July + August
Existential crisis, re aligning with my goals, winning a half marathon, spending time with my family and a road trip
Hi everyone! Nice to meet you/see you again! My name is Rachel. I am a 15 y/o activator at TKS interested in agritech, quantum computing, renewable energy, future of food, gene editing, and all new tech. I love running and being outside, and I never say no to a challenge. My biggest goal in life is to help solve poverty.
The past two months have been a blissful blur of learning and fun✨. I have been:
Following my curiosity and learning about things that interest me (and creating YouTube videos and articles on these topics).
Re-doing my personal website.
Having deep conversations on my podcast.
Running a half marathon.
Training for an ultramarathon.
Travelling in Southern Ontario with my family.
Researching an at-home vertical farm system to create in my home.
Content I’ve made based on my interests
How water could fix our broken food production system
Existential crisis
I have done a lot of reflecting during the last few months. Asking myself questions like:
‘What impact do I want to have on the world?’
‘What brings me the most joy?’
‘What would I do (and enjoy) everyday, even if I was failing?
And I realized that I have recently been chasing shiny gold medals - like lots of YouTube followers and an incredible personal brand. I have been distracted by the possibility of fame. Not only because it is shiny and attractive, but because it is easier. It is easier than putting in the long hours necessary to create something that will actually impact the world.
So I needed to take a step back from work and re align with my values and goals. My goal in life is to create a MASSIVE social impact by lifting millions of people out of poverty. NOT to get a million followers on YouTube.
For the past few weeks I have been on a journey of self discovery. Asking myself over and over if I am on the right path to make the impact I want to have on the world. Through lots of deep thinking (during lots of long runs), and several healthy doses of brutal honesty, I discovered that I have not been on this path. So I am in the process of changing.
As many of you will know, I have been focused on creating a transgenic strand of maize that can provide food for millions more people by being drought resistant and pest tolerant; containing more nutrients and producing higher yields. But I don’t know if this is the best way to create the scale of impact I want to make.
So I have been doing what I always do: research. Reading articles and papers, watching videos, listening to talks, and researching the most impactful companies that have increased food security for millions. I am learning from social entrepreneurs - how they succeeded and where they went wrong. I am talking with as many people as I can about what the root cause of hunger is in Sub Saharan Africa. I haven’t found the answer yet, but I have been having a lot of fun in the process. All this new knowledge about food security has re-ignited my passion for solving this issue, and I can’t wait to create a company that will make the scale of impact that I am shooting for.
TechnoGypsie Podcast
My amazing co-host and I have been working hard in August to create the official TechnoGypsie Podcast website! The website is now live, which you can explore here or by using our domain: technogypsiepodcast.com
New episodes:
Hydroponics project update
As I mentioned in my last newsletter, one of my summer projects has been to research and create a hydroponics system in my home. I have spent the last few weeks doing research about the optimal hydroponics design - I also wrote an article about my hydroponics research and took a hydroponics course (the course went through system design, materials, and step-by-step building the system). I have officially completed the research stage of my hydroponics project, and am now in the process of ordering materials online. By mid-September I will have all my materials and will start building the system and growing plants!
Below are two sketches of the setup I’m planning on doing. The left image is of the full system, and the right image is of the racks on each level of the system.
Other cool things that happened month
The highlight of August was a 3 week road trip in Southern Ontario with my family! We went to the Stratford Festival (the largest Shakespeare festival in the world) and saw Hamlet - it was my first time seeing a Shakespeare play live and I loved it! We brought our tent trailer with us and camped throughout our trip as we toured around Toronto + Waterloo, doing lots of biking, swimming and hiking along the way. It was a much needed break from work to spend time with my family and reconnect with all the things in life that bring me joy. (Thank you Mum and Dad for the awesome trip!❤️)
I went on an incredible backcountry camping trip with my awesome older sister. AND I vloged the entire trip so you can watch it! Watch part one here and part two here! From creepy salamander frogs and territorial partridges to huge slugs, I had so much fun and loved spending time with my sister ❤️
Pics from our trip:)) I am honored to have been invited on the Croptastic podcast to talk about my path to developing my own gene editing project. I talked about what young people can do to solve global issues and the mindset shift that needs to be adopted to change our food production system. Thank you to Shely and the Croptastic team for inviting me on the show! Listen to the episode here!
I signed up for a local half marathon 3 days before race day (it was very impromptu) making it my second ever half marathon. I am very happy to announce that I was the female winner of the race!
LOTS of running. I am training for a 50km ultra marathon in October, and I have been loving going on long training runs getting my body and mind ready for running that distance.
Running, running and more running
What’s next?
My 16th birthday is coming up at the beginning of September (🥳) which means I will be able to write my G1 and start driving lessons.
Building my hydroponic farm and starting to grow plants 🌱🥬🍅🌿
Next month I will be publishing my new personal website. I have been working on it throughout the summer and just have a few last touches to add before it’s ready to go!
School starts in September🙄😭 (which I am not looking forward to).
What I am most looking forward to is the start of Activate, the 2nd year TKS program. Our sessions start in September and I can’t wait to see what exciting things this new year brings!
And that, my friends, is what I have been up to this summer! It has been a super busy month, jammed pack with fun things. I hope that you had a wonderful summer and a beautiful fall!
Enjoy the sunshine and see you all next month! ☀️🌱🌻
Until then, feel free to reach out to me on: LinkedIn, or email me at: runnerrachel.lee@gmail.com
And don’t forget to hit that subscribe button on Medium and YouTube so you can read my articles and watch my videos as I publish them.
Happy September and have a lovely rest of your day!
❤️Rachel
Rachel is a massive inspiration