President Riccobono:
Alright everybody, we have a great panel coming up and you will not need to leave early because you won't want to miss this. This panel is one that I've been waiting for and I think you're going to find it's going to cap off a great convention of presentations, perspectives on growing pains in the organized blind movement. In the interest of time, I'm not going to take a lot of time to introduce the tremendous panelists we have.
They're all young, emerging leaders contributing to our movement and I've asked them all to come talk to us about the growing pains of transitioning from being a student to being an active leader in affiliates in the National Federation of the Blind. And I think they're sharing their perspectives will help all of us better understand what we can do to continue to foster the next generation and continue the legacy of giving.
And the spirit that we have in the National Federation of the Blind, I've asked a gentleman who we all admire for his leadership across the generations of this movement to moderate this panel. So please welcome our Executive Director of Blindness Initiatives, Anil Lewis.
Anil Lewis:
Alright, what a day, what a week, you guys? Some people left but they made a mistake because this panel is going to be a very dynamic panel. I don't get an opportunity to give a Blindness Initiatives report, but President Riccobono talked about all the good work we're doing in that space. But this is even more important because as we say with blindness initiatives, the projects and programs that we operate are intended to build the Federation and there's no better way to build a Federation than making sure we create opportunities for our leadership to constantly grow and evolve.
So let me say this, this may be the last presentation on the agenda, but this is really going to be a call to action for work we need to do throughout this coming year. We have some young people here that are leaders in this organization and I just want to be very candid because we're going to have a very frank discussion around a topic that's essential for us to address if we really want to continue to build the National Federation of the Blind.
We have a tremendous student program. Our National Association of Blind students are phenomenal, but we recognize that we're not doing our best to tap into that talent as they evolve from being student to leaders in the broader organization.
We have three courageous young people that are going to talk about their evolution, some good, some bad, but I think that it's important for us to know the full story if we're going to develop some projects, programs, interventions, strategies to make sure that we can continue to tap into this resource. So first, I want to let them introduce themselves very quickly by talking about the roles that they play. This will establish their credibility to you. So we'll start with Manahil Jafri.
Manahil Jafri:
Hi everyone. My name is Manahil Jafri. I am a recent graduate of Cornell University and a proud graduate of the Colorado Center for the Blind. And I have served as the first vice president of the National Association of Blind Students and have recently stepped down from that role a couple days ago and have served in NABs for the past four years and am proudly in a couple weeks going to start my first full-time job as an associate product manager at SMP Global.
Anil Lewis:
Awesome, thank you. Manahil. Next is Gene Kim.
Gene Kim:
Hi everyone. My name is Gene Kim. I recently graduated from Stanford University studying human computer interaction and accessibility and in a couple of months I will be starting my PhD in computer science at MIT. Thank you. Manahil is better than me at most everything in life. However, I did go to the Colorado Center for the Blind one year before she did, so I will take that win.
In terms of my other Federation involvement, I first joined the National Student division in 2020 helping with a lot of backend work, like social media, logistical tasks, helping out with our website as the webmaster. Then I served on the National Student Division board of directors, including being the secretary and chairing the membership committee and a handful of other roles for about three years.
In terms of my other Federation involvement, I serve on the Jernigan Fund Committee and the National Membership Committee. I also serve on the board of directors of the National Science and Engineering Division. I also help with some of the STEM2U programming to bring accessible STEM to our blind youth.
And in terms of my state involvement, I've been helping out with our student division in various roles for about six years and I've been helping with our state scholarship program including this past year where I chaired that committee as well.
Anil Lewis:
And later we'll hear what he does in his spare time. So next is Kinshuk Tella.
Kinshuk Tella:
Hey guys, how's it going? Thanks so much, Anil. So my name is Kinshuk and I'm from the Great Buckeye state of Ohio. Where are you at? There you are. Awesome. So I am a recent-ish graduate from the Louisiana Center for the Blind.
I know my friends up here, they don't know, but no, this is the better center. And I'm also a recent-ish graduate from Miami University where I got my master's in environmental science and my undergrad in geology.
Anil Lewis:
Nice.
Kinshuk Tella:
Within the NFB had a really interesting start, but I have served within my chapter as a member, a secretary within the NFB of Ohio as a board member. And more passionately I really love to help or coordinate and run our state scholarship program the past couple of years in Ohio nationally. I recently, not recently, but a year or two ago I finished my term on the National Association of Blind Students Board of Directors as a board member.
And I've served for four years in NABS various capacities, helping to much like Gene run student seminars. I worked on the content creation committee, ran the podcast with a really wonderful, there we go. And then I really involved with the NABS and more recently nationally. I'm serving on our national scholarship committee this year.
