Connect All Spotlight with Jasmine Sadler

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And welcome back to the Tacos and Tech Podcast. I'm your host, Neal Blohm, and I am thrilled to have with me CEO and visionary of the Steam Collaborative, Jasmine Sadler. Jasmine, thanks for being on.

Hi. Thanks for having me.

It's so fun to have another aerospace engineer on the podcast. I love it. Why don't you give us a quick little intro what the Steam Collaborative is?

Okay. The Steam Collaborative, I started as a math tutoring company back in 2016. Sorry, 2014. Started as a math tutoring company, but then evolved from there and so just grew into doing workshops and programs in the schools. And when I got my MBA at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, while I was still working full time as an Engineer, and in 2016 is when I held the Steam Leader Summit where I brought together over 20 youth organizations that are focused on STEAM education. So brought all of them together to find out some best practices and ways for them to work together. And that's when I rebranded to the STEAM Collaborative. And it was an amazing experience. And so now I really work with community based organizations, informal educators, museums, things like that, to design, implement and manage STEAM education programs. Awesome.

And you're a recent graduate of the Connect all accelerator at the Jacobs center, so congratulations.

Yes, thank you.

We're going to talk about that experience as well too, because that, you know, probably shaped your entrepreneurial path a little bit. But let's get to know your roots a little bit. Like where'd you grow up and where'd the love for engineering and STEAM come from?

Yeah, I'm originally from Detroit, Michigan, and I just always loved math. I think that's really what it came down to with me pursuing engineering. But then the arts was also very strong for me. I grew up dancing my whole life. Basically my parents put me in everything and let me really choose what I wanted to do. Started off with figure skating, basketball, golf, softball, dance, gymnastics, all types of things. But all that I learned outside of school and then also with learning math and loving it, enjoying it. And then in eighth grade, I started tutoring my own classmates in algebra and you know, during class and I'm like, okay, so this is how I did it, you know, doing it a little differently than the teacher's teaching it. But I'm like, okay, if we're getting the same answer, this may be a different way that can help you understand how we did this. So I started doing that in eighth grade and then my parents put me in some engineering programs and things like that. It was DAPEP Detroit area pre College Engineering program, which is really huge in Detroit. That's where all the cool kids went on the weekends. And, you know, you just have ACT prep classes, more math and design a website. When I was in high school school, it was just a really good experience. Both my parents are computer specialists, so they were computer specialists for the government, but they never really brought any of that home with them or told my brother and me what they did. None of that, but they just gave us options and I think that was the most important thing. So my brother ended up pursuing computer engineering four years before me. And as I'm in the programs initially thinking that I want to just be a cpa. Not just a cpa, but I wanted to be a CPA because I love math and I love money. So that's what that started. But then also in middle school, I'm like, selling candy and, like, trying to get money and doing some craft projects that my dad started selling to his friends, all these kinds of things that were still on my entrepreneurial journey before I even knew what that was. So, you know, after that, my brother really said, you should really consider engineering. You know, it's for people that are really good in math and science. He had already started this program at Michigan State, and I'm just like, okay, let me look into this a bit more. And then there were certain programs that were on site at Michigan State and at University of Michigan where they walked us through the different fields of engineering, because I had no idea really what it was. And so they take you to the civil engineering building, the aerospace building, mechanical, all of the different types of buildings, Talk about what they do in those programs. And so at that time, I thought I was going to be a material science engineer because I was kind of playing softball. And that was the main thing that they talked about in material science. They had all the different kinds of bats, baseball bats, and they're like, this bat can do this and this bat can do this. And so depending on what play the team is trying to make, you know, you're not always maybe trying to get a home run, so then you may need a different bat. And I'm like, this is so relevant and cool to me. So that was my plan. But then in high school, when I had to decide on a major to declare, that was there was a space shuttle disaster, Space shuttle Columbia disaster happened. And that's when I said, you know, people shouldn't be dying doing the coolest job in and out of this world, you know, but so I want to be a person that can help with that, which is why a lot of girls get into engineering to begin with. It's something that they can really change or something that's close to them or close to their families. And that's why I studied aerospace engineering and was just dead set on that all the way through college.

