Emerging Leaders - Dylan Zajac: The Importance of Networks

Resource type: Podcast

If you could go back in time and give yourself a piece of advice, what would that be? In this episode of Emerging Leaders, we speak to Dylan Zajac, Founder and Executive Director of Computers 4 People, a non-profit providing devices and training to low-income individuals on the East Coast of America. The discussion explores the importance of networks and how one chance encounter can have a cascading impact.

Dylan founded Computers 4 People at 15-years-old with an aim to foster digital equality, repurposing disregarded devices into digital tools. Through device donations, digital skills classes, and free hotspot programmes, the organisation has helped more than 3,000 people access digital resources.

You can find out more on here about our educational work to help young people develop ethical leadership skills.

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The views expressed in these podcasts are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of Cumberland Lodge.

Cumberland Lodge · Emerging Leaders – Dylan Zajac

Transcript

00:05

Christina Ogwang (CO)

If you could go back in time and give yourself a piece of advice, what would that be?

00:09

In this episode, we speak to Dylan Zajac, Founder and Executive Director of Computers 4 People, a non-profit which he founded at 15 years old. Over the past five years, the organisation has helped more than 3,000 low income individuals access digital resources and training.

00:28

In our conversation, Dylan explores the importance of creating a network and how one encounter can have a cascading impact.

00:37

Thank you so much for joining us from New York.

00:39

Dylan Zajac (DZ)

Yeah, from Hoboken, New Jersey.

00:41

Oh great. Thank you so much. Great to have you here. I would just like to kind of just get straight into it. So, my first question is what motivated you to get involved in the cause that you are in now?

00:54

Yeah. So it all started about five years ago. We actually just had our fifth-year anniversary.

01:00

And it started back when I was in high school. Me and my friends used to go to different thrift stores in New York City, buy old computers and electronics, fix them up, and sell them. And we saw that all these companies didn’t really know how to get rid of their old e-waste, so they would end up in these thrift stores.

01:15

So instead of going and buying them from the thrift stores, I was like, wait a second, can I go to these companies directly and see what they do with their old devices?

01:24

It turned out that a lot of these companies didn’t know how to get rid of their old devices, and many would end up in the landfill.

01:30

You know, leaking toxic chemicals into the water, the soil, the air. And I was like, this is a huge problem. Like why is no one really solving this and tackling this problem? I talked to my stepmom, who worked in the non-profit space. And she told me how so many people didn’t have access to computers. And I was like, well, there’s these two different sides. Like, what if we just connect them and create a nonprofit around this?

01:51

Build a, you know, system to effectively collect, refurbish, and then donate to people in need. And that’s where it all started. So it started, you know, in my bedroom in high school, you know, eventually went to a storage unit, where we got a storage unit place to sponsor us, you know, for six months to give us a free storage unit.

02:10

And then eventually went to an office like two years later and now we’re here in 2024, and the motivation is still the same. You know, we’re unlocking access to the digital world and trying to do that on an as big scale as we possibly can, while also really taking the advice and the feedback from the communities that we’re serving.

02:31

We’re not just taking our solution and saying okay it works for you and it works for you. We’re going to the communities first, getting their advice, getting their feedback, asking their problems, and then building the solution around the problem, and that’s what we continue to do here in New Jersey and New York City and now Massachusetts.

02:45

Well, firstly, congratulations on your fifth year. You know, I’m trying to envision 15-year-old you in high school trying to merge these two things together and your passions. So no, it’s great that going into the communities trying to find those solutions to their problems.

02:59

What are some barriers that you’ve faced just starting Computers For People and how do you feel like you’ve also overcome those barriers?

03:07

Yeah. I think one of the biggest barriers, at least when I was younger, was just being young. There’s like so many barriers to starting an organisation or starting a project when you’re younger. Like, you know, people don’t trust you, they don’t believe you’re gonna do it for a long time. They think it’s just, you know, a school project.

