656. Start Before You’re Ready: Building Good Natured Learning from the Ground Up - Becca Katz

Summary

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Podcast Summary

We Are For Good Podcast: Episode 656

Title: Start Before You’re Ready: Building Good Natured Learning from the Ground Up - Becca Katz
Date: November 3, 2025
Host(s): Jon McCoy (A), Becky Endicott (D)
Guest: Becca Katz (E), Executive Director & Co-founder of Good Natured Learning

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Main Theme

This episode explores the journey of starting something impactful before you feel fully "ready." Becca Katz, calling in from Nairobi, Kenya, reflects on creating Good Natured Learning — a nonprofit that fosters well-being, learning, and nature-connectedness in schools. The conversation centers around overcoming imposter syndrome, building sustainable educational programs, and the value of community-centered, humble leadership in making a difference globally.

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Detailed Breakdown

1. Introduction & Guest Arrival

• [00:36-02:31]
  • Hosts Jon and Becky warmly set the stage, expressing how special and relatable Becca's story is.
  • Becca is welcomed as a long-time listener and member of the We Are For Good community.
  • The episode is framed around “starting before you’re ready,” leading with audacity and humility, and acting on vision now rather than waiting for perfection.

2. Becca’s Early Connection with Nature

• [03:10-04:43]
  • Becca shares her upbringing in Wisconsin, noting formative experiences in her family’s backyard, gardening, building snow forts, and immersive canoe trips at Camp Manitouish.
  • She highlighted transformational adventures, including leading 50-day canoe expeditions in the Canadian Arctic.
    • “It makes you feel small but not unimportant.” – Becca Katz [04:19]

3. The Founder’s Journey & Community-Driven Change

• [04:43-11:51]
  • Becca narrates her path from a nature-based educator in Colorado to initiating programs for underserved students who, paradoxically, lived near nature yet remained disconnected from it.
  • She describes leading a collaborative community coalition, securing a $3M grant, and launching Get Outdoors Leadville.
  • A shift occurs when Becca realizes traditional models (like field trips) are unsustainable. She emphasizes embedding “bite-sized nature connections” into daily school life.
    • Examples: Teachers taking students outside for lessons, observing immediate benefits to student happiness and learning.
    • Covid-19 and relocation to Kenya: Becca’s family moves due to her husband’s work, leading to discussions about how or whether to adapt her work to a new country.

4. Serendipity and Starting Good Natured Learning in Kenya

• [11:51-14:09]
  • Becca details how a funder supporting both Colorado and Kenya enabled her to conduct “discovery” with Kenyan educators.
  • Quick developments: A Kenyan partner offers to begin a cohort, and within weeks, Becca is committing to launch despite uncertainty about funding or logistics.
    • “You just say yes.” – Becca Katz [13:23]
    • “We’re not in discovery anymore. We are just launching.” – Becca Katz [13:53]

5. Addressing Imposter Syndrome

• [14:09-18:51]
  • Open conversation about imposter syndrome: rejection from early funders, feeling like “accidental founders,” and reframing struggle.
    • “We didn’t get rejected, we got prejected.” – Becca Katz [15:22]
    • She differentiates environmental education from broader educational goals and insists on connecting every educator, regardless of specialty, to nature.
    • On feeling “enough”: Becca references Annie Lamott's “Bird by Bird” and a new perspective learned from a friend:
      • “Being enough was going to have to be an inside job.” – Becca Katz [17:49]
      • “Together, we are enough”—value of community and teamwork over individual perfection.

6. Mindset: Pragmatic Optimism & Co-Building with Educators

• [21:51-24:27]
  • Becca rejects “fake it till you make it”; instead, she advocates, “You don’t fake it till you make it. You just try stuff and then you make it.” [21:54]
  • She emphasizes practical, asset-based solutions, working with the resources at hand and continuous innovation.
  • Partnership with teachers is fundamental: Every educator is seen as the “deepest expert” of their own context.
    • “The innovations are infinite...there are as many innovations as there are educators.” – Becca Katz [23:45]

7. Community-Centered Philanthropy & Memorable Moments

• [25:19-27:39]
  • Becca’s most memorable philanthropy story: A community member in Colorado, an immigrant from Mexico who became integral to both her professional and personal life, chose to support Good Natured Learning with a recurring donation—despite limited means.
    • “You and your organization, what you’re doing, you deserve it.” – Recurring donor, via Becca Katz [26:32]
    • Reflections on accepting generosity and its transformative power.

