S4 EP 13: The Entrepreneurship Series: Keeping The Lights On feat. Darye Henry

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Darye: How are you going to find the organization or locations

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you partner with?

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And then sometimes you know in the viewer you're wondering can

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we keep the lights on?

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You know that's a standard.

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That was an ongoing interview or question Can we do this

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another year?

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And so I think that really showed me the experience One of

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I could see my mom being very passionate about it, like she's

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going to do it no matter what.

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But then on the flip side, how do you really help not only

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people who are like her, which is pretty much everyone in after

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school programs, but who are really trying to make an impact,

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and so how do we invest in them ?

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How do we make it easier so that they don't burn out?

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J. Lee: Hello, hello everyone.

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Welcome to School After Artists podcast, where we talk about

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all things related to after school time programming and

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education.

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I am your host, jay Lee, and today we are going to talk about

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after school programming from an entrepreneur's point of view.

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Our guest for this episode was shared with us his experience of

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watching his mom start her own after school program and how it

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prepared him for his role as a CEO and founder.

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Joining us today is Mr Darjeh Henry, the CEO and founder of

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After School HQ, a platform designed to empower youth

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program providers with the tools and resources they need to

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efficiently manage and expand their organizations.

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In this episode we'll talk about the challenges of starting

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a new after school program, why he created After School HQ and

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how he convinced school districts to try his After

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School HQ platform to capture their after school program data.

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But before we get into all the juicy details, let's go ahead

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and jump into our community corner.

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Community Corner is a segment of the show that allows guests on

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myself to share tips, advice or information on a specific topic

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with young people, families or community members.

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Without further ado, let's go ahead and get into our community

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corner conversation.

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All right, everybody, we've made it to our community corner

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section of the show.

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So this is where we go ahead and ask questions that you know

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the community may have, but also parents may have as well, to

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give you some background information.

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So, with that being said, daria , I have this question for you.

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So my question is why is data collection important in after

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school programming, but also what type of data should be

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collected from families and why?

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Darye: Yeah, that's a really good question.

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I think in give a little background.

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Sometimes it's like, hey, I'm doing the work, isn't that

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enough?

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Like I'm clearly making an impact, right.

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But when you think about data collection, it really comes down

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to measuring the return on investment and not to make that

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just a pure financial question.

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But the question is are you making an impact on the students

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that you're working with and how do you measure that?

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And so data collection can be quantitative and qualitative,

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and so quantitative, you'll want and diving into some of the

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details of information you want.

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If I'm a foundation and I said, hey, here's $50 to do

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whatever it may be, I'd be interested like who are the

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young people?

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Right?

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Who are they?

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Where are they from, what zip codes, what is you know their

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income levels of their families?

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What grades are they getting in school?

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And so when you think about measuring all that, at the end

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of the day your organization could be responsible for a

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thousand students getting 50 hours of education and science,

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which could produce maybe 500 students who end up going to

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college for STEM related programs or majors or careers or

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whatever it may be right.

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And so having that data, it's just like credentials, it's like

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saying I got this degree, I did this.

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This area of work that we're doing is underappreciated, and

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when you have data to say I've done all of this, I have all

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these students who have done this who said they weren't going

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to college.

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Now they are going to college.

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That's important not just for the impact that you're making,

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but it's important for the story you're telling, when you get to

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tell these organizations how much you're really doing,

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because you don't want to be overlooked.

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The truth is, you know, out of school time, organizations are

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overlooked way too much and they're like, they're a backbone

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for our education system, right , so that's why it's so

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important.

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So there's quantitative, but there's also qualitative

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information, like students say they love this organization and

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give you feedback in that regard .

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Or this student it was the first time they went to the zoo,

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or on a field trip to this museum, or out of town, like

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those are very important experiences to track and

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understand, and so there's both sides of it.

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But ultimately, what it does, again, you're telling the story

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of what is happening in your area, in your community, and

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what you're doing, and that helps you get more funding at

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the end of the day, especially when you have and organizations

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give you large sums of money like they want to see these

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receipts.

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J. Lee: They want to see what you did, yeah.

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Darye: Well, and let's be real too they get donors too, who

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donate to some of these, you know funds as well, and they

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want to see their stories, and so sometimes they have to go

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tell your story to other people to get money in the door.

