The Entrepreneurship & Innovation Studio
Something is happening in the Central Valley, and it’s been happening for some time. Enterprise. Entrepreneurship. Innovation. At the E&I Studio, you will hear stories as told by the people who built something. Stories of inspired leadership, inspiration and imagination called to action. Through intimate conversations, the people who make our region the special place it is will share their lived experiences and moments of brilliance. Their stories will challenge, inspire and move you beyond words. It’s the past, present and future of a region, of a community, told by the people who pursued their passions and built something extraordinary.
Co-produced by the Warrior Entrepreneurship and Innovation program and the Office of Strategic Communications and Marketing at Stanislaus State. The E&I Studio is edited and recorded in the KCSS studios on the campus of Stanislaus State.
The views expressed by guests on this podcast are not necessarily those of the University.
The Entrepreneurship & Innovation Studio
Tapping Into the Central Valley Bioeconomy: Gloriamar Gámez & Gehad Elhanafy of BEAM Circular
In an E&I Studio first, we welcome two guests onto the podcast to share details about the important work they're helping bring to the Central Valley. Dr. Pablo Paredes Romero welcomes Gloriamar Gámez and Gehad Elhanafy of BEAM Circular to explore the concept of the circular economy, where agricultural waste is looped back into the production cycle to create positive impact on the environment and job market.
This episode highlights the work of transforming organic waste into valuable bio-based products and the organization's pivotal initiatives like the Innovation Voucher Program and the Technical Assistance Program, which provide financial and technical support to foster local innovation.
Co-produced by the Warrior Entrepreneurship and Innovation program and the Office of Strategic Communications and Marketing at Stanislaus State. The E&I Studio is edited and recorded in the KCSS studios on the campus of Stanislaus State.
The views expressed by guests on this podcast are not necessarily those of the University.
In an Entrepreneurship and Innovation Studio. First, we bring you two disarmingly engaging guests in one episode, Gloriamar Gamez and Gehad Elhenafy. of Beam Circular, an elegant acronym for bioeconomy, agriculture and manufacturing with an even more elegant mission. Stop by today. That mission to facilitate the support of a portfolio of public and private initiatives designed to scale innovations in bioindustrial manufacturing while advancing economic and environmental outcomes for our local communities is enough to get your attention from the jump. Think for instance orchard biomass, nut tree shells and almond hulls. We can do a lot with that Large scale bioproject development, scale up of bio based products and climate solutions, bio industrial manufacturing facilities paradigm region changing initiatives. Gloriamar and Gehad discussed mission, vision, values and shared personal investment. Time flew by and with enough content to fill 2 episodes plus perhaps we will have to issue a return invitation. This week on the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Studio podcast, we welcome Gloriamar Gamez and Gehad Elhenafy from BEAM Circular. How are you ladies? Great. How are you doing? Very well. Thanks for having us. Pablo. Thank you for being here. Some of the things that I've read about being circular and the fine work that you're doing speaks to future positionality to cultivate innovation. Pun intended. But I want to know more from you about the length, the breadth and the spirit behind the project work at this point. So for example, the innovation Voucher program, the technical assistance program, I want to know about the importance of the work and why it's so exciting for the region. So hello to your audience. I'm Gloriamar Gamez. I'm the Chief Program Officer at BEAM Circular. So let me start by telling you why I am here. So I'm a chemical engineer's background and I have a master in Sustainability and Environmental Management and I also have an mba. I have worked most of my career in sustainability topics, especially climate change and water treatment, recycling. Those have been my passions. But mainly climate change and mainly in the private sector in large corporations that are worth several billion dollars or even Euros. Because I used to work for a German company when I was looking for a new job, something new to do, I got a call by a recruiter to join this amazing project, a startup nonprofit organization in the North San Joaquin Valley in Californ. And I have to say at the beginning I said no, because I'm like, no, I don't want to work for a nonprofit, right? But I was practicing for job interviews. So I decided to take the call with our CEO and founder Karen Werner. And I was so inspired by the work that we're doing that I said, you know what? I think you're amazing and what you're doing is awesome and I hope for the good of humanity that you're the real deal, but I'm not doing this. And then she said, okay, okay, but you have really cool idea. Let's keep connecting. Do you want to have a second call? And I'm like, sure. But at that point, in my mind it was no longer a job interview. It was a conversation how I could add my experience to this great project. And I decided to say yes to the second call. And after that I was so in love with the project that I jumped at it. So I cannot talk about the programs that we're launching without telling you what we're doing. So I'm not going to go too deep into it. But what is about is about the circular bioeconomy is happening in the world. There's many studies that say that the Trend is a $4 trillion world movement around it. Either we jump into this wave and make it happen to us or we're going to be left behind in min circular. What we're trying to do is being a hub of innovation to put the right elements to make this happen in North San Joan King Valley, like a whole innovation ecosystem. I've been most of my career trying to do radical change for good for humanity in climate change. And this is the way to do it because it's about involving our communities and from communities, I mean really everyone from amazing academic institutions like Stan State and community members, local companies, locals and even startups from outside the region and to bring them here. I hope we get the chance to talk deeper about each of the programs that we're trying to promote. But really without innovation is not happening. It's not going to happen out of the bloom. It's only going to happen with the right incentives and very targeted incentives. And that's what we're trying to do. We're pulling together private and public funds for all these different programs that we're going to be talking about. But I really wanted to be part of it. I took my life from Michigan, moved all the way to California. It took a lot of personal sacrifice to be here. The more I am involved in our work and I get to know our community and we're trying to do, the more inspired I am. And that's why also I'm very happy to have Geha with me because she's exactly example of what we're doing, things of the talent that we have in our region, you know, really is like fertile ground and we just want to pour water in it to make things grow. So much of it speaks to vocation. To your point, was it similar for you? Yeah. When I first learned about Beam, it was through Harold, who I think is now on our board. But I was visiting him up at UC Davis for an event that was supporting startups there at UC Davis. And I was talking to him about all the things they wanted to do at UC Merced and for region generally, because I was working at our tech transfer office. And he said, well, have you heard of Karen? Have you heard of Beam? And I was like, no. And he was like, here, let me connect you. And so Karen and I spoke and although at first glance I would have never thought that I would have ended up in a startup nonprofit, that its focus was a circular bioeconomy at all, that wasn't something top of mind. But at the same time, when you look at the mission and if you tell me that your job right now as a program associate, some program associate there, but your job would be