October 2, 2024 • 38 mins
Tara Thurber, Founder of Defined Talent, hosts Kelly Outing and Angie Albizu from EqualSpace to discuss the company's mission and growth. EqualSpace, founded by Citi Medina and Ralphie Roman, has expanded from a 900 sq ft space to over 19,000 sq ft, including offices, creative spaces and a tech innovation campus. They emphasize fostering innovation through inclusive company culture and AI integration. EqualSpace also hosts Newark Tech Week, a free, five-day conference featuring panel discussions, workshops, and networking opportunities, aimed at educating and connecting the tech community.
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Unknown (00:00):
Hey everyone. Welcome back to Top5 brought to you by
DefinedTalent. We are a resultsdriven service, working with
clients to connect them withquality talent, as well as
working to make an impact withinthe recruiting industry. We talk
straight about today'sprofessional world with real,
real world professionals,experts in recruitment, job
seekers and business ownersalike have a question for us,
(00:23):
send it in, and you might spurour next conversation. I'm Tara
Thurber, co founder and directorof talent partnerships here at
DefinedTalent. And joining metoday are two amazing humans,
Kelly Outing, communityengagement and programming
manager and Angie Albizu,cultural outreach from equal
space. Hey, how are you totoday?
Angie Albizu (00:46):
Hi, Tara!
Tara Thurber (00:49):
it's good to have you here. I would love for you
both to just introduceyourselves and give a brief
professional background.
Kelly Outing (00:58):
Yeah. So happy to do this first and foremost,
thank you for allowing us to beon your wonderful podcast. I'm
really excited for today, but Iam Kelly Outing. I am like was
mentioned before. I'm theCommunity Engagement Programming
Manager for equispace. I havebeen for about eight years. My
focus is mostly providingcultural and community
(01:22):
programming for local residents,ranging from conversations about
small business to technology andalso developing other cultural
and arts exhibitions forEqualSpace.
Tara Thurber (01:39):
Amazing. Thank you. Kelly,
Angie Albizu (01:42):
Hi everyone, and yes, thank you, Tara, for having
us on today. I'm super excitedas a former Pod-er myself, but
yes, my name is Angie, and I docultural outreach and social
media for equal space. I've beenhere for a little bit under two
years, and a lot of my job hereis reaching out for the culture
(02:07):
in the community, opening ourdoors, and a lot of event stuff
in the background, working withKelly and a lot of our amazing
events we put together here atequal space, that I'm sure
you'll learn more about butyeah, just doing a lot of social
media in the back end, and justbeing a helping hand where I can
(02:27):
be in this wonderful company.
Tara Thurber (02:30):
Awesome. I love both your backgrounds and what
you both are doing atEqualSpace. Let's kind of dive
into that. How was EqualSpacecreated? What is the main
mission and goal of the company?
Kelly Outing (02:44):
Yeah. So ecospace was developed roughly, actually,
it's going to be close to 10years ago in September.
Tara Thurber (02:54):
Wow!
Kelly Outing (02:55):
There's the founder story of Citi Medina and
Ralphie Roman, and they have aparent company called Medina
City, where they work with a lotof non profit organizations and
for profit organizations thatfocus on providing social impact
grants, opportunities, things ofthat nature. And they do a lot
(03:16):
of social outreach and impactstrategy. And they have a
beautiful office. They are veryesthetic people, especially
Medina and so many of theirfriends who were in the local
entrepreneur ecosystem would usetheir offices, and after a while
they would come in and thecoffee pot would be already and
(03:41):
the electric bill was gettinghigher and higher, and they're
like, what's going on? (laughs)
Tara Thurber (03:45):
(laughs)
Kelly Outing (03:48):
That's the more hilarious story. But the other
idea that really pushedEqualSpace forward was their
focus and supportingentrepreneurs and being the
resource that they never had.
Oftentimes, a lot ofentrepreneurs, when they are
enter in so many differentrooms, they're always told no.
(04:09):
They're always told next timeyou're not ready yet. And they
wanted to create a space forentrepreneurs to understand that
this EqualSpace is the spacewhere you will get a yes, where
you will be supported, where youwill be valued. You will not be
questioned, your your value willnot be questioned. And so they
wanted to make sure that thatimpact was there. And so they
(04:31):
offer eight, nine Market Street,a little 900 square foot space.
And as the years progressed,they've been able to expand what
we've been able to expand intothree floors and having over
19,000 square feet.
So we have rangeof, I know, right, so amazing
Tara Thurber (04:48):
Wow! (laughs) anytime I tell it, but we have a
range of Office Spaces.
Dedicated desks. We havecreative spaces like our podcast
studios, a multimedia studio, afull event space, and we also
(05:09):
have now expanded to developinga tech and innovation campus,
which has come recently becauseof our outreach and our
connections to people, we'vebeen able to really develop a
credible format for how peopleyou know interact with us.
(05:33):
Right.
Kelly Outing (05:33):
Because we've been in the game for a lot of times
we're in these equity spaces.
Sometimes they don't last morethan three or four years because
of the lack of funding, becausemost of these spaces are
developed by black and brownentrepreneurs who don't have the
same access to a lot of thefinancial resources. And so I'm
very proud to say that you know,Medina and Rafi fight all the
(05:56):
time to make sure thatEqualSpace is always thriving.
They always, you know, try toconnect with as many resources
as possible to ensure that notonly we're thriving, but our
members are thriving. And inthose connections, we've
developed a great relationshipwith Fidelco, which owns the new
campus which we are at, which isat 550 and they were looking for
(06:18):
a co working space to supporttheir business, have their
building that they justdeveloped.
Tara Thurber (06:26):
Yeah.
Kelly Outing (06:27):
And they were Audible and other places. And
they went through, you know, thebig names, the industrious, the
other names. And unfortunately,those types of co working spaces
focus on being a product, butnot really being a service. And
EqualSpace focuses on being aservice as well as a product.
Tara Thurber (06:51):
Right.
Kelly Outing (06:51):
The other aspect of what we do is we provide
Unknown (06:52):
Amazing, Kelly and just for our listeners, to 89 Market
specific resources where we goout and we connect with
different not for profitleaders, for profit leaders, we
look at grants, we look at theseinformation, and we make sure to
share it with our localcommunity members and our
members who are within ourspace. So we have one on one
(07:15):
meetings with them. If a memberneeds support and they need to
understand, like, what financialopportunities are available, we
can present that to them, ifthey need support, understanding
their business strategy andshifting. We help with that. If
they even just need help withunderstanding, you know, they
(07:38):
want to change and move theirtheir branding strategy, we also
support in those aspects and whothey'll go through the meeting.
Street and 550 Broad Streetthat's in Newark, New Jersey,
They saw the amount of impactthat we've had just at 89 Market
Street, and they said, You haveto come here, to 550 and be a
part of it. And so with that,and in communications, we
(08:00):
developed this 50,000 squarefoot idea to do three floors at
550, broad, ranging from HQs fortech startups, which we have,
we've already opened up thatthat floor, we've had a few tech
startups who are here with us,really brilliant, working in
different aspects of AI andfintech. And then our other
(08:23):
floors will be coming on onboardroughly around 2025 we will have
a 300 person event space. Wealso will have podcast studios,
large scale multimedia studios,boardrooms. And then we're also
going to be having on theirfirst floor, a large scale event
space, slash dining and communearea for not only us and our
(08:46):
members for but also for theentire building, private suites,
conference rooms. We'll have amembers lounge in case you want
to, you know, be by yourself andbe with like for a day. So,
yeah, that's, well, howEqualSpace has evolved into what
we are now.
