[Bonus Episode] From Real Good Podcast: The Business of Empowering Girls with Jennifer Openshaw

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This is Real Good by US Bank, a podcast about helpers.

We run the nation's only online mini MBA for young women. When you're at this young age, your confidence drops on average by 30%. You don't know where you want to go. You maybe go to college, and you then enter the workforce and you still don't necessarily have the skills that you need to be successful in the job. And so we said, you know what, like, let's change this dynamic by, like, really starting with the next generation. And so we basically give them the skills, the tools, and the confidence to be tomorrow's leaders, but under the guise of creating their own venture.

I'm Faith Saley. Welcome back to another season of Real Good. Our first episode dropped into your podcast feeds in the summer of 2020. You remember that summer. Not everyone's favorite. The world has changed immeasurably since then, but our mission has remained the same. Every season, every episode, we've strived to show you that while our world is an imperfect place, there are people out there trying to make it better. There are people who don't accept the status quo, who refuse to participate in dog eat dog, people devoted to other people. We've spoken to the executives leading the charge in the boardroom, like Habitat for humanity's first global DE&I chair, and we've heard from the folks with their boots on the ground. Like an unconscious bias testing administrator, their stories have been both local and global, inspiring, and occasionally gut wrenching. More than anything, they've shown us that everyone can do real good. Our first guest this season is the founder of Girls with Impact, Jen Openshaw. Her organization provides girls as young as 14 years old with the tools and experience required to found a new business from the ground up through what she calls a mini mba. Now, we'd love to say that Jen is training the next generation of confident, business savvy girls, but Girls with Impact is giving an opportunity to their students that no generation before them has ever had. Entrenched students, systems of cultural inequity and misogyny often discourage young women from trusting in their own potential. But GWI highlights the innovation, leadership, and confidence that young girls have always had within them. When these girls finish their mini MBA program, they leave with a new identity. CEO. But before we invite Jen on, we want to bring in a voice you all know. My friend Chris, Greg Cunningham is joining me to talk a bit about what we can expect in the season to come. Greg, I always get so happy when I know I'm gonna talk with you.

Aw, same here. Same here.

I took out my Invisalign for season four. Let's get this thing going.

Well, your smile is like it says, oh, it's working.

Thanks. Oh, man, I haven't even whitened the teeth yet. Just you wait. So, you know, I have to tell you that, I mean, I have several jobs and gigs, but. And don't tell the others, but going on this journey with you is so. It's so gratifying like nothing else I've gotten to do. And, you know, in these very well meaning anti racist communities in which I live and where I drop my kids off at school, there are often, you know, there's talk about leaning into uncomfortable conversations. Right. I'm putting that in air quotes.

Yeah.

And I don't know about you, but what I think is remarkable about our conversations over the first three seasons is that thanks to you and the generosity of our guests, they've never felt uncomfortable. Like, they've felt meaningful. They've been, for me, they've been eye opening and sometimes shocking or heartbreaking. Right. And sometimes really joyful, but not, not uncomfortable because of the way that you've invited me to learn.

Did you just call me your favorite?

Yes, but don't tell the others.

I think you just did. No, I, Yeah, I agree. I, you know, I'm. The reason I'm so excited about season four is because builds so naturally on what you just said. Faith, like, actually takes us to a place where we're actually becoming more comfortable having these difficult conversations that, you know, really benefit all of us.

And then we're kind of like, well, this was not news to you, but Covid just was shining a light on systemic inequities. Right. Systemic racism and problems. So season two, we were kind of like, you know, can anyone say intersectional? Let's like, look into these problems that have been here for a while, like maybe since 16, 19 or so. And we were, you know, so we were talking about implicit bias and how housing is health. And then season three, we were really, we kind of leaned into the bank's access, commitment response and hearing these incredible personal stories about how it all works.

Yes. And now we're talking about solutions. Right. And we're bringing people on in season four who are providing clear evidence of the work that we're doing that are providing solutions. So we're not just, you know, diagnosing the problem anymore. We're actually, you know, prescribing real solutions.

And I might add that most of these leaders we're talking to are women, which is. It was also kind of exciting.

We're centering women's voices, which right now is so incredibly important. And they have such Incredibly important things to say.

And, you know, when I think about all the conversations we've had now over a few years, there are these themes that keep recurring. Right from the beginning, you really helped me understand what the word access means and how. And how many different forms access can take. Right. And what investment means. That it's not just like everyone thinks, money and capital, but the investment of time and faith and giving people permission to fail and try again. And another theme that we've heard over and over, especially from black leaders, is this kind of planting of seeds, like a real feeling of responsibility for community. Right?

Yeah. It's the thing that's on the mind most in the black community, especially what I would say, communities of color in general, that you can't afford to fail. Like, you have this extra burden of not only being. If you're a corporate executive, you're not only a corporate executive, but you also represent the hopes and dreams of the community that you weren't. You didn't make it alone. The community is actually looking at you and saying, we made it. And therefore, if you fail or you're not successful, that you've a let the community down. And number two, there probably won't be another person like you gets that opportunity because there are so few. And so you carry this extra burden. That is unbelievable. And I think that's true of women, too. You know, that you. You recognize that you represent more than just yourself, and so. So you feel an added sense of responsibility to be successful.

