EdTech Speaks

Welcome to a very unique episode of the EdTech Speaks podcast where we are joined by Seth Raphael, who is officially the youngest guest we've had the pleasure of interviewing.Seth Raphael is the founder of LinkJoin, a website that organizes and automatically opens virtual classes. He is a student at Las Lomas High School, but also an entrepreneur and programmer. During his virtual 2020 school year, he noticed that he was struggling to remember to join his classes. So he created LinkJoin to help himself and others never be late again. His programming journey started small, with occasional summer camps where he learned the basics of coding and its concepts, but Seth's interest and knowledge spiked during the summer of 2020, when the world was in lockdown and he was stuck inside. After taking a full-fledged online course on Python, he became interested in making websites and quickly picked up the rest of the technologies needed. And when the need arose for one to automatically open his meetings, he knew how to make it. Seth enjoys playing piano, tennis, and ice hockey in his free time, and derives joy from beating his parents at backyard ping-pong.Seth has proven that you don't have to be an adult with multiple degrees to succeed in making a product to help people, you can just work towards a goal of solving a problem, learning as you go.Seth says, "Just getting started is the hardest step - if you have an idea and you think you can get it out there to help people, then just get started and see where it goes."Learn more and connect with Seth here:https://www.linkedin.com/in/seth-raphael-75aa2320a/https://linkjoin.xyz

Today we welcome Scott to the EdTech Speaks podcast. MovieComm's CEO and Founder, Scott DiGiammarino was an award-winning senior executive at American Express. Scott took his region from worst to first in one year and maintained best-in-class metrics for over 20 years at Amex. Part of his winning strategy was using Hollywood movie clips in an internal email campaign to motivate, engage and inspire his employees. Scott decided that he wanted to help other leaders, trainers and educators connect with their audiences so, after a 9.5-year negotiation with the Hollywood studios, he started MovieComm. Scott has been featured in Fast Company, Variety, and the New York Times best-selling book, Likeonomics. He also gave a TED talk entitled, "Why Movies Move Us" which is about the impact that movies have on people and the neuroscience behind them.Scott says, "What I've learned through my career at American Express and MovieComm is that having a big vision, remaining true to what you believe in and then persevering is the key to success."Learn more and connect with Scott here:https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottdigiammarino/https://www.facebook.com/moviecommllc/?view_public_for=248096008955723https://www.instagram.com/mymoviecomm/https://twitter.com/mymoviecomm

Welcome to another episode of the EdTech Speaks podcast where this week we interview David Wells, Custom Database System Development Consultant.David Wells is the founder and president of Wells Consulting. After finishing his MBA at the University of Chicago in 1989 he began more than three decades of work in custom database system design and development. David is well established and recognized as an expert in his field and he and his team serve customers both nationally and internationally across a wide range of industries. Many systems placed in production are still in daily use more than a decade after original deployment and continue to expand in scope and functionality.When asked about his career journey as an "accidental entrepreneur" and David says, "I didn't really plan it, but it's worked out fabulously and I love the flexibility, and I've always worked anywhere I wanted to. There have been times where I've had a client that brought me in to actually sit at a desk for like six months, but pretty short and very few, mostly remote. In my experience, every company has data and nobody's really all that good at managing it."Learn more and connect with David here:www.wellsconsultingllc.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/david-wells-5224655/https://www.instagram.com/wellsconsulting/https://www.facebook.com/dswells