Brian 0:01
check check one, two, yo, you’re looking to change the world Turn it up.

Unknown Speaker 0:05
Welcome to the charity, you

Jessie 0:07
podcast,

Brian 0:08
a community of the next generation of world changers. Let’s change the world. Are you ready? people listening for tips, tactics

Jessie 0:15
and strategies to create a lasting legacy?

Brian 0:19
Now your host, Brian and Jesse. Jesse, how are you doing?

Jessie 0:26
Brian Williams. I am so happy. I cannot even begin to express how excited I am to interview this girl today. Can I introduce her real quick?

Brian 0:35
Oh my gosh, yeah, let’s just Yeah, I’ve seen that the quick breakdown. But you’ve had you’ve known her for what a year,

Jessie 0:44
a solid year. So okay, you guys know, like, check this out. Our Tinder car is a 15 year old girl from Gilroy, California. She is the executive director of an official 501 c three nonprofit organization called empowering excellence. And she was one of our very first charities students. So I’ve known her for a solid year like she is just good, true and true. Like through and through this girl. She’s so fantastic. And she actually did the legit like 501 c three nonprofit, you don’t have to do that. I want everyone to make sure. You know you don’t have to do an actual nonprofit organization. You can do a project. And we’re going to teach you all about that. But this girl actually went all the way. 501 c three.

Brian 1:28
That’s awesome. Now let me just rewind for anyone listening like, what is charity charity was his brainchild of Jessie’s that she said what if we can teach and inspire people, teens around the world to start their own charitable projects or even going above and beyond starting their actual own nonprofit organization? Then we got to brainstorming and we had 40 brave, amazing inspirational souls join in the first trial run. Charity you Yeah. And our Pender she decided that she was going to go all the way Now let me tell you, for me to get my own 501 c three nonprofit it took about a year, year and a half. How long did it take you Jessie?

Jessie 2:22
Probably about seven months?

Brian 2:23
Yeah. Yeah, it’s not easy. And here are Pender. She did it while she was still in school. Uh huh.

Jessie 2:32
She was 14 when she started. So she’s 15. Now you guys, she started when she was freaking 14 years old. And it only took about four to six months, I’m pretty sure. And I want you guys to know like we we were able to help her figure all of it out. So that’s the cool part about charity. That’s what we’re so excited about. We’re creating a community here of world changers, kids that are actually willing to take the risks, and we will walk with you through the entire process. That’s exactly what we’re going for it and that’s why it’s so exciting.

Brian 3:02
So if you’re listening to this, you know, stay tuned, because Jesse and I are designing version two of all of the course. And we’re going to have three different courses for everyone to take from, you know, raising funds to starting on shareable projects to going all out and actually becoming the executive director of your own nonprofit organization. No matter how old you are, are Pender is in this interview? She’s going to go over all of the good the bad, the ugly, the hard the celebration, she she does not hold back, Jesse.

Jessie 3:38
Oh, she doesn’t. She’s honest. She’s authentic. You guys are gonna love this. I just love talking to her because she’s kind of a breath of fresh air. She is not she doesn’t put on a show. She doesn’t say oh, I’m just so strong. And so put together all the time. No, that’s a bunch of crap here charity you we are honest, and we are authentic. And we talk about the hard stuff just as much as we talk about the awesome stuff. And we have to do that and that’s how we can support each other as we all figure this out together. Brian and I have both run our nonprofits for over a decade for each of us and we’re still figuring it out you guys we still struggle we still have to lean on each other when it gets hard. So that’s why creating this community can be so awesome for you.

Brian 4:16
Perfect so let’s jump right into the interview with our Pender our bender How are you doing?

Unknown Speaker 4:24
I’m good morning everybody. We

Jessie 4:28
You are so beautiful. Why are you so freaking pretty I just love you. Oh, you’re so people in podcast world don’t get to see your gorgeous face right now but hopefully they will get to know you a little bit because we’re gonna send them to all your social media and let them get to know you because oh my gosh, you guys this girl. This girl was one of the very first charities students she was willing to take the risk on such a crazy idea. And she just jumped in and she has astounded me Way more ways than you’re gonna think. And that’s what we’re going to talk about today. Like the good stuff, the good, bad and the ugly, we’re going to talk about all of it. And our pinner is the type of person that is willing to be honest and go deep. And she’s not putting on a show. She is an authentic person. And she’s going to be able to really exemplify to everybody, you don’t have to be perfect to do this. You don’t have to be all put together all the time to do this, like, this kind of stuff is messy, it can be hard, it can be ugly, it can really stress you out. And it’s okay to be honest about that. Because then we can keep moving, and we can keep moving forward as long as ronix. And that’s what I love so much about our printer. So, thank you for joining us. You Darling. Darling girl. I have a whole bunch of questions for you. Are you ready?

Arpinderr 5:42
I’m ready for the interrogation for

Jessie 5:46
Brian, do you have any questions for her first you don’t know her as well as I do. And she is a privilege to know.

Brian 5:51
Well, first, why don’t you go ahead and tell everyone just like, you know, your how old you are? What part of the country or are you coming from just get everyone like quick bio on, on on who our Pender is.

Unknown Speaker 6:06
Okay, so my name is our Pender car. I’m currently 15 years old. I was 14 when I started charity you and my nonprofit. I’m from Gilroy, California. And I like ice cream. Now there’s a

Brian 6:21
perfect we can talk about that. You know I’m a I’m a peanut butter fan. Anything with peanut butter and chocolate. I’m game.

Unknown Speaker 6:28
Peanut butter and chocolate. I can stand it is receipes

Brian 6:31
Oh, no. Just found a battle. Here we go.

