TYCOP coordinator (and podcast editor) Jordan Molduch leaves the editing desk and steps in front of the microphone to talk about retooling our Technical Youth Career Outreach Project (TYCOP).

And, learn more about Jordan's unique journey that led him to OFNTSC.

Transcript provided by: Podium (auto-generated)

00:05 - Chelsey  (Host)
we are back for another episode of your favorite podcast OFNTSC's technically speaking podcast.

00:15
Again, my name is Chelsea Johnson and I am your host. I am also the communications manager here at the Ontario First Nations Technical Services Corporation and today we have an amazing, spectacular, fantastic guest because he's on my team and we're going to be talking today about our Technical Youth Career Outreach Program and some of the work we've been doing in the background to develop a STEM mentorship program with the goal of streamlining First Nations youth into STEM careers, and it's part of our broader vision to develop technical independence for First Nations across Ontario and eventually we're hoping to even expand it out, possibly to across Canada. So that's really exciting. We're going to ask Jordan some questions about that and, whether you're a guidance counselor, a current student or a parent listening, we are really excited to share some of that journey with you today. He's also our podcast editing extraordinaire and Jordan has been working very tirelessly in the scenes, behind the scenes here, to launch our Ticot program and get it off the ground and running with lots of events. So we're excited to speak to him. And yeah, welcome Jordan.

01:37 - Jordan  (Guest)
Hi, good to be here. It definitely feels weird to be the one in front of the microphone instead of the one behind the microphones, but, yeah, excited to be here. Share some of what we've been working on as a team for the past little while. Yeah.

01:51 - Chelsey  (Host)
Well, I guess I'll start out with asking you like well, I know how you ended up here, but how did you end up here promoting STEM careers?

02:00 - Jordan  (Guest)
Yeah, so that was a bit of a journey. I obviously came from a different background entirely. I was in culinary for quite a few years and then I moved, like finally completed my psych degree and found myself lost in kind of what I was going to do. And for a little while I was in IT recruiting, which got me exposure to a lot of different careers. And then just through chasing passions, chasing interests, we happened to meet, did a couple things like voluntary sort of on the side things together and got a little bit of connection there.

02:32
And then I just saw this job pop up and it felt way up my alley in terms of interests. It somehow magically aligned with kind of my exposure to different things in different ways and it feels like it was just a very interesting but seamless fit, like certain needs were filled in exactly the way they needed to be and we've been kind of rolling with that for a few months now. So that's been pretty exciting. You just never know where things will take you and you never know how pieces will fit together sometimes.

02:57 - Chelsey  (Host)
Yeah, it is pretty cool and I know I think you've been with us since what is it like November? How many months is that even?

03:06 - Jordan  (Guest)
Well, if we really want to count, I mean like six and a bit, because November, you know, doing the training and stuff, and then December I wouldn't want to call it a throwaway because we did do some work in December, but you know we have two weeks off in December, so mine's are elsewhere.

03:21 - Chelsey  (Host)
But yeah, it's basically like hit the ground running. Are elsewhere, yeah, but yeah, it's basically like hit the ground running. I know like the week you started, we were like literally off to a conference and you've just been like thrown into the fire, so to speak, but hopefully not in a bad way.

03:31 - Jordan  (Guest)
No, I'm like kindling, I'm happy to be there.

03:34 - Chelsey  (Host)
It's been fun. But yeah, I think a lot of times when we're kind of promoting the work that we're doing in this area, we'll throw the word STEM around a lot and I forget that it's not just kind of like a common everyday phrase that everybody knows. So you can explain. Could you explain to the audience listening what is STEM?

03:54 - Jordan  (Guest)
Yeah. So that's the thing. It's so easy to think of STEM when you've worked in this sort of field mentorship or IT or something and you know the big question is, what even is it? We get asked that a lot when we're promoting materials. We go up and talk to students and guidance counselors and teachers like, yeah, stem. They're like, ok, what's that? Oh, yeah, right, if you're not in it, you might not know it. Is it just a buzzword? No, I would say it's a very relevant and easy acronym, but it does encompass so much that it can lose focus and lose identity. It's really just covering science, technology, engineering and math careers, which again is a very broad spectrum and we'll get into that. But when we say STEM or STEAM sometimes they include arts we're just referring to the broad category of scientific technology, engineering, math careers and all that that can encompass.