Wow. Really cool. I think something I picked up from hearing from you is that you take a lot from your environment around you into kind of pushing you forward, right? A lot of your experiences you say, you kind of make to say, that's going to impact me. And I think you did the same in college. You interned a lot, right? You got exposed to a lot of different kind of companies and industries, which may not be the norm for a lot of students. You know, a lot of people just focus on their studies, it's definitely not the norm.

I mean, again, I didn't even really know what an aerospace engineer really did. You know, during the programs, they're like, okay, this is our really cool building. Here's some maybe drones at the time, you know, things like that. But I didn't really know what aerospace engineering did. I just knew that I didn't want people to die anymore, you know, and that's. That was part of it. But then exactly what you're saying. Everything from my environment, Environment helped, and I really believe that's why I function mostly outside of the school system now is because my dance experience, my arts experience, I didn't get in school, and then my engineering experience, I didn't get in school, you know, at the time when I was growing up. And so that's why I function outside of the school system in informal education or informal science spaces where the. These students can explore their environment around them. And that's why it's been so relevant, especially during a time like this with virtual learning and learning from home and things like that, where that's what I've been doing my whole time as an entrepreneur is like, find things around the house. Find things to measure something. So if you have a ruler, but you really need a tape measure to wrap it around here, get your headphone cord and wrap it around, and then measure it on a ruler. And, you know, that's the circumference, which is still, you know, a measurement. And so finding those relevant things that are in your environment and in your space that aren't always in school. In school, they give you what you need, but you need a lot more than that when you're an engineer and when you're a problem solver.

Interesting. Something else to me is to be scrappy and like you said, kind of look around you. And you graduated in right into the, you know, the economic crisis of 2009, 2010. Right. What was that like going into the market as an engineer?

Yeah. So the semester before I finished school, I actually studied abroad in Hong Kong. So I was over there traveling the world, but also finishing some math classes. So I went to Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, studied abroad there in an exchange program. And that was amazing experience. But I'm still, still looking for a job because it's my last semester in school. And this was 2009. The first semester, 2009, I'm just like, what am I gonna do? So I was applying to jobs, you know, in Hong Kong in my dorm room over there, and One company actually interviewed me through Skype and this was like in 2009. So I had to find some good Internet and interview with this company. And at the time I didn't get that position. But then towards the end of 2009, that's when they reached back out to me and they said, hey, you know, we have a good job for you. We know you didn't get that job that you interviewed for before, but we have one that may be a better fit for you. And I'm like, okay, you know, should we interview? Or like what? And they're like, no, you're already interviewed. Even though it's on Skype in Hong Kong, you're already interviewed. And so we already know that this would be a better position for you. Here's your relocation expenses direct deposited into your account. We'll see you in a couple of weeks. So. So yeah, but it did take about six months for me to really land a job.

Okay. And that's good to think through now for people who could be going through the same thing of, of you know, completing their studies and hoping to get a job over the next year as well too. Patience. Right. And even if, you know, tools aren't available, like Zoom 10 years ago, like figure it out and get on that Skype to make that interview happen.

Yeah. I mean, and at the time it was, it was just really interesting. I moved back in with my parents. I was, you know, as you know, you spend four years getting an aerospace engineering degree and you think you're about to like really rule the world after so much hard work. And then it just like be in my parents house but then making the best out of it. Which is really the lesson that we've all experienced this year is like, okay, I just had my gap year which I didn't really know was a thing, but it was just my time to travel around the country, visit some friends, go to some sorority events that were all around the country at the time, of course spending up all of my money. And so that was just the perfect thing where right when I needed it, that job came from. So I'm super thankful for that.

So you went on and worked for some pretty large, you know, engineering contractors. What eventually brought you to San Diego?