03:23

So, when people have those assumptions, at the start, they’re not going to invest a lot of money or time into what you’re trying to build. So at the start it was extremely difficult to get funding for the cause, difficult to get computers like we did a good job at the start getting computers, but not on a large scale. If you go to like a massive Fortune 500 company and as a 15-year-old and tell them hey, you know donate all your old technology with its data on it to a 15-year-old, and trust me it’ll get wiped properly.

03:54

They’re probably gonna choose the other guy that has a, you know, 200,000-square-foot warehouse and can wipe the data and give them data certificates and all that stuff. But we’ve gotten to that point. So yeah, that was one of the biggest barriers is just people trusting me and trusting the mission. But now we’ve kind of got to that point and we’re ready to expand.

04:16

Again, as you’ve mentioned, you know you being young and them not trusting you, but I think something that really does come through is your passion and your purpose for this mission. And with the challenges that you have faced, I do also like to celebrate the wins and successes that you have been able to achieve in your five years.

04:33

Yeah. I mean, there’s been a, I think a lot of ups and downs, but just talking about the wins.

04:38

I mean, we’ve almost, we’re about to hit 3,000 computers donated, which is a very exciting milestone. I’m sure we’ll have a little celebration here in the office once we hit that.

04:48

Additionally, we’ve taught over 200 computer literacy classes in person around New Jersey and New York City. We’ve just opened a new office in Massachusetts, proving that we can scale this model to a new location and kind of build new relationships over there. Also hiring locally, we go over there and hire people that are locals in Massachusetts.

05:10

So that they know their community the best and they know how to help us navigate those communities. And then, yeah, I think just building a great team that’s one of the hardest things to do in any company, for profit or nonprofit, is building a good team. And we’re getting there.

05:25

Almost 3,000. Absolutely amazing. I would like to also just ask in terms of, I know you touched on building a great team and also you know hiring the locals because they also know their communities best. So in terms of being a leader in your field and, you know, building the best team around you.

05:44

What qualities do you feel like you have, and what qualities do you think are the best to have as a young leader?

05:50

That’s an interesting question. I think it’s like everyone, you kind of figure out eventually that everyone’s kind of figuring things out. Everyone’s learning. No one just like knows how to be a leader from the start and everyone has different ways of going about different situations.

06:10

What I’ve done which I’m, you know, happy that I’ve done is get a lot of really good people around me, a lot of good mentors, through various different programmes and just people that I’ve reached out to that then like you know, please, I need help. Like I don’t know what to do here.

06:26

You know whether it’s people in legal or other entrepreneurs, that’s always the best is finding other CEOs and entrepreneurs that had to go through the struggle themselves and know how to navigate it. So that like I reached out to them and they’re so, people are so willing.

06:44

Like, if you just do a cold e-mail, everyone is so willing to actually help you because they’ve been in your shoes before, so there’s at least 10 to 12 people that I can just call and be like, hey, I’m having this problem. What do I do? And they walk me through how to navigate it.

07:01

Yeah.

07:01

And then I try to also pass that on to other people that were in my shoes five years ago, because if I realised this five years ago, I probably wouldn’t be in this situation. In the different situations that I’m in. Right? So I try to pass it on because like the earlier you can learn this, the better.

07:17

I think that’s really important. You’ve touched on a very valid point of, you know, building a really good support network around you and also the fact that you’re also able to pass on your knowledge to other people who are also on a similar journey is massively great.

07:31

So, how can more young people be encouraged? So envision young Dylan, what advice would you have for him to be more encouraged and supported to become involved in campaigns for change and leadership roles?

07:44

Yeah, I would say the number one thing is take more risks. Like, if I was younger and I just knew, hey, Dylan, like the opportunity is right there, all you gotta do is do it or there’s this person, you know, in the same room as you or you have their e-mail address.

08:00

Like what’s stopping you from going up to them, shaking their hand, asking them a question, or emailing them and asking them a question? The number one thing holding youth back from changing the world is changing the world. We can talk all day about how we want to change the world, but if you don’t take action, nothing’s going to happen. So that that’s the number one thing.

