“We have to be willing to articulate what we believe…”

About Our Guest in this episode:

Rep. Derek Grier represents St. Louis County in the Missouri State Legislature, serving as chairman of the Committee on Economic Development and sitting on the Professional Registration and Licensing Committee. Derek has been successful in eliminating barriers to entry for workers and passed one of Missouri’s largest occupational reform bills in over a decade.

In addition to his legislative responsibilities, Derek owns and operates Grier Realty Group, which focuses on commercial and residential brokerage, property management and consulting. Derek believes treating people with respect and honesty is the backbone to his success.

Prior to being a State Representative, Derek held the position of City Council Member in Chesterfield, MO. He has also served as Chair of the University Outreach Committee for the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and is member of the Chamber of Commerce. Derek has a B.A. in business administration from Principia College.

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Transcript of Episode:

Robin: This is the Net Effect, Career Conversations and Connections, episode number 41.

We have as our special guest, Derek Grier, owner of Grier Realty Group, husband, father, businessman, and Missouri State Representative District 100.

I’m your host, Robin Jones director of the ABF Career Alliance.

Derek is here to tell us how he’s been casting his net on the right side, just as Jesus challenged his followers to practice. I’m so excited.

So let’s get right into it. Mr. Grier. He has a lovely, lovely family. So beautiful. So Derek as a husband and a father and a business owner, it’s truly an honor to have you here. I’d like for you to just give us a little bit of background, where you started, and how you got to where you are right now.

Derek: My family started in Maryland and when I was about six years old, my parents decided that they were going to uproot my brother and I and move to the middle of the country.

My mom was from California. My dad was from Maryland. So Missouri made absolutely no sense, except for the fact that there was a school that they’d heard about, The Principia, that has a really strong character education program, and has a religious foundation and spiritual foundation. And they felt strongly enough about providing my brother and I with a strong foundation for our lives, that they left good jobs from where they were, and they came to Missouri to go to this school that they’ve heard about.

They, I don’t think knew, hardly anybody here in the St. Louis area. They decided to take a huge risk and they came with no jobs, without really knowing anybody, purely on faith, that that was the right decision for their family and for my brother and I. Looking back on it, I can’t imagine that. It was such a huge leap of faith for them to do that.

I know a lot of other families have done that for that particular school as well. I mean, that’s what faith is all about. You don’t know how it’s gonna work out. That’s why it’s called faith. You’re trusting in things unseen. So we came out here and I had the opportunity to go through that education that provided a strong foundation for me, both spiritually, but also, just good education, character education giving me the skills and the tools to be able to go on and be successful in business and now in politics and lots of other things.

I learned from them too, because they started their own business. They didn’t have really anything here. It took a while for them to get set up in St. Louis and they decided they were going to start their own business. They’d never been entrepreneurs before. And they had some skills that they felt like they could plug into a specific industry. It happened to be real estate property management.

They started from scratch and they built their way up to being one of the most successful property management firms in the St. Louis area. Looking back on it again, what an incredible leap of faith for them to launch out on their own, to take that risk and knowing now as a small business owner myself, how scary that is to come to a new, strange place with not knowing too many people and to venture out and start a business that they’d never done before.

I mean, really, really tremendous. I know there was a lot of prayerful work going into that in trusting that the right things were going to work out there. We went through the Principia through college, my brother and I both did.

I had an opportunity to play football, basketball being a smaller school, I could do music as well. It really gave me an opportunity to do a lot of the things that I now have found to be real joy and love in my life. Which is physical activity, being in nature and outside. That was a part of what we were doing growing up.

And also the music, I had some really good mentors going through sports and through music. They taught me a lot and again, provided that foundation. And now as a dad, that’s so important to me to make sure that my kids have similar opportunities and that they’re able to get that strong foundation, those skills both soft and hard and the spiritual foundation too, to be able to handle what comes in life.

Robin: I’m sure that you didn’t start out as the owner of your real estate business. So how did you get started in business and give us a little quick background about how that looked?

Derek: So out of college, I went to Atlanta and I started working with a company there. It was through a Principia alum. I didn’t know anybody in Atlanta, myself. I had one friend there and I was like, you know what? I’m ready to get outside of my community, to broaden my horizons. So moved to Atlanta. Worked there for about a year and a half.

It wasn’t too long, but got some great sales experience. I was calling on CEOs of companies doing business to business sales and it helped get me comfortable with that sort of thing and, and not being scared to just call on people and share what it is that you’re doing and how you might be able to help them.

And then my parents, they gave me the hard sell to come back to St. Louis and help with the company here and help grow the company, and that was my charge. My claim to fame while I was there was we doubled the size of the company about three years and that was tremendous growth and it was really exciting time.

And then of course, once you grow a company, you have to support that business and know how to service the new clients. So I spent most of my time then being a property manager and actually serving the clients that we brought on board.

After a few years of that, I realized that that probably wasn’t what I wanted to be doing long-term, and so I made a switch and I went to commercial real estate and worked with a company and got some tremendous experience there working in a division called corporate services. So any company that doesn’t have an in-house real estate company they would outsource to a third party and they would handle all of their real estate.

I ended up starting at the bottom which for me was a pretty big risk in itself because I was in a very comfortable position with the family business. There was a security there that was, I knew I had a future there.

I knew I could, potentially lead the company at some point. And so for me, it was tempting to feel like I was giving something up and I think that’s always the case in life, right? When you’re taking a leap of faith, the temptation is to think the focus on what you’re giving up rather than focus on what the opportunity is.

So I think that was maybe the first time in my life where I started looking at things through a different lens, the lens of, what’s the opportunity, what’s the best thing that could happen, and what’s the worst thing that could happen if I do this. And at the time, the best thing that could happen is that I learn a whole new set of skills.

I get a whole new network of people that, that I know. And I, and I grow myself personally and the downside could be what… I don’t know, I don’t succeed or I get fired at some point. And like, is it that bad? Like what I would I find another job I probably would, do I have any responsibilities that I’m going to not be able to pay the bills or something like that?

No. So the upside was significantly bigger than to me the downside and the downside would be just staying comfortable and sticking where I was, because I was afraid to do something new and different. So I did, I did the Cushman & Wakefield thing for a number of years, and I had the opportunity to lead one of their major accounts.

This was a company that I essentially was the outsourced real estate director for. They had 1,600 locations around the entire country, and my team was responsible for all of the new site selection and development, responsible for all of the renovations that were going on all of the facilities on the 1,600 locations, all the lease negotiations.

So it was a lot of responsibility pretty early on in my career. And I had the opportunity to work with their CEO and CFO directly. This was a $350 million company. So I had the opportunity to be in the room with people that were really, really smart and had been very, very successful. And there was so much to learn from them.

So I soaked it all up. I mean, I, I love the experience. But again, I got to a point where I was like, well, I don’t think I want my boss’s job and I don’t want my boss’s boss’s job. Things are going great. And I’ve got lots of potential here, I think. But ultimately I was like, do I want to be here in 10 years?

And the answer for me was no. And once I realized that was the answer, it was like, okay, well I need to start looking and thinking about how to continue growing, because if you’re not growing, you’re going backwards, you’re dying. Right. I mean, that’s what people say. You got to keep growing, you got to keep making progress.

And so for me, I felt like it was getting a little bit stagnant. So I launched out into my own business. I had a mentor in real estate and I did some fixes and flips, and learned how to wholesale. Again, a whole nother aspect of real estate that I’d never thought about or considered before and gave me the opportunity and the flexibility as well to, at that time, move more into politics.

Robin: Quick question. So in this is finding purpose. I mean, where in this, do you land or start to explore that? You’ve had some great opportunities and you’ve had success. You’ve been around a lot of different people.

Where does purpose come into this?

Derek: Robin, I think it’s a continuous journey. I don’t think finding purpose there’s ever a final answer for it. Right. Because our purpose is constantly changing. To me, it’s finding ways that I can do God’s will, I guess, is the best way to put it, that it’s always listening for what that next step might be.

You don’t always know if you’re making the right choice and sometimes you don’t, right. I mean, sometimes your path leads you in a circuitous route. There always is a purpose in that though our mistakes are missteps going directions that end up being dead ends, they always teach us something.

So for me, it’s finding purpose in everything we do, and there’s a purpose in your failures. I’ve learned way more from failing and not succeeding than I have by the successes that I’ve achieved. And I think that’s the key – is always looking at things through that lens of trying to find, okay, well, what can I gain out of this? What can I find?

I feel like I have lots of purposes in what I do in life. I’ve got the real estate and the business side of life. And then I’ve got this purpose in serving my community and my country and my state with politics.

So, I’ve had the opportunity now to fulfill lots of different goals and objectives. And that purpose is a continuously evolving thing. I hope there’s never a clear answer. Like this was your purpose, and now you’re finished. Maybe on my way out someday, but I don’t want to know the answer to that until the end of the road.

To me, it’s constantly looking at everything I’m doing and finding the good, finding the meaning in it, and yeah, it’s not always clear. You don’t always know. And there’ve been lots of things that I’ve done, and I’ve gone down the road, and they didn’t turn out to be what I thought they would.

But I sure found something that I could take out of it.

Robin: I love what you say about the purposes evolving and, as you’re growing and moving, you should be looking at that, from a lens that is maybe the lens that we talked about. How are you casting your net on the right side?

What was it that said you ought to run and go into politics. How did you make that decision?

Derek: Like so many other things we just said it’s constantly evolving. Like I never, ever thought I would be involved in politics. I mean, in college, I didn’t know a conservative from a liberal, I didn’t really know what I believed. I didn’t really know what was going on in politics, but I did feel an obligation to learn more.

So I think the seed was planted somewhere in college that was like, hey, I’m going to be voting soon. And I feel like maybe I should be paying attention to this stuff. And at least have some working knowledge of what these issues are. And I knew that I felt a certain way about issues that would come up.

I knew as an example, people ought to be incentivized to work, that people that want to work ought to be able to get to work. I started exploring those and getting a little bit of a foundation of, of what politics are, but I never had any intention, never had any desire to go into politics.

I started serving on a community civic organization. And that started just because someone called me and they said, hey, we need some help. And I realized, I have this desire to serve my community in some way, to give back. Because I’ve gotten a lot. I’ve been very blessed in my life and what have I done to give back?

