Lasada Pippen: All Grit. No Quit.

00:00:00 Sumer Beatty: Welcome to Tomorrow Makers, where we explore how we learn, live, work, and play, now and in the future. I'm Sumer Beatty. 00:00:11 Carlos Ramos: And I'm Carlos Ramos. What a great conversation we just had. 00:00:15 Sumer Beatty: Yes, Lasada Pippen. 00:00:17 Carlos Ramos: Who's Lasada Pippen? 00:00:18 Sumer Beatty: Lasada Pippen is a computer engineer turned public speaker, and he was with us on campus today to talk to our students, and he's gonna hang around, do another presentation this evening to the community. Just a really cool guy. So much energy. He's overcome a lot of obstacles in his life, and he really uses that very authentic approach to, to inspire people. 00:00:41 Carlos Ramos: It's a lot of fun. This is now the second one where we've done an event or attended an event and then gotten the opportunity to have that interview with the presenter. As we're sitting in the audience, I'm like, I hadn't looked at our questions yet. Surprise, surprise. And I'm like, oh, well, I can ask this and I can ask this. And that's the other thing. But then I'm like, yeah, we got to show up. We got to show up with intention here. I mean, this, this, this guy, you got to be on your game because he's on his game. 00:01:11 Sumer Beatty: He is. He really is. In the end, we, asked him a question about his legacy. And he talks a lot about, finding your more and to always expect there's more to want more. And I think we, as a team actually do a really good job of not settling for anything less, but what is your more? 00:01:32 Carlos Ramos: Oh my God. I, you know, and when you said, you're going to ask me a question, I'm like, you are going to ask me that. 00:01:36 Lasada Pippen: Okay. I was just trying to not have it asked to me. 00:01:39 Carlos Ramos: And it's, and it's a, It is a fantastic question. That's also a delay tactic to say how great a question is. So I'm trying to process, but I'm speaking so much that I can't process this at the same time. So what is my more? My more is seeing every single member of the team just be able to achieve their greatness, to achieve it in what we do, but also for themselves. And nothing really fulfills me more than just seeing everyone thrive and loving what they're doing. So if I can get a little bit more of that out every day and I can go home feeling like I either was part of that development or I got out of the way. enough for that to happen. I'm gold. 00:02:26 Sumer Beatty: Okay. Spoken like a true leader. 00:02:29 Carlos Ramos: So let me throw this question at you. We talked about the future self and the current self. Have you ever done that to where you are imagining that future self and that future self talking back to your current self? 00:02:40 Sumer Beatty: No, but I imagine myself currently talking to my past self. 00:02:46 Carlos Ramos: I think we all do that. 00:02:47 Sumer Beatty: Yeah. Well, I, yeah, I mean, I almost think that's, I think that's recognition for like, okay, I've come a long way. 00:02:53 Carlos Ramos: Yeah. 00:02:54 Sumer Beatty: That's really cool. But future, future self, no, I don't think about that. 00:03:01 Carlos Ramos: Maybe we're not all doing that because I think a lot of times we're critiquing ourselves, but you're just having that conversation with your old self. 00:03:10 Sumer Beatty: Yeah. 00:03:11 Carlos Ramos: That's cool. 00:03:12 Sumer Beatty: Yeah. Like I never thought I would be on a podcast. Somebody would say, you're going to be a, in the future, your future self. It's going to tell you you're on, no, in the future, you're going to be on a podcast. No, I don't think so. I wouldn't believe them. 00:03:26 Carlos Ramos: And I think you're having fun with it. 00:03:27 Sumer Beatty: Yeah, it is fun. 00:03:28 Carlos Ramos: I'm having fun with it. 00:03:29 Sumer Beatty: Yeah. All right. 00:03:31 Carlos Ramos: A little bonus on this episode... So after the closing credits, you may have noticed that there's always a little bit of snippet afterwards. 00:03:38 Sumer Beatty: Did you notice, did you notice people? 00:03:41 Carlos Ramos: If not, go back and listen to, I don't know, starting like episode, I don't even know what episode I started doing that. But, today, we actually have a little mini interview afterwards, so you may hear us call out to Kaysey, who was helping out Lasada today. 00:03:56 Sumer Beatty: This is the first time we had somebody in the room, the fly on the wall, who didn't say anything, but she kind of did. She did speak up a few times, so we want to give her credit. She was in here. She put a lot of time into the interview. planning and executing this First Generation College Student Week. So she deserves props for that. And Kaysey works here at the college. She's the coordinator of student success solutions. 00:04:21 Carlos Ramos: She popped into the studio when we had an open house back in February, and she was so kind to sit down, hop on the mic with me, and give a little mini interview. So, a little bonus for you at the end of the episode. Here we go. Tomorrow Makers. 00:04:37 Sumer Beatty: Enjoy. All right, welcome. We are here with Lasada Pippen. 00:04:48 Lasada Pippen: Glad to be here. 00:04:49 Sumer Beatty: Yeah. How's it going? 00:04:51 Lasada Pippen: So far so good. Good? Yeah, having a blast. 00:04:53 Sumer Beatty: We just got done with a, was that a keynote speech? 00:04:57 Lasada Pippen: Yeah. 00:04:57 Sumer Beatty: First gen. Yeah. 00:04:58 Lasada Pippen: Yes. First gen, yep. My people, my experience, my life. 00:05:02 Sumer Beatty: That was fantastic. So, here at Penn College, we're celebrating First Generation College Student Week. So, it's a perfect time to have you, have you here on campus. 00:05:13 Lasada Pippen: Yep, right on time. Love it. So. 00:05:15 Carlos Ramos: You had a great message for the students that were there and a lot of students weren't. He had classes and you know, a lot of conflict. Do you mind giving us the three step framework that you gave the students? 00:05:26 Lasada Pippen: Turn obstacles into opportunities. That's to think of that as the top of the umbrella. Right up under that. If you have all grit, no quit, you can turn obstacles into opportunities. If you realize that your challenge is also your chance, you can turn obstacles into opportunities. And then finally, if you just simply fight back, you can turn obstacles into opportunities. I kind of like to play on words almost, you know, and that's why you hear the challenge and the chance. And then I think I mentioned something about if you see the problem as the promise. So if you play on words like that, but if you think about it, you can turn obstacles into opportunities, easily with those, 3-step proces, 1-2-3. 00:06:05 Carlos Ramos: And so much of what you had in that, I mean, the, the three step process, I mean, you took almost the full hour giving the group that, that three step process. So there was so much there. Hopefully we get little bits of that as we go through. 