Jessie 6:40
Yeah, like she’s a normal girl. She loves to have fun. She loves to play Grey’s Anatomy, she that’s her show. I know that about her. So she’s this amazing normal girl, you guys, but she also is making a choice to like, take everything to the next level. She’s incredible in so many ways. So yeah, let’s get into this honey. So tell everybody what your charity is, and why you chose it.

Unknown Speaker 7:08
Okay, so the charity that I founded is called empowering excellence. And the entire mission of it is to support the underprivileged students in the community when it comes to school and extracurriculars. Because there are a lot of kids in our community, your community, literally all communities that do not have enough money to participate in school and sports and buy electronics and laptops, and just all that stuff. And those kids have so much potential. And if we can help them in the slightest, that will literally change their entire lives. And that’s our purpose, giving them a laptop or signing them up for sports that will literally change their entire life. And that’s our entire goal. Growing up, I have always had everything I’ve asked for my parents are very hardworking, and I’ve had all of that. But at the same time, I’ve seen ones who haven’t. So just because I have it doesn’t mean that I can’t help the kids who don’t, right, I’m using that privilege and those opportunities that I get in order to help others because they deserve it just as much as I do. And they have just as much potential as me and any other kids do. So I’m all for it. Yeah,

Jessie 8:10
that’s so fantastic. Where did that start for you like caring about other people so much? Do you remember being young and like noticing that other people had less than you? And like being aware of it? How did you become so self aware?

Unknown Speaker 8:24
That’s a really good question, I think I mainly became self aware was definitely when I went to one of Jesse’s speeches, where she talked about the kids in Africa and everything. And then also hearing stories from my mom, because growing up my mom wasn’t as privileged either. But she still managed to go to school and everything. And it definitely was not easy, right? And it just be so much easier if like someone helped her out, but no one did, right. And just hearing stories kind of opened my eye and that made me more aware to like, look at my surroundings. And the second that I started looking around, it was not exactly obvious, but it was like clear, you know what I mean? Like when you start looking you can see it, but if you don’t look you’re never gonna see anything. Hmm.

Jessie 9:05
Well said well said you are so wise. Yeah. And like and at the beginning of this process, when we started talking for the first time, I just remember you saying like, it gave you such a strong sense of purpose to know that you could be helpful to know that you could actually make a difference in someone’s life. Like talk about that a little bit because you you are pretty far down this road. We’ve been we’ve been friends for a solid year now I think right? So

Unknown Speaker 9:31
your your anniversary was like last month? That’s awesome. Yeah.

Jessie 9:35
So we’ve been having fun for quite a while and like you actually care about that. And you know, a lot of teenagers like Oh, it’s so cheesy, like, you know, go out and serve someone go help someone No, like, it actually makes you happy. It actually gives you purpose. It actually makes you want to be better, so that you can actually help people like that’s real so get over the cheesiness teenager Get over it, suck it up. It means something that matters. It’s so exciting. And I just I loved it. When you said that at the very beginning, you’re like, I, I love knowing that I can help. So maybe talk about some of the people that you’ve been able to help through this. Okay, so

Unknown Speaker 10:15
let’s talk. Okay, let’s talk about the cheesiness first. Okay. teenagers who think it’s cheesy, y’all just need to get over it. Honestly, like, Get over yourself. Get over the cheesiness, get out there and help because you have the ability to help and a teenager’s voice is more power than more powerful than anyone’s. No offense, Jesse, but so incredibly powerful. Great, Johnny, you’re right. The power that we have, and the amount of change that we can make, if we just apply ourselves is absolutely incredible, usually to get up out of bed, and you need to start something. And I know that it’s a lot easier said than done. But it’s like what people say it’s it’s just you just got to take the first step. Yeah, everything follows. Like, my first step was sending in this really cheesy video to Jesse. I was like, Hey, my name is this now I’m from here. And so and like, I want to do this, and it was so cheesy. And she was like, Okay, let’s go. That was the very first step. And your first step might be a little different. And it might be like really weird. And you’re like, Okay, like, I don’t know about this. Everything just falls into place after right there. Like Brian said, take that first step and everything will be okay. The amount, like I said, the amount of power teenagers have and the amount of people slides that can change is absolutely incredible. So based off of that, I have a nonprofit for helping students, but under promo shoot at stripe, I have a friend in Michigan who is helping students going, who’s helping kids go through grief. Right? I have a friend in New York who’s helping kids, like explore the world and extracurriculars. and friend of mine came to me and she was like, hey, like I’ve seen what you’re doing. And I’m like, okay, backstory, her mother works in foster care. And she hears stories all the time about kids who are in foster care and what’s going on. And she talks about how bad she feels for them constantly. She’s like, I don’t know what to do. Like, like, I feel so bad. And I’m like, I have everything and I just want to help them. One day, she comes to me, she was like, I’m done talking about it. She was like, I can’t sit here and talk about it, knowing what’s going on. She was like, I need you to help me start a nonprofit. She’s like, I’ve seen you do it. And I want you to help me start it. Ever since then, we’ve been meeting weekly. And she’s like, further, like just progressing her nonprofit about helping foster kids the day that they go into foster care. So giving them like a teddy bear and like a luggage bag of basic things. And it’s like those small things that make a difference. So you know, kids know about problems. I know, you guys aren’t stupid. And I know you guys know what’s going on in the world. And I know you guys talk about it all the time. But taking an initiative is totally different than just bringing awareness, right. So if you know about it, do not be shy and go for it. And similar to what I did, and similar to what a lot of the other charity students did, is we inspire other kids to do the same. So Jesse talks about this domino effect, and you start something everybody follows, right? I started nonprofit my sister’s following my neighbor already talked to me about it. My one friend who wants to help kids in foster care, she saw me do it, she kept talking about it. But she was like, No, okay, you see, we’re helping someone, I’m gonna help someone too. Right? So it’s the domino effect. So that like the ability to not only help like your cause, but help other people start a cause, like foster care is not related to like underprivileged students. I mean, it might be a little but not like, an entirety, right. And they’re told to two completely different things. But they can definitely help the community and,

