Where Lily is from

Cundinamarca, Colombia

 

Interview

What was your dream when you were a kid? What was the reason?

I wanted to be a designer and create great pieces to sell with my friends and family. I did a lot of experiments as a child trying to find new uses to common elements and to innovate. I felt really passionate about designing because I felt like I was doing something no one else was doing before and that it was going to be useful and amazing.

 

What was your dream when you were 18 years old? What was the reason?

I wanted to have a great job in a big company, to be a leader of opinion in my company and have sufficient resources to start my own business and have more time to have a family and take care of them. I liked the idea of gaining reputation and knowledge quickly, to move forward to be an entrepreneur; I felt that building my own company would be an easy task and that it would actually give me more time for myself and to have a family and dedicate most of my time to them.

 

What made you start thinking about social entrepreneurship/social enterprises? When was that?

The first time I heard about Social Entrepreneurship was during a conference back in Bogota with Ahmad Ashkar; I made the decision to start my master degree at Hult because of the methodologies and approach of the university, soon after that I attended to the conference with Ahmad and felt in love with social entrepreneurship and how it really had the triple bottom line approach I was so interested in. I was realy interested in the Hult prize and the recognition of the award among important universities in the US and the whole world, and the approach that it had made so much sense to me; MSE became the only path to follow for me, it had everything I was looking for and I felt immediately excited about such an impactful project.

 

How much do you think social entrepreneurs play an important role in the world?

I think we should all be social entrepreneurs and in a way we all can be just by being conscious and helpful with our communities and with the elements of the world that surrounds us. The importance of a social entrepreneur in any community is really high, because this person will have a different mindset and would look at issues from another perspective, always from a more holistic approach and looking for high social impact.

 

What would you say to future social entrepreneurs / those who are interested in social entrepreneurs?

There is nothing more rewarding in the world than feeling you are part of something bigger than yourself and being part of a community of people looking to have a big impact and create change, not just for their own surroundings but for the several communities (based on highly sustainable business models), is a delight and a privilege. I feel proud to say I am a social entrepreneur and that my biggest goal in life is to work hard to build the kind of world I always wanted to live in.

Be disruptive and never stop searching for that change you want to make in the world, work is the only way to achieve those goals that are bigger than ourselves and we most use this to engage in truly enriching activities that we will remember and cherish for life.

 

What is your favorite quote? Who said that quote?

“What you are is what you have been. What you will be is what you do now.” – Buddha

“When you are born in a world you don’t fit in, its because yu were born to help create a new one”

“Be a warrior not a worrier”

 

Who Lily is

Lily is super easy-going and chill, always down to earth, so she can try anything without hesitation. She comes talk to me whenever she is in a hard situation or worries about something, and she is always welcoming when I want her to listen to my stories. So sweet, right?

Lily is a very active person as well. She likes doing exercise like yoga and we are good bicycle buddies…she never wears a helmet, though.

Lily was one of my first teammates at Hult so what I am going to mention is her skills, which is what I actually saw through working together.

One thing that Lily is good at in a team meeting is to facilitate. She is willing to stand in front of other teammates and a whiteboard and ask questions to make the team move forward. That is her leadership and I like it. She is also well organized, and a good-looking agenda and efficiency make her happy. I’m not sure if that is the reason but she is good at numbers. You should look at finance sheet that she created on Excel. It was just “Wow.”

Oh, I should not skip this; Do you know why Lily and I are good friends? Because she loves eating. While we had team meetings, she ate, ate and ate. Breakfast, lunch, snacks, snacks, snacks every time. So what? Nothing, I’m just saying. Needless to say, what she cooks always tastes good because she loves eating.

Lastly, Lily is my favorite friend to make fun of. Lol. She reacts the exact way I want her to so I cannot stop that. Lol.

 

Awesome Episode

Lukas, one of Lily’s roommates, and his friend Freddie started a cool project that is called “Big Brother and Sister” last March. It is about connecting Hult students with children at a elementary school in Ghana and the Hult students teach the kids English by sending videos. Lily and I participated in the project as a big brother and a sister, and we filmed a video together one day. Here is the video.

It was so fun and of course our little brothers loved the video!

 

The Power of MSE

What Lily is holding is a symbol called “go-en(ご縁)”, which means ‘fate’, ’destiny’ and ’special tie.’

I believe that it is meant to be that we met in San Francisco! I studied Social Entrepreneurship with Lily for a year, saying “We will make the world a better place.” I would love to spend the rest of my life with MSEs (Master of Social Entrepreneurship; my classmates) until the very day I die. They have already completely changed my life.

At the same time, however, I also think that we should not be together all the time, because that is not the reason why we learned Social Entrepreneurship. That is not how we will deliver the impact we want to give to society and to the world.

I think MSEs are like dandelions. We were seeded at the first day at Hult and we bloomed on our graduation day. Our mission is that we spread all over the world like dandelions and seed the future, the next generation, from each place where each of us has landed.

本当にありがとう(Honto ni Arigato-); Thank you very very much for everything!! The world needs you! Let’s make the world a better place together!!