00:06:18 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, totally. I think my first question when I was done, I was like, did I go over? I was like thinking that I'd go too long, but it's like, yeah, but I realized I was like, Oh, I think I landed well. So yeah. 00:06:29 Sumer Beatty: Yes. 00:06:30 Carlos Ramos: Everyone was still in their seats, ready, ready for more wisdom. 00:06:33 Lasada Pippen: That's what I looked at. I was like, man, they were locked in. Nobody left really. So I was like, got them. 00:06:37 Sumer Beatty: Yeah. And they're students, so they don't mind leaving. 00:06:41 Lasada Pippen: That's right. So totally cool. 00:06:43 Sumer Beatty: So we know you as this inspirational, motivational speaker. I'm just curious about your early experiences and how they shaped your decision to go into this line of work. 00:06:55 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, totally. So I have to go back to just childhood. I grew up in a faith based home. And so seeing speakers of faith based is actually what ignited or triggered the desire to actually speak. And watching them, I was like, wow, these people are great with words and you can ignite something in people. So that that's kind of where it came from. But when I was in college, or when I was getting ready to go to college, I didn't know anything about the business or the art of motivational speaking. So I chose something that I thought was the next best thing. So that's why I shied away from it and that's why I was in engineering and technology for over a decade because I just didn't know. And I think that was a little bit of fear there also. I didn't know if I could succeed or make it or, you know, so. So that's why I went that route and came back to what I love. It never left. It never went away. 00:07:56 Sumer Beatty: Isn't that interesting? That seed was there that whole time and you had said in your talk, Well, I was looking for something that would always be in demand. 00:08:04 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, that's right. 00:08:05 Sumer Beatty: It would make a lot of money. 00:08:06 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, that's right. Yeah, and I didn't realize that when you're in speaking having that skill of communication I didn't realize that if you're a CEO and you have a communication skill, you're going to make more than just your average CEO. It's usually about a 10 to 20 percent bump if you have communication skills. I never thought about that, or I never even processed that in my mind. It was just something that I love doing, and I think I mentioned it in the talk as well that I was doing this for free for over seven years. So I would use PTO and leave work to go do an event and come back and it got to a point to where I was just like, you know, I can't keep juggling this. I have to make a decision. Kind of what I talked about today is that either I'm going to go after it or I'm just going to, you know, hope and wish that I would have did it someday. So that's kind of how that transition sort of shifted and so forth. But yeah. 00:08:59 Sumer Beatty: So you didn't go to school to learn how to do public speaking or presenting or almost theatrics like so that you just learned by... 00:09:09 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, so a lot of books. Okay, a lot of practice And if you, if you heard earlier, a lot of, a long time in parks, empty parks. 00:09:19 Sumer Beatty: Explain that. I think that would be a fun thing to talk about. The squirrels. Make sure you talk about the squirrels. 00:09:24 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, totally. So, I took one class, the squirrels, right? When I was in engineering and information systems, I took one class that was on public speaking. And I hated it. I didn't even like it at all. I was like, this class is, lame. But anyway, it wasn't through school or some type of program or anything. I did Toastmasters for a little while. I was in NSA, which is National Speakers Association, for a little while. But those things weren't what honed my skills. It was actually just doing it, going to do it. And when I had that moment where the lady told me how awful I was, that kind of lit a fire under me. And so I would go to these random parks, not random because they were down the street from the house, but I would go to these parks and literally use that as a practice ground. And I'm pretty shy for the most part. It's, it's weird because when you're on stage, it's like, I come alive on stage, but everyday personality, I'm, I'm shy. I'm introverted for the most part. So going to those parks was like golden for me because it was just me, no one out there by myself, nobody can see what I'm doing. So I love that. And so I use that as a practice ground in those moments. And so I would go out there and act like trees were people, you know, and squirrels running around and so it was so much fun. But it was so weird for other people when they found out that I was doing that. It was like, that's weird, but, but for me, it was actually a stomping ground, a learning ground for me to actually build a craft and develop it. You know, reading all these books and stuff on how to present and all this kind of stuff. So, yeah. 00:11:04 Sumer Beatty: Yeah. So, for our listeners who weren't at the event earlier, some woman came up to you after your speaking engagement. You're greeting all these people. They're telling you how wonderful you are. She's coming towards you. And, like you said, I think a Halloween character, you're like, oh, no, she's a zombie. And she says, You're awful. Or you were awful. And you were just like, what?! 00:11:26 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, I was devastated. That was heartbreaking for me because, because I had been doing it for free. And, you know, I thought my skills were at least good enough to get booked. And I was getting booked, you know, even though they were free events, I just didn't think I was awful. And so for someone to say that I was totally confused and devastated at the same time, because I took her words as if they were gold. And I didn't even know this lady, you know, I had never seen in my life, a total stranger, you know. So you would think that a total stranger shouldn't have that much value on how you feel or how you respond to it, but she did, you know. And her saying that, that actually challenged and lit a fire under me because the other side of me is very competitive. So, 00:12:12 Sumer Beatty: Yeah, I love it. 00:12:12 Lasada Pippen: Yeah. 00:12:13 Carlos Ramos: You talk about challenges, you know, becoming those, those opportunities, those obstacles becoming those opportunities there. That was an obstacle. 