in 2012 my 86 year old grandmother
ended that I buy her an iPhone I said
grandma why do you want an iPhone I’m
downstairs you’re upstairs just yell at
me whenever you need something but my
grandmother wasn’t the type of person
that you say no to so I got her an
iPhone and sure enough I was doomed to
be her tech support for the near future
one day she called me said how do I do
this another day she’d call me how do I
do that
and one day she even called me said
uncle I want to text you a message to
pick me up and get me a milkshake
I said nanny my you just call me you
don’t need to text me but my
grandmother’s not the type of woman that
you say no to so I taught her how to
text me and she got a milkshake but as
time went on her questions became
different she became more comfortable
with the technology she started asking
how do I do this how do i download an
app how do I play a game how do I send
you an email how do i surf the web and
get more knowledge and information and I
realized that she started feeling
included and relevant and very proud so
proud that when my friends would come
over she would look at them and say hmm
when she passed I couldn’t help but feel
a small sense of pride that even in her
80s she was always curious always ready
to learn and never took no for an answer
a lot of people ask how did I wind up in
Kentucky well to understand that you
have to know my background in my family
my father was a young man in New Delhi
India who one day dreamed of coming to
America he studied hard worked hard my
grandfather taught a math on the
weekends mr. Rajesh were not gave him 30
rupees when he couldn’t afford his
school tuition which he paid back and he
eventually got to come to America went
to the University of Missouri Rolla and
got a job as a petroleum engineer in
Owensboro Kentucky soon after he got
settled he went back to India and Mary
my mom who was a physician and she came
to almost burg Kentucky now as you can
imagine life for a young immigrant
couple in the Midwest wasn’t always easy
there were people that didn’t want to
see them succeed my father was a
foreign-born engineer trying to climb
the corporate ladder my mother a female
physician trying to get acceptance into
the medical community and also get
privileges at the hospital so she could
practice and start her work but
fortunately there were tremendous
amounts of good people that invited in
their homes gave them the guidance
opened up opportunities for them and
they were able to fulfill their American
dream one story that stands out as my
mom as a physician in Owensboro Kentucky
helped thousands of patients most of the
patients that wouldn’t been seen by
other doctors in the area she also was
very proud of her free clinic that she
helped stand up where she helped
thousands more when I was 16 years old I
was in Walmart checking out and the
cashier says are you doctor Gopal son
yes that’s my mom they said your mom is
amazing we love your mom she took our
family in and took care of us when no
one else would on top that she spent
time with me she got me off of drugs she
got me back into school she got me into
a steady job and she inspired me to pass
that lessons those lessons on to my
family and my children who are all
thriving now we love your mom so much
that we named our daughter after her Wow
I left that Walmart that day with two
thoughts one I had a newfound respect
for my mom and the work she did and two
there’s some poor girl running around
so ladies and gentlemen my grandmother
taught me the importance of relevance my
father taught me to dream big and
persevere and my mother taught me
empathy lessons that I take with me
every single day and everything I do I
grew up like a typical Indian kid in the
Midwest I was good at tennis very very
good at spelling and like many kids from
Kentucky success meant getting out and
going to Chicago New York Silicon Valley
and I did exactly that I went to the
University of Illinois University of
Chicago where I had mentors and teachers
that helped me achieve my goals and I
worked right here in Silicon Valley
eventually I wanted to start my own
company and I did and I went back to
Kentucky with the hopes of coming back
to Silicon Valley but a funny thing
happened the guidance I received they
convinced me to try it in Kentucky
because they said we need entrepreneurs
here I said alright I’ll give it a shot
I can always come back to Silicon Valley
so like most Silicon Valley firms I
started in our guest room till my wife
kicked us out and we started growing and
we started getting first chances and
companies that were wanting to work with
us because we’re a software development
firm that does innovation as a service
they gave us a chance to do what we do
best and it worked we were able to grow
they were able to help us and I feel I
finally fulfilled my dream of starting a
high tech company in Kentucky but I felt
like it wasn’t enough as an entrepreneur
I feel that entrepreneurs have a true
responsibility to help create
opportunities for others lift people up
and help drive the economies of our
respective areas and I wasn’t sure if we
were doing that around the same time I
got a call from our governor and our
congressman which I can’t believe
happened and the I said unk or Eastern
Kentucky is hurting there’s a lot of
people out of work and people that are
trying to find something to do with
their lives as the coal economy declines
can you help see if there’s any talents
or opportunities there that you can
perhaps help with I said I don’t know
I’ll go try so I went and I learned a
lot of things I talked to a lot of local
leaders I talked to the people
and I realized that there’s so much
