How We Hatched: Kelcey Reed, CTO of Opportunity@Work

Welcome to our most recent episode of “How We Hatched"! In this episode, you’ll hear from the CTO of Opportunity@Work, Kelcey Reed. He shares about his team’s mission of rewiring the U.S. labor market so that all individuals Skilled Through Alternative Routes (STARs) can work, learn, and earn to their full potential.Kelcey is an Engineering and IT Executive with 20+ years of success building and delivering next-generation solutions and optimizing technical environments in the FinTech, FinServices, and EdTech industries.

In this episode, he shares about:

• His career background and how he transitioned out of the military into a technical career.
• The skills he gained that allowed him to step into engineering leadership.
• His transition into becoming an entrepreneur and how he joined Opportunity@Work.

Welcome to the PAIR program from hatchpad, the podcast that gives you

a front row seat to candid conversations with tech leaders from the startup world.

I'm your host, Tim Winkler, the creator of Hatchpad, and I'm

your other host, Mike Gruin.

Join us each episode as we bring together.

Two guests to dissect topics at the intersection of technology,

startups, and career growth.

We're gonna jump in here.

So Kelsey, thank you for joining us on the PAIR program.

Uh, this is another bonus episode of a mini-series that we call How We Hatched.

So this is just a fun discussion to hear a little bit more about your unique career

journey, you know, where you came from and, and how you arrived at this current

point in your seat today as the Chief Technology Officer at Opportunity at Work.

Um, so I'd like to always start by, you know, having you provide the

listeners with just a quick overview of, you know, opportunity at work.

You know, what, what are the, the, these big overarching

problems that you all are solving

here.

So opportunity to work as a nonprofit, uh, organization, uh,

based out of, um, Washington, dc.

Uh, our mission is to, uh, find equitable jobs for stars, uh, candidates

that are seeking, uh, opportunity.

Uh, we call 'em stars, uh, but they're skilled through alternative roots.

For

sure.

Yeah.

It's a, it's a mission that, um, I think is just overall, I mean, needs

to be embraced, um, globally, right?

It's, it's something that, uh, we as a country have, have always struggled with.

Um, you know, how how do we empower, you know, uh, a more diverse workforce.

Um, and I think this is one of those outlets that is really

trying to crack that code.

Um, and kind of rewire, you know, the way that the, the

labor workforce is, is built.

Uh, so it's a, it's a fantastic mission.

We're, we're excited to, to learn more about it throughout this

discussion, um, but we're gonna keep it more dialed in on you as well.

Right.

So, um, you know, we're, we're all about tech here and, and so we always wanna.

And, uh, what, what got you into the world of tech?

Let's, let's, let's go back in time and let's start around your journey.

Um, you know, tell us a little bit about, uh, your upbringing and,

uh, you know, what, what got you fascinated with, with getting into,

uh, the, the world of technology?

Yeah.

I was always a geek nerd back in day.

Hated to be called a nerd, but, um, I was a nerd, um, back in the day and.

Um, in high school, um, I was, you know, I was always tinkering and playing with

different things and, you know, and in games, you know, games was, you know, we

was in the, the beginning stages of games.

It was more of a green screen and, you know, had paddles moving things around.

Was all fascinating.

And again, like that's, that's what kind of drew me into, uh, technology.

Um, you know, I, I was fascinated with, from a gaming perspective, but

I didn't ever think businesses were, were using, you know, technology in

that level, you know, in that facet.

Until I went to Dallas, Texas, my aunt who worked at Frito.

Um, and she was in like this call center and she was like, considered like computer

operations and they were doing cool stuff and I was like, man, this is not games.

This is like computer stuff for companies and, and you know, you guys are doing

this type stuff and managing this day.

And another, the, the list logistics of where trucks are going and people

needing, you know, inventory and.

You guys were, you know, they were managing all that.

And I was like, man, that's fascinating.

I wanna do that.

You, you know, kind got me started, uh, down the, into.

And I, and even in the military, I was like, I wanted to do

something with the computers.

I, I, I, I just wanna do something, you know, from a computers engineering,

or at the time it wasn't really computer engineer, like programming.

