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In 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."
00:00:00 Ron Rapatalo: What's up? I'm Ron Rapatalo and this is the Ronderings Podcast. Around here, I sit down with guests for real, unpolished conversations about the lessons and values that shape them. And I'll be right there with you, sharing my own take, laughing at myself when I need to, and wondering out loud about this messy thing called life. Glad you pulled up a chair. Let's get into it.
00:00:30 Ron Rapatalo: Today's Ronderings episode is with someone whose leadership comes straight from lived experience and deep purpose. Dr. Gisele Castro, CEO of exalt. Gisele grew up in the Bronx. Her story turns at a heartbreaking moment. Her brother was shot at 18 accidentally by a close friend. Her family, strong as they were, struggled to navigate the juvenile justice system. That experience became the spark for a lifelong mission to change the way systems treat young people.
00:01:00 Ron Rapatalo: You hear how the girl who once dreamed of hosting her own talk show, doing internships at talk shows and loving the camera, channeled that storytelling energy into transforming entire ecosystems. exalt works with judges, DAs, teachers, principals, nonprofits, businesses, and of course youth. All to one goal: disrupting cycles of incarceration. The results: 95% of young people not reconvicted. 98% making academic gains and 100% employable.
00:01:30 Ron Rapatalo: A leadership pipeline that elevates both staff and alumni into roles as attorneys, executive directors, artists, and change makers. We also talked about exalt's expansion to a second site, the "go slow to go fast" mindset, and the 2030 blueprint she is building for the field. This one is powerful. Let's dive in.
00:01:45 Ron Rapatalo: Hey friends, before we get started, I want to share something that's been a big part of my own journey. Two years ago, I published my book, Leverage. That experience cracked something open for me. I saw how publishing isn't just about pages, but about owning your story, sharpening your voice, and amplifying your impact. The part that meant the most was that readers reached out to me to say they felt seen. That's when I knew this work mattered.
00:02:00 Ron Rapatalo: I loved it so much I co-founded Leverage Publishing Group with friends who know this world inside and out. Now we help leaders, entrepreneurs, and change makers turn their ideas into books and podcasts that actually move people. You've got a story in you and I know you do. Let's chat. Find me on LinkedIn or at leveragepublishinggroup.com because the world doesn't just need more books; it needs your book. All right, let's get to today's episode. Peace.
00:02:15 Ron Rapatalo: Ronderings family, I know I say every time I have a guest I get excited, but I'm really, really excited about this episode because Gisele and I have gotten to know each other over the past couple of years. We are both members of Education Leaders of Color. I know her more intimately because I am currently coaching her as a two-time Boulder Fund recipient. So, we've gotten to know each other a lot more deeply.
00:02:30 Ron Rapatalo: I went to the most recent exalt Gala and got to see the magic of her nonprofit and all the people and stakeholders that love on the organization and love on the folks and the youth that they support. And so, I just want to give it up. Thank you, Dr. Gisele Castro, CEO of exalt, for joining me on Ronderings today. How you doing?
00:02:45 Dr. Gisele Castro: I am doing great and thank you so much, Ron, for inviting me and thank you so much for your work and your support. It's been a pleasure, you know, working more closely with you as you mentioned to everyone that you're now coaching me, but you're coaching me through a very different point in terms of the organization's lifetime. So thank you so much.
00:03:00 Ron Rapatalo: You're welcome. And it was funny right before I hit the record button when you think about all your fellow NYU alum. So we also have that in common. Dr. Gisele Castro, if folks don't know, you should know right out of the beautiful school of Steinhardt. She just got her doctorate this May. And so we have a lot of people in common in our New York City and NYU worlds: Lillette Neves, Yumari Martinez, who recently transitioned out of your board chair position, and Helen Arteaga Landaverde, who's a dear friend of mine who you know through New York. It's just we could probably rattle off like 50,000 names.
00:03:15 Dr. Gisele Castro: We're not. I'm sure we can, I mean, especially us New Yorkers and people who live and breathe New York City.
00:03:20 Ron Rapatalo: Yes. Yes. That'll be a future episode: "How many people did Gisele and Ron know in common?" But why don't we get it started? What's your story?
00:03:30 Dr. Gisele Castro: So, my story, depending on the angle that I want to take—the story in terms of career work and who I am—has been a process of real investigation. You just finished, you know, saying that I graduated with my doctorate and that story becomes a little bit more intentional in terms of leadership and your "why." But at the core, fundamentally, we understand that we take on careers and pathways based on something that has happened in your typically adolescent journey.
