Meet the Activist and Intersectional Storyteller Developing Data-Driven Humanitarian Tools

Melissa Jun Rowley is a journalist, entrepreneur and activist focused on the intersection of storytelling, technology and social justice.

As the founder and CEO of Humanise, Inc., Melissa Jun Rowley is developing TheToolbox.org, a data-driven humanitarian initiative created by acclaimed musician Peter Gabriel. CATALYST had the chance to catch up with Melissa to learn more about Humanise in Detroit and Melissa’s path to social entrepreneurship.

How did your experience with TheToolbox.org inspire you to develop Humanise, Inc.?

TheToolbox.org is an online destination, founded by Peter Gabriel, that connects people to apps that can help them improve their lives and become everyday activists. I first became involved as an editorial consultant, and was developing stories while curating tools that promote social impact.

For example, there’s an app you can scan over a product’s barcode to see if human trafficking was involved in the product chain. While apps like these are interesting and useful, they’re under-utilized given their lack of commercial and entertainment value. 

We came to the conclusion that the site itself is a valuable database of tools, but in order to have an impact, we need to go into the field and get people on the ground using the tools, and providing feedback about how they can be improved. That’s where Humanise comes in: It was created to function as the parent company of TheToolbox.org. The tools we curate are now one of three pillars. We’ve evolved into an organization that promotes human rights through technology, storytelling, AND collaboration with local communities.

Can you describe some of the projects that Humanise has initiated since its founding?

We decided to take Humanise to Detroit, primarily because there’s a lot of data-driven development unfolding in the city. Also, I grew up an hour outside of the D and am in love with the entrepreneurial community there. They’re so spirited. They’re the genuine article. 

While money is being directed to development in certain districts, such as downtown, the neighborhoods on the outskirts are tragically deprived of funding and resources. Forty percent of the people in Detroit don’t have Internet access, and 40 percent can’t pay their water bills. It’s a first world city crawling with third world problems! 

In the year 2015, there are no excuses for letting people in our own backyard suffer like this. We need to meet them where they are, not where we think they should be, and we need to collectively solve the problems from the ground up — not the top down. 

So we started thinking of ways we can work with technology providers to foster digital inclusion. We’ve been working closely with community activists in the Detroit neighborhood of Morningside to understand the neighborhood’s needs and aspirations. We’ve connected them with a smart city advisory to see if the area is eligible for some pretty revolutionary technology. Some of the Detroiters we know are going to use TheToolbox.org as their own citizen journalism platform, where they can publish stories about their neighborhood and discuss the tools they find the most empowering. 

If we’re able to provide connectivity for this neighborhood, we may be able to do the same thing in some of Detroit’s other hardest hits zones. 

Before developing Humanise, Inc., you spent much of your career as a journalist. How did working in journalism influence your interest in social entrepreneurship? 

Being a journalist is the way I became an entrepreneur, really. I worked in TV when I was younger, producing business news updates for CNN and then covering entertainment in Hollywood. The red carpet was my second home.  But eventually, I started to feel like I was losing my soul. I became a journalist because I wanted to help connect people through storytelling — not perpetuate the dumbing down of the country, which is what I felt like I was doing half the time, particularly when I was asked to start quoting TMZ in stories. I knew that was the end. 

I left Los Angeles, and I started focusing on nonprofits and social responsibility movements. I quickly discovered that I couldn’t make any money that way. Two years later, I began developing content for companies that have a social mission. This was when I started to view myself as more of an entrepreneur. But I’m always going to be a journalist at heart, always looking for the truth and humanity in every story. 

Do you have any advice for future journalists or entrepreneurs? 

These days, if you’re going to be a journalist, you have to be an entrepreneur. By that I mean, you need to think like an entrepreneur. You need to be constantly thinking of different strategies, who you can connect with, and how you can build your brand and business. It was this mindset that led me to TheToolbox.org and Peter Gabriel. 

A second piece of advice is that the best way to develop an idea is to collaborate and find some common core or level of connectivity in the heart of why you’re doing what you’re doing. It’s only through that kind of commitment that you can build a business that has meaning. It’s not easy. But the people you meet along the way will change your life and expand your heart and mind in ways you’ve never dreamed of. I can promise you that. 

LEARN MORE ABOUT HUMANISE, INC. HERE.

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Sarah Sutphin

Sarah is an undergraduate at Yale University and a content editor for CATALYST. As a traveler who has visited 30 countries (and counting!), she feels passionate about international development through sustainable mechanisms. Sarah has taken an interest in the intersection between public health and theater, and hopes to create a program that utilizes these disciplines for community empowerment. She is a fluent Spanish speaker with plans to take residence in Latin American after graduation. 

OPINION: Technology Brings Light to Social Issues—But Can It Implement Lasting Change?

The Black Lives Matter movement in the United States sparked global protests and conversations about the treatment of typically “othered” groups. Despite pressure on social media, education and effective policy reform are still needed to achieve justice for all.

A Black Lives Matter protest sign in London. Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona. Unsplash.

Following the deaths of Black Americans like George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, Black Lives Matter surged into the spotlight with renewed vigor. Nationwide protests against police brutality and systemic racism revived conversations about the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion in public spaces. To avoid the consequences of “cancel culture”—the boycott of businesses that fail to embrace social change—many organizations reaffirmed their commitment to racial justice.  

On its Twitter account, Netflix emphasized “speaking up” and standing with Black Lives Matter. The ice cream chain Ben and Jerry’s posted “We Must Dismantle White Supremacy” on its website. Some brands even reinvented themselves. Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben’s came under fire for reinforcing backwards racial stereotypes of Black individuals. Their respective parent companies, Quaker Oats and Mars Inc., acknowledged the problematic history of these marketing depictions and committed to changing them.

While many have lauded these actions, others remain skeptical. “Woke washing,” as defined by diversity and inclusion expert Marlette Jackson, is when companies make “public commitments to equality” but fail to create the infrastructure that actually supports Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) staff. For example, Bon Appetit, a monthly American magazine dedicated to global cuisines and recipes, was outed for its empty promises of change. Priya Krishna, a former Test Kitchen star, revealed on Twitter that she was not fairly compensated for her work. She added that staff of color were “tokenized” and framed as “monolithic experts for their communities.” Krishna has since left Bon Appetit. 

