Community Showcase: Gwen Navarrete Klapperich

Luis Malbas  
Hello, everybody, welcome to the training learning and development community. Thanks for joining us today. We have a member showcase where we're going to be talking with Gwen never ready. clapper rich is a copper rich, average, collaborate. Yeah, who I have actually had the pleasure of talking to, I don't know over the last like few months and we've actually had a few discussions. Now Glenn. So I am excited about finally getting to ask some of these questions which are a little bit more focus on who you are, who you are as a trainer as an instructional designer, and just get to know you better. And before we get going, I just want to thank some of the folks in the live audience that are here. Kim is here. Kim, thanks for the email today. I didn't oops, I think we lost Quinn For a second there. I didn't respond back. But thanks for sending me that info. Tamra Lisa, Melissa and Julia Jean. Oh Jean. It's great to see it's goes great to see you in the audience. Jean, thanks for joining us and I know that you're a mentor of Gwen so. So this is very cool that you're in the audience here. Okay, so with that, let me just start I'm going to start peppering you with questions when first I'm going to mention Yeah, a couple things one, you were speaker at AI dc 21 enter accessible inclusive design conference. It was wonderful to have you at that event I still get like on a regular basis people that are thanking me for producing that that particular conference and really love the the the the content that they've been able to check out via the recordings on there. So if you guys any of you that haven't seen the event, you know it's available for free on the TL DC website, just go to VA t LDC calm and the header there's a link to it, I think I have one in the body of the website too. So they're really just fantastic accessibility content on there. So check that out. And you'd spoken about UDL and then also it was like sort of Microsoft accessibility tools I believe for

Gwen Navarrette Klapperich  
that. Yeah. And it's short and sweet.

Luis Malbas  
Yeah, it's great stuff was great stuff. And we're going to talk a little bit a bit about this to about that today. But I also we're just gonna discuss just more focus about you. And so I want to just start out with your background like how did you get into instructional design what's the story there

Gwen Navarrette Klapperich  
so I always say that there's there's two there's two types of people who wind up in talent development or training and development. One are the people who actually start out kind of studying the field and then they kind of travel around and then there are the accidental trainers who just were dumped in there and then one of the they loved it and and kind of went from there and that was actually that's actually how I wound up in it. So I was actually in operations for a very very long time I worked in retail for a long time and hospitality and you know, typical you can train this go ahead and train a class and that's kind of how I started and kind of went on from there so I've been doing that for gosh over once every 15 to 20 years now so I haven't stopped once you once I got into it I didn't want to leave

Luis Malbas  
were you saying you were you'd like worked at hospitality or retail and then all of a sudden you found yourself like hey Gwen, you're kind of good at training people so maybe you should be the go to do this.

Gwen Navarrette Klapperich  
Yeah, so I was the go to person for a lot of like little little things on the side, you know, like little training here and there. And then when the position opened up for a Training Specialist in the training department, they encouraged me to apply for the job so I did

Luis Malbas  
well I'm just curious, can you tell us what retail outfit it was?

Gwen Navarrette Klapperich  
It was William Sonoma and Pottery Barn

Luis Malbas  
I have found

Gwen Navarrette Klapperich  
great company to work great company with for I like to say I grew up there because I actually started there right after I graduated from college, and I kind of like work my way up and work through different departments and things like that. But yeah, it's great company to work for.

Luis Malbas  
That's funny my sister worked for Pottery Barn for years and I had family working for William Sonoma and gap and Old Navy and everybody Yeah, I was just curious about that. Alright, cool. So um, you got into training you just found you had an affinity for it is that is that what was kind of happening there?

Gwen Navarrette Klapperich  
Yeah, I think I think that's just it's there's something like I call it the training Hi, you know when you when you are training a class and people the light bulb goes off and you can see the light bulb go off of where you can see make a difference in somebody's work or their life. That's when I like to call the training Hi, and so, um, and I I kind of feed off of that. I kind of feed off of that. That's what I that's what I that's what keeps me going.

