Welcome to another episode of our Interfaiths
podcast. We're really delighted today to have
Joanne Godoy from Radical Partners. So she is
an amazing... institution and herself working
to help nonprofits here in the Miami area. And
so we're going to talk a little bit about her
background, her life, and then talk about the
work that Radical Partners does, the future of
the organization and kind of the nonprofit world
here. And then think about, you know, what are
some of the things that students can take away?
And listeners can take away from her life and
sort of her experiences. So with that, I will
start. And if you can just say a few words about
yourself and your background. Who are you? Few
words. A ver, Joan Godoy, I always liked starting
by saying that I am proudly from Guatemala. That's
where I was born and raised. And I start with
that because it's a very small country in Central
America that is very colorful in every single
way. And from an early age, I was very aware
of inequity. And I think that really shaped my
work. So, of course, I have a long trajectory
in the social impact sector, Guatemala, Costa
Rica, Chile, all the way to the Netherlands and
then ended up in Miami. And today I'm the CEO
of Radical Partners, as you said, and we are
a social impact accelerator. And what that means
is that we are all about investing in the leaders
and the organizations that are transforming their
communities in whatever way that could be. poverty
alleviation that could be interfaith dialogues
that could be um racial justice and what we make
sure is that these leaders are supported and
that they are equipped with all the skills and
resources that they need to advance their work
and their impact okay so let's go back to guatemala
yeah talk to us a little bit about your childhood
yeah what was that like So I started traveling
from an early age. I'm the youngest of three.
So I'm a survivor of my two older brothers. And
I think there's two people that really shaped
my childhood. Right. One was my dad and his job
because he was an environmentalist or he still
is always leading international organizations.
So because of his job, we always had the opportunity.
And the requirement to travel, right, whether
that was inside my country to several rural areas
and or to other regions in Central America. So
I lived in a couple of places when I was young.
So I remember there was always people, there
was always food, there was always music. But
the music and the food was always diverse because
it really depended on who we were surrounded
with. There was a lot of nature because we were
climbing places, we were exploring different
locations, etc. And I think something that really
marked my childhood was to... be the same person,
but being perceived in a different way, depending
on where we were, right? So in some occasions,
I'm pretty light -skinned, right? So in some
occasions, I was the lightest one in the room,
but in some occasions, I wasn't. So I kind of
had to learn to define my identity, but also
to be adaptable to what the circumstances told
me was needed. And I think that really shaped...
Me, as a person, it really shaped my work because
I was always aware of the different types of
power that I could have depending on where I
was. And sometimes it was very needed to step
up as a woman, for example, or as a Latina in
this space. But in some occasions, I really needed
to step back if I was surrounded by indigenous
and Mayan communities. So there was always that
back and forth and the beauty of travel with.
with its blessings and its curses. And I think
that really shaped my childhood and it made me
the non -binary woman that I am in every single
sense of the world. So you said your father was
one of the people that influenced you. Who was
the other one? Great. I love that you're coming
back. My grandma. Okay. My grandma, she was,
I think she was very advanced for her. Not her
age, but her. ¿Cómo se dice? Época. For her time.
Like for her time. Because she was openly a feminist
and she was openly pro -human rights in an era
where that was somewhat of a sensitive topic
in Guatemala. So it was beautiful in the early
80s to talk to a woman who was so coquette and
advanced and so smart in her readings and what
she listened to. And I just remember that I really
wanted to be like her. That's wonderful. Yeah.
Yeah, same thing with my wife, Safreen, right?
So her childhood is really defined by her grandmother
as well. That's one of the remarkable things,
like when you live in an extended family, you're
able to, you know, have the intergenerational
connection. I think there's so much that you
learn through that experience. Yeah, and it's
interesting because when you're a child, you're
not aware of that. I don't know why I got so
emotional about it. Because you're just there
absorbing what you see, right? And I think it's
as I grew up in my career that I realized how
those two things really shaped who I am and the
boldness that it requires to transform your communities.
