Episode 9

full
Published on:

2nd Feb 2022

9. Not a Regular Mom, A Cool Mom

This week's guest is Erica Molett. Erica holds several titles, including CEO of Kandake Tech, a firm looking to improve the education to gaming industry pipeline through programs like Banneky. Erica talks about her motivations, including her passion for education and the interests of her two sons. She also tells us about how kids are already in the Metaverse (darn them for being so ahead of the curve) and provides guidance for parents of gamers.

Episode Resources:

http://banneky.com/

Transcript
Unknown:

Welcome to the meta woman podcast we address the

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issues, opportunities and challenges facing women in the

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development of the metaverse the biggest revolution since the

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internet itself. Every week we bring you conversations with top

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female talent and business executives operating in the

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gaming and crypto industries. Here's your host Lindsey the

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boss pass. The metal woman podcast starts now.

Lindsay Poss:

Hello, and welcome to the metal woman podcast part

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of the holodeck media Podcast Network. I'm your host Lindsay

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the boss path from struggle to success recovering at all time

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returning listeners. You've heard this spiel before. But

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thank you so much for supporting the show, please be sure to

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leave a five star rating and review. It really helps people

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find the show that's super important to us. And for our new

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listeners. Welcome. I hope you enjoy this episode, for which we

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have an awesome guest. I'm so excited to introduce Erica

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Molot, CEO of edtech and entertainment company panda K.

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Did I say that correctly? Come back. Come back a tech which I

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also did a little bit of research on your name has an

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awesome has awesome roots with some Nubian queens and very

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cool, really, really cool etymology. So Cadac a tech.

Lindsay Poss:

Erica, welcome to the show. To start please feel free to

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introduce yourself give us a couple sentences of background

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and a little bit of Erica Mollet story.

Unknown:

Hi, yes Erica let so happy to be here.

Lindsay Poss:

cut me off earlier and say that

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you want to do your intro over?

Lindsay Poss:

No, we're gonna stick with it because I think

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it's important to recognize you can make mistakes and bounce

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back but Erica volet

Lindsay Poss:

Well, I appreciate that.

Lindsay Poss:

Can you talk a little bit about what motivated you to start this

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program? I know your kids were huge motivation. But what were

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you not seeing in the space for your kids? Or what were you

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wanting to add to this space? That was kind of new and

Lindsay Poss:

different?

Unknown:

Yeah, so I would definitely have to say that I'm

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being the mom of a very avid athlete, as my older son Kyle

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is, and an avid gamer as my younger son Tyler is, I realized

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that there's something magical about watching your kids pursue

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their passions. And as parents, we love that. But oftentimes, if

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your kid is a gamer, or your kids into anime, or your kid is

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if wants to be a YouTuber, it's harder for parents of teenagers

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to understand how to support their kids in those ways. And so

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what it turns into is, get off the game, it's ruining your

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mind, or what is anime, you shouldn't be watching that, or

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YouTuber, you know, it's just not safe out there on the World

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Wide Web, I don't want your face and your likeness out there. But

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what I started to realize with my younger son, is that watching

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YouTube and being a gamer really inspired him to want to learn to

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build gaming PCs, and to be more vocal about his opinion on

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things and to build a community around himself that was actually

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global, even though it wasn't IRL. You know, they were friends

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in Canada or Louisiana and other places. These were real people.

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And you know, there's a toxicity of course that you know, exists

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in gaming or exist in the social media space, but there's

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toxicity in the real world too. So I really had to come through

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and realize all the positives that come through a curated

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experience online that supported their passions and really helped

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our teams to start to be forward thinkers and realize how they

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could be the next innovators in these multibillion dollar

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spaces, as well as help parents to be able to see the same and

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so I to answer your question, what I saw missing in edtech was

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that it's very siloed You know, you got your ABC Mouse and those

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that are really targeted at elementary school students in a

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very fun and light hearted way. But when you got to middle

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school in high school, oftentimes ed tech content was

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very uninspiring. And so your kids often had to rely on

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YouTube and Tik Tok and things for the things that they

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actually wanted to learn, and to see it delivered in a way that

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was cool to them. And so I wanted to say, how can I make

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sure my kid is learning and leaning into their passion? But

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how can I also make sure that it's safe and curated?

Lindsay Poss:

That's super cool, because I think it's almost like

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every couple months, there's some story about a parent being

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upset with the gaming industry, which there's, as you've pointed

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out, there's plenty of things to be upset about. But there's also

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been dozens of studies and things that have found, well,

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you know, the collaboration, you learn the communication, you

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learn, it can be very similar to a lot of other programs, and it

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can be so helpful, right? So I'm glad to hear that that was kind

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of the part that you focused on. Because there are so many skills

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from soft skills to hard skills, like coding and software

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development, or even interest in sound design or graphic design,

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or there's a billion different ways to get involved. You're

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totally right. And there's so much bad news. It's really

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disappointing. It's like, oh, there was actually not too long

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ago and Illinois state senator that introduced legislation that

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said that Grand Theft Auto GTA five was leading to a bunch of

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looting in the city, it was like, come on,

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what was the excuse before GTA, you know, these

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adults don't always act like we've been acting up ourselves.

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And we're not even talking video games. So clearly, it's not the

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games themselves, or you know, the industries themselves.

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There's just, you know, there's some societal things that can

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address that. I

Lindsay Poss:

totally agree with you. And that's such a great way

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of saying it. So I really appreciate that perspective.

Lindsay Poss:

What was it like for you launching a business during the

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height of COVID? Because the end of 2020, that's quite a time to

Lindsay Poss:

launch?