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So, yeah, it's the way it works as part of the process, but

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it's a good thing to do for sure .

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J. Lee: Right, right, very true.

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Well, thank you for sharing with us, daria, and we're going

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to go ahead and jump into our main interview.

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Hello, mr Henry, how are you?

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Darye: Doing good.

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How are you doing?

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J. Lee: I'm doing all right.

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So thank you for being here today on the show.

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I'm so happy to have you because we're gonna be diving

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into some things as far as app school programming goes, but

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from a more of an entrepreneur perspective.

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But you also have an experience of being in Afterschool

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programming because you started out this process with your mom,

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who did her own afterschool programming.

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So I know that leads into a whole bunch of different things.

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So I'm gonna give you the floor because I don't know the

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details to go ahead and tell all the juicy stuff in the story,

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but go ahead and give us you know.

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Just start off with your credentials and let the people

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know who you are and what you do .

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Darye: Yeah, for sure.

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Thank you for having me for one .

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So yeah, my name is Daria Henry .

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I'm co-founder and CEO of afterschool HQ really a platform

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.

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Our goal is to help youth program providers run their

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organizations, so typically dealing with the stress of a lot

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of work to do and not a lot of support.

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So that's really what our software does and our team

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really works to do.

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My background really there's a few things Did a lot in

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afterschool programs, like participated in them a lot

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growing up, but then also ran some afterschool programs.

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Was chairman of the board of now a much larger organization

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that that's grown a lot, which was actually ran by my mom.

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She still runs it, so did a lot with that.

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I've also an entrepreneur, so I started Initially during that

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time.

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Early like 2008, I started my first organization, which really

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is a software consulting firm.

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So I spent a lot of time solving problems for businesses

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and other Entrepreneurs and that's how this software really

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came about.

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I started it in that previous organization, but then I really

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wanted to pursue that this full time where my 100% of my

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attention is on helping youth program providers.

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So that's where I am now, without your school HQ.

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J. Lee: Yeah, this stuff.

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So, as you were sharing with us , you were with your mom when

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she started her own afterschool program in her organization.

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So how did that experience kind of prepared you for what you're

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doing now, like with your software and with your

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organization?

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Darye: Yeah, I think the main thing is, you know, starting

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there I got to see one at the ground floor the joy of starting

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the program, but also the struggles right there's behind

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the scenes, where you know you don't know how you're gonna get

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going, how you're gonna find students.

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You know how are you gonna find the organization or locations

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you partner with.

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And then sometimes you know, end of year You're wondering,

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you know, can we keep the lights on?

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You know that's a standard, that was an ongoing End of year

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question Can we do this another year?

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And so I think that really Showed me the experience one of.

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I could see my mom being very passionate about it, like she's

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gonna do it no matter what.

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But then, on the flip side, how do you really help Not only

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people you know, not only my mom , but obviously people who are

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like her, which is pretty much everyone in afterschool programs

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, but who are really trying to make an impact?

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And so how do we invest in them ?

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How do we make it easier so that they don't burn out,

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because a the vast majority of people, there's a lot of like

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50% of employees and team members and leaders who work

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each program to actually Burn out or are in the process of

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burning out, and so that's kind of where, you know, I like the

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folks are teaching, but how could we help, how can we make a

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difference?

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J. Lee: And putting that concept together.

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I know your mom was kind of the foundation of that right.

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So when you started building out that process, what were some

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of the important things for you to have?

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Like these were your key things that you Needed to have in your

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program and in your software yeah.

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Darye: So the way I kind of break that down is you feel like

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you need to be able to think about what's important to

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sustain an organization that's serving young people.

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You need to be able to attract and retain students, right?

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That's a big part of it.

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Sounds simple, it's not right?

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You got to be able to bring them in, let them know about it.

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That's a real challenge.

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And then the other part is how do you maximize your

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effectiveness?

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So that's individually, because there's again, there's so many

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things you got to pay attention to as a founder of an

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organization where you're pretty much doing every job, right,

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you're the janitor, you're the executive, you know all of that,

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right.

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And so how do you maximize your effectiveness?

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And if you have a team, how do you help maximize theirs?

