"The movement needs you"
Last week, I had the pleasure of speaking at the City College of New York, to their Entrepreneurship Student Club; about my own journey but also everyone's responsibility to join the movement. While all, if not most of the students there were interested in creating or maintaining their own business. They were also deeply concerned about the state of our world and what they could do, to solve some of our most pressing issues. Below are four pieces of advice I gave to them.
- Own your truth: Don't allow anyone (including yourself) to make you feel a shame for where you come from or your experiences. Rather use that to fuel your passion and to inform how you show up in the work.
- Purpose Not Position: If you lead with why this work is important to you and what you can contribute to the space, you don't have to worry about having a title. Also, one doesn't have to be the President of the United States to make an impact. Many of our victories have been led by ordinary people.
- If it's for the clicks and retweets, you're doing it for the wrong reasons: In the era of social media, many people equate the number of followers to success and that drive, for social media recognition will never be more important than the lives at risk.
- Empathy isn't enough: Feeling sorry for someone isn't enough, we actually need you to fight alongside us, with you feet in marches, with your vote at the ballot or with your wallet, when the work needs to be funded. Just caring without doing anything, won't save lives.