And it's interesting because many of the women we'll be talking to this season are women leaders of organizations that are focused on helping girls.

Yes.

So that.

Yes.

So we've got Tarika Barrett, the CEO of Girls who Code. And today we'll be talking with Jen Upenshaw, girls with Impact, and then Kathy Engelbert, who's the commissioner of the wnba. So. So it is that idea of, I've made it and I want to make it. I want to make a world possible where people like me don't have to be afraid to fail, that they get to fail and fail and fail again on the way to flying.

Yeah. And how we help, you know, girls in particular, you know, the things we say to ourself about ourself, you know, matter, and it has an impact. Then we have to start to help seed, you know, different messages with girls earlier on. So the messages they say to themselves about themselves, that they actually see themselves as leaders very early on. You know, that I learned a lot from being around Kathy Engelbert. And the wnba. You know, one of the stats that they, they have as part of their promotional materials I think is so powerful. And it's, you know, 80% of all female leaders played a sport and what. Yeah, it's such a. I can't wait to talk to.

Oh, my gosh.

But, but it's. It, but it, but it makes sense, right? Because through sports, you. You adopt those, those situations of leadership and competition, collaboration and competition and adversity.

And, and dare I say, aggressiveness.

Aggressiveness and all of that. So, yeah, so it's just interesting when you think about those correlations and how, you know, it starts early. And so the more we can sort of begin to see those kinds of things earlier, I think it will help these girls and help our society in general.

You know, we're going to be talking to Jen Openshaw about her program, Girls with Impact, and they, she'll tell us more about it. But they, they offer these girls and young women a mini MBA program. And I wanted to get your take on something, which is that, as you probably know, the statistics for women enrolling as undergraduates in college now are like 60%. I think it's 60% female and 40% male undergrads. And then I was looking at MBA stats and the data shows that it drops to 39% women pursuing an MBA. What do you make of that?

Yeah, I think it's, you know, again, not a surprise because you think about, you know, women who enter the workforce and you think about women who decide to, to start a family and who traditionally has to put their career on hold, it's usually the woman, it's not usually the man. If you decide to start a family and have kids and, you know, to be able to afford to go back and get a graduate degree or make those kinds of choices to advance your career, it's more difficult, I think, for women. And our society hasn't, in the workplaces, haven't traditionally been as supportive of, you know, giving women those opportunities and sort of understanding all the dynamics that come with and the responsibilities that women take on outside of that, outside of the workplace. I mean, you're, you know, you're the boss at work, and then you're also the CEO and COO of the household. And, you know, you're the caregiver. You're all of it. And then you're gonna go back and get an mba, right, Like. And so I think that's the change that we see, and we need to continue to see more improvement in the workplaces. Workplaces that are more supportive of, you know, women, not just as employees, but as the whole person. And what do they really need to be successful and how we as employers can support women in all aspects of her being her whole self. And because she'll show up in a way that is more beneficial to the organization when we can resource her success differently. So it's not a surprise to me, Faith, because women are juggling all these other responsibilities outside of career that actually impact the decisions that she makes.

And I think what we'll hear this season is how important, and you mentioned this before, is just the culture around girls and the messages they get because so many of the leaders we'll be talking are working with girls.

Yeah. Which is incredible. I just, I get goosebumps. I was telling you before, you know, we have, at US bank, we have this sponsorship program where all of our managing committee members sponsors a high potential woman or person of color. And it just makes me even more passionate about being a vocal advocate for women and doing everything I can in the world workplace to ensure that they have the, you know, the equal access to opportunity. Because this, this notion of a meritocracy in corporate America is something like. I actually used to believe that that was true. Like that was actually. But, but you actually can have, but you can't have a meritocracy without, you know, by definition, it's like you have to have equality of opportunity to be a meritocracy. And that's not what women experience in the workplace or people of color for that matter. So, you know, the stories that I hear from these women, Faith, really has me both excited about the conversation we'll have during season four, but also the work that we all need to do to better support women in their, in their career journeys.

I love that phrase high potential. I wish I had known that when I was dating. I could have just told people like, look, I just want to tell you right now, I'm a high potential woman.

Let's.

It's such a feck and phrase. I love it.

I've been identified as a high potential woman.

Yeah.

I just want you to know I've been identified as an hpw. Greg, we have dug into the origin story of so many of our guests and there's something I wanted to ask you, which is that when you were 20 something Greg, getting your MBA at Fordham, in my neighborhood, yes.

Yes.

Was there such a thing as DEI? Was that even a thing? Like, did 20 something Greg think he'd get an MBA and make a lot of money? Or did you ever think you'd end up doing this stuff?

