Defining Hospitality

🏨✨ Defining Hospitality is Sponsored by Berman Falk https://www.bermanfalk.com/ - Check out their impact page! 🌍🌱 https://www.bermanfalk.com/impact/ 

In today’s episode of Defining Hospitality, Dan Ryan welcomes Eliza Pesuit, the Founder and CEO of Global Glimpse. Eliza discusses her journey in reimagining travel and how it can serve as a powerful educational tool for high school students. With over 15 years of commitment to equity and access, Global Glimpse has provided transformative travel experiences to thousands of young people from diverse backgrounds. Eliza shares her insights into the profound impact of travel on youth development, the importance of hospitality, and the hurdles of fundraising and forming corporate partnerships. Highlighting success stories and aspirations for future collaborations, this conversation sheds light on the organization's mission to bridge divides and create connections through authentic travel experiences.

Takeaways: 
  • Understanding and communicating the "why" behind your work can inspire teams and stakeholders. Follow through the passion and remain dedicated to the mission.
  • Leverage existing networks and engage with potential partners consistently, even if it means facing multiple rejections.
  • Incorporate empathy, agency, and global perspective into organizational goals and metrics.
  • Be transparent about how funds are used and the impact they create. Share stories and data to build trust and demonstrate the long-term value of the organization's efforts.
  • Though technology is essential, recognize situations where tech-free environments can enhance interpersonal connections and learning.
  • Support and partner with brands that share your organization's values. This can enhance credibility and loyalty internally and externally.
Quote of the Show:
“In great difference and dissonance, tremendous love and the most powerful growth can exist.” - Eliza Pesuit

Links:
Shout Outs:
Ways to Tune In: 

Creators & Guests

Host
Dan Ryan
Host of Defining Hospitality
Producer
Rayanne Pruitt

What is Defining Hospitality?

Welcome to Defining Hospitality, the podcast focused on highlighting the most influential figures in the hospitality industry. In each episode we provide 1 on 1, in depth interviews with experts in the industry to learn what hospitality means to them. We feature expert advice on working in the industry, behind the scenes looks at some of your favorite brands, and in depth explorations of unique hospitality projects.

Defining Hospitality is hosted by Founder and CEO of Agency 967, Dan Ryan. With over 30 years of experience in hospitality, Dan brings his expertise and passion to each episode as he delves into the latest trends and challenges facing the industry.

Episodes are released every week on Wednesday mornings.

To listen to episodes, visit https://www.defininghospitality.live/ or subscribe to Defining Hospitality wherever you get your podcasts.

DH - Eliza Pesuit
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Speaker 3: [00:00:00] What I do is inconsequential. Why I do what I do is I get to shorten people's journeys every day. What I love about our hospitality industry is that it's our mission to make people feel cared for while on their journeys. Together we'll explore what hospitality means in the built environment, in business, and in our daily lives.

I'm Dan Ryan and this is Defining Hospitality.

This podcast is sponsored by Berman Falk Hospitality Group, a design driven furniture manufacturer who specializes in custom case goods and seating for hotel guest rooms.

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: Today's guest is somebody with a passion for working with high schoolers and youth development. She's an advisor and mentor who volunteers for Cause for Strategy Partners, Treehouse Foundation, and Entrepreneurship for All. She's a skilled strategic planner, entrepreneur, business developer, and leader.

She's 15 year journey to reimagine the future of travel. She's the founder and CEO of Global Glimpse. Ladies and gentlemen, Allison. [00:01:00] Eliza Pesut. Welcome, Eliza.

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: Crushed it! That was a fantastic intro. Got the name right.

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: Yes. Well, the intro is all your life's work summed up in five bullet points. So I thank you for leading such an incredible life that we can all learn from. So that's all you. I, I'm just the mere delivery. The delivery agent. Um, I just want to let everyone know a while ago, um, I interviewed the CEO of the Opportunity Network named Aylan Kuhn, and she's just like a really remarkable human.

We've stayed in touch over the years and I guess you've known her for a very long time. And she's like, Oh, you know what? As you're re imagining travel and doing all the things that you're doing with Global Glimpse, you should talk to Dan and maybe, Spread the word through, uh, defining hospitality. So a big shout out to Island.

And, um, I just want to say thank you for, for being here. And before we [00:02:00] get into the 15 year journey, um, I said that you're re imagining travel, but really before we get into that, what does hospitality mean to you?

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: Dan. And big shout out to Aylan and my community at the Edwin Gould Foundation that initially connected us in New York. To me, hospitality is how we meet, greet, treat, um, people that we don't really know yet. And as I thought about this, it's about community. It's about connection. It's about how you welcome. People into your space and into your world in a way that is warm, in a way that comes from the heart.

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: And when you think about. As it relates to, like, hospitality just in general, because what I find is that just from everything, not just people who are designing, building, owning, [00:03:00] operating hotels, resorts. Restaurants. there's really been a, a tremendous uptick in entrepreneurs who listen to this because I do think as we all really lean into culture and lean into, um, like you said, just meeting, greeting, treating people that we know or don't know, it kind of, it fills in the blanks of interpersonal,

I don't know, interpersonal meeting and gives everything more of a sense of meaning.

So how, how have you taken that? and applied it to Global Glimpse. Like how, in what way do you see the people running through your organization be affected by hospitality?