to create programs to support businesses here in the North San Joaquin Valley or attract businesses in the North San Joaquin Valley, I mean you have, you have me right, because that's really what I wanted to do. I wanted to work with businesses. But then when you have a mission that's so deep and that has such great impact for a community that I feel like I owe a lot to, then, I mean it was a no brainer. The two macro categories are supporting entrepreneurship and access to capital. Tell me about your individual journeys of these things. From idea to project, from concept to implementation. It must have been quite the journey from when you start point one. It has been quite a journey. So I joined Beam like the last day of January this year. So it's been like a very wrap up learning curve. And also we are moving as fast as humanly can to implement these programs. So coming again from the private sector where again you just. I've been, I used to write talking points for the CEO, right literally on sustainability and climate change topics. And when you have like, okay, let's engage stakeholders, we need to promote innovation and. But it's very different when you talk about it, when you're actually making it happen and see the hard work that it takes. So again we got some funding from the state of California for the edd, the California Jobs first grant pilot project. And the way we wrote our pilot project and we were assigned about to it, it was like, okay, we're Going to have funds for doing workforce, some funds for community engagement and some for. And by the way, from the grant, those are the majority of the funds for commercialization, innovation, entrepreneurship and very specific programs. So in my case it has been to learn. Okay, it's very different to do innovation when again it's a 6 billion or $35 billion company or to do it in the ground from zero. So concepts like an accelerator program were new to me. I mean they're very famous and popular. I mean they are not new. But we don't have much of those here in the Central Valley or in North San Joaquin Valley. Right. About an innovation voucher that's very specific to R and D and how to make, you know, transform ideas from geniuses to, you know, literally buy time from a national lab or a research institution to make those genius ideas happen and materialize them again, one of these genius ideas. And I want to apply for a grant and I don't know how to do it. Then we'll help you the way we grow. The grant was very specific and we have until October next year to actually implement and put those funds out there. So when you hear about BIM and a lot of people, oh, they have this amount of money, but it's not money for us. It's money to be implemented at a given away to again create this ecosystem. And it's very different to do it from again, a large corporation where you sometimes they just do mergers and acquisitions and are just looking around what's happening out there than to actually making that happen. And that's what we're doing here. And that's a great opportunity that we need to tap on and that we're very, very grateful that you're helping us to promote and to put it out there for the community. The theme of circularity is so pervasive in your decision making, in your vocations. What about being circular? Central mission would you like to put out to the community listening in the simplest terms, I want to make very. Simple like this economic concept that can be very complicated. So we live in a linear economy. What does that mean? We're used to extract and this is how we live most of our lives in the industrial Revolution. We extract things from nature, from water to fossil fuels, whatever it is. We make products that we need to our everyday life, like from food, plastic, whatever. And then we throw them away and in our minds they almost kind of disappear and go to a magic place somewhere, somewhere and someone handles them. But that is what is causing a lot of the Pollution and the problems that we have today because we're using limited resources in an unlimited way. So that's the linear economy. The whole concept of the circular economy is taking those waste that we generate, bring them all the way up to the beginning of the value chain so we can stop and prevent using again the natural resources and then have this waste to put some value to make it back to the beginning as a feedstock, as a raw material. It's very easy to see this when you think about plastic, right? A plastic. So you take a bottle of plastic and then it goes to recycling and then it comes back to the beginning. And now we see a lot of bottles from a used bottle or bottle to bottle, right? So that's a very easy way to see it. There's another way to upscaling it. For instance, my shoes, they're made out of recycled bottled plastic. That's a way to upcycle or materials that go again, those bottles of plastics. And again it's very easy to go into construction. So it's the same thing. But in this case, secondary byproducts of the food and the ag sector that were very rich in this region. Because we're a farm region, we are a food processing region. California makes 25% of the food for this country, most of it from the Central Valley, a lot of it from our county per se, the north of Hoan Kim Valley. So these secondary byproducts that usually are seen as waste, sometimes they do have use like animal feed or soil amendment. And why not? But we can give them more much value. Let's say that you have clothes made out of gray pomas, right? What if you have construction materials or your blinds for your house that could be pvc. And this is literally an example, we're talking with a startup about that made out of woody biomass, right? So that's the circularity aspect of it. So bring it back to the beginning. But also by that we can again stop using natural valuable resources and then we put less pressure on nature and again we can avoid also a lot of the negative consequences of climate change. So everything that we're doing is with that things in mind. Like even the companies or their own facility were thinking about building, okay, let's do water circularity. Instead of using water once, let's clean it and let's reuse it in the same process, right? Let's have renewable energy and wine. So there's many virtuous cycles to think about. When we think about the circular bioeconomy. In terms of the Student level. I know you recently graduated from UC Merced Gahad. Congratulations. What is your feeling for student interest in programs like Beam and what their future could be for them if they stay in the region? I think that the same way, like Gloria Mar talks about, you're taking feedstock, and then you're. You're creating value out of it. I was just thinking in my head, that's the same way for students like, you take them out of their universities or colleges, and you're trying to create value out of them, but not for the region. Right. You don't want them going in to other places. And frankly, a lot of my college friends actually decided to stay in the region that weren't from here. So. So my family moved to Merced, so it's part of the Mercedes, part of the North San Joaquin Valley. So we moved here about 11 years ago or so. And so, yeah, I went to middle school here, high school here, college here. And when I was in college, when you hear about big companies and when you hear about people that are really, really making change and not a business that's just doing advocacy work, for example, but actually really tackling innovation like Beam is, I would think that that's a company that belongs in the Bay Area or Soc or Boston, like that. I'm not thinking that belongs here in the North San Joaquin Valley, but to know that it exists, which is why I'm staying here. I think we spoke about it a little bit, but after I graduated, I moved to SoCal, to Irvine. And one thing, outside of just not feeling like it felt like home, the sunsets in Merced. And I don't know about Turlock, but the sunsets in Merced are breathtaking. And I think that was one thing that I was like, wait, if I'm missing just the sunsets, there's a lot more. I need to come back. I need to come back home. I need to contribute to home home, which. And I did come back. And so. And yeah. And so looking at it from the student perspective, the