I definitely never thought I'd be doing this. There were certainly diversity initiatives in corporate America. I never really had a great deal of appreciation for those efforts in corporate America. I always thought it was lip service. And I never really saw the true benefit that it was bringing to organizations, because I never really saw it. I never really saw it play out, at least in the organizations that I was part of. In fact, I was asked very early in my career, you know, if it was something that I would do, and I said, absolutely not.

Oh, wow.

And then even further, when US bank asked me the first time to do it, I actually said no then, too, because it wasn't something that I did. I didn't have a background. I wasn't a practitioner in dei. I didn't have any HR experience, which is how I typically thought about it. And then I had a conversation, I believe it was with my wife, and we were talking about it, and I said, yeah, they asked me if I would do it. And she said, look, all the things you've led up to that have led you to this point in your career, you've always been a person who's advocated for community, who's advocated for multicultural capability in organizations, and you've touched it in every role that you've had. You could actually bring all that experience and do the job differently because somebody's going to get that job. And you don't want to be the guy on the sidelines criticizing somebody who's doing the job. You could actually do the job and just do it the way you believe it should be done. And that really resonated with me. And so we've approached it in a much more holistic way, as much more of a business imperative. And for us, Faith, my big talking point right now with my team and my company right now is we have to reframe DEI from this notion of it's the right thing to do, which we all know it is, but it's actually the smart thing to do. It's actually smart for business, good business.

It makes money.

It's. You know, we can actually do good while we're doing well, and we should.

Yeah.

And, you know, it's an important part of this conversation. You know, it's inclusive growth. You know, if you think about including everybody in the equation, your success is exponential.

I love that it was your wife who nudged you into the game. I really do.

Me, too. It's that Bronx upbringing. She's so grounded.

Greg Cunningham, you're you're like the senior vice president of US bank and you're the chief. I can't keep up with all chief diversity, all kind of stuff in there, Equity, all the things. Officer. But I want you to know this is, I have identified this as a high potential season and I'm very excited about it.

It's hypo. We can shorten it to hypo. That's the real cool way to say it, babe. Hi, Po. It's a hypo season.

This is hypo season 4 and I can't wait.

Let's do it. Me too. I'm so excited to do it with you. Thank you.

Jen and Greg, thank you for being here. I'm so excited to have this conversation.

No, it's great to be here, Faith.

Hi, Faith. Excited to be with you as always.

Jen Openshaw. Your CV and bio is a bit dizzying. Like I've, I've read it several times and it's a clown car. There's. I'm not quite sure what you haven't done, but the, the lead in your wiki entry, which is some. Something to be trusted and in your LinkedIn entry, which is always to be trusted, is innovator, author and financial leader. Do you think that sort of sums it up?

Yeah, I mean, I love to solve big problems, you know, and technology is at the heart of that. And, you know, I started my career early on in the financial industry space, spent a lot of time there, saw a lot, started a venture in Silicon Valley focused on finances and, you know, funny thing though, Faith, when I was really young, I wanted to be a broadcaster. I wanted to be at the next Barbara Walters and probably for some other reasons, like wanting some attention because I was raised by a single mother. That was probably it. But, you know, I found myself.

Greg knows I can't relate to that at all, Jennifer, but go ahead, attention. What.

Who needs it, right? Who, who doesn't want to be validated and feel, you know, worthy, Right? But I found myself, I got this, you know, fortunate gig early on in my career as the money expert for KCBS TV in Los Angeles. And even just the story was just, it was just such a great ride to do that. And yeah, so I, you know, innovation, finance, helping people achieve their potential. You got it.

Every interview I have seen or read with you likes to start with this noteworthy fact for your origin story that you started working as a hotel maid at age 14. Do you think that that kind of beginning in the workforce is part of your secret sauce? Like when you're in a boardroom with sort of masters of the financial universe, do you think that maybe what you know about humility and hard work of service is something that has given you an edge in your journey?

Well, I think it's sort of. There's something inside me that causes me to overwork like a maniac. And I think it's something from when I was younger, like a lot of people face where, you know, they're trying to achieve something. I had a sense early on that I wanted to do bigger things in my life. I somehow had that sense earlier on, and. And I also had this sense that I was going to have to do it by myself. I felt like no one was going to be there pulling me up by the bootstrap. I had to do it by myself. And I think, you know, candidly, to some extent, that was probably a little true. I think that that thinking, though, was not good thinking. I learned that later on in my career, you know, having been in Silicon Valley and other experiences that, you know, you're much better off if you can, say, surround yourself with a really strong team, whether you're working in a company or you're starting a company. Right. I think I sort of, you know, I would start these new ventures to some extent partially on my own and, you know, create a lot of challenges. But I think the grit, you know, is kind of what you're speaking to. Yeah, I think that's at the heart of kind of who I am.

It's interesting, though, because I've heard you talk about watching your mom when you were a kid, watching her change from her day server uniform into her nighttime server uniform. Right. She has two full jobs, and you're seeing her with grit, and yet you feel like. Do you feel like somehow you were called to make a greater impact than your mom, who was clearly working so hard on her own to raise three kids.