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: Well, there's so many, so many layers to this. Um, I think there's a deep, deep desire for connection right now, um, for connection in our home communities for connection when we travel for [00:04:00] connection. Through experiences when we're out of our comfort zone. And so in the Global Glimpse program, there's so many layers of how we do this, but what jumps to mind first and what came to mind as I thought about defining hospitality is our young people, a core part of their experience abroad is an immersive day in a community where they're traveling.

And that means like entering the homes of people who don't have a lot of material resources and don't have a lot of financial resources. And the way that those people open their homes, their lives, their families to our young people and the love that they show them and the care and the desire to connect, um, is the essence of hospitality to me.

You don't have to have money. You don't have to be fancy. To show tremendous love and hospitality, desire to connect, um, [00:05:00] with another human.

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: When you started Global Glimpse 15 years ago, right? 15.

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: Yeah, a little more. I mean, early years, 2008, 2009, um, were our first year as sending students.

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: what types of students did you send on these immersive experiences when you first started and how many and where has it grown to over the past 15 years?

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: Yes, so, our essence and our core commitment from the beginning has been around equity and access. We believe that travel is one of the most powerful forms of education and that those formative experiences should be and must be accessible to young people from all backgrounds. So from the beginning we started making travel experiences possible for young people from low income, from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds. in travel and hospitality. And we [00:06:00] started with 90 students on three delegations traveling to Nicaragua from the San Francisco Bay Area back in 2008. It has grown and evolved and lived and breathed and learned from so many incredible leaders over the past 15 years. And this past summer we had almost 900 students and about 100 educators travel on our programs. To date, we've served 9, 000 students and will likely serve our 10, 000th student in the summer of 2025.

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: Wow. That's really incredible. So congrats, congrats on that. I mean, and when I think about that growth to over 900 students. in a year, and then you plot that out over 15 years. I just wonder, like, how do you measure the impact that you have, not just on the students go, that, that are coming from the U.

S. into this program, to all these other [00:07:00] countries in the world, and living with these families, in addition, the families that they're staying with, like, is there a way to measure the overall impact, um, or how do you look at that? Because to me, someone who maybe had never traveled ever, and then they go and they stay with a family in Nicaragua or Dominican Republic or Panama or anywhere that you, that you have infrastructure, they must come back completely changed.

And it's a two way street there. So how do you measure impact?

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: So I think the most important thing here is Impact looks different for every young person, just like life looks different for every young person. Education looks different for every young person. I think there's a tendency around impact to want to fit things in a box. For a long time it was college acceptance and it was college persistence.

Now it's career pathways and career readiness and all of those things are important. It's also important how you come back and treat your grandmother. It's also important how [00:08:00] you show up in your community. And so when we think about impact, we think about impact really holistically at Global Glimpse. And we track, um, our student responses immediately following the program. So we do a really comprehensive survey to students, educators, parents. And then we actually do participatory evaluations internationally. Because many of the communities we work with don't have access to technology, aren't going to fill out a survey.

So in those spaces, conversations are the most powerful tool to understand impact. And we really look for our young people at empathy, agency, and global perspective. So those are kind of the core tenets of how we measure our impact. And in each of those, we look at the short and long term impact of their experience with Global Glimpse. Some stats to pull out, over 90 percent of Global Glimpse students say that their experience was the most powerful educational experience they had in high [00:09:00] school. So you take four years of high school and our, you know, 14 day international immersion experience and it blows it out of the water. And anyone who's traveled gets that. Right? The memories that most profoundly impact, direct, touch your life are the ones where you are in a different environment, out of your comfort zone, connecting with people who are different from you. And that's the essence of Global Glimpse. Another stat I love to talk about is, um, Our students come from really different backgrounds.

So in the context of a city like San Francisco, this is young people from Palo Alto traveling with young people from East Oakland. In New York, it's kids from Greenwich traveling with kids from the South Bronx. And so you have this multi tier profound experience of connection. You are traveling for the first time away from your family at 16, 17, [00:10:00] and you're with a group of peers that you never would have otherwise had the opportunity to share an experience with. So maybe through sports we bridge divides. in the U. S., rarely through other pathways because our high schools, our communities, are really segregated socioeconomically, racially, ethnically, and so we really lack opportunities for young people to build authentic relationships and connections with peers who are different from them, and that plays out, you know, at every stage of life as it progresses. So the Global Glimpse program has this ability to open the world and open a sense, a sort of a sense of responsibility, opportunity in connecting with people that are different from you. And I think that ties so much to hospitality, and that's why I spoke about not, you know, people you don't really know, because we have a tendency to other, right? And hospitality is about [00:11:00] breaking that down. Right? It's about there's power in connection. There's resources in connection. There's opportunity in connection. The second we other, we eliminate that.

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: I just want to go back to the three things that you measure. You said empathy, agency, and what was the third one?

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: Global perspective.

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: Ah, okay. So I think it's, um, And I think it's remarkable that not only are you taking these students and dropping them in a different country, living with another family, and being completely immersed in this other culture, but taking kids From the same area, but from maybe different sides of the track, because as much as traveling internationally and like me speaking personally for my family, we we've done that.

It's just one of our core values as a family. And I think it's the best gift. Well, I, me and my wife think it's the best gift that we could give our kids. But, you know, we're, we're We have the means to do that. [00:12:00] I think it's really interesting not only to take the kids and drop them in these experiences, but also kids from nearby drop them in together.

