Scott: It’s great to be here! At LearnServe, we believe in the power of young people to create change. Unfortunately, not all adults agree. At best, they’ll call you a “leader of tomorrow.” At worst, they’ll treat you as part of the problem. LearnServe trusts youth, putting them in the driver’s seat to solve social and environmental problems. We bring together students from diverse backgrounds. We ask them “What pisses you off?” and then “What do you want to do about it?”and then we help them to turn their big ideas into real change.
Michelle: As you know,I am the owner of a company called the Black-Owned Market but I also call it theBOM. The name means that we represent and empower businesses owned by Black people. I call it BOM for short because it was and still is a popular slang word from the ’90s which means cool, dope, amazing. The reason I focus on Black businesses is that I believe that entrepreneurship is the way out of economic struggle. I want to make sure that Black businesses have a platform where they come first and their products can be purchased easily.
Suba: Nyaanum is a digital content company focused on exploration, culture, and virtual travel. What makes Nyaanum unique is that our content is created and curated by the people who live in the places we visit—as opposed to professional photographers or foreign travelers. We create the space for communities to tell their own stories about their homes—what makes this place special to them—but also stories that highlight what is shared across cultures. There is a strong focus on empowering less heard, more marginalized voices, bringing a diversity of perspective and experience. We want to become the premier company to experience the world virtually in an inclusive and respectful way by and for everyone on the planet.