I do, Faith. You know, I had a funny experience when I was about 12 years old, riding my navy blue Schwinn bike home from school down the middle of the street. And I just sort of had this epiphany. And I alluded to it earlier, but three things sort of came clear to me, and one was that I wanted to achieve something greater, that I sort of envisioned myself leading people on a larger scale. And then the last was that, you know, it was sort of going to be up to me to kind of make it happen. But that. That power of thinking where you want to go and having that picture in your mind, I think is just instrumental. Right. We talk a lot about that in our own programming with the, the young people that we train today.

Yeah, I feel like the word purpose kind of sums that up. I feel like that's that kind of magical word that when it's inserted into somebody's life goals is clarifying.

Yeah. You know, I mean, look at, there's a part of me that likes the idea of building a for profit venture that makes money. It's really interesting. A lot of people give that almost more credibility than a nonprofit. But you know, at this stage, for me it's really about paying it forward. I've been, you know, fortunate enough now to be in a stage in a situation where I'm, I'm able to do something that's really impacting other people. I mean, I have almost every day faith pinch myself to find and look at where I was, you know, at age 5, 6, 7, 8, raising my brothers, literally at the age of 7 years old by myself when my mom was working those two full time jobs as a waitress to today where I'm at and you know, feel incredibly lucky. But there's also a sense of me that feels that things work out when they're supposed to work out. That in, in our lives, it's, I mean, I think you have to put yourself out there for sure. But at some point you also have to say, you know, if it's meant to be, it's meant to be.

So you have this epiphany when you're 12 on a Navy blue Schwinn bike. How did you get started in finance? How did that realization direct you toward finance?

You know, I had to put myself through college. And I don't mention this very often, but I went to three undergraduate colleges, not by choice, but all because of money. And the first year I had a fair amount of money from scholarships, but it was all one time. And so at the end of that first, first year I was like out of money. And you know, by the way, I had been working all along, but probably two jobs while I was in that first year of college. And I knocked on every door to try to get scholarships and stay at that university and wasn't able to and moved in with my aunt and uncle and paid them 100 bucks a month and was doing internships in LA while I was in school south of LA. But I, during those times I would be pulling out a spreadsheet and doing my own budget. Like I get off on seeing like what money do I have, where do I want it to Go. Like, I just find that really empowering. I mean, that's like. You know, I had a friend one time who said he's actually a very top executive today. Like, he wanted a few money, right? To understand your. Your. Your money, it's like, it's the heart of everything, right? I mean, people who say they. They can't have this, they don't. You know, I've just seen so much in working with people with their money. So, anyway, so that's how I got started. I. I was putting myself through school, and I would, you know, I would sit down while I'm eating my dinner out someplace as sort of a reward for my hard work, and I would work on my spreadsheet. And then I. When I was in the California State Treasurer's office, I saw a lot around money issues. I got hired at the age of about 24,4 as the press secretary for Kathleen Brown, who's the sister of Governor Jerry Brown, daughter of Governor Pat Brown. What a ride. And she went into the treasurer's office, and I was around big money issues, right? Like bond deals and college savings bonds and cash management and credit rating. Like, all of this from a business perspective. And I found it super interesting. I really liked it. And I decided there that rather than promote somebody else's ideas for the rest of my life, I wanted to promote my own. And so I decided to go to business school, and that was that. That's a lot of how that started.

I mean, is that when you would. You would say that the idea of entrepreneurship started shaping your future. Do you. Do you remember when you got a sense of what that word meant? Because Greg and I have talked to so many entrepreneurs who really have this aha moment when they hear that word for the first time, like, oh, there's a name for that, and it's fancy in French.

Well, that's a really interesting question because we have this debate all the time in our organization. Do we describe it, what we do to young women as entrepreneurship or business? Because when they're young, they have no idea really what entrepreneurship is. Although I think people are starting to get a sense. I had a very interesting time where I was working full time at a major bank. I had come out of the treasurer's office, decided to get that business degree. I'm sitting in a classroom at ucla, and one of my classmates was trading some of his college loan money right there online on the Internet. And I was like, holy moly. And then I got this gig as the money expert for KCBS TB in la this is really when the AHA came up, and that is I was talking to folks about their money. You know, everything from how to manage debt to your credit to investing. And a funny thing happened, and that is that after I would go on the set live, women in the station would start asking me questions about their money. And I kind of put that together. Coupled with what I saw my buddy in class doing. I started doing some research and I discovered that women were not going to the online news sites, financial news sites like a Yahoo. Finance in those days or Market Watch, and they weren't necessarily investing their money, even though they were increasingly earning more money. And that's even more so today. And that's where I became sort of an entrepreneur and had this aha, why don't we marry the two and create something called Women's Financial Network.

So, Greg, do you remember learning that word?

I don't. But you know what, you know what's funny about that Faith is, you know, when, when I was coming up, we called it Hustle. And you know, it was, it was attached in a negative way where I came from to, you know, people who aren't all. Who weren't always coloring inside the lines. Let me just say it that way. And you know, I think of Hustle when I think of people with that entrepreneurial spirit. Like Hustle is a combination of ambition and grit that Jennifer talked about.