There are a lot of people that love their country and they choose to serve in the military, and I have tremendous respect for that. I didn’t do that. So I almost felt like, hey, there’s these other people out there that are they’re giving and doing a lot, what am I doing with my life?

So this was a small little way that I could get involved. And it just evolved into serving in a greater capacity. And I kept looking for ways that I could impact for good. And I realized somewhere around the time I was on that civic organization, because there were a few members of the city council and the mayor that were a part of that organization.

I realized that when you’re in certain positions, you do have a larger audience. You can amplify a message for good, and you have the opportunity to be in a position of making decisions that can positively impact a lot of people.

Some people go into politics with one agenda or one issue. I never had one issue or one agenda item that was really important to me. It was, hey, how can I just be in a position where I can influence for good?

So I ended up running for city council. I lost the first time I ran against an incumbent. And I lost, but man, did I learn a ton from that experience!

I met so many good people going around knocking on doors and I overcame a lot of personal timidity. People have always thought I’m very outgoing and that that’s easy for me, but it really isn’t. I don’t know too many people that are very personable and outgoing, that it’s not somewhat of a challenge to get in that mindset.

And when you go out and you knock doors and politics, you gotta just be fearless. You’re going up to somebody’s home, and knocking on their door, disturbing their day or their night or whatever it is. And then to be pitching yourself to them, it was really hard.

Robin: After a defeat like that, is it difficult to say, okay, I’m going to do this again, or did you have to take a step back and go, okay, what do I do now? What was your thought process?

Derek: Yeah, I was done Robin. I was like, you know what? I gave it a good shot. I gave it the old college try and it didn’t work out. It wasn’t until a year and a half later, I got a phone call from a sitting city council member. You never know what the things you do, what they’re going to lead to later. You never know what seeds you’ve planted in other people’s thought.

I thought I was done, I tried, and I didn’t make it and I’m supposed to do something else. Okay, great. Well, I got a phone call from the city council member and he’s like, hey, the person you ran against is stepping down and there’s an open seat now, and we really liked your message.

It was very positive and we think you’d be a great council member. Do you want to run again?

And I was like, ah, I don’t think so. Nah, I’m done. But then it was in my thought and they had then planted a seed with me. It’s like, hey, if this is important and if, if you think you can do some good, then go for it.

So I did. I went for it and, and ended up winning by a pretty large margin the second time. It’s just grown from there. My desire to do more in politics has just stemmed from a desire to impact for good and be in a position that I can have that influence for good.

Robin: So many young people today are running away from the faith that they’ve been brought up with, whatever faith it is, whatever church. So many are pushing back and heading away from their faith. It’s even to the point where some have shared with me and I talked to a lot of kids, a lot of students now they’re afraid even to say, they’re a Christian, how has your faith impacted your service?

Have you had challenges at being a Christian that that maybe you go, I don’t know if I should have said that thing. Tell us a little bit about that.

Derek: I think that especially in the environment that we’re in right now, it seems like religion is not valued the way that maybe it used to be. I’ve always searched for inspiration in lots of different ways.

To me, it’s not about the religion, it’s not about the church.

It’s about finding a connection with God. And finding some connection to something greater than ourselves. If you break it down to its most simple form, it’s connecting to something greater than ourselves, and there’s lots of conversations about that.

If you’ve ever seen Tony Robbins talk, he’s saying the same things that Jesus was saying in a different way. I mean, it’s the same message. He’s just using different terminology. He’s using different verbs, he’s using different things to describe the same things.

There’s lots of people that are speaking in a way that is explaining what that other thing is. And for me, faith is found in inspiration.

It’s important to find things that inspire us. For me, along the way, when I feel disconnected with spirituality, I go to the things that, that I feel in my heart, and that then inspire me, like music.

I play the saxophone, and when I play music, Robin, I feel a connection to something greater than myself. I feel like the things that I’m doing, I improvise a lot, like jazz and the blues. And there are times when something just comes out of me and the saxophone and what I’m playing that I could never do again.

It just happened in that moment. And that to me is divine inspiration.

That’s something that’s working through me. That’s clear evidence of something that’s greater than me.

I get the same feeling when I’m out in nature. When I go climb a mountain or I’m out hiking, and I see something that’s just astoundingly, beautiful, and I pause and I’m like, wow, that wow, that to me is divine inspiration.

So it’s important to find those ways to be inspired. And it doesn’t have to be like, I’m going to go read the Bible for 30 minutes and that’s how I’m going to get my inspiration. Sometimes that might be exactly what you need. But other times you just got to find something that you feel connected with that greater purpose, with that greater being and lean into it and lean into that.

People may be uncomfortable talking about God and talking about Christianity, talking about spirituality today, but frankly, you can still do it in a way that’s not the terminology that people are used to, and you can be inspired in those ways.

I don’t know whether that’s a good answer to that question or not Robin. There’s probably a lot of things I could say to that.

My experience in politics too, has been somewhat unique.

I am a Christian Scientist. When people learn that, a lot of people don’t know what that is. They’re confused by it. They think it’s Scientology.

I get a lot of questions about it or, or people that are just like, oh, okay, yeah. And then it’s like, no idea what that means, like silence and like trying to explain, Hey, this is a biblically based religion, it’s based on Jesus’s teachings.

There’s a lot of really neat messages in this.

It’s a very personal thing to me. My religion, my spiritual searching is a very personal thing to me. I’m always happy to share about it. But I don’t look for a stage to project that, and to proselytize to other people about it.

I hope that, in my actions, and in the way that I speak to others, the way that I make decisions in life, in politics and business, and anything else, are expressing the qualities and the lessons that I’ve learned.

To me, Robin, the Bible, it’s just examples of everyday life.

It’s in a different language almost. If you read the King James version, it’s hard to read sometimes and understand that these are stories about real people and thier real life examples of exactly what we go through, right. There’s lots of examples of people that have gone through hardships, just like we go through.

And if we lean into that and we lean on that there can be a lot of lessons that are learned. It’s really just advice for life. That’s the way I view the Bible.

A lot of times when I’m reading, it is like, hey, this is just good advice. Like, hey, here’s some people that went through some tough stuff and here’s how they handled it.

And it really worked. So when I’m dealing with challenges, I often will look at it that way.

If you read Proverbs, it like you’re sitting with a wise old man, who’s got all these amazing lessons from life to teach you.

Treat people with respect, speak softly, be humble, all these things that are just going to lead to a life of fulfillment, a life of happiness and a life of service to others.

Robin: How do you find the environment where you are in working with your colleagues? I mean, is it as brash and the way that you see it portrayed or are you actually able to get things done and work with your colleagues from around the state?

Cause they really are your neighbors and friends and sometimes family.

Derek: What you see on the news and in the media is not reality. We have some strong working relationships in the state house, certainly. I have friends that are on the other side of the aisle. I’ll give you a great example.

Just this morning, I went and spoke with a business group and it was just a panel. It was me and a Democrat. And one that I have tremendous respect for, and I consider her a friend.

Robin: You’re a conservative Republican, right?

Derek: Yes. I’m a conservative Republican. And so our views on policy issues are, are very different.

We are a stark contrast to one another when it comes to a lot of policy issues. But we both have a firm belief that we must talk about those. We have to be willing to articulate what it is that we believe and share that with one another and we can disagree about it and we’re going to disagree on it, but we have to do that in a way that’s civil.

The more that we articulate and have that dialogue, I think the better it is, the more personal you can make those conversations the better, and try and remove the animosity from it.

It’s hard today though, because I think the media feeds off of that tension, right. And that butting of heads. Everybody singing kumbaya, it doesn’t sell and it doesn’t make for a good news headline.

It would be refreshing to see more of that, but the reality is that’s just not the case. And so it’s up to us to magnify the good. It’s up to us to show that we can work together as individuals, either as a politician or, or in your day-to-day interactions with people. And I think we just need to not be afraid to talk about this stuff and ask questions.

I find that when I enter a conversation with with curiosity about what the other person believes and a true desire to understand their position it’s very helpful, and I’ll give you an example of that.

One of the most incendiary conversations you can have is about abortion, right?

That’s one of the most divisive type topics that you can have. When I came into politics I’ll be honest, it’s not something I’d ever given a whole lot of thought to. So this was an issue that I never really dug too deep into. I had some feelings about where I thought I was on it.

But it wasn’t something that I really looked into deeply. I genuinely wanted to understand, what are the different perspectives on this? I went into it open-minded and I sought to understand the position of people that are on both sides of that issue and what I found out, Robin?

The people that are passionate about that issue, they all cared deeply about other people.

They care passionately about other people, right? The conservative side, they focus on the, the baby being a child. So their love and their passion is driven by that child, they see that as a child. And so they want to defend that. They’re passionate about that.

On the other side of it, they’re passionate about defending women and they care deeply, deeply about the pain and the sorrow and the anguish that can be caused in these situations.

So if you look at it from that perspective, both sides have love and compassion that they’re working with. So why can’t we talk about that? Why can’t we understand that and respect that and the other side? We should, we should, right?

You can tell, I get a little emotional about it because it’s something that taught me so much, just that one issue, because it’s, it’s deeply passionate, it’s deeply divisive. It’s something that we ought to be able to have a compassionate conversation with one another about.

Robin: You’ve been in legislature, how long now? How long have you been there?

Derek: This is my fifth year in the state house.

Robin: And you’ve had some pretty remarkable success, I would say with some of your ideas and things that you’ve worked on. Tell us a bit about some of the committees and successes and things that have happened during those five years.

Derek: It’s been quite a ride. If you told me five years ago that I would have been able to do the things that I’ve gotten to do, I wouldn’t have believed you. It’s been a really tremendous experience.

It’s just like high school when you’re in the legislature. It’s freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Cause we’re on an eight year cycle. We have term limits here. So you get two years to every term. So just like high school, you go through and, and freshmen, you get the worst offices, you get the worst committee assignments.

And everybody razzes you for a little bit until you figure things out and then when you get to be more of an upper-class, when you get opportunities to lead committees and be involved in more well, I had the opportunity at a very early stage to be more of a leader in the caucus and have the opportunity to chair the Economic Development Committee in the start of my third year, which is pretty unusual to have that opportunity.