fact that I can tell those that are younger than me that, hey, you can graduate from college and you don't have to go to the Bay Area, you don't have to go to SoCal to actually have a good job, which is, I think, also a big part of what Beam's about. It's about creating jobs here in the North San Joaquin Valley that are paying sustainable wages for families, because we really don't have much of that. And to do it in an emerging industry, and you probably Know, my generation are people that very short attention span and we like what's on trend. And then seems like the circular bioeconomy is still on trend. And so to describe it that way to college students coming out of, you know, universities that have just graduated to tell them this is an opportunity we have and you don't have to be from a STEM background to be part of this at all. Like, we have an intern. And I know Gloria Maher uses this example a lot, but I'll use it. She does graphic design. Like, who would have, right? Like who would have thought, right? But you need everyone to be part of this ecosystem. I don't have to be in STEM to be part of this. I could be in graphic design. I could be a business major and contribute to business development as part of this ecosystem. So there's definitely a lot to do. Most people think that they have to either go and work for someone or they need to go somewhere else to build their businesses. And again, there's so many brilliant ideas here. Let's grow them here. Let's say you come from a family that has is from the valley, that has worked on the farms, so you're used to that and you see that. And then you came to Stan State to the business program and you might have a very innovative idea that can help or solve a problem that you grew up seeing in the community that you grow. And then you have this brilliant idea. Well, you can make it a business here for you and the great jobs here for your community. And that's what we're trying to do. Is it a feeling that this is kind of a moment in time, like things are lining up a certain way? I think these are lining up, definitely. Some people, they tell me why. I mean, you guys are not the first ones thinking about this. And climate change is not like, why is this happening now? Because I think the right things are aligning now, the right elements, the desire to make sure that we preserve our natural resources. I think more and more Americans and everyone, whatever you ask, are concerned about climate change. All of us feel it's extremely heat. We don't have, we have droughts, you know, farmers. Like everyone, it doesn't matter, your background, your level of education, everyone's feeling it and we're concerned about our environment. Like, I talked to community members that if they don't have any college or background education, they're concerned about the health of their kids. On another hand, there's a lot of public funding to solving these issues on climate change and they understand that we need new solutions, new companies, new innovations. There's also money coming to those projects. And I think everything is aligning really. So it almost feels like it's the right moment, it's happening. And again, either we jump in this wave and we start with it, or we're going to miss it. And we don't want to miss it. We want the Central Valley and the north of Huancany Valley to be part of it. And I think honestly, we're very grateful that our county has been so supportive of it because they understand it. And I know this is a political moment in our nation, but I see people from both sides super worried about it and doing something about it, and we're very grateful for their support. Your existence is a call to action in so many ways. The ethic that underlies it. If there were a project that is so top of mind as to leap off the screen to you, what would it be? I think that. And I guess it comes to mind, and I think we're already working on it, but I think a huge part of what we're working on and what Mars mentioned is trying to take the feedstock and that we have here in the North San Joaquin Valley. And rather than it being waste, you're creating value out of it. So if we can just have this huge database that lets us understand what feedstock we have and how people can use it, because it would make it really easy for businesses to come here and say, oh, yeah, I could totally work on, you know, almond shells or almond halls. Like, let me take that. And we're working on that. I think we have a project that's doing just that. So it's pretty cool to be part of an organization that's working on really such a cool project. Because if you about it, like, data is really important and a lot of you need to start somewhere, right? And I think just collecting this information and showcasing the value that the North San Joaquin Valley has, especially because we really are focusing on our feedstock here, would be really, really cool and so excited to see where it goes. I know we're working on it. I want to do a commercial in my ad. Go for it. October 29th. I know people might hear this later. We launched something called tap, which is our technical assistant program for business in the supply chain in the right. And this is going to give up to $50,000 to existing businesses in Northern Joaquin Valley. Some of our products are to bring companies from out here, but this is someone that already exists, and this could apply for a big Food manufacturing processing company, but also for local businesses. So I don't know how many of you know, but there's a law in California that says that companies need to divest their bio waste and to handle it in a proper way. There might be a local restaurant or a food processor or I don't know, a food bank or whatever that have all this waste and they don't know what to do about it. So and let's say that with this grant they can apply to find a solution for that waste, to divert these bio waste feedstocks right in the right way and then they are in compliance with the law and they can find a solution and a revenue stream. So I know sometimes what we talk about sounds very high level, but it can really be for local small businesses and companies. Like if you're a food market, I mean, if I may, I'm going to do another ad if I may. So there's a very cool company called Ivert and they're opening here in Turlock. And Ivert started with an app and a solution for actually retailers on their food that was going to get spoiled and get to waste. So first with this app they can track it and whatever and then the first thing they do is they try to put it into food banks and to community kitchens and then the food or that cannot be do any like it's not good to eat it anymore. Then they're putting it in a, in a biodigester and with that they're generating what is called renewable natural gas. And then they're giving that into the natural gas that we use in our homes to be gna. Right. So if you have a water heater in your house or you have a gas stove, whatever, that's what you're using, natural gas. And I'm not going to give a wrong statistic, but let's say just 90% of it comes from fossil fuels. But there's a lot of incentives, especially in California, that it can come from bio waste. So they are doing that right here in Turlock and again, they're helping local businesses. They just did a huge joint agreement with Blue diamond and why not? So let's again, this is a whole ecosystem. These are the kind of things that we're talking about. So again, it can be very new, high tech, new innovation, but it can also be things that are in the ground, like let's say another food processing company here. A lot of them use a lot of water and their water has a lot of biomass residues. Right. And it's an issue for them how to treat this water, not only to dispose it, but also to maybe find a secondary use. And whatever we can support with this TAP grant that we're talking about to help them, hire a consultant. There's consultants actually in our ecosystem and our universe, ecosystem experts that could help them. So we don't need to bring someone from very, you know, outside our region. There's experts in our region that can help them deal with that water waste in a way that then it can be part of the circular bioeconomy. What does the word community mean to you both in the context of your