A billboard for the skin whitening company Fair & Lovely in Bangladesh. Adam Jones. CC BY-SA 2.0

Despite instances of smoke screen marketing, Black Lives Matter has sparked questions of colorism and colonial legacies in countries like India.

In India, lighter skin is considered more desirable. This age-old belief has created a lucrative market for skin whitening products. Not only does the existence of this industry foster a culture of body insecurities, but the products themselves also contain dangerously high levels of mercury and hydroquinone. Since the rise of Black Lives Matter protests in June, many Indian celebrities like Priyanka Chopra have condemned racial injustice in the United States. However, Chopra herself filmed an ad with Fair & Lovely, one such skin lightening product.

According to activist Kavitha Emmanuel, many Indians are “blind to colorism, caste discrimination and violence against religious minorities at home.” Muslims have been lynched in increasing numbers since the ascension of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party’s Hindu nationalist government. However, many feel that Indians have been more critical of American injustices than the ones happening in their own country.  Ultimately, the question remains: are conversations alone enough to achieve lasting peace? 

Despite posthumously gracing the cover of Vanity Fair, despite hashtag trends, and despite over 11 million petition signatures as of Oct. 2, Breonna Taylor did not find justice. While the instant and global nature of the internet cultivated efforts to educate and reform, these gestures will not be enough. Unless individuals reexamine the internalized racism and national narratives that so often rule their reactions, ostracized populations will find no reprieve. Until governments step in with effective laws and limitations—ones free of loopholes—Black and marginalized individuals across the globe will continually be devalued and delegitimized.

Rhiannon Koh

earned her B.A. in Urban Studies & Planning from UC San Diego. Her honors thesis was a speculative fiction piece exploring the aspects of surveillance technology, climate change, and the future of urbanized humanity. She is committed to expanding the stories we tell.

4 Little-Known Facts About Rural Thailand

Thailand is a country known for its beautiful landscape, beaches and ornate Buddhist temples. Its largest exports include technology such as computers and automobiles, and it is also the world’s largest producer of rubber and second largest of rice and sugar. People from all around the world come to visit the cities and experience the cuisine and culture that Thailand offers. However, beyond city life, the rural parts of Thailand are like a whole different country. 

Outside of the big cities, rural Thailand takes up most of the country while holding many of the historical pieces of Thailand. Villages and towns such as Kanchanaburi are found near the border with Myanmar and are surrounded by mountains. Sitting right next to the River Kwai, it houses the “Bridge on the River Kwai,” the Death Railway, wartime cemeteries and museums. In Thailand’s northeastern village of Ban Na Ton Chan, people make textile fabrics to sell by softening them with mud and boiling them in salt water to produce soft and naturally dyed textiles. You may have heard of Chiang Mai - the largest city in northern Thailand - but just an hour north is Mae Kampong, a beautiful village nestled within a bright green forest with jungles nearby. Finally, if you go further south, you’ll find Baan Bang Plub, where they harvest and cultivate coconuts to sell and are quick to teach the curious traveler about it. In short, going into the north of Thailand you are sure to find mountains, wartime villages and rivers that flow with historic importance. If you’re looking to find a more quaint village, going further south you will find more waterfront villages with basket weaving, boats, jungles and lush forests. 

Regardless, if you’re looking to master the skill of basket weaving or hope to visit wartime museums, rural Thailand offers a completely different experience than any city in the country. Here are some facts you should know before visiting. 

Lost Tourists Find Unmatched Hospitality 

Thai farmer. Eric Bagchus. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Visitors traveling to see the landscape of foreign countries often find themselves lost with no signal, no travel plans and no surefire way to communicate with locals. However, in Thailand the local farmers are known for being incredibly hospitable. Often, many take in lost travelers, give them food and a place to rest and help them on their way. Chittiya, a native Thai who immigrated to the United States, stated, “they’re the nicest people you’ll ever meet. You never have to worry about getting lost because there will always be someone to help you along the way and make sure you have food and water to get there.” Ultimately, if you find yourself lost along the way and pass through a village, ask someone for help and they will most likely go out of their way to help you or find someone who can.

Rural Villages: The Simple Life 

Chiang Mai harvest. Ol’ Pete. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

When moving from the large, bustling cities to the villages in rural Thailand, one might feel as though they’ve entered a completely different country – or even moment in time. Many in the villages like to hold to the old, simple way of life that was prevalent before Thailand’s industrial development truly took off. Farmers are dependent on the turn of the seasons, growing their own crops and raising their own animals, hoping to sell them at local markets and in the cities. During the off-season, most young people travel into the city for temporary labor work until the monsoons end. They then head back to join the family farm and help tend to the animals and crops and the cycle continues.

 Men’s Duty to Give Back

Thai monks. Carl Parkes. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

More traditional Thais observe Buddhism and spend their lives trying to live well and do good according to their religion. Many men believe it is their duty to help pave the way for their parents and ancestors to reach nirvana or have a better life after their reincarnation. Furthermore, it is not uncommon for young men to feel obligated to spend around three to four months at a monastery to truly understand their duty, and what their purpose is. These men spend a lot of time praying, giving up worldly material things and staying celibate during this period. 

The Negative Impact from Technology

On the road in rural Thailand. Lee Craker. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Finally, the impact of technology has started to create negative consequences for farmers. When living the simple rural life, materialism is not prevalent. However, now with developing technology, views such as “everyone needs to have a car” are common and many have become more materialistic. Problems with debt have been on the rise as farmers lack credit but still want to buy more – even though their current lifestyle cannot support it. A lot of cars get repossessed or taken back when the period to pay them back passes. In the old days, rice farmers kept some to feed their families and sold the rest of the rice to buy what they could not produce themselves. However, nowadays everyone wants cars and gadgets even when they do not need them. The problem is that the nature of their livelihood depends on unreliable seasons that mean they cannot always pay back their debt. Additionally, in today’s age many young people have lost interest in continuing the family farms. Most grow up and move into the cities and work corporate jobs, leaving their families to take care of the farms themselves or ultimately selling them. 

Thailand is a beautiful place to visit, and the culture that hides in the rural, more obscure countryside is almost an entirely different one from the cities. In the past and even into the present there has been tension between city people and village people, and many crimes or issues that take place are usually one side pitted against the other. Taking the time to understand both the city people and farmers is important in getting a full picture of Thai culture. 