So presumably I will have had by the end of it, six years to chair that committee, which is really special.

Some advice that I got early on was, and this applies to life too, find something that you can be an expert on that other people seek your advice on and they seek your counsel on.

I found an issue, I stumbled into it by accident. I found something that I really was passionate about, and it was something that not many people really knew about it, it was occupational licensing and regulatory reform.

Not an exciting subject to a lot of people. But for me, this was something that I connected with as a business person. I learned how restrictive a lot of these occupational license requirements are and how it makes it really hard for people to work, and it creates barriers to entry.

I believe strongly that we ought to encourage people to work and want people to be successful. So why are we creating as a government more boundaries? Why are we making it harder for people to do these things and be successful?

The first example of this, I happened to be on an aircraft carrier off of Mexico, the Teddy Roosevelt. And I’m standing there and I’m like 15 yards away from these fighter jets taking off. They’re literally taking off and landing right in front of me. It’s like Top Gun.

It’s an incredible experience. And as I’m standing there, I’m looking out on the deck of this aircraft carrier and I’m watching these people launch these fighter jets. I don’t know how much a fighter jet costs. I always say a hundred million dollars. I’m probably off on that, but they’re really expensive.

They cost a lot of money and here they are, and they look really young.

So I asked the guy standing next to me, who happened to be the senior security officer for the entire ship. He’s responsible for keeping everybody safe. And I was like, hey, buddy, how old are these guys and gals out here? Because they look really young, and they’re doing these incredible tasks, very dangerous tasks and we’re trusting them with a lot.

And he’s like 19, 19 is the average age of the people that are out here on the deck doing those jobs. I was like, Oh my gosh, the margin of error is zero. Like you, you screw up at all and people are flying off the ship, right?

The way that that applied to me was I had just heard about some of the age restrictions that we have on occupations in Missouri.

For instance, to be a master plumber in Missouri, you have to be 25 years old. This is after the six years of apprenticeship, and the three years of additional coursework. If you’re Doogie Howser, and you want to do that job and you can demonstrate you’ve got the skills to be a master plumber at 22, what does 25 mean?

Thomas Jefferson was 32 when he wrote the Declaration of Independence and shaped the entire country. Surely we can trust somebody to move a toilet when they’re 20 years old, right?

So I went back with this newfound passion for finding these arbitrary restrictions and getting rid of them.

I went on this mission of, of changing Missouri’s perspective on this and last year I was able to pass the most comprehensive regulatory reform bill in the entire country. It was amazing. It was monumental. I thought it would take me my entire career. We got it done in one year with the help of a lot of people.

But because of that, bill I was able to go to the White House. I was invited to go to the White House and visit with some other reformers from across the country. It was a tremendous experience. It was a surreal experience. And that is the epitome of why I got into politics.

I wanted to have an impact for good. Well, I set the standard with that bill, for the entire country on how this issue is handled. And now other states are following suit. We have a number of other states that have done exactly what we did in Missouri to now break down those barriers to entry, to make it easier for people to work. And it’s so fulfilling to have that.

If you would have asked me two years ago, what’s your purpose, Derek? I wouldn’t have told you to pass sweeping regulatory reform, and I’m going to change the way that the country looks at this. I didn’t know what I was doing. I was just following each step right in front of me.

I was like, well, this makes sense. And well, maybe I should try this and maybe I’ll talk to this person and maybe we can take it to this place. And it led to the White House. So pretty cool.

Now the challenge is, how do I top that? Do I need to top that? And what do I do next?

So that question of purpose, it’s always changing. It’s always growing.

Robin: Talk about the Walking Wounded a little bit, and, and your opportunity to make a really neat introduction.

Derek: Yeah. That was a great story. I’ve got a great friend. His name is Mark and Mark is, he works for an organization that his entire job is like promoting Missouri and, and bringing jobs and bringing businesses in Missouri.

And he happens to be from the UK and and he’s also a good friend of mine. We sing karaoke together, sometimes, which you’re never going to see, don’t even ask.

Mark was involved with the British government. He’s the honorary British consulate for Missouri. So he’s, he’s got a really cool title and he works with the UK a lot. Mark had this opportunity to work with this organization called the Walking Wounded.

There were some soldiers, some British soldiers and some soldiers from the United States that had been wounded in battle. And they were in the process of walking across the country. And one of their big stops was in St. Louis. They were going to come to St. Louis and we were going to do a big press event.

The headliner was Joe Biden, so this was former Vice President at the time Joe Biden and his wife, Jill. And it was really Jill’s initiative.

She was heavily engaged with this organization and really, really helping raise awareness for it. I got to introduce now President Joe Biden which is a pretty cool thing, regardless of what side of the aisle you are, if you like the guy or can’t stand the guy, introducing a future President of the United States is a pretty awesome thing.

Robin: I love that. You’ve had some really cool experiences and you mentioned playing the sax earlier and you talk about some things that are, highlights in your life. Is this one of those highlights.

Derek: It was definitely fun to do. But there’s certainly more rewarding things that I’ve had the opportunity to do. For me, it’s the small things in life. I’ve never felt like I need a title or I need to have these big accomplishments. I just want to do good with what I’ve got.

And a lot of times just having somebody call me on the phone and tell me that something I did mattered to them. That means a lot more to me than introducing the future President of the United States. I’d much rather hear from constituents that I’ve been able to help in some way.

And that’s a lot of times all my job is, it’s just helping my constituents with needs that they have, maybe they interact with a state agency that doesn’t treat them well, or they’re not getting the answers they need. Maybe they’ve got a disabled child and they just don’t know what the resources are.

So we can help, and they call us and they say, hey, I don’t know what to do and we can plug them in. Those are the kinds of things that I like about that job and meeting, interesting people is just a bonus.

Robin: Well, you you’ve talked about some great successes and I wonder if this is one of those great successes?

Derek: Yes. That’s my Muskie. I caught a Muskie.

Robin: Wow.

Derek: You know what a Muskie is right?

Robin: I do, man. That’s a special thing.

Derek: Yeah, that is! That was a fun day. It was two summers ago. I think it was 37 or 39 inches. Something like that. It was, it was a big old fish. We were up in Wisconsin, so we went to visit some friends and went out on the boat and we were just sitting in the middle of the lake and throwing our lines out and boom, I get the biggest fish in my life on the line.

That was exciting. You can see my smile and that, yeah, I’ve got a pretty big smile. That was really, really fun.

Part of that, Robin was, I was joking the whole time. Cause I knew like the big things like, Oh, you got to catch a Muskie in your life sometime. And so I kept razzing, my friend, I’m like, this is it. I’m going to catch my Muskie on my first trip to Wisconsin, you know? And I did it.

Robin: That’s really fun.

Well, talk to me a little bit about the takeaways here in dealing with failure as a matter of perspective, what do you mean by that? Because you obviously can’t always win, when you’re in life or when you’re legislature or you’re selling a house. There are times when you just don’t, like you mentioned your first run. Talk to us a little bit about that perspective.

Derek: Yeah. Th the trick is knowing that there are going to be those moments that feel like failure, knowing that you are not going to always achieve what you think and what you see as success and understanding that the most important thing you can do in those moments is just remind yourself that that’s okay. And that that’s a good thing.

It can be really hard in those moments to remember that because we get down on ourselves and my wife will tell you, I am my biggest critic. Like I never feel like anything I do is good enough. I mean, even going to the White House, I was like, I don’t know, babe, like that, it was cool, but it wasn’t that big of a deal.

And she’s like, no, you did it. That was amazing. Like, come on, give yourself credit here. I think we all do that to a certain degree. Right? We’ve bagged on ourselves, pretty hard. And, and we’re not supposed to, like you say, win all the time. And the failures that we have the trick is to, to first remind yourself that that’s okay, because that at least gives you hope.

Okay. I’m going to get through this, whatever it is, whatever that challenge is, there is light. And I may not be able to see it because I’m on a curve going through the tunnel. Right. But the light may be just right around the corner. You just got to keep going through it. And it’s, it’s darkest before the dawn.

I’m sure you, and so many others have heard that before. You just gotta keep plugging away. Just keep going.

My mom has always told me that you just never know what seeds you’re planting along the way. You just never know what you’re doing is going to lead to my, my first failure in politics led to my leaving an impression with somebody that was positive enough that they felt like I could do a good job.

And I had the opportunity to come back later. Had I never made that first run or had I been so down on myself from that failure that when they called me again, all I remembered was the pain from that experience, I would have said no. And I never would have had the opportunity to be sitting here with you and having this conversation like we are.

So that’s what I mean by, it’s just a matter of perspective and, and we can change our perception so quickly. If we’re just aware of how we’re thinking, and we recognize those thoughts that are coming to us and, you can look at it spiritually, you can look at it humanly either way is going to help you get through that.

From a spiritual perspective, it’s okay, I need to turn to, to God and turn to good. And I need to magnify the good and, and know that there is more than this and that no, that this is not part of me. This failure is not me. Don’t own that failure, right? That is not who God created, that failure.

And that experience humanly speaking, I mean, come on, life is long. We get a long time on this planet to do things. So just have a little bit of patience and, and, Moses, he wasn’t called to whatever his great purpose was until what was it, Robin 80 something.

Robin: He was, he was, he’d already had a whole lifetime before that.

Derek: So what if he had just been like sitting back and being like, Oh man, God pass me by, like, I never had my purpose and I’m checking out, like, We, we would never have had the great inspiration that is there by Moses has experienced. And he wasn’t called to that and duty until late.

I’ll give you another experience.

A person that I met years ago I was in the Virgin Islands for an abroad in college, which was really cool by the way. We were in our little sailboat and we pulled up and, and anchored next to this gigantic yacht,a huge yacht.   We were joking the whole day. How cool would it be to get on that yacht?

Wonder who owns that yacht and. Well, lo and behold that night our instructor played saxophone and he had brought his saxophone with him. And so he was playing on the deck of our little sailboat and they heard it on the big boat. Well, they came over in this day boat that’s as big as our sailboat.

It’s massive. And it’s the wife of the owner of the ship. I mean, she’s the owner too, but her husband was the one who who was well-known. And so she invited us, she said, hey, you gotta come on our boat. My husband wants to meet you guys. So we got on, we went over and we met this incredible, incredible gentleman by the name of Jim Moran.

