Stop Reimagining School, Start Building Better Ones: Why Intentionally Diverse Schools Are an Antidote with Ashley Heard

A Turtle Carries Home on Its Back: First-Generation Leadership and Student Success in Higher Ed with Dr. Aidé Acosta

Dr. Aidé Acosta went from a first-generation college student navigating higher education without a map to the Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students at National Louis University. Her guiding line comes from her Sinaloan roots: like a turtle, she carries home on her back, and she has built her career making sure students never have to leave theirs behind. In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Dr. Acosta, VP for Student Affairs and Dean of Students at National Louis University in Chicago, to talk about what it takes to build a genuinely student-centered institution across every campus and learning modality. Aidé traces the arc from a childhood shaped by migration and family sacrifice to Southwestern College, UC Riverside, and a doctorate at the University of Illinois. She explains why so much of her work is about naming the invisible rules of higher education, the ones first-generation students are expected to already know, and why belonging is not a nice-to-have but the actual mechanism of student success. They get into social mobility as multigenerational impact, why access without support is an empty promise, and how an institution keeps its mission consistent when students arrive through wildly different doors. Aidé is candid about carrying her community into every room she enters and what she wants her own child to inherit from that. Tune in to hear why Aidé believes the deepest work in higher education is helping students succeed without asking them to leave home behind.   Chapters: 🐢 01:37 Meet Dr. Aidé Acosta: first-generation student turned dean of students 🌎 02:28 Why she carries home on her back like a turtle 🎶 02:50 Sinaloan roots, migration, and the family that made the path 🎓 08:14 Southwestern College to UC Riverside: learning the rules no one taught her 🔍 26:41 Naming the invisible rules first-generation students are expected to know 🤝 30:05 Why belonging is the mechanism of student success, not a nice-to-have 🌱 34:59 Access without support is an empty promise 🏛️ 40:18 Keeping one mission consistent across every campus and modality 💛 44:11 Social mobility as multigenerational impact and what she wants her child to inherit Links: Website: nationallouisu | Linktree [https://linktr.ee/nationallouisu] LinkedIn: Aidé Acosta, Ph.D. [https://www.linkedin.com/in/aid%C3%A9-acosta-phd/] Company's LinkedIn: National Louis University [https://www.linkedin.com/school/national-louis-university/posts/?feedView=all]   Connect with Mike: www.linkedin.com/in/mmsc [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmsc/] Stronger Consulting: strongerconsulting.com [https://strongerconsulting.com/] Publish a Book That Matters:  booksthatmatter.org [http://booksthatmatter.org/] Start a Podcast That Matters:  podcastsmatter.com [https://podcastsmatter.com/] Go from Expert to Thought Leader: geniusdiscovery.org [http://geniusdiscovery.org/]  For more great podcasts like this one, visit https://podcaststhatmatter.org [https://podcaststhatmatter.org/] Stay strong.

Keep Your Eye on the Ball: 27 Years on a School Board and the Discipline of Not Getting Distracted with Bobby Blount

Bobby Blount has served on the Northside ISD school board for 27 years, and he has spent every one of them refusing to get distracted from the one thing that matters: whether kids actually have a shot. In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Bobby Blount, a Northside Independent School District trustee, President of the Texas Caucus of Black School Board Members, and a department head at MITRE who was working in cybersecurity before the word "cyber" meant anything. Bobby grew up a military kid who attended ten different schools before he finished high school, including years in Mississippi during integration and a stretch in Utah where he was one of the only Black students for miles. He traces how those experiences turned into a single conviction: he had opportunities others did not, and his job was to reach back and create more of them. He shares the programs he is most proud of, from a third-grade reading competition that logged 11 million minutes across 105 schools to a solar race car event he built in 1996 that now reaches thousands of elementary students. He is candid about how politicized school boards have become, and why the work of running them takes people who know how to stay focused when everyone around them is yelling. Listen in for a conversation about vision, institutionalizing the things you build so they outlast you, and the discipline of keeping your eye on the ball. Chapters: 👋 01:27 Meet Bobby Blount: 27 years on a school board and a summit asking which way is up 🌍 05:29 Ten schools before high school: growing up a military kid through integration and isolation 🎓 08:34 From the Air Force Academy to doing cyber before anyone called it cyber 💡 11:30 The DJ, the roller coaster, and the day bored kids finally leaned in 📖 14:18 A reading competition with 10,000 third graders and 11 million minutes read 💃 15:49 Dancing with the Stars as a fundraiser, fifteen years running 🎯 17:23 Moving the needle: why onesie-twosie wins are not enough 🏛️ 18:48 Why school board seats became a target and what keeps the focus on kids 🔬 23:08 STEM labs, magnet programs, and AI in elementary school 🤝 31:34 Inside the UP Partnership and the Future Ready 70 percent goal ⚾ 35:46 Keep your eye on the ball: the manager's line Bobby never forgot 🌱 36:32 Vision, focus, and institutionalizing the things you build so they outlast you ⚽ 38:48 Coaching five soccer teams and what it teaches about leadership 🧭 42:27 Parting advice: try everything, work with everyone, and master one thing 🎧 44:38 Find more podcasts that matter at www.podcaststhatmatter.org [http://www.podcaststhatmatter.org] Links: Bobby Blount on Ballotpedia: ballotpedia.org/Bobby_Blount [https://ballotpedia.org/Bobby_Blount] San Antonio Area African American Community Fund: saaaacf.org [https://saaaacf.org/speaker/bobby-blount/] Northside ISD Board of Trustees: nisd.net/board/members [https://www.nisd.net/board/members] Reach out to Bobby to learn more about his work building career pathways for kids, from third-grade reading competitions to solar race cars to the Future Ready vision in San Antonio. Connect with Mike: www.linkedin.com/in/mmsc [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmsc/] Stronger Consulting: strongerconsulting.com [https://strongerconsulting.com/] Publish a Book That Matters: booksthatmatter.org [http://booksthatmatter.org/] Start a Podcast That Matters: podcastsmatter.com [https://podcastsmatter.com/] Go from Expert to Thought Leader: geniusdiscovery.org [http://geniusdiscovery.org/] For more great podcasts like this one, visit https://podcaststhatmatter.org [https://podcaststhatmatter.org/] Stay strong.