00:12:24 Lasada Pippen: That was a huge one, too. 00:12:25 Carlos Ramos: You know, you talk about fighting through fear to get to the other side of something. We have to do that in order to improve. 00:12:33 Lasada Pippen: Absolutely. So think about this for a moment. Someone walks up, they say, you are awful. You believe them. You take it to heart. Think about going to your next event, to your next stage. The only thing you have in your head, at least I did, or in my mind was, hey, you were awful. So how, how are you gonna, how are you going to do this one? That's kind of the question. It's kind of like a, I dare you, I dare you to get up there and do it again, you know? And so, but again, I had to really dig deep because I really felt, I really believe that. I was supposed to be in the keynote speaking space. I believe that. And I believe that enough to go back even after she said that. But I took some time off though. I took a few months off before I went back on the stage just because I was scared. And I was thinking, I was like, wow, what if, what if I really am awful? You know? So what if this is true? You know, what if she was the only one who was bold enough to say what maybe a few other people was actually thinking. So yeah, you have all this stuff playing in your head and your mind and you know. But I had to go back and face it because it was something that I wanted and it was something that I felt like I I could really make a difference in this space. So that drove me more than stopping 00:13:53 Carlos Ramos: What was that moment like when you were you're at two three months that you're in this break? Yes What was that moment that said, no, get up. 00:14:04 Lasada Pippen: Yeah I have to credit It My wife here in this moment because she believed even when I wasn't believing, she was still believing. She was like, no, I think you're great. And that's actually how we met. She met me speaking at some little class gathering. That's how she saw me. She was in the class. And I was on my way there, she was already in there, so I always tell her, you got in my way, because I was going to do what I was supposed to be doing. But nonetheless, her believing was kind of like, I felt bad because I wasn't believing in myself, and then she was. So I felt bad. I felt like I was kind of letting her down. I felt like she was fighting for my dream and I wasn't even fighting for my own dream. So just mentally going through that every single day, you know, I finally had to say, you know, like, Hey, you, you have to go back and try again. You know, you have to. And she even stopped talking about it. She stopped talking about speaking and pursuing it. She just stopped. She, and she said she stopped because I wasn't putting the effort there anymore. And so when I noticed that she stopped, I sort of got a little annoyed, I guess, at her. Like, I don't, I don't know how I got annoyed at her over my stuff. 00:15:23 Sumer Beatty: We know, we have relationships, we all know, all the listeners understand. 00:15:27 Lasada Pippen: Totally. 00:15:27 Sumer Beatty: Yeah. 00:15:28 Lasada Pippen: So I got annoyed at her, and then that kind of made me challenge myself, like, hey, what are you doing, dude? Like, you're going to be a loser, you're going to pout. For the rest of your life, you're going to just feel sorry for yourself. What was me, you know, the pity party story. So just going through those, you know, personal raw conversations with myself was like, yeah, get up, go do it, get back at it, bro. 00:15:51 Sumer Beatty: So I think a lot of those first gen students And we don't, we know we have about 50 percent first gen students here at Penn College. They're out there in the audience. Did you have any conversations afterwards with anyone? 00:16:05 Lasada Pippen: I did. Yeah. 00:16:05 Sumer Beatty: Okay. 00:16:06 Lasada Pippen: I love the offstage conversations. A lot of times those are so fulfilling and a lot of times they can be greater than the actual onstage, you know, entertainment or whatever. One guy in particular, he was just sitting there afterwards, right? And I think Kaysey noticed him also, and she mentioned, you know, hey, he may want to talk. So I walked over to him and he was just sitting there. He was like, I'm good. He was like, I just felt this so much. I cried twice, you know, and so just moments like that, it's like, yeah, like, yeah, that's why I'm here. That's why I do what I do, you know, just being relatable, tangible, authentic, and understanding the journey that they're on is where I've been and so forth. You know, a lot of thank yous. Hey, I took so many notes. I'm really going to apply myself and do A, B and C, you know, just from different people. And, you know, and then a lot of times it trickles in through social media afterwards. I'll get a lot of messages that they don't want to say right there in the moment, but they can say it there. And, you know, I always make sure I try to respond to every message. Everything that comes in, I try to respond and make sure that they know that, Hey, I wasn't just a guy on stage, you know, so. Yeah, totally. But I love those interactions after the offstage moments is what I call them. Yeah. 00:17:29 Sumer Beatty: Yeah, that's success I mean you get one person afterwards. I mean if I were you I'd be like, okay job done. Yeah success like I'm... 00:17:36 Lasada Pippen: Yeah. 00:17:36 Sumer Beatty: So rewarding. 00:17:37 Lasada Pippen: Yeah. 00:17:38 Sumer Beatty: And you weren't getting that in as a computer engineer. I'm assuming not the same kind of feedback. 00:17:44 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, not not the same. You know, I was sharing this with my wife the other day, we were coming from an event in Florida. This was the first time I, I, my kids got to saw what I do. They had never seen me actually speak live like that. And so I was excited about that, but we were coming back and I, and she said, you love doing this stuff, don't you? And I was like, yeah, I do. I salivate over this stuff. And, but there was never a moment in engineering to where I can say, oh, I love, I salivate over this. There was never that moment. And so transitioning was, it wasn't, it wasn't hard and it wasn't easy. It was neither. It was both. Because I do have an appreciation for what engineering, what that field did for me, you know, for our family. And so, yeah, it was tough though. But yeah, I love this. And that's what I want to be able to say every day. I love what I do. No matter what comes with it. 00:18:46 Sumer Beatty: Yeah, and when you're doing something for seven months free 00:18:49 Lasada Pippen: Seven years. 00:18:51 Sumer Beatty: Wait, you were doing it for seven years. 00:18:52 Lasada Pippen: Oh, yeah years 00:18:53 Sumer Beatty: For free? 00:18:54 Lasada Pippen: Yeah. 00:18:54 Sumer Beatty: Okay. I mean, holy cow, that is pure evidence of passion. 