(09:13):
and both of these campuses areunbelievable. The energy that is
in both of these campuses issomething that for myself, I've
never experienced anywhere else,so big thumbs up high fives on
the growth of EqualSpace. I wantto kind of just shift a little
(09:34):
bit here. You're focusingstrongly on DEI and workplace
equality. What role do you thinkcompany culture plays in
fostering innovation, and how doyou think leaders can create an
inclusive environment wherecreativity it can thrive?
Kelly Outing (09:57):
Angie our culture icon, do you want to take this?
Angie Albizu (09:59):
Yeah, sure. I love to answer this question. I feel
Tara Thurber (09:59):
(laughs) like culture and fostering
innovation is definitelyimportant in any company. I feel
like when your staff and your coworkers feel like it's an
inclusivity and there's opencommunication and you're able to
(10:20):
like, have different voicesheard. It really makes you feel
safe without having anyjudgment, and it creates a lot
more creativity to flourishwithin your workspace, to be
able to like share ideas withlike minded individuals and
(10:40):
people that kind of look likeyou, that know where you're
coming from, your same type ofupbringing. It really does bring
a new sense of like creativity.
It helps you work better. Ithelps you kind of communicate
better with your with yourcolleagues, or employees. So I
(11:01):
find that even here atEqualSpace, that's something
that has been very open here,like being able to communicate,
being making sure that ourvoices are heard. Yeah, it's
definitely truly important. AndI hope, like every company,
starts to be more inclusive inthat way.
And that'ssomething too, Angie, that I
(11:23):
find amazing visiting bothcampuses. As soon as you walk in
the door, you feel it, you feelthe equality, you feel the
creativity is just all over theplace. And I find that to be
such a strong aspect in whatEqualSpace is, is providing, but
(11:43):
also laying the groundwork forother companies to see and then
grow from that.
Angie Albizu (11:52):
Correct, yeah, and it's like, it's a sense of,
like, no fair judgment here,like, you know you can always
feel your creative self. You canalways talk about what you feel
and know that it's being heard.
So yeah, for sure, I agree.
Tara Thurber (12:07):
Amazing. So I noticed, or going back to one of
the campuses, 550 is the techand innovative campus, and you
mentioned something, Kelly,about AI. So I want to dive into
this really quick. I want to getyour take on AI, as we're seeing
on a daily basis, AI is changingthe landscape in the tech
(12:30):
environment. So what do youthink are the most immediate and
important ways AI is affectingtech businesses in our area, in
Newark and really, around theglobe?
Kelly Outing (12:44):
That is a loaded question! (laughs)
Tara Thurber (12:45):
(laughs)
Kelly Outing (12:49):
AI has, you know, so many different impacts. It
has an impact on ourenvironment, a lot of people,
there's been a lot of studiescoming out about the fact that
AI is requiring a lot of peopledon't know that technology on
the internet still runs on codeand most of our energy still
runs on those on code and otheraspects. So with the amount of
(13:18):
support that's needed for AI tocontinue to grow there's even
conversations on, from anenvironmental standpoint, from a
entrepreneurial standpoint,going more hyper local. I
definitely think that there areso many different fears that
people have, which is reallyinteresting. I wouldn't talk
(13:39):
about the bad before I talkabout the good, because there
is, there is so much good aboutAI, and I think that people have
a fear that AI is going to takeeveryone's jobs and to also take
away people's opportunities togrow in certain areas. And
there's just so many differentconversations about AI that's
(14:02):
happening that some are informedand some are not. And I think
that's mostly because theconversations around AI aren't
hyper focused on localcommunities. They're more so
focused within the techindustries and the tech hubs
that exist within thesecommunities. And so when people
think of of AI, they don'treally think about Siri and the
(14:24):
fact that she's a part of AI.
They don't think about the factthat when you see certain like
ads, and how you see ads aboutPS4, I'm sorry, PS5. And you
were just looking at, you know,like the new, like, one of the
new games, you were just lookingat baldusg or something, and
they're like, why is, why is hesuggesting me to buy these?
(14:46):
Like that comesfrom AI on the background,
Tara Thurber (14:46):
(laughs) running certain things and
helping people. So AI isintegrated in our entire lives
already. And I think people havethis idea that it's coming. It
has already come.
It's been here!(laughs)
Kelly Outing (14:59):
It's here, it's just growing. The good things
about AI, I think, are that AIcan take away, yes, a few, a few
things that should be automatedand make it easier for people to
grow. But I think that it alsoputs a challenge on our economy,
Tara Thurber (15:16):
(laughs) and the employers on a
corporate and a local level, to
Kelly Outing (15:19):
We all know too much of anything is bad. Too
develop opportunities for peopleto grow and to have, like,
proper financial support wherethey can do other things that
they enjoy. I always like totalk about Star Trek because one
of our founders, Ralphie, is ahuge Trekkie, and many people,
he explained it to me in areally cool way. And this is how
(15:43):
I like to explain, like, where Iwant AI to go, which is that in
the Star Trek universe, mostpeople are doing what they want
to do, essentially. And so a lotof the items that need to be
automated, like cleaning andother elements, those things are
automated so people can focus oningenuity. And I feel as if a
(16:06):
great way to move AI forward isto focus on how to make sure AI
is taking away those knit andgrit items that take up so much
of our time that prevents usfrom being able to focus on
ingenuity, focus on creativity.
But a lot of the jobs that arecurrently being like supported
are more so focused on beingvery hands on. And so there
(16:29):
needs to be more training forpeople in other aspects. And yes
people obviously like college isan option, but there's other
opportunities for trade schoolsand other elements and other job
sectors that I definitely thinkthere needs to be an increase
more of like, we need morenurses, we need more teachers.
(16:52):
And if we train more person,like persons who are on the
background and do jobs that AIcan do more efficiently, and we
train them in these otheraspects, I definitely think we
can move the needle forward andfocus on making sure that we're
able to bring in morescientists, more nurses, more
(17:13):
teachers, More people who enterinto fields that need the most
creativity and the most creativeoutput. So that's my perception
of AI. I think it is a goodthing, but if it's regulated too.
(17:34):
many beets. Can mess up yourcolon too?
Tara Thurber (17:37):
Yeah.
Kelly Outing (17:38):
Too many bananas can, you know, screw with you.
Too many carrots can turn youorange?
Tara Thurber (17:42):
Yeah! (laughs)
Kelly Outing (17:43):
AI can be involved, you know, just, just
regulate and support people tofind.
Angie Albizu (17:49):
That was a good perception, though.
Tara Thurber (17:51):
Yeah, totally. And it's crazy to think about it,
too. You know, so many peopleare in the beginning when it
kind of blew up out there werestressing out about people
losing their jobs and but nowit's what people need to
understand is it's not losing ajob, it's shifting and it's
(18:15):
allowing humans to learndifferent skills and have
different opportunities. Soreally, this is- There's
opportunity here. It's not, youknow, a black cloud that's come
and it's a scary thing. Itshould be opportunistic for
businesses and individuals toutilize AI for the monotonous
(18:38):
stuff that can be automated tothen transfer and grow more
skills, learn more skills. And Imean, I've also read so many
different articles around thenew jobs that are going to be
out there. I mean, my kids 8 and12, there's going to be totally
(18:58):
different job titles whenthey're ready to be out in the
professional world. And so it'simportant, too, for educators
and for businesses to continueto raise the bar and to teach
and fly with AI, not fly againstit, but fly with it and learn
with it as it's growing, ashumans can then learn and grow
(19:24):
in a different way.