00:04:00 Ron Rapatalo: Yes.
00:04:05 Dr. Gisele Castro: And that particular story from that angle, it's a story which I have shared in the past, was that my older brother he was at the age of 14 shot by a dear friend of his by accident. And then, you know, as I understood later on, growing up in the Bronx in New York City, it was very complex for many young men and it was a question of survival. He was arrested and, early in the process, I understood that there wasn't a lot of great interventions. I was very curious because we came from and are a great family, and my brother was and still is brilliant and talented.
00:04:30 Dr. Gisele Castro: So the question was, if it doesn't exist, what can I create? I remember early on thinking about this. I thought that I would be a journalist. I believed that I would be reporting. I had a vision for myself also having a talk show.
00:05:00 Ron Rapatalo: Wow. Yeah, really? I think a podcast is in your future. A show. Come on. I see it. I see it.
00:05:15 Dr. Gisele Castro: When? And I remember doing internships at the Ricki Lake show and I loved it, you know. I love the camera. I love, you know, speaking to the public.
00:05:30 Ron Rapatalo: This makes so much sense about you. Like, I didn't—this is like opening up so many layers of the onion with you. This makes so much sense that you were interested in having your own talk show. Keep going.
00:05:45 Dr. Gisele Castro: Yes. And you know, what I understand now is that life and purpose is ever evolving, right? I want to be very clear with that because I have been so deliberate in terms of thinking about models and organizations that benefit young people, communities, and ecosystems. But fundamentally it was that same question: how is it that a young man at that point, thriving and brilliant with what I thought was resource that we as a family had, could not really support at that moment?
00:06:00 Dr. Gisele Castro: Later on in exploration, I understood that I was focusing on ecosystems. The ecosystem that I focused on specifically the past few years has been the judiciary and creating a court advocacy model. That's where I focused my research for my doctorate. It was the big focus on education which you and I talk about education so much.
00:06:15 Ron Rapatalo: Yes.
00:06:20 Dr. Gisele Castro: Having young people love learning and fall in love with learning, and then internships. I just mentioned that I wanted to become a journalist. I believe that a lot of times, you know, adolescents and also adults, you're in a process of exploration. It's a part of my story and part of my "why" and it continues to be, especially now that I'm much older and no longer a teenager, it's about legacy. But then it is also about ensuring that I enjoy how I make contributions and now I sit on boards so I could see more critically how to support other nonprofits.
00:07:00 Dr. Gisele Castro: So I sit on the board of Spark Youth. I sit on the board of de Muer in Puerto Rico. I give back so much to the women there, and I am a big supporter. So part of my other work has been understanding philanthropy and how to give back. Over the past few years, I have been deeply thinking about what will be my next iteration and where would I go next, not necessarily in terms of work, but what could be a real meaningful contribution that I can make to society.
00:08:00 Ron Rapatalo: I mean, Gisele, with everything I know about you, you have a special gift of being able to translate and communicate the vision of not only exalt but certainly other portions of your work and the generosity you have of serving on boards and the various things that you do. So I could see you—not to put words in your mouth—but kind of like thinking of the future where you are someone who tells the stories of other amazing leaders in the work in the Latinx community, not certainly in Puerto Rico but in New York. I think you have a real knack and gift for that and it's special if you want to pursue that; there's something really incredible about your gift of storytelling.
00:09:00 Dr. Gisele Castro: Well, thank you for that. In terms of storytelling, one of the stories—it's not a story I will be telling, but you and I we have spoken about this—so those who are listening to us get a sense of what our coaching session looks like.
00:09:15 Ron Rapatalo: Yeah.
00:09:20 Dr. Gisele Castro: It's creating a blueprint for the field. So, I'm currently working on an article called the "2030 project" for juvenile justice based on my experience, my learning, the models, and the evaluation. I have taken on exalt, and exalt has been evaluated so many times, but no one really reads evaluations. So I'm having fun thinking about this. I'm also thinking will there be one or two podcasts embedded if someone doesn't want to read it, but they would love to hear a few points in terms of juvenile justice as they're driving.
00:10:00 Dr. Gisele Castro: More importantly, I am thinking about what the future can look like, grounding it with young people and taking into consideration adolescent development but also adult development. Typically in work as practitioners, we don't see our results as the adults making critical decisions on behalf of young people; at a certain point, they should be in my roles making decisions. There's that deep analysis of what I have learned, what the sector has really learned, and what the gaps are between practitioners, scholars, entrepreneurs, and visionaries, but weaving in what I have heard over and over: the voice of our young people.
