July 10, 2025 • 56 mins
President Herman from the NSBE Association and Uni discuss their initiatives to engage kids early in STEM, acknowledging inspiring advisors and celebrating student achievements at national conventions. They emphasize exposing kids to diverse pathways and passions, while Herman shares his unconventional journey into engineering, highlighting the support he found within Nesby, even for learning disabilities. They touch upon the importance of adapting to technology, the upcoming gala, and the inclusivity of Nesby membership. The conversation also covers safety in manufacturing, ethical fashion choices, and Nesby's special interest groups and global reach, emphasizing the organization's commitment to showcasing Black excellence in STEM.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
This is WOVU Studios.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to our voices today right here on
WOVU ninety five point nine FM with your belove Unicorn
of the Land DJ Black Unicar aka Uni.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
And how you're doing, How you doing, how you living,
how you feeling?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Go ahead and check in with yourself, because you know,
you know what I say. I say what the kids say,
and the kids say, life be life. And so look,
we take our breaths, we take our cleansing breaths, just
to recenter ourselves, our spirit, our minds, because again the
kids say, life be life. And then I tend to agree,
so deep in hell through the.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Nose, boss, slow exhil through the mouth, because Uni is
here to.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Remind you you have to pause for the cause and
the causes yourself, the causes your mental health, the causes
you being able to handle all the things that are
coming at you because they don't stop. And I think
I was about twenty five when I realized, Yo, this
does not stop like I thought. I thought I would
reach like some type of plateau, some type of like
you know, hell that's going upward. But no, the hills
(01:13):
and the valleys they all come and nothing lasts forever.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
It's a cycle. So just remember that.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Just remember that, and do not do anything permanent off
of temporary emotions, because look again, it's life's cycles. We
have our ups, we have our downs, and if you
need support, you can find it at right here at WOVU.
You can always reach me seriously marketing at wovu dot org.
You can always text nine to eight eight if you
(01:41):
need help. You can always text three one one if
you need help. But look, if you need help, you
need am here to let you know it is okay
to seek that help.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
We gotta get away from that stigma in our community.
We have to because we are going who will placed.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
In a space that is unknown, but it's kind of
known because we know that history pieces so and we
see where they're.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Trying to go. They see you, you see where they
trying to take us.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
So be real with yourself and if you need some help,
get that help. I have a lovely guest live in
the studio with me for our voices today today, and
I'm super excited to have this conversation.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
The first time we had this combo, it was virtual.
You all know.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
It just don't hit the same when it's virtual for
me at least, it just doesn't. So I'm super happy
the vice president of the NETSBY Association, that's the National
Society of Black Engineers that.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
I got that, I got that right. Yes, also awesome.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
He has joy be live in the studio here to
talk all about nets BE things, what's been happening, what's
coming up, because they have a special event right out
Magnet next Thursday.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
But we're gonna get into it before we get there.
I'm gonna go ahead.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
And allow the president to properly introduce himself to our
listening audience.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Good morning. My name is Herman Jean Baptiste. I am
currently the vice president of NEO NESBY, which is the
Northeast Ohio National Society of Black Engineers Professionals Chapter.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Thank you so much for joining me here on our
voices today. And before we got started, you gave me
the run down. You gave me to run down with
you guys been up to you know, future plans.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
How you all are trying to get outside.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
You've kind of been outside. You did your first annual
Gayala last year? Was it at Magnet?
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Yes, it was that Magnet. Were the galas to honor
the graduating class of our local colleges Acro University, KSE
Western University and Cleveland State University and Kent. We did
not forget about you. You are with us in our minds. Yes,
involved in state tuns didn't forget you guys either.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
So let's give a little bit back about NESBY and
what it is that you all do.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
So before we get into it, I do want to
state our mission statement, something that we recite at every meeting,
at every gathering, every time we get together, and our
mission statement is to increase the number of culture responsible
black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally, and positive positively
(04:25):
impact the community. So when NESBY does it is a
national society, it is recognized. We've been around for about
fifty years. We have monthly meetings, or at least we
try to have monthly meetings where we generally talk about
we generally talk about professional development and personal growth. So
(04:49):
one day we may be talking about finance and the
next day we may be talking about SIPOK, which is
Supplier Input Process Organization. And I forgot what the C
actually stands for. Yeah, but it can apply to other
(05:09):
things in your life. So we do talk about engineering,
but not always. We will talk about finances, we will
talk about investing, we will talk about relationships sometimes, so
anything that we feel that our members can get out of.
So you don't necessarily have to be an engineer to
come to our meetings because you will get something out
(05:29):
of it.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Do you have to be an engineer to engineer to
join the society as a whole?
Speaker 3 (05:34):
No, we have many different members. We have members that
are in banking, we have members that are in human resources.
We have all different types of members. It's just a
great way to network. If you have your own personal business,
you want to, you know, get the word out there.
It's a great way to get your name out there.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
So you just got to be black.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yeah, you don't even have to be black either.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Oh there's some white people.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Yeah, actually there's If you ever go to our conferences,
you'll see all types of racing creeds, all different types
of religion. Everybody's just there to just vibe out and
have a good time, meet new friends, meet new people.
I personally met a few good people the E board,
for example, the executive team, great people. Love working with them.
(06:24):
I'm gonna miss working with them because our tenure is
coming to an end, so our positions are up for
re election. But nonetheless, there's a lot of great people.
As long as you hold the mission statement to your heart,
then that's all you really need to be a member.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Okay, okay, But the focus is primarily increasing the numbers
of black engineers.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
And why is that the focus?
Speaker 3 (06:52):
So about fifty years ago, it originally started with six
members or six people from the South side of Chicago.
They were the only people that look like them in
the Purdue University. They were struggling with their with their
classes and trying to figure out, like how are they
(07:13):
you know, how to survive? And they noticed that a
couple of students were just getting together and studying. So
that's what they did. They got together and they studied.
A lot of them ended up with doctorates and moving
on from engineering and doing different things with their degrees
and their lives. But still here fifty years later, we're
still here and the numbers are growing.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
I love it. I love it.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
So with the mission being said, you know, black engineers,
are we in the schools?
Speaker 1 (07:42):
What are we doing with these kids?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Man, do you have a junior chapter?
Speaker 3 (07:47):
We do have a junior chapter.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
So we got to focus on the kids.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
That's right. We do have a junior junior team. We
go from kindergarten all the way up to high school.
Oh wow, said we get them. Yeah, we get them
young and we do a great job. So we do
want to take a quick second to acknowledge some of
their advisors that's there, which are Ramona Larry Fowler. I
(08:13):
hope I pronounced your name right, She's a great advisor.
Miss Angela Jones. Congratulations to miss Angela. She's also just
got a promotion. And Miss Eliza Smith, she works at
NASA as an aerospace engineer. Those three have really done
a great job with the kids. They really inspired a
(08:35):
lot of these kids to continue on. We're becoming engineers.
I came a little later, but I see them. I
see as some of them coming back and saying, oh
my god, Miss Angela, miss Ramona, you really inspired me
to continue my education and become engineers. And it's actually
a really great feeling to see some of these kids
go off into their collegiate careers and then professional careers
(08:57):
to become engineers. And just a quick humble brag, we
took about seven or eight high school kids to our
national convention to compete in the ten to eighty race
and we got second place out of thirty.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
So these kids do work hard. We brought home another
trophy and next year we bring all the kids more trophies.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Shout out to the kids.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yeah, for sure, shout out to the kids. I love
hearing that the kids make me happy. Y'all probably can
hear the smile on my voice because I love the kids.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
For sure. I love the kids.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
So I love that you all are gathering them early,
letting them know like, hey, this is the pathway for
you if you decide to do it, or if this
is just something you like to do in your spare time,
this is an option that you have. And unfortunately a
lot of our kids aren't told that though they are
not uplifted in those fashions to where they know that
(09:57):
they have access to different programs, to different ways of life,
to different pathway. So I love that you all are
in these kids' faces like, hey, this is something you
can do.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Yeah. Even I as an engineer currently, I'm still learning
a lot from these kids, from the collegiate kids, just
learning about different path careers. For example, I do you know,
biomedical engineering was a thing. Apparently that is a huge
thing because I've met a lot of black engineers who
want to get into biomedical engineering. So for those of
(10:28):
you who don't know what that is, because I just learned,
biomedical engineering is the ways that our body can take medicine.
So I know a really hot topic is ozepic or
I think it's g N one. I think it's called
the generic form of it. It's an injection. It's the
(10:49):
biomedical engineers that figure out how to get that into
your body. What's the best way to get that into
your body.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
I'm not the engineering math scientists.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
I am not that a manufacturer engineer slash project engineer.
So if you need something built, come to me. But
anything else that's on your own.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
But there's so many sectors of engineering and a lot
of education is associated with engineering, and that I feel
like kind of deterars a lot of individuals from joining
the field. So can we talk about that a little
bit and lessen the anxiety attached to it.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
What was your experience like?
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Oh man, so personally, I've always struggled through school. I
was never like the A plus student. Honestly, if you
were to tell me back in high school that I
would be an engineer. Today, I'm like, oh, this guy
is lying. I don't know what you're talking about, Like,
there's no way. But what got me into engineering was
my passion for automotive. Like I love cars, I love racing.
(11:49):
So the kids that's doing these inappropriate.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
We don't.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
That's the person, the ones that's doing the inappropriate takeovers.
Please stop. You're really ruining the scene for us. But
those I was one of those kids that was doing
inappropriate things. But that did lead me into engineer because
I learned how a car works, and I want to
(12:19):
know how car works to better my car so I
can race properly on a racetrack. So now your yeah,
oh man, I love racing. That's why. Yeah, that's why
I bring that the same passion, the same energy to
to the kids. And that's why we keep winning our races.
We're gonna continue winning. It's all that part of it.
(12:41):
We're gonna continue with winning. And any other city out
there that wants to smoke, Cleveland is here for it.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Hey, you call out, you better ask if you think
you got it.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
It's it's it's actually it does get pretty tough because
the right yeah, it does get pretty intense. But that's
what got me into it. And then talking and seeing
a few other engineers that I'm originally from New York,
so there was like one or two engineers.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Okay Borough now from a borough.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
I'm actually from the suburbs Long Island, so it's about
thirty miles away from New York City. Believe it or not,
there is no one is to the chapter out there.
