606. Do This When You Feel Helpless - with Tanya Ramos

We just want our kids to grow and thrive. And that's why I'm going to dedicate my servitude to Pencils of Promise. And I am charged every day because I see myself in all of the kids that we serve daily.

Welcome to the Earn your happy podcast. I'm Lori Harder, founder of The Bliss Project, 3 Time Fitness World champion, fitness expert and cover model, turned self love junkie, lifestyle entrepreneur and author. Each week I'll bring you a guest.

Or a thought that will help you.

Bust through your fears, connect to your soul and get focused and clear so you can elevate your life, business and relationships. We don't wait until we're ready for someone to tell us we're good enough. We take what we want and we anoint ourselves, get ready to earn, own, and unapologetically rock your happiness every single day. Are you with me?

Here we go. Welcome back to the podcast. It's time for another quickie because there's always time to fit in inspiration and today I really wanted to use my quickie to do an interview of somebody who has been just such an influence in Chris and I's life, and that is Tanya Ramos. She's a leader of color who's devoted her career to improving educational opportunities and life outcomes for young people in the most low resource communities around the world. She's a tireless advocate for educational equality. She currently serves as the CEO of Pencils of Promise, which is a global nonprofit. And she successfully guided the organization to international recognition as a key player in the philanthropic world. She and the star studded list of Pencils of Promise supporters have been interviewed and featured about the cause on multiple media platforms including Forbes, CBS this Morning, Town and Country, and Fast Company. She's received her Master of Science in Urban Policy and Management from New School University and has been honored with with the Annie E. Casey Foundation Award for exemplary work in underserved communities. So I'm so excited for you to listen to this conversation because Chris and I have found a lot of meaning and purpose and excitement in working with Pencils of Promise. And there's so many ways that you can do it. No matter how you feel about your current financial situation, whether it's, you know, $5, $50 or a lot more than that, I can tell you that it's really, really, really given us a far bigger why and added so much meaning to our lives. So this is a quickie all about how you can get involved, why it's so much fun, and why it's so important so let's get started. Tanya, I'm so excited to have you on the show. Thank you so much for coming on, Lori.

Thank you for having me. You know how much I adore you and Chris, and I'm just so humbled and honored to be here with you today.

Oh, my God. Are you kidding? I'm so humbled to have you here. We have been connected through Pencils of Promise. I've gotten to spend extended periods of time with you. Thank God.

Oh, I feel so lucky.

I feel so lucky. You truly are just like a massive cheerleader, a light in the world. You have such a heart of service, and I would love for you to share a little bit about yourself. For anyone who doesn't know who you are and what you do. If you could jump into that, I would love for people to learn about who you are and how you got started in working with Pencils of Promise.

Sure. So I am a mother. I have two young kids, a 10 year old and a 6 year old. I am a wife to my husband Gil. I am a servant leader, which you alluded to a moment ago. I am a sister, I'm a cousin. I am a social justice warrior, and I am the CEO at Pencils of Promise. And what really led me to this work, I think it dates back to my early childhood. I grew up In New York, New York native, grew up in poverty. Two wonderful parents that struggled to make ends meet. 21 years old. They themselves never went to college. But they wanted more for my brother and I. So they worked multiple jobs to give us a future that they themselves didn't know. And they wanted us to dream big, despite not knowing what that dream would actually lead to. But they knew education was really the foundation for opening doors and enabling us to have something that they themselves didn't have. And I think that's what led me to the nonprofit sector. I've been a nonprofit leader for 25 years, and it has enabled me to. To help children that look like me have access to a quality education. So when I learned of Pencils of Promise, I thought it was such a great marriage of everything I have done. So for those of you who are not familiar with POP as we call ourselves, Pencils of Promise is a four purpose organization really positioned to ensure that children around the globe have access to a quality education. We operate in Laos, Guatemala and Ghana. We. We have built over 500 schools and we serve over 100,000 students. Wow.

