Revisiting the World of Social Innovation

Before I made the decision to finish my education, I was fortunate enough to experience the beginnings of a promising career in social innovation. It was an exciting time because I was working in a community transitioning between a decade long recession and a promise of economic recovery. This community, at the time, was being courted by several large-scale industrial projects with deep pockets.  Though the social implications from these projects' investments were mostly welcome, the challenge lay in figuring out how best to benefit from them, while mitigating as many negative social impacts as possible. The majority of my work involved leading projects that required me to be immersed in the world of social innovation.
Photo of the sunsetting on a slightly cloudy day behind islands and the ocean
The Community
Unfortunately, for all of the work I was doing on the ground, there were always significant obstacles being met at higher levels. I guess this is the plight of grassroots movements, but as frustrating as it was to experience, it also brought me to an understanding of the difficulties faced by today’s social innovators. In this understanding, the only way I could see myself becoming a more effective social innovator was to finish my degree and gain more access to higher level decision-making processes.

Entrepreneurship 101: All About Ideas

A picture of a screen asking for audience participation
The audience could interact directly with the panelists through text
For a perfectionist who’s extremely insecure about my ideas, it’s a wonder I’ve been able to publish weekly blogs without collapsing under my own pressure. In order to gain some insight into how to come up with good ideas—and how to make sure they’re actually good—I attended Entrepreneurship 100: Conversations, a live, interactive panel hosted by the Impact Centre in collaboration with the Career Centre. The panel featured three University of Toronto-affiliated entrepreneurs and centred on discussing where ideas come from, and how to tell if they’re any good. The audience could participate in the discussion through text, take part in polls, and ask the panelists questions. The entrepreneurs answered the audience’s questions and spoke about their experiences throughout their careers.

The “Study” in Study Abroad

Study abroad has been a life changing international experience where I have learned to live independently, experience a new culture, and study in a different academic environment. Most of my posts have been about the fun parts of traveling and living “abroad” part of studying abroad and now I am going to focus on the main reason for my exchange which is to “study” abroad.

A doodle demonstrates alternate nostril breathing in a series of images.

A mindful moment: yoga and meditation at U of T

Let me start this off by saying I am not a yogi, nor am I a master of the subconscious – or any other level of consciousness for that matter. U of T’s new yoga and meditation programming is inclusive and inviting, and all you need in order to participate is your presence. Yoga and meditation are available across campus five days a week at a variety of times to suit our crazy schedules. It’s drop-in programming so you can go as often or as seldom as you like. If it’s Wednesday, 5:15 p.m. and you’re thinking you’re done for the day, you can pop over to the Goldring Centre and join the “Yoga and Meditation” session which runs from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. It’s flexible – in more than just the obvious sense. That’s the session I had the pleasure of attending this week. It was held in the dance studio/multi-purpose room on the top tier of the Goldring Centre’s strength and conditioning centre. I’d never been in that space before and oh how I wanted to dance! It’s so bright and open, with a wall of mirrors that I could think of many ways to exploit.
The doors to the Goldring fitness studio.
This is the site of all group fitness at the Goldring Centre, for future reference!

Scheduling Your Way to Success

With November coming to an end, finals are rapidly approaching and it’s time for us to start preparing!   I’m going to be honest with you, the first thing I did after seeing the exam schedule for this semester was panic – I have 3 exams within 2 days. If I want to do my best on all my exams, cramming isn’t an option. Therefore, it’s time to start scheduling my time wisely.  
A picture of my arm with a blue watch
Time is ticking