WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:12.119
Black in technology? Why in technology? Why in technology? Why black in

2
00:00:12.199 --> 00:00:30.160
technology? Why in technology? Why
in technology? Welcome everyone to the Blacks

3
00:00:30.199 --> 00:00:34.560
and Technology BIT tech Talk podcast show
where we talk to black people who are

4
00:00:34.560 --> 00:00:40.520
engineers, innovators, educators, inventors, change makers and entrepreneurs doing amazing things

5
00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:44.920
in the world of technology. The
BIT tech Talk podcast is where they show

6
00:00:45.320 --> 00:00:49.280
how they are stopping the divide by
sharing their stories, experiences, ideas,

7
00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:54.799
knowledge and perspective on tech within the
BIT community. I'm very happy to introduce

8
00:00:54.840 --> 00:00:59.439
you all on this episode of the
podcast to our guests on Nicole mccaley of

9
00:00:59.479 --> 00:01:03.079
Skilled, How are you? I'm
wonderful and I'm excited to be here.

10
00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:07.040
Thank you. Right, So,
I guess I like to start off usually

11
00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:11.959
when I'm doing the podcast with where
you're from? So can you tell us

12
00:01:11.959 --> 00:01:15.280
a little bit about yourself? Absolutely? So. Of course I have no

13
00:01:15.400 --> 00:01:19.439
accent, so you would never know
this, but originally I'm from Springfield,

14
00:01:19.560 --> 00:01:25.120
Massachusetts, born there, but I
left when I was about ten years old,

15
00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:27.560
so don't really have an accent.
It kind of lived all over,

16
00:01:27.840 --> 00:01:33.760
I would say. Great. And
I actually learned about Skilled Dora on LinkedIn.

17
00:01:34.319 --> 00:01:38.480
I just saw a lot of your
videos, and I was so curious

18
00:01:38.560 --> 00:01:42.319
by the name, and can you
tell me about where the idea for skilled

19
00:01:42.319 --> 00:01:47.239
Dora came from? Absolutely, we
get that question quite a bit. So

20
00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:49.599
first of all, I'll start with
the name and then I'll tell you where

21
00:01:49.599 --> 00:01:55.159
it all came from. So Skill
Dora we were very intentional with naming our

22
00:01:55.200 --> 00:02:00.319
platform because the word dora means gift, like to give. Some want a

23
00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:05.640
gift, and we wanted to give
skills as a gift. And oddly enough,

24
00:02:05.840 --> 00:02:10.439
skill Dora came about from one of
the greatest ideas that fell flat on

25
00:02:10.479 --> 00:02:15.919
its face, did not work at
all. And I'll tell you very quickly

26
00:02:15.039 --> 00:02:19.000
what that was. Is. When
we first started, we thought we were

27
00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:23.719
going to be very typical, like
a regular you to Me academy or LinkedIn

28
00:02:23.800 --> 00:02:28.240
Learning, where we would have experts
who I would teach how to build courses

29
00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:31.400
online course programs, and then at
the end they would sell them on the

30
00:02:31.400 --> 00:02:37.800
skilled door marketplace. Sounds simple enough, right. The only problem with that

31
00:02:38.520 --> 00:02:43.039
is that when we got down to
helping the experts build their courses, nobody

32
00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:46.719
wanted to get in front of a
camera. No one liked the editing process,

33
00:02:46.840 --> 00:02:50.080
and no one liked the time that
it took to sit down and actually

34
00:02:50.120 --> 00:02:53.919
build their course and be the spokesperson. At that point, my husband was

35
00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:57.240
like, we have to figure out, how can we still have an online

36
00:02:57.240 --> 00:03:00.919
course platform and use AI. If
we could use AI instructors, we didn't

37
00:03:00.919 --> 00:03:05.599
have to depend on people, and
that was the beginning of the birth of

38
00:03:05.639 --> 00:03:10.159
the AI aspect of Skildra, where
we have AI instructors. Awesome and we're

39
00:03:10.199 --> 00:03:15.120
either of you involved in tech before
you started this business or yes, yes,

40
00:03:15.319 --> 00:03:21.199
and so together with my husband de
Mario mclwaine, so de Mario is

41
00:03:21.240 --> 00:03:25.560
the tech co founder and I'm more
of the business strategist innovator co founder,

42
00:03:25.599 --> 00:03:30.520
and together we're married, would make
a perfect team. He's always been in

43
00:03:30.599 --> 00:03:34.879
tech, so we've had many many
tech companies before this. We've been in

44
00:03:34.879 --> 00:03:38.680
the e learning space. He was
in UI ux design, He's built websites

45
00:03:38.759 --> 00:03:45.199
for HBCUs and apps and programs,
and so we very much have been in

46
00:03:45.240 --> 00:03:50.800
that educational tech space, but nothing
like Skildra before where we've added the AI,

47
00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:54.439
the artificial intelligence element. That part
is new. I'd love to hear

48
00:03:54.560 --> 00:04:00.680
that you identified like complementary skills for
both of you to really add value to

49
00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:04.639
the business and to the company,
and just to hear the naming and to

50
00:04:04.800 --> 00:04:16.920
know the meeting behind it with door
meaning gifts very cool. The bit Foundation

51
00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:23.800
has established featured partnerships and programs with
companies such as Amazon, at and t

52
00:04:24.439 --> 00:04:29.160
comp, Tia, tech Stars,
and more to provide our members with the

