Longtime and energetic partner Robin Oliver is retiring from her position at Orange Technical College with Orange County Public Schools, and will be stepping down from her position on UpliftED’s Guiding Team.
During Robin’s tenure, UpliftED underwent our first strategic refresh, which resulted in a rebranding that included a new name and logo, and a focus on closing the attainment gap by providing tools and resources for nontraditional learners through the Career Connections page on our website. She has also been with UpliftED through: Several high-profile events, including the wildly popular SAIL to 60 series; The publishing of our widely-used “Where are the Jobs?” Guide; Otherwise growing larger, stronger, and better prepared to increase and improve the skilled workforce Central Florida relies upon.
Robin sat down with Daisy C. Franklin, MSW, Director of UpliftED, to answer some questions and leave us some final thoughts to contend with in the wake of her retirement.
This transcript has been edited for clarity. You can watch the whole interview below.
DF: Robin, what is your current professional state? I hear you have a big update to share with everyone.
RO: Yes, I do, and I want to say thanks, Daisy, it’s just a pleasure to be with you. It’s a pleasure to be involved with UpliftED, and I’m excited about kicking this series off, too.
Gosh, my status. It’s funny, it’s something I’m still getting used to saying. While I have had the privilege and pleasure of working with Orange Technical College in the arena of Career and Technical Education since Fall of 1997, last week I made a big transition, and that transition was to retire from my role as Community Outreach Specialist with Orange Technical College. I got to tell you, it’s just still—You know, I look in the mirror, I’m looking at this woman I’m seeing on this screen and I’m going, ‘retired, how could that be?’ I think like a lot of life transitions it’s a process and I’m still getting used to it.
DF: I understand that UpliftED was one of those projects that you really got to work on. Some people say they ‘have to work on this, I have to work on that,’ but you ‘got’ to work on UplfitED, and it provided you with a lot of fulfillment—professionally, personally—is that a fair statement to make?
RO: Yes, that’s so fair to say. I was thinking about how I came into getting connected with UpliftED. It was one of those days at work that I’m sure a lot of us have had happen, where one of our bosses says, ‘I need you to go to this meeting for me,’ and it’s like, ‘sure, that sounds good, what’s it about?’ ‘I’m not sure, but I think we’ve been going, and since our team member has left and you’re the new team member, you need to go.’ So I found my way to the United Way offices where we were meeting—and of course, Heart of Florida United Way is such an integral part of what we do—and I sat at a large table with a lot of very friendly people and started hearing about what this group—that was formerly known as CFCAN, or Central Florida College Access Network—was doing to help get people in our community connected to education.
Well, my job title was Community Outreach Specialist, and part of that job is to connect with different business, education, and community partners on behalf of Orange Technical College. So when I got there I’m in another community of sorts, and what I very quickly realized was that while we represented different organizations, we were all united in our quest to get education out there—to help people access education, to help people understand what their options were—and even though we represented different viewpoints, we really came together on that idea of helping people get access, and helping them persist through education, and help them to attain their education goals. So it was a great fit from the very beginning.
DF: We did a survey a few years ago to help us with our values, and one of the key words that came up throughout was collaboration, so it’s good to hear that you felt that from the very beginning, and still feel it today.
RO: I do. I think it’s a natural practice to reflect on things, and to know that I’ve been able to collaborate and work together with others to ultimately help individuals and families in our communities have a better life. If you look at it in a large sense, that’s what we’re about: we’re better working together, and better working together on behalf of what we can do to make our community a better place.
So thinking about retiring, I’m a little sad to leave, but really my overall feeling is gratitude to be connected to that work, and to connect other people to the resources and tools that we have, and that is a huge piece of what we do with UpliftED. We create tools—shameless plug for our website here—I want to encourage anybody that hasn’t been to our website, to go to upliftedcf.org and see the tools and resources that we have on there, because we are all about creating real and relevant tools that people can use and get them connected to what could be their next steps.
DF: Would you say that that collaboration spirit, and creating tangible tools and resources that people can use has kept you involved, or if that’s not fair, what has kept you involved for all of these years?
RO: One of the things that has been very exciting for me over the years, is when I initially came into the group, still trying to find what my place was going to be, because I was certainly there to represent Orange Technical College, and specifically our role in the education ecosystem is to help get people connected to quality industry credentials, or industry certification. So what I’ve seen, what’s kept me in there, is not only collaboration, but I think another foundational value for everybody that’s involved: respect, and respect for what all of us bring to the table.
So one of the things that has kept me, and will keep me even when I’m here in a volunteer capacity, is the fact that we have really broadened the array of choices and options that individuals have in our community to consider for education. Looking at our work with UpliftED, and looking at that Lumina goal of post-secondary attainment, and connecting people to the resources to make that happen—we’ve broadened the definition for what post-secondary—and simply put, as we’ve been seeing lately with the Talent Strong campaign with the Florida College Access Network, we’re looking at the value and the need for education after high school. What I have loved seeing is that it’s not just degrees—and we’ve talked about this a long time in the Career and Tech-Ed world: it’s not where are you going to school, but what do you want to do, and so—
DF: —and then figure out how to get there.
