Hattie Elliot: How to Stay Composed and Perform Under Pressure

In Chapter 12 of 19 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, female entrepreneur Hattie Grace Elliot answers "What Does It Mean to Perform Under Pressure in the Work That You Do?"  Elliot embraces working in complicated environments with many moving parts.  Experience and reflection teach her to stay calm and be mindful of what is most important when unexpected things happen in her event planning and destination travel business. 

Hattie Grace Elliot is the founder and CEO of The Grace List, a social networking company that creates destination events and experiences to forge lasting personal and professional connections across its young professional members. Elliot graduated from the University of Cape Town in South Africa, where she studied economics, philosophy, and politics.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: What does it mean to perform under pressure in the work that you do?

Hattie Elliot: Wow, I think that that’s one of the reasons that I can do what I do. When you’re dealing with so many people and so many personalities and so many vendors, and then on top of that, just kind of any sort of production, planning these trips, these events, these destinations, you know, it’s a perfect storm, there’s always gonna be, you know, anything and everything you can imagine could go wrong, will at some point. It will. It just—It’s just the nature of the beast, it’s the nature of the business.

So being able to not freak out, not like completely lose my marbles, but keep calm, has really—Number one, I think I would absolutely hate, hate, hate, hate what I do if I got freaked out easily. It takes a lot to ruffle my feathers, that’s like one positive attribute I have, like, it really takes a lot to ruffle my feathers. So—but I really genuinely I don’t think could work in the business I did if I couldn’t operate under extreme pressure and extreme kind of crazy circumstances as if nothing’s happening and the sun is shining and the grass is green, and there’s birds tweeting, and rainbows everywhere, like, sometimes you just gotta just keep your eye on the prize and compartmentalize when everything is—when shit is hitting the fan, just like, you know, great, awesome, like, we’ll put that shit in the corner there and pretend there’s like rainbows and butterflies and just, you know, and just, you know, move forward, and it’s part insanity and part brilliance I think that it takes to do that but it’s what I do.

And I think it’s the reason I’ve been able to be successful at the business that I’m in. And I think for people that I know, I used to—I have to say this is learned. I have not always been like this. I’ve really, through the years, made a vested effort, and it’s part of this whole idea of really acknowledging and reflecting where you are. I think it gives you a really, a healthy and honest perspective on what really matters. So if the electric goes out, if, you know, the—we’re on a trip and, you know, literally, like, shit hits the fan and a holding tank explodes onto the boat which is a foul situation, don’t get me wrong. It kind of makes you realize, honestly, if no one’s dying, and no one’s sick, that everything else is kind of like, you can figure it out, you can MacGyver it, you know, it gives you that kind of perspective when you’ve really gone through adversity, you really realize what matters and, yeah, and maybe that’s why it takes a lot to ruffle my feathers. But I feel like I’ve got a pretty, you know, healthy perspective on what’s worth really, you know, having a breakdown about, and there’s not much. 

Small Business Owner Advice on Managing Personal Finances

In Chapter 13 of 19 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, female entrepreneur Hattie Grace Elliot answers "How Has Being a Business Owner Changed Your Perspective on Managing Your Personal Finances?"  Elliot notes how the unpredictability that comes with managing a small business - in her case an event planning and destination travel business - has forced her to be more frugal and creative to make ends meet as the business grows up and stabilizes. 

Hattie Grace Elliot is the founder and CEO of The Grace List, a social networking company that creates destination events and experiences to forge lasting personal and professional connections across its young professional members. Elliot graduated from the University of Cape Town in South Africa, where she studied economics, philosophy, and politics.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How has being a business owner changed your perspective on managing your personal finances?

Hattie Elliot: Well, I think when you work for a company, and you get, you know, a paycheck every month and you have certain things covered, your health insurance, and there’s just kind of a level of to a certain extent, you know, transparency and predictability, monotony. Which I would say is not bad, I quite miss that sometimes. You know, you have a very strong sense of, you know, how much if you’re realistic about it, you know, what you can afford, what’s within your means. You know, the size of the apartment that you want, the amount of vacations you take a year, how much you spend going out to restaurants, all that stuff, you know. You just—you have a sense of that.

When you have your own business—and this really does vary from business to business, especially for the first few years, really there’s like, you know, great discrepancies, there’s, you know, my business is very seasonal for instance. So there are certain times—because it’s event and destination based, that people tend to, like around the holidays, right before the holidays, really wanna meet someone, and want that connection, so, you know, that’s a time that we’re really busy and that people are—we’ve got new members joining, we’re doing more things, so with not only is the business seasonal, so the amount of the cash that we bring in just kind of changes, but, you know, based on what happens with the company, with mine, you know, we have a great piece of press and all of a sudden there’s so much interest and we’ve got all these new members joining.

So it’s a little bit less predictable but as the business grows, you know, you get—gain more experience, I now know there’s gonna be certain months of the year that I’m not gonna make as much money, and it’s never perfect but you do have the more of a sense of, you know, cash flow. But because there isn’t a predictability, I think you have to be much more careful to pick and choose what you prioritize and like what you spend your money on.

And there has definitely been times I have been terrified because I’ve got, you know, my rent is due in 2 days, and I’m like, “uh, am I gonna pull this out of like a magic hat?” Like, what is gonna happen? As terrible as that situation is, and stressful, I’m just like, “oh,” you know, it gives me heart palpitations to think of that, it just forces you, you’ve got no choice, like, I’m not gonna live in a cardboard box. I’m an adult. I’ve worked really hard. I’m not gonna move back with my parents, so it forces you—it’s forced me to find ways to succeed, to make my business succeed.

And in an ideal world, as the years go on, and the, you know, the more experience you gain and the more your company is established, you figure out ways that you have to—less and less you have to deal with that kind of situation, you know what I mean? Because not only do you kind of know the cash flow, but you just—you strive to have that sustainability, you set to strive to be your own corporation, you know what I mean? You’re cutting the checks.

So, it’s made me very frugal in many ways. But I’m a girl with expensive taste, you know? I like my champagne. So I’ve had to figure ways and make compromises that you can’t—I have not been able to have everything, but I’m working towards, hopefully, you know, to be able to have that, but in the meantime, like, you know, you just have to prioritize what’s important. You know, what you’re gonna spend your money on.