How did they, so when they go into stay with these families, how did those, uh, students from different areas, Or from different sides of the track, so to speak, how do they interact when they're there for the 14 days? What it would give us an example of what it would look like for, um, for the students or the group of students that would go on a trip.

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: Okay. So I got to bring us back. These are 16, 17 year olds. So if you don't have a teenager at home, you probably forget. what it's like to be 16 or 17. I have a 17 year old at home and I do this work, so I remember all the time. Um, but it's, sometimes it's not pretty, it's awkward, it's confusing, it's hard, it's scary, and then it's deeply meaningful and powerful. And so a couple of ways that I can sort of [00:13:00] illustrate this. One, if you have a teenager, you know that technology is just, you know, a part of everything from the social engagements to the way that they engage at home and with families the way they know how to engage with self and there aren't a lot of tools and there are no spaces that are technology free in a positive way i know there's all the stuff around you know get technology out of schools and no cell phones etc but that's all that's all punitive Right? We haven't figured out a way to create positive tech free spaces for young people. And so Global Glimpse has stayed tech free. Our kids hand their phone over the second they land, and they don't see it the entire time they're there. And we are literally the only youth travel program that has maintained that policy. And so what happens on a Global Glimpse trip is young people are open, and there's a scariness in that at first, right? You don't know anybody, right? Kids are different from you. Kids look different from you. You're [00:14:00] not sure where you're going to stand. You're trying to figure it out. But everybody is in that position. And every single one of the students on our program has been nominated by educators, administrators, alumni in the schools where we work. They've gone through an application process. They've gone through five after school workshops. And so they've all bought into the experience. They

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: Oh, so there's a lot of pre work before there is a, is the pre work individual or is, do they all meet up as the cohort that will be going to whatever country they're going to?

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: So we do it, um, in our, we have partner schools, about a hundred partner schools and youth development organizations across the country that nominate students annually. And we do pre trip workshops both virtually, we hold those regionally and nationally. And then as we get closer to the trip by delegation, so they get to meet their, you know, others they'll be traveling with virtually in advance of the trip and then in the schools.

So they have in person, in school [00:15:00] workshops as well. And those are powerful, again, because you have kids that wouldn't sit together at the lunch table. They've all been nominated for the program and they're building connections with peers from across their school. We work in schools, you know, from 500 kids to 4, 000 kids. So it's a real range of experiences that you have within the school cohorts as well. Um, when they show up in country, there's a real integrative sort of slow onboarding process. So we start with, um, activities that ground, that break the ice, that allow students to reflect, that set a foundation. Students set the agreements.

We don't have rules at Global Glimpse in the typical sense. Our young people set the agreements for their group. And of course, there's some baseline ground rules to ensure safety. Um, but in terms of how the group operates, it's the young people that set that tone. And there's a youth leadership. element throughout the entire experience. So every young person is the leader of the day [00:16:00] for one of the days on their trip. And I think from the beginning, that tone of, Oh, I'm going to lead at some point. So how do I show up for someone else that's leading, right? There's a real, um, depth of intention, reflection, connection that's built in through every experience in the program.

And we create community from day one with, um, nightly meetings every evening, morning, sort of wake up, um, activities. And then there's a lot of small group work and we're intentionally placing young people in rooms with, you know, peers that they wouldn't otherwise know. So they're getting that deep personal time in working groups with people that they didn't know.

So by like day three, four, you start to see a real ramp up. And by the, I'd say like Day five or six, they're like inseparable. Then you start to hit some road bumps. Anybody who knows who's been on, you know, a 10 day vacation by like day seven, [00:17:00] you're kind of like, get me the heck away from that cousin or whoever, or my wife or my husband.

Um, and then, you know, you come through that arc and there's growth in, in that, um, experience.

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: I think it's pretty remarkable that you have, that everyone gets to lead the day. And as you were saying that, what resonated with me is some people, some people are just born leaders. I get it. Like they have that gift. They have that, I don't know, ability to kind of bring out the best of others around them.

But I also challenge everyone out there that it's also, okay, yeah, there's the ones who, who they have these innate personality traits that maybe make them better leaders. But I also think that a path to leadership is, um, is totally teachable. Like there's a total skillset that if you, who And if you are just given the opportunity [00:18:00] to try to lead, um, and you're going to make mistakes and that's also all about leadership.

But to be able to kind of pass that baton around to the kids who might not necessarily be the one who's like in the spotlight right from the beginning, I think that that's remarkable because as much as we all say that, Oh, it's a gift or that they're that type of person or whatever. And I truly believe that it can be, um, Very much learned, but you need to be able to get the reps.

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: Absolutely. And there's different kinds of leadership. Yeah. There's loud leaders and quiet leaders. There's people that lead from behind. There's people that lead by example. There's, you know, so many different ways to approach that. Um, and I think seeing their peers do it and knowing they're all going to go through that experience is really powerful.

Again, 16, 17, like when have you been put in that kind of role outside of maybe sports? [00:19:00] Again, if you play sports, um, and even then, you know, it's a couple kids.

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: If we were to go back to 15 years ago. As we get a lot of people who are listening to this show that are, are new entrepreneurs, they started a business a while ago, or they're considering, you know, kind of jumping out on their own. When you think about, you know, if you look at the impact that you have now of 900 students a year, if you go back to before you started, what were some of the, um, or the motivations for you for, for, Taking this step to start Global Glimpse.

