[00:00:27] Jay: Lucky enough to be joined by Zoraida Cordero, founder and CEO of Impactful Solutions. Zoraida, how are you?
[00:00:33] Zoraida: I'm doing very well. Thank you so much for having me, Jay.
[00:00:37] Jay: You're very welcome. We spoke, I think you're randomly connected through LinkedIn. A couple months back, I really just connected with your positive kind of personality and vibe. And it made a lot of sense to have you on the show. So thank you for giving us some of your time. let's take it back to the beginning. Where'd you grow up and, what impact did that have on your entrepreneurial journey?
[00:01:00] Zoraida: so I grew up in New York City, Queens, and the impact that they had in being an entrepreneur, but just being community oriented was, I grew up in a melting pot. New York City is full of a lot of cultures, but Queens specifically is influenced by culture, diversity, and inclusion, and when you think of all the intersectionalities of poverty and other disproportional issues that impact families.
Living in Queens, I didn't realize that these were the circumstances that were affecting my family, and affecting other families because we were all living through it together and I believe my family did a really good job at. keeping me safe and not exposing me to the poverty that we were experiencing.
and that allowed me to not only find resources within the community, but also it, once I got out of it, the child in me, the adult that was able to analyze that, realize that there aren't much communities like Queens and families who are experienced in poverty, having access to the resources that I had in my family had at the tip of their hands.
Along with the diversity of the space, I've never experienced a space like Queens of how welcoming, regardless of our different values and beliefs, everyone was. And that inspired me and has impacted everything that I've done in my life with leading with diversity and inclusion, but actually living with that mindset.
And never keeping anyone out of the table. So it definitely inspired me to be who I am. and inspired my business in so many ways as well.
[00:02:38] Jay: Love that. I had your background up and, my goodness, what a bunch of stuff. It's, you clearly have nothing going on, but, area of director for the Foundation for Suicide Prevention, adjunct professor at Drexel. you do a lot of volunteer work. how do you keep Your, your cup full, as they say.
I don't really love that saying, but how do you keep your energy bar full, to make sure you have enough to go around for everybody?
[00:03:04] Zoraida: So great question. Sometimes I don't even know how I do it myself, but the thing that pushes me is the passion and why I do the things that I do. I believe in myself. and I believe in the work that I'm doing and. With that being said, I also believe in change and transforming lives through civic engagement, which is what I do at Drexel.
being an adjunct professor, I believe that the students who are in the classroom have the opportunity, regardless of the career that they decide to move forward with to impact communities. just being exposed to what it means to be civically engaged allows them to figure out or understand what their impact is in transforming lives or if they can be a part of a positive change or a negative change.
thinking about my background as a social worker and How it's all interconnected. I am a macro social worker, and I believe that everything in this space is holistic from understanding how Environments and individuals are impacted but then also taking into account mental health, which is my background in psychology and how the brain cognitively functions to those impacts in the community and the environment and connecting all those pieces I see things holistically where you can't fix one thing without fixing other parts.
which is why I'm very much community centered and oriented. I know that we need a village, but more than a village, we need to strategize how it is that we work together. And that has allowed me to truly understand that if I'm not open minded to how I help people, and if I'm not open minded, With how I balance myself avoiding burnout.
I can't successfully help people. So I do a really good job at Balancing the burnout and I think all of us experience burnout but also leaning on individuals who are experts in specific needs. I don't claim anything as mine. I like to work with others and I think that has been helpful in more ways, knowing that I'm not the only one that could help, knowing that, it's not about what Zoraida is doing.
It's about how we could work together. And I believe for me that has allowed me to just maintain a sense of clarity, a sense of. Time management. Am I great at it? Absolutely not, because when I do have time, I volunteer. It's just it's so natural to me to just be a part of that, and aside from it being natural, I do love volunteering, and I do love being a part of the community.
Not because I'm saying, Oh, I want to hold someone's hand and help them change their life. It's more because I am a part of that transformation. I'm not saying you need me, but I'm honored to be in your space to be a tool for you to be able to grow. And that's a completely different feeling. It's empowering to me.
it's not about needy and I don't like the word needy, but it's a term that's used. It's more of understanding that people already have their power. They're using their power to allow you to be in their presence. How do you use that to Influence or be a support and a tool and I think with that also you learn balance because last thing you want to be is a savior and burn out And then you truly don't help anyone or you don't feel like you're doing enough Because it's about your expectations and not about the people you're connecting with.