04:39 - Chelsey  (Host)
Yeah, for sure, and it's kind of it kind of matches and aligns with the main services that we have here at OFN TSC. But I find it even goes a little bit beyond that because there's also things like mathematics and technology which we're not really like a technology company. But we do still try to promote those careers with youth because they can always be helpful for communities as well, those careers with youth, because they can always be helpful for communities as well. Can you talk a little bit more about what types of specific careers fall within that STEM category?

05:10 - Jordan  (Guest)
Yeah, absolutely. You know, if you say STEM and you kind of break that down, what goes to people's minds might be rocket science or IT. You know there's some of the more like in your face kind of careers. But even if you look back at some of our other podcast episodes that we've done, you know we've seen wastewater and environmental science. But even beyond that, like to get creative. If I were sitting there and trying to like just break down a bunch of slightly different opportunities that aren't those big ones in your face, or maybe like technical sales consultants, training teachers, patent agents and patent licensing, water and sanitation which course we've touched upon a little bit even technical writing there's always a need for that science journalism or illustration, you know, getting funding or working in research and development to get funding for places, science policy, health and safety, even like if you're more environmentally focused, when we talk about waste we just also sustainability consultants or like sustainability engineers and things like that. Yeah, there's a lot of opportunity out there.

06:09 - Chelsey  (Host)
Yeah, for sure, and I know it is a word that is thrown around a lot STEM, like kind of it can be used sometimes as almost a buzzword, but I want to get down to kind of the nitty gritty of like why is it important? Why should people be considering these STEM careers, whether you're a youth and you're not sure what you want to do yet, or even if you're in your mid thirties, like me, or mid forties or fifties, sixties even, and you want to change careers, like why is it important to focus on STEM?

06:41 - Jordan  (Guest)
Yeah, I mean, everyone's going to develop their own why and that's going to be important. But when you're considering how much time, effort, even money, can go into something like that, how do you justify it? Obviously, everyone should generate their own why. But at the end of the day, like they are lucrative careers, they are important careers. You have a lot of opportunity. You know we talk a lot about hope and what's coming up and what we want to see in the world.

07:04
You can be a part of that, and to join STEM gives you just one of many avenues to be a part of that and you can blend it and meld it with your passions really well. Like we're just talking about some of the environmental options. Like, if that's a passion of yours, there's avenues to get into that. Right, and you know they are pretty. They can be lucrative as well. You can make quite a bit of money with different careers off of two, three, four-year educations.

07:28
You can run your own businesses. You can become your own consultant, become privately incorporated and run things your own way. You can even do really fun things with it. If you don't have a why to consider STEM, maybe something is just interesting to you. For example, we're going to talk about it a little bit later on. But we're going to talk about it a little bit later on, but we're going to be working potentially with, like, different businesses who do drone surveys and drone operations. Maybe that's a little bit out of left field, but it's a STEM related field and something fun that you can kind of get into. That also can produce results and produce important data and important Like land surveying and things like that.

08:01
Exactly so. There's just so many options. You know obviously, develop your own why, but like if something excites you or if you just want something different, or it's just time for you, or you've just always wanted to just run with it and figure it out because, like, there is a need, there's a constant need. There's always the new technologies developing. Look at how many things have popped up in the time that we've been around, right, and just think. Every single new thing that pops up has a string of careers attached to it, and you can be a part of that, or you can just chase something new entirely.

08:30 - Chelsey  (Host)
Yeah, I was going to say too, like I feel like STEM could be like a very like, if you want to be a part of kind of like what's coming in the future, like there's a lot of things happening now with AI and just like technological advances, Like there's new things coming out every day, Like you know, even like carbon capturing technologies, like all these kinds of innovative solutions to some of the world's like biggest problems that we're currently facing. Like it doesn't get much bigger than climate change. So if you really want to be a part of that or something like I think it could be really important, But-.

09:02 - Jordan  (Guest)
And like look at the students who you see articles and things where they're like developing robots that eat microplastics or like clean up oil spills, and it's like you could, you can do that, you can be a part of that. You just got to go and figure it out and try it out and see what happens.