Elizabeth Misnick

is a Professional Writing and Rhetoric major at Baylor University. She grew up in a military family and lived in Europe for almost half her life, traveling and living in different countries. She hopes to continue writing professionally throughout her career and publish her writing in the future.

Transformation in Macau, China

Originally a sparsely populated collection of coastal islands, the territory of Macau has become a major resort city and the top destination for gambling tourism. In fact, it is the ninth-highest recipient of tourism revenue and its gambling industry is seven times larger than that of Las Vegas. A far cry from what the grandparents of videographer, Vhils, experienced during his childhood. A homage to his grandparents, Vhils explores the changing high-tech culture and its effect on relationships, social life and worldview. And he isn’t alone, Macau has a rich and predominately rural history. These fast-paced changes toward technology has left a huge wage gap throughout society. So, while Macau has preserved many historical properties in the urban areas, the government is heavily criticized by its citizens for ignoring the conservation of heritage and tradition in its urban planning and technological development.

In Hong Kong Protests, Technology Serves as a Tool of Both Expression and Repression

While activists have used the internet as a powerful organizing tool, web coverage on the Chinese mainland is defined by mass blackouts and systematic silencing.

Protesters in Hong Kong. Studio Incendo. CC BY 2.0

The most widely attended protest in recent American memory, the Women’s March, brought about 1 percent of the population onto the streets. Last month’s protests in Hong Kong brought 25 percent.

By any standards, the anti-extradition campaign in Hong Kong, spurred by a proposed China-backed amendment that would allow for the extradition of Hong Kongers to mainland China, was an astronomical success, engaging huge swathes of the population and eventually leading to the death of the proposal. Images of the demonstration depict unfathomable numbers of citizens exercising their right to peaceful protests, but something remains invisible in those photos: the constantly active, multilayered and multifaceted presence of the internet, which—through messaging apps, social media, and LIHKG (Hong Kong’s answer to Reddit)—allowed protestors to turn ideology into concrete action.

On June 12, the protest reached a milestone when tens of thousands of citizens surrounded the Hong Kong legislative building, spurring an initial suspension of the bill. In order to mobilize without attracting unwanted attention, activists created online events inviting people to a “picnic” in nearby Tamar Park, a cover-up for their actual intentions. Messaging services, too, helped with planning efforts. Particularly popular was the encrypted app Telegram—although the arrest of Ivan Ip for “conspiracy to commit a public nuisance” set efforts back, given that Ip was leading a group on the platform of 30,000 users. Still, Ip’s group was far from the only one: In a Baptist University poll of protestors, more than half of respondents reported using Telegram for broadcasting information and participating in discussion groups.

Protestors in the streets. Etan Liam. CC BY-ND 2.0

The survey also revealed the protestors’ widespread use of LIHKG, which lived up to its reputation of supporting free speech by subtly assisting activist efforts: Administrators removed ads from their site for about two weeks in June to shorten loading time and upped the number of replies allowed on some threads from 1,001 to 5,001, citing a need “for more convenient discussions.”

For protestors, the utility of social media and messaging platforms was far from over once planning progressed into action. During the demonstration on June 12, attendees broadcast real-time updates through countless Instagram stories and an hour-long livestream on the Twitter-owned service Periscope. In addition to spreading the word to Hong Kongers not attending the demonstration, protestors were able to communicate amongst themselves, using apps to request supplies, share the locations of food and water stations, and disseminate hand signals that would allow for discreet communication. Technical difficulties, however, thwarted efforts to some degree: Poor mobile signals made accessing the internet a challenge and threatened to spur chaos. “Without Telegram and WhatsApp, people did not know what they had to do,” Laura, 18, a student who volunteered as a first-aid staffer, told the South China Morning Post. 

Holding a sign that reads “kids are not rioters.” Etan Liam. CC BY-ND 2.0

Limited connectivity was not the only tech-related hurdle facing protesters. Tech-savvy activists cautioned against using public Wi-Fi or swiping their Octopus public transit card, actions that could put users at risk of having their personal information picked up and employed to incriminate them. And protestors made sure to turn off Face ID and fingerprint ID on their phones so that police could not unlock their devices without consent, as well as enabling encryption on apps where it was not already automatic.

Across the border in China, however, such internet-driven activism would have been impossible. Hong Kongers have the privilege of a much more open internet—a dichotomy that has manifested starkly in mainland media coverage of the protests. As part of the mass censorship and limited access that has long defined the Chinese internet and that is sometimes dubbed the “Great Firewall of China,” the Communist Party has enacted a total blackout on protest coverage in newspapers and on TV, with television screens simply going dark when foreign news outlets show images of the demonstrations. Video footage of Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam apologizing for her attempt to push through the extradition law never lasted long on social media, as censors would immediately delete the content each time it was reuploaded. And even a song that activists sang during the protests, “Can You Hear the People Sing” from “Les Miserables,” was inexplicably missing from QQ, a popular musical streaming site.

Protestors filled the streets on June 16. Etan Liam. CC BY-ND 2.0

On social media platforms like WeChat and Weibo, users devised strategies to get around the firewall, like distorting images of the protests or blocking parts of the image with giant smiley-face logos. In some cases, however, China’s tech power was simply too strong: Telegram reported on June 12 that it was experiencing a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, which means that a number of computers were attempting to overload its servers with bogus requests, resulting in service slowdowns or outages. Telegram’s CEO, Pavel Durov, said that the IP addresses behind the attack were coming mainly from China, potentially suggesting a concerted effort by authorities.

By systematically silencing the voices of activists, China is able to spread its own narrative of the protests, which it portrays as violent events provoked by foreign elements amining to undermine Hong Kong and the “one country, two systems” policy. The policy was formulated in the 1980s for the reunification of China by Paramount Leader of the People’s Republic of China Deng Xiaoping; in the interest of furthering Hong Kong’s status as a global financial center, it guarantees freedom of speech and protest for citizens. Yet Hong Kongers have long feared an erosion of their autonomy, a concern that most recently boiled over in the form of the 2014 Umbrella Movement, during which streets in the city’s business district were flooded by demonstrators for nearly three months. Throughout that time, mainland China busily erased all mention and images of the protests from its internet.