So when you first, like, what was the first call of saying, okay, I really want to. I think I want to give back. Like, what was the first taste? Did you see another organization? Or what did that look like, that your heart like. Because I know what it is. I'm not. I mean, I know what it was for me, and I obviously don't work for one, but for me to want to get, you know, be a part of it, it was like, oh, my God, like, when you see either the impact that it's making or how people are being educated or how children are living, how people are living. When we got to go to Guatemala, it was like instant. Like, my heart was just like, oh, God. Okay, I. I'm excited. Like, I think that's something that. That's so cool about what Pop does and what you carry is excitement. It's, like, exciting people to the point of wanting to really take action. So I'd love to hear what your first moment of just either the heartstrings or the excitement or whatever. Sure.

So, I mean, I think I'll take us back a bit, because I've been in the sector for 25 years. Much of my work has been around education, primarily domestic education. And while I am not a teacher by trade, being in the education system and working for nonprofits that we're always looking to help children that were under resourced right from under resourced communities be able to thrive in academia. And life has been my passion. When I was in second grade, I was diagnosed with adhd, and my mother chose to follow the path less followed. She didn't want to put me on a Ritalin. She wanted to surround me with support despite her being under resourced financially. And I had one teacher, Ms. Correa, who invested in me, met with me every morning, Lori every afternoon to support me. And I knew in that moment, I was going to be a servant leader, that I was going to ensure that kids that look like me had the opportunities that were afforded me. And as a result of that, right out of NYU undergrad, I had my first taste of the nonprofit sector when I worked for an organization called Aspira. And then fast forward, when Pop came knocking on my door, I said, my God, how amazing would it be for me to use everything I've used thus far in domestic education onto an international platform where I could now move from saying, I want to help kids regardless of what zip code, I want to help children regardless of what circumstances they born into or what country they come from. They should have opportunities for growth, and education is the foundation for that. And like you, I remember three months into being tapped to be The CEO at Pencil the Promise. Not only the first female CEO, but the first Latina. I got to travel to Ghana and that's where I was lit up, Lori. I was lit up after that moment when I saw all of those children and we were breaking ground on a school and it brought tears to my eyes. And I remember speaking to a parent who was standing next to me who was crying as well. And we were just talking about education and how we want our kids to be faster, smarter, you know, a better version of ourselves. And I remember coming home and telling my husband, it doesn't matter. Know where you stand in the world. We just want our kids to grow and thrive. And that's why I'm gonna dedicate my servitude to Pencils of Promise. And I am charged every day because I see myself in all of the kids that we serve daily.

Oh my God.

So tell me what that does to and for the kids. And I know it's sustainable education. I really loved learning when we were there. All about just even the water and cleanliness and all of the things that are taught through as well. What I want people to really understand and to know the impact that is made and see like we actually. You see it all the time. I got to see it one, of course of how it impacts the children, the families in the communities.

So at we started off as a school build organization more than a decade ago. And like a lot of international nonprofits, we were focusing on access, right? Building schools, having safe infrastructures because for many of our kids, they were not in school, they didn't have access to that. But then we've grown. And what I like to tell folks, Lori, and you've heard me say this, we're a learning organization. So we recognize that while building schools was certainly a big part of our DNA and what would end up moving the needle for many of our kids, we also needed to ensure we were creating comprehensive programming. So you just mentioned a moment ago, like our WASH program, water access, sanitation and hygiene. Now more than ever, particularly in light of COVID 19, ensuring that our kids are washing their hands and staying healthy is key to keeping them in the classroom far more than out of the classroom. Kids can lose upwards of 180 days of school because of hygiene related illnesses. So I also like to say that POP is in the business of removing obstacles, right? You have access, you have these comprehensive programs and then you're removing obstacles. So we want to make sure our kids are safe, safe and healthy. Our digital E reading program where they're given smart tablets and they have over 100 titles at their fingertips in their native tongue in English. Why? Because we want to make sure our kids are leaving our schools literate. We know that that's a game changer if they're able to read, and it's changing entire communities. And then I know you mentioned a moment ago just about the communities as a whole. I think POP has been remarkable and ensuring that we create really authentic relationships with the communities that we serve. And as a result of that, they're invested. Invested in helping us build our schools, invested in ensuring that their kids are going there daily because there is an opportunity cost. Right. When they make this decision to send their kids to a POP school that is a child that may not be helping with the family business or helping support them economically, they've decided to make an investment in that child's education. And we want to make sure that we take them along for that journey.