Anil Lewis:
And as I said, we're going to have a frank discussion. So I want to frame this very well. I read a book. Yes, I read a book. I read a book by Don Miguel Ruiz. Ruiz, no, I think Don Miguel, the Four Agreements. Thank you very much. 1997.
And it's a simple framework, I encourage you to read it, but we're going to practice these four agreements as these students expressed themselves. One, we're going to be impeccable with our words. Two, we're not going to take anything personally. Three, we're not going to make any assumptions. And four, we're going to always do our best.
I think this panel is going to model that and all of you can really pay attention to this presentation. And I think if we establish those four agreements, we'll all learn something before it's over. So now we're going to have them talk about their evolution from being student leaders to their broader engagement into the organization. And we'll start with Kinshuk.
Kinshuk Tella:
Awesome. So if there was a jackpot for getting into the right affiliate at the right time in your life and the right time for the affiliate, I think I hit that jackpot. I got super lucky to be involved with Ohio at age 18. This was 2019 at the time in which the NFB of Ohio had incredible and still has incredible leadership, incredible ensemble of leaders who are really enthusiastic and wanting to invest in young leadership.
They were looking to restart the student division during the same year. I won the NFB of Ohio scholarship in 2019, and I think I got really lucky, honestly. And my story is somewhat uncommon, unfortunately, but it can be replicated. So I'm really excited to be talking about this afternoon. So yes, I got involved with the NFB Ohio when I was 18 years old, a freshman in college. And as very quickly I found the philosophy and the leadership that was modeled by the organization to be something I never knew I needed until that convention.
Incredible leaders such as President Richard Payne, Suzanne Turner, Dr. Carolyn Peters, Barbara Pierce, and so many more really invested in my success and wanted to beat me where I was. And it was that catalyst that really allowed me to grow and to get really involved with student efforts, helping to run the student division in Ohio.
I met Kenia Flores at the convention who got me really involved with NABS and it really perpetuated these feelings of belonging and community that I didn't really know I needed it until at that point. And so ever since then, getting involved with the NFB at a local level was so much easier. Having the collaboration between the student efforts and our very important affiliate local efforts was really incredibly important in my personal development.
Despite being involved locally, the leadership in Ohio really did take the time to invest in my success nationally a month into my involvement in the NFB. President Richard Payne gave me a really unexpected phone call on, I was on campus walking home from the gym on a snowy wintery December day in Ohio and he gave me a phone call and he said, Hey, hey, Kinshuk.
Do you want to come to DC with me and represent the NFB talking to congressmen advocating for policy that's relevant to all of us? And I thought he was crazy. I didn't expect him to. I was like, what can I offer you? Right? That's kind of the question I asked myself. But he saw a need and a place for young voices and he invested the affiliates resources into me.
And that single trip to DC was incredibly pivotal to my development as a leader. And ever since then, the transition out of being in school and graduating over the past year and a half or so and transitioning into other kinds of work in the organization, especially through the scholarship programs, has been incredibly easy and seamless and positive.
Anil Lewis:
Very nice. Thank you for sharing. So Manahil, would you like to share your story of evolution?
Manahil Jafri:
Yes. So thank you so much again, President Riccobono for hosting this amazing panel because this is a conversation that is really important to have as I am so happy for Kinshuk that about his amazing experience. I would love to talk about mine.
I mentioned in my introduction that I stepped down this week from my role from NABS, which I've been involved with for the past four years, ever since I found the Federation. And that's very nerve wracking for me because I'm not sure, and I'm still trying to navigate where my presence and my involvement in the organization goes from here.
And it's mainly to do with how I, and this is not just an experience that is solely for me. I'm sure if anyone here has any, maybe even affiliate presidents, anyone who knows of individuals who have been either involved in the national student division or even local student divisions in the past, it's really common for them after they graduate college, after they're done being a student to leave the organization to not continue to get involved in their affiliates in other parts of the organization.
And I think it's really important to figure out why that is the case. So to talk a little bit about my story, I first got involved a handful of years ago through winning to be fortunate enough to win a state scholarship in my local affiliate. And I was super grateful back then. I never met any other blind people before. I just applied for this scholarship because I needed money to go to college.
And from there I had my eyes open to meeting so many ambitious, determined, incredible blind individuals that had broke barriers that I never thought was possible. And it was so inspiring to me that I really did want to get involved and hit the ground running with this organization.