Unknown:

Yeah, it was, you know, I would say that COVID In the

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pandemic, and all of the social injustices that were constantly

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on our television screens, created their own emotional toll

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on all of us. And then those were, those were the bad things.

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Those were things were really, really bad about that time as an

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entrepreneur who also owns other companies, the good things that

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came from that same period, were because, you know, I had I had

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business that just kind of went away, right at the time that the

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NBA shut down. And you know, we've all been to see Oh, holy

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moly, this pan, this COVID-19 thing, this Coronavirus thing

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that we keep hearing about the peripheral, it's real, it's

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here, and it's happening. You know, so scary from a business

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perspective. But then once I got past that moment, and realize

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that there were going to be, you know, idle loans and a PPP loans

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and all of those other things to help me, I looked up and

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realized that I had nothing but time and space, to take some of

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those ideas off the shelf that I never really had time to

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cultivate. And so whereas we started ideating on Banchi, I

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don't think benek even had a name until we got into the

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pandemic, honestly, but just really saying, How can I go

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ahead and use this time now that I know that will at least be

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able to keep the lights on you know, my husband, he works for

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Amazon, so we were going to be fine. But I now had time to

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really just innovate. And that space, that space of the

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pandemic really helped me to a see some of the gaps when it

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came to our kids emotional development. So it created a

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sense of urgency emotionally. But it also meant that all of

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the people in the world whether they are from Nike or

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Playstation or Faze clan or Riot Games, or Epic Games, and NBA

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and others, everyone was at home too. So they had nothing but

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time to answer my LinkedIn DMS. And so I just started going

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around and selling the dream of what I wanted to build and how I

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wanted to impact our communities. And so you know,

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the pandemic was, that downtime was good for me because I was

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able to cultivate a vision and start putting strategy and time

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behind it, and also get a lot of other people who wanted to lean

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in and fill in that gap for our kids, as well as from a social

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injustice perspective and looking at everything that had

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been happening with with you know, with George Floyd and

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attacking Jeffrey, as well as my Adrien all the others. So many

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companies will making it a priority to give back and to be

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a part of the solution. And so we were able to, to kind of

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accelerate the growth of this idea you know, we're still

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bootstrap we're still moving at a pace that makes sense for us.

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We looked to accelerate that this year. But that you know,

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that's that's what it was for me building during the pandemic it

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was a great time to innovate and to build an army of support

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around us.

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Wow Irving serving yeah? Sure, so I'll talk about some of the

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things we've done in the past, and some of the things that are

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still in development that we're not able to announce just yet,

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but I will say that some of the bigger partnerships and you

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know, for me, for our companies, you know, our initial ask was

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never just hey, can you give us money? It has always been Can

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you give us time? Can you give us advice? Can you donate your

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intellect to this generation. And so we've been able to do

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some really cool things with as it relates exclusively to ban a

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key we've worked with Microsoft and Microsoft, Xbox, as well as

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Warner Brothers, FaZe Clan, Representative from Riot Games

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as well as exit. And we did an event during the summer as Space

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Jam as the Space Jam movie was going to be launched, because

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Microsoft created a really cool coding program focused on are

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themed by the Space Jam movie. And so I reached out to their

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group to Margaret Price and say, Hey, I think it's really cool.

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Let's talk about some ways that maybe we can we can I get this

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out to the world because it's a really cool perspective. And so

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we came together and during the summer, we did a live stream

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event, we streamed from Faze clan, and it was called find

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your seat and tech gaming and entertainment. And so we had

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folks like skeptic and face Blaze and face swag. And as I

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mentioned, Riot Games exit Microsoft, Xbox FaZe Clan, lots

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of other people, helping students over 1100 kids around

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the world. Learn about all of the careers behind the cool

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things that they love. They also had a gaming tournament and they

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got to play against some folks from exit. And they had lots of

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prizes that Microsoft provided. So then we use the theme and the

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you know, the hype of of the Space Jam movie, which was

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really focused not just on LeBron James son wanting to play

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basketball it was it was the opposite LeBron James son wanted

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to be a game where he wants to design games. And so there was

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this really cool almost Metaverse type of experience in

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the movie actually. And so being able to see that dynamic

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changing in the world, where someone like LeBron James is

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validating, gaming and cinema things. So that's what we were

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able to do. We've also are have done some really cool community

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work with Microsoft, Microsoft, Xbox, and others. In fact, we'll

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be doing some things for the students in Cleveland here soon

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during All Star Weekend. And and yeah, there's just a lot more we

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work. You know much of what vandyk is building right now is

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focused on masterclasses that blend both live experiences with

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project based learning so a kid can learn from someone in the

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industry right now. We're working with Sergio Guate Rama

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who's a well known couture fashion designer. Yep. And and

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he's going to be designing he's designing a couture gown from

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upcycled materials with our students. And and so yes, we'll

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be doing more in that lane and building gaming PCs and all

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kinds of things with some really great people.

Lindsay Poss:

I love the collaboration with Sergio Quadra

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as as when I think back on my high school days and being able

Lindsay Poss:

to I mean, that was a huge project runway watcher it was it

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was definitely a huge passion of mine. So that I can just imagine

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the excitement of the students working on that that project and

Lindsay Poss:

how cool that must be And I love the sustainability aspect of it

Lindsay Poss:

to really cool to bring that in. Absolutely. Absolutely. Very

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neat. I wanted to ask you a little bit about your background

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as well, because you have done, as you mentioned, you're an

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entrepreneur, you've opened a couple different businesses now

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in a lot of different areas. And I would love to hear about how

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your background in that and government and economics, first

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of all, what that background is, and secondly, how it's helped

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start this program and what you've been doing with Banchi.