00:18:58 Lasada Pippen: I never asked for I never asked for a paycheck I only started asking for... It's funny because I only started asking for money because my wife was like, hey, we need to monetize this like if this is what you want to do, you need to figure out, you know, how to get paid for your services or whatnot. But I never, I never asked for money. I never even thought about it. I didn't even think I wanted to ask for money. I just love doing it. I just love the opportunities, you know? And for me, it was like, hey, this is, these are ways that I am getting better, you know, that I'm actually getting on stage and so forth. So yeah, but seven years, I will use all my PTO. 00:19:32 Sumer Beatty: Wow. Okay. So I was thinking seven months was a long time. I'm thinking that's amazing. Seven years. Wow. 00:19:38 Carlos Ramos: I'm pretty sure that's the 10,000 hour mark. 00:19:40 Lasada Pippen: There you go. 00:19:41 Sumer Beatty: Is that? Okay. 00:19:41 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, there you go. Yeah, that's the 10,000 hour mark. Yeah, pretty much. So I've, yeah, I've put in the work and, but I feel like I'm still working. I feel like I'm still growing, still learning. I can still get better. I always record my presentations. If I don't record them with a camera, have somebody do it, I usually record the audio and I'll go back and listen to it. Go back, listen to it, critique it. Oh man, hey, you could've paused here, you could've put bass here, treble here. Just all the fine detail stuff. Yeah, it's just my passion, it's just my obsession over, over this stuff, so, yeah. 00:20:13 Sumer Beatty: So when you decided, okay, I want to start doing public speaking, how did you know you wanted to have the topic of motivating the audiences and encouraging them. 00:20:22 Lasada Pippen: I kind of took my story, my experience. Hey, what would they benefit from? There's a lot of people that need to turn an obstacle into an opportunity. There's a lot of people like that. And there's a lot of people that don't have a good relationship with obstacles or with problems. So I took that and I said, Hmm, I've been climbing, fighting pretty much my whole life. I grew up fighting, not physically fighting, but just fighting to get in position to get in certain places and to outlive, you know, or outlast certain conditions and so forth. So that fight was always like, hmm, I wonder if I can help other people learn how to fight essentially. So that's kind of what the topic was. I just kind of took what. what plagued me and was like, hmm, let's, let's figure out how other people can use this as well. 00:21:19 Sumer Beatty: Yeah. So tell our audience a little bit about your obstacles early on, just because some of us were at the event earlier and we have that background, but I think it might help to set the stage a little bit. 00:21:31 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, totally. I wish I had this picture that I could have showed to the audience, but I couldn't find it. But I mean, I, I grew up to parents who, Again, barely graduated high school. They left Alabama when they were 18, got to Atlanta 19 years old. No education, no funds, no car, just kind of almost nothing, you know, and my dad, he grew up poorer than my mom did, even though my mom was poor too. And my dad, he didn't have his dad in his life. So growing up, watching that, watching my dad struggle with that and not knowing how to make powerful decisions, not knowing how to overcome a lot of the challenges that kept our family in a pauper's position, I was like, no, I have to be able to fight out of this because I'm the last boy. I'm the last Pippen, you know, and I don't know, if somebody don't start it now, who will? Who would start it, you know? 00:22:38 Sumer Beatty: You started it. 00:22:39 Lasada Pippen: I did. Yeah. You know, I didn't want to wait for my nephew at the time, neither one of my nephews at the time. I didn't want to wait for, hey, let me see if they're gonna do it. Or if I have kids, you know, which I do, let me see if one of my kids can, can do it. Like no, let me change this trajectory right now. But just growing up with a whole lot of nothing, it's kind of how I put it. You know, we didn't have cars, you know, we didn't have money a lot of times. We rented. We didn't own a home until I was grown. I mighta had just graduated college before we ever could say that we owned something. So, just not having those resources, having all of those challenges and chaos, it actually builds something in you. It either breaks people or it makes them so resilient. that you almost can't kill them. Like ants, almost, you know. It's like, mm, yeah, either you're going to be a fighter or you're just going to sit on the sideline and pout about it. And so I'm grateful that the fight came out of me versus the option to quit. And so, you know, growing up in that chaos, You know, strange relationships, like, like I mentioned, you know, with my brothers is, you know, it was just so much chaos and dysfunction that I can see why it's easy to quit and how it's hard to overcome and even come out of that stuff when you don't have a blueprint, you don't know how, who to turn to, you just don't know, you know. So I'm just grateful that there was a fight, fighter spirit in me that, you know, made it through. So yeah. 00:24:11 Sumer Beatty: Yeah. You said a couple of times about not having any mentors. And we often, mentors come up in our conversations here on the podcast a lot. And the power of having that person, that go to person, you know, you're not sure what to do. I mean, even going to college is difficult. The process can be complicated, the forms and all of that. How, how do you, how do you do that? 00:24:34 Lasada Pippen: So when I was telling the story about the, that my parents brought the recruiter to me at Burger King, right. 00:24:40 Sumer Beatty: When you were working. 00:24:41 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, I was working at Burger King. 00:24:42 Sumer Beatty: Yeah. 00:24:43 Lasada Pippen: Yes, and they brought a college recruiter there. That was my parents last interaction in terms of how things were gonna go for me in terms of college. My parents never filled out an application. My parents probably didn't even know what was going on, like period, honestly. So a lot of stuff was on me. To just figure it out and find your way through, you know, and again, I'm just so grateful that I had a fighter spirit to want to figure it out. And I think coming back home after that, that summer and seeing people in the same position doing the same thing, it was the same stuff. And I was like, no, I don't, I don't want to do this. I don't want to end up like this. So it's either fight or, or sink, you know? And so for me, the fighter rose up, but my parents, yeah, they, they probably had no clue. about, you know, my college experience. The only thing they knew was when it was a graduation date. 00:25:40 Sumer Beatty: They