life and work? I think to me community means belonging, whether that's in life or at work. When you feel like you belong to a place, I think you feel a sense of giving back to that place. And when you have people that feel that sense, it's an ever growing community. And I think I feel that way about Merced. When we moved here from Egypt, it didn't take me long to feel like I felt like Merced. I mean, for the first two years I was like, oh, dad, why are we here? But then after that I was like, no, I can see why we're here. I feel a sense to give back to my university, to my city, and now being exposed to the larger region, I also feel like, okay, this is a place I feel like I can contribute and it's a place I feel like I can belong. At work, I feel the same way in that sense, when you're working on something you really like and you feel like you're creating an impact, at least for me, if I'm creating impact, I feel like I belong in that space. And if I belong, I feel like then that's a place where I feel that I'm part of that community. And so yeah, I think that community to me means belonging. And when you belong, you create impact. So I was born and raised in Mexico City. And then I moved to Boston for school. And then after school a few years I worked in Mexico. Then for personal reasons, I moved to Houston. Then I moved to Michigan. And the most recent place I moved is here in California. And first of all, when I moved to the US the sense of community and responsibility about the community was extremely palpable. Like volunteering, doing things that help the other. Right? And honestly, from all the places I've lived, I've never felt so welcomed by a community than the Central Valley. I came by myself. I'm okay, I'm sorry. I'm going to do it. I'M going to be politically incorrect. Is that okay? Okay? Absolutely. Okay. I think I told you this joke already. I'm a single, childless cat lady and move by myself to the North Joaquin Valley. And of course it's scary when you move by yourself. You know, new environment, you know, everything. And seriously, the way the community has welcomed me with open arms in a warm way. So the job that I'm doing has a lot of meaning, there's a lot of mission, but also the way the community has embraced me, man, I had to do something good for everyone. And part of my job, thankfully has the community. So I'm the chief program officer, which means I oversees different departments or areas of work. And the part of community engagement, man, it fills my heart with warmth. Last week we were in a Halloween resource fairs at El Concilio. And it's about informing the community what we're doing, what it means to them, from their kids education to training to new jobs, whatever. And the community has the right to know what's coming and how it's going to affect their lives. And not only that, they need to have the right to know. They also have the right to help it shape. And we're really focused on helping them shape because we can have just companies, industries, whatever, just coming and open without considering the community or we can do it in a way that actually includes what the community needs are the community perspective. And that's part of what I love. The way what I do is that so not only we're really reaching out, informing in things like community conversations that we're hosting all the time in different parts of the three counties, but also in these resource fairs which we were dressed in Halloween costumes, I was Snow White and we were giving out like little dirt and seeds and plants. And we were the most popular stand in the community sort of fair because we're doing beyond just candies and information. It was in a way that we can make it tangible for community. So community is, I think what I had said is belonging. And because you belong, you have the responsibility and the ownership to do something good for it from whatever your step, but you have to do something about it. And honestly, I feel so. Again, I'm sorry if I sound as a broken record, but I feel so grateful of the way this committee has embraced me, has welcomed me, that I have to do something for it. In all my travels, nicest people I've ever been around. In the spirit of community and collaboration, what business sectors do you see on the cusp of a sea change? I think Maybe because of where I am right now in my career and working with Beam, I'm really looking forward to see how our region, region can take this industry running, the circular bioeconomy, and to see the impact it can have on our region. I think you're told this, but when we moved here, my dad was like, we're moving to Merced. And my older sister and I looked it up, and we were like, all right, Merced. And Google is like, do you mean Mercedes? Right. Dad, are you sure this is the town we're supposed to be moving to? And so when it starts off like this and now to being here and. And seeing that, and I am biased because it's, you know, it's the area in which I work, but I'm really excited about it. Before Beam, I was at UC Merced in our tech transfer office, really focusing on innovation, entrepreneurship over the span of two years. And coming to Beam, those problems that I was getting told by students or faculty that wanted to start their own thing, but saying, I don't have support to, say, apply for grants, or I don't have support to explore this technology because my grant, you know, is limited to. Or the grants I have are limited to the research I need to do with my grad students. Like, I don't have the ability to explore what a startup idea could look like for me, and to see that Beam is doing that. And when you add the layer of we're really, really trying to contribute and explore this idea of the circular bioeconomy, and not just with anything, but with the resources we have here in the region, it gets really, really exciting. And these are resources. Now, I could tell the faculty and students I used to work with, hey, now you don't have to essentially go out there and never find anything. I could give it to you right here, and it's next door. And you can apply to these grants or you can apply to these programs and really explore what it means to start something. And I think with this type of energy that you have around this sector, it creates a certain type of momentum where I think innovation and entrepreneurship will become really prevalent as the sector really grows. If you could give one piece of advice to someone starting or relocating their innovative venture to the Central Valley, what would it be? Do it. That was quick. That was like, what, a nanosecond for me. You know, California has this stigma that it's hard to do business here and to open a company here, and it's expensive, and they're right. But I would also say there's so many resources out there and they are untapped. So not only BIM, there's also amazing institutions like the SBDCs that are giving so much support. Hey, you need to register in California, I'll tell you how to do it. And that's for free. So part of the work we're doing is we're really trying to expand our network or partners. Like, hey, I have a startup coming here. Literally. This was an example from today. She's in Texas all her time. She's like, I want California was her objective. Right, okay. And we're like, okay. And she's like, how can I register in California? I'm like, don't worry, I'll tell you. I'll connect you who to talk to to help you register your business in California and how to do. And we're also working with the municipalities, with the cities, with the counties. And why not like to help them? Because there's a lot of economic development desired in the north of Huaquan Valley. And again, those are untapped resources that are just there. So helping them, and that's part of our role and our job and how we see our as enablers of the ecosystem to help startups and companies to make sure to navigate this complicated, you know, system, but in an easy way, so they can open up and make it. So we're trying to make it easy for them, but it's not only us. It's definitely about partnership. What does the word innovation mean to you on the deepest personal level of which you're aware? Some people think about innovation, this amazing, high, complicated, Einstein kind of thing, but innovation requires