Listen Now

In honor of Dr. Kari Bolen's one-year anniversary in her role as Chief DEI Officer, Associate Vice President, and Title IX Coordinator at Pasadena City College, we thought we would spotlight this informative and imperative conversation we had with her just over a year ago about Diversity and Inclusion. Diversity and Inclusion is integral to finding justice in our education, work, and lifestyle. And to create sustainable progress, the work needs to be internally driven and morally just. It is time for real advocacy and real action. Dr. Kari Bolen, the Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer at Pasadena City College, joins us today to speak about the challenges, realities, and solutions towards making a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive future. By holding our employers, our professional partners, and ourselves accountable, we can create positive change. More from Dr. Kari Bolen: Phone: 626-585-7786 Email: kbolen@pasadena.edu  Find the transcript to this episode here To connect with us about the podcast visit our website Please be sure to subscribe, rate and review us on apple podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Strategic partnerships between organizations and colleges are vital to the success of students. Diving into the current trends in fundraising, we welcome Bobbi Abram, the Executive Director of Foundation at PCC, onto the show. She’ll help us understand why the relationships between nonprofit organizations and community colleges are so crucial to the future workforce. By providing students with networking opportunities and certifications that can land them jobs faster, these partnerships can make huge impacts. Discover how PCC is working towards propelling students into the workforce with competitive advantages, and why donors should partner with community colleges today!   More from Bobbi Abram:  Visit pasadena.edu/foundation  Email: pccfoundation@pasadena.edu   LinkedIn: @Bobbi Abram  Find the transcript to this episode here To connect with us about the podcast visit our website Please be sure to subscribe, rate and review us on apple podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Today we’re joined by Dr. Noel Hacegaba to explore the vast world of imports and exports that take place at the Long Beach Port. As the Deputy Director of Administration and Operations at The Port of Long Beach, Noel will share with us the development of their green initiatives for imported goods, and how we can include the community college sector to take part in these initiatives. You’ll learn how the port is propelling through these difficult times by developing jobs to expand the current workforce and engage local students in these job opportunities that will aid in their evolution towards a zero emissions operation.  More from Noel Hacegaba:  Email: noel.hacegaba@polb.com  LinkedIn: @Dr. Noel Hacegaba & @Port of Long Beach Facebook: @PortofLB Twitter & Instagram: @PortofLongBeach Find the transcript to this episode here To connect with us about the podcast visit our website Please be sure to subscribe, rate and review us on apple podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts!

In her new role as Vice President of Economic and Workforce Development at Pasadena City College, Salvatrice Cummo is mobilizing the community of partners, policy makers, industry professionals, educators, and students to collaborate, communicate and innovate together. In this space of major potential and forward momentum, we turn the tables and bring in Salvatrice as the guest of this episode. She sits down with Leslie Thompson, Director of Operations of Economic and Workforce Development at Pasadena City College, to dive into the new opportunities and challenges around affecting change within the system and what we can all do to get involved. Listen in to learn more about how PCC is leading the movement by overcoming barriers and finding solutions to forward the effort of preparing our existing and succeeding workforce for the future of work.    More from Salvatrice Cummo: Visit EWD at PCC Website LinkedIn: @Salvatrice Cummo Email: scummo@pasadena.edu  Find the transcript to this episode here To connect with us about the podcast visit our website Please be sure to subscribe, rate and review us on apple podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts!

How can we unlock the potential of those who are already here in LA county, and support entrepreneurs in opening up their businesses? These questions and more are answered in today’s episode with Senior-level public servant and nonprofit professional, Kelly LoBianco who is currently serving as the Executive Director of Economic and Workforce Development for Los Angeles County. Tune in and learn how LA county’s new division, The Department of Workforce Development, Aging and Community Services is driving investments in the area and building new initiatives to create quality jobs and increase revenues for those in the region. More from Kelly LoBianco: Visit wdacs.lacounty.gov   LinkedIn: @Kelly LoBianco Email: info@wdacs.lacounty.gov  Twitter & Facebook: @LACountyWDACS  Instagram: @lacountywdacs Vimeo: @wdacs Find the transcript to this episode here To connect with us about the podcast visit our website Please be sure to subscribe, rate and review us on apple podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts!

