Turning Points Episode 3: The Untold Baobab Story and Leadership Lessons with Bethany Weigele

In this special October episode, Baobab’s birthday month, we sit down with Bethany Weigele, Chief Innovation Officer at EdPlus and the “Queen Mother” of Mastercard Foundation's Baobab platform, to revisit the platform’s inspiring origin story. From its humble beginnings with just 35 members to today’s thriving community of more than 80,000 scholars and alumni, Bethany reflects on the values and vision that fueled Baobab’s growth. We talk about humility and human-centered design, the role of mentorship in shaping meaningful careers, and why our paths are rarely linear, from her own journey in the sciences to leading tech innovation for global impact. With wisdom on taking baby steps, focusing less on yourself and more on the people you serve, and keeping the big picture in view, this conversation is both a celebration of Baobab’s roots and a guide for navigating our own journeys with courage and purpose.

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Transcript

Angella (00:08):

Welcome back to Turning Points podcast. I'm your host, Angela Nantambi. And on this podcast, we talk about everything, growth and change as it happens in our different lives. Today, I'm going to be having a wonderful conversation with a wonderful human being. A lot of us that are listening to this podcast are members of the Baobab community, but we hardly know the history of how everything started. So with me today is someone who we have come to call the queen mother of Baobab, and that's because she knows the history of everything and understands the platform in and out and has been behind the scenes creating, curating this platform that we've all come to enjoy. So join me as we welcome Bethany Weigel, the chief innovation officer at EdPlus, and she will later tell us about what that entails because honestly, I kind of don't have the full picture of that title, but I hope we can learn all about it in this episode together with you and I.

(01:12):

Welcome, Bethany, to the podcast. So good to have you. It's so great to be here with you, Angela. Thanks for having me. Wonderful. So to break some eyes, I wanted to have a good time, have a great conversation. I thought about this question. What's the craziest experience you can ever forget?

Bethany (01:30):

Oh, goodness. Well, there's one that sticks out quite well, and that was the birth of my second child, my daughter, Iowa. It was a two and a half hour labor. And I had already had a few false labors, so was basically convinced that if this wasn't labor, I was going to be really mad. But I stayed home and tried to eat, tried to rest and relax, and eventually I couldn't. It was time to go. And unfortunately, that was just a few minutes before she was born. So my husband got me in the car and began driving as fast as he could to the hospital. And I all of a sudden said, "Oh, my water just broke on the freeway." And then two seconds later, I can feel her head. We're in the car. So he exited really quickly and ended up parking in front of a 7-Eleven in true story fashion and called 911 and Ila was born before the firefighters even got there.

(02:45):

So what was funny is that he had asked every midwife if he could catch his daughter. And they all said, "Some parents, some dads freak out, some people aren't going to want to do it, but you can if you want. " And he's like, "Oh, I won't freak out. " And then there was no doctor, there was no one, just him in our blue car in front of a 7-Eleven, right next to a bus stop, delivering our baby all by ourselves. That's

Angella (03:12):

A fantastic story. I laugh because I've had it before and the first time it sounded crazy, but now it's funny. And I'm sure that child, she's never going to forget when you tell her that story of how she came.

Bethany (03:24):

Yeah. We actually tell her the story every year on her birthday. I don't think many children have that tradition. Let us tell you how you were born in a car. She actually offers it as her. What's the fun fact about you that you never expected to happen? She's like, "I was born in a blue car."

Angella (03:42):

I would use the same, honestly, if I went how she was. It's

Bethany (03:45):

Pretty unique.

Angella (03:45):

You can't blame her. You can't blame her.

Bethany (03:48):

Totally.

Angella (03:48):

Well, now that we have started the conversation, you have a Bao Baby. We call her the Bao Baby, but you have Bao Bab, which is equally your baby. Oh, thank you. So let's go back to the story of when it actually began. Take us through that process of how Babab was actually birthed when the Mascard Foundation approached ASU. How involved were you and seeing it to this point?

Bethany (04:13):

Yes.

Angella (04:14):

That must feel very nice, but take us back for someone who's listening for the first time and they don't know anything about Baobab.

