Zero To Travel Podcast

Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld 0:00
It's very easy to be intimidated and to think that you don't have the set of skills that you might need to solve a problem. I think what I was fortunate to do was to have the confidence to just say, You know what, nobody else is doing this. And the worst thing that happens is that I'm not successful, but at least I can try. So I mean, I think having confidence that doing something is better than doing nothing, even if you don't have exactly the skill set that you wish you had.

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You're listening to the zero to travel Podcast where we explore exciting travel based work, lifestyle and business opportunities, helping you to achieve your wildest travel dreams. Now your host, world wonder and travel junkie, Jason Moore.

Jason Moore 0:49
Hey there, what's up, it's Jason with zero to travel.com Welcome to the show, my

friend. Thanks for hanging out, letting me bring a little travel into your ears today. This is the show to help you travel the world on your terms to fill your life with as much travel as you desire no matter what your situation or experience. I have. What was an emotional show. For me today. As you'll hear during the interview, there's a couple moments one in particular where I totally fall apart. The reason for that is my guest is the founder of an organization called a miracle feats. And what they are doing is trying to end clubfoot disability worldwide by 2030. I will talk a bit more about clubfoot and what that is in a moment, because it's something that my son was born with, which is where a lot of the emotional element elements of this come in. But of course, I wanted this particular show to be about some bigger themes, as well. So you can have some takeaways, of course, which is the goal here with my interviews. So we get into a lot of the overarching themes around what it took to build this organization. And Cheska has such an incredible background growing up all over the world. I mean, she grew up she was originally from England, she grew up in Africa, and Asia, has lived in Pakistan, Ecuador, UK and the US. And she brings all of this experience and this varied backgrounds of growing up and extensive travel to her work with the organization and we get into how to solve big problems even before you feel like you're ready. I think all of us in some level. That's what we do, right as humans, and we were always solving problems, right? How do we tackle those bigger problems that we want to tackle? She gets some great advice around that we talk about why boots on the ground is still the best way to learn how to solve some of these bigger global problems, advice around making an impact, why to never devalue your own experiences, how travel for work in foreign countries can allow you to get to know those countries in different ways from traveling just for fun, why solving problems locally, will always lead to a bigger impact and more lasting change. She shares an incredible story of perseverance from her community and so much more. It's a lovely conversation and stick around on the back end. I'm going to share a personal story from my moment when my son was born that I've never shared before. But it was something that somebody said to me that really the perfect thing at that moment. And it was just what I needed to hear. So I'll share that. And of course, leave you with a quote. Now let me give you a little bit more background for this interview. And the reason why I'm putting it out this week and that is because it is World club foot day. That's right. On June 3 Every June 3 That's world clubfoot day and this was created by the Ponseti International Association, and the date was chosen to commemorate the birthday of Dr. Ignacio Ponseti, the developer of the Ponseti method, which is a non surgical method to treat clubfoot In fact, the method that my son is using so just a little background on clubfoot, it's one of the leading causes of disability in the developing world. According to Ponseti dot info almost 10 million people live today were born with clubfoot. It's a birth defect that causes one or both feet to turn inward and down and as many as 8 million have never received treatment. And you might have seen those people on the streets if you've traveled around, you know that they are walking like it looks like they're walking on the side of their foot or sometimes both feet. My son was born with his left foot turned in and down. And that is how I came to know about miracle feet. And of course, the Ponseti treatment, this non surgical treatment which involves a series of or should I say how has involved for him a series of casts ever since he was born, followed by doing physical therapy and stretches and then having to wear these boots and a bar like a special shoes with a bar attached to them. First, it was like 16 hours a day. And then he had to work 14 hours a day, and it kept going down and down. And now he just wears it at night. And all of this happens between the standard ages are between one and five. So he's coming into his last year in theory of wearing his boots and bar, I'm so proud of him. And excited to just, you know, create some awareness around this today. Because the kids that are born in countries where they can't afford the treatment, so much happens from a treatable thing. I mean, they can be shunned and they can't get jobs and they can end up on the streets and all of this just because they were born with a disability that's totally treatable. With a small amount of money miracle feat estimates it costs about $500 to treat one child. And that's a small amount of money if you think about it. And although the treatment involves things you have to do daily, which we've been doing for years, I know because I've been doing it as a parent of somebody with clubfoot. It is not difficult, it's non surgical, and it's totally something that everybody could have access to and should have access to. So one of the big reasons I wanted to bring Jessica on was not just for her fascinating story and the lessons she's going to share today but also just to generate awareness around this and of course, the call to action today will be to make a donation to miracle feet. If you can find the time the link is in the show notes and if you want to mention zero to travel when you make the donation I'm curious to see if we can rally this community to raise some money and help some kids out there in developing countries with clubfoot treatment. So thanks for listening. Thanks for being a part of this community. Love you for being here and please enjoy this interview. I will see you on the other side.

I am so honored to welcome to the show the co founder and CEO of miracle feet and incredible nonprofit organization working to end clubfoot disability worldwide by 2030. I support them and you can too at Miracle feet.org Of course, we'll leave that link in the show notes. She's here to share her advice on making an impact thinking big finding solutions to global problems being the change we want to see in the world travel and much more. Cheska Colorado Mansfeld Welcome to the zero to travel podcast, my friend.

Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld 7:54
Thank you so much for having me today.

Jason Moore 7:57
Oh, listen, it is truly an honor. And you know, my son was born with clubfoot. So that is how I found out about this organization and started getting involved. And then when I dug a little deeper and read your story, I was like, Well, hey, I gotta have Cesc on the show. And first of all, just thank her in person. So thank you,

Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld 8:20
thank you, we just love to hear from people who give money and make our work possible. But also where there's a personal connection like this, it's really special. So thanks for reaching out to us, too.

Jason Moore 8:29
Yeah. And I thought, you know, today, we could just let people of course know about this organization. But on a broader level, maybe pick out some of the big you know, sort of lessons and learnings you've taken that may be able to benefit some of the individuals listening here that you've taken from your experience running, running this organization. So I wanted to start with with growing up, because one of the things when I first read your bio, I saw that you were originally from England, but you grew up in like Africa and Asia, and you live and work in Pakistan, Ecuador, in the UK in the US. And of course, you know, on zero to travel, we're all about kind of exploring these various cultures. And I'm just wondering about your upbringing. Why were you Why did you grow up all over the world in this way?

Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld 9:13
Right? Well, it is a good question. And it's very much goes to the heart of why I was motivated to to start the organization. So I'm glad you're asking me about that. My father worked for the British diplomatic service. And that was why we moved around. So his work was what took us to all the different countries that we lived in. And, and I have to say, I at the time, felt it was such a wonderful thing. I mean, I loved all this moving around and going to different places. And my I was fortunate. My family was quite adventurous. And so when we would go to these different countries while we lived in the capital city, both of my parents were very keen to get out of the city and to go to villages and to go and explore, you know, within the country. So we lived in Turkey when I was around eight years old for a number of years and I remember lots of camping trips and exploring and go into ruins, which wasn't my favorite, to be honest, I liked, I liked the sea as a kid. But my parents really liked the ruins. And then we lived in Zambia. And again, amazing memories of going to national parks and seeing all the animals at a time when very few people traveled to Zambia, it was the was still a, the the War of Independence was going on in what is now Zimbabwe. And that impacted heavily what you could do in Zambia. But then Malaysia, and my parents ended up actually living in Somalia and Nigeria, when I was a bit older, so that I visited as a college student. So so that was why we lived abroad.

Jason Moore 10:39
Yeah. All right. So yeah, because that as a child, I imagine, I mean, well, you could go different ways with that, right? I know, I've talked to some people who, who were moving around constantly. And, you know, they didn't like that lack of stability, but others, they thrived in that adventurous setting. How does your exposure to all of these various cultures growing up? How do they still influence you today, growing up

Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld 11:00
and realizing that I had so much and I think this really struck me as a young child, you know, 789 10, when I saw kids who were begging, you know, didn't have shoes on or were in the in cold conditions. And I had a big coat, and they had nothing, it made no sense to me, right? There was a sort of childish, a nuanced, look at this, which maybe we should all have, which, which was this, you know, why, why? Why should this child suffering like this, they haven't done anything wrong. And so I do remember sort of age eight, and nine. And in Turkey, in particular, being really struck by that. And deciding that at some point, I was going to work in the field of international development, which of course, I didn't know it was called International Development, but was like, I need to do something to try to make this gap less big. It was very simplistic, but it was definitely there. And, and it, it never left, as I grew up. And I ended up working in business and getting sucked into into different jobs and so forth, quite far away, sometimes from that working in New York City and living in California. And there was something inside me that was always saying, When are you going to get to that? When are you going to get to that it's not quite enough to just work and make money and you know, be able to, to provide for your own family. There's something bigger in the world that you need to do. So that was sort of a piece of me that that was sort of a remnant of growing up living internationally. But I also always craved that. And you said that some people love that adventurous of the adventure of moving around, and others found that difficult. I definitely am one of those people that when I've been in the same place for a while I get a little antsy. And so as we as I did start settling in the US, I did always constantly look for ways to travel and I'm married to an anthropologist, that's probably not not a coincidence. And his work also took us abroad, which is why we lived in Ecuador, his work has been in the Andes, I chose to go to park is down for a year, as you said, at some point in the middle of my career, so I was always seeking ways to travel not just for a vacation, but for work as well. And so that did continue. And I think that comes from the moving around as a child and just feeling like yeah, there would be sort of unease with being in the same place for too long and feeling too settled. Not wanting to completely uproot. But But moving for a couple of months here and there or a year was was definitely in my blood.

Jason Moore 13:30
Did you end up in the US because is your husband from the US or I ended

Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld 13:34
up in the US. I was offered a scholarship from England, which at that time was was kind of rare for people to come to the US for college for university when you grew up in England, because there were perfectly good universities in England, and they happened to be much less expensive. So, but I was offered a scholarship to come to the US I had I had traveled to the US once for about 10 days to Eugene, Oregon. And I was like, Oh, I really liked the doughnuts in Eugene, Oregon. Maybe I'd like going to college and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. So I accepted the scholarship sort of a sight unseen, although it was an extraordinary opportunity and was definitely the right thing for me to do. But that was what brought me to the US and then I did meet my the person who is now my husband. So that's what kept me here.

Jason Moore 14:13
Yeah, of course, it makes sense that you know, good doughnuts in Oregon would equate to a good lifestyle and Chapel Hill.

Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld 14:19
I mean, it sounds to me,

Jason Moore 14:20
I see that connection. Clear. Clear. Well, I wanted to talk about that period of your life where you know, this is always an interesting thing. I feel when when we have the practicalities of living, right. Like you have to make money you have to pay your bills, there is sort of that status quo if you want to call it lifestyle that you kind of can fall into or we can all fall into and but at times in life, there's there's that sort of internal calling, right? So was there a definitive moment where you just said, okay, like, isn't enough is enough. I have to sort of pursue this thing. Was that more of like an evolution over time? Or how did that process look for you to like, kind of starting to listen to that soul's calling, if you want to call us,

Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld 15:06
I think this is a really interesting topic because I think we all get sold on this idea of you need to live your dream, and you just need to do what you want to do. And if you do what you love, you'll be happy, right? And that's not easy. Because you're absolutely right, there are a lot of practical hurdles and barriers to doing that, that you have to pay attention to. And so my husband's job was one of them. And he's in he's in academia, and he needed to be in the US teaching at universities. And it still allowed us to travel. But but that was very real. And I couldn't just run off and take a job in Africa with that without, you know, either leaving him or dragging him along and ruining his career. And we have kids we have, we have three wonderful children. And that also meant that it was difficult for me to be traveling or, or to take a job where I earned less money because we needed to be able to pay for the things that we felt our kids needed grew up, you know, as they grew up. So it was definitely there was a long period where I felt like I was making concessions or having to make not sacrifices that sounds bigger than it is. But But I was having to take jobs and work in ways that were not really living my dream. They were perfectly interesting jobs and meeting interesting people. And, you know, it was all fine, but it wasn't that okay, I'm really making a difference here. So when the kids when my youngest was about three, I guess, two or three, somebody came into my office and they told me about clubfoot and they told me about this doctor at the University of Iowa, which is where we were then living and my husband was working at the University of Iowa. We both actually, and told me about this condition clubfoot and that that this doctor had figured out how to treat it without surgery. And that this really revolutionized the way people we're addressing this very common birth defect that so many children are born with worldwide, and that his dying wish he was 95 years old. At this point, man, his dying wish was to get this treatment out to children who were born in low income countries who have no treatment at all and are living with untreated clubfoot, which means they really can't walk properly. And it did something to me, I just, I can remember being so struck by this idea that the doctor had figured out the solution, the difficult part had been done. And that at this point, it was really about implementation. And so I sort of took stock of my life and was like, I think I could do that. Right, that seems manageable, where we are as a family right now. So it was for me, it was sort of the timing of that of somebody offering me an opportunity. I felt like it was like a gift on a plate, you know, here's an opportunity, can you take it? And at that moment, I was able to say yes, I can pick this up and try and run with it and try and do something with this with this opportunity. While at other times in my life, people had done something similar, but it just wasn't feasible. And I had to sort of accept that. So there was definitely for me, there was an opportunistic piece to this and I just luck and timing of when I was able practically to pursue something that was really important to me inside.

