Immigrant Youth Leadership, Starting an Organization with Multiple Marginalized Identities, & Creating Community in a Virtual World with Tania Chairez, Founder of Convivir Colorado

00:00.18 | kitedart | All right? So hello everyone and welcome to today's session of now and center I am really really really excited about our my guest today. Um, those of you who know me know that I have a. Long history in the education system and honestly the work that my guest today is doing like oh gosh this makes me almost want to cry. Um, it really ah has a special place in my heart like I can remember back in. Um, now I'm gonna not know my years was it 2016 I guess um with yeah pre covered trump election right? and that I had you know kiddos of mine coming to school who were so upset and distraught of like I'm so afraid of.
00:38.78 | Tania Chairez | Pre covid.
00:56.33 | kitedart | What's gonna happen to my parents or to my sibling or to whoever in my family and is it gonna happen that Someday I show you know I come home from school and some of my family members aren't there and um, it was it was just such a heartbreak and and. You know all I could do was show up with a ton of love and a ton of like we're here and we're gonna support you but you know I couldn't I couldn't um I couldn't solve the problem I couldn't solve the challenge they were going through and then also to be like okay now sit down and do your schoolwork. Right? like that it just was like that just doesn't work. It's like this you know, got this this 1 little kid in particular won't say his name but I just am like I just want to give him a hug like you know how can I ask you to sit down and like focus on your schoolwork when you're afraid when you go home from school your family's not going to be there. So.
01:32.45 | Tania Chairez | And.
01:42.10 | Tania Chairez | This.
01:51.38 | kitedart | Um, that is my introduction I'm so happy that that we got introduced my guest today is tanya chidas and she is the founder of an organization called com be vierre colorado tanya welcome and thank you so much for being here.
02:04.46 | Tania Chairez | Thank you so much for inviting me I'm really excited to connect and to to share my story and to see what happens.
02:11.91 | kitedart | Yeah, it's it's awesome I think I mean I I we've only had what 1 conversation maybe a brief little bit and it's I'm so inspired by you and what you're doing so I think it's amazing I can't wait for you to share. So um, with that will you just share with our listeners today.
02:24.59 | Tania Chairez | Thank you.
02:30.60 | kitedart | A little bit about comview beer and the work you're doing and um and what brought you to this point and and I guess even part of that just like that I mean I think it's inherent but like the difference that you're making with the organization.
02:40.60 | Tania Chairez | Absolutely wow I mean there's so much that has gone into this organization I'll just start that by saying that my lived experience is really what brought me to this point I am an undocumented immigrant. Was born in chihua mexico just about 4 hours below the border I was raised in phoenix arizona under the pretty terrible watch of sheriff Joe arpaio who's made national headlines. And yeah I mean ultimately as ultimate.
03:13.16 | kitedart | And.
03:15.90 | Tania Chairez | As a young person just like experiencing racism and experiencing what it was like to feel not even just you know, excluded from society because of my status but also just hated on by society because of my immigrant identity and specifically my mexican identity. All of that just put together really fueled a passion for me to try and figure out how to make the world different so we could go much further in depth into the journey that took me here but you know if we're speaking in like broad terms I first went into education. Um I think. Many of the same reasons that other people go into education just like realizing that that is the reason I got this far that is the reason that I'm being as successful as I am that I had people who believed in me and I wanted to do that for others particularly as an undocumented mexican woman. I wanted to be able to stand in front of a classroom and say like here I am I'm your teacher let's connect. Let's talk and it was really incredible but staying in the classroom was not for me. There were so many boundaries and red lines and things that I couldn't do and. Things that I wanted to do that weren't letting me make a difference so you know fast forward many years and I started gombbi be colorado as a way to really provide a space for young people impacted by immigration to be their true authentic selves. Oftentimes I think when we think about immigrant youth and refugees and even like the children of immigrants and Refugees. We think or I think about oppression just straight up oppression or like veil oppression under assimilation and so oftentimes.
05:00.99 | kitedart | I.
