Maureen Tejeda Metz, a Dominican graduate student in the MA in Social Innovation program at the Kroc School of Peace Studies, co-hosts the Kroc Pod, a student-led podcast that highlights the work of peacemakers and innovators. In this blog, she reflects on receiving a Student Opportunity Grant from the Kroc School and how it enabled her to take the podcast on the road to San Francisco, where she met with a social innovator from the Dominican Republic.
On December 2nd, the adventure started by looking for the Podcast Recording Kit at the Media Center. On December 3rd, I embarked on my trip to San Francisco. Two hours after arriving, I realized I was in a tech city, where everything was digital and paperless, but with a lot of beauty on the streets.
On December 4th, I prepared myself, packed my bag with all the podcast equipment, and took my flag as I was about to meet the first Dominican guest, Paola Santana, who would be interviewed by the first Dominican host—me. Hours before, I practiced with the equipment to make sure I learned how to use it. I recorded the intro and outro, ensuring they were properly captured.
I arrived at 2:45 p.m. at one of the three Salesforce buildings I saw. When I arrived, the NFC of my cellphone recognized the place and immediately informed the receptionist that I was there. One quick picture of my face granted me access to the 30th floor.
Upon arriving, I was told to grab a coffee, so I ordered my favorite: a matcha latte while waiting for Paola. Then, the moment came—she arrived! She introduced me to some of her colleagues, and we moved to a room where I checked the background noise to ensure it wouldn’t be picked up by the microphone. I did some audio testing in a Spanglish way with her to make sure her voice was loud enough, and we decided to keep our headphones.
We started with the first questions, and the most memorable moment came when I asked for her definition of social innovation. I was very surprised when she said she doesn't believe in the concept of social innovation, as she prefers to use other words (find out in the episode!).
We had an awesome conversation, diving into the importance of being clear about our vision, which, in her case, is to create change. She highlighted the difference between getting stuck in theory and making things happen through practice. She made me realize that the way we have been spending money to create social change is not generating opportunities to thrive and how important technology can be as a transversal tool.
We also talked about how our actions should be sustainable, especially if we want to end the cycle of poverty, and about the importance of younger generations being curious and creative. Most importantly, we discussed how asking questions and stepping back when things aren’t working can help us ensure solutions are not black or white, but somewhere in the gray.
I left that Salesforce Tower not only with the satisfaction of creating a complete remote episode—including managing the challenge of running out of batteries and successfully replacing them with new ones—but also with a t-shirt, Ghirardelli chocolates, a flyer of Paola’s enterprise, Glass, and even another proposal for an episode with one of her teammates to discuss technology and business. I had just created a new relationship for Kroc Pod, the Kroc School, and myself—three wins from this broad opportunity out of San Diego.
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