For Gary Sheng, the year 2016 kicked off a deep exploration of civics, leadership, and the future of democracy—which ultimately led him to his calling. 

Gary Sheng is a Co-Founder and the COO of Civics Unplugged, a platform and movement focused on empowering the next generation to build the future of democracy. Its three-month civic leadership fellowship for high school students provides a civics foundation, teaches problem solving and effective dialoguing with others, and helps them build their “civics muscles.” With partnerships with National Geographic, Georgetown University, The Smithsonian, the Ethereum Foundation and more, the future for Civics Unplugged is bright. 

In this week’s episode of Building While Flying, Gary shares his personal journey from Google developer to nonprofit co-founder, and discusses why civics education and leadership development for Gen Z matters. He says that learning is a lifelong process, and being a good citizen is a lifelong exercise. He also discusses the role companies and corporations can play in civics, and how they can support organizations like Civics Unplugged to help build a better future.

Other in-flight topics:

• How Civics Unplugged was born
• Impacts of the 2016 election 
• Building community around a movement
• The role of corporations in civics
• The future of Gen Z
• What’s next for Civics Unplugged
• ...and more!

Relevant Links:

• CU website: https://www.civicsunplugged.org/ 
• CU Fellowship: https://www.civicsunplugged.org/fellowship 
• CU Insta: ​​https://www.instagram.com/civicsunplugged/ 
• Gary’s website: http://www.garysheng.com/ 
• Gary LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garysheng/ 
• Gary’s Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@garysheng