How To Support Your Teen to Get a Positive Vision For Their Future
Deepali Vyas is the founder and CEO of Fearless+. In her 22 years at Korn Ferry, Deepali reviewed over 100,000 resumes, completed over 40,000 executive job placements, and conducted C-Suite leadership assessments and coaching services for top teams.
Now, she is using her world-class knowledge as an executive recruiter, leadership consultant, and mom, to prepare the next generation for the future of work and career readiness by connecting them with opportunities, mentors, colleges, and employers with the Fearless+ platform.
Let’s dig in!
Scroll down to read the full episode transcribed.
What You Will Learn:
- Which three character traits do kids need to develop in order to succeed?
- What are the main challenges that students face today that make it difficult to succeed in school?
- How does the Fearless+ platform help our kids?
- How can parents help prepare their kids to help prepare for the reality of the real world?
- How important is work experience?
- What are some things parents can do to help their tweens and teens to be successful in school and in the real world?
Where to find Deepali:
- Deepali’s Fearless+ profile
- TikTok
Find more encouragement, wisdom, and resources:
Sign up for our Moms of Tweens and Teens newsletter HERE
And here is the episode typed out!
Welcome to the Moms of Tweens and Teens Podcast. If some days you doubt yourself and don’t know what you’re doing. If you’ve ugly cried alone in your bedroom because you felt like you were failing. Well, I just want to let you know you are not alone, and you have come to the right place.
Raising tweens and teens in today’s world is not easy. And I’m on a mission to equip you to love well and to raise emotionally healthy, happy tweens and teens that thrive.
I believe that moms are heroes, and we have the power to transform our families and impact future generations. If you are looking for answers, encouragement, and becoming more of the mom and the woman that you want to be, welcome. I am Sheryl Gould. And I am so glad that you’re here.
SHERYL: Welcome, Deepali. I am so excited to have you here and talk about what you’re doing and how you are helping tweens, teens, and parents. Before we dive in, I want you to share your story, background, and what led you to do what you’re doing today.
DEEPALI: Sheryl, I’m so excited to speak with you and your audience. So thank you for having me. And I’m delighted to share a little about myself and what we’re doing at Fearless.
But a little about my background, I’ve spent the last 23 years in executive research and leadership coaching. And what those fancy words mean is just getting executives into their new jobs, whether it’s CEO or COO, or anything in the C suite, within the fortune 500 landscape, I’ve been able to do that.
And it’s been such a privilege to help these leaders in those positions. And along the way, I’ve been a leadership coach, coaching and improving executives. And when I thought about the history of my experience and all these amazing people I’ve met along the way, I thought about how to bottle my experience and bring it to the younger generation because that was just something I was passionate about.
And as you know, I’m also a mom, and I’m a mom of a tween. So I think about that all the time, right? I’m thinking about what’s next for my 12-year-old. What do I have to worry about? And so my world started colliding. And that’s why I started Fearless+.
SHERYL: Wow, he is so cute, by the way. I’ve watched him on Fearless+. He’s adorable. It’s worth checking out all the other kids on there. How big of an influence was he and doing this?
DEEPALI: Huge, huge influence. I’ll tell you a story about how it got started. And it’s the story I always tell because it impacted my son and me. So, during the pandemic, everybody was home. And, I got a bird’s eye view of what my son was up to daily. And he knew what I was up to day to day.
So it was like all these worlds that were interacting with one another. And so one day, I had a call with Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney, and my son happened to be walking by. The only reason why I had a call with Bob was at my day job. That’s who I’m interacting with, whether at a board level or whatever.
So those are some of the fun days at work. And so I had a call with Bob and my son’s walking by. And he heard that I was going to speak to Bob, and the only reason he knows about who Bob Iger is, no 10-year-old would know that at the time, is because he was reading this book about Disney, and he had fun. He had read the name.
So he kind of just connected the dots. And he’s like, Mom, are you joking? Are you talking to Bob Iger? And so I put the call on pause. And then I asked Bob if you don’t mind, would you be able to chat with my son? He’s a huge fan. He read your book, and my son is by no means a genius, right?
