Morgan DeNicola, the Executive Director of the DeNicola Family Foundation, joins us today to share her impactful journey in humanitarian work and cultural diplomacy. With a strong background that includes collaborations with the U.S. Congress and the United Nations, Morgan exemplifies the power of bridging gaps between different cultures and causes. We explore her foundation's four main pillars: humanitarian recognition, global health, cultural diplomacy, and conservation, each reflecting her family's values and experiences. Throughout our conversation, she shares personal stories, including her transformative first trip to Africa, which sparked her passion for making a difference. Join us as we discuss the details of her work, the challenges she's faced, and the important lessons learned in the effort to foster understanding and support worldwide.

Takeaways:

1. Morgan DeNicola emphasizes the importance of listening to communities' needs rather than imposing solutions from the outside, highlighting a crucial aspect of effective humanitarian work.
2. The podcast discusses how cultural diplomacy can bridge gaps between diverse groups, making it essential for fostering understanding and collaboration in global initiatives.
3. DeNicola's journey in humanitarian efforts began with a deeply impactful experience in Africa, showcasing how personal stories can ignite a lifelong passion for helping others.
4. A major focus of the DeNicola Family Foundation is on health, conservation, cultural diplomacy, and humanitarian recognition, which together aim to create a more interconnected and healthier world.
5. The realization that every culture has strengths and valuable practices is vital in humanitarian work, as it encourages mutual respect and effective collaboration in addressing global challenges.
6. DeNicola believes that true leadership involves humility and the willingness to learn from others while recognizing the broader impact one can have in their communities.

Links referenced in this episode:

1. humptydumptyinstitute
2. denicolafamilyfoundation

Mentioned in this episode:

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Welcome to becoming bridge builders, where we talk today with Morgan dinicola. She is executive director of Dina Cola Family foundation, an organization dedicated to doing good while honoring those who share the commitment.

She also serves as Vice chairman of the Humpty Dumpty Institute in New York, working with the US Congress, the State Department, and United nations and international embassies to foster dialogue on critical global issues.

From leading congregation, congressional delegations to the UN And Rwanda, to launching initiatives like Cosmos Care's mobile healthcare van for remote villages in Lestos.

Lesotho.

Lesotho. Oh, there we go. Morgan's impact is felt worldwide.

She's also deeply involved in humanitarian awards, global health recognition, and wildlife conservation. Today, we explore her journey, her passions, what drives her to build bridges across cultures and causes. Welcome, Morgan, to the podcast.

Thank you. I'm excited.

Had not seen that country before, so that was a tongue twister there.

It's a tough one. That one's a tough one.

So I'd love to ask my guests this question. What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?

Respond. Don't react. Take your time to digest something before you decide what you want to say back.

That's probably really good in other cultures.

Yes. And in life.

And in life, right? Definitely. So I'm dying to know what motivated you to get into the kind of work you do for humanitarian efforts, especially the global engagement.

What inspired you on that path?

It started very young. I was always just a very empathetic, senior, sympathetic kid that just always seemed to want to help everybody.

And my parents are serial entrepreneurs and have always had, like, a lot of success in the business world, but they always taught us to give back. It was always whatever you take care of and you give comes back to you. So we were taught from a young age to put care into anything that we. We did.

And then throughout the course of my life, every profession that I had just didn't quite feel right until my first trip to Africa, actually.

Wow. What part did you go to in Africa initially?

The first trip was Malawi. That was my first trip. And that's actually how we had the birth of the mobile medical van.

Okay, so tell us a little bit about your foundation. What's your vision? Who are you impacting with your foundation?

So we have four passions, and it's cultural diplomacy, human humanitarian recognition, global health, and conservation. And we believe that each of these things represent our family in a lot of ways because we've been impacted by each of these things.

And I'll start with the humanitarian recognition our family was always Involved in sports, especially football. We were lucky enough to be one of the owners of the Philadelphia Soul, the indoor football team.