But there was a couple of black engineers in my
neighborhood and I talked to them. I've worked in different
(13:30):
fields and all kind of surrounded itself around engineering, specifically
mechanical engineering, because that's what I like. I like touching things,
I like things moving. That's what brought me into engineering
as an adult. So I went back to school in
my later years. I went back to school when I
was twenty eight, and I graduated when I was thirty.
So just because I didn't, you know, have a linear path,
(13:54):
that doesn't mean you can't go back to school at
our later years. Yes, you can always go back for
to go to get your degree.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
I'm in the process of going back myself, and I
was trying to figure out what I wanted to do.
And I'm like, well, I'm in marketing. I'm in this field.
It just makes sense.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
And an engineer sounds like you want to be an engineer.
I kind of we're gonna pressure into I thought.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
About it because, Okay, So when I was in the Army,
my mos was ninety one fix small artilleries repaired anything
from an M nine to a triple subburb houser. I
was a mechanic for so I love working with my hands.
I do have an engineer in mine and that definitely
was something I took into consideration when I.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Graduated high school some way, somehow.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
But but I was not in the model student either, okay,
And that's why I feel like these conversations are important
to have because we have to let people know it's
never too late.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
No, it's never too late. Just like mister look John,
I feel like I always spenssed your day.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
But Herman is just fine. Yes, Herman is just fine.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
We had a whole conversation about the origin of your
name and your Linden is the first conversation. We were
not going to go there this time. But yes, mister Hermit,
I was not a model student. You were not a
model student. A lot of us in our community are
not model students, and that kind of hinders our confidence
when it comes to education.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Yes, and it's never too late.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
No, so recently, I'm thirty eight. Now, recently I was
diagnosed with ADHD. So if I had knew that back then,
my path may be a little bit more linear or
maybe a little bit different, But that doesn't mean that
it can't be done. And I remember having conversations with
other people and esby that said, oh, I have ADHD
(15:55):
as well. These are what I do to to help
me get past my classes. This is what I do,
And it feels comforting knowing that you're not alone. I've
met other people with other learning disabilities. I've met a
person that has dyslexia, so they're still engineers. So to
(16:16):
say that you have a learning disability means that you
can't be an engineer is a false statement. That just
means you have to find a different way to do it,
and that could also be a superpower because you're looking
for other ways to solve a problem. A lot of
times we do the same thing over and over again
because that's what we're comfortable with. And you need an
(16:38):
outside perspective to actually fix a problem. So I know
a lot of people is concerned about automation. The automation
has been around for years since, like the seventies. Because
the machines and stuff are getting a lot more sophisticated,
a lot more you know, smarter, we still need engine
(17:00):
years because we need people to fix the robots, to
fix the automation and program the automation. So just because
there's not anybody necessarily standing there, you still have a
whole field of engineers who's going to service those robots,
build those robots, to design those robots. So engineers are mechanical.
Engineers are still going to be around. AI is not
(17:22):
necessarily going to take our positions because they still need
somebody to build the robots and design the robots to
look over the information that the AI is putting now.
So just because you know AI, a lot of companies
are pushing AI, do's necessarily mean that you're going to
lose your position. It's just going to change a little bit.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Yes, it's going to evolve as things do.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
And when you are complacent and you're not evolving with
the world, I'm talking to you in the back. Yeah,
you the one that you know is always talking crap
about AI, always talk about how they're going to take
our jobs and take over our minds, and they going
to take over society. I'm talking to you, the scared person.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
You gotta stop. You gotta stop. Think about when the
internet hit our households.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
In the nineties, in the early nineties, right when the
average person was able to have a computer, and how
many people were like, I'm not bringing computer in my home.
Look at today, how society have evolved, and how if
you don't have a computer in your home, you can
barely do your homework, you can barely do your school
like It's a lot that comes with not being involved
(18:30):
with evolution.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
So this is.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
UNI's way of just letting you know, you gotta get
with the times.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
You gotta stay with the times. People, you gotta grow,
you gotta evolve with the world. Don't go anywhere. You
are listening to our voices today.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
I have the vice president mister Hermann up Nesby Association
and National Society of Black Engineers.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Make sure you stick around. Don't go anywhere. We're nowhere near.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Done with this conversation, and we gotta give you the
details on next we Gato don't go anywhere, would be
right back, a welcome back to our voices today right
here on w O b U ninety five point nine
F M. Burton Bell Car Community Radio, and this is
your love Unicorn of the Land, DJ Black Unicorn aka UNI.
Having a great conversation with the vice president of the
(19:17):
Nesby Association National Society of Black Engineers, mister.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Herman, and.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
We talked a little bit about you know how I
tried to avoid your last day, but we could talk
a little bit about say again, Jean Baptiste, Jean Baptiste,
I always think creole when I hear that name. Can
we talk about it?
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Talk a little bit about.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Your So a lot of people are saying you're Gene
Baptiste and you know, Dyreon mcleissums creole, which is sort
of correct and sort of not. So. My family is
originally from Haiti Go Naive specifically, if those of you know, so,
(19:58):
I'm going to talk to you the amount of Haitian
people that's actually engineers. I was surprised. I didn't think
that was that many engineers that are Haitian. I went
to the national convention and then I'm just hearing people
speaking Creole, which is the national language of Haiti, and
it was just it felt reassuring. Yeah, so real, real, real, sure.
(20:23):
I was like, oh, man, I'm really not alone out here.
I've met Haitian from Tennessee. I've met Haitian from Minnesota.
So there's a lot of like first generation Haitian people,
second generation Haitian people who are engineers who are doing
wonderful things in aerospace, biomedical manufacturing, who are getting doctorates
(20:46):
and changing their local environment. This one particular gentleman, I
know he's from Tennessee. He's a professor at Tennessee University.
I believe he's a civil engineer, and he's really changing
the community in his city. So it was just comforting
(21:07):
to know that, especially with the climate. As you know,
in the last election, we heard some not so positive things.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Very nasty, very nasty.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Yeah. Yeah, if you guys only knew how hard a
lot of Haitian people are. Uh you know that we
you it's unbelievable, what you know, what we do. Haiti
was the first black republic eighteen o four. January first
is our as our independence day. So you know, if
you come by my house, you will get some soup
(21:39):
which is our traditional soup dumo, which is our traditional
soup that we eat for celebration of independence state. Not sure,
no fireworks or guns or anything, but you'll have a
nice conversation some laughs with me and my family. But
to all those you know, immigrant students and immigrant children,
(22:00):
engineering is definitely a way path you can go because
you will found a family uh in engineering as well.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Everywhere you go, Yeah, everywhere you go, because like you said,
you were at the convention, you heard you overheard the speakings.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
He said, hold on, Yeah, so I served with Haitian
and he used to hate when we would call him black.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
He would say, I'm not black, I'm Hishian. Yeah, what's
up with that? Why why I don't want to be playing.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Because it's the marketing of America that America has done.
It is you know when you're watching a lot of
movies and they always portray black people or some type
of negative stereotype, and it's.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Like, we're far from that.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Yeah, definitely far from that. I'm not gonna lie coming
from an immigrant background, I remember my parents and some
other Haitian folks in New York, So I'm not saying
out here, but in New York they had a bit
of a negative connotation. But then they don't see or
hear about organizations like NESBI. I had to tell them like, hey,
(23:17):
I'm in this organization and this is what they're doing, Like,
oh my god, I know that because we don't hear it.
Because we don't hear it, we don't see it. Like
so all y'all see.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Is like the movies and the propaganda, the portrayed as
unsavory people, and y'all just like, we not like that.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
We for our Yeah, we're nothing like you folks.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
If you know your history, you know hidden figures, right,
Like if it wasn't for those lovely women, the astronauts
may not have come back at one piece. We don't
know that history like that should be taught in schools,
Like you have these hard working women who I need
math really well, and how the astronats come back to Earth,
(24:06):
like that's amazing, and we don't hear stories like that.
The matter of black people that's in society that's actually
holding up America is unbelievable. And I wouldn't have never
known that if I didn't go to the convention and
converse with some of these people I'm in you know,
like I said, if you talked to me when I
(24:26):
was in high school, I wouldn't ever have guessed that
I'll be in the same room as the people who
are vice presidents and presidents and CEO of these major companies,
like I would never and that they're all black, Like
you just never know that because they're not in the forefront.
They don't need to be in the forefront. They know
what they're doing, they know who they are, but.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
They do need to be in the forefront to.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Avert from those thought processes that the people of your people.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Yeah, I think, yeah, it makes me.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Sad because it's like, Yo, we're all from the same continent.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Why do they feel that way?
Speaker 2 (25:06):
But to hear you explaining like that, it makes complete
sense because I probably feel the same way, Like I
ain't nothing like the goofy.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Yeah, yeah, I understand that.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
But now now I like to think that the tide
is turning. It is because there's a lot more you know,
a lot more vision, a lot more people seeing us
and knowing who we are. That's why they're trying to
stop us.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Right, That's why I said, No, they got to be known.
They have to be seen, because otherwise people won't think
that they exist.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
Right there, and we, like I said, we exist. The
numbers of fifteen thousand participated in this year's convention, even
though the a lot of the government pulled out, So
fifteen thousands showed up for a convention.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Fifteen thousand and for one fifteen thousand.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
It happened in Chicago.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Correct, it happened in Chicago, fifteen thousand. Next year is
Next year will be in Baltimore.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
But oh, I love going to that side of the States.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
I've been there once or twice.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
No, you know.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
I love the go go music, I love the food.
I love ooh, I just love that side of the
States for sure. I got love for everywhere in the world,
and every I feel like every place that I've been
touching me differently.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
I feel the same way about New Orleans. The food.
Going down to New Orleans and trying to come.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Back up here and eat seafood is like, man, y'all
better gone. I don't even taste nothing. It tastes like nothing.
I don't taste anywhere this seasoning a did you boil it?
Speaker 3 (26:54):
How long? Did you?
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Boy? Like, I just don't. It just doesn't taste the same.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
But you know, I come home to Clear and I
get my my euros from the gas station and I
get my Polish boy, and I'll.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Be real happy. I'm a foodie.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
If you can't tell, don't let the stores fool you
like I eats. I gets down speaking of eating des
in Chicago for the national convention for the next Fee Association.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Let's talk about it. Were people able to experience at
this convention.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
Everything? So there's also a job fare. We have small
mom and pop shops show up, and then we have
Fortune five hundred show up. You name it will be.
