[MUSIC PLAYING] Hola, familia. I'm your host, Demia Sedvina Hernandez. And welcome back to another episode of Ship Out Loud. This week, we have a very special episode. It's a candid and inspiring conversation with Ship's very own CEO, Susanna Valdez-Wolfe. She was born in race in El Paso, Texas, and her commitment to family and service shaped her path from public policy in Washington, DC to eventually leading our organization through a pivotal moment in Ship's history. In this conversation, we explore Susanna's unique upbringing on the US Mexico border, her deep passion for civic engagement, and the lessons learned from her career in public service. She also shares her vision for Ship and the crucial role that collaboration, mentorship, and community play in empowering his Binings in STEM. Whether you're a new member finding your footing, or a seasoned professional looking for inspiration, Susanna's story resonates. So without further ado, let's dive in and listen to Susanna Valdez-Wolfe, speak out loud. All right. So before we get started, are you donating fun in the last few weeks? I have. I spend a whole week in San Antonio for the holidays. And so that's the first time I've spent a week there in a very long time during the holiday break. So it was very nice. In Texas, it's always a nice place to be during the holidays. Yeah. So what did you do? Do you see family or-- Yes. --accessing? I actually-- we had to put my dad in memory care all I was there. So it was a bittersweet Christmas, but found a really good place for him, amazing support, amazing care, great nursing. So yeah, that was a big part of my Christmas break. Yeah, I always worry about that with my mom, because she always said, I don't want to be put in one of those places, right? Like I don't want to-- Wait. Right. But then she also says she doesn't want to be a burden, but she's very strong. She's like complete-- Yes. My dad is 89 years old, and while he is physically capable of walking and taking care of himself, right, that it's the memory that begins to fail them. And so I'm grateful-- my entire family is grateful that he's ready for a different level of care. So-- Yeah, I hope that's its degree. That's on point, you know? Yes. I have a-- I look at friends going through that. It's their mom. And he says it's hard because when they don't remember stuff, then they get angry. And so that's the hard part. And I can-- you know, I can see that. It's frustrating, especially when you're like that in between mode. I remember some stuff, and I can realize I'm not remembering. Brainer. And it's frustrating. But yeah, well, what a somber beginning. We're sitting down and talking. So there you go. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. No, I agree. It's something I worry about. But we'll see. We'll see what happens. And maybe the Tesla robots will be available. It's exactly how I have a good care of her. Well, thank you so much, Susanne, for joining me here on the podcast. I appreciate you making the time. And you're extremely busy. I've got a lot of things going on within SHIP. And a lot of moving pieces. And I have to say that at least from my end, you've been adjusting really well to being the CEO of SHIP. I know that you kind of walked into a very complex situation in a complex time where as soon as you came in, they were like, OK, you want to change SHIP. And you're like, wait, wait, wait, I'm just adjusting to what SHIP is. And now we're going to change it. I want to say that the amount of times that we had to converse, it's been a good time. And I kind of wanted to share some of that with our audience so they can get to know who you are as a person. So I'm going to give you a short little chance for you to introduce yourself to our audience. OK, awesome. Well, thank you for having me. I love what you do with this podcast. And I listened to many stories. As you may know, I've stated before that one of the best hearts of BMCEO and the most meaningful conversations I've had is hearing the members' stories and their journey with SHIP. You've played a big role in that. So thank you for facilitating that. So yes, the Sanival Deshwolf. I've now been CEO of SHIP for the last 10 months. It's been an incredible journey. Things I probably anticipated, things I didn't anticipate, as you said, a by-laws change that is happening right as we speak, since the vote was put out. And so I'm grateful to be here. I was born and raised in Agpaso. Family values, family roots are very important to me. Family time is incredibly important to me, hence my going back. And having this time with my dad, as he makes a transition to memory care. I have spent most of my career in public service by values when it comes to my career choices and how I wanted to learn, grow, and invest in my career was really through serving others. I watched my parents do it. It was a big family value of ours. And so living in service to others is something that I am fulfilled by. I also have this very committed theory to paying it forward, because so many people have been responsible for my career growth. I'm married. My husband, Chris, I have a son, Raku, who's 14 years old. And my immediate family lives in Texas. And so I currently live in Miami. I'm also a spiritual person. I feel that I've had a very blessed life. And I always wanted to share my blessings with others. Ship is starting its 51st year, we're starting 2025. It's an interesting transition because of what I'm going through personally and then professionally, the launch of the ship of tomorrow, the evolution of an organization that's been here for 50 years. And the impact that it's had for 50 years. And so launching its 51st year, I feel as an incredible responsibility that I take