95. TechFest Live: Bridging the Gap in Tech Education with Khalil Vinson

In this episode of the College and Career Ready podcast, host Sonia Cacique welcomes Khalil Vinson, the founder and CEO of TechFest Live. Khalil shares his mission to bridge the technology gap for black and brown students through TechFest Live, an ed-tech nonprofit organization. They discuss the importance of identifying student interests, the impact of imposter syndrome, and the broad opportunities technology offers across various industries. Khalil also provides insights into the upcoming TechFest Expo on November 8th at the University of Houston, emphasizing the importance of community and mentorship in navigating tech careers.

00:00 Introduction to College and Career Ready Podcast
00:39 Meet Khalil Vinson: Bridging the Technology Gap
03:13 Exploring Tech Education and Career Opportunities
05:00 Identifying Interests and Leveraging Technology
17:26 Overcoming Imposter Syndrome and Finding Mentors
24:18 The Future of Technology and Inclusivity
27:03 TechFest Live: Empowering the Community
34:20 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

For more information on Tech Fest Live: https://techfestlive.com/

Connect with Sonia Cacique
LinkedIn
Instagram

Join our College and Career Connections Club for free at www.CollegeCareerReady.org/join

Learn about our Career Connections Course: www.CollegeCareerReady.org/COURSE

"Stay well, be present, and enjoy the journey"

Transcript

0:00

Hey, this is Khalil Vincent with TechFest live and you're listening to the college and career ready podcast.

Sonia Intro: 0:06

Welcome to College and Career Ready, the only podcast that helps students transition from high school to college and college to their career. My name is Sonia Cacique. I'm a former educator, certified school counselor, career coach, and founder of Discover U. Together, we will redefine what it truly means to be college and career ready. And with our community, you don't have to do this alone. So come with me and let's get started.

Microphone (ATR2100x-USB Microphone)-1: 0:39

Hi, parents, students and educators. I'm your host, Sonya KCK. And today I am thrilled to welcome a very special guest Kaleel Vincent. He is the founder and CEO of tech Fest live and incredible nonprofit ed tech organization, dedicated to bridging the technology gap for black and brown students. And in this episode, Kaliyah will share his passion for empowering students through technology, showing us how it can open doors to diverse career opportunities. And we will just be speaking about traditional roles like coding and engineering, but across various industries. We will explore how students can identify their interests and passions while leveraging technology to pursue meaningful careers. And we'll touch on the topic of imposter syndrome, Less Khalila will give us a sneak peek into the upcoming tech Fest expo. It's happening on November 8th at the university of Houston tech bridge in Houston, Texas. It's a free community event. So we'd love for you to join us there. All the details are included in our show notes. So make sure to check them out for more information. And if you're curious about the intersection of education technology, anchored development, Well, then without further ado, let's get started.