That would be there, Boeing, Northbrook, Brummen, Delta, Visa City, Bank,
(27:53):
government entities, civil civil companies, Jacob's, rock Wall Automation, and
Suage Block, Amazon. I mean, the list goes on and on,
and yeah, how do.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
You feel about working with these corporations who have gotten
rid of their DEI.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
H it's said some of them didn't necessarily get rid
of it. They just kind of rewarded it, so they,
you know, don't get it too much bullback. You know,
I mentioned Amazon. Amazon didn't necessarily get rid of their
DEI program. They just kind of rewarded it and retooled
it because they still showed up in force at our convention.
(28:35):
They had a whole suite that they sponsored. They were
looking for people to hire as well, so they didn't
necessarily get rid of it, but it does. They just
kind of rebranded it a little bit. But we just,
you know, we there's still other companies that's willing to
work with us. So I want to give a couple
(28:56):
of shout outs to Sherwan William, Thank you, Rockwell Automation.
And also a local bar slash restaurant, Sunset Kitchen, thank
you for allowing you to use your space. Really great food,
(29:17):
real great drinks. Who else?
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Why you think? Can I ask you a question? What's
going on with the planes?
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Man? This is what happens when you get rid of
qualified people. Like like I said, this.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Is like a big conversation with you and your engineer friends.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
It's always a conversation because we want to learn from
our own mistakes. I will spend hours talking about why
something went wrong and trying to get to the root analysis,
root cause of the problem, then how to fix it,
because that's why they hire us.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Can we talk about timeline and what you may suspect
as an engineer is happening. So it just kind of
they didn't just start happening like until what after the election.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Yeah, I'm just scaried.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
I mean, you know, I think, I think sometimes I
don't know.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
So there's many different reasons and we just kind of
have to wait for the full report. So I can't
give you necessary a timeline or why what happened necessarily,
but I can tell you that safety is definitely important.
We can go back to the submersible that happened about
(30:38):
two years ago. A lot of that failure was because
of safety. It was a lack of safety. There's a
lot anytime you think there's a dumb rule, it's because
someone got seriously hurt and it cost the company a
lot of money. So anytime you've seen a sign there
was like no running by the pool, Yeah, no running
by the pool because somebody got hurt and some engineer
(31:01):
had to spend you know, a good amount of time
writing a report to say like don't do this and
why you shouldn't do that. I hate that, but I
get it. It is important for every dollar that you
save and saved or excuse me, every dollar that you
spend on safety is seven dollars saved because of the
(31:24):
time that somebody has spent outside of work. So you
know that's in you know, whether they have to take
off time for because they're injured, or they have to
go through litigation to pay somebody off. So it's better
off to just spend that extra dollars so you can
save seven dollars down the line.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Yes, yeah, see, people don't think of like that. Yeah,
especially like a prime example. She okay, I'm not going
to say any names, but cheap and it's fast fashion.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
We'll just leave it like that. Fast fashion have all
of these chemicals in them.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Yeah, and you don't.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Think about the process that goes into making these fast
fashions that are super inexpensive for you. Yeah, I pay
five dollars for a tach top, but I could get
cancer from this top.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
You can, so a lot of that.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
So just paying the.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
Twenty dollars for nice talk with quality fabric without the chemicals,
it can save you.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
Yeah, it definitely can. So one of the reasons why
it's so affordable it's the volume. So you what a
lot of these companies do. I'm giving away the secrets,
but what a lot of these companies do is per hour,
So the more you can cram in in an hour,
(32:44):
the more affordable it will be. So that's why you
know you mentioned airplanes, the seats are really small, so
they can fit a many people in that quote unquote
hour of destination time. The reason why the top is
so expensive. Yes, the material is a lot more affordable.
And two there's a lot of people working at one
(33:06):
time to get that part out and that's that's that's
one of the reasons why.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Yeah, and they're not paying the extra like you were
just explaining in the safety protocols, and make sure these chemicals.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Are not being dumped on these clothes for whatever reasons.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
I'm not going to sit here it act like, I
know manufacturing of clothes process entirely, and where the chemicals
are coming from, how they're being introduced to the fabric,
I don't know, but.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
I know this there.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
Yeah. Yeah, and I.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
Know sometimes cheaper is not better.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Yeah, most times cheaper is not better.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
You have to pay for quality.
Speaker 3 (33:47):
Yeah. So some of the clothes actually comes from Bangladesh.
Bangladesh doesn't have the greatest work environment.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
And regulations and safety protocols.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
And yeah, yeah, so like anytime there's like, you know,
a catastrophe, all the engineers I feel, at least I do,
because that is my realm manufacturing. We get like an
alert and so like this is what happened, this is
the failure, this is the cause of it, because it
(34:21):
is important because they bring that to the United States, like, okay,
we got we can't do this, We can't do that
because it's you know, it's a safety like I said,
spend spend that dollars so you can save seven, Like
it really makes a difference.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
Yes, it does. So quick story before break.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
My cousin worked for a manufacturing company far out like
back in the eighties, right, And so it was something
he was working with, some type of material that was
being cut and so he put his hand too far
in it and it cut off all for his fingers. Yeah,
and the doctors were able to reattach the fingers, but
they have a like dent in them like were his. No,
(35:00):
so he can't bend them, but he has them. And
that to me speaks the evolute speaks to the evolution
of safety within manufacturing.
Speaker 3 (35:11):
Can we talk a little bit about that, Yeah, I'll
tell them a personal story of mind and I'll tell
you how they fix that. So, now, if you go
to a machine that has shrup cutting edges or some
type of shear, so when something is cut, it's called shearing.
They have, well three, they have three different things. They'll
(35:34):
have buttons on the side of the machine or a
front of the machine where you have to press both
of them to actually activate it. That's one. Then they'll
have light curtains, so if the light curtain breaks or
you put your hand through the like curtains, it will
stop the machine automatically. And then three, they have something
called dead man switch, where an operator actually has to
(35:54):
hold a switch or hold on to a button before
the machine actually operates, so they, you know, I don't
lose their fingers. And my dad is a machinist. Those
of you who don't know what machinist is. Those are
the people that works on metals, usually metals that kind
(36:14):
of just form it. They use a big old machine
that will cut whatever shape it needs to be. And
that's what my dad did for about thirty some odd years.
And he actually lost the tip of his finger because
he put his hand inside the machine. And I'm so old,
(36:35):
but I'm just thinking back when I was in high school,
my dad also got injured again where he almost lost
his eye. He was working on a machine and the
door had like flung open and a part had came
out and almost hit him in the almost they did
hit him in the face just right below his eye,
(36:57):
and like caught a huge gash in his eye. So nowadays,
allow the new machines will have a locking mechanism where
once their door is shut and the and it's operating,
you cannot open it. It's locked, and if it does
open it it usually just shuts down the machine because
of that safety. Like I said, spend that dollar. Spend
(37:21):
that dollar my dad. You know, my dad was out
of work for when he had the when the tool
came close to his face. I think it was out
for like a week. So that's a week of one
person out being out of production.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
And that text the numbers numbers.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
Yeah, So spend that dollar where, you know, get some
safety glasses, get you know, get those gloves even at home.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
Oh yeah, I don't do any work like without my
my proper ppe okay protection.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
I need.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
I need my eyeglasses protect my eye. And you know
what I used to wear glasses. I had lasik p
r K surgery when I was in the army. The
military gives you one cosmetic surgery. I didn't want, but
I didn't want to boom. I wanted eyes. I wanted
my eyes back.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
It's important to see. Everything else is little unnecessary.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
Yeah, I'm like y'all, got y'all, you know, deploy me
off somewhere. I gotta work glasses inside of my ppe.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
No, no, no, no, I want to be able to
shoot straight. Give me some eyes. I don't want nothing else.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
Yeah, but a lot of a lot of people do
do other things, and no shame.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
Do what makes you happy. Long as you live in
a healthy life and you're still confident.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
Just do what makes you happy and safe and safe. Yeah, yes,
do it safely. Do what makes you happy safely. If
you're gonna get a butt, don't go down in somebody
hotel room, and no, don't do it.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
Do it the right way.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
Even if you got to get the Mommy makeover on
a payment plan, that's fine, do it safe, do your research. No,
you're a doctor if you are going to do that.
But I don't even want you to do it. I'm
not gonna sit up here and act like I co
sign it.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
I just do.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
I do want you to be happy, but you can
be happy with your God giving gifts and glories.
Speaker 3 (39:14):
Talk to a biomedical engineer. They can tell you about
some of the materials that they and prosthetics that they
put into people for that. Once again, that is not me.
I have no idea how they do that. Like I said,
I'm learning from different types of people that do that
kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
Which I mean, shoot, if you're going to be putting
foreign objects in people, like because bio engineers were not
around when boob jobs started. They were yeah, figure out
which material because the material wasn't good. I'm just saying
I just naturally assume that around just throwing things and
(39:54):
people by saying what will work.
Speaker 3 (39:56):
Yeah. So generally there's different types of silicon, you know,
the silicone that obviously can't go into people. But like
everything else, it's not perfect. There are some tests that
we do and we try to, you know, do them correctly,
but sometimes things happen.
Speaker 2 (40:15):
Things happen, and sometimes things are flawed. Engineers are still
human beings. Yeah, we do make mistakes, you know, and
that's why it's supported not to mess with what God
gave you.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
Okay, Yeah, because you're gonna trust some human when God.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
Gave you all the goods you need. Yeah, you better
go to the gym if you want. But don't get
me started. We can long down the wrong rabbit holes.
After this short break, we're gonna talk all about the
gala next week, Why you need to be at Magnet
for the gala, and how you can get involved with
the North East Ohio Nesby Professionals, the National Society of
(40:51):
Black Engineers, because, like we mentioned earlier in the program,
you don't have to be an engineer. You just need
to be a professional. You don't even have to be black,
you just have to be a perfect and understanding that
this group serves more than engineers. It serves your life
as an in an entirety, because, like you said, in
the meetings, you guys end up talking, you know, women problems,
(41:12):
financial problems, health problems. You know, you might have some
job fares at some of the meetings as well. You
obviously had a whole job fare at your fifteen thousand
and ten I got wha what.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
Conference in Chicago.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
So we want to make sure that people fully understand
what Nesby is doing and where you all are going
right after this short breakdon't go anywhere. We'll be right back.
