[Bonus.ETHIOPIA..] Sustainability, Community and Change in Africa with Yodit Seyoum

54Lights

WHAT TO EXPECT...WHEN YOU PUSH PLAY

Yodit Seyoum is an interior designer from Ethiopia. She joins our host Kondwani to talk about her journey to becoming involved in sustainable and community-focused design and environmental advocacy. They discuss the importance of sustainability in the world and how this can be reflected in their home continent of Africa and the lessons to be learned. They also discuss the importance and origins of names and how they reflect on a person's identity and history.

LEAN IN, LISTEN UP AND LEARNINGS - KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Yodit studied engineering after being told it wasn’t something she could do and then went on to graduate at the top of her class!
• Design and engineering aren’t just about aesthetics but also about creating something that is good for the environment and the community it serves.
• You can take your ethos of sustainability and put it into every area of your life, truly living by the values you create.
• People, Planet and Profit should be balanced and created with sustainability in mind.
• Yodit is now offering her expertise via consultancy for smaller firms and start-ups, helping them engrain it in their culture early on.
• Yodit loves giving back, to the community and giving service and this is where she sees creating a true impact on the world.
• In regards to long-term goals, Yodit wants to start bringing her message of sustainability back to her birth country of Ethiopia and start to get young people involved in hopes of changing the future.

BEST MOMENTS

• 15:29 “It feels like sustainability is just en vogue now”
• 22:00 “Invest in those communities around you that really align with your sustainability initiative, that way you’re building the community and making it stronger”
• 27:45 “Offering it to those businesses that are minority-owned and black owned, I would love to help them build sustainability and weave it into their business”
• 38:57 “The world isn’t actually much better her, it just has better access to things”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yodit-yaregal-seyoum/

ABOUT THE HOST

Kondwani Mwase | Host & Creator

‘The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.’ – Jean-Jacques Rousseau

For most of my life, I have been obsessed with relationships. I have worked, watched and wondered about the complex nature of human interaction. Originally, my interest laid in the narrative…more specifically, I was driven to understand what was happening. Increasingly, my curiosity has been inspired by the underlying motivations behind events…why it happens. It is this curiosity that motivates me.

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