September 30, 2024 • 36 mins
In this episode of the College and Career Ready podcast, host Sonia Cacique welcomes Khalil Vinson, the founder and CEO of TechFest Live. Khalil shares his mission to bridge the technology gap for black and brown students through TechFest Live, an ed-tech nonprofit organization. They discuss the importance of identifying student interests, the impact of imposter syndrome, and the broad opportunities technology offers across various industries. Khalil also provides insights into the upcoming TechFest Expo on November 8th at the University of Houston, emphasizing the importance of community and mentorship in navigating tech careers.
00:00 Introduction to College and Career Ready Podcast
00:39 Meet Khalil Vinson: Bridging the Technology Gap
03:13 Exploring Tech Education and Career Opportunities
05:00 Identifying Interests and Leveraging Technology
17:26 Overcoming Imposter Syndrome and Finding Mentors
24:18 The Future of Technology and Inclusivity
27:03 TechFest Live: Empowering the Community
34:20 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
For more information on Tech Fest Live: https://techfestlive.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey, this is Khalil Vincent withTechFest live and you're
(00:02):
listening to the college andcareer ready podcast.
Sonia Intro (00:06):
Welcome to College and Career Ready, the only
podcast that helps studentstransition from high school to
college and college to theircareer.
My name is Sonia Cacique.
I'm a former educator, certifiedschool counselor, career coach,
and founder of Discover U.
Together, we will redefine whatit truly means to be college and
(00:28):
career ready.
And with our community, youdon't have to do this alone.
So come with me and let's getstarted.
Microphone (ATR2100x-USB Mi (00:39):
Hi, parents, students and educators.
I'm your host, Sonya KCK.
And today I am thrilled towelcome a very special guest
Kaleel Vincent.
He is the founder and CEO oftech Fest live and incredible
nonprofit ed tech organization,dedicated to bridging the
technology gap for black andbrown students.
And in this episode, Kaliyahwill share his passion for
(01:02):
empowering students throughtechnology, showing us how it
can open doors to diverse careeropportunities.
And we will just be speakingabout traditional roles like
coding and engineering, butacross various industries.
We will explore how students canidentify their interests and
passions while leveragingtechnology to pursue meaningful
careers.
And we'll touch on the topic ofimposter syndrome, Less Khalila
(01:25):
will give us a sneak peek intothe upcoming tech Fest expo.
It's happening on November 8that the university of Houston
tech bridge in Houston, Texas.
It's a free community event.
So we'd love for you to join usthere.
All the details are included inour show notes.
So make sure to check them outfor more information.
And if you're curious about theintersection of education
technology, anchoreddevelopment, Well, then without
(01:48):
further ado, let's get started.
Welcome Khalil.
Welcome to the college andcareer ready podcast.
I'm so happy to have you heretoday.
It's great to be here.
Thank you for your time and,inviting me to be on the podcast
this evening.
Glad to be here.
I would love for you to sharewith our audience a little bit
of a high level overview aboutyourself and what you do.
(02:11):
Yeah, I'm happy to.
So Khalil Vinson, founder andCEO of TechFest Live.
TechFest Live is a non profit edtech organization whose mission,
is to connect the youth of todayto a better tomorrow through
technology opportunity.
Khalil, is a.
enthusiastic founder who has apassion for really changing the
(02:34):
culture and the narrative aroundtechnology when it comes to
black and brown students.
My goal is to get more of usinvolved in the world of
technology, but not justfocusing on coding and
engineering.
I want us to focus on industrybasis and realize that.
Every company nowadays is a techcompany and with technology
mixed with your passion, it's arecipe for success.
(02:55):
And so, Khalil is just all aboutbeing in the community,
promoting cool technology tokids.
that's really, at the base ofit, what it's boiled down to.
And, I just really feel likethere's a need right now to make
sure we bridge this technologygap, which in turn will bridge
the wealth gap, if done, right.
So I love that.
So tell me what tech ed means.
(03:17):
So bring us back down to basics.
What is tech ed?
Yeah.
So at the simplest form, techeducation, is using technology
resources.
Whether that is, certifications,whether that's workshops,
whether that's, on sitetraining, whether that's just
YouTube videos, it's usingtechnology, to expand the minds
(03:38):
of anyone, with a more digitallysound, a more digitally sound
understanding of the world oftechnology we live in.
Technology is such a broad,Industry is such a broad term
that oftentimes it can be thrownaround in so many different
conversations and kind oflanguages, right?
I mean, you just think thecoding languages.
How many coding languages do wehave a ton?
(04:00):
Right?
And so I think it's importantfor us to understand really.
At the base level, what istechnology?
It's a way for us to do things,either faster, more efficient,
more on time, right?
And so anything and everythingis technology, from the
microphone that you're using tothe headphones to the microphone
(04:21):
that I have cell phones, right?
There's there's levels totechnology.
and no matter what level you getin that, yeah.
This ad tech ad space has beensomething that's grown over the
last, I want to say 20, but it'sprobably been longer than that.
Right?
And so, just getting peoplefamiliar with the, ed tech space
and what does it mean?
And how do live thrive in it?
(04:42):
is it's something that I thinkas an ecosystem, we're still
pushing towards, but it'snothing different than you're
saying, digital, like teachingdigital literacy or teaching,
character development or hardskills.
It falls in the same type of,Domain, when you're thinking
about just education in general.
Yeah.
So one thing that you mentionedwas passions.
(05:04):
I understand.
when students are in middleschool, high school, this still
haven't really identified apassion, right?
that's a big term.
But let's, let's use the wordinterest, right?
They have interests.
So how can a student exploreinterests or passions and find
something that connects.
With a field in technology.
(05:27):
Yeah, I think it's starting athome and what do you do on a
daily basis?
Right.
So what is your routine?
I would encourage a student to,to go through this checklist.
What is your routine when youget home?
So you get off the bus or yourmom, your mother or father drops
you off, whatever your routineis, you get home, are you
running, going straight anddoing your homework?
And then once homework is over,are you jumping on the video
(05:48):
game?
Are you.
playing, I don't know,Minecraft.
Are you doing sports?
Like what are you already doingthat?
No one has to say, Hey, go dothis or that's your interest,
right?
That's your passion, right?
So then take that and say, okay,maybe it was sports.
Maybe it was soccer or baseballor whatever sport it might be.
(06:09):
And that's what you're going todo.
Every time you get home, onceyou're finished your homework,
once you've done all yourchores, your parents told you to
do, you're going to play thatsport.
Now, what I want you to do is.
Start to realize that sport,just because you might not be an
athlete in that sport, right?
Maybe you don't play for yourmiddle school or your high
school.
And when you graduate highschool, maybe you don't even go
(06:31):
play for your college team inthat particular sport.
But what you can do is stillhold on to that passion and use
technology to fuel your passion.
So If I'm very passionate aboutbaseball, but unfortunately I
couldn't make the majors, didn'tmake the minor league, but I
still have this burning passionfor baseball.
Like the strolls are amazing.
I just can't get enough of it.
(06:53):
Try to use technology as a wayto put yourself in a position to
where you can go work for an MLBteam or a minor league team,
right?
Or you can go work for theRockets or the Texans or the
dash or dynamos, right?
And so I, my, my encouragingmessage is when it comes to
interest, find your interest.
And then use technology to helpbring up that process of how can
(07:17):
I make this tangible for myself,you're opening doors to students
who really get discouraged whenthey don't when their plan
doesn't work out right when theydon't make the college team or.
when a coach just tells themyou're just not fit to play pro,
which you know, happens andtheir dreams are crushed.
(07:39):
So what you're saying is thatthere's opportunities that they
can still, hopefully by thenit's a passion that they can
instill their passion into acareer and specifically in
technology.
I love that.
I love that.
So as far as careers intechnology, and I know we can
(08:00):
literally spend a whole hourjust describing all the
different careers, can you giveus a high level overview of what
careers let's do this?