Brian 13:15
you know, breaking down a little bit, what you went over is, one of the things that I really like is, is that you know, when you surround yourself by other people wanting to make a difference that is inspirational in and of itself, so anyone listening to this, you might have this desire that you want to make a difference in the world. So number one, if you have nowhere to go try to find other people that have a caring heart just like you get together. And rather than just be a finger pointer pointing and everything that’s going wrong in the world, you know, it’s up to us, it’s up to you to stand up and take action as scary as that may be as cheesy as you may feel. there’s a there’s a couple things that I love. Number one is action breeds inspiration. A lot of people what they do is they wait to be inspired in order to take action, but it’s actually the other way around. Once you take that first step and I’m sure pinner once you were able to deliver that first laptop or help that first person your inspiration level probably went through the roof. Right. And the other thing that I caught this pretty much within the first two minutes of this interview, is you said you you know you have some privilege and you want help other people. And you mentioned Africa and I know Jesse and I’ve gone to the same orphanages several times. And one of the things that one of the orphans said is I want to take my privileges and turn them into blessings me meaning that take your privileges and turning them into blessings for others. You have a responsibility to take your privileges to help others like in the United States, we have the privilege of internet we have the privilege of running water we have parameters of an education, but we also have a responsibility to use our privileges and also our skills, our passions, our desires in In a way to help other people, and when you do that, when people see that it’s infectious, right, everyone wants to get involved.

Jessie 15:09
Yeah, it’s so true. And I love what you’re saying about like, doing the action before you feel inspired to do it. Like I’m a therapist, and I work with teenage boys in a residential treatment center. And you guys like, motivation is kind of crap. Like you feel motivated for a minute. And it’s real. And it’s awesome when it happens, but you can’t depend on it. You can’t wait until you feel motivated. You do the action before you feel like doing it. And then you start feeling like you want to do it. It’s like going to the gym. Like most people, normal people, not Brian, he actually likes the gym, because he’s weird, but like, there are so many people that can’t get into it until they go and then once you’re there, then you feel good about it. So action before feeling. And our Pender is such a good example of that. Because there have been plenty of times she was not in the mood to do her work with this charity. Am I right, honey?

Unknown Speaker 15:56
Oh, all I want to do is watch Grey’s Anatomy. I mean, not like my mind, my heart was like, go lay down, watch Grey’s Anatomy, just go chill. And my brain was like, No, do it.

Brian 16:07
And I think that’s also because behind the scenes, there’s so much stuff that a lot of people don’t realize and and this is what actually deter some people from taking action is you want to help, you know underprivileged kids. Awesome. But then underneath that big mission, there’s a lot of other checkboxes that you have to do from, you know, communication and writing and collection and all of these things. You’re like, Oh my gosh, I got to do all that. But when you get that feeling of helping somebody, it makes it all worthwhile.

Jessie 16:39
Yeah, exactly. Oh, I love it. Okay, our painter talked about the paint night, I went down to California to be there for her first event, because I had to see it, I had to be there. In person, I had to hug this girl because she worked so hard on her first fundraising event. And it was ridiculous. So describe what we did describe how successful it was like, tell everybody about that.

Unknown Speaker 17:01
Let me just start off by saying Jesse, I didn’t you I didn’t know you’re a professional painter. Like you’re paying.

Jessie 17:06
You’re so full of crap. And you know it. It was terrible. But I loved it. It was a blast.

Unknown Speaker 17:14
Okay, so I first formed my board of directors late October, early November, right? And we were like, We need to get this show on the road. Like, how do we like get started? How do we let go Zoom Zoom. Right? So we sat there first, very first board meeting brainstorming. Like ideas for fundraisers? We were like, Okay, what do we do? How do we do this? And one of my teachers, because a lot of my board is made up of my, like old teachers from my old school, right? And one of my teachers she was she’s a really good painter, too. absolutely incredible. And she was like, why don’t we have a paint night? And then she was like, without the alcohol, of course. And I was like, Well, duh, but she was like, a night. And I was like, I was like, What the heck is house? I had no idea what this is because like, I’ve never been to one. And she was like, oh, basically, like, I’ll sit there and teach everybody how to paint. They’ll paint. I’m like, okay, no, we’ll do that. Right. So we decided on a paint night and we were like, Okay, great. Let’s get this show on the road. She knew all the, all the supplies from everything. And we had donations and like, quote, unquote, sponsors that helped us pay for the very first event that got us started. So it’s not like we pull the money like IBM, right? People were actually invested in helping us because they know that like, you’re trying to do good in the community. And when people see that people are just gonna sit back and watch you do it right. People are actually going to get up and help you. And that’s exactly what people did. So we got the money to start off like we had food. We had the paint, we had literally everything and it was so much fun. We had music because it was like winter or Christmas Eve theme, right? And then my teacher just went there and she painted and she taught everybody how to pay and Jesse was dead. You guys literally sat down with absolutely everything in front of you. canvases, easels, everything and you just paint it and that’s how it went. And from the outside, it might have just been like, oh, like everybody’s just painting. But like to me, that was the first moment where it came alive. Like that was the first moment where it was real. That’s the first time like I saw the logo up on the screen like big and loud, just empowering excellence big beautiful cursive letters Let me tell you on the screen big and bold and I was like whoa well it’s real. Oh my god. And like just watching with the photographer go around take pictures and like watching like my mom smile and be happy and like watching Jesse sit there and paint I was like oh my god Wait, that’s like Jesse funk. Like oh my god, like six months ago like wait, she’s here. Right? Like it literally that’s the first moment that everything struck it was the first one or is it was the first thing things went up and going and it was like whoa, this is like actually happening and it wasn’t there’s two ways that like feeling could have gone I could have totally been like over and I’d be like oh no, I can’t do this. Oh my god, this is too real. But instead, I was like, Oh my god, this is real. Like it’s actually working like it’s actually going somewhere like it’s not cheesy. It’s not it’s not not real. It’s not like not going to do anything. It’s not going to not make a difference. Yeah, well not but but it’s it was real and I was like whoa, and halfway through the paint night we did like the bottom base layer, whatever and then we wait we waited like Five minutes for to draw. And I gave a little speech about excellence. And people ask questions and people were interested in people were curious and people donated, and people were all for and people were like, I’m so proud of you. And I was like, wait, whoa, like people are actually supportive and people want to help. It’s shocking, because to me, I’ve seen both of it. I’ve seen people who are like, oh, heck, no, you can’t do this. But I’ve also seen people who are like, lifting me up, like more than they can. And it’s like, Whoa, like, what, like, what’s going on? On a side, note, the amount of opportunities that you get from proving to be a good leader and a philanthropist and the community, the amount of opportunities you get is insane. So not only are you benefiting the community, you’re broadening your leadership skills, you’re making yourself happier, like, as cheesy as that sounds like, you’re not gonna like, feel bad or like, hate yourself, while you’re standing there and watching it come to life. That’s right. But the amount of opportunities that you get for yourself, whether it’s like college application, or other organizations reaching out to you, or anything of that sort, like the amount of friends you get to make or the amount of people you get to inspire that’s that goes beyond just the community that goes to you. Right. So that’s the first night that I realized that because everything before that was just like, oh, Board of Directors. Oh, like, let’s get like business cards. Oh, let’s make a logo, right. But then when it came together, and everybody was sitting there laughing and like eating chocolate, I was like, Whoa, this is cool. Yeah.