1:50

Welcome Khalil. Welcome to the college and career ready podcast. I'm so happy to have you here today. It's great to be here. Thank you for your time and, inviting me to be on the podcast this evening. Glad to be here. I would love for you to share with our audience a little bit of a high level overview about yourself and what you do. Yeah, I'm happy to. So Khalil Vinson, founder and CEO of TechFest Live. TechFest Live is a non profit ed tech organization whose mission, is to connect the youth of today to a better tomorrow through technology opportunity. Khalil, is a. enthusiastic founder who has a passion for really changing the culture and the narrative around technology when it comes to black and brown students. My goal is to get more of us involved in the world of technology, but not just focusing on coding and engineering. I want us to focus on industry basis and realize that. Every company nowadays is a tech company and with technology mixed with your passion, it's a recipe for success. And so, Khalil is just all about being in the community, promoting cool technology to kids. that's really, at the base of it, what it's boiled down to. And, I just really feel like there's a need right now to make sure we bridge this technology gap, which in turn will bridge the wealth gap, if done, right. So I love that. So tell me what tech ed means. So bring us back down to basics. What is tech ed? Yeah. So at the simplest form, tech education, is using technology resources. Whether that is, certifications, whether that's workshops, whether that's, on site training, whether that's just YouTube videos, it's using technology, to expand the minds of anyone, with a more digitally sound, a more digitally sound understanding of the world of technology we live in. Technology is such a broad, Industry is such a broad term that oftentimes it can be thrown around in so many different conversations and kind of languages, right? I mean, you just think the coding languages. How many coding languages do we have a ton? Right? And so I think it's important for us to understand really. At the base level, what is technology? It's a way for us to do things, either faster, more efficient, more on time, right? And so anything and everything is technology, from the microphone that you're using to the headphones to the microphone that I have cell phones, right? There's there's levels to technology. and no matter what level you get in that, yeah. This ad tech ad space has been something that's grown over the last, I want to say 20, but it's probably been longer than that. Right? And so, just getting people familiar with the, ed tech space and what does it mean? And how do live thrive in it? is it's something that I think as an ecosystem, we're still pushing towards, but it's nothing different than you're saying, digital, like teaching digital literacy or teaching, character development or hard skills. It falls in the same type of, Domain, when you're thinking about just education in general. Yeah. So one thing that you mentioned was passions. I understand. when students are in middle school, high school, this still haven't really identified a passion, right? that's a big term. But let's, let's use the word interest, right? They have interests. So how can a student explore interests or passions and find something that connects. With a field in technology. Yeah, I think it's starting at home and what do you do on a daily basis? Right. So what is your routine? I would encourage a student to, to go through this checklist. What is your routine when you get home? So you get off the bus or your mom, your mother or father drops you off, whatever your routine is, you get home, are you running, going straight and doing your homework? And then once homework is over, are you jumping on the video game? Are you. playing, I don't know, Minecraft. Are you doing sports? Like what are you already doing that? No one has to say, Hey, go do this or that's your interest, right? That's your passion, right? So then take that and say, okay, maybe it was sports. Maybe it was soccer or baseball or whatever sport it might be. And that's what you're going to do. Every time you get home, once you're finished your homework, once you've done all your chores, your parents told you to do, you're going to play that sport. Now, what I want you to do is. Start to realize that sport, just because you might not be an athlete in that sport, right? Maybe you don't play for your middle school or your high school. And when you graduate high school, maybe you don't even go play for your college team in that particular sport. But what you can do is still hold on to that passion and use technology to fuel your passion. So If I'm very passionate about baseball, but unfortunately I couldn't make the majors, didn't make the minor league, but I still have this burning passion for baseball. Like the strolls are amazing. I just can't get enough of it. Try to use technology as a way to put yourself in a position to where you can go work for an MLB team or a minor league team, right? Or you can go work for the Rockets or the Texans or the dash or dynamos, right? And so I, my, my encouraging message is when it comes to interest, find your interest. And then use technology to help bring up that process of how can I make this tangible for myself, you're opening doors to students who really get discouraged when they don't when their plan doesn't work out right when they don't make the college team or. when a coach just tells them you're just not fit to play pro, which you know, happens