Innovate, Overcome, Inspire: Dr. B’s Story - Beyond Hope Project

Join us on the Beyond Hope Project Podcast for an inspiring conversation with Dr. B, a renowned scientist, educator, and the dynamic President and CEO of the Center of Science and Industry (COSI). With a rich background in immunology and a passion for making science accessible to all, Dr. B shares his journey of turning personal trials into triumphs. Beyond his role at COSI, Dr. B co-created and hosts the prime-time television show QED with Dr. B, in partnership with PBS-WOSU Public Media. He also created the animated online series, Dr. B in 3. These science literacy initiatives have garnered a combined six EMMY™ awards, showcasing Dr. B’s impact on science communication. From his early days overcoming challenges to spearheading innovative science programs and leading COSI to national acclaim, Dr. B embodies the essence of resilience and transformation. This episode is not just a story of personal success but a blueprint for anyone looking to convert their pain into a powerful catalyst for growth and achievement. Tune in to discover how Dr. B’s experiences can inspire your own journey of resilience and innovation.


CONNECT WITH DR. B: 
✩ Website: https://www.fredericbertley.com
✩ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frederic-bertley?trk=public_post_follow-view-profile
✩ X (Twitter): @FredericBertley
✩ Dr. B in 3: https://cosi.org/cosi-connects/drbin3

 
COSI's SOCIAL:
✩ Website: https://www.cosi.org
✩ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/COSIscience/
✩ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/COSIScience/
✩ X (Twitter): @COSI
✩ YouTube: @cosiscience

CONNECT WITH JASON:

✩ Website - https://www.jasontharp.com
✩ BHP - https://www.beyondhopeproject.com
✩ Beyond Hope Project Podcast - https://www.jasontharp.com/podcast
✩ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/wondervillestudios/
✩ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/wondervillestudios
✩ TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@thepowerupproject?_t=8e4jxMT9QFP&_r=1
✩ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/beyondhopeproject

OFFICIAL SHOP & BOOKSTORE:

📚 https://www.jasontharp.com/shop

MEET JASON:

Hi, I’m Jason!
Ever since I was six, I knew I was born to tell stories. As a best-selling author, illustrator, and sought-after speaker, I've turned my personal battles with grade four brain cancer, obesity, and negative self-talk into fuel for transformation. My keynotes don't just talk—they spark potential, ignite creativity, and build resilience. If you're ready for an engaging experience that challenges the status quo and propels your organization to new heights, let's turn your 'impossible today' into 'possible tomorrow' together!

For more information or to partner with me - https://www.jasontharp.com/bookjason

Transcript

no one's going to respect that but I do want to add another thing because this whole idea of leadership and being the

0:05

captain of the team or being the the Visionary you know it's you have the

0:10

opportunity of being a oneperson business where you're it right so you're both your best employee and your worst

0:16

employee you fight yourself a lot yeah there you go right but once you start going you know three and Beyond and

0:22

you're a team even two but let's you know and start building a team whether that's 10 100 or thousand they are different roles MH and

0:31

what I learned at a really young age especially being a captain if you will on a sport team you know young as as a

0:37

kid is there are different roles but they're all equivalent it doesn't mean

0:43

they're equal there's an important distinction yes you're going to have a leader you're going to have a Visionary

0:49

maybe right so so that role is different it's different on an orc chart it's

0:54

different in the job description the responsibility is different right so if Kai goes under out of our 200 employees

1:01

I have to own it take it on the chin and maybe some board members not the N 199 employees right like so there's

1:07

different consequences but we're equivalent from a value standpoint and

1:12

that's where the rubber hits the road [Music]

1:24

right Dr B Jason long time coming man so good to have you it is so good to be

1:32

here finally you said it long time coming but it takes time to let it you know abolutely things set and simmer we

1:38

have uh we've become fast friends in a short amount of time of knowing each

1:43

other even in a short amount of time interacting with each other I think we've really realized that we have a lot

1:48

in common and uh have built a friendship well what what I love about it is the fact that I met you in professional

1:54

capacity you know is is less likely that you might become fast friends it's not like we went to hockey game or soccer

2:00

game or basketball game and so we met in a work context where you and and so you're so legit and so authentic that

2:07

that bled through your work content and I like I got I need to build with this guy Beyond this and here we are here we

2:12

are here we are that's great but we like to kick the podcast off with a question so on here how I Define hope as the

2:19

impact point so it is a start it's a way to start and then you'll start down your path and eventually something will go

2:25

wrong and you have to figure way back to the path and with knowing that idea if you can go back in time at any point in

2:33

Dr B's life and give yourself a little bit of Hope what would that be like and

2:40

and why would you do that wow man I thought you were G to start with some soft light stuff why

2:47

start with stop we got oh my God so let me hear this again so I get right so in my life impact Point yep uh it's a start

2:54

so it'll be a start on your journey and then you're ultimately going to have a failure something's going to go wrong and you got to figure your way back to

3:00

the path and realize that the starting point has just moved you actually fail well I I can use a real example so so I

3:05

grew up for all disclosure I grew up in Canada um from West Indian parents my mom is from Barbados my dad is from

3:13

Trinidad and they met in Montreal and they settled down they had family four

3:18

kids I'm the last of four I like to say I'm the oops baby's younger brother the

3:23

oops baby no oops baby's younger brother brother yeah so my my older brother's oops baby my mother was mid-40s when I

3:29

came out definitely not planned at all all right so here I am nonetheless um and um you know Wan parents are are

3:37

pretty strict you know you son you're going to school you're studying to be a doctor or a lawyer or an engineer none

3:44

of this fooling around thing that's the kind of typical West Indian household right my parents were very academic so

3:49

they double down on that but I was just one of those kids who like to play play play play I was a playing kid um at

3:55

outdoor run jump hunt you know skateboarding BMXing skiing basketball of course soccer hockey you named it I

4:01

did it all and um and I had fun with it but I went to this school and one of the schools I went to you know some of these

4:07

kids were kind of what we call kind of rich kids and they had all these cool video games all this fun stuff and I had

4:13

nothing I wasting kid parents aren't buying you any video game it's like you're lucky you got your pencil your

4:18

notebook your backpack do handle your business um but then I got a paper rout

4:23

and so I got this paper root and again my parents being strict I delivered the papers and I collected money but my

4:29

parents are like you're not spending this money here's your bank account put it in the bank account so obviously they

4:35

didn't they were trying to teach me to save but you're a little kid you want to spend your money so anyway so I finally beg them to allow me to buy this one

4:43

game okay now I don't know if you remember this it's called kico head-to-head and they had a series kico

4:49

head-to-head football kico head-to-head baseball Etc and it's a little flat game like today we got the modern day you

4:55

know Sony handheld it's it's right okay green and all right so I really wanted I

5:01

begged them it took me about a month finally they let me use my paper root money to buy it so I bought this game

5:07

and I got to tell you it was the most fun ever it was my video game I would play in the morning I'd play it after

5:13

school i' play it all night but it would take these these Square batteries those 9vt batteries and back then Electronics

