Community Showcase: Rosa Espinal-Perry

Luis Malbas  
Hello, everybody, welcome to the training learning and development community. Thanks for joining us. Here in Northern California. It is a good afternoon we've got some excellent weather here and we're doing a showcase with with Rosa Espinal Perry. Did I say that right?

Rosa Espinal Perry  
You did.

Luis Malbas  
I did. Okay.

Excellent

Rosa Espinal Perry  
Some people get stumped by the Espinal.

Luis Malbas  
No, I got it. I guess I got it nice. Um, and I really appreciate you taking the time out to talk with us. We're going to learn more about you. And it looks like Kim is in and Elizabeth is in there saying given their shout outs there in the chat. And so I've got Hello everyone. Yeah, so 10 questions. 30 minutes, we're gonna learn more about you your journey as an instructional designer, maybe even talk about the fact that you were a that you are. Is it ATV Central Florida chapter. You're the president. The past president past president. Okay. We could talk about talk about that, too. I've got some some great questions for you lined up. Okay. Yeah. So let's just start out now. Um, where did your journey in learning and development begin? How did you find out about this crazy career.

Rosa Espinal Perry  
So I guess it really started with one of my early jobs as a pre K, teacher, Assistant, teaching toddlers. And while that was interesting and lovely, I like adults better, they don't take as many bathroom breaks. But it kind of started there, you know, and designing, putting things together to teach the little ones, you know, learn their ABCs and one, two threes. And and then you know, progressed into having other roles. The one thing that has been consistent in my career is that it's been one of teaching and/or training. Instructional Design really started one side started in banking. And that was it feels like 100 years ago back, I'm still in the 90s and lived in Miami at the time, and I was a teller. And I'm about processes and you know, you show me how to do it, I'm going to try to do it the best way and so you know how it is usually if you do things right, then you can train and you can train because you all do this stuff the right way. Right? And that sometimes works because you do find someone who has a passion for learning and a passion for teaching. But sometimes it doesn't. They lucked out because I have both and so progress to first just training tellers and creating the materials for them. Because again, dating myself in the 90s we did not have the software that we have today so there was no storyline or rise or any any of that good stuff we use now. It was good old Xerox make a copy put that you know, together and handwrite some of it because we were a small bank and didn't even have a word processing equipment. I have a good old typewriter. So yeah, so really dating myself but then you know, you learn and and really the basics are the basics, right? It's what do they need to know? How can you explain it? How can you make it engaging, fun interactive, right. So to me, those are the basics that don't change whether you are using that old typewriter or cranking it out in storyline or captivate or any other, you know, software of your choice. Right.

Luis Malbas  
Right. Yeah,

Rosa Espinal Perry  
it's about engaging the learner with what they need to know, so that they do their job. Well.

Luis Malbas  
You know, I haven't I haven't heard that term Xerox in probably like years, it seems like and that used to be such a common thing. But you know, like working as a teller or training tellers. That is a great sort of like, you know, that there's a very fertile place to become a trainer because there's so much that, that that that happens there. Is there anything in particular that you can, that you're going to recall something that really has stuck with you that, that you've maintained through the years from being from training tellers,

Rosa Espinal Perry  
definitely having visual examples when of what people need to know, and actually like, see, in order to do effectively, right. So for the trainer for the tellers, part of what I needed to include in my training was examples of signatures, right. And so they back then we had to look at their signature cards. And so how do you compare that against your driver's license? or How can you tell a good check from a bad check? Or what are the things you need to put on the check to show that you checked all the five or seven points or whatever thing it was right? And so that's where that good old Xerox would come in because we'd create several different ones and so some good ones, and some not so good ones. And that was their assessment, you know, is pick out the one, pick out the hours and tell us, which is a good one and why it's good, right? And, you know, you can still do those things now. But we're doing it with scenarios and you know, drop downs and hover over this or that and, you know, in different formats in different platforms.

Luis Malbas  
Have you had an opportunity to look at what, like more modern teller training is? Like?

Rosa Espinal Perry  
No, I have not. Um, I do know, there are things out there, but I haven't been in banking in forever. I actually don't even go inside the main cane more outside, if I have to go get cash, you know, so yeah.