I just do computer programming.

I just do that type stuff.

Um, going into the military, I was, um, I worked as a.

Um, as a, uh, computer operator, we, we used to call 'em fire direction, computer

fire direction controls controllers.

Mm-hmm.

But we were known as the brains of artillery.

So I was in artillery unit.

Um, and we actually did all of the computations and all of the

putting everything together to, uh, tell the actual artillery man.

How to actually shoot a, a, a missile or a rocket or downstream, you

know, downstream to, to the targets.

I did that for, you know, eight years, got outta the military, and

um, started my journey in college and trying to break into corporate America.

Um, again, at that time I was considered a star who knew?

Um, I had gained a lot of skills in the military, um, on how to program,

on, you know, uh, how to lead people.

Um, and, you know, you know, uh, landed my, like first job at Equifax,

um, as a, you know, in their computer center, in their like data center.

That's where I really got my first.

Like, taste of technology in corporate America was, was an Equifax, uh, where

I, you know, continued to, you know, um, go to school, continue to learn, uh,

continue to, um, uh, persevere, you know, be persistent, persevere in technology

and, and, and how technology work, how, you know, people use technology,

how you test technology to make sure your users were satisfied with it and.

Um, how to kinda like project manage, how do you take a project and,

and actually get, you know, get it actually built out or executed or,

or, you know, people, um, utilizing the software or the, the services that

you're, you know, that you're selling.

Mm-hmm.

Um, um, I left Equifax, went to Bank of America, where I worked for

a little while at Bank of America in their, uh, computer operations.

Left there, worked at Allied Systems.

Uh, in their, um, uh, uh, data center or computer operations.

Again, I, I, I, that's where I kind of got started, but, Um, and where I

really learned a lot about working with a team, building applications, making

the quality of 'em and all of that.

So, you know, I I, I love the, the, the story of now one,

you're, um, uh, transition from the military into civilian work cuz it's,

you know, it mirrors a lot of, you know, what, what you're describing

and, and what your mission stands for, um, with opportunity at work.

So one was, it was with the army.

Yeah, I was with the Army.

Yes.

Army.

Yep.

Awesome.

Well, thank you for your service.

Um, and, and two, um, you know, what was it that, um, that, that

inspired you to get into the military?

Was that something that was in your family, uh, history or that, that,

that folks had served in the past or what was your inspiration there?

Well, my, my father

was in the Marine Corps and he was completely against it.

Um, what, what was my motivation really to go in the military was

knowing that, one, I was scared to go to college cause I didn't know what.

What happened?

If I went to college, all I knew I go to college, I'd probably

party and probably get kicked out.

Um, that was one.

And then two, um, not really, you know, not really having the financial means.

Um, you know, I knew my mother, single mother, uh, of three.

I didn't, I just knew that in order to help her out, I needed to go to college.

You know, I needed to go in the military, get the military to pay for my college.

But she don't have to incur at cost.

Sure.

So that was really my biggest motivation.

And then of course, You know, I convinced my friends, so it, it's,

it's four of us, um, uh, four guys that I was always in high school with.

We, we were being friends.

Each one of us went into a different branch to compete against each other.

So that was another motivation.

One went in the Army.

I went in the Army, one went af one the Marines, one in the Navy.

And every, every, um, Year at Christmas, we'll come and talk about

our story, our journey, Uhhuh, and of course we'll do this like physical

fitness competition to see who was in fit and all this other stuff.

But

it was crazy.

That's funny.

That's, uh, you know, with March Madness just, uh, behind us, it's a, it's a whole

nother level of Final Four right there.

Yeah, exactly.

Uh, that's, that's cool.

So, um, you know, On, on the topic of, you know, skills that, you know, uh,

skills through alternative routes, right?

The Stars program.

What would you say, you know, going into the, into the tech space, you know,

transitioning from a military setting, what were some of those skills that you

felt, uh, were applicable that really helped you in grooming your career?

I think the, the biggest ones will be communication discipline.

Uh, you know, discipline under adversity, right?

That, that is, you know, today in, in corporate America,

there's a lot of change going on.

And as long as, you know, a person can be solid, right?