5:19

was not energy efficient so it would chew through these batteries and I didn't have a bunch of money to get a

5:25

lot of batteries and so I did what I thought was a smart idea I went down to

5:30

the base of my house I found an old lamp that my dad had I cut off the part that

5:35

plugs in the wall and I opened the back of the game and if you remember those those 9 you know when you touch your

5:41

tongue right so it's got the little black plastic thing with the connectors on it so I popped that off and there's a

5:46

red and black wire and I tied them together to the piece of the lamp that I cut off and I plugged it in the wall

5:53

best 10 seconds of my life Jason I swear to you it worked perfectly and I

5:59

remember thinking like this is like I'm dating myself but this is like 35 years it's a long time ago and I remember

6:06

thinking wow I'll never need batteries again I'm playing I'm going to play after school I'm play all night and then

6:12

by the 11th second poof the outlet charred there was a little bit of flame

6:18

coming my dad who didn't really have much of a West Indian accent unless he was trying to make a point came

6:23

barreling down the stairs son what are you trying to do you burn down the house

6:29

and as like no um but the cool part about my parents aside from them being strict is they did love our curiosity

6:35

and so the Hope was I got this video game oh my gosh I convinced my parents

6:41

to let me get it I'm starting to be able to own different things in my life that I can make decisions for myself then I

6:47

blew it up and it was like wow I need to listen more to my parents You Know da da

6:53

da but then the flip side of that is back to the Silver Lining is when it blew up I realized for the the first

6:59

time in my life this thing called electricity that we take advantage of you flick on a switch and light comes on

7:05

or you plug some the outlet and it works for me I realized for the first time there's something miraculous that's happening behind those walls and that's

7:12

when I got into energy that's when I got into really being curious about the natural world and that's what got me

7:18

literally to go from being a sporty kid which I still love sports but went into science and Discovery and that's why I

7:24

became a scientist that is amazing so I blew up my game that I was hopeful to I blew it up was sad about that but it led

7:31

to a much higher restart and a re reju Rejuvenation of of ideas and and in this

7:38

case literally my life yeah it would be like that your your moment of Hope would be going to that that little you and

7:44

going like no dude this this this was worth it absolutely I mean I tell that story I told it now I tell that story

7:49

about easily once every two years sometimes once or twice a year to different people because that's my

7:54

transformational kind of Hope moment that took me to another level but I didn't you don't NE necessarily see it

8:00

at the time but then it builds on you or you build on it did so have you always like from that moment on have you always

8:06

had like some sort of connection to science of some sort or was there always

8:11

was there one or was there many that kind of grabbed your attention it's funny so just like sports I like to do all sports I've was interested in a ton

8:18

of stuff too I'm very much interested in art and literature yeah the problem is and another true story so one the video

8:23

game got me hooked on science there was something that happened a few years later um in sixth grade we had to write

8:29

a poem for English class yeah so I wrote this poem four stanzas four lines each

8:35

stanza I made it rhyme that was my claim to fame it was a poem on love to this day and I don't have it and I can't find

8:41

it in my parents house but it was called love and I wrote a poem about love yeah and my teacher thought it was so good

8:48

that she decided I had to plagiarize it so she wrote now my parents are very strict and while you can do a lot of

8:55

stuff the one thing you can't do is be a Class Clown or get any any kind of letter from your teacher or principal

9:01

sent home that's like a death null for any West Indian kid your parents don't don't tolerate that she sent a letter

9:07

home saying that she failed me it's the first time I got a terrible grade she me

9:12

an F on the poem and she said she sent a note to my parents your son is plagiarizing I hope you handle that

9:18

respectfully at home true now what I love about my parents is they're very smart and very good people flat out son

9:24

did you copy that no did you copy that no and I walked him through my ideas my

9:29

dad took my word my dad brought me back to school about a week later and said with all due respect my son has told me

9:36

he didn't plagiarize that he did not plagiarize that you need to change that grade or we're going to go have a

9:41

conversation with with your principal and what that did for me is two things one you realize unconditional love and

9:47

respect like I'm I'll speak for my situation my parents were really strict from the Caribbean but they were very

9:54

very fair and they gave us love and support and that was critical the second

9:59

critical piece is I realized oh hell no this arts and creative science stuff

10:05

it's so bloody subjective and so that's why I doubled down on science because I knew that when I went to high school was

10:11

all advanced science courses and stuff because I knew that when you wrote 2 plus 2 is equal to four on your proof the teacher could hate you doesn't

10:17

matter teacher could be racist could be sexist doesn't matter it's correct right right yeah whereas you can write the you

10:22

can write Warren pieace doeski you can be the next Shakespeare in my Angelou if that teacher doesn't like you and you

10:27

know an elementary school and high school it's all about are you the teacher's pet or not that teacher doesn't like you they can tell you're

10:33

plagiarizing there's nothing you can do and so that's the second thing that cemented me on a scientific career

10:38

because at the end of the day you're chasing the truth and as long as you can prove it no one can question you right right isn't that interesting that is

10:44

very it's not just oh I wanted to be a biologist or or an oncologist or or an astronomer it's the pressure points of

10:51

society drove me a certain direction yeah that is amazing and so you know one

10:56

of the things about you that's that's unreal and I know I mentioned this to you too is just how like first off

11:04

incredibly smart person obviously and one well one I would question why your parents went to Canada from the C I mean

11:10

they went to MC University so they would say that McGill University is no they

11:16

say Harvard University is McGill of the South that's how people go to Mill University literally they have T-shirts

11:22

that's say they show the Harvard logo and they said Harvard McGill of the South okay so it's an elite school and so that's what they met so that's why

11:28

they left I was say that makes I was going to say like that seems like a i a little bit of a weird trade-off but okay

11:35

but you know the I'm curious of where your personality comes from was it was were you because you mentioned that your

11:41

parents was not being a Class Clown was not being um you are like me and that

11:46

you can weave stories and tell stories and talk to anybody and all those things like that uh I was more of the Class

11:52

Clown and the kid getting into trouble in class for talking too much like where did the personality development come

11:57

from so it's great question so so again they weren't they weren't conflicting parents but they're interesting in

12:04

everything was about academics right so school you have to be serious no class clown you can tell my personality I had

12:10

a tough time not trying to be the class clown I just made sure I wasn't getting sent home or let us follow but outside

12:16

of the classroom U my parents are very loving they're completely different my mother is much more of an introvert very

12:23

thoughtful reflective but every now and then she'll say a funny joke my father is a gregarious old he was an amaz so so

12:30

he had seven University degrees wow and my mother had four wow so I grew up in a house with my parents having 11 I see

12:37

that face guy over there is making a face like like listen I so I grew up in a household I'm the last all my siblings

12:43

are all going through University multiple degrees so I grew up in a house where my parents had 11 University degrees everything from undergrads in

12:48

science undergrads in education masters in science MD degrees PhD like that's the family I grew up in um but my mother

12:55

was very quiet reserved my father was a very gregarious personality and you talk about telling stories and you talk about