very seriously. And I think about how ship should launch its 51st year, what my role is in supporting the staff, in working with the board, in supporting our members. Our members are-- we live in service to our members, our members are paramount. They are our mission. As I'm absorbing and learning the organization, and as I see a vision for the ship of tomorrow, I am constantly reconciling who I need to be for others, who I need to be for numbers, who I need to be for staff, and who I need to be for board, and who I need to be for myself. It's an exciting time. It can be at times overwhelming. I can imagine. Yes, it can be overwhelming. I love the passion that everyone has at ship for a mission. I strongly believe that if you don't have passion for a mission, that it must be really hard to come to work every day. It's not work. It's just part of who you are. I love working with teams. I'm a big team person. I love collaborating with others. I love getting ideas from others. I love lifelong learning. Being at ship, I learned so much about STEM studies, STEM careers. So ship for me as a CEO, as a leading organization in STEM, and core to that, supporting Hispanics and Latinos, is incredibly inspiring to me. So do you feel like growing up in Texas is any different from growing up in a different state? So being born and raised on the US-Vexican border is a unique perspective in life, because you grow up believing that biculturalism is hard of everyone's culture. Right. Because five minutes away, and I'm in what? We would go to what is like you would go to the supermortally. It was just living in two countries. Was never something that-- maybe I took it for granted, but it was something that was just my mindset growing up. Right. Right. I lived in LADC, New York, now I am. When I first left El Paso and went to college, or with to Washington to start my career. That. sense of having a bicultural existence, but understanding from a policy perspective, what issues impact a border city that impact no other city, right? Because we had Makiladoras, which, you know, twin plants, there being on the Rio Grande, the environmental impact that that had the level of poverty that you would see. So that informed me with respect to the issues that I cared about, healthcare, environment, education at a very young age. Now, my parents volunteered, I've said this story before, my mom was one of 12, and they always said there's always room at the table for one more. That abundance mindset was what framed how I looked at everyone that I came in contact with. And so that sense of community has always been very important to me. And up until the pride, right, that I'm from El Paso, that I'm from that part of the world, that part of the country that now I understand is unique, but did not feel unique growing up. Right. Yeah, like whatever you grow up with, that's what becomes the norm. I was born in Mexico and I came to California. So it wasn't as difficult because there is a large, obviously, Hispanic population in California. But I didn't realize how different it was until I traveled to a different state. So when I went to Arizona, and this was, I think the first I went to Arizona, I was like 14, 15, and I felt so out of place because the part of Arizona that we were in, it was mainly white populated. And I had never felt that before. I'm like, I've never felt like, oh man, like everybody's staring at me because I'm different. There's multiple cultures, always this, Hispanic culture, yeah, is a sort of part of Texas. And Florida, obviously you have like a Cuban population there that represents a big part of Miami, especially. But you mentioned that your parents were the ones who instilled that sense of service into you. So what did they do? What were they like? Yeah. So my mom was a nurse, again, a one of 12. I think she lost her father when she was in her 20, she was in the middle of the 12. And so very quickly had to help her mom provide for her siblings, right? So she was a nurse and ran a clinic in the middle of nowhere for many years, like the desert part of El Paso and the outskirts of El Paso. I remember growing up, people would call my mom if they had a medical issue. So if someone was sick or if something happened, like she would be the go to person for the family, for the neighborhood, for our community. And then later on, she became interested in becoming an entrepreneur. And when she married my dad, my grandfather purchased a bakery, so they actually owned two bakeries that they ran for many years. And I will tell you, their routine was waking up at three o'clock in the morning, going and opening the bakeries for the bakers, closing up at seven or eight o'clock at night, almost seven days a week. And in that life, they still helped at the church. They still volunteer. They still participated in community service organizations. And so it was open door, always room with the table for others and just give as much as you possibly can. My father was in the Navy. He was based in Japan for about three or four years, got out of the Navy, got a college degree, became a social worker, and went back to school later in life. I think while they were managing the bakeries, and he got a master's in psychology and ended up managing state facilities for people with mental disabilities. And did that for the rest of his career. He did that in El Paso. He did it in Corpus, and he also did it in Harlingen, Texas. What's interesting about that is that he was one of four boys, but he had a sister that was born deaf mute. And because my grandparents couldn't care for her, she was sent away to a school for the deaf at about 10. And my dad never saw her again until he was like 21 or 22. So that I think promoted his