And my dad just love football, so we grew up around it. We grew up being a part of the football world. So we ended up starting an award for people in the NFL that were giving back to their communities.

And we realized that humanitarian recognition kind of lit a fire. And more and more people, the more you acknowledge it, people would get curious.

You became a sounding board for other people, people's organizations, and it kind of creates this beautiful community of people that give back. And then we have world health. What are you if you're not healthy? Our health impacts how we contribute to the world around us.

And we've known so many people that have had battles in all different kinds of health, and me personally, mental health that we've incorporated, because that's a really, really big issue now. And we think that the healthier you are, mind, body, soul, the more you'll contribute to the world around you.

And that's kind of what got us into conservation as well, because we believe not only should you be healthy, but the world around you should be healthy. And one thing affects the other, and the way you treat your environment is a reflection of self. So conservation became very important to us as well.

And then cultural diplomacy and diplomacy. My grandfather was an immigrant, came over from Italy. And my family is so diverse. So many different groups have married into our family. We.

We have so many different cultures kind of woven into us, and we believe that culture is the reason we make a lot of the decisions that we make. And the better you can understand somebody's culture, the more you'll understand where they're coming from.

And you'll learn something about yourself, too, because you'll be like, I didn't know I'd like this music or this food or. Or meditating or. The more you expose yourself to these different cultures, you'll also learn more about you as well.

So those four pillars, as grand and vast as they sound, really represent our family and we think are very important things that will make you a more of a contributor of the world around you.

I love that. Let's dig into some of those, because I want to really kind of hone in on a couple of couples, really interest me. The world health part of that.

Tell me a little bit about how you walk into cultures that maybe don't have our medical background.

And I've always known, because I've worked a lot with different ethnic groups from other countries, and I realized that you got to be careful when you're providing help and assistance that you do so in a way that still respects the culture that you're going into. So how do you bring something like health to maybe countries that don't have the same kind of systems and processes that we have?

I think the first thing, whenever you go into any culture that isn't yours, is ask what they want, right? Ask what they want to see, ask what they need help with, rather than going in there like, oh, I'm. I'm ready. I'm ready to do this.

Because more than likely it's going to be something that they don't want or need. So I think first is evaluating the level they're at and what they really want. And then I'm. I'm a connector.

So if it's something that I can personally provide through the foundation, I'm going to want to provide them exactly what they want.

And if it's something that I can't, I'm going to find a way to get them in touch with somebody that can provide that, and I'm going to assist in connecting them and then kind of facilitating what is necessary for them to have success.

And that, like the mobile medical van that we did donate that is doing a lot of work in those villages, we went in saying this is what we wanted it to do. And as we worked with the communities, we were like, they didn't want that. They wanted malaria netting.

And I was like, I didn't even think about that. And that that's something that's so beneficial. So I really think it's. It's a lot of.

It's a lot of listening again on what specifically they want to see happen, and then promoting things that they're already doing because every culture is doing something right and something great and something different, and then that goes back to being that soundboard for what it is they are doing.

So with the American Thoracic Society, we were doing scholarships where we would fly people in from different parts of the country that couldn't afford to come here to show what they were studying or show their results or their ideas on how to cure something or resolve an issue. So it's also about seeing what they already are contributing and being a platform to boost that and elevate that.

As someone who's worked with the un, with Congress, with embassies worldwide, tell me a little bit about how you first of all navigate all those different agencies and bureaucracies to get help to the people that need it most.

I bite my tongue a lot. No, I, it's. It's actually really interesting because I work mostly with US Based embassies on foreign soil. So it's.

I facilitate these dialogues between our government and what the country wants in that, like, specifically what their government wants, and kind of keep these dialogues of what we know, what, you know, our solutions, your solutions, and kind of merge them and have these conversations of, okay, this is something that you've experienced, that I've never experienced, but this is how I think I would want to resolve it. But this is how you want it resolved.

And kind of again, getting people to have these calm, collected conversations with one another and getting the right people in the room and humanizing.

