Put yourselves in the shoes of a refugee sitting in a holding camp in a Greek airfield, waiting.
You wait to hear from your wife about the baby daughter you’ve never met. You wait to hear where you’ll be moved next. You wait to hear from your old colleagues at a job you had to abandon when you fled war. You wonder whether they are alive. So many loved ones aren’t.
When you’re waiting, time goes by much slower. There’s nothing to look at or do. There’s no way to use the many skills you have.
This week’s guest decided to act, turning a problem into a solution with the potential to change thousands of lives. Leti Galdón is the CEO and Co-founder of social startup PAZ, which in Spanish means peace. Their mission to empower young refugees stranded in refugee camps through education in tech, supporting them to move forward in life and leave the horrors of war behind.
My conversation with the extraordinary force that is Leti Galdón is the finale of season 14! Dive in now:
Leti’s superpower is empathy. By her early twenties, she’d already got valuable experience working with refugees and wanted to do more.
Most people see refugees as a problem. Leti saw them not as the ones who need help, but as people who could help organisations by providing unique tech skills and cultural insights.
For me, Leti’s attitude sums up what it means to be Unconventional.
‘It’s OK not to fit because in the future that aspect of you that makes it hard, makes you unique.’
I hope you’ll find her point of view transformative; I certainly did. We all have the power to act, no matter our age or position. Leti shares the words of Hillel:
‘If not now, when? If not you, who?’
Please, if this conversation moves you, take action by sharing it.
Thank you so much for sharing this journey with me and thousands of others across the world.
Mark
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IN THIS WEEK’S EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN
What it’s like to have the lives of refugees in your hands aged just 20
How radical empathy has driven all Leti’s decisions
What the important distinction is between refugees and migrants
How Leti took a problem and applied Unconventional thinking to turn it into a solution
How Leti founded Paz.ai and crowdfunded for their pilot
Why refugees are the most peaceful people in the world
Why Leti’s siblings are like her football team
How to support The Unconventionalists AND improve your health by shopping at Vivo Life with our very own discount code
How to get your place on Mark Leruste’s legendary podcasting masterclass and go from nought to launch without wasting any more time
SHOWNOTES:
Leti Galdón’s organization Paz.ai: https://paz.ai/
Paz on Twitter: https://twitter.com/paz_ai
Paz on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Pazneverplaysalone/
Paz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/paz-ai/
Leti on Twitter: https://twitter.com/letigaldon
Leti on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leticiagaldon
The UN Refugee Agency: https://www.unhcr.org/uk/
That closing scene from A Time to Kill (Spoiler!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKN1K2He8yg
SPONSORS
This week’s episode of The Unconventionalists podcast was brought to you by:
Hands down the best nutritional supplements Mark has ever used (they could be his superpower) Vivo Life: http://bit.ly/2LnXa74 - Use code "mark" to get 10% off your first order
Launch A Successful Podcast From Scratch (Online Masterclass): https://theunconventionalists.com/launch-a-successful-podcast-from-scratch - Use code "PODCASTTRIBE" to get 20% off the entire course. You won’t regret it. “This guy is a podcasting master, trust me! Grab a spot ASAP.” - Samantha Clarke
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