Let's focus on the careers thatmost people don't think of,
because I'm sure you can gothrough the list of the things
that everybody thinks about, butwhat careers do people not think
of as technology great question.
(08:22):
I want to start here, though.
I'll go to that.
But I think it's important tohighlight that people aren't
even Realizing that before youstart at what careers we have to
start at the industry, right?
I T and cyber security are, ofcourse, the main things that
people think when it comes towhat do I want to get a job in
technology, right?
I'm either probably coding orI'm an engineer of some sort.
(08:45):
But what I want people to focuson before they get to the career
part is look at every industryas now a technology industry,
whether that's working at JohnDeere, Whether that's working at
McDonald's, whether that'sworking at Footlocker, whether
that's working at Walmart.
You have a chain of command,right?
So we all know, these differentindustries or these different
(09:06):
companies that I just mentioned,they have a, almost a corporate
ladder.
You'd say, right?
You have folks who start in theentry level and you have folks
that work their way up to middlemanager, senior manager and et
cetera, right?
And you have this across allthese different verticals and
industries.
And so, Oftentimes, we're notlooking at a John Deere as a
(09:26):
technology company.
We're looking at them as anagriculture company.
But what I want, parents andstudents to understand is that
John Deere, Walmart, FootLocker, all these other
organizations, they havetechnology roles and positions
for you.
So don't limit yourself to you.
I don't know what careers areout there because this company
(09:47):
doesn't own for face value.
Right?
This company doesn't look like atech company.
It doesn't really theircommercials don't say, Hey, I'm
a tech company.
But if you do some research andyou dive deeper, this is where
I'll get into the career part.
So for John Deere, you can gofly drones for John Deere and
survey land.
you can work for Walmart, at thecorporate level, right?
(10:09):
You can be in charge of thesoftware that you, that
automates all of their, shippingand receiving.
So there's so many differentcareer paths when it comes to
technology.
I think there's far more than Icould sit here and say that some
that you might not understand,but I think for me, the driving
message that I want to send is,yes, there are some that you
might not know, but there's evenmore industries that you are
(10:31):
probably overlooking because itdoesn't necessarily fit into the
mold of what a technologycompany looks like.
I can say from personalexperience, I graduated with my
computer information systemsdegree.
And for a long time, I thoughtthat I had to go work at the
bigger tech companies becausethat fit the technology mold,
right?
(10:51):
It's like, if I wasn't workingat these larger companies, then
I felt like I must not be intech, but that's not true.
I could go work for whether it'sthe same size, small, medium.
But just in another industry oranother lane.
So I just want the folks tuningin and listening to this to.
Really focus on the industry andfind your passion within that
(11:11):
industry.
And then that career you'llyou're more, I promise that you
will find a career path in thatif you stick with, what industry
do I want to go into first?
Beautiful, beautifully said.
I love it.
I love it.
Cause this is exactly what Iteach in my course.
And you are one of the first toactually speak my language.
So I love that.
Um, so now let's move on toreinforce what you stated
(11:32):
earlier, I interviewed someone,which this podcast episode has
not been released yet, but inthat interview, she was sharing
with me how she's in cells andshe was working for Walmart,
headquarters specifically thefashion department, And she
said, she didn't like her job atall.
And I was like, what?
I mean, for me, it would belike, okay, that's pretty cool.
(11:53):
It's fashion, right?
Cause I love fashion, but thenit's interesting because she
later moved on to a role, stillin cells for PepsiCo and she's a
foodie.
And she loves working for them.
I mean, and it's crazy cause forme, I'm, I'm not necessarily a
foodie.
So for me, it would be like, Ohmy gosh, that would totally not
align with me, but you're right.
(12:14):
And it's the same.
She, I think she does the sameresponsibilities but now she's
working for a company that isaligned with what interests her.
And again, she's a foodie.
So PepsiCo was perfect.
And honestly, Sonya, like beforewe, before a parent or a student
even gets to thinking aboutwhere you want to go, what you
(12:35):
just said is so important.
Like take technology out of it,take all of that out of it.
Go where you are happy.
Go where you are celebrated,where it aligns with your
personal missions.
go to the companies that theirvalues align with your values.
Their structure lines with yourstructure, like outside of
everything else that we talkabout on this podcast or that
(12:56):
Sonia has talked aboutpreviously, or that you've
heard.
That is one of the mostimportant things because.
Without that, you can't do yourjob.
Well, you can't have a clearmind when it when things get
challenging because there's somany other things that are, are
bogging your mind down becauseyou might not be happy at work,
or it might not be the best fit.
Now, sometimes we do have to dojobs that.
(13:19):
Are not our stepping stone job.
So I'm not saying just becauseevery job does not meet your set
of requirements that you just,you don't try your best, but
it's very important to make surethat you're aligning.
Who you are as a person with theemployer that you would like to
work for, because just as muchas you have to work for them,
they have to hire you.
So it's a.
it goes both ways when it comesto choosing, that employer.
(13:39):
And that was just Khalil'slittle, tidbit there.
No, I love that.
I love that.
Cause that's what I tell mystudents.
I'm like, when you identifyyourself, so through our course,
we, my students will walk outknowing their core values and
describe themselves to a pointwhere they can speak that in an
interview.
And that's exactly what I tellthem.
they will be able to pick out ifyou are the right fit or not.
(14:00):
And you will too in the process,but you have to identify that
First.
So I love that, that you sharethat.
Now let's describe.
I don't know if I should saythis, but a techie kid, right?
So a tech student, what are,what, besides the interest,
right?
Because we can fit, we can find,an industry that fits them, but
(14:21):
what defines a student who doeswell in tech, what
characteristics, what softskills, what hard skills do you
think, can really make you standout and think that's a good
potential for a techopportunity.
I feel a certain way about thistopic and question and I'll tell
you why, oftentimes in black andbrown communities, technology
(14:44):
and the, Nerd stigma is ahindrance to black and brown
communities because, weoftentimes have looked at quote
unquote a nerd or someone who issmart or very much educated as
Someone who is not cool, orthey're not running in the
(15:05):
social groups that are going onin middle schools and high
schools.
Right.
And so for me, I am trying todispel the notion and the
stereotype that being a quoteunquote nerd is something to be
ashamed of.
Or it's something that, studentsshould shy away from because it
makes them look.
(15:26):
Less than their peers who aretrying to be cool or putting on
whatever it might be.
So For me, I don't know if I cansay what are the characteristics
that identify a techie because Ithink we're all techies.
We just don't know it.
Right.
But like, if you're doingchallenges and things on Roblox
or you're playing even Call ofDuty or 2k and you're doing all
(15:49):
these different things.
Have you, or you have ever.
recoded a website or change thecolor if you're doing very small
things in technology, you are atechie, whether you realize it
or not.
Every day we hold these devicesin our hands, right?
And we're all techies.
We just maybe don't identify asa techie, I'd say from an
(16:09):
education standpoint, the samethat it goes for all
professions, right?
You won't, you want to.
See someone with good character.
You want to see someone with,good team building skills.
you want to see someone who'sinquisitive, who's asking
questions.
you want to see someone that hassome And they have a passion and
they're confident.
(16:30):
I think all of those skillstranslate to any industry, any
job, any boss is going to behappy to have those students who
have those core capabilitiesbecause you can always build
train on core capabilities.
What's hard is when there'spersonality.
I won't even say there's not apersonality issue, but when
there's personality,discrepancies and maybe they're
(16:51):
not the, they're not the mostconfident or maybe they need to
work on team building.
Those are things that I think inany profession, whether we're
talking about technology or not,those are things that you have
to work on as a younger, as ayouth or young adult or an
adult.
So I don't really want to defineexactly because I think
everyone's a techie.
I think they just might not knowit yet.
(17:12):
Okay, I'm gonna ask you a followup question for that.