05:04.15 | Tania Chairez | Students that that I work with have only ever faced resources that are like trying to get them to integrate or assimilate or like 1 of those but nothing that helps them just be and find that superpower. Ah, so that's what we're trying to do through storytelling and art and community building.
05:22.28 | kitedart | Ah I appreciate that so much and we did talk about this when we met right? The whole education thing and that's a whole another long conversation. But yeah I I I So appreciate that and um.
05:32.25 | Tania Chairez | Yes.
05:41.11 | kitedart | It's oh like again I'm I'm literally feeling like okay, let me think about what grade my previous students are in and make sure that they're connected with you because like I I do feel like I saw that so much right? and that that it was about how to get students and and I and I taught.
05:48.35 | Tania Chairez | Right.
05:59.80 | kitedart | Um, immigrant students in California as well as in colorado probably had more of them in California when I started teaching there but ah, you know that that need to assimilate and I and I think that this is true across a lot of different. Um. Marginalized ah communities identities right? that it's that it is about and and the whole idea of the melting pot right? and that as if the goal is that we all assimilate into this particular culture that honestly.
06:26.27 | Tania Chairez | Yes.
06:36.24 | kitedart | Um, I'm not such a huge fan of so and and I think a lot of us aren't.
06:37.10 | Tania Chairez | Right? Every single student that I work with brings in so much energy and just like they have their own unique expertise and and their lives are so rich. It's just such a shame to have them. Reflect back to me that they're hearing the world just wants them to fit in the world wants them to forget their first language. The world wants them to dress differently and yeah in Kovi vid. We just try to say no like you be you and we'll figure out how to how this works in Society. So.
06:56.61 | kitedart | Yeah.
07:11.68 | Tania Chairez | A lot of it definitely is building up their own just confidence in their identity as well as leadership skills because we also do have to function in this society and make sure that they're feeling successful in it.
07:20.59 | kitedart | Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, that makes perfect sense I Love that I Love that what? Ah what a gift What a gift like your students are so lucky to have you and and to have you committed to making this difference for Them. So Thank you?? um. And and not I'm going to argue not just the students right? I mean I think everybody benefits right by? um, bringing acceptance and authenticity and um, leaving space for all of the cultures. All of the different things and and all of the unique individual humans period right of.
07:44.27 | Tania Chairez | Absolutely.
07:57.89 | Tania Chairez | Yeah.
08:00.10 | kitedart | Letting them shine like absolutely I think that was 1 of my most frustrating parts of teaching was I just feel like it's like soul crushing and like authenticity crutch crushing and you know it's it's about yeah yeah.
08:07.43 | Tania Chairez | And. Yeah, everyone has to fit into a box. Yeah, and I think in particular I mean you mentioned the the Trump administration era was particularly hard for our immigrant community. So definitely trying to provide like a complete.
08:18.88 | kitedart | So.
08:23.49 | kitedart | Um, yeah, and.
08:28.52 | Tania Chairez | Completely different way of being after that is is really important.
08:30.64 | kitedart | Yeah, absolutely absolutely. It's going to take a lot of time I mean it's not even like before that we were where any of us would like us to be and that just took us. However, many steps backwards and it's just a lot of healing to come back from that and a lot of ground to.
08:37.15 | Tania Chairez | No, definitely not.
08:49.91 | kitedart | Recover and then there's a long ways to go from there. So so I love that? Um, so I'd love to I again I Just I really do appreciate what you're doing. So thank you for that I Just want to acknowledge you and thank you and I just think it's really amazing. Um I Want to.
09:01.82 | Tania Chairez | Thank you.
09:07.15 | kitedart | Which gears a little bit then and and talk with you tanya about your experience of starting and running this organization right? and and I know that this is a nonprofit organization. But I honestly believe that starting and running a nonprofit and a for profit There are some different challenges as it's different for every business owner. But There's so much. That's the same and I'd really love to hear about you know What's what have been some of the most challenging things and um and I'd love to layer on top of that you know looking at being a member of a historically excluded community and actually. Multiple historically excluded communities. How has that impacted that journey. Yeah.