And it's not easy work either. The thing is,
especially if you're going to go against social
norms, I think that takes a lot of courage. discipline
i think courage and also you know you have to
have strong moral character as well so you have
to understand kind of what is right what's wrong
and that's hard because a lot of times people
kind of just go along with whatever is popular
they don't want to you know be seen as being
different so that's remarkable that your grandmother
you know was this really remarkable person yeah
and she instilled that in you as well so that's
great yeah she was definitely a rebel sometimes
a little too much um but it was it was good to
witness that that's amazing okay great um i mean
i'm interested a little bit more even about um
you were talking about kind of you're sometimes
doing these spaces where you had to calibrate
kind of um how present you were how much you
had to step back um Talk to me a little bit about
working with indigenous communities. I mean,
that would be very interesting to learn about
what those experiences were like. Yeah, so Guatemala,
like other countries in Latin America, like Peru,
Ecuador, and a few others, are up to a few years
ago, they were majority indigenous, right? So
Guatemala, I have to look at the stats nowadays,
but I would dare to say that it's at least 40
% of the population that's indigenous from Mayan
origin. And like many of the countries that are
diverse in that way, it's a very segregated place,
right? So I grew up in the city and had access
to certain things because my parents were academics.
They worked very hard. So that gave me access
to a certain type of education or a certain type
of recreational activities. But because of my
dad's job, I was always traveling to other parts
of the country. So if you were in the city, you
didn't really see much of the diversity of the
country. But once you were out, you did. And
the realities were just very different. We have
one of the countries with the biggest illiteracy
rates. And for those of you watching, I don't
know if you know that Guatemala has more than
20 languages that are spoken in that very small
territory. So we literally cannot communicate
with each other, right? Because it is very hard
to learn 20 languages. And they're so diverse.
And many of them are only spoken languages, not
necessarily written forms. So when I would go
into those spaces, I remember I was finishing
college, right? And I was volunteering for an
organization. I was there passionate and empowered
and ready to teach a lot of things. But the things
that I've learned or the ways that I've learned
how to teach weren't necessarily the ways in
which things were going to be absorbed by the
communities based on, I don't know, our technological
possibilities or the language that we were using.
So I quickly had to learn how to use more drawings
and how to use more circular dialogue to get
to the point of talking about human rights. So
instead of human rights is this, and this is
the definition, and this is what the declarations
say. It was more about dialogue around what is
happening in your community, what are the violence.
moments right that you you don't want to portray
in that community and how can we go about that
etc so um it's just a different way of living
um and another thing that i would like to highlight
is the respect for nature the not only the respect
but the interconnection with nature um is something
that i learned to respect a lot with a very simple
act for example they they do several mayan ceremonies
And I remember they brought a lot of candles
with different colors that you need to use for
the ceremony. And I quickly was looking for a
scissor so I can cut them and just arrange them.
And they said, no, you cannot use scissors. You
have to untie the knots so that you don't break
the cycle. So things like that would happen to
me that I would feel so ignorant and in awe.
of different different ways of living and of
course i have so many different examples of that
but i'll stop there no that's amazing i mean
i think that that i'm sure that those experiences
helped you also to navigate all these different
cultures and these different types of people
that make you so you know you've been so successful
here in miami um so okay so leaving um so leaving
university um what was your path then eventually
coming to miami okay well that's a long story
but i'll try to summarize it by because of my
dad's influence right i i always knew that i
wanted to be like him working for an international
organization somewhere in the world doing something
good but he was he was more about the trees and
i was more about the people um so i decided to
study psychology from the social lens of psychology.
So I studied psychology and I quickly started
working with small organizations in Guatemala
that were supporting mostly victims from the
internal conflict that we had in the 80s. So
their human rights have been violated. These
are folks that were living with a lot of trauma
and lived experiences. So that's what I did for
almost four to five years. And after being in
that work for so long and running a lot of support
groups and... Basically, building community leaders,
right, that they could bring the knowledge and
implement them in their communities. I became
very frustrated with the system because I realized
that we were teaching these folks how to do certain
things without enough resources and or a real
possibility to transform the reality of their
communities based on the system that we run.