Kelly Outing (19:26):
Yeah, and I think the other part of that, that I
think you need to understand isin order to grow, in order to
build these things, it'simportant to also select people
who are the higher ups that alsosupport that vision.
Tara Thurber (19:43):
Yes!
Kelly Outing (19:43):
They support regulation to ensure that people
are able to expand into new jobsas AI grows.
Tara Thurber (19:50):
Yeah.
Kelly Outing (19:51):
Angie actually just showed me a video on
Instagram, and it was about ChatGBT integrating with Canva. And
now you'll be able to create aschat GPT, to essentially create
a template for a presentationand then get things done. And
you know, I'm the person thatthat works on like, any pitch
(20:13):
decks, any presentations. I'mthe one doing that for like
events and things.
Tara Thurber (20:16):
Right.
Kelly Outing (20:17):
And I easily see that as, oh, no, AI taking my
job. But I was like, no, thankGod! (laughs) I don't have to.
Thank God, using specific
Tara Thurber (20:22):
(laughs) colors, it makes my life so much
easier that I can now use theseitems to focus on other things.
And I think that one of the Ilove talking about this topic,
because I think that when wegrow up, and I'm getting to my
30, I'm going to my 30s nextyear.
(20:48):
(laughs)
Kelly Outing (20:48):
So as I've matured and I've become to understand
that we were programmed to focuson seeing ourselves as just
doers and not creators. Like,even in school, it's like, do
this, do that, not create.
Tara Thurber (21:06):
Yeah.
Kelly Outing (21:07):
And so I definitely think that the reason
is people are so stuck on beingdoers all the time is because
they grew up with that rhetoricthat if you don't do like, what
else is there? And there is moreto create. There is more
opportunity to develop. And Ithink that if we're able to also
(21:30):
shift the dynamics and shift theeducation in schools too, to
help people understand how theycan also enter into these other
industries, more students willlook for jobs that fit within
those other aspects ofcreativity. And when I say
creativity, I'm not just talkingabout the arts. A lot of people
don't understand that, MarieCurie, you know, the developer
(21:53):
of radiation. She didn't developit. She found radiation, right?
She had to be creative enough tounderstand and comprehend it.
Tara Thurber (22:02):
Yes!
Kelly Outing (22:03):
Like science requires creativity. As much as
creating a beautiful a beautifulmural requires great innovation.
And so I just, I really, amreally passionate about this,
because I do believe that AI issomething that is needed to help
humans grow. But I alsounderstand that within our
(22:24):
current socio economic likeexistence, within within the
society, it is a bit harder forpeople to grow because they are
taught that you have to do andfollow instead of create and
lead. So I think that's also theshift.
Tara Thurber (22:40):
Yeah, I agree, and I love everything about that. So
I would love to ask the two ofyou, we love asking our speakers
some fun questions too, kind ofgo off track a little bit, but
not really much, because it'sthis one's appropriate for this
(23:01):
conversation. What would be orwhat technology would either of
you wish you had invented?
Kelly Outing (23:16):
Okay, I think Angie goes.
Tara Thurber (23:19):
(laughs)
Angie Albizu (23:21):
I wanted to make sure I had this right, because I
was like, wish we had inventedor wanted to invent, but had
invented.
Tara Thurber (23:28):
Yep. You can give me a want to invent too. Why
not? Let's go there too. We'llopen it up!
Angie Albizu (23:39):
Oh my gosh, okay.
Um, Kelly, you want me to gofirst?
Kelly Outing (23:46):
Yeah, yeah, go for it. Feel free. Feel free.
Angie Albizu (23:48):
Okay, um, I wish I would had invented, and this is
just me being a mom. I wish Iwould have had invented the
portable breast, breast, if youcan, like, pump your breast on
the go. I think that was such agenius invention. And it was
(24:12):
like, I mean, it's somethinglike, Well, duh. Like, why
wouldn't? Why didn't we think ofthis before? But we, a lot of
women, didn't have that for avery long time, and it's so like
beneficial. And I thought, Ijust thought that was genius,
and it was something that wasvery helpful. So that's
something I wish I would haveinvented. If I can invent
(24:34):
something, I would invent ateleportation machine (laughs).
Tara Thurber (24:38):
Yes, I love it! I love it. First and foremost, the
breast pumping machine, thetravel want being able to travel
on the go is as a mother aswell. Yes, hands down, one of
the best things ever -teleportation. Yes, please.
There's it would save us a lotof time. Um, probably a lot of
(25:02):
money and gas. And I thinkthere's so many good things that
could come from something likethat. So I'm right there with
you, Angie.
Angie Albizu (25:12):
We can just snap our fingers and be at a beach.
Tara Thurber (25:14):
Right? (laughs)
Kelly Outing (25:17):
Oh, my god, yeah,
Tara Thurber (25:20):
Kelly, what about you?
Kelly Outing (25:22):
I was gonna say, to hop on Angie's. I was going
to quickly say that you wouldrevolutionize like travel
agencies. Because imagine if,like people own and he was like,
you want to go so with yourfamily. And like just different
sizes. I can see information,practice, so much money, um, I'm
(25:44):
gonna be that person and say, Iwish I invented the microchip,
just because it's literally thebackbone of all technology, and
I would have patented that andmade so much money. You wouldn't
use my - I would patent, like somany, I would create different
types of of elements andpatented and so much. Yeah,
(26:05):
rolling in it. (laughs)
Tara Thurber (26:06):
(laughs) I love it. Kelly, I absolutely love it.
Kelly Outing (26:12):
Um, and then for a wish, I if I could create
anything. Um, I I would create aspaceship that travels at the
speed of light while allowinghumans to be able to be in cryo
(26:37):
chambers, so then they can alsotravel. Because the main issue
with traveling at the speed oflight is that it takes a long
not at the speed, but theduration is what is where it
hurts humans.
Angie Albizu (26:49):
I'm here for that too.
Tara Thurber (26:51):
Man, both of you.
I love both of them. Thank you.
Thank you so much for sharing.
Angie Albizu (26:56):
Okay.
Tara Thurber (26:57):
So Top5, we are here as well, because I want to
talk to you both about NewarkTech week. I would love you
both. One of you, both of you.
How did tech Newark Tech Week?
Who is involved, where and whenis it taking place this year?
Get them both in there (laughs).
Unknown (27:17):
Yeah. So Newark Tech Week is a one really, really
wonderful story. So EqualSpace,we like to call ourselves the
refounders of Newark tech week.
Newark tech week was founded by,originally founded by a
wonderful woman named EmilyManz, along with a few other
local tech Titans that camehere, who used a few years ago,
and developed a completelybeautiful ecosystem. It
(27:40):
disbanded in around 2016 and2017 we decided to take up the
mantle, because during 2015 andThat's going to be a really fun
experience. We're going to have2016 we did two experiences
called Tech Town Hall with MayorBaraka. So be brought in to
speak about what what technologysome phenomenal speakers, some
amazing startup showcasing.
looks like. You know, what thechange technology and what the
(28:00):
scope looks like, and we wantedto expand upon that. And so ever
We're going to have a jazzy TechNight on the following day, we
since 2017 we have developedessentially this five day
conference. We have a multitudeof different activations. We
even called it an unconferencebecause each activation is in a
different area of the city, soit's kind of like its own
(28:21):
scavenger hunt. And even likelocal Newarkers who've been here
for a long time, they'reintroduced to new restaurants,
new locations, new organizationsthat they've never interacted
with before, which is reallyamazing. It's so amazing to hear
people who know just come toNewark for this experience, or
(28:41):
they were introduced to thisexperience by someone else who's
from here and were invited tocome like, Oh my gosh. I didn't
know Newark has so manyresources and so many different
things, and so that's just areally cool experience. And
we're very proud of Newark techweek and how it's been able to
(29:01):
develop this year, we have areally amazing lineup. So we're
going to have really cool techsummit starting on october 14,
and then the week extends fromoctober 14 to the 18th. The Tech
Summit is going to be at thejunction, which is at the
Gateways. Many, many Newarkersknow it as the gateways, but
(29:22):
they've rebranded to thejunction, so I call it junction
gate. Junction Gateway (laughs)_are going to have Audible
(29:44):
collaborating with NJII andNewark Alliance. They're going
to be doing Newark's PremierDemo Day. I believe it's they
call it the Newark Demo Day.