I’d never heard of him before. You’ve probably never heard of him before, unless you’re in the car business. If you’re in the car business, you know who Jim Moran is. Well, he was the most gracious kind, humble guy.

His story was so cool to me and I reference it all the time that people that are at later stages in their life, because Jim Moran, he didn’t find success until he was like 55. He owned a car dealership and he got, I think it was cancer, terminal cancer or something like that.

Like 95% chance he was going to die. Well, he beat it, he beat it and he came back stronger than ever at 55. He lost everything at that point. And he came back and he made an arrangement with Toyota to be the first Toyota dealership and supplier in the country. And that’s what he did. He brought Toyota to the United States and what a tremendous, tremendous story of going from nothing to everything humanly, right?

The man had more success than most people will ever dream of. And he didn’t do it until, his last 20, 30 years of life. That’s inspiring to me because I do hear people a lot of times say, oh, it’s too late for me, it’s passed me by. No it hasn’t, don’t give up, don’t give in to that attitude.

You gotta stay positive and keep moving forward. One little step at a time.

Robin: I love that idea. One of the things that you mentioned as we get into our Q and a and wrap up was, don’t try to pack everything into one year. I would think that’s really important with the work that you do legislatively, but what does that mean in your business?

What does that mean in your day-to-day life? That may be different from the legislative process, but maybe you can give us some ideas about that.

Derek: Something that I heard a long time ago, that just stuck in my brain was we tend to dramatically, dramatically underestimate what we can accomplish in 10 years.

On the flip side, we dramatically overestimate what we can do in one year, right? So we think we can accomplish everything in a year. But if we just have the perspective of more long-term perspective, we can do a lot. If we’re just patient and we just keep making steady progress.

You just keep up that constant pressure, then you can achieve extraordinary things. If you’re willing to be patient and willing to keep up that persistence and that diligence. So we dramatically overestimate what we can do in a year and dramatically underestimate what we can do over a longer period of time.

That’s important in my day to day. I try and work on that and in one day, there’s only so much that you can do, but over a long period of time, over a week weeks, a month, year, 10 years, you can, you can accomplish a whole heck of a lot.

It doesn’t always have to be a long time. Sometimes things do happen overnight, but usually there’s been a lot of foundation laid first. Usually for people to achieve that success that looks like it’s overnight, there’s been a lot of hard work that comes before it.

Younger generations, I mean my age and younger, we see a lot of success in the world, and we think if I don’t get that right away, I used to think I’m going to be a millionaire by 30.

And that was like my measurement of failure. Right. Is, am I going to be a millionaire by the time I’m 30? Well, 30 came around, not a millionaire, right?

So did I fail, or do I keep working? Do I keep pushing and let go of that arbitrary timeline I put on myself? Every day you set a few things or maybe just one thing, just set out to accomplish one thing a day that’s important and you prioritize those things.

I have a little book that’s my Michael Hyatt. I can’t remember what the name of the little planner that he’s put together is, but it basically says you lay out your top three items for the day, and then it has other priorities and you can calendar it out.

I don’t do it every day, but I try to do it as much as I can to just lay out a couple of things. Then looking back at the end of the day and being able to check off some of those things, it gives you a sense of accomplishment that makes you feel like, okay, I didn’t conquer the world today, but one step at a time we climb the mountain.

There’s not a zip line to success. There’s not a zip line to achieve great heights. It takes hiking, it takes working, it takes the right tools.

Sometimes all it is in a day is just getting the right tools in your toolbox. And maybe tomorrow or next week you start the actual work, right.

If you’ve ever done any, any renovation projects or anything like that, most of it is knowing what tools you need to bring with you. And if you don’t bring the right tools, it’s going to take it three times as long, because you got to go back out and get them.

So think about what tools you need, build your toolbox, and then start to slowly work, start with the foundation. And then you build on from there.

Great. I have a question. This was a question that came in earlier. And this question is about the real estate business. So it’s from a student who’s going to be graduating and they’re interested in the real estate business, but they’re not quite sure how to go about which direction to take, whether it’s commercial or, all the different aspects of real estate.

What might they do? What might you suggest to help them along the way, figure out what might be the best path for them?

My suggestion is find people that you think are doing what you might want to do and talk to them about it. So find somebody who’s been really successful in commercial real estate.

Maybe they’re a commercial broker. Look up who’s the top broker in my area. Who’s sold more commercial buildings than anybody else and had more success? Reach out to them. Cold call them and just say, hey, I’m a student, I’m young, I’m looking for inspiration. Help me understand what you do and do you like it?

What are the aspects of it that are most challenging? And what aspects do you like the most? Do that with a couple of different people in different areas and aspects of real estate. Talk to somebody in property management, talk to somebody in residential. Talk to somebody who’s a residential broker, right?

Because being a broker and being a personal performer as an agent are two very different things as well. You might be great at supervising and helping other agents achieve great success themselves, but you yourself, this is the way I am. Myself, I’m not passionate about being a real estate agent and personally performing.

But I love inspiring other people to be successful. I love giving them the tools and helping them to grow their business.

I think that’s the key is talking to a lot of these people and know too that you’re not going to land on your perfect job, the first job. Just accept that, that’s not going to be the case.

If you do, great miracle, awesome, you’re way above most. If you just go into it with the assumption that this is training, whatever, your first job is, whatever your second job is, whatever your third job is, it’s training for whatever comes next.

So enjoy it. And as long as you can, and if you don’t enjoy it anymore, if you feel like you’re not growing anymore, move on to something else, don’t worry about it.

Robin: Well, I really appreciate that. What would you suggest to someone who’s interested in getting into politics, how should they start?

Derek: Start small, start with engaging with your local municipality. Find out if there’s some civic organizations. Also charitable organizations can be a great way to just sort of plug in and understand the landscape of how that world works.

Obviously, a charitable organization and a government entity are going to be different, but it’s getting that element of service, right? It’s achieving that element of service.

I would suggest, if you’re interested in politics and you’re interested in government, talk to somebody who’s doing it.

People that are in these positions love, love talking to young people. They love providing the inspiration or sharing their wisdom. That’s something that I learned.

One of the best lessons I learned early on in my career was that people that are later in their career, they may have achieved great success. And now to them, what they’re passionate about, is passing that onto somebody passing the knowledge that they’ve gained on. They are desperate in many cases to just tell somebody all the secrets they know. And so if you reach out to them most times, they’re going to be very, very helpful and eager to tell you all kinds of good stuff.

So find some mentors like that. Find some people that you can call on them to ask them those questions.

Politicians, I wouldn’t suggest starting with your Senator, your Congress member, it’s just a factor of their schedules that it’s very difficult to reach those people.

But you can put yourself in positions where you may be near those folks, right? And you may be able to ask them questions. I can remember when I was running for state rep I was scared to death, Robin. I’d never done anything like this before. I’d never been around people that are important in politics.

And I went to this fundraiser for Senator Roy Blunt. At this fundraiser was like, anybody who’s anybody. I mean, it was like, it was like the most wealthy donors in politics on the conservative side and successful business people, all of the politicians were there and I got so worked up. This is, I’m not kidding you.

I got so worked up. Then when I got home, I threw up, I went to bed and I slept for three days straight. I literally didn’t get out of bed for a couple of days. Cause I was just so emotionally in turmoil, I just didn’t know what to do with it.

After that experience, I realized this is so silly. What am I getting worked up about? These are just people they want to help others. By running for state representative, I put myself in a position to get to know some people that are higher up.

And so I was able to ask Senator Blunt, about some of his experiences and he was able to give me some really good pieces of advice.

I’ll end it there cause I know we’re getting short on time. You gotta shut the politician up sometimes Robin.

Robin: You got wonderful things to say, Mr. Grier. It’s been a remarkable hour full of great ideas.

For all of you that are out there, this is the Albert Baker Fund. We’re impacting the education of nearly a thousand Christian scientists annually.

So if you have any questions please reach out to us via our website AlbertBakerFund.org, to learn more about how we might be able to help.

If you’re interested in connecting with folks like Derek, we have the ABF Career Alliance, which helps facilitate these kinds of connections and brings these incredible, wonderful folks and give us the opportunity, and you the opportunity, to connect with them.

So if you have any questions you’d like to connect with Derek, reach out to me, robin@albertbakerfund.org.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, like us on LinkedIn, we’re posting jobs. We post internships and post-career connections there as well.

Derek, you’ve given us some incredibly inspiring ideas today. We so appreciate your time. You’ve been so very, very gracious. So thank you.

Well, thank you Robin. I really do appreciate all the work that you are doing there. You guys do really good work, and I’m always happy to help in any way I can.

We really, really appreciate it. And we look forward to talking to you again, sometime in the future. Keep up that terrific work.

Derek, thanks so much. Appreciate it. Have a great weekend, my friend.

Derek: Yeah, you too. Take care.

Robin: Bye-bye.

“I feel so blessed to witness the transformation of people.”

About Our Speaker:
Lamech Katamba, ABF’s Africa Programs Manager since 2009, is a living testament to The Albert Baker Fund’s core value of “passing your blessings forward.” He grew up in the small Africa village of Kyamulinga, where he developed his passion for education, entrepreneurship, and community, and where he returned to play an instrumental role in starting the Kyamulinga Primary School that serves 230 children.

Today, Lamech lives in the capital city of Kampala, Uganda where he is active in the Christian Science Society.

Lamech’s career journey has been a remarkable expression of living the Christ and sharing what he has learned from his study of Christian Science far and wide.

As manager of ABF’s scholarship programs in13 African countries, Lamech says his “biggest joy and gratification comes from having the privilege of witnessing how ABF students are making huge impacts in their communities, countries, and Africa at-large.”

Lamech has a BA in Development Studies, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Micro-Finance from Makerere University, where he helped to establish a Christian Science Organization as a student. He serves on the Advisory Board of Asante Africa Foundation, a nonprofit that works with primary and secondary schools in rural Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda; and the board of Singo Vocational Institute in Kyamulinga. He also serves on the board of the Three Rivers Academy, an International Secondary School in Kenya, sponsored by E3Schools.org

Lamech is married to Joy Katamba, an architect and interior designer, and also an ABF beneficiary. They are blessed with two-year old triplets, two girls and a boy.