13:01

a very and I say this lightly because people think it's take it wrong way but a very charismatic Magnetic Personality

13:08

he would walk in a room and he would wax poetic and tell a story and it was like he was holding court and so I am like

13:14

not nearly as good as my father but that outgoing kind of friendly nature that's him it's just when it was time to work

13:21

or time to do school stuff or time whatever he got very serious very quick so it's an interesting thing other than that I'm just a a mixture of the DNA

13:28

that they gave me yeah and and blowing up video games and playing hockey in Canada made me this way that's wild and

13:33

you've had a a really uh colorful mix of things that has led you to where before

13:38

we get into Kai and people that don't know yet what Kai is uh that has have

13:44

led you to where you are now yeah which I'm G to guess is uh the sweet spot for

13:50

you like all of it has built this amazing snowman so to speak where you're like wow I can step back and look and

13:56

like wow this was all worth it I'm curious of like like without saying what the worst thing was yeah what of the

14:02

thing where you was the Catalyst that said this is this is not the right path and what kind of uh hope or bravery did

14:09

it take to step away from that so now I'm going to get my team will tell I'm a very emotive person so I get I can

14:16

easily go from laughing to being like gutted emotively and sharing um so

14:23

everything I said was spot on video game got me in sports teacher thinking I played to write a poem got me more into

14:28

science Sorry video game got me into science blowing it up Etc staying into science because of the Poetry thing but

14:33

I also still played Sports very athletic family so I always especially when you're youngest and your sister's ath

14:39

your father's athletic your sister's athletic your brother and you know you just kind of you're chasing everybody so

14:44

so it's pretty good too so along with all of that my dream and my team knows this my dream growing up independent of

14:51

blowing up video games and independent of the Poetry stint my dream growing up was to either be a fireman or play for

14:57

the Montreal Canadians I loved all sports and I rattled off the the many that I did like many kids

15:02

growing up in the late 70s 80s um but hockey was my first love growing up in Canada I loved hockey and I back to my

15:10

father working hard I worked so hard at it so I got pretty darn good and um to

15:16

the point where um by the time I was 13 years old I was Captain of that traveling team by the time I was 14

15:22

years old I was Captain of that traveling team and in in Montreal or the province of Quebec Canada in general but especially the province of Quebec that

15:28

15 to 16 year age if you make this one traveling team that sets you on the path

15:34

to OHL which is equivalent of NCAA D1 or NCAA D1 hockey either way lead you to n

15:40

NHL if you're good yeah and I had my heart set on this and I'll never forget this so the tryouts for this Elite

15:48

traveling team at 15 years old I should have been I wasn't the best but I

15:56

was probably the second best definitely in the third best like there was and then there was a gap between the other

16:02

the other four player four through like 15 like I was you know some people might have thought I was the best but if I was

16:07

being honest there was one kid who was just like like Dwayne grety equivalent but I was like nipping at his skates and

16:13

then there was another guy nipping as well so there was no question during the tri out starting with like 150 people I

16:19

should have made that team and then at the end of all the tri outs they read

16:24

the names and they start with the first play and then naming 15 first player not my name second player fifth player ninth

16:33

player 12th player got to 14 they didn't call my name and I'm about to just burst

16:39

out in tears to call the 15th name they didn't pick me wow that was the not the

16:45

first time I really experienced what I thought was racism because I've been called you know you gr up a black kid in

16:52

a white environment I've been called the nword and bunch of stuff my whole life and my parents were strong at home so you know I wasn't going home crying you

16:58

know for that kind of stuff but this was my future I wanted to play not just in

17:04

the NHL but for my montal Canadians and this was the door that was going to put me not that I was going to make it but

17:09

if I was going to make it this was the pathway to get there yeah and they shut me down and I knew at 15 they

17:17

definitively shut me down because it was in congruent to them that a black kid could be this good wow wow you can see

17:25

I'm a motive right now oh absolutely man that's that's horrible man you know I mean think about this people don't

17:32

understand that the decisions you make as an adult on a kiddo yeah you can

17:37

severely I'm I'm lucky I had two amazing parents provided everything for us I was

17:43

able to push through it if I didn't have that yeah I'd be ruined yeah I mean this

17:49

is 30 years later and you can hear it in my voice absolutely think about that

17:54

absolutely and I've been blessed by the goodness of whatever Graces One Believes to have a good life so I'm not

18:00

complaining right but it's to this day still stings yeah so that's one of those Stingers or or one of those epic things

18:06

that transform my life my pathway yeah I I was just talking to my son about that 17-year-old who's uh plays basketball

18:13

you know we've talked about that before heart and soul same deal and uh some coaches lately have just said stuff to

18:19

him and and you know it it as a parent and having gone through because I had the same thing I had very loving parents

18:25

that always encouraged me but it was the outside world yep you know and that's the part they can't protect you from and

18:31

you know and then even a sort of a way like when you're young you don't know how to actually form the words to say

18:36

that hurts and you don't like you said you don't want to take it home you don't want to bring it to your safe spot and

18:42

you and you're confused on how to figure it out so a lot of times what we do is we just like kind of push that thing down that's right and if I push it down

18:48

it hurts less and I'll just focus on something else that's right but 30 years later that's exactly it's always going

18:55

to be there and you know I think that's a a big thing and I was telling him it's like you know the unfortunate part is

19:00

adults don't understand that a kid can do every like one thing that we cannot

19:07

which is be present in the moment yeah yeah absolutely and we steal it from them yeah yeah yeah you know you don't

19:13

belong or what are you thinking be you can do that or you know black kids don't play hockey you know like or whatever it

19:20

is it's like we say these things and we forget that what is a maybe a thought

19:26

that didn't even think the cross their mind as a possibility they'll just say that and just be like okay this is how

19:32

it's going to go and I relate that so much to like my first DOC you're going to be dead in seven months see I mean

19:37

don't forget about the hockey thing imagine that statement yeah right it's the same thing it still stings you know and I still hear certain songs that got

19:45

me through it like food Fighters walk man this is where I was on the way to the gym today and that damn thing came

19:50

on I'm G drive into the gym and like tears start just rolling down my cheeks I get it and you're taken back to those

19:56

moments so you know good for you for uh seeing that moment as um I think a

20:03

catalyst I think in a weird kind of way even though we push it I think it also still it kind of like lights of fire a

20:09

little bit well for me I mean I want to be clear for me it was my parents if I had like like my eldest brother he could

20:16

have been raised by wolves he's still the same way he's an MD he's invest in Banker he's richer than God and he's

20:21

just like boom he like he could have been raised by no parents he was just wired that way whereas me I was like

20:27

just that kid who was all over the place and so my parents were truly a rock and they helped me get through that and but

20:33

the good part about it is it made me realize at a young age what the world was really like

20:40

because you can fast forward to my Migel days a college a university I still love but I remember when I used to have dreadlocks I remember one time a

20:46

professor said and we had this big amphitheaters like 600 kids for Bio 101 their first year biology and I remember