They're going to have a fewstartups showcasing what they
do. Um, there's going to be amixer afterwards at 10 June
called Code and Cocktails. Sothe all the coders out there,
(30:06):
anyone who's really technology,please come through. Um, on
Wednesday, we have a few coolactivations. So we have Jimbo,
who's going to be doing a NewarkTech Run. And it's a run, but
it's called North tech fun toget story Norte tech week,
likely our founder, Medina, willbe going, I do not run. I'm not
a runner (laughs).
Angie Albizu (30:30):
I'm not even a power walker.
Tara Thurber (30:32):
(laughs)
Kelly Outing (30:35):
You're too hilarious. Also, also at Hacks,
we have the wonderful,DefinedTalent who will be
posting an experience incollaboration with a lovely
organization called Disrupt theGap, who will be doing an
experience called HR for GrowingVentures. And essentially, that
(30:55):
experience will detail how newstartups and seasoned startups
can build and integrate strongHR departments within your team,
which is very important, veryimportant! Look at what happened
to X slash Twitter (laughs).
Tara Thurber (31:13):
(laughs)
Kelly Outing (31:13):
When they didn't have a proper one - just to give
you an understanding. So youdefinitely have to come to that
experience. We also are going tobe hosting something called VC
Hot Seat, where we bring indifferent venture capitalists
who come and speak, and they'regonna be talking about the
beauty and the dark side ofventure capital. Everyone has
(31:34):
some accelerators also come forpeople to learn about them. Um,
we will be hosting on Thursday,we're going to be hosting a few
activations, one of them beingan IT teaching people how to
manage and protect their digitalfootprint. Just because you have
a tech company does not mean youknow about cybersecurity.
Tara Thurber (31:57):
Yes.
Kelly Outing (31:58):
Then we also have a marketing workshop where
people will learn how to developa strong, purpose driven brand
for their product or theirservice, which I think is very
important for any tech startup.
You need to be able to promoteyour product, whether it's B2B
or B2C. Doesn't matter. You needto know how to sell what you do.
(32:19):
We'll have a woman in tech eventalso that evening, and that's
going to be a highlight of somany different women who are
making changes within the city.
And then on Friday, we have anew addiction, which is really
exciting. We have an amazingwoman. She works at Microsoft.
(32:40):
Her name is Jojo. She's going tobe essentially doing a
masterclass and how to work onAI prompts within Microsoft's
AI.
Tara Thurber (32:52):
Wow.
Kelly Outing (32:52):
Which is really cool, because a lot of people
don't realize that - they alwayssay, AI sucks. I try to put this
in the information. When yougive me what I want, it's like
you have to talk to it. Youknow, you have to caress it.
Tara Thurber (33:02):
Caress it(laughs).
Kelly Outing (33:02):
Yes, beautiful things, you know. You know,
it'll give you something inreturn, you know. And then we're
gonna be closing out with ourNTW wrap up party, and that's
going to be at the standard, theStandard Cafe in the Ironbound
(33:23):
so you have a full week, andthere's so many other events
that you know are still beingfinalized, and so many more
experiences. But you can learnabout all these experiences, and
you can learn about all theseexperiences at
newarktechweek.com.
Tara Thurber (33:39):
Awesome, awesome.
We'll make sure to share thatlink out as well. So I'm going
to ask you both I am sointerested for you to share your
top five reasons for ouraudience to attend Newark Tech
Week.
Angie Albizu (33:54):
Network.
Definitely one of the topreasons to network, especially
if you're a techie or a techenthusiast or just want to learn
about it. This is like, thenumber one place to network and
meet like minded individuals andjust connect. It is all about
from like from what I've seen isall about meeting people and
learning more about and see howyou can grow within the
(34:18):
community. So networking, forsure, it's number one. For me.
Tara Thurber (34:25):
That's number one.
It's up to you. You both can goback and forth if you want.
Unknown (34:33):
I would say it's free.
It's a free experience. One ofthe reasons we make nerd tech
week free is because we don'tbelieve that there should be any
barriers to access theinformation and resources.
That's the pillar of ecospace.
And so you want to make surethat you don't have to pay $300
or $400 to be in a room withsuccessful people, we want you
(34:55):
to have free access to that,just like many others do. So,
yeah.
Tara Thurber (35:00):
Amazing. So that was number two. What's number
three?
Angie Albizu (35:06):
I would say, to educate, educate yourself on not
only tech, but like, what'shappening in the city of Newark.
As far as the tech community.
There's a lot of great thingshappening and all the great tech
companies coming into the city.
So I think really, if you wantto learn more about IT, we were
just talking about how it's onething that I think people just
(35:29):
need to get educated on andlearn more about. So yeah,
Newark Tech Week is definitelythe place to learn about all
these things that are happeningwith it, with innovation, with
tech. So education will be mythird reason to learn more.
Tara Thurber (35:44):
Love it.
Kelly Outing (35:46):
My fourth reason would be, it's a it's a really
cool multicultural experience wewould definitely pride ourselves
on. You know, Newark ispredominantly a black and Latina
community, and so very proud ofthe fact that many of the people
who come to the experience, theyfeel seen in those aspects, and
(36:08):
it's open to everyone. And Idon't want to preface that, it's
open to everyone. And when I saymulticultural, I mean of all
cultures, not excluding anyone,which is, I think it's so
important for people tounderstand it's like, no matter
what your background is, nomatter where you come from,
you're welcome, like Angiementioned before, when you walk
into our doors, we do the samething for our events. No matter
who you are, where you comefrom, you are welcome to Newark
(36:32):
Tech Week. And we try to makesure that we provide that
experience, because we haveseen, and also some of us have
even experienced what it's liketo be ostracized at events, to
feel, you know, the coldness inthe room when you walk in. Those
are things that you do notexperience at NorTech. Be
supposed to be connected and funand glorious and magical, that
(36:54):
you're supposed to be like, Ohmy gosh, this is so cool, like
you're gonna walk away. Awesome.
I had a great experience, you
Tara Thurber (37:01):
Yeah, amazing, amazing. And what's our fifth
know?
and final?
Angie Albizu (37:06):
Um, I would say the panel discussions, right?
The highlights, the people thatthe speakers like, do you This
is your chance to, like, haveone on one, conversations with
the people that's in thesepositions. So yeah, just for the
(37:27):
event schedule itself. Get somany things going on. You can
pick what you want to do ifyou're, if you're if you're into
listening to people speaking youcan go to a speaking event. If
you're more hands on, you can goto more of a hands on event. So
it's really everything foreveryone in any space. So, yeah.
Kelly Outing (37:46):
Just make sure you go, it's going to be the best
thing ever (laughs)!
Tara Thurber (37:48):
(laughs) I love that. And there you're right,
there's so much variation, andthere's, there's something for
everybody. I love it. I love it.
Kelly and Angie, I have enjoyedthis so much today. Love you
both and appreciate you takingtime out of your busy schedules
(38:09):
to speak to us today.