and their dreams are crushed. So what you're saying is that there's opportunities that they can still, hopefully by then it's a passion that they can instill their passion into a career and specifically in technology. I love that. I love that. So as far as careers in technology, and I know we can literally spend a whole hour just describing all the different careers, can you give us a high level overview of what careers let's do this? Let's focus on the careers that most people don't think of, because I'm sure you can go through the list of the things that everybody thinks about, but what careers do people not think of as technology great question. I want to start here, though. I'll go to that. But I think it's important to highlight that people aren't even Realizing that before you start at what careers we have to start at the industry, right? I T and cyber security are, of course, the main things that people think when it comes to what do I want to get a job in technology, right? I'm either probably coding or I'm an engineer of some sort. But what I want people to focus on before they get to the career part is look at every industry as now a technology industry, whether that's working at John Deere, Whether that's working at McDonald's, whether that's working at Footlocker, whether that's working at Walmart. You have a chain of command, right? So we all know, these different industries or these different companies that I just mentioned, they have a, almost a corporate ladder. You'd say, right? You have folks who start in the entry level and you have folks that work their way up to middle manager, senior manager and et cetera, right? And you have this across all these different verticals and industries. And so, Oftentimes, we're not looking at a John Deere as a technology company. We're looking at them as an agriculture company. But what I want, parents and students to understand is that John Deere, Walmart, Foot Locker, all these other organizations, they have technology roles and positions for you. So don't limit yourself to you. I don't know what careers are out there because this company doesn't own for face value. Right? This company doesn't look like a tech company. It doesn't really their commercials don't say, Hey, I'm a tech company. But if you do some research and you dive deeper, this is where I'll get into the career part. So for John Deere, you can go fly drones for John Deere and survey land. you can work for Walmart, at the corporate level, right? You can be in charge of the software that you, that automates all of their, shipping and receiving. So there's so many different career paths when it comes to technology. I think there's far more than I could sit here and say that some that you might not understand, but I think for me, the driving message that I want to send is, yes, there are some that you might not know, but there's even more industries that you are probably overlooking because it doesn't necessarily fit into the mold of what a technology company looks like. I can say from personal experience, I graduated with my computer information systems degree. And for a long time, I thought that I had to go work at the bigger tech companies because that fit the technology mold, right? It's like, if I wasn't working at these larger companies, then I felt like I must not be in tech, but that's not true. I could go work for whether it's the same size, small, medium. But just in another industry or another lane. So I just want the folks tuning in and listening to this to. Really focus on the industry and find your passion within that industry. And then that career you'll you're more, I promise that you will find a career path in that if you stick with, what industry do I want to go into first? Beautiful, beautifully said. I love it. I love it. Cause this is exactly what I teach in my course. And you are one of the first to actually speak my language. So I love that. Um, so now let's move on to reinforce what you stated earlier, I interviewed someone, which this podcast episode has not been released yet, but in that interview, she was sharing with me how she's in cells and she was working for Walmart, headquarters specifically the fashion department, And she said, she didn't like her job at all. And I was like, what? I mean, for me, it would be like, okay, that's pretty cool. It's fashion, right? Cause I love fashion, but then it's interesting because she later moved on to a role, still in cells for PepsiCo and she's a foodie. And she loves working for them. I mean, and it's crazy cause for me, I'm, I'm not necessarily a foodie. So for me, it would be like, Oh my gosh, that would totally not align with me, but you're right. And it's the same. She, I think she does the same responsibilities but now she's working for a company that is aligned with what interests her. And again, she's a foodie. So PepsiCo was perfect. And honestly, Sonya, like before we, before a parent or a student even gets to thinking about where you want to go, what you just said is so important. Like take technology out of it, take all of that out of it. Go where you are happy. Go where you are celebrated, where it aligns with your personal missions. go to the companies that their values align with your values. Their structure lines with your structure, like outside of everything else that we talk about on this podcast or that Sonia has talked about previously, or that you've heard. That is one of the most important things because. Without that, you can't do your job. Well, you can't have a clear mind when it