2020 GlobalMindED Conference
June 6-8 in Hybrid or Virtual as Circumstances Dictate
Sheraton Denver Downtown
GlobalMindED is a 501(c)(3) clos ing the equity gap by creating a capable, diverse talent pipeline with programs, content and courses for students from the least resourced backgrounds through connections to role models, mentors, internships, experiences and jobs that make them employment worthy, promotion ready and financially fit to navigate a hierarchical world.  We serve low-income students, returning adults seeking badges/credentials, First Gen to college and inclusive leaders who teach them, work with them and hire them.
Dr. Jonathan Blackwood is a part of GlobalMindED's Young Professional Leaders cabinet. His story is impactful, especially during the widespread mental health issues before and during COVID-19.
Jonathan, you are a doctor who struggled with mental illness as so many are during the COVID-19 crisis, and many were challenged before that hit. What is your personal story and how did you heal?

Medical Doctors have the highest suicide rate of any profession in the U.S. Depression is even more common in medical students and residents with some studies citing ranges of 15-30% having symptoms of depression. I was one of those medical students. With my Major Depressive Episode well behind me it seems easier to share, but at the time... All I felt was pain, shame, weakness, inadequacy, self-criticism, and a strong desire to avoid those constant feelings. I never personally struggled with suicide, but I hate to imagine how dark that can be...

Feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness, and fear of stigma are massive barriers making individuals reluctant to seek professional help. Getting professional treatment was critical to my own recovery. Reaching out for external support during times of personal challenge allowed me to relieve some of the overwhelming internal stress I was experiencing and focus energy and attention toward taking steps back to feeling myself again (which at the time, seemed like a day that would never come).

After some "time and therapy" (+meds) that Major episode feels like a thing of the past. Albeit transient, I learned, grew, and had a new found appreciation for the strength and courage it takes to not just "weather the storm" of mental illness, but rise above and carry on for those TENS OF MILLIONS of adults in the United States (and more around the world) living with some form of mental illness every day. I've always thought of myself as an advocate for the prioritization of mental health wellness. So today I'm putting my money where my mouth is by sharing and trying to be vulnerable so that my efforts to advocate and normalize aren't undermined by my own fear of being ostracized. You are not alone!

How did you become a physician entrepreneur? How can others learn from your struggles and triumphs?

Physician by education, training, and Hippocratic Oath. Entrepreneur by definition... or semantics depending on your definition. Being entrenched in education and then subsequently healthcare (or anything really) lends itself many opportunities to recognize problem areas or the potential for inventions or innovation. Doing something new also means you might fail, which means you might learn, which means you might teach allowing us to collectively take a step forward as a society. Failing, iterating, refining, and sharing are all part of the process. However, being cognizant of consequences (intended or unintended) and informing our hypotheses on the best available evidence to do no harm and avoid repeating mistakes is invaluable. Evidence based process improvement is my philosophy and my daily goal propelling me toward lifelong learning.

You are a member of GlobalMindED Young Professional Leaders (YPL). What draws you to this inclusive leadership team and what are your goals as one of the cabinet members directing priorities and programming?

Dreams, Goals, Aspirations, whatever you call them, they are for EVERYONE. With YPL we are a Diverse Community building a world where everyone is supported to achieve those Dreams. We have a burning Passion and Purpose because we want to Educate and Empower everyone in our community and continue to grow by connecting through empathy and with Action and Accountability we lead.

We're looking to meet people where they are at (metaphorically speaking and through globalization literally). For those who want to dream big and find other extremely motivated individuals there are no limits! We are the movers and shakers, we are the best and brightest, we are the experts of our own domains (or we'll find them), and we are the support system that wants you to know: YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

If you could waive a magic wand and GlobalMindED could achieve your most important values, what would it look like five years from now?

I love the big picture vision this question evokes. Two things have been a big driving force for my academic and professional pursuits.

1) Healthcare - It should be the best it possibly can be; It should be accessible to everyone
2) Education - It should be the best it possibly can be; It should be accessible to everyone

There are bottlenecks of finite resources that come into play when trying to solve any problem. GlobalMindED is positioning itself to help increase access to resources and alleviate some of these pain points by developing novel solutions and disrupting standard networking and socioeconomic barriers to entry for a Global First approach. Identifying key opportunities with a focus on expanding these ideas in both horizontal and vertical manner could make GlobalMindED to education and careers what Facebook was to social media, Amazon to the consumer marketplace, or SpaceX to colonizing Mars.

However, whether it's my internal pragmatist, scientist, personality-ist, or need to manage expectations that makes me have to say: these types of goals don't just happen by waving a wand or hoping really hard. Matters of importance or value require effort, diligence, planning, a willingness to make mistakes, and adaptability to our ever-changing reality. So, Dream Big, Collaborate, Fail, and as my mother always said, 'if you always try your best and keep an open mind you have nothing to be ashamed of.'