But before I also want to divein here and say that opposite
to, to students thinking that,you know, that they don't want
to be labeled as nerds, etcetera.
The other thing I do see, andthis is again, from my personal
experience is the impostersyndrome.
Even though they might know thatthey're nerdy or that they're
(17:36):
techie and they have theseskills.
A lot of students of color,right.
feel like they don't fit in.
They're not smart enough.
They're not good enough.
They are not capable enough.
What would you say to a studentwho feels that who fee who knows
in their heart that they'retechnology driven and they could
do something with that.
(17:57):
But then the imposter syndromehits and they're like that's not
for me.
I'm not good enough.
what would you say to them?
Yeah.
To them, I would say that lifeis about experiences and you
cannot expect.
To have all of these experiencesas you're the person standing
next to you or someone that'solder or younger than you, you
have to run your race.
(18:18):
And sometimes your race is notthe prettiest scenery.
Sometimes the race that you'rerunning, you might come into
obstacles where it feels likeyou are not worthy of what.
you're worthy of, but it's notalways going to be perfect.
Sometimes you are going to feelthat, is this the right thing
for me?
Should I be doing this?
Does this actually make sense?
(18:38):
Can I actually do this?
And on the other side of thatfear and that doubt, is a
pathway to, yes, I can.
I am worthy of this.
this is for me.
And so, even I'll make it evenmore personal.
Even I have.
dealt with or struggled with,times where I felt like I'm
doing a lot of great things.
But then that imposter syndromekicks in and says.
(19:02):
Wait, am I really doing this?
Is this really something thatKhalil can do?
And, my advice to you all isfind a mentor, talk to your
parents.
If you have a big brother or abig sister or a cousin, uncle,
aunt, a teacher, anadministrator, if you can talk
to Ms.
Sonia, come and speak to us andlet us bring you back to where
(19:24):
you are.
Sometimes even adults need a, aboost.
Sometimes even folks that youdon't think whatever need a
boost, like your favoriteathlete the president, it
doesn't.
We all sometimes need boost,whether that's our confidence
boost or, just we all need it.
So don't feel like Man, like I'mgoing through something and it's
(19:46):
just not like you're human andit's gonna happen.
But what you don't let it do isyou don't let it bring you down.
you don't let it consume you.
Sometimes things are just forthe moment, right?
We have an entire life to live.
And if you let, 10 minutes, evenif you let a day or two days
stop you from what you reallyhave going for.
x amount of time like that.
that's not the right way to doit.
(20:07):
from my own personal experience,I would say, find a mentor, find
someone that you can talk with.
And that, that will be myadvice.
That would be my advice.
I love this because what I wantsto bring out is that.
students can reach out to Khalilcan reach out to me, look for
someone who looks like you whospeaks like you, even if it's
just one person that you canrelate to, and ask them, we've
(20:31):
all experienced impostersyndrome at some point, even to
this day, I have mentors andsupport and I'm sure Khalil does
too.
And so I'm trying to open.
The conversation with studentsand parents letting know it's
okay and asking questions isactually empowering.
The people who don't askquestions are the ones that stay
behind.
the people who have done greatthings in our, in our country,
(20:55):
in our community are those whoask the right questions to the
right people.
So.
surround yourself, reach out tous, let us know how we can
support you.
Now, back to the other questionthat I had asked you earlier
about character, characteristicsor, careers technology.
And I completely a hundredpercent agree with you, but
let's describe to a student,whether.
What do you think that typicalworkplace environment might look
(21:17):
like, and maybe that can helpthem also identify themselves if
they could fit in a type ofenvironment like that or not.
So do you feel that, this, thesetypes of positions that
technology would be someone foran expert, who's an extrovert,
an introvert, or what type ofworking conditions can they
expect?
Technology is a very it's a veryrapid, fast paced environment,
(21:39):
whether you're in sales orwhether you're an engineer or an
analyst, it is a fast pacedenvironment.
Okay.
but I think it also goes back tothe company that you choose.
you hear a lot of great storiesabout, work environments at
large tech companies who they'realways having fun, but they're
getting work done.
So, it depends on yourdiscipline, right?
So if you're in a sales role,what sales comes with is,
(22:00):
meeting quotas, meetingdeadlines, making sure that
you're, you're hitting yourmetrics.
Now that is very fast paced.
That's very like.
time sensitive demanding, butmaybe you're in a different
role, maybe you're in a projectmanagement role, which still
time sensitive, but not as likeneedy as a sales role, right.
Or maybe you're a coder.
And so maybe you're working fromhome as a coder.
(22:22):
You might not even have to go tothe office with how we're, how
work, the workplace has changedover the last four years.
So it honestly looks differentin a lot of different
industries.
But I will say I thinkpersonally technology has the
most flexibility.
I see most of the techcompanies, having hybrid or
fully remote, work workplaces.
(22:43):
so, yeah, I would say that itreally does in that piece depend
on your discipline, but ingeneral, technology companies
are, I would say, great placesto work for, I think they
provide a lot of balance, fortheir workers.
I can't speak for all of them,but I think for the majority of
them, they definitely seem toprovide a good balance of work
life balance.
But, students, I will give youlike a reality check.
(23:05):
You will have to work like wecan't.
We're not going to get aroundworking.
Unfortunately, it might seemthat everyone else around you
isn't working, but I promise youif you start now and it doesn't
have to be a traditional job,but if you start working now,
You will thank yourself 5, 10years later.
Like, I am so glad that Istarted doing something.
I'm not telling you what to do,but doing something, is better
(23:27):
than Doing nothing.
Yeah.
And I promised my students or myaudience a long time ago to
interview a YouTuber and I'mstill not there yet because I
want to show them that it alltakes drive, passion, interest,
and it takes work.
I mean, it really does.
And I want to have an openconversation with, a very
(23:47):
successful YouTuber.
So I'm still looking for one tocome on in here and really give
a reality check to our students.
And, yeah.
And also not to discourage, butalso to set a real picture of
what that looks like.
But anyways, I can get, we'regoing to go side topic on that
one.
I was going to ask you about thefuture of technology, in your
eyes and through yourexperience, what does that look
(24:09):
like?
And I know, you don't have amagic wand and we're moving so
fast.
I mean, that's, it's a hardquestion, but what do you see
technology going?
Yeah, I think the future oftechnology is black and brown
folks.
that's where I see because wehave an opportunity and as
humans, we all have anopportunity, but I'm focusing on
those that are marginalized thathave not had those, big
(24:32):
opportunities.
The future of technology isblack and brown people.
We have to see ourselves in thisspace because if we don't,
they're not going to see it forus.
It, we can't.
We can't rely on someone else towant it for us, right?
We all know that there's, we've,there's been, we've been
(24:55):
marginalized.
There's been so many issues thatare divided our country.
And unfortunately, we can'treact to them and we can,
acknowledge them.
But until we acknowledge that weneed to get ourselves where we
need to be.
And I think where that is, isusing technology as that vehicle
to take us there.
The future of tech looks like amore inclusive, diverse,
(25:17):
efficient world.
Technology is here as a tool tomake us better.
It's not here to divide us, totear people down, to, pick
sides.
It's here for us to use as atool, to get more information.
Again, to do things moreefficiently.
and so the future of tech to melooks like success for all.
(25:38):
It looks like success for all,all humans, black, brown, white,
all of us, I think can very muchsucceed using technology.
We just have to one, have a onefor it.
We have to see ourselves in it.
we can't look to the left andright and say, Hey, do you see
me doing this?
No, you have to see it foryourself first and don't wait on
(25:59):
someone else to Oh, I think youknow, you should be confident in
yourself and say, Hey, this issomething that I can do.
this is where I see myself inthe future.
So I'm excited about the futureof technology.
we keep getting better.
we keep iterating, we keepmaking new discoveries.
we keep finding ways to be moreefficient.
