A few weeks ago I came back home after spending ten days in Switzerland, talking with the most influential and successful social entrepreneurs, CEOs and organizations of our generation. This whole experience was very impactful for me. Since coming back and adjusting to the "mundane" of everyday life, I've been feeling all the feels:
Trapped in one last year of high school before I have the independence to create my life,
Inspired and hungry to spend my life solving big problems in the world and improving the quality of life in the poorest communities in the world,
And unsure if I have what it takes to live my life unconventionally and actually accomplish the big ambitions I have.
And in the many hours of reflection and contemplation that have come since my experience in Switzerland, I have learned a lot about myself and how I want to live my life. (I actually wrote a reflective article on my blog about this. Read it here if you're interested!)
And what I've realized is summarized in the phrase I decided to name this update. I thrive from the learnings of new, unique experiences. This is where I grow. But I am also discovering that the "mundane" of everyday life houses just as much inspiration and hidden knowledge that I can learn from.
The thrill of the new
I used to dislike new experiences (like travel) because they disrupted my perfectly manicured habits and routine.
But recently I've fell in love with what comes with the new - understanding and exploring the world, making memories, meeting interesting people, discovering who I am, the little wins and accomplishments along the way and the excitement and thrill I always find amongst the 'chaos'.
Nearing the end of June I wrote my gr.11 final exams early and caught a flight out to Switzerland. I had the honor of attending the Villars Symposium, and I learned so much + met the most amazing people.
From the conversations I've had at Villars, I've been thinking...a lot:
I want to spend my life making a large improvement in the quality of life in the poorest communities in the world. At Villars, I talked with Meagan, Carl, Ibrahim and Peter (amongst many other amazing people), all who are actually solving problems in the world. Not just talking about it, but making real change. After spending four days with these kinds of impact focused people, my "hunger" for changing the world has increased. It is like all the ambition and excitement I have for what I want to do with my life has been tripled, and is building up like water in a balloon.
I have a lot to learn and many skills to build. I am not ready now to build a company and organization to solve really big problems. Right now I need to build the skills to understand all the complexities of the big problem. Skills I am building now: becoming a great communicator and storyteller, getting great at route cause analysis, and (more on this project later) understanding the complicated link between smallholder farmers and extreme poverty, and doing a big case study of Singapore as one of the best examples of economic and social development on the national scale.
I have been reflecting on the life I want to create after gr.12. Do I want to go straight to university, or take a gap year to travel + understand the world and work on the ground at a [few] companies, NGOs or organizations in low income countries. A framework I talk about in the article is choosing the thing that makes you more interesting. And designing a gap year around 1) travel and 2) hands on experience and knowledge would definitely make me more interesting...
Switzerland pt 1: Villars
The conference itself was such an amazing experience. Engaging workshops, panels with people making policy, building companies and researching technology + science to change the world, all with delicious food and the best view.
From Villars and the people I met, I realized:
I thrive off deep and meaningful conversations.
I need to surround myself with people who reciprocate and fuel my intense energy and excitement.
No one has lived the life I want to live. I met people at Villars that I can take great inspiration from, but at the end of the day, the life I want to live is up to me to create. I have unconventional life aspirations, so the path to get here is unconventional.
I have so much to learn about communication. I want to be a great communicator. The kind that can articulate effectively any idea (or emotion) and can stand in front of a crowd of people and make them feel something. Move people. (I just wrote an article titled: The Art of the Master Communicator: 34 things you can do to become a more articulate, confident and effective communicator elaborating on what great communicators do and things you can do to become one!)
I have so much to learn about myself. And I have so much to learn about the world and how it works.
I am so grateful to TKS for the opportunity to attend Villars, the entire Villars team for bringing together so many interesting people + organizations, and all the people who shared their wisdoms and insights with me, I learned so much.
Switzerland pt 2: Exploration
After the conference, we took a train (the train system across Switzerland is amazing!) from Villars to Geneva, and spent five days there.
Some of my favorite experiences:
Running in the Swiss Alps with cows
Swimming in Lake Geneva
Eating the best meal of my life (pizza, pasta and chocolate fondu). Thanks Manoj!
A chocolate tasting tour where we consumed a concerningly high volume of Swiss chocolate
A 2 hour train ride which I now call Making Money 101. It was like a 2hr "riddle" where I worked out different scenarios with varying amounts of loans, interest, mortgage, initial capital, etc.
Playing Mafia in our hotel lobby until 1a.m.
And then on our last day in Geneva we toured the World Economic Forum, CERN, AKDN and Mercuria. By 'toured' I mean we got 1.5+ hours with top project leaders at all these organizations to ask questions and have good conversations (and we got to see each organization's headquarters).
The beauty in the mundane
The opposite of the new is the mundane. (Even the word seems less shinny haha.) As I'm beginning to crave "the new" (full independence, living on my own, creating an unconventional path), the mundane of everyday life starts to seem less attractive. But that doesn't mean it's any less beautiful or important. I think it's actually more important than the new, because it is in everyday life that you learn who you actually are, you have the space to reflect and be alone with yourself.
Since coming home from Villars (continuing with the metaphor, treat this as the "mundane") I've become much more appreciative of the little gems my everyday life has - like freshly baked muffins from my Mum, or small conversations with my Dad, and all the many things I have to learn from them about how to be an adult, and navigate the world.
It is in "the mundane" that I have reflected on what I want to do in life, and where I want my life to go after gr.12 (been thinking more and more about a year of to travel and intern on the ground with a high impact company or organization).
And I've realized that as excited as I am to start the next chapter of my life, I love the chapter I'm in right now. I love being able to research the link between extreme poverty and smallholder farmers (more on this in the next section) because I'm interested in it, I love learning about life everyday from my parents and love having the space and time to explore who I am and want to be. (And I love our family dinners, outdoor adventures and road trips).