Lindsay Poss:

And, and your other companies now.

Unknown:

Sure. So yes, I am a serial entrepreneur. And I would

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dare to say most serial entrepreneurs don't get in. It's

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because we're because we're gluttons for punishment, is

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because it just, it just happens. And you know, when

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you're innovating, and you feel like what you're creating is

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needed in the world, you can't wait five years and you know,

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put it on the shelf, it's got to change the world today.

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Otherwise, what's the point? And so, side, my original company is

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called expansion solutions. We do workforce and economic

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development consulting. And so we work with clients, school

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districts, cities, colleges, companies around the country,

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and helping primarily to build innovative and diverse talent

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pipelines, starting with bringing companies like Nike, or

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Xbox and others into the classroom, whether it's in rural

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North Carolina, or in Dallas, or New York, etc. So that students

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are learning for example, all of the Koreans behind the sneaker

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and they're able to design their own sneaker and create their own

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distribution plan and things like that, so that they're

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starting to learn STEM or STEAM based careers. And talent

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pipelines expansion Solutions does a lot more than just that

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we also help cities really understand how to build cohesive

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economic development plans that incorporates in recognizes the

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interdependency of a come a company that you've attracted to

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your city, that may be bringing High Net Worth jobs. Well, if

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they can't find the talent pipeline that can keep up with

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their the growth of their industry, then you're going to

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lose that company. And if you lose that company, then the

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economics in your city are going to be impacted, you won't have

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that tax revenues, but for infrastructure, or to elevate

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and parks and recs, etc. But if a school district doesn't

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understand the growing needs of companies to inform curriculum,

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how can they prepare those talent pipelines. So we really

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helped them to create cohesive strategies, whether it is in

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tech and gaming, or it's in the medical field, or if it's in

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manufacturing and engineering, or you name it, we work in a lot

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of different ways, our lanes, to help companies and cities and

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regions to grow together and bring their residents along with

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them so that their positive impacts of gentrification can be

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seen versus the negative. And so yeah, so that's what we do. I

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also have a nonprofit called Beyond the ball. And it was

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inspired by my older son, where Banchi was inspired by my

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younger son, Kyle loves basketball, he's pretty, he was

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pretty passionate about that from 10 until recently 15. You

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know, that was his path. And I saw that so many boys of color,

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often float through their K through 12, on the guaranteed

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aspiration, that they will become a pro player, but they

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don't realize and even if they hear that they have less than 2%

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chance of accomplishing that goal. Most of them still believe

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there'll be a part of that 2%. And it's not until they get to

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high school, they graduate high school that they realize it's

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not going to happen. And there's just so much unmet unmet

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potential, because they didn't take such a strong focus on

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their math class and other science classes or academics, or

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they didn't have other goals to fall back on, and mom and dad

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community, etc. Then you're going to the NBA, John, and

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John's like, that's great. I don't need algebra, you know,

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and so Johnny gets all the way in his senior year. And lead, he

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can step off a curb and hurt his ankle or he's injured in a game

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or he doesn't make the D one scholarship. And now you know, a

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kid who could have been a sports medicine doctor, or stadium

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architect, etc. Had he only been told about those things and

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inspired. He's kind of living a life well beneath his potential.

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And so beyond the ball exposes students to the math and science

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behind the sports they love and all the innovative careers they

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can have beyond the court field or the track. And so we've done

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that really well with companies of many of the companies that

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I've already mentioned, and we'll be doing a lot more of

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that this year.

Lindsay Poss:

I'm feeling a little bit attacked because I

Lindsay Poss:

thought I was going to be the first woman player in the NBA

Lindsay Poss:

when I was growing up. I was determined after seeing Welcome

Lindsay Poss:

basketball, and I did play in college and it was great.

Unknown:

Yeah. Right, you can relax

Lindsay Poss:

salutely. And you're totally right. And I like

Lindsay Poss:

this, I like this hands on approach of fostering any any,

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you know, really fostering the interests of the students pick

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up along the way. I do think that really often people get

Lindsay Poss:

really stuck, especially when it gets to college. In choosing a

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major choosing a career path, or even even if you don't choose to

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go to college, like when you graduate high school, you kind

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of lose a lot of resources that you once had. So it's good to

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start young and have people start figuring out kind of what

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their passions are, and exploring that whole field

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rather than, like you said, just trying to become the NBA player.

Lindsay Poss:

So that's, that's really cool. And it's something that I've

Lindsay Poss:

been thinking a lot about lately, as my nieces and nephews

Lindsay Poss:

get to college age. And, you know, you graduated high school

Lindsay Poss:

and, and you're kind of done for a second. We just throw young

Lindsay Poss:

adults out into the world and it kind of like, wow, yeah.

Unknown:

Exactly. Yeah, you're right. And it's in it is when

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you get in, if you're, if you're blessed enough to make it to

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college sports, oftentimes, at your college experience is

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nothing like the average student, because you're so busy,

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you know, from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep,

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so you miss out on that period of youthfulness. Because you

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don't get to have that experience. I mean, you have a

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whole nother experience, which you know, is sometimes even

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better, but you miss some of those components. But even then,

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you know, going from college to pro, I would dare say even

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especially as a girl, they're very, they're even fewer big

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opportunities for you. Yeah. And so and now your family's like

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you graduated from college, you got to play all the way through

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now, what are you gonna do with your life? Like? Who prepared me

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for anything else? When did I have time to cultivate anything

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else? And you know, I gotta figure that out for myself now.