The Hidden Power of Relational Intelligence in Building High-Performing Teams with Dr. Jennifer Brown

Relational intelligence may be the one advantage humans keep as AI gets smarter, and Dr. Jennifer Brown has spent 25 years proving it builds stronger teams. A regional superintendent at the KIPP Foundation, she coaches CEOs and executive directors on what really makes a team work. In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Dr. Jennifer Brown, Regional Superintendent at the KIPP Foundation, to talk about the people skill that has shaped her entire career and why she believes it will outlast the robots. Jen grew up as the daughter of a soldier, moving constantly and learning early how to read a room, adapt, and build trust fast. She traces that thread from a high school teacher cadet class to teaching eighth grade English, to district turnaround work, to leading KIPP Jacksonville, and now to coaching former CEOs as part of a four-person regional superintendent team she compares to an Olympic dream team. Along the way she names the thing leaders kept seeing in her: relational intelligence. She breaks down the difference between teamwork and what she calls "teamship," the discipline of how a team actually functions, and the trust, selflessness, and energy that separate a real team from a group of talented individuals. Jen also gets honest about her decision to step back and center her family, why she believes there is no balance, only trade-offs, and what it takes to open more doors for women in school leadership. Tune in to hear why the most human skill you have might be the most strategic one you own.   Chapters: 🎖️ [01:54] Daughter of a soldier: growing up everywhere and calling no place home 🍬 [06:19] The Now and Later moment and the adaptability military kids learn early ⚖️ [09:16] From dreaming of LA Law to discovering she did not want to be a lawyer 🍎 [11:31] The teacher cadet class and the two teachers who changed her path 📚 [16:31] First teaching job, an hour of onboarding, and the hidden society of a school 📈 [22:02] Getting tapped for leadership and her first taste of school turnaround work 🤝 [25:11] Relational intelligence: the skill people kept naming in her 🧭 [27:05] Teamship over teamwork: the discipline of how a team actually functions 💬 [36:42] The Fantastic Four, hard moments, and the trust that builds a real team 👨‍👩‍👧‍👧 [40:04] Choosing family: why she is stepping back and what comes next ♀️ [44:14] No balance, only trade-offs: opening doors for women in school leadership Links: LinkedIn: Dr. Jennifer Brown  [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-brown-ed-d-73075b3/] Website: The Pamoja Team [https://www.pamoja-team.com/] Connect with Dr. Jennifer Brown to follow her thinking on relational intelligence, teamship, and what it takes to build high-performing teams, and to catch her weekly leadership series, What's in Brown's Bag.   Connect with Mike: www.linkedin.com/in/mmsc [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmsc/] Stronger Consulting: strongerconsulting.com [https://strongerconsulting.com/] Publish a Book That Matters:  booksthatmatter.org [http://booksthatmatter.org/] Start a Podcast That Matters:  podcastsmatter.com [https://podcastsmatter.com/] Go from Expert to Thought Leader: geniusdiscovery.org [http://geniusdiscovery.org/]  For more great podcasts like this one, visit https://podcaststhatmatter.org [https://podcaststhatmatter.org/] Stay strong.

Stop Reimagining School, Start Building Better Ones: Why Intentionally Diverse Schools Are an Antidote with Ashley Heard