20:52

a professor came up to me and said but what are you doing here this for Miguel students this is migu Montreal Canada

20:58

supposed to be liberal this professor is supposed to be educated so you assume he has some worldly sense but he took one look at me and he thought I was some

21:04

hood dude because I had dreadlocks and you know baggy pants so so so but that stuff rolls off

21:11

me to this day that stuff rolls off me because I'm now prepared right I get it yeah they laid the foundation for you

21:16

that's right they sounds like awesome people that's right no they were they're they were ridiculous they're Next Level and so like did did you I'm

21:24

assuming when you if you ever talk to your brothers and sisters since there is I'm guessing a pretty good age Gap maybe

21:31

yeah did the parents they have are they the same as the parents you had it's funny you say that so you remember Home

21:37

Alone yeah oh yeah like like I swear this is my story um my parents are packing up going somewhere oh we forgot

21:44

Freddy we're Freddy we're Freddy so I I again oops baby's younger brother I love

21:49

my parents but it's just one of those things where you know and so by the time I came along even though they were strict they definitely ran out so my

21:57

sister was the first and a girl of West parents so she got the strictest of my parents then my brother came on the one

22:04

who would have been raised by wolves and you he would have been fine so he kind of got second the third one so by the time I got came around they were less

22:10

nitpicky and they were still strict but there were less things so definitely the parents that I experienced were

22:16

different from the parents that they experienced um and if I had to pick I'm definitely picking the ones I experienced because they were a little

22:22

softer cuz they got kind of beat down by having three other children before me to kind of figure out how do we raise kids

22:28

and go through all that like the rest of us do so so definitely different parents um but overall we all land on the same

22:34

page which is um you know just we wouldn't trade our parent you know look

22:39

you can't you can't pick your parents there's certain things you can control in your life you can't pick your parents

22:44

and we are blessed because the world can be a very very crappy place we were

22:50

lucky to have really good parents that laid the foundation in the line that I always say anything I've achieved it's

22:55

because I have the best parents on the planet anything I failed that or embarrassed the name or whatever it's because I'm a knucklehead at heart and I

23:01

just make some bad decisions true real talk yeah it it is amazing how much we like we still hold

23:09

on to like those things of of what we're like even ingrained as a kid as we grow up and it's like you're constantly I I

23:16

always I I tell my kids all the time they're like you're so goofy and I'm like I just refuse to grow up like it

23:21

just it's like I could be all serious yeah I could be like you know khakis and you know I just I I look at and go like

23:28

it just I put him on and I'm like it just looks weird I don't know I can't to dud wearing a Welcome Back Cotter hat in

23:35

your studio like I'm so with you wearing Chuck Taylor's like absolutely yeah and I think that I think that was like a

23:41

good bridge where we like where I when I first met you I was like whoa like he's

23:46

a big fan of like Chuck Taylor like he's he's he's like a laid-back and it was just so strange because I think I want

23:53

to bridge over to coai a little bit and talk about my childhood okay of coai

23:58

having grow up in Ohio Kai was always the school stop right that was like the

24:03

one field trip right and this was uh at the old building so I remember Kai was

24:09

the first place where I got interested in science outside of Mr Wizard on Nickelodeon Mr Wizard when

24:16

I ladies and gentlemen Google Mr Wizard YouTube it was so I mean I mean I still

24:22

remember like I used when I Barton in college he did this thing where he had matchbooks and he wrapped it in foil and put a um a paperclip between and You'

24:30

wrap in full and you light you'd light the end of the thing and it would shoot like a little rocket off and when I bartended in college I would do that

24:37

trick all the time they're like oh my God what did you to do I was like Mr Wizard like what is Mr Wiz I'm like oh you got to look it up right that's right

24:44

you were definitely the coolest bartender but you know it going to coai when I was a kid we go to this field

24:50

trip and there was two things and I'm sure I know it's still a thing at your at yours is the uh put your hand on and

24:56

your hair stand up right of course doesn't doesn't work too much for me anymore are but that was like that was

25:02

like one of the coolest things but the one that I remember always getting stuck at when I was little and it was because it just made me so curious because I was

25:08

amazed by uh how we develop as people was the

25:14

the system like the uh cycles of from fetus to to born I would stand in front of

25:22

that thing every time we'd go there like I would be like I can't wait to get to that spot and I would just stare at them

25:29

and be amazed that like wait that was me yeah all the way to like standing here

25:34

and so I thought you know back then Kai was like it wasn't

25:40

the magical I mean it was magical but not you guys definitely got a dial in now it's you definitely have a dialed

25:46

you figured it out and got it you got it appreciate that you got it very dialed in um I'm just curious that like when

25:53

did Kai like come on your radar um and was was was it just straight from the

25:58

get like yeah this is what I want to do I have a vision for it or were you kind of like was there any sort of impostor

26:06

syndrome like oh wait you want me to do that like because for people that don't know kai I just kind of want to give

26:12

them a little quick thing so it's uh it's in Columbus right in the Heart

26:17

downtown like State art everything science but in a really really cool way

26:23

that entertains not just kids but adults and there's so much stuff to do and I think there's a big part where you're

26:29

almost like how I like to do with kids books you like kind of hoodwin them with a lesson I feel like it's almost like you're hoodwinking kids that they're

26:35

learning science without learning science you know and it's a really great way to uh get a kid that may not be in

26:42

the understanding of science into really finding something that they and um and then Dr B is like a celebrity there too

26:48

is you know I remember when we met there we were coming at the elevator and the kids were like there was a group of kids chaning Dr B Dr B so listen I swear to

26:57

you didn't choreograph that I didn't pay them I didn't buy more candy that was embarrassing but funny that was yeah so

27:04

I mean I i' say all that just to kind of paint the picture of like how much coai evolved from when I was a kid which was

27:10

a cool science environment but it was kind of stale and as a kid you only had certain parts but now it's like this

27:16

almost like over-the-top Disneyland is kind of thing of science like so what

27:22

was it like when that call came was there any of those things you that's a great question the first thing I want to

27:29

say for you and your audience is that my career trajectory is all over the place

27:34

and I say that only to say um you know life's interesting people get a lot of

27:39

different things one thing about getting a scientific training at the undergraduate level is it open so many

27:45

doors and so many potential directions everything from med school to then doing research and getting a ph and Immunology

27:51

to working at a law firm to working at Community College and teaching those kids I mean just all over the the map to

27:58

then very important for me is allowed me to travel throughout the world including

28:03

I lived in Haiti for one year and I lived in Sudan for one year at the ages of 22 and 23 just because I had some

28:10

technological skill that they needed in the labs where in one case in the Haiti case it was um it was um the World

28:17

Health Organization in the case of Sudan it was the Canadian equivalent of the world of the cing equivalent CDC cool um

28:24

and so my point is just as a message you know don't don't have to I mean your your

28:30

life is similar right you don't know exactly what you're going to end up doing you just need to be prepared for when these opportunities come all right

28:37

so fast forward my first stint in the museum world because I didn't grow up to your question I didn't grow up thinking