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But athletes bring such a unique value to the world, that the

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person who never played sports doesn't bring like me, I can't

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run a mile without stopping. And I will tell myself, I'm just I'm

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proud of myself, I made half a mile and my group was like,

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Don't you give up on you see, if I've been an athlete, I would

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never have given up until the model was done, right. And

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there's so many social skills that athletes have. So I've

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never been one to say, don't let your kid play sports. Just let

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your kids go to science camp. Because you know, there's

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socialization skills, there's this hunger to win, and to never

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give up. And you're competitive as heck. And when you but you

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know how to rally a team, you know how to lose together, and

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they keep going. Those are skills that come from sports,

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but oftentimes, the world doesn't prepare athletes for

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what's next. And so, you know, so I think you figure it out,

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because athletes are just resilient, and they don't give

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up. But we wanted to make sure to be on the ball that they were

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prepared to say, hey, basketballs over, that's okay.

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I'm just gonna be a rocket scientist. Now, you know,

Lindsay Poss:

I love that I think that there's the deeper

Lindsay Poss:

because I grew up heavy and athletics, very similar to your

Lindsay Poss:

older son. But I will say the more I've spent time in the

Lindsay Poss:

gaming community, the more of those same values, I definitely

Lindsay Poss:

can see. So I think it's cool that you're doing both talking

Lindsay Poss:

about persistence, I've watched gamers play the same level of

Lindsay Poss:

something 1000s of times to get it right, like that is some real

Lindsay Poss:

persistence and determination. So I definitely think that

Lindsay Poss:

there's so much overlap in those communities. So I think it's

Lindsay Poss:

really neat that you're doing similar things in both, as

Lindsay Poss:

someone who kind of has a foothold. And both was

Lindsay Poss:

definitely more on the athletic side, for sure. It's really cool

Lindsay Poss:

to hear those things be translated into both industries.

Lindsay Poss:

I wanted to push a little bit more about that and talk about

Lindsay Poss:

what other educational orgs can do, not only to promote

Lindsay Poss:

diversity and inclusion, but to to do what you've been talking

Lindsay Poss:

about in kind of cultivating interests and building out

Lindsay Poss:

future plans for the people and the kids that they're trying to

Lindsay Poss:

serve. What are some of the things that either you've

Lindsay Poss:

learned, or you've implemented and in these orgs that you think

Lindsay Poss:

would help other educational orgs push themselves further and

Lindsay Poss:

better serve some of the students that you're trying to

Lindsay Poss:

serve?

Unknown:

Yeah, so the first thing that I'll say is a point

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of clarification that often gets lost because I am a minority. I

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am a woman I am a mom of black boys is often assumed that what

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I'm building is only for minority children. You know, we

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are a broad marketplace. option for every family, regardless of

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their socio economic background, or gender, or race, social,

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sexual preference, etc. This is for kids, period. But what I

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will say is that from a diversity, equity and inclusion,

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oftentimes people just say D and I, but it's Dei, without equity

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in the middle for women and for minorities, then you can bring

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us all to the table. But if we make, you know, half of what you

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make, and we have no opportunity to elevate, then you still

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haven't done anything, you haven't moved the needle. So

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what I would say about diversity, equity and inclusion

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is dei should be synonymous with ROI, you know, we are as a

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family, the Gillette we have the healthy incomes that it

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requires, for me to be able to afford to buy all of these

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computer parts that Tyler needs all the time, you know, if

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anyone knows how much a 30 at cost, then you know, what I'm

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dealing with financially over here.

Lindsay Poss:

I'm sorry,

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exactly. But how often are companies that sell these

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computer parts, or companies that sell gaming headsets, etc,

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really advertising to minorities, and, and young

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people in the same way they do other markets. So that means

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that you're leaving money on the ground, when you are not

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investing your time and efforts into these other communities.

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When you think Dei, perhaps you shouldn't just think, let's

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create some type of special program for for girls, or this

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special small program for poor black children and suburban

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community up in urban communities. Maybe you should

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think there's a whole group of people, millions of them, that

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we're not even asking for money. But then when you go back and

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say, how do we ask for money if we haven't built a relationship?

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So then if you really care about that money, then the first thing

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you're going to do is say how do we make sure we hire people

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internally, that reflect the voice and reality of these

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groups that we're trying to serve, so that we can build the

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relationships and build marketing strategies that won't

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come off as cheesy or out of touch, that will make them feel

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welcome to be our consumer. So they must be your employees so

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that they can help you create that authentic voice and

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perspective, and then they can become your consumer. So I

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think, you know, from a DI perspective, if companies that

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really are even if you're only about the dollars, and you are a

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closet, racist or sexist, if you only focus on the fact that a

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company of for profit company can't grow to that it can grow

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to even greater levels, if you really just engage more

Unknown:

audiences. I think that's one of the ways to look at Dei, if I'm

Unknown:

a CEO of a major company. Another way is to say your

Unknown:

company can't grow without the talent. And there are lots of

Unknown:

people and we know, they're always talent shortfalls.

Unknown:

There's always a workforce gap, especially in medicine, or in

Unknown:

technology, and all these other areas. There are kids out here

Unknown:

who are freaking brilliant, they just need to be nurtured. And

Unknown:

they need to be publicly invited to the table. And so from a dei

Unknown:

perspective, starting to pump the pump and make them aware of

Unknown:

these cool jobs, giving them the tools to be able to be prepared.