Ashley Heard has spent eight years making the case for intentionally diverse charter schools, and she is more convinced than ever that they matter right now. In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Ashley Heard, Development and External Affairs Lead at the Diverse Charter Schools Coalition, for a conversation that is about much more than charter schools. It is about what schools can mean for democracy, belonging, and fairness. A South Louisiana native who grew up moving around the country, Ashley came up through Teach For America and has worked in education ever since. Now raising three kids in New Orleans, she talks openly about navigating school choice as a parent who knows the system better than most, and still finds it hard. Choice only counts, she argues, when the options are good and actually accessible. Ashley makes a sharp case against innovation for its own sake. We do not need to reimagine education, she says. We have research on what helps kids learn, and we should do more of it well. Drawing on a definition of learning she picked up in law school, she explains why a truly great school has to be a brain disruptor, and why putting kids alongside others who do not look, think, or believe like them is the point. The conversation also turns personal, as Ashley reflects on moving from hustle to flow, leaning on her team, and the habits she wishes she had built earlier. Tune in to hear why Ashley believes diverse schools are an antidote to this moment. Chapters: 🎓 01:15 Meet Ashley Heard and eight years at the Diverse Charter Schools Coalition 🌍 02:33 From a childhood on the move to finally home in New Orleans 👶 04:01 A third kid, a Cinco de Mayo baby, and what changed 🏫 06:34 Choosing a school for her own son, and the guilt that comes with it 🧭 07:50 Good choices versus great ones, and why access is the real problem ⭐ 10:38 Bar-setting schools, and the one that nails culture and results together 🚫 14:49 Stop innovating for innovation's sake, we already know what works 💡 15:48 What TNTP's Opportunity Makers found about schools that get results 💰 19:04 You cannot build a great school without well-paid, well-trained teachers 🧠 23:40 Learning is brain disruption, and why diverse schools are the answer 🗳️ 27:23 Schools as a tool of equity and an antidote in this political moment 🔄 32:20 Leading as a woman right now, and moving from hustle to flow 📖 38:01 Reading for pleasure again, and a book that became a friend 🌱 40:09 A wisdom bite for the next generation: build healthy habits early Links: Website: Diverse Charter Schools Coalition [https://www.linkedin.com/company/ashley-heard-consulting-llc/] LinkedIn: Ashley Heard [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-heard-b5b55720/] Connect with Ashley Heard on LinkedIn or explore the Diverse Charter Schools Coalition to learn more about her work supporting intentionally diverse public charter schools across 28 states. Connect with Mike: www.linkedin.com/in/mmsc [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmsc/] Stronger Consulting: strongerconsulting.com [https://strongerconsulting.com/] Publish a Book That Matters: booksthatmatter.org [http://booksthatmatter.org/] Start a Podcast That Matters: podcastsmatter.com [https://podcastsmatter.com/] Go from Expert to Thought Leader: geniusdiscovery.org [http://geniusdiscovery.org/] For more great podcasts like this one, visit https://podcaststhatmatter.org [https://podcaststhatmatter.org/]

Stop Chasing Innovation in Education: Why Relationships and Retention Are What Actually Work with Erik Greenberg

Education leader Erik Greenberg never planned to work in schools. Now, as CEO of Academies of Math and Science, he argues that the answer to America's education problem is not innovation. It is relationships, retention, and the slow work of building community schools in the neighborhoods that need them most. In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Erik, CEO of Academies of Math and Science, to talk about why a STEM charter network serving low-income and immigrant communities has staked everything on teaching math and reading better than anyone else. Erik grew up in Colorado Springs with a built-in math tutor for a dad and teachers he still talks to in his forties. He fell backward into education after an international business degree, spent more than a decade in higher ed and early education, and only in the last few years came to see how unevenly opportunity is handed out. That realization became the thing that drives him. He and Mike get into why education has barely changed in centuries, why the research keeps pointing back to one enduring teacher relationship, and why a kid's third year in the same school produces a jump in growth even when nothing else changes. Erik makes the case that school choice, for all its benefits, can quietly erode the community a school is supposed to be. Listen in for a candid conversation about high expectations, never-ending work, and why the most ambitious thing a school can build is a place where people belong. Chapters: * 🏔️ 01:27 Meet Erik Greenberg: Colorado Springs kid who fell backward into education * 💡 04:28 The teachers he still talks to in his forties, and why that is disappearing * ⚖️ 05:31 Not every kid gets the childhood I got, and I am not okay with that * 🏫 08:30 Why AMS will only ever serve underserved communities * 🔁 11:18 Education is one of the most archaic parts of society * 📖 15:11 Teach math and reading better than anyone: the whole mission * 🤝 20:39 Generational versus immigrant poverty, and the one enduring teacher relationship * 📈 24:09 Why a kid's third year in the same school changes everything * 🌱 35:46 Building community schools where everyone belongs * 🧭 46:17 If you want to lead, you have to read: the mentor who changed his career Links: Connect with Erik Greenberg: LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikgreenberg13/] Academies of Math and Science: amsimpact.com [https://amsimpact.com/] | LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/ams-impact-group/] Reach out to Erik to learn more about building STEM-focused community schools in underserved neighborhoods, and the talent AMS is looking for to do that work. Connect with Mike: www.linkedin.com/in/mmsc [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmsc/] Stronger Consulting: strongerconsulting.com [https://strongerconsulting.com/] Publish a Book That Matters: booksthatmatter.org [http://booksthatmatter.org/] Start a Podcast That Matters: podcastsmatter.com [https://podcastsmatter.com/] Go from Expert to Thought Leader: geniusdiscovery.org [http://geniusdiscovery.org/] For more great podcasts like this one, visit https://podcaststhatmatter.org [https://podcaststhatmatter.org/] Stay strong.