And just come to terms with the fact that it’s a very—it’s—having your own business, especially in the early days, you know, most people take this risk ultimately, you know, big risk, big reward, because the ultimate payout and the benefits and pleasure you’ll get out of your business are so much more than, you know, that’s what we all of us entrepreneurs hope than when you’re working in the corporate world, but it is a big risk. And it might not be that way, so I just kind of try to own the fact that this is the life I chose. And not get too stressed out but—and not have a pity party for myself when I’m not making as much money as I have, but it’s the life I chose, and it’s been really extraordinary.

Hattie Elliot on How Entrepreneurship Fosters Personal Growth

In Chapter 14 of 19 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, female entrepreneur Hattie Grace Elliot answers "How Has Your Entrepreneurial Experience Helped You Grow as a Person?"  For Elliot, it comes down to learning from reflective moments and accepting the accountability that comes from the entrepreneurial experience.  This gives her a greater human perspective and has taught her to be more accepting and less judgmental of others. 

Hattie Grace Elliot is the founder and CEO of The Grace List, a social networking company that creates destination events and experiences to forge lasting personal and professional connections across its young professional members. Elliot graduated from the University of Cape Town in South Africa, where she studied economics, philosophy, and politics.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How has your entrepreneurial experience helped you grow as a person?

Hattie Elliot: It’s funny. It feels like we keep coming back to the theme of reflection. When you are an entrepreneur, you know, when things go wrong, when you’re—you know, when you’re having trouble paying your rent, when you have employees that make major blunders, you realize 99% of the time it’s your fault, because you didn’t communicate something properly. When you are delivering a product and there’s an issue, the weight is on you. There’s really not much room for hiding behind a wall, I would say—like when you’re in the corporate world often, there’s so many levels, like when I was in advertising, you’re part of such a big team and there’s so many levels just to put together one project, when there’s a major eff-up, like, you know, there’s enough people to distribute the blame, like when I make a mistake, it’s my own, and it’s a very tough and humbling thing but in terms of personal growth, it really forces you, number one, to be accountable for your actions, if you’re gonna be a successful entrepreneur, I think accountability and reflection just are key. You need to—when things aren’t going right, you need to confront it. You need to be accountable. You need to figure out what went wrong. And not have an ego about it and figure out a way you either—I mean excuse my language, but kind of shit or get off the pot type of thing. 

If you go around blaming other people, which a lot of us have the ability to do, it’s an easy way out; you’ll never be successful. You really won’t be. So I think it’s really a matter of really acknowledging there’s this constant—you’re constantly forced to reflect, acknowledge and be accountable for your actions, which I find to be, in the grand scheme of life, has been a really incredible journey, but definitely not an easy one. But I kind of feel like I can take on the world now because I’ve had great success, I’ve had great failure, ups and downs, but it really—it gives you better perspective as a human being, it makes you a lot more sympathetic, less judgmental and more understanding towards others, and I think that that makes—has made my life, at least, so much more just rewarding on all levels, and so much more wonderful. 

Hattie Elliot on Behavioral Traits For Entrepreneur Success

In Chapter 15 of 19 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, female entrepreneur Hattie Grace Elliot answers "How Do You Balance Experimentation and Commitment in the Projects That You Pursue?"  Elliot notes that to be a successful entrepreneur one must be stubborn - almost delusional - yet open-minded enough to be flexible and try out new options or let old ones go at the right time. 

Hattie Grace Elliot is the founder and CEO of The Grace List, a social networking company that creates destination events and experiences to forge lasting personal and professional connections across its young professional members. Elliot graduated from the University of Cape Town in South Africa, where she studied economics, philosophy, and politics.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How do you balance experimentation and commitment in the projects that you pursue?

Hattie Elliot: Balancing experimentation and commitment is a balance within itself, it’s—I, by no means, am perfect at it at this point, I think though that whether it is, for instance, we’re re-tweaking the Grace List offering at the moment, and I’ve kind of had to roll with the punches, if you’re gonna be a successful entrepreneur, you have to be partly really stubborn and steadfast, like when you think something’s gonna fail, you kind of, again, have to be partly delusional and partly brilliant, and just partly stupidly, like blindly stubborn to just stick things out, but then there’s also moments when you have to realize you have to wave a white flag and call a spade a spade, and realize that something’s not working, and that’s really part of I think experimentation, really being open to what’s working and not working in the business, and experimenting, maybe with new things that could be beneficial, whether it’s new employees, or something that a lot of entrepreneurs, including myself, struggle with, trusting someone and allocating them, like letting go of some of the responsibilities, and having a business is an experiment, like it’s a work in progress, I wish, you know, it’s not for people who thrive off of stability, it’s not—I mean, ultimately, you strive for that, but the journey along the way is never that. It’s full of—there’s plenty of glorious potholes, bumps, meteorites, like everything you can imagine, like a cow thrown in there through a tornado, whatever crazy images that your head conjures up, like that is the story of the journey to being an entrepreneur but it’s always laughable and like, you know, what can you do but laugh? It’s kind of hilarious, like there’s never a dull moment. 

However, you know, it’s really important not to have ego, it’s important to, you know, know when to stay strong, and when to, you know, to stand your ground, and you know, when to own something, even when you kind of have to fake it before you make it, like those moments, and also when there’s moments that you have to let something go, you know, where you just have to let it go, and—it sounds simple but it just—let it go. Because we hold onto so much, you know, with our businesses. We thought that, you know, the business is gonna go this way and this was our goal, or, we were really, you know, gung ho on the name of this new product, but guess what? Consumers aren’t being perceptive to it, so maybe we have to, you know, reevaluate it. 

So it’s—it’s, you know, making things less personal, and a lot of that just hap—you know, experimenting as part of that process, but it’s really what ultimately I believe really leads to success. Something just sticks, you know what I mean? When you trying out a bunch of different options within your company, if you didn’t experiment, you would never know that. 

Hattie Elliot on What Types of Friends Give the Best Advice

In Chapter 16 of 19 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, female entrepreneur Hattie Grace Elliot answers "At This Moment in Your Life, Where Are You Seeking Advice and Coaching?"  Elliot finds her growing relationships provide her actionable advice.  From friends who provide level-headed advice to creative branding advice to small business advice, Elliot makes it a point to learn from those around her.  