Unknown:

And this generation, I always say Gen Z kids are just built

Unknown:

different. They're far more brilliant than Gen X's. And

Unknown:

they're far more brilliant than the millennials, because they

Unknown:

have the power of YouTube and tick tock to learn anything they

Unknown:

want to learn. And they're bold enough to know that they can

Unknown:

actually be the expert in the room just by opening up their

Unknown:

own YouTube account, you know, and so they're not your age,

Unknown:

share their opinion, they're not they don't have to wait for

Unknown:

their school system to teach them anything. Tyler learned how

Unknown:

to build gaming PCs from watching obsessive amounts of

Unknown:

YouTube videos, and I didn't even know that until I overheard

Unknown:

and tells me maybe we should just build our own gaming PC.

Unknown:

And I was like, I love this and the first one, and I suddenly

Unknown:

find someone to teach it was like, I don't need you to find

Unknown:

someone to teach me I've already learned on YouTube. And so who

Unknown:

wouldn't want a kid like Tyler on their team? And so you know,

Unknown:

for Dei, looking at it from a talent pipeline and an ROI

Unknown:

perspective, should be enough value proposition for it to be a

Unknown:

priority.

Lindsay Poss:

I love the line D I should be synonymous with ROI.

Lindsay Poss:

That's awesome. And I will say as someone who hosts the better

Lindsay Poss:

woman podcast, I It's come up several times that I feel the

Lindsay Poss:

same way where Like, we are starting with women here, it's

Lindsay Poss:

an easy point to start with. But there's so many other groups of

Lindsay Poss:

people that can relate, I think, to this content, I think

Lindsay Poss:

practically everyone can it's not. I feel the same way. It's

Lindsay Poss:

it's not, we're not, you know, you're not just there to support

Lindsay Poss:

minorities, you're there to support everyone. And by

Lindsay Poss:

supporting everyone, you're only welcoming, you know, more

Lindsay Poss:

voices, more consumers more interest, you're only widening

Lindsay Poss:

the community that's possible for you to reach. So there's no

Lindsay Poss:

reason to not support that. One of my one of my dream papers to

Lindsay Poss:

write is the economic case for including women in gaming,

Lindsay Poss:

really backing that up with tons of data and presenting it and

Lindsay Poss:

basically saying, See, I told you guys

Unknown:

exactly. Love with you there.

Lindsay Poss:

I know, we've talked a lot about how panicky

Lindsay Poss:

supports gamers and you have started to touch on this quite a

Lindsay Poss:

bit. But I like that you're really focusing on the passions

Lindsay Poss:

of the Gen Z audience. So can you talk about the things

Lindsay Poss:

outside of gaming that you guys are working with? Or even things

Lindsay Poss:

that Jason, I know you've mentioned animais, you've

Lindsay Poss:

mentioned fashion design, a lot of music? A lot of these things

Lindsay Poss:

are extremely adjacent, if not included in the gaming industry.

Lindsay Poss:

But can you tell me more about some of those more tangential

Lindsay Poss:

projects you have going on?

Unknown:

Sure. Yeah. So Banchi is really focused on as I

Unknown:

mentioned, artists, gamers and entertainers slash content

Unknown:

creators. And the reason we focus on those three audiences

Unknown:

is because, you know, it's easy for parents and society to get

Unknown:

behind supporting student athletes, we understand sports,

Unknown:

you can sit on the sideline, and you can share your baby on you

Unknown:

can be a part of the moment. But if your kids a gamer, they're

Unknown:

not gonna let you put on a headset, or join their court,

Unknown:

their discord channel, you have no idea what's going on. And so

Unknown:

there's really no way. So it's just like, Look, Mom supporting

Unknown:

me means getting a good Wi Fi and leaving me alone for the

Unknown:

next 12 hours. And a parent is hard for parents to set to say

Unknown:

yes to that. I don't, I don't say yesterday, I make my kid

Unknown:

come out of the room sometime. But you know, for kids who love

Unknown:

anime, or kids who want to be YouTubers, as well, we as

Unknown:

parents, often a, we as parents don't often understand how to

Unknown:

support them. Therefore, we admonish our kids for those

Unknown:

passions, especially when they become teenagers. So then we

Unknown:

widen the divide between us as their parent and then feeling

Unknown:

ashamed of their passions, just because we don't get it. And

Unknown:

because we do know, there are dangers that can exist. Again,

Unknown:

dangers are everywhere, but you know, if we can support it, then

Unknown:

we can help curate it. And secondly, our kids, often

Unknown:

gamers, their friends aren't the kids in their neighborhood,

Unknown:

their friends are the kids that they play with on these games.

Unknown:

And so and the same with anime, you know, these things are often

Unknown:

just you looking into a camera, you and I have said you and just

Unknown:

your little bubble, and those kids needs to be validated. And

Unknown:

so Banchi really does focus on leading, it's all of those

Unknown:

industries, whether it is the fashion industry, or it's anime,

Unknown:

or it's working with, you know, filmmakers and content creators,

Unknown:

or techies, so that kids can start learning about all of the

Unknown:

things that they can do, as you mentioned, a little earlier, you

Unknown:

know, graphic graphic design, music, choreography, dance,

Unknown:

choreography, animation, storytelling, there's so many

Unknown:

different things that go into not just creating a movie, but

Unknown:

also into gaming these days, as well as, and I know, we're gonna

Unknown:

talk about the metaverse here soon, but there are just so many

Unknown:

real careers that really do exist, that mom and kids don't

Unknown:

know about. And so Banchi really exists to serve all of those

Unknown:

different areas. And guess what, in three years, those interests

Unknown:

will change for the next generation. And so we'll have to

Unknown:

shift with them. And, but as, as of now, these are the interests

Unknown:

of these kids. And so we really got to lean into it. And I

Unknown:

think, you know, Banchi has a great opportunity as a for

Unknown:

profit company, to to fill a gap in edtech in a way that's

Unknown:

authentic, because we have what's called our Banchi squad.