Protesters were unsatisfied by the original postponement of the bill. Etan Liam. CC BY-ND 2.0

On July 8, Lam publicly stated that the bill was finally dead, describing the proposed amendment as a “total failure.” Yet Hong Kongers were not entirely satisfied, as questions remain about whether Lam will officially withdraw the bill or whether it might be revived in future. Either way, the anti-extradition movement of 2019 will stand as a landmark protest for the digital age: one whose scale and power could have only coalesced in an era of instant connectivity, and one that throws into stark relief the power of technology—for expression and repression alike.

TALYA PHELPS hails from the wilds of upstate New York, but dreams of exploring the globe. As former editor-in-chief at the student newspaper of her alma mater, Vassar College, and the daughter of a journalist, she hopes to follow her passion for writing and editing for many years to come. Contact her if you're looking for a spirited debate on the merits of the em dash vs. the hyphen.

Digital Nomads: Connecting to Wifi and Communities Around the Globe

With an uptick in digital nomad lifestyles and coworking tourism, how are digital nomads positively or negatively impacting the world?

Remote Year Kahlo group volunteering in Bogota, Colombia with former partner, TECHO, a Latin American organization that seeks to overcome poverty through the help of locals and volunteers. Photographer and CC Travis King.

Birds sing melodically against the white-washed backdrop on a sunny Greek isle as Travis King shares, over Zoom, how his passion for purposeful travel evolved into his role. King collaboratively runs social impact projects across the globe at the digital nomad program, Remote Year.

“I fell in love with the world and the way we can connect with new people and cultures,” King says. For close to five years, he did everything - from working on an Alaskan fishing boat to attaining a one year work VISA in Australia in order to extend the adventure.

“I kept working and volunteering and realized I wanted more,” King says.

When King started out as a Remote Year Program Leader, he found the group he led shared a deep interest in doing good. Each Remote Year community is a group of digital nomads that will stay together throughout the year, sharing experiences, lodging, and coworking spaces in 12 different cities around the world. 

“My community’s identity was connected to giving back. We made a commitment - every month we would do one big service event in each new city.”

Digital nomads, defined as people who choose to embrace a location-agnostic, technology-enabled lifestyle that allows them to travel and work remotely globally are increasing in numbers, according to MBO Partner's research. As of 2019, 4.8 million remote workers currently describe themselves as digital nomads, and upwards of 17 million aspire to someday become nomadic. 

“I think we’re on the tipping point of this cloud-based revolution where most laptops can connect to the internet anywhere - it gives us ultimate freedom,” King says.

As location-agnostic lifestyles continue to grow, how are digital nomads positively or negatively impacting the places they travel and how are these programs addressing social and environmental impact? 

Remote Year Ohana group volunteering in Cape Town, South Africa with partner, Phillipi Music Project, a social enterprise aiming at offering an infrastructure to the musicians from the townships. Photographer and CC Travis King.

Making an impact is in the fabric of Remote Year, according to King, but it began as one-off projects that lacked sustainable results. “The early groups were doing great things with intention and heart - but everything was scattered,” King says. 

According to King, one group would go to Buenos Aires, Argentina and plant trees in the mangroves and the next group would find an orphanage to sponsor in Cambodia, while another group would paint families’ homes outside of Medellín, Colombia. 

“We realized if we connect the efforts, our impact overtime will be magnified,” King says. 

“A lot of problems with social and environmental impact programs are it’s a one time experience and then you’re gone,” says recent Remote Year participant, Rebecca Stone. 

“The cool thing about Remote Year is my group could start working on a project, and when we left at the end of the month, there’s a new group that came to take our place,” says Stone.

Stone completed first-hand reporting and travel industry data for Skift during her Remote Year. Like the 40 others in her group, she didn’t want to put her career on hold to travel the world. Remote Year took care of the infrastructure so she could pursue her other interests, including studying tourist impact on cities.

Since Remote Year runs several long-term programs, new groups arrive on a rotating basis to the same 12 to 15 cities, which, according to Stone, mitigates unnecessary negative tourism impact. “I’m in a city like Split, Croatia for one month. I don’t take jobs away from locals. All I do is add my income into the city via eating out, participating in activities, volunteering, all while knowing my tourism dollars are going into the city.”

Now, Remote Year impact projects focus on long-term partnerships. These partnerships touch on a diverse array of social issues. “You’ll get to see a different layer of each city you wouldn’t necessarily be exposed to,” says King about those who get involved.

With a rise in volunteering while traveling among digital nomads, some argue that this can do more harm than good. Medium contributor, Paris Marx writes in an article, “Digital nomads are far less likely to work toward positive local change or halt the gentrification that displaces long-term residents .” 

When asked whether he thinks this is changing, Marx responds, “there are some people trying to ‘give back’ in various ways, but the people taking part in these programs don't actually spend much time in these cities. They consume them; they don't live in them.”

Remote Year’s Director of Community Development and Positive Impact, Travis King, volunteering with the RY Ohana group in Cape Town, South Africa, with partner, Phillipi Music Project. Photographer and CC Travis King.

When asked about the criticism of volunteering abroad, King responds, “My biggest concern is that the conversation has gone too far and people would do nothing than do something, because they worry it may be considered hurtful.” He sees this as a hurdle and encourages people to always research viable organizations and causes to put energy and funding toward while traveling. 

As of 2019, Remote Year communities have volunteered 14,842 hours, worked on 312 service projects and fundraisers, raised $134,390 and engaged 2,063 locals in their efforts.

With an uptick in coworking tourism, companies like Remote Year, Unsettled, Venture with Impact, and Nomad Cruise are growing rapidly as more people seek innovative ways to take their profession on the road. 

What’s next? 

“I would love to see our net cast wider to people of a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds so everyone has an opportunity to be part of Remote Year,” says King. He shares his last stories from Valencia, Spain where they are launching a new program to help nomadic communities preserve and share their arts with the larger Spanish population. 

Lasting impact is challenging to measure. According to Marx, real impact abroad “means getting politically involved in one's community to fight for and enact social change in the interests of working-class people. There is hope for positive change but digital nomadism isn't a vehicle for broad-based political action.”

While some people, like Marx, believe digital nomads are a highly individualized group of privileged Westerners who make little positive impact on local communities, others, like King, believe in a broader approach to giving back.