discipline. Innovation requires to be strategic about things, of course, to be thinking outside the box. Absolutely. But it does require discipline. And then as you and strategy and as you grow again, there's so many resources, not only the grants we're giving or accelerator programs or MBA programs with professors like you like the way program, but if you're not disciplined, you can get lost. I'll add to that that probably this is why you and I make a good pair. I think that to me, innovation is when you find a new way to do something. That's innovation, whether that's in work or whether that's in your personal life, whether that's in whatever it is. If you find a better way to walk, you know, take a walk around the neighborhood because it has more trees. That's to me, innovation, because you're coming up with a new way to do things, that's better. Right. But to Gloria Mars point. You can't really achieve a lot of what innovation's impact is without having the discipline to actually do it. So, yeah, I think to me, innovation means, like, doing things differently. I'll take it to an example that. But when I was at UC Merced, we started Merced to Market, which was a conference that was really focused on innovation, entrepreneurship, and creating the ecosystem there for UC Merced faculty and students. The first year we did it, I was an intern, and the idea was, can we take our patent portfolio and really do something for faculty from lab to market? Then we were like, why don't we expand it beyond to, like, graduate students and undergraduate students? They have ideas. And so the first year, we started as a curriculum, and it covers everything from you having an idea and what that means to building your team, marketing your strategy, and raising capital. And then the year after that, after I graduated, I stayed on for another year and we thought of making it better. And so we had our first pitch. It wasn't really a competition, but it was a pitch. And it was intended to be that way because we wanted it to almost encourage people in the audience that, look, these are your classmates and these are your professors that are pitching their startups. And it was seven UC Merced startups. I didn't even know they existed. And then we had our very first investor panel, and we had attorneys coming from UC Investments and really big, you know, law firms that targeted. How do you incorporate what that looks like? How do you raise money? I mean, these are topics that you don't really. I haven't seen covered when I was there as a student until this happened. And so to me, when you create something like that, that's innovation. I'm not particularly the person that's going to start a company, and I have the tech and I'm the genius. I'm not. But I think that in innovation, when you find better ways to do things and you support people to do what they want to do, innovation could be allowing people that are inventors to do what they want to do and to apply their technologies in the, in the real world. But you're a prodigiously talented systems thinker. Thanks. You see it, it's very palpable. That's what I wanted to bring her in the program because she's so amazing. And again, when we talk about innovation, it's again, not just the Einstein of the world, it's the whole ecosystem, everything that is needed. And I keep bringing the world collaboration. You literally need everyone at the table from Lawyers to graphic designers to engineers to business experts, everyone at the table. And the more we collaborate, the more we're going to make it happen. But I go back to the discipline, because I see a lot of entrepreneurs failing in the process because they're not disciplined and they follow the rules. And you know what? We will have attempts. We will learn from them. Some will be successful, some might not. But we have to have discipline to, again, take the learnings, to keep improving and to keep growing and so on and so forth. It's very hard when the space around entrepreneurs is sort of wired in a very binary manner. So it's so your success, extraordinary, wild success or failure, just really crushing failure when it's really learning? No, but I also think that when you say, like, the space around entrepreneurs, like, reflecting on the North San Joaquin Valley, I almost feel like we lack the space around entrepreneurs. And I think that that's exactly what we're trying to create, whether it's with these programs or other resources that we have, whether that's around, like, workforce or community. When you're really. I think with beam, it's trying to create this ecosystem to where it's like, yeah, we know that starting a company is hard, or we know that running a company right now is hard, but can we help it make it make it easier for you? Right? And I think that in that you create that space. Who are the leaders who impressed you both, Claudia Marengihad, in your early careers? I'm still in my early career, but I think there are a couple of people that I've worked with that I think that influenced where I am today. I'll take you to the very beginning of my journey. The summer after my freshman year in high school, I interned with Mrs. M. She had done her grad school thesis, trying to find ways of educating students that are not represented at a socioeconomic disadvantage. And she started a tutoring center, an educational center, and she would actually do counseling with parents while the students are being tutored to really make it more of a holistic experience for the family. So I came in there to be a tutor. She was like, I still need to raise funding from the city, because it was Covid times, it was 2020, and I was like, listen, I know you want me as a tutor, but I don't want to be a tutor. Let me work on some of, you know, part of the business piece that I'm interested in and I think can help you out. But I could recruit other tutors for you. We could raise that money from the city write the reports that, you know, the city really loves. But, yeah, and so we did that, and we raised the funding, and we were able to get some funding for the students that we were teaching. And I. And I think it really inspired me that she has this mission and she was going after it. The summer after my junior year of college, I interned with UCLA Biodesign as part of a program called Pledge la, which is supposed to introduce students to the venture capital world. And there I met an angel investor who was my advisor at UCLA biodesign, Ryan Witt. He's an angel investor and operator. And I think he is the one that really opened the door for me to this world of innovation, entrepreneurship, fundraising. I think everything to do with the world that I really want to exist in. He had a huge impact on me. He. After I graduated, he was like, hey, do you want to. I'm looking for a consultant. I need your help. And I was like, okay, cool. And so I worked with him for some time on projects that, you know, when you look up job descriptions and it's like, it needs a. You need to have an MBA or like, seven plus years of experience. Like, I was doing some of that work. He opened up that world to me. And he came back, actually, as a panelist for Merced to Market on our investor panel. Yeah, I guess April of this year. So I think he was another person that really almost opened that door to me after that at UC Merced, at the Tech Transfer Office, or Intellectual Property Officer Adrienne. I think she allowed me to apply all that knowledge and the energy I had. Oh, my goodness. She balanced on my energy like no other. And, you know, in academia, there's a lot of red tape and there's a lot of, you know, it's really slow. You don't say. We try to, you know what. But maybe it's for the better. I don't know. She almost guided me through it. And, okay, your energy could be, you know, put into places that are productive, like Merced to market or working on NSF I Corps, which is a program that allows faculty to explore do people actually want what they're building or not? Which is a super cool program. And then from there, coming to beam, I think just our whole leadership team, especially Lorimer, I work with her a lot, and I'm a little biased, but it's true. She also balances on my energy very, very well. Sometimes it's hard to tell your boss, like, no, I don't think you're right. Like, I