And creativity.

And creativity, you know, and problem solver. Yeah, all of that.

All of that, I think. Yeah. And I think now Hustle, Hustle and chutzpah, they're kind of interchangeable. I think it's. I think it's being, I think our sense of that word is being changed. It's interesting to me, Greg, so, so many of the guys, and they've all been men whom we've talked to who are now entrepreneurs, are helping support. Entrepreneurs started out selling stuff when they were young boys, right? Like they were doing haircuts or they were selling T shirts in their backyard or selling candy. I think John Hope Bryan was selling Candy at age 6. And then there's Jen, who's making beds. And it's so. I mean, this is a small sample set, but that's so gendered. It's very interesting to me. I think it speaks to a sort of older notion of what like boys and girls were raised to think they could do.

Well, it's interesting, you know, I was selling, you know, napkin ring holders that I made during the holidays and when I was at. Actually when I was in college at The University of UCLA was actually a mini entrepreneur, you know, at the age of whatever that was 18 or so, creating these ventures so that I could raise money for other students who are going off on internships. But, you know, it's such an interesting word because I think today it's really like entrepreneurship to me is also about its hustle and it's innovation and like, how do we solve problems. And companies are so hungry for that today.

And this is the vision you are supplying girls, or I should say girls and young women ages 14 to 24. This vision with Girls with Impact. So can you often help those young women figure out their elevator pitch? So can you give us yours for girls with Impact?

We run the nation's only online mini MBA for young women. And you know, we were just talking internally about when you're at this young age, your confidence drops on average by 30%. You don't know where you want to go. You maybe go to college and you then enter the workforce and you still don't necessarily have the skills that you need to be successful in the job. And, and then we see a lot of women dropping out of the talent pipeline. And so we said, you know what, like, let's change this dynamic by like, really starting with the next generation. And so we basically give them the skills, the tools and the confidence to be tomorrow's leaders, but under the guise of creating their own venture. Right. And it's really powerful. We have 93% see an increase in their confidence, and that is huge. When you think about her likelihood now of really moving into the C suite or starting her own business, it really can change the numbers.

Can you help us understand what exactly. Sorry, Greg, did you want to add something?

Well, I was just going to say fate. Say that I think faith. Part of what I think Jennifer is touching upon there, that we've talked a lot about in previous seasons, is this notion of feeling empowered. Right. This notion of empowerment and how empowering entrepreneurship can be, you know, when other doors are closed for you, sometimes you just make a way. Right. And that piece around empowerment I think is so important. Jennifer, that you just brought out.

Jennifer, can you kind of explain what, how a mini MBA works?

Yeah, so we operate a little like a mini business school for real. In fact, I worked with folks from Harvard Business School's career center in the development of this. And so every quarter we're recruiting young women and every quarter we're graduating them. And what they do is they go through a 10 week program where they come together live online with an MBA instructor. So somebody who's got an MBA and who's been in the real business world. And in live one hour classes weekly. Let's say you sign up Faith for Tuesdays at 6pm same classes, same instructor. And you're going to go from ideation. What's an idea that you're going to focus on over the next 10 weeks? To all the fundamentals. Who's my target customer? And you're going to create a customer Persona. How am I unique to my competitors? And you're going to do a SWOT analysis. So the power of it is that because it's your idea, you know, these young people who are maybe disengaged as well because it's their idea, this notion of learning takes on a whole different meaning. Right? So they're learning some very serious concepts and we try to just make it as interesting as we can. They come out of it with a certificate. They've got a business venture and a business plan and a pitch deck. They now have material for a resume. And the killer part is that when they're in a job interview or applying for college, we get people who go, oh, tell us about your girls with Impact Venture. The end of that. They're hired and they get their college tuition covered. It's huge.

You know, I was, I fell down the rabbit hole on your website and was watching some of the ways that the, that the classes work. First of all, I don't think I can convince you. I'm 24, but I wish I could sign up. I learned just by listening to those girls in these little edited snippets share their plans and their visions. And when I looked at. So there's this wonderful, I encourage everybody to go to the website. There's this wonderful video where it features three of your graduates. Jodi Bell, Kelly Taylor. And please help me pronounce. Is it Sinikda? Sinik Day, Ariella. And you focus on their faces and underneath it says CEO. For each of these girls it says CEO. And the name of their company, just seeing that acronym applied, just seeing that right under their name. Talk about empowerment. Greg, what is it? Must be such a game changer for them to see that title. Say that title and own.