Yeah, so my first full time job was in Indianapolis, Indiana and it was a defense contractor doing some work in logistics. So failure analysis and prediction to make sure that when our military is using our are machines that they're not failing on them when they're out there, when they're really needing Them. But for me, it was kind of an integrity, moral kind of dilemma. For me personally, especially, I get into engineering, I get into aerospace to save lives. And then, yes, I'm saving the lives of our military forces, but then that's at the expense perhaps of some other lives. And so that wasn't really okay with me. And then living in Indianapolis was freezing ice storms, you know, all those things that come with the Midwest. And so I'm like, man, I gotta get out of here. So I was actually going to quit and go get my mba because I was like, I know, I know, I'm not doing this for 30 years, so what am I going to do for 30 years? You know, so. So I was like, yeah, let me think about starting my own or figuring something else out, because I'm not going to be doing this for 30 years. And so that's why I was just going to quit working, pursue an mba. I got a full tuition scholarship at a school in Minneapolis. So that was my plan. And I went and went to a National Society of Black Engineers convention. I was actually on the regional board at the time. And so I was just walking around the career fair making sure everyone's good and running into people that I knew. And I'm like, yep, I'm set. I'm going to school. All of that's good. And then one of my. Well, somebody I met probably about three years before when I did a tour of my job for a regional conference. I met her on the tour that I gave and just ran into her at the conference at the career fair. I'm like, how are things? She's like, great, I'm in San Diego now, loving it. And I'm like, well, I interned in San Diego and I loved it. Then she's like, do you want to interview for a job? And I'm like, well, I'm going to school. But, yeah, interview. She's like, well, don't take anybody's spot, you know, if they would actually take the job. And I was like, no, let's interview. So interviewed there, and four interviews later, they brought me out to San Diego to work full time. So my plan was just to be here, like two years, surf, hike, all the San Diego things. But I've been here for eight years now.

Oh, wow. We're lucky that that happens. You know, San Diego has that magical power, that's for sure. So you were already getting involved in your community, you know, outside of work, but in the National Society of Black Engineers. Did you get involved pretty quickly in San Diego? As well. Or how did you get to know, you know, the San Diego STEAM community?

Very good question. Actually, when I first moved out here, I was like, nobody knows me here. This is also because I am very involved in extrovert and all that stuff that is amazing about me. But it's overwhelming and sometimes burdensome when you volunteer and people know that you have a heart to serve and not necessarily take advantage of that, but leverage that and say, well, can you help with this and can you be on this committee and can you be on this program? When I came out here, I was like, nobody knows me. I have no family out here. I have no friends out here. This is great. So I can just like recreate myself and nobody knows me. So this is perfect. So I'm like, yep, I'm just gonna kind of go to a meeting, sit back, chill, finally just get to enjoy this kind of stuff. This is good thing was the people out here already got word that I was moving here from the reach of the board and from the chapter that I was in in Indianapolis. So they're like, we already heard about you before you got out. I was like, no. I'm like, I don't know what you heard, but I, you know, I just do a little thing. I can help in the background. And they're like, yeah, no, but I, I did that for a while. I was just like, not. I didn't want to commit to have to do anything, you know, volunteer on a consistent basis. So I was like, I just want to enjoy being out here. So I did that for a while and I guess I still kind of do that. And it's actually made a different space for me, a different niche for me where it's like, I can go and volunteer when an organization needs me or I know the different people that are running different organizations, but I'm not directly affiliated with any. So I don't have to speak on behalf of this organization or this company. You know, I can bring them together with other groups. And. And so that's made its way from like me as a person, but then business wise with the STEAM collaborative and another business that I have where I connect people together. And so it's really a great opportunity that I'm just trying to like, not really do too much, but it's really helped as a way to know what everybody's doing and not really trying to get like inside information and give it over here and give it over here. It's like, it's really just helped me learn in more detail what everybody does so then I can help them collaborate with each other.

That's great. Yeah, I know the feeling for sure where you say you're gonna, you know, you're gonna recreate yourself, but you know yourself, you can't pull your hand down like it's the first to pop up, you know, it just happens. That's what happens when you're a leader, you know, and you want to step up. And we're lucky to have that. I'm curious what you notice differences from the Midwest to the San Diego within the Steam community, You know, like, were we educating our, our children differently? Were we taking tech and Steam more or less seriously? Like, give us a little bit of a comparison.