Unknown:

And these are kids who are eating were from sixth grade

Unknown:

through 12th grade. They're, you know, we are intentionally very

Unknown:

diverse from a cultural perspective, gender perspective,

Unknown:

age and interest perspective, so that we are really understanding

Unknown:

the pulse of what's happening. And we're not just limiting it

Unknown:

to my perspective as a mom of Pilar Pilar, and so yeah, so

Unknown:

that so that's what we're doing. We're always open to more

Unknown:

support and more industry leaders coming to the table to

Unknown:

to help us groom these kids.

Lindsay Poss:

Very cool. I think you've already touched on the

Lindsay Poss:

metaverse a bit and one of the the cool things I think that

Lindsay Poss:

you've brought up is that the kids that you're working with

Lindsay Poss:

are kind of already in it. they can pull up YouTube and learn

Lindsay Poss:

anything. They are connecting with people around the world and

Lindsay Poss:

through a whole bunch of different platforms that maybe

Lindsay Poss:

aren't as popular with millennial or Gen X audiences.

Lindsay Poss:

But can you speak a little bit more about the role that you see

Lindsay Poss:

ad tech playing in shaping the metaverse? And what that's gonna

Lindsay Poss:

look like? Whoa, well, you know, the metaverse.

Unknown:

Anyone that speaks on the metaverse is making it up as

Unknown:

they go along. Because you know, it's you, right? Yes, I'm gonna

Unknown:

make it up. Now. I would say that, you know, one thing that I

Unknown:

decided early on, like, I was very a very late adopter of

Unknown:

Facebook. And like, I didn't even have a MySpace account, I

Unknown:

don't think or I got it right before No one, no one was on

Unknown:

there anymore. And I decided at that time, but I would never be

Unknown:

late to the party again, especially when it was very

Unknown:

clear that there were enough powers that be that we're going

Unknown:

to make it happen. And when you look at you look at Mark

Unknown:

Zuckerberg, you look at Tim Sweeney, and you look at others

Unknown:

who are really forcing the metaverse to exist.

Lindsay Poss:

Bless you. Sorry.

Unknown:

Good. The reality is, it's coming regardless. And it's

Unknown:

a natural for those who are, who play fortnight and you know,

Unknown:

things like that, and like VR, and all that good stuff. This is

Unknown:

a natural progression. Um, you know, lots of people in my

Unknown:

generation, like, it's gonna ruin the world, everyone's gonna

Unknown:

be very inward, and they're not going to, you know, we're going

Unknown:

to lose specialization and things like that. I don't, you

Unknown:

know, but they also said that about cars, they also said that

Unknown:

about, you know, alcohol, they also said that

Lindsay Poss:

WordPress, yeah, bugs

Unknown:

is that, you know, the world is going to evolve period,

Unknown:

because that's what we as humans do. And so as it relates to the

Unknown:

metaverse, you know, I think there are, it's just gonna be

Unknown:

interesting. I don't have an opinion on whether it's good or

Unknown:

bad. I just know that it's going to be and as it relates to

Unknown:

EdTech, and its role inside the metaverse, I believe that for

Unknown:

education, the more experiential education is, the more it

Unknown:

sticks. And it can only be good for curated safe, quality

Unknown:

education to exist on the metaverse because for a kid to

Unknown:

volunteer to be immersed in this type of world. If it's done

Unknown:

well, they then kids can learn just imagine a kid learning math

Unknown:

experientially or learning science experientially or being

Unknown:

able to be in this, this they're rated curated virtual world with

Unknown:

other kids around the globe, and they're all on this learning

Unknown:

journey together. How you do it, what it's gonna look like, you

Unknown:

know, we were working on some things internally for that

Unknown:

space. But you know, I, it's gonna be what it's gonna be,

Unknown:

it's, you know, it's kind of like social media, we thought it

Unknown:

was gonna be the worst thing in the world for everyone to be

Unknown:

able to, to post whatever they want to post say what they want

Unknown:

to say. And you know, we're still here. Half the time, we're

Unknown:

all having these treatments, that we're still here. And

Unknown:

there's lots of stuff that comes from it. My grandma is on social

Unknown:

media, you know, and that's good. She can see your grandkids

Unknown:

and great grandkids. But yeah, I think, you know, I don't I won't

Unknown:

dare say I'm an expert, or that I have anything figured out,

Unknown:

I'll just say that I'm gonna figure it out what the rest of

Unknown:

the world and make sure that I'm an early adopter on interjecting

Unknown:

positive opportunities for our kids.

Lindsay Poss:

That's such a great point of view. And this

Lindsay Poss:

has been a fun interview for me, because basically, I agree with

Lindsay Poss:

every single thing that you've said. I can't emphasize enough

Lindsay Poss:

that I absolutely agree with you. And it's just like you

Lindsay Poss:

said, with any anything, any technological advancement,

Lindsay Poss:

there's always good mix with bad. We don't even know what

Lindsay Poss:

this looks like yet. So why shoot down anything before

Lindsay Poss:

something really cool could potentially happen. We don't

Lindsay Poss:

know. What are the things I wanted to ask you about? And

Lindsay Poss:

you've? You've definitely addressed kind of how kids are

Lindsay Poss:

already incorporating the metaverse idea. But do you have

Lindsay Poss:

any fun predictions or things that your kids have talked

Lindsay Poss:

about? Or things that you've seen with some of the Banchi

Lindsay Poss:

kids about what you think how they're going to incorporate the

Lindsay Poss:

metaverse how they're going to what things are going to change

Lindsay Poss:

and how we live play or work or what they're already doing or

Lindsay Poss:

like what are the kids up to these days?