Learn from Inclusive Leaders Who Are Navigating Digital Opportunities in COVID-19- Mark Your Calendars for Thursday with Mike Miles and Friday for Erika Twani as they facilitate the Global Classroom 2020
Join us this Thursday at 11:00 EST, 10:00 CST, 9:00 MST, 8:00 PST to participate in the Global Classroom:
Mike Miles
Implementing a New Education System 
Join us this Friday at 1:00 EST, 12:00 CST, 11:00 MST, 10:00 PST to participate in the Global Classroom:
Closing the Learning Equity Gap in COVID-19 Times
Erika Twani
CEO, Learning One to One
Many believe technology is the only solution to enable students to continue learning in times of quarantine. E-learning can be the equalizer of content distribution, but does it provide everything learners need? How about students who do not have access to tech? The reality is ALL students already have what it takes. Find out how to ignite it in this session.

About the Presenter:

Erika Twani is a learning enthusiast and an optimist of a better world built by humans with practical and useful skills and life purpose. She is the co-founder and CEO of the Learning One to One Foundation, where, along with experts, she explores how to foster human achievement through Relational Learning based on applied neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, pedagogy, and technology. Her philosophy is to simplify complex concepts and make them useful for everyone, starting with children. Erika has advised government officials and education leaders around the world on the use of technology in education, has written various articles on the topic, and worked with public and private schools to guide practical use of Relational Learning.
 
Far and foremost, Erika's 20+ years of experience working with corporate technology companies enabled her to shape products and services for worldwide scalability. Innovation on learning usually happens in silos, and Erika wants to empower educators to scale it. The corporate experience also gave her a clear understanding of large organizations' challenges to motivate employees, foster creativity, and to create a long-lasting relationship with customers and partners, regardless of their location on earth. Corporations benefit from the same principles identified in her work, as they implement simple learning and skill development processes that contribute to individuals' personal growth, intrinsic motivation, and life purpose. Consequently, individual achievement results in the organization's success.    
 
Besides being an author, Erika is also an international speaker, adviser, avid reader, and an adventurer. Most of all, she is a Learner, committed to investing 20% of her time in learning. Her organization serves schools and institutions around the world with professional development, consulting services, and education technology. She has a B.S. in Software Engineering and an MBA in Entrepreneurship. She sits on various boards. Erika lives in Fort Lauderdale, FL USA, with husband, Brian.
 
Erika is the author of the upcoming book "Becoming Einstein's Teacher," releasing in Spring 2020.
Erika Twani
Closing the Learning Equity Gap
Stay tuned for updates by May 10 on the 2020  Teens in Tech Program  and the First Gen Leaders Program. We are dedicated to your success in  COVID-19 and beyond. Please read and sign up for our daily    newsletters   for up-dates and inspiration.  

Join us to recognize the most inclusive leaders in key industries for their innovations and bold actions to promote access and equity for women, people of color, and underrepresented populations in their recruiting, development, senior management on their boards, and in their pipeline strategies from education to employment. 

If you would like to nominate a student from your institution for the 
2020 GlobalMindED First Gen Student Leadership Program so that they can meet role models and mentors while networking for internships and jobs with companies who are dedicated to creating a capable, diverse talent pipeline , please encourage them to apply HERE
 
If you are an educator, you can attend  by yourself, a team or with your First Gen student delegates. If you come with more than 5 people from your institution, you are eligible for the discount.

Related Articles:  
Recent GlobalMindED Newsletter Profiles:  
See the article about GlobalMindED in:


GlobalMindED and the SDG Impact Fund are delighted to announce GlobalMindED's Donor Advised Fund for your year-end giving and planning your 2020 investment goals. 2020 is the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations and and the 25th Anniversary of the Beijing Women's Declaration and Action Platform. Many from around the world are thinking of 2020 as the gateway to our most vital decade for delivering equity, the Sustainable Development Goals, and a world where all can thrive. Our key time for these outcomes is 2020-2030.

GlobalMindED DAF and the SDG Impact Fund are a powerful combined force for good as the 2019 year comes to a close and we reflect on the gratitude and the commitments we make to the causes we care most about. The DAF offers immense power and flexibility for giving prior to the year's end as you plant seeds of generous intention for 2020 and the decade ahead.

When you contribute to GlobalMindED, you support students like Emanuel Walker whose story is below. He was in the class of 2018. Since 2015, we have served more than 300 students by connecting them to role models, mentors, internships and jobs. Your generous support will allow us to take our work 10x and reach these talented students at scale who lack the resources and support we provide. Your support also helps teachers who can't afford the conference fees, faculty at colleges which are under resourced and students who persist at those universities despite food insecurity and/or housing insecurity.
PARTNER NEWS


Since 2006 when the flagship TGR Learning Lab opened its doors in Anaheim, CA, TGR Foundation has had a lot to celebrate, including its most recent milestone of one million students impacted by TGR EDU: Explore, alone.