Hattie Grace Elliot is the founder and CEO of The Grace List, a social networking company that creates destination events and experiences to forge lasting personal and professional connections across its young professional members. Elliot graduated from the University of Cape Town in South Africa, where she studied economics, philosophy, and politics.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: At this moment in your life, where are you seeking advice and coaching?

Hattie Elliot: I don’t have one particular source, like it takes a village is what I like to say. It—I’ve got a bunch of really great people in my life, in various capacities that I have great respect for, and admiration for, some—I mean, I love them all, you know, for different reasons, but I think, you know, some of them I feel like—Like, one of my girlfriends, I feel like is just really level-headed, and she comes from a corporate law background so she’s almost kind of critical and—like just the way that she thinks is very different from me, so I find it very valuable to when I’m, you know, facing certain problems, to go to her and I really admire the advice she gives me. And the perspective that she brings to the table.

And then I have friends and business contacts who are incredibly creative, and the way, you know, if I have an idea, and, you know, mention it to them, whether it’s an event, or a challenge I have with my business or branding, they bring to the table something really wonderful and different that I would never be able to come up with.

And then, you know, I have, you know, people I talk to who just have hugely successful businesses and if kind of, you know, birds of a feather, they say, stick together. I have a really great network of people that I really respect and admire who are entrepreneurs, some of them extraordinarily successful, some of them, you know, are kind of starting out, you know, at all different stages, but I find it equally valuable to talk to them and—and I seek advice from them often. And even not advice, but just kind of schedule time to have coffee and just kind of talk about the status of my company, and to hear about theirs. Learning is so empowering, and so I feel like every day is an opportunity to learn more.

Hattie Elliot on Finding Healthier Ways to Manage a Busy Schedule

In Chapter 17 of 19 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, female entrepreneur Hattie Grace Elliot answers "How Are You Learning to Better Manage Your Time and Your Commitments?"  Elliot emphasizes making her appointments on time and, as her schedule gets busier, she learns the importance of not overcommitting to a point where she gets run down and sick.  As a small business owner, Elliot realizes she needs to stay healthy to do her work well.  Hattie Grace Elliot is the founder and CEO of The Grace List, a social networking company that creates destination events and experiences to forge lasting personal and professional connections across its young professional members. Elliot graduated from the University of Cape Town in South Africa, where she studied economics, philosophy, and politics.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How are you learning to better manage your time and commitments?

Hattie Elliot: You know, being true to your word is very important, so if I say that I’m gonna be, you know, meet a client or a friend or my mom for coffee at 10:00, if I’m not there, you better believe like I’m in the E.R. on a stretcher. Like—or, you know, swimming with the fishes, like it just doesn’t happen. However, I think my issue is, I can sometimes be overly hard and overly commit myself, so in terms of time allocation, I don’t always allocate enough time just to kind of downtime, to relax, to myself, because I take all these other commitments so seriously, you know, kind of really passionate about all the things that I’m involved in and I’m involved in a lot, so as I’ve, you know, I would say the last couple of years, I’ve come to the conclusion that, no, I’m not superwoman, I’m only—I can do a lot, but I’m like, only one person, and especially, you know, being responsible for my own business, paying my own rent, having responsibilities to my family, friends, clients, just keeping the people who work for me that if I let myself get run down, sick, I overwork myself, then I’ve got nothing.

Hattie Elliot on Learning to Work With Different Personality Types

In Chapter 18 of 19 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, female entrepreneur Hattie Grace Elliot answers "How Are You Learning to Work More Effectively With Different Personality Types?"  In her work, Elliot constantly meets new people and finds it important to be patient, especially with hardened or shy people, as she works to bring out their best.  Elliot finds it one of the most rewarding challenges of doing her work. 

Hattie Grace Elliot is the founder and CEO of The Grace List, a social networking company that creates destination events and experiences to forge lasting personal and professional connections across its young professional members. Elliot graduated from the University of Cape Town in South Africa, where she studied economics, philosophy, and politics.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How are you learning to work more effectively with different personality types?

Hattie Elliot: I find dealing with different personality types often almost a challenge, you know, when I deal with people who I find to be, you know, really off putting or cold, it’s like a challenge for me to open them up and to make them feel comfortable and it’s really one of the wonderful awesome things I’ve learned to do in my business is that I’m not shy. I love meeting people. I give, you know, decent first impressions, but the more that I’ve kind of through the years, run my business, and met with people, it’s been very eye opening because I’ve realized that a lot of people that you might meet on the street who seem like they’re very difficult, or might be a little cold, or off putting, or bitter or whatever, it’s just because they’re shy. Or they, you know, take a little while to warm up to you.

So, I’ve learned that so many people maybe 5 years ago, 2 years ago, I might’ve kind of brushed off, that I don’t really do that anymore when I meet people, because I feel like if you actually get to—you know, take the time to get to know people, and you make them feel comfortable, and that’s really what my business is about, is creating these great environments that are conducive to people meeting and connecting. You know, I meet a lot of people who off the bat I love. I meet some people I think, you know, are interesting but, you know, they take a little feeling out, but I’ve just been very humbled and surprised I would say, by how genuinely great and interesting most people are. It just sometimes takes certain things to bring that out. 

Hattie Elliot on Finding Better Ways to Motivate Small Business Employees

In Chapter 19 of 19 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, female entrepreneur Hattie Grace Elliot answers "How Are You Learning to Better Manage and Motivate Teams?"  Elliot learns to separate her perspective as an owner from that of employees working at a small business for a job.  Elliot learns to strike a balance motivating employees by providing monetary compensation and emotional compensation. 

Hattie Grace Elliot is the founder and CEO of The Grace List, a social networking company that creates destination events and experiences to forge lasting personal and professional connections across its young professional members. Elliot graduated from the University of Cape Town in South Africa, where she studied economics, philosophy, and politics.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How are you learning to better manage and motivate teams?

Hattie Elliot: It’s easy for me to stay motivated with my business because it’s my baby, you know? I own it. It’s kind of—there’s no separation of church and state, it’s my everything. When people are working for you, you know, as much as they might, you know, like what they’re doing, and believe in you, and like the business, it’s different than when you’re an owner, so there’s a few different things that are really important in motivating people. People need to pay their bills, like there’s—there’s monetarily compensating someone. And I’ve learned, you know, with my business, ways to do that is scaled, not just—let’s say paying a—just kind of a normal salary but really scaling it based on performance. Especially it’s a win-win as a small business owner, because, you know, if they’re bringing in money and business, like, hey, I am more than happy to share the wealth, you know, everyone wins.

