I Want to be a Leader

[Music]

[Music]

[Applause]

today

our story begins back in 2016.

one thing that you’ll learn about me by

the end of this talk is that i love to

tell stories

share stories and listen to stories

however that was a passion i did not

discover until september of 2016

when i created human cebutry

before i share the story of humans of

boostery let me first

ask you a question just one question to

keep in the back your mind throughout

this talk

what do you want to be when you grow up

now over the years i’ve had many

different opportunities to share the

story of humans of boostery

to define what this project is and why

it is so

important to me i could say that humans

of boostery is an

instagram page dedicated to sharing the

stories of the students and the staff

members

of mount boucherie senior secondary

school

i could compare the page to the famous

humans of new york

to give a quick reference to the

operation behind this platform

i could even break it down into

logistics

to explain that every week night during

the academic school year

the human boucherie instagram page

uploads a photo and a corresponding

description of a school member’s story

however over the years i have learned

the humors of boostery can be defined

in just a few words it

creates connections

when i started humans of boostery i had

a goal in mind

i wanted to shape the campus with

community and unity

through the power of sharing our stories

human sabeshri was my passion project

devised to promote kindness and

connections because

at the end of the day you cannot hate

someone whose story you know

and the one year that i got to be part

of humans of boostery

my senior year of high school my life

changed i had the wonderful opportunity

of interviewing and completely

listening to the stories of others in

between the university applications

academics sports and clubs

i spend hours sitting down with someone

and listening to a small part of their

story

and then i got to go out and share that

story with the world

not only did i get to meet and be

inspired by so many individuals

i got the chance to work with an

incredible team

of change makers i graduated mabushri

senior secondary in 2017.

today i am so amazed to share with you

that humans of boucherie is still

continuing

growing and inspiring for the past four

years human century has been led

and influenced by incredible team

members and team leaders

and over those last four years human

century has continued to have a profound

impact on my life i had the honor of

speaking at twitter headquarters after

receiving a digital for good award from

the company

i can help i got the opportunity to

speak at the innovate ed

tech conference and i became a volunteer

with the i can help company

more recently i attended the 2019

digital for good awards

at instagram and facebook headquarters

where i

mentored the 2019 award recipients

interned with the i can help company and

became a shark tank judge alongside

technology moguls

i’m now in my fourth year of my

biochemistry degree at the university of

british columbia

as graduation is fast approaching i am

plagued by the age-old question i asked

you earlier what do you want to be when

you grow up

for many of us rct bubble pops when we

graduate high school

we go out into the world of endless

opportunities pursuits and possibilities

for me that bubble is trying to pop as i

reach the end

of my undergraduate journey throughout

these last four years i’ve been

surrounded by individuals who know

exactly what they want to do with their

life

they have their 10-year plans perfected

they view their undergraduate journey as

a stepping stone to get to where they

want to be

and this is an exciting position to be

in however

it can also put all the focus in our

career

it can lead us to falsely believe that

our self-worth is governed by our grades

and that our value is manifested within

our future job choice

it can mistakenly lead us to accept that

our career defines who we are

or that our future career defines who we

will be

as a person

a few months ago i interviewed the ceo

of the woman of color project

christine mazzee whom i met as a 2019

digital for good winner

i reached out to christine and i

organized a collaboration between

the woman the color project and i can

help where i interviewed christine

and i featured the interviews on the i

can help instagram page

i quite literally put my human zabushri

hat back on

christine is just beginning her

university experience and as an

inspiring young individual

i decided to ask her the famous age-old

question i asked you earlier

what do you want to be when you grow up

her answer inspired me without skipping

a b christine replied right away with

i want to be a leader

now as a university student determining

what i want to do with my future career

this answer initially surprised me i was

expecting a profession to be listed off

the type of answer that usually

accompanies this sort of question

however i did not ask christine

about what professions you want to

pursue or what types of jobs she was

intrigued by

i asked christine who she wanted to be

in the future

there’s an implied negativity out there

that if we cannot be known for something

we cannot be someone we’re often not we

tend to define ourselves and others by

certain values and judgments

some of those can be our career however

at the end of the day

we are not our career we are made up of

so many different aspects that can

contribute to who we are

that a single one alone does not define

or make us who we are

as i learned of humans of boucherie we

are made up of a collection of stories

most of which are still being written

now as i’m approaching the end of my

undergraduate journey

navigating the world of the future

careers titles jobs and grades

i’m still exploring all the job options

of the future

however i do know who i want to be

i want to be a leader thank you

you