28:43

I'm going to work in a museum and I'm G to work in science mum didn't happen but my first science museum is called the Franklin Institute it's in Philadelphia

28:49

Pennsylvania it's the oldest science museum in the country started 1824 that's the first place I worked I worked

28:54

there for N9 years and I was their senior vice president for Science and educ ucation just overseeing a lot of fun educational and scientific um

29:01

programs for the institution I came to Columbus in 2012

29:07

now little background you grew up in Ohio you grew up in Canada if you grew up in Canada Ohio does not register yeah

29:14

what we know about Ohio is two things every four years it's an important um State and this thing called the US

29:20

presidential election and there's this amazing football team and it's not even in the NFL it's called the Ohio State Buck that's all we need

29:28

so fast forward um you know I I get here and I'm thinking about what to do but um

29:34

then I'm in the Franklin ins suit in Philadelphia and Columbus Ohio is hosting something called

29:41

ASC ASC is the association for Science and Technology Centers basically all the

29:47

science museums small medium or large across the country and some outside the country belong to this organization so

29:53

like any organization they do their yearly trade show so the yearly trade shows called their annual conference and

29:58

it goes to a different city around the country 2012 was that hosted by Columbus

30:04

city of Columbus and the and the science museum in that City always plays the host that's the first time I've been to

30:10

Ohio that's the first time I've been to Columbus and that was the first time I came to Kai wow 2012 and what was

30:17

amazing is I remember like everybody else who comes to this great City you look around this is a cool City great

30:25

Arts great culture great restaurant safe fun not super expensive to live like there's all these qualities that

30:31

make Columbus really attractive that was one two coai I mean and at this point in

30:36

time i' done many other science conferences around around the country coai Set It Off I mean the people at Kai

30:44

prepared and hosted us as guests from around the country and some from around the world in the most incredible way

30:49

compared to all the other conferences I went to so still never thinking working quot as an option I'm just saying that's

30:55

when I first learned about Columbus this place called Kai so it's always at the back of my mind oh cool place so fast

31:01

forward because of my role at the Franklin Institute um as a senior VP there's an old guard of basically I

31:07

don't know if this is appropriate when going say it of old white men who are retiring as the heads of these museums happening across the country and so now

31:14

folks are calling to you know to you know uh search firms will call you hey there's a position are you interested

31:19

and so the search firm called me about this position at Kai and I and this was 2016 right and I remember just four

31:26

years earlier 12 I had such a good time there I really like the team members who worked at coite they had something about

31:32

the personality they were wonderful the city was a warm City and a comfortable City and so I threw my hat in the ring

31:37

and so fast forward um they came calling and gave me a job now you led with a very important question he said great

31:44

you know tell us about how you got that job and what your thoughts were but tell us about that impostor syndrome bit and

31:49

it's really interesting because when I worked at the Franklin stute um I won't name the names but one 2 3 four five

31:57

five of my colleagues who were VPS or senior VPS ended up leaving the Franklin Institute and being a CEO at another

32:04

Museum around the country and while that was happening Jason I kid you not I never ever I don't know if this gets

32:11

back to being cut on that hockey team or whatever it was I never thought about oh I'm going to be a CEO or I could be a

32:17

CEO or a president I just I wasn't thinking that I was loving what I was doing I was having a ball being a senior

32:22

VP I called my shots I did what I want it was fun but I never thought about that next step of being the leader even

32:28

though I've LED my whole life I've been the captain of my soccer teams captain of my hockey team captain of my baseball

32:34

team led the ski I mean I've always been a leader but I just never you know some people are like I'm gonna be the mayor

32:40

I'm gonna be the senator I'm gonna be president uned States I'm gonna be I wasn't wired that way to think that so fast forward I got the job and then um

32:47

two things you know I said one I'm going to work harder than anybody I know so

32:52

that you know when I'm going to learn what it means to be a CEO and a president and I'm just going to work and really so no one's going to question my

32:58

work ethic and two I'm going to remain the authentic Frederick bertley I'm not

33:04

I like to wear suits too but I'm going to wear my Chuck Taylor and jeans I'm G to throw on a colorful t-shirt I'm G to

33:10

wear a baseball hat or in this case you know py blinders me welcome back cter hat you know I'm like I'm GNA stay true

33:16

to who I am yeah I'm going to remember Shakespeare my father used to read to me Shakespeare when when um Polonius is

33:22

giving when leres is giving advice to his son to his nephew ponus when he's leaving Denmark to go to France that's

33:28

when he says you know all these different things dress rich not godly for the clothes often proclaim the man blah blah blah you know beware of

33:35

entering into Coral but he ends it by saying the classic line we all know um but most of all keep these precepts true

33:41

to thine own self be true for if for it is ass sure as the sun follows or as the

33:47

moon follows the sun thou cannot be false to anyone and so I just said I'm going to work really hard and I'm going

33:53

to stay who I am and what happened is that started to Res assassinate with that coai culture because the people my

34:00

my predecessor who I respect dearly is a colleague of mine to that in fact older but he's a colleague of mine um I

34:05

respect him dearly he's just a different type of individual sure and so you know so he would never really be accessible

34:11

to the team I have an open door policy I don't care if you sweep the floors or you're my Board of Trustees come in and chat with me tell me what you want tell

34:17

me your ideas so I'm accessible and I was authentic and it started to like morph and so to your point there's a fun

34:24

I mean got one of my colleagues here there's a fun and uh just do you in the name of

34:29

Science in the name of inspiration and education but you can do you at COA you know you don't have to take the nose

34:35

ring out you don't have to Dy take your purple hair and dye it back brown or or blonde or whatever you don't have to do

34:40

this you you can wear your colorful pants we don't bring your true and you know why Jason and you appreciate this

34:46

when you allow people to be their true selves you're going to get the best out of them yeah when you force people into

34:52

a box and say no shave your beard you can't have a beard you're be a man I got I got shave my beard for my job you

34:57

don't feel good about it so that led to a culture that's been very contagious at

35:03

coai and thank you for noticing it but you come into to COA we have a good time yeah no it definitely it definitely is a

35:08

party and damn you keep like every followup question I keep having you answer before I get

35:15

to but it is it is that um you mentioned the whole thing about being authentic to

35:22

yourself and I totally want to I want to Circle back to that for a second because

35:27

what I like to think is that when you are truly authentic what ends up happening is that you actually lift

35:33

people up whereas people think that being inspiring is to say some quote or

35:41

do something or or buy somebody something or whatever I think that the

35:47

truest way that you can really inspire people is to be exactly who you are amen

35:53

the more that and that's the one thing I will say that everybody I've talked to

35:59

about you that wasn't like that you didn't know to talk about before I met you was that like oh dude you're gonna

36:06

love Dr B he's the the coolest and I'm and I I will full on admit I was like okay wait I've met a lot of C I'm like

36:13

i' i' I've met maybe I can count one hand cool CEOs I've met you know and black as I I'm blushing right now I want

36:21

I'm blushing you're you're flattering me way too much but but I was just like damn this guy's cool I would love the