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Transcript of episode

Robin: This is the Net Effect, and I am your host Robin Jones, director of the ABF Career Alliance. Our special guest today is Lamech Katamba. Lamech is from Kampala, Uganda, and he is one of our very own, we are so excited to have him.

He is the manager of our Africa programs. Welcome Lamech.

Lamech: Thank you. Thank you, Robin.

Robin: This has been so much fun getting to know you and being able to learn about your journey and your incredible work that you do on a day-to-day basis.

So Lamech tell us a little bit about yourself and where you’re from.

Lamech: Thank you. Thank you Robin. I grew up from a very small village found in Bukuya County in Kasanda District central Uganda.

Robin: And this is your village, your house right here, isn’t it?

Yeah, you’re right.

That’s so fun, Lamech.

Lamech: It looks like it’s in the middle of nowhere.

Robin: Right? Right. That’s kinda like how I grew up in a small town but not a village. . So I, I thought we’d start off with this picture. Tell us about this picture Lamech and why this is so important to you and, and how it’s kind of shaped your future.

Lamech: Well, that is actually my dad and that little man there is standing with dad is   Lamech

So my dad was a farmer. He used to grow coffee and banana, but also use to make local beer for commercial purposes. He used to sell a beer, but on the special days, like Christmas and Easter, he used to give away beer for free. So villagers and many other people used to come home to celebrate Christmas or Easter or any other special days.

And among the people used to come home were also my teachers from my primary school. So every time they come home and drink and got drunk that they used to beat drums, you know, get happy. And I was the dancer cause I used to be a very good dancer and every time I dance, they used to give money.

That was the same money we used to pay for school fees. During that time, that’s when the teachers also put to give reports, nice reports about me from school, how I used to pass very well and also how I used to do very good in sports. So the teacher has really made my village mates to like me a lot.

I was a kid of the village.

Robin: Oh, that’s so fun. And this is actually the school that you went to when you were a little guy, when you were doing that, making those impressive dance moves to all your teachers, right?

Lamech: Yeah, that’s my school. It’s called Makonzi Charter of Uganda primary school.

It was about five kilometers from my home. And I used to just walk to my home. And actually there was an incident. One day I was walking together with the rest of the kids from the village, walking towards school, and something happened. That was a man who jumped from the forest and wanted to grab me.

And I ran towards school, but the rest of the kids ran back to the village. I think this man must have thought it was easier to chase after me who was alone than chasing the rest of the kids. But what he didn’t know is that I was actually the fastest. I used to win a lot of awards and medals for the school because of my fast running.

I used to do a hundred meters split, so he couldn’t catch me. But I remember when I was about to reach school running, I looked behind and I saw the man who was actually coming very fast and I was getting tired, but I realized it was actually the bag, the school bag, which was making me slow down. So I decided to throw away the school bag, and then, yeah, that freed me.

And I ran faster until I reached school. Kids and teachers were surrounding me and some were actually crying. I found out later why they were crying. They said, when they ran back to the village, they got their parents to escort them to school.

And when they are coming there, they saw my bag, which I had thrown away. So they thought Lamech had been taken maybe. So when they saw me later at school, still alive, they were so happy. So it was tears of joy. And so at that moment, the teachers decided to move me away from the village.

Robin: That was really an impactful moment and a time in your life, huh?

Lamech: Yeah, because it actually changed everything, because even my grades started improving because when you tell me where to stay. Yup. And as I teach has bought me books as a teacher, almost every teacher was contributing something because, you know, they really liked me because I used to win for them a lot of awards and       I was a good kid in class. So this helped me out a lot. And my teacher has promised to me that if I ever pass in a grade one, they will take me to Kampala, which is the capital city, and I’d never been there. So I worked for that. And indeed I passed the grade one, which was a history in the history of the school.

It was the first time for a kid to pass in a grade one. So they asked me, do you have any relative in the city? Because they couldn’t afford tuition and those accommodations. So I said yes, I had a sister who was staying in Kampala in a place called Kauempe and so they brought me to my sister’s place and they took me to Kauempe secondary school.

So now I was really happy and excited. What was very interesting is that the walking didn’t stop. In the village I used to make it 10 kilometers a day. And when they brought me to the city, it became almost 16 because I used to make eight kilometers one way and then another eight kilometers back.

What was very exciting or what was different is that this time I had shoes. They had gotten me my first pair of shoes. And I was so excited to put on shoes. The unfortunate part was that these shoes were plastic. They were plastic shoes from China. And every time I would walk in during the day when it is hot, there could almost melt, and burn my feet, but I never wanted to remove them because I was so excited to put on shoes.

Robin: And how old were you when you moved from the village?

Lamech: I was turning 14. Yes. I was nervous because these kids in the city were all speaking English, good English, and I was the only person who didn’t know how to speak English. Because in my village, the school there, even the teachers, some teachers didn’t know how to speak good English. So they preferred to teach us in, in local language Luganda. So the thing, which helped me a lot, was at my new school in the city, they were teaching French, and French was a new language to all the kids including the Kampala kids.

So I knew that all of us were new to French. I decided to concentrate on French and I passed it very well, so that earned me a lot of friends, because a lot of my classmates used to come to me for help in French. And also I passed my maths very well. So that also brought me out a lot of friends and yeah, it started calming me down a little bit and that I could use to do with it.

Robin: What religion did you grow up in? What was your faith and your background at that time in your life?

Lamech: In my village, I was raised up as an Anglican Protestant and yeah, it’s, it’s very interesting that even when I was a kid, I never really enjoyed the being preached at because you know, sometimes you could see the priests in the village doing something different from what they were preaching.

So that alone made me not enjoy being preached that. When I got a chance to go to the city, I felt a little bit more free from my parents’ protection. I wanted to explore more. So I started visiting different churches, Catholic churches, Pentecostal churches, even mosques.

And that’s how I actually ended up going into the Christian Science church. I found something different, in the Christian Science church and that attracted me a lot.

Robin: How did you learn about Christian Science?

Lamech: I remember, I just completed in my ordinary level. In Uganda, secondary school is divided into two sections. The first four years is called the ordinary level. And then the second two years is called the advanced it’s what you call a high school in the U.S. So after my ordinary level, I was in a holiday and I decided to escort my friend, Luke, his uncle big Scruffy’s and what, I didn’t know that his uncle was a Christian Scientist.

So they were in another room talking about their business. I was remaining alone in the sitting room and I saw these little Sentinels. Do you remember this smaller type? Yes. So I picked it, I started reading it and when the uncle came back in the sitting room, I kind of irritated put it back because I had not asked for permission, but then get someone to say, Oh, don’t worry.

You can have, you can have it. If you want more, I can give you more. So he gave me about 40 Sentinels, and I took them home. I read them from cover to cover. And one thing I was realizing, or what I discovered is that almost all the testimonies in these Sentinels, the were all referring to Science and Health, and I didn’t know what Science and Health was.

So I brought the Sentinels back to this gentleman.   First of all, I thought they weren’t for keeps, so I was returning them after using them, but also, I wanted to ask him about Science and Health, and where that was a dictionary. So the gentleman who was so happy to tell me more about Science and Health.

So he brought me a set of books. Now, you remember, I only asked for Science and Health, but at this time he came with this set of books, that was Science and Health and the Bible. And he told me these are; the books were used in our chat. And if you want, you can actually come and visit our church. I was of course, very excited and the following week had to go there.

I found only three people sitting in the hallway and I thought maybe I was late. So I excused myself. I said, I’m so sorry. I’m late. They said, no, no, no. So they said, okay. I said to them, can we enter? Where are the rest? They said, we are the only people. And to me to look, it’s so different. And this, when I said, can we enter?

Then they said, no, no, no, we are doing it here in the hallway. So there was no room for them. And it was that’s where we did church in the hallway and they never had any Quarterly. They would just open it randomly and read. And I actually thought that was the way to do the service. Until when one visitor, Dr. Nancy Dorsey from the U S. came to visit our church and she picked interest in me and she actually disclosed it to me that there was a better way to hold services.

She talked to me about many other Manual- based church activities. So for me, I was now very happy to have someone who knew more about Christian Science, because originally I was the one trying to study and answer all the questions.

I was talking to my friends, I was sharing about Christian Science, and everything I was discovering and applying and getting the results. I was sharing them with my friends and everyone was getting excited and interested and the more they were getting interested, the more I was yearning to share with them. And remember, what I didn’t tell you actually is that I used to be a very shy, when I was growing up, and this sharing of Christian Science, of the truths which I was learning, actually helped me and helped me to overcome the shyness. Yeah.

Robin: One of the things that strikes me is your willingness to share, but also the lack of fear that, oh, there’s only a few people, you know, no big deal. How did, as you began to learn and practice and, and discover, what changed? What was it besides the shyness? What did you see happening in your life?

Lamech: Well, a lot of things actually changed in my life. First of all, the way I was seeing the world. For example, I remember when I was growing up in my village, in my church, they really never talked about healing.

I remember when I was growing up in my village and somebody was very sick in my village. That is when they would call in a priest to come and pray for that person to go to heaven, if he or she dies. And no one ever talked about healing or praying for somebody to be healed. And now here I was reading about how people are applying a way of praying and getting healed.

So to me, that was very unique. And also I remember Yeah. I remember when yeah, I’m trying to remember something. Yes. Yes. I discovered that you can actually pray naturally and talk to your good which was not without a mediator. Unlike where I was raised. It w every time you had the problem, you had to go to the priest and they pray.

They prayed the prayer for you. And here I was doing it, myself, and also another thing, which struck me, was the difference between heaven and hell. In my original   region, I used to know that heaven is somewhere up there where you can only reach after death. And here in Science and Health, we’re talking about heaven and hell, right here.

You can actually choose to be in heaven or hell right here. So those, those where I really saw a different to me to make me actually make an opinion. But so this, everything that I was discovering, I wanted to share it. And it was creating a lot of questions. You know, people, the one I was talking to, they were asking me more questions and it caused me to study more so that I don’t look a fool.

I wanted to be able to answer all the questions. So I think that must have also encouraged my study of Christian Science.

Robin: Well, you really had a turning point, as you were moving through your education, when you had a trip to Boston. Tell us a little bit about how that impacted your career or your educational journey at this point.