Have a good mindset and be solid doing change, that's what a

lot of people are looking for.

Um, you know, of course you need some of the raw technical skills

or some of the raw, you know, basic skills in, in, in, in technology.

But you know, being able to communicate, being able to manage

your time, you know, and being able to handle change or adversity, um, I

think are three are the key things.

So you, you get into, um, uh, the, the world of tech, but you're, looks

like you're spending a lot of time in the, in the FinTech space, in the vertical.

Um, was that something that you were always kind of interested in

or, or did it kind of pick you.

Once you into organization, you around, certain

people tend to follow the people.

You stay together with those same people, I mean, right.

The people that I was always around, we always stayed in that FinTech

fin service, um, uh, industry.

So, okay.

And so, yeah, you go, you start as a programmer.

Um, and then it looks like you start to work your way into management,

uh, around the, the time that you start working with TransUnion.

So this is late nineties, early two thousands.

Um, you know, you spent.

Almost 12 years at TransUnion.

Uh, what was it about TransUnion that kept you there such a, a long tenure?

What, what, what was it, the culture there, was it the ability to learn?

Uh, they, did they give you, you know, a lot of, uh, a lot of mentors there?

Like what, what was it there that kept you so drawn to TransUnion?

So, yeah,

it

was, it was definitely the culture, um, and the, and the

people that, that, that I worked with.

Um, so, um, TransUnion acquired a company that I was at.

It was a more startup, small company called Visionary Systems.

Um, when they acquired us, you know, we, we became TransUnion and then

the big company, the big, you know, the big mother company took over.

You know, like training programs, you know, how, you know, how you lead, you

know, um, uh, you know, being, wanna be a global company, how we go and be, you

know, uh, uh, uh, managed work abroad.

All of those type things was very interesting to me because I've

always loved different cultures.

I love, you know, a global.

Know, working for a global company because now I work with different

cultures and different people.

That was very fascinating at the time cause a lot of companies wasn't doing

that back in the, you know, nineties, early companies wasn't doing that.

Being a pioneer really building like these work centers abroad

was very, very interesting to me and gave me the opportunity to

get a lot of experience in this.

So, yeah, that's, that's, um, something that's certainly appealing.

I know that, um, you know, we just from, uh, you know, a, a

recruiting perspective, right?

You know, the ability to, to work with folks that have worked in a, in a GLO

like global company like that, right?

You're getting experience and, and cultural, um, you know, skillsets

that you wouldn't always, you know, receive if it was just more

of a, just a locally based firm.

Um, and so sounds like a great jump off for you to kind of.

Build your career.

Uh, obviously you start spreading your wings here into more of

management, um, level skillset.

Uh, from there, you, you move into like a director of engineering for,

for a few stents, uh, all the way up to a VP of engineering it looks

like for merchant E Solutions.

Uh, what, what would you say were some of those, um, In interesting or,

or more, uh, focused skillsets that, uh, that you acquire as you jump from

manager to director to VP of engineering?

What, what, what does that ladder look like for

you?

I think the biggest one for me was, I think that is a skill that, you know,

tend to, a lot of, a lot of, a lot of good managers doesn't understand and

you know, its not, you know, it, it becomes a leader and not just a manager.

Right.

Um, being that servant leader where you, you're caring for people.

I think that is one of the big ones.

Uh, also I think, you know, understanding, um, more, uh, strategically where we're

trying to go, how we're trying to get there, and being able to connect the

dots, you know, figuring out how to, to take strategically where we wanna go, and

then helping the team connect the dots.

You know, verse, you know, with, with setting objectives, setting goals,

um, and, and aligning the teams to being able to execute on those goals.

Instrumental, I feel as though in success.

And really building the teams and actually, uh, building, you know, uh, uh,

a lot of different things in the company.

So there's a transition point in your career, uh, that I like to, to

point out here where it looks like the entrepreneurial bug got a, got to you,

uh, and you, uh, you, you, you launched, uh, your own kind of consulting company.

Um, this was element of technology.

Around 2017.

Um, what inspired you to, to build your own thing or, or to start

your own company at this time?

What, what, what, what was it that, uh, kind of, uh, you know,

lit, lit that fire for you?