[00:06:31] Jay: I love that. A few things that stood out. I think you're totally right that, just from a societal perspective, we like to put things in buckets to separate them, and mental health is this thing, and community outreach is this thing, and civic engagement is this thing, but, Like you said, it is all just one thing.
it's all just like everybody figuring out what the hell we're doing here. What's the best way to go forward and like how do we grow, positive change around us. So I love all that. so tell me about Impactful Solutions. What's your elevator pitch? what's your 30 second, here's what we do and here's how we can help people.
What's your, what's your pitch?
[00:07:09] Zoraida: So Impactful Solutions is all about helping grassroots organizations and grassroots leaders to find the best way to grow the organization, understand their mission, understand their strategy, and then from there, be able to get access to grant opportunities and grow their organization, whether it's through staff, volunteers, or financial means.
The reason behind, I gave you my pitch, but the reason behind it was I know how privileged I am and fortunate I am to have. Be able to gone to a university and have a master's degree, and a bachelor's degree, and also a lot of that came through being in the military, being a veteran, and I have some knowledge that I've acquired from the military as a human resource specialist, combining.
My accreditations to universities. I understand that it's expensive. And I also understand that it's obviously not everyone wants to gatekeep, but it is a gatekeeping model where you have to pay for these research articles in your university's library and everything is. access to it, but also financial access to things.
And through working in communities and working with grassroots leaders, I realized that I have this knowledge, because I'm adaptive. Also, I can be able to translate everything that I've learned and share that information. and obviously I've done it for free and I think there's so much power in that.
but also if I can. Be effective and do it at an affordable price rate Using that knowledge to help other people is going to allow me to continue to provide For bonus services and support people on the other end The growth. This isn't an admission statement, but the growth of Impactful Solutions would be is using my experience with those grassroots nonprofits and leaders to connect with corporations that have pools of funding and communicate with them how they can create, community well being and growth for those organizations by being able to translate to them.
If you support this organization, this is the best way for you to give back. and on the other end, I hope to get to the space through my experience and knowledge where I'm able to translate to leaders. Trust and being able to share X amount of funding with the trust that the organization will use it the best way that they need to use it without the restrictions.
I would love to get to that avenue in my, my, my business with impact for solutions. Because I can continue to help build things, but at the end of the day, these nonprofit organizations and these leaders need access to funding, and there are so many restrictions, especially to grassroot leaders that inhibit them from being able to access hundreds and millions of dollars.
So I think it's a very inequitable space that I'm looking forward to tap into using evidence from being able to be a consultant and supporting these leaders and grassroots organizations.
[00:10:18] Jay: I don't think anybody could on planet Earth could. argue your, altruistic mission and just your personality. But I'm curious, how do you balance kind of personal profit? And you mentioned a little bit of it. the goal is to continue to be able to do the things that you want to do and to volunteer and that sort of stuff.
But, it's It's like the nonprofit model, right? It's like, how much does the senior executive get paid at a nonprofit versus, like a corporation, like there's a big difference there, but they're still getting paid. So I'm curious, how do you just internally, because there's things that you want as a human being and as a, a growing person and all these things that you, but how do you balance that material gain, personal wealth?
with the mission which is very much outward facing. So how do you internally balance those two things?
[00:11:14] Zoraida: I think internally I balance it by understanding that in order to help individuals, you need oxygen yourself. and you need to have your own financial wealth. And my goal isn't to be... the richest person in the room. but I grew up from a background in generational poverty and I would love for my children to have the opportunity to thrive in ways that I didn't.
and in order to do that, I have to set myself up for success, but that doesn't mean that I'm not inclusive and adaptive to. What it means to provide equitable price rates, right? Depending on what your organization's at and where you are at and building or even developing your nonprofit, maybe you don't even have it written.
There is different levels of charge and price ranges that I have. and obviously that's something that I disclosed in a meeting, but I don't believe in taking advantage of someone to prosper. I believe in doing things equitably on the other end. I donate. A lot of my funding, even when in my personal day to day work, I love to give back and I, again, I'm not the richest person, but I believe in giving a little something goes a long way versus giving nothing at all.
so I'm very strategic with knowing. There's a blessing in that. How do I bless someone else? and it's allowed me to keep a balance and explain that to individuals. One of the you, you touched on something that's very near and dear in my heart, and hopefully one day I'm able to advocate for that.
Unfortunately, the social service space And the public sector space in the non profit area doesn't give much revenue to social workers or just people in that avenue. And it's so frustrating because if you look at the history about, behind it and who are being served, that's how they identify how much funding is available to an organization, and how much federal or government funding goes into the organization, or when you're giving donations, how much of that goes into operations, which is staff.