were like, yes. Yeah. 00:25:42 Lasada Pippen: It was like, yeah, somebody finished, you know, so they get to put on their suit, you know, and celebrate, you know, we got a college graduate in the house now, you know? And so, yeah, but they didn't have a clue. So I had to figure all of that stuff out on my own. Phosphor, all that kind of stuff, financial aid, everything, you know, literally. So, but yeah, made it. 00:25:58 Sumer Beatty: How about mentors now? 00:26:00 Lasada Pippen: Mentors now, yeah. So I, I have two. Now that I primarily look to or have a direct connection to now. And you know, this is in my adult life though, you know, cuz I didn't even have well I would say one of my professors when I was in school. He was a he was a huge figure in terms of the IT world or the tech world. He was kind of a huge figure, you know, because he was someone that looked like me that was actually successful. You know, he was a doctor in his field, in his space, professor. So that was inspiring to see that, but just every day it wasn't, you know. And the thing is I wanted that. I wanted to be able to look at my dad and say, hey, you're my hero. I wanted that. But I had to be honest with myself and, and I, you know, I told myself like, no, I actually cannot say that, you know, I can't, I can't say that, but I wanted it though. I wanted to be able to look up to my two older brothers and, you know, hopefully that they would have led a path that I was like, yeah, I'm gonna follow you, you know, and go to that, but it didn't happen, you know. And there was nobody in the neighborhood that was. Yeah, because we, we grew up in a, in a, in a very low income area and so it was the hood, you know. And so there weren't people there that were doing things that you wanted to repeat anyway. 00:27:36 Sumer Beatty: So you grew up in Atlanta and you live in Atlanta. 00:27:39 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, I'm in Marietta, but it's, it's, I mean, it's Atlanta. 00:27:42 Sumer Beatty: But you decided you wanted to stay there and raise your family. 00:27:45 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, because I love Atlanta. I mean, I think it's a great city. You know, it's, it's thriving. It's a lot of exciting things there. You know, it's a lot of, wealth there. A lot of opportunities there. It's a great place. You know, it just, we grew up in, you know, the, I guess the down parts of, of the city, but, but it's a great place though. And I love it. And so it would be hard to take me away from Atlanta. I don't know if there's a lot that competes with it, honestly. The only place I would probably relocate to is Columbia, South America, where my, where my wife is from. We usually spend summers there. That, that would be a place where I could see. You know, possible relocation. 00:28:24 Carlos Ramos: I think Sumer just spun off a whole new podcast episode. 00:28:32 Sumer Beatty: Yeah, I could go down a rabbit hole on that, but we won't, it was going to go to Carmen, San Diego, where in the world is Carmen San Diego, but we won't do that. That's just more work for Carlos. And he does the editing. 00:28:43 Carlos Ramos: Now you mentioned in the talk today, when you got. But back from, I don't know if it was like your first year from college or, you know, getting done with college, you know, coming back to the neighborhood and people are seeing you different. 00:28:56 Lasada Pippen: Of course. 00:28:56 Carlos Ramos: They're treating you different. Were you able to impact anybody else when you came back? Since you didn't have that person. 00:29:04 Lasada Pippen: The unfortunate answer is, is no, because the friendships kind of dissolved. Yeah. It went the opposite way. It dissolved. And, and that's how I was alone a lot. I was. I found myself alone a lot. And I think that's how I embraced being introvert, shy, or whatever, is because we couldn't connect, we couldn't relate anymore, because they thought I was, I guess, trying to be something that I wasn't. And that was never my goal or my intentions, but I just wanted better. I just wanted, you know, a better, a better life. I just wanted a better outcome and they couldn't see it that way. So it kind of dissolved a lot of the relationships from the neighborhood. Like, I don't know anyone from my neighborhood. To this day. I don't, I don't. Talk to anyone from my neighborhood, not even my high school. It's, it's hard to, to, I guess, have meaningful relationships when you're growing in opposite directions. That's very hard to maintain. And I tried to maintain that with, with my brother, especially my middle brother. I really tried to maintain that. And, you know, I would even go to where he was. And this was after I graduated college. I'm, you know, I'm working in corporate at this point. I would even go. Like back to the hood and just hang out over there. I didn't have nothing to do there. I was bored, but I would just go there just because I wanted to try to keep a connection and make this, you know, relationship with my brother work and so forth. But it didn't, you know. It was, I think we were just two opposite at this point and even the friends in the neighborhood. So it just didn't work. So I wish I could say the story of where, hey, yeah, I went back, connected with this guy and it turned around. And I'll even tell a more, even more personal story is that, my nephew, he's going through similar upbringing or transitions of what I did, low income, no goals, no dreams, no ideas, no plans. And we enrolled him, meaning we, me and my wife, we enrolled him in college at Georgia State University. We enrolled him in there, got him in there because I don't think he was going to do it himself. And I was okay with that because I didn't do it myself. My parents brought a recruiter to me, so I was okay with doing this process with someone again, if it would mean their life was different. He dropped out after about a year and I let him come live with us for a few months. I said, hey, you can come live with us, but we got to have some goals. We got to have some things that we're going to go after. And unfortunately, you know, just didn't want it, you know, didn't really want to, to make a difference, didn't want to pursue anything more. And so it's hard when, when, when you have that type of, I guess, obstacle or. problem in your way and you can't see beyond it. You can't see around it. So that that's kind of hard to manage those relationships when when it's so opposite. 00:32:14 Carlos Ramos: You posed the future self today. 00:32:17 Lasada Pippen: Yes. 00:32:18 Carlos Ramos: And I wanted to dig in that a little bit more because I might have been trying to process something else that you had already been talking about. How did you get to that point where you're thinking about the future self and talking back to the you now. 00:32:33 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, totally. Let me ask you. What's it? Was it a good character? The future self? 00:32:38 Carlos Ramos: It is. 00:32:38 Sumer Beatty: I thought it was interesting. I think especially to a student audience. 