And I think that's something that we kind of forget with people in authority, that these are humans, they make mistakes, they get nervous and anxious and overwhelmed and just kind of getting to the point where we all get on an even playing field and understanding of one another and pulling in those cultural differences too. Because once you realize, okay, this is their culture, oh, well, okay, that's probably why they make that decision. That's probably why this exists.

And it's the incorporation and the understanding. I like to say that I'm still a teacher and I just bring people together to have these calmer conversations and an understanding of one another.

So you've been several places, Malawi, you've been to Rwanda for humanitarian initiatives. Which moment stands out as the most impactful for you to you personally?

That would be my first time in Africa. I. My dad was invited to a delegation where members of congress were going to meet the government in Malawi to discuss this orphanage.

This orphanage would take care of children that either their parents died of AIDS or the children themselves have AIDS or hiv. And the villagers didn't quite understand what was going on. They thought that the.

Because Buddhist monks ran the orphanage, they thought these people who didn't look like them were coming and stealing the children. And so they would sneak into the orphanage and try to steal the children back to marry them off or work with them.

So the orphanage was asking the government for help. And the government needed our help in a. In a sense. And I found this very fascinating because I was in marketing. I had nothing to do with any of this.

My dad just asked me to go and take notes and I, I kind of fell in love with what was necessary to understand one another and navigate this. And I got to spend time in the orphanage. And that was really what truly changed me.

You would see these kids who may have gotten treatment and then would get really Sick. But bounce back so fast. They just wanted to play with their friends and, you know, play soccer. But there was one girl. Her name was Comfort.

I will forever remember her. And she was 2 years old, and she never smiled. And she. I think she had hiv. And she just wouldn't smile. And I just scooped her up, not even thinking.

I was like, I need to hug this kid. And she was looking at my hair, and my hair was in a ponytail, and I was like, oh, I guess she's never seen blonde hair.

And I took my hair out of the ponytail and I rubbed it on her face, and this big smile just came across her face. And I felt something like. I felt like I just had a moment. We didn't understand each other, but we did.

And I came back home, and first off, everybody was making jokes like, no, you can't take her home. I was like, I. I want to. I'll take her right now.

But I went back home, and luckily, you know, at the time, I was working for my parents, and I said, I can't do this anymore. And they were like, what are you talking about? And I said, I need to be doing more. I need to.

That was the first moment, I think I actually felt alive and, like, a fire lit in me, and I didn't know how or what. And my parents were like, what do you want to do? And I was like, I don't know.

And I went back to school because I thought it was to work with animals. And then my parents were like, you know what? Let's come back. And we want to start.

Start out as a very small charity that was Cosmo Cares, and they're like, we want you to learn and. And run this. And I hit the ground running and was just a sponge.

I still am learning from all these people around me what it takes to really kind of contribute to these different groups. And I continue to learn. And I kind of melded.

My family taught me a lot about business and then charity, and it became this kind of beautiful melding of philanthropy and business and what it takes to kind of make things successful and sustainable. I still am learning. I. I still try to do some programs that are.

Are not successful, but I'm very lucky that I just will team up with anybody that's trying to make a difference and try to learn from them. And I've really grown to love what I do. But it really started with that. That little girl, Comfort. It really started with her.

What are some of the challenges that you've discovered in the projects you've Undertaken with your foundation.

Again, it's wanting to do things a specific way. You jump in and you're like, I have the solution to all of your problems.

And people will be like, I don't want that, or, no, that's not going to work. And I always want to, like, fly before I even crawl. And I think the hardest thing for me to remember is to slow down, listen to everyone.

Do your research on what's been there before. I mean, philanthropy has been around since the beginning of time. You know, people trying to help people. Um, and the issues have always been the same.

So I think it's very important to see who's been there before and do things differently and remember the importance of the sustainability of whatever it is you're trying to do. Because I think a lot of times we go in and put a band aid on things, and it. It never resolves the issue.

And I think we need to do a little bit more listening about what the true issues are in a lot of different communities, in a lot of different countries, and try to come at things from a different angle. But it really is a learning thing, and you have to know that there are gonna be some.

