The Part of Tech Careers Nobody Explains with Snap’s Lindsey Heisser

But I think so often that's what's missed is that extra step. And a lot of times when it's young people that are coming from, again, underrepresented backgrounds, they might be the first in their family to go to college, they might be the first in their family to be going into the tech industry and don't have anybody else to lean on or know that that's, like, a good career that you can provide for yourself, for your family, et cetera. It's like taking that extra step. And so sometimes it's not even just the exposure to, like, the technical skills. It's to the industry, it's to the opportunity to like what exists. It's to, like what can change from a generational wealth standpoint. This is Taylor Shedd, founder and CEO of Stimuli, and you're listening to Big Tech Energy. This show brings together voices from all around the world, including here in Texas, and from London to la in the heartland, to unpack how AI is already rewriting the future of education and work. I've been obsessed with how tech can transform learning since I was a kid. And let me tell you, a startup takes real, big tech energy, the kind rooted in culture, resilience, and vision. Each episode, we bring that energy through conversations, ideas, and insights that keep you sharp and inspired as the world changes in real time. Welcome to Big Tech Energy. All right, everybody, welcome to the Big Tech Energy podcast by Stimuli. We have a special episode for you today, so Lindsay, please introduce yourself to the audience. Yeah. Great to be here. My name is Lindsey Heiser. I am overseeing snap corporate philanthropy based out of our Santa Monica office. Awesome. So for background for the audience, Lindsay and I were recently introduced to each other, and we had this moment that felt a little bit like. I don't know if we'll call it kismet or love at first sight. We get on a call, and all of a sudden I have this deep feeling that I know her. And what we figured out is I actually the college at Loyola Marymount with her sister. So, yeah. And I was chatting with Lara, like, after our call, and I was like, do you know somebody named Taylor? And she's like, oh, yeah. Like, we were all together, like, freshman year and went down this whole rabbit hole about it, and I could see how that happens. We get stopped in the grocery store all the time asking if we're twins, but we're not, so sisters. So, yeah. Love the world colliding, that we're already connected in so many different ways. Yeah. You know, it's funny to me, because, like, if I could imagine what your sister would have said, it was like, yeah, she was there during freshman year and then she played basketball and then it's like some dot, dot, dots. Right. Which is a cool story our audience knows, like my journey from Loella and essentially figuring out school wasn't working and starting stimuli. So here we are. Well, one of the first questions I wanted to ask you is, you know, Snap, as it's known now, has been out for quite some time. What year was it founded? 2011. Okay, all right, perfect. So that was like when I was living in la and the first thing that it did, like, in my mind, if I was to make up what the company was all about, was like, all about connecting people in ways that, you know, we previously hadn't been connected before. And I would love for you to just talk about, like, who you all are now and how you're showing up in the world and what your mission is. Yeah, it's interesting that you say you can recall that back from 2011, because I think that that's very much who we are even today. Is that in a time I can remember even like before Snapchat, when there were like other platforms that were out there where it's like you're posting pictures and maybe you're uploading like a whole album of pictures to show like a night out or a game you went to or something like that, or Snapchat really existed to like capture that moment instantly, like with and share with your friends and family. And it was all about like, and continues to be all about real time connection and authenticity. And I think that that was, I can even remember, like, as an early Snapchat user, before I even like worked at the company, was that was the deepest and the best way to connect, like with my friends and just kind of show what's happening throughout my day without it being super filtered or perfect. And I think it's only continued to grow and evolve in that direction as I think we've gone through this cycle over time where, you know, you do want to post the great photo of you in the dress from that. But then it's all of the moments in before of like when I like drop something on myself or getting ready or what's happening over the course of the evening. And so Snapchat still continues to exist in this space where people are just really encouraged to express themselves and live in the moment and share those real, like, authentic connections with their friends and family via the platform. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I'm like, thank you. I need to send some more snaps. You know, I have some of those moments that are not for the public eye, but I do want to keep my friends and family informed. So one thing that's on my mind is like, you all know something about the next generation that I think, whether you talk about a lot of people in education or just like people that aspire to be a great consumer app. Want to know what, what secret sauce can you share with us about what you know about the next generation that nobody else does? Yeah, well, for starters, I sit in a really unique position because I'm on our philanthropy team. And so our whole mission and goal is to provide exposure and access to STEAM education and career pathways, which is why it's so nice to be aligned and be here with you. And one of the things I feel like so fortunate about in my role is that I'm at Snapchat, where when we're thinking about high school and community college students and providing