Bethany (04:20):

Sure. I love telling this story because it really does take me all the way back. It was 11 years ago. I had just started at ASU and I was working in the Office of University Innovation where we received special projects for President Crow and worked to create them from little bullet ideas into full-fledged grant proposals and concepts and even wire frames in this case for BeoBab. So the story starts back in 2014. President Crow and Rita Roy were talking. The scholarship program was really new. And President Crow in true fashion was thinking 10 years ahead, what is your digital alumni strategy? How are you going to keep this network of, at that time set a goal for 30,000 young Africans. It's grown in goal much more since then, but how are these individuals going to stay connected because the power is really in the network?

(05:20):

And Rita sat there thinking like, "You should make me a proposal." And so she invited President Crow who handed that off to the office I was working at at the time. And I asked for the assignment because my passion is to empower others to achieve their dreams and what greater way to spend my time at work thinking about what would an alumni strategy for this fantastic scholars program look like in the digital space. And so we embarked in 2014 imagining what that platform would be. And a year later was funded the first five years of funding to build the platform. We grew and grew and grew until COVID hit. And then we exponentially grew in the season of some people not having access to education outside of what was on their devices. And Beobav became a really important support system for many. And that was really the turning point from tens of thousands to now we're sitting at 80,000 users on the platform and we're celebrating 10 years this October.

Angella (06:31):

Pretty imagine. I have definitely personally benefited from being a part of the Bible platform. And I think I was there in the early days of when it started when the platform didn't look as it is right now. And it had so many issues going on tech wise, navigation wise, but I have seen it evolve to where it is now. And it's really fascinating to be a part of the team behind the scenes that work on it, but also be a member of the community, which I speak for many. A lot of people have benefited from it. They've formed communities, they've made friends, some are married, some have found opportunities on the platform. So it's incredible that the kind of network that we've built as Baobab. So in your approach to leadership and how Baobab was shaped, what would you say was your approach to the innovation behind it?

Bethany (07:22):

Yeah.

(07:22):

So what was critical here, a little bit comes from my background. So prior to my second Bao Baby and my first Bayou baby, if you will, I was studying science. And as a scientist, you sit there and you are surrounded by the unknown. You can't see the molecules, you can't see the bacteria and the yeast that are infecting the human cells. And so you sit there and you run experiments and you have controls and you look to observe the data that tells you what direction to move in until you discover something new. And so that approach was actually very much the approach that I took to Baobab. I am not a young African scholar, right? Yeah. So what do you need? What are your motivations? What are your barriers? And how do we couch this in human centered design? How do we acquire scholars on the team itself so that they can daily tell us what will be important and how the platform should adjust and change and adapt and grow to serve their changing needs as they become graduates, as they become continued education students, as they become married, couples with babies, their lives are changing as they advance in their careers and their lives.

(08:42):

And so I created a team that was designed to listen to the user and designed to evolve as we continue to listen to the Bayobab user. And really my leadership was to sit there and balance all of those realities of different scholars and different personas and pull out a team that was driven to listen to our users.

Angella (09:12):

That's fantastic. I just love the approach that you took and we continue to take the user centered approach. Who is the user, the young African? What do they need? What are their struggles? And listening to them and building around those needs is really, really fascinating. And I continue to see that same approach across ed+ and ASU really for the most part, the work that's done is centered around the user that we're serving. What are their needs and how best can we meet those needs? Fantastic. So in your leadership, I earlier introduced you as the chief innovation officer, big title. For the person who has actually never heard of that before, what would you tell them? "Oh, actually, let me take us back a bit." I met Bethany in 2018, right? I actually was looking at my pictures at that time and I have a picture of you and I hugging so intimately at the time, like it was the last time we're going to see each other, but surprise, surprise, here we are.

(10:17):

And I remember when we met in 2018, you were the director of Baobab, fantastic work, fabulous community that you were managing at the time, but your role has gone on to evolve to include more projects, more work at Ed Plus. And as the chief innovation officer, what does that entail for someone who is listening for the first time and they don't know what that means, how can you break that to them?

