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