Ebony Cooksie on Transitioning to Digital Equity Work - Building for Digital Equity Podcast Episode 16

Sean Gonsalves (00:06):
Hey, this is the Building for Digital Equity Podcast where we talk to people working to expand Internet access, address affordability, teach digital skills, or distribute affordable devices. We talk with those working on the front lines of giving everyone everywhere the opportunity to participate fully in the digital world, whether in rural areas or cities. Our guests here are doing the often [00:00:30] unglamorous jobs in places that have been left behind. This show comes to you from the Community Broadband Networks team at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, where we have long produced the Community Broadband Bits podcast and the Connect This Show Building for Digital Equity features. Short interviews from Emma Gautier, Christopher Mitchell, and me, Sean Gonsalves, talking to people at the events we are attending, to highlight the interesting work and inspirational stories to get Internet [00:01:00] access to everyone. Now, let's see who we have today.

Christopher Mitchell (01:07):
I'm here with Ebony Cooksie, who is the Market Development Manager and Government Affairs person for Next Link Internet. Absolutely. Welcome to the show.

Ebony Cooksie (01:16):
Thank you for having

Christopher Mitchell (01:17):
Me. So we were just having a great conversation, and while we're here, we've been trying to have different kinds of conversations for people to hear. And you said something that I really wanted to talk with you about, which is that you have switched to the positions [00:01:30] you had established yourself in another field and then came over into this position. I think a lot of people listening to this show have either done that or they're contemplating doing that, and I want to talk about what that's like. So tell us, where were you before?

Ebony Cooksie (01:43):
Okay. Prior to telecom, I was an English teacher and I served as an English teacher and track coach for Houston ISD. So I was basically in public education. And prior to that I was a reporter, so I spent time in radio and that's why I'm here [00:02:00] with you today.

Christopher Mitchell (02:00):
I'm trying very hard not to dive into Track Coach. I just shot indoor track meet championship for, I do a lot of sports photography. Really? I love track. I love throwers. I feel like throwers are always underrepresented in the photos and whatnot.

Ebony Cooksie (02:15):
Wow, you are a very diverse person. That's amazing. I'd like to hear more about that off the record. Track

Christopher Mitchell (02:20):
Field is fun. It's very cool. Did you

Ebony Cooksie (02:22):
Compete? I did. I ran the 800 for the University of Miami back in the day, the

Christopher Mitchell (02:26):
800 at the university. So you were really good then. That is a hard [00:02:30] race. It's a

Ebony Cooksie (02:30):
Hard race. That is a hard race. Put it this way. I worked hard and I realized my limitations. Okay,

Christopher Mitchell (02:35):
Alright. But you're an English teacher and you think I got to get more technology in my life. What are you thinking?

Ebony Cooksie (02:41):
Okay. I will be completely transparent. I knew someone that worked in the industry and they began to talk about the opportunities that existed in broadband and how across the country there were communities that were without it. And so he said, why don't you come on over [00:03:00] and you can definitely make more money than you would as a teacher. And so it piqued my interest and I set up an interview and here I am. Okay.

Christopher Mitchell (03:10):
So tell us what next link is and then we'll talk about what you do there.

Ebony Cooksie (03:13):
Okay. Next Link is a rural Internet service provider. So we provide broadband services. We are a hybrid solutions. We provide both fiber and wireless and voice services. We are rural focused and we seek to be [00:03:30] a local provider in all of the communities that we serve. And we're in about eight states currently. We call them our token states, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and now Indiana and Louisiana.

Christopher Mitchell (03:45):
And now Next Link is a company that I feel like has combined an aggressive fast wireless approach going after a government subsidies that are available in these different areas to build out the markets. And now in my mind, it's more recent, A lot of fiber [00:04:00] build too. Sure. That's right.

Ebony Cooksie (04:02):
That's true. I mean, we want to give communities what they want, but we want to help them identify their needs. So sometimes we have communities that are open to having both. And then we have communities that are exclusively fiber. We've recently done a deal with Gage County, Nebraska. We're very excited about that. I think that I'm an honorary Nebraskan at this point because I've been to the state multiple times in the past few months. [00:04:30] But yes, we welcome competition, but we just want our communities to know how much money we were awarded in CAF and RDOF, and we're excited that we're ahead of schedule on our Connect America Fund builds. And of course, RDOF is now the

Christopher Mitchell (04:47):
Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, which for people who are newer to the space, I'll just say ignore it. There's other things to focus on and learn. Don't worry about RDOF. That's true.

Ebony Cooksie (04:56):
That's true. There's so many acronyms, and I heard the lady [00:05:00] at the net inclusion event say that we were not going to use acronyms. So That's right. Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.

Christopher Mitchell (05:05):
And as an English teacher, I have to ask you, RDOF is an acronym. I always get annoyed when people confuse acronyms and abbreviations.

Ebony Cooksie (05:11):
It is an acronym. That's right. That means that each letter represents a separate distinct word and how many acronyms do we come across daily.

Christopher Mitchell (05:20):
So you have moved into this space. What were the challenges you faced when you came into this and started saying, I'm going to work in this space without having a ton of background [00:05:30] as an engineer doing a lot of wireless or fiber optic work? I mean, most English teachers couldn't tell you the difference between Wi-Fi and fiber optics. I think,

Ebony Cooksie (05:38):
Well, I think you would find that teachers are more savvy today because the curriculum incorporates digital. Digital equity, digital inclusion. They want students actively using those devices and programs. But one of,

Christopher Mitchell (05:55):
Sometimes, I forget how long it's been since I was in school,

Ebony Cooksie (05:58):
We don't use typewriters anymore, Chris, [00:06:00] but I will say that because it was intimidating that I didn't know what I didn't know. Being quiet, remaining silent and listening probably was the biggest challenge for me. And I knew I had to listen in every meeting. I took notes, I recorded sessions, and I listened to your podcast. Yeah. Yes.