interest in helping people with all disabilities. Right? I'm sorry if that's not the right term, because I know the terms have evolved over time. But my brother would volunteer there. I volunteer from time to time. And it was, it just really showed you that the light in anyone's eye, there's a story behind it. Everybody has a story to tell. It's just about taking time and understanding and listening to what that story is. I learned that especially from both my parents, but also I think all of my family, my brother is a physician. He also volunteers at the clinic in Walde, Texas. And he's been doing that since he was a resident in medical school. So volunteering, helping others has always been a valued of our families. And I'm grateful that I was able to learn that from them. Yeah, I mean, your dad must have been or is a very strong person because social work is brutal. I've done research into social work and I've seen documentaries about it and I know that it's extremely emotionally demanding because you basically go to people when they're at their worst and you're trying to help out. And the tools that you're giving me help out are very limited. And so it really has to be something you're passionate about and then to go from that to being someone who helps those who are disabled or have learning challenges. Like I think when you see the change that you're making when you're doing something that's a little bit helpless, there's no feeling like it. There's no reward like it where you see like, oh man, I'm making some sort of difference in this person's life and it does feel great. So you weren't a social worker, right? It seems like you made the supporting others mission your own. So how did you do that? Where did you get the idea of taking that path and making it your own? You know, I think that public service, I could need on not only in the libosal, but in the bodies and surrounding communities. It's like, there's so much need. What can I do besides volunteering healthier? What can I do to impact and help change people's lives if I can? And so I always had this interest in what public service was about. Like you get elected to Congress, you get elected to the state house. So what is it that you do that can help change people's lives and how is that policy created? And so to me, that was something that fascinated me. What is that lever? What is that transformational thing that can impact people's lives forever? And it's the laws that govern us. It's the policies that guide us. And so I was really interested to explore that. I thought I wanted to explore it at the state level and had originally set my sights to work in the state house of the representatives in Austin, Texas. But by chance I met the congressman from El Baso at a voter event that I was volunteering at. And I had a conversation with him and shared with him my ideas about how we could make El Baso better. And so he said, when you finish school, you should think about interning in our office and seeing what you can do. And my sights were never in Washington, DC, right? That was just like so beyond my scope. And so I did reach out to him after I graduated. And he actually had a position open and entry level position in his office. And that was a big conversation in my family because going from El Baso to Washington, DC was never in the cards. And I say this to people as a Latina, right? As the Dino.
daughter in the household, there is expectations that are had of you culturally that may be different from your brother, right? And so it was not a big conversation with my parents because they were unconditionally supportive of me going and exploring that option, but it was a huge conversation with extended family about how appropriate would it be for me to move to Washington DC? How would that work? And what would that say about me? And it's a cultural thing that unless you're, you know, Mexican-American or Hispanic, it doesn't resonate. It probably does it ring true for many other people. And so I actually moved to Washington DC on the 16th of September, which is Mexican Independence Day. And so that experience in Washington, I said to myself, it was pretty overwhelming, was I would do it for a year and then I would go back to it. And what ended up happening is that I got so involved in the work that I was doing that I got engaged in a women's organization and a Hispanic congressional organization that supported not only other staff that were there because everybody comes from some of the assaults, right? And what kind of community do you want to build to support one another? But also looking at the issues in the policy areas that affected us as Latinos. And so I worked there with the congressman for a year and then I was able to and very fortunate to get a job with a US Senator Al Gore at the time. And my plans were to go to law school, but after working in the Senate and then that Senator becoming vice president and going to the White House, that just changed my life permanently. It changed a trajectory forever. So what stayed true to me was what I was doing every day to help the Latino community to help the Hispanic community. That formed everything that I did in DC, whether it was the House, the Senate, in the White House, I was the president's liaison to the Hispanic community. And I say to people, every day was privilege, but you're working 14, 15, 16 hours a day that every day just blends into one another. It's like you're so committed to what you're doing that it's lost on you. It's lost on me as to where I am until you're standing still for a second and saying, oh my goodness, I work at the White House. Right. Right. I and sharing all of those moments with my family, we didn't have text messaging back