We were lucky to catch up with Sylvie Froncek recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Sylvie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with education – we’d love to hear your thoughts about how we can better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career

I remember thinking that I wasn’t smart enough when I was in high school because there were core subjects that didn’t interest me. The things that I was really good at weren’t valued as highly, or even available to study. Extra curricular activities with a hands on focus were only available if you found them yourself and could afford them, or make time to take part. This changed in college when my roommate was studying multiple intelligence theory (MTI). As I heard about MTI, I realized that there were skills and abilities that I had which I had never recognized as valuable. My understanding of my own intelligence transformed in such a positive way and I started to seek out ways to build on the skills that had always appealed to me. As an example, I saw that my keen sense of spatial awareness and ability to map out my surroundings and navigate was not something that everyone could do with such ease. And in fact it was a type of intelligence that is very important in other cultures.

If I were to change the education system in the USA, I would incorporate MTI into the way we teach. I’d give students the opportunity to identify their innate abilities and understand the cultural value in the myriad intelligences that are outside of just the math/science/writing realm. I would design classes that incorporate the other types of intelligences, like kinesthetic intelligence and intrapersonal intelligence.

In the bike maintenance courses that I teach to women and LGBTQI folks, I try to bring in as many intelligences as possible to encourage learning in many different ways. Teaching a group lesson to suit a variety of different intelligences has a really amazing impact on my students. It empowers them, it helps build their confidence and it speeds up their learning process.

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

Vie Cycle is an educational organization that was founded to promote confidence, competence and community building for women and LGBTQI people. It started as bike maintenance courses and has evolved into broader community events. All of my work is focused in supporting/empowering women/queer-identifying people.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

It’s important to make a space for people to be real, honest and feel heard. Checking in at meetings about life outside of work and giving people an opportunity to share something about themselves and really feel seen is just one small way to keep morale high.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Word of mouth still seems to be the best way for growing my clientele for my small business endeavors. So much of advertising and social media feels impersonal and many people want to feel unique and important. When I personally ask people to be a part of something, or a friend shares about their experience with Vie Cycle and invites someone else to take part, that’s when I get new folks who are really excited, committed and enthusiastic.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.viecycle.com
• Instagram: @viecycle
• Facebook: @viecycle
• Other: www.theweddingshow.info