Jessie 21:17
Oh, it was so incredible. We had such a good time and you raise like, 1200 dollars, or how much? How much money did you raise?

Unknown Speaker 21:24
With donations and everything we currently do have? Like 1200 dollars. Yeah. From Yeah.

Jessie 21:29
So incredible in one night, and you guys she did the work like our Pender at 14 years old. She did it her Board of Directors, a lot of them were adults, but some of them were kids. And she really was leading it. She was the one saying, This is what I want. Here’s what we need. You do this, you do that, like she was delegating. She did the work. It was incredible to watch and to walk with you. As you were like planning that whole thing. It was such a privilege to be there. I was so proud of you, honey, it was just beautiful. And I’m so glad you touched on the leadership. A lot of people when when I’ve been talking about charity, you, they’ll say, you know, why would you want teenagers to run their own charity? It’s so much work, it’s so much time, it would just take so much effort. Like they’re just so young. And in my mind, I’m like, how could you possibly miss it? You are missing the best part of it. Yeah, of course, it’s gonna take time of course, it’s gonna be hard. And yes, it’s like, it’s a big thing. But the kid benefits the kid. Like they learn leadership skills, they believe in themselves. It sets them up for for their future, maybe something they want to go to college for maybe maybe something that they that they really want to make a career out of, don’t you see like how incredible that part is. And even if they only do one project, they do one thing with their charity that it gives them evidence that they’re capable. It gives them real evidence that they’re there. So their capacity for greatness is there. So that piece to this to this puzzle, you guys don’t like what our printer just said, how much it’s going to benefit you as a as a young human being and set you up for a great life like that is, I would say at least half of the reason why you should consider starting your own charity. So our printer has been such a good example of that.

Unknown Speaker 23:16
I love it. I love it. I

Jessie 23:17
dig it. Okay, next question. What was one of your biggest challenges? Because this is hard. And Brian and I have made it crystal clear. This is going to be hard. We are not blowing hot air. We’re not like it will be so hard. Coding or like, sprinkle some sugar

Unknown Speaker 23:34
really good is gonna be so fun. Easy. unicorns. No, no, we’re very honest.

Jessie 23:40
Yeah. So talk about like one of the biggest challenges, of course, I want to talk, I want you to tell the teacher story if you’re comfortable with that, but you choose whatever challenge you want to talk about.