00:10:30 Dr. Gisele Castro: I am excited to be able to not just publish it, but to have a conversation on a blueprint that whether people want to use it or not, I believe many people have asked the question: "What's the magic of it?" And you have been at the organization; there's an ethos there.
00:11:00 Ron Rapatalo: Yeah. I know from the time that we had lunch some months back, I think it was over the summer, and I entered your office. One of the things I always vet when I enter spaces—any spaces—is how am I greeted? What's the feel?
00:11:15 Ron Rapatalo: And there was so much collaboration and people were extremely friendly—no more than five people asked "Are you being helped?" Oh my god, this is like a real thing. And there is something around the magic of your culture and I think what you and I talked about is—and I'm curious to elevate this and see if you can share any snippets of your thinking—part of the magic that you and I talked about in exalt is this unique collaboration and stakeholder system between all of these folks in the juvenile justice system who don't often talk together and, dare I say, are often opposed against each other by the way the system is. But you've built something differently in exalt that allows for this collaboration to happen on behalf of our youth. So I'm curious what you're learning around this "network effect" that you and I have talked about that you're thinking would show up in this blueprint.
00:12:00 Dr. Gisele Castro: I love that question so much and you are describing the complexity. Our work is working with judges, DAs, school teachers, young people, principals, and youth who don't want to speak or who are not trusting. And then the number of nonprofits, the internships—that's the business sector.
00:12:15 Dr. Gisele Castro: And then you also highlighted when you and I had our sessions together, the NYU network. Every once in a while, I'll turn around and I'm on a different angle, speaking with federal government, state government, or city government. The breadth of being able to understand all of the multiple agendas that everyone has is significant. But what I have been able to do at exalt has been to pick up a need, which is working with young people, but then finding the multiple points in which we could create a network which essentially is how you start to create massive change.
00:13:00 Ron Rapatalo: Yeah.
00:13:05 Dr. Gisele Castro: If we believe that the United States leads in terms of mass incarceration where we hone in on New York City, New York City is dynamic.
00:13:10 Ron Rapatalo: Sure is.
00:13:15 Dr. Gisele Castro: It's a real network, not the same people. I think that typically when I have seen this, people believe that they could solve the problem in isolation with their own group or their own sector. That's not true. You literally need all types of thinkers. So part of the culture of the organization has been always a self-reflection on the organization and on yourself.
00:13:30 Dr. Gisele Castro: All of our staff have a coach. They have a deep philosophy that we believe that we could transform lives and elevate expectations. In order to transform anyone's life or to elevate anyone, you have to do it first.
00:14:00 Dr. Gisele Castro: There's this constant examination of you. When that happens, your network indeed changes. So then you could identify that for myself, I enjoy a good yoga practice; that's a whole different group of people.
00:14:15 Dr. Gisele Castro: When I'm in the business sector, it's about understanding the business sector. When I'm speaking with real estate, it's understanding that's a different mind. When you're consistently going from one conversation and strategy to another conversation and strategy which is bringing you to a goal, your network begins to expand. And you can see that's what I love—I love looking at my portfolio and not having the same group of people and thinkers with me.
00:15:00 Ron Rapatalo: All right, let me keep it real. A lot of us have "write a book" sitting on our goals list, maybe for years. I sure did. Good news is there's more than one way to get it done. If you've got more money than time, a ghostwriter can help bring your story to life. If you've got more time than money, a great book coach can guide you through the process step by step.
00:15:15 Ron Rapatalo: If you've already written the thing, you'll want someone to shepherd you through publishing so you don't waste time or cash. Here's the thing, though: no matter how you do it, the real win is writing the right book—the one that builds your credibility, grows your business, and actually makes a difference. That's what the team at Books That Matter is all about. Head to booksthatmatter.org and get some feedback on your idea or manuscript. Don't sit on it any longer. Your book could be exactly what the world needs.
00:15:45 Ron Rapatalo: You know, I want to rewind back to what you said at the beginning of this conversation, Gisele. I can't help but think what happened with your brother at the age of 14 and you and your family having to figure out how to support him knowing there was no exalt. There was no kind of structured network support like that.
00:16:00 Ron Rapatalo: So, I'm wondering—and I want to dive in—what are things you wish your brother would have had and things you figured out for your brother over time? Talk to me a little bit about that because this doesn't sound like this just came out of brilliant thinking; this happened much earlier in your life.
