Nonprofits are faced with more challenges to accomplish their missions, and the growing pressure to do more, raise more and be more for the causes that improve our world.
We're here to learn with you from some of the best in the industry, bringing the most innovative ideas, inspirational stories all to create an Impact Uprising.
So welcome to the good community. We're nonprofit professionals, philanthropists, world changers and rabbit fans who are striving to bring a little more goodness into the world.
So let's get started. Hey B, what a day! Are you so pumped?
Yeah, someone who shares my name is on this podcast, but I want to also say that this is the Rebecca you've been waiting for. I'm just gonna say that.
I mean, there's certain people that just come into our world and we just never want them to leave, and that is today's guest. Like, there's a lot of things that we could talk about with Rebecca, but we're gonna dive into innovation today because she's in a really interesting role with a mission that we've introduced you to on the podcast. You've probably gotten to know The Teaching Well through just the way that we partner with them. At We Are For Good, but behind the scenes at The Teaching Well is an amazing collective of people, and I can assure you, every human that you meet behind this mission has an incredible story, has incredible expertise. And so we just wanted to tap into the minds of one of these brilliant minds today, and that's Rebecca Bernard. She's the Director of Innovation over at The Teaching Well, so we're gonna we're gonna tap her all about building sustaining communities. We're gonna talk about kind of the innovative way that they look and move through this world. And yeah, we've gotten to be witness on the front row with this, and we're completely obsessed with so much of the way that they work. But let me tell you a little bit about Rebecca. She is a multi talented, y'all seriously multi talented facilitator, storyteller, community builder and strategist that loves to inspire and innovate. She helps from a long line of educators from both sides of her ancestry in the two countries she calls home, two of them that we love around here us and Costa Rica. And Rebecca, is not only a lifelong learner, she's an experienced teacher. She's a proud founder of two bilingual schools in LA as well as an education entrepreneur that has successfully launched youth learning and educator professional development programs around the globe. This is like a bring your family to Costa Rica and have an immersive experience, full body experience, and build community along the way. So over at The Teaching Well, she's the Director of Innovation, where she gets to use her creative genius to invent new ways to proliferate and deepen the work that The Teaching Well team does all around the world. She has this goal of supporting even more educators. So she's masterful at cultivating community and finds joy in crafting life changing, immersive experiences. Thank you for that, my friend. And as a mama of two active teenagers, you can usually find her on the go in Southern California, from basketball games to violin concerts. But you know, those passports stay in heavy rotation as well. Rebecca Bernard get into this house. It has been too long.
Hi. I'm so happy to be with you guys this morning. I'm happy to be with you every time we come into community. First of all, but especially today, we get to dig in.
Well, thanks for saying yes, because honestly, we could talk about anything with you, but I'm excited about today's topic. But honestly, more than anything, I'm excited to hear your story. My friend, would you take us back? You know, before we dive into innovation and community and all those things, what did Rebe look like growing up? What was life for you and what were some formative experiences in your journey?
Oh, Jon, I don't know if this podcast is long enough. No, I I have had quite the eclectic raising I was. I grew up here in LA, which is a beautiful thing, because it is one of the most diverse cities in our great nation, and have had just people from all walks of life around me since I was very, very young. I also was born in Costa Rica, so I have the privilege of being a dual citizen, having two passports, I didn't realize actually what a like a gift that was, until the pandemic, when I repatriated myself back to Costa Rica with my children for two years to ride the pandemic out at the beach. So yeah, my like, like I said, a product of educators. Grew up with a Imam, teacher that really just gave us so many opportunities to discover who we are, express that went to UCLA as an undergrad and studied World Arts and Cultures. What does that mean? Pretty much I studied everything and anything I wanted to under the sun, including the history of jazz and literally underwater basket weaving. It was called the Amazonian textiles
I have punned that many times and you actually did it.