53
00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:34.040
resources we want and need to thrive
and succeed in this tech ecosystem. To

54
00:04:34.199 --> 00:04:41.759
learn more, visit Foundation dot blacks
and Technology dot net. Join now and

55
00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:49.720
remember membership is free. So can
you tell me more about these AI digital

56
00:04:49.839 --> 00:04:55.439
human instructors you have? How do
they work? And how did you know

57
00:04:55.519 --> 00:04:58.720
that that was something? Like you
said, your husband thought of adding it,

58
00:04:58.800 --> 00:05:01.600
But how did you know of something
that could work for Yeah, very

59
00:05:01.600 --> 00:05:05.199
good questions, because I'll tell you
we didn't know. We didn't. So

60
00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:10.240
here's what's funny when you think about
the way that skill Dora is set up,

61
00:05:10.279 --> 00:05:15.240
so just so that the listeners really
understand the full platform. The platform

62
00:05:15.480 --> 00:05:20.680
is basically a continuing education and online
academy marketplace for upskilling right and reskilling,

63
00:05:21.319 --> 00:05:26.720
which typically you would get with a
human prisoner. Right, a human expert

64
00:05:26.800 --> 00:05:31.120
is teaching you this course. And
so while we knew that AI digital human

65
00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:39.319
avatars would solve the problem of allowing
us to build content quickly and certified programs

66
00:05:39.399 --> 00:05:43.639
quickly. What we did not know
is how the learners in the market would

67
00:05:43.639 --> 00:05:48.000
receive them. So really two different
elements that you have to go through in

68
00:05:48.079 --> 00:05:51.120
terms of how we even found out
about this. This was about a year

69
00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:56.480
and a half ago before chat GPT, and I remember he had the idea

70
00:05:56.600 --> 00:05:59.800
and thought, geez, I wish
we could use AI in some way.

71
00:06:00.040 --> 00:06:03.079
And this is before it was really
popular, so it wasn't like as popular

72
00:06:03.160 --> 00:06:06.639
as it is now. And I
just so happen to find or come across

73
00:06:06.680 --> 00:06:12.600
an add for what's called generative AI. So that is actually a term that

74
00:06:12.639 --> 00:06:15.600
if you're listening, you want to
get familiar with. Generative AI is the

75
00:06:15.720 --> 00:06:23.959
aspect that these AI startup firms will
produce coding that allows you to generate anything.

76
00:06:24.040 --> 00:06:27.240
Just like chat gpt allows you to
generate a prompt or a question,

77
00:06:27.639 --> 00:06:31.519
Generative AI can make things come to
life, right. Digital images have human

78
00:06:31.600 --> 00:06:35.480
likeness, that's really what it is. Essentially, we happen to come across

79
00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:41.160
them by accident, and the next
step was can we license this IP?

80
00:06:41.399 --> 00:06:44.519
How do we get this IP in
the US. As it turns out,

81
00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:47.240
the company wasn't. They weren't located
here in the US, and so we

82
00:06:47.279 --> 00:06:53.279
had to do partnership deals and we
were the first one to bring generative AI

83
00:06:53.639 --> 00:06:57.879
from an educational aspect to the US. So we're really proud of that.

84
00:06:57.920 --> 00:07:00.360
And that's how we found out about
it. That is awesome, didn't right

85
00:07:00.439 --> 00:07:03.759
up my ali? I'm an IP
attorney, and so that gets me really

86
00:07:03.759 --> 00:07:06.759
excited. So, yeah, are
you able to say a little bit more

87
00:07:06.759 --> 00:07:12.720
about where you sourced it from?
Was it Asia or India or yeah?

88
00:07:12.759 --> 00:07:15.959
It was actually and I'm just remembering
where they are. They are in the

89
00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:25.240
Middle Eastern, so like the Egypt
area, that whole region, and yeah,

90
00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:29.160
the company is did and so let's
talk about that because it got really

91
00:07:29.279 --> 00:07:32.199
interesting and I'll tell you why.
When we first started, we then had

92
00:07:32.240 --> 00:07:36.279
to figure out how do we sell
this? Right, this is so new?

93
00:07:36.920 --> 00:07:42.600
Are we selling the AI component?
And so we made this huge mistake,

94
00:07:42.959 --> 00:07:45.319
which that's how we learned, So
that's why I'm talking about it.

95
00:07:46.040 --> 00:07:47.720
When we first got it, we
were so excited that we were like,

96
00:07:47.800 --> 00:07:51.959
oh, we have AI courses,
AI generated courses, and we were selling

97
00:07:53.040 --> 00:07:57.600
like everything in our tagline was like
AI avatar instructed courses, this is who

98
00:07:57.600 --> 00:08:01.360
we are. And come to find
out, the world really wasn't ready for

99
00:08:01.399 --> 00:08:03.399
it. They didn't know what does
that mean? And why do we care?

