Human Chapters

It was an incredible privilege to engage in a beautiful conversation with Melissa Hostetter about her Chapter, The Journey of my TEDx Talk. Melissa generously and clearly articulates her passion for teaching and social justice, the reason she applied to participate in a TEDx Talk, the deep preparation it entailed, her actual experience of delivering the message, the final outcome, feedback, and much more. Melissa's TEDx Talk, Can We Afford to Ignore the Science of Reading can be viewed on this link https://youtu.be/9WJcgxyuATU. During this conversation, we discussed multiple points, some of which include the current literacy crisis, the larger picture of how reading competency impacts multiple parts of life when transitioning from childhood to adulthood. One of the points that deeply resonated with me was - "Speak up for whatever it is you feel passionate about. If you speak up, it may offer someone else the courage to also speak up".

An enormous thanks to Melissa Hostetter for taking the time to have this important conversation. A huge thanks to everyone that will engage with this Chapter on Facebook, YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfHHGTKdu20FYJAPogJjDog), and Podcast.

Sawabona - A South African greeting that means, 'I see you. I respect and acknowledge you for who you are'. It was an absolute honour to have a conversation with Stephanie Stollar about her Chapter, My Current Professional Journey.

Stephanie generously shares her Chapter with details about her role/s in Education, her professional journey, her experiences in elementary school, some pivotal life-changing moments that required her to be a competent reader, the COVID chapter, and her passions. As Stephanie and I engaged in an enriching conversation, a number of points deeply resonated with me. Some of these were:

- "I looked like I had it all going on, but internally I was suffering",

- "I feel joy in what I am currently doing",

- "Reading is the gateway/keystone skill on which everything is placed upon",

- 'Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can' - A beautiful quote by Arthur Ashe.

Stephanie Stollar can be found on Facebook and Instagram (@readingscienceacademy).

A huge thanks to Stephanie for taking the time to engage in this conversation and for everyone else that will listen/watch it. Please feel free to share this conversation with anyone that may connect. 😀

It was an absolute honour and pleasure engaging in a conversation with Jeremy Tyndall about his Chapter, My Wheelchair Basketball Journey. Jeremy generously shares his journey (after the motorcycle accident in 2018), experiences in the rehab program and beyond, his global travels for basketball games, the most recent Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, and life learnings. Engaging in this conversation inspired a feeling of deep gratitude for the gift of learning from others, conversations, and personal connections.

An enormous thanks to Jeremy for taking the time to have this important conversation and to everyone else that will watch/listen to it on Facebook, Podcast, or YouTube. Please feel free to share it with anyone that may connect. 😊

TW - suicide ideology

It was an incredible honour to have an important conversation with Shane A Vandort about his Chapter, The Understanding and Acceptance of Me. Shane A Vandort generously shares about his COVID lockdown experiences, his relationship, mental health awareness, the unfolding of events during COVID, his deep insights & discoveries, his disability support work, his art, and so on. At the end of this conversation, Shane provided some key takeaways that deeply resonated with me:

- Don't be scared to be yourself.

- Encourage others to speak up.

- Be mindful and considerate of others. We don't know what people are going through.

Shane A Vandort can be found on Instagram @sa.vandortart

An enormous vote of gratitude to Shane for gifting us with this conversation and to everyone that will engage in it by listening to it on Podcast or watching it on Facebook/YouTube. 😊

It was an honour to have a conversation with Natasha Khawaja about her Chapter, The Journey Towards Your Dreams. Natasha openly shares her experiences in the pursuit of becoming an actress, a myriad of obstacles (cultural and within the industry) she has and continues to face, the deeper insights and learnings she has gained, and leveraging various social media platforms to deliver her messages through authentic dialogue.

Natasha can be found on the following platforms:

Instagram - Natasha Khawja - @purposeandchai

YouTube - https://youtube.com/c/PurposeandChai

Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/purpose-and-chai-conversations/id1515291382

A huge vote of gratitude to Natasha for taking the time to engage in this conversation and to everyone else that will watch/listen to it as well. Feel free to share it. 😊

It was an incredible honour and privilege to have a conversation with Stephen Fleischer about his Chapter, From Finance To Social Impact - Off The Beaten Path. During this conversation, Stephen generously shared about his journey from graduating in Finance (in New York), to spending a year in Kenya (at the age of 21), returning to New York to study Law, and ultimately migrating to Kenya to begin his new career, The Fleischer Foundation.