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: I've always been a creator. I'm a builder. I like to rock the boat. Um, I think the essence of Global Glimpses is my upbringing. My mom and dad come from very different backgrounds. Um, economically, religiously, geographically. Dad was [00:20:00] Serbian Orthodox, grew up in rural Ohio, parents didn't graduate sixth grade. Um, he was an altar boy. Mom was Russian Jewish, grew up outside Boston, Harvard educated, lawyer father. So, and they met at the butcher, I think I told you that.

So about, about as different as two humans. Um, could be, and I'll caveat that to white humans, um, because that context is important in the work that I do. Um, that was my parents, and so I grew up understanding in my, like, in the depths of my being that in great difference and dissonance, Tremendous love and I think the most powerful growth can exist. Um, and I didn't really know that, you know, growing up, I just knew stuff was hard. It's like, there was a lot of conflict.

Um, but as I sort of moved down to the world, I had a desire to connect with people who are different from me. [00:21:00] and a sort of innate ability to navigate very different kinds of people. And that became both something that I just loved, like I loved being out of my comfort zone, where most people don't or cause they haven't had that experience.

They haven't had those tools. They haven't built that muscle. Right. And I didn't travel growing up. Um, and so when I had the opportunity to travel, um, after my freshman year of college, my mom was in remission. She battled breast cancer in college. I just went, um, I went and worked in Yosemite national park for six months.

I went down to rural Southern Louisiana. After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and did volunteer work there. And then I packed up my bags and I went to South America by myself for six months and I backpacked through Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador. Um, and it was the most powerful experience to, to this day of my life.

I turned 21, [00:22:00] you know, in Cusco. Um, and I came back to the U S and I just was very aware of two things. One, I learned more in these, in this year than I learned in all my years of traditional education. And two, the people, I didn't meet Americans traveling. And if I met the one or two I met, um, looked like me. And so I just had this like mission to think about how we make travel and the powerful lessons of travel and the transformation or transformational, um, um, impact of travel accessible. And I was like working on, you know, in my mind, what does that look like? How do I do this? Um, how do I make a living? Oh, I should finish college. You know, all the, all the practical stuff. and I did finish college and then, um, was connected to [00:23:00] a man named Abbas Hassan in Nicaragua in 2008. And we sort of had a shared vision and he came from a Samford MBA, years of management consulting. So he was all business and I was all passion and idealism and, education. And that's really the essence of Global Glimpse. It's mission driven, business savvy. So I was very lucky to be. mentored early on by business leaders and to see the potential to scale and deepen impact. If you think about it much more from a business entrepreneur lens than from a, you know, passion project, nonprofit lens.

Speaker: Hey everybody. We've been doing this podcast for over three years now, and one of the themes that consistently comes up is sustainability. And I'm just really proud to announce that our sponsor Berman Falk Hospitality Group is the first within our hospitality [00:24:00] industry to switch to sustainable and recyclable packaging, eliminating the use of styrofoam.

Please check out their impact page in the show notes for more info.

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: you were so impacted that you wanted to do this for others that were different than you really, it was a drive to like bridge divides, bring people together. And impact through experience. And over those 15 years, you've had over 9, 000 students come

through

and many or most of them say this was the best experience of their high school career,

which is remarkable.

You've also doled out about 17 million. In scholarships, which is pretty crazy. I mean, that's more than a million dollars a year. So, okay I think we got an idea of how you find the students, right? How do you raise money? [00:25:00] To pay for this and like what's that? How do you approach people to to provide funding for these really impactful scholarships that really change the arc of Students' lives.

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: So I'll start with the more of the business side of it. Um, because I think that grounds the impact and makes the philanthropic support possible, um, and sustainable and scalable. So we operate in a sliding scale at Global Glimpse and we allocate scholarships based on family income, dependence in the home and the free and reduced lunch percentage. in a school community or sort of the socioeconomic situation in the school community. Every single student on a Global Glimpse program has fundraised a minimum of 500. So there's no handouts in our structure.

Every student works for their experience, their family's involved, their church is involved, their teachers are [00:26:00] involved.

And that community buy in is is really core to the overall success of that student's experience. Um, we value

what we work

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: because they have, they have, skin in the game.

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: So that, that slides up, um, family incomes under 70, 000 are full scholarship with us. So the student pays 500 and then it slides up and family incomes over 250, 000 are full pay. at 4, 000. Um, and so we, we meet families where they are and we make the program accessible for middle income families, low income families, upper income families, um, even in tough economic times. And then we bring in about 60 percent of our annual budget through philanthropy. And that's been an evolving journey.

I had no idea how to fundraise when I was 23, when I started Global Wealth. I've taught myself every step of the way. I always joke like nobody chooses to be a fundraiser. You're passionate about something, like so passionate [00:27:00] about changing something, that you're going to figure out how to generate the resources to make that happen.