100
00:08:03.639 --> 00:08:07.920
Right? Like, so what?
And it was so interesting. We

101
00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:13.279
spent all this investment in time and
nobody cared about that angle. And so

102
00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:18.040
what we had to figure out is
that it wasn't the AI piece that made

103
00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:22.680
us special. It was what skill
Dora was able to do with that intellectual

104
00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:26.560
property. So the AI by itself
was nice, but it wasn't novel enough

105
00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:31.000
if it doesn't produce an end result. And what we really had to start

106
00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:35.600
selling was our ability to take that
AI use our trade secrets to produce a

107
00:08:35.639 --> 00:08:39.960
state of the art online course program
in education. So that was the secret

108
00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:46.440
sauce is what we could do with
the AI and how we banked in emotional

109
00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:52.240
intelligence into the artificial intelligence to give
the learner a human like experience. That

110
00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:54.600
was our claim to fame, and
that's what we started to sell is that

111
00:08:54.639 --> 00:09:01.320
we are a continuing education provider who
happens to use a I avatars to teach

112
00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:05.960
the courses. Awesome, yes,
because that is that distinction you made is

113
00:09:05.960 --> 00:09:11.120
hard for me to express to my
clients sometimes. Yeah, yeah, canda

114
00:09:11.200 --> 00:09:16.200
to take a few conversations to walk
them through. But when they do finally

115
00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:20.000
see that nuance and like you said, are able to see the value add

116
00:09:20.039 --> 00:09:24.639
on top of the technology and what
they're really what their business proposition is to

117
00:09:24.679 --> 00:09:30.200
the market, Yeah, it just
takes them to new levels. And the

118
00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:33.919
other thing that was really interesting of
what you said is you know it's okay

119
00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:39.759
to fail up right, to try
and test and experiment in a way and

120
00:09:41.559 --> 00:09:50.960
be open to what comes out with
BIT is always focused on forming new partnerships

121
00:09:50.960 --> 00:09:56.639
and opportunities to assist the community and
our members with their continued professional growth and

122
00:09:56.720 --> 00:10:01.080
development. If you'd like to partner
with us, send an e mail inquiries

123
00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:16.080
at blacks and Technology dot net.
And I am curious to about the course

124
00:10:16.159 --> 00:10:22.799
catalog and how you choose what course
is to make available. Is it where

125
00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:26.799
you do the survey or can you
walk us through that process? Absolutely,

126
00:10:26.840 --> 00:10:30.879
I'm happy to do that. So
once we've so very I'm loving how you

127
00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:35.840
prefaced the questions as well. So
once we figured out, oh this is

128
00:10:35.879 --> 00:10:39.440
our products, right, it's not
these just the AI it's the end result

129
00:10:39.480 --> 00:10:43.399
of what we're doing. Then we
had to actually be a business right,

130
00:10:43.440 --> 00:10:48.159
and we had to say, okay, so what's the business right, what

131
00:10:48.159 --> 00:10:50.759
are people paying for? Why are
we here? And this is when we

132
00:10:50.840 --> 00:10:56.600
determined that what we were going to
do is offer a lean mean course catalog

133
00:10:56.840 --> 00:11:03.200
of twenty certification programs. So to
be clear, each year, Skildora will

134
00:11:03.559 --> 00:11:07.120
position twenty lean mean programs where a
very agile company. By the way,

135
00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:11.840
I'm a certified agile coach and global
trainers, so we're into not being heavy

136
00:11:11.840 --> 00:11:16.399
and clunky, but lean and what
we wanted to do strategically, it made

137
00:11:16.440 --> 00:11:20.679
sense to say, if we have
a catalog of twenty, then we need

138
00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:26.240
to be in a position where we
can repurpose these twenty across multiple sectors and

139
00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:30.440
segments. So for example, even
though there are twenty, we can sort

140
00:11:30.480 --> 00:11:35.000
of resell or re license. Is
our model license these twenty across five different

141
00:11:35.039 --> 00:11:39.600
learning categories, right, so they
all fit somewhere nicely multiple times across personal

142
00:11:39.639 --> 00:11:45.639
development, professional development, leadership development, career advancement, and entrepreneurship. So

143
00:11:45.720 --> 00:11:50.240
it was not only courses that could
fit nicely across five different categories of learning,

144
00:11:50.559 --> 00:11:54.879
but also courses that appeal to multiple
professional industries. So when you start

145
00:11:54.879 --> 00:12:00.919
to think about it, that twenty
could easily turn into a multibillion dollar category

146
00:12:00.960 --> 00:12:05.320
because you can resell it many times
to different industries from project managers right from

147
00:12:05.399 --> 00:12:11.919
agile professionals who need similar courses,
har professionals, risk management professionals. So

148
00:12:13.279 --> 00:12:18.279
that plays a huge part in how
we determine the year after year what the

149
00:12:18.360 --> 00:12:22.960
specific and acute category of courses will
be. Do they fall nicely across multiple

150
00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:26.559
segments? I see? And so
there is licensing a part of that when

151
00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:31.600
you say resell or yeah, so
licensing. So we essentially have I would

152
00:12:31.600 --> 00:12:37.480
say three models to think through.
So ore, and then we can talk

153
00:12:37.519 --> 00:12:43.639
about the pivot. When we first
started skill Dora was largely a consumer direct

154
00:12:43.720 --> 00:12:48.720
model, right where basically think of
hey, we're an online marketplace. You

155
00:12:48.799 --> 00:12:52.759
need upscaling or reskilling, sign up
as a member. Membership is free and

156
00:12:52.960 --> 00:12:58.200
pay as you learn. Right,
so as you need a certification and you

157
00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:03.080
are the adult learner, you're to
pay for an hour course or for a

158
00:13:03.240 --> 00:13:05.559
four hour course. You're going to
pay your money as you go gain your

159
00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:11.240
certification in your credits. Because we're
accredited. That means you could also get

160
00:13:11.320 --> 00:13:16.480
continuing educations or in illegal profession clies
right which you're used to continue learning.