So it impacts the salaries that people are receiving and it's so frustrating because the balance, the ratio to financial stability and the salaries that people are receiving is inequitable across the country. You want people to create prosperity. For underserved individuals while you're also putting them in those same circumstances So it's very inequitable and I believe there's so much more work that needs to happen in that space because In the past it was seen as well.
you're given back even though you have this career your job should be about being humble and being mindful that you're serving people that are vulnerable, which is absolutely correct, but not through my own sacrifices. Again, going back to the model of oxygen, you need to have your own oxygen mask on before you give someone else oxygen because there's no way you're going to be able to help them.
So how is it that we are providing low wages? Low access or equitable lack of equitable access to health benefits and expecting people to be able to provide their best service or expecting people not to burn out. And lastly, expecting people not to transition out, which is a major problem for success when individuals don't have consistent services being provided.
we can go into that rabbit hole any other time. I don't want to dive you
[00:14:57] Jay: No, that's, I think those are all great answers. As a, I would consider myself as well. Very lucky, very. Privilege, very, name the, list the, mid 30s white guy list of things that, I believe that I have access to that a lot of other people don't. Something that I do struggle with, and I'm curious what your take would be on it, is, um, I'm far away from the city. I'm 35, 40 minutes away from Philadelphia proper. I have five kids, a bunch of different ranges, and I would love for them... And myself to give back to people who need it. Now I can tell you, I just feel like in our area, people don't, I'm not gonna say they don't need it, but there's certainly a big disparity between, middle bucks County and downtown Philadelphia.
So how would you suggest? People in my situation or in the suburbs or kind of outside of the city that don't see this stuff on a day to day basis we all take our trips to the city and we see the Kensington and we see the bad areas and we go. Oh my god, that's so crazy And then we scuttle our way back out to safety in the suburbs. How would you suggest that people like me and People like me who have kids that want to get their kids involved in things to help people What's a good kind of first step to do that for people who actually need it?
[00:16:20] Zoraida: It's a great question. All your questions have been great.
[00:16:23] Jay: Oh, thank
[00:16:23] Zoraida: of course. there are two things I want to highlight. The first thing is avoiding the savior complex. And not that you're there, by any means, you're not. But when you're providing help, doing it from a space of wanting to give back, because you're passionate about the cause or you care about the cause versus feeling bad about it.
Severe sadness and pity for someone, and wanting to say that my, my efforts did this, I think that mindset will allow you to also see the volunteer aspect of it, right? Some people just want to donate their money, but want nothing to do or be involved with the cause. And that's fine. No judgment to those individuals.
But there seems to be definitely a level of disconnect, right? Being open to getting involved is something that You have to do some research in. the reason why I say that is, obviously there's certain areas of Philadelphia that aren't the most welcoming. And, I can imagine, are not everyone's type of tea.
But, they're, it's someone's everyday life. And, using that mindset to decide, can I... eight hours or four hours to clean up a community that I'm not very happy to be in, but knowing that my efforts can go a long way, right? Where's a mindset shift and understanding that this is someone's everyday life,
[00:17:48] Jay: How do you connect with that, though? That's a great point about the Savior Complex, and I would and that's why I asked the question because it's very easy to just be like, we'll go clean up a park in South Philly and then we'll feel better about ourselves, but what sort of resources or like, how do you even find out about things that you could connect with to care about In a space that you don't live, that you know that needs it.
we all know that there's lots of places in Phil that need help, but just from where we're sitting, I'm sure there's a bunch of websites that could go on to,
donate time and money, but it's like, where do, how do I really find
somewhere that I would genuinely feel like we could help, and it's not this just, box we're checking to feel better about ourselves?
[00:18:26] Zoraida: So I think the best way is really identifying what you like. What are you interested in? And also, I tell this to my civic engagement students. What is your passion and career in? Why? Because if you are doing IT, there, I promise you, there are nonprofits that are working in IT and trying to create future leaders of tomorrow in this space and in this industry.
Who could use your hours to do that or your specialties to help? And you can volunteer in that air avenue, right? But I think it's first honing in on what you care about and what your skill sets are and using that to then decide, all right. Let me Google, is there an organization in Philadelphia that supports that?
For example, for me, the reason why I get involved in a lot of community cleanups, it's not because I want to give back, I actually care about environmental justice. And I believe that when your community is not clean, it affects your mental health, and how you feel about where you're from. So my belief in that, my passion in that allows me to say, Alright, I would love to clean up a community.
Or when you're thinking about food insecurity, I was impacted by that as a child. So what are the organizations right now that I could donate my goods to, should, before they expired? Or, that I can help with food pantries and distribute, food distribution? Lastly, it's again. I think it's truly using the internet to your advantage, right?