when things get challenging because there's so many other things that are, are bogging your mind down because you might not be happy at work, or it might not be the best fit. Now, sometimes we do have to do jobs that. Are not our stepping stone job. So I'm not saying just because every job does not meet your set of requirements that you just, you don't try your best, but it's very important to make sure that you're aligning. Who you are as a person with the employer that you would like to work for, because just as much as you have to work for them, they have to hire you. So it's a. it goes both ways when it comes to choosing, that employer. And that was just Khalil's little, tidbit there. No, I love that. I love that. Cause that's what I tell my students. I'm like, when you identify yourself, so through our course, we, my students will walk out knowing their core values and describe themselves to a point where they can speak that in an interview. And that's exactly what I tell them. they will be able to pick out if you are the right fit or not. And you will too in the process, but you have to identify that First. So I love that, that you share that. Now let's describe. I don't know if I should say this, but a techie kid, right? So a tech student, what are, what, besides the interest, right? Because we can fit, we can find, an industry that fits them, but what defines a student who does well in tech, what characteristics, what soft skills, what hard skills do you think, can really make you stand out and think that's a good potential for a tech opportunity. I feel a certain way about this topic and question and I'll tell you why, oftentimes in black and brown communities, technology and the, Nerd stigma is a hindrance to black and brown communities because, we oftentimes have looked at quote unquote a nerd or someone who is smart or very much educated as Someone who is not cool, or they're not running in the social groups that are going on in middle schools and high schools. Right. And so for me, I am trying to dispel the notion and the stereotype that being a quote unquote nerd is something to be ashamed of. Or it's something that, students should shy away from because it makes them look. Less than their peers who are trying to be cool or putting on whatever it might be. So For me, I don't know if I can say what are the characteristics that identify a techie because I think we're all techies. We just don't know it. Right. But like, if you're doing challenges and things on Roblox or you're playing even Call of Duty or 2k and you're doing all these different things. Have you, or you have ever. recoded a website or change the color if you're doing very small things in technology, you are a techie, whether you realize it or not. Every day we hold these devices in our hands, right? And we're all techies. We just maybe don't identify as a techie, I'd say from an education standpoint, the same that it goes for all professions, right? You won't, you want to. See someone with good character. You want to see someone with, good team building skills. you want to see someone who's inquisitive, who's asking questions. you want to see someone that has some And they have a passion and they're confident. I think all of those skills translate to any industry, any job, any boss is going to be happy to have those students who have those core capabilities because you can always build train on core capabilities. What's hard is when there's personality. I won't even say there's not a personality issue, but when there's personality, discrepancies and maybe they're not the, they're not the most confident or maybe they need to work on team building. Those are things that I think in any profession, whether we're talking about technology or not, those are things that you have to work on as a younger, as a youth or young adult or an adult. So I don't really want to define exactly because I think everyone's a techie. I think they just might not know it yet. Okay, I'm gonna ask you a follow up question for that. But before I also want to dive in here and say that opposite to, to students thinking that, you know, that they don't want to be labeled as nerds, et cetera. The other thing I do see, and this is again, from my personal experience is the imposter syndrome. Even though they might know that they're nerdy or that they're techie and they have these skills. A lot of students of color, right. feel like they don't fit in. They're not smart enough. They're not good enough. They are not capable enough. What would you say to a student who feels that who fee who knows in their heart that they're technology driven and they could do something with that. But then the imposter syndrome hits and they're like that's not for me. I'm not good enough. what would you say to them? Yeah. To them, I would say that life is about experiences and you cannot expect. To have all of these experiences as you're the person standing next to you or someone that's older or younger than you, you have to run your race. And sometimes your race is not the prettiest scenery. Sometimes the race that you're running, you might come into obstacles where it feels like you are not worthy of what. you're worthy of, but it's not always going to be perfect. Sometimes you are going to feel that, is this the right thing for me? Should I be doing this? Does this actually make sense? Can I actually do this? And on the other side of that fear and that doubt, is a pathway to, yes, I can. I am worthy of this. this is for me. And so, even I'll make it even more personal. Even