What I’m working on now:))
82% of the people living in extreme poverty (under $1.90 a day) in Africa are smallholder farmers. Smallholder farmers farm less than 2 hectares of land, but produce over 80% of the calories consumed across the continent.
Why then, are the people literally feeding an entire continent, the ones who are also the poorest?
Over the next few months I'm working on a project to understand why this is, and come to a few root causes. I have chunked this project into three "phases":
The first phase is a complete literature review from the 1970s to now of the connection between smallholder farmers, agriculture and poverty. And then a root cause analysis of smallholder farmer poverty in a few African countries. The goal of this phase (and what I'm working on right now) is to really understand all aspects of smallholder farmer poverty, and the complexities that make this such a complicated problem. I will be talking with farmers on the ground, locals, policy makers, organizations and NGOs working on the ground.
The second phase phase is a case study of Singapore, as one of the best examples of economic and social development on the national level (went from majority of the population living in extreme poverty to one of the lowest extreme poverty rates in the world, in a matter of 20 years). What was the policy that was implemented? Was agriculture targeted, or industry? What was it that made the 'development' of Singapore so successful and fast? And then I will use this to create frameworks on decreasing poverty that can be scaled to countries and communities across the developing world.
During Villars, Navid asked me "if you were the leader of Malawi and had 20 years to implement solutions, make changes and build policy with the goal of significantly reducing (or eradicating!) poverty, what would you do?" I did not have an answer to this. This thought experiment will be based on data, case studies, and all the research from the previous phases. The goal here is to not just read research papers, but to apply all my knowledge and insights to create a well thought out, feasible plan and framework, with governments and people on the ground.
I am currently on "phase 1", and I'm so excited to be compiling literature and doing research that will build the skills I need to one day go out and create companies and organizations to make large impact! I am learning so much and gaining so many interesting perspectives.
Things I want to learn + skills I want to build
Things I want to learn + skills I want to build
A big thing I've realized from Villars is how much I don't know...about myself and the world.
Root cause analysis. I want to spend my life solving problems. Non obvious problems, ones that don't have a "right answer". To do this, I want to be so good at analyzing problems - be able to quickly connect the dots and come up with really good root causes.
I have a lot to learn about being a great communicator. Not just communication in the context of speaking on stages and giving presentations, but also communicating my ideas and emotions in every day conversation. I want to be very articulate, and convey the whirlwind in my head into passionate and articulate sentences that resonates with others. One day I want to become a "Master Communicator".
I'm beginning to love the thrill of the new, and with this, comes living spontaneously. This is something that doesn't come naturally to me. I like optimizing my routines and having my days planned out. I want to start to live my life spontaneously and fall in love with living my life in unknown territory.
I need to understand the world and how it works. What motivates people, governments and organizations? How does culture play a role in how societies are structured?
Learn to drive:)) I know I'm late, but I've been travelling and so busy that writing my G1 has been the lowest thing on my priority list. But I'm turning 17 next month and really need to learn so I will be writing my G1 as soon as I get home from our road trip, and then driving lessons before my G2. Not a glamorous goal, but practical haha.
What I’ve been up to
I've been loving spending time operating my hydroponics farm, and I think I can now call myself an urban farmer:)) My hydroponics system is flourishing and I have been learning so much along the way. I recently made a video walk-through of my system, how it works and how I built it, as well as an in depth Beginner's Guide to Hydroponics article.
We published a few new episodes on the Luminexus Podcast: The AI Boom and It’s Impact on Education, Deep Dive into Cell Ag, Link Between Smallholder Farming and Food Insecurity in Africa.
I’ve been very reflective, thinking about what I want to do in the next few years and what I enjoy / what I’m good at / the impact I want to make. I condensed my thoughts into an article I titled My Life Philosophy.
As I write this newsletter, I'm on a family road trip (camping in our tent trailer along the way) in Southern Ontario. Some of the highlights: body surfing waves in a rock beach on the shores of Lake Ontario, tail gate lunches of veggies + hummus + fruit + bread + cheese, work sessions at Tim Hortons (it's so hard to find Wifi when camping!), and conversations about decentralization with my Dad as I Google Map directions. (A few pics from our road trip below!)
This summer, I'm interning at Thought For Food (TFF) and I have learnt so much from Christine, the amazing CEO, and Camille, the phenomenal initiatives manager! Being part of a team of powerful, innovative women has taught me a lot. I'm writing articles for the TFF blog, making videos for our social media, and am starting (and will be hosting) the first ever Thought For Food podcast. And I'm working with Christine and Camille on a few very exciting projects which I will share more on soon. I'm learning so much about content creation, but also how innovative companies function, and how people leading these companies think about growth and impact (I appreciate your mentorship and amazing example of leadership and impact, Christine! ❤️)
In the end of August I'll be going on a 10 day backcountry kayaking trip, kayaking 80+km across the St.Lawrence in the Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve. I've done backcountry camping trips before, but never spent 10 days in the backcountry on the shores of a massive body of water. I'm so excited to be completely disconnected and sleep under the stars.
I am running my third official full marathon (42.2km/26.2 miles) in mid August!
Thank you for reading and being part of my journey! So excited to chase these big dreams I have. Keep chasing yours ✨
Absolutely love this, Rachel! And I had a blast getting to know you in Switzerland :))
Loved the newsletter Rachel! Just wanted to add one thing regarding the gap year vs uni decision, talked to Evan (tks alum recently), who just took a gap year, and he said his advice would be to go to uni and then take a year of break after the first year. It would have avoided a lot of annoying policy regulations and rules. But whatever you choose, I'm positive you've got an exciting future ahead :)