Well, I mean,

Was an entrepreneur in some, some fashion.

Um, I've always actually, you know, created things on the side, side projects.

It could be, you know, creating a little application to track my CDs and my tapes.

You, it could.

You know, something to help my son or something to help my niece, or something

to help some people, you know, somebody, you know, uh, I've always had little

small projects where I bring in, you know, folks to kinda help me or I,

I've been, you know, I, I do it myself.

Um, it just, it got to the, you know, I, I, I, I've always said as I start to

think about retirement and when I'm ready to say, I'm done with everything I wanna

be able to have said I created something.

Mm-hmm.

So I created, created something where I've given back and so I created

element of technology to actually build an application called Spiels, which

is, uh, uh, a tool to help kids, uh, help, uh, uh, college and career plan.

That's basically what it is, an online tool, um, which.

You know, I've created, I've actually given it to, you know, several

organizations to, to leverage and use to help kids, uh, start to learn about

colleges, learn about themselves, as well as learn, you know, what grants

and, and, and scholarships are out there to help, uh, pay for college.

Uh, which is, it sounded like an oxymoron for me being a CTO here at op

Opportunity to work what I'm saying, where we saying we trying to help people

that doesn't have a four year degree

that's paying equitable for.

Um, and, and which is saying, you know, kind of contradicts why are you,

you know, you don't want, you know, you're not looking at people that

doesn't have a, a four year degree, but yet you're saying you building

something to help kids go to college.

We still have a gap mm-hmm.

In the world today.

We gotta always be mindful.

There are people that, that can go to college and there are people that can't go

to college and, and the people that can't that, that, that can't go to college.

We should give them ways to figure out how to go to college.

Cause I think college is definitely important.

However, the, the people that can't, we should also look at

their skills and not just look at what they have done in college.

So again, I, I, I, I believe that college is important.

Yes.

But also I believe that, you know, making sure we give people or equip

people with the necessary skills if they go to college, they don't, you know,

they are, are able to actually get a job where they're actually successful.

We've seen it time and time again, right?

Mark Zuckerberg, uh, we look at.

You know, bill Gates didn't start in college, you know,

built some master companies, Facebook and, and Microsoft, so.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

I think the theme that I kind of pick up on too is, you know, there's an

overarching, you know, foreshadowing here for, you know, the, the, the

role of opportunity at work of, you know, just wanting to, um, improve the

lives of folks, you know, by whatever means it takes, you know, if it's,

if it's through college, if it's.

Through apprenticeship programs.

Um, but giving folks a, a platform, uh, giving folks the, uh, the, the knowledge

and the information that they need to make a, a, a decision on what will help improve

their lives and their family's lives.

I mean, I think overall it sounds like, you know, you were.

You were kind of inspired to, to help folks, you know, um, and, um, you know,

you used, you know, your, your background and, and your experience from a, a tech

perspective to, to help create this tool for folks to, to gather data, gather

more research and, and, uh, make more of an educated decision on, on, uh, how

they can better improve their situation.

So, um, I think there's some foreshadowing there that leads into,

um, you know, opportunity at work.

Which I do wanna segue into, um, you know, it's, it's a.

It's a big opportunity for you specifically, uh, would this be,

you know, obviously you started a a, a business right, as a founder

owner, um, but the seat of a chief technology officer or a C T O role,

C-suite role within a corporation like this, uh, is this your first c

t o, um, position that you take on?

Actually, it's not.

I've worked at, uh, uh, another company, other comp two companies as a cto, I, I.

I wasn't there long, so I don't ever wanna say, you know, Hey, I, I, you

know, this, that, and the other.

I, I started them.

I mean, I got in, kinda started helping Bill and then, you know, passed it

down to a successor and moved, found a, where I comfortable was companies

as a CTO or, or a, uh, senior VP.

So, and so that, that theme of servant leadership, um,

does that translate as well into what you would consider, you know, what,

what your job is as a, as a, a chief technology officer within a, within a

company.

Uh, Yes, I mean, it definitely does.

I mean, you, you know, you have to get people to, to work and do things that,

you know, uh, uh, sometimes is not, uh, you know, is not great in doing.