00:32:42 Lasada Pippen: Okay. Yeah. I thought about that because, again, I read so many books. I'm always learning. I try to learn everything I can and can't everything I learn. I'm always trying to eat information and knowledge up, and I always just think about one of my greatest fears is the fear of regret. I never wanted to have to share the story of man, I wish I would have did the speaking career. I wish I would have went to college. I wish I would have finished college. I never wanted that story. So that became a motivation. And that's kind of how this character kind of popped up in my mind. It's like, hmm, if there's somebody in the future, One, what does that person in the future looks like and what are they going to say when you get there? And so it's only a couple things they can say to you. Thank you, or man, why didn't you? And so for me, I wanted to paint a picture of hey, you want the one saying, thank you. That's the person that you want in your future. So think about everything you're doing right now everything you do today only shapes the word of the character in the future. So whatever you do today, that's what he's going to tell you. That's what she's going to tell you in the future. And so I wanted to paint the picture of, hey, see yourself through it and your future self will thank you. once you get there, once you arrive, once you make it to the stage that you want to be on, they'll thank you. So instead of saying, you don't want to sit on the, on, you know, on the side of the road on the curve, you know, both of y'all have a drink in your hand, you know, it's like, oh man, you know, we could have been so great, you know, and it's could have been phenomenal, you know, man, all the thing we had to do was, you know. You don't want that story. That's not a story that you want. And so, yeah, I wanted to paint the positive side of the future instead of the looking back and it's like, oh, so much regret. Yeah. 00:34:35 Carlos Ramos: How far should someone look? 00:34:38 Lasada Pippen: Oh, that's a good one because, I'm kind of an in the moment person, but I also think about, calculated risk at the same time. So, I, so like, if, if you're starting a business, one of the main questions that they ask you, hey, what is your five year plan? And it's a great question. But at the same time, I like to say, hey, can you tell me about a five minute plan? What is your next five minutes? 00:35:08 Sumer Beatty: That is my life, what is the five minute plan? 00:35:10 Lasada Pippen: Yeah. Yeah. Give me the five minute plan. So it's okay to look out as far as you can see, as long as you keep the moment, the moment, keep the moment right here in the front, because whatever you're looking out at, it doesn't matter if right now, does not line up to that. 00:35:32 Carlos Ramos: Five years is so big, especially when you're talking to the youth, college kids. I mean, I, I, I'm often talking to them about, you know, post graduation and it's automatically, you know, so many of the eyes just start to glaze. It's like they can't see it. 00:35:50 Lasada Pippen: It's too far and it's too big. It's too many unknowns. But I can think about five minutes. I can think about that. I can even think about five days if we want to talk about that. And that's five days. Hey, can you just, you know, write out a simple plan of how you're gonna commit yourself to studying five minutes a day If that's all you can do. But five years, it's just that's just so hard to see. But if I can take this thing one step at a time right now Just commit just right now Then I can build momentum and I can build traction and then I can keep on going But if I have to try to solve it in five minutes If I have to try to solve my challenges today in five years, I'm probably not going to solve them. Yeah. And most people are probably going to think like, you know what? That's, that's too difficult. That's too much to figure out. Think about people on, you know, weight loss journey or whatever. The problem is down the road. That's a problem. But If they just do it today only, hey, just only mark off today. I think this was Seinfeld where he would, he had this calendar where he would have to say, hey, did I write a joke today? He had to write a joke every day or something like that. And he put an X on every day that he wrote a joke and his momentum became the chain of Xs. So he didn't want to see a break in the Xs or whatever, but it was only day by day. It wasn't, you know, hey, I need a half. 365 jokes by 2025 next year. It wasn't that. I just needed to have one joke a day. So if we can bring the five years back to five minutes, it just changes everything, I believe. 00:37:29 Carlos Ramos: It's about the process. 00:37:30 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, the process. Enjoy that, not the prize. Don't look for the prize, just enjoy the process to the prize. It's a huge difference, you know? Yeah. 00:37:40 Sumer Beatty: I'm mesmerized by your ability to rhyme words and find two words with this, like, That's just how your brain works. 00:37:47 Lasada Pippen: It is, and I love wordplay. I love it. I don't know if I was telling Kaysey that or not, but I love it. You know, like, problem, promise. I love that. And if you even look at it, I'm just a nerd like that. I get really geeky over this stuff. But nonetheless, if you look at it, you're gonna be a pro either way. PRO, PROMISE, PRO, PROBLEM. Either way you look at it, you're gonna be a pro. Either you're gonna be a pro at getting stuck behind a problem, or you're gonna be a pro at getting to the promise. You see what I mean? I just love wordplay. You know, challenge, chance, obstacle, opportunity, opposition, opportunity. I just love the wordplay and I just think people can relate or it connects in their brain a little bit better if it's, if it's simple enough and so, yeah, I love that. 00:38:33 Carlos Ramos: You're going to be doing wordplay on the episode title, aren't you? 00:38:35 Sumer Beatty: Oh, yes, I might. Now that I have that idea. 00:38:39 Lasada Pippen: People grab that stuff and eat it up, you know. They do. Yeah. 00:38:43 Carlos Ramos: So you're talking about unlocking greatness. Has this been the theme since you started? Is this something that has evolved and is continuing to evolve? 