But the reason why he picked up Bob’s book is that it was about Disney. So he thought he was going to be learning about Disney. So it’s a very adult book, but he had read it. And so Bob’s like a super gracious. He’s like; I’d love to talk to him. So my son gets on the phone with Bob, and they speak for about 10 minutes. And it was an unforgettable moment for both of them.
Bob texted me and said, Well, I didn’t write my book for a ten-year-old, but it was awesome to speak to him. And you know, I’m so glad that he got something out of it. And my son, there was the same experience. It was this sort of euphoria of, like, I can’t believe I talked to somebody in that position.
It was that moment when I said there was no reason why it should only be my son to be able to access someone like Bob or a version of Bob, an industry expert. I said I have to be able to do more. And so that’s where the idea was born. I felt like because my son was living in my house and had access, why couldn’t I bring this great access to a broader audience?
SHERYL: Wow, thank you for telling that story. I felt emotional because I talked to so many moms whose kids are struggling, and they don’t have a vision for what their lives can look like. And that’s getting lost, especially kids since the pandemic. I mean, it’s impacted them.
And they feel discouraged. They feel like, is it making any difference what I’m doing? They might not be students, but they’re very creative. And I love what fearless is doing because it’s helping kids to hone in on their strengths.
DEEPALI: Parents know what their kids are good at. And we as parents should be able to help them play to their strengths. Right. And so what schools? God bless the school system. They’re doing the best that they can, right?
They’ve gone through the pandemic, have all this curriculum, and are under-resourced. I do feel for them. And then there are the parents with an equal amount of anxiety that they have to help their kids be the best they can be.
When you and I were younger, we didn’t know what we didn’t know. In high school, I didn’t know enough, didn’t have enough exploration, and didn’t have enough ideas to say, Oh, wow, I think I would want to be a chief marketing officer somewhere because I’m creative. But I have a business mindset or whatever.
And now, there are so many new careers with the advent of AI and all kinds of stuff. There were no social media manager roles. Before the invention of the internet, or what social media is today, many new careers that were not traditional in the last few years were invented.
We also know that 86% of high school graduates pursue education through alternative means. They might not want to go to a traditional college. So there are so many things that are going on in our environment today. And parents are looking for resources to help their kids.
But at the same time, skills can be learned by going back to playing to your strengths. You can learn math. You can learn how to code through a boot camp. You can learn all of these technical things.
But you don’t learn those soft skills, how to collaborate, communication, self-awareness, and emotional intelligence, and that’s 92% of the job in the real world. 92% of what you do, is based on your soft skills, and that’s what we want to teach. So, Fearless+. If I can summarize your list in one sentence, LinkedIn meets TikTok meets the masterclass for the younger generation.
SHERYL: Wow. And we need that so much. Because as I was looking into everything you’re doing, I thought about how it was also so needed because I told you before we got here that my youngest graduated from college in May.
And she needed this because she was pulling from all the drama she had done in her tween years. And her high school years. She was a singer. So singing, so she’s putting all these videos together. And then she’s creating a website because of all of her experience. Then she’s got a portfolio and trying to figure out how she can show them the portfolio.
So all this stuff and her platform are places where they can start when they’re tweens, even adding all the cool things they are doing.
How do we tell our listeners about that? It’s like a one-stop shop to collect all the different things. And that they can look at and say, Oh, wow, look at all I am doing. I might stink in math. But look at over here what I’ve done.
DEEPALI: And that’s what our platform is. And when I said it sort of like LinkedIn meets TikTok. I meant that our platform wants to show a student’s profile on Fearless and a more holistic story. You are more than a number. You are more than a grade.
And so the opportunity students have is to create a three-minute video elevator pitch about their passion for what they’re interested in. And it gives someone like me, as an employer, a better story and a better narrative of how you’re presenting yourself.
We look at employers all the time. So if you look at Tesla, Google and SpaceX, and all these cool tech companies, we know what they’re asking for. Aside from just a resume, do you have a personal website? Do you have something we can look at to assess a little bit more holistically about who you are?