have a better way of doing this. When I feel like I am able to do that and it's received well, I think that inspires me to speak up for myself, to think of better ways to do things and to also not be afraid where I am, to really take out all of my energy and my potential and put it into something good on paper. So I think that throughout my journey so far, and I'm still in my early career, but I think these are all the people that have inspired me for sure. First, shout out to Mrs. M. Mr. Witt and Adriana, your recollection and your story and your reflection. It really is about creating a space of psychological safety to feel comfortable, to ask those questions, saying what? I can find a better way to do it. And that speaks to your leadership. Gloria. Ladies and gentlemen, Mrs. Gehad of only 22 years old for you, she's one of the most talented young people I've ever worked in my career. So I love her. I'm also biased. It's very easy to work when you have that kind of talent next to you. And it's so about leadership. You need to delegate and to let your team go. And they will make mistakes and I may have my way to do it, but if you don't allow them. Because honestly, she's the expert on the program. I mean, I know the program, but she's the true expert because she has done research and she's been proactive and she's amazing. So, so crazy to let her expand her wings and flash. So as a leader, my job is exactly that to all my team, to enable them to open their wings and fly. That's my job. Thank you, honey. She's awesome. Sorry. Supervised here. So on my case, my early, early career, I have had amazing leaders. So I'm going to. First of all, I think my first inspiration was Mario Molina. People probably don't know about this, but he's the first and only Mexican that have ever won a Nobel Prize for chemistry. Maybe you are too young to know this, but part of the environmental movement very early started about what's happening to the ozone layer that is being deployed and has these holes in the ozone layer. So if you're older than me, you will know about this. And it was like, oh, my God, we're going to burn. Because the ozone layer is being. Having holes and then the sun is getting directly to us and we're so. He was part of the team that found the reason why the ozone layer was being, you know, having these holes. The chlorofluorocarbons CFCs. Yeah, yeah. So the chemical engineer nerd in me can tell you that. So he was again, the first Mexican that got a Nobel Prize and did that. And then was the Kyoto Protocol, which was also based in this discovery and how to ban it and completely remove it out of the world. And then he was an advisor to President Obama on climate change. So. Wow, that was like. He never knew me, but I was so inspired by that. And then very early in my career, I had amazing leaders that again allow me to open my wings. And I had two amazing female leaders. One of them, Diana Rodriguez from. She's in Colombia. So we were presenting to the president of the region, which was American, also an amazing leader, David Langmarkel. So big shout out to him for him. Like it was. I was so impressed that, you know, this president of the region. He knew everyone in the office by name. He went to say hello to everyone. He was like, super personal approach and why not? He always brought the global strategy to the people. It's amazing. But again, we were presenting the strategy for the water treatment business unit, which was like super little and almost insignificant to them. But it was my passion because it was again, something about the environment. And why not? He wanted to do strategy A and I was like completely in disagreement with what he wanted to do. We need to do strategy B, blah, blah, blah. And so my Diana allowed me to present that to him so she could have done it because she was the director and I was just a junior manager, right? And I presented. And then he said, okay, I don't agree, but I'm going to let you do it. I'm going to give you one year to do it. And if in one year we don't see results, then we're going to do it my way. And you know what? We actually doubled the business with my strategy. But again, it was these two very senior managers letting me, you know, because I was a subject matter expert, bottom line. And they allowed me to, you know, and they gave everything resource that I needed and they empowered me to go and do so. I learned so much from them. And that's what I'm trying to do also with my team now. And there were so many situations where I needed. For instance, again with Diana, we were meeting with this other senior director of another company and he was like bashing me. And. And she's like, you know what? I might be her boss on paper, but she's actually the boss of the business and she actually knows how things are done. So whatever she's Saying we're going to do so again. That level of empowerment, it's amazing. And now we come to the part of the show that we affectionately call the 11. Shamelessly pilfered from Proust, then from James Lipton, shamelessly appropriated for our show. We've had a great time with it. What is your favorite part of starting something new? The excitement behind knowing that whatever it is that you're starting in a little while, if you really put into the effort into it, you can almost see it bloom like a flower that you water and then at the end you can actually start seeing the color and not just the green of the leaves. So I think it's exciting to start. New things in spite of what people might think. I'm actually a very like I'm risk adverse. So I do a lot of risk analysis, a little scenario analysis before I start start something new. But once I make my decision and I put my chimps in, I go all the way in. So it's starting something new. It means doing my risk analysis, doing my scenarios and then when I go go in and it's amazing when things actually bring fruitful results, good or bad because I'm the kind of person that always learns from experiences and believes that everything happens for a reason. What is your least favorite part of starting something new? The uncertainty of the. Even if it works out, what kind of impact it might have, maybe negative or the uncertainty of the fact that it might not work out at all. And I think sometimes you start things with intentions that are positive and that you want to create that impact. But what if it doesn't actually turn out the way you want it exactly to be? I think that sometimes scares me. I was going to say uncertainty. So yeah, taken what interests you most? At this stage in my life, I think what I'm drawn to is people that are starting new things and how I can help them because I don't want to have to deal with being the founder of a startup. But I'm more than happy to help you do that. In my case, what interests me the most is knowing that I'm leaving something behind and that is good. What interests you least? I'm very little interest in politics and intolerance. Negativity is not my wife. I'm least interested in hurdles that people will put for no good reason. Like sure, we understand a speed bump makes is there because you need to slow down a little bit but sometimes there are speed bumps there that just have no, no purpose whatsoever. So I'm not interested in that. What Music artist, genre or song reminds you most of the beginning of your careers, your earliest days in entrepreneurship and innovation. I'm a huge Shakira fan and I've been a Shakira fan since I was 15. So I'm deeply touched by her, not only for her amazing music and her hip moves and everything she does is amazing, but also she's extremely smart. And she's also extremely involved with her helping to build a better world. And she has put her resources for the best. Like she has this amazing nonprofit foundation in Colombia helping children to get educated. She feeds them, she educates them, she puts them out. She also puts her public figure and her power of United nations and unicef. And she's amazing. And people don't know this, she's extremely smart. She has learned several languages on her own without going to school. She actually has finished several courses in UCLA and why not on philosophy and anthropology. And so, yeah, so in all my stages of my life, she has been with me since I was very young, until today. And