00:16:15 Dr. Gisele Castro: Yes. Yes, well, I remember my grandmother passed away at the age of 106.
00:16:20 Ron Rapatalo: Oh my god.
00:16:25 Dr. Gisele Castro: And the women in my family are very strong, very influential, and very bright. Being so young and sitting at the kitchen table, listening to them and listening to the conversation as they made phone calls—I also come from a very spiritual family, going to church and praying—I saw that no matter who they were calling, they had a lot of answers; they just didn't know how to navigate what we would describe as the juvenile justice system.
00:17:00 Dr. Gisele Castro: But I knew overall that poverty was the issue. Not that there was anything wrong with living in the Bronx, but the Bronx did not have the resources that it needed to really support people. I remember going to my family and seeing about 60 people; it was the hub of creativity.
00:18:00 Dr. Gisele Castro: My uncle performed at Carnegie Hall.
00:18:05 Ron Rapatalo: Yes.
00:18:10 Dr. Gisele Castro: And there was poetry and reading and all this stuff. I had this massive disconnect from what was happening outside of my home versus what was happening inside. I started to see that so many young men were arrested, and they were the same men who were brilliant. So it was a deeper examination of how it is that this happened to my family. I had to meet up with groups just to see if this was different in their lives or just like ours.
00:19:00 Ron Rapatalo: Yeah. I think you elevating that is so common when looking at these systems and what happens to individuals in them. You take poverty as the example where there's a tendency to blame the individual and look at what they can do better, when in fact, when you flip it, you really understand it. The environment in which we live predicts much of the behavior and the support, whereas in other environments if you make a similar mistake, you're supported, right?
00:20:00 Ron Rapatalo: I look at the difference between what happened with crack and what happened with opioids. Two different systemic responses. Opioids: "Oh, we need rehab." Crack: "We're going to criminalize you." Both addictive things, just two vastly different systemic responses.
00:20:15 Dr. Gisele Castro: Correct. And you really are shaped by the environment and not necessarily trapped by the environment.
00:20:20 Ron Rapatalo: Bingo. Yes.
00:20:25 Dr. Gisele Castro: You really begin to do a real inquiry and say, "How is it that we change this? How is it that we create flourishing environments?" I remember when my brother's teacher said we should just transfer him to a different school. Well, at the point in time that someone gets arrested and misses a few days of school, the school system begins to perceive them differently.
00:21:00 Dr. Gisele Castro: I think about exalt. With the exalt model, we have young people who have always been perceived differently.
00:21:05 Ron Rapatalo: Yes.
00:21:10 Dr. Gisele Castro: And we have an endowment. We're sending young people to college and paying for their tuition. We have so many who already graduated from four years of college and we have law students. I took my real-life experience to essentially say that argument I was having as a teenager—that it is possible to move families forward—is true. It is possible to give people the proper education and they will flourish. It is possible to give young people the best internship opportunity.
00:21:30 Dr. Gisele Castro: But overall, the barriers of systems need to change. The statistics that we have is that 95% of our young people are not reconvicted of a crime, 98% are making academic gains, and they become employable. So you take my family history and it becomes a translation of a crisis that occurred to us but it's manifested in beauty and power and influence.
00:22:00 Ron Rapatalo: Yeah.
00:22:05 Dr. Gisele Castro: Now I think that when we look at models, most models come out of a response to crisis as opposed to cultural relevancy. I know that my work has been a response to something that happened personally to myself and to my family.
00:23:00 Ron Rapatalo: Yeah. This idea of proximity is a theme on so many of my Ronderings episodes. I want to bring my friend Helen, who's now the CEO of a hospital center, into this conversation because she told me on her episode that her drive to be in the healthcare system was due to what happened to her father. Ironically, it was at Elmhurst Hospital Center when she was a teenager. He had stage four leukemia.
00:23:15 Dr. Gisele Castro: Mhm.
00:23:20 Ron Rapatalo: She was figuring out how to be the eldest in her family and having to navigate the complex healthcare system of the '90s and not being able to get Medicaid in time for him to be treated. And fast forward, she becomes the CEO of the hospital where her father passes away. You know what I'm saying? I'm sure you probably thought about this full-circle moment: you now lead an organization that's building a legacy for things that you weren't able to support your brother with because we just didn't have them in place.
00:24:00 Dr. Gisele Castro: Yes. You see how powerful that is. It's following also your knowing.
00:24:15 Dr. Gisele Castro: I started this conversation by saying your purpose continues to evolve. My brother is now 60 and he's doing extraordinarily well.