And so what our platform does is from the ripe age of 13, you can start putting everything together. It almost tells you a bit of a timeline through photos and videos. As a mom, you probably attended all your kid’s games, concerts, or whatever. You have plenty of videos that you can send to them, and they can upload about their best moments.
And I think many platforms for high school students, particularly, stop at high school. In contrast, we want to grow with them. You take all this stuff your daughter is now trying to pull together. Whereas we are that website, she can have a personalized website and send everything in one place.
SHERYL: So yeah, I love that – that makes it so doable and easy.
DEEPALI: Super easy. You know, we’re mobile-friendly. We had a student on our platform the other day who just uploaded a 40-minute tutorial of his digital music production. Imagine if you were a music company, and you saw this kid who knows how to code in Python.
There’s a 40-minute tutorial of his music production and all the awards that he’s won. All the great stuff he’s doing, aside from just going to school. He would be picked up immediately by anybody.
SHERYL: It’s so cool that you thought about this.
DEEPALI: Well, that’s what I was thinking: what would I want? Right? Like, nobody knows. So everyone knows sort of Corporate Deepali, right? Nobody knows that I love Bollywood dance.
You present yourself one-dimensionally on LinkedIn or any of these platforms. But no one knows you holistically. And so I said, there’s gotta be something, and it takes a long time to build your website. You don’t know what to put on there. There are so many things if you’re not creative. It could turn out not so great.
So we’re like, why don’t we cut out all the intimidating factors for everybody? And why don’t we create a platform that looks good, is so easy to use and represents you?
Everything is in one place. It’s intimidating to have to create your website. And we take all the intimidation out of creating something from scratch, and you can represent yourself so well in these different formats. All in one place.
So look, your audience, Moms of Tweens and Teens, we want to be the Tylenol to a parent’s headache, right? As a mom, I often worry about what I will do with my 12-year-old. How am I going to prepare him? You know, what is what’s the gap between what he’s learning in school and what I need to do?
My husband’s in finance. So we try to teach him a little bit of that. We try to teach him some things that I know will be important in the workplace. So, just all of these things. It is a headache. It’s a headache for parents to think about, and they want it. Their intentions are so good.
But, often, there’s just a disconnect. And so we want to alleviate many of the stresses a student and parent has. I think the highest stress time for a parent is when a student is in 10th and 11th grade and freaking out about college.
I’m sure Sheryl, you can relate to that. It was probably the most brutal experience for many parents, right? And so before they even get to that stage, these teen moments are where parents can be so helpful and get their kids organized. And it’s really easy. And it’s not too late. You don’t think you’re too late to the game.
SHERYL: Yeah, I love it. It’s really easy. And also it’s fun. I’ve taken some notes. As you said, it makes it fun. And I tell many moms that it’s the 11th hour when they are filling out their applications. Some are listening, and they’re like, my kid is, and they’re not even thinking about it’s not even on their radar. And you’re trying to light a fire underneath the rear end. But here is such an easy way.
DEEPALI: That’s right. And I mentioned TikTok very specifically because we are in the TikTok generation. And so we wanted to implement some of the stuff these kids are used to.
So our secret sauce on our platform is our video workflow. We have students select the questions they want to answer. They can type out their answer.
So not only do they sound good, they’re not fumbling and bumbling around. They sound super confident. And they have this video pieced together by us so professionally that they feel so confident putting it on their profile.
And it is 123 – so easy. And you can do it on your mobile phone. You can do it on a laptop, you can do it on an iPad, or whatever device you’re using. It’s super easy and super fun. If they can create a TikTok, they can create a profile.
SHERYL: Yeah. Well, I’m also thinking this is going to be the wave of the future, I’m sure. I mean, gone are the days when you sent in on paper. Now you go for a job interview, and they quickly look at what you completed. And how do they know who you are? How do they know your personality?
DEEPALI: I felt like some ownership of the space because I’ve been a recruiter for 23 years. And I have read over 100,000 resumes in my career. And I know all the stats, right? A recruiter takes six seconds to review a resume. So how much am I learning in six seconds aside from a couple of keywords, and then I decide whether or not I want to speak to that person?