RO: Exactly, and the wonderful thing is there’s lots of ways to get there. There’s traditional coming out of high school, but then we know when we look at our workforce here—especially with everything that has happened recently—we know that individuals are thinking, ‘You know, I need to come back, I need to add some credentials,’ or, ‘I need to finish that college degree that I didn’t finish and I was so close in finishing it;’ so what connects me to the work is that it’s ongoing. There is such value and dignity attached to working, and for us to be able to connect people to what they need, to not only to work, but to go beyond that, and to make meaningful contributions to the community, to their family—I mean how could you not want to do this work?
DF: Just now you mentioned the Lumina goal, and just for folks who might not know what that is: we call it Goal 2025, that’s where we want 60% of Central Floridians—we cover Seminole, Orange, and Osceola counties—to have some sort of a credential that is a high-quality, stackable credential. That could be a certificate from, say, a technical school such as Orange Technical College, or OTEC down in Osceola, for instance—or it could also be a degree from Valencia College, from UCF, from any other institution that is out there—Troy University has a local campus and they are a partner of ours. Just looking at that goal—and we really want to get there—the state now has ‘SAIL to 60,’ which is an initiative that came out of legislation last year, and that is essentially the same goal: 60% of folks having a credential. Their timeframe is 2030, but we’re all working for the same cause, the same direction, and we all need to work together, like you said, and collaborate on all levels: local, state, and even getting insights from national and other states on what they are doing and bringing it back here so we can be successful.
What’s been one of the most memorable highlights during your time volunteering with us?
RO: You know that’s kind of hard to say, because there have been so many great moments working together.
I think one of the moments that’s near to my heart—and you’ve talked about this work being connected to our heart and head, and how wonderful when you can have that blend of what you know makes sense in your head is also something that’s near to your heart. My previous associate superintendent, Dr. Mike Armbruster, when I talk to him about our work with UpliftED, and would come back and share what we were doing, and what I had learned, and making connections with our partners, I think for me, for Mike—for Dr. Armbruster—to be connected to this work, and to one of the entities that guides the work for UpliftED, when he said, ‘you know, you helped us get a seat at the table.’
So that just keeps going through my mind: getting us—meaning Career and Technical Education—a seat at the table. So when I look at the different pieces and parts that have come together to allow Career and Tech Ed—which has been my world since 1997 here in Central Florida—to allow us to be recognized and valued as part of that education ecosystem, to help present a vast array of options to individuals in our community. I guess I’ll put that ’seat-at-the-table’ moment, that’s something that really resonates with me.
DF: Ever since I’ve met you you’ve been an advocate for CTE. Always making those connections, ensuring that no matter what we were talking about, if we were talking about traditional college, you would put it in there: ‘How about CTE?’ That was good, because sometimes you come into this work, and especially because our previous name was Central Florida College Access Network, you helped to switch that paradigm in our minds, and change that perspective, ‘yes, CTE, we do need to remember that that’s a great option for folks, a valid option.’ Some people look down on CTE somehow, but now especially, with everything that’s been going on this year, we need folks to get credentialed rapidly, quickly get to work and get skilled-up if you will. My sister-in-law is working two jobs, one is in the healthcare field (in a lab), and she’s also going to school. She said ‘I just need a certificate, Daisy. I need to make more money, and if I get this certificate, I can stack it,’ and I was like, she gets it. She’s a prime example of how all of this connects and why we do what we do.
RO: One of the things we’ve said in Career and Technical Education, if you take each one of those letters, C-T-E, we often talk about the power of Changing-lives Through Education. So that’s what we’re all about, making those changes, connecting the dots, helping individuals see possibilities. There’s so much out there, and I’ve heard other people say this, ‘you don’t know what you don’t know,’ but what we do know is that when we give people those options and help them consider things they’ve never thought of before—and encourage them to take that risk—then it’s amazing what we can accomplish.
Going to school—and I want to mention this—going to school for some individuals, just stepping through those doors for that education after high school, can be a scary thing, because for some folks, education while they were in school wasn’t always the best experience. So I think part of what we also do—and again that’s the value we share in UpliftED—we’re all about encouraging people, and helping them known that they can do it, they can move forward, and if they face a barrier let’s figure out a way to go around it. It’s not a stumbling block; we’re going to make it a stepping-stone, and there’s another way you can go.
DF: Exactly, and it could be that some people are like, ‘No, I have to go to work now. I’ve done high school, I’ve checked that off, the family’s happy, I need to go to work to help my family.’ CTE really helps make it so they can do it both; they can work, and they can go to school and get that certificate. Or, if the program is short enough, they’re like, ‘No, just give me 4-weeks, give me 8-weeks, 10-weeks,’ whatever the length of that short program is, to get them their foot in the door and they could be making more money than just with a high school diploma.
RO: What we know is even with that shorter-term program, you build that successful momentum, you build that confidence.