Luis Malbas  
Yeah, I worked at a credit union a couple years ago, and but not in any type of, you know, in any training capacity, I was working in a in the marketing department. And I remember just going into into the, the training area, and just seeing like, how high tech and how polished it was. And it was actually a place of I don't know, every there was a lot of focus on making sure that it was one of the nicer areas of the of the institution, there was a lot that was happening there, where their training was really, really important to them. And so that actually made me feel pretty good to see that. Yeah, I

Rosa Espinal Perry  
know that nowadays, they're, you know, their systems have evolved a lot, right? It's not, you know, the old banking systems before their web based, you know, doing transactions through that. So the challenge then is, you know, showing them how to use that software and doing things correctly within those platforms.

Luis Malbas  
Yeah, like, it's all saying in the chat, you could bank on it.

Rosa Espinal Perry  
Yeah, and someone talking about mimeographed I remember that.

Luis Malbas  
So you went from some pre K, and then you started doing the teller stuff? When did the instructional design piece really come in?

Rosa Espinal Perry  
Well, um, then you know, as you as I said, training is the one thing that is consistently been part of my career. So some of that design then came later on, once I was working in Telecom. And then actually, as a frontline trainer, also having to create training materials, right. And then Thankfully, there was software involved. So it was, you know, using Microsoft Word or PowerPoint, to put together different either handouts, training manuals, and different instruction related to the jobs of the customer service associate to who worked on the phones.

Luis Malbas  
I see, I see. And so what is it about instructional design that you that you like, at this point,

Rosa Espinal Perry  
really just conveying the information they need, and the simplest and most engaging way, right, making it memorable, me making it in such a way that they want to do it, they do it and at the end of the day, they can do their job, all the much better for it, right? Because we've made sure that the learning aligns with the business goals aligns with the most important parts of their role, you know, either tied directly to how they're measured, or how, you know, their performance, and, and just lining it up all the way so that those goals are achieved, but then making it fun for the learner. Because sometimes, most of the time, people don't want to sit down and, you know, complete elearning or sit in a classroom or, you know, even zoom or whatever we're using nowadays, right? So really, it's about designing any of it to where it's it's fun, it's interactive, it's engaging, but you learn. So yeah, there's that, you know, win win for all sides.

Luis Malbas  
So is it? Is it the designing that you get more satisfaction out of it? Or is the actual seeing the results that you get the satisfaction or

Rosa Espinal Perry  
both, I like designing, I love that design part and interacting with who those learners are getting to know more about them. So you know, a lot of the needs analysis, audience analysis, that's the the nerdy geek in me, you know, I like doing that part. But then the creative side, putting it together, right? And then at the end, you know, again, bringing back the wanting to see what are the results, right? Was it effective? Did it meet the the metrics that we wanted the learning to do? Are people doing the things that we want them to do? Has the behavior changed? Is it improving, right? And did they enjoy it right? So a little bit of smile sheets, as well as ROI.

Luis Malbas  
Nice. So is there a particular training project that you might want to that really gave you a sense of satisfaction that something you'd like to, you know, to brag about a little bit.

Rosa Espinal Perry  
Well, um, there's been several I mean, throughout my career, different things that I did at different organizations. But right now I would say the one thing that in my current role, so when I started here at careersource, Central Florida, which is where I currently work, it, we are an organization who helps put people to work, right? That means if you come to us and you need a job, our staff is there to help you scale up if you need to scale up right or place you in a job if you're ready. And we did not have our own learning management system. And we did not even know there was a lot of learning going on. It wasn't structured. And there was, there wasn't any, anything that where we could say, okay, go here and complete this particular training. And so that has been a proud moment of being able to really create a an entire learning ecosystem for the organization that isn't just the LMS, it's all the other things that we've brought in other digital libraries and other tools that they now have in their box that help our staff be the best that they can be, so that they can help the community we serve, you know, in a much better way. And yeah, just really structuring that learning and really aligning it again to the goals of the organization and showing how we're moving that needle on employee development and, and improving those skills. And when I see folks that maybe started, you know, a few years ago, when I did and how they're moving now in their roles and growing their skills, and now we're leaders within the organization themselves, frontline leaders, you know, that's a proud moment. For me, it's kind of you know, like, your babies are growing up off to college and doing great things kind of thing, right? No, that's, that's the that's the satisfaction I get from working on things for any organization that I'm in is then seeing, where does it take those learners? Right? What were they doing before? And what are they doing now? How has it how has my learning my training that I created for them, help them improve in their careers, whether it's what the same organization or if they're moving on, you know, to other other places to do great things elsewhere?