You could we're talking about volunteering, but it's truly just civic engagement. There are so many ways to get involved from supporting seniors at nursing homes from cleaning up the community which we've already discussed to actually being able to provide sessions on anything that you're really good at or free yoga classes.
There are so many things that you can do phoning in on what it is that you like and you would like to give back. I promise you there's an organization out there that would greatly say, Hey Jay, sign up and come talk to teenagers about creating a podcast. but it's finding if you want to do that. And if you want to get involved because the true thing is that's how you avoid the saber complex And also the idea of it being a pity thing, right?
We're like, oh, I feel bad. So I want to give back It's more of like I actually am really good at this. I have some time Sure, i'd love to educate the future leaders of tomorrow or some families It gives value to you, if you're looking for that feel good feeling and I know The humbleness is i'm not doing this to feel good about myself But if you do feel good the likelihood of you coming back and doing it again are very high versus that one and done deal so that's why I do believe it's important to really hone in on what it is that you're interested in Or what skills you have And then researching on the other end instagram is amazing if you find a non profit That you like on the internet.
I promise you they already are in instagram They're on twitter or tiktok if you want to see what they're about go check out their socials and it would allow you to get at least a dive into Are you able to show up? Do you think this, you have the same values? I think that's so important because you're choosing, you're spending your time to do something that you're wanting to get back at back in.
So learn that, lastly, LinkedIn, people can connect with me. I know many organizations that would love to have volunteers. So if anyone, in your audience wants to. Figure out a nonprofit and they're unsure where to start. Absolutely. Sent me a message. but aside from me, there are multiple community leaders and, political leaders that would gladly be able to share information with you.
So if you're nervous. about showing up to an organization and you'd rather do it through someone that you know, use your network to your advantage. or reach out to people. I can't speak for everyone else, but I'm a person who's very friendly and welcoming. And if you need help, Reach out I will make myself available.
and I will connect you the best way that I can I know that some people feel skittish about that linkedin could be an interesting space sometimes I am here for good and to be welcoming but honestly use If you're nervous, reach out to someone in your network. If you are confident, then Google, what your interest is.
And if you just want to focus it on the skill that you have and you want to give back using your skill set, then use that to inspire you as to what you want to connect with via the internet. Or a lot of things are also remote as well. So there, there's a lot of opportunities. I truly just think you should go with.
what feels good to you and what that means. because at the end of the day, I say this often, these individuals, not these, all of us were surviving before we had a tool. And if you remove that tool one way or another, we're going to figure it out and continue to survive. So with that being said, we're here to provide a resource, but that person's life does not depend on that resource.
It doesn't make us any special. What does make it special is how often we're available to that person, intentional those supports and services are, and that is where you're able to be a benefit and an influence in someone's life or someone's community. But understanding that we will survive one way or another were humans were conditioned to be able to connect with other human species, and be social.
As long as we're able to do that and use our resources, we will figure out a way to thrive. And that's the same mentality we have to Keep in mindset when we're connecting with people. I'm not saving you. I'm here to help You already have the power to do that. I'm just here to remind you that you have that
[00:24:26] Jay: Beautiful. What a way to end it. I love that. so much good stuff there. I will say, I think it's okay to feel good about giving your time back. And I think there's that, I think it's okay for you to feel good, and you should, that's an okay feeling to have. As long as it's not to make someone else feel bad.
I
think you look good for doing it, Right
And I think there's the, that's the difference. But this was fantastic to write. And I think I should have you on again. And we have so much to talk about. If we're going to talk for days to you, how do people find you? How do they find Impactful Solutions that they want to reach out?
[00:24:56] Zoraida: now you can Google me my LinkedIn will come up as Zoraida Cordero I do have an Instagram for my business Impactful Solutions at Impactful Solutions on Instagram And I also have a LinkedIn for Impactful Solutions as well Not currently I don't have a website, but I do Hope to make one in the next few months, it's still very much growing baby business But you can find me in those two and if you want to send me an email you can send me an email at [email protected]
[00:25:33] Jay: love it. we'll add everything to the show notes. You're fantastic. Stay cool in this heat. All right. And,
thank you.
for dropping some really useful. And, potentially game changing things. If people pick up on any of this and go help somebody else, then, I think they're continuing your mission.
you're fantastic, and you have a good rest of your week, alright? Happy Friday, and have a great weekend. We'll talk to you soon, alright?
[00:25:53] Zoraida: Awesome. Thank you. Thank you for having me.
[00:25:55] Jay: You're welcome. Thank you.