Angie Albizu (38:12):
Yes, we love you so much, Tara - you're the
bomb.com.
Tara Thurber (38:16):
Yeah! Well, we are DefinedTalent, a DefinedLogic
service coming to you at Top5.
Make it a great day.
Hey everyone. Welcome back to Top5 brought to you by
DefinedTalent. We are a resultsdriven service, working with
clients to connect them withquality talent, as well as
working to make an impact withinthe recruiting industry. We talk
straight about today'sprofessional world with real,
real world professionals,experts in recruitment, job
seekers and business ownersalike have a question for us,
(00:23):
send it in, and you might spurour next conversation. I'm Tara
Thurber, co founder and directorof talent partnerships here at
DefinedTalent. And joining metoday are two amazing humans,
Kelly Outing, communityengagement and programming
manager and Angie Albizu,cultural outreach from equal
space. Hey, how are you totoday?
Angie Albizu (00:46):
Hi, Tara!
Tara Thurber (00:49):
it's good to have you here. I would love for you
both to just introduceyourselves and give a brief
professional background.
Kelly Outing (00:58):
Yeah. So happy to do this first and foremost,
thank you for allowing us to beon your wonderful podcast. I'm
really excited for today, but Iam Kelly Outing. I am like was
mentioned before. I'm theCommunity Engagement Programming
Manager for equispace. I havebeen for about eight years. My
focus is mostly providingcultural and community
(01:22):
programming for local residents,ranging from conversations about
small business to technology andalso developing other cultural
and arts exhibitions forEqualSpace.
Tara Thurber (01:39):
Amazing. Thank you. Kelly,
Angie Albizu (01:42):
Hi everyone, and yes, thank you, Tara, for having
us on today. I'm super excitedas a former Pod-er myself, but
yes, my name is Angie, and I docultural outreach and social
media for equal space. I've beenhere for a little bit under two
years, and a lot of my job hereis reaching out for the culture
(02:07):
in the community, opening ourdoors, and a lot of event stuff
in the background, working withKelly and a lot of our amazing
events we put together here atequal space, that I'm sure
you'll learn more about butyeah, just doing a lot of social
media in the back end, and justbeing a helping hand where I can
(02:27):
be in this wonderful company.
Tara Thurber (02:30):
Awesome. I love both your backgrounds and what
you both are doing atEqualSpace. Let's kind of dive
into that. How was EqualSpacecreated? What is the main
mission and goal of the company?
Kelly Outing (02:44):
Yeah. So ecospace was developed roughly, actually,
it's going to be close to 10years ago in September.
Tara Thurber (02:54):
Wow!
Kelly Outing (02:55):
There's the founder story of Citi Medina and
Ralphie Roman, and they have aparent company called Medina
City, where they work with a lotof non profit organizations and
for profit organizations thatfocus on providing social impact
grants, opportunities, things ofthat nature. And they do a lot
(03:16):
of social outreach and impactstrategy. And they have a
beautiful office. They are veryesthetic people, especially
Medina and so many of theirfriends who were in the local
entrepreneur ecosystem would usetheir offices, and after a while
they would come in and thecoffee pot would be already and
(03:41):
the electric bill was gettinghigher and higher, and they're
like, what's going on? (laughs)
Tara Thurber (03:45):
(laughs)
Kelly Outing (03:48):
That's the more hilarious story. But the other
idea that really pushedEqualSpace forward was their
focus and supportingentrepreneurs and being the
resource that they never had.
Oftentimes, a lot ofentrepreneurs, when they are
enter in so many differentrooms, they're always told no.
(04:09):
They're always told next timeyou're not ready yet. And they
wanted to create a space forentrepreneurs to understand that
this EqualSpace is the spacewhere you will get a yes, where
you will be supported, where youwill be valued. You will not be
questioned, your your value willnot be questioned. And so they
wanted to make sure that thatimpact was there. And so they
(04:31):
offer eight, nine Market Street,a little 900 square foot space.
And as the years progressed,they've been able to expand what
we've been able to expand intothree floors and having over
19,000 square feet.
So we have rangeof, I know, right, so amazing
Tara Thurber (04:48):
Wow! (laughs) anytime I tell it, but we have a
range of Office Spaces.
Dedicated desks. We havecreative spaces like our podcast
studios, a multimedia studio, afull event space, and we also
(05:09):
have now expanded to developinga tech and innovation campus,
which has come recently becauseof our outreach and our
connections to people, we'vebeen able to really develop a
credible format for how peopleyou know interact with us.
(05:33):
Right.
Kelly Outing (05:33):
Because we've been in the game for a lot of times
we're in these equity spaces.
Sometimes they don't last morethan three or four years because
of the lack of funding, becausemost of these spaces are
developed by black and brownentrepreneurs who don't have the
same access to a lot of thefinancial resources. And so I'm
very proud to say that you know,Medina and Rafi fight all the
(05:56):
time to make sure thatEqualSpace is always thriving.
They always, you know, try toconnect with as many resources
as possible to ensure that notonly we're thriving, but our
members are thriving. And inthose connections, we've
developed a great relationshipwith Fidelco, which owns the new
campus which we are at, which isat 550 and they were looking for
(06:18):
a co working space to supporttheir business, have their
building that they justdeveloped.
Tara Thurber (06:26):
Yeah.
Kelly Outing (06:27):
And they were Audible and other places. And
they went through, you know, thebig names, the industrious, the
other names. And unfortunately,those types of co working spaces
focus on being a product, butnot really being a service. And
EqualSpace focuses on being aservice as well as a product.
Tara Thurber (06:51):
Right.
Kelly Outing (06:51):
The other aspect of what we do is we provide
Unknown (06:52):
Amazing, Kelly and just for our listeners, to 89 Market
specific resources where we goout and we connect with
different not for profitleaders, for profit leaders, we
look at grants, we look at theseinformation, and we make sure to
share it with our localcommunity members and our
members who are within ourspace. So we have one on one
(07:15):
meetings with them. If a memberneeds support and they need to
understand, like, what financialopportunities are available, we
can present that to them, ifthey need support, understanding
their business strategy andshifting. We help with that. If
they even just need help withunderstanding, you know, they
(07:38):
want to change and move theirtheir branding strategy, we also
support in those aspects and whothey'll go through the meeting.
Street and 550 Broad Streetthat's in Newark, New Jersey,
They saw the amount of impactthat we've had just at 89 Market
Street, and they said, You haveto come here, to 550 and be a
part of it. And so with that,and in communications, we
(08:00):
developed this 50,000 squarefoot idea to do three floors at
550, broad, ranging from HQs fortech startups, which we have,
we've already opened up thatthat floor, we've had a few tech
startups who are here with us,really brilliant, working in
different aspects of AI andfintech. And then our other
(08:23):
floors will be coming on onboardroughly around 2025 we will have
a 300 person event space. Wealso will have podcast studios,
large scale multimedia studios,boardrooms. And then we're also
going to be having on theirfirst floor, a large scale event
space, slash dining and communearea for not only us and our
(08:46):
members for but also for theentire building, private suites,
conference rooms. We'll have amembers lounge in case you want
to, you know, be by yourself andbe with like for a day. So,
yeah, that's, well, howEqualSpace has evolved into what
we are now.
(09:13):
and both of these campuses areunbelievable. The energy that is
in both of these campuses issomething that for myself, I've
never experienced anywhere else,so big thumbs up high fives on
the growth of EqualSpace. I wantto kind of just shift a little
(09:34):
bit here. You're focusingstrongly on DEI and workplace
equality. What role do you thinkcompany culture plays in
fostering innovation, and how doyou think leaders can create an
inclusive environment wherecreativity it can thrive?