09:49.37 | Tania Chairez | Absolutely oh my gosh where to begin I mean I guess I can start in like a practical sense something that I didn't know before or I guess I kind of knew but wasn't prepared for it before I became an entrepreneur I was like yes. Got this I understand I'm going to be putting in many hours for this organization that other people consider my baby my child. Um and now that I'm in it I'm just like realizing that I created an organization because I wanted something different right. My students need something different our families need something different something needs to change and yet it's so hard to create an organization that is different because funders community members stakeholders in general sometimes don't understand something that's different. And for me and the nonprofit world. What that looks like is just thinking through how many other executive directors I talked to that are like oh my gosh we have to be working sixty seventy hour weeks otherwise it's not okay, you're not doing entrepreneurship correctly and. What does it look like as someone who's promoting healing in our immigrant community to not be able to model just working a forty hour week I think about that all the time of just like I want to model for my community. What it looks like to be successful and to do it in a healthy way. That is not overworking me I mean I have this conversation with my own mother just like 2 ish weeks ago or something like that where I came to the realization and I said this out loud to her I was like Mom you did not migrate to a whole another country. For me to be breaking my back trying to you know work every second of every day for the sake of productivity and capitalism and she was like no I did not and so you know with that thought in mind I'm always trying to think of how can I continue having. Like new innovative organization in a space that doesn't welcome that um and and still try to challenge those spaces for sure. So that's definitely like the first thought that comes to my mind.
12:05.90 | kitedart | Um, yeah, yeah, Well I appreciate that so much and I you know the the way I approach the work that I do with entrepreneurs really is about um. Looking at that difference that we're committed to creating in the world and then doing our best to make sure that everything in the business aligns to that and to your point it's about um, having healing and taking care of ourselves and.
12:29.55 | Tania Chairez | Exactly.
12:39.67 | kitedart | You know, being true to who we are and I and I think it's really of utmost importance and especially right like so much of that is rooted in an oppressive culture, a white supremacist culture a patriarchal culture. Um, and that training that we get of we have to work hard. We have to struggle.
12:49.15 | Tania Chairez | Um, yes.
12:59.56 | kitedart | We have to be productive all the time and when you're running an organization that's trying to break down those oppressive systems. It's ah you know I hear and I hear and I get and I felt how how easy it is to still be influenced and caught up by those systems.
13:15.79 | Tania Chairez | Right.
13:19.34 | kitedart | Yeah, so so I really appreciate that and um I'd be curious to ask and I know you've got more to add about your experience so but just kind of on this topic I'd be curious to add like like I'm always working with my clients around.
13:27.19 | Tania Chairez | Right.
13:36.70 | kitedart | How can you really leverage your strengths your passions those kinds of things so that you can you know make have the organization work for you have the business work for you and that um we can break down. The toil struggle work hard be productive Yada Yada Yada So I'm just curious if you found any ways for yourself to to try to step out of that clearly calm.
14:04.61 | Tania Chairez | Um, yeah, yes, ah well I'm hoping I'm hoping this answers your question but actually 1 thing that's really helped me and even the organization on a broader context.
14:08.21 | kitedart | Got that moms are great for that or people in general but like I'm I'm curious what else you've you've come up with.
14:23.97 | Tania Chairez | Is giving so much more decision makingking power to people who are not me and for us it's particularly important to give decision-making power to our youth and so which is you know again, another like learning component for the organization as a whole.
14:28.48 | kitedart | Yeah.
14:34.17 | kitedart | Tab.
14:42.14 | Tania Chairez | Often My students will come to me expecting that I'll have answers and I just kind of turn the question back to them and I'm like well what do you think?? What do you want to? do we have X amount of money for that. What do you want to use it for um or you know like how much money do you when you need me to fundraise and so oftentimes I try to do focus on that. So that it feels like less of it is on me and then I can focus on the things that I need to get them for them to be successful. How much money do I need to raise for them to run the programming that they feel they need or you know, etc. Whatever it is.