And again, at that time, and no one I'm talking about here is currently in leadership, but at that time with the previous administration in my affiliates, I felt very unwelcome in that space. I would try to reach out multiple times to act ask of is it that I could get involved to no answer to a lack of enthusiasm. Again, I was very new not only to the organization, but to the organization's philosophy as well.
So maybe I didn't always say the right things and maybe I didn't always know exactly how the structure worked, but I really needed someone in that moment to teach me and help me figure out what exactly it is for me to do and how exactly this organization does function.
So through my multiple times of trying to get involved in my local state to no avail the following year I was fortunate enough to win a national scholarship. Thank you. Thank you. And that was an incredible experience for me because not only did I attend the convention virtually that year and see this organization on a local scale, sorry, a national scale, but I was introduced to the National Association of Blind Students, students that I felt welcomed me with open arms and really made me feel like I had a home in the organization.
And through there I got very heavily involved very quickly in NABS and started some various different conversations in my home affiliate. There were two camps here, the first being individuals thinking that because I took such an active role and such an immediate role in NABS, that I had no interest in being involved in my home affiliate and that I didn't care about affiliate work and that I felt above affiliate work, which was very disappointing for me to hear and me to observe because I know I was trying the other camp of people without very understanding that of my new found involvement in NABS. Thought that I was way too busy to be involved and be engaged in my local affiliate.
Anil Lewis:
Which let me share really quickly just to let everyone know, and I appreciate you're doing it much more fluently than I had anticipated. Manahil really had some angst about really being this candid in disclosing that she didn't have the traditional wonderful kumbaya experience of transition through the Federation. So I really want to respect her for being vulnerable and really disclosing this. So Manahil, I love the way you broke down the two camps. Tell us how that impacted your evolution into the work that you're doing now.
Manahil Jafri:
I'm so sorry Anil, could you repeat that question?
Anil Lewis:
Oh, I know it's hard to hear, believe it or not from the mics, but tell us about, I appreciate you sharing the two camps description. Tell us now about how that impacted your evolution into doing work in the broader organization.
Manahil Jafri:
Yeah, of course. So because I felt that these two different ideologies, people thinking I was either not wanting to be involved in the affiliate or being too busy to be involved in the affiliate, that really unfortunately turned me away from trying to be involved in my affiliate. And that is, again, I am saying all of this to a lot of this had to do with the former administration and former leadership administration.
But a big thing that I want to emphasize here is that it's really important for individuals to and affiliates to communicate with their students because the assumption was already made that I didn't have time for my affiliate. I was not asked or not even if when I reached out to ask to help with various parts, whether that be Washington Seminar, state convention, my pleas were ignored because the assumption that I was too busy.
Anil Lewis:
Very nice. And we're going to talk about some solutions to that particular dilemma because what Manahil is expressing is not unique to Manahil. I'm pretty sure if there are students in this room, many of them can resonate with that same situation as well. So let's hear about Gene Kim's evolution.
Gene Kim:
So my story falls somewhere in between Kinshuk and Manahils, which is maybe why they put me in between them up here in 2019, I found the Federation as a national scholarship winner and much like Kinshuk's first introduction to our movement, I was a very shy, socially anxious and awkward 18-year-old who got shot straight into Las Vegas.
But during this crazy week, Tim Elder and Jordyn Castor from my California affiliate really made it a point to grab breakfast with me. Now I was still nervous. It was a very fancy breakfast spot somewhere I was not used to going to, and I was so nervous that I didn't know what to pick.
So I ended up picking a bagel and cream cheese, a fancy breakfast place, and I was like, man, it's not a good first impression. But apparently that damage wasn't too bad because a few later in October, Tim Elder called me and said, Hey, I want you to come to this networking dinner we have going on.
It's like 15 minutes from your place and I think it would be a great time. What he didn't tell me though was that he was actually inviting me to an entire weekend of the California State Convention. So then through a series of accidental events, I ended up finding myself as the secretary of this thing called the California Association of Blind Students. And then I started doing student work.
But the thing is, I noticed that the students, if I can be candid here, back then, this was about six years ago, were kind of off on our own doing our own thing. Cricket Bidleman was the president at the time, and we simply just did our own student things, our own calls. We didn't have affiliate members showing up to our calls. There's a chance that some of our affiliate leaders may not even have known when our calls were.
And that miscommunication, that kind of siloing of our student activities really basically gave me this perception that student division work was just student stuff and we could not really participate, maybe we're not qualified enough or welcome to contribute to the affiliate work. So this led me to join the National Association of Blind Students to continue that student work to have a broader impact.