00:38:53 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, it's evolved, actually. I started with talking about find your why to discover your how. That's what I started with. That was actually, that's how I entered into the speaking space was that topic right there. Find your why to discover your how. And then just recently, again, because we're always growing, we're always developing, at least I'm always looking for, hey, what's, what's, what's happening right now? What's, what's, what's the experience right now? So that, that has recently evolved into what it is now. And it's, it's skyrocketing, just that, that whole unlocking greatness. How do you turn an obstacle into an opportunity? That's really taking a life form of its own right now, but I didn't start with that though. Yeah. I started talking about purpose and finding your purpose and. Making sure you do what you love, and then if you have purpose, the how will become much easier. How you do it becomes much easier if you have purpose. That's kind of how I started, so. 00:39:54 Sumer Beatty: Have you considered teaching? 00:39:56 Lasada Pippen: Yes and no. No because I don't think I can be kind of fixated like that. or stuck in kind of one place almost, some kind of a mover and a shaker almost. 00:40:08 Sumer Beatty: Okay. Okay. 00:40:08 Lasada Pippen: Yeah. 00:40:09 Sumer Beatty: Thinking the computer, like the engineering background plus the desire to motivate young people just kind of goes hand in hand. 00:40:18 Lasada Pippen: It does. Yeah. And I have some STEM topics that I, that I talk about that kind of blends those two together because most people can't understand engineer, speaker. They can't connect the two. Because they're total opposite fields. And it's like, how did you do engineering and now you're in speaking like something it's not even related, you know, so a lot of people can't connect them. So I try to blend those two worlds together. And make it make sense for people, whatever, but yeah, I'll teach in that capacity. I thought you were talking about more like a classroom type, like... 00:40:53 Sumer Beatty: Either high school or... 00:40:54 Lasada Pippen: Something like that. 00:40:55 Sumer Beatty: Teachers just have, like, it's a similar potential for impact as what you're doing, but if you would feel contained in that literal classroom and you're not you said you visited every state but five? 00:41:07 Lasada Pippen: About nine. 00:41:08 Sumer Beatty: Oh, nine? Okay, which ones do you need to go to? So if anyone's listening and they're looking to book a speaker These are the states we have to check on. 00:41:14 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, totally and I don't know them all nine, but Montana, Idaho, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota. I can't think of the other four. 00:41:24 Carlos Ramos: Well, at least those are all in the same neighborhood. So, yeah, Kaysey, you can work on getting him some connections. We'll get, we'll get, get a two week tour of... 00:41:34 Lasada Pippen: Virginia. That's another one. That's it. 00:41:37 Carlos Ramos: Interesting. 00:41:38 Lasada Pippen: That's right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I just, I like to move. I like to Yeah, I like to be at a lot of places and meet a lot of different people, share a lot of different experiences and so forth. I don't know if I could, this is interesting, because some people ask me, hey, could you ever go back to engineering? And my answer is like, I don't think I could ever go back to an office setting like that. I don't think I could do that. I don't think I'm wired that way anymore to go in a place where I have to go, you know, in the same place, same office, same building every day. I don't think so. Yeah, I think, I think I would feel like I'm suffering or like drowning or something. You know what I mean? 00:42:24 Sumer Beatty: Yeah. 00:42:24 Lasada Pippen: So that's all. Yeah. 00:42:26 Carlos Ramos: Seems like there would be a scale, too, that would be missing there to be in the classroom where, you know, you can go from one school to the next. 00:42:34 Lasada Pippen: That's correct. Yes. 00:42:34 Carlos Ramos: And address hundreds of students. 00:42:36 Lasada Pippen: That's right. Yeah. 00:42:37 Carlos Ramos: To make that pointed impact. 00:42:39 Lasada Pippen: Yep. Yep. The only beauty about, you know, if you are in a setting like that is that you do get to reinforce. You know, and so you can kind of take the journey with them versus mine is more I'm here and then I'm gone, you know. And they have to connect with me, you know, in other platforms, which is fine too. That happens a lot as well. But yeah, we have to connect in other platforms versus me being there. You know what I mean? So I'm kind of in and out almost, so. 00:43:13 Sumer Beatty: I saw something on your website and you were speaking about a legacy and I was curious What do you want your legacy to be? 00:43:22 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, that's great. He inspired greatness and Impacted me to be the best that I can be. That's really what I want for people. I just want people to be their absolute best. I want them to be the person that they want to be and not the person that they think they should be. So I want people to go after the big idea or the big dream that they think is out of reach, not for them. Yeah, I just want people to be their best. And so I try to communicate in such a way that inspires people to do more, be more, and reach for more, more. It's always what I want people to go for. Cause I think that was, that was me and my journey is that my number one question was like, hey, there's got to be more, right? This can't just be it. And so, yeah, I want to inspire people to be the best that they can absolutely be. And don't be afraid to go after that person that they have in their mind and their heart. Yeah, don't be afraid to become that person. 00:44:40 Carlos Ramos: What's your more and what are the resources that are going to get you there? 00:44:44 Lasada Pippen: Yeah, so my, my more is, is certain arenas that there are, there are a few arenas that I have my eyes on that I want to fill up and do events at. I want to continue growing as a speaker. Just continue improving my craft. I want to max it out. I think I'll know when I get there, or maybe I won't. Maybe, maybe I'll never think that I got there. And I'm okay with that feeling because that just means that I have to keep on, you know, going after it. So I really just want my craft to be superb, flawless, you know, and yeah, there was a few arenas that I want to fill up. 00:45:30 Sumer Beatty: We look forward to seeing what you'll do next. 00:45:33 Lasada Pippen: There you go. 00:45:33 Sumer Beatty: Yeah. 00:45:34 Carlos Ramos: We're on team current LASADA and future LASADA. 00:45:37 Lasada Pippen: There you go. Yeah. And 2025 is looking very bright right now. So yeah. 00:45:43 Sumer Beatty: Awesome. 00:45:43 Lasada Pippen: We're kind of stacked already. So. 00:45:45 Sumer Beatty: If our listeners want to get in touch with you or just see what you're up to, how can they follow you? 00:45:50 Lasada Pippen: Yep, very easy, simply just at Lasada Pippen, which is L A S A D A Pippen, just like Scottie, P I P P E N. Website, same thing, LasadaPippen. com, IG, Twitter, or X, rather. but just very simple, @LasadaPippen, yeah. 00:46:09 Sumer Beatty: Perfect. Thank you for being with us today. 