If you’re really underperforming, and you’re not really working your tail off, then, you know, your monetary compensation is gonna reflect that, so that’s actually been kind of striking that balance and figuring out how to monetarily compensate people so they also feel really valued, and it motivates them is important. Just kind of I would say emotional compensation, really not—really when someone does something that’s great and wonderful, and it’s beneficial, encouraging it, acknowledging it, when they mess up, acknowledging that too which is hard, but doing it in a way that’s productive, so you’re not just, you know, putting them down, and like kind of cutting it off there, but you’re giving them an alternative or a suggestion, a way to do their job better, to be better, to craft it because I always try to empower my employees and people I work with, because I feel like whether they work—I mean they’re not gonna work for me forever, you know, hopefully, they go out and they, you know, end up being a big baller, starting a hugely successful business or working for a big corporation making millions.

I can’t guarantee I’ll ever be able to pay them that, but at least then you’re really empowering them with skills, and confidence, and tools, so—that they can really use and are beneficial to them personally later on. And I think when you proposition and position it that way that they really appreciate it and also feel much more responsibility to kind of performing because you know when you’re very protective and you—and you encourage them, they also feel kind of more accountable towards doing a really good job for you.

Adam Carter on Living a Happier and More Purpose-Driven Life

In Chapter 1 of 13 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, micro-philanthropist Adam Carter answers "When Are You at Your Best?"  Carter finds his personal bests when he is mindful of living in the moment.  He finds people, places and purpose to be the principles that motivate him and drive him toward a happier life. 

Adam Carter is a micro-philanthropist currently living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  He is the founder of the Cause and Affect Foundation which raises small amounts of financing to provide direct-to-source project funding for individuals and communities in need across the globe.  To date, Carter has traveled to over 80 countries.  He earned an MA in International Development from George Washington University and a BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Michigan.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: When are you at your best?

Adam Carter: I would say I’m at my best when I’m mindful of who I am and what I want to do and who I want to be, so I’m very conscious about—for example, living in the moment. I mean, I see all kinds of self-help books, and I see a lot of people reading self-help books, and the say, “Oh, yeah, got to live for the moment. That’s right,” and then they put the book down and they start yelling at the guy in front of them in traffic, and they start stressing out, over, you know, the most minute details, so, I’m really—I feel like as long as I can really be mindful of that, and be mindful of some of the principles that drive me, that I will be happy and successful in whatever I’m doing. So much of what I do has to do with everything that I’m thankful for and realizing just how much I have—I’ve had in my life, and so as long as I keep that in mind, it helps me kind of focus on the other goals that follow from that which would be, in this case, all the philanthropy work that I’m doing to help those that aren’t quite as fortunate, so as long as I don’t lose sight of that, and I’m living in the moment and I’m mindful, then I find that the rest of my life is a lot more rewarding and a lot more at peace, and happy.

Erik Michielsen: What are the principles that drive you?

Adam Carter:  Years ago, I realized there was three things that I needed to keep myself happy and to keep a rewarding life and they were people, places and purpose. So, first of all; surrounding myself with good people, with people that I trust, people that I like, people that have something to offer, people that share some of my vision, or even just share in my pension for life. Second, would be places. I discovered years ago that in my travels there were certain places that I really felt comfortable and that I really felt that I mixed well with, places that I could maybe call home or that I would enjoy living in or staying in, whatever. And third would be purpose. And this is—even if you’re in a good place and with good people, if you don’t have a good purpose in your life, if you’re not doing something rewarding, it’s gonna feel empty. So I found that with those three, it’s hard to take one out and really maintain that wholeness of life.

Adam Carter on How to Be More Health Conscious in Your Late 30s

In Chapter 2 of 13 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, micro-philanthropist Adam Carter answers "How Are Your Personal Priorities Changing as You Get Older?"  At 38 years old, Carter talks about the increasing priority he has set on healthy living as he has advanced into his late 30s.  He discusses how exercise, diet, and meditation collectively help him achieve a healthier lifestyle. 

Adam Carter is a micro-philanthropist currently living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  He is the founder of the Cause and Affect Foundation which raises small amounts of financing to provide direct-to-source project funding for individuals and communities in need across the globe.  To date, Carter has traveled to over 80 countries.  He earned an MA in International Development from George Washington University and a BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Michigan.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How are your personal priorities changing as you get older?

Adam Carter: That’s an interesting question because I’m 38 years old, and it’s hard for me sometimes to believe I’m 38 years old. Only when someone asks me how old I am, and I say, “38,” do I realize, wow, I’m actually 38 years old. So in the last—I think everybody in their 30s hits a point where they realize that they have to be more conscious of their health, and they have to start to think more about their future, so that’s—I think I share some of those. I’m very health conscious, and this is something that has allowed me I think to maintain a lot of the vitality that I have. I’m a very steadfast practitioner of yoga and some meditation, so that’s definitely helped me, and as I’ve grown I’ve also become a lot more conscious of what I’m eating and what I’m putting into my body, so that’s helped me deal with the, how would you say, the reality of our age which is the one thing that we can’t slow down. So I think that at the core, I’m still driven by the same ideals, and it’s just something that being a little more conscious of the body of the shell of, you know, the body is the temple to keep us going and keep us on the path that we have decided.

Adam Carter on Adding Reflection Into Daily Routines

In Chapter 3 of 13 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, micro-philanthropist Adam Carter answers "What Role as Reflection Played in Shaping Your Personal Growth?"  Carter details the importance of starting each day with a personalized yoga routine and meditation practice and how he has developed his daily routine over time.  This helps prepare him for the day and gives him a daily opportunity to reflect and be mindful of his environment, his decisions and his plans. 

Adam Carter is a micro-philanthropist currently living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  He is the founder of the Cause and Affect Foundation which raises small amounts of financing to provide direct-to-source project funding for individuals and communities in need across the globe.  To date, Carter has traveled to over 80 countries.  He earned an MA in International Development from George Washington University and a BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Michigan.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: What role has reflection played in shaping your personal growth?