Wow, these are really good questions, Neil. I'd say it's all the same. It's all not good enough, I guess is probably the best answer I'd have. Because like I said, I started my company kind of as a math tutoring company because I just thought like, what would I do for free? And that's how you really start a company. But the real question behind that is what are you already doing for free? And so what I was already doing for free was tutoring. Even in college I was tutoring in math at one of the local high schools near University of Michigan. And I mean it was a predominantly black school there. And so in the after school program we're taking tutoring there and I'm just like, oh, they're not getting some stuff. And then even when I interned in South Carolina, I went to a high school to tutor there after school and you know, there was this ninth grade student that I was working with who didn't know double digit multiplication for sure and wasn't even strong in single digit multiplication. And so that was, you know, I'm like, man, this is really bad. And then same thing in Indiana, you know, it's similar experiences where students just keep getting passed along and passed through and they. And then of course when I came out here, similar kind of thing when I was tutoring at a high school here. And it's just like, man, these students are really in the ninth grade not knowing single digit multiplication, really strong. Like this is a big problem. So you know, the first thing I really do is like do a multiplication table and explain how I started learning, like how you can derive what, let's say 7 times 6 is when you know what 7 times 5 is because you know all the fives, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, and then you would just add 7 more to get 7 times 6, you know, so, you know, but like having them physically draw it out themselves, having different color markers, having them highlight things in, having them, you know, put stickers on it, but then having them add, you know, consecutively, like what's the next digit? You know, this is 42, then 56. And so having them added themselves and derive it themselves so that even if they never ever remember what 6 times 7 is, they can always find out what it is, you know, on their own. So, but just like some things like that that I had to really teach myself when I was growing up and when I was doing multiplication that I'm like, you know, I try to bring that as well. And so even just like what I've seen is just like a consistent marginalization of teaching some of these fundamental concepts, especially in math. And so there's no way you can be an aerospace engineer if you don't know math. Well, there's no way you can be an aerospace engineer if you don't know single digit multiplication. Because as you know, we have derivatives and integrals. And if you don't understand what's happening with the exponent up there, then there's no way you can be an engineer if you don't know math. If you don't know single digit multiplication, let's say that, you know, so you don't have to be the best at it or anything like that, but you have to know how to solve it for yourself, which is really what engineering is all about. So, so yeah, I just, that's probably been the, the thing that's held constant that I've seen all around the country is just this passing. And, and even the schools here, like they'll, they'll promote them to the next grade level, especially the black kids, they'll promote them to the next grade level. They can't walk across the stage for 8th grade graduation, but they'll. But then when they come back in the fall, they can go to ninth grade.

Got it. What's really interesting I'm hearing is like setting up like our talent pipeline. You're just squeezing the funnel. If you can't put people in the top who can even do the basic functions that you need to get a job later, we're really kind of shooting ourselves in the foot because our pipeline is just going to be so small because we've already like negated a whole bunch of people.

And I think that's important because there are still so many qualified engineers that still aren't getting hired in the workforce. But then there's so many that could have been, that aren't even close to being there. So they're, you know, especially working in the diversity and inclusion space. While I'm at these companies, even though I'm an engineer, I'm not in hr, but they find their way to having us be the recruiters and us be the ones to, to make sure people stay there, you know, even working in that space. And then you hear, oh, well, we can't find any black engineers who want to move here. We can't find. It's like, well, I know some personally that would move here, you know, and so it's like there's so many out there that are, that are eligible, qualified and able to do the work if people actually desire to find them. And then there's so many that could have been in this space that are hard workers, that are intelligent, that just never fully learned single digit multiplication ever. So that's really what I saw while I was working as an engineer for 10 years. And I'm just like, I shouldn't be the only black woman here. And literally in my building, I'm the only black engineer. I'm the only female engineer. And it's just awful. And so some people in the business space will say, well, why don't you like work more heavily in recruiting to those companies? And I'm like, some of these companies don't even deserve people like me to work there, you know. And that's what it got to in my mind, especially when I was about to quit. Like I wouldn't even want to bring people like me to work here, especially when I'm not going to be here anymore, you know, things like that. And so it's just tough. And so the best space for me wasn't in the recruiting space or recruiting office because again, I'm an engineer, I'm not a recruiter, you know, I'm not trained to do that work. It was really to be in the education space and building that pipeline so that more of the people who could have been there are there when it's time for them to be there.