And, with the right focus, topto bottom, I think the future
(26:20):
looks bright, but it, it, wewill, black and brown
individuals, we will be a partof this new technology wave.
it's imperative.
I love that.
I love that.
And I personally have experienceworking at a school where my
classroom was the most colorfuland diverse classroom.
And I love that.
I mean, we get to grow so muchmore when we are in a classroom
(26:45):
of mixed students, because theylearn from us and we learn from
them.
And it's, and I think that'smore of a mutual benefit rather
than exclusive benefit.
And I love that.
I value that a hundred percentand I'm excited about the future
looking like that even more for,tech education and in a
technology world.
So tell us and, share with ouraudience about TechFest live,
(27:08):
So, TechFest live nonprofit edtech organization based in
Houston, Texas.
We have four pillars to ourprogramming.
We have our annual TechFestexpo.
We have our for the youthprogram.
We have a program calledTechFest mobile, and we have
TechFest community.
Our bread and butter.
What most folks know us as isour annual TechFest expo.
(27:29):
We're gearing up for the fifthannual TechFest expo Friday,
November 8th at the Universityof Houston TechBridge campus.
From 8 a.
m.
to 5 p.
m.
What this event is, it's aculmination of bringing together
all the industries that I wastalking about, your agriculture,
aviation, sports, gaming,healthcare.
This year we have sponsors likeCitgo, UR Research Institute,
(27:49):
Microsoft, Comcast, and we'realso looking to bring in more
sponsors.
What that event is a speakerpanels.
It's activations zones.
It's workshops.
It's exhibitors.
You get to come in and see whatis the world of technology look
like right here in your backyardin Houston, Texas.
So, I would definitely inviteyou all out to be a part of our
5th annual expo again.
It's Friday, November 8th at theUniversity of Houston Tech
(28:12):
Bridge campus.
This event is geared towardsmiddle school and high school
students, and it's a free eventfor the community.
We actually work very close withschool districts, private
schools, charter schools, andhomeschool kids.
so they are all welcome to, topull up to the, to pull up to
the, tech bridge, and join usfor that fifth annual Tech Fest
Expo.
Oh my goodness, I am so excitedand I will be there.
(28:33):
So I'm really looking forward tothis opportunity.
and I'm bringing my kids aswell.
They're 11 years old, perfectage for them to be immersed.
And, one of the things that,that I should, this is why I
started the podcast and starteddiscover you college degree
coaching, because I have a pairof twins that were born.
One minute apart from each otherand they are night and day,
(28:56):
completely different from eachother.
Same parents born the same day,just one minute apart and
they're night and day.
And what I want, and I hope thatall parents and students listen
to this, because I think this isimportant.
I want to discover what's.
Of interest to them.
And the only way to find outwhat is interesting to you is by
(29:18):
attending these events.
Even if you think you might notbe, you're not my, you might not
be a great fit for this, forthis type of career or industry
go.
You never know, you only knowwhat you're exposed to.
And if I was to limit, I am afirst gen college graduate.
Both of my parents were theirfirst and their families to come
(29:39):
to the United States.
If I was to only surround myselfby my immediate family and my
immediate community, I wouldhave never reached the place
where I am today in my career.
The way I have learned toexponentially grow and continue
my career growth is by Gettingin the room with people who look
(30:00):
different than I do and askingquestions, being curious.
There are so many people who areready to answer questions.
I mean, I think it takes uslonger to ask the question than
it is for them to quicklyrespond and help us out.
Yeah.
You said something.
Sometimes it's not knowing whatyou like.
It's knowing what you don'tlike.
(30:20):
If you can identify what youdon't like, you're what you like
will find you faster.
So as Sonia was saying, You maysay, I don't, technology is not
my thing.
But if you come to this expo, ifyou go to any technology event,
go so you can figure out whatyou don't like.
Sometimes identifying that firstis better for some people.
Again, you just gave a greatexample.
(30:42):
You have twins that are nightand day.
So obviously folks aredifferent, right?
So you may not like a certainthing, which is fine, but
knowing what you, knowing eitheror, We'll do a great benefit for
you in the long run because youcan make decisions faster.
If I go to a restaurant and Idon't know if I like pizza or
hamburgers, I might sit therefor a while and trying to figure
(31:04):
out what to order.
But if I go in and say, okay, Iknow I don't like these four
food items.
I'm not even looking at them.
I'm only focused on what I like.
And now you can start to narrowyour career path.
And I think that's one of thehardest things.
Like I struggle with that.
I think that's one of thehardest things when you're in
high school and you're trying tofigure out.
Well, there's all these options.
How do I choose?
(31:24):
Well, start eliminating, startsaying, Hey, well, I know I'm
not doing this.
Well, maybe this field is notfor me.
This field is not for me.
Eliminate everything that's notfor you so that you can focus on
what is for you.
So that may be a good strategyfor some folks that are
struggling to figure out, tomake choices, like identify what
is not for you, what you don'tlike, put it to the side and
then start to get all your focuson what is for you.
(31:47):
Absolutely.
And career is not an endpoint.
It's a journey.
Where Khalil started, where heenvisioned, I'm sure Khalil,
when you were in high school,you didn't envision TechFest
live then, but it was throughthe experiences.
techfest.
live.
com.
You can learn a lot through thejourney that you have continued
to evolve and a career.
It also depends on the season oflife that we're in.
(32:09):
And so there's no betteropportunity to know what it is
that you want or don't want.
Right now in your mostimmediate, future.
if you don't attend events likethis and it's free.
So attend.
Tech fest live with Khalil.
And come say hi.
If you see either one of us,because we'd love to see you.
Yes, we would.
(32:30):
Awesome.
Thank you so much, Khalil.
Is there any parting, advice orwords that you'd like to tell
our audience before we let yougo?
parting advice or words, I wouldsay that remain confident,
remain humble.
And in between confident andhumble seek advice.
(32:50):
I am where I am today because Isought after advice, but I don't
take everyone's advice.
That gives me advice.
I think that's a tool.
Like, I think people, especiallylike I'm a millennial.
So I think millennials andyounger.
When we, when people tell us,when more seasoned people say,
Hey, go find a mentor, go takeadvice.
They're not telling you tolisten to every single word that
(33:13):
someone is telling you.
What you do with thatinformation is they say, Hey,
this is my advice to you.
You listen and you listen to,don't listen to speak.
Listen to actually listen, hearwhat they say.
And take the points out of theirtalk that align with you.
Not everything is, you don'thave to take everything in.
Sometimes like they might onlysay two bullet points that mean
(33:36):
something to you and the restmight fly to here.
That's fine.
twin confidence and humblenessis where you want to lie.
And if you're in that sweetspot, be willing, be coachable.
And then from there, just putone foot in front of the other.
That is what I did.
I didn't have a magic wand.
I didn't have a map that said,Hey, this is where you're going
to go.
It's exactly how you do it.
(33:56):
I just put one foot in front ofthe other.
I stayed by my faith and I foundpeople that aligned with my
mission and that believed inmyself and it's a recipe for
success.
So hopefully that works for you.
Oh my gosh.
Perfect.
Thank you so much, Khalil.
And I'll have how to reach outand connect with Khalil on our
show notes.
(34:16):
Thank you so much for being herewith us, Khalil.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Microphone (ATR2100x-USB (34:20):
Thank you for tuning into this episode
at the college and career readypodcast.
I hope you enjoyed ourconversation with Kaleel Vincent
and found his insights ontechnology, education and career
development.
As inspiring as I did.
Don't forget whether you're astudent, parent, or educator,
you can join us in person at theupcoming tech Fest expo on
November 8th at the universityof Houston tech bridge in
(34:43):
Houston, Texas.
It's a free event, Open to thecommunity.
And it's a great chance toexplore the world of technology
with your family.
You can find all the details inour shadows or go directly to
tech Fest, live.com for moreinformation, We hope to see you
there.