And so I think the way that companies and recruiters and even college admissions officers are going to be changing the way that they look at these applications and these applicants, and there is going to be a whole wave of change. And now is the opportunity for us to think about how you present yourself, right?
As I told you, those employers seek more than a resume. If I see something good on paper, sometimes it can be represented great on paper, but then they’re not so great in person. And then that’s where it all kind of falls apart. We’re eliminating that, right?
I can see the passion in someone when I’m looking at their fearless profile. I can see what they’re interested in. And even if they’re a little bit shy, I can see their body of work more visually for me to know them better. I think I kind of have sort of self-proclaimed Queen of resumes. I just didn’t want to see another resume again, quite honestly.
SHERYL: Yeah. Oh, my gosh, totally all look the same. Yeah, or college applications. You just got to go crosseyed if you’re sitting,
DEEPALI: Right. How are these students supposed to stand out on a college application? How are you standing out from the 11 million applications going into the US colleges every year? How are students supposed to stand out? So we want to be that additional information line on that common college app.
The app where you can put your Fearless+ profile on it. 67% of college admissions officers say that social media’s fair game when assessing an applicant – 67%. And it’s going to grow.
And then 72% of employers look at social media before hiring. So again, they’re looking for red flags and things like that. So we must teach our young kids what they’re putting on social media will affect them for a very long time.
So if we can create the central repository of who you are, your brand – That’s what I’m teaching at Fearless+, you are a brand, and you will be a brand as you think about college and your career. So you need to have a place where you are representing yourself well.
SHERYL: Yeah, using it for good. That’s right. Yeah. Have you noticed a difference in the kids joining Fearless+ in their growth of confidence? Because I was looking at Instagram, just helping kids think about goals, which parents have a hard time doing because they roll their eyes when they’re teenagers.
You say, Well, let’s set up some goals, and most teenagers are like, Yeah, okay, whatever, mom. But I don’t know if you’ve thought about it this way. But like your that third-party influence? So, returning to my original question, have you seen a difference in the kids you serve?
DEEPALI: Huge difference, actually, in the modules that we have on our platform, where we teach kids about some of these things like setting goals, having a productivity mindset, and things like that, we have seen an improvement of 50 to 100%, on emotional intelligence, and all the things that they’ve learned just based on our content.
And confidence building was the number one thing that we saw. The kids felt 100% more confident after they started with us than when they entered the platform. So the video piece, us being able to handhold them through that process, makes them feel comfortable and confident.
The other thing is, as they build their profile, they get to see, like, well, I’ve done a lot of good things like it, and they become more self-confident, right? The reason why, and I know I’ve thrown a lot of stats out there, but only 9% of high school students are on LinkedIn. And of that 9%, those profiles are fair.
I’m going to call them dead profiles. Because high school students don’t have any work experience, it’s too intimidating for them to be on there. And so we’re creating a safe space for them to sort of adult.
And we are telling them that your babysitting job reflects your accountability, your grit, and the things you’ve done as a young person that matter to me as an employer.
I want to see these things on a profile because it shows me that you know you are a young person who took accountability and responsibility for something. And so students don’t know that that’s something great to put on their profile, but they’re like, Oh, it’s just a babysitting job. What does it what does it matter?
It does matter. Because grit is the number one attribute that equates to success, and that’s what we’re trying to tell these kids like, what you’re doing where you think it may not matter, it does matter in real life. And it will matter to your future employers. And that’s what’s giving them the confidence like, oh, wow, you think this stuff that I’m doing matters?
Like any kid that plays sports? We don’t ask them how great you are at the sport. Are you the captain? How many goals? What did you learn? What did you learn in that sport? They learned team collaboration. They learned leadership, how to be competitive, be a good loser, or overcome a loss.
Those are attributes that 92% of that I talked about, how why you get hired. That’s why you get hired. And that’s what you’re showing on our platform.
SHERYL: A lot of the growth mindset. Putting in the effort. It’s interesting because I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Michele Borba. She’s written a course. And her book Thrivers and she interviewed 1000s of kids. And the research showed that parents tend to focus on the lowest grade their kids have versus their strengths.