36:27

work here and and I think that's the that trickles over into the whole building I mean I do remember when coai

36:33

opened their new building and it was cool and hip and all that stuff like that and I had gone through it and been

36:38

all that stuff and I was in art school we we did a coside project where we um one of my classes we you guys were doing

36:44

a wall illustration student we did like a little competition in one of our class to do like a real like you know if we

36:50

wanted you get like 200 bucks or something like that got it co I got a hell of a deal on like artwork right

36:58

and um I mean I think I got second in that one but it was like we got to go tour there and I was like wow this is

37:03

not the coai that I remember and but I will say having gone back there and met

37:09

with you there's a the vibe that I feel in there now it's there's like an electricity and I would think that a lot

37:16

of that has to go back to uh it starts at the top you know and and having done one of your events and and seeing like

37:23

how people react to that like how does that feel to you now knowing that there was a time

37:30

where you felt getting cut from the team and being all those things how does that how does that like heal that for

37:39

you but at the same time you want to make sure that you never forget what that felt like for everybody else well

37:45

it's funny you say that because it's never haha I proved you a wrong moment right that does happen for a bunch of

37:50

reasons one those folks are long gone to we're having this conversation the sad part is they had had no idea or have no

37:58

idea that that happened yeah so it's not even like I can can get like I can go back and SE seek them out and be like do

38:03

you remember when like that ship has sailed yeah um but again back to in my

38:09

case parents but whomever whatever structure you're growing up in um or if you're not adult and you got kiddos it's

38:15

providing a safe space and making sure that individual understands that thing

38:21

that happened to you is not your whole life that is but a grain of sand hatte

38:26

metaphor but a grain of sand on the beach filled with sand grains that's going to collectively be your life so

38:32

don't let it bog you down so fast forward now when you get to a place like Kai where you realize wait a minute you

38:40

know when you talked about the Imposter syndrome it took me a year and I don't want to say this from my team member but I will it took me a year to this is a

38:47

true story okay I started I moved to Columbus 2017 January 1 I started work at

38:53

coastside January 2 2017 I accepted the position at the end of 2016 all right it took me a year you're not filming this

39:00

you press pause on that but no they're filming it but you're not no anyway no

39:06

it took me a year to realize that wait a minute when I make a decision or if I

39:11

make a decision that's it and everybody has to follow it yeah like that's some

39:17

weird pressure it's on the one hand liberating on the other hand it's scary yeah cuz I you know I worked hard for my

39:23

first year we did all the team team knows me we did a great job together but there were some things that were happening the end the first year and I

39:28

realized what I don't need to ask permission so back to your question you go from wanting praying begging to make

39:36

the team right you go from wanting to spend your money this is a good story

39:42

wanting to spend your paper money on the video game and asking for permission to be in a position where you don't have to

39:50

ask anybody for it's like Jean L Picard on Star Wars on Star Trek um make it so

39:55

you say it and it's made so so that was like that was really interesting and so because of that I was

40:01

able to double down on what I thought a positive culture was and is not to say

40:07

coai didn't have a good culture before I'm not saying that but I specifically with intent you know wanted

40:13

self-expression wanted oh you like this but you're hired to do this but yo you're an artist well you can

40:19

participate in some art aspect of this thing oh you're hired to do finances but you're very interested in some aspect

40:25

about stem education will make like making sure there was opportunities for people to do different things in an

40:32

authentic way to manage what what excit you and so that has I think paid off dividends we have a really cool culture

40:38

at kosa I mean I'm not pretend not everywhere is perfect but we have a really I will fall on the coai culture

40:43

sword anytime we have a great group of people who really appreciate and understand that this is a safe space to

40:50

do really cool work but I can be who I am yeah and as as a leader like that

40:56

that that encourages people to explore things like that I'm curious is like a lesson maybe for somebody out there

41:02

that's in a role of leadership how do you how to give people that big a net you also get some some ideas that are

41:11

either way far out there how do you handle when somebody comes to you and to not squash that culture but then to kind

41:18

of be like but you know it just doesn't fit in there to not that's a that's a great question to any CEO president

41:25

leader teach teacher in a classroom whoever is in a leadership role when you float out the idea for example oh tell

41:32

us your ideas we want to hear from you we want to activate some of those ideas or oh bring your true self you know ta

41:38

da whenever you call that out obviously you can't accept every idea that comes through and and by the way I let me take

41:45

that back if every idea that came through is phenomenal I'll accept every single idea but in general not every

41:50

idea is amazing right what you have to make sure you do is that you have to

41:56

accept some of the ideas some of the time now the good news is you will have

42:02

almost always have some good ideas but once you activate on them whether it's accepting the ideas that came from you

42:09

know a manager an associate or whoever or director you know all the way up to the top once you've a actually accepted

42:18

activated you know responded to in a positive way used implemented whatever someone's idea or initiative you have

42:25

that you don't just do one per 10 years like you really do a few then you have that there and the rest of the team says

42:31

oh they're serious they did they did double down on someone's idea right and

42:37

so not a so you can't accept every idea but when you accept some and you should you have to understand that you're not

42:43

always the smartest person in the room sometimes you'll never be the smartest person in the room if there's a great idea activate on it and once you do that

42:49

that sends a message resonating through the institution that oh my gosh that's that's my idea that it and so by way of

42:56

I'll give you a real example strategic plan real quick so we created a strategic plan 2018 to

43:01

2023 sorry 2019 2024 so 5e strategic plan A lot of times you hire McKenzie or

43:07

Boston Consulting you hire these consultancy firms that come in they charge you a boatload of money and they go on they tell you a strategic plan and

43:12

it's like lukewarm I know like most smart people know that well the people who are the experts in your industry

43:17

work for you yeah so if I want to get the best out of coai I need to speak to all the coai people so the Strategic

43:23

plan this is before your time sir but strategic plan everybody at the time we had 242 employees could see their word

43:30

or their thumb print or their fingerprint we held 22 Brown Bags four

43:35

so Brown Bag meant anybody from any Department could come in for two hours and share their ideas just is during work time so we weren't asking people to

43:40

come on weekends we did four massive all teams kind of like the one you did but it was a 9 to6 Design Studio shet share

43:47

your ideas we did multiple check-ins and so everybody had a chance to opine on it so now you have this final document

43:53

that's hey this how coze going forward everybody from the people that sweep the floors could see that they had a role in

44:00

shaping it that's buying and when you do that and again back to your word in an authentic way people fall on a sword for

44:07

you yeah people will line up behind you in front of you around you support your idea moving forward because they feel

44:12

that they are but not they feel they know that they are bought in they too have skin in the game yeah and so that's

44:18

you know and people think that that's complicated it's not by the way this is for for-profit companies too I don't care it's not because I work at a

44:23

nonprofit and we're soft I tell the team our nonprofit is just a status we run like a business we sell widgets so to

44:30

speak and we want to make sure we can monetize things yeah so yeah I think that's the a big huge lesson for anybody