Um, but you know, you have to, you know, relate and put yourself in their shoes

and figure out ways how you support them and, and, and giving them what they need

to, to do to accomplish the mission.

So, um, of course, definitely, um, as a cto, you, you, you have to.

So you, um, you, you, uh, pursue this, this opportunity

with opportunity at work.

Um, you know, what was, uh, what was it about the position and the

company, I guess, that drew you in, uh, to, to accept this one?

A lot of what I, I thought was, you know, one helping

people was, uh, the big thing.

But two, you know, a company that was very, you know, that, that

preached about diversity, uh, you know, diversity, uh, inclusion.

Um, you know, they preached it, you know, during my interview they talked about how

strong it was in d, you know, d E I B.

And actually coming here and being a part of the organization,

it truly is a D E I B company.

Um, you know, of course every company needs some work.

I'm not gonna say, but we definitely, you know, practicing.

Diversity at, at all, you know, at, at all levels.

So,

so the, um, the theme at, um, opportunity at Work, you know,

there's a lot of, um, what you all, you know, kind of describe as, you

know, tear the tear, the paper ceiling.

Um, can you just kind of break that down a little bit and, and what that, uh, you

know, what that means for our listeners?

Yep.

So

tear the paper Seal a campaign that we launched last year.

Um, to, um, again, for, for employers to start noticing that, um, there are,

you know, there are skilled, uh, uh, workers out here that doesn't have

a four year degree, and we need to start removing the degree requirements

that are placed on job descriptions.

We need to start removing them.

And start using, um, more skills or, or describing skills in the job

description of what we are looking to achieve or, or what, what we're

looking for in order to achieve that job that you're, you know, you want

them to, to, to work and do right?

Mm-hmm.

Into your organization.

So that's what we, you know, that's the whole thing of tear paper

ceiling is let's come together.

Let's realize that degrees are great, but degrees shouldn't be.

The thing that holds that bias and, you know, that biasness, um, to,

you know, for people, it shouldn't hold that bias or that prejudice.

Um, it, we, if you remove that and list out the skills in which you're

looking to, you know, or, or you know, to, to you looking for the

skills that you're looking for, uh, for that actual role, list them out.

Be specific.

Know what you are wanting and, and, and, and, you know, And let that drive your,

your, your feeling of that position.

That's the paper still is all.

Yeah.

And you know, just knowing, knowing more about what you all do is, um,

you know, was we've, we've helped, uh, we've helped you all identifying talent.

We've worked with you all as a customer in the past and, um, obviously, you

know, are always looking to find ways to improve, um, you know, workforce

development from a diversity perspective.

You know, this was a.

A very big, um, a very big campaign that incorporated, you know,

there's about 50 other national organizations, companies like Chevron,

Walmart, Mackenzie, LinkedIn, um, you know, kind of coming together.

Uh, and I think that is, you know, uh, r you know, Reva, like validating that

there, there does need to be some sort of a change here, um, across the, the

greater good of the organiz, uh, the, the, you know, corporate America here, right?

Um, and so getting these other companies to participate, um, Is, is

gotta be, uh, you know, just kind of that, uh, that validation of like,

you know, it is acknowledged right there, there is a problem here.

Uh, how do we, how do we fix it?

Let's work together, uh, to, to try to create this, these, these opportunities.

Now, I'm, I'm, uh, you know, and that can be done through, through,

you know, apprenticeships, right?

Apprenticeships is becoming a really big thing that, you know, um, you know,

not just government and, and, uh, you know, uh, a agencies within public

sector are embracing, but you know, big consulting firms like Accenture are.

Becoming big advocates for on, on the JOBB training, uh, which is

something that I'm a huge advocate for.

Um, you know, I think it's much needed, uh, because the reality is, yeah, there's

a lot of education stemmed issues.

Right.

And, and some of the things that you pointed out kind of resonates

with myself in terms of growing up in a lower income household where.

You know, the idea of, of college was, you know, just seemed overwhelming

from a cost perspective, right?

I mean, you know, and it just doesn't get any, it's not getting any better.

It just keeps going up.

Right?