them access and thinking about, you know, how do I break into the tech industry, is that we have a really cool company that speaks directly to this demographic of like 13 plus year olds. And so I think the biggest thing that I realized through all of the different programs that we do, whether it's like hosting students for campus tours or panel discussions, mentoring programs, we will get into this. But we do like a really cool nine week program that I started eight, almost nine years ago here at Snap, where it's giving students this like real world experience of what it's like to work at a tech company. And I think through it all we can talk about technical skills and all of the things that they might need on their resume, but it's the confidence, I think it's the realization coming into a space and allowing yourself to like settle in that we are open and wanting to hear about your lived experience. And again, kind of going back to what we were talking about, like your authentic self and how you bring that within a company. But it's not just a company. When I think about young people in general, it's like that confidence to know what you want and go after it. And now you're using tools to be able to express yourself and share what that looks like. And really I think it's one of those things where it's like they're redefining like what's next and like what the world, what the workforce, like all of those different things are going to look like for us in the future that really hit a chord or struck A chord with me. A few reasons why, like, in our work with students and stimuli, when a lot of them start reporting back to us that their confidence was growing, it was like, one. I don't think adults think about that a lot. When we think about the school system, right. Like, we're like, what are their math scores? Can they communicate? Do they have these skills? And I know where they want to go. Critical thinking, like, you name it. Creativity. But confidence rarely comes up and probably is the. The make or break difference of why you might, like, get that job. Right. Or that promotion. Yeah. So, yeah, that did strike a chord with me. And then the other thing I was thinking is, like, you know, video helps, like, build confidence. Right. I know for us, a lot of the program we do with learners is record yourself on video, giving us a review or record yourself, like, giving us feedback about what you love or what you hate. And them just putting themselves out there, having to look at the camera and talk about something, like, serious for the first time and knowing that other people are going to see it is, like, great practice. So that's super cool. The thing that I want to double click on is your journey. So part of my personal story is I end up working at Apple at some point in time between, you know, starting my first company and stimuli, and I had no idea I would ever be able to work for Apple. So I realized that maybe that's something similar for you. But talk a little bit about the journey you've been on, how it impacts the work that you do today. Yeah, gosh. I think, like, journey is, like, you think of it of, like, the dash in between. Right. And there's so much in there. Originally grew up in the Bay Area. My mom was, like, in education for over 40 years, and dad also worked, but definitely was more of, I would say, kind of the quote, unquote, disciplinary in the sense of, like, I couldn't play basketball or any sports for that matter, when I was younger. Like, if I didn't have good grades and kind of in my mind, I would have thought that would have came from my mom. But my dad was definitely, like, the stickler there. So, like, on both sides, it was about getting good grades and really understanding, you know, the sacrifices that my parents made in order to raise both me, my sister, and my brothers. There's five of us. And ensure that, like, not only we were getting a good education, but that, you know, we were, like, learning and evolving as, like, good people as well. And so eventually moved from the Bay Area down to Long beach to Go to Cal State Long beach, got a degree in business marketing. I always joke that it's interesting that I'm doing this work now where seemingly I'm providing opportunities for, like, work experience or, like, exposure to the career. And it was really my senior year last semester that I had to decide between studying abroad or getting an internship that was actually related to, like, my degree. And I was like, well, if I go study abroad, then that means I might come back and not have a job and have to move back in with my parents. So, like, let me get this internship. And I had a professor who basically would bring executives in from the industry and the advertising and marketing industry and encourage us to, like, talk to them. Like, everything was about your network. It continues to be about your network. And that was how I got my first internship. During that internship, I remember to your point about, like, videos and having to put yourself out there. It was coming to the end. At the end of the summer of three months, I really enjoyed everything that I was learning. I was working, like, in entertainment, working on marketing campaigns for TV shows that me and my friends were actually watching, which felt really cool at the time. I said, I want to, like, keep doing this. And so I went to our SVPs and put time on their calendar. And when we met, they said, lindsey, I'm not sure if you set up this meeting or if we set up this meeting. And I said, oh, I set it up because I want to, like, continue to work here. And they're like, great, we're on the same page. We'd love to, like, offer you a coordinator role. And so I think just even kind of tying back to what we were saying about, like, the confidence piece of it is that so much of it was just wanting to, even if I didn't know that this is what I was doing, like, build towards my future or build towards something that, like, I cared about and that I was, like, passionate