Luis Malbas  
I never heard anything that specific from anybody in any of these interviews, I'd like to hear from anybody in the audience if you guys, you know, if you feel that training highs that why you do what you do? So, favorite part of being an in lmd? Or being an instructional designer? Is that ID or, or do you have anything else that you would answer? If you were asked that question, like your favorite part of doing this particular line of work?

Gwen Navarrette Klapperich  
That's my favorite part. Yeah, that is definitely my favorite part, especially when people tell you like you had no idea that you had such an impact. I mean, sometimes I'll get you that's really nice. But sometimes I'll get like LinkedIn messages from somebody I worked with years and years and years ago, they found me on LinkedIn, and like, Hey, I was in your training class, who's really good, and it made a difference. And, you know, and sometimes I hear from people who I trained who, you know, kind of surpassed me in their career, you know, I kind of get that that actually to me is or people who think that they can't do something. And after the class after the class II train, they know they can do something. So yeah, that's my favorite part.

Luis Malbas  
Yeah, that must be that's a I'm sure. That is a really, really, really good feeling. And why a lot of folks in this space do what they do. Um, is there anything that like when you started out, you know, whatever, 1015 years ago, anything you wish you would have known when you started out in your career?

Gwen Navarrette Klapperich  
I wish I had known that it was a career path, I really do. I had no idea that it was an entire profession, and that it was an entire role that I could have, because I actually, my concentration in college was I have a hospitality degree. But my concentration was human resources and training. I have no idea that being in training and development or being in talent development, could be a viable career, career plan, or career path. So I wish I had known that a little bit earlier on, I would have gone into it a little bit earlier than I think I did, I would have, because, you know, I got burned out on operations. And so I think I would have stepped out of that realm a little bit sooner if I had known that it was a viable career path for me.

Luis Malbas  
Yeah, is it? How long did it take before you actually realize that it was there was a career known as like, instructional design?

Gwen Navarrette Klapperich  
So my cockatiel is going off yet. Um, I think, I think it was fairly, I think it was right after I got laid off from my retail job. And then I realized that there was an add in other communities like TL DC, and the democratic communities of trainers who got together and kind of talk shop and that's kind of how I went from nine and really started to learn about more about what the profession was about and what it meant to be in talent development.

Luis Malbas  
Interesting. Yeah, I and I love that actual story, just like because I've heard that from other people before and it you know, and then as soon as they like, get introduced to like, say, an ATG chapter or, you know, some community like TL DC, all of a sudden, it's like, wow, I this is what I want to do. This is something I really want to put some, some focus on now. Of course, you know, you spoke at AI, Dc 21. You know, which is an accessibility event, you put a lot of focus on, on on UDL. And, and, and, and training for people with disabilities, like what got you into that part of things?

Gwen Navarrette Klapperich  
You know, it's an interesting story. So, um, well, a couple things. One is that I actually myself has a has a disability. But my son also has a disability, but really kind of got me going into that path and being our ponies on if he's one of my mentors with UDL, but Universal Design for Learning is that I was actually training I was designing a class for community college that I was doing a contract for. And it was a certification class that people needed in order to maintain their employment. And a gentleman It was like, I was auditing the class, I was going to redesign it and I was auditing the original class. And it was very text heavy. It was like it was all about Hawaiian history and culture and all that other stuff. And a gentleman approached me in the middle of the class and said, I don't know what I'm gonna do, because I can't pass this class because I can't lead I don't and I don't want to tell my employer. He had been hiding it the whole time that he was an employee that he couldn't read. And he was really scared that he was going to lose his job.

Luis Malbas  
So he was illiterate.