And so We do that through individual donors, um, everything from the 50 donation from our alumni base to, you know, 3, 000 donations to cover a full scholarship to, you know, your 1, 500, 000. more high net worth individual donors who are thinking about legacy and impact, um, at that stage of their lives and careers. And then we have strong institutional support from foundations across the country, many deeply rooted in the communities that we work, where we work. But where I have seen the most powerful shift is in our corporate partnerships. Um, and this has been really a dream of mine since 2010. I can remember the day I was sitting on a, [00:28:00] on a plane. Um, we were just looking at launching global business programs, um, in New York. And I said to myself, like, we should be on the seat backs of every United plane, right? Like it's, it just, it makes business sense. Yeah. Travel companies should be aligning their impact and their social, um, you know, commitments with their business and their bottom line. They should be thinking about the next generation of travelers. They should be, You know, pipelining career pathways for employees that are representative and can really speak to travelers that have different needs and come from different backgrounds. Um, and this is in kind resource here. So you can tell super powerful stories about impact and you can unlock potential through travel and it doesn't even cost you real dollars.

It costs you You know, in kind. Um, and so [00:29:00] that I think I had that idea back in 2010. It took me until 2017. But in 2018, um, we closed a multimillion dollar global partnership with United Airlines when we launched our work in Chicago. And they came alongside Boeing. And that partnership has transformed our work.

Um, you know, we went from operating on a shoestring to really being able to professionalize the organization. United covers all student and educator travel in kind. Um, and we collaborate to think about, you know, stories that really inspire to think about doing that internally and externally with customers, community, um, how to engage employees in really meaningful ways. So

it's not just a one off, like we wrote a check and, you know, one of our executives got to go to a gala. Like how do you actually create impact that transforms companies that people feel proud to be a part of, that attracts. Millennials and younger workers, [00:30:00] um, and that transformation has been pivotal.

So we now work in partnership with Expedia Group as a lead funder. Away has been a transformative funder of our work, um, the sexy suitcase brand. And then Marriott International came on this year. Snap Incorporated has been a strong partner over the years. Um, and that's, that's what's been most inspiring to me is connecting with leaders across the travel industry who are so deeply values, um, aligned but really didn't have a pathway for impact through their industry. Um in the way that, you know, law has pro bono work or finance has board service really integrated. So it's been a joy for me to learn and build that like from the ground up with leaders across the travel and hospitality industry.

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: I, I've spent, I've done the calculation. It's probably more, [00:31:00] but I spent a year of my life in United Airplanes pressurized that doesn't count like waiting at the, at the gate or waiting

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: I hope you've got

some

status.

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: the, Yeah, I do. But I was on Ryanair. This summer, and they really put billboards on the seat

in front of you. So, uh, cause, and there's no TV. So all you can do is like, look at whatever they're serving you. It's pretty crazy, but it does make sense for those corporate sponsors, because especially in the travel space, because if you think about it, I firmly believe that travel is what brings people together and what really kind of threads our human existence together.

And if you can be a part of. Any high schooler and their most memorable and positive

memory from their

high school [00:32:00] experience and be in there. I mean, you, you've probably converted. A traveler for life, right? Because they're always going to think about

that experience.

I mean that, and then, so from the time that you thought about that aha moment of being on the back of every United

seat,

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: Which by the way, we got there in 2018. We were on the seat bags.

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: really, I don't remember now I have to go back and, and think, but I'm sure it's, I'm sure I've dreamt about you in the past. Um, Like, how many times did you get no said to you along that way? Because I think that's also a really important story.

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: how many times do I still get no said to me then? Yeah, the resilience is real. Um, so many times I should probably have tracked that, like probably at least 20 no's for every yes and maybe more.

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: So then [00:33:00] let's, let's contextualize that. And as far as raising funds for something you're passionate about, maybe you're not passionate about the raising the funds, but you're passionate about Global Glimpse. So you have this idea, 20 nos. Walk us through, like, the moment that United said yes.

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: oh my God. Um, okay, well, this is multifaceted. There wasn't a moment. There were multiple moments. Um,

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: never one moment. There's always like all these walls you have to climb over. Okay,

good. in basically, I realized pretty early on fundraising is about people. people. move money because they care and people make other people care, right? Um, so, I realized I needed to know the people that were making decisions about money and corporations.

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: Um, and this was back, you know, 2010 2011. I don't think CSR was even Corporate social responsibility was even, you know, a [00:34:00] topic, certainly not in the travel industry to any real degree. But I figured out who all the key people were and I went and found them and I, whatever LinkedIn messaged them or I cold emailed them.

And I think I talked to Delta. I talked to American. We got about 30, 000 in kind from JetBlue. um, Avianca gave us a bunch of stuff in the early years. But then I just like had my eyes set on United. I was like, this is, this is where it's gotta be. Um, and that's why we launched in Chicago. And so in 2015, I was able to get, I think, 20, 000 in kind in certificates that we couldn't even use with groups.

