Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Valerie Lockhart. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Valerie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?

If I could change anything about our educational system, it would be to make it more individualized and user-focused. As we move toward a more AI-infused and automated world, I am hopeful that curricula will also move toward being more customizable, allowing students to tailor their own experience to the ways that they learn best. I realize that asking teachers to do that in classes that are too big, and schedules that are too tight, is not feasible, but I would love to see schools leverage technology to make that more and more possible.

If students could choose from different examples that were more relevant to them, or different formats that catered to their learning styles, I think we would have more engagement and better buy-in – leading to better outcomes. I also wish that critical thinking and traditional logic were taught earlier in K-12, but that’s a whole other article…

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

I started the MN Women in Tech in early 2014. I was meeting a lot of women who were very interested in entering into more technical roles, but didn’t know what the pathway to that looked like. I was also meeting women who were already working in tech, but being the only women in their departments, were finding it kind of lonely and isolated. I started this organization to help both sides of that equation, and build a network of support and education for MN Women who are interested in tech. We’ve been on a bit of a hiatus over the last couple of years, but this fall will be kicking back into action.

Last year, I transitioned into the Executive Director role for Code Savvy. Not unlike the MN Women in Tech, Code Savvy’s mission is to create learning opportunities in computer science for individuals who have traditionally been excluded or underrepresented in technology. Many of our programs focus on youth education, but we also have a program that specifically works with teachers to help them integrate computer science into their classrooms. There is a growing gap of highly technical job openings and not enough people trained in those skills to fill them. Both of these organizations exist to try and close that gap.

Personally, I am passionate about things that happen in the intersection of media, art, and technology. Production, building websites, videos, SEO, podcasts, AR and VR, and new immersive media are the things that I get really excited about. I love learning new tech applications and inspiring others to explore and create with technology.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

There are many times where I have had to pivot. Times change, interests change, and alignment sometimes becomes misaligned. One of the most extreme for me was when I decided it was time to leave a decade-long career in Human Resources.

I worked in the top ranks of a local branch of a national corporation that had recently been acquired by a global entity.
We went from local, community-focused interest to numbers, seemingly overnight. Years of relationship building and creating a family-like culture were uprooted and disregarded for bottom lines and saving pennies. Soon, mandates were coming down from the top that made no sense to the local scene, but apparently worked for someone, somewhere.

I pushed back, and it was pointless.

The thing about Human Resources work is that it is relatively thankless. You’re everyone’s best friend when they want the job, and you’re their worst nightmare when there’s an incident. You’re really no one’s friend, and half the time your coworkers suspect that you’re a narc. And more than half the time, they’re right. Not to disparage anyone still in the field, but if there is any thought that you’re hired for anything other than protecting the company’s bottom line, you’re self-deluding. If there’s a mirror in the room with you, please, take a long, hard look.

Anyway, the last days of my career in HR were filled with incredible stress. Corporate was sending layoffs down the pike left and right, and I was the sole bearer of the bad news. The people I worked with were from an entirely different generation. They had worked for the company their entire lives – devoted blood, sweat, and tears to the success of their livlihood. They never planned on leaving, until they had earned their day in the sun through retirement.

One of my employees had been in outside sales for over 45 years. He was just about to retire. Two months to go. Everyone was so excited for the journey he was about to embark on.

It was a cold Wednesday when I got the call. He needed to go. Today. No severance. No retirement package. No celebratory retirement cake. Nothing.

I dropped the phone. When I picked it back up, all I said was, “no.”

The woman on the other end told me that if I didn’t do it, they would just send someone else to do it.

I told her to kiss my ass and hung up.

The very next morning, two suits showed up and pulled him into the conference room.
He emerged, sullen and defeated.
They escorted him off the property and promptly left.
Didn’t even bother to stick around to pick up the pieces from the bomb they had detonated.

With no backup plan, I drafted my resignation.
I set a meeting with the highest up at our branch and explained that I couldn’t go on.
I couldn’t give any more of myself to a company that would do something so heinous. I had to go.

He called the corporate office. I said many things I can’t repeat here.
I left his office and packed up my personal belongings, said my goodbyes, and walked out the door.

That pivot changed my entire life. There were a couple of very hard years after that. The gentleman they had destroyed died a couple of months later. Heartbroken and destitute. I started my own business. Had to borrow money to eat a couple of times – totally worth it.

Time is so precious, and we’re only given so much. I try my hardest never to waste a moment.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Oh man, so many lessons learned and unlearned. I suppose that most of the unlearning has come from the practice of making assumptions in the first place. The most meaningful unlearning has been related to people. I’ve worked with so many different types, from so many different backgrounds. What I have unlearned is that you can ever categorize or make assumptions about anyone before you actually know what they’re all about as an individual.

Racial identities, gender identities, socio-economic stations, none of that gives you any clue about who that person is. And until you allow people to be themselves with you, to show you the beauty of their individual perspective, you don’t know a thing about them. And the process of becoming familar with them is the only thing worth anything in this world.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.codesavvy.org
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/codesavvyorg
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valockhart/
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/codesavvyorg

Image Credits
All photos credit to: Valerie Lockhart