Gwen Navarrette Klapperich  
He was illiterate. Yeah, so he had I think he had like a probably a more than likely and an undiagnosed learning disability. And just never caught up from there and which is unfortunately common sometimes in adults. You know, where they have this learning disability and therefore it affects their ability to read. And it kind of took me aback and I said, You know, I don't I don't know how to help. This I don't know, I don't know what I can do to help this gentleman succeed, you know, or to be able, how do I train? How do I train people with these types of issues, you know, low literate, and then it kind of got me thinking, you know, not just people with low literacy. But also that's the culprit. Little literacy, but, you know, people who have English who are not native English speakers, you know, just the people who have challenges in your training classes, I realized, you know, I train a lot of community classes, which means that I train a lot of, I do CPR and first aid a lot on, you know, kind of as part of my business. And because it's out in the community, I never know who's going to show up in my class, I never know if they're going to have a disability, I never know if they're going to have a drug, I need to learn a combination. I, you know, and I can't assume so that's how I kind of got into Universal Design for Learning, because it kind of addresses all of those, you know, from the forefront or at the very beginning, rather than kind of thinking about it at a later time.

Luis Malbas  
So let's see, where did you start? Well, you obviously must have started your corporate training career while you lived in mainland USA, and then you move to Hawaii. Seven years ago, I think we were discussing earlier. When did you pick up on sort of wanting to work like, you know, with with, you know, your, your work with UDL, and, and all that was that after you moved to Hawaii, or

Gwen Navarrette Klapperich  
now, after I moved to Hawaii, I, I think it was about 2016 is when I had that contract. And it kind of contract kind of pulled me in many different places, I actually had the opportunity to go train at the correctional facility. And so it kind of took me in many different places. It was for continuing education department at a community college here in Honolulu. And that experience really opened my eyes to the variety of learners that are out that are out there and the challenges that some of them face. So it was I was here, although Although I will say that when I got married, I inherited again, a stepson with autism. And as a trainer, I really felt that it was my responsibility to help him succeed in life. Because one of these days, we're not going to be around to help him. And so I felt Okay, well, how can I use my background in training and development to help him, you know, throughout his career path to whatever he wants to do as far as school is concerned, or kind of what he wants to do when he's an adult, which he is an adult now. But that that started the seed, but that I think that really my experience at the community college in 2016, really put me on that path.

Luis Malbas  
Wow, that's amazing. Well, thanks for sharing that. I really appreciate it. I am sort of my own curiosity. This is totally kind of a personal question. But when did you meet Jean, how did you how did you end up connecting with Jean Mayer podi. I'm a big fan.

Gwen Navarrette Klapperich  
podi is awesome. She's my rock. She's my mentor. We met at Believe it or not, when she was actually presenting about UDL at the training magazine conference in 2017. I literally sign up for that conference based off of per session. And so we met at that conference when she was presenting about UDL. She knows way more about it than I do. But she was presenting there. And then she's invited me to do certain things with her over the years and has just been really wonderful and supportive, and I couldn't be more thankful. So that's how we met. We've seen each other over the years at different conferences and things like that. So

Luis Malbas  
yes, I love it. When I meet two people that know each other, it's, it always feels like I'm on the right path. So that's a great thing. So tell us a little bit when now like, what kinds of projects are you working on?

Gwen Navarrette Klapperich  
So actually, right now I'm working on I'm for some reason, October is busy conference month. So I'm working on a couple presentations. Some of them about accessibility. Some of them are about UDL. But I believe that I do other things, too. So next week. There's actually a conference that's a that's Hawaii Philippine conference. And they asked me to speak about generational differences. So I'm working on that right now. Actually, it's actually really interesting because I'm getting to learn about the generational differences that are not just here in the States, but in the Philippines as well, which is slightly different because of cultural issues. So

Luis Malbas  
is it a free conference?

Gwen Navarrette Klapperich  
It's actually I think it's like $25. It's called the Aloha mobile high conference. Only $25. I'll send you the link.

Luis Malbas  
Yeah, send me the link because I probably need to know this stuff too. Let's talk about some of the trade projects that you've done anything that you're especially proud of, that you can kind of tell us about something that stands out that you'd like yes, this is some that, that that I did that I'm really proud of.

