Hearts Afire

Announcer: Hearts Afire is brought to you by the All of Us Research Project which has a simple mission – to speed up health research. To get there, we need 1 million or more people to join the program. Visit JoinAllofUs.org/SouthTexasBlood and find out how you can become one in a million. And now here's the host of Hearts Afire, Adrienne Mendoza.

Adrienne: Welcome to Hearts Afire, a South Texas Blood & Tissue and BioBridge Global Podcast. This is our pilot season and we're excited to bring you the stories of our employees and our mission. And our guest today is Mo Sayed. So the first thing I want to ask you Mo is what do you do here?

Mo: Hi! All right so I was recently brought back as the Director of Donor Recruitment. So my job is mainly to feed that pipeline full of donors to get the blood on the shelves here in South Texas.

Adrienne: And your official title is?

Mo: Director Donor Recruitment.

Adrienne: OK! And where did you grow up? So a lot of people don't know that you used to work here, but then you left and you came back. So we'll talk a little bit about that, but where did you grow up?

Mo: So I grew up in California. I grew up in the northern part of it in the Bay Area. Then after high school, I went down to Southern California. So I did two years in Santa Barbara at City College over there and then transferred over to Cal State Northridge. So after that, I went over to Tucson, Arizona, and lived there for about 11 years. It wasn't quite hot enough so, made the move over here.

Adrienne: And is it hot enough for your liking? Especially right now.

Mo: It's brutal. It's hotter than I remember when I left.

Adrienne: So where did you go to school? I’m thinking it back to times in California, or you can start as early in school as you want to, but where did you go?

Mo: Let's see, elementary school was a blur. I went to El Dorado Middle. It was a junior high school. It was before middle school. So, El Dorado Junior High School in Concord, California. And then went to Northgate High School in Walnut Creek, California. Then Cal State Northridge down in the Valley.

Adrienne: So how did you develop an interest in this career field? I know you've kind of started at one point in a financial role as I recall and then later on. But what led you to this role? What developed your interest in it? Take us back to that.

Mo: I started my career in finance and accounting in the medical industry. So I worked for an oncology group. It was U.S. Oncology. I worked for the Arizona Division there. From there, I moved to the acute care side of the hospital. I did that for a few years, and then I got the opportunity to come over to this side back in 2013 as a finance analyst.

Mo: One of the things that I struggled with, and you know in my early career in finance and accounting, is boredom if you ask me. There's a lot of reporting, and there was a lot of after-the-fact stuff that had to be done. I enjoyed watching the operations take shape and take hold.

Mo: So when an opportunity came for me to learn about the operation side, and experience the chaos and the heartache that comes with it, I took the opportunity and haven't turned back since. Even when, and we'll talk about this later, when I left, I went back into finance in California. I did everything I could to get myself more involved in the operations side when I went back into that role.

Adrienne: Take us back to even before finance, what other jobs have you held in terms of starting and beginning? It could be...

Mo: Oh my God!

Adrienne: Right? Anyone starts anywhere. So tell us a little bit about that.

Mo: Let's see, do you want to hear about the paper route at age 12?

Adrienne: Sure!

Mo: I delivered newspapers when I was in junior high school and through early high school. Then I went and worked at McDonald's. I've worked for Safeway in California. I've worked for valet parking. I worked as a tutor in the school learning center.

Mo: I worked my fair share of retail jobs, and I'm sure there's some other stuff that I'm missing there. Probably some stuff I don't want to talk about so mental blocks there. Those days where I'm like, I can't believe I had to wear that costume.

Adrienne: So tell us about what you like to do outside of work? Your hobbies, things like that. What makes you, you, when you're not doing your day job here?

Mo: We like to travel. I've got my wife and three kids. They, the two younger girls, keep us busy. The oldest boy is in college right now, but the two girls keep us busy. So, it's the world that revolves around them as far as they're concerned, but we try to make sure that we get them out and experience the different things the world has to offer.

Mo: Especially with the youngest one. She was born right before the pandemic broke out. She's our little feral pandemic baby, and taking her out has always been a challenge, but she's getting better at that now.

Adrienne: A feral pandemic baby? I've not heard that before, the first, but I love it. So tell us your favorite story about something that happened outside of work? It could be any time in your life leading up to now. A favorite story you want to share with anyone who's listening.

Mo: Let's get back to that one.

Adrienne: All right, that's good. We'll take a full-ticket pass, but then, in that case, tell us something about yourself that no one knows about you.

Mo: All right, so back to the favorite story. Oh wow! What is it about me that no one at work knows? There's probably a reason that nobody at work knows about it.

Adrienne: That's ominous! Clarify for those who might be listening.

Mo: Let's see.

Adrienne: Do you play an instrument?

Mo: No, I don't play an instrument.

Adrienne: What about sports?

Mo: I used to be heavy into soccer when I was younger, probably through high school. At the same time, I had braces. So that was always interesting, especially a soccer ball to the face when you have braces. Cause that was back in the day when we had the metal braces, not the Invisaligns that everyone has now.

Adrienne: Oh, soccer ball to the face. That does not sound good with braces.

Mo: No. I used to ride motorcycles. I haven't done that in about 10 years and have no desire to start up again, but I did that two accidents later. I kept riding after the second accident but then eventually just stopped.

Mo: So the first accident was a low-speed one, and that was the one that messed me up and broke bones. The second one was a high-speed one. I just got up and walked away. So odd how that works out.

Adrienne: Yeah, that is scary. I had a Honda Nighthawk 650 when I was in high school. Probably scared my dad to death that I would even have that. I know Elizabeth Waltman rode motorcycles and still does. That was my only, and forever will be, the only time I ever rode a motorcycle. It was back then. It was probably a death trap for myself.

Adrienne: So tell us, tell our listeners, about one of the reasons why you wanted to come back after being away for a while. You decided to come back to South Texas but in tissue.

Mo: I think a lot of it has to do with the environment here in San Antonio. I've lived in a few different places throughout my life, and I think San Antonio is one of my favorite cities that I've ever lived in for multiple reasons. I met my wife here, and our oldest daughter was born here. I think a lot of it has to do with my experience here, the first time around, at South Texas Blood & Tissue and Bio Bridge. It was the place where I felt and saw myself grow as an individual and professionally as well. So when the opportunity came up, I mean things have changed, and when the opportunity came up for me to come back, I wanted to jump on it because it's one of my favorite places, and I learned a lot here. The things that changed only changed for the better.

Adrienne: Well, we are glad you're back! I know the whole team is excited to have you. You're already making a big difference, and I know you've got a lot of ideas on how we can continue to grow our donor recruitment team and reach more donors in our community. So thank you so much for being our guest here today on Hearts Afire, and welcome back!

Mo: Well, thank you!

Announcer: Executive producers of Hearts Afire are Heather Hughes and Jay Podjenski. Your director is David King, with technical assistance from Matt Flores. Our logo was designed by Roberto Esquivel. Our host is Adrienne Mendoza. If you have an idea for Hearts Afire, please feel free to email us, Hearts Afire@biobridgeglobal.org.