Lamech: Well, yeah, first of all, it was a very big opportunity. This is something, this was a big dream to travel to the U. S. was really a very big opportunity for me and changed everything almost because I remember before traveling to the U.S., I had plans to join Principia College. I had actually tried to apply, and the application process was going on well.

When I reached Boston, I remember I was sitting in the Mother Church. And then I was sitting here to this next, to this young lady called Meredith. And she looked at my nametag, and said, “Are you from Uganda?” I said, yes. She said, “I think I know you.”

And I said, no way, you, you can’t know me because I don’t even have a relative in the U.S. How do you know me? Then that’s when she told me that she had watched my application. She was, I think, working as an intern, so she had seen my name, and she said she worked on my application, and I’d been actually admitted.

So it was very exciting to know that the process was complete and that had been admitted. But now, when we were doing some of the sessions that the Mother Church, I came across the word, the CSO, then what I discussing about CSO’s. And I was asking them, what was it? So they told him that there were student organizations at colleges and universities and they talked about, all what they do.

And it was very exciting. So I wanted to know how do people create CSOs? Then they say, if only one individual, even if you are one at your university, you can actually start one. And because I’d never heard about CSOs in my country, I said, I want to do this in my country.

So when I came back to Uganda, I decided to cancel my application to Principia and applied, to go to Macquarie University so that I can start this CSO there. Now this was when I shared this with my friend, Dr. Nancy, she wasn’t   about, cause at Principia you had the scholarship and I actually had taken it for granted. I had assumed that because she had helped   me in my last year, final year at the high school, she was not going to help me at the university, which wasn’t the case. So, but I did it, I wasn’t so scared because you know, almost all my entire education journey from primary through secondary, people were helping me. Different people, God were using people to help me with my school.

So I knew even here God was going to use someone to help me go to this university. So I continued the praying and believing that someone is going to help me pay for the school fees. And indeed, somebody came up. And this is how it happened. That was a student, a young lady who came to do research in Macquarie University.

I think somewhere, they talked about me and this lady, when she went back to the U. S., she discussed my story with her professor, a professor at MIT. This gentleman offered to pay for my entire tuition at the university without really meeting me. He didn’t even try to contact me, to talk to me. He just offered to pay for my tuition. Now I had to look for where to get my application and meals.

So that’s how I came up with an idea of setting newspapers.

Robin: So you had your school taken care of, right. But yet you still had to find a way to live. You had to make a living. Right. So I can see how your entrepreneurial spirit began to thrive and flourish, right?

Lamech: Yeah. And the two are so natural because I don’t remember really trying hard, but everything was just working out so naturally.

So I came up with this idea of setting newspapers, to professors at the university, and some students who can afford them. I could wake up in the morning, pick the papers from the suppliers and then slide the papers under the doors of the homes of the professors. So that by the time they wake up, their papers are right there. And I had this policy, I was not asking for money right there. I waited until the end of the month. And then it gives them a beer, an invoice, and the professors really loved it so much. And I worked like that for about three years in my entire university. Now I also have had to share with you that when I visited the U.S., I met many, many friends.

I met many   friends from all over the world. People from different countries in Africa, from Asia, from Canada, from everywhere. And they were all great people. And among all of these people whom I met and made friends with that was a special person called David Maxwell, who was a student at the University of Texas. He is currently working with Texas Instruments. And he came to visit me in Uganda the following year in 1999. And he brought me my first computer.

Robin: Oh, wow.

This was so exciting because you know; I’d never even used the computer now to get one of my own was a big thing. I remember before he came to bring me a computer, we used to just write through post office. It could take a month for my letter to return and another month to receive his response until when Dr. Nancy allowed me to use her personal email address. She could allow me to type in her computer in her email inbox. And yeah, that’s how we used to communicate. David brought me a computer and it was so exciting and I taught myself how to use the computer and Pam came. And I said, can I do something more with this computer? And that’s how I came up with an idea of typing my coursework.

How many people had a computer?

Lamech: No one, there was not another student. I was the first one to have a computer in my class, at least.

So when I submitted my work to the professor, he was so happy and actually ordered all the students to type their work because he said I can’t read your handwriting. Most of you write really so badly. So I want to type your coursework like Lamech did. So they ran to different secretaries nearby all around the campus and pay for their work to be typed, but that was a big challenge because you know, the secretaries didn’t know how to keep the time, you know, the deadlines, but also they never knew how to correct the mistakes that students were making. Most of them are mistakes. So this made me to think about, the opportunity   of typing student’s work using my computer

so I went around telling students my friends and my fellow students let’s look here. I can type your work. So I opened up a small shop outside of the campus and I called in people to come bring their coursework to type. I remember typing my first work I was getting from students. They all sat there, I put their bench, they sat there in front of me and they just stared at   me.

And I never, I never really enjoyed it. I never enjoyed being stared at. So I came up with an idea of bringing in Christian Science literature, because I had a lot of Sentinels and Journals at home. So I brought them in so that students could keep themselves busy studying this as I’m typing their work, but it didn’t work because now every student who was reading Christian Science literature, they were asking me questions.

So instead of typing, I was busy answering their questions. And so I had to hire someone now to type their work, as I explained to them, Christian Science. And that is how the Christian Science Reading Room started. So, time came when a lot of students were bringing into their work. And I said, now, how can I also attract other students, who are not bringing in their work?

And that’s when I got an idea of opening up another section in the Reading Room. So I created another alternative library and I went around the university, calling in students to come to this alternative library because, you know, in the university library, there were less books and there were many students. If you wanted a book then, you had to book for about maybe a week in advance.

So I was telling this student that he had, there is another alternative library, which where you can actually get a book without lining up without having to book a week in advance. So a lot of students came for these textbooks. But now that we’re seeing these Christian Science literature, and they were asking questions and, and I was always busy talking to students.

So then, you know, it was exciting to see all these people coming and filling up the entire Reading Room. And then I said, but these are the students. How do I attract in other people who are not students? And that’s how I came up with an idea of bringing in a telephone booth. There were very few people, who had the mobile phones, and even telephone booths were not very common there, you had to go downtown to find one.

So bringing it to your community was the biggest thing. And many people were so happy to, to see this telephone booth. And they used to come in and then to use a phone, but then they see, a lot of people, reading and they were like, what is going on here? They come in. And then we talked to them and the time came when it was always very full.

And it’s brought in people from all walks of life to come and discuss Christian Science.

Robin: Well, it’s just amazing Lamech, to hear you and your enthusiasm and your spirit and see how you were so willing to share. And so unafraid, this shy bashful little boy from the village has turned into this incredibly gregarious spirited, inspiring businessman, while you’re going to school.

It’s really amazing. And then to see how that blessing transformed your life. Tell us a little bit more so let’s, so let’s move forward into graduation time. So you’ve graduated now, and you’ve got a thriving business. So what happens then?

Lamech: Actually, before graduation, there is even something, which I did more, because there were now many students were being exposed to Christian Science and that I was even inviting them to church. Some did actually become church members. I also decided to start a CSO in my university. It wasn’t so easy, but yes, with all the knowledge I was getting, on a daily basis, I was able to overcome all the challenges.

I remember for example, someone asking, why does Christian Science, which I lecture one of the professors and said, well, you know, when they are planning to register a student organization, we have to go through all the money, carry on demonstration. Yes.

And they were asking me whether this wasn’t a cult. And this one professor asked me, how many of you, I mean, are you in charge? I said we’re 20 to 30. And he said, you see, that is a cult. You can’t   be only the 20 people in charge. And I say sir, I don’t think that is that qualifies us to be a cult because if you are saying, we are a cult, because we are few, then it means even the big churches were once a cult, because there is no big church which started big, they all started small.

I knew a cult was something which controls your thinking. And Christian Science was actually the opposite because we don’t even have a preacher. So you read on your own and discover things on your own, which is actually the exact opposite of a cult.

So when I explained this to the professor, he allowed me to register and I was at, I even shared that with one of the Catholic Dean of students. He had given us permission to meet in one of the Catholic student center. So, yeah. And also what I did before graduation is I did some research because I knew that I discovered that that was a lot of ignorance about Christian Science on the campus.

So I wanted to do something which could help people understand more what Christian Science is. So in my final research or thesis, I decided to research or to write about why there is an increase, the number of people moving from the mainstream religion joining the newly introduced study like Christian Science.

So I made sure that in my literature review, I quoted something from Science and Health. And now I knew professors who are going to wonder where to find it, this book. So I made sure I place a copy in all departmental libraries of the university and also in the main library. So that when they see my quotation or citation, they at least know where to get the book.

This actually worked out because this research is one of the projects I passed very well. So when I graduated, my business was running well, the secretarial bureau, turned into a computer teaching institute center. I had made friends with people who graduated in computer science, so I persuaded them to come and teach computer because I bought many other computers and placed them in, in the Reading Room to type people’s work.

But then I was wondering, what do we do with the computers in holidays? So that’s how I came with an idea of teaching computer science, to students in holidays.

And what is interesting, even those who are studying computer science at the university, they could come and practice because at the university we have two computers and the students were many. So sometimes some students were not getting a chance to get hands-on. Practicals. So they came to my business to come and practice what we were learning at the university.

So the business was moving on well, and I decided to add another business there because I really didn’t have yes, I started it a taxi. Yeah.

Robin: You needed something else to do. Cause you weren’t busy enough. Started the CSO doing a research project, running a business, sharing your faith. Not enough, not enough going on, right, Lamech?

Lamech: I kept on thinking, what can I do more? Yeah. So the idea of the taxi came up and of course I love driving. So this could give me a chance to drive. And yes, the taxi business also, I started and was moving on well, but this is also the time when the Mother Church learned about my approach, my new approach of mixing the Reading Room with other businesses and they felt that was a good mode of doing business or, or exposing, you know, bringing the Reading Room to the people instead of waiting for people to come to the Reading Room.

They decided to appoint me as the international coordinator for the sales of Science and Health in East Africa. And this was so exciting for me. And I decided to do a book launch, at the Reading Room, and I remember hiring tents and hiring entertainers, people are beating drums.

And then I, I invited all the media houses in Uganda to come and be present when you are doing a book launch. And actually one of the, the newspaper called the book, the local newspaper. Yeah, mid is they covered us and yeah, it was a big thing. And the Mother Church wanted me to go outside Uganda, share and train other people on how to sell or share Science and Health.