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And then the last part is how do you report back to funders

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your impact, right?

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So you think about the foundations they give you.

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If you get that grant, now they're going to say, well, how

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do you measure your impact, which is not always easy, right?

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In some cases it could be, oh, their grades improve.

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In other cases, it could be they got a bank account or

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they're not as angry as they used to be.

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You know those are sometimes different ways to measure it,

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but how do you report that back?

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J. Lee: Because if you can report that back, well, now you

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got a chance to get more funding , and so those are kind of the

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three areas that I saw that were especially challenging at the

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organization we were with and as you were building out this

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process and you finally got it your baby off the ground, right

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yeah, what were some of the things that was a challenge for

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you as far as shopping around to make sure that you had the

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right people to support you, but also the right investors at the

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same time you know again similar founder stories, which

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is what I like, whether it's for profit or nonprofit.

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Darye: But one of the big challenges was getting my head

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above water, in a way, and being able to look up and look

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forward and not just looking at the details and the work that I

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had in front of me.

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Because, as you're doing something you're passionate

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about, a lot of times your hands are on the work because you

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have to keep that moving.

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But I had to learn that I have to have conversations like this

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conversation we're having right now.

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I get to tell my story right, and that's a big part of

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creating community or creating a tribe or whatever you want to

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call it.

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But getting that story out, because now you can get

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supporters and investors behind you.

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I'd say that's been the biggest help is being able to practice

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telling that story over and over again, getting the reps in

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opportunities, but then also realizing that a lot of people

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don't feel you, they don't have the same experiences that you

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have right, so they're not as passionate about it or they

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don't see the need or whatever it may be.

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But you still have to maintain that passion for it, because

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there are people like you out there who are going to say oh, I

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love what you're doing, how can I support?

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But the challenge is getting over that discouragement of

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hearing a lot of no's, you know, and that's difficult, just to

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add to it.

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The other thing too is getting, I say, a co-founder or another

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person who has the same passion as you, have the same energy

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level.

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That helped me up tremendously as well.

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You know, I've done things on my own and like, when you're

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down, you need somebody else to be up.

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You know what I'm saying.

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Or you need somebody to sometimes laugh with, take a

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break with, and then, when you're moving, have someone you

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can rely on as well.

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I'd say that's another thing.

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A lot of times, as a solo founder, it can be very

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difficult to go through the ups and downs.

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J. Lee: Well, hold that thought y'all.

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We're going to go ahead and take a quick break and we'll be

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right back.

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You know, go ahead, stretch your legs, get your snack, do

00:13:17
all those wonderful things, but don't go too far.

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See you in a minute.

00:13:20
Are you a program director or thinking of starting a program?

00:13:24
Maybe you need new curriculum that focuses on character

00:13:28
development or technical skills, or you need help establishing

00:13:32
effective program logistics to have an impactful program

00:13:35
culture.

00:13:35
Or, overall, you just need a program evaluation.

00:13:39
Well, school after hours consulting case.

00:13:42
Here.

00:13:43
To help, contact us at schoolafterhourscom and our

00:13:48
contact information is in the show notes.

00:13:50
Hope to hear from you soon.

00:13:52
Hello everyone, welcome back to the second part of our show.

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We have the CEO of After School HQ here with us, mr Darje Henry

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, and he's giving us his story of how he started an app school

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program, but also how that led to him making his own software

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to help programs be not just efficient in collecting their

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data, but also giving them ways and giving them access to report

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out, to help get funding.

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You know, share the impact, give their stories, all those

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wonderful things.

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What we left off is, you know, giving a little bit more

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information about app school HQ as a business.

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So, darje, here's my question for you how did you get

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organizations to buy into the concept of after school HQ and

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use the platform at the same time?

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Because when you're going to organizations and you're like

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here, here's this wonderful thing that could help you out in

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this, this, this way, some people will get you like, now,

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you like.

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So how did you then get them?

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You know that buy-in, that's important.

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Darye: Yeah, for me it felt like the first thing you had to do

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was get a few wins right.

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You got to get your first group or first few organizations to

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say, okay, you're new, but I'll believe in you, if that makes

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sense.

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Now the good thing is obviously my mom runs her organization,

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so she's obviously one of the first people using the platform

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and what she was doing.