the Unplugged record. Oh, yeah, that's fantastic. One song comes to mind, which is Voila. It's a French song. And the lyrics of that song essentially go like. It's like, here I am, Accept me the way I am. And she talks about desire to be a singer and that she just really wants to create stories and write words that will reach those that are listening to her. And I think if we're talking about something that reminds me of my journey in innovation, entrepreneurship, it's like, yeah, here I am. I. There's a lot I can learn and there's a lot I want to do. And I'm young and patient and, you know, I'm interested in a lot of things all at once. And so essentially like, take me as I am and just use me the best you could. And I really like that song. And I don't remember the singer's name. Anymore, but I ask you to the artist. I could. I'll try to find it, but yeah, I'll tell you later. Yeah, so I really like that song. What did you enjoy most about the early days of discovering your vocations? I knew I wanted to do something related to the environment. And this is the 90s, people. In Mexico City, there was not like an environmental engineering career. There was like only three schools. They were very about regulation and compliance. So I went into chemical engineering. And even though it was extremely challenging, it has helped me gain the tools to be dangerous enough to understand a lot of things and then apply them so I've always wanted, what I think was clear for me is I knew I wanted to be a breach and the journey I have chosen has allowed me to be that rich. And that's still what I'm doing today. The early days for me and a pivotal moment was Merced to market knowing that I had the skills to be able to create something and to create value to people who were much more ahead in their careers than I was. But that didn't really matter because once people are in different spaces and you could always bring value as long as you're existing in that space and you observe it differently or exist in another space and you're bringing that knowledge. And so I really enjoyed having the ability to share that. When I was a sophomore in high school, I told everybody I would be the secretary of education. But I don't know if that's still a goal, but it's still in me to teach and to educate and to bring knowledge to people. And I think I've carried that with me and I've enjoyed learning and sharing that with people. So now what I'm learning about is the innovation entrepreneurship space and maybe later on it'll be something different, but I really enjoyed that part of my journey and I'm still enjoying it now. What food or beverage reminds you most of your memories that you discussed a second ago about your vocation and discovering it? What food or beverage comes to mind? Man? Tacos, Mexican. There's applause in me. I cannot go with. I have to go with, sorry, it's not easy, it's obvious, but stereotypes. Tacos and tacos al pastor, please. Of course it's engineered so many, launched so many dreams. Many, many. I mean, I know I'm trying to move to a plant based diet for climate change purposes, but pastor is where I'm like, okay, I'm gonna do it. I think for me it's this Egyptian dessert called basboussa. It tastes like coconut, it has almonds on the top, it's very buttery. Maybe one day I'll make it and bring. I love cooking in general and actually when I was supporting some of the startups, you steamer said the one thing I did when we were practicing further pitch was like, you guys can come on over home. I'll, you know, you guys could come, we can eat together and we could talk about your experiences together and I'll host you over and make some food. And one of them actually still comes over right now and I make them food. So I enjoy cooking overall, but I think this specific one is because I, I think I perfected it. I don't know if my parents think I perfected, but I think I perfected the dessert and I've shared it with many people. I think it goes like that, right? Like innovation. Like, I'm going to add as much butter as I want because I think it's going to taste better, right, the dessert. And so, yeah, I think that that's the one that reminds me a lot of being innovative. And it tastes really good. When in doubt, add butter. Exactly what profession non entrepreneurial do you admire the most? Teachers. I was going to say the same exact thing. Teachers from all life, from kindergarten all the way to graduate school. I think that's one of the most important jobs in the world and sadly not the most appreciated and valued. When I think of Stan State, I had a lot of my high school friends come here to get their teaching credentials and I thought, oh, wow. It takes a certain type of human being to want to be a teacher, for sure. Not just dealing with different types of human beings, but teaching them, adjusting to their styles and being able to do that repetitively throughout the day. It's a task and it takes a really special type of human being to do it. If I ask you, like, what teacher made an impact in your life? Everybody has an answer to that question, positive or negative, but everyone has an answer to that question. So teachers for sure. What job prior to the entrepreneurial and innovative space did you like the most and why? Very early in my career when I was like, okay, I'm going to be an engineer, and I actually worked in a manufacturing plant and I was a project engineer and I had my hard toe shoes and my cover on, my hat and my walkie talkie and my radio were like, like, in general, like, come to like, no. But that job allowed me one, to have way older people, male, mainly male, reporting to me or working with me. And, and I've learned so much from them and they gave me so much. So it was, it was a very. I think that taught me a lot. So that was one. And I also decided that I couldn't care less about. Sorry about what was happening, you know, in Los Fierros, in the actual machinery. And I was more concerned about the humans. And the second one was when I joined DOW as my first junior account manager on water treatment. And I felt I joined the United nations because I was working with people from Brazil and Colombia and the US and Chile and Argentina. And I was traveling all around Latin America trying to bring clean Water solutions to all kind of industries, from residential to commercial to power plants. I visit Puerto Rico, I visit San Quis Nevis. I visit mines in Chile. I visit like everywhere. And it was only one of the most enriching experiences. And that I think, has shaped who I am still today. And I was like in my 20s, 27. So, yeah, and I'm 44 now. People, I would say tutoring. I tutored for a really long time. I moved here in the seventh grade. I was put in ELD class. So that's English as a second Language or something like that. I wasn't able to test out of it until eighth grade, but I had already learned English in about four months and I was able to help students around me and I really liked it. And I learned Spanish because the Central Valley is when I first moved here. And I'd be like, man, these people are so lucky. Like, nobody can speak Arabic with me while I'm at school. But all these people have their friends that are speaking Spanish with them. Like, why am I the only one? So that's probably why I learned English really quickly, because I was forced to do it almost. I. I had to. So. And then I tutored in the 9th grade through 12th, so high school. I was an avid. So I did a tutoring. Yeah, some. Some tutoring time there. And then after I graduated, actually many of the jobs that put me through college was. I was tutoring. I ta for a film school. The NBC had a film school and they were looking for Arab translators. And I don't think I did any translating, but I enjoyed learning about the film industry and just, you know, so I didn't think I would ever be able to do something like that. That's cool. Which did you dislike the most and why? I don't know if I disliked it, but I did a couple of internships in the state assembly and I did. I actually really liked my Congress internship. But I think what I've realized about working in politics is I don't want to. And maybe this will change. But as of now, I don't think I want to work in politics until I'm called on to do something. Like, I want to become. I