then. I would sit down and write letters every week about this is what happened to me this week. This is what I saw. This is and just wanting to share those moments and those opportunities with all of my family. Yeah. So you mentioned something that I do find really interesting and I understand, which is the cultural expectations of daughters usually. And I think for a lot of people, obviously this isn't like a hard rule, but for most families, especially the ones that are the first three generations, it's expected the daughters in a bit at home until they get married. And that's what made Lee Palm. So how did you manage that? I know that you said, you had these conversations with your family and did you like have to convince them or did you just tell them, now this is how it's going to be and this is what I'm doing. My parents, while it was hard for them, they said to me that I had their 100% you know unconditional support. And with everyone else, I had to convince them to trust me and that I would stay in contact and that I would visit as much as I can and that I had to call. So I've made this very long commitment to stay in touch and to stay connected to them. And I lived up to that. I traveled home as much as I could and back then how much I could afford because DC to El Baso is not a cheap plane ticket. So it was really just that leap of faith that they had to take with me. And I'm grateful that they did. I feel like I was able to demonstrate and show them that even though they felt that I had a certain role to fulfill in the family, that I was capable of doing more and doing it differently. And I didn't get married and didn't have my son to later a life. So again, every expectation that they had, it was just like their little son. She's going in another direction. But I for the most part always had their support. And their love. And hold her you when you left home. So the first time I left home I was 17 because I went to Texas Orange University when I was 17 years old. So that's when I left home and I actually never went back because I went to college then I worked in DC for 11 years. Then I lived in New York for four years and now I lived in Miami for 15 years. So then what's the conversation like when you were going to go back home to college? Was that what it was that instead you were telling them I'm not coming back home. In fact, I'm going to throughout watching. Correct. Correct. Yeah, I can see why that might be a difficult yeah, I was a station for especially they were looking forward to having me ask exactly to college. Exactly. So what was that like? I guess first your transition from home to college and then your transition from college to Washington. College was a big adjustment for me. I got very homesick. I really thought that I was going to pack up my bags and go home like after the first week of being away. But I just had a conversation with myself and said you worked really hard to get here. So you have to stay here and it was a lot of calls home and their support. But I would say it was very tough and then in DC it was the same thing. It was like how did I get here and why am I here? Like how did I make this choice? But what speaks volumes about our culture is the sense of community that we establish wherever we go. And what I say about that is food creates community faster than anything else. So I would cook for everybody and I'd be like come over for Mexican food, come over for more leg. I'll never forget when I was in Denton, Texas and my roommate, I don't think had ever left or worth if I'm not mistaken. And I went over to her parents' house and made chile rayanos for the first time. It was mind blowing. It was like I just made something that and so they're credit they ate it. Yeah. Why I started with that dish. I don't know. But the same thing happened in Washington. It was like I think I was making more than like every two weeks for people and just either taking it to people's houses or enchiladas. It was like those were my staples. It was like I don't have a lot of time. What can I make fast and what do I know what to make? Wait, wait, wait, wait, what to make fast with mule is very difficult. I would make that the sauce. I mean, so I had this sauce and I would also cheat and use doña Maria and just make it ahead of time. And so because people never had mule before and so it was like well, there's actually like 10 different types of mule. Here's the one that you're getting because it's easiest to make. So no, but I think even with that, it's still you didn't take the easy way out. You could have given them like tacos. You like to sign that. Being for me that fast would be so close to New Mexico. There's this war about red and green chili, right? Do you like rent you like green chili? Yeah. And it's the hatched chili from New Mexico and whatever. And so I would make my enchiladas sauce from scratch. Like my mom would send to the chillers. They were dried. I would boil them. I put them in the molino. I was like, I'm insane doing this in DC when I don't even have the tools to do that. I figured it out. I just I used a blender. Like I don't know how I did it, but I figured it out. Amazing. So that's it. I would never thought about that. You went to Washington DC to make mule. I'm on other things. Yes, no, but I agree. I agree so much with you that food does create a culture. And I think there's no better way to get close to somebody than to share with them. I have sense to create that sense of familiarity and friendship. And so I think that was really smart of you to do that. And you were displaying that sense of service because you were the one who was cream for the people, you could have said, "Hey, let's go out to you at this restaurant," right?