8. Becca’s “One Good Thing” – Practical Advice

• [28:30-30:03]
  • Becca shares wisdom from her mentor:
    • “You have to approach this work with the frame of reference of a lift, not a burden. Everything has to be a lift, not a burden.” – Kate Bartlett, via Becca Katz [28:38]
  • This has become a mantra and organizational value—striving to buoy teachers’ well-being and make their jobs lighter and more joyful.

9. Closing Thoughts & Connection

• [30:03-32:21]
  • The hosts reinforce the “lift, not a burden” mindset and encourage listeners to “get outside” and find inspiration in nature.
  • Becca provides ways to connect (LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, her Substack “Mother in Nature”, and the Good Natured Learning website).
  • Final motivation: Act “now” and discard the myth of needing to be more or “enough” before aiming for impact.
    • “Being enough is an inside job and at some point you just gotta kind of call it and try some stuff.” – Becca Katz [31:39]

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Childhood & Nature:
  • “It makes you feel small but not unimportant.” – Becca Katz [04:19]
• On Key Decision-Making:
  • “You just say yes.” – Becca Katz [13:23]
  • “We’re not in discovery anymore. We are just launching.” – Becca Katz [13:53]
• On Imposter Syndrome:
  • “We didn’t get rejected, we got prejected.” – Becca Katz [15:22]
  • “Being enough was going to have to be an inside job.” – Becca Katz [17:49]
  • “Together, we are enough.” – Becca Katz [18:15]
• On Building Change:
  • “You don’t fake it till you make it. You just try stuff and then you make it.” – Becca Katz [21:54]
  • “The innovations are infinite...there are as many innovations as there are educators.” – Becca Katz [23:45]
• On Philanthropy & Generosity:
  • “You and your organization, what you’re doing, you deserve it.” – Donor, via Becca Katz [26:32]
• Guiding Principle:
  • “You have to approach this work with the frame of reference of a lift, not a burden.” – Kate Bartlett, via Becca Katz [28:38]
• Final Encouragement:
  • “Being enough is an inside job and at some point you just gotta kind of call it and try some stuff.” – Becca Katz [31:39]
  • “You are enough. You as you are, however you show up, that is what the world needs.” – Becky Endicott [31:58]

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Key Takeaways

• Start before you feel “ready.” Real impact happens when you step forward, even in uncertainty.
• Embrace community and collaboration. Solutions are co-created; no one has to go it alone.
• Imposter syndrome is universal. Focus on internal “enoughness” as well as collective capability.
• Innovation is contextual. Teachers and educators are the best experts for their environments and needs.
• Generosity is powerful and humbling, showing up in all forms and from unexpected places.
• Prioritize “lift, not a burden.” Programs and initiatives should lighten, not weigh down, those they serve.
• Stay connected to nature and yourself. Nature offers healing, perspective, and joy for both learners and leaders.

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How to Connect with Becca & Good Natured Learning

• LinkedIn: Becca Katz, Good Natured Learning
• Instagram/Facebook: @goodnaturedlearning
• Website: goodnaturedlearning.org
• Substack: “Mother in Nature” – stories about mothering and caretaking the natural world

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For nonprofit leaders and changemakers, Becca’s journey is a vivid reminder: you don’t need all the answers to begin—just a willingness to act, connect, and trust in collective strength. This episode is a must-listen for inspiration on starting, persevering, and nurturing sustainable, joyful change.

Transcript

[A]

Hey, I'm John.

[B]

And I'm Becky.

[C]

And this is the We Are for Good podcast.

[B]

Nonprofits are faced with more challenges to accomplish their missions and the growing pressure to do more, raise more, and be more for the causes that improve our world.

[C]

We're here to learn with you from some of the best in the industry, bringing the most innovative ideas, inspirational stories, all to create an impact uprising.

[B]

So welcome to the good community. We're nonprofit professionals, philanthropists, world changers, and rabid fans who are striving to bring a little more goodness into the world.