A traveler who can explore and live in new countries and cultures has a unique opportunity. Some will give back, while others may not. 

In the end, whatever one is seeking abroad, an excellent way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. 

JULIA KRAMER is a New York-based writer and avid traveler who addresses systems changes to social challenges through storytelling and community building. When she’s not writing or on the road, you will find her cooking something from her urban garden or hiking. Read more of her articles on travel and social impact at julia-roos.com.

How Small Science Is Creating Big Possibilities in Africa

Ofori Charles Antipem wears many hats—he’s an inventor, an entrepreneur and an advocate of STEM. Now, he’s bringing all his passions together, dedicating his life to bringing affordable science education to kids across Africa. The Science Set is Antipem’s creation, developed to give students access to a unique toolkit. Each set contains 45 scientific components and costs just $20. His next invention? Cheap and easy-to-assemble microscopes, carefully designed and built using 3D printed materials. 

This Great Big Story was made possible by IBM Africa.

Can Genetic Engineering Save Disappearing Forests?

Compared to gene-edited babies in China and ambitious projects to rescue woolly mammoths from extinction, biotech trees might sound pretty tame.

But releasing genetically engineered trees into forests to counter threats to forest health represents a new frontier in biotechnology. Even as the techniques of molecular biology have advanced, humans have not yet released a genetically engineered plant that is intended to spread and persist in an unmanaged environment. Biotech trees – genetically engineered or gene-edited – offer just that possibility.

One thing is clear: The threats facing our forests are many, and the health of these ecosystems is getting worse. A 2012 assessment by the U.S. Forest Service estimated that nearly 7 percent of forests nationwide are in danger of losing at least a quarter of their tree vegetation by 2027. This estimate may not sound too worrisome, but it is 40 percent higher than the previous estimate made just six years earlier.

In 2018, at the request of several U.S. federal agencies and the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine formed a committee to “examine the potential use of biotechnology to mitigate threats to forest tree health.” Experts, including me, a social scientist focused on emerging biotechnologies, were asked to “identify the ecological, ethical, and social implications of deploying biotechnology in forests, and develop a research agenda to address knowledge gaps.”

Our committee members came from universities, federal agencies and NGOs and represented a range of disciplines: molecular biology, economics, forest ecology, law, tree breeding, ethics, population genetics and sociology. All of these perspectives were important for considering the many aspects and challenges of using biotechnology to improve forest health.

More than 80 million acres are at risk of losing at least 25 percent of tree vegetation between 2013 and 2027 due to insects and diseases. Krist et al. (2014), CC BY-SA

A Crisis in US forests

Climate change is just the tip of the iceberg. Forests face higher temperatures and droughts and more pests. As goods and people move around the globe, even more insects and pathogens hitchhike into our forests.

The emerald ash borer is destroying ash trees in 31 states. Herman Wong HM/Shutterstock.com

The emerald ash borer feeds on ash trees, damaging and eventually killing them. K Steve Cope/Shutterstock.com

We focused on four case studies to illustrate the breadth of forest threats. The emerald ash borer arrived from Asia and causes severe mortality in five species of ash trees. First detected on U.S. soil in 2002, it had spread to 31 states as of May 2018. Whitebark pine, a keystone and foundational species in high elevations of the U.S. and Canada, is under attack by the native mountain pine beetle and an introduced fungus. Over half of whitebark pine in the northern U.S. and Canada have died.

Poplar trees are important to riparian ecosystems as well as for the forest products industry. A native fungal pathogen, Septoria musiva, has begun moving west, attacking natural populations of black cottonwood in Pacific Northwest forests and intensively cultivated hybrid poplar in Ontario. And the infamous chestnut blight, a fungus accidentally introduced from Asia to North America in the late 1800s, wiped out billions of American chestnut trees.

Can biotech come to the rescue? Should it?

It’s complicated

Although there are many potential applications of biotechnology in forests, such as genetically engineering insect pests to suppress their populations, we focused specifically on biotech trees that could resist pests and pathogens. Through genetic engineering, for example, researchers could insert genes, from a similar or unrelated species, that help a tree tolerate or fight an insect or fungus.

It’s tempting to assume that the buzz and enthusiasm for gene editing will guarantee quick, easy and cheap solutions to these problems. But making a biotech tree will not be easy. Trees are large and long-lived, which means that research to test the durability and stability of an introduced trait will be expensive and take decades or longer. We also don’t know nearly as much about the complex and enormous genomes of trees, compared to lab favorites such as fruit flies and the mustard plant, Arabidopsis.

In addition, because trees need to survive over time and adapt to changing environments, it is essential to preserve and incorporate their existing genetic diversity into any “new” tree. Through evolutionary processes, tree populations already have many important adaptations to varied threats, and losing those could be disastrous. So even the fanciest biotech tree will ultimately depend on a thoughtful and deliberate breeding program to ensure long-term survival. For these reasons, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committee recommends increasing investment not just in biotechnology research, but also in tree breeding, forest ecology and population genetics.

Oversight challenges

The committee found that the U.S. Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology, which distributes federal oversight of biotechnology products among agencies such as EPA, USDA and FDA, is not fully prepared to consider the introduction of a biotech tree to improve forest health.

Most obviously, regulators have always required containment of pollen and seeds during biotech field trials to avoid the escape of genetic material. For example, the biotech chestnut was not allowed to flower to ensure that transgenic pollen wouldn’t blow across the landscape during field trials. But if biotech trees are intended to spread their new traits, via seeds and pollen, to introduce pest resistance across landscapes, then studies of wild reproduction will be necessary. These are not currently allowed until a biotech tree is fully deregulated.

The family of James and Caroline Shelton poses by a large dead chestnut tree in Tremont Falls, Tennessee, circa 1920. Great Smoky Mountains National Park Library, CC BY-SA

Another shortcoming of the current framework is that some biotech trees may not require any special review at all. The USDA, for example, was asked to consider a loblolly pine that was genetically engineered for greater wood density. But because USDA’s regulatory authority stems from its oversight of plant pest risks, it decided that it did not have any regulatory authority over that biotech tree. Similar questions remain regarding organisms whose genes are edited using new tools such as CRISPR.