Kelly Outing (09:57):
Angie our culture icon, do you want to take this?
Angie Albizu (09:59):
Yeah, sure. I love to answer this question. I feel
Tara Thurber (09:59):
(laughs) like culture and fostering
innovation is definitelyimportant in any company. I feel
like when your staff and your coworkers feel like it's an
inclusivity and there's opencommunication and you're able to
(10:20):
like, have different voicesheard. It really makes you feel
safe without having anyjudgment, and it creates a lot
more creativity to flourishwithin your workspace, to be
able to like share ideas withlike minded individuals and
(10:40):
people that kind of look likeyou, that know where you're
coming from, your same type ofupbringing. It really does bring
a new sense of like creativity.
It helps you work better. Ithelps you kind of communicate
better with your with yourcolleagues, or employees. So I
(11:01):
find that even here atEqualSpace, that's something
that has been very open here,like being able to communicate,
being making sure that ourvoices are heard. Yeah, it's
definitely truly important. AndI hope, like every company,
starts to be more inclusive inthat way.
And that'ssomething too, Angie, that I
(11:23):
find amazing visiting bothcampuses. As soon as you walk in
the door, you feel it, you feelthe equality, you feel the
creativity is just all over theplace. And I find that to be
such a strong aspect in whatEqualSpace is, is providing, but
(11:43):
also laying the groundwork forother companies to see and then
grow from that.
Angie Albizu (11:52):
Correct, yeah, and it's like, it's a sense of,
like, no fair judgment here,like, you know you can always
feel your creative self. You canalways talk about what you feel
and know that it's being heard.
So yeah, for sure, I agree.
Tara Thurber (12:07):
Amazing. So I noticed, or going back to one of
the campuses, 550 is the techand innovative campus, and you
mentioned something, Kelly,about AI. So I want to dive into
this really quick. I want to getyour take on AI, as we're seeing
on a daily basis, AI is changingthe landscape in the tech
(12:30):
environment. So what do youthink are the most immediate and
important ways AI is affectingtech businesses in our area, in
Newark and really, around theglobe?
Kelly Outing (12:44):
That is a loaded question! (laughs)
Tara Thurber (12:45):
(laughs)
Kelly Outing (12:49):
AI has, you know, so many different impacts. It
has an impact on ourenvironment, a lot of people,
there's been a lot of studiescoming out about the fact that
AI is requiring a lot of peopledon't know that technology on
the internet still runs on codeand most of our energy still
runs on those on code and otheraspects. So with the amount of
(13:18):
support that's needed for AI tocontinue to grow there's even
conversations on, from anenvironmental standpoint, from a
entrepreneurial standpoint,going more hyper local. I
definitely think that there areso many different fears that
people have, which is reallyinteresting. I wouldn't talk
(13:39):
about the bad before I talkabout the good, because there
is, there is so much good aboutAI, and I think that people have
a fear that AI is going to takeeveryone's jobs and to also take
away people's opportunities togrow in certain areas. And
there's just so many differentconversations about AI that's
(14:02):
happening that some are informedand some are not. And I think
that's mostly because theconversations around AI aren't
hyper focused on localcommunities. They're more so
focused within the techindustries and the tech hubs
that exist within thesecommunities. And so when people
think of of AI, they don'treally think about Siri and the
(14:24):
fact that she's a part of AI.
They don't think about the factthat when you see certain like
ads, and how you see ads aboutPS4, I'm sorry, PS5. And you
were just looking at, you know,like the new, like, one of the
new games, you were just lookingat baldusg or something, and
they're like, why is, why is hesuggesting me to buy these?
(14:46):
Like that comesfrom AI on the background,
Tara Thurber (14:46):
(laughs) running certain things and
helping people. So AI isintegrated in our entire lives
already. And I think people havethis idea that it's coming. It
has already come.
It's been here!(laughs)
Kelly Outing (14:59):
It's here, it's just growing. The good things
about AI, I think, are that AIcan take away, yes, a few, a few
things that should be automatedand make it easier for people to
grow. But I think that it alsoputs a challenge on our economy,
Tara Thurber (15:16):
(laughs) and the employers on a
corporate and a local level, to
Kelly Outing (15:19):
We all know too much of anything is bad. Too
develop opportunities for peopleto grow and to have, like,
proper financial support wherethey can do other things that
they enjoy. I always like totalk about Star Trek because one
of our founders, Ralphie, is ahuge Trekkie, and many people,
he explained it to me in areally cool way. And this is how
(15:43):
I like to explain, like, where Iwant AI to go, which is that in
the Star Trek universe, mostpeople are doing what they want
to do, essentially. And so a lotof the items that need to be
automated, like cleaning andother elements, those things are
automated so people can focus oningenuity. And I feel as if a
(16:06):
great way to move AI forward isto focus on how to make sure AI
is taking away those knit andgrit items that take up so much
of our time that prevents usfrom being able to focus on
ingenuity, focus on creativity.
But a lot of the jobs that arecurrently being like supported
are more so focused on beingvery hands on. And so there
(16:29):
needs to be more training forpeople in other aspects. And yes
people obviously like college isan option, but there's other
opportunities for trade schoolsand other elements and other job
sectors that I definitely thinkthere needs to be an increase
more of like, we need morenurses, we need more teachers.
(16:52):
And if we train more person,like persons who are on the
background and do jobs that AIcan do more efficiently, and we
train them in these otheraspects, I definitely think we
can move the needle forward andfocus on making sure that we're
able to bring in morescientists, more nurses, more
(17:13):
teachers, More people who enterinto fields that need the most
creativity and the most creativeoutput. So that's my perception
of AI. I think it is a goodthing, but if it's regulated too.
(17:34):
many beets. Can mess up yourcolon too?
Tara Thurber (17:37):
Yeah.
Kelly Outing (17:38):
Too many bananas can, you know, screw with you.
Too many carrots can turn youorange?
Tara Thurber (17:42):
Yeah! (laughs)
Kelly Outing (17:43):
AI can be involved, you know, just, just
regulate and support people tofind.
Angie Albizu (17:49):
That was a good perception, though.
Tara Thurber (17:51):
Yeah, totally. And it's crazy to think about it,
too. You know, so many peopleare in the beginning when it
kind of blew up out there werestressing out about people
losing their jobs and but nowit's what people need to
understand is it's not losing ajob, it's shifting and it's
(18:15):
allowing humans to learndifferent skills and have
different opportunities. Soreally, this is- There's
opportunity here. It's not, youknow, a black cloud that's come
and it's a scary thing. Itshould be opportunistic for
businesses and individuals toutilize AI for the monotonous
(18:38):
stuff that can be automated tothen transfer and grow more
skills, learn more skills. And Imean, I've also read so many
different articles around thenew jobs that are going to be
out there. I mean, my kids 8 and12, there's going to be totally
(18:58):
different job titles whenthey're ready to be out in the
professional world. And so it'simportant, too, for educators
and for businesses to continueto raise the bar and to teach
and fly with AI, not fly againstit, but fly with it and learn
with it as it's growing, ashumans can then learn and grow
(19:24):
in a different way.
Kelly Outing (19:26):
Yeah, and I think the other part of that, that I
think you need to understand isin order to grow, in order to
build these things, it'simportant to also select people
who are the higher ups that alsosupport that vision.
Tara Thurber (19:43):
Yes!
Kelly Outing (19:43):
They support regulation to ensure that people
are able to expand into new jobsas AI grows.