I actually took that class at UCLA guys. It's called Amazonian textiles. And I would we use my like Amazonian, like root juted rug in the back of my history of jazz class. Um. Yeah, but yeah, to spend, spend about 15 years of my career in globalization services helping large multinational companies tailor their messages and their products for the global marketplace. That was like my job coming out of college, and it was really cool, because, you know what I wasn't going to be was a teacher. That's what I was not going to be. I was going to be in corporate and I was going to get rich, okay? And I, I did that in my 20s, traveled all around the world. It was super fun. And then I realized, like, this is empty and hollow and meaningless, and what's happening here? And I, I came, came to terms with the fact that I am an educator. I'm a teacher. I've always been a teacher since 13, and I've always taught on the periphery of education, not necessarily the eight to three classroom, but swimming, music and movement. I've designed summer programming. I've done everything that didn't actually revolve around the schoolhouse. And about 10 years ago, I like came to terms with the fact that I was spending most of my time educating C level executives on the fact that the rest of the world existed, there were certain things that you had to do to connect, engage and sell your products to folks around the world. And most of my clients were in the tech and the comm space. So hence I'm bridging towards my director of innovation. But like you said in my bio, I went on to start to bilingual schools. I am product of a bilingual household. I wanted my children to be bilingual. So all of this coincided with my mothering. By the way, you know, you have a kid and like, the whole world ruptures, and then you're like, wait a minute. What is life and what am I doing? What is my purpose? So started these two schools, and that's what started my journey about 15 years ago back into education, and got a master's in education, and really landed in this role at The Teaching Well as the Director of Innovation. Because we're all educators. We all came out of, you know, the schoolhouse in some way, and it just was a perfect sync to kind of my corporate tech comms background in the past, and just I thought, wow, what a great opportunity to go ahead and invite kind of that expertise into an industry or a sector that oftentimes lacks innovation and lacks the use of technology to support what we're doing in a lot of ways.
Okay, I am removing from Dos Equis the phrase the most interesting man in the world, because you, my friend, are the most interesting human in the world, and I just am sitting in the awe and the gratitude that you came back to this space, and that we get to receive your love and light and your curiosity and this ingenuity and healing in such a profound way. And I also I just see so much of my story, at least the early roots in you, because I also grew up around educators. My mom is a was a music teacher, and so just having that creativity and that curiosity and that expression, it just does something to ground you differently. And I just adore you, Rebe, and you have really helped produce a lot alongside Julie, Gather at the Well series, and I'm just really excited to dive into innovation today. So let's I want to kind of shift us in that lane, because you mentioned to us in the past that the duality that really is in non profit work and that needing to be incredibly creative while staying within this kind of perceived safety of security. So let's start there, break this down for us and tell us more about how you navigate this tension in your role at The Teaching Well.
Yeah, I mean, when you're in a sector that is funded by folks sense of social good, you walk a bit of a tenuous line, right, whether you're the the hot thing to support or invest in of the moment, or whether you are like a tried and true social change agent within Your Community. But yeah, especially in a moment like this, you know, especially in this moment in our sector, there's a lot of questions. There's a lot of uncertainty that exists around how to weather storms, how to create longevity in orgs. And what I've seen a lot is, you know, a lot of orgs want to innovate behind the orgs are these, like, really, deeply passionate, good hearted people that just are willing to do whatever it takes to make a thing happen, right, to, like, move that mission forward. And oftentimes there aren't a ton of resources to support that. There's they're creating from nothing. Yeah. Oftentimes. Sometimes there's also that, like, you get that big funder and you're like, great, now we're going to do what that funder wants us to do. And sometimes it's, it's just really like thinking beyond the short term, and how do we create that long term security? But what I see a lot is organizations being afraid to innovate, organizations really playing it safe for to meet those needs, right, to meet that longevity. Need to meet the need of staying in alignment with the people that fund them, or who people think they are. And I just, I feel like there's so much space, there's so much space to innovate, there's so much space to think creatively. There's some, so many opportunities for us to partner with each other, maybe not reinvent wheels, but kind of bring our superpowers together. Captain Planet style, to like, amplify, right? Like you, do you, I do me, and I feel like, I feel like the Gather at the Well pockets has been that it's like, Y'all brought your expertise, we brought our creativity and some of the things we wanted to share, and we made a magic thing. So, yeah, that's, that's kind of my,
You know, the undercurrent, because if you flip the little iceberg over of that decision to do a podcast, it was just thinking differently, saying, hey, we have this mission. We're teaching these in spaces that a lot of people could benefit from. But, you know, we're limited in scope, so the vision to say, hey, let's put it in a platform that's shareable, that's spreadable, that's evergreen at the same time, like that's innovative thinking in real life. So I love that we have this real life example in front of us. You know that y'all are living it out. Rebe, you shared that your fear of failure has become small, which I love to hear. I mean, what experiences have really shifted your mindset about failure, and how does that impact the way that you innovate now?