and I had been much easier, but the fact that you were going that up your way to lovingly because you were creating, you know, your sauce and some scratch. To do that work for them. I think that's incredible. Food is just really such an important part of our culture and our heritage, really. - Absolutely, and it doesn't break barriers, but it lowers whatever wall anybody can put up or opens doors. I feel like food does that. Sharing meals, opening your door and just say and come over for a meal, really facilitates and allows people to share moments that they would have otherwise not had. - Yeah, definitely not. So you're in Washington, DC, and I'm guessing it's very different from Texas. Did you have a hard time adjusting? What was it that you struggled with? - It's funny that you say that because I would be walking from my little tiny, what do they call it, row house? Yes. I had a room in a row house in Washington, DC, and I would be walking to work. And every person I'd pass, I'd say, "Good morning." - Oh, okay. - And I guess that's a Texas thing, right? And so people would look at me like, "Who is this person?" And why is she saying, "Good morning to me?" And so I think that that was a real eye-opening moment for me that I didn't know, right? That customarily, that that is how you greet people, even if you don't know them, you just say, "Good morning." - Yeah. - So did not have a lot of that reciprocated back in Washington, DC, but that's okay. I never stopped. It was not only that, but it was also the diversity in Washington, political diversity, there's ethnic diversity, there's racial diversity. It's like Washington is just a place like no other, right? With respect to what gets accomplished there and some people say nothing gets accomplished there, but the center of what governs this country starts and ends there, right? - Yeah. - And so walking through this Smithsonian, saying, "This is free." Like people are talking out to pay to get into this Smithsonian and you know, Museum of Natural History. All of that was just a, it was just a different part of the country. It was a different part of the world. It was a place that was so different from the border. And I would walk and walk and walk and take everything in. And I felt such a gift and such a good fortune for me to be there. - You're right, why can't you see? I mean, it's kind of the heart of our nation in a way because that's what you said. That's where we're things start and a lot of times where they end and I mean, it's a sign in a state. - So obviously you had this idea of wanting to make change what maybe politics were like, what the processes were like and you hadn't formed yourself about it. How did that compare to the reality of Washington? 'Cause they do wanna talk about it a little bit. Like you said, some people think, "Oh, nothing gets done there," but things do get done there. And when we all experienced it on a daily basis, but what was it like? What you had in your head of what it might be like versus what it was actually like? - So when I was in DC, there was still a sentiment, a pursuit of bipartisanship, especially on the hill. Because in order to get anything done, you need the support from the majority. - Yeah. - Right? And so what I learned there is how to bring others along, how to have an idea, develop that idea into a policy because you understand what impact that I can have and then how do you bring others along with you? - Yeah. - So that you can make that idea into legislation. - Up and on. - And all of that is collaboration, communication, open-mindedness. I may not see exactly eye to eye with you. However, I understand the greater good of what you're trying to accomplish and I want to support that. If I care about this issue in healthcare and this other legislator cares about this issue in education, how do we get one another support? How do we get that cross-collaboration so that we can make both ideas work? What I believe DC taught me is that things should be looked at as both and versus either or. It's not either me or you winning. It's how everyone wins the people, the community that we were elected to serve. So it's always like how can you serve more? How can we both come together and have greater impact? - Yeah, things sure are different now. Yes, but you're right. I remember growing up being a teenager, you would hear about these joint initiatives about how politicians were there because they wanted to make positive change in the way that they saw what's best, right? The goal was to make that positive change and it did. You would have a lot of these initiatives that were made because both sides of the aisle would think, "Hey, this is good for the people of America. "Let's go ahead and do this and work together on this." And you just rarely hear of that nowadays. It's definitely seeing the spirit of wanting to cut your nose off, to spike somebody else's back. It's in full effect. It feels like we're more divided than ever and just wanting to enact policies or loss to hurt the people that we think are against us. And I think that's that because obviously, if this country has so much potential, and we've had so many amazing people be born in this country and make amazing changes. Things are different now and hopefully, it does get back to the way it used to be to get some more collaboration. - Everyone, you can start somewhere, whether you're in the school board, you're on the city commission, it just takes one person to come forward and say, "Let's collaborate on this." Everyone at every level can make a difference. And for people to believe that the only difference that can be made is in Washington, that's not true. Because local communities, regional communities can be impacted and are impacted by decisions people make at local levels. And it matters. - You're right. Yeah, you're right. And I think sometimes we get so stuck and it's hard right now, and it's a good day to see the bigger picture, because people are all stressed out, and she's, but I think it helps to see that big picture