Building from Scratch

Ideas change everything. I didn't invent it. Ted Talks did.

TED Talks seek stories that permeate the "ideas worth spreading". These are typically emotionally engaging, novel, and memorable, conveyed through simple, straightforward storytelling and a passionate, confident delivery. Here is my story:

When your parents give you access to education, what do you intend to do with it? When your parents provide you with access to travel and culture, how does that help your personal success?

In my case, I made the choices to work in various roles throughout my thirty years of professional experience. The common thread is that I always picked the most challenging job. If anyone said, "nobody can do it; it's going to be difficult, or there is no way that will ever happen.... " I often made it my personal challenge.

When you become a mother, everything changes, from your body to your mindset, and your perspective of life and purpose. I honestly was not ready mentally to have a baby, I thought, as long as he is born on the day that he is scheduled, we are good! I only discovered the milestones much later. I don't know why. Maybe because I went back to work four months later, and I barely could emerge from the feed the baby, burp the baby, change the baby, clean the trash, have something to eat, take a shower..."

I decided to move from Paris to Portugal, not knowing anyone, because I wanted a better quality of life. I wanted to see trees, the ocean, blue skies, and warm sun as I did when I grew up, as a child in the Middle East. Yes, I was an expat child, and most of all, I was a 3rd culture kid. What is a third culture kid? It is when you grow up in a place that is not part of your roots, your own culture. My parents are Chinese but born in Mauritius (so was my grandmother). We do not speak Chinese. We speak French. Mauritius was a French colony. I was born in France, so it made sense for my parents to speak French to me. We moved to Kuwait when I was 7, and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. While I was often the target of "funny grimaces" in France, whether at school or in the supermarket, my multicultural classmates in Kuwait's lycée français couldn't wait to be my friends.

A child who doesn't feel like they belong is a child who struggles with self-confidence, communication, and overall positive growth. Anxiety and stress start early, way back before even kindergarten, but definitely kindergarten is a sore point for many, I would guess, because of the separation from the mother.

It was suggested to me, by a wonderful woman, whom I am still in contact with. She owns the Montessori Boat Ventura pre-school in São Pedro do Estoril. Her delivery of the "bad news" to me was done in the utmost respect. My son would probably benefit from an evaluation, as he was exhibiting behavior problems for the teacher. He was 2 years old.

The long journey of understanding what autism and how to recover some of the lost skills started. I flew to Toronto for 4 days to attend a conference, ran into a long lost friend who worked for the Goverment of Ontario on Autism awareness. I flew to Dubai for a business meeting, and was introduced to the head of a school, from the United States, who had trained with some of the best autism researchers in the country. I flew back to Paris to get a second opinion with our former pediatrician, who had his own radio talk show about "growing up as a teenager with ADHD". He asked me how I was taking care of my son. I told him. He replied, "You did the best thing". As long as autism is a condition that falls under the umbrella of psychiatry as a developmental cognitive disorder, there would be little positive news for me if I stayed in France. It was just that the European Union was not up to par with Canad and the US. In fact, the United Nations had scolded France for being 50 years behind in providing decent and respectful treatment to children and adults with autism, in a long statement. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/08/france-is-50-years-behind-the-state-scandal-of-french-autism-treatment

I decided to stay in Portugal because the environment was great, the locals were different from those in the neighboring country in that it was really a "Global Village". I really was not prepared to realize that the challenge that lay ahead would be, in reality, a life-long journey with no finish line.

On my last trip, I was in Paris at the AI Action Summit, where I sit as an advisor on the board of an AI company that teaches Africans from all walks of life (even those who don't have access to education) to get introduced to data science. Through the collaboration with universities, they can learn how to use a computer. Isn't that wonderful? At the Summit, there were many many researchers , and some who spoke about AI and Education. My most pressing question: what happens to kids with disabilities?

One professor, Phd researcher from MIT and Oxford University, told me," The world is about to get a rude awakening. The current state of education as we know it will completely collapse." and he said that to a minister of digital transformation that was on the panel. It dawned on me that here was the perfect opportunity to create the right setup and community for my child and others who were underserved by their local education system, due to lack of funds, training, ignorance, and so on...

How did I believe that I could create a learning center? I just do. It is not a pet project.

A friend recently described me as "That guy", read below for urban colloquial explanation.

When the urban dictionary says 'I know a guy' : I know a guy" is a colloquial phrase implying the speaker has a personal connection to someone who can provide a specific service, resource, or solution, often in a situation where direct or formal approaches might be difficult or impossible. It's an expression of familiarity, access to resources, and personal networking that suggests the problem can be solved through a personal connection rather than a conventional process.

I look forward to meeting every parent (single or coupled) who believes that, as a team, we can achieve great things and build mountains.