about. And at that time, being, like, what, 21, 22 years old, I thought it was cool that I was, like, working on TV shows and coming up with marketing campaigns that my friends cared about. Right. What I care about now has evolved all those years later, but that has kind of always been a guiding process principle or North Star for me in regards to what do I care about and why am I doing this work? After five years of being at that marketing agency, I then left to help launch a startup. Learned a lot in that. I don't think at the time I knew this, but it really codified my interest in, like, entrepreneurial spirit and, like, building things and, like, working with teams and trying things. And I think that was, like, honestly my first time of, like, really feeling failure and, like, what does that mean? And how do you pick yourself back up from failing? But in failing, it was like my first time of raising capital and being, like, trusted with a big idea to see, like, can you scale and grow it? Which I'm sure you could probably relate to. And we could probably go on so many different tangents with this conversation from that standpoint. Then I got into really, the space and the time was early days in la, around kind of the startup culture. And being from the Bay Area, I had heard that a lot with, like, parents and. And friends of parents and things like that. But it was our time here in la and so it was helping support a number of different founders, women, people of color that just were experiencing some of the same kind of struggles that I was and so got into doing some consulting there. And then I'll fast forward quickly. That brought me to today, but I was volunteering for a principal for a day, and that director at the time was like, oh, do you want to go to happy hour? I thought it was really interesting that they had, you know, would take their volunteers out for happy hour. And by the end of it, they had said, oh, we're actually building tech talent pipelines here in Los Angeles to help connect students, women, people of color into the tech industry. And I was like, oh, wow. I was doing that with entrepreneurs. I could do that with students. And so did that with the LA area Chamber of Commerce for a number of years, and SNAP was one of our partners. And then about, gosh, five and a half almost six years ago, then came in house here at SNAP to continue to build that work out, not only here in Los Angeles, but globally. So, yeah, I love that story. Hearing it the second time, I don't know if you gave us a little bit more insight than the first time that I heard it, but that's really cool. Anytime I hear somebody, like, understands the startup world in life, it's like, oh, you give me, you know, we speak the same language. You mentioned you experienced failure for the first time. So at Stimuli, we talk a lot about how you often learn the most from your failures. Right. Like I tell everybody, I learned way more from failure than I ever did from anything else in life. Tell us more. Like, as much as you're, like, open to sharing about what happened at the startup, and then I want to transition to your highest hopes for the next generation. Yeah, absolutely. I would probably say that in failing with the startup, that was the first work failure again, just because we have like, sports in common as well. I feel like when we lost going into the state championship, that like crushed me from that standpoint. But I think that the similarity between the two is actually, you know, you're working so hard, you're putting in a ton of hours, like whether it's on the core or you're working with like your engineering team or something, from that perspective, you really believe in it. You've built this relationship with like whoever's in the trenches with you, and when you come up short, it just feels like a gut punch. And so whether again, that was for basketball and like losing to the other team and feeling like, damn, we could have beat them, or in startup world where like, we had to come to this critical point where it was, you know, having that conversation of like, can we grow and scale to like, really meet our users needs? And having that honest conversation as a team to understand where are we at and what's that next milestone to get there and realizing that we were falling short of that, right? And realizing that the market was changing for what it is that we needed. And then also kind of being able to do a bit of reflection because I think that that's like a huge piece of like failing. It's not just like you fail and then like you're down in the dumps. Failure is part of life. And so it's like, how do you come out the other side? And I think a key piece of that is getting really quiet with yourself and reflecting. And even when you're in those moments of like, damn, this sucks, is being able to be like, okay, but what sucks about it? And like, what did I learn from it? And where were the wins and where were the losses? And like, are there other things that I could have done with those losses? Were there other things where I could have went a little bit harder? Even on those wins and writing them down, Writing them down so that then like, you can like point back to them and be able to be super clear about like, well, what is it that I want to do next and how do I move from this point so that you're constantly learning? Because again, failure is always a part of life. And so like, when I feel like I'm at a crossroads or I feel like I'm at a similar juncture, I'm able to like go back, be in that space and be like, what did I learn? How did I grow from those things and just say, like, what do I do next and how do I prepare myself? Because I think oftentimes too it's also preparing yourself mentally for like, what is it that you're experiencing as you're going through all of these cycles? Right. Because everything's very cyclical in life and so it's bound to happen again. But it's like, okay, I'm taking, each time that I fail, I'm taking little building