Developed in partnership with Discovery Education, TGR EDU: Explore is a free digital resource library that offers interactive web experiences, lesson plans, training videos and tools for educators, students and families to explore new disciplines and gain skills for a modern and expanding workforce.
We are a female-owned business committed to advancing equality.
 
Gender equality is not a female issue; it's a social and economic imperative. The Female Quotient is advancing equality in the workplace and the world through collaboration, bringing visibility to women, activating solutions for change, and creating metrics for accountability.
 
Some Upcoming Lounges
Click here for more
 
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Orlando, FL
Harvard Business School College Programs Overview
 
The   Summer Venture in Management Program  is a free one-week residential education program for rising college seniors designed to increase diversity and opportunity in business education.   Using the renowned case method of instruction, HBS faculty lead class discussions on current management issues. You will spend evenings analyzing real-business cases, and use morning study groups and classes to examine and debate their ideas through lively interaction with peers and faculty. The academic program is supplemented by presentations from HBS administrators and alumni who provide information about the impact of an MBA, as well as with social events and meals. You will have the opportunity to live in the dorms to experience the full life of an MBA student. The SVMP program is designed for students from backgrounds historically under-represented in business (e.g., African American, Latino, Native American, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender, the first family member to attend college, from a school whose graduates are sometimes underrepresented such as a community college as part of a four-year degree or a predominantly minority college). 
This year's  program will be held June 13th-19th; the application is due on April 21st.
 
The    2+2 Program   is a deferred admission process for current students, either in college or full-time masters programs. It is comprised of at least two years of professional work experience followed by two years in the HBS MBA Program. Upon graduation, admitted 2+2 students spend a minimum of two years (maximum of four years) working in a professional position in the public, private, or nonprofit secto r. T
he application is due on April 2, and is open to anyone who is graduating between October 1, 2019 and September 30, 2020.  

For more information on these programs, you can watch the College Programs Webinar which showcases all three college programs.

As you start the New Year, are you looking for ways to re-engineer your classroom culture? Check out Designing the Future: How Engineering Builds Creative Critical Thinking in the Classroom. The associated website has lots of activities, projects, and resources you can implement immediately. Our fall workshops using the book as a roadmap for change have been highly successful. Start designing the future today - try using the customized Study Guide for a book study in your PLC. Or contact ProjectEngin or Solution Tree to learn how you can bring professional development based on Ann's book to your school, district, or conference.

CONTACT US 


The climate crisis, rape culture, the wall-we think the patriarchy has done enough. Introducing " When Feminists Rule the World", a new podcast series from the Nobel Women's Initiative and producing partner MediaStyle. Hosted by Nicaraguan-born comedian, Martha Chaves, we're talking to badass feminist changemakers around the world about the future they are creating. It shouldn't be groundbreaking. But it is.
Entertainment For Change creates original song and dance (#SDGGROOVE) to educate young people on the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Like any meaningful social change, the original song and dance is a collaborative effort between more than 20 singers, dancers, writers and choreographers. Lauded vocalists Natalie Weiss and Antonio Cipriano lend their voices to the powerful lyrics, while each SDG is  danced by performers of all calibers.

To learn more about Entertainment for Change and #SDGGROOVE, visit our  website
Join the #NeedHerScience Campaign that is aimed at addressing journal-level gender bias. For decades, studies have demonstrated gender bias in publishing. This may occur at various stages in the process, including at the level of the 
journals. The equitable inclusion of women editors at every level is long overdue. Addressing journal gender bias starts at the top. 

AMWA is a strategic partner for the Need Her Science Campaign which is part of the Be Ethical Campaign. More information is available at www.SheLeadsHealthcare.com.

The goal: To raise awareness about gender bias in publishing and share with stakeholders, including journal editors and owners, the overall number of scientists, healthcare professionals and others who have taken the pledge. The pledge can be taken anonymously. Educators and others are encouraged to take the pledge and share information about this issue with colleagues and trainees. 

GET INVOLVED 
Here are 3 quick and easy things you can do to join the #NeedHerScience Campaign: 1. Disseminate the infographic Tips for Publishing in Medical Journals. 
2. Take the #NeedHerScience pledge. 
3. Encourage others to take the pledge. 

TAKE THE PLEDGE 
PLEDGE: "As part of determining where to submit my manuscripts, I will look at the list of editors and consider whether a journal has equitably included qualified women at every level."
GlobalMindED | 303-327-5688 | contact@globalminded.org | www.globalminded.org
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