Tara Thurber (19:50):
Yeah.
Kelly Outing (19:51):
Angie actually just showed me a video on
Instagram, and it was about ChatGBT integrating with Canva. And
now you'll be able to create aschat GPT, to essentially create
a template for a presentationand then get things done. And
you know, I'm the person thatthat works on like, any pitch
(20:13):
decks, any presentations. I'mthe one doing that for like
events and things.
Tara Thurber (20:16):
Right.
Kelly Outing (20:17):
And I easily see that as, oh, no, AI taking my
job. But I was like, no, thankGod! (laughs) I don't have to.
Thank God, using specific
Tara Thurber (20:22):
(laughs) colors, it makes my life so much
easier that I can now use theseitems to focus on other things.
And I think that one of the Ilove talking about this topic,
because I think that when wegrow up, and I'm getting to my
30, I'm going to my 30s nextyear.
(20:48):
(laughs)
Kelly Outing (20:48):
So as I've matured and I've become to understand
that we were programmed to focuson seeing ourselves as just
doers and not creators. Like,even in school, it's like, do
this, do that, not create.
Tara Thurber (21:06):
Yeah.
Kelly Outing (21:07):
And so I definitely think that the reason
is people are so stuck on beingdoers all the time is because
they grew up with that rhetoricthat if you don't do like, what
else is there? And there is moreto create. There is more
opportunity to develop. And Ithink that if we're able to also
(21:30):
shift the dynamics and shift theeducation in schools too, to
help people understand how theycan also enter into these other
industries, more students willlook for jobs that fit within
those other aspects ofcreativity. And when I say
creativity, I'm not just talkingabout the arts. A lot of people
don't understand that, MarieCurie, you know, the developer
(21:53):
of radiation. She didn't developit. She found radiation, right?
She had to be creative enough tounderstand and comprehend it.
Tara Thurber (22:02):
Yes!
Kelly Outing (22:03):
Like science requires creativity. As much as
creating a beautiful a beautifulmural requires great innovation.
And so I just, I really, amreally passionate about this,
because I do believe that AI issomething that is needed to help
humans grow. But I alsounderstand that within our
(22:24):
current socio economic likeexistence, within within the
society, it is a bit harder forpeople to grow because they are
taught that you have to do andfollow instead of create and
lead. So I think that's also theshift.
Tara Thurber (22:40):
Yeah, I agree, and I love everything about that. So
I would love to ask the two ofyou, we love asking our speakers
some fun questions too, kind ofgo off track a little bit, but
not really much, because it'sthis one's appropriate for this
(23:01):
conversation. What would be orwhat technology would either of
you wish you had invented?
Kelly Outing (23:16):
Okay, I think Angie goes.
Tara Thurber (23:19):
(laughs)
Angie Albizu (23:21):
I wanted to make sure I had this right, because I
was like, wish we had inventedor wanted to invent, but had
invented.
Tara Thurber (23:28):
Yep. You can give me a want to invent too. Why
not? Let's go there too. We'llopen it up!
Angie Albizu (23:39):
Oh my gosh, okay.
Um, Kelly, you want me to gofirst?
Kelly Outing (23:46):
Yeah, yeah, go for it. Feel free. Feel free.
Angie Albizu (23:48):
Okay, um, I wish I would had invented, and this is
just me being a mom. I wish Iwould have had invented the
portable breast, breast, if youcan, like, pump your breast on
the go. I think that was such agenius invention. And it was
(24:12):
like, I mean, it's somethinglike, Well, duh. Like, why
wouldn't? Why didn't we think ofthis before? But we, a lot of
women, didn't have that for avery long time, and it's so like
beneficial. And I thought, Ijust thought that was genius,
and it was something that wasvery helpful. So that's
something I wish I would haveinvented. If I can invent
(24:34):
something, I would invent ateleportation machine (laughs).
Tara Thurber (24:38):
Yes, I love it! I love it. First and foremost, the
breast pumping machine, thetravel want being able to travel
on the go is as a mother aswell. Yes, hands down, one of
the best things ever -teleportation. Yes, please.
There's it would save us a lotof time. Um, probably a lot of
(25:02):
money and gas. And I thinkthere's so many good things that
could come from something likethat. So I'm right there with
you, Angie.
Angie Albizu (25:12):
We can just snap our fingers and be at a beach.
Tara Thurber (25:14):
Right? (laughs)
Kelly Outing (25:17):
Oh, my god, yeah,
Tara Thurber (25:20):
Kelly, what about you?
Kelly Outing (25:22):
I was gonna say, to hop on Angie's. I was going
to quickly say that you wouldrevolutionize like travel
agencies. Because imagine if,like people own and he was like,
you want to go so with yourfamily. And like just different
sizes. I can see information,practice, so much money, um, I'm
(25:44):
gonna be that person and say, Iwish I invented the microchip,
just because it's literally thebackbone of all technology, and
I would have patented that andmade so much money. You wouldn't
use my - I would patent, like somany, I would create different
types of of elements andpatented and so much. Yeah,
(26:05):
rolling in it. (laughs)
Tara Thurber (26:06):
(laughs) I love it. Kelly, I absolutely love it.
Kelly Outing (26:12):
Um, and then for a wish, I if I could create
anything. Um, I I would create aspaceship that travels at the
speed of light while allowinghumans to be able to be in cryo
(26:37):
chambers, so then they can alsotravel. Because the main issue
with traveling at the speed oflight is that it takes a long
not at the speed, but theduration is what is where it
hurts humans.
Angie Albizu (26:49):
I'm here for that too.
Tara Thurber (26:51):
Man, both of you.
I love both of them. Thank you.
Thank you so much for sharing.
Angie Albizu (26:56):
Okay.
Tara Thurber (26:57):
So Top5, we are here as well, because I want to
talk to you both about NewarkTech week. I would love you
both. One of you, both of you.
How did tech Newark Tech Week?
Who is involved, where and whenis it taking place this year?
Get them both in there (laughs).
Unknown (27:17):
Yeah. So Newark Tech Week is a one really, really
wonderful story. So EqualSpace,we like to call ourselves the
refounders of Newark tech week.
Newark tech week was founded by,originally founded by a
wonderful woman named EmilyManz, along with a few other
local tech Titans that camehere, who used a few years ago,
and developed a completelybeautiful ecosystem. It
(27:40):
disbanded in around 2016 and2017 we decided to take up the
mantle, because during 2015 andThat's going to be a really fun
experience. We're going to have2016 we did two experiences
called Tech Town Hall with MayorBaraka. So be brought in to
speak about what what technologysome phenomenal speakers, some
amazing startup showcasing.
looks like. You know, what thechange technology and what the
(28:00):
scope looks like, and we wantedto expand upon that. And so ever
We're going to have a jazzy TechNight on the following day, we
since 2017 we have developedessentially this five day
conference. We have a multitudeof different activations. We
even called it an unconferencebecause each activation is in a
different area of the city, soit's kind of like its own
(28:21):
scavenger hunt. And even likelocal Newarkers who've been here
for a long time, they'reintroduced to new restaurants,
new locations, new organizationsthat they've never interacted
with before, which is reallyamazing. It's so amazing to hear
people who know just come toNewark for this experience, or
(28:41):
they were introduced to thisexperience by someone else who's
from here and were invited tocome like, Oh my gosh. I didn't
know Newark has so manyresources and so many different
things, and so that's just areally cool experience. And
we're very proud of Newark techweek and how it's been able to
(29:01):
develop this year, we have areally amazing lineup. So we're
going to have really cool techsummit starting on october 14,
and then the week extends fromoctober 14 to the 18th. The Tech
Summit is going to be at thejunction, which is at the
Gateways. Many, many Newarkersknow it as the gateways, but
(29:22):
they've rebranded to thejunction, so I call it junction
gate. Junction Gateway (laughs)_are going to have Audible
(29:44):
collaborating with NJII andNewark Alliance. They're going
to be doing Newark's PremierDemo Day. I believe it's they
call it the Newark Demo Day.