09:13 - Chelsey  (Host)
So yeah, that's super cool. I'm excited to see where everything goes, like I, literally I think I think we seeing a lot of really quick advances with AI and artificial intelligence coming down the pipeline. But couldn't, couldn't hurt to kind of look into that a little bit, I guess. But yeah, and I, like we were saying earlier to you've been here for several months now, but Just to give some people an introduction to kind of like who you are, can you talk about, like maybe a little bit of your background in terms of having experienced the benefits of mentorship, because that's part of our program.

09:47 - Jordan  (Guest)
Of course, yeah, and I mean like I can't be pushing a mentorship program and trying to build a mentorship program if I've never experienced it in one way or another. I've been in a mentorship and it was great, it was fantastic. It did last for quite a little while. Great, it was fantastic, it did last for quite a little while, and you know, to understand the value it brought to me and how it kind of kept me on a path that I wanted to be on is incredible. I mean I wish I had more opportunities like this growing up, or I wish they were like put in front of me more, or like I was suggested to them more by teachers, you know, guidance counselors, anyone who could have had that chance to be like you know what.

10:19
I think this might really align with you. Maybe you should try this out. I wish I had more of that, but there's still value in it. In the later age I did my mentorship in my 20s and it was a mutual type mentorship, but even at that point it was still super valuable and I'd be very excited to go try another one when the timing is right. But that's kind of why I have this drive to like, see, like provide that value to other people is because if I had that, that could have been really helpful. But I've experienced that even in my later part of my career and I know like it's there, there's a value there, there's a connection there. It's worth pursuing.

10:51 - Chelsey  (Host)
What would you say is one of the most valuable things that you got out of the mentorship?

10:55 - Jordan  (Guest)
For me it was, and this might sound strange you might think, like you know, you might have wanted something different, but what I got out of it was just having someone whose values aligned with my own and reinforced that, because it's really nice to have an encouraging voice when you're navigating confusing things and careers Like I switched careers and I had different struggles when I moved into more of a corporate environment, and having someone who aligned with my values and goals while I was getting pushed and pulled in all these different directions by different people, having someone who kept me on my line and on my center really helped me like lay down what I wanted to do and stay focused on what I wanted to do, which can also play a bit of a role and be partially responsible for how I ended up here.

11:34
I had someone had another voice telling me like, stay with, stay in line, stay with in line with yourself, stick to to your values. You're going to regret it if you don't, or at least it's going to hurt for a long time if you don't learn that soon. Um, and then that pushed me to be like okay, this might not, I might not be in the most comfortable spot right now, but I do know what I'm chasing and sooner or later I'll get closer to it. So I that person like really helped me kind of stay centered and focused in the ways I needed to be, versus the ways I maybe wanted to be or was told to be, if that makes sense.

12:02 - Chelsey  (Host)
Yeah, for sure, and you touched on having changed career paths yourself in the past, and we might have somebody listening right now who's considering something like that. What would you say? Or you know what are your thoughts on that kind of thing?

12:17 - Jordan  (Guest)
Yeah, and I mean that was like a big and difficult change, even though we've had someone else on our podcast who talked about changing careers and that was difficult and it was and it always will be. But you know, we can't let ourselves fall into the mindset of this is impossible. And for me, I struggled with that for a while. I remember, like working at a Dairy Queen a long time ago and thinking to myself at a ripe young age like this is it, this is my life, I'm going to be slinging ice cream for the rest of my life and you know that's not a bad thing. I just knew like I wanted something different from my circumstances. And you know you can get into that mindset easily of like I'm just going to be stuck doing X, Y, z for much longer than I'm comfortable with. But what I say is like you just got to recognize that maybe you are, maybe you aren't comfortable with where you are right now, but the only way to get to that next spot is to just keep trying, keep working, keep pushing, keep talking to people and telling people. I would say you need to tell people what you want to do, tell people you want to change your career, tell people that you have different ideas and it's going to be difficult. It's never not going to be difficult, but you can do it. You're in your thirties, forties. You're thinking of a different career. Like you know, there was a saying I can't remember exactly how it goes, but it's something like this career, this pursuit, it's going to take four years to get my degree, four years to get my license. Well, I mean, then I'll be 44, right, for example? Well, you're going to be 44 in four years. Anyways, maybe you could be 44 with that degree. You've always wanted and never gave a shot and it sucked.