So I was like running around with random certificates I could not even use. Um, from United and, um, this woman, Maureen McClellan, who's still at United. She works in government affairs now. She met me for coffee at this little coffee shop in San Francisco, and I, you know, pitched my huge dream, and she was like, [00:35:00] We don't have any way to do this, but I love it. And Maureen was kind of my cheerleader and she, um, you know, connected me to some people as we started to look at launching in Chicago. And then somehow I got an intro to the head of the Boeing foundation and they made a hundred thousand dollar investment in our launch in Chicago. And then at that right moment in 2016 17, Boeing wanted to do something with United for PR reasons in Chicago, and we happened to be there, and I was able to parlay that 20, 000, you know, initial commitment from United in San Francisco to get, um, to the table with the head of CSR, who was a brilliant leader named Sharon Grant. She had led, um, audit, and then, uh, global, uh, Um, response [00:36:00] centers at United for 25 years. And they had just moved her to be the first officer in community affairs. Um, and she was the first black female officer at the company. And she happened to have gone to one of the high schools, Lynn Blum high school that we were working with in Chicago. And so I was able to bring together Boeing, United. I met Sharon. There was magic in that meeting. Um, and I think on the spot, I asked her to join our board. And then Sharon, um, really became the shepherd. Um, but even from there, we had, um, one of the community affairs team come down and see our program in the Dominican Republic for three days. And that sealed the deal, I think, for them. So then I flew out to Chicago and I pitched and I had this whole, you know, beautiful presentation and I walked in there and I was like, I'm gonna, you know, here's my presentation for the Rolls Royce, but I'll be so happy. I'll cry if I get the Toyota. And they were like, we don't need your presentation.

Just tell us what you [00:37:00] need. And I said, I need 2 million in kind. My budget was 2 million at this point. Like I was being ludicrous, um, to cover all air travel. And, you know, here's the vision. They said, okay, let's do it. I don't think I breathed for, you know, I remember I walked out of the meeting and I called my, the first, um, individual funder of our work, Usman Nabi, um, and I just cried on the phone.

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: Wow.

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: walked around the lake in Chicago just bawling.

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: I, this is unexpected, but we were talking about leader leadership, right? And you, you mentioned that there's all different kinds of leaders. People leave from the front, from the behind, quiet leaders. Yes. But I think something that just really was like a light bulb for me, as you were talking, you said people move money.

because they care. People change focus because they care. And I think one of the biggest, I don't know, hurdles in that path to leadership that I found is [00:38:00] when you can get someone to believe in what you're believing in, and then they go and fight that fight for you. Right. And to me to hear that story is pretty remarkable because that one meeting in San Francisco with, I forget her name.

I didn't write it down. Maureen, Maureen McClellan. Um, You enlisted her into your ranks, right? And you, you, you sold her on the vision. You sold her on the impact and then it, it cascaded from there. But at the same time, you have to have 50 of those conversations going on at once. Um, I'm also intrigued by like a granularly, you know, the LinkedIn cold reach out or the cold emails.

How did your message evolve from like the first one you sent to where you really hit your stride?

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: I'm still hitting my stride, Dan. Thank you. Very flattered. Um, I mean, I would say on [00:39:00] average, you need to send five to seven emails for someone to respond and every one of them has to be like intentional and thoughtful and not too annoying and not too soon. We all get these sales emails all the time. Um, back when I started doing this, that was less common.

So now I don't really do cold outreach unless I really have to. I try to find, you know, somebody who can make a warm introduction and my network's really vast and broad at this point, and I'm always cultivating champions of our work who can be in spaces where I'm not or open doors, um, for the work. But yeah, I mean, I think. In the early days, I had no idea what I was doing and probably people like felt a combination of fascinated and like maybe a little bit like, I don't know, sympathy for me or something. But I've just always been [00:40:00] ballsy. Like, I'm a, I'm a go getter. I'm people, my team says I'm fearless. That's not true at all.

I'm fearful all the time, but I conquer my fears. Um, and I've just been affirmed over and over and over. People are people. It doesn't matter what position of power they're in or how many millions of dollars are in their bank account. People want to be part of things that are meaningful. They want to connect with humans that inspire them, that are authentic.

Um,

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: Well, I also, I also think like, I don't know how to measure this, but I talked to a friend of mine, um, Mackie Bergman, he runs this really awesome, free basketball skills clinic in New York City. So it's free for anyone who comes. He does, he raises money every year. And I remember talking to him about just impact.

And I said, I, I don't think I [00:41:00] asked him the question. I think I said, you know, Mackie, like dollar for dollar, because he built this whole leadership program for kids. And I said, you must, you know, impact on a dollar per dollar basis, more people than I can even imagine. Cause like there's thousands of kids that go through this thing every, every day.

And it's like, it's really remarkable. And to think about you with your over 9, 000 people or students that have gone through and become alums, and I'm sure some, some have re engaged and stayed involved and they all spread that gospel. Like you've enlisted. 9, 500 alums to go through and basically sell the vision for you in a way to recruit other schools and other, other people.

And I just think that, um, on a dollar per dollar basis, like it's a very, you've built an engine that has a very efficient means of impact, right? And like an asymmetric delivery system of, of [00:42:00] impact, right? And I don't know how, I didn't really finish the thought with Mackie, but I'm also like thinking out loud with you is like on that asymmetry.

Is there a way to measure or, um, compare that to other methods of impact just in life? It doesn't have to be for students. It could be for anyone. And I think that on the entrepreneurial side of what you're doing or what Mackie's done, um, There's so many scrappy people like yourselves that have built these engines of impact.

And it's like, it's just super inspirational. And, um, I don't know, it just lights me up even thinking about it. Um, because you always hear about, you know, these big, huge NGOs that do all this. And I bet you those that like, the amount of money that they raise from whoever they're raising it from. By the time it works its way through that system and hits the people it needs to hit, it's so diluted.

Right? I think. This is just me reading newspapers and watching TV, but [00:43:00] like, what are your thoughts on that as far as like an efficient, asymmetric means of impact?