blocks of like, what I'm learning from this so that I have even stronger resilience the next time that I come up against something. Yeah, thanks for double clicking on that. I. As I'm listening to you talk, one, I'm like, wow, you're such a talented individual, you know, because you can't hand somebody that experience. Like Jensen from Nvidia talks often about like he hopes struggle on his employees. Cause like, struggle is what builds character. Yeah. So as I'm hearing you talk, I'm thinking, wow, she's really talented. You know, that's like the type of people we aspire to hire at Stimuli. But two, I'm thinking it's amazing that you're in the position that you're in at snap. Right. Because sometimes we've worked a lot with different companies and when you don't have the right people in the right seats, right. Who really, like, can empathize or have gone down their own journeys to really understand what this next generation is experiencing and how to grow that talent pipeline, then you end up missing a little bit. So I'm also excited about what you do there. So let's talk a little bit more about that. You mentioned the nine week program. Let's click into it. Tell. We have a lot of young people that are listening. Tell them what opportunities are available a hundred percent. So my team essentially builds out and creates all of the student experiences at the company. The reason that this like, work is so meaningful and, and I really feel like that I've been able to find that sweet spot of things I care about personally and professionally is because of the story I was just sharing with you in the sense that it was like I can remember, you know, my dad telling me, like, you're gonna have to work two times as hard as everybody else to be able to like make it no matter what it is, whether that was like on the court playing basketball or whether it was in my career. And while I didn't know that a job in philanthropy even really existed, maybe when I was, you know, 21, 22, I really thought philanthropy was all writing checks. We have the unique privilege of being able to create experiences so that students understand what it's like to work at a tech company. And so that when you think of a Snapchat or a stimuli and you're playing the game or you're chatting to your friend or you're sending them like a really funny, you know, AR lens on Snapchat, you're understanding what's going on behind that. And then furthermore, you're understanding like, I could work there, like there's people that work there that look like me, that have similar experiences to me, that came from my community, that, you know, studied what I studied in school and that there's not one right way to get into tech. And so our work is all focused again around being able to provide that access. And so it starts with what I consider like high school students that are maybe exploring or being asked what do they want to do. And if you don't have somebody that's working at Snapchat or stimuli or in the tech industry, in your family or in your community, you might not know that that's an option for you. And so we're that extended community where we do campus tours, where we're introducing you to SNAP team members to give you feedback and critique on your work, where they're your pitch coaches and judges and like a business pitch competition. And then as I was mentioning, the nine week program, it's called the Snap Academies, It's a paid nine week program. You're with us Monday through Friday, just like a SNAP team member and you're focused on whatever you know your career role is. So is that going into like graphic design or ux UI design and like building out what it looks like from a product design perspective on the app, is that being an engineer and working on front end or backend, Are you a storyteller, thinking about kind of marketing, communications, branding from that perspective or, or are you one of our AR creators and being a part of the Lens Academy? So we have four different academies. It's for 15 community college students or recent transfers. We specifically focused on community college students because we realized that there was a gap in the market of like there's opportunities at four year colleges, there's opportunities coming out of high school, but what about community college and how do you build upon, especially when you're early in your career and you're taking those classes and you're in. The classes are challenging, but you participate in the Snap Academies and you go back and you say, great, I want to be that engineer, I want to Be that marketer. Because I had this phenomenal experience over the summer. That's our sweet spot. And this past summer, in 2025 alone, we had over 500 SNAP team members that volunteered and interacted with our 60 scholars. And so that's everything from fireside chats. We do this really amazing thing called Council, which is like a listening practice. It's that feedback and critique. Every scholar's paired with a mentor. Everyone's doing mock interviews, resume reviews, like really anything and everything. You can kind of think about whether it's getting you prepared to enter the workforce, whether you're here in the workforce or it's setting you up to get like that internship or that full time job. We've really tried to curate in the nine week experience. So that with the goal that after our scholars leave the academies, they're ready, they're intern ready, they can go take on that next opportunity. And like maybe that's that stimuli, right? Like not every person who goes through the academies says great, like I want to work at Snapchat. We'd love to be able to have them all work at Snapchat. And many of them do, which is really exciting. We've had amazing success of not only going from the SNAP Academies to then an internship to even full time, which has been like a huge career win and had so much buy in from our team. And our leadership team has just been like incredible. But it's really about, you know, at the end of the day, if we boil it down to one thing, is just being able to have access to opportunity. Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. So I want our audience to know, like, how do they find out about this opportunity? When is it launching? Yeah. Do you target any certain, like demographics? Like are there certain states or cities that you guys are focused on? Can it be from anywhere? Give us some more info. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So first and foremost they can just check out snapacademies.com that's the website that has all of the information. We typically launch applications in March of each year. Again, as mentioned, this will be our ninth summer that we're doing the SNAP Academies, which is a huge testament to just the team and the buy in and the community, our partnerships with like schools, organizations. It's just been incredible from that standpoint. And during that time though is that we understand that students are coming from a variety of different backgrounds, a variety of different career paths. And so we do info sessions and so we actually tap into our team members to do virtual info sessions for all four academies. So say for instance, you've taken a Graphic Design 101 class and you're like, great. I want to understand like, how do I take this to the next level and learn from a SNAP team member? We do that virtually with people from our design team and so on and so forth for engineering, for marketing, and then also for AR as well. Students come from across the US the academies, design, engineering and storytelling are held here in Santa Monica at our SNAP headquarters, the Lens Academy. We purposely remained virtual. One of the silver linings of the pandemic, if you will, is so that we were able to open it up to students across the US to be able to apply. And then yeah, we have like a full application process where they're filling out an application, they're doing video interviews just to what you were mentioning. So many steps in the interview process, whether you get accepted into the academies or not, are just great for, for building the skills that every team member has here at snap. It's presenting yourself, it's developing communication skills, it's professionalism, it's persuasion. Right. It's being able to critically think about the questions that we've asked you and how you're going to respond back to them. And again, showing up as your authentic self of like, how I can be a value add to the company because everyone has an asset and something that they can bring to the team. That's what we're looking for. And so it's building those skills throughout the application period. So they go through application, they do a video interview. We actually have them do an assessment to kind of understand where your skills at. That really allows us to balance the curriculum and understand, you know, where are folks at? And especially in a conversation where AI is like the leading topic of discussion, it's being able to understand, well, where are you tailor at to today and how can we support you over those nine weeks so that you can grow and develop those skills? Because if AI is going to do it for you, then like maybe this isn't the right opportunity for you, you know, And I think that that's one of the things that we could probably get into a whole nother discussion about. Right. Is like when we think about early career talent, it's so important to build that foundational and fundamental technical skills, whether again if it's creative or tech related because then you can build upon them. When you start to think, think about AI. But like we need you to have like the foundational pieces and that's really what we strive to do with the SNAP Academies. Yeah, a few Things that I love that you shared is one, when you meet young learners or early talent, oftentimes they are great by themselves. Right. And then it's like once you equip them with the tools, the confidence, the experience, now all of a sudden, you're unlocking something that was already in them. Right. And we're not getting any talent that all of a sudden, like, they're going from, you know, A to Z. No, you're just, like, enhancing what's already exists within them. So I love that you touched on that. Yeah. The other thing that's crossing my mind is I wonder if you have any personal stories you can share. Like, are there any stories of young people that you interacted with and maybe they went from Snap Academy to working alongside you, but anything you want to share that's, like, one of your most memorable engagements? Yeah, there's so many stories I definitely have. Well, if I can share, like, maybe two really quickly. Awesome. One sticks with me all the time. It was 2018. It was the first year that we launched the Snap Design Academy. That was the first of the four that we launched. And I remember, you know, building it out and interviewing a student. Student did amazing. Like, really nervous and timid in the beginning, but, like, really, like, once you got into the conversation in the flow and like you said, just kind of tapped into who they are and their everyday genius, like, did amazing. Right. And I think that that's something that students can hold on to, is that, like, we're not looking for you to conform and be somebody else. It's all about being you and then, like, finding the company, finding the environment that embraces that. And so this student in particular definitely did that. Like, I was like, you got to work here at Snap, like, not only just the academies, at that point, we didn't have, like, the full pipeline built out. It was the first year we were like, it's the pilot. Like, let's run it. But I was like, you should be working at Snap anyways, though. I remember calling a student and they responded back to me. I said, you know, you've been accepted. And they. They responded back to me, like, can I have some time to think about it? Came back to me and said, I'm not sure. My parents don't know if I can make a career as a designer. And I