[C]

So let's get started.

[A]

Becky, what's happening?

[D]

I am so excited that someone in our community is on the podcast today. You all are in for a treat because you get to meet Becca.

[A]

Oh, my gosh. Like, this conversation has been coming for a while, and this human has, like, captivated not only our attention, but our hearts over the years. And it's so special because, I mean, this particular convo today, I think is so dang relatable. And it really started with a message in our inbox that just stopped us in our tracks and erupted our text thread among each other.

[D]

Yeah. I mean, it was like two simple words. It was. It's time. She wrote, it's time. Becca's been listening to the podcast for years, and since moving to Nairobi three years ago, she said she's ready to share something that she's learned along the way. So we're going to be talking about that today.

[A]

Yeah, like, I. I mean, I'll just quote exactly what she said, is that listening to all the guests featured on the podcast is so inspiring, but it's also intimidating, and the imposter syndrome is real. So it's such an honor to introduce you to our guest today, Becca Katz. She's the executive director and co founder of Good Natured Learning. If you're hearing that, that's not sound effects playing. That is actual nature in the background of Becca's feed, straight from Kenya. But Good Natured Learning is an organization on a mission to improve well being, learning and nature connectedness in schools. I mean, something that we really passionate about up at the bed and McCoy house. I mean, we've just spent all this time in nature. I think it's such a teacher and a healer and all the things. So just so excited to have this convo.

[D]

Yeah. So we're going to also just dive into Becca's story and have a conversation today about what it means to start before you're ready to lead with audacity and humility and to build your vision now, not someday. It's the taking advantage of the now. And so I think there is no one better than to have this conversation with us than Becca. So, Becca, thanks so much for joining us. Welcome to the We Are for Good podcast.

[E]

Thank you so much for having me. It feels like this homecoming, which is funny because it's the first time it does.

[D]

It feels like we've known you for years. I still remember one of the first messages. I think it was a DM on LinkedIn that I got from you. And we were just connecting. And later you said, hey, I think you should know this person, Lindsay Fuller, she seems to jive with you. And now we've done so many podcasts with Lindsay. And so I just think everyone is in for a really great treat to just get to know you, get to know about good natured learning. But first, like, take us back, fill in some of the gaps in your story and tell us how. What really led you to this moment?

[E]

I think that it would be important to start with where my love for nature started, which was a backyard. I grew up in Wisconsin in a little town called Eau Claire. But I grew up on sort of the outskirts in the woods. And I spent a lot of time playing in the forest by my house. You know, I garden with my mom and we raked leaves and we spent time making snow forts with my dad and my brother and. And then I got to go to a summer camp in northern Wisconsin called Camp Manitouish when I was 11 years old and I went on a three day canoe trip. And that was my first time, like sleeping under the stars. And I remember it in this like very vivid way of like all the laughter and all the singing and canoeing and just really thinking it was amazing and also, you know, being really challenging and sweating a lot, mosquito bites and all the other things too. But really the joy of it and over time, the nature of that camp is that you start with a three day canoe trip and you can keep progressing up and you can end up going on 50 day expeditions in the Canadian Arctic. And as an 18 year old, I went on a 50 day canoe expedition in the Canadian Arctic. And then I like went back and I actually led that whole progression. So I started by leading a three day canoe trip and then I actually ended it leading a 50 day expedition. And so over time I just like chased a lot of big nature experiences. And it was really formative for me in terms of just the type of perspective and thinking you can do when you spend time connecting with something that's just so much bigger than yourself. Like, it makes you feel small but not unimportant. So that, that I think is really obviously formative for what I've ended up doing with, with my life.

[D]

I mean, holy smokes. Becca, I just have to say, like, we, we visited a little bit while you were in Colorad, while you've moved to Kenya. And you are so lit up in your space right now. I wish everyone could see you with your background and the way that you come alive when you talk about this. I mean, it is what we love most when we talk to founders. And I want you to talk a little bit about that founder journey. What has this experience been like to build something from the ground up in a home that is, I would say, almost on the other side of the world from where you grew up? And what would you say to other founders who are thinking about making that leap?