Bethany (10:42):

I'd say it's a little bit hard to understand. So let me take a stab. And really Beobev was my first project and now just tenfold doing similar things where President Crow has a partner, he has an idea for how technology could solve an education problem. And I'm assigned to assemble that idea to negotiate with all of the people that need to contribute their skills to execute on that idea, to secure the funding and then manage that funding and that team to realize that goal and dream aligned with what their particular users need for that solution. So the innovation is really around what are the problems that we're trying to solve? How might technology and various partnerships enable us to solve that problem and how can we make that idea a reality in a tangible way?

Angella (11:38):

Fun question. Do you miss being a scientist? Because you earlier mentioned that you have a science background and here you are in tech space. Do you miss being a scientist? And I know you've done some lecturing with students. Is that your way of going back to this maybe first love of science?

Bethany (12:01):

It's a good question. I really think that my love of science sat on top of my love of teaching and empowering others to achieve their dreams. And as I articulate that sentence of my why, I look back all the way to when I was a high school student tutoring people in math and science and then wanting to go teach at the community college because there is honestly such little access to education for those who can't afford it. And my junior year of high school was nine eleven. My parents had been saving $50 every month for me to have a college fund and it was completely demolished my junior year of high school. So I was left with no money and needed to be resourceful and innovative in how I might still continue my education without that funding. And so as I thought through that, the mission that I wanted to serve is how can I empower other people who don't have money to continue in higher education?

(13:04):

And science was, that's a cool thing to learn and it'd be a fun thing to get to teach and people need effective science teachers. How can I go down that path? I really thought that was the only way to be in higher education was as a faculty member serving students. And this project actually just changed my entire career trajectory, if you will, because now I had the opportunity to empower tens of thousands of young individuals who were struggling with financial resourcing for their education, who wanted to be scientists, who wanted to have these big dreams and make this big change. I could help a hundred students a semester or I could help tens of thousands of students a semester. So the truth is I don't miss it and I don't feel too bad about it. I think I was already halfway out the door of what a lab life looks like.

(14:04):

It takes decades to even discover a drug that might help someone's health. And I wanted to see in the eyeballs of individuals who were changed because they felt more confident about themselves. They believed more that they could achieve these things. The barriers weren't so big.

(14:24):

And now I get to be just a tiny piece of their future contribution and impact into the world. And so when I look back, scale is actually a bigger motivator and mission for me than the science itself. How can I help people on their way to their dreams? And in particular, those who are encountering barriers to that.

Angella (14:49):

No shade to the scientists.

Bethany (14:51):

No shade. No shade. Every once in a while I think about my time in the microscope room, eight hours by myself. I'm honestly getting nauseous

Speaker 3 (15:00):

From

Bethany (15:00):

Looking at the cells flowing by. No shade to you. I made some really great friends and had a lot of fun discovering new things, but I really wanted to see people's lives change faster than a few decades.

Angella (15:16):

But that's a lesson for a lot of the listeners to this podcast because a lot of us come in with a certain mindset about what we want to do or have a certain vision about the kind of jobs we want to do, the kind of places we want to be, but then somehow things align differently. And being open to that, I think is one thing that I'm picking from what you just shared. Career paths are so

Bethany (15:42):

Messy. They're so messy. Yeah.

Angella (15:44):

Yeah. And I've talked to a lot of members within our community that are very, very, I would say, not kind to themselves in terms of the kind of path they want to take. And when it doesn't go their way, then they feel like they've failed or they've lost on something, but really it's just a redirection in a different place, a different workplace. It could be a job, it could be, I don't know. But your explanation, your answer is a clear indicator that you don't have to be in one field. You can continue to create that impact that you want to see in different fields, and it may not look like what you have in mind now. So for the listener, just be open, I guess. Yeah.

Bethany (16:27):

For the listener, I would highly encourage spending time thinking about your why. Yes. What motivates you? Why do you do what you want to do? What change do you want to see made? Because there are so many different fields and sectors. I look back now and sure it would have been better to get a PhD in educational psychology or sociology or even computer science, or maybe not a PhD at all. I don't know that I needed it. But I look now about the transferable skills, right? And grant writing, articulation of your ideas in succinct ways, being comfortable with ambiguity as you're trying to suss out people's motivation and barriers, right? That guides the path, analyzing data

Angella (17:11):

To

Bethany (17:11):

Decide what you should do next based on the information that you have from your users instead of your bacteria. So many transferable skills from so many different fields and sectors. And so we know so little as younger people who are trying to make career decisions, the world has so much more ... AI didn't exist. How was I supposed to predict that technology would be absolutely transforming education yet again for probably the biggest innovation since the internet for education. We don't know what's going to happen. And so trust in that mission and vision and walk those steps daily and just really encourage the listener to not feel disheartened because the one job idea that you had is no longer available. There's so much more to this

Angella (18:03):

Life

Bethany (18:04):

And to your purpose.

