Young turks take the lead

CHENNAI: Follow your dreams and do what makes you happy’ has become the catchphrase for any aspiring youngster. While most of us are constantly looking for opportunities to hear interesting stories, Youth Speak Summit 2018, a collaborative initiative of the US Consulate General and NalandaWay Foundation, organised a two-day conference to bring together the youth under one roof at the Madras Management Association on Pathari Road.

From curated talks to panel discussions, several eminent personalities and aspiring young minds from all parts of the country contributed a learning experience. This summit gave a chance to network with mentors, fellow change-makers and experts along with a comedy and musical performance. “The United States and India share the distinction of being the world’s oldest and largest democracies. The future depends on our young people. This summit seeks to empower young people who exemplify the best of our societies,” said Lauren Lovelace, Consul for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, US Consulate General.

The summit was inaugurated by US Consul General Robert Burgess and director PA Ranjith, who delivered the key address note. The session was followed by Changemaker stories moderated by life coach and speaker, Avis Viswanathan. The session included a series of presentations by people from all walks of life — artists, activists, environmentalists, innovators, and entrepreneurs. Poornima Sukumar, founder of Aravani Arts Project; Ramnath Chandrasekhar, a nature photographer and documentary film-maker and Delhi-based Poorvaja Kumar, founder of Humans of Canine, were among the few people who shared their line of work and finding their bliss in life.

There were several workshops on topics like empathy to social action, non-violent actions and further antidotes to polarisation and social-emotional life skills. Students from different streams participated. The much-awaited session was a panel discussion on ‘Building an inclusive society’ moderated by Laurence Lovelace. We got to hear valuable suggestions from the speakers, Shanti Raghavan, co-founder enable-India, Akkai Padmashali founder of Ondede, Lakshmi Ravikanth, deputy dean of Banyan Academy and Kathir, executive director of Evidence. The concluding session had an interesting conversation with film director Vetri Maaran. Day one ended on a light note with a stand-up comedy performance.

The second day of the Youth summit 2018 began with a panel discussion on the topic, ‘Are we ready for tomorrow’s jobs?’, by Kuppulakshmi, product evangelist at ZOHO,  Gangapriya Chakraverti, global HR director, Ford GBS, Deepika Joon, youth specialist, UNESCO, Badri Seshadri, MD, New Horizon Media, and Sunil Vishnu, co-founder, EVAM. The reason for having a diverse range of speakers, according to Lovelace, was to offer the attendees a myriad of options and to remind them that leadership can happen from all places. On the topic ‘Do artists have a role in social action’, which featured Anil Srinivasan, pianist and music educator, Bramma, film director, Shuchi Kapoor, trustee, Chennai Photo Biennale, and Karthik Kumar, co-founder, EVAM, the discussion focused on how each panel member saw their work as a part of social change. “All artists are activists because art comes from asking questions. wIt is our role, therefore, to create a positive impact on the community,” said Srinivasan.

And, the winner is..

The winners of the Social Entrepreneurship Pitch Fest were also announced. The top five entries were awarded a cash prize of `50,000, and will launch their platforms soon under the mentorship of expert social entrepreneurs. Divanshu Kumar, Senthil Kumar Gowri Sankar, Chetan N, Ajay Gopi, and Pritish Bhavani won the Social Entrepreneurship Pitch Fest.