00:46:12 Lasada Pippen: For sure. Yeah, this is awesome. Yeah. So grateful. I was grateful for these opportunities and glad to be here. So thank y'all for having me for sure. 00:46:23 Sumer Beatty: Thanks for hanging out with us today. 00:46:25 Carlos Ramos: Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts. 00:46:30 Sumer Beatty: Check out our show notes for bookmarks to your favorite sections and links to resources that we mentioned in today's episode. 00:46:36 Carlos Ramos: You can find past episodes and see what's on deck for upcoming ones at pct.edu/podcast. And 00:46:43 Sumer Beatty: of course, we are open to your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions. So send those over at podcast@pct.edu. 00:46:51 Carlos Ramos: It's been real. 00:46:52 Sumer Beatty: Catch you next time. 00:46:57 Carlos Ramos: All right, welcome to Tomorrow Makers, where we learn how to... what do we do, Sumer? We just explore how we learn, right? I really need some around here on the mic, because this is really disorienting without you on here. 00:47:07 Sumer Beatty: I said you don't know what to do, there's not enough people in the room. 00:47:10 Carlos Ramos: Yeah. But I'm here with Kaysey Beury from the office of, I can't keep track of what your guy's name is anymore. 00:47:17 Kasey Beury: The the Hudock Center for Academic Excellence. The Michael J. Sr. Hudock Center for Academic Excellence. 00:47:25 Carlos Ramos: Get right in there on the mic. Let's, let's, let's make this happen. 00:47:28 Kasey Beury: So I'm working on a lot of different projects right now. One of them being with first gen students. We're trying to get some things up and running for fall semester, including a Tri-Alpha organization founded here on campus. So we have that to look forward to in the fall. 00:47:45 Carlos Ramos: Awesome. Now you guys are serving not just first gen students, but you're serving all students on campus, not even just first year students, but all however-many-years-we-have-them, students. 00:47:54 Kasey Beury: Correct. Correct. So, we used to be primarily focused on first semester and first year students. When we were LEAP Center, we realized there was a need for students beyond that year. And so we've expanded our services to include all of the upperclassmen as well. it's been really great to see some of our LEAP advisees come back in their upperclassmen years. To, you know, ask questions and just seek out services and also just to check in and see how they're progressing in their majors. 00:48:21 Carlos Ramos: Now, how many students will the department see over the course of a semester? 00:48:26 Kasey Beury: That's a great question. A lot. . 00:48:30 Carlos Ramos: Now, how many will you personally see whether, how, however you wanna break down that time period? 00:48:33 Kasey Beury: So, in, in my particular role, I, I serve kind of double duty. So I, meet with students as they request. But then also I have an assigned group of students, because I work with academic operations in a specific group. And so I have a small cohort of about 12 or 13 students that I meet with regularly in addition to the walk ins. And our walk ins, I honestly have no idea. I haven't checked those numbers recently, but it feels like probably close to 70, a hundred different like individual students. And some of them, again, are return students who come back for multiple meetings, depending on what their needs are. 00:49:11 Carlos Ramos: Now a student doesn't have, they don't have to wait to have an appointment to meet with one of the members of the team. They can just come in and hang out in the Center or you have an open area where students can just kind of chill. 00:49:21 Kasey Beury: Yes, absolutely. So we have lots of students who actually come in just for that purpose. so we always have free coffee and tea, snacks. That's a pretty big job for some of our students. They come in. We recently added some updates to our office, some larger tables where students can come in and actually like, work on homework, some different seating spaces. So we have some students who come in to use the computers, and the printer that we have in our office, which I think has been really great to students to see some students in there for some, more social and, not necessarily because they're in need of anything, just because they find that space comfortable. 00:49:54 Carlos Ramos: Cool. And you actually have a, there's like a secret space that you have. 00:49:58 Kasey Beury: Yes. 00:49:58 Carlos Ramos: Do students get to use that as well? 00:50:01 Kasey Beury: We haven't had any students use that. we did use it during open house for, parents and families to be able to kind of gather a little bit. It's kind of smaller, but, it was a space where parents could go and kind of take a little bit of a break and, decompress from, you know, all of the information that they were getting. And so we actually in our office use that space a lot, as an informal meeting space. So when we call in prompt to meetings, there's a big table back there and a little seating area. So we often go back there and have our chats. 00:50:31 Carlos Ramos: Awesome. Now we're about 13 days away from finals. 13 school days away from finals. What tips do you have for students? How can your office help them? Or are they beyond help at this point? 00:50:43 Kasey Beury: Never beyond help. So my actual official title is coordinator of Student Success Solutions. So I'm always about finding solutions to the challenges or barriers students might be facing. At this point in the semester, I would definitely always recommend students are talking to their instructors first. They know where the students's at in the class. They know kind of what material is left and where they can go from here. So I always, you know, tell them you need to get an accurate read of where you are in the class from the instructor to be able to move forward. And then we kind of troubleshoot what services can we provide to the student or what is the best plan of action? So, Friday is the final, withdrawal date for a course. And sometimes that is the best course of action for a student to try to preserve their GPA and attempt the course again in a future semester. So, we try to make sure that the student is aware of all the options that they have available to them. And for every student, that's going to look a little different. 00:51:34 Carlos Ramos: If you had one takeaway for a student, what would it be? 00:51:38 Kasey Beury: Use the resources. Or maybe answer email. Answer your emails. 00:51:43 Carlos Ramos: I'm with you on that one. Well, thank you, Kaysey, for joining me on this little special impromptu interview for Tomorrow Makers. 00:51:50 Kasey Beury: Absolutely. I loved it. Thanks so much for having me.