X-Factor- Tamara Rebick's P3

Tamara Rebick is an education and community design consultant, an eternal optimist and a lifelong learner at heart. She grew up hating school, but she always loved learning. Eventually, Tamara discovered experiential learning and found it to not only be inspirational, but also transformational. This inspired her to become an experiential educator. Leveraging 20+ years in the field of education, Tamara draws on her experience working closely with schools, summer camps, youth movements, faith-based institutions and university campus groups to work collaboratively with innovative leaders on strategic planning and professional development training.

Tamara especially enjoys working with young leadership, emerging self-directed learners and social entrepreneurs, since she has spent her entire career working closely with Millennials and GenZ. She speaks on a range of topics including the power of experiential learning, design thinking, volunteer empowerment, program planning and peer leadership. Tamara lives in Toronto with her husband and two daughters, who are equally enthusiastic about experiential learning.

Tamara is building her consulting practice: CORIPHERY Holistic Consulting Solutions. Integrating the words “core” and ”periphery”, the name alludes to her approach of looking at complete systems within organizations to help promote overall wellness from the inside out and back again. Tamara regained her “learning confidence” through through experiential education and was “...determined to help other people find positive ways to engage in learning even if the formal education experience was not one that resonates with them.” After decades in education, she decided to stop being, “...an intrapreneur - somebody driving change and pushing the status quo from within,” and decided to work with these institutions as an entrepreneur and objective third party.

Tamara and I have known each other for a long time, and when we discovered that we had both started our own practices, we began meeting for coffee to talk about our work. During this time, Tamara introduced me to +Acumen, and we took a Storytelling for Change course together this past summer. My story was about my podcast, and through our discussions on the power of music and why finding ways to tell your own story is important, I invited her to experience the P3.

When considering her nostalgic song, Tamara recalled her 1986 self as a “red hair, side ponytail fan” of the singer and her music. This song is not exactly the mantra she wants to impart on to her daughters today, as it is mostly a nod to the “focus on success and excess of the 80’s.” However, she loves the undertone of rebellion in the song and she alludes to a deeper meaning as the song unfolds that goes well beyond the pop sound and catchy vibe. She refers to this underlying message as “respectful disruption”, a term that I have already added to my vernacular. Here is Cindy Lauper’s Girls Just Want to Have Fun:

Tamara’s identity song is one that she loves because it is “literal and poetic at the same time.” A guiding principle that has stuck with her is a deep understanding that she can't control how people receive what she says, so she in mindful of her words. The lyrics of this song tell a sad story, but they are also very real. “I believe in audacious authenticity when presented with the opportunity to build relationships.” For her, the song is really about the message conveyed through the lyrics. “Things are not fair, things are unbalanced, and it's about overcoming adversity and fostering deep-seated resilience.” That is Tamara’s story. “Without every single one of those moments [of rejection, failure or adversity] in my life, I wouldn't be where I am now, and I’m loving where I am right now.” You have to work through set-backs to figure out how solid your resilience can be. Here is The Script with Break Even:

Tamara’s inspirational song is a nod to her growth and maturation, according to our guest. It has personal and professional applications for her, and it helps her reflect on how she got to this point in her life. “It's not only because of the wholehearted support of my family, but it’s also about enjoying all the curves and edges, and all the perfect imperfections…[ the message of this song is] ...an unrelenting source of support.” Tamara loves the lyrics, the meaning and overall performance of the song. According to this experiential educator, the song speaks to managing and welcoming how other people see you, and how it can sometimes be difficult to see yourself as they do. It’s about when vulnerability and trust is the best form of help. She made the connection to education saying, “There are elements of uncertainty and lack of confidence and self esteem that permeate every learning environment, and we as educators have a tremendous opportunity and responsibility to ensure that our students and our learners are able to actually be fuelled by and be supported by that when they don’t have it in themselves to do it on their own.” Here is John Legend's All of Me:

Tamara promotes that important x-factor in education and calls herself the CXO, Chief Experience Officer at CORIPHERY Holistic Consulting Solutions. According to Tamara, “...experiential education can be understood at face value to be the way in which a learner experiences an encounter with new material and knowledge...which facilitates deeper ownership and investment on the part of the learner as they experience new information and process that learning encounter to be both relevant and meaningful in a personal way, as well as transformative as they continue to grow.” She’s an experienced educator with a lot to offer a variety of organizations. When reflecting on her work and her style, she noted, “I wait for opportunity to knock, and I walk through that door.” Right now, she is excited to be an education and community design consultant. Tamara loves her work, and you can learn more about what she’s doing through her website, on Facebook, on Instagram, LinkedIn, or on Twitter. Tamara is eager to connect, so reach out because she loves to “geek-out on methodology and practice.”