of what collaboration means, because let's say that your community needs to build a bridge to somewhere that has resources and you decide, "I'm gonna do it my way or no way." And for you, you're still gonna end up hurting yourself and your community by wanting to have it only be your way, rather than making that work collaboratively to make it work. And I think that's really important to help the bigger good. And I do think that anybody in the level can help. And I think if we all start doing our own little bit of it, I'll fully go back to that. So you've spent 11 years in Washington, DC. - I feel like that's a lot longer than most other people go to Washington, DC, try to get into politics and then they bounce off. So what do you think allowed that success or a son and two were? - That's a great question. I feel that the work that I was doing or the work that I was able to do, I feel that my commitment just doing what I could to make a difference, working for people that were making differences, that were having impact on people's lives. I have to say to you that work ethic also matters. And I say that to people that are starting their careers. That if you're the first one in and you're the last one to leave, people notice. And in the virtual world, it's kind of different, right? Since COVID, that's been modified a bit. And so I believe that the work ethic that I was raised with, allowed me opportunities. Because it's not about what you are hired to do, but it's what you're capable of doing. And if you don't know something, you work at it until you figure it out. And one of the things that I'm going to do
hiring philosophies I have that I've shared with others is hungry, humble, and smart. And why I say hungry, humble, and smart is if you hire someone that's hungry, that means they're willing and ready to do their job to work in an organization. They're hungry for the opportunity. The humility that requires is say that it's not about me, it's about us, it's about the team, it's about the organization, it's about the people that we're serving. And so that humility is really important to me in building a team. And then smart is it's not about intellectual smart books, but say I need to figure this out and either I'm going to reach out to the people that could help me figure it out or I'm going to use my resourcefulness to figure how to do something. And always to work smart versus to overwork yourself to really understand how you give your best in your work. And so I would see that around me in Washington, should you see other personality types? Absolutely. But that to me was the values that I enjoyed working with. And that without even realizing I wanted to reciprocate that. Yeah. I mean, that's really good advice. That's just not so I'm glad that you're able to, I'm sure that with us here. So your CEO now, is this your first time being CEO? It is my first time being CEO. You know, it's funny. I always thought somebody has to be a very dedicated person to make that job from saying I've worked in all these different areas and to them lead an organization or a company. So did you have any hesitations in taking that career path or were you like, this is what I want to do. I'm set on it. I've prepared myself. I'm going to go for it. So it's interesting that the way you frame it, I came to ship not knowing that I would be qualified to be CEO because I was not an engineer. So I did not believe that I had the number one quality IE, an engineering degree to be CEO. What I did know was I understood the mission. I understood the impact that ship had had for 50 years and to see it as a thriving organization and that it was serving the Latino community who were invested in STEM was something that was so compelling to me. Yeah. I was able to hear people's stories. I was understanding the impact and the value proposition of ship and I said to myself, I would like to be a part of that and contribute. All of that was just an extraordinary opportunity. Yeah. I don't want to speak a little bit more to that because you don't have to be 100% a core part of the community that you serve as a CEO or a board member of organization. So there's a lot of nonprofits or charities that are for those that are blind or deaf and the leaders aren't necessarily those things. I think what's most important is like you mentioned having that passion help that community and using the skills that you have from your entire applied experiences and knowledge that you can't to be able to support those communities is 100 times more important because if we were lending ourselves to saying, well, they have to be an engineer, they have to be Hispanic, they have to know Spanish, they have to, you know, yes, that's a good thing but it's not necessarily conducive to finding the person who's the most passionate to be able to take this mission and make it their own. And it's the mission and the vision. What is our purpose? What is the value proposition? Ship got to 50 years, serving the community in the way it has and to think about 51 years and beyond. What does that look like? And to me, it's co-creating that with members, staff, the board is like, I love being a co-creator in anything that I do because I thrive off of people's energy wisdom that I feel it's my jam, it's like that's my happy place. That's it's the exact same for me, collaboration and working together with people, thinking to know them, that's like a red and butter. I resonate with that because I feel like there's no greater joy than working on something together with someone and then finding that solution and then just being able to, I don't know, celebrate together and it's a tiny little micro community that you make. So what would you say and there's going to be a self-question? So I just feel pretty if you want to take your time to think about it but what would you say would be for you successful time that you can look back on and say, okay, I did what I set out to do at SHIP looking back on in. So I have an answer to that because I thought about this a lot. It's