Uh, so what are other ways that folks can, can obtain these skills?

So, like, things like apprenticeships, but I do wanna

bring it back to opportunity work.

So I was listening to, um, uh, a podcast with your, your old's

founder, c e o Byron, uh, a August.

Um, where he, he referenced, you know, there's like 140 million different

job transitions that, that, that are, you know, being like data, data points

that are being like, kind of tracked and it's, and it's clear to me, and

I think it's a, it's an obvious.

You know, a couple of examples out there that, that folks can start

within a, a position of help desk or, or customer service, right?

And then next thing you know is they're, they're transitioning into a front

frontline sales leader, you know, um, and, uh, you know, the, these are,

these are examples that carry on from sales to technology roles to finance.

It's about getting the.

The training, you know, and getting the, the, the folks, uh, the employers to,

to commit to, to spending the time to invest in these people, uh, to, to be

able to make those, those, those leaps.

So I think it's just a really fascinating model.

You know, I think there's a very interesting movement right now,

uh, in, in the labor market.

Um, you know, when we think about big tech, you know, layoffs, um,

I know firsthand there's a lot of folks that are out there that.

In the world of tech recruiting, uh, that are, uh, you know, let go, um,

and, uh, looking for, for opportunities.

And I think there's a reality out there that.

They might not want to go back into the world of tech recruiting or into tech.

Maybe they want to transition into something else, you know, and I think

this conversation leads down that path of, you know, just because you're, you're,

you're, you're labeled this one skillset.

That's not the end all be all.

Um, there's, there's

tech recruiter and you can turn around and you can a,

a nice, you know, program manager.

Yep.

And it doesn't need to be in technology.

You can be a program manager in finance, right?

Can be program manager in healthcare, you know, or project manager, right?

You can, you can also, as a, as a recruiter, you

recruiters become engineers.

Right.

They can be a, a very good salesperson.

Cause again, you're selling the companies when you, when you recruit.

Right.

That's the skill, right?

It's a skill.

That's right.

It's a skill.

So it's, it's a, it's a conversation that we love to, to elevate

and kind of keep top of mind.

Um, you know, we, we stand by the, the mission, uh, of what you

all are, are doing over there.

And, um, you know, I, I, I wanna kind of just.

You know, you use a couple of minutes to, to, you know, uh, learn a little bit more

about, you know, down the line this year.

You know, what, what types of roles, you know, do you think that

opportunity of work might be hiring for?

Um, you know, what are the, uh, what are the types of positions that might

be coming through the pipeline and, and areas of, of tech engineering product, um,

that, that's, you know, within your org.

Um,

you know, as we continue to enrich ourselves in data, I can see a lot

more, you know, data analysts, uh, roles.

Um, I.

Us leveraging more data engineers in our, in here.

Um, uh, I'm, I'm really hung on architecture.

Mm-hmm.

So definitely, um, looking at how I could, you know, bring in more architects to

kind help us build out some of the, uh, intellectual property things that we're

trying to, to accomplish internally.

Um, and, and as always, you know, anytime you're building things, you're gonna

always need more engineers, so, sure.

Software engineers, software testers, um, don't engineers mm-hmm.

Build.

More of that as well.

So

what, what would you say are some of the things that folks can

be excited about, uh, if they're to join opportunity at work in, in 2023?

What, what, what's on the horizon?

Um, uh, like I said, we, we, you know, we talked a little bit about

the, the, the data mobility model, um, and the analytics that we're, you know,

taking the workforce data, you know, take, you know, taking from the, you know,

the labor market and understanding how.

You know, jobs transitioning and you know, That, that, that to me is really cool.

And building out heavy, heavy, heavy integrations with some of the big boy

systems that are out there, like the, the ICMs and the Workday, and you.

For sure.

Yeah, I think that's, um, those types of partnerships are gonna be in

instrumental just given the fact that, you know, how many companies are, are,

are relying on these systems, um, you know, those types of partnerships that,

you know, kind of plug and play, um, into that, that ecosystem is, is, you

know, a fascinating way of, you know, getting f getting at folks to adapt.

Um, because I think that's a.

You know, the biggest challenge, right?