Unknown Speaker 23:49
That was actually the one I was going to share. I love talking about this. It was really hard to talk about it at first because I refused to like I was kind of in denial if that makes sense. Yeah. But now I just love talking about it. So basically, I had a teacher at my current school. And I asked her I was like, hey, do you want to be on my board of directors and I loved her energy. She was absolute incredible. sillas she’s still absolutely amazing, right? amazing teacher, amazing person full of ideas. Incredible. And she was the very first person that I asked because she was at my school. It was like, why not? She’s like, two feet away from me. Let’s just ask her right. And I asked her fine, and I was like, you can take the weekend? I think about it, like talk to your family. Like I know, it’s like not like, you know, it’s not like, the easiest thing like, oh, like Board of Directors, right? It’s kind of a big deal. And she was like, okay, and she was totally chill. The next Monday, I had her class and after class I stayed and I was like, hey, like, what do you like, do you think about like, the board of directors like opportunity? And she was like, Oh, yeah, I did and I don’t want to do it. And I was like, Okay, I wasn’t gonna ask her why I was kind of gonna be like, okay, that’s fine. Like by right like I totally okay, like I get it like there’s more things that I need to like worry about then why you can do it and that’s totally okay. There’s nothing wrong with that. People have said no to board of directors. That’s there’s totally fine. But she kept going. She was like she was like, because I don’t think you’re capable. doing it. She was like, you’re 14 years old and you have school to worry about. And there’s a lot of other things going on. She thinks like, I don’t think you’re going to be able to handle like starting a nonprofit and leading that and dealing with school. And she was like, No, I don’t want to join something that’s not gonna work. And since she was the first person that I asked, I was like, Whoa, that was like a little blow to the face. I was kind of freaking out. And I was like, Okay, what do I do now? Like, like, you’re kind of just faced, like a really big bump on the road. And I had no idea how to like, step over it. And I was kind of freaking out. And then I talked to Jesse, and she was, she was like, there are gonna be people who don’t believe in you. But you’re not gonna remember them. When there are people who are literally shooting you until, like, the top of the sky. You know what I mean? And that’s what happened. Like I was, I was absolutely terrified to like, Go ask another person, because what if they were gonna be like, Oh, no, you can’t do it. Like, you know, like, as much like, as strong as a person can be and like, as motivated and like, as determined as a person can be like, the boost here, chest just hit different, right? Most of your chests are not just gonna, like leave you standing. But you do have to get back up. So it will knock you down. But regardless, you do have to get back up, you don’t have an option, right? Like, if you want to do this, you can’t just sit back down. Like you can’t just stay there like laying down. It was really hard to go ask the next person, but they were like, heck yeah. And I was like, I was like, What? Like, I literally just got like polar opposite reactions. And I was like, wait, what, like, what is this? And they were like, heck, yeah. And I was I was like, Okay, great. And like it was that there was that? And then the more people kept asking, they were like, yeah, yeah, of course, like, so excited. What can I do? What do you want me to do? Like, how can I help? Like, Oh, I know this, not like this can help you so and so can help you. And I was like, Okay, this is great, like, but the thing I cannot get out of my head, is if I got that blow to the summit, and I stayed laying down, and I did not get back up and ask people it would have bought it wouldn’t have gone anywhere. Absolutely no, or that was the first there have been more. But that was the first book of my summit. And if I stayed laying down, and if I like, let that bring me down, I would not have met or not have like, asked the incredible people that are on my board today to help me and be there for me just like through the good times, like the pain and through like the rough patches were like, either someone or like me personally is like not doing so great. And we need to like take a break for like a week or two, right? Like, those are the people that currently support me. So if I just went down, like the way that one person was trying to bring me down, it wouldn’t work. So not only I proved to that one to do was like, oh, watch me. Like to like brag. Like what give me up? You see My Big Fat paint night? Oh, so much fun, right? Like, oh, look at Look, my business cards, I want to rub him in her face. But I don’t do that because I still it’s okay. It was like, her opinion or whatever. But you know, so it’s just being it’s just kind of like, smack her back in the face. Be like, look at me watch this, right? Because you didn’t believe in me. But I believed in myself, and I found people who could believe in me. So now it’s your loss, honestly, like it’s her loss. She’s not a part of this, like amazing team who like, takes fun pictures and like sets up really cool events, right?

Jessie 28:00
Mm hmm. Yeah, exactly. I love it. Brian, I think these are like really important stories to share, like the stuff that just does. It’s the blow to the face. Like she just said, Do you have one of those because I would love kids to be able to hear our stories of like, the hard crap so that they can anticipate what what it’s gonna feel like for them, and know that they’re not alone when it happens, because it will

Brian 28:22
first show there’s two that pop out immediately. And for me, number one was when I made the commitment to go in and be like, Look, I want to inspire kindness in schools, and I want to see if I can actually turn it into a career. And I was dating a girl. And she broke up with me, because she thought that it was just a waste of time. And it wasn’t gonna pan out and she wanted, you know, something more more serious, you know. And that, to me was a huge blow. Here’s someone that you’re quote, unquote, dating, and they don’t even have faith in you. So then it became a mission for me to prove her wrong. Just like your everyone has that Why? Or say

Unknown Speaker 29:07
yes. You

Brian 29:09
know, I don’t think you’re capable of doing this. And you’re like, Oh, yeah, I’m gonna prove you wrong. The other one that I started doing my first batch of fundraisers, and that we do letters out. So I sent letters to some of the most prominent businesses in our community. And I got I think two or three back then one of them was from we’re in Reno, there’s a there’s a bunch of casinos here and the head of marketing for one of the casinos wrote me back and basically said that we don’t think this is a viable organization that’s going to create a sustained impact in our community. We’re gonna invest our funds and other ways of blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So she didn’t just say no, she said, No, what you’re doing isn’t gonna make a big difference, right? And I ended up saving that letter. It’s somewhere in my filing cabinet right now. And for me as like, my are they seeing something you start to do? doubt yourself, right? You wonder, are they seeing something that I’m blind to Am I so attracted to this idea that I have, that I’m actually blind to maybe things that other people are seeing. And so it’s really important. If you’re wanting to make a difference, you do have to get people that shine a spotlight on your blind spots on where, you know, your idea might falter. You might run into these roadblocks. But at the same point, there’s gonna be people out there that are just haters, and Jesse and I have a an amazing friend named Eric, and he has a breakdown of the word haters. It’s having attitude towards everyone reaching success, right?

Unknown Speaker 30:39
I love and so,

Brian 30:42
you know, our Jackson, shout out to you, buddy. But same deals like yeah, everyone has haters, everyone that’s gonna have someone that says you’re not good enough that you can’t strive you’re not worthy of success. But the thing is, is those people are are the ones that can be the fuel to your fire, right? And they’re the ones that might just like, ignite it. And, you know, if you if you don’t have haters, then you’re probably not doing something, right.