Is such a game changer, Greg. I mean, you know, the funny thing is Jodi, three weeks, three weeks into the class and she was in our pilot class like eight years ago, she said, I don't know how to explain it, but I feel kind of powerful. Jodi today ended up getting full ride into college and it was her venture that set her apart. And she's now interning at a major financial institution in the ESG space. It's unbelievable. The interesting thing is I think that these kinds of skills are really, could benefit employees in the workplace, particularly younger employees, because right now everybody's worried about losing their employees. It's so tough out there. And the number one reason that young people or the number one reason thing that they're looking for is professional development skills. And so I think there's such a huge opportunity in the workplace to bring something like this, these skills that we do to the, you know, the younger entry level or the people who are non professional, they'll love it.

You know, Faith, you know, this point is so important because it's really critical, you know, what you say to yourself about yourself and for a woman to see CEO next to her name. And not only the sense of empowerment, but, you know, McKinsey's actually done some really interesting work on this in their Women in the Workplace study. And they talk about one of the. Aside from the systemic barriers that large corporations have historically had that have prevented women from moving into the executive level and into the C suite. But it's also helping to empower women to see themselves as executives, to not see themselves as managers anymore, but to actually feel and see them. And so what I love about, you know, the work that Girls with Impact is doing and under Jennifer, your leadership, is it's helping to change the narrative of what women are saying to themselves about themselves as well.

It's called, it's called Girls with Impact for a reason. Right? It's not, it's not Women with Impact we're talking. These are. Some girls are freshmen and sophomores in high school. So. That's right, Greg, it's starting early with, like, if you can. Yeah, yeah, I got the hustle.

Yeah, I got the hustle. And so the thing that's. I mean, I love what you said, Greg, about changing the narrative. I mean, I think that's really the potential, what we're talking about, which is why we built this to scale. Like we could put 200,000 through tomorrow. But when you see these women who, you know, in these classes, look at their, their. Some of them, they've told us, some of them used to sit in the back of the room. They've had stutters, they come into the class, they now are called on, and they're not alone. And so by the time they go through it, they're able to, you know, vocalize improving their skills. I mean, it's just, it's really such a game changer.

So we have a faith. We have a program at the bank. It's a, it's a sponsorship program. And every one of our managing committee members, every one of us on the managing committee is sponsoring two high potential executives in our company. And both of my mentees, if you will, are both women. And I can't tell you how many times when we first started on this journey and started having conversations, we would initially start out with things like they wanted to work on things like executive presence and my executive communication. And I want to feel more confident when I. And it just was such a, again, like we're all on a, on a journey. Right. To better understand all of this. And it was just such a, both surprising and, and somewhat sad, if I could use that word for me to hear, like, because to me I was like, just like, just bring you, like, just bring you like your superpower like you have. So you're like incredibly talented and smart.

But to hear that and they came at you as if being you is not enough.

Yeah, that's incredible.

And that's the work, you know, Jennifer, that you're doing. It's like you actually have everything in your toolbox that you need and you're.

And, and you're telling them this when, when they're so young. It's so amazing. So, so can you share with us, Jen? Like, just, I know it's hard to choose one's favorite child, but like a story that you're particularly proud of that is particularly moving.

You know, I think there's one young woman who got a double full ride offer. She was raised, raised by a single father ever since she was 7. She wanted to be an entrepreneur, believe it or not. And she came into our program, developed a venture idea called Crown Kits for Black hair styling kits. She actually did not launch her idea, but when she applied to college, both Babson and Howard, she put it down as her number one extracurricular. And she said that when she was in her scholarship interview with Babson, all they wanted to hear was her venture, you know, and, and it really does change the dynamic. I mean, you know, a father who said, you know, my daughter wanted to go into, you know, physical therapy or something, something else. But now she wants to be a CEO. And we see these women now go through the program and 50% of them say that they're more likely to go into business or entrepreneurship. So Greg just goes back to your comment about changing the narrative.

And it's about identity. I Love that so much. And I love that that was what she chose to focus on because black hair is such a part of a young black woman's identity. It's so powerful.

That's a great point. And you know, like these young women will say, like one time I was talking to this young woman, we gather some together and I said, so why are you excited to be here? She said, because it's my idea. And somebody reminded me that, you know, you go through school and people don't ask you what do you want? Who are you? What makes you tick? It's really the other way around. I think that's going to change actually. I think the world is really, really advancing on the workforce front. But you know, I want to give a big shout out to U.S. bank for making this possible because they, you know, even during the pandemic made some of these stories happen. And we're just beginning.

So this all sounds so hopeful, it's so inspiring. And the reality of the world is that you. We are pushing back against systemic challenges. Right? There is inequity in the workforce for women. I hardly need to tell you too that the percentage that venture capital firms invest in women led businesses, it's something like 2%, right?

It is.

And it has grown and it's dropped. Yeah, yeah. So explain this to me. You're growing these empowered, inspiring young women. What's going on in quote unquote, the real world. What are we pushing back?

I think it's old fashioned networks and it's a little bit of human nature, which is to work with people. You know, I mean you see it in corporate America at the top echelons, and you see it in Silicon Valley.

I mean there's another word for that and it's called bias. Right. Part of that, it's the working with people. You know, it's what comfortable.