15:15.69 | kitedart | Ah, boy and that's so rich in so many ways, right? like 1 when you're talking about being a nonprofit and how you're entering this us structure the system of structures that. Are very much rooted in those that you help don't have the voice right? and so and and yeah I love that and and it's such a service to them right? because as.
15:40.93 | Tania Chairez | Right? Have to flip the narrative.
15:52.71 | kitedart | Someone who was raised in our so you know school system and contributed to it for a whole bunch of years. Um I've I've come to terms with my guilt to over my complicity most of the time um felt like that. Ah.
15:59.52 | Tania Chairez | Um, well.
16:11.12 | kitedart | You know again, that's a huge gift and even if they are coming to you looking for those answers by you saying? Well, What do you think? and what can I do to support you to make that happen like that's so incredibly empowering and what ah you know. What a gift that is to them to to have you not only model sharing the power but giving them the voice and giving them the opportunity to to be empowered and to stand in their power and to use their voice where that's.
16:44.69 | Tania Chairez | Absolutely and it's so exactly it's and it's it blows my mind because it's so incredible. What happens when you do actually give young people power because they're actually.
16:47.87 | kitedart | Almost never what happens for youth period.
16:55.67 | kitedart | Yeah.
16:59.70 | Tania Chairez | So creative and they are ready to fight back against white supremacy and capitalism and heteronormativity and anything you can think of. They're just like no I have my own ideas about how the worlds would function and so that's always super super lovely in the realm of just like innovation and shifting power.
17:06.56 | kitedart | Yeah.
17:13.68 | kitedart | Yeah, yeah I Love it.
17:19.29 | Tania Chairez | Um, but also yeah, you know you had a question earlier around what does this look like particularly for me with all my identities and there's a lot there for sure. Um I'll mention that I grew up in poverty and then eventually moved into low income. I am of course an immigrant I'm bilingual but language english is my second language I'm bisexual so I'm part of the queer community I'm young. So most ceos are significantly older wiser more experienced than I am and I'm a woman. So all of these pieces and whatever other pieces that I haven't mentioned are part of my life have definitely impacted these past couple years of launching gomvi beat a lot of it is a lack of cultural capital and social access.
18:02.73 | kitedart | Um, yeah.
18:17.51 | Tania Chairez | I think I'm not at the point where other white men might be in launching businesses I don't have the connections I don't know exactly where to go to find certain things or where the resources are or how to acquire all of these things right? like it's sort of been like a. Hide and seek game for me and there's also all the perceptions that come with how I Present. So if I'm at a stakeholder meeting and I'm a young brown Latina woman they're going to see me significantly more differently than they would.
18:41.99 | kitedart | I.
18:56.67 | Tania Chairez | Someone else. So I know that coming into a meeting I have to prove that I'm amazing and the work that I'm doing is incredible and I have to do that Probably twice as hard as other people. Ah.
19:09.29 | kitedart | I.
19:11.76 | Tania Chairez | Because otherwise I don't get the money and I don't get the resources and I don't get the connections and that definitely has been very hard I feel like the learning curve has just been like so much and I'm functioning very very slowly and sometimes I actually will look at other organizations that were founded by. People with like ideas about how to change the educational landscape. Um, but maybe they were founded by people who had more financial resources or more connections. Um, or people who just looked differently than me and their growth like their ability to scale is so much faster.
19:46.29 | kitedart | Ah.
19:48.29 | Tania Chairez | I feel like I'm often just moving like at this like Snail pace of trying to prove to people that I'm doing things well and then gathering data and then doing it again and then just kind of moving very nice slowly.
20:00.35 | kitedart | Yeah, ah, it's so my business partner has this client who always says um, it's hard to tell where white supremacy is ends and professionalism begins and I feel like.
20:17.52 | Tania Chairez | Oath.
20:19.71 | kitedart | Right? Like that's I mean I think what you're saying is way more than that I'm you know I'm not trying to say it's just an issue. Yeah, but when you're talking about like your need to play the game or your need to.
20:24.87 | Tania Chairez | Yeah, but all the pieces interact. Yes.