I remember putting in a lot of books in my taxi car and then drive off without even knowing what the exact route to go to Kenya or Tanzania. But this had up to me because I remember driving in the city in the city and then stop and ask for directions, but also ask whether that is the bookstore and then talk about Science and Health.

I was praying for protection in all of this, you are driving to a new country. You don’t even know the road, the directions. So you had to really rely more on God, God’s protection. And I remember one time I was driving to Mwanza.

The first time I drove to Tanzania and the week I was driving through a national park and I found a roadblock, there were soldiers and they said you can’t drive there because it’s dangerous. But then I told them, I’d driven a very long distance from home, and I was nearing my destination, so I couldn’t stop there.

So they were so nice. I talk to them nicely and I shared with them about Christian Science and Science and Health and I even gave them two free copies of Science and Health. So they were so happy and they gave me an escort, a policeman with a gun to drive with me through the park. And this man, we went on talking and discussing about all the good ideas I was discovering in Christian Science and he was so much interested.

So when he reached into Mwanza, he said, I’m going to help you even look for a safe hotel. And he actually went ahead and looked for me, booked for me a nice hotel where I started making now contacts. So to the Christian Scientist in Mwanza, I called the number which I found in the Christian Science Journal, but it wasn’t working.

I decided to write to them on the email and I checked, they were not answering my email. I stayed there for two days and I wrote about three different emails and they were not responding. So I decided to leave Mwanza and then continue to Nairobi in another country, Kenya. So when I asked about the direction to Nairobi, they showed me, it was actually on the opposite direction of where I was staying.

So I decided to change my hotel and then go stay in their direction, find another hotel. So that’s what I did. And as I was driving and looking for a hotel, I saw a signpost of a hotel and I said, okay, I’m going to stay in this one. I kept on following the signposts and twas leading me off the road.

And this is not what I wanted to do really, because I wanted to be on the main road. But the signs were taking me to the deeper, deeper inside. But anyway, I decided to book in and when I start checking in into a new hotel, I went back and wrote another email from the internet cafe, telling them, the Christian Scientist in Mwanza that I have changed my hotel from the first one to now a new one.

This is when they also checked the email. They checked the email and what was very interesting is the new hotel where I had checked in was just separating walls, perimeter walls, with the church in Mwanza, Christian Science   church.

So they came running to my hotel and they said, how did you discover us? How did he know that we are staying here? I say that well, they said they showed me the church and I couldn’t believe. So I knew to us now, God is work. And this, it charged me more. I felt like a brand new battery. I felt now I have more reason now to do what I was doing.

And I, because I knew God was on my side. And so that was a good experience for me during this work for Science and Health, selling Science and Health in East Africa.

Robin: You know, what’s interesting Lamech, cause I’m often asked about how do I get experience, and how do I learn about this and how do I learn about that? We’re always talking about volunteering. If you can’t find something to get paid, are you willing to work, to learn, are you willing to give back, are you willing to volunteer so that in that place that you want to ultimately get to, are you willing to do that?

Your willingness to jump in, cause I know you had your businesses back home that are helping support you, that this activity was really from the goodness of your heart, right?

Lamech: Yeah, it’s really been interesting. I think my passion to do volunteer work is just natural because I did many other things on a voluntary basis.

After I started working for the Mother Church, I also worked with the Principle Foundation, which is found in Kansas City. They had a program in Uganda, called the Uganda Project, and they were helping kids in both primary and secondary institution. And I was their facilitator. I was doing voluntary work as a volunteer.

When I finished that, that’s well that’s, that is how actually ABF also contacted me, made contacts with me. And I volunteered. Yes. Yes. The Albert Baker Fund wanted to expand to Africa. They contacted me towards the end of 2003, but we really started working in 2004 and I volunteered to work as a representative of ABF in Africa for five years.

They hired me in 2009. So volunteering is no problem with me. The main force, which drives me, is the fact that I was helped in almost my entire education journey. People helped me in my primary school. People helped me in my secondary school, even at the university.

So I decided, I promised myself that if I start working and earning something, I’m going to do the same.

I’m going to be helping people to access it. So when ABF came in and contacted me, I was very happy because I knew it was going to help me achieve my dream, fulfill my dream of helping people, access education without actually much struggle because again I was thinking I was going to make money and then pay it to my set up from my pocket.

But now ABF is here, wanting to pay for students just with my support. So that, that pushed me to work all those years as a volunteer. But you see what is interesting even after being hired in 2009, I still didn’t give up. As I continued doing volunteer work with other organizations. For example, I volunteer, I still volunteer with Santi Africa Foundation and nonprofit organization, which helps students in primary and secondary in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.

I’m also serving on the board of the international school called Three Rivers Academy in Kenya. I’m also serving on the board of a vocational training Institute in my village, in my home area called the single vocational Institute. And I’m also a board member or championing a primary school.

So I’m doing all this on a voluntary basis, even when I have a paying job. So to me, anything which has to do with education, that is my passion and that more is I always just do it without even thinking. Yes.

Robin: Well, tell us a little bit about what you do with the Albert Baker Fund?

Lamech: With Albert Baker Fund, I’m working as the African Program Managers and we have operations, or our program is in 13 countries in Africa.

We do work with universities, good universities, in every country to provide assistance, financial assistance to those practicing, active Christian Scientists who are struggling to find tuition. And my role is to actually verify. I work with a team of in country representatives together with an African processing agent to verify that the information given to us by the students and the universities is genuine.

Once we verify and confirm that the information is okay, then we pay for those students. But also my other work is to mentor these students.

So that is my role with ABF and I’ll tell you I’m so happy. And to have this opportunity to work with the Albert Baker Fund because it has exposed me to many interesting things. For example, I think I’m really so blessed. I’ve seen some privilege, privilege, privilege to, to witness transformation of people and, and also to witness the kind of huge impact made by these students.

They do on their communities, in their counties. And Africa is as a whole.

Robin: Let’s talk about this one in particular, because this, this is one of those organizations that you work with and volunteer, and they came to you with a particular help need that involved a hiring process. So tell us how that worked out?

Lamech: I happen to sit on the advisory board of the Three Rivers Academy in Kenya, a new international school, supported by three schools and organization in the U. S. So I was contacted to be among us, the panelists, the people I to interview and hire the, the new principal of this international school.

I was so happy when during the interview to discover that the top, some of the top candidates were actually our former ABF students and the way our PhD, PhD, or DAS. So I was forced to dig more for information. I wanted to go back and see, to learn more about these two specific students.

And that’s when I discovered that they were actually originally former teachers in their local schools and when ABF and expanded it to Africa, people thought that it was only for regular students. But I remember when I traveled to these countries and, and told the people that ABF is not only for regular students, it’s only, it is also for other or the students who had stopped going to school long time ago.

So I encourage people that even if you stopped going to school long time ago, but now you feel that is a special skill, which you can change your life or help you transform other people’s lives. You are welcome to apply. So this is how they applied. And they came to do advanced diplomas in education.

After that, they also came back to do degrees bachelor’s degree in education, and then they came back to do masters in educational management, and then they didn’t stop there. They came back again to do PhDs. So these ladies are now working in two different universities. One is working as a senior manager of the university.

And another one is teaching, is a trainer is a lecturer in a national teacher’s college.

To me, this was so much gratifying to witness the kind of impact, huge impact the ABF is making you know, to this country and what they, they, they, I mean this students and what these students are also passing forward to their communities.

Robin: Well, it doesn’t stop there. This beautiful young lady is also one of those ABF recipients. You mentioned earlier about helping your local community and the school. So tell us about how you and your sweet bride Joy jumped in and really made an impact.

Lamech: Well, because, because, you know I really enjoy doing volunteer work and giving back to the community, passing forward the blessing and use what it for me, anything which I enjoy, I want to share it.

I try to entrust other people to do the same, to do their own work, to do, to give back to the community. And the recently, I was working with my wife, this is my wife Joy.

And I was working with her and I to persuade have other big team of professionals to go to my village and help the two schools, which are there. And so Joy and her team, she, we managed it to do a master plan for these two schools.

Robin: She’s an architect, right?

Lamech: Yes, she does architecture and interior designing.

And we did all this work for free. And you know, this, this is a big team of professionals, engineers, and they all did this work for free because I convinced them to do this because other people were already doing it. I had participated in, in a competition at ATL, a big company.

Yeah. Telephone company in Uganda and the way every other year invite proposals of organizations or over a thousand, right. Over a thousand, a thousand proposals came in his company has over 11 million subscribers. So when they send out anything, many people respond, and so this competition way out of a, I think they were above of a thousand submissions. And they called me. I remember I was living in Nigeria doing ABF work. So I received a call from, from ATL and they said are you Lamech, I said, yes, did you participate? I said, yes. And they said, you have won! We are happy to tell you, we have won, your school has won. And we are going to give you the windows and the doors to your school.

So I was using this experience and the incidents to explain to other professionals that look here, you can do this as a social corporate responsibility. And we have been able to achieve a lot because of this initiative. Yeah. A lot of people now I know jump in to this volunteer business.

Robin: Well, you obviously made a huge impact and that again is in your, in your local community.

You’ve really just such a wonderful example Lamech, of how mentoring and reaching out and, being unafraid to, to share the things that you’re learning and what, you know has just been such a blessing to you and your community.

Begin Q&A

We’re going to go right to the Q and A at this point.

So Lamech, how has casting your net on the right side. And how has it been to be so fearless and casting your net on the right side impacted your life and your journey?

Lamech: Well I would say it has impacted almost my entire life in many ways. For example, I’ve always learned, I’ve learned never to give up. I, I learned this again by studying Christian Science, because this was the motto of Mary Baker, Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, and I’ve learned never to give up.

I don’t give up easily. And even when I try something and doesn’t seem to go the way I intended it to, I don’t take it as it really a failure. I’ve learned to move with things and know that this is God’s plan. So I don’t really see it as a failure. And I’ve also learned how to seek for protection.

I trust God for protections. I take my life. I look at God is Love as a, you know, I always compare it to is the way wax protects the car from the dust. So if you have complete confidence in the truth, which you learn, you will know that you can’t be affected by any harm. So we are always protected and I’ve applied to this in my entire life.