00:25:00 Ron Rapatalo: I was going to ask. God bless.
00:25:05 Dr. Gisele Castro: He certainly is someone who has one of the largest food drive companies in Florida. He's highly sought after and highly respected. Everything that we saw as a teenager, he's doing it now. It's beyond an honor to watch him.
00:25:30 Dr. Gisele Castro: But he's always been brilliant and talented. I think that he's the smartest one in the family, quite honestly. When I think about who engaged me intellectually, it was him.
00:26:00 Ron Rapatalo: Yeah.
00:26:05 Dr. Gisele Castro: An intellectual conversation with someone who's going to inspire me is a call to him. I think that there's nobody else who inspires me the most in his brain. And I see that a lot with Helen and with a lot of us, especially as women, that we took what was at that point a situation and we're giving the gift and the blessing back to society. So many people get to benefit—like young people—on the work and the suffering of my family, but it's a gift.
00:27:00 Ron Rapatalo: Yes.
00:27:05 Dr. Gisele Castro: You know, the pain and the suffering that her family went through is a gift. There is the question of legacy and operating from that higher level. Once you finish this cycle, all of the learnings that you have made along the way and all of the richness—what is next? That's why I say when you ask me my story, that "why" and who I am has always been sitting down with myself and asking, "All that I have endured, what then is next?" I'm always excited because there's a part of me that is so open to all possibility.
00:28:00 Ron Rapatalo: Yeah.
00:28:05 Dr. Gisele Castro: Including globally, which a lot of times I'm not even here in this country. Before something is manifested that you actually see, like you can see exalt or see myself on LinkedIn, you pay a price. You don't get here without going through a journey and you can't skip a step. But every time that you are in a step, pay attention to that step and learn from that step to go to the next.
00:29:00 Dr. Gisele Castro: And then do well. There is a process of deep reflection and then there's this other point where it requires courageous leadership. Within all of it is what you say. I saw the impact that my family had and how I was using it to support so many people decades ago. At the point in time that I made this sacrifice and said that I was not going to become a journalist, I wrote a paper. I'm going to end with this one.
00:29:30 Ron Rapatalo: Yeah.
00:29:45 Dr. Gisele Castro: I wrote a paper when I was at John Jay College so many years ago and that paper was thinking about the model of exalt. That was decades ago. So if you pay very close attention, you do know what you're supposed to do next.
00:30:00 Ron Rapatalo: Yeah. Well, speaking of next steps and courageous leadership and scaling, I want to talk to you about exalt's expansion into Syracuse, New York. So talk to us a little bit about that.
00:30:15 Dr. Gisele Castro: Oh, I love it. I love that we're in Syracuse, New York, and we have a great partnership at the moment. We took on the organization to make a contribution to the field and the sector. We knew that we had done very well in New York City; we started off in Brooklyn and expanded to the five boroughs. During COVID, we entered a deeper examination because we were expanding and growing. If we can continue to grow, where can we grow with the same objective of sharing with the field and the sector?
00:30:30 Dr. Gisele Castro: There are a lot of gaps in terms of how you work with young people who are impacted by the juvenile justice system. Thankfully, the Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) asked us to consider Syracuse, New York. We met with who is now the mayor, Aaron Owens. This involved a lot of conversations and deep thinking and developing the relationship, meeting with their community and the ecosystem with over 80 stakeholders.
00:31:00 Dr. Gisele Castro: We also had Syracuse folks come over to New York City to meet with some of our judges, our DAs, and our internship providers. We all understood that we had a great opportunity here because of the collaboration. Now we're getting ready to launch our first class starting in January. Very excited.
00:31:15 Ron Rapatalo: Yes.
00:31:20 Dr. Gisele Castro: But it's going to be successful because of the strong partnership that we have developed. I have seen this over and over again: when adults have really good relationships, all of the young people benefit. Then the ecosystem is too strong for the young people to fail; they are up for challenges because then they can have access to their education and speak to internship providers. A strong ecosystem in Syracuse helps New York as well.
00:32:00 Ron Rapatalo: Yeah. Something I've noticed about your leadership and how exalt models leadership is understanding this ecosystem and network is highly relational. The ecosystem is only as strong as the relationships between people.
00:32:15 Ron Rapatalo: When you and I have chatted about the work in Syracuse, there was a methodical, and I would say in my words, "slower" approach before launching there rather than just, "Well, they want us, let's just go do it." In our sector, sometimes there's a rush. You get this as a long-time CEO—the pressure to scale. Everyone wants you to go somewhere so they can replicate it. I particularly see this in the charter school sector. My criticism watching that from afar is the idea that we could take our model that worked in one state or city and just plop it here.