The committee noted that U.S. regulations fail to promote a comprehensive consideration of forest health. Although the National Environmental Policy Act sometimes helps, some risks and many potential benefits are unlikely to be evaluated. This is the case for biotech trees as well as other tools to counter pests and pathogens, such as tree breeding, pesticides and site management practices.

How do you measure the value of a forest?

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report suggests an “ecosystem services” framework for considering the various ways that trees and forests provide value to humans. These range from extraction of forest products to the use of forests for recreation to the ecological services a forest provides – water purification, species protection and carbon storage.

The committee also acknowledged that some ways of valuing the forest do not fit into the ecosystem services framework. For example, if forests are seen by some to have “intrinsic value,” then they have value in and of themselves, apart from the way humans value them and perhaps implying a kind of moral obligation to protect and respect them. Issues of “wildness” and “naturalness” also surface.

Chestnuts lying on the ground in autumn near a chestnut tree. Peter Wollinga/Shutterstock.com

Wild nature?

Paradoxically, a biotech tree could increase and decrease wildness. If wildness depends upon a lack of human intervention, then a biotech tree will reduce the wildness of a forest. But perhaps so would a conventionally bred, hybrid tree that was deliberately introduced into an ecosystem.

Which would reduce wildness more – the introduction of a biotech tree or the eradication of an important tree species? There are no right or wrong answers to these questions, but they remind us of the complexity of decisions to use technology to enhance “nature.”

This complexity points to a key recommendation of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report: dialogue among experts, stakeholders and communities about how to value forests, assess the risks and potential benefits of biotech, and understand complex public responses to any potential interventions, including those involving biotechnology. These processes need to be respectful, deliberative, transparent and inclusive.

Such processes, such as a 2018 stakeholder workshop on the biotech chestnut, will not erase conflict or even guarantee consensus, but they have the potential to create insight and understanding that can feed into democratic decisions that are informed by expert knowledge and public values.

JASON A DELBORNE is an Associate Professor of Science, Policy, and Society in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, North Carolina State University

THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON THE CONVERSATION

I Teach Refugees to Map their World

I first visited the Zaatari refugee camp in early 2015. Located in northern Jordan, the camp is home to more than 80,000 Syrian refugees. I was there as part of a research study on refugee camp wireless and information infrastructure. 

It’s one thing to read about refugees in the news. It’s a whole different thing to actually go visit a camp. I saw people living in metal caravans, mixed with tents and other materials to create a sense of home. Many used improvised electrical systems to keep the power going. People are rebuilding their lives to create a better future for their families and themselves, just like any of us would if faced with a similar situation.

As a geographer, I was quickly struck by how geographically complex Zaatari camp was. The camp management staff faced serious spatial challenges. By “spatial challenges,” I mean issues that any small city might face, such as keeping track of the electrical grid; understanding where people live within the camp; and locating other important resources, such as schools, mosques and health centers. Officials at Zaatari had some maps of the camp, but they struggled to keep up with its ever-changing nature. 

An experiment I launched there led to up-to-date maps of the camp and, I hope, valuable training for some of its residents.

The power of maps

Like many other refugee camps, Zaatari developed quickly in response to a humanitarian emergency. In rapid onset emergencies, mapping often isn’t as high of a priority as basic necessities like food, water and shelter. 

However, my research shows that maps can be an invaluable tool in a natural disaster or humanitarian crisis. Modern digital mapping tools have been essential for locating resources and making decisions in a number of crises, from the 2010 earthquake in Haiti to the refugee influx in Rwanda.

This got me thinking that the refugees themselves could be the best people to map Zaatari. They have intimate knowledge of the camp’s layout, understand where important resources are located and benefit most from camp maps. 

With these ideas in mind, my lab teamed up with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and Al-Balqa and Princess Sumaya universities in Jordan. 

Modern maps are often made with a technology known as Geographic Information Systems, or GIS. Using funding from the UNHCR Innovation Fund, we acquired the computer hardware to create a GIS lab. From corporate partner Esri, we were obtained low-cost, professional GIS software.

RefuGIS team member Yusuf Hamad and his son Abdullah – who was born in Zaatari refugee camp – learning about GIS. Brian Tomaszewski, CC BY

Over a period of about 18 months, we trained 10 Syrian refugees. Students in the RefuGIS class ranged in age from 17 to 60. Their backgrounds from when they lived in Syria ranged from being a math teacher to a tour operator to a civil engineer. I was extremely fortunate that one of my students, Yusuf Hamad, spoke fluent English and was able translate my instructions into Arabic for the other students. 

We taught concepts such as coordinate systems, map projections, map design and geographic visualization; we also taught how to collect spatial data in the field using GPS. The class then used this knowledge to map places of interest in the camp, such as the locations of schools, mosques and shops.

The class also learned how to map data using mobile phones. The data has been used to update camp reference maps and to support a wide range of camp activities. 

I made a particular point to ensure the class could learn how to do these tasks on their own. This was important: No matter how well-intentioned a technological intervention is, it will often fall apart if the displaced community relies completely on outside people to make it work. 

As a teacher, this class was my most satisfying educational experience. This was perhaps my finest group of GIS students across all the types of students I have taught over my 15 years of teaching. Within a relatively short amount of time, they were able to create professional maps that now serve camp management staff and refugees themselves.

A map created with geographic information collected by students in the RefuGIS program. UNHCR, CC BY

Jobs for refugees

My experiences training refugees and humanitarian professionals in Jordan and Rwandahave made me reflect upon the broader possibilities that GIS can bring to the over 65 million refugees in the world today. 

It’s challenging for refugees to develop livelihoods at a camp. Many struggle to find employment after leaving. 

GIS could help refugees create a better future for themselves and their future homes. If people return to their home countries, maps – essential to activities like construction and transportation – can aid the rebuilding process. If they adopt a new home country, they may find they have marketable skills. The worldwide geospatial industry is worth an estimated US$400 billion and geospatial jobs are expected to grow over the coming years. 

Our team is currently helping some of the refugees get GIS industry certifications. This can further expand their career opportunities when they leave the camp and begin to rebuild their lives. 

Technology training interventions for refugees often focus on things like computer programming, web development and other traditional IT skills. However, I would argue that GIS should be given equal importance. It offers a rich and interactive way to learn about people, places and spatial skills – things that I think the world in general needs more of. Refugees could help lead the way.