161
00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:20.679
Yep, So we do qualify for
that because we're accredited. Well that's when

162
00:13:20.679 --> 00:13:22.519
we first started. Though when we
first started, we were doing a consumer

163
00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:28.200
direct play. We quickly realized that
we needed to pivot if we wanted to

164
00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:31.440
scale, because going after one to
one to one to one at a time

165
00:13:31.840 --> 00:13:37.840
would be very timely. Instead,
we started to move more so towards a

166
00:13:37.919 --> 00:13:41.759
B to B model and then the
business to business model. What that looks

167
00:13:41.799 --> 00:13:46.720
like is licensing. So the second
model is where we would partner with organizations

168
00:13:46.759 --> 00:13:50.840
of any size and scale, whether
it's a workforce development company, whether it's

169
00:13:50.919 --> 00:13:54.679
PMI, whether it's SCHERM. By
the way, those are real partners today

170
00:13:54.759 --> 00:14:01.279
PMI and SCHERM. We partner with
them and we basically offer them the opportunity

171
00:14:01.320 --> 00:14:05.600
for an annual license, and we
say, listen, if you license this

172
00:14:05.720 --> 00:14:09.799
course in bulk for your members or
for your people and organization, and you

173
00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:13.600
get an account level license, you're
going to save money. You're going to

174
00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:18.639
get a guaranteed point of contact and
account representative, and you'll be able to

175
00:14:18.679 --> 00:14:24.279
get reports right, so it makes
more sense as an organization to just secure

176
00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:28.759
a license. So that's our most
popular model. And then our third model

177
00:14:28.360 --> 00:14:33.679
is a model where we just become
a preferred learning provider where a company says

178
00:14:33.000 --> 00:14:35.799
we're not going to pay for a
license, but we promise to send all

179
00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:41.279
of our professionals over to you for
cls or for continuing education credits. So

180
00:14:41.480 --> 00:14:46.399
those are our main models now though, two hefty business models, and now

181
00:14:46.399 --> 00:14:50.240
the consumer direct plays more of a
backseat, but it's still available. Yeah.

182
00:14:50.360 --> 00:14:54.639
I think flexibility is always good right
where folks can engage in like different

183
00:14:54.679 --> 00:14:58.879
ways and so you're not necessarily turning
folks away, you're just giving them different

184
00:14:58.879 --> 00:15:03.279
options. Absolutely, No, that's
that's really cool and good to know that

185
00:15:03.399 --> 00:15:05.919
you know for my area too,
that you have some offerings as awesome.

186
00:15:11.840 --> 00:15:16.519
What's up everyone, We hope that
you're enjoying this episode of the Blacks and

187
00:15:16.559 --> 00:15:20.360
Technology BIT tech Talk podcast. Do
you or someone you know have a dope

188
00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:24.519
story that they want to share with
our bit audience? Blocks and Technology is

189
00:15:24.559 --> 00:15:28.840
seeking guests to be on our podcast. We're looking to highlight the journeys and

190
00:15:28.919 --> 00:15:33.840
experiences of black women and men in
the tech industry. So if you know

191
00:15:33.879 --> 00:15:37.679
of someone, send them our way, shoot us an email to contact us

192
00:15:37.679 --> 00:15:41.799
a blacks and Technology dot net,
or click on the link and the show

193
00:15:41.840 --> 00:15:54.879
notes and fill out our form.
We're looking to hear from you. Tell

194
00:15:54.919 --> 00:16:00.919
me more about the ups and downs. You definitely talked about the opera,

195
00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:03.960
like when you talked about the pivot
and knowing when to do something differently,

196
00:16:04.039 --> 00:16:07.639
But can you tell me maybe one
thing that you wish you had known before

197
00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:11.759
you launched this business that if you
were speaking to someone who's just starting out

198
00:16:11.879 --> 00:16:15.240
or you wanted to give them advice, you to be sure to tell them.

199
00:16:15.320 --> 00:16:18.240
Yeah. There, listen, I
have a lot a lot of things,

200
00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:23.679
as you can imagine. The thing
to really pick apart here is a

201
00:16:23.720 --> 00:16:27.320
couple of things right which is gonna
set up the points that I give.

202
00:16:27.919 --> 00:16:33.000
We are husband and wife team,
we are black minority owned, we are

203
00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:37.840
in the tech space, and we
happen to also be an AI at tech,

204
00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:42.279
which is still relatively new. So
we faced challenges where some people didn't

205
00:16:42.320 --> 00:16:47.000
want to see us here. Some
people wouldn't give us our credit right like

206
00:16:47.120 --> 00:16:52.480
we would do podcasts or we would
do a big launch event and when we

207
00:16:52.519 --> 00:16:56.440
would get it later, they changed
the narrative. They didn't put Skilldor's name

208
00:16:56.480 --> 00:16:59.480
in it. Right. That's the
problem, and that's something that I handle

209
00:17:00.480 --> 00:17:06.920
assertively. I would say to go
and get that rectified. We also broke

210
00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:11.119
history, and it's important that we
say that every time someone hears my voice.