Oh, gosh, I'll name it back from my corporate days, right? I mean, I was always a very curious child. I think by nature, I like, like to test, I like to try. But, you know, the need, the need for acceptance, the need for to get it right, the need to be perfect, the need to succeed myself is strong, is strong in one right? And like, there's nothing like direct sales in your early 20s to break you down.
Oh my gosh.
But I had a, I had, like, a dope boss that just kept you know, he said, Look, God, rest his soul. But he would say it takes seven nos to get a yes. And I didn't embody it at the time, right? But it was like, I just like replay the tape. Seven nos to get a yes, seven nos to get a yes. Just keep trying. Just keep doing it. Just keep asking. And I can say that I am, I am 100% deeply embodied in this at this point, there is nothing like trying and failing to minimize your fear of that failure. And I feel like my entrepreneurial journey has been the thing that has I don't want to say that it's created a callus, but it like really has just it's eliminated the burn of getting it wrong. I know that every single time I get it wrong, I'm one step closer to getting it right. And when you think about all of the great minds of the world and how many times they had to fail right, we've read the story time and time again. Like I said, this is not easy stuff. I know that it feels like a burden every time we fail or we lose, but the more you do it, and the more comfortable you get with that and things that fail, like I said, they teach you something. They redirect your path, they allow you to pivot, they allow you to reflect. And you know, idea, thinking was a big part of that. And like my first masters, you know, oh, goly, how many years ago? Oh, 14. Um, you know, I like some of these kind of frameworks that I think we use a lot in nonprofit, profit life, like when you practice them, when you do them over and over and over again. It's kind of like your capacity to think bigger just grows, and that fear of failure just shrinks.
I think that's smart. Thank you for talking about that, because I do think that, whether we like it or not, the sector has been set up and to sort of exist in this scarcity bubble, and the fact that we need to, I don't want to say rage against it, but rewire our brains to move toward that abundance, to that design thinking, that human design thinking that you're in and centering human work and the humanity at the center of it is so important. And even while you were talking, I was going back to my days of getting those no's. And if you're a type A achiever, if you're a human being, let's talk about this. If you're just a human being, to experience failure is a thing, and I do think. Finding ways to get out of the stuckness shows growth, shows our ability to be resilient, shows our ability to innovate and think about it differently. And so I wonder what kind of advice you would give to listeners, whether they're nonprofit professionals, or whether there's just human beings out there trying to do good, but they feel so stuck in that security lane of what is safe, what is known, because they do want to get into this more innovative thinking. They do want to drive this meaningful change, like, what advice would you give to them Rebe?
Yeah, I mean, I don't want to minimize the risk, the feeling, the bigness of the feeling of risk, right when we're talking about these things. So I would say, start small. Pick a lane that doesn't feel so high risk. Pick a budget that feels like it's within your scope. And just start tinkering, start playing in things that might get you outside of the security lane. Like I said, by nature, I'm not a bot in the box person. So I realized that, you know, so you know, grain of salt with this advice here. But I would say, you know, a lot of times too there's, like, big thinking, but there's not a lot of action right? Like the security lane keeps us from moving forward, so anything that you can do to push past that block towards action is a good thing. And maybe to begin with. It's in a lane that feels a little bit out of your scope, but not so high risk, that's okay start there. Push the boundaries further and further out and make that security Lane broader. Because I'm with you, Becky, I don't live in a scarcity world. Somebody out there got a lot of money, right? Somebody out there is believe like, right is willing to throw down on what we believe is worth investing in and and what I've found is also, like, pushing those security lanes open actually opens the flood gates too, because people, people can sense that, oh, she's kind of, she's kind of balls to the wall, like playing, she's she's not going to play it small. She's going to try. She's going to push it. She's going to try to move forward. Yeah, so I think there's a way to do that responsibly. You know, I'm a single mother of two. I'm not a single mom. I have a co-parent. He's a really good dad, but, like my my world, I'm responsible for it. So I don't, you know there's, there's a certain because I have to feed two humans, there's a certain amount of restraint and restriction that I have to put on, on my guard rails for life. But every day, I'm just, I'm just stretching just a little bit more into comfort, and that would be the advice I give.