So that took me to look or to pursue for a master's.
I applied to a bunch of places and I got a full
ride to study in the Netherlands. And I studied
a master in international NGOs. So moved from
doing the work on the ground to studying more
around political economy and international law
and how does that apparatus work? And how can
you manage organizations that are trying to transform
the world? And there was, it was also a cultural
shock, right? Because all of a sudden I was the
tiniest of the group. I was the one that came
from this very small place in Guatemala, surrounded
by European students. that had access to other
things that I didn't have before. And after that,
work and love kind of took me to different places.
So I worked in Costa Rica for two years, Chile
for a year, went back to Guatemala to work for
the UN for two years. And then because of love,
I came to Miami. And when I was like, okay, what
am I going to do in Miami if I come from such
a rural background and such an international
organization background? And I started hearing
about the concept of social entrepreneurship.
So I started learning about it. Someone told
me about Radical Partners. And when I looked
at the website and saw that in Radical Partners,
the issue wasn't what mattered, but supporting
the leader and equipping the organization, I
finally said, like, I found my place. And that
was almost 10 years ago. Oh, wow. Okay. That's
been a while. Yeah, that was in 2017. Okay. So
you got to Radical Partners. what were the challenges
that the organization was having when you got
in? So we were a very small organization back
then. It was three people when I joined. And
I think more than challenges back then, there
was a lot of opportunity to try to model the
investment that was happening in the private
sector with so many startups and with so many
entrepreneurial endeavors to try to... bring
that to our sector right which is a sector that
is full of passion full of love full of camaraderie
but not necessarily back then the business acumen
or the strategy that it takes to run a project
or to run a team and to be successful that's
a big issue as well yeah there's not a lot of
people who are very motivated and very determined
and very passionate but I think the training
is a big part of it, the business part of it,
and also just capital to be able to do the projects
that they want to be able to do. Look, the reality
is that most of us... build organizations from
lived experience, right? So there's an organization
that supports cancer survivors because the CEO
went through that. So you have the lived experience,
but you don't necessarily have had the opportunity
or the desire to study all the financial aspect
of things or legal aspect of things or managerial
aspect of things. So I think what is one... one
entrepreneur that you guys have supported that
really sticks out in your mind that radical partners
has helped to develop so many okay um you can
give a couple examples that's fine can i give
you as an example um let me think uh i'm trying
to think who's done work around interfaith work
a religious work um i think fabiola is coming
to mind she is a woman who lost her son, and
she took that grief into supporting other bereaved
moms, which is, we know it's a topic that's taboo,
that is not that common. And because she did
Leadership Lab with us, right, she now is better
at fundraising. She's way better at talking about
herself and what she does. And most importantly,
as... to structure her programs right because
she supports women in so many different ways
that she was doing whatever women needed right
and that could be running a business that could
be giving them food that could be taking care
of their kids so going through this program allows
her to think okay these are the three or four
things that i'm going to do for women and this
is what i need in order to do that um so identifying
the amounts, what the resources that she needs,
et cetera, to be more specific. And once she
identifies what is she doing and what is she
not, then she's able to collaborate with others
that will be able to support women, right? So
I think she's a great example. And the reason
why I mentioned you is because I know you've
been doing this interfaith work for so long at
this amazing university. But through the attendees
of Connection, I would like to think that we
expose you to other people that could be your
partners, right, in impact. So that to me is
also capacity building and leadership because
the world needs to know about you, Iqbal. And
the world could also. come to you right so that
we can foster dialogue and collaborate so talk
to us about 10 days how did that come about what
is yeah ah it's been so long as well um so to
give some context to whomever's watching because
we've been talking about so many different things
um i said at the beginning that radical partners
is a social impact accelerator right so those
three words are chosen with so many intentional
reasons because it's all about improving the
lives of people by impacting their lives and
doing it as fast as we can because we have no
time to waste. So the way we accelerate work
is through four pillars of work. One is investing
in leaders like Fab, like the one that I just
mentioned. The other one is engaging locals around
these causes, right? So yes, the leaders can
pull, but if there's nobody else pushing and
rallying around those issues, not much can happen.