211
00:17:11.160 --> 00:17:15.559
I need everyone to know that a
black company made world history when we

212
00:17:15.640 --> 00:17:22.799
became the first to accredit an e
learning platform that uses AI avatars that had

213
00:17:22.839 --> 00:17:26.599
not been done, and by doing
so, that now opens up the future

214
00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:33.480
of education, so that colleges in
the futures and university could foreseeably use digital

215
00:17:33.559 --> 00:17:38.200
humans to teach accredited courses and to
offer So we did it first, and

216
00:17:38.279 --> 00:17:45.000
so we ran into some resistance where
certain groups didn't want to acknowledge us or

217
00:17:45.119 --> 00:17:48.480
change the narrative. We also ran
into and this is just a word of

218
00:17:48.519 --> 00:17:56.039
caution, we ran we had to
seek litigation already because we as soon as

219
00:17:56.079 --> 00:18:00.359
we launched last year, we had
a group fast and fear curiously pursue us

220
00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:07.440
to work with us under the auspice
of helping us raise venture capital, and

221
00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:12.039
we had them sign all of the
NDA's, all of the confidentialities, all

222
00:18:12.079 --> 00:18:18.079
of the legal things you should have
a partner do, only to find out

223
00:18:18.119 --> 00:18:22.640
that they were looking to encringe on
our operation and learn our trade secrets.

224
00:18:22.680 --> 00:18:26.160
And we found out within a few
weeks that they were trying to offer the

225
00:18:26.240 --> 00:18:30.319
same thing and use our methodology.
Luckily, we were tipped off by our

226
00:18:30.519 --> 00:18:34.839
IP partner who said, hey,
they're over here trying to get quotes and

227
00:18:34.839 --> 00:18:40.680
they're trying to show me the same
product that you all have developed. So

228
00:18:41.039 --> 00:18:45.640
lots of lessons learned. One thing
I would say is a few things pay

229
00:18:45.640 --> 00:18:48.079
attention to when it's time to pivot. For one, right, notice when

230
00:18:48.160 --> 00:18:52.440
something is working well, and notice
when something is not working well. And

231
00:18:52.480 --> 00:18:56.680
the only way you can do that
is you have to inspect often and you

232
00:18:56.720 --> 00:19:02.400
have to adapt quickly. Right,
So continue to inspect is this working and

233
00:19:02.440 --> 00:19:06.440
if it's not working after And what
we do is if something that we put

234
00:19:06.480 --> 00:19:11.279
a cute focus on doesn't work after
two or three weeks of copious efforts,

235
00:19:11.720 --> 00:19:15.640
we already have a plan B in
mind to pivot too. That's just the

236
00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:18.160
world we're in. You can no
longer wait six months. You just can't,

237
00:19:18.519 --> 00:19:25.960
right, because your competition. Yeah, and then the second thing I

238
00:19:25.960 --> 00:19:32.480
would say is be cautious when you
have something unique and novel and new and

239
00:19:32.599 --> 00:19:37.680
you get a swarm of guests who
are uninvited who suddenly come around and want

240
00:19:37.720 --> 00:19:44.079
to infringe and partner closely with you, Just be mindful, and I would

241
00:19:44.119 --> 00:19:49.319
say, honor the game plan at
hand before you start adding in new people

242
00:19:49.319 --> 00:19:53.079
who haven't earned the trust, because
that was a lesson learned. I think

243
00:19:53.079 --> 00:19:57.640
we were pretty shattered when we found
out that the person who was operating under

244
00:19:57.680 --> 00:20:03.000
the auspice of being a team member
who it pursued us, was actually trying

245
00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:07.240
to sell our product underneath us.
Wow. Wow, Yes, you know,

246
00:20:07.400 --> 00:20:11.839
it's a lot of those learnings there. The reason why you know,

247
00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:15.039
I do do the work that I
do in the IP legal space to especially

248
00:20:15.359 --> 00:20:19.880
educate our people on pro bono,
you know, I hope workshops and I'll

249
00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:23.519
try to explain to them again the
importance of what you were saying with NDAs,

250
00:20:23.599 --> 00:20:29.559
but also being mindful of scaling too
quickly, you know, to resist

251
00:20:29.599 --> 00:20:33.359
the urge as you're you know,
achieving successes, to really be disciplined and

252
00:20:33.400 --> 00:20:37.839
diligent and and try to, like
you said, sus out and vet who

253
00:20:37.920 --> 00:20:41.599
you're doing deals with. Because you
never know, and of course you know

254
00:20:41.599 --> 00:20:44.559
you can do your best and still
think things can happen, but just to

255
00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:49.519
take that time to build that infrastructure
and discipline before you know, you go

256
00:20:49.559 --> 00:20:52.960
and add on to which you already
have going on. But the other amazing

257
00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:59.880
thing about what I've heard from what
you said is just the feeling of persistence.

258
00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:06.000
That's what I took away from persistence
and determination and the point about my

259
00:21:06.039 --> 00:21:12.079
goodness making history. It's it's another
another thing about our culture and our people

260
00:21:12.079 --> 00:21:15.680
that I try to remind folks of, and I'm so glad that you share

261
00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:18.319
it. Is to pass down those
winds, you know, to share the

262
00:21:18.359 --> 00:21:22.359
winds, to to really relish in
it. It's okay to you know,

263
00:21:22.720 --> 00:21:26.880
recognize and pat yourself on the back
for all these things that you're doing,

264
00:21:26.960 --> 00:21:29.880
because it is going to inspire someone
else, and like you said, it's

265
00:21:29.880 --> 00:21:33.400
creating such a large impact that down
the line future generations will benefit from.