It was wonderful to engage with Stephen's journey, pivotal stories that instigated his passion, drive, love, and purpose, as well as the work carried out through The Fleischer Foundation. One thing that I deeply resonated with was Education is at the heart of success. This incredible organisation aims to assist in reinforcing this at the Mukuru Kwa Njenga Slum through a range of programs including sponsorship, construction of a high school, basketball, and other mentorship programs.

Ashni Shah will run an online cooking class fundraiser on the 6th of February (a Valentine's special) and 100% of the proceeds will be donated to The Fleischer Foundation. To find out more about registering for this fantastic cooking class and The Fleischer Foundation, click on the links below.

https://www.jikosandmwikos.co.uk/cooking-classes

https://www.thefleischerfoundation.org/

A huge thanks to everyone that will engage with this conversation. Please feel free to share it. 😊

It was a sheer delight and privilege to have this conversation with Rachel Platt about her Chapter, From Social-Emotional Learning to Social Justice in Literacy. Rachel Platt generously shares a part of her childhood (relating to her student experience), her passion for teaching, her journey as a 2nd-year teacher through this pandemic, struggling readers, social justice, and much more. Rachel can be found on Instagram @mindfulteacherrachel where she shares her knowledge and practical tips on the Science of Reading.

A huge thanks to Rachel for taking the time to engage in this important conversation and to everyone else that will be listening to this Chapter. Feel free to share it with anyone that may connect with it. 😊

It was an absolute honour and privilege to have this conversation with Sheena Shah about her Chapter, Harvesting for Good, East Africa. Sheena openly talks about her background, initial career, PermaCulture, engaging with a range of communities using a bottom-up approach in a variety of PermaCulture projects, her current business, Harvesting for Good, East Africa, and much more. Having this important conversation has provided me with the opportunity to learn a little bit more PermaCulture, using a bottom-up approach to engage with communities, and so forth.

A huge thanks to Sheena for taking the time and effort in engaging in this conversation. An enormous thanks to everyone that will watch/listen to this conversation on Facebook/Podcast. Feel free to share it with anyone that may connect with it. 😊

It was an absolute honour and privilege to engage in a conversation with Tanila DS about his Chapter, Grow Your Resilience. Tanila generously shares his experiences and journey around mental health. Our conversation travels through a range of timelines, cultural stigma, pivotal moments that led to Tanila publicly talking about Mental Health, and much more. Tanila De Silva also talks about his music and the inspiration for his first album, Raw Intense Pain, https://open.spotify.com/album/7yKt5LoB24oUMGr7P0469A?si=0kZa8abzRXK7OZ0E2x3nVg&nd=1. Some of Tanila DS's key takeaways included: - Honesty is key - Don't just talk the talk, but walk the walk - Don't be hesitant to get some help when you need it and that goes for any aspect of your life A huge thanks to everyone that will be watching this Chapter on Facebook or listening to it on Podcast (also available on Spotify, Google, etc.), https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/human-chapters/id1562193321. Feel free to share this Chapter with anyone that may resonate with it. 

It was an absolute honour to have the conversation with Josh Alegre about his Chapter, Hereditary Spastic Paraparesis (HSP). Josh generously shares about his journey from the moment he was unable to get off his knees (during a photoshoot) to his diagnosis and beyond. Josh's Chapter is filled with a range of emotions, insights, experiences, and new learnings. I was unaware of this condition prior to engaging with Josh and I'm grateful to have learned a little about it. There were numerous standouts during this conversation; however, one of the main ones for me was, ''Have no reservations and tell people you love/appreciate them".

An enormous thanks to Josh for engaging with us in this important conversation. A huge thanks to everyone that will be watching or listening to this Chapter on Facebook or Podcast. 😊