That's great. You know, as engineers we resist change at times, especially being in a big corporation, you know, like we've got everything usually that we need surrounding us, but for you to take the leap and start your own, your own thing, that's a big leap. It wasn't like you lost your job or something, you had a scramble, you decided to leap off that edge. Like what made you do it? Like what was the kick that made you Take that step off.

Well, I guess one thing for me, I don't really say that it was a big leap for me. It was the next step that I was supposed to take. And so I started my company in 2014. So, you know, at this point that's six years and I had just reached around or I was approaching my five year business anniversary and my 10 year working anniversary as an engineer. So it, it wasn't necessarily a leap. I had done the work, you know, I had my company. I started this. I grew up, grew with. For me, the really big thing was my last job actually promised me that I would be the manager when the manager, when the current manager retired, which was supposed to be in two years. And so that's literally why they hired me. They said, we want somebody who can be a quality engineer right now and basically build you up so that when he retires in two years, you will take his job. Like people. That's really the reason that I took the job was because that was something that was definitely in my career path that I saw for myself as being the manager. And so he ends up retiring after six months of me being there. And then there's this whole, oh, well, Jasmine, we want you to be interim manager while we find some people to interview against you. And I mean that's basically, you know, it wasn't say it like that, of course, but that's basically what happened because we need a diverse interview panel. And I'm like, for the first time ever, people are, are, you know, concerned about a diverse interview panel. Like I never, even though that's supposed to be a thing, the other companies that I worked at, I'm the diversity on the interview panel. So like, how. So now you need other non diverse people to interview against me to make this a diverse panel. So that's what happened. I was the interim manager for four or five months. Yeah, something like that. I was the interim manager, did a good job, you know, as well as I could. Because now I don't have Jasmine working for me as my man being the manager. So I had to be Jasmine the engineer and Jasmine the manager. When we're down a person and we were already down a person, you know, you know how that works. You never have what you really need. But now we're down me working for me as well. So I'm like, well, let me just try to do what I can. But at the same time, I was getting calls from National Society of Black Engineers Chapter, San Diego State, other organizations in the city, small businesses and things like that who wanted me to do presentations or workshops for them. And I'm like, I have to be at this 6 o' clock stand up meeting every day, you know, so I have to wake up at 4:30 so I can be at work, walk the floor, make sure everything's good before the 6 o' clock stand up meeting. And then I have to be there even to roll over on second shift and hand that that handover meeting and still be there just in case something goes wrong on second shift. And so like you wanted me to do this presentation at 4 o', clock, which is a reasonable time. Absolutely reasonable. But I'm at work from 5:30 to 5:30 every day as the manager. So when they hired the other guy, of course that's the end of the story. They hired the other guy instead of hiring me. I had to transition him to do the work. And I'm like, great, I can just be an engineer again. This is perfect. You can be engineer again. Grow my business, grow my money, things are good. And my brother's like, and you're okay with that? Yeah, I had to cancel that presentation and I got some sleep and then, you know, all that's good. And he's just like, so you're okay not doing the thing you love so you can do this job that you know you're not going to be doing for 30 years? Like you're okay with that? And like really held me accountable. And then I just like, yeah, I guess I'm not. And then the director at the time, him and I had a really good relationship too. And he was really gunning for me. He was like, this is why we hired her. And then him and I talked and he's like, you know, I, I keep telling all of the rest of the executive team, if we don't make her the manager, she has no reason to have any trust in us or believe anything about what we tell her from this point forward. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, that's true. Huh? You know, and of course I, I don't think like that. And you know, I don't have anybody to talk about this stuff to. I'm the only black engineer, I'm the only non white engineer, I'm the only woman engineer, you know, it's just like, yeah, I shouldn't stay here, huh? And so that's really was pretty much the end of the journey where I'm like, okay, yeah, I gotta go.