Christopher Mitchell (06:26):
You said, I've heard this from multiple people. You listen to it while you've run. [00:06:30] And when I exercise, I do not listen to myself. I'll tell you that right now.

Ebony Cooksie (06:36):
It actually helps my runs go faster. So if I use the Nike Run Club app and it's prepping me for my day, because oftentimes you're talking about the very thing that is an issue I'm running into. So case in point, permitting, right? I'm still trying to figure it out. We have to make sure that these cities are aware that we are a utility [00:07:00] provider and what the law says, and every state is different. And I think cities want to do their own things. So we want to ensure that our goals are in alignment with the cities, but we want to get that permitting challenge out of the way so that we can begin deployment and get people connected. Right.

Christopher Mitchell (07:20):
So we covered some of the techniques that you used to feel more confident to get into this space, listening to different shows, listening to recording things, listening to 'em back. [00:07:30] I think the thing that you said when we were talking earlier I wanted to hit on is I think the confidence to come into this space. Yes. I think it is intimidating, and there are people here that I've long felt like are our enemies who are using their knowledge as a weapon, who are trying to intimidate people that may not have that knowledge. But I think it's lessened. And I'm curious, have you run into that? People who are trying to intimidate you, they have more knowledge or they've been around longer,

Ebony Cooksie (07:54):
Or they're using what? Platitudes. I hear that every day, Chris, and I know you Do people [00:08:00] spit out verbiage that's been repeated time and time again without directly answering the questions. And so one of the ways I combat that is I prepare for my meetings. I make sure that I know how much money is on the line, what the deadlines are, what areas of concern, need, address, and that prevents me from tripping over my shoes or causing any type of confusion during a call or an important call. Right.

Christopher Mitchell (08:28):
But that's the thing. I feel like it's like a psychological [00:08:30] thing, right? You're able to do this work and other people are able to do this work. The question is whether you have the confidence to say, I'm going to do this work. I mean, does that resonate at all?

Ebony Cooksie (08:40):
It does, but I think you and I have that advantage because we have experience in broadcasting. We welcome the microphone, whereas you have people who are very capable behind the scenes in doing the research. One of our staff members, Clayton, he actually lives in Nebraska and he does a ton of research [00:09:00] and has helped us set up our sales force so that we can monitor our clientele and our accounts. I think that there's a need for a person who will grab the mic, and there's also a need for those people in the background to help provide additional information. So I'd say for anyone that's shy or apprehensive, prepare, there's nothing like preparing and planning and doing that research before you have to do the interview with a guy like Chris.

Christopher Mitchell (09:29):
To be clear, I did not [00:09:30] give you time to prepare here. Oh,

Ebony Cooksie (09:31):
You didn't? I was a little nervous. Okay. Never let 'em see you sweat.

Christopher Mitchell (09:35):
No. I'm curious about another thing, which is we talked about a little bit. Net inclusion is a much more diverse conference, and we have a lot of the events that you probably go to are a lot less diverse. Yes. There are more, much more older white men who are there. Have you still felt welcomed into those spaces? Just to give people a sense? I think people who might be feeling not welcomed in those spaces,

Ebony Cooksie (10:00):
[00:10:00] I'll say that there have been times where I did not feel welcomed, but fortunately, there are enough players out there that are sincere about opening up the opportunities to different types of people, and one of those people is my boss, Claude Aiken. So our team, I think, I'm not

Christopher Mitchell (10:19):
Surprised.

Ebony Cooksie (10:19):
CLA is great. We're progressing and changes are being made, and I look forward to having additional opportunities open up for me in the future, whether it's with my current company or beyond.

Christopher Mitchell (10:30):
[00:10:30] So the question I wanted to ask you last then is should people be afraid as they're coming into this space or they're testing the waters to try and figure out, do I want to commit to working in this space?

Ebony Cooksie (10:42):
Absolutely. There are so many opportunities with workforce development. I am responsible for connecting our human resources department with training schools, community colleges, and our good faith [00:11:00] efforts to hire locally. And when I tell you we want to create that pipeline that gets those high schoolers who don't know what they want to do yet an opportunity to pursue broadband related positions, sometimes the adrenaline junkie, the one that says, okay, I'll do it. I'll climb the tower. Anybody that's interested in going into technology, there are so many opportunities in broadband right now, and I think that people should take the risk. Yeah. I mean,

Christopher Mitchell (11:29):
Okay. I just [00:11:30] want to be clear for people. I think I asked a complicated question. You answered it the way I thought you would, but I asked that people should be afraid, and you said Absolutely. And I think you meant they should absolutely come into the

Ebony Cooksie (11:40):
Field. I think they should absolutely come into the field, but it's okay to be afraid. Right, Chris? It's that feeling you get before you dive into the pool. Right? But then what happens afterwards, you realize you shouldn't have dove into a pool of Legos. No, Chris, you're immersed, you're immersed, you're refreshed. That's what [00:12:00] you're supposed to say. But I think it is refreshing and every day it changes. This is not a boring industry. This is an exciting industry. It's an exciting time. We're recovering from Covid. We're moving forward, and I think people should take advantage of that. Excellent. Thank you so much today. Thank you for having me, Chris. Yep.

Sean Gonsalves (12:22):
We thank you for listening. You can find a bunch of our other podcast at ilsr.org/podcast. [00:12:30] Since this is a new show, I'd like to ask a favor. Please give us a rating wherever you found it, especially at Apple Podcast. Share it with friends. You can even embed episodes on your own site. Please let us know what you think by writing us at podcast@communitynets.org. Finally, we'd like to thank joseph mckay.com for the song on the Verge.