It feels comfortable and I think it's what I feel comfortable with. You know, I. There are some places that, you know, I think when young men, I think I think that's changing to some extent with this next generation. Because if you look at venture capital firms, a lot of them are still run by, you know, prior generation, not used to seeing women starting companies. But you are starting to see more women starting companies. But you know, a raise, real capital, lots of great examples, you know, neighborhood. What's the DNA product that, you know, the. And Wojcicki has found a 23andMe. But these are still women with connections and they're well educated. So the real challenge and frankly the Real work that we face is those particularly underserved young women who have potential could be really left behind. And it takes a lot of hand holding. So, you know, when we work with them, it's not, you know, it's online and you're on your own. We're really trying to bring them along and make sure they complete the program so they can move forward. Like that young woman Rachel, I mentioned.

Greg, what are you seeing from, from the US bank side?

A very similar, very similar faith to what Jennifer described. And I, you know, what I would say is, I would agree. I think it is changing, but certainly not at a pace that any of us would want to see. And I think a lot of it is being driven by like our stakeholders are just demanding different outcomes. They're just demanding change, whether it be the regulatory environment, whether it be, you know, customers. And you know, I think the good news is it is changing. The bad news to me is, is the why behind which, why it's changing. I think if we can help, you know, some of these VC firms and all these. There is, you know, this notion of inclusion, or esg, however you want to describe it, it's not about preserving value.

I'm sorry, can you tell me what ESG means?

Sorry, Environment of social governance. So got it. You know, all of that work for far too long, or let's just say diversity, equity and inclusion, any whatever acronym, you know, labels you want to put on it. It's not about preserving value anymore. It's about creating value. And any organization that, that doesn't understand the value in contributing in a positive way to society, whether that be the expansion of opportunities for women, you know, all of these things, like there are new and I think organizations are now starting to open their eyes to the possibilities. Jennifer talked earlier about innovation and creativity. You know, you think about the innovation and creativity that women bring to an organization or as entrepreneurs, that's how we're actually going to grow. Inclusion is actually a catalyst for business growth. It's not a way to preserve value. And I think a lot of these women that Jennifer is developing in GWI is developing in the future leaders, they need three things. They need the connections that we talked about. How do we make sure that they're part of the networks? Because so often these networks have been exclusionary. They certainly need information. We need to make sure that we are using the right channels to get the information out to them. And then, yeah, they need the resources. They need to be supported by an ecosystem that also allows them to fail every now and then. Because how many times do we see men fail in organizations or we just give them the benefit of the doubt that they're competent and like, they know their style. Like it just. No, they're disconnected. And so we also need to give, you know, these, these women the ecosystem and the permission to. Sometimes it's, it fails, but we give them a second opportunity like we do for everybody else.

It's interesting. When I have tried to think about the definition of the word privilege, the first thing that comes to mind is permission to fail. It's people who get second chances.

Absolutely.

So that's a really important point because in the workplace, you know, you need to feel safe enough and comfortable enough that you can share your ideas that you're not going to get pounced on that you've got good ideas to share. It's super interesting. We did a national study what's inside the minds of Gen Z. And now more than ever now compared to three years ago, one of their number one priorities when they are looking at taking a new job is do they value diversity? Do they respect other people? Are they putting their money where their mouth is? And they're looking at this. You know, it's, I think the world really is going to change with the next generation. And so, you know, Greg, back to what you were saying. I think some people will be hurt because they're not moving with the times. Right. At some point it's going to catch up. You got to have good employees that people are going to age out.

Faith. If I could just build on that quickly. I'm sorry to interrupt. I, you know, I was talking to a group of interns the other day and usually when I talk to interns and I ask them the question, like, what do you want from an employer? Like, it used to be people would always say, like, I want, you know, good pay. Like it would use. At least when I was coming up, everybody would say I want to be paid well or what. And now they talk about, you know, exactly the things Jennifer, you just talked about. It's like, what's your, what's your, what's your social justice strategy?

Yeah, it's very real.

Yeah, there's. Hold on, let me. So 70% of the girls with Impact Ventures are social impact oriented, Jen.

Yeah.

So these girls and young women are learning a lot from you and the women whom you're mentoring too, Greg. What are you learning from them?

Well, number one is that their values are very different, that they have this huge sense of social justice and urgency to solve Some very big issues like the planet that's sort of across the board and equity and fairness. The other, and this is something we were just talking about yesterday, is that how we teach them has to, to be different from how we have taught folks 20, 30, 40 years ago with long textbooks, you know, reams of text. This generation is using pictures, right? Short amount of text. And so one of the things that we're thinking about is boy, how do we help them learn the most effective way? Right, Very interesting. So those are just a couple of the big things.

And how do you, what do you do? What's the answer to that?