Angella (18:05):

I've definitely had a test of ambiguity. Welcome to the team. So I work closely with Bethany and when I came in, one of the things that she told me was, "If you can't deal with ambiguity, this is not the kind of job you want to take." And I have been tested. You've done one. To the limits in terms of, what am I doing now? What is happening? What is happening? But being open and open to learn and asking the right questions or figuring things out, I hope it's going well. Yeah.

Bethany (18:38):

You're doing great. You're doing great. Really, really are. But that just reminds me honestly about kind of the uniqueness of me being ... I was not a young African. I wasn't even an educational technologist, right? I was almost a researcher sitting in a space on how do I gather the data from our users to know what was important to them. And it's a humbling place where I'm the one asking the questions. I've changed fields and I need to know from the technologists, I need to know from the users and really ambiguity is understood and tackled and diminished by asking good questions. And if you are the smartest person in the room who knows everything, you aren't asking questions. You are making decisions sometimes independent of the users themselves and therefore can make the wrong assumptions and take the wrong steps.

Angella (19:41):

Yeah. You bring up a good point, humility. In building Biobob, you made it very clear that, yes, I wasn't a user. I'm passionate about this work, but I don't understand the person that I'm trying to serve. And you kind of had to take a step back and listen. What lessons have you picked from leadership from that point of view, letting others be the spokespeople or give you the knowledge or the information that you need to actually make the next decision for the platform that you're building or for other projects that you're managing at EdPlus as well. Yeah.

Bethany (20:18):

You know what's so interesting is that most of our education, we have assignments that are given to ourselves. We work on our own and we deliver our own work product, and that is absolutely nothing like the world of work. It is extremely collaborative and it is extremely freeing to not have to be the expert and the doer of every single component part of Beovab, but it is a common human trait to not want to hire someone better than you for fear of losing your position of leadership. And those people don't do well. And I don't think they get many of the promotions offered to them because they aren't working well in a team and they aren't assembling the best team that could create the best product ever. And the beauty of Bayobab is how many skills it takes, right? It is not even just technology.

(21:16):

All of the programming and marketing to get new users, all of the content and curriculum of what is being taught spans ... I can't even tell you how many sectors the content spans. And so we're looking for experts to weigh in on this and to weigh in on that and to give that great knowledge to our user base that it might be relevant for. And so that humility becomes a requirement because you are looking for people who are so much smarter than you

(21:46):

In everything. And so just sitting there in that and being okay with that, being okay with, this might be a dumb question and I'm not supposed to be ... I'm the leader. I'm not supposed to be the one who has the dumb question. It's like, no, I am the connector. I am the pusher to making the platform be the best that it can be. I am the pointer towards the user of how we make decisions. And so it had nothing to do with me. And I really think that that science background kind of helped there because that bacteria has nothing to do with me. I cannot control it. I am observing it and analyzing it and pulling out information. And so, I look at my peers that have also advanced here at ASU and they carry that trait of how do I listen? How do I delegate?

(22:47):

How do I assemble the team with the best talent and not, how do I elevate myself? How do I get credit? How do I make sure that I don't feel bad? And it's hard. So maybe let me just be honest, I don't ... Even though that is what's right, walking in that, we're humans.