You're gonna take a swing at some, you know, balls, and you're gonna miss and you're gonna mess up and not getting so down on yourself and kind of, like, giving up, like, oh, this is. This is awful. But remembering, you. You gotta get back up and get back in it and just try it from a different angle. So I think it's learning.

Continue to learn, continue to grow and to continue to try.

Of the things you've accomplished so far, what was the thing?

You know, I guess I'm trying to figure out, because we don't really have a gut concept of the challenges that they're facing in the places that you're going, or what are just some of the. Some of the problems you guys are trying to solve with your foundation and the projects you're working on.

Well, globally, we're doing more. In Italy, we're doing a community center in a very tiny town that actually, my grandfather came from that.

Now the community is much older, and we want to kind of give them a place where. Where they can do certain things. I mean, this is in the hills, so climbing up mountains and, you know, so.

But giving them a place that they can go, it's a little easier that they can kind of hang out and communicate with one another. So that's one of. We want to start kind of creating places of community in different parts of the world.

And then we also have done things with conservation. We've planted trees all over the place.

We are digging fresh water wells and teaming up with different groups that are already have the boots on the ground because in certain countries we don't have the people on the ground. So we'll team up with people. So a lot of trees, a lot of fresh water wells.

The mobile medical van is about to go into its next journey, actually going from aspirin and malaria netting that now it's actually going to start giving out vaccines, which is a really awesome progress of what it's doing. It's not just feeding communities, it's not just giving them malaria netting, but now it's actually going to combat a lot of diseases.

We've also done programs in Poland where we've given out like Christmas trees to the elderly that actually saved their Holocaust survivors. They saved a lot of people during the Holocaust.

And so we'll bring them blankets and Christmas trees and see what they might need help in and with, and acknowledging what they went through and how they kind of dedicated their life to try to save people. So that's just some of the stuff that we do. We're always looking for very unique and interesting things to try to help contribute with.

I love that you must have learned a lot of lessons about leadership from what you're doing now. What lessons from working in this global format have you taken back, incorporate into your daily leadership journey?

Probably don't, don't allow. We all have misconceptions. Whether or not it's stuff that we see on the Internet or from movies or books, we tend to have no idea.

Like that's, that's what I've realized in going into certain rooms with different people or going to different countries. I now have to kind of clean, clear the slate and say I don't know. And that's okay. It's a little nerve wracking.

But that's going back to that point where you want to be that sponge and have a willingness to hear, smell, taste, be a part of a culture and put all your misconceptions off to the side and really be a student and a part of a community.

And going in from a place of respect, not expecting respect, but being the initiative of respect, I think that that is a big, big, big thing because we all want to be respected. But very few people are willing to start off. I'm coming from a place of respect.

I'm coming in as a clean slate and I'm coming in as a sponge and approaching situations like that, you're one incredibly welcomed. A lot of these places around the world, they don't look at you and, you know, kind of shun you. They, they want you to be a part of their world.

They want to show you everything that goes on with their cultures and their experience. I think everybody wants to share their experience.

And if you come in as a person saying, share your experience with me, let me understand you, I'm not trying to put anything on you, then they reciprocate that. You know, they, they get excited about involving you in all of this and having you be a part and then they get curious also about you.

And you can have these great back and forth conversations and be that, that bridge of the different cultures and the different communities.

So I think that's a very important thing to know going into any of this and the having a willingness of, I like to say, putting yourself and your beliefs and all that stuff in the backseat, not saying disrespected or it's not there, but kind of putting it in the backseat and realizing what you're attempting to do is bigger than you. And that's kind of awesome and an awesome responsibility.

But you have to, you kind of have to come second and that's okay because at night you go home to you. So it's, it's really, it's really an okay thing to do and it helps you accomplish a lot more.

There are so many hotspots around the world, so many places that need help. How do you determine? Where do you go next? What are the, what are the things you consider? What are the.

We can't do that, or is it we just go where we think we're needed?