Luis Malbas  
No, that's great. You know, and I think I recall you you have a background in operations, too, right? Yes. So because it seems like you'd like structure and systems and processes. I'm sort of hearing that a little bit.

Rosa Espinal Perry  
A lot. A lot. Yeah. But then, you know, there's also that creative side. But yeah, I do have some in operations. As I said, training has been the one consistent thing in my career. One job that I thought okay, wait, why are they calling me when I got a call from staples that they wanted me to, you know, apply for a position and I thought it was okay, probably contact center or retail store? No, it was for their fulfillment operations. And so I had to literally learn everything from receiving to shipping and everything that happens in between drive forklifts and train others on how to how to do I'm certified forklift driver. Nice. You know, that, again, a great organization, huge organization, and you would think, okay, they've got all training stuff, created and written, no, they had a lot of slps. But not really anything written in a way that was user friendly for the guy who's opening the receiving truck and receiving the product, right? That picker who is putting on that list rocket, as they call them, and scanning that label to then pick the product that you know, arrives at your door. So then it was working with, you know, those frontline people, they became my sneeze putting together things and then creating learning that we eventually started using nationwide because that was that kind of a pilot project. staples didn't I was like, think the third person they brought on to the warehouse operations.

Luis Malbas  
Wow. Yeah, that is that is heavy operations. Yeah. And it's very cool to imagine you driving a forklift? Yeah. So um,

Rosa Espinal Perry  
yeah. That's interesting. Yeah.

Luis Malbas  
rj multiservice. So you're the owner of that, yeah. What's that about?

Rosa Espinal Perry  
That's my consulting. So you know, when I take on freelance projects or clients who need either consulting with what they're doing in their business from training and development or HR as well, and or building elearning, and or, you know, other other things for that, too. That's what rj multiservices

Luis Malbas  
Wow, how long have you been on How long have you been doing that consulting work?

Rosa Espinal Perry  
I've been doing that probably since about 2020 1213. around there. Okay, so nice, nice while Yeah, yeah, it's

Luis Malbas  
been a while. So at this point now, so you've been doing you know, you've been a trainer for a couple decades, you have a ton of experience, I mean, working for staples, all this stuff? Is there anything that you would tell yourself, like when you first start, if you can go back to who you were, when you first started getting into being a trainer, and you can give yourself advice? What would that be?

Rosa Espinal Perry  
Oh, that I would definitely be to just learn all you can and keep learning. I mean, it's, it's what I do now. But I don't think that, you know, Rosa in 99, or, you know, 2000 really wasn't bracing that as much as I embrace it now. And as I've embraced it for probably the last 10, you know, 15 years, right? We, as leaders of learning in organizations, have to make sure that our toolbox has all the tools that we need, and they are sharp, and we need to know what is out there, maybe I'm not going to use it today. But it could be something that, you know, isn't is something that I can implement in the future for my organization? So it's always having your eye on what are the trends, right? And how can I improve what I'm doing. Because if you're just doing the same thing over and over, your learners are gonna, at some point, not be engaged with the content, you're not going to be driving that needle to move forward as a high performing learning organization. And I think that's what's important, you know, if we, if I keep improving my skills, that means that what my product that I'm, you know, creating is all that much better, which means then that my, my audience has that capacity to do that much better, because we're delivering a better product to them.

Luis Malbas  
Well, Rosa, so you stay on top of trends, like how, how do you do that? And I'm actually asking that question two is because I'd like our next community day to kind of be focused on trends and maybe future of, of, you know, instructional design or learning experiences, design or learning and development. But how do you stay on top of trends?

Rosa Espinal Perry  
I gotta tell you, LinkedIn is one of the best sources and you're following, right? So, um, I follow my rock, Carrera, Alex, and Alex, Alice, Cara north and my role van are just a few of the names Keith Keating, and I'm not just following trends, say in tech, but also trains in just, you know, the human side of what we do. Right? Yeah. Again, embracing the design thinking and things like that, right. And it's that blend that just helps you, you know, grow. And you can't be afraid to talk to people and ask questions, you know, we should we, when I was at Add ice 21, and I was volunteering, but met great person, Valerie casada, who then showed me a great tool. And we purchased that right then in there from E learning brothers, I did not know they had a virtual reality tool. And it's something they just acquired, right? Again, it's, you know, so and that was because that's something we'd like to start doing. So right now, and, you know, learn it, and then figure out what you're going to build with it base, right. But again, it's that, you know, don't be afraid to keep learning, ask questions, take care. Yeah. And you know, you're going to just be amazing at your organization.

