198. Community Week: The Promise of Generation Alpha + the Mission of In a Perfect World - Manuela Testolini
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Overview
Meet Manuela. We met this L.A. founder in our Community and in PRO, and we positively fell in love with the simple beauty in her nonprofit's mission. After rolling up her sleeves to work on the frontlines of orgs she believed in, she moved from a homeless foundation to running Prince's foundation (yes, you read that right. "That" Prince💜☔️) before starting her own foundation, "In A Perfect World" empowering young people around the world to take action and be kind. She's talking about how to co-create natural empathy in Generation Alpha and how she's seen education be the great equailizer of human vibrancy. Her life 's story is fascinating, heroic, empathetic and reveals one of those amazing founders stories where top brass is first in line and deepest in the trenches - for good. Inspiring! 💡
Today’s Guest
Manuela Testolini, Founder, In a Perfect World
“The kids are seeing things, whether they’re talking about it or not. Our goal is to really get them to talk about it, and then not to burden them with the information that they’ve now uncovered, but to give them a way to not feel disenfranchised, to feel like they can be part of the solution.”
Episode Transcript
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Episode highlights
Manuela’s story and journey to where she is today (3:00)
The founding story of In a Perfect World Foundation (11:30)
Inspiring and empowering the next generation: an overview of In a Perfect World’s flagship programs (22:45)
Dreamcatchers (ages 5-12)
Youth Ambassador Program (for teens)
REACH (Rural Education and Community Harmony)
Manuela’s vision for In a Perfect World Foundation (30:10)
How you can get involved with In a Perfect World (38:00)
A powerful moment of philanthropy in Manuela’s life (42:00)
Manuela’s One Good Thing: A little by little, a little becomes a lot. (44:00)
Powerful quotes
“Not everybody's living the same life experience, not everyone has access to the same things. And I think those two things, I didn't recognize it at the time, but, having those experiences really sunk in for me that we should all be part of helping each other.” -Manuela
“There should be, a focus on empathy and really getting people to see each other and see each other's needs and bring whatever we can to the table.” -Manuela
“I'm not here to sort of tell you what's going to happen to you. I want to talk about how do we co create a better situation.” -Manuela
“Let's get the beneficiaries involved and get their voice involved.” -Manuela
“A kid's perfect world is not necessarily that hard to accomplish or achieve, but the other thing is, nobody's asked him this question.” -Manuela
“I think we all get desensitized, because we're bombarded with so much information, there's only so much you can really process.
“The kids are seeing things, whether they're talking about it or not. So our goal is to really get them to talk about it, and then not to burden them with the information that they've now uncovered that kids need homes, for instance, but to give them a way to not feel disenfranchised, to feel like they can be part of the solution.” -Manuela
“It's fun for me to watch kind of firsthand, this evolving from my own kids. Because I think that all kids are like this, and we just need to tap into it and give them these channels and this opportunity.” -Manuela
“This is a conversation about empowerment. And I don't think many people think about how to empower a child. And I think you ask the most perfect question. When you go into a space and you ask the child this, what do you want to do about it?” -Becky
“We teach the little ones through art and storytelling about that from the beginning.” -Manuela
“Once they get to the teen years, we start to focus on how do they use their talents to pick their up and pen pick their passion so that they can have an impact.” -Manuela
“I went there into the slum, and I was so blown away by the amount of social issues in one place. It was it was completely overwhelming. I honestly felt helpless.” -Manuela
“When I first started in a perfect world, I was really overwhelmed because I felt like how am I going to do all this. And so I realized at some point that in order to do all these things, I need to create more kids that think like I thought, and so this is what we're doing, we're kind of unfolding this.” -Manuela
“My motto is little by little a little becomes a lot. And it's a Tanzanian proverb, it weaves into everything we do. It weaves into the little kids and I say do what you can do your little by little because if we all do our little by little becomes a lot. It weaves into how we convene with others, because you know, the nonprofit space can be quite competitive, but we understand that we were going to get there faster and help more people if we can convene, and collaborate.” -Manuela
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Episode Sponsored by
Studio Selfie!
Manuela Testolini, Julie Confer, Jonathan McCoy and Becky Endicott
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