00:33:00 Ron Rapatalo: Man, does it ever work like that? It feels laughable. Why? Your approach because of your experience is like, we have to "go slow to go fast" and then everything falls in place more easily.
00:33:15 Dr. Gisele Castro: That's right. So there is what I would consider theory. The theory was that we can contribute to the field coming out of New York. That's an idea.
00:33:30 Ron Rapatalo: Yes.
00:33:40 Dr. Gisele Castro: In order to really operationalize that, then you need the strategy and to understand where there are compatibilities. In 2020, while we were all in COVID, the organization was scaling. That was five years ago. We posed the question to a group of consultants that we hired, Envoy, who help organizations scale and replicate. They did an entire assessment of the ecosystem.
00:34:00 Dr. Gisele Castro: Then we entered multiple organizational committees to pose the question of financial sustainability. Is this possible? The board was deeply involved, and I'm very grateful to them. After the concept was approved, it was full work, which was an intensive two years before meeting people. If we don't do that and then later say we need to build, we're not going to be successful. My personal experience taught me that if you have a young person in need and in crisis and you don't have the ecosystem, you will do a disservice.
00:35:00 Dr. Gisele Castro: But if the ecosystem is strong, young people will do extraordinarily well and they will benefit.
00:35:15 Ron Rapatalo: Well, I want to shift gears, Gisele. We were both excited about the mayor-elect in New York City. I'm a Jersey City citizen, so I didn't even get to vote.
00:35:30 Dr. Gisele Castro: Oh, you didn't get to vote.
00:35:45 Ron Rapatalo: But certainly, in New York City, people were watching what happened with Zohran Mamdani being elected. I saw the stat like 50,000 people have applied through the portal for jobs; there's just a lot of excitement. So the question I wanted to pose to you is: where do you see exalt's role in building future leadership in New York City—both exalt and your role in that?
00:36:00 Dr. Gisele Castro: Great question. It really is a constant. You highlighted that I went back to school to get my doctorate. It is the same premise. When you're going to solve a massive problem, you need to understand that you have to engage, participate, support, and be a solution. That would be our relationship with every single mayor in New York City.
00:36:15 Dr. Gisele Castro: Particularly now, our young people need us more than ever. Regarding the way that we develop leaders: I lead the organization, and every staff member has what I call a "role responsibility template" with a professional development goal for whatever they want to develop. And they have coaches. All of this is to build out the leadership within the organization, whether they stay or whether they leave.
00:36:30 Dr. Gisele Castro: I have people who have left and are now executive directors of other nonprofits. A lot of them became attorneys when they started off as court reps and program coordinators. So the trajectory of the organization is that it's always ready to serve, but to serve in the right way. In order to serve, you have to be prepared.
00:36:45 Dr. Gisele Castro: Whether we are on the inside supporting or on the outside, the organization has the capacity to really serve. It's exciting. For the first time, we get to see a young leader who has what I could see as an intergenerational approach. I think that is needed to create a sense of not just cohesiveness, but a robustness to move New York forward. Right now, many young people voted for the current mayor and that is significant because they are voting based on how they envision the future.
00:37:00 Ron Rapatalo: Yes. Oh, wow. You know, I'm sure that you've articulated this about exalt, not only for the youth that you serve but it sounds like also for past and current staff and leaders: exalt is a leadership development pipeline. Hearing that you have past staff that are now EDs and youth that started as program coordinators are now lawyers—there's something special about the exalt model that builds leaders. I'm sure this is part of your blueprint. So, what's that "special sauce" around why exalt is so good at building leaders?
00:38:00 Dr. Gisele Castro: It is, in simple words, a staffing model. It is a belief that when people are coming in, especially young talent, that talent is being shaped.
00:38:15 Ron Rapatalo: Yeah.
00:38:20 Dr. Gisele Castro: They are examining themselves. We know they're not going to stay at exalt forever, so it's about helping them envision their dream. Some of them become artists or Broadway actors. They are talent and then they go out and contribute differently.
00:38:30 Dr. Gisele Castro: The organization felt it had the responsibility to help young professionals come in and literally plan year-over-year goal setting. How are they going to get from this particular role into their "vision self"? That is tied to our curriculum. We ask our young people to think about their vision self.