Everything has to align with your pillars. That's why we created our four pillars. I mean, I, I do get very creative sometimes.

If I get very excited about the idea of working with a specific group, I might bounce that ball a little, A little kind of crazy and get very creative on, on how I try to convince the board to do these things. And they'll, they'll laugh and they'll be like, okay, you know, that's kind of a stretch, but all right.

I think it's always important to remember that you do have to stick to those pillars and those passions because you'll get yourself, you'll make yourself too thin if you kind of branch off and try to do everything. You'll also get emotional fatigue and get really kind of, you know, down on yourself. And I think it's knowing that you're Able to have an impact.

There are some things that I think you have to be very real with yourself and say, that's something I myself don't think that I can have a substantial impact in. That would be like me just putting a band aid on something.

And I. I think we need to kind of get out of those behaviors and maybe save a whole lot of those missions rather than doing a whole lot, but, like, save up for one big one where you can really have that deep impact that will be felt for a long time for those communities. So it's. It's also having the. The understanding and being real with yourself. How much of an impact can I actually have in this?

How thin am I stretched? What is. Where am I at with my budget? I mean, I know people don't like to talk about money, but it's a real thing in philanthropy.

And if I start to get low on my budget, it's like, can I really, again, have that. That positive influence that I want?

But if I feel like I can't, that's when you, you know, you kind of think you have to get creative and be like, well, who can I get these people in touch with? And it's. It's not necessarily saying no. It might just be not right now, or I don't really know anybody that can assist you with that right now.

And that reminding yourself that that is okay if you have to say no. So it's not really any specific country. It's just knowing when these requests come in, what I can realistically have a good, solid impact on.

When do you know when your work in a place is done? Because you kind of think sometimes that maybe it's not beneficial to stay forever. So how do you know?

Well, I think we've done all we can do here, and it's probably hard to say goodbye, I'm assuming, to some of these places you've spent so many years in.

I don't think I ever really say goodbye. I don't think that I do. I just say, like, okay, it's kind of a pause until the next thing might come around. But I think it's.

You'll know when you're no longer. How you judge the impact is you do it person by person, really.

If you don't see that light, if you don't see that that person feels seen or heard or fed or has water or things like that, then you know that your impact isn't where you want it to be. And again, it's not. You have to be real with yourself. You it's not an abandonment. It's a reality of this isn't working out the way I wanted it to.

I can either reevaluate and pivot and try to do it a different way, or I have to say. You have to say, okay, I'm gonna have to pause this and move on. Because also there's. There's always a need somewhere.

And if you're not really truly making that positive impact that you want in that one place, you have to realize you have to move on to the next thing where you can have another positive impact. So it's that you'll know. I mean, I hate to say it like that, but, I mean, you will.

You'll start to feel it, and you'll be like, people aren't as excited and they're not really getting a whole lot out of this.

For listeners who are going, this sounds like something I really want to do. What advice do you have for someone? I want to go into a community and I want to make a. An impact, especially globally. What steps should they take?

Find one. Start with one passion. Something that lights you up, that you get creative. You're thinking about it all the time.

Like, in the middle of the night, I'll get up and be thinking about certain things and be like, oh, but it has to excite you. And the reason that I say that is because philanthropy and charity, there's a lot of issues with fatigue and depression and burnout. It.

It happens because you continue to see people at their worst. That is your job. You are seeing people that need something. And you know, you.

You'll spend a lot of time crying, you'll spend a lot of time exhausted and feeling sick to your stomach and like, oh, my God, this is a lot.

But if it's something that lights that passion that feels fire in you, when that fire kind of dwindles to just be like a little spark, you'll know that when you rest and you reflect, that will ignite again and you won't make yourself too. Too thin.

So it's finding that one thing that you really, truly are passionate about, and you really, truly believe that you can have that positive impact and then find other people that are doing it and learn from them and see how you could do it a little different and team up and find that community. Don't just repeat what other people are doing. See how you can do it different.