Unknown:

You know, I will tell you that kids in general, from

Unknown:

the kids I've spoken to, they have no idea what this Metaverse

Unknown:

where it is, you know their, their generation isn't really

Unknown:

talking about it. But they're absolutely already experiencing

Unknown:

it. You know, as we mentioned, fortnight is a very high level

Unknown:

example of you know, a Metaverse type of experience. You know,

Unknown:

I've had this conversation with a good friend at Epic Games, you

Unknown:

know, kids being able to come into this. And when fortnight

Unknown:

came up people like, Oh my God, my kid is in their headset

Unknown:

talking to other people what in the world? Right? And so I would

Unknown:

just say that I think my predictions is gonna be crazy

Unknown:

when you look at all of the quote unquote, real estate and I

Unknown:

say, quote, unquote, real estate because I just don't get that

Unknown:

how I'm buying virtual space, but I'm not going to be an old

Unknown:

fogy about it. But you look at the digital artwork. And you

Unknown:

know, the the value of something is always connected to the

Unknown:

perspective of the buyer period. And if the world decides we want

Unknown:

to value digital art, we want to value virtual real estate, we

Unknown:

want to be able to create worlds that have never been created

Unknown:

before in a virtual space, and then invite others to enjoy it.

Unknown:

You know what, I spend lots of time in an Oculus, so that I can

Unknown:

be in a Metaverse world. I can't tell the future for about

Unknown:

myself. You know, I can't claim my own future in that regard.

Unknown:

But I can't I just can't see it yet. Honestly, I can't see

Unknown:

myself existing in that space. Maybe there are other components

Unknown:

of the metaverse that I just don't get yet. But I definitely

Unknown:

see myself and conduct a tech our parent company building

Unknown:

Metaverse experiences for the generation who finds that to be

Unknown:

normal, and to be just a part of the way they do life. And as

Unknown:

with everything, you know, something that's here today may

Unknown:

evolve and be you know, if a kid is spending way too much time in

Unknown:

their Oculus today, eventually that will become old and they

Unknown:

will come back out and socialize with the real world. I will say

Unknown:

that the thing that we have to be cautious about, I imagine if

Unknown:

I can tell from my own self is anytime our kids are adults,

Unknown:

anytime we spend so much time inward. And in these fantasy

Unknown:

worlds or in these boxes. Those are times when you're not

Unknown:

cultivating real relationships. And if your internet goes down

Unknown:

in your community for a week, holy cow, what are you gonna do

Unknown:

with yourself, you know, where the real cherish relationships

Unknown:

and you know, I've seen that happen to kids, whether it's

Unknown:

they were avid gamers, I had so many friends, but then all of a

Unknown:

sudden their PC is broken for a month and they're sitting

Unknown:

around, they're depressed because they don't have any real

Unknown:

friends anymore because all the real friends that weren't gamers

Unknown:

have moved on. And you know, it's so we'll have to find a

Unknown:

way. And this is, you know, probably doesn't even exist yet,

Unknown:

at least for the metaverse find a way to make sure that we're

Unknown:

still keeping the real human connections with those who

Unknown:

aren't at the metaverse.

Lindsay Poss:

I think you're absolutely right on that as

Lindsay Poss:

well. Before we get into our last little segment, I want to

Lindsay Poss:

summarize a couple of things we've been talking about. One is

Lindsay Poss:

that kids need better edtech to get into the gaming space.

Lindsay Poss:

There's not a lot that helps kids cultivate content creation,

Lindsay Poss:

gaming, artistry. Banchi is doing that. And it's doing a

Lindsay Poss:

good job of it. But we need more of that. More things for middle

Lindsay Poss:

and high school kids in gaming beyond just the kind of Hooked

Lindsay Poss:

on Phonics type stuff for younger kids. One of the things

Lindsay Poss:

I think is so cool that you do as you work to establish

Lindsay Poss:

established talent pipelines within an industry, zoom, start

Lindsay Poss:

with the school age kids and try to get them involved in steam

Lindsay Poss:

programs and things that can actually help them cultivate a

Lindsay Poss:

talent and build up an industry that might be within the

Lindsay Poss:

community already. So not only is the community supportive, but

Lindsay Poss:

that person is supported. They're able to find a passion

Lindsay Poss:

when they're young and pursue it in a way that's sustainable and

Lindsay Poss:

healthy. And not just every kid dreaming of going to the NBA.

Lindsay Poss:

I'm still in favor of those dreams, too. Yeah. And one of

Lindsay Poss:

the other things that we talked about was that D AI should be

Lindsay Poss:

synonymous with ROI. I think that should be a bumper sticker.

Lindsay Poss:

Basically this point, bringing more voices to the table only

Lindsay Poss:

widens the community. It brings on the best talent. It helps you

Lindsay Poss:

bring more consumers in all of that good stuff. And the final

Lindsay Poss:

point I want to summarize real quick is that we're not going to

Lindsay Poss:

be old fogies in 2022. We might not know what the metaverse

Lindsay Poss:

looks like, but we can certainly work to build cool programs and

Lindsay Poss:

bringing cool things to support the people that are interested

Lindsay Poss:

in the metaverse concept and keep finding ways to interact

Lindsay Poss:

both online and offline in our communities. Which this has been

Lindsay Poss:

such a fun episode. It's been so great having you on the for the

Lindsay Poss:

very last segment, I like to ask every guest to do a moment of

Lindsay Poss:

reflection. Think this is just a chance for you to give any

Lindsay Poss:

advice to people out there maybe looking to be entrepreneurs,

Lindsay Poss:

maybe looking to be better parents to their kids, or maybe

Lindsay Poss:

just art interested in you and your story? The What is one

Lindsay Poss:

thing you would like to tell your younger self about getting

Lindsay Poss:

into the gaming industry and be successful?