But then again, I felt this choice similar to what Manahil was talking about, and for me personally, I was very busy with school and other things. So I decided I can either help at the local level or I can help at the national level and to an 18-year-old who is really excited and wants to make a big impact. When you say the word national, that sounds very flashy.
So then I left the state work and then started doing national student work. And the last couple of short stories that I'll share is that an opportunity last year came to me to join the Kenneth Jernigan Leadership In-Service program,
The inaugural cohort? Yes. And for this program, you are supposed to ask two affiliate presidents to write you a letter of recommendation to serve as your mentors throughout the entire duration, the one year of the program. Now, I ended up asking the wonderful Jessica Beecham and Pam Allen, but you'll notice Tim Elder wasn't on that list.
And it's not because I didn't have a great relationship with Tim Elder, but because I had been helping out with the national student work and interacting with Pam and Jessica, I felt more comfortable. I felt like I could relate to their stories a little bit more just with their personalities. And I felt really bad at National Convention. I ran into Tim Elder in the presidential suite and I felt really guilty. I felt a little weird if I'm being honest, but he still treated me very warmly and we had a very great conversation.
And because he was seeing all of the great work I was doing at the national student level, he invited me to help out with other initiatives like the state scholarship committee on the state level. And that's the other thing, it takes time to build up that credibility to establish that trust between affiliate leadership and student leadership, especially when students have limited time and are interested in other things. And we're still maturing in a lot of ways.
I'll share another story a little bit later in this panel, but Tim really took a shot on me and because of that, I ended up getting more involved in the state community, getting to know our state affiliate leaders and handling different initiatives. And now I'm actually really sad to be leaving California to start my PhD in Massachusetts. I'm sure there'll be a great community there, but I feel like I'm just starting out in California and now I'm going to be leaving. So thank you to Tim Elder for taking a shot on me.
Anil Lewis:
Well thank all three of you for sharing your personal story and again, hopefully this will facilitate more conversation. I have two questions that I'm going to get you guys to answer really quickly to help start framing how do we build better bridges, right?
So the first question is, in reflecting upon your experience, what could affiliate leaders do that would help facilitate a better transition of your work from being involved in the student division to doing broader work within the Federation? So Gene, we'll go back to you first.
Gene Kim:
Awesome. So as I was sharing, I think I didn't really see the value of affiliate work. I again thought national sounded flashy, that sounded cool, would look better on a resume. But then over the past year and a half or so where I've really gotten involved with the California affiliate, I've realized there's something very unique, powerful, and beautiful about getting to know your local blindness community.
I'm working at the Enchanted Hills Camp for the Blind as a summer counselor this summer, and I hear lots of stories. There are teachers of the visually impaired who have known each other for 40, 50 years helping blind babies learn different Braille skills and technology skills.
And some of them have actually know me and a lot of 'em have been sharing stories about how they grew up on the same block in San Francisco together. That kind of local context gets completely lost when you're working at the national level.
So I think one thing that affiliate leadership can do is really mentor students in that sense of saying, Hey, there's something very unique and beautiful about the work that we do that you can't do anywhere else. And to get students excited and see the value of local work. The other thing I'll say very quickly, I want to shout out this affiliate, is I went to the Nebraska State Convention last year and during that student division meeting, the student division was reforming and there are maybe about seven or eight students, small group of students, but strong.
But there were 35 people in that room. There were parents, teachers of the visually impaired, vocational rehabilitation counselors, or I should say the State Commission for the Blind. And just seeing and showing the students that, hey, you are not just your own little group over there. You are integrated into this affiliate and we support you and we are here to mentor you and guide you as you take your first steps. I think that's very powerful. Thank you. Thank you.
Anil Lewis:
Manahil, what suggestions do you have?
Manahil Jafri:
Yeah, thank you so much. So again, I agree with everything that Gene said. For my experience, I think the biggest thing that affiliates can do is communicate and showcase to the students that you are there for them.
I think the biggest thing for me is, again, as I mentioned this past year, my current affiliate president called me and said, acknowledged the situation of understanding, of hearing about my feelings of feeling a little alienated from the affiliate.
Because of them hearing about my alienation, they took the time out of their day to call me, figure out my side of the situation and figuring out additional ways where I can get involved in the affiliate. So that meant so much to me because it showcased that not only did they care about my involvement and my continuation, but they wanted me involved in the affiliate.
And that is something that I have frankly not felt for the past four years that I have been involved in this Federation. And I'm so, so grateful to Aubrey Bird for doing that for me and making me feel very included. And another thing, my final thing that I would say, the biggest thing that I want everyone here to take away is it is really important for the affiliates to provide mentorship and mentors for their students. When I was coming up, I thought the go-to person for me to reach out was my former affiliate president and not getting any support there.