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: I think the nonprofit sector, I have a lot of challenges with the nonprofit sector, um, because I think business has always been a bad word in our space, and truth be told, we all run businesses, and the more efficient, effective businesses we run, the greater our impact, the greater our potential. for impact. So two things I want to, that sort of come up for me when you talk about that is one, I think people feel scared of giving money away because they don't, they don't trust the system and they don't know where it's going, right? Um, and big nonprofits don't do a great job of creating transparency or connection, right?

So if you really understood where the money is going, you're not mad that the business needs [00:44:00] operations. You're not mad that the business needs You know, a marketing and sales budget. We just don't like to call it that in the nonprofit sector. Um, but you just want to understand it. And so I think we need to do a better job of telling our story

in the sector around how we use resources and You know, what it takes to make impact sustainably over time because you're not directly, you know, giving somebody 10 for lunch on the street.

Like you can see that impact, but it's, that's not a long term impact. That's not a transformational impact, right? That's an immediate impact that you can see. And so you need more infrastructure to create. Transformational impact. But if you're going to do that in today's world, you've got to tell that story.

You have to bring people along. You have to create transparency and avenues of connection. And I don't think that's only the nonprofit sector, right? Like you'd see similar stuff in, in the corporate [00:45:00] world, right? Like we don't trust corporations. Corporations are people, right? And people make decisions based on the environments they're in, the pressures around them, et cetera. Um, and we all want authentic. We all want authenticity right now, you know, because. The world is too big. Our communities are too big. We feel too disconnected. And so when we can see authenticity in leaders and we can see authenticity and transparency in models, we can trust it. And we feel more inclined to buy that thing or to make that contribution. And that's what we try to do every day at Global Glimpse. And I think there's, there's great models for that in the nonprofit sector, but it's hard, just like building businesses is hard.

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: Mm. Yeah, and at a certain point, Okay, it's non profit, but the machine that you build has a fixed cost on an annual

basis, and I don't know, [00:46:00] I wish there was a way to measure, like, impact per student. I mean, you have the metrics up on, up on your website, but I just, it's almost a way to think about How this dollar is going to change someone's life and the trajectory of their life.

Um,

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: it's funny you're bringing that up because it's, it's something we're thinking a lot about now, you know, as in the early years we had, you know, a couple hundred kids, um, but now we're churning out a thousand kids a year. Um, and so how do we think about their pathways, tracking long term, especially as we grow our partnership and collaboration, travel and hospitality, um, how do we think about pathways? in the industry, um, that support the industry. So like doing good should be good for business. I fully agree. deeply believe that. Um, and I think part of that is asking ourselves that question. What are [00:47:00] we, how are we really engaging, tracking, supporting, um, our young people long term? And that'll be, you know, a project that we'll work on in partnership with, um, the companies we're partnered with and with the industry more broadly in the years to come.

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: yeah. And it's almost like, um, if I don't know, for any alums that went through your program, like have any come back to work for you or have any of them gone on to bring this many more people, like there's, there's a metric out there that I'm sure you're thinking about, but it might not necessarily be about, Dollars raised, dollars distributed, but it's really about that one to one ground level impact that it had on a person, but then it kind of feeds back into you.

And I don't know what, I don't know what it is, but I think it's really interesting to just think about this in any business. Like for instance, I'm thinking about in one of my businesses is [00:48:00] unsolicited positive Feedback, right? Because if you're doing, if you have, if you receive unsolicited positive feedback, it means you're doing all of these other things, right?

And that's not necessarily related to a P& L or a balance sheet, but it just means. The culture, the processes, the systems, the flywheel is just working. And the more that, and it's very hard to get unsolicited positive feedback. Um, so anyway, that's just my thinking on that. I don't know. I'd love to check in with you when you have it figured out.

But

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: It's happening naturally now. Um, I mean, we have 1 alum on our team of 20 right now. And then I think this past summer, we had at least 5 alumni leading trips that are now teachers or educators.

I teach online classes in schools across the country. Um, I probably get in a random LinkedIn message, um, Like once a quarter from an alum [00:49:00] that wants to volunteer, wants to be involved, wants to support, or just wants to write me a message about how profound the experience was for them. Um, and so we have lots of ways for alumni to reach out to us. to get involved support, um, you know, that are more structured and then pop up stuff all the time.

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: A quick question on, as far as the schools that you, um, bring into the program, what's an ideal school or how do you

recruit? Those schools to create, um, or to provide the candidates to go through the program. Well, how do you, how do you screen for that or recruit for that?

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: Yeah. So that's a hard question because we serve everything from, you know, small charters to very large districts. Um, and communities across the country. But our hub regions are the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, [00:50:00] Chicago, New York, and Massachusetts. Um, and what we really look to do is build a diverse portfolio of schools because that's the magic of the financial model and allows us to operate on a sliding scale, um, and ensure that sustainable revenue coming in.

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: And just to, just to be clear, that means, so you get the underserved schools where they have to put in the 500, but then you get, you know, from a suburb, a wealthy suburb of Boston or a New York city private school where, where they're paying the full freight. So it's really a collaborative thing, but that also it's because you're, You're bridging the two separate cohorts of socioeconomic students

as well.

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: yes.