Gwen Navarrette Klapperich  
Oh, wow. I don't necessarily know if it's a project that I'm proud of, I'm more proud of the people that I train. I'm you know, although though the project that I did for the community college was actually fairly interesting, it was we designing the tour guide certification program for the state of Hawaii. And that's actually where I met this gentleman who didn't know how to read and all the other stuff. And I think it just afforded me the opportunity to to be in places and train play people that I normally wouldn't have access to, or wouldn't even have the ability to, I wouldn't even have any first idea how to how to reach them. So I think one of my proudest moments was we were working at the correctional facility and a gentleman who happens to be you know, unfortunately, marginalized people kind of tend to have higher incarceration rates. So there was a there was a young man who was Native Hawaiian and he was really smart and I kept telling him you know, you you have a future in this you have a future and whatever you want to do and and he told me Well, I'm not smart enough to go to college. And that really broke my heart I said, well I told you that and it just kind of came with him and I'm training him through the different aspects of different the different as the course went on. Eventually one day he said he came in he said, I you know, I'm getting out in a couple in a couple months or a couple of weeks and I decided I'm going to apply to college. And so it's something that that actually I'm more proud of than actual projects if that makes any sense. It's the people that I encounter that I think and the impact that I can make because at the end of the day our projects a project right but it's it's the impact that it has on other people I think that makes the most the most the most sense to me.

Luis Malbas  
Yeah, no, that is that's actually really that's an incredible point and I think that that's a really poignant I think for the job that that that that we all do as educators you know that it really is it's, it's it's less about the project it's just more about the individuals that you work with and even for me, that's where I'm really trying to reframe my idea of community just really just focusing on individual people and I think you know, it's just a little different from everything that I've learned in the past so I totally get that that's great. I'm gonna have to that's one that I'm going to be thinking about after we finish our conversation here. So as a trainer is there anything that keeps you particularly inspired what like you know, I mean, is the what what keeps you going what keeps you driving driving yourself to get better at what you do

Gwen Navarrette Klapperich  
I think that community is one thing but I also think that it's just I just am you know, when you're a trainer you also love to learn so I just keep plugging away and I I keep signing up for you know, different webinars and classes just to keep my skills fresh, I'll you know, they always say that you when you love something, you'll volunteer to volunteer or you'll do it for free. And so I also have volunteer I also do some training classes for the Red Cross as a volunteer and so that's just to keep certain skills fresh because I don't train all that often in that you know, in that particular environment or WebEx or whatever the case may be so that's how I kind of tend to keep going that's what inspires me to just keep going and then also to you know, I want I want to say my kid my kid inspires me to keep going because he has a lot of challenges I mean he's he's a great kid he's doesn't have as many challenges as some other people but he does have challenges and when I see him keep going, you know, there's really nothing else for me to do than to say well, you know, I will I will keep plugging along as well.

Luis Malbas  
Yeah, no, that that is that's great. Is there anything in particular right now that you're learning skills that you're trying to develop?

Gwen Navarrette Klapperich  
Um, I actually am trying to learn a little bit more about because I'm not an E learning expert. So I'd like to learn a little bit more about that so I have like I'm trying to learn how to do videos and explainer videos and tutorials and things like that. I think this is my next project. I'm not really all that familiar with articulate so I would like to be familiar with articulate but you know, you kind of need a subscription for that, but just trying to get trying to get caught up with the tech stuff. where I'm at right now.

Luis Malbas  
What do you think that you are really good at?

Gwen Navarrette Klapperich  
facilitation? I mean, my expertise is in training, delivering information. Mostly a I do blended learning and synchronous training. And that's where my expertise really lies. And when I do train the trainer, it's always that type of thing is synchronous or in person or blended learning that that's what I really focus on. But I'd like to, I'd like to, to to create a little bit more asynchronous training, if I can.

Luis Malbas  
Is there anything in particular that that is really, really difficult for you that you have to regularly do?

