We were lucky to catch up with Kat Ling recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kat, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

Before Moonshot, I worked as an educator and in nonprofits supporting educators and school leaders to make accelerated gains in student achievement. I have always worked in predominantly BIPOC communities and have always seen, in contrast to their student populations, predominantly white leadership in schools. When I was a student, having just one teacher in my K-12 education who shared my identities and experiences would have made all the difference. My first queer teacher was in college in a Feminist Studies course. I didn’t have an Asian American teacher until I was in graduate school. Throughout my childhood and through college, I struggled with my mental health, self-esteem, self-acceptance, and understanding and growing in my identities as a queer, multiracial Asian American. As an adult, I’ve always been passionate about helping students have experiences I never had, of creating and sustaining a thriving talent pipeline of BIPOC leadership in education. I spent many years coaching and developing leaders of color to move into leadership roles in their schools, only to watch them be systematically excluded from promotions or get burnt out because they didn’t have the support they needed, or because the school’s vision was in direct conflict with their own values. Year after year, I watched leaders of color leave education. I found Moonshot just in the nick of time, referred by a friend who worked with Moonshot’s Founder & CEO. I had never heard of an organization like it before. It felt almost magical: an organization dedicated to actualizing the visions of leaders with deep community connections, visions that were unlike anything that currently existed from leaders who were like me, close to burning out after years of overcoming barriers and seeing their students given subpar educations. Moonshot has reinvigorated my belief in the power of education, and given me optimism that we can change this education system for the better if we only support the leaders who have been demanding a seat at the table for far too long.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I started my career as a 4th-grade teacher in a small town in rural Mississippi. My college experience equipped me with the language that put words to my experience growing up Asian American and queer, and after graduating, I was looking for a job that was social justice in action. Teaching not only provided that, but taught me some fundamental skills of being a listener, a leader, and most importantly a good community member. I later moved into education nonprofit work, eager to figure out systemic solutions to the kinds of problems I saw impacting my students, families, and school. That nonprofit work eventually brought me to Moonshot edVentures, where I get the privilege of working with an incredible team of BIPOC leaders to support a community of BIPOC & historically marginalized leaders (LGBTQ+, women, non-binary folks, people with disabilities, immigrants, undocumented folks, etc.). Moonshot believes that if we invest in a community of local, historically marginalized leaders, and support them to design and launch learning models that look dramatically different and are tailored to meet the needs of students and families, we can transform outcomes for students who are marginalized by our education system. Our vision is that equity-driven leaders design and drive the education sector so that students experience culturally relevant and affirming educations and achieve extraordinary outcomes in K-12, college or career, and life
We run various programs, beginning with the Moonshot Fellowship, where we enroll 15-20 leaders in a year-long, part-time program where they co-create an idea with students and families using the Liberatory Design Framework, test their model, strengthen their leadership skills, and develop a community of advocates who support them in launching their ventures. Moonshot is one of its kind in the country: we offer best-in-class programming that rivals national nonprofits but in a local community model that centers BIPOC leaders. We consider ourselves an entrepreneur pacemaker organization, which means we accompany our entrepreneurs throughout their careers after they complete our Fellowship, and support them ongoing in their venture launch and their careers. Our alumni network is 100 leaders and growing. Our alumni are part of our special sauce; we focus not on the individual, but the collective success of the cohort. Our alumni succeed by supporting one another personally and professionally, partnering with each other’s programs, and advocating for one another’s success.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

A message I had internalized from a young age is that showing emotion is a sign of weakness. Showing emotion meant anything from crying in front of others to sharing that I was frustrated. This was the model of leadership I saw over and over again and this is what was engrained in me from my family and culture. As a pretty emotional person (just ask my partner, brothers, my best friend, etc.), that was always a challenge for me. I’d bottle down my feelings, no matter how big or small, and hold it in until it would eventually burst out in unpredictable ways. Sometimes it would be a short temper or impatience with a loved one, sometimes it would be a snappy remark to a colleague, or, on occasion, it would be a full-on meltdown with my manager. I am somewhat of a control freak and I hated every instance of this. I would leave the interaction feeling exposed, vulnerable, and out of control. It would feel like a failure to have let that part of me slip, to let someone see under the cover that I was human, that I had feelings. Over time, I started to see the patterns and realize the unhealthiness of this ultimatum. To be human is to have feelings and the messages I had received throughout my life were grounded in misogyny, racism, sexism, and white supremacy culture. It wasn’t an immediate switch. It was one thing to understand intellectually that there were healthy and productive ways to be more vulnerable and show my emotions at work, it was another thing to put that into practice. It took a lot of therapy, opening up personally and professionally, and continuing to mess up and try again. I know now that sharing emotion as a leader helps build trust with team members and helps others feel safe and comfortable to also be transparent, open, and honest about where they are at and what they are dealing with. It’s given me an entirely different perspective on what it means to be authentic in work and in life, and that who you are at work should never be siloed off from who you are in life.

Any advice for managing a team?

Every human, no matter who they are or where they work, wants honesty and transparency. The healthiest teams I’ve worked on had a deep sense of trust and transparency with everything from the budget to what folks were dealing with in their personal lives to the financial risks or barriers. The most dysfunctional teams I’ve worked on had a leader who kept it all to themselves. On those teams, any challenge that emerged, like a fundraising gap or a potential merger, felt like a huge and scary surprise because no one had any context leading up to the decision or the tipping point. My main advice for managing a team and maintaining high morale is to be open and honest with the team at all levels and about all things. Build the skill and context of your team so that everyone understands the strategic priorities at a high level, no matter what their specific responsibilities. Create structures for teammates to regularly share and update one another about their work. Invest in the leadership of each teammates by building their skillset to a baseline level in every strategy area.      

Contact Info:

• Website: www.moonshotedventures.org
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/moonshotev
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/moonshotEV
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kat-ling-34981620/