Ronderings

Be open to life and to things that come your way!

The oldest child of a Philippine immigrant family to the USA, Grace Cruz graduated from NYU and began a career in teaching. Grace currently works in consulting with the Centre for Powerful Public Schools in LA, intending to improve teaching and learning.

Grace’s Philippine values and culture have a massive impact on the way she lives life, including how she leads in education. With a focus on community as well as individual contributions, Grace believes that if you work as a team and value the contributions within it, you will not need to hire experts for practice, but you will have that expertise within the team.

Be intentional in how you choose to feel - the goal is to respond not to react.

Notes:
👩🏻‍🏫 Grace went to NYU and teaching got her to many different roles. 2:48
🤔 So much of the focus is going towards expecting students to collaborate in the classrooms. 8:41
🇵🇭 Grace’s Philippine identity and values have a massive impact on the way she leads in education. 11:37
🤩 Generosity is a big part of Philippine culture. 16:29
👉🏻 What teaching looked like under the dictatorship in the Philippines. 18:08
👨🏻‍🔬 Her parents were both chemical engineers which made coming to the US easy. 20:53
😇 When Grace went back home, she realized that all her relatives knew so much about her. 27:09
🤓 Ron learned about entrepreneurship from his parents who worked many jobs. 32:34
🦸🏻‍♀️ Today, Grace is consulting with the Center for Powerful Public Schools in LA: trying to improve teaching and learning. 34:03
🫥 It's really easy for Filipinos to be invisible: both Grace and Ron have last names that don’t point to their origin. 39:02
💎 Grace’s RONdering: be open to life, be open to the things that come your way. 42:54
🧠 ADHD is not necessarily a bad thing: kids with ADHD have their minds work so quickly. 47:25

Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grace-cruz-3b254ab/
AI for Education: https://www.aiforeducation.io/
Rapatalo Group: rapataloconsulting@gmail.com
Leverage Publishing: www.leveragepublishinggroup.com
Connect with Ron: www.linkedin.com/in/rapatalo
Twitter: https://twitter.com/phenomeron
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What is Ronderings?

In season one of Ronderings, Ron talks to his guests about their superpowers, including career advice, diversity, mindset, wellness, and leadership. Ron grew up in New York City, and has been coaching and leading executive searches for the last five years, taking what he has learned from 15 years in corporate, higher education, government, and non-profit contexts. He and his wife are obsessed with reality television, and Ron also moonlights as a men's personal stylist and group fitness instructor. Ron says, "I believe in the power of intuition and deepening one’s self-awareness and impact on others. I believe in the power of connection and transparency. I believe that we must dismantle systems of oppression and racism to recover our fullest humanity. Most of all, I believe our power to change the world starts from changing ourselves first."