I mean, what sage advice. I just I love that we've gotten, gotten to see y'all live this out. You know, I always tell this when I get to hang out with The Teaching Well, the way that y'all model taking care of each other on the team, you're actually doing this. You're not just talking about this, you're not just talking about innovating. You're actually doing it. But you'll also do community building really well. And I think your story, you've been doing this for a long time, my friend, I mean, we talk about community, we think that's the superpower. We're dedicating ImpactUp to it. You know, in just a few weeks, that it's like a,
So excited.
Yeah, it's a force multiplier, we really believe, for our for our missions, whatever we're trying to perpetuate in the world. And so would love to hear what you think are the key ingredients for building a strong, resilient, lasting community that could be in your nonprofit or educational context, whatever comes to mind.
Yeah. I mean, there's nothing more beautiful than when a group of people find alignment and synergy on something that they really deeply care about. And I'll use kind of like the charter school that we started in my community as an example. Like at the time, all 11 schools around us by LAUSD's own standards were failing, and we reached out to principals as parents. I had a kid that was just about to start kindergarten, right? So I was, like, deeply invested, first child, first kindergarten. I was like, we will have a good school. I am, right. Like, I'm an educator. We don't play games with this. And unfortunately, the principals at the time were not willing to, like, work with us as a community of parents. So 150 families in my neighborhood, got together within three months, wrote a charter, found a site, did a whole thing, like, people were liquidating their 401ks, like I was like, slinging cupcakes at the tailgate at USC, trying to, like, raise money for this school. And we started it. And it's in its 12th year now, and it was probably one of the strongest experiences of community that I've had. It's like, how does 150 people come together and decide that this is a thing, and we made it happen in 90 days? Like, that's wild.
That is wild.
Right? Like, what can happen when people are united? And I think that the I mean, granted, the strongest tie towards anything is like you and your child, right? I will do whatever. I will flip a car for my kid. When I think about like, strong and lasting community, there's and we talked about it in Gather at the Well, right? It's values alignment. It's the thing that even brought me to The Teaching Well in the first place, is like you and I believe that the same things are important, or that there's a particular mission that we want to reach together. But I also, I also think that the humans behind some of these initiatives are the glue, right? You have to have this kind of like you have to have an orientation towards the collective that's not self serving, it's it's serving the greater good. It's serving the greater collective. And so the ones that I've seen have done, you know, have have lasted, outlasted one person's individual motivations for something are the ones that are able to really connect those ties and also integrate folks in that mission, because folks want to be helpful, folks want to actually do towards what they really feel is important. And when you rob folks of the opportunity to do that, they become disinterested, they become disengaged. But what I've seen, you know, when the committees were all formed, and everybody with their secret special sauce was on a committee like we were able to accomplish something in 90 days. And that's magic. That's how we collectively make magic, right?
