Deborah Berebichez, Ph.D. shares how science can build a growth mindset, Sarah Kunst highlights the visionary in VC, and it's about to get culinary

"If you have a growth mindset, you want to learn something, and it doesn’t matter if you fail in the beginning, it’s ok to fail and recover, because the more you try things, the more your intelligence grows, and the more successful you become." In this week's You've Got This, data scientist, physicist, and TV host Deborah Berebichez Ph.D. shares how she's approaching remote learning and how bravery can help unlock a growth mindset. Don't miss Dr. Berebichez's answers below, along with a special interview with Managing Director at Cleo Capital Sarah Kunst, and stick around for our next guest, Jason McKinney of gourmet food company Truffle Shuffle.

Victoria: "Today's remote learning environments have made educational programming and virtual workshops more important now than ever. How do you design curricula and programs with remote learning and learning at scale in mind?"

Dr. Berebichez: "It’s so funny that you ask that, because that’s exactly what I’m working on! First of all, at Metis, we are a data science training company, so we're constantly designing new learning products. And then on the side I've been designing two courses: one is a course on how to succeed as a woman in STEM, and that’s a video course I’m going to be offering that will hopefully scale. I’ve been getting so many emails and communications from young women at the beginning of their careers who really want to know how to overcome impostor syndrome, how to adopt a growth mindset, and all kinds of questions, and because I have a ton of experience mentoring young women, I’ve created a framework that will help women navigate their careers and accelerate their success. I’m also going to include a part on data literacy for women leaders on how to use data to their advantage in their professional lives. So I’ve been building with this in mind the whole time. I stayed up until midnight last night writing the outline for the 'how to succeed as a woman in STEM course!'"

Victoria: "TV programs like yours have inspired many people over the years to pursue STEM-based careers. How do you suggest parents and guardians inspire the next generation to get involved with science and technology?"

Dr. Berebichez: "STEM careers involve curiosity, trial and error, and a lot of experimenting. And in all the sciences, engineering, and technology, people fail a lot of the time, and that’s okay. However, traditionally girls more than boys (although boys are also educated in this way) are educated with a different mindset. As per Carol Dweck, boys are educated with a growth mindset, which means that intelligence is considered flexible, you aren’t born with a certain amount, and you can increase it if you practice certain things.

"If you have a growth mindset and you want to learn something, it doesn’t matter if you fail in the beginning, it’s ok to fail and recover, because the more you try things, the more your intelligence grows, and the more successful you become. People with a growth mindset don’t envy others, they look to them to emulate their work, discipline, and environments, to try to also become successful."

Whereas, and this is where the problem happens for women, traditionally girls on the other hand aren’t educated under the framework of a growth mindset but rather a fixed mindset, which says your intelligence is fixed, you’re born with a certain amount. You’re either smart or not, you either get math or you don’t. And that’s really harmful for girls, because then they’re very afraid of trying new things. We have to look good, we have to appear competent, so why would I take a physics course in college where I run the risk of failing, versus a course which I’m already good at and which will get me an A? The fixed mindset doesn’t promote failure or seeking risks, it stays in the safe zone, and typically those with the fixed mindset see other successful people as a threat rather than someone to follow in their footsteps or feel proud of. In the words of a good friend of mine, Reshma Saujani of Girls Who Code who wrote 'Brave Not Perfect,' she said “We need to encourage young women and girls to be brave, and try new things, not be perfect. Because being brave is going to be what makes us successful.”

"So my advice to parents and guardians is to encourage girls to be brave. If they have questions about how the universe works, sit down with them, go through the process of finding things out."

Like Feynman, who wrote a book called 'The Pleasure of Finding Things Out!' Science, STEM, and tech are filled with failure. We enjoy the failure. Even a negative result is learning. Discovering the world is full of ups and downs, and even following a reasoning path that leads us to the wrong conclusion is worth it, because now we know, and that form of thinking didn’t take us to the correct answer. Even in our TV show, we encourage people to be problem-solvers, to ask 'How do I make sense of this?' And that process is the best gift you can give to anyone, especially a young person."

Victoria: "For those looking to learn more about the world of data science, what are some resources you'd recommend?"

Dr. Berebichez: "Well, I definitely recommend my company Metis’ data science training courses. We have courses online on introductory Python, math, and statistics, for people who are transitioning from non-technical careers into data science. We also have our bootcamps and data training for corporations that want to spread data literacy across their organization. On the other hand, there’s a book called “Learn Python the Hard Way” for beginners, and that’s how I learned Python, and it’s pretty good and has some online exercises. I recommend committing to a bootcamp or course, and not necessarily do the online free courses, because they have a low completion rate. Our human brains work in such a way that we don’t commit to things that are free or that don’t have direct mentorship, whereas in a bootcamp you have guidance and peers doing the programming with you, collaborating with you on different projects, and all of that is very important when you’re learning data science. For younger generations, my website is SciencewithDebbie.com, and on the resources tab, I have been putting plenty of resources for parents and people who want to learn data science, coding, and science. I’m proud to say I’m teaching my 3.5 year old daughter to code with a wonderful resource called CodeEmoji.org. She’s learning HTML just by moving and copy-pasting panda emojis, and it’s the cutest thing - she actually gets excited about it! It’s very playful and is a road of discovery, trial and error. You have to be curious and have a lot of tenacity to find the solution to a problem."