Jessie 31:10
That’s so true. You know, true, you’re gonna attract haters, you are, because you’re doing something big. This is big. This is like, it’s different. It’s unique. And a lot of people are scared of what’s different,

Brian 31:23
especially at 14 years old. On how many 14 year olds are like, yeah, I’m going to start a nonprofit organization change the world and I’m having a board of directors, you want to sit on the board, and like, wait a minute, so who’s the boss and you’re like, I’m the boss. Right? And yeah, so right off the bat, you’re doing something that’s not normal, you’re doing something that’s going against the grain but the ones that to the success story, you’re like, Look, I you’re doing it right now. And anyone listening you don’t have to go full fledge starting a nonprofit like our Pender, but you can still make a difference. You can still have a fundraiser, you can still organize these things, you can still create an advisory board to help you with whatever your crazy idea is. But yeah, we all have have haters, Jesse, what are some of the haters that maybe we should stop branding them as haters, but people down?

Jessie 32:15
know, it’s, I really do think there’s a lot of value to it. Like it’s so good for a kid who maybe is just popping into this podcast for the first time to hear us talk about this. Because if you prepare your mind for it, you’re gonna handle it a lot better. And if you know you’re not alone, and it’s gonna happen and you just kind of gear up for it, you’re gonna be able to handle it better. So expect it Yeah, I’ve got plenty of haters. Let me let me choose. Just think about the ones that stand out the most. You know what, just two weeks ago, two weeks ago, I got this dm on Instagram. And someone this was a mom and she just sandblasted me for how much of an advocate I am for Tick Tock like my daughter, my 15 year old daughter and I do Tick Tock together. And honestly truly, as a therapist, you guys, I believe that Tick Tock can be used as a amazing therapeutic tool. I am a huge fan of it. My daughter and I have a ton of fun together. It’s a bonding thing. It’s a creativity thing. It’s a stress reliever. It’s fun, it makes us laugh. We’re dancing. So we’re getting exercise like we love tik tok. And so we use it in a good way. And I do think it’s, it’s helpful for a lot of kids. I also think it could be something that could help your charities, by the way, so we’ll talk about that later. Anyway, so this woman just sandblast me and says you’re such a bad example. You are spreading negativity, you’re not doing your research and if you’re into academia at all like I am, I’m such a nerd about school. I’m going for my doctorate like, like that hurts if someone says you don’t do your research well enough. And anyway, she just said all these really really hurtful things like Who do you think you are trying to be some kind of advocate for teenagers if you’re not setting a good example and oh, my gosh, you guys had slice me like a knife. I cried. I cried real tears. Like I was so upset about it. Because it was a mom. And I actually knew her like we I wouldn’t say we’re we were friends. But we’ve we’ve been in communication on Instagram for a while. So it’s sliced me it just sliced me It hurt so bad that someone would misinterpret my heart and my intentions. And, you know, make this assumption about me without even asking me to like, explain it maybe or clarify. I just hurt it just hurt. And that was just a couple weeks ago. I’ve got 50 stories. I could tell you right off the bat, you guys it’s gonna happen. haters are just going to be there.

Brian 34:31
And sometimes someone will say something that is totally true. Yeah, it hurts because you’re like, I’m maybe it wasn’t a mistake. Or maybe you’re doing something one that pops out in my mind. One day I was driving and I was doing a Instagram video. I just had this epic assembly. It was packed. It was like 2500 kids the energy level was through the roof. It was like, you know, an awesome assembly and I my energy afterwards was just like awesome. Cloud Nine. And so I was driving. And so I prop my phone up and I decided to do a quick Instagram story to say thank you to all the students. And then about 15 minutes later I get a DM, because I was doing an Instagram Live while driving and my seatbelt wasn’t on.

Unknown Speaker 35:15
Oh.

Brian 35:18
So there’s a lot of things right there, right? Yeah, number one, I’m driving, I wasn’t holding the phone, it was propped up. But regardless, obviously, my attention was somewhere else. And that is a mistake that I have to take ownership of like, you’re right, I’m putting myself on a pedestal to be a role model. And what am I, what am I broadcasting, right. And so sometimes people will tell you something that you did wrong, or something that you didn’t even think of that will totally shift your reality. Like, for example, we collect shoes, we send shoes all over the world, the first time we collected shoes, and we distribute them in Africa, we’re giving them to these kids have never worn shoes before in their entire life. That day was like one of the most memorable days that I’ll remember for the rest of my life. But then, the other day I’m not gonna forget about is the next day. The next day, we had all of these adults, teachers, principals over there, and they were they were pissed at us. They’re mad. Because here’s a business owner who sells shoes, he can’t sell shoes, because we distributed over 5000 pairs. So he’s out of work, no one’s gonna buy shoes. The next one was all the principals and teachers are mad because they require shoes to go to school. And now instead of having 50 kids in a classroom, they have 80 to 90 kids that are wanting to get into the classroom and have to turn kids away. And we created this problem, something I didn’t even think about. And I’m just like, I was just trying to do something good. Right? And, and, and sometimes you’re gonna do something that raised a blind spot for me, it’s like, okay, we need to rethink how we’re going to do this. And then collecting shoes in the United States. We’re saying, Hey, we’re collecting shoes to give to kids around the world. And then people say, Okay, well, what about kids here, Mike? Well, we are giving them to kids here too, in fact, about 50% stay local. But to them that was just like the one argument. So sometimes you have to be prepared the people that might argue what you’re doing, you know, it’s like saying, hey, I want to save the whales. And some of I say, Well, what about the sharks? Yeah. Yes, sir. So you’re, there’s always going to be something else or even for our Pender? Like I want to give laptops and stuff like that to need to hit Well, don’t the schools give that stuff to them already? Not a lot. Yeah. So you have to be prepared. And not there’s no excuse or no reason why, why you should be offended when people bring those up. It’s an educate, it’s an opportunity to educate them on something else, you know, yeah, to be prepared on what your response is going to be. Because I’m sure our Pinto, you battle a lot of things in this one, like, there’s the assumption that once everyone knows school, you can go to school for free. But at the same point, there’s a lot of other ancillary expenses, you know, you want to join a soccer team, I was at one school kid want to join the soccer team they require they had to have cleats. He couldn’t afford cleats. So he couldn’t be on the soccer team. Right? And so like what you’re doing is so important, right? And there’s going to be people out there that might might try to poke holes in your idea. And granted, there are a million different charities, there are a million different people doing good things. And it’s not saying yours is better than someone else’s. But everyone’s thing matters to somebody. And that’s your point is you’re trying to make a difference in someone’s life specifically.

