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Odelia Younge
Writer, Consultant, Facilitator, Micro-credential Enthusiast I Twitter: @Odelia_Younge
Professional Background
Odelia Younge is a dynamic and passionate advocate for competency-based learning, dedicated to fostering equitable outcomes in the field of education. With a wealth of experience in research, design, and innovation, she supports educational advancements that emphasize inclusivity and equitable opportunities for all learners. As the Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Novalia Collective, Odelia leads a team focused on providing insightful consulting services related to racial equity, ensuring that underrepresented voices are heard and valued in educational narratives. Her unique approach combines her deep understanding of educational theory with practical strategies that empower communities and promote collaborative storytelling.
Prior to her current role, Odelia held several significant positions at Digital Promise, where she was instrumental in driving the development of micro-credentialing initiatives for educators. Starting as a Partnership Manager, she advanced to the role of Director for Micro-credentials, leading efforts to design and implement programs that enhance educator competencies through evidence-based practices. Her tenure at Digital Promise has equipped her with comprehensive insights into the intersections of technology, competency development, and diversity in educational settings.
Odelia's earlier experiences include a pivotal role as an Education Pioneers Graduate Fellow with The School District of Philadelphia, where she utilized her expertise to shape district-wide educational strategies. Her career also includes impactful teaching roles, such as serving as a Reading Instructor and Department Chair at Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Moreover, during her time with Teach For America, she took on responsibilities as a Corps Member and Literacy Content Lead, where she played a critical role in training future educators and advocating for literacy development in underserved schools. With a strong foundation in strategy and talent development from her time as Vice-President at YMedia, Inc., Odelia has continually prioritized effective approaches to enhance educational outcomes for diverse populations.
Beyond her direct educational roles, Odelia has also made significant contributions as a Peace Education Researcher and Child Rights Activist with the African Movement for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, actively working to promote child welfare and advocate for protective child rights in vulnerable communities.
Education and Achievements
Odelia Younge's strong academic background has shaped her approach to education and advocacy. She earned a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Politics, Development, and Democratic Education from the prestigious University of Cambridge. This advanced degree provided her with a comprehensive understanding of the global education landscape, particularly in navigating issues of governance, equity, and social justice in educational policies.
Prior to her MPhil, Odelia completed her Bachelor's degree in History and Literature at Harvard University. This rigorous academic experience honed her research and analytical skills while deepening her appreciation for narrative and storytelling, elements that she believes are crucial in understanding and shaping educational experiences.
Odelia’s academic pursuits have been complemented by her professional achievements, particularly in advancing competency-based frameworks that address the diverse needs of learners. Her work at Digital Promise in developing innovative micro-credentials for educators stands as a testament to her commitment to professional growth and fostering equitable learning environments.
Notable Achievements
- Novalia Collective: As the Managing Partner and Co-Founder, Odelia leads initiatives that focus on racial equity and collaborative storytelling, ensuring that educational practices are inclusive and responsive to the needs of marginalized communities.
- Digital Promise: Odelia played a pivotal role in the advancement of micro-credentialing for educators, elevating professional development options and recognition for teachers through innovative digital platforms. She has been instrumental in building partnerships with educational organizations to promote effective competency-based learning initiatives.
- Teach For America and Other Educational Roles: Through her previous teaching and leadership roles, Odelia has significantly impacted literacy and educational outcomes for students in underserved communities, showcasing her dedication to educational equity and student success.
- Child Rights Advocacy: Her work as a Peace Education Researcher highlights Odelia's commitment to children's rights and well-being, advocating for protective measures for vulnerable populations in her work with the African Movement for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect.
In summary, Odelia Younge’s remarkable journey reflects her passion for equitable educat
Highlights
Contrary to a steady growing rhetoric, it is not divisive to ask the questions that need to be asked and to invite in meaningful dialogue on important topics. In fact, it's an age old oppressive tactic to say that anyone who asks questions is the cause of bad things happening. "Falling in line" is a dangerous course that has often set us up for environments where the most vulnerable are harmed. Asking questions helps to clarify our 'yes' and our support in ways that are transparent and drive collective action.
So have the conversations now so clarity is the foundation later.
Sharing this resource again as the need for open and honest conversation continues to be more critical now than ever:
Last week I went to the launch of a self-care club at my co-working space and at the end of the meetup, the club lead asked us to commit to something small we could do in support of taking care of ourselves. Then she told us to take whatever that commitment was and cut it in half, meaning if we had said we'd walk outside for an hour, our new commitment was to walk outside for 30 minutes. And then she asked us to share it in the group chat once we had done it. I appreciated this permission to truly start small so that we could feel like our commitment was doable. And the invitation to share with the group so that we could collectively celebrate one another, and also have gentle reminders to strive to meet our own commitment.
My small commitment was to meditate for at least 10 minutes and free write for 10 minutes as a way to get me back to my morning meditation practice. What small commitment to care can you make this week to help cut through all the noise?
#care #selfcare #commitments #collectivecare
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Mesh is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Mesh centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.