Diving into Social Impact: Education and Technology with KadaKareer
Let’s start with chika
It was June, my 24th birthday and a quarter-life crisis. The pandemic has amplified issues in my personal life and society that didn’t seem like a big deal before. They say an existential crisis happens when a person was faced with the reality that we exist in a finite period of time. Enveloped by fear and worry, I began questioning what should I do as a new chapter in my life - “if life is finite, what do I want to do with it”. After a series introspections, guided by my ‘needy’ Spotify playlist, bi-weekly therapy sessions, conversations with people and learnings from Avatar The Last Airbender, what emerged was a longing to do more things around social impact. “What can impact this 'broken' world?"
Kwento Ko
Come August (recovering from my low point), I started researching and planning way into this dream. I marked it as a 3-5 year goal for myself. Slowly joining and learning about communities that use tech for good like Omdena, AHA Learns!, Bukas.ph, etc. Then I saw KadaKareer — a career development platform for underserved Filipino students to help them launch their careers. Education has always been an advocacy of mine given that I know it can break cycles of intergenerational poverty. What resonated with me is the common insight that for most Filipinos, having a degree isn’t a guarantee to gettina . Tie that with our graduation rates, unempoyment rates, and low wages. I thought, “cool, maybe I could be a coach there” to guide students (plug: You may volunteer as coach for KadaKareer). That our be a tutor for AHA Learns. Still contemplating and planning, I took no concrete action yet.
A few weeks later, there was a call for Team Lead position for the KadaKrew. At that moment, it was as if stars have aligned. Nervous, sure, but somehow it just felt right. September, I was given the Kommander Leadership Role for KadaKareer. Leading a team that will take care of our student leaders who we call Kommanders.
The rest is history I would say. Truly a blessing to be able to fast track my 3 year goal to a few weeks. This also the first time I’m owning a leadership role that I’ve truly learned a lot from and am grateful for.
Learning Bite
Greatest wisdom nuggets I’ve learned during my journey.
1. Bayanihan is powerful.
Bayanihan is a Filipino term for when people of the community work together for a common goal. That concept always fascinated me. As I’ve started trying out communities, I’ve seen how we can create magic from individual actions (“ambag”) and stories. I think merely knowing that you’re not alone in your journey and that there are other people supporting you is enough to keep you going for years.
2. Leadership starts with yourself
A concept I have seen before but have now witnessed it first hand. Not just as I was building my team with Kommander Engagement, but also with taking the plunged as a Team Lead. It turns out, leadership can be a lot of modelling and understanding your team. How you start doing that is by going through the motions yourself. By managing yourself and learning how to juggle all your responsibilities, you get to understand and pace your team better. By creating a vision for yourself, you get to build a community vision. By learning how to learn (meta-learning), you get to be an advocate of your team’s growth. And the list goes on. I think it is empowering to know that you don’t necessarily need a team to call yourself a leader — it starts with you.
3. No story is too small to tell
Hearing the stories from our Kadets (students) to our Kommanders to our Coaches — there is always something to learn from each and everyone. Listening to someone you lookup to can open pathways to the goals you have for yourself. Listening to an underprivileged student can widen your solutions to be more inclusive and effective. Listening to a peer can help you share ideas and collaboratively work towards something better. As opposing ideas get louder in this society, I believe respectful conversations can help mend our relationships towards solving complex problems — from climate change to ethics.
KadaKareer Ask
It is now December and I’m writing this to encapsulate the gift that is KadaKareer. Even, if I was a coach, I think it will still of much value to me. As an ask, we’ve actually opened the application for Team Leads and Mission Specialists (what we call an interns) until Sunday, Dec 12 2021 (~1 hour left). In case you’ve missed it, no worries — please feel free to join us as a coach or a kadet or a partner. I am writing this piece to give back to the community also to perhaps a reader who might be interested to join our loving community.
Gratitude Shower
In KadaKareer, we end our meetings with a Gratitude Shower to just anchor ourselves with our wins and to recognize people who impact our lives. So as a list, I’m sharing my outmost gratitude to the (a) KadaKrew team — thank you for stepping up to the challenge and keeping this mission alive, (b) My co-Exec Team — you inspire and amaze me towards our cause, (c) My first team — Neil, Denzel, Toni for trusting me as your lead and dedicating your love, and (d) Our Kommunity — Kadets, Kommanders, and Coaches for learning together every single day.
All in all, I’m grateful of all the wins while striving to do better things come 2022. I hope you check out my found family at KadaKareer.com. Let’s expand this mission together 🚀