13:40
You know, I had a lot of dark moments in that in-between, in that twilight zone, and we can't pretend that that doesn't exist. You definitely need to talk to people about that and get support and have your network or have people there to back you up, but it's worth it. And it's so worth it I mean I feel so great. I feel like a lot of these days I wake up and know what I want to do at work and I'm ready to get up and do it.

14:03
And I've had moments in my past where I didn't necessarily want to get up for work. I wanted to call in sick and just tell them get someone else to cover me and just, you know, look at my balance and you know, maybe just put off some chips and some pop Don't get that this week and I can skip a shift, like now. It's like I feel happy to be here, happy to be helping out and doing what I'm doing and hopefully generating more of an impact in the long term as a team, collectively. So you know it's difficult, it's never not going to be difficult, but just follow it and chase it. Do what you can. Don't go beyond your means. Just do what you can and understand, just trust in yourself, believe in yourself and you'll get there and it'll be so worth it.

14:42 - Chelsey  (Host)
I really like that mindset and that quote that you kind of said like you know, the time's gonna pass anyways, and I think it's important to have kind of an open mindset about continuous learning. I think that's one of the values that I hold very near, and it's not that I'm always perfect at it, but sometimes I'm like, hey, like I really like this specific musician. His name is Jesse Cook, he's a guitarist and I guess you could say like kind of like a Spanish guitar style, like very like complex finger style, and I'm like you know what, maybe in 30 years I could be close to as good as like Jesse Cook Not exactly, but I'm like why don't I just start learning guitar now? Like it's never too late? I think that is like a really important message that we're always trying to convey to the youth as well Like it's never too late to kind of switch gears or focus on something that you have always had an interest in, but just never took the leap.

15:33 - Jordan  (Guest)
Yeah, pick it out, take flamenco lessons, learn it, and then come back and rock our socks off. You know, the only time it's ever too late is when you've already decided for yourself.

15:43 - Chelsey  (Host)
It's too late, it's too late. Yeah, that's the only time.

15:45 - Jordan  (Guest)
But also I mean, that's what I've enjoyed about working here so far is how supportive everything has been here in terms of pushing your education and development. I've found the attitude here is like to keep pushing for more growth and development rather than stifling and just you know, do that thing you've been doing, just stay there, like. I feel like there's been a lot of opportunities to push a little bit further, and that's been fantastic too.

16:06 - Chelsey  (Host)
Awesome. I'm really glad to hear that, and I'd love to hear a little bit more about how you came to find TyCop, but also what is TyCop. You know? Like, what have you learned about Ty cop since being here?

16:20 - Jordan  (Guest)
yeah, I mean that's the core of my work is, uh, with ty cop, like what is ty cop and what are we doing? I mean, it's been around for quite a while now. Um, for context to the audience, like it has existed for quite a while. We've run workshops, interviews, case studies, I believe, internship, internships as well, and been putting a lot of effort in to try and generate that interest and generate more opportunity and pipelines for students to get closer to STEM careers and, in some cases, join our organization and move up and go on to train other people, as we've heard in the past. You know we've done the workshops, internships, but now this is the first time that I'm really aware of that the project's been given the opportunity to rocket launch the way we're hoping to, to give it an actual platform, a digital space to exist. You know what it is now. You know the Technical Youth Career Outreach Project, like where it is now is, we're trying to generate that by building an online platform for mentorships that are free, voluntary mentorships for First Nations students and mentors to give them a space, a safe space, to go do that. But we're also STEM-focused. I mean we've seen other mentorship programs as well and they've been great, but this is one that we've really honed in on the STEM side and those technical careers Again in line with building technical independence and self-ability.

17:43
In that sense, yeah, and right now I mean we're trying to do our best to hit schools and make connections and partnerships and sort of build something bigger and give more opportunity and representation.

17:54
One of the main tenets of it is to give that representation and show, hey, these are the possibilities, these are the options, and if you're a science-y student, stem student, this is just one more avenue to get you there.

18:04
And we heard again from one of our past podcasts because I listen to all of them, because I have to work with them is hearing about. Melanie was talking about how sometimes the best students aren't getting that support and this is an opportunity to give better students like the students who are I don't want to say better, but there are students who are very engaged and very passionate about specific subjects and careers. Gives them one more opportunity to take that and run with it really and make sure that they're getting, uh, the support that they deserve for all the effort they're putting in. Um, yeah, we don't want to like let those students feel like they're not getting any kind of attention or options, and this is one more opportunity for them to get access to scholarships, grants, professionals, guidance, representation anything they need to get them one step closer to whatever their bigger goals might be. You know, we've all had different dreams growing up about what we want to do, and maybe that's just going to get them one step closer, and that's awesome.