Well, and you set the tone. I want to, I really want to give you some credit here, because when you give agency to community, and we and I think that's the beauty of community, whether it's this community, wherever your community shows up, when you can sort of let go, let go and let yourself be a part of the collective rather than the self interest, something really beautiful happens, because all of us pouring into the big thing together is gonna make the big thing turn that much faster. And I think that, to me, is the great magic of it. It may feel like you're giving up a little bit of your vulnerability or your control, but what it gives back to you is the ability that we're co-building something more beautiful together. And I think The Teaching Well has just done this empowerment, and I can see the way that you're unpacking the story, the way that every person on that committee feels empowered. They feel, they do feel control, but it's a collective control, and that's what we I feel like we learned about Jon in July with collective power at ImpactUp. It's like power is best when it's shared, and then we can celebrate together. And I think when I when I think about people who are listening right now, and they may be at the very beginning of their community building journey. Where do you think they should start? Rebe, like, what would be some of those first steps that you'd recommend to create something really meaningful and enduring,
Whooo, you just transported me back to like a conference in my late 20s where somebody said, and I bless, I can't remember the man's name, but like, your unique way, where your unique gifts in the world intersect with a need, like, that's where purpose aligns. So I think having that strong Why is really important, like, if you want to create something meaningful and enduring, like, what is bigger than you, what is a need that exists outside of you? And how does that intersect with what you think is important? Or, what are some of the things that you and only you, the unique divine equation that is you can actually do in response to that thing. When that's clear, you're kind of unstoppable, right? Like having that strong why I feel is the first step, the second step is find your people, because you're not going to accomplish transformational change alone, like it just doesn't, that's not how it works. So find your people, and then I think, Becky, what you said around giving agency, it's like for me, one of the, one of the the gifts that I have is galvanizing that community. They used to joke and be like, don't, oh, shoot, here comes Rebecca. Don't look her in her eyes. She's gonna trick you. She's gonna trick you into doing something you don't want to do. On my disc, I'm an influencer, y'all so, like, I find that there are people that are like social media influencers, that just post their life, and then there's the real influencers. You know them, right? You have them in your life. That person that'll be like, Jon Becky, you have to do a thing, and you're like, oh God, we have to do a thing.
Oh yeah. And we're bad at saying no. So there's that that goes along with it.
But yeah, I'd say that, like, for the longevity, something that's meaningful and enduring. Having folks feel their agency in that mission, galvanizing folks in a way, cultivating like a flow and a rhythm and a movement towards the mission, is really important. And I don't think everybody has that gift. Honestly. I think you can learn it, but I think you also need to have the right equation of people around you. And I think some of the more most powerful movements that I've been a part of, it's because we all had our special secret sauce, and there was, like a shared understanding that we were going to bring that, bring, bring ourselves to the to the court, and also we were going to let folks be in their lane, you know, and in their their brilliance and in their genius. And when I see things fall apart, usually it's there's a rupture there, right? Like either somebody thinks like your job is more fun than mine, or or somebody leaves the equation, and you realize you you're missing an essential element to keep moving forward. So yeah, I say, be true to self, find your your tribe, and then really put the effort in to cultivate that movement forward together and to be in action.
I can't help but just think of the word movement is so strong, and how you describe that. Because if there's alignment, and people are, we're literally a living, breathing thing, it just flows like the alignment allows it to flow and do its thing, and that's not possible without community that's kind of aligned on the bigger things. You know, it just feels more disjointed in that way. So
Love that. Jon.
I'm living for these metaphors over here, and just the way that you've broken this down. You know, friend, we talk about philanthropy and a lot of different contexts on this podcast. At the core, it's just the love of humankind, that love radiates from you in the way that you care for everyone in your world and beyond. I wonder if you'd take us into a story of philanthropy that's moved you. It could be a moment of generosity you witnessed, or moment of kindness that stuck with you. You take us back.
Oh man, I am thinking back to one of my favorite camps that I ever designed with elementary school kids. It was called Give Thanks Camp, and the kids themselves spent every day doing some moment of good or philanthropic thing for different communities. So, you know, it looked like us, like potting plants and taking them to the senior citizen home down the street. We went and we fed the homeless on skid row like that, that, in and of itself, was transformative for a lot of those kids. You know, they'd never seen homelessness, they'd never seen people without limbs. They'd never seen they didn't understand not having food. So just watching 6-7-8-9, year olds process what it means to care for your community, what it means to be generous, what it means to be philanthropic, I'd say that, like, that's freaking moving.
Yeah, it is.
You know, like one of my in my early days, I had a blog called the cultured scene, and it was all about raising global citizens. And it was like, how do we raise better kids? How do we raise a generation of humans that are going to put humanity first, that are going to respect each other and differences, that are going to celebrate and appreciate folks that may be different from them. And so that's what kind of started as a writing thing, and then turned into my preschool. And then, you know, basically has evolved into Family Go Global, this experience where I'm taking families into countries, and there's nothing more gratifying than watching that moment with a young person, because they get so much they're so much smarter than us guys. You don't have to explain it, you know, they just don't understand. You know, it's my daughter walking through Paris who has only seen Paris through the scope of like TV, and her walking through the 19th and seeing a Syrian mother and her daughter are sitting on the corner and being like, we're not gonna pass them. You need to go get them food. What's happening here? So, yeah, I'd say the kids man. It's not a foundation. It's not somebody dumping pockets. It's like, for me, it's when the kids get it, and I see how they take their agency in hand, right? As folks who are not, not adults, they don't have any money, and they're they'll invent some solution to a problem that they think is out of line, and they'll call us on it. And for me, that that that's like world shattering for me. I'm like, yes, there's you're saying we've got a chance, guys.