266
00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:37.759
And and that's really why I was
actually part moved to do the podcast,

267
00:21:37.880 --> 00:21:42.319
was to leave a legacy behind.
So you know, other people coming down

268
00:21:42.319 --> 00:21:45.839
the pike who are listening or looking
for resources, they do a Google search

269
00:21:45.920 --> 00:21:51.799
or something, and they can hopefully
find something that's helpful to them, even

270
00:21:51.839 --> 00:21:53.640
if you're not. You know,
that's not what you're looking to achieve.

271
00:21:53.839 --> 00:21:57.200
Just to hear that you achieve that
was just I just want to let you

272
00:21:57.200 --> 00:22:02.680
know that that was really, really
powerful, and it's it's something that I

273
00:22:02.680 --> 00:22:06.559
think you should spread beyond blacks and
technology and hopefully we're able to share.

274
00:22:06.640 --> 00:22:11.000
Well. Yeah, listen, we
put that in every tagline, like now

275
00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:15.559
on our LinkedIn tagline, it's on
our signature, it's it's everywhere. And

276
00:22:15.400 --> 00:22:19.039
could I say one more thing about
it that I think is probably the most

277
00:22:19.119 --> 00:22:26.519
important for us, especially if it's
okay, I would say no when you

278
00:22:26.640 --> 00:22:36.400
see an opportunity, like sometimes we
move so fast. Sometimes our innovative spirit

279
00:22:37.359 --> 00:22:44.119
is so innate inside of us that
we don't take intentional inventory to see that

280
00:22:44.119 --> 00:22:48.559
we've done something great to your point, and I share that firsthand because I

281
00:22:48.599 --> 00:22:53.160
want to tell you when we applied
and we went through this six week process

282
00:22:53.200 --> 00:22:59.200
for accreditation and then we got it. I remember that we got the email

283
00:22:59.240 --> 00:23:03.519
that says congratulate Lei's skill Door is
now an accredited platform. And I remember

284
00:23:03.559 --> 00:23:08.680
sitting there looking at the letter for
a second and it was only because I

285
00:23:08.839 --> 00:23:15.079
questioned and said, wait a minute, are we the first? Are we

286
00:23:15.119 --> 00:23:18.319
the first company in history too?
I think we're the first to use AI

287
00:23:18.400 --> 00:23:23.119
avatars and get an accreditation, right, And because I questioned it, and

288
00:23:23.240 --> 00:23:26.640
I asked, and I went back
and they said, oh my gosh,

289
00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:29.039
let me check. And then they
checked. And by the way, this

290
00:23:29.119 --> 00:23:33.599
is a London based global accrediting body. They went and checked and it took

291
00:23:33.680 --> 00:23:36.559
like a week, and then all
of a sudden they came back and said,

292
00:23:36.640 --> 00:23:40.200
don Nicole mcwaine, we're happy to
inform you that you are the first.

293
00:23:40.279 --> 00:23:44.359
And let me tell you, we
went crazy with the announcement. Okay.

294
00:23:44.519 --> 00:23:51.240
My point is that we almost missed
the opportunity, because when opportunity knocks,

295
00:23:51.279 --> 00:23:52.519
sometimes no one is going to tell
you. No one is going to

296
00:23:52.599 --> 00:23:56.440
tap you on the shoulder and say, hey, you did something great.

297
00:23:56.480 --> 00:24:00.160
Look into this. And I'm also
fully convinced that the to why our ancestors

298
00:24:00.200 --> 00:24:04.720
didn't always get the credit for making
the peanut butter or flying the plane first,

299
00:24:04.759 --> 00:24:08.359
it's sometimes they were just aloof and
unaware that they were the first ones

300
00:24:08.440 --> 00:24:15.480
to do something great. We've got
to be better at recognizing our opportunities definitely

301
00:24:15.680 --> 00:24:18.680
one hundred percent, one hundred percent
when I educate, educate people about the

302
00:24:18.759 --> 00:24:22.400
number of black inventors we have,
and again why I was inspired to pursue

303
00:24:22.440 --> 00:24:26.119
IP law in particular because of our
innovation and because, as you said,

304
00:24:26.160 --> 00:24:30.359
we've been exploited in the past or
not given the credit, you know,

305
00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:34.920
for all the modern technologies we enjoyed
today. And it's just it's so so

306
00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:40.440
true. So I'm so glad that
you said that, because, yeah,

307
00:24:40.640 --> 00:24:45.000
oftentimes and maybe missing people people don't
tell us. Yeah, yeah, but

308
00:24:45.119 --> 00:24:49.920
along kind of similar lines, I
just wonder, is there someone who inspires

309
00:24:51.000 --> 00:24:55.200
you or was a mentor to you
along the way, or you know,

310
00:24:55.279 --> 00:24:59.559
I tell people it's it's my family, you know, they they motivate me

311
00:24:59.599 --> 00:25:03.079
every day and just you know,
like I said, ancestors and folks who

312
00:25:03.079 --> 00:25:06.759
are still living who just did amazing
things that I look around me and I

313
00:25:06.799 --> 00:25:12.480
just feel so blessed to have those
examples. And do you have a product

314
00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:17.160
or service that you would like to
share with a bit audience or maybe you'd