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: that's

that's

pretty

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: And those students travel, so you, they don't travel in a cohort from their school. Um, each of our cohorts is on average 20 students, two U. S. educators, and anywhere between 10 and 15 different schools represented. So you're never going to have more than, [00:51:00] you know, four or five students from any one school on a trip, um, which is a harder sell in your affluent communities initially. But ends up being one of the most powerful, you know, points of impact

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: Yeah, because you're, because you're taking off the training wheels. It's

like, okay, you're going, don't go with your friend because that's comfortable,

uncomfortable and, and break it down. Um, Eliza, if you were to, so I love that story of on the expedition for United and how the light bulb went off and then.

Getting not only United, but Boeing and getting like a legion of people within those companies to kind of root for you and write checks and impact these kids. Um, if you were to look out there now, like what would be a dream partner for you? Like, I think that once you hit a plateau or a mountaintop, a summit.[00:52:00]

It's never over. It's like, what's the

next summit? So who would like, what would be someone in that space? I know you mentioned some OTAs like Expedia, et cetera, et cetera. But in that travel space, what's like a dream, um, partner for you and Global Glimpse going forward?

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: Um, I have a trifecta there. Um, thanks for, thanks for asking. I really deeply admire the partnership between the Obama Foundation and Brian Chesky at Airbnb, the Voyager Scholarship, which is focused on access to educational travel, transformative travel for, um, college students from underrepresented backgrounds.

And I think it has to start earlier. I think if you didn't travel You know, in high school, um, or at a younger age, the chances that you are applying to and being a part of a very out of your comfort zone experience in college, [00:53:00] which the Voyager scholarship is, is low. And I also think there's a lot that needs to happen to prepare young people for an independent experience like that. And so my dream would be a partnership building on that work with Brian Chesky, Airbnb, the Obama Foundation, um, to support students at the high school age and having transformative travel experiences. Um, and to really bring in the most powerful transformative leaders in travel to back this vision of travel and I've, you know, been, Brian and I launched organizations at the same time. I was in San Francisco. I've watched Airbnb every step of the way. Um, and it would just be, I think, really powerful to work together, um, on this. Then the other side of the coin here is the [00:54:00] State Department. Like, I think we need to create pathways for leadership in the State Department that are grounded in exposure and travel. Um, and I really believe in the power of the private public sector. Partnership. And so I would, I would love to be working, um, with a long term vision, uh, with the State Department around pathways and education and broadening awareness.

Um,

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: from The Diplomat. Okay, good. I'm liking this iteration. Perfect. There's your entry into the into the Department of State. Perfect. And then you said there were three. What's the third

one?

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: well that was, I said the Obama Foundation

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: Oh, Obama. Okay. I thought that you were lumping Obama and Chesky

together.

Okay.

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: good

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: Wow. All right. And I think, um, [00:55:00] you know, my family and I, we did this thing in Guatemala, where we built a house this summer for a family and handed the keys over. It was

like really impactful. and to me, I remember when I was in college, I was like, Oh, that's what I thought the Peace Corps was all about. But then I found out when I was in college, the Peace Corps, actually it was, it's like evolved from those like. Simple, more simple, like getting your hands dirty and, you know, building water projects or, or housing or whatever to being more like economic development and which is cool.

It's evolved. But I think that there's so much more room for

service.

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: mm. Exactly.

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: I don't know, I just think that there's, there's something in there that hopefully, um, President Obama will be able to help guide you when you connect with him in Chicago. There you go. yeah, and I think it's, [00:56:00] Yeah, I'm just a, having just met you through Island, I'm a really big fan of asymmetric dollar per student impact.

And I'm glad that you could share your vision and journey with all of us, all of us here. And hopefully something will come out of this. So I just want to say very much for putting yourself out here and sharing. And if people wanted to learn more about you

or Global

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: Such a pleasure, Dan. I, there's nothing I love more than, um, sharing the work and collaborating and learning from other leaders and entrepreneurs. And I'm, I'm passionate about travel and hospitality. Um, and I'm passionate about the industry now, right? Like when we, we have a partner, I only stay at Marriott hotels now.

I only fly United. I only rock my away luggage. But it's because I care about the people and the work and I care about brands that care. and I think young people do too, um, in a really [00:57:00] powerful way. So I'm excited to see what comes of it. I'm always up for an adventure and I would love to be continuing to, to build and evolve on the journey with, with you and so many others.

Send me an email, Eliza. at GlobalGlimpse. org, um, follow me on LinkedIn. I'm always dropping the knowledge, the inspiration,

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: Awesome.

eliza-pesuit_1_11-25-2024_094403: GlobalGlimpses. org.

dan-ryan_36_11-25-2024_094402: Perfect. And we'll put that, um, we'll drop all that in the show notes so everyone can listen. And I just also, aside from thanking Eliza, just the listeners, um, I've been doing this for over three years, and I do it because I'm genuinely curious about everyone I speak to. And then every once in a while, we try and work in something that, like, can have an outsized impact.

So if this really changed your thoughts and feelings about bringing travel to kids and having that have a [00:58:00] halo effect with them, um, in a way paying it forward, uh, please check it out. Um, give it a whirl, write a check, um, get your kids to apply. Who knows? And, um, Yeah. All referrals are welcome. So thank you everyone for listening.

Please give us a like a comment, a subscribe, all that good stuff. It all helps and it all helps get the word out there. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you.