EAFH57: Mercy George-Igbafe, LEARNTOR Founder, Maximize Black Opportunities

Kayanna:

Let's talk about it. Talk, talk. Let's go deep. We all have something to share. KnolShare with Dr. Dave.

Dr. Dave:

So hello and welcome to the KnolShare with Dr. Dave podcast. This is Dr. Dave Cornelius, your host. We're going to have a conversation about social justice. And when we talk about social justice, we're talking about given opportunities for everyone, both from an economic, political, social rights, and opportunities where we're trying to open the doors of access and opportunity for everyone. When we think about some of the formal definitions, we would think of things that it contains like equal rights, equal opportunity, equal treatment. So when we talk about social justice, it just means that we want to have equal rights and equitable opportunities for all. So today, my conversation is with Mercy George-Igbafe. She is a digital strategist, an Agile and data enthusiast, and she's the founder of Learntor. So Mercy, why don't you give us a elevator pitch about who you are and who is your superhero? You could even tell it from the voice of a superhero. You could take on their voice and persona.

Mercy:

Let me try, but I don't know how to impersonate people, but I'll try. First, until I see equal opportunity for everyone across all spectrum, whether you are Black, Hispanic, your sexual orientation, no matter what it is, especially the third world country, or 'til I see that happen, is the day that I feel as a human being. And that's how I started Learntor.

Mercy:

Learntor is built on the premise of a quote that I love so much. "True greatness is not in being great, but in the ability to make others great." That's what drives me. That's my motivation. Learntor focuses on training Agile digital skills in strong training, data analytics, business analysis. And the goal is because there aren't many opportunities. We have a lot of eye shift employees, rather, a lot of home shift that can actually swing around departments because of the skills that they have. And that's the gap Learntor is trying to bridge and to equally bring out the excellence in a lot of the black people that do not have opportunity to learn some of the skill, or started a bit late, but talking about social justice, it speaks to the core of who I am, not from a victim mentality, but from recognizing the opportunity that I can lean on as a business and maximize to make a difference in the world.

Dr. Dave:

Awesome. That's wonderful. So I wanted to just tap into about your social justice challenges that you may have faced in your community or even in your family.

Mercy:

Okay. First, I will start with family. I've gone through quite a bit of a deal. I say, life has thrown me real bitter lemons, bitter that really spikes in your... When you take it, you scream or your jaw goes clenching, but what I've always done consistently is how I'm going to move on. Is what next? What lesson am I going to learn from the experience? My social injustice task for my family, my father not accepting who I was in terms of, I didn't go seeking mistake. I had a child at 14. Unfortunately, I didn't go looking for it. It was as a result of sexual abuse. My daughter tells me I don't talk about it a lot, but even with that, I ended up in a police station where my dad had to take me with pregnancy and lock me up. But that's a long story, but then I'm going to tell my story.

Mercy:

It will really, it will make a lot of people weep, because all my life experiences is what drives, who I am today. So my social injustice starts from my family, especially my dad. My mom died very young. Unfortunately, when the stupid thing,