315
00:25:17.200 --> 00:25:21.640
like to support the bit community and
do your part in helping us with stomping

316
00:25:21.680 --> 00:25:26.400
the divide. Start by sponsoring one
of our podcasts. Please email us at

317
00:25:27.480 --> 00:25:41.319
contact us at blacks and Technology dot
net. Do you when you think about

318
00:25:41.359 --> 00:25:45.880
it, can you can you identify
not by name necessarily, but just you

319
00:25:45.960 --> 00:25:49.319
know, people who you feel have
been instrumental in your journey. Oh,

320
00:25:49.359 --> 00:25:55.200
there's been so many instrumental people.
I mean with starting with my family,

321
00:25:55.279 --> 00:26:00.240
of course, you know I have
I come from a very driven have a

322
00:26:00.240 --> 00:26:04.119
West Indian family, and so oh
yeah do you yeah? So then you

323
00:26:04.200 --> 00:26:08.880
know, uh, and being raised
by them initially where they just did not

324
00:26:10.039 --> 00:26:14.759
play and everything was a fable and
a lesson and a story. And I

325
00:26:14.839 --> 00:26:17.720
was like, oh, here we
go. Here's a story about the bee

326
00:26:17.799 --> 00:26:21.759
and the wasp and why they don't
make honey and one does. So there's

327
00:26:21.920 --> 00:26:25.319
there were all these lessons that at
the time I didn't realize were life lessons,

328
00:26:25.319 --> 00:26:29.079
and so I have to give credit
first to them. But then along

329
00:26:29.119 --> 00:26:33.279
the way, I'm constantly inspired by
by Oprah. Right, I'm inspired by

330
00:26:34.119 --> 00:26:38.880
are you I'm not doing that when
I tell you, like, oh that

331
00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.519
she's just talking about Trailblazer in her
story. Oh my goodness. Yeah,

332
00:26:44.839 --> 00:26:48.279
same, Yeah, I'm inspired.
I'm inspired by Oprah of all people.

333
00:26:48.319 --> 00:26:53.119
I also take inspiration from at the
time when I was way back in corporate

334
00:26:53.119 --> 00:26:59.200
America and there was a manager who
I thought was ridiculously hard on me,

335
00:26:59.599 --> 00:27:03.880
who expected too much that I couldn't
stand back in a day. Now,

336
00:27:03.920 --> 00:27:07.880
I have nothing but admiration for this
person for because I get it, I

337
00:27:07.960 --> 00:27:10.799
get everything. I'm like, oh
my gosh, you know, he was

338
00:27:10.839 --> 00:27:14.559
trying to help me and I didn't
even see it. So there are a

339
00:27:14.680 --> 00:27:19.519
number of people that I glean from. I'm also inspired by my husband Mario,

340
00:27:19.599 --> 00:27:22.839
who's not on this call. He's
the CEO of Skill Dora, and

341
00:27:22.880 --> 00:27:27.759
I'll tell you why he and I
are night and day. I am very

342
00:27:27.799 --> 00:27:33.079
detail oriented, very processed, the
overthinker, and he is just get it

343
00:27:33.119 --> 00:27:37.319
done. Like you're doing too much, just have several seats, get it

344
00:27:37.319 --> 00:27:40.640
done. You know. He's like, he's just one of those let's just

345
00:27:40.880 --> 00:27:44.240
do it and believe in, believe
in what you did and keep moving right.

346
00:27:44.799 --> 00:27:48.000
And so based on that and learning
how to work with him and his

347
00:27:48.079 --> 00:27:56.839
personality difference, I've become a better
person. So beautiful and yeah, just

348
00:27:56.559 --> 00:28:00.359
so important. And yeah. My
mom side of the family is from Saint

349
00:28:00.440 --> 00:28:04.079
Kittiniva's, which is the Leeward Island, so look smaller islands. So where's

350
00:28:04.119 --> 00:28:08.680
your family from? Yeah, so
Kingston, Jamaica. My grandfather was from

351
00:28:08.799 --> 00:28:15.559
Kingston, Jamaica. And then my
grandmother was from Barbados. So yeah,

352
00:28:15.880 --> 00:28:22.119
small world again, Yeah, exactly, very cool. Yeah, and then

353
00:28:22.160 --> 00:28:25.880
I have two last questions for you. You don't mind, So yeah,

354
00:28:26.079 --> 00:28:29.599
I'd like to ask folks, because
it sounds like you're a planner. Yes,

355
00:28:29.759 --> 00:28:33.319
so where do you see skilled door
growing in the next five years or

356
00:28:33.359 --> 00:28:37.079
so? Yeah? So this is
really we have to answer this question a

357
00:28:37.079 --> 00:28:41.160
lot, as you can imagine,
for like venture capitalists and all this kind

358
00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:45.279
of stuff. And I would say
that right now, skial Door is on

359
00:28:45.319 --> 00:28:51.960
the path forward to partner with as
many professional organizations as possible, right who

360
00:28:52.039 --> 00:28:57.039
whose certifications require continuing education. So
this would be like the Bar Association,

361
00:28:57.160 --> 00:29:02.759
right, p Am, I all
of those professional certifications. We want to

362
00:29:02.799 --> 00:29:07.440
partner with those organizations. Now,
where we see ourselves going in five years

363
00:29:07.480 --> 00:29:14.200
and taking us to our exit strategy
is then being acquired, well initially partnering

364
00:29:14.200 --> 00:29:18.880
with like these the u to mes
of the world, these bigger organizations who

365
00:29:18.880 --> 00:29:22.559
are saying, hey, we don't
have an AI education component. Yes,

366
00:29:22.559 --> 00:29:26.279
we have traditional learning, but in
order to compete, we're going to need

367
00:29:26.319 --> 00:29:30.079
to partner with the skill Dora.
So we want to be the go to

368
00:29:32.319 --> 00:29:37.920
platform and provider for AIE learning in
the very next three to five years.