Oh, my God. I would love to hear, and I know you've heard so many, and it's probably the hardest thing in the world to pick, but I would love to hear just a story that has come out of a student who's gotten to kind of break the cycle of, you know, a family who's never had education and maybe something that they're doing now or what they've said about the program.

Well, I will say that because we've only been around for 10 years, many of our kids now are probably around that middle school age. And so we've been. We have a lot. Longitudinal study that we're able to track them. But I think some of the immediate stories that come to mind, we have, we recently embarked on a new program, our menstrual hygiene program. And again, thinking about that theme, removing obstacles. Imagine, Lori, if you were missing upwards to seven days of school every month because of menstruation.

Yes.

That just should not be the case. Yeah, yeah.

Sorry to cut you off. I'm so passionate about this because this is mostly female listeners on this podcast. So, you know, this was really eye opening for me. So definitely we'll dig into this. Let's do it.

Absolutely. So with our menstrual hygiene program, not only are we ensuring that we're educating our girls, right, we're removing the taboo associated with menstruation. But guess what, Lori? We're also teaching their peers that happen to be males, and they're embracing the knowledge, and then they're bringing that back home and we're able to teach their families. And then ultimately we're not helping them create sanitary napkins, reusable sanitary napkins, because that is another obstacle right around being able to manage menstrual hygiene is being able to have access to the very same tools that you and I don't think twice about when we go to CVS or Walgreens. And so that, similar to what you did a moment ago, it lights me up to know that we're able to provide them so much support around their education and be able to remove those obstacles that would keep them out of the classroom.

Oh my God. I mean, you hear about it like, oh yeah, that can actually stop a girl from getting educated and going to school. And when you actually hear it and see it and understand how that's happening, it's just like it's these things that seem like this should not be happening. We have such access to be able to help and it doesn't take much to be able to help in such a big way. I can't believe I'm saying this, but the holiday season is right around the corner and we know this year people are going to be buying more stuff online than ever before. So if you're an E commerce seller and you want to make sure that you meet the demands of your record breaking online shopping season, you want to be ready with Ship Station. So when you're selling online, getting a massive amount of orders out quickly can be tough. So how do you keep track of who gets what? Which shipping carrier should you use? Are you getting the best rates? I know I'm always asking that question, especially since I've been sending out so many samples with my new company. That's why my choice is shipstation.com it's the fastest, easiest and most affordable way to manage and ship your orders in just a few clicks. You're managing orders, printing out discounted shipping labels and getting your products out fast. So the result is happier holidays for you and your customers. Shipstation takes the hassle out of holiday shopping. Shipstation helps online sellers get orders out quickly. It saves money on shipping costs and it keeps your customers happy, which we know is absolutely the most important thing. It works with all major carriers, including USPS, FedEx, UPS and even International. You can compare and choose the best shipping solution every single time. They even offer big discounts on shipping costs. So now businesses of any size can access the same postage discounts that are usually reserved for large Fortune 500 companies. Knowing that you're always going to get the best deal. And I am all about the deal, especially in business that's why Shipstation is the number one choice for online sellers and for me. So right now, earn your happy listeners can try shipstation free for 60 days. When you use the offer code happy. That's all capsule, H A P P Y. Make sure your business is ready to meet the demands of a massive online shopping season. Get started@shipstation.com today. Make sure you click on the microphone at the top of the homepage and type in happy H A P P Y. That's shipstation.com then enter offer code happy shipstation.com make ship happen. Tanya, what are ways that people can get involved? Because I know right now there are people who are just like, oh my God, like stop what I'm doing. I want to know, like what's a quick level of how I can get involved and then what's a more in depth way of getting involved?