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So that's a perfect test bed.

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It's a perfect way to understand how the organizations

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use it.

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But we also started working with Indianapolis Public Schools

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.

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Actually, my co-founder and COO of Afterschool HQ his students

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were going to IPS School 70, so it's Indianapolis Public Schools

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here and he was like, hey, we have some software that can help

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you with your afterschool programs.

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Would you give us a chance to try it out here?

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And so they were like, yes, because he was an involved

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parent and his children were in afterschool programs.

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So they gave an opportunity there just to start with.

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And that actually spread right where we were able to have

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conversations with other schools and the youth programs that

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were providing those afterschool programs for the young people.

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So we had conversations with them, got to have feedback.

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So we worked really closely with organizations to help

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design and develop what the software was.

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J. Lee: Cool, Because working in the public school sector is a

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challenge.

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You can't just walk up to them and be like, hey, so try this

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because it's great.

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So how did you begin to go through that process of being

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visible as a brand but also using those stories that you've

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had before to test things out?

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Darye: Yeah.

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So the biggest thing was, once you have a few organizations

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using it already.

00:16:40
Now you have something you can demo, you have testimonials, you

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have stories that you can tell, and that was a big thing.

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And we can't forget relationships are a huge part of

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it.

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You have to spend time just talking to people building those

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relationships.

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The other part is, I'd say the biggest thing is persistence.

00:17:01
People are busy, they have a lot going on.

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The other part is they're trying to see are you going to

00:17:08
be around?

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You know what I'm saying Is your organization going to be

00:17:13
around for a long enough period?

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And if you drop off in six months, then they're probably

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like, well, that's probably better.

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I didn't engage.

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So I think for us it definitely was persistence.

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If they don't call us back, we call them anyway saying, hey,

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we're still here.

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So all of that went into it.

00:17:31
And then again we did have to work on things like pitch decks,

00:17:35
where you get to share your vision.

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You had to organize it.

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You got to put your strategy together, your short-term plan,

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long-term plan, how you will continue to support the

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organization and the schools, and so I think putting that all

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together, really showing your serious, being persistent, all

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that matters when building these relationships.

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J. Lee: And once you made that move into public schools public

00:18:02
school districts are not small at all At all.

00:18:07
So at that point, when you did make that relationship and it

00:18:10
did start to happen to you, when did you start to say to

00:18:12
yourself OK, I may need to add additional help to the business

00:18:17
because we're in the space of expansion.

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Darye: Yeah, that man.

00:18:20
That really speaks to a pain point.

00:18:22
So I know the exact time period when that happened.

00:18:25
What's interesting?

00:18:27
Initially we worked with NM's public schools.

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We offered it our platform for free.

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We just said, hey, we're just going to start, we're going to

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serve and we're going to be helpful.

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So that's how we got in the door and of course, it was a

00:18:40
persistence all that, but we had to say, hey, we're going to try

00:18:42
this out.

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But really, let me know, I need some help and we need to get

00:18:48
investors and we need to build a team.

00:18:50
Was the pandemic Right?

00:18:53
When that happened, it was like, first of all, the stress of the

00:18:57
pandemic just existed.

00:18:59
You know what I'm saying?

00:18:59
It's just over your head.

00:19:01
Like, oh, what's going to happen to me economically?

00:19:03
I mean, you know what's going to happen.

00:19:05
All those questions, a lot of our customers.

00:19:09
They weren't publishing activities anymore because

00:19:14
obviously they couldn't have in person.

00:19:15
We had to process a whole bunch of refunds just because all the

00:19:20
classes they got canceled, and so we had to make a lot of

00:19:23
changes to the platform during the time and I was really

00:19:26
overworked.

00:19:26
You know, I was doing working.

00:19:29
I could say 24, seven, but it felt like that for a time.

00:19:33
Yeah, and that's where I actually had a conversation with

00:19:37
my co-founder, said like, hey, we need some investors If we're

00:19:41
going to continue doing this.

00:19:43
We need some help and we're going to figure out how to get

00:19:47
that.

00:19:47
Another thing, too, behind that was I didn't want to give up.