And so your side hustle became your full hustle. You already were growing it. But at what Point did you realize you needed, you know, an accelerator or what was the pull to the ACC accelerator to say to help and surround you with other people and services?

So that's been part of my entrepreneur journey and especially because I'm a first generation entrepreneur, like I don't know any of this stuff and same thing, that's the reason I went to business school. Like as an engineer, I don't know anything about business. You know, I was trained for math, I was trained for calculus and triple intergirls. Like I don't really know this, this field too much. And so ended up doing my MBA in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Point Loma. I got 4.0 student of the year, all that great stuff. And so it was an amazing experience. That's definitely a strong part of my entrepreneurial journey. And again, of course you don't have to pursue higher education to be an entrepreneur. But for me, I felt like I needed to. And I love learning. I think that's the biggest thing. For me, it was just like I want to learn how to do this right. So that's where I started there. But then I'm also a member of HERA Hub and have been for several years. So women's, Women's co working space and so that network has been amazing. There's a few other things that were really part of my journey. At University of San Diego, they have a global social innovation challenge that my professor actually recommended that I apply to. And so I ended up being one of the winners of that. Those have all been like just really good learning opportunities. But the difference between those and Connect all at the Jacobs center was one that it's for low to moderate income and diverse founders and especially quitting my six figure job. I am now low to moderate income. Yay. And then. And I'm a diverse founder. And so there's several other people who are in a similar space and especially engineers. So I had some of my friends apply to it with me that like either want to transition out, have transitioned out, but needed to go back in, you know, things like that. So being in a space where your questions are welcome, where none of us really know what we're doing for real and then it's beyond a space where you're learning and if you actually implement this stuff with your business. And so that's really the big difference that I experienced in this connect all at the Jacobs center was that took everything that I learned in school. It took everything that I've been hearing at HERA Hub that I learned in the Global Social innovation Challenge. And now it's like, now let's scale it. Let's find out how to make money. So then we can hire people in San Diego to be employees. Because that's really what it's all about. That we want to decrease the unemployment rate, we want to make people want to stay in San Diego, we want to keep people employed while they're here, things like that. So if they can grow my company and all the other businesses enough so that we can hire employees, that's really the big difference. And I was really excited about that for the accelerator.

Yeah, it sounds an amazing program, especially for what impacted you. I was a mentor about a year ago, and so I got to connect with another. Another founder about it. And just watching the transition from the first month through the end of how you, as entrepreneurs go through your journey is just, it's, you know, it's, it's tangible. I see it. It's really fantastic. And to be doing it along others. But you have kind of a cohort for life now, you know, this accountability group. So you've just graduated in the middle of a pandemic. You know, we still really don't know what 2021 is going to look like in person or virtual. Like, how does that shape you in person? Plan for what, 2021, what are you going to do? Like, what. How do you, how do you forecast the year coming up?