Follow Dr. Berebichez on LinkedIn.

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Managing director of Cleo Capital and Contributing Editor to Marie Claire Magazine Sarah Kunst shared some of her insights and experiences with me this week on how she sees the future of investment, entrepreneurship, and venture capital moving forward.

Victoria: "Your work at Cleo Capital and in the world of startups was driven by your own personal experience after the 2008 recession affected your job in marketing for Chanel. With Cleo Capital’s Chrysalis and other organizations helping to nurture the next generation of startups and talent, do you think we'll see a similar renaissance in the space?"

Sarah: "Company creation, aka people starting startups, has been declining for years in the US. More recently in the tech industry, very strong job growth has made leaving a high salary and comfortable role to start a company seem like a riskier bet. Now that we are unfortunately in a recession that may last years, the stakes for starting a company actually may be lower for many Americans. If there’s no job, there’s no hard choice to quit your job and little else to do besides try to build something. That hopefully means we will see an uptick in new company formation and that’s exactly what led us to create Chrysalis, the fellowship for laid off tech workers. Within 6 weeks we saw over 20 projects come together and we know that in the coming years we’ll see large companies come out of this simple idea. We gave people a space to ideate and create and we were blown away by what they did with it. I hope more funds and groups will take this very unfortunate downturn and see similar silver linings." 

Victoria: "With the recent groundswell of support for the Black community and VCs, companies and others looking for additional ways to underscore that commitment, you were recently quoted in TechCrunch saying "what's left is for larger funds to follow that lead and make a real commitment to hiring Black VCs as well as funding Black founders and encouraging their portfolio companies to hire Black people into positions of leadership.” Have you heard any feedback from fellow VCs, and do you think we'll see additional change taking place?"

Sarah: "The long overdue racial reckoning in Silicon Valley will take longer than a few weeks. It took decades to get us here and it will take years if not decades to get to a place where talent is equally rewarded no matter the race or gender of the person it comes from. However, I’m seeing more progress in a month than we’ve previously seen in years. There is real change happening and real, hard conversations being had about what change looks like. I am heartened by the actions of several big VC funds who are working on serious commitments to change. However, I’m far far more inspired by the actions of the Black and Hispanic community in tech to advocate and push for the reform we need. Groups like Blck VC & Latinx VC are organizing in really helpful ways for this moment.

"I hope we see a belated rash of hiring and funding for the incredibly talented, qualified and capable founders and investors in these groups. The talent has long been there, the opportunity has long been denied, but the small indications that that is changing gives me hope. "

Victoria: "Cleo Capital's portfolio includes companies with wide-ranging areas of expertise from grocery delivery to peer to peer advice platforms. What do you look for in a founder or startup, and what are some spaces you're most excited about that are represented in your portfolio?"

Sarah: "The companies I have invested in all have visionary founders who are solving large, intractable problems around the human experience. They build products to make life and work easier and better. I’m so proud of the founders we back. As I look at spaces I’m personally excited about, I always love marketplaces, complicated consumer areas like legal and finance, and more recently I have focused a lot on the future of income. I’m less excited about tools for companies and more excited about tools for people who need to make an income but may not do that in a traditional full time job method. I also think a lot about the human condition - how do we build tools to help people better feel and process their emotions? To be better spouses, parents and coworkers? Therapy and coaching and mindfulness are all areas that I’d love to see more innovation around."

Victoria: "For others who are inspired by your career journey, what advice would you have?"

Sarah: "Work really hard and get really smart on topics you care about. There are real, tangible barriers for everyone, much more so if you are a woman or person of color or differently abled or LGBTQ+ or very low income. But there are also opportunities, they are not yet equally distributed, but the more prepared, generous and brave you are, the easier they will be to seize when they do appear. "

Follow Sarah on LinkedIn.

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Next week's guest: Jason McKinney

If you love food, then you'll want to get to know next week's guest on You've Got This, Founder and CEO Jason McKinney of Truffle Shuffle. With a mission of providing the "finest truffle products and consciously sourced and traced fresh truffles" as well as virtual cooking classes, here's what I'll be asking Jason:

• What drew you to truffles as the inspiration for your company, and what are some common misunderstandings people have about them as an ingredient?
• With more people than ever cooking at home, what are some great recipes you'd recommend, or tips to elevate a common meal like pasta?
• For those interested in virtual cooking classes, where would you recommend they begin?

You're invited to ask your questions for Jason in the comments below, and as always, thank you for reading.