something that I call the one-day vision and the one-day vision I have for SHIP, what I hope to contribute to is that if you're a Latino, Latino student in middle school and you're about to go to high school and you say to yourself, I want to be an engineer, I want to be a computer scientist, I want to be any of the areas in any of the careers that STEM covers. I want that 12-year-old, 13-year-old to say, I need to belong to SHIP. Yeah. Because if SHIP is part of my life, then I can be whatever I want to be. I can study whatever I want to study. I can go to the university that I want to go to. I can be what I want to be. So my one-day vision is for the family of that student to have the resources, the infrastructure, the support that makes that true for that entering high school, middle school student. I want SHIP to be an organization that helps you to reach and achieve your dream. I think that's great because as you're all aware, SHIP is at the point where we can't take that many more members and support them in the way that we would like to at this point in time. And so in order for that to happen, there has to be some adjustments and whether it's the ones that are being worked on right now or even smaller ones that are on a day-to-day basis. There is being work to make that happen. And I think you're obviously one of the people that are leaving the charge on that. So I do appreciate it. I want to say to the staff member, I see it. And we're working towards that because we don't want to get to a point where like Disneyland, where they say, you know, we have to raise the prize so that people can you know actually fit in the park because too many people are trying to join and we just don't have the stays. And definitely I think SHIP has so much to offer people and so many opportunities. You mentioned scholarships, community. You've experienced the fact of leaving your home to pursue your goals, which is necessary a lot of times. And so many of the stories that we've had in the podcast have had that experience where they have to go somewhere else and then they feel out of place. And it can happen and it has happened where people bounce off of college because they're so alone or they get like they're the odd man out. And the ones that have stayed and the stories that we've heard, it's that they found SHIP. They found a community, they found support, they found resources, and they were able to keep going. And so the fact that SHIP is working to a extent that reach to everyone, is amazing. It's incredible. I think it's a mission we're fighting for and I'm glad that that we think that are immediately goal. Yes. And as you know, we're launching a strategic planning process at the end of this month. And whenever I talk with members and I ask them that question about where we did have served you to have known about SHIP and they say high school usually. And they always say earlier, right, earlier than college. And so I take that and I think about what does that look like? How does SHIP become that? And it is that. I mean, where, where, notch of the Ciencias, I keep on the bad days, our virtual STEM labs, we're making investments. But what is that lever? What is that transformational investment so that we can make STEM studies STEM careers possible for any Latino or Latina that wants to pursue that? And those are the big questions. Yes. They are, but it's true. I've heard the same thing from our members saying that they wish they could have gotten your wall but SHIP sooner. And when I first heard that, I thought that to mean
when I was a freshman in college, right? Because some of them bring a little bit later, but then I learned, no, they're talking about high school. And some of them even say elementary. And so I think that speaks to the value that ship that brings. - Absolutely. - I think it's a good problem to have. And if people were saying, "Haven't I get less ship?" (laughs) We have a real wish. We covered a lot and we talked a little bit about the future. And I'm gonna have Will follow Europe, a certain thing that's a lot more. - Oh, what about the future of ship? But I do wanna say that it was a pleasure getting to talk with you, Senna, and getting to know you a little bit more. - Like wise. Like wise. - But I think our audience is definitely going to, I think appreciate their experiences because there are people wanna follow your path. There's many people who want to be, "Hey, I wanna be CEO of a company. I wanna be able to have a bigger impact in my community. I wanna be able to make change where we're becoming more involved with legislation in Washington as an organization to help support our community. And you share an important part of that. And I think that's really helpful for our audience. So thank you so much for that. And if you're listening to this podcast, stay tuned because ship is moving. Full speed ahead, fun and tented. - And also if you're listening, please reach out to me. My email address is
[email protected]. I'd love to hear from you any questions, any thoughts. And thank you, Damian, for your time. And thank you for this incredible opportunity. - Thank you so much, Zana, for sharing your incredible journey and insight with us today. Your dedication to service, community, and empowering our family truly shines through. And we're proud to have you lead in ship into its next chapter. To all our listeners, this is the penultimate episode of our 50 Story series. Next week, we're going to have part one of our last episode with Will Davis, the board chair. There is so much information that he chairs with us about ship, its past, its organization, and the future. So please tune in next week to check that out. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend and leave us a review. Stay connected with the ship on social media, subscribe to our podcast for more inspiring stories, and remember, you belong here and at every level of this damn industry. Gritensee, and we'll see you next time. (upbeat music)
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