The Los Angeles Regional Consortium ( LARC) consists of 19 community colleges in Los Angeles County. It serves to coordinate, collaborate, organize, and facilitate interaction in the region to ensure workforce training is provided to all in a way that is accessible, efficient, responsive, data-driven and improves outcomes. To help us understand more about the effectiveness and power of this regional work is Dr. Audrey Childers, the former Los Angeles Regional Chair for the Los Angeles/Orange County Regional Consortium and current CEO of EducateX. Join us for this insightful discussion into the value of this consortium and the effect of these powerhouse colleges working together.  More from Dr. Audrey Childers:  Visit the Los Angeles Consortium Website: https://losangelesrc.org/meet-the-larc/ Visit the EducateX Website: https://educate-x.com/  LinkedIn: Audrey Childers Find the transcript to this episode here To connect with us about the podcast visit our website Please be sure to subscribe, rate and review us on apple podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts!

The traditional corporate structure is failing us. Industrialization created a work culture derived from efficiency but forgot about humanity. How do we reshape our models to place humans at the center? Rodney Evans, org designer, leadership coach, and podcast host at The Ready is an expert in confronting corporate norms and redesigning organizations to actually serve those who work there. She joins us today to give us insights into designing a system that is more adaptive, putting principles into practice, and giving people agency over their jobs. It’s time to move past the traditional models and embrace a brave new way to work.  More from Rodney Evans:  Visit https://theready.com/  Listen to The Brave New Work Podcast LinkedIn: Rodney Evans Twitter: @RodneyEvans919   Find the transcript to this episode here To connect with us about the podcast visit our website Please be sure to subscribe, rate and review us on apple podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Everyone on the Future of Work Team and Pasadena City College, thank you for being a dedicated listener and part of our community.  The podcast will be taking a break during the holiday season and we will be back with lots of compelling and informative episodes on January 25th 2022. But don’t worry! We have over 60 episodes you can browse and catch up on during our break. And in the spirit of the holiday you can give the gift of knowledge, community and connection by sharing one of YOUR favorite episodes with someone that you know who would love it.  We wish you a happy holiday season and we’ll see you next year! Find the transcript to this episode here To connect with us about the podcast visit our website Please be sure to subscribe, rate and review us on apple podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts!

If you're not a lawyer then the details of IP, or intellectual property might feel a bit like a mystery to you, or just another acronym that gets thrown around when talking about creative projects and new businesses. Today we welcome onto the show some very special faculty from Santa Monica Community College to explain to us what IP is, and why it is so important. They will share with us the programs and courses they offer that demystify intellectual property and offer underserved communities equal access to IP education. As the first ever community college to provide such courses, SMC is taking major strides in working towards closing the equity gap for entrepreneurs. Listen in as our host Salvatrice Cummo talks with Sal Veas, Nathan Khalil, and Dana Nasser, the awardees of The Michelson IP Educator of Excellence Award. More from SMC: Website: http://www.smc.edu/business Michelson Institute for Intellectual Property: https://michelsonip.com/ NACCE: National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship:https://www.nacce.com/ Email: businessdepartment@smc.edu Call: 310-434-4295 LinkedIn: @Santa Monica College Facebook: @SantaMonicaCollegeOfficial Twitter: @SMC_edu Instagram: @smcedu Youtube: @Santa Monica College More from PCC:  Visit https://pasadena.edu/community/economic-workforce-development  Email: EWD@pasadena.edu  Call: (626) 585-7680 LinkedIn: @PCCEWD Facebook, Instagram & Twitter: @pccewd    Find the transcript to this episode here To connect with us about the podcast visit our website Please be sure to subscribe, rate and review us on apple podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts!

If you were unable to attend this year's Future Of Work Conference presented by PCC then you can catch up with today's episode featuring the conference keynote speaker, Vijay Pendakur Chief DEI Officer at Zynga. Join us as he distills the subject of DEI by using gathered data and his years of expertise. You’ll hear Pendakur take a look at where we’ve been, where we are, and how to approach where we’re headed by furthering the discussion on how we can better serve our students and community. With a deep dive into the integrations of best models and strategies, we can assure diversity within the workforce. Enjoy this excerpt from the 2021’s Future Of Work Conference and we hope to see you next year!  More from Dr. Vijay Pendakur:  Visit www.zynga.com  LinkedIn: @VijayPendakur Twitter: @VijayPendakur Youtube: @ZyngaNetwork Facebook, Twitter & Instagram: @zynga   Find the transcript to this episode here To connect with us about the podcast visit our website Please be sure to subscribe, rate and review us on apple podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts!