BRIAN TOMASZEWSKI is an Associate Professor of Information Sciences and Technologies at Rochester Institute of Technology. 

THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON THE CONVERSATION 

How to Enjoy Travel Without Social Media

DID YOU KNOW that if a tree falls in the woods and you don’t post the video to your Instagram story, it still actually happened? I’m aware of the irony of writing about a topic like this on a popular travel website, where, if all goes well, it will be retweeted, shared on Facebook, and maybe even receive a video response on YouTube (please?), but there are ways to enjoy traveling without social media.

Low-tech travel is still an option

Some travelers get the idea that getting offline also means completely cutting themselves off from technology, when in fact a simple reduction will do. Leaving your phone at home and using a calling card to stay in touch may be annoying, but isn’t it worth removing the temptation of snapping a selfie? Just because we no longer live in a world where Polaroid cameras are ubiquitous doesn’t mean they aren’t out there to capture memories. If you use your blog primarily as an outlet for your creativity and not as a form of income, you can try jotting your experiences down on paper. Travel like it’s 1999.

Time goes further without technology

You may not be able to look back on what happened one day ten years ago in Thailand without some digital photographic evidence, but if you spent that time bathing elephants and getting drunk with expats you’re going to remember the experience better without wasting time documenting everything as it’s happening. My weekends in Japan usually fly by when I’m traveling solo and stop to write on my Macbook or scroll through IG on my phone, but when two Couchsurfers came to visit and we spent the whole day talking and exploring, I couldn’t help but appreciate how much longer the days seemed to last. Being mindful during your travels means taking the minute between when your food is served not to find the perfect angle for a picture, but instead reflect on how fortunate you are to have this nourishment in this foreign country with good friends.

Live your life without online feedback

Social media has fundamentally changed how we communicate in many ways, but probably none more than allowing snapshots of our lives to receive immediate feedback from the whole world. We’ve probably all taken a picture of a scene like a sunset over the ocean with the intention of wanting to know want other people think about it, without taking the time to wonder whether we actually like it in the first place.

Your travel experiences have value even if no else sees your picture and gives it a like. Seeing someone’s expression in person and understanding their reaction to your temple stay and spiritual awakening (even if it’s an eye roll) are going to mean more to you than someone writing a cliché comment with an emoji.

Think about where you travel, and why

I had a falling out with a friend last year after – having discussed the issue of the treatment of elephants at length – she chose to ride on one in Asia in a stereotypical tourist fashion. When I quite angrily asked what the hell she was thinking, knowing full well she was aware of how these animals were tortured, she casually replied “Yeah, well, I wanted a selfie with one.”

Think about your motivation in traveling to a place like Macchu Picchu or posing with a tiger… is it something you genuinely want to do, or just something you think would look pretty sweet on Instagram? Take away that incentive, and would you still go there, or do that?

Traveling without social media forces you to focus on why you travel, knowing that people may still hear about the story ex post facto, but you completely control the narrative. Why work yourself to death squeezing in another attraction before sunset to make sure it’s posted during prime viewing time if no one is going to see it? Avoiding social media generally gives you quality over quantity.

THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON MATADOR NETWORK.

TURNER WRIGHT

Turner Wright is a marathon runner first, an adventurer second, and a writer through it all. Apparently, he has a thing for island nations, having lived in Japan, and soon to be headed for New Zealand. Check out his adventures at Once a Traveler.

VIDEO: E-Waste Tsunami in Delhi

A film to accompany the E-Waste Tsunami project. This film explores the industrialized landscape of the urban poor in a developing world metropolis. The urban poor are the community and sector of society to which the waste-picker and e-waste worker belong. The journey begins at the Bhalswa Landfill and associated communities in northwestern Delhi and then moves through the rapidly expanding infrastructure of the city. It concludes with a passage through unregulated housing developments that form a large part of this 21st century metropolis.

E-WASTE TSUNAMI

E-WASTE TSUNAMI peers behind the virtual world conjured by our computers and mobile phones to the very real world of electronic trash.

The ecosystems of production and consumption create the ecosystem of the receiver. In the receiver ecosystem are the environment into which products and materials are disposed, and the urban poor who work in the informal labor sector, generally in unregulated conditions
and facilities. Increasing consumer affluence, population growth, and decreasing product prices exponentially accelerate the e-waste problem. This project documents what’s happening at the frontline in the world of the receiver in a developing economy.

The photographic documentary, and film, produced by StudioFYNN,  provide a glimpse into the lives of those who work with e-waste on a daily basis in Bhalswa and Mustafabad, Delhi, India. While alternatives to toxic labor practices exist, only a handful of socially conscious and technologically equipped facilities are committed tobest practices with e-waste end-of-lifecycle. Given this highly complex problem, in what generative ways can diverse fields (such as industrialdesign, psychology, or urban policy) begin to model a more sustainable future?

PHOTOGRAPHS BY SHAUN FYNN

Want to see more? Check out STUDIOFYNN's Delhi Journey, an accompanying film for the E-Waste Tsunami project. 

SHAUN FYNN

@studiofynn 

Shaun Fynn is an acclaimed designer with over 20 years experience in advising and creating for Fortune 500 companies. Since founding STUDIOFYNN in 1997, he has developed the practice globally, working in areas of design research, photo documentary and design education. E-Waste Tsunami — a project that peers behind our virtual worlds to capture the real world of electronic trash — was on exhibition in The Sheila C. Johnson Design Center's Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries in New York City at the beginning of 2016. 

MEET: Amber J Lawson, Founder and CEO of Good Amplified

Amber J Lawson is an American producer, entrepreneur, and online content and development executive. In another step toward her goal to “do good to scale,” Amber J. is the founder and CEO of Good Amplified, a YouTube Network solely focused on helping nonprofits evolve their donor engagement and retention via storytelling. In anticipation of Good Amplified’s launch, CATALYST connected with Amber J. to find out more about her new project and the future of content marketing.

Amber J Lawson founded Internetnetworksstudio.com in 1999 (after focusing on the performing arts at the University of Missouri). What motivated the transition from acting to developing online content and producing? 