was like, well, okay, right? And so I said, you know, hey, I'm happy to, like, have this conversation and with your parents. And so then I hopped on the phone with his mom and just explained. Explained, you know, There are designers that are making, you know, high five, six, seven figures in their careers. And that moment, and the student ended up, the mom got it, understood, was, like, so grateful. Just the extra step. But I think so often that's what's missed is that extra step. And a lot of times when it's young people that are coming from, again, underrepresented backgrounds, they might be the first in their family to go to college, they might be the first in their family to be going into the tech industry and don't have anybody else to lean on or know that that's, like, a good career that you can provide for yourself, for your family, etc. It's like taking that extra step. And so sometimes it's not even just the exposure to, like, the technical skills. It's to the industry. It's to the opportunity to like what exists. It's to, like, what can change from a generational wealth standpoint. And I think that that's the thing that, like, again, eight, almost nine years later, as we open up applications in March, that's what keeps me kind of coming back to this work, is there's so much to be done. There's so much, like, education of what's out there and the opportunities. And then the byproduct of it is that, like, we tap into the most, like, brilliant and talented people that are coming with so much hunger and desire to, like, learn. And like you said, they already have it in them. We're just, like, tapping in to something, like, even bigger. And for them to even see it bigger than themselves, and then there's a ripple effect, right? Because then now you go back, you talk to your cousins and say, oh, I'm going to Snapchat this summer. This is what I'm doing. Now, all of a sudden, they believe, and now they have somebody in their family who's done it. So that that conversation to mom, I can always do it, but now they have that person directly to be able to say, taylor, tell me about this. How'd you do it? And now we're creating that. That ripple effect. And we're creating it in many communities who have lacked access to those types of opportunities in the past. Yeah, that's all your stories are hidden in a cord. We're like, I don't know if we're playing, like, in the orchestra or choir landing. For me. Yeah, that's so powerful. It really and truly is. And it makes me also think back to, you know, in Texas, we have a big semiconductor boom going on, and when you Talk to folks about attracting people to that industry. There's a lot of great jobs and they say the same thing. It's really like we haven't maybe a society done a good job of almost marketing industries for people to understand the opportunities that are available. So that really lands. And I think that's something that probably, you know, crosses different barriers into other industries. That same thing have a lot of promise to them, but nobody understands what they are. You had a second story you want to tell. You want to dive into that? Oh, yeah. So just quickly there is that, like, I think about this all the time, but that, you know, one of the big wins, I think now kind of looking at the program over some time. The first one was like just getting the program off and like being able to see that 2018, like, it was a success and that we were building it out. But since then, we now again have gone from one academy to four academies and building them out. And I've worked really closely with a lot of like, what we call cross functional teams. So whether that's working with our design team, our engineering team, marketing teams, our AR and lens creator teams to build relationships, because all of it is relationship built in the sense that our team are the ones who are volunteering. So it's all SNAP team members who are volunteering and serving as those mentors, giving them presentations, giving them briefs, all of those different things. And so it's been a true full circle moment in the sense with we have been known at SNAP to have a relatively small design team. And so one of the women who now excitingly is a director of design here actually came through the SNAP Academies, which is just like, amazing. I mean, so amazing. So amazing. Exactly. And it's incredible because then you also see what that does within a company as well is that it's, you know, she continues to show up as a mentor. The team is like super bought in and wanting to like, support and give feedback and kind of see the talent. They're asking questions because at the same time, like, our team's learning just as much from our scholars as our scholars are learning from our team. Right? Because they have a different point of view and perspective. They're coming at challenges from a different way. Sometimes you can be in the work for so long that you're like, oh, yeah, like, let's get back to basics. Or like, let's remember this. Let's have creative ideas, let's have brainstorm sessions. And so being able to see that, see her growth, see her buy into the academies and how the team just continues to show up, particularly for our designers, is incredible. For our engineers this year in particular, we just had 100% conversion, meaning that they came from the SNAP Engineering Academy. We offered them an internship role this past summer, 2025, and they just received offers, full time offers for 2026. And we've been doing that for the past. What year are we in? 2025? Two or three years. Yeah. Which is incredible. That is incredible storytelling and AR creator. So it's just like one of those things. It's like we could go on and on of the success stories, but it really has been just an amazing like partnership across the business and like the buy in again that like we have from our leaders and everybody in between. Because I think that that's the other thing within SNAP is that like we're all designed and called upon to be leaders. Right. And