And that's what I encourage, that I say the next gen philanthropists, see how you can do it different and see how you can do it Sustainably, but honestly, no. No, when it's not going to work.

So what's next for you? What's the next big place you're going to go next or next big project you're taking on?

I actually should be in Italy in April. I will be meeting the new Pope, which is very exciting. I'll be working with this group called the Papal Foundation.

And then from there, hopefully, I will be in Lesotho, where I will be meeting the king and or of his representatives, where we will move on to the next phase of the mobile medical van. So I'm. I'm very excited about that. And we'll also around the Super Bowl, I will be giving out the Steinberg Denicola Humanitarian Awards in February.

So really excited about that.

That's so cool. I'd love to ask my guests this other question. What do you want your legacy to be?

I want to be the person that people can look at and say, I can do that, too. I want to be a person that encourages people to know that their actions can have a positive impact on the progression of the world.

That we're not just out here and we don't matter. You matter, and you can truly change the world. It doesn't have to be as a whole. Just change the way the world is for one person. And you've done it.

Wow. So on season six, we have something new on the podcast. We have a surprise question, and.

Oh, yeah, pick it up between 1.

And 10 for your surprise question.

7.

All right. If you had everything in your house to be one color, what color would you choose?

Blue.

Really? Blue. Okay.

I. I love. I love the color blue.

And honestly, I wish I could show you pictures of my house, because I'm pretty sure there's something blue in every single room of my house.

That's so cool. I would have said purple myself. So I'm also curious, as you think about all the places you've traveled, what's the most unusual thing you've eaten?

Oh, that's a good question. The most unusual thing that I've eaten. I. I was actually in the Galapagos in Ecuador, and I can't remember the name of the fruit.

There was a very strange fruit, and it. It did not taste like a. A fruit, but I see it. It's tough for me when I travel because I'm a pescatarian. I don't eat meat.

Okay.

And that confuses so many people in other countries because I'll say, I don't eat meat, and then they'll bring me pork or chicken.

And that's not meat, right?

Yeah. And then you don't want to insult people. So I. I'd have to say, at this point in my life, I have survived for weeks on carbs. Just.

Just give me a piece of bread. You have bread, right? There have been times that I've had to survive on, on, like, bread and corn and potatoes. Potatoes, yeah. That's.

That's how I've survived to this point.

Oh, my goodness.

So, Morgan, as we wrap this up, and this has been a phenomenal conversation, what key takeaways you want to leave with the audience from our conversation today?

Know that you can make a difference. Know that you matter. Sometimes you just kind of have to get out of that comfort zone, but you can truly have an impact on the world around you.

Just find that passion. Take those baby steps, those deep breaths. And again, going back to the first thing that I said in any situation, respond, don't react.

I love it. Where can people find you? Learn more about the work that you're doing and about your foundation.

We have a website. It's the Denicola Family Foundation. You can just look us up and there's a contact page. You can see everything that we're up to as well as reach out.

I answer those. I'm a real person. So if you fill those out, those go directly to me.

We also have Facebook and Instagram, and if you message us on Facebook or Instagram, that's also me. So you will be speaking directly to me. And I also have my own personal social media. It's public.

I did that intentionally to kind of regain the trust of people running these philosophical philanthropic groups and kind of allow people to see I'm a human. A lot of those social media posts are pictures of my dogs or me just cooking. But you can also message me on there. I'm a person. I will respect you.

And if you just need somebody, I truly believe in being there for people. So just feel free to reach out.

Well, Morgan, thanks so much for sharing your incredible story and the work you're doing to make the world a better place.

You.

Your commitment to health, humanitarian efforts, and cultural diplomacy is truly inspiring for our listeners. If you want to learn more about Morgan and the Dela Cola Family foundation or the Humpty Dumpty Institute, visit the website links. That'll be in the.

In the show notes here. As always, thank you for tuning in to Becoming Bridge Builders Podcast. If you enjoy this episode, subscribe, share and leave us a review.

Until next time, keep building bridges that connect and inspire. Thank you so much Morgan.

Thank you.