Number three, we co -create solutions. Just so
that we can innovate in this space as well. So
we do that through a lot of consulting work.
And number three, because we work with leaders,
locals, and other clients of ours, we try to
build as many coalitions as we can to use resources
effectively and efficiently. So within all those
pillars, the 10 Days of Connection comes under
the community engagement pillar. And the sole
purpose of the 10 Days of Connection is to allow
for people. to connect across lines of difference
and to build those physical and emotional safe
spaces for you to engage with people that you
don't know or in all honesty that you hate. So
we've hosted Democrats and Republicans for happy
hour. The Muslim community has opened up the
doors of the mosque so that you can go and attend
and then ask a bunch of questions. So we try
to take all those things that are still taboo
and talk about them and make them free to the
community so that that happens. So every year
in May, from May 1st to May 10th. The invitation
is for everybody to either attend or host a connection
experience because it could be as small as this,
as a conversation in your home, right? A potluck
and have a conversation around that all the way
to hosting something public, right? And open
to everybody like we do at The Underline. So
at The Underline, at the end of the 10 Days of
Connection, we bring everybody for a game. night
or a game morning right so i remember a couple
of years ago there was the mayor playing b strong's
international game and all of a sudden a woman
was just passing by and she's like what is happening
here can i say it of course so you had now the
vp of communications at mdc the mayor and a random
woman on the street playing a very deep game
and connecting at a human level so so that's
that's what we do so say we have okay we have
of course students listening as well um They're
trying to figure out what they want to do with
their lives. What advice would you give them
if they are interested in becoming a social entrepreneur?
What should they study? What are some steps that
they should take while they're here at university?
I think you really need to figure out if that's
what you want right now. Not forever, because
I don't think anything is forever. What is that
next adventure for you? What is that next stage
for you? leading something and building something
that that you're curious about and driving something
then i would say go ahead and pursue it um but
while you pursue it you need to do research right
um so um our friends at upenn have a course and
they say that whenever you decide to endeavor
in a social entrepreneurship journey you should
be very mindful about three things one what does
the market want and need, right? So in our cases,
what is that issue that you would like to solve?
Let's talk about transit, for example, right?
If transit is going to be that issue that you're
trying to solve, you need to understand what
is happening, what are the problems, who else
is in the market so that you can come and add
value. Then number two is how are you going to
add value, right? What is that product that you're
going to give to the world? And the third one,
they precisely say, it depends on what you want
as an entrepreneur. Because nonprofits or 501c3s,
in the end, donations become a revenue stream,
right? So you need to be very clear about...
The world needs what you're going to do and who's
willing to pay for it. It could be foundations.
It could be individual donors. It could be potential
clients of yours. So yes, the passion and yes,
the heart to solve the world and what is the
business strategy to make sure that whatever
you're offering is going to be sustainable over
time. Yeah, absolutely. Here in Miami, I mean,
what are some of the... major challenges that
you guys are seeing um that need to be addressed
yeah so i think there are some societal issues
that that we are passionate about i won't say
concerned um and then I'll zoom in into how we
think we can or should solve it in this sector.
So this won't be any surprise to anybody, right?
It's year 2025, and housing affordability is
one of those issues. And to me, affordability
doesn't necessarily have to do only with the
money, but involve... accessibility and quality
of life um so to me is is housing and what's
around you right can you walk places can you
have access to good food so i guess it's housing
and urbanism that that is something that we're
paying attention to um and that is very tied
to anything climate right the amount of waste
that we're generating um how the heat is increasing
um so there's there's a full array of environmental
issues that we can address, including transit,
right, and how that can help. And number three,
I think the beautiful use of technology is alienating
us so much as a community that I don't think
we are aware of the consequences it could have
later. And I'm not saying don't use technology
and just focus on people, but it's... It's the
emotions and the addictions and how our brains
are physically changing because of the use of
technology that are against human nature. So
touch, seeing each other, hugging each other,
right? There's elements that our bodies are wired
to have, to do and to indulge in that are a few
things that are... We are passionate about. So
what can we do about it? Our approach is that
we need to think more strategically and smartly
as an ecosystem. Right. So as a result of the
work that we've been doing in the last eight
years, not only radical partners, but. FIU and
Miami Dade College and all these other folks
around social entrepreneurship. I personally
think that now we have too much and we have too
many entrepreneurs and we have too many organizations
that are scattered all over the place. And that
might not be the best approach to solve these
issues. So up next, we're going to be focusing
a lot on consolidation, right? And how can we...