20:36.43 | kitedart | That you've got to prove that many times more that you're deserving of the money that you know what you're doing that. You know what you're talking about that you et cetera, etc, etc. Like I mean 1 that makes me super angry and they totally get it like yeah I mean.
20:42.66 | Tania Chairez | To him.
20:52.93 | kitedart | Same same here. Even you know my business partner is Cis Hat White male and he's a great person and I love him and we've seen very I mean this is the thing we talk about all the time where we're like Okay yeah, we can see right there where there's a. A privilege that he's got by that identity versus me. Um you know and that's I find that to be incredibly frustrated sometimes and and um, yeah, so.
21:12.87 | Tania Chairez | Right.
21:21.30 | Tania Chairez | Yes I think.
21:27.00 | kitedart | 1 thing I'll just throw out right now is that if there is any way that I can use my connections and I think I've already promised you 1 thing so I'll make sure that happens but you know if there's any way like that's part of what what we are committed to doing is how can we use our privilege I mean even you being here today like. How can I use the privilege that I do have to support and lift other people up like to me. It's about this like idea of um, being co-conspirators in this work and that you know.
21:57.00 | Tania Chairez | Right.
22:00.44 | kitedart | So at the end all will will Maybe you can be thinking about like ways that anybody who wants to lift up what you're doing can engage further and support the work that you're doing because it's phenomenal and I think you're something else you wanted to say.
22:10.86 | Tania Chairez | Absolutely great. Yeah I was going to say a bookmark my thought for that conversation. But the previous thing that I was going to say was that 1 of the most frustrating pieces about all of this is when people doubt my expertise. Oh my gosh that is.
22:18.76 | kitedart | Hi.
22:26.44 | kitedart | Yeah, yeah, yeah.
22:30.45 | Tania Chairez | So frustrating I'm like not only do I have the lived experiences of the people I'm serving I am literally someone who is an immigrant multilingual multicultural I'm undocumented like I don't know what else you want me to do about that.
22:40.80 | kitedart | Um, yeah, yeah.
22:46.26 | Tania Chairez | Um, but then also the fact that I always have to say like oh this is where I got my bachelor's this is where I got my master's this is like the kinds of expertise that I have and why I am this important person that you should listen to and that just gets exhausting you know because at that point I don't even get to feel good about those things.
22:50.23 | kitedart | Yeah.
23:02.75 | kitedart | Um, yeah.
23:04.25 | Tania Chairez | I Just feel like those are things I have to do to showcase my expertise.
23:07.40 | kitedart | Yeah, oh yeah, so yeah, well and I think earlier you said something about being younger and not having as much wisdom and even when you said that I was like oh no, you've got a lot of wisdom like you do and and it's maybe not a wisdom that comes from age but it is the wisdom that comes from a lived experience.
23:19.10 | Tania Chairez | Yeah.
23:26.62 | kitedart | Experience that is beyond what a whole lot of other folks have had and it is really valuable and um, yeah, it isn't It's I get it and and that just because of your. Color of your skin your Genitalia What side of the border you were born on etc etc that experience and what you know is devalued. Yeah, not Okay, yeah.
23:52.72 | Tania Chairez | Yeah, it's been a long journey for sure. But you know 1 thing I will say about the immigrant community and those of us who have had to face hardships not only from like a country of origin or like the journey of migration. But also now once here, the Us government and everyone around us is like we are strong people and I know that if my parents can come to this country at an age younger than me learn a whole new language and figure out how to get their kids into school and everything that comes with that then I can do anything.
24:15.89 | kitedart | Kind of.
24:29.35 | Tania Chairez | I can start a business I can go sit in rooms with white funders and tell them to give me back my money that belongs to me.
24:36.15 | kitedart | Yeah I love that? Yes, yeah, awesome. Awesome and I do want to get into a coaching conversation but that reminds me because I think that we've had a brief conversation about how um you also are looking at how you can increase.
24:43.39 | Tania Chairez | Um, yes.