Well, I would say that Pencils of Promise is very innovative in the ways that we're able to engage supporters. I mean, I could go on and on about many of the things that both you and Chris have done for Pop and have been able to stay engaged. And for those listening, I would encourage you to go onto our website, pencilsofpromise.org there are just a multitude of ways to get involved. We have young people donating their birthday and raising funds relative to their birthday. We've had recently we had a couple who decided to forego an engagement ring and instead the fiance dedicated a school in his fiance's honor. Wow. I mean just, I mean, think about that. Just so many powerful ways to support our kids abroad and ultimately to make you feel good. Right? We have marathoners, there are various campaigns one can do. You can also join our Passport program which enables you to put your philanthropy on kind of autopilot. So for a certain amount a month, you will be able to donate and then you get information on the community that you're serving and touching and the kids that you're helping out. And then we have our biggest event of the year, our gay that's coming up on October 22nd. And I certainly encourage everyone listening to tune in. Right now we are offering an opportunity to join on this virtual livestream, our first ever virtual gala. And Lori, you've been to many of our galas. We've enjoyed being able to celebrate in person. So to be able to make this pivot and have our supporters pivot along with us has been remarkable. And we have a price point, $50 to tune in virtually. And just to put that in perspective, Lori, pop it costs pop $75 to educate a child for a full year.

Wow.

So we've established a price point of $50 to come support our work and to celebrate our accomplishments, what's yet to come. And we always find just really fun ways to bring and raise awareness for our work.

It's been such an honor to be a part of it and all of the people who are involved as well. And it's always been something that has not only elevated just my life, but my thought process around my why. So I've got a lot of different whys in my life of the different things that I do. But it's been really, really cool to add another one, because, I mean, if you want to even inspire yourself to take big action, definitely go and check it out. Because some things that Chris and I have done that have been really fun is just attaching this to maybe a program that we're doing, maybe an event that we're doing, like you were talking about, maybe Don as instead of gifts, it's, you know, for your birthday, it's something like this. And we've gotten so much joy out of that. When you actually let it sink in, how easy it is to make impact over here and how easy it is to set an example, to attach things like this to what you're already doing. And I can tell you that it actually gets people a lot more excited and it reminds them of the why it's so, so powerful.

It's living a life of purpose. Right. I think, you know this, Lori, and everyone listening, everyone wants to live a life of purpose. And I think there's so much value and joy when you leave the world better than you found it. And if that means supporting a cause, that really resonates with you. And for me, it's been pencils of promise, because education, for me, is the foundation of everything. It reduces poverty, it reduces war. I mean, I can't begin to tell you how much I've learned during COVID 19. That has just reinforced for me, living my life with purpose and embracing those that I care about and being able to be an agent of change. And so I encourage everyone listening, be an agent of change. Come support Pop. We're doing amazing work, and we're only able to do this work because of all of you. And Lori, clearly, I want to give you a shout out because you and Chris have been remarkable ambassadors and supporters of our work, and we're so humbled and grateful.

Oh, my God. Seriously? No, anyway, thank you so much. It's been a bonus in our lives, like I said. And there's a fricking beautiful quote that I love. When you're feeling helpless, help someone. And I can't think of a better time than right now that a lot of people maybe don't know what they're gonna pivot into yet. They don't know how to help or sometimes how to even help ourselves. We don't know what step to take next. And every time that I felt really helpless, or times in our life when Chris and I have lost everything or it's been really dark, some of the things we've done to get out of that is to help someone. Because you're not gonna find creative ideas in the place where you're feeling desperate. It's gonna come when you are helping someone else with their life. And it's funny. Cause we can't always find the answers to how to help ourself, but it's very easy to find the answers of how to help someone else. So I can tell you, nothing but good will come to you. Obviously, it's great to give without expectation, but I can say every time I've given, beautif things have happened in my life. Even if it's just these incredible relationships like having you and all of the incredible people at POP come into our life. So I love, love, love this. I think it's something that people should really be thinking about right now. I think it's going to give you so much purpose and drive and get you really excited and open up new things in your life that you didn't even know were possible. So, Tanya, I'd love to know for you what is a question that you wish more people asked you.