Jason Moore 18:05
Hmm. What are your feelings around the concept of serendipity? You happen to be at the University of Iowa, where, by the way, you know, I want to learn a little bit more about Dr. Ignacio Ponseti because it's the Ponseti method just to let people know that that is what you're treating children with. And that's what my son is being treated with. So, I mean, this is a guy that is like revered in our household, I mean, we celebrate his birthday, you know, I never of course met him but I feel like such a already

Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld 18:41
there are a lot of people around the world that feel the same way that you feel Jason sorry, quite okay. Take your time.

Jason Moore 18:54
feel such a debt of gratitude to that man and and then to the work that you have are doing to carry on the method that he created, so So yeah, serendipity was the question.

Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld 19:12
Yes, let lets us let me talk a bit about what I think about serendipity and then let's come back to Dr. Ponseti because he is an extraordinary man that has changed lives around the world, including your sons. So it's very important that we let the rest of the world know about what what an amazing thing this is, in terms of serendipity. I do think I'm not a religious person. But as I've done this work, it's amazing to me how the right people have come along at the right time, or a donor, you know, has get written a check that we really needed at that exact time. Someone has introduced us to somebody that definitely is something it feels sitting here in the middle sort of being the person who is able to try to make those connections happen in order to move this forward, that there are bigger forces at work here somehow. And again, I am not religious. So I don't call that I don't I don't sort of think that this is necessarily God. But there is we talk about pumps, eddies angels, and we talk about the fact that it's like something amazing happens, and just the right person comes along at just the right moment. And we say, Wow, that's another Ponseti Angel working for us. Yeah. So the definitely feels like there is some serendipity and all of this or some fate or, you know, bigger forces or whatever it is, in that, you know, just that that moment where you're sort of like, slept feeling slightly stuck, that stuckness gets released by something. And, and it, it feels very fortuitous. And it feels like there isn't serendipity there.

Jason Moore 20:49
Yeah. And when Ponseti is angels show up, I mean, like you said, you said, I'm using your words, you said you're not religious, yet these things are happening. And there's something there does that. What does that kind of what goes on in your head when those things,

Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld 21:04
I guess it just makes me feel small and makes the world you know, feel even more mysterious than it feels anyway. And I, I do feel that I guess I'm not a religious person, but maybe I'm a spiritual person. So I, I feel very strongly just that we all need to be working together and taking care of each other. And that, that we are humans, and there is something more to humanity than just living our individual lives. And so that's maybe where I see this, these forces coming to help because there's, there's sort of a movement to good for good. And Pete, most people want to help people want to feel like they're making a difference. I think the vast majority of people that I run into, definitely reinforce that. And this work brings that out in people, which is marvelous. It makes you feel better about the world than when you just read the newspaper. So maybe that's for me is what's at work here is the general energy and desire of of most of humanity to make a difference.

Jason Moore 22:08
Yeah, I am gonna get some of your advice around making a difference making an impact. But yeah, I wanted to ask about Dr. Ponseti did I guess he was alive and he got to see the wheels start to go into motion for his sort of dying wish. I mean, tell me about that. What he was like and that sort of experience of you starting this and I guess you were a co founder. You started it with somebody else or

Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld 22:34
Yeah, so I did start it with others. I actually never met Dr. Ponseti, which is terribly sad. I knew a lot about him. And I knew a lot of people that knew him. So the gentleman that introduced me to him, just, you know, introduced me to what the what to Dr. Pan said his life's work, and inspired me to sort of start figuring out how to create an organization to tackle untreated clubfoot in low income countries. Lots of people that I knew knew him and and just spoke, you know, so highly of him and his wife, who were both very beloved, but he was, you know, much much older when I learned about him and I never actually got to meet him in person. I did know his protege, Dr. Jose McQuinn. De who really has taken his legacy forward and Jose and I knew each other quite well and his wife taught my kids Spanish and various you know, so it was a small community. We lived in Iowa City, which is where Dr. Ponce City lived and worked. So I guess sadly, can't talk to him as a person. The other people that I helped start miracle feet or help who were part of starting miracle feet. Were a couple Roger and Bridget Ryan Berman and like you had a son born with clubfoot. They their son, they did get to meet Dr. Ponseti. And they were very inspired by that meeting. And obviously, also the treatment that their son had, which was delivered by another doctor who had been trained by Dr. Ponseti. So there are many connections within the organization to him, but I never did get to meet him in person. And then shortly after we started miracle feet, he passed away, sadly, and, gosh, I can't remember exactly when that was when I think he was 95 or 97 years old when he died.

Jason Moore 24:18
I think it's so impressive that, you know, just from a sort of a logistical standpoint, I'd be taking the emotion out of it and just like, okay, you know, there's X amount of people, babies born with clubfoot, you know, it costs, you know, estimate about $500 per child to get the whole treatment in some in the low income countries now, unfortunately, in Norway, so we get the treatment. But, you know, obviously not the case. And we can talk about that a little bit more, but I just love this sort of big thinking mentality of okay, well, we're not just like, you know, going for 20,000 or 30,000, which would be a feat in and of itself, but you're saying you want to end And clubfoot disability worldwide by 2030. And you know, if you look at just from a number standpoint, it's a solvable problem. But you still have to have that mindset of thinking big in that way. So I'm just wondering how sort of that mindset came about for you. And how is that that more bigger thinking changed the organization and your life personally?

Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld 25:24
Yeah, so we did start smaller. We, I remember sitting around a table we had gathered a board, you know, as one does when one has to create one when creates a nonprofit, you have to have a board and we were fortunate to be able to bring together some really interesting people all who had a connection to clubfoot. Either they treated it or they had children born with clubfoot, or they had it themselves. And I can remember that we sort of said, okay, so what are we trying to do here? And we decided that if we could treat between 10 and 20,000 children, that would be a really fantastic accomplishments. So when we first started in the very early years, that was the goal, what we very quickly realized, well, sorry, let me go back a step that seemed incredibly large and very intimidating at the time, right? So so that didn't seem like a small goal. When I was sitting, I was the first employee and I decided I was going to leave my job and do this full time. And I can remember sort of on day one sitting at my kitchen table with a blank piece of paper thinking, Okay, now what, what do I do to make this happen. And really, I don't have a public health background, I had not seen clubfoot treated at that point. So it was all from reading and talking to people. And it was very intimidating. But with any big task, if you sort of break it down into small pieces, eventually you you can figure it out. And so obviously, that's what I started to do. I also am a great believer in that you learn by doing. And so, you know, I said, the first thing I've got to do is get down to a country where we know children aren't receiving the care and talk to a bunch of people in that country and try to figure out where the gaps are, why is this not happening? And what can we do? So that we can learn what it is that we need to provide whether those resources or technical expertise or products, what is it that is missing to make this happen? Training, right? So so that's exactly what we did. And we did figure out, you know, what was missing?

Jason Moore 27:17
What can go for that

Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld 27:19
I went to Brazil was the first country that I traveled to. And that was because folks at the University of Iowa, had trained doctors in Brazil, in the Ponseti method. And they had a lot of confidence in a couple of people who were in Brazil, who had started to introduce the method there. And they thought that that would be one that was that was what I needed was those contacts, right? I needed, I needed counterparts in the country's we were trying to help who had the same passion and cared as much if not more than than I did at that point. So we needed clubfoot champions that we could work with in the countries. And what became very clear, and we can talk more later about this exact treatment. But as you know, from from your own experience, this treatment requires multiple visits, it's a very simple treatment, and it's a non surgical treatment, which makes it makes it really well suited to low resource settings. It's very safe, it's very gentle, but it does require multiple visits back to the clinic to receive another cost. And then to check on the feet when when the feed has been corrected. And the child is wearing the brace at night over the next four years. So it was very clear to us from the beginning that we need to work with local doctors, we needed to build a solution into the public health infrastructure in each country, that it would not work to put people on airplanes and fly them to countries which at that time was the norm. To be honest, unfortunately, the world has sort of moved beyond that. And I think the idea of building local capacity and working with local doctors and local hospitals and and building capability that's going to last forever, has really taken seed and that's considered the only way to really make a difference is particularly in the area of global health. So we always we, because of the nature of the treatment, we got there very quickly to that idea of we really have to build capacity locally, and then support those individuals with whatever they need to do. What they also want to be doing. This is that they have they share that passion. They see these kids coming into the clinic, and they're equally frustrated that they don't have a way to help them. We are we are going to help provide the tools that they need to help the kids that they want to help anyway. So that was once we figured out the method. We started rolling that out. And obviously I'm accelerating the story a little bit. But it became pretty clear to us quickly that the world was ready for this. People really embraced it when we arrived or we found the the right people in that country who were going to take this forward in their own country. They were ready. They were waiting for us again, maybe serendipity right, the timing was right. That had been a long battle in the US, as you're probably aware with Dr. Prince Ponseti figured this out and his his method was not accepted for a very long time it took him 4050 years before the medical establishment in the United States accepted his method and agreed that it the long term results for children being treated with this now adults being treated, who had been treated as children were highly superior to the surgery that had been done before. So historically, clubfoot was treated with this very invasive, difficult surgery. And orthopedic surgeons enjoyed doing that surgery, it was very challenging. It was exciting, it was interesting. But unfortunately, when you cut up a foot, there's a lot of scar tissue and the foot becomes very rigid over time, or often in a lot of cases. And so the long term results for children treated with surgery were not great. And kids or kids, as they became adults had to have multiple surgeries to kind of correct for that scar tissue and so forth. Dr. Vaughn said, his method, being gentle and non surgical, had much, much better results. And there are many world class athletes and all sorts of people who have retreated early on, and Dr. pons, Eddie's Korea who have wonderful functionality, and you would never know that they were born with anything wrong with their feet. So there had been this long battle in the US. And there was a fear that that, you know, we were going to have to do that in each country. But in fact, people were ready for it. And so when we went to these countries, the the adoption and the willingness to embrace this new way of treating clubfoot was much quicker than it was in the US. In some countries. That was because they weren't treating it at all, they had never done that surgery. So we weren't, we weren't trying to prove anything, it was like, here's a solution for something you haven't had a solution for. And so we did find that that people adopted it quite quickly. That didn't mean that it wasn't difficult to solve some of the practical problems, like importing braces into the country or getting an agreement with the Ministry of Health that we should work on this. I mean, those things are, are complicated and take time. But we did find that that overall, this approach that we we had developed and and the tools that we increasingly created in order to make it easier to roll it out. And to scale this treatment, were working incredibly effectively. And so we all suddenly realize, like, wow, we can do way more than 20,000. Here, we can have a bigger impact. And in fact, if we go at this very systematically, and you know, make a list of all the countries that need help, and just quickly, you know, just quietly go off to each one. We can't we believe we can end disability caused by untreated clubfoot globally so that that big, you know, enormous goal did develop over time. And it was about eight years ago that we really started, we really sort of woke up and realized that we need to be talking about ending this globally, not just X number of children, we've now enrolled about 65,000 children in 30 different countries. So we've, we still have a ways to go. But if we can, if we can basically scale by a factor of about four, over the next 15 years, we think we can do this. Yeah. Wow.