[E]

I kind of went to what I would say like the ends of the earth. And I then ended up living in this small mountain town in Colorado in another big nature chasing job. And then through a series of things, really truly commuting to and from that job. Every day I would go past our local public schools which were like Title 1 high poverty schools. And I was going to and from this private school where I was taking students from all over the country, country to the mountains. And they were amazing students and I had amazing experiences. But I realized that the kids in those schools were growing up in the shadows of Colorado's two highest mountains and they had never even been to the base of those mountains and like they could see them from, from their homes. They were in these communities and they weren't getting an opportunity to like connect with the nature that was in their backyard. That ate away at me over time. And then I got an opportunity to work in this grant funded initiative through Colorado Lottery dollars that are allocated through Great Outdoors Colorado to fund work mostly in like trail building and other things. But there was a grant that was essentially allocated specifically to try to connect underserved youth and families with nature. And I ended up getting an opportunity to sort of co facilitate this really diverse coalition of people, including youth researchers and promotoras who are like going door to door and asking people like, do you want to connect to nature and what's getting in the way? And you know, the answer, resounding answer, was yes, we want to connect with nature and lots of things are getting in the way. And then the community really, our coalition wrote the grant together and we, we won a $3 million grant over three years to build nature connections in, in our community. And that became a program called Get Outdoors Leadville. And when we got the implementation funding, I took a job in our local schools that I had driven past many times or biked past on my way to the other school. And I and my job in the school was to connect youth with nature, but specifically underserved youth with nature. And we had had youth researchers on that coalition. And I think this is quite fundamental to the orientation there. The reason that my position in the schools was created by those youth researchers because they essentially asked their peers like, do you want to connect nature? If so, how? What's getting in the way? And they came to me and the way that youth kind of just have this clarity, they said, if we want every kid in our community to connect with nature, we have to do it in the schools because that's where we are. There's like a lot of winding paths on this, on this journey. But in my work in the school, of course, because of my orientation coming from Big Nature, I started out with this grant funded program doing big nature programming with the students in the schools. And so we were, we went to the canyons and we went to the mountains and we did these nature chasing experiences. And there was a, there was a sentence in my job description that said I should work myself out of a job during the course of the grant and make up my program self sustaining. And I knew that I wasn't doing that. It's like there's nothing self sustaining. Every time the bus leaves the barn, it costs money and these programs will not run themselves. The only thing we can do is chase grants till the end of time to be able to sustain this work. And I really, you know, felt like my time out spending so much time in nature. I have come to believe that human nature connections are essential for our well being, but they're I think existential for our planet's well being and lost sleepover over that, that sentence. And I felt like we needed to do something differently. And so I really tried to zoom out and I thought, okay, what is self sustaining in a school? And so I thought, okay, this is students and teachers and why are we doing this? Okay, we're doing this to make sure that students and educators have an opportunity to connect with nature. And so is there a way we can really embed that in the day to day practices of a school? And so we started doing trainings in that school still with Get Outdoors Leadville in Lake County School District to Have teachers just take their students outdoors immediately adjacent to the building. We had teachers just like taking their students outside to do a spelling test. And then all the kids got their best grade on that spelling test. We started to just have success and teachers mostly just started saying that they were happier and that their students were happier. And I was like, well that seems like enough, you know. And so that was sort of like where we got the orientation for this sort of like apple a day bite sized nature connections that were just embedded in the way that teachers teach. And that was really the foundation of what good natured learning became. And long story short, Covid happened. I left my work. Our family planned to move to Kenya because of my husband's work in. He works in energy access and climate work all over sort of the global south. And he had been commuting from Colorado to Africa for about 10 years. So we had decided we were going to relocate. And so I was leaving that role with Get Outdoors Leadville and I had like handed it all off to my successor. And then Covid hit and we had sort of a crazy fall of 2020. That was my last semester working in that role. But the fortuitous moment is my friend Erin Allman, who's my co founder, she and I fortuitously got to co lead the last traces of like what I had planned for with an educator's like professional development workshop in the summer. It was called the Brains on Nature fellowship. And she and I got to co lead that. And while on that trip we sort of incubated the idea for what would it look like to take this and actually make it into a thing. And that is truly like good natured learning was born in a tent during a thunderstorm on that trip. So I had felt like this, this tension, right, Because I loved it. It was so fun. But I was on like 3am calls with the teacher cohort in Colorado because of time zone differences and it felt super disembodied. And I really like being where I am. I, you know, I would love to do it here, but you know, I don't know, like, I'm not Kenyan and I'm not from here and I don't know if that's appropriate and I don't want to like come be like, okay, well let me tell you how like you should be doing your education. Like that felt like super bad. And I had just come from that coalition work where it was like youth researchers and promotores and all these people coming together to talk about what they wanted in our community. And we co created it so thoroughly. And so then to come here and just be like, I'm just going to do this in Kenya, it felt really strange. But as luck has it, I think our first major funder in Colorado for our first cohort of the, of the fellowship program happened to also happens to also fund things in Kenya, which is.