When I first moved to L.A. (a few years after college), I loved performing. However, I disliked the way in which an acting career often left my fate to the whims and demands of other people. I wanted to make my own opportunities! So I became a producer and started writing my own content in order to have the roles I was interested in playing. This transition was taking place during the first Internet boom, and my friend said to me: “You know, I think this Internet thing is here to stay.” My initial reaction was, “What? That’s crazy!” Yet he and I (along with an 18 year-old stock market genius we worked with at a restaurant) set out to create Internetworksstudios.com. 

Our first show invited people from around the world to submit videotapes of them singing and dancing; the online community then voted for its favorites. We were a little ahead of our time — it was like our own American Idol — but after burning through the initial seed money, we created an hour-long pilot called Alyx. We partnered with Madonna on this program, which helped us sell the show to ABC/ Touchstone. 

It was all just a little ahead of its time — a notion that I’d say has defined my career so far. I’ve been involved in multiple projects that were ahead of their time, but hopefully right now (with Good Amplified) we’ll be perfectly aligned with the coming-of-age, millennial generation.  

What inspired you to create Good Amplified?

I worked as the head of programming at AOL. It was my dream job! I absolutely lived, ate, slept and breathed it. When I left my position, I thought, ‘I love doing these kinds of things.’ I believe that you can do good for the world and make money, so I contemplated how to strike that balance. I thought about what I love (entertainment), which led me to the idea of helping nonprofits across platforms to raise money through storytelling. 

I started looking for a way to do good to scale: a way that would build upon itself. I wanted to help leverage what nonprofit organizations are already doing through a platform (YouTube) that the millennial generation utilizes to consume content. And that’s when I concocted Good Amplified. 

What do you think the benefits are for a nonprofit to focus its media campaign on video production/sharing over traditional forms of digital content (e.g. articles)?

A potent form of marketing is storytelling, and every nonprofit has stories to tell. So they already have the key, potent pieces. The piece that’s missing, though, is leveraging the largest video platform (and second largest search engine) on the planet: YouTube. If you’re not there, it’s kind of like you don’t exist. 

By optimizing content that nonprofits are already making on YouTube, they can deliver their mission to the next generation. The reason I say it’s critical to be on YouTube is because millennials donate through views. If you monetize your video, and people watch it, they are (in essence) donating through their viewership. The next step in showing their commitment is becoming a subscriber. I look at this as a new donor-retention program: subscribers receive notifications about updates, which helps maintain their connection. 

According to standard marketing technique, it takes six to eight “touchpoints” for brand recognition to stick. With YouTube, this is something nonprofits would never have to think about again. All they need to do is continue telling their story to create those touchpoints in an organic way. So both the content and future viewers are present: nonprofits just have to facilitate the connection on a familiar platform. It’s an easier conversion than asking potential donors go to a website, or a new app, or something that’s completely different. 

How is Good Amplified being funded?

At first, we set ourselves up to work as a tradition Multi-Channel Network (MCN). Most MCNs operate in three steps: there is a content creator; the creator monetizes its content; when revenue is produced, the profit is shared among creator, YouTube and the MCN. This works for some companies, but with a lot of nonprofits, we found that this was a difficult system to adopt. First off, there needed to be a value in the services we (GA) are giving — it’s human nature to pay more attention to something that costs money. 

The second piece is that some nonprofits can’t take what is called Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT). It’s costly (and an accounting headache) to resolve this legality, which is why we have elected to give the nonprofits the option to pay a monthly fee to manage nonprofits’ YouTube channels. We run every aspect of it — titling, tagging, optimizing search algorithms — but we also educate the organization in the process. Over time, the nonprofit builds up a case for its team to start turning on the monetization (through ads) and collecting that revenue. 

Has working on Good Amplified changed your perspective at all with respect to digital media and technology consultancy? 

I feel like it has because there’s been a bit of an education process. For me, storytelling is the most powerful medium, period. While talking with nonprofits, we have found that they are waking up to the power of YouTube, but they need assistance. Quite frankly, some of the most successful nonprofits on YouTube have been the smallest organizations. In the absence of a complex, institutional process that drives internal operations, these organizations are more receptive to change. I think this is what our social media landscape demands: real-time interaction. This is how lasting relationships with online audiences are formed. 

It doesn’t cost a lot of money to get in the game, but it does cost time. A lot of organizations lack the time to curate their YouTube presence, and that’s when they bring Good Amplified onboard. Our goal is to get into the DNA of an organization: every time they create a piece of content, YouTube should be a part of its checklist for sharing. 

Most organizations use YouTube as a library or repository for past content. In reality, this material could be doing all the work for them! I use the example of Kobe Bryant, who granted a wish for Make-A-Wish Foundation a while ago. Contrary to popular belief, celebrity videos don’t always get a lot of views. Rather, a video has to be optimized on its platform in order to be picked up by the search algorithm. Once the video of LeBron got picked up, it started to generate 50,000 more views per week. That’s Kobe more people reached with your message! It’s all about the optimization and getting picked up in the algorithm. I know those things sound tedious, but they make all the difference in the world for getting your word out.

What advice can you offer people and organizations that are trying to utilize online platforms for social good? 

Number one is that you have to engage with social platforms. This is where the next generation of givers can be found, and the old techniques don’t work for them. I believe that older institutions have to disrupt what they’re doing in order to survive. Every year, we lose various nonprofits because they aren’t receiving enough funding. These organizations were doing great work, but they weren’t reaching that generation of future supporters and advocates. 

In addition to social platforms, content marketing is everything right now. What we’re talking about (brand recognition through storytelling) is exactly like branding for companies like Taco Bell or Target. Given that the commercial is going away, brands have to find different ways to engage with an audience through content that is entertaining and relatable. Why should the task of nonprofits be any different?

Good Amplified is committed to doing good to scale. We are looking forward to working with any nonprofit that has an appetite for content, and I think that is the distinction for how we can help. We are committed to making nonprofits successful — that’s our goal — but they have to have the desire for storytelling and content creation. I truly believe storytelling is the way of the future, which is why nonprofits have to embrace it now. 

SARAH SUTPHIN

sarah.sutphin@mission.tv

Sarah is an undergraduate at Yale University and a content editor for CATALYST. As a traveler who has visited 30 countries (and counting!), she feels passionate about international development through sustainable mechanisms. Sarah has taken an interest in the intersection between public health and theater, and hopes to create a program that utilizes these disciplines for community empowerment. She is a fluent Spanish speaker with plans to take residence in Latin American after graduation.