Welcome back to our voices today right here on WOBU
ninety five point nine FM with you have a loved
Unicorn of the Land, DJ Black Unicorn aka you Need
having a great conversation with the Vice President mister Hermann
(41:51):
of the Nesby Association, National Society of Black Engineers. And
before the break we got off topic just to tab
but not really.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
But we're gonna get that GUNE in next Thursday. Let's
talk about it. What's going on at magnet next Thursday.
Speaker 3 (42:09):
Next Thursday will be our second annual gala where we
honor the college students from Case Western, Cleveland State, Acri University,
Kent State, and Baldwin. There will be recruiters there from
our sponsors. There will be other professionals there to honor
the kids they will be and also will be honoring
(42:34):
our Engineer of the Year. I don't think it's a surprise.
I'm just gonna say who she is now, Holly Casper.
She is a civil engineer based out of ak Akron
University Sorry Akron, Ohio. She is the first black owned,
(42:55):
woman owned civil engineer in Akron, in the city of Akrons,
So we love it. Yeah, she's doing she's been in
business for four years, I think, and it looks like
she's growing because she's asking us for for help to
find out more engineers. So, uh, you know, she's We're
all proud of her. And if you want to get
(43:19):
involved with Nesby, you can go to our website which
is NEO n E O Nesby N s B E
pro p r O dot org. There you will find
our membership application and some of our events that's coming up.
If you want to get involved into our junior program,
(43:44):
it's Nesby N s B E j R c l
E dot com. I believe that's how you get in
contact to see when's our next meetings? What are we
doing next? We're we're gonna be at and all the
other great jazz. We had construction UH William UH Turner
(44:08):
Turner Construction UH come in and speak to the kids
and they learn about different construction technologies that's out there.
We've had Cleveland Water District come in and talk to
you about the different projects that's going on in the
Cleveland metro area. We had all different types of engineers
come in so it's a you know, we try to
(44:32):
what I say, cradle to grave, Uh, from kindergarten all
the way to your professional and even though as a
professional so uh to be able to grow. So you
did mention communities and inside of Nesby, we we we
have communities as well. We have these things called SIGs
special interest groups and for Women's Month, Uh there's wise
(44:58):
women in them and engineering.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
Yeah, shout out to my wives girls, my wives women
from HHW.
Speaker 1 (45:05):
We love y'all.
Speaker 3 (45:07):
They held a round table discussion on imposter syndrome. Yes
it was geared towards women, but it's also anybody is
open to anybody, and it was just interesting to hear
about some of their women's experience in the workforce, you know,
being black and being women in their workforce, and how
(45:27):
they're always felt lesser, felt that they were being talked
down to. I just wanted to take a second and
let them know, y'all, women are amazing, They're doing amazing work.
There was one woman that was on the panel. She
was working for the NRC, which is the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
(45:49):
so she's handling the nuclear power. She got the yeah,
the nuclear power and the nuclear weapons as well. As Ann,
so she you know, she was working, she's working to
get her bachelor's degree, she's working with with the government
on something like that. And once again, these women are
(46:12):
like amazingly smart and talented. I am so glad to
be able to sit there and listen to their speak
about their experiences last night. For those of you who
are more professional, they have process improvement so a lot
of companies will hire engineers for to make their processes better.
(46:35):
And they also have training smaller training sessions, So we
had one last night and where we talked about different
ways to to find root cause and how to remedy
some of those situations with different methodologies. So if you're
looking to develop your skills or to you know how
(46:57):
great a network, definitely check out someone of our special
interest groups we have all anywhere between entrepreneur Let me
talk about the entrepreneurship real quick. So we have a
group called Entrepreneurship, and so these random creators and software
designers and all types of stuff will compete to get money,
(47:19):
actual real dollars, I mean tens of thousands of dollars.
And last year I didn't get a chance to participate
or watch, but if you go to our YouTube channel
you can see the competition. There was one gentleman who
created a test to see if you will if you
(47:44):
have diabetes. So it's like an at home test that
you can take to see if you're you know, we'll get.
Speaker 1 (47:54):
I can't say it even.
Speaker 3 (47:58):
To this position to diabetes. And you know he got
funding for his idem for his invention. We partner up
with I believe it's Serena Williams VC venture Capital to
to get that to get those money. So if you
are a creative person but you don't really know how
(48:21):
to get your idea, you don't really know how to
get your idea out there, reach out to the Entrepreneurship SAG.
They will they can't help you. We have the healthcare SAG,
Public Policy SAG. So those of you who are interested
in public policy, you know, how do we get more
(48:42):
dollars into the community to be able to put on
STEM programs or to be able to have better education. Uh,
that's something that you may be interested in. It's a
it's a huge network. We're not just local. We are
definitely national, even a bit international. We have chapters in Canada, Ghana, Nigeria.
(49:07):
I think they're starting to have a few chapters in
the Caribbean as well, so we are not just national
world bit global. We are trying to get global. Actually,
there students from Hawaii that was competing with us at
this past convention, and you know, Hawaii is in the
middle of nowhere, so the fact that they came out
(49:27):
to Chicago to compete is still pretty amazing. So if
you want to move to a new location and you're
looking for to make some new friends, Nesby is definitely
a good way to meet some new friends.
Speaker 1 (49:42):
On our way out.
Speaker 2 (49:42):
Give some other great reasons of why people should get
involved with Nesby.
Speaker 3 (49:48):
Just to have fun. We have honestly, like you know,
we we have these we have network networking events. You
could just come and kick it.
Speaker 1 (50:02):
Who's the next car meet man?
Speaker 3 (50:04):
I don't even know. Yeah, definitely check out our socials.
We're on Facebook, We're on LinkedIn, We're on Instagram, New
York Nesby Professional, and then for the kids is Nesby
Junior c l E. We're always doing something because it's
(50:28):
it's just a lot of fun. I want to start
will if I have the opportunity. I do want to
start a book book club because that was something that
I wanted to do as a personal goal of mind,
just to read more books. So if you get an
opportunity to, I would like to do that at Loiter Cafe.
(50:50):
They're opening up soon, I believe in May, beginning of May.
So look out for Lower in East Cleveland. It's a
great little cafe to to go for a nice little coffee.
Speaker 1 (51:03):
Yeah, give the people some some some.
Speaker 2 (51:09):
Uplifting No, I mean, if you got.
Speaker 3 (51:17):
Let's see tea. Yes, I got a little bit of tea.
We like. As I mentioned earlier though, if you're interested
to get involved, all positions on the executive board, president,
vice president, UH, secretary, UH treasurer programs are all up
(51:40):
for election.
Speaker 1 (51:43):
Don't make somebody from the organization Matt the like in
buying people.
Speaker 2 (51:49):
I like fresh people to come in and try to
take these positions.
Speaker 3 (51:54):
We talked about, you know, we talked about evolving. That's
the that's the only way to evolve is to get
new idea is But if you if we don't, we'll
still be around. So if you want to reach out
to us, you're more than welcome to reach out to
any one of us, and we will gladly talk to
get you your your point of view. I want to
(52:17):
take a second to shout out to Mark H. Sorel Uh.
He is our treasurer. One day after a meeting, he
was just giving giving us some tea. Man, he was
just allowing us know what is the best way to invest? Uh,
And he gave us like a formula and gave us
a book to read. It was me and another.
Speaker 1 (52:39):
Book was his formula sare share.
Speaker 3 (52:42):
Oh man, it's yeah. It was a really it's a
really good book. Because I actually did have that book
U and I just completely forgot about it. Because it
gives you formulas that you can put it into a
spreadsheet to figure out is it better to purchase a
home now or to invest in the stock market. Anybody
(53:02):
that's following the stock market, you will see that maybe
not today, but you know what it will be your
rate of return over a ten year period of time.
So it's just like, you know the information like that
that you may not necessarily get on your day to day.
I want to also take this time to shout out
(53:25):
Wayne Douglas. He is my mentor, a really great guy.
I'm glad that I have the opportunity. Melisia Douglas his
lovely wife. She is an intellectual property lawyer. She's very
knowledgeable because she actually gave a conversation. We had a
conversation with her where we talked about IP intellectual property
(53:48):
and what it is and what it means. I didn't
know any of that stuff, so I'm really surprised. She's
a great resource. My niece wants to be a lawyer.
So I plugged with my niece and she's talking to
my niece. So that's great. Uh, Miss Chanel Murray. Uh,
great programs person, great visionary, well organized. Uh I'm gonna
(54:13):
miss her as as a program But she's I don't
think she could hear me, but she can. What's up girl?
Speaker 2 (54:24):
Her?
Speaker 3 (54:24):
She had all three of them. She has three boys.
All of them are on the way to become engineers.
She's a president. Emeretis, she was a president and now
she's emeredis. Great visionary. She was the one that brought
it back. Uh she sorry, Okay. She has her own
(54:52):
managing company. She has now moved on into property. So
she has her own managing company where she manages property
and she uses a lot of her organization organization or
so from industrial engineering to that. So those that's the
current e board. Great people. Love working with them. All
of us are passionate. I can't talk enough about them.
Speaker 2 (55:15):
Yes, And if you want more information or you want
to get involved, you want to get your kid involved.
Speaker 1 (55:20):
Nesby Junior c l E dot com.
Speaker 2 (55:22):
For the kids, that's Nesby N s B E j
R c l E dot com. And if you're adult
and you want to get involved yourself, you are more
than welcome to do. So give them that website one
more time.
Speaker 3 (55:38):
That's nick uh NEO Nesby pro and E O and
s B E p R O.
Speaker 1 (55:52):
Dot org, yes dot org.
Speaker 2 (55:54):
And again make sure you are at Magnet five thirty
to a p M. That's Magnet eighteen, one hundred East
sixty third Street. Next Thursday, April seventeenth.
Speaker 3 (56:06):
Five point thirty is networking. Six o'clock is the actual
events start.
Speaker 1 (56:10):
Thank you, Thank you so much for joining me.
Speaker 2 (56:12):
Mister Hermann VP, who has also been promoted.
Speaker 1 (56:17):
I gotta give you your flowers as well. You've been
promoted to regional. How did that feel?
Speaker 3 (56:22):
Nerve wracking? But I'm sure I got a great team
on the regional board as well. We have a few
positions open for regional, but I'm excited, so I am
the Membership Chair. I will be handling all new members
in the region.