24:53.92 | kitedart | Um, fee for service kinds of stuff to kind of um, deep not derail but like sidetrack circumvent the whole Grant funder. All of that process. Yeah.
24:54.19 | Tania Chairez | Spin case.
25:03.88 | Tania Chairez | Yes, I'm trying to diversify my funding stream for sure. Um, it's interesting because I don't yet know exactly how all the pieces of being an entrepreneur work.
25:11.61 | kitedart | Yeah.
25:21.60 | Tania Chairez | And so fee for service has been 1 of those interesting pieces where I'm still learning because in theory I can get many contracts with schools to provide all these incredible services curriculum that aligns with the department of education migrant standards like everything social Emotionalal learning I mean you name it. Um, and yet I'm still like trying to figure out how to package it and how to price it and how to acquire the contracts so fee for service right now our income from that is very low where I know in the future. It could be much much higher.
25:41.85 | kitedart | Have.
25:52.90 | kitedart | Yeah, yeah, honestly, um, what when I was when I was in schools like this what you know would have been absolutely invaluable to me. Um. I had a lot of empathy for my students but did I know all of the things that I could potentially be doing to support them. No, right? like that isn't my experience and um I So so 1 I think.
26:20.26 | Tania Chairez | Yeah.
26:29.19 | kitedart | Coming from that side of things like absolute I think you've got a huge opportunity and and I think just for for the folks out there listening I think that what you're doing is so smart to be looking at at how you can diversify your income and how you can use fee for service because. Um, you know as as you've already brought up before like being a nonprofit.. There's some real inherent I think I think that a lot of the traditional structures in place for nonprofits are very oppressive in and of themself and so.
27:05.84 | Tania Chairez | So much. Yeah, absolutely absolutely and we're community facing you know? So ultimately I feel like community should have a much bigger stakehold.
27:09.00 | kitedart | What you can do to step outside of that I think is really really impactful. Yeah.
27:23.11 | Tania Chairez | In how our organization functions then funders I Want to be bottom up not top down and that requires a much different system.
27:24.65 | kitedart | Um, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah I Love that I Love that and super cool. Um, Okay so. Um, like to have a little coaching conversation right? again you know, just just I love getting your story out there and then whatever we can do to support other folks who are other entrepreneurs who are out there working their way through this. So I know you were thinking of a topic for a quick.
27:55.70 | Tania Chairez | Yes, absolutely So anyone who's working in the education field right now and actually it might apply much broader than that knows that covid and shutdowns really affected everything and changed how.
27:58.50 | kitedart | Coaching conversation. Will you introduce that.
28:14.83 | Tania Chairez | I deliver all of my services and so I do a lot more things virtually online through Zoom or other platforms like Zoom Um, which makes it very hard for me to build a culture like a cohesive culture where I'm really. Students feel like they're part of the Co kombbivi community feel like they have a support of people and not just like strangers. They've never met in real life before but little like bobbing heads on a screen it just it has like a little bit of a distancing Factor. So right now I'm really just trying to brainstorm like what does that look like because it really.
28:39.99 | kitedart | Um.
28:51.63 | Tania Chairez | Seems like we're going to stay at the very least in in a hybrid format for a while.
28:55.16 | kitedart | Right? Yeah, ah, it's such a good topic so rich. Ah, we've toyed with you know, going back to doing things in person and you know, ah, it's just a hard time to do that. So I totally got it. Um I think. First question. So for me too when I approach coaching it's not like I have your answers you have your answers right? So kind of kind of the same way you go to your students right? and I and I think that that even brings it up like 1 is you know to what extent have you brought this challenge to the students themselves.
29:21.31 | Tania Chairez | Yeah.
29:33.33 | kitedart | I'm not sure if you brought that 1 already or not.
29:33.64 | Tania Chairez | I have and you know if they're very funny. They're great and they're basically like Miss. We just needed meet in person and I'm like I understand that that's your preference but also is it the safest thing for us. No definitely not. Um. Will say we've tried like different platforms to see if maybe they're just way to use 2 google meets and zoom and and changing up the platform feels a little bit more exciting so that works for a little bit just to try a different platform right now we're using gathertown which has.