Why pop? Right? There's so many missions, there's so many organizations. Why pop And I will tell you, the reason why I would pick POP is because we have a sustainable model and we are data driven. Right? And I assure you I've worked for a number of nonprofits throughout my career. I've been 25 years in the nonprofit sector. And I think even the great nonprofits that I know with the best intentions, I have not seen. And I know I'm biased as CEO, so I want to own that. I'm going to own it. I'm biased. But I will tell you that we operate from a place of data, right? We want to make sure we're making an impact. And so there is no one that supports our work where we're not transparent about what we're achieving, where we need to pivot. And if things are going great. We're able to show that data and if things are challenging, we're able to make the necessary adjustments. And because our model is sustainable, I'm so proud that here we are more than a decade later and all of our 500 plus schools Lori, are still fully operational.

That's crazy. I mean, yeah, people, I don't think people get that. That's actually not a normal thing. So that's really, really, really. That is amazing.

What? I'm sorry, go ahead. In the countries we operate in. Oh yes, I'll give an example. I had a conversation recently with a supporter of ours and yes, our schools closed very much like they did in the US but he was so amazed that we were still working and that' hire from within the countries we operate in. And so the work didn't stop. Right. Our folks in Ghana live in Ghana and they were able to continue pushing the needle and where there were opportunities to help our communities. Even though our schools were closed, we did just that. We provided supplies that would have normally been at the schools and we brought it into the community. We push literacy content to our students, visa vis their parents, cell phones. So I like to also say that POP is an organization that is with our communities through the good and the bad. We're here always.

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What keeps you up at night if anything?

I mean I think the challenges that keep many of us up at night. There is so much uncertainty in this year. 2020 has been a perfect storm in a multitude of ways and so the only thing that I think keeps me up at night is ensuring that we continue to be able to support this impactful work because it's life changing work. And I feel so fortunate, as does our team, that despite the uncertainty we have folks like you and others that continue to prioritize ensuring that our work is possible.

So, so grateful. I know that nonprofits have really been affected during this time. That's why I think it's such an important message to get this out that we can, you know, we can still do things in a different way. Reimagining how things can be done, adding it to some of your programs, getting it out on your podcast, if you guys are listening and you have one sharing it on your pages. Because it, the, the need did not stop. The need for education did not stop, especially right now. So I'm so, so grateful for you. Let us know again where people can get information on Pop and go to the gala.

You guys go to the gal. It's only $50.

October 22, come to the gala. Lori's gonna be, gonna be there. It's gonna be there. Gary Vaynerchuk is going to be there. Bo St. John, there's going to be a lot of us there. A lot of my children are going to be there. My 10 and 6 year old will be there. So let's make this a family affair. Pop family. So October 22nd, tune in at 7 o'. Clock. Go to our website, pencilthofpromise.org and I am offering, if anyone has any questions, my information on the website. Feel free to send me an email. I am happy to address any questions. We just want you there supporting this life changing work.

Yes, you guys, kids, it's such a great way to educate on that, to get involvement in your family, get them excited about something, you know, get this out into your community. So many cool ways to get people excited about things. And I'm telling you, it's a gift. Like it's a true gift to find something else right now that you feel really, really passionate about. That helps with the drive of just creating and giving back. So Tanya, I'm like just so blessed to know you. I'm so grateful, grateful that you came on the show today and I, I just, it's not the same. I need like a big fat hug in person. But that's, that's gonna come very soon. So you guys, as always, I think the best thing that we could ever do for a guest is to share what your biggest takeaway was, what your biggest aha was or what you're gonna be doing if you're gonna be joining us at the gala. So Tanya, should they tag Pop and you, do you wanna give your Instagram.

Handle Pencils of promise on Instagram? Please feel free to follow us. You'll have a lot of updates there. You'll be able to see some of our inspirational stories and various updates leading up to gala. We have a lot of things up our sleeves to make it really exciting and we'll be sharing it little by little, be trickling on in our insta amazing.

Well, I'm so grateful and you guys, until next time, earn your happy. Bye everyone.

Bye.

Thank you guys so much for spending this time with me on the Earn your happy podcast. I am so glad that you stopped by. If you could take one second to share this episode with someone you think would love it, that would be absolutely amazing and we would be forever grateful. Also, please leave us a review if you feel so moved by going to itunes and leaving us an honest thought, an honest comment, Tell us what you think, tell us what you want to hear more of. It would really help us out on our journey to helping thousands and thousands of people. Until then, don't forget to earn your happy. Thanks again guys.

Bye Bye.