19:02 - Chelsey  (Host)
Yeah, definitely, and maybe you could talk a little bit as well about what are some of our upcoming plans for this year, because I know we have some big plans and we'll be sharing them in due course, but maybe you could give a little bit of a teaser of some of the things that we have coming up.

19:17 - Jordan  (Guest)
Absolutely so. This is a pretty big year. We're trying to launch the digital mentorship platform for the very first time, so, moving past workshop formats I mean we still want to do the workshops, of course, and hit as many people as possible Moving a little bit beyond that to provide one-on-one mentorships on an online, virtual, secure platform. We've done a ton of research and a ton of work to make sure that it's secure, the mentees are protected, the mentors are protected and everyone has this professional engagement with each other that you can't necessarily get outside of school or outside of your own community, just like before entering the workplace necessarily getting a professional connection and guidance, and so that's going to be one of the bigger pieces getting the mentorships rolled out. We're going to be doing live workshops and virtual workshops so that anyone on the platform can benefit from these things and still access them after they've already happened. We can make more curated things for specific careers and have, like, more tailored experiences in there.

20:16
Aside from that, I mean we're going to be running our STEM camp in July. That's very exciting. We're offering limited slots we can't invite everybody, unfortunately, but as many as we can to come out and join us for STEM-based workshops and see different careers in action, different science in action. Do some land-based learning. We're planning to have a drone demonstration. If that pans through like, it's going to be super exciting.

20:42 - Chelsey  (Host)
And then that's on July 30th in Thunder Bay.

20:44 - Jordan  (Guest)
July 30th, thunder Bay, very excited to let that happen and see where that goes and get feedback from that and do some of those workshops again. We've been missing those for a while now. And then in November we're hoping to run an Ontario STEM Summit and that's pretty exciting, and then hopefully the very beginning of next year when we get that sorted out Canada-wide, because of course, as you said, we are trying to push outside of Ontario.

21:08 - Chelsey  (Host)
Absolutely yeah. We do not want to turn anybody away. Like, if anybody wants to participate in any component of the program, we are telling them yes, so anyone listening, if you're a First Nations youth and you want to learn more, you are definitely welcome to talk to us at any point.

21:24 - Jordan  (Guest)
So yeah, so for the STEM camp, if you are interested and wanted to go check that out, the if you're not on the newsletter for any reason, um, you can always email us at tycop at OFNTSCorg and let us know We'll get you on that newsletter. Otherwise, uh, I believe you can find it at firstnationscareerscom slash events. We should have that posted up and able to check any of our upcoming events up as they're live and get a sense of the agenda and the options and sign up for that.

21:52 - Chelsey  (Host)
What about school visits? Are we going to be doing more of those throughout the year?

21:56 - Jordan  (Guest)
Absolutely. We have done a lot of them already this year schools and events and as they come up and as we're notified about them, we try to send our teams out to them. So if you happen to be a career like a community member guidance counselor, educator, teacher, any of the above and you want us to come out or you want us to send out materials, we have career guides. We have just different STEM representation items.

22:22 - Chelsey  (Host)
Posters.

22:23 - Jordan  (Guest)
We've got posters with role models Lots of merch. If you want merch, I'm sure we can figure something out there. Soters, we've got posters with role models Lots of merch. If you want merch, I'm sure we can figure something out there.

22:29 - Chelsey  (Host)
Socks. We have socks. We have Ty Cobb socks.

22:31 - Jordan  (Guest)
Branded socks, bandanas.

22:33 - Chelsey  (Host)
You'll look great. Those are a hit actually Super popular.

22:36 - Jordan  (Guest)
You can always reach out to us and let us know what's going on, whether that's at tycobbofntSEorg or just one of our other emails. Just reach out to us, let us know what's going on and where you want us. We receive a lot of emails that are just hey, we have this career fair coming up event, career fair coming up, we want to see if you can attend. Of course, if it's very First Nations and Indigenous focused, that's where we want to be and that's the audiences we want to hit no-transcript for them to exercise. So that's our goal. So reach out. You can also reach out me at jmolduch, at OFNTSCorg or on LinkedIn. I'm too yeah.