My friend until next time,adios.
Thank you for listening in.
(35:03):
If you enjoyed this episode, itwould mean so much to me if you
share it with a friend, acolleague, or your own
community.
If you share it on social mediaand tag me, I'll make sure to
personally thank you.
My two favorite places to hangout are Instagram and LinkedIn.
Check out our show notes for adirect link.
I'm so thankful for each andevery one of you.
(35:24):
And as always stay well, bepresent and enjoy the journey.
I'll talk to you next week.
Adios.
Hey, this is Khalil Vincent withTechFest live and you're
(00:02):
listening to the college andcareer ready podcast.
Sonia Intro (00:06):
Welcome to College and Career Ready, the only
podcast that helps studentstransition from high school to
college and college to theircareer.
My name is Sonia Cacique.
I'm a former educator, certifiedschool counselor, career coach,
and founder of Discover U.
Together, we will redefine whatit truly means to be college and
(00:28):
career ready.
And with our community, youdon't have to do this alone.
So come with me and let's getstarted.
Microphone (ATR2100x-USB Mi (00:39):
Hi, parents, students and educators.
I'm your host, Sonya KCK.
And today I am thrilled towelcome a very special guest
Kaleel Vincent.
He is the founder and CEO oftech Fest live and incredible
nonprofit ed tech organization,dedicated to bridging the
technology gap for black andbrown students.
And in this episode, Kaliyahwill share his passion for
(01:02):
empowering students throughtechnology, showing us how it
can open doors to diverse careeropportunities.
And we will just be speakingabout traditional roles like
coding and engineering, butacross various industries.
We will explore how students canidentify their interests and
passions while leveragingtechnology to pursue meaningful
careers.
And we'll touch on the topic ofimposter syndrome, Less Khalila
(01:25):
will give us a sneak peek intothe upcoming tech Fest expo.
It's happening on November 8that the university of Houston
tech bridge in Houston, Texas.
It's a free community event.
So we'd love for you to join usthere.
All the details are included inour show notes.
So make sure to check them outfor more information.
And if you're curious about theintersection of education
technology, anchoreddevelopment, Well, then without
(01:48):
further ado, let's get started.
Welcome Khalil.
Welcome to the college andcareer ready podcast.
I'm so happy to have you heretoday.
It's great to be here.
Thank you for your time and,inviting me to be on the podcast
this evening.
Glad to be here.
I would love for you to sharewith our audience a little bit
of a high level overview aboutyourself and what you do.
(02:11):
Yeah, I'm happy to.
So Khalil Vinson, founder andCEO of TechFest Live.
TechFest Live is a non profit edtech organization whose mission,
is to connect the youth of todayto a better tomorrow through
technology opportunity.
Khalil, is a.
enthusiastic founder who has apassion for really changing the
(02:34):
culture and the narrative aroundtechnology when it comes to
black and brown students.
My goal is to get more of usinvolved in the world of
technology, but not justfocusing on coding and
engineering.
I want us to focus on industrybasis and realize that.
Every company nowadays is a techcompany and with technology
mixed with your passion, it's arecipe for success.
(02:55):
And so, Khalil is just all aboutbeing in the community,
promoting cool technology tokids.
that's really, at the base ofit, what it's boiled down to.
And, I just really feel likethere's a need right now to make
sure we bridge this technologygap, which in turn will bridge
the wealth gap, if done, right.
So I love that.
So tell me what tech ed means.
(03:17):
So bring us back down to basics.
What is tech ed?
Yeah.
So at the simplest form, techeducation, is using technology
resources.
Whether that is, certifications,whether that's workshops,
whether that's, on sitetraining, whether that's just
YouTube videos, it's usingtechnology, to expand the minds
(03:38):
of anyone, with a more digitallysound, a more digitally sound
understanding of the world oftechnology we live in.
Technology is such a broad,Industry is such a broad term
that oftentimes it can be thrownaround in so many different
conversations and kind oflanguages, right?
I mean, you just think thecoding languages.
How many coding languages do wehave a ton?
(04:00):
Right?
And so I think it's importantfor us to understand really.
At the base level, what istechnology?
It's a way for us to do things,either faster, more efficient,
more on time, right?
And so anything and everythingis technology, from the
microphone that you're using tothe headphones to the microphone
(04:21):
that I have cell phones, right?
There's there's levels totechnology.
and no matter what level you getin that, yeah.
This ad tech ad space has beensomething that's grown over the
last, I want to say 20, but it'sprobably been longer than that.
Right?
And so, just getting peoplefamiliar with the, ed tech space
and what does it mean?
And how do live thrive in it?
(04:42):
is it's something that I thinkas an ecosystem, we're still
pushing towards, but it'snothing different than you're
saying, digital, like teachingdigital literacy or teaching,
character development or hardskills.
It falls in the same type of,Domain, when you're thinking
about just education in general.
Yeah.
So one thing that you mentionedwas passions.
(05:04):
I understand.
when students are in middleschool, high school, this still
haven't really identified apassion, right?
that's a big term.
But let's, let's use the wordinterest, right?
They have interests.
So how can a student exploreinterests or passions and find
something that connects.
With a field in technology.
(05:27):
Yeah, I think it's starting athome and what do you do on a
daily basis?
Right.
So what is your routine?
I would encourage a student to,to go through this checklist.
What is your routine when youget home?
So you get off the bus or yourmom, your mother or father drops
you off, whatever your routineis, you get home, are you
running, going straight anddoing your homework?
And then once homework is over,are you jumping on the video
(05:48):
game?
Are you.
playing, I don't know,Minecraft.
Are you doing sports?
Like what are you already doingthat?
No one has to say, Hey, go dothis or that's your interest,
right?
That's your passion, right?
So then take that and say, okay,maybe it was sports.
Maybe it was soccer or baseballor whatever sport it might be.
(06:09):
And that's what you're going todo.
Every time you get home, onceyou're finished your homework,
once you've done all yourchores, your parents told you to
do, you're going to play thatsport.
Now, what I want you to do is.
Start to realize that sport,just because you might not be an
athlete in that sport, right?
Maybe you don't play for yourmiddle school or your high
school.
And when you graduate highschool, maybe you don't even go
(06:31):
play for your college team inthat particular sport.
But what you can do is stillhold on to that passion and use
technology to fuel your passion.
So If I'm very passionate aboutbaseball, but unfortunately I
couldn't make the majors, didn'tmake the minor league, but I
still have this burning passionfor baseball.
Like the strolls are amazing.
I just can't get enough of it.
(06:53):
Try to use technology as a wayto put yourself in a position to
where you can go work for an MLBteam or a minor league team,
right?
Or you can go work for theRockets or the Texans or the
dash or dynamos, right?
And so I, my, my encouragingmessage is when it comes to
interest, find your interest.
And then use technology to helpbring up that process of how can
(07:17):
I make this tangible for myself,you're opening doors to students
who really get discouraged whenthey don't when their plan
doesn't work out right when theydon't make the college team or.
when a coach just tells themyou're just not fit to play pro,
which you know, happens andtheir dreams are crushed.
(07:39):
So what you're saying is thatthere's opportunities that they
can still, hopefully by thenit's a passion that they can
instill their passion into acareer and specifically in
technology.
I love that.
I love that.
So as far as careers intechnology, and I know we can
(08:00):
literally spend a whole hourjust describing all the
different careers, can you giveus a high level overview of what
careers let's do this?
Let's focus on the careers thatmost people don't think of,
because I'm sure you can gothrough the list of the things
that everybody thinks about, butwhat careers do people not think
of as technology great question.
(08:22):
I want to start here, though.
I'll go to that.
But I think it's important tohighlight that people aren't
even Realizing that before youstart at what careers we have to
start at the industry, right?
I T and cyber security are, ofcourse, the main things that
people think when it comes towhat do I want to get a job in
technology, right?