so in my way it's building out the SNAP academies, right. And I think encouraging students to understand, like, where can I be a leader? Whether you're, you know, vying for that internship opportunity, whether you're starting, you know, your own company, whether you're within a company and already taking on projects, it's like, how can I be a leader? How can I leave my, my footprint? Like, how can I like, have a stamp on whatever it is that you're creating and wanting to be? And I think that continuing to again, look for that yourself, but also seek those types of opportunities, that type of growth will just, you know, do young people, do all people really, quite frankly, really well in their career? You know, sometimes when people are saying cool stuff, like, you can recognize it's cool just because it's like, yeah, 100% conversion rate, like that's, you know, a 1, the goal maybe in everything you do. But I have about 10 years experience working alongside programs where you have Fortune 500 companies partnered with high schools, you know, to build a talent pipeline. But I've never heard anybody be able to tout that stat of the conversion rate. Right? Not only like grabbing them young, bringing them into the internship and then actually employing them. So falling in love with SNAP as, as we speak. But I did want our audience to know that even though Lindsay's talking about this so casually, like, this is a really big deal and other corporations should take note because it is possible. I also love your strategy on reaching down to community college students for the same reason that you said there are a lot of opportunities afforded to the students who are already in four year universities. And then like, even when you look at the conversion rate of how many students enroll in community college versus how many graduate. Right. Like, you guys are kind of meeting a stopgap where, you know, maybe some of those learners would have decided to drop out had they not met your program. So super exciting. If you were to make a big, bold statement either on behalf of yourself or SNAP or both. As far as your highest hopes for, like, your work with the SNAP Academies, what would it be? Like, what is your highest hope for the next generation? Good one. I'm going to pause on that one really quickly to go back to something you just said and also to like, give myself more time to think about that one. But I was just going to say is, I think stemming back to the work that I was doing prior to this at SNAP and doing it with the LA Area Chamber of Commerce. Like, there are really amazing companies that are also doing this work in other industries. And so even to when you were talking about, you know, like, the growth within Dallas and like some of the other industries that are popping out, I just encourage, like, young people to kind of seek out those different opportunities and being able to utilize technology, like use the Internet, like, really. I mean, I know that sounds so basic, but. But being able to just identify if there's other opportunities and being able to put, you know, graphic design plus internship or work experience or just look for those different things or look for it based upon a company. I mean, like, for instance, like we call ours the Snap Academies. So you wouldn't have necessarily searched, like, oh, what are the Snap Academies? You would have been thinking about an internship. But like, if you love a company or you're super interested in a particular industry, like, go deep, it shows up and people recognize that. And I think the other big thing too is like, being in the industry, you want to support that, you want to support that hunger. Again, I've had people who haven't gotten into the academies that have, like, followed up with me, that have asked to do coffee chats that I continue to keep supporting from that perspective. So I just wanted to, like, go to that piece really quickly because I think there are a lot of companies who are doing this work and I just encourage other companies to be able to do that. And we're starting to do that. We have a social impact collective where we bring together 30 or 40 companies annually to talk about workforce development and early career talent. So if folks are interested in in doing that or they're already doing the work and looking for a community or learning how to, like, build that out, happy to kind of share more in that regard. So I'll double click while you. Yes, yes, yes. Take your time. So what I heard is a couple of things. One, speaking to the next generation, if you have a passion, get on the Internet and look and see what other companies are doing. Because you're right, there are a lot of companies that are doing a lot of work. Maybe it looks like the Snap Academy, maybe it doesn't, but they are trying to find you and offer opportunities to go in and look. And then I'm also hearing kind of a shout out to any corporates that might be listening and are wanting to dig in, wanting to make impact, whether it's sharing success stories or leaning in and just figuring out how to get started. And a pathway might be checking out your social impact collective. So double clicking there. You answered one of my questions early. You can take this whichever way you wanted to go. Because I did want to give you opportunity to speak to parents since we're already speaking to young people in corporates. Anything you want to say to parents? Yeah, I'll go back to your question though, because I don't want to dodge it. I think just like, on my own behalf of. What I'm, like, most excited about is that, you know, the Snap Academies is one program of many. I think on like a weekly basis, we have students coming to any of our different offices around the world, Right? So this is a global mission where we're activating at all of our SNAP offices around the world of being able to connect with hyperlocal organizations, open up our office doors and be able to say, like, come and learn. Come meet somebody so that