08:20

Yeah.

08:20

Take risks.

08:21

Taking risks and networking is key. I mean, I always hear that just in, even the role that I’m in. You know, networking is key. You never know who will be able to help or provide support.

08:31

There was, it was crazy. Like when I was starting, I would meet. I met a New Jersey congresswoman and she was extreme-, like I met with her once in person, like I would only meet with people in person too. I met with her in person, on a piece of paper I wrote down like 15 contacts and, she would give me, she gave me their phone numbers and emails. I wrote them all out. And like the next day, I called every single one and like six months later I thought back to that and I was like, wow.

08:59

So many doors were opened just because this one person gave me these 15 contacts and I ended up like getting 100 computer donations and that turned into something else. Getting another 100 computer donations and then.

09:10

We got on some press news site and because of that we got this deal with Verizon and we did all this other promotional work and it was all because of one person. So you just, you never know who you’re gonna meet and what doors they’re gonna unlock and what doors that door will unlock. So.

09:27

It’s just an endless amount.

09:28

It’s just like and then just, I would say think about that and then get excited about it. So that you try to replicate that like 1,000 times like send a million emails and you’ll get 10 good ones back.

09:39

Yeah, perfect. Couldn’t have said it any better myself. You know, with all the amazing things that you’re doing, I’m sure you also have, you know, future plans. What can we expect from Computers For People?

09:52

Yeah, I have a lot of future plans for Computers For People. I think the first one is really perfecting the foundation of our programmes. I know expansion is not possible unless our programmes are the best it can possibly be and we’re true to our mission. We’re serving people the best we possibly can.

10:13

We’re unlocking access to the digital world through computer donations and like scaling that, teaching digital skills in so many different locations.

10:21

But how do we get that curriculum also to the place where it’s not only teaching people basic skills, but getting them to the point where they’re able to get a job, you know, go back to school just because of a 14-week curriculum that we taught them, and also internet access, making sure that everyone has free or low cost internet options.

10:44

So making sure those foundational programmes are really solid and then doing like what we did in Massachusetts, where we’re expanding to a new location and we’re working in a new community. So that’s like the start, but then from there we really see opportunities to expand across the country, and then hopefully globally.

11:03

Taking on the world.

11:05

Hopefully helping the world connect.

11:07

Yeah, I know you mentioned programmes. Would you be able to tell me about the programmes because I know that is really an intergenerational issue, just in terms of knowing, or rather how having the skills on how to use a computer and having how to use the Internet. So is that something you can tell me a little bit more about?

11:27

Definitely, yeah. I think a lot of people have the experience of helping a family member use a digital device, right? And the patience you might have to go through in order to teach them a skill or show them how to do something.

11:43

So we do that on a wider scale, not just helping a family member, but teaching, you know, dozens, hundreds of people how to use their computers and how to use the internet basically. And also how to be safe on the internet because there’s so many, there’s so many like frauds and scams and phishing emails. I know like my grandparents for example get a call almost every week saying, hey, I’m your grandson send me money.

12:09

Right? And I’m sure a lot of older people can relate to that, getting those kinds of calls and luckily my grandparents know what my voice sounds like. But like what if, you know, I’m sure there’s a lot of scenarios where they just hear it through a phone and they’re like, oh, yeah, you know, here’s the money, I don’t know. But we were trying to educate people on how to use the internet for good, how to open opportunities and unlock their dreams by using the internet instead of going on it and not knowing how to use it and being taken advantage of.

12:40

So thank you for joining us. It’s been great having you and I can’t wait to see all the work that you’re doing within the community and just nationally as well.

12:50

You can find out more about the work we do at Cumberland Lodge with young people and beyond by visiting cumberlandlodge.ac.uk. You can also find us on social media @CumberlandLodge. Thanks again to Dylan, and thanks for listening.