00:38:45 Dr. Gisele Castro: I was just in Puerto Rico and there's a political individual who is the chief of staff there. He started so young at exalt. It happens—literally they are in the organization two or three years and I'm so proud to say they take on something else. They feel ready. That aligns with Linda Hill; the organization has to give their staff a stretch assignment in order for them to grow. And at exalt, you're all given a stretch assignment.
00:39:00 Ron Rapatalo: Quick pause in the action here. I know a lot of us leaders and entrepreneurs are trying to do good work and have felt that grind of pushing a boulder uphill by ourselves. What I learned is you don't actually have to do it all alone. The Genius Discovery program at Thought Leader Path is like having a think tank in your corner. It's not some cookie-cutter formula; it's about your story and your plan of impact, giving you the clarity and assets to take the next big step.
00:39:15 Ron Rapatalo: I've seen people go through this and walk out with their voices amplified and ideas sharpened. Some even launch podcasts like this one, Ronderings. So, if you're tired of the grind and ready to step into your impact with the right support, check out geniusdiscovery.org.
00:39:30 Ron Rapatalo: I mean, these are like pieces when I think about good performance management, but also when you're inside of organizations. Something I often hear is, when done right, the stretch assignment and having folks choose a goal that aligns with what the organization is doing is key because they won't be at exalt forever. You're grooming leaders to have impact while they're at exalt but also wherever they go next.
00:40:00 Ron Rapatalo: I often hear these things but the operationalizing of it, I think, is hard.
00:40:05 Dr. Gisele Castro: It's hard. So we created a structure because it's a process of understanding that you're always building skills and competencies.
00:40:15 Ron Rapatalo: Yeah.
00:40:20 Dr. Gisele Castro: Like right now, our skills and competencies are all AI. All of us are doing this. Knowing that you're always building skills and competencies year-to-year—that's not even feedback. It is asking what skills and competencies you need to build.
00:40:30 Dr. Gisele Castro: You should know what your "vision self" is. It's fascinating because as they're building out their StrengthsFinder—the staff was just with a fund at the City of New York at a men's retreat—there's this concentration on their strengths.
00:41:00 Dr. Gisele Castro: That's normalized for exalt. That's not normal for other organizations. What you then have are people with a very good sense not of their job description, but of their actual innate competencies. From there, if someone wants to become an artist or an attorney, can they then command a law class? Do they have access to that network to have the best internship with a judge? When I think about our youth internships growing and developing, it's the same thing with the adults.
00:42:00 Ron Rapatalo: Yeah. What I love about your model at exalt is there seems to be a fearlessness around grooming our interns and our staff. We want to make sure they have the skills, the competencies, and the tools they need because we don't fear that they will leave.
00:42:15 Ron Rapatalo: Let me be clear—as someone who thinks a lot about talent in the social impact sector, there's often a scarcity model. I get why it is. Philanthropic money and federal funding make it feel like scarcity exists. That is true.
00:43:00 Ron Rapatalo: I think that often creates a mindset where we feel we need to keep people here. The thought that people don't want to say but exists is: "If they leave, we can't replace them."
00:43:15 Dr. Gisele Castro: Yeah.
00:43:20 Ron Rapatalo: Right. You've built something similar to sports where your culture and leadership development are so strong that you can groom people from the get-go. As long as there's alignment in the way you look at things, they can fit into your system. I think that's something that gets lost in organizations, particularly in social impact.
00:44:00 Ron Rapatalo: I wanted to elevate that because the talent strategy portion of what you all do at exalt sounds really special. Evangelizing that, whether in the blueprint or in other conversations, sounds like a gift to the sector.
00:44:15 Dr. Gisele Castro: Yes. And that is what I highlight: people are multifaceted and have multiple disciplines.
00:44:30 Ron Rapatalo: Oh god. Yes.
00:44:45 Dr. Gisele Castro: Once you understand that someone can make deeper contributions to the field and the sector, that's it. If you keep someone locked in one domain doing the same thing, you're building a very specific muscle. Did you make a contribution to your staff so they feel they can live a thriving life?
00:45:00 Dr. Gisele Castro: Fundamentally, what we're saying is: you should live a thriving life. If the staff don't feel that they're thriving, there is an actual correlation with how they work with a young person. If you're thriving as an adult, a young person automatically thrives. It's not about money; it's that sense of worth and feeling that I can do whatever brings me joy.
00:46:00 Dr. Gisele Castro: I love it because I then get to see that they have so many talents.
00:46:15 Ron Rapatalo: Yeah.
