IMPACT LEARNING

Today, Maria talks with Jordan Levy, who is the Executive Director and Founder of CapSource, an education company bridging the skills gap between the professional work environment and higher ed. CapSource enables collaboration between industry partners, universities and their students, through custom experiential learning that exposes students to new circumstances with real stakeholders, challenges, and outcomes.

Through a combination of software and services, CapSource helps educators match with companies and design projects based on specific academic requirements. They have leveraged 200+ company partners to provide learning experiences to 3,000+ students at more than 50 institutions around the globe.

Jordan started his first company, called Real Time Cases, while an undergraduate at Lehigh University while studying Accounting, Finance, and Entrepreneurship. Together we explore Jordan’s learning journey and how his experience in college inspired him to impact the higher ed system through experiential learning.

Tune in for an insightful conversation about the future of higher ed with a serial education technology entrepreneur who has been named one of the 30 under 30 by Forbes Magazine.

This week, Maria talks with Geetha Murali, who is the CEO of Room to Read, a global organization transforming the lives of millions of children through literacy and gender equality in education. Room to Read was founded in 2000 on the belief that World Change Starts with Educated Children®.

Together we dive into the model of Room to Read that focuses on sustainable transformation within schools in low-income countries during two time periods that are most critical in a child’s schooling: primary school for literacy acquisition and secondary school for girls’ education. Room to Read has benefited 16.8 million children in 37,000 schools and aims to reach 20 million children by 2020. 

Tune-in to listen to an inspiring conversation with a person who has been recognized by WIRED as a leader who will shape the next 25 years.

Maria shares with us her Library story - a story about books and access to learning resources.

This episode is for you if you want to learn how not to waste learning resources, share them with others, and even create shared learning resources.

Maria talks about her special relationship with the library - through her story and the story of her mother - that led her to support her local library through the Impact Learning Fund.

Tune in to learn how you can also get involved in empowering others by creating shared learning resources.

Today, Maria talks with Michelle Welsch, a social entrepreneur, who founded the Learning House, a community learning center that offers free workshops, paid classes and scholarships to promote education and leadership in Pokhara, Nepal. She is the CEO and founder of Khata Life, a non-profit organization in the US.

With a background in psychology and social work and after working for a branding company and then freelancing in New York City, Michelle left for Nepal for a two-week trip and never really came back to the US.

Get inspired by our conversation that is full of zest and energy, just like our guest!

This week, Maria talks with John Kavyavu, who is the Executive Director of Mavuno, a financially, socially, and environmentally sustainable non profit organization that serves the Congolese farmer. During his journey as a social entrepreneur, John has founded and managed startups businesses and NGOs in Africa and in the US.

His biggest dream has always been to be a part of the solution in ending extreme poverty in Africa and in particular, the Democratic Republic of Congo where he was born and raised. He has served in different organizations including Pro-Microfinance International that he co-founded to provide financial services and technical assistance to Congolese entrepreneurs from low income families.

Tune-in to listen from a visionary social entrepreneur who was inspired by his mother to imagine a better future for his home country, one of the most devastated places on earth.

This week, Maria talks with Sana Sabah, who is the cofounder and CEO of SHURUA(R)T, a startup in India that provides an online marketing platform to help student artists sell their work.

When Sana was not able to find a job after completing her masters in mass communication and journaling, she decided to join SHURUA(R)T as a content writer intern and ended up becoming the CEO of the startup.

Under her leadership, they were able to evolve their mission that today empowers artists to develop skills and their career while they teach art to Government primary schools. During “Let's Start Art” sessions, they improve the cognitive abilities of children by giving them the freedom to create art as they listen and visualize a story.

Tune in to hear from an inspiring entrepreneur who found her calling in grooming artists and bringing art to government primary schools in India.

Today, Maria talks with Matt Severson, who is a Harvard MBA and the founder of The School Fund whom she met when she started serving on The School Fund board.

When his mom showed Matt the importance of helping a stranger, she ignited his passion for helping those in need. Many years later, after he met a student named John in Tanzania who could not afford going to high school, Matt decided to found The School Fund and John became the first student they supported.

Matt talks about the small dent he wants to make in the world by working to solve two big problems: climate change and poverty in developing countries. He currently contributes his part by working at Tesla, and serving as the Board Chair of The School Fund that he founded in 2009.

We hope this conversation will inspire you to consider supporting students who need an extra hand to complete their education and improve the quality of life for themselves, their families and communities.

This week, we have a special episode for you to celebrate the holiday season.

Maria asked children to share what they learned this year and what they want to learn soon. Their responses blew us away and made us laugh out loud.

We hope you will get as much joy out of this episode as we did. Enjoy listening and Happy Holidays!

Description:

This week, Maria shares with us her Money Story. 

She unpacks her philosophy on money that led her to create the Impact Learning Fund to support those who need a hand in accessing learning and education resources so they can also advance their life the way she did.

Tune in to learn how you can also get involved in empowering others through learning.

This week, Maria talks with Sharon Hancock, who has been a homeschool teacher and parent for fifteen years.

Throughout her homeschooling journey, Sharon has met hundreds of families who are all on a quest for the best education for their children. She has seen as many different ways to homeschool as there are personalities.

And yet one principle stands true across the board: The heart of homeschooling is not about the academics and the books; it's the intangibles that influence and mold the children, the things that enable them to grow, mature, and succeed, to dream big and accomplish more than they would in a traditional school setting.

We hope this conversation inspires you to think deeply about the learning journey of your children and consider opportunities far beyond their conventional education.