Luis Malbas  
So is that how you stay on top of your professional development? You, you know, is it through your LinkedIn contacts and going to events and that type of thing,

Rosa Espinal Perry  
and definitely being a part of ATD, I would say that, you know, about 70% of what I do now, in my current role, as a learning Development Manager within my organization is skills that I've learned either through volunteering with ATD, or through certifications that I've taken through ATD or other organizations like ATD, training magazine, PLC, all of those, right? So it's really continuing to, you know, to stay out there and look at what's out there, right? Self assess, right? So really having that emotional intelligence to say, this is not my strength, and how do I improve it right? And be okay with that, like, own it, right? And then do something about it. Don't just say, Okay, well, I'm just not good at project management, right? learning as a project, right? But you can make it a great experience for those that complete that learning, right? It'll be like the learner feels like, Oh, god, this is a project, right? It should be that they're like, wow, this was great. And then your organizations would say, Wow, that was amazing. Look at the results. We got the beat. havior changed goals happens, right? And it happens through the person, the designer, the learning staff within the organization really having that critical eye to wanting to improve, you know? Yeah, not not staying stagnant.

Luis Malbas  
Nice. So Rosa, what Aren't you strong ad that you're working on right now?

Rosa Espinal Perry  
Oh, really, it's, um, some of the software platforms. So because now I've moved more to managing the role versus being the, the Dewar and just immersed in, say storyline or other software, I feel that I need to get back in and start building more, so that I don't lose those skills, right? Because right now, my team does that my team is using those great tools, I'm finding the tools for them, but I'm not using the tools as much as I'd like to

Luis Malbas  
it. And so if there was the one thing that you could just do all the time that you have the most fun with, what would that be?

Rosa Espinal Perry  
Well, I would probably still be facilitating to staff, you know, I I'd like to see when those aha moments happen. Because of the, you know, the facilitation of either the instruction of this is how you do this particular thing. Or even if it's, you know, just professional development, you know, what they call soft skills, which are really not soft, you know, like, that's another topic for another day, right. But you know, that here's how, you know, you communicate better in the workplace, and those things, you know, just seeing those light bulbs go on? No, I didn't, you know, I didn't see that coming, or, you know, didn't think of that. So I still like that facilitation side a lot. interacting with people.

Luis Malbas  
Yeah, yeah. Now, so you had mentioned, you want to get back a little bit more into platformers, working on that type of thing. But is there anything else like something that, that you feel like you really need to work on that you'd like to get back to that you can share with us?

Rosa Espinal Perry  
So as I said, you know, definitely the tools, right? Yeah. So I think even though I haven't used a storyline as much, I'd still do the, you know, three, storyline 360 not as much, but I am using rise quite often. But there are a few tools that we've purchased, for example, beyond and, and now the elearning brothers one, I'd like to learn how to use those, you know, how do I create augmented reality for our staff, right? Things that I envision is like a new member coming and you know, scanning something in all of a sudden, they can be immersed into each of our different locations, right from your phone, you know, interact with people at that location through what we create, right? So learning how to do that, if, if I if I can do that, then I will have reached that next goal of what I want to do from a software learning perspective.

Luis Malbas  
Yeah, that is kind of like on the nerdy side of things. So you've got that you've got that been to

Rosa Espinal Perry  
you, I will over the place.

Luis Malbas  
So who are what keeps you inspired in your career? Is there anything specific that you can share with us?

Rosa Espinal Perry  
Um, you know, for me, it was always wanting to so it was something just instill in, in all of us as kids, you know, from Latin background, and, you know, you came home with a B, that was a problem, you know, so it was always about, you know, get good grades. So you excel in school, excel in life. And so I got that from my mom, my grandmother. And so if I, if I think of, you know, who still motivates me, even though they're not here, it's them. But it's also wanting to, as they were an example, for me being an example for my kids and my grandkids, right? My oldest granddaughter just started college this year. So she's a freshman. And if, you know, she can be inspired just a teeny bit by any little thing that I do. To me, that would be an amazing win, right? Just being able to, you know, be that example for others, because I have those role models. I had those mentors. So to me, that's what helps me just kind of stay grounded, stay focused, to continue to do well and teach others you know, and share. You know, I'm really big about that. If I know something, I'm going to tell a friend and I'm going to tell them to tell 10 friends, right and we're going to keep sharing because knowledge is no good if you're the only one that knows it.