They're going to have a fewstartups showcasing what they
do. Um, there's going to be amixer afterwards at 10 June
called Code and Cocktails. Sothe all the coders out there,
(30:06):
anyone who's really technology,please come through. Um, on
Wednesday, we have a few coolactivations. So we have Jimbo,
who's going to be doing a NewarkTech Run. And it's a run, but
it's called North tech fun toget story Norte tech week,
likely our founder, Medina, willbe going, I do not run. I'm not
a runner (laughs).
Angie Albizu (30:30):
I'm not even a power walker.
Tara Thurber (30:32):
(laughs)
Kelly Outing (30:35):
You're too hilarious. Also, also at Hacks,
we have the wonderful,DefinedTalent who will be
posting an experience incollaboration with a lovely
organization called Disrupt theGap, who will be doing an
experience called HR for GrowingVentures. And essentially, that
(30:55):
experience will detail how newstartups and seasoned startups
can build and integrate strongHR departments within your team,
which is very important, veryimportant! Look at what happened
to X slash Twitter (laughs).
Tara Thurber (31:13):
(laughs)
Kelly Outing (31:13):
When they didn't have a proper one - just to give
you an understanding. So youdefinitely have to come to that
experience. We also are going tobe hosting something called VC
Hot Seat, where we bring indifferent venture capitalists
who come and speak, and they'regonna be talking about the
beauty and the dark side ofventure capital. Everyone has
(31:34):
some accelerators also come forpeople to learn about them. Um,
we will be hosting on Thursday,we're going to be hosting a few
activations, one of them beingan IT teaching people how to
manage and protect their digitalfootprint. Just because you have
a tech company does not mean youknow about cybersecurity.
Tara Thurber (31:57):
Yes.
Kelly Outing (31:58):
Then we also have a marketing workshop where
people will learn how to developa strong, purpose driven brand
for their product or theirservice, which I think is very
important for any tech startup.
You need to be able to promoteyour product, whether it's B2B
or B2C. Doesn't matter. You needto know how to sell what you do.
(32:19):
We'll have a woman in tech eventalso that evening, and that's
going to be a highlight of somany different women who are
making changes within the city.
And then on Friday, we have anew addiction, which is really
exciting. We have an amazingwoman. She works at Microsoft.
(32:40):
Her name is Jojo. She's going tobe essentially doing a
masterclass and how to work onAI prompts within Microsoft's
AI.
Tara Thurber (32:52):
Wow.
Kelly Outing (32:52):
Which is really cool, because a lot of people
don't realize that - they alwayssay, AI sucks. I try to put this
in the information. When yougive me what I want, it's like
you have to talk to it. Youknow, you have to caress it.
Tara Thurber (33:02):
Caress it(laughs).
Kelly Outing (33:02):
Yes, beautiful things, you know. You know,
it'll give you something inreturn, you know. And then we're
gonna be closing out with ourNTW wrap up party, and that's
going to be at the standard, theStandard Cafe in the Ironbound
(33:23):
so you have a full week, andthere's so many other events
that you know are still beingfinalized, and so many more
experiences. But you can learnabout all these experiences, and
you can learn about all theseexperiences at
newarktechweek.com.
Tara Thurber (33:39):
Awesome, awesome.
We'll make sure to share thatlink out as well. So I'm going
to ask you both I am sointerested for you to share your
top five reasons for ouraudience to attend Newark Tech
Week.
Angie Albizu (33:54):
Network.
Definitely one of the topreasons to network, especially
if you're a techie or a techenthusiast or just want to learn
about it. This is like, thenumber one place to network and
meet like minded individuals andjust connect. It is all about
from like from what I've seen isall about meeting people and
learning more about and see howyou can grow within the
(34:18):
community. So networking, forsure, it's number one. For me.
Tara Thurber (34:25):
That's number one.
It's up to you. You both can goback and forth if you want.
Unknown (34:33):
I would say it's free.
It's a free experience. One ofthe reasons we make nerd tech
week free is because we don'tbelieve that there should be any
barriers to access theinformation and resources.
That's the pillar of ecospace.
And so you want to make surethat you don't have to pay $300
or $400 to be in a room withsuccessful people, we want you
(34:55):
to have free access to that,just like many others do. So,
yeah.
Tara Thurber (35:00):
Amazing. So that was number two. What's number
three?
Angie Albizu (35:06):
I would say, to educate, educate yourself on not
only tech, but like, what'shappening in the city of Newark.
As far as the tech community.
There's a lot of great thingshappening and all the great tech
companies coming into the city.
So I think really, if you wantto learn more about IT, we were
just talking about how it's onething that I think people just
(35:29):
need to get educated on andlearn more about. So yeah,
Newark Tech Week is definitelythe place to learn about all
these things that are happeningwith it, with innovation, with
tech. So education will be mythird reason to learn more.
Tara Thurber (35:44):
Love it.
Kelly Outing (35:46):
My fourth reason would be, it's a it's a really
cool multicultural experience wewould definitely pride ourselves
on. You know, Newark ispredominantly a black and Latina
community, and so very proud ofthe fact that many of the people
who come to the experience, theyfeel seen in those aspects, and
(36:08):
it's open to everyone. And Idon't want to preface that, it's
open to everyone. And when I saymulticultural, I mean of all
cultures, not excluding anyone,which is, I think it's so
important for people tounderstand it's like, no matter
what your background is, nomatter where you come from,
you're welcome, like Angiementioned before, when you walk
into our doors, we do the samething for our events. No matter
who you are, where you comefrom, you are welcome to Newark
(36:32):
Tech Week. And we try to makesure that we provide that
experience, because we haveseen, and also some of us have
even experienced what it's liketo be ostracized at events, to
feel, you know, the coldness inthe room when you walk in. Those
are things that you do notexperience at NorTech. Be
supposed to be connected and funand glorious and magical, that
(36:54):
you're supposed to be like, Ohmy gosh, this is so cool, like
you're gonna walk away. Awesome.
I had a great experience, you
Tara Thurber (37:01):
Yeah, amazing, amazing. And what's our fifth
know?
and final?
Angie Albizu (37:06):
Um, I would say the panel discussions, right?
The highlights, the people thatthe speakers like, do you This
is your chance to, like, haveone on one, conversations with
the people that's in thesepositions. So yeah, just for the
(37:27):
event schedule itself. Get somany things going on. You can
pick what you want to do ifyou're, if you're if you're into
listening to people speaking youcan go to a speaking event. If
you're more hands on, you can goto more of a hands on event. So
it's really everything foreveryone in any space. So, yeah.
Kelly Outing (37:46):
Just make sure you go, it's going to be the best
thing ever (laughs)!
Tara Thurber (37:48):
(laughs) I love that. And there you're right,
there's so much variation, andthere's, there's something for
everybody. I love it. I love it.
Kelly and Angie, I have enjoyedthis so much today. Love you
both and appreciate you takingtime out of your busy schedules
(38:09):
to speak to us today.
Angie Albizu (38:12):
Yes, we love you so much, Tara - you're the
bomb.com.
Tara Thurber (38:16):
Yeah! Well, we are DefinedTalent, a DefinedLogic
service coming to you at Top5.
Make it a great day.
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