
help and inspire and guide other young people who are
sitting at that point of decision making, you know, like
(01:02:57):
I want this thing, how am I going to get there?
And what I got out of your story is first
of all, the determination, the clarity about who you are
and about what you're filled with, you know, the wisdom,
the smarts of the intelligence and all of that. The
ability to navigate rooms and spaces whether they reflect who
(01:03:19):
you are, you know, thank you your skin or not.
There's also something to be said for really having that
gratitude and appreciation for the professionals that helped you to
get here to where you are, and then to also
turn that around and give that back to other young
(01:03:40):
people who are in the shoes that you were in.
I also see a willingness to be a lifelong learner
and to grow and evolve and to check yourself and
to check yourself out. Thank you, and also the ability
(01:04:01):
to integrate self care and connecting to nature and remembering
that you're a human being standing on a pile of
floating rock as you put it right, and then also
to step into this field that you're in with such
grace and such humanity, you know, such such a connection
(01:04:25):
to your humanity, to your humanness, because people see that,
and somewhere there are young people who are watching the
work you're doing and the way you're showing up and
and who can also see beyond your accomplishments, of which
you have many. Right, You're pretty you got it. You've
(01:04:49):
done a lot of things, right, You've done a lot
of things. And it's and what I'm really tuning into
here is the what you've done, yes, which is very important,
but it's the how you're doing it, doing it from
a perspective of being of service, doing it from the
perspective of caring about those other people who are watching
(01:05:11):
you and who may need that inspiration, that encouragement, that help.
You know. Yeah, I'm glad you do. Thank you, thank you,
thank you, thank you. So I'm so glad that you
took the trip thank you for that. Please, For those
who are listening, this is a very interesting time for
nonprofits and for people and organizations who have chosen service
(01:05:37):
as their part of their life journey. And a lot
of the funds that were available are right now being
held back. And I think it's one thing to know that,
to talk about it, to be upset about it, to
be outraged about it, and all of those things are
absolutely appropriate. And what are we going to do? What
(01:06:02):
are we going to do when we happen to be
people who are part of this chapter in this country's history?
What are we going to do? So, if there's a
way to support a nonprofit that you believe in, the
cause that you believe in, like Greater than TEK looking
(01:06:23):
to support the next generation of professionals within the STEM space,
do that. If there's something you can do, do it.
And so I encourage those who are listening to follow
this organization, follow this incredible leader, and if you can't help,
directly share it with those folks who can, because I
(01:06:44):
think it's going to take us. It's going to take
human beings, human to human connection, human to human compassion
and support for us to get make our way through
this chapter and all the chapters. Yeah, absolutely, you know so.
Thank you so much for listening to the PODCAS cast.
Those of you who are coming back, I appreciate you.
(01:07:05):
Those of you who are new here, I appreciate you.
And please again follow Greater than Tech like and share
this episode. And that's it. Thank you so much for listening, love, please.
Speaker 1 (01:07:22):
Thank you, thank you for curating this opportunity movement shaping freedom.
Speaker 2 (01:07:30):
I mean, wow, it's important. It's important. First you have
to realize that you're free, right, It's so important. Yeah,
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My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com