Luis Malbas  
Right? Yeah. Are you mentoring anybody now.

Rosa Espinal Perry  
I do have a few people that I mentoring folks that want to be in the instructional design field and Others who are looking to just enter the world of human resources. So for mentees right now,

Luis Malbas  
Wow, very nice, very nice. So if you weren't an l&d professional, what do you think you'd be? What would you want to be?

Rosa Espinal Perry  
I think I would still be teaching. Yeah, it would still be not

Luis Malbas  
education is it?

Rosa Espinal Perry  
Is it education is it

Luis Malbas  
yeah Wow. Okay. And last question Rosa if there's one thing that people should know about you what is it

Rosa Espinal Perry  
I love learning and love to share what I what I know with others, you know, I'm a connector, okay. And so I hope that you know, as a result of this, others reach out and you know, we can connect and learn things together. That's, you know, I think most people know that but maybe some don't. And so I would say that that would be the thing is, you know, reach out to me with things that you'd like to learn about that I may know or to share something you learned so that I can learn it.

Luis Malbas  
I love it Rosa that's one of the reasons why I love doing these is I'm hoping that this introduces people to others so that you know if they're curious about Rosa, they can actually just check out this conversation. It's not a very long conversation they can learn a lot more about you and then hopefully connect with you and and go from there. So that's that's great. So you are headed to any other events you're doing anything else this the rest of this year, you're going to be

Rosa Espinal Perry  
face to face quite busy. Well, yeah, actually a face to face event on women in leadership conference that is happening in Orlando. So I'm excited about that. Great did a TD is and that was face to face. So it was exciting to just be in the same room with, you know, great thought leaders in our world of l&d and great other professionals that I met there. And also attending virtually the learning 2021 was hoping it was going to be in person but safety concerns and we appreciate that they're doing it virtual so that'll be a virtual one that I'll be attending and then looking forward to add is 2022 because that's in my backyard in Orlando, so yeah, so hopefully we get a nice crowd and they're in it does it's not a virtual event, it's going to be you know, in person

Luis Malbas  
so very is that is that in in Orlando, or is that going to be in Florida in in the spring or

Rosa Espinal Perry  
add 22? is, um, may I don't have I don't remember the exact dates, I want to say it's mid May the 15th or something like that. And it is in Orlando.

Luis Malbas  
Wow. And so and learning is going to be purely virtual. It's not going to be hybrid.

Rosa Espinal Perry  
Yes. So yeah. And learning. That's the one that used to be amazing learning. Yeah, it's not going to be a hybrid it is 100%. Virtual.

Luis Malbas  
Interesting. Very cool. Okay. Rosa,

Rosa Espinal Perry  
thank you. Yeah.

Luis Malbas  
Very nice, Kim, thanks. I really appreciate your time, Rosa. And I'm, I might hit you up because I need to figure out about these trends. I want to learn about some of these trends myself and I put this event together. So

Rosa Espinal Perry  
thank you for the opportunity to be on your show. Yeah, you're on your program. I appreciate it. And thank you for what you're doing for our community because you're you're showcasing amazing people you know, I'm not putting myself in that the people I listened to it all the time, and you bring on amazing people who have so much to contribute. So for me, thank you for what you're

Luis Malbas  
Rosa, that means a lot. It is important to me and it's sort of during this time, where you know, people are so isolated. It's one of the reasons why I thought you know, I got to do this because there's so many of us and I miss faces and talking to actual human beings and you know, not just like a bunch of webinars where you're getting talked at just to actually have these little conversations. So I really appreciate you and appreciate the support you've shown for TL DC. And I'm looking forward to hopefully at some point meeting you in person you never know I might head over to HTTPS next year.

Rosa Espinal Perry  
I hope to see you

Luis Malbas  
alright Rosa, thanks so much. And everybody thanks for jumping in today. Tomorrow. We got Aaron Peter shake who was one of the founders of learner Palooza out of Seattle used to produce events there. So join us tomorrow. I think that one's at 4pm Pacific seven Eastern. And with that, we'll see everyone next time. Thanks again, Rosa. Take care. Bye, everyone.

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