Jessie 38:32
Yeah. Oh, that’s fabulous. And I’m so glad you brought up like, like the doubts, you know, and that’s why we want to share all these stories, you guys because we’re not perfect. And we’re learning as we go. Like, Brian is still learning. I’m still learning. We’ve been running our charities for over a decade, each of us. And we’re still learning. So when people point things out those blind spots, like you said, we’re still we’re still having to pivot and we’re like, okay, now Now we need to take that in consideration. So you do not have to have everything figured out our pinner is still learning as she goes. And it’s a process. And it’s actually a really fun process. And once you accept that, you’re not scared of it. You don’t have to be scared of it. It can actually be fun to just go along the journey, you’ll learn as you go, you figure things out. I think that’s part of the fun. So it’s exciting.

Brian 39:18
So I’m curious, what’s what’s next for your printer? What’s the next big milestone that you want to accomplish within the next six to 12 months?

Unknown Speaker 39:29
That’s a really good question, actually. So I haven’t talked about this yet, but I did recently get my 501 c three. Oh, my God, and we are not tax exempt. Meaning people can donate without actually having to pay taxes for us, which is incredible. And we can buy stuff without having to pay for taxes not just means like more money for kids, right? That’s even better. So within the next six to 12 months, the current plan that we have is to hold more organizations or not organization, hold more fundraisers and get more money that way we can help other kids but at the same time for us. It’s Not all about the money. And it’s not all about like, what we can buy and like what we can help with, because it’s more than that. It definitely is. But the thing is, we don’t know all of that more to that. So sometimes admitting that you don’t know everything is really helpful we are going to be doing I don’t know how to describe we don’t have a word for it yet, but kind of like just picking up data from the community like what kids need the most in what areas because I live in go right. But look around us. There’s like Hollister, Morgan Hill, right? There’s like a Costco was really, really, really small town, right? But around those, there’s even more smaller towns. So not like even being able to reach out to them is on our list we’ll call Usher. watsonville. Morgan Hill, like seeing what kids there need. So we can even like, broaden our goal. So yes, there’s laptops and like their sports. But it’s more than that. It’s there’s definitely more than that. But we’re doing what we can while also trying to look for more, because it’s the same thing as sports, like you will never be too good to practice basics, right? We will never be too set in order to like, find out what else we can do. And I’m pretty sure you guys do the same thing, right? Like you find different things to incorporate in your speeches, you find what teenagers want to hear you find, like different fundraisers to do, right, Brian and like where the world needs to help the most. And like where you can, you know, distribute shoes, and just things like that. Right. So that is what we’re working on. Because it has been a year and we have gotten several but we want to get further like we want to do more.

Brian 41:17
Awesome. So where can people where can people reach out find you if they’re listening to this and they want to make even a donation? Where can people find and connect with you.

Unknown Speaker 41:25
Of course, we have an Instagram account. It’s underscore empower excellence underscore, we also have an email and powering excellence 20 twenty@gmail.com. And you can always reach out to me personally, that’s where a lot of people actually come from as well as personal connections. Because like I said, People are always going to want to help you. Like never think that you’re not going to have support. It might come from the weirdest place ever. It might literally jump out of the air, but you are going to have support. So just always remember that if you feel like it’s hopeless, like no one’s going to help you, people are going to help you whether it’s your own mother, or if like your mom doesn’t even support your mom’s like, Oh, this is a dumb idea. Your teachers are going to few teachers don’t then your aunt’s going to and if your aunt doesn’t even like your dogs mom is gonna you know what I mean? It extends everywhere, like you’re gonna be like typing your business when your dog’s gonna be giving you kisses over here, like see everybody supporting you. And you just need to find it right. So yeah, you can reach out to me personally, our printer core on on Instagram,

Brian 42:15
we’ll go ahead and link if you’re listening right now, we’ll go ahead and link it in our show notes. If you want to connect with our pendra check out what she’s doing. You know, and also just to share this episode with people just because everyone needs a little bit of inspiration. And what are pinners doing is truly inspirational. She’s gone through the grind, she’s gone through the ups and the downs. And so if you need to just ping want to surround yourself with some other world changers to get more inspiration or ideas reach out for sure.

Jessie 42:43
Yeah, we’re so proud of you, our printer, I there’s not even a word to describe how proud I am of you, not just for your success, but for who you are as a person and how much you’ve grown through this whole thing, the way you have honored yourself as you’ve gone through this because it has been hard. Like I said, our partner and I’ve been friends now for a solid year like pretty good friends, I’d say we talk and she’s she’s incredibly brave and has dealt with a lot of challenges along the way and, and she has honored herself and that’s one of the most important messages we want you guys to get from this podcast and from the charity you experiences that, yes, push yourself, we’re all about pushing yourself self improvement, like go for the gold like absolutely go for it, you guys. But also honor yourself and and make sure that you are finding time to self care that you’re being honest, that you’re not sacrificing your own happiness for the sake of success. That’s not what we’re about. So I want to be crystal crystal clear on that. Our Pinto has been a beautiful example of that, like finding some kind of balance, you know, balance is elusive. But finding some kind of balance between self care and pushing hard and that’s really important for everybody to remember please I’m coming at you from my mama therapist heart like it’s a process so make sure that that’s just on in your narrative as you go through this journey.