Speaker 2 (56:36):
Yes, thank you again for joining me here on our
voices today My shall you stick to state?
Speaker 1 (56:41):
Don't go away. We got Stephanie Phelps coming up next.
This is Wovu Studios.
This is WOVU Studios.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to our voices today right here on
WOVU ninety five point nine FM with your belove Unicorn
of the Land DJ Black Unicar aka Uni.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
And how you're doing, How you doing, how you living,
how you feeling?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Go ahead and check in with yourself, because you know,
you know what I say. I say what the kids say,
and the kids say, life be life. And so look,
we take our breaths, we take our cleansing breaths, just
to recenter ourselves, our spirit, our minds, because again the
kids say, life be life. And then I tend to agree,
so deep in hell through the.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Nose, boss, slow exhil through the mouth, because Uni is
here to.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Remind you you have to pause for the cause and
the causes yourself, the causes your mental health, the causes
you being able to handle all the things that are
coming at you because they don't stop. And I think
I was about twenty five when I realized, Yo, this
does not stop like I thought. I thought I would
reach like some type of plateau, some type of like
you know, hell that's going upward. But no, the hills
(01:13):
and the valleys they all come and nothing lasts forever.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
It's a cycle. So just remember that.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Just remember that, and do not do anything permanent off
of temporary emotions, because look again, it's life's cycles. We
have our ups, we have our downs, and if you
need support, you can find it at right here at WOVU.
You can always reach me seriously marketing at wovu dot org.
You can always text nine to eight eight if you
(01:41):
need help. You can always text three one one if
you need help. But look, if you need help, you
need am here to let you know it is okay
to seek that help.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
We gotta get away from that stigma in our community.
We have to because we are going who will placed.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
In a space that is unknown, but it's kind of
known because we know that history pieces so and we
see where they're.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Trying to go. They see you, you see where they
trying to take us.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
So be real with yourself and if you need some help,
get that help. I have a lovely guest live in
the studio with me for our voices today today, and
I'm super excited to have this conversation.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
The first time we had this combo, it was virtual.
You all know.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
It just don't hit the same when it's virtual for
me at least, it just doesn't. So I'm super happy
the vice president of the NETSBY Association, that's the National
Society of Black Engineers that.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
I got that, I got that right. Yes, also awesome.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
He has joy be live in the studio here to
talk all about nets BE things, what's been happening, what's
coming up, because they have a special event right out
Magnet next Thursday.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
But we're gonna get into it before we get there.
I'm gonna go ahead.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
And allow the president to properly introduce himself to our
listening audience.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Good morning. My name is Herman Jean Baptiste. I am
currently the vice president of NEO NESBY, which is the
Northeast Ohio National Society of Black Engineers Professionals Chapter.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Thank you so much for joining me here on our
voices today. And before we got started, you gave me
the run down. You gave me to run down with
you guys been up to you know, future plans.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
How you all are trying to get outside.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
You've kind of been outside. You did your first annual
Gayala last year? Was it at Magnet?
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Yes, it was that Magnet. Were the galas to honor
the graduating class of our local colleges Acro University, KSE
Western University and Cleveland State University and Kent. We did
not forget about you. You are with us in our minds. Yes,
involved in state tuns didn't forget you guys either.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
So let's give a little bit back about NESBY and
what it is that you all do.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
So before we get into it, I do want to
state our mission statement, something that we recite at every meeting,
at every gathering, every time we get together, and our
mission statement is to increase the number of culture responsible
black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally, and positive positively
(04:25):
impact the community. So when NESBY does it is a
national society, it is recognized. We've been around for about
fifty years. We have monthly meetings, or at least we
try to have monthly meetings where we generally talk about
we generally talk about professional development and personal growth. So
(04:49):
one day we may be talking about finance and the
next day we may be talking about SIPOK, which is
Supplier Input Process Organization. And I forgot what the C
actually stands for. Yeah, but it can apply to other
(05:09):
things in your life. So we do talk about engineering,
but not always. We will talk about finances, we will
talk about investing, we will talk about relationships sometimes, so
anything that we feel that our members can get out of.
So you don't necessarily have to be an engineer to
come to our meetings because you will get something out
(05:29):
of it.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Do you have to be an engineer to engineer to
join the society as a whole?
Speaker 3 (05:34):
No, we have many different members. We have members that
are in banking, we have members that are in human resources.
We have all different types of members. It's just a
great way to network. If you have your own personal business,
you want to, you know, get the word out there.
It's a great way to get your name out there.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
So you just got to be black.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yeah, you don't even have to be black either.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Oh there's some white people.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Yeah, actually there's If you ever go to our conferences,
you'll see all types of racing creeds, all different types
of religion. Everybody's just there to just vibe out and
have a good time, meet new friends, meet new people.
I personally met a few good people the E board,
for example, the executive team, great people. Love working with them.
(06:24):
I'm gonna miss working with them because our tenure is
coming to an end, so our positions are up for
re election. But nonetheless, there's a lot of great people.
As long as you hold the mission statement to your heart,
then that's all you really need to be a member.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Okay, okay, But the focus is primarily increasing the numbers
of black engineers.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
And why is that the focus?
Speaker 3 (06:52):
So about fifty years ago, it originally started with six
members or six people from the South side of Chicago.
They were the only people that look like them in
the Purdue University. They were struggling with their with their
classes and trying to figure out, like how are they
(07:13):
you know, how to survive? And they noticed that a
couple of students were just getting together and studying. So
that's what they did. They got together and they studied.
A lot of them ended up with doctorates and moving
on from engineering and doing different things with their degrees
and their lives. But still here fifty years later, we're
still here and the numbers are growing.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
I love it. I love it.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
So with the mission being said, you know, black engineers,
are we in the schools?
Speaker 1 (07:42):
What are we doing with these kids?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Man, do you have a junior chapter?
Speaker 3 (07:47):
We do have a junior chapter.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
So we got to focus on the kids.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
That's right. We do have a junior junior team. We
go from kindergarten all the way up to high school.
Oh wow, said we get them. Yeah, we get them
young and we do a great job. So we do
want to take a quick second to acknowledge some of
their advisors that's there, which are Ramona Larry Fowler. I
(08:13):
hope I pronounced your name right, She's a great advisor.
Miss Angela Jones. Congratulations to miss Angela. She's also just
got a promotion. And Miss Eliza Smith, she works at
NASA as an aerospace engineer. Those three have really done
a great job with the kids. They really inspired a
(08:35):
lot of these kids to continue on. We're becoming engineers.
I came a little later, but I see them. I
see as some of them coming back and saying, oh
my god, Miss Angela, miss Ramona, you really inspired me
to continue my education and become engineers. And it's actually
a really great feeling to see some of these kids
go off into their collegiate careers and then professional careers
(08:57):
to become engineers. And just a quick humble brag, we
took about seven or eight high school kids to our
national convention to compete in the ten to eighty race
and we got second place out of thirty.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
So these kids do work hard. We brought home another
trophy and next year we bring all the kids more trophies.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Shout out to the kids.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yeah, for sure, shout out to the kids. I love
hearing that the kids make me happy. Y'all probably can
hear the smile on my voice because I love the kids.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
For sure. I love the kids.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
So I love that you all are gathering them early,
letting them know like, hey, this is the pathway for
you if you decide to do it, or if this
is just something you like to do in your spare time,
this is an option that you have. And unfortunately a
lot of our kids aren't told that though they are
not uplifted in those fashions to where they know that
(09:57):
they have access to different programs, to different ways of life,
to different pathway. So I love that you all are
in these kids' faces like, hey, this is something you
can do.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Yeah. Even I as an engineer currently, I'm still learning
a lot from these kids, from the collegiate kids, just
learning about different path careers. For example, I do you know,
biomedical engineering was a thing. Apparently that is a huge
thing because I've met a lot of black engineers who
want to get into biomedical engineering. So for those of
(10:28):
you who don't know what that is, because I just learned,
biomedical engineering is the ways that our body can take medicine.
So I know a really hot topic is ozepic or
I think it's g N one. I think it's called
the generic form of it. It's an injection. It's the
(10:49):
biomedical engineers that figure out how to get that into
your body. What's the best way to get that into
your body.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
I'm not the engineering math scientists.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
I am not that a manufacturer engineer slash project engineer.
So if you need something built, come to me. But
anything else that's on your own.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
But there's so many sectors of engineering and a lot
of education is associated with engineering, and that I feel
like kind of deterars a lot of individuals from joining
the field. So can we talk about that a little
bit and lessen the anxiety attached to it.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
What was your experience like?
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Oh man, so personally, I've always struggled through school. I
was never like the A plus student. Honestly, if you
were to tell me back in high school that I
would be an engineer. Today, I'm like, oh, this guy
is lying. I don't know what you're talking about, Like,
there's no way. But what got me into engineering was
my passion for automotive. Like I love cars, I love racing.
(11:49):
So the kids that's doing these inappropriate.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
We don't.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
That's the person, the ones that's doing the inappropriate takeovers.
Please stop. You're really ruining the scene for us. But
those I was one of those kids that was doing
inappropriate things. But that did lead me into engineer because
I learned how a car works, and I want to
(12:19):
know how car works to better my car so I
can race properly on a racetrack. So now your yeah,
oh man, I love racing. That's why. Yeah, that's why
I bring that the same passion, the same energy to
to the kids. And that's why we keep winning our races.
We're gonna continue winning. It's all that part of it.
(12:41):
We're gonna continue with winning. And any other city out
there that wants to smoke, Cleveland is here for it.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Hey, you call out, you better ask if you think
you got it.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
It's it's it's actually it does get pretty tough because
the right yeah, it does get pretty intense. But that's
what got me into it. And then talking and seeing
a few other engineers that I'm originally from New York,
so there was like one or two engineers.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Okay Borough now from a borough.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
I'm actually from the suburbs Long Island, so it's about
thirty miles away from New York City. Believe it or not,
there is no one is to the chapter out there.
But there was a couple of black engineers in my
neighborhood and I talked to them. I've worked in different
(13:30):
fields and all kind of surrounded itself around engineering, specifically
mechanical engineering, because that's what I like. I like touching things,
I like things moving. That's what brought me into engineering
as an adult. So I went back to school in
my later years. I went back to school when I
was twenty eight, and I graduated when I was thirty.