I’ll give you an example because when I was growing up, I used every time I’m moving at night through the forest, going home to the main road, this terrace that you move with a stick, a reed. It protects you. I don’t know how that was true, but what is interesting that even when I had the stick, I was always very scared until when I was exposed to Christian Science, then I knew that actually our protection comes from God.

And that is when I started moving without fear. So that has been actually, that’s a big change from the way you used to see things. So knowing that you are always protected by God is, is, is very, very important in my work. Even when I traveled to countries where I don’t know anybody, we keep expanding, ABF, keeps expanding to other new countries and they I’m always the first person to visit.

And usually what I go to a country when I don’t know anybody, but I’m always very confident that God is going to protect me, is going to show me the right people to talk to. And that has worked for me, very well.

Robin: So we have a question and the question is maybe share an experience or some challenges that you’ve faced during your volunteer work.

Lamech: Sometimes I actually see when I when I’m faced with a challenge, sometimes I celebrate, it’s weird. It’s weird because people are always, they’re at this time when they are faced with challenges, but to me, every time I have a challenge and I see it as an opportunity for me to, to, to, to pray and apply Christian Science.

And every time I solve a problem or a challenge, I celebrate.   I’m like, yes, I know this one. So it is always for me it’s celebration. So I don’t really see it as a challenge. It’s an opportunity for me to celebrate again after solving this

Robin: Lamech, you you’ve been so wonderful and so generous with your willingness to share your thoughts and your journey. It’s a remarkable journey. I can’t wait to share it with those who weren’t able to join us today.

If you’re interested in helping to improve Africa and the lives of Africans, you can go to the Albert Baker Fund website and you will find wonderful information there.

And if you’re a student in Africa, I know we’ve had some that have reached out. Be sure that you check the website and there’s lots of information right there. Lamech, and his team will be happy to help you. If you’re interested in North American programs, you can check the website as well for that.

And. If you are interested in the Career Alliance and connecting with folks like Lamech or career allies, or looking for jobs or looking to connect with one another, go to the ABFcareeralliance.org. If you’re a student or, you know, a student, be sure and share with them about our Brotherly Love scholarships. We are accepting applications for those.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. And remember, to cast your net on the right side. We have a stellar example of one who has done that and is doing it. And I can’t wait to hear the new stories and I can’t wait to do Lamech Robin, number two down the road, so we can pick up some of the things that we didn’t get to talk about today.

Lamech: Yes, you’re right. It’s true.

Robin: It was a terrific time and you’re so, so gracious for staying up so late in your neck of the woods with, with those sweet babies, they’re close, I’m sure by the side and until we meet again, my friend and all of you that are out there, thank you for joining us today. In two weeks, we’ll be back with a focus on human resources and how we approach and move through this time with all things that are new. It’ll be exciting show with Beth Trevino. She’s the HR director at Principia College.

Lamech love you, man. Thanks so much.

Lamech: Thank you so much. It’s been a pleasure.

Robin: Look forward to seeing you soon.

Lamech: All right. Bye bye and greetings to everyone.

Robin: You too, brother.

Topic: “It’s a fine time to be grateful!”

About Our Speaker:
As a wealth advisor for Wells Fargo Private Bank, Amanda is responsible for working with high-net-worth clients to effectively manage their wealth, first by identifying their unique goals, then coordinating a team of specialists to implement a custom, comprehensive wealth plan. She began her career with Wells Fargo in 1983, during which time she has had a number of job changes, gone through a major acquisition, reorganization, and relocation. The lessons she has learned and her ability to succeed in times of change and economic challenges are inspiring, hopeful, and relevant today.

Amanda earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and Economics from Principia College, and received her MBA from Golden Gate University. She also holds the designation of Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy (CAP®) from American College. Currently Amanda is in the process of obtaining a Masters in Philanthropy from the Lily Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University. She is a native of Marin County, where she serves on several local non-profit boards.

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Topic: “Learn from Everything and Everyone – from Sesame Street to Teatro ZinZanni!”

About Our Speaker:
Alina manages all daily operations of Teatro ZinZanni, working closely with owners and performers to produce a magical and engaging production 5 to 7 shows per week. Alina also oversees the box office team, including acting as the show manager, interacting with customers, and ensuring all last minute requests are addressed. As the company manager, she assisted the traveling cast with all needs, from housing, to medical, to sourcing new costume pieces.

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Topic: “How do future leaders of the world connect in the mountains of Pennsylvania?” Let’s ask these two!”

About Our Speakers:
Becca attended Principia Upper School and Principia College, graduating in 2015 with a BA in International Global Studies. Throughout her childhood, Becca attended Crystal Lake Camps (CLC) as a camper. During college, she worked at CLC as a camp counselor and co-directed the Leadership Training program for two summers. After graduating from Principia, she and a friend spent 7 months traveling and working in New Zealand and Australia. She returned to camp for one more summer as a counselor, then stayed on year-round as a Program Coordinator until becoming Director in the summer of 2017.

Alex was born and raised in Massachusetts. He attended Principia Upper School and then Principia College, where he majored in Political Science and Government. He first came to Crystal Lake Camps as a camper when he was six years old. Eventually he became part of the summer staff, then head staff, and now he is in his third year as a full-time Camp Administrator at Crystal Lakes Camp.

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The replay of our September career conversation with Dan LaBar, innovative educator and community-builder, is now available in video, podcast, and transcript. Click “Watch Net Effect Replays” below!

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Topic: “Common Ground for Common Good – Bringing Healing to Polarization and Civility to Conversations”

About Our Speaker:
As the Co-Founder and CFO of the Common Ground Committee, Erik Olsen provides thought leadership to the issues of incivility and polarization in civil discourse in the US, and manages the organization’s operations and finances. Erik has more than 25 years of experience in investment and fund management and nine years of real estate investment experience, with a specialty in macroeconomic analysis and policy issues. He holds a BA degree from Principia College and an MBA from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at University of California, Los Angeles.

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Join us live for the Net Effect!

The replay of our September career conversation with Dan LaBar, innovative educator and community-builder, is now available in video, podcast, and transcript. Click “Watch Net Effect Replays” below!

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Topic: “The Challenges and Victories that Taught Me to Put God First”

About Our Speaker:
Signed by the San Francisco 49ers’s after graduating from Principia College with a BS in Biology, John spent 5 years pursuing his dream to play in the NFL.

Since then, he has built a successful sales career that spans 30 years in real estate investment, mortgage lending, equipment leasing, and small business finance. His approach to sales is to be knowledgeable, consultative, honest, and above all, to listen to his clients and business associates. He says, “It’s not about my needs, but the client’s!”

As an African American, John has experienced racist treatment first-hand, and will share how he has responded to these situations. His story is both inspiring and hopeful.

In 2008, when the financial crisis hit, John’s business was devastated. The resulting adversity and loss of income brought issues to the surface that caused him to rethink both his personal and professional priorities.

Join us this Friday to meet this warm and wonderful individual whose challenges and victories have taught him the value of putting God first in every aspect of his life.

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The replay of our September career conversation with Dan LaBar, innovative educator and community-builder, is now available in video, podcast, and transcript. Click “Watch Net Effect Replays” below!

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Topic: “A Christian Science Journey from Consumer Packaged Goods to a Volunteer Prison Chaplain”

About Our Speaker:
Bob transformed a marketing career with international consumer brands into a consultancy that specializes in everything from product development to advising senior level management.

In addition to his extensive professional resume, Bob considers himself blessed to work as a volunteer chaplain in prison ministries supported by the Christian Science church.

Bob has an MBA from Syracuse University and is bi-lingual in Portuguese from his years living as an expatriate with his family in Brazil. He served in Viet Nam as a First Lieutenant in the US Army.

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The replay of our September career conversation with Dan LaBar, innovative educator and community-builder, is now available in video, podcast, and transcript. Click “Watch Net Effect Replays” below!

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Topic: “Embracing Uncertainty–You Cannot Progress Until You Say, Yes!

About Our Speaker:
Travis Thomas is the Creator of “Live Yes, And” (www.liveyesand.com) and a performance coach currently serving as the Leadership and Team Dynamics Coach for the US Men’s National Soccer Team. He served as a Leadership Coach at Florida’s IMG Academy, a prestigious boarding school and sports training destination, where he worked with thousands of youth athletes including the U17 US National Team, NFL and NBA combine players, as well youth, college, and professional athletes in all sports.

For the last 5 years Travis has worked with numerous athletic programs, including the University of Georgia football, MSU Women’s Soccer, the Cincinnati Reds, Miami Marlins, NY Yankees, Chicago Cubs, and Tampa Bay Rays. He has also spent the last 5 years as the leadership and mental skills coach for a youth soccer club in Florida.

Additionally, Travis has been performing for over 20 years as an improvisational comedian. He uses the principles and activities of improvisation to teach leadership, mental skills, teamwork, and the tools for high-performing cultures. In 2016, he wrote his first book, “3 Words for Getting Unstuck: Live Yes, And.” He has served as a Christian Science practitioner at CedarS Camps for many years, and worked at The Mother Church in Boston for over 5 years.

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Join us live for the Net Effect!

The replay of our September career conversation with Dan LaBar, innovative educator and community-builder, is now available in video, podcast, and transcript. Click “Watch Net Effect Replays” below!

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Topic: “Building Bridges, Inspiring Students, and Praying About Equality and Equity”

About Our Speaker:
Dr. Chris O’Riordan-Adjah is currently the head of the Engineering Department at Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is a licensed civil and structural engineer, originally from Ghana, where his love for learning and education took shape. We will talk with Chris about making inspired career decisions and effectively pursuing virtual education, as well as prayerfully addressing issues of equality and equity.

Chris received his Ph.D and Master’s degrees from University of Central Florida. While teaching at Principia College, Chris was the Director of Engineering Programs and an Associate Professor. His professional experience includes bridge design and retrofitting techniques.

In his spare time, he likes to write. He is the author of two motivational books, The Script-Chores and his most recent book The Boost, a collection of motivational and inspirational true stories and testimonials.

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Join us live for the Net Effect!

The replay of our September career conversation with Dan LaBar, innovative educator and community-builder, is now available in video, podcast, and transcript. Click “Watch Net Effect Replays” below!

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