(23:08):

And so I guess listener, if you're listening today and being like, "Oh, I'm not humble." Yeah, I don't think that's it. Leaders is Simon Sinek, right? He has this viewpoint of like, a good leader isn't sitting on top of the cart and telling everybody to push. The leader is at the front of that cart saying like, "We're all going this way." And for me, we're all going in the way of the data and now it's not my agenda, it's about truth. It's about the search for truth of what the users need and

Angella (23:46):

Want. Thank you for that honesty. In a world where right now everybody's about II, self-care, it's me, my peace, my space, my everything. I need to take care of me, me, me, me. I think it's refreshing to hear that whatever is needed to push the needle forward, especially when it comes to leadership and working with others, you need people around you. And being that space, creating that space that allows people to move, allows people to share ideas and creating a culture where people feel free and open to share their ideas. I remember something, when I was interviewing for this job, actually, I remember saying, I think I got a question about what does an ideal work environment look like for you, something along those lines. And I know I had taken a class prior to that interview, and one thing that came out of that class was the psychological safety to speak up, to share ideas, to be curious, to be open and have the environment to exercise that openness and that curiosity.

(24:58):

And when I shared that, it was very refreshing again to hear I'm coming, I'm joining an innovation unit. So literally every single day is bring your ideas.

(25:11):

How can we move the needle forward? How can we improve the platform? How can we better serve the people that we work with? So that has been very nice to see. And I think for the listener, for the young people, because I know within the community, we are at a point in our careers, at least those who started with the MasterCard scholarship early on, we are at a point in our careers where we're going forward, where we're going into leadership. I think this is a great message to the listener in that sense that for you to progress forward, you don't need to trash people. You don't need to be arrogant. Humility is hard, but it's necessary if you're going to work with others. So

Speaker 3 (25:51):

Thank

Angella (25:52):

You for sharing that. I guess my next question will be, again, around this topic of humility, how have you managed to, one, prioritize what's important in the midst of the openness and the safety net within which employees exist and can share ideas on how to change things or do things differently? How are you able to prioritize what's important? And how have you continued to enable that culture of, please feel free, it's an open door policy, you can share your ideas and it's okay. Some will be taken, some may not be taken, but you're open to bringing your ideas. How have you been able to do that?

Bethany (26:32):

That is hard because there's only so much money and there's so much time and so many people. And so really this data informed decision making becomes so critical. You only have this much money and you have this much data telling you what to do and this many features. And so being both cautious and conservative, but recognizing that time is money. And so sometimes people are, "Can I have this software tool?" It's like, "How much time will it save you? " It's like, "This will save me three hours a week." It's like, it was $30. That's way more than the time. So making the most use of the resources that you have. Now, it's been really important to listen to the users in this prioritization as well. And so in this first five years of BayoBab, we brought five scholars. You were one of them every single summer to come spend the time with us.

(27:24):

And it might have even been your cohort that was like, we were sitting down like, "Here's the prioritizations we're looking at for this year." And the app was not the number one priority. And the group of scholars sat there and said, "There is no point to this feature and this feature and this feature if I can't access it on my phone, which is the only device I have.

(27:45):

" And we reordered our entire prioritization because that was a really fantastic argument. And we have lots of app users now that don't use Baywab on the web. They're using it on the app and that's a much more affordable and accessible mechanism for them. So I joke, and this is really a science thing of me to say, "What is the N?" When the team comes to me and they're like, "We think this is the most important feature." Our users said X, Y, and Z. And I said, "What's the N of that? " As in how many users told you that? Is this a big problem or is this a 10 person problem? So it really does fall down to the data and also listening to our actual users of what is most important. And software is really just an iterative development where you're constantly adding new features.

(28:42):

And so things that had to wait got added later and I will continue to do so as long as Payovab is a platform.

Angella (28:51):

So no decisions based on ... I feel like users will need this and I'll create that. No, it's a big push of like, what's the

Bethany (28:59):

End? What data do we have that says that that's important? One of my other teams right now is thinking about a dashboard and because they're manually having to create individual dashboards for every course. And so if they made one big one, then they wouldn't have to do that manual work. How much time is that manual work costing you?

Angella (29:20):

15

Bethany (29:21):

Minutes per course, per week, how much will this dashboard cost? How many weeks of that manual work would have to occur before we've paid that dashboard? Those decisions are how we're prioritizing things because we have this many resources and this many people on the team.