Adam Carter: I think we all have our own form of spirituality, and for me personally, I’m a very regular practitioner of yoga and meditation, so, for me, about five days a week, you know, I start my day with a yoga routine that I’ve developed over the course of the last decade, that continues to evolve, and, so, for me, being able to start each day, ground myself, and my practice ends with meditation that really helps me focus on the day, and helps me focus on and who I am, and it really helps me. I think sometimes, you know, we’ll wake up, people wake up, they have that cup of coffee and it’s just like, the day just like hits them head on, like, full on. It’s really been valuable for me to be able to kind of ease into my day and to be mindful, and doing meditation really helps me kind of be mindful throughout the day. Whenever I can I try to just kind of take a deep breath, take a step back and just kind of, center myself because things can get stressful when you let them pile up and your mind’s going a mile a minute. So for me to be able to ground myself every day has been especially important because I’m often living in different places, and I don’t have the routine that a lot of people have, so I might be waking up in a completely different bed. I might be—find myself in a completely different—it could be a city, it could be a shanty town, it could be on a farm, you know, who knows where I am, but having that—being able to ground myself in that sense, or with that sense of reflection has really allowed me to maintain some consistency in my life.

Adam Carter on Searching for Meaning by Traveling Abroad

In Chapter 4 of 13 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, micro-philanthropist Adam Carter answers "Where is Your Comfort Zone and What Do You Do to Break Free of Living in It?"  After graduating college, Carter decides not to pursue traditional career paths and instead looks for meaning traveling abroad.  He starts his adventure by buying a one-way ticket to China.  Over time, he works summers selling beer at baseball games to finance international travel.  Ultimately, Carter decides to break out of this routine, walk away from the beer vendor life, and relocate to Brazil. 

Adam Carter is a micro-philanthropist currently living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  He is the founder of the Cause and Affect Foundation which raises small amounts of financing to provide direct-to-source project funding for individuals and communities in need across the globe.  To date, Carter has traveled to over 80 countries.  He earned an MA in International Development from George Washington University and a BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Michigan.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: Where is your comfort zone, and what do you do to break free of living in it?

Adam Carter: I broke out of my comfort zone when I graduated from college because I decided that instead of following the kind of pre-described path, of, you know, starting to interview and starting to work, and working towards a certain career goal and then retiring, whatever, that I just completely broke away from that, and that’s when I started to travel. So I think buying a one-way ticket to China is a great way for anybody out there to break out of their comfort zone. 

I’ve always respected those that have been able to do that on a professional level or on a personal level, and I’ve often had to reinvent myself or do that myself and then constantly thinking, okay, what can I do to challenge myself? What can I do to present a whole new set of stimuli or opportunities? And so as I continued to travel, I realized that I wanted to find a way to live abroad and continued to seek out a new comfort zone, but, at the same time, I had this job. I was a beer vendor in Chicago with the baseball stadiums, which was fantastic. I was able to go home every summer, make money. It was easy. You know, I’d go home, I could live with my mother, I could save my money, and then I could go travel and do my philanthropy work and everything, which was a great lifestyle and I wouldn’t trade it for anything, but it got to the point, where I realized, “Okay, I’ve been doing this for 17 years now,” and I could see the guys around me, some of which have been doing it for 30 years, and they’re in their 50s, or in their 60s, and they got the bad knees and bad back and they’re kind of humbling around there, and I realized, I don’t want to do that. I want to do more in my life than be a beer vendor. 

So I had to really step out of my comfort zone and walk away from this job. And you know, my cohorts assured me, they’re like, “all right, dude, you’ll be back next year. We’ll see you next year.” I said, “Well, never say never, but I feel like I’m making this move, I got to do it.” I knew there was only one way to do it, and that is, you know, walk away and just cold turkey. I mean, there are challenges inherent in that, as I was saying, it’s all of a sudden, you have to provide income and you have to realize, okay, I’m an adult and I have to provide for my future, cool, but I felt like I never would have taken the next step if I had this comfort zone to come back to. I think it’s really important to—not to be afraid of what’s out there and to embrace uncertainty, and to me, I think one of the lessons that I have learned personally and that I try to pass to people that I meet is to embrace uncertainty, because uncertainty is the one certainty in our life, and yet, it’s the one thing that often brings people down. And the more that I’ve—every challenge that comes my way, I try to embrace it and say, “well, it’s all in how I’m gonna deal with this and how I react to this, because we all know that if this uncertainty doesn’t happen, a month down the road, something else is gonna come up,” so the more I can kind of, you know, take everything with a smile and be like, here we go again. Let’s see what we got to do here. It’s really helped me just find my place in the world. So I’d say that being ready for the unexpected and having confidence in yourself and having confidence in the fact that, okay, things are gonna work out in the end. You know, we often stress about these little things, then we look back ten years later, and I’m like, “I can’t believe I got so stressed out like that because, look, it doesn’t even matter,” so I try to keep that mindset, which has really enriched me I think as a person.

Adam Carter on Why to Relocate to Brazil and Establish Residency

In Chapter 5 of 13 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, micro-philanthropist Adam Carter answers "Why Did You Move to Brazil and How Has the Experience Informed Your Future Plans?"  After traveling to over 80 countries, Carter finds a calling in the personable and positivity of the Brazilian people and culture.  Feeling a special connection, Carter decides to visit for a while, learn Portuguese and acclimate to the culture while doing micro-philanthropy work in the favelas.  Ultimately, he commits to the move and establishes residency in Brazil. 

Adam Carter is a micro-philanthropist currently living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  He is the founder of the Cause and Affect Foundation which raises small amounts of financing to provide direct-to-source project funding for individuals and communities in need across the globe.  To date, Carter has traveled to over 80 countries.  He earned an MA in International Development from George Washington University and a BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Michigan.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: Why did you move to Brazil, and how has the experience informed your future plans?

Adam Carter: Well, I moved to Brazil because it was the single place in the world that called me more than any other.

Erik Michielsen: How so?

Adam Carter: Brazilians are one of the most gregarious and friendly and open-minded people that I’ve come across in the world, and they’re simply a joy to be around. I think anybody that’s been to Brazil will tell you that the Brazilians have a zest for life that is hard to find anywhere else, and it’s a kind of place where, even after the first time I was there, I felt a special connection. I’m not one for hyperbole, so I didn’t walk out there saying, “this is the best place in the world, “ but I said to myself,  “all right, Adam, you need to come back here, spend a little time, learn Portuguese, get into the culture a bit.” I took it slow. I went back for about three, four months, learned Portuguese immediately, I studied on my own, and I’d already spoken Spanish, so that was easy, and the more I learned about Brazil, the more I got into the culture, the more I felt comfortable, and it got to the point where I started doing my philanthropy work down there, so I had that whole ‘nother connection there, and I started to make friends that I just—every time that I was there, I felt more comfortable, and it’s the kind of place where I’m always happy. I feel happy when I’m there. There’s something about, between the people and the natural beauty and the culture, and it’s just such a lively place. It just makes you feel alive, so I got to the point where instead of ferrying back and forth from Chicago down to Brazil, and then going back home for the summer, I decided to just pick up and move to the place where my heart was calling me, and I landed in Brazil.

Erik Michielsen: And how has that informed your future plans?

Adam Carter: So moving to Brazil has really dictated my future plans because I realize that I had to make a living there. It’s different going down for a few months and having a good time and doing this charity work which is volunteer, that’s a lot different from realizing, okay, I got to find a way to support myself. So for me the only way to do it is to really jump in headfirst. And so I got down there, started to assess my opportunities, realized that it’s very difficult for a lot of these companies to get a work visa for foreigners, so I realized that I needed to, if possible, get my own residency there. So I went through that process through investing in a business and this and that to obtain my permanent residency. Some friends and I have a start-up based here in the states, so at this point, I’ve been able to do my work remotely from Brazil which is wonderful because it just goes to show, this would not have been possible even ten years ago that I can live in one country and in effect, be doing my business in another. I mean, and over the years I’ve seen so many people living these lifestyles that I realized, well, hey, why sit in an office in the States if I don’t have to? When I can be down in Brazil where I can continue my philanthropy work, and I can really be where my heart is. So it’s an adjustment, you know, living in another culture and trying to find out what your place is professionally. So I’m trying to keep my options open to see exactly where the start-up, how it matures and how it progresses because I need to just be sure that if I am doing something different that I’m down in Brazil that I need to make sure that I’ve got a niche down there as well.

Adam Carter: How to Move to Brazil and Live on a Budget

In Chapter 6 of 13 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, micro-philanthropist Adam Carter answers "Where Has Your Move to Brazil Been Most Challenging?"  Carter shares the positive economic growth happening in Brazil and the challenges of diminishing purchasing power of the American dollar.  As an ex-pat, Carter learns ways to live full time in Brazil, make a living, and continue doing his philanthropy work. 

Adam Carter is a micro-philanthropist currently living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  He is the founder of the Cause and Affect Foundation which raises small amounts of financing to provide direct-to-source project funding for individuals and communities in need across the globe.  To date, Carter has traveled to over 80 countries.  He earned an MA in International Development from George Washington University and a BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Michigan.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: Where has your move to Brazil been most challenging?

Adam Carter: It’s become challenging economically and that has a variety of factors. First and foremost, Brazil, as you know, has been booming in the last 10-15 years economically, and this is great for Brazilians, it’s great for the country. 20 million people have been pulled out of poverty in the last 10 years, which is fantastic. You know they are very resorts rich, and there’s a lot more—the consumer boom is in full force. So a lot of businesses are doing well, low unemployment. That’s wonderful for Brazilians. 

It’s not so great for Americans that have chosen to move down there. When I first started going down there back in 2001, the U.S. dollar was worth 4 Reais, Brazilian Reais, and when I was just there last year, it had fallen to about 1.25. So, I mean, I’ve lost a lot of purchasing power as an expat there, which is a challenge because I’ve been living in Rio, and Rio has turned into one of the most expensive cities in the world. So this idea of—before I used to spend my summers in Chicago and save my money and then go to a cheaper locale where I could live a good lifestyle, and suddenly that’s kind of been thrown into whack. Brazil has become—Rio and São Paulo, especially the big cities, have become extremely expensive in terms of real estate, in terms of rent, in terms of food, in terms of going out, in terms of transportation. The real estate in Ipanema where I was living in Rio went up like—real estate prices went up like 90% in the course of a year, year and a half, so you can feel it, and people there can feel it, too. So it’s been challenging to kind of catch up to that wave, but it just forces you to be a little more resourceful and be a little more smart about how you plan and spend your money.

Adam Carter on What Gets Easier and What Gets Harder

In Chapter 7 of 13 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, micro-philanthropist Adam Carter answers "What is Getting Easier and What is Getting Harder in Your Life?"  Carter finds it progressively easier learning to live in different locations and cultures.  After traveling to 80 different countries, he finds it progressively difficult to be financially secure after walking away from a seasonal job and moving to Brazil full time. 

Adam Carter is a micro-philanthropist currently living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  He is the founder of the Cause and Affect Foundation which raises small amounts of financing to provide direct-to-source project funding for individuals and communities in need across the globe.  To date, Carter has traveled to over 80 countries.  He earned an MA in International Development from George Washington University and a BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Michigan.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: What is getting easier and what is getting harder in your life?

Adam Carter: Well, what is getting easier is learning how to be comfortable living in other places and in other cultures.  I have so much experience traveling the world now over the last 16 years of living all over the place that I found that it’s easier for me to immerse myself in a culture, find—carve out my little niche, make myself feel at home. You know, communication has made that so much easier now. It’s so much easier for me to stay in touch with my family and my friends. So it’s been easier for me to feel at home in so many parts of the world, and what’s become more difficult… Well, it’s become more difficult to keep this—to continue to finance this lifestyle. You know, all the charity work that I do is—all the travel I pay for, which is fine. I can still handle it, but I think when I had a summer—when I had my summer job in Chicago where it was easy for me to just go back for the summer and make good money and then travel, it was easier to keep this lifestyle. You know, I’ve had to adjust now because I decided to walk away from that job, and so now I have to obviously seek out other means of income in order to support my passion. So that’s been a bit of a challenge of kind of trying to figure out what my place is and in a professional light and not just in a humanitarian light.

Adam Carter on Deciding Not to Grow a Nonprofit

In Chapter 8 of 13 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, micro-philanthropist Adam Carter answers "What Made You Decide Not to Expand the Scope of Your Micro-Philanthropy Efforts?"  As Carter gains experience, he finds it is not in his best interest to scale his non-profit in the funds it raises and the number of projects it completes.  Carter notes his struggle to do more good while staying true to his hands-on founding goals. 