We are so excited to welcome onto the show Dr. Kari Bolen, the Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer at Pasadena City College, and the co-moderator of the Future Of Work Conference that recently took place at PCC. If you missed it, don’t worry! We’ll catch you up as we discuss the key takeaways from what was shared at this year's conference.  We want to help you shift the culture within your workplace and evolve the conversation around DEI with the tools from the conference. We’ll help you work towards equity and optimize everyone's ability to flourish and thrive within their communities. Diving deeper into the conference speakers’ expertises, we’ll explore the guiding principles of inclusion and provide some tangible tools for you to take with you into your workplace.  More from Dr. Kari Bolen:  Visit PCC Division of Institutional Equity, Diversity, and Justice  Email: kbolen@pasadena.edu     Find the transcript to this episode here To connect with us about the podcast visit our website Please be sure to subscribe, rate and review us on apple podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts!

The annual Future Of Work Conference presented by Pasadena City College is taking place today, and we couldn’t be more excited to welcome onto the show today’s guest, Jonathan Mayes. Jonathan is here to give you a realistic snapshot of the conversations you can look forward to at today’s conference and what it’s like serving as the Senior Vice President and Chief of Diversity and Inclusion Officer for Albertsons Companies. He’ll show us why it’s equally as important to understand yourself as it is to understand those that differ from you, and how we can recognize our own implicit biases, and stomp them out. Tune in now and make sure to join us at today’s conference in order to learn how you can create real action steps to take back and implement with your team. We hope to see you there!  Register For FREE: Future Of Work Conference on November 9th 2021 More from Jonathan Mayes:  Visit www.albertsonscompanies.com/home.html  LinkedIn: @Jonathan Mayes  Twitter: @JonathanMayes1   Find the transcript to this episode here To connect with us about the podcast visit our website Please be sure to subscribe, rate and review us on apple podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts!

If you need more evidence of the enriching and invaluable conversations that will take place at this year's Future Of Work Conference, look no further. Today we are joined by panelist Naomi Iwasaki, the Senior Director of the Office of Equity and Race at LA Metro, and the founder of Naomi Iwasaki Consulting. She’s here to share her expertise and detail exactly how, through action and implementation they have developed tools and training so Metro staff can incorporate equity measures and strive for equitable outcomes in their workplace. We’ll give you a taste of the deep and clarifying conversations you have to look forward to, and Naomi will show us how public transportation can act as the keystone to MANY equitable solutions.  More from Naomi Iwasaki:  Visit www.naomiiwasakiconsulting.com & https://www.metro.net/about/equity-race  LinkedIn: @Naomi Iwasaki Twitter: @NaomiConsults Email: equityandrace@metro.net   Register For FREE: Future Of Work Conference on November 9th 2021 Find the transcript to this episode here To connect with us about the podcast visit our website Please be sure to subscribe, rate and review us on apple podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts!

What does diversity, equity, and inclusion mean to you? How does it show up and affect you in your daily life? If you’ve never taken the time to answer these questions, or even if you have, you are in for a treat. Today, guest host Christina Barsi interviews attorney Sylvia Torres- Guillen, one of our amazing panelists for the upcoming Future Of Work Conference hosted by Pasadena City College. Sylvia has served as the ACLU’s director of education equity as well as Governor Jerry Brown's first Latina general counsel, where she is well known for being a force for justice. We’ll dive in deep on DEI and how it is now a part of the very fabric of our lives. Focusing on the actions we can take, Syliva will share how we can help give a voice to those who are voiceless. Tune in to learn how we can ALL participate to make a more equitable workforce and society.  More from Attorney Sylvia Torres-Guillen:  Call: 213-760-1401 LinkedIn: @Sylvia Torres-Guillén Register For FREE: Future Of Work Conference on November 9th 2021 Find the transcript to this episode here To connect with us about the podcast visit our website Please be sure to subscribe, rate and review us on apple podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts!

We ALL have a stake at shaping the future of work. We must collectively work towards equity while responding to the ever changing nature of work itself. Today we continue to pull back the curtain on the upcoming virtual Future Of Work Conference with our highly anticipated keynote speaker, Dr. Vijay Pendakur. Dr. Pendakur is the chief DEI officer at Zynga, a leading developer of the world's most popular social games, and he’s here to dive into some of the conference's main themes. He shares the ins and outs of his role and what we can expect to learn about the underlying shifts that are happening in the labor market. Join us today for a preview of the actionable solutions we’ll address in order to achieve equity, inclusion, and diversity in the workplace.  More from Dr. Vijay Pendakur:  Register For FREE: Future Of Work Conference on November 9th 2021 Visit https://www.zynga.com/  LinkedIn: @VijayPendakur Youtube: @ZyngaNetwork Facebook, Twitter & Instagram: @zynga   Find the transcript to this episode here To connect with us about the podcast visit our website Please be sure to subscribe, rate and review us on apple podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts!