Angella (29:42):

Yeah. And the numbers don't lie, honestly. I've seen that, at least in the work that we do, the numbers never lie. And it just takes away the subjectivity of things and it becomes a very objective view of this is what people are saying. And it makes sense financially with the resources that we have, "Okay, this will happen now." Or We'll push it back. And I know the Babab community, and I speak to the Baba community right now, we are very pushy about the things that we want. And we've made so many comparisons to LinkedIn, to Facebook, to all these different tech platforms that exist elsewhere. But the reality on ground is that there's resources that are needed to make those happen, whatever features or recommendations you may have for the platform. There's resources that are needed, but also how many people are saying they need, for example, I don't know, emojis on the platform.

(30:34):

How many people are saying that? Does it even make sense if there are more higher priority options to consider? So that's for you, the listener who is a Barbara user and is always sending in things to change on the platform.

Bethany (30:46):

Safety, accessibility, right? They have to take prioritization or notifications. Everybody, right? No one knows that someone's talking to them on a platform. Well, we have to have notifications because all 80,000 people are suffering from not having that. Or then swing the pendulum. There's too many notifications. All 80,000 people are complaining about that. Let's swing it back down. So very experimental because sometimes even users don't know what they need or want until they actually have it or get it. And so it is hard though. Facebook has, last I checked, so I'm sure it's more 30,000 employees. Biobab doesn't have 30,000 employees. You wish it did. And so what we can do with what we have, hopefully it's enough and it's meeting people's needs. And also send in your emails about your complaints because we're looking at the end. So if there's a large enough end of people complaining about that, that's how we're driving our priorities.

Angella (31:48):

Nice. So we're going to shift gears and talk about mentorship. I know we're speaking to largely a younger audience that is seeking for knowledge, left right center. And one thing that I've found beneficial to my journey has been mentors, including you right now who's taking me through my current career dilemma or what is it? Is it a dilemma? No, career position at this point in time and I've benefited greatly 100%. So how has mentorship played a part in your growth journey thinking back to when you were a fellow to this day and what would you tell young people about the importance of mentorship?

Bethany (32:37):

Yeah. Yeah. I would say, at least for me, my core mentors have always been my bosses. So know that when you're interviewing for a career, it's not for a job. It's not just them interviewing you. It is you interviewing them.

(32:54):

And so when I started at ASU and had my first interview, and then my second and my third, Jacqueline Smith is a phenomenal, phenomenally intelligent woman and very good at her work. But I wanted to know whether or not I could offer my idea or I could offer a counterpoint and see how she reacted. Did I feel safe in bringing up a risk even in the interview process to know whether or not she was someone that I could easily talk to? So really all of my mentors have been my boss where I have gotten a lot of time with them, an opportunity to observe their work product, to see them in meetings, to see how they interact with other people, to bounce my ideas off of them, and then take that back and adapt. And so this reflection process that happens afterwards, your mentors can't do all the work for you.

(33:57):

So having that time to reflect on why didn't my boss like this work material? Can I hypothesize? Can I bring that back to my boss and ask if that is

(34:07):

The issue or problem? Is my boss going to provide feedback so that I can get better? And so that interview process where you're asking questions and evaluating the answers, you've done your homework. I think my question might have been like, you keep saying that President Crow only likes this, but surely he must have some sort of exception if this were to happen. I know that's really hypothetical, but it was like, I've studied President Crow, I've heard you and I've listened to your observation. Is there avenues, changes, adaptations? And I wanted to see her reaction to me pushing back or questioning or needing more information from her. So there's really just something about finding a mentor match that you feel safe to not only share your ideas, but to ask your questions too, and then providing the space and time for you to mentally process so that your mentor isn't doing all the work for you.

(35:11):

But yeah, I've greatly benefited from the people that I have worked with have just been, they've just been really nicely aligned to someone I can learn from.

Angella (35:21):

Yeah. Okay. You bring up a good point when you say, when we go for interviews, you're not just interviewing for the job, you're interviewing for, can I learn from this person?

Speaker 3 (35:31):

Yes.