I thought the entire affiliate was in the wrong, and that was a very poor mindset that I had there. Catye Mendez actually recently had a conversation with me about the importance of mentorship and the importance of really looking out and finding a mentor in your affiliate to help guide you throughout the process.
So I encourage for all the affiliate presidents listening, seek out your students, have lunch with them at this convention, at state convention, check in how they're doing and figure out which ways they want to get involved and you are able to plug into their unique skill sets that they have.
Anil Lewis:
Very nice. Thank you. Kinshuk. What advice do you have for our affiliate leaders?
Kinshuk Tella:
Look, I know that my story, I got very lucky. The Ohio affiliate was so quick and so kind to sponsor and invest in all the students in the state, but I'm only as grateful as I am today because I had the privilege of being able to serve with NABS as a national rep. I flew across the country to various states throughout my undergrad and got to interact with lots of different affiliates and see how their culture is and how they interact with their students.
And the results were so varied. It was night and day between Florida and Illinois and Wisconsin and so many other states and they all had their own individual styles and relationships. And that dynamic itself showed me a lot about how special Ohio was. And I'm not just here to brag about Ohio, don't get me wrong, but the affiliates that really invest in their students and give them the experiences like Florida for example, like many others, those are the same students that I see this week, three years later running around the hotel and serving in various capacities.
Camille Tate in Florida and her students, they're so active. I saw 'em integrated within all parts of their convention and that really showed me the value of engagement in students to my affiliate leadership in this room. You have to take the risk, you have to invest in your students because we can't expect students in states to have the conventional path to involvement through the local chapter all the time.
Anil Lewis:
I love the way you framed it as taking a risk and that's important for us to do. So I want to make sure we wrap up so we can turn this banquet space around really quickly though, we've talked about what affiliate presidents can do, we have to be introspective, what can students do? And this needs to be an lightening round answer. So Kinshuk we'll start with you.
Kinshuk Tella:
To my students in the room, I know there are at least 30 of you here for scholarship because you have to be here, but to my students, I know you have a thousand distractions on campus. I know it's hard and your schedules are so variable, but the growth and opportunity in this organization will carry you so far and don't think that you have to get involved after you're out of school to be involved in your affiliate because it starts now and it's now that you have the opportunity to form the mentorships and connections and have the community around you that will carry your whole life.
Students wherever you go in the country, I know you're always not going to be in the same state for your career as you are where you grew up, where you went to school. In my personal experience, I've traveled all over the world, not world, the country. And I've lived in different states and each state I've been to, I've always felt so comfortable being by myself because I know no matter where I go in this country, there's an affiliate, a chapter nearby, a community of Federation that are here to support me. And that's something that's a privilege to have.
Anil Lewis:
How about you, Gene?
Gene Kim:
So President Elder actually tried get me involved earlier on during my Federation journey, however, so he invited me to a state convention planning committee meeting, but I was a student that I didn't really know what was going on. And because I didn't know what was going on, I was told, Hey, let us know what you want to help out with. We want to make sure you feel comfortable and effectively utilized, but I don't know.
So instead of asking questions and trying to take that initiative, I just fizzled out a little bit. And for the students in the room, I really encourage you. I know it can be daunting to enter new spaces. Maybe people are older than you, maybe you feel like people are more experienced than you, but there's a reason you're asked to be in this space. You belong here, you are valued and you have a lot to offer.
Oftentimes we say, oh, students are the leaders of tomorrow. Let's invest in our students for the next generation. That's great, but you're also here today. You can make that impact. You are the leaders of today. So take ownership of that, find different ways to get involved and whether even it's a very small task, get involved within your ability.
Anil Lewis:
That's good. Thank you. Manahil, you have last word really quickly. What advice do you have for the students?
Manahil Jafri:
Okay. Really quickly, I would like everyone, all my new students in this room to go to your affiliates and find a mentor. Okay. Please, please. You know, I mentioned, I talked a little bit about my story, but as we mentioned, I know a lot of you whose first convention it is, who was at the NABS meeting, mentioned how awesome and exciting it is to get involved in NABS.
And it is, and we would love you to get involved in NABS, but also do not underestimate the power that your affiliate has. Please go sit with your affiliate, find them during banquet, and there is so much that you can learn from them. And communication is the key to success. So please communicate and please see the power of that.
Anil Lewis:
Thank you. That is the key and that's what we're all about mentoring. So let's go build the National Federation of the Blind.