00:46:20 Dr. Gisele Castro: When I hear them, it's magical. The organization is alive.
00:46:30 Ron Rapatalo: Yeah. As a parting thought, you model that. There's a difference between saying every adult has to have a thriving life because that impacts the youth, and actually doing it. We know that's easier said than done, but because you as the leader model that, it flows through. In organizational development 101, if the CEO doesn't model it, it's really hard to expect the organization to model it.
00:47:00 Dr. Gisele Castro: Yeah. And the staff, many times they're with me and they get to see it and they enjoy it and have fun. That to me is rewarding—that we can make a contribution in our work, our families, and our communities in very different ways. Typically, people see their identity tied to a job and that's not true. You're not tied to a job.
00:48:00 Ron Rapatalo: Thank you. You're not tied to a sector either. You are footloose. That's a whole another Ronderings episode to explore. Anyway, we're nearing the end of our time, Gisele.
00:48:15 Dr. Gisele Castro: I love it.
00:48:20 Ron Rapatalo: It's time for the Ronderings question. What lesson or value do you want to share today?
00:48:30 Dr. Gisele Castro: What I want to share is what you and I have discussed so many times.
00:48:45 Ron Rapatalo: Yes.
00:48:50 Dr. Gisele Castro: Briefly touched: it is to really pay attention to your "knowing." I think a lot of times when people feel distressed or overwhelmed by fear, anxiety, or insecurity and they don't know what to do, they should have a moment to take a deep breath.
00:49:00 Dr. Gisele Castro: Sit with yourself and understand that you will have clarity. The other thing I would say in terms of Ronderings is look at your network. Sometimes you will go through your list and realize that the person you need to speak with is in your network.
00:49:15 Ron Rapatalo: Yes.
00:49:20 Dr. Gisele Castro: It's very important to get out of your head every once in a while and get in touch with what is much broader and bigger—what is your collective impact. I say "collective" because you can't do this work alone.
00:50:00 Dr. Gisele Castro: As you highlighted, we have children—girls—and I hear them.
00:50:05 Ron Rapatalo: Yeah. Part of the Ronderings episode ethos is my girls in the background. So, this will be part of the episode. I'm doing this at home; there's no studio yet. One of these days.
00:50:15 Ron Rapatalo: So, parting question: how do people find you? What would you like to promote?
00:50:30 Dr. Gisele Castro: People can find me easily at exaltyouth.org. You can also find me on my LinkedIn. At the moment, we are launching our campaign and having a webinar series. Support our young people if you are an internship supervisor. Also, be part of a movement to shift perception.
00:50:45 Dr. Gisele Castro: Our young people need us to be in a place of strength so that they can thrive. I would say that to everyone. I wish everyone a wonderful, healthy, and peaceful holiday season.
00:51:00 Ron Rapatalo: Thank you, Gisele, for your wisdom, for your generosity, and for the legacy that you're building with exalt and in your leadership. And in the words of one of my sports heroes, Deion Sanders: we always come in hot on Ronderings. Peace, everybody.
00:51:15 Ron Rapatalo: What a gift to talk with Dr. Gisele Castro. A leader who shows what system transformation looks like when it's grounded in family, culture, and purpose. Her brother's story didn't just shape her; it fueled her. What she's built at exalt reflects that culture of coaching, belief, and possibility.
00:51:30 Ron Rapatalo: A place where staff define their "vision self" and where youth rebuild their narratives. The expansion to a second site, two years in the making, shows their commitment to doing it right. And the 2030 blueprint will capture the lessons and data so others can learn from it. Gisele leads with heart, rigor, and imagination.
00:51:45 Ron Rapatalo: If you felt this conversation, share it with someone who needs to hear it. Till next time, keep wandering. Peace. Before we wrap, I've got to give a huge shout out to the crew that helps make Ronderings come alive every week: Podcasts That Matter. Their mission is simple but powerful: every great idea deserves a voice.
00:52:00 Ron Rapatalo: So, if you've been sitting on that spark of a show or story, don't overthink it. Just start. Head to podcastsmatter.com and let their team bring your vision to life. Till next time, keep wandering, keep growing, and keep sharing your voice with the world. Peace.
00:52:15 Ron Rapatalo: Thank you for listening to today's Ronderings. I hope you enjoyed hanging out with me and my guest, and I hope you leave with something worth chewing on. If it made you smile, think, or even roll your eyes in a good way, pass it along to someone else. I'm Ron Rapatalo and until next time, keep wandering, keep laughing, and keep becoming.