He got his first district office job at 15 and a half, before he could drive. Twenty years later, he'd hit almost every title in the IT department, except one, until a rejection letter changed everything.

In this episode, co-host Lisa Moe sits down with Joe Ayala, Director of Technology at Santa Clara Unified, to trace the path from teenage referee to district leader. Along the way: a broken computer, a boss who paid him to read the right books, and a framed letter that told him he didn't qualify for the job he wanted most.

But this isn't just a career story. Joe and Lisa dig into the questions that actually keep leaders up at night: why culture is so hard to build in education, why so few people get prepared to lead before they're handed the title, and what happens when you try to run on no sleep for too long.

Equal parts personal history and hard-earned philosophy, this episode is a reminder that the detours often matter more than the plan.

From a Conan O'Brien internship to leading AI strategy for an entire school district — Lisa Moe's path here has been anything but typical. In this first episode of Change Agents, Lisa and Joe dig into her move into the role of Education Technology Teacher on Special Assignment, what actually happens (and often goes wrong) when students transition from elementary school, why most leadership "icebreakers" secretly annoy the very teachers they are trying to connect with, and how Lisa's AI kickoff presentation to her district landed with staff.

New episodes of Change Agents focus on leadership from the classroom to the district office.