44:36

out there whether they're a leader of a team or just for themselves in general like you're inspiring people constantly

44:42

with just by being authentic and when you actually show the willingness to

44:48

open up the doors say like not only am I going to be authentic here we're we're truly going to let you have an impression here and and give you a piece

44:55

of ownership here here people will like speak well of the company they I I can

45:01

only imagine you guys get employees and and visitors because of other people

45:07

that are become it's almost like your employees become the word of mouth part for all the other parts absolutely and you and you're bringing more of what you

45:14

want as good employees into the fold and I'm sure like everything else there's some some things don't always work out

45:21

and all that stuff like that but for the most part I would imagine it's got to be something that is it's like you don't have to work so hard to find the good

45:28

people they kind of come and find you y um and you know to also point out to

45:34

everybody else that you know coai is no slash I mean you guys are like the number one science museum like how many years in a row now it's been it's been

45:39

fun four years in a row according to USA Today we're number one Science Museum and which that's fun that's a People's

45:45

Choice people vote from all around the country but this past year 2023 we actually won the highest award that the

45:51

United States gives not just to the Science Museum to any Museum it's all always given at the White House it's

45:57

called the national medal and it's always presented by the first lady and so this year myself my boss the board

46:03

chair a couple other community members folks went to the White House where Dr Joe Biden first lady presented me the

46:10

national medal highlight of my life that's amazing and I think that you know

46:15

it kind of goes back to I mean I I know that there's a lot of people that participate in these oh absolutely we we

46:22

have a one team mentality we are one team and I think that you know but you know I've worked in I've worked in

46:28

corporate world and stuff like that and I've worked for CEOs I think one of the biggest parts

46:34

that you know that I always find about you that's interesting is how humble you are like it really

46:39

um you're just inspiring human like I just want to point that out from a and give you props for that like that you

46:46

are able to pull the best out of people and in a very charismatic way that

46:52

inspires and and can take something very complicated and will it down to

46:57

something easily understand you you showed me some of your Dr bn3 um you know animations when I was in there and

47:04

stuff like that it was just this complicated issue but there's a way that you present it there's a way your voice I I think that a lot of those

47:10

accomplishments I hope that you are for yourself taking some back and going like

47:15

you know you're you're the one pushing this ball forward yes you have a team but they also have to have a captain of

47:21

that team that sees the vision and can hold fast to those and I think there's something really cool and I want to

47:28

really point this out to people that are trying to tread their own thing whether they're entrepreneur or working for somebody is you said it is being willing

47:35

to understand that you may not be the smartest person in the room absolutely that to me is the key absolutely to

47:43

leadership hun like self leadership team leadership whatever is just understanding that you know um you

47:50

aren't always this and and to be able to admit that you're wrong sometimes absolutely I mean those are the two most

47:55

important things one that they more often than not will be smarter people around you and the the the coralie to

48:02

that is listen to them yeah and then two when you're wrong or you make a mistake

48:08

don't cover it up I mean no one wants to be embarrassed no one wants to feel down

48:13

but when you show that you're admitting you're making a mistake and you can be you can be fallible 99 times out of 100

48:22

99% people aren't going to take advantage of that people are going to respect the fact that you came clean

48:27

whereas if you try to cover it up no one's going to respect that but I do want to add another thing because this

48:33

whole idea of leadership and being the captain of the team or being the the Visionary you know it's you have the

48:40

opportunity of being a onep person business what you're at right so you're both your best employee and your worst

48:45

employee right you fight yourself a lot yeah there you go right but once you start going you know three and Beyond

48:51

and you're a team even two but let's you know and start building a team whether that's 10 100 or

48:56

thousand they are different roles and what I learned at a really young age especially being a captain if

49:03

you will on a sport team you know young as as a kid is there are different roles

49:09

but they're all equivalent it doesn't mean they're equal there's an important

49:14

distinction yes you're going to have a leader you're going to have a Visionary maybe right so so that role is different

49:22

it's different on an orc chart it's different in a job description the responsibility is different right so if Kai goes under out of our 200 employees

49:30

I have to own it and take it on the chin and maybe some board members not the N 199 employees right like so there's

49:36

different consequences but we're equivalent from a value standpoint yeah

49:41

and that's where the rubber hits the road right so when you understand that you're equivalent when this guy Brendan

49:47

has a brilliant idea I don't care that I'm the CEO and he's not if his idea is

49:52

brilliant it rises to the top because I respect him as an equivalent doesn't mean his role is equal and sometimes

50:00

people struggle with that we're really good at coai and why I say we're really good at Kai because I walk the talk

50:07

right right when did I meet you here's a perfect example I met you for ladies and gentlemen this great genius right over

50:13

here we hired him to come be an inspirational speaker and share a story part pep talk part motivational speech

50:19

part um team building exercise for us at Kai right you you said it when you came

50:25

oh my God there's more employees than I thought so it's a mass thing when we had all you weren't there for the full day

50:30

but you there for much of the day how many times did you see me on stage matter of fact the only time you probably saw me on stage was when I went

50:36

up to thank you and fewers you yeah the people who presented at our all team

50:41

event 9 to 4 9 to 4:30 were people at every level in every Department M minus

50:49

us as the senior VPS or the co yeah yeah most places don't do that when they do an all team you hear from the president

50:56

the CEO maybe a couple Executives they're telling you stuff and you're sitting there listening not on our watch

51:03

on our watch every but not and we have literally every employee but every division was represented and most

51:08

importantly at every level had a chance to share their story participate present something on stage for the rest of us

51:14

yeah that's walking to talk yeah absolutely and and and it's it's true I mean I I do remember being in the back

51:21

of the room because I got there a little early and listening to and it was like wow this is you know cuz you came up and were talking to me

51:28

that's right when somebody else was and I was like well man I've done a lot of these like usually you in a suit yeah

51:34

and talking about some thing that everybody else is like their heads bobbing like exact that's exactly right

51:40

but yeah no it was definitely it's definitely very very cool and um you know I want to let everybody know before

51:46

I I I know we're I could talk to you all day but I know we got to respect your time too um in uh the bio and all this

51:54

stuff like that we're going to have all the links all of your awesome stuff in there uh he's got for I mean kids of all

51:59

ages you have content for them you're building crazy we just talked about you're gonna you're gonna be like become

52:06

Tik Tok F you're GNA get it all going all this social stuff we're both got to do it all but I I want to Circle back uh

52:14

I love I always love these reflective things and I I I use this a lot for myself in like therapy for myself and

52:21

like learning myself let's let's suppose that we could uh bring little you back the day you got

52:28

cut from that hockey team H with what you are right now and he sent across his

52:34

table from you like what would you give that advice because I think there's so many people out there that there's so

52:40

much childhood trauma childhood crap that we carry around every day that we haven't really learned how to heal from

52:45

like I always loved that question if I can go back and tell myself what I know now then and I use it I wrote I'm

52:52

writing a new book on that whole idea of I'm writing to myself m at that age with where I'm at now and what would be