talent and so many people willing to
work hard but they just don’t have the
guidance and opportunities that many of
us had so I came back to the governor
and congressman I said all right here’s
what I’ve learned number one you cannot
start thinking about economic
development without start thinking about
workforce development and building
skills too we need to remove barriers
for people and we need to pay people to
learn these skills 3 we have to make
sure that we instill hope that’s one
thing that’s missing there as you can
imagine when we embarked on doing this
there were a lot of naysayers people who
didn’t want to see us succeed in the
area people who didn’t want us there but
I told my team this work is too
important and this couldn’t could affect
many many lives so we’ve got to push
through and make sure we succeed so we
started our plan 800 applications got 50
students and we took six months eight
hours a day to immerse them into
training to learn software it worked 35
out of the 50 got the skills that they
needed to participate in the tech
economy and they’re employed today I
wanted to shout it from the mountaintops
I said oh my gosh it worked I want I
felt like coach Jim Valvano running
around looking for someone to hug you
know try to tell people about it
I said we need to tell this story to
everyone but I didn’t have to because a
funny thing happened a lot of people
started calling us and saying tell us
more we got invitations to speak at
conferences we got news articles written
about us and it was amazing because our
story needed to be told more importantly
companies started calling us and saying
how can we help we love this and I said
alright if you really want to help
you’ve got to start creating
opportunities and give people first
chances that is the most critical thing
we need and they did and if you want to
know what a first chance looks like here
they are crystal was a single mother of
two and unemployed before our program
now she’s a member of our development
team and not only that she’s teaching
Java to our new cohort
helping them the same way she was helped
on the weekend she teaches coding to her
son and daughter so they can get a leg
up which she couldn’t have done before
Alex people said he was too old to learn
a new skill at 43 he told me I couldn’t
get a job bagging groceries and now on
LinkedIn I get recruiters email me three
times a month
see if I’m ready for another job Baraka
fled his home country in Africa as a
refugee and came to America where he
joined our program and he’s inspired to
not only help others learn the skills
when they come to America that we taught
him but also wants to be an entrepreneur
and create opportunities for others Nick
got a job offer from our company in one
week before he joined his father passed
away and he thought he’d have to leave
his job because he had to take care of
his family during this tragic time but
our team worked with him allowed him to
work remotely that’s what technology
allows you to do stay with his family
get them back on their feet during this
tough time and he was now flourishing at
our company Matthew finished our program
when he got his first job offer his wife
and him on Facebook posted this is the
proudest day in the Watson family we
people aren’t looking for handouts
they’re looking for hope so our new
dream we were excited we want to take
this around we want to spread this idea
near and far and it helped us find our
own purpose and mission our own company
we created a new line of business called
interrupts skills that help support our
interrupt services line of business and
we saw that the mission evolved to where
not only can we help transform our
clients but we can transform other human
beings at the same time that’s the type
of conscious capitalism that we are
focused on delivering and we have
ambitious goals I think we can do this
everywhere in the country I think
there’s opportunity and potential be
ignited every single place and I think
it’s needed everywhere and how we’re
going to do this audacious goal we’ve
shown we can do this in rural areas
we’ve shown we can do it in urban areas
and I’m very proud to also share with
you today that we’re also going to do it
for our transitioning soldiers and their
spouses to help them get acclimated
assimilate back into civilian life with
a pathway a skill and a career not only
that we have partners around the country
who have called us and said we need that
– how can you help us I said we’d love
to help you city of refuge in Atlanta
Coachella Valley Glasgow Kentucky
Detroit state of Wyoming all places that
we know we can do the same sort of work
with the right partnership and that
partnership is critical one common goal
but five forces that need to come
together to make this happen that’s how
we make it real change and that’s how we
make impact in people’s lives and funny
enough when I look around this room
today all five forces are right here we
all together can do this if we work
together with one common goal there’s a
common thread in all my stories that
I’ve shared with you today someone put
an opportunity in front of someone
someone sees it and crushed it
someone then stood on the shoulders of
giants and paid it forward so ladies and
gentlemen when you truly give
opportunity as a service you’re not
teaching someone how to use an iPhone
you’re not helping
a young couple assimilate you’re not
helping a young entrepreneur fulfill his
dream of starting a company and you’re
not teaching people how to code what
you’re doing is that you’re telling your
fellow human beings that you belong you
are worthy you are relevant you have
hope and you are enough thank you [Applause]