Jason Moore 32:57
I love that. I love that. You know, sometimes you think about these things with the world problems, and you seem like, it seems like well, what can I do? Right? I'm just one person. And, you know, this, these, this problem so big? And yes, I mean, every problem has its own nature, right and different challenges. But what you just described to me was a very practical sort of approach, where it's just like, okay, you know, what's going on? What's it like, on the ground? Where are the gaps? Let's make a list of the countries that, you know, need this, how do we, you know, and it's just really, it was a series of practical problems that needed to be solved, and somebody just needed to take the initiative or an organization need to take the initiative to, to solve it. And again, on no small thing. I mean, there's a lot, there's a lot in there. But yeah, so I guess I'm just wondering, you know, on that advice you would give to anybody listening who, you know, maybe wants to make an impact with an organization, whether it's like a social entrepreneurship type thing, or nonprofit or something else, or if it's just like, local in their community, like, they're just like, hey, I want to be the change that I want to see how can I get started? Or how can I get either from a mindset perspective, or? Yeah, just any any advice you have around this that that people can take in?

Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld 34:22
Yeah, I get asked that question a lot. And I'm not sure I have great answers, except that I think it's very easy to be intimidated, and to think that you don't have the set of skills that you might need to solve a problem. And I think the I think what I was fortunate to do was to have the confidence to just say, You know what, nobody else is doing this. And the worst thing that happens is that I'm not successful, but at least I can try. So I mean, I think having confidence that doing something is better than doing nothing, even if you don't have exactly the skill set that you wish you had your not the expert, if somebody wrote down all the characteristics of the person that was supposed to start the organization, to address clubfoot on a global scale, it would not have been me, right, it would have been someone with global health experience or, you know, medical experience, it might have been someone from one of those countries. But I didn't see anyone else stepping up to do this. And that just seemed to be a void, and I had a desire to make a difference. So I think, you know, not worrying too much about not having exactly the right set of skills or technical expertise that the ideal person would have. And realizing that if you lead a movement, you start something those people, you can find those people, you can bring in those skills, some of them you can learn some of them, you can bring in by hiring people, some of them you can buy, by, you know, technology skills, for example, you can contract with someone who can deliver those for you. So I think that's the first part is just sort of saying, I'm going to, I'm going to try this, and not worrying too much about if it if it fails, right. If it fails, at least you gave it a shot. And you know, you haven't lost too much. And if it succeeds, the upside is enormous for the world. So let's, let's go with, let's let's try to get to the upside. And then. So that's one thing is just sort of realizing that that failure is okay. And that's the worst thing that's going to happen if you try and it isn't successful, but hopefully, it will be. And the second part is that not worrying that you're not the perfect person, because I think it is quite intimidated. I was very intimidated, by not feeling that I sort of had the set of skills, I was very lucky in that I had worked in business and I had worked for a couple of internet startups. So I had a lot of I drew a lot on my understanding of how the people that started those different companies worked. And I joined them when they were about 12 people. And by the time I left, it was several 100 in both cases. So I'd really watched the leadership and was part of in some cases, part of helping that happen, how to build an entity. And that was really, really helpful in starting a nonprofit i A lot of what I learned there, put it exactly, to miracle feet. And then I also had worked in consulting and done a lot of sort of strategy work. And I think that also helped in that I was able to break down that problem, right? And think strategically about what are the different work streams, what do we have to do here to get to this next endpoint? And then okay, we're there now, what's the what's, what's next, right and have that mapped out? Clearly, so those, you know, I drew on my previous experience very, very heavily, and particularly on the networks, because fundraising is such a big part of starting a nonprofit. So I was lucky I was I had some wonderful friends and colleagues and networks that I had built in the corporate world. So you know, those pieces of what I brought, I probably underestimated in terms of the value, and focused on oh, gosh, but I don't have the public health background, or I don't have the medical background. And that worried me. But I think you know, whatever people's backgrounds, you need this whole slew of skills to make an organization work. And so you're never going to have any of them. So don't stress over the pieces you don't have and focus on the places that you do have experience to draw on that can be useful, and go deep on those. So those are, you know, I guess those are my, my takeaways on starting something. And just the recognition that that a teat, you're always going to do this with a team, right, and that it's not about one person, and you're just the connector, you're the one bringing in the resources and trying to find the right group of people who can make this happen together. That it's you know, it's not about one person.

Jason Moore 38:46
That is incredible advice, I would say. And I think it's fascinating, in hindsight to see some of the skills that that maybe were hidden in plain sight that you might not have thought twice about you. And I'm not speaking just to you, but from my own experience. And for many of the people I've spoken with where, you know, it's sometimes easy to sort of devalue, like you said, you devalue your your own experience. And you're really just focusing on the things that you don't know about X, Y, or Z problem. And then it turns out, wow, because I did this, this and this, these are actually really strong assets for this thing I'm making but you it's sometimes it's hard to recognize that maybe because you're too close to it, or maybe because you just can't really appreciate it until you get into the thick of it. I don't really know. But it is another one of those mysterious things, how the past skill set the past careers, the past interactions, come into play, you know, later on.

Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld 39:48
Yeah, I think that's exactly right. And I had no idea why I was doing some of those taking on some of those jobs and doing those things and didn't realize the value of waiting Right That, that, again, serendipity, maybe or perhaps justifying past actions that, you know, but But taking advantage of that, and I think I think it is hiding in plain sight. And you know, you're so close to it, you don't recognize it at the time. And it's only when you start to actually practically incorporate those skills and those experiences and the people that you've met along the way, and you're like, oh, wow, that's why I did that, or that's why I knew that person, because now it's really helping me. Yeah.

Jason Moore 40:29
Yeah. You know, working in nonprofits, or in NGOs, I guess, would be another type of organization. Now, you've been in this world for a little while now. And I'm just wondering, for anybody interested in getting a job in this space, this could just be general advice, where Hey, like I can, I can work for an organization that's making an impact. And I can also travel, like, I have a friend that works in an NGO, you've traveled all over working with them, you know, there are all kinds of different things you can do to travel the world, one of them is getting a job for a nonprofit that, you know, works in different countries. So I know, you know, you're only speaking for your organization, but I'm just curious, you know, being around this, and how much you've learned over the years running this, if you have any advice for people looking to, you know, combining that with their love of travel, like maybe working for a nonprofit, or, or volunteering or getting involved, but also using that to like satisfy their, their individual urge to travel. And so they can live that side of their life and be fulfilled.

Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld 41:30
Absolutely. And I don't want to pretend that I'm only doing this for an altruistic to give back to the world, I get so much enjoyment. And I love what I do. And I think part of that is that it does give me the opportunity not just to travel, but to connect with people in other places. And when you're doing when you're actually working. One I love to travel, and I love to travel for fun. And that's always been part of my life. But I also love to travel for work. And it's very different. Because when you travel for fun, you know, you are sort of a sightseer at some level, even if even if your sightseeing is not just you know, running through the guidebook and checking off all the big things that somebody says you should go and do it right and, and if it's wandering through markets, and but but when you're working, you have the country's opened up to you in different ways. And so you really can get to know the country in a different way through the eyes of people that live there through through daily life through daily routines by you know, when I do travel. Now I spend a lot of time in house public, big public hospitals, you just see a different side to what living in Nicaragua is really like or what living in Morocco, I just came back from Morocco last week. And I had never been to Morocco. And it was the first time there. But by doing my work after four days, I left feeling like wow, I have a real sense for a little bit about who Moroccans are and what gets them excited and what kind of people they are and how they live their lives. And I love that so and that that has got nothing to do with it doesn't make my work necessarily better. But I really take a great deal of enjoyment and pleasure out of that. So in doing this work, and the travel that it enables to me to do i It feeds something in me that is different from making a difference, right. It's I find it fascinating and I love it. So that's that's one point. But going back to the beginning of the question, which I don't think I would do this work if I hadn't traveled a lot as a child. So it definitely gave me when I thought about the problem of clubfoot and learned that one in 800 Children is born with this condition. It I was immediately able to translate that to gosh, I lived in Zambia. Wow, that means that you know, X 100 Children are born with clubfoot every year. And I know what the hospitals look like. And I know those kids aren't getting treated. And I know if you can't walk in Zambia, how difficult life is those kids are not being given a wheelchair, those kids don't have an aid when they go to school, those kids are probably standing on a street corner begging. And that is so awful. And their future is so ghastly. And you think about that free girl in particular, and what might happen to those children. And it's such an easy thing to fix. So for me, I could I could contextualize the problem in a way that moved me to action. And I don't think I would have done that if if I had only ever lived in the United States or in the UK. I don't think I would have understood why this problem mattered so much. So, you know, so traveled definitely kind of allowed me to understand what we the beginnings of of the scale of the problem and how we might go about solving it. So I do think that having experience traveling living in working in low income I'm countries, if you want to make a difference there, you do need to know what, what the conditions are like what, how problems get solved, you need that context. So I do think travel comes into this. And a lot of the people that we hire are people that have lived abroad at some point in their lives or have traveled a lot. And they're drawn to that, right? It makes sense. So travel is a great starting point, I think for that and opens up our eyes and maybe changes the way we see the world and sees, maybe maybe opens up the range of spaces, we think we can have an impact on. Does that make sense than just being local. That being said, travel is not enough, and, and my very shallow ideas of what might work are probably going to get me a little tiny bit of the way. But to really solve the problem, there's got to be deep, deep partnership with people from the country, the doctors, the Ministry of Health, the families that have kids born with clubfoot. And so you need to combine that outsider, I want to make a difference with this, the solution really has to be deeply embedded in the country that you're working in and in the institutions and the systems and the processes and the people that are there. And so I think sort of understanding that you can't do this sort of sitting outside the country, or even if you move there, you're not going to solve it on your own and you you're not going to know the answers. And that it's only going to really work if you can partnered very deep in a very deep level, a very meaningful way, with the folks in the country that are going to really know the answers to the problems. So it's sort of respecting that at the same time. So when you say people who like to travel, if they decide they want to solve a problem, I would say absolutely, and run with it, and, you know, go for it, but figure out who you're going to work with locally. Because if you if you just do it, you know, you come home and you're like, Oh, I saw this problem. poachers are killing elephants in Tanzania. I know how to solve that, you probably aren't going to do it that effectively. But if you say, Okay, let me figure out who in the country really cares about this issue and who I can partner with and, and what I can bring to that problem to help those people solve it, then you're gonna have really lasting and sustainable impact and make for much bigger change.

Jason Moore 47:35
Yeah, and I would imagine that it makes the local organizations you work with, they're more inclined to work with somebody that's really trying to not come in and say, Do this, this and this, but more of a of a partner mentality, right. But you have to bridge a lot of cultural connections, you have to navigate these conversations and do this across multiple cultures. Right? I feel like there might be some travel advice in here too, which is connecting with with locals on this level. But you know, what is some of your advice around having those conversations and keeping it in a way where it's, it's a real connection, because you I would imagine with your work, you also have to build connections pretty quickly, because you're not spending months and months in a country like us specifically, you said, you just got back from Morocco, you were there for four days, well, that gives you a handful of days to kind of make, make some real connections with with locals there, and then respect you and have, you know, have that conversation. So yeah, how does? How do you do that?

Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld 48:42
Yeah, how do you do that? Well, the first way we do that, now that we're bigger and more established is that we we have we have employees that we've hired from the different regions that we work in. So when I went to Morocco, our program manager for North Africa, from the Middle East, in North Africa, in the MENA region, met me in Morocco. He lives in Tunisia, and he's from Tunisia. And so I was, you know, the first meeting was with him. And so that's someone who knows our organization. You know, they're an employee. I've worked with him a lot. He's come to the office in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, but also we're constantly on Zoom and emailing, and so forth. So we've got that sort of, you know, intermediary, so I'm not just coming in from the outside, we've got someone that really knows the region. And then we have a local partner that we identified early on, and have built a relationship with and so I'm not having to do that all at once. And my visit, in this case was was a sort of routine. Let me go have a look at the program, see how it's doing, see what's working, see where we might need to provide more assistance, learn from them, see some things that they're doing that might we may never have thought of that we can take to other programs. So it was a, it was sort of a check in meeting to make sure that the wheels were turning that things were as good as they seemed, based on all the data and the reports that we were getting. And that I would return feeling inspired and motivated to keep going and, and have sort of fresh stories and fresh inspirations that that will help me raise more money that will allow the work to keep happening. So, you know, that was kind of the goal of those meetings. But while I was there, obviously, I met lots of new people. And I connected with, with families who, you know, hugged me and broke down in tears, telling me the story about how their child got treatment, we had a meeting with the Minister of Health, which was very formal, and was an opportunity for us to thank the Ministry for everything that they're doing to allow us to work and to also ask for a few little extra bits of help that we needed on certain issues. So it's, you know, you're connecting at so many levels. And I think, if you've traveled a lot, that ability to connect just with people who might on the surface seem different. But underneath up, we're all the same, right? And there's so much more we share so much in common. The differences are very small compared to the commonalities between people anywhere, I think, and I think the more we travel, the more we learn that, that's just a piece of sort of realizing that while we think when you show up in a place, you do have that moment of like, wow, this feels different, it smells different, it looks different. The people are dressed differently, they speak a different language, but very quickly, that all gets stripped away. And you know, you can share a joke, even if you don't know the words, you share a laugh, or you share a moment. And you realize, like, yeah, we're all just really fundamentally, you know, much more similar than we are different. And I think that's the way we connect. So I don't really know that I'm answering your question at all. But I do know that connecting is just it's a human thing. And I don't, I guess it comes, it comes very easily. I think if you're yourself, right, and if you can sort of just be who you are. on an everyday basis. I mean, I think that the people I love connecting with the most of the mothers, and I often don't speak the language that they're speaking in a clinic, and might somebody might be translating, but even if they're not, there is something about, I'm a mom, their mom, they care about their kid, I care about my kids, there's just so much connection there, that there's just an instant feeling of empathy, and we're in this together. And it feels very natural. On the topic

Jason Moore 52:43
of connecting, I often find as a travel, are there certain places that you just connect with, on a different level, where you just feel like it's almost like a second home maybe or that sort of vibe, I'm just wondering for you personally or individually. You know, what, what are some of those places for you?

Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld 53:03
Yeah, you do feel that it's so interesting. Um, so I was born in Swaziland, which is in a tiny country now of the kingdom of Eswatini. I'm sorry, I should be using the new name. That's between Mozambicans and South Africa. And I was a young baby when I was like 18 months or something when we left Swaziland kingdom of Eswatini and return to England. But I feel a deep, deep connection to Africa. I don't know why I cannot explain it. I love African music, there is something that I there is there is something very powerful about place that is sort of in unexplainable. So I do love being in Africa, and I sort of when I'm there, I just feel a deeper connection to the land in some way that I really can't explain. So that's sort of that's a whole continent. My mother was born in India, and I have spent a lot of time traveling in India. And also feel something there I think, because I know that my mother was born there and lived there till she was 14. And I keep when I'm looking at India, I look through those eyes of like, Gosh, I wonder what how that what that was, like, you know, 70 years ago when she was a child living here. And obviously, India was a very different place under British rule and not not all good. So a lot of complicated feelings around that as well. But I do love that region. And I have to say, when I went to Nepal, which feels like very much like India, there is something about the people of Nepal that is that it's just magical, and the sort of compassion and empathy and energy. It feels like like, I don't know, I just have loved my time there. And that's a country I yearn to go back to, to know more about and to be able to spend more time and it's so physically beautiful with the mountains but there's also something about out the way the people and, and the land, you know, the way that people live on the land and know how to be in the mountains, it's a, it's a fascinating place. And it is it just, I keep thinking about it and keep wanting to go back and go hiking, I just want to go to the mountains and be there in the pool. So there's that that definitely has a draw. And then the third place because I'm jumping from continent to continent, but but my husband's work is in Ecuador, and we have lived with a couple of indigenous families in Ecuador, and in one of the Philippine villages up in the Andes there over the last 25 years, repeatedly going back and staying with the same families taking our children back. They they lived there for six months and went to the local school, they spent many summers there playing with kids in the village. And when I go back to that area, I just like, Oh, I'm home. This is this is one of my homes. This is how I feel a deep, deep sense of belonging to those communities. And the families who just embraced us and made us feel like we were part of their family. And that's a wonderful feeling. And it's so different from life in the US. And but and yet when I get transport ported there, it's like that same comfort level. It's like I'm home. So I have a lot of countries that I really love.

Jason Moore 56:15
Wow. However, you kind of do have a lot of homes around the world in many ways, right?

Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld 56:20
I do. The most complicated question anyone can ask me is, so where are you from? Like, oh,

Jason Moore 56:26
well, you mentioned hearing some of the stories on the ground. I was just wondering if you could share an individual story from somebody that your organization miracle feed has impacted?

Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld 56:37
Wow.

Jason Moore 56:39
I know there are so many,

Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld 56:40
many stories.

Jason Moore 56:43
I'm sure it's the stories that are the story things that keep you going right? Yes, they

Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld 56:48
are the stories that absolutely keep us all going and inspire us to keep to Yes, to do the work, but also to keep growing right because you keep thinking this was just one kid. And there are so many more out there like this, whose stories we need to turn into a happy story. This story was told to me recently, I didn't actually meet this family. But to me, it sums everything up. So our president, Steph, Daphne traveled to Ecuador, right, and one of the gaps between COVID where it was safe to travel. And we had not been able to really travel during COVID, which was really tough for all of us. So it was I think it was in last September, she went to Ecuador, and it was the first clinic she had joined our organization a year before and she hadn't seen a clubfoot clinic. And she was so excited to go to Ecuador to see a clinic and see the work in person that she had been working so hard on last year since she joined the organization. And she happens to be a fluent Spanish speaker, which really helped and she walked into the clinic and it was a little three year old, dashing around, running around. He was you know, a little boy kind of all that little boy energy. And with his mom and she taught she stopped and she said to the mom, you know, oh, how did you find this clinic? And is this your son? And was he really born with clubfoot because you wouldn't be able to tell whether he's running around? Well, it turns out that this mother was was the child was born in Venezuela, the mom was from Venezuela. And because of the situation in Venezuela, she knew that there was no chance of getting treatment for her child. So when she had this child with with clubfoot, she knew she had to leave Venezuela in order to get treatment. And like so many people from Venezuela, she walked. So she held her child and newborn baby with whatever belongings she could carry. And she walked to Colombia, and she got to Colombia. And she still couldn't find treatment. And she didn't know what to do. And she was desperate. And she called someone that she knew from Venezuela who'd ended up in Ecuador. And she said, I'm desperate. I've got no money. I've got just my child and what I've carried from Venezuela on my back, and I need to find treatment for this kid. And so this woman said, Well, I think there's a free clinic here in Quito, why don't you come to Quito? So she said, okay, and she walked three more weeks, she walked for three weeks holding her child. And I just I'm sorry, now I'm gonna get upset. I just can't imagine what it takes that strength, right? Because you care so much for your child. And there's something inside you that's telling you, you need to get treatment for this kid. So she she walked to Ecuador for three weeks from Colombia. And she found the clinic and it's a local organization is called for lecien. Armando Miguel, it's a wonderful little center in Quito. And she showed up at the clinic and she looked the doctor in the eye, she told the story, and she said, I have nothing. If you need money from me, I have nothing. And the doctor said, it's fine. Treatment is free. Your kids gonna be okay. And this was you know, and now the kid is running around. And he was treated as an older child by the time he arrived, you know, he was a little older, so I think he'd been treated a year and a half before and, and when death They saw the kid running around, he was three and a half and completely fine. He was sleeping in the brace at night, but his, the treatment had gone really well. And this, this child is going to be just fine. But I just you know, when you hear a story like that, you think, wow, what I'm doing is nothing compared to what these moms are doing to make sure that their kid is going to be okay. So the sacrifices that families make in order to make sure that their child is okay. And I think we all know that right? Any, any parent would do anything for that child. And the people that we work with are no different. And the sacrifices they make are so enormous for their children. And that's a big part of being able to be effective.

Jason Moore 1:00:37
Yeah. Thank you, for all the work you're doing. Yeah, it was pretty emotional interview for me. You know, hearing that story, of course, didn't help on the

Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld 1:00:48
emotion again, I'm sorry.

Jason Moore 1:00:52
This is nice. Well, obviously, leave, leave the link to the organization miracle feed.org in the show notes, and encourage everybody if you if you enjoyed this episode, and you're looking to make a donation to an organization today, or sometime in the near future, I'll say today, if you can take a moment and do that, that will be great. You can hear the work they're doing. By the way, I do have a custom song I made up for my son when I put on his because he has to wear it just so everybody knows when you have clubfoot and you get the correction thing, then you have to wear these boots and an A bar at night that you're sort of strapped into. And I made up a little song for him. So if you need an official theme song for the boots and bar, so we can pass that

Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld 1:01:34
we would love to hear your song. We love singing at Miracle feet. So that will fit right in. And, and I just want to thank you, Jason, for your support of the organization. And for giving us this opportunity to raise awareness about a condition that many people have never heard of. Even though it is ubiquitous and common around the world. It's not something that's understood very well. And I really, really appreciate you raising awareness and letting us giving me a bit of a chance to tell the story to a wider audience. Thanks.

Jason Moore 1:02:06
I'm glad I could hear him i i had never heard of it until my son came out. And then we next day, they told us what it was. It was a crazy moment on many levels, you know, then then obviously, you know, you come to know about these things. And sometimes it's through your own personal experience. So I'm grateful for that in many ways, and being able to have you on today and share this. So thank you so much, and hope we can stay in touch.

Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld 1:02:34
Yes, thank you. Let's do that. Thanks, Jason. Have a wonderful afternoon.

Jason Moore 1:02:37
Take care, okay.

There you have it, I want to thank Jessica for coming on the show for sharing her story, her advice, her wisdom, her patience with me while I fell apart during the interview, and just everything. So thank you. Thank you so much. And again, the challenge here, I'm going to challenge you to make a donation over at miracle feet.org. If you can mention this podcast, I'd love to see how we can rally the community here. I just donated 1000 bucks. I love knowing that that will take care of two kids somewhere in the world. So if you're able do what you can, I thank you so much. And I know they do as well. So whatever you can do, thank you. Now let me share this personal story when my son was born. It was a that was a whole other thing. It was it was very traumatic, many ways. Things happen fast, ended up being an emergency C section situation, but they got him out. And he was all good. And he was wrapped up and I didn't see his foot. I didn't know anything about it. I was just glad he was there in my arms. And I'll never forget what the nurse said to me at that time, and it was the perfect thing exactly what I needed to hear. So if my son's listening to this right now maybe many years later rom gone. He somehow found this file on the hard drive. Here's what happened. She just came in and and picked up the blanket and said, Hey, so here's something with his foot. But you know, don't worry about that right now. Just enjoy being with him. And that was exactly what I needed to hear. Right in that moment. Really, because when I saw it's, of course, all of the images rushed into my head of a life of Who knows why I didn't even know what clubfoot was. I just saw that his foot was turned in and down. And I was you know, is he ever going to be able to walk or run or any of those things of course, now he's runs all over the place he's walking great. He he's totally normal does everything perfect. Just so you know. But at that time in that moment, of course panic could have said in but but the waste she calmly just said, showed me that was her job, I think to to let me know. And to not let me discover that for myself. And to just calmly let me know and just say, Don't worry about it and just enjoy him right now. Really was exactly what I needed to hear. So what I want to share from that story is, you never know how much impact your words have just your words, on people. And sometimes we hold back I feel because where is it? Our right to say something in a certain situation? Or are we going to say the right thing? Or maybe we overthink it sometimes. But don't hold back? When it comes to empathy, compassion. Don't go back. You know, you never know. Maybe that person needs to hear what you have to say right in that moment. And that is the perfect thing. And even if it's not the perfect thing, if your words are said with intention and compassion, really, can you go wrong, you know, and I still carry that moment with me today. And I so appreciate the way it was said and the words that were said. And I don't remember her face. I don't remember her name. But thank you, mystery nurse here in Norway. So never be afraid to share. Share your words with others. Okay, I will leave you with the butson bar song I alluded to at the end of the conversation, which probably won't make any sense. But here goes, it's time to put your bar on. If only for a little while. The special shoes can't give you the blues. Aha. They only want to make you smile. All keeping those feet in just the right place. Make good giggle from your toes to your face. So you can run any kind of race

Unknown Speaker 1:07:08
they only want to make you smile. And they'll be off in a little while. Oh yeah, they'll be off in a little bit he little bitty little bitty little bitty little bitty while while while

Jason Moore 1:07:21
soccer the off he's singing. Thanks for your time. I'll see you next time peace and love.

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