Unknown Speaker 44:03
It’s like what I said at the beginning where my heart was like okay, go watch Grey’s Anatomy and my brain was like no work right? Sometimes just gotta listen your heart and go watch Grey’s Anatomy there’s

Jessie 44:13
any any either eat some ice cream while you’re watching Grey’s Anatomy, yes.

Brian 44:18
Though. Words,

Unknown Speaker 44:23
but definitely like your heart sometimes. And if you need to sleep in sleeping and if you need to just watch Grey’s Anatomy or friends or whatever you watch her if even if you don’t watch TV when you need to go take a bubble bath. I’ve been very fond of bubble bath lately. If you go sit in the bubbles like kid with a little SpongeBob bubbles and I blow bubbles, that’s totally fine. It’s not taking care of yourself is not cheesy, taking care of yourself. You’re not taking care of yourself or other people. You’re taking care of yourself for yourself.

Jessie 44:52
Right so that you can be a better leader.

Unknown Speaker 44:55
Exactly. Yes. Unless you serve yourself and that was one of the hardest things that I had to learn. The second that I was I was like, Okay, do this, do this, do this. And I was like forgetting to like drink water and I was forgetting to eat stuff. I was not serving as properly as I could have. And this isn’t just apply like this past year even before that, right? And this past year has helped me learn that like, okay, I do need to sit down and watch Grey’s Anatomy ice cream, sometimes in order to be the best leader possible. And these are like these very tiny, tiny, tiny things that you learn while you while you’re like going through all this process, and like starting a charity, whenever these are the small things that you learn, that will help you in the long run, that’ll literally stay with you forever. Yep,

Jessie 45:31
exactly. So well said, seriously, we’re so proud of you, honey, we love you so much. And you guys, check her out, follow her because as you go through it, you can be friends with her like when you’re struggling, like she’s the type of girl you could send her a DM on Instagram, personally, and she’ll, she’ll encourage you and she’ll be a good listening ear, like, let’s all support each other, and our Pender would be a wonderful friend. So thank you so much for joining us, you Angel girl. You’re just really truly incredible. And I feel so honored to know you.

Unknown Speaker 46:02
Thank you. I love you guys. Thank you so much.

Jessie 46:06
Oh, my word. What did you think of her? Is she a rock star? Or is it just me,

Brian 46:11
hold on, let me pick my job off the floor real quick.

Jessie 46:16
I know, I know, she just kills me. And she’s that way all the time. She’s so genuine and authentic and very, very strong, but also willing to talk about the hard stuff and willing to go there. She’s a great example of what real leadership is. And she’s like, kind of the perfect example of what I hope we can help other kids create through charity. You know, just being able to jump in, take risks, be brave, but also acknowledge that it’s scary, and it’s hard, and it’s gonna kick your trash. But you can keep moving forward. She’s a great example of resilience. That’s

Brian 46:50
everything about her. And the thing is, is a lot of people when they see other individuals online, they might not get to see the whole behind the scenes. It might not get to see because everyone’s putting their best foot forward on their social media accounts being like, look at this 15 year old Yeah, she’s changing the world. But I can’t do that. I can’t do this. And like no, totally. Yeah, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. Yeah, and our printer is going through it but despite all that adversity, she still has the ability to see the rainbow see the sun through the clouds mean like look, yeah, I it’s not going to be easy. There are going to be bumps are going to be haters. Yeah, out there. You know, if I’m true to myself to my heart, then it’ll, it’ll work out,

Jessie 47:33
it will work out. And she does she she really does. She just keeps putting one foot in front of the other. She just she’s funny. She’s like, I’ll get myself a day. I totally just binge watch Grey’s Anatomy, and I eat some macaroni and cheese. And then the next day I say, all right, that was enough for today. She might want to still watch Grey’s Anatomy for the next day. But she says that’s enough. Now today, I got to get to work. And so she gives herself that time and that space to honor you know, the hard stuff. But she keeps moving forward. She does resilience, you guys that is over

Brian 48:02
ice cream selection.

Jessie 48:07
You want to go toe to toe on that one. Yeah, she’s just a good girl. And she’s just good through and through. So you guys, I’m so glad that you you’re willing to listen to these, these interviews because it’s going to help you as you as you take these steps, and you jump in and you decide to to take the risk. Like being able to lean on our pinner story and lean on her resilience is going to help you build your own like a freaking muscle like a habit. We have to lean on other people we need to draw from their strength. So use her reach out to her follow her on Instagram and and check out what she’s doing because it is going to inspire you it is going to help you feel more motivated. And when it gets hard, it’s going to help you keep moving forward.

Brian 48:53
For sure. And be sure you guys go ahead and join our charity you community if you want to connect with Jesse, myself or Pender and just other rock star individuals just like you go over to think kindness.org slash charity you you can listen to all the podcast episodes. You can also see today’s show notes if you want to see the links to her Instagram profiles, or if you want to reach out to her or if you want to go ahead and join the charity you community. There’s no cost just go in and join. Just give us a shout out. Introduce yourself. What are your passions? What are your biggest fears? We want to hear from you?

Jessie 49:31
Yes, we totally do. And we will celebrate you. This is a very safe space. And we’re a ton of fun. I don’t know if you’ve noticed Brian and I are hilarious. We are so fun to hang out with. So just like give us give us a chance you guys honestly that’s what it is like give us a chance jump in. It doesn’t cost anything. Start making some friends and then you’ll figure it out. You’ll figure it out as you go. You’ll figure out the right speed for you. We’re here to support you. Like you’ll figure out what’s right for you. No one’s gonna push you to do anything you’re not ready for. So there’s no there’s no real risk to at least getting started. Just jump in. That’s what we’ve created charity you for. You’re welcome.

Brian 50:04
Love it. Alright everyone, I hope you have an amazing rest of your day. And remember, be brave, be kind, and let’s all change the world