As we gear up for Pasadena City College’s annual Future Of Work Conference, happening virtually on November 9th, we invite Superintendent President Dr. Erika Endrijonas to speak with us. She shares WHY we chose to focus on actions and solutions this year as we take a glimpse into the conference with one of our very own leaders! Register to discover the internal solutions that prepare our future workforce while we repair our current one.True collaboration and engagement is what we’re after, and this is not a one and done, it's a process, so join us on this journey.  More From Dr. Erika Endrijonas:  Register for FREE: Future of Work Conference on November 9th, 2021 Website: https://pasadena.edu/about/president/biography.php LinkedIn: Erika Endrijonas Twitter: @PCCprez    Find the transcript to this episode here To connect with us about the podcast visit our website Please be sure to subscribe, rate and review us on apple podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Our favorite time of the year is right around the corner and in this week’s episode we share exciting news! The Economic Workforce Development department is gearing up to launch their 3rd annual Future of Work conference presented by Pasadena City College. Last year we focused on identifying the problem and this year we are furthering the conversation by offering you solutions. Listen in as we turn the tables and Christina Barsi interviews our podcast host and Vice President of Economic and Workforce Development, Salvatrice Cummo. Salvatrice is joined by her Director of Operations, Leslie Thompson as they share the ins and outs of the conference and what to expect at this enriching event. You can gain a DEI action plan to bring back to your team and take away important practices and various perspectives, all for FREE when you attend our virtual Future of Work Conference. Register: Future of Work Conference on November 9th, 2021   Find the transcript to this episode here To connect with us about the podcast visit our website Please be sure to subscribe, rate and review us on apple podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts!

If you can think differently you can change the world. Small or big ideas can make huge impacts and it is up to our students to learn from local community initiatives to inspire change. Our guest Greg Apodaca, CEO of Community 2.0, joins us today to discuss our need for a sustainable culture change in order to shake up the world. Shedding light onto the climate emergency, Community 2.0 mobilizes individuals in the greater Pasadena and Los Angeles area to take action to overcome climate emergency challenges.Volunteering with organizations can give you invaluable leadership skills and opportunities you never would experience as a student elsewhere. Tune in to hear Greg share the two things needed to be a leader and how we can dedicate ourselves deeply to the things we are passionate about.  More From Greg Apodaca:  Community 2.0 Website: https://gapodaca.com/  Watch Abundance is our future TED Talk   Connect on Linkedin   Twitter: @Community2_0 Facebook: @nextgenerationcommunity   Find the transcript to this episode here To connect with us about the podcast visit our website Please be sure to subscribe, rate and review us on apple podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts!

It is up to our academic institutions to challenge what diversity looks like in our schools and in various work spaces. Having these discussions are vital and the only way to ensure a true range of backgrounds and identities in the future workforce. Today, Raquel Torres-Retana, Dean at the Pasadena City College’s Rosemead satellite campus is here to share her expertise. Join us as we discuss how to embed a culture of inclusivity and best help marginalized students access the resources they need without barriers. Understand what role demographics play in institutions and how to advocate for students and provide support through community partnerships.  More from Raquel Torres-Retana:  Pasadena City College at Rosemead: https://pasadena.edu/rosemead/index.php  Email: rtorresretana@pasadena.edu  Connect on Linkedin: Raquel Torres-Retana  Associated Students PCC Instagram: @myaspcc  PCC Rosemead Twitter: @pcc_rosemead   Find the transcript to this episode here To connect with us about the podcast visit our website Please be sure to subscribe, rate and review us on apple podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Industry never stops and it’s up to education to stay one step ahead to prepare students for the jobs of tomorrow. How are programs created to educate the educators? NCCET or the National Council for Continuing Education and Training is dedicated to developing and recognizing innovative programming and professional development for continuing education. Ed Harper, the executive director of NCCET, came onboard and has continued the mission of adapting to the needs of the industry. For more information on developing education for the post pandemic recovery and beyond, listen in.  More from Ed Harper: NCCET Website: https://nccet.org/  Email: ed@nccet.org    Find the transcript to this episode here To connect with us about the podcast visit our website Please be sure to subscribe, rate and review us on apple podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts!