In this episode of the Contagious Culture Podcast, Kyle King sits down with Dara Ashley, founding executive director of the Dara Ashley Foundation, researcher, and nonprofit leader working to close the access and exposure gap for underrepresented college students.

Dara shares how her own experiences, mentorship, and time at Howard University shaped her passion for helping students see what is possible. She explains why exposure matters, why students cannot pursue opportunities they have never seen, and how mentorship can change the trajectory of a young person’s life.

Kyle and Dara also discuss the difference between access and ability, the power of one-on-one mentorship, data-driven program design, Leadership U, and what it means to build an organization that helps students gain the skills, networks, and confidence they need for life after college.

Episode History

00:00 — Introduction 00:40 — Meet Dara Ashley 01:00 — Dara’s mission and infectious spirit 01:30 — Closing the access and exposure gap 02:30 — Helping students identify what they do not know 03:15 — The power of exposure 04:00 — Dara’s origin story and early mentorship experience 05:00 — Where to start if you want to serve your community 06:00 — Former mentees returning as mentors 07:15 — Access versus ability 08:45 — Why exposure also shows students what they do not want 10:00 — Dara’s path into research 11:00 — Why leaders must mentor and reach back 12:00 — Staying connected to the audience you serve 13:00 — What Dara saw missing in the system 14:30 — What leaders get wrong about mentorship 15:30 — The power of one-on-one mentorship 16:00 — What success looks like for Dara 17:00 — The ten-year vision for the Dara Ashley Foundation 18:00 — Growing into 42 states and going deeper locally 19:00 — Leadership U and student-centered program design 20:00 — Using data to measure and build impact 21:00 — Turning vision into systems and deliverables

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