Adam Carter is a micro-philanthropist currently living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  He is the founder of the Cause and Affect Foundation, which raises small amounts of financing to provide direct-to-source project funding for individuals and communities in need across the globe.  To date, Carter has traveled to over 80 countries.  He earned an MA in International Development from George Washington University and a BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Michigan.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: What made you decide not to expand the scope of your micro-philanthropy efforts?

Adam Carter: I think a lot of start-ups whether it’s a nonprofit or a business, they’re immediately thinking, okay, how big can I get? I think that’s kind of the instinct there. So when I started Cause & Affect, I was really excited to really create a model that could be ramped up in time. And so as I started the process, as I started to raise money, and then I started to distribute the funds to these projects around the world, I got to the point where I realized that there was a problem and that was that as I scaled up Cause & Affect, it would change the whole structure of what I had envisioned. You know, I created this so that I would be able to be out in the field personally overseeing all of these projects. I mean, Cause & Affect is based on the fact that I’m able to see exactly how every dollar is spent, and that I’m not just simply sending it over to organizations that look like they have a good website, or someone goes and visits and says, “Oh, it’s a good project. Okay, here’s a few thousand dollars.” That’s not how it works.

So what I realized is that for me to really scale this up, first of all it would require a lot more time. I mean, as it is I’m putting in a lot of my own time and money for traveling, and I’m content with that. That’s fine, but in order for me to do this really full time, you know, to that extent, I would have to get some income, and so then you just kind of work backwards. Well, what’s the minimum amount of income I would need to live my life and plan for a future, whatever? So, I mean, even if it was just, let’s say $50,000, from $50,000—If I’m gonna raise $50,000, that’s gonna go towards me, we have to be sure that’s only maybe 10% of what we’re raising. So then you’re looking at $500,000 that we’d have to bring in every year in order to justify a $50,000 salary for myself. And that’s obviously quite a challenge these days, and also once you—in order to bring in $500,000 a year, you might have to hire someone to help you with your marketing or your fundraising, and then you’ve got another salary to deal with, so that’s more money you need to bring in just to break even, and I felt like this was just setting up a lot of pressure for me personally, whereas what I’m really good at, I wasn’t born to be a CEO and to micro-manage four or five people working for me, and if I wanted to do that I probably would have set up a business or an NGO 15 years ago.

What I’m good at is the interpersonal relationships in the field and assessing each of these projects and finding the best way to help them, and finding out how to be the most effective with this small amount of money. Now, obviously, it would be wonderful to be able to distribute more money, and hopefully, down the road, we will find a way to do that, to ramp up these contributions in that there is still a way within this model to give a lot more money. I mean each of these projects that I’m assisting with, $1,000 or $2,000. I could easily add a zero to that if some other donors come on board that really share the vision, but I kind of realized that I needed to focus on the task at hand which was making sure that every dollar distributed goes directly to the people in need, instead of worrying about how big of a structure I could create and, instead of getting my ego in it of like, how big of an organization I could create.

Adam Carter: How to Find Micro-Philanthropy Project Work in India

In Chapter 9 of 13 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, micro-philanthropist Adam Carter answers "What Did Doing Your Recent Micro-Philanthropy Project in India Teach You?"  Carter talks about his past experience traveling to India and how a recent trip collaborating with VANNI working with deaf children in Kolkata taught him the power of communication.  Carter travels to India to help the non-profit improve how it creates education materials for hearing-impaired children living in poverty. 

Adam Carter is a micro-philanthropist currently living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  He is the founder of the Cause and Affect Foundation which raises small amounts of financing to provide direct-to-source project funding for individuals and communities in need across the globe.  To date, Carter has traveled to over 80 countries.  He earned an MA in International Development from George Washington University and a BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Michigan.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: What did doing your recent micro-philanthropy project in India teach you?

Adam Carter: Well, I’ve spent a lot of time in India over the years, and it’s a place that has always attracted me. It’s something about the combination of the millennia of history and culture. It’s always kind of been that real exotic place in the world, and even now after having been to, I don’t know, 80 plus countries, I’m still drawn back to India time and time again. This recent trip I was in Calcutta in the eastern part of India and I think the most—what it really taught me, I guess, as far as a lesson is, I would say, the importance of communication, and the reason I say that is because I was working with a project called VAANI which is an amazing project, that’s kind of an award-winning project, really, really dynamic director, and what they do is they work with deaf children in the slums of Calcutta.

So as you can imagine, not a pretty place, a very, very rough place to live, to grow up, and for a lot of these families, you know, they have a lot of children, and often one of the children has some kind of deformity, or whether they’re born with some condition. Unfortunately, they don’t have the resources there to act upon that, and in the case of this project, what we’re working with are deaf children, and unfortunately, many of these families that have deaf children, first of all, a lot of them don’t even really realize that their kids are deaf. They haven’t really fully been diagnosed, so they kind of have this idea that, oh, well, he doesn’t really understand, he’s a little slow, this or that. And even if they know, that, okay, my kid can’t hear. They don’t know the resources that are out there, which is really a shame because these kids grow up, basically, kept at home, not going to school, and kind of ignored by their family, and these kids, their mind is perfectly functional. I mean, it’s horrific to imagine really being trapped inside your body where you can’t communicate with your family, and nobody knows what you’re saying, what you’re thinking.

So thankfully this project, first of all, they send social workers out into these neighborhoods to look for these children and to tell the families, “look, there’s an answer here. We’re gonna help your kid, and you’re gonna see that your kid is just as smart as all the others, and he can actually participate in a regular school setting.” So it was incredibly heartwarming to see these kids now that are getting one-on-one education, educational help from a trained practitioner, you know, that works with deaf children. They’re learning how to do sign language. They’re learning how to speak a bit. Some of them that don’t have complete deafness are getting the hearing aids that they need to be able to hear more and more. The mothers are brought in with the kids, so they’re both there, and they’re both learning sign language because it’s important for them to communicate. This is the bridge that’s gonna allow this kid to communicate with his parents and with his family.

Erik Michielsen: How did you get involved in that project?