We could talk about it all.

We all, all we want, but until there's action on it and, and companies are

act actually implementing some of these programs and it's, um, it's

gonna be a long road for change.

Um,

You know, doing a lot of integrations with those, you know, those

entities as well is gonna be key.

Uh, we know, you know, especially with the big tech layoffs that we are now seeing.

Right.

Um, you know, across the nation, rather, um, we can almost imagine that

people are gonna be working with, you know, the, the, the government entity.

Mm-hmm.

Looking for

agencies.

You know, those government entities and, and actually finding, you know, helping

navigate and finding jobs for those stars.

Yeah, that's a great point.

You know, we're, uh, from a company that's based here in DC you know, with Hatch.

Um, you know, we started, you know, primarily with, you know,

government, uh, government contracting consultants, um, eight days.

You know, small businesses.

Um, and then we made a pivot into commercial product and startups.

Um, at a point, you know, there was a good point there for a few years

where, you know, you'd ask a, you know, a commercial technologist to consider

an opportunity that's, you know, uh, helping, uh, defense or, or public

sector, you know, in some fashion.

And it was, uh, it was a huge turnoff.

Um, yeah.

In the last six months, it's been more and more appealing because there's a

level of stability, um, that they're not seeing, you know, right now

in, in, uh, in the private sector.

And so, uh, you know, how do you fill that gap?

How do you, how do you, uh, a allow for, you know, these folks to

transition into, you know, these, these.

You know, bureaucratic environments that it's a lot of red tape and, and so, you

know, programs like stars, um, and, uh, companies like Opportunity at Work, uh,

a lot of innovation labs that are out there that connect defense with commercial

and, and, you know, bridging that gap, that's something that we're really

intrigued with as well as a company.

And, and, uh, you know, we're, we're looking to use our platform,

the, the, the podcast for some.

Future episodes of Plug that, uh, are all about, you know, augmenting

innovation in, in those settings.

So, uh, we're excited to, uh, kind of kickstart the, the conversation

on this, uh, episode as well.

Um,

I think that, uh, innovation labs are, are the wave of the future.

Yeah.

I mean they, you know, uh, probably in like the last eight years or so,

we start to see a lot of companies start to take advantage of it.

I mean, I've started to see a lot of companies start to take advantage of

creating those designs, labs or, you know, innovation labs where they can

prove out a lot of different concepts.

And there's really no coding.

It's all, it's all product design and it's all understand how users.

You react to certain designs or certain things that we're

planning or thinking about, right?

Mm-hmm.

Out and so definitely.

Yeah, I mean, there's, there's no, uh,

there's no more in your face.

Uh, you know, example of this as well than, uh, open ai, you know,

uh, the, the Open AI lab, right?

You know, chat, G P t kind of spun out from this type of innovation lab.

Uh, we see a lot of them, um, you know, Primarily targeting, you know,

uh, innovation in the defense sectors.

Like, uh, Kele Run does a lot of this work out in Massachusetts.

And, uh, obviously the work that's being done in in agencies like

darpa, um, is, is really fascinating.

So, uh, yeah, we're, we're, we're here for it.

We're, we're, um, you know, we're big supporters and, uh, you know,

I'm glad that we're able to.

Use our platform to, to, to tell your story and to, to get the, the

message out about the, the work that Opportunity at work is doing, uh,

to promote, uh, this innovation.

Um, so before we let you go, uh, you know, we've got a, have a little, little more

fun here with you, uh, with a, a segment that we, we call the Five Second Scramble.

Uh, and so this is, um, This is some rapid fire questions where you'll kind of

have, you know, try to keep it under five seconds to to sum up your, your answer.

Uh, and, uh, some will be business, you know, some will be, you know, personal.

Uh, but let's, let's, uh, jump into it.

You, are you ready?

Uh, Yes.

That's, that's it.

Okay.

All right.

So, um, you know, it sounds like you've, you've got, uh, uh,

a child of your, of your own.

So let's, let's state that back to, to when your child's five years old,

you know, how do you kind of simplify what, uh, opportunity at work is doing?

When you're explaining, you're explaining what, uh, what Daddy does.

