In this episode of Make It Mindful, Seth talks with Katie Hurley Wales — Executive Director of Brighter Children, an all-volunteer nonprofit that funds primary education across India, Colombia, Honduras, Kenya, and Guatemala — about what venture philanthropy actually looks like in practice, and what it takes to build schools that outlast the funders who supported them. Brighter Children doesn't bring educational models to the communities it works in; it identifies local leaders who already have the vision and the trust of their communities, and invests in their capacity to execute it.Together, Seth and Katie explore what distinguishes a philanthropic investment from a transaction, why primary education is Brighter Children's specific lever for breaking generational poverty, and how a rigorous 46-factor due diligence process sits alongside gut instinct when finding school partners. They trace the arc of Brighter Children's work in Honduras, where Shin Fujiyama moved into a community with 65-70% out-of-school rates and gang violence severe enough that the school competed directly with MS-13 for recruits — and where this summer marks the fifth high school graduating class in an area that had a 0% graduation rate when they started. They also talk about what children in these communities understand about education that children in wealthier contexts often don't: not as an abstraction, but as a concrete pathway tied to health, economic mobility, and the stability of their family. The episode closes with a Kenyan student named Peter, a top-scoring secondary school student who wants to be an oncologist because his little sister died of cancer — and the question of what it means to invest in one child who might save hundreds.Key topics:Venture philanthropy vs. transactional charity in education fundingTrust-based philanthropy and local leadershipDue diligence for selecting school partners (46-factor framework)Primary education as a lever for breaking generational povertyCommunity-led school models across India, Honduras, Kenya, and GuatemalaPatient capital and long-term investment in schoolsWhat families in under-resourced communities understand about educationLinks & Resources:Brighter Children: brighterchildren.orgGuest Bio: Katie Hurley WalesKatie Hurley Wales is Executive Director of Brighter Children, an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) venture philanthropy organization that funds primary education for children in marginalized communities across five countries. Brighter Children's model centers on identifying exceptional local leaders — people who already have the vision and trust of their communities — and providing long-term financial and advisory support to help them build sustainable school systems. Before Brighter Children, Katie served as Executive Director of Invest for Kids and Interim Executive Director of Luminarts Cultural Foundation, and has spent her career in the Chicago-area nonprofit sector.About the Host: Seth Fleischauer is the founder of Banyan Global Learning and host of Make It Mindful: Insights for Global Learning. Through Banyan, he designs live virtual programs that connect K-12 classrooms to global peers and expert facilitators — building the kind of structured, human-centered learning the podcast explores. See https://banyangloballearning.com/

How is the next generation supposed to learn soft skills?Meet John Kwon!John is a finance expert and investor currently based in South Korea. He has lived in 4 countries, mostly in the United States. During the course of his career, he managed a $23 billion equity fund, amongst other portfolios.On this episode, John focuses on soft skills development, particularly examining why young people struggle with social skills and how cultural differences impact communication styles. He also narrated his experience managing funds and dealing with sales pitches from Wall Street fund managers, highlighting how effective social engineering and soft skills can be in sales.Listen as John shares:- how children's soft skills are developed at home- cultural conditioning in how soft skills are perceived- what is missing in the school curriculum-  technology and social media's impact on children's personal interaction- the importance of teaching conflict resolution at a young age- generational differences in work values and career aspirations- how soft skills will never go out of style- the "real" definition of soft skills- how technology has changed the workplace learning hierachy...and so much more!Connect with John:Email: jkwonwork10@gmail.comListen to the Podcast, subscribe, leave a rating and a review:Apple: Spotify: YouTube: https://youtu.be/oaeqZSH63kY

In this episode, host Mike Caldwell sits down with Jo Lane, an educator support and instructional coach with 16 years of experience, who is currently a principal coach based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Jo shares insights from her new book, Burn the Script: How Great Coaches Disrupt Thinking and Transform Practice, released May 19th.The conversation dives deep into the concept of "mental fossils" — the ingrained beliefs and behavioral scripts educators develop from past professional experiences that often hold them back from growth. Jo breaks down how beliefs are anchored by three factors: skill, identity, and value, and explains why simply teaching a skill isn't enough to change behavior if underlying beliefs aren't addressed.Show Notes:Substack: EduCoach by Jo LeinLinkedIn: Jo LeinBook: Burn the Script: How Great Coaches Disrupt Mindsets and Transform PracticeInstagram/TikTok: @educoachbyjo

Host Eric Makelky sits down with Katie Kelly and Sarah Merkt, co-founders of Crescanova Global, an online (and in-person, via Crescanova Labs) enrichment program serving students across five continents. Katie and Sarah unpack their concept of "inspired learning" — designing classes around curiosity-sparking questions rather than rigid skill-based standards — and share real examples, from a class on designing alien life to a lesson born from a power outage. They discuss how they train teachers to follow student curiosity, how classes are structured for different age bands, and how they support parents navigating homeschool and supplemental education choices, including free consultations and their monthly "Student Sparks" webinar series.

Jake Rupp teaches AP Lang and public speaking, and he built his TikTok following by breaking down rhetoric in bite-sized lessons. In this episode we get into what voice actually means, why AI-written text is so easy to spot, and why Jake has decided AI has no place in his classroom at all.Jake grades without points. He built a feedback and revision system years before AI showed up, and students are still using AI to write their own reflections on their own AI-generated work. That single fact reshapes the whole conversation. We talk about a student who told him flat out she wasn't thinking about getting caught; she just needed the assignment done. We talk about the curse of knowledge and why group work and presentations fail when we assign them without ever teaching them. And we talk about whether early AI exposure builds better judgment later or just moves the desensitization earlier.This one gets a little heated, a lot honest, and ends with Jake handing me one of the best lines I've recorded on this show.Find Jake on TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, and beyond!Connect with Matt on LinkedIn!Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction2:00 Jake's background teaching rhetoric and how his TikTok lessons grew out of the classroom21:00 AI and student voice, the cognitive offload problem24:00 The student who said "I wasn't thinking about you at all"30:00 Jake's gradeless classroom and why it hasn't stopped AI misuse36:00 The curse of knowledge and why we assign skills we never teach41:00 Tech giants, AI in schools, and the shift from preference to reliance50:00 The doctor question, and proving what you actually know56:00 Gen Z, work ethic, and whether AI anxiety is about something else1:01:00 Student disgust at AI generated feedback and Jake's non-negotiables1:05:00 Being curious about the future, without AI1:07:00 Wrap-up and where to find Jake