We get so focused on how they can be better and what they can do, and what they’re not doing that they should be doing. We love them. Yeah, want them to be successful because we care. But unknowingly, we’re focusing more on those weaknesses versus their strengths.
So I love that you’re saying that, that baby setting, you can think, wow, that’s not enough. So they babysat for the neighbor. But thinking about how that breaks down and all its skills is a lot.
DEEPALI: They can be the world’s greatest project managers, right? Because there’s a lot of things that they’re managing.
SHERYL: Yeah, you have to multitask when you’re babysitting. So I love that. And I think it’s helpful for us as parents to remember.
DEEPALI: I was thinking about this the other day as a parent. I don’t tend to over-schedule my son. I do that purposefully. Because I think the parents, these poor parents, are running around to all of these games and keeping them busy. And I’m a huge proponent of exercise and wellness; my son might play sports.
But knowing that my son will not be a professional football player, I won’t run him down and run myself down with overscheduling. I’d rather play to his strengths. He loves to talk to me. He loves to, like, get all of his buddies together.
And so when I was thinking about all these attributes, I’m like, Bro, why don’t you just start a podcast, right? Like, you’re a huge talker? Like, why don’t you start a podcast? And so he and his buddies are putting together a football podcast.
Now imagine, right? Like, I want to play to his strengths. So parents out there listening, like, if you know that your child is not going to be a pro athlete, you don’t have to over-schedule them, yes, let them have fun, let them have the best time playing whatever sports they’re playing. But don’t stress them out that like they have to do this, or they didn’t do the winning goal or what you know, whatever it is, play to their strengths.
They’re learning something, and if they say, Look, I don’t want to, I don’t want to go into medicine, but I’m super creative. Let them experience how to design logos at a micro internship, take that path, and play to those strengths.
If they’re not good at science and math, play to the strengths that they are good at. And they will be much happier. You will be much happier. And you’ll probably find a path to success. I’m putting success in quotes here because its success is fulfilled on both parts.
SHERYL: I love that success is from fulfillment. Yeah, that’s because I always say – and put success in quotes, too, because it’s like, what does that mean for me? Is that look different? So that is so good.
How much do you believe work experience is important for tweens and teens? Because I hear many parents have difficulty thinking, Okay, well, they’re students. Maybe they need to focus on that. What do you think? What’s been your finding?
DEEPALI: I think so. I think work experience is even more valuable than academics. And we are now evolving in a state where parents are questioning the ROI of college. They are questioning what college will significantly do for my child upon graduation.
And then there are all of these other resources that young people have, from massive online courses to boot camps to micro certifications to just employers not requiring college degrees to apply. Let’s just stop it right there.
So I think parents should be focused on helping their kids figure out what path they want to explore, and that’s where the experience comes in. So that’s why our platform when you build a profile on our platform, we have an opportunities page where you can look at all of these micro internships and just get a taste of the experience.
You might be interested in finance. There’s a micro internship on finance, two to four weeks, to see the world of finance. Sit down with a portfolio manager and say, What is your day look like, and so on? So that experience allows them to explore careers and open up their aperture.
But that experience teaches them a lot. So then they are better prepared to say, this is something I like. And this is something that I don’t like. So I am over-indexing on experience right now. You’ll also see some of these larger companies, like IBM, have opened up high school internships, and so on. So you’ll see many more employers’ pipelines and high school talent via these, like smaller experience models.
SHERYL: Wow, you’ve been thinking about everything so strategically because for them to, I mean, you might not even know that IBM is offering that, but your program here was, and you can see what’s going on, it’s an easy thing to say, Well, I think I’d like that, but I’m not quite sure. So I can try it for two to three weeks. That’s not a huge, a huge investment.
DEEPALI: Right. And so we’re this digital hub for everything a teen or tween needs. And we try to curate a lot of these things. So even on the experience side, let’s say you don’t want to go for a micro internship. We curate volunteer experiences as well.
So, volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club or volunteering in these organizations experience doesn’t mean you have to go on the job or get paid or unpaid internship experiences, also volunteering in this community organization. But those are also experiences that are so valuable on your profile that look so good to colleges and employers.
SHERYL: They went on a journey.
DEEPALI: And they experienced many things to figure out who they are and what they want to do. So don’t forget about the volunteer experiences as well. So like I said, I was going back to, we want to be that digital hub, we want to be that digital hub for parents and students.
Then the one thing I get asked is when I ask students, what are you planning on doing this summer, aside from maybe the occasional camp or whatever? As a teen, I want to get a job. So I asked these students like, how will you get a job? Like, what is the way that you’re going to do this?
And the number one answer is my mom. I’m gonna ask my mom. Oh, again, there we go. We’re the Tylenol to appearance headache because parents are burning a lot of social capital on their kids. And I’ll explain that.
So Sheryl, if your daughter or son came to you and said, I need help getting a job, you are only as good as your immediate network. You might phone a friend and say, Hey, I know you’re working at this company. Can you get my kid some sort of experience if there’s anything open? You’re burning your social capital.
Now, if your son or daughter doesn’t do that well in that job, you put yourself in an awkward situation with your friend. Yeah, it’s something that parents have to think about. Because everybody wants to do the best and do these favors, but at the end of the day, they’re also going out on a limb.
As any employer knows, sometimes things work out, and sometimes they don’t. And it’s the same risk they’re taking at a younger level. So what we’re trying to do is we want everything here. So you know, a parent can check things out, and a student can check things out without having the anxiety of asking a friend or whatever it is. So that’s what we’re trying to solve.
SHERYL: I love that. And often, they’ll say, I’m going to ask my mom, but then Mom tells them they think they shouldn’t and don’t listen to you anyway. And then it’s so frustrating, right? It’s like a setup.
DEEPALI: Exactly. So they’d much rather be, and by the way, having them look this up on their own and like find these things like we have stuff from Epic Games, you can be a video game tester, like, wow, mind blown, right?
And so, like, now a kid feels more confident. I found this myself. I did it myself. So they’re learning how to adult right there that they’re doing, and that’s what we want them to do.
SHERYL: Yes. Can you speak to grit? You mentioned grit. How do you think parents can help their kids develop grit?
DEEPALI: That is the single most important question that, honestly that you’ve asked. I would say, parents. I’m like looking at all the parents or whoever’s listening. Let your kids experience meaning. Let them have that job, let them work at that store, let them try that internship, let them have experiences.
Step back from helicoptering a little bit and let them experience something where they feel independent, where they have to take responsibility and accountability, and they will develop grit. Those success factors within grit will help them continue to do more.
So my biggest advice is if you want them to develop grit, let them experience things and do them independently. You can nudge them in a direction and then let them try something, let them fail, let them try something, and let them succeed. Like, let them do it. Just back off a little bit.
SHERYL: Yeah, and trust, it takes a lot of trust. But to know, even having older kids doesn’t mean they don’t make many mistakes. They will. But that’s good because that’s exactly that’s how they learn. And then they get stronger because of that.
DEEPALI: Exactly. And I think I’ve learned that I always tell my team and every parent: I think you mentioned this earlier, don’t focus on the lowest scores and how to improve that. The one thing that you should tell your kids is to try this. If you fail, there’s nothing that you can’t do.
I can’t come in and help you after the fact, right? So let them know they can try it, be independent, and learn from it. But there’s nothing that they can do that can mess things up so badly that you can’t help them recover.
So just knowing that you will be there for them when they need you. Versus like front and running them. You don’t want to front-run them. But just knowing that you will be their support when they do fail, which they will. But you will be there for them and won’t judge them for it. You will just be there for them.
SHERYL: Yeah, I love that. I think we have to change our mindset as well, thinking, gosh, they took a risk, stepped out of their comfort zone, tried something, maybe didn’t make the team, let them be sad about that. But then, later, tell them you’re proud of them that they took that they stepped out, and they tried out. That’s a lot.