00:19:50
You know there's, there are people I've seen in my life who

00:19:54
have made it through the valley, essentially right, and they got

00:19:58
to the other side and they've succeeded.

00:20:00
And sometimes that takes a lot of hard work, sometimes that

00:20:03
takes a lot of years, and I wanted to see this through and

00:20:07
say, hey, we put in this work, we built up something.

00:20:10
Let's do the next step, let's figure out how we can get people

00:20:14
on board to help us.

00:20:15
And so that's what we both agreed on and said, hey, we're

00:20:19
not going to give up.

00:20:19
Even, like I said, pandemic was rough and it was rough for

00:20:21
everybody, especially in education.

00:20:23
It was very difficult time, and so that was probably the key

00:20:27
point that made me realize that you know, let's get some help.

00:20:31
J. Lee: And in that experience did you have ways that were more

00:20:36
innovative to what you were doing as far as your software or

00:20:40
servicing at school programs period.

00:20:42
Darye: Yeah, I think one thing we learned so this was

00:20:44
interesting because it's funny that we didn't really focus on

00:20:50
changing too much.

00:20:50
We thought about going virtual and trying to focus on that.

00:20:54
But one thing we realized because I got three kids was

00:20:57
that virtual for young people is just terrible.

00:21:00
You know what I'm saying.

00:21:01
Like it was terrible, even though you had to do it.

00:21:05
It was one of those things that we knew as parents.

00:21:07
We couldn't wait for our kids to get back in person, because

00:21:12
as adults it's not our favorite thing and I saw them every day

00:21:15
just struggling on the computers , trying to do class and et

00:21:18
cetera.

00:21:18
So one thing we stuck with was we know this is going to come

00:21:22
back and we know that kids want to be in person.

00:21:25
And, again, we know how important this after school, out

00:21:28
of school time, is.

00:21:30
So we really just focused.

00:21:31
In a way we kind of doubled down on it because we just

00:21:33
believed it would come back.

00:21:35
J. Lee: Amazing.

00:21:35
So, unfortunately, oh, that brings us to the end of our show

00:21:40
, but before we go ahead and sign out, we have one more

00:21:43
section to get to, which is our professionals lounge.

00:21:46
Right, wonderful people, we have made it to our

00:21:52
professionals lounge section.

00:21:53
This is our wrap up.

00:21:54
So, daria, this is my question for you what advice would you

00:21:58
give youth development professionals about avoiding

00:22:02
burnout, because that's something that we mentioned in

00:22:04
the story when we talked about it a little bit.

00:22:05
But, and what, if you not to hit that wall?

00:22:07
What are some things that you would suggest, that not just

00:22:12
site directors, but also program providers, those that are

00:22:15
helping out with program and giving all of the electives and

00:22:18
the good stuff.

00:22:18
How, what are some things from your experience Would you advise

00:22:23
them?

00:22:23
Like, don't do that.

00:22:24
Darye: No, yeah, I really appreciate this question because

00:22:29
when I talked about burnout earlier, the thing I didn't

00:22:32
mention was I was a person that burned out and I was doing the

00:22:38
you know chairman of the board of organization, but I also was

00:22:41
doing youth ministry as well and I also was doing my own

00:22:45
business as an entrepreneur and I was working a lot.

00:22:51
And one of the hard things to do when you're like a can do

00:22:57
part, like you see a need, you're going to go after it and

00:23:01
try to help whoever you can.

00:23:02
You know it was very hard to say I'm just going to wait until

00:23:06
Wednesday to work with these kids, when I know Thursday,

00:23:09
friday, saturday, all through the week they're dealing with

00:23:11
all these challenges.

00:23:12
And so it really was hard for me to say no you know what I'm

00:23:18
saying to a need or to take care of myself.

00:23:20
And so I found myself in a position where I was totally

00:23:24
overworked, and when I say burned out, I mean physically.

00:23:27
My body was done Like really adrenal fatigue, all that.

00:23:31
I couldn't work for like three months, and so when you think

00:23:36
about that, it's like you're trying to work so hard that you

00:23:39
end up working yourself to a point where no one can rely on

00:23:42
you at that point anyway.

00:23:43
So the big thing for me that I had to learn was one was be a

00:23:50
little more strategic.

00:23:51
Right, take time to again.