In the workplace we know that employers like, in many cases, to grow people from within. We’ve had students that have finished programs—there’s one young lady, and actually I think four more people were hired from the same program, a drafting program—going to work for an architecture firm, and they changed their paradigm of the credentials they wanted their employees to have. They had been looking for four-year degrees, but what they needed was the skillset that this particular woman had, and once she proved herself in the workplace, it paved the way for other classmates later-on to come to work.
Where I was going to go with this, is once she got in the workplace she started with a certificate, but they felt so good about the work that she was doing that they started paying for her to go back to school to ultimately get her bachelor degree. There are just a lot of ways to go with this.
DF: I was thinking about memories or things that make you special, and there are so many things that make you special. You’re always real, and authentic—which we all love—and you bring a breath of fresh air to any of our meetings, and you always took our meetings to the next level. If we knew in advance that we were going to be having a meeting where we were in circles, you would bring LEGOs. You’d put them on the table, and you would make that analogy about stacking and collaboration and partnership—but it also got people to think, and to do something to keep them engaged, and we really appreciated that.
The other one is—and I have to say this—you will always be our tchotchke lady! Anyone who’s ever gone to an UpliftED meeting knows Robin would always come with pens—
RO: Yes! Yes! That’s so funny Daisy, that’s what everybody calls their favorite pens, so they may not remember my name, but they’ll go, ‘who was that person who brought the fans, or the pens,' but again—all about getting the message out.
DF: The other memory is your pillow commercial. She did a commercial, guys! I’ll never forget, people would come to meetings, and they’d be like, ‘were you in that commercial for the pillow?’
RO: Oh, gosh, yeah, that was so much fun doing that My Pillow commercial. Gosh, I think that was at least three years ago now. It was really funny, because people would look at me and go, ‘I know you from somewhere.’ So I guess that’s my small claim to fame, is that I was in a national commercial—but let’s set the record straight: what I got paid—what my husband and I got paid, because he was in there too—we each got a pillow, and a lot of good memories.
DF: That means you’ve got really sweet dreams.
RO: Yes, yes we do, and as my friends used to tease me incessantly about, is it ‘gives my neck a little hug,’ which was my tagline that I made up because I apparently like to do those things. It was fun—and because you know me so well, Daisy—the fun thing about that commercial is it was way to start a conversation with somebody that I didn’t know that well. We know you never know where those conversations are going to lead.
DF: You never know, and you then can say that’s that door that opens up, or that window that creeps up and you’re like, ‘let’s put it all the way up, let’s go through it; here’s what you need to do to take that next step to fulfill your passions and desires for a career.’
Now that you’re retired, do you plan on continuing with UpliftED?
RO: Absolutely, I will continue virtually until we are back in person—because I am an optimist and I know that will happen again and I miss that—so I’ll still be absolutely involved from a distance. Thank goodness we have this technology to be able to do this.
DF: For sure, and when we’re back in person I can’t wait to give you the biggest hug.
RO: Oh, I know, me too. I miss that, we need that human touch, we really do. So I certainly will be involved, and it’s important, because thinking about this next step for me, I’ve always—my faith foundation talks about your gifts and talents, and I really believe that, for me, I have to share my gifts and talents—I want to share my gifts and talents. So that’s what I will do with UpliftED, and I would encourage anybody else that’s out there—we all have these fabulous unique gifts and talents, and we need to share them. You never know when that is just what somebody needed to hear, and that’s what we need to do.
DF: So, if somebody right now is watching this, and they’re like, ‘this UpliftED—what is this, it sounds like it’s something I need to be a part of.’ What would you say to someone considering partnering with UpliftED?
RO: Well, first of all, I’d encourage them to go to the website, so they can read more about us, they can look at some of those tools and resources we’ve mentioned in our conversation.
I know one of the great things about you, Daisy, is you will also talk to anybody, and if somebody is interested and they want to talk to you, I think it would depend on what they are currently doing. Are they a prospective student? Are they a business partner? We’re very big on aligning what we’re doing with the needs of business and industry, so we’d love to have folks talk to us perhaps about funding some of our initiatives. We also just want to broaden our reach, you mentioned our newsletter, we’d love to increase our newsletter. If you’re interested in working with us, we’re interested; It’s not only what you can do for us, but what we can do for you, so it’s really is very much a two-way street.
DF: To be a partner with us, we’re looking for folks in all sectors: education, non-profit organizations, businesses and industry, public space, if you’re a policymaker—we would love to work with you and help build out our policy agenda and what we’re going to advocate for and educate folks on. Philanthropy—everyone can take part of what UpliftED is doing.
With one more minute remaining, do you have anything you’d like to share with us?
RO: I want to share again how grateful I am. I’m grateful I got to know you, and still know you, I’m grateful to know all the other wonderful people with UpliftED. I read something that Henry Winkler wrote about gratitude, and he had this great line: “Gratitude is like a food group, it’s essential for being alive.” I want to let you know that you have my unending gratitude and encourage anybody listening to this to think about what you have to be thankful for. It’s tough times now, but there’s so much more good—so that’s what I want to focus on: what’s good and what we have to be grateful for, and how we can share it with others.
DF: Thank you so much. I am grateful for you always, and I’m grateful that we kicked off this new series with you, it’s the first of many. With that, thanks so much for your time.
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