So just because I didn't, you know, have a linear path,
(13:54):
that doesn't mean you can't go back to school at
our later years. Yes, you can always go back for
to go to get your degree.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
I'm in the process of going back myself, and I
was trying to figure out what I wanted to do.
And I'm like, well, I'm in marketing. I'm in this field.
It just makes sense.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
And an engineer sounds like you want to be an engineer.
I kind of we're gonna pressure into I thought.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
About it because, Okay, So when I was in the Army,
my mos was ninety one fix small artilleries repaired anything
from an M nine to a triple subburb houser. I
was a mechanic for so I love working with my hands.
I do have an engineer in mine and that definitely
was something I took into consideration when I.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Graduated high school some way, somehow.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
But but I was not in the model student either, okay,
And that's why I feel like these conversations are important
to have because we have to let people know it's
never too late.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
No, it's never too late. Just like mister look John,
I feel like I always spenssed your day.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
But Herman is just fine. Yes, Herman is just fine.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
We had a whole conversation about the origin of your
name and your Linden is the first conversation. We were
not going to go there this time. But yes, mister Hermit,
I was not a model student. You were not a
model student. A lot of us in our community are
not model students, and that kind of hinders our confidence
when it comes to education.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Yes, and it's never too late.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
No, so recently, I'm thirty eight. Now, recently I was
diagnosed with ADHD. So if I had knew that back then,
my path may be a little bit more linear or
maybe a little bit different, But that doesn't mean that
it can't be done. And I remember having conversations with
other people and esby that said, oh, I have ADHD
(15:55):
as well. These are what I do to to help
me get past my classes. This is what I do,
And it feels comforting knowing that you're not alone. I've
met other people with other learning disabilities. I've met a
person that has dyslexia, so they're still engineers. So to
(16:16):
say that you have a learning disability means that you
can't be an engineer is a false statement. That just
means you have to find a different way to do it,
and that could also be a superpower because you're looking
for other ways to solve a problem. A lot of
times we do the same thing over and over again
because that's what we're comfortable with. And you need an
(16:38):
outside perspective to actually fix a problem. So I know
a lot of people is concerned about automation. The automation
has been around for years since, like the seventies. Because
the machines and stuff are getting a lot more sophisticated,
a lot more you know, smarter, we still need engine
(17:00):
years because we need people to fix the robots, to
fix the automation and program the automation. So just because
there's not anybody necessarily standing there, you still have a
whole field of engineers who's going to service those robots,
build those robots, to design those robots. So engineers are mechanical.
Engineers are still going to be around. AI is not
(17:22):
necessarily going to take our positions because they still need
somebody to build the robots and design the robots to
look over the information that the AI is putting now.
So just because you know AI, a lot of companies
are pushing AI, do's necessarily mean that you're going to
lose your position. It's just going to change a little bit.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Yes, it's going to evolve as things do.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
And when you are complacent and you're not evolving with
the world, I'm talking to you in the back. Yeah,
you the one that you know is always talking crap
about AI, always talk about how they're going to take
our jobs and take over our minds, and they going
to take over society. I'm talking to you, the scared person.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
You gotta stop. You gotta stop. Think about when the
internet hit our households.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
In the nineties, in the early nineties, right when the
average person was able to have a computer, and how
many people were like, I'm not bringing computer in my home.
Look at today, how society have evolved, and how if
you don't have a computer in your home, you can
barely do your homework, you can barely do your school
like It's a lot that comes with not being involved
(18:30):
with evolution.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
So this is.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
UNI's way of just letting you know, you gotta get
with the times.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
You gotta stay with the times. People, you gotta grow,
you gotta evolve with the world. Don't go anywhere. You
are listening to our voices today.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
I have the vice president mister Hermann up Nesby Association
and National Society of Black Engineers.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Make sure you stick around. Don't go anywhere. We're nowhere near.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Done with this conversation, and we gotta give you the
details on next we Gato don't go anywhere, would be
right back, a welcome back to our voices today right
here on w O b U ninety five point nine
F M. Burton Bell Car Community Radio, and this is
your love Unicorn of the Land, DJ Black Unicorn aka UNI.
Having a great conversation with the vice president of the
(19:17):
Nesby Association National Society of Black Engineers, mister.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Herman, and.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
We talked a little bit about you know how I
tried to avoid your last day, but we could talk
a little bit about say again, Jean Baptiste, Jean Baptiste,
I always think creole when I hear that name. Can
we talk about it?
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Talk a little bit about.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Your So a lot of people are saying you're Gene
Baptiste and you know, Dyreon mcleissums creole, which is sort
of correct and sort of not. So. My family is
originally from Haiti Go Naive specifically, if those of you know, so,
(19:58):
I'm going to talk to you the amount of Haitian
people that's actually engineers. I was surprised. I didn't think
that was that many engineers that are Haitian. I went
to the national convention and then I'm just hearing people
speaking Creole, which is the national language of Haiti, and
it was just it felt reassuring. Yeah, so real, real, real, sure.
(20:23):
I was like, oh, man, I'm really not alone out here.
I've met Haitian from Tennessee. I've met Haitian from Minnesota.
So there's a lot of like first generation Haitian people,
second generation Haitian people who are engineers who are doing
wonderful things in aerospace, biomedical manufacturing, who are getting doctorates
(20:46):
and changing their local environment. This one particular gentleman, I
know he's from Tennessee. He's a professor at Tennessee University.
I believe he's a civil engineer, and he's really changing
the community in his city. So it was just comforting
(21:07):
to know that, especially with the climate. As you know,
in the last election, we heard some not so positive things.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Very nasty, very nasty.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Yeah. Yeah, if you guys only knew how hard a
lot of Haitian people are. Uh you know that we
you it's unbelievable, what you know, what we do. Haiti
was the first black republic eighteen o four. January first
is our as our independence day. So you know, if
you come by my house, you will get some soup
(21:39):
which is our traditional soup dumo, which is our traditional
soup that we eat for celebration of independence state. Not sure,
no fireworks or guns or anything, but you'll have a
nice conversation some laughs with me and my family. But
to all those you know, immigrant students and immigrant children,
(22:00):
engineering is definitely a way path you can go because
you will found a family uh in engineering as well.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Everywhere you go, Yeah, everywhere you go, because like you said,
you were at the convention, you heard you overheard the speakings.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
He said, hold on, Yeah, so I served with Haitian
and he used to hate when we would call him black.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
He would say, I'm not black, I'm Hishian. Yeah, what's
up with that? Why why I don't want to be playing.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Because it's the marketing of America that America has done.
It is you know when you're watching a lot of
movies and they always portray black people or some type
of negative stereotype, and it's.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Like, we're far from that.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Yeah, definitely far from that. I'm not gonna lie coming
from an immigrant background, I remember my parents and some
other Haitian folks in New York, So I'm not saying
out here, but in New York they had a bit
of a negative connotation. But then they don't see or
hear about organizations like NESBI. I had to tell them like, hey,
(23:17):
I'm in this organization and this is what they're doing, Like,
oh my god, I know that because we don't hear it.
Because we don't hear it, we don't see it. Like
so all y'all see.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Is like the movies and the propaganda, the portrayed as
unsavory people, and y'all just like, we not like that.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
We for our Yeah, we're nothing like you folks.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
If you know your history, you know hidden figures, right,
Like if it wasn't for those lovely women, the astronauts
may not have come back at one piece. We don't
know that history like that should be taught in schools,
Like you have these hard working women who I need
math really well, and how the astronats come back to Earth,
(24:06):
like that's amazing, and we don't hear stories like that.
The matter of black people that's in society that's actually
holding up America is unbelievable. And I wouldn't have never
known that if I didn't go to the convention and
converse with some of these people I'm in you know,
like I said, if you talked to me when I
(24:26):
was in high school, I wouldn't ever have guessed that
I'll be in the same room as the people who
are vice presidents and presidents and CEO of these major companies,
like I would never and that they're all black, Like
you just never know that because they're not in the forefront.
They don't need to be in the forefront. They know
what they're doing, they know who they are, but.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
They do need to be in the forefront to.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Avert from those thought processes that the people of your people.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Yeah, I think, yeah, it makes me.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Sad because it's like, Yo, we're all from the same continent.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Why do they feel that way?
Speaker 2 (25:06):
But to hear you explaining like that, it makes complete
sense because I probably feel the same way, Like I
ain't nothing like the goofy.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Yeah, yeah, I understand that.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
But now now I like to think that the tide
is turning. It is because there's a lot more you know,
a lot more vision, a lot more people seeing us
and knowing who we are. That's why they're trying to
stop us.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Right, That's why I said, No, they got to be known.
They have to be seen, because otherwise people won't think
that they exist.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
Right there, and we, like I said, we exist. The
numbers of fifteen thousand participated in this year's convention, even
though the a lot of the government pulled out, So
fifteen thousands showed up for a convention.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Fifteen thousand and for one fifteen thousand.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
It happened in Chicago.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Correct, it happened in Chicago, fifteen thousand. Next year is
Next year will be in Baltimore.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
But oh, I love going to that side of the States.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
I've been there once or twice.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
No, you know.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
I love the go go music, I love the food.
I love ooh, I just love that side of the
States for sure. I got love for everywhere in the world,
and every I feel like every place that I've been
touching me differently.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
I feel the same way about New Orleans. The food.
Going down to New Orleans and trying to come.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Back up here and eat seafood is like, man, y'all
better gone. I don't even taste nothing. It tastes like nothing.
I don't taste anywhere this seasoning a did you boil it?
Speaker 3 (26:54):
How long? Did you?
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Boy? Like, I just don't. It just doesn't taste the same.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
But you know, I come home to Clear and I
get my my euros from the gas station and I
get my Polish boy, and I'll.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Be real happy. I'm a foodie.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
If you can't tell, don't let the stores fool you
like I eats. I gets down speaking of eating des
in Chicago for the national convention for the next Fee Association.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Let's talk about it. Were people able to experience at
this convention.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
Everything? So there's also a job fare. We have small
mom and pop shops show up, and then we have
Fortune five hundred show up. You name it will be.