I have. dealt with or struggled with, times where I felt like I'm doing a lot of great things. But then that imposter syndrome kicks in and says. Wait, am I really doing this? Is this really something that Khalil can do? And, my advice to you all is find a mentor, talk to your parents. If you have a big brother or a big sister or a cousin, uncle, aunt, a teacher, an administrator, if you can talk to Ms. Sonia, come and speak to us and let us bring you back to where you are. Sometimes even adults need a, a boost. Sometimes even folks that you don't think whatever need a boost, like your favorite athlete the president, it doesn't. We all sometimes need boost, whether that's our confidence boost or, just we all need it. So don't feel like Man, like I'm going through something and it's just not like you're human and it's gonna happen. But what you don't let it do is you don't let it bring you down. you don't let it consume you. Sometimes things are just for the moment, right? We have an entire life to live. And if you let, 10 minutes, even if you let a day or two days stop you from what you really have going for. x amount of time like that. that's not the right way to do it. from my own personal experience, I would say, find a mentor, find someone that you can talk with. And that, that will be my advice. That would be my advice. I love this because what I wants to bring out is that. students can reach out to Khalil can reach out to me, look for someone who looks like you who speaks like you, even if it's just one person that you can relate to, and ask them, we've all experienced imposter syndrome at some point, even to this day, I have mentors and support and I'm sure Khalil does too. And so I'm trying to open. The conversation with students and parents letting know it's okay and asking questions is actually empowering. The people who don't ask questions are the ones that stay behind. the people who have done great things in our, in our country, in our community are those who ask the right questions to the right people. So. surround yourself, reach out to us, let us know how we can support you. Now, back to the other question that I had asked you earlier about character, characteristics or, careers technology. And I completely a hundred percent agree with you, but let's describe to a student, whether. What do you think that typical workplace environment might look like, and maybe that can help them also identify themselves if they could fit in a type of environment like that or not. So do you feel that, this, these types of positions that technology would be someone for an expert, who's an extrovert, an introvert, or what type of working conditions can they expect? Technology is a very it's a very rapid, fast paced environment, whether you're in sales or whether you're an engineer or an analyst, it is a fast paced environment. Okay. but I think it also goes back to the company that you choose. you hear a lot of great stories about, work environments at large tech companies who they're always having fun, but they're getting work done. So, it depends on your discipline, right? So if you're in a sales role, what sales comes with is, meeting quotas, meeting deadlines, making sure that you're, you're hitting your metrics. Now that is very fast paced. That's very like. time sensitive demanding, but maybe you're in a different role, maybe you're in a project management role, which still time sensitive, but not as like needy as a sales role, right. Or maybe you're a coder. And so maybe you're working from home as a coder. You might not even have to go to the office with how we're, how work, the workplace has changed over the last four years. So it honestly looks different in a lot of different industries. But I will say I think personally technology has the most flexibility. I see most of the tech companies, having hybrid or fully remote, work workplaces. so, yeah, I would say that it really does in that piece depend on your discipline, but in general, technology companies are, I would say, great places to work for, I think they provide a lot of balance, for their workers. I can't speak for all of them, but I think for the majority of them, they definitely seem to provide a good balance of work life balance. But, students, I will give you like a reality check. You will have to work like we can't. We're not going to get around working. Unfortunately, it might seem that everyone else around you isn't working, but I promise you if you start now and it doesn't have to be a traditional job, but if you start working now, You will thank yourself 5, 10 years later. Like, I am so glad that I started doing something. I'm not telling you what to do, but doing something, is better than Doing nothing. Yeah. And I promised my students or my audience a long time ago to interview a YouTuber and I'm still not there yet because I want to show them that it all takes drive, passion, interest, and it takes work. I mean, it really does. And I want to have an open conversation with, a very successful YouTuber. So I'm still looking for one to come on in here and really give a reality check to our students. And, yeah. And also not to discourage, but also to set a real picture of what that looks like. But anyways, I can get, we're going to go side topic on that one. I was going to ask you about the future of technology, in your eyes and through your experience, what does that look like? And I know, you don't have a magic wand and we're moving so fast. I mean, that's, it's a hard question, but what do you see technology going? Yeah, I