don't want to use the word expert, but I want to become so knowledgeable in something that I'm asked to come back to do something, to share knowledge about something that would maybe impact the way regulations are made. Maybe around innovation, entrepreneurship, for example. Maybe in the education space I would come back through politics, but I don't think that I would work in it now. So I would use two things. When I was again very early in my career and I was sometimes the only female in the room and I did had like this is a true, a true story. I was in the room like it was like 20 people. I was the only female and the city manager we were presenting to he thought I was a secretary and I was a subject matter expert that I was bringing and I'm going to explain his solution and he literally look at me like when are you bringing the coffee, honey? And and then when he know who I was and I was, you know, you honey, you're gonna see right? And I stood there and I presented this is your solution. You're blah, blah, blah like and then coming like right back at you, you know. So being the other I mean it's not that I like to be being the underdog. There's nothing wrong. I love being the underdog and prove them wrong. But that macho environment wasn't, you know the best experience but good to put him in his right place. The other one. And then I would say I did had a. I was a public policy in one of my previous roles in climate change topics and one of the reasons I wanted to get out of that job is because I was tired of just writing between what the right and the left they were arguing about about climate change and nothing was happening and nothing was moving forward. So I think building 100 watt headset. I do believe that policy is super important the right policies to embrace climate change and entrepreneurship like they're really, really significant and relevant and we need them. But I'm not sure I'm the right person for that. So I'd rather be in a hands on changing kind of roles. And lastly, if heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates? He's going to send me El Purgatorio. I'm going to pray. SOUND OF CLAPPING AND LAUGHTER Part of. Me is like I've been waiting for you. I hope when he sees me he will say you did your best. You were not perfect, you were human. You were not designed to be perfect, but you definitely did your best. Immediately thereafter, what idea or innovation would you like to pitch him? Her they it for humanity. I would ask that everyone and forever has stable shelter, stable food and lives that they feel are fulfilling. And that doesn't necessarily mean that everybody's making a million bucks. But as long as they have a home, as long as they have food, a shelter. I would ask also that everybody is there with their families too. So when I was very little and one of the reasons that I'm doing what I do, I remember being in the line, you know, where you're gonna pay in the checkout of the grocery store. And I was thinking, one day when I grow old, I'm gonna have a solution where everyone, everyone can have clean water in their house. Like they can buy something just to have clean water all the time. And that doesn't necessarily mean bottled water people, but just access clean water. So if I can, if I have, if there was one solution, and there's many, to bring clean air, clean water and allow everyone to have a good life, healthy, wise and with environment, I will pitch that. And there's so many great ideas, solutions, whatever out there. Honestly, for climate change and for water issues, I don't believe the problem right now is technology. There's the technology solutions. Now it's more a political, economic formula to make them happen. So it's hard for me to choose only one solution. But again, something that will allow everyone to have a clean environment, meaning water, air and everything and have well being. Elegant solutions, elegant sentiments all. I'm going to do a commercial. Okay people, please visit beamcircular.org go into programs because we have amazing programs for you. We have an accelerator program. The date to submit Your proposal is November 17th. So if you're a founder of a new company, a new startup, please look at it. We have the RC gap. If you have an idea and you want to apply for a match, we can help you to apply to have access to someone that is a grant writer to help you write. If you have an SBIR CTR and you want to match that, we have RC match. If you're a company that wants to be part and you're already here, wants to be part of the circular bioeconomy me, please look into our TAP program. And if you're a company, a startup and once research and resources we have ibp, the innovation voucher program. So we have many things coming at you. Please look at it. So that was my request number one. My second thing is thank you Pablo, not only for hosting us here but also the great work you're doing at Away Ehad because he comes from uc Mercedes has been sharing with us the amazing things they're doing there. But you're also doing amazing things here at Stan State and putting for our Stanislavs and our community and our students and without professors with a vision and the desire to challenge the status quo, the way we're doing it, we wouldn't be having this space to make it happen. So again, thank you not only for hosting us today, but for the great work you're doing. And please invite us again. That's very kind of you. Thank you. Gloriamar Gamez, Gehad Elhenafy, thank you for visiting us at the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Studio. Thank you so much for having us. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Studio. This podcast is part of the Warrior Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program, affectionately known as the WEI. Our series is recorded on the campus of Stanislaus State at the KCSS radio station and produced by Frankie Tovar. Follow and subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform. I don't usually share very much of myself. I believe we live in an age of oversharing and that people in my role should consider just consider the beauty of being spectators to other people's greatness more often than rallying attention to themselves. But if you will indulge me this once, my heart will appreciate your kindness. For three seasons I got to be in the room as 19 wonderful life stories were shared with us at the studio. 19 epics that never failed to challenge, inspire and motivate me. Every podcast episode, with their diverse faces, places, names, adventures, hopes, dreams, victories and learning moments, all had one thing in common. They inspired me to remember the lines of what is perhaps my favorite poem. Her beauty, I would find, would visit me and weave her wisdom with mystifying aplomb into my mind, even as the words of our guests lives echoed still in my memory. It's from Tennyson's Ulysses. I am a part of all that I have met, yet all experience in an arch, whether through gleams that untravelled world whose margin fades forever and forever when I move. How dull it is to pause, to make an end, to rust unburnished, not to shine, in use, as though to breathe were life, life piled on life were all too little and of one to me little remains, but every hour is saved from that eternal silence something more a bringer of new things and vile it were for some three sons to store and hoard myself and this gray spirit, yearning and desire to follow knowledge like a sinking star beyond the utmost bound of human thought, for always roaming with a hungry heart. Much have I seen and known cities of men and manners, climates, councils, governments, myself not least but honored of them all. It may be that the gulfs will wash us down. It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles and see the great Achilles whom we knew, Though much is taken, much abides. And though we are not now that strength which in old days moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are. One equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yield. That last line has haunted me all my life in the most wonderful ways, as will the stories of all our guests, for whom I am eternally grateful. This is Dr. Pablo Paredes Romero from the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Studio podcast signing off.