00:23:55
You see a need, go after it, yes.

00:23:56
But you can also pause and say how do I get other people around

00:24:00
this to make this successful?

00:24:02
How do I lay out a strategy that makes this sustainable?

00:24:05
Cause it's a marathon, you know what I mean.

00:24:08
Like the one thing we know for sure.

00:24:09
In as much as I wish that I can paint away all the troubles of

00:24:14
the world in an instant, we just know that's not how it works.

00:24:19
And the hard thing I was young.

00:24:20
I was like I can do it.

00:24:21
I can do it all, whatever.

00:24:23
So I had to be humble, keep them sane and realize I need

00:24:29
help.

00:24:29
I have to learn to rely on others.

00:24:31
I have to be strategic and focus in ways where my strengths

00:24:36
are as well.

00:24:37
Like another thing I'll mention is and this sounds it's a small

00:24:43
thing, but it really sticks out to me Back then it used to be

00:24:46
like can I use technology, or can I use a service, or can I

00:24:50
pay someone to help me as a bookkeeper, or whatever that may

00:24:54
be?

00:24:55
Sometimes we're like, hey, this costs me $50 a month or whatever

00:24:59
it is, whatever that cost is, and then we'll say, I'll just do

00:25:03
that myself.

00:25:03
But when you think about our time is worth so much more than

00:25:08
that, when you think about it, right.

00:25:09
And so I really wish that.

00:25:10
There's one main thing I would have changed would have been

00:25:13
like hey, spend that 50 to save me 10 hours, 40 hours a month,

00:25:19
whatever that amount is right, just to make it easier for

00:25:22
myself, because that's where the self care comes in.

00:25:25
It's like sometimes it's just a little money but it can save

00:25:29
you a lot of headache and it can set you up right To be able to

00:25:31
get the real funding that you need.

00:25:33
So that's kind of my experience overall.

00:25:35
But, yeah, get help, get people , get resources, and if you need

00:25:42
to pay for some of that, I know that's right Because, like you

00:25:45
said, your time is the most valuable thing.

00:25:48
Yes, yes, absolutely.

00:25:52
J. Lee: Well, thank you, Dr Darae, for being here and

00:25:53
greatly appreciate you.

00:25:54
For anyone that wants to get in touch with you and know more

00:25:58
about afterschoolHQ or I know that you're doing like speaking

00:26:02
things on YouTube I'm gonna drop that in there Go ahead and give

00:26:06
them your information on how to get in touch with you.

00:26:09
Darye: Yeah, absolutely Easiest way you can get in touch with me

00:26:11
, or and the team too, is just send it to hello at

00:26:15
afterschoolHQcom.

00:26:16
So that's our email.

00:26:17
You can also find our website, which is afterschoolHQcom.

00:26:22
You can go there, find out more about our organization.

00:26:25
You can also find out about our community.

00:26:27
We do have a Facebook community where we work with youth

00:26:31
organizations and help them find resources they need.

00:26:34
We're also on YouTube as well.

00:26:36
You can find videos.

00:26:37
We do spotlights of organizations and get to tell

00:26:40
stories and their success stories, so we love doing that.

00:26:43
So definitely feel free to reach out.

00:26:45
We're on Instagram, afterschoolhq as well.

00:26:49
So, yeah, you should be able to find us anywhere you know,

00:26:52
wherever you can find that tag afterschoolHQ.

00:26:55
J. Lee: Well, everyone, that brings us to the end of our show

00:26:57
.

00:26:57
If you like what you heard and you enjoyed our conversation,

00:27:01
make sure that you're following us on YouTube, but also hit that

00:27:03
like button so we know what you are enjoying.

00:27:06
You can also find us on other podcast platforms like Apple

00:27:10
Podcasts, spotify and Google Podcasts.

00:27:14
If you wanna listen to our audio version as well, to get

00:27:17
more behind the scenes stuff, make sure that you're following

00:27:19
us on our social media accounts Instagram and Facebook at

00:27:24
schoolafterhours.

00:27:26
Well, that's all I have for today, and the words of Mr

00:27:30
Arthur Ashe start where you are, use what you have, do what you

00:27:34
can.

00:27:34
Until next time, y'all, bye-bye .