[D]

Like, oh my gosh, what are the chances? What meant to be.

[E]

And when she told us that in my first meeting with that program officer, I just remember storing that information. I was like, that's going to be useful someday. And I reached out to her and I said, you know, I kind of want to see if people here would be interested in this. And so I'd like to do some discovery work. And so I asked, can I get a small grant that would support me doing site visits and like having tea with people and just interviewing educators here and sharing what we do and seeing if, you know, if it resonates with people here? And she said yes. And so I started out on my discovery tour and then my third conversation led to a woman coming up to me after it like a super seasoned Kenyan educator. And she said, we should collaborate. And the following week we happened to be attending the same conference together. And we took all of our tea and our meals together during the conference. And on Tuesday, I started explaining, you know, our fellowship program by Thursday. She said, do you want to start your first cohort of the fellowship in Kenya on December 4th or December 11th? And it was October 19th. So I said December 11th, because that would give me another week. And I, you know, it was one of those moments. And I think this is a real key lesson for me of just like you just say yes. I was like, we don't have funding to run this program. I don't even know where we will host the nature retreat. I've been here not that long. I don't really know like, who the teacher will be. And you know, lo and behold, the next week she had sent me a list like, These are your 14 teachers. These are the teachers who are going to participate in your program. She had already cleared it with like all their head teachers. You know, she was just like, you're ready to go. Let's go scout sites. And, you know, she really supported me and pushed me in that. You know, I'm so grateful to her. And I think it was one of those moments of just sort of having the faith. And so I, you know, I called up that funder and I said, well, we're not in discovery anymore. We are Just launching. And I was like, is there any more funding? And she made it happen. She was able to find enough funding, you know, to secure us through the end of the year, since we were launching in December. So we had to get through that first nature retreat and then to fund the program through the first cohort here in Kenya. And so, yeah, and it's been a whirlwind.

[A]

It's always fun looking backwards because I know the path forward had to feel like walking through a jungle or insert your favorite nature. That seems overwhelming, like. Right. But looking back, it seems so connected that all these experiences readied you, even though you didn't necessarily feel ready in the moment, but you stepped out there and went for it. So you named imposter syndrome. I'd love to camp out there for a second. This is something Becky and I talk about all the time. Like, when we plugged in the microphones, we had no idea what we were doing. Julie's Googling how to edit a podcast.

[D]

And, like, still have imposter syndrome about.

[A]

So much that we do.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

But I'm curious for you how that showed up for you in the beginning and how you navigate that on a daily basis, because at least in our experience, it doesn't always just, like, magically go away.

[E]

Yeah, I mean, I think it showed up for me in the beginning most because our origin story is kind of interesting. So Erin and I, we were, like, in conversation with a previous funder that we had, I'd been connected to through some things, and it was almost like they were, like, courting us. And then we put in a pre application letter for this grant that we thought was sort of just going to be the beginning of the our thing. And we didn't even get invited to apply. Like, we just. We. We not only didn't. We didn't get rejected, we, like, didn't. We got prejected.

[D]

Yes.

[E]

Like, we didn't even get to, like.

[D]

I got prejected many times in my career, my friend. I'm with you.