52:59

something that you would tell that little guy that uh maybe 30 years later

53:04

wouldn't be so painful or look I have I have the answer and I want to preface

53:09

this with it's probably going to be really disappointing to you all right hey that's all good admitting it I'm

53:15

again it's probably G to knowing what I know now as an a grown adult with

53:21

multiple decades on the planet working in different sectors while everything we discussed on both of

53:28

our parts was authentic and we clearly salted the Earth people if you will we care about people we care about Society

53:34

we care about helping those all things are true the one thing I've realized is that

53:39

money I want to be clear can allow many

53:44

massive things to happen I worked almost exclusively minus one little period of the law firm I've always worked in a

53:51

non-for-profit um space so I'm very comfortable my lifestyle is good zero complaints there but I don't have the

53:58

insane wealth that a hedge fund person might have that an investment banker might have that that so honestly as

54:05

disappointing as this might be if I could go back and especially that that kid got that the little me got cut so

54:12

I'm realizing that my fantasy oh you could just right no the world doesn't operate that way I would say kiddo work

54:20

as hard as you can in the for-profit investment banking at the time when I was growing now everybody talks about

54:25

hedge funds that kind of stuff private Equity work in those spaces make 500 million make a billion make two three

54:33

billion dollars then do the Lord's work so it's not it's not a great answer but

54:38

I'm telling you because I think about this all the time so do I have any regrets no however if I could wind back the clocks I would not get a PhD in

54:45

Immunology first I would not think about medal school I would not do math and undergrad I would I would go do

54:51

undergrad get into to maril Lynch or chase or one of these hedge funds first

54:56

I'd make a boatload of money then I would do all this stuff but to a bigger scale yeah so it's it's it's and I hate

55:03

to say that because I love what we do at coai I love what you're doing with your and I'm calling it a movement I love what you're doing with your movement but

55:10

if somebody gave me $2 billion yeah I could go to scale fast because I know my

55:15

heart is getting the right place I know I'm not you know like we know how to do our stuff but now I can do it to scale

55:21

yeah and then I can help so many kids unfortunately don't have the resources

55:27

whether it's in Columbus whether it's in Ohio whether it's in Kansas Vermont New York Cali you name it there's so many

55:34

kids I mean another one of my lines genius knows no religion no race no

55:40

gender so the Geniuses that we know from Albert Einstein to Mark Zuckerberg to Benjamin Baner to Charles whoever you

55:47

call your Marie Curry there is the same random distribution of geniuses in all

55:54

of us so so if we have 85% of the population being educated in P in

56:00

crumbling public schools in this country if we look at all the urban and rural areas that aren't getting the resources

56:07

America has about 365 million people how many of them are living at the poverty

56:13

line or near it that's a whole bunch of boy and girl and differentiated gender Geniuses that are waiting to save our

56:21

planet to cure cancer to come up with the best technology to do this but they don't have the chance to do it yeah and

56:29

only because of what I've gone through not because of my parents my parents are great but because of what I've gone through in terms of the non-for-profit

56:34

space I worked in I know that if I was given $2 billion I could do a much bigger job or

56:42

much better job and have a much bigger impact and give people opportunity for the Great American dream so not not

56:47

necessarily wanted but it would be make a boat short version yo make a boatload of money Fredick make a boatload of

56:53

money that would be what what do you think the flip would that be what would he say to you

56:58

probably wouldn't understand it cuz I didn't understand it yeah I was I was privileged to have really good parents and so I I didn't I wanted a bicycle I

57:06

had a bicycle I mean I wasn't spoiled don't get me wrong I was not spoiled but I had a bicycle I had a skateboard I

57:11

skied how many people ski let they're black right my parents my this is a true story my dad's from Trinidad last I knew

57:18

no snow my mother's from my last I you no snow they met in Canada my dad comes home I'm 3 years old my dad comes home

57:26

with ski gear for my Mom and Dad full outfits skis ski this goes far so far

57:31

back those of you ski know the the binders were strapped to your boots God the

57:38

strings right and so and then all four kids my sister my brother my other brother me full ski gear toque Canadian

57:44

toque you know ski jacket pants boots and skis and he bought us ski passes wow

57:50

right so I never had you know so that might sound a little spoiled but my parents are just like we want to make sure you have every opportunity yeah

57:56

right all right but but I never had the oh make a lot of wealth I never had that

58:01

like some people grow up make that money that was not part of my household matter of fact I went through undergrad oh you

58:07

do math and Physiology nice oh live in Haiti that's interesting oh live in Sudan then you go do you know med school

58:12

do PhD and and and I oh this is good this is research I've never thought about make that money yeah but now that

58:19

you know once I got into like my late 20s and then into my 30s it's like oh just a whole other game out there that

58:26

if you had you could still do all this I could have done a PhD later I could right but so it's the

58:31

opportunity that not that there's not other ways to do opportunities and you know I thank public dollars you know

58:36

because coai survives on public funds City County state federal dollars so there's other money that come in right

58:42

but that you know that billion dollar I mean folks a billion dollars is not a

58:48

100 million a lot of people think a billion dollars is a 100 million a billion dollars is a thousand

58:55

million that means you have $999 million $9,99 and someone adds you

59:02

one more dollar wow like right it's a so imagine you had two, that's a lot lot of Zer a lot of

59:08

money that's helping a lot of people and me and you are in the space of helping people to amarate our society as best as

59:15

possible absolutely man I I mean I can't think of a better place to kind of button that all up I mean it's it you

59:21

know guys I just want you to all to know uh in the the bio in the show description I have all the links check

59:27

out all Dr B stuff go check out coai if you haven't been there it is a great family day it is a great date night it's

59:34

a great all that stuff it's a cool building all that area down by Kai too it's unreal like how much that has all

59:40

changed it's beautiful down there uh the city of Columbus is beautiful the downtown area and stuff like that

59:45

definitely go check it out um and one thing before we close out I just want everybody to know uh I know Dr B shares

59:51

in the same idea uh congratulations for making this far being a human is not easy sometimes in life it hands us

59:58

things that we just we just don't know how to handle but what we'll do and what you'll find is that throughout your life

1:00:04

you've handled hard things before and I just want to if somebody hasn't told you lately I just want to be one of the

1:00:09

first ones and I'll Echo this with Dr B too is to congratulate you because uh life is tough but you're doing a good

1:00:15

job um and we appreciate you we care about you and we're wishing you all the best and um all in all we just hope that

1:00:22

this this conversation helped well Jason I want to thank you um because you you

1:00:27

are spreading hope in a ubiquitous manner you know this is not about Columbus Ohio this is not about um

1:00:34

United States this is about humanity and your message of Hope is pure it

1:00:40

resonates and I'm just humbled that I can be part of this incredible movement

1:00:46

you you are you are sharing with us so thank getting started man you're welcome to come along for the ride you got it we'll go skiing too you got it done done

1:00:54

happy too perfect sounds great man thank you so much for being here I appreciate it and uh let's reconnect again soon

1:00:59

absolutely my pleasure all right right on you got [Music] it so easy to