I'm either probably coding orI'm an engineer of some sort.
(08:45):
But what I want people to focuson before they get to the career
part is look at every industryas now a technology industry,
whether that's working at JohnDeere, Whether that's working at
McDonald's, whether that'sworking at Footlocker, whether
that's working at Walmart.
You have a chain of command,right?
So we all know, these differentindustries or these different
(09:06):
companies that I just mentioned,they have a, almost a corporate
ladder.
You'd say, right?
You have folks who start in theentry level and you have folks
that work their way up to middlemanager, senior manager and et
cetera, right?
And you have this across allthese different verticals and
industries.
And so, Oftentimes, we're notlooking at a John Deere as a
(09:26):
technology company.
We're looking at them as anagriculture company.
But what I want, parents andstudents to understand is that
John Deere, Walmart, FootLocker, all these other
organizations, they havetechnology roles and positions
for you.
So don't limit yourself to you.
I don't know what careers areout there because this company
(09:47):
doesn't own for face value.
Right?
This company doesn't look like atech company.
It doesn't really theircommercials don't say, Hey, I'm
a tech company.
But if you do some research andyou dive deeper, this is where
I'll get into the career part.
So for John Deere, you can gofly drones for John Deere and
survey land.
you can work for Walmart, at thecorporate level, right?
(10:09):
You can be in charge of thesoftware that you, that
automates all of their, shippingand receiving.
So there's so many differentcareer paths when it comes to
technology.
I think there's far more than Icould sit here and say that some
that you might not understand,but I think for me, the driving
message that I want to send is,yes, there are some that you
might not know, but there's evenmore industries that you are
(10:31):
probably overlooking because itdoesn't necessarily fit into the
mold of what a technologycompany looks like.
I can say from personalexperience, I graduated with my
computer information systemsdegree.
And for a long time, I thoughtthat I had to go work at the
bigger tech companies becausethat fit the technology mold,
right?
(10:51):
It's like, if I wasn't workingat these larger companies, then
I felt like I must not be intech, but that's not true.
I could go work for whether it'sthe same size, small, medium.
But just in another industry oranother lane.
So I just want the folks tuningin and listening to this to.
Really focus on the industry andfind your passion within that
(11:11):
industry.
And then that career you'llyou're more, I promise that you
will find a career path in thatif you stick with, what industry
do I want to go into first?
Beautiful, beautifully said.
I love it.
I love it.
Cause this is exactly what Iteach in my course.
And you are one of the first toactually speak my language.
So I love that.
Um, so now let's move on toreinforce what you stated
(11:32):
earlier, I interviewed someone,which this podcast episode has
not been released yet, but inthat interview, she was sharing
with me how she's in cells andshe was working for Walmart,
headquarters specifically thefashion department, And she
said, she didn't like her job atall.
And I was like, what?
I mean, for me, it would belike, okay, that's pretty cool.
(11:53):
It's fashion, right?
Cause I love fashion, but thenit's interesting because she
later moved on to a role, stillin cells for PepsiCo and she's a
foodie.
And she loves working for them.
I mean, and it's crazy cause forme, I'm, I'm not necessarily a
foodie.
So for me, it would be like, Ohmy gosh, that would totally not
align with me, but you're right.
(12:14):
And it's the same.
She, I think she does the sameresponsibilities but now she's
working for a company that isaligned with what interests her.
And again, she's a foodie.
So PepsiCo was perfect.
And honestly, Sonya, like beforewe, before a parent or a student
even gets to thinking aboutwhere you want to go, what you
(12:35):
just said is so important.
Like take technology out of it,take all of that out of it.
Go where you are happy.
Go where you are celebrated,where it aligns with your
personal missions.
go to the companies that theirvalues align with your values.
Their structure lines with yourstructure, like outside of
everything else that we talkabout on this podcast or that
(12:56):
Sonia has talked aboutpreviously, or that you've
heard.
That is one of the mostimportant things because.
Without that, you can't do yourjob.
Well, you can't have a clearmind when it when things get
challenging because there's somany other things that are, are
bogging your mind down becauseyou might not be happy at work,
or it might not be the best fit.
Now, sometimes we do have to dojobs that.
(13:19):
Are not our stepping stone job.
So I'm not saying just becauseevery job does not meet your set
of requirements that you just,you don't try your best, but
it's very important to make surethat you're aligning.
Who you are as a person with theemployer that you would like to
work for, because just as muchas you have to work for them,
they have to hire you.
So it's a.
it goes both ways when it comesto choosing, that employer.
(13:39):
And that was just Khalil'slittle, tidbit there.
No, I love that.
I love that.
Cause that's what I tell mystudents.
I'm like, when you identifyyourself, so through our course,
we, my students will walk outknowing their core values and
describe themselves to a pointwhere they can speak that in an
interview.
And that's exactly what I tellthem.
they will be able to pick out ifyou are the right fit or not.
(14:00):
And you will too in the process,but you have to identify that
First.
So I love that, that you sharethat.
Now let's describe.
I don't know if I should saythis, but a techie kid, right?
So a tech student, what are,what, besides the interest,
right?
Because we can fit, we can find,an industry that fits them, but
(14:21):
what defines a student who doeswell in tech, what
characteristics, what softskills, what hard skills do you
think, can really make you standout and think that's a good
potential for a techopportunity.
I feel a certain way about thistopic and question and I'll tell
you why, oftentimes in black andbrown communities, technology
(14:44):
and the, Nerd stigma is ahindrance to black and brown
communities because, weoftentimes have looked at quote
unquote a nerd or someone who issmart or very much educated as
Someone who is not cool, orthey're not running in the
(15:05):
social groups that are going onin middle schools and high
schools.
Right.
And so for me, I am trying todispel the notion and the
stereotype that being a quoteunquote nerd is something to be
ashamed of.
Or it's something that, studentsshould shy away from because it
makes them look.
(15:26):
Less than their peers who aretrying to be cool or putting on
whatever it might be.
So For me, I don't know if I cansay what are the characteristics
that identify a techie because Ithink we're all techies.
We just don't know it.
Right.
But like, if you're doingchallenges and things on Roblox
or you're playing even Call ofDuty or 2k and you're doing all
(15:49):
these different things.
Have you, or you have ever.
recoded a website or change thecolor if you're doing very small
things in technology, you are atechie, whether you realize it
or not.
Every day we hold these devicesin our hands, right?
And we're all techies.
We just maybe don't identify asa techie, I'd say from an
(16:09):
education standpoint, the samethat it goes for all
professions, right?
You won't, you want to.
See someone with good character.
You want to see someone with,good team building skills.
you want to see someone who'sinquisitive, who's asking
questions.
you want to see someone that hassome And they have a passion and
they're confident.
(16:30):
I think all of those skillstranslate to any industry, any
job, any boss is going to behappy to have those students who
have those core capabilitiesbecause you can always build
train on core capabilities.
What's hard is when there'spersonality.
I won't even say there's not apersonality issue, but when
there's personality,discrepancies and maybe they're
(16:51):
not the, they're not the mostconfident or maybe they need to
work on team building.
Those are things that I think inany profession, whether we're
talking about technology or not,those are things that you have
to work on as a younger, as ayouth or young adult or an
adult.
So I don't really want to defineexactly because I think
everyone's a techie.
I think they just might not knowit yet.
(17:12):
Okay, I'm gonna ask you a followup question for that.
But before I also want to divein here and say that opposite
to, to students thinking that,you know, that they don't want
to be labeled as nerds, etcetera.
The other thing I do see, andthis is again, from my personal
experience is the impostersyndrome.
Even though they might know thatthey're nerdy or that they're
(17:36):
techie and they have theseskills.
A lot of students of color,right.
feel like they don't fit in.
They're not smart enough.
They're not good enough.
They are not capable enough.
What would you say to a studentwho feels that who fee who knows
in their heart that they'retechnology driven and they could
do something with that.