[E]

All of a sudden, we were in this situation where we were sort of accidental founders. Aaron and I both kind of went into it thinking, oh, we'll, like, find a nice place to, like, nest our work, and we'll just be part of something larger and see how it can, like, lift up someone else's work, connect. And people kept steering us towards sort of environmental ed organizations and outdoor ed organizations. And the problem was is that that was, like, really not on brand for us because we're about education. And the problem is if you Have a room of 100 teachers and you ask them, like, how many of you identify as environmental educators? Like, none of their hands go up, right? Like, or maybe one hand goes up. Or if you ask them how many of you identify as an outdoor educator, like, no hands go up. But if you ask them how many of you identify as an educator hopeful, all hundred teachers raise their hand, right? And we want that capture, right? We want every single kid on the planet to have some nature connection in their day to day life in school. And so we need every teacher to identify as a nature teacher that that's for them. And so we all of a sudden kind of were on our own and we were like, but we still feel like we need to do this, right? And, and then we had a lot of rejection. And I think that early on we were really like doggedly, you know, persistent. We thought this needs to happen. And so we got this pilot support actually from the same funder that then ended up supporting us in Kenya. Fast forward a year and a half and they support us there. And that got us started and sort of put some wind in our sails so that we could run this program. And then when we were doing it, we were like, this is good. You just know. And so even though we felt the imposter syndrome around not being good enough and not having funders recognize us or not finding a home and those types of rejections, I think we also felt like when we actually were with the teachers, we didn't have any questions about if we were imposters. We were like, everybody knows that this is good. And that first cohort of teachers was very reassuring and affirming. So that's how we got through it at the beginning or that's how I got through it. And then I think over time it crops up all the time, of course. And I think there's a couple things. One is, this is just like a recent reframe for me that I love is, I don't know. Have you guys ever read the book Bird by Bird by Annie Lamott?

[D]

No, I don't know.

[A]

I have it on our shelf. Like, it's like how to Write basically, right?

[E]

Yeah, it's a writing book. But at some point she's telling us she's very funny. She's also really heart rending and also heartwarming in her work. But there's just this quote that was like being enough was going to have to be an inside job. The other day I was actually just like thinking about that and like this imposter syndrome piece. And like being in like the interpersonal and the internal monologue about being enough is like one end of the spectrum. But you know, a kind of wise friend of mine the other day was saying, you know. Yeah. And in the context, like, I think we have to believe that we are enough in togetherness. Right? You guys, one of your core values is community is everything, right? And this idea that I single handedly, I'm not going to connect 81 million educators with nature so that they can connect all their students with nature. However, you know, together we are enough. And there's this like enoughness around. And so I think that's part of the reframing around imposter syndrome is this sense of I certainly don't have it all figured out and there are other people who can help and there's enough out there sort of collectively for us to, to get through that.

[D]

Your story is just so heroic, Becca. And I keep having this phrase come back to me of like my therapist used to say this to what if you were the one you've been waiting for? We just had this Incredible discussion with Dr. Curran at Impact up where we're talking about perfectionism. And it's like if we wait for the perfect moment, then all these potential moments would have passed us by. And I love that you stopped looking around and said, oh, we're the ones to build this, we're the ones to try it and it's going to be messily done as we proceed. But we have a funder who believes in the bigger idea. I love this reorientation of all educators, you know, are environmental educators. You know, we, we are, we are working toward the greater good of getting kids connected in deeper ways to learning. And it doesn't have to just be in one way. I feel like the McCoys have taught me that in such a beautiful way. And I also just want to say only the McCoys and Becca would have Bird by Bird as their writing book. And I literally have Stephen King on writing. Have you seen Stephen?

[E]

I have that one too.

[D]

I have that one memoir.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[D]

It' really great. But I just thought that is perfect for both of us. So. But I just think we're getting into some really good things because I want to know, like, what keeps you going? Becca, you have no playbook. You are writing the playbook. You are iterating. You're in the middle of it because you're co building and you're learning from so many people. And we think that that is a powerful thing. When you can reconnect with those who are looking at things in a different way. So talk to us about how you keep going and how you stay in that frame of mind where you're just still pushing the bounds of what you know can be really, really helpful and maybe even enlightening for these kids.

[C]

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[D]

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[B]

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[D]

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[C]

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[B]

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[B]

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[D]

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[C]

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[A]

Doing really great work.