DEEPALI: Because you know what? They’ll take that risk again. The last thing you want is for them not to take the risk. The more risks they can take at a young age, the better because the last thing you want. So you know I have adults now, the adults that I coach right now.
This is what happens. Suppose you don’t start this young, like my son’s age 12. I have one of my cousins. He’s been at the same company since graduation. The thought of even pivoting or even interviewing elsewhere is paralyzing for him. So paralyzing that, like, he doesn’t know what to do.
And being in the position that I’m in, I know that people are living longer. And I don’t think anybody of our kid’s generation will sign up and say, I want to be an accountant for 80 years.
They will experience more career pivots and turns than our generation did. And the generation before us, three or four times over. And so, for them to be able to take these risks, it will be a direct correlation of the type of risks they can and cannot take when they’re older right now.
My cousin’s career is over 20 years, have never interviewed at a different place. It’s shocking. And it’s paralyzing for him. And I feel sad because he can’t get out of that mindset of, like, if I take this risk. Seeing all these young people, I know that the average tenure at a job now is 18 months to three years.
Before that, when my clients were saying, oh, I want to see career longevity. I want to see this. I’m now shaping my mindset of mine. My client is saying, Guys, nobody’s staying at the job. Ten years, you have to change that mindset about loyalty. You need to hire people that can do the job at the time now. They either grow with the company or move on.
Yeah, that’s how this new generation is. That’s it to prepare them for. And I think that’s where the disconnect is in schools, right? We are teaching a lot of theory. And we’re not teaching what’s happening in the real world. 80% of the jobs have not even been invented yet, and for the year 2030, 80%.
SHERYL: Wow, 80%.
DEEPALI: There will be drone flight engineers and many new jobs that the schools don’t even remotely know about. So how can they teach our kids to pivot, think creatively, and explore if they don’t even have access to that information?
So we want to be that platform, that middle ground, that it’s a safe space to explore, a safe space to create your brand, and a safe space for you to experience. So you know, all of these things as you’re going into real life.
SHERYL: So good. A huge book that helped me was The Mindset. You know, how to embrace that mindset and everything we learn. I wouldn’t be doing what I was doing. If that’s right, then the same with you falling on your face so many times, but that’s how we get up and learn. That’s the same with our kids.
Well, I know there’s so much to talk about. I do want the listeners to know, though, that you have a bunch of kids, too, on your team.
DEEPALI: Yeah, we do. Our advisory board is teens because how can we create something for them if they don’t have a voice? So our advisory board, our board of advisors, holds the role just like a real board member, for a year minimum, they commit for a very specific amount of time, and they get options in our firm. It is a real experience for them.
SHERYL: So awesome. I’m excited for you because I’m excited for it to come into the college application process. I’m sure you’re working on that. High schools need it in the schools. I mean, super, I just know this thing will blow up. It’s been about a little over a year. Right?
DEEPALI: Yeah. And look, people like you, Sheryl, and your audience. It’s going to take a village, right? It will take someone to advocate for us, the parents that will understand the value of our product and platform, and the students. So you know, platforms like yours are such an amazing resource to get the word out.
SHERYL: Yeah, I love it. Well, tell them where they can find you, and they can join for free, right to try it out. So tell them, and I’ll, of course, share all the links, but of
DEEPALI: Course, so everyone can go to fearlessplus.com. And you can build your profile for free. You’ll always have it for free. And just hit join now and build your profile. And then, once you build it, you’ll see some of the modules we offer.
We will offer free modules and free webinars for students to look into from a career exploration standpoint. And then, if they want to dive deeper into some of these modules, they can subscribe to that. But most of the resources because we’re a social mission-driven firm, we want to democratize access. That’s what we stand for. So the profiles are going to be free. And so they can stay with us as long as they have us.
SHERYL: Wow, super exciting. Thank you so much for coming on, sharing your wisdom, and what you’re doing. What’s your tagline?
DEEPALI: Oh, empowering the next generation?
SHERYL: Yes, yes, empowering the next generation that is your mission. And I love it, and I’m super excited. Well, thank you.
DEEPALI: Appreciate it, Sheryl.