think the future of technology is black and brown folks. that's where I see because we have an opportunity and as humans, we all have an opportunity, but I'm focusing on those that are marginalized that have not had those, big opportunities. The future of technology is black and brown people. We have to see ourselves in this space because if we don't, they're not going to see it for us. It, we can't. We can't rely on someone else to want it for us, right? We all know that there's, we've, there's been, we've been marginalized. There's been so many issues that are divided our country. And unfortunately, we can't react to them and we can, acknowledge them. But until we acknowledge that we need to get ourselves where we need to be. And I think where that is, is using technology as that vehicle to take us there. The future of tech looks like a more inclusive, diverse, efficient world. Technology is here as a tool to make us better. It's not here to divide us, to tear people down, to, pick sides. It's here for us to use as a tool, to get more information. Again, to do things more efficiently. and so the future of tech to me looks like success for all. It looks like success for all, all humans, black, brown, white, all of us, I think can very much succeed using technology. We just have to one, have a one for it. We have to see ourselves in it. we can't look to the left and right and say, Hey, do you see me doing this? No, you have to see it for yourself first and don't wait on someone else to Oh, I think you know, you should be confident in yourself and say, Hey, this is something that I can do. this is where I see myself in the future. So I'm excited about the future of technology. we keep getting better. we keep iterating, we keep making new discoveries. we keep finding ways to be more efficient. And, with the right focus, top to bottom, I think the future looks bright, but it, it, we will, black and brown individuals, we will be a part of this new technology wave. it's imperative. I love that. I love that. And I personally have experience working at a school where my classroom was the most colorful and diverse classroom. And I love that. I mean, we get to grow so much more when we are in a classroom of mixed students, because they learn from us and we learn from them. And it's, and I think that's more of a mutual benefit rather than exclusive benefit. And I love that. I value that a hundred percent and I'm excited about the future looking like that even more for, tech education and in a technology world. So tell us and, share with our audience about TechFest live, So, TechFest live nonprofit ed tech organization based in Houston, Texas. We have four pillars to our programming. We have our annual TechFest expo. We have our for the youth program. We have a program called TechFest mobile, and we have TechFest community. Our bread and butter. What most folks know us as is our annual TechFest expo. We're gearing up for the fifth annual TechFest expo Friday, November 8th at the University of Houston TechBridge campus. From 8 a. m. to 5 p. m. What this event is, it's a culmination of bringing together all the industries that I was talking about, your agriculture, aviation, sports, gaming, healthcare. This year we have sponsors like Citgo, UR Research Institute, Microsoft, Comcast, and we're also looking to bring in more sponsors. What that event is a speaker panels. It's activations zones. It's workshops. It's exhibitors. You get to come in and see what is the world of technology look like right here in your backyard in Houston, Texas. So, I would definitely invite you all out to be a part of our 5th annual expo again. It's Friday, November 8th at the University of Houston Tech Bridge campus. This event is geared towards middle school and high school students, and it's a free event for the community. We actually work very close with school districts, private schools, charter schools, and homeschool kids. so they are all welcome to, to pull up to the, to pull up to the, tech bridge, and join us for that fifth annual Tech Fest Expo. Oh my goodness, I am so excited and I will be there. So I'm really looking forward to this opportunity. and I'm bringing my kids as well. They're 11 years old, perfect age for them to be immersed. And, one of the things that, that I should, this is why I started the podcast and started discover you college degree coaching, because I have a pair of twins that were born. One minute apart from each other and they are night and day, completely different from each other. Same parents born the same day, just one minute apart and they're night and day. And what I want, and I hope that all parents and students listen to this, because I think this is important. I want to discover what's. Of interest to them. And the only way to find out what is interesting to you is by attending these events. Even if you think you might not be, you're not my, you might not be a great fit for this, for this type of career or industry go. You never know, you only know what you're exposed to. And if I was to limit, I am a first gen college graduate. Both of my parents were their first and their families to come to the United States. If I was to only surround myself by my immediate family and my immediate community, I would have never reached the place where I am today in my career. The way I have learned to exponentially grow and continue my career growth is by Getting in the room with people who look different than I do and asking questions, being curious. There are so many people who are ready to answer