Angella (35:32):

That's a new one that I'm learning myself too because typically when you're looking for a job, I'm like, we're thinking back to when I was looking for a job, all I wanted was I just need money in my account to pay for my bills, okay? You could be the worst boss ever, but in the meantime, I guess I can handle that. Mentorship was not the top of mind when thinking about a job opportunity, but I guess it's a lesson for the people who are listening too, that when you're exploring opportunities, you're also in that seat asking the right questions and figuring out, does this person take me to the next level or do they actually give me five steps backwards? And

Bethany (36:12):

I've been given such fantastic bosses. I feel like my career path didn't ... I didn't put my career path together. I didn't pick my bosses. And so I've just been really fortunate in that situation. And so that is not to say that mentors can only be your boss. That's just my personal story. And if you do have a terrible boss, I would recommend interviewing elsewhere. Hopefully that's not you.

Angella (36:40):

Oh no. No. I want my job, please. So Bethany, great, great, great, great conversation so far. I'm loving everything that you've just shared. Thinking back to the 80,000 people on the Baba platform and the young people that you continue to work with, what does this community mean to you on a personal level?

Bethany (37:04):

Yeah.

Angella (37:05):

Yeah.

Bethany (37:05):

I mean, it's more than I ever could have imagined, right?

(37:09):

And I hope that many of those 80,000 have received benefits more than they ever could have imagined because that was really the goal. We aren't individuals, we're a network and every time I get to spend a day in person, it's one thing to be on a platform and we're thankful for what we have when we can have it. But when we have a group of scholars here and we're brainstorming and studying, I'm sitting there thinking, "This is probably the next president of Kenya or Ghana." Just brilliant, brilliant people on the Beobad platform. And I look at it like a baby and I hope that the time and effort that I've spent on it provides value to many more than I ever could have imagined.

Angella (38:03):

Amazing. And what would be your closing remarks to the young person listening today? A young person who is probably just graduated, a young person who is in school trying to figure things out and worried about life post-graduation, but also someone who has been out for a while like myself and they're trying to figure out their career, maybe career changes or now they're navigating motherhood. We have a growing population of alumni who are entering that phase of their life. What would you tell them?

Bethany (38:39):

Yeah. So this summer my family watched What About Bob? It's a very silly movie, but central to the themes of this man who has a lot of anxiety is to just take baby steps. We don't know the future, but we've got good purpose. We've got great purpose. And if we take baby steps to making ourselves better, to serving others who are around us, to being generous and to working hard and doing our best, taking those baby steps, I think you'll look back, young people, you'll look back mid-career people and the last 10 years, you'll see progress, you'll see impact and that worry really just gets in the way of us making impact.

Angella (39:32):

I feel like there's so much pressure, especially within the community to just do something to be something. And usually when you see your colleagues, and I've had conversations with guests on the podcast earlier where we've talked about these pressures that are either external, but also the kind of pressure we put on ourselves because, just because you're MasterCard Foundation, scholars or alumni, it's like we have to be the next CEOs or we have to come up with a vaccine that is going to cure as many diseases as possible. And I feel like this pressure sometimes hinders us from, again, taking the baby steps, going backwards, seeking mentorship, staying grounded in where we are and hoping, okay, things are going to get better in future. I don't know yet, but I will be kind to myself. I'll be gentle a bit and this pressure that I'm feeling right now, I need to manage it such that I don't miss the big picture ahead.

Bethany (40:35):

Yeah. It really isn't about us. As soon as it's about us,

(40:39):

Right? We're worried, we're not focused on how we could meet the needs that are right in front of us. And it's so tempting. I'm not saying that I've got this together. I really don't. I really don't. It is so hard to think about like, my job is to pay my bills and I have to pay my bills. And that is the ultimate goal. That's all I have time to think about. But the Bayou Bab community is so generous and so smart. And there are great things planned for each and every one of those, but it really isn't about you. And when it is, then things start falling apart. So how can you do your best with what you have right now and take the next baby step and you'll be blessed?

Angella (41:26):

Amazing. You will be blessed whoever's listening to the podcast. That's a great way to end our conversation. Thank you so much for listening in, for watching the Turning Points Podcast, and I hope you've had a wonderful time because I have, and you've picked up a couple of lessons from the different guests that we've heard. If you want to see more of this kind of content, go to the comment section and let us know what kind of content would you like to see? Are these conversations that you'd like to continue happening on the Baba platform? And if so, who are the people you think may be wonderful to have as guests for this conversation? So I'll see you again. Enjoy yourself. Until next time, Angela Ananta be as your host of this podcast.