That would be there, Boeing, Northbrook, Brummen, Delta, Visa City, Bank,
(27:53):
government entities, civil civil companies, Jacob's, rock Wall Automation, and
Suage Block, Amazon. I mean, the list goes on and on,
and yeah, how do.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
You feel about working with these corporations who have gotten
rid of their DEI.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
H it's said some of them didn't necessarily get rid
of it. They just kind of rewarded it, so they,
you know, don't get it too much bullback. You know,
I mentioned Amazon. Amazon didn't necessarily get rid of their
DEI program. They just kind of rewarded it and retooled
it because they still showed up in force at our convention.
(28:35):
They had a whole suite that they sponsored. They were
looking for people to hire as well, so they didn't
necessarily get rid of it, but it does. They just
kind of rebranded it a little bit. But we just,
you know, we there's still other companies that's willing to
work with us. So I want to give a couple
(28:56):
of shout outs to Sherwan William, Thank you, Rockwell Automation.
And also a local bar slash restaurant, Sunset Kitchen, thank
you for allowing you to use your space. Really great food,
(29:17):
real great drinks. Who else?
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Why you think? Can I ask you a question? What's
going on with the planes?
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Man? This is what happens when you get rid of
qualified people. Like like I said, this.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Is like a big conversation with you and your engineer friends.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
It's always a conversation because we want to learn from
our own mistakes. I will spend hours talking about why
something went wrong and trying to get to the root analysis,
root cause of the problem, then how to fix it,
because that's why they hire us.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Can we talk about timeline and what you may suspect
as an engineer is happening. So it just kind of
they didn't just start happening like until what after the election.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Yeah, I'm just scaried.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
I mean, you know, I think, I think sometimes I
don't know.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
So there's many different reasons and we just kind of
have to wait for the full report. So I can't
give you necessary a timeline or why what happened necessarily,
but I can tell you that safety is definitely important.
We can go back to the submersible that happened about
(30:38):
two years ago. A lot of that failure was because
of safety. It was a lack of safety. There's a
lot anytime you think there's a dumb rule, it's because
someone got seriously hurt and it cost the company a
lot of money. So anytime you've seen a sign there
was like no running by the pool, Yeah, no running
by the pool because somebody got hurt and some engineer
(31:01):
had to spend you know, a good amount of time
writing a report to say like don't do this and
why you shouldn't do that. I hate that, but I
get it. It is important for every dollar that you
save and saved or excuse me, every dollar that you
spend on safety is seven dollars saved because of the
(31:24):
time that somebody has spent outside of work. So you
know that's in you know, whether they have to take
off time for because they're injured, or they have to
go through litigation to pay somebody off. So it's better
off to just spend that extra dollars so you can
save seven dollars down the line.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Yes, yeah, see, people don't think of like that. Yeah,
especially like a prime example. She okay, I'm not going
to say any names, but cheap and it's fast fashion.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
We'll just leave it like that. Fast fashion have all
of these chemicals in them.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Yeah, and you don't.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Think about the process that goes into making these fast
fashions that are super inexpensive for you. Yeah, I pay
five dollars for a tach top, but I could get
cancer from this top.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
You can, so a lot of that.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
So just paying the.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
Twenty dollars for nice talk with quality fabric without the chemicals,
it can save you.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
Yeah, it definitely can. So one of the reasons why
it's so affordable it's the volume. So you what a
lot of these companies do. I'm giving away the secrets,
but what a lot of these companies do is per hour,
So the more you can cram in in an hour,
(32:44):
the more affordable it will be. So that's why you
know you mentioned airplanes, the seats are really small, so
they can fit a many people in that quote unquote
hour of destination time. The reason why the top is
so expensive. Yes, the material is a lot more affordable.
And two there's a lot of people working at one
(33:06):
time to get that part out and that's that's that's
one of the reasons why.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Yeah, and they're not paying the extra like you were
just explaining in the safety protocols, and make sure these chemicals.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Are not being dumped on these clothes for whatever reasons.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
I'm not going to sit here it act like, I
know manufacturing of clothes process entirely, and where the chemicals
are coming from, how they're being introduced to the fabric,
I don't know, but.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
I know this there.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
Yeah. Yeah, and I.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
Know sometimes cheaper is not better.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Yeah, most times cheaper is not better.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
You have to pay for quality.
Speaker 3 (33:47):
Yeah. So some of the clothes actually comes from Bangladesh.
Bangladesh doesn't have the greatest work environment.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
And regulations and safety protocols.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
And yeah, yeah, so like anytime there's like, you know,
a catastrophe, all the engineers I feel, at least I do,
because that is my realm manufacturing. We get like an
alert and so like this is what happened, this is
the failure, this is the cause of it, because it
(34:21):
is important because they bring that to the United States, like, okay,
we got we can't do this, We can't do that
because it's you know, it's a safety like I said,
spend spend that dollars so you can save seven, Like
it really makes a difference.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
Yes, it does. So quick story before break.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
My cousin worked for a manufacturing company far out like
back in the eighties, right, And so it was something
he was working with, some type of material that was
being cut and so he put his hand too far
in it and it cut off all for his fingers. Yeah,
and the doctors were able to reattach the fingers, but
they have a like dent in them like were his. No,
(35:00):
so he can't bend them, but he has them. And
that to me speaks the evolute speaks to the evolution
of safety within manufacturing.
Speaker 3 (35:11):
Can we talk a little bit about that, Yeah, I'll
tell them a personal story of mind and I'll tell
you how they fix that. So, now, if you go
to a machine that has shrup cutting edges or some
type of shear, so when something is cut, it's called shearing.
They have, well three, they have three different things. They'll
(35:34):
have buttons on the side of the machine or a
front of the machine where you have to press both
of them to actually activate it. That's one. Then they'll
have light curtains, so if the light curtain breaks or
you put your hand through the like curtains, it will
stop the machine automatically. And then three, they have something
called dead man switch, where an operator actually has to
(35:54):
hold a switch or hold on to a button before
the machine actually operates, so they, you know, I don't
lose their fingers. And my dad is a machinist. Those
of you who don't know what machinist is. Those are
the people that works on metals, usually metals that kind
(36:14):
of just form it. They use a big old machine
that will cut whatever shape it needs to be. And
that's what my dad did for about thirty some odd years.
And he actually lost the tip of his finger because
he put his hand inside the machine. And I'm so old,
(36:35):
but I'm just thinking back when I was in high school,
my dad also got injured again where he almost lost
his eye. He was working on a machine and the
door had like flung open and a part had came
out and almost hit him in the almost they did
hit him in the face just right below his eye,
(36:57):
and like caught a huge gash in his eye. So nowadays,
allow the new machines will have a locking mechanism where
once their door is shut and the and it's operating,
you cannot open it. It's locked, and if it does
open it it usually just shuts down the machine because
of that safety. Like I said, spend that dollar. Spend
(37:21):
that dollar my dad. You know, my dad was out
of work for when he had the when the tool
came close to his face. I think it was out
for like a week. So that's a week of one
person out being out of production.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
And that text the numbers numbers.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
Yeah, So spend that dollar where, you know, get some
safety glasses, get you know, get those gloves even at home.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
Oh yeah, I don't do any work like without my
my proper ppe okay protection.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
I need.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
I need my eyeglasses protect my eye. And you know
what I used to wear glasses. I had lasik p
r K surgery when I was in the army. The
military gives you one cosmetic surgery. I didn't want, but
I didn't want to boom. I wanted eyes. I wanted
my eyes back.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
It's important to see. Everything else is little unnecessary.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
Yeah, I'm like y'all, got y'all, you know, deploy me
off somewhere. I gotta work glasses inside of my ppe.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
No, no, no, no, I want to be able to
shoot straight. Give me some eyes. I don't want nothing else.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
Yeah, but a lot of a lot of people do
do other things, and no shame.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
Do what makes you happy. Long as you live in
a healthy life and you're still confident.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
Just do what makes you happy and safe and safe. Yeah, yes,
do it safely. Do what makes you happy safely. If
you're gonna get a butt, don't go down in somebody
hotel room, and no, don't do it.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
Do it the right way.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
Even if you got to get the Mommy makeover on
a payment plan, that's fine, do it safe, do your research. No,
you're a doctor if you are going to do that.
But I don't even want you to do it. I'm
not gonna sit up here and act like I co
sign it.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
I just do.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
I do want you to be happy, but you can
be happy with your God giving gifts and glories.
Speaker 3 (39:14):
Talk to a biomedical engineer. They can tell you about
some of the materials that they and prosthetics that they
put into people for that. Once again, that is not me.
I have no idea how they do that. Like I said,
I'm learning from different types of people that do that
kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
Which I mean, shoot, if you're going to be putting
foreign objects in people, like because bio engineers were not
around when boob jobs started. They were yeah, figure out
which material because the material wasn't good. I'm just saying
I just naturally assume that around just throwing things and
(39:54):
people by saying what will work.
Speaker 3 (39:56):
Yeah. So generally there's different types of silicon, you know,
the silicone that obviously can't go into people. But like
everything else, it's not perfect. There are some tests that
we do and we try to, you know, do them correctly,
but sometimes things happen.
Speaker 2 (40:15):
Things happen, and sometimes things are flawed. Engineers are still
human beings. Yeah, we do make mistakes, you know, and
that's why it's supported not to mess with what God
gave you.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
Okay, Yeah, because you're gonna trust some human when God.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
Gave you all the goods you need. Yeah, you better
go to the gym if you want. But don't get
me started. We can long down the wrong rabbit holes.
After this short break, we're gonna talk all about the
gala next week, Why you need to be at Magnet
for the gala, and how you can get involved with
the North East Ohio Nesby Professionals, the National Society of
(40:51):
Black Engineers, because, like we mentioned earlier in the program,
you don't have to be an engineer. You just need
to be a professional. You don't even have to be black,
you just have to be a perfect and understanding that
this group serves more than engineers. It serves your life
as an in an entirety, because, like you said, in
the meetings, you guys end up talking, you know, women problems,
(41:12):
financial problems, health problems. You know, you might have some
job fares at some of the meetings as well. You
obviously had a whole job fare at your fifteen thousand
and ten I got wha what.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
Conference in Chicago.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
So we want to make sure that people fully understand
what Nesby is doing and where you all are going
right after this short breakdon't go anywhere. We'll be right back.
Welcome back to our voices today right here on WOBU
ninety five point nine FM with you have a loved
Unicorn of the Land, DJ Black Unicorn aka you Need
having a great conversation with the Vice President mister Hermann
(41:51):
of the Nesby Association, National Society of Black Engineers. And
before the break we got off topic just to tab
but not really.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
But we're gonna get that GUNE in next Thursday. Let's
talk about it. What's going on at magnet next Thursday.