I am 100% with you. Jon knows I'm gonna jump out of my skin talking about this, but I need to take us back 15 minutes ago when we talked about how difficult it is for us to let go, for us to get out of our heads, to be fearful, to try new things. It's like this is where we look at the kids, because they do it instinctually. They want to connect collectively. They want to help. They want to serve. They don't want there to be any injustice in this world. They don't want anybody to be hungry. And that curiosity is, to me, the roots and the foundational learning of community building. Because if we can get curious in our humanity, if we can take that action, that step, to go hand somebody, you know, a pot, a potted plant, or, you know, a meal, something in that reciprocity, exchange of humanity grows us and connects us. But we got to put a bow on this Rebecca, and we know you're going to do this so beautifully, but we're going to wrap it up with a one good thing, bring us home with the Rebe wisdom, and tell us what is your one good thing that you want to leave with this audience today.
Trust in your ability to believe in something bigger than yourself, and allow for that to guide your capacity to see beyond what's inside the box. This is an infinite universe. We have so so much potential, and you have all the answers.
Wow. I mean, you brought us back.
Don't start Becky. Stop it, Becky.
I needed to hear that today. I hope a lot of people out there needed to hear that today.
I don't know if we were recording when we were talking about the universe at the top of this. I think we were talking about right before we started. But I mean, get outside and look up at night in a quick reminder of just yeah,
Grab somebody's hand.
Infiniteness, yeah, it's a thing.
I think, that humility, that there's so much possibility that we cannot see. I mean, Jon, you literally talked about an iceberg, and it's like, what we can see is just above the surface right now. But I also want to say that what you can excavate within yourself is going to be the great lift and the Great Awakening for what's to come. And so know that you have something within you that is to your point, bigger than what you can see right now. And world is hard. But y'all the world is so hopeful. You talk about these kids, and we talk about how we see humanity, we need to lift that up. We need to lift it out. We need to pour into the gratitude of that because that is the foundation from which we launch.
And you know, what's even more inspiring Becky is imagine what we can do together when we all flip the iceberg over. Imagine how that multiplies things infinite times infinity. That's multiplication, right there.
Yeah, it is that formula. Okay, bring out the children's choir. I feel like we need.
Bring out the waterproof mascara. Whoops, should have done that today.
Rebe, you're always the most interesting person.
Truly.
My friend, thank you for coming in, sharing your story. How can folks listening connect with you? I mean, you got a lot of multi half hyphenate things happening in life. What's the best way to connect with you and the beautiful trips that you take and all those things?
Well, we're on a mission to transform what culture looks like in education. If you want to rock with us on that level, you can find me over at theteachingwell.org, brand new website and branding that I spearheaded alongside
Celebrate that.
This fun, yeah, or you can listen to Lindsay's thoughts, which, you know so many shared values there of mine on the podcast, Gather at the Well, and if you really want to have a mind blowing adventure with your own family. Hit me up at FamilyGo.global.
FamilyGo.global. Oh my gosh, my friend. Sign us up.
Yeah, I'm putting it on my bucket list. I have Costa Rica dreaming. That's like California Dreaming, but it's Costa Rica dreaming. That's the song I'm singing in my head and talking about gratitude. I just am so grateful to know you. I'm so grateful that you are in this work. Thank you for coming in to heal, to teach, to enlighten and make us laugh and just remind us about the good of the humanity that is within us waiting to be unlocked. I think you're a living example of that.
Thanks y'all every time I listen to this podcast, I am changed, I'm changed by the way that you view the world, changed by the beautiful voices, thoughts, minds that come on and share their own wisdom with us. And so darn good thing you got going on here. Thank you.
Thanks for being part of the collective love you dearly. You.