questions. I mean, I think it takes us longer to ask the question than it is for them to quickly respond and help us out. Yeah. You said something. Sometimes it's not knowing what you like. It's knowing what you don't like. If you can identify what you don't like, you're what you like will find you faster. So as Sonia was saying, You may say, I don't, technology is not my thing. But if you come to this expo, if you go to any technology event, go so you can figure out what you don't like. Sometimes identifying that first is better for some people. Again, you just gave a great example. You have twins that are night and day. So obviously folks are different, right? So you may not like a certain thing, which is fine, but knowing what you, knowing either or, We'll do a great benefit for you in the long run because you can make decisions faster. If I go to a restaurant and I don't know if I like pizza or hamburgers, I might sit there for a while and trying to figure out what to order. But if I go in and say, okay, I know I don't like these four food items. I'm not even looking at them. I'm only focused on what I like. And now you can start to narrow your career path. And I think that's one of the hardest things. Like I struggle with that. I think that's one of the hardest things when you're in high school and you're trying to figure out. Well, there's all these options. How do I choose? Well, start eliminating, start saying, Hey, well, I know I'm not doing this. Well, maybe this field is not for me. This field is not for me. Eliminate everything that's not for you so that you can focus on what is for you. So that may be a good strategy for some folks that are struggling to figure out, to make choices, like identify what is not for you, what you don't like, put it to the side and then start to get all your focus on what is for you. Absolutely. And career is not an endpoint. It's a journey. Where Khalil started, where he envisioned, I'm sure Khalil, when you were in high school, you didn't envision TechFest live then, but it was through the experiences. techfest. live. com. You can learn a lot through the journey that you have continued to evolve and a career. It also depends on the season of life that we're in. And so there's no better opportunity to know what it is that you want or don't want. Right now in your most immediate, future. if you don't attend events like this and it's free. So attend. Tech fest live with Khalil. And come say hi. If you see either one of us, because we'd love to see you. Yes, we would. Awesome. Thank you so much, Khalil. Is there any parting, advice or words that you'd like to tell our audience before we let you go? parting advice or words, I would say that remain confident, remain humble. And in between confident and humble seek advice. I am where I am today because I sought after advice, but I don't take everyone's advice. That gives me advice. I think that's a tool. Like, I think people, especially like I'm a millennial. So I think millennials and younger. When we, when people tell us, when more seasoned people say, Hey, go find a mentor, go take advice. They're not telling you to listen to every single word that someone is telling you. What you do with that information is they say, Hey, this is my advice to you. You listen and you listen to, don't listen to speak. Listen to actually listen, hear what they say. And take the points out of their talk that align with you. Not everything is, you don't have to take everything in. Sometimes like they might only say two bullet points that mean something to you and the rest might fly to here. That's fine. twin confidence and humbleness is where you want to lie. And if you're in that sweet spot, be willing, be coachable. And then from there, just put one foot in front of the other. That is what I did. I didn't have a magic wand. I didn't have a map that said, Hey, this is where you're going to go. It's exactly how you do it. I just put one foot in front of the other. I stayed by my faith and I found people that aligned with my mission and that believed in myself and it's a recipe for success. So hopefully that works for you. Oh my gosh. Perfect. Thank you so much, Khalil. And I'll have how to reach out and connect with Khalil on our show notes. Thank you so much for being here with us, Khalil. Yeah. Thank you.

Microphone (ATR2100x-USB Microphone)-2: 34:20

Thank you for tuning into this episode at the college and career ready podcast. I hope you enjoyed our conversation with Kaleel Vincent and found his insights on technology, education and career development. As inspiring as I did. Don't forget whether you're a student, parent, or educator, you can join us in person at the upcoming tech Fest expo on November 8th at the university of Houston tech bridge in Houston, Texas. It's a free event, Open to the community. And it's a great chance to explore the world of technology with your family. You can find all the details in our shadows or go directly to tech Fest, live.com for more information, We hope to see you there. My friend until next time, adios.

35:02

Thank you for listening in. If you enjoyed this episode, it would mean so much to me if you share it with a friend, a colleague, or your own community. If you share it on social media and tag me, I'll make sure to personally thank you. My two favorite places to hang out are Instagram and LinkedIn. Check out our show notes for a direct link. I'm so thankful for each and every one of you. And as always stay well, be present and enjoy the journey. I'll talk to you next week. Adios.