Yeah.

Five seconds.

Five seconds, right?

Yeah.

Um, company that helps people that doesn't have a degree

find jobs that pays good money.

Okay.

And so what problems, uh, are, are you solving

here at Opportunity At Work?

Problem we're trying to solve is, uh, a large number of people who don't

have jobs or don't have good paying jobs, and we wanna change their life to where

they can now take care of their family.

There you go.

What's your favorite aspect about working at Opportunity at Work?

Uh, being a, a, a leader, that's part of the, the whole mission.

Uh, you know, I'm, I'm part of something that's bigger than me.

Is there

anything about your work that keeps you up at night?

Um, yeah, trying to, trying to make sure that I, I position the

technology and, and the company and in a, in a, in a, in a good way to actually

help the people that we're trying to help.

What type

of technologists would you say thrive, uh, at opportunity at work?

Uh, inquisitive, uh, innovative, and a, uh,

cheerful, uh, technologist.

You know, can't be no, can't be dark.

Can't be in the closet.

You know, that's, that all that automatically comes with a technologist.

Yes.

Right.

We want, we want a person to be cheerful.

We wanna be upbeat, uh, very inquisitive, ask a lot of

questions and being innovative.

What's your, um, what's your go-to cereal?

Ooh, good one.

Uh, captain Crunch.

Mm.

With the crunch berries.

With the

crunch berries.

Gotta have the crunch Bees.

Um, you, uh, coffee or, or tea or none of the above?

Tea.

What's your favorite app on your phone today?

Uh, TikTok.

Hey, hey.

I don't, I don't, I don't hate it.

There's a lot of entertainment to be had.

That's it.

Um, who's a tech entrepreneur that you, that you find fascinating?

Um,

Steve Jobs.

What do you love most about yourself?

Cheerful, funny.

Uh, loving and very, uh, empathetic.

Now, pick up on that.

What would you say would be a superpower that you would love to, uh, love to own?

What would it be?

Um, blessing people.

If I can, if I can bless people with, or gift people with, with

something, uh, if I, whatever they want, I can give it to 'em.

That'll be a superpower.

So you wanna

be the genie.

I wanna be the genie.

You wanna be the genie.

What would you say is the worst fashion trend that you've ever followed?

Oh my God.

Probably cross colors.

Back in the, back in the eighties, late nineties, late eighties, early nineties.

The bright, bold colors with the big shoes.

I mean, you know, it's coming back, right?

It always repeats itself.

I hope it, I hope that never come back.

They could bury that one.

All right.

We, we gotta end it with the golf question.

Know you, you know, you go out there and, and swing some sticks around.

So what, um, you know, if you could be paired up, uh, for a round of golf with

any athlete, you know, who, who would, uh, who would you wanna be paired up with?

Michael Jordan.

Okay.

There you go.

I mean,

I think, you know, I think Jordan got a good golf game.

Mm-hmm.

So, you know, it, it would probably be him or Steph.

Steph Curry.

Good answer.

I think both of them, you know, very, very, very, uh, competitive.

Mm-hmm.

And, and I, I guarantee they both got a good golf game.

Yeah.

I, I, I would have to go with, I would've to go with the goat.

I gotta go with Tiger.

Gotta go with Tiger, tiger.

Yeah.

Yeah,

that might be a good one too.

Yeah, you could teach, you teach me a thing or two.

Um, well, good stuff.

You golf.

That's true.

That's Jordan is a great competitive.

And, you know, I don't know.

That's

what I, there's nothing wrong with that answer.

That's another goat.

So, yeah.

Um, well, thank you so much for spending time with us, Kelsey.

Uh, you know, we are, we're excited for the future of what you all are building.

Uh, and of course the, the mission behind opportunity at work, uh, it's definitely

a space that needs a lot of attention.

So appreciate you all doing the hard work and lifting over there to,

uh, to, to solve some big problems.

So we're rooting for y'all.

Thanks.

Thanks for joining us on, uh, on the PAIR program.

Yep.

Thank you man, for inviting me and definitely, you know, I won't be a

stranger if you ask me to come back.

I'll, we

love, we love repeat visitors, so we'll,