369
00:29:38.039 --> 00:29:41.960
I can only imagine they're already knocking
down on your doing. Oh yeah,

370
00:29:42.359 --> 00:29:45.559
yes, and even then you're going
to have a lot of options available to

371
00:29:45.599 --> 00:29:51.039
you. Absolutely awesome. Well,
I just wish you the most success with

372
00:29:51.079 --> 00:29:53.759
that, and I am so excited
to see your growth and I'm going to

373
00:29:53.759 --> 00:30:00.680
be watching because I really do believe
that education is key. Now. I'm

374
00:30:00.880 --> 00:30:03.119
a perpetual learner and I try to
encourage my girls, you know, who

375
00:30:03.160 --> 00:30:07.240
are four and seven that no matter
what age they are, that they should

376
00:30:07.240 --> 00:30:12.160
always continue learning and make that a
priority. And I just get so excited

377
00:30:12.240 --> 00:30:15.920
for, like you said, what
you're able to do and how you're able

378
00:30:15.920 --> 00:30:22.480
to transform the education industry because it's
so needed and just a phenomenal platform.

379
00:30:22.480 --> 00:30:26.680
Just doing my own little search on
it, and yeah, thank you,

380
00:30:26.039 --> 00:30:29.680
thank you so much. Yea.
And I was just gonna say, and

381
00:30:29.720 --> 00:30:33.039
before we conclude, just in terms
of just like a call to action or

382
00:30:33.079 --> 00:30:40.359
just to share with everyone as a
gift you know from skill Dora. Because

383
00:30:40.400 --> 00:30:45.279
we are an AI a tech company. We now see that the world is

384
00:30:45.680 --> 00:30:48.880
seeing an AI vision right, everything
is artificial intelligence, and we are really

385
00:30:48.920 --> 00:30:53.440
pushing upskilling and reskilling. And we
would love for your listeners to take full

386
00:30:53.480 --> 00:31:00.839
advantage of our new Artificial Intelligence Essentials
course. It is a certified per program

387
00:31:00.880 --> 00:31:03.279
and we would love her everyone to
go there and just check it out and

388
00:31:03.359 --> 00:31:08.240
really help upscale themselves so that you're
not affected by AI job loss. And

389
00:31:08.640 --> 00:31:15.440
if I can just give the URL, YEP, it's it's my skill Dora

390
00:31:15.880 --> 00:31:22.799
dot com forward slash AIEC, which
stands for Artificial Intelligence Essential Certification. So

391
00:31:22.880 --> 00:31:32.880
my skilled Dora forward slash a I
e C so so timely and I'm definitely

392
00:31:32.880 --> 00:31:36.400
going to share that as well with
the blacks and technology community and make sure

393
00:31:36.519 --> 00:31:41.319
that folks are aware of this of
this course. And then yes, just

394
00:31:41.440 --> 00:31:45.799
wrap it up with something like,
where's one place that you'd like to travel

395
00:31:45.839 --> 00:31:48.000
to that you've never been? Oh
my gosh. So if you had asked

396
00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:51.720
me this last year, I would
have said Hawaii, but I have since

397
00:31:51.799 --> 00:31:55.720
been to the beautiful islands of Hawaii. So now we want to go to

398
00:31:55.960 --> 00:32:00.039
Paris. That definitely want to go
to Paris, and I understand that my

399
00:32:00.119 --> 00:32:04.880
husband is busy planning something, so
I have my fingers crossed. I don't

400
00:32:04.880 --> 00:32:08.640
know. That sounds wonderful both you
know Hawaii and then yes, pay it's

401
00:32:09.640 --> 00:32:14.720
yes. Oh I'm hoping that he
comes through for you there and he yes

402
00:32:14.839 --> 00:32:16.319
that she'll be telling me about that
trip. You know, we definitely have

403
00:32:16.359 --> 00:32:22.039
to connect after this. We're in
somewhere in Charlotte. I'm definitely a big

404
00:32:22.079 --> 00:32:24.720
foodie and have a lot of good
recommendations. Oh yes, oh same,

405
00:32:24.880 --> 00:32:29.400
Listen, we do have to cut
You're you're speaking my love language now girl

406
00:32:29.400 --> 00:32:34.519
when you said food. Yes,
So it's been a pleasure, don And

407
00:32:35.480 --> 00:32:37.440
I'm really genuinely wishing you all the
best, and I just want to thank

408
00:32:37.440 --> 00:32:43.200
all of our listeners. This is
Natasha Wallen Robinson for Blacks and Technology,

409
00:32:43.400 --> 00:32:45.799
and we wish you a great day
and good luck on your journey. Take

410
00:32:45.799 --> 00:32:57.599
care now, thank you. What
in technology? Why? Why in technology?

411
00:32:57.839 --> 00:33:06.599
In technology? Lacks in technology,
lacks and technology why lacks in technology