share services or share spaces, start merging
some of these organizations and be passionate
about the issue and not necessarily just growing
our venture. Right, right, right. Oh, that's
a very, that's a very important point. So, I
mean, I know you're, so you're working sort of
locally. What about... One of the big challenges
that we see in the United States is polarization,
so political polarization, ideological polarization.
What do you see as some possible ways to deal
with that? So the good news is that there are
several organizations, especially in the United
States, dedicated to foster dialogue. Some are
political, some are religious, some are just
to bring community together. The Weavers, for
example, from Aspen Institute. And there's a
few other initiatives from Berkeley University,
etc. So you can look them up, like connection
initiatives around the US. And you'll find beautiful
free opportunities and beautiful videos that
you can watch. What I see, though, is that we
have that opportunity, but it's a very intellectual
conversation. So you and I are very tapped into
this because there are colleagues, there are
peers, and we're interested in the topic. But
the ones who are more polarizing, they're not
going to look this up. Like, how can I get closer
to this group? So I truly think that there's
an opportunity in leveraging food and music and
parks or transportation to bring people together
without being so nerdy about it. So if you are
exposed to people who look differently from you,
if you are exposed to smart and kind humans who
are representative of groups that you didn't
think, I think that's where the real connection
happens. So we need to be... a little sneaky
in our strategy to make sure that we bring people
together. Because I like to think that the majority
of us are good people. It's just that evil people
are louder than us. So if the majority of us
get louder and get more strategic and make kindness
and niceness contagious, we will win. And that
requires... a lot of work and a lot of courage
for you to be nice and kind even when we are
angry and disappointed at certain people. Getting
back again to Guatemala, how did people work
through the reconciliation process after the
violence? How are they still working through
it? So there was a signature or there was a peace
accord, right, in the 90s. So that was kind of
like the official moment where the military and
the guerrillas came to sign peace. But I would
say it took 20, 30 years for that to... to become
somewhat of a reality. But I think we're still
dealing with the consequences of fear and silence
of people that either portrayed war crimes or
were affected by war crimes. And because of globalization
in every single aspect, right, and the access
to technology and people moving from one city
to the other, I think we're starting to finally
see that there's a more diverse society. I don't
think we have succeeded at really being integrated
as a society where you still see what careers
or what professional endeavors belong to certain
groups and what others do not. And there's still
a lot of stereotypes that are lived. The progress
is that maybe people don't say them that much,
right? Like there's not a lot of racial. slurs
or verbal discrimination anymore because it's
not good to do that. But I think we still need
to do some work around what's here and what your
real belief is so that we can elect more indigenous
groups so that we can, in my case, respect and
admire the military a little bit more. And that
only happens with real dialogue and with time.
So I think we're coming towards the end of our
time. What is a life lesson that you've learned
that you would like to share with students? There
is a common saying that is not mine, that we
have two ears and one mouth for a reason. So
I think the world needs you to be more curious.
and to learn more before you do. So for those
who are doers, I would say do a little bit more
listening. And for those of you who spend too
much time listening and reflecting, don't be
afraid of doing. So I guess the lesson is, the
power is precisely in that interaction of me
listening to you, you listening to me, and what
we build together. I think it's this bridge that...
that we need. And I hope you all get to be bridge
builders. All right. Well, thank you so much,
Joanne. This is wonderful. Thank you, Iqbal.
Yeah, this is great. I'm glad we were able to
do this.