Unknown:

Well, and if you allow me I will kind of, can I replace

Unknown:

gaming industry with entrepreneurships? And

Unknown:

absolutely, I'm not so immersed in gaming that, you know, I

Unknown:

don't want the gaming pose, but he's not really OG in gaming. So

Lindsay Poss:

she doesn't do the show, right? We want people who

Lindsay Poss:

are also a little bit on the outside, maybe so that's good.

Unknown:

Okay. So I would say that, as an entrepreneur, I've

Unknown:

never found more satisfaction and happiness, than when I

Unknown:

shaped my entrepreneurship, around the realities that I was

Unknown:

seeing in life. You know, being in my early to mid 40s, right

Unknown:

now, you know, one could say, oh, your mom and your you know,

Unknown:

you, you, you, your your mid 40s, you shouldn't be thinking

Unknown:

about starting in entrepreneurship right now.

Unknown:

That's a young man's game. That's the young lady's game.

Unknown:

But I would say that it's all every stage of life has its own

Unknown:

purview to this, the problems and solutions that our world is

Unknown:

having at that moment. And so whatever stage you are currently

Unknown:

in, in your life, you have a unique front row seat to

Unknown:

problems that your peers are having your peers may be other

Unknown:

moms of teens, your peers, maybe other young women and men in

Unknown:

their early 20s, who are you know, transitioning from

Unknown:

college, into the real world into the real world. Your your

Unknown:

lens might be a 12 year old, who understands what's going on in

Unknown:

gaming, whatever stage you're in, you are perfectly qualified

Unknown:

to innovate. And you don't have to wait to have it all figured

Unknown:

out. If the value proposition of your goal makes enough sense,

Unknown:

and truly shows impact for others, then you can find people

Unknown:

that will gravitate towards your mission, I was telling someone,

Unknown:

maybe an hour or so ago, most of the partnerships that I have

Unknown:

right now, they all came from one LinkedIn DM, a 20 minute

Unknown:

call, no PowerPoint, and no product to show. It was simply

Unknown:

the fact that I was very passionate about what needs to

Unknown:

happen in the world. And I don't know how we're going to do it.

Unknown:

We'll find people to help. But if your mission and what you're

Unknown:

trying to build, all you have to start with is your vision. Of

Unknown:

course, you got to do some research, market research,

Unknown:

competitive analysis, we all owe the business basic still matter

Unknown:

my degrees in finance. So I'm still you know, believing those

Unknown:

things. But innovators are crazy. And we just got to jump

Unknown:

right in and change the world. And so I would tell my younger

Unknown:

self, to always be looking for the problems and always be

Unknown:

willing to be a part of the solution. And don't worry about

Unknown:

having it all figured out before you get started. The world will

Unknown:

gravitate towards you if you have a good heart, and the

Unknown:

mission you are trying to solve will truly change the world.

Lindsay Poss:

I love that. That's such a perfect place to

Lindsay Poss:

end. If people want to find you. Where can they find you if you

Lindsay Poss:

if you want to be found as well. I want to be

Unknown:

found. Yes. Okay, good. So you can find me on Bandcamp

Unknown:

calm BA in eky.com You can find me on LinkedIn, I am notorious

Unknown:

for responding to my LinkedIn DMS. So feel free. It's Erica

Unknown:

milette mo L E TT. And so yeah, I would say those are two of the

Unknown:

easiest ways to find me. You know, I'm, again, I'm Gen X so I

Unknown:

you know, I can't give me my instagram handle and all that

Unknown:

other good stuff that I That's my weakness. Honestly, I need a

Unknown:

young person. Hopefully there's young people watching who are

Unknown:

like amazing at social media that want to help me. But but

Unknown:

those are some great ways to find me.

Lindsay Poss:

I can't thank you enough for coming on. It's been

Lindsay Poss:

such a pleasure. For all of our listeners. Be sure to reach out

Lindsay Poss:

to Erica, send her your questions. You're really into

Lindsay Poss:

social media reach out to her for sure. And also, don't forget

Lindsay Poss:

to leave those five star ratings and reviews for me. And then

Lindsay Poss:

check out our other holodeck media podcasts, including metal

Lindsay Poss:

business for all the metaverse finance stories you could ever

Lindsay Poss:

want, and business of esports for interviews with industry

Lindsay Poss:

leaders. You can catch me Wednesday nights on the business

Lindsay Poss:

of esports live after show and you can catch this podcast and

Lindsay Poss:

your feed every Tuesday. We'll see you next week. Bye bye.

Unknown:

Thanks for joining us here on meta woman. Make sure to

Unknown:

subscribe to this podcast everywhere you get your

Unknown:

podcasts, leave a five star review and tell your friends,

Unknown:

family and colleagues all about us. Also, make sure to follow

Unknown:

metta TV on all socials to get more of the best Metaverse

Unknown:

content anywhere. Tune every week for another episode of

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About the Podcast

Seeking Alpha
Your sherpas in the wild worlds of crypto and dating
Join two women in their journeys through their careers, dating, and navigating emerging technology. We're here to learn together, be open about our lives (including the struggles and successes), have fun, and give a platform to some of the most interesting voices around the industry.
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