29:53.47 | kitedart | Um.
30:08.60 | kitedart | Oh.
30:10.75 | Tania Chairez | Yeah, it has the ability to like change backgrounds and different interactive things. Ah so it seems like that's working but it's still hard. So the best we've come up with is to try and do more things in ah in a hybrid capacity just like. Even if we're doing seventy five percent virtually like is there a way for us to meet in person to to do like a little celebration or 1 on ones for coffee. Um, yeah I don't know that's really as far as we've gotten.
30:39.19 | kitedart | Um, yeah, yeah, so he is so here's my other wondering then um, tell me and maybe you're going to think this is a stupid question but but when you think About. What makes it work so well to be in person like what makes it easy to connect with people and build that culture of cohe that cohesive culture when you're in person.
31:00.21 | Tania Chairez | And then.
31:09.15 | Tania Chairez | I mean my first instinct is to say that there's so much more opportunity to see people in their fullness I think there is a different presentation that we give to people on a screen.
31:17.99 | kitedart | Then.
31:26.31 | Tania Chairez | Like you maybe only see half of me. Maybe my face is blurry depending on the internet connection. Maybe the space I'm in is very Loud. So I'm not talking too much and I'm just typing all of those things are factors in me being able to get the full version of you that I possibly can. And when you're in person like there could be distractors but I'll see body language I'll see I'll like feel vibes like how do you even standardize vibes right? like feeling a student's vibes is so important.
31:54.24 | kitedart | Yeah, yeah, honestly, it's It's been super interesting to me because person like I'm a pretty highly sensitive person and I absolutely can feel vibes virtually but like it's because it's so funny to me because even when I do group things. Like I Love people a lot and I like group things but I like it. They're super draining for me and they still are virtually as opposed to 1 on 1 It's very interesting. It's kind of this thing I think about all the time but and I also get that it's Harder. So I Wonder is there a way.
32:19.42 | Tania Chairez | Um.
32:32.99 | kitedart | That you can tap into um, challenging them to challenging the community to bring more of themselves than just the here we are in the screen and you've got shoulders up and you know I mean like i've. I've met um in the past couple months I've met some of my clients who I've never met in person I've met them in person and 1 thing we all have talked about is how height is a thing that you literally just can't figure out online. So is there something you can do to like create some relatedness around how tall.
32:56.43 | Tania Chairez | Oh my gosh? Yes, yeah.
33:05.90 | Tania Chairez | So.
33:07.53 | kitedart | People are or the space around them or you know, bringing something from their home into the conversation or I don't just maybe inviting some more ways for them to bring some relatedness um into.
33:15.76 | Tania Chairez | Um, yeah.
33:25.47 | kitedart | Ah, interactions.
33:25.15 | Tania Chairez | I Love that and I I particular particularly love the example of height because I've been thrown off by that so many times too. But yeah, no, that's so true if there's ways for them to just bring it in to the little box in the little screen then.
33:32.30 | kitedart | Yeah.
33:39.69 | kitedart | Um, yeah, yeah, and maybe you know I mean like height that's like you know I'm like oh everybody can stand next to the door and you know or I don't even know but like there's there's an access issue in terms of what's your.
33:42.32 | Tania Chairez | We could build up more of that culture for sure.
33:56.11 | kitedart | Computer set up and how movable or not movable or whatever is it. But there's I think there's a lot of different ways you could bring bring in some more relatedness. Um, another another thing I I thought of that I could suggest um I don't have your answers but but a suggestion I um.
33:58.30 | Tania Chairez | Yeah.
34:10.88 | Tania Chairez | Um.
34:15.50 | kitedart | This was actually even before covered I took part in this group program but it was virtual and it was just people literally from across the country. The person leading it was in Florida I met this wonderful, beautiful, fabulous person in Atlanta we still stay in touch. You know 3 and a half years later um, was we did 1 on once when you were talking about the 1 on 1 coffee was even before we started our group program we had to do 1 on ones with at least I don't know 2 or 3 people in the group but just so that.