How do we help them learn the most effective way? Well, we track, we track them on completion and we can see in our system how engaged they are. So we look at that. But we're always looking to improve our look at, we could constantly improve our curriculum and we have, by the way, we have a follow on program. After they go through the academy and they come out with a business plan, they can go into a pathway where they, they're paired with a mentor like someone from US bank to work with them to either bring that venture to life or to land on their first job or land in college. So you know, the other thing is huge interest around money issues. Much more than I thought. We saw that in surveys. We saw a big increase in worries about racism over, you know, versus a few years ago. And overall they want to, to drive personal change and, or they want to be their own boss. Those are some of the very big headlines. And so we have to say as a society, okay, what does that mean? If I need to hire workers, how do I make them feel like they can be their own boss or innovate within? Right. And how can I retain them? Not just get them, but retain them with some of those things that we talked about earlier.

As a jaded old Gen Xer, I hear all this and I think, okay, but like some of the things these girls are up against that they probably haven't even thought about are like, we have to fix parental leave, we have to fix childcare. Like the realities of how many women dropped out of the workforce during this pandemic, I feel like are really working against us.

That's a great one because we also did a big study on women post pandemic and they're all looking to have more flexible, flexible working arrangement. Everybody who comes to work at Girls with Impact essentially wants to work remotely full time. That's a huge shift for everybody, right? It's no longer, I think are Companies going to have. They're probably going to move to a hoteling concept, which, which you see to some extent.

And I think, Faith, you know, I guess what I've learned, I think. I think women are leading a lot of that change. And maybe that's intuitive for all of you. But I think what I'm learning from the women that I talk to is how transformative they're thinking about this. I think these whole flexible work arrangements, what both of you are talking about, women are really leading that charge in a way that's so refreshing and brave and courageous. And I think, like, we're not going to go back. You know, you're right, Faith. The challenges are daunting. But you know, what I talk about with my mentees all the time, it's like, just, just lay a great brick today. Like, just, just lay a brick today and like, like lay one every day and ultimately we're gonna have a wall. But this notion of servant leadership, and, you know, leadership is never about you. It's always about something greater than yourself. And I. That's what I think women are really sort of doubling down on. It's like, we can contribute in ways that are so un. Unique and like, we're not going to turn around. So, like, get on board with us. Because, you know, Greg, I was going.

To ask you if you think with that statistic that 70% of the girls with impact ventures are socially oriented, social impact oriented, do you think this is a little gendered? Do you. Is it. Is this a fair question? Do you think that young women have a more, let's say, generous view of the future with a bigger purpose than some young men?

You've known me long enough to know. I'm going to answer that question this way. You know. You know, I was raised by five women, Faith, so you know my story.

I want to thank them all.

I'm. You know, there is no question. I'll just say it the way I said it before. There is no question in my mind that women are living, leading that conversation in ways that's absolutely beautiful.

And then just imagine, Greg, if we armed them earlier on with skills, confidence, and the aha that I can really do this. You know, the impact on our economy, workplace policies, job creation, social justice, equity. I mean, it'd be night and day.

Why is this so obvious to all of us right here? And like, how does the message get into the VC firms? Like, how is. How is 2% an actual fact?

It is so criminal to me. I just cannot tell you.

And it's I didn't mean that to be rhetorical. Is there an answer?

It's, well, it's the same. I think it's exactly what I said before. It's people and people, when they make investment decisions, they invest in people they know and it's.

And yet so much VC fails, right? Like it's a throw money at the wall situation. Throwing some money at the girls and not the wall.

Totally. Yep.

But here's what I think is going to take fate, like I think it's going to take like one just home run scenario, right, that we can all celebrate and somebody in the industry, like a US bank or somebody has, you know, we will continue to have the courage to do something to change it, and sometimes we're going to miss, but if we can bring light to, you know, and have an example that we can stand up, it's kind of like Hollywood, right? Like, I hate to use it, but, you know, once there's a hit, like, people will want to replicate that and we, we need to just continue to bring attention to those businesses that are incredible, that are women led, women owned, that are incredibly successful and use our resources to, to continue to bring attention and what the best practices that were in place and just beat the heck out of it because then others will want to replicate that success. So that, at least I don't know if that's. But I think that's, you know, that's the intentionality that I think we'll all have to have and that's the intentionality that we have at the bank.

Well, it's interesting because I am working with one of your leaders to connect with VC firms because I want them. They're very much on my radar. You know, there's a lot of other things going on, but they're really the purse strings, you know, to making this happen. And I do think the winds are changing where they also need to, to be demonstrating equity. When you see these social justice crises happen, you know, the men are also saying, wait, what are we doing? So, you know, I think, you know, but there is a sense of urgency. We need them to move on it now.

I think it's safe to say, Jen Openshaw, when something or someone is on your radar, you're going to get there. There is going to be some impact.

I hope so.

Jen Openshaw, thank you for what you're doing. My daughter will be 14 in six years and I'm already ready to sign her up.

Hey, there's nothing like the impact these young women can make. So thanks for having me.

Faith and Greg, thank you for introducing me to another spectacular human being.

Absolutely Jen, thanks for being with us. And Faith, it's a joyride as always. Thank you.

Thanks for listening to another episode of Real Good. If you like what you hear heard, subscribe anywhere you get your podcasts. We'll see you soon.

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