Adam Carter: I knew I wanted to go back to India, so sometimes I focus on an issue. Sometimes I focus on a place. In this instance, it was kind of a combination of the two. I knew I wanted to go back to India, and I was speaking with my mentor. He had mentioned how he had come across some—a project helping some deaf people in Asia, and I thought, well, that’s a group that I don’t know much about, I haven’t worked with before, personally, but I think we can all understand it’s a pretty black and white issue. So I started to do some research before I went about to see if there were any organizations that were addressing this on a local or national level. There’s a project called VAANI, which is the first kind of nationally—it’s based in Calcutta, but they’re planning to expand it nationally. They now have projects in West Bengal which is the state of Calcutta and up in Assam which is further up in the northeast, and so I communicated with them. I did some research on the organization and found out that it has an amazing reputation. And, so, I met with them and I visited all of their projects, and then I sat down with the director and with a few other of the staff and we talked about what would be the most effective ways of improving the project, and what we came up with was—is wonderful because these kids are coming in so if you have a deaf child that’s coming in, let’s say, twice a week, with his mother for this training. They have different ways of teaching them. They have a lot of educational materials, and then a lot of it has to do with the teacher one-on-one. 

The only kind of gap in this process is the fact that when the kid goes home, until he comes back later in the week or the next week, he’s kind of at a standstill.  Sure he and the mother could practice what they’ve learned, but the problem is he has to leave the educational materials at the project because they need them for the next kid. So what we came up with was, well, why don’t we improve this process by producing more of these educational materials, producing kind of like, you know, sets of them like booklet sets, so that the kids can take them home with them, practice it over the course of the week with the rest of their family, the father who may be working, the brothers and sisters who are in the house. So we’re creating really nice, heavy laminated, very durable materials that will be able to really improve the interpersonal communication, which is so important.

Adam Carter on Helping Charitable Trusts Identify and Fund Projects

In Chapter 10 of 13 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, micro-philanthropist Adam Carter answers "How Are You Learning to Apply Your Passions in New Ways?"  Carter talks about how he finds value in a liaison role between charitable trusts and the social impact areas they seek to affect.  Carter gives local assistance to global non-profit organizations, helping them identify, design, and implement projects in areas such as Brazilian favelas and shanty towns. 

Adam Carter is a micro-philanthropist currently living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  He is the founder of the Cause and Affect Foundation which raises small amounts of financing to provide direct-to-source project funding for individuals and communities in need across the globe.  To date, Carter has traveled to over 80 countries.  He earned an MA in International Development from George Washington University and a BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Michigan.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: What did doing your recent micro-philanthropy project in India teach you?

Adam Carter: Well, I’ve spent a lot of time in India over the years, and it’s a place that has always attracted me. It’s something about the combination of the millennia of history and culture. It’s always kind of been that real exotic place in the world, and even now after having been to, I don’t know, 80 plus countries, I’m still drawn back to India time and time again. This recent trip I was in Calcutta in the eastern part of India and I think the most—what it really taught me, I guess, as far as a lesson is, I would say, the importance of communication, and the reason I say that is because I was working with a project called VAANI which is an amazing project, that’s kind of an award-winning project, really, really dynamic director, and what they do is they work with deaf children in the slums of Calcutta.

So as you can imagine, not a pretty place, a very, very rough place to live, to grow up, and for a lot of these families, you know, they have a lot of children, and often one of the children has some kind of deformity, or whether they’re born with some condition. Unfortunately, they don’t have the resources there to act upon that, and in the case of this project, what we’re working with are deaf children, and unfortunately, many of these families that have deaf children, first of all, a lot of them don’t even really realize that their kids are deaf. They haven’t really fully been diagnosed, so they kind of have this idea that, oh, well, he doesn’t really understand, he’s a little slow, this or that. And even if they know, that, okay, my kid can’t hear. They don’t know the resources that are out there, which is really a shame because these kids grow up, basically, kept at home, not going to school, and kind of ignored by their family, and these kids, their mind is perfectly functional. I mean, it’s horrific to imagine really being trapped inside your body where you can’t communicate with your family, and nobody knows what you’re saying, what you’re thinking.

So thankfully this project, first of all, they send social workers out into these neighborhoods to look for these children and to tell the families, “look, there’s an answer here. We’re gonna help your kid, and you’re gonna see that your kid is just as smart as all the others, and he can actually participate in a regular school setting.” So it was incredibly heartwarming to see these kids now that are getting one-on-one education, educational help from a trained practitioner, you know, that works with deaf children. They’re learning how to do sign language. They’re learning how to speak a bit. Some of them that don’t have complete deafness are getting the hearing aids that they need to be able to hear more and more. The mothers are brought in with the kids, so they’re both there, and they’re both learning sign language because it’s important for them to communicate. This is the bridge that’s gonna allow this kid to communicate with his parents and with his family.

Erik Michielsen: How did you get involved in that project?

Adam Carter: I knew I wanted to go back to India, so sometimes I focus on an issue. Sometimes I focus on a place. In this instance, it was kind of a combination of the two. I knew I wanted to go back to India, and I was speaking with my mentor. He had mentioned how he had come across some—a project helping some deaf people in Asia, and I thought, well, that’s a group that I don’t know much about, I haven’t worked with before, personally, but I think we can all understand it’s a pretty black and white issue. So I started to do some research before I went about to see if there were any organizations that were addressing this on a local or national level. There’s a project called VAANI, which is the first kind of nationally—it’s based in Calcutta, but they’re planning to expand it nationally. They now have projects in West Bengal which is the state of Calcutta and up in Assam which is further up in the northeast, and so I communicated with them. I did some research on the organization and found out that it has an amazing reputation. And, so, I met with them and I visited all of their projects, and then I sat down with the director and with a few other of the staff and we talked about what would be the most effective ways of improving the project, and what we came up with was—is wonderful because these kids are coming in so if you have a deaf child that’s coming in, let’s say, twice a week, with his mother for this training. They have different ways of teaching them. They have a lot of educational materials, and then a lot of it has to do with the teacher one-on-one. 

The only kind of gap in this process is the fact that when the kid goes home, until he comes back later in the week or the next week, he’s kind of at a standstill.  Sure he and the mother could practice what they’ve learned, but the problem is he has to leave the educational materials at the project because they need them for the next kid.

So what we came up with was, well, why don’t we improve this process by producing more of these educational materials, producing kind of like, you know, sets of them like booklet sets, so that the kids can take them home with them, practice it over the course of the week with the rest of their family, the father who may be working, the brothers and sisters who are in the house. So we’re creating really nice, heavy laminated, very durable materials that will be able to really improve the interpersonal communication, which is so important.