Rewriting the Rules of Safety Training
From the U.S. Navy to virtual reality innovation—Jennifer Lastra delivers a bold, immersive vision for the future of safety training.
What happens when a U.S. Navy electrician, shipbuilder, and first-time entrepreneur discovers the power of virtual reality? You get someone like Jennifer Lastra—CEO of 360immersive and a driving force behind some of the most innovative training tools in the safety space today.
In this episode of Safety Spotlight, Jennifer shares her deeply personal journey from the hardest, hottest, loudest worksites to co-founding a VR company with one mission: to make safety training not just better, but unforgettable. Her philosophy is clear—compliance isn’t enough. If we want people to care, we have to connect on a human level.
“The most foundational element of safety isn’t hazard recognition. It’s self-awareness.”
We explore the emotional side of training, how VR taps into memory through immersive experience, and why she’s so focused on making safety more accessible—especially for small businesses and under-resourced teams. For more on her origin story and the tech driving her work, check out Virtual Reality, Real Safety.
Jennifer also unpacks what it means to lead with empathy, build trust with learners, and ask tough questions—like the one at the center of this conversation: Would You Bet Your Paycheck on Safety?
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