ended that I buy her an iPhone I said
grandma why do you want an iPhone I’m
downstairs you’re upstairs just yell at
me whenever you need something but my
grandmother wasn’t the type of person
that you say no to so I got her an
iPhone and sure enough I was doomed to
be her tech support for the near future
one day she called me said how do I do
this another day she’d call me how do I
do that
and one day she even called me said
uncle I want to text you a message to
pick me up and get me a milkshake
I said nanny my you just call me you
don’t need to text me but my
grandmother’s not the type of woman that
you say no to so I taught her how to
text me and she got a milkshake but as
time went on her questions became
different she became more comfortable
with the technology she started asking
how do I do this how do i download an
app how do I play a game how do I send
you an email how do i surf the web and
get more knowledge and information and I
realized that she started feeling
included and relevant and very proud so
proud that when my friends would come
over she would look at them and say hmm
when she passed I couldn’t help but feel
a small sense of pride that even in her
80s she was always curious always ready
to learn and never took no for an answer
a lot of people ask how did I wind up in
Kentucky well to understand that you
have to know my background in my family
my father was a young man in New Delhi
India who one day dreamed of coming to
America he studied hard worked hard my
grandfather taught a math on the
weekends mr. Rajesh were not gave him 30
rupees when he couldn’t afford his
school tuition which he paid back and he
eventually got to come to America went
to the University of Missouri Rolla and
got a job as a petroleum engineer in
Owensboro Kentucky soon after he got
settled he went back to India and Mary
my mom who was a physician and she came
to almost burg Kentucky now as you can
imagine life for a young immigrant
couple in the Midwest wasn’t always easy
there were people that didn’t want to
see them succeed my father was a
foreign-born engineer trying to climb
the corporate ladder my mother a female
physician trying to get acceptance into
the medical community and also get
privileges at the hospital so she could
practice and start her work but
fortunately there were tremendous
amounts of good people that invited in
their homes gave them the guidance
opened up opportunities for them and
they were able to fulfill their American
dream one story that stands out as my
mom as a physician in Owensboro Kentucky
helped thousands of patients most of the
patients that wouldn’t been seen by
other doctors in the area she also was
very proud of her free clinic that she
helped stand up where she helped
thousands more when I was 16 years old I
was in Walmart checking out and the
cashier says are you doctor Gopal son
yes that’s my mom they said your mom is
amazing we love your mom she took our
family in and took care of us when no
one else would on top that she spent
time with me she got me off of drugs she
got me back into school she got me into
a steady job and she inspired me to pass
that lessons those lessons on to my
family and my children who are all
thriving now we love your mom so much
that we named our daughter after her Wow
I left that Walmart that day with two
thoughts one I had a newfound respect
for my mom and the work she did and two
there’s some poor girl running around
so ladies and gentlemen my grandmother
taught me the importance of relevance my
father taught me to dream big and
persevere and my mother taught me
empathy lessons that I take with me
every single day and everything I do I
grew up like a typical Indian kid in the
Midwest I was good at tennis very very
good at spelling and like many kids from
Kentucky success meant getting out and
going to Chicago New York Silicon Valley
and I did exactly that I went to the
University of Illinois University of
Chicago where I had mentors and teachers
that helped me achieve my goals and I
worked right here in Silicon Valley
eventually I wanted to start my own
company and I did and I went back to
Kentucky with the hopes of coming back
to Silicon Valley but a funny thing
happened the guidance I received they
convinced me to try it in Kentucky
because they said we need entrepreneurs
here I said alright I’ll give it a shot
I can always come back to Silicon Valley
so like most Silicon Valley firms I
started in our guest room till my wife
kicked us out and we started growing and
we started getting first chances and
companies that were wanting to work with
us because we’re a software development
firm that does innovation as a service
they gave us a chance to do what we do
best and it worked we were able to grow
they were able to help us and I feel I
finally fulfilled my dream of starting a
high tech company in Kentucky but I felt
like it wasn’t enough as an entrepreneur
I feel that entrepreneurs have a true
responsibility to help create
opportunities for others lift people up
and help drive the economies of our
respective areas and I wasn’t sure if we
were doing that around the same time I
got a call from our governor and our
congressman which I can’t believe
happened and the I said unk or Eastern
Kentucky is hurting there’s a lot of
people out of work and people that are
trying to find something to do with
their lives as the coal economy declines
can you help see if there’s any talents
or opportunities there that you can
perhaps help with I said I don’t know
I’ll go try so I went and I learned a
lot of things I talked to a lot of local
leaders I talked to the people
and I realized that there’s so much
talent and so many people willing to