you have that light bulb moment and like, let's shoot for the stars, right? In the sense of like, I hope that, like, one day somebody's able to, like, look back on their own journey and say, wow. It was from that SNAP campus tour, it was from that panel discussion, it was being a part of the Snap Academies that I launched my own company. Right. It was that moment when Evan, our CEO of Snap, came around and asked, like, what they were working on and he double clicked, like, what you're doing on the question that split spark something in them and they remember. And like, that's the part where they're like, I want to be a CEO one day. I'm starting the next stimuli. Like, I'm starting the next whatever the company is. Like, I hope that it's just again, that inspiration because while we can teach you, like, all of the, like, different technical skills and things like that it goes back to what we were talking about in the beginning of like building the confidence to know that you can launch and take your idea from idea to concept to like business. Right. But it does take grit and resilience and like true leadership and believing in yourself to then encourage other people to like, believe in you from there. So big goal and aspiration, but I have no doubt that we'll have that success story and I'll be back here to tell you about it sooner rather than later. Your question in regards to parents, I think one of the things that has been great has been our partnership with our public policy team and being able to educate parents, educators, folks that aren't on Snapchat or that might not know about Snapchat, you know, today in 2025, or have one way of thinking about it. The team's done an amazing job of being able to create a parent center or a family center, I should call it, of just being able to provide education tools in regards to like, what is Snapchat? What are my kids or my students doing on Snapchat? How can I help support? And then furthermore, even being able to have prompts and questions of like, how do I engage in dialogue and be able to share like what we as like the family family, the educator, the whomever it is, the guardian. And that per the community organization's leader. Right. Like, what do we think about that? Right. And just being able to have an access point for a conversation because I think sometimes the conversation can get skewed and a big thing that the team is really focused on is digital well being and kind of thinking about that holistically and how we support young people. And in order to support young people, one, young people need to be in the conversation. And if you're supporting them, then you need be in the conversation too. And that's how it makes a two way street to be able to understand that and create space to have a conversation around, you know, any like, concerns or things that are like going really well. Right. And being able to be that much more connected to the person in your life from that perspective. So a long way of saying that is just shout out to our team again, big cross functional team. But there's a SNAP Family Center. You can literally type that up. It comes up on our snap.com website that has an amazing amount of different like tools and resources for parents, educators, community leaders, et cetera. That's great. I listen to a lot of Oprah podcasts and she always is like, that was a tweetable moment. You had so many of those. Yeah. I am so happy we had this conversation. Like the world, if they don't already know about the great work you all are doing, particularly you're doing as well, then they deserve to know. So I'm excited that we get to spread the word about what's happening. It's a serious team effort. So it's like, yes, one person here on the podcast talking about it, but it's definitely supported by my team. Chandelle and Sierra sit here with me in la. Cords oversees the work in London. And really, I think the the efforts of our SNAP team members globally because really, like, we wouldn't be able to do the work without them. We're so volunteer first in the sense that, like, our biggest metric is ensuring that every SNAP team member volunteers at least once a year. Right. And so if we think about that, like, we're doing all of this programming because, like, our team knows that, like, they also have a unique point of view. They also have kind of a maybe non traditional way to get into the tech industry and being able to share that again for that moment or that light bulb moment for somebody else, it's always like a form of, like, paying it back. And then furthermore, like, our team always is like, wow, I learned so much, like, from the students that were here today, or it helped me with my work, or we're pitching something to a client and I was able to have a conversation, or we just talked about trends in life and it just reminded me of, like, what it meant to be in high school. And I'm able to tell them, like, it's okay, like, it all works out right. It all works out okay. One foot in front of the other. It truly is okay. And it does work out well. I look forward to our part two of the podcast. And if I was to make it Christmas wish, it would be like, let's talk a little bit about AI and then it would be amazing if we had one of your team members that have been to SNAP Academy, whether it's like that director or whoever it is on to kind of talk about their experience. But thank you so much. Is there anything else you want to leave our audience with? Yeah, I'm like, I love that Christmas wish. Like, let's see, like, make it happen for us. Awesome. Amazing. Thank you so much for having me. All right, all right, all right. That's a wrap on today's episode of Big Tech Energy by Stimuli. Remember, AI doesn't have to be intimidating. Exclusive or just for the tech bros. This is your hustle, your future, your bag. And we're here to help keep you ready, real, and ahead of the curve. Love this episode. Well, don't just listen. Make some moves. 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