[E]

Yeah, I mean I think in terms of not having a playbook, I was thinking a lot about this expression fake it till you make it. And I just like, I just don't buy it because I'm like, no one's, no one's made it. We're all faking it, like we're figuring it out. And I totally, this orientation of like, you don't fake it till you make it. You just like try stuff and then you make it right or you're making it like that's what it is. Making it is just like doing the thing and, and it's going to be messy. And I think as an, as an organization, this sense of like, okay, the situation is what it is, right? Like on the ground. These are the assets, these are the constraints. What's the best that we can sort of do within the assets and constraints that we have? I sort of refer to it as pragmatic optimism of, you know, what do you do where you like, you maintain hope but it's not this like blind hope of like, oh, like everything's just going to work out. It's a sense of this is hope and we gotta like go after it. And that, that is something that you have to really like put yourself into and just thinking about like keeping that orientation about making it, innovating within whatever space you're in. And if anything, like, I feel like I've just learned that from all these educators who I've been able to work with. And I look at educators as my partners. And Aaron and I, it was very important to us in our founding story to, like, meet educators, teachers as experts, and like, lean into their expertise and think about what are they bringing to the equation. Because it turns out that every educator is the most knowledgeable about their content, their students, their community, and their school. They are the deepest expert you can have. And so if you start from there, as you're framing, I think that you end up in this deep partnership where you know that you're trusting that innovations will come not from me. Right. But from everyone working together on how we can see how can nature and nature connections being built in. That's. That's what I bring to the, you know, to the conversation and the, and the work. And then bringing that to teachers and saying, like, what does this mean to you? And what do you want that to look like in your context? And seeing that it's. The innovations are infinite. Right. There are as many innovations as there are educators, and there are actually, like, different innovations on any given day, you know, based on the weather, based on, you know, the curriculum, based on the way their students are behaving that day, based on their mood. There's a million different ways that. That it shows up. But trusting that that's okay, like the. That it's going to look a lot of different ways and we're going to have lots of things that we haven't figured out and it'll work.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, you're preaching our values back to us. I love community is everything because to me, it adds that layer of community is everything because we need to be finding community solutions. It's going to be talking to those that are closest to the problem and centering proximity in the way we think, the way we design solutions. And so it's all connected, my friend. And we could talk to you all day. That is clear. And we are such champions of the work that you're doing on such a local but global scale. And how you're sharing that with the world is so beautiful. You've called yourself a storyteller in this conversation. I would definitely call you a storyteller. I'm curious if there's a moment in your story that has stuck with you and it would connect to a moment where you saw the power of maybe philanthropy at work. And, you know, our definition of philanthropy is very broad of like a moment of kindness. Or a moment of generosity. What's a moment that's really stuck with you that you would take us back.

[E]

To the moment of generosity? It goes back to Colorado and the promotoras and the community that we were working with in creating what became Get Outdoors Leadville. One of the women who was involved with that, she wants to stay anonymous, but, you know, she and I have now been colleagues in that work. She became our nanny for our children. She's like a family member in all, all the senses really. And she just lives nature connection in her day to day life. She's an immigrant from Mexico and, you know, grew up in a rural community in Mexico and has lived in Colorado for a long time. And her story is just one of like, she just, just has always loved nature, but she also is just incredibly generous in the way that she shows up in the community. And when we were doing our fundraiser at the end of the year last year, she made a donation, a recurring donation that bolted her to basically being one of our leading donors. And she does not live a luxurious lifestyle. She is extraordinarily generous with her time and giving in all the ways of the word generosity. But, but she had made this financial contribution that was a monthly donation. I reached, reached out to her and I said, oh my gosh, thank you so much for this donation. And I was just checking to make sure that you want it to be recurring because I was worried that it had been a mistake, right? You can accidentally tag the recurring button when you mean to make a annual recurring donation or something like that. And she said, no, that was intentional. You and your organization and what you're doing, you deserve it. And I just remember thinking, like, she just gets it. And she was so dedicated. And for a while I kind of wanted to be like, oh, it's too much. It's too much. Like, please, like, I feel uncomfortable about this. And then I was like, this isn't about my discomfort. This is about something that she believes in. And me being uncomfortable with this is something I'm gonna have to get over because me not accepting this would be incredibly offensive to her and also isn't about the work, right? And she's saying, like, I want every kid on the planet to have connections with nature. And I think that this matters. And, and her just willingness to like, put herself out there and see that has always just really stuck with me and has been a really meaningful type of support because it just, I guess it just taught me like, like how generous people are with what they have.