Speaker 3 (42:09):
Next Thursday will be our second annual gala where we
honor the college students from Case Western, Cleveland State, Acri University,
Kent State, and Baldwin. There will be recruiters there from
our sponsors. There will be other professionals there to honor
the kids they will be and also will be honoring
(42:34):
our Engineer of the Year. I don't think it's a surprise.
I'm just gonna say who she is now, Holly Casper.
She is a civil engineer based out of ak Akron
University Sorry Akron, Ohio. She is the first black owned,
(42:55):
woman owned civil engineer in Akron, in the city of Akrons,
So we love it. Yeah, she's doing she's been in
business for four years, I think, and it looks like
she's growing because she's asking us for for help to
find out more engineers. So, uh, you know, she's We're
all proud of her. And if you want to get
(43:19):
involved with Nesby, you can go to our website which
is NEO n E O Nesby N s B E
pro p r O dot org. There you will find
our membership application and some of our events that's coming up.
If you want to get involved into our junior program,
(43:44):
it's Nesby N s B E j R c l
E dot com. I believe that's how you get in
contact to see when's our next meetings? What are we
doing next? We're we're gonna be at and all the
other great jazz. We had construction UH William UH Turner
(44:08):
Turner Construction UH come in and speak to the kids
and they learn about different construction technologies that's out there.
We've had Cleveland Water District come in and talk to
you about the different projects that's going on in the
Cleveland metro area. We had all different types of engineers
come in so it's a you know, we try to
(44:32):
what I say, cradle to grave, Uh, from kindergarten all
the way to your professional and even though as a
professional so uh to be able to grow. So you
did mention communities and inside of Nesby, we we we
have communities as well. We have these things called SIGs
special interest groups and for Women's Month, Uh there's wise
(44:58):
women in them and engineering.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
Yeah, shout out to my wives girls, my wives women
from HHW.
Speaker 1 (45:05):
We love y'all.
Speaker 3 (45:07):
They held a round table discussion on imposter syndrome. Yes
it was geared towards women, but it's also anybody is
open to anybody, and it was just interesting to hear
about some of their women's experience in the workforce, you know,
being black and being women in their workforce, and how
(45:27):
they're always felt lesser, felt that they were being talked
down to. I just wanted to take a second and
let them know, y'all, women are amazing, They're doing amazing work.
There was one woman that was on the panel. She
was working for the NRC, which is the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
(45:49):
so she's handling the nuclear power. She got the yeah,
the nuclear power and the nuclear weapons as well. As Ann,
so she you know, she was working, she's working to
get her bachelor's degree, she's working with with the government
on something like that. And once again, these women are
(46:12):
like amazingly smart and talented. I am so glad to
be able to sit there and listen to their speak
about their experiences last night. For those of you who
are more professional, they have process improvement so a lot
of companies will hire engineers for to make their processes better.
(46:35):
And they also have training smaller training sessions, So we
had one last night and where we talked about different
ways to to find root cause and how to remedy
some of those situations with different methodologies. So if you're
looking to develop your skills or to you know how
(46:57):
great a network, definitely check out someone of our special
interest groups we have all anywhere between entrepreneur Let me
talk about the entrepreneurship real quick. So we have a
group called Entrepreneurship, and so these random creators and software
designers and all types of stuff will compete to get money,
(47:19):
actual real dollars, I mean tens of thousands of dollars.
And last year I didn't get a chance to participate
or watch, but if you go to our YouTube channel
you can see the competition. There was one gentleman who
created a test to see if you will if you
(47:44):
have diabetes. So it's like an at home test that
you can take to see if you're you know, we'll get.
Speaker 1 (47:54):
I can't say it even.
Speaker 3 (47:58):
To this position to diabetes. And you know he got
funding for his idem for his invention. We partner up
with I believe it's Serena Williams VC venture Capital to
to get that to get those money. So if you
are a creative person but you don't really know how
(48:21):
to get your idea, you don't really know how to
get your idea out there, reach out to the Entrepreneurship SAG.
They will they can't help you. We have the healthcare SAG,
Public Policy SAG. So those of you who are interested
in public policy, you know, how do we get more
(48:42):
dollars into the community to be able to put on
STEM programs or to be able to have better education. Uh,
that's something that you may be interested in. It's a
it's a huge network. We're not just local. We are
definitely national, even a bit international. We have chapters in Canada, Ghana, Nigeria.
(49:07):
I think they're starting to have a few chapters in
the Caribbean as well, so we are not just national
world bit global. We are trying to get global. Actually,
there students from Hawaii that was competing with us at
this past convention, and you know, Hawaii is in the
middle of nowhere, so the fact that they came out
(49:27):
to Chicago to compete is still pretty amazing. So if
you want to move to a new location and you're
looking for to make some new friends, Nesby is definitely
a good way to meet some new friends.
Speaker 1 (49:42):
On our way out.
Speaker 2 (49:42):
Give some other great reasons of why people should get
involved with Nesby.
Speaker 3 (49:48):
Just to have fun. We have honestly, like you know,
we we have these we have network networking events. You
could just come and kick it.
Speaker 1 (50:02):
Who's the next car meet man?
Speaker 3 (50:04):
I don't even know. Yeah, definitely check out our socials.
We're on Facebook, We're on LinkedIn, We're on Instagram, New
York Nesby Professional, and then for the kids is Nesby
Junior c l E. We're always doing something because it's
(50:28):
it's just a lot of fun. I want to start
will if I have the opportunity. I do want to
start a book book club because that was something that
I wanted to do as a personal goal of mind,
just to read more books. So if you get an
opportunity to, I would like to do that at Loiter Cafe.
(50:50):
They're opening up soon, I believe in May, beginning of May.
So look out for Lower in East Cleveland. It's a
great little cafe to to go for a nice little coffee.
Speaker 1 (51:03):
Yeah, give the people some some some.
Speaker 2 (51:09):
Uplifting No, I mean, if you got.
Speaker 3 (51:17):
Let's see tea. Yes, I got a little bit of tea.
We like. As I mentioned earlier though, if you're interested
to get involved, all positions on the executive board, president,
vice president, UH, secretary, UH treasurer programs are all up
(51:40):
for election.
Speaker 1 (51:43):
Don't make somebody from the organization Matt the like in
buying people.
Speaker 2 (51:49):
I like fresh people to come in and try to
take these positions.
Speaker 3 (51:54):
We talked about, you know, we talked about evolving. That's
the that's the only way to evolve is to get
new idea is But if you if we don't, we'll
still be around. So if you want to reach out
to us, you're more than welcome to reach out to
any one of us, and we will gladly talk to
get you your your point of view. I want to
(52:17):
take a second to shout out to Mark H. Sorel Uh.
He is our treasurer. One day after a meeting, he
was just giving giving us some tea. Man, he was
just allowing us know what is the best way to invest? Uh,
And he gave us like a formula and gave us
a book to read. It was me and another.
Speaker 1 (52:39):
Book was his formula sare share.
Speaker 3 (52:42):
Oh man, it's yeah. It was a really it's a
really good book. Because I actually did have that book
U and I just completely forgot about it. Because it
gives you formulas that you can put it into a
spreadsheet to figure out is it better to purchase a
home now or to invest in the stock market. Anybody
(53:02):
that's following the stock market, you will see that maybe
not today, but you know what it will be your
rate of return over a ten year period of time.
So it's just like, you know the information like that
that you may not necessarily get on your day to day.
I want to also take this time to shout out
(53:25):
Wayne Douglas. He is my mentor, a really great guy.
I'm glad that I have the opportunity. Melisia Douglas his
lovely wife. She is an intellectual property lawyer. She's very
knowledgeable because she actually gave a conversation. We had a
conversation with her where we talked about IP intellectual property
(53:48):
and what it is and what it means. I didn't
know any of that stuff, so I'm really surprised. She's
a great resource. My niece wants to be a lawyer.
So I plugged with my niece and she's talking to
my niece. So that's great. Uh, Miss Chanel Murray. Uh,
great programs person, great visionary, well organized. Uh I'm gonna
(54:13):
miss her as as a program But she's I don't
think she could hear me, but she can. What's up girl?
Speaker 2 (54:24):
Her?
Speaker 3 (54:24):
She had all three of them. She has three boys.
All of them are on the way to become engineers.
She's a president. Emeretis, she was a president and now
she's emeredis. Great visionary. She was the one that brought
it back. Uh she sorry, Okay. She has her own
(54:52):
managing company. She has now moved on into property. So
she has her own managing company where she manages property
and she uses a lot of her organization organization or
so from industrial engineering to that. So those that's the
current e board. Great people. Love working with them. All
of us are passionate. I can't talk enough about them.
Speaker 2 (55:15):
Yes, And if you want more information or you want
to get involved, you want to get your kid involved.
Speaker 1 (55:20):
Nesby Junior c l E dot com.
Speaker 2 (55:22):
For the kids, that's Nesby N s B E j
R c l E dot com. And if you're adult
and you want to get involved yourself, you are more
than welcome to do. So give them that website one
more time.
Speaker 3 (55:38):
That's nick uh NEO Nesby pro and E O and
s B E p R O.
Speaker 1 (55:52):
Dot org, yes dot org.
Speaker 2 (55:54):
And again make sure you are at Magnet five thirty
to a p M. That's Magnet eighteen, one hundred East
sixty third Street. Next Thursday, April seventeenth.
Speaker 3 (56:06):
Five point thirty is networking. Six o'clock is the actual
events start.
Speaker 1 (56:10):
Thank you, Thank you so much for joining me.
Speaker 2 (56:12):
Mister Hermann VP, who has also been promoted.
Speaker 1 (56:17):
I gotta give you your flowers as well. You've been
promoted to regional. How did that feel?
Speaker 3 (56:22):
Nerve wracking? But I'm sure I got a great team
on the regional board as well. We have a few
positions open for regional, but I'm excited, so I am
the Membership Chair. I will be handling all new members
in the region.
Speaker 2 (56:36):
Yes, thank you again for joining me here on our
voices today My shall you stick to state?
Speaker 1 (56:41):
Don't go away. We got Stephanie Phelps coming up next.
This is Wovu Studios.
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