(17:57):
But then the imposter syndromehits and they're like that's not
for me.
I'm not good enough.
what would you say to them?
Yeah.
To them, I would say that lifeis about experiences and you
cannot expect.
To have all of these experiencesas you're the person standing
next to you or someone that'solder or younger than you, you
have to run your race.
(18:18):
And sometimes your race is notthe prettiest scenery.
Sometimes the race that you'rerunning, you might come into
obstacles where it feels likeyou are not worthy of what.
you're worthy of, but it's notalways going to be perfect.
Sometimes you are going to feelthat, is this the right thing
for me?
Should I be doing this?
Does this actually make sense?
(18:38):
Can I actually do this?
And on the other side of thatfear and that doubt, is a
pathway to, yes, I can.
I am worthy of this.
this is for me.
And so, even I'll make it evenmore personal.
Even I have.
dealt with or struggled with,times where I felt like I'm
doing a lot of great things.
But then that imposter syndromekicks in and says.
(19:02):
Wait, am I really doing this?
Is this really something thatKhalil can do?
And, my advice to you all isfind a mentor, talk to your
parents.
If you have a big brother or abig sister or a cousin, uncle,
aunt, a teacher, anadministrator, if you can talk
to Ms.
Sonia, come and speak to us andlet us bring you back to where
(19:24):
you are.
Sometimes even adults need a, aboost.
Sometimes even folks that youdon't think whatever need a
boost, like your favoriteathlete the president, it
doesn't.
We all sometimes need boost,whether that's our confidence
boost or, just we all need it.
So don't feel like Man, like I'mgoing through something and it's
(19:46):
just not like you're human andit's gonna happen.
But what you don't let it do isyou don't let it bring you down.
you don't let it consume you.
Sometimes things are just forthe moment, right?
We have an entire life to live.
And if you let, 10 minutes, evenif you let a day or two days
stop you from what you reallyhave going for.
x amount of time like that.
that's not the right way to doit.
(20:07):
from my own personal experience,I would say, find a mentor, find
someone that you can talk with.
And that, that will be myadvice.
That would be my advice.
I love this because what I wantsto bring out is that.
students can reach out to Khalilcan reach out to me, look for
someone who looks like you whospeaks like you, even if it's
just one person that you canrelate to, and ask them, we've
(20:31):
all experienced impostersyndrome at some point, even to
this day, I have mentors andsupport and I'm sure Khalil does
too.
And so I'm trying to open.
The conversation with studentsand parents letting know it's
okay and asking questions isactually empowering.
The people who don't askquestions are the ones that stay
behind.
the people who have done greatthings in our, in our country,
(20:55):
in our community are those whoask the right questions to the
right people.
So.
surround yourself, reach out tous, let us know how we can
support you.
Now, back to the other questionthat I had asked you earlier
about character, characteristicsor, careers technology.
And I completely a hundredpercent agree with you, but
let's describe to a student,whether.
What do you think that typicalworkplace environment might look
(21:17):
like, and maybe that can helpthem also identify themselves if
they could fit in a type ofenvironment like that or not.
So do you feel that, this, thesetypes of positions that
technology would be someone foran expert, who's an extrovert,
an introvert, or what type ofworking conditions can they
expect?
Technology is a very it's a veryrapid, fast paced environment,
(21:39):
whether you're in sales orwhether you're an engineer or an
analyst, it is a fast pacedenvironment.
Okay.
but I think it also goes back tothe company that you choose.
you hear a lot of great storiesabout, work environments at
large tech companies who they'realways having fun, but they're
getting work done.
So, it depends on yourdiscipline, right?
So if you're in a sales role,what sales comes with is,
(22:00):
meeting quotas, meetingdeadlines, making sure that
you're, you're hitting yourmetrics.
Now that is very fast paced.
That's very like.
time sensitive demanding, butmaybe you're in a different
role, maybe you're in a projectmanagement role, which still
time sensitive, but not as likeneedy as a sales role, right.
Or maybe you're a coder.
And so maybe you're working fromhome as a coder.
(22:22):
You might not even have to go tothe office with how we're, how
work, the workplace has changedover the last four years.
So it honestly looks differentin a lot of different
industries.
But I will say I thinkpersonally technology has the
most flexibility.
I see most of the techcompanies, having hybrid or
fully remote, work workplaces.
(22:43):
so, yeah, I would say that itreally does in that piece depend
on your discipline, but ingeneral, technology companies
are, I would say, great placesto work for, I think they
provide a lot of balance, fortheir workers.
I can't speak for all of them,but I think for the majority of
them, they definitely seem toprovide a good balance of work
life balance.
But, students, I will give youlike a reality check.
(23:05):
You will have to work like wecan't.
We're not going to get aroundworking.
Unfortunately, it might seemthat everyone else around you
isn't working, but I promise youif you start now and it doesn't
have to be a traditional job,but if you start working now,
You will thank yourself 5, 10years later.
Like, I am so glad that Istarted doing something.
I'm not telling you what to do,but doing something, is better
(23:27):
than Doing nothing.
Yeah.
And I promised my students or myaudience a long time ago to
interview a YouTuber and I'mstill not there yet because I
want to show them that it alltakes drive, passion, interest,
and it takes work.
I mean, it really does.
And I want to have an openconversation with, a very
(23:47):
successful YouTuber.
So I'm still looking for one tocome on in here and really give
a reality check to our students.
And, yeah.
And also not to discourage, butalso to set a real picture of
what that looks like.
But anyways, I can get, we'regoing to go side topic on that
one.
I was going to ask you about thefuture of technology, in your
eyes and through yourexperience, what does that look
(24:09):
like?
And I know, you don't have amagic wand and we're moving so
fast.
I mean, that's, it's a hardquestion, but what do you see
technology going?
Yeah, I think the future oftechnology is black and brown
folks.
that's where I see because wehave an opportunity and as
humans, we all have anopportunity, but I'm focusing on
those that are marginalized thathave not had those, big
(24:32):
opportunities.
The future of technology isblack and brown people.
We have to see ourselves in thisspace because if we don't,
they're not going to see it forus.
It, we can't.
We can't rely on someone else towant it for us, right?
We all know that there's, we've,there's been, we've been
(24:55):
marginalized.
There's been so many issues thatare divided our country.
And unfortunately, we can'treact to them and we can,
acknowledge them.
But until we acknowledge that weneed to get ourselves where we
need to be.
And I think where that is, isusing technology as that vehicle
to take us there.
The future of tech looks like amore inclusive, diverse,
(25:17):
efficient world.
Technology is here as a tool tomake us better.
It's not here to divide us, totear people down, to, pick
sides.
It's here for us to use as atool, to get more information.
Again, to do things moreefficiently.
and so the future of tech to melooks like success for all.
(25:38):
It looks like success for all,all humans, black, brown, white,
all of us, I think can very muchsucceed using technology.
We just have to one, have a onefor it.
We have to see ourselves in it.
we can't look to the left andright and say, Hey, do you see
me doing this?
No, you have to see it foryourself first and don't wait on
(25:59):
someone else to Oh, I think youknow, you should be confident in
yourself and say, Hey, this issomething that I can do.
this is where I see myself inthe future.
So I'm excited about the futureof technology.
we keep getting better.
we keep iterating, we keepmaking new discoveries.
we keep finding ways to be moreefficient.
And, with the right focus, topto bottom, I think the future
(26:20):
looks bright, but it, it, wewill, black and brown
individuals, we will be a partof this new technology wave.
it's imperative.
I love that.
I love that.
And I personally have experienceworking at a school where my
classroom was the most colorfuland diverse classroom.
And I love that.
I mean, we get to grow so muchmore when we are in a classroom
(26:45):
of mixed students, because theylearn from us and we learn from
them.
And it's, and I think that'smore of a mutual benefit rather
than exclusive benefit.
And I love that.