Gwen Navarrette Klapperich  
That's a really good question. I know a lot of that has to do with my disability, I just I have I have trouble concentrating sometimes. So it's, it's, it's the focus that you need to maintain. And just, every day, just, it's just a matter of trying to get past whatever it is, it's playing in your way. So that's, that's I constantly have to remind myself that, you know, because I will, what I do, and I have ADHD, so I have constant, like distractions all over the place, I could wind up in one project. And I, by the end of the day, I will have started five more projects, but have finished none of them. And so, you know, it drives my husband crazy, because I have a gazillion and I have computer tabs open at all times, I have everything all over the place. And so it's one of those things where you can start things, but finishing things is a little bit challenging. So that's what I have to work on every day is actually finishing the stuff that I start,

Luis Malbas  
right? No, I actually I find that I have the same problem. And you know, like, I think it's gotten worse as I've gotten older, surprisingly. But I know the feeling. So as a trainer, what do you what's the best compliment that you've ever received?

Gwen Navarrette Klapperich  
Oh, gosh, you know, it's actually something that my husband, so I was actually training a train the trainer class. And it just so happened that my husband and I were carpooling that day. And my husband rolled up to pick me up and one of the learners was leaving the building. And he said to my husband goes, are you Quinn's husband. And my husband said, Yeah, your wife is a bad bass trainer. I said, Okay, that is actually the best compliment I think I could have ever done. I was like, for a while I wanted I wanted to put it on my business cards and I wanted to put it in my LinkedIn Can I just say that but you know, it just it kind of encapsulated everything that I really, that I really wanted to be are kind of you know, and it was just it's it's how it goes along with my sense of humor and stuff like that. So yeah, that's

Luis Malbas  
that's it's funny because I think on my end, you cut out a little bit right when you said What, what, you know, that said, and so, but I think I know what you're saying. Funny, like, this was sort of appropriate timing for that, but that's really, really good. So how about jobs that you've worked in the past other than retail and hospitality? Is there anything else that you've done?

Gwen Navarrette Klapperich  
Yeah, I absolutely, it's taken me talent development has taken me everywhere I actually worked for the Nevada State Department of Health in their immunization Ranch, I was actually training their training, I would go around the state of Nevada and I would train healthcare providers on how to use the immunization registry. So I learned a lot about you know, immunizations way more than I that I probably need to know but I got into I was doing public a public health training for three or four years I want to say and then I also want to continue education and hospitality and retail and it's just taken me I mean, this career path has taken me all over the place it's it's amazing where where it's landed me. But yeah, that was an interesting job. That was a really interesting job I got to go to like the most rural parts of Nevada where you know, certain things are still legal and met some really met some really interesting characters and you know, just really remote places because Nevada is really like there's Reno and there's Las Vegas but everything in between is just desert. And so you know, got to go to mining towns and and things like that. And so it was a really interesting job.

Luis Malbas  
I was really that actually, that sounds really really cool to me that like seems like it'd be very much a learning experience. So is there anything along those lines where you have like, like seeing any training projects or, or something where you ended up like learning a lot more about that particular topic than you ever thought you would? Is that Anything in particular that you that sticks out is like I know so much about that, like you're saying, like is immunisation? Is there anything else like that, that you've learned a lot of that, that you're kind of surprised you know so much about it now.

Gwen Navarrette Klapperich  
I actually the one thing that sticks out in my head a lot is, is that because I was so immersed in it for three and a half years, I actually actually continued that work. When I moved here to Hawaii, I volunteered and served on the white immunization coalition board of directors. And I'm helped coordinate a couple of conferences and things like that, that had to do with immunizations. So it's, and actually, that was actually afforded me a contract that I just had with an immunization Association out on the mainland, where I did some diversity, equity inclusion training for them. So yeah, it was a it was it's a subject that I know way more than I probably should know. But, yeah, I mean, absolutely. It's a useful topic these days, for sure. I mean, it's just being able to know how vaccines are developed and things like that are really has been really fortuitous during the pandemic, because I've been able to follow the right people. And I've known, you know, kind of who, who knows this information. And I got to know people at the CDC, you know, who, who deals with this all the time. So yeah, there's that. And then, you know, I also know I, you know, I also know if when you thinking like way, way, way back to my retail days, I know, way more about how furniture is made than I probably should, you know, I know, way more. I know how I know, I know what colors are like, like in and, you know, spruce in there, and it's amazing how, you know, even like, 1015 years later, something will pop up in my head to be like, Oh, you know, I remember that from way back when so