work hard but they just don’t have the
guidance and opportunities that many of
us had so I came back to the governor
and congressman I said all right here’s
what I’ve learned number one you cannot
start thinking about economic
development without start thinking about
workforce development and building
skills too we need to remove barriers
for people and we need to pay people to
learn these skills 3 we have to make
sure that we instill hope that’s one
thing that’s missing there as you can
imagine when we embarked on doing this
there were a lot of naysayers people who
didn’t want to see us succeed in the
area people who didn’t want us there but
I told my team this work is too
important and this couldn’t could affect
many many lives so we’ve got to push
through and make sure we succeed so we
started our plan 800 applications got 50
students and we took six months eight
hours a day to immerse them into
training to learn software it worked 35
out of the 50 got the skills that they
needed to participate in the tech
economy and they’re employed today I
wanted to shout it from the mountaintops
I said oh my gosh it worked I want I
felt like coach Jim Valvano running
around looking for someone to hug you
know try to tell people about it
I said we need to tell this story to
everyone but I didn’t have to because a
funny thing happened a lot of people
started calling us and saying tell us
more we got invitations to speak at
conferences we got news articles written
about us and it was amazing because our
story needed to be told more importantly
companies started calling us and saying
how can we help we love this and I said
alright if you really want to help
you’ve got to start creating
opportunities and give people first
chances that is the most critical thing
we need and they did and if you want to
know what a first chance looks like here
they are crystal was a single mother of
two and unemployed before our program
now she’s a member of our development
team and not only that she’s teaching
Java to our new cohort
helping them the same way she was helped
on the weekend she teaches coding to her
son and daughter so they can get a leg
up which she couldn’t have done before
Alex people said he was too old to learn
a new skill at 43 he told me I couldn’t
get a job bagging groceries and now on
LinkedIn I get recruiters email me three
times a month
see if I’m ready for another job Baraka
fled his home country in Africa as a
refugee and came to America where he
joined our program and he’s inspired to
not only help others learn the skills
when they come to America that we taught
him but also wants to be an entrepreneur
and create opportunities for others Nick
got a job offer from our company in one
week before he joined his father passed
away and he thought he’d have to leave
his job because he had to take care of
his family during this tragic time but
our team worked with him allowed him to
work remotely that’s what technology
allows you to do stay with his family
get them back on their feet during this
tough time and he was now flourishing at
our company Matthew finished our program
when he got his first job offer his wife
and him on Facebook posted this is the
proudest day in the Watson family we
people aren’t looking for handouts
they’re looking for hope so our new
dream we were excited we want to take
this around we want to spread this idea
near and far and it helped us find our
own purpose and mission our own company
we created a new line of business called
interrupts skills that help support our
interrupt services line of business and
we saw that the mission evolved to where
not only can we help transform our
clients but we can transform other human
beings at the same time that’s the type
of conscious capitalism that we are
focused on delivering and we have
ambitious goals I think we can do this
everywhere in the country I think
there’s opportunity and potential be
ignited every single place and I think
it’s needed everywhere and how we’re
going to do this audacious goal we’ve
shown we can do this in rural areas
we’ve shown we can do it in urban areas
and I’m very proud to also share with
you today that we’re also going to do it
for our transitioning soldiers and their
spouses to help them get acclimated
assimilate back into civilian life with
a pathway a skill and a career not only
that we have partners around the country
who have called us and said we need that
– how can you help us I said we’d love
to help you city of refuge in Atlanta
Coachella Valley Glasgow Kentucky
Detroit state of Wyoming all places that
we know we can do the same sort of work
with the right partnership and that
partnership is critical one common goal
but five forces that need to come
together to make this happen that’s how
we make it real change and that’s how we
make impact in people’s lives and funny
enough when I look around this room
today all five forces are right here we
all together can do this if we work
together with one common goal there’s a
common thread in all my stories that
I’ve shared with you today someone put
an opportunity in front of someone
someone sees it and crushed it
someone then stood on the shoulders of
giants and paid it forward so ladies and
gentlemen when you truly give
opportunity as a service you’re not
teaching someone how to use an iPhone
you’re not helping
a young couple assimilate you’re not
helping a young entrepreneur fulfill his
dream of starting a company and you’re
not teaching people how to code what
you’re doing is that you’re telling your
fellow human beings that you belong you
are worthy you are relevant you have
hope and you are enough thank you [Applause]
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