[D]

Those stories never get Old for me. Because when you're humbled by the volume of someone's generosity, and not because of the amount, but because of how they've shown up, it is such a beautiful reminder of back to what you said at the very beginning, not just your smallness on the earth, but that everybody can have an impact. And so I salute her, whomever she is. I love that she wants to be anonymous. And Becca, you have listened to the podcast enough to know we're going to end with a one good thing. So when you think about your work and your lessons, this connectivity that you create, what's the one good thing that's lifting up for you? Whether that's a piece of advice or a life hack, what are you going to leave our audience with?

[E]

Yeah, so my one good thing comes from a friend, mentor, former boss, and yeah, dear friend. Her name's Kate Bartlett and she is the superintendent in a small mountain town in Colorado called Leadville. And she, at the time, she, when I started working in the schools, right, working with teachers, this was such an important framing. But she said, Becca, when you're working with, with teachers, you're working with educators. You have to, you have to approach this work with the frame of reference of a lift, not a burden, right? And so she said everything has to be a lift, not a burden. And that has become a mantra, right? It's one of our core values at good natured learning. We want our work to buoy, to buoy teachers, to bring them joy, right? And we are really lucky in that nature. Connections are, you know, they drive better well being among students, they drive better, well being, better learning among students, but they also drive a lot of better well being and happiness and joy among teachers themselves, right? And so it has that natural inclination. But I think the framing of, of how can we always approach this work with a filter that we're not even aiming for neutral, right? People are like, oh, don't add more things to teachers plates. Like definitely you don't want to do that, right? How can we be a lift in the way that we approach this work so that we are in this deep partnership with teachers and really trying to help make their day to day better? Lift, not a burden, like that was just, is a mantra. And that's sort of the one good thing that I would leave you with.

[A]

Such a good principle. And I'll add it on, get outside friends. Becky brought this great, just came out of Impact at PAWS last week and like the through line was go touch grass. Like, you know, get, stay connected get outside and it's so rejuvenating. And I just love listening to your background today, Becca. It's given me life hearing the birds chirping and the kids doing their thing as well. And so I just ask, what's a good way for people to connect with you? I know you're on substack now. You show up on LinkedIn, where can. What's the best way for people to connect with you? And good natured learning.

[E]

Yeah. So for me personally, the social that I hang out the Most on is LinkedIn. Becca Katz, good natured learning. I'm sure that would get you there. Good natured learning on LinkedIn. We are oodnatured learning on Instagram, we are good natured learning on Facebook. So that one's easy. Goodnaturedlearning.org is our website. So those are all good ways to connect. And then yeah, I keep a substack called Mother in Nature and it's about mother nature, the nature of becoming and being a mother and mothering nature. So how we care take the natural world. So would love to have people join me there. And yeah, I thank you so much for the opportunity to be here. I just am really grateful. I feel very humbled and I think this was sort of like in the original message I sent out to you, but I think, I think it's easy in this world to sort of wait until like, do we have enough revenue yet to to have made it? Do we, you know, can I be on the we are for Good podcast? Like, do I have enough impact data? Do I have enough grants? Do I have enough board members? Do I have enough, you know, whatever accolades and all these things. And I think it's really easy to get into a space where you feel like you just need to wait, you know, more and more and more to, you know, until you get to enough. And I think it goes back to being enough is an inside job and at some point you just gotta kind of call it and try some stuff. And so I'm so grateful that you said y super excited to have been here. So thank you.

[D]

You are a treasure and you are enough. And I hope that everyone hearing that, you know, listening to this podcast hears that and knows you are enough. You as you are, however you show up, that is what the world needs. So rooting you on in all things, my friend Becca, thank you for being such a leaned in member of this community and your community. We need more of you in the world. Thank you, my friend.

[E]

Thank you.