Luis Malbas  
yeah, is that that must be funny. Like, when you go shopping or something and you're looking at particular, you know, like,

Gwen Navarrette Klapperich  
yeah, I'm looking at heart attack. I'm like, no, that's not you know, that's not them. The mortar enjoined, and it's not, you know, the dowels aren't placed, right, or whatever the case would be, or I know way more about it than I ever wanted to know.

Luis Malbas  
That it's so funny. That is, that's actually a question I want to ask more people is about that, because I think that, as trainers, you've probably learned a whole bunch about, about things that you never thought that you'd know about. And I would, I would love to know more about that from people. So what do you think if you weren't an l&d professional? What do you think you'd be?

Gwen Navarrette Klapperich  
Believe it or not, when I was a kid, I wanted to be a doctor. So I was bound and determined to be a doctor until I took honors chemistry in high school. And that ruined it for me. That totally ruined it for me, I was like, oh, gosh, I can't even pass honors chemistry, or I can't pass chemistry, or I understand that there's no way I'm going to be able to, to go through four years of med school. So then I kind of like full, you know, filtered around for a while. But yeah, I probably would be a doctor, I would probably be a doctor.

Luis Malbas  
Yeah, no, that says a lot about sort of your mission and the way that you are interested in helping people and, and all of that I mean, I really really get that from you that you're you know, you're really looking to to to you know, basically just make people better so you know, that totally comes across every time that we've talked and and here in this broadcast as well. So if there's one thing that people should know about you, what is it this is your last question

Gwen Navarrette Klapperich  
one thing that people should know about me Oh, you know, I'm not really sure. um you know, honestly, that I'm pretty I'm pretty open book. I think one of the things that maybe people don't know about me that they should know about me is that it's sometimes it takes a while for me to respond. Because I'm thinking about stuff. And then my mind goes a million miles an hour so sometimes hard to follow me in conversation, and that's just how I am but yeah, I think I think if I wanted people to know something about me, I think that I would be that I'm a helpful person, as you said, But um, yeah, I mean, I'm otherwise I'm a pretty transparent person. I don't I don't really try to hide anything too much, right?

Luis Malbas  
Oh, that's great. That's great. Um, I can say that, in all the conversations that I've had with you so far, you have you know, been really, really helpful. And I know like even just this last Friday, we had talked about building out that that di event and you left me with a lot to think about, in fact, after I talked to you I was like, calling my you know, my sister And my mom and I'm like, did you know this? And did you know that? All this stuff that I learned about I called like some other friends of mine, I'm like, Did you guys know that it's Filipino history. So I appreciate you coming in and doing this, this little broadcast with me, I'm going, I really appreciate you helping support cldc being a part of the community. And yeah, and I really look forward to continuing to talk to you about how we can make this community better and keep on producing fantastic events. And yeah, the best of luck to you, and thanks so much for taking the time out today.

Gwen Navarrette Klapperich  
Thank you for the opportunity. I really appreciate it. It's been fun.

Luis Malbas  
Yeah. So thanks, everyone. Thanks for joining us. We've got a couple more of these member showcases this week. Tomorrow we're talking with jack Pierce, who has been on the broadcast a few times now I think, like a handful of times. And then Deanna Bowles, who's going to be calling in from from Sydney, Australia. I'm looking forward to speaking with her on Thursday. And And just a reminder, we still have a few more events coming up this year. We have this big dei event. I've been planning I literally like at toss and turn at night thinking about it because I'm really trying to figure out how, how to make the best event I possibly can for that one. And so keep an eye out for that. And with that, I'm gonna wrap things up, Gwen. Thanks again, everybody. Hope to see you this week, tomorrow on Thursday, and we'll see you again later. Thank you. Bye, everyone. Bye

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