34:43.78 | Tania Chairez | Um, um.
34:47.78 | kitedart | We started building some relationship just by having a phone conversation before the first session so that when we got in the first session there was a little more comfortability now I I know youth aren't really big I don't know I have 2 teenage daughters. They're not super big on phone calls.
34:50.70 | Tania Chairez | The whom.
35:03.29 | Tania Chairez | Ah, no, definitely not.
35:06.44 | kitedart | But is there again if it's not a phone call but is there some way to start building some of those individual relationships that will give them more comfortability when they get into the group just an idea.
35:15.99 | Tania Chairez | Right? I Almost think of that as like replicating the moments when you're chatting with people when you're grabbing coffee at a conference you know they have the coffee setup and then you go to sit down and you always like hey who are you hi so that makes sense for sure I have to do some brainstorming.
35:21.57 | kitedart | Um, yeah.
35:28.22 | kitedart | Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I think yeah I think for you if it's hard too. So Also if there are ways that you can give them some structure. Um not because you want to dictate what they're doing but just because again I think that it's I Think. As awkward as that can be for a lot of adults I think sometimes it can be even more awkward for youth who haven't navigated that right like when they're really little. They're on the playground and it's like hi. Do you want to play you know, but then you get to that age where it's like.
35:50.24 | Tania Chairez | Yes.
35:57.47 | Tania Chairez | Yeah.
36:02.46 | kitedart | How do I do this? What do I talk about you know So I don't know.
36:03.66 | Tania Chairez | Yeah I think part of it might also just be like playing around with more virtual platforms that offer different capacities because Zoom is great for just like breakout rooms and things like that. But it's hard to manage the students who don't really want to.
36:13.44 | kitedart | And.
36:21.55 | Tania Chairez | Talked who person they just met so definitely thinking through that like flipped classroom like what can you do outside of the meeting that is really going to help.
36:27.84 | kitedart | Yeah, yeah, maybe even some games I don't and maybe that sounds kind of corny but you know yeah, totally totally a little harder to do virtually but not impossible. So.
36:32.41 | Tania Chairez | No, it's great I Love playing games with students because they get really into it. Yeah.
36:44.84 | kitedart | Okay, so I have 2 more things I'd love to ask and and I know we need to get things wrapped up but thank you so much for sharing sharing. Um, just your story and um your journey through entrepreneurship as you do this? Um I Definitely would love to give folks away that if they'd like to engage with you further. Um, we'll include links in the podcast listing but you know what?? what? how could people support you. What?? what could they do to engage.
37:10.76 | Tania Chairez | Absolutely so when you mentioned that earlier I actually thought back to my community organizing mindset. That's really how I was trained and before I was even an educator and when we talk about power. We talk about 3 types of power. We talk about.
37:19.94 | kitedart | Yeah.
37:29.48 | Tania Chairez | Ah, money power which is the easiest to understand we talk about positional power. So if you have more of an authority somewhere than I do what does it look like for you to support me and then we have people power. So if you gather enough people. What can many people do that 1 person can do by themselves and so.
37:31.92 | kitedart | Um, yeah.
37:48.25 | Tania Chairez | I invite whoever's listening to to support me in any of those 3 categories whether it's you know the the money category the positionality support the the people support all of those are incredibly helpful and I mean we're still startups so we sort of need everything. Ah.
37:51.60 | kitedart | I Love it.
38:04.30 | kitedart | Perfect, Perfect perfect.
38:07.20 | Tania Chairez | But y'all can find us. You can find me on Linkedin and then you can find Kombby V on our kombbiveed Colorado Dot Org website.
38:12.41 | kitedart | Awesome! Well tanya. Thank you so much for being with us here today I really appreciate the work you're doing I think it's amazing I am definitely gonna contribute in the ways that I can to the work that you're doing and um. Thanks for being on now and center. Yeah, oh my mouth.
38:29.64 | Tania Chairez | Absolutely thank you for having me.