I value that a hundred percentand I'm excited about the future
looking like that even more for,tech education and in a
technology world.
So tell us and, share with ouraudience about TechFest live,
(27:08):
So, TechFest live nonprofit edtech organization based in
Houston, Texas.
We have four pillars to ourprogramming.
We have our annual TechFestexpo.
We have our for the youthprogram.
We have a program calledTechFest mobile, and we have
TechFest community.
Our bread and butter.
What most folks know us as isour annual TechFest expo.
(27:29):
We're gearing up for the fifthannual TechFest expo Friday,
November 8th at the Universityof Houston TechBridge campus.
From 8 a.
m.
to 5 p.
m.
What this event is, it's aculmination of bringing together
all the industries that I wastalking about, your agriculture,
aviation, sports, gaming,healthcare.
This year we have sponsors likeCitgo, UR Research Institute,
(27:49):
Microsoft, Comcast, and we'realso looking to bring in more
sponsors.
What that event is a speakerpanels.
It's activations zones.
It's workshops.
It's exhibitors.
You get to come in and see whatis the world of technology look
like right here in your backyardin Houston, Texas.
So, I would definitely inviteyou all out to be a part of our
5th annual expo again.
It's Friday, November 8th at theUniversity of Houston Tech
(28:12):
Bridge campus.
This event is geared towardsmiddle school and high school
students, and it's a free eventfor the community.
We actually work very close withschool districts, private
schools, charter schools, andhomeschool kids.
so they are all welcome to, topull up to the, to pull up to
the, tech bridge, and join usfor that fifth annual Tech Fest
Expo.
Oh my goodness, I am so excitedand I will be there.
(28:33):
So I'm really looking forward tothis opportunity.
and I'm bringing my kids aswell.
They're 11 years old, perfectage for them to be immersed.
And, one of the things that,that I should, this is why I
started the podcast and starteddiscover you college degree
coaching, because I have a pairof twins that were born.
One minute apart from each otherand they are night and day,
(28:56):
completely different from eachother.
Same parents born the same day,just one minute apart and
they're night and day.
And what I want, and I hope thatall parents and students listen
to this, because I think this isimportant.
I want to discover what's.
Of interest to them.
And the only way to find outwhat is interesting to you is by
(29:18):
attending these events.
Even if you think you might notbe, you're not my, you might not
be a great fit for this, forthis type of career or industry
go.
You never know, you only knowwhat you're exposed to.
And if I was to limit, I am afirst gen college graduate.
Both of my parents were theirfirst and their families to come
(29:39):
to the United States.
If I was to only surround myselfby my immediate family and my
immediate community, I wouldhave never reached the place
where I am today in my career.
The way I have learned toexponentially grow and continue
my career growth is by Gettingin the room with people who look
(30:00):
different than I do and askingquestions, being curious.
There are so many people who areready to answer questions.
I mean, I think it takes uslonger to ask the question than
it is for them to quicklyrespond and help us out.
Yeah.
You said something.
Sometimes it's not knowing whatyou like.
It's knowing what you don'tlike.
(30:20):
If you can identify what youdon't like, you're what you like
will find you faster.
So as Sonia was saying, You maysay, I don't, technology is not
my thing.
But if you come to this expo, ifyou go to any technology event,
go so you can figure out whatyou don't like.
Sometimes identifying that firstis better for some people.
Again, you just gave a greatexample.
(30:42):
You have twins that are nightand day.
So obviously folks aredifferent, right?
So you may not like a certainthing, which is fine, but
knowing what you, knowing eitheror, We'll do a great benefit for
you in the long run because youcan make decisions faster.
If I go to a restaurant and Idon't know if I like pizza or
hamburgers, I might sit therefor a while and trying to figure
(31:04):
out what to order.
But if I go in and say, okay, Iknow I don't like these four
food items.
I'm not even looking at them.
I'm only focused on what I like.
And now you can start to narrowyour career path.
And I think that's one of thehardest things.
Like I struggle with that.
I think that's one of thehardest things when you're in
high school and you're trying tofigure out.
Well, there's all these options.
How do I choose?
(31:24):
Well, start eliminating, startsaying, Hey, well, I know I'm
not doing this.
Well, maybe this field is notfor me.
This field is not for me.
Eliminate everything that's notfor you so that you can focus on
what is for you.
So that may be a good strategyfor some folks that are
struggling to figure out, tomake choices, like identify what
is not for you, what you don'tlike, put it to the side and
then start to get all your focuson what is for you.
(31:47):
Absolutely.
And career is not an endpoint.
It's a journey.
Where Khalil started, where heenvisioned, I'm sure Khalil,
when you were in high school,you didn't envision TechFest
live then, but it was throughthe experiences.
techfest.
live.
com.
You can learn a lot through thejourney that you have continued
to evolve and a career.
It also depends on the season oflife that we're in.
(32:09):
And so there's no betteropportunity to know what it is
that you want or don't want.
Right now in your mostimmediate, future.
if you don't attend events likethis and it's free.
So attend.
Tech fest live with Khalil.
And come say hi.
If you see either one of us,because we'd love to see you.
Yes, we would.
(32:30):
Awesome.
Thank you so much, Khalil.
Is there any parting, advice orwords that you'd like to tell
our audience before we let yougo?
parting advice or words, I wouldsay that remain confident,
remain humble.
And in between confident andhumble seek advice.
(32:50):
I am where I am today because Isought after advice, but I don't
take everyone's advice.
That gives me advice.
I think that's a tool.
Like, I think people, especiallylike I'm a millennial.
So I think millennials andyounger.
When we, when people tell us,when more seasoned people say,
Hey, go find a mentor, go takeadvice.
They're not telling you tolisten to every single word that
(33:13):
someone is telling you.
What you do with thatinformation is they say, Hey,
this is my advice to you.
You listen and you listen to,don't listen to speak.
Listen to actually listen, hearwhat they say.
And take the points out of theirtalk that align with you.
Not everything is, you don'thave to take everything in.
Sometimes like they might onlysay two bullet points that mean
(33:36):
something to you and the restmight fly to here.
That's fine.
twin confidence and humblenessis where you want to lie.
And if you're in that sweetspot, be willing, be coachable.
And then from there, just putone foot in front of the other.
That is what I did.
I didn't have a magic wand.
I didn't have a map that said,Hey, this is where you're going
to go.
It's exactly how you do it.
(33:56):
I just put one foot in front ofthe other.
I stayed by my faith and I foundpeople that aligned with my
mission and that believed inmyself and it's a recipe for
success.
So hopefully that works for you.
Oh my gosh.
Perfect.
Thank you so much, Khalil.
And I'll have how to reach outand connect with Khalil on our
show notes.
(34:16):
Thank you so much for being herewith us, Khalil.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Microphone (ATR2100x-USB (34:20):
Thank you for tuning into this episode
at the college and career readypodcast.
I hope you enjoyed ourconversation with Kaleel Vincent
and found his insights ontechnology, education and career
development.
As inspiring as I did.
Don't forget whether you're astudent, parent, or educator,
you can join us in person at theupcoming tech Fest expo on
November 8th at the universityof Houston tech bridge in
(34:43):
Houston, Texas.
It's a free event, Open to thecommunity.
And it's a great chance toexplore the world of technology
with your family.
You can find all the details inour shadows or go directly to
tech Fest, live.com for moreinformation, We hope to see you
there.
My friend until next time,adios.
Thank you for listening in.
(35:03):
If you enjoyed this episode, itwould mean so much to me if you
share it with a friend, acolleague, or your own
community.
If you share it on social mediaand tag me, I'll make sure to
personally thank you.
My two favorite places to hangout are Instagram and LinkedIn.
Check out our show notes for adirect link.
I'm so thankful for each andevery one of you.
(35:24):
And as always stay well, bepresent and enjoy the journey.
I'll talk to you next week.
Adios.
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