Spark Podcast

This episode introduces our next series "Spark on the Fly". Host Li also gives you 3 practical tips on how to start out as an Entrepreneur Kid. If you want to learn more about the 3 tips, about this series, and about our guests, please follow along with this episode.

For this episode, we brought Karla E. Vigil as our guest! Karla co-founded Edu Leaders of Color Rhode Island @eduleadersriand and their newly formed home organization @equityinst. She used to be a 4th-grade teacher and now she serves a bigger mission to help teachers of color to succeed in education. But why creating an impact in education is so important for Karla? Why would she quit her teaching position and what exactly is she trying to do gathering teachers of color in meetups and conferences? Let's tune in and hear what Karla has to say.

For this episode, we invited Mr. Larry Rosenstock, the founder and CEO of the San Diego-based High Tech High, a network of charter schools and he is also the President of the High Tech High Graduate School of Education. For the past almost 20 years, Larry has grown High Tech High into an educational system that has 16 schools that spread among elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools. But how did Larry started High Tech High and what kind of work has he done before he became an educator? Why does project learning so important for him and also HTH? Let's tune in to hear what Larry has to say.

For this episode, we invited Dr. Yinuo Li, founder of ETU International School. Dr. Li graduated from Tsinghua University and got her Ph.D. degree from UCLA. She used to be a McKinsey partner, now she leads the effort at Gates Foundation in China. Dr. Li and her husband also co-founded a public blog, which has almost a million followers. So how does Yinuo view success? What are the leadership skillsets and mindset for the future? Let's tune in to hear what Yinuo has to say.

For this episode (Part 2), we invited Dr. Dennis Littky, co-founder and co-director of The Met School, co-founder of Big Picture Learning and founder and President of College Unbound. How did Dennis start so many schools? What kind of challenges did he go through as an entrepreneur and educator? Why leadership and work behind the scene are so important? Let's tune in to see what Dennis has to say.

For this episode (Part 1), we invited Dr. Dennis Littky, co-founder and co-director of The Met School, co-founder of Big Picture Learning and founder and President of College Unbound. How did Dennis start so many schools? What's his background and what kind of kid he was growing up? Let's tune in to see what Dennis has to say.

This is a special episode introducing the next series by Li and Yang. We talked about what's coming for our next series "Change Makers in Education", and we discussed many interesting topics related to our own educational experience. Want to know what's coming up for our next series? Stay Tuned for our next 5 episodes on "Change Makers in Education"!

For this episode, we invited Katherine Commale to join us on Spark. Katherine started donating bed nets to African countries since she was 5 years old. Over the past 13 years, she worked with a non-profit organization called Nothing But Nets and has raised millions of dollars, donated thousands of mosquito nets to save African kids and family from malaria. But where does the story begin? How did Katherine and her family raise money to buy bed nets for African kids? What are some of the milestones she accomplished over the years of caring for kids who die from malaria in Africa?

For this episode, we invited Ellie Zika and her dad Steve Zika. Ellie is the founder of Kidnits, and Steve is the Executive Director of KidKnits. Kidnits mission is to create awareness in American youth about poverty in the world and empower kids to make a difference and to change lives of women in Rwanda and Chile through their yarn making ministry. Currently Kidnits has sold more than 25,000 ball of yarn and taught hundreds of kids in the U.S. how to knit. But how did this whole family get involved in selling knitting kit to begin with? What kind of life does the women and kids live in Rwanda and Chile? Along with Ellie and Steve, let's tune in and listen to the Zika's story with Kidnits.

For this episode, we invited Neha Gupta who is the founder and CEO of Empower Orphans, a nonprofit that strives to help orphans and underprivileged children with education, healthcare, and self-sufficient skills set. Neha started this nonprofit organization at the age of 9 years old and she has helped to raise $2 million (in cash and kind) and has impacted the lives of 30,000 children worldwide. But how did she get involved in saving orphans around the world? How did she raise so much money? What kind of ripple effect did she create over the years? Let's tune in to hear what Neha has to tell.

For this episode, we invited Ryan Hickman and his dad Damion Hickman. Ryan is the founder of Ryan’s Recycling Company and has recycled over 460,000 cans and bottles as well as donated 8500 dollars to the Pacific Marine Mammal Center. He also appeared on many shows, such as the Ellen show, the Pickler and Ben Show and his story is just all over the internet. But how did Ryan become a recycling hero? What's the drive to recycle for 7 years as a kid, and how did Damion help his son along the way?Let's tune in to hear what Ryan and his dad Damion has to say.

This is a special episode introducing the next series by Li and Ria. We talked about what's coming for our next series "Small Hearts Big Love", and we discussed the concept of love, compassion, and empathy. We chatted about the definitions about those concepts, and also some practical ways to put them into action. Want to know what's coming up for our next series? Stay Tuned for our next 4 episodes on "Small Hearts Big Love"!

For this episode, we invited Rhia Catapano, a PhD candidate in Behavioral Marketing at Stanford Graduate School of Business. She will be sharing with us about her journey as the first generation college student and also about her research on happiness and meaning. How can we make our happiness last longer in our memory? Let's listen to Rhia and what she has to say on her research related to happiness and meaning.

For this episode, we invited Tevin Ali, who is currently a senior graduate student from Johns Hopkins University to share with us his journey in education. Tevin was selected as a National Recipient of the Sallie Mae Bridging the Dream $20,000 Scholarship and also named the 2017 Student of the Year in the State of Florida. Before this however, Tevin has actually gone through the lowest point in his life. What was that experience like and how did he stand up from the low and shine bright as diamond now? Let's tune in what Tevin has to tell us.

For this episode, we invited Ayush Alag, a Senior high student at Harker School in San Jose, CA and also the Founder and CEO of Allergezy Inc. He came to share with us about How to solve a real-world problem as a high school student？Ayush faced allergy problem when he was young and he had to go through painful allergy test as a kid. So let’s see what Ayush decided to do and how did he start his research and also build a business from the problem he faced.

We invited Lucy Chen, a senior college student from Minerva School to join us and share her unique college journey. Minerva is known as an online university whose acceptance rate rivals with Ivy League schools like Harvard and Stanford. Students at Minerva will explore up to seven cities during four years of study. What does that really feel like, let's hear what Lucy has to say?

This is a special episode about Spark. Why did we start making Spark and how Spark was made by Li and Yang. We summarized what we learned from the Entrepreneur Kid we featured from the previous series and also introduced what's coming for our next series "Study and Become". Stay Tuned for our next series!

Sebastian and Brandon Martinez: Starting Young and Giving Back - What it Really Means. The 4th episode we brought the Martinez brother who founded Are You Kidding Socks together when Sebastian was only 5 years old. Together with their Mom, Rachel Martinez, they want to share with us what it really means to start a business at a young age and why giving back is important.

Jason Li: How Can YOU also be an entrepreneur? For the 3rd episode, we brought Jason Li, Founder and CEO of iReTron to share with us his story as a young social entrepreneur. He delivered some important lessons he learned as a kid, e.g. why is it OK to be different and why is it important to take risks at an early age. Enjoy the talk brough by Jason!

Gabrielle Goodwin: Big Courage - How I went from a shy kid to a girl CEO. In this episode, we invited Gabrielle Goodwin, CEO of Gabby Bows to share with us about her journey of growth as a kid entrepreneur.