23:25 - Chelsey  (Host)
Awesome. Thank you so much, jordan. Honestly, this has been really fun to do this podcast because, like you were saying, usually Jordan is behind the mic. He's not on the mic. So if you ever hear me mention Jordan, it's because I'm giving him some note to like, take something out when I mess up or cough.

23:43 - Jordan  (Guest)
And then I decide if I want to do that or not, and then he will sneakily no, I'm just kidding.

23:49 - Chelsey  (Host)
But yeah, I think it's so exciting, the program that you're working on. One of the things I would just love to reiterate about it as well is that we're very open. Like the main goal of the program is to help more youth get into these STEM careers, which is ultimately going to help all of the First Nations communities in the long run. That is our goal and there's nothing that is kind of going to stop us from reaching that. Like we will partner with anyone, work with anybody, like we're not trying to compete with anyone, we're literally just trying to lift everybody up.

24:26
And that's what I really love about this program is that it is so just like, um, wholesome. I guess I don't want to boil it down to that one word, but it just I don't know if you get the same feeling, but it just feels like it's a very like and I don't even want to say rewarding, but it's just work that it just seems and feels so essential and it just feels such, so good to be rewarding. But it's just work that just seems and feels so essential and it just feels so good to be a part of it.

24:49 - Jordan  (Guest)
You know where it's going and you know where you're doing it and with any luck, you get to see that all happen and fold out. You get to watch that process unfold and with any luck, they come back around and maybe they'll join us one day or a few years.

25:01 - Chelsey  (Host)
Or their communities.

25:02 - Jordan  (Guest)
Working beside us in their communities or working beside us here, wherever it takes them, like there's nothing else to it. We don't need to sit here and worry about what we're seeing. We just need to make sure that people are getting opportunity.

25:13 - Chelsey  (Host)
And getting the message. So anyone who wants to reach out to us, as Jordan had mentioned we have a couple of avenues for you to do that. Also, just feel free to follow it on social media as well.

25:24 - Jordan  (Guest)
Absolutely. Or even if you hear this podcast or what we're talking about and you feel like I want to become a mentee, I want to become a mentor, reach out again. Let us know We'll be getting the platform up very soon and talk to us because we are very open, very welcoming of anyone who can offer or even just wants to receive like mentee, like as a mentee I was. I would still be doing like a mutual mentee mentor if I could. So if you feel any inclination at all, like, reach out and we'll try to see if we can get you involved as well. We'd just be so happy to receive as much support as we possibly can.

25:55 - Chelsey  (Host)
Yeah. So, with all that being said, I think it's amazing to hear the work that we're doing. Again, it just blows my mind when you think about all the different departments and different services at OFN, tsc Plus. We're doing a lot of this capacity building work, groundwork to kind of get the communities also hopefully building that internal workforce of STEM careers, and so it's just great to hear what you're doing and to catch up, and we'll have to do this again, maybe in a year and give an update on the program. Yeah for sure, see where. Again maybe in a year, and give an update on the program.

26:26 - Jordan  (Guest)
Yeah, for sure.

26:27 - Chelsey  (Host)
See where it is in a year from now.

26:30 - Jordan  (Guest)
Hopefully it's taken off. It's soaring through the skies, it's a star in the night sky and so many people are interested in joining it, but we'll get there one day at a time.

26:38 - Chelsey  (Host)
We aim high.

26:39 - Jordan  (Guest)
We aim as high as we possibly can.

26:50 - Chelsey  (Host)
Okay, well, again, thank you so much, jordan. I think we have had a great team going here and I can't wait to keep working with you and seeing how it all unfolds.

26:53 - Jordan  (Guest)
Yeah, it's been a pleasure to work with you. It's been a pleasure to be on this team. Everyone's so awesome. I'm so happy and excited every time we interact with each other through our busy schedules. So it's been great.

27:05 - Chelsey  (Host)
Thanks so much, jordan, and the Technical Youth Career Outreach Program. You can find more information on the website firstnationcareerscom or visit OFNTSCorg as well, and we will be back with another episode very soon, but in the meantime, I hope you all are doing well and take care.