I don't know. I think the main thing is, I mean, and that I guess it comes full circle where it's just like, just go with, you know, where, where things are around you and see how you can best benefit, see how you can best help other people, things like that. And so one thing that I'm actively working on right now is a guide because I keep getting the question of, like, Jasmine, you know, we're in this distance learning space. It's from parents. We're in this distance learning space. My kid, you know, they were at a private school and they were doing really well in math, but I just want to make sure that they stay really good at math. Or, you know, I have some that aren't at private schools and that, you know, just always struggled in math. Like, what can we do? So I'm actually creating. The plan is to create a series of documents of my recommended resources for math, but then to do it for all of the different STEAM disciplines. So that's one way, because that's what people need right now. You know, it's hard. And the student that I was tutoring towards the Beginning of the pandemic. And you know, that was part of my full time income, My full time entrepreneur income was actually tutoring and working as a contractor for a tutoring agency. You know, when the pandemic hit, we were doing well and we had just caught her up to like where her teacher was in school and what she was teaching. But then when the pandemic hit, she wasn't getting any formal math education at all, except for me. And so I was just like, wait, this is the reason I didn't want to be a teacher. I didn't want to be the person so responsible for your education. But here we are. So then I pulled the, the school that she's at, the school district, I pulled their lesson plan. I started teaching her the lesson plan from her school because she was still getting the sign online homework from the teacher. The teacher wasn't teaching them how to do it. They would give them a tip sheet on like, this is how you would do this type of problem. But as you know, as an engineer, you don't need to do how to do that type of problem. You need to know how to do everything around that problem. So when we give you a similar problem to that one, you can solve that similar problem too. Not just that problem. So yeah, so I ended up being her teacher. Now in 2021, planning to do more group tutoring sessions, I piloted that with bpac, which is the Black American Political Action Political association of California. So they actually gave me a grant, contracted me out to do a group tutoring program for students in District 4. So I'm going to explore that a bit more, doing group tutoring because that's what kids need and that's what parents need too. It's really hard so not being their teacher. But like, if it's all students in the same classroom that they go to class online together and then they come to school me together, like now I can, you know, really give them what they need or even if they're not in the class together and they're still on a similar level of learning, which again I said, you know, some ninth graders are on sixth grade level. And then one of the students that I had, he's going to sixth grade and he was probably on a eighth grade level based on the school curriculum, what they teach. And so I'm just like, okay, this probably be a really good opportunity. So that's two of the things. But the major thing really is to work with some of these organizations who have bundles of children already. So, you know, ymca some of the museums. And now it can be virtual. There's museum in New York, we're talking through some things. Museum in Oregon, we're talking through some things where, you know, I can put on a whole program for the students that they normally have anyway.

That's awesome. A lot of opportunity that you're gaining from unfortunate situations. But it's all going to, you know, be put back in the community and do a lot of good. So we're excited for all that impact, which I know is fueling you for sure to have that impact. Another thing that fuels us here on the tacos and tech podcast are tacos. So we got to know where's your.

Go to taco spot for tacos? I would say the main place would be Lupe's in Linda Vista.

Okay.

Or at least the old Lupes. I used to live over there and so I have them on speed dial. So I used to go over there and they renovated and upgraded and all this stuff. Now I haven't been in a while, but that was my go to place for like street tacos. So I don't even think they're doing street tacos anymore. Or TJ Tacos, know, politically correct TJ tacos. I don't even think they're doing that. They may, but that used to be my go to spot. Linda Vista. Lupe's and Linda Vista.

Okay, good one, good one. We love the shout outs. I've got an old place too that doesn't exist and I still cry over it up in Cardiff. The Bull Taco and Cardiff Campground. So I hear that. Jasmine, it's so great to, to have you on the podcast, but even better to know that you're in the community, like doing some good. You know, we'll put as much of the links we can in, in your show notes. Can people follow you on social or what's a good way for people to connect with you?

Yes. On Instagram and Facebook, hemcollab and Steam stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, arts and math. Hesteamcollab on Facebook and Instagram. LinkedIn is probably like the number one place people reach out to me and connect and it's, it's really a nice platform because then as you know, you know, you can see somebody's like professional history and, and what they're really trying to do and what they've done in the past. So that's probably the best way. So I have a page on there for the Steam collaborative, but people just reach out to me directly, which is also absolutely fine.

And if someone wants to either bring you in to either their company or their school or want to volunteer their time with you. Is that, is that a good ask for our community?

Yes, absolutely. So one of the ways to do that is on my website, www.steamcollab.com and then there's a sign up sheet there where you can actually just write freehand in what, what you want to explore with me. And then there's an option to schedule some time with me. So like a 30 minute chat on some of those greater business ideas or collaborations.

Awesome. Well, thanks, jasmine. Here's to 2020. Only up from here, right?

Yeah, I think that's the only place we can go is up.

Well, thanks, Jasmine.

All right, take care.

Thanks for joining us on the Tacos and Tech podcast with Neil Bloom. Thanks again to Cox Business for helping make this possible by expanding the reach of the San Diego tech ecosystem. Big shout out to School of Rap for our rad intro musician. And thanks as well to to Nest Podcast Network where we are recording live inside their studio at Nest Co working in Bankers Hill. You can find